In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan celebrates independence from Britain
• Afghan TV Shows Kidnapped German Woman
• Taliban kidnaps 4 Afghan engineers
• Canadian soldier killed in southern Afghanistan
• Harper trumpets Afghan mission at Que. concert
• UK troops 'stretched but winning'
• Ahmadinejad felicitates Afghanistan National Day
• Iranian government clandestinely supporting Taliban: Afghan officials
• Pakistan, Afghanistan urged to include war on terror in policies
• Pak. army attacks militant hideouts near Afghan border
• Musharraf greets Karzai on Afghan national day
• AFGHANISTAN: PROBING FOR WAYS TO ENGAGE THE TALIBAN
• Afghan women team creates history
• Shock toll of British injured in Afghan war
• The Afghan Years: The Christie Blatchford Diaries'

Afghanistan celebrates independence from Britain

Afghan honour guards march past during a parade marking the independence anniversary in Kabul August 19, 2007. Afghans should stand on their own feet and save their country from further foreign meddling and intervention, President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday as the nation marked the 88th anniversary of its independence from Britain. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN

Sun Aug 19, KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai led Afghanistan's Independence Day celebrations on Sunday with a call to the country's young people to educate themselves to preserve their freedom.

Karzai told tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital's sports stadium that Afghanistan's youth should "spend every second of their lives in learning" to maintain the country's cherished independence.

"To maintain Afghanistan's independence the youth of the country the youngsters must spend every second of their lives in learning, and better learning," Karzai told the gathering. An enthusiastic Karzai asked the crowd to repeat after him "we want to learn and live better."

"Do you want to learn, become engineers, doctors and experts?," Karzai asked the crowd. "Say yes, loudly, Yes," Karzai exhorted. The crowd applauded and shouted: "yes, yes, we do."

Reiterating condemnation of Taliban attacks on the 88th anniversary of full sovereignty from Britain, he warned there were still "plots against our independence by the enemies of this land."

Karzai denounced "the killing of innocent people -- men, women and children," referring to the 15 victims, including 11 civilians, killed in a Taliban-linked suicide bombing in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.

Although Afghanistan was never a full colony of Britain, London under a treaty controlled its foreign affairs until agreeing to allow full independence on August 19, 1919. Afghans had earlier fought three wars against the British, the first starting in 1838 and the last ending months before the 1919 agreement.

Russia invaded the country in December 1979, kicking off a 10-year rebellion that eventually forced the Red Army to withdraw in 1989. The Soviet withdrawal heralded a civil war that killed tens of thousands of civilians.

The emergence of the Taliban brought about a brief period of stability after civil war had soured a rebel victory over a Soviet invasion force, but the Islamist extremists' sponsorship of Al-Qaeda eventually led to their overthrow in the US-led invasion in late 2001.

"Taliban and terrorists had captured Afghanistan under a plot which was defeated with the support of international community and Afghan sons," Karzai said.

Sunday's ceremony included a military parade by the newly-trained Afghan national army and police being trained under an internationally-backed effort to help the Central Asian nation stand on its own feet after decades of conflicts.

Some 5,000 British troops currently form part of a 50,000-strong international force deployed in Afghanistan to combat a Taliban insurgency.

Afghan TV Shows Kidnapped German Woman

By AMIR SHAH 08.19.07, KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan television on Sunday broadcast what it said was video of a kidnapped German aid worker - prompted by a man off-camera - calling for the release of prisoners, but police said Taliban militants were not behind the woman's brazen daytime abduction.

The woman, shown sitting on the floor inside a room, her head covered with a white scarf, identified herself as Christina Meier. She said "I am OK" and then read a letter in the Afghan language, Dari, calling for the release of unknown prisoners.

She was prompted to make remarks both in English and in Dari by a man speaking in broken English. The private Tolo TV, which broadcast the video, did not say how it obtained the material.

"I am fine. There are not threats against me. I want from my country to do what it can for my release," she says in Dari, reading from a piece of paper, while seated, occasionally looking up toward camera.

A male voice off-camera prompts her to say, "to help" and tells her also to use the word "urgent." "Please help for my release, and help me," she says.

A man, his head covered with a scarf and wearing sunglasses inside a room, appears afterward and demands from Afghan government to release a number of unknown prisoners. He says a member of the group would provide the government with the list.

"We are not bad people. We are a special network," the man says at the end of the video. He does not identify the group or say whether it is linked to the Taliban or other insurgents operating in Afghanistan.

In recent weeks, the Taliban have offered media interviews with their foreign hostages, apparently hoping to appeal to public sentiment and thereby pressure the Afghan government to release Taliban prisoners. In such cases, the hostage's comments and message are controlled by the captors and the statements are made in that context. Germany's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the video.

Police earlier Sunday said that the Taliban militants were not responsible for the abduction of the woman, who was seized Saturday as she dined with her husband at a restaurant in Kabul.

Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of police criminal investigations in Kabul, said authorities had launched a large-scale manhunt for those behind the kidnapping of the 31-year-old woman. Paktiawal ruled out involvement of the Taliban in the abduction, but would not say who was responsible.

Kabul provincial police chief Esmatullah Dauladzai said it was premature to say who was involved, but that he was "very, very optimistic" that the woman would be released soon. He would not explain the reason for his optimism.

In Saturday's kidnapping, four men pulled up to a restaurant in a gray Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ) Corolla, and one went inside and asked to order a pizza, intelligence officials investigating the incident said. They said two other men waited outside, while another remained in the car.

The man in the restaurant pulled out a pistol, walked up to a table where the couple was sitting and took her from the restaurant, the officials said on condition of anonymity due to agency policy. The husband was not abducted. Police spotted the speeding car and opened fire, but hit a nearby taxi and killed its driver.

The woman and her husband, also a German, have worked for the Christian organization Ora International in Kabul since September 2006, said Ulf Baumann, a spokesman for the group.

Baumann did not disclose the woman's name or her husband's. He said she was fluent in Dari. Abduction fears have risen after 23 South Koreans and two Germans were taken hostage in separate incidents last month in central Afghanistan.

One of the German men was shot to death. The other remains in captivity. Two of the South Koreans were shot to death, and two were freed. A Taliban spokesman said Saturday that negotiations for their release had failed.

In southern Afghanistan, a NATO soldier was killed escorting a convoy in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, while four Afghan security guards died in a suicide attack.

Violence has risen sharply during the last two months in Afghanistan. This year more than 3,700 people - most of them militants - have died, according to an Associated Press tally of casualty figures provided by Western and Afghan officials.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Taliban kidnaps 4 Afghan engineers

KABUL, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants kidnapped four Afghan engineers in the southern Kandahar province, the police said Saturday.

The engineers, who were building a bridge, were abducted in Shah Wali Kot district in northern Kandahar on Friday afternoon, provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib told Xinhua.

The engineers were working for the government-initiated Afghan national solidarity program, the police chief said.  He also said local citizens had ensured the engineers' safety, so they went to the area to work.

Taliban militants kidnapped 23 South Koreans in the central Ghazni province on July 19. Two male hostages were shot dead, and two females were released, while the remaining 19 are still being held by the Taliban.

Taliban militants have carried out kidnappings in Afghanistan over the past two years frequently, and some hostages were killed.

Canadian soldier killed in southern Afghanistan

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD - Globe and Mail Update

August 19, 2007 - MA’SUM GHAR, Afghanistan — Quebec's proud infantry regiment has begun a grim initiation into the cycle of death and grief already achingly familiar to other units from across Canada.

Simon Longtin, a private with Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, the Royal 22nd Regiment or Van Doos as the troops are known, died last evening after his convoy, completing a routine re-supply run, struck an Improvised Explosive Device only five kilometers from the safety of a forward operating base.

Pte. Longtin, who hailed from of Longueuil, Que., on Montreal's south shore, was the driver of a 2 Platoon Light Armored Vehicle, or LAV, and was simply unlucky, Charlie Company's officer commanding, Major Patrick Robichaud, said sorrowfully this morning. All the other soldiers in the vehicle were unhurt, "not even a bump," he said.

The convoy was traveling from the sprawling coalition base at Kandahar Air Field back to the smaller base at Ma'sum Ghar, where most of Charlie Company is stationed. The soldier was evacuated by helicopter to the hospital at the big air field, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

The base sits smack in the midst of the Arghendab River valley in the Panjwaii district where so much Canadian blood has been spilled over the past two summers.

At least 12 Canadians -- from the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry of Edmonton and the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment of Petawawa Ont. — have died in combat on the lush plain of the valley, while as many, most from the RCR's 2nd Battalion in Gagetown, N.B., have been killed by suicide bombers or IEDs while traveling the cratered roads from Kandahar City to get to the area.

It was also at Ma'sum Ghar where last Sept. 4, Charles Company of the 1st Battalion, RCR, was strafed in a friendly fire accident that killed former Olympian Private Mark Graham, injured 38 other soldiers and devastated the company.

The Van Doos — the name is an Anglophone bastardization of the French for 22, vingt deux — formally completed their "handover" from their Gagetown counterparts and officially took over only nine days ago.

Yesterday's is the unit's first casualty, though the young man is the 67th soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002.

Neither the death nor divided support at home in Quebec won't diminish the Van Doos' resolve, deputy commanding officer, Colonel Christian Juneau, said today.

"Though we are very saddened by this incident, Canadian troops remain committed" to the mission here, he said, adding that while Parliament may debate the merits of the operation, the "important thing for us soldiers" is that "we know the Canadian public is behind us."

Because of the 8.5-hour time difference, the bombing happened at 1.30 Sunday morning local time.

Soldiers at Ma'sum Ghar who weren't already aware of the situation awoke to the sound of Leopard 1 tanks firing at insurgents who attacked the convoy after the IED blew, a common Taliban tactic.

Death came as it often does here, hard on the heels of a successful patrol on Saturday into the adjacent village of Bazar-e-Panjwaii. Soldiers were greeted warmly by most villagers, and with enthusiasm from children.

Last year at this time, the Panjwaii area was in the throes of steady fighting with the Taliban, and most villages were deserted. But now, the village is bustling again, with shops open for business and throngs of youngsters emerging from mud-walled compounds at the arrival of the soldiers. With a report from Canadian Press

Harper trumpets Afghan mission at Que. concert

Updated Sun. Aug. 19 2007 - Canadian Press

LEVIS, Que. -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper continued his campaign to drum up support for Canada's mission in Afghanistan at a concert on Saturday night near Quebec City.

"The situation of Canadians in Afghanistan is difficult and dangerous, but Quebecers can be proud of their soldiers,'' Harper said. He made his comments at an annual concert of music and fireworks at the Levis Forts National Historic Site of Canada.

Harper lauded the Canadian military's humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan, highlighting the construction of bridges, roads, schools and medical centres in the country. The work of Canadians in Afghanistan has started to produce benefits, he said.

He said "Quebecers, in particular, can be very proud of the women and men of the Royal 22nd who are writing another glorious page in the history of this regiment.''

Six million Afghan children now have access to school and seven million were vaccinated for polio, he said. Harper also said the country is more and more responsible for its own security.

"These advances have been realized because of the efforts of the men and women in uniform on the front lines,'' he said.

Harper paid homage to parents and spouses of troops stationed in Afghanistan. He gave paintings depicting the Canadian war memorial in Vimy, France to the parents of nine soldiers from Levis currently serving in Afghanistan.

The visit comes at time when the Conservative government has been heavily criticized in Quebec over Canada's role in Afghanistan. Recent polls suggested around 70 per cent of Quebecers oppose the mission.

UK troops 'stretched but winning' – BBC

British troops are "stretched" but they are winning the tactical battle in Afghanistan, the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, has said.

During a visit to the country, he told the BBC that operations in Iraq and Afghanistan meant soldiers were being deployed more often than he would like. But their skill and determination were defeating the Taleban, he said.

Gen Dannatt also backed calls for special recognition for those involved in the battles in southern Afghanistan.

He said he had "pride and admiration" for all the young soldiers in the British army and said there was no other force that could be doing such a difficult task in the country.

"With the training we've got, the equipment we've got, and determination, and leadership, we're winning our tactical engagements," he said.

"Of course, tragically, we take casualties from time to time. I don't want to get into a numbers count, but the Taleban have taken a lot more casualties than we have."

While troops were "certainly stretched" and soldiers were not getting as long in barracks as he would like, morale was good, he said.

"We can be busy, we can be stretched, we can run hot - provided we are looking after individuals. "Critically, our soldiers feel valued and supported and thanked for what they are doing."

His comments came as Defence Secretary Des Browne denied claims the government is failing in its duty to UK troops who put their lives on the line for their country.

The Royal British Legion had said the Military Covenant - guaranteeing troops fair treatment in return for forgoing other rights - is not being upheld.

Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "We face the problem that in Britain the government has overstretched our armed forces without giving them sufficient resources to do the job they're being asked to do."

He went on to criticise the level of commitment from Britain's allies. Dr Fox said: "Our international allies, particularly some of our European allies and Nato, simply have not been stepping up to the plate in an international operation of this nature."

Gen Dannatt also backed calls for special recognition for those involved in fighting in southern Afghanistan which he said was "of a greater intensity than that which had gone on elsewhere in Afghanistan in recent years".

"My view is that there should be a clasp on the medal which says southern Afghanistan," he said. "We've already got a medal for Afghanistan, we don't do two medals for the same campaign, but to recognise southern Afghanistan by a clasp on that medal is, I think, the way to do it."

His comments follow the launch of an online petition calling for a special medal to be awarded to British forces fighting the Taleban. Campaigners complain the Ministry of Defence (MoD) still offers soldiers the same medal as it did to those involved in peacekeeping duties in 2002.

However, the MoD says the current award is not for peacekeeping but general operational service. Gen Dannatt also called on the Post Office to offer free postal services to the families of serving members of the armed forces deployed in conflicts overseas.

Ahmadinejad felicitates Afghanistan National Day

Tehran, Aug 19, IRNA - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday congratulated the Afghan government and people on the occasion of the country's National Day. Ahmadinejad congratulated his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in his congratulatory message.

According to the Information and Media Bureau of the Presidential Office, the Iranian president expressed hope that Iran and Afghanistan ould expand their friendly relations in light of political will of the two Muslim an brotherly nations.

Iranian government clandestinely supporting Taliban: Afghan officials

By Hamid Mir, Saturday, August 18, 2007

KABUL:The US government has urged President Hamid Karzai to stop a secret Iran-Taliban cooperation against NATO troops in Afghanistan. President Karzai is not ready to admit any negative Iranian role in Afghanistan publicly, but he has given a quiet assurance to the US officials that he will speak with the Iranian government on this issue very soon.

For the first time in the last six years, Afghan security officials have started claiming that Iran is secretly providing highly-sophisticated weapons to the Taliban from its western borders. Col Rehmatullah Saafi, the security chief in charge of the areas bordering Iran, told this scribe that he had provided all the details to his seniors about the secret Iran-Taliban cooperation in western Afghanistan. He said that Iran was playing a dangerous double game in Afghanistan. “We know the names of the people getting training inside Iranian territory and we have also arrested the carriers of heavy weapons coming from Iran to the Islam Qala area,” claimed Saafi.

He said that Iran was arming the Taliban with roadside bombs, small missiles and other high grade explosives, which are also in use against the US troops in Iraq. He claimed that his commandos had arrested more than a dozen people on the Iranian border in the last few weeks, carrying Russian and Chinese marked crates filled with sophisticated weapons. Col. Thomas Kelly of the US Army also claimed that “Iranian supplied weapons are a major threat for NATO forces in Afghanistan.”

Highly placed diplomatic sources in Kabul have told The News that US officials have quietly requested not only President Hamid Karzai, but also to President Pervez Musharraf to speak with the Iranian government on this issue because both Pakistan and Afghanistan will suffer equally if Iran does not stop secretly arming the Taliban.

Government sources in Kabul revealed that Iran was not happy on the Pak-Afghan Grand peace Jirga. Karzai assured Iran that Afghanistan will not be used against Iran. Despite his assurances to the Iranian government, it was for the first time that the government-controlled Afghanistan Times expressed concern over the flow of weapons to Taliban from Iran, in its editorial of Saturday, Aug 11, 2007.

The editorial was a great surprise for many in the Afghan capital who think that the Karzai administration is not strong enough to open a new front against Iran because they are already fighting a war of words with Pakistan.

Taliban sources in Afghanistan are not ready to confirm their new secret alliance. Taliban held their first-ever public press conference on Saturday in Ghazni against the Karzai government. They gave a clear message to more than 25 journalists that Karzai had no authority in areas outside Kabul.

Many journalists, including this scribe visited Ghazni province and noticed that the Taliban had more modern weapons than the Afghan security forces officials.

Some analysts in Kabul said that Iran is trying to engage the Taliban secretly just to make sure that these hard-line Sunni fighters will not help Sunni Iranian separatists active in Iranian Kurdistan. Some analysts have a different view. They are of the view that the US Army is surrounding Iran from Iraq to Afghanistan and the Iranians have a right to puncture the American encirclement--even through the Taliban.

Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador in Afghanistan, Muhammad Raza Bahram has denied claims of a secret Iran-Taliban cooperation.

(Hamid Mir is the Bureau Chief of Geo TV in Islamabad and he has also interviewed Osama bin Laden, Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, General Pervaiz Musharraf, Hamid Karzai, L K Advani and other international leaders. He can be reached at: hamid.mir@geo.tv)

Pakistan, Afghanistan urged to include war on terror in policies

Daily Times - PESHAWAR: Pakistani and Afghan delegates at the third working committee of the Pak-Afghan Joint Peace Jirga held from August 9 to 12 in Kabul pinpointed terrorism as a “joint threat” to the two nations and urged their governments to make the war on terror “an integral part” of their national policies and security strategies. Around 700 delegates from Pakistan and Afghanistan had attended the Kabul jirga.

The committee discussed the third point on the agenda of the jirga – “Agreeing to deny sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists and elements involved in subversive and anti-state activities in each other’s country, and to initiate immediate action on specific intelligence exchanges in this regard.”

What came as a difficult but possible to implement recommendation was the registration of madrassas where, according to President Gen Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, Islamic militancy was being taught.

The committee recommended the two governments take the following steps to win the war on terror:

* Terrorism is a joint threat to both nations.

* The war on terror should be an integral part of the national policies and security strategies of both countries.

* Success in this struggle needs regional and global cooperation and coordination. To achieve success against terrorism, a common understanding of the threat and implementation of the following procedures will be required:

* Establishment of an effective and sustainable mechanism to fight terrorism and extremism.

* Preventing arming, equipping and supplying of terrorists.

* Proper identification and disbanding of terrorist training centres.

* Preventing terrorists’ access to financial resources for supporting their terrorist activities through control of bank accounts and non-banking financial transactions.

* Utilisation of tribal influence and traditional means against terrorism.

* Establishing a mechanism for speedy exchange of intelligence information at different levels to enable a quick decision-making process and timely action to prevent terrorist activities.

* The two countries will take measures that will ensure saboteurs and terrorists are pursued relentlessly and captured.

* Both countries will not allow shelter to anti-state and subversive elements. The two governments should share intelligence in this regard.

* Whoever gives sanctuary to a terrorist or otherwise supports him should be identified by the tribe concerned to the government authorities.

* Expediting the education and reconstruction process in the affected areas.

* The respective governments in both countries should register all madrassas and modern education facilities should be provided for them

Pak. army attacks militant hideouts near Afghan border

Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan), Aug. 19 (AP): Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships attacked three suspected militant hideouts near the Afghan border Saturday, just days after battles in the region killed at least 11 soldiers, officials said.

Troops engaged militants early yesterday in the troubled tribal region of South Waziristan in Pakistan's northwest, said an area official, who sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of this job.

He said soldiers and helicopter gunships destroyed three militant hideouts, but it was not immediately clear how many rebels were in the area and if there were any casualties.

Pakistani forces have been facing tough resistance in South Waziristan since Thursday when dozens of militants attacked military convoys, killing at least 11 soldiers, according to local security officials. The ensuing battles left 15 militants dead, the official said.

Pakistani tribal regions have witnessed a surge in violence since July, when militants ended a 2006 peace deal after accusing the government of violating the accord by deploying additional troops at checkpoints.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, and it has deployed about 90,000 troops near Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, to track down militants. But US and Afghan officials say al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters still have safe havens in Pakistani territories.

Musharraf greets Karzai on Afghan national day

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf, in his felicitation message to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday, greeted him on Afghanistan’s national day today (Sunday) and hoped that the relations between both neighbours would grow to benefit their people.

“It is my earnest hope that we will be able to overcome challenges, and the relations between the two countries will continue to grow for the mutual benefit of their people,” President Musharraf said.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in a separate message said Pakistan attached a high priority to its relations with Afghanistan, which had grown steadily over the years because of mutual trust and goodwill. Separately, the Afghan president telephoned Interior Minister and Pak-Afghan Joint Peace Jirga Chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and hoped that the recent peace jirga would strengthen the relations between the two countries.

Karzai thanked the chairman for successfully conducting the jirga. He said it was an ample proof that Pakistan was making sincere efforts for bringing peace and prosperity in Afghanistan. Sherpao also thanked the Afghan president for according a warm welcome to the Pakistani delegation during its visit to Kabul. Agencies

AFGHANISTAN: PROBING FOR WAYS TO ENGAGE THE TALIBAN

Camelia Entekhabi-Fard and Richard Weitz: 8/16/07

Eurasia Insight : Any momentum gained from the recent peace jirga, which brought together Pashtun leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan, already seems to be fading.

About 600 tribal elders attended the August 9-12 gathering in Kabul. A declaration issued at the conclusion voiced a joint desire of Pashtuns on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border to combat terrorism and prevent narcotics trafficking. But perhaps the most significant development was an initiative to engage moderate elements within the Taliban.

To facilitate possible engagement, peace jirga attendees decided to establish a 50-member joint commission, comprising an equal number of Afghan and Pakistani representatives, to “expedite the ongoing process of dialogue for peace and reconciliation with the opposition,” according to the joint declaration.

The hottest debates at the jirga centered on the issue of whether it is possible to distinguish “good Talibs” from the bad. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf -- who addressed the jirga on August 12 after staying away from the first two days of discussions -- certainly thinks it is possible to do so. “We have to understand the conditions,” Musharraf said. “The Taliban are part of Afghan society. Some of them are uneducated and do not know what they do, and to that we must be sympathetic.”

It’s understandable why Pakistan would be a strong backer of such a course. Islamabad has long been a sponsor of the Taliban, believing that the radical Islamic movement can serve as a vehicle for the preservation of Pakistani influence in Afghanistan. Musharraf even acknowledged during the jirga that Taliban militants have benefited from the use of safe havens in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Karzai -- no doubt cognizant of the Bush administration’s tendency to frame nuanced issues in simple good/bad or black/white terms -- has been reluctant to press for an all-out effort to engage the Taliban. Such efforts would be sure to rile official Washington. However, the jirga’s joint statement indicates that his thinking on the matter may be shifting.

The jirga began with Afghan and Pakistani leaders disputing the root causes of instability. Karzai emphasized the Pakistani factor in abetting the Taliban insurgency. He also urged closer bilateral cooperation. “Afghanistan is not under fire alone now,” Karzai said in his opening address. “Unfortunately our Pakistani brothers are also under fire, and this fire, day by day, is getting hotter.”

Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz pinned the blame squarely on Afghans themselves. “Afghanistan is not yet at peace within itself,” Aziz contended. Afghans, then, “can’t blame anyone else for failing to achieve [stabilization].”

Musharraf’s appearance at the jirga, along with his admission concerning Islamabad’s role in the revival of the Taliban insurgency, seemed to salvage the prospect that the meeting could produce a breakthrough in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, and in promoting better Afghan-Pakistani relations.

The Afghan co-chair of the jirga (and former Afghan foreign minister) Dr. Abdullah Abdullah reported after the conclusion of the gathering that Pakistani officials had pledged to take action to close Taliban camps within Pakistan.

Developments in recent days have tempered even what were from the beginning modest expectations. On August 15, for example, at least four Pakistani elders who attended the jirga received anonymous letters threatening them with reprisals if they followed through on efforts to curtail Taliban activity in Pakistan. The threats indicate that Islamic militants are prepared to use violence to block the implementation of the jirga’s peace agenda.

Some political analysts have questioned whether Pakistani Pashtuns are sufficiently unified to implement the goals outlined in the jirga’s joint declaration. Many elders from Pakistan’s tribal areas, which border Afghanistan, shunned the jirga, arguing that the gathering could accomplish nothing without the direct participation of Taliban representatives. Taliban leaders denounced the jirga, and refused to fulfill preconditions that would enable their attendance, namely a public renunciation of violence and recognition of the Afghan constitution’s validity. [For background see the Eurasia insight archive].

Musharraf appeared to recognize the challenges facing implementation of the jirga declaration. Upon his return to Pakistan he characterized the joint declaration as “a step in the right direction,” but, he stressed, the commitment to reach out to the Taliban “is not an end in itself, [but] rather a beginning of a peace process.”

Immediately after the jirga’s conclusion, Karzai turned his attention to another of Afghanistan’s contentious neighboring, Iran. On August 14, the Afghan president met with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Kabul. Speaking at a news conference, Ahmadinejad rejected US assertions that Iran is supplying Islamic militants in Afghanistan with bombs and weapons. “Security in Afghanistan has a direct impact on Iran, and for us, a powerful and secure Afghanistan is very beneficial,” Ahmadinejad said.

During an August 14 news conference, Karzai described Iran as a “close brother and friend to our nation.” He also expressed a desire to act as a facilitator of a US-Iranian rapprochement. According to an official Afghan source, Afghan diplomats have already on several occasions passed messages from the US government to Iranian officials in Kabul. In each instance, Iran did not respond to the US feelers, the source added.

Afghan officials quietly express deep concern over escalating US-Iranian tension, underscored by recent reports that the US government is mulling whether to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization. “If anything happened between Iran and the United States, Afghanistan would be caught in the middle,” the Afghan source said. “Iran can destabilize Afghanistan easily.”

Editor’s Note: Camelia Entekhabi-Fard has reported from Afghanistan and Iran for EurasiaNet. Richard Weitz is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC

Afghan women team creates history

Sunday, August 19, 2007 (Islamabad) - It was a historic day for Afghanistan's women's football team as they played their first ever match abroad against Pakistan's Diya FC in Islamabad. Under the Taliban regime where women were banned from sport, its hard to imagine a women's team being allowed to play a football match out in the open.

But the tide has turned, and this extraordinary bunch of women are full of hope in spite of losing their opening tie. And player Shamila Khusrid is glad that the side has been given the opportunity to gain some vital experience in Pakistan.

"We are happy that we are come in Pakistan for playing football and we hope that in the future we can go to other countries for playing experience," said Shamila Khusrid, Afghan women's national team.

Today there are over 500 registered women players across Afghanistan, which is a huge achievement considering the conservative nature of the society here. But the women athletes are hoping that this is just the first step in what will be a long and fruitful road to sporting success.

Shock toll of British injured in Afghan war

Mark Townsend, defence correspondent, Sunday August 19, 2007 The Observer

The human cost of the war in Afghanistan to British soldiers can be revealed today as figures show that almost half of frontline troops have required significant medical treatment during this summer's fighting.

In a graphic illustration of the intensity of the conflict in Helmand province, more than 700 battlefield soldiers have needed treatment since April - nearly half of the 1,500 on the front line. The figures, obtained from senior military sources, have never been released by the government, which has faced criticism that it has covered up the true extent of injuries sustained during the conflict.

The Ministry of Defence releases the number of soldiers taken to hospital, a fraction of those who require treatment on the battlefield. The new figures relate to the number of soldiers patched up and sent back to the front line and who do not appear in official casualty reports.

By contrast, US official figures take into account soldiers treated on the front line. In their figures, wounded troops include those away from the front line for 72 hours or more.

One British army official said the 700 cases include a 'handful' of officers who suffered injuries and chose to carry on fighting. The injuries include shrapnel wounds, cuts, burns, acute heat stroke and diseases such as 'DnV' - diarrhoea and vomiting that can incapacitate a man for days. Of the 700 cases, 400 combat troops were described as being so ill they were forced to 'lay down their bayonets'.

The number of soldiers requiring front-line treatment was discussed at military briefings in Helmand during intensive fighting this month and relate to the current deployment, which began in April. An army spokesman said official casualty figures between April and the start of August stood at 204, with about half stemming from the battlefield.

Military sources said the willingness of soldiers to carry on fighting while suffering was indicative of the bravery being routinely displayed.

'The courage of the soldiers has been remarkable. Many are getting patched up and just want to get on with it. Most do not want to leave their comrades,' said the source in Helmand. Last week, details were released about how 26-year-old Captain David Hicks, of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, refused morphine after being mortally wounded by shrapnel so he could keep a clear head to lead his men. He later died of his injuries.

The MoD said the figures should not be confused with its published 'casualty' figures, claiming that cases treated by frontline medics often related to minor ailments and complaints that were not considered life-threatening or serious. The spokeswoman went on to say that, in serious cases, troops were not given the option to carry on fighting.

However, the number of serious injuries is rising. A spokesman for the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association said that 27 British soldiers had lost limbs serving in Afghanistan and Iraq during the past 12 months.

The frenetic nature of the conflict in southern Afghanistan is underlined by the fact that many young infantrymen intend to leave the army because the firefights they have survived in Helmand could never be surpassed. In terms of soldiering, the conflict has offered some of the most intense fighting for 50 years, with two million rounds of ammunition so far fired by British forces.

'You could be in the army for decades and you will never get anything like that again. Will it be bettered? I can't see it,' said one soldier. Commanders are understood to be concerned that the Helmand conflict could precipitate an exodus of combat troops who feel military life will never offer the same challenge again.

Campaigners have frequently argued that British troops are paying a higher price on the battlefield than has been made public. Casualty figures are expected to rise in the coming months as the current tour, from April to October, finishes, when regiments that have experienced the brunt of fighting push on to gain ground before they leave.

August 18, 2007 - KANDAHAR — I am reading The Blair Years: The Alastair Campbell Diaries, the superb account of former British prime minister Tony Blair's rise to, and exercise of, power. It's a whopper of a book — 900-plus pages — and though I lugged it through three airports and two countries to get it to Afghanistan, I doubt I'll be taking it with me on operational convoys.

Still, at the moment, I'm crazed about the diary format, and with your indulgence, if alas not with Mr. Campbell's skill or intelligence, I'll try it here now; it lends itself, I think, to the experience of being in Afghanistan.

Wednesday, Aug. 15

2:10 a.m. Check into Al Bustan Rotana Hotel which, like most in Dubai, is dripping with luxury.

3:30 a.m. Check out of Al Bustan Rotana Hotel. Have 4 a.m. check-in for 6 a.m. flight.

3:50 a.m. Share cab with delightful woman named Bobby from Sydney, N.S., whom I meet while checking out of hotel. She is returning from leave back home in Cape Breton to resume her civilian job as a cleaner at the big coalition base at Kandahar Air Field (KAF).

She is 61, almost 62, though she looks 15 years younger, and says of herself, "When I got married, I was scared to death; when I had my kids, I was scared to death; when I got divorced, I was scared to death."

A few months ago, she decided that she had to do something to shake up her life. She applied for work as a hairdresser for the civilian agency that staffs the Canadian part of KAF. Turned down because she wasn't bilingual (huh?). Heard about the cleaning job and got it.

She loves it, too. Was chomping at the bit to get back, this woman who by her own description has never been anywhere else. And she's not scared of anything at Kandahar.

4 a.m. Bobby and I arrive at Dubai's smaller terminal to catch the flight to Kandahar on the cargo airline often used now by reporters. Airport is filled with the usual mix of large men with old eyes (usually former soldiers now working as private security contractors), civilians flying home to Baghdad or Kandahar, civilian workers and reporters. Along the wall nearest the loos, men snooze on their prayer mats, waiting for the first call to prayer. Bobby is reunited with some of her pals from the civilian work force, who have also been on leave.

I am a tad anxious. The last time I flew with these folks was last January, on the first leg of my trip home. The plane that time was an old Russian one, with Russian pilots. We entered through the cargo door, dropped our luggage and took our seats, and within moments, the engines started up.

We began to taxi out when, suddenly, the engines shut off, and the co-pilot-cum-steward emerged from the cockpit with a wrench in hand, walked past us and out the cargo door, there to pound upon the side of the plane with great vigour, yelling in Russian to the pilot all the while.

At one point, the co-pilot walked back up, grabbed a manual, and went back out, whereupon he resumed banging upon the plane and yelling while holding the manual — sadly, upside down, which was not confidence-inducing.

Then, without a word of explanation, he stopped, took his seat in the cockpit, the engines started up again and we were off, convinced that we'd survived Afghanistan only to perish on the flight.

This time, to my relief, it is a proper plane, with regular flight attendants, and all goes smoothly. In about two hours, we have gone from the monied excesses of Dubai to the grinding poverty and dust of southern Afghanistan.

Bobby, who is a nervous flyer, makes herself take a window seat and looks out the whole time.

10:30 a.m. (Kandahar time) Arrive at KAF, which has, like the overgrown northern mining town it resembles, boomed in my absence. Already I know, despite the little compass given to me by a friend that I wear around my neck, that all the familiar landmarks I used to guide myself around this place on three previous trips have been swallowed up amid the new construction, and that I will be wandering around, as lost as I was the first time I came here.

As usual, we are deposited on the dusty tarmac with our luggage, and met by a Canadian army public-affairs officer, who breaks the news to the Radio-Canada crew that he can't bring his truck onto the flight line and that they will have to tote their 16 pieces of gear and equipment to the pickup point a couple of hundred metres away. I drag my own luggage, a glamorous hockey bag, through the dust; the TV boys make five such trips. They are unimpressed.

11:45 a.m. Back at the D-FAC (which is U.S. army talk for dining facility) and am overcome with nostalgia as I open the door and am greeted by the familiar smells.

8:20 p.m. Go to first briefing, this about the impending arrival of the first of Canada's rented Leopard 2 tanks. I'd told CTV colleague that I've met some tankers before, and that if there were any present at this briefing, she'd recognize them immediately because they would be erect with excitement, tankers having been rescued from the brink of oblivion by the war in Afghanistan. Sure enough, there are some of them there, and they are wound up like tops at the prospect of their new baby.

Thursday, Aug. 1

4 a.m. Some of my colleagues get up to see the arrival of the new tank. Alas, apparently as it came off the plane ("Tanks loaned from Germany, coming on a Russian plane," says a CP colleague, "it's so Canadian."), there was a glitch, everything was locked down, and the turret wouldn't turn properly for the waiting cameras.

7 a.m. I skip the arrival, since I've had only snatches of sleep for the past two days, and get up late. Go to Tim Hortons, get bagel and coffee. As predicted, get lost and spend 20 minutes wandering around base.

5 p.m. Meet a soldier, on his way home in two days, who has hit the usual Afghanistan cycle: Had an IED blow up in front of him, lost two friends, and been mortared himself. "It's not so bad," he says with a grin. He had to meet a mental-health counsellor after the IED blast, but says he told her he could deal with all that, no problem. It's the fact that on a deployment, it's "the dickheads" you can't get away from that drives him nuts.

6:30 p.m. I realize that as everything has changed, so has nothing. It's good to be back.

[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.]