In this bulletin:

• Fazl urges Afghanistan to recognise Durand Line
• Talks with the Taliban gain ground
• Afghanistan: Dadullah's Strategic Name-Dropping
• Suicide bomber hits Western troop convoy in Kabul
• AP: U.S. gave troops OK to enter Pakistan
• Afghan troops were ready to save hostages: minister
• Two Freed South Korean Hostages Plead For Release Of Others
• Afghanistan-Pakistan: Sudden return of Afghans could cause crisis, UNHCR warns
• Debating the future of Afghan Buddhas
• Reporters Put Life on Line
• 'They fire first and think later,' say British soldiers
• Hong Kong Harries Afghanistan
• Afghanistan women's football team lose in Pakistan final
• Children under 12 to travel free on public transport
• Afghanistan: Women's Soccer Wins Support In First Games Abroad
• Musharraf down, but far from out

Fazl urges Afghanistan to recognise Durand Line

By Amanullah Kasi, Dawn - August 24, 2007

QUETTA, Aug 23: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that India's "extraordinary activities" in Afghanistan are a threat for Pakistan's western borders and urged Afghanistan to recognise the Durand Line and resolve the dispute over the issue between the neighbouring Muslim states.

He said that confidence-building measures (CBMs) between Pakistan and India were entirely in favour of the latter which wanted to keep the Kashmir issue in cold storage.

Addressing members of the Balochistan Bar Association here on Thursday, he said the flawed foreign policy of the Musharraf government provided an opportunity to India to consign the Kashmir issue to the backburner. Calm on the eastern border, he said, was in the interest of India and enabled it to exploit tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the western border.

The president of the bar, Baz Muhammad Khan Kakar, presided over the meeting.

In the speech, Maulana Fazl dealt mostly with foreign policy issues and said that Pakistan must base its foreign policy on the aspirations of the people and protect its national interests instead of promoting the US agenda which was causing unrest in the country. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader asserted that Pakistan would not be isolated at the international level if it distanced itself from the United States.

He called for improving relations with China and Russia and maintaining balance in relations with foreign powers.

He said that the United States was opposed to Chinese investments in Gwadar and the attacks on Chinese engineers in Balochistan were the result of US frustrations.

Maulana Fazl said the United States provided financial support and weapons to Jihadi groups when the former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan because it wanted to destabilise the Communist government in Moscow. At that time the US administration described Afghan Mujahideen as � freedom fighter � , but now the same Jihadis were being termed extremists and terrorists.

The MMA leader said: "We were not against the Pak-Afghan peace Jirga for stopping the bloodshed in Afghanistan to peaceful means. But we differed on the mechanism and the vague agenda of the Jirga". He said that while the Jirga declaration said that Pakistan and Afghanistan would work jointly to eradicate Al Qaeda and the Taliban it also formed a 50-member committee for talks with the Taliban.

The Maulana said: "We have been saying from day one that the US-led occupation forces in Afghanistan must recognise that the Taliban were the main party in the Afghan conflict and without talking to them the United States and Nato could not succeed in restoring normality in the war torn country."

Referring to the domestic situation, the MMA leader said that opposition parties remained worried in the past about judicial verdicts on extra-constitutional steps taken by military rulers and courts endorsed their unconstitutional steps. But the July 20 judgment reinstating the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the independence of judiciary have given the government a scare.

He said the army was the most organised institution in the country, but did not like other institutions to play their role independently within the ambit of the Constitution and the law, adding that the army had been trying to undermine other institutions in order to remain at the helm.

He lauded the struggle of lawyers against the suspension of the Chief Justice and urged the community to continue the struggle till the people got rid of the dictatorship.

Justifying the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, he said the objective of the agreement with the government was to provide an exit to the military dictator, but now a political party was working for a deal to get a safe passage to the corridors of power.

Talks with the Taliban gain ground

By Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online / Friday, August 24, 2007

KARACHI - The process of reconciliation with the Taliban continues on both sides of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. A Former top Taliban commander and present member of the Afghan Parliament, Mullah Abdus Salam Rocketti, and the former Taliban ambassador in Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, are two key figures who have been holding talks with Taliban elders in southwestern Afghanistan for a political settlement at the behest of Western coalition forces.

On the Pakistani side, the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, recently traveled to Quetta, Balochistan province, to meet with local Taliban commanders under Mullah Mansoor (brother of slain Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah), and apparently Rahman made a major breakthrough.

Asia Times Online contacts in Quetta confirm that Rahman held talks with representatives of Mullah Mansoor, and they promised to pass on Rahman's message for approval. In essence, this calls for holding small jirgas (councils) with the Taliban and related parties, such as tribal elders, at various sites in Pakistan and Afghanistan at which Rahman would act as mediator. Rahman's role has already been approved by the administration of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, as well as by the Western coalition. All that is needed now is the Taliban's approval.

The significance of the small jirgas is that they will involve the Taliban, unlike the recent peace jirga in Kabul, which the Taliban boycotted.

"If there is a positive response from the Taliban, it could mean a ceasefire in the near future, at least in Kandahar and Helmand [provinces in southeastern Afghanistan]. Once this process goes on smoothly, it would guarantee regional peace," a senior Pakistani official told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity.

The main player in the game is Pakistan, which is also seen as a vital corridor for Asian energy supplies once Central Asian oil and gas reserves secure a trouble-free route through Afghanistan.

Pakistan's leadership unanimously agrees that a peace deal with the Taliban is the only solution to the region's unrest. President General Pervez Musharraf stated as much during the peace jirga involving hundreds of representatives from both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It remains for Washington to commit fully to a permanent policy for a political settlement.

An official of a Kabul-based European body that has had a major role in facilitating the talks between the Taliban and coalition forces confirmed to Asia Times Online, on condition of anonymity, that high-level talks between Taliban commanders and coalition forces through Rocketti and Zaeef had taken place in an attempt to find a broader political settlement.

Indeed, it was these talks that paved the way for the dialogue in Quetta as guarantees were given for the safety of the Taliban in Quetta.

Should a ceasefire emerge, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan are expected to meet to sign a security contract with regard to an 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. International Oil Co of the US recently won the contract from Pakistan to construct the 2,200-kilometer pipeline over the next three years.

The pipeline will run through Kandahar and on to Pakistan's Gwadar Port. The US-backed project is aimed to outflank Russia and Iran in the regional energy game. Iran, Pakistan and India are trying to get a pipeline project off the ground linking the three countries. Washington opposes this initiative, and once TAP becomes operational it will severely curtail this venture.

This is not the first time the Taliban have entered dialogue with the Western coalition. Asia Times Online reported on June 14, 2003 (US turns to the Taliban), the first direct talks between Pakistani and US intelligence and the Taliban. Recent reports in the German press claim that the Taliban and German intelligence met in 2005 in Germany, while British officials certainly met with the Taliban in Helmand last year.

However, none of these initiatives was able to achieve sustainable results. The main stumbling blocks were Washington's tough line on the Taliban, while that group wanted all or nothing, that is, the complete withdrawal of foreign troops and the handover of power to them - a "complete victory".

In the United States' case, it is obsessed with removing Taliban leader Mullah Omar before the group can be given any political role. The Taliban have always dismissed this out of hand. As a result, Washington has terminated the dialogue and proceeded with the military option.

Retired Lieutenant General Asad Durrani, former director general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence, told Asia Times Online, "Conventional wisdom suggests a dialogue process, even during a conflict. We have examples of the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka], the IRA [Irish Republican Army] and others.

"It is difficult for a state to negotiate with people whom it brands as terrorists, but intelligence agencies always keep their back channels open," said Durrani, who was also Pakistani ambassador to Germany and Saudi Arabia and who retains active links with top British and US think-tanks.

"MI6 [the British Secret Intelligence Service] always does that. Washington has taken a tough line against the Taliban, but these latest reports of a peace dialogue suggest that saner [heads] are prevailing. This approach should continue. Nobody agrees in the first phase, but as the dialogue continues, ways will open for settlements," said Durrani.

The president of the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), retired Major-General Jamshed Ayaz Khan, elaborated, "Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and European countries have a common interest in a peaceful Afghanistan." The IRS is a major Pakistan think-tank that assists national institutions in policymaking.

"This is a war of energy resources, and until complete peace is ensured, nothing can be achieved," said Khan. "Pakistan is a major stakeholder in this game, as once pipeline projects materialize, Pakistan's GDP [gross domestic product] will increase 2%. However, there is a need for Washington, the only superpower in the world, to devise a permanent and broader policy for a political settlement with the Taliban.

"European countries like the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and France have a policy of reconciliation, but it will never work until Washington makes up its mind over a reasonable political settlement with the Taliban," Khan said.

Khan believes that successful talks can be held with the Taliban if a pragmatic approach is applied and Pakistan's role is recognized.

"President General Pervez Musharraf has already played a significant role in paving the way for the dialogue process by saying at the [Kabul] jirga that a peace deal with the Taliban is a road for peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been saying this from the beginning. Pakistan deliberately did not keep the window closed with the Taliban by retaining diplomatic channels with them [before the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001]. Washington, however, kept a tough line after September 11 [2001] and denied the Taliban's role without realizing that the Taliban are the sons of the soil.

"They [Taliban] cannot leave Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is a foreign element, but the Taliban are local. Similarly, the Taliban are not terrorists. Al-Qaeda are terrorists. The Taliban's only crime was in providing a safe sanctuary to al-Qaeda, that's why they were targeted, but now is the time for the world superpower to bring flexibility into its stance," Khan said.

"A step-by-step approach will obviously work. Initially, the focus should be on a ceasefire during the dialogue. Reconstruction projects, like building watercourses and dams, should be the next step. The Taliban will certainly allow them, as they are local. They cannot oppose that. This initial phase would build up the environment for the next phase, in which political settlements could be discussed," Khan said.

When questioned on the Taliban's demand for "total victory", Khan said this could be overcome. "'Victory' is a relative term. Once the process gradually starts and makes inroads, it will eventually reach a political settlement. And on that level, it would be a victory for both the Taliban and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"And once this dialogue process begins, other factors come into play," said Khan. "War fatigue is a big thing. No matter how strong and committed a guerrilla commander is, at some stage he will be fatigued. That could be a turning point for a settlement. Of course, Mullah Omar is a central leader, but there are other significant commanders who could be negotiated with separately.

"Pakistan can play an important role in this direction, but it cannot do it alone. The ISI has already been much maligned, so Washington's engagement is a must.

"But Washington needs to realize one thing. The ultimate objective in this whole game is to secure a route through Afghanistan [for oil and gas] to the warm waters of Gwadar. Soviet Russia attacked Afghanistan for the same thing, but it kept posturing as an enemy and therefore not only failed to achieve the objective but disintegrated. Washington needs to take a lesson and adopt a friendly posture. If it does so, things will certainly change in its favor," concluded Khan.

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

Afghanistan: Dadullah's Strategic Name-Dropping

Stratfor, August 22, 2007

Summary - Osama bin Laden is alive and actively involved in operations against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, top Taliban military commander Haji Mansour Dadullah said, according to the transcript of a video released Aug. 22. The statement offers a glimpse of the Taliban's leadership structure and probably was motivated more by a desire to confirm Dadullah's position than to provide an update on bin Laden's status.

Analysis - The younger brother of former top Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah said al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is alive and well, according the transcript of a 12-minute video released Aug. 22. In the video, which features an interview with top Taliban military commander for Southern Afghanistan Mullah Bakht Mohammad -- aka Haji Mansour Dadullah -- the younger Dadullah said bin Laden gave him his blessing to succeed his brother, who was killed during fighting with U.S. and Afghan forces in May.

Haji Mansour's claims about bin Laden's health are aimed at asserting his own position rather than assuring jihadists that bin Laden is still alive.

The video is dated June 15, around the time of Haji Mansour's last video, and shows him giving a commencement address to a class of suicide bombers before supposedly dispatching them to conduct attacks against the West. The interview was in Pashto with an Arabic voice-over and English subtitles.

The Arabic voice-over suggests the video is meant for a foreign audience. Haji Mansour refers to bin Laden only briefly, dropping his name in the context of the jihadist leader endorsing him as the Taliban's military leader in Afghanistan and directing him to "follow Mullah Dadullah and continue the same activities so that the mujahideen may not weaken."

If the video was in fact made in June, the interview would have taken place about a month after Haji Mansour's brother was killed in Helmand province, making it similar to a communique regarding his assumption of military command. Like his older brother, Haji Mansour was born in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, which -- along with Helmand -- is where most of the fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces occurs.

Claiming close association with bin Laden was a trademark of Mullah Dadullah's videos. The elder brother was featured in a video released on Al Jazeera a few weeks before his death, in which he claimed bin Laden himself planned and directed the suicide bombing at Bagram Air Base during a surprise visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in February. The younger Dadullah thus seems to be following in his brother's footsteps

The video provides interesting insights into the Taliban's overall leadership structure. If the younger Dadullah has the blessing of Arab-dominated al Qaeda, then he probably heads the Taliban faction closer to the Arab jihadists. Meanwhile, Maulvi Jalal-ud-Deen Haqqani heads the faction with a greater affinity with the Pakistanis.

Haji Mansour's name-dropping indicates he is trying to rally supporters and confirm his status as the Taliban's commander in an important combat theater. This suggests his hold on power is not completely solidified.

Suicide bomber hits Western troop convoy in Kabul

Saturday, August 25, 2007 - KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber struck a convoy of Western troops in the Afghan capital on Saturday and wounded two soldiers.

The attack happened on a road leading east from Kabul which is regularly used by NATO and U.S.-led troops. Two foreign soldiers were taken to hospital after the blast, a spokesman for the NATO-led force said.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in the past 19 months, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban government in 2001.

On Friday night, a rocket landed inside a hospital compound in Kabul but caused no casualties or damage, hospital officials said on Saturday.

Taliban insurgents occasionally fire rockets into Kabul although they rarely cause casualties. Friday's attack hit the Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul where many foreign embassies and aid organizations have their offices.

"It was 11 p.m. when a rocket hit inside the Wazir Akbar Khan compound," said a doctor who worked at the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital. "No one was wounded or killed, and the hospital received no damage. It hit a garden inside the hospital."

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Afghan troops killed 19 Taliban insurgents in clashes in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, on Friday, the provincial governor told Reuters on Saturday.

Six more Taliban rebels were killed when they ambushed a police patrol in the southeastern province of Paktika on Friday, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

AP: U.S. gave troops OK to enter Pakistan

August 24, 2007, By Scott Lindlaw, The Associated Press

Newly uncovered "rules of engagement" show the U.S. military gave elite units broad authority more than three years ago to pursue suspected terrorists into Pakistan, with no mention of telling the Pakistanis in advance.

The documents obtained by The Associated Press offer a detailed glimpse at what Army Rangers and other terrorist-hunting units were authorized to do earlier in the war on terror. And interviews with military officials suggest some of those same guidelines have remained in place, such as the right to "hot pursuit" across the border.

Pakistan, a key U.S. partner in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, has long viewed such incursions as a threat to its sovereignty. Islamabad protested loudly this month when Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama pledged to grant U.S. forces the authority to unilaterally penetrate Pakistan in the hunt for terrorist leaders.

Washington repeated assurances it would consult before any such incursions. But summaries of the rules of engagement on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in April 2004 say chasing al-Qaeda leaders across the frontier was fair game.

One summary states that "Entry into PAK authorized for" the following reasons:

• "Hot pursuit" of al-Qaeda, Taliban and terrorist command-and-control targets "from AFG into Pakistan (must be continuous and uninterrupted)."

•If the head of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, approved direct action "against The Big 3," listed as Osama bin Laden; his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri; and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar. The three are still believed to be hiding in the border region.

• If the Defense secretary approved such an incursion.

Other grounds for incursions into Pakistan, according to this summary, were "personnel recovery," including rescuing troops after the downing of aircraft; and troops "in contact with" the enemy, meaning under fire.

As for "geographic limits," the memo states: "General rule: penetrate no deeper than 10 km," or 6.2 miles.

Told of the guidelines, Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said, "This is all nonsense. Pakistan never allowed the coalition forces to enter into our territory while chasing militants. There was no such agreement, there was no such understanding."

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician said this week he could not comment. "As a policy we don't talk about rules of engagement, certainly not about current rules in place for any operations in Afghanistan, Iraq or any other operation," he said.

The 2004 documents were included among 1,100 pages of investigative documents generated by the Army's probe into the death of NFL player-turned-Ranger Pat Tillman, whose platoon was operating in the region at the time.

E-mail exchanges between Ranger officers in the documents make no mention of a requirement to inform Pakistan in advance of strikes into that country.

However, one summary mentions a chain of required notifications, which resulted in Pakistan being apprised — apparently after the fact. One rule says "joint task force commander must inform CENTCOM immediately" and ensure the "Mil Liaison team" in Islamabad was notified.

Operations officers had a hotline to that liaison office, which would in turn inform Pakistani officials, according to a U.S. officer who served in the region and is knowledgable about operations within Afghanistan during that mid-2004 period. On some occasions, the officer said, Pakistanis would detect ground or air incursions and request explanations from the Americans, who would open inquiries.

Interviews with officers in the field, and the public statements of top U.S. commanders, indicate similar guidelines remain in place today.

At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in March, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., asked Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, "Do we have to have the approval of the Pakistani government in hot pursuit across the border?"

No, Lute replied. If U.S. forces spot so much as a "hostile intent" against them and chase the threat toward the border, "then we have all the authorities we need to pursue, either with fires or on the ground, across the border," he said.

Even a surveillance report of enemy fighters setting up a rocket and pointing it west into Afghanistan is enough to trigger a unilateral military response, said Lute, then the chief operations officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and now President Bush's deputy national security adviser — the "war czar" on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Capt. Scott Horrigan, a former company commander at Camp Tillman, an outpost about a mile inside Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province, told the AP earlier this year that rules of engagement allowed U.S. forces on the ground to travel up to a kilometer, a little more than half a mile, into Pakistani territory if they had "eyes on" insurgents, not just terrorist leaders.

Horrigan said that pursuit would require the approval of Pakistani authorities or Horrigan's brigade commander. It wasn't clear whether the brigade commander was required to consult with Pakistani officials before such an incursion. Through a spokesman at Fort Drum, where he is currently stationed, Horrigan declined to comment this week.

Horrigan also said in the earlier interview that U.S. aircraft could penetrate up to 10 kilometers into Pakistan, but must seek permission first. And he said his soldiers had fired from Afghanistan into Pakistan "two or three times." With fire coming from Pakistan, "usually I can fire back," he said, citing "an inherent right to self-defense."

Lt. Col. David Accetta, spokesman for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said last week he could not talk about rules of engagement along the Pakistan border. He did say, after an AP reporter informed him of Horrigan's comments, that the rules haven't changed since January, when Horrigan spoke.

A high-ranking Ranger officer who has served in Afghanistan and is familiar with the current rules of engagement said that if he found himself "in contact" with the enemy at the border, he would feel authorized to chase them into Pakistan. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the high sensitivity of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

Occasionally, there have been signs of American operations in the Pakistani frontier.

In January 2006, tribal elders told the AP that U.S. helicopters had launched an attack on remote Saidgi village, about three miles from the Afghan border in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan tribal region.

A tribal leader, Momin Khan, said the Americans took away five tribesmen. The Muslim cleric whose home was attacked was not there, but an explosion had killed eight people and wounded nine.

The U.S. military denied involvement, and Pakistan's chief Army spokesman said he couldn't confirm the raid.

A week later, the CIA purportedly sent a Predator drone from Afghanistan into Pakistan, unsuccessfully firing missiles at al-Zawahri. The attack missed bin Laden's deputy but reportedly killed four other al-Qaeda leaders — although that information was never verified — and 13 villagers. Pakistan officially condemned the attack and said it had no advance notice.

In recent weeks, top Bush administration officials have staked out sometimes varying positions on the matter of penetrating Pakistani's borders.

On Aug. 5, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was cautious in describing how U.S. officials would handle an incursion. "I think we would not act without telling (Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf) what we were planning to do," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

That was far more tentative than what White House homeland security adviser Frances Townsend said last month when asked on Fox News why the U.S. wasn't sending special operations forces and drones into Pakistan.

"Well, just because we don't speak about things publicly doesn't mean we're not doing many of the things you're talking about," Townsend said. She didn't elaborate.

On Aug. 5 at Camp David with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Bush wouldn't say whether he would consult with Pakistan before ordering U.S. forces to act inside that country. "With real actionable intelligence, we will get the job done," Bush said, without elaborating. via USA Today

Afghan troops were ready to save hostages: minister

Saturday, August 25, 2007 - KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan special forces called off a plan to rescue 23 Korean hostages soon after they were kidnapped by Taliban insurgents five weeks ago because the South Korean government intervened, the defense minister said on Saturday.

The insurgents have killed two Korean hostages and have released two. Nineteen Koreans, 16 of them women, are still being held by the Taliban and talks to free them have stalled.

"From day one, especially from the second day of the Korean hostage crisis, the national army was in position to initiate military action. We wanted to use our first commando battalion, an elite unit," defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told a news conference.

The Taliban split the hostages into small groups early on, officials say, making any rescue bid much more difficult. The kidnappers have repeatedly warned that any military operation would put the hostages' lives at risk.

"A hostage rescue operation is a very complicated operation," said Wardak.

"To make it successful, it needs very elaborate intelligence, inside information. But what happened was the international community asked us not take military action and that was the repeated request of the South Korean government."

The Taliban are demanding the Afghan government release imprisoned insurgents in return for the hostages. Kabul has refused to give in to the demand, saying that would just encourage more kidnapping.

The day before the Korean church volunteers were seized from a bus on the main highway southwest of Kabul, the Taliban abducted two German engineers and five of their Afghan colleagues from a neighboring province.

One of the Germans suffered a heart attack soon after and was shot dead by his captors, but the other German, 62-year-old Rudolph B., and the Afghans are still being held hostage.

The Taliban want the German government to withdraw its 3,300 troops from Afghanistan, but Berlin has refused to do so.

Wardak said the Taliban had come close to releasing the German on a number of occasions.

"In the case of the German engineer, two or three times he was about to be released because an agreement was made," he said. "People were even ready to go and pick him up, but somehow they (the Taliban) backed off. The assumption is that they are waiting for the development of Korean hostage situation."

Two Freed South Korean Hostages Plead For Release Of Others

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

SEOUL, August 24, 2007 -- Two South Korean former hostages have begged for the release of 19 fellow volunteers still held captive in Afghanistan.

The two women told the Al-Jazeera satellite channel their worry for the others overshadowed the relief of being free. They were among 23 South Koreans seized in southern Afghanistan last month by Taliban fighters. Two hostages, both men, were later killed by their captors. Last week, the Taliban released the women in a goodwill gesture, but subsequent talks have broken down.

Afghanistan-Pakistan: Sudden return of Afghans could cause crisis, UNHCR warns

KABUL, 23 August 2007 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called on the government of Pakistan not to close a refugee camp in its North West Frontier Province (NWFP) until spring 2008.

Pakistani security forces have ordered over 100,000 Afghan refugees currently living in Jalozai camp to leave the site by 31 August.

"We are worried that if there is a sudden return of Afghans from the camp this may turn into a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan," said Salvatore Lombardo, a UNHCR representative in Kabul.

Pakistani soldiers have already surrounded the camp and have knocked down a few shops run by Afghan refugees, camp residents told IRIN.

"We have been repeatedly warned to vacate the camp within a week," said Haji Noorullah, a representative of the Jalozai camp refugees.

The agreement to close four Afghan refugee camps in 2007 in NWFP and Balochistan, including Jalozai, was reached after negotiations between Afghanistan, Pakistan and UN representatives.

With winter only a few months away, the UNHCR now believes a quick closure of the Jalozai camp would not allow sufficient time for the returnees to rebuild their houses and reintegrate in their war-torn country.

Insecurity, which has impeded access to many volatile areas of Afghanistan, is another major concern for returning refugees and aid organisations.

"The response community in Afghanistan is already exhausted by the humanitarian crisis in the country, returns and internal displacement, and appropriate mechanisms do not exist to deal with more returns at this stage," said Ann Kristin Brunborg, a representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Afghanistan.

The UN says it has begun vigorous diplomatic efforts in Kabul and Islamabad to try to raise awareness among both Afghan and Pakistani authorities of the consequences that a closure of Jalozai in 2007 would produce.

"Our concerns have been listened to positively, but so far no agreement on the extension of the deadline has been reached," Lombardo told reporters in Kabul on 23 August.

The government of Afghanistan should also say that it cannot handle large-scale returns at this time, the NRC told IRIN.

In May the lower house of Afghanistan's bicameral National Assembly cast a vote of no confidence in the ministers of foreign affairs, and refugees and returnees, for their alleged inability to manage the crisis following the deportation of thousands of Afghans from Iran.

"We are trying to convince the Pakistani authorities to temporarily suspend the closure of Jalozai camp," said Shojauddin Shoja, an adviser to Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Returnees.

More than 3.16 million Afghans have been repatriated from Pakistan to their home country since 2002, the UNHCR said. Additionally, over two million Afghan refugees have also been registered to live in Pakistan until December 2009.

The government of Pakistan has, meanwhile, agreed that it will not force registered Afghan refugees to return to their country, even in cases of camp closure. The refugees should have a chance of relocation within Pakistan, the UN says.

Some residents of Jalozai camp, however, say they have been ordered to leave the camp for Afghanistan.

Insecurity, lack of shelter and limited livelihoods are the top three problems facing about 84 percent of all Afghan refugees in Pakistan who do not want to return to Afghanistan, the UNHCR found in June.

Since the US-led invasion in 2001 there has been an ambitious reconstruction agenda and over four million refugees have returned, but Afghanistan still faces serious humanitarian challenges and lacks the capacity to absorb returnees.

Millions of Afghans migrated to Pakistan, Iran and other countries after their country was invaded by Soviet forces in 1979. Many Afghans also left after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 when Afghanistan suffered a long period of chaos before and during Taliban rule which ended in 2001.

Debating the future of Afghan Buddhas

By Charles Haviland BBC News, Kabul, Saturday, 25 August 2007

Seven years ago, it was a place of serene contemplation. Now it is a vast, gaping chasm, filled with dust, noise and what looks like rubble, with signs warning that hard hats must be worn.

This is the niche which used to house the one of the world's tallest Buddhas - 55 metres high. In it you can still see slight swellings where its feet used to be, and ghostly traces of where the head and neck were.

In the early morning light, a huge bulldozer shifts massive blocks of the destroyed colossus, already labelled and classified, into undercover storage at the edge of the site.

Others, weighing 25 tons or even more, were moved earlier by crane. In a tiny cavern, local men are sawing away, making the wooden frames on which the pieces are being stored after they are moved.

What is going on here, and in the niche of the 38-metre smaller Buddha half a kilometre away, is emergency action: to protect the pieces of the statues, and to support the massive cliff walls, weakened by the Taleban's explosions.

For some people, it was the dynamiting of the two giant Buddhas in March 2001 that really opened their eyes to the Taleban's extraordinary politics.

They were built in the 6th century AD, when Bamiyan was a Buddhist trading post. Over the centuries they had suffered much destruction. But the Taleban, with their denunciation of idols, finished them off.

Now a debate on the statues' future is under way - as to whether they could, or should, be rebuilt. Since their destruction, the UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, has designated them as a World Heritage Site, so it, too, has a say in the matter.

Georgios Toubekis of the International Council on Monuments and Sites took me round the site of the larger Buddha. He and his colleagues are sorting through the debris and identifying, in particular, the pieces which show the sculpted surface of the Buddhas.

He shows me some key pieces. There is one where a fold of the Buddha's garment has been directly carved onto the cliff. Mostly, the clothes were moulded from a mix of plaster and straw and added afterwards.

On other pieces you can see the holes into which the sculptors placed the wooden pegs which were then connected with ropes and daubed with plaster.

Geologists are analysing the rock strata to identify where the pieces belonged in the original statues. "There is still a remarkable amount left," says Mr Toubekis. "We would say that most of the stone pieces are still here."

That may be over-optimistic, as a large portion of the statues was pulverised into dust. But some form of rebuilding may be feasible.

The experts may in time work out where all the surviving pieces belong and succeed in putting them back, holding them together with as little new material as possible.

That could fulfil Unesco's criteria, which outlaw any actual new building work. Mr Toubekis, however, is non-committal on whether he favours reconstruction. It is as if he wants Afghans to decide.

Nasir Mudabir, a young local man, vividly remembers hearing of the destruction from exile in Pakistan.

He and his family had fled there after their relatives were killed by the Taleban, being Shia Muslims of the ethnic Hazara community which predominates in Bamiyan.

"There was a picture of Buddha during the destruction, dust and fire and everything," he says. "When I saw the Buddha was destroyed I felt very sad. Very, very sad."

Mr Mudabir is now director of historic monuments for Bamiyan. But he doesn't believe in reconstruction. He wants the ruins to be left as a reminder of what happened, with small-scale replicas made instead.

"If we reconstruct the Buddha, it is not the real Buddha it was before," he says. "If we reconstruct, we destroy the history of the destruction by the Taleban."

Others say rebuilding the statues would simply be a waste of money in a poverty-stricken province.

But many disagree. Bamiyan town is alive again after years of suffering.

In the main bazaar street, the view is dominated by the empty gaps where the Buddhas once stood, with pinkish greyish cliffs above and a jagged skyline ridge.

In the streets it is impossible to find anyone who wants to leave the ruins alone. "They should rebuild the Buddhas because this is a historic thing of Bamiyan and Afghanistan," says grocer Said Ahmedullah.

Rohullah Moussavi, a youth, agrees. Reconstruction would be "very good for the people of Bamiyan, even for Afghanistan, even for the world", he says.

The governor of Bamiyan Province, Habiba Sarabi, also advocates reconstruction of at least one of the Buddhas. She says the statues were part of the life of local people and that rebuilding will create jobs and help tourism.

The fact that they were built for Buddhist veneration is, she says, not a problem. But it could be a long time before a decision either way is reached.

Every December, Unesco meets the Afghan government to reconsider the feasibility or desirability of rebuilding the Buddhas, based on what the experts are discovering about the ruins. For a good while yet, the two empty chasms will continue to dominate Bamiyan.

Reporters Put Life on Line

By Tahir Qadiry - MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Aug 25 (IPS) - The media in conflict-scarred Afghanistan is under increasing attack from Taliban forces and powerful social interests.

Three journalists, two of them women, were killed this year. The women reportedly received first threats warning them to stop reporting.

Zakia Zaki, 35, was shot dead as she slept in her bed with her young son on Jun.5. A respected journalist and human rights activist in the province of Parwan just north of Kabul, she headed the U.S.-funded Peace Radio. She was also the principal of a local school and ran for parliament in 2005.

Her killing came five days after the slaying in Kabul of Sanga Amach, 22, news presenter for Shamshad TV, a private television station.

On Apr. 8, the Taliban said they had killed young Ajmal Naqshbandi, who worked as a guide and translator for visiting foreign reporters. He was abducted along with an Italian journalist and their driver at a Taliban checkpoint in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on Mar. 6. The Italian reporter was later released in a deal with the Taliban, who killed both Afghans.

On Aug. 9, gunmen who identified themselves as personnel of the Afghanistan National Security Directorate picked up Kamran Mir Hazar, chief editor of a popular news website in Kabul and reporter for Salam Watandar Radio. The Ministry of Information has neither confirmed nor denied his arrest.

Since the establishment of the U.S.-supported Hamid Karzai government in 2001, the media has flourished in Afghanistan. There are eight TV stations, 40 private radio stations and some 300 newspapers and magazines.

But journalists point out that media freedom has been increasingly threatened by vested interests both inside and outside the government.

Rohullah Mojadidi, editor-in-chief of a bi-monthly newspaper in northern Afghanistan, says that he cannot afford to be blunt in his writings, and has to exercise self-censorship.

"I think life is choking me now," he reflects. "There are lots of shortcomings in our society that I want to write, but I cannot do that. I don’t want to put my life at risk," he says.

Mojadidi established the independent newspaper a year ago. He says that the paper pays for itself from the sales. Mojadidi says that he has received a number of anonymous phone calls threatening him with death.

"I once published an article about the warlords and the weapons in their possession. The next day, I received tens of calls threatening me with death. I was not afraid, but feared the threat to my family. The calls have not stopped. They still call to warn me," he says.

"I have a child. My wife is against my profession. She doesn’t want to lose me as I am the breadwinner of the family," he adds. Mojadidi says he has reported the matter to security officials.

Ahmad Masud Ansari, a reporter for a private TV station in northern Afghanistan, candidly observes that he’s scared of his profession.

"I really am afraid of my job. Taliban are targeting journalists now. I want to change my career. I don’t want to be victim of (unforeseen) events," he says.

Naqibullah Hejran, producer of a political programme on the independent Arzu TV, also fears the situation. "I discuss very hot topics on this programme. Recently, I discussed fundamentalism. I received many calls and they were death threats," he says. "I don’t know whether to quit the job or accept the risk!"

Women journalists in Afghanistan are particularly at risk.

Tamana, a young girl, who used to work in a private TV station here in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, has quit her job. "I used to broadcast the news. I covered myself with a scarf, but I received anonymous calls threatening me with death. I received text messages on my mobile telling me to quit the job or accept death," she says.

She says her family decided not to let her work in TV anymore.

Meanwhile, Negin Parsa, another female reporter for Arzu Radio station, says she hides her profession from her friends and relatives. "My family is against what I am doing," she says. "They say the Taliban will kill me one day. But, I am interested in radio. When I hear that a journalist was killed in Afghanistan, I believe my turn will also come one day, but still I would love to die for my job," she adds passionately.

Mobina Khair Andish, head of Rabia Balkhi Women’s Radio Station, says her team is aware of the risks but continue to broadcast. "Some 20 girls are working at my radio station. When Zakia Zaki was shot dead, we were a bit frightened. We have not received any direct threats, but we live in fear of losing our lives," she observes.

Journalists’ associations have been trying to fight for media rights. Abdul Basir Babai, head of the provincial journalists’ union in Balkh Province says they have received many complaints of death threats from journalists.

"Unknown people have been threatening our journalists. The situation is not easy for journalists to report fairly," he says.

Qazi Sayed Ahmad Sami of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission says they are in close touch with journalists. "Sometimes warlords or unknown people threaten the journalists. But, we are keeping an eye on the situation. It is a war-plagued country and anything can happen here," he observes.

The police in Balkh province claim they are working round the clock for the safety of journalists. "We even send soldiers if they (reporters) go outside the capital for reporting," Sardar Mohammad Sultani, the provincial security commander told IPS.

'They fire first and think later,' say British soldiers

The Times, August 24, 2007, Tim Albone in Kabul

The friendly-fire deaths in Helmand have reopened a schism between American and British troops over how to fight the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Although publicly British commanders insist the Americans are still a vital ally in the fight against insurgents, privately British soldiers expressed concern and anger at their "gung-ho" approach.

Squadron Leader John Gunther, a British spokesman in Helmand, told The Times: “The Americans have helped us out on many occasions. The cause of the accident is under investigation, what I will say is that although tragic, friendly fire incidents are rare and are part of armed conflict.

“We have methods in place to stop this, but they are not fail-safe.” However, news that an investigation was being launched did little to appease the British soldiers on the ground.

“I just can’t figure out how this has happened. How do you tell the families they were killed by supposed allies?” one British soldier asked.

“Whenever I hear we have American jets overhead I get f***ing worried,” another serviceman said. “They just don’t seem to know what they are doing a lot of the time.”

“They have a different approach to us, they fire first and think later,” said another.

“Here we are fighting the Taleban and they (US warplanes) are dropping bombs on us," said a British soldier. "They are meant to have the best equipment, yet this still happens time and time again. You have to wonder what they are doing.”

Earlier this month an unnamed senior British officer told The New York Times that differences in tactics were such that he had asked American Special Forces teams to pull out of the town of Sangin, in Helmand, because they were causing so many casualties and undermining support for reconstruction projects.

The US forces also planned to build a patrol base near a religious shrine and a graveyard — a proposal only abandoned after British troops intervened.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, was forced to issue a statement after the report, in which he said the views were those of a single officer. "It is not the view of the alliance. These things can be said in the heat of battle," he said.

But when The Times visited Sangin last month, other soldiers were willing to describe the difficulties of working with their allies. “They just seem to have no idea how to fight a counterinsurgency, we have a history but they have no reference points” said one soldier.

“They have a different approach to us, if we get in an ambush we pull back and assess the situation," said another. "They try and shoot their way through it and kill as many people as possible.”

Hong Kong Harries Afghanistan

August 24, 2007,Asian Cricket Council (Malaysia)

A compelling tussle, in the balance to almost the very end, saw Hong Kong narrowly lose to Afghanistan in the latest match in the ACC U-19 Elite Cup. It was a match The result now means that Afghanistan are firmly on the top of Group B and have guaranteed themselves a place in the semi-finals.

Afghanistan won by 17 runs, but it wasn't easy as Hong Kong put up a very creditable fight. Hong Kong's bowlers bowled beautifully in the morning, particularly their three left-arm spinners Nadeem Ahmed, John Bacon and Shakeel Haq. Between them they bowled 30 overs for just 97 runs taking three wickets. Not easy when you're up against an Afghan line-up who are punishing on anything fractionally off-line.

Afghanistan attacked from the outset, their first runs coming from three boundaries by Sajed Khan and Abdul Qader. However, as was the case throughout, Hong Kong's bowlers maintained their discipline and allowed Afghanistan's batsmen to self-destruct. Khan and Qader fell, driving, and when Afghanistan's captain Sher Sherzai fell to another loose stroke for just 3, Afghanistan were 25 for 3 and potentially in a bit of trouble.

"They don't like slow bowling", said Hong Kong's coach Lal Jayasinghe of Afghanistan's batsmen, "they don't use their feet so they can't hit freely at all." Initially that didn't bother Obaidullah Kunari, who smashed his third, eighth, tenth and twelfth deliveries for 6, each hit over the boundary straighter and further than the last. Kunari hit six 6s in all and all credit to slow left-armer Shakeel Huq who had 16 hit off his first five balls, to keep tossing the ball up as Kunari, going for yet another monster of a smite, was caught by Robert Bacon at fly slip for 44 off just 19 deliveries. "I was trying to break Shahid Afridi's record," Kunari said afterwards. (Afridi is thought of as Afghani by the Afghans).

From 77 for 3 in the 12th over, Afghanistan fell away to 79 for 5 and once more the game was in the balance. At that stage Shabbir Noori joined Noor ul-Huq ('The Rock', his team-mates call him) and Afghanistan spent a lot of time regrouping. Noor alone amongst his team-mates looks comfortable against spin and though Hong Kong's slow left-arm trio started to assert themselves from now on in, they could never trouble Noor. Only after he reached 50, (off 123 deliveries) did he allow himself the freedom to hit over the top and two sixes later was out for 64. So hard had he concentrated in the 86 degree heat that a migraine meant he couldn't take the field later.

His 76-run partnership with Noori had brought Afghanistan back into the game but following his departure, the remaining batsmen ("We bat all the way down to 10", says the Afghan coach) couldn't push on as Hong Kong worked themselves back into the game with tight-bowling and good fielding. Dismissed for 189 inside 50 overs, Afghanistan had handed Hong Kong a fighting chance.

"It was a gettable target and I backed the boys to get it," said Lal Jayasinghe. Nadeem Ahmed got a snorter to the sixth ball of the Hong Kong innings however, the ball of the day, as Asghar Hussain worked up a head of steam from the Kinrara Road end. Shakeel Haq stayed a long time but pushed on to the back foot time and time again by Hussain and Izatullah Khan, he couldn't manage more than 2 runs off his 31 deliveries. James Atkinson fell for 1 soon after and at 21 for 3, Hong Kong were in dire straits.

In Robert Bacon, a tall, elegant right-hander however, they have some batsman. With his captain Courtney Kruger he shared a 55-run partnership full of positivity in running and strokeplay before Bacon hit a ball from slow left-armer Aimal Wafa into short mid-wicket's hands. Such had been the class of his 47, it was a surprise to see him fall in this bathetic manner.

Afghanistan then turned the screws as steadily fell the Hong Kong wickets, the skies also darkening above them. But they were also scoring runs and at 113 for 6 at the start of the 38th over, they were still in with a chance. But Izatullah Khan, coming back for his second spell bowled him and every subsequent yorker was deadly. Izatullah's second spell of 3-1-4-2 was high-class and would have troubled Hong Kong's top-order. Still, it was only when little Ashish Gadhia was run-out for 23 after a clever innings could Afghanistan really relax.

Hong Kong ultimately fell 17 runs short but the game was very close to being theirs for a very long time.

Group B

Afghanistan v Hong Kong at Kinrara Oval
AFGHANISTAN WON BY 17 RUNS
Hong Kong won the toss and elected to field
Afghanistan: 189 in 49.4 overs (N. ul-Haq 64, O. Kunari 44; S. Haq 4-43)
Hong Kong: 172 after 50 overs (R. Bacon 47; I. Khan 4-19)
Man of the match: Izatullah Khan (Afghanistan)

Afghanistan women's football team lose in Pakistan final

Fri Aug 24, 1:31 PM ET

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Afghanistan's women football team went down 1-0 in a hard-fought final in Pakistan's national championship but captain Sahmila Kohistani said her side still made history.

"I am proud of my team and playing the final in an event in Pakistan is historic," Kohistani, whose team lost to Lahore's Sports Sciences Club, told AFP.

The Afghan team, on their first tour abroad, could not match their opponents despite their aggressive efforts after Ayesha Khan scored the only goal of the match in the 26th minute.

Afghanistan lost their first match in the championship which started last week but raised their game in the remaining matches.

The winners received a glittering trophy and a cash prize of 50,000 rupees (800 US dollars) while the Afghan team won 30,000 rupees. Kohistani said her players were proud just to have played in the championship, let alone finish runners-up.

"We have achieved a great milestone, being the first team from Afghanistan to compete outside the country and President Hamid Karzai wished us the best of luck before the final," said Kohistani.

"Our achievement in the event will go a long way in promoting women's football in Afghanistan which is in a nascent stage," said Kohistani whose team overturned Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province in the semi-final.

"Football has changed our lives and competing in this event and being looked after so well by the hosts will remain in our memories forever," said Kohistani, who also finished as her team's top-scorer with four goals, including a hat-trick.

Afghanistan will now play two friendly matches -- their first against any national side -- when they take on Pakistan in Lahore on August 26 and 27.

Children under 12 to travel free on public transport

KABUL, Aug 23 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Thirty-five per cent of seats on public transport will be reserved for women while children under 12 will not be charged for fares.

Ministries of Women Affairs, Transportation and Aviation, Traffic Department, UNIFEM and Afghan Women Network (AWN) reached an agreement to the effect here on Thursday.

Minister for Women Affairs Hasan Bano Ghazanfar urged the Transport and Aviation Ministry as well Traffic Department to help her ministry implement the plan. She added seats should be reserved for women, the elderly and disabled.

Schoolchildren under 12 years of age should be allowed to travel free on public transport, she opined, asking the Interior Ministry and Traffic Department to police violations of the agreement.

Transport Minister Niamatullah Ehsan agreed the reservation of seats would resolve womens problems but "we have only 800 buses in Kabul for a population of more than four million people." He recalled 1.8 million people lived in Kabul in 1990 when 2,500 buses plied city roads.

Nazia (22), a third year student of literature at Kabul University, complained: "We have to wait until late in the evening to find a bus; some of the men dont allow us to embark, much less offer a seat.

Afghanistan: Women's Soccer Wins Support In First Games Abroad

By Ron Synovitz, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

August 24, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan's first all-women's national soccer team is to be ranked by world soccer's governing body, FIFA, after its first series of games abroad.

The Afghan women play in the final of a tournament in Pakistan today and then have three games next week against Pakistan's national team.

Playing as guests this week in the Women's National Soccer League tournament in Pakistan, the Afghan national women's team advanced to today's final in Islamabad by winning three out of five qualifying games.

The team includes schoolgirls in their early teens who would be eligible to play in youth leagues in many countries.

Musharraf down, but far from out

By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / August 25, 2007

KARACHI - The news on Thursday that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will be allowed to return to Pakistan after seven years of exile in Saudi Arabia has widely been interpreted as yet another blow to President General Pervez Musharraf.

However, this is not necessarily the case, and Musharraf may yet emerge triumphant in elections scheduled for this year or early next, as he has the backing of the United States and its allies in the "war on terror".

The Supreme Court - led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who only recently was reinstated after being suspended by Musharraf - ruled that Sharif and his brother Shahbaz and their families were free to return to the country.

Sharif was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless coup in October 1999 and was subsequently jailed on a host of charges, including hijacking and corruption. He went into exile in a deal brokered by the Saudis.

Shahbaz, a leading official in Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), is expected to return to Pakistan first and stage large street rallies in Punjab province as part of a muscle-flexing exercise. Sharif will then return to launch what many expect to be a challenge to Musharraf's military regime.

Musharraf and his Western backers, however, view things rather differently. It is envisaged that the general remain the central figure in politics around which a national cohesive government will then be established.

Retired Major-General Jamshed Ayaz Khan, the president of a national policy think-tank, the Institute of Regional Studies, believes that in Washington's policy framework Musharraf remains the central leader and other political parties will be persuaded to back him.

Another former premier, Benazir Bhutto, who also lives in exile, in the United Arab Emirates, has already had talks with Musharraf over returning to the country and her Pakistan People's Party Parliamentary sharing power with Musharraf.

The central issue revolves around Musharraf's position as chief of army staff - he has on many occasions said he would abandon the uniform, but he still wears it. There is even unrest in Musharraf's ruling Pakistan Muslim League over his being re-elected in his uniform, with several members of Parliament openly airing their disapproval.

"The present situation will lead to a government of national unity, and almost all the big political parties will join the government. Even Nawaz Sharif will eventually gravitate towards reconciliation," said Khan.

"The president will have to be elected from Parliament, with uniform, and he will be backed by the military. But only for a transition phase. The military understands that the election of Musharraf in uniform is essential for a smooth transition of power from military hands to a civilian setup," said Khan.

Street politics in the near term will grab most of the headlines in Pakistan, but the US and its allies are unlikely to change horses in midstream. They are banking on Musharraf to keep hold of the reins, at least until an orderly return to a strong civilian government can be guaranteed.

[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.]