In this bulletin:

• 12 South Koreans freed in Afghanistan
• Suicide blast in Afghanistan kills six
• US kills 100 'insurgents' in Afghanistan battle
• Six ISAF soldiers among nine dead in attacks
• Canadian soldier found dead in Kabul
• Canada announces $45m aid to Afghanistan
• Final Van Doos soldiers head to Afghanistan
• Afghan president says international community must cooperate in drug fight
• US sees headway in Afghan anti-drug campaign
• Eradication or legalisation? How to solve Afghanistan's opium crisis
• Hostage deal fuels Taliban legitimacy
• Strike inside Pakistan due to ‘mistake’: NATO
• Rebels fired mortars at civilians: Coalition
• Pakistan transfers rebel commander to Afghan custody
• Afghanistan gets new service provider, predicts telecom boom
• US vows all-out support for Afghan private sector
• Qalat PRT engineers assess Zabul road project
• UNHCR plea on refugees turned down: officials
• Pakistan wants gradual return of refugees
• Massive Afghan Opium Production Hits Neighbors
• Offering hope to Afghan addicts

12 South Koreans freed in Afghanistan

Taliban militants on Wednesday released 12 of 19 South Korean captives they promised to free under a deal struck with the South Korean government to resolve a hostage crisis that began almost six weeks ago.

The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at three separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, according to an Associated Press reporter who witnessed the handovers.

The first group of three women were released in the village of Qala-e-Kazi. Several hours later, four women and one man were released in a desert close to Shah Baz. As dusk approached, four more hostages were freed on a main road around 31 miles from Ghazni.

QALA-E-KAZI, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban militants on Wednesday released eight of 19 South Korean captives they promised to free under a deal struck with the South Korean government to resolve a nearly six-week hostage crisis.

The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at two separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.

Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 100 suspected Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

The first group of three women were released in the village of Qala-e-Kazi. Several hours later, four women and one man were released in a desert close to Shah Baz, said the reporter, who witnessed both hand-overs.

None of the eight said anything to reporters.

The three women arrived in Qala-E-Kazi in a single car, their heads covered with red and green shawls. Red Cross officials quickly took the three to their vehicles before leaving for the office of the Afghan Red Crescent in Ghazni, witnesses said.

In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said the three, who he identified as Ahn Hye-jin, Lee Jung-ran and Han Ji-young, did not appear to have any health problems.

To secure the release of the church workers, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made well before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the country, something it already promised to do.

The Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange.

The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 hostages as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants executed two male hostages, and they released two women earlier this month.

The insurgents have said they will free all the hostages, who they are holding in different locations, over the next few days.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the news of a deal and called for all the hostages to be freed quickly.

He said he used "all possible efforts" as secretary-general to help obtain the release of the hostages, talking to leaders in Afghanistan and the region who might have influence.

"I welcome that news that both the Korean government and Taliban representatives have agreed to release the remaining 19 hostages," he said.

The Tuesday deal was made in face-to-face talks between Taliban negotiators and South Korean diplomats in the central Afghan city of Ghazni. The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which were facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The South Korean government and relatives of the hostages have stressed that the South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan were not missionaries, but were doing aid work such as helping in hospitals.

The Taliban had been demanding the release of militant prisoners in exchange for freeing the hostages. Afghan officials had ruled out any exchange, saying such a move would only encourage further abductions.

Abductions have become a key insurgent tactic in recent months in trying to destabilize the country, targeting both Afghan officials and foreigners helping with reconstruction. A German engineer and four Afghan colleagues kidnapped a day before the South Koreans are still being held.

Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 100 suspected Taliban insurgents, and a suicide bomber blew himself next to an army patrol, killing two Afghan soldiers and four civilians, officials said.

The insurgents were killed Tuesday in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan after the joint force was ambushed by a large group of militants who tried to overrun their position, a statement from the coalition said.

The force called in airstrikes, which killed more than 100 suspected insurgents, the coalition said late Tuesday. The casualty figures could not be independently verified because of the remoteness of the area.

The clash left one Afghan soldier dead and three wounded. Three coalition soldiers were also wounded, it said. The nationality of the coalition soldiers was not disclosed, but the vast majority of foreign troops in the area are American.

Suicide blast in Afghanistan kills six

Khost (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded bazaar in eastern Afghanistan, killing four civilians and two Afghan soldiers, a provincial governor told AFP.

About a dozen other people, most of them civilians, were wounded in the attack near the Pakistani border, Paktika governor Mohammad Akram Khepelwak told AFP.

The blast was the second in as many days in the restive region. Three international soldiers were killed in a similar bombing at a bridge construction site Tuesday in neighbouring Paktia province.

The target of the attack in the district of Barmal appeared to be Afghan soldiers who were in the bazaar shopping, reports said.

The blast was similar to scores of others carried out by the hardline Islamic Taliban militia, which is waging an Al-Qaeda-backed insurgency that sees regular attacks along the border region.

It comes amid a spike in clashes between the Taliban and security forces, who include about 50,000 international soldiers supporting the fledgling Afghan security forces.

The US-led coalition said late Tuesday that more than 100 Taliban rebels were killed in a day of fierce fighting in the southern province of Kandahar.

The three international soldiers were killed the same day, taking to nine the number to die in clashes in Afghanistan since Sunday.

US kills 100 'insurgents' in Afghanistan battle

Mark Tran and agencies, Wednesday August 29, 2007 Guardian Unlimited

The US today said its forces had killed more than 100 suspected insurgents after a convoy was ambushed in the southern province of Kandahar.

"Coalition aircraft destroyed the reinforced enemy emplacements and sniper positions, as well as two trucks used to reinforce and re-supply the insurgent force," a US military statement said.

There were no civilian casualties, the US added, but one Afghan soldier was killed and three wounded.

Three other soldiers were injured. Their nationality was not disclosed, but most of foreign troops in the area are American. The Taliban is particularly strong in Kandahar, where the movement had its roots.

The number of insurgents killed could not be independently verified but, if confirmed, would represent the highest Taliban death toll for many weeks.

Elsewhere, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to an Afghan army patrol in a market in Paktika province, killing two soldiers and four shoppers, a local official said. Ten other people were wounded.

Violence in Afghanistan has surged over the past 19 months - the bloodiest period since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001. Nine western soldiers, most of them American, have been killed in Taliban attacks in several parts of Afghanistan over recent days.

Six ISAF soldiers among nine dead in attacks

ASADABAD/GARDEZ, Aug 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Three ISAF troops and two Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were killed in a firefight with Taliban militants in Ghaziabad district of the troubled eastern Kunar province on Monday.

Staff Captain Abdul Qayum, Ghaziabad district police chief, confirmed to Pajhwok Afghan News the NATO-led force and ANA suffered the fatalities in the clash with the insurgents at 10am. The Afghan-NATO troops were patrolling Song area of the district when they came under attack.

Another three ISAF soldiers were wounded, the police officer pointed out, explaining six ANA personnel also sustained injuries in the battle. Qayum said two NATO and ANA vehicles were destroyed in the fire exchange.

Rahmanullah, ISAF spokesman in eastern zone, also verified the casualties that came a day after the death of two NATO soldiers in separate in incidents of violence in the south and east.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also said the fighters had an encounter with foreign and Afghan forces in Ghaziabad. He claimed the guerrillas inflicted heavy casualties on the troops but did not give an exact figure.

In the southeast, the fighters said, they killed three ISAF troops but the force confirmed the loss of only one soldier in Paktika on Monday morning. Mujahid informed this news agency the Taliban blew up an ISAF tank in Zheruk district of Paktika.

ISAF media office of southeastern zone, confirming the death, declined to give the name or nationality of the fallen soldier. Mostly US forces are stationed in the southeast region.

Sunday and Monday were bloody days for ISAF in the east and south, where it lost at least six soldiers. Around 175 foreign soldiers have been killed in different parts of Afghanistan this year.

Earlier in the day, NATO said two soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed and a third wounded in separate incidents of violence. One soldier was killed and another injured when their patrol was hit by an improvised explosive device in the troubled south on Sunday.

"It is a sad fact that ISAF troops, and the local population, contend with the threat of IED strikes on a daily basis; the work to reduce this threat goes on," Lt Col Bridget Rose, a spokesperson for Regional Command South said.

Another NATO soldier was killed during a patrol in eastern Afghanistan, where an ISAF unit came under small-arms fire during a dismounted patrol. The soldier was initially wounded and immediately evacuated to a nearby medical treatment facility, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

Canadian soldier found dead in Kabul

Canadian Press, August 29, 2007

KABUL — A member of the Canadian Forces has been found dead of a gunshot wound inside a secure compound in the Afghan capital.

A military statement says the soldier serving at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul died shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time today.

The victim had been found seriously injured in his room an hour earlier and doctors were unable to save him. Few other details are available.

However, military officials ruled out enemy action, saying the incident occurred within the secure ISAF compound. Capt. Sylvain Chalifour says nothing has been ruled out for the time being concerning the cause of the soldier's death.

Investigators are seriously looking at the possibility of suicide but aren't ruling out homicide or a firearms accident. The deceased's name is being temporarily withheld at the family's request. Seventy Canadian soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

Canada announces $45m aid to Afghanistan

NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Canada has announced another $45 million in aid to Afghanistan to fund five key health and community development projects in the southern Kandahar province.

The announcement was made by Canadian Minister of International Co-operation Beverley J Oda at Afghanistan Independence Day celebrations in Toronto on Saturday. The event was organised by the Afghan Association of Ontario.

"Today's contribution will build on previous successes by supporting projects aiming to enhance health services and community development in Kandahar, one of the provinces in greatest need of our assistance," he said in his speech at the function.

The new projects, he said, built on major funding announced in February 2007 by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to accelerate the reconstruction and development process.

"Canada's new government is proud to stand beside the Afghan people as they strive to build better lives for themselves and secure a better future for their children," he remarked. The amount is part of Canada's total contribution of more than $1 billion over 10 years, aimed at good governance, security and reconstruction.

Giving details of the new funding, the Canadian minister said $17.5 million would be spent through the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help implement a national polio eradication initiative and a tuberculosis-control programme.

Another $ 10 million is to the National Solidarity Programme to build on the

substantial results achieved to date in areas of local governance and community development; while an equal amount would go to UNICEF to help improve access to maternal and child health services in the southern region, with a focus on Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar City.

Canada would also give $ 5 million to the Kandahar Local Initiatives Programme to support small-scale, quick-action development and reconstruction plans that respond to immediate needs; and $2.5 million for a rapid-response health intervention fund for local NGOs and institutions in the province, he added.

Thanking Canada for the funding announcement of $45 million, Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad said: This allocation is vital to our overall attempt at creating the enabling environment for peace and economic progress, especially in the Kandahar province."

Samad continued: I am certain that thousands of lives will be touched and even saved by these contributions. Much has been achieved over the past few years, and the overall Canadian contribution has been outstanding." Lalit K. Jha

Final Van Doos soldiers head to Afghanistan

CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette , Wednesday, August 29, 2007

VALCARTIER - "It's hard." Chantale Descarie was eloquently simple in expressing her feelings as her husband, Cpl. Marcel Descarie prepared to board a plane to Afghanistan Tuesday, part of the final 118 soldiers of the latest Quebec-led rotation of Canadian troops on their way to a mission few Quebecers support.

Cpl. Descarie said while public support in Canada and other NATO countries for the mission may be mixed, his family supports it. "They understand we are going there to help," Descarie said.

Flags at the Valcartier military base flew at half staff to honour three Quebec-based soldiers who were killed last week by improvised explosive devices, the favourite weapon of the Taliban insurgents, as Canada's fourth rotation, including 44 solders based in Valcartier, 57 from Edmonton and 17 based in Petawawa, Ont., readied for departure.

Funerals for Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne and Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier will be held Friday, near Valcartier.

Wednesday, their families, who have requested a limited media presence at the funerals, issued a statement thanking Canadians for "the incredible show of support during the repatriation in Trenton on Aug. 26.

"Veterans, ambulance workers, firefighters, police officers and citizens alike were present to pay their last respects to the fallen soldiers," said the statement released by the Canadian Forces. "A crowd of thousands gathered along the road separating Trenton airport from Toronto to salute the passing procession. Many were even perched on overpasses or parked alongside of highway 401.

"The Duchesne and Mercier families were deeply touched by this spectacular demonstration of support.

"Christian and Mario's families would like to emphasize the sacrifice of all Canadian soldiers deceased during foreign country mission. They gave their lives to allow others to hope for a brighter future.

From the Duchesne and Mercier family, sincere thanks and keep supporting your troops." Most of the 2,500-member rotation, under the command of Valcartier-based Brig.-Gen Guy Laroche, are there for six months.

Capt. Martin Rivard, a telecommunications officer who will be in Afghanistan for nine months, said if there is less-than-unanimous support for the mission, it is because people don't know that the NATO mission aims to rebuild Afghanistan and allow the Afghans to develop a form of democracy.

"They haven't been informed of the purpose of the mission," Rivard said. "Maybe we don't talk enough about the good part of the mission," said Pte. Laurent Proulx, of the 12th Armoured Regiment of Canada, who is a crew member in a Leopard tank.

Proulx said the mission is a "challenge," but added, "It's part of my job." Proulx, 20, joined the army cadets as a teenager and has been in the regular forces for two years. "I signed up to defend Canadian values," he said.

Capt. Tanya Levesque from Chicoutimi said the deaths and the wounding of Canadian soldiers is "unfortunate." But, "it's part of the job."

Levesque will spend most of her time at the Kandahar base. "It's my job," she said. "I take the risks that come with it."

Afghan president says international community must cooperate in drug fight

The Associated Press - Wednesday, August 29, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai criticized leading Western nations on Wednesday for what he said was their failure to cooperate in tackling soaring opium production in the country.

Karzai's comments came two days after an annual report by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime showed an explosion in opium production in the insurgency-wracked country, which now accounts for 93 percent of overall world production of the crop, which is used to make heroin.

"There is not enough cooperation among the members of the international community in the fight against drugs in Afghanistan," Karzai told a gathering of government, tribal and religious leaders as well as international representatives. "We will not be successful if the international community does not respect our thoughts and ideas."

Karzai did not elaborate, but asked local leaders at the meeting to use their influence to try to end opium poppy farming.

Afghanistan has opium growing on 193,000 hectares (477,000 acres) of land, a 17 percent increase from last year's record 165,000 hectares (408,000 acres), according to the annual UNODC survey.

While 13 provinces in the relatively stable north are now poppy free — up from six last year — production in the insurgency-wracked south has surged to unprecedented levels.

"Wherever the government is present (the drug fight) is successful, but where the government is overshadowed, it is not successful," Karzai said.

The burgeoning drug business has cast doubt on the effectiveness of anti-opium projects funded by the United States and other Western donors. It also adds pressure on Karzai to consider new ways of curbing an expansion that threatens to turn Afghanistan into a "narco-state," where some warn that groups such as al-Qaida could again find sanctuary.

Karzai has rejected U.S. offers to spray this year's crop out of fears herbicide could affect livestock, legal crops and water supplies. The issue remains a sticking point between U.S. and other nations, especially Britain.

Thomas Schweich, the State Department's top counternarcotics official, said the only way to be effective is "forced, nonnegotiable, equitable eradication," while rewarding those who help bring production down.

"Aerial eradication is undoubtedly the most effective way," Schweich told reporters separately in Kabul. He said, however, that the Afghan government would make a final decision on the issue.

US sees headway in Afghan anti-drug campaign

By P Parameswaran

The number of provinces which are opium-free has more than doubled from six last year to 13 in 2007

AFGHANISTAN’S opium production may have doubled and reached a new high in 2007 but the United States still sees headway in the counternarcotics campaign in the state, where drug money is fuelling terrorism and corruption.

The number of provinces which are opium-free has more than doubled from six last year to 13 in 2007, with a clear link established between the expansion of government authority and decrease in poppy cultivation, the State Department said Monday. “So there is real positive change occurring,” department spokesman Tom Casey said as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime gave a bleak analysis on the anti-drug effort in Afghanistan, six years after a US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban militant group.

The report said Afghanistan’s opium production doubled in two years to reach a new high in 2007, and the southern province of Helmand had become the world’s biggest source of illicit drugs, surpassing the output of entire countries. The number of heroin labs has also increased and the area used for growing opium in Afghanistan was now larger than the combined total used to grow coca - the raw ingredient for cocaine - in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, it said.

This came despite a multi-million-dollar effort led by Britain and the United States to cut the opium trade, which finances the growing Taliban insurgency that has killed thousands, including scores of Western soldiers. But Casey said that a two-tiered poppy cultivation system had emerged in Afghanistan, with areas where adequate security and development assistance provided in a “meaningful way” experiencing a drop in cultivation.

“In fact, it’s twice the number of provinces - from six last year to 13 this year” - that are poppy free from a total number of 34 provinces, he said. “So why are the numbers then going up? The numbers are going up exactly in those places where there is greatest insecurity, where there is greatest activity on the part of the Taliban and other violent elements and where the government

has not yet been able to deal with those very basic security problems,” he said.

This has also limited the ability of the authorities to provide for economic development, including alternative development programs, for people in the problem areas, he said. “So this is something where as much as it is bad news that the crop has increased, there is good news to be reported in there is a clear linkage between the expansion of government authority and decrease in national poppy cultivation in a number of areas,” Casey said.

“All that means though we still have a tremendous amount of work to do, and we are hopeful that our revised strategy is going to again better enable us to carry out that work,” he said. The United States unveiled a new counter narcotics strategy for Afghanistan this month, stressing greater coordination between counternarcotics and counterinsurgency planning and operations.

There would also be greater use of financial incentives to deter poppy production and appropriate penalties for those who continue to engage in illicit drug trafficking.

But the strategy lacks recognition that Afghanistan is approaching “a crisis point,” said US lawmakers Tom Lantos and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican respectively in the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee. They said in a joint statement after the strategy was unveiled on August 9 that “immediate action is required to eliminate the threat of drug kingpins and cartels allied with terrorists so we can reverse the country’s steady slide into a potential failed narco-state.”

The United States has been pushing for aerial spraying to eradicate poppy crops but the idea was dropped due to objections from the Afghan government worried about a public backlash. Afp

Eradication or legalisation? How to solve Afghanistan's opium crisis

Declan Walsh and Ian Black, Wednesday August 29, 2007 The Guardian

The UN reported on Monday that there had been a "frightening" explosion in opium production in Afghanistan with Helmand province, where Britain has 7,000 troops deployed, leading the way. A record crop means that the country now accounts for 93% of the world's supply and the situation is getting worse daily despite billions being spent to eradicate the trade since 2001.

Here the Guardian asks experts in the field what can be done to bring production of the drug to an end.

Chris Alexander - Deputy special representative of the UN secretary general to Afghanistan

The report is astonishingly downbeat and rightly so. But it does point to some solutions. This year we have doubled the number of poppy free provinces from six to 13. The incentives for others to follow suit must be massively strengthened. We need structured investments in governance, law enforcement, agriculture and infrastructure.

The next step is for the government of Afghanistan and donors to get serious about removing known traffickers from positions of responsibility. This does not require trials and conviction; it can be done on the basis of administrative responsibilities. Everyone in the government from President Karzai down knows this has to be done ... They know who these people are and, with the right support from the international community, can take action.

Thirdly our counter-narcotics and counterinsurgency strategies need to be much more closely linked. Drug trafficking is benefiting from the muddy waters created by the Taliban in the southern provinces where most of the poppy is being grown. The Taliban have an interest in preventing rule of law and governance from emerging. Those who insist on making an alliance with them should be treated with the same seriousness.

On legalisation, we have real questions about the credibility of that proposal. You cannot legalise something in the absence of the rule of law. Legalisation would merely add a notionally legalised component of production.

Joanna Nathan - International Crisis Group analyst

The crucial place to start is at the top because you get much more bang for your buck. Targeting poor farmers means less overall effect and causes enormous discontent when they can see the hypocrisy of government and local administration officials brazenly flaunting their drugs wealth. A culture of impunity has been allowed to flourish which has been a corrupting influence on the new state institutions as well as fuelling the insurgency. This means some officials have an interest in keeping the countryside lawless and facilitating alliances with the Taliban. That is scary.

Aerial eradication of poppies is not the solution. While some ground-based manual eradication is important as a stick, to discourage particularly new growers, it hits the poorest hardest. Aerial eradication can be too indiscriminate and would enrage a large sector of the population possibly driving them into the arms of the insurgents. On the other hand the proposal to license opium for medicinal use is unfeasible at this stage. Most of the drugs grown in Afghanistan are in Helmand which they haven't been able to stop when it is completely illegal. How would you then insert a massive licensing bureaucracy there and stop those who continue to grow for the black market? The price differentials would be so large there would be no incentive to grow for a licensed market.

Norine Macdonald - The Senlis Council

The international community is spending millions of dollars on flawed strategies. Poppy crop eradication was reinforced this year but in the current environment of rural poverty and lack of sustainable alternatives, eradication is wholly ineffective. The crisis is a problem of economic development. Farmers are cultivating poppy because there are no profitable alternatives. In such an environment, crop eradication puts the future of Afghanistan and the entire region in jeopardy.

Opium is the raw material for morphine and other essential medicines. To start tackling the economic nature of the crisis, we presented in June a village-based Poppy for Medicine model whose crux is the production of painkilling medicines. Such a programme would allow farming communities to produce morphine locally, bringing added value to the villages and providing rural communities with viable economic opportunities. This would trigger alternative livelihood programmes, foster rural development and generate economic diversification.

The Senlis Council wants international support for our request to run scientific Poppy for Medicine pilot projects in the next planting season. The alarming UN figures should be reason enough to try a different approach, tailored to the realities of Afghanistan in terms of security and development.

The Senlis Council is a security and development policy group.

Daoud Sultanzoi - MP for Ghazni province

A lot could have been done earlier but was not. Now the situation has reached the point where we are in a vicious circle. Drugs, bad management, rule of law, poverty, terrorism and weak government - all of these things have haunted us over the past six years. The international community is pouring billions of dollars, at least on paper, into Afghanistan. But our government is weak and there is corruption at every level. If the foreign friends are not involved in corruption themselves, then they are failing to ensure accountability inside the government. So they are also responsible.

There is so much waste and so little coordination. The foreigners come here for just one year and call themselves experts. They go on vacation 10 times, draw fat salaries and conduct themselves one inch lower than the clouds. They are not in touch with the real problems of the country; they become their own problem. We could start to resolve this with rule of law and good governance. The international community should have been urged to coordinate with us. We should have revamped our agricultural industry to offset the need for cultivating poppy. I am not hopeless about drugs but I sense hopelessness among many people across the country.

Barnett Rubin
Centre for International Cooperation, New York University

The UN report is about cultivation, not the entire Afghan drug economy. So it doesn't have a lot about trafficking or heroin refining, which are extremely important. The most important people are those in high-level positions who are given money but are not involved in drugs themselves and therefore have deniability. They are getting political contributions so certain trucks aren't searched or certain people appointed to key positions. The point about the northern provinces being opium-free is correct, but there is still a lot of trafficking there and leaders are making plenty of money from the trade.

Eradication was only done in Thailand 10 years after starting alternative development. In Colombia success was due to building up the police and state structures. If you attempt massive eradication in Afghanistan while the state is so weak and there are no alternative livelihoods people will simply not allow the government into the area.

There's a value chain in the drug business and you have to start at the high end. Concentrate your limited forces where the value is and then you have to win over the peasantry. You have to give aid to provinces that eliminate or reduce poppy. That's a good idea, but they're just starting it now. And people don't consider alternative livelihoods just because the US has started a programme. If they are switching to growing fruit trees it can take a few years to get them established. We have done a poor job on eradication but an even worse one with alternative livelihoods. It's outrageous to accuse Afghan farmers of being greedy. Controlled buyback may be possible in a period of transition, but it's not a silver bullet.

Senior Nato official

Nato, under pressure to take a more aggressive role, says publicly that its Isaf mission in Afghanistan does not include counter-narcotics but operates in support of the Afghan government. Alliance sources privately blame widespread corruption for hobbling Kabul's efforts. But the key, they insist, is security.

"The more lawless the area the bigger the drug production, so though we've had an explosion of poppy production in Helmand, the more orderly areas are now producing less," says one senior figure. "If you can bring law and order poppy is a problem you can start to grapple with. The Senlis argument that if you buy up the crop everything will be OK is misleading. The crop in Helmand has already quadrupled in a few years. If poppy becomes legal then people will stop growing other crops and start to grow poppy instead. Also illegal poppy is always going to sell for more than a legal crop. And anyway, why would the Taliban let people switch? This is about power and control: you are challenging their authority in another way. They'll tell the farmers: sell poppy to the government and we'll kill you or rape your daughters; sell to us and we won't."

Hostage deal fuels Taliban legitimacy

Seeing militants treated as negotiating partners worries observers and Afghans alike

GRAEME SMITH - Globe and Mail Update August 29, 2007

ISLAMABAD — Scenes of joy from South Korea filled television screens Tuesday as the Taliban announced a deal to release 19 kidnapped church volunteers. Far away from the celebrations, however, observers worried that the end of the hostage crisis marks the beginning of a new stage in Afghanistan's insurgency.

Not only did the Taliban succeed in taking the largest group of hostages captured since the start of the conflict, they conducted the raid on a highway paved with American funding – a vital link between Kabul and Kandahar and a zone considered only medium-risk by security experts.

The negotiations leading to the hostage release also included scenes that outraged among some Afghans, as Taliban fighters entered a major city under a white flag to meet Korean representatives face to face, and afterward held their first press conference since their regime collapsed in 2001.

Perhaps most worryingly, observers say, the apparent conclusion of the drama means the Taliban can now claim greater legitimacy as reliable negotiating partners. It could also inspire more kidnappings, an increasingly common tactic as the insurgents try to drive away the foreigners propping up a weak government.

“This takes the Taliban to a different level of recognition,” said Barnett Rubin, a leading academic on Afghanistan. “They successfully negotiated a deal with a foreign government. They committed war crimes and executed hostages, so they didn't look that good, but it's still a victory for them.”

The Taliban originally captured the 23 Koreans on a bus from Kabul to Kandahar on July 19, subsequently killing two of them and releasing two others.

Tuesday's deal appears to give the insurgents little of substance for their effort, as the Korean government's only publicized concessions were a repetition of previous commitments for the withdrawal of 200 non-combat troops by the end of the year, and a ban on Korean missionaries visiting Afghanistan. The insurgents dropped an earlier demand for a prisoner exchange.

As many as eight of the hostages could be freed on Wednesday, a Taliban representative said.

Both sides have said that money wasn't discussed in their talks, but media outlets in Afghanistan and South Korea speculated that a ransom was paid. Neither side would be interested in publicly acknowledging that money was involved: Governments with citizens in dangerous countries don't want to set precedents, and the Taliban's propaganda depends on an image of moral purity, as the insurgents try to distinguish themselves from the brigands who plague the country.

Even before the latest deal, however, Afghans were already losing patience with the flurry of foreigners being kidnapped in record numbers. An Italian journalist, two French aid workers, and two German engineers were captured this year, each case inspiring heavy pressure on the Kabul government to make concessions.

Afghans expressed outrage as the Taliban negotiated cash and prisoners in exchange for their foreign captives, saying that Afghans themselves get little help when they're captured – and complaining about the benefits reaped by the insurgents because of what many Afghans view as the foreign governments' inability to stomach the idea of their own citizens dying.

Several days after the start of the Korean kidnapping ordeal, Kabul newspapers and broadcasters were asking why the Afghan government allows foreigners to travel outside the capital city. “The Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs needs to make sure not to allow foreigners to travel around Afghanistan,” said a major Kabul daily.

Another newspaper said the Taliban would be encouraged by the legitimacy they have gained from talks with the Korean government, suggesting that more kidnappings would follow.

“One can see the sign of further zeal on their faces,” said the Musharekat-e Milli, an opposition newspaper in Kabul.

Despite the concerns, Mr. Rubin also suggested an optimistic view of the Taliban's new tactics. The insurgents have proven they can maintain a coherent bargaining position during a period of weeks, he said, which may give hope to those who wish to find a negotiated end to the war.

“It shows increasing political sophistication by the Taliban,” he said. “Maybe they're moving in the direction where they're capable of a political settlement.”

Strike inside Pakistan due to ‘mistake’: NATO

Daily Times - KABUL: The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has admitted it did not have permission from Pakistan to strike Taliban positions across the border over the weekend, citing a “miscommunication” problem.

The coalition had insisted it was given the go-ahead for the attack inside Pakistan on Saturday that destroyed six Taliban firing posts on both sides of the frontier, killing more than a dozen rebels. This was rejected by the Pakistan Army, which said it had not been asked for authorisation. The foreign ministry in Islamabad said reports of permission being given were “speculative and fabricated”. The coalition said in a statement late Monday it had investigated further and found that Pakistan had not actually given permission.

“We regret the miscommunication in this event,” said the coalition’s deputy commanding general for operations, Brigadier General Joseph Votel.

He said the coalition was committed to respecting the sovereign borders of Pakistan. Pakistan has said repeatedly it would not allow foreign troops to hunt extremist militants — some linked to Al Qaeda — on its soil and was doing what it could against them. Remnants of the Taliban regime are believed to have fled into Pakistan after they were driven from government in Afghanistan in late 2001.1. Votel said in the statement the coalition wanted to continue cooperation with Pakistan, “which has been an important ally in fighting the enemies of peace and stability”. “We appreciate the significant contributions Pakistan is making to the war on terror by conducting operations against Al Qaeda and Taliban extremist fighters who try to hide in their country,” he said.

US President George W Bush this month refused to rule out unilateral US strikes on Pakistani soil if specific intelligence pinpointed top Al-Qaeda leaders. Afp

Rebels fired mortars at civilians: Coalition

KABUL, Aug 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban militants fired 82-mm mortars at a group of civilians near Regai Village in the southern Helmand province while Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and Coalition forces were conducting a combat patrol, the US military alleged on Monday.

The Coalition said the attack on the civilians came about an hour after the Afghan forces defeated an insurgent group, which was later determined to guard a large heroin laboratory. It added both attacks followed a night of fighting between rebels and the ANSF and Coalition forces. A number of insurgents were killed.

Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a Combined Joint Task Force-82 spokesman, said: The insurgents continue to follow their pattern of falsely reporting civilian casualties and continuing to put civilians in harms way, in a vain attempt to stop the advance of the IRoA forces toward their support areas.

She added: With the discovery of their drug making facilities it is becoming increasingly clear why they want us to stop our operations. It is unfortunate that the enemies of peace and stability will stoop so low as to fire mortars at innocent Afghans to protect their drug trade.

According to the Coalition, the heroin lab, located approximately 23 kilometers south of Musa Qala, contained large amounts of opium-processing chemicals such as ammonium chloride, liquid ammonia and charcoal.

After destroying the lab, a statement from the Coalition said, the team continued with their combat patrol and faced a third attempted ambush in less than 24 hours. The engagement took place 11 kilometers north of the heroin lab.

During the fighting that ensued, a Taliban mortar team launched an 82mm mortar into an area that contained a group of non-combatants. No civilians were killed but one suffered shrapnel wounds from the mortar and was provided immediate medical attention by ANSF specialists, the statement continued.

Pakistan transfers rebel commander to Afghan custody

TORKHAM, Aug 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A commander of the Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani network, arrested by Pakistani intelligence personnel, has been handed over to Afghan authorities in the Torkham border town.

An Afghan border force official confirmed to Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday that commander Mumtaz, belonging to the eastern Nangarhar province, was detained last week in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP.

Mahmud Khan said the militant was transferred to the custody of a team of security personnel, which had arrived in Torkham from Kabul. The rebel was spirited away to the Capital soon after his handover to the Afghan custody.

Apart from Mumtaz, the border official pointed out, Pakistani and Afghan security agencies last week swapped a dozen detainees each they had held on petty charges recently.

Fakhr-i-Alam, a Pakistani intelligence operative based in Torkham, was unaware of Mumtazs handover to Afghan authorities. But he confirmed the two sides occasionally exchanged prisoners at the border crossing.

Meanwhile, a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) agent, who did not want to be named, verified the transfer of the guerrilla commander to Afghanistan.

A fghanistan gets new service provider, predicts telecom boom

The Associated Press - Tuesday, August 28, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan gets some 150,000 new cell phone subscribers each month and there is "no end in sight" to expansion in the sector, the country's communications minister said Tuesday.

Speaking after the launch of the nation's fourth cell phone service provider, Amirzai Sangin predicted the telecommunication and information technology sector would "be the engine of growth for Afghanistan."

Afghanistan's economy is growing quickly, due mostly to the massive infusion of foreign aid since the downfall of the Taliban in 2001. But the country's living standards are among the lowest in the world and it faces mounting security problems likely to deter many investors.

Its economy is predominantly rural and trade and industry are badly hampered by crumbling roads and chronic electricity shortages. Not including the illicit trade in opium, the nation's few exports include dried fruit and carpets.

But like in other developing nations, cell phone service providers have been doing brisk business, bringing communication to poor villagers who until four years rarely, if ever, used a telephone.

"In Afghanistan, the majority of our people will be connected through mobile phones," Sangin told The Associated Press. "Since there is no home phones, today everybody has a mobile phone. We have gone straight into the age of personal communication."

Call charges are currently around 10 U.S. cents a minutes, with the cheapest top-up cards on sale for the equivalent of US$1. Coverage is generally available in all of the country's 34 provinces.

Sangin said the telecommunications and IT sector employed some 50,000 people and was crucial to opening opportunities for trade between districts as well as internationally.

Cell phone penetration rate currently stood at 12 percent in the country of around 25 millon people, but there "was no end in sight" to its growth, he said.

Emirates Telecommunication Corp, or Etisalat, became the fourth service provider on Tuesday to compete in the Afghan market. The United Arab Emirates company said it had invested $300 million dollars to set up.

Salem Al Kendi, Etisalat's Afghan CEO, predicted brisk growth in Afghanistan and said the company hoped to move into other countries in the region.

"Afghanistan remains the gateway to central Asia," he said. "Etisalat looks forward to helping Afghanistan become a telecommunications hub."

US vows all-out support for Afghan private sector

KABUL, Aug 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The visiting US commerce secretary Monday promised to help Afghanistans private sector overcome its problems and enable it to play an efficient role in promoting the countrys war-battered economy.

Carlos M. Gutierrez , who arrived here on Sunday, met representatives of the private sector at the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce (AICC) today. He asked his interlocutors to identify their problems and priorities so that the United States could provide them with the necessary support.

"The United States is with you. If you face problems in implementation of any project, we are ready to help you," said Gutierrez , who described the role of the private sector in the development of any economy as very effective.

While emphasising the restoration of peace in the country, the American secretary observed: "The private sector is the engine of Afghanistans development and its economic growth." Referring to progress achieve over the last five years, he said the 15 percent registered by Afghanistan showed it was among fast-growing countries.

AICC Director Azrakhsh Hafizi appreciated the US for the enormous support it has been extending to Afghanistan in its reconstruction effort since 2001. He said the private sector had provided job opportunities to over 800,000 people in modern banking, communication, aviation and construction sectors.

Given the problems it was in, the AICC chief stressed, the nascent private sector of the country needed urgent support. Hafizi identified lack of security, electricity, other basic necessities inadequate cooperation from government officials as the biggest problems.

The representatives of private sector and the US commerce secretary met for 30 minutes behind closed doors, according to AICC officials, who said they candidly shared their problems suggestions with Gutierrez .

The visiting commerce secretary also inaugurated a carpet exhibition in Kabul on Sunday and met several governmental and private sector officials. He had visited Afghanistan last year to meet government officials and private sector representatives.

Qalat PRT engineers assess Zabul road project

QALAT, Aug 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Civil engineers with the Qalat Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) recently conducted an assessment on a $600,000 road construction project in the southern Zabul province.

"The 24-kilometer road connecting Qalat to outlying villages is expected to reduce driving time, said Capt. Bob Everdeen, Qalat PRT official, on Monday.

The road will provide a safer, shorter route that will allow local residents better access to economic opportunities and emergency services," Everdeen added.

In a statement mailed to this news agency, the NATO-led ISAF said the road also included 20 culverts and improved drainage systems to handle runoff and erosion.

The US-funded project will combine engineer assets from the PRT and local Afghan labourers.

"It is important that we invest in construction projects, said 1st Lt. Travis Vazansky. We need to focus on quality of life improvement projects that will help improve industry, commerce and education that help connect the people of the outlying countryside with each other and the legitimate government of Afghanistan."

UNHCR plea on refugees turned down: officials

By Zulfiqar Ali- DAWN

PESHAWAR, Aug 28: The authorities are learnt to have turned down a request by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to extend the stay of Afghan refugees living in the Jalozai camp.

Negotiations on the camp’s fate were held between the UNHCR’s country head Guenet Gubre- Christos and Secretary of the Ministry of State and Frontier Region (Safron) Sajid Hassan Chatta.

Sources privy to the meeting said the UN agency appealed to the government to suspend the refugees’ evacuation and allow them to stay until the next spring, but the request was turned down.

“There was considerable disagreement… over the extension and delay in the camp’s closure. The government wants to close it down as early as possible,” the source said.

The UN had asked Islamabad last week to delay shutting down the camp, home to over 120,000 Afghans, and to suspend the evacuation for a period of six months because of the upcoming harsh weather conditions. The UN believed that evacuation of over 100,000 people could trigger a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Safron Secretary Sajid Hassan Chatta told journalists after the meeting that the UNHCR had yet to formally appeal to the government regarding the refugee camp’s closure. “We discussed the issue with the UNHCR, but no extension will be given to refugees (living) in Jalozai (camp) as voluntary repatriation is under way from the camp,” he said.

A source said that last week, the UN formally submitted an appeal to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, seeking extension in the refugees’ stay, adding that the Afghan government was also likely to request Islamabad to delay the repatriation process.Mr Chatta said the refugees had made up their mind to vacate the site and 289 families left the place on Monday. So far, about

10,000 people had gone to Afghanistan.

The government had earlier fixed Aug 31 as deadline for closing the camp, but Mr Chatta said the date could only be extended for a few weeks, not for months. He said that the evacuation process was gaining momentum and the government did not want to create any hindrances.

Official said that Islamabad had been following an agreement of the tripartite commission — comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR — in letter and spirit, adding that no refugee would be forcibly evacuated.

Under the agreement, the Kacha Garhi camp near Peshawar has already been closed down while in addition to the one in Jalozai, two camps would be closed down this year in the country.

Pakistan wants gradual return of refugees

The Post - Aziz says PML, allies to contest polls from single platform - Javaid-Ur-Rahman

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan desires gradual return of Afghan refugees to their homeland, so that they can take part in the reconstruction process in Afghanistan.

This was stated by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here Tuesday. He said the matter was taken up during the Pak-Afghan Jirga Commission held at Kabul recently.

He added, "We are working in close coordination with UNHCR, and extending every possible help to the refugees, so that they can start a new life in their native country."

He said this while talking to Minister for Safron Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind who called on him at the Prime Minister's House.

Massive Afghan Opium Production Hits Neighbors

August 28, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that the latest opium poppy crop in Afghanistan will yield an amazing 8,200 tons of opium -- an increase of some 2,000 tons on the previous crop.


The country's surging drug output appears not to be destined for the markets of Europe and North America, but instead for Afghanistan's neighbors. Observers warn that the trend threatens to pull neighboring states into the vicious cycle of drug dependence.

Most of the illegal opiates comes from southern and eastern Afghanistan, particularly Helmand Province, where the Taliban militia insurgency is at its worst.

UNODC director Antonio Maria Costa notes that the Taliban has reversed its religious edict of July 2000, which banned poppy cultivation, and is now profiting from the drug trade.

Presenting the agency's report on the Afghan drug industry, Costa said in Kabul on August 27 that "what used to be considered a sin is now being encouraged."

"When there is violence, guerrillas, insurgency -- all of that creates a climate of lawlessness. The rule of law breaks down and criminal activity -- in the case of Afghanistan, opium cultivation...tends to flourish," Costa said.

Afghanistan is now the source of some 95 percent of the opiates reaching the big world markets, meaning mainly North America and Europe.

But UNODC researcher Tomas Pietschmann told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that the rise in production has not been matched by a parallel increase in demand on the major world markets.

Pietschmann points out that the market for opiates in Western Europe is stable, or even declining, and is similarly stagnant in North America. So where is this massive new supply of opium going?

Experts don't rule out that growers, distributors, and dealers are stockpiling some of the surplus for future sale. After all, opium can be stored for 20 or 30 years without losing its potency.

But that wouldn't account for all the drug supplies. Pietschmann says Afghanistan's neighbors may account for increasing consumption, partly because the large-scale transit of drugs across their territories has already brought increased levels of local addiction:

In Uzbekistan, Pietschmann says, about 0.8 percent of the population aged between 15 and 64 use opiates -- about twice the global average, which is 0.4 percent. Kyrgyzstan's level of opiate use is the same, and Kazakhstan's stands at 1 percent.

Opiate usage is also seen to be rising in Iran and China, and lately there are indications that the same is true of India. But hardest-hit of all is Russia, where the UNODC estimates that up to 2 percent of the population uses opiates.

Pietschmann estimates that the real increase in consumption this year lies to the south, toward Pakistan and Iran. The increase is less dramatic "in the countries north of Afghanistan, simply because production has declined in northern Afghanistan," he said.

Farid Tukhbatullin, head of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, described the increased opiate production as "bad news" for everyone -- particularly for Turkmenistan, because it has a very long border with Afghanistan.

In remarks to RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, Tukhbatullin noted that Turkmenistan is one of the transit states for Afghan drugs, both to the CIS countries and onward to Europe.

(RFE/RL's Uzbek Service correspondent Farruh Yusupov and Guvanch Gervaev of RFE/RL's Turkmen Service contributed to this report.)

Offering hope to Afghan addicts

By Bilal Sarwary - BBC News, Kabul

On a hot summer's night in Pakistan, 33-year-old Rahima was having a fight with her husband in a refugee camp. It came to an end when Rahima's husband forced her to consume a small opium capsule.

"This is how I became an opium addict," says Rahima. "He gave it to me thinking this might end the night's fight. "However, I became addicted to it by mistake - a mistake that cost me dearly because my baby died four days after birth."

In the years to come, Rahima's life only continued to get worse. "No one respected me. When I went to weddings and family events, people made fun of me and called me 'the addict'," she says.

After the fall of the Taleban, Rahima returned to Afghanistan and heard talk of the Sanga Amaj Drug Treatment Centre for women in western Kabul, funded by the US state department through the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics.

The first of its kind in the area, the Sanga Amaj centre is named after a female journalist who was mysteriously shot dead in Kabul a few months ago.

After only a month's treatment at Sanga Amaj, Rahima was back to normal. She now works at the centre as a janitor, earning $100 a month. Many women in the community have sought treatment at the Sanga Amaj centre.

"They are admitted here for a month - we look after them like a family; they are eating and living here, and medication is free," says Dr Toorpaikay Zazi, the head of the centre.

"However, we have been getting too many patients and we don't have enough space to admit all of them." According to Dr Zazi, most of these women are pressurised into addiction by their husbands.

"They do it because their husbands urge them to do it. Others do it because they can't afford medicine, and there simply aren't any clinics in the rural areas," she says.

Thirty-year-old Basmina, another patient at the centre, became drawn to opium after observing her cousin's drug use.

Fearing retribution from her husband, Basmina has been forced to lie to her family, stating merely that she is sick and undergoing normal treatment in a Kabul hospital.

"My cousin was consuming opium - her husband was beating her all the time," she says. "One day I asked her to let me try some, and since then I have been addicted. Since I have been admitted here, I have started to regain control of my life."

Rahima is one of hundreds of Afghan women who are addicted to opium, heroin and hashish, says Mohammad Nasib, managing director of the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan (Wadan).

The institution runs similar treatment centres in the Afghan provinces of Ghazni, Paktia, Helmand and Nimruz.

"It's a big social stigma to be a drug addict. Most of our programmes for female addicts are community-based - we treat them mostly in their houses."

In Helmand province alone, Wadan's drug treatment centre has 900 patients on the waiting list, some of them female.

"We treat female addicts only at community-based and home-based settings, emphatically not at residential facilities," says Mr Nasib.

A recent survey conducted by the Sanga Amaj centre suggests there are hundreds of drug addicts in the local community.

"There are a lot of cases of addiction, but most addicts don't make it to clinics and centres," says Dr Zazi.

This year Afghanistan's poppy production has hit record highs once again, a disheartening situation that is predicted to worsen.

Afghan poppy production accounts for more than 90% of the world's opium trade, and the nation has continued to accumulate addicts within its own borders - it is estimated that there are 50,000 cases of addiction in Kabul alone.

Most of these addicts are believed to be refugees who have returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan in recent years.

A recent Ministry of Counter Narcotics and UN Office of Drugs and Crime joint survey said there were 920,000 addicts in Afghanistan, an estimated 120,000 of whom are women.

Gone are the days when Afghan opium was only hitting the streets of the UK and mainland Europe - it is now clear that it is also having a devastating effect on the nation's own citizens. Just before I leave the centre, Rahima has a final message for Afghan women.

"Being a drug addict is being away from humanity - you don't have the respect of anyone - you become useless. "Being a drug addict was my past, not my future," says Rahima with a smiling face, busy cleaning dishes in the kitchen.

[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.]