In this bulletin:

• Schoolteacher, 14 Taliban killed in Kunar, Nuristan
• Rockets hit foreign base in Afghanistan, 10 hurt
• Blair says Afghanistan "very dangerous"
• We face defeat in Afghanistan, Army chiefs warn Blair
• Afghanistan to eradicate illegal armed groups at any cost: president
• Afghan to India: Let's step up ties
• Spanta to leave for US tomorrow
• Pakistan backtracks on deployment of more troops
• Afghan Minister hails Pakistan's decision
• Don't send troops to Afghanistan, Muslim rights’ group urges PM
• 12 Afghan refugees arrested in Bara
• Taliban stage public execution in Mir Ali
• Balochistan problem has no link with al Qaeda or Taleban: ISPR
• International Medical Corps clinic burned down in southern Afghanistan
• A flawed strategy
• Inauguration of Torkham - Jalalabad Highway next month
• Afghanistan to import fuel from Turkmenistan
• MP thrashed in Jawzjan
• Karzai’s Germans

Schoolteacher, 14 Taliban killed in Kunar, Nuristan - Faridullah Hasam/Zahid 

KABUL, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Firing by the US-led coalition forces in the eastern Kunar province killed a school headmaster and injured two locals in the Watapur district last night.

Separately, 14 militants have been killed as the coalition forces attacked their hideout in the Kamdesh district of the eastern Nuristan province on Friday, said a statement released from the US Bagram base.

A coalition patrol tracked a band of 14 militants traveling with Ak-47 assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades. The coalition forces attacked them as they reached their safe house, destroying two buildings in the compound, said the statement.

Afghan National Army (ANA) and coalition forces seized the compound and identified 14 dead enemy combatants. No ANA, coalition or civilian were injured in the attack.

Afghan and coalition forces continue to attack and overpower terrorists conducting operations simultaneously in both the eastern and southern provinces to provide safe and secure environment to the Afghan people, said the statement.

"The defeat of extremism is certainly an important part of our operations here," said Maj Gen Benjamin C Freakley, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force - 76.

Separately, a school headmaster was killed and two other civilians injured in the Watapur district of the neighbouring Kunar province as coalition forces retaliated after a rocket attack on their base.

Police chief of the province Abdul Jalal told Pajhwok Afghan News on Friday the incident took place in the Khani Banda area of the district last evening.

The commander said the US forces started firing after a rocket attack on their base. Said Alam, the schoolmaster, was severely wounded in the US firing and later breathed his last in the hospital, said the police chief. He added two more civilians were injured in the firing.

Provincial Governor Asadullah Wafa confirmed the incident but said he did not know about the killing of the schoolteacher. He admitted two people had been wounded in the firing.

The governor said the injured were under treatment at a PRT hospital in the province. About a fortnight back, three members of the tribal militia were killed and two others wounded when the US forces opened fire at their vehicle in the same province.

Rockets hit foreign base in Afghanistan, 10 hurt - July 01, 2006

KABUL (Reuters) - Two rockets hit the main international military base in southern Afghanistan wounding 10 people including two Canadian soldiers, military officials said on Saturday.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months to its worst level since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. More than 1,100 people, including about 50 foreign troops, have been killed since January.

Two 107 mm rockets hit the main foreign military base at the airport in the town of Kandahar on Friday evening.

Taliban occasionally fire rockets into the sprawling base, home to 7,000 soldiers and civilian workers, but they usually explode harmlessly on open ground. Friday's attack was the first time anyone had been hurt.

"Two explosions occurred within the perimeter of Kandahar air field," said the Canadian military spokesman, Major Marc Theriault. "One of them occurred in a common area and several people from various nations were wounded, among them two Canadian soldiers," he said.

The U.S. military said 10 people were hurt. Three people had been treated for injuries and released, six were in stable condition and one was in serious condition, it said. It gave no more details.

The Taliban commander for southern Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, claimed responsibility. "We fired several rockets at the air base and they hit their target," said Dadullah, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We will carry out more such attacks."

Theriault said the attack was the seventh since he arrived at the base in February. In all, 22 rockets had been fired, he said. The Canadian in critical condition was being evacuated to Germany, he said.

In a separate incident, gunmen attacked a police post in the generally peaceful north of the country early on Saturday, seriously wounding two men, police said.

It was the first suspected insurgent attack in the town of Koad-e-Barq, in Balkh province, and follows a series of attacks on foreign troops in the north that have raised fears the Taliban are expanding operations from their southern and eastern heartland. (Additional reporting by Tahir Atmar in MAZAR-I-SHARIF)

Blair says Afghanistan "very dangerous " - UPI 07/02/2006

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is urging other NATO countries to send more troops and equipment to fight resurgent Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Blair considers the Afghan situation "very dangerous" and believes the West has failed to grasp how high the stakes are, the Times of London reports. The United States has about 25,000 troops in Afghanistan but is turning control of some areas over to NATO forces.

British-led NATO forces are scheduled to coordinate a peacekeeping and reconstruction mission in southern Afghanistan on July 31. But instead of peacekeeping, they find themselves fighting insurgent Taliban forces, which are increasingly attacking foreign forces, the Times reports.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months to its worst level since the Taliban were ousted by the United States and its allies in 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaida's leaders and training camps.

A senior British government official said Blair "wants governments to wake up" to the growing Afghan crisis.

We face defeat in Afghanistan, Army chiefs warn Blair - Daily Mail 07/02/2006

Army chiefs have warned Tony Blair that British forces face defeat in Afghanistan unless more troops and equipment are sent out immediately, it has been claimed.

According to a senior military source, Army top brass have told the Government there is a possibility of failure in Afghanistan, where British soldiers have met significant resistance from the Taliban forces defeated by the US-Anglo invasion five years ago.

The source said that officers at the Services' Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, North London, run by Major General Nick Houghton, had told Ministers that 'strategic failure' – military jargon for defeat – could not be ruled out.

The report comes amid growing pressure on Defence Secretary Des Browne to reinforce the 3,300-strong contingent of British troops in Afghanistan, where two Special Forces soldiers were killed last week after fighting with the Taliban.

Conservative frontbencher Patrick Mercer said: 'This has turned into a shooting war and our forces do not have the firepower to deal with it.'

Army chiefs have told Mr Blair they urgently need more soldiers on the ground, extra artillery, more helicopters to ensure that wounded soldiers can be airlifted to medical centres, and GR7 Harriers to attack Taliban bases.

'The British forces are having difficulty in coping,' a military source said. 'They were sent in there as peacekeepers and now find themselves in what is, in all but name, another war.

'They cannot get proper supplies and if men are injured, it is proving difficult to fly them out of the danger zone. That cannot go on.'

Both Lieutenant General David Richards, commander of the Nato force in Afghanistan, and General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, are calling for extra resources.

When British forces were switched to Afghanistan from Iraq last year in a deal with America, former Defence Secretary John Reid said their main task would be peacekeeping. But they were soon taking on insurgents determined to bring down the democratic government of Afghanistan elected after the Taliban regime was toppled.

The British force was sent to Helmand Province, the Taliban stronghold, and is now involved in daily battles with its guerrillas. The resurgence in the Taliban has taken Britain and America by surprise.

In spite of several victories against Taliban fighters, the British force has been hampered by other problems. Because of the size of the area for which they are responsible, they have to fly troops to the front line to avoid Taliban forces attacking long-distance lorry convoys almost at will.

In an added complication, the Chinook helicopters they rely on are unable to operate in the intense heat of the Afghan summer.

Ministry of Defence aides say there is irritation in Downing Street that Spain and Germany, both with troops in safer parts of Afghanistan, are reluctant to divert forces to relieve the British contingent.

Afghanistan to eradicate illegal armed groups at any cost: president - Xinhua 07/02/2006

Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed on Saturday that his government would eradicate illegal armed groups at any cost.

"Backed by Afghan people's strong desire to get rid of all the illegal armed groups in Afghanistan and to make this country safe and prosperous, the government of Afghanistan has committed itself to accomplishing Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) at any cost," said Karzai in a statement issued by his spokesman's office.

The DIAG program, which was launched on June 11, 2005, is a process intending to eradicate the influence of illegal armed groups in Afghanistan, thus allowing the consolidation of peace, rule of law and prosperity in the country.

As of early this month, 22,738 weapons, including 14,239 operational weapons, as well as 21,362 rounds of boxed and 190,170 rounds of unboxed ammunition have been handed over to and verified by Afghanistan's New Beginnings Program collection teams.

"While many obstacles lie ahead, I am fully committed to achieving the benchmark of DIAG as stipulated in the Afghanistan Compact. The government of Afghanistan will not allow any disruptions to the implementation of DIAG program," said Karzai.

The Afghan president is to leave for Japan next week to attend the conference on the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration and DIAG programs.

Karzai will also pay an official visit to Tokyo after the conference during which he will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Afghan to India: Let's step up ties - Asian Age 07/02/2006

New Delhi - Visiting Afghanistan foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta wants to step up Indo-Afghan relations to a "higher and strategic level".

He feels India can contribute by sharing intelligence and experience in combating drug-trafficking, besides playing a role in rebuilding infrastructure in Kabul and beyond.

"Terrorism continues to be a threat for peace and progress in Afghanistan and the world at large. Narcotics represent another source of instability for the country," he observed in his lecture on 'Afghanistan: Foreign Policy, Regional Relations and Future Perspectives' at Sapru House on Saturday.

He went on to suggest that Afghanistan and its neighbours, including India and Pakistan, should pursue "integrated policies" to overcome the challenges posed by the reported resurgence of the Taliban. Transnational terrorism needed to be attacked at its sources, he said before concluding his three-day visit to India. He said the "problem or weakness" with the war against terrorism had been that the sources of terrorism — ideological, training and financial — had not been recognised. He felt that with change in strategy, there will be positive results and asserted that the scourge of terrorism could be fought better through cooperation.

Spanta to leave for US tomorrow

KABUL, July 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta will leave for an official visit to the United States on Monday.

Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Sultan Ahmad Bahin said the minister would meet Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the ongoing war on terror and drugs in Afghanistan.

Dr Spanta is also scheduled to deliver speeches at some universities during his stay in the United States. This is Spanta's first visit to US since taking charge of the Foreign Ministry.

He is visiting the United States less than a week after the visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Afghanistan and her talks with President Hamid Karzai and other members of his cabinet.

Pakistan backtracks on deployment of more troops

ISLAMABAD, July 1 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Just days after the statement of Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Sherapo has said that his country will not deploy additional troops along the Pak-Afghan border.

Khurshid Kasuri, during a joint press conference with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday, said his country would deploy 10,000 more troops to secure the Pak-Afghan border.

The neighbouring country says it has positioned 80,000 troops along the border to control cross-border movement of militants. The issue has become a bone of contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past few months.

Quoting the minister, Pakistani media reported that the 80,000 forces already deployed along the border were sufficient to check cross-border movement of terrorists.

Talking to reporters, the minister also ruled out the possibility of erecting fence on 23,000 kilometre border with Pakistan.

The proposal was forwarded by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and vehemently supported by all the government organs. However, it was rejected by Afghanistan, saying it was not viable.

"If Afghanistan is not satisfied with the measures taken by Pakistan, it can deploy its own security force over there," said the Pakistani minister while referring to the recent complaints by Afghanistan regarding cross border infiltration.

Replying to a question, Sherpao said Rice's visit was misinterpreted by some people that she was not satisfied with the role of Pakistan in restoration of peace in Afghanistan.

Last week, US Secretary of State, on her way to Russia, visited both Islamabad and Kabul to discuss the ongoing war on terror with Pakistan Pervez Musharraf and President Karzai.

During her 14-hour stay in Pakistan and a stop-over in Kabul, Rice assured President Karzai of her country's full backing. At the same time, she got assurances from Pakistani officials regarding more cooperation with Afghan government in the war against terror.

Afghan Minister hails Pakistan's decision - The Hindu 2 July 2006

NEW DELHI: Afghanistan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta on Saturday said he hoped that Pakistan's decision to send 10,000 more troops to the border between the two countries would help in tackling the growing extremist violence.

Taking questions after addressing the Indian Council of World Affairs here, Dr. Spanta said he recently had "friendly" negotiations with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Kasuri.

Afghanistan had spoken "clearly and openly" about the problem of extremist violence during the negotiations. Pakistan itself was a victim of "Talibanisation," he said.

Dr. Spanta, who has been an academic and activist, said Afghanistan, as an Islamic nation, should be an active member in the comity of democratic nations. It should act as a bridge between the Islamic world and democratic nations.

Pointing out that India had played an "important role" in the battle against the Taliban, the new Foreign Minister said it was also one of the most generous donors in Kabul's effort to reconstruct Afghanistan.

Calling for cooperation between the two countries in new fields, Dr. Spanta said they needed to take their relations to a "higher and strategic level." He met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday.

Asked about the deteriorating security situation in his country, Dr. Spanta said "security building" required a complex strategy. Economic and social development was a must to build security.

Stressing that Afghanistan saw itself as a "moderate Islamic country," he said 28 per cent of the seats in its Parliament were held by women. "Four years ago women were not allowed to go alone to the market," he said, underlining the changes in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

On the recent anti-American riots in Kabul, Dr. Spanta conceded that there was a "deep discrepancy" between the ability of the government to provide services and the people's expectations. "We also have the problem of corruption," he said, adding Afghanistan had to move towards good governance.

Don't send troops to Afghanistan, Muslim rights’ group urges PM -

Web posted at: 7/2/2006 Source: IANS

A Muslim rights group has cautioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against sending Indian troops to Afghanistan to beef up the US-led forces, saying this would have “severe consequences”.

“Even the slightest reflection of being with the American-led forces in Afghanistan would have severe consequences and would send disastrous signals not only to common Afghans but also to the domestic population in India, apart from putting the minute Hindu and Sikh population in Afghanistan at great risk,” Navaid Hamid, secretary of the South Asian Council for Minorities (SACM), said in a letter to the prime minister.

Recalling the fallout of India's foray into Sri Lanka in the 1980s to broker peace between the government and Tamil Tigers, Hamid maintained it would be “disastrous, politically and historically, to align with the forces which are messed up in the situation created by their misadventures in the troubled nation”.

12 Afghan refugees arrested in Bara - The News International July 1, 2006

BARA AGENCY: Intensifying its operation against Afghan refugees involved in anti-social activities, the political administration of Bara Agency has arrested a dozen refugees and deported a number of others to their country.

The political administration, acting on the special directives of Political Agent Muhammad Fahim Khan, is investigating those arrested. With the help of the Levies Force, the administration has also demolished the house of an Afghan named Noor Khan and deported all 10 members of his family, who were residing there illegally.

The Tehsildar of the political administration, Mahsood Ullah Khan, said the operation against Afghan refugees was initiated after their involvement in anti-social activities. He said the arrested refugees were living in Bara Agency illegally.

The administration, which has deported 70 Afghan refugees and destroyed five houses so far, says the operation has brought a positive change in the law and order situation in the tribal area.

Tribal elders and political and social circles have commended the operation and hoped that, after the repatriation of Afghan refugees, the situation would further improve.

Taliban stage public execution in Mir Ali The News International (Pak)July 1, 2006

PESHAWAR: A Taliban council of Ulema in the Mir Ali sub-division of North Waziristan tribal agency on Friday executed an alleged murderer in public to send message to others that Islamic Sharia was the supreme law of the restive region.

Muhammad Ghani of the Eppi village was arrested on June 22 for killing two tribesmen in a rivalry and was tried by the clerics since then, locals said. It was early morning on Friday that heirs of the two deceased, namely Mir Khan and Gul Jan, were handed over an AK-47 assault rifle by the Taliban force to eliminate the killer.

The heirs of the two men, locals said, had refused to pardon the killer or accept money as compensation in accordance with the Islamic justice, which necessitated the execution of Muhammad Ghani, they said.

Balochistan problem has no link with al Qaeda or Taleban: ISPR - Source: NNI – Sabawoon 1 July 06

The ISPR Director General Shaukat Sultan has said that the Balochistan problem has no link with al Qaeda or Taleban. Speaking to a private TV channel he said that the government has complete control over the streets of Quetta and dispelled the impression that the problem in Quetta could be linked with the Taleban or al Qaeda movement.

"The problem in Balochistan is totally different. It is of a local nature and is a domestic politics", he clarified. To a question the ISPR DG said that the government in Balochistan is a democratically elected government, adding that the development in the area, including opening of the roads, schools and colleges, dispensaries and hospitals, are being opposed by some of the local tribal chieftains thinking that they are to lose grip over their tribes.

He reiterated, "Our national interest lies in having a moderate society, it is not supporting extremism." To another query he said that Pakistan was one of the three countries that had recognised the Taleban government. Recognising Taleban government is a different and supporting Taleban government is entirely different, he added. Pakistan, he said, in fact has recognised every government in Afghanistan ever since Pakistan's inspection whether it was Taleban or it was any other government whether it was friendly to Pakistan or not friendly Pakistan.

International Medical Corps clinic burned down in southern Afghanistan - International Medical Corps, USA 07/01/2006

An International Medical Corps clinic in the southern Paktika Province was burned to the ground on June 28, with reports indicating the fire was started by suspected Taliban insurgents. Although no one was injured, all of IMC's medical equipment was destroyed in the fire.

IMC's Janatkhil clinic, also in the same district, was burned down on April 12, 2006. This incident comes in the wake of discussions between IMC and the Ministry of Health to reopen the Janatkhil clinic in August in order to meet the health needs of people in the community.

The security situation in Paktika and other southern provinces has deteriorated due to ongoing counter-insurgent operations in the border region. There is speculation that violence will continue to increase.

IMC's extensive medical assistance and training programs in Afghanistan reflect its long-standing commitment to helping Afghan civilians. Afghanistan has been central to IMC's humanitarian efforts since the organization's founding in 1984, when volunteer American doctors first traveled to the country in response to the dire needs of Afghan civilians suffering under the Soviet invasion.

IMC has provided medical assistance, health care training and relief and development programs to the Afghan people for more than 20 years. Currently, IMC offers equitable and cost-effective basic primary health care services to millions of people.

IMC also provides refresher training courses for Afghan health care providers. Training programs are wide-ranging, including OB/GYN, HIV/AIDS, integrated management of childhood diseases, reproductive health, infections disease and infection prevention. In 2005, IMC supported 36 clinics and five IMC-run health facilities. A network of approximately 400 community health workers provided primary health care, health education and referrals to the clinics.

A flawed strategy - Sunday Times UK – 2 July 06

Afghanistan has been until now the forgotten war. The daily news of atrocities from Iraq, and the rising death toll among British and American soldiers there, diverted attention from the allies' first post-9/11 conflict. Started to oust the Taliban, who were providing a safe haven for Al-Qaeda, it has been rumbling on for five years. Now it has rumbled dangerously back to life.

The dramatic report by our correspondent, Christina Lamb, highlights the dangers. She joined British soldiers on a "hearts and minds" expedition to a village in Helmand province. The mission was one of peace, to take tea with village elders and offer development assistance. Instead the party walked into a Taliban ambush and, as Ms Lamb graphically describes, she, her photographer and the British paratroopers were lucky to escape with their lives.

This was not an isolated occurrence. Years after the Taliban were supposed to have been defeated, the 3,300 British soldiers in Afghanistan are reporting eight "contacts" — some fully fledged gun battles — with them daily. Last month three British soldiers, four Americans and a Romanian were killed. Overnight, five American soldiers, two Canadians and three civilian contract workers were injured by a Taliban rocket attack on a base in Kandahar.

The resurgence of the Taliban is causing deep concern in Downing Street, which describes the situation as "very dangerous" and wants allied governments to wake up to the importance of securing victory. Yet only two months ago John Reid, then defence secretary, was offering the hope that British soldiers could leave without firing a shot. As Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, puts it: "This mission is turning out to be far more dangerous than the public and backbenchers have been led to believe."

So it is. The question is whether we should have expected anything else. Three Anglo-Afghan wars should have told anyone with a passing acquaintance with military history that the Afghans have always been formidable opponents. Yet British commanders appear taken aback by the ferocity of the resistance they encounter. Did they really expect fighters to run away? The Soviet experience of a 10-year occupation, more than 15,000 Russian deaths and retreat in 1989 revealed yet again that this is a country that does not take kindly to foreign intervention.

What is the strategy in Afghanistan? In one part of the country, Operation Mountain Thrust, a US-led effort to kill or capture the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, represents the last gasp of Operation Enduring Freedom, embarked on after 9/11. When the American mission finishes at the end of this month (though US troops will remain) British and Nato forces will take on the task of nation-building and containing the insurgency. Lieutenant-General David Richards, in charge of the Nato mission, talks of a "Malayan inkspots" approach of holding villages long enough for local leaders to gain support against insurgents.

If that sounds naive, so does the political strategy. The last London conference on Afghanistan in February was hubristically called Building on Success. It spoke of economic development, "engaging civil society", and weaning Afghan farmers off dependence on the opium crop. It is not working. Vast sums of aid have been poured in but the drugs trade is booming. Hamid Karzai's government is in charge in Kabul but not in four-fifths of the country. He is seen by many Afghans as a puppet of the West and by foreign governments, increasingly, as an unreliable partner, filling his administration with the shady and corrupt.

Nation-building is not working and neither is peace-keeping. The post-9/11 mission of targeting states that harbour and sponsor terrorists is faltering. The strategy needs rethinking. As things stand, it is hard to see what good Britain is doing there and where it will end.

Inauguration of Torkham - Jalalabad Highway next month

KABUL, June 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Construction work of the Torkham - Jalalabad Highway has almost been completed and the road will be formally opened for general traffic next month.

Work on the 75-kilometre road was launched in June 2004 by a Pakistani company. It was decided that the work would be completed in 18 months but the company responsible failed to accomplish the job in the prescribed period and the government of Pakistan handed over the contract to another company in the name of Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

Deputy Minister for Public Welfare Dr Mohammad Rasuli told Pajhwok Afghan News construction work of the road had been completed in three years.

Rasuli said although there was a delay in completion, the standard of the work was of best quality and they were thankful to the government of Pakistan for that. He said the road would be formally inaugurated in August and the opening ceremony was expected to be attended by senior Pakistani and Afghan officials.

Regarding the construction cost, Rasuli said it had been estimated from 25 to 30 million US dollars. The amount is part of the $150 million assistance pledged by Pakistan for reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said the road would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. A statement released by the PM Surveillance Commission said Premier Aziz had expressed displeasure over the delay in completion of the road construction.

The statement said the National Highways Authority (NHA) had been directed to accomplish the work soon as the PM was going to inaugurate it in the first week of August.

Afghanistan to import fuel from Turkmenistan

PWR-AFGHANISTAN-TURKMENISTAN Afghanistan to import fuel from Turkmenistan

KABUL, July 1 (KUNA) -- Owing to the increasing prices of diesel and petrol in Afghanistan, the government has decided to import 400 metric tons of the commodity from the neighbouring Turkmenistan.

The product is being imported from the neighbouring Turkmenistan under an agreement signed between the two countries last year.

Under the agreement, Afghanistan can import 1,000 metric tons of fuel (diesel and petrol) from Turkmenistan, Mohammad Yunas, a senior official of the Ministry of Energy told a press conference here on Saturday.

He said the import included 80 per cent diesel and 20 per cent petrol. The decision has been taken by the government in face of the recent increase in prices of fuel in Afghanistan.

Due to the increasing trend in the international market, the prices of diesel and petrol had gone from 23 afghani per litre to 30 afghanis. The official said they were expecting that the import of the commodity would bring the prices of diesel and petrol to 25 afghanis per litre.

MP thrashed in Jawzjan

Pajhwok news Agency 07/02/2006 -  Faizullah Zaki, member of the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) and former spokesman of Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum has been reportedly badly thrashed, however there are contradictory accounts about the assailants.    

A reliable source privy to the incident said Zaki was beaten some nine days back by Gen Dostum and his followers when the MP was holidaying in his native city of Sheberghan, capital of the northern Jawzjan province.

The incident was kept in top secret so far, only some MPs and officials were aware of the incident. Former leader of a faction and known warlord, Dostum is now a senior military official with President Hamid Karzai.

A key rival of Dostum and leader of a political party in the north, who requested to be named, said Zaki was beaten harshly by Dostum and his bodyguards in a function in Jawzjan. Reportedly Dostum asked his former spokesman and current MP Zaki, why the latter did not nominate him (Dostum) for defence or interior ministry.  

To which, Zaki responded that Dostum was not eligible for the slot of minister. Higher qualification is required for the seat of minister, according to the constitution, that Dostum lacks. The two traded harsh words and then Dostum and his followers badly thrashed Zaki.

After receiving harsh trashing, the MP evacuated to a hospital in Tashkent for treatment. A relative of Zaki, requesting anonymity, also confirmed that Zaki was beaten by Dostum and his bodyguards.

However, Syed Noorullah, (better to say an ally of Dostum) acting leader of Junbish-e-Milli party, which was formerly led by Dostum and is still close with him, said Zaki was beaten by unidentified people on the Mazar-Sheberghan Highway and was sent to Tashkent along with his family.

Another official, on condition of anonymity, said Zaki himself was in hospital in Tashkent, but his family was still in Jawzjan.

In Kabul, head of the security of the parliament General Sher Aziz Kamawal said he could not be ascertained about the incident, however he said he also heard rumours about Zaki's beating. The first secretary of the lower house Sardar Muhammad Rahman Ughli said as far as he knew Zaki was injured in a traffic accident and now was at home.

Fahim Hakim, deputy chairman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said they were unaware of the incident, but said MPs had to be protected properly.

Karzai's Germans - Der Spiegel 07/01/2006 Susanne Koelbl - Going Home to Afghanistan

They lived in Hamburg, Bochum and Aachen, and then they returned from exile to their homes in the Hindukush region. Now they're cabinet ministers in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's administration and are helping to rebuild their country.

There's no alcohol and there are no women. But otherwise, it's a place like many others, with a pavilion in the park, tables with white tablecloths and waiters serving drinks to men in suits. United States Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann shares the latest news on the security situation in Afghanistan with the David Richards, the British commander of the ISAF international security force. There's bad news, and Neumann draws thoughtfully on his pipe. The Pakistani ambassador is here, too. Despite growing hostility between the two neighboring countries, Afghans and Pakistanis are still on speaking terms.

The buffet is open, says Rangin Dadfar Spanta, a man with snow-white hair and carefully pressed clothes. He speaks quickly and has much to say. In addition to being Afghanistan's foreign minister, Spanta is a German, more specifically, a German and Green Party member who spent more than 20 years in the western German city of Aachen, fighting for women's rights and battling discrimination against minorities. Today he is celebrating his new job as President Hamid Karzai's chief diplomat. The buffet isn't the only thing that's being opened here. Spanta hopes to launch a new era in Afghan foreign policy, an era of principles -- German principles.

They've already tried out these new principles. Western parliamentarians recently paid a visit to Spanta in his office on the second floor of a building on Kabul's Malak Azghar Street. Oil paintings of Karzai and former King Zahir Shah hang next to his desk, but the gilded Louis XV chairs are imitations. As the visitors were about to leave, they placed two tins of caviar onto a table -- a gift for the foreign minister. But Spanta wasn't amused, and told the men: "Pack it up again or I'll report you to the police!"

Spanta is truly a man with principles, and when he believes something is wrong, he exercises his criticism, regardless of the person he is speaking to. No one has criticized Karzai in public as sharply as Spanta does in his regular commentaries for the BBC, where he has censured the president for being too lenient with Afghan warlords -- many of whom hold seats in parliament -- and for failing to act against drug barons who are allowed to go about their business and are even courted as honorable gentlemen. Why don't parties exist in Afghanistan as instruments for the development of informed political opinions? he recently asked the president on a radio program.

But will Spanta be able to remain as vocal now that Karzai is his boss? Like former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Spanta wanted power, and like Fischer he feels inspired by the "Frankfurt School" of philosphers. But unlike Fischer, Spanta was never a street activist and was never involved in direct clashes with the police. Leftist intellectual Spanta wrote his dissertation under Kurt Lenk, a student of the German philosopher Theodor Adorno, on the problems of the third world, as illustrated by Afghanistan's vicious circle of war, underdevelopment and resistance. He likes to quote Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, and he recommends what he calls the "long march through the institutions" -- not in Europe but in his country in the Hindukush region.

Spanta says that President Karzai is also an advocate of German precision and reliability. Perhaps this explains his appointment of four Germans to his new cabinet who, next to Spanta, are Economics Minister Amin Farhang, a business professor from Bochum, Higher Education Minister Azam Dadfar, a psychiatrist from Hamburg, and Ifrastructzre Minister Suhrab Ali Safari.

Safari, 60, is a member of the Hazara tribe from the central Afghan Behsood region in Wardak Province. After studying in Poland in the early 1980s Safari, who holds a doctorate in engineering, went into exile in Hamburg, where he opened a grocery shop. He moved to the United States in 1986 but retained his German citizenship. Two years ago, his telephone rang and a voice on the other line asked: "Do you want to come back?"

On December 12, 2001, Karzai landed in a British military aircraft on the wrecked airfield at Bagram, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Kabul. A short time earlier he had been made head of the Afghan interim government at the Petersberg conference center near Bonn. He was accompanied by a handful of allies, including Farhang, who was named reconstruction minister at the same Bonn conference. In 1978, Farhang, the son of a former member of parliament from Kabul, suffered 20 months of incarceration and torture at the hands of the communists in the notorious Policharki prison near Kabul.

Starting a new life in Afghanistan was difficult, especially in that first harsh winter without electricity or heat. Farhang spent his days in his office at the ministry on Great Massoud Road wrapped in a winter coat and thick scarf. Kabul was little more than a collection of rubble and skeletons of buildings. Isolated fires burned on the streets, and heavily armed militias stood at the street corners. Karzai and Farhang have been friends since that first winter.

What could Afghanistan be like? This is a favorite topic among these four ministers who returned home after decades in the West. As an adolescent, Spanta was known for his philosophical rants on a more equitable society. The eldest son of a Tajik landowner and tribal leader from Herat Province, he was an ardent Maoist, praising China's Cultural Revolution and criticizing his father's patriarchal system. The father, whose title was Grand Khan of the Taheris, ruled over thousands of subjects and had three wives and 23 children.

As a student at Kabul University, Spanta often debated with the Islamists and their leader, current terror chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. "We knew nothing about politics, but we deeply wished for a better world," says the 53-year-old Afghan and former member of Germany's Green Party.

Farhang, 14 years his senior, grew up in a middle-class political family. His father, Mohammed Sediq Farhang, was one of the authors of Afghanistan's first democratic constitution in 1964. Farhang has always been convinced that "modernization can only be achieved through education and a free market economy."

He and Azam Dadfar, the third German in this group of ministers, shared a cell at Policharki prison, where they spent night after night discussing fundamental political issues. The communists had arrested Dadfar, a Maoist at the time, because he had fought against "Russian social imperialism."

"Afghanistan's suffering is my life"

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 brought an abrupt end to the clash of political ideas among the country's young elite. Barely escaping with their lives, Dadfar and Farhang fled to Germany. Spanta spent a year living in Turkey before applying for asylum in Germany, where he later attained citizenship. Calling himself a "German constitutional patriot," Spanta was the type of person known in Germany as "fully integrated" -- an active university professor who speaks German better than many Germans. Nevertheless, Afghanistan is his home and he couldn't resist the urge to return. "It's that crazy yearning," he says.

Azam Dadfar, 60, is a quiet man. An Uzbek from Afghanistan's northern Faryab Province, he wears an elegant yellow paisley tie, as impeccable as his grey wool suit. He has never forgotten how they were beaten in Policharki, and how the communists threatened to kill him while hundreds were being shot to death outside in the prison yard.

After his time in prison, Dadfar fled to Germany, where he settled in Hamburg's Hohenfelde neighborhood and worked with torture victims in a hospital in nearby Lübeck. He made several trips to Peshawar in Pakistan to treat refugees who had been abused by Afghanistan's Soviet occupiers. "Afghanistan's suffering is my life," he says.

Karzai initially brought him in as Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, but now Dadfar works in a derelict building on Kabul's western outskirts as Minister of Higher Education.

It's been almost five years since the German "gang of four" returned to Afghanistan. Today, the country is anything but stable, and it remains one of the world's poorest. Water and electricity are available in only a few cities, investors have shied away from a country known for its poor security and unemployment is approaching 90 percent in some places.

Farhang sits in his house in Shar-i-Nau (New City), on a quiet Kabul side street. It's the house of his parents, who lived a good life here, dining, laughing and engaging in political debate. The minister of economics had the building renovated, and now roses and geraniums bloom in the newly refurbished gardens.

Farhang wrinkles his brow. He travels to the most troubled regions, places like Zabul and Helmand, to gain a better understanding of his country and its problems. He is constantly curbing excessively high demands, explaining why progress takes time.

The parliament rejected him in the first round of a recent bid for reelection, a bitter defeat, but he hopes to succeed in the second round. Nevertheless, Farhang says he will remain in Afghanistan, even if it no longer means being a cabinet minister. Like the other three ministers, he has relinquished his German passport. Double citizenship is barred under Afghan law. He points to an apricot tree blooming in the moonlight at the end of his garden. The tree, he says, marks the grave of his grandparents. "That's where I will rest one day, completely in peace."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan correspondent.

[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.]