In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan protests attack on consulate
• ‘Islamabad, Kabul share common interests’
• Afghans protest against convert
• Afghanistan: Christian Convert Gets Mental Tests In Apostasy Trial
• Afghan convert to Christianity may be sent abroad
• Rice: Afghanistan Must Find Its Own Way
• Conversion a thorny issue in Muslim world
• British soldier killed, three injured in Afghan accident
• Bomb Blast Kills 3 in Southern Afghanistan
• Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan
• Stephen Harper's approval rating in B.C. up 21 points
• Layton demands debate on mission in Afghanistan
• Geopolitical Diary: Reading Signals From Kabul
• A fragile corner of order; Afghanistan
• Pakistan crackdown could fuel militancy: analysts
• Maple Leaf rises again in Kandahar
• Unpolished Gems, Awestruck by Afghan Ability
• Pushtun woman fights sex slavery

Afghanistan protests attack on consulate - via Daily Times-Pakistan
Monday, March 27, 2006

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Pakistani ambassador on Sunday after its consulate was attacked during a protest over the killing of 16 men by Afghan security forces. The ministry “strongly condemned” the Saturday attack on the Quetta consulate, spokesman Naveed Moez said.

He said Pakistan was asked “to take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the embassy, the consulate and other missions of the government of Afghanistan and their personnel in Pakistan and prevent the occurrence of such attacks again”.

About 450 protestors hurled stones at the consulate, chanted slogans against Afghan President Hamid Karzai and tore a picture of him from the gate before being dispersed by police, witnesses said.

Pakistan has protested to Afghanistan over the killing of 16 nationals on Tuesday in Afghanistan’s border district of Spin Boldak. Kabul said the dead were Taliban militants who crossed the frontier from Pakistan, but Islamabad said they were Pakistani tribesmen on their way to celebrate the Afghan new year.

Relations between the neighbours, allies in the US-led “war on terror”, have deteriorated in recent weeks amid a row over intelligence on leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban who Afghanistan says are sheltering in Pakistan. AFP

‘Islamabad, Kabul share common interests’

ISLAMABAD – The Dawn, March 26: Pakistan and Afghanistan were mutually indispensable and both the countries had common interests, said Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri. In an interview with the BBC Radio, he said cordial ties between the two countries were in the interest of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He said that Pakistan’s government hads raised the issue of Spin Boldak with the Afghan government. “We summoned the Afghan Ambassador and we will follow it up,” he added.

The minister said Pakistan has demanded an investigation into the incident of Spin Boldak and hope the Afghan authorities will cooperate. To another question he said minor tension has emerged in Pak-Afghan ties as Afghan government has been trying to talk to Pakistan through media.

“We are not trying to talk to the Afghan government through media”, he added. Mr Kasuri said: “There are many forums including trilateral and we can also hold a bilateral dialogue to remove misunderstandings.”

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao told BBC Radio that the government wanted local people’s support to flush out militants from tribal areas.

He said it might not be possible for the government to launch a search operation in these areas because of difficult terrain. He said security forces had set up check posts to protect local people and flush out militants from their areas. — APP

Afghans protest against convert - BBC News, 27 March 2006

Several hundred people have protested in northern Afghanistan against a decision to dismiss a case against a man who converted to Christianity. Abdul Rahman's case has been handed back to the attorney-general because of gaps in the evidence, an official said.

The decision to release Mr Rahman came amid mounting international criticism over the issue. Mr Rahman, a Christian for 16 years, was charged with rejecting Islam and potentially faced the death penalty.

Afghanistan's legal system is built on Islamic Sharia law, and Mr Rahman could have faced execution if he had refused to renounce Christianity. The Afghan government has come under considerable domestic pressure over the case, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul. More than a thousand protesters took to the streets in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Monday morning.

They demanded that Mr Rahman be tried and executed for converting to Christianity. With chants of "Death to Bush!", they warned the international community to keep off the case.

Afghanistan has an Islamic constitution which must be respected, they said. It is a measure of the difficulties confronting the Afghan government and the country's President Hamid Karzai.

Mr Karzai has personally intervened in the case, mindful of the growing international pressure, much of it from countries which are his closest allies. At the same time, he faces considerable opposition from religious hardliners both within and outside his administration. He will be hoping that the case can be disposed of and the damage limited before it gets out of hand.

Details of Mr Rahman's imminent release are being kept secret, as feelings in Kabul have run high over the case. Earlier, Mr Rahman's family asked the court to dismiss the case against him, saying he suffered from mental illness. Some reports say Mr Rahman was taken to a mental institution on Monday for tests.

Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada told the BBC there was considerable doubt that Mr Rahman was fit to stand trial. According to Judge Mawlavizada, Mr Rahman appeared "disturbed".

He said the accused man's relatives had told the authorities he was insane and that they claimed Mr Rahman had said he heard strange voices in his head. The judge also said it was not clear if the accused was really an Afghan or a citizen of another country.

Mr Rahman has lived outside Afghanistan for 16 years and is believed to have converted to Christianity during a stay in Germany.

Afghanistan: Christian Convert Gets Mental Tests In Apostasy Trial - Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty - By Ron Synovitz

An Afghan man who faces a possible death sentence for converting to Christianity has undergone mental tests that could spare him from execution. Prosecutors say the apostasy case against 41-year-old Abdul Rahman depends on what Afghan doctors say about his mental condition. Meanwhile, debate continues in Afghanistan and around the world about the controversial case.

PRAGUE, March 27, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- State prosecutors in Afghanistan say the fate of an Afghan man who converted from Islam to Christianity depends upon a report by doctors at an Afghan mental health hospital.

The Afghan Supreme Court on March 26 decided to suspend the trial against Abdul Rahman until there is more evidence about his mental competence. He underwent tests today. Prosecutor-General Zemaray Hamidi said the report by doctors will help determine whether the case is dismissed altogether or the trial moves forward.

If the doctors declare that Abdul Rahman is mentally unfit, he would likely be released from custody. But if the doctors say Abdul Rahman is mentally stable, prosecutors could call for the reintroduction of apostasy charges. Apostasy -- abandoning the Islamic faith -- is punishable by death under Afghanistan's interpretation of Shari'a law.

Abdul Wakil Omari, a spokesman for the Afghan Supreme Court, said Abdul Rahman's own testimony suggests he is unfit for trial. Also, Omari said there are gaps in the evidence about whether Abdul Rahman should be protected because of dual citizenship.

"The accused, Abdul Rahman himself, said in court that he was hearing voices and that he was not mentally normal," Omari said. "Also, the issue of his dual citizenship was not clear. Therefore, because of the flaws in the file, we referred it back to the prosecutor's office."

The government in Kabul is under enormous international pressure to prevent Abdul Rahman from being executed. But Afghan President Hamid Karzai also faces domestic pressure to have him tried.

More than a thousand protesters took to the streets in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif this morning to protest the court's decision to release Abdul Rahman pending the outcome of the mental tests. They want him to be tried and executed.

Ahmad Shoib is a student in Kabul who thinks Rahman should be executed. "Our Shari'a law says that the person who rejects Islam and joins another religion should be punished with death," Shoib said. "We accepted this law in our constitution so we have to implement Islamic law and constitutional law -- and let him face execution. I suggest other countries should stop interfering with our religion and our laws."

But Hussain Yasa, editor of the Kabul newspaper "Outlook Afghanistan," said Abdul Rahman's execution would be a disaster for Afghanistan's relations with the rest of the world.

"If that man is really executed, it will have a very bad impact on the relations between Afghanistan and [the rest of the] world -- especially the Western world that has been a very important partner in the rebuilding of Afghanistan as well as the fight against terrorism," he said.

Others, like Kabul resident Abdul Hadi, say Abdul Rahman's execution would make Afghanistan guilty of violating the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- which the Afghan government also is required to uphold under the country's constitution.

"It is true that our religion says he should be punished with death," he said. "But we have to respect other religions. It is not fair to execute him. For example, if an American man becomes Muslim, should a judge there execute him? No. They don't. And that's because they respect human rights."

But some Islamic scholars in other countries say the Afghan religious scholars are wrong to equate Rahman's religious conversion with "apostasy" under Shari'a law.

Emaduddin Ahmad, a Muslim scholar who directs the U.S.-based Minaret of Freedom Institute, said apostasy as a crime of "treason" that dates from the early days of Islam when some would leave the Islamic faith to follow polytheistic beliefs. Ahmad said Afghans calling for Rahman's execution do not understand the true meaning of apostasy according to the Koran.

"Unfortunately these Fukaha -- or religious scholars -- who were being quoted in the Afghan case are mistaking the simple act of conversion for treason," he said. "They are totally different things."

Abdel Muti Bayoumi, a Muslim scholar who lectures at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, told RFE/RL that an apostate is a person who, unlike Rahman, denies altogether the existence of God, angels, and the prophets. "If he or she leaves society and apostates in the way that his or her apostasy leads to sedition and riot, the apostate in this case would be punished as a traitor to the national security."

At the Vatican on March 26, Pope Benedict spoke about what he called "communities in countries where there is no religious freedom, or where, despite it being set out on paper, there are many restrictions."

Afghan convert to Christianity may be sent abroad - Financial Times, UK 03/27/2006 By Rachel Morarjee in Kabul

An Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity could be sent abroad for medical treatment after being declared mentally unfit to stand trial, judicial officials said on Monday.

Judge Ansarullah Maulavezada, who had been set to try Abdul Rahman for the crime of converting to Christianity said the case – which has caused an outcry in the US – had been dropped by the court due to questions over Mr Rahman's mental state and whether he held dual citizenship to another country.

"There will be a reinvestigation by the attorney general's office and then they will decide whether to reopen this case," he said.

Deputy Attorney General Mohammed Eshaq Aloko said Mr Rahman would be sent to the Aliabad hospital in Kabul for psychiatric evaluation and could be examined by doctors with the US or Nato forces.

Both Mr Aloko and Sarinwal Zamari, the director of the Kabul Province Attorney Investigation Department, raised the possibility that Mr Rahman could be sent abroad for medical treatment.

"Until he is completely healthy we should send him to hospital for treatment and it is possible that the treatment could be done inside or outside Afghanistan," Mr Zamari said.

Judicial officials did not raise any questions about Mr Rahman's sanity during his initial hearing on March 16. Until Sunday, both the prosecutor and the judge said he should be executed if he was found guilty of converting to Christianity.

That call resonated with many ordinary Afghans in this deeply conservative Muslim country and as many as 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Monday calling for Mr Rahman's execution and chanting "Death to America".

"Abdul Rahman has been taken to the Kabul mental hospital for evaluation and if he is found to be mentally ill, he will be released today or tomorrow," Abdul Wasi, the prosecutor in the case, said. Tests are still ongoing.

Spiriting Mr Rahman overseas for medical treatment could open up a back-door route for political asylum, observers said. This compromise solution would give Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, a way off the political tightrope he has been walking between his foreign allies and Islamic conservatives who still wield much power in the country.

The case has drawn a barrage of criticism from Mr Karzai's western backers who have rebuilt and defended the country in the four years since the fall of the Taliban.

According to local reports, Mr Karzai intervened to get Mr Rahman released after calls from US President George W. Bush and other western leaders. "We have got influence in Afghanistan, and we are going to use it to remind them that there are universal values," Mr Bush said last week.

However the contradictions with Afghanistan's constitution remain unresolved, with the law enshrining the freedom of religion on the one hand but upholding the supremacy of Islamic Sharia law on the other. Under Sharia law, rejecting Islam for another religion is a crime punishable by death.

The case is the second in six months highlighting the glaring inconsistencies in the Afghan penal code. Last autumn, Ali Mohaqeq Nasab spent three months in jail for blasphemy despite laws enshrining freedom of speech.

Rice: Afghanistan Must Find Its Own Way - By FOSTER KLUG © 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Afghanistan's prosecution of a man who converted from Islam to Christianity shows how a fledgling democracy struggles to recognize individual rights, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

Afghanistan is "going through one of the most difficult debates that any society goes through, and that is the proper role of religion in the politics of the state," she said.

Officials in Afghanistan said Abdul Rahman, who faced a possible death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity, was to be freed after a court on Sunday dismissed the case against him, citing a lack of evidence.

Rice said she had no independent confirmation, but said that development "would be a very good step forward" if true. "This is an evolutionary process," Rice said on Fox News. "It's a young democracy."

Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president, Hamid Karzai, has faced mounting foreign pressure to free Rahman. Muslim clerics have called for Rahman to be killed.

"We, as Americans, know that in democracy, as it evolves, there are difficult issues about state and church, or in this case, state and mosque. But there are difficult issues about the rights of the individual," Rice told CNN's "Late Edition."

"We're going to stand firm for the principle that religious freedom and freedom of religious conscience need to be upheld, and we are hoping for a favorable resolution in this case," Rice said.

Rahman was being prosecuted under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Rahman's case represents a "crossroads for their judicial system," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. "Let's hope they make the right decision," he told CNN's "Late Edition." "If they don't, I think there are going to be a great many problems."

Rice was asked if Christian missionaries from the United States should be encouraged to go to Afghanistan. "I think that Afghans are pleased to get the help that they can get," she told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Stephen Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that Afghanistan is "trying to reconcile a religious background of their country with a commitment they made in their own constitution to the universal declaration of human rights."

Conversion a thorny issue in Muslim world - By Rachel Morarjee and Dan Murphy

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN; AND CAIRO - Under pressure from the US, the Vatican, and other Western leaders, Afghanistan's fledgling democracy Sunday sidestepped a politically charged case in which prosecutors had sought the death penalty for a Muslim man who converted to Christianity.

Rather than pass judgment on Abdul Rahman, an Afghan who converted while living abroad 16 years ago, the court declared him mentally unfit for trial Sunday. "He is a sick person," said Mohammed Eshaq Aloko, Afghanistan's deputy attorney general. Afghan officials said Mr. Rahman would be transferred to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

The case has not only thrown a spotlight on the laws and practices of an Afghan government that the United States helped to install but is a reminder of the limits - sometimes severely enforced - placed on religious freedoms by many countries in the Muslim world.

While state executions for apostasy are rarely carried out, laws allowing them remain on the books in not only Afghanistan but in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan.

More generally, while countries like Egypt and Pakistan guarantee religious freedoms in their constitutions, they limit religious speech and local police frequently lean on people to recant if they seek to convert.

In recent years, religious tension between Muslims and Christians has soared in many countries, and states like Egypt and Pakistan frequently find themselves caught between extremists on both sides.

Last year for instance, Egyptian Christians and Muslims clashed over a girl the Christians claimed had been forced to convert to Islam. The Muslim side said the girl was a willing convert, and had married a Muslim.

In Pakistan, while apostasy cases are rare, vigilante attacks against alleged apostates and others thought to offend Islam are common. "There's not been a single case of apostasy in Pakistan in the last 10 to 15 years, at least not one that has attracted a lot of attention," says Najam Sethi, editor of the liberal Lahore-based newspaper, Daily Times.

But as much of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, takes a more negative view of America and its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been greater popular pressure on religious freedoms, with courts and governments usually reluctant to intervene.

In Pakistani villages, Muslims who convert to Christianity are occasionally killed by their own family members, to protect the family's honor. In major cities, Islamic militant groups have launched attacks against Christian churches for their supposed sympathy for America. In Alexandria, Egypt, last October, three rioters died as they sought to attack a church for distributing DVDs of a play deemed offensive to Islam. This context is what has made Rahman's case so difficult for the secular- leaning and pro-US Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"Afghanistan is in the eye of the storm, in terms of anti-Western feeling," say Mr. Sethi. "If the Supreme Court [had] upheld its decision, and then passed the buck on to Mr. Karzai to say, 'OK, it's up to you, you have the power of clemency,' then that puts Karzai in a bad spot as far as Islamists are concerned."

Sunday's pronouncement of Rahman by prosecutors and the judge as unfit would now seem to spare President Karzai this embarrassing quandary. Ansarullah Mawlavezada, the judge who had been set to try Rahman's case, as well as other court officials, say that the case came to court after the family reported him for being a Christian. A lawsuit had been filed in a child-custody dispute, and his ex-wife alleged that he beat one of his two daughters while she was reading the Koran.

Rahman has said that he converted to Christianity when he was working for an aid agency in Pakistan 16 years ago. Afghanistan is a deeply conservative country where 99 percent of the population is Muslim and an estimated 10,000 Christians can practice only in secret. Out on the street, many ordinary Afghans chimed in with the mullahs calling out at Friday prayers for Abdul Rahman to be put to death.

"The order of God is execution for this person and no one can change it. This person has denied God and the Koran and he should be punished in a way that will stop other Muslims from converting," said Sayed Saber, a 32-year-old in Kabul.

President George Bush, who called the case "deeply troubling," phoned Karzai last week to press for Rahman's release. Simultaneously, mujahideen who had been funded by the US in their fight against the Soviet Union, mobilized supporters across the country to press for execution. Karzai was caught in the middle. "It is a question of a tightrope for Karzai," said Paul Fishstein, the director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul.

The issue of religious freedoms is one in which, as in Afghanistan, modern laws are clashing with ancient traditions. Rahman's case illustrates a glaring contradiction between Afghanistan's constitution, which upholds the right to freedom of religion on one hand but enshrines the supremacy of sharia law on the other.

Most mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence call for converts to be executed. Though the Koran promises only hellfire for apostates and also says "there should be no compunction in religion,'' Islamic jurists have typically argued that execution is mandated, citing stories of comments made by the prophet Muhammad.

"The prophet Muhammad said that anyone who rejects Islam for another religion should be executed," said Mr. Mawlavezada, the judge. Though some liberal Islamic scholars disagree, pointing out that no such rule exists in the Koran, they have been largely silenced in Afghanistan. Last year, Afghan writer Ali Mohaqeq Nasab spent almost three months in jail last autumn for an article questioning the traditional call for execution.

What happens next for Rahman is uncertain, though it appears likely that the government will find a way to sweep the case under the rug. Officials said they're likely to allow him to go abroad for medical treatment.

"If his family can afford to send him overseas for medical treatment then of course we would give him a passport," says Mr. Aloko, the deputy attorney general. In that case, he would be free to seek asylum elsewhere and avoid a return to his homeland and its legal system.

• David Montero in Karachi, Pakistan, and Scott Baldauf in Delhi contributed to this report.

British soldier killed, three injured in Afghan accident - Mar 27

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A British soldier was killed and three others were slightly injured when the military vehicle they were in hit a tractor in southern Afghanistan.

The soldiers were travelling in a four-jeep convoy that had taken up both sides of the road in the southern city of Lashkar Gah, capital of insurgency-hit Helmand province, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman said.

An oncoming tractor hit one of the jeeps, he said. "One British soldier died and three were slightly wounded." The British military confirmed the accident but would not release information on casualties.

"It is not thought that enemy action was involved. Information is still incoming and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage," British military spokesman Captain Marcus Eves said in the main southern city of Kandahar.

The soldiers were from a provincial reconstruction team based in Lashkar Gah, police said. An advance team of about 150 British soldiers, including engineers, has been at the base for several weeks preparing for the arrival of a main force of 3,000 troops later this year.

The troops will assist in the fight against Taliban insurgents and in opium eradication in the province, which last year produced about a quarter of Afghanistan's crop of illegal opium.

Bomb Blast Kills 3 in Southern Afghanistan - Associated Press Mar 27

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A roadside bombing killed three villagers and wounded two when it blew up their car in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

The attack occurred in Helmand province, one of Afghanistan's most violent regions and its main opium poppy growing area, said deputy Gov. Amir Mohammed Khunzada. The road the civilians were driving down is one often patrolled by government militia and police, which were believed to have been the target, Khunzada said.

Violence has increased across southern Afghanistan in the past year, some of it blamed on feuding drug gangs while much of the rest is attributed to Taliban rebels.

The bloodshed has left large areas off-limits to aid workers and raised concerns for the country four years after the ouster of the Taliban in a U.S.-led invasion.

Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, March 27 (Reuters) - A helicopter crashed in Afghanistan on Monday, a provincial official said, but there was no immediate word on casualties or who it belonged to.

"A helicopter crashed into a mountain in Spin Ghar," said Sayed Zaman Sherzad, administrative chief of the district in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Sherzad said he had no information about casualties or the cause of the crash. A U.S. military spokesman said it was not a U.S. aircraft.

Stephen Harper's approval rating in B.C. up 21 points

National rating up after visit to Afghanistan, but support for mission is still falling - Jack Aubry, Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun - Saturday, March 25, 2006

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper's popularity in B.C. has soared a whopping 21 points -- to 66 per cent -- according to the latest Ipsos Reid poll, indicating the controversy over his appointment of former Liberal David Emerson to his Conservative cabinet is dying.

"Harper's approval rating is way up," said Darrell Bricker, president of Ipsos Reid Public Affairs. "These are Chretien-type numbers by reaching the 60s. Paul Martin didn't know what the 60s looked like," Bricker said. "It's a bounce back from the Emerson situation. That was Harper's low water mark."

The prime minister's national approval rating has also increased -- eight percentage points to 62 per cent -- following his surprise trip to Afghanistan March 12 and 13 to visit Canadian troops.

But while trip may have boosted Harper's approval rating it failed to boost public support for the military mission. The poll shows support for the mission actually dropped two percentage points nationally -- to 52 per cent -- on the question of whether respondents back the use of troops for security and combat efforts against the Taliban and al-Qaida. Support softened significantly in Ontario and B.C., dropping eight points in each province, to 57 and 52 per cent, respectively. Residents in Quebec, at 62 per cent, are easily the most likely to believe that the government should bring Canadian troops home immediately.

"Mr. Harper's trip didn't do much," Bricker said. "At this point, not enough has happened to explain to people why we happen to be there and to really justify the type of sacrifice they are being asked to make," said Bricker. He said the Canadian public is divided on the question and he expects support to continue to drop, as it has in the U.S. with the conflict in Iraq.

"People are taking a look at this and saying I'm just not really convinced, one way or the other. Harper's trip really didn't have an impact on public opinion. It is going to take more than just one trip to engage people in this issue in the correct way," Bricker added.

Harper said Friday in an interview on CTV that it's hard for him to comprehend why some Canadians have such deep-rooted objections to the military mission in Afghanistan.

Harper was asked by an interviewer: "Do you understand the Canadians who feel passionately that they (Canadian soldiers) shouldn't be there?" Harper paused briefly and responded, "You know, in a way, I don't. In this case, I'm not sure what the case would be for not being there."

When it was suggested that people oppose the mission because it's not Canada's war, Harper quickly interjected. "But it is our war. The entire world signed on to this mission."

The prime minister reiterated that Canadians learned from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S., in which 24 Canadians were killed or are believed to have died, how the threat of terrorism can reach our own borders.

"We signed on from the beginning," he said of the plan to combat terrorist insurgents in Afghanistan. "The Afghan government wants us there, the Afghan people need us there, and we're fighting a truly horrific enemy. And it's in our national interest. I think it's great what we're doing. We're taking a leadership role in Kandahar province.

"I understand reservations about being there, or concerns about how this may turn out in the long term. But I don't think the case for just walking away is a case that anybody's made." The poll, conducted for CanWest News this week, has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Layton demands debate on mission in Afghanistan - Mar. 26 2006 - CTV.ca

New Democrat Leader Jack Layton is demanding an emergency debate in the House of Commons on April 5 on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan over concerns about the changing nature of the mission and the treatment of detainees.

"When the decision was made, actually in the middle of the election, that through NATO there would be a new deployment and Canadian soldiers would be sent to the south of Afghanistan, we suggested at that time it would be important to have a debate as soon as Parliament could convene," Layton told CTV's Question Period Sunday.

"We need to support our troops by making sure that we're very, very clear as Canadians what the mission is and, of course, it originally was supposed to be a NATO mission, but NATO has not taken charge yet."

Layton said Canadians need to know how long troops would be in Afghanistan and what the exit strategy is. Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor have said that there would be no new debate on the Canadian mission.

Canada has more than 2,000 troops in Afghanistan and is supporting a provincial reconstruction team in the danerous area around Kandahar.

The NDP leader also expressed concerns "there's been an agreement signed with the government of Afghanistan, this was done under the Liberals, and our military leadership, to turn over prisoners to the Afghan government."

Layton said this raises concerns over the treatment of detainees who could be tortured by the Afghan government or turned over to the Americans. He admitted, however, that he had no evidence that this was happening and had not read the agreement.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, also appearing on Question Period, said he was not aware of the agreement Layton spoke of.  MacKay said that there has been an agreement since December with NATO to turn over prisoners to Afghan autorities. O'Connor told Question Period last week that detainees would be turned over to the Afghans.

Layton said "(we) believe there was a different agreement that was signed between our military leaders at the time of the Liberal administration and the Afghan government.  That's what's got to be talked about in Parliament."

The Foreign Affairs minister, however, said defence staff would not be able to enter into an agreement with the Afghan government without consulting the Prime Minister and Defence Minister. Layton underlined that he was not alleging that Canadian troops were complicit in the potential mistreatment of detainees.

"What we're interested in seeing is the agreement that's been signed regarding the transfer of detainees.  I can tell you that in other countries there's extensive public debate about this because there's concerns about humans rights issues...Canadians would want to know that we're always sticking with the letter of the Geneva Conventions."

Geopolitical Diary: Reading Signals From Kabul - Strafor - March 23, 2006

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah is to be replaced by Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, a presidential adviser on foreign affairs, as part of a proposed Cabinet reshuffle, President Hamid Karzai's office announced on Wednesday. Abdullah reportedly was offered another Cabinet post but refused it.

The new Cabinet will be presented to Parliament later this week for approval. According to a list furnished by Karzai's office, 14 ministers have retained their portfolios, four changed portfolios, and eight ministers are new. A senior Afghan official was cited in an Associated Press report as saying that the foreign ministry change was being made in hopes of making the Cabinet more proactive about promoting Afghanistan's interests and improving relations with other nations.

The move illustrates that Karzai gradually has grown secure enough in his power to take risky, assertive moves -- such as removing powerful individuals from various positions of authority.

Abdullah is the last of the Panjshiri Tajik troika, which was close to Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masoud, to leave the Karzai government. The other two members were Mohammed Fahim, who Karzai removed from the defense ministry in December 2004, and Younus Qanouni, who served briefly as interior and education minister in the two interim administrations following the fall of the Taliban (and then became leader of the lower house of Parliament).

In other words, the main figures who were instrumental in the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime are no longer calling the shots in Kabul. The removals serve several purposes: First, they allow Karzai to sideline potential competitors and further consolidate his power base. Second, they give Karzai better control over the direction of Kabul's foreign policy -- and they also give him an opportunity to improve his standing among Afghanistan's Pashtun majority.

These goals are intertwined, in the sense that they are linked to the Taliban and the country's need for Pakistan's assistance in dealing with its jihadist insurgency. Karzai is facing an insurgency that was rejuvenated with al Qaeda's assistance during the past year. And despite having the aid of U.S. and NATO forces -- and having attempted to co-opt moderate elements within the jihadist movement, Karzai realizes that if he is truly to contain the Taliban, he is going to need Islamabad on his side.

Though Islamabad is not providing active support to the Taliban, it is not engaged in a serious campaign against it either -- recognizing that the Pashtun jihadists are the only lever it has in ensuring that Afghanistan does not threaten Pakistan's own geopolitical interests. To state it more succinctly, the Musharraf government is worried about anti-Pakistan elements within the Afghan government that are known to have close ties to India.

Abdullah is one of the officials that Islamabad worries about: He recently claimed that Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar were all hiding in Pakistan, and he called for Islamabad to get tough on Taliban and al Qaeda jihadists. Such comments also create problems not only between Kabul and Islamabad, but also in U.S.-Pakistani relations -- which then have a boomerang effect on domestic politics for Musharraf.

Kabul's demands help to explain the recent war of words between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which started around the time U.S. President George W. Bush visited the region. First, Kabul claimed that Islamabad was not acting on intelligence it provided about Taliban and al Qaeda jihadists who were operating from Pakistani soil. Then, Musharraf accused Karzai of being oblivious to an anti-Pakistan "conspiracy" being fomented by government factions in Kabul. And as if this was not bad enough, Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, the newly elected head of Afghanistan's Senate and chairman of the National Reconciliation Commission, accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence of responsibility for a March 12 suicide bombing attack in which he was nearly killed.

Unlike others in the Afghan government, Karzai has refrained from taking an anti-Pakistan stance because of his unique position. He not only is president of the country, but also wants to become the uncontested leader of its Pashtun majority. This goal, however, cannot be reached so long as the Taliban continues to pose a threat to Kabul. Thus, he needs Musharraf to deny the jihadists the ability to operate from Pakistani soil. But Musharraf, despite facing his own problems with Pashtun jihadists in the tribal belt, has refrained from doing so, without some guarantees from Kabul that Afghanistan will not become a base for anti-Pakistan activities.

By removing a foreign minister in efforts to "improve international relations," it seems that Karzai is sending a signal to Musharraf: Kabul has done its part, and now it is time for Pakistan to reciprocate. The million-dollar question, of course, is whether Musharraf can deliver.

A fragile corner of order; Afghanistan - The Economist 03/24/2006 - Mob violence in Herat brings Ismael Khan to mind

EXCELLENT roads, lined with elegant pine-trees, make Herat an unusual Afghan city. So does the smart business park by the airport, its factories making chemicals, paint and tasty biscuits. This prosperity, many Heratis say, is the legacy of a former warlord- ruler of Afghanistan's western capital, Ismael Khan, who was winkled from power 18 months ago, and is now a minister in Kabul. Mr Khan, aided by his sponsors in nearby Iran, invested millions of dollars of customs revenues in the city. Alas, the government couldn't help noting that this cash was the main—indeed, almost the only—revenue stream for the entire country. As another reason to shift the white- bearded "Emir", many cited his repressive rule. Very well, Heratis replied, but could the government maintain the order to which they were accustomed?

Mr Khan's successor as governor resigned within a year, in part due to discontent over loss of services which, shorn of customs-revenues, the city could no longer afford. Last month, his replacement, Sayed Hussein Anwari, of the Shia Hazara minority, offered to resign after sectarian rioting left 8 dead and 200 injured. The riot was sparked by a rumour that Sunni banners had been desecrated by Shia youths near the city's shimmering Blue Mosque. It was quickly attended by 300 armed Sunnis astride motorbikes, flourishing banners. They led a mob of several thousand to torch three Shia mosques and a market.

Followers of Mr Khan, a Sunni Tajik, are said to have stirred the violence. Fomenting chaos to discredit a rival is a favourite trick in Afghan politics; after Mr Khan was sacked, his supporters burned down UN offices. But again, Heratis ask, if Mr Khan was to blame, can the government control him?

Perhaps not: Afghanistan's new army has made strides in the past year, but its few decent battalions are fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. As for the few score Italian and Spanish peacekeepers in Herat, they are among the most timorous members of a too-feeble NATO force—though the recent deployment of Canadian and British troops to southern Afghanistan promises improvement there. More worrying, the violence was more ethnic than sectarian: it was aimed not at the city's Shia Persians, a well-established community, but at a poor horde of Shia Hazaras, most of whom arrived recently from refugee camps in Iran. During the riot, Sunni bikers chanted: "Death to Hazaras!"

This was perhaps a response to their new strength. Traditionally scorned, and massacred by the Taliban, the Hazaras were well- organised during two recent elections, winning unprecedented power for their champions. Yet the violence had worrying echoes of the ethnic slaughter that was a feature of Afghanistan's long civil war, and has been perhaps surprisingly absent from the country's current precarious politics. To ease tensions in Herat, the government has appointed a commission to investigate the riots. It is headed by Mr Khan.

Pakistan crackdown could fuel militancy: analysts

Islamabad (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf has warned foreign militants to leave Pakistan's tribal belt or die, but the crackdown has little chance of success and risks radicalising local people, analysts say.

Pakistan deployed the first of the 80,000 troops who are now in the rugged zone bordering Afghanistan in late 2003, to tackle Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the frontier after US-led forces drove the regime from Kabul.

The fugitive rebels found support from devoutly Islamic local tribesmen and launched attacks on Pakistani forces, leading to massive battles in the troubled tribal agency of South Waziristan in early 2004.

Military ruler Musharraf, a key US ally, warned on Thursday that foreign militants must immediately leave the tribal areas, "failing which we will eliminate them."

He is under increasing pressure from both Washington and Kabul to tackle insurgents who allegedly launch attacks in southern Afghanistan from bases in northwestern Pakistan.

After a lull in 2005, trouble flared at the start of March this year in neighbouring North Waziristan, and Pakistani forces have killed nearly 200 local pro-Taliban militants and a handful of foreigners in recent battles.

In the latest violence early on Friday, troops backed by helicopter gunships pounded an insurgent hideout after a fatal attack on a soldier. They killed a up to 20 rebels, mostly local but including some foreigners, officials said.

Chief army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said two or three local pro-Taliban religious leaders were causing most of the trouble. "We feel once they are eliminated, the whole resistance in North Waziristan will fall like a pack of cards," he told AFP.

He justified the military operations on the grounds that "we feel that 80 percent of the population in the region is sitting on the fence. If we buckle they can be coerced to join the other side," he said.

But analysts and officials say the problems are more deep-seated and historical, linked to the tribal agencies' status as a semi-autonomous -- some say largely lawless -- region that has resisted conquerors for centuries.

Peshawar-based regional expert and journalist Rahimullah Yousafzai said the crackdown was a "big mistake." "The army can temporarily take control of the tribal areas, but it's an impossible terrain," he said.

"It's a war waged against the people by the Pakistani army. It's because of the American pressure. They want to destabilize the country." The military will never be able to fully control the zone, agreed Inayatullah Khan, a member of Pakistan's main coalition of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, and North West Frontier Province health minister.

"From Alexander to the English army, no one has never been able to," he said. "You have a long, porous border with Afghanistan. That's the same tribes on both sides. If the government keeps on this direction, the result will be a general uprising of the Pashtuns. The only solution is to negotiate, through jirgas (tribal councils)."

Because many pro-government tribal elders have been assassinated by militants, analysts fear there is now a power vacuum in the region which has been filled by extremists.

Pakistani sources and officials said last month that parts of Waziristan are under the virtual control of local pro-Taliban militia, enforcing strict Islamic law and brutal summary justice in the area.

"People, out of fear or out of sympathy, are backing them," said political expert Sufi Juma Khan. Others said Musharraf had alluded to foreign militants last week in a bid to distract the focus from homegrown unrest.

Musharraf himself has escaped at least three assassination attempts by Pakistani radicals linked to Al-Qaeda, who oppose his alliance with the United States and the support for the US-led operations in Afghanistan.

"The president is trying to get people focussed on the foreign elements in a deteriorating situation in the tribal areas, and because the action needed to tackle the situation will put at risks many Pakistani lives," political analyst Afzal Niazi told AFP.

Defence analyst Hasan Askari said Musharraf's outburst "shows frustration and the failure of the policies that the administration is pursuing in the tribal areas, that they have not been able to improve the situation and it is deteriorating."

Maple Leaf rises again in Kandahar - CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD - Globe and Mail Update

Kandahar — The Canadian flag is once again flying in Afghanistan and, said the soldier who had the honour of raising it here Saturday: "We're good to go. It's good to see the old red and white."

Maple Leafs here, at the Provincial Reconstruction Team office just outside Kandahar City and at the sprawling Kandahar Air Field base about 30 minutes away, were lowered about a month ago with the flags of the other seven nations who make up the Coalition Forces in this country.

The decision to fly only the Afghan flag took many Canadians by surprise, and left them upset and disappointed.

The rationale, Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Hope, the commander of the Canadian battle group here, was that after nearly three decades of war, many Afghans didn't even know or recognize their flag. "And it's very confusing to see seven or eight different national flags, as well as dozens, just dozens, of brigade and unit flags as well."

But Lt.-Col. Hope said the decision was poorly communicated to the soldiers: "I'm responsible for not explaining it fully or fast enough."

One of those outspoken in his displeasure was Sergeant Parnell Pachel. The day the flags came down, Sgt. Parnell was among those gathered to hear the new Canadian ambassador to Afgghanistan, David Sproule, speak.

While Mr. Sproule had nothing to do with the controversial decision, or any information about it, it appears that Sgt. Pachel's question - "Why are we not flying the Canadian flag at our camps any more?" - and the wider discontent among the 2,200 troops in Afghanistan, may have played a role in seeing the decision reversed.

Certainly, Lt.-Col. Hope said Saturday after the flag-raising ceremony, that the call to fly the Maple Leaf again was endorsed by Afghans. "There's an understanding by us and the Afghans about the importance of these symbols."

Colonel Mohammad Hussain Andiwal, who works closely with the Canadians at the PRT office here, agreed: "I'm feeling very happy and very good," he said, with his trademark big grin.

"Canadians have "a compact they will work for the government of Afghanistan and by raising the Canadian flag beside the Afghan flag, they are keeping that promise."

Lt.-Col. Hope said the reversal came when Coalition Forces command, in conjunction with Afghans, agreed "it's permissible to have one national flag flying over a large coalition camp" and that "in this specific place, right now at this time, in Kandahar Province, we're taking the lead. "I'm proud personally," he said, "but even more so for the soldiers."

For Sgt. Pachel, a patrol commander who is out "over the wire" - the safety perimeter of this camp - virtually every day trying to maintain security on the streets of Afghanistan's second-largest city, it was more intimate.

"Every time I see the flag it reminds me of my babies and wife" back in Shilo, Man., where the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is based. "It's like that warm blanket when you're a kid," he said. "Comforting."

The 31-year-old, originally from Yorkton, Sask., found out he was to have the honour of raising the flag - in the manner of armies everywhere - only 10 minutes before the ceremony Saturday morning. Though he said "I was just one of many" soldiers who questioned the original decision, he was happy to oblige.

The 250 or so Canadian soldiers stationed at the PRT, are the arm of the Canadian effort in Afghanistan to promote government policies and work with local authorities, including police and the Afghan National Army, on security and governance issues.

Unpolished Gems, Awestruck by Afghan Ability - The Rediff, India
03/27/2006 By Deepti Patwardhan

On Thursday, the Police Gymkhana ground in Mumbai played host to a unique game of cricket that manifested the two disparate faces of the game.

The first was that of the clean-shaven, professional lot, representing the oldest club in the game's history, which until recenrtly was the caretaker of cricket. Their players came from recognised universities or the oldest counties, which receive the best of facilities and coaching. The second wanted to thwart all those rules in a single afternoon.

For a people who have been witness to voilence all their life, the cricket ground was just another warfield. The gun, which has long been their strking symbol for the world, gave way to the bat looking to make a dent.

There were no coaches on board, no stadiums back home to find shelter, and yet the unpolished gems emerging from the barren and hilly Afghan land found a way to pound the Marylebone Cricket Club XI. The burly Afghans created havoc with the bat, slamming 356 for seven in 39 overs and then came back to bowl out MCC XI for a mere 184 runs.

Not only was it a memorable result for the young team from Afghanistan, it also showed how far the game had travelled from its English roots.

Cricket in Afghanistan is still a new pheonomenon. It is played in the country since 1992 and the governing body -- Afghanistan Cricket Federation -- was founded in 1995 by Allah Dad Noori. But the game really took flight in the hilly country after the demise of the Taliban regime and the help by the British forces in the region.

"During the Taliban only four provinces used to play cricket," says Raees Khan Jaji, the manager of the team and Afghanistan's youngest elected member of parliament. "But now, out of the total 32, 22 provinces play cricket. We have very string teams in the under-17 and under-19 group also."

Afghanistan finished runners-up amongst 16 teams in the U-15 Asian Cricket Council Trophy, and their under-17 team created a record by dismissing Brunei for 11 runs after piling a score of 357 in an ACC Trophy game in  Malaysia.

Jaji, who has been a part of the ACF since its inception, says that there is a lot of natural talent in Afghanistan which is only waiting to make a dent in world cricket.

"Most of us come from the villages of Afghanistan. The players are strong and have the ambition to go a long way. They have the financial and emotional support of the families so that they dedicate all the time to cricket. The government takes good care of the people there, so we don't have to work anywhere else and distract ourselves from the game."

Cricket also has a well-wisher in Shah Zada Masood, the president of the ACF, who is also an advisor on tribal affairs to the Hamid Karzai govenment. "We don't have coaches but all of us watch a lot of television, says Karim Sadiq, the wicketkeeper of the team, who has also played grade II cricket in Hyderabad.

Sadiq, the most outspoken and well-travelled of the lot, says he would have played for India if Mahendra Singh Dhoni hadn't come in earlier. "Our boys see Dhoni and (Virender) Sehwag hit fours and sixes and they think if they can, why can't we. If Dhoni and Sehwag can hit sixes surely the Afghans can!"

It is clearly the exciting cricketers of the world that catch their eye. All the youngsters want to model themselves on the Sehwags, Flintoffs and Shoaib Akhtars of the game. They want to bat fast and bowl faster. What's more, having learnt most of the skills from training camps in Pakistan, they are picking up the finer nuances too.

In the game against the MCC XI, their batsmen may have stolen the show but the strong pace attack made a bigger impact. "Two, three of them were getting reverse swing consistently. Its difficult to play when the ball is reversing at more than 80 (mph)," says Sameer Patel of the MCC XI. Patel was bowled by the most promising of the brigade, Hamid Abib, who is believed to clock more than 150 kmph.

Afghanistan signed on as an affiliate member of the ICC in June 2001. They were promised a fund of US $ 70,000 by the ICC but have only received US $ 21,000 in the last four years. Similarly, the team is also disappointed over broken promises by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

"Mr. (Jagmohan) Dalmiya had told me that they would build a stadium in Afghanistan but he didn't do anything about it. He also said that he would bring the Indian team to Afghanistan for a friendly game. But none of these promises have been delivered.

"Whereas the Pakistan Cricket Board has helped us a lot. They arrange for 15-day, 20-day training camps for our cricketers," explains Jaji. Peshawar has seen lots of Afghans migrate into Pakistan, while Khost, which also lies on the border has emerged the cricket capital of Afghanistan.

Already Afghanistan is one of the most promising countries in the Asian second-tier, having beaten teams like the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Nepal. The agression and suppressed ambition will only take it further.

If the game against MCC XI was an indication, Afghanistan's emergence could bring in an exciting brand of cricket. Their game is about the rush of blood, which leaves the audience enthralled.

Mike Gatting was out for zero and an unknown Mohammed Nabi slammed 116. On that muggy but enigmatic afternoon, cricket brought their diverse worlds together under a tacky shamiana. Nabi is not fluent in English and Gatting may not understand Pashtun or Urdu, but all it needed was a shake of hand to appreciate each other.

Pushtun woman fights sex slavery - Daily Times–Pakistan, March 27, 2006

LAHORE: The courts in Khanpur are to soon decide the case of Aisha Parveen, 20, and the decision could mean life or death for her, reports the New York Times. “Ms Parveen ... is steeling herself for a state-administered horror. Just two months after she escaped from the brothel in which she was tortured and imprisoned for six years, the courts are poised to hand her back to the brothel owner,” writes Nicholas D Kristof.

Parveen says she was 14 when she was hit on the head while walking to school in NWFP. She awoke to find herself imprisoned in a brothel hundreds of miles away, in the town of Khanpur.

Parveen fought back and refused to sleep with customers, but she says the brothel owner - Mian Sher - beat and sexually tortured her, and regularly drugged her so she would fall unconscious and customers could do with her as they liked. “This went on for six years, during which she says she was beaten every day. The girls in the brothel were forced to sleep naked at night, so that they would be too embarrassed to try to escape. Parveen says she believes that two of them, Malo Jan and Suwa Tai, were killed after they repeatedly refused to sleep with customers. In any case condoms were never available, so all the girls may eventually die of AIDS.”

Kristof says of his meeting with Mian Sher, “He denied kidnapping Parveen, saying that he had married her six years earlier. He also denied that he pimped the girls - a claim undermined by a customer who was walking out of his brothel as I arrived. Others working in the area said that Mian Sher unquestionably ran a brothel.” In January, Parveen got a break. A metalworker, Mohamed Akram, had been doing work in the brothel, and he fell in love with her. On January 5, Parveen escaped with Akram and they married the next day.

[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.]