In this bulletin:

• Suicide Bomber Attacks Afghan Soldiers
• Afghan blast kills British soldier
• Pneumonia kills 60 children in Badakhshan, say residents
• Pak witnesses first suicide attack by woman bomber Press Trust Of India
• Taliban control no more than five Afghan districts: NATO
• Brown and Bush line up Ashdown for role in linking Afghan aid and military effort
• US backs Lord Ashdown for Afghanistan role
• U.S., Afghanistan pledge boost in soldiers, military equipment
• Senior Nato figures to meet in Scotland
• Afghan mission extension proposed
• Diggers in Afghanistan 'for a decade'
• UN ready to aid dialogue to boost prospects for peace
• Military Weighs Recruiting Afghan Tribes to Fight Taliban
• Leaked aid map of Afghanistan reveals expansion of no-go zones
• Who All Is The Taliban?
• 'Afghanistan Says All War Crime Supects in Netherlands Innocent'
• 21 commanders set to surrender weapons in Parwan
• Afghanistan: Disabled people have tough time, lack education, jobs
• Afghans' hopes and fears for the future
• 10 uplift projects completed under NSP in Laghman
• ICRC providing bulk of orthopaedic services

Suicide Bomber Attacks Afghan Soldiers

By AMIR SHAH – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a minibus full of Afghan soldiers south of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding 20, officials and witnesses said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened on the last morning of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' two-day visit to Afghanistan. It was not immediately clear if Gates was still in the country at the time.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a defense ministry spokesman, said six soldiers and seven civilians were killed in the attack. Four of the civilians were children, said Abdullah Fahim, a health ministry spokesman.

The suicide bomber struck a minibus full of soldiers in the Chihulsutoon area south of Kabul, said Aziz Ahmad, an Afghan army officer at the site of the blast.

Purported Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed claimed responsibility for the blast in a text message sent to an Associated Press reporter in neighboring Pakistan.

The minibus was demolished and its mangled frame lay on the side of the road as the wounded were whisked to hospitals.

The blast was the third suicide attack in the city in the last eight days. It follows a similar attack against a NATO convoy on Tuesday that left 22 civilians wounded.

Local resident Amir Mohammad said he helped load the bodies of the six slain Afghan soldiers into ambulances. Mohammad Amin, who runs a bakery close to the blast site, said two of his employees were wounded by flying glass.

"Every day this bus stops in front of my bakery to take employees of defense ministry," Amin said. "Suddenly today a very strong explosion hit the bus."

At least 13 civilians were wounded in the attack, according to Fahim, the health ministry spokesman. Mohammad Ashraf, 13, was praying inside a mosque when the flying shrapnel and glass cut through his flesh, his father Mohammad Akram said.

"My other 8-year-old son was also wounded in the same mosque," Akram said. There has been a spate of attacks in recent months on buses carrying Afghan security forces as they commute to work in the morning.

On Sept. 29, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside an army bus in Kabul, killing 28 soldiers and two civilians. In June, another bomb ripped through a bus carrying police instructors in Kabul, killing 35 people.

Militants have launched more than 133 suicide attacks this year — a record number. At least 6,200 people have died in insurgency-related violence in 2007, also a record, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials.

Suicide attacks frequently target international and Afghan security forces, but most of the casualties are civilian passers-by.

In southern Afghanistan, U.S.-led coalition troops killed several Taliban militants during raids on compounds in Garmser district on Wednesday, the coalition said in a statement.

The troops "targeted an individual believed to be associated with weapons smuggling operations in the province," it said. "While performing a search of one of the compounds, coalition forces killed several armed militants who posed an imminent threat."

Separately, an explosion struck a patrol of NATO-led troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, leaving one soldier dead and two others wounded, the alliance said in a statement.

Afghan blast kills British soldier

LONDON (Reuters) 12.4.07 - A British soldier was killed and two others wounded on Tuesday when their vehicle was hit by an explosion while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

The death brings to 85 the number of British armed forces personnel who have been killed on operations in the country since October 2001.

"The soldiers were conducting a tactical patrol to the north of Sangin, Helmand Province, when the vehicle they were travelling in was caught in an explosion," the MoD said.

"Despite the best efforts of the medical team, one of the soldiers sadly died as a result of his wounds. The other two soldiers are currently receiving medical treatment and their injuries are not thought to be life threatening," it added. The dead soldier was a member of 5 Regiment Royal Artillery.

Pneumonia kills 60 children in Badakhshan, say residents

Pajhwok News Agency, 12/04/2007 - FAIZABAD - Around 60 children have died of pneumonia in the Kiran-wa-Manjan district of the northeastern Badakhshan, residents claimed on Monday. But the Public Health Ministry officials rejected their claim as exaggerated.

Kiran-wa-Manjan districts administrative head Syed Feroz told Pajhwok Afghan News children under seven years of age died of pneumonia during the last one week. Two to three minors died daily in the 18 villages of the district, with a total population of nearly 7000 people, he said.

The Anjuman area of the district, bordering Panjsher and Nuristan provinces, were the worst-hit by the disease, Feroz added. Biting cold and chilly conditions have made even harder the transportation of affectees to hospitals.

Resident Safar Muhammad complained: There is only one clinic in the district centre, where we can reach in 12 hours at a push." He urged NGOs to pay due attention to their plight and said: Our patients often expire on the road to the clinic."

But Public Health Director Dr Abdul Momin Jalali wont confirm the death toll. He said they would soon send a team of medics to the district to assess the situation.

An NGO working under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was already working to expand medical cover for the district, he pointed out.

Dr Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the Public Health Ministry in Kabul, rejected the residents claim about the death toll. He said they had received no such report from Badakhshan so far.

Pak witnesses first suicide attack by woman bomber Press Trust Of India

Islamabad, December 04, 2007

A burqa-clad suicide bomber, believed to be an Afghan national, blew herself up at an army check post near a convent school in the troubled northwest Pakistan, in the country's first known case of involvement of a woman in such an attack.

The woman bomber, who was wearing a blue burqa, was killed but there were no other casualties in the attack, which took place on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), reports reaching in Islamabad said.

No group claimed responsibility for the incident, which was the first known case of a woman carrying out a suicide attack in Pakistan.

The bomber, who was in her 30s, was trying to reach an unmanned check post outside an intelligence agency office in the area and detonated the explosives when some security personnel spotted her, police officer Tanveer-ul-Hasan Sepra said.

The explosion occurred near St Mary's Convent, one of the best schools in Peshawar. It also took place in the highly sensitive cantonment area of the NWFP capital, where several offices of the army and intelligence agencies are located.

Security forces also found one leg from the blast site, where pieces of flesh had been strewn all around. Police said the woman could be an Afghan national as she was wearing Afghan clothes.

Taliban control no more than five Afghan districts: NATO

KABUL (AFP) — Afghanistan's extremist Taliban movement controls no more than five out of 59 districts in the south of the country, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said here Tuesday.

The insurgents are also isolated in the south, ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Carlos Branco told reporters travelling with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates who arrived late Monday for a surprise visit.

The Taliban control "not more than five districts" in the south, he said, adding there were 59 districts in the region.

The Islamists were in government between 1996 and 2001 and are today waging a growing insurgency marked by a wave of suicide bombings including one in Kabul Tuesday that was targeted at ISAF but only wounded eight Afghans.

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

Asked about claims that there has been a resurgence of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan as the network has suffered setbacks in Iraq, he said only: "We have increased reports of foreign fighters' presence."

A European think-tank, The Senlis Council, said in a report released last month that the Taliban had a permanent presence in more than half of Afghanistan.

The claim was dismissed by officials in Afghanistan, including Branco who said at the time the rebels were installed only in "very small pockets without territorial continuity."

Gates visited the ISAF headquarters in Kabul Tuesday for talks with commanders of forces in the south, which sees the worst of the violence, ahead of a meeting with these countries in Scotland this month.

Brown and Bush line up Ashdown for role in linking Afghan aid and military effort

Patrick Wintour, political editor - Wednesday December 5, 2007 The Guardian

Gordon Brown and President George Bush are expected in the next week to bring some badly needed coordination to aid and military effort in Afghanistan by appointing Lord Ashdown as super-envoy to the country. Brown is set to make the announcement to MPs before the Commons rises for Christmas in what is seen as a statement of his foreign policy approach to the fight against terrorism.

Ministers are looking at a three- to five-year plan, a proposal due to be discussed by defence secretaries, including the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, at a Nato-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) meeting in Edinburgh next week. The meeting involves all the countries militarily involved in Regional Command South in Afghanistan.

Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, is being asked to coordinate the roles of the UN and Nato for the first time, and is likely to pursue a political settlement that requires some resolution between the government of Hamid Karzai and the less extreme elements of the Taliban. Ashdown is known to be gloomy about the prospect of success in Afghanistan unless there is far greater cohesion between aid agencies, armies and foreign governments.

Previously a successful UN envoy to Bosnia between 2002 and 2006, he has pointed out that Afghanistan is receiving a 20th of the military effort and a 50th of the aid money that was put into Bosnia.

The new post would replace the UN's special representative to Kabul, Tom Koenigs, and Nato's civilian representative, Daan Everts, a Dutch diplomat, who by coincidence both complete their terms on December 31.

The issue was first raised in the summer, but the US at the time seemed reluctant to integrate the posts or see the post based in Kabul. Ashdown has been in discussions about the terms of his appointment, and so far Whitehall and Washington have met his conditions.

The appointment of Ashdown at 66 is a risk since he tends to speak his mind and has been driving a hard bargain over his powers, including the need for the US Operation Enduring Freedom to coordinate its military efforts more closely with the rest of Nato military operations.

However, the US has been impressed by Ashdown's success in Bosnia, and thinks he is the right man for the job.

One Whitehall source said: "The US wants a decision quickly, but Brown wants to make sure his hands are on the appointment and there is a clear agreement on strategy. Whitehall has been told that if we go on as we are, perhaps we could succeed, but we could definitely fail."

Ashdown's appointment also suggests that Britain and the US are likely to take a more emollient stance towards a political settlement. Ashdown has said he believes the west needs to scale back its political ambitions to establish a western-style democracy in the country.

Ashdown has been a strong opponent of the proposed US policy of aerial spraying of poppy crops. Opium production has reached record levels, flooding the western market with heroin and leaving Afghan farmers dependent on warlords and the Taliban for income.

In total there are 40,000 ISAF forces in the country, but the British would like to see a move away from air strikes to a counterinsurgency approach adopted with relative success by the US in Iraq .

Gates said yesterday he was looking at such a plan by providing arms to local tribes, along with training, equipment and other support. The Foreign Office has said that it would like to see greater coordination of the aid effort in Afghanistan. Since 2001 Afghanistan has received more than $15bn (£7.2bn) in assistance.

Oxfam has claimed in evidence to the international development select committee that of all technical assistance to Afghanistan, which accounts for a quarter of all aid to the country, only one tenth is coordinated among donors or with the government.

The US agency for international development, USAID, provides Afghanistan with $1.4bn a year, but allocates close to half its funds to the five largest US contractors in the country, partly to minimise the risk of corruption. Overall some two thirds of US foreign assistance bypasses the Afghan government that officials say they want to strengthen.

US backs Lord Ashdown for Afghanistan role

By Tom Coghlan in Kabul and David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent

Last Updated: 7:04am GMT 04/12/2007 - The United States is backing Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader who served as the international community's "high representative" in Bosnia, to be the United Nations new "super envoy" to Afghanistan.

The proposed role would see Lord Ashdown being charged with uniting the efforts of both Nato and the UN in Afghanistan. Nato officials are understood to support his candidacy for a job with exceptional power.

"Yes, we are aware that he (Lord Ashdown) has been approached and asked if he will do the job," said one senior Western diplomat in the Afghan capital, Kabul. "This is very much a US-led initiative."

Another diplomat said: "Paddy Ashdown's is the name popping up most frequently within the UN, but it is not being pushed internally within the UN. It is the US and Nato that are pushing it.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman declined to be drawn on Lord Ashdown's possible candidacy, saying: "I think that the appointment of the special representative is one that is in the gift of the UN secretary-general ultimately."

Lord Ashdown did not confirm or deny what he called "press speculation" that he would soon take up the job. But he refrained from saying he was uninterested. "I'm not in the business of turning down jobs I haven't been offered," he said.

The new post would replace the UN's Special Representative to Kabul and Nato's Civilian Representative who both complete their terms on Dec 31. Lord Ashdown's rivals are believed to include Joschka Fischer and Hikmet Cetin, the former foreign ministers of Germany and Turkey respectively.

Tensions have grown within the international community as it attempts to stabilise Afghanistan. The revived Taliban insurgency and concerns over spiralling corruption and Afghanistan's burgeoning drugs economy, which could be worth as much as £4 billion, have caused recrimination.

Nato has been particularly stung by criticism from senior UN officials after a spate of air strikes in which Afghan civilians died.

The new "super envoy" would have the same rank as the American and British ambassadors in Afghanistan. He would become the principal contact between President Hamid Karzai and both Nato and the UN.

Officials in the US State Department are believed to be preparing the job's terms of reference.

Afghan officials are anxious about Lord Ashdown's previous experience in Bosnia, where he wielded sweeping powers, including the ability to overrule the country's government. He was occasionally termed the "viceroy".

Lord Ashdown is currently the president of the European Union-Russia Centre, a think tank based in Brussels.

U.S., Afghanistan pledge boost in soldiers, military equipment

By Ann Scott Tyson - The Washington Post

KABUL, Afghanistan — The United States and Afghanistan plan to expand the Afghan army by up to 12,000 soldiers and accelerate shipments of tens of thousands of M-16 rifles, armored Humvees and other arms by the spring to counter a growing threat from Taliban insurgents and al-Qaida fighters, U.S. and Afghan commanders said Tuesday.

The Afghan army, now 50,000 strong, expects to reach its target strength of 70,000 soldiers by the middle of next year, Afghan and U.S. officials say. Under the new plan, it would then begin recruiting as many as 12,000 additional soldiers, according to Lt. Gen. Sher Mohammed Karimi, the army's operations chief.

While U.S. officials cite the achievements of the Afghan military, the force has historically suffered from high attrition rates. It has also lacked trainers and been hobbled by old weaponry, Afghan defense officials say.

During a visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was met at every stop with urgent requests — from Afghan generals, U.S. commanders and tribal leaders — for more U.S. funding, troops, equipment, and even an airfield and a hospital.

In an appearance with Gates, President Hamid Karzai also made a broad public appeal for increased assistance. This year has seen the highest overall level of violence in Afghanistan since the U.S. military led a campaign to oust the Taliban government in late 2001.

Suicide bombings and cross-border strikes have increased, and more foreign fighters affiliated with al-Qaida are infiltrating Afghanistan, according to Western and Afghan officials. Gates witnessed some of the violence firsthand Tuesday as his motorcade drove to the airport past a site where, about an hour earlier, a suicide car bombing had killed two Afghan civilians and wounded 15 others. Elsewhere, another suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a minibus carrying Afghan soldiers south of Kabul, killing at least 12, officials told The Associated Press today.

But in a visit to the rugged eastern province of Khost, a long-volatile region on the Pakistani border, Gates met with U.S. commanders who described a dramatic drop in attacks.

The Pentagon is also working to speed the flow of weaponry and aircraft to Afghan forces. The weapons include 5,000 U.S. M-16 rifles, due to arrive this month, with an additional 10,000 each month after that, for a total of 60,000, said Army Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, head of the training command.

Senior Nato figures to meet in Scotland

The Herald. Scotland is to play host this month to a gathering of senior ministers from Nato countries involved in the Afghanistan conflict.

While it is not technically a full Nato summit, the meeting of international ministers in Edinburgh will come close to that status, with all the security implications that entails.

The meeting is of Nato's "Group of the South" bloc, all of which have troops on the ground in Afghanistan. This includes the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark and emergent Eastern European nations such as Estonia and Romania.

Full details will be outlined today, but The Herald was told by a Foreign Office source last night: "Ministers get together from time to time to discuss issues as part of this group.

"This is an opportunity for Des Browne as Defence Secretary and foreign ministers who are contributing to the effort in Southern Afghanistan to discuss the latest position and the way forward."

While defence is reserved to Westminster, First Minister Alex Salmond has made clear he wants to thwart the update of the Trident nuclear weapons system, and the ministers' meeting offers him an opportunity to press home the point.

Speaking last week in a BBC interview, the First Minister said of the Trident decision: "There's a variety of ways within the legislative competence of the Scots Parliament that we can look at which would make that decision very difficult to implement for a Westminster Government".

Afghan mission extension proposed

Unrealistic for Canada to leave current role in a year, analyst says

December 05, 2007 - Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Canada has run out of time to find foreign replacements for its 2,500 soldiers fighting in Kandahar when the mission expires in 2009, a former government foreign policy adviser says.

Roland Paris, a University of Ottawa professor and former analyst in the Privy Council Office, says it is no longer realistic to believe the government can pull Canadian troops out of their current role in February 2009, just over a year from now. Even a "partial drawdown" of soldiers is a recipe for disaster in Afghanistan's violent southern province, he told the Star in an interview.

"We would, in effect, need to find another country to supply additional forces to Kandahar this winter. I think the chances of finding another NATO country to fill the space that would be vacated by a partial drawdown of Canadian Forces this winter ... are quite low."

Paris was echoing the recommendations he gave to a panel that is to make proposals on the future of the mission to the government in late January. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to hold a parliamentary vote on Canada's future in Afghanistan shortly after he receives the recommendations from the panel led by former deputy prime minister John Manley.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay has said Canada must give its final decision to NATO at a meeting in Romania next April. Paris's warning suggests the government may be running out the clock on that decision.

Faced with the complexities of organizing the 37-member NATO mission and finding replacement troops while trying to increase the overall force, he suggested that Canada extend its mission to 2010 and immediately serve notice that it intends to rotate out of Kandahar province. That would allow a new U.S. president to take office and possibly redeploy troops from Iraq and let Britain, France and Australia offer troops to NATO.

"I'm not convinced Canada really needs to stay in its current role at current levels all the way through to 2011. I think it's normal and natural for Canada to rotate its deployment," Paris said, adding that Canadian troops could come home or move to a safer part of Afghanistan.

The Harper government says it wants to stay the course until 2011 when it will have finished training a 70,000-strong Afghan army.

Omar Samad, Afghan ambassador to Ottawa, said yesterday the government hopes to have the army at 70,000 troops before 2009 but that number may be insufficient.

Diggers in Afghanistan 'for a decade'

December 5, 2007 - 3:59PM - Australian troops could remain in Afghanistan for more than a decade, a leading intelligence chief says. The head of the Office of National Assessments Peter Varghese made the prediction in a rare and broad ranging public speech on Wednesday.

"Afghanistan will need heavy international support for 10 years and potentially much longer," Mr Varghese said.

The new Labor government is strongly committed to the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, a fight that has now been running since late 2001 when former prime minister John Howard committed troops following September 11.

Australia has lost three soldiers in the past two months of fighting as Western nations continue trying to clear out Islamist militants across the restive south of the central Asian country.

Mr Varghese said the war in Afghanistan would need the backing of strong Western military forces. "Police and development assistance" will also be necessary in bringing democracy, he said.

But Mr Varghese warned the defeat of the Taliban and al-Qaeda would not necessarily kill Islamist terrorism globally despite Afghanistan's tag of "terror central".

"Terrorism will stay a destabilising force globally for at least a generation," he said.

"It will be a danger to Australian and allied nationals, a challenge to the authority of many governments, and a disruption to the patterns of trust and openness that globalised economies need.

"And even elimination of al-Qaeda's operational capability would not cripple the global terrorist threat.

"Such terrorism will keep adapting and decentralising with a continuing flow of recruits and with autonomous cells looking to AQ more for inspiration than for orders and capability."

Despite the threat of terrorism, Mr Varghese said it held no threat to Australia's long-term security. "Islamist terrorism has inbuilt limits as a strategic threat to Australia. "It has little scope to endanger the existence of, or take territory from, the Australian state."

UN ready to aid dialogue to boost prospects for peace

KABUL, 3 December 2007 (IRIN) - The UN is ready to facilitate dialogue between the Afghan government and anti-government elements who want to end violence and be part of Afghanistan's current political process, with the aim of strengthening peace and development in the country, according to a top UN official.

"2008 can be a year of success for Afghanistan," Christopher Alexander, deputy special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and deputy head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told journalists in Kabul on 3 December.

The UN will spearhead efforts to resolve conflict and accelerate a process of reconciliation and peace-building through political outreach work: "We will try to include those Afghans who feel excluded from current institutions and make them part of development and rebuilding," Alexander said.

UNAMA has placed "political outreach, rule of law and re-integrated strategy" at the top of its agenda for 2008.

Strengthening of judiciary - The UN's second top priority for Afghanistan in 2008 will be galvanising multilateral efforts to rebuild and consolidate institutions which ensure law and order in the country.

With international support the UN will help Afghans to create and implement a national justice strategy through which judicial institutions will be strengthened and made more effective, Alexander said.

Over 800 Afghan police have been killed in various security incidents so far in 2007, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry reported on 2 December. The UN will advocate deeper reform, transparency and an end to corruption in the Interior Ministry, Alexander said.

Furthermore, the UN would like to see the international community helping the government of President Hamid Karzai to reach Afghans in rural communities and improve governance at sub-national level.

"Single coherent plan" for Afghanistan - Six years after international forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001 - and with over US$12 billion of aid money spent - Afghanistan is still the fifth least developed country in the world and millions of Afghans have urgent humanitarian needs, according to the country's National Human Development Report (NHDR) for 2007. Afghanistan's estimated population is 24.5 million people, according to Afghanistan's Central Statistics office.

While aid agencies such as Oxfam international and think-tanks like the Senslis Council have recently raised concerns about lack of coordination among donors and criticised aid effectiveness, the UN has been prioritising the adoption of "a single coherent plan" for Afghanistan.

The new "reintegrated strategy" will also be reflected in UNAMA's new mandate, which is expected to be extended by the UN Security Council in March 2008, Alexander said.

Military Weighs Recruiting Afghan Tribes to Fight Taliban

By Ann Scott Tyson - Washington Post Tuesday, December 4, 2007

KABUL, Dec. 3 -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Afghanistan on Monday to weigh new strategies for quelling insurgent violence, which has escalated here in recent years despite increases in U.S. and NATO troop levels.

Senior defense officials said that under one initiative being considered, local tribesmen would be trained and armed to fight Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the stronghold of the radical Islamic militia. Attacks in that region have been particularly intense, and one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States is "seeing early indicators that there may be some stepped-up activity by al-Qaeda."

"One of the clear concerns that we all have is that in the last two or three years there has been a continuing increase in the overall level of violence," with attacks "highly focused" in the south, Gates told reporters Monday.

"I'm not worried about a backslide as much as I am how we continue the momentum going forward," Gates said.

The tribal initiative would begin with a British pilot project in Helmand province and would be broadly similar to a U.S. military drive in Iraq that has recruited thousands of local fighters -- including tribesmen and former insurgents -- to police their neighborhoods, the officials said.

In Afghanistan, as in Iraq, the plan reflects a concern among senior U.S. officials that coalition forces have relied too much on the central government to build security forces, an approach they say runs counter to both tribal culture and the need for community policing.

A new opinion poll released Monday -- conducted by ABC News, the BBC and the German public TV station ARD -- showed Afghans to be increasingly critical of the performance of U.S. forces and their ability to provide security. About 42 percent of Afghans polled rated U.S. efforts in their country positively, down from 68 percent in 2005.

The survey of 1,377 Afghans in the country's 34 provinces found that 42 percent believe the Taliban has gained strength in the past year, compared with 24 percent who say the group is weaker.

Nevertheless, about 70 percent of Afghans polled hold favorable views of the U.S. military overall, want it to remain in Afghanistan and are glad the Taliban was overthrown in 2001.

Senior defense officials said that there are currently no plans to send additional U.S. troops to southern Afghanistan but that the Pentagon is urging other NATO countries to increase their commitments. There are about 25,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and 22,000 non-U.S. NATO and other troops.

Leaked aid map of Afghanistan reveals expansion of no-go zones

The Times 12.5.07 - Almost half of Afghanistan is now too dangerous for aid workers to operate in, a leaked UN map seen by The Times shows.

In the past two years most foreign and Afghan staff have withdrawn from the southern half of the country, abandoning or scaling back development projects in rural areas and confining themselves to the cities or the less risky north. The pullback compounds the problems of the Government in Kabul, which has struggled to extend its authority to the regions and provinces, which are increasingly lawless or Taleban controlled.

Development has always been touted as a key factor in Western efforts to win over Afghans and bolster support for President Karzai but in the past six years little has been done on the ground in the critical south and east.

The failure to help ordinary Afghans or to rebuild areas damaged by fighting in provinces such as Helmand has caused huge resentment and is exploited by Taleban propaganda.

The unpublished map, acquired by The Times in Kabul, is for UN staff and aid workers and illustrates risk levels across the nation. It shows a marked deterioration in security since 2005, when compared with a similar map from March of that year.

Then only a strip along the Pakistan border and areas of mountainous Zabul and Uruzgan provinces in the south were too dangerous for aid workers. Now nearly all the ethnic Pashtun south and east is a no-go zone categorised as high or extreme risk and there are even pockets in the north of the country that are becoming dangerous for aid workers.

In the past two years nearly 40 Afghan and several foreign aid workers have been killed. The threat comes from the resurgent Taleban, which increasingly targets projects, and from bandits.

The map has emerged after a row in Kabul about just how much of the country the Taleban now controls.

A report by the Senlis Council, a think-tank, last week claimed that the rebels have a presence in half the country. An opinion poll published on Monday found that only 42 per cent of Afghans rate US efforts positively compared with 68 per cent in 2005, and also suggested that support for the Taleban was growing.

Brigadier-General Carlos Branco, an ISAF spokesman, insisted yesterday that the Taleban controls only five out of fifty-nine districts in southern Afghanistan. But the withdrawal of aid workers is undeniable.

Matt Waldman, the Kabul-based Oxfam policy adviser, said that the organisation had withdrawn all its staff from southern Afghanistan in June because of safety fears. He said that the decision had been a painful one, adding: “Peace in Afghanistan cannot be achieved without more determined efforts to reduce poverty, and urgent measures must be taken to enhance aid effectiveness.”

Nato has taken on much development work in dangerous areas through provincial reconstruction teams, in which soldiers build schools or dig wells as part of a “hearts and minds” programme. Aid professionals say that much of their work is poor. The other main method of carrying out development work in the south is through for-profit corporations whose staff venture out only in armed cars protected by heavily armed mercenaries.

Nic Lee, from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, said: “It is getting worse. The Taleban are making significant inroads in provincial centres.”

Who All Is The Taliban?

strategypage.com

December 4, 2007: The Taliban began fifteen years ago as armed Afghan religious school students, from refugee camps in Pakistan, who entered the civil war then raging in Afghanistan. That war was being fought by tribal and religious factions, to determine who would control Kabul (and, technically, rule Afghanistan). At that point, most Afghans were tired of fifteen years of Russian occupation and civil war. The puritanical and fanatic Taliban struck a chord, and many Afghans got behind them. Most of the other civil war factions were soon defeated or absorbed, and the Taliban ruled the country for six years, until the United States came to the aid of the remaining anti-Taliban factions (the Northern Alliance) in late 2001. The Taliban had made themselves very unpopular by then, and most Afghans switched sides once more. The Taliban were out of power within two months.

The Taliban were defeated, but not destroyed. The refugee camps and religious schools back in Pakistan still existed, and many surviving Afghan Taliban returned to Pakistan. Most of these pro-Taliban areas were in FATA (the Pakistani "Federally Administered Tribal Areas".) This was a border area, with a population of 3.3 million, containing some of the most independent minded Pushtun tribes. However, after the Taliban fell, most of the Afghan refugees, including many pro-Taliban ones, went home. But many Pakistanis had adopted the Taliban philosophy (a very conservative form of Islam). The Taliban had gotten these religious attitudes from Saudi preachers and religious scholars, sent by Saudi religious charities dedicated to the spread of Wahhabism, a two century old form of Islam that originated in Arabia. The missionary effort began in the 1980s, as Saudi Arabia also sent many weapons and much cash to the Afghans fighting the Russian occupation.

The Taliban had plenty of allies. These included several of the Pushtun tribes in southern Afghanistan (around Kandahar.) Many of the Pushtun tribes in FATA also support the Taliban, as do many of the Baluchi tribes in southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan). The Baluchis mostly provide sanctuary, not fighters. The former head of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, and his key aides, have remained hidden among the Pushtun and Baluchi tribes along the Afghan border.

There are still several warlords, dating from the 1980s and the war with the Russians, who continue to support the Taliban. These are usually Pushtun tribal leaders, who maintain their own small armies of gunmen, and maintain these forces via smuggling, extortion or whatever else will bring in cash. These warlords support the Taliban (most of the time) because of mutual dislike for democracy and the national government.

Many of the drug gangs (often run by warlords or tribal leaders) have also supported the Taliban, again because of a mutual dislike for the central government (which is dedicated to destroying the heroin trade.) These gangs mainly supply money, and expect that, when the Taliban regain power, the drug business will be allowed to continue, as it did when the Taliban were last in charge.

Finally, there's al Qaeda. This is a small operation, which specializes in bomb attacks (suicide or roadside). Al Qaeda has been in the region for about a decade, and have made enemies among many of the Pushtun tribes.

In fact, the entire "Taliban Alliance" is a very loose operation. Some factions are basically criminals (the drug gangs and many warlords). The alliance is very fluid, with factions leaving, and new ones joining (or old ones returning) all the time. There is no central command, and only a general agreement on the need to overthrow the elected government of Afghanistan, and replace it with a religious dictatorship.

'Afghanistan Says All War Crime Supects in Netherlands Innocent'

NIS News Bulletin, Netherlands - 12/04/2007 - THE HAGUE - The Afghan regime is emphatically involving itself in the fate of suspected Afghan war criminals who fled to the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1990s. The president of the Afghan parliament, Mohammad Younus Qanooni, wants the Netherlands to leave them in peace, Trouw newspaper reports.

In a letter to Lower House Speaker Gerdi Verbeet, Qanooni reportedly says that former military officers of lower rank who worked for the communist regime in the 1980s "have committed no violation of human rights." Qanooni said a report by the Dutch foreign ministry was "not accurate."

The foreign ministry has concluded that "all NCOs and officers of the (then Afghan security service) Khad were guilty of human rights violations." According to Qanooni however, this conclusion is based on Pakistani sources that are not objective, because they maintain close contacts with the Taliban, Trouw reports.

The justice ministry is refusing a few hundred Afghans in the Netherlands a residence permit because they are suspected of war crimes and human rights violations. The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) has declared them undesirable aliens with a reference to Article 1F of the UN refugees treaty.

Over a thousand asylum-seekers are estimated to be staying in the Netherlands who are suspected of war crimes, mainly Afghan ex-officers. Aliens Affairs State Secretary Albayrak will draw up a memorandum at the beginning of 2008 on these so-called 'IF-ers,' who are largely tolerated as illegal immigrants because human rights treaties stand in the way of repatriating them.

21 commanders set to surrender weapons in Parwan

KABUL, Dec 3 (Pajhwok Afghan News): As many as 21 former commanders are set to surrender weapons to officials of the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme in the central Parwan province tomorrow.

A ceremony is scheduled take place in Bagram to acknowledge the contribution of the commanders, who will hand over more than 108 serviceable weapons to DIAG teams. Governmental authorities and Afghanistans New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) officials will take part in the ceremony in the district governors office.

A joint press statement from UNDP, ANBP and UNAMA said on Monday the commanders were supporting DIAG by negotiating and accepting to surrender their weapons, thus allowing the consolidation of peace, rule of law and prosperity in Afghanistan.

Thanks to the ongoing efforts of the governor and the authorities, a number of commanders have demonstrated compliance with the process, paving the way for Parwan to be one of the provinces in conformity with the requirements of DIAG, the statement added.

Until December 3, 35002 weapons as well as 28849 pieces of boxed and 313055 pieces of unboxed ammunition have been handed over to ANBP collection teams under the DIAG process, launched on June 11, 2005.

According to the statement, 4,857 of the collected weapons have been handed over by 124 candidates for parliamentary and provincial council elections.

EU to fund 1.5m projects to support the disabled

KABUL, Dec 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The European Union (EU) and implementing partners will present a series of projects to support people with disabilities through Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) on the occasion of the International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3 (tomorrow).

CBR is a comprehensive rights-based strategy within community development for the full inclusion of disabled people in all aspects of life, in particular as a strategy for poverty reduction.

The European Union said on Sunday the new projects - funded by it with 1.44 million - would be executed during 2008-2009 by national and international NGOs in communities living in 11 different provinces.

According to the EU, the projects will provide community-based services in the areas of physical rehabilitation, education, mobility training, skills development, livelihood opportunities and building the capacity of service-providers to include the people with disabilities in their programmes.

In a press statement sent to Pajhwok Afghan News, the EU said, the CBR methodology intrinsically increased the awareness of the communities about the rights of people with disabilities.

It will be pertinent to explain the European Commission (EC) has been working with the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, Ministry of Public Health and other actors on the ground to support people with disability during the last five years.

Efforts would be made to strengthen community-based mechanisms and increase cohesion problems faced by children with sensory disabilities, the EU said, promising it would build the capacity of community schools to provide appropriate inclusive education and promote social inclusion of children in classroom, school and wider environment.

Afghanistan is one of the countries with the highest ratio of people with disability, 2.5% of the population, or around 700,000 people. Southern Afghanistan has an even higher prevalence of persons with disabilities than the national average.

On average, the EU said, one of every five households had at least one person with disability. The main forms of disability are physical (36%), sensorial (26%), epilepsy (20%), mental (10%) and combined disabilities (8%).

Afghanistan: Disabled people have tough time, lack education, jobs

KABUL, 3 December 2007 (IRIN) - Abdul Samad was 17 when he lost his legs in a landmine explosion in Helmand Province in 1998. He wanted to commit suicide when he first realised his disability, but his family kept him alive.

Nine years later, although he has five children, he thinks his problems have only mounted. "My children are also deprived of a happy life because of my disability," he said.

Plagued by over two decades of war, poverty and underdevelopment, Afghanistan has about 800,000 people with disabilities out of an estimated total population of 24.5 million. Many of these are also illiterate, unemployed or lack access to health services and other opportunities.

One in five households in Afghanistan has a disabled person, according to a 2005 survey conducted by Handicap International, an international non-governmental organisation campaigning on behalf of people living with disabilities.

About 36 percent of disability in the country is physical, 26 percent sensorial, 20 percent epilepsy and 10 percent mental, the survey found.

Education - Over half of Afghanistan's disabled population is under 19, say organisations helping people with disability. Over 72 percent of all disabled people over six have not received any education, Afghanistan's National Disability Survey (NDS) said in 2005.

"Many hurdles impede access to education for people with disability," said Samiulhaq Sami, an adviser to the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled. "Physical, attitudinal and financial barriers mostly deny education to disabled people," he added.

Most schools and educational centres lack facilities for disabled people and access to buildings is also a major problem for those with movement problems.

Employment - Fewer than 30 percent of disabled people have jobs in Afghanistan, according to government statistics. Apart from the disability itself, other impediments to employment are illiteracy and lack of work experience (over half of the disabled population is under 19).

In an effort to support the participation of disabled people in local and national decision-making and increase their opportunities, on 2 December the European Commission (EC) provided 1.44 million euros (about US$2.13 million) for several community-based rehabilitation projects in 11 provinces in Afghanistan.

"The EC funding will be used to improve local capacities to provide, promote and support different community-based services for disabled people," said Hanjorg Kretschmer, head of the EC delegation to Afghanistan.

Poor health services - Although Afghan officials say access to basic health services has been extended to about 80 percent of the population, money and transportation are two of the main problems faced by most disabled Afghans.

"Among the difficulties reported, disabled persons faced problems mainly regarding money for fees or medication and transportation (25.1 percent), the absence of transportation (20 percent), and far behind, the absence of medication (4 percent)," according to the NDS findings.

The government of Afghanistan pays a monthly stipend of 500 Afghanis (US$10) to war disabled, which is insufficient to meet their basic needs.

Afghans' hopes and fears for the future – BBC

An opinion poll commissioned by the BBC suggests that most Afghans are relatively hopeful about their future, although less so compared with a year ago.

They also support the current Afghan government and the presence of overseas troops, and oppose the Taleban. Here, people in Afghanistan discuss the biggest problems they face and their hopes for a better life.

ZARDASHT AHMADI, CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, KABUL

The security situation is deteriorating on a daily basis, even though the US and their allies are trying to minimise the terrorist threat. Today, we see the grandchildren of extremists from the past killing innocent people and destroying the country.

Many people don't feel safe to join the Afghan National Army due to lack of funding for uniforms and proper equipment. In my perception, there isn't an Afghanistan government - there is a Kabul government. Our government only controls Kabul city and sometimes even Kabul comes under direct attacks from the Taleban.

The rest of the country, especially the countryside, is under the control of the enemies. I doubt there would be broad peace and unity among Afghan people as long as they live in our society.

President Karzai's administration is not fair towards its people. You have to know someone in the government in order to get something done. Otherwise, you have to pay bribes.

People's needs haven't been fulfilled by the current administration and because of this I am pessimistic about the future of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's current leaders are not aggressive towards corruption, terrorism and crime. They are only excited about filling up their pockets.

And if life gets tough, they can leave the country, once again providing an opportunity for their fellow wolves, who are currently barking from the peaks of the mountains.

NABEELA HOMI, HOUSEWIFE, KABUL

If you look at the city, you will see some positive changes. There are bigger buildings and more roads are paved.

But if you look at the security situation and the people's psychological state, things are much worse. When children leave the house, their mothers are constantly worrying that something might happen to them.

Our financial problems are getting worse day by day. I have four children. I was never formally educated and do not work outside the house. My husband is a retired doctor and his pension is $50 a month.

My son has a university degree and speaks six languages, but he can't find a job. My other son and two daughters were born with mental disabilities, so they cannot work as well.

We have no electricity for most of the day and no clean water. And we are lucky - our family is a middle class family. We are much better off than other people.

There are some positive changes - more hospitals and schools are being opened, but these are small benefits compared to the bigger problems we face. I hope for peace, so that we can live a normal life without fearing for our safety.

I fear what's going to happen to Afghanistan. Maybe there will be more fighting and explosions, or even worse - the Taleban might rise again to power.

JAMSHED ARYAN, 20, BAGHLAN PROVINCE

There have been positive and negative changes in the last year. We've seen tremendous construction, done mostly by the private sector. The government has constructed a few road networks, which are quite significant for the economy of Afghanistan.

A journey from the border with Pakistan to Kabul now takes only three hours, compared with seven or eight in the past. But there are many more negative things. The opium cultivation has increased throughout the country.

There is corruption in all government institutions - the judiciary being the most corrupt institution in the country. Our most important need is the need for security. If we have better security we can develop businesses and acquire education.

The foreign forces in Afghanistan are doing a great job by fighting the rebels and training the Afghan National Police and the army. Afghans are happy and they would like them to stay in Afghanistan for a long time.

My biggest fear is that Afghanistan might fall into the hands of the Taleban. I hope that President Musharraf stops the militants entering Afghanistan that Iran stops providing weapons and finances to the Taleban.

If the Taleban are defeated for good, this country will be a much better place to live.

SURAYA HAIDERY, PRESIDENT OF BEAUTICIANS UNION OF KABUL

There have been some positive changes. There is more infrastructure in the countryside and more girls can now attend school.

Things are altogether so much better since the fall of the Taleban. During the Taleban I used to work as a beautician secretly. Now I can openly practise my job.

It is safer now than it was a year ago. The ANP (Afghan National Police) and the ANA (Afghan National Army) are more stable and developed and have been able to increase the security both in and outside Kabul.

Now women are able to go out at night to wedding parties or dinner.

But things are far from perfect. We still need peace - peace is the most important thing. After that is a good education for our children. And I personally would like to own my own house.

There are still a lot of problems facing Afghan women: lack of jobs, difficulties working out of the house and not being able to work after dark.

Although general security has improved, there have been more suicide attacks in the last year.

The presence of foreign forces has made things better. They have helped improved our security, health care and education.

My only hope is for peace for my country. And my biggest fear are the suicide attacks and the return of the Taleban.

YAQUB AHMADZAI, 25, COMPUTER OPERATOR, MAZAR-E-SHARIF

All the changes happening in our lives are for the worse. There are more corrupt people in the government and the warlords are still in power.

Our most pressing need is the need for security. If we have security, everything else will be fine. The problem is, it is not only not getting better, it is getting worse all the time.

The foreign forces are supposed to work to improve the situation, but they kill innocent people. People are very angry about this.

If they don't control civilian casualties they will face even worse attacks and people will turn against them.

These days the Taleban have a strong support from Iran and the tribal areas of Pakistan.

It is well known that Iran supplies weapons and food to the Taleban, who are present everywhere in the country, even in Kabul.

We still have hope for a better future but if things are going like this, then neither we nor the next generation will be able to leave the 18th Century.

HAFEEZ MOHIBI, 28, TV STATION TRANSLATOR, KABUL

Life in Afghanistan changed for the better after 11 September: many more people have access to education and health, there's been lots of reconstruction and most importantly, the rule of the Taleban has ended.

But we have many urgent problems and the biggest one is lack of security. The presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan is in favour of the Afghan people. If they are not here, there'll be lots of fighting.

It is true that many innocent people have been killed in air strikes by US forces, but I still believe that without them there would be no security at all because right now we are experiencing the most dangerous situation - even more dangerous than during the Taleban rule.

The Taleban are also part of the Afghan people and in my opinion they should be called to the negotiating table. Corruption is also a pressing issue, especially for the poor people. We can't process our legal paperwork without paying bribes to officials.

The only thing that gives me hope that life for the next generation will be better is the support from the international community, especially from the US and UK, to uproot the danger of warlords and opium.

( Interviews and photos with Nabeela Homi and Suraya Haidery by Elissa Bogos, photographer working in Afghanistan )

10 uplift projects completed under NSP in Laghman

JALALABAD, Dec 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Ten uplift projects were completed in Mehtarlam, capital of the eastern Laghman province, under the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) on Sunday.

The schemes executed include two water-supply projects, as many electrification projects, the construction of three computer literacy centres and three tailoring courses, according to an official.

NSP Director for Laghman Eng. Humayun told Pajhwok Afghan News the projects costing 2.5 millions afghanis had a timescale of three months. They were implemented the eight different villages on the outskirts of the capital city.

An opening ceremony for a library was held at the Literature and Linguistics Department of the Nangarhar University. The library was constructed at the cost of $2,500 provided by the Australian government.

ICRC providing bulk of orthopaedic services

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has donated prostheses and orthoses (artificial aids such as a brace) to over 80,000 disabled people since it launched its orthopaedic services in Afghanistan in 1988.

The ICRC is running its biggest orthopaedic programme in Afghanistan, where it annually spends about US$10 million on treatment, recovery, wheelchairs, prostheses and physiotherapy for disabled people in six orthopaedic centres around the country.

About 6,000 disabled people visit the ICRC orthopaedic centres, and the organisation distributes an average 14,000 prostheses, every year.

"We provide almost 80 percent of the orthopaedic services in Afghanistan," Alberto Cairo, head of the ICRC orthopaedic hospital in Kabul, told IRIN.

A bigger challenge for Afghan disabled people, however, is their social reintegration, which lags behind orthopaedic services, Cairo said.

[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.]