In this bulletin:

• Three Britons die in US 'friendly fire' in Afghanistan
• Ten Afghan guards killed by Taliban
• Afghan medics offer to treat German hostage
• Letter from Germany: Bickering between NATO and EU hampers training of Afghan police
• Duceppe threatens to topple gov't over Afghanistan
• PM must commit to 2009 withdrawal, Bloc says
• Media will still send journalists to Kandahar
• Radio-Canada reporter relives Afghan horror
• Afghan president pays two-day working visit to Tajikistan
• Islamic terrorists rule Pak-Afghan border areas: Rand Corp
• Afghanistan: Return to the lair of bin Laden
• AFGHANISTAN: Hundreds of families displaced by fighting in Nangarhar Province
• Wheat production hits record high in Takhar
• Afghan MPs exchange harsh words in parliament session
• For Afghan women footballers, goal is acceptance

Three Britons die in US 'friendly fire' in Afghanistan

Kabul (AFP) - Three British NATO soldiers were killed in an apparent friendly fire incident in Afghanistan when US jets dropped a bomb on them during a firefight with Taliban militants, officials said Friday.

The incident, near Kajaki in southern Helmand province, occurred late Thursday when two United States warplanes were called to provide support after an attack by the rebels, the Ministry of Defence in London said.

"Their patrol was attacked by Taliban insurgents and during the intense engagement that ensued, close air support was called in from two US F15 aircraft to repel the enemy," a ministry statement said.

"A single bomb was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed all three soldiers who were declared dead at the scene."

The British army has now launched an investigation into the incident. The soldiers were all from 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment. Two others were injured in the attack and are being treated at Camp Bastion, the main base in Helmand.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in a separate statement confirmed the deaths of three of its troops "on operations" but did not give their nationalities.

"Three ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) soldiers have been killed and two others injured while on operations in southern Afghanistan on August 23," an ISAF statement said.

"All ISAF troops continue to work in difficult, dangerous and challenging conditions, and do so with the utmost professionalism," the statement said, quoting Lieutenant Colonel Bridget Rose, an ISAF spokesperson.

Britain has more than 6,000 troops in Afghanistan, a figure which will increase to over 7,700 this year. They are mostly deployed in the south. A total of 73 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.

So-called friendly fire deaths caused by US forces are a sensitive issue in Britain, where an investigating coroner ruled earlier this year that a British soldier was unlawfully killed by US pilots in Iraq.

Lance Corporal Matty Hull died in March 2003 when two US planes opened fire on his tank near Basra, southern Iraq, after mistaking a British convoy for enemy vehicles.

Oxford coroner Andrew Walker repeatedly expressed his frustration at the Pentagon's failure to provide vital information and witnesses into the death of the soldier.

He ruled that Hull's death was a criminal breach of the international law of armed conflict.

Thursday's deaths in Afghanistan brought to 142 the number of foreign soldiers killed in the country this year, most of them in combat with the Taliban, who are waging an increasingly bloody insurgency.

A foreign soldier was killed on Thursday in a traffic incident on a crowded road just north of Kabul, ISAF said in a statement.

Ten Afghan guards killed by Taliban

KABUL, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants killed 10 Afghan guards protecting a convoy transferring logistics for foreign troops deployed in this country on Thursday, an official said.

    Taliban fighters ambushed a truck convoy near Qalat, the capital of the southern Zabul province, on a major road connecting Kabul and the southern Kandahar city, said Abdul Raus, an official from a security company.

    Ten Afghan guards from the company were killed in a two-hour clash, he added.  Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack, saying one Taliban fighter was killed.

    Meanwhile, a soldier of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed and another one injured in a road accident in Kabul on Thursday, an ISAF statement said. Due to rising Taliban violence, over 3,900 persons have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

Afghan medics offer to treat German hostage

Kabul (AFP) - Afghan doctors on Friday urged the Taliban militia to let them treat a German hostage with a heart problem, saying the rebels would gain nothing if he died.

The medics from a private clinic in the capital Kabul said 62-year-old captive Rudolf Blechschmidt, who was kidnapped more than a month ago, looked to be in urgent need of medical help in a video broadcast on Thursday.

"His health condition is very serious," clinic chief Mohammad Hashim Wahaj told a press conference.

The German's physical appearance in the video holding one of his hands on his chest showed that his cardiac problems were causing him difficulty, Wahaj said.

He asked the Taliban to allow them to treat the captive in person or, failing that, to hand over a package of medicines to the rebels and to let them give medical instructions by telephone.

"My message to the Taliban is if this German hostage dies due to a health problem what will you gain? If he dies you will lose everything," Wahaj added.

In the video shown on a private Afghan television station on Thursday Blechschmidt said he was in poor health, and urged the Afghan government and German embassy to do all they could to secure his release.

Meanwhile, the hostage's family expressed concerns that the German government was keeping them in the dark about the way negotiations were being handled by the German government.

"Although we knew from the start that the kidnapper had made a ransom demand, we don't know whether the government is considering paying out," his son, whose name was not given, told Germany's Antenne Bayern radio.

"Presumably Berlin wants to show it is tough and prevent further hostage-takings in Afghanistan."

Blechschmidt's ex-wife, who was also not identified, said her request for a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had been ignored.

The German was kidnapped in southern Afghanistan on July 18 with five Afghans and another German colleague.

The German was killed after falling sick and one of the Afghans escaped, while the other four were also shown in the video. Nineteen South Koreans kidnapped in a separate case are also being held by the Taliban.

Letter from Germany: Bickering between NATO and EU hampers training of Afghan police

By Judy Dempsey , Published: August 23, 2007

BERLIN: The European Union rarely has an opportunity to brag. But when a German hostage was freed last Monday after the Afghan and European police carried out a commando-style raid on her captors' hideout, there was jubilation in Kabul. "This was a big success," said Friedrich Eichele, the commander appointed last June to oversee the EU's training of an Afghan police force. "The coordination and investigations worked very well."

The EU agreed to take over the police training mission from Germany because NATO and the United States kept asking Brussels to start providing civilian security in Afghanistan. The plan was that, once NATO gained control in an area, the police would move in quickly to maintain security, followed by the development agencies.

But in a complication that could cost many lives, neither EU police officers nor the Afghan police will be automatically given intelligence or backup support from NATO if they come under attack from the Taliban or other fighters. The reason is a squabble in Brussels between the EU and Turkey, a NATO member.

"So far, we have no cooperation agreement with NATO," said Eichele, a former commander of the elite German commando unit GSG 9. Instead, the EU is trying to forge separate agreements with the provincial reconstruction teams to ensure some protection.

These 25 provincial reconstruction teams, established by the NATO International Security Assistance Force, are intended to provide security for aid agencies in the country. Inside the teams' compounds, the organizations work together. Outside, the EU will not have access to NATO intelligence or logistics.

"This lack of cooperation between NATO and the EU carries big risks for the EU mission," said Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of Germany's Bundestag, or Parliament. "It is time Turkey dropped its objections to such cooperation."

Turkey has blocked NATO from sharing intelligence with the EU because Cyprus and Malta, which are in the EU but not NATO, do not belong to the alliance's Partnership for Peace Program, so they have no security clearance. "Turkey will discuss intelligence issues - and this includes Afghanistan - with the EU only if Cyprus and Malta are excluded. But the EU wants to negotiate as a bloc," said a NATO diplomat.

Such procedural wrangling in Brussels did not matter when Germany was training the Afghan police. The 49 German trainers lived and worked in Kabul in relative safety. But the EU's new training program, which involves 196 European police officers, is more ambitious and more dangerous. "We will also work outside Kabul with the regional command and police chiefs on the provincial and local level, where we will mentor, advise and train," said Eichele.

Ever since the United States invaded Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban in 2001, attempts to train the police force have foundered. "In the six years that the international community started the training, it has been unable to train a professional, well-resourced police force," said Norine MacDonald, who is based in Afghanistan and president of the Senlis Council, an international policy security think tank.

Until 2006, Germany spent just €70 million in training 16,000 police officers in courses lasting up to three years. The United States has spent over $1.3 billion training 40,000 police officers in courses lasting three weeks. Kees Homan, a security expert at the Netherlands Institute for International Relations, said the German course was too long, the U.S. too short. "The EU will have to find a way to harmonize the German training scheme based on community policing with the U.S. one based on a more robust, militaristic approach," said Homan.

The provincial reconstruction teams also have their own police training schemes often based on national standards. "If the schemes are not harmonized, we will not get the long-term security that we desperately need in Afghanistan," said Homan.

The plethora of different police training schemes was criticized last month in a report by the defense committee in the British Parliament. It concluded that so many approaches "prevented the necessary leadership, coherence and strategic thought and assistance from the international community."

Eichele admits that harmonizing the training is a major challenge. Another is the weak rule of law. "There is a clear realization that the police mission in Afghanistan must have a strong governance aspect," said Giovanni Grevi, a security expert at the EU's Institute for Security Studies in Paris. "You need to set up strong policing structures at all levels."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is the audit, evaluation and investigative arm of Congress, also issued a report on security and reconstruction developments in Afghanistan. Last May, it concluded that "no Afghan police forces are fully capable of operating independently and that only 1 of 72 police units is fully capable to lead operations with coalition support." As both the British and U.S. reports point out, the police forces are poorly paid, lack communication and control among central command, the regions and the provinces, and are rife with corruption.

MacDonald, the president of the Senlis Council, said the international community and the Afghan authorities had been slow to deal with corruption. "It cannot be tackled in isolation. It needs a reformed judiciary so that offenders will face trial. Besides, any well-trained police force needs good pay conditions and protection," she said.

With the unemployment rate in Afghanistan over 60 percent and 60 percent of the population under the age of 26, many young men join the security forces. Eichele said the monthly police salary was low, between $80 and $100. Pay, too, is irregular; the banking system is underdeveloped. The United Nations is trying to arrange a payment system through local post offices. Such conditions increase the temptation of bribes from the Taliban and drug traffickers, said Eichele, adding that police officers, once trained, are often lured away to private security firms.

Higher pay would help. So would better protection. "These young Afghan boys are sitting ducks," said MacDonald. "They man checkpoints with basic equipment and no training to deal with the Taliban or heroin trafficking."

According to the Interior Ministry in Kabul, 627 Afghan police officers have died since the beginning of 2006. MacDonald said it was time that the international community focused on policing seriously if Afghanistan was to have any chance of success. That means NATO and the EU ending their dangerous squabble.

Duceppe threatens to topple gov't over Afghanistan

Updated Thu. Aug. 23 2007 - CTV.ca News Staff

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe has threatened to take down Stephen Harper's Conservative government in the fall, if the prime minister doesn't make a firm commitment to pull Canadian troops from Afghanistan by February 2009.

Harper has already implied he will not extend the mission beyond 2009 unless he has a consensus from the other parties. But Duceppe said Thursday he wants an emergency debate on Canada's role in the Afghanistan once parliament resumes on Sept. 17.

His comments came one day after two soldiers from a Quebec regiment were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The body of fallen soldier Pte. Simon Longtin also returned to Canada on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Liberal Opposition Leader Stephane Dion agreed that Harper should give NATO a firm statement on pulling troops from Afghanistan by February, but said he would not make "threats" like Duceppe.

"Everybody knows there's a possibility of a ... confidence vote where the government can be defeated," he told reporters at a news conference Thursday. "I'm not saying today that's what I want."

Dion added that he would like to wait and see what the government proposes in its throne speech, expected in the fall.

The Afghan mission has been under intense scrutiny this week -- especially in Quebec where support is typically low -- as the number of Canadian casualties in the military continued to increase.

"These latest victims in the Afghan conflict remind us of the dangers and the difficult conditions under which soldiers working in the theatre of war are exposed," said Duceppe.

More than 600 Quebec residents were polled for their views on the Afghan mission just before Longtin was killed and then again right after.

The survey showed the approval rating for the war dropped from 35 per cent before Longtin's death to 28 per cent.

In the first survey, 57 per cent said they disagreed with sending the Van Doos to Afghanistan. After the news of Longtin's death, that number jumped to 68 per cent.

Canada currently has more than 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan with more than 1,100 from Quebec's Royal 22nd regiment.

PM must commit to 2009 withdrawal, Bloc says

Opposition threatens to bring down government if anticipated fall Throne Speech does not include an end date for the mission - DANIEL LEBLANC AND BILL CURRY - August 24, 2007

OTTAWA, KUUJJUAQ, QUE. -- Opposition leaders yesterday, following a deadly week in Afghanistan, threatened the minority Harper government with defeat unless it commits to withdrawal from Kandahar in 2009.

The Bloc Québécois ended a caucus meeting on the political warpath, one day after two Quebec-based soldiers and an Afghan interpreter died in the latest roadside bombing.

The Bloc has kept the government alive during the last two budgets, and its support could prove crucial if Prime Minister Stephen Harper starts the fall sitting of the House with a much-rumoured Speech from the Throne and a confidence vote.

Going on the offensive after a tough spring for the Bloc, leader Gilles Duceppe said he will support an eventual Speech from the Throne this fall only if it includes an end date for the current combat mission.

"It's clear that the military effort has been made and must cease in February, 2009," Mr. Duceppe said after a Bloc caucus in Saint-Hyacinthe, the site of one of three by-elections going on in Quebec.

"If Mr. Harper wants to stay beyond February, 2009, we will have that debate during an election campaign."

However, Quebec Premier Jean Charest played down public opinion polls showing his province is strongly opposed to the mission.

He insisted Quebeckers do support the troops and encouraged them to express that support.

"I think we have to be careful in the way we measure public opinion about these events," he told reporters yesterday in Kuujjuaq, where he was taking part in a conference on Inuit self-government.

"It's a terrible tragedy for the families," Mr. Charest said. "These are generally very young lives that we lose and they're making the most important sacrifice a human being can make in the name of democracy and to fight for peace."

Yesterday afternoon, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion made it clear that he wants the government to immediately announce the withdrawal of Canadian troops from the combat mission in Kandahar in 2009. "If the government presents a Speech from the Throne that goes against the interests of Canadians, be it on military matters or climate change or other key issues, it would be very difficult for us to stand up in the House and support that," said Mr. Dion, who called a news conference yesterday to push the Harper government to enact tougher regulations to deal with greenhouse gases.

While the opposition parties attacked the government on Afghanistan, they treaded carefully. Pollsters believe that while a large majority of Quebeckers oppose the military mission in Afghanistan, there remains a strong level of support in the province for the individual soldiers.

Mr. Duceppe said he continues to support the troops and did not call for an immediate pullout from Kandahar. Still, he said Canada's role in Afghanistan must focus on humanitarian work in the future.

The Harper government has said the Canadian Forces will only remain in Afghanistan with the support of the House of Commons, but has not laid out its plans for the post-2009 mission.

NDP Leader Jack Layton is alone among opposition leaders to call for an immediate exit from Afghanistan. In an interview, he showed little interest in propping up the government this fall.

Media will still send journalists to Kandahar

DAVID GEORGE-COSH - Globe and Mail Update August 24, 2007

The injuries of a Radio-Canada cameraman hurt by a roadside bomb that also killed two Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan Wednesday has made Canadian media outlets re-evaluate the safety of their journalists in the war-torn country, but so far, the incident will not stop them from covering the war.

News directors at Global National, CTV News, CBC News, Canwest News Service, the Toronto Star, Canadian Press and The Globe and Mail have all stated they will all continue to send journalists to Kandahar to cover the war and allow them to be embedded with Canadian Forces while on patrol.

"We're pretty conscious about sending people out into these areas. Everybody who goes gets ... hostile environment training. But you can only do so much preparation; some things are just unforeseen," said CBC director of newsgathering, Jamie Purdon.

Mr. Purdon said although the close-knit newsroom has experienced a range of emotions about the incident that severely injured cameraman Charles Dubois and shook up correspondent Patrice Roy, CBC journalists who have reported from Afghanistan in the past were fully aware that an attack involving journalists alongside soldiers was inevitable. Regardless of the risks, Mr. Purdon said the CBC will continue to bring stories from Afghanistan to Canadians.

Canadian Press editor-in-chief Scott White said about 15 reporters have travelled to Afghanistan, but do so on a voluntary basis and must undergo rigorous training before flying out to Kandahar.

"It's a terrifying situation and you have real sympathy for what the military families go through," Mr. White said.

He said if the Department of National Defence foresees a major security risk "outside the wire," CP advises reporters to stay within the confines of the base, but coverage continues.

Colin MacKenzie, The Globe's managing editor of news, said the incident reminds journalists that covering this sort of mission is not risk-free.

"Naturally, it has us thinking again if it's worth it, and for the moment, it's a thing that's worth doing. When you're embedded, you share some of the same risks - not nearly as many," Mr. MacKenzie said.

Department of National Defence spokesman Captain Adam Thomson said no decisions have been made within the Canadian Forces to reconsider embedding reporters with soldiers.

"When we speak to the media initially, when they put a request to embed, we highlight the risks they will face there. They are going to be operating in a combat environment and they know that ... they accept that risk and challenge to report the news," Capt. Thomson said.

Radio-Canada spokesman Marc Pichette said in a press conference that journalists will continue to be rotated through Afghanistan, including anchorman Bernard Derome, who left yesterday to replace Mr. Roy. Mr. Roy, who was to have stayed on in Afghanistan until Sept. 9, is scheduled to return immediately.

Radio-Canada reporter relives Afghan horror

Patrice Roy yesterday recounted the blast that killed two Canadian soldiers in an interview, translated here from French, with a CBC radio reporter

August 24, 2007 - CBC

Radio-Canada reporter Patrice Roy was sitting beside Canadian Forces medic Christian Duchesne when the armoured vehicle they were riding in hit a road mine near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Duchesne and a second soldier, Mario Mercier, were killed, as well as an Afghan interpreter. Roy suffered only shock but his cameraman, Charles Dubois, was seriously wounded and had his leg amputated below the knee.

Roy yesterday relived the horrifying experience in an interview, translated here from French, with a CBC radio reporter:

Roy: We left very early in the morning with a company whose mission was to take a mountain, or re-take a mountain. It was 16 kilometres between there and our departure point.

We were told it would be pretty light going, that they didn't think the Taliban would be listening. But we quickly noticed that the operation would be a lot more complicated.

The Taliban started firing rockets all over the place, not directly at our vehicle because we were following behind, but at the ones ahead. So for 13 hours we drove around a village in the LAV3; we were near the mountain but couldn't go up.

And Charles Dubois, our cameraman who was injured, took some extraordinary pictures of that operation because, from our vantage point, we could see everything in relative security.

Toward the end of the day, after 13 hours, they decided to go up to the post they were supposed to reach – the target – and it's while we were climbing up the last bend on the mountain that there was a flash, a massive shock, in the LAV3.

When I came to, my cameraman Charles was beside me in a great deal of pain, and the others had been ejected.

The vehicle, the back of the vehicle, was completely smashed. Obviously there was a first aid operation set up, etcetera. It was quite difficult. Then we were evacuated ... to the base at Kandahar, where Charles was treated. And now we're leaving in a few hours for Germany, to the hospital there, and then to Canada.

Brooks Decillia (CBC reporter): Before you went up that hill, how would you characterize the battle? Tell me about that. Roy: I'm not a soldier but I think that, even by military standards, it was a major battle.

They weren't expecting it to be that major, in the area where we were there was no expectation we would come under so much fire. The Taliban were attacking with small arms, with rockets.

Anything that lasts 13 hours is quite long ... We stayed in a four-square-kilometre area for four or five hours to take positions where the mines could be cleared, because mines are the biggest danger.

And the soldiers had de-mining equipment working ahead of us to remove the mines, but clearly the machine missed one.

But it was a major engagement, it was the first significant operation for the (Royal) 22nd (Regiment), there had been patrols beforehand, in the last month, but this was an operation, what they called a show of force in a region that had been completely overtaken by the Taliban.

The Canadians were there a year ago, they left, and they said we should go back ... It's difficult to imagine how all that area could have been secured even in a year because all the Canadian tanks that go there are attacked whether there's eight, one or two. Decillia: Describe the moments leading up to the explosion and then what happened.

Roy: We were arriving. Charles and I were extraordinarily tired, we hadn't slept the night before because we had travelled by night and I was writing a little stand-up (report) because we had built the story as a visual summary of the previous 48 hours.

So in those hours I was taking notes about what was happening, and at that point I was writing the conclusion and I was reading it out loud, changing a word here and there.

At the moment when I leaned my head down and scratched out a word, there was a flash, a tremendous noise, it was a flash, and then we found ourselves – I'm not even sure I lost consciousness, but anyway, what's certain is that, once again, the force of the explosion was massive.

We think maybe they put two or three mines there because LAV3s are vehicles that we were told are very robust.

It was a shock. It's rare to find people who have encountered that, and people said, military people who know, like, first aid people, ambulance attendants, told me you'll see, you'll have more control than you expect.

For about 15 minutes you become almost insensible. I wanted to look after Charles, the soldiers. They started first aid, and all that mattered was to get out of there fast.

I was quite anxious because I was thinking `We're civilians, and the first people they'll evacuate are the soldiers, not us, not Charles.'

Except that the soldiers' misfortune was lucky for us in a way, because they died on the spot and there were two injured people left, a soldier and Charles. So we were evacuated by the first American helicopter.

Decillia: What did you see after the explosion?

Roy: I saw the LAV completely cut open. I saw people below, I saw panic, obviously, people were screaming. I heard screams everywhere. ... I saw Charles who had blood and, fortunately, it was only his leg.

Although we can say that we were caught up in this extraordinary mishap, and even though we're conscious of the risks we run in theatre, we were relatively lucky; in my case, obviously very lucky.

Decillia: What's going through your mind?

Roy: Nothing ... I was focused on trying to get help.

I was concerned they might not help us as much because we're civilians, but in the end they helped us. ... Afterward, in the helicopter, when we got back, I thought `We could have stepped on another mine, we could have... . But that was after.

It was almost like we were in an altered state, I imagine it was the adrenaline, I don't know. But I have to tell you, when I saw the American helicopter arrive, it's `Phew, let's get out of here.'

Decillia: Your family, what did you tell them. ...

Roy: Well, first I reassured my wife. I was afraid of rumours, you know how it is. Rumours start flying right and left. Some thought I was dead. ... when you go to Afghanistan, even when nothing's happening, you know, you're reporting here, people are worried about you, they wonder a bit `Why did he go?'

So, if in addition to that a mine explodes, it's the proof that they were right (to be worried) and the proof that it's true that it's dangerous to cover a war, and Charles and I knew it.

It was the fourth time Charles had been here. He's an unbelievable cameraman who is strong, who knows where to go, who doesn't take risks.

He was very unlucky but ... it's a mix of `Wouldn't we be better off to stay in the camp and wait for news from the front and report it as best we can?' This is not a traditional war – mines, there's nothing more treacherous in the world than a landmine.

We knew the Taliban were shooting at us, and (the military) set it up in such a way we weren't exposed in our vehicle, but nobody can do anything about a mine.

In a separate interview yesterday, Roy gave more details about the incident:

It was about 6:12 p.m. At the moment I started to write there was a tremendous blast, and I woke up maybe eight seconds later. Charles was beside me, the others had already been blown out of the vehicle. And then it was first aid, helicopters. ...

Afghan president pays two-day working visit to Tajikistan

DUSHANBE: Afghan President Hamid Karzai is arriving in Tajikistan on today (Saturday) for a two-day working visit, Tajik MFA said.  

The source at a MFA said that on August 26, Hamid Karzai and his Tajik counterpart, President Emomali Rahmon will attend a ceremony of inauguration of a bridge across the Panj River in the Qumsangir district, Khatlon province. 

The United States, which supplied most of the funding and know-how for the project, hopes the bridge will consolidate permanent overland links between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, enhancing economic and commercial opportunities for both sides of the river and allowing goods and people to move across more easily.  

An article "Bridge Connecting Tajikistan and Afghanistan Set to Open" by David Trilling, posted on the Eurasianet website, said the $37-million span, construction of which began almost two years ago, stands to especially benefit Tajikistan, where external trade has suffered from a lack of efficient and reliable overland trade routes.

Built to withstand earthquakes and the Panj River's swift currents, the bridge contains 13,000 cubic meters of concrete procured from Tajikistan, as well as steal from Russia and Germany, said Brian Walls, a civilian who is overseeing the project on behalf of the US Army Corps of Engineers, according to the article.  

More than 600 local workers helped build the bridge, with Afghans now helping their Tajik counterparts complete the necessary customs infrastructure.   

The length of the bridge across the Panj River is 672 meters, and the width is 11.6 meters. The bridge is expected to transport more than 1,000 cars daily.  

It is supposed that the bridge will link Afghanistan not only to Tajikistan bur also to other Central Asian states and Russia. 

During his stay in Tajikistan, Afghan president is also scheduled to hold talks wit President Rahmon to discuss the present state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Afghanistan and Tajikistan in the fields of security, border protection, economics, commerce, science and culture. 

Islamic terrorists rule Pak-Afghan border areas: Rand Corp

From our ANI Correspondent
Washington, Aug 24: The Pakistani-Afghan border is the prototype of an ungoverned territory that serves as a sanctuary for terrorist groups, and remains plagued by a multitude of security and governance challenges, finds a new study.

According to a study conducted by the Rand Corporation, in many ways, the areas that constitute the Afghan-Pakistan border region remain beyond the formal functional, geographic, and technical writ of Islamabad.

The study notes that the border areas are beset with numerous alternative centres of power. "Foreign Islamist militants have been active in the border regions, particularly in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), which is believed to have hosted al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Central Asian extremists since Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)," says the report titled 'Ungoverned Territories; Understanding and Reducing Terrorism Risk.'

Quoting the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Rand says the tribal areas continue to form the crux of the residual Osama bin Laden network, allegedly including the base for an "elite" unit dedicated to preparing for and coordinating major anti-Western attacks.

Analysts contend that the cell, which is dispersed but able to communicate with regional affiliates around the world, now acts as the central operational hub of al-Qaeda.

"Pakistan has been unable to assert effective control over its border with Afghanistan. The frontier is mostly bereft of roads, greatly limiting the scope for security force deployment. In addition, immigration and customs procedures are almost nonexistent and reflect the stationing of officials who, for the most part, are corrupt, underresourced, and untrained," reports Rand, a private think tank that did the study for the Air Force.

The reports finds that the Pakistan Government has attempted to tighten control over the border with Afghanistan, but without much success.

"Despite this focus on Pakistan's borders, the Afghan-Pakistan border remains the least regulated region of Pakistan and the one where the legitimacy of the Musharraf regime is most questioned," it adds.

"US, Afghan, and Indian sources believe that FATA and Baluchistan have been systematically penetrated by al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Central Asian militants since 9/11, and that the border districts continue to serve as important basing and recruiting grounds for extremists. The environment in the border region certainly gives foreign jihadists what we refer to as invisibility, that is, the ability to blend into the local population and escape detection by the authorities," it says.

However, the Corporation notes that it is "not enough to simply focus on individual regions like the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and how they become havens for terrorists."

The non-profit organisation urges the governments across the world to take a new approach to fighting terrorism by treating regions where governmental control is weak as a distinct category of security problems.

Afghanistan: Return to the lair of bin Laden

By Tom Coghlan in Tora Bora, Last Updated: 3:13am BST 24/08/2007

Osama bin Laden's cement-lined swimming pool fed by a mountain stream still lies, half destroyed, at the entrance to his cave complex at Tora Bora.

Close to the caves, which have been dynamited shut, is a rusting 1980s vintage Soviet tank; bullets and scraps of camouflage clothing litter the ground. An air of brooding gloom hangs about the cloud-wreathed mountains.

But six years after US special forces failed to capture the al-Qa'eda leader in his mountain stronghold, the place where the September 11 attacks were hatched, American troops are again scouring the mountains of Tora Bora.

A week ago American forces launched a major operation to counter a rejuvenated al-Qa'eda, which has been steadily regrouping in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and has in the past three months moved back into the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan.

American military officials say much of what is happening around Tora Bora remains "classified". Discreetly, Western officials in Kabul describe it as "very successful", trapping insurgents in a series of adjacent valleys.

Local people report that the fighters include Arabs, Chinese Muslims, Chechens and a large contingent of Uzbeks led by Tahir Yuldashev.

The Uzbeks are a surviving remnant of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an al-Qa'eda affiliate that fought with the Taliban against the Americans in 2001.

Its surviving members fled into Pakistan's lawless tribal belt where earlier this year their hosts turned against them following a dispute. Afghan leaders say that the Uzbeks were recently given the choice to fight the Americans in Afghanistan or face annihilation by the local tribes.

At least one sizeable group of al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters is continuing to resist despite heavy bombing raids and attacks from US Special Forces. American military spokesmen declined to corroborate the claim, saying the operation was ongoing.

"The bombing has been heavier than it was in 2001," said Haji Tahir, a prominent tribal leader who asked for his name to be changed because of the certainty of reprisals. Other fighters have been dispersed into the surrounding peaks and gorges.

"Five hundred infiltrated the area," said Gen Qadim Shah, the commander of 1st Brigade, Afghan Army in Nangahar. "We have captured 57 fighters from the Taliban and al-Qa'eda. They include Chechens, Arabs and Uzbeks."

Tribal leaders said that these include several men known locally as long-standing Afghan figures in the al-Qa'eda leadership.

Gen Dan McNeill, the Nato commander, moved a battalion from 82nd Airborne, which makes up his operational reserve in Afghanistan, from Helmand to support the operation. Pakistani troops are also reported to have taken up blocking positions along the border.

The Daily Telegraph was the first Western newspaper to reach the area of the fighting, thanks to help from local tribesmen who smuggled us in along the only access road. Three US special forces soldiers and their translator were killed on the approaches to the caves last week and Western officials say that two helicopters have also been damaged in the fighting.

It took several hours on foot, accompanied by a small group of armed tribesmen and an Afghan intelligence officer, to reach the cave complex that bin Laden built prior to 2001.

Taliban fighters had last been reported in the area the day before, when they severely beat a number of local villagers. The intelligence officer contacted US forces by phone to forestall the danger of an air attack.

Newly-built Taliban stone firing positions were visible close to the track. So too were US propaganda leaflets carrying sinister images of silhouetted al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters with white glowing eyes. Dropped as the operation began, they warn local people not to aid the insurgents.

Four hundred families are reported displaced from the remote area and at least seven local people killed by bombing.

"We came back yesterday night," said Noor Mohammad Khan, who farms next to the old Tora Bora base in an area called Milawa. "We are very scared. Every night they are bombing the next valley. Last night they dropped troops from helicopters on the top of this hill and they walked through this area."

In 2001 the US was widely criticised for relying on local militias, who reputedly took bribes to allow the majority of al-Qa'eda's key leadership to escape.

This time American forces were dropped unexpectedly into the area by helicopter, blocking escape routes to the border.

The growing presence of al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters in the area was first noted around two and a half months ago. Taliban "night letters" in local villages announced a new "Tora Bora Front" under the leadership of Maulawi Anwar ul-Haq Mujahed, the son of the prominent Mujahideen commander Younis Khalis, who fought the Soviet occupation.

An important al-Qa'eda figure, Dr Amin ul-Haq, who has been listed by the US government as bin Laden's security co-ordinator, was also with the force. Local leaders say Amin was injured in a bombing raid and smuggled back across the border.

"I don't think that the biggest al-Qa'eda people are on this side of the border, but they are close by, just over the border," said one local tribal leader.

Western intelligence has placed bin Laden close to the border, probably in the tribal agency of Khurram, which lies opposite Tora Bora, during recent months.

AFGHANISTAN: Hundreds of families displaced by fighting in Nangarhar Province

TORA BORA, 22 August 2007 (IRIN) - Hundreds of families have been displaced by ground and aerial military operations by US and Afghan forces against insurgents in the Tora Bora area of Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, provincial officials told IRIN on 22 August.

"Initial reports indicate over 400 families have been displaced as a result of military operations in Tora Bora," said Nooragha Zhuwak, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar.

Most displaced families have sought refuge with relatives in the nearby villages of Wazir, Piyada Khel and Agaam in the districts of Khogyani and Pacheeragaam, local authorities said.

US forces operating outside NATO command in Afghanistan have confirmed ongoing operations in the area which started on 20 August.

"This is a combined armed operation of Afghan and US forces to disrupt al-Qaeda and other extremist militants who were massing in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan," said Vanessa Bowman, a spokesperson for the US army.

Local officials said US forces had informed them about the military operation in advance, but displaced civilians say they knew nothing about it, and were unable to take their belongings with them.

"At about 10pm the bombing started. We were only able to take our children out of the area," one displaced man said.

Haji Zalmai, the administrator of Khogyani District, told IRIN that displaced families urgently needed shelter and food. "People cannot host displaced families at their houses for long," he said.

Some displaced families, meanwhile, are calling for an urgent ceasefire to allow them to return to their houses and collect their movable possessions, including livestock, clothes and kitchen appliances. Local officials, however, say they have no idea when the military operation will end.

According to a US army spokesperson, the operation in Tora Bora is "one part of a larger overall effort" which aims to improve security and stability in eastern Afghanistan.

Humanitarian relief, albeit limited, has already been distributed to some affected families.

US forces say they have supplied seven pallets of aid to displaced families - including beans, rice, cooking oil, stoves, charcoal and non perishable foods.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has also begun a rapid assessment of needs to determine the quality and quantity of relief required.

"Once assessments are complete we will ask the UN, the ICRC and other aid organisations for their assistance," Mohammad Iqbal Shaheed, the president of ARCS in Nangarhar, told IRIN. At least four wounded civilians received treatment at a medical facility in Khogyani District, government officials said.

Afghan and US forces say that so far no "substantiated" report of civilian deaths has been received. "The targets were carefully chosen to pinpoint enemy positions and eliminate the likelihood of harming innocent civilians," said Bowman.

In a separate incident on 16 August NATO-led international soldiers killed five Afghan civilians and injured three others after their convoy was ambushed by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, a NATO press release said. The impact of armed conflict on Afghan civilians has increasingly become a worrying issue for Afghans and the international community.

On 21 August, a representative of the UN Secretary-General for the rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin, warned that as armed conflict escalated in Afghanistan more civilians would be forced to flee their homes.

Since the beginning of 2007 over 1,000 civilians have died in the fighting, according to the Afghan authorities, and the UN estimates that in the past three years over 80,000 people have been displaced.

Wheat production hits record high in Takhar

TALUQAN, Aug 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Wheat production remained at record high in the northern Takhar province during the current year, officials said on Wednesday.

Deputy head of the agriculture department Abdul Saboor Karimi told Pajhwok Afghan News the remarkable increase was the outcome of timely and sufficient rains and provision of improved seeds to the farmers.

The province had 73,000 hectares of irrigated and 190,000 hectares of rain-fed land. During the current year, Karimi said, 43,898 hectares of the irrigated and 96,550 hectares of the rain-fed land was cultivated with wheat crop.

Each hectare of the irrigated land yielded 560 to 770 kilograms and each hectare of rain-fed land produced 210 to 280 kilograms of wheat this year as compare to the last year of 490 to 630 kilograms and 140 to 170 kilograms respectively, he informed.

Karimi attributed the boost in wheat yield to timely and ample rains, provision of improved and best quality seeds and proper training for farmers.

Feroz Muhammad, 56, a farmer in Dasht-i-Qala district of Takhar province, said he had collected 480 kilograms of yield from each acre of land this fall. "Farmers would stop growing poppies if they get as much wheat each year," said

Feroz.

Moinuddin Aini, head of the agriculture department, said 90 percent of people in Takhar were farmers while 40 percent of the province's revenues being generated from agriculture.

Muhammad Sharif Sharif, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, said wheat production during the current year had been estimated at 5.85 million tons. Earlier, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in its report, had said Afghanistan was nearing self-sufficiency in grain production. The country is mostly depended on grain imports from Pakistan for its domestic requirements.

Afghan MPs exchange harsh words in parliament session

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Kabul, 22 August: Two Afghan lawmakers exchanged harsh words in Parliament here on Wednesday, a knowledgeable source confided to Pajhwok Afghan News.

Members of the Wolasi Jerga (Lower House of Parliament) intervened to cool down their angry colleagues - Mohammad Rahman Oghli from Fariab and Fazlur Rahman Samkani from Paktia.

Approached for comments, Samkani confirmed the verbal clash but declined providing further details. The harsh exchanges reportedly began soon after one legislator branded Pashtuns as kidnappers.

Samkani accused some parliamentarians of being biased towards certain ethnic groups and their languages, but Oghli insisted his remarks were misunderstood.

The latter explained his criticism was restricted to the composition of government organs, with imbalanced ethnic representation. Three of the members could not grasp what I meant to say, Oghli told this scribe.

First Secretary Abdol Satar Khawasi, tending to downplay the incident, pointed out similar ruckus took place in other parliaments as well. Heated arguments between legislators were nothing new, he believed.

The house was to debate a law pertaining to the composition of the government. However, a number of lawmakers voiced displeasure over the inordinate delay in implementation of their earlier decisions.

As long as the previous suggestions were not implemented, they maintained, there was no need for taking more decisions on the same subject. Some of them also asked why the session was being held in camera without any convincing reason.

Both houses of parliament approved a 43-article law pertaining to hiring of defence lawyers. One of the articles authorised foreign lawyers to defend aliens prosecuted in Afghanistan but barred them from opening offices in the country. Several senators proposed that competent lawyers from Muslim countries be allowed to work in Afghanistan, a step that would benefit their Afghan counterparts.

But Senate Chairman Sebghatollah Mojaddedi opposed the idea, saying its enforcement could render Afghan lawyers jobless. Later on, the proposal was dropped and the article given the go-ahead as it was.

For Afghan women footballers, goal is acceptance

by Masroor Gilani - Thu Aug 23, 2:27 AM ET

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Six years ago in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan football looked like a thing of the past, banned for men and unimaginable for women, who were barred from all outdoor sport.

But with the demise of the Islamic extremists -- who also banned music, dancing and kite-flying -- the sport has made such a spectacular comeback that there are now 17 women's football teams in the war-battered country.

And this week in Islamabad, Afghanistan's women players, participating in the third Pakistan National Women's Championship, sprang a major surprise by reaching the final.

In a major upset Afghanistan beat Baluchistan by 1-0 to gate-crash into the final scheduled for Friday. Captain Shamila Kohistani scored the lone goal in the 11th minute to stun favourites Baluchistan, who had reached the semi-finals after beating last year's runners-up, the Islamabad team.

"Long Live Afghanistan," jubilant players shouted, waving their national flag while supporters danced over a drum beat.

"Yes, I was very confident to win this match and to reach the final. My team has high morale to win the championship," Kohistani told AFP. Kohistani is proud and thrilled to be leading her squad on its first trip abroad.

She sees it not only as promoting the sport to young Afghan women at home, but fostering friendship between the two countries, which have had a somewhat fractious relationship.

"I am very happy about this," Kohistani said. "We have never played outside Afghanistan. My players are very happy and our visit to Pakistan will promote goodwill and friendly relations between the two nations," she said. Their coach Abdul Saboor Walizada said football was gaining popularity among young Afghan girls and many schools were starting to field teams.

"There is no national women's football team in Afghanistan, but Insha Allah (God willing) we are going to have one soon," he said.

The 18 members of the Afghan squad here, aged 15 to 18 years old, wear red and black T-shirts and trousers. They hope that the kit is baggy enough not to offend anyone who thinks it indecorous, and in contravention of any religious mores, for them to be playing football in the first place.

While many women and girls in Afghanistan still remain behind the veil, cloistered in their homes and denied access to education and sport, things are changing, Kohistani says.

"In Afghanistan we did not face any difficulty to play football," she said of the members of her squad. "My family fully supported me and encouraged me. "I know women in Pakistan also face same situation and without the support of their families they would not be able to play.

"But it is very important for the future of my country that women take active part in all walks of life, not only sports." Taking part in Pakistan, she said, was all about gaining experience that will firmly help establish the game among young Afghan women at home.

"Winning and losing is not so important, I always hope and wish to get experience in the game."

Her team was drawn from the best players after competitions between 17 school clubs in Kabul. Centre forward Sajia Saharfarid, 17, said the team came from different parts of the country, including southern, central and northern Afghan provinces.

"We have played with the ISAF team as well," Saharfarid said, referring to the NATO-led military's women's football team. In Kabul there was little fear of retribution from the Taliban -- which is waging an increasingly violent insurgency in the country -- and girls were free to enjoy whatever sport they liked.

But for girls in the south, where the insurgency is concentrated, it was a different story, she said, with girls' freedoms strictly controlled. Nevertheless, team manager Halima Sanger has high hopes for the development of football in Afghanistan.

[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.]