In this bulletin:

• President Karzai Inaugurates the JCMB
• Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board
• Fact sheet on Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board
• UNAMA Press Release Speech by Tom Koenigs
• President Karzai Condemns the Killing of Indian Engineer
• Hostage Found Decapitated in Afghanistan
• Family of Indian engineer in shock at his beheading by Taliban
• Deciphering Taliban's message to India
• Why Afghanistan matters to India
• India proposed deployment of paramilitary CRPF in Afghanistan
• Afghan, Coalition Troops Kill 11 Militants
• SC explains article 106 in favour of disputed ministers
• Karzai urges students to work hard
• Afghans free jailed US journalist
• Canadians involved in heavy fighting west of Kandahar
• Ottawa fears losing control of Afghan mission, says Steven Staples
• British army to buy armored vehicles against bombers in Afghanistan
• Afghanistan: Opium wars
• Leftover mine kills two Afghan children
• We need to give Afghanistan time
• Pak-India forum appeals for expulsion of Afghan refugees

.President Karzai Inaugurates the JCMB - Date of Release: 30 April 2006

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, today inaugurated the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) for the implementation of the commitments and benchmarks set forth in the Afghanistan Compact. On the occasion of the first meeting of the JCMB, the President hosted a luncheon for all members of the board.

The President said, “This is a very important step towards the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact.”

“I am happy that through the Afghanistan Compact, the International community will continue to work with the Afghan people to continue to build Afghanistan.”

The Afghan Government and the international community have agreed to establish a Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) for overall strategic coordination of the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact after the endorsement of the Afghanistan Compact and the interim Afghanistan National Development Strategy (I-ANDS) at the London Conference and the ensuing Security Council Resolution No. 1659.

The JCMB will ensure greater coherence of efforts by the Afghan Government and international community to implement the Compact and provide regular and timely public reports on its execution.

The Board has three specific objectives which are:

1. Provide high-level oversight of progress in the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact.

2. Provide direction to address significant issues of coordination, implementation, financing for the benchmarks and timelines in the Compact, and any other obstacles and bottlenecks identified either by the government or the international community.

3. Finally, to report on the implementation of the Compact to the President, National Assembly, the UN Secretary General, the donors, and the public
The JCMB will comprise of 28 members, 7 representatives of the government and 21 representatives of the International Community.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board Report on the JCMB’s 1st meeting, April 30th 2006.

Today saw the first meeting of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board for the Afghanistan Compact. The role of the JCMB is to resolve strategic issues and provide high-level political support for the Compact’s implementation. Its lifespan is five years till March 2011 (the end of Afghan year 1389), in line with the lifespan of the Compact.

On the Afghan side, which is headed by the President’s Senior Economic Advisor Dr. Ishaq Nadiri as Co-Chair, all seven members of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy Oversight Committee were present.

From the international community, all 21 representatives attended. These are Tom Koenigs, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan as Co-Chair, and representatives of Afghanistan’s six largest development assistance contributors (US, UK, Japan, Germany, EU and India), three neighbouring countries (Pakistan, Iran, and China), three regional countries (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Russia), the international military supporters (NATO, CFC-A, Canada, Netherlands, Italy and France), and two International Financial Institutions (the World Bank and Asian Development Bank).

Today’s initial meeting of the JCMB saw interventions on the Board’s role and scope of responsibilities, elaborating on the definition provided in the text of the Afghanistan Compact. The Terms of Reference agreed upon in this session of the JCMB are drawn from this definition.

Sectoral consultative groups, working in areas on security, governance, rule of law and human rights, infrastructure and natural resources, education, health, agriculture, social protection, economic governance and private sector development, regional cooperation and counter narcotics are reporting to the JCMB. The JCMB was presented with ‘monitoring matrices’ for each of these consultative groups. These matrices are the tools by which the consultative working groups will monitor progress and work required on the Compact’s benchmarks.

The JCMB also looked at current progress on the benchmarks of the Afghanistan Compact and Afghanistan National Development Strategy. Several of these benchmarks fall due in the coming months.

Dates for the JCMB’s next three quarterly meetings were set (30 July 2006, 5 November 2006, 4 February 2007).

Fact sheet on Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board – JCMB - JCMB-April 2006

The Afghan Government and the international community have agreed to establish a Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) for overall strategic coordination of the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact.

The three specific objectives of the JCMB are to:

􀂃 Provide high-level political support for the Afghanistan Compact
􀂃 Provide direction to address significant issues of coordination, implementation, financing for the benchmarks and timelines in the Compact, and any other obstacles and bottlenecks identified either by the government or the international community
􀂃 Report on the implementation of the Compact to the President, National Assembly, the UN Secretary General, the donors, and the public

The JCMB consists of 7 representatives from the Afghanistan government and 21 representatives of the international community. The 7 representatives of the Afghanistan Government are members of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy Oversight Committee.

The 21 representatives of the international community are the Special Representative of the Secretary General (Co-chair), United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, European Union, India, Pakistan, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, International Security Assistance Force, Coalition Forces, Canada, Netherlands, Italy, France, the World Bank, and Asian Development Bank.

The two co-chairs of the JCMB are:

􀂃 Dr. Ishaq Nadiri, Senior Economic Advisor to the President and Chairman of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) Oversight Committee,

􀂃 Tom Koenigs, Special Representative of the Secretary General, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

In line with the Afghanistan Compact, the JCMB shall be constituted for a period of five years from April 2006 to March 2011 (i.e. Afghan years 1385 to 1389). It shall convene plenary meetings at least four times a year, and shall produce two bi-annual reports a year and additional reports as and when necessary.

UNAMA Press Release Speech by Tom Koenigs
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan on the occasion of the inaugural meeting of the JCMB Kabul – 30 April, 2006

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Three months ago we opened a new chapter of Afghanistan’s rebuilding and partnership with the International Community by agreeing upon the Afghanistan Compact and its implementation over the next five years, at the London Conference.

The Afghanistan Compact at the same time acknowledges the significant challenges Afghanistan is still facing on its path to peace and development and presents an ambitious but results-oriented action plan, defining this path to peace, stability and growth by setting forth more than 70 measurable and time-bound benchmarks in the areas of security, governance, sustainable development and counter-narcotics.

Today’ s first meeting of the Afghanistan Compact’ s Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board marks a very important step towards the achievement of this ambitious action-plan.

If the Bonn Process was about putting in place new institutions, the Afghanistan Compact is about making sure they work. If the London Conference was about a vision for Afghanistan’s future, today is about bringing that vision into life.

The time since the London Conference has been a period of progress. The national assembly, formed in December as a final act of the Bonn Process, has begun to find its role and its voice. We have watched the unfolding of new democratic processes, such as the hearings for a new Cabinet, broadcast live on TV and carefully observed by many Afghans. We have seen some recent positive news on the economy, which grew last year at a healthy 13.8 percent; in the cities in particular the evidence of an improving prosperity and vitality is becoming unmistakable.

Efforts to substantiate the Interim-Afghanistan National Development Strategy (I-ANDS), and to start its implementation, have been initiated. And at the international level we have seen new initiatives to improve border management, joint military initiatives as well as continuous efforts to foster reconstruction and development.

It is always pleasant to speak of Afghanistan’s achievements as I have done just now. Yet while the progress is real, we must not blind ourselves to the difficult realities that many Afghans still face, nor to the challenges we are all up against, including those of this Spring.

It is understandable that some people feel frustrated when they see that in some parts of the country the security situation is not improving; they have a right to ask for better rule of law, good governance, improved accountability, and better prospects for themselves and their families in a secure environment.

We want these things too. That is what the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board is about. But there are no short cuts to development. Nor does the Afghanistan Compact guarantee automatically that the benchmarks therein will be achieved.

The Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board is a political body in the sense that it will resolve strategic issues, provide strategic advice and sustain high-level political support to the Afghanistan Compact. We want the Afghanistan Compact to succeed. We want its ambitious goals to be achieved.

To this end we will have to push and to pull, give advice and support, coordinate efforts and monitor progress as well as shortcomings to achieve each and every of the many benchmarks in time.

Three months ago, we met in London in a spirit of determined optimism that the problems in Afghanistan can be overcome. We are no less determined today. The Afghanistan Government, new as it is still, will increasingly show that it is in the lead. It will be the driving force that ensures that the support for Afghanistan expressed in London is used in the most efficient and effective way.

Through our work in the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board we will do our utmost to ensure that Afghanistan and its international partners achieve their shared goals. This requires unified efforts, this requires a collaborative approach to implementation, and this requires an alignment of the various activities with the Compact’s goals and with the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).

Much hard work lies ahead if progress is to be assured, if peace is to prevail, if human rights are to be strengthened, if friendly relations with neighbours are to flourish, and if economic growth is to start benefiting all Afghanistan’s citizens.

All of these aims are benchmarks of the Afghanistan Compact, and with today’s first Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board meeting, we set out to reach them.
Thank you.

President Karzai Condemns the Killing of Indian Engineer - Date of Release: 30 April 2006
Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, strongly condemned the killing of an Indian engineer.

The enemies of Afghanistan abducted an Indian engineer who worked for an Afghan Telecommunications Company Roshan on the Kabul-Kandahar road in Shahjui district of Zabdul on Friday and subsequently killed him.

In his reaction to the news the President said “The killing of the Indian engineer was, without doubt, the work of the enemies of Afghanistan and I condemn it in the strongest terms.”

“The enemies of Afghanistan, by burning our schools and health clinics and resorting to acts of terrorism, desire to hinder our reconstruction efforts and to stop Afghanistan becoming powerful and capable of standing on its own feet.”

“The terrorists must understand that reconstruction efforts, with the assistance of the international community, will continue in Afghanistan.”

President Karzai, on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, expressed his deepest condolences to the family of the victim and to the brotherly people and Government of the Republic of India
The President ordered the authorities at the Ministries of Interior and National Defense to identify the perpetrators of this heinous act of terrorism and bring them to justice.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Hostage Found Decapitated in Afghanistan - By NOOR KHAN Associated Press April 30, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Police found an Indian hostage's beheaded body in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said. Taliban militants said they shot the hostage dead as he tried to escape.
An Afghan highway police patrol found K. Suryanarayana's decapitated body in a field near the highway where the telecommunications engineer was abducted Friday in Zabul province, said the provincial police chief, Ghulam Nabi Malakhail.

The leaders of Afghanistan and India condemned the killing, the second of an Indian hostage in southern Afghanistan within the past six months.

"The death of the Indian engineer who was working for the construction and reconstruction of Afghanistan is no doubt the work of enemies of Afghanistan," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a statement.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his condolences to Suryanarayana's family and urged his country "to remain unified in the face of this terrorism."

Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who releases regular statements on behalf of outlawed Taliban fighters, said militants shot the Indian after he tried to escape and fought with his captors. Ahmadi issued a threat a day earlier saying all Indians must leave Afghanistan by 6 p.m. Sunday or Suryanarayana would be executed. The Taliban spokesman said the group was holding Suryanarayana's Afghan driver and would release him soon.

Suryanarayana's wife, Manjula, collapsed on seeing reports of the body's discovery, while her three children and dozens of well-wishers wailed and cried, many of them clutching pictures of the missing engineer.

"He is the only son of his old parents. He has not done any harm to anybody," Manjula said at her home in Indian city of Hyderabad.

Suryanarayana, aged in his early 40s, had been employed in Afghanistan since January by a Bahrain-based company, al-Moayed. The company has been contracted by an Afghan mobile phone company, Roshan, to expand its mobile phone network across volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan.

Afghans expressed outrage at his killing. "Islam does not say to kill human beings because we are all brothers," said Afghan army Maj. Pir Mohammed, 42. "Be sure that God will send the killers to hell."

His kidnapping is the first since four Macedonians of Albanian descent were kidnapped and killed in March, purportedly by Taliban militants.

The Taliban abducted and killed another Indian in November. Truck driver Maniappan Raman Kutty's almost decapitated body was dumped in another volatile southern province, Nimroz.

Family of Indian engineer in shock at his beheading by Taliban

Hyderabad (AFP) - The family of an Indian engineer kidnapped and beheaded by Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan were shocked and inconsolable.

K. Suryanarayana, 41, was working as a contractor for Afghan mobile telephone network Roshan. His headless body was found Sunday two days after he was seized by the insurgents.

Suryanarayana's wife Manjula and his two daughters and one son -- who live in a middle-class locality on the outskirts of this southern city -- were shattered by the news, relatives said. Wails of grief were heard at their home as television channels first flashed unconfirmed reports of his death.

Manjula and her ailing mother-in-law fainted on receiving confirmation from the Indian government that Suryanarayana had been killed, said an AFP reporter who visited the bereaved family.

Shocked family members, friends and relatives later called in doctors to examine Manjula as others tried in vain to console the engineer's three children -- 14-year-old Anisha, nine-year-old Manisha and five-year-old son Satya Teja.

Suryanarayana is the second Indian to be abducted and murdered by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the past six months. In November a driver working on a road construction project in Nimroz province was killed.

Suryanarayana was abducted on Friday in Zabul province on the highway linking Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. His body was found in the province's Shahjoy district.

On Saturday the militants had threatened to kill Suryanarayana unless all Indian nationals and companies left Afghanistan within 24 hours. Early Sunday Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi, told AFP Suryanarayana had been killed unintentionally when he tried to escape.

India's President Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the killing as "inhuman". A grim-faced Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said the murder had been a "premeditated act" and committed even before negotiators landed in Kabul to discuss his release.

"The government of India is appalled by this dastardly and inhuman act of terror on the part of the Taliban and its sponsors, which has resulted in the tragic and untimely death of an innocent Indian citizen," Saran told reporters.

Describing the Taliban as a "terrorist organisation" Saran urged "the international community to recognize its true colours and join hands together to defeat this scourge to humanity."

Saran said New Delhi had taken several steps in the past few months to increase security for about 1,300 Indians working on government-aided projects in Afghanistan.

Another foreign ministry official, who did not wish to be named, said Suryanarayana's body would be brought to New Delhi on Monday and taken to Hyderabad.\

Deciphering Taliban's message to India - Dr Ajay Sahni, Institute for Conflict Management | April 30, 2006

The greatest threat to India is the non-liberal ideology prevalent in Afghanistan. The killing on Sunday of K Suryanarayana, the Indian engineer, is a result of Islamic terrorism, in which Pakistan has also been involved for many years.

It's wrong to assume that the security risk to India and Indians abroad has increased after India has become a close ally of the United States. The killing of Indians by the Taliban in Afghanistan is not because of the India-US relationship. The truth is that India has been a target of the pan-Islamic network long before it fostered close ties with the US.

In 2000, a statement from Osama bin Laden named India as an enemy of Islam. As per the information we have, militants from over 18 countries have join the Taliban's 'battle for Kashmir'.

Ask yourself why Suryanarayana was killed. I, for one, do not think negotiations would have made any difference because when the Taliban kidnaps someone, they are meant to die. It is a ruthless organisation, which never wants to concede, so let us not imagine that they were ready to negotiate with the Indian government.

The message from Suryanarayana's abduction and killing is clear - India must vacate Afghanistan and must not help the Afghan people in their country's development. Match this with Pakistan's covert messages -- through diplomatic channels -- that it wants to neutralise and negate all that India is doing in Afghanistan.

Taliban is a proxy of Pakistan in the politics of development of Afghanistan and, therefore, Suryanarayana was killed by a proxy of Pakistan. Pakistan, which will face a bleak future if India has an important role in a developed Afghanistan, is helping the Taliban grow because it desperately needs strength in that country.

Of course, the loss to Suryanarayana's family is tremendous but one must not lose context while sympathising. Television channels have repeatedly been showing her mourning but where were these cameras while Islamic jihadists were killing innocent Indians and security forces in Kashmir and elsewhere in India?

But when you see this family weep, the message of fear spreads. And the Taliban have done this precisely to have the threat played out in India. The hostage situation brings out fear and tension, which is the essence of their terrorist acts.

But we must not surrender. Remember the heavy price India is still paying when terrorist Masood Azhar was released in return for the hostages of IC-814.

Instead of being angry with the government, Indians must back its activities in Afghanistan. We must not lose focus and run away because for how long can we do that? It would be better to stay there and fight back. (Dr Ajay Sahni, executive director, Institute for Conflict Management, spoke to Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi)

Why Afghanistan matters to India - The Hindustan Times Manish Chand (IANS)

New Delhi, April 30, 2006

The brutal murder of another Indian engineer in Afghanistan has underlined India's high strategic and economic stakes in the reconstruction of the war-torn country that acts as a gateway to resource-rich Central Asia.

The murder of Hyderabad-based engineer K Suryanaryana by the Taliban militia is the third incident in the past five months in which an Indian working in Afghanistan has been killed to intimidate Indians into leaving that country.

This has led some to question the Government's decision to expose around 2,000 Indians working in Afghanistan to potential terrorist attacks at the hands of the Taliban.

But New Delhi has not been unnerved by these attacks as it has vital stakes in a "stable, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan" in the words of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Instead, the Government has reinforced security for Indian workers and sent a powerful message across that such acts of terror will not stop it from continuing its "fraternal assistance" to Afghanistan.

The reasons for New Delhi's tenacity in the face of terror attacks are not far to seek: Afghanistan, owing to its strategic location and its history, is much too important a country to leave like that, specially after New Delhi had regained its influence in the country post 9/11.

India's profile in Afghanistan is growing and its relations with Kabul are becoming broad-based straddling diverse sectors including economy, education and technology in sharp contrast to the situation over five years ago when it has practically no contact with the Taliban regime that was almost hostile to New Delhi.

This was evident when Indian negotiators were dealing with the hijackers of the IC-814 in Kandahar. The renewed India-Afghan bonhomie is being deeply resented by Pakistan that treated the country, specially when it was under the Taliban rule, as its backyard. =Islamabad justified its power games in Kabul saying that it provided it necessary strategic depth.

No wonder, five months ago the Taliban terrorists targeted Maniyappan Ramankutty, an Indian driver working with Border Roads Organization on the crucial Zaranz-Delaram road that sought to connect Afghanistan to Iran and Central Asia and reduce dependence on Pakistan.

Most importantly, India's engagement with Afghanistan is vital for its ongoing battle against terrorism in the region that derives its moral and material support from the Taliban and powerful Afghan opium lords.

During Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to India early this month, India and Afghanistan decided to deepen their cooperation in fighting terrorism and asked Pakistan to "join hands" against the common scourge.

India has pledged $650 million for Afghanistan's reconstruction in a slew of projects ranging from roads and infrastructure to grassroots development.

Besides security issues, the importance of Afghanistan in promoting economic and cultural integration between South Asia and Central Asia can't be missed. If Pakistan allows India overland transit rights, it can multiply its trade with Central Asia a hundred times.

"We hope a day will come when goods and people can move freely from India to Afghanistan and Central Asia through the overland route in Pakistan," Karzai said.

The prospects of enhanced trade and investment between the two countries are bright with the Afghan economy recovering and foreign investors showing an interest in investing in that country.

According to Karzai, the World Bank rates Afghanistan among the best countries to do business with and where investments are fully protected.

Most importantly, Afghanistan is central to regional stability and with the country's inclusion in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), its importance for India can only grow in the coming months.

India proposed deployment of paramilitary CRPF in Afghanistan - via DailyIndia.com By Mahendra Ved, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) Yet another kidnapping of an Indian engineer in Afghanistan has taken place even as the government of President Hamid Karzai is considering New Delhi's proposal of deploying its paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel to guard Indians working in the risky countryside.

India had made this proposal in the wake of the killing five months ago of Ramankutty Maniyappan, an engineer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) working on the Zaranz-Delaram highway construction.

Karzai was reminded of the proposal when he was here on a visit earlier this month. Diplomatic sources say that besides slow decision-making, the Karzai government is also hamstrung by Pakistani sensitivities about the presence of around 2,000 Indians working on various infrastructure and development projects in Afghanistan.

Islamabad has time and again protested at India having four consulates in Afghanistan, two of them in Jalalabad and Kandahar that are near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Pakistan keeps accusing the Indian consulates of fomenting trouble in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan where Pakistani security forces are constantly locked in a war of attrition with the Taliban and remnants of the Al Qaeda.

Who is behind Indian engineer K. Suryanarayan's kidnapping is not still clear. Sources say Qaeri Yusuf Ahmadi, who claimed to speak for the Taliban is not the usual spokesman. Claims by the Taliban are generally done in the name of its supremo Mullah Omar.

Osama bin Laden too has never blamed India or Indians. However, his deputy, Ayman al-Zaweherie, last week for the first time spoke of 'a Christian-Hindu-Zionist conspiracy'. One reason for this could be the perceptions about growing Indo-US relations in the wake of President George W. Bush's visit to India and the nuclear deal.

It is more likely that the kidnapping has been engineered by Pakistani agencies supporting the forces opposed to the Indian presence. A likely source of trouble could be Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the one-time Mujahideen leader of the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan who later accused India of supporting his arch-rival, the late Ahmed Shah Massoud.

Afghan, Coalition Troops Kill 11 Militants - - By NOOR KHAN The Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan troops backed by coalition forces battled Taliban forces across volatile southern Afghanistan, killing 11 insurgents after militants killed three policemen and wounded another in an ambush.

Nine Taliban militants were killed during fighting that raged late Friday into Saturday in Panjwayi, a western district in Kandahar province, and 12 insurgents, including commanders, were captured, said Gov. Asadullah Khalid.

"Taliban and foreign al-Qaida fighters are working together against our forces across southern Afghanistan, including in Panjwayi," Khalid told The Associated Press. Khalid said seven Taliban members were wounded and carried away by fleeing militants.

Later Saturday, about 50 Afghan soldiers and police attacked a Taliban camp hidden in mountains about 60 miles north of the Helmand capital of Lashkar Gah, local Afghan army commander Gen. Rahmattalluh Roufi said.

After a one-hour battle, Afghan forces ventured into caves that had been used by the Taliban, finding the bodies of two militants and several machine guns, Roufi said. The remaining militants fled deeper into the mountains, he said.

Meanwhile, a purported spokesman for the Taliban said Saturday that insurgents will kill an Indian engineer held hostage in southern Afghanistan if all Indians do not leave the country within 24 hours.

Taliban militants have been blamed for a spike in violence across Afghanistan's southern provinces, which were strongholds of the hard-line regime that was toppled in late 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion.

In a speech to several thousand students at a Kabul stadium, President Hamid Karzai condemned the Taliban for the incessant violence. "There are 100,000 students who can't go to school in the five southern provinces of Uruzgan, Helmand, Kandahar, Khost and Zabul because they have been closed as a result of the enemies of this country burning and attacking their schools," Karzai said.

Two schools housed in temporary tents were burned to the ground Friday and Thursday in northern Sari Pul province in the latest attack believed carried out by Taliban extremists opposed to coed schools, police said.

Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who releases regular statements on behalf of outlawed Taliban fighters, accused the Indian contractor, who was abducted Friday in the southern Zabul province, of being an "American spy."

"We warn all Indians working here to leave Afghanistan within 24 hours ... otherwise we will kill him," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone.

India's ambassador to Kabul, Rakesh Sood, identified the hostage as K. Suryanarayana, a father of three from Hyderabad in his early 40s who had been employed here since January by a Bahrain-based company, al-Moayed. The firm has been contracted by an Afghan mobile phone company, Roshan, to expand its network across volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan.

In Hyderabad, Suryanarayana's relatives said they were devastated by the execution threat, which they learned about in media reports. "We are shocked to the core and don't know what will happen next," said his wife, Manjula.

The kidnapping was the first here since four Macedonians of Albanian descent were kidnapped and killed in March, purportedly by Taliban militants.

Meanwhile, a child herding cows detonated an anti-tank mine south of Kabul, killing two children and wounding two others, police said Saturday. Afghanistan is littered with land mines left over from almost three decades of conflict.

SC explains article 106 in favour of disputed ministers

KABUL, Apr 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Defining article 106 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court (SC) has decided in favour of the three ministers, whose fate is in limbo due to differences among MPs over the definition of 'majority vote'.

Three ministers-designate, including Minister for Urban Development Yousaf Pashtun, Minister for Refugees Affairs Ustad Akbar and Minister for Communications Amirzai Sangeen have got 121/244, 118/244 and 120/244 votes respectively. However, several MPs later questioned their approval, arguing that since the three people had got less than 50 per cent votes, hence, they should be considered rejected.

Sensing the prolonging differences among parliamentarians over the issue, President Hamid Karzai invoke article 121 of the Constitution and referred the matter to the Supreme Court. The president appealed to the honourable body to explain and resolve the imbroglio in light of the article 106.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Asif Nang told Pajhwok Afghan News on Saturday the Supreme Court explained article 106 of the Constitution and defined the term "majority". Under that definition, the apex body gave its views in favour of the ministers.

Defining the vote, Nang said, the court observed that only 'yes' and 'no' votes would be counted. According to Asif Nang, the apex body, while explaining the article 106, further said that: i) Presence of all members of the parliament is not necessary for starting the proceedings. ii) For voting, presence of more than half i.e. 125 members is compulsory. iii) Decision will be given on majority vote.

Under the above rules of article 106, the Supreme Court observed that since the three disputed ministers have got majority votes, therefore, they are successful.

Contacted for comments, deputy secretary of the lower house Mohammad Saleh Saljoqi said they had not received the Supreme Court's decision. He said they were expecting to be sent to them tomorrow.

"I come to know about that but we have not received any formal document so far. At the same time, I can't say anything about the reaction of the lower house," said Saljoqi.

Karzai urges students to work hard

KABUL, Apr 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai Saturday urged upon the students to work hard to provide strong foundations to their country.

The president was addressing a function organised in connection with the Mujahideen Victory Day at Ghazi Stadium. The participants included students, members of cabinet and tribal elders.

Informing the students about their future responsibilities, the president said he had come there to talk to the future generation of his country. He said students should concentrate on studies for the better future of the country.

The president regretted attacks on teachers and burning of schools by some elements. In this connection, he referred to the neighbouring Pakistan where some girls recently appointed as pilots in the air force of that country.

He said the religious scholars appreciated the girls' becoming pilots in Pakistan. He said religious students in other countries were getting computer education but schools in Afghanistan were blown up.

The function was jointly organised by the Ministry of Education, Ministry for Border and Tribal Affairs and the National Olympic Committee.

On this occasion, students, including boys and girls clad in traditional clothes, sung national songs and presented different athletic feats.

Afghans free jailed US journalist - BBC News / Sunday, 30 April 2006

A US journalist has been freed in Afghanistan after serving most of a two-year sentence for torturing Afghans and running a private jail in Kabul. dward Caraballo, 44, was arrested along with two other Americans in 2004 after a raid on a house in the capital uncovered eight Afghans held captive.

Caraballo was released two months early under a presidential decree, a prison official was quoted as saying. He told the Associated Press he felt "jubilant and happy".

"I am still worried that something could happen to me as I leave but I am optimistic that I will get home safely," he said in a telephone call to the AP minutes before leaving his prison cell.

Caraballo was taken to the airport by US embassy staff and put on a plane to Dubai. He was not allowed to speak to the waiting media. The New York documentary-maker was found guilty, along with Jonathan Idema and Brent Bennett, of running a jail and torturing captives in September 2004.

The US branded Idema, a former special forces soldier, as a bounty hunter who was attracted by the multi-million dollar rewards offered for Osama Bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda men.

But Mr Idema insisted his work was approved by Afghan and US authorities - a claim that US officials have denied - and that Mr Caraballo was a journalist filming them. Idema and Bennett are serving five and three year sentences respectively.

Canadians involved in heavy fighting west of Kandahar - Canadian Press

Kandahar — The bullet marks on Major Todd Strickland's light armoured vehicle are a testament to the kind of weekend Canadian troops had in the sun-baked sands west of here as they fought two major engagements with Taliban militants.

On the one hand, the hearty LAV III, which was peppered with machine-gun fire near Sangiser, bears witness to the ferocity of the fighting in and around that insurgent stronghold.

At the same time, the fact that the bullets simply ricochetted off the reinforced armour hull with no casualties was cause for optimism among troops, hardened by the deaths last weekend of four comrades.

"A soldier's luck is a funny thing — sometimes you got, sometimes you don't," said Maj. Strickland, deputy commander of Canada's battle group in southern Afghanistan. "Yesterday we were lucky."

One protracted battle, complete with artillery and air cover, took place over 72 hours in the Punjiwai district, 45 kilometres southwest of Kandahar. The barren, dusty expanse, which is punctuated with irregular patches of green pasture, was the scene of a vicious firefight two weeks ago that killed Afghan police officers.

The second engagement happened Saturday in nearby Helmand province, where a platoon of Canadian soldiers got the jump on what was thought to be a planned Taliban ambush. Two LAVs opened fire on three trucks that had been shadowing them and their logistics convoy, bound for Forward Operating Base Robinson.

The insurgents "are opportunistic, but we continue to evolve with new skills that are better than what the Taliban can throw at us," said Brigadier-General David Fraser in an interview with The Canadian Press.

The spike in action comes after a week of relative calm following the roadside bomb attack that killed four Canadian soldiers in the Gumbad region on April 22.

Bravo Company of the 1st Battlion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry regiment deployed in the Punjwai area, south of Sangiser, Thursday night at the behest of the governor of Kandahar province.

Working alongside Afghan army and police units, the troops established a cordon of roadblocks in the region, pocketing suspected Taliban militants in villages with their backs to the Arghandab River.

"We had a major contact, if I can put it that way," said Maj. Strickland, who described a pitched battle with Canadian and Afghan forces trading fire with militants.

Three Afghan police officers were wounded — one of them seriously. American Apache attack helicopters were called in, raking the compounds with 30-millimetre automatic machine-gun fire.

"What can be taken as a sign of lessons learned from our previous efforts, we co-ordinated extensively with the [Afghan army] and the [police] to ensure there was no possibility of friendly fire," said Maj. Strickland, who directed the battle in conjunction with Afghan army and police commanders.

On Good Friday, six Afghan police officers were killed in a battle at Sangiser. Four them may have died from friendly fire after American attack helicopters swooped down firing into the village.

As night fell in this latest engagement, Canadian artillery fired illumination rounds to force the Taliban to keep their heads down. As well, an unmanned aerial vehicle patrolled the skies watching for signs of movement.

When the sun came up on Friday, Canadian soldiers swept through the villages followed by Afghan police, who conducted house-to-house searches and urged residents to flee.

A flood of civilians was driven up against the Canadian blocking positions, where women and children were separated from able-bodied men. As many as 12 suspected Taliban fighters were held in place by the Canadians until

Ottawa fears losing control of Afghan mission, says Steven Staples
Apr. 30, 2006

Whenever the media report an attack involving our troops in Afghanistan, Canadians stop and ask themselves: "Were any of our soldiers killed?" Sadly, last weekend the answer was bad: Four.

Any death of our own in Afghanistan today is a national story. It touches everyone, not just the soldiers' immediate families or the military community. It is covered by the news media, quite rightly, as a national news story, because it affects us as a nation.

Generals have long complained that Canadians aren't sufficiently interested in the military. Stephen Harper made a point of visiting Kandahar within weeks of becoming prime minister to raise Canadian awareness and show his support.

So, at a time when Canadians' concern about our modern military is probably at an all-time high, why would the government cease lowering the flag and deny the media access to cover the return of fallen soldiers to Canada? Why now?

This is not about following tradition. It was not very long ago that Canadians killed in combat were buried in the country where they fell. In the early 1970s this practice ended and since then remains of soldiers killed abroad have been returned to Canada. Surely the Conservatives don't want to revive that old tradition, too, and start burying soldiers in Afghanistan.

Nor is this about adhering to a long-held Conservative policy. In 2004, Conservative MP James Moore introduced a motion to lower the flag for the death of submariner Lt. Chris Saunders. It was adopted unanimously.

And this is not about respecting the wishes of families. None has ever complained about media coverage. Quite the contrary. The father of Corp. Paul Davis, who was killed March 2, said the coverage helped him grieve. "I thought, `Gee, Paul, all the whole country is watching you come home,'" he said.

In fact, the media coverage has always struck me as respectful, reverential and, frankly, very moving. Maybe a little too moving. That could explain why Harper looks like he's now regretting having stirred up so much public interest in the military and Afghanistan.

These two decisions, not lowering the Peace Tower flag and denying access to the media, are best understood when taken together. Add Harper's insistence on vetting the outspoken Gen. Rick Hillier's speeches, and a pattern emerges.

This is a government worried that the mission in Afghanistan could get out of their control and become a huge political problem for the Conservatives — especially as pressure builds in anticipation of a decision to renew the mission before it ends in February 2007.

Polling has shown the public virtually split down the middle on whether Canadian troops should be in Afghanistan. No doubt, the Conservatives have figured out that the sight of flag-draped caskets and flags at half-mast are not going to help them win a majority in the next election, especially since they have staked so much of their agenda on the Afghanistan mission.

But if the Prime Minister thinks this ploy will work, he should ask that other politician who has tried it but still finds himself dragged down by an unpopular war: U.S. President George W. Bush.

Steven Staples is the director of security programs for the Polaris Institute, a public interest research group in Ottawa.the Afghan police could do a more thorough interrogation, said Maj. Strickland.

Local authorities reported Sunday that seven insurgents were killed and nine wounded. It is not clear how many suspected militants died in the separate action involving the logistics convoy in Helmand province.

Maj. Strickland said after the LAVs fired on the trucks, which contained about 15 armed men, the Canadian vehicles retreated to a defensive position, but eventually made their way unmolested to the remote coalition outpost, where Private Robert Costall was killed in late March.

A patrol sent out early Sunday found only broken glass and tire tracks at the potential ambush site. "Despite the absence of bodies, I think it's quite safe to assume there are dead (insurgents)," Maj. Strickland said.

"Our own estimate is between 15 and 20. There is no doubt in our mind these were Taliban. They were armed. They were manoeuvring against us, and when the platoon commander on the ground says it looks like these guys are setting up an ambush, it's a pretty safe assumption."

British army to buy armored vehicles against bombers in Afghanistan

LONDON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The British army is to spend 35 million pounds (some 63 million U.S. dollars) on 80 armored vehicles to fend off suicide bombers in Afghanistan, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The armored Pinzgauer, designed previously for the Austrian army, has been adapted for use in "high-risk" environments, and is expected to protect troops from automatic fire, landmines and fragmentation bombs, said the report.

Negotiations are going on between defense chiefs and Automotive Technik, a British company which holds the rights to building Pinzgauers in Britain. A contract is likely to be signed by this summer and the vehicles are unlikely to be available before the summer of 2007.

The purchase takes place at a time of high threat for the British army from insurgents in Afghanistan, as well as the fact as confirmed by the Ministry of Defense that British troops will take part in pre-emptive strikes against insurgents.

The armored Pinzgauer can carry 14 men in full kit. It has a six-wheel drive capability and can operate continuously in water up to 2-feet deep. The vehicle, which is capable of operating in desert and arctic conditions, can tackle 45-degree slopes and has a top speed of around 50 mph, said the newspaper. Enditem

Afghanistan: Opium wars

British troops have begun deploying in a Taliban-dominated area riddled with corruption and tribal rivalries, where the only industry is growing poppies. Tom Coghlan reports from Grishk and Lashkargar, Helmand Province

The Independent (UK) Published: 30 April 2006

"Would the British let us send soldiers to take over their country?" The mood among the group of men on the banks of the Helmand River was menacing. All claimed to be Taliban fighters.

"If one Talib is in a village, the infidels bomb the whole village and kill innocent people," their leader went on. "The British should come and fight us face to face and stop using their planes. They have been here three times and been nicely beaten three times," he added, referring to ill-fated British imperial adventures of the 19th and early 20th centuries. "If there were two million foreign soldiers, we would defeat them if they fought us face to face."

There are already frequent clashes: yesterday Afghan security forces said they had attacked Taliban militants in a cave complex north of Lashkargar, capital of the anarchic southern province of Helmand, where the deployment of 3,500 British soldiers is gathering pace. Two Taliban fighters were said to have been killed and weapons seized.

Tomorrow comes a less-heralded but no less significant British military commitment to the country. With the beginning of May, the British-led Nato command structure known as the ARRC (Allied Rapid Reaction Corps) starts operating from Kabul. It is the first phase in a gradual integration of the entire foreign military presence in Afghanistan under Nato leadership.

By early next year, 14,000 American troops will have been incorporated into the Nato force. A British lieutenant-general, David Richards, will command, the first time US forces have served under the theatre-wide leadership of a foreign general since 1945.

With a resurgent Taliban making inroads in the south, and growing disillusionment with the Western-backed government of Hamid Karzai, Nato's Supreme Commander in Europe, US General James Jones, has called Afghanistan "the most important mission that Nato has undertaken" in its 58-year history.

What that might mean for ordinary British troops was evident in the lawless badlands of Helmand last week. In the bazaar at Grishk, an area of noted Taliban sympathy in the north of the province, British Paras were patrolling the streets on Thursday. In early February, close to the town, 200 Taliban fought Afghan forces who were backed by British Harrier jets.

Violence against British forces has so far been limited to two suicide bomb attacks on successive Fridays this month, targeting the British base in Lashkargar. On Friday, the British squaddies guarding the gate at the base did not appear unduly worried, although a lance-corporal who declined to be named admitted: "Everyone's parents are pretty worried."

But a greater concern appeared to be the extreme sunburn afflicting various pale British soldiers and the possibility that the England football team might acquire a Brazilian manager.

Many suicide bombings in Afghanistan have so far proved ineffective, usually killing only the bomber. But the Taliban have shown an increasing aptitude for another tactic imported from Iraq, the roadside bomb. The only such attack on British forces injured three soldiers, two of them seriously. A massive bomb in neighbouring Kandahar last week obliterated a Canadian armoured vehicle, killing all four occupants.

In the Grishk bazaar, the mood was a mixture of frustration and hostility. "I am an enemy of the government and a friend of the Taliban," said Mohammed Zahir, 48, a storekeeper. His views were widely echoed. "This Karzai government is a disaster. Under the Taliban we had good law and order; under this government all the police are corrupt. Why should we trust foreigners when they are working side by side with a corrupt government?"

The "good law and order" of the Taliban included chopping off the limbs of robbers and bulldozing walls on to homosexuals. But, four years on, many people in Afghanistan's deep south have fond memories of the Taliban's tough stance and relative lack of corruption. Helmand has had little development, and the provincial government is riddled with corruption and tribal nepotism and is heavily involved in the drugs trade.

British and American pressure produced the removal of Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, the old governor, last December. A powerful tribal leader, he was "promoted" by President Karzai to a seat in the upper house of the new Afghan parliament. No Western official will deny Mr Akhundzada was deeply embroiled in the drug trade, and although his replacement is seen as honest, nobody is prepared to say the same of the old governor's brother, who remains deputy governor, or the provincial police chief.

Helmand remains an area of grinding poverty where the only source of wealth is opium production. The British deployment is an effort to alleviate the poverty and rampant corruption of the province using a huge civilian component from the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development.

The opium harvest is now in full swing across Helmand, where swaying poppy fields press right up to the main roads. One US official said that with good weather and a minimum 50 per cent rise in the area under cultivation, a record crop was expected. Eradication efforts by the central government were, Western officials say, hampered by bribery of the government eradication teams.

But General Richards has said: "Nato will not be involved in poppy eradication, because we are deeply cautious that if we get it wrong and create the wrong environment, we will tip otherwise perfectly law-abiding and co-operative people into the opposition camp." Whether such a clear distinction can be drawn between the war on drugs and the war on the Taliban is debatable.

Poppy farmers across Helmand say the Taliban have cut a deal with the drugs lords to reduce their operations until after the poppy harvest ends, several weeks from now, so as not to disrupt opium collection and transport by attracting government and foreign troops to the area.

The Taliban also have a financial interest: they tax all farmers one kilogram of opium, and 4.5kg from those producing 45kg or more. As the sun set over the 1,000-year-old ruins that dot the country round Lashkargar, the Taliban broke off to pray, warning: "When the opium harvest is finished, the jihad begins."

Leftover mine kills two Afghan children - Canadian Press 04/30/3006

A child herding cows detonated a leftover anti-tank mine south of the Afghan capital, killing two children and wounding two others, police said Saturday. The explosion happened in the Khogyani district of the southern Ghazni province on Friday, said deputy provincial police chief Ali Ahmad.

Two children were killed instantly; two others suffered minor wounds and were in a stable condition, Ahmad said. Afghanistan is littered with landmines left over from almost three decades of conflict.

We need to give Afghanistan time - MUMBAI, Monday, May 01, 2006

Indian filmmaker Kabir Khan, who has shot a documentary in Afghanistan and directed the film Kabul Express, speaks about the troubled country that is slowly, steadily rising to its feet

The tragic murder of Suryanarayan brings forth the popular perception that Afghanistan is the most dangerous country in the world… second perhaps only to Iraq. I, however strongly reject such an assertion. Not because I have been to that country 10 times (including during the war) and have come back in one piece every time; not because I have shot my first feature film in Afghanistan and so naturally have a soft spot for the place; not because almost every member of my crew would readily go back to Kabul, and has very fond memories of Afghanistan, suicide bombings notwithstanding; but because by subscribing to that perception I would be doing exactly what the Taliban and company want us to do — turn away from Afghanistan and stop the progress of the devastated country’s slow trek back to normalcy… because by doing so Maniappan R Kutty and Kasula Suryanarayana’s tragic death would be in vain… because by doing so I would be betraying the trust of hundreds of my Afghan friends who literally stood between us and the Taliban’s death threats to my cast and crew.

The perception that Afghanistan is still at war is incorrect. That the deaths of Kutty and Suryanarayana and the recent spate of suicide bombings reflect the instability of the country. I believe otherwise. I believe these are Taliban's desperate attempts to subvert the real trend prevailing in Afghanistan — and that is the return of normalcy and peace.

When discussing Afghanistan, I think, one must not forget certain important facts: Afghans do not perpetrate such heinous crimes, it is the Taliban; the Afghans do not view Indians as enemies, it is the Taliban. I disagree with those who try and paint a doomsday scenario.

I was in Kabul in November 2005 when Kutty was beheaded. I was shooting for my film 'Kabul Express', and my Afghan line producer, Azim sahib could not look me in the eyes for three whole days. He felt sorrow and angst because an Indian had been killed in Afghanistan — even though by a terrorist. That is the real Afghanistan now. Afghans view these crimes as reprehensible. They feel anger and great sorrow.

However, this is not to say, there are no problems remaining. The country is still, in large measures, a mosaic of fiefdoms of warlords, split mainly along ethnic lines – the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks and others. Regrettably, the warlords are still armed. And till they remain, true peace will never come to Afghanistan.

But here too, one has to allow for the history: the suspicion of other ethnicities in Afghanistan has survived over centuries. The predominantly Pashtun Taliban regularly targeted the Shia Hazaras and the Tajiks; during the six-year civil war that followed the Russian withdrawal, the Pashtuns, the Hazaras, the Tajiks and the Uzbeks had literally divided Kabul into separate fiefdoms and no one was allowed to cross over into each other’s territory. How, then, can one expect a sudden change in just five years? How, then, can one expect a sudden turnaround of the economy, which was left in a shambles? When I went there in November 2001, I found no buildings were left standing. There were no buildings in Kabul without gaping rocket or bullet holes.

Thus, I implore we give Afghanistan time. It is progressing, slowly, steadily. They successfully held elections that saw more than 50 per cent of voters turn up; they have the House of People, Wolesi Jirga, in place.

I feel India needs to give Afghanistan time. Our country, unquestionably, needs to play a role in the rebuilding of the country – a role that is not only enforced by geographical and cultural reasons; it has to be because of natural and obvious reasons. The common man on the streets of Kabul looks at Indians as friends and is grateful for the active role that India is playing in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. We cannot betray their trust in us. India has a special place in the hearts of the Afghans. Let’s try not to lose that.

It is also important to have a larger view on this issue. Let us not forget that the people supporting the Taliban are the same sending extremists across our borders. The criminal lunatics who beheaded Kutty or shot Suryanarayan are the same set of people who are spreading terror in our country.

There is a need to stand and fight against this religious extremism and the violence it perpetrates. We Indians should know more than others how religious extremism can tear apart the social fabric of a country. We have to realise that Taliban is not just an organisation; it is a way of thinking that transcends countries and religions.

When we were filming Kabul Express in Afghanistan, yes, the crew was issued death threats. But, to me, it meant nothing. Threats should in no manner deter us. Indeed, while the Taliban was issuing threats, everybody else was ensuring we are not harmed. The Afghanistan government provided us 60 guards for all times.

Anybody high-profile visiting the region would receive such threats. When the prime minister went visiting, the Taliban sent out ten such threats a day. But nothing untoward happened during his visit, and nothing happened during ours.

The method used to threaten is nothing out of the ordinary either. Some self-styled maulvi, sitting across the border, rambles on airwaves. The telecasts are meant to be intercepted by Intelligence units. In our case too the Intelligence intercepted the threats and informed us. They also told us the Taliban was incapable of doing any harm.

Pak-India forum appeals for expulsion of Afghan refugees

PESHAWAR: Arshad Javed Gorwara, a member of the Pak-India Forum (PIF), has appealed to the government to repatriate Afghan refugees, because their investment in local markets was denying opportunities for Pakistani businessmen. Gorwara said that Afghan refugees had invested in all major markets including Peshawar, Bannu, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Chaman which had damaged the businesses of Pakistani businessmen. He has appealed to the federal interior minister and the foreign minister to expel “billionaire Afghans” who had captured the markets with their large investments. Daily Times

[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.]