In this bulletin:

• Journalists Shot Dead Near Afghan Village
• 40th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan
• Canadian public backing for Afghanistan mission rises: poll
• A nation on edge
• Afghans enjoy freedom despite growing fear
• NATO commander to confront Musharraf on Taliban
• U.S. senators ask Pakistan to seal border with Afghanistan
• Rumsfeld admits progress in Afghanistan not all encouraging
• Blair roasts critics five years into Afghanistan mission
• Taliban back, using Iraq-style violence
• Pakistani authorities find rockets aimed at spy agency
• ISAF will train Balkh police
• Heroin recovered from smuggler's stomach
• Afghanistan: More dollars, please
• I think I can - Inshallah

Journalists Shot Dead Near Afghan Village

By Jason Straziuso - Associated Press Sunday, October 8, 2006 - KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 7 -- Two German journalists who had pitched a tent on the side of a road outside a northern Afghan village were killed by gunmen early Saturday.

The freelance journalists were the first foreign reporters killed in Afghanistan since late 2001, when eight journalists died.

A NATO soldier, meanwhile, was killed by insurgents who detonated a roadside bomb and fired on a military patrol in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. The soldier was Canadian, Canada's defense department said.

The killings came on the fifth anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2001, invasion by U.S.-led troops to oust the Taliban for hosting Osama bin Laden. U.S. and allied forces and Afghanistan's Northern Alliance quickly routed the ruling Islamic militia.

But Taliban fighters have returned with a vengeance, taking control of large swaths of the country in the last year. They have stepped up the use of roadside and suicide bombs.

The slain journalists -- identified as Karen Fischer, 30, and Christian Struwe, 38 -- were working for Deutsche Welle, Germany's state-owned broadcast outlet.

The two were traveling through the northern province of Baghlan, about 100 miles northwest of Kabul, and had stopped outside a village, where they set up a tent to spend the night, said Mohammad Azim Hashami, the provincial police chief. They were killed by AK-47 assault rifle gunfire around 1:30 a.m., he said.

"The sound of the shooting was heard by some of the villagers, who ran toward that area," Hashami said. "They found a tent, and they found the two journalists dead."

Hashami said nothing was stolen from the journalists, including their vehicle. Police had no suspects.

Deutsche Welle said the journalists had been conducting research for a documentary and were en route to the province of Bamian, where two large Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in early 2001.

Deutsche Welle director Erik Bettermann called them "pioneers in reestablishing a functioning media system in Afghanistan" and said Struwe helped set up a state-run radio and television newsroom, a project supported by Deutsche Welle.

About 2,700 German soldiers are serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in the north of the country.

No foreign journalists have been killed in Afghanistan since late 2001, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. An Afghan journalist who arrived at the scene of a suicide bombing in July in the southern city of Kandahar was killed by a second suicide bombing at the same spot, the group said.

40th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan

Updated Sun. Oct. 8 2006 - CTV.ca News Staff

Canada's 40th military death in Afghanistan, the victim of a roadside bombing, has been identified.
 
Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson of the Royal Canadian Dragoons of CFB Petawawa was on a pre-dawn patrol Saturday when either a roadside bomb or a landmine detonated.

The explosion penetrated the Nyala RG-31 armoured vehicle and took Wilson's life. The blast didn't injure any other soldiers in the vehicle. Wilson was the vehicle's gunner. In the Nyala, the gunner is responsible for operating a machine-gun remotely from inside.

Video showed a wheel missing from the vehicle, but otherwise, it appeared to be largely intact. Wilson's age and home town aren't available yet.

The Nyala is one of the toughest vehicles available to the Canadian military in Afghanistan, said CTV News' Paul Workman.

The deputy commander of Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan wouldn't reveal details about the explosion or how it managed to penetrate the vehicle built specifically to withstand simultaneous blasts from two anti-tank mines.

"You can always build a bigger bomb,'' said Col. Fred Lewis. "In this particular case, I think the enemy got a bit lucky.

"The RG 31 is a superb vehicle, and you know this is the first time something like this has happened," he said. "The troops have superb confidence in this vehicle."

The blast occurred as soldiers travelled in two RG-31s to pick up a foot patrol near where Canadian forces are building a new road. An attack in the same area on Tuesday killed two Canadian soldiers and left five others wounded, Workman said.

After the attack, an explosives disposal team and a military attack helicopter were dispatched to the area. The Panjwaii region has been the scene of heavy combat and several bomb attacks in the last month. Thirteen soldiers have died in the area since Sept. 1.

Casualties in perspective - Britain has also had 40 soldiers die in Afghanistan. However, by the end of October, they will have 4,700 troops serving in the country. Canada only has about 2,300.

The United States has lost 341 soldiers in combat in Afghanistan.

In a report published last month, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that Canada has accounted for 43 per cent of NATO coalition casualties in Afghanistan since February. Their data period ended on Sept. 8. Since then, eight more Canadian soldiers have died.

The report also found that a Canadian soldier serving in Afghanistan was six times more likely to die than a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq.

One military analyst tried to add perspective by saying the casualties are actually a sign the coalition forces are squeezing the Taliban and their supporters.

"It's only nine months ago that the Canadians arrived. It's only 6 months ago the British arrived," said Col. (ret'd) Alain Pellerin. "We're in their face. If the Taliban lose it's the end of them."

Also on Saturday in the eastern province of Khost, a suicide bomber used a car to target a U.S. patrol near the Pakistan border, provincial police chief Mohammed Ayub told The Associated Press.

There were no casualties, but one of the vehicles was damaged. Gunmen killed two German journalists in northern Afghanistan. A Taliban spokesman told Reuters they were not responsible for the attack.

And in Ghazni province, police said a regional Taliban commander -- Mullah Abdul Rahim Sabauun -- was killed by police on Thursday. Sabauun was reportedly a high-ranking politician under Taliban rule.

In total, 40 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002. About 150 have been wounded. This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the commencement of U.S. military operations to overthrow the Taliban.

With a report from CTV News' Paul Workman

Canadian public backing for Afghanistan mission rises: poll

MONTREAL (AFP - Sat Oct 7, 12:46 AM ET) - Canadian public support for Canada 's military mission in Afghanistan has risen since Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent visit to Ottawa , according to a poll.

The Ipsos-Reid poll found that 57 percent of people surveyed back the mission, up six points compared to early September and up 10 points from July.

A large majority, 80 percent, also say Canada is fulfilling a vital humanitarian mission in Afghanistan .

But the poll published in The Gazette newspaper showed that 51 percent want the Canadian troops to come home after the mission is schedueld to end in February 2009, whatever the situation on the ground might be.

The rise in support for the mission comes in the wake of efforts by the Conservative government to defend the military deployment and the September visit of Karzai, the Montreal daily said.

During his visit, Karzai thanked Canada for its sacrifices. "I also know that it is a time when many in Canada are pondering their country's role in Afghanistan ," he told parliament.

But the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States , hatched by Al-Qaeda, which had a base in Afghanistan , proved "the cost of ignoring Afghanistan was far higher than the cost of helping it," he said.

The telephone poll was conducted between September 26-28 among 1,009 people and has a 3.1-point margin of error.

The survey was conducted shortly after the announcement that four Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan . Three more soldiers were killed since then. Since 2002, 39 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan , including 31 this year.

A nation on edge - The Associated Press – 10.07.2006

DASHTAK - The village of Dashtak sits on a bumpy, washed-out specter of a road, an hour's drive off the main highway between Kabul and Afghanistan's lawless southeast.

It has 16 new wells financed by an aid agency. But the village men who gather around a visiting journalist offer a litany of complaints: no paved roads, no running water, no electricity, and the closest health clinic is two hours away by donkey.

Their frustration boils over when talk turns to 10 villagers recently arrested on suspicion of aiding insurgents. "We are dying from lack of food and water - and they call us al-Qaida or Taliban," said Shah Mahmood.

Five years into the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, the country is far from won over, or even safely on the path to democracy. The hard-line Islamic Taliban that appeared down and out has returned with a vengeance, taking control of large swaths of countryside. Widespread poverty has smoothed its way, shaking what little confidence Afghans have in their democratically elected government.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in rising violence this year. Suicide bombers are targeting ordinary Afghans and Western troops. Militants are assassinating key political figures, burning down schools and using roadside bombs.

The 40,000 U.S. and NATO troops appear further away from bringing stability than they did three years ago when their number was 2 1/2 times smaller. And Osama bin Laden, whose presence here was a trigger for the U.S.-led attack, is still at large, possibly hiding in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Making matters worse, drug production that was virtually wiped out by the Taliban by 2001 has skyrocketed. Afghan farmers grew enough opium in 2005-06 to make 610 tons of heroin - more than all the world's addicts consume in a year. Profits go to Taliban supporters - and to corrupt government officials and police.

"This is likely to be a long war," said Seth Jones, an analyst with the U.S.-based RAND Corp.

Large areas of southern and eastern provinces near the Pakistan border are under Taliban control, said Ayesha Khan, an Afghanistan expert in Britain. Abdul Salaam Rocketi, a lawmaker and former Taliban commander, ticks off the militant strongholds: Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Zabul, Paktika, Khost, Kunar and Ghazni provinces.

When 8,000 NATO troops moved to the border area this year to extend the government's control, they were surprised by the intensity of the resistance, often in pitched battles.

That Afghanistan's future would remain in doubt today was almost unthinkable when the U.S.-led rout of the Taliban began on Oct. 7, 2001. The military campaign that captured Kabul, the capital, in just over a month resulted in a wave of optimism across Afghanistan, a country that had known little except war for a quarter century.

Emerging from the Taliban's repression, the nation embraced renewed freedoms. Millions of Afghans voted for a new president in 2004 and parliament in 2005.

Afghan girls once banned from schools became free to attend class, and citizens could again fly kites or listen to music without risking the wrath of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue.

But despite billions plowed into new roads, clinics and schools, development lags in the volatile ethnic Pashtun areas in the south and east, and corruption has helped the Taliban to take root once again.

More than 3,000 people, mostly militants, have been killed nationwide in 2006, according to an Associated Press count, based on reports from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials. The tally, also including Afghan security forces, officials and civilians, is about 1,500 more than the toll for all of 2005.

Western casualties have been rising, too - 152 foreign troops killed this year, according to the Web site icasualties.org that tracks foreign troop fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's almost triple the number of deaths in 2003 or 2004.

Of the 280 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001, 69 have died in nine months this year. NATO countries Britain and Canada are reeling from recent losses, including 10 Canadians killed last month.

The war's cost for U.S. taxpayers: $97 billion, and Congress just appropriated $70 billion more for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unlike Iraq, where the United States makes up the overwhelming majority of the international force, Afghanistan is a broad coalition. The world's most powerful nations continue to work side by side in pursuit of the same declared aim: stabilizing the country and bolstering economic recovery.

But Richard Norland, the U.S. deputy ambassador to Afghanistan, said that the "sense of progress has kind of abated lately."

"You have these villagers in the remote part of distant provinces who are in between the promise of government showing up and providing services and development on the one hand, and Taliban guys with guns on the other," Norland said. "If they do not believe that the government is really coming, they will go to the Taliban, and we are seeing that in some cases on a small scale. But it needs to be stopped. It's a dangerous trend."

Christopher Alexander, deputy head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, worries about the Taliban resurgence fed by local discontent. "We do not think that this conflict can be resolved militarily, because that is the lesson of conflict and war," he said. "Political settlement must come into play at some point."

RAND analyst Jones said insurgencies are defeated only slowly, an average of 14 years in previous conflicts. That's a long time for a desperate country.

Most of Afghanistan's 30 million people lead difficult lives. The poverty rate is estimated at 50 percent, unemployment at 40 percent. Clean water, electricity and advanced medical care are luxuries. Drought is a chronic problem. The average life expectancy is only 43 years.

The United States Agency for International Development has poured $4.3 billion into Afghanistan, refurbishing or building more than 500 schools and 500 health-care clinics.

But Joanna Nathan, an analyst for the International Crisis Group which monitors war zones, said infrastructure alone isn't a path to victory.

"It is all very well handing out things and building buildings, but this will not make people love a corrupt local leader imposed on them," she said. "And if it is not accompanied by efforts to build institutions, then it is probably not sustainable."

An estimated 5 million to 6 million Afghan children now attend school - about a third of them girls - compared with 900,000 in 2000, said Leon Waskin, the director of USAID.

But attacks on schools are increasing, too, in a bid to undermine girls' education and the government's authority. Militants last year burned down or attacked 146 schools and already this year have attacked 158, the Education Ministry says.

President Hamid Karzai recently told the U.N. General Assembly there are 200,000 fewer children in school today than two years ago.

The Taliban's spread undermines Karzai's government, but the Taliban growth is based more on intimidation than true support, experts say.

Norland, the deputy U.S. ambassador, said the pace of Western support must accelerate. The U.S. walked away from Afghanistan in the 1990s, he said, and the Taliban took over. "I don't believe that America would want to be accused of doing the same thing twice."

And Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's former foreign minister, said a pullout "would be a big, disastrous disappointment for the people of Afghanistan."

Afghans enjoy freedom despite growing fear

KABUL (Reuters - By Abdul Saboor October 7, 2006) - Five years after U.S. forces launched their offensive to oust Afghanistan 's Taliban, Shakeela Jan says she is happy to have the freedom to work but that she travels to her job every day in fear.

U.S.-led forces routed the Taliban in weeks following the October 7, 2001 launch of Operation Enduring Freedom. Five years later, the hardline Islamists and their militant allies have mounted their most sustained campaign of violence.

Women were banned from working under the Taliban. Now, Jan works with a dozen other women in a Ministry of Communications call center. "We're worried when we come to work. You can see how the situation is getting worse every day," said January

There have been 56 suicide attacks in Afghanistan so far this year compared with 17 the whole of last year. Dozens of people have been killed in blasts in Kabul over the past month.

"People have to have security where they live but there's no security. How can we work and enjoy working outside our homes?" Jan asked.

About 40,000 foreign troops, half of them American, are in Afghanistan -- the most since 2001. Fighting is largely confined to the countryside in the south and east. But bombers have struck across the country.

On Saturday a NATO soldier was killed in the south after his patrol was attacked by insurgents. Nearly 500 members of NATO and U.S.-led forces have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

Gunmen also ambushed two German journalists traveling in northern Afghanistan , killing them both. Police said the two, a man and woman, were working on a documentary.

The anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led offensive is not being marked in Afghanistan . Most people are not aware of it.

"The purpose of the American invasion of Afghanistan was to destroy al Qaeda, but they couldn't," said former policeman Abdul Mohib, when asked about the anniversary.

"Now we see al Qaeda is stronger than five years ago and people are suffering a lot because of their underground operations."

Millions of refugees have returned since 2001 and millions of children are back in school. Hundreds of clinics and many hundreds of kilometers of roads have been built.

New shops and offices have gone up in Kabul but the power is still intermittent and many streets are in a dire condition. Many ordinary Afghans say their lives are no better.

"The only changes we can see since the U.S. invasion is the return of some refugees and the freedom," said student Ghulam Haider. "We're happy about this but we still face a lot of challenges."

Most Afghans say they want foreign troops to stay, at least until their own security forces can take over. But some blame the foreigners. "Since the Americans invaded Afghanistan there has been no change to the lives of ordinary Afghans, especially security," said Kabul resident Qayoom Khan. "The cause of all the misery in this country is America."

NATO commander to confront Musharraf on Taliban

London (AFP 10.08.06) - The commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan is to fly to Islamabad on Monday and confront President Pervez Musharraf over Taliban operations in Pakistan, The Sunday Times newspaper said.

Britain's Lieutenant-General David Richards was to meet Musharraf in the Pakistani city of Quetta where deposed Taliban leader Mullah Omar is said to be living openly, and ask for his arrest, said the British weekly.

Richards was also to try to persuade Musharraf to rein in his military intelligence service, which the NATO commander believes is training Taliban fighters to attack British forces.

Richards says he has videos and satellite pictures of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan, according to The Sunday Times. He has also compiled the addresses of other senior Taliban figures.

Musharraf has publicly acknowledged "a Taliban problem on the Pakistan side of the border", Richards said, according to the broadsheet. "We've got to accept that the Pakistan government is not omnipotent and it isn't easy but it has to be done and we're working very hard on it. "I'm very confident that the Pakistan government's intent is clear and they will be delivering on it."

Saturday marked the fifth anniversary of the start of operations to oust the Islamist Taliban regime from power in Afghanistan and stop the country being used as a terrorist training camp by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network.

NATO commanders from five countries who have troops stationed in Afghanistan -- the United States, Britain, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands -- are demanding their governments get tough with Pakistan over its support for the Taliban militia, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

"It is time for an 'either you are with us or against us' delivered bluntly to Musharraf at the highest political level," an unnamed NATO commander told the British newspaper. "Our boys in southern Afghanistan are hurting because of what is coming out of Quetta."

NATO took over control of all foreign troops in Afghanistan on Thursday, with Richards in command. The transfer saw 10,000 US troops who had been operating in the east under the US-led coalition fall under the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force, boosting it to about 31,000 soldiers nationwide.

Britain says Pakistan is hiding Taliban chief

The Sunday Times 10/07/2006 By Christina Lamb, Kabul - THE British general commanding Nato troops in Afghanistan is to confront Pakistan's president over his country's support for the Taliban. Among the evidence amassed is the address of the Taliban's leader in a Pakistani city.

Lieutenant-General David Richards will fly to Islamabad tomorrow to try to persuade Pervez Musharraf to rein in his military intelligence service, which Richards believes is training Taliban fighters to attack British troops. He will request that key Taliban leaders living in Pakistan be arrested.

The evidence compiled by American, Nato and Afghan intelligence includes satellite pictures and videos of training camps for Taliban soldiers and suicide bombers inside Pakistan.

Captured Taliban fighters and failed suicide bombers have confirmed that they were trained by the Pakistani intelligence service, known as the ISI. The information includes an address in Quetta where Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, is said to live.

Musharraf had publicly acknowledged "a Taliban problem on the Pakistan side of the border", said Richards. "Undoubtedly something has got to happen," he added.

"We've got to accept that the Pakistan government is not omnipotent and it isn't easy but it has to be done and we're working very hard on it. I'm very confident that the Pakistan government's intent is clear and they will be delivering on it."

The initiative emerged as the commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler, called for more troop-carrying helicopters. He was responding to a promise by Tony Blair that the forces could have whatever extra resources they needed. But a defence source said it was difficult to see where new British transport helicopters could be found.

Political leaders have been reluctant to put pressure on Musharraf for fear of destabilising a nuclear-armed country in which Islamic fundamentalists are strong.

This week's intervention comes at a sensitive time for Blair after the ISI apparently helped avert the alleged planned bombing of transatlantic airliners flying from Heathrow. But the Taliban's re-emergence has coincided with mounting evidence of ISI involvement, prompting frustration in Afghanistan, where 30 British servicemen have been killed.

"I feel real vitriol seeing our boys dying because of Pakistan," said one British officer. A senior US commander added: "We just can't ignore it any more. Musharraf's got to prove which side he is on."

Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, has repeatedly complained of Pakistan's role in providing a haven for Taliban fighters, saying they have openly run camps in Karachi and Quetta. "There is an open campaign by Pakistan against Afghanistan and the presence of coalition troops here," he said.

In Washington two weeks ago Karzai handed Pakistan the names and addresses of alleged handlers of suicide bombers using a camp near Peshawar that had been infiltrated by an Afghan informer. Last Wednesday a rubbish bag was discovered in the camp containing his body.

U.S. senators ask Pakistan to seal border with Afghanistan
The Associated Press October 6, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan Two American senators said Pakistan needs to do more to stem the infiltration of insurgents into Afghanistan, as an attack by two suicide bombers in the country's east left one policemen dead and 17 people wounded.

Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said during a visit to Afghanistan on Friday that Pakistan needs to make a "much more aggressive effort to control the borders and to prevent any suggestion that Taliban elements can freely associate and organize themselves within Pakistan."

Afghan and some Western officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of insincere efforts to block the insurgent flow over the border. Pakistan rejects the charge and says it does all it can.

Pakistan's government signed a deal with pro-Taliban militants on Sept. 5 to end the fighting that broke out in North Waziristan after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. Under the deal, militants agreed to not carry out violent acts or send fighters into Afghanistan.

But U.S. military officials said the number of attacks on coalition and Afghan troops has tripled since that deal was reached.

"North Waziristan must be judged on harsh, hard realities," said Sen. Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, who together with Reed spent a few days in Afghanistan during a regional tour that included a stop in Pakistan. "If (the violence) is increasing, then clearly that policy has to be reassessed and re-evaluated."

Reed and Durbin met Afghan and U.S. officials, touring the country on the same day that two suicide bombers blew themselves up in eastern Afghanistan, killing one policeman and wounding seven other people.

The first bomber tried to enter the main police compound in the eastern Khost province, said provincial police chief Mohammed Ayub.

The blast, in the city of Khost, wounded eight policemen and eight civilians including two children, Ayub said. The bomber's body parts were scattered around the blast site, he said.

The second bomber killed himself and wounded a taxi driver after police stopped to search him at a checkpoint 15 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of Khost, Ayub said. No police were injured in the second blast.

The attacker was traveling in a taxi coming from neighboring Pakistan, he said.

Resurgent Taliban militants have stepped up their campaign of suicide bombings against Afghan and foreign troops this year, in the country's worst bout of violence since the U.S.-led invasion removed the Taliban regime from power five years ago.

Rumsfeld admits progress in Afghanistan not all encouraging

WASHINGTON (AFP - October 7, 2006) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who once upheld Afghanistan as a success story in the war on terror, acknowledged that progress toward building a stable democratic society in that country was not all encouraging.

"Not all the news about Afghanistan is encouraging," Rumsfeld wrote in an essay in The Washington Post. "There is, for example, the legitimate worry that increased poppy production could be a destabilizing factor. And rising violence in southern Afghanistan is real."

The remarks came as a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-filled car near a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan, causing minor damage to a vehicle, police and the force said.

The blast near the city of Khost was the first suicide attack on foreign troops in the east of the country since they came under the command of the International Security Assistance Force three days ago.

The attack was similar to more than 90 other suicide blasts in Afghanistan this year linked to an insurgency by the extremist Taliban that was ousted from government in a US-led offensive launched five years ago.

"During the active combat or conventional phase of any war, there are clear signs of progress: battles won, key strategic points taken, enemy forces captured or killed," the defense secretary opined. "In the post-battle phase, however, the measure of progress is not as clear -- especially in a war such as the global war on terror, which relies so heavily on the development of civic institutions in places that have known little more than war and destitution."

Blair roasts critics five years into Afghanistan mission

LONDON (AFP - Sat Oct 7, 5:43 AM ET) - Tony Blair has taken a swipe at critics of the British military mission in Afghanistan, five years on from the start of operations to oust the Taliban regime from power there.

Blair acknowledged that British forces were facing a tough fight in tackling resurgent Taliban rebels.

But he insisted Saturday the mission by British and other NATO forces was vital to prevent Afghanistan falling back into the grip of the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda terror network, and becoming a terrorist training ground once again.

"I think the morale of our troops carrying this out is actually high, but they get fed up -- and so does everyone else -- when it's all presented in a negative light when actually what they're doing there is of fundamental importance to the country," Blair said.

He told the British Forces Broadcasting Service that British soldiers were winning a hard battle against Taliban fighters.

Forty British forces personnel have died since the start of operations in Afghanistan.

"It's been very, very tough, it was always going to be tough. Whenever you go into a battlefield situation like that, there are always things that you learn, there are always things that come at you in a more intense way then you expect.

"The Taliban are fighting them hard and fortunately, since they're up against the British troops, and our troops are fighting brilliantly, we are winning that," Blair said.

He also pledged that the government would provide the resources that officers in Afghanistan felt we necessary to keep the Taliban at bay.

"If the commanders on the ground want more equipment, armoured vehicles for example, more helicopters, that will be provided. Whatever package they want we will do," he said.

The southern Helmand province, where the bulk of about 4,500 British troops in Afghanistan are deployed, has seen heavy fighting this year with officials saying the Taliban and drugs lords appear to be in cahoots.

Taliban back, using Iraq-style violence
By JIM KRANE Associated Press October 7, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan - A sweating man wanders into a crowd and blows himself up, leaving a dozen bodies lifeless on the street. A few blocks away, a car bomb pulverizes an armored Humvee, killing two U.S. soldiers and 14 civilians. The kind of anonymous insurgent violence that is convulsing Iraq has migrated 1,500 miles east to plague Afghanistan five years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime.

The prospect of a second downward spiral — though so far Afghanistan isn't nearly as violent as Iraq — has experts worried that Western militaries don't have an effective strategy for these irregular wars.

"One Iraq is bad enough," said Bruce Hoffman, a counterinsurgency expert at Georgetown University. "Given that our two main theaters of operations aren't going well, one has to question how well the U.S. understands counterinsurgency."

The reborn Taliban acknowledges that it has adopted the suicide bombings, beheadings and remote-controlled bombs of the Iraqi insurgent movement. Nearly 200 civilians have been killed in suicide attacks this year that look all too much like the wave of bombings sweeping Iraq.

"We're getting stronger in every province and in every district and every village," said Qari Mohammed Yusuf Ahmadi, who calls himself the Taliban's spokesman for southern Afghanistan. "We don't have helicopters and jet fighters. But we're giving America and its allies a tough time with roadside bombs, suicide attacks and ambushes. Our Muslim brothers in Iraq are using the same tactics."

Resemblances to Iraq don't stop there. Taliban public relations teams videotape attacks and post them online, an uncharacteristic venture into modern technology for a Muslim fundamentalist group that once banned cameras and computers.

The West's military strategy in Afghanistan also resembles that in Iraq. Just as critics say Washington did not send enough troops to Iraq before the insurgency took root, analysts fault the U.S. for failing to press its advantage in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003 when the Taliban were all but vanquished.

Meanwhile, Afghan observers say the same harsh U.S. tactics, decried in Iraq for causing civilian casualties, have helped the Taliban recruit new fighters. But unlike Iraq's insurgents, the Taliban has ready sanctuary and support just outside their battle zone, in the border areas of Pakistan.

"There will be no end to this insurgency until its sanctuaries and external support are addressed," said Christopher Alexander, the deputy head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military estimates about 6,000 Taliban and other insurgent fighters operate in Afghanistan, many from bases in Pakistan. Yusuf Ahmadi — who spoke by satellite phone from an undisclosed location and whose exact ties to the militia's leadership are unclear — put the figure in the tens of thousands.

The Taliban comeback, while focused on the volatile south and east, has begun to hit Kabul. The mountain capital's tree-lined boulevards are now scarred, like the streets of Baghdad, by garlands of razor wire, towering blast walls and impromptu police checkpoints.

There's little indication that Iraqi insurgents are joining the fight in Afghanistan or giving the Taliban direct aid, although a few Arab and Chechen fighters mingle in Taliban ranks.

But even without much personal contact, the Taliban has learned from Iraq's insurgency. Web sites explain the insurgent's art: everything from concealed rocket launchers to roadside bomb-making.

"We're not saying they're getting direct support from Iraq," a U.S. military official in Afghanistan said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity the information. "They've evolved by adapting their tactics. They've seen the value of the suicide bomber in Iraq. For them, it's a very cheap and effective weapons system."

The U.S. and NATO military response in Afghanistan also has nuanced differences from Iraq. U.S. warplanes drop 10 times more bombs in Afghanistan than they do in Iraq, and a few U.S. and NATO troops live off base in village houses, a strategy rarely attempted in Iraq.

But most of the allied war efforts looks similar. In both places, troops cordon off villages and search homes. They employ billions of dollars in technology — things like signal jammers and mine-clearing vehicles — to find and disarm roadside bombs. They operate from bases nearly identical in appearance, with troops living in tin trailers barricaded by dirt-filled metal baskets.

The Afghan war is still far smaller, occupying just 40,000 allied troops — a quarter of those in Iraq — and suffering a fraction of the casualties. But for individual soldiers serving in mountainous Taliban lands like Zabul province, the dangers feel the same.

"I know Iraq grabs a lot of headlines. But there's still a war going on over here," said Lt. Col. Steve Jarrard, 46, of Johnson City, Tenn., based in the hard-bitten southern town of Qalat. "I really hope we're doing the right thing over here."

Right now, it's too early to tell the result of major U.S. and NATO offensives aimed at crushing the Taliban.

"In three to six months you'll see a noticeable effect," said NATO spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig. "But you're talking two to five years before seeing a defeat of the insurgency" in southern Afghanistan.

Taliban put Pakistan on notice
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online, October 7, 2006

KARACHI - With trouble on the battlefield, US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has recommended, for the first time since September 11, 2001, the need to bring the Taliban into the Afghan government. At the same time, Pakistan is secretly playing its own game of carrot and stick in Afghanistan to influence events to its liking.

However, two quick warning signals to Islamabad this week convey the unmistakable message that regardless of what Washington or Islamabad might desire, the Taliban are the ones who will decide which carrots and which sticks to play.

Last month could prove to be pivotal in determining the ultimate fate of the Taliban and Afghanistan, and even the United States' "war on terror".

The Taliban, after the success of this year's spring offensive, have drawn up a blueprint for an Islamic intifada in Afghanistan next year in the form of a national uprising and an internationalization of their resistance.

This followed a "peace" deal between the Pakistani Taliban in the Waziristan tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan in which Islamabad agreed to release some al-Qaeda suspects in return for the Taliban stopping cross-border activities.

President General Pervez Musharraf then went to Washington, where he announced that foreign forces in Afghanistan would be given the right of hot pursuit into the tribal areas. He also said the authorities would take action against former army officials associated with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for supporting the Taliban.

That all is not well with this agreement is illustrated by two events this week. First, a missile landed in Ayub Park, the highest-security zone in Rawalpindi, just a few hundred meters from Musharraf's official residence at Army House. The next day, several rockets apparently linked to a mobile phone for firing were found near parliament in Islamabad.

Asia Times Online has learned that the incidents were a clear show of disapproval in Waziristan over Musharraf's basking in "Washington's charm", and that he had not implemented a key aspect of the peace accord - the release of al-Qaeda suspects - despite numerous promises. In other words, the Pakistani Taliban are using their own stick to keep Islamabad in line.

The sore point, as mentioned, was the release of "al-Qaeda-linked" Pakistani militants arrested in Pakistani cities. The Pakistani authorities did release many, but a few, whose arrest was also known to US intelligence, were not. Musharraf said they would be freed once he returned from Washington, but this did not happen. Negotiations were still taking place when an incident happened that angered the Pakistani Taliban.

Progress arrested - Shah Abdul Aziz of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party religious alliance, is a member of the National Assembly from Karak in North-West Frontier Province. Though his direct party affiliation is with the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam led by Maulana Samiul Haq (the father of the Taliban), his real status derives from his being a veteran mujahideen from the days of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He vocally supports the Taliban, Arab militants and Osama bin Laden, and his fiery speeches on these topics are compiled into compact discs that are popular among the Pakistani Taliban.

Shah Mehboob Ahmed is a younger brother of Shah Abdul Aziz and also enjoys a great deal of respect among local as well as Afghan Taliban for helping the mujahideen.

The story starts when Mehboob hosted a British-born Pakistani, known only as Abdullah, who was on a list of wanted people. Abdullah then went to Islamabad and met with the biggest Taliban-supporting cleric, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, at Lal Mosque. As Abdullah left the mosque, he was picked up by intelligence agencies. One of the leads acquired from Abdullah was that he had been hosted by Mehboob. So Mehboob was also detained.

Shah Abdul Aziz, the member of parliament, contacted ISI high-ups about his brother's arrest and was informed that he would be released soon after formal investigations. However, neither Abdullah nor Mehboob was released.

This took tension between the Pakistani Taliban and the authorities to boiling point, with the former charging that not only had Islamabad not fulfilled its promises to release all Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees, but it was violating the agreement and arresting such people as Mehboob and Abdullah.

Islamabad responded that the two were part of Indian intelligence's proxy network, and that was why they had been held - not because of any possible links to al-Qaeda or the Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban did not buy this and made it clear that as the authorities had violated the agreement, they should be ready to face the Taliban's music.

At this point Musharraf said in an interview in the US that some retired ISI officials could be assisting Taliban insurgents, adding: "We are keeping a very tight watch and we will get hold of them if that at all happened. I have some reports that some dissidents, some retired people who were in the forefront in the ISI during the period of 1979 to 1989, may be assisting the links somewhere here and there."

This set off heated debate in Pakistan, leading some people to speculate that Hamid Gul, one of the most popular Islamist generals and Musharraf's immediate boss and close associate before September 11, 2001, might be arrested. Speaking to Asia Times Online, Gul termed Musharraf's statement a reflection of his "impulsive nature" and said he was in danger of opening up a "Pandora's box".

The upshot of all this, according to signals reaching this correspondent, is that Musharraf has been put on notice. The first two incidents this week caused no damage. That was possibly the intent. This is unlikely to be the case with the next ones.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.

Pakistani authorities find rockets aimed at spy agency

Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistani authorities have found two rockets aimed at the headquarters of the country's elite intelligence agency, two days after rockets were defused near President Pervez Musharraf's official residence, a senior security official said.

"The rockets were aimed at the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) headquarters" which is located on a main road in the capital Islamabad, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We have defused the rockets. The rockets were Russian-made, similar to the ones found and defused on Thursday near the parliament building," he said.

The official dismissed an earlier police report that the rockets, found on the city's Shakarparian hills overlooking the ISI headquarters, were dummies deployed in a mock exercise carried out to check security preparations.

The capital's police chief, Chaudhry Iftikhar, later told AFP that the confusion arose because of a misunderstanding between security departments.

Saturday's incident followed two earlier security scares. On Thursday two rockets fixed to launchers and hidden in bushes were found at a construction site opposite the president's official residence. A mobile phone was linked by wires to both launchers, apparently as a remote triggering device.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the rockets were not aimed at a specific target, adding the incident "appears to be aimed at creating chaos and confusion in the capital and harassing the general public."

Musharraf arrived by helicopter at an Islamabad conference hall on Thursday to give a speech -- shortly after three heavily guarded but empty motorcades had driven up apparently as decoys.

Late Wednesday a mysterious explosion occurred at a park near the army residence of General Musharraf in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjoining Islamabad.

A security alert has been enforced in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Officials said security for the president had also been tightened. Musharraf, a key ally in the US "war on terror", did not comment on the rocket find.

He seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and has survived two assassination attempts in Rawalpindi, both in December 2003, and at least four attempts overall.

ISAF will train Balkh police

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Oct 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): German-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would impart training to 1,000 policemen in the northern Balkh province in a year, officials said on Thursday.

Addressing a news conference here, Lt Col Reto Kornhuber, advisor to police in north zone said they had trained 180 police in Balkh so far. They had trained 680 policemen in Kunduz, 700 in Badkhshan and 180 policemen in Mazar-i-sharif since 2003, Kornhuber added.

They would soon grant uniform and other equipments to police in nine Northern provinces soon, she promised. Hailing role of Germany assistance, Gen Abdulhamd Fazli, northern zone police chief, said: " Germany team has helped us a lot in police training and their cooperation is satisfactory." German-led ISAF forces had taken command of ISAF forces in nine Northern provinces and 1,000 German forces are stationed in these nine provinces.

Heroin recovered from smuggler's stomach

KABUL, Oct 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Police have recovered 400 grams of heroin from a man stomach at Kabul Airport, officials said on Thursday.

General Aminullah Amerkhel, chief of the border police in Kabul Airport, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had recovered 400 grams of heroin from a man stomach. They had nabbed the drug-trafficker named Amanudin, who wanted to smuggle the heroin to China. The 17-year-old Amanudin of Takhar province told this news agency due to poor economic condition he wanted to smuggle heroin.

He said he wanted to smuggle the contraband for 30,000 afghanis. However, chief of border police said the smugglers they had detained in the past were released due to corruption infused in all departments.

Afghanistan: More dollars, please

Reuters 10/08/2006 - Forget about more troops, send more greenbacks to Afghanistan, says LA Times columnist Max Boot, as NATO prepares to take over the command of coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The United States has spent more than twice as much per capita in Iraq as it has in Afghanistan and this "anaemic level of support" is nowhere near enough to tackle the country's drug problem. Time to step up the game, concludes Boot.

Some may say the States is at least investing money more wisely in Afghanistan. Instead of putting all its efforts into wiping out the Taliban, it's focussing attention on helping civilians. "The insurgents can't compete with the money we are going to pour into reconstruction," says a civil engineer involved in reconstruction projects the U.S. Army is planning in order to win the hearts-and-minds battle in Afghanistan.

In its second report of a three-part series, Christian Science Monitor says that so far, the response from some village elders has been very good. There has been an increase in the number of project requests and the elders sometimes provide information that helps flush out insurgents from their hiding places.

"The American help is very important," one of the elders is quoted as saying. The projects in his village include water pipes, a collection basin and a micro hydro power system. "Now there is no clean water, but there will be. At night, we stay in the dark. If we have light, it will be very good."

But it's not all good news. Anyone seen to be cooperating with the U.S. forces is targeted. In the last month, one village elder has been tortured and killed and a senior border policeman assassinated, according to the publication, which says threats are very common.

Christian Science Monitor's first report in its series points out that many Afghans are frustrated at the pace of reconstruction, which has been dogged by security problems and allegations of corruption and mismanagement. Read more in our Vice and virtue in Afghanistan blog.

The final part of Christian Science Monitor's series on Afghanistan looks at the power of radio in winning people over.

A radio station was created by the U.S. Army with the aim of publicising its local development projects in Nuristan. The six hours of live broadcasting every day and its repeat session are widely heard in the region which has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in Afghanistan.

However, all the efforts to flush out the Taliban may come to nothing. In fact, the Taliban may be making a comeback with an unlikely blessing. Bill Frist, U.S. Republican Senate Majority Leader, who travelled to Afghanistan, has advised the Bush administration that they should consider the option of bringing the Taliban into the power equation, as the Taliban fighters are "too numerous and too popular," according to the Indian Express. This remark could be dismissed as just another controversial statement from a politician, but the paper points out that Bush actually supported Pakistan's recent agreement with Taliban in Waziristan province.

Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Reuters.

I think I can - Inshallah

Star-Telegram - 10/08/2006 By Erin Card

For millions of American children, The Little Engine That Could teaches the value of optimism. The classic tale offers hope to the underdog. It's a tale that the Afghan people could relate to.

This is the story of a little train using willpower and belief in itself to overcome tremendous obstacles. The task at hand -- climbing a mountain to deliver gifts to good boys and girls on the other side -- appears too difficult, and many mock the small train. Finally, one unimpressive Little Engine (or let us say "Little Truck" for the Afghan setting) agrees to accept the challenge.

Despite criticism from more prestigious characters, steep slopes, mocking and other obstacles, the Little Truck succeeds, delivering the gifts to the children and becoming a hero. During the difficult climb, the Little Truck repeats what is now one of the best-known phrases in American society: "I think I can, I think I can."

This tale might be the birthplace of self-help and positive-attitude literature -- a genre that Americans almost certainly invented. We believe in self, hard work and the power of positive thinking. We know that no one will do our work for us. We believe in happy endings. We like the underdog to win, at least some of the time. Idealism and hard work really do triumph in the end.

Rebuilding Afghanistan after years of conflict, repression and destruction is a monumental task. No matter their gender, tribe, economic status or disability, many "average" Afghans accept the challenge of rebuilding their country. Like the Little Truck, they answer, "I think I can," and then add, "Inshallah" -- "God willing."

Although they believe in the power of God's will, they do not use this belief as an exemption from hard work. "God willing" does not mean sitting idly and waiting for someone else to pull the load up the mountain. It includes jumping in and putting their own muscles into the process. The result of this hard work reflects God's will.

At CURE International's hospital in Kabul, I see more than 200 Afghans involved in positive efforts to rebuild their nation on a daily basis. They are determined to climb a "mountain" and re-open a hospital that has been dysfunctional for more than 10 years.

The lack of resources, electricity, heat and modern medical training, coupled with security threats, seem to mock us. It is easy to become overwhelmed. Plenty of people do not think our team will make it.

But I know we will. I have seen Afghans work in some of the harshest conditions imaginable; they are generous people, though they have little. They want change and advancement; most of all, they want to get to the top of the mountain and see peace on the other side.

The Little Engine That Could offers a very American perspective on overcoming hardship. I think Afghans would find support in its message about the power of positive thinking.

Despite the challenges, I have hope for Afghanistan. It will take a very, very long time for this nation to climb its "mountain" of problems, but I think it can.

[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.]