In this bulletin:

• US says Afghan poppy farming down
• Afghan drugs trade still a major threat: US
• Afghanistan prison riot 'is over'
• Transcript of President Karzai and President Bush’s Press Conference-
• A Message for Gen. Musharraf
• Afghanistan hits back at Pakistan's dismissal of 'terror' intelligence
• MUSHARAF REJECTS KARZAI STATEMENTS - INTERVIEW WITH MARTHA RADDATZ
• Pakistan forces kill 45 militants on Afghan border
• PM dismisses calls for vote on Afghan deployment
• How you voted - Globe and Mail Update
• Taliban Rebels Still Menacing Afghan South
• AFGHANISTAN: World Bank offers US $30 million boost to health
• Trial of Afghan ex-intelligence chief flawed: rights group
• Cash rewards for Taleban fighters

US says Afghan poppy farming down - By Adam Brookes
BBC News, Washington

The US government says the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan fell by nearly half in 2005. Counter-narcotic officials called it a significant decrease which was due in part to strong efforts by the Afghan government.

They were speaking as the US state department released its annual report on narcotics production worldwide. But the officials said they were concerned that poppy cultivation would increase in 2006.

Nearly all of the heroin flowing onto the streets of Europe and Russia is made from opium poppies grown in Afghanistan. And by the time Afghan opium has been exported, it is worth about $2.8bn (£1.6bn) a year.

The US government said the amount of land in Afghanistan cultivated for poppies in 2005 decreased by 48%. But because of good weather, the yield on that poppy crop was very high, so the amount of opium actually exported fell by only 10%, it said.

Still, American counter-narcotics officials said they were pleased and surprised at this fall in cultivation. They said it was because of concerted efforts by the Afghan government and its international partners. Many Afghans had heeded the call of President Hamid Karzai to stop growing poppies and had switched to alternative crops.

But the picture for 2006 looks more mixed. The officials said early indicators suggested poppy cultivation was once again on the rise this year. Anecdotal evidence from village elders and governors, as well as surveys of farmers, suggested some Afghans would be lured back to growing poppies by the easy cash they brought.

The officials also suggested that insurgents in Afghanistan may be encouraging poppy cultivation as a means of destabilising the central government.

The state department's annual report said the US was most threatened not by Afghan heroin but by cocaine imported from south and central America, and by methamphetamine - the cheap and dangerous stimulant that is wreaking havoc in some American communities.

Afghan drugs trade still a major threat: US - Reuters 03/01/2006 By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Opium production and trafficking make up a third of Afghanistan's economy, and security issues and corruption hamper efforts to eradicate the drug, the State Department said on Wednesday.

In its annual worldwide drugs survey, the department said Afghanistan's huge drugs trade severely damaged efforts to rebuild the country's economy and threatened regional stability overall.

"Dangerous security conditions and corruption constrain government and international efforts to combat the drug trade and provide alternative incomes," said the report, released on the same day as President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Afghanistan en route to India.

The International Monetary Fund estimated legal Gross Domestic Product for the Afghan fiscal year ending on March 21, 2005, at $5.9 billion while illicit opium GDP was about $2.8 billion for the same period. These figures indicate illicit opium GDP accounted for roughly a third of total GDP.

"Criminal financiers and narcotics traffickers exploit the government's weakness and corruption," the report said.

The number of hectares (acres) under poppy cultivation dropped by 48 percent last year but good weather resulted in a better yield than usual, and production dropped by just 10 percent overall to 4,475 metric tonnes in 2005 from 4,950 in 2004.

Senior State Department official Anne Patterson said the drop in opium cultivation last year was also tempered by reports that poppy planting was again on the rise.

Afghanistan produces about 90 percent of the world's opium poppies and is the largest heroin-producing and trafficking country.

"I don't want to underestimate the difficulty of this, because Colombia is paradise next to Afghanistan," said Patterson of the challenge.

Thousands are killed every year and tens of thousands have been displaced by Colombia's 41-year-old guerrilla war, in which guerrillas fight with far-right paramilitary militias over control of lucrative coca-producing land.

The report said efforts to curb drug production were hampered by the insurgency in Afghanistan and drug-related corruption "at all levels of government".

"Corruption ranges from facilitating drug activities to benefiting from revenue streams generated by the drug trade," said the report.

An increasingly large portion of Afghanistan's opium crop was processed into heroin and morphine base by drug labs inside Afghanistan, easing its movement into markets in Europe, Asia and the Middle East via Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia.

Pakistani nationals were playing a more prominent role in all aspects of the drug trade, the report said. Last year's report was more pessimistic about Afghanistan, saying it was on the verge of becoming a "narcotics state" and pointing out that Afghan poppy cultivation had tripled in 2004 from the previous year.

Patterson said it would take years to tackle Afghanistan's drug problem.

"But it's important to do, not only because of the security of Afghanistan and Afghanistan's democratic institutions. It's also important to do because of the cheap heroin that's spreading into neighboring countries and Europe," she said.

Afghanistan prison riot 'is over' - BBC News Wednesday, 1 March 2006

Afghan police have regained control of the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi jail in the capital, Kabul, the government says.

"The agitation is over," Deputy Justice Minister Mohammad Qasim Hashmizai told journalists outside the jail. "Police are in full control."

The riot began on Saturday with inmates demanding better conditions. At least five deaths have been reported.

Thousands of Afghans disappeared or were tortured in the jail during Afghanistan's communist era. Mr Hashmizai said one body was found as some 1,300 prisoners involved in the rioting were moved under police escort to a new prison block.

Four inmates reportedly died earlier this week and a number of injured prisoners have been taken to hospital. At least 300 of the rioters were Taleban and al-Qaeda militants, officials said. Trouble started on Saturday evening, apparently sparked by a change in prison uniform rules.

Pul-e-Charkhi is a huge prison complex built in the 1970s on the outskirts of the capital. The vast and run-down jail is notorious for disappearances and torture during the communist era, correspondents say.

In January, seven Taleban suspects escaped from the jail, with prison guards accused by officials of helping the break-out. Following the escape, prison authorities ordered inmates to wear bright orange uniforms.

Transcript of President Karzai and President Bush’s Press Conference- Arg, Presidential Palace – Kabul, Afghanistan - 1 st March 2006

President Karzai: Such a wonderful moment for us in Afghanistan today to have a great friend, our great supporter, a man that helped us liberate, a man that helped us rebuild, a man that helped us move towards the future, President Bush today with us in Afghanistan. 

I conveyed after Mr. Bush’s arrival to him that when the Afghan people come to know that you are here today but when they will see you on the Television that we did not provide the kind of hospitality that Afghans want to provide you, I will be in serious trouble. Mr. President welcome to Afghanistan, I will have to do a lot of explaining the Afghan people.

Mr. President welcome to Afghanistan, we owe a great, great deal in this country’s rebuilding, peace, democracy, the steps toward the future, to your support, to your leadership, to the American people, and to the way you have given your hand to the Afghan people. 

I am not going to go into the details of all that you have done for us is from the defeat of terrorism, to peace in Afghanistan, to democracy, to reconstruction, to the success of the whole processes, thank you very much.  Mr. President and welcome to Afghanistan.

President Bush:

Thank you Mr. President, thank you for having me. Laura and I are honored to be here.  It is a such a thrill to come to a country which is dedicating itself to the dignity of every person that lives here.  First of all, I want to thank you for the fantastic lunch we just had.

I did get a taste of Afghan hospitality, it is good.  I appreciate you introducing me to many of the leaders of your government; I am impressed by their dedication to making sure the experience that you are going through, experience of growing a democracy that honors and respects all as successful.

One of the messages I want to say to the People of Afghanistan, it is our country’s pleasure and honor to be involved with the future of this country. We like stories of young girls going to schools for the first time so that they can realize their potential. 

We appreciate a free press, we are enthralled when we see an entrepreneual class grow up and when people are able to work and realize their dreams.  We understand the importance of having a well-trained military dedicated to the sovereignty of the country and to the peace of the people.  We are impressed by the progress that your country is making, Mr. President, a lot of it has to do with your leadership. 

Today, I normally had a good long visit with my friend, the President, but we had good visits with a lot of folks that made this government work.  From here I am going to cut a ribbon at our new embassy. The embassy should be a clear statement to the people of Afghanistan that we are dedicated to helping and I am going to go out to the base and thank some of our troops who are here to protect our country and the same time help the people of Afghanistan protect themselves. 

One of the things I told, Mr. President, told members of your team and your cabinet and the government is that people all over the world are watching your experience in Afghanistan. I hope the people of Afghanistan understand that democracy takes hold, you are inspiring others and that inspiration will cause others to demand their freedom and as the world becomes more free, the world becomes more peaceful. So I come as a friend, an ally, and a person like you dedicated to peace. thank You.

Q&A SESSION:

Q: President Bush, there was a time you talked about getting Osama Bin Laden dead or alive. Why is he still on the loose 5 years later? Are you still confident that you will get him?

A: I am confident that he will be brought to justice. What is happening is that you have got US forces on the hunt for not only Bin Laden but anybody who plots and plans with Bin Laden, there are Afghan forces on the hunt for not only Bin Laden but those who plot and plan with him, you have got Pakistani forces on the hunt, a part of my message to President Musharraf is that it is important that we bring these people to justice, he understands that and after all he tried to kill him four times.  So we have got a common alliance, all aimed at routing out people who are evil doers, people who have hijacked a great religion and kill innocent people in the name of that religion.

We are making progress in dismantling Al Qaeda slowly but surely. We are bringing the people to justice and the world is better for it as a result of our steady progress. 

Q: (Reuters) Mr. President, let me welcome you to Afghanistan first, my first question is regarding the worsening situation in Afghanistan, the Afghan Government says that violence emanates from Pakistan; will you be discussing in any way the issue of violence in Afghanistan with Pakistani authorities?

My second question is regarding Iran’s nuclear program, Iran says that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes while you seem to doubt that there seems to be some sort of standoff, do you think that standoff will affect the security of the region and you think there is a way out of this standoff?

A: (President Bush) to the first question yes, I will absolutely bring up the cross border infiltrations with President Musharraf.  These infiltrations are causing harm to friends, allies and cause harm to US troops and that will be a topic of conversation.  It is an ongoing topic of conversation.

Secondly, Iran must not have a nuclear weapon, the most destabilizing thing that can happen in this region and in the world is for Iran to have a, develop a nuclear weapon so the world is speaking with one voice to the Iranians that it is okay for you to have a civilian power, nuclear power opportunities, but you shall not have the means, the knowledge to develop a nuclear weapon.  So we join with Russia as part of a diplomatic effort to solve this problem. 

Russia will provide enriched uranium to a civilian nuclear power plant and will collect the uranium after it has been used in the plant.  I repeat to you the most destabilizing thing that can happen is for Iran to have a nuclear weapon and we will work with our friends and allies to convince them not to.

Q: It has been four years since the presence of the international forces in Afghanistan; however, the security situation is increasingly deteriorating, what will be your long term policy towards Afghanistan?

How will the US policy be affected if Osama and Mullah Omar are captured?

A: (President Bush) It is not a matter of if they are captured and brought to justice it is when they are brought to justice.  The US is here at the request of the Afghan government elected by the people.  We signed an agreement in the oval office in Washington DC with the duly elected President of your country, President Karzai.

It is an agreement that sets out a strategic relationship; it is an important relationship for our country.  It is an important relationship for Afghanistan, it is important for the people of Afghanistan to recognize that we are here by mutual consent we want to be here.  We want to be here to help Afghanistan grow its democracy and defeat those who can’t stand the thought of freedom.  President has talked to me a lot about this issue, assures me that the government is sincere in its request that the US and Coalition help Afghanistan grow its democracy. 

Our commitment is firm, our desire is to see this country flourish and set a great example not only in the neighborhood but around the world.  I hope the people of Afghanistan understand the people of America who have a great regard for human life and human dignity.  We care about the plight of people.

When we saw the devastation in Pakistan we were quick to respond with help because we care about people.  When we heard that 73,000 people lost their lives and 2.5 million people were displaced from their homes, it broke our hearts.

When we see HIV Aids ravishing an entire continent of Africa, we care.  I repeat what I said before we like stories and expect stories of young girls going to schools in Afghanistan.  It means a lot to the American people.  It means a lot for the people to realize that there is an entrepreneurial class that is beginning to grow.  We believe in hope which is exact opposite of the ideology of the Bin Laden’s of the world and the Taliban.

In our country, you can worship freely; you are equally Americans, if you are Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Jew.  You are equally American if you don’t believe in Almighty. 

Under the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden there is no religious freedom.  You have no chance to express yourself in the public square without being punished, there is no capacity that realizes your full potential, so we are committed to universal values, we believe everybody desires to be free and we know that history has taught us that free societies yield peace.  We want peace for our children; we want peace for the Afghan children as well.

A Message for Gen. Musharraf - The Washington Post - Thursday, March 2, 2006

PRESIDENT BUSH paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan yesterday to show support for its emerging democracy, which he rightly said is being watched by "people all over the world." Then he flew to India, where his visit centers on the rapidly growing common interests the United States shares with the world's largest democracy. It's hard to ignore the contrast with the third stop on Mr.

Bush's foreign tour this week: Pakistan, where Pervez Musharraf, a general who seized power in a 1999 coup against an elected government, still monopolizes power. But Mr. Bush is doing his best. "I believe he's committed to free and open elections," he said last week of his Pakistani ally.

If Mr. Bush really believes that, he's a lot more credulous than most Pakistanis are; they long ago stopped believing the public pledges of a leader who more than once has broken them. Gen. Musharraf has been promising to restore democracy since his coup, yet throughout his years in power he has sought to suppress Pakistan's secular democratic parties while striking deals with Muslim extremists. In one such bargain he promised to step down as Army chief of staff by the end of 2004, in exchange for an extension of his term until 2007 and new constitutional powers for the president and the army. He reneged.

Now Gen. Musharraf's surrogates have begun suggesting that he will postpone the elections promised for next year and have the parliament -- which was chosen in a highly irregular 2002 election -- vote to "reelect" him. In short, Gen. Musharraf clearly hopes to prolong his military regime indefinitely, while continuing to enjoy heavy political and economic support from an American president who has dedicated his administration to advancing democracy in the Muslim world.

To his credit Mr. Bush appears to understand the general's game and is making at least a modest effort to head it off. In a speech to the Asia Society before his tour, Mr. Bush said that "the United States and Pakistan understand that in the long run the only way to defeat the terrorists is through democracy," that "Pakistan still has a distance to travel on the road to democracy" and that "the United States and Pakistan both want the elections scheduled for next year to be successful." Mr. Bush should underline that message when he is in Islamabad this week. He should also make clear to Gen. Musharraf that his alliance with the White House and the Pentagon cannot preclude American support for building democratic institutions in his country. That must include efforts to help secular Pakistani political parties get back on their feet and prepare for a genuinely free election in 2007.

Despite Gen. Musharraf's many promises, Pakistan remains a deeply unstable country where the threat of Islamic extremism is great and growing. Though the general may be a tactical ally of the United States against that threat, his refusal to restore democracy in his country has only made it worse. It's time for the United States to stop banking on this unreliable general and start planning for the democratic government that should succeed him.

Afghanistan hits back at Pakistan's dismissal of 'terror' intelligence
Thu Mar 2

KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan has hit back at Pakistan's dismissal of its intelligence about Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistani territory, notably information about the whereabouts of the reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Afghanistan handed over the information during a visit last month by President Hamid Karzai to Pakistan -- a key ally in the US "war on terror".

Pakistan at first denied in statements to the media that it had received the intelligence and then said most of it was outdated, including about the possible whereabouts of the fugitive Omar.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah questioned Pakistan's attitude. He told AFP in an interview that Afghanistan would not have handed over information it did not believe in and neighbours were expected to share details of the common threat.

"We wouldn't have given anything to them had we not been sure about its credibility," he said in an interview. Abdullah said Afghanistan believed most of the "Taliban leaders which are actively instigating terror in Afghanistan" were in Pakistan, with Omar known to have spent time in the border city of Peshawar and in Baluchistan province.

"We have provided evidence of him being outside of Afghanistan, in Quetta in Baluchistan, to our Pakistani friends... This was not for "one day, not one hour but time and again in Quetta, in Baluchistan."

Afghan officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to Taliban training camps on its soil and also alleged that some circles in Pakistan support the hardliners.

Pakistan denies the accusations, pointing to the tens of thousands of troops it has had in the region for two years to hunt down the militants. It also claims to have netted two-thirds of the Al-Qaeda leaders in its territory.

On Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Abdullah said: "I hope he will be captured one day, the same way that these two-thirds of Al-Qaeda leaders have been captured."

On Wednesday the Pakistani military said it had killed 40 Al-Qaeda suspects in a ground and air strike on a militant training camp in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, in an interview with the BBC aired Wednesday, said his country was taking "all possible measures" against militants.

US President George W. Bush, on a surprise trip to Kabul on Wednesday, said he would discuss cross-border infiltration by militants when he meets Musharraf during his visit to Pakistan starting Friday.

Abdullah said the least that could be expected from Pakistan was that it would go after camps known to be training militants.

"When there are 80,000 troops in those areas, when there is a well-established security service... the least which is expected is that those training camps in the vicinity will be stopped from operating," he said.

The minister said allegations from Islamabad that Afghan intelligence was in collusion with India or that there were factions within Afghanistan that opposed Pakistan were "a paranoia that they should overcome".

"It could be a scenario for an adventure, or a misadventure film, but it cannot happen in Afghanistan," he said.

He admitted there had once been opposition in Afghanistan to Pakistan because of its support for the Taliban government. But this had changed after Islamabad dropped the hardliners following the September 11, 2001 attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda, which was being sheltered by the Taliban.

Pakistan supported the ultraconservative Taliban regime that took control of most of war-ravaged Afghanistan in 1996, but switched allegiance when the United States decided to oust the government in late 2001 for failing to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Abdullah said Afghanistan needed help as it was "trying to stand up from the ashes of war" but its efforts were being "hampered time and again". Militant-linked violence was blamed for about 1,600 deaths last year, with many of the attackers killed by Afghan and foreign security forces.

MUSHARAF REJECTS KARZAI STATEMENTS - INTERVIEW WITH MARTHA RADDATZ
ABC/WNT - MON., FEBRUARY 27, 2006 PRESIDENTIAL PALACE ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

CARTOON CONTROVERSY:
THE CALL IS VERY STRONG AND ANYBODY WILL COME OUT ONTO THE STREETS. BUT THEN IT HAS BEEN COMBINED WITH THE DEGREE OF POLITICIZATION BY VESTED INTEREST SO A COMBINATION, THAT IS WHAT IS KEEPING IT ALIVE.

I THINK IT'S DYING DOWN GRADUALLY.
Q: YOU THINK IT WILL GO AWAY?
A: YES, YES, INDEED. ABSOLUTELY.
Q: WHY WILL IT GO AWAY? WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO MAKE IT GO AWAY?
A: WE NEED TO GET A HOLD OF THOSE LEADERS BEHIND THE SCENE WHO INCITE PEOPLE FOR POLITICAL ENDS. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE INCITING THEM FOR POLITICAL ENDS. THEIR INTEREST IS NOT SO MUCH IN THE BLASPHEMY BUT IN CREATING SOME KIND OF DESTABILIZATION AGAINST ME, AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. THAT IS THEIR INTEREST. AND THE MOMENT WE GET HOLD OF THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENE, IT WILL DIE DOWN.

FIGHT AGAINST AL QAEDA:
THE PRESIDENT OFTEN SAYS THAT WE HAVE, AMERICA, WITH YOUR HELP, HAS CAPTURED THREE-QUARTERS OF THE KNOWN AL QAEDA LEADERS. FIRST OF ALL, DO YOU THINK THAT'S TRUE?

A: YES, IT'S CERTAINLY TRUE. MAYBE MORE THAN THREE-QUARTERS.
Q: BUT IN THOSE INTERVENING YEARS, HOW MANY MORE DO YOU THINK HAVE BEEN CREATED?
A: WELL, I CAN'T ESTIMATE THAT. WE'VE CAUGHT MUCH MORE THAN THREE-QUARTERS. I MEAN, THERE ARE FEW LEADERS WHO ARE LEFT. BUT WHENEVER WE CATCH SOMEBODY, THERE IS ALWAYS, ALWAYS AN ALTERNATIVE WHICH IS CREATED. SO I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SAY HOW MANY HAVE BEEN CREATED. I CAN'T SAY THAT.

WHILE WE ARE APPLYING MILITARY AGAINST TERRORISM, WE NEED TO ADDRESS BIGGER ISSUES, BIGGER ISSUES OF POLITICAL DISPUTES. I THINK THAT IS AT THE ROOT, ROOT OF THE PROBLEM. WE HAVE TO RESOLVE POLITICAL DISPUTES. AND THEN THE ISSUE, I KEEP SAYING, POVERTY AND EDUCATION WHICH IS A LONG TERM ISSUE, BUT IN THE SHORT TERM GETTING TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE POLITICAL DISPUTES AND MILITARY ACTION, THIS COMBINATION OF THE TWO.

Q: AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN SPECIFICALLY IN POLITICAL---
A: WELL, WE HAVE TO RESOLVE THIS PALESTINIAN DISPUTE. AND FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW, IN THIS REGION, IN OUR REGION, THE KASHMIR DISPUTE. BECAUSE THAT HAS ITS FALLOUT ON PAKISTAN. THAT HAS ITS FALLOUT ON PEOPLE WANTING TO OPERATE IN KASHMIR HAVING NEXUS WITH THE AL QAEDA OR THE TALIBAN OR THE EXTREMISTS WHO LIVE IN OUR SOCIETY. SO THIS BECOMES A VERY, VERY DANGEROUS NEXUS AND COMBINATION. SO THEREFORE, KASHMIR DISPUTE AND PALESTINIAN DISPUTE, BOTH ARE RIPE FOR RESOLUTION AND WE MUST RESOLVE THEM.

OBL:
MARTHA: THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DON'T FEEL YOU'VE GONE AFTER HIM AGGRESSIVELY ENOUGH—THAT IF YOU WANTED TO FIND HIM, THE PAKISTANIS COULD FIND HIM.

A: WELL, I, I—THAT IS NOT TRUE AT ALL. NOW WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOING AFTER HIM REALLY? SHOULD WE BE USING THIS WHOLE FORCE OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS CHECKING ALL OVER THE PLACE LOOKING FOR HIM. THAT IS NOT WHAT IS DONE. WE ARE OPERATING AGAINST AL QAEDA AND BASICALLY, 80,000 TROOPS REALLY ARE BEING USED TO OPERATE AGAINST AL QAEDA AND TALIBAN WHO ARE IN SOUTH AND NORTH WARIZISTAN MAINLY AND WE ARE CONCENTRATING THAT.

WE ARE NOT USING THE ARMY ONLY TO TRACK DOWN OSAMA. I MEAN, THIS KIND OF A MISPERCEPTION SHOULD BE REMOVED. WE ARE USING THE ARMY AGAINST AL QAEDA AND TALIBAN. NOW IN THE PROCESS, IF YOU GET WORD ON HIM, VERY GOOD. BUT WE ARE NOT CERTAINLY FOCUSING ENTIRELY ONLY ON TRACKING OSAMA BIN LADEN AND ZAWAHIRI. THIS IS NOT THE CASE.

Q: SO HE IS NOT A PRIORITY?
A: HE IS A PRIORITY AS WELL AS---WHEN YOU'RE OPERATING AGAINST AL QAEDA, WELL, HE'S THE LEADER OF AL QAEDA. SO WE ARE OPERATING AGAINST HIM. BUT WHAT I AM TRYING TO EXPLAIN IS THAT IF SOMEBODY THINKS THAT WE AREN'T DOING ANYTHING BUT TRYING TO TRACK HIM, NO, WE ARE NOT DOING THAT.

WHEREVER WE FIND THEM, WHEREVER WE GET INFORMATION OR INTELLIGENCE OF LOCATION AL QAEDA OR TALIBAN, WE ATTACK THEM. NOW, IN THE PROCESS, IF HE'S ATTACKED, VERY GOOD.

GOING AFTER TALIBAN:
MARTHA: I'M ALSO TOLD BY MANY AMERICAN OFFICIALS THAT AS FAR AS THE TALIBAN IS CONCERNED, YOU'RE NOT GOING AFTER THEM. WHO HAVE YOU ARRESTED? WHO HAVE YOU GONE AFTER IN THE TALIBAN, NOT AL QAEDA?

A: I THINK THIS IS ANOTHER MISPERCEPTION THAT EVERYONE HAS AND THEY KEEP ASKING ME. I THINK THE NUMBER OF TALIBAN WE HAVE ARRESTED AND DEPORTED TO AFGHANISTAN SHOULD BE WELL-KNOWN TO THE WHOLE WORLD.

I THINK WE ARE JUST NOT CLEAR ABOUT WHAT WE ARE DOING—
Q: IN THE LAST YEAR YOU'VE ARRESTED SENIOR LEADERS OF THE TALIBAN?
A: JUST A FEW MONTHS BACK. I'M JUST TALKING THREE MONTHS BACK. HE WAS THE MAIN SPOKESMAN OF TALIBAN WHOSE NAME--HE USED TO APPEAR AND GAVE INTERVIEWS ON THEIR BEHALF. WE CAUGHT HIM. AND WE GAVE HIM TO AFGHANISTAN. AND MORE THAN THAT, WE CAUGHT SOME OTHER, VERY IMPORTANT PERSONS FROM BERUTISTAN (SP) AND WE REPATRIATED THEM AGAIN TO AFGHANISTAN. BUT THIS IS A MISPERCEPTION—

KARZAI PROVIDING TALIBAN NAMES TO MUSHARRAF:
Q: DID PRESIDENT KARZAI GIVE YOU MORE NAMES?
THESE ARE UNFORTUNATE PERCEPTIONS, MISPERCEPTIONS EVEN BEING CREATED BY AFGHANISTAN AND SOMETIMES PRESIDENT KARZAI HIMSELF.

YES, INDEED, HE GAVE THESE NAMES JUST NOW WHEN HE CAME HERE. HE GAVE ME TELEPHONE NUMBERS. HE GAVE ME A LOT OF NAMES. NOW, I FIRST ASKED HIM, 'WERE YOU WAITING FOR ME—AND MEETING ME TO GIVE THESE NAMES? WHY DIDN' T YOUR INTELLIGENCE AGENCY GIVE THESE NAMES BEFORE SO THAT WE ACT?'

TWO-THIRDS OF THEM ARE DEAD NUMBERS AND I'M QUOTING THIS WITH FULL AUTHORITY. EVEN CIA HERE, WE HAVE INVOLVED THEM IN THE WHOLE PROCESS. EVEN THEY ARE SAYING THEY ARE ALL DEAD NUMBERS. SO THESE ARE SOME, ONE YEAR BACK, OR SIX MONTHS BACK, THEY MUST HAVE HEARD THEM ON THE TELEPHONE THROUGH SOME MEANS AND THEY ARE GIVING ALL THOSE NUMBERS TO US. NOW THE OTHER ONE-THIRD IS, WE ARE TRYING TO TRACK DOWN THESE NUMBERS.

INTELL SHARING WITH KARZAI:
THIS IS ALL HUMBUG AND NONSENSE. NOW WE, THERE IS AN INTELLIGENCE COORDINATION BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN. THEY MUST DO THIS IMMEDIATELY THE MOMENT THEY LOCATE A NUMBER AND THEY THINK THAT THERE'S A TALIBAN, THEY MUST SHARE THIS INFORMATION IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE EVEN TWO DAYS OF DELAY SOMETIMES THE TARGET IS GONE.

Q: IF THEY GAVE YOU IMMEDIATE INFORMATION, YOU'D GO AFTER THEM?
A: OBVIOUSLY. OBVIOUSLY. THE WHOLE FORCES ARE THERE AND IN THE NUMBER THAT HE IS GIVEN IS IN PEACEFUL AREAS, IN QUETTA CITY. IN QUETTA CITY, THERE IS POLICE, THERE IS ARMY. THE WHOLE CORPS IS THERE. I MEAN, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM IN QUETTA CITY. WE WILL GO IN IMMEDIATELY. THE ARMY WILL GO IN IMMEDIATELY.

MOST OF THE THINGS THAT HE PASSES IS INFORMATION. IT'S NOT INTELLIGENCE. NOW, THERE'S SOME—SOMEBODY HAS SAID SOMETHING.

ON SIX PAKISTANIS ALLEGEDLY GOING INTO AFGHANISTAN TO KILL THE U.S. AMBASSADOR TRAINED BY ISI:
PAST ONE YEAR, WE'VE ASKING, GIVE THEM OVER TO US. THEY HAVEN'T GIVEN THEM. WE DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE. WE FEEL NOW WE HAVEN'T GOT THEM. WE FEEL NOW WE HAVEN'T GOT THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE FROM PAKISTAN. WE SAID, 'GIVE THEM OVER. WE WOULD LIKE TO INVESTIGATE. WHO ARE THESE PAKISTANIS.'

PAKISTANI SUICIDE BOMBERS:
MARTHA: THERE ARE REPORTS THAT PAKISTANIS ARE GOING IN AS SUICIDE BOMBERS. THEY'RE RECRUITED IN PAKISTAN AND SENT INTO AFGHANISTAN?
A: RIGHT. NOW, THIS IS, NOBODY DENIES THAT. NOBODY DENIES THAT THERE IS TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA ACTIVITY HERE IN OUR BORDER. NOBODY DENIES THAT. I DON'T DENY IT. THERE IS AND THAT IS AGAINST WHOM WE ARE OPERATING. BUT IF ANYONE THINKS THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN AFGHANISTAN IS FROM PAKISTAN, OSAMA BIN LADEN IS IN PAKISTAN --- CERTAINLY MULLAH OMAR IS IN AFGHANISTAN. I'M TWO HUNDRED PERCENT SURE. AND LET HIM NOT CAST ANY ASPERSIONS THAT HE'S IN QUETTA OR ANYWHERE. HE'S IN AFGHANISTAN. HE'S LIVING IN HIS OWN AREA. HIS OWN AREA THERE IS A BIG VOID.

OBL NOT IN PAKISTAN:
Q: HE NEVER COMES BACK OVER INTO PAKISTAN YOU DON'T THINK?
A: NOW, IF ANYONE SAYS HE COMES HERE, HE'S JUST GUESSING. THIS I CALL IN INTELLIGENCE TERMINOLOGY IS INFORMATION.--
Q: AND YOU'RE NOT GUESSING. YOU KNOW HE'S IN AFGHANISTAN.
A: ABSOLUTELY. BECAUSE HE'S NOT LOCATED. WE ARE LISTENING. WE ARE SEEING. WE HAVE FAR MORE GREATER INTELLIGENCE THAN KARZAI HAS. I'M SURE YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT. WHAT INTELLIGENCE DOES HE HAVE?

Q: YOU'RE LISTENING AND SEEING INTELLIGENCE AND YOU BELIEVE FROM THAT INTELLIGENCE THAT YOU'RE LISTENING TO—THAT OSAMA BIN LADEN'S IN AFGHANISTAN, NOT PAKISTAN?

A: NO. NO. I WILL NEVER SAY SOMETHING WHICH I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T BELIEVE IN SAYING SOMETHING WHICH IS INFORMATION. IF SOMEBODY TELLS ME SOMETHING. I BELIEVE IN ONLY GIVING INTELLIGENCE WHEN I'M SURE WHAT HAS HAPPENED. NOW TALKING ABOUT OSAMA BIN LADEN OR MULLAH OMAR IS ALL INFORMATION.

WHERE OSAMA BIN LADEN IS CONCERNED, WE HAD INTELLIGENCE IN THE PAST. AS FAR AS MULLAH OMAR IS CONCERNED, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NEVER HAS BEEN ANY INTELLIGENCE OF HIS BEING HERE OTHER THAN NOW, JUST FIVE DAYS BACK WHEN PRESIDENT KARZAI GIVES ME A LIST OF NUMBERS, RIDICULOUS KIND OF NUMBERS THAT THEY ARE HERE AND THEY ARE TALKING AND WE FIND THAT TWO-THIRD IS A WASTE OF TIME. THEY ARE ALL DEAD NUMBERS. THEY ARE NOT EVEN THERE.

AND I HAVE INVOLVED CIA AND I'VE TOLD MY INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES TO INVOLVE THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE ALSO, BRING THEM IN ALSO AND TAKE THEM TO THE PLACE WHERE THEY HAVE SAID THAT OSAMA—MULLAH OMAR IS THERE, THE GEO-COORDINATES THAT HE SAID. I'VE TOLD MY INTELLIGENCE PEOPLE, CALL THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE GUYS. TAKE THEM THERE. AND SHOW THEM WHICH FAMILIES ARE LIVING IN THOSE HOUSES SO THAT THEIR LIES ARE ONCE AND FOR ALL NAILED DOWN. AND THIS IS A NON-SENSICAL THING.

KARZAI PASSING BAD INTELL TO MUSHARRAF:
Q: SO WHY DO YOU THINK KARZAI IS DOING THIS? WHY WOULD—
A: I DON'T BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT KARZAI HAS ANY MALICIOUS INTENT AT ALL. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, HE'S PLAYING IN THE HANDS OF SOME, SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING IT. NOW WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING IT? I WOULD LIKE TO—BECAUSE THIS IS—ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS EVEN TO PRESIDENT BUSH WHEN HE COMES.

NOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IS MOST OF THE AFGHAN PEOPLE IN THE MINISTRY AND DEFENSE AND REM—THEIR INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE, WHO WERE IN THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE, THE PUSHITI GROUP WHO ARE SOMEHOW ANTI-PAKISTAN.

CHARGES AGAINST PAKISTAN INTELL WORKING WITH TALIBAN, AL QAEDA:
THEY ARE AGAINST PAKISTAN. NOW THEY HAVE BEEN INFILTRATED BY INDIAN RAW? THIS IS WHAT HAS HAPPENED. BECAUSE RAW IS OPERATING VERY ACTIVELY IN AFGHANISTAN. THEY ARE OPERATING IN KANDAHAR AND JALALABAD. AND THIS WHAT THEY ARE DOING. AND THEIR FOCUS IS ENTIRELY ANTI-PAKISTAN. NOW THEY HAVE INFILTRATED THEIR RANKS AND A COMBINATION OF THIS INTELLIGENCE OF AFGHAN AND INDIAN INTELLIGENCE IS WHAT IS DOING THE DAMAGE. THEY ARE PASSING MESSAGES DOWN THEIR CHANGE ON WHAT IS ENTIRELY ANTI-ISI, ANTI-PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT MESSAGES THEY SEND DOWN THE CHAIN. AND FROM THE LOWEST CHAIN UPWARDS SIMILAR KIND OF MESSAGES THAT THERE ARE 40 PEOPLE, 40 PAKISTANIS COMING IN TRAINED BY ISI NOW. THERE ARE PEOPLE GOING FROM HERE. THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, BUT TO SAY THAT THEY HAVE BEEN TRAINED BY ISI, TRAINED BY THE GOVERNMENT IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE TO PAKISTAN AND UNACCEPTABLE TO ME WHO'S FIGHTING A WAR AGAINST TERROR IN THE LEAD ROLE. WE HAVE SUFFERED DEAD CASUALTIES OF THE ARMY.

TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS IN PAKISTAN—SUICIDE BOMBERS GO INTO AFGHANISTAN:
LET'S BE VERY CLEAR. CERTAINLY THERE ARE PEOPLE HERE. I HAVE BEEN TELLING KARZAI AND THE UNITED STATES, 'LET US FENCE THE BORDER AND LET US MINE IT.' TODAY I SAY IT AGAIN: LET US MINE THEIR ENTIRE BORDER. LET US FENCE IT. IT'S NOT DIFFICULT. WE'LL DO IT. LET THE UNITED STATES COME, LET AFGHANISTAN IN SO THAT NOBODY CROSSES. THEY DIE WHEN THEY CROSS.

Q: THAT'S ALL YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT?
A: (LAUGHS) EIGHTY-THOUSAND TROOPS ARE OPERATING. THAT IS WHAT I'M DOING ABOUT IT. FOUR HUNDRED CASUALTIES WE'VE SUFFERED. THAT IS WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT.

Pakistan forces kill 45 militants on Afghan border - By Haji Mujtaba Wed Mar 1

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani helicopter gunships and ground forces killed around 45 mostly foreign fighters in an attack on a militant hideout near the Afghan border on Wednesday, the military said in a statement.

The assault on Danda Saidgai, a village about 15 km (10 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal region, began soon after daybreak.

But talk of casualties among villagers prompted tribesmen to take up arms against the military, and rocket fire was heard in Miranshah late into the night.

"More than 45 militants, mostly foreigners along with their local facilitators are assessed to have been killed," the Pakistan military statement said. The leader of the group, believed to have been a Chechen, was killed along with several others trying to flee the area after the strike, it added.

U.S. and Afghan forces along the border are regularly harried by Taliban insurgents, Central Asian Islamist militants and al Qaeda remnants. Al Qaeda leader     Osama bin Laden is widely believed to be hiding somewhere in Pakistan.

The latest Pakistani military operation came hours before U.S.     President George W. Bush made a stop in     Afghanistan at the start of trip that will also take him to India and Pakistan.

Bush told a news conference in Kabul he planned to raise the issue of militants using Pakistan as a base when he meets President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, in a visit otherwise seen as a gesture of support for the Pakistani general.

"These infiltrations are causing harm to friends and allies and cause harm to U.S. troops," Bush said.

Officials said the operation was launched after the army received intelligence from the Afghan side of the border that a party of militants had returned to Pakistani territory.

Helicopter gunships struck first and ground troops then closed in on the hideout close to the border. An ammunition dump was also hit and explosions could be heard in Miranshah.

Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said the assault targeted a compound where foreign militants were hiding. One trooper was killed.

Sayed Zaheerul Islam, the top government official in North Waziristan, said Chechens, Uzbeks, Tajiks and Afghans were among the dead guerrillas and their leader's codename had been Imam.

Islam described how the militants had been exercising inside their compound and when they saw the helicopters they fled to a hall where they were killed by missiles fired from the planes.

Nek Amal Khan, a tribal elder, said he and two others were driving to Danda Saidgai when a helicopter strafed their van.

He said they jumped out and lay on the ground to play dead, when they saw more helicopters fire on the house of a local Muslim cleric, Mullah Noor Peo Khan, and other nearby houses.

"Then all the troops disembarked from the helicopters and surrounded the village," the tribal elder said, after bringing his two wounded companions to a hospital in Miranshah.

Tribesmen later answered a call to arms from a Muslim cleric, taking up positions on rooftops and surrounding hills to fire on helicopters and the airstrip and fort in Miranshah.

A Reuters journalist in Miranshah saw hundreds of tribesmen, some armed with automatic weapons and rockets, head for Danda Saidgai, enflamed by talk of casualties among villagers.

"We are hearing explosions and rockets and Kalashnikov fire. It happens with gaps of four to five minutes," he said.

A child and a tribesman were killed in the subsequent clashes, according to a military official who requested anonymity. Helicopter gunships dispersed most of the tribesmen, but there was sporadic rocket firing late into the night.

Pashtun tribes are angry over the conduct of the "war on terror" which has resulted in Pakistani deaths and occasional violations of Pakistani territory like the U.S. airstrike on the Bajaur tribal agency that killed 18 people in early January.

PM dismisses calls for vote on Afghan deployment - MICHAEL DEN TANDT - Globe and Mail Update

Ottawa — Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday angrily dismissed opposition calls for a Parliamentary debate and vote on the Afghan deployment, saying this amounts to a lack of support for Canadian troops already in the war-torn country.

"I am very distressed, I was very distressed to read suggestions from some Liberal MPS this week at their caucus meeting, that they might now want to question that involvement, and might now want to have a vote," Mr. Harper said.

"You do not send men and women into harm's way on a dangerous mission, with the support of our party and other Canadians, and then decide, once they're over there, that you're not sure you should have sent them."

A recent Strategic Counsel poll showed that an overwhelming majority of Canadians - more than 70 per cent - would like to see Parliamentarians debate and vote on the deployment.

But Mr. Harper made clear yesterday that's not on. "Canada decided to participate in the Afghan mission some time ago," he said. "This is a critical mission. It's important for global security. The party I lead strongly supported the previous government in its commitments. And we believe that the success of this mission is important, not just in terms of Canada's objectives but important in terms of the contribution we are making to the world community and global security."

Mr. Harper also publicly shot down, for the first time, reports that his officials have been quietly laying the groundwork for a trip to Afghanistan in the near future. "I do actually occasionally read the papers and I've, according to those papers, been to and from Afghanistan several times in the last couple of weeks," Mr. Harper said. "I don't have any plans to go there."

Mr. Harper was careful to leave the door open, however. "If we decide to travel somewhere we'll let you know." Sources say a trip had been in the works for this past week, but the plans were set aside due to numerous leaks to the media and the ensuing security concerns

Whatever the Prime Minister's plans for Afghanistan, his strong defence of the mission yesterday won immediate approval from Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier. In an interview with CTV, Gen. Hillier said that Mr. Harper's remarks would be very well received by the 2,200 Canadian troops in Kandahar.

"Those kinds of words, delivered with that passion, will resonate with those men and women who wear our uniform and perform operations not just in Afghanistan but around the rest of the world and here in Canada,' Gen. Hillier said.

Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh was less complimentary. In a telephone interview yesterday afternoon, Mr. Dosanjh excoriated what he termed an outburst. "He was visibly upset, visibly angry," Mr. Dosanjh said. "I don't understand why."

Mr. Dosanjh, who was health minister in the previous government, then re-asserted the Liberals strong support for the mission and the troops. "We support the mission absolutely and in unqualified fashion," he said.

The purpose of a Parliamentary debate, he stressed, should not be to argue about whether Canadian soldiers should be in Afghanistan, but rather to persuade Canadians that they should be there.

"I an environment where one is not certain as to what percentage of Canadians support the mission.... it would be useful to have their representatives from across the country actually engage in a sober debate about a very serious issue."

He added: "If you had a vote in Parliament, I have no doubt in my mind that there would be absolutely overwhelming support."

Indeed, it is extremely unlikely that the government would lose such a vote, since the Liberals and Bloc strongly support the Afghan mission, and the NDP, though more critical than the other parties, are not strongly opposed.

On Tuesday Canadian Brigadier General David Fraser assumed command of a multi-national brigade composed mainly of Canadian, British, U.S. and Dutch troops. The Canadian contingent numbers 2,200.

Senior officers, and former Liberal defence minister Bill Graham - now leader of the official opposition - have warned Canadians to expect casualties as they battle a determined insurgency that lately has begun using terrorist tactics imported from Iraq, including numerous suicide bombings.

How you voted - Globe and Mail Update

On Monday and Tuesday, we asked globeandmail.com readers: Should Canadian troops be leading NATO combat missions in southern Afghanistan? Here's how you voted:

YES: 53%

NO: 47%

TOTAL VOTES: 32,499

Taliban Rebels Still Menacing Afghan South

The New York Times By CARLOTTA GALL Published: March 2, 2006

LOY KAREZ, Afghanistan — When Haji Lalai Mama, the 60-year-old tribal elder in these parts, gamely tried to organize a village defense force against the Taliban recently, he had to do it with a relative handful of men and just three rifles. "We were patrolling and ready," he recalled.

But they were not ready enough. The Taliban surprised them under cover of darkness by using a side road. One villager was killed, and 10 others were wounded by a grenade. Two Taliban fighters were captured in the clash. The rest disappeared into the night.

The men at Loy Karez were exceptional in making a stand at all. Few in southern Afghanistan are ready to stand up to the Taliban, at least not without greater support or benefits from the Afghan government.

In fact, four years after the Taliban were ousted from power by the American military, their presence is bigger and more menacing than ever, say police and government officials, village elders, farmers and aid workers across southern Afghanistan.

American and Afghan officials have said for months that the Taliban are no longer capable of fighting large battles, and in their weakness have changed tactics to roadside bombings or attacking soft targets, like harassing villagers, killing teachers and burning schools.

Yet despite its evident military supremacy, the American-led alliance has not been able to root out the insurgency. And the Taliban's tactics have succeeded in sowing fear, nearly all here agree.

The militants have closed down some 200 schools through threats and burnings across the south of Afghanistan, and killed dozens of government officials, tribal elders and civilians over the last year. Commerce has sharply declined in Kandahar, largely because of the rash of suicide bombings in the last few months.

In the villages, people are asking foreigners and nongovernmental organizations not to come around anymore, not because they do not need the aid, but for fear of reprisals from the Taliban, aid workers and villagers said.

Some, like the local Afghan border police commander, Col. Abdul Razziq, 30, say the situation is reaching a pivotal point, at least in his area.

"People are fed up now with the Taliban," he said. "They don't let organizations come and builds roads, dig bore wells and build schools. People are fed up with them. I think now people have to fight them. How long can they tolerate this?"

The American military reacts quickly with overwhelming airpower when it encounters a Taliban group of any size, as it did recently in Helmand Province when local officials claimed 200 Taliban fighters were at large.

But until now, the Taliban, criminals and drug smugglers, who often work together, have had an easy time in Helmand because there has been virtually no security presence in the province, neither from the Afghan Army nor an international force of any strength, said Col. Henry Worsley, the commander of British troops.

The British are starting to arrive in Helmand as part of the new NATO force taking over command of southern Afghanistan this year. The local police are also short of resources and lack training, he said.

"They are clearly a threat," he said of the Taliban and their drug smuggler allies. "But they do have a fairly easy time of it now, and that's going to change."

British troops are planning extensive patrolling with Afghan forces, including patrols on foot and at night to improve security in the villages, he said.

American forces have not spent much time and effort on Helmand, the commander of the United States-led alliance, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, conceded in a recent interview. Yet the alliance has spent a lot of time and investment on the neighboring province of Kandahar, where the Taliban have also expanded their influence.

General Eikenberry does not accept the suggestion of failure. "The challenge is not that the enemy is strong, but after 25 years of warfare, that the institutions of the state are weak," he told a gathering of elders recently in Kandahar.

When greeted with speech after speech calling on America to use its influence on Pakistan to crack down on the Taliban operating across the border, he urged the Afghans to look in the mirror, telling them they have a role to play, too.

"The best strategy when we have a problem is to hold a mirror to yourself," he said. "It means building a government, getting a clean government that is not corrupt, stopping poppy cultivation, building the Afghan National Army and national police. That is the first step."

President Hamid Karzai also appealed to tribal elders at a recent gathering to help, acknowledging that the government cannot achieve anything without the cooperation of the people.

But in southern Afghanistan, the people seem to be waiting for cooperation from the government. A police commander in Kandahar, Mullah Gul, who has been fighting the Taliban for four years, described them as the black sheep of the family. "They are a problem," he said, "but it is not something that we cannot handle among ourselves."

While villagers may not support the government, most are sitting on the fence, and only a few are actively helping the Taliban, police officials say. Villagers say they are caught in the middle, and receive little government support.

"We take them very seriously," said Jamal Khan, 24, a farmer from Nawa district in Helmand Province, said of the Taliban. "They come in the night to our village. We are not armed, and they ask for food and a place to stay. We cannot say anything. Then the government comes in the morning and says you gave a place to the Taliban. But what should we do?"

The school in his village was still in the process of being built, he said, but has become the bane of the villagers' life since armed men tried to burn it down. Villagers fought them off that time but came under fire.

"The district chief is telling the elders that we should safeguard the school, but the elders are saying we don't have weapons, we cannot fight with the Taliban," he said. Already teachers and pupils have stopped attending, he said, adding, "Soon they will burn the school, if not in a week, then in a year."

But there is evidence that at least some elders and others in the area, distrustful of a government that they say is corrupt and exploitative, are sympathetic to the Taliban. The elders from the Sangin district of Helmand, where American planes bombed recently, said they had joined the small number of Taliban fighters because the government officials preyed on them and robbed them.

"The Taliban are in the villages, among the people," said Ali Seraj, a descendant of Afghanistan's royal family and native of Kandahar, who contends that the government is losing the hearts and minds of the ordinary people.

With its corrupt and often brutal local officials, the government has pushed the people into the arms of the Taliban, said Abdul Qadar Noorzai, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in Kandahar.

"These are uneducated people, they do not trust the government, they see no help coming to them, so the local people start doing things like the Taliban do," he said.

In Loy Karez, Haji Lalai, the tribal elder who led the stand against the Taliban, identified only four men who were Taliban sympathizers.

As for the two young men captured in the skirmish, they had only joined the Taliban commander, Abdul Samad, that day. They did not even have weapons, they said in an interview at the police station in Kandahar, where they were being held.

Poor, uneducated laborers from the border town of Spinbaldak, they seemed to have joined up without much persuasion. "A friend said, 'Let's go and fight jihad,' " said Saifullah, 20, who sold shoes from a pushcart in the bazaar. "I did not want to go, but they made us go. We are uneducated; we did not understand."

Yet this motley group of six or seven was enough to scare the villagers. It was only when Haji Lalai, who has a reputation as a strongman, came back to live in the village that he girded it to stand up to the Taliban.

"We fought the Taliban and saved this land from the Taliban, so if the government does not help us and pay attention to us, then no one else will go against the Taliban," said Khudai Nazar, 32, a former policeman who joined Haji Lalai in his village defense force. "If they do talk to us, then the whole region will fight the Taliban."

AFGHANISTAN: World Bank offers US $30 million boost to health

01 Mar 2006 15:59: 52 GMT Source: IRIN

KABUL, 1 March (IRIN) - The World Bank has approved a US $30 million supplemental grant to support the Afghan government's efforts to extend basic health services in the war-ravaged country, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This package of health services which we are financing is the most effective and equitable means of improving the health of Afghans," Benjamin Loevinsohn, a World Bank public health specialist, said in the press release.

"This grant will help ensure expansion of health services to rural areas where hundreds of thousands of people, mainly women and children, die every year because no such service exists," Loevinsohn noted.

Afghan health minister Said Mohammad Amin Fatimi said the grant would boost basic health services in areas still suffering from lack of healthcare across the country. The under-five mortality rate in 2003 in Afghanistan was 257 per 1,000 live births – the fourth highest in the world.

"The grant, which is for the next 18 months, would increase nationwide health coverage from 77 percent to 81 percent," Fatimi told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday in the capital Kabul.

"We would use this money for polio eradication, control of measles and to help health workers to better provide and manage health services," Fatimi explained, adding the health ministry was planning to train 200 midwives and 1,000 health workers across the country with the money.

Due to the high infant and under-five mortality rates, life expectancy in Afghanistan is only 43 years. The nutritional status of women and children is also very poor. Thirty-nine percent of children under five are underweight, and more than half of Afghan children suffer from chronic malnutrition, according to the World Bank.

The grant will also finance the expansion of basic health services in eight new areas across the country where no clinics have been established and where health services have rarely been provided.

The World Bank has contributed over $900 million to post-war Afghanistan since 2002, with the major component being soft loans.

Trial of Afghan ex-intelligence chief flawed: rights group - Wed Mar 1

NEW YORK (AFP) - The death sentence passed last weekend in Kabul on a former Afghan intelligence chief followed a trial that violated basic standards of due process, a leading human rights group said.

Asadullah Sarwari was sentenced to death on Saturday after a court found him guilty of systematic killings and other human rights violations during     Afghanistan's communist era.

"A notorious human rights abuser has been convicted but his trial was so flawed that it actually represents a setback for the cause of justice in Afghanistan," said Sam Zarifi, Asia division research director for the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"The court of appeals should throw out this conviction and show that in today's Afghanistan, the rule of law applies, even to the most notorious former leaders," Zarifi said.

Human Rights Watch noted that Sarwari did not have legal counsel at his trial because he could not afford a lawyer, and the court could not find any lawyers willing to represent him.

The trial was summary in nature, taking only one day for the prosecution and defense to present their cases. Because the proceedings were conducted so quickly, Sarwari did not have adequate time to question witnesses or challenge the evidence against him, the rights watchdog said.

Sarwari was intelligence chief under the communist government of feared president Hafizullah Amin (1978-79), whose secret police were responsible for the summary execution and disappearance of thousands of Afghans.

The period was marked by ruthless communist crackdowns and saw the beginning of a resistance struggle against the communist authorities and later the Soviet occupiers.

Cash rewards for Taleban fighters - By Kate Clark - File On 4, BBC Radio 4

Four years ago, the Americans claimed victory over the Taleban. But in the past year, the fighting has intensified, producing the worst casualty figures since 2001.

As a large deployment of British troops arrives in the country, BBC reporter Kate Clark investigates the security situation.

The Taleban fighter I met in Zabul agreed to speak if I did not reveal his identity. He says he is 28, although like most Afghans who have lived a hard life, he looks much older.

He has a small frame and a gallows humour. He laughs as he describes facing the most powerful army in the world.

"I'm fighting with a Kalashnikov and an RPG - a rocket propelled grenade launcher," he said. "I'm not trying to take over the country. I am just trying to earn my salary."

This fighter joined the jihad for cash. "They gave me a salary, new clothes, shoes, a motorbike and a Kalashnikov rifle. I had to go and fight where they told me for seven or eight days a month."

This was a man who, when the Taleban were in power, fled to Pakistan to avoid conscription. There he worked in the notoriously dangerous coal mines for the equivalent of $2 a day.

After the fall of the Taleban, he returned to scratch out a living on the family plot. When he was offered cash to fight - $300 to join and $150 a month - he took the chance.

With the money, he has rebuilt the family home, got his brother married and fed his family. He has never told anyone that he fights for money, particularly the villagers who support the insurgents, whether willingly or unwillingly.

"I was very famous for getting food from the people," he said. "Sometimes I'd say, 'Bring me some eggs!' Nobody would say anything, they were too afraid.

"If they didn't give us food, we'd beat them with our guns. I'd order them around, 'We are mujahideen and you're not giving us food!' I'd say. 'You have to give it to us. We're doing this for God Almighty.'"

Zabul is one of the poorest provinces in the country. There are no international aid agencies working here. The head of an Afghan NGO said he believed 60-70 % of those fighting were economically motivated, while 10% were real believers, ideologically motivated jihadis who wanted to bring back the Islamic emirate of the Taleban.

The rest, he said, were men who had started fighting after suffering abuses, either at the hands of US forces or more commonly by Afghan police and provincial officials.

This assessment tied in with what File on 4 discovered elsewhere in the south. Commanders who seized power after the fall of the Taleban in 2001 have been allowed to abuse the civilian population ever since.

Mohammed Ibrahim Sahdat, a lawyer from the Human Rights Commission for Afghanistan, said the biggest problem in his province, Helmand, was false arrests.

"Mainly people are arrested for money, but not always," he said. He gives the example of a 30-year-old detainee whose home was near the scene of an explosion and who was accused of having ordered it.

"If something happens, the police have to arrest someone," Sahdat said. "Jalaludin was landless, a poor man, with no influence and that's why he was arrested. The interesting point is that the person who detained him is now an MP in Kabul."

Sahdat said that Jalaludin was hung by his feet for 10 hours, beaten and given electric shock treatment. Now released, he is receiving medical treatment in Pakistan. The European Union has also documented testimony of abuse, false imprisonment and torture in Helmand.

An elder who told me about the arrest of a youth in his village said times were so bad, many people longed for the return of the Taleban, not because they were religious, but because at least there was security then.

The bad administration, he said was helping the insurgents. "People want a government that can guarantee their security and respects their religion and their families and that's why they wish the Taleban would come back."

Helmandis finally have a new governor with a good reputation. In Zabul, a non-corrupt governor was appointed a year ago. Haji Arman has already sacked hundreds of people. "Where there were militia, I put in good police chiefs and district governors," he said.

For the first time in four years, the UN is now quietly optimistic about the province, and the British say it is a model they hope Helmand will follow.

[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.]