In this bulletin:

• One of two 'Taliban-held' Afghan districts freed
• 60 Taliban arrested in Pakistan
• "Pakistani militants of taking over southern town"
• One coalition soldier killed, 11 wounded in Uruzgan
• Gunmen take 40 villagers hostage in Khost
• Defence minister rejects civilians killing
• Afghanistan: Proposal To Create Morality Department Causes Concern
• Extremists destroy Afghan school
• How to curb rising suicide terrorism in Afghanistan
• Italy firmed to enhance judiciary system in Afghanistan
• Iranian and Afghan leaders to meet in Tajikistan
• First Bulgarian troops arrive in Kabul for new mission
• Romanian battalion to return from Afghanistan peacekeeping
• Switzerland vows to donate $1.03m to Afghanistan
• UN warns over Afghanistan drought
• Aid agencies retreat from southern Afghan province
• Afghan party chief criticizes government for treatment of "warlords"
• Afghanistan reverts to old chaos
• Taliban pause for fresh breath

One of two 'Taliban-held' Afghan districts freed

Kandahar (AFP) - Afghan and coalition forces fought heavy battles to retake two districts in southern Afghanistan captured by Taliban militants, expelling the rebels from one by evening, officials said.

The Islamic rebels took over the remote and largely lawless southernmost Garmser and adjoining Naway-i-Barakzayi districts of Helmand province late Monday.

In Garmser, on the border with Pakistan, they burnt the Afghan flag flying at the district headquarters and hoisted another, apparently that of pro-Taliban Pakistan religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, the interior ministry said.

"At 5:30 pm (1300 GMT) we got back control of Naway district," defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP.

Police had earlier said authorities had regained control of the district after a few hours of fighting late Monday, but Azimi said they had not. "The operation is still ongoing around the district to totally liberate the area," he said.

"There has also been a big operation ongoing to retake control of Garmser district and we expect to liberate Garmser in the next hour. We will announce the details of casualties later."

"It was a joint operation of Afghan army and police with aerial support from coalition forces," he said.

Garmser had fallen after more than two weeks of fighting, presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi told reporters in Kabul earlier.

"After 16 days of brave resistance, our police -- who numbered only 42 people -- had to pull back," he said. "After they left the area, eight vehicles loaded with Taliban came from across the border and took the district."

The district is a remote desert area that borders Pakistan with its district capital about 200 kilometres (124 miles) across an empty and scorching desert.

Taliban militants meanwhile said they would shortly take control of the south of the troubled country, vowing to intensify their insurgency with fresh attacks and suicide bombings.

"During these operations which will begin today or tomorrow, we'll take most of the districts in southern and south-central Afghanistan," purported Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif told AFP.

The new offensive would include "lots" of suicide bombings, roadside explosions and hit-and-run attacks on government and coalition targets, Hanif said by telephone from an unknown location.

The Taliban has been waging a growing insurgency since being toppled from government in 2001 by a US-led coalition.

This year the rebels -- believed to have support from other Islamic outfits like Al-Qaeda -- have been able to mount large-scale, organized attacks on security forces while maintaining a deadly guerrilla campaign of suicide and other attacks.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Thomas Collins said the Taliban may have regrouped but they were only able to assert themselves in areas without government control.

"We know that the enemy is now moving deeper into southern parts of the southern provinces in an effort to escape the coalition, but more importantly to pick targets that they think are lightly defended because of a lack of government presence," he said.

"The Taliban would love for you to believe that they are seizing these areas in pitched battles. But that's not the case at all. Essentially they're forcing out small groupings of Afghan national police."

Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai, have long complained that the understrength police have a hard time matching the Taliban in some lawless areas, especially along the border with Pakistan where they say the leadership of the rebel movement is based. Helmand province has been particularly hard-hit by weeks of intense fighting.

The International Organisation for Migration said it believed around 5,000 people may have fled their homes in the province to escape the violence but it was not able to help them because of the security situation.

The group had reports that the Taliban had demolished bridges and roads to some villages to prevent outsiders from coming in, IOM public information officer Rahila Zafar said.

The Taliban movement was born in southern Afghanistan with Pakistani help and swept north to take control of most of the country by 1996. The regime was toppled in 2001 and is now trying to claw its way back into power.

60 Taliban arrested in Pakistan

Quetta (AFP) - Pakistani police have arrested more than 60 suspected Taliban militants, including a former commander, in the restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, officials said.

The detentions follow months of pressure from the US-led coalition and NATO forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, who want Islamabad to crack down on insurgents whom they say are operating from Pakistani territory.

"We have arrested more than 60 Taliban," Baluchistan police chief Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqub told AFP, adding that the suspects were among 140 illegal Afghan immigrants detained in the province in the last 48 hours.

Most were seized from Islamic religious schools, or madrassas, on the outskirts of the provincial capital Quetta. Pakistan's madrassas have a reputation as breeding grounds for extremism.

The ex-Taliban commander, Mullah Hamdullah, was arrested during a raid on a house in Quetta late Monday, Yaqub said on Tuesday.

"We are questioning Hamdullah about the activities he had been carrying out in Pakistan and his linkages with other terrorist groups," Yaqub said.

The rest of the immigrants would be deported to Afghanistan after investigations, he added, saying that police had found that Afghans were involved in three recent bomb blasts in Quetta.

Many fugitives from Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime and from Al-Qaeda sneaked into Pakistan in late 2001 after the hardliners were ousted for sheltering Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks.

Pakistan has 80,000 troops along the border and has already launched major military operations in its northwestern tribal areas where some of the extremists hid.

But Western officials say they have been pressing the Pakistani government for a similar crackdown in Baluchistan, especially as NATO forces move into southern Afghan provinces across the border from the province.

Afghanistan is suffering its bloodiest phase since the fall of the Taliban, with the insurgents stronger than ever and local and foreign forces mounting a major operation against them in the south.

In May a top British army officer in Afghanistan said the Taliban leadership was coordinating its campaign from Quetta and accused the Pakistani government of failing to tackle them.

Baluchistan has also been racked by clashes between security forces and tribal rebels demanding a bigger share of the huge but sparsely populated province's natural resources.

The British government said Monday it intends to ban one of the tribal militant groups, the Baluchistan Liberation Army, although the tribal rebels are not thought to be linked to the Taliban.

"Pakistani militants of taking over southern town" - The Associated Press
07/18/2006

KABUL - Afghan troops on Tuesday prepared to deploy to a town in southern Afghanistan that one official said had been overrun by Pakistani militants.

Between 300 and 400 Afghan soldiers were heading to the southern town of Garmser, near the Pakistani border, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor of Helmand province.

''Our soldiers are going to Garmser with the support of the coalition to take it back from the Taliban,'' he said.

In Kabul, 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.

Sidiqi said a second Helmand town that had been overrun by militants - Naway-i-Barakzayi - was reclaimed by government forces late Monday.

''They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag in the district,'' Sidiqi told reporters.

While Taliban militants have long operated freely in former southern stronghold provinces, their capture of a town highlights the weakness of Afghanistan's police forces in remote areas and the challenge ahead of U.S.-coalition troops to restore order in the country.

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 were forced to withdraw Sunday.

''The government of Afghanistan has technically and temporarily left Garmser,'' Sidiqi said. ''We did so to prevent casualties to civilian people.''

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

But stepped up coalition-led military operations in the province since June have pitted foreign troops and Islamic extremists against each other in some of Afghanistan's deadliest fighting since the Taliban's 2001 ouster.

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.

Sidiqi said a large group of Taliban that had stormed Naway-i-Barakzayi, to the north of Garmser, and briefly took control there Monday were turned back later in the day.

Coalition military officials confirmed enemy ''activity'' in the areas but declined to comment further, saying only they were looking into the reports.

Militants have unleashed their deadliest spree of violence since the Taliban's 2001 ouster, with more than 800 people, mainly insurgents, being killed since May, according to an Associated Press tally based on coalition and Afghan figures.

The U.S. military, however, said a massive anti-insurgent operation being waged in southern Afghanistan has ''seriously disrupted'' the Taliban network there, particularly in the northern Helmand districts of Sangin, Musa Qala and Baghran.

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. Paul Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

Separately, militants killed two Afghan policemen in an execution-style shooting and wounded another in eastern Ghazni province's Gelan district, said Gen. Tafseer Khan, the provincial police chief.

One coalition soldier killed, 11 wounded in Uruzgan

KABUL, July 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): One soldier of the US-led coalition forces has been killed and 11 were wounded in a heavy battle with Taliban fighters in the southern Uruzgan province. 

A statement issued from the coalition's main base in Bagram the other day said the forces suffered the casualties during a fierce fighting with Taliban insurgents in Tirin Kot, provincial capital of Uruzgan.

While conducting offensive operations, coalition forces attacked and destroyed a truck which the fighters were loading with mortar equipment, the statement said. The attack was followed by a heavy engagement with the Taliban whose casualties are not known yet. The wounded soldiers were evacuated to the coalition's hospital in Tirin Kot. 

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our brave soldiers today," the statement quoted commander of the coalition's Combined Joint Task Force-76 Major Gen. Benjamin Freakley as saying. The coalition forces are on their ever biggest operation to hunt down the re-emerging Taliban insurgents in southern provinces which have seen a high surge in attacks against the coalition and government forces in past four months.

While caliming responsibilty for the attack, purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News via telephone from undiscolsed location they had killed and wounded 20 soldiers of both Afghan National Army (ANA) and US-led coalition forces in the shootout and had also torched their several vehicles. He said they had lost three Taliban fighters in the firefight.

Ahmadi said now they had left the area as coalition forces had started intensive bombing in the region.

Gunmen take 40 villagers hostage in Khost

KHOST CITY, July 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Gunmen, mostly Taliban fighters, have attacked a village in the southeastern Khost province near the border with Pakistan, wounded seven villagers and took 40 others hostage, officials say.

The militant raided Saturday night Sra Ganda village in Spira district, cheek by jowl with South Waziristan, a stronghold of the Pakistan's Taliban.

Khost police chief Maj Gen Mohammad Ayub said on Monday 400 to 500 Taliban fighters attacked the district headquarters of Spira while the locals also helped the government to defend the office. This act of the residents angered the miscreants making them to assault the Sra Ganda village and wounded seven people and took away 40 villagers with them.

He said armed men from both sides of the border were believed to have conducted the raid. Three men, two women and two children were wounded in the fire.

Ayub said the hostages were taken to the other side of the border.

Locals in the district have been involved in land disputes for a long time and perhaps the fighters wanted to exploit this opportunity, said the provincial police chief.

Interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai confirmed the incident and said the border police have started investigating the case.

Defence minister rejects civilians killing

KABUL, July 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Defence Minister Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak Monday rejected reports on killing of civilians in the recent US-led coalition air strikes in the southern Helmand and Uruzgan provinces.

The administrative department issued a statement here on Monday to apprise the media men about the activities of cabinet meeting. The release quoted Wardak as saying claims of civilians casualties in the two southern provinces were baseless.

Meanwhile, parliamentary affairs minister and head of the administrative department Dr Farooq Wardak told a weekly press conference at least a woman was killed and two children were wounded in coalition bombing in Nawzad district. He said the information he got was the latest from the governmental delegation sent to Helmand. Another commission assigned by President Hamid Karzai to probe into killing of civilians in the coalition bombing in Uruzgan district was to arrive in Kabul today (Tuesday) and will reveal the final results of the investigation they conducted in the case, Farouq Wardak said.

The coalition forces also have earlier rejected civilian deaths in their bombings of the last week. However, local residents and some members of the parliament had said around 60 civilians were killed in Tirin Kot, capital of Uruzgan last Monday and more than 80 civilians were killed in Nawzad town of Helmand on Wednesday.

The bombings were apparently targeting Taliban fighters in the region during the biggest ever hunt of the insurgent in the south dubbed as the Operation Mountain Thrust.

Afghanistan: Proposal To Create Morality Department Causes Concern

By Golnaz Esfandiari – RFE/RL

A proposal to create a Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has caused worry and fear among Afghans and human rights groups. They warn that the plan reminds them of the Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which forcefully imposed religious and moral codes. However, government officials say the new department will not use force to promote Islamic principles in society.

PRAGUE, July 18, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Farid, a student at Kabul University, was once violently beaten and jailed for several days by a Taliban religious patrol because his beard was not long enough.

He tells RFE/RL that the plan to create a Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice reminds him of those "dark days."

Zarifi adds that his organization is concerned that the "vice and virtue department" could turn into an instrument for political pressure.

"If they want to apply it like it was during the Taliban then people will definitely be against this Promotion of Virtue [Department] because people have bad memories about that time and the conditions that existed then; especially young people are against it," he said. "Afghan people need reconstruction, education, science, and technology because through them Afghanistan will move toward stability, progress, and democracy -- not by reintroducing vice and virtue."

The Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was the regime's most feared institution.
It was in charge of implementing Islamic rules as defined by the Taliban.

Its forces patrolled the streets beating and arresting people who listened to music or women and girls who did not wear the full-body burqa.

That ministry was also in charge of conducting Islamic punishment, such as the stoning of women charged with adultery.

Some four years after the fall of the hard-line regime, Afghanistan's Ulema Council has suggested to President Hamid Karzai that a "virtue and vice department" should be set up again.

The department will reportedly work on ensuring that religious rules -- such as not drinking alcohol -- are observed.

Deputy Minister for Haj and Religious Affairs Ghazi Suleiman Hamed defended the plan in an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. He said the new department will be quite different from the one ran by the Taliban.

"The Taliban interpretation of Islam is different from the interpretation of the rest of the Islamic world," he said. "No one has the right -- under the excuse of promoting virtue and preventing vice -- to commit a sin and harm others. The clerics want to help people to move toward God through any possible means, such as education, preaching, and encouragement. It doesn't mean that, like in the past, there will be a [special] police and that prison and clubs will be used [against violators]."

On June 16, government spokesman Mohammad Asif Nang was quoted by agencies as saying that President Karzai has given the green light for the plan to be referred to Afghanistan's parliament.

Legislator Shukria Barekzai tells RFE/RL it is not clear when the parliament will debate and consider the proposal.

However, she believes there is no need for such a department unless it would fight bureaucratic corruption.

"There are names that remind us of some issues, for example the religious polices that were created under the rule of President [Burhanuddin] Rabbani; until the Taliban era, their main work was to oppose music and women, they had summed up Islamic culture to these two things," she said. "The other thing is that in a country where there are already several bodies to enforce security, why do we need another body whose authority is not clear yet. Are we moving again toward a Taliban government?"

Human Rights Watch's (HRW) leading researcher on Afghanistan, Sam Zia Zarifi, told RFE/RL that many Afghan citizens are alarmed over the proposal.

"Many Afghan people, especially Afghan women, have told HRW that they are worried that the issue of the creation of a Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue [and Prevention of Vice] has been brought up under Afghanistan's current conditions, where there is [so much] insecurity and people are under economic pressure," Zarifi said.

Zarifi adds that his organization is concerned that the "vice and virtue department" could turn into an instrument for political pressure.

"Unfortunately the international [community] has not helped Karzai economically or from a security standpoint as much as it should have," she said. "Therefore Karzai is under pressure from groups who we think want to abuse Afghanistan's current situation and in the name of religion put critics and women and girls under political pressure."

The proposal on the creation of a morality department comes amid a recent crackdown on alcohol and prostitution.

On July 17, Afghan police said they had destroyed 3,000 cans of beer and some 600 bottles of wine and alcohol that were confiscated during raids in Kabul.

Several foreign women were also reportedly arrested and charged with prostitution.

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.”

How to curb rising suicide terrorism in Afghanistan

OPINION - The Christian Science Monitor By Hekmat Karzai and Seth G. Jones / July 18, 2006

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN; AND WASHINGTON - Suicide attacks have become a major factor in the current resurgence of violence in Afghanistan, indicating Al Qaeda is staging a comeback. So far this year, there have been 32 suicide terrorist attacks, more than the total committed in the entire history of the country.

Despite Afghanistan's turbulent history and its recent three-decade long conflict, the first recorded suicide attack in Afghanistan did not occur until Sept. 9, 2001 – just two days before the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes in the United States.

Two Al Qaeda members posing as members of the media blew themselves up and assassinated Ahmad Shah Masoud, leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. The second suicide terrorist attack in Afghanistan took place in 2002, followed by two such attacks in 2003, six in 2004, and 21 in 2005.

The increasing use of suicide terrorism has contributed to an ever larger number of total insurgent attacks. According to the RAND Corporation terrorist incident database, the total number of insurgent attacks and deaths caused by these attacks has quadrupled since 2002. Violence has been particularly acute in the southern provinces bordering Pakistan, especially Kandahar and Helmand. Several factors can be attributed to this rise in suicide attacks.

First, Al Qaeda and the Taliban have successfully tapped into the expertise and training of the broader jihadi community. Militants have imparted knowledge on suicide tactics to Afghan groups through the Internet and in face-to-face visits, and these militants – with Al Qaeda's assistance – have supplied a steady stream of suicide bombers.

Second, Al Qaeda and the Taliban have concluded that suicide bombing is more effective than other tactics in killing Afghan and coalition forces. This is a direct result of the success of such groups as Hamas in the Palestinian territories, Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, and Iraqi groups. Suicide attacks allow insurgents to achieve maximum impact with minimal resources. Data show that when the insurgents fight US and coalition forces directly in Afghanistan, there is only a 5 percent probability of inflicting casualties. With suicide attacks, the chance of killing people and instilling fear increases several fold.

Third, Al Qaeda and the Taliban believe that suicide attacks have increased the level of insecurity among the Afghan population. This has caused some Afghans to question the government's ability to protect them and has further destabilized the authority of local government institutions. Consequently, the distance between the Afghan government and the population in specific areas is widening.

Fourth, suicide attacks have provided renewed visibility for the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which previous guerrilla attacks did not generate. Because of their lethality and high profile nature, every suicide attack is reported in the national and international media.

While the majority of suicide attackers are foreigners, some Afghans have been influenced by the increased proliferation of extremist propaganda and have carried out suicide attacks.

A number of Afghan refugees have attended Pakistani ~~I~~madrassahs~~/I~~, where they were radicalized and immersed in extremist ideologies. And Al Qaeda, which still operates in neighboring Pakistan, continues to spread its extremist global ideology in Afghanistan. Western intelligence agencies have reliable, current information that both Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are in Pakistani areas bordering Afghanistan.

How can the US and Afghan governments counter the growing use of suicide attacks? Lessons from Iraq, Israel, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere suggest that at least three steps are critical: improving intelligence, increasing law-enforcement capabilities, and countering extremist ideology.

The Afghan government must enhance the capacity of its intelligence services to disrupt the suicide support network by better infiltrating the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Suicide attackers rarely work alone. There is a critical network that provides financial, logistical, and reconnaissance support including such functions as target identification and time, date, and location of the attack.

Police training should also be enhanced to better deal with suicide tactics. Currently, Afghan national police go through several weeks of training, but receive no specific training on threat assessment for suicide attacks. Training should incorporate tactics, techniques, and procedures to detect and deter suicide terrorism. Police should be provided the necessary resources to handle the threat efficiently.

Most important, the Afghan Ulama, or council of religious leaders, need to continue playing a major role in countering the extremist ideology of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The Afghan Ulama has issued ~~I~~fatwas~~/I~~, or religious decrees, that unambiguously oppose suicide bombing. But they must keep reiterating that suicide bombing does not lead to an eternal life in paradise, does not permit martyrs to see the face of Allah, and does not allow martyrs to have the company of 72 beautiful maidens in paradise. It is also important for the Ulama to emphasize that the battle in Afghanistan is not between Islam and the West, but between forces of progress and those who wish for Afghanistan to remain weak and divided – a fact which discredits Mullah Omar's argument.

Afghanistan has made enormous political strides since 2001. It would be shameful for this progress to unravel because of the inability of the US and Afghanistan to counter the proliferation of extremist tactics. Success in the global war on terrorism depends on it.

• Hekmat Karzai is director of the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul. Seth G. Jones is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation. Both have conducted field research in Afghanistan on terrorism.

Italy firmed to enhance judiciary system in Afghanistan

KABUL, July 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Despite spending $13million annually, Italy seems not satisfied with its input in ministry of justice and judiciary system in Afghanistan and wants to do more to resolve problems of the sector.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Italy's ambassador to Afghanistan Etto Francesco Sequi said besides full-scale cooperation of his country in fields of security and reconstruction, it had also played magnificent role in improving judiciary system in the war-battered country.

He said they had arranged eight-month courses for hundreds of people in the sectors of security, reconstruction and judiciary.

He blamed unfamiliarity with the country's culture and customs of Afghans as great obstacles in the way of developing these fields. He said they had gained experience in recent years and would soon address the problems of the sectors.

Sequi said they would continue their efforts to enhance judiciary system. He also insisted on increasing salaries of the government employees that would help in enhancing their efficiency and would control corruption.

The ambassador said he wanted to increase annual assistance for ministry of justice and judiciary system from $13 million to $50 million.

Italy's next plan is to extend courses in these sectors to all provinces of the country. The ambassador added his country had promised cooperation with Afghanistan in different fields during London conference and was committed to act upon its agreements.

He said security situation was not bad in the entire country except the south and eastern parts. He urged the Afghan government and donor countries to take serious steps in this regard.

He said there were 1,103 Italian troops in Afghanistan and revealed happiness about their performance. He said Italian assistance to Afghanistan would increase to $160 by the end of 2007 and would continue the aid for more three years.

In his message to Afghans, the Italian ambassador said foundation of Italian embassy was present in Afghanistan for 85 years, having the oldest diplomatic relations with this country that showed longstanding friendship between the two nations.

Iranian and Afghan leaders to meet in Tajikistan

IRNA 07/18/2006 LONDON - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to meet his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on July 26, a Tajik government source said.

The meeting, part of a three-day visit by the Iranian president to the former central Asian Soviet republic, will also be attended by Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov, added the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said AFP.

Economic cooperation, particularly on hydroelectric energy, and the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking will all be on the agenda. The three leaders had been due to meet in Tehran in January but the Afghan president did not attend.

First Bulgarian troops arrive in Kabul for new mission

Text of report in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA website

Sofia, 18 July: The first group of the Bulgarian Air Force contingent which will operate and control Kabul International Airport (KAIA) arrived in Afghanistan at 4:30am Bulgarian time on Tuesday [18 July], the Defence Ministry said.

This is the first independent mission abroad for the Bulgarian Air Force, which joins NATO's priority operation in Afghanistan. The mission will last from 1 August to 1 December and will cost 3.5m leva [1 dollar=1.523 leva]. The main risks include mines remaining in the airport compound. The 70-strong contingent will provide air traffic services for some 150 to 200 flights a day at the high-altitude airport.

Romanian battalion to return from Afghanistan peacekeeping

Text of report in English by Romanian news agency Rompres

Kandahar, 18 July: The White Sharks 341st Infantry Battalion in Constanta (southeastern Romania) on Tuesday 18 July, during a ceremony, handed over their Enduring Freedom operation's mandate to the Calugareni 2nd Infantry Battalion in Bucharest.

The White Sharks have taken part, starting on 17 January this year, in more than 1,100 peacekeeping and security missions in the southern zone of Afghanistan, a former "cradle" of Taleban movement and a hotbed region also due to the opium producing poppy cultures.

The White Sharks' main mission was to ensure the guard and security of Kandahar Airfield. This mission was a complex one and implied assigning the military to guarding posts, around the clock patrols, traffic checkpoints, humanitarian transports, convoy escorts, evaluation of the villages from the four provinces in the south of Afghanistan. As well, the White Sharks had to weekly guard the local market, the bazaar.

The Romanian military's tasks were not easy, they successfully ensuring the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team's security, as well as that of the firm's teams in charge with providing services to the Kandahar base.

For six months, the White Sharks 341st Infantry Battalion was under AEGIS Multinational South Brigade command, led by Brig-Gen David A Fraser.

You successfully fulfilled your missions. You established standards that must be attained by other Romanian units, as well. You lost a comrade-in-arms, but his sacrifice was not useless because he had fought for peacekeeping and construction of a nation, Brig-Gen David A Fraser told the Romanian military.

Switzerland vows to donate $1.03m to Afghanistan

KABUL, July 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Switzerland will donate $1.03 million to Afghanistan for recruitment of 300 women in Afghan police in next two years.

In this regard an agreement was inked by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) here on Monday.

A statement issued by the UNDP which administer a trust fund for rebuilding of Afghan police said the fund would be used for enlisting of police women across the country such Kabul, Mazar, Kunduz, Jalalabad, Herat and Kandahar.

The fund will also be used for establishing gender units in police headquarters and police stations and also for training of police officers.

The $980,000 to be spent over a two year period to increase the enlisting of women in the police force. A further $50,000 will be used to ensure timely payment of salaries through a nationwide computerised system.

UN warns over Afghanistan drought Tuesday, 18 July 2006 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. 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.

Aid agencies retreat from southern Afghan province – Reuters 07/18/2006
By Jeremy Laurence

KABUL - Some aid agencies said on Tuesday they had reduced activities in the Afghan province of Helmand over safety concerns, less than a fortnight before NATO is due to take over peacekeeping operations in the south.

Militants and their drug gang allies have launched almost daily attacks against U.S.-led coalition troops in the south in the past six weeks.

NATO will undertake what is set to be the alliance's toughest ground mission in its history when it takes over in the south from a U.S.-led coalition force at the end of the month.

Helmand has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in past weeks and 14 foreign troops have been killed since March.

Abdul Khaliq, provincial head of Bangladeshi aid group BRAC, said his staff in Helmand had been pulled out. "We have closed the operation for now due to insecurity," he said.

Mohammad Nasir Foshanji, head of security for Mercy Corps, a Western funded aid group said activities had been reduced in a couple of districts in Helmand, but the main office was open.

The U.S.-led coalition launched a big offensive last month in response to the most intense phase of violence by a resurgent Taliban across the south.

"We are pushing the Taliban extremists out of their safe havens, out of places the government has never been before. They are failing," Colonel Tom Collins, a coalition spokesman, told reporters.

But a Western security source told Reuters the Taliban controlled vast areas in the south and that there was no end in sight to the insurgency.

He said the Taliban were ordering local farmers not to irrigate crops because this impeded their movements.

"The occasional suicide bomb attacks we're getting at the moment are just the tip of the iceberg," said the source, who asked not to be identified.

"This is not going to be short and simple," said Joanna Nathan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, speaking from Kandahar, another southern province hit by the insurgency.

"This is not going to be won militarily. It's a lot more than about wielding guns, and it's not as simple as shooting the last rebel and then leaving."

The Taliban and the drug gangs have operated unmolested in Helmand for years and are putting up fierce resistance to efforts by foreign and government forces to extend their authority.

Poppy cultivation has been high in Helmand, and money made from selling the flowers' opium has helped pay for the insurgency, according to security analysts.

In central Afghanistan, four Taliban fighters and two police were killed when insurgents ambushed a police convoy in Andar district of Ghazni province.

(Additional reporting by Yahya Nabawi in Ghazni and Yousuf Azimy and Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul)

Afghan party chief criticizes government for treatment of "warlords"

Text of report by Afghan independent Aina TV on 17 July

[Presenter] The acting head of the Central Council of Jonbesh-e Melli Eslami-ye Afghanistan [National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan] has said that the existing unrest and security problems in the country are a result of the illogical policies and activities of the government.

[Correspondent] Sayed Nurollah, the first deputy head and acting head of Jonbesh-e Melli Eslami-ye Afghanistan's Central Council, has held a meeting with the people's representatives and influential figures of Fariab Province [northern Afghanistan]. Criticizing the government's policies, he said that disapproval cannot address a problem.

Key influential individuals who have played an important role in political affairs are backed by the public, but they are addressed as warlords, gunlords and human rights violators instead of making use of them to ensure security and stability. The irrational and illogical policies of government officials are the main factor behind security problems in the country.

The acting head of Jonbesh-e Melli Eslami-ye Afghanistan's Central Council added: These double standards have swelled the ranks of the government's opponents and have reinforced their enemies. The leadership of Jonbesh-e Melli Eslami-ye Afghanistan and Gen Abdorrashid Dostum, the founder of this movement, are always in favour of the people's contribution in government. The programmes we put forward are the pillars of a democratic and pro-people system. But unfortunately these programmes have always been ignored and efforts are being made to concentrate power in one place.

Jowzjan Senator Engineer Abdol Qader Dostum and Najibollah Salemi, the head of Jonbesh-e Jawan-e Afghanistan [Youth Movement of Afghanistan], were also present at the meeting.

Talking on behalf of the people of Fariab Province, the head of Fariab Provincial Council, Sayed Farrokh Shan Janab, and Wazir Mohammad expressed their support for the plans and programmes of Jonbesh-e Melli Eslami-ye Afghanistan.

Afghanistan reverts to old chaos

The Mercury News 07/18/2006 By Barnett R. Rubin - Violence linked to how troops and aid are deployed

Last week, the United States announced a massive offensive in southern Afghanistan called Operation Mountain Thrust. While the United States and the Afghan government confidently predicted that this offensive would reassert government control in southern Kandahar province, the announcement reveals that, 4 1/2 years after Washington announced the Taliban and Al-Qaida had been routed, they are once again on the offensive in Afghanistan.

The rioting in Kabul a few weeks ago also revealed that violence is not far below the surface even in the area of the country under the tightest control of the government.

Americans might be surprised that, despite the presence of U.S. and NATO troops to provide security, and despite all the aid that the world has given Afghanistan, it is still erupting into violence. Unfortunately, the violence erupted in part precisely because of how the troops are deployed and how the aid has been given.

These events revealed three potentially fatal flaws in the international effort in Afghanistan. First, Afghans increasingly resent the autonomy and impunity of foreign forces. Second, the aid effort has not produced the benefits that rhetoric about a ``Marshall Plan'' led Afghans to expect. And, third, the police and administration proved unable to handle the challenge of unarmed rioters or to control territory in many areas outside major towns.

The riots were sparked by an accident where a U.S. military vehicle whose brakes failed killed at least one Afghan civilian in a crash. In the confusion that followed, U.S. soldiers, Afghan police and perhaps others fired weapons; at least 17 people were killed.

Mistaken bombings by coalition forces during operations have also killed hundreds of civilians, mostly in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Representatives in the Afghan parliament, as well as demonstrators in the streets, demanded that U.S. soldiers be subject to Afghan law for any misdeeds. The actions of omnipresent private security contractors who are far less disciplined than the military add more fuel to the fire. Resentment of such killings and impunity is fostering recruitment to the Taliban as well as angering urban rioters.

While U.S. soldiers cannot be subject to the dysfunctional Afghan legal system, and fatal mistakes are inevitable in counterinsurgency warfare, resentments are magnified by the fact that the U.S.-led coalition is operating under substantially the same rules as when it launched the effort to overthrow the Taliban and destroy Al-Qaida in October 2001.

More than four years later, after the election of a president and a parliament and the establishment of a new Afghan national army, the lack of any agreement regarding the status of the coalition forces other than a memorandum exempting them from the jurisdiction of Afghan law or the International Criminal Court undermines the sovereignty of the government they have helped build.

Their failure to end the sanctuary that the Taliban enjoys in Pakistan and the rapid growth of Taliban violence despite the coalition's actions has led Afghans increasingly to see the U.S.-led force not only as invaders, but also as ineffective invaders.

The Taliban often attacks soft targets, such as aid organizations. The mobs in Kabul also attacked aid organizations, which many Afghans believe are wasteful and corrupt. Some of the organizations attacked, such as CARE International, deliver needed services in a cost-effective way. But even if some charges are exaggerated or mistaken, the economic and social tensions created by the international presence are explosive.

The rapid influx of foreign military and aid organizations created a bubble economy in the capital. Demands for construction and supplies bankrolled local warlords who became agents or partners for foreign contractors, including private security companies. Hotels, restaurants, bars and brothels, especially ubiquitous establishments advertised as ``Chinese restaurants,'' sprang up to meet the demands of the expatriates.

Former combatants enrolled in private security companies to stand guard outside the walled compounds where foreigners like me, earning salaries dozens if not hundreds of times greater than those of their local counterparts, enjoy a life that locals can see only on pirated DVDs, on the rare occasions they have electricity.

These phenomena not only reek of injustice and offend conservative social values, but they also outrage young men, including former combatants, who reportedly strengthened the ranks of the rioters. Such men may not be able to afford to marry and may see no prospects for advancement through legitimate means. They have been dismissed from military roles that others see as predatory but that were a source of honor to them. They feel themselves excluded from a closed world of corruption and privilege.

If such young men take violent action, their resentment is widely shared. Afghans said they would accept the U.S. presence if the foreigners came to help them. The slowness of reconstruction, the obvious expenditures on the lives of the aid providers, and the much less evident concrete benefits, have rendered that bargain obsolete for many. Attacks on the comfortable workplaces and high costs of aid organizations were among the most popular themes in last fall's parliamentary elections.

The operation of the aid system has also played a role in the resurgence of the Taliban. While bases in Pakistan, booming drug trafficking, blowback from Iraq and support from Al-Qaida all play a role, so does the failure to deliver aid and strengthen the government in areas deemed too insecure for foreigners. Relying on foreign contractors and agencies rather than locally based organizations assures that projects will not function where the Taliban is active.

The Afghan government has asked aid donors to reduce the costs of delivery by providing more aid through the Afghan budget so that it can be delivered by national mechanisms and build the government's capacity. While they have instituted some safeguards against corruption and need to do far more, they ask donors to assume the risk of Afghan corruption, to avoid the explosive issues generated by what Afghans see as foreign corruption.

The United States and other large aid donors have declined to follow this route. Donors have many reasons, some valid, for continuing to provide aid through expensive parallel structures. But the result is a system that fails to reach the most strategic parts of the country and that generates economic distortion and social tension that threaten all our achievements.

Finally, in the face of several hundred unarmed, though violent, rioters, the police disappeared. The administration has also abandoned its posts with little fighting or passively collaborated with the Taliban in parts of southern Afghanistan. Having no equipment or training for riot control, police fled or, in some cases, joined the rioters. They are demoralized, underpaid and riddled with corruption.

After the riots began, the minister of the interior made no public statement. That official, far from being a law enforcement professional, is a former factional commander from the area north of Kabul who was appointed as part of a political deal that President Hamid Karzai has made with the commanders of that area to balance the power of those from the Panjsher Valley, slightly farther to the north.

Though the events started in the morning, President Karzai did not address the nation until 7 p.m. When he finally appeared on television, he said that he appealed to ``my brother, Amanullah Guzar,'' a prominent commander from north of Kabul, rather than to the minister of the interior. He subsequently made Guzar the police chief of Kabul and appointed commanders from that area to police leadership positions instead of the candidates recommended on the basis of merit by a board constituted as part of the police reform effort.

The president has made a similar decision in the south. Frustrated at the performance of the coalition and at the slow pace of building the Afghan national army, Karzai has decided to rearm militias that were disbanded with difficulty in the past two years. Many of the commanders are men involved with drug trafficking and largely despised by the population for their violence and criminality. These militias will undermine belated attempts to reform the administration in the south and drive more villagers to seek security from the Taliban.

The crisis in security, and the loss of faith by Karzai in Western-inspired reform attempts, partly stems from the Bush administration's refusal to become involved in these efforts after its initial military victory. Unlike in Iraq, where the administration also wanted to pull out U.S. troops as soon as the original mission was accomplished, other nations were willing to take on tasks such as police reform, which was assigned to Germany. But these ``lead donors'' lacked resources and capacity.

As a result, reforms of police and the judiciary are lagging far behind even the nascent army, resulting in a crisis of confidence in the international effort.

There is no sign, however, that the administration has understood the gravity of the crisis. The errors analyzed here are only a few of the more evident parts of our Afghanistan policy that are failing. Afghanistan's deteriorating relations with Pakistan, a wrongheaded and under-funded counternarcotics policy, the threat of stampeding into a confrontation with Iran, and rising ethnic tensions all threaten this first and most vital battle in our defense against Al-Qaida and its sympathizers.

Afghans with international assistance have laid the institutional foundations for governance and economic recovery. With the right policies, this investment can enable us to succeed.

If the insurgent violence and riots wake up the Bush administration from its self-delusion that it has already achieved success in Afghanistan and force a reappraisal of our policies, they will at least have served some purpose.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BARNETT R. RUBIN, director of studies at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, is the author of a Council on Foreign Relations special report, ``Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition From Turmoil to Normalcy.'' He wrote this article for Perspective.

Taliban pause for fresh breath

Asia Times 07/18/2006 By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - A sudden lull in the Taliban's activities has surprised the thousands of coalition forces that were sent to Kandahar and other parts of southwestern Afghanistan to patrol the deserts and the populated areas in the scorching heat.

These fresh troops, many of them British, now wander around without being challenged, unlike up to just days ago after the Taliban launched a massive spring offensive three months ago that has cost hundreds of insurgent lives.

Apart from sporadic armed guerrilla attacks, the detonation of improvised explosive devices and a few suicide missions, all sustained battles have ceased.

A Taliban contact told Asia Times Online that the development was a "break" as commanders had been told to call off their forces until further orders. The thinking is that the unrest in the Middle East will generate a new wave of fury among Afghans against Israel and its backer, the United States. The Taliban will then renew their efforts, bolstered by increased support on the ground among the Afghan population.

To the surprise of coalition forces on Monday, the Taliban surrendered Sangeen (or Sangin district) without much of a fight. In an interview with Gul Mohammed Jangvi in Asia Times Online, the Taliban commander announced the capture of the district: "We have had some initial successes, which boosted our morale. Tarood, Sangeen and Musa Qila districts in Helmand province are our recent victories" (Taliban in search of a winning formula, July 12).

A source close to the Taliban's inner circles explained to Asia Times Online how the events in the Middle East could impact on Afghanistan: "The Taliban aim to stir up a national movement, not merely a military mobilization against coalition forces.

"Therefore, issues concerning the Muslim cause or Islam give a wake-up call, like what happened after the Iraq war; on the issue of Christian convert Abdul Rahman [whose possible death sentence in Afghanistan created an uproar in the West]; the issue of the desecration of the Holy Koran in Guantanamo Bay prison; and when cartoons were published in the Western press to satirize the Prophet Mohammed. All these incidents produced positive results for the resistance."

The Taliban are wasting no time in capitalizing on the latest events - they are distributing shabnamas (night messages) with news of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon. On the weekend, independent calls from mosques condemned the attacks and the events were placed in the perspective of the US role as a backer of the Zionist state.

Political and religious rhetoric apart, there are other reasons to turn popular sentiment in Afghanistan against the alliance between President Hamid Karzai and the US. Foremost is the drought in southwestern Afghanistan.

According to reports quoting the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, the harvest of rain-fed wheat is about half of what it was last year, and up to 2.4 million Afghans now face hunger.

The drought has caused a massive displacement of people to areas where they can find food and water. The issue is generally perceived as mismanagement on the part of the government, which has failed to meet the food requirements of the masses.

Taliban sources anticipate that this discontent can be harnessed once the "break" is over in a few weeks, and the offensive will be resumed, including suicide attacks in Kabul against US forces.

"At this time the Taliban will awaken their network of over 300,000 men who were part of their army and police during their rule [1996-2001], and a mass mobilization movement should be in place in the urban centers of Afghanistan. That's how the resistance will reach its high point of its spring offensive this year," sources close to the Taliban asserted.

During the "break" in operations in the southwest, some guerrilla attacks will be staged in southeastern Afghanistan, where in coming days top Afghan officials and the bases of coalition forces will be targets in such places as Laghman, Kunar and Nanagarhar.

"The storm after the lull will be stronger than all previous Taliban military campaigns and Afghanistan will soon again be the center of world attention," the sources said.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online.

[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.]