In this bulletin:

• President Karzai Will Leave for the United States of America and Canada
• Afghan President to visit Canada
• FO rejects Afghan criticism By Our Reporter
• Pakistan Foreign Office clarifies president's statement on Taleban threat
• Afghanistan: Musharraf's Warnings On Taliban Seen As Posturing
  US outraged as Pakistan frees Taliban fighters
• The Government of Pakistan should give up the agenda of demonizing Pakhtuns
• Awami National Party’s (ANP) view on North Waziristan Agreement -
• EDITORIAL: Doing ‘deals’ with a threat worse than Al Qaeda
• NATO: Taliban is not lone actor in Afghan violence
• US Emphasizes Development in Afghanistan
• Bush to host Pakistani, Afghan leaders
• Closely watching Afghan scene: Wen
• Bulgarian Defence Ministry to propose sending more troops to Afghanistan
• German Army official regrets dissent in NATO on Afghan reconstruction
• Macedonian army brigade preparing for peace mission
• NATO chief welcomes Poland's decision to bolster Afghan mission
• Iran Press: Peace in Afghanistan will only be achieved once foreign forces leave
• Russian Foreign Ministry says UN must keep an eye on events in Afghanistan
• Iran to help develop Afghan telecommunications sector
• Editorial: NATO's Afghan Test
• US decided against strike at Afghan cemetery
• Afghan security forces re-capture western Afghan district from Taleban
• Twelve Taleban killed in southern Afghanistan
• Karzai faces threat on a second front
• Foreigner, two Afghans abducted in Maidan Wardak
• Afghans find success harder to gauge
• Expert advice on Afghanistan
• Establish market for Afghan opium

President Karzai Will Leave for the United States of America and Canada - Date of Release: 14 September 2006

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, will leave for the United States of America to attend the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and to pay official visits to Ottawa, Canada, and Washington DC.

The President will address the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly on a wide range of issues related to Afghanistan.

In New York, the President will also attend the UNICEF high level symposium entitled “Reduce Child Mortality” and the Clinton Global Peace Initiative entitled “Making Multiculturalism Work,” address the Asia Society and will visit the New York Stock Exchange.  

The President will hold bilateral meetings with heads of states from around the world attending the United Nations General Assembly. After the Assembly, the President will leave the US for an official visit to Canada.

During his official visit to Ottawa, the President will meet with H.E. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, and other senior Canadian officials to discuss issues related to Canada’s assistance to Afghanistan.

The President will also address the Parliament of Canada on a wide range of issues related to Afghanistan and thank the people and Government of Canada for their generous assistance to the reconstruction and security of Afghanistan in the past five years.

After the visit to Canada, the President will leave Canada for a four-day official visit to Washington DC.

During his official visit to Washington, the President will meet with H.E. George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, H.E. Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States of America, H.E. Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, H.E. Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defence, US Senators and Representatives and other senior US government officials.

President Karzai and President Bush will discuss the need to continue cooperating in areas of mutual interest including: expanding good governance, countering the threat of militant extremists, stemming narco-trafficking and rebuilding Afghanistan’s economy and infrastructure after decades of conflict.

The President will receive a special award from Georgetown University and address 700 guests consisting of the university’s Board of Directors, faculty staff and students along with other guests.

During this visit, the President will visit the Walter Reed military hospital to meet with American soldiers who were wounded during the global fight against terrorism in Afghanistan.   

The President will address the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a business forum co-hosted with US Department of Commerce. The President will also meet with CEO’s of major US companies as part of the Business Building Forum Initiative.

The President will also visit Florida to meet with senior military officials from the Central Command.

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

Afghan President to visit Canada

14 September 2006 - Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that Afghan President Hamid Karzai will pay a working visit to Ottawa and Montreal on September 21-23, 2006. This will be the second meeting between the two leaders, the first having occurred on March 14, 2006, in Kabul.

“Guided by our core values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, Canada is proud - along with our allies - to support President Karzai’s legitimate, democratically elected government, said the Prime Minister. “Canada shares its goal of giving the people of Afghanistan, the children, men and women alike, the chance of a better life. A life of peace, security, freedom and justice.  A life we as Canadians have for ourselves and that we seek for others.”

All party consent has been given by the House Leaders in the House of Commons to delay the usual order of business to allow for the President to address Parliament. A motion to this effect will be presented in the House of Commons on September 18, 2006 for approval. 

Other elements of the President's program in Ottawa include a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister and a private reception in honour of the visit.  President Karzai will also lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial.

In Montreal, President Karzai will participate in a roundtable meeting with non-governmental organisations, address a luncheon gathering hosted by Le Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal (CORIM), and attend the inaugural meeting of the Canada-Afghanistan Business Council.

FO rejects Afghan criticism By Our Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: Pakistan on Thursday dismissed as a ‘storm in a teacup’ Afghanistan’s criticism of remarks made by President Pervez Musharraf in Brussels that the Taliban were more dangerous than Al Qaeda.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said that President Musharraf was talking about the agreement signed by Pakistan with its tribes in North Waziristan on Sept 5.

“At no stage, the president equated Pashtuns (ethnic people) with the Taliban,” she said. The spokesperson explained that the Afghan reaction was to an incorrect report by a news agency.

Pakistan Foreign Office clarifies president's statement on Taleban threat

Text of report by Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency

Islamabad, 14 September: Commenting on the Afghan Foreign Office statement on President Pervez Musharraf's talk at the European Parliament in Brussels, the Foreign Office spokesperson said that the Afghan statement was based on misconstrued interpretation of what the president had said in the context of recently reached agreement with tribal elders in North Waziristan Agency of Pakistan.

The president had stated that Taleban and Talebanization were a threat to both Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Pakistan we were countering this threat through a comprehensive strategy with military, political, administrative and socio-economic elements. He had also pointed out that Taleban wanted to convert their obscurantist creed into a nationalist movement and that Pakistan would never allow this to happen in our territory. The Agreement in North Waziristan involves a commitment of the Pushtoon Tribal elders, who are now morally and legally responsible as decided by their Jirga, not to allow Taleban militancy or Talebanization in their area or cross border militant activity from their area.

The president had also expressed the opinion that Taleban operations are led by Mullah Omer and his associates, who by all accounts, is in Southern Afghanistan. The president emphasized the need to defeat the militant Taleban.

Pakistan is cooperating with Afghanistan and multinational forces by ensuring that there is no militant activity against Afghanistan from our soil. As stated on many occasions and reaffirmed during the president's recent visit to Kabul, Pakistan supports the Bonn process and government of President Karazai and desires to see a politically stable and economically prosperous Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: Musharraf's Warnings On Taliban Seen As Posturing
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty;  14 September 2006 - By Ron Synovitz

PRAGUE, September 14, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
has said in Brussels that the "center of gravity" of terrorism is in
southern Afghanistan. He told European parliamentarians on September 12
that Afghan Taliban now pose a greater threat than Al-Qaeda and Osama bin
Laden.

Musharraf's warning in Brussels this week was stark. He said the Taliban
could draw Afghanistan's ethnic Pashtun population into a "national war by
the Pashtuns" against all foreign forces.

"The center of gravity of terrorism has shifted from Al-Qaeda to Taliban,"
he said. "This is a new element which has emerged -- a more dangerous
element because it has roots in the people. Al-Qaeda did not have roots in
the people, but [the] Taliban are more organized. They have roots in the
people."

"What Musharraf is really trying to do is to throw dust in the eyes of
everyone." Musharraf also denied widespread assertions that Taliban leaders like Mullah Mohammad Omar are directing the Afghan insurgency from safe havens
within Pakistan.

"Mullah Omar has [not] visited Pakistan since 1995 when he came into [power
in Afghanistan]," Musharraf said. "Why would he be in Pakistan? He is
certainly in southern Afghanistan. And the people of Afghanistan know
that."

Afghanistan Says Pakistan To Blame - The Afghan government has angrily rejected Musharraf's remarks. The Afghan Foreign Ministry issued a formal statement charging that the Taliban was created as a "political and military movement by Pakistan's intelligence services" and is still being supported by "certain circles" within Pakistan.

Independent experts in South Asia dismiss Musharraf's remarks as political
posturing ahead of a scheduled visit to Washington later this month. "What Musharraf is really trying to do is to throw dust in the eyes of everyone," says Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and author of the book "Taliban."
"I think it is very well-established that the Taliban are based in
Pakistan," he continues. "They are not based in Afghanistan, as he said..
[Musharraf's] reemphasis, I think, on the Taliban is all in preparation for
[his upcoming] trip to Washington -- and a joint meeting with President
Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- in which, clearly, the Americans
are going to come down fairly hard on the support that the Taliban are
getting [from elements within] Pakistan and the need for Musharraf to do
something about it."

Musharraf (right) and Afghan President Karzai no longer seeing eye to eye
(epa, file photo)Musharraf (right) and Afghan President Karzai no longer
seeing eye to eye (epa, file photo)The Afghan government says the White
House talks between the three presidents are scheduled for September 27..

Result Of Outside 'Pressure' - Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terrorism. But Rashid notes that Islamabad has come under increased pressure from NATO countries to crack down on Taliban commanders and militants who seek sanctuary in Pakistan and launch attacks across the border.

"He is now aware and the Pakistanis are aware," Rashid says. "They have
been informed that both NATO and the U.S. forces in Afghanistan have
determined that the Taliban leadership is sitting in Quetta, [Pakistan],
and is operating the war from Quetta. I think there is now an enormous
amount pressure on Musharraf to do something about that."

Samina Ahmed, the director of the International Crisis Group's Afghanistan-Pakistan program, agrees that Musharraf's remarks in Brussels are a response to increased pressure on Islamabad about militants in Pakistan's border regions.

"It's quite obviously because of international concerns -- not just about
the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, but also deep concerns about the
cross-border nature of that insurgency," she says. "There is more pressure
on Pakistan. The United Nations secretary-general's special representative
in Afghanistan [Tom Koenigs] said recently to the [UN] Security Council
that there is absolutely no doubt about it -- that there is a cross-border
element to the insurgency."

Ahmed concludes that Musharraf's warnings in Brussels reflect a reversal of
Islamabad's earlier position on Afghan Taliban. But she says the overall
tone of Musharraf's position remains the same.

"It's pretty much the same tone -- that the problem doesn't lie in
Pakistan, so the solutions lie in Afghanistan and not in Pakistan. In other
words, [Musharraf is saying] that the international community needs to
address terrorism and its roots -- and those [roots] lie across the
border," Ahmed says.

"It's possibly a variation on a theme. But the difference this time would
be that Musharraf is singling out the Taliban as the problem," she adds..
"Because the Pakistani government's original line some time back was that
the Taliban were not a problem and they should be integrated into the
political structures of Afghanistan."

U.S. and NATO commanders worry the deal in North Waziristan will bring less
security, not more (epa, file photo)U.S. and NATO commanders worry the deal
in North Waziristan will bring less security, not more (epa, file
photo)U.S. and NATO military commanders in Afghanistan have expressed
concerns about a recent security deal Musharraf struck with Pakistani
Taliban militants in the semiautonomous tribal region of North Waziristan.
They worry that the deal could lead to more cross-border attacks rather
than a reduction of border incursions.

RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas notes that Musharraf did not meet with
NATO defense chiefs who were gathering in Brussels to discuss the situation
in Afghanistan at the time of his visit, and that there "appears to be an
obvious problem here in Pakistani-NATO relations," which could be the
government's deal in North Waziristan

NATO spokesman James Appathurai has said that regardless of current
political relations between the alliance and Islamabad, NATO continues to
maintain strong operational contacts on a daily basis with Pakistani
military officials.

US outraged as Pakistan frees Taliban fighters

Telegraph 15 Sep 06 - By Isambard Wilkinson in Peshawar

Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Five years after American-led coalition forces overthrew the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom, United States officials have been horrified to discover that thousands of foreign fighters detained by Pakistan after fleeing the battleground in Afghanistan have been quietly released and allowed to return to their home countries.

Pakistani lawyers acting for the militants claim they have freed 2,500 foreigners who were originally held on suspicion of having links to al-Qa'eda or the Taliban over the past four years.

The mass release of the prisoners has provoked a stern rebuke to the Musharraf regime from the American government. "We have repeatedly warned Pakistan over arresting and then releasing suspects," said a US diplomat in Islamabad. "We are monitoring their response with great concern."

The Daily Telegraph tracked down and interviewed several former fighters who were part of a batch of eight foreign prisoners released last month. Burhan Ahmad, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi who has an American degree in engineering, admitted helping the Taliban against US-led forces in Afghanistan five years ago.

He was arrested by Pakistani security agents as he passed back over the frontier in 2003. Last month he was released from jail, where he spent three years without facing trial.

Like thousands of other Taliban and al-Qa'eda suspects who have been rounded up in Pakistan, Ahmad is now being fed and sheltered by an Islamic welfare group as he waits while a travel agency that specialises in repatriating jihadis prepares his identity papers and air ticket.

He was handed over to the al-Khidmat Foundation, a welfare organisation run by the hard-line Islamist party Jamaat-i-Islami, by a local court in Peshawar.

"I was arrested on the very same day that I arrived in Pakistan as I crossed from Khost to South Waziristan," said Ahmad who then spent 28 months in the custody of one of Pakistan's intelligence agencies before being transferred to a jail where he was imprisoned for three months. "The situation has become too difficult in Afghanistan and so I wanted to go home. I felt I had played my part."

In the hands of al-Khidmat Ahmad was more concerned with worldly goods than attaining a martyr's end in jihad. He produced a list of his personal items that he wanted back from the security agency: socks, a laptop, a thermal vest and some money.

His lawyer, Fida Gul, said: "He is no problem. He will go to Bangladesh. He is not a criminal and he has been cleared by the security forces. His arrest was illegal."

One of those who spoke to this newspaper was a young Tajik who entered Pakistan last year to study, he claimed, at a madrassa in Peshawar. He was shot in the side by Pakistani police as he tried to escape when the madrassa was raided.

A third former prisoner, a 37-year-old Algerian, had come to fight the Russian-backed government in Afghanistan in the early 1990s. He married a Pakistani woman and claimed to have settled down and worked in the honey business when he was arrested last year.

"I am going home to Algeria as I want to take advantage of an amnesty offered by the government," he said. "I know I will be arrested on arrival and interrogated as this happened to several of my Algerian brothers. But then I will be released as I have done nothing wrong."

On the question of whether released militants would return to jihad, Hazrat Aman, a field officer of the al-Khidmat Foundation, said: "If they react like that it is a natural phenomenon. Some of these people spent two to three years in jail. Some of them will live peacefully and others will join jihad again."

“The Government of Pakistan should give up the agenda of demonizing Pakhtuns” - Asfandyar Wali Khan September 14, 2006 PRESS BRIEFING

Issue by; The Central Secretariat ANP Peshawar, Pakistan

Peshawar, Central President of the largest Pakhtun nationalist party in Pakistan Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan has expressed deep concern over the fact that the Government of Pakistan has started demonizing Pakhtuns on International level after keeping them under social and political oppression for long years. He said this on Thursday evening in Baacha Khan Center Peshawar after the meetings of the Central Council and Central Executive Committee of the party. Asfandyar Wali Khan pointed out that the speech of General Pervez Musharraf to the foreign relations committee of the European Parliament in Brussels amounted to the character assassination of the Pakhtun nation.

Asfandyar Wali Khan was of the opinion that describing Taliban’s activities as the national war of Pakhtuns is not only untrue and unfair but it is also meant to camouflage the role of a section of Pakistan’s ruling establishment that has been involved in creating and nourishing of the Taliban movement. The ANP President pointed out that fact that the national struggle of Pakhtuns has a long history as under the leadership of their legendary leader Baacha Khan they had started their struggle on the basis of non-violence in the beginning of the 20 th century. The said struggle was based on the principals of freedom, peace, non-violence, democracy and human rights. He added that the ideas of General Pervez Musharraf were disappointingly misguided and were aimed to discredit 50 million Pakhtuns as an extremist and terrorist nation on international forums.

Commenting on the current crisis in Balochistan, Asfandyar Wali Khan opined that the Government of Pakistan was bent upon violating the principles of federal democracy. The Government has declared war on the nationalist forces by murdering the Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Now the nationalists have to take part in the struggle for their due rights to ensure their very survival. He thought that the Government was responsible for the crisis that can degenerate into the conditions, which led to the breakup of the country in 1971. He was of the opinion that the position taken by the General and his cabinet does not augur well for the future of the federation.

Awami National Party’s (ANP) view on North Waziristan Agreement -

CIC Associate 14 Sep 06

Awami National Party has taken a consistent view about conflict resolution in Waziristan and has advocated solutions through peaceful negotiations and jirgas (tribal council). It is because ANP is of the considered opinion that violence cannot resolve problems. Therefore we have opposed military operation in Waziristan that also produces civilian casualties.

But the agreement signed recently in Waziristan between the Government and local Taliban has kept the leaders of local tribes out of the entire process. The project was apparently allotted to a so-called Grand Jirga that was hand picked by political agents and people with an independent opinion were not included in it. So much so that people of the area believe that honorable members of the jirga have just rubber-stamped the agreement as the rest of the work was done by the agencies.

The Government has accepted every single demand of the militant elements and has beaten an unceremonious retreat. The agreement does not mention any method or time frame for the extradition of foreigners from Waziristan. Apparently foreign militants have no intention what so ever of leaving Waziristan. Similarly all the imprisoned local militants have been released but there is no mention of bringing to justice the assassins of a hundred plus tribal leaders.

By signing the agreement the Government has formally recognized the domination of Taliban over Waziristan and has abdicated from a number of its responsibilities. It is a well known fact that people of Waziristan live in fear and terror due to the murders of numerous tribal leaders. After this agreement no one from amongst the democratic minded or peace loving elements would dare oppose the Taliban. Thus Waziristan has come under the full sway of fundamentalist elements.

Talibans have intensified their activities in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the agreement, despite the fact that according to the agreement Taliban are not supposed to go any more to fight in the neighboring country. However a clause in the agreement allows the local Taliban to freely go across the line for trade, tourism and private visits that is apparently being misused for large-scale interventions.

Awami National Party strongly supports peace and stability in FATA. But we also want to underline the fact that as long as the root causes of the problem, that includes the policy of intervention in Afghanistan and the presence of elements with particular agendas of their own are not removed, such agreements cannot be effective and viable for long. We demand from the government of Pakistan to take on board all the forces, groups, tribal and local leaders who want to resolve these issues on permanent basis. We also demand from Government to engage the authentic representatives of the local tribes in the process of negotiations, so that an effective and viable solution to the conflict can be found.

EDITORIAL: Doing ‘deals’ with a threat worse than Al Qaeda

Daily Times 15 Sep 06

General Pervez Musharraf told the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday that the Taliban constitute a bigger threat to the security of the region than Al Qaeda because, unlike the latter, they are rooted in populations on both sides of the Durand Line. General Musharraf also referred to the Taliban as an Afghan phenomenon. This provoked an immediate riposte from Kabul, which called the statement unfriendly and reminded Pakistan that the militia was created and supported by Pakistan’s intelligence in 1996. Interestingly, General Musharraf spoke about the Taliban threat exactly a week from the day he cut a deal with the Taliban in Waziristan and which has since been hailed by the government as a “breakthrough”. But isn’t any “deal” contrary to General Musharraf’s view of the Taliban as a greater threat than Al Qaeda?

Two factors are important to an understanding of this situation. One, Pakistan did support the Taliban from the mid-1990s to shortly before the United States invasion of Afghanistan. However, Kabul’s retaliatory statement that Pakistan “created” the Taliban is not quite right. The well known fact is that the movement came into being indigenously in response to the chaotic situation in Afghanistan in 1996 and, as it so happened, synced with Islamabad’s objective of securing the southern route from Turkmenistan to Quetta by putting down the anarchic warlords in the area. The arch-reactionary ideology of the Taliban, in combination with their Pashtun tribalism and Deobandi origins, however, began to take root in areas of Afghanistan dominated by them after they captured large swathes of territory, including the capital Kabul.

The second aspect relates to the fact that after the US invasion of Afghanistan in the winter of 2001 many Al Qaeda and Taliban elements crossed over into Pakistan. They already had bases and sympathisers in the region and it was natural for them to do so. This compelled Pakistan to induct troops in the area. Since then, the army has been battling these elements, first in South Waziristan and later in North Waziristan. The army’s plan originally was to cleanse the area of these extremist elements and restore central authority. But that has proved elusive, despite five years of operations interspersed with deals and cease-fires, and the army has suffered casualties in the process.

It now transpires that it is difficult to sift the Taliban from the non-Taliban, not only because neither wears a uniform but also because the tribes are all imbibed with the Taliban ideology, namely a deeply conservative and literalist brand of Islam. Additionally, this brand of Islam is also supported by the mainstream religio-political parties in Pakistan, since 2001 under the umbrella of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance that rules NWFP single-handedly and is the official opposition in parliament and a coalition partner of the Musharraf regime in Balochistan.

General Musharraf is right when he talks about how the Taliban control local populations. Not only do they exercise tight control, they also have kinship bonds because they belong to the same tribes along the Durand Line. All these people also agree with the Taliban brand of Islam. This is why, operationally speaking, the army has been facing a hostile population. Its extraction operations have gone bad and its convoys are ambushed. The operation has also become a political liability. The MMA is opposed to it for ideological reasons; the liberals have been opposed to it for human rights reasons; and the rest of the opposition has been accusing the government of following the US agenda. The government, as on other issues, has been left holding the baby because it has made no effort to co-opt the mainstream parties so that they can help it execute a difficult policy.

It is therefore ironic that the current governor, Lt-Gen (r) Ali Jan Orakzai, should be the architect of the policy of appeasement. Mr Orakzai was the Peshawar corps commander when the military operation began in 2001. Now Mr Orakzai hails the peace deal as the best thing that could have happened. The problem is that he may not be right in making that claim.

For a start, this is not the first time the government has tried to placate the tribes. Previously, however, it made all such deals, big and small, look like agreements with the local tribes to (a) alienate and take out the Al Qaeda elements and (b) ensure that no one crossed into Afghanistan. We now know that such a distinction was arbitrary. In fact, General Musharraf himself has now conceded that more than Al Qaeda it is the Taliban he is afraid of and that it is difficult to say who is and who is not a Taliban. Two, the Taliban operations in Afghanistan continue and now pose the biggest threat to that country. It stretches the imagination to think that there are no linkages between those who are battling NATO troops in Afghanistan and those who, until a couple of weeks ago, were fighting the Pakistan Army. Three, a corollary of the second, relates to the question of how this deal is expected to prevent the Taliban from pursuing their agenda on both sides of the border. In Pakistan, they have already subjected the population to their version of Islamic laws. Three people have also been killed in Miranshah by the Taliban in violation of the deal. Thus it seems clear that the Taliban will not tolerate any dissent. Four, the Taliban know that the government has made a deal with them from a position of weakness. That makes them more confident and less amenable to the government’s viewpoint. Finally, the government’s strategy in succumbing to the Taliban and also calling them the biggest threat is not credible.

Is General Musharraf indicating that the only way to go about neutralising the Taliban is to confine them to the Tribal Areas through a quid pro quo — they can implement their laws but they should not export their brand of Islam? Is he buying time before striking again more effectively? Or is he signalling to the US that the use of force alone will not work and perhaps Kabul should take a cue from Islamabad and negotiate its own peace with the Taliban? The first two scenarios are unlikely to work. The third option could seemingly give Pakistan leverage over Kabul and, by extension, over India, which has become quite active in Afghanistan and is also fishing in Balochistan. But even this approach is not likely to reduce the ideological threat that now extends beyond the highlands of NWFP and into the assemblies of Pakistan where its sting is already being felt by the government on issues of legislation.

Everybody in the region is up the wall. We are likely to see more rather than less bloodshed ahead. *

NATO: Taliban is not lone actor in Afghan violence

AP (9/14/06) - NATO's commander cautioned Thursday against blaming the Taliban for all the violence in Afghanistan, saying al-Qaida and other criminal elements are also contributing to the lawlessness plaguing the country.

"This is inaccurate. It doesn't capture the nature of the problem," US Gen. James L. Jones said in a speech.

He stressed that there were others carrying out violence, including remnants of al-Qaida and "the strong presence of the drug cartels which have their own infrastructure, their own export system, their own security system and are feeding the opposition."

"I would caution that we should not make the Taliban 10 feet tall," Jones told the Vienna-based OSCE, Europe's largest security organization. NATO is conducting an offensive to dislodge Taliban fighters from parts of Kandahar province.

US Emphasizes Development in Afghanistan

VOA By Stephanie Ho Washington 14 September 2006

The top U.S. official for Central and South Asia said Thursday Washington's plan to counter the resurgence of the Taleban in Afghanistan includes greater attention to development.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told students at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies he has been surprised at the Taleban's intensity. He attributed some of the recent Taleban activity to NATO's taking over control of military operations in Afghanistan.

"As they [Taleban] see NATO deploy in these areas, they've been challenging the NATO troops, crudely put, trying to find out if these guys are as tough as the Americans," said Richard Boucher.

NATO last week requested up to 2,500 extra troops to help combat the Taleban, which is most active in southern Afghanistan.

Boucher said the hardest part of NATO and Afghan efforts to stabilize the country, especially in the troublesome south, is winning over the majority of the people to support the Afghan government.

"The people of the south, they're not all Taleban," he said. "A lot of them are fence-sitters [undecided], a lot of them are villagers. And those people need to see the benefits of government, the benefits of good governance."

He said concrete benefits of good governance include things like irrigation projects, schools and clinics.

He also emphasized the importance of building roads in Afghanistan, and highlighted a successful project in which Bolivian engineers taught Afghans how to build roads with packed stones and sand.

Meanwhile, Boucher said although opium poppies are the most lucrative crop for Afghan farmers, greater efforts should be made to persuade them to grow legal crops. He said these efforts include making the alternative produce, such as wheat or apricots, part of a larger economic system that would include food processing and distribution.

Bush to host Pakistani, Afghan leaders

Reuters Thursday, September 14, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush plans to hold separate talks this month with the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the White House said on Thursday amid the worst fighting in years against a resurgent Taliban.

Bush will host Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Washington on September 22 and will then meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on September 26, Bush administration chief spokesman Tony Snow said.

Tensions between the two neighbors have risen as the remnants of Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban have regrouped since their overthrow by U.S.-led forces after al Qaeda's September 11 attacks on the United States. Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase since the 2001 American-led invasion.

The use of Pakistani border areas by the Taliban, its al Qaeda allies and other militants has soured relations between the two countries, prompting Musharraf to visit Kabul earlier this month in an effort to repair ties.

Snow said Bush, who last met Musharraf in Islamabad in March, would review with the Pakistani leader their "strategic partnership" on a wide range of issues, including counterterrorism, advancing democracy and cooperation on energy and technology.

Bush will use his meeting with Karzai to "reaffirm America's commitment to stability and reconstruction in Afghanistan," Snow said.

"The two leaders will discuss the need to continue cooperating in areas of mutual interest, including expanding good governance, countering the threat of militant extremists, stemming narco-trafficking and rebuilding Afghanistan's economy and infrastructure," he added.

NATO has run into more resistance from the Taliban than it expected after taking over southern Afghanistan, the Islamist group's birthplace, from U.S. forces in July, and commanders have called for reinforcements.

Closely watching Afghan scene: Wen - Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Britain and China on Wednesday expressed concern over the situation in Afghanistan and called for greater international cooperation to deal with it following talks between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Downing Street.

Mr. Wen said China was "closely watching'' the developments in Afghanistan and stressed the need for a strong and independent government in Kabul to unite the country.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his host, Mr Wen said Beijing hoped that "stability'' would return to the region soon. "One of the critical factors to the solution of in Afghanistan is the need for an independent and strong Government which can unite all sections,'' he said, speaking in Chinese.

Mr. Wen pledged his Government's continuing support to the reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan. "China has already provided humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and will continue to do so,'' he said.

Mr. Blair stressed that peace and stability in Afghanistan were critical to world security. It was important to remember that the 9/11 terrorists were trained in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, he said urging Britain's NATO allies to realise that it was their collective responsibility to help Afghanistan in its struggle towards democracy. "NATO countries have a duty to respond to the situation in Afghanistan,'' Mr. Blair said amid a row among NATO members over sending troops to Afghanistan.

Other issues raised included the controversy over Beijing's reported move to impose restrictions on foreign media, and China-U.K. relations.

Mr. Wen said there was a lot of "misunderstanding'' about his government's policy towards foreign media and financial institutions and assured that there had been no change.

"The open policy adopted by the Chinese government regarding foreign news media and financial information agencies operating in China remains unchanged.Information about commerce, finance and economic development will flow freely."

Bulgarian Defence Ministry to propose sending more troops to Afghanistan

Text of report in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA website

Kavarna, on the Black Sea, 14 September: "The leadership of the Ministry of Defence will propose to the Council of Ministers options for commitment of troops to Afghanistan," Bulgarian Defence Minister Veselin Bliznakov said here on Thursday [14 September]. He did not specify a number but noted that annually until 2015, Bulgaria will be gradually increasing its participation in overseas missions.

"The allied forces in Afghanistan's southern provinces must be reinforced. Bulgaria will share [the burden] after a political decision is made. I favour effective participation and proving that we are a partner in NATO which can be dependable in such situations," the defence minister also said. He argued that the situation is very complicated because the NATO mission does not have sufficient support from the local population. Besides this, the operation there is stabilizing and peacekeeping, which limits the possibilities to use the armed forces deployed there for combat operations, Bliznakov noted.

German Army official regrets dissent in NATO on Afghan reconstruction

Text of report by German news agency ddp on 14 September

Hanover: Bernhard Gertz, chairman of the Bundeswehr Association, has demanded that the Bundeswehr budget is increased by 1bn euros to improve the safety of troops in international missions. In an interview with [daily] Neue Presse published in Hanover on Thursday [14 September], Gertz pointed out that assaults and suicide attacks were increasing "on an alarming scale", also in the north of Afghanistan. He stressed: "This is why our troops there need more and better armoured vehicles at short notice." A change of priorities appeared to be hardly achievable. Gertz added: "There is only one thing that could help: Earmark more money for the defence budget. There must be an additional cash injection. At least 1 billion [euros] is required to finance immediate measures to protect our troops."

Gertz indicated that he had doubts about the extension of the Afghanistan mission. "Afghanistan is in a very difficult situation," he said.

With regard to NATO troops deployed in Afghanistan Gertz added: "Unfortunately, not all of them pull together, nor do they pull in the same direction." Regrettably, not all provincial reconstruction teams (PRT) were set up in the way the Bundeswehr was running things in Konduz and Faizabad, "where we improve people's lives in a very tangible way". In Mazar-e Sharif, the headquarters of the northern regional command, for example, there was a Swedish PRT, but the Swedes were not implementing a single development project. "These differing views on what to do are not only annoying - in the final analysis they also put our troops at risk," Gertz said.

Macedonian army brigade preparing for peace mission

Text of report by Irina Gelevska entitled "ARM prepares for new peace mission" posted on Macedonian A1 TV website on 13 September

Macedonian soldiers from the 1st Infantry-Mechanized Brigade are already preparing for a new peacekeeping mission. They may even be deployed on the mission to Lebanon, for which, according to Defence Minister [Lazar] Elenovski, there is political will.

The new unit comprising 90 soldiers may be dispatched to Afghanistan to replace their colleagues. The officers are letting the politicians make the decision. The Scorpions [special military unit] are ready to rise to the challenge.

"We are already preparing a unit for rotation in Afghanistan or some other mission," Brig-Gen Naser Sejdini has said.

As of this year, the ARM [Army of the Republic of Macedonia] has started participating in peacekeeping missions in greater numbers. According to plans, by the year 2009, Macedonia will be able to deploy peacekeeping contingents of up to 500 troops, whereas from 2013, as many as 1,000 peacekeepers.

NATO chief welcomes Poland's decision to bolster Afghan mission

Text of report in English by Polish news agency PAP

Brussels, 14 September: NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer welcomed on Thursday [14 September] Poland's decision to increase its contingent in Afghanistan. He was informed about the move by Polish Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called it a very important step in the alliance's operations in Afghanistan.

As of February next year, over 1,000 Polish soldiers are going to be serving in Afghanistan, Sikorski announced in Washington. It would be a mechanized battalion that would be stationed at the American air base at Bagram, where Poland currently has 100 soldiers.

Iran Press: Peace in Afghanistan will only be achieved once foreign forces leave - Text of editorial by Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami on 11 September

Following the series of American defeats and frustrations in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan is also rapidly deteriorating and has taken a turn against the wishes and expectations of Washington, such that this country is also turning into a quagmire for the Western occupiers. The security situation worsens by the day, the drug trade and trafficking has risen in an unprecedented manner, and poverty and corruption is taking a heavy toll in the community.

The exacerbated security situation forced the secretary general of NATO to visit Afghanistan and NATO to call formally for a 100-per cent increase in military forces in the country. The non-government Senless Institute of Afghanistan has released a report in which it claims that, due to the mistaken policies of Britain and America, half of Afghanistan is being ruled by groups opposed to the government right now, and the country has turned into a den of terrorists.

Afghan society has fallen prey to destitution, discrimination, and government corruption, and suffers from lack of security and safety. Now, the people of Afghanistan have realized the absurdity and emptiness of the promises Western countries made to them. They are discovering their true colonial and imperialist nature now. While America has spent over 100 billion dollars on occupying and remaining in Afghanistan to date, it has only paid 80 million dollars in aid to Karzai's government. The position of puppet President Hamed Karzai is also being undermined and becomes weaker with the passage of time. News sources predict that he is on the verge of collapse. Afghans maintain that not only has Karzai made no improvement in their livelihood and the country's economy, but he has also acted solely to protect the interests of the occupiers and behaved as their puppet. Even in this he has not been very successful.

Five years ago, when the so-called group of hawks in America's ruling circle made an excuse of the New York explosions to raid Afghanistan on the pretext of fighting terrorism. They promised the American people the utter eradication of terrorism, and the Afghan people the prospect of welfare and democracy. None of the pledges has been fulfilled. Not only has the one-sided and illegal aggression of the warmongers at the White House failed to destroy terrorism, it has also helped to spread terrorism widely all over the country and region.

Most surveys and opinion polls show that even Americans do not believe Bush's claims of having suppressed terrorism. They think of the policy of war against global terrorism is a political game meant to keep the group of hawks in power, with the aim of expanding America's domination over the region.

The Afghan people do no see any improvement in their lives and the welfare that was promised them. Moreover, they are forced to bow to the presence of foreigners on their land and suffer the shame of occupation. Now, they all know that America's goal in attacking Afghanistan and occupying did not come from the goodness of their heart and caring for the people of that country. Rather, the undertaking was part of the global plan America pursues for domination of the Middle East. Following the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, America decided to find a platform and launch pad for itself in that strategic region. First, it paved the way by helping the Taliban gain power in Afghanistan. Then, after some more groundwork to provide an excuse to interfere in the region, came the suspicious explosions of 11 September 2001, and the pretext for military aggression against Afghanistan was ready.

However, contrary to their expectations, the situation for the American occupiers in Afghanistan is growing harder and more exasperating by the day. Bush and his cronies meant to capitalize on the occupation and also make some gains at home; however, now they find themselves drowning in a quagmire and increasingly suffocating. Hence, after the disgraceful defeat and despair in Iraq, Bush and his band of warmongers are standing on the verge of another crushing defeat.

The fact that half of Afghanistan is ruled by anti-American groups shows the depth of the hate and abomination of the Afghan people toward America and the occupation of their homeland by foreigners. Now, the people consider the presence of these foreigners to be the main reason for the escalation in violence, intensified ethnic disputes, massacre of innocent civilians, and all the misery they have to suffer. The occupiers must understand the simple and obvious truth that no nation in the world is willing to undergo occupation and suffer their evil presence in their home. Surely, the crisis in Afghanistan will not subside or be settled by increasing the number of occupiers. The only way out of this predicament and dilemma is for the foreign troops to get out of the country and put a stop to their evil plots and objectives of subjugating the people of Afghanistan and devouring the country according to their expansionist aims.

Russian Foreign Ministry says UN must keep an eye on events in Afghanistan

Text of report by Russian news agency Interfax

Moscow, 14 September: Moscow feels that the situation in Afghanistan must remain under the close control of the UN Security Council.

A statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry's information and press department on Thursday [14 September] recalls that on 12 September the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1707 extending the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan for a further year and that the Russian Federation had played a most active part in agreeing this document.

"We felt that the situation in Afghanistan must remain under the close control of the UN Security Council with a view to continuing coordinated international endeavours to bring about a settlement in that country," the Foreign Ministry statement says.

According to the document, the resolution notes the concern of the international community over the complex situation connected with deteriorating security in Afghanistan brought about by the actions of the Taleban, Al-Qa'idah and other illegal armed groups involved with drug trafficking.

Furthermore, the UN Security Council resolution notes the importance of making simultaneous progress in such spheres as maintenance of security, administration, socioeconomic development, and efforts to counter the drug trade in the interests of an Afghan settlement.

"ISAF's role in the normalization of the situation in Afghanistan is objectively increasing at the present complex stage of the country's development," the statement from the information and press department says.

Iran to help develop Afghan telecommunications sector

IRNA, Iran 09/14/2006 - Based on an agreement signed between an Iranian telecommunications company as well as an Indian company and Afghan Ministry of Telecommunications, Iran will assist in the development of the telecommunications sector in the war-torn country.

Announcing this, Afghan Minister of Telecommunications Amirzai Sangin said on Wednesday that the agreement, which is worth dlrs 40 million, will be financed by the ministry's Development Department.

He added that the amount will be divided equally between India's Asstr Company and Iran's Shahid Ghandy Telecommunications Company of Yazd.

Sangin added, "The companies are obliged to make 100,000 telephone lines operational in Kabul and another 50,000 in the cities of Kandahar, Mazar-i Sharif, Konduz and Nangarhar over an 18 months period."
He told reporters, "Currently 165,000 telephone lines are operating in Afghanistan and another 120,000 lines are already ready for commissioning. In the next 18 months, some 150,000 telephone lines will be operational."
The minister noted that with the completion of the plan, the total number of operational telephone lines in Afghanistan will reach 485,000, thus giving the Afghans access to Internet services and TV networks.

Also currently 3 GSM mobile companies operate in the country with 1.2 million subscribers.

Editorial: NATO's Afghan Test

Washington Post - Friday, September 15, 2006

IN AFGHANISTAN, the NATO alliance is engaged in the bloodiest and most important land battle in its 57-year history. Some 6,000 British and Canadian troops have been fighting near-daily engagements with the resurgent Taliban militia in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, killing more than 500 of the enemy in the past month while suffering three dozen deaths of their own soldiers. The campaign is fateful in several respects: It could prove a turning point both for Afghanistan and for NATO, which hopes to demonstrate that an alliance forged for the Cold War in Europe can tackle the West's 21st-century challenges.

For that reason, it's been encouraging to see the courage and apparent effectiveness of the British and Canadian troops, who are supported by U.S. and Afghan forces; it's been equally disheartening to witness the response of other NATO governments to an urgent request for more soldiers and aircraft to ensure the Taliban's defeat. At a special pledging conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, the alliance's 26 governments failed to make any new commitments of troops.

NATO's top commander, U.S. Gen. James L. Jones, wasn't asking for anything exceptional when he urged the alliance last week to provide an additional 1,000 soldiers to serve as a reserve battalion as well as 1,500 more air support personnel and a squadron of helicopters. In fact, those forces were supposed to be part of NATO's commitment to southern Afghanistan; only 85 percent of the planned force was provided. The NATO force, which totals 8,000, including Dutch troops in a third province, is barely adequate for its principal planned mission, which was to help extend the authority of the Afghan government to southern Afghanistan and support aid and development projects.

As it has turned out, the NATO troops have encountered fierce resistance from thousands of Taliban fighters who have infiltrated the region since last spring and are staging large-scale assaults. The unexpected intensity of the combat has raised domestic pressure on the Canadian and British governments, though both are so far standing firm. But other NATO governments are failing to commit their own soldiers as reinforcements; even worse, governments that already have troops in Afghanistan, such as Germany, are refusing to consider transferring some of them to the south from the relatively peaceful bases they occupy.

There's no question that placing soldiers in harm's way is one of the hardest steps for a democracy, and rightly so. But European governments that say they are committed to NATO and its mission in Afghanistan cannot continue to watch from a distance as American, British and Canadian soldiers do the lion's share of the fighting -- and dying. If NATO is to be an enduring military alliance, its other members must step forward.

US decided against strike at Afghan cemetery

By Associated Press  |  September 14, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The US military acknowledged yesterday that it had considered bombing a group of more than 100 Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, but that it decided not to after determining the insurgents were on the grounds of a cemetery.

The decision came to light after an NBC correspondent's web log carried a photo of the insurgents. Defense Department officials first tried to block further publication of the photo, then struggled to explain what it depicted.

NBC News said US Army officers had wanted to attack with missiles carried by an unmanned Predator drone, but were prevented under rules of battlefield engagement that bar attacks on cemeteries.

In a statement released yesterday, the US military in Afghanistan said the picture, a grainy black-and-white photo taken in July, was given to a journalist to show that Taliban insurgents were congregating in large groups. The statement said US forces considered attacking.

``During the observation of the group over a significant period of time, it was determined that the group was located on the grounds of the cemetery and were likely conducting a funeral for Taliban insurgents killed in a coalition operation nearby earlier in the day," the statement said. ``A decision was made not to strike this group."

While not giving a reason for the decision, the military concluded that the statement saying that while Taliban forces have killed innocent civilians during a funeral, coalition forces ``hold themselves to a higher moral and ethical standard than their enemies."

The photo shows what NBC News says are 190 Taliban militants standing in several rows near a vehicle in an open area of land. Gunsight-like brackets were positioned over the group in the photo.

The photo appeared on NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders's blog. Initially, military officials called it an unauthorized release, but they later said it was given to the journalist. 

Afghan security forces re-capture western Afghan district from Taleban

Text of report by Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency

Herat, 14 September: The Taleban captured Bakwa District of western Farah Province for a few hours last night.

Giving detail of the incident, the security commander of Bakwa District of Farah Province, Nematollah, this morning contacted Afghan Islamic Press [AIP] by satellite phone and said: "Last night, 60 Taleban fighters attacked the centre of Bakwa District where fighting continued for at least two hours."

He added: "After two hours of fighting, the Afghan police retreated and the Taleban captured the centre of the district. They destroyed four rooms of the district headquarters with explosives. With the support of local residents, the police attacked the Taleban as a result of which the Taleban retreated from the centre of the district."

According to the security commander, the Taleban held the district for three hours. Nematollah said that two police officers were wounded in the attack and two Taleban fighters were killed in four others were wounded.

The Taleban have not commented on the incident yet. There have been reports of fighting between the Taleban and the police in different districts of Farah Province for the past few days.

Twelve Taleban killed in southern Afghanistan

Text of report by Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency

Kandahar, 14 September: The Afghan government has reported the killing of 12 Taleban in Garmser District, Helmand Province

A government security official has said that their forces have killed 12 Taleban in Garmser District of southern Helmand Province.

Giving this report to Afghan Islamic Press [AIP], the security commander of Helmand, Gen Mohammd Nabi Mullakhel, said today: "As a result of clashes between the government forces and Taleban rebels in Garmser District of southern Helmand province last night and this morning, 12 Taleban were killed including Mullah Jamaloddin."

He added: "Mullah Jamaloddin was the Taleban commander in Garmser." It is worth pointing out that such clashes between the government and the Taleban forces have taken place for a long time and have caused casualties on both sides.

Karzai faces threat on a second front

IWPR By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi - MAZAR-E-SHARIF - While much of the world's attention has been focused on a resurgent Taliban in the south, the Afghan government in Kabul is facing an equally serious challenge to its authority in the northern part of the country.

Last month, at least 14 people were killed, including four civilians, in fighting in Faryab province between militias loyal to two rival commanders, Abdul Rahman Shamal and Khalifa Saleh.

Shamal has been linked to Junbesh-e-Melli-ye-Islami, the faction formerly led by Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. Saleh is said to be part of the Hizb-e-Azadi, a faction led by Gen. Abdul Malik, a rival warlord in the north.

Dostum, who served as a key ally of the United States during its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, currently serves as an adviser to President Hamid Karzai and chief of staff of Afghan armed forces. Until the most recent fighting, he and Malik have maintained an uneasy truce in the north for several years.

The recent outbreak, however, points to the continued existence of armed militias who owe their allegiance to individual warlords rather than any central government. The groups persist despite two major U.N.-backed efforts to disarm and demobilize such fighters.

In an attempt to rein in such militias, the Interior Ministry is threatening to outlaw the two political parties with rival militias, thereby excluding them from government posts.
"These parties have military wings, so they must be dissolved because the presence of these armed wings in the provinces has created serious problems for the public," Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbel said last month.

Leaders of both political parties challenged the ministry's move, insisting they have no connection with armed groups.

For his part, Malik accused the Interior Ministry of attempting to shift the blame for the unrest on the north.

"The interior ministry wants to blame the two parties for the incompetence of its own police in Faryab, who were unable to halt the fighting between two local commanders, and for its inability to ensure security and collect weapons across the country," he said.

Nor did the Justice Ministry seem anxious to become involved in the dispute, saying it would take a wait-and-see attitude before disenfranchising the two parties.
"The Interior Ministry has yet to send us reliable documents, but if we receive proof that a given party has a military force, we will begin the process of dissolving it," said Elyas Ghiasi, the official in charge of registering political parties,

While government ministers may not be sure who has control of the militias, most people in the north seem convinced that Dostum and Malikare the ones firmly in control.

"The government has no power in this province," said one local resident who asked that his name not be used. "The entire province is ruled by Dostum and Malik. These people extort money from local residents by torturing them. People cannot even marry off their daughters without getting permission from these commanders."

The NATO peacekeeping force in northern Afghanistan also appears to acknowledge that Dostum and Malik are in charge.

"I held meetings with Dostum and Malik in order to halt the fighting in Faryab, said Brig. Gen. Markus Kneip, commander of the NATO forces. "These two Afghan generals helped us halt the fighting by exercising their power in this area."

All this has led many to question the authority of the central government. If Karzai is unable to control former warlords who at least in theory support his government, what chance does he have against a determined enemy like the Taliban in the south?

Foreigner, two Afghans abducted in Maidan Wardak

Pajhwok - MAIDAN-SHAR - Security officials have increased search for the Colombian national and his two Afghan co-workers who were abducted by unidentified gunmen in Maidan-Wardak province some three days back, officials said on Tuesday.

The Colombian national and his two colleagues were on their way to Kabul from Behsud district of Maidan Wardak when they were abducted by gunmen between Jalriz and Koti-Ashro areas. The three abductees are staffers of the Madeira Welfare NGO.

A press official in the interior ministry said:" The three staffers got down from the car and wanted to buy fruit in Mamkai village in Jarliz district and were abducted by four gunmen."

Deputy provincial police chief Col Mohammad Hassan said they had started search for the abductees since after they were informed about the incident, but had found no clue so far. He blamed the abductors as enemies' of the Afghan government and did not mention name of any group.

About a month earlier, a Lebanese engineer was abducted by Taliban gunmen in Shahjoyee district of Zabul and was released ten days back.

Afghans find success harder to gauge

By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor 15 Sep 06

KABUL – Few ever dared dream that Afghanistan, five years after US forces toppled the Taliban, would be Utopia.

But few, also, would have predicted that chronic weak governance, worsening security, and a resurgent Taliban would prompt senior US officials to warn against allowing Afghanistan to collapse again into a "failed state."

The metric for success has changed repeatedly for Afghans, whose high hopes - buoyed in late 2001 by unprecedented promises of Western support - have been repeatedly deflated.

Many feel a familiar foreboding, akin to the disintegration at the end of the Soviet occupation in 1989, which led to years of civil war - and, finally, to more stable Taliban rule.

"My biggest worry is not the Taliban ... but the degree of cooperation of the population with the Taliban," says Homayoun Shah Assefy, a former presidential candidate and strong critic.

"In Maoist terms, they are swimming like fish in a friendly sea.... The gap between the government and the people is widening," says Mr. Assefy. "It's never too late to do good things, but we are moving toward a dangerous situation that is getting worse, not better."

Opium production has soared by nearly half in the past year, to 92 percent of world supply - most significantly in Taliban-heavy provinces of the south, where, many believe, it may help finance the militants. Army and police forces remain weak, and billions in rebuilding have yet to bring steady electricity even to Kabul.

President Hamid Karzai has said that his government, widely perceived among Afghans to be mired in corruption, could not resist a day without 38,000 US and NATO troops there. "The system is not working," says Assefy. "It can't defend itself."

Reversing that trend is proving difficult years after the White House called its efforts a success story. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that Afghanistan must not be abandoned again, as it was after Soviet withdrawal.

"[I]f we allow that kind of vacuum, if you allow a failed state in that strategic location, you will pay for it," said Ms. Rice. "If Afghanistan does not complete its democratic evolution and become a stable state, it's going to come back to haunt us."

But such an evolution has hardly begun, and is endangered - as attacks mount against schools, police stations, and government offices - by spreading Taliban influence. NATO forces, launching what they say is a new hearts-and-minds strategy, have battled for two weeks in the south, and claim to have killed more than 500 insurgents.

"There are two realities in competition: a political reality, of problematic but growing democracy; and a security reality, of the encroaching Taliban and insecurity, and it's like a race between them," says an American analyst in Kabul.

"The fundamental principle of politics is delivering services," says the analyst, ticking off problems from open sewers to ineffective parliament to warlordism - that have undermined public faith. "Donors have missed a really important point here: "If Karzai can't deliver services, then democracy can't function."

"The state has already failed," adds the analyst, noting that large swaths of the country are not under Kabul's control. "A few years ago, people gave Afghanistan a 50-50 chance. Now it is maybe 20-80, against Afghanistan making it."

Now, NATO forces are launching a new strategy in the south. Poland agreed Thursday to send 1,000 more soldiers in February, to the east, but the promise falls short of NATO requests this week for 2,500 more troops immediately to form a reserve force on the southern battlefield.

"The metric of success is: Do [people] feel life is getting better? Are they visibly moving forward? We have to demonstrate ... to people we can do that," says NATO spokesman Mark Laity.

"Operation Medusa is not just a kinetic operation, but a holistic operation that includes people going home, reconstruction and development," says Mr. Laity. "The strategic victory will not come just from the military," he says, but from aid and leadership "so people will have faith in the government and choose to support you."

US and British forces in Iraq have sometimes attempted to blend military force with the benefits of governance, to defeat insurgents, often with only temporary results. But that template has yet to be widely tested here, where initial contingents of the International Security Assistance Force didn't deploy outside of Kabul for 18 months.

The result of such "economy of force," military officers here now admit, was a vacuum that complicated government control. NATO forces in the south have been pushed to 10,000 from 4,000 this year; in Helmand Province, 100 Special Forces troops now have nearly 5,000 British troops on the ground.

"We are looking for that psychological ... effect that won't make it easy for the Taliban to crawl in at night and recruit $5-a-day foot soldiers," says NATO military spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig. Up to "70 percent perhaps [of Afghans] that just want to make sure they are on the winning side, and you want to win them over."

But that won't be easy. This year, 173 have died from suicide bombings. And many Afghans and analysts wonder, too, why such strategies were not used in 2002, a time of broad global support.

"What is very distressing is ... the failure to understand the lessons of the rise of the Taliban in the mid-1990s - they've supported the same type of people, even the same people - that made possible the triumph of the Taliban in 1996," says Francesc Vendrell, the EU envoy to Afghanistan. "The lessons are being learned, but it's a bit late. What was easily accomplishable in 2003 and 2004 is much more difficult now."

Expert advice on Afghanistan - Toronto Star Sep. 14, 2006 HAROON SIDDIQUI

Afghanistan is at a crossroads and, with it, Canada's involvement: "We should bring our troops home." "No, we shouldn't." "We should talk to the Taliban." "No, we shouldn't."

With no easy answers available, I talked to two knowledgeable people, veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi and Afghan Canadian filmmaker Nelofer Pazira.

Pazira's family in Kabul fled the Soviet occupation in 1989 and came to Canada a year later. She has made two movies, Kandahar (2001) and Return to Kandahar (2003), and wrote a book, A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan (2005).

Pazira, 33, has just returned from a month-long visit to her native land. Unlike the journalists "embedded" with foreign troops, she travelled widely and talked to the people.

She says the Hamid Karzai government "has lost its legitimacy," given its corruption, incompetence and alliances with the regional warlords.

Afghans, caught between the Taliban and NATO troops, are "frustrated, anxious and cynical," especially in Kandahar, the city and the province of the same name.

In Kabul, the foreign troops are seen as forces of good, because they have been. In the south, they are viewed as incompetent occupiers making things worse.

"I am torn. The Canadian in me says, `What are we doing there?' The Afghan in me says, `What if the foreigners all pack up and leave? Will the country go back to pre-9/11?'"

What about Jack Layton's idea of talking to the Taliban?

"That's the only sensible thing I've heard lately. Realistically, diplomacy is the right way. The Taliban are not a homogeneous group, anyway."

Brahimi, 72, the world-renowned United Nations envoy, is a former foreign minister of Algeria, who in 1990 helped the Arab League end the Christian-Muslim civil war in Lebanon.

Post-Taliban, he organized the Bonn conference (November 2001), then the loya jirga, the traditional gathering of tribes (June 2002), and stayed on until December 2004 trying to turn the failed state into a functioning one.

Since then, he has been a UN envoy to Iraq (2004) and Darfur (2006).

I reached him in his Paris apartment.

"We have expected miracles in Afghanistan but miracles don't happen very often on Earth. A country that has systematically been destroyed for 25 years is not going to become paradise in 25 or 35 months.

"The Taliban had never been defeated. They had been pushed out of Kabul. They scattered all over and were demoralized but now some of them have regrouped and are reminding the world that they exist."

The Taliban are back because of the mistakes made by the United States and the allies.

"One of my own biggest mistakes was not to speak to the Taliban in 2002 and 2003.

"It was not possible to get them in the tent at the Bonn conference because of 9/11 and they themselves were not eager. But immediately after that, we should've spoken to those who were willing to speak to us.

"That I consider to be my mistake — a very, very big mistake."

Should we speak to them now?

"I'm too far to lecture anybody now."

What other mistakes?

"The international force should've gone out of Kabul when people outside Kabul were begging to have them.

"All we were asking for is 3,000 to 5,000 more troops. But we never got them. If we had, we'd have done much better ...

"Then the Afghan administration did not project itself with confidence and care for people outside of Kabul and the main cities. They should have."

What else went wrong?

"The Americans, Donald Rumsfeld in particular, were not interested in nation-building. He said they were there to fight the enemy: `We're going after the Al Qaeda and we're not interested in rebuilding Afghanistan. '

"The Americans turned around slowly in 2003. But by that time, we had lost a hell of a lot of time."

What should be done now?

"Fight drug production better, fight corruption better, and have the much better-qualified Afghans that are emerging to run the local administrations.

"Get along better with Pakistan. It has been ridiculous that the relationship has not been better. I am encouraged that Gen. (Pervez) Musharraf was in Kabul the other day."

What should Canada do?

"I know that Canadians are nervous and are wondering, `Why should our troops remain there?' "But I think if international solidarity means anything, you have to be there.

"Second, terrorism is a terrible thing and you need to help contain it — not by killing terrorists, which is what's happening now, but by preventing people from becoming terrorists."

Translation: Stay in Afghanistan. But forget the American-style war on terrorism. Concentrate on helping the people. The solution is mostly political, and that might entail talking to the right elements in the Taliban.

Establish market for Afghan opium

Sep. 14, 2006. 01:00 AM

The Prime Minister should make diplomatic efforts with the Afghanistan government to set up a marketing board for the Afghanistan farmers for their poppy crops. Perhaps offer a model of supply controls used for some of our farm products. The poppy crops would be delivered according to a set of standards to pharmaceutical companies worldwide. The revenue to the farmers would be driven by the sale prices obtained by the marketing board to ensure the elimination of black markets currently used to fund the Taliban.

With a quota system, and a fair market return to the farmers, it is unlikely that a large black market could emerge again. The pharmaceutical companies would be encouraged to work with the farmers to improve their poppy yield and quality.

[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.]