In this bulletin:

• 20 nations meet in India to deepen cooperation on Afghanistan
• NATO Apologizes as Troops Kill 2 Afghan Civilians, Injure Child
• Dutch at odds with NATO Afghan strategy
• Afghan, NATO forces remove bomb in school
• US general calls for reconstruction boost in Afghanistan
• NATO chief in Italian paper argues for more NATO role in Afghanistan
• Germany Assailed for Training Afghan Police Poorly
• Newly-appointed Afghan governor offers olive branch to insurgents
• Afghan governor against empowering tribal chieftains
• Former Afghan president pessimistic about planned tribal jergas.
• Afghanistan's Bid for Foreign Investment a Tough Sale
• Afghan gov't accepts bids from 9 foreign companies to explore cooper mine
• BRAC Afghanistan Bank opens
• IFC to invest in BRAC Afghanistan Bank
• Efforts to build Afghan road illuminate challenges, possibilities
• Afghanistan: ISAF provides renewable electricity to 300 families
• Conference held in western Afghanistan on growing saffron instead of poppies
• ‘Pakistan must not harbour Taliban’
• Pakistan's ambitions in Afghanistan leading to region's Talibanisation
• Where the Taliban and al-Qaida cross-fertilize
• Afghan private Tolo TV broadcasts banned in Pakistan
• Wolesi Jirga approves MPs privileges

20 nations meet in India to deepen cooperation on Afghanistan

AFP 11/17/2006 - KABUL - Around 20 countries and a host of world bodies are to meet in the Indian capital this weekend to work on regional economic cooperation to help stabilise destitute and insurgency-hit Afghanistan.

The November 18-19 conference will address obstacles to trade and ways to attract investment to post-Taliban Afghanistan, including by boosting its supply of electricity which reaches only 10 percent of the population.

The Second Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan will also look at agro-development, officials said this week.

The first conference, held in Kabul a year ago, agreed the supply of power is essential to boosting the economy and undercutting the massive illicit drugs trade, the main economic activity said to fuel the Taliban insurgency.

The meeting will be opened by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

It is due to be attended by representatives of Afghanistan's neighbours, including India's rival Pakistan, and other key backers, among them Britain, Canada, Russia and the United States.

Delegates from international bodies such as the United Nations, World Bank and other global groups have also been invited.

The conference comes a week after the release of a gloomy report that says the escalating insurgency in Afghanistan and other obstacles had meant progress has been "slow or non-existent".

Violence linked to a Taliban-led insurgency that killed 3,700 people this year, four times more than in 2005, had diverted resources from reconstruction and development, the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) said.

"While the growth rate for the economy this year is expected to be around nine percent, this is still not sufficient to generate in a relatively short time the large numbers of new jobs necessary to substantially reduced poverty or overcome widespread popular disaffection," it said.

Private sector investment was low and held back by insecurity, crime, corruption, limited access to financing and a lack of reliable energy, among a range of factors, it said.

A separate JCMB report said the upcoming New Delhi conference would "promote further regional economic integration as a means to ease political and security tensions in the region".

It said there had been progress in the transit of goods throughout the region including a project to build a road to link Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with the Iranian port of Bandar-Abbas.

There was also movement in the energy sector with accords between Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan on the supply of energy to power-needy Afghanistan, it said.

The conference comes amid tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the roots of the Taliban insurgency, each accusing each other of not doing enough to tackle the sources of violence including fundamentalist religious schools that promote anti-Western "jihad".

Afghanistan and India meanwhile enjoy good relations, with New Delhi one of the main donors to the post-Taliban country, granting 652 million dollars to various projects since 2001.

Islamabad, which supported the Taliban government, has accused Kabul of being under New Delhi's influence. "The more the bilateral relations get better, the more it is a concern for Pakistan," Afghan analyst Waheed Mujda told AFP.

Pakistan and India are both pushing for clout in Afghanistan, which holds a key geostrategic position between the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia.

NATO Apologizes as Troops Kill 2 Afghan Civilians, Injure Child

By Ed Johnson - Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- International troops shot dead two Afghan civilians and injured a child in a vehicle that drove toward a patrol at high speed and ignored warnings to stop, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said.

The incident happened two days ago in southern Helmand province, where the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is battling Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents seeking to destabilize President Hamid Karzai's government.

The deaths, which follow the killing of at least 12 civilians in fighting on Oct. 24, are a potential set back for NATO, which is trying to win the support of Afghan locals as it seeks to quell the insurgency.

``We do have a problem,'' U.K. Lieutenant General David Richards, who heads ISAF, told lawmakers in the Afghan parliament yesterday as he apologized for civilian casualties, Agence France-Presse reported.

``The people who are trying to impose a different way of life on this country hide and fight from amongst your people,'' Richards said, adding it is difficult to distinguish between civilians and enemies ``when the bullets start flying.''

The civilians were killed seven kilometers (four miles) north of the town of Gereshk when their van sped toward a ISAF patrol and failed to stop when troops tried to flag the vehicle down, the alliance said in a statement.

``The troops subsequently fired in self defense,'' the e- mailed statement said. ``ISAF deeply regrets the loss of life and injury to civilians.''

The United Nations last month demanded an inquiry into the number of civilians killed Oct. 24 when NATO troops clashed with Taliban fighters in southern Kandahar province.

ISAF spokesman Major Luke Knittig said at the time at least 12 civilians were killed. Local Afghan officials said as many as 85 civilians died.

Fighters loyal to the Taliban regime that was ousted in 2001 have stepped up their guerrilla war as NATO pushes into the country's southern and eastern provinces.

Attacks by the Taliban have doubled this year, with an increased use of suicide bombings, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Maples told the Senate Armed Services Committee two days ago.

``Al-Qaeda remains committed to re-establishing a fundamentalist Islamic government in Afghanistan,'' he said, according to a U.S. government transcript of the hearing.

The network has ``strengthened its capabilities and influence'' in Pashtun tribal communities in the country's east and south where central government influence is limited, Maples added, according to the transcript.

``We will not be defeated,'' AFP cited Richards as telling Afghan senators yesterday. ``I can assure you there is no chance of it as long as you continue to give us your support.''

Dutch at odds with NATO Afghan strategy

Reuters - 11/16/2006 AMSTERDAM - The Dutch army leadership disagree with NATO's strategy of heavy combat operations in Afghanistan to keep the Taliban under control, fearing it would fuel more turmoil, a Dutch newspaper reported on Thursday.

NRC Handelsblad quoted unnamed sources at the defence ministry as saying tension had emerged between the Netherlands and its NATO partners, the United States, Britain and Canada, over the Afghan peacekeeping mission.

British, Dutch and Canadian forces are fighting a revived Taliban insurgency in the south of Afghanistan. The U.S.-led military alliance is facing fierce resistance from Taliban fighters in its biggest and most complex military operation.

Sources told the NRC, a conservative newspaper widely respected in the Netherlands, that the Dutch chief of staff of the armed forces, Dick Berlijn, had taken a tough stance against his NATO partners.

He told NATO allies in September that the mission should not be about eliminating the Taliban but winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and maintaining support by the parliaments of NATO member countries, the paper said.

"Continued fighting is a signal for both the Afghans and the capitals (of NATO allies) that the mission is not going well," a source told the NRC. "We don't want to give that signal."

A spokesman for the Dutch defence ministry said the newspaper report was exaggerated and denied that there was tension between the Netherlands and its NATO partners. He acknowledged, however, that there were some disagreements.

"In a difficult operation like this, it is normal to have some disagreements. But it is nothing major, it is on small things on the execution of the strategy," the spokesman said.

"The chief of staff of the armed forces is in constant talks with his partners ... Most of the time they agree, sometimes they disagree. There is intense discussion," he added.

The U.S.-led military alliance has called for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan but has been having trouble getting members to fill the gap.

On Monday, Britain and the Netherlands urged the European Union to take responsibility for training Afghan police to help the embattled NATO peacekeeping force.

More than 3,100 people, about a third of them civilians, have died in the fighting this year, the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban's strict Islamist government in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Afghan, NATO forces remove bomb in school

Paktribun November 16, 2006 - KABUL: Afghan and NATO troops removed a bomb in a school in Paktika province of eastern Afghanistan, said a statement of NATO troops received on Wednesday.

The bomb was found by Afghan forces in a school of Chankolay village in Urgan district, it said, adding Afghan and NATO troops coordinated the removal and disposal of the bomb.

Paul Fitzpatrick, a spokesman of NATO troops, said many children's lives were probably spared in the incident, which happened on Monday.

The statement did not mention who had planted the bomb and what motivation was behind it. However, extremists, who oppose education for girls, have launched attacks on girls' schools in this country from time to time.

On July 3, an explosion in Herat University in the western Herat province killed one girl student and injured six others in a girls' classroom.

US general calls for reconstruction boost in Afghanistan

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

Kabul, 15 November: Top US military commander in Afghanistan Gen Benjamin C Freakly has said that Afghanistan needed reconstruction to strengthen security.

Speaking at a news conference here on Wednesday [15 November], the US commander said areas, where the Operation Eagle had been completed, needed reconstruction projects and must be concentrated on that.

The operation was launched in the southern and southeastern regions of the country a few months back to eliminate Taleban militants.

Paktika Governor Dr Akram Khpalwak, Ghazni Governor Merajoddin Patan, commander of 203 Atal Military Corps in Kandahar Abdul Khaliq Khaliq and some other military officials were also present during the press conference.

The American general said he had discussed the security and reconstruction in those areas with the provincial officials for three hours. He hoped the reconstruction projects would help ensure security.

Speaking on the occasion, ANA [Afghan National Army] commander General Khaliq said they had killed many foreigners during the Operation Eagle while several others were capture alive.

Paktika Governor Dr Khpalwak alleged the militants had their bases in the neighbouring Pakistan and they were crossing the border to disrupt security in Afghanistan.

NATO chief in Italian paper argues for more NATO role in Afghanistan

Text of article by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, entitled "In Afghanistan NATO must do a lot more", published by Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore on 14 November

On 13 November 2001 the forces of the international coalition and the Northern Alliance liberated Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. This sort of event, in practice, determined the removal from power of the Taleban, and the loss for Al-Qa'idah of the possibility of using the Afghan territory as a refuge from which to launch terrorist attacks.

13 November 2001 represented an historic date for the Afghan people, because it marked their release from a dire oppressor. And it also had huge importance in the eyes of the international community, because it marked the start of a process of international support which is essential for the consolidation of a new Afghanistan, one that is democratic, stable, and no longer an exporter of a lack of security.

Five years on, what is the result? Have the conditions been created for an improvement in the living conditions of the population? Can we claim, as players in the international community, that we have more security?

The answer is clearly in the affirmative. Five years ago a real national government did not exist, nor, least of all, did any semblance of democracy. Today an ambitious election process has been completed which has led to the approval of a new Constitution, as well as the election of a President, a National Assembly, and Provincial Councils.

During the Taleban regime women were completely excluded from society and from political life. These same women are now represented in the government. There are 87 women sitting on the National Assembly, a number equal to 25 per cent of the total number of MPs. Five years ago, not a single girl could go to school. Today an average of four children out of 10 enrolled at school are girls. Eighty per cent of the population have access to a healthcare service on a scale 10 times greater than in 2001. For a country like Afghanistan, this represents an extremely significant phase of development. Almost 6 million children go to school, six times more than in 2001, in relative terms. The number of enrolments at high school has reached 40,000, an increase which is 10 times larger than the trend five years ago. The economy has tripled in the course of the last five years, and individual income has doubled.

There are two further indicators of the progress which is being made in Afghanistan. First and foremost, the number of refugees who are returning to their home country is constantly on the increase. Four million refugees have already returned to their respective homes. Second, the population is able to see for itself the benefits of our assistance. A survey carried out on a large scale across the country this year shows that 84 per cent of the people interviewed believe that they are in a better situation today than they were during the Taleban regime. In the view of 76 per cent, the security context has improved.

Clearly there is still a huge amount of work to be completed. The government has to redouble its efforts in the fight against corruption. And foster a substantial programme to reform the public administration, at all levels, so as to create the conditions to see to it that the institutions function, and that the people can place their confidence in their own democratically elected representatives.

In addition, the United Nations, the G8, bilateral donors, and the community of NGOs must increase their support in favour of the government. This, owing to the fact that NATO does not, by itself, carry out economic development activities, since its responsibility is essentially to create the conditions whereby economic development activities can gain a foothold.

Obviously, NATO also can and must do more. It is our duty, for example, to help the Afghan army to increase its defence abilities. Likewise, we must improve the means by which we finance our mission, as well as get rid of those restrictions placed by contributor countries on their respective national contingents which operate under the NATO/ISAF aegis.

At the end of the month the 26 heads of State and heads of government are to meet up in Riga. Afghanistan will constitute the main topic for discussion. I am firmly convinced that we will close this important rendezvous encouraged by a renewed awareness of the progress which has been made, and by the fact that a firm determination to take the further steps necessary for consolidating the Afghan stabilization process is being maintained.

Germany Assailed for Training Afghan Police Poorly

International Herald Tribune - 11/15/2006 By Judy Dempsey

BERLIN — Germany is coming under severe criticism for failing to train an effective Afghan police force to provide security for the local population and help NATO against Taliban insurgents in the south, according to military officials and defense experts.

The criticism of Germany, which has been leading the program to train the Afghan police since 2002, comes as the European Union — under pressure from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to play a greater role in providing security — agreed Tuesday to send a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan to study taking over the project.

"I strongly believe that we should strengthen our efforts to build up the police force and that we should ask ourselves if our contribution to reforming the political institutions, especially the rule of law, is sufficient," the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said Monday at a meeting of European Union foreign and defense ministers in Brussels.

So far, Germany has only 41 police officers involved in training the Afghan police. Since 2002, it has spent 70 million euros, or $89.7 million, in training 16,000 police, most of them officers and noncommissioned officers. In comparison, the United States has spent $862.2 million to train 40,000 police, mostly highway and border personnel. By 2007, a total of 62,000 police will have been trained by Germany, the United States and Norway, according to the German Foreign Ministry.

Germany has 2,900 troops based in the relatively calm northern region of Kunduz, but has refused a request by NATO to send some of those troops to the volatile south.

"Germany has a strong presence in Afghanistan," Chancellor Angela Merkel said. "We have taken responsibility for the north."

Mr. Steinmeier said the security and stabilization work in the north should not be jeopardized by sending soldiers south. Politicians from across the political spectrum have also rejected calls by President Horst Köhler for the government to become more involved in the reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

Germany's record in training the Afghan police has come under particular scrutiny as NATO and the European Union try to coordinate the military, civilian and development efforts to prevent the south from falling into the hands of warlords and drug cartels.

NATO's top military commander, Gen. James L. Jones, has repeatedly criticized Germany's role in training the Afghan police and the police's inability to protect civilians. "The training has been very disappointing," General Jones said in a recent interview.

A spokesman for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, Mark Laity, said: "The police training is not a success area at present. The performance of the police in the south has been disappointing."

Another NATO official based in Kabul said the Afghan police were "badly trained, badly paid and subject to bribery and corruption."

Barnett R. Rubin, director of studies and senior fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, said: "The two fatal weak points in Afghanistan's government today are the Ministry of the Interior and the judiciary."

He told the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently that both "are pervaded by corruption and lack basic skills, equipment and resources.

"Without effective and honest administrators, police or judges, the state can do little to provide internal security," Mr. Rubin added.

He said that commanders who had been demobilized by the Defense Ministry had found positions in the Interior Ministry.

"The latter became the main body providing protection to drug traffickers," said Mr. Rubin. "Positions such as police chief in poppy-producing districts are sold to the highest bidder. The going rate was reported to be $100,000 for a six-month appointment to a position, with a salary of $60 per month."

General Jones, who was also giving testimony to the committee, said NATO was trying to ensure that the police were being paid their full salaries by banks instead of waiting for the ministry to pay them.

"The intention is to expand the program where the banking capacity exists," the general said. "This has, in our opinion, had a positive impact on the Afghan National Police."

German legislators say one of the main reasons the Afghan police appear to be so badly trained is because of the way the German police officers themselves are trained for such missions.

Johannes Kahrs, a Social Democrat legislator, said: "If you are going to send police abroad to train or rebuild security forces, you have to have a proper training system.

"Germany places a great deal of emphasis on stabilization and development assistance," he added, "but that means you have to have a proper integrated system with security and development working closely. This is still lacking."

The Foreign Ministry said today that the government was constantly assessing the role of the police while awaiting the outcome of the European Union's fact-finding mission. "The big problem is corruption and the security situation, and what happens to the police once they return home to take up duty."

Newly-appointed Afghan governor offers olive branch to insurgents

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

Kabul, 15 November: The newly-appointed governor of the southeastern Paktia Province Rahmatollah Rahmat has asked all the dissidents to lay down their arms and settle disputes at the negotiation table.

Rahmat was appointed by President Hamed Karzai at the recommendation of the Interior Ministry. He was introduced to the provincial officials in Gardez, capital of the province, during a meeting on Wednesday [15 November].

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, the governor said maintaining security in the province was his top priority.

The most important steps to strengthen security were ending administrative corruption, improvement in efficiency of all the government departments, eradication of drugs, launching of reconstruction projects and collection of arms from irresponsible men.

The new governor said he would start negotiations with the dissidents to bring them into the folds of government by addressing their valid demands and grievances.

He said a large number of irresponsible armed men still existed in the province who will be asked to surrender arms under the second phase of the Disarmament of Irresponsible Armed Groups (DIAG) programme.

Regarding the reconstruction projects in the province, the governor said he would push the international community to start small and large welfare and reconstruction projects in the province to improve social and financial condition of the people.

The foremost among the problems faced by the people of Paktia was non-availability of electricity, said the governor, who vowed to start electricity generation projects with the help of the Ministry of Energy and Water.

As a second option, he pointed out, they could import electricity from the neighbouring Pakistan on temporary basis.

"I am not against import of electricity from the neighbouring country." However, the country should rely on its own means and resources as for as longstanding goals are concerned.

Regarding other reconstruction projects, the new governor said his plans included construction of paved roads, a big seminary in Gardez and preservation of forests. He said all citizens could approach him any time for solution of their problems.

Before being picked up as governor by President Hamed Karzai, Rahmatollah Rahmat was in charge of political affairs wing of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). He worked in that position in Khost, Paktia and Paktika provinces. The 51-year-old is resident of the Rodat District of the eastern Nangarhar Province.

Afghan governor against empowering tribal chieftains

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

Kabul, 15 November: Maintaining security under the influence of tribal elders has raised apprehensions in the people of bordered provinces, including, Helmand, Khost and Paktika.

The concern was raised when government and NATO-led ISAF forces planned to empower tribal chieftains to maintain law and order situation in the troubled bordered provinces.

The issue was further deepened when power was transferred to tribal elders of Musa Qala District in the volatile southern Helmand Province. The southeastern Khost is also one of such provinces where both government and NATO forces were using tribal elders and their private militia to restore peace in the region.

Amir Shah Kargar, an analyst of the province, termed transferring of power to the tribal elders as retreat and defeat of the government troops. He said the country system was a spying system. Kargar said: "This style of system would be cruelty with the people."

Governor of Khost Arsala Jamal is also against empowering the tribal elders and dubbed such system as fruitless. He stressed strengthening government troops in the area instead of sharing power with the tribal elders.

Head of the Tribal Solidarity Council in Khost Ghazi Nawaz Tani said intervention of the neighbouring countries had weakened role of the tribal elders in the region. He said the weakness of the tribal elders had also affected the strength of the government in the province.

He said empowerment of the tribal elders by the government would abridge the gap between government and people and thus would improve security. Faruq Daud, elder of Ahmadkhel tribe, said history showed that tribal elders had filled the vacuum created by the government. He said: "Security cannot be restored until tribal elders were empowered and tribal structure was refined."

Reaction to the transferring of power by people showed that most of the tribal elders and their supporters are backing the act. Khan Mir, a tribal elder of Khair Kot, told this news agency in the past tribal chieftains were given due share in the government and the act should be adopted again.

Minister for Tribal Affairs Abdol Karim Brahaui also realized importance of empowering tribal elders in the bordered areas. He said: "I believe that besides, Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan police, tribal chieftains should also be given due role in maintaining law and order situation and administrative affairs."

He said these elders had great acquaintance of recognizing the terrorists, drug-traffickers and the geographic status of the area than all. Some experts termed empowering the tribal chieftains as tantamount to disintegration of the country.

A renowned writer and analyst Wahid Mojda told this news agency the act would weaken the government in the border provinces and would also provide a good chance to foreign meddling in the country affairs. He said: "Tribal system may not only harm the Pashtuns, but can also cause disintegration of Afghanistan."

Former Afghan president pessimistic about planned tribal jergas

Former Afghan President Borhanoddin Rabbani has said that he is not optimistic about the outcome of the planned tribal jergas on either side of the Afghan-Pakistan border, saying their decisions are legally non-binding and difficult to enforce. In an interview with the private Afghan TV channel, Ariana, he said the insurgency was not a problem of a single ethnic group and therefore necessitated debate at the Grand Assembly. He supported President Karzai's talks offer with opponents if there was no" hidden agenda". Bellow is excerpt from interview by Ariana TV on 15 November:

At the tripartite talks in the USA, the government of Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to organize jergas to help tackle disputes as well as insecurity in Afghanistan. We now have an interview with the former president, Borhanoddin Rabbani, who is an MP in the Afghan parliament now.

[Presenter] Thank you for this interview. What is your opinion about the coming [tribal] jergas in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

[Rabbani] In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate. First of all, I am against of the misconception that a single ethnic group in Afghanistan alone is involved in tension and wars. I do not believe that the problem of Taleban is a Pashtun issue alone, nor it is specific to a particular area. Neither it is for them alone to discuss this problem through jergas. Since the issue is not specific to a particular ethnic group or class, I am in the belief that we are not able to resolve the problem through copied and informal [Dari: orfi] jergas. This could play a part though. I am in the opinion that the authorities, governments, parliaments and political parties of the two countries discuss the matter because this is not a simple issue. Due to its complex dimensions the international community got involved in Afghanistan. Therefore, we should not limit the [Taleban] issue to specific areas.

[Presenter] Don't you think this mechanism [jerga] might work?

[Rabbani] When President Karzai broke the news of the planned jergas upon his return from the USA, I explicitly told him that he should not have brought up this matter there [USA]. Because, it was something that we could have discussed here. Instead, he should have brought up more important issues there. Anyway, since this effort is under way now, we should make serious efforts to make good out of it although I do not expect too much out of it. The jerga that is stipulated in our constitution is the Loya Jerga [Grand Assembly]. This matter should have been discussed in that assembly.

[Passage omitted: again saying not optimistic; such jergas' decisions cannot be binding because they are unconstitutional]

[Rabbani] Assuming that the jergas' decisions become binding, will the two countries abide by them if they are not to their likings. Who will enforce these decisions? The USA, the international community, who? Therefore, I think there are many problems with the jergas' mechanism and then with their outcomes.

[Passage omitted: saying comprehensive national and international efforts are needed for peace, resolving disputes with Pakistan.]

[Presenter] What do think of President Karzai's talk offer with opponents?

[Rabbani] I have no specific view about this but wish to make a few points here. If the aim is to bring peace and reconciliation amongst Afghans and allow reconstruction of the country, then it is a good thing. If there is a hidden agenda, as was the case with the Taleban's emergence [in 1994], which we latter realized was a conspiracy aiming at the toppling the mojahedin government, [sentence incomplete]. Therefore, everything is not very clear to me yet. The sharp policy twist towards the Taleban and [Hezb-e Eslami Leader Golboddin] Hekmatyar is questionable to me also, and I raised my concerns with the president and asked him to make it clear. Anyway, we hope to move towards peace, nationwide security will prevent the country from slipping into another round of violence, problems and crises.

[Presenter] As a politician, influential political figure and as the leader of Jamiat-e Eslami Party, do you favour talks with Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar?

[Rabbani] I am not discussing individuals. If the aim is to bring peace [interrupted by presenter, Rabbani continuing] there is no doubt that Hekmatyar and Mullah Omar have committed many crimes in the past. But when the government takes responsibility of the talks with them, then we will be awaiting for their outcomes. If we embark on rejecting every government's effort, then it is tantamount to opposing peace in our country.

[Presenter] Then, you are not rejecting the offer?

[Rabbani] It is up to the government. We are waiting for outcomes.

[Presenter] How sure you are that peace could be achieved in Afghanistan with the involvement of Hekmatyar and Mullah Omar?

[Rabbani] Mullah Omar or the Taleban have explicitly announced their position, rejecting the offer. However, Hekmatyar has attached some conditions.

[Presenter] Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has recently announced that no country will be allowed to enter Pakistan to fight terrorism there. At the same time, Afghanistan calls for tackling terrorism at it is origin, which means in Pakistan's territory. Also, the US stance is not clear as to whether it wishes to take the fight on terrorism to Pakistan's territory or not. What is your opinion?

[Rabbani] Afghanistan is calling for foreign interference to cease. This is a legitimate demand and we expect our neighbours to avoid interfering in our country. The international community and we are of the opinion that wars, killings or bombing are not solutions to terrorism alone. Many other alternatives, such as political and economic pressure and frank talks, could resolve a lot of problems. The government has a legitimate demand and that is for the outside interference to cease and it has no wish for the war to expand in the region. As we are against the war in our own country we are not in favour of war in other countries either.

[Presenter] Mr Professor, has the Northern Alliance retained its strength or is it dissolved?

[Rabbani] The term 'Northern Alliance' was created by the media in the past; it is real name was the United Front. After the fall of the Taleban, some believed that the United Front should maintain its cohesion, expand and include more people from every province. Initially, we continued discussions for a few weeks. But, some friends suggested that we discontinue such discussions to avoid international community's suspicions that we were not honouring the Bonn Agreement. My advice was to continue some sort of existence and even I discussed this with President Karzai. I asked him to help me with making the front go nationwide and bring unity between north and south by introducing some of his close contracts to me so I could pay visits to the south to remove the misconceptions that the war was between north and south. I wanted to prove that it was a foreign conspiracy that divided the south and north, not internal issues. I did travel to those regions and achieved very good results. The visit extended from Kandahar to Helmand and as far as Badghis and bore very good results. I also invited elders of those areas to make similar visits to the north in order to help national understanding and tackle insecurity in the country. However, due to rumours by ill-wishers the issue was somewhat ignored and it did not take hold. Under the current situation, once again I am in the opinion that a united front, under whatever name or formula, is needed to be formed. What is needed is that everyone, all parties, all ethnic groups and politicians get together because one party or ethnic group cannot resolve this crisis alone.

[Presenter] How is your relations with the heads of the United Front, such as [Parliament Speaker] Qanuni, [former Foreign Minister] Dr Abdollah and [former Defence Minister] Martial Fahim?

[Rabbani] We have very close relations for quite sometime and have meetings. Not only with them, also have had meetings with other people who were associated with the front, as well as other influential figures and political groups who had had no connections with the United Front. We are hoping to pave conditions for parties, groups and politicians in the near future to take a historic step towards helping security, reconciliation, reconstruction and national understanding at this historic juncture. [Presenter] Thank you.

Afghanistan's Bid for Foreign Investment a Tough Sale

By Gary Thomas – Washington 16 November 2006

More than 20 years of foreign occupation and civil war has left much of Afghanistan in ruins. As part of its rebuilding effort, the Afghan government is trying to lure foreign investment. But as VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, Afghanistan is not an easy sale to potential investors.

In 2004, three years after the Taleban regime was toppled, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress the doors to Afghanistan were open to investors.

"To succeed we ask for your continued investment. Afghanistan is open for business, and American companies are most welcome," he said.

Today the Afghan capital Kabul boasts a gleaming shopping mall and one new luxury hotel. Unfortunately, it also has a reinvigorated insurgency inflicting new attacks, a booming drug trade, and what one U.N. official labeled "endemic corruption", any one of which makes potential investors nervous.

Yet Afghanistan continues an aggressive campaign to attract foreign investment. At a recent Afghan trade fair in Washington, Atiq Panjshiri, president of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce, said Afghanistan poses potential risks for investors, but also holds great potential rewards.

"The recent surge in the level of violence and security issues, that's a concern of any businessperson anywhere in the world. You have to be concerned. You have to protect your investment. But it should not be a deterrent. Afghanistan has great opportunities for the investor. The government is probably the most friendly in that part of the world for an open market system, and they have a great partnership with the private sector," he said.

The government scored a major business coup when the Coca-Cola Company opened a $25 million state-of-the-art bottling plant in Kabul in September, with President Karzai himself inaugurating the plant. Kedri Ozen, the company's communications manager for Eurasia and the Middle East, said Coke already had distribution and manufacturing facilities across Central Asia, and Afghanistan was what he calls the "missing link" in Coca-Cola's regional network.

Proponents of Afghan investment tend to downplay security concerns and underscore what they say is the stability of a democratic government in Kabul.

Commerce Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang says the media overstates the level of violence.

Karl Inderfurth, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asia, agrees, saying the security problems of the resurgent Taleban are local, not national.

"The central government is certainly doing all it can to attract investment. An agency has been established for precisely that purpose. A great deal of Afghanistan is also stable and secure. The problem areas right now are in the south," he said.

But Barnett Rubin, who was a special U.N. advisor during the 2001 talks that produced an interim government, says the Kabul government is shaky because its inability to provide basic services to much of the population has fuelled resentment.

"I think we saw it last May, when riots took place in Kabul, how unstable the government was. People at the very top of that government were afraid that the government might be overthrown, that there was a danger to the government. They saw how easy it was for a group of rioters to attack the central government," he said.

But what is the business climate in Afghanistan? A recent World Bank study ranked countries around the world on the ease of doing business. Of the 175 countries ranked, Afghanistan came in near the bottom at 162. Melissa Johns, a World Bank investment policy specialist who worked on the study, says they found that while it was relatively easy to start a business in Afghanistan, there was still plenty of red tape bureaucracy and no legal framework to protect investors.

"Afghanistan just frankly doesn't have any legal protections against these matters. Not only are there no disclosure requirements, but the directors can't be held liable for any misdeeds that they do while running the company," she said.

She adds that Afghanistan implemented no real business reforms in the past year. "This government that has been in place for a couple of years now has been very optimistic and very open to change and improvement. But I was surprised not to have seen any reforms in Afghanistan last year. I hope we find something different for next year's report. I hope that we see that more legislation has been passed, that more steps have been taken to improve the business environment," she said.

Analysts also cite the slow rebuilding of infrastructure, such as roads and electricity, and corruption as impediments to luring more investment to Afghanistan. During a just-completed U.N. fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, delegation head Kenzo Oshima called on the government to do more to fight what he called "endemic corruption" as well as the flourishing illicit drug trade in the country.

Afghan gov't accepts bids from 9 foreign companies to explore cooper mine

Xinhua 11/15/2006 - The Afghan government has accepted bid documents from nine foreign companies to explore the Ainak deposit containing huge copper reserves, daily newspapers Outlook said on Wednesday.

The government would finalize name of the successful bidder for the mine, which locates in the central Logar province, in four to five months, Minister of Mines Ibrahim Adil told a press conference on Tuesday, the newspaper said.

He said a total of 13 foreign companies had submitted bid documents, and the government chose nine in the first run, among which are companies from China, Russia, Canada, the United States, Australia, Kazakhstan and India.

With an estimated 12 million tones of copper, the Ainak deposit is believed as one of the biggest copper reservoirs, according to Adil.

A World Bank analysis indicated the Ainak copper production could capture as much as 2 percent of the annual world market, as well as vast coal deposits and many other deposits that could spur major development.

Adil said the exploration of the mine would generate 200 million U.S. dollars to the government annually, and provide job opportunity for 3,000 Afghans.

A small town, having offices and houses, would be constructed close to the site to facilitate officials and workers of the company, which gets right to explore the mine, he added.

In the coming months, the mines ministry's officials would thoroughly review various documents of the companies involved in the leasing out of natural reserves.

Adil said the company, which has the biggest bid and possess the best technology and strong financial support, would be announced successful in the bidding, assuring the whole process would be transparent.

BRAC Afghanistan Bank opens

The New Nation (Bangladesh) - Tue, 14 Nov 2006, 08:20:00

BRAC Afghanistan Bank was formally inaugurated in Kabul on 9th November by its Chairman, M.H. Abed, Founder and Chairperson of the international development NGO, BRAC Noorullah Delawari, Governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan, was present at the opening ceremony.

On the occasion, Abed said "We were encouraged to establish BRAC Afghanistan Bank based on our experience with BRAC's extensive development activities in Afghanistan and the successful operations of BRAC Bank in Bangladesh. We felt that there was a need for a bank in Afghanistan to provide a continuous source of finance for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs. As a part of the financial sector, BRAC Afghanistan Bank will contribute to the development of broad based financial services and thereby assist in the growth of the Afghan economy."

Delawari lauded BRAC's initiative in setting up a bank in Afghanistan for focus on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which so not have access to finance. He described BRAC Bank's system of providing collateral-free loans to the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs as unique.

The opening ceremony was also attended by ministers, ambassador's senior government officials as well as leaders of business organisations, NGOs and multilateral agencies.

Following the opening of the Bank, on the 10th of November, Abed met the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, to discuss BRAC Afghanistan's development activities and BRAC Afghanistan Bank's future business plans.

BRAC Afghanistan Bank (BAB) is a full service Commercial Bank with a special focus on the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Sector. It is jointly owned by BRAC, International Finance Corporation (IFC) of World Bank, Shorecap International, USA and Triodos Bank of The Netherlands and managed by a Bangladeshi team, lead by Mr. Ehsanul Haque (previously the CEO) of BRAC Bank Ltd. (BBL) in Bangladesh) and Shawkat Hossain (former Head of BBL's SME division).

In Afghanistan, as in most other developing countries, the SME sector has immense potential but remains largely underserved. Providing financial services to this market ensures employment generation and economic growth in this regard, BAB will mobilise deposits from institutional, commercial and retail sectors and use these funds to finance the SME sector in Afghanistan. The Inward Remittance Market of Non-Resident Afghanis will also be a thrust area for the Bank.

IFC to invest in BRAC Afghanistan Bank

KABUL, Nov 14 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has announced it will invest 16 percent stake in the newly-inaugurated BRAC Afghanistan Bank.

The bank will focus on micro and small enterprise loans and institutional and retail deposit accounts in the country.

A press release issued here said IFC would invest up to $1 million in equity as well as consider provision of a technical assistance programme to support the bank's operations.

BRAC is one of the largest microfinance non-profit institutions in Bangladesh. Other shareholders are ShoreCap International and Stichting Triodos Doen, says the release. "IFC is pleased to expand its partnership with BRAC beyond Bangladesh by establishing a new financial institution in Afghanistan, and we look forward to doing the same in other regions of the world," said Jyrki Koskelo, Director of IFC's Global Financial Markets Department.

Fazle Hasan Abed, Chairperson of BRAC Afghanistan Bank, said: "We have decided to establish BRAC Afghanistan Bank based on our experience of BRAC's extensive developmental work in Afghanistan and the successful operations of BRAC Bank in Bangladesh."

Afghanistan's micro and small entrepreneurs need a bank that can provide a continuous source of finance, said the official. He added they were pleased to play a part in the development of broad-based financial services, which would in turn contribute to the growth of the economy and the progress of the Afghan people.

The bank will offer loans, remittances and other financial services to small and informal businesses and medium size companies in Afghanistan. The bank's targeted clients, many of them women, would otherwise have little opportunity to borrow money from commercial banks, says the release.

Efforts to build Afghan road illuminate challenges, possibilities

By Jonathan S. Landay - Knight Ridder Newspapers Washington Bureau 15-Nov-06

CAMP WOLVERINE, Afghanistan - Set on a high desert plain where dust devils dance across the parched soil, this American outpost of plywood shacks and shipping containers embodies the promise and problems of the U.S.-led effort to pacify Afghanistan nearly four years after the fall of the Taliban.

The U.S. troops based here are striving to bring security, trade, jobs, development and the reach of the far-off central government to this isolated region by building a road from Highway One, the main national highway, at a point near the provincial capital of Qalat, to the town of Shin Kay, near the border with Pakistan.

They're also training and working with Afghan military forces so the Afghans will be able to take over when the U.S. unit goes home early next year under a Bush administration plan to reduce the 18,000-strong U.S. force in Afghanistan.

But the road project is nearly two months behind schedule, beset by equipment shortages, breakdowns and too few men for the job.

Far more serious, resurgent Taliban forces have been using murders, kidnappings, bombings and threatening letters posted in mosques to terrorize local police, workers and contractors into abandoning the Americans.

Taliban sympathizers have tried to infiltrate the camp. A rocket attack just missed the outpost, anti-tank mines have been unearthed along the road, and Afghan drivers of private supply trucks have been killed and their vehicles set afire by motorcycle-borne insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades.

A new contractor, an American-run firm with Pakistani managers, is searching as far away as Russia for operators for the heavy equipment it's bringing in to supplement the 80-odd members of the 173rd Combat Engineering Company, based in Vincenza, Italy.

"We are fighting a difficult war," acknowledged 1st Sgt. Lauro Obeada, 38, of New York City, a 19-year U.S. Army veteran.

The project's success could deny the Taliban a small part of its traditional base of support among the area's ethnic majority Pashtuns and help bolster the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Failure could fuel already strong local disillusionment with Karzai and his Western allies and help the Taliban, now forced to operate in small groups, re-establish a strong presence in the area and recruit new members.

Camp Wolverine lies some 15 miles east of Qalat, in the Suri area of Zabul Province, a place of lofty peaks, plunging valleys and high desert, similar to parts of northern Arizona. The people nearby are deeply conservative Muslims, living in remote hamlets and eking crops from the hard earth.

Zabul is the birthplace of Mullah Omar, the fugitive Taliban founder who gave refuge to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. It's been at the center of the bloodiest resurgence in violence since U.S.-led intervention ended the Taliban's extreme Islamic rule in November 2001.

More than 800 people, including at least 40 U.S. soldiers, have been killed in the past five months in what U.S. and Afghan officials consider a campaign to disrupt Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

The U.S.-led coalition and Afghan government forces have responded by moving into remote areas that once were Taliban havens and killing and capturing more than 400 insurgents, U.S. commanders say.

The latest U.S. casualty died in a firefight on Monday in Zabul's Deh Chopan district. The fight also claimed an estimated 16 Taliban members, the U.S.-led coalition announced Tuesday.

Since Camp Wolverine was erected behind barbed wire and blast walls in June, the U.S. engineers have built about two miles of hard-packed, single-lane gravel road. It is eventually to be paved under a separate U.S. aid program.

"It won't be a perfect road, but it should hold up for two years until they can asphalt it," said Sgt. Anthony Davis, 34, of Los Angeles.

The unit, whose usual job is parachuting onto captured airfields with its bulldozers, graders and dump trucks to rebuild damaged runways, is averaging about 300 yards a day - faster than expected, but not fast enough to complete the work without the assistance of local contractors before the unit is scheduled to go home.

Every day before the soldiers begin, a 9-ton armored mine detection vehicle called a Husky and sappers armed with hand-held detectors sweep the road and piles of gravel for improvised explosive devices, which they believe are being laid by a Taliban supporter from a nearby village.

"The biggest IED we've found was an anti-tank mine on top of a 122-mm rocket warhead," said Sgt. Odell Owen of Cedar Mountain, N.C. "They will use anything they can against us."

While no members of the unit have been hurt, U.S. soldiers said a 7-year-old boy nicknamed "Junior" and his 18-year-old brother who worked at the camp were killed by the Taliban after an elder brother ordered them to come home.

Workers hired in Qalat and elsewhere help cook, clean and perform other chores. They live in tents under the protection of U.S. and Afghan government sentries in towers.

The threat of Taliban retribution hasn't dissuaded Saddiq Ullah, a contractor from Qalat, and his assistants from coming out to build a concrete pad for a vehicle maintenance bay.

"I am not afraid of the Taliban. This is a good thing," he said of the U.S. project. "People are feeling good because the Americans have come here and are working. They need to work faster because these are poor people."

There are still 48 miles left to go to reach Camp Sweeney, a U.S. outpost near Shin Kay, and the unbuilt portion of the road passes through an ambush-prone pass in Shingarh Mountain, a dun-colored massif where Taliban fighters flit along trails on dirt bikes and keep watch on the U.S. base from crevices and gullies.

Moreover, the 173rd company's equipment is old and constantly breaking down, and the troops are eagerly waiting for the new contractor to bring in more bulldozers, dump trucks and graders and men to operate them.

Time is quickly slipping by. "The weather is the time control," said the company commander, Capt. Dan Young, 29, of Edmund, Okla. "The end of November brings the rainy season, and then comes the snow."

Sai Wali, 43, a school principal drafted as the local police chief after his predecessor fled with his men, is a stalwart supporter of the project. But he says 50 percent of the locals now support the Taliban because of the slow pace of overall U.S.-led efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.

The rest, he says, are losing patience, and most regard Karzai, who won election last fall, as an American puppet.

"When the Americans first came out here, people were really happy," said Wali, a short, bright-eyed man who frequently joins Young at meetings to win the support of tribal elders. "But their loyalty is shifting to the Taliban."

Yet Wali, who refused to stop cooperating with the project after he was threatened and the Taliban kidnapped his brother, said the situation can be salvaged if the Americans "double their speed."

Young remains confident. Even if he can't complete the road, what gets completed will change residents' lives for the better and blunt support for the Taliban, he said.

"It won't be the biggest success I'd want it to be," he said. "But it links them with Highway One."

Afghanistan: ISAF provides renewable electricity to 300 families

Source: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Date: 15 Nov 2006

Mehtar Lam, Afghanistan,15 November 2006 - Three hundred homes now have electricity in Laghman Province after a micro-hydroelectric plant, built by the Mehtar Lam PRT, opened on the Alishang River in Rayn village on October 30.

The 25-kilowatt power-generating facility is the first of its kind to be completed in the district. The plant will use fast flowing water, channelled from nearby rivers and streams, to turn the turbine engine fast enough to generate power.

The Mehtar Lam PRT commander, Lt. Col. Brad Bredenkamp, praised the completion of the project, but also indicated that much reconstruction work remains and district citizens are a key component in the process.

“In order to get these projects going, we all need to work together to improve security in Alishang so people can come here and do reconstruction without the enemies of Afghanistan destroying what is built,” he said.

“It’s good news to see the PRT funding projects here in our district,” said Asadullah, a village elder. Others also expressed their support for the rebuilding efforts in the district.

“I appreciate what the PRT is doing,” said Mulla Abdul Mateen, another citizen of Alishang. “Our [district] shura is ready to work side by side with the district governor and coalition forces in reconstruction.”

Conference held in western Afghanistan on growing saffron instead of poppies

Text of report by Afghan Herat Province TV on 14 November

The first ever conference on saffron was held in Herat Province today. Dr Najibollah Malek, the general-manager of the International Agriculture Centre in Afghanistan, who has set up a project in the drought-hit areas of the country, stated that the three-day conference was aimed at improving information for Afghan farmers on growing, harvesting, drying, packing and marketing saffron.

At the inaugural ceremony, Herat Governor Alhaj Sayed Hosayn Anwari spoke highly of saffron production in eradication of poppy growing, adding that saffron was the unsurpassed alternative for poppy. The governor stressed agricultural improvements would address the country's economic problems. He expressed the hope that there would be better marketing so as to improve saffron cultivation.

On the other hand, Dr Faiz Zadeh, the deputy head of the Herat Provincial Council, asserted that one of the main factors behind poppy growing was economic poverty, calling on the aid organizations to help farmers develop saffron growing.

The three-day conference has been held with the cooperation of DACAAR, (?Ecarda) organizations, the Afghan Agriculture Ministry and the financial support of a British development ministry in Herat Province.

It is worth noting that the Herat agriculture officials reported that the Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team or PRT has donated a large quantity of saffron seeds for 250 Afghan farmers in four districts [of Herat Province].

‘Pakistan must not harbour Taliban’

By Khalid Hasan Daily Times 16 November 2006 - WASHINGTON: Pakistan must be persuaded not to harbour the Taliban so that the explosive situation that now exists on its shared border with Afghanistan can be brought under control and stability can come to the region, according to a panel of experts.

The experts - Marvin Weinbaum, Steve Coll, James Dobbins, Bruce Riedel and Col Richard Giguere - were on a panel organised at the two-day annual conference of the Middle East Institute at the National Press Club on Monday to discuss Afghanistan, Pakistan and regional stability.

Weinbaum, who moderated the discussion, said Afghanistan put the entire blame for regional instability on Pakistan, which, for its own part, is witnessing some disconcerting developments domestically, both for Gen Pervez Musharraf and the military. There is an insurgency in Balochistan, while in the tribal areas there is a “state within a state”. The US-Pakistan relationship is fragile in character and it is unclear if elections in the country next years would throw up a legitimate government or how the issue of Gen Musharraf’s uniform would be resolved. It is also uncertain how exactly he would be elected president. The destinies of Pakistan and Afghanistan are closely related; if one were destabilised, the other would be affected. Stability, therefore, is essential not only in the regional interest but in the global interest as well.

Steve Coll of the New Yorker and author of Ghost Wars, said Pakistan tried to control the political space in Afghanistan and it also watched what India did in that country. He said Pakistan’s policy had reverted to support for the Taliban. Their leadership is based on Pakistan territory, two such places being Quetta and Miranshah. There is a Taliban Shura in Quetta and one in Peshawar. There may be others elsewhere. He said there was some evidence on contact between the ISI and the Taliban as there was of training facilities. The relationship between the Pakistani intelligence establishment and the Taliban is complex and has a history. Then there is the political dimension, with the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) being the dominant among Taliban allies from amongst Islamist parties. There are “safe houses” in Pakistani cities which the Taliban can use. From Karachi, there is also operated licit and illicit networks with linkages abroad. The two governments in Quetta and Peshawar are also a factor since they contain pro-Taliban parties. According to him, the Pakistan Army has a weak record in conducting counterinsurgency operations. It is engaged in just such operations in Balochistan and the NWFP today. He said he had found no evidence that Pakistan is trying to install a Taliban government in Kabul. However, there is resentment and division in the Pakistan Army on the government’s policy which has led to conflict and military operations in both Balochistan and the Pakistan-Afghan border and agency areas. He felt Pakistan’s future stability lies in pluralism and on turning its back on radicalism.

James Dobbins of the Rand Corporation also spoke about the gradual rise of the Taliban with Pakistan providing them the base they needed. In Kabul, he pointed out, President Hamid Karzai was neither a forceful nor a decisive ruler but for the present, he was the right man for the right job. He told the conference, “Our problem is not Iraq but Pakistan.” Osama bin Laden, he added, is not in Iraq nor did the London attacks happen because of Iraq, implying that bin Laden is in Pakistan and the London attacks of July 2005 had Pakistan’s involvement or backing. He said he was not advocating an invasion of Pakistan, but only that the US should put pressure on Pakistan to follow the desired course. Pressure could be applied through economic, diplomatic and political means. According to him, in the war against terrorism, “the central front is Pakistan”. However, he ruled out a military solution of the Pakistani situation. Col Giguere, military attaché at the Canadian embassy here, who has served with NATO forces in Afghanistan expressed his country’s concern over the “porous” Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He said it was important for Canada and Pakistan to step up their cooperation in order to effectively deal with this problem.

Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution said the security situation in the Pak-Afghan region was worsening. He noted that the Taliban leadership had always delivered on what it had promised. The Taliban, he added, were never defeated. They suffered some losses and then they scattered among the population in classic guerilla manner. The United States, after its initial success, “moved its eye from the ball”. Pakistan, he stressed, like other speakers, provides a safe haven to the Taliban. The relationship between the Pakistan Army and the Taliban is a long and intimate one. He said Pakistan during and after the Afghan war against the Soviet Union, Pakistan developed a “stew” of terrorist and guerrilla elements. At different times, it has been pulling out different pieces from that “stew” to deploy where it has needed to deploy them, such as in Kashmir of in aid of the Sikhs. That needs to be brought to an end. He conceded that President Musharraf had a difficult problem at hand. As for Afghanistan, as long as Coalition forces stay in the country, there can be no Taliban takeover. However, the Taliban will survive in the countryside and it is their strategy to wear out the Coalition forces. Afghanistan, he suggested, needs a major reconstruction effort and its allies need to do more than they have done. He advised Washington to “talk softly” but firmly to Pakistan to cease its support of the Taliban and to dismantle their bases. He said it was not clear if Pakistan had the political will to do so. He called Pakistan’s policy in dealing with the unrest in its NWFP tribal areas as “schizophrenic” as one day it signs a peace deal with those elements the next day it bombs them.

Pakistan's ambitions in Afghanistan leading to region's Talibanisation

By I. Ramamohan Rao - Asian News International (ANI)

New Delhi, Nov 16 (ANI): With the successful completion of the third round of Foreign Secretary-level talks with India, General Perves Musharraf hopes to deploy with confidence more troops on the Western border to bolster the 80,000 army that he already has on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. He feels confident about persuading the United States, the United Kingdom and the NATO forces to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan, which would enable him to come to some understanding with the Taliban, and further Pakistan's desire to have 'strategic depth' in the region. . Pakistan has set its sights on at least six Southern Afghanistan provinces, which could be controlled by its hand maiden Taliban. The provinces are Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, Paktiya, Paktika and Nangarhar - all bordering Pakistan. For namesake, these provinces may remain a part of Afghanistan, but the actual control will lie with Pakistan through the Taliban. Simultaneously, Pakistan has toned downed its earlier efforts to make the Durand Line a permanent border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

President Karzai, who will be in New Delhi this weekend, is expected to share his concerns with the Government of India. India has conducted its entire Afghan affairs with the unquestioned assumption that the US is going to be absolutely successful in establishing durable peace in Afghanistan. During the last about five years, India has committed 650 million dollars for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, which is being appreciated in Kabul. But India has still to make any substantial move to win back its traditional allies, the Pushtuns. There is hardly any Indian project in the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan. However, Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has not been idle. After lying low for sometime and appearing to be sincerely helping the Americans, it has continued to nurture the Taliban. The Taliban has intensified its attacks deep into Afghanistan and made things so hot for the NATO forces that several nations providing troops for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan have been left in a state of confusion.

Rattled by the rising casualties, the British Chief of Army Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, demanded the withdrawal of British troops, Canada refused to extend the deployment and ordered its troops not to participate in any counter-insurgency operations, France, Turkey and Italy refused to move their contingents out of Kabul to the combat zones. Five Commanders of NATO nations had to tell their respective governments to be tough with Pakistan if they want peace to be restored. Pressure was put on President Hamid Karzai to 'involve the Taliban in governance as they felt that it was not possible to defeat them.' The Bush Administration has been reluctant to push Pakistan hard enough to desist from its duality.

When the Afghanistan Government established contact with the Taliban leadership, they replied, 'give us control of six provinces, and you will not hear a shot after that.' The Karzai Government was furious, and saw through the Pakistan game. They got wind of the fact that after Taliban secure these six provinces, Pakistan would put pressure for another three provinces, Khost, Kunar and Badakhshan to be overseen by the Hizb-e-Islami headed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, by another ISI creation, thus reducing Afghanistan to a tiny little state. All this fits into the scheme of Pakistan, both for acquiring the strategic depth against India, which it lost after the rout of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda in 2001, and also securing its vital economic interests This will provide Pakistan total control over the most vital part of the highway to the mineral and oil-rich Central Asian region and also the oil pipelines to be laid in the near future to transport the oil and gas from the Central Asia through Afghanistan. This will also render Afghanistan to remain a weak neighbour and keep the Indian influence away from its backyard.

Besides this, the other important matter for Pakistan is the water of the rivers Kabul and Kunar and their tributaries like the Gorband, Panjshir, Kaitur, Kochiand Gomal which originate from the mighty Hindukush and Suleimanki ranges in Afghanistan and are the major contributors of water into the mighty Indus in Pakistan. Faced with an acute water shortage, which is anticipated to worsen further in the years to come, Islamabad is worried as its food production has reached a plateau, forcing it to import large quantities of wheat and sugar. It is finding extremely difficult to meet the rising food requirement without increasing the availability of water to bring additional areas under food crops. Eyeing the unutilized waters of Afghan rivers, Pakistan tried to push for a water-sharing treaty with Afghanistan. The proposed Kalabagh Dam in NWFP would not be viable till Pakistan is assured of the waters from the Kabul and Kunar rivers, for which Afghanistan is planning its own multipurpose projects. Since the entire catchment areas of these rivers and their tributaries are in Afghanistan, no Government in Kabul will ever agree to part with its valuable natural resource for nothing. Afghanistan has already made it clear to Pakistan that in case it agrees to give its excess waters it will not be for free, Pakistan will have to pay for it with the rider that Afghanistan reserves the right to get it back as and when required.

For Pakistan, the control of the Taliban and the Hizb-e-Islami over the bordering provinces is the shortest route to get all its objectives achieved. Pakistan tried to convince the Bush Administration and the NATO by signing the much touted agreement with the Taliban in North Waziristan, saying that it is the only way to deal with the terrorist threat. But US and NATO commanders in Afghanistan are unconvinced. The attack on the Madrassa in Bajaur Agency killing 82 militants has put a spanner in the ISI's designs. The success of Pakistan in its designs and rehabilitation of the Taliban-Hizb combine and through them the Al-Qaeda; will be the greatest setback to the US and its allies and their most trumpeted 'War against Terrorism.' But it is India which should be the most worried country.

Pakistan has lured the Pashtuns away from India and turned their full force towards Kabul. Historically, the Pashtuns of NWFP were never fanatics and followed the secular and moderate traditions under the ancient tribal Code called Pashtunwali. Despite the Talibanisation of the population, Pashtunwali is in their blood and cannot be dismissed easily. Pashtuns were the traditional friends of India and the Indian National Congress. The legendary Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as the 'Frontier Gandhi' was their unquestioned leader and his party ruled the province at the time of partition of India. Pakistan got the god sent opportunity when Soviets invaded Afghanistan. The US and the Saudi Arabia pumped in billions of Dollars and arms to wage a running war against the USSR occupation of Afghanistan.

Pakistan used all these funds to prop up fundamentalist organizations to get jihadi recruits through the Madrassas and systematically marginalized the Pashtun nationalist leadership under the Awami National Party. India's inability to go against the Russians in that period of Cold War eroded the entire goodwill which it enjoyed among the Pashtuns as they felt betrayed twice - once at the time of partition and second time during Soviet occupation.

After the Russian withdrawal, as the US lost interest and in the vacuum Afghanistan was plunged into chaotic civil war among the various factions of Mujahiddeen, the ISI grabbed the opportunity. It created the Taliban, armed them, and provided them all the required logistical support to install its government and control over almost entire Afghanistan, except a very small portion held by the Northern Alliance under the legendary Commander Ahmad Shah Masoud. One thing is clear, the Pakistanis must be aware that ruling the Pashtuns is like riding the tiger. The Pushtuns have never in history accepted the dominance of others and are not likely to trust and allow the Pakistanis to rule over them for long. As many in Pakistan fear that the next step maybe the Talibanisation of Pakistan itself, can Musharraf stop it?

Where the Taliban and al-Qaida cross-fertilize

Tribal areas on Pakistan-Afghanistan border offer sanctuary to radicals

ANALYSIS - By Jim Maceda Correspondent NBC News Updated Nov. 15, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan — NBC News’ Jim Maceda is on assignment in Pakistan and Afghanistan reporting on the unruly tribal area between the two nations. In a Q&A, he discusses the threat presented by the resurgence of the Taliban in Pakistan and the organization's close ties to al-Qaida. 

You were recently in Pakistan, which is reportedly a safe haven for both the Taliban and al-Qaida. Did you see evidence of that on the ground there ? Absolutely, there is a sense that there is a sanctuary inside the tribal belt of Pakistan — that semi-autonomous strip of land just east of the border with Afghanistan — for both the Taliban and al-Qaida. In that region, there is a belief that there is a state within a state now operating five years after the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

How did this happen? Well, the world basically turned its eyes away from Afghanistan after the defeat of the Taliban. They were focused on al-Qaida in the tribal areas, along that border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but as many international Taliban experts will tell you, neither the U.S. nor Pakistan felt pressure to go after the Taliban. Both countries considered it to be a local problem, not an international threat.

What happened was in November or December of 2001, the Taliban fled Kabul and went into Pakistan. Over the past five years, they have recruited thousands of young Pashtun men — usually from the madrassa [relgious] schools. They have encouraged them with ideas of jihad, relatively high salaries, and they’ve managed to create command and control centers in that strip of territory that is not under the control of the Pakistani government or army.  

So, yes, there is a Taliban sanctuary. What complicates things is that foreigners can’t go into this tribal area. Pakistani journalists even, if they are not from the tribal areas, go in at their own risk. So a lot of what’s going on in there goes unreported and that makes things even more difficult to understand and react to.

On video that has been smuggled out of places like north and south Waziristan and other provinces like Bajur along the tribal belt, you see frightening things. You see armed Taliban walking the streets of the capital of southern Waziristan like they are deputy sheriffs keeping the order. They are a religious police. I’ve also seen copies of pamphlets smuggled out the region with edicts from the ad hoc Taliban government telling men that they must not shave their beards and imposing taxes on everyone to support mujahedeen fighters.

So, that type of state-within-a-state reality is spreading. It’s growing because the U.S. can’t send ground troops into the tribal areas. And we’ve seen the kind of negative response when the Pakistan government moves in an aggressive way into those areas. 

You saw recently the reaction to the Bajur madrassa school stike — allegedly by Pakistani forces, although there is a strong belief here that the strike was launched by the CIA — the reaction was incredible anger throughout the territories.

Afghan private Tolo TV broadcasts banned in Pakistan

Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV on 15 November

[Presenter] Tolo TV broadcasts, aired on cable networks, have once again been banned in Pakistan since last week. Tolo broadcasts had previously been banned in Pakistani border states, including Baluchistan.

The Pakistani authorities have warned owners of cable networks they will be punished if they air Tolo TV programmes.

[Correspondent] According to a number of Afghan and foreign analysts, media sources, newspapers, Radio and TV channels, have grown remarkably and incredibly in Afghanistan over the past four and half years.

The question is why has the government of Pakistan has banned Tolo TV broadcasts?

[Mohammad Nabi Farahi, deputy minister of culture for tourism affairs, in Pashto] I believe it is a negative move. I should hope not only Tolo television, but all other media sources should be allowed to carry out their activities.

[Rahimollah Samandar, head, union of independent Afghan journalists] It is against international conventions. The government of Pakistan should lift the ban on Tolo broadcasts as soon as possible because millions of Afghans are still living in Pakistan and all of them need to watch their national TV channels.

[Correspondent] During the Taleban era, only one radio station, called Radio Voice of Sharia [religious teachings], was active, and only one newspaper, called Sharia, was published in Afghanistan.

However figures published by the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs say around 600 newspapers, Radio and TV stations, and websites are active in Afghanistan now.

It is worth mentioning that Lemar, state-run television, Ariana and Aina channels have not been banned and continue to air their programmes in Pakistan.

We tried to contact Pakistani diplomats in Kabul several times to ask them about the issue, but could not get through.

Street children on the rise in Kabul

By Jeff Swicord Voice of America (VOA) November 15, 2006

Kabul, Afghanistan - After decades of conflict, street children have become a major problem for Afghanistan. Most will never have the opportunity to live a normal life. But Jeff Swicord reports from Kabul on one program that is working to change the odds.

Take a walk through the crowded markets of Kabul and you can see them everywhere: young school age boys and girls selling plastic bags, bottled water, and other merchandise. Street children, like 12 year-old Madena -- originally from the northern city of Mazar Shariff. "My father was killed in the war and now I am working here," she says.

According to United Nations statistics, more than 60,000 children now work in the streets of Kabul to survive. Mohammad Yousef is director of Aschiana, or "the nest," an organization dedicated to improving the lives of street children. He says street children are just one more tragedy bestowed on Afghan society after almost 40 years of war.

"Most of the children lost their parents during the war and must work on the street to survive. And others, there is just nobody in their family responsible for their education, their clothes and the other necessities of life. So, they are obliged to come to the streets and do work."

Mohammad Yousef was a radio journalist during the war. During a visit to Kabul, he met a young boy shining shoes on the street. That chance meeting gave Mohammad an idea that would change the lives of thousands of street children in Kabul.

"I realized that there were so many children with the potential to receive a good education. But because of the war in our country, they will not get a good education and they will become a problem for society in the future. They will have anger in their heart toward society. So I thought we should have a center like this one for those children who have the ability to be educated."

Since 1994 Aschiana has provided support, food, and educational opportunities to almost 10,000 children in the Kabul area. The children come in shifts during the day to maximize their numbers. The goal is to build up their academic skills so they can integrate back into regular schooling. When we visited, they were taking part in a music class.

"We have different kinds of programs for them here. We have the education program. We have the health program. And, we have sponsorship programs and programs for music and theater."

Many have suffered physical violence, sexual abuse, and psychological trauma from the war. The arts program has played a big part in their therapy.

The children have developed a reputation for their work. And many have sold paintings to private individuals, which helps to improve the image of street children within the community."

"In our community, the children that are working on the streets have a bad reputation. The stereotype is that they are robbers and thieves, not good people. We want to bring these children into the community and show people that they are just as capable as more privileged children."

Aschiana has faced funding shortages several times in its history. And Mohammad was jailed during the Taleban years for schooling girls.

But each month, several hundred children enter normal schools with the skills to develop and grow like regular children. It's a small victory that makes all the difficulties worthwhile. A victory in a battle the staff of Aschiana are willing to fight -- one child at a time.

Wolesi Jirga approves MPs privileges

Pajhwok 11/15/2006 By Zubair Babakarkhel - KABUL - Wolesi Jirga (lower house) has approved privileges for MPs in a closed door session the other day while overlooking debates on other important issues.

Due to absence of speaker Mohammad Younus Qanuni his deputy Mohammad Arif Nourzi presided the session when abruptly issue of MPs privileges emerged and journalists were asked to leave the house.

 Azeta Rifat, an MP from the western Badghis province, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday that violating the agenda MPs discussed their privileges in closed door session on Monday.

According to a reliable source in Parliament, Right and Privileges Commission presented their plan and approved it with majority of votes. The privileges were included over 0.1 million afghanis salary for each MP and diplomatic passport for their children below the age of 18, the source added.

The lower house approved that salary of each of the two guards of MPs should be from 5,000 afghanis to 8,000 afghanis, the source said. Vehicles of the MPs should be issued a separate number plate and black cover should be pasted on the mirrors if they were needed, the source contended.

Allowing two guns to guards of each MP, sending members of their families abroad if their treatment is not available in Afghanistan, sending 5 electorates of each MP to Haj, appointing a secretary for 12,000 afghanis were the issues that discussed in Monday session, the source said.

The source said the privileges were for six months and after the tenure the facilities would be reconsidered. Demand of the MPs came at times when other government officials could not get only 3,000 afghanis salary for month.

[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.]