In this bulletin:

• NATO Will Expand Operations Throughout Afghanist
• NATO Commander Says Afghan Insurgents Not Strong Enough for Resurgence
• Afghanistan calls for Pakistan's sincerity against insurgency
• Afghan-Pakistani relations deteriorating
• Border fencing with Afghanistan being considered: FO
• Angry Musharraf urges US to intervene in dispute with Kabul
• Musharraf recent statement about Afghanistan reflects changes in Pakistan: Hamid Gul (Pak media)
• Afghanistan, Spain urge for diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear issue
• US envoy vows commitment to calm Afghan fears
• No debate on Afghanistan - MacKay: It's time for Canadians to show resolve, support troops, minister says
• PAKISTAN: Afghan quake survivors missing out on aid
• Pakistan fights its own 'Taleban'
• Is history about to repeat itself as the Great Game starts again?
• Fight against maternal mortality a priority for Afghanistan: minister - Mar 7,

NATO Will Expand Operations Throughout Afghanistan - Bloomberg
03/07/2006

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will expand its security operation throughout Afghanistan by the end of this year, said U.S. Marine General James Jones, the NATO supreme allied commander.

``Afghanistan will be a NATO mission'' by the end of November, Jones said at a briefing yesterday in Washington, according to a U.S. Defense Department transcript. The alliance will have 21,000 soldiers, including those from the U.S., in the country when the expansion is complete, Jones said.

Afghanistan ``is on the way to recovery, but is also fighting internal demons,'' Jones said. He cited the drugs trade, corruption and attacks by remnants of the ousted Taliban regime and al-Qaeda supporters.

NATO will send an additional 6,000 soldiers into Afghanistan's southern provinces by July and will move later this year into the east of the country, Jones said. NATO already has 9,000 soldiers in the country. U.S.-led forces will maintain their counter-terrorism operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last month.

The NATO mission is to support the government of President Hamid Karzai as it takes control of the whole of the country where warlords have been operating during more than two decades of civil war that began in the 1970s. The role of warlords is ``certainly not what it used to be,'' Jones said.

Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters are finding their havens no longer exist as the Afghan National Army operates in areas that were outside its control, he said.

``The remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taliban are still there in pockets,'' Jones said. ``I don't think it's accurate to portray every instance of violence as an indication that the insurgency is coming back.''

NATO forces will be ``tested'' as they move into the southern region, the former stronghold of the Taliban, and more attacks will take place as Afghanistan's winter ends, Jones said.

``We will have thousands more troops on the ground than ever before in southern Afghanistan. The outcome is going to be swift and decisive,'' he said. The terrorists ``will take their business elsewhere.''

The southern region will be patrolled by soldiers from the U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and Romania, Jones said. The U.S. will lead the NATO expansion in the east, he said. The 26-nation NATO alliance and 10 other countries will be involved in the security operation throughout Afghanistan.

``This is a fundamental change in the way the alliance does business,'' Jones said. ``It is arguably NATO's most ambitious operation, perhaps in its history.''

The U.S. and allied forces currently have more than 21,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Of that, the U.S. has about 18,000 military personnel in the country. NATO's 9,000-strong contingent forms the International Security Assistance Force, which controls security in the capital, Kabul.

The U.S. military command has said it will withdraw 2,500 soldiers this year because NATO and Afghan security forces are assuming a bigger role. The Afghan National Army has 33,000 soldiers and the police have about 40,000 officers.

Afghanistan in 2005 had its worst year for violence since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. About 25 suicide bombings have taken place in the past four months, and there has been a spate of attacks on schools and clerics during the same period.

Poppy cultivation and drug smuggling, which account for 50 percent of Afghanistan's economy, are breeding corruption and challenging Karzai's government. Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of opium poppies.

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

NATO Commander Says Afghan Insurgents Not Strong Enough for Resurgence -

VOA - By Al Pessin Pentagon 06 March 2006

The commander of NATO forces, which are to take over most of the international military mission in Afghanistan this year, says the Taleban and al-Qaida are not capable of conducting a significant insurgency in the country, and that if they try they will be defeated. U.S. Marine General James Jones also says that when NATO expands its force in Afghanistan, it will be, to an extent, merged with the U.S.-led coalition under one American commander. General Jones held a news conference at the Pentagon on Monday.

Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan have been on the rise. But General Jones says there are still very few attacks, and he does not expect any significant increase.

"The Taleban and al-Qaida are not in a position to where they can re-start an insurgency of any size and major scope," he said. And General Jones says even though the main mission of NATO forces in Afghanistan is to maintain stability and help rebuild the country, his troops are ready to respond to any moves by insurgents, tribal leaders, criminal gangs and anyone else.

"If there is a test, the outcome is going to be swift and decisive," he said. "And then I think that you'll see the terrorists or whoever it is that's doing it will take their business [operations] elsewhere."

The general attributed some of the recent increase in attacks to increased operations by NATO forces. NATO now has the main security mission in northern and western Afghanistan, and is expected to move into the rest of the country by the end of the year. When that happens, General Jones says a unified command will be created, bringing together the NATO mission with the U.S.-led coalition, which will continue to have the main responsibility for counter-terrorism operations.

"There will be a U.S. major general who will be in charge of security for Afghanistan, writ large[overall]," he said. "He will have two hats. In his NATO hat he will be working for the NATO commander and he will be in charge of security, writ large. In his CENTCOM (Central Command) hat, he will be directing the more offensive operations, for instance, along the border, or wherever you need to search for bin Laden and those things. So there will be a much more cohesive effort and we will essentially have one headquarters. And that's been agreed to by 26 countries."

General Jones says the new Afghan army is also playing a growing role in both stability and counter-terrorism operations. But he says other aspects of Afghan development are lagging behind, including the government's ability to deliver services to the people nationwide. He says helping achieve that is part of NATO's mission, and he believes alliance members realize it will not be just a one- or two-year effort.

"I would say that NATO is going in there with the idea that it's going to be there to do what it takes, that it feels that Afghanistan is well worth the effort," Jones said. "The expectations of the people of Afghanistan are quite high. And from my standpoint, it's a question of building the governance of Afghanistan so that it can meet the people's expectations."

General Jones says NATO has the capability and resources to handle any mission it takes on, even though member nations have been slow to commit resources in some situations. And he notes that all 26 NATO members have committed to the Afghanistan mission, and that 10 other countries want to participate, too.

Afghanistan calls for Pakistan's sincerity against insurgency

KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan has called for sincere cooperation from Pakistan in the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, amid a deepening row between the neighbours over the violence.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah defended intelligence that Afghanistan handed to Pakistan last month about Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on its soil who are said to be directing a bloody insurgency here.

President Pervez Musharraf has said the information, including that which said the Taliban's fugitive leader Mullah Omar had spent time in Pakistan, was outdated and "ridiculous".

In an interview with CNN at the weekend, he said President Hamid Karzai was oblivious to events in his own country and said the information was nonsense".

"Even if the information is a bit old... it still means that a problem exists," Abdullah told reporters. "The information which showed the presence of Mullah Omar or heads of Taliban itself is worthy."

"Afghanistan and Pakistan should have a sincere and honest cooperation in fighting terrorism and it should not be on and off," he said.

Musharraf also told CNN there was a "very, very deliberate attempt to malign Pakistan" by some Afghan agents. In previous interviews he has alluded to the involvement of India's intelligence agency.

Abdullah said it was "blindfolding reality" to say there were certain groups in Afghanistan "behind deteriorating relations" of the neighbours. "Afghanistan has no intent to harm Pakistan's interests and of course hopes vice versa from Pakistan," he said.

Afghan officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to Taliban and Al-Qaeda training facilities on Pakistani soil and also alleged that some circles in Pakistan support and finance Islamic radicals behind the insurgency in Afghanistan.

On Saturday, US President George W. Bush said during a visit to Pakistan that Musharraf remained committed to the "war on terror" but added that more work needed to be done to defeat Al-Qaeda.

Islamabad has had tens thousands of troops in its restive tribal regions bordering Afghanistan to root out militants for about two years.

Despite this, and the nearly 30,000 foreign troops helping Afghan security forces on the other side of the border, key Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders have escaped capture.

Afghan-Pakistani relations deteriorating

DANIEL COONEY Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan - A rift between Afghanistan and Pakistan deepened Tuesday as Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said intelligence about Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives allegedly hiding in Pakistan was "very strong and accurate."

Karzai's spokesman Karim Rahimi said his government will present Islamabad with further intelligence about the militants' whereabouts and that it was "hopeful that measures will be taken" against them.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan - key allies of Washington in its war on terror - have deteriorated sharply since Karzai gave Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf last month a list of Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives he said were hiding in Pakistan.

Afghan and Pakistani officials told The Associated Press the list included Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and top associates, and that Afghanistan also shared the locations of alleged terrorist training camps.

"Afghanistan provided very strong and accurate intelligence," Rahimi told a press conference Tuesday in response to a claim by Musharraf in an interview Sunday on CNN that the information was old. Rahimi said that even if the intelligence was outdated, "It still shows that there are problems and terrorists have freedom of movement" in Pakistan.

Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of leaking the list to the media because Kabul did not trust Islamabad to act on it. "The bad-mouthing against Pakistan is a deliberate, articulated conspiracy," Musharraf was quoted as saying Monday by the state-run news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan.

Musharraf said nobody should question his commitment to fight terrorism and that his security forces have captured terrorists and will continue to do so. He added that he discussed the matter with President Bush during Bush's visit last week to Islamabad.

Top U.S. military commander Gen. John Abizaid was expected to visit Pakistan later Tuesday to discuss a range of issues, including the fugitive militants list, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

"Definitely, we will present our view about Afghanistan's list when our officials meet with General Abizaid," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

In another sign of the increasing tensions, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam urged Afghanistan - and U.S.-led coalition forces - to do more to stop militants from sneaking across the porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border into its tribal regions.

She said Pakistan had deployed some 80,000 troops along the rugged frontier and that Afghan and coalition forces should "equally contribute in stopping militants."

Pakistan, which used to support Afghanistan's former Taliban government, switched sides in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and has backed Karzai since then. But a spike in violence in Afghanistan has fueled suspicions in Kabul that Pakistan's intelligence agencies may be still supporting the Taliban - a charge Pakistan strongly denies.

Some 1,600 people were killed in violence in Afghanistan last year, the most since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. Recent months has seen a wave of suicide attacks that Afghanistan claims were plotted in Pakistan and executed by militants who crossed the border

Border fencing with Afghanistan being considered: FO

ISLAMABAD – The Dawn, March 6: Pakistan on Monday declared that the expectations it had of US President George W. Bush’s visit have been met and termed the launching of Pakistan-US strategic dialogue as an important milestone.

“Let me assure you expectations we have had of this visit, they have been met,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam categorically stated while responding to a question at a weekly news briefing here.

“We now have a formal structured strategic dialogue mechanism in place and under this dialogue process our foreign secretary and his US counterpart would be discussing all aspects of bilateral relations and implementation of broad principles that have been agreed to during the visit,” she said.

Outlining various elements of the strategic dialogue, the spokesperson specifically referred to peace and security in South Asia and beyond, trade and investment and access to the US market.

CIVIL N-TECH: Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said the question of civilian nuclear technology was discussed with President Bush and added: “And we will continue to discuss this.”

However, she pointed out that Pakistan had several options and it would be looking at all of them. In this context she mentioned the high-level energy dialogue established during the US president’s visit and said under that dialogue Pakistan would also explore various options available to it to meet its growing energy requirements. However, the spokesperson declined to elaborate on these options.

In a veiled reference to India on the proliferation issue Ms Aslam asserted: “In this region we were not the first to proliferate and that is a fact.” She added: “Let me remind you that no country which has a nuclear know-how can claim that it has a perfectly impeccable record.”

AFGHANISTAN:When the FO spokesperson’s attention was drawn to the mounting tension and sharp differences between Pakistan and Afghanistan, she said this issue was also discussed with President Bush. She disclosed that the Centcom Chief Gen Abizaid would be coming to Pakistan shortly.

“It is in everybody’s interest that whatever differences we may have should not impact our common goal that is the war against terrorism,” Ms Aslam observed.

Referring to President Musharraf’s recent statements on the issue she said: “He is rightly upset because the purpose of Afghan leak was to malign Pakistan and not to really get information or intelligence-sharing. If that were the case the Afghan government didn’t need to wait for conveying the information for the US president’s visit or for President Karzai’s visit to Pakistan.”

She said that intelligence could have been shared with Pakistan and also with the CIA immediately as there were mechanisms in place and they were in regular contact.

“Afghan side really needs to be serious on this issue and they need to do their part,” the FO spokesperson emphatically stated. “There is no lack of effort on our side and we expect the same level of commitment from Afghanistan,” she added.

The spokesperson ruled out deployment of additional troops by Pakistan on its Western border, saying that more than 82,000 soldiers already deployed there were sufficient. She was quick to point out these were far more than the combined troops of Afghanistan, ISAF and the US. “What we need is equally strong, committed and sincere action from the other side,” she emphasized.

Replying to a question she said if terrorists were coming from Afghanistan into Pakistan what was required was that the US troops, ISAF and Afghan forces take action to stop these movements.

FENCING:Responding to a question she clearly indicated that Pakistan was seriously considering the option of fencing its side of the border despite the Karzai government’s opposition to the idea. “We are working on fencing the border,” she categorically stated. “If we fence our side of the border we don’t need anyone’s permission,” she told a questioner. “Given these repeated allegations and incursions which are taking place into Pakistan we would consider it seriously,” she said.

Angry Musharraf urges US to intervene in dispute with Kabul - By Farhan Bokhari

Islamabad Published: March 7 2006 02:00 | Last updated: March 7 2006

General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, urged the US yesterday to resolve a growing dispute with Afghanistan over the location of Taliban dissidents who Kabul says have taken refuge on Pakistani soil.

In unusually tough remarks, Gen Musharraf said Pakistan would use a visit to Islamabad tomorrow by General George Abizaid, commander of the US central command, to highlight "baseless" information given by Afghanistan.

The dispute began last month when Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, handed Pakistan a list of Taliban suspects alleged to be living in Pakistan, complete with addresses and phone numbers.

Gen Musharraf said yesterday that "two-thirds of the information" was outdated, and the findings of an investigation of the list by Pakistani officials had been shared with the US Central Intelligence Agency.

"This kind of nonsense cannot be tolerated by us any more," the general said. "There is a deliberate conspiracy against Pakistan. This involves Afghan intelligence, the Ministry of Defence [of Afghanistan]."

He also accused an unnamed country of operating against Pakistan as a "foreign hand" in Afghanistan - language that has in the past been used to refer to intelligence agencies from India.

Western diplomats said Gen Musharraf's remarks underlined the continuing difficulties faced by the US in overseeing greater co-operation between Pakistan's powerful military and the ruling establishment in Kabul, which deeply distrusts Islamabad.

Pakistani officials say Kabul's ministries of defence, foreign affairs and interior include anti-Pakistan officials. Gen Musharraf's candid admission yesterday that a "semi-crisis" was brewing around Pakistan-Afghan relations was said by officials to reflect the scale of the growing tensions between the two countries.

Afghan officials have said that Pakistan's unruly border provinces are being used as a base for militants to train and prepare for attacks in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan must stop the institutional sponsoring of terrorism on our soil, which is sanctioned at the highest levels of government," a top Afghan intelligence official told the Financial Times on condition of anonymity.

Separately, General Musharraf conceded for the first time that the controversy surrounding the activities of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the country's disgraced nuclear scientist, had undermined Pakistan's efforts to seek a civilian nuclear co-operation deal similar to that offered to India last week by George W. Bush, US president.

The general said the US had in the past sought direct access to Mr Khan as well as to Mohammad Farooq, a Pakistani nuclear scientist working for Mr Khan, and Aizaz Jafri, an Islamabad businessman accused of being the finance manager for Mr Khan's global network.

That network has been accused of selling nuclear knowhow and technology to Iran, Libya and possibly North Korea. He said the US was not seeking direct access any longer to the three individuals, but Pakistan was co-operating with the US to prevent the flow of nuclearknowhow and technology from the country. Additional reporting by Rachel Morarjee in Kabul

Musharraf recent statement about Afghanistan reflects changes in Pakistan: Hamid Gul (Pak media)

ISLAMABAD: Former ISI chief General (Retd) Hamid Gul has said President General Pervez Musharraf’s statement with reference of Afghanistan is reflecting big changes in Pakistan.

"Musharraf’s statement speaks volumes that his meeting with US President Bush failed completely. The US has explored alternate of President Musharraf. Now the next general elections will be held in 2006," Hamid Gul expressed these views in his exclusive chat with Online Monday.

He demanded of President Musharraf to tell compatriot about ground realities and control internal warlike situation.

"Musharraf’s meeting with Bush was not a good meeting. President Bush threatened Musharraf to tame infiltration. Due to President Musharraf wrong policies the United States mounting pressure on us. If Musharraf does not strive for to forge internal unity we will subject to such kind of vulnerability," he remarked.

He ruled out that Karzai was ruling Afghanistan adding that President Bush was directly running the affairs of Afghan government and Musharraf’s reaction was against US president.

"We have killed our own men at the altar of US interests. Pakistan does not involve to create mayhem in Afghanistan rather weapons are flowing in to Balochistan from Afghanistan. The US has sandwiched Pakistan and now there is looming imminent changes in the offing," he observed.

Raising question about Musharraf uniform, President Bush has unleashed a campaign to defame President Musharraf among Pakistani masses, he said adding now there were two ways out for Musharraf to tell nation that US had betrayed Pakistan or forge unity in the country and himself quit as President of Pakistan.

"We will have to stop dependence on US. We will have to depend on our own muscles and tell the world that we will come out as living nation," he informed.

"Upto 300 Indian commandos are landed in Afghanistan. India has been given freehand role to play in Afghanistan. Blind dependence on America will leave our future bleak and dark. We should not carry forward US agenda rather we should prioritize our own national interests," he underlined.

Even China, he stated would not fight our war adding that China had supported Pakistan during 19965 and 1971 but at that time war was forced upon Pakistan.

President Musharraf and his team should know that America would never safeguard Pakistan’s interests and all compatriot without keeping in view political differences in mind should unite at this critical juncture to take country and nation out of current mayhem and turmoil.

Afghanistan, Spain urge for diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear issue

KABUL (AFP/Tehran Times) -- Spain and Afghanistan urged Monday for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, saying confrontation would be in nobody's interests.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and his Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abdullah told reporters after meeting in Kabul that they would respect the outcome of the meeting.

"What we agree is the international community should be united, and number two is, we have to send a very firm message to Iran that we continue to use diplomatic means to solve the issue," Moratinos said.

Abdullah said Afghanistan hoped that doors for diplomatic contact would not close at any stage. "We don't think that confrontation will bring fruit for anybody -- we hope that this issue will come to a satisfactory solution through diplomatic channels," he said.

US envoy vows commitment to calm Afghan fears

Financial Times, UK 03/06/2006 By Rachel Morarjee in Kabul

Ronald Neumann, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, said America's commitment to Afghanistan would not be compromised when Nato troops take command of the country's restive south later this year.

Mr Neumann said the US was the lead nation in Nato and the success of the Nato mission in southern Afghanistan had ramifications far beyond the country's borders. "This is the biggest mission Nato has taken on and it is a defining opportunity for the future of Nato," he said in an interview with the Financial Times.

His comments follow President George W.?Bush's unscheduled stopover in Afghanistan last Wednesday on his way to India and Pakistan, where he reaffirmed US commitment to the war-torn nation.

Canada will take over command of the fight against the insurgency in southern Afghanistan as 6,000 British, Dutch and other Nato troops are deployed across the region in coming months.

Mr Neumann's remarks come as Afghan officials become increasingly nervous that the withdrawal of about 3,000 US troops after the handover to Nato command will signal to the Taliban that American forces are gradually pulling out of the country.

"Troops from the Dutch, the Romanians, the Canadian and the British may be very good, but their differing missions will result in confusion that militants will be able to exploit," a top Af-ghan government official said. With escalating tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Afghan intelligence officials believe militants are training and picking up supplies before launching attacks in Afghanistan, a major US troop presence is seen as a deterrent.

"Our neighbours have a history of hostile interference in Afghanistan, and only the US is strong enough to act as a bulwark against them," the Afghan official added.

Mr Neumann said the US would remain the lead nation of Nato and continue to provide air and logistical support, and troops in southern Afghanistan as well as leading the fight against the Taliban in the east.

"It is not acceptable for us to go away. We are a part of Nato," he said ahead of a meeting in Washington to discuss the details of a long-term strategic partnership between Afghanistan and the US later this month.

US training of the Afghan national army would also continue. Mr Neumann said it would ensure a sizeable US presence across the country. "The idea that we would leave those people out there on their own without support is a political fallacy."

No debate on Afghanistan - MacKay: It's time for Canadians to show resolve, support troops, minister says - Mike Blanchfield, The Ottawa Citizen - Tuesday, March 07, 2006

The length of Canada's commitment to Afghanistan remains an "open question," but the country must rally behind its troops without reservation, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday, as he rejected calls for a parliamentary debate or vote on the deployment.

Russia's visiting foreign minister backed the Conservative government, which is facing growing political and public opposition to the mission. Sergei Lavrov said the international community must stand united in helping Afghans find a way to rebuild their battered country.

"Canada has to show a great deal of perseverance and resolve at this time, particularly when we have seen the dangerous nature of the mission itself," Mr. MacKay said yesterday during joint press conference with Mr. Lavrov.

"As for the length of time that we will be there, that is an open question. It's one, of course, that we are going to rely heavily on the information we receive from Gen. Hillier and others who are overseeing this mission."

Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, as well as other Canadian and NATO generals, have said the West needs to be prepared for a decade-long commitment to rebuild Afghanistan so it does not revert back to being a failed state and a haven for terrorists. Al-Qaeda used Afghanistan as a base to stage the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

On the weekend, NDP leader Jack Layton called for a parliamentary debate and vote on the Afghan mission because of the recent upsurge in Canadian casualties, including the bizarre axe attack on Capt. Trevor Greene, who is recuperating from serious head injuries at an American military hospital in Germany. Also, two Canadian soldiers were killed last week when their light armoured vehicle rolled over just outside Kandahar.

Mr. Lavrov threw his support behind the continued Canadian military commitment, saying now is not the time to play politics with Afghanistan.

"The most important lesson from the recent very unfortunate history of Afghanistan is that the international community should act together to help Afghans themselves to be united and to concentrate on rebuilding and organizing actually their country," said Mr. Lavrov, who would not be drawn into a discussion of his country's own bloody 10-year occupation of Afghanistan that ended in 1989 and was soon followed by the demise of the Soviet Union.

"Whenever we as members of the international community start using Afghanistan to play games with one another, then we are in trouble."

One international affairs expert questioned yesterday whether the Conservatives were playing politics by allowing Gen. Hillier to take the lead on explaining the mission to Canadians.

"He should not be saddled with that job, because the political justifications have to come from the PMO (prime minister's office), or from the various ministers. It's not up to the CDS (chief of defence staff) to justify the mission," said David Rudd, of the Toronto-based Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies.

"They've erred in letting him get too far out in front. And they've erred, at least for now, in saying there will be no debate."

PAKISTAN: Afghan quake survivors missing out on aid [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] MUZAFFARABAD, 6 March (IRIN) -

Hundreds of unregistered Afghan migrant workers living in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, have not received aid since the 8 October earthquake that killed over 80,000 people. "They don't have identity cards so they are not eligible for aid from the government," said Sarfraz Ahmed Abbas, coordinator for social welfare at the Women's Development Department. According to Abbas, there may be up to 500 Afghans living in Muzaffarabad.

"They are not living in camps, but in bad shelters," said Abbas. Hidden behind the leafy lawns of Upper Chattur, Muzaffarabad's wealthiest district, over 250 Afghans are living in squalid conditions. Scavenging among mounds of rubbish, tiny barefoot children in filthy, ragged clothes collect torn pieces of material and old plastic shoes. The children also hunt for bits of food in the rotting mass of detritus. Piles of rubbish spill into the small, muddy courtyard that Laal Mohammad shares with three other families. The air is thick with the smell of raw sewage. There is only a makeshift latrine which is a small hole in the ground.

Children covered in scabies play in the dirt. There are two shabby canvas tents, donated by neighbours, which 25 people must share.

The rest must sleep outside under a shack with a corrugated iron roof. "We haven't received anything," said Mohammad, who is from Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan. "But we just need shelter and food. When it rains, the water comes in the tent," he said. Mohammad moved to Muzaffarabad eight years ago and came to find work as a labourer.

He earns up to 300 Rupees [US $5] a day on construction sites, but since the earthquake work has been slow. Mohammad and his family were living in a rented mud house when the quake struck.

The house was demolished and fleeing its crumbled wreckage, all he could find was this small piece of wasteland. "But now the landowner wants it back. I'm looking for another piece of land," Mohammad said. These Afghan survivors are not entitled to government compensation and their children are not going to school.

"There are no beds, the children don't have clothes and the women and children collect rubbish," said Abbas. Further up the hill, near more piles of refuse that the women and children are sifting through, is a small slum. Around pools of stagnant water are wood shacks, crumbling mud huts and makeshift tents made out of a patchwork of old materials.

This is the only shelter they have and at night, for warmth, they burn rubbish and bits of plastic. "There are 252 Afghan refugees residing on our land. Some of them have been here for up to 12 years," said Riaz Mohammad, the landowner. "They pay 1,000 Rupees [$16.68] a month which is a nominal amount for the rent of the land," he said. But with rent to pay, mouths to feed and a husband who is finding it increasingly difficult to find work in the difficult post-earthquake environment, Zaysagal said she does not have enough food for her children.

"We haven't been given anything," smiled Zaysagal. Zaysagal moved to Muzaffarabad from the Afghan capital Kabul five years ago. The rented accommodation her family were staying in collapsed in the quake, killing a child of a relative. She now shares a tent with nine others and, like the other Afghans who have not received aid, she said that food and shelter were her biggest problems. "These people are the poorest of the poor and they are living in the worst conditions," said Abbas. "They need help."

Pakistan fights its own 'Taleban' - By Aamer Ahmed Khan BBC News, Karachi

Fierce clashes between Pakistani security forces and tribal militants in the first week of March in Pakistan's north-western region have led to dozens of casualties on both sides.

Security forces fought their fiercest battles to date in the North Waziristan area on 5 March after tribal militants took control of key government buildings including telephone exchanges.

Presidential spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said on 5 March that the militants had been flushed out from government buildings and the area was under complete control of the security forces.

His claims are hotly contested by locals and independent analysts who say the situation is anything but in control.

They describe the situation as the worst since the Pakistan army moved three years ago into the area, where many of the tribal militants call themselves Taleban.

Pakistan's tribal belt along its border with Afghanistan comprises seven contiguous areas known as tribal agencies. These hilly areas have historically been governed by special laws introduced by the British.

The seven million people inhabiting the agencies are known for being deeply conservative and fiercely independent. These areas have always been governed through a political process based on a combination of financial rewards and firm threats but never through outright violence, says Khalid Aziz, former chief secretary of neighbouring North West Frontier Province.

"But now, the entire political process that has been used for centuries to keep peace in the area has fallen apart," he adds.

Mr Aziz is known in the region as the man who brought peace to the tribal belt in the mid-1970s when the Afghan government of Sardar Daud put together a tribal army (lashkar) to encourage locals to fight Pakistani security forces.

"The main reason is that the political agent [the federal government's representative in each agency] no longer has the autonomy that he once had," says Mr Aziz.

The reasons, he says, have as much to do with the international situation as they do with the "mishandling of the situation" by Pakistan.

Most of these agencies served as sanctuaries for US- and Pakistani-backed Mujahideen - including Arab fighters - fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

By the time the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, most of the Afghans as well as Arab Mujahideen had fostered deep links with local tribesmen. Many Afghan, Arab and Central Asian fighters had married into local tribes, thus forging strong bonds at a personal level.

When Pakistan moved thousands of troops into the tribal areas in 2003 to help stem the flow of Afghan Taleban and al-Qaeda remnants, it continued to follow the age-old "carrot and stick" policy.

Local observers say the security forces were fairly successful in stemming the flow of foreign militants as well as keeping local tribesmen in check.

"In doing so, Pakistan kept its focus on foreign - mostly Arab and Central Asian - militants," says journalist Ilyas Khan, editor of The Herald magazine. "The administration was under instructions not to impede the movements of local and Afghan Taleban who kept consolidating themselves in the area," says Mr Khan.

The strategy, say local observers, was to keep the Pakistani Taleban happy by conceding more and more administrative control to them. In return, the government sought guarantees that they would not harbour foreign militants in the area.

The BBC's Rahimullah Yusufzai says that the terms of this truce were loaded heavily in favour of the Taleban. It allowed them to do pretty much what they wanted without conceding much to the security forces, he says.

But, apparently frustrated with the Taleban's continuing assistance to foreign fighters, Pakistani security forces suddenly abandoned their policy of accommodation. Instead they started resorting to the use of indiscriminate force against all those suspected of harbouring foreign militants.

"This resulted in a backlash which saw the Taleban turn against local jirgas [tribunals] that were helping the security forces maintain peace in the area," says Ilyas Khan.

The BBC's Dilawar Khan Wazir, one of the many journalists driven out of the area by the militants, says nearly 100 pro-government elders and tribesmen were killed by the Taleban through 2005.

"There is no jirga in South Waziristan any more which is a unique and unprecedented situation," he says. Ilyas Khan points to an even more worrying development for the authorities.

"The insurgency in the tribal belt is gradually moving towards the settled areas," he says. According to Ilyas Khan, the area of Tank - the last major town on the boundary of the settled and tribal areas - has also "fallen" to the Taleban recently.

"There is not a single video and audio store or an internet cafe left in the area," he says. "They have been wiped out by the Taleban who have also made the local police powerless and virtually ineffective."

Former NWFP chief secretary Khalid Aziz says that there is still time to reverse the situation. "They have to empower the political administration and encourage it to restart the political process," he says.

"But if the political agent has to turn to the military before he can take any decision, and the military in turn looks at the Americans and the diplomatic compulsions in Afghanistan, there is little hope of restoring normality in the area."

Is history about to repeat itself as the Great Game starts again?

The Times Online-UK By Richard Beeston in Nadali 3/4/06 - Britain's biggest mission in the country since the loss of 1,000 soldiers in 1880 is a gamble

IN A mud-brick fort bristling with modern weaponry, the latest chapter in Britain’s long and painful relationship with Afghanistan was being played out this week in a scene that could have been taken straight from a Kipling novel.

In halting Pashtun, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Worsley, a lean and tanned British Army officer, was trying to charm a daunting group of tribal elders, who treated with polite but ill-disguised suspicion the prospect of 3,000 British troops moving into their province.

Had it been the Great Game — the deadly 19th-century power struggle for the control of Afghanistan between the competing British and Russian empires — Colonel Worsley’s address would probably have started with a message from the great Queen across the seas and ended with a warning of what to expect if her wishes were not obeyed. He instead tried to overcome the piercing stares of his turbanned audience with promises that today’s British soldier was interested only in their safety and welfare, not in occupying their lands.

“The British soldiers coming here respect your culture,” he assured the clerics, farmers and officials. “You’ll see a very compassionate, caring soldier in Helmand province,” he said, using a description not often made of the Paras, who will spearhead the force that starts arriving in the coming weeks.

If there is one issue that all sides agree on it is that the three-year British deployment, the largest in Afghanistan for more than a century, is a hugely ambitious operation fraught with dangers and with no guarantees of success.

In interviews with aid workers, soldiers, diplomats and dozens of local Afghans, the consensus is that the largest British military expedition since the invasion of Iraq is a risky and ill-defined mission.

The British, working beside a newly formed Afghan army brigade, are trying to reimpose law and order on a remote and deeply conservative Islamic community, occupying a province the size of Wales that has been cut off from the outside world for much of the past three decades of conflict.

They will come up against some powerful vested interests, including the remnants of the militant Taleban movement, ousted from power five years ago, and the hugely powerful drug barons, who stand to lose most from the presence of a rival power.

Helmand is the largest province in Afghanistan with rugged mountains in the north, a fertile river plain in the centre and flat desert in the south stretching to the Pakistani border. Currently 1,000 police are responsible for its security, but most locals rely on their own private arsenals for protection. The terrain is ideal guerrilla country, as the Russians learnt to their cost during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

Contacted by mobile telephone, a local Taleban leader said that preparations were under way for the arrival of the British. “We are prepared to meet them,” he declared. “We are waiting for his excellency Mullah Omar (the fugitive Taleban leader) to start the jihad. We will fight any foreign force that comes to our country, whether British or Dutch or any other infidels. We are just waiting for the order to go.”

The threat cannot be taken lightly. The Taleban is more active than at any time since it was ousted from power by US-led forces five years ago and appears to be copying the tactics of Iraq’s bloody insurgency.

Helmand is one of the provinces where its fighters have stepped up their operations. The recently appointed governor narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack and the small contingent of British forces to have arrived regard the roadside bomb as their biggest threat.

For the local authorities the dangers are much greater. Several police officers, teachers and other officials representing central government have been killed. Local security sources said that arms and ammunition, normally widely available on the black market, had been bought up by local fighters. “The word on the street is that they are preparing for the British,” a security source in the regional capital, Lashkar Gar, said.

Certainly in the town’s main market there was clear evidence of Taleban support. One music shop openly played songs praising Mullah Omar, who paradoxically banned music during his short and eccentric ultra-conservative Islamic rule over Afghanistan.

“We will not tolerate foreigners on our land. We will fight them. We are Muslims,” Sayed Jumma Agaha, a Taleban activist wearing the movement’s trademark black turban, said.

He pointedly recalled what happened the last time the British came in numbers to the area, in June 1880. A force under the command of Brigadier George Burrows was defeated by Ayub Khan in the battle of Maiwand, about 40 miles (64km) north of Laskhar Gar. Locals say that the bones of the more than 1,000 British soldiers killed still turn up in the fields and irrigation canals. “We do not want British guns here. They should remember what happened the last time they came to Maiwand,” Mr Agaha said with a grin. But ancient rivalries are less of a threat to the British mission than the modern curse of drugs, and Afghanistan’s dominant position as the main supplier of heroin to the streets of British cities.

Opium accounts for more than half of Afghanistan’s annual gross domestic product, with exports worth nearly $3 billion (£1.7 billion). Helmand province, now regarded as tribal and backward, was once the main supplier of agricultural produce to the rest of Afghanistan. Today it has the dubious distinction of having the largest poppy harvest, which accounts for a quarter of all the country’s opium production.

Last year the province recorded a bumper crop. This year the expectation is that it will break new records with double the area being cultivated for poppy plants. The scale of the problem is obvious. Just 15 minutes from Lashkar Gar the first green tufts of the next crop, at this stage resembling lettuce leaves, are planted by the road.

There is hardly a farmer who has not devoted some of his land to poppy cultivation. Mirza Mohammad, 50, who was weeding his field with his two sons, said that he knew that growing poppies was bad but he had no choice.

“The plant contains poison and destroys lives,” he admitted. “It is against Islamic law. But I have to feed my children. The poppy is the only crop that brings me enough money.”

Next week 1,500 Afghan troops and special police are due to start eradicating poppy fields across Helmand province in a military operation likely to be resisted by the heavily armed local population, who have been offered Taleban protection.

British forces insist that they will not become directly involved in the eradication process this year. It is an open secret, however, that the deployment of such a large British force by the summer is intended to give the Afghan security forces the muscle to crack down hard on poppy growers next year and to take on the drug dealers who transport the opium across the open southern border with Pakistan.

The danger for British forces will be that their arrival will further cement the fledgeling alliance between the Taleban and the drug barons. As Colonel Worsley prepared to leave his meeting with the village elders and return to his base, protected by a large convoy of heavily armed British troops, locals predicted that little good would come of the latest British foray into this hot and dusty corner of Central Asia.

“We are very suspicious about the arrival of more foreign troops on our land,” Haji Abdul Qadr, a village elder, said. “We are suspicious because for 30 years Afghanistan has been a chess game for outsiders like the Russians, the Pakistanis, the Arabs and the Americans. We are afraid. When people talk about things as black and white we do not see good and evil. We see the head of a cobra.”

THE MISSION

• This year, 3,300 British troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade will be sent to Helmand as part of Nato's expansion into the south of the country
• 1,000 troops will go to Kabul to form the headquarters for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), commanded by a British Lieutenant-General
• A further 300 will train the Afghan Army and 1,000 engineers will build camps.
• As well as attempting to bring stability, it is hoped troops can help to tackle the opium trade
• Troops will stay for three years at a cost of £1 billion

HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Even in pre-Islamic days, Afghanistan was overrun by numerous invaders, who were met with violent revolts.

• King Darius the Great of Persia extended his empire into Afghanistan in 500BC and was supplanted by Alexander the Great
• In the 7th century it was invaded by Arabs, who introduced Islam, which eventually became the dominant religion
• In the 13th century the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, invaded on their way towards Europe. Much of the population was slaughtered. After Genghis’s death, the country was rocked by a series of petty revolts and violent power struggles in the 14th and 15th centuries
• The Moghuls became a dominant force in the 16th century, taking control of Kabul in 1504 and eventually much of Afghanistan. Hinduism was introduced, triggering more revolts
• In the so-called “Great Game” of the 19th century, the British and Russian empires competing with each other for influence, leading to the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838-42), which resulted ultimately in British withdrawal. The final peace treaty that ended the Afghan Wars brought the country independence
• Became a focal point of the Cold War after the Soviet invasion in 1979 in support of a communist regime. Soon after, the Mujahidin gained support from the USA and UK. The Soviet army withdrew in 1988. The Mujahidin took over Kabul in 1992, only to be ousted by the Taleban

Fight against maternal mortality a priority for Afghanistan: minister - Mar 7,

Tackling Afghanistan's maternal mortality rate, among the highest in the world, is a priority in the country where women suffer abuses ranging from forced marriage to honor killings, says Women's Affairs Minister Masooda Jalal.

More than 1,600 of every 100,000 Afghan women die giving birth. With each having on average more than six children, a woman's risk of maternal death is one in about 10, according to official statistics.

"If they lose their lives, we cannot talk of other rights so for us it is a priority that the maternal mortality rate should be decreased," Jalal told AFP in an interview.

"Each 30 minutes we lose one mother. Eighty-seven percent of these losses have been studied to be preventable due to lack of access to health services and lots of other factors," she said.

While there had been some progress in alleviating the plight of women in the country since the hardline Taliban government was removed in 2001, most women still had miserable lives, Jalal said.

"Right now it is very bad. I don't think in any other country it would be like this that women are victims of domestic violence, forced marriages, child marriage," she said.

Another phenomenon was families marrying off their children to settle disputes, including over murder or debt, and killings of women thought to have brought dishonour to their families.

Marriages were not registered, allowing a host of abuses including denial of property and inheritance rights, Jalal said.

The second priority for the ministry was education, with more than 80 percent of women illiterate, the minister said.

"For instance 60 percent of the girls within the school age seven to 13 are outside the education system due to lack of access," she said.

The regime gained notoriety for its treatment of women, including whipping them in the street if they did not wear the all-covering burqa and denying them access to health on the basis that they should not be examined by a male doctor.

When the Taliban was removed from power, to now be waging an insurgency against the new government, the new internationally backed government adopted a constitution enshrining equal rights for Afghanistan's long-downtrodden women.

The first ever women's ministry was established, discriminatory laws were done away with, and schools and universities were reopened to women, many of whom took jobs.

"They are taking part in the economic development of the country. We have hundreds of businesswomen, we have women in parliament," Jalal said.

"These are achievements but they are not enough."

For example, only one percent of the top jobs in the government were taken by women. "Going towards equality, which is guaranteed in the constitution of Afghanistan, there is a long way left," Jalal said.

A key step in correcting the imbalance was a law being processed to eliminate violence against women, she said.

A protocol was also being circulated among ministries committing them to take steps to eliminate child marriage, she said. The law already bans marriage for girls under 16 but this is seldom enforced.

However even with these legal provisions, women's lack of access to male-dominated legal systems often meant they did not have recourse to justice, Jalal said.

A third priority for the government was to encourage women to play a greater role in society, she said. Even in the capital Kabul, only men go to cinemas and shows and few women drive.

Jalal last week led about 40 women to pray in a mosque, which women rarely do in Afghanistan, saying she hoped it would encouraged more of them to leave their homes to worship.

She also oversaw the transport ministry's signing of an agreement to reserve 30 percent of seats on public buses for and to change the attitude of bus drivers who regularly fail to stop if there are only women waiting.

Jalal said resistance from men in patriarchal Afghanistan could be expected to the changes her ministry was bringing about with help from groups such as the United Nations.

"The one who will be losing power will not like it," she said. "But it doesn't matter -- the goal for us is to have half of the citizens of this country getting their equal rights."

[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.]