In this bulletin:

• U.N. envoy warns surge likely in Afghan displaced
• Musharraf: Pakistan to take steps to implement Pak-Afghan Peace Jirga decisions
• President Karzai talks on the phone with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
• President Karzai speaks on the phone with President of Turkey
• Afghan Foreign Minister Meets Chinese Official
• 23 killed in fresh wave of violence in Afghanistan
• TWO MEN BEHEADED IN SOUTHEASTERN AFGHANISTAN
• Afghan General Says Iranian Engineers Helping Taliban
• Govt awards TAP pipeline contract to US company
• Freed German safe and well outside Afghanistan
• Van Doo believed in Afghanistan mission
• PM lays out Afghan plan
• Voices: Afghan mission
• Merkel's Coalition Delays Vote on Special Forces Afghan Mandate
• Taliban Fighters Void Second Truce in Pakistan
• Permanent Pak-Afghan jirga to be formed
• 4th Pak-Afghan jirga working committee recommendations
• US’ ‘faulty policies’ creating problems in Afghanistan: Ghani
• Jirga meaningless without Taliban: Fazl
• Pakistan frees 'al-Qaeda suspect'
• The Good War, Still to Be Won
• San Francisco doctor doing his part to help heal Afghanistan

U.N. envoy warns surge likely in Afghan displaced

By Robert Evans, Reuters Monday, August 20, 2007

GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations envoy warned on Monday that there could be a huge surge of Afghans fleeing their homes, adding to the tens of thousands already displaced, if the conflict in the country continued at its present rate.

Walter Kaelin, special representative of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, also called on foreign and Afghan government forces fighting Taliban guerrillas to do more to avoid causing civilian casualties in their operations.

"There is potential for a significant increase in the number of internally displaced persons if the conflict continues at the present pace," Kaelin said in a report issued in Geneva after a visit to Afghanistan.

Kaelin used the term internally displaced, or IDPs, which is applied by the U.N. to people who have been forced from their homes but remain within their own country, rather than refugees, who flee from one country to another.

Over the past year, he said, the fighting had already triggered the displacement of tens of thousands of people, leaving them in misery, without homes or livelihood.

On top of the likely increase if the conflict continues, the numbers could go still higher if returnees from among the three million Afghans living in neighboring Pakistan and Iran over the past 20 years could not resettle, he added.

Kaelin gave no estimate of overall numbers of IDPs, but he said those who had fled in recent months were adding to the 130,000 living in provisional settlements in the south and southwest of the country for the past five or more years.

These had been displaced by drought and insecurity. But across the country there were an unknown number of others forced to uproot because of human rights violations, intercommunal tensions and by floods and other natural disasters.

In his report, the U.N. envoy said all sides in the fighting -- which include United States and NATO forces backing the Afghan government against the Taliban -- should "scrupulously respect international humanitarian law."

This included observing requirements "to distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants and the need to carry out anti-insurgency operations in a way that avoids disproportionate impacts causing civilian death," Kaelin said.

Since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in late 2001, they have on many occasions been accused by local people and some Afghan officials of indiscriminate bombing and shelling that left civilians dead and injured.

But in his report the envoy also condemned what he called "the systematic disregard of international humanitarian law by the Taliban," which he said exposed civilians to high risk.

The suffering of civilians was heightened by the fact that for security reasons humanitarian organizations could not get into areas most seriously affected by the fighting, he added.

Musharraf: Pakistan to take steps to implement Pak-Afghan Peace Jirga decisions

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf Tuesday said Pakistan would take all possible follow-up steps to implement the decisions taken at the Pak-Afghan Joint Peace Jirga. Musharraf made the remarks while chairing a high-level meeting here at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

He expressed his satisfaction on the holding of the peace jirga and hoped that the involvement of tribal and religious leaders from both sides of the Pak-Afghan border would help promote peace and security and check illegal border crossings.

He said Pakistan firmly believed in a strong, stable and prosperous Afghanistan which was not only in the interest of Afghan people but also in the interest of Pakistan and the entire region.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz gave an overview on Pak-Afghan economic cooperation and assistance being extended by Pakistan in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Some senior officials also attended the meeting.

Following an agreement reached by Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a meeting hosted by U.S. President George W Bush at the White House in September 2006, Pakistan and Afghanistan held a joint peace jirga, attended by around 650 tribal elders and officials from both countries, in the Afghan capital Kabul on Aug. 9

The jirga decided in its declaration that a committee with 25 members from each side would be formed to approach and talk to their opposing forces.

President Karzai talks on the phone with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

On August 18, President Hamid Karzai spoke on the phone with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud about the Joint Peace Jirga held between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In the telephone conversation, President Karzai termed the Afghan-Pak Peace Jirga a “new experience” between the two nations and hoped the decisions taken in the Jirga lead to further prosperity and economic growth in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

King of Saudi Arabia appreciated the Joint Peace Jirga as an Islamic and Afghan traditional approach in

President Karzai speaks on the phone with President of Turkey

On August 17, President Hamid Karzai in a telephone contact with Ahmet Necdet Sezer, President of Turkey thanked his country for hosting the Ankara meeting in which discussions took place between presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan and for all the help and assistance Turkey has provided to Afghanistan.

President Karzai also talked about the successful conclusion of the Joint Peace Jirga between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The President added, the Jirga participated by seven hundred representatives from both sides is an unprecedented first Jirga of its kind that opened the way for further discussions and talks between the two nations.

The President said, the Jirga concluded terrorism as a common problem threatening the whole region and all members agreed to expand the war against this menace. The Jirga also decided that a small Jirga of 50 members be formed up to regularly meet to monitor and follow-up on the decisions taken at the Joint Peace Jirga.

In response, Turkish President congratulated both the nations on the Peace Jirga and wished them success.

Afghan Foreign Minister Meets Chinese Official

Posted On: Aug 20, 2007 - BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese senior diplomat said on Monday that China will continue to give support to Afghanistan's peace process and economic reconstruction.

"China will continue to support Afghanistan's peace process, actively participate in and provide every help it could in Afghanistan's economic reconstruction," State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan told visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

Tang said China and Afghanistan are "good neighbors, good friends and good partners". China sincerely hopes that lasting peace and stability will be realized in Afghanistan, which is in the common interests of both China and Afghanistan and the world at large.

 Afghan President Hamid Karzai paid a state visit to China in June 2006, during which Karzai and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao signed a good neighborly treaty for friendship and cooperation. Hu and Karzai met again on Aug. 15 this year on the sidelines of a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Tang said the events marked that China-Afghanistan comprehensive and cooperative partnership has entered a new phase of development.

He said that China is also ready to strengthen cooperation with Afghanistan on non-traditional security issues and support Afghanistan to play an active role in regional affairs.

Spanta said Afghanistan and China are traditional good neighbors and the two peoples always enjoy intimate friendship, adding Afghanistan appreciated China's help and support for his country's peace and reconstruction process.

Spanta said the Afghan government will firmly stick to the one-China policy and support China's reunification cause.

Spanta arrived here Friday for a six-day official visit to China, his first-ever visit to China as foreign minister. During his stay in Beijing, he will also meet with Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

23 killed in fresh wave of violence in Afghanistan

21 Aug 2007, 1623 hrs IST,AFP

GHAZNI: At least 23 people including two police officers were killed in clashes as fresh violence swept insurgency-hit Afghanistan, officials said on Tuesday.

Eight Taliban militants and two policemen were killed in fighting which erupted late on Monday in the southern province of Ghazni where the Taliban have been holding 19 South Korean aid workers hostage for the past month, police said.

The fighting in the province's Qara Bagh -- where the Korean aid workers were kidnapped on July 19 -- and Ander districts was still ongoing Tuesday, provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai told a news agency.

Two other police were seriously wounded, he said. Elsewhere in Ghazni, two Afghan civilians were killed and two injured when a landmine apparently intended for the security forces went off under their vehicle on Tuesday, Ahmadzai said.

"The Taliban had planted the mine, aimed at us," the police commander said.

In separate clashes between Taliban and security forces, seven militants were killed in an operation by Afghan and coalition forces in neighbouring Helmand province on Monday, the defence ministry said in a statement.

"Seven terrorists who had infiltrated the area to destabilise the area were killed during an operation by Afghan and coalition forces," the statement said, referring to a 10,000-strong US-led force based in the province.

The operation took place in Helmand's troubled Sangin district, which has been badly hit by the insurgency.

Also in Sangin, four Afghan army soldiers were injured the same day after their checkpost came under Taliban rocket fire.

Four other Taliban guerrillas were killed late Monday in the southwestern province of Farah, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang told the news agency.

The unrest has so far claimed the lives of 136 soldiers from the NATO-led international force this year.

TWO MEN BEHEADED IN SOUTHEASTERN AFGHANISTAN

8/21/07 - A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL

Two men from one family were dragged from their home in Paktia Province on August 19 and beheaded, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. The attack occurred around midnight in the village of Abdal in Zurmat district, according to Din Mohammad Darwesh, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The perpetrators left the headless bodies of the two men in front of their house. Darwesh said neither of the victims, whose names were withheld, worked for the government. He said Taliban insurgents committed the murders, but did provide any further details. Hours after the bodies were found, police recovered the body of another man abducted the day before, according to Colonel Sayed Sakhi Mateen, chief of the province's crime branch. Mateen said the victim was kidnapped by unidentified armed men in the Kohistan district of central Kapisa Province.

Afghan General Says Iranian Engineers Helping Taliban

August 20, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- An Afghan National Army general says four Iranian radio communication experts are helping the Taliban militia in Afghanistan's south, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

Major General Muhiddin Ghori, who made the allegations, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that it remains unclear whether the four were sent to Helmand Province by the Iranian government.

In recent months, there have been numerous cases of Iranian-built weapons, including land mines, turning up in Afghanistan. But Tehran has denied accusations by U.S. officials that those shipments were made with the knowledge and approval of the Iranian government.

Govt awards TAP pipeline contract to US company

Daily Times, August 20, 2007

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has awarded the contract of laying the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project to the United States International Oil Company (IOC) with an estimated cost of $10 billion.

Geo News quoted a press release issued by the oil company’s liaison office stating that the contract for the 2,200-kilometre TAP gas pipeline, scheduled for completion within three years, had been awarded to the US-based company. It said two oil refineries and four thermal powerhouses, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, would also be established under this project.

It further reported that the pipeline would be built up to Gwadar and would supply two million barrels of oil and four billion cubic feet of natural gas to Pakistan every day. APP quoted IOC’s press statement as saying that a $3.5- billion refinery would also be built at Gwadar under the terms of the contract.

Online reported that the project envisages the construction of a Hydro-cracker to facilitate the production of JP-1 and JP-4 petroleum products in Pakistan for the first time in the nation’s history.

According to sources in the International Oil Company, the matters of security and insurance in Afghanistan during the laying of the pipeline have been finalized between the oil company and authorities, and a signing ceremony confirming the mega-project agreement would be held shortly. Agencies

Freed German safe and well outside Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - A pregnant German aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan then freed by police at the weekend is in perfect health and has now left the country, her employer said on Tuesday.

Armed men snatched Christina Meier from a restaurant on Saturday as she was having lunch with her husband. As she was being driven away, a taxi driver was killed in crossfire between police and the kidnappers.

Meier later appeared on a video pleading with Berlin to do all it could to secure her release. But Afghan police stormed the kidnappers' hideout late on Sunday and rescued her.

"She has undergone medical checks and is in perfect health," Ora-International country director Joop Teeuwen told a news conference. After police freed her, "with her husband she was brought to a safe location outside of Afghanistan," he said.

Ora-International is a small Christian aid group working in health and community development in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has now suspended its operations in Afghanistan pending a review of the security situation.

Afghan officials say her kidnappers were criminals, rather than Taliban insurgents who have abducted around 30 foreigners and Afghans in little more than a month.

"My impression is it was more a by chance operation, but we have to wait until investigations are concluded," Teeuwen said.

Taliban kidnappers have killed two South Koreans and one German hostage and are still holding 19 Koreans, another German and at least four Afghans.

Van Doo believed in Afghanistan mission

Canadian Press - Aug 19, 2007 08:10 PM

CFB VALCARTIER, Que. – Simon Longtin was remembered as a young private doing exactly what he wanted to, proud to be making a difference on the ground in Afghanistan with his fellow Van Doos in Kandahar province.

The 23-year-old Canadian soldier died early Sunday when the light-armoured vehicle, or LAV-III, struck a roadside bomb, claiming his life a little over two weeks into a six-month stint.

Longtin had been in Afghanistan only since July 30, but the young soldier from Longueuil, Que., south of Montreal, had no doubt that he was where he wanted to be, having volunteered for the mission.

Maj. Casey McLean, acting commander of the 3rd battalion to which Longtin belonged, described him as a strong, competent soldier who was quiet but "was very popular among his peers."

McLean, who met with Longtin's parents on Sunday, said they were proud of their son and Longtin had told them he firmly believed in what he was doing in Afghanistan.

"It has really affected them, they really loved their son," McLean said of his meeting with Longtin's family.

"If one thing came out of their conversations with him, it is that he was very proud to be with his colleagues in Afghanistan," McLean said. "He died doing what he loved."

Longtin's friend and colleague, Sgt. Stephane Perras, did his best to keep his composure as he offered Longtin's family his personal assistance in the coming days.

"I spent a lot of time with Simon and I appreciated the time I spent with him," Perras said, visibly shaken and fighting back tears. "Today, when I found out this morning he had died, it was very hard for me."

Condolences poured in Sunday from all over the province and country. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Quebec City Mayor Andree Boucher and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe were among those to offer their sympathies to Longtin's family.

Meanwhile, bouquets of flowers began to pile up at the entrance to the Valcartier, Que. military base that is home to the Royal 22nd Regiment, known as the Van Doos.

Letters of condolence were arriving at the base as well, McLean said.

In Toronto, a military vigil was held for Longtin at the Canadian Forces display at the Canadian National Exhibition. Close to 100 people interrupted their day at the Ex to watch as military men and women held a moment of silence in honour of their fallen comrade.

As a trumpeter played "Last Post" and a Canadian flag was lowered to half mast, the exhibition grounds seemed to fall silent.

PM lays out Afghan plan

The U.S. President is told Canada's military role could end after 2009.
By ALAN FINDLAY, NATIONAL BUREAU Sun media

MONTEBELLO, QUEBEC -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday afternoon and served notice that the future of Canada's Afghan mission is in question beyond 2009.

During a bilateral Canada-U.S. meeting lasting about 90 minutes, Harper repeated recent statements that extending Canada's commitment beyond 2009 will require the support of Parliament, a senior government official told reporters.

However, the unnamed official stressed that Canada's commitment to the war-torn country would stretch beyond 2009 in some form such as technical or humanitarian aid, even if it requires Parliamentary approval.

"I will only go back to the fact that the prime minister has been quite clear, and that is that any future engagement in Afghanistan will need the endorsement of the Parliament," the official said.

Harper, Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon flew in over the heads of protesters yesterday for a 24-hour, closed-door huddle tucked inside this Quebec village's posh Fairmont resort.

Voices: Afghan mission

August 21, 2007 Toronto Star

We asked if Canada should keep troops in Afghanistan until 2009. Here's what readers had to say:

Canadians should be proud of the service our armed forces have provided in Afghanistan. It is unfortunate that they needed to focus more on combat rather than reconstruction, but this was out of necessity. It likely would not have been so if the backbone of the mission, the United States, had not focused its attention elsewhere. I hope that other countries will add themselves to those that have stepped up to the plate in an effort to fill the empty promise made by the US of A.
Rick Snider, Toronto

Absolutely not. We have no business getting involved in America's ill-planned and ill-fated conflict.
Julian Morey, Toronto

Yes, we should participate in the Afghanistan mission until its completion. We signed onto this because it was a NATO effort to do something about the treatment of the people there by the ruthless Taliban government. This is not about oil. This is about humanity and we, as Canadians, have always stood for a better life for people. What do you think would happen to those people if we packed up and turned our backs. I say we should stay to 2009 and longer if need be to get the job done and then come home.
Michael Restoule, Nipissing First Nation

We do not belong in Afganistan in the first place nor should we be there now. Lives are being lost for a cause that was totally political and for no other reason.
Gary Harbison, Kingston

This mission is only about following U.S. steps and bowing to their pressure and is only about killing innocent people, occupying their land and stealing their money and resources. Bring your army out now.
Mahdad Zarafshan, Richmond Hill

I believe that we must keep our troops in Afghanistan until 2009. To pull our troops out earlier would leave countless innocents to the brutal will of the Taliban.
Jonathan Vezina, Mississauga

While this is a blatant attempt on the PM's part to get votes for a majority government, this decision is long overdue and the right one. But he still does not get my vote.
Jacquie Fraser, Etobicoke

Merkel's Coalition Delays Vote on Special Forces Afghan Mandate

By Andreas Cremer and Patrick Donahue

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition postponed a parliamentary vote on deployment of the country's special forces in Afghanistan, after the Social Democratic Party requested more time to debate the matter.

Vice Chancellor Franz Muentefering, a Social Democrat, and party Chairman Kurt Beck lobbied for the vote to be delayed by about a month during a late-night meeting yesterday with fellow coalition party leaders. The vote was originally planned to take place by Oct. 12.

Several Social Democrat lawmakers have threatened to vote against plans to extend the participation of Germany's 100 KSK special forces in Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led campaign to fight the Taliban insurgency, because of the growing number of Afghan civilian casualties. The mandate for KSK special forces in Afghanistan expires on Nov. 15.

``There is an open and public discussion'' among the Social Democrats about Germany's engagement in Operation Enduring Freedom, Muentefering said at a panel discussion in Berlin today. ``We will surely discuss this'' at the Oct. 26-28 party conference.

The Social Democrats will support an extension of the mandates for Germany's two other missions in Afghanistan, Muentefering said. These include contribution of some 3,000 troops in a NATO-led stabilization effort, plus several hundred staff to operate and maintain a deployment of six Tornado fighter jets. That vote will take place between Oct. 8 and Oct. 12, he said. The NATO and Tornado mandates both expire Oct. 13.

The deal was struck at a meeting yesterday between Social Democrat leaders, Merkel and Edmund Stoiber, head of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.

Taliban Fighters Void Second Truce in Pakistan

By Griff Witte and Imtiaz Ali - Washington Post / Monday, August 20, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 19 -- For the second time in two months, a truce designed to curb militancy in the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan was declared void this weekend by Taliban fighters.

The apparent collapse of the deal in the restive South Waziristan area followed the scrapping of a similar deal in neighboring North Waziristan in July, and comes as there are escalating tensions in both areas. On Sunday, the Pakistani military reported killing 15 insurgent fighters near the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan.

The semiautonomous tribal region that forms Pakistan's northwestern border with Afghanistan has long been a haven for Islamic fighters, and it has recently been highlighted by the United States as a sanctuary for al-Qaeda.

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, had focused on the peace deals as a way to combat rising extremism in his country without relying on military force. But the cease-fires had come under intense scrutiny from critics who said they amounted to capitulation to the fighters.

The collapse of the South Waziristan deal intensifies pressure on Musharraf, who is struggling to remain in office, to come up with a new strategy.

A spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, the top Taliban commander in South Waziristan, said the group was backing out of the deal because more Pakistani troops were entering the area. "Instead of respecting the accord, the government has been continuously pushing us to the wall," said the spokesman, Zulfiqar Mehsud. "The advance movement of the Pakistan army in our area is a violation of the agreement."

Baitullah Mehsud is suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of 16 paramilitary soldiers last week, as well as numerous other attacks in recent years.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said government officials were meeting with tribal elders in a bid to maintain peace in the Waziristan area. She said the government would continue to follow "a comprehensive approach" to combating militancy in the region that included negotiation, economic incentives and, if necessary, military force.

As recently as the spring, Pakistani officials were asserting that the South Waziristan deal was succeeding. They pointed to fighting between the area's tribesmen and foreign radicals as evidence that local people could police their own territory without heavy involvement from the army.

The February 2005 deal called for the military to curtail its activity in the area in return for a promise from rebel groups that they would not attack army posts.

Retired Brig. Mehmood Shah, who was a top tribal area official at the time, said the deal was plagued from the start by poor implementation, with Pakistan's military giving Taliban leaders concessions that were not part of the original agreement.

Still, he said, the agreement's collapse is a foreboding sign. "The termination of the second peace deal in a month's time will create problems for the government," Shah said.

Maulana Miraj Uddin, a member of parliament from South Waziristan, said he would try to revive the deal, which he credited with helping to create relative calm. "I wish this would not happen because the annulment of the peace accord will again usher in an era of unrest and bloodshed for the people of Waziristan," he said.

Ali reported from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Permanent Pak-Afghan jirga to be formed

Staff Report - PESHAWAR: Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed on a bilateral mechanism to facilitate the implementation of decisions and recommendations made at the Pak-Afghan Joint Jirga held in Kabul from August 9 to 12. The fifth working committee of the jirga agreed on forming a permanent jirga.

The committee was assigned the task to make both countries agree on “a bilateral mechanism comprising of an adequate number of members from each side to meet periodically to facilitate the implementation of decisions and recommendations made by the jirga and discuss any other related issue”.

The committee recommended a practical strategy for the implementation of decisions and their monitoring by both the governments and the media. It suggested involving tribal elders from both sides and exchange of information.

The committee also decided that it would meet after every two months.

4th Pak-Afghan jirga working committee recommendations

PESHAWAR: The fourth joint working committee (JWC) of the Pak-Afghan peace jirga emphasised peace to achieve success against drugs and poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, taking note of the fact that there “is a strong connection between terrorism and drug trafficking”.

UN figures to be released next month are expected to show that Afghanistan’s poppy production has risen by 15 percent since 2006 and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world’s crop, three percentage points more than last year.

During the deliberations, the Afghan delegates acknowledged Pakistan’s successful crackdown on drugs and urged President Hamid Karzai’s government to follow the example to rid Afghanistan of drugs, which are indirectly financing the Taliban-linked insurgency. It made the following recommendations:

* Both Afghan and Pakistani members of the fourth JWC denounce the cultivation, processing and trafficking of poppy and other illicit substances in both countries;

* Both sides consider the cultivation, processing and trafficking of poppy and drugs as one of the causes of organised crime, terrorism financing and other

illegitimate activities in the region. The jirga takes note of the fact that there is a strong connection between terrorism and drug trafficking. Therefore, there is a need for a sound strategy to combat this menace. Such a strategy should differentiate and adopt varying approaches on dealing with a matter of economic necessity and the drug barons and traffickers who indulge in this trade for greed and huge profits;

* After lengthy deliberations both sides recommend that a 10-member joint committee drawn from the two governments and people be constituted to develop a strategy to tackle the alarming increase in poppy cultivation,

processing and trafficking in both countries in order to make concerted efforts to combat these menaces. The committee should interact and submit its recommendations to the two governments a well as the monitoring and

implementation committee of the grand jirga. The jirga is also of the opinion that a survey and study must be carried out to determine and identify the reasons for failure of the policy on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan;

* Both sides agree that strong punitive actions should be taken against those who are involved in drug processing and trafficking and ‘zero-tolerance’ should be shown in dealing with them. Among other measures, the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with support from the international community, may put in place strict controls and monitoring systems in order to reduce and ultimately eliminate drug trafficking;

* Recognising that the Pakistan government has been able to drastically reduce

poppy cultivation and completely eliminate drug processing laboratories, the two sides recommend that the best practices of the Pakistan government, and other countries with successful counter-narcotics campaign history, should be adopted by the Afghanistan government to achieve similar results.

* The jirga recommends that government officials, clerics, tribal elders, community leaders and representatives of civil society, should approach the poppy-growers and persuade them to abandon poppy cultivation, in return of financial compensation and help in growing alternative crops. Moreover, farmers should be provided subsidies in the shape of improved seeds, fertilisers etcetera. Similarly, the pace of economic activity and reconstruction should be accelerated in poppy-growing areas, as well as addressing poverty and economic development in these areas.

* The jirga calls upon the international community, especially the UN, to ensure a substantial contribution to help farmers develop alternative cash crops. Moreover, development and socio-economic assistance should be provided to develop the social sector, minerals and access of farmers to industry and markets.

* Both sides recognise that unemployment is a major cause of poppy cultivation and terrorism. Therefore, the international community in general and the Gulf countries in particular should absorb the youth of these areas into their job/labour markets and provide work visas/permits to these youths.

* Recognising that peace is essential for any programme or policy to succeed in this regard, the committee recommends that efforts should be made to restore peace in the troubled areas and all options necessary to achieve it should be exercised in the larger interest of both countries as well as the region.

* The jirga also recommends that since the international community is under an equal obligation to combat this menace, it should take effective steps to control demand for drugs in their respective countries.

* Corruption should be checked at all levels because there are indications that public representatives and high- and low-level officials are involved in the business.

* Raising awareness among the people about its ill-effects is essential. Assistance of the clerics and community leaders should be introduced.

* There should be stringent checks on the import of raw material used in the preparation of drugs. Besides this, the countries producing these raw materials should be subject to international controls on export of such materials.

* The international community, the UN and the respective governments should initiate steps to help detoxification and rehabilitation of drug addicts and enable them to become useful members of society.

US’ ‘faulty policies’ creating problems in Afghanistan: Ghani

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani has said US and NATO forces in Afghanistan have become a problem rather than a solution and Washington’s faulty policies are responsible for the resurgence of extremism in the region.

In an interview with Daily Times after his recent trip to the US, Ghani said there was no organised Taliban presence in the province. However, he said, the province had approximately a million Afghan refugees and many of them were Taliban sympathisers.

About the media reports that Taliban leader Mullah Omer was hiding in Quetta, he said if the Afghan government believed that he was in Quetta and knew about his whereabouts they should tell the Pakistan government rather than discussing it in the media. Afghanistan’s media rhetoric only meant that they were helping Omer to escape before he could be arrested.

Regarding Osama Bin Laden’s alleged presence in the tribal areas, he said Osama treated Pakistan as an obstacle to achieving his “grand jihadi designs”. The Central Intelligence Agency trained and brought him in the region to fight soviets, he added.

“Why Pakistan should take the risk of sheltering him when his arrest from Pakistan would earn a bad name to the country,” he said. Rejecting the perception that Pakistan was using the Taliban as deterrent to the Karzai government, he said a stable Afghanistan was in Pakistan’s benefit.

When asked about the death of pro-Taliban leader Abdullah Mehsood during an operation in Balochistan, he said Mehsood had been operating from Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The US and NATO forces could not detect him despite their military might, but as soon as he entered Pakistan he was cornered by Pakistani security forces.

He said Afghanistan had not seen any military solution working for its problems since the time of Alexander. A dialogue-based political solution should be hammered out, he said, adding that only an indigenous solution would work, and not the one made in the US or Pakistan.

Referring to the Misaq-e-Milli (national pact) that existed in Afghanistan for 250 years till the Soviet invasion, he said it should be reestablished. He said the problem in Afghanistan was of a local nature requiring a local solution.

“The US should change its strategy to a war on global terrorism rather than a global war on terrorism,” he said. Answering a question about the Taliban’s funding, he said they generated their funds through poppy cultivation. “We have asked the US to strictly control poppy cultivation,” he said.

“Since the Taliban’s ouster, poppy cultivation has increased from 40,000 acres to 400,000 acres. Afghanistan is meeting 90% of the world drug market’s demand,” he said quoting UN figures.

To a question about the Pak-Afghan Joint Jirga, Ghani said bilateral efforts for the past 11 months culminated in the recent jirga.

He said the jirga recommended the formation of a smaller 50-member jirga, with 25 members from the each side, which had been mandated to expedite the dialogue between the Afghanistan government and its opponents - including the Taliban and Hikmatyar.

About the absence of the Taliban in the jirga, he said while the Taliban were not present, they must have monitored the joint jirga. The 50-member jirga ould accommodate them in the peace process, he added.

Regarding the trade of allegations between Kabul and Islamabad, he said it was in the past. “There is a bilateral understanding, mutual respect, and a vast socioeconomic cooperation growing between the two neighbours,” he said.

Jirga meaningless without Taliban: Fazl

PESHAWAR: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal central leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the recent Pak-Afghan peace jirga was meaningless without the Taliban’s presence in it.

“The Taliban are the real stakeholders, and not Pakistan and the Afghansitan government. No one can even think of peace in the region until the Taliban’s importance is accepted”, he said while addressing an annual Dastar Bandi in Darvesh Masjid.

Heroin and Kalashnikov culture were the byproducts of the Afghan war, he said, adding that the Taliban regime eliminated these menaces from Afghanistan and brought real peace and stability.

Replying a question, he said the Wafaqul Madaris was being weakened and madrassas were slowly abolished under a conspiracy.

Fazl said if the democratic process in the country was wrapped up religious parties would be the ultimate losers.

He said the MMA-led government in the NWFP had made progress toward achieving its objectives. He regretted that Pakistan had become isolated in the comity of nations due to its ill-conceived foreign policy. It is no more on friendly terms with neighboring countries, including Afghanistan, India and China, he observed.

“The US was present in Afghanistan to serve its own interests. America and other imperialist powers are equating jihad with terrorism.

They are maligning Islam and provoking Muslims to raise arms so that they could be crushed in the US war on terror,” he said. “We will have to show sagacity in the prevailing situation.”

He said that he believed in politics of wisdom rather than weapons and that the incidents like Lal Masjid and the May 12 violence in Karachi could not be forgotten. Online

Pakistan frees 'al-Qaeda suspect' – BBC

A Pakistani computer expert alleged to have had al-Qaeda links has been freed without charge after three years in custody, a Supreme Court official said. Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, 25, was accused of acting as a link between top al-Qaeda leaders and operational cells.

His detention led to the arrest of a suspect in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, and information on terror plots in the UK and US. Officials said Mr Khan had returned home to the southern city of Karachi. Deputy attorney general Naheeda Mehboob Ilahi provided no further details.

Mr Khan's lawyer, Babar Awan, confirmed that his client was back with his family. He added that Mr Khan had been held without charge and had never appeared in court.

Mr Khan was arrested in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore in July 2004. Pakistani investigators said Mr Khan had invented secret codes, which enabled al-Qaeda operatives to send encrypted emails and messages via the internet.

Shortly after his arrest, police said a search of his computer files and email records revealed an active global al-Qaeda network, which was planning attacks in Britain, Pakistan and the US.

The Good War, Still to Be Won

New York Times Editorial 8.21.07

We will never know just how much better the fight in Afghanistan might be going if it had been managed more competently over the past six years. But there can be little doubt that American forces — and Afghanistan’s government — would be in far stronger positions than they are today.

How different things might be if the Bush administration had not diverted needed troops and dollars into the misguided invasion of Iraq, nor wasted years discouraging needed NATO military assistance, nor pulled its punches rather than pressuring a Pakistani dictator with, at best, mixed feelings toward the Taliban.

Those are some of the questions raised in a devastating Times account earlier this month of how Afghanistan’s “good war” went bad. The battle against Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies is still winnable, and it is vital to American security. But victory will require a smarter strategy and a lot more attention and resources.

In the first months after Al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks, the world, the Afghan people and Washington’s most important allies were all on America’s side. Now, a resurgent Taliban army operates from Pakistani sanctuaries. It wins Afghan hearts and minds every time an errant American airstrike kills innocent civilians, and it gains even more whenever an aid-starved Afghan government fails to deliver on its promises of better governance, economic development and physical security.

America has never had enough troops in Afghanistan, not in 2001, when Osama bin Laden was on the run in the caves of Tora Bora, and not today, when much of the country is still without effective authority. Too few ground troops have meant too much reliance on airstrikes, leading to too many innocent civilian casualties.

Since the Iraq buildup began in 2002, it has drawn away the resources that could have turned the tide in Afghanistan, including the military’s best special operations and counterinsurgency units. Afghanistan, larger and more populous than Iraq, now has 23,500 American troops. Iraq has about 160,000.

The pattern with development aid has been similar. In 2002, President Bush vowed not to repeat his father’s mistake of leaving Afghans to rebuild on their own after the 1989 Soviet withdrawal. He broke that vow. In proportion to its population, Afghanistan has received less American development assistance than Bosnia, Kosovo or Haiti. After years of pleas from American ambassadors, total aid is set to increase sharply this year. But with much of the money going to security-related areas like military training and drug eradication, the amount left for rebuilding — and to provide alternatives to working for warlords or traffickers — is grossly insufficient.

Rightly viewing 9/11 as an attack on a member state, NATO offered to send troops to fight alongside America in Afghanistan. The Bush administration first declined the offer, then accepted help on peacekeeping in Kabul and relatively secure areas of northern Afghanistan — shunting NATO away from combat areas. That finally changed in 2005, when Washington had to admit that it did not have enough troops to control the embattled south. By then, the fight had become far more difficult.

Washington’s mistakes have made Iraq a new staging area for international terrorism. The borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan are still home to Al Qaeda’s most important bases and most dangerous leaders. Victory there will now be harder than it needed to be. But it is no less necessary.

San Francisco doctor doing his part to help heal Afghanistan

Kantele Franko, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, August 20, 2007

During his last week of volunteering at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, two of the youngest patients under Dr. Albert Chan's care were newborn infants. They had similar rashes, but the first boy's ailment was milder than that of the second, a 5-day-old with a slowing heartbeat and shallow breathing who was near death and put on respiratory support.

The diagnosis was chicken pox - complicated by scarce resources, unstable security and other effects of nearly two conflict-ridden decades since the Soviet-Afghan war.

"Ultimately, these babies suffer from a lack of primary care and infrastructure," Chan said.

The UCSF pediatrician spent most of July working in the Afghan capital. He discovered firsthand that the aftermath of unrest causes more than medical problems for the country's 29 million people, whose life expectancy is about 42 years.

A lack of clean water and sanitation, combined with an inconsistent education system and cultural taboos, makes preventive medicine all but a dream, Chan said. The mountainous geography, a rundown transportation system and widespread poverty prevent people from seeking medical help at the early signs of a disease, meaning even uncomplicated illnesses like chicken pox can get out of hand before they are treated.

When people do seek care, they face crowded facilities with shortages of medical supplies and doctors. There are 19 physicians for every 100,000 people in Afghanistan, compared with 256 in the United States and 198 in Mexico, according to World Health Organization data from 2000 and 2001, the most recent years available.

Part of Chan's job was training doctors in a recently developed residency program at the hospital, which is run by the Christian humanitarian agency CURE International. At 33, Chan was teaching his peers or those slightly younger, many of whom are aspiring doctors raised and educated in the shadow of conflict.

Beneath that shadow, their schooling and training have suffered, leaving a generation of young, intelligent doctors behind the medical curve, Chan said.

Security concerns, such as the threat of the Taliban in outlying areas, complicated things further. When Chan and his companions traveled outside Kabul for several days to an area once known for its tourism, they had to carefully plan a route back to avoid roads they knew to be unsafe.

Many of Chan's Afghan colleagues had not been to their home provinces in years, and they don't see many patients who are ethnically targeted by the Taliban, he said, because they try to stay hidden. Doctors Without Borders, a medical relief agency known for work in conflict areas, pulled out of Afghanistan in 2004, citing the slaying of five members and other security and policy concerns.

The lack of security darkens the country's image in foreigners' eyes, making most people disinclined to volunteer or work there, Chan said. He wants that picture put into focus.

"I'm like, 'Wait a second, people, there's people with real lives there,' " he said. David Dowall, director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Development, has garnered a similar perspective through his work across the border in Pakistan.

"When you're on the ground, it's not nearly as scary as it is when you're reading about it in the Sunday paper," said Dowall, quickly adding that security is still an important consideration and was a prime reason he turned down an offer to visit Afghanistan two years ago.

"The problems are really systemic," said Dowall, who also teaches city and regional planning. "One person or one nongovernmental organization (is) going to do some good but not really get to the root of the problem."

For Chan, the legacy of his summer stint abroad is as much about the evolution of the country's health care system as saving the lives of newborns with chicken pox. The real value of the trip is the trickle-down effect of passing on knowledge and new techniques and knowing that his trainees can train future doctors.

"I am not going to go in and (immediately) change things," he said, "because Afghans have been making things work for them for years."

[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.]