In this bulletin:

• Afghan governor survives bombing
• 11 NATO soldiers wounded in Afghanistan
• Osama Bin Laden Is `Healthy and Active,' Taliban Says
• CIA missed chances to thwart al-Qaida
• Troops doing 'fabulous job,' Bush says
• PM clear on leaving Afghanistan
• Quebec media lash out at soldier's death
• Afghan police arrest man linked to deaths of German police
• Germany fears it's being targeted in Afghanistan
• Pro-Taliban cleric terms Jirga a practice in futility
• Taliban, US in new round of peace talks
• Ministry's bid to know problems of private investors
• Afghanistan needs people like late Ghafoorzai: Khalilzad
• Scant Progress for Afghan Women
• Heroic guardian of UK embassy in Kabul dies
• Film of ill-fated US raid in Afghanistan planned: report
• Afghanistan Stand Strong to Take Second Win
• Afghanistan stun defending champions WAPDA

Afghan governor survives bombing – BBC

The governor of the south-eastern Afghan province of Khost, Arsala Jamal, has survived a suicide bomb attack on his convoy, officials say.

But at least two of Mr Jamal's bodyguards were killed in the attack, which was close to a base for Western troops just outside the town of Khost.

Officials for the governor told the BBC the bomb went off close to his car. Mr Jamal said in June that he had survived three suicide attacks, including one by a 14-year-old boy.

The child, Rafiq, was later publicly pardoned by President Hamid Karzai. Mr Jamal told the BBC he was returning from a meeting when he came under attack.

"There was a vehicle. The attacker rammed it into one of our vehicles, some of our people got burned alive in one of the vehicles."

Officials say that at least 10 people - including four of Mr Jamal's bodguards - were wounded in the attack. Khost lies near the border with Pakistan, and there have been several suicide attacks in the province in recent months.

Correspondents say that the Taleban are now copying tactics used by Iraqi insurgents, which include suicide attacks and roadside bombs. About 20 people, mostly civilians, were killed in two separate suicide attacks at the weekend in the southern city of Kandahar.

11 NATO soldiers wounded in Afghanistan

Kabul (AP) - Taliban militants wearing Afghan army uniforms attacked a remote NATO base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two Afghan soldiers and wounding 11 alliance soldiers, officials said.

A suicide bomber, meanwhile, attacked a provincial governor elsewhere in the east, killing four people and wounding eight others. The governor was unharmed.

The militants in Afghan army uniforms approached the NATO's forward operating base in mountainous Nuristan province before launching the attack, the alliance said.

The attack left two Afghan soldiers dead and 11 NATO troops wounded, it said. NATO did not identify the nationality of the wounded troops. Most of the troops in the east are American.

Lt. Col. Claudia Foss, spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, denounced the Taliban militants for wearing Afghan uniforms. "This is another example of the Taliban extremists ignoring international law of armed conflict," she said.

In Khost province, a suicide bomber attacked the six-vehicle convoy carrying Khost Gov. Arsallah Jamal close to the capital of the province, a region where Taliban and al-Qaida linked militants are believed to operate, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary.

"It was an attack on me," Jamal told The Associated Press via telephone. Two of the dead were Jamal's bodyguards, while the other two were passers-by, the interior ministry said.

The attack happened hours after gunmen in southern Afghanistan abducted the mayor of Gereshk, a town in the opium-growing province of Helmand, said Abdul Manaf Khan, the Gereshk district chief.

Dur Ali Shah was traveling with two of his sons and another man to the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah on a treacherous stretch of road, Khan said. Only Shar was taken, Khan said. Authorities have launched a search and rescue operation, he said.

Abductions have become a key insurgent tactic in recent months in trying to destabilize the country, targeting both Afghan officials and foreigners helping with reconstruction efforts.

A group of 23 South Koreans and two Germans were taken hostage in separate incidents last month. Two of the Koreans were killed, two were released and the rest remain captive. One of the German men was killed, the other remains a captive.

Osama Bin Laden Is `Healthy and Active,' Taliban Says

By Michael Heath - Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- A Taliban commander in Afghanistan said al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is alive and well, according to the transcript of a video provided by a U.S.-based organization that monitors extremist Web sites.

``He is extremely healthy and active,'' Mansour Dadullah said, according to the video's English-language subtitles. The clip was dated June 15, the IntelCenter in Alexandria, Virginia, said today.

Since bin Laden escaped U.S. and Afghan forces at the battle of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan in December 2001, there have been no confirmed sightings of him. He has released several video and audio tapes from his presumed hiding places on the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Bush administration said in its latest National Intelligence Estimate last month that al-Qaeda, the group that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., is regaining strength in Pakistan and honing its tactics in Iraq.

The State Department is offering as much as $25 million for information leading to bin Laden's capture.

Dadullah, whose brother Mullah Dadullah was a top commander in the Taliban until he was killed this year, said he was contacted by bin Laden. ``I received a message from him in which he advised me, `I must follow Mullah Dadullah and continue the same activities so that the mujahedeen may not weaken.' ''

``There's a very high percentage chance'' that bin Laden is dead, Will Geddes, managing director of the London-based International Corporate Protection security company, said in a telephone interview today.

Even if bin Laden is alive, it may not be a ``massive blow'' to the U.S., Geddes said. ``Al-Qaeda is no longer one man leading an international army.'' The organization has become a ``generic umbrella name,'' he said.

L'Est Republicain newspaper reported in September that Saudi Arabian intelligence officials believe Saudi-born bin Laden died from a fever in a remote region of Pakistan.

The French newspaper cited a report from France's DGSE external intelligence agency. Saudi Arabia and Western governments, including France and the U.S., cast doubt on the report.

CIA missed chances to thwart al-Qaida

Washington (By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer) - The CIA's top leaders failed to use their available powers, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop al-Qaida and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to Sept. 11, the agency's own watchdog concluded in a bruising report released Tuesday.

Completed in June 2005 and kept classified until now, the 19-page executive summary finds extensive fault with the actions of senior CIA leaders and others beneath them. "The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner," the CIA inspector general found. "They did not always work effectively and cooperatively," the report stated.

Yet the review team led by Inspector General John Helgerson found neither a "single point of failure nor a silver bullet" that would have stopped the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

In a statement, CIA Director Michael Hayden said the decision to release the report was not his choice or preference, but that he was making the report available as required by Congress in a law President Bush signed earlier this month.

"I thought the release of this report would distract officers serving their country on the front lines of a global conflict," Hayden said. "It will, at a minimum, consume time and attention revisiting ground that is already well plowed."

The report does cover terrain heavily examined by a congressional inquiry and the Sept. 11 Commission. However, the CIA watchdog's report goes further than previous reviews to examine the personal failings of individuals within the agency who led the pre-9/11 efforts against al-Qaida.

Helgerson's team found that no CIA employees violated the law or were part of any misconduct. But it still called on then-CIA Director Porter Goss to form accountability boards to look at the performance of specific individuals to determine whether reprimands were called for.

The inquiry boards were recommended for officials including former CIA Director George Tenet, his deputy director for operations Jim Pavitt, Counterterrorism Center Chief Cofer Black, and agency Executive Director A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard.

In October 2005, Goss rejected the recommendation. He said he had spoken personally with the current employees named in the report, and he trusted their abilities and dedication. "The report unveiled no mysteries," Goss said. Hayden stuck by Goss's decision.

Providing a glimpse of a series of shortfalls laid out in the longer, still-classified report, the executive summary says:

• U.S. spy agencies, which were overseen by Tenet, lacked a comprehensive strategic plan to counter Osama bin Laden prior to 9/11. The inspector general concluded that Tenet "by virtue of his position, bears ultimate responsibility for the fact that no such strategic plan was ever created."

• The CIA's analysis of al-Qaida before Sept. 2001 was lacking. No comprehensive report focusing on bin Laden was written after 1993, and no comprehensive report laying out the threats of 2001 was assembled. "A number of important issues were covered insufficiently or not at all," the report found.

• The CIA and the National Security Agency tussled over their responsibilities in dealing with al-Qaida well into 2001. Only Tenet's personal involvement could have led to a timely resolution, the report concluded.

• The CIA station charged with monitoring bin Laden — code-named Alec Station — was overworked, lacked operational experience, expertise and training. The report recommended forming accountability boards for the CIA Counterterror Center chiefs from 1998 to 2001, including Black.

• Although 50 to 60 people read at least one CIA cable about two of the hijackers, the information wasn't shared with the proper offices and agencies. "That so many individuals failed to act in this case reflects a systemic breakdown.... Basically, there was no coherent, functioning watch-listing program," the report said. The report again called for further review of Black and his predecessor.

While blame is heaped on Tenet and his deputies, the report also says that Tenet was forcefully engaged in counterterrorism efforts and personally sounded the alarm before Congress, the military and policymakers. In a now well-known 1998 memo, he declared, "We are at war."

The trouble, the report said, was follow-up. In a statement, Tenet said the inspector general is "flat wrong" about the lack of plan.

"There was in fact a robust plan, marked by extraordinary effort and dedication to fighting terrorism, dating back to long before 9/11," he said. "Without such an effort, we would not have been able to give the president a plan on Sept. 15, 2001, that led to the routing of the Taliban, chasing al-Qaida from its Afghan sanctuary and combating terrorists across 92 countries."

The inspector general did take exception to findings of Congress' joint inquiry into 9/11. For instance, the congressional inquiry found that the CIA was reluctant to seek authority to assassinate bin Laden. Instead, the inspector general believed the problem was the agency's limited covert-action capabilities.

The CIA's reliance on a group of sources with questionable reliablity "proved insufficient to mount a credible operation against bin Laden," the report said. "Efforts to develop other options had limited potential prior to 9/11."

Troops doing 'fabulous job,' Bush says

U.S. President emphasizes non-combat aspect of Afghan mission, noting Canada is building democratic institutions

ALAN FREEMAN - From Wednesday's Globe and Mail August 22, 2007

MONTEBELLO, QUE. — U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday praised Canadian troops for the "fabulous job" they are doing in southern Afghanistan but gave no hint as to how NATO would cope with the scheduled end of the Canadian combat mission in February, 2009.

Speaking at the closing news conference of an abbreviated North American summit with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Mr. Bush was unstinting in his praise for Canada's military contribution to the Afghan mission.

"Canada has performed brilliantly," he said as Mr. Harper listened intently. "And I thank the mothers and fathers or sons and daughters of those who lost their life in this, for the sake of freedom and peace, for the ultimate sacrifice they paid."

He said Canada was making an "important contribution in this global struggle against extremists," insisting that "we're in an ideological struggle against people who use murder and death to achieve political objectives."

Mr. Bush was clearly anxious to emphasize the non-combat aspect of Canada's mission in the country, noting that Canada was building democratic institutions and helping ensure that Afghan girls are educated and that Afghan women can serve in the country's Parliament. "We don't believe freedom is just confined to our neighbourhood," Mr. Bush said. "We believe freedom is universal in its application. ... We believe people want to be free and if given a chance, they will exercise what is necessary to be free. And that freedom yields peace."

He said that by supporting the mission in Afghanistan, the Canadian people are "laying the foundation of peace throughout the 21st century."

Mr. Harper added his own praise for Canadian troops and said that Parliament would make its decision on whether to extend the mission beyond February, 2009.

The summit was cut short by a couple of hours to facilitate the early departure of Mr. Calderon, who was anxious to assess the damage to the Yucatan Peninsula by hurricane Dean.

While Mr. Harper got the kind of backing from Mr. Bush on Afghanistan that he was probably looking for, he was not as fortunate when it came to Arctic sovereignty.

Mr. Bush said the United States does not question Canada's sovereignty over its Arctic islands and he supports the Harper government's recently announced investment in Arctic icebreakers. But he repeated the long-held U.S. view that the Northwest Passage is an international waterway.

Mr. Harper conceded that there remains a difference of opinion between Ottawa and Washington over the Northwest Passage, but he said that the two governments have learned how "to manage these differences," adding, "We think we'll be able to continue to do that."

The summit also allowed Mr. Bush and Mr. Calderon to continue discussions on what has become known as Plan Mexico, which would see Washington provide hundreds of millions of dollars in financial and military aid to help Mexico tackle the twin problems of drug trafficking and criminal cartels.

Mr. Bush declined to speculate on the value of the package but said that that it would be "robust enough to achieve a common objective, which is to reduce violence on both sides of the border and deal with narco-trafficking."

He also indicated for the first time that the Mexican plan would differ from the long-standing Plan Colombia, which aims to help the Colombian government fight the cocaine trade. Unlike in Colombia, the Mexican plan would not include any U.S. armed presence in the country.

PM clear on leaving Afghanistan

Sun Media - For several months now Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been indicating that our troops' involvement in Afghanistan would be coming to an end in February 2009.

He's repeatedly mentioned that if Canada's mission in Afghanistan were to continue past its mandate, it would have to pass a vote in the House of Commons -- unlikely under the current mix of parties in this minority Parliament.

Yesterday, in a closing press conference of the Security and Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello, Que., it was made obvious that U.S. President George W. Bush was fully briefed on Afghanistan by Harper and understands that Canada will not continue in a combat role there come 2009.

For his part, Bush was effusive with praise, and rightly so, for the contribution Canada's armed forces and diplomatic corps have made in Afghanistan.

"I believe Canada has done a fabulous job in Afghanistan, and I thank the people of Canada," said Bush who was joined at the joint news conference by Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

"But, more importantly, the people of Afghanistan thank the people of Canada," added Bush, on the heels of the 67th death of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan on Sunday.

This clear signal of a pullout by Harper will come as a relief to many Canadians whose support for this war grows more tepid as the body count increases.

But, Bush also noted that just because Canada's combat role might end in the troubled Kandahar region, there is no reason why humanitarian efforts there won't continue as they are right now under our Armed Forces CIMIC (Civilian and Military Co-operation) branch.

Canadian CIMIC soldiers have helped build roads, hundreds of schools, hundreds, if not thousands of wells, distributed school supplies to tens of thousands of grateful children and are now helping to build the infrastructure needed in any democratic society.

Liberty, security and increased peace have been the greatest gains made by our soldiers. It's likely that will continue even as their role changes in the future.

Afghanistan's transformation will forever be one of Canada's lasting legacies, whether we're there past 2009 or not.

Quebec media lash out at soldier's death

TU THANH HA, From Wednesday's Globe and Mail August 22, 2007

MONTREAL — Critical media reactions are starting to be heard in Quebec in the wake of Sunday's death of Private Simon Longtin, a member of the Royal 22nd Regiment in Afghanistan.

Initial reactions to his death had been non-polemical or supportive of the mission. But two columnists in yesterday's edition of the daily La Presse raised questions about Canada's role in Afghanistan.

In one, veteran journalist Michèle Ouimet recalled being on assignment at the Afghan-Pakistani border, watching the unchecked traffic.

Without being able to stop the Taliban from seeking sanctuary in Pakistan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops are powerless in trying to prop up a weak, corrupt Afghan government, she said.

"I think the death Sunday of the young Quebec soldier Simon Longtin, 23, is absurd," she wrote. "I don't dare say pointless."

Another columnist, Pierre Foglia, said what was at stake was the future of the Muslim world. He asked why other Muslim countries aren't fighting fundamentalism in Afghanistan.

"Why Simon Longtin?" he wrote. "What could it matter to Simon Longtin whether the Muslim world accedes to modernity or not?"

Pte. Longtin wasn't the first Quebecker killed in combat in Afghanistan. But he is likely the first of what could be more casualties from his province, now that the current troop rotation in Kandahar is made up mainly of soldiers from Quebec-based units.

While opinions are roughly split evenly in the rest of Canada, nearly three-quarters of the population in Quebec is against the mission. In Le Devoir, an editorial yesterday leaned that way too, faulting the mission for its unclear aims.

"The loss of a soldier from the Royal 22nd Regiment is yet another harsh reminder of the brutal results of a half-humanitarian, half-fighting mission, whose scope is ill-defined."

Although an editorial in La Presse took francophone Quebeckers to task for their long-held distrust of the military, postings on the Internet and letters to the editors reflected that sentiment.

"We're in this mission to do the dirty job for George W. Bush. We bent our spine before the U.S. who had their arms full in Iraq," reader Roger Kemp wrote in Trois-Rivières' Le Nouvelliste.

Whereas military personnel and their families were heavily featured on the news, sharing their grief and putting up a brave face, government representatives kept a low profile.

In Quebec City, Heritage Minister Josée Verner attended the departure of Kandahar-bound soldiers on Sunday. Local journalists reported that she stuck to short, prepared remarks and took no questions.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay attended another departure Monday night and read tentatively from a French text.

Afghan police arrest man linked to deaths of German police

By IANS, Wednesday August 22, 08:56 AM

Berlin/Kabul, Aug 22 (DPA) Afghan police have arrested a man in connection with the roadside bombing that killed three German police officers near Kabul last week, the online edition of Der Spiegel news magazine reported.

According to the unconfirmed report, the man could be responsible for detonating the explosion that destroyed the protected vehicle the police were travelling in on the eastern outskirts of the Afghan capital on Wednesday.

The man is reported to have been arrested last Thursday, a day after the bombing. The bomb is reported to resemble the kind of explosive used by terrorists in Iraq. The police officers were attached to the German embassy in Kabul.

Meanwhile, the Christian aid worker Christina Meier, who was held hostage for almost two days, left Kabul for Germany Tuesday. 'Christina is now in the air and on her way home,' said Matthias Floreck, managing director of relief organization Ora said fromKorbach in Germany.

According to reports the 31-year-old and her husband are on a German military plane. Ora International, which has been active in Afghanistan since 1991, had suspended its work in Afghanistan, Joop Teeuwen, Ora national director, said.

Meier was abducted in broad daylight on Saturday as she was lunching in a Kabul cafe with her husband.

The four abductors, who were arrested during the dramatic rescue operation to free Meier, are believed to be a criminal gang and not affiliated to the radical-Islamic Taliban.

They had demanded the release of 'innocent prisoners' in videotape. However, it was later revealed that they had also demanded ransom of $1 million.

Germany fears it's being targeted in Afghanistan

By Louis Charbonneau - Analysis

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany fears its peacekeepers and aid workers in Afghanistan have become targets of the Taliban and other insurgents who want to force Berlin to pull its soldiers and citizens out of the country.

A senior Taliban leader told the German weekly Der Spiegel in March that German peacekeepers deployed in the relatively quiet north of Afghanistan would no longer be spared the deadly attacks which were then commonplace in the southern regions.

German police, soldiers and aid workers have been killed and civilians kidnapped, intensifying debate in Germany on whether it is time for Germany to call it quits in Afghanistan where a resurgent Taliban is making strong gains.

German government officials have expressed concern that the Taliban may have targeted Germany to influence debate on the renewal of Berlin's peacekeeping mandate this fall.

"Those behind the attacks and kidnappings want to sabotage our long-term engagement," German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul told weekly newspaper Die Zeit. "That's why we can't give in to them."

NATO has some 40,000 troops in Afghanistan, which it sent there after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban government following the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

Germany's own mandate permits the deployment of up to 3,500 troops in northern Afghanistan.

Christopher Langton, head of defence analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said it was possible Germans and others were being targeted in efforts to weaken their resolve to stay in Afghanistan.

"There is certainly a possibility of certain nationalities being targeted because they have troops in the country," said Langton, adding that the insurgents were simultaneously trying to pressure and undermine the Afghan government.

Other analysts say it is too early to be sure to what extent recent kidnappings of German and South Korean aid workers -- several of whom were killed by the Taliban kidnappers -- are y aimed directly at these two countries.

Joanna Nathan, an analyst in Kabul for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think-tank, said the kidnapping of foreigners was a new and disturbing trend but most kidnappings were opportunistic and in areas where people rarely travel.

She said an attack like the one last week which killed three German policemen could have been aimed directly at Germany, but added: "I'm not sure that they're specifically targeting countries and peacekeeping nations yet."

A Kabul-based Western security expert who declined to be named said Germans were merely "targets of opportunity". There may be a precedent for specific attacks on nationals of a particular country, Langton said.

He said the number of attacks on the Dutch appeared to rise before a parliamentary election in the Netherlands and a vote in parliament on the Netherlands' peacekeeping presence in Afghanistan. The Dutch voted in an election last year.

"Of course we have no way of knowing whether this is deliberate or coincidental," he said.

Hajo Funke, a professor of political science at the Free University in Berlin, said events in Afghanistan had already affected discussions in Germany on its Afghan mandate.

Conservatives such as Chancellor Angela Merkel, who oppose withdrawal from Afghanistan or dilution of the country's peacekeeping mandate, seem even more determined to stay.

"They have deepened the divide between those who want to keep the mandate and those in the (left-wing) opposition who want to change or eliminate it," Funke said, adding that most Germans would like their troops brought home.

Although Germany is expected to renew its troops' mandate, there is a possibility parliament will narrow it.

The mandate is already limited, preventing Berlin deploying peacekeepers in the troubled south or west of the country despite pressure from NATO allies to send troops there.

Some members of Germany's coalition would like Berlin to have more freedom, above all to train Afghan security forces in the south. Senior Foreign Ministry officials say this is a possibility, but it is not clear whether parliament will agree.

Kidnapping of foreigners is a recent phenomenon, but Langton said abduction for cash had a long history in Afghanistan. "Kidnapping for profit is a pattern of life, an activity that has been part of Afghanistan going back centuries," he said.

Last weekend a criminal gang -- not the Taliban -- kidnapped a German aid worker and held her for two days before she was rescued by the police. Analysts said they wanted a ransom.

If the goal is money, kidnapping Germans can be very lucrative. It is an open secret that Berlin pays ransoms.

(Additional reporting by Jon Hemming in Kabul)

Pro-Taliban cleric terms Jirga a practice in futility

KABUL, Aug 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): While governor of Pakistan's North Western Province termed the Afghanistan-Pakistan Jirga as the 'most serious attempt' to resolve the contentious issues between the two countries, another leader from the same province and a pro-Taliban cleric said it was a practice in futility.

Chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who declined to attend the four-day grand meeting in Kabul early this month, said the event was bound to fail as the Taliban were not engaged in the peace talks.

Addressing a ceremony at a seminary, the pro-Taliban cleric said the Taliban or religious students were a key player and they must be engaged by the two sides in the Jirga to bring peace to Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan.

He believed that lasting peace could not be restored to Afghanistan without the involvement of Taliban. Maulana Fazl also criticised the Pakistani intelligence agencies of hatching conspiracies to sow seeds of discord among religious parties.

About the war on terror, he alleged the US-led war on terror had increased insecurity around the globe, and claimed that the US had "launched a crusade" to protect its own economic and strategic interests.

Earlier, addressing the Independence Day ceremony of Afghanistan organised by the Afghan consulate in Peshawar, NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai had said that the grand Jirga in Kabul was the most serious attempt by the two countries to resolve contentious issues in a democratic way and in accordance with their people's aspirations, customs, traditions and culture.

A retired officer of the Pakistani army and a tribal himself, Aurakzai hoped efforts of the Jirga would bear positive results and the two countries would work out strategies with mutual consultation.

Taliban, US in new round of peace talks

By Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online / August 21, 2007

KARACHI - The few weeks between the visits to Pakistan of Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state who left last week, and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who arrives on September 10, could prove crucial in determining the fate of Afghanistan.

This is the timeline for secret three-party talks to establish teega (a Pashtu word for a peace deal that resolves a conflict) between the Western coalition forces in Afghanistan (with Pakistan), the

Afghan government, and the anti-coalition insurgents of Afghanistan. The first round of talks has already begun in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, Asia Times Online has learned.

The outcome of the talks will to a large extent decide the agenda of Negroponte's visit and the course of the US-led "war on terror" in the region.

The talks are based on previous Pakistan-inspired efforts to secure peace deals between the insurgents and the Western coalition in specific areas in Afghanistan with the longer-term goal of incorporating the Taliban into the political process both in Kabul and in provincial governments.

Similar deals were struck last year in the southwestern Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Urzgan, but they lapsed. In addition to reviving these, the talks aim to include the southeastern provinces of Kunar and Khost. The negotiators are Taliban commanders, Pakistani and American intelligence members, and Afghan authorities.

The Taliban, under the command of Mullah Mansoor (brother of the legendary Mullah Dadullah, who was killed in battle this year), are in Satellite town, Quetta, to talk of teega. The next rounds are scheduled for Peshawar, the provincial capital of North-West Frontier Province, and in the Waziristan tribal areas with Taliban commanders of the southeastern provinces.

Specifically, the deals aim to stop violence in selected areas and give the Taliban limited control of government pending the conclusion of a broader peace deal for the country and the Taliban's inclusion in some form of national administration.

The Taliban and coalition forces struck limited ceasefire deals last year in Kandahar and Helmand provinces (see the Asia Times Online series In the land of the Taliban of December 2006). These included the districts of Musa Qala, Baghran, Nawzad, Sangeen, Kajaki and Panjwai. However, to preempt the Taliban's planned massive uprising this year, coalition forces ended the ceasefires last December and engaged the Taliban in conflict.

As a result, the Taliban changed their plan and diverted to the northwestern areas of Farah and Badghis and also increased their activities in Ghazni, Kunar, Gardez, Khost and Nangarhar. Instead of face-to-face battles, as in the successful spring offensive of 2006, they refined their tactics in asymmetric warfare and carried out targeted actions, especially on development projects.

Coalition efforts in Afghanistan include substantial development and reconstruction projects, but these have been hampered by the insurgency. A key project is a regional oil and gas pipeline project worth US$10 billion that will run from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan, the TAP, and possibly on to India, on which work is to be started in the near future.

A US company, International Oil Co (IOC), recently won the contract from Pakistan to construct the 2,200-kilometer pipeline over the next three years. In a statement, IOC said matters relating to security in Afghanistan and insurance guarantees had been finalized. The preferred route is the southern one, via Herat and restive Kandahar province.

Clearly, peace deals with the Taliban would help ensure the viability of such projects. But whether any deals struck will last is another matter. Taliban leader Mullah Omar is still not entirely behind them, and there is always the issue of al-Qaeda stirring trouble.

In the short term, though, the Taliban are likely to embrace the idea - provided they are given the realistic carrot of political gains - as they are in the process of refining a new command structure and need the breathing space.

However, many commanders based in the southeast are convinced that it would be a big blunder for the Taliban to slow down their activities for the sake of any deal. Instead, they want to seize this opportunity and drive for a bigger bargain, such as the withdrawal of all foreign forces.

Contrary to the Cold War era's Central Asian focus, Afghanistan is now seen in terms of the South Asian region, especially with regard to the struggle between Pakistan and India for strategic political and economic influence.

The ultimate goal now is to shut down this war theater, which has bred global militancy, so that initiatives such as the TAP can go ahead. TAP is the US alternative to a planned pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India.

Similarly, Western intelligence is convinced that Taliban and al-Qaeda assets in Pakistan are the root cause of the Taliban's insurgency in Afghanistan, as confirmed in the United States' latest National Intelligence Estimate. Thus nothing could be gained by fighting a lone battle in Afghanistan's mountainous fastness.

So Pakistan was warned this year to eliminate the safe havens of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Islamabad was provided with a map of their assets and asked for an action plan. It was emphasized that coalition troops across the border in Afghanistan would be ready to take care of all "voids" Pakistan was not able to deal with in its own territory. But the Taliban have since left most of their known bases in Pakistan. (See Taliban a step ahead of US assault, Asia Times Online, August 11, 2007.)

The US now accepts that Pakistan still has access to and influence with the Taliban, unlike the government in Kabul. This realization eventually prompted Washington to sponsor the recent Pakistan-Afghanistan peace jirga (council) in Kabul to identify new players in the game before the "war on terror" enters a new phase in which the battlefield includes both Pakistan and Afghanistan, rather than Afghanistan alone.

The ongoing peace talks with the Taliban on Pakistani soil are a continuation of this process.

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

Ministry's bid to know problems of private investors

KABUL, Aug 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): In a bid to find a solution to the problems faced by private investors, the Finance Ministry Monday launched its five-day consultation programme to meet local as well as foreign investors and get their views on how to bring improvement.

The first day session was attended by some 10 owners of local restaurants and hotels in Kabul. Muhammad Sharif Ibrahimi, Deputy Finance Minister, said the aim of the session is to establish better coordination between private sector and the government.

He would meet a number of investors during the coming four days to discuss their problems and get their suggestions for a possible solution, added the deputy minister.

Ibrahimi said the ministry was implementing taxes while the private sector was the tax-payer. Therefore, it was the responsibility of the ministry to resolve their problems as well as strengthen its relationship with the private investors.

Officials at the Finance Ministry said they charge 10 percent tax on the annual income of hotel and restaurant owners. But the owners complain they are being squeezed by other governmental organs like the municipality and directorate of hotels etc. besides the 10 percent tax being paid to the ministry.

However, the deputy minister said they would come to know about complaints from the tax-payers during the five day session. He hoped problems faced by investors would be addressed up to a large extent during the five days.

Afghanistan needs people like late Ghafoorzai: Khalilzad

Pajhwok News Agency, 08/21/2007, Lalit K. Jha

UNITED NATIONS - At a time when Afghanistan is standing at a critical juncture of its history, the nation greatly misses the talent and vision of people like Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai, said US ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News on the eve of the 10th death anniversary of the late premier, Khalilzad said: "Ghafoorzai will be recognised as a patriot who tried to serve people in difficult times and made the ultimate sacrifice for Afghanistan."

A career diplomat, Ghafoorzai died in a plane crash in Bamiyan on August 21, 1997, just eight days after he was appointed as the prime minister of Afghanistan. At that time, he was leading an 11-member delegation to the central Bamyan province to hold talks with local leaders as part of his endeavor to involve all communities and ethnic groups in his broad-based national government.

"It was a great loss. He played an important role for his country," Khalilzad said, adding Afghanistan during its turbulent years in the past several decades lost many of its talented and visionary people like Ghafoorzai. "Their talent is now not available when Afghanistan really needs them," he said.

Stating that Ghafoorzai was an accomplished diplomat, Khalilzad recollected how the late premier was the first to raise the voice against the then Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

His courageous and patriotic position, despite the fact that his family was still in Kabul, constituted not only a major setback for the Soviet invasion at the international level, but proved his personal valour towards a noble cause. His denunciation of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan marked the beginning of his political campaign in support of the mujahideen or freedom fighters against the occupying force.

A friend of the late premier, Khalilzad said: "I know him personally. After he left the regime that was installed by the Soviets, I got to know him. He was always worried about his country and people of Afghanistan."

Khalilzad continued to meet and interact with late Ghafoorzai even after Russians left Afghanistan and both used to share their views on situation in the country.

"He did talk with me about what he was doing and why he accepted to go and join the government that existed at that time which was in conflict with the Taliban," Khalilzad said.

Ghafoorzai, in fact, was among the first few to have mooted the idea of establishing a broad-based government, with a view to achieve lasting peace and prosperity, and enhancing the national unity of the country. He had planned to bring in all the ethnic groups within a political framework to be administered by technocrats, experts and impartial personalities from both inside and outside the country.

Asked if Ghafoorzai vision also included negotiations with Taliban, Khalilzad referred to the stated policy of the Karzai government, which has opened its doors to any one who participates in the political process and accepts that violence is not a solution to the problems of Afghanistan.

"Those who believe that enough Afghans have been killed and time has come to come together to build this country, there is room for them in present Afghanistan," Khalilzad said.

Scant Progress for Afghan Women

CFR, 08/21/2007 By Maggie Goodlander - Six years after the liberation of Afghanistan from Taliban rule, and in spite of a constitution calling for equal rights for men and women, Afghan women continue to face violence. Although an Afghan rights watchdog registered 704 cases of violence against women this year, cultural taboos discourage accurate reports (IRIN) of such incidents. The 2007 Amnesty International Report on Afghanistan points to a dismal state of education for girls, as well as the persistence of social practices like honor killings and self-immolation.

Terrorists and Taliban insurgents increasingly target girls’ schools that were established after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Zakia Zaki, a radio station owner and headmistress of a school for girls in Kabul, was shot dead (al-Jazeera) in July with her ten-month old son by her side. Zaki broadcasted throughout the Taliban era and helped draft the 2003 post-Taliban constitution.

Some experts say arranged marriages (RFE/RL) lie at the root of much of the violence against women in Afghanistan. In a 2006 ABC News poll (PDF) of Afghani citizens, 60 percent of respondents found it acceptable for women to be forced to enter an arranged marriage with no choice over who or when they marry. Women who refuse to enter arranged marriages suffer consequences (National Geographic) in their homes and communities where “honor killings”—murders carried out in the name of family honor—are rampant. World Politics Review notes that in Herat, a conservative province in western Afghanistan, few cases of violence against women are formally acknowledged. Nonetheless, over 100 self-immolation cases were recorded in the province last year.

Yet Isobel Coleman, CFR’s Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy, and Craig Charney, President of the polling firm Charney Research, disagree with the common perception that the domestic crisis in Afghanistan is beyond repair. Writing in the Globe and Mail, they argue the real basis for hope in Afghanistan lies in what Afghans themselves are doing to modernize gender roles and rebuild the nation. Charney and Coleman note that the same ABC News survey from 2006 shows 80 percent of Afghans willing to accept women as members of parliament, and 70 percent agreed that both sexes should work outside the home.

Women do increasingly play a role in Afghan politics. As President Hamid Karzai noted during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in late 2006, sixty-eight of the 249 members of the country’s parliament are women, and there are now several women ambassadors. “There is immense respect for a woman in the country—not to the political sense that you see it in the West, no; in the traditional way in Afghanistan.”

Heroic guardian of UK embassy in Kabul dies

10:30AM Wednesday August 22, 2007, By Terri Judd 

LONDON - When British soldiers turned up at the embassy in Kabul following the fall of the Taleban, their path was blocked by an elderly Afghan gentleman.

For 12 years, Zahoor Shah had tended the roses in the compound, hidden away the ambassadorial silver and barred fighters from entering. It took the British some hours before they could persuade him that the rightful owners had finally returned.

By the time the new Charge d'Affaires Stephen Evans and his staff turned up the following day, Mr Shah was properly attired to welcome them.

"I arrived on the afternoon of 19 November 2001. We came down the curving drive and pulled up at the entrance of the embassy.

"Mr Shah was at the top of the stairs, wearing his white coat with gold buttons and black trousers to greet us," said Mr Evans.

He had found heating oil and the old grand table was set for dinner with the ambassadorial china, silver and crystal glasses.

"From somewhere he had found a couple of bottles of wine and there were candles on the table," explained Mr Evans.

Yesterday the current British Ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles paid tribute to Mr Shah after news that he had lost his battle with throat cancer at the weekend.

"We owe him an enormous debt for the loyalty and resilience he showed during the terrible years of Taleban rule," he said.

Nobody was entirely sure how old he was though it is believed he had started life at the embassy as an eight or nine-year-old ball-boy in the forties.

Mr Evans, who returned as Ambassador in 2006 to early 2007, remembered him as a gentle, courteous man who was proud of his job and his embassy compound.

"Because he had worked for the embassy for so long he provided a continuity with the past when Afghanistan was essentially peaceful before things went terribly wrong in the 1970s.

"He was someone who had stuck it through the Soviet period, through the civil war, through the Taleban era and the later transition. He was very loyal," he added.

The former Viceroy of India Lord Curzon founded the embassy in Kabul in the 1920s declaring its ambassador should be the best housed man in Asia. A large section of it was later passed to the Pakistanis but the smaller "hospital compound" was kept on.

After the Soviet invasion, the mission was left with only a Charge d'Affaires and by 1989 the last British diplomat had gone.

Mr Shah and his small team of a half a dozen staff hid away the embassy's portraits of Queen Mary and King George VI, the gilded Wilton bone china service, the embossed silver teapots and monogrammed tureens.

They stood guard through the fiercest fighting despite one of the staff being killed by a rocket in 1996 and slept in the gatehouse to repel intruders.

The gatekeeper Sayed Afzal once kept a Taleban delegation at bay, informing them there was nothing left but "a few old tables and chairs".

The British High Commission in Islamabad called them regularly to make sure they were all right while the odd intrepid visitor would drop by.

Money for the upkeep was passed through the United Nations offices monthly until the embassy reopened in November 2001.

Nine months later, Mr Shah, along with Mr Afzal, was presented with a MBE for devotion to duty through so many years of conflict.

At a traditional tea party on the lawn, to the sound of Highland piper, the men were honoured. "You have performed remarkable service over very many years," said the then Ambassador Ron Nash.

"You have worked faithfully to protect our embassy. There has been physical danger and war around you...and you have taken care of your possessions for many years when there was no British ambassador and no British officials."

When the embassy staff moved to new premises a couple of years ago, Mr Shah decided to retire. He developed throat cancer and had been very frail for months when he died on Saturday surrounded by his extended family.

Film of ill-fated US raid in Afghanistan planned: report

Los Angeles (AFP) - The story of an ill-fated raid by US Navy Seals to capture a Taliban leader in Afghanistan is to be the subject of a new film, movie industry press reported Tuesday.

In the latest example of Hollywood's willingness to bring the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan to the big screen, Universal has scooped the rights to "Lone Survivor," Marcus Luttrell's best-selling memoir, Variety reported.

Luttrell was part of a four-man team sent into Afghanistan in June 2005 on a mission to apprehend a senior Taliban leader, only to be ambushed by dozens of militia.

Luttrell was the only member of the team to escape alive, eventually being rescued from hostile territory after Afghan villagers came to his aid.

"Lone Survivor" is to be directed by Peter Berg, whose new film "The Kingdom," about a terror plot in Saudi Arabia, is released next month.

Several other films about Iraq and Afghanistan are due for release in coming months, including "In the Valley of Elah," "Lions for Lambs," "Grace Is Gone" and "Charlie Wilson's War."

Afghanistan Stand Strong to Take Second Win

Asian Cricket Council, 08/22/2007 -Afghanistan pulled off a remarkable and an extremely hard fought victory over Qatar in their second game of the tournament. Although they went on to win by 40 runs, the Afghans had to dig deep in order to get the win.

Both teams came into today on the back of victories in yesterday's games and were pretty confident about themselves. Afghanistan came into bat and were off rather smoothly with Sajed Khan (19) and Shir Shirzai (20). Although the pair played some beautiful shots, they both fell within the 14th over. At 46-2, Noor ul Haq (59) entered and it soon became obvious that he was to be the thorn in Qatar’s flesh.

Afghan Coach, Taj Malik, said “Losing our openers cheaply cost us dearly. We were on the back foot from then on and our plan was just to save wickets and last out 50 overs.”

Haq nearly achieved the feat as he single-handedly, literally, got the runs whilst all he needed was a non-striker at the other end. He played a total of 101 balls and hit 5 fours. As wickets fell all around him, Haq persevered but finally gifted his wicket to Tamoor Sajjad in the 46th over. He was the last wicket to fall for the Afghans at 161 and left the field to cheers from all around.

Quite similarly, Qatar too were two wickets down in 15 overs. Qatar’s ‘ace’ batsman, Tamoor Sajjad (10) has had a dismal tournament so far scoring zero in the first game and only ten against Afghanistan. With Qatari wickets falling at swift intervals, the team was in dire need of a ‘Faheem Sajjad performance’. Iqbal Hussain (19) steadied his teams nerves, but for a short while as he lost his wicket to a spectacular catch taken by Obaidullah Obaid.

At 98-6 after 30 overs, Qatar had a singular strand of hope pinned on Faheem Sajjad (8). Sajjad’s performance against Hong Kong yesterday was pivotal and eventually led them to victory. Unfortunately for Qatar, this was asking too much from the player as he was trapped plumb LBW on eight. An over and six runs later, Qatar slumped to their first defeat of the tournament as they fell short of 40 runs.

Izatuallah Khan (3-26), Obaidullah Kunari (2-20) and Aimal Wafa (2-22) were the cause of most of the damage.

With his superb innings of 59, Noor ul Haq, was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Afghanistan v Qatar at Club Aman
AFGHANISTAN WON BY 40 RUNS
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat
Afghanistan: 161 all out after 46.5 overs (N. Haq 59; T. Sajjad 3-35)
Qatar: 121 all out after 38 overs (I. Khan 3-26)
Man of the Match: Noor ul Haq (Afghanistan)

Afghanistan stun defending champions WAPDA

Daily Times, Pakistan, 08/22/2007 - ISLAMABAD - Afghanistan trounced defending champions Pakistan WAPDA 4-2 on penalty kicks in the first quarter final of the 3rd National Women's Football Championship at the Jinnah Stadium here on Tuesday. Balochistan defeated hosts Islamabad 3-1 in the second quarter-final at the same venue.

The visiting team and the defending champions were unable to score in the regulation time. Under the captaincy of striker Misbah Saddiqui, WAPDA failed to avail the opportunities due to poor finishing and lack of ideas.

During the penalty shoot-out session, Afghanistan showed positive thinking and kicked the ball in the net four times. In the second match, Riffat Mehdi was the star for Balochistan and struck thrice – in 31st, 66th and 70th minutes. Islamabad reduced the margin through winger Meesa in the 44th minute. The semi-finals will be played on Wednesday (today) while the final be held on August 24.

The match commissioner during the quarter-finals was Irfan Khan Niazi while Qazi Muhammad Asif acted as the referee assessor. Saleem Khan, Chaman Khan, Tahir Pervez, Syed Ejaz Hussain, Muhammad Sharif, Hafiz Akber, Yasmeen Zareen, Asifa Naheed Butt, Khalida Perveen, Hidayat Ullah and Zehra Abbas were the referees.

[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.]