In this bulletin:

• General: More Taliban in southern Afghanistan
• Greatest Source of Threat along Iran's Eastern Borders
• Canada committed to Afghan mission, MacKay says
• MacKay hints at longer Afghan commitment
• Japan to hold foreign ministers' meeting with Central Asian nations in June
• ‘Pakistan prioritises peace and stability in Afghanistan’
• 'Pak democracy means Afghan peace'
• Pakistan helps Taleban: Indian envoy to Afghanistan
• Pakistan Taleban settles in
• Pakistan to get power transmission line from Central Asia via Afghanistan
• Editorial: Power from Central Asia
• Local Afghan radio slams proposal to give 6m dollars to former king
• Afghan parliament asks Supreme Court members to submit qualifications
• Pakistan lifts ban of cement export to Afghanistan
• The Enron-isation of Afghanistan
• Afghan peasants bear the brunt of curbs on opium
• Regional acrimony raises risks for Canadian troops: Co-operation key to ending Taliban attacks
• Opinion: The Afghanistan quagmire
• Opinion: Pakistan’s odds in Afghanistan
• Get Hashemi out of Yale
• American activist finds her calling in Afghan hot spot

General: More Taliban in southern Afghanistan

Coalition has made progress against al Qaeda, commander says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Taliban's influence has grown in parts of southern Afghanistan over the past year, the top U.S. commander in that country said Wednesday.

Observations from coalition forces, Afghan institutions and others in the country "gives us a sense that the number of Taliban fighters in certain districts [northern Kandahar, northern Helmand and Oruzgan provinces] may have increased over the past several months," Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry told reporters in Washington.

Eikenberry, commanding general of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, said the Taliban isn't "necessarily a strong enemy." But it is strong enough to exploit and coerce weak government institutions.

The Taliban is the Islamic militant movement that governed Afghanistan and harbored the al Qaeda terror network, which attacked the United States on September 11, 2001.

The general said "very good progress" has been made by the forces hunting down and battling al Qaeda members hunkered down in the region. He added that although many high- and mid-level al Qaeda leaders had been captured or killed, leader Osama bin Laden was a key objective.

"Bin Laden remains one man," he said. "He does remain a man, though, in terms of the need for us to find him, to bring to closure his attacks against the United States and the international community. That's a commitment that we maintain every day. And we will not rest until we find and capture or kill bin Laden."

Eikenberry said militants in Afghanistan have changed tactics over the past year, using more improvised explosive devices and increasing suicide bombings. He said "total numbers have increased, but relative to a low baseline there."

Greatest Source of Threat along Iran's Eastern Borders

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Commander in chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Law Enforcement Police Wednesday termed the US troops in Afghanistan the gravest source of threat to his country's eastern borders.

Speaking in the eastern city of Birjand, Brigadier General Esma'eel Ahmadi Moghadam said that the United States has waged a war against Islam on the pretext of campaigning terrorism, "and they endeavor to destabilize Iran as a first step."

The General further stressed that Islamic Republic's enemies have opened the fronts of a cold war against Iran, saying that terrorist operations in the country are goal-oriented and are supported by foreign forces.

Stating that the enemies do not enjoy the required capabilities to raid the country, he said that they have resorted to psychological operations to confront the Islamic Republic. "The enemy has mobilized all its media possibilities such as satellite channels and Internet in a bid to practice its evil plots," he continued.

The police commander in chief further called on the government to bring every day life to the borders, develop border markets and plan and improve economic and trade situation of the residents of the border areas.

He also praised his troops' efforts for fighting crime and establishing security in the province of southern Khorasan and further described the province an island of stability in eastern Iran.

Moghaddam said that some new law enforcement headquarters will launched operation in the new cities and towns of the province.

Canada committed to Afghan mission, MacKay says

Updated Wed. May. 10 2006 CTV.ca News

Canada is committed to triumphing over terrorism in Afghanistan even if it takes longer than originally planned, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay declared Wednesday as he wrapped up his two-day surprise visit to the war-torn nation.

MacKay arrived Tuesday in the violence-wracked nation, where he is seeking to assure Canadian troops and Afghan officials that the government is behind the mission.

After meeting on Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangeen Spanta, MacKay acknowledged he's returning to Canada having recognized there is a need for a longer-term commitment.

"We recognize that it is going to take perhaps a longer period of time than was first envisioned, and we are committed to the completion and the result of the work we have undertaken," MacKay told reporters.

"There is a great sense of common purpose and goals to be achieved here, in the areas of democracy, in the areas of combating terrorism and all that flows from terrorism," he said at a news conference.

He also said it's also in Canada's interest to work closely with Afghanistan. "While Canada continues to have an abiding interest in stability and peace here in Afghanistan, we also realize that no country is immune from the reach of terrorism," he said. "So it is very much in our interest to work closely with Afghanistan, with our international partners in building a stable and generous country," he said.

MacKay told reporters that he and Afghan officials had agreed there was a need for a "longer-term plan and commitment" although they did not discuss timeframes.

Canada's commitment of troops to Afghanistan runs out in February 2007.

Earlier in the day, MacKay visited a vocational school that is funded with foreign aid, including $13,500 from the Canadian International Development Agency.

The Aschiana School, one of six in Afghanistan, teaches about 100 children from age six to 18 in subjects ranging from reading and writing to health and English.

"This is where street kids can come and learn English, they learn hygiene, they learn embroidery, plumbing, hair dressing, other skills that help keep them off the streets," CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer reported from Afghanistan.

"What aid workers hope is that these sort of projects will be what helps build a better Afghanistan."

The problem, though, is that these projects are virtually impossible to implement in the volatile south, where there are reports insurgency groups are intensifying their roadside bombing and suicide attacks.

Still, MacKay rejected the suggestion that increased violence suggests the Taliban are gaining ground.

"I would disagree that things are unstable in the south," he said. "You're going to see more insurgents at various times. It will ebb and flow like the tide."

MacKay suggested that the reason there have been more attacks in recent weeks is that coalition forces are moving into areas once dominated by the Taliban.

"Sometimes the increase in insurgency is the recognition that the Taliban may be on the run and we are moving into territories that they are feeling more threatened," MacKay said.

Later on Wednesday, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe asked Harper whether there would be a vote before deciding if Canada's mandate in Afghanistan would be extended.

"Does the prime minister wish to say to the House that Canada's commitment to Afghanistan will be conditional on the holding of a debate and a vote in the house?" Duceppe asked Harper during question period on Wednesday.

Harper renewed his commitment to the mission but was vague on any extensions.

"We are already in Afghanistan -- this is not a new commitment and this is a very important mission. I hope that the Bloc Quebecois will support us and our troops in the future as they have in the past," Harper said in French.

Meanwhile, a poll suggests support for the mission in Afghanistan is waning among Canadians.

The Strategic Counsel poll conducted for CTV and The Globe and Mail found that 54 per cent of Canadians oppose the deployment -- up 13 percentage points from a similar poll conducted in mid-March.

Of those, 23 per cent are strongly opposed -- an increase of eight percentage points from the previous survey.

MacKay hints at longer Afghan commitment - GEOFFREY YORK AND TERRY WEBER Globe and Mail Update 5.11.06

Kabul — Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay is hinting at a new longer-term Canadian commitment to its military mission in Afghanistan, despite the growing unpopularity of the deployment.

The Canadian mission, which now includes about 2,300 soldiers in Kandahar province, could be extended beyond its current limit of next February, Mr. MacKay said Wednesday.

“With all of the achievements we've seen, there is a need for a longer-term plan and commitment,” Mr. MacKay told a news conference in Kabul on Wednesday after meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

“We recognize that it is going to take perhaps a longer period of time than was first envisioned,” he said. “We did not discuss specific time frames or time limits or just how lengthy this mission will be, but I assured the President that Canada is here and intends to continue to work with our international partners and with the Afghan people to achieve results.”

A new opinion poll has found that 54 per cent of Canadians are opposed to the military deployment in southern Afghanistan, up from 41 per cent a month earlier.

Mr. Spanta said he welcomed the idea of a longer Canadian mission. “We think we need a long-term commitment from the international community, including Canada,” he told the news conference.

“Terrorism is a very serious challenge for the international community, and it's not a problem for Afghanistan alone. Terrorism does not know any boundary. This is an international network.”

Mr. MacKay also said it is in Canada's interest to see the mission through. “While Canada continues to have an abiding interest in stability and peace here in Afghanistan, we also realize that no country is immune from the reach of terrorism,” he said. “So it is very much in our interest to work closely with Afghanistan, with our international partners in building a stable and generous country.”

As for rebuilding Afghanistan, he said “all the wheels are in the right place and they're turning.” While progress may be slower than some would like, he said, “a certain degree of patience is required” to ensure the mission achieves its goal.

On Tuesday, Mr. MacKay paid a whirlwind visit to two Canadian army bases in Kandahar, assuring troops that the government's resolve remains unwavering. He also rejected the poll results, calling the numbers a “snapshot in time, which tells us about yesterday.”

“You're elevating the lives of the Afghan people, and that also helps the security of all of us,” he told Canadian soldiers during one of the stops. So far, 15 Canadian soldiers and one Canadian diplomat have been killed in the war-torn country since 2002.

Earlier this week, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor had said the Canadian army does not have enough soldiers to deploy to the Darfur crisis in Sudan while keeping its commitment in Afghanistan.

He told a Senate committee on national security that the military has enough troops to maintain its current Afghanistan role indefinitely but when asked whether Canada could also send soldiers to help keep peace in Darfur, he said: “We would be greatly challenged to take on a commitment anywhere else in the world.”

Western countries, including Canada, have come under increasing pressure to intervene in the crisis.

Japan to hold foreign ministers' meeting with Central Asian nations in June - 11.05.2006 00:01:46

The Japanese government plans to hold a meeting in Tokyo of the foreign ministers of Japan and six Central Asian countries including Afghanistan in early June, government sources said on Wednesday.

Japan and five Central Asian countries -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- asked Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta to join the meeting to cooperate in countering terrorism, drugs and other issues, according to Kyodo qouting the sources.

Japan and the five countries pledged in the first meeting in August 2004 in Kazakhstan to coordinate efforts on antiterrorism measures and energy development.

Spanta will hold a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso during his visit to Japan and exchange views on Afghan reconstruction and antiterrorism operations, the sources said.

‘Pakistan prioritises peace and stability in Afghanistan’ - Daily Times 10 May 2006

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday told the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) that peace and stability in Afghanistan was Islamabad’s top priority and assured the former of its full support.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri was addressing a five-member delegation headed by NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, Hikmet Cetin. Cetin commended Pakistan’s role in peace and stability in Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan was a key ally in the war against terrorism. “Its very important to NATO to maintain close cooperation with Pakistan,” he said. NATO wants long-term relationship with Pakistan, he added.

Kasuri thanked Cetin for NATO’s assistance in earthquake relief operations. “Peace and stability in Afghanistan is Pakistan’s top priority and Islamabad will continue cooperating with NATO and the Afghan government in this regard,” he said. APP

'Pak democracy means Afghan peace'- May 10, 2006 17:00 IST

'Truth is, Afghanistan will never be stable unless Pakistan's military government is replaced with a democracy.' So says former EU commissioner for external relations Chris Patten in a recent column in the The Wall Street Journal.

Noting the rising spate of deadly attacks 'on school children, aid workers, or local or international security forces' by the Taliban, Lord Patten, chancellor of Oxford University, says that this  'is a grim return on the outside world's huge investment in Afghanistan.

'Yet while the international community has done an enormous amount to help the country recover from its failed-state condition, it has resisted tackling the problem at its very root -- Islamabad.'

Most of the attacks, including suicide bombings, in Afghanistan 'are planned and prepared at Taliban training camps across the border. Islamabad claims to be doing all it can to stop this infiltration. But President Pervez Musharraf's protests ring hollow when he has done so little to address the concerns raised by his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, that Taliban leaders are operating out of sanctuaries in Pakistan,' writes Patten, who is chairman of the International Crisis Group and the last British Governor of Hong Kong.  

Pointing to the Pakistan military's close relations with religious radicals, he says: 'Militant Islamist groups that Mr Musharraf banned under the international spotlight following 9/11 and the 7/7 London bombings still operate freely. Jihadi organizations have been allowed to dominate relief efforts in the aftermath of the October 2005 earthquake. The military has repeatedly rigged elections, including the 2002 polls, to benefit the religious parties over their moderate, democratic alternatives. In short, Pakistan is ruled by a military dictatorship in cahoots with violent Islamist extremists.'

'The military has no interest in democracy at home, so why does the outside world expect it to help build democracy next door?' he asks. 'If we are really going to get to the core of Afghanistan's instability, therefore, we must tackle Pakistan. Above all, this means returning the country to democratic rule.'

While admitting that this 'is not an easy task,' he notes that some institutions, like the judiciary, 'are still surviving -- just. The judiciary, for example, has been badly degraded under Mr Musharraf and his army colleagues; but there is enough left to give hope for some kind of gradual resuscitation.'

Moderate political parties in Pakistan too are 'down but not yet out,' he believes. Those who justify Musharraf's 1999 coup by pointing to large-scale corruption among the political parties refuse 'to condemn or even acknowledge the military's large-scale, institutionalized corruption.'

'So much has been grabbed by the military that it will take years just to catalog it,' he says, noting that apart from acquiring 'vast tracts of state-owned land at nominal rates; its leaders dominate businesses and industries, ranging from banking to cereal factories. Their control of the economy has grown so great it will present an enormous challenge to any future democratically elected government.'

But he is hopeful that a civilian government, 'when it comes' ,will be a moderate one, one that is far more inclined and eager to tackle 'the scourge of Islamic radicalism.'

A totally transparent, fair and free election in Pakistan would 'squeeze out radical forces that have thrived under military rule and which play havoc with Pakistan's weak neighbor to the northwest. In addition, unlike the military, which always thrives in a hostile environment, a civilian government will have a stronger interest in peace with India. And who wouldn't sleep safer knowing that Pakistan's nuclear bomb was in democratic hands?' he asks.

Democracy would also bring an opportunity to revamp the country's education system, which has 'consistently failed young people for decades.'

This, writes Patten in his Wall Street Journal column, 'gave the madrassas the chance to 'take up the slack, with the most extreme religious schools helping to radicalize tens of thousands of Pakistanis -- and Afghans -- filling heads with intolerant visions of Islam, far from the mainstream of South Asian Muslim society. The country needs a properly funded, state-run, secular education system.'

While it was an 'enormous task, but demilitarizing and deradicalizing Pakistan is truly the key to bringing about stability in Afghanistan and the wider region. Governments now working so hard to support Afghanistan will only be spinning their wheels until they make Pakistan a top priority and apply maximum pressure on Islamabad to ensure the 2007 elections are actually free and fair, by applying clearly defined benchmarks and insisting on competent international observers.'   

'As long as the military and the madrassas rule just across the border, Afghanistan will never find peace,' Patten concludes.

Pakistan helps Taleban: Indian envoy to Afghanistan - Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV on 9 May

[Presenter] Rakesh Sood, the Indian ambassador in Kabul, says that Pakistan is helping the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah.

Commenting on a Taleban commander's remarks on Pakistan's involvement in the recent killing of an Indian engineer, the ambassador said that they had started investigations into the case.

The Pakistani embassy in Kabul has said that reports on that country's involvement in the killing of the Indian engineer are baseless.

[Correspondent] A senior Taleban commander in Zabol, who requested anonymity, said that Suryan Narayan, an Indian engineer, was killed by Mullah Lotfollah, a fighter under the command of Mawlawi Mohammad Alam, in the Jafaro area [Zabol].

Rakesh Sood, the Indian ambassador in Kabul, told Tolo television that investigation on Pakistan's involvement in the killing of the engineer was under way. He added that Pakistan was supporting insurgents.

[Rakesh Sood] Pakistan supports the Taleban and insurgent groups [in Zabol] and the government of Afghanistan is well aware of the issue.

[Correspondent] Aziz Aryanfar, the director of the Foreign Ministry's Centre for Strategic Studies, says that economic rivalry between India and Pakistan is the reason behind the killing of Indian nationals in Afghanistan.

Abdol Hadi Hadi, the editor-in-chief of Harika [as heard] magazine, believes that bad relations between Pakistan and India are the cause of such incidents.

Nayim Khan, a press attaché of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, has said that reports about the involvement of his country in the killing of the Indian engineer are baseless.

[Nayim Khan] The accusations are completely inaccurate and baseless and we reject them.

Pakistan Taleban settles in - 9 May 06 By Aamer Ahmed Khan BBC News, North Waziristan

The BBC News website gets behind the scenes in an area where the Pakistani Taleban are digging in, despite the efforts of thousands of Pakistani troops.

Taleban fighters battling Pakistani security forces declared a unilateral ceasefire last week to accommodate a religious gathering near Miranshah, the largest town in North Waziristan.

The ceasefire began on 2 May to allow tens of thousands of devotees from all over the region to attend the annual ritual organised by the Pakistan-based Tablighi Jamaat. The ceasefire ends on 11 May. What happens after that is anyone's guess.

But a day-long trip to Miranshah enabled us to get a glimpse of how the protagonists, as well as ordinary locals, are using the 10-day respite to prepare for the days beyond the current ceasefire.

Along the road from Bannu, the last town before North Waziristan, to Miranshah, Pakistani security forces could be seen fortifying their bunkers.

Paramilitary troops that would ordinarily not step out of their bunkers for fear of attacks from Taleban fighters were filling fresh sandbags to shore up their defences.

In Mirali, the first major town on the road inside North Waziristan, Taleban fighters can be seen patrolling the main bazaar.

Thanks to the ceasefire, they can walk past military checkpoints without triggering a confrontation.

The Taleban seem to be enjoying the ceasefire: the customary tension on their faces replaced with easy smiles. The venue of the religious gathering, a place called Tablighi Markaz (preaching centre), is barely two kilometres past the main bazaar of Miranshah.

The last time outsiders had come into the area was a couple of weeks ago when the Pakistan army flew in a helicopter full of foreign journalists to demonstrate what it said was its control over the area.

Area commander Maj Gen Akram Sahi had told the foreign journalists that he was "hurt" to read in the media that the government had no writ over much of North Waziristan. He said his men were "everywhere".

It was difficult to spot Gen Sahi's men anywhere in or around the congregation near Miranshah but those who were "everywhere" were scores of Taleban fighters armed to their teeth.

Barely 200 metres from the venue of the gathering was a large blue tent where the main Taleban commanders were based. I was allowed inside the tent where Taleban leader Haji Omar was sitting with several area commanders.

He was just settling down after bidding farewell to Maulvi Sadiq Noor, one of the most feared Taleban commanders in North Waziristan. Taleban fighters guarding the tent seemed to be carrying more than their own weight in arms and ammunition.

A young boy who barely looked 15 had eight ammunition magazines and four grenades dangling from his camouflage vest. Because of his relatively frail frame, the young man was probably carrying half the ammunition compared with his comrades.

Most were carrying short range wireless sets with clip-on antennas. "No, no interviews and no photographs," another fighter told me sternly. "Not during the ceasefire."

Sitting in the tent and surrounded by Taleban fighters, I couldn't help dreading a possible missile strike from a US predator. But no such fears seemed to bother the Taleban.

They were apparently too confident of their ideological affinity with the tens of thousands of devotees they were guarding. The Tablighi Jamaat has historically discouraged any kind of political symbols at its gatherings - but not now in North Waziristan.

As the congregation concluded with a collective prayer for a Muslim renaissance, hundreds of devotees could be seen buying posters of Afghan commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Mr Hekmatyar has recently declared his intent to team up with al-Qaeda to fight the US forces in Afghanistan. It was difficult to find a place anywhere in Miranshah where one would not come across some measure of resentment against Pakistan security forces.

The main bazaar was bustling - the ceasefire means a temporary end to the long hours of curfew imposed by the security forces.

But it was not just the debris left behind at various places in the bazaar by government bombing that spoke of local resentment against the Musharraf government.

Locals were open and vocal with their views. "It is no fun living here any more," a shopkeeper said. "This bazaar would open with sunrise and shut at sunset. Now, people trudge in at around noon and leave after doing a few hours of business."

But aren't the Taleban equally to be blamed for the war-like situation, I ask.
"No. They are mujahideen waging a jihad against the Americans. They have no reason to disturb the peace in Waziristan if left to themselves," was the reply.

There was not a single newspaper available anywhere in Miranshah. Angry at being portrayed as "terrorists and miscreants", the Taleban had recently set newspapers on fire in Mirali.

After that, no transporter was willing to bring newspapers into the tribal territory. Not only that, most local journalists have given up journalism after failing to convince their publishers based in Peshawar or Bannu not to call the Taleban terrorists or miscreants.

Such banning of newspapers would have led to a fierce debate anywhere in the world. It is barely mentioned in Miranshah, where people just seem happy that they can roam around freely once more. It doesn't seem to matter that this freedom is only assured until 11 May when the ceasefire announced by the Taleban comes to an end.

Pakistan to get power transmission line from Central Asia via Afghanistan

Excerpt from report by Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency

Islamabad, 9 May: Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi on Tuesday [9 May] said Central Asian Republic States (CARs) Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan expressed their willingness on installation of transmission line from Kabul to Pakistan.

Addressing a press conference here after the conclusion of two-day Central Asian-South Asian Electricity Trade conference, the minister said that Afghanistan in this regard agreed to provide transit for power trade.

He said the countries agreed to form a working group to move the process forward. "We all have agreed that we will go for integrated electricity trade between the countries."

Jatoi said: "There was two options - one was passing of transmission line through Wahkhan Border and other was through Kabul-Jalalabad." He said unanimously the members have decided that the Kabul and Jalalabad option was more suitable as acceptable to Afghan government.

Jatoi said they (Afghanistan government) will be there to look after the security and maintenance of transmission line. "Not only this if they need to have power, they will get supply from transmission line," the minister said.

He appreciated the positive approach of Afghan minister for giving permission of passing of transmission line from his country to Pakistan.

He said the Kygryz government has also shown interest that they would sell electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan. "This is a win-win situation. We want to bring benefits to common man because if there is economic activity and economic prosperity, it will be shared by people of these countries."

According to conference decisions, the first phase of the trade is to import 1000 MW from Tajikistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan and develop the necessary physical infrastructure, such as the transmission line and institutional and legal frame work in the shortest possible time.

Surplus power from Kyrgyz republic can also be transmitted through this transmission line by suitable interconnections.

Jatoi said International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like World Bank, USAID, US Energy, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Bank and Japanese have given their full assurance and support regarding electricity trade. He added the World Bank on behalf of all IFIs renewed its commitment that through IFIs they will be going ahead with this project. [passage omitted]

Editorial: Power from Central Asia - Dawn 10 May 2006

GETTING electricity from Central Asia could improve the power supply situation in Pakistan if the idea were to materialise. As Omorov Janybek, Kyrghyzstan’s representative, told the four-power energy conference in Islamabad on Monday, his country had a surplus of 4,000 megawatts of electricity out of which it could supply 3,000MW to Pakistan. As for Tajikistan, it has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Islamabad for the supply of 1,000MW. Pakistan has a power generation capacity of 19,389MW, which is in excess of the demand — estimated at 16,600 — but line losses eat up as much as 25 per cent of the actual supply. Besides, power generation drops in summer because of a shortage of water in the dams. Getting 4,000MW from the two Central Asian republics could serve to bridge the gap between demand and supply, provided the Afghan part of the proposed deal was taken care of.

Afghanistan insists that power lines should go through Kabul and not Wakhan, because this strip of territory between Tajikistan and Pakistan remains closed to the world for six months due to the harsh winter, and the cost for laying transmission lines through the mountainous terrain will be very high. According to Kabul officials, routing it through Afghanistan will be less expensive, and it goes without saying that Afghanistan would expect to be paid for facilitating transmission. Many multinationals, besides the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, are enthusiastic about the idea. The basic problem, however, is one of the safety of transmission lines, given the precarious security situation in Afghanistan. The Bhasha dam will take at least a decade to complete, and this means that no additional sources of hydroelectric generation will be available to meet the current power deficit and to cater to Pakistan’s fast-expanding power needs. Like the idea of gas from Turkmenistan, the energy deal with the two Central Asian states is also dependent on the security situation in Afghanistan. The gas deal with Iran, too, has not yet been finalised, and this reinforces the case for electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrghyzstan.

Local Afghan radio slams proposal to give 6m dollars to former king - Text of report by Afghan independent Radio Sahar on 9 May

[Commentator] A sum of 6m dollars is being considered to be paid to the former king of Afghanistan, Zaher Shah. This proposal has been offered to the National Assembly for approval.

Six million dollars equal about 300m afghanis, which approximates the salary of 10,000 government employees per year. We dare say that this sum of money can provide sufficient accommodation to several thousands families of martyrs and disabled every year. With this sum of money, millions of Afghans can be supplied with clean drinking water. This amount of money can provide sufficient facilities to thousands of students.

Will the proposal to pay this sum of money to the former Afghan king be approved? In view of this, should we understand what the finance minister, who gives various reasons for not being able to consider a rise in the salary of teachers, have to say to the people, who regard Zaher Shah as the father of the nation?

After a suspicious coup, the king departed to a remote country and stayed there from 1352 to 1381 [1973 to 2002], about three decades. During these 30 years of war, violence and killing of Afghans, as the king, the father of nation, who claims to have always been at the service of his people, did not take an initiative to bring reconciliation among the warlords.

The esteemed minister of finance should beware that the father of nation currently lives in a big palace while 80 per cent of government employees do not even have shelter. Today, the father of nation receives a salary of 300m afghanis while the fathers of Afghan martyrs are suffering from poverty and lack of shelter. Have you ever asked yourself: "Who has been paying this sum of money to the father of nation over the last 30 years?"

Why do you want to pay this sum of money from the government's treasury? Have you ever realized that there are destitute people other than the father of nation in our country? Families of martyrs, the disabled and orphans - we do not even know what they eat - are the real owners of this sum of money. Unfortunately, you have forgotten them today. You think that service should be rendered to the presidential palaces.

[Presenter] Dear listeners, that was a commentary about the budget earmarked to former Afghan King Zaher Shah for the year 1385 [starting from 26 Mar 06]. This commentary was written by Hossein Haydari.

Afghan parliament asks Supreme Court members to submit qualifications

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Kabul, 9 May: Wolasi Jerga (lower house) of the parliament on Tuesday asked three judges of Supreme Court, including its Chief Justice, to bring their academic documents, a requirement for the position.

Speaker of the lower house Yunos Qanuni asked the judicial and legal committee of the house to look into the qualifications of the three SC members if they were complying with the constitution.

According to Article No 118 of the constitution, SC members shall have higher education in law or in Islamic jurisprudence, and shall have sufficient expertise and experience in the judicial system of Afghanistan.

Ahead of giving vote of confidence to the proposed nine-member of SC, the parliament had found correct certificates of six other SC members, but the remaining three had not presented the required credentials. Fate of nominated judges would be later decided in the trust vote after analysing their documents.

Chid Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari is among the three who have to present their academic papers in parliament, but names of the other two have not been mentioned.

The nine SC members are proposed by President Hamed Karzai and submitted to the lower house for vote of confidence. Some members of the parliament accused courts for openly taking bribes and asked the system should be freed from all corruption.

Pakistan lifts ban of cement export to Afghanistan

PESHAWAR, May 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan has lifted ban on export of cement to neighbouring war-battered country Afghanistan, but has increased its custom duties.

Representatives of cement manufacturer companies said Tuesday they had been allowed to export cement to Afghanistan with raising custom duty that would soar prices in war-torn country.

As long as export of cement to the central Asian country was free of tax, its prices were quite normal, the manufacturers said. The ban was imposed on April 6 and was valid till early May. The reason behind banning export to this landlocked country was October 8 earthquake that levelled villages in Azad Kashmir and Balakot. Pakistan halted export of cement to Afghanistan to reconstruct the ruined valley of Azad Kashmir.

Second aim behind banning export of cement to Afghanistan was to bring down its increasing prices in Pakistan. A worker of the Cherat Cement Factory in Peshawar, Rafiullah Afridi, told Pajhwok Afghan News they resumed exporting cements to Afghanistan from Tuesday after informing Pakistani officials about it.

A cement trader in Peshawar, Aabid Zadran, also said the ban had been lifted and they started back exporting cements to Afghanistan, but prices run higher there with the new start.

A bag of Cherat cement was Rs 303 and Lucky Rs 297 in Pakistan, but it jumped to almost 400 for its greater demand in the country. The move is expected to be welcomed by Afghanistan which has earlier requested for lifting the ban. Afghan cement trader Muhammad Idris said lifting of ban was a good news but high taxes had worried them. He said all traders were unhappy with the tax because it would affect its market in Afghanistan.

The Enron-isation of Afghanistan

NEW YORK, May 10 (SANA): "Contractors in Afghanistan are making big money for bad work" -- that is the conclusion reached in a new report from CorpWatch written by an Afghan-American journalist who returned to her native country to examine the progress of reconstruction.

"The [George W.] Bush administration touts the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan as a success story," the report says, but claims that reconstruction has been "bungled" by "many of the same politically connected corporations which are doing similar work in Iraq", receiving "massive open-ended contracts" without competitive bidding or with limited competition.

"These companies are pocketing millions, and leaving behind a people increasingly frustrated and angry with the results," the report says. Foreign contractors "make as much as 1,000 dollars a day, while the Afghans they employ make 5 dollars per day," the report charges.

Examples cited in the report by author Fariba Nawa:

"A highway that begins crumbling before it is finished. A school with a collapsed roof. A clinic with faulty plumbing. A farmers' cooperative that farmers can't use. Afghan police and military that, after training, are incapable of providing the most basic security."

Nawa says such examples abound in the country. She writes, "Near Kabul City in the village of Qalai Qazi, Afghanistan, stands a new, bright-yellow health clinic built by American contractor, The Louis Berger Group. The clinic was meant to function as a sterling example of American engineering, and to serve as a model for 81 clinics Berger was hired to build -- in addition to roads, dams, schools and other infrastructure -- in exchange for the 665 million dollars in American aid money the company has so far received in federal contracts."

"The problem is, this 'model' clinic was falling apart: The ceiling had rotted away in patches; the plumbing, when it worked, leaked and shuddered; the chimney, made of flimsy metal, threatened to set the roof on fire; the sinks had no running water; and the place smelled of sewage," the report says.

The U.S.-led reconstruction effort has directed substantial resources toward eradicating illicit poppy growing. It awarded a contract worth 120 million dollars over four years to train opium growers in the cultivation of alternative crops.

One part of the programme "instructed farmers in Parwan to grow more vegetables, and promised to find buyers for them both within the country and beyond. The farmers, who normally planted beans and lentils, grew green vegetables as encouraged. But instead of profiting, they lost money. Vegetables flooded the market and drove the price down," the report says.

In another part of the same programme, the report says, it was determined that Afghan farmers, who make up about 80 percent of the working population, needed canals and irrigation systems and the means to get their product to domestic markets more efficiently, to minimise crop loss, and to reestablish their access to the international market.

The contractor's solution was to build irrigation canals. But the report points out that poppies need very little water or fertiliser to thrive. The result, the report says, was that opium poppy growers used the water in the canals to grow even more poppies.

The report says the U.S. hired a number of public relations companies to put a positive face on the reconstruction effort. One of them is the Washington-based Rendon Group, which the report says has "close ties to the Bush administration". The Pentagon has awarded Rendon more than 56 million dollars in contracts since Sep. 11, 2001, "as part of a coordinated effort to disseminate positive press about America and its military in the developing world".

The contracts call for "tracking foreign reporters" and "pushing (and sometimes paying) news outlets worldwide to run articles and segments favourable to United States interests."

The report says Rendon was also granted a contract in 2004 to train staff at President Hamid Karzai's office in the art of public relations, and "later received another hefty grant of 3.9 million dollars from the Pentagon to develop a counter-narcotics campaign with the Afghan interior ministry -- despite objections from Karzai and the State Department."

The report charges that the contracting system used by international donors is broken. It says, "USAID gives contracts to American companies (and the World Bank and IMF give contracts to companies from their donor countries) who take huge chunks off the top and hire layers and layers of subcontractors who take their cuts, leaving only enough for sub-par construction."

"Quality assurance is minimal; contractors know well they can swoop in, put a new coat of paint on a rickety building, and submit their bill, with rarely a question asked. The result is collapsing hospitals, clinics, and schools, rutted and dangerous new highways, a 'modernised' agricultural system that has actually left some farmers worse off than before, and emboldened militias and warlords who are more able to unleash violence on the people of Afghanistan."

Afghans, the report says, "are losing their faith in the development experts whose job is to reconstruct and rebuild their country...What the people see is a handful of foreign companies setting priorities for reconstruction that make the companies wealthy, yet are sometimes absurdly contrary to what is necessary."

Meanwhile, the report says, "the security situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate, directly threatening ongoing reconstruction. Some of the fighting is simply the result of deep frustration and distrust among Afghans who no longer believe the international community is looking out for their best interests."

The "deliberate use of warlords and militias in reconstruction efforts has only lent them more credibility and power, further undermining the elected government and fueling a Taliban-led insurgency that continues to gain power."

The basic infrastructure in the country, the report concludes, "is in shambles; the drug trade is booming. This result should be seen as a major setback to the 'War on Terror.' To Afghans, who after decades of war, believed they would finally catch a break, it's a heartbreak."

Prof. Beau Grosscup of California State University at Chico agrees. He told IPS, "This report confirms that Afghanistan has been 'Enron-ised' by the Bush administration."

"As with the demise of Enron, the future of Afghanistan is one in which the 'get rich quick' class at the top will escape with their bounty, while the poor who were encouraged to invest heavily in 'reconstruction' and promised prosperity will be left to live in the rubble."

Afghan peasants bear the brunt of curbs on opium - FT.com By Rachel Morarjee Published: May 10 2006

Esther is only 13 and she does not want to get married, but her fiancé is anxious to tie the knot. He is a 70-year-old drug baron who will claim the girl in lieu of a $2,000 debt her family amassed when their opium harvest failed.

"We don't have any choice. If the money-lender wants our land, our daughters, we have to do whatever makes him happy," says 65-year-old Abdul Satar, tears welling up in his eyes.

Mr Satar's harvest was wiped out by a freak hailstorm rather than US-backed counter-narcotics forces, but his predicament highlights how impoverished farmers bear the brunt of the war on drugs.

In the village of Deh Magas, an hour's drive into the hills above Argu, the main drugs bazaar in north-eastern Afghanistan's Badakhshan province, the land is too poor to support crops other than opium, which needs very little water.

Afghanistan has seen a drop in the number of acres used to grow poppies - 256,880 last year, down from 323,500 acres in 2004, according to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime.

Although the country's overall opium production - which accounts for 90 per cent of global output - remained steady, the drop in the number of poppy fields planted was hailed as a success in western efforts to curb its narcotics trade.

Some provinces saw sharper declines in poppy cultivation with a 53 per cent drop in Badakhshan and a 90 per cent drop in eastern Nangahar - the re-sult of tighter law enforcement, eradication and promises of aid.

The figures paint a bright picture but behind the numbers the debts of impoverished opium farmers have grown, tightening the stranglehold drug traders have on the local economy. In rural Afghanistan, opium is used as a form of credit. Drug smugglers advance farmers cash against the coming harvest and that is repaid back in opium.

If the harvest fails, or is eradicated by police, the debt multiplies, leaving farmers deeply in hock to traders and left with little option but to sell their land, livestock or, in the worst cases, their daughters.

Since last year there has been a surge in reports of child marriage to repay debts. "Ten years ago, before people started growing opium, you saw people selling their daughters, selling their children, and now it's happening again. People are desperate and are looking for husbands for girls as young as eight to make ends meet," says Fazel Rahman, a trader in the Argu drugs bazaar where opium and heroin are bought and sold. A recent report commissioned by the British government cites the common perception in rural Afghanistan that the war on drugs is penalising the poorest of the poor, while those with links to the authorities or the finances to bribe eradication teams escape unhurt. "This perception remains divisive and, if true, could serve to increase cultivation in subsequent years but drive up accumulated debt," says the report's author David Mansfield.

In Badakhshan, dozens of farmers interviewed by the Financial Times in the districts of Argu and Baharak said that, after voluntarily planting other crops in 2005 in return for promises of aid, they were now being forced to plant poppies to settle their debts with local dealers.

"I used to own land but I had to sell it to pay off the money-lender. Now I just work in other people's opium fields. All those promises the government made were empty. There are no roadmakers, no NGOs, nobody with jobs," says Abdul Maroof, a 35-year-old opium farmer in Baharak district. USAID pledged $60m to alternative projects in Badakhshan in the five years from 2005, but only $4.2m hit the ground last year, leaving many farmers at the mercy of the dealers.

"There is no doubt that criminals have become stronger since last year and people have little confidence in the government. They think the war on drugs is a political game," says General Shah Jahan Noori, the province's police chief. Abdul Satar, too, will plant opium again.

But his harvest will be too late for Esther. She will be married to the village drug baron Khan Mohammed, to pay for the flour, sugar and tea the family bought at his dry goods shop over the winter. "My daughters are beautiful, but they are hungry," says Bibi Sahra, the girl's mother who has eight other children to feed.

Regional acrimony raises risks for Canadian troops: Co-operation key to ending Taliban attacks - Harry Sterling For the Calgary Herald 7 May 2006

The recent banning of journalists from covering the return of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan will only further divide Canadians over this country's involvement in that conflict.

Regrettably, the risk of Canadian casualties may increase if Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to blame each other for not doing enough to combat the upsurge of attacks by Taliban insurgents.

The growing acrimony between the governments of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad has potentially serious implications for Canada's 2,200 troops in Kandahar.

Their task could become even more difficult and dangerous if military and intelligence co-operation between the Afghan and Pakistani governments is undermined at a time when the Pakistani army itself is confronted by an escalation of attacks within Pakistan's North West Frontier Province by Islamic militants sympathetic to the Taliban.

Those militants are actively attempting to impose Taliban-inspired Islamic fundamentalist rule in North and South Waziristan, Pakistani regions peopled predominantly by Pashtun tribes, many strong backers of Taliban objectives.

Following the recent upsurge of Taliban attacks and suicide bombings against Afghan targets and foreign troops, including Canadian, Afghan officials accused the Musharraf government of not doing enough to root out the Taliban from its sanctuaries in Pakistan's northern tribal areas.

Anti-Pakistan demonstrations were held in southern Afghan cities, with one provincial governor publicly denouncing Islamabad for covertly backing the Taliban.

Afghan mistrust reached the point that the head of Afghanistan's Upper House of parliament, Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, a former president, accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, ISI, of being implicated in a March 12 suicide attack against him, resulting in two of his bodyguards being killed.

Already angered by Karzai publicizing a list of 150 Taliban and al-Qaeda militants and supporters allegedly living in Pakistan, the Pakistani leader struck back.

During an interview with CNN, Musharraf lashed out at Afghan authorities, claiming they were denigrating his country. He dismissed the list provided by Karzai as "nonsense," calling it outdated intelligence of no value.

Going further, he said Karzai didn't know what was going on in his own country and was ignoring the activities of anti-Pakistan officials in his government.

(Some saw Karzai's removal of Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah from his new cabinet as an effort to improve relations with Musharraf, though many regarded it as simply the latest attempt by Karzai to further marginalize other political power brokers.)

In reality, prospects for either side controlling cross border infiltration in such a porous mountainous area is extremely difficult. The region is the birthplace of the Taliban trained by Pakistan's ISI to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.

Although many Taliban fled to Pakistan following the U.S. invasion of late 2001, they and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda forces have regrouped and attracted new recruits, including Chechens and Uighurs from China's Xinjiang region.

Most suicide bombings in Afghanistan reportedly are carried out by non-Afghans, often Pakistani nationals. And it's precisely Pakistani militants who complicate the situation for Musharraf. It's one thing for him to order foreign jihadists operating from Pakistan to leave or be annihilated. It's quite another to take on militants from Pakistan's own fundamentalist-inclined Pashtun community, many pro-Taliban.

In fact, Musharraf is now confronted by a home-grown Pakistani Taliban carrying out attacks against his government. Recently, local Taliban fighters even temporarily occupied the key city of Miranshah in North Waziristan before being dislodged. Musharraf's attempts to convince tribal elders to disown Taliban and al-Qaeda militants has had only limited success. Those co-operating are regularly assassinated.

In a recent show of strength the local Taliban carried out a systematic massacre of so-called criminals and others engaged in un-Islamic practices, their bodies hung from trees and lamp posts. Some victims were beheaded, their bodies dragged along the streets tied to vehicles.

Three radical clerics, now on the run, reportedly are key backers of the local Pakistan Taliban and have declared a holy jihad against Musharraf.

The current head of the Pakistan Taliban, Haji Omar, insists there can be no peace in the region until American troops leave Afghanistan.

But the withdrawal from Afghanistan of American and coalition forces, including Canadian, could have disastrous consequences not just for Afghanistan but also for Pakistan's own political future. Such an eventuality could lead to the complete seizure of power by Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan's northern tribal areas, endangering Musharraf's own continued rule.

Realizing what's at stake on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border, Musharraf has compelling reasons to commit himself even more energetically against Islamic insurgents in coming days. If he doesn't succeed, funerals for Canadian troops could sadly become even more frequent and controversial than they are now.

Harry Sterling , a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator.

Opinion: The Afghanistan quagmire - By Najmuddin A. Shaikh Dawn 10 May 2006

ON January 31 and February 1 this year, Afghanistan President Karzai, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair presided over a conference in London which brought together 60 nations and international organisations to pledge assistance to Afghanistan and to lay out a plan for bringing stability to that country in the next five years. The Afghanistan Compact, which emerged from the conference, set forth both the international community’s commitment to Afghanistan and the latter’s commitment to state-building and reform over the next five years.

The compact supports the Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS), an interim version (I-ANDS) of which the Afghan government presented at the conference. The compact provides a strategy for building an effective, accountable state in Afghanistan, with targets for improvements in security, governance and development, including measures for reducing the narcotics economy and promoting regional cooperation.

The Americans claim that the Afghan national army with a proper ethnic mix has now reached the figure of 30,000 and is able to function reasonably well with air and other logistic support being provided by the coalition forces. Separately, the Nato countries committed themselves to increase their troop levels in Afghanistan and to have Nato as the lead organisation in the International and Assistance Security Force take over security and other duties from the Americans.

The announced plans called for troop levels to reach 32,000 by June-July this year and for American troops to be placed under unified Nato command by November this year. It is not clear whether some elements of the American force (reduced from the current 19,000 to about 16,000) would continue their anti Al-Qaeda and anti Taliban operations. The British, who were to assume overall command and would commit the largest number of forces theoretically, won Nato approval for the fact that not only would the Nato forces provide the personnel and security for the provincial reconstruction teams but would also engage the Taliban whenever it became necessary.

On April 12, a major offensive with the participation of 2,500 Afghan and coalition forces was launched in Kunar. The operation called Operation Mountain Lion was designed to eliminate the Taliban redoubts in the region and to bring the area under the control of the Afghan central government. The early success of the operation has been marred by reports that a helicopter with 10 American soldiers on board had crashed killing all those on board and bringing to 234 the number of American servicemen who have lost their lives in Afghanistan, 25 of them this year. In 2005, the Americans suffered 84 fatalities, the highest annual figure since the start of the operation in 2001

The Afghan parliament elected in September 2005 has met and the proceedings at least in the first few sessions appeared to be reasonably democratic with the parliament exercising its authority to reject five ministers and calling into question the nomination of three others who were definitively approved only after a supreme court decision. Questions were also raised about ministers who had dual nationality and at least two of them had to renounce their non-Afghan nationalities to be approved by parliament.

This is the good news. But overall the news is overwhelmingly bad. Despite all the brave talk and despite the rosy reports of the success attending the efforts of the US-led coalition to build a national army and to disarm the warlords the fact is that the insurgency is worse this year than in the past. Last year, the Americans lost 84 soldiers. The casualties among the Afghans — for which statistics are not available — have been far higher than in the past. The Taliban insurgency, confined in past years to the south and east of the country, seems to be spreading with incidents in Herat in the west and in Farah in the north, pointing to the growth in insurgent and other violent activities.

It is the “other” violent activity which should be a matter of added concern. According to the representative of the International Crisis Group in Afghanistan the violence is not all of Taliban origin but rather “It’s a whole set of fluid alliances, cross-border attacks from Pakistan, drugs, tribal feuds, and of course the Taliban.” Others also agree that the issue of security is intimately related to “poor governance and official corruption among provincial governors, police chiefs, and others” and that restoring security essentially requires good governance and a measure of integrity on the part of officials appointed by the Karzai administration.

This is not easy to come by. In Helmand province, according to American and UN officials an estimated 100,000 to 125,000 acres of poppy were planted last year out of some 260,000 poppy acres nationwide. The governor, Akhundzade, known to be involved in the drug trade was removed last year in December under international pressure but was then made a member of the Afghan parliament’s upper house. His successor is said to be honest but the ex-governor’s brother continues to be the deputy governor, and he and the police chief are, according to most sources, undeniably involved in the drug trade.

It is under their supervision that the anti-drug campaign has to be waged and they have managed so far to destroy only some 9,000 acres of the poppy crop in the province. Experts predict that this destruction notwithstanding the crop figure will be higher this year than the 4,600 tons produced in 2004 and only marginally reduced in 2005. The general conclusion is that the drug business has become organised, those involved in it are well armed and is allied with insurgents such as the Taliban. There are ugly rumours vehemently denied that, warlords and officials apart, even President Karzai’s own brother is involved in the drug trade.

While there is reason to praise the new parliament the fact is that by some estimates, 50 to 60 per cent of the new MPs are linked to the warlords and Islamic warriors and are in parliament because they got votes through the use or the threat of the use of force and there is no doubt that they intend using their office to protect the interests of the warlords many if not all of whom are drug traffickers. The campaign for disarming the private militias or illegal armed groups has taken up a huge chunk provided by the Japanese and it is claimed that some 60,000 people have been disarmed. Observers agree that an enormous number of armed individuals remain part of such illegal groups.

Lt. Gen Eikenberry, the American commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, when asked in a recent interview to explain the upsurge in violence, denied that the Taliban are “the strongest they have ever been” and attributed the increase in violence to the fact that “the institutions of the state are still fragile and in certain instances are still weak.” The situation was even better described by a Nato military spokesman who said that “There are feudal fights, factional rivalries, people settling old scores, people opposed to anti-drug operations.”.

...”There is no coordinated strategy between incidents. When there are areas of ungoverned space, where the rule of law is not in operation, it becomes a breeding ground for insurgent action.”

Much has been made of the Nato forces and the extension of their operations to the south and south east of the country. The British commander of the Nato forces has maintained that combat operations against insurgents will be added to the Nato mission of stabilisation and security after the command is merged in July this year. It is, however, known that many of the participating countries have said that their troops will only provide security and will not be available for offensive operations. The British have said that they will not be directly involved in the eradication of poppy but will provide “security conditions” for the Afghans who will been the direct responsibility for the anti opium campaign.

Nato has nevertheless maintained that Afghanistan is its top priority mission and it is sending its elite force, the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, to take on the task. “Nato cannot afford to fail in Afghanistan, for the whole world and the whole region,” said Himet Cetin, Nato’s civilian representative in Afghanistan. He went on to add that he planned to visit Pakistan where he will be building on a whole series of visits by European officials and the UN’s special representative. According to him “without the cooperation of the whole region we will not have stability.”

The UN’s special representative in Afghanistan during a recent visit to Pakistan called for Afghanistan and Pakistan to increase security cooperation to prevent the Taliban and other movements from destabilising their border region. There is no doubt that such instability exists. The occupation of Miran Shah by militants in early March was brought to an end but it is apparent from the reports in our own press that (in the words of the Guardian correspondent) “A vicious mini-war has erupted between the Pakistani army and the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan, a turbulent tribal area that has moved to the front line of the Pakistani and US war on terror. Every day sees fresh violence between the army and militants — a loose coalition of radical clerics, tribal leaders and Al Qaeda fighters.”

Just a few days ago our interior minister said that additional troops would need to be sent to Bajaur where the security situation had deteriorated after the killing of Al-Suri of the Al Qaeda. The inflammatory message from Al Qaeda’s No. 2 calling on Pakistanis to overthrow Musharraf, which received wide publicity in the region, has been followed in the tribal areas by the circulation of pamphlets by a group terming itself the Mujahideen of the Afghanistan Emirate, asking for the assassination of Musharraf.

The new Afghan foreign minister, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, has said that improving relations with Pakistan is his country’s foreign policy priority. This marks a change from the vitriolic exchanges that have characterised the relations between the two countries particularly since the visits of President Karzai and President Bush to Pakistan. The fact remains however that the Afghans still profess to believe that the Taliban raids in Afghanistan are financed and masterminded by Taliban leaders resident in Pakistan.

It is against this backdrop that one must view the statement by Henry Crumpton, the US state department’s coordinator for counterterrorism while in Kabul that Pakistan was not doing enough to eliminate Taliban safe havens in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Our indignation and outrage is understandable particularly given the fact that while in Pakistan Crumpton had made no such observations. But it should not have come as a surprise or as a revelation about American thinking on the subject. More or less the same message was given during President Bush’s visit requiring President Musharraf to provide a long and laboured explanation about the sincerity of the anti-terrorism strategy even while conceding that there may have been slippages in implementation.

President Musharraf can rightly claim that the situation in our tribal areas and the Talibanisation of the region which we cannot now fail to acknowledge was largely a product of actions taken during the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and was exacerbated when past governments sought to provide assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan. He can just as rightly claim, as the foregoing account of developments in Afghanistan shows, that Afghanistan’s current problems are largely of its own making.

This does not, however, change the fact that if Pakistan is to be a moderate, tolerant state the Taliban as much as the Al Qaeda must be recognised as a “common enemy” of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and whatever our differences with Kabul and whatever our misgivings about the activities of the Indian consulates in Afghanistan, we must make common cause with the Afghan and foreign forces there to eliminate the Taliban.

The writer is a former foreign secretary.

Opinion: Pakistan’s odds in Afghanistan

The News International 10 May 2006 Imtiaz Gul

Since the Afghanistan Reconstruction Steering Group (ARSG) Ministerial Pledging Conference -- Tokyo January 21-22, Pakistan has spent about $167 million on a variety of projects in Afghanistan. It has provided about 200 trucks, 45 ambulances and 10 buses to the Universities of Kabul and Nangarhar, as well as 34 computers to the Afghan government. The 75-km Torkham-Jalalabad highway is also close to completion.

Both governments are also working on the construction of a 150-bed hospital and a thalassaemia centre in Kabul, a 100-bed hospital in Logar province, and a complete block in the Kabul University as well as the Rehman Baba High School in the Capital.

Islamabad is also awaiting a final nod from the Afghan authorities for the construction of the 107-km Chaman-Kandahar railway line which it hopes will also boost trade and communications with Iran and Turkmenistan. Pakistan is also involved in several other small and big projects.

Pakistan’s archrival India is also omnipresent in Afghanistan. With consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar, Her’at and Mazar-i-Sharif, India has established other representative missions also to reportedly facilitate Indian private and State companies involved in the reconstruction process. This involvement spans from school and hospital buildings to road construction and telecommunications.

According to the Ministry of Information’s sources, besides providing satellite transponders to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence as well as the Afghan Radio & TV (RTA), the Indian government has now provided 24 channels through one of its satellites to enable the RTA to beam its radio and TV broadcast into as many provinces as possible.

"New Delhi has really gone into a culture and communication offensive in Afghanistan with a long term view," said a West European communications consultant based in Kabul. He added that Pakistani concerns at the massive Indian involvement made sense if viewed against the Indians’ involvement in almost all fields of life. India is also constructing the new Parliament House near the Kabul museum which observers say will most probably crown the Indian efforts to regain a foothold in Afghanistan.

Participation in the reconstruction process offers its own dividends for both countries but during a recent visit for an international conference on the role of the neighbouring countries in the reconstruction and security of Afghanistan, it became abundantly clear that while goodwill for India is on the rise, Pakistan has a mountain to climb to restore its image in Afghanistan.

Pakistan bashing seems to have become the favourite pastime of several Afghan leaders as well as the Afghan intelligentsia. Even during the conference, organised jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Hans Seidel Foundation (HSF), Pakistan drew quite a bit of flak from people in high places. It began with General Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Minister for Defence.

"Our enemy continues to receive recruits and resources from outside the country and retain the ability to disrupt daily life and inflict casualties especially on soft targets," Wardak said. "We know our country had been turned into the centre of international terrorism but the Afghan government and the people are determined not to allow it again," Wardak added without naming Pakistan.

A young officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yasin Rasooli, also sounded venomous when talking about the Taliban and al-Qaeda in his presentation about the security situation in the country. The Taliban have their ideological base in Pakistan, he said. On another occasion, he referred to the Durand Line as an "artificial border". This presentation was quite upsetting for its semantics and sounded like a public indictment of Pakistan which he suggested was still providing the Taliban with sanctuaries as well as ammunition for their cross-border activities.

An MP from Khost province, Haji Sabir Hussain, was equally critical of Pakistan’s alleged involvement with the Taliban. "Why don’t you shut down the training camps in Quetta?" he demanded with reference to the Pushtoonabad settlement in the city which houses mostly Afghans. This locality has become the common reference for the nexus between the Taliban and the Pakistani authorities. But the fact is that Pushtoonabad is an area where Afghans had settled down in the 1980s and 1990s and most of them continue to live there because of better social sector services.

Away from the conference, most of the private and official TV and radio stations, churned out, almost daily, information on reported arrests or killings of Pakistan-backed insurgents near the border regions. For four days running, the pattern remained the same.

Pakistan seems to be in a tight spot in Afghanistan. Officials as well as common Afghans fail to distinguish between what individual pro-Taliban elements are doing in the border regions and what the Pakistani government is doing to stem the flow and activities of these militants.

Officials simply refuse to believe that under international pressure and out of expedience, the Pakistani government finds itself in a difficult position and has had to change the direction of its foreign policy. Any act of subversion is simply blamed on the ISI and the Pakistan Army.

"Those Afghans who keep arraigning Pakistan for all the bad things in their country are probably doing it under external influence," said a Pakistani diplomatic official. He also spoke about the complaints that several ex-Mujahideen leaders -- now either part of the parliament or the government or opposition MPs -- nurture against Pakistan "for abandoning them."

The situation in Afghanistan seems to have put Pakistan on the defensive -- from the pro-active approach before 9/11 to a reactive one, based on what Kabul needs and demands as far as reconstruction and trade is concerned.

"We would really like to move forward and look into the future rather than glancing back," said a Pakistani official attending the international conference.

"The onus in this situation perhaps lies more on the Afghan leadership than on Pakistan; the anti-Pakistan rhetoric has to give way to friendly, accommodating and forward-looking gestures," said a European development consultant, currently working on security issues. "Blaming internal problems and their cause on external factors will not help in the reconstruction," he opined.

The writer is a correspondent of Voice of Germany (Deutsche Welle) based in Islamabad Email: vogul1960@yahoo.com

Get Hashemi out of Yale - Posted 5/10/2006 By Clinton W. Taylor

The only way Yale could have found someone less deserving of an American education than Taliban propagandist Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi is if university officials staged a jailbreak at Guantanamo Bay.

Hashemi, identified as a "senior adviser" to the Taliban and a "personal adviser" to Mullah Mohammed Omar, defended forcing the burqa on Afghan women.

He defended the assignment of Nazi-style identity badges to religious minorities. He defended the demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas. He defended the show trials and likely execution of Afghan apostates and Christian missionaries. He defended Osama bin Laden as a "good guy" and continued to defend him on Sept. 12, 2001.

So why is anyone defending Hashemi? Today, he calls Israel "America's al-Qaeda" and has never renounced nor apologized for the Taliban's atrocities. Instead, he shifts blame onto the Ministry of Vice and Virtue and pretends America is no better, claiming "(t)here were also executions in Texas."

American colleges have an important role in assisting the spread of democracy in the Islamic world. No one says Yale shouldn't reach out to educate the next generation of leaders in Afghanistan. But our troops are still fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan to ensure that generation won't include them. If there is a shortage of expertise in Afghanistan, that is all the more reason to educate someone new rather than propping up yesterday's failed tyrants. Sadly, Yale already turned away a program to admit qualified Afghani women in 2002.

Yale is no reform school. It is wasting its time trying to "reprogram" Hashemi — as if such a thing could even be done. He had great power, and great talent, which he used for evil ends. When Hashemi came to the USA in early 2001 to sell the Taliban's snake oil, he was older than would-be 9/11 hijacker Mohand al-Shehri, born in 1979. Hashemi, born in 1978, was an adult and made a reprehensible decision to serve a nightmarish regime. His choices should have consequences.

The Taliban is losing, but America is still at war. Hashemi has no more business at Yale today than would Josef Goebbels in 1944. Get him out of here.

Clinton W. Taylor, a lawyer and Ph.D. candidate at Stanford,

American activist finds her calling in Afghan hot spot - By Declan Walsh Boston Globe May 9, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- In a city where women are rarely seen, never mind heard, Sarah Chayes talks tough politics with rough men, drives her own car, and keeps a gun under her bed.

''It's a Kalashnikov. I've never had to use it except for a little target practice," she says. The macho image has helped the impassioned campaigner -- a self-described idealist from an accomplished Cambridge family steeped in academia and government service -- to carve out a role for herself in the troubled landscape of southern Afghanistan.

Since completing a tour as a reporter for National Public Radio in 2002, Chayes, 44, has made a home in Kandahar, became fluent in Pashto, one of the main Afghan languages, and devoted her energies to rebuilding a country gutted by two decades of war -- a unique mission for an American in a conservative city that was once the headquarters of Taliban rule.

She has helped rebuild homes and set up a dairy cooperative. Her latest venture involves encouraging farmers to grow roses instead of opium poppy.

Yet lately her enthusiasm has dissolved into disillusionment with the US-supported new order, which she describes as discredited, corrupt, and infected with drug money. But her biggest disappointment is President Hamid Karzai.

''I once believed passionately in President Karzai and his family. Not any more," Chayes, a talkative, tall woman with striking green eyes, said during a recent interview at her Kandahar office.

The same Taliban warlords who presided over the destruction of Afghanistan have been allowed return to power, she says, and the US-backed regime is fast losing legitimacy. For Chayes, a moment of truth came nearly one year ago with the death of a close friend, Muhammad Akrem Khakrezwal, the burly former police chief of Kandahar.

The two were unlikely buddies. They met shortly after Chayes arrived in Kandahar, when Khakrezwal tried to expel her from the city, claiming foreigners were not allowed to live there without official permission -- and was astonished at her stubborn refusals. But after several chats, they discovered they shared many ideas about the shape of the new Afghanistan.

''He was the most gifted public official I have known -- unerringly sophisticated and always trying to turn things for the better," Chayes said fondly, hooking a thumb toward a picture of Khakrezwal on the wall of her office, a discreet one-story building in a residential neighborhood.

Last June, he and 19 others were killed when a bomb ripped through a Kandahar mosque during a prayer service. Although government officials blamed the explosion on a suicide bomber, Chayes conducted her own investigation and concluded her friend was assassinated by a device planted at the behest of agents working for neighboring Pakistan, which many Afghans believe is continuing a decades-old policy of meddling in their affairs -- an allegation Pakistani officials strenuously deny.

The killing is the opening scene of her book ''Punishment of Virtue," to be published in August by Penguin Press. She describes the book as a mix of history and contemporary reporting and as ''an ant's view of how things developed after the fall of the Taliban in 2001."

Activism runs in Chayes's blood. Her father, Abram Chayes, was a legal adviser in the Kennedy administration and a distinguished law professor at Harvard. He died in 2000. Her mother, Antonia, served as undersecretary of the Air Force during the Carter administration and currently teaches at Tufts University.

That record of public service inspired Chayes to pursue journalism, and then nation-building.

After graduating from Harvard and spending two years in the Peace Corps in Morocco, she returned to Harvard to study for a graduate degree in Islamic history, but she struggled in academia, and became a researcher for Christian Science Monitor Broadcasting in Boston.

She reported for National Public Radio from 1997 until June 2001 from her base in Paris, and then agreed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to take on a three-month assignment for NPR covering the war in Afghanistan. She made her way to Kandahar, and lived with a family to be closer to the lives of ordinary Afghans. And still she was frustrated. As the US-led bombing campaign in Afghanistan abated, and the extremists melted into the countryside, she found it was more fulfilling to become part of the story instead of reporting it.

''Four and a half minutes [her longest report on NPR] can't convey much," she said. ''You want to roll up your sleeves and see if you can do it yourself."

There was plenty to do in Kandahar, a city of high-walled houses on the edge of a parched desert plain that has played a pivotal role in Afghan history for centuries.

With the encouragement of Azizullah Karzai, an uncle of President Karzai, Chayes collected money in the United States, established an aid agency to fund rebuilding projects, and set about repairing a bombed-out village on the outskirts of Kandahar. She also became something of a curiosity in a city where most women slip silently through the streets covered in powder-blue burkas.

Even now, she says with a smile, stallholders in the bazaar whisper among themselves ''Who is this animal?" when she passes, dressed in pants and a long-sleeve top. ''Then I reply in Pashto, and everyone laughs," she said. ''I don't back down easily," Chayes said. ''I think that wins me some respect."

It has also won her some enemies. Last year, Chayes found a bomb in a drain outside her front gate. The device didn't explode but the message was clear: Stay quiet.

Since arriving in Kandahar, Chayes has waded deep into the murky waters of local politics, criticizing the policies and conduct of such powerful figures as Gul Agha Sherzai, a onetime warlord who was appointed governor of Kandahar after 2001. Afghan critics say she has meddled in areas that are none of her business.

President Karzai moved Sherzai to Nangarhar Province in June 2005, but Chayes says that Kandahar politics is still rife with unsavory characters, some related to Karzai. So now she has turned to business to make a difference.

In May 2005, Chayes set up the Arghand cooperative (www.arghand.org), a privately funded venture that buys products from local farmers and turns them into seven varieties of soaps. The scents are extracted from roses, wild apricots, pomegranate seeds, and various herbs. The hand-molded soaps resemble lumps of polished marbles and reflect the rich terrain of southern Afghanistan.

''The fruit in this area has such mystique," she said. ''The 11th century Persian poetry talks of the pomegranates of Kandahar."

The project is funded with about $70,000 in private donations from across the United States. A lawyer in San Francisco gave $15,000; smaller amounts came from donors in Massachusetts towns including Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington, she said.

Chayes admits that the many hurdles of running an export business from a war-ravaged city make her venture quixotic. The soaps, which retail for $6 each, are shipped from the local US military base, and she relies on volunteers to find buyers in the United States. In the Boston area the soaps are stocked at Essentia in Wellesley.

And achieving the project's principal goal -- weaning frightened, poverty-stricken Afghans off poppy, the crop used to make heroin -- is not easy. The handful of farmers who grow roses for the cooperative live in Panjwayi, 20 minutes from Kandahar and the scene of a major Taliban battle three weeks ago. It is so dangerous that Chayes dares not visit.

But she insists that small starts can make a big difference. ''This is the only way to beat heroin," she said. ''We have to re-weave the economic fabric of the country so that people will have too much to lose from a return to war."

Chayes dreams of the day when Kandahar's citizens will reclaim their city from the extremists now threatening it. ''This could be a beacon for this country, if it were turned around," she said.

[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.]