In this bulletin:

• Bomber kills Afghan district head
• Bomber kills southern Afghan district chief, 5 civilians killed in eastern Afghanistan
• US documents show Pakistan gave Taliban military aid
• Documents spotlight U.S.-Pakistan ties
• British military ramps up in Afghanistan
• Karzai asks SCO members to focus on fight against drugs
• Putin calls for anti money-laundering zone around Afghanistan
• Afghanistan can be good partner forever: Hu
• 2 Canadian soldiers wounded in Afghanistan
• Ottawa vows to open up about the Afghan mission
• Dion issues list of demands ahead of summit
• How to be a jihadi: Taliban's training secrets
• 2 released South Korean hostages arrive home from Afghanistan
• AFGHANISTAN: UN highlights conflict’s impact on civilians
• DynCorp wins portion of $1.8B contract for work in Afghanistan
• Afghan women footballers kick off

Bomber kills Afghan district head – BBC

A senior official in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar has been killed along with three of his children in a suicide bomb attack, police said.

The governor of Kandahar's Zerai District, Khairuddin Kaka, was killed by a man who was wearing a suicide explosives vest. A daughter and two sons of Mr Khairuddin died along with the bomber.

Suicide attacks on Afghan officials and soldiers are a frequent occurrence in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

In a high profile case, Afghan President Hamid Karzai this year pardoned a 14-year-old boy caught wearing a suicide vest on his way to assassinate the governor of eastern Khost province.

Mr Khairuddin was with his family ahead of Friday prayers when the attacker jumped over him and detonated the explosives. Mr Khairuddin's daughter was aged two and his sons six and 12.

Interior ministry spokesman Zamary Bashary told the BBC the attack was "the work of the enemies of peace".

Separately, Nato in Afghanistan said a clash with Taleban fighters had left five civilians dead although it did not specify where or when the clash took place. Nato said its forces were hit by a roadside bomb before coming under mortar and small arms fire.

Nato described the incident as very unfortunate and that every effort was being made to provide medical attention for the other Afghan civilians who were hurt.

The statement comes as US and Afghan forces are undertaking an operation against al-Qaeda and the Taleban in the Tora Bora region close to Pakistan.

The US military said that "al-Qaeda and other violent extremist fighters" had been engaged in the fighting during a "combined arms assault using precision munitions".

Tora Bora was the scene of a failed major US operation to capture al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in 2001. The region consists of a complex of caves, and is known as the last stronghold of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Bomber kills southern Afghan district chief, 5 civilians killed in eastern Afghanistan

The Associated Press, Friday, August 17, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: A suicide bomber killed an Afghan district chief and three of his children in southern Afghanistan on Friday, and five civilians were killed in fighting between NATO soldiers and Taliban in the country's east, officials said.

The bomber blew himself up as Khariudin Achakzai, the chief of Kandahar's Zhari district, was coming out of his house in the city of Kandahar with five of his children, said Abdul Ghafar, a police official.

Achakzai, two of his sons and a daughter were killed instantly, while two of his other sons were wounded, Ghafar said.

In the east, NATO troops were hit by a roadside bomb before coming under small-arms and mortar fire, the statement said. The alliance did not disclose the exact location of the incident.

The ensuing gunfight left five Afghan civilians dead and three others wounded, NATO said. Two Taliban fighters were also wounded. There were no reports of alliance casualties.

"Such incidents are regrettable, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed and wounded in this very unfortunate incident," the NATO statement said. "Every effort is being made to provide the best medical treatment to the injured Afghans."

Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply during the last two months. More than 3,700 people, mostly militants, have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of casualty figures provided by Western and Afghan officials.

US documents show Pakistan gave Taliban military aid

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor / Thursday August 16, 2007

The Guardian (UK) - The Pakistani government gave substantial military support to the Taliban in the years leading up to the September 11 attacks, sending arms and soldiers to fight alongside the militant Afghan movement, according to newly released US official documents.

Islamabad has acknowledged diplomatic and economic links with the Taliban but has denied direct military support. The US intelligence and state department documents, released under the country's freedom of information act, show that Washington believed otherwise.

The suspicion has lingered that some elements of Pakistani intelligence are still protecting the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies in the autonomous tribal areas along the Afghan border. US officials have warned they might take direct military action without Islamabad's approval.

Among the documents acquired by the National Security Archive, an independent group pressing for government transparency, is a confidential memo sent in November 1996, from intelligence report from Islamabad to the Defence Intelligence Agency in Washington, describing how Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps was operating across the border.

The Frontier Corps are recruited from the Pashtun population in the tribal areas, but commanded by officers from the regular Pakistani army.

"For Pakistan, a Taliban-based government in Kabul would be as good as it can get in Afghanistan," a state department briefing paper, dated January 1997, said, adding: "Many Pakistanis claim they detest the Taliban brand of Islam, noting that it might infect Pakistan, but this apparently is a problem for another day."

Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, is under intense pressure from the spread of Taliban extremist influence in his own country, and admitted on Sunday that the movement had support from his side of the border.

"The documents illustrate that throughout the 1990's the ISI [Pakistani intelligence] considered Islamic extremists to be foreign policy assets," Barbara Elias, a National Security Archive researcher, said. "But they succeeded ultimately in creating a Pakistani Taliban. Those years of fuelling insurgents created something that now directly threatens Islamabad."

No one was available for comment at the Pakistani embassy in London yesterday. Privately, Pakistani officials concede that the ISI was instrumental in turning the Taliban into an organised force before 2001, but claim that the committed Islamists in the ISI's ranks have been purged.

Those claims are being viewed increasingly critically in Washington, due to Islamabad's failure to uproot Taliban and al-Qaida militants in tribal regions, like Waziristan. Bush administration hawks and the Democratic presidential contender, Barack Obama, have called for direct US military action in the region.

Documents spotlight U.S.-Pakistan ties

By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press, Thursday, August 16, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Newly declassified intelligence documents reveal the depth of U.S. officials' concern that Pakistan was providing funds, arms — and even combat troops — to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for years before the Sept. 11 attacks.

They also show rising frustration at what U.S. officials called Pakistan's "resistance and/or duplicity" toward Washington's repeated requests for help in getting the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden. A top official at one point said hauling Pakistan before the U.N. Security Council should be considered.

The documents, released under a Freedom of Information Act request by George Washington University's National Security Archive and posted on its Web site, add detail to what is already generally known about U.S. intelligence on Pakistan's links with the Taliban as it surged to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s.

The cables and letters between senior U.S. officials — most of them stamped "confidential" and heavily redacted for public release — lay out those concerns in language stripped of diplomatic niceties.

All but one of the 35 documents deal with the period between December 1994 and September 2000. Sensitive details, including what appear to be names, have been blacked out in many places.

They show that U.S. officials as early as 1994 believed Pakistan's intelligence services were deeply involved with the Taliban and its takeover that year of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. It was the first major victory for the then-obscure religious militia that went on to capture the capital, Kabul, in September 1996 and then gain control of almost all of Afghanistan by mid-1997.

Responding to the new documents, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam reiterated Pakistan's previous strong denials that the country ever gave military support to the Taliban. She also denied Pakistan ignored U.S. requests to use its influence to persuade the Taliban to surrender bin Laden.

In 1996, U.S. intelligence officials concluded Pakistan's Interservice Intelligence was more involved with the Taliban than Pakistani officials had been telling American diplomats. An Oct. 22 cable to Washington said the service was supplying the Taliban with food and fuel, adding that "munitions convoys depart Pakistan late in the evening hours and are concealed to reveal their true contents."

Two weeks later, another cable to Washington said large numbers of Pakistan's Frontier Corps were being "utilized in command and control; training; and when necessary — combat" in Afghanistan. The Frontier Corps were comprised mostly of ethnic Pashtuns, who would not stand out among the Taliban, who were also mostly Pashtuns.

Aslam denied the cable's claims. "That's absolutely baseless. Our troops have never been involved inside Afghanistan," she said.

The Taliban regime imposed a version of Islamic rule that was among the world's strictest — subjugating women, banning music and chopping off the hands of thieves. But the Taliban won support inside and outside Afghanistan because its rise quelled fighting among regional warlords whose battle over power after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 killed countless civilians.

"There was a time when everyone supported them, because after the civil war everyone thought that they would bring stability and peace to Afghanistan and they might unify the nation," Aslam said. Pakistan gave diplomatic recognition to Taliban rule in May 1997; recognition followed from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Bin Laden moved to Afghanistan — from Sudan where diplomatic pressure had forced him out — in the chaotic years before the Taliban came to power, and began setting up terrorist training camps. The warlords who let bin Laden in later combined into the Northern Alliance, which with U.S. military support ousted the Taliban in late 2001.

Among the Taliban's early backers was Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun leader asked by the Taliban to become their U.N. representative before he became disillusioned with their extremism. Washington later supported Karzai as Afghanistan's post-Taliban president, a post he still holds.

In March 1999, Karl F. Inderfurth, Washington's senior diplomat for South Asia, wrote to then-Secretary of State Madeline Albright in pessimistic terms about the prospects of peace in Afghanistan. Washington, he wrote, "may have to consider the Taliban to be an intrinsic enemy of the United States and (Afghanistan to be) a new international pariah state."

Concerns about the Taliban included its links to opium crops, rights abuses and protection of bin Laden, who at the time was wanted in the United States in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya that killed more than 200 people.

"Pakistan has not been responsive to our requests that it use its full influence on the Taliban surrender of bin Laden," Inderfurth wrote. "We should demand that Pakistan help us meet our core goals in Afghanistan and foster a political settlement compatible with Pakistan's own long-term interests."

If not, the United States should consider taking Pakistan before the U.N. Security Council, where military action could be among the options, Inderfurth wrote.

"If we see continued Pakistani resistance and/or duplicity, we should begin to seriously consider seeking Security Council backing ... to ensure that Pakistan and the outside players abide with pledges to cease outside support," he said.

Aslam said the idea that Pakistan did not respond to U.S. requests on bin Laden was a "baseless allegation."

"We tried out best," she said. "I think the U.S. intelligence agencies have exaggerated Pakistan's influence, in their own interests."

Washington had stepped up efforts to get bin Laden after the African embassy bombings, posting a $5 million reward for the terrorist leader. In 1999, President Clinton met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who soon afterward began talking of withdrawing Pakistan's support for the Taliban unless bin Laden was handed over or expelled from Afghanistan, according to reports at the time.

Cooperation between Islamabad and Washington on bin Laden lapsed after Musharraf ousted Sharif in a coup in October 1999. Musharraf made an abrupt shift in policy after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S., withdrawing support for the Taliban and becoming a key U.S. ally in the Afghan war by providing logistical support and launching military action in the lawless border region to root out militants.

Bin Laden and top Taliban leaders escaped the U.S.-led war, and U.S. intelligence officials warned last month that al-Qaida might be regrouping in tribal zone on the border. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have stepped up attacks in the past two years trying to destabilize Karzai's government and reassert themselves as a force in the country.

_On the Net: George Washington University's National Security Archive: http://www.gwu.edu/nsarchiv

British military ramps up in Afghanistan

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Thursday, August 16, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan - As Britain's military winds down its efforts in Iraq, the United Kingdom is pouring more soldiers and aid money into Afghanistan to fight a resurgent Taliban and booming drug trade it says pose a direct threat to the nation.

Britain's ambassador in Kabul said the government began increasing its focus on Afghanistan shortly before the end of former Prime Minister Tony Blair's tenure in June, and made it even more of a priority under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Afghanistan "matters to us because a high proportion of the terrorism investigations in the U.K. can be traced back to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area," Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles told The Associated Press in an interview this week.

"It matters to us because 90 percent of the heroin on British streets comes from Afghanistan, and it matters to us because it is desperately poor, and we have a commitment through the International Development Act of tackling poverty around the world," he said.

During a visit to the United States late last month, Brown called Afghanistan "the front line against terrorism," in contrast to President Bush's common refrain that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.

Britain will increase its troop strength in Afghanistan to 7,700 by the year's end, up from 7,000 today and 3,600 a year ago, in what Cowper-Coles labeled a "sensible tactical adjustment" based on commanders' advice.

In Iraq, Britain has handed over two of its three bases in Basra to the Iraqi government, and in the coming weeks its force level will drop to 5,000, down from 40,000 after the March 2003 invasion.

"I think there is a general feeling in the United Kingdom concerning Iraq, as far as the U.K.'s efforts are concerned, that there is not much more than can be done with military force, so we can logically shift more focus to Afghanistan," said Christopher Langton, a former British colonel who is an analyst at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Britain's move to Afghanistan, where the United States has 25,000 soldiers, "is proof that we're not leaving the United States in the lurch, and although I'm quite sure they'd rather we stay in Iraq they also know we don't have endless resources," Langton said.

David Miliband, Britain's new foreign secretary, chose Afghanistan as his first overseas trip. Afterward, he wrote in the British magazine The Spectator that "most British terrorism investigations trace back to the training camps just across the border, in western Pakistan."

Police said two of the suspects in the London subway and bus bombings on July 7, 2005, had attended training camps in Pakistan, as did the ringleader of failed attacks two weeks later.

"There's a real concern among ministers that, first of all, Afghanistan is one of our top foreign policy priorities and secondly that we need to get it right," Cowper-Coles said.

British troops are responsible for Helmand province in southern Afghanistan — scene of some of the heaviest fighting over the last two years and the largest opium poppy-growing region in the world.

Cowper-Coles said NATO's International Security Assistance Force, including British troops, will "really raise its game on counternarcotics" next growing season.

"You're going to see increased disruption of traffickers. You're going to see some serious targeted, non-negotiated eradication (of poppy fields)," he said. "In short the big traffickers are going to start feeling the heat."

Heroin accounted for nearly a third of the total number of drug-related deaths in Britain in 2005, the last year for which statistics are available, according to the government.

Drugscope, a British drug information charity, says heroin use has leveled off, however, in part because that segment of the population is aging and fewer young people are taking up the drug. The charity estimates heroin had a street value of $100 per gram in Britain in 2005.

On the aid front, Britain's Department for International Development will spend more than $200 million in Afghanistan this year — one of Britain's top aid commitments per capita anywhere in the world.

"We very much believe that there is no military solution. Equally there is no entirely nonmilitary solution," Cowper-Coles said. "We've got to keep up the military pressure on the Taliban, but at the same time we've got to use the other strands in our strategy to try to contain and gradually bring down the insurgency."

Cowper-Coles said Britain doesn't have any significant policy differences in Afghanistan with the United States, although Britain does not back Washington's interest in launching a Colombia-style aerial spraying campaign to eradicate opium poppies.

"There are occasionally differences of emphasis," he said. "We're both agreed that there's no case for aerial spraying unless the government of Afghanistan agrees to it. And as I understand it, the government of Afghanistan does not favor spraying, so there may be an academic debate about it, but it's just that — academic."

On the military front, a report in The New York Times last week quoted an unidentified British military officer as saying he had asked U.S. special forces to leave his area of operations because they were causing civilian deaths.

Cowper-Coles said there was "no truth to the suggestion" that anyone asked the U.S. forces to leave the officer's area, but added, "as in any war ... when troops are fighting alongside each other, there are occasional tensions below the surface, and somebody under pressure spouts off."

"But overall my impression from Helmand is that U.S. and U.K. forces are working extremely well together," he said.

Karzai asks SCO members to focus on fight against drugs

KABUL, Aug 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai Thursday urged upon regional countries to focus on fighting drugs and smuggling.

The president was addressing the one-day summit of the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Deliberating on the root causes of instability in Afghanistan, the president said terrorism and drugs were the two major factors posing threat to peace and stability in his country.

He said the two were not only posing threat to Afghanistan but the region and the world at large. He said terrorists were killing innocent citizens, burning schools, targeting health clinics and destroying other welfare projects in Afghanistan.

"These two major menaces are not only halting our journey towards progress and prosperity, but also endangering the peace, stability and progress of the region."

Referring to the fight against narcotics, Karzai said rooting out drugs from the society required full commitment from the international community.

In his speech, Karzai also highlighted the role and presence of international forces in his war-devastated country. "Presence of the international community in Afghanistan is not only in favour of that country but the whole region," said the Afghan leader.

Karzai said Afghanistan was most affected by the scourge of terrorism than its neighbours or countries of the region. This was why, he said, Afghanistan had the heavier responsibility in the fight against terror.

Pointing to the ongoing war against terrorism, Karzai said the world was still facing the threat despite six years of global fight against the menace.

He also highlighted the economic progress of his country and said that Afghanistan had become member of SAARC last year. He said his country was eager to establish stronger ties with SCO members.

"Destinies of countries of the regional are intertwined. Therefore, their economic development and peace and stability could not be separated from each other," Karzai argued.

He said economic progress and stability of the region was directly linked to peace and stability in Afghanistan. A strong and stable Afghanistan was in favour of its neighbours and the region, he added.

Putin calls for anti money-laundering zone around Afghanistan

BISHKEK, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's president proposed to Asian leaders Thursday setting up financial security belts around Afghanistan to counter money laundering, and holding a special security conference on the country.

Vladimir Putin is currently on a visit to Kyrgyzstan, which hosted Thursday a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and has Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia as observers.

"It is essential to continue forming anti-drug security belts around Afghanistan, which could be complemented with financial security belts supervised by SCO financial monitors," Putin said. "This will improve the effectiveness of measures to counter both drug trafficking and money laundering."

He said that since all SCO member states were interested in ensuring stability in Afghanistan, a special conference should be held to discuss means of helping the volatile country. He proposed that SCO countries' foreign ministers make corresponding preparations.

According to the World Drug Report, Afghanistan accounts for more than 90% of the world's illegal opium production, which is used to produce heroin. The country's president, Hamid Karzai, who is attending the summit as a guest, called on the organization to prioritize measures against drug-trafficking, a major financial source of terrorism.

"We understand well enough the negative effect of the drugs problem on all countries in the region... It is necessary to work out a specific regional plan to fight the problem," Karzai said.

He said his country, where attacks on security forces by Taliban insurgents have escalated in recent months, was ready to step up cooperation in countering narcotics and terrorism.

Afghanistan can be good partner forever: Hu

via People's Daily (China) / August 16, 2007

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: President Hu Jintao met the presidents of Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on the eve of the seventh Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek yesterday.

Hu told Afghan President Hamid Karzai that he wanted China and Afghanistan to be good neighbors, good friends and good partners forever.

"China supports the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan and respects the political system and development mode chosen by the Afghan people," Hu said.

China has provided more than 80 million yuan ($10.55 million) in aid to Afghanistan, and Hu said it will continue to work for the successful implementation of some major projects such as Parwan water project and Kabul hospital.

Karzai thanked the Chinese people and government and called for more cooperation between the two countries within the framework of regional organizations such as the SCO and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

"China has always helped Afghanistan establish stability and prosperity. On behalf of the Afghan people, I express my thanks to the government and people of China," Karzai said.

During his talks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov, Hu said the Treaty on Good-Neighborhood and Friendly Cooperation, signed earlier this year by China and Tajikistan, has ushered in a new era in bilateral relations.

"Our two countries have launched a host of projects on transportation and power plants and we should ensure the successful implementation of the projects," Hu said.

President Hu encouraged more economic cooperation between local governments of the two countries and urged more Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Tajikistan.

Rakhmonov spoke highly of Sino-Tajik joint projects, saying he hoped to have more cooperation in infrastructure construction.

China and Tajikistan share a more than 45-km long border and have agreed to make it a bridge for communication between their peoples. The trade volume between China and Tajikistan reached $324 million last year, up 105 percent over 2005.

China will continue to strengthen its cooperation with Tajikistan in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking and bringing peace and development to the region, Hu said.

Last September, the two countries conducted a two-day joint military exercise, "Coodination 2006" at Kulyab in Tajikistan. More than 300 Tajik troops and a reinforced company of over 150 Chinese personnel took part in the drill.

The anti-terror drill was aimed at using joint military strength to search and destroy terrorist organizations in the mountainous region.

Hu held separate talks with Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Uzbek President Islam Karimov, too. He said China and Uzbekistan are important countries for maintaining regional peace and stability.

"We have made a lot of progress in security cooperation and will continue to strengthen our cooperation in this regard on bilateral level or within the framework of the SCO," Hu said during his meeting with Karimov.

The SCO has six member countries: China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia are observer countries.

President Karzai and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov have been invited as a guests of honor. Source: China Daily

2 Canadian soldiers wounded in Afghanistan

Canadian Press, August 17, 2007 at 8:57 AM EDT

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Two Canadian soldiers were injured Friday after their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, the Canadian military said.

The attack took place just inside Kandahar province's dangerous Zhari district at a spot some 10 kilometres west of Masum Ghar. The village itself is in the province's Panjwaii district.

Both victims were riding in a Track Light Armoured Vehicle, or T-LAV, along Highway 1 as part of a supply convoy for Canadian troops when they drove over the bomb.

They were taken by helicopter to a hospital at Kandahar Air Field, 30 kilometres to the east. Both suffered upper-body injuries. One was quickly released while the other was being held for observation, military officials said.

Neither soldier was identified by name, but both were members of the Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment of Edmonton and have about two weeks remaining before the end of their tours, officials said.

"I feel relieved because the earlier reports were announcing that there lives were in danger," said military spokesman Lt.-Cmdr. Hubert Genest. "They are going to be safe and sound and they'll be able to, hopefully, return to work."

The T-LAV suffered extensive damage and will be towed from the scene later, military officials said. The Zhari district is considered one of the most dangerous in Kandahar province, according to army officials.

Zhari district's police chief and his three children were killed by a suicide bomber earlier in the day. Another daughter was injured. The Canadian military says the two incidents were not related.

Ottawa vows to open up about the Afghan mission

Officials plan to offer regular media updates, seen as a way to explain, boost support for the operation, August 17, 2007 bruce campion-smith, Toronto Star

OTTAWA–The federal government will begin regular briefings on its Afghan mission in a bid to boost public awareness not only about the work of the military but also on development efforts in the troubled country.

The first media briefing will be held Sept. 4 in Ottawa and the sessions will be conducted every three weeks after that, a source told the Star.

There's been a push for more regular updates about Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Just recently, the Conference of Defence Associations, an Ottawa lobby group, publicly called on the government to put high-ranking officials "in front of the camera" to better explain the mission and progress made so far.

Yesterday, in a significant move, senior government officials agreed and put a plan into motion for those regular briefings to take place. "The whole goal is to provide information. It's important to get out," the source said.

The media briefings will include senior officials from agencies involved in the mission, including the defence department, foreign affairs, the Canadian International Development Agency and even the RCMP, which has its own police officers doing mentoring work in Kandahar.

The first briefing, in just over two weeks, will also feature Canada's ambassador in Afghanistan, Arif Lalani, who is expected to call in from Kabul.

Since the Conservative government came to power in February 2006, there have just been three briefings in Ottawa in which representatives from all departments were available to answer questions about the broad scope of the Canadian mission in Kandahar.

And sources say it took high-level arm twisting to convince officials to go along with this plan for regular briefings and blamed in-fighting between the departments for the failure to hold regular briefings until now.

The move comes just days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper shook up the government's focus on Afghanistan with a cabinet shuffle that shifted Peter MacKay to defence and Maxime Bernier to foreign affairs.

The move was clearly seen as an attempt to better sell Ottawa's Afghan message at a time when Canadians are deeply divided on the mission and the future of Canada's military presence in the country is coming up for debate.

Dion issues list of demands ahead of summit

Canadian Press, August 17, 2007 at 11:07 AM EDT

OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has issued a list of demands that he says Prime Minister Harper should make when he meets next week with U.S. President George W. Bush.

First and foremost, Mr. Dion says Mr. Harper should make clear to Bush that Canada will withdraw from its current combat role in southern Afghanistan in early 2009.

Mr. Dion also wants Mr. Harper to insist that no new trade deals be negotiated that would allow water to be taken from basins in Canada. As well, Mr. Dion says Ottawa should insist that the United States crack down on gun smuggling into Canada.

Mr. Harper is to meet with Mr. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon for two days next week for a summit in Montebello, Que. Mr. Harper will also hold separate, private talks with Mr. Calderon on Wednesday.

How to be a jihadi: Taliban's training secrets

The Telegraph (UK) / August 16, 2007 - By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad and Ashraf Ali in Peshawar

The Taliban has published its first military field manual detailing how to spring ambushes, run spies and conduct an insurgency against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

At 144 pages, Military Teachings - for the Preparation of Mujahideen, is a minutely detailed "how to" book on subjects ranging from tactics and weapons to building training camps and spycraft.

The guide, which is similar in its aims to British and American military field manuals, was obtained by The Daily Telegraph from a source in Pakistan who claimed to be close to the Taliban. Its cover bears the image of two crossed swords and the Koran, the arms of the Taliban's ousted government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The book, written in the Pashto language, "will soon be made available to the commanders in Afghanistan as well as its adjacent tribal areas in Pakistan", the source said. He added that copies of the manual had been circulated to the Pakistani tribal area of Bajaur. Its publication highlights the extent of the Taliban's revival six years after it was deposed by a US-led invasion.

"This is the first of its kind and shows a significant level of organisation," said Brigadier Mahmood Shah, a retired military intelligence officer who was in charge of security in the tribal areas.

Brig Shah said "soft" Pakistani government policy towards the pro-Taliban militants had allowed them to flourish in the lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal areas that straddle the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Maulana Nek Zaman, an MP from North Waziristan, where security forces and local pro-Taliban militants are engaged in daily skirmishes, said the manual had a potentially large readership. "It is not a case of just Taliban who are fighting but all the tribes are resisting because they have been attacked," he said.

Last year the Taliban published a pocket-sized code of conduct which described suicide bombers as "Omar's missiles", referring to the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Omar. It laid out the rules of daily life including a ban on relations with young boys - an activity favoured by some Afghan fighters.

The military manual is divided into 10 chapters and appears to be the result of a collaboration between religious scholars and specialists in terrorist, logistical and intelligence tactics. It is illustrated with simple formulas for the preparation of explosives, pictures and diagrams of light and heavy weaponry, ammunition and communication equipment.

The bulk of the manual details basic military skills such as firing positions and how to use different weapons. It advises on how to carry out remotely controlled attacks on enemy vehicles, and shows how to strike aircraft and armoured vehicles by targeting weak points.

It shows with diagrams how to target vehicles passing through rough terrain at low speed and how telegraph poles and trees can be used to range in on a target. It also explores methods of blowing up bridges, railway tracks and power and telephone lines.

Its preface sets out the Taliban's justification for war: "In a situation where infidels and their crooks are ruling the world, it is the prime duty of all the Muslims to take arms and crush those who are bent upon crushing the Muslims throughout the world.

"This is the best time to take on the usurpers and occupants of our holy land. They should be killed, slaughtered and destroyed." It sets out to convince women and children to join the Taliban with verses from the Koran.

"In this situation the children are not bound to seek the permission of their parents; a woman should go to jihad without the permission of her husband, a slave without the permission of his master, a student without the permission of his teacher, could go to jihad. And this is totally applicable in the prevailing situation where the infidels have occupied the land of the Muslims in Afghanistan," it states.

It addresses the question of prosecuting jihad without one's ruler's permission, making a veiled reference to Pakistan's president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, and the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. "Islam does not allow a person, group or an entity to announce jihad, without the permission of the ruler of the day (Khalifa)." However, it states "if a Khalifa is a puppet of the infidels, then there is no need to seek his permission for jihad."

The manual also plays on the heightened Pashtun sense of virility. "Jihad is a man's job. Those lacking qualities of being a man cannot do jihad."

Military students are advised to run spy networks drawn from political prisoners, "criminals, especially murderers", beggars, hairdressers and "international visitors - players, filmmakers, artists etc".

"Is it fair to slaughter enemy spies?" it asks. The answer it gives, perhaps unsurprisingly, is yes.

2 released South Korean hostages arrive home from Afghanistan

The Associated Press - Thursday, August 16, 2007

South Korea: Two South Korean hostages freed from Taliban captivity arrived home Friday, while little progress was reported in negotiations for the release of 19 others still being held by the insurgent group in Afghanistan.

The two women — Kim Gina, 32 and Kim Kyung-ja, 37 — were released earlier this week and had been undergoing medical care in Afghanistan before heading home. After arriving at Incheon International Airport outside Seoul, the two stood with grim expressions before a throng of journalists.

"I want to thank the Korean government and the Korean people for their concerns and sincerely apologize for causing such worries," Kim Kyung-ja said. "I hope for the safe release of the rest of our team members as well."

"All I wish for is the release of the rest of our team members," said Kim Gina. They walked on their own to a waiting ambulance.

The two were to be admitted to a military hospital south of Seoul because the government wants to keep them away from the media over concerns that what they say could affect negotiations to free the remaining hostages, news reports said.

The women were part of a group of 23 South Korean church volunteers who were kidnapped last month in southern Afghanistan. Two men were shot to death by their captors, and 14 women and five men are still being held.

Kim Kyung-ja works at a software development company and Kim Gina teaches digital animation at a local technical college, according to news reports.

A second round of face-to-face talks in Afghanistan between South Korean officials and Taliban militants on the remaining hostages ended Thursday with no breakthrough, the militants said.

AFGHANISTAN: UN highlights conflict’s impact on civilians

KABUL, 16 August 2007 (IRIN) - Armed conflict in Afghanistan has not only caused hundreds of civilian deaths but has also had a negative impact on many aspects of people’s lives, according to a senior UN official.

“Beyond civilian casualties, people have lost their houses, children have been deprived of education, livelihoods have been damaged, and displaced families face many problems,” Walter Kalin, representative of the UN Secretary-General for the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), told IRIN on 15 August.

Since April, over 1,060 civilians have died in armed conflicts between Taliban insurgents and Afghan security forces backed by international troops, according to a confidential report prepared by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior.

The number of people dying in conflict-related violence has doubled in the last two years, the UN said. Taliban fighters have been condemned for consistently and systematically violating international humanitarian laws in their hit-and-run insurgency, since 2002.

However, civilian deaths in military operations conducted by international forces - particularly US troops operating outside NATO writ - and their Afghan allies have roughly balanced that of the Taliban.

areas in Afghanistan remain inaccessible to international aid organisations, the UN estimates that some 80,000 people have been displaced by insecurity, predominantly in the south, southwest and east of the country.

Kalin, the UN representative for the human rights of IDPs, who was unable to visit IDP camps in the south of Afghanistan due to insecurity, has asked the world body and the government of Afghanistan to do more to assist people displaced in the conflict.

“There is lack of a comprehensive strategy with different instruments in place that can meet the needs of IDPs,” Kalin said.

At a three day UN-sponsored workshop on the protection of civilians in Kabul, held on 13-15 August, representatives of families affected in the war complained about the problems they face during and after displacements.

“People live in disastrous conditions at IDP camps in Helmand and Kandahar provinces,” said Qasim Agha, adding that IDPs lack drinking water, and jobs, and face food insecurity and poor access to health and education services.

Neither the US-NATO forces in Afghanistan nor the Taliban compensate those affected in the fighting. The government of Afghanistan, however, often makes ad hoc condolence and sympathy payments to families who lose members in conflicts and natural disasters.

A spokesman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) told IRIN it had asked the country’s Supreme Court to issue a ‘fatwa’ - an Islamic edict - in which the issue of `diyat’ (compensatory payment for the death or loss of any part of a human body) would be made obligatory for all warring parties.

People in conflict-affected provinces have also demanded compensation for their houses and property damaged in military operations, according to the AIHRC.

“IDPs have rights and among those rights is property protection. People who had to flee in a conflict should have the right of voluntary return… to have their houses reconstructed and compensation paid in cases of damage,” said Kalin.

Meanwhile, Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of an “alarming increase” in violence, Tom Keonigs, special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, told participants of a workshop on civilian protection.

DynCorp wins portion of $1.8B contract for work in Afghanistan

Washington Business Journal, Thursday, August 16, 2007 by Erin Killian

DynCorp International Inc. was one of five winners of a contract worth up to $1.8 billion from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do construction in Afghanistan. The one-year contact with two option years has a ceiling of $600 million per year.

The Falls Church-based government contractor DynCorp (NYSE: DCP) will now compete with the other four winners for individual task orders with values ranging from $5 million to $25 million.

"We are very gratified to continue our construction work in Afghanistan under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers," said chief executive Herbert Lanese.

The company, which earned $12 million on $548 million in revenue in the second quarter ended June 29, was also one of three companies to win a contract in June from the U.S. Army Sustainment Command to provide logistics support in the Middle East. The contract, up to 10 years, boost the company's gross revenue by $5 billion.

Afghan women footballers kick off

By Charles Haviland , BBC News, Kabul

The Afghanistan women's international football team is travelling abroad for the first time to join Pakistani teams in a series of friendly matches.

Like many other sports in Afghanistan, football has regained a popularity which was dampened during the five years of Taleban rule. It is a sport which has thrived among women, alongside other games including boxing and tae-kwondo.

But now the game is being played with enthusiasm all over the country. "When I was a child I always wanted to be a good football player," the 18-year-old captain of the team, Shamila Khostani, told the BBC's World Today programme.

"But, unfortunately under the period of the Taleban I couldn't play football or any sport... when the Taleban went I found the opportunity and started playing soccer." "We wanted to show that girls can also play football like boys," she said.

Team member, Palwasha Daud, also played football as a child growing up in Pakistan. "When I returned home to Afghanistan," she told the BBC, "I played football during school sports classes."

"After that, when football teams were created, I wanted to register." Later still, she was introduced to the country's Olympic Committee and chosen for the national team.

Twenty players are travelling, along with two female coaches and the male chief coach, Abdul Saboor Walizadah. Although there are now 500 registered women players across Afghanistan, the game has had to develop in a cautious way given the conservative society here.

Coach Abdul Saboor Walizadah says: "At the beginning we had lots of problems. Most families didn't want their daughters to play football." "We kept being in contact with the parents to try to convince them there was nothing wrong with it."

Now, says the coach, all these players' families are quite comfortable with what their daughters are doing. The only problem the Afghan women's team has is that it lacks a suitable venue for regular football training.

A Pakistani Football Federation spokesman has said these matches will be great for the relationship between the two countries. The teams will be taking part in a friendly tournament in Islamabad, involving 15 Pakistani teams and lasting a week.

[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.]