In this bulletin:

• Troops kill 82 militants in Afghanistan
• NATO will be in Afghanistan for the Next 15 Years’
• Hekmatyar says US to be driven out of Afghanistan and Iraq
• Spanta calls on Shaukat Aziz
• Transcript of Pres. Karzai’s interview 6/22/06 – Spokesman’s Office
• Afghanistan coalition responds to Karzai criticism
• ‘Effective role’ sought for Afghan peace
• Gunfight derails plans for Afghan medical clinic - 24 Jun 2006
• Where Taliban Rules Again - The Los Angeles Times 06/24/2006 By Paul Watson
• Afghan Women Judges Pursue Legal Training in United States

Troops kill 82 militants in Afghanistan
24/06/2006 - 14:04:08

Afghan and coalition forces killed about 82 militants in multiple assaults across southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday.

On Friday, troops fought more than 40 extremists during a five-hour gun battle after receiving enemy fire near the village of Mirabad, north east of the capital in southern Uruzgan province, the military said in a statement.

Most of the militants, who were firing from hidden positions in an orchard, ridgeline and compound, were believed killed, the coalition said. No coalition or civilian injuries were reported.

In a separate assault, Afghan and coalition forces battled a large group of militants in the Zharie district of Kandahar province, killing about 25 during three hours of fighting.

“Several extremists broke contact by using innocent Afghan civilians as shields to escape into nearby villages,” the statement said.

Late Friday, the coalition reported another 17 insurgents had been killed when an enemy bunker had been destroyed in Uruzgan province on Wednesday.

Coalition forces had intercepted enemy fighters setting up an ambush site near Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, a military statement said.

Troops “observed extremists with heavy weapons travelling back and forth from a bunker establishing an ambush site”. Soldiers fired on the enemy bunker, killing 17 militants.

The military believe militants used the bunker to fire on Afghan and coalition forces on three separate occasions during the past week.

Coalition forces have launched a massive offensive against Taliban forces in a bid to stop a wave of suicide attacks and ambushes in recent months.

More than 10,000 Afghan, British, Canadian and American troops are deployed across Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces – areas where Taliban forces have regrouped and gained strength and sympathy.

More than 200 insurgents have been killed since Operation Mountain Thrust got underway earlier this month, according to the coalition.

On Saturday, the Afghan Defense Ministry said since the military operation started, 149 militants have been killed, 32 were wounded and 61 were arrested. Three Afghan soldiers were killed and 14 others injured.

“Mountain Thrust is one of the biggest operations in the south of the country. As we enter the second week of this operation, we have made very good achievements,” said spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi.

On Friday, provincial officials in Zabul said the decapitated bodies of four men – who were abducted at gunpoint earlier in the week – were discovered in Shahjoy district near the village of Chinoh.

The bodies had been found Thursday and Friday, said Ali Khail, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousof Ahmadi, contacted The Associated Press and said the men had been killed because they had been spying for Afghan and US-led coalition forces.

Khail denied the victims were spies, saying they were civilians with no links to the Afghan government or coalition forces.

Beheadings are not common in Afghanistan. The headless bodies of three police officers were found in late May in the south, several weeks after the decapitated body of an abducted Indian engineer was dumped by a road.

Afghanistan is in the grips of its deadliest spate of violence since the Taliban’s ousting in 2001. President Hamid Karzai has decried the intense violence in the south, which since May has left more than 600 people dead, mostly militants.

NATO will be in Afghanistan for the Next 15 Years’

Hikmet Cetin, NATO's civilian representative in Afghanistan, is returning to Turkey in August.

Nearing the end of his term, Cetin, who came to Paris for the Western European Union Parliamentary Assembly (WEU PA), answered Zaman’s questions and commented on his two and a half years in Afghanistan as well as NATO’s current situation in the country.

Mr Cetin indicated that NATO, which started operations in Afghanistan in 2003, will stay there for at least another 15 years and said, “The organization is putting itself to the test in its struggle with terrorism.” The Turkish representative said if NATO leaves the country before normality returns, it will only result in failure.

Cetin says the difficult mission NATO undertook in Afghanistan will continue for the next 15 years. He elaborated that current conditions in Afghanistan are unstable, and a NATO withdrawal from the country would end the integrity of the organization.

Afghanistan is the biggest task before NATO, says Cetin, and adds, “It is obvious that NATO’s existence is still necessary in Afghanistan in the post cold-war era. NATO would not enter a country so deeply to leave without solving the problems. They will never say ‘impossible.’ If NATO leaves Afghanistan, it will lose its integrity and be defeated by terrorism.”

Cetin points out that the Afghan government failed to achieve substantial success outside of Kabul and the Taliban is still dominant in the country.

When Hikmet Cetin was appointed three years ago, he met a complicated structure composed of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the United Nations (UN) in Kabul.

“Our initial task was to coordinate the organizations in Afghanistan”, said Cetin, who worked for 1.5 years in the Turkish embassy. Cetin said the Afghan people have a certain fondness for the Turkish people and indicated that the organization benefited much from having a Muslim veteran representative in its structure.

“I couldn’t even discuss my departure. (Afghan President) Karzai continuously says ‘You can’t leave.’ The Afghan government and president did everything I asked for,” said the Turkish representative.

Cetin said he is on excellent terms with the Afghan people in the name of NATO, and has helped them surmount crises at critical times. Cetin noted that his office in Afghanistan provided him with invaluable experience in the struggle against terrorism and arranging civil-army relationships.

During his term as civilian representative Cetin has taken part in many interesting events.

Once Cetin was ordered not to go to a meeting in Kabul due to a bomb threat; however, Cetin said “I will return to my countrypermanently if I cannot attend the meeting.” NATO allowed him to attend the meeting with a “bulletproof vest,” which Cetin accepted but later removed in the meeting.

Another 700 Turkish Troops will Go to Afghanistan

Cetin says as the Afghan people love Turks, they expect more from Turkey than any other nation, and Turkey should try to be more effective with its military power and businessmen in Afghanistan.

The Turkish representative said Turkey developed close relations with Afghanistan in the early years of the Turkish Republic, but abandoned the country after the 1940s.

Afghanistan today calls on Turkey to “go there, train their armies, serve their country and found education scholarships.” Cetin says Turkey will carry out the central command in Kabul and its vicinities, increasing its troops from 300 to 1000.

Hekmatyar says US to be driven out of Afghanistan and Iraq

PESHAWAR: Afghan militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said US troops will be driven out of Afghanistan and Iraq like they were in Somalia, according to a statement obtained on Friday.

Hekmatyar, who heads the outlawed Hezb-e-Islami party, also offered praise for slain Al Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi in the statement, which could not be immediately authenticated.

“The martyrdom of Al Zarqawi will not weaken the resistance and as the Americans were expelled from Somalia, they will be expelled from Afghanistan and Iraq,” according to the statement, which was delivered to The Associated Press reporter in Peshawar.

Al Zarqawi, who travelled to Afghanistan and trained in militant camps, was killed June 7 in a US airstrike north of Baghdad. He was responsible for multiple bombings, attacks and kidnappings in Iraq.

Hekmatyar, a warlord and former Afghan prime minister, also issued a warning to the United States and new governments in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying: “The same fate will be faced by your Iraqi and Afghan puppets also.”

Hekmatyar, who is believed to be hiding in northeastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, has previously released video and written statements urging Afghans to support Al Qaida and wage jihad, or “holy war,” against US-led forces.

On May 4, he issued his last tape, committing his forces for the first time to follow Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

“Those who had seen Al Zarqawi could see the bravery, dignity and determination,” the statement attributed to Hekmatyar said. “The photos showed by the Americans in a press conference (after his death) also reflected the same dignity.”

A Sunni Muslim and ethnic Pashtun, Hekmatyar gained a reputation for extreme violence while leading militant attacks against the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation and repeatedly shifted his support during more than 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan. AP

Spanta calls on Shaukat Aziz

ISLAMABAD, June 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta on Saturday called on Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and discussed with him issues pertaining to bilateral interest.

Spanta, who arrived in Islamabad on a two-day visit a day earlier, also met Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf beside holding group-level meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri in the foreign office on Friday.

Later the two ministers addressed a joint news conference.

A press release issued by the Pakistan Press Information Department (PID) on Saturday says both Spanta and Aziz took stock of the ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan and progress they made in further cementing the relations during the past four years.

The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and international issues, says the release.

The Pakistani premier expressed satisfaction over the achievements gained by the Karzai government, especially on the front of putting the country on the path to democracy.

Aziz said although some hidden hands were busy to create gulf between the two countries, the two nations were inseparable as they had same history, culture, religion and languages.

Describing Afghanistan as a gateway to Central Asia, the Pakistani prime minister said the country was of greater importance for Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Spanta thanked the government of Pakistan for assisting in reconstruction of his country and guiding Afghan officials in different fields.

He stressed the need for developing good neighbourly relations between the two countries.

Regarding terrorism, Spanta was quoted as saying miscreants on the joint borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan were creating problems for the two countries. Pakhtun Sahar

Transcript of Pres. Karzai’s interview 6/22/06 – Spokesman’s Office Please find below the English translation and attached Dari/Pashto transcript of His Excellency President Hamid Karzai's Press Conference on the 22nd of June 2006, in Gul Khana Palace, Kabul, Afghanistan.

We release a transcript in light of the widespread media coverage that certain statements by the President have generated, and to clarify any misunderstandings of what the President exactly said. Office of Spokesperson - Kabul Question: BBC World Service 100s of people dieing in southern Afghanistan in the past couple of months, did you think it would get as bad as this?

You categorically you don’t agree with the sentiment or the details in the document handed to the media? Answer – We are really sorry that we keep losing so many Afghans, to death and destruction, yes I did predict and expect a rise in militant activity in Afghanistan and I have raised my concern with the International community from two years ago in this regard, I have systematically, consistently and on a daily basis have warned the international community of what was developing in Afghanistan and of the needs of Afghanistan and of a change in approach by the international community in this regard.

This has been an ongoing discussion between us, the issue of the strengthening of the administration in the afghan districts, the increase of the number of police in districts and army, better supplies and equipment to them, and also the need on behalf of the international community to reassess the manner in which this war against terror is getting conducted.

That from a tactical warfare within Afghanistan, I strongly believe and have conveyed my believes to the international community, that we must engage strategically in disarming terrorism, by stopping their sources of supplies of money, training, equipping and motivation, unless we do that we will suffer, the afghan people will suffer, but if we don’t stop the sources of terrorism, eventually populations in the west will suffer once again. I have been discussing this, in details, I have argued for a thoroughly look in war against terror that will take all considerations into account. On the Question of the press, Afghanistan is the most democratic country in this part of the world with institutions and respect for those institutions of democracy. The freedom of the press is the strongest in Afghanistan, with a belief in it, if you want to be a democratic country, a country with transparency, with public accountability, we need a free press, we can not develop into a strong society and an accountable society, a government that is accountable to its society without the existence of a free press, that is guaranteed. As long as I am here, that will be guaranteed, there is no doubt about it, and I am sure the future Afghan Governments will guarantee the same because it is in the interest of the country.

Where we have a concern is the manner in which part of the press, especially the electronic media are reflecting terrorism, almost legitimizing some acts of terrorism, which is what we are concerned about and I am sure you have the same concerns in your societies, we share that concern, in that is what we are trying to correct.

Question– Washington Post You have repeatedly spoken of sources of terrorism coming from Pakistan and a needed for a different approach, but there is also a growing frustration and discontent in the south, can you talk more about what needs to change for the lives of the people in the south and can you also speak about people arming themselves to fight terrorism? President Karzai: I didn’t say Pakistan ma’am, I am speaking of an effective fight against terror where ever they are getting trained or equipped or given money to, if it is in Afghanistan we should go there and do it, in other words the sources of it wherever it may be, with Pakistan we have a dialogue going on and we hope that dialogue reaches somewhere.

I agree with you, we have internal difficulties, we don’t have a strong administration, our police forces are weak, our national army still has to grow a lot, and this is something I have raised with the international community for the past two years. Especially in the strengthening of the police and administration in the Afghan districts and we have been negotiating with the international community for the past year and a half almost on a weekly basis on the need to strengthen the police, to increase the number of police in the districts and to equip them better. We just recently were able to Reach some understanding on the need to increase support for the police and security forces, which I hope is done soon. We never wanted to arm militias, we never spoke of militias, Afghanistan is speaking of Strengthening the police force, now somehow in the western media there is talk of militias being raised, that is not true, I must say once and for all, that it is not true, we are trying to strengthen legitimate national institutions which are the police, the army and the bureaucracy. Speaking of the problems in the southern parts of the country, Afghanistan has those problems it has in the south, south east of the country in terms of the ability of the administration, policing, in terms of excesses a lot of times by government elements or by the security elements, that is happening all over the country, that weakness is present all over the country, that does not explain and is not the cause for the increased terrorist activities in Afghanistan. Question from AP President Karzai, overnight a new videotape has surfaced from Al-Qaeda leader, Iman Al Zawahiri, in which he called upon Afghans to rise up against the US and coalition forces here, he refers to their evil acts, referring to the incident last month with the Americans in a traffic accident that caused the riots, well, I would like to see if you have a response to that call? This week the coalitions compared themselves to that they have a very successful power, but ………. much fighting in the south during the anti Taliban offensive. You made it very clear you were very upset about the number of people being killed in the south that they are Talib whether they are Talib or not you can consider them Afghans. Can you give us a response to how the coalitions are conducting their campaign; and again they are going the wrong way? Answer Zawahiri, Iman Zawahiri, is one of those people that we are looking for in Afghanistan to capture. He is one of those individuals who has brought massive suffering to the Afghan people. He has been the cause of destruction in Afghanistan , he and his friends; the other terrorists were training their guns on Afghan lives, on Afghan children, on Afghan women, on Afghan mothers and parents.

He has been the cause of the misery of Afghanistan for the past so many years from 1992, 93 onwards until 2001. He was one of those who destroyed our mosques, our schools, our vineyards and orchards. He is first the enemy of the Afghan people and then the enemy of the rest of the world, first, the enemy of our people and then the enemy of the rest of the world. He first killed Afghans for years in thousands and then he went to America and destroyed the twin towers so whether America wants him or not, whether the rest of the world wants him or not, we in Afghanistan , want him, arrested and put before justice. And we are glad that the international community is here, helping us capture him, helping us fight him, helping us get rid of terrorism in this country and in the rest of the world. No Afghan would like to see the continuation of suffering here, the continuation of people of dieing.

It is unfortunate, but that does not mean that Afghanistan is not willing to fight against terrorism. The Afghan people do want to fight terrorism they do want it very, very much because it is affecting their life on a daily basis we suffer because of them, they come and burn our schools, they kill our children, they kill our clergy, they kill our tribal elders, they try to stop reconstruction in Afghanistan, they are the enemies of Afghanistan we want to fight them we just want to fight them in a manner that will bring us relief sooner rather than later we are in a hurry, Ma’am, Thank you,

Afghanistan coalition responds to Karzai criticism - CTV.ca / Fri. Jun. 23 2006 11:25 PM ET Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Criticism by the president of Afghanistan of the coalition's efforts to hunt down the Taliban is being treated as delicately as a landmine by the Canadian-led multinational brigade.

President Hamid Karzai called on the coalition to rethink its strategy of fighting terrorism, saying the killing of hundreds of Afghans was not acceptable. Even if they are Taliban, they are sons of this land, Karzai said.

But a Task Force Aegis officer responded carefully to Karzai's remarks, saying coalition countries are doing much more than just killing Taliban.

"Killing or capturing those who continue to threaten the security of Afghan people is just one aspect of our efforts here,'' said Maj. Nancy Hansen, spokeswoman for the Canadian-led Task Force Aegis Friday.

"Over half the effort associated with the operation is geared toward reconstruction and humanitarian assistance.''

Karzai's comments Thursday came as 7,000 Canadian, U.S. and coalition combat troops are suffering casualties as they sweep southern Afghanistan for insurgents in Operation Mountain Thrust.

He said the coalition should change its tactics and focus on stopping the Taliban's sources of supply and money.

Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, the commander of the brigade, was not available for comment.

Operation Mountain Thrust's aim is to root out Taliban and extend the reach of the Afghan government to remote areas of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces.

It has been the coalition's contention that major redevelopment and aid projects can't flow into these areas until the rule of law is imposed.

Karzai's remarks do not change the coalition's long-term approach toward helping rebuild Afghan society, Hansen said.

"The coalition forces here are very supportive of the president and his policies and recognize that many more Afghans have died than coalition forces,'' she said, adding the deaths of up to 600 Afghans in recent weeks is the fault of the Taliban.

"The coalition does not take responsibility for the deaths of those Afghans,'' she said.

This weekend Canadian and Afghan forces were planning to hold medical outreach clinics at two villages in Kandahar province as part of the campaign to win over the population.

Teams of doctors and dentists are to visit the communities to give people medical check ups, dispense drugs and give health advice.

The average life expectancy in Afghanistan is 42 years. Rates of infant mortality and tuberculosis are among the highest in the world. But there is a direct link between security and such humanitarian gestures.

Last week in Kandahar City, the Canadian provincial reconstruction team opted to hold its outreach clinic inside the razor-wired walls of Camp Nathan Smith for the first time, after a minivan carrying coalition interpreters was blown up by a Taliban bomb.

Ten people died in that attack and 17 were wounded. Usually such clinics are held outside the walls, in the community.

During the clinic there were almost as many armed guards on hand as medical staff as elderly men, women and children were carefully searched, screened and brought in for treatment in groups of 12 at a time.

Six Canadian soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb and a suicide bomber Wednesday in Kandahar province.

Four American soldiers were killed in a separate incident the same day in eastern Afghanistan.

One Romanian soldier was killed and four were wounded by a roadside bomb and landmines on Tuesday, only a few kilometres outside the gate of the coalition base at Kandahar Airport.

‘Effective role’ sought for Afghan peace

ISLAMABAD, June 23: The US Deputy Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs John Gastright on Friday asked Islamabad to play an effective role in restoring peace in Afghanistan, an official of the interior ministry quoted the US official as saying.

During his meeting with Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao at his office here, the US official expressed “grave concern” over the deteriorating law and order situation in the neighbouring country.

The government of Pakistan and Afghanistan are currently engaged in trading allegation, accusing each other of patronising terrorism in their territories.

The official said during the meeting, issues of cross-border infiltration, the law and order situation in Balochistan also came under discussion.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry issued a press release which said that the US deputy secretary of state had “appreciated the front-line role of Pakistan in the war on terror”.

It quoted Mr Gastright as saying that the US-Pakistan cooperation in the war against terrorism would further strengthen in future.

PM's fate may lie in Afghanistan - Favours election before next summer
Kandahar mission a potential pitfall Jun. 24, 2006 JAMES TRAVERS

OTTAWA—Stephen Harper's notably strong performance since winning the winter election isn't the only reason Conservatives favour fighting another campaign before next summer. In August 2007, Quebec's most famous regiment will be on its way back to Afghanistan.

Seemingly unrelated, those events are inextricably linked. A Conservative strategy to morph a minority into a majority turns on Quebec, and Canada's increasingly dangerous Kandahar mission is one of only a few issues contentious enough to deny the Prime Minister what he achingly wants.

That short list notably includes the environment — fast becoming the new health care — and the money-grab provinces call the fiscal imbalance. But it's a peacemaking operation that Conservatives let become synonymous with George W. Bush's war on terror that most threatens ruling party ambitions.

On saving the planet and cutting up the cash, Harper is more or less master of his own fate. He will reveal a green plan this fall with ample potential to outstrip the sorry Liberal record while lavish federal spending, as well as booming provincial economies, is gradually correcting the national economic equilibrium.

Harper can't impose that control on either Afghanistan or the rotation of troops. Stabilizing a spectacularly failed state is proving even more problematic than predicted and pulling the Royal 22nd Regiment off the replacement conveyor belt would be politically suicidal and logistically impossible.

So the storied Vandoos will decamp from Valcartier, Que., perhaps taking with them Harper's hopes for a majority. If current patterns forecast the future, there will be more casualties and they will be coming home not primarily to the West but to Quebec, where war support is particularly soft.

That's one of surprisingly few worries for a Prime Minister who this week strolled happily away from a first session that even critics grudgingly acknowledge is a success. In six months Harper redrew the caricature of a policy wonk as uncomfortable in the public eye as in his own skin and reassured voters, mostly by keeping five easy election promises.

There's more and less to Harper's performance than is immediately obvious. Underlying his confidence is the astute analysis that, despite numerical strength, the opposition is so weak that Conservatives can govern with impunity.

That gives Harper room to break other commitments at roughly the same rate as Liberals after they routed the Tories in 1993 — two that leap to mind are reneging on the principles of the Kelowna aboriginal accord and appointing a senator — while setting a centre-right course polls suggest a centre-left country is tolerating.

Where Conservatives are at risk is in Harper's coziness with Bush. Prime ministers who misjudge the safe distance from presidents inevitably pay a price and these days that space is measured by Afghanistan.

Harper let a short-term Liberal commitment slide into a long-term Conservative war by borrowing Bush rhetoric. Instead of evoking Canadian values by emphasizing the humanitarian effort, Harper stressed that fanatics wouldn't force this country to "cut and run."

Making a convincing connection between war there and security here is more difficult than holding support for a selfless sacrifice to restore peace, order and good government to a faraway place savaged by ancient rivalries, warlords and opium. Keeping Canadians onside can only become more difficult as news reporting inevitably shifts from gentle yarns of our men and women in harm's way to hard-edged analysis of the corruption and lawlessness now contributing to the Taliban resurgence.

Afghanistan is already a wedge political issue. Having the Vandoos in the operational vanguard will make it an irresistible target for a Bloc looking for ways to abort the Conservative Quebec rebirth.

There are many other reasons for Harper to ask for a stronger mandate sooner rather than later. Time is a fickle friend and eventually a country that usually prefers Liberals to administer conservative policies will forgive past sins to focus instead on the flotsam and jetsam that ultimately sticks to every ruling party.

None of that can or should detract from this: A government largely elected to punish its predecessor's ethics is proving refreshingly capable.

Liberal disarray is helping Harper sustain that standard. An Opposition so inept that it dozed while the budget passed unopposed remains many months, if not years, away from healing internal wounds and then regaining public trust.

That opens a window that's also a Conservative opportunity. Between now and when the Vandoos depart, Harper will be looking for the moment and the reason to prematurely kill a government with unexpected vitality.

Gunfight derails plans for Afghan medical clinic - 24 Jun 2006 - CBC News

A mission of mercy turned into a mission of war for Canadian troops in Afghanistan early Saturday as they exchanged fire with suspected Taliban militants.

The soldiers were in the heavily Taliban-influenced area of Panjwai, near Kandahar, to set up a two-day medical clinic when an overnight patrol came upon a suspected group of Taliban fighters, apparently planning to ambush the Canadians.

The group opened fire on the Canadians, leading to a one-hour battle. The Canadian convoy returned fire, using 50-calibre machine-guns and eventually mortars.

No Canadians were injured in the fight, though military officials believe four Taliban fighters were killed.

Four to six others were able to flee, which led the Canadians to cancel the medical visit, citing the increased risk and tendency of insurgents to attack coalition soldiers in built-up civilian areas such as markets, or meeting places.

The Canadians wanted to set up the clinic to help local residents and gain their trust.

Such village medical outreach programs have seen huge turnouts in the past, but the one planned for this weekend was abruptly cancelled early Saturday morning over fears that it could become a Taliban target.

U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan have killed 82 Taliban militants in recent offensives in the country's southern regions, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

Coalition and Afghan forces attacked a large group of militants and fought a three-hour battle in Zharie district in Kandahar province on Friday.  Troops fought a five-hour battle on the same day with Taliban fighters in neighbouring Uruzgan province.

Where Taliban Rules Again - The Los Angeles Times 06/24/2006 By Paul Watson

The fundamentalist fighters have regrouped to spread fear in one south Afghan province mired in poverty and the drug trade

LASHKAR GAH — In the sun-blasted badlands of Helmand province, the Taliban insurgency has grown so strong that frightened Afghan police turn to sympathetic drug lords' militias for protection.

When police escorted civilians into the desert village of Changer, half an hour's drive from Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, the convoy of SUVs stopped at an abandoned Soviet-era military base that is now a drug lord's outpost.

A few police officers armed with old Kalashnikovs fanned out to guard the perimeter, while an edgy officer roused the militia fighters resting in the shade of a tree. He explained his concerns, asked for backup, and six young men armed with old AK-47 assault rifles and a battered grenade launcher joined the entourage in a rusting Toyota Corolla.

There were no foreign troops for miles around. Villagers said the Taliban controlled the area, and most of the province outside Lashkar Gah.

More than four years after U.S.-led forces helped push the fundamentalist Taliban regime out of power, the Islamic militia's fighters have regrouped and staked out a base of operations in Helmand, where the main cash crop is opium poppies for the heroin trade, and where few foreigners dare venture beyond the provincial capital.

A tangled web composed of drug lords, insurgents and the many inhabitants living in poverty has made Helmand the Afghan war's key battleground.

The U.S.-led coalition says it has launched a fresh offensive against insurgents across four southern provinces, including Helmand. But the struggle to win back parts of Afghanistan's south is proving difficult.

In "night letters," leaflets posted on doors or scattered along pathways in the darkness, the Taliban threatens to kill anyone who works for, or cooperates with, the government. The Islamist militia has executed numerous people who didn't listen.

Despite coalition claims that several insurgents have been killed in recent weeks, most in airstrikes, the Taliban and its allies continue to recruit new fighters with a deft combination of intimidation and persuasion, said Gen. Zahir Azemi, spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

Just two hours' drive from the capital, Kabul, villagers in the desert surrounding the city of Ghazni say insurgents launch regular attacks on police checkpoints, plant roadside bombs, kill government workers and burn schools. A year ago, security was good, they say.

The Taliban recruits by striking fear into villagers with the ruthless attacks, then offering salvation to surviving family members and neighbors, Azemi said.

"First they create an atmosphere of fear by killing people, slaughtering people," he said. "They cut people's heads off with a sword or knife, then they persuade people, and tell them, 'Let's go to paradise together.' "

At least one tenet of the Taliban recruitment pitch — that foreigners have not done much for villagers — appears to be an easy sell.

Just a few months after foreign soldiers rebuilt the dirt road through the Changer district, it is falling apart. Afghan subcontractors hired by the U.S. military used shoddy materials so they could boost their profits, angry Afghan officials complained.

Few dare drive on it these days, but when they do it's a gut-twisting race past mud-brick homes with high walls and turrets like ancient fortresses, along a crumbling track with washboard ruts and holes as big as craters. Potholes are not just an annoyance on roads outside Lashkar Gah. They force drivers to slow to a crawl in places where speed can save lives.

Last week, a roadside bomb killed four Afghan police officers traveling in a pickup on the main road near Girishk, about 20 miles northeast of Lashkar Gah.

Bombs and ambushes make police reluctant to go to many villages, and if they do risk a visit, they don't linger.

"You've got five minutes," a nervous official told a reporter during a stop in the village of Nad-e-Ali, where the Taliban had executed a teacher and torched the classrooms.

With few police officers or soldiers to worry about, the insurgents attack civilians, which scares off aid workers. Then Taliban recruiters tell villagers that they have been betrayed by the foreigners.

"The Taliban come to us and they tell us, 'Look! These are not the friends of the country. They are all just the enemies of the government and the people of Afghanistan because they haven't done anything for you,' " said Tawab Khan, a security officer at a dilapidated school.

Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, a former governor of the province, is one of the police force's most powerful guardians in Helmand. He is a stalky, blustering man, who receives visitors while reclining on floor pillows.

He has good business reasons for being the security force's protector.

President Hamid Karzai was forced to replace Akhundzada late last year after U.S. drug agents caught the governor red-handed with almost 10 tons of opium in his office.

Karzai softened the blow by appointing Akhundzada to the House of Elders, Afghanistan's senate. Akhundzada's brother Amir was allowed to keep an eye on the family's interests as Helmand's deputy governor.

Akhundzada insists that he is not a drug trafficker. But he fields a militia that, along with fighters for known drug lords, constitutes the only permanent armed opposition to the Taliban and its allies.

"In the south, nobody believes the government and nobody trusts the government," the former governor said. "And if they don't take care of it, the government will collapse and the Taliban will arrive in Kabul."

The Defense Ministry openly acknowledges that failed military and reconstruction strategies allowed insurgents to regroup and gain control over many parts of the south.

"We could have taken much better steps toward reconstruction of the country, which we didn't," Azemi said. "We could have taken much better steps to reform or to make a management system for the remote areas in that region, which we didn't.

"We could have built our complete army in the last three years and we didn't. If we had a strong army of 70,000 soldiers, there would be no need for the international community's soldiers to fight in the region."

Afghanistan's national army has 37,000 soldiers, including ministry staff in Kabul. That's just over half the size coalition authorities believe is necessary for the Afghan military to defend the country on its own. The soldiers earn $70 a month — about what a day laborer makes in Kabul — and fight with poor equipment alongside U.S. troops.

"In reality, the morale of our national army is very weak because of these situations, because they see differences between human beings," Azemi said.

"One soldier has strong weapons, strong and modern machinery, tanks, jets, bulletproof jackets and helmets, and the other is fighting with a single weapon that he doesn't even trust."

The coalition plans to supply equipment to Afghan police, including pistols, body armor, shotguns, grenade launchers and light tactical vehicles, and "there are similar plans in place" for the Afghan army, said Navy Lt. Tamara D. Lawrence, a coalition spokeswoman.

At least 40 foreign troops, 26 of them Americans, have died in combat in Afghanistan this year.

Afghan troops are the largest contingent in the force of more than 11,000, including American, British and Canadian personnel, that launched Operation Mountain Thrust last week against insurgents in Helmand and three other provinces.

Akhundzada thinks the latest offensive in the south is a farce. On Sunday, when Taliban fighters attacked the house of Dad Mohammed Khan, Helmand's former intelligence chief and now a member of parliament, near a U.S. base in Sangin, the battle between insurgents, Khan's militia and police raged for 12 hours in Sangin's bazaar.

U.S. troops never intervened, Akhundzada said. Khan's 16-year-old son and two of Khan's brothers were among at least 32 people killed. His 17-year-old son is missing.

"If the Americans didn't help them in the bazaar, which was only a mile away from their base, how could they have an offensive?" Akhundzada asked. "There is sorrow in many houses now. What good can rebuilding a bridge do for those people? Is that more important than the lives of these 30 people who died?"

Afghan Women Judges Pursue Legal Training in United States - Judges intrigued by U.S. jury system

By Carolee Walker Washington File Staff Writer June 23, 2006

Washington -- Trust in the Afghan legal system is weak, according to a female Afghan judge speaking at a June 22 State Department roundtable discussion on women in Afghanistan’s justice system.

“People who have been in place in the legal system in Afghanistan need to get trained so they can at least learn about the legal system,” the judge said. “Otherwise there can be no trust.”

The women judges have been on the bench in Kabul courts for the last 20 years, except during the Taliban’s rule from 1994 to 2001, and are in the United States for three weeks participating in the Afghan women judges program. The program, sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) with the International Association of Women Judges, brings Afghan women judges to Vermont and Washington for three weeks to observe U.S. courts and participate in specially tailored courses. The legal training program began in 2004. An INL-sponsored project in 2005 educated Afghan girls in Kabul on their rights.

The Afghan judges observed cases in the Washington Superior Court and were especially interested in the American judge’s instructions to jurors in a criminal case.

There are no juries in Afghanistan. Judges decide court cases after reviewing hundreds of pages of evidence and information. Decisions are written by hand, often in dim light as electricity is scarce, the judges said. And since parties to court cases often hold grudges, judges fear for their lives.

“As judges we do not feel safe,” a judge said at the roundtable discussion. “Security as an issue for us is ignored.”

Part of the problem, they said, is that the police and the military still are learning about the legal system and Afghans themselves rarely understand the law or the consequences of breaking the law.

“The courts, the police and the district attorneys are working hard to fight drug trafficking in Afghanistan,” a judge said, but, increasingly, the people who are apprehended are really victims of a larger problem.

“The drug lords are not the ones who get caught, and often the ones who get nabbed turn out to be victims because they don’t know the consequences of their actions and they don’t know whom they work for,” she added.

Often drug running is the only work available in Afghanistan, the judges said. If employment opportunities improve and people learn more about the law, the situation would be better, they added.

Poor court facilities in Afghanistan reflect the country’s broken infrastructure, the judges said. “We don’t have the basics of life – water, electricity.”

For example, most courts are not located in separate buildings and share space with other agencies. The judges often do not have desks so they carry their folders with them wherever they go. There are no women’s bathrooms in these buildings so the judges must wait until there are no men present to use the facilities. In crowded courtrooms, judges waiting to hear their cases often find themselves seated next to defendants. The hallways are always dark, they said, because the country has limited electricity.

“The hallways are so dark I cannot see the people coming near me,” one judge said.

In Brattleboro, Vermont, where the judges stayed with American families, the women observed trial court proceedings and met with American judges to discuss women’s issues and judicial issues. The judges participated in a one-week training program at the Vermont Judicial College on the grounds of Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English at the foot of Bread Loaf Mountain.

“These women are so brave,” said Julie Peterson of the Rural Women Leadership Institute of Vermont, which coordinated the judges’ stay there. “We’ve learned at least as much from them as they have from us.”

“Each time I meet with Afghan women leaders visiting the United States, I am humbled by the courage of these women who, in so many cases, persisted in educating children or providing basic health care to members of their community despite the massive restrictions placed on them by the ruthless Taliban regime,” said Ambassador Steven E. Steiner, acting senior coordinator for international women’s issues at the State Department and chair of the roundtable discussion.

“The United States remains firmly committed to assisting Afghanistan in its remarkable journey toward a strong democracy where all citizens enjoy equal rights and can aspire to economic prosperity,” Steiner said.

“I will take with me the collaboration, hospitality and kindness of heart of Americans,” one of the judges said during the roundtable discussion. “We never felt uncomfortable or distressed. I did not even feel away from my family.”

For more information on the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan, see Rebuilding Afghanistan and Afghan Women.

[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.]