In this bulletin:

• Afghan soil will not be used against Pakistan: Karzai
• Shaukat and Karzai discuss trade
• Unstable Afghanistan is not in Pakistan's interests: Karzai
• Kabul, Islamabad to share information on Taliban
• EDITORIAL: Karzai is walking a regional tightrope
• Afghan television broadcasts footage of Al-Qaeda murders
• New UN envoy to Afghanistan arrives in country; will play key development role
• Ex-Guerrillas Ready to Compromise As New Assembly Gains Pace
• Afghan rebels may have help from Iraq
• Russia illegal drug trade worth $15 billion a year
• Harper considering Afghanistan for first foreign trip
• Canada Braces as More Troops Head for the Perils of Afghanistan
• Bush seeks 72.4 billion dollars for Iraq, Afghanistan
• Afghan parliament approves February 15 as holiday
• Afghanistan Erupts Over Danish Cartoons
• Pakistan crackdown over cartoons
  

Afghan soil will not be used against Pakistan: Karzai – The News International (Pakistan) 02.17.06 - Warns neighbours against meddling in internal affairs

ISLAMABAD: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday promised not to allow any country to interfere in Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan, saying he knew the consequences for his country in such a case.

"We will not allow any country, any government with whom Afghanistan has relations to interfere in our relations with Pakistan or to use our soil against Pakistan," Karzai told newsmen here.

Responding to a question about the recent killing of three Chinese engineers in Hub and the possibility of its linkage with Afghan warlords and the Indian consulates in Afghanistan, he said: "We know the consequences for that for Afghanistan...We will not allow that primarily for the Afghan interests and for the interest of Pakistan."

Karzai said there were no more warlords in Afghanistan and the last of them began to disappear after 2004. He added the writ of government was gradually being established but the country still suffered a lot in terms of delivering services, after 30 years of war.

Responding to a question about al-Qaeda militants, the Afghan president said that they had no bases anymore and were scattered around the world. On the offer of fencing of the border by Pakistan, he said it will separate the peoples in two countries. "We can fight terrorism more effectively by going to the sources, by going where they get trained, finding their training camps, removing them, stopping the equipment that reaches them, and if there is such a thing in Afghanistan or Pakistan we should do it," he added.

President Karzai called for an intensive and vigorous fight against terrorism and said in his discussions with President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz both sides agreed to maintain close liaison for the good of the two countries.

When asked about reports of high-value targets in the region, he said in Afghanistan, there was a need to intensify the exchange of information in the days to come. About dialogue with the Taliban, President Karzai said the government had launched a peace programme, headed by former president Mujaddadi, and all those Taliban who are not part of al-Qaeda or any terrorist ring have been asked to return and can find jobs in the government or other institutions.

He cited the example of Taliban leader Maulvi Arsala Rehmani, who returned and was welcomed. He, however, made it clear that the offer was only for those not involved in the killing of the Afghan or the Pakistani people.

Karzai said the offer is "definitely not" for former Taliban leader Mulla Omar. "He has to answer to the Afghan people, to the Muslims for the crimes against Islam, to stop the children of the Ummah from going to schools, preventing them from getting education, beating Muslim women on streets and stopping Muslims from prospering. He is a criminal of Afghanistan for committing un-Islamic acts."

Karzai said drugs were a major issue but after a long period of misery the people were desperate. He said it was not merely an Afghan problem but had international influences that required concerted efforts by all.

Meanwhile, in an interview with The Associated Press, Karzai warned the neighbouring nations to stop meddling in Afghan affairs, or risk seeing chaos spread from a destabilised Afghanistan across the region. "Afghans have had enough of conflict and foreign interference," he said.

He promised that further interference in his homeland will not go unchallenged and warned that Iran, Pakistan and others are not fooling anyone. "We know (interference) is going on. We know that money is being brought into Afghanistan. It will not have the impact that they want it to have, not for Afghanistan and not for themselves, so they had better stop," Karzai said. "If they don’t stop, the consequences will be exactly what I said earlier. The consequences will be that this region will suffer with us, equally, as we suffer. In the past we suffered alone. This time everybody will suffer with us."

Karzai said he felt a sense of contentment with the progress his country has made since the collapse of the Taliban regime at the end of 2001. But he spoke with concern about outside attempts to manipulate Afghanistan’s ethnic and religious groups and the dangers of encouraging discord in tumultuous south-central Asia.

"Any effort to divide Afghanistan ethnically or weaken it will create exactly the same things in the neighbouring countries. All the countries in this neighbourhood have the same ethnic groups that we have, so they should know that it is a different ball game this time," he said, adding: "We are determined. It is not going to be Pakistan playing the Pashtun, non-Pashtun game in Afghanistan. It is not going to be Iran playing this or that game or any other country. We can play the same game with a lot more historical power, with a lot more power in our history than others can. They should know that very well."

Reflecting on Afghanistan’s recent violence, and the manipulations of its neighbours, the president said his people are stronger now and know better how to face up to foreign interference. "It won’t work this time. Afghanistan has an ownership. I told you we will not be refugees again. We own this country. Afghanistan has a voice now," Karzai said.

"The past is gone. We were unaware: The Soviets came, invaded us and we went out of Afghanistan to defend our country. We defended our country and that was right, but we made a mistake by leaving our country. It was one of the biggest mistakes we made, leaving the country."

Talking without aides at the presidential palace, Karzai was passionate about Afghanistan’s future and his determination to protect his country. "The United States, Pakistan, Iran and everybody should know that this time Afghans will not become refugees. I would be one of those Afghans who would not become a refugee again," he said. "It has to be very, very clear. That is why I am talking so clear. This is my conscience speaking, the conscience of an Afghan person."

Shaukat and Karzai discuss trade

ISLAMABAD (February 17 2006): Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday had one-on-one meeting here, focussing on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.

They discussed ways and means to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries particularly in trade, commerce and economy and enhance people-to-people contacts for social welfare and development of both countries.

They also reviewed the security situation on Pak-Afghan border and reconstruction and rehabilitation process of that country. Later, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao also joined the meeting.

Talking to Hamid Karzai, Shaukat Aziz said: "A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in favour of Pakistan and we will continue to support Afghanistan for its reconstruction process to make it strong and peaceful country."

He said Pakistan has already pledged $100 million for reconstruction activities in Afghanistan and also pledged $50 million for this purpose at the London Conference. The Afghan president expressed gratitude to the government and the people of Pakistan over extending support for reconstruction and rehabilitation of his country and bringing peace there.

Later, addressing the participants attending courses at the National Defence College, President Hamid Karzai said Pakistan and Afghanistan have to jointly work together for a prosperous future by investing in their rich human capital.

He said the Pak-Afghan ties were unique as the events in one country have a bearing on the other. "(For) distances in future we have to walk together that destiny," he said and pointed that progress was difficult to achieve in a poor and diseased neighbourhood.

Karzai said the strength and prosperity of Afghanistan would be a source of strength for Pakistan. He said the real 'Strategic Depth' concept, was the one where both the countries build strong economic, trade and bilateral relations which can be of immense help to the neighbouring countries.

Karzai, who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan to discuss security, bilateral and economic ties with its leaders, proposed that there should not be any passports between the two countries on the pattern of European Union allowing increased trade.

Responding to a question about the Afghan refugees in Pakistan, he said: "I would like the two countries not to have passports any more, like the European Schengen visa." This would allow more trade and prosperity for the two countries, Karzai said, adding around 2.7 million Afghans had returned from Pakistan in the past four years.

He spoke of his dream, which he said was inspired by the realities of today, where the 'citizens of this region' live in a better and prosperous manner. To a question, he said the issue of fencing of the Pak-Afghan border was against his concepts of closeness

"Fencing is separation," he said on the proposal earlier made by Pakistan to satisfy Afghan complaints that there was illegal flow of people through the borders. He said: "We need to jointly cut at the roots of terrorism", adding that traders from both countries frequently crossed the border to buy and sell goods, often without any passports.

The Afghan president said it was not possible for either Pakistan or Afghanistan to move ahead, if the other lags behind and called for the need of investing in the people for a better and a prosperous future.

Karzai recalled that during the rule of Taleban, exports from Pakistan to Afghanistan accounted only for around $25 million, but had now risen to over $1.2 billion. "There is a vast scope for Pakistani industry to take it up to $5 billion as markets in Central Asia open for its goods, through Afghanistan."

He said both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the untapped human resources need to be further developed to improve the living standards of the people in the two countries.

Unstable Afghanistan is not in Pakistan's interests: Karzai - Feb 16, 2006

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - It is in Pakistan's interest to root out support for insurgents from Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime living on Pakistani soil, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.

The four-year-old Taliban-led insurgency that is hindering progress in Afghanistan also hinders Pakistan's prosperity, Karzai told members of the Pakistan National Defence College on the second day of a state visit.

"What is the strategic depth of Pakistan say vis-a-vis Afghanistan?" he asked. "Is it to prop up a Taliban government and spend money on it and spend resources on it and waste their economy, their resources then get nothing from it?

"Then the most negative fall-out is extremism bringing a terrible name to Islam, being a burden on your shoulders...," he said on Thursday. On the other hand, the prosperity that peace would bring to Afghanistan would benefit its neighbour, including with increased exports, he said.

"The poorer, the more in trouble Afghanistan, the poorer Pakistan. The stronger, the better, the more prosperous Afghanistan, the stronger, the more prosperous Pakistan," he said.

He rejected suggestions floated by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that the long and porous border between the two nations should be fenced off to prevent Islamic militants from moving across the frontier.

"Fencing is no solution. Finding roots of terrorism and violence, finding where they get trained, where they get equipped and start drying out the resources of their financial support is the solution," he said.

The insurgency launched after Afghanistan's Taliban government was toppled in late 2001 has become increasingly deadly, despite the efforts of tens of thousands of Afghan and foreign security forces.

Most of the violence -- which includes suicide attacks, car bombings and assassinations -- is attributed to remnants of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime and their Al-Qaeda allies who fled into Pakistan when the hardliners were ousted.

Pakistan has deployed tens of thousands of regular troops on its lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to prevent cross frontier infiltration. It has lost around 600 soldiers in battles with Al-Qaeda linked militants over last three years.

Kabul, Islamabad to share information on Taliban – 2.18.06 Daily Times (Pakistan) - Abdullah says Al Qaeda has no base in Afghanistan

‘Our relations with India are very important’

By Umer Farooq - ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan will share intelligence about the whereabouts of Taliban and Al Qaeda activists inside Pakistan and are devising a mechanism to ensure that subversive elements were firmly dealt with, the Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said. Talking to Daily Times, the Afghan foreign minister said that there were no two opinions about the presence of Taliban on Pakistani soil.

The issue, he said, was how to deal with the threat and how to fight the “common enemy”, he said, adding that the issue had been discussed by Pakistani and Afghan leaders during the current round of talks. He said that security remained the main focus of the talks between President Hamid Karzai and President Pervez Musharraf. “I think this visit provided the best opportunity to find solutions to these issues,” he said. Abdullah said that Pakistan had raised the issue of border incursions during the talks and it was also discussed in detail. He rejected Pakistan’s proposal to fence the border between the two countries as a way of curtailing cross-border incursions.

“A fence or wall is something which separates nations. We are living in an age where we need to build bridges, not walls,” he said. On Thursday, President Karzai addressed the National Defence College, where he was asked about this proposal by one of the participants,” he said. “Al Qaeda doesn’t have a base in Afghanistan anymore,” he said, adding, “Although there are groups linked to Al Qaeda carrying out suicide attacks in Afghanistan, they don’t have a base there anymore,” he said.

He said Afghanistan was a global base of operations for Al Qaeda before September 11, and they controlled almost 90 percent of the country. “However, the situation has completely changed now,” he said.

The Afghan minister said that his government was in the process of developing close relations with all countries in the region, including India and Pakistan. “Our relations with India are very important to us,” he said. “Expanding our relations with Pakistan, India and Iran and the rest of the world is our number one priority,” he said. He rejected a comparison with Iraq, saying that there was a clear-cut difference between the situation of the two countries. “Of course, the situation in Afghanistan is different, and calling it ‘occupation’ would be incorrect,” he said. “The presence of international forces in Afghanistan has helped its people rebuild their homeland,” he said.

In response to a question about Afghanistan acting as a channel between energy-rich Central Asia and South Asia, the Afghan foreign minister said that things had changed and now there was enough stability in Afghanistan to make trade with other countries in the region possible.

EDITORIAL: Karzai is walking a regional tightrope - February 18, 2006 – Daily Times (Pakistan)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a beleaguered man. He has an onerous task in front of him — to build his country from scratch. But he is unhappy with both Pakistan and Iran because they aren’t making life easy for him. In a speech at the National Defence College in Islamabad, Mr Karzai chose his words carefully. But the frustration came through clearly in the interview to a wire news service when he pointedly told Pakistan and Iran to stop meddling in Afghanistan’s affairs since the insecurity that their actions might generate in Afghanistan could likely engulf the entire region.

But Mr Karzai also told a media panel that “We will not allow any country, any government with whom Afghanistan has relations, to interfere in our relations with Pakistan or use our soil against Pakistan. We know the consequences of that for Afghanistan ... We will not allow that primarily for Afghan interests as well as those of Pakistan.”

There are two references to the regional situation here. One, Mr Karzai has denied that his government is allowing a third country (read, India) to use Afghanistan’s soil to destabilise Pakistan; and two, he has asked Pakistan to do the same, viz, not allow the hard-line Taliban elements to use Pakistani soil as a place from where to foray into Afghanistan and spread terror. The first was obvious when Mr Karzai fielded a question about the recent killings of three Chinese engineers at Hub in Balochistan and the Indian hand in that province. He said that his government was “keeping an eye” on such elements.

At NDC, Mr Karzai was equally circumspect on the issue of Iran’s nuclear weapons. He said that while he supported Iran’s right to nuclear energy, he was against weapons, especially nuclear weapons, though sovereign nations had a right to “the direction they want to take”. Mr Karzai is scheduled to visit Iran in the coming weeks and evidently would not have said anything that could create ill will ahead of the visit.

No one should envy Mr Karzai. He is caught in the vortex of international and regional power games on the one hand and internal strife and factionalism on the other. He has to live with Iran even as he cannot survive without American support. He cannot wish Pakistan away even as a liberal Afghanistan has more in common with India than Pakistan. Mr Karzai could even have thrown Uzbekistan into the equation since Tashkent is seeking the same kind of influence in the northern provinces and with the Uzbek population of Afghanistan as Pakistan does in relation to the Pashtun and Iran does in the southwest, especially in Herat.

The conflicting requirements create confusion. For instance, while Mr Karzai is concerned about cross-border movement that can generate violence, he is opposed to fencing as suggested by Pakistan, even though fencing is an eminently sensible device for two reasons: it would establish the Durand Line once and for all and by doing so remove one of the basic points of contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan; two, fencing would make it difficult for terrorist elements to move back and forth. We tend to see in the same light Mr Karzai’s proposal to remove visa requirements between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Indeed, until Mr Karzai can bring some semblance of normalcy to Afghanistan, the visa should stay and free movement across the line should be discouraged. Over time, however, it will be good to move in the direction suggested by Mr Karzai and do away with the visa. Until then we need both the fence and a visa regime in tandem with other administrative measures on the ground to ensure that neither side is trying to hurt the other’s interests.

Mr Karzai’s insistence that fencing of the Pak-Afghan border is against the concept of “closeness” — “Fencing is separation”, as he put it — is misplaced in the current context. Greater trade and other ties are not related to fencing. The two sides can be close despite a clear delineation and demarcation of the Durand Line. As Mr Karzai himself noted, Pakistani exports to Afghanistan have gone up to $1.2 billion from $25 million during the Taliban era. This is real closeness. And fencing, far from separating the two sides, will bring them closer by ensuring that trade can take place only through approved channels and no unsavoury elements can cross over to do mischief on either side.

Pakistan’s concern that India may be using its consulates is real in so far as Pakistani intelligence agencies claim they have traced the insurgency in Balochistan back to Afghanistan. Mr Karzai says he can trace the Taliban activity back to Pakistan. If both sides are correct even by half, both have a duty to perform. Pakistan must leash elements within its security establishment that might still be pinning hopes on a Taliban revival and Mr Karzai has to ensure that India does not exceed the bounds of diplomatic behaviour through its consulate staff. Mr Karzai is right when he says that good relations with Pakistan are in Afghanistan’s own interest. Let this realisation be translated into concrete action on the ground.

As for Iran, Mr Karzai has his task cut out for him when he goes to Tehran. Interestingly, nuclear weapons would be the last thing on his mind. He is likely to be more interested in Tehran’s outreach into his country’s southwest region. In Pakistan, Mr Karzai walked the tightrope as best as a man in his position and circumstances can; he will have to do more of the same when he goes to Iran.

Afghan television broadcasts footage of Al-Qaeda murders ) Feb 17
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan television broadcast what it said was exclusive footage of men murdered, some of them beheaded, in Pakistan because they were against the extremist Taliban and Al-Qaeda movements.

The images broadcast on the evening news bulletin of private Tolo television station showed the decapitated heads of three men being held up in front of a crowd of onlookers.

They also showed several bodies being dragged behind a pick-up truck. Tolo said the pictures were filmed in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal district, which shares a border with southern areas of Afghanistan most affected by a deadly insurgency blamed in most part of Taliban militants.

The men were killed because they "allegedly opposed the presence of Al-Qaeda and Taliban operators in South Waziristan", the television station said in a statement on Friday.

"The footage, obtained by Tolo TV exclusively, shows half a dozen dead bodies being dragged by a vehicle through the streets of Mandrakhel (in Waziristan) -- while a uniformed Pakistani military officer drives past without interfering," the statement said.

"In other scenes mutilated bodies and severed heads are placed on display in various positions and locations to dissuade others from opposing Al-Qaeda/Taliban presence in the region."

"Crowds are heard chanting 'long live Osama bin Laden' and 'long live Mullah Omar'," it said. The men are respectively the leaders of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The television station did not say how it obtained the footage of the alleged incident, which it said occurred about a month ago. The leadership of the ultra-conservative Islamic Taliban regime is believed to have fled from Afghanistan into neighbouring Pakistan after it was toppled in late 2001 in a US-led invasion.

The attack that ousted them was launched after the hardliners did not hand over Osama bin Laden -- a staunch ally -- wanted for the September 11 attacks. During their nearly five-year hold of government, the Taliban imposed a harsh version of Islamic Sharia law which included chopping off hands for theft and public executions, with the bodies of the dead sometimes paraded in public.

Many believe the nearly four-year-old insurgency that sees almost daily attacks in Afghanistan, including beheadings, is directed from across the border in largely lawless, tribe-dominated areas of Pakistan, including Waziristan.

Pakistan has for about two years had thousands of troops in the area to root out militants, but some Afghan officials say more needs to be done to remove the extremists hobbling the country's attempts to rebuild.

Cooperation between Islamabad and Kabul against the militants was the main theme of a three-day visit by President Hamid Karzai to Pakistan which ended Friday.

New UN envoy to Afghanistan arrives in country; will play key development role - U.N. News Service; 16 February 2006

16 February 2006 - The new head of the United Nations Mission Assistance in Afghanistan (UNAMA) arrived in the war-ravaged country today, with one of his main roles in the months ahead being to coordinate a multi-billion dollar development plan for the South Asian nation.

UNAMA said that Tom Koenigs, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul this morning and over the next few days would hold meetings with officials from the Government, diplomats and UN staff.

"One of Mr. Koenigs' key roles will be to co-chair the soon-to-be formed Joint Monitoring and Coordination Board, which will provide strategiccoordination for implementation of the Afghanistan Compact," UNAMA said, referring to a five-year development plan for the country that was launched last month.

Yesterday, the Security Council endorsed the plan, which calls for future partnership between the Afghan Government and the international community, saying it also welcomed pledges of $10.5 billion made by world leaders in January as part of the development framework.

Mr. Koenigs, whose appointment was announced by Secretary-General KofiAnnan in December 2005, succeeds Jean Arnault, who served as Special Representative for Afghanistan between February 2004 and February 2006.

The new head of UNAMA, who is a German national, previously served the world body in Kosovo and Guatemala, while before that he was active in regional and municipal politics in Germany.

Ex-Guerrillas Ready to Compromise As New Assembly Gains Pace - AKI, Italy 02/17/2006 By Syed Saleem Shahzad

Kabul - The Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), has emerged as the single largest party in the recent Afghan parliamentary elections. Yet the HIA is also against the presence of the US-led forces in Afghanistan and calls for a jihad in the Kunar valley which has seen bloody attacks on US forces. Despite these contradictions, the HIA chief, newly elected MP, Khalid Farooqui, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the time is right for his party "to make political compromises and not resistance."

"Forty of our members are members of parliament," said HIA chief, Khalid Farooqui. "Some of them are active and some are inactive but all of them have been affiliated with HIA in the past," he said while sitting in his office in the Afghan capital, Kabul. More than 80 percent of the members of Afghanistan's newly elected parliament are believed to be former mujahadeen or Taliban.

Although there is no single party which holds a majority in parliament, there is an alliance led by Yunus Qanooni, a leading figure in the Northern Alliance and former presidential candidate, who has been elected as speaker of the new Afghan parliament. The HIA has also emerged as a factor within the parliament as it gains its allies within the Taliban and the former mujahadeen.

A prominent leader of the HIA is Gulbadin Hikmatyar, a warlord who is in hiding, evading American forces. Hikmatyar is opposed to Afghan president Hamid Karzai and the US forces in Afghanistan and is blamed for carrying out several major attacks in the country. In 2003, the United States labelled him a terrorist.

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan however, Gulbadin Hikmatyar led the HIA which was then the strongest force in the six-party national resistance against the Soviets. However in the early 90s, Hikmatyar fought with the Kabul administration at the time, under the slain Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Masood, and the fighting is said to have led to the deaths of some 25,000 Afghans. During the mid-1990s when the Taliban movement emerged, they issued a death sentence against Hikmatyar, saying his hands were soaked in the blood of Afghans.

During the Taliban rule, the HIA leadership took refuge in Iran. A few of its main leaders such as Abdul Waheed Sabawoon joined the Northern Alliance against the hardline Taliban regime, while many other field commanders pledged their allegiance to the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Omar. Others scattered all over the world in places like Pakistan, the United States and Europe.

When the United States attacked Afghanistan in 2001, unlike other anti-Taliban factions, Gulbadin Hikmatyar maintained a nationalist approach and said that any differences among Afghans are its internal affairs and that no foreign country should be allowed to invade Afghanstan. So, even though the Taliban refused to take back its death sentence against Hikmatyar, the HIA gave its unconditional support to the regime.

After the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, Hikmatyar left Iran and entered Afghanistan to lead a resistance fighting against the foreign forces. Today he is still believed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border in Nooristan and the Kunar valley, fighting a guerrilla war against US forces together with his legendary commander during the Soviet occupation, Kashmir Khan, who is believed to be his only trusted partner in the current resistance.

In the post-Taliban period, the political leadership of the HIA in Peshawar in north-west Pakistan and in Europe remained in-limbo. However, after the high-profile arrest and imprisonment at the US-run Bagram airbase in October 2002 of Dr Ghairat Bahair, HIA envoy in Islamabad and Hikmatyar's son-in-law, many HIA leaders decided to give up their resistance and become a part of the political mainstream.

A delegation of HIA led by Dr Qutubuddin Hilal went to Kabul and held talks with Afghan president Karzai. While Karzai welcomed the delegation and called Hikmatyar a great mujahid or holy warrior, the spokesperson of the US-led coalition forces refused any truce with the HIA, calling Hikmatyar a terrorist and a bigger danger than the Taliban.

The delegation went back to Peshawar empty-handed but later there was a breakthrough between Kabul and HIA, and HIA was allowed to open up an office in Kabul. However the HIA announced that it would dismiss Hikmatyar as its chief and instead appoint Khalid Farooqui as new head of the party. The HIA is now a registered organisation in Afghanistan and it contested the September parliamentary elections.

"The party was totally disorganised, otherwise we would have swept the elections," said Farooqui in his interview with AKI. "Even under the current circumstances, 40 HIA members in parliament is a great victory. We neither had the money nor the resources. It was only through the HIA name and its popularity that public heard the name and decided to cast their votes to its members," Farooqui said.
The HIA emerged from the campuses of Kabul in mid-1960s, with a history of resistance since the days of the Afghan King Zahir Shah. However today, it has agreed to the political process which functions under the presence of the US-led coalition forces. According to Farooqui, the current circumstances are different.

"This is the time of make political compromises not resistance," he said. "Since the parliament is in place, there is a chance that all Afghans will be able to sit together and resolve problems through politics," he said.

However Farooqui still dismissed any chance of working together with any members of the Northern Alliance, including Yunus Qanooni who is the speaker of the newly-formed Afghan parliament.

"We have a long history of differences," said Farooqui. "It is not easy to resolve the problem in few days. Yunus Qanooni came in my office to seek the HIA support to get him the office of speaker [of parliament]. We met him but we did not support him [for the post of speaker]," Farooqui maintained.
However, when asked if Hikmatyar should be considered a national hero for his role against the Soviet regime or a terrorist as branded by the United States, Farooqui did not take a stand.

"There is no unanimous definition of the word 'terrorist' so far but we would not call engineer Gulbadin Hikmatyar a national hero either as it would again cause controversies," Farooqui asserted.

Afghan rebels may have help from Iraq - The Associated Press 2/17/2006

KABUL — A convoy of U.S. military Humvees snakes along the dusty valley road, its occupants unaware they are being filmed from a distant hilltop. Suddenly, a massive explosion hits one vehicle, flipping it over and engulfing it in flames.

The images were purportedly recorded in eastern Afghani-stan late last year and appear on a militant propaganda video CD obtained by The Associated Press that gives a graphic indication of an insurgency that has adopted Iraq-style guerrilla tactics.

The change has raised questions about whether local militants are simply emulating those destructive methods, such as roadside bombings, or if al-Qaida could be importing fighters from Iraq, where attacks have been considerably more sophisticated than in Afghani-stan.

An alleged Iraqi member of al-Qaida and three others from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir were caught by Afghan security forces trying to sneak into Afghanistan from Iran this month. During interrogation they said a large group of fighters from Iraq was headed here, according to authorities in southwestern Nimroz province.

"They're linked to al-Qaida and fought against U.S. forces in Iraq. They have been ordered to come here. Many are suicide attackers," Nimroz Gov. Ghulam Dusthaqir Azad told the AP.

His report suggested insurgents on two fronts in the war on terror could be cooperating to fight the United States, and that foreign militants operating in Afghanistan were entering not just from Pakistan as previously thought.

In a videotape Jan. 30, Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, said al-Qaida was waging war against U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he threatened a new attack in the United States.

"Who is pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan, us or you?" al-Zawahri said in the tape, addressing Americans. The U.S. military in Kabul refused to comment, saying it doesn't discuss intelligence matters.

Russia illegal drug trade worth $15 billion a year – Reuters 02/17/2006 By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW - Russia's illegal drugs trade has topped $15 billion a year as criminal groups flood the country with heroin from Afghanistan, a senior official from the national drugs control agency said on Thursday.

Drug use has soared since the fall of the Soviet Union, with Russians becoming major consumers of illegal drugs trafficked by well-organised gangs, including synthetic drugs from Europe as well as heroin from Afghanistan.

"In Russia the narcotics business is estimated to be worth $15 billion a year: some say more, some say less, but it is actually likely to be bigger," Vladimir Zubrin, deputy director of the Federal Drugs Control Service, told a news conference.

The estimate, one of the highest yet from a Russian drugs official, means the illicit drug trade is probably bigger than the profit made by the country's biggest company, Gazprom, whose 9-month profit was about $8 billion.

Criminal groups launder the drug money through banks and financial instruments and then invest in a variety of assets at home and abroad, Zubrin said.

Opium from the poppy fields of Afghanistan is refined into heroin and then smuggled through Central Asia to Russia, using the "northern route" through Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

"The biggest problem for us is the heroin coming from Afghanistan to Russia," Zubrin said. "Last year there was another good harvest of opium in Afghanistan ... and a significant part of that heroin came to Russia via the northern route."

He said the heroin flows had increased since Russian troops last year stopped patrolling the 1,340 km (835 mile) border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, which asked Russia in 2004 to pull out its troops.

Russia started patrolling the border more than 100 years ago when Tajikistan was a colony of the Russian empire, and continued doing so after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia's drug agency will also open an office in Kabul this year, Zubrin said.

Widespread intravenous drug use in Russia has helped the spread of illnesses like HIV/AIDS and boosted crime rates, according to drug officials. The number of drug-related deaths is rising, with about 100,000 deaths from drugs last year, up from 70,000 the year before, he said.

"This is a scary figure," he said. "Over recent years the number of deaths from overdoses has sharply increased." Russia probably has 5-6 million drug users out of a population of 143.5 million, he said, though the figure could be larger.

In Afghanistan, one kg of raw opium could fetch $180 last year, while one kg of heroin costs about $60,000 on the streets of Moscow. Last year, the drugs agency seized about 1,600 tonnes of heroin, he said.

Harper considering Afghanistan for first foreign trip - Canadian Press- February 17, 2006

OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper is considering one of the most chaotic corners of Afghanistan as a preferred destination for his first prime ministerial foreign trip. Perilous, sandswept Kandahar is being weighed against a more genteel option -- visits with the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico -- for Harper's first trip abroad.

Harper is expected to make all those stops eventually. He began pondering the Afghanistan option in the days after his election win. In a post-election briefing with top military brass, Harper was urged to visit Canadian troops stationed in the southern Afghan city.

The prime minister was told that such a visit would send a strong message about his commitment to the military, and about Canada's desire to make a difference in the world.

Officials in at least two federal departments said Harper has expressed support for the idea -- without committing to it. "Everybody's talking about it,'' said one federal official.

Another official said he found it significant that the one foreign country Harper mentioned in his Jan. 23 victory speech was Afghanistan -- not the U.S. or any other European ally.

He followed up that election-night address with a speech days later to a group of Canadian election monitors preparing to leave for Haiti. "Canada may not be a superpower -- but we stand for higher values to which all peoples aspire,'' Harper told the audience.

"And it is important that our actions as Canadians promote these values in all corners of the Earth.'' He cited freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and compassion for the less fortunate as core values Canada can export.

Afghanistan and Haiti are at the front lines of Canada's democracy-building efforts. The Conservative platform calls for an additional $5.3 billion in military spending over five years and 13,000 more regular forces.

In Kandahar, Canada's military presence is being increased to 2,200 this month in an effort to improve security in the longstanding Taliban stronghold. The posting is considered far more dangerous than Canada's earlier mission to the capital Kabul.

Last month a Canadian diplomat was killed and three Edmonton-based soldiers were seriously injured when a suicide bomber attacked their convoy. The Jan. 15 attack was one of two insurgent strikes against Canadian troops within a week. Nine Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan since early 2002.

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office said they had not heard of any plans for a trip to Afghanistan. However, they said visits with Canada's NAFTA neighbours -- the U.S. and Mexico -- appeared to be in the cards. Harper is expected to take his first foreign trips before Parliament returns April 3.

His first visit with Bush is being scheduled for late March. It may come during a White House stop before or after Harper meets with the U.S. president and Mexican president Vicente Fox in Mexico to review the continental relationship.

Canada's relationship with the United States soured at the executive level under former prime minister Paul Martin.

U.S. ambassador David Wilkins took the rare step of publicly rebuking Martin in the middle of the election campaign, accusing the Liberal leader of trying to score electoral points by pummelling the United States.

The Canada-U.S. relationship has bedevilled prime ministers since Confederation. Canadian political leaders have been forced to walk a fine line between conducting good relations with the country's largest trading partner and appearing to cozy up to a country whose policy aims can run counter to Canada's.

During his first news conference after being elected, Harper tried to draw a distinct line in the relationship. Unprompted by a query, he said he would be making his own policy decisions rather than taking his cue from the U.S. ambassador.

A day earlier, Wilkins said he saw no need for the new Conservative government to enact its platform commitment to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic by increasing patrols in the polar region.

Canada Braces as More Troops Head for the Perils of Afghanistan - By Doug Struck Washington Post February 18, 2006

TORONTO, Feb. 17 -- When Glyn Berry, a Canadian diplomat, was killed by a suicide bomber last month in Afghanistan, many here saw it as a sign of more bloodshed to come.

Canada, which has stayed out of the Iraq war, is ramping up its forces this month to patrol the most dangerous area of Afghanistan and to assume command of 6,000 NATO troops as the United States turns over more of the fight to its allies.

The handoff coincides with a spike in Iraq-style roadside bombs, ambush attacks and suicide bombings in Afghanistan. Military and political leaders here worry the Canadian public, already sour on America and the Bush administration's "war on terror," is not psychologically ready for news of casualties.

And some predict that Canada's higher profile in Afghanistan may bring attacks home, as in London and Madrid. "I don't think it's sunk in to the Canadian public how the world has changed. There is a high likelihood we will have significant losses of our troops," said John Watson, head of CARE-Canada, a relief agency that has operated in Afghanistan since 1961.

"There is also a chance that we will have an attack in Canada. Unlike the States or the United Kingdom, we haven't had to deal with that kind of incident" in more than 40 years, he said.

Canada's military brass has stepped up the blunt rhetoric in a campaign to prepare the public. Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defense, has called the Taliban in Afghanistan "detestable murderers and scumbags," unusually crude language for Canadians.

"This is a dangerous mission. There is an enemy. We have had casualties," Hillier said by telephone Thursday. "But what we want to achieve there is worthwhile. Things that are worth doing are sometimes dangerous."

Some see this as a shift in the mission of the Canadian military. Since the Korean War, Canadian forces have been deployed almost exclusively for peacekeeping. Canada stayed out of Vietnam, played a support role in the Persian Gulf War, and is proud of its image as a neutral party.

"We're not really aggressive. People around the world know us as peacekeepers, not as people who go out and seek conflict," said Marcel Durette, 52, as he ate lunch in downtown Toronto. "Canada going after the Taliban? I find that hard to believe."

"I think there will be more of an outcry if people start seeing body bags and coffins," said Andy Cherniak, 41, a counselor eating at a nearby counter. Joel J. Sokolsky, dean of arts and teaches at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, said he thinks there will be public support for the Canadian mission "as long as the government is clear about what it is.

"The government must make it clear from the beginning that this is no longer a peacekeeping operation, it's a combination of counterinsurgency and reconstruction," he said.

But there has been no significant parliamentary debate, and Afghanistan "still is off the edge of the radar screen" of the Canadian public, said Stephen Northfield, foreign editor of the Globe and Mail newspaper.

"I don't think there is alarm yet," he said. "The Canadian public hasn't fully calibrated the level of risk. The Canadian involvement hasn't been that deep yet. And the change in the situation on the ground has been reasonably recent."

The death of Berry, 59, a political officer working on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, has helped bring home the danger. Berry was the first Canadian diplomat killed overseas in 40 years. Three soldiers with him were badly injured when a suicide bomber struck their military convoy Jan. 15 near the southern city of Kandahar. The Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack.

Canada has posted forces in Afghanistan since February 2002. But the Canadian contingent is set to increase to 2,200 from 900 by the end of February, and the troops have moved from their base in the capital, Kabul, to Kandahar, a region with heavy Taliban influence and frequent attacks by insurgents.
In March, Fraser will lead NATO's southern contingent of 6,000 troops, primarily Canadian, British and Dutch. The United States, with 19,000 troops in the country, has said it will reduce its forces to 16,500 this year.

Kandahar and southern Afghanistan have become increasingly dangerous as insurgents deploy tactics used in Iraq, including suicide bombings. There have been at least 15 such attacks since November, according to the Reuters news agency. After a bombing killed four U.S. soldiers Monday, a Taliban commander boasted of more attacks to come, according to Reuters. The Pentagon says there have been 266 U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan.

"They are copying tactics from Iraq because of their ineffectual tactics over the last two or three years," said Hilliard, who served in Afghanistan from February to August 2004. "They are trying to counter some progress in standing up an Afghan army and an Afghan government."

While warning about the dangers, Hilliard also describes the mission in terms more comfortable to the Canadian public. "Our entire aim is to help Afghans rebuild their families so, in turn, families can rebuild their communities," he said. "We are helping build institutions." Echoing that line, the commander on the ground, Fraser, talks of the "three D's" -- defense, development and diplomacy.

Watson, whose relief agency kept working under the Taliban but now has withdrawn from Kandahar because of the danger, thinks that is unrealistic in southern Afghanistan. "Development and diplomacy will get people shot," he said. "The military should be under no illusions that their posting is going to be the most dangerous since the Korean War. It is primarily a war-fighting exercise. They are dealing with an insurgency in that part of the country that is getting worse by the day."

Hilliard notes that other Canadian peacekeeping missions -- which include the Balkans, Congo, Somalia, Rwanda and Ethiopia -- have been dangerous. More than 100 Canadian soldiers have died in such missions in a half decade, including eight in Afghanistan since 2002. "Canadian Forces have faced dangers before," Hilliard said. "They are ready for the job."

Bush seeks 72.4 billion dollars for Iraq, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Feb 16, 2006 (AFP) - President George W. Bush asked Congress Thursday for 72.4 billion dollars in additional funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, the White House said.

If approved as expected, the request would raise war-related costs to nearly 400 billion dollars since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The request is on top of 50 billion dollars already approved for fiscal 2006, raising the total for the year to 120 billion dollars.

Additionally, the White House has said it will seek another 50 billion dollars in bridge funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for fiscal 2007, which begins October 1.

Joel Kaplan, the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said 66.3 billion dollars of the latest request for extra funding will go to the Defense Department.

Another 3.2 billion dollars will go to the State Department, and 2.9 billion dollars for the intelligence agencies, he said. Kaplan said the White House will submit a separate 19.8 billion dollar supplemental funding request later for reconstruction of the hurricane-devastated Gulf coast.

The Pentagon typically funds military operations outside of its normal budget, but is now also adding the soaring costs of reorganizing and reequpping units on their return from combat tours in Iraq. It has requested a 439.3 billion dollar budget for fiscal 2007.

Afghan parliament approves February 15 as holiday

KABUL, Feb 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghan Lower House Thursday decided to observe 15th February, the day when Red Army was expelled from Afghanistan, as a public holiday across the country.

Speaking on the occasion, chief of the Dawat-i-Islami Abdul Rab Rasul Sayaf highlighted the importance of the day in the history of Afghanistan. He urged upon all MPs to unanimously declare the day as a public holiday.

Almost all the members agreed to celebrate the day on official level but some of them opposed the proposal regarding its approval as a public holiday. Ahmad Behzad, MP from the western Herat province, said it should not be a holiday.

The parliament decided that the day would be celebrated with national enthusiasm and central as well as officials from provinces would attend functions arranged in connection with February 15.

Afghanistan Erupts Over Danish Cartoons

The extreme reaction to caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper demonstrates the faultlines in Afghanistan’s fledgling democracy. Institute for War and Peace Reporting - By Wahidullah Amani and Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul (ARR No. 203, 14-Feb-06)

A week of violent protests has left a dozen people dead and scores injured in Afghanistan as demonstrators expressed their anger over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad initially published in a Danish newspaper. The row has shown the gulf between the views held by a majority of Afghans and the moderate, Western-leaning government headed by President Hamed Karzai.

Karzai’s response also stands in sharp contrast to the views expressed by other parts of the Afghan government. The president has appealed for calm and forgiveness in interviews both with the foreign press and with Afghan journalists.

“As much as we condemn [these cartoons], we as Muslims must have the courage to forgive this and not make it a matter of a dispute between religions and cultures… this does not mean that cartoons insulting Islam must continue to appear. They must definitely stop,” he said.

The president also tried to tone down the anti-Danish sentiment in the country. “When I was in Denmark [in January], the prime minister, Mr [Anders Fogh] Rasmussen, spoke to me about this and he very much regretted what happened with the Danish newspaper. But he said, ‘Look, you understand that the press is free, what a newspaper does is not representative of the view of the people or government of Denmark,’” he said.

But this relatively mild reaction did not play well at home. Freedom of the press is not accepted as an explanation or excuse for the perceived insult to Islam, and Karzai’s statement made him seem out of touch with the mood of his people.

“Karzai does not reflect the sentiments of Afghans,” said Habibullah Rafi, political analyst and member of the Afghan Academy of Sciences. “People do not listen to him. They are disappointed in him.”

More in tune with the public’s general attitude is the harsh response by the country’s highest judiciary body. “This act by the Danish press is in clear conflict with Islamic law and is an insult to our religion,” said Abdul Wakil Omari, head the Supreme Court’s publications department. “We are not satisfied with an apology from the newspaper; the government of Denmark should officially apologise to Muslims, and it should not allow its media to insult other religions in the future."

According to Omari, the Supreme Court was issuing an official statement to this effect. Abdul Rabb Rasul Sayyaf, head of the conservative Islamic party Dawat-e-Islami and a prominent member of parliament, called the publication a criminal act, and demanded a strong response.

“Muslims should react in such a way that in the future, no one else will ever dare to do anything like this again,” he told IWPR. “Muslims respect all religions and no one has the right to insult any of these religions,” he said. Sayyaf called on the United Nations Security Council to condemn Denmark and any other countries that published the cartoons.

The lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, passed a resolution on February 4 calling for the offending editor to be put on trial. The resolution also condemned in strongest terms the country in which the offending caricatures first appeared. “We call on the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to express the deepest hatred of Afghans for Denmark,” it said.

Many Afghans have heeded the call. Protests have exploded all across the country, from Maimana in the northern province of Faryab to Qalat, the provincial capital of the volatile south-eastern province of Zabul.

“This is not a simple case,” said Ghulam Hanif, who bears the honorific title “Maulawi” or high-ranking mullah. He was part of a demonstration in Mazar-e-Sharif, in the north of the country. “Denmark, the world Jewish community and the West are involved in a plot to show Islam as a backwards religion, a religion of terrorists.”

Maulawi Nasim Akhundzada, caretaker of the Kharqa shrine in Kandahar, said the protests would continue for a very long time. “We will not stop the demonstrations until the editors of the papers are put on trial. It was a very bad thing that the Afghan president went to Denmark and met officials there,” he said.

In Herat, demonstrator Mohammad Nabi shouted anti-Danish slogans and called on Karzai to demand the removal of Denmark’s troop contingent from Afghanistan. “Those who insult Islam should not be in our country. If the government does not do this, we will kill Danish troops anywhere we see them,” he said.

There are currently some 160 Danish troops in Afghanistan. NATO has not announced any immediate plans to withdraw them. In Kabul, schoolteacher Shahnaz called for the editor’s execution, "If Muslims keep silent, there will more disrespect and violence against our religion and Prophet. Therefore a court in an Islamic country must execute this [editor.]”

Some have blamed the violence that has accompanied the demonstrations on “foreign elements” - shorthand for Pakistanis – whom they accuse of inciting peaceful demonstrators. In Zabul, the site of some of the worst demonstrations, police arrested more than 40 Pakistanis and charged them with having orchestrated the protests.

But others blame the deaths on lack of experience on the part of both police and protesters. “In Afghanistan, people get killed in demonstrations because the police do not have enough experience of crowd control,” Rafi told IWPR. “They should be prepared for demonstrations, but they aren’t - they are sleeping. They should have tear gas and water tankers but they don’t.

“People here don’t know how to demonstrate, either. They throw stones, they break windows, and sometimes they have guns. Firearms are everywhere.”

Pakistan crackdown over cartoons – BBC

A radical Islamic leader has been detained in Pakistan to prevent him from leading protests against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed was held in Lahore as he prepared for a rally after Friday's prayers, his spokesman said. More than 100 other protesters have also been detained across Pakistan, amid reports of clashes with police.

At least five people died in Pakistan as rallies against the cartoons in the Western media turned violent this week. Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits any depiction of Allah or the Prophet. The cartoons, first published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, have angered Muslims worldwide.

In other developments:

· Denmark temporarily closes its embassy in Pakistan because of the security situation. Copenhagen also advises against all travel to Pakistan and urges Danes there to leave as soon as possible.

· Pakistan recalls its ambassador in Denmark for consultations.

· A minister in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Haji Yaqub, announces a $11m reward for anyone who beheads the cartoonist who drew the images of Muhammad.

· Peshawar cleric Maulana Yousaf Qureshi offers 7.5m rupees ($125,000) and a car to anyone who kills the cartoonist. The reward is later reportedly raised to $1m.

· Former US President Bill Clinton calls the publication of the cartoons "a mistake".

· In Hong Kong, more than 2,000 Muslims stage a peaceful anti-cartoon march.

The detained Mr Saeed is the founder of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a banned militant group fighting in Indian-administered Kashmir. He now heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa - a radical group that is under government surveillance.

He had been scheduled to address a sermon in the eastern city of Lahore before leading a protest in the city of Faisalabad. The spokesman for Mr Saeed said a large contingent of police arrived at his home early on Friday morning and placed him under house arrest.

In Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse some 2,000 protesters who blocked a major street. Some 60 people were arrested. Dozens of protesters were detained by police in Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad.

Tens of thousands of police are out on patrol in major cities - including the capital Islamabad - and most schools and colleges have been closed to prevent students from joining the protests.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has condemned the cartoons, which include one portraying the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. Recent rallies against the cartoons in Pakistan snowballed into major acts of civil disorder that took on an anti-US tone, the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says.

Analysts say the protests have become a political challenge to Gen Musharraf and his pro-American policies - and they could continue, our correspondent says. On Sunday, powerful Islamist parties have called the first in a series of mass demonstrations timed to peak with the visit of US President George W Bush.

[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.]