In this bulletin:

• An open letter to the people of Afghanistan by the United States Secretary of Defense
• German defense minister visits Afghanistan
• Afghan Defense Minister Says Taliban Will Be Broken By End of Year
• US-led coalition offensive in southern Afghanistan disrupts Taliban network
• One coalition soldier killed, 11 wounded in S. Afghanistan
• 'A soldier never really dies,' Boneca mourners told
• 2 justice officials killed in Afghanistan
• Four 'Al-Qaeda fighters' killed in Afghanistan
• Taliban capture two Afghanistan towns
• Afghanistan Has Come Far Since 2001 `Liberation,' Rumsfeld Says
• Extremists destroy Afghan school
• Using the Dark Side in Afghanistan
• AFGHANISTAN: D'ALEMA, WITHDRAWAL WOULD BE SUICIDAL PACIFISM
• Daily Violence Is Now Routine in Afghanistan
• UN Warns over Afghanistan drought
• Afghanistan Engineer District links provinces to districts
• Afghanistan contracts awarded to BHEL
• Pakistan to discuss prisoners with Kabul
• 16 Pakistani prisoners confirmed in Guantanamo

An open letter to the people of Afghanistan by the United States Secretary of Defense

COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN
COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER -July 18, 2006

To the People of Afghanistan:

I recently made my 11th visit to Afghanistan, where I met with President Hamid Karzai, members of his Cabinet, the Governor of Zabul Province, and with U.S. troops. I came away impressed by their determination and the progress that has been made on the political, economic, and security fronts.

The United States maintains its strong commitment to Afghanistan’s success. The increased involvement of forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will add to -- and strengthen -- U.S. and Coalition contributions. In fact, with NATO, Afghanistan will have the support of not only the United States , but 25 new friends, each committed to success for the Afghan people.

It is sometimes easier to see the progress being made from a distance. It is clear to most outside observers that Afghanistan has come far since its liberation in 2001. One of the Afghans I spoke with told me that during the Soviet Union ’s occupation, schools were closed and two generations of Afghans were denied the opportunity to go to school. It is important to remember how much you have overcome and how much you have accomplished.

May the coming year bring you even greater success in building a future of hope and opportunity for you and for your children. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership.

Sincerely, Donald H. Rumsfeld

German defense minister visits Afghanistan

Berlin, July 18, IRNA

Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung departed Berlin on Tuesday to visit German troops based in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, news reports said.

Jung who has repeatedly expressed concern over the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, plans to tour the unsafe region.

The German army which took over the command of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) six weeks ago has withdrawn most of its 2,500 troops from Kabul to northern Afghanistan.

The most important German army base is in Mazar-e Sharif. German peacekeeping soldiers are currently deployed in Afghanistan as part of the 9,000-strong ISAF.

Afghan Defense Minister Says Taliban Will Be Broken By End of Year

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

SINGAPORE, July 17, 2006 -- Afghanistan's defense minister says the Taliban resistance in the south of the country will be broken by the end of the year. General Rahim Adbul Rahim Wardak made the comment in Monday's edition of the "Financial Times."

Wardak said the Taliban's command and control structure is fragmenting due to heavy losses and many mid-ranking commanders are fleeing to Pakistan.

His comments come a day after the U.S.-led coalition said it will not end a massive anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan until Afghan authorities regain control of the insurgent-dominated region.

The coalition's vow Sunday coincided with 24 hours of violence that left more than 70 Taliban dead in the southern province of Helmand.

US-led coalition offensive in southern Afghanistan disrupts Taliban network- The Associated Press 2006-07-18   

A massive anti-insurgent operation in southern Afghanistan has ''seriously disrupted'' the Taliban network operating in the region, the U.S. military said Tuesday, although militants chased police out of two towns.

Operation Mountain Thrust, which was launched in earnest in June, involves more than 10,000 U.S., British, Canadian and Afghan soldiers trying to crush Taliban militants operating in four southern provinces.

''Afghan and coalition forces have killed numerous low and midlevel commanders that the senior Taliban leadership rely on to intimidate villages, threaten elders and lead small bands of extremists to conduct attacks on Afghan and Coalition forces,'' U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. PaulFitzpatrick said in a statement.

The military said the offensive has been most effective in the northern reaches of Helmand provinces, including Sangin, Musa Qala and Baghran districts. About 4,000 NATO-led British soldiers are deploying to Helmand to take over security control from U.S. forces at the end of the month.

But Afghan officials said scores of Taliban fighters chased police forces out of two southern Helmand towns, Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi, on Monday and Sunday.

Karim Rahimi, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, said 42 lightly armed Garmser policemen fought for 16 days against Taliban militants, some of whom had driven from neighboring Pakistan, ''before the police withdrew.'' ''These difficulties will soon finish,'' Rahimi said at a press conference. He did not elaborate.
Coalition military officials said the military is looking into the reports.

Afghan police forces have little presence in many southern Afghan areas, where Taliban militants have long been able to operate relatively freely in their bid to derail U.S.-backed reconstruction efforts. This year, militants have stepped up attacks.Afghanistan has 60,000 poorly equipped policemen and about half as many soldiers, and heavily relies on coalition forces for security assistance.

Militants killed two Afghan policemen in an execution-style shooting and wounded another in eastern Ghazni province's Gelan district, police said Tuesday. The three police had caught a lift in a mobile crane along a remote road when Taliban gunmen stopped it late Monday, said Gen. Tafseer Khan, the provincial police chief.

The Taliban saw the police in the vehicle, ordered them out and shot two dead on the spot, Khan said. The third policemen, who had a gun, was wounded after exchanging fire with the militants.

Separately, militants fired rockets and mortars into a village in Ghazni's Dih Yak district, wounding three women in a house struck by a mortar, Khan said. Afghanistan is gripped by its deadliest spate of violence since the Taliban's late 2001 ouster with more than 800 people, mainly militants, being killed since May, according to an Associated Press tally based on coalition and Afghan figures.

Meanwhile, police in neighboring Pakistan arrested five suspected Afghan Taliban members, including a low-ranking commander, after raiding a house in southwestern Quetta late Monday, said Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqoob, the provincial police chief.

Afghan officials allege that Taliban find sanctuary in Pakistan, and that militia commanders operate from its territory. Pakistan says it does all it can to stop militant activity, although it has made few arrests.

One coalition soldier killed, 11 wounded in S. Afghanistan

July 18, 2006 Source: Xinhua

One coalition soldier was killed and 11 others injured during a fierce

battle against Taliban militants in the southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan, coalition forces said in a press release on Tuesday.

During the battle on Monday in Tarin Kowt district, capital of the province, coalition troops attacked and destroyed a truck which extremists were loading with mortar equipment, it said.

The attack was followed by a heavy engagement with Taliban fighters and assessments of their casualties were yet to be reported.

All coalition casualties were medically evacuated to a coalition hospital in Tarin Kowt, while the killed soldier's nationality has not been announced.

Afghanistan has suffered from a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, during which over 1,100 people, mostly Taliban militants, have been killed.

About 60 foreign troops, most of whom are U.S. soldiers, also lost their lives in this war-weary country in the same period.

'A soldier never really dies,' Boneca mourners told

Monday, July 17, 2006 CBC News

Hundreds of mourners gathered Monday at a full military funeral in Thunder Bay, Ont., for Cpl. Anthony Boneca.

Boneca was killed July 9 in firefight with Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan. He was just weeks away from completing his second tour of duty.

Cpl. Jon O'Connor told mourners about experiences he shared with Boneca, struggling to keep his composure while recounting a visit they had shared to the graves of unknown Canadian World War veterans in France and Belgium.

"To us, to me especially, he was just 'Tony,' "  O'Connor said. "He was a good man, a good soldier and a great friend."

"A soldier never really dies," he added. "He lives on in the fighting spirit of the rest of us."

Megan DeCorte, Boneca's girlfriend, spoke about the last days they spent together.

"On May 12th of this year, Tony, while on leave, met me in Rome for a beautiful, romantic three weeks together," DeCorte said. "One beautiful night in Venice on a gondola ride he gave me my promise ring, which I will cherish for the rest of my life."

Master Cpl. Craig Lovelin, a member of the regiment who delivered a eulogy at the service, told CBC News earlier Monday he wanted to correct the impression left by some media reports that Boneca had been disillusioned with the military.

'Ultimate price'

"There's been some misconception of who exactly Cpl. Boneca really is," said Lovelin. "We might have missed on the important fact that he was soldier and he paid the ultimate price for his country."

After the church service, the casket containing Boneca's body was scheduled to be taken to the city's Mountainview Cemetery for a private ceremony, which will include a 21-gun salute.

Shirley Boneca, the soldier's mother, will receive the Silver Cross, a medal given to family members of Canadian soldiers killed in action.

The family will also be presented their son's balmoral hat, his service medals and the Canadian flag that accompanied his casket from overseas.

The day after Boneca was killed, more than 1,000 coalition soldiers honoured him at a service at the Kandahar airfield.

A repatriation ceremony was then held last Wednesday when he arrived at CFB Trenton with Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier attending.

His body arrived at the airport in Thunder Bay shortly before noon Friday and lay in state over the weekend.

Boneca was the 17th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan since Canada's first battle group was sent to the country in February 2002.

2 justice officials killed in Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAHAssociated Press July 17, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide attacker killed two top justice officials and a third employee in their southern provincial office on Monday, while coalition troops killed four al-Qaida suspects in the east, officials said.

A grenade was thrown into a wedding party in southeastern Khost province late Sunday, killing one man and wounding 16, while Taliban militants blew up an empty boys' high school in neighboring Paktika province, police said.

The bloodshed came amid Afghanistan's deadliest violence since the late 2001 ouster of the Taliban. More than 800 people, mostly militants, have been killed since mid-May as U.S.-led coalition forces try crush resurgent extremist fighters.

The suicide attacker walked into a justice department building in Helmand province's capital of Lashkar Gar and detonated an explosives-packed vest, police said. The blast killed Justice Director Abdul Samad, his deputy, Sher Ahmed, and another employee, along with the bomber, said Ghulam Muhiddin, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Nine other people were wounded in the explosion, which destroyed the one-story building, Muhiddin said.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammed Youssef, claimed in a phone call to The Associated Press that the insurgents had carried out the attack.

Taliban militants have been targeting government officials in a bid to derail U.S.-led reconstruction efforts.

In southeastern Khost province, coalition forces killed four al-Qaida suspects and captured three others in a raid targeting an al-Qaida operational leader, the U.S. military said.

Three Arab and Chechen fighters and the cleric were killed in a gunfight near the village of Pelan Kheyl, near the Pakistan border, Afghan police said, but it was unclear whether the target was among them.

The cleric, Zainullah Buddin, was suspected of distributing propaganda lambasting the Afghan government and its American backers, said provincial police chief Gen. Mohammed Ayoub.

In Khost's Bak district, a militant tossed a hand grenade into a wedding gathering at the house of the groom, killing one man and wounding 16 at the male-only party, Ayoub said. The groom was not among the casualties and the motive was unclear.

Suspected Taliban militants also blew up a high school in neighboring Paktika province after warning guards to leave the building, said Sayeed Jamaluddin, the provincial governor's spokesman. There were no casualties.

The Taliban opposes state-run schools that teach non-Islamic subjects, particularly to girls.

Also Monday, a roadside bombing in Helmand province killed three Afghan soldiers and wounded three others as they escorted a supply convoy, said Gen. Rahmatullah Roufi, the Afghan army commander. The bomb destroyed their army vehicle in the Yakshal village of Grishk district.

Four 'Al-Qaeda fighters' killed in Afghanistan

Mon Jul 17, 8:50 AM ET

KABUL (AFP) - The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has said it killed four suspected Al-Qaeda fighters in a raid while a suicide attack in the troubled south destroyed a justice headquarters and killed three people.

Three other alleged members of Osama bin Laden's terror network were arrested in a raid in the eastern province of Khost about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Pakistan border, the coalition said.

It said it was not sure if the man the raid was targeting, whose name and nationality were not revealed, was among those killed or captured.

"Coalition forces killed four suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists, detained three suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists...," a coalition statement said without giving details on Monday.

"The purpose of this operation was to capture or kill an Al-Qaeda operational leader, who is a significant threat to Afghan and coalition forces in Khost province," it said.

Provincial governor Sarajuding Patan said the four were an Afghan mullah and three Arabs. The three arrested men were brothers of the mullah, he told AFP.

Al-Qaeda militants are believed to be fighting alongside the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in a growing insurgency against the government of President Hamid Karzai.

In the south a suicide bomber blew up a crowded provincial justice headquarters in Helmand province, killing the department head and two other employees, an official said.

Nine other people were hurt when the attacker blew himself up in the office in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and caused the building to collapse, provincial government spokesman Haji Mohaidin Khan said.

"Later we found parts of the body and a leg of the suicide bomber. He had an explosive belt strapped to his body," Khan told AFP.

No one immediately claimed responsibility but such blasts are usually blamed on the Taliban. The insurgents are especially active in Helmand, where experts say they have teamed up with drugs barons to create instability.

Afghanistan is suffering its bloodiest phase since the Taliban were toppled from government in late 2001, with the Taliban insurgency stronger than ever and local and foreign forces mounting a major operation against them in the south.

Helmand has seen much of the violence in recent weeks, with the newly deployed British forces of about 2,300 soldiers facing almost daily assaults.

A British helicopter hit an Afghan hospital with a precision-guided missile on Sunday after troops on the ground came under machine-gun fire from the building, the Ministry of Defence in London said.

The ministry said the ground commander confirmed that no patients or staff were in the hospital in Helmand's Nawzad town before the attack by an Apache helicopter was authorised.

Several thousand Afghan, British, Canadian and US soldiers have since Saturday been pursuing Taliban rebels in the dangerous Sangin district of Helmand where five British soldiers were killed in hostile action in the past weeks.

By Monday security had improved to the extent that the forces could meet village elders to discuss reconstruction needs, Major Scott Lundy told AFP.

"If we can engage the people and have a frank discussion about what their needs are and deliver over the next months, there is a good chance we could convince the people to side with their government and the Taliban will have less opportunity to coerce the local population towards tolerating their presence," he said.

In a separate incident Monday, a remote-controlled bomb ripped through an Afghan army vehicle in the Girishk area of Helmand, killing three soldiers and wounding three more, an army general said.

Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said last week he expected "drastic changes" in the troubled south in the coming months as more foreign and Afghan troops are sent into the area and reconstruction begins.

An expanding NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is due to take over from a US-led coalition in the south on July 31. Extra British, Canadian and Dutch forces have been moving into the area since the beginning of the year in preparation for the handover.

Taliban capture two Afghanistan towns

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

A British member of U.S.-led forces on patrol on the outskirts of Kabul.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S.-led forces will launch "decisive operations" to reclaim two southern towns captured in recent days by the Taliban, the military said Tuesday.

Scores of Taliban militants chased police out of two southern Helmand districts near the border with Pakistan. Afghanistan's deputy interior minister accused two Pakistani Islamic groups of taking part in the militant operation.

"The Taliban extremists have taken control of the areas of Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi. However, coalition forces do have them under observation," military spokesman Col. Tom Collins told reporters in Kabul. "Decisive operations will begin soon," he added, without saying when.

Helmand province's deputy governor said at least 400 Afghan soldiers, backed by coalition troops were heading in dozens of vehicles to Garmser to wrest it back from the Taliban, which overran it Sunday.

Afghan officials have said scores of Taliban fighters, many crossing into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, fought Garmser's small contingent of policemen -- holed up in a concrete compound -- for 16 days before the police withdrew.

While Taliban militants have long operated freely in former southern stronghold provinces, their capture of two towns highlights the weakness of Afghanistan's police forces in remote areas, and the challenge ahead faced by international forces to restore order in the country.

"The Taliban have reconstituted and dispersed, but this is certainly not about the Taliban being strong. The reality is that the government has not yet extended to the far-reaching areas of the country," Collins said.

Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba -- an outlawed militant organization, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam -- a pro-Taliban political party, of taking over Garmser.

"They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag in the (Garmser) district," Sidiqi told reporters. "The government of Afghanistan has technically and temporarily left Garmser. We did so to prevent casualties to civilian people."

Sidiqi also said government forces had taken back control of Naway-i-Barakzayi late Monday. It wasn't immediately possible to explain the discrepancy between his information and that of the coalition spokesman.

In the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, Jamiat spokesman Riaz Durrani dismissed Afghan claims his group's members were involved in the Helmand fighting.

"We are not helping any militant group in Afghanistan against (President) Hamid Karzai's government, but the fact is that he has failed to restore order," Durrani told The Associated Press.

Helmand is one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions, where Taliban extremists and heavily armed drug traffickers have long operated freely.

More than 10,000 U.S., British, Canadian and Afghan soldiers are taking part in an anti-Taliban offensive across southern Afghanistan.

About 4,000 British troops, part of an expansion of NATO forces into the region, are deploying to Helmand province to take control at the end of the month from U.S. forces and have figured prominently in fierce fighting in the province in recent weeks.

Afghanistan Has Come Far Since 2001 `Liberation,' Rumsfeld Says

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan has made substantial progress since the overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a letter addressed to the Afghan people .

`` It is sometimes easier to see the progress made from a distance,'' Rumsfeld said in the letter posted today on the Web site of the Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan. ``It is clear to most outside observers that Afghanistan has come far since its liberation in 2001.''

Rumsfeld, who visited Afghanistan last week, said the U.S. remains committed to the country's success. His letter was sent to Afghan newspaper editors, the military command said.

Afghanistan has experienced increasing violence as Taliban forces respond to the U.S.-led coalition and the Afghan army expanding operations in southern and eastern provinces. Taliban fighters took control of two towns in the southern province of Helmand in recent days, the Associated Press reported.

President Hamid Karzai, at a July 11 news conference with Rumsfeld in Kabul, said Afghanistan needs more U.S. assistance to stop the Taliban activities.

The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's mission into southern Afghanistan will help control the insurgency, Rumsfeld said in his letter.

``With NATO, Afghanistan will have the support of not only the United States, but 25 new friends, each committed to success for the Afghan people,'' Rumsfeld said, referring to the alliance that has 26 member countries.

Taliban Operations

Taliban fighters have increased attacks, including suicide bombings, against coalition forces, Afghan soldiers, local government officials and civilians.

A group entered the town of Garmser two days ago and forced Afghan security forces there to leave, AP reported, citing unidentified police and local government officials. Gunmen entered the nearby town of Naway-i-Barakzayi yesterday and drove a police unit out, the report said.

The U.S.-led coalition is investigating the reports, AP cited Major Scott Lundy, a spokesman, as saying yesterday.

An Afghan soldier and four civilians were killed yesterday in a suicide bombing in Gardez in the eastern province of Paktya, the U.S. military said. In separate raids, the coalition said it killed four al-Qaeda suspects in Khost in the eastern region and struck a Taliban commander's hideout in Helmand province.

Afghan and coalition soldiers in April began Operation Mountain Lion, to track down Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in eastern Afghanistan. In May, more than 10,000 soldiers began Mountain Thrust, targeting insurgents in four southern provinces in the biggest operation since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

About 3,300 British soldiers are based in Helmand province, and the U.K. government said July 10 it will send an additional 945 soldiers there to counter Taliban fighters. The U.K. contingent is there as part of the NATO mission.

Elections Held

Afghanistan in December inaugurated its first parliament since 1969 after elections in September. Karzai, who took over after the ousting of the Taliban, won the country's first direct presidential election in October 2004.

Karzai has repeatedly said fighters loyal to the ousted Taliban regime and al-Qaeda terrorists come into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, where he says Islamic religious schools, or madrassas, are used to train them. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said his government is looking at educational syllabuses to remove ``elements of extremism.''

Extremists destroy Afghan school

COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN
COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER July 18, 2006 Army Staff Sgt. Robert R. Ramon 345th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Extremists destroyed a school in the Bagram District, Parwan Province on July 17.

Residents of the Neizi Kran Shaku village were awakened around midnight when they realized the school, comprised of 10 tents, was engulfed in flames.

“About two months ago we received these tents from the government of Afghanistan,” said Abdul Dager, a village elder. “At around midnight, our peaceful night was interrupted when five criminals set fire to them.”

After noticing the flames, Dager immediately ran to the village mosque and made an announcement over the loudspeaker.

After the announcement, “the entire village came out and saved two of the tents,” said Dager. “We quickly captured one individual nearby; he had a gas can. He led us to four other men who were responsible. We turned them over to the Afghan National Police. They (extremists) claimed to be associated with the Taliban.

Although the villagers recognized none of the insurgents, four were believed to be from nearby villages.

Speaking to Coalition Joint Task Force-76 military policemen who were at the village investigating the incident, Dager made the feelings of the village clear. With an average attendance of 310 including grades one through nine, the loss of the school was a major blow to the usually peaceful village.

“We were very angry,” he said. “Since they burned the school I haven’t been able to sleep at all. We’re not sure exactly how, but in some way we’re going to continue our teaching.”

Other incidents of school attacks by extremists have occurred recently. On July 15 in Saret, Nuristan, villagers took to the streets and drove off a band of extremists who set fire to a girl’s school. Resident also put out the blaze. Taliban insurgents fired five rocket propelled grenades at a school in Mehtar Lam, Laghman Province, catching it on fire July 17. Afghan National Police responded and drove off the insurgents.

With the rash of school burnings by extremists in recent weeks, provincial reconstruction teams have created “schools-in-a-box” to provide a temporary remedy to the situation until something permanent can be established.

Comprised of tents, school supplies, backpacks and other items, “schools-in-a-box” will ensure children continue to receive an education despite the insurgents’ best efforts to thwart progress. As the MPs interviewed the village elders here, a PRT at Bagram was preparing to deliver aid.

According to Dager, the extremists have done nothing to block his village’s road to progress.

“The enemies of Afghanistan are the enemies of the Afghan people,” said Dager. “They do not want to see Afghanistan make any progress. They don’t want the people to have a good life. They only want to destroy everything and they want nothing positive for the people of Afghanistan. However, we have our government here to help us and there is no way they’re going to stop us from continuing to improve our lives.”

Using the Dark Side in Afghanistan

July 18, 2006: The Afghan government's initiative to develop tribal militias throughout the country, as a supplement to the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, has not met with as much enthusiasm among local government, religious, tribal, and clan leaders as anticipated.

Apparently some of these leaders fear that creating tribal militias may actually make matters worse. Some tribes and clans are much larger than others, and may want to user their weapons, and larger numbers, to settle old scores with smaller neighbors. In addition, since the loyalties of most tribes and clans have traditionally been flexible, arming them could just become a way of subsidizing the Taliban.

There are still good argument for such militias. After all, most tribes and clans are already armed anyway, and providing them with a measure of official recognition might help the government impose some order on them, and even prevent them from going over to the dark side. By forming militias, the tribes would get more ammo and some additional rifles.

But there would also be communications gear, and teams of Afghan and American technical advisors to show them how to use the new stuff, and the simple military procedures the militiamen would need to follow. These advisor teams could also keep an eye on things at the tribe and clan level, without being just spies.

AFGHANISTAN: D'ALEMA, WITHDRAWAL WOULD BE SUICIDAL PACIFISM

(AGI) - Rome, Jul 17 - The withdrawal of the Italian mission in Aghanistan, "which is a mission under the UN emblem", would be "a manifestation of suicidal pacifist unilateralism", said Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema in his speech at the DS national council.

D'Alema criticised Oak Tree member Cesare Salvi, who had spoken about Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero's foreign policy, stressing that "Salvi, too, demonstrated against Zapatero by participating in the pacifist manifestation last Satruday:

I would like to remind Salvi that Zapatero increased the number of Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan, he did not decrease it." D'Alema added that it would be wrong to demand that Italy "withdraw from the international scene: in the war against international terrorism, you cannot exclude the use of force and only a country which bears its responsibilities can have weight in the international scene." -
171837 LUG 06

Daily Violence Is Now Routine in Afghanistan

By Benjamin Sand Islamabad 17 July 2006

Coalition forces in southeastern Afghanistan killed four suspected al-Qaida extremists Sunday, and a day later a suicide bomb blast in Helmand province has destroyed a local government office and killed three people. Isolated but continuous acts of violence have become a striking part of daily life in Afghanistan.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanezai says the suicide bombing gutted the local justice department office in Lashkar Gah, capital of the southern province of Helmand. "The explosion collapsed the building and caused the killing of three persons and wounded eight," said Stanezai. Witnesses say the dead and wounded had to be dug from beneath the building's rubble.

In a separate incident, an explosive device was thrown into a high school in Paktika Province. There were no injuries, but a roadside bomb in southern Helmand killed at least three Afghan soldiers and wounded three others.

Thousands of Afghan and coalition forces are sweeping through the South of the country in a large-scale counter-insurgency operation. Late Sunday, coalition troops in Helmand attacked a suspected Taleban leader's safe house. The house was destroyed, and U.S. officials say they are awaiting confirmation of the militant's death.

Coalition forces have also intensified their attacks on suspected Taleban and al-Qaida militants operating out of Eastern Afghanistan. U.S. military spokesman Sergeant Chris Miller says a pre-dawn operation Monday targeted an al-Qaida commander near the Pakistan border. "Coalition forces killed four suspected al-Qaida terrorists and destroyed a weapons cache during an early morning raid in Khost Province, near the village of Pelan Kheyl," said Miller. It is still not known if the al-Qaida commander was killed or captured during the raid.

This has been Afghanistan's bloodiest year since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taleban government in 2001. A surge in militant attacks has destabilized vast portions of southern Afghanistan.

Taleban extremists and powerful drug cartels are reportedly taking advantage of the violence to expand their reach in the region.

UN Warns over Afghanistan drought

Last Updated: Tuesday, 18 July 2006, 01:24 GMT 02:24 UK by Mark Dummet BBC News, Kabul

The United Nations in Afghanistan says that millions are facing hunger this year because of drought and that it does not have the resources to help.

The drought situation is worst in the south where the Taleban insurgency is at its strongest.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 2.5m people will need extra assistance this year.

Many communities have only just recovered from the catastrophic drought that ended last year.

Search for food

Much of the country's wheat crop has failed this year because of lower than expected snowfall during the winter and poor spring rains. Families are already reported to be going hungry in provinces as far Badakshan in the north-east and Josjan in the west.

Thousands of people in Zabul province have left their villages to search for food, but the World Food Programme says it does not have the resources to help them.

About 6.5m Afghans were at risk of hunger before the latest drought hit the country. The UN worries that food stocks across the country may run out by the winter, when it would become almost impossible to reach many isolated villages unless food aid came in from donors.

Many communities have only just recovered from the catastrophic drought that ended last year.

Afghanistan Engineer District links provinces to districts

Tuesday July 18, 2006 (0218 PST)

KABUL: If there’s a road to success in Afghanistan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Afghanistan Engineer District commander says it’s not only building physical roads, but it’s also connecting the provincial governments to the people through overall infrastructure improvements .

AED is supporting the international community’s effort to rebuild Afghanistan by concentrating at the provincial and district level, said Col. Christopher J. Toomey, AED commander and staff engineer for Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, or CFC-A.

Established in 2004, AED’s programs and projects have spent more than $1.8 billion on a variety of projects such as roads, bridges, ANA facilities, power and water infrastructure, Toomey told reporters here during a CFC-A sponsored “media roundtable.”

AED conducts construction and engineering operations to facilitate the establishment of a secure and stable environment while promoting reconstruction and infrastructure development, he said.

AED has built or resurfaced 600 kilometers of roads throughout Afghanistan.

For a country that’s as large as Texas, the key to development is working within the 34 provinces, and subdividing efforts at the district level. Having contacts in each of the district centers is key, said Toomey.

Through its strategic reconstruction efforts, AED works with CFC-A, the U.S. Agency for International Development, donor nations and agencies to identify areas where projects will have the most significant impact on improving the lives of Afghan citizens.

“We’re really into getting the district centers and the provincial capitals joined and making sure they are connected,” said the colonel. “We look at what’s in the best overall interest of Afghanistan.”

With much of the interest in Afghanistan currently on security and stabilization efforts in the south, Toomey said his message to the Afghan people is simple: reject the extremists and support construction efforts.

The colonel, who often travels throughout the country to inspect work sites, said he frequently emphasizes this point to local authorities. Security, he said, is in many ways a local responsibility.

The Rhode Island native said Afghanistan villages are not unlike any other neighborhood or city or town around the world where local governments must take responsibility for the security of their communities.

“It’s just like Providence, where I’m from,” said Toomey. “The best way to secure a neighborhood is self security where local government has a vested interest in the projects and in improving their areas for their people.”

Since AED strongly emphasizes security as a locally managed issue, there have been relatively few security problems in all of Afghanistan, including the south. His message to people fighting the extremists is simple. They must make a decision, he said.

“Do you want to support the reconstruction effort and tell the hostile forces they are not welcome?” asked Toomey, describing what he tells local authorities. “Or do you want to allow the enemies of the people to push the construction firms out and stop progress?”

While the extremists promise nothing, local governments can offer much to their citizenry by working with AED for projects that improve the overall quality of life, he said.

“The people are the ultimate beneficiaries,” he said.

As AED commander, Toomey is responsible for three major program areas – the U.S. Forces Program; the Afghanistan Security Forces Program and the U.S. Agency for International Development and Reconstruction of the Afghanistan Program. Besides Afghanistan, his geographical areas of responsibility include Turkmenistan, Kajakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

In addition to his position as District commander, Toomey serves as the staff engineer for CFC-A. In this role, he oversees all engineering activities for the military and the Department of Defense, including construction of roads, bridges and forward operating bases.

AED also contributes to building Afghanistan’s national capacity through construction and infrastructure jobs that employ 5,000 to 7,000 Afghans every day. Over the course of the past two years, AED estimates that its contractors and subcontractors have employed more than 15,000 Afghan workers. Toomey said more than 55 percent of the contracts were awarded to Afghan firms.

“All of that adds up, and coupled together with an emerging infrastructure, we’re going to see some good effects, he said.

Afghanistan contracts awarded to BHEL

International Water Power and Dam Construction (UK) 17 July 2006

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has won two contracts in Afghanistan, including the supply and installation of electromechanical equipment for the 42MW Salma hydroelectric plant. A second contract will see the company install a 220kV substation at Kabul.

BHEL will design, manufacture, supply, erect, and commission 3x14MW Francis turbines with matching generators and microprocessor based Control & Excitation equipment for the Salma project.

The two turnkey contracts, cumulatively worth US$46M, have been secured by BHEL from Power Grid Corporation of India.

Pakistan to discuss prisoners with Kabul

Islamabad, July 17, IRNA

A two-member delegation will leave for a three-day visit to Afghanistan to assess the situation of Pakistani prisoners detained in Afghan jails, sources said on Monday.

Sources informed Daily Times that additional secretary Ministry of Interior Qamar Zaman Chaudhry would lead the delegation, accompanied by Col. (retd.) Abbas, the National Crisis Management Cell director.

According to the Interior Ministry's current data, up to 75 Pakistani citizens are still being held in detention centers in Afghanistan.

Sources said that the delegation's objective was to update prisoner records.

They added that the delegation would also discuss with the Afghan authorities the issue of establishing consular access to the prisoners, for which there is no current framework.

The delegation was expected to arrive back in Pakistan on July 20, they said.

16 Pakistani prisoners confirmed in Guantanamo

ISLAMABAD, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States authorities have confirmed that there are 16 Pakistanis being held in the Guantanamo Bay detention center, including Karachi-based businessman Saifullah Paracha who allegedly provided financial support to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, local newspaper reported on Monday.

Dawn quoted a source from Pakistani interior ministry as saying that Paracha was picked up from an area bordering Afghanistan.

According to an official, a delegation to be headed by National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) director Colonel Imran will visit the Cuba-based Guantanamo Bay prison on July 20 to ascertain the exact number of Pakistani inmates and initiate the process for their repatriation.

He said that Islamabad had not been provided an exact number of Pakistanis detained in Guantanamo but it was expected that the figure must be over 50.

Most of them were arrested in Afghanistan, he said.

The official said that 67 Pakistanis had already returned from the detention center and said the U.S. authorities had reportedly asked Islamabad to keep vigilant eye on those people.

Some of them are said to have been put in jails to keep them from re-indulging in terrorist activities, he added. Enditem

[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.]