In this bulletin:

• Coalition: Dozens of Afghan insurgents killed
• Taleban blockade of roads in southern Afghan district causes famine
• Taliban Surges as U.S. Shifts Some Tasks to NATO
• Heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan stokes suspicions of Taliban presence in Pakistan
• Taliban sanctuary allegations called false by Pakistani official
• Pak to US: Limit Indian troops in Afghanistan
• Taliban ready to face Nato troops
• NATO asks Italy for more troops for Afghanistan
• Some Afghans 'ambivalent' toward Taliban: Hillier
• Cdn troops open base in Taliban territory
• Afghan police arrest four on charges of killing NGO workers in north
• School burned in Uruzgan

Coalition: Dozens of Afghan insurgents killed

(CNN) -- Troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan killed a few dozen insurgents earlier this week in two restive southern provinces, the coalition command in Kabul said on Saturday in press releases.

The Taliban -- which harbored al Qaeda -- was ousted from power in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Remnants of the Taliban and their supporters have escalated their attacks this spring -- a challenge for NATO's expanded security presence in the country.

Two actions were reported Thursday in Uruzgan province, where coalition forces killed 10 "enemy fighters" in one incident, and four "extremists" were killed in a joint Afghan National Army and coalition operation.

In Zabul province on Monday, Canadian troops and Afghan National Army forces fought with more 60 insurgents and killed about 30 of them.

"There are known Taliban extremists in Zabul Province, and Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces will continue to attack these enemies of Afghanistan until the province is safe and secure," said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force - 76 spokesman.

Taliban militants set fire to a school on June 3, in Uruzgan, the coalition command said, noting that "Taliban extremists have been implicated or have claimed responsibility for damaging more than 45 schools, assassinating teachers and intimidating school aged children in the past year."

Taleban blockade of roads in southern Afghan district causes famine

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Tirin Kot, 10 June: Residents of Chora District of the southern Urozgan Province said that famine has started in the region, as they could not get foodstuff due to the blockade of the Urozgan-Chora District Highway by the Taleban for three months.

Located north of the capital, the district was captured by the Taleban two weeks ago, but later government forces succeeded in regaining its control. Dwellers argued that power was still in the hands of the Taleban in some area, and neither government nor the militants were absolute rulers in the centre of the district.

About 10,000 families are living in Charnarto area of the district where the residents themselves had appointed a police chief and maintain security. The people complained the Taleban had blockaded their transit routes to the provincial capital and food stuff has already run out in the region and they were facing acute starvation.

Haji Amir Muhammad Khan, a tribal elder in this area, told Pajhwok Afghan News the shops in the area had run out of flour, cooking oil, sugar, and other food items.

People frantically search for flour, but cannot buy 50 kg flour for 10,000 afghanis [about 200 dollars]. The residents don't care for prices, and are ready to pay the highest for vegetable or food stuff that they never find. Provincial Governor Mohammad Hakim Munib along with a number of foreign and Afghan journalists had paid aerial visit to the area. The governor had also airlifted 200 kg of food to the residents of the area. Munib pledged all-out support to the tribal elders and also asked them to support the government that would help in resolving their problems.

Regarding security, the governor said, he had discussed the issue with the tribal elders to prepare a force of 100 people for the area and the government would pay their salary and arms.

Haji Lal Gul, one of the residents told Pajhwok Afghan news they were several times threatened by Taleban to surrender, he said:" We had been incarcerated by the Taleban, they have blocked the roads to our area, they want us to join them in their fight against the government."

Akhtar Muhammad, the Chinarto District chief appointed by the locals, told this news agency there was no Taleban no government forces in the area, they had restored security on their own. One litre fuel can't be found in the area, all vehicles have run out of oil and were parked, he urged the government to airlift them emergency foodstuff or human catastrophe is feared to occur there.

Taliban Surges as U.S. Shifts Some Tasks to NATO - By CARLOTTA GALL – NY Times

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 10 — A large springtime offensive by Taliban fighters has turned into the strongest show of force by the insurgents since American forces chased the Taliban from power in late 2001, and Afghan and foreign officials and local villagers blame a lack of United States-led coalition forces on the ground for the resurgence.

American forces are handing over operations in southern Afghanistan to a NATO force of mainly Canadian, British and Dutch troops, and militants have taken advantage of the transition to swarm into rural areas.

Coalition and Afghan forces now clash daily with large groups of Taliban fighters across five provinces of southern Afghanistan. In their boldest push, the Taliban fought battles in a district just less than 20 miles outside the southern city of Kandahar in late May, forcing hundreds of people to abandon their villages for refuge in the city and in other towns as coalition forces resorted to aerial bombardment.

The Taliban are running checkpoints on secondary roads and seizing control of remote district centers for a night or two before melting away again. In the most blatant symbol of their dominance of rural areas, the Taliban have even conducted trials under Islamic law, or Shariah, outside official Afghan courts, and recently carried out at least one public execution.

"The situation is really, in the last four years, the most unstable and insecure I have seen," said Talatbek Masadykov, who is in charge of the United Nations assistance mission in Kandahar.

But he said accounts of just how bad the security situation was differed, particularly after a surge of fighting just west of Kandahar in recent weeks. "From different tribal people we are hearing that the Taliban are regrouping," he said, "and from government officials that security is improving."

One international security official in Kandahar, who has several years of experience in Afghanistan and asked not to be named because of the nature of his information, said members of American and Canadian Special Forces units had told him that they were "not winning against the Taliban."

"If the central government does not act and coalition forces do not increase, I think it will be impossible to say what will happen," he said.

This week, clashes have occurred in Oruzgan, Zabul and Helmand Provinces, with the coalition and Afghan Army forces reporting successful missions in which they killed several dozen Taliban fighters. But Afghans in the Char Chine district of Oruzgan Province said that coalition forces had shelled civilians as they were packing up to leave their nearby village, Pir Jawati.

Eleven people were killed, including an old woman and four children, said Mirwais, a shopkeeper in Char Chine who goes by one name and was contacted by telephone. Two suicide bombs this week in Kandahar and Khost killed at least four civilians and a roadside bomb killed three men in a government convoy south of Kabul, the capital, on Saturday.

Officials in the American-led coalition say the Taliban suffered a severe blow when American warplanes bombed the village of Tolokan, not far from Kandahar, on May 21, as part of a four-pronged operation by Afghan and coalition forces over several days.

The bombing killed at least 35 civilians, and immediately afterward much anger was directed at the 25,000 American forces still in Afghanistan, prompting President Hamid Karzai to visit the site.

But local residents say the public mood quickly shifted against the Taliban, as the Tolokan bombing drove home the risk to villagers who, whether because of coercion or cooperation, allow the insurgents into their homes. It also underscored the heavy civilian toll the fighting was taking.

Many Afghans said they simply wanted one side, any side, to bring security. Southern Afghanistan is the birthplace of the Taliban movement and has remained a stronghold as the Taliban have staged a steady comeback since their fall from power in December 2001.

For several years, they could only field a few hundred men in scattered groups in mountainous areas. Now the Taliban claims to have 12,000 fighters, while coalition estimates add up to perhaps half of that.

Even though several hundred insurgents may have been killed in fighting this year, the Taliban are recruiting ever greater numbers of local people, the officials said.

Many Afghans interviewed expressed frustration that the American-led coalition, which showed such strength in 2001, was now failing to stem the resurgent Taliban and that as a consequence people were dying.

Col. Ian Hope, the Canadian commander of coalition forces in Kandahar Province, acknowledged that his forces had been spread too thin over the past two months to stem the sudden surge in Taliban fighters. But he said that should change with the addition of more Afghan forces and now that British and Dutch forces were getting into place. "It will not occur again," he said. "It's dangerous for people to lose confidence in us."

NATO has deployed a 9,700-member force in Afghanistan that will grow to 16,000, with 6,000 deployed in southern Afghanistan, one of the most restive regions. While NATO is deploying troops, the United States will reduce its force by about 3,000 and keep 20,000 in the country under a separate American chain of command. The American forces will keep responsibility for the volatile eastern region that abuts some of the most lawless areas in Pakistan.

Even though the Tolokan bombing may have hurt the insurgents, local residents say, the Taliban presence remains strong, and villagers dread the prospect of more violence. They complain they are caught in the middle of fighting that pits the Taliban against the government and their foreign allies.

Hajji Agha Lalai, a tribal elder and provincial councilor from the Panjwai district in Kandahar Province, gathered elders in his house several weeks ago to discuss what to do about the intensifying conflict. At a meeting that was held a day after the Tolokan bombing, he said, the death toll finally drove home a consensus: the Taliban must go.

"Everyone swore that we would cooperate with each other and not let the Taliban fight in our district," he said. "We are not going to pick up guns and fight the Taliban; we are going to go with bare hands, and come out of our houses and tell them: 'You have to kill us first before you can attack the government and the coalition from here.' "

A month ago, 200 to 300 Taliban were moving freely in the Panjwai district and the adjoining district, Zhare, the governor of Kandahar Province, Asadullah Khaled, said in an interview.

After the Tolokan bombing, the coalition forces and government estimated that the Taliban lost up to 80 men in new fighting and reported that the insurgents had pulled out of the district. "The situation in Panjwai has completely changed," Mr. Khaled said.

Colonel Hope, who took part in the operation in Panjwai, said that the presence of the Taliban was much reduced.

"We believe there are a number of small groups, numbering 10 or 5 men, who want to stay and will change their tactics to I.E.D. attacks," he said, referring to improvised explosive devices like roadside bombs. "For this reason we need to maintain our presence and security in these districts."

Yet others, foreign and Afghan officials, were far more pessimistic in their assessments and said urgent and strong action from the coalition and government forces was needed to stem the Taliban advance.

The United Nations agencies in Kandahar reduced their international staff to 25 from 36 because of the security situation, and those staff members not withdrawn from the area were gathering at night in two central guesthouses for safety, said Mr. Masadykov, the head of the assistance mission.

The government lost control of the Chora district in Oruzgan Province to the Taliban for several days at the end of May, until American and Afghan forces mounted an airborne assault to take it back.

In neighboring Helmand Province travelers have reported that the Taliban are running a series of checkpoints north of the main highway up to the towns of Sangin and Kajaki.

At least 200 families have fled their homes in the Panjwai district and taken refuge with relatives in the district center, while more have come to Kandahar, said a tribal elder, Muhammad Alam Agha.

A former mujahadeen commander and landowner in Panjwai, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals from the Taliban, said, "We told the government for months that the situation was bad, that the Taliban were coming and killing people and that it would get difficult if they became too numerous."

He and many other villagers abandoned their farms and brought their families to Kandahar. "The Taliban could get into the city, if the government is still sleeping," he said. He added that he had seen members of the Taliban walking around in Kandahar. "I don't think the government can turn it around now," he said.

The Canadian commander of forces in southern Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. David Fraser, is firmly optimistic. "The Taliban have this great ability to blend into the villages and towns," he said in an interview at his headquarters at the Kandahar air base. "But they are not the superstars people make them out to be. They are capable fighters but defeatable."

Yet Afghans reported that security had become so bad that people said they did not care which side won, as long as someone took control and ended the fighting.

"We are going mad now," said Lala Jan, 19, a farmer from Deh Rawud in Oruzgan Province, one of the most strife-torn areas and a Taliban stronghold. "From one side we have the government and Americans, and on the other side the Taliban. When the Taliban come in, they enter without asking, and it's the same with the Americans. We cannot tolerate any of them."

Even more evident is the growing public dissatisfaction with the government, especially with the rampant corruption and venality of local officials, which has played into the hands of the Taliban, who are remembered for running a relatively corruption-free government.

Some people have turned to the Taliban to settle local disputes, in particular in parts of Helmand where they dominate, said the director of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in Kandahar, Abdul Qadar Noorzai.

The United Nations special rapporteur for independence of the judiciary, Leandro Despouy, condemned the public execution of a man accused of a crime, Badshah Khan, after a trial by a Taliban court in the remote mountainous province of Daikundi last month.

There is often no government presence in such remote areas, and the Taliban seem to be influencing those tribal leaders who usually decide local matters. "It is entirely unacceptable for a nonstate entity, such as the Taliban, to exercise a state function by trying and punishing an alleged criminal," Mr. Despouy said in a statement. "The return to the practice of making a public spectacle of the execution harks back to the worst excesses of the old regime."

Heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan stokes suspicions of Taliban presence in Pakistan

Published 2006-06-11 OhmyNews International - ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

When Taliban militant Syed Azizullah died during fighting in southern Afghanistan, his body was sent to his native Pakistan where a provincial official gave a eulogy before hundreds of Pashtun tribesmen. A flag of the Islamist militia fluttered by the grave.

Pakistan strenuously denies granting sanctuary to the Taliban, yet their cause still finds succor among local Pashtuns and Islamic hard-liners, fueling suspicions that jihadi leaders may be plotting their campaign of violence from southwestern Pakistan, with militants crossing the long, porous border to launch attacks.

Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the campaign against terror, denies that and says it does all it can to combatmilitancy. It has deployed 80,000 troops to fight al-Qaida and local Taliban militants in its own Waziristan tribal areas further north -- a suspected hiding place of Osama bin Laden -- and has lost hundreds of soldiers in fighting there.

But it appears far less active in tracking down Taliban in Baluchistan province, where Azizullah was buried opposite southern Afghan regions where recent months' surge in rebel attacks has sparked the heaviest fighting since the Taliban's ouster from power in late 2001.

Afghan officials accuse Pakistan's intelligence agencies, pre-9/11 supporters of the Taliban regime, of being behind the violence that has seriously shaken Afghan President Hamid Karzai's feeble authority in a former Taliban heartland.

Western diplomats doubt there's Pakistani state backing for the militants, but with NATO forces from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands deploying in the Afghan south and facing suicide attacks and roadside bombings almost daily, diplomatic pressure is growing on Pakistan to crack down on its side of the arid, lawless frontier.

The NATO forces say Pakistan's security forces currently appear more concerned with stamping out ethnic Baluch tribal militants, who are disrupting crucial natural gas supplies in the province with guerrilla attacks.

''The government is forceful in FATA (federally administered tribal areas, including Waziristan) and appears to be turning a blind eye in Baluchistan,'' one Islamabad-based diplomat said on condition of anonymity, due to the issue's sensitivity. ''The message is sent to the government of Pakistan that a lot more could be done.'' That message, however, is a mixed one, tempered by respect for Pakistan's anti-terror successes against al-Qaida in the past four years, arresting hundreds of militants, including key figures like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the planner of the Sept. 11 attacks.

When the chief of staff for British forces in southern Afghanistan told The Guardian newspaper last monththat Baluchistan's capital, Quetta, was the Taliban militant campaign's ''headquarters,'' the British Embassy in Pakistan swiftly moved to distance itself from the comments.

The presence of Taliban leaders in Quetta, which is heavily populated by Afghan migrants, is hard to substantiate. The clearest public sign was the arrest there last October of a Taliban spokesman, Latif Hakimi, who lived in the city with his family.

One Afghan with ties to the Taliban told The Associated Press that Taliban provincial commanders for southern Afghanistan spend most of their time in Quetta and have regular ''shuras'' or councils to discuss the insurgency with district commanders.

The Afghan, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing concerns for his safety, said that he had attended a shura two months ago in the city, along with 120 Taliban, and that three young men had volunteered for ''suicide attacks against infidels.'' He also claimed the Taliban hold training camps in Quetta to train militants on how to make and plant bombs.

Afghan officials enraged Pakistan by publicizing similar allegations in February, when Karzai handed Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf a dossier on the reported whereabouts in Pakistan of alleged terror training camps and Taliban and al-Qaida suspects. Pakistan said most of the information was wrong or old and did not lead to any significant arrests.

''As far as we are concerned, there are no Taliban leaders there (in Quetta),'' said Pakistan's army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan. ''If anyone has actionable intelligence, they should provide it and we will act on it.'' A second Western diplomat said the possibility that Taliban leaders are in Quetta did not mean it was their hub of operations for southern Afghanistan, where more than 400 people have died in fighting in three weeks, many in U.S. airstrikes.

''We can't conclude that a Taliban shura in Quetta is running the campaign in Afghanistan. If you can put in aforcebig enough to get 80 killed in Kandahar, the simplest explanation is that they are running their campaign there,'' he said. Like the first diplomat, he requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. ''Maybe they (Taliban leaders) are in Pakistan, maybe they're in Afghanistan. Most likely they keep moving around,'' he said.

''Neither government controls the (border) area.'' But the open, pro-Taliban sympathies of Pashtun tribesmen and religious hard-liners -- illustrated at the May 23 funeral of Syed Azizullah -- inspire little confidence in Pakistan government declarations that it does all it can to curb Taliban militancy.

Among the speakers at his funeral at the village of Bagarzai, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Quetta, was Maulana Abdul Bari, public health engineering minister in Baluchistan's provincial government.

He extolled Azizullah for ''fighting in the way of Allah'' and ''against infidel forces in Afghanistan,'' according to local businessman AsgharKhan,who said he heard the eulogy.

Information Minister Matiullah Agha also attended. Both are members of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a hardline Islamic party that is the dominant partner a coalition government in Baluchistan, the poorest of Pakistan's four provinces.

Maulvi Noor Mohammed, a JUI lawmaker, said it was every Muslim's duty to support the Taliban in fighting the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, although the party's itself wasn't sending people to fight and offered the militants only moral and political backing.

Asked why JUI leaders attended the funeral of Azizullah, who reportedly died in a U.S. airstrike on a village in Kandahar province that killed dozens of militants, Mohammed explained, ''He was a local p Ignatieff takes heat over Afghanistan vote.

Taliban sanctuary allegations called false by Pakistani official - By Khalid Hasan - Daily Times 11 June 2006

WASHINGTON: "To eliminate false allegations about Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, the 2.5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan should be sent back home, yet Pakistan is discouraged from doing so by the international community," according to a Pakistani official's letter published in the International Herald Tribune on Friday.

The letter from Mansoor Sohail, minister press at Pakistan's UN mission in New York, refutes allegations made in an article last month critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan. The Pakistani official argues that the criticism does not take into account the complexity of the security challenges in Afghanistan, the Taliban, warlords, ethnic rivalries, drugs and the deficit in reconstruction. The failure to overcome these challenges cannot be externalised, he points out.

Sohail writes, "Peace in Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest. It will enable both countries to serve as the hub of trade and transit links between Central Asia, South Asia and beyond. There are three conditions for success in Afghanistan: first, the government of President Hamid Karzai and international forces need to secure each region and district. This requires a credible and a sustained military and administrative presence. Current levels of NATO forces are insufficient for this purpose. The Afghan Army is still not fully 'national' or able to assume a credible security role.

Second, the international community should provide sustained and adequate security and economic support to Afghanistan. Pakistan regrets the reduction of US forces in Afghanistan that may encourage the Taliban and other government opponents. We welcome NATO's decision to play a long-term role in Afghanistan. Third, the cooperation and support of all of Afghanistan's neighbours must be obtained. In this context, the recent geopolitical rumblings in Central Asia, and the implications of an Iran-US confrontation, are cause for concern for Afghanistan's long-term stability. "Pakistan's support in stabilising Afghanistan is robust: 80,000 troops have been deployed for cross-border interdiction and military operations killing 1,000 - and capturing another 1,000 - members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, with the loss of 600 Pakistani servicemen," he adds.

Pak to US: Limit Indian troops in Afghanistan Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA 10 Jun 2006

NEW DELHI - Speculation that India might be asked to dispatch troops to Afghanistan to buttress the ISAF presence there has apparently rung alarm bells in the Pakistani establishment.

According to sources, Pakistan has asked the US to ensure that Indian security presence in Afghanistan remains restrained. This came after US president George Bush publicly asked India to increase its presence in Afghanistan when he visited the region in March.

India, though committed to its presence in the Afghan reconstruction drive, will stay out of the security game, except to provide greater protection to its own people. Indian officials say that stepping into the Afghan security situation now would make Indians sitting ducks for Pakistan-trained and sponsored new-Taliban, currently enjoying a resurgence in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

In fact, Indian security officials say that if the US had taken up the Indian offer to send troops to Afghanistan, in the past five years India, given its experience, would have created a vastly better-trained Afghan security force than exists at present.

The US has scaled down its original aim of training 70,000 Afghan armymen to 50,000. But now, the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan would prevent the Indian government from putting its men in the firing line of better-trained Taliban fighters, most of whom get their training in Pakistan.

After the grisly killing of Indian engineer Suryanarayana in Kandahar, Indian security agencies have intercepted a lot of terrorist chatter against Indian interests in Afghanistan.

In fact, at a recent discussion in London, senior Pakistani diplomat, Zamir Akram reportedly said ISI operatives would be "licking their chops at the possibility of provoking their Afghan friends to take on the Indians."According to sources present at the event, Akram also made it clear that the Pakistan government would turn a deliberate Nelson's eye to such instigation.

As violence in Afghanistan increases this week, with even the intelligence chief of the Afghan government targeted in a bomb attack on Friday, Indian security agencies have stepped up their intelligence in areas in Afghanistan where Indians are engaged in infrastructure development or humanitarian work.

Taliban ready to face Nato troops’- Dawn By Ismail Khan

PESHAWAR, June 10: If the one-legged Taliban commander, Mullah Dadullah is to be believed his 2,000 rag-tag fighters are ready to take on the nearly half their number belonging to one of the world’s most well-oiled fighting machines - the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organisation- who are ready to take over from their American counterparts in Afghanistan.

The battle lines have already been drawn. The Taliban Supremo, Mullah Mohammad Omar, promised in March this year to turn “the Afghan soil red for the crusaders and their puppets; and the occupiers will face an unpredictable wave of Afghan resistance.”

Indeed, this summer has turned out to be exceedingly hot. It has seen violence taking the bloodiest turn since the overthrow of the Taliban in March, 2001, taking a heavy toll of over 8,000 people including civilians, insurgents and 39 foreign soldiers.

And indeed the resurgence of the Taliban, who had melted into the countryside soon after their overthrow, has surprised many a commentator and analyst. The insurgency in Afghanistan is getting bloody and deadly. Suicide attacks, ambushes, roadside bombs and sometimes brazen attacks on district headquarters in the seemingly lawless south and east of the country have almost become a daily norm.

Clearly, the fight in Afghanistan’s countryside has entered a new phase. The war against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies has moved from high-tech to low-tech, where the rules of engagement are determined by the black-turbaned militants rather than their foreign adversaries.

A raft of suicide and roadside bombings has given a new dimension to what hitherto had been a low-intensity insurgency. Except for this tactical change that bears the hallmark of the Al Qaeda-led fight in Iraq, the Taliban fight in Afghanistan is pretty much being fought in the same old style of the anti-Soviet “jihad” - wherein the US and its allies are restricted to the control of cities.

The only difference, however, is that the insurgency this time round is largely restricted to seven provinces, all straddling Pakistan’s north-western frontiers. And this explains why Pakistan gets the blame for the heightened level of Taliban insurgency along its borders.

There are several factors for the resurgence of the Taliban. One, the Taliban have had ample time since their overthrow six years ago to regroup, reorganise and re-establish themselves. Every year they have got stronger and every spring they start with a renewed vigour.

Over the years, the Taliban have also been able to improve on their tactics and strategy on how to deal with an adversary that is high-tech and has air-power. Al Qaeda’s experience in Iraq has proven handy and lethal. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of casualties among the foreign troops and the Afghan National Army. But in a striking similarity with Iraq, it is the Afghan National Police which bore the brunt of the Taliban insurgency.

It also shows that the Taliban are now better financed and better-trained. There is evidence to suggest that Taliban’s chief patron, Al Qaeda, continues to get a major part its funding from private donors in the Gulf and the Middle East. But reports also say that a proportion of that funding comes from private Pakistani and Afghan sources.

The reinvigorated insurgency may also be linked to the Taliban’s strategy of unsettling the 9,000-strong Nato-led International Security Assistance Force even before their full deployment in the strife-torn south.

There is an argument that the Americans repeated the mistake in Iraq they made in Afghanistan – not securing potential trouble spots. They should have been aware that the stretch from the south to the east of Afghanistan had been a Taliban stronghold and could re-emerge as a sanctuary.

To top it all, the US moved its assets to Iraq just when they needed them the most in Afghanistan, with the result that the insurgency has not only created a sense of insecurity among the people, who now willy-nilly, look up to the Taliban, but has also thwarted attempts to carry out economic reconstruction.

It is also said that the Taliban owe their resurgence to the lack of government presence and writ in the areas they operate in. The Afghan National Police is under-equipped and poorly paid. Besides, their presence is thin in most parts of the country. (So far, 55,000 police officers have been trained, a figure that is likely to reach the 62,000 mark by December, 2008, under a US-funded police training programme.) More than anything else, this has emboldened the Taliban and given them the freedom to operate and hit targets at will.

On the other hand, the Afghan National Army (ANA) remains a small force with a total strength of 27,000, though it is expected to go up to 70,000 in the next two years. But for operational and financial purposes, it continues to rely on the US and coalition forces. To its credit, the ANA has shown its fighting spirit in recent battles against the Taliban but to be able to move and win over local support and credibility, it would have to be on its own. Till then the Taliban appear more than happy to fill the void.

The prevailing security situation in the south of the country has, therefore, pre-empted efforts to carry out development and reconstruction in one of the most backward areas of the country. One report said that more than 200 schools were shut down in southern Afghanistan last year, where aid agencies have almost ceased their activities for fear of attacks. So, unless the security situation improves, there appears little hope of development ever reaching what is fast turning into a heartland of resistance against the US and allied forces.

It would, however, be wrong to assume that the Taliban resurgence in the Pakhtun belt is due to a sense of alienation there from the seat of power – Kabul. It is a fact that Pakhtuns now are fairly well represented – both within the government and in parliament. The Taliban fight may have some nationalist connotations but it is an ideological war, a ‘Jihad against the infidels and their puppets.’

The Pakistan Factor: Hardly a day goes by without Kabul urging Islamabad to do more to help overcome the insurgency in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Their anxiety is understandable and not entirely misplaced, say analysts.

Much of what is happening along Afghanistan’s border area with Pakistan is seen as a result of militants’ crossing over from this side of the border. That the bulk of the roughly 80,000 troops guarding Pakistan’s frontiers with Afghanistan are based in Waziristan is in itself an acknowledgement of this.

This, by the way, is not a new phenonomenon. Afghan mujahideen and their Pakistani and foreign comrades-in-arms used to use Wazisiristan as the launching pad, and had bases there, to make frequent forays into Afghanistan to target Soviet and Afghan forces.

Nothing much has changed since then, except for the cast of characters. The Americans have replaced the Soviets and for the militants, waging a holy war, President Karzai’s government is a puppet regime installed by an occupation force. In some parts of Waziristan, the militants are still described as mujahideen. Recruitment for the ‘jihad’ in Afghanistan continues unabated and suicide bombers are indoctrinated and sent across to fulfil their mission of achieving martyrdom.

Pakistan’s critics blame it for what is happening in Afghanistan by pointing to the quantum of activity within close proximity of the border. They say Islamabad has to fulfil its international obligations by curtailing the movement of people from its side of the border and cannot absolve itself by asking Kabul to tighten control on the other side. “The issue is not just placing 80,000 troops on the border but the whole point is how effective that force has been in accomplishing its mission objective,” says one analyst.

But far from achieving its goals of curbing cross-border infiltration, the military in Waziristan appears to have been bogged down by an insurgency probably more lethal and dangerous than the one in Afghanistan itself. Pakistani security forces have lost more men, nearly three times more, between January 2003 and April 2006, than the US has since 2001.

Ambushes and roadside bombs and IED (improvised explosive device) attacks against security forces in Waziristan are as frequent as they are across the border. Militants, desperately trying to save their last sanctuary, have turned their guns on the Pakistani forces, pro-government tribal elders and intelligence operatives. This whole swathe of Waziristan, Paktia and Paktika on both sides of the border is being likened to a powder keg. The situation calls for an out-of-the-box approach.

“Side by side with a strategy of engaging the locals and protecting loyalists from the wrath of the Taliban, ways and means have to be found to monitor and patrol the borders more effectively. Coordinated efforts involving the tripartite commission - Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nato - need to be made to improve the mechanism for better and timely intelligence sharing and, more importantly, security. No infrastructure can be created for economic development without security. Pakistan attempted to do this in Waziristan and failed,” a Peshawar-based security expert said.

NATO asks Italy for more troops for Afghanistan - Irish Sun 10-Jun-06

ROME - NATO's Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer has asked the Italian government to reinforce its 1,400-strong contingent in Afghanistan to support NATO troops moving south in July, the Corriere della Sera reported.

"Between now and the end of July, we want to be ready to take control of the southern provinces" from US-led coalitition troops, he told the newspaper in an interview on Saturday.

NATO's troops, already deployed in the north and west of the country, will be entering a destitute area where the Taliban are traditionally active.

The NATO chief met Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema on Friday to discuss the operation, but no details of their talks were released to the media.

De Hoop Scheffer told the paper: "We discussed with your government what more it could do. We need more planes. If you asked whether we want more troops and special forces, I would say yes, certainly. But I do not want to join in Italy's internal discussions."

"We are entering a difficult zone. There is resistance from the Taliban, whom we must make understand that we mean business. We are going to double the force, to 6,000 men from the 3,000 in the current US-led force.

"The Taliban, together with criminal gangs and warlords, are putting us to the test: they want to avert the arrival of troops to prevent the south becoming safer."

"They want to influence our public opinion ... NATO must put up a show of strength, if not we will be overrun by the Taliban."

Italy has 1,400 soldiers serving in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), 1,000 of them in Kabul and 400 in Herat.

Two Italian soldiers were killed and four injured on May 5 in Kabul by a roadside bomb.

Several radical leftwing groups in Prodi's coalition government are calling for Italy to pull its troops out of Afghanistan.

The Taliban, ousted from power by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, have stepped up attacks in recent months across the south of the country.

Some Afghans 'ambivalent' toward Taliban: Hillier - By TARA BRAUTIGAM - 11 June 2006

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - Residents of the remote, rural areas of southern Afghanistan remain indifferent toward the presence of the Taliban mainly because they have not yet seen the benefits of peace, Canada's top soldier said Saturday.

After four years of international military operations throughout the war-torn country, many Afghans still face a shortage of wells, roads and hospitals, Gen. Rick Hillier said.

"Their support has really not gone either way. We think there's actually a large uncommitted vote in the south," Hillier told a meeting of the Radio Television News Directors Association of Canada.

"They don't want the Taliban, but if the Taliban is all that shows up there on a dark night, then they're actually going to be ambivalent or neutral at very best."

To change public opinion in Afghanistan and foster respect for the country's fledgling government, Canadian Forces personnel must help make visible improvements in the daily lives of Afghans, Hillier said.

The Taliban have ramped up attacks across the volatile region in the past few months. In the last three weeks alone, more than 500 people have died in violence, raising new fears for the country's future.

The surge in violence has been attributed to NATO forces pushing into remote areas where they're confronting more Taliban militants, Hillier said. "We have seen them come out in larger groups," he said. "When they do, they lose."

Hillier shrugged off a recent national poll that suggested support for the Canadian military's role in Afghanistan is dropping. "I get it directly from Canadians in the hundreds and thousands that represent a large, growing opinion poll that is solidly behind that mission."

A Decima Research survey, conducted at the end of last month and released a week ago, suggested 54 per cent of Canadians were opposed to the federal government's recent decision to prolong the Afghan troop deployment for two more years.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper narrowly won parliamentary approval for the move last month. Conservative MPs were solidly in support of the move, while the Liberals were split and the NDP and Bloc unanimously opposed. Under the federal government's original plan, Canadian troops were supposed to come home by next February.

Cdn troops open base in Taliban territory - By JOHN COTTER

EL BAK, Afghanistan (CP) - Canadian and coalition forces cut the ribbon on a base deep in Taliban country Saturday to show rural elders their support for the Afghan government.

Forward Operating Base Martello is a bleak, dusty fortress gouged deep into the top of rocky ridges that command the El Bak valley about 200 kilometres north of Kandahar.

Protected by a cordon of Canadian soldiers and Afghan troops brandishing AK-47 assault rifles, army and police officers held a Shura with village leaders within the razor-wired bastion.

Brig.-Gen. David Fraser said the fort will help coalition forces root out Taliban in the area and set the stage for development projects, such as schools and health facilities.

"We are going into the traditional areas where the Taliban live and operate," said Fraser, commander of the multinational brigade in southern Afghanistan. "I think there are people here who are looking to the government and saying: 'What are you going to do for us,' ".

Martello is to act like a 21st-century version of a castle keep. From its ramparts, a force of Canadians, Afghan National Army troops and Afghan National Police will provide security to a string of villages in the region and safeguard the main highway that links Kandahar to the neighbouring province Oruzgan.

For the time being, most of the garrison will be made up of Canadians who will work with Afghan units to give them on-the-job training. If all goes well, the Afghans will take over much of the base within one year.

During the Shura, Afghan army and police commanders implored village elders to work with them to eliminate the Taliban. "Show me, give me information," said a police commander inside a big tent that shielded the delegation from the scorching afternoon sun. Most of the elders sat impassively on brightly coloured rugs during the parley, as aides distributed trays of fruit and drinks.

One elder complained bitterly about the behaviour of coalition soldiers in the villages. "Your soldiers come and they beat us, they disturb us in our houses," said the man in Pashto as Fraser and his staff looked on. The police commander replied such a thing isn't possible.

In the end, the gesture that seemed to please the elders the most was the distribution of free clock-radios - each with a sheet of paper emblazoned with an Afghan flag, a dove of peace, and two hands grasped in friendship. Some of the elders crumpled the sheets of paper and tossed them on the ground.

Maj. Kirk Gallinger, commander of the base which is still under construction, said Martello will allow the Afghan government to extend its authority in northern Kandahar province.

The Canadian force, made up of troops from the Edmonton-based 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, will have more credibility working closely with the Afghan forces, he said.

It will also make it easier for Canadians to respond quickly to Taliban activity. Gallinger said his troops have a tough job ahead, cautioning results will come slowly. "It will take a long time. We are seeing success every time we conduct operations." "It is a small measure of success but we are always building on it."

Afghan police arrest four on charges of killing NGO workers in north

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Mazar-e Sharif, 10 June: Security officials claimed arresting four people for attacking a Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) vehicle and killing two of its staffers.

While confirming the incident, spokesman for the provincial police headquarters Sher Jan Durrani told Pajhwok Afghan News the four suspects were residents of Charbolak District of the province.

Two people were killed and one sustained injuries last week when unidentified gunmen attacked CHA vehicle in the province.

He said investigations were going on and more details would be shared with the media after they had been leaked out from the detainees during their grilling.

Revealing concerns onto the incident, chief of the Rural Rehabilitation Department, Engineer Abdol Basit Aini, told this news agency: "Although the incident will not affect their operation in the province, but we are grieved on the incident."

School burned in Uruzgan - 10 June 06

KABUL (AIP): Taliban extremists burned a school in the Khas Uruzgan District, Uruzgan Province on June 3, says a press release issued by coalition forces on Saturday.

The Wardag Kat Primary School located within Wardag Village was set on fire by several identified Taliban extremists under the cover of darkness, resulting in extensive damage to the roof and the interior of the building.

Enemy extremists sporadically fired small arms fire into the village as well as a nearby village across the valley, while the school was burning that night. Residents of Wardag Village did not report any injuries to Afghan or Coalition forces.

“This despicable act is further proof of the enemy’s blatant disregard for innocent Afghan children and civilians,” said a Combined Joint Task Force 76 spokesperson.

[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.]