In this bulletin:

• Karzai: Afghan Military Needs Equipment
• US Defence Secretary Gates calls for more help for Afghanistan
• Larger Afghan Army Sought Amid Violence
• 'Taleban kidnapper' dies in raid
• Ashdown mooted as possible tripartite envoy to Afghanistan
• Afghans 'still hopeful on future'
• Poll: Afghan population supports ISAF mission
• Afghans more critical of U.S efforts
• Conservatives fund land-mine cleanup
• Canada pledges $80 million for Afghanistan de-mining efforts
• The Troubled Afghan-Pakistani Border
• Des Browne apologises for Afghan crash 'failings'
• Bomb in Pakistani madrassa kills six: official
• ‘Kite Runner’ Boys Are Sent to United Arab Emirates

Karzai: Afghan Military Needs Equipment

By LOLITA C. BALDOR – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghanistan military needs more trainers and equipment in order to gain control of the country's security, President Hamid Karzai and his defense chief told Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday.

Karzai said he was satisfied with the quality of training of the Afghan army, but he said he hoped that the U.S. and its NATO allies would expedite the delivery of air transportation and other assets, which could include planes and helicopters needed to fight al-Qaida and Taliban forces.

Gates, during a joint news conference with Karzai, said there is funding in the war supplemental request currently stalled in Congress, and he has repeatedly promised to continue pressing his NATO partners to meet their commitments to help Afghanistan.

Gates and other U.S. military commanders also agreed there are concerns about the increased violence in Afghanistan this year. And Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez confirmed that there have been indications of growing al-Qaida activity.

Noting the increase in suicide bombings — which were not a frequent problem three years ago — Rodriguez said, "We believe that it's the violent extremists that are behind it," including some who may be transferring the tactic from Iraq.

Gates said that while he is also concerned about the violence, "The consistent message I heard today from both American and Afghan military leaders ... was that an important reason for the increased violence is because there is a much more aggressive effort" by coalition forces to go after the Taliban.

The Afghan president presented a positive outlook on the ongoing fight against militants and terrorists.

"Al-Qaida is on the run. It is defeated," Karzai claimed, although violence has increased recently.

This year has been the most violent since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Insurgency-related violence has claimed nearly 6,200 lives, according to a tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials. The number of attacks has surged, including roadside bombings and suicide assaults.

Before Gates arrived in Kabul, a U.S. defense official expressed concern that one reason for increased violence in Afghanistan could be an escalation of al-Qaida activity — in addition to the ongoing Taliban insurgency.

On his third trip to Afghanistan, Gates said he has not yet seen data on any uptick in al-Qaida activity, but increasing levels of violence in the country are clear and he plans to talk about it with other defense leaders from NATO nations operating in Afghanistan.

Earlier, Gates met with Afghan Gen. Bismillah Khan, who said that while "the U.S. has been more than generous," the Afghan army's weapons are inadequate and old, specifically its heavy artillery and armored vehicles. Speaking through an interpreter while sitting at a small table with Gates, the Afghan defense chief added that "we don't have enough mentors, enough advisers."

Gates told Khan that "we know your interest in small arms and mortars and we are looking for ways to expedite" the equipment. And he added that he also was well aware of the shortage of trainers — a shortfall U.S. military officials said was more than 3,000.

According to Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, the U.S. is about to begin providing M-16 rifles to the Afghans, and is poised to deliver about 10,000 a month, up to 60,000. And he said there is an ongoing effort to obtain helicopters for the Afghanistan forces, including plans for an additional 34 in the near future.

Cone said the helicopters will be key to relieving some stress on U.S. and NATO forces, which currently have to shuttle Afghan troops around the country.

"Giving the Afghans their own capabilities is the answer," said Cone, as Gates toured the training base. About 70 U.S. trainers are working there, but the bulk of the instruction is done by Afghanistan military.

Early in the day, Gates met with NATO coalition commanders then toured Afghanistan's main military training compound outside Kabul where as many as 3,000 Afghan troops at one time get instruction.

In Khost province, near the snowcapped peaks along the Pakistan border, Gates heard from military, civil affairs, U.S. State Department and USAID representatives who said an additional several hundred million dollars in investment could make the security gains there irreversible.

As if to underscore the concern, a suicide car bomber targeted a NATO convoy in Kabul on Tuesday not long after Gates had passed along the same road. The road was closed to other traffic while Gates traveled back by the blast site later.

Military officials have long said that the Taliban in Afghanistan is being resupplied from outside the country, possibly by militants in Pakistan crossing the border, or through support from other countries in the region sympathetic to the militants.

Currently there are about 26,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, including 13,000 with the NATO-led coalition. The other 13,000 U.S. troops are training the Afghan forces and hunting al-Qaida terrorists.

US Defence Secretary Gates calls for more help for Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) — US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he was pushing the world's countries for more commitment to Afghanistan's fight against growing extremist violence.

The senior US official was in Afghanistan on a surprise visit to assess the country's international-led fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, whom US officials say appears to have stepped up their activities here.

"I feel like I am the salesman around the world for Afghanistan," Gates said during a visit to the Kabul Military Training Centre where army leaders told him they needed more mentors and equipment.

"I asked the Chinese, the Koreans, Japan for more help," he said, adding he was also pressing countries in the 38-nation NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to "meet their promises".

Hours earlier, a Taliban suicide attacker exploded a car bomb near ISAF troops in the capital. None of the soldiers were hurt, but 22 civilians were wounded, ISAF said. It was the latest in a series of attacks in and around Kabul in recent weeks.

There have been about 140 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year -- the bloodiest in an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban movement which was in government between 1996 and 2001.

Gates, who was due later to meet President Hamid Karzai, met ISAF commanders earlier in the day and then visited US troops in the eastern province of Khost on the border with Pakistan, where the rebels have a lot of support.

He said at the military centre in Kabul that progress in building the Afghan army -- which was almost non-existent when the Taliban government was driven out by a US-led coalition -- was "quite impressive."

"We are continuing to work with you and help you," the defence secretary told Afghan officials at the centre, which is training about 3,000 soldiers.

"We are also working very hard on the equipment side. We know there is an interest in small arms and mortars... We are also aware of the shortage of trainers," he said. "It is imperative to all of us that you be successful," he said.

The Afghan army has been built to about 50,000 men, but officials say at least twice that is needed to secure the volatile country.

The army chief of staff, Bismullah Khan, told the US official that the Afghan forces could "do the job ourselves" but needed more advisors and mentors, and new weapons. "In the war on terror we are on the frontline," he said.

Gates said Monday his trip was to evaluate international efforts against an increasing Taliban insurgency.

The "clear concern is that for two or three years there has been an increase of overall level of violence," Gates told reporters before arriving in Kabul.

A top US defence official travelling with Gates said there were "early indicators that there may be some stepped up activity by Al-Qaeda."

Asked about the claims, ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Carlos Branco told reporters: "We have increased reports of foreign fighters' presence."

The Portuguese general also said the Taliban control no more than five out of 59 districts in southern Afghanistan. A European think-tank said last month the insurgents had a permanent presence in more than half of the country.

"As an insurgent movement, the Taliban have failed," Branco said. "After six years they only control small pockets. They can't confront the ISAF forces."

Larger Afghan Army Sought Amid Violence

By RAHIM FAIEZ – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's defense ministry said Sunday that plans to have a 70,000-member Afghan army by the end of 2008 were inadequate, and that nearly three times as many troops would be needed to ensure long-term stability in the country.

The comments came amid reports that Afghan and NATO-led troops battled with Taliban militants and called in airstrikes in clashes in the country's south that left 40 insurgents dead. It was just the latest violence in a bloody year marked by the dramatic resurgence of the Taliban.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a ministry spokesman, said the current plan for troop numbers was set before the Taliban-led insurgency and is not adequate.

"We think that an army of 200,000 troops is in the best interest of both Afghanistan and the international community," Azimi said.

Afghan officials have many times before said they want a bigger force, but this is the first time they have come up with a figure.

Training and equipping of the Afghan army and police have been a key element of the Western strategy of ensuring stability in the country and allowing the drawdown of foreign troops.

About 50,000 Afghan army soldiers and 75,000 police have been trained so far, with plans to create a 70,000-member army and 82,000-strong police force by the end of 2008. There are more than 50,000 foreign troops in the country, including U.S.-led coalition and NATO-led forces.

Afghan and NATO-led troops clashed with militants in the mountainous Shah Wali Kot district in Kandahar province during a three-day operation that ended Saturday and left 35 insurgents dead, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib.

Ten other insurgents were detained near the militants' hide-outs, which they used to launch attacks against Afghan and foreign troops in the area, Saqib said. Authorities recovered the militants' bodies along with their automatic weapons and ammunition, he said.

In Kandahar's Zhari district, Afghan and foreign troops clashed with another group of militants hiding in a compound Saturday night, killing five militants and detaining four others, Saqib said.

Among those killed was a regional militant commander, Mullah Faizullah, he said.

There were no casualties among Afghan or foreign troops during the operations, Saqib said.

The reports could not be independently verified because the areas are remote and inaccessible.

This year has been the most violent since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Insurgency-related violence has claimed nearly 6,200 lives, according to a tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials.

'Taleban kidnapper' dies in raid – BBC

US-led forces in Afghanistan say they have killed a Taleban commander who kidnapped an Italian journalist and his two Afghan colleagues in March.

Mullah Sainy was among five Taleban fighters said to have been killed in an air raid in southern Helmand province.

Journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo was freed in exchange for Taleban captives. His Afghan colleagues were killed.

The air raid came as Afghan-led troops began an operation to try to retake the town of Musa Qala held by the Taleban.

US-led coalition forces said the air raids near Musa Qala killed Taleban fighters in two locations, including a strike on a vehicle carrying Mullah Sainy.

The BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says Mullah Sainy is believed to have been involved in the kidnapping of Daniele Mastrogiacomo, whose local fixer and driver were killed after he was released from Taleban captivity in March.

The Taleban admit they lost some men in the overnight raid, but say there were civilians killed in the operation as well.

The Afghan Ministry of Defence now says an operation codenamed Zafar has begun to try to retake the town of Musa Qala. This operation is being led by Afghan forces with mainly British forces in support.

The town was handed over to local elders in a deal negotiated by British forces a year ago, but has been a Taleban stronghold since February.

Recently a Taleban commander in Musa Qala told visiting journalists that they were ready for an assault, claiming they had more than 2,000 Taleban fighters in the town, our correspondent says.

Ashdown mooted as possible tripartite envoy to Afghanistan

London, Dec 3, IRNA - Former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Lord Ashdown is being mooted as a possible tripartite co-ordinator for Afghanistan to bring some harmony to the fragmented efforts of the UN, EU and Nato in the war-torn country.

According to Scotsman newspaper Monday, Britain's former Liberal Democrat leader has already been offered a new "super-job" as the representative of NATO and the United Nations in Afghanistan.

If he accepts, it is expected that he may also assume the European Union's mantle as well amid fears that the international community is not working close enough together in their disparate efforts.

News of the possible appointment by the end of the year coincides with poll suggesting that Afghans are slightly less optimistic than a year ago, and are frustrated at the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.

The poll, conducted for the BBC, ABC of the US and Germany's ARD, showed most dissatisfaction is found in the south-west, where the Taleban are most active.

Responding to the findings, the British Foreign Office said there it was not complacent about the situation and recognises that "many challenges remain."

Ashdown, who is also a former marines' officer, spent four year in his key co-ordinating role in Bosnia, where he was credited with bringing together disparate factions.

The Scotsman said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown first asked him to consider a job in Afghanistan in July, but that he was reluctant to accept until he won the support of the international community, particularly the US.

But America, the UN, NATO and the EU have all since agreed to back the Lib Dem peer, after he was championed by America's third most senior diplomat in Washington, Nicholas Burns, a NATO official in Kabul was quoted saying.

A senior European diplomat also said the envoy's effectiveness would depend largely on Washington's willingness to let him represent them.

There was said to be still difference between Britain and the US on exactly what role the new special envoy should have. Suggestions were that Washington might lobby for a second envoy to oversee relations with Afghanistan's neighbours and donors.

The possible appointment comes as the top UN representative in Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, and NATO's senior civilian representative, ambassador Dan Everts, are both due to quit at the end of the year.

Afghans 'still hopeful on future' – BBC

Most Afghans are relatively hopeful about their future, an opinion poll commissioned by the BBC has suggested. They also support the current Afghan government and the presence of overseas troops, and oppose the Taleban.

But the poll suggests that Afghans are slightly less optimistic than a year ago, and are frustrated at the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.

Charney Research spoke to 1,377 people in October and November in all 34 provinces for the BBC, ABC and ARD. This is the third such survey, and is published to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the fall of the Taleban.

Overall, the figures indicate that the peaceful north of Afghanistan is significantly more satisfied than the troubled south. Most dissatisfaction is found in the south-west, where the Taleban are most active.

The poll suggests that despite another year of conflict, confidence and hope have been dented only a little in the past 12 months.

The figures indicate that 54% of Afghans think things are going in the right direction, one percentage point fewer than last year, while 70% described their living conditions as good or very good.

Security issues and the Taleban were the biggest problems facing Afghanistan, according to 56% of the people interviewed (against 57% last year). One of the most striking findings was the apparent unpopularity of the Taleban and their foreign supporters.

Only 5% of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the Taleban (against 4% last year), with 14% of respondents saying they supported or strongly supported jihadi fighters from other countries. Only 4% would like to see the Taleban return to government.

Against this, 71% of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the presence of US military forces in Afghanistan, with 67% supporting or strongly supporting Nato and its Isaf peacekeeping mission.

Support for both of these has fallen in the past year, however, even though most respondents blamed the Taleban and their allies for most of the violence.

There is relatively good news for President Hamid Karzai and his government - though it is coupled with a warning. Both are rated as good or excellent by more than half the people interviewed.

But their popularity is continuing to fall. There is clear, and in some cases increasing, unhappiness with the availability of jobs, roads and other infrastructure, clean water, electricity and food.

Among other key findings:

• 69% criticise Pakistan for allowing the Taleban to operate
• 60% want the government to do a peace deal with the Taleban
• 62% say growing poppies for opium is unacceptable

The Afghan Centre for Social and Opinion Research in Kabul carried out the fieldwork, via face-to-face interviews with 1377 randomly-selected Afghan adults between October 28 and November 17 2007. Poll by Charney Research of New York, commissioned by the BBC, ABC News of America and ARD of Germany.

Poll: Afghan population supports ISAF mission

PR# 2007-725 - Source: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

December 3, 2007 - KABUL, Afghanistan – A poll conducted for several major news media organizations indicates that a vast majority of Afghans approve of the ISAF and U.S.-led Coalition presence in the country.

72% of respondents approve of the Coalition presence, while 67% support the ISAF presence. 68% said that the international troops are doing a good job. A full 92% of Afghans are opposed or strongly opposed to the Taliban. 75% of those polled said that attacks against ISAF and Coalition forces are completely unjustified, whereas jihadi fighters from other countries are opposed by 83% of the respondents.

"This poll and others previously released clearly show that the Afghan people are strongly behind our efforts as we work to assist the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to rebuild the country after so many years of conflict," said Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, ISAF Spokesman. "These results also strongly indicate that the Taliban have failed to influence the civilian population in any significant way despite their best efforts at propaganda and media manipulation."

The poll, the results of which were released today, was conducted during the time period 28 Oct. to 17 Nov. by the New York based Charney Research for ABC News, ARD and the BBC.

Afghans more critical of U.S efforts

ALISA TANG , THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 3, 2007 at 8:22 AM EST

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghans are increasingly critical of U.S. military efforts in their country, while support for the Taliban is on the rise in the violence-plagued southwest, according to a poll released today.

The survey — conducted for ABC News, the BBC and the German public TV station ARD — noted that Afghans overwhelmingly prefer the government of President Hamid Karzai to the Taliban.

But they also believe that government should negotiate with the Taliban to end the war. The poll has found that in southwestern Afghanistan, support for NATO-led forces has plummeted to 45 per cent this year, from 83 per cent a year ago.

According to the survey, the civilian casualties blamed on the international forces is a prime complaint.

This year has been the most violent since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, and insurgency-related violence has killed nearly 6,200 people — a record number, according to an AP tally of figures from Afghan and western officials.

More than 800 civilians have died in insurgency attacks and military operations, causing a decline in support for foreign troops and the western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Polltakers conducted 1,377 face-to-face interviews with Afghans in all of the country's 34 provinces. The poll was the third survey in Afghanistan sponsored by ABC News and media partners, and was conducted between Oct. 28 and Nov. 7. It has a three percentage point margin of error.

The survey found that 42 per cent of Afghans rate U.S. efforts in Afghan positively, down from 68 per cent in 2005 and 57 per cent last year.

Just over half of Afghans still have confidence in the ability of U.S. and NATO forces to provide security, down from two-thirds a year ago.

Respondents were particularly critical in the southwestern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. The former Taliban stronghold and now the biggest opium-producing region in the world has borne the brunt of violence in Afghanistan this year.

“Attitudes are far more negative in high-conflict areas, particularly the southwest provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, but also in western Herat and other areas that have seen Taliban attacks. Views are far more positive in the more peaceful north,” the report said.

In the southwest, the birthplace of the Taliban movement and an area of intense combat, two-thirds of Afghans rated U.S. efforts negatively. Twenty-three per cent of respondents there said local people support the Taliban — three times more than last year and compared to only eight per cent nationally.

Last year, 81 per cent of residents in the southwest said the Taliban had “no significant support at all.” Now, only 52 per cent say so.

Despite the increasingly negative view of U.S. activities in their country, 71 per cent of Afghans still support the American presence, and 76 per cent view the Taliban's overthrow as a good thing.

More than a third say the Taliban are the prime cause of violence in the country, followed by 22 per cent who blame al-Qaeda and foreign fighters. Nineteen per cent cite international forces or the U.S. government as the primary cause.

An overwhelming majority of respondents preferred the current government to the Taliban, but 60 per cent say Karzai's government should negotiate a settlement in which Taliban leaders would be allowed to hold political office in exchange for laying down their arms.

Karzai said last month that he has had increasing contact with Taliban leaders in exile, but the militant's leaders have ruled out talks as long as foreign troops remain in the country.

Conservatives fund land-mine cleanup - BBC

Canada pledges $80M to clear explosives on the 10th anniversary of the Ottawa Convention, December 04, 2007 - Richard Brennan OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA–On the 10th anniversary of an international land-mine treaty signed in Canada, the Conservative government yesterday announced $80 million to help clear mines from Afghanistan.

"Canadians can be proud that our country continues to show international leadership in helping to clear land-mine areas," said International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, who made the announcement accompanied by Afghanistan Ambassador Omar Samad, and John Flanagan, acting director, United Nations Mine Action Service.

Canada is the principal donor for demining activities in Afghanistan. So far, the average number of monthly victims has decreased by 55 per cent, and more than 1,000 square kilometres of land have been cleared of mines.

In the past decade millions of landmines have been rendered harmless, about 38 countries have stopped making them and countless lives have been saved.

Former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his instrumental role in the treaty known as the Ottawa Convention, told the Toronto Star it is an anniversary that should be celebrated around the world.

"A number of lives have been saved, there has been a substantial drop in the fatality rate, there has been a virtual cessation in trade amongst mines, they have cleaned off 41 million to 42 million mines, stockpiles are down, there are only two or three countries that actually manufacture them and only two that use them, Burma and Russia," said Axworthy, who is now president of the University of Winnipeg.

He said the situation today is a far cry from what it was.

"Compared to where we were 10 years ago, I think there were more than 30 countries manufacturing and the fatality rate was around 60,000 a year and now it's down to about 10,000 a year," he said.

The treaty was also seen as a sea change for diplomacy that would later be applied to handling the proliferation of small arms and the use of child soldiers.

"It was a partnership between some like-minded governments, ourselves, Norwegians and Austrians, Swiss and South Africans. It was a partnership aimed at re-establishing standards of humanitarian law and it led to a number of follow-up models based on the Ottawa process," Axworthy said.

In 1997 in Ottawa, 121 countries signed the total ban on anti-personnel mines. Since then 155 countries have signed on.

Meanwhile, Oda disagreed with a new poll that suggests support for NATO in Afghanistan has plummeted and the Taliban is surging.

The survey – conducted for ABC News, the BBC and the German public TV station ARD – found that in southwestern Afghanistan support for NATO-led forces has plummeted to 45 per cent this year, from 83 per cent a year ago. The biggest complaint is the rising number of civilian casualties, the poll said.

Canada pledges $80 million for Afghanistan de-mining efforts

OTTAWA - Canada is pumping millions of dollars more into landmine clearance programs in Afghanistan, marking the 10th anniversary of a Canadian-led anti-landmine treaty.

Bev Oda, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, announced Monday that the money would go to the UN Mine Action Centre, to be used for clearing landmine-infested areas of Afghanistan, as well as to fund education programs and assist victims of landmines.

"Canada will continue its strong support of mine action activities in Afghanistan and the United Nations mine action service with a contribution of $80 million over the next four years," Oda told a news conference at the Canadian War Museum.

Critics, however, wondered out loud why only Afghanistan is being targeted when so many other countries are plagued with the deadly hidden devices.

"All (80) million is going to Afghanistan," noted Jody Williams, the founding co-ordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

"Not that Afghanistan doesn't need it - of course it does," Williams added.

"But, being a tad cynical, it does cross my mind: is all that money going to Afghanistan because there is controversy around Canadian troops in combat mission in Afghanistan?" said Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her efforts to eliminate landmine use around the world.

"Is it trying to make up for the fact that some Canadians are not really thrilled about war-making as opposed to (Canada's) historic leadership in peacekeeping?"

Oda strongly disagreed with suggestions that Canada is ignoring other landmine-affected countries by focusing large resources on Afghanistan.

"We're continuing our commitment to the other countries," she said.

"We actually do activities in support of, I think, 20 other countries as well."

The money announced Monday for Afghan landmine clearing was in addition to the $8.8 million set aside for de-mining in Afghanistan last February.

Afghanistan is one of the most mined countries in the world, with past estimates as high as 100 Afghans killed or maimed by landmines each month.

That number has steadily declined to roughly half recently, said Omar Samad, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, who praised Ottawa's efforts in his country.

"Canada should be proud of its leading role today in helping us eliminate, to date, almost half a million anti-personnel mines stockpiled in Afghanistan," he said.

"Your very generous increase announced today to provide multi-year support through CIDA to make Afghanistan a mine-free nation by 2013 is a major step (and) a testimony to your country's strong friendship and commitment to help us rid Afghanistan of a ghastly symbol of warfare and human suffering," Samad told Oda.

Advocates of landmine reduction praised Canada for its past efforts to reduce the number of landmines around the globe.

But much more needs to be done to eradicate the landmine scourge, said Lloyd Axworthy, Canada's foreign affairs minister when the so-called Ottawa Convention on landmines was signed by 133 countries in 1997. Signatories now number 158.

It will take at least another decade to clear remaining mines, even though close to 40 million landmines have been destroyed under the treaty, Axworthy said.

"It's not half over," Axworthy told an Ottawa news conference before Oda's announcement on Afghanistan.

"There's still a lot of mines in the ground, there's still a lot of mines being laid, there's a lot of countries who are skipping their obligations. There are several countries who are outside the treaty," he said.

"So there's still another good 10 years of work to do."

The Troubled Afghan-Pakistani Border

Jayshree Bajoria, Staff Writer, Council on Foreign Relations Tuesday, December 4, 2007; 12:50 PM

Introduction -Afghanistan shares borders with six countries, but the approximate 1500-mile-long Durand Line along Pakistan remains the most dangerous. Kabul has never recognized the line as an international border, instead claiming the Pashtun territories in Pakistan that comprise the Federally Administered Tribal Lands (FATA) and parts of North West Frontier Province along the border. Incidents of violence have increased on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the last year. Various reports in late 2007 showed militants gaining ground inside Pakistan and their influence has now spread to areas beyond the FATA. Similarly, in Afghanistan, violence has peaked since the ouster of the Taliban six years ago with a worrisome increase in suicide attacks.

Historical Conflict

The region that is today known as Afghanistan was long torn by ethnic and tribal rivalries. It started evolving as a modern state in the early nineteenth century when the British East India Company began expanding in the northwest of British-held India. This was also the time of the "great game" -- the geopolitical struggle between the British and the Russian empires. The British held the Indian subcontinent while the Russians held the Central Asian lands to the north. Their spheres of influence overlapped in Afghanistan. Britain, concerned about Russian expansion, invaded Afghanistan in 1839 and fought the First Anglo-Afghan War. This led to a decade of machinations between the British and the Russians and two more bloody wars, at the end of which in 1919, Afghanistan won its independence.

Durand Line

The Durand Line is named after foreign secretary of the colonial government of India, Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, who demarcated the frontier between British India and Afghanistan in 1893. The line was drawn after negotiations between the British government and Afghan King Abdur Rahman Khan, founder of modern Afghanistan. This line brought the tribal lands (now a part of Pakistan) under British control. Barnett R. Rubin, director of studies at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, writes in Foreign Affairs that the British established a three-tiered border to separate their empire from Russia. The first frontier separated the areas of the Indian subcontinent under direct British administration from those areas under Pashtun control (today this line divides those areas administered by the Pakistani state from the FATA). The second frontier, the Durand Line, divided the Pashtun tribal areas from the territories under Afghanistan's administration. This now forms the international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The outer frontier, Afghanistan's border with Russia, Iran, and China, demarcated the British sphere of influence.

The Pakistan side of the Durand Line border includes the provinces of Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and the seven tribal agencies of the FATA. On the Afghan side, the frontier stretches from Nuristan province in the northeast to Nimruz in the southwest. The British devised a special legal structure called the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) to rule the tribal lands and this continues to be the legal regime in the FATA today.

Tribal Connections

The ongoing border frictions are due in large part to tribal allegiances that have never recognized the century-old frontier. Forty percent of Afghanistan's population is made up of Pashtuns; in Pakistan, Pashtuns represent 15 percent to 20 percent of the country's population. Ethnic Balochis also live on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border as well as in neighboring Iran. "People on both sides of the Durand line consider it a soft border," says Husain Haqqani, director of Boston University's Center for International Relations. He adds: "Pashtuns consider it their own land even though there is also a loyalty to the respective states along with a desire to freely move back and forth."

Frederick Grare of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace writes that the Pashtun question (PDF) is "an ethnic, political and geopolitical problem." At the time of India's partition, Pashtuns were only given the choice of either becoming a part of India or Pakistan. Many Pashtun nationalists on both sides of the Durand Line continue to demand an independent state of Pashtunistan. In Balochistan too, several organizations demand an independent state.

Neighbor's Interference

A report by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) coauthored by Rubin and Abubakar Siddique points out: "The long history of each state offering sanctuary to the other's opponents has built bitterness and mistrust between the two neighbors." Afghanistan sheltered Baloch nationalists in the 1970s while Pakistan extended refuge and training to the mujahadeen in the 1980s and then later supported the Afghani Taliban. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan's then military ruler Zia ul-Haq promoted the jihad in Afghanistan, funded thousands of Islamic madrassas, armed domestic Islamist organizations, and in the process "militarized and radicalized the border region," says the USIP report.

Experts say that underlying Pakistani actions in the region is concern about bolstering security against India. The USIP report notes Pakistan sought to support a "client regime in Afghanistan" that would be hostile to India, "giving the Pakistani military a secure border and strategic depth." By supporting Islamist militias among the Pashtun, Pakistan's government has tried to neutralize Baloch and Pashtun nationalism within its borders. The International Crisis group in October 2007 reported that Pakistan still supports Pashtun Islamist parties in a bid to counter Baloch and Pashtun forces. "Using Balochistan as a base of operation and sanctuary" and recruiting from its extensive madrassa network, the report says, the "Taliban and its Pakistani allies are undermining the state-building effort in Afghanistan." Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly denied this.

Porous Borders

Both the Pashtuns and Balochis gain much of their income from cross-border smuggling, says the USIP paper. Thanks to the largely porous border and people from similar ethnic groups straddling both its sides, "the borderlands already have become a land bridge for the criminal (drugs) and criminalized (transit trade) economies of the region." The transborder political and military networks between the two countries are reinforced as well as funded and armed by criminal activities such as trafficking in drugs, arms, and even people.

Afghanistan is the world's largest cultivator and supplier of opium (93 percent of the global opiates market). According to the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, opium cultivation in the country is no longer associated with poverty. In fact, quite the opposite. The report says opium is now closely linked to the insurgency and the Taliban are again using it to get "resources for arms, logistics and militia pay," despite a foreign military presence.

The War on Terror

Since 9/11, "there is a large asymmetry of interests between Afghanistan and Pakistan," according to Carnegie's Grare. For Islamabad, Afghanistan is only one element in a larger game involving its policy toward India as well as its global standing, writes Grare. The relationship is mainly a bilateral issue for Afghanistan.

After 9/11, Pakistan allied itself with the United States in its war on terror. This created a dilemma for Pakistan, as it now had to hunt down the Taliban and the Islamic militant organizations it reportedly helped create in the first place. It also had to send its troops into the tribal lands where the Pakistani military has never been welcome. Incidents of Pakistani soldiers surrendering without a fight to militant organizations became common during 2007.

Before 9/11, especially during the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, Pakistan and U.S. policies in the border region converged; a friendly government in Afghanistan gave Islamabad strategic depth against India as well as a land bridge across Central Asia, and an open border ensured easy access to Kabul. This fit well into Washington's strategic objective, which looked to Pakistan as a vantage ground to prevent Soviet hegemony in the region. But post-9/11, the United States wants greater controls on the border. Pakistan's national interest now conflicts with its foreign policy and the most powerful state institution, the Pakistani military, is caught in the middle. Experts say that while the Pakistani army would like to continue its support of some of these militant groups to counter what it perceives as the security threat from India and its continued claim to Kashmir, it now has to appease the United States for strategic, military, and foreign aid. Hassan Abbas, a research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government writes ( PDF) that extremism has been rising in Pakistan's border areas and they continue to provide sanctuary to militants who spread insurgency in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani army has shown it is not sufficiently equipped to fight insurgency in these areas. Former CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow Mahnaz Ispahani says there is some validity to the argument that the Pakistani army cannot entirely control or close the border with Afghanistan. Islamabad and the FATA regions have long followed a policy of "live and let live," with minimal interference in one another's affairs, but Ispahani says the United States would like to see this changed.

Looking Ahead

A classified U.S. military proposal disclosed by the New York Times outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the border areas of Pakistan in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. If adopted, the proposal would "directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force," the newspaper says. The United States has also started a five-year $750 million assistance program in the FATA. The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs assists the Frontier Corps, a Pakistani federal paramilitary force stationed in the NWFP and Balochistan,with financing for counternarcotics work.

To restructure the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a Council Special Report, authored by Rubin, recommends recognition of an international border by the two countries and cooperative development of the tribal areas on either side. It also suggests transforming the status of the tribal areas in Pakistan and empowering the people by allowing them to participate in elections.

Ispahani says besides security and military cooperation, the two countries must focus more on economic issues. Being a landlocked country and sharing one of its longest borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan's economy is "incredibly dependent on Pakistan" and this has moderated Afghan's policy with its neighbor, she says. Marvin G. Weinbaum, a former Pakistan and Afghanistan analyst at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, writes (PDF) that Pakistan's wide-ranging exports to Afghanistan amounts to roughly $1.2 billion per year and it imports more than $ 700 million worth of goods.

Experts say tensions might ease with the new Pakistani army chief solely focused on military matters and securing the border. From 1999 to 2007, Pervez Musharraf was busy running the country in his dual role as president and leader of the military. A change in army leadership, however, by no means solves the bigger problems of limitations or the will of the army itself. Ispahani suggests in both countries, especially in Pakistan, there needs to be a greater recognition that the war against militancy is in the country's own interests.

Des Browne apologises for Afghan crash 'failings'

LONDON (AFP) — Britain's defence secretary apologised Tuesday after a report found that failings such as aging aircraft components were to blame for the fatal crash of a spy plane in Afghanistan.

In a sombre statement to parliament, Defence Secretary Des Browne apologised to the families of the 14 dead after detailing conclusions about the likely causes of the September 2006 crash, describing it as a "tragic accident".

"I am sorry for those failings," he told lawmakers.

A Royal Air Force (RAF) board of inquiry found that the 37-year-old reconnaissance plane exploded in mid-air on September 2 last year when fuel ignited moments after mid-air refuelling.

The crash was the British military's single biggest loss of life in one incident since the Falklands War in 1982.

Browne said the board had been unable to determine the causes "with absolute certainty", but the most likely reason was an escape of fuel during refuelling either by overflow or a leak.

The fuel flowed back into a dry bay near one of the aircraft's fuel tanks and ignited after contact with an exposed hot air pipe.

The inquiry said the age of the aircraft's couplings, seals and insulators were "contributory factors", as were a lack of a fire detection and suppression system within the affected tank dry bay.

Because the seat of the fire could not be established, pilots had no choice but to make an emergency descent to Kandahar airbase. But it exploded in flames at 3,000 feet (914 metres) before it could land.

The board said a hazard analysis on the aircraft failed to pinpoint the potential threat of having fuel and hot air system components near each other.

The RAF operates 16 Nimrod MR2 aircraft, with their distinctive double-bubble fuselage and protruding nosecones, out of RAF base Kinloss in north-east Scotland.

The entire fleet was grounded earlier this year after a dent was found in a fuel pipe.

Mid-air refuelling was suspended after a fuel leak over Afghanistan forced one of the planes to make an emergency landing, the defence ministry in London said November 9.

And the father of one of the victims said on October 2 this year that the RAF was warned about the fire risks on Nimrods two years before the crash in Kandahar province.

Critics have said Britain's military is over-stretched by its commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Browne said there was "no evidence" to suggest the plane's workload or maintenance contributed to the crash. A further review of the entire Nimrod fleet's "airworthiness and safe operation" would be carried out.

But he added: "The Nimrod fleet is safe to fly."

Bomb in Pakistani madrassa kills six: official

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) — A powerful bomb ripped through an Islamic madrassa in troubled southwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing six people and injuring five others, an official said.

The bomb was hidden in a bundle of clothing left by an Afghan student after an overnight stay at the religious school in Qilla Saifullah, a town near the Afghan border in Baluchistan province, they said.

"Six people were killed and five others injured, all of them students at the Imdadul Uloom seminary, when a bomb hidden in the bundle exploded during a search," provincial home secretary Furqan Bahadur told AFP.

Police sealed all roads in and out of the town in a bid to track down the Afghan national. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Baluchistan and its capital city Quetta have been pinpointed by Western and Afghan officials across the border as a key hideout of Taliban militants leading a spiralling insurgency in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says it is doing all it can to tackle the problem and says the roots of the insurgency are in Afghanistan.

Gas-rich Baluchistan has also been in the grip of a separate, three-year insurgency launched by ethnic Baluch rebels who want more political rights and a greater share of profits from the region's natural resources.

‘Kite Runner’ Boys Are Sent to United Arab Emirates

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER – NY times

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 2 — The “Kite Runner” boys are safely out of Kabul. After months of worrying and diplomatic wrangling from half a world away, the movie studio that is releasing the tale of childhood betrayal, ethnic tension and sexual predation in Afghanistan has whisked to safety four young actors. They were feared to be vulnerable to reprisal because of the film’s depiction of a culturally inflammatory rape scene.

The boys, each accompanied by a relative, arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Friday just after 3 a.m. Eastern time, said officials working with the studio, Paramount Pictures. The movie’s release had been delayed by six weeks to allow time for them to be relocated. It will open on Dec. 14 in 30 markets.

“I can’t really tell you what a weight came off when they landed safely,” said Megan Colligan, a Paramount marketing executive involved in the effort. The group exodus from Kabul did not come in time for the boys to obtain visas and attend the “Kite Runner” premiere, which will take place on Tuesday night at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. But Paramount executives and others involved in the relocation effort still hope to bring the co-stars to the United States to be honored somehow and to grant their wish to visit as tourists.

“We owe these kids some carefree moments as children after everything that has gone around them,” said Rich Klein, a Middle East specialist at the consulting firm Kissinger McLarty Associates, who was hired by the studio.

“The Kite Runner,” like the best-selling novel on which it is based, spans three decades of Afghan strife and centers on the friendship between Amir, a wealthy Pashtun boy played by Zekiria Ebrahimi, who is now 11, and Hassan, the Hazara son of his father’s servant. In a pivotal scene Hassan, played by Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, now 13, is raped in an alley by a Pashtun bully. Later, Sohrab, a Hazara boy played by Ali Danish Bakhty Ari, now also 13, is preyed upon by a corrupt Taliban official.

The young actors have already received widespread praise. In The New York Times, Karen Durbin wrote that Ahmad Khan’s portrayal “ranks among the great child performances on film.”

The director Marc Forster strove for authenticity in casting unknown boys in Kabul for the film, which was shot mainly in China last year. But in January alarms went off at Paramount when Ahmad Khan and his father said they feared reprisals. With violence worsening, even Afghan government officials urged that one or more of the boys be removed from the country, at least temporarily. The studio decided to move the three child actors as well as a fourth, Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada, now 14, who played a smaller role but became friends with the others.

Months of spadework by at least 20 studio executives, relief workers, diplomats and even a former C.I.A. counterterrorism operative culminated last week when the boys, who were in the midst of final exams, obtained visas and boarded a plane for the United Arab Emirates.

Paramount is putting them up at a luxury hotel until more permanent housing and jobs for their guardians can be found; the boys are to attend a school with other Afghan students. The studio is also paying a per diem to relatives left behind in Kabul, and has offered to keep the entire arrangement in place long enough for the boys to graduate from high school if they choose to stay.

Studio executives asked that the specific city in the United Arab Emirates not be named, saying unwanted media attention could make it difficult for the boys to adjust to their new surroundings and could even complicate efforts to extend their temporary visas there. Other news outlets already intend to report on the boys’ location, said a consultant to Paramount, who insisted on anonymity because he had not been authorized by the studio to speak on the matter: “People are being excessively aggressive. I understand the interest, but there’s something bigger at stake here. The best possible outcome would be in 20 years to see a where-are-they-now piece on VH1.”

Still, Paramount is considering ways to involve the boys in celebrating the film if they are able to get to the United States, or ways to bring the celebration to them, even if it’s just a round of applause at a screening.

“It’d be great to give them an opportunity to walk onto the stage and feel appreciated for the movie that they made,” Ms. Colligan said. “They have no idea how much they are affecting people.”

Correction: December 4, 2007

An article in The Arts yesterday about the resettlement in the United Arab Emirates of four young Afghan actors who appear in the movie “The Kite Runner,” and who were feared vulnerable to reprisal because of the film’s culturally inflammatory rape scene, misstated the given name of a Middle East specialist who helped make arrangements for the move and commented on it. He is Rich Klein, not Rick.

[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.]