In this bulletin:

• Poland to send additional 400 troops to Afghanistan
• US ambassador: Talks possible in Afghanistan with Taliban fighters who renounce al-Qaida ties
• President Hamid Karzai "praised" for UN expulsions
• US-led coalition kills several suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan
• Karzai orders to flow Afghan national flag at half mast for Bhutto's death
• Bhutto killing blamed on al-Qaeda
• Bhutto Death Puts a Spotlight on War in Afghanistan
• Harper calls for Pakistan election to proceed as Canada gauges Bhutto fallout
• Canadian troops in Afghanistan will feel aftershocks of Bhutto's murder
• Assassination could unleash 'nightmare scenario,' says former diplomat
• Political turmoil threatens Afghanistan relationship
• Bhutto's death could have impact on Afghanistan mission
• Taliban leader warns against using religion for electoral gains
• EDITORIAL: Two controversial leaders with the same problem
• Iran has always backed Afghanistan during hard times
• Afghanistan’s Creaking Court System
• US avoided formal recognition of Daoud Government
• Guantanamo Terror Convict to Be Set Free
• Afghanistan, firmly in focus

Poland to send additional 400 troops to Afghanistan

The Associated Press - Friday, December 28, 2007

WARSAW, Poland: Poland's government is expected to send 400 additional troops to its mission in Afghanistan, a move of increased importance amid destabilization in neighboring Pakistan, the nation's defense minister said Friday.

Some 1,200 Polish troops already serve as part of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Earlier this month the country pledged to strengthen that force with more troops and eight helicopters.

Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said Friday that President Lech Kaczynski — the supreme commander of the armed forces — has proposed that 400 troops be sent at the end of April.

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk is expected approve the plan.

Klich said the need to strengthen the force was highlighted by the assassination on Thursday of Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"The situation in Pakistan and the danger of the destabilization spreading in the region, also into Afghanistan, is forcing us to strengthen the mission," Klich said.

Poland is also planning to send some 350 troops to Africa as part of a European Union mission to protect refugees in Chad. Warsaw has announced it is pulling its 900 troops out of the U.S.-led mission in Iraq by late 2008.

US ambassador: Talks possible in Afghanistan with Taliban fighters who renounce al-Qaida ties

The Associated Press, 12.27.07

KABUL - The United States supports reconciliation talks with Taliban fighters who have no ties to al-Qaida and accept Afghanistan's constitution, the U.S. ambassador said Thursday.

William Wood said the U.S. is in favor of a ''serious reconciliation program with those elements of the Taliban who are prepared to accept the constitution and the authority of the elected government'' of President Hamid Karzai.

''The only place where we have concern would be the members of the Taliban with close connection to al-Qaida, the reason being that al-Qaida is an international threat, it is a global threat and we don't believe that there should be separate peaces with al-Qaida,'' he said.

At a news conference in Kabul, Wood also said the United States was not involved in the controversy over the expulsion of two senior officials from the European Union and U.N. But he said he was confident the EU and U.N. were acting with good intentions.

The government of Afghanistan had accused Michael Semple, the acting head of the EU mission, and Mervyn Patterson, an official with the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, of holding unauthorized talks with Taliban militants in the country's south.

The decision to expel them seems to be the result of a ''misunderstanding'' and lack of coordination with the government of Afghanistan, Wood said.

''In any situation like this, coordination, transparency and communication among the good guys is absolutely necessary,'' he said.

Karzai has voiced a growing interest in meeting with Taliban leaders to try to persuade them to join the government and put down their arms.

But the expulsion of the two officials could make some Western nations and international organizations wary of making their own overtures to the militants in an effort to end the insurgency, which has left over 6,300 people - mostly militants - dead this year alone.

Wood said Afghan and foreign troops have killed or arrested many Taliban field commanders and other militant leaders and thwarted their offensive operations.

As a result, there have been an increase in the flow of foreign fighters into the country and also a rise in terrorist attacks, he said.

''The leadership of the Taliban may have felt that they had lost so many leaders that they could not replace them easily with Afghans, or they may have felt that the morale among their troops was falling and they needed leaders of a more ideological character,'' Wood said.

Following a takeover earlier this month by Afghan, British and U.S. troops of the town of Musa Qala - which the Taliban had controlled since February - officials discovered drugs worth $500 million in street value, Wood said. Afghan officials have said that Musa Qala hosted dozens of heroin labs.

''No clearer proof can be found of the cooperative relationship between the Taliban, who used to dominate Musa Qala, and the druggers, who were using Musa Qala as a storehouse and the center for distribution,'' Wood said.

Wood said that the U.S. and its allies were stepping up their training of the country's security forces, with a particular focus on its troubled police force, which is often accused of corruption. The Afghan army will reach its target of 70,000 troops by the end of 2008, he said.

Wood also said that Iran ''remains an ambiguous neighbor ... providing money to finance projects that are important to Iran inside Afghanistan.''

''But there have also been instances in which weapons from Iran were found to be going to the Taliban,'' he said.

President Hamid Karzai "praised" for UN expulsions

The Times, 12/27/2007 By Nick Meo in Helmand province

The two senior international officials expelled by the Afghan Government flew out of Kabul yesterday, leaving behind a mood of simmering hostility between Afghan officials, who accuse them of backing the Taleban, and foreign diplomats, who are furious about their treatment.

As they departed for Pakistan, new claims emerged about a supposed meeting the pair held with the Taleban’s leaders in the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province only days after British troops had recaptured the town earlier this month.

Afghan officials have claimed the pair were acting well beyond their brief and even paid money to the guerrillas. The UN has insisted that they met tribal leaders only during a routine fact-finding mission.

Michael Semple, an Irishman and EU official with extensive Taleban contacts, and Mervyn Patterson, a UN official from Northern Ireland, are considered to be two of the leading experts on Afghanistan.

Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the UN, said: “We are now trying to negotiate their swift return to Afghanistan.” He said that the UN needed “to speak to people on the ground” but denied that the men had been speaking to terrorists.

The duo’s trip to Helmand, which was made with British military assistance, was to an area where links with the Taleban are essential to survive, and was made at a time when the British military is attempting to “peel off’ enemy fighters from the insurgency by persuading them to defect.

The operation to retake Musa Qala was started after Mullah Abdul Salam, an important Taleban commander, switched sides with his men, and more defections are hoped for.

Although the large international community in Kabul has been aghast at the men’s expulsion, the move has won the praise of many Afghans unhappy with the role foreigners play in their country. There is growing frustration at the slow pace of reconstruction and the deteriorating security, and many Afghans fear that foreign powers may be willing to do deals with guerrillas in order to get out.

Diplomats’ efforts to enable the return of the two men face a protracted wrangle, according to sources in Kabul. The problem has been complicated by President Karzai’s absence on a trip to Pakistan until today, when he is due to award a medal for services to Afghanistan to Tom Koenigs, the UN’s Special Representative in the country.

Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the Taleban, phoned the AFP news agency from a secret location and said: “This is a drama by Karzai’s administration trying to show off that they are independent. We’re amazed why Karzai would show sensitivity to the fact they have met with the Taleban while he himself publicly says he is ready to meet the Taleban.”

The President’s decision to expel the pair apparently came after Assadullah Wafa, the Governor of Helmand, complained to him that they had made the trip without telling him, and alleged that they were trying to make a deal with the Taleban behind the back of the Government.

Yesterday Governor Wafa held a press conference in which he said that he had information that the two men had met the Taleban, who were planning suicide bomb attacks against Afghan security forces. Tolo TV, which has dubbed the affair "Helmand-gate", claimed that the officials were found with $150,000 (£75,000) in cash and had information on a laptop suggesting that they had previously paid the Taleban leaders.

US-led coalition kills several suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan

The Associated Press, Friday, December 28, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan: U.S.-led coalition troops killed several suspected Taliban insurgents inside a compound in southern Afghanistan, and detained nine other people, the coalition said in a statement Friday.

While searching a compound in Qalat district of Zabul province on Thursday, "coalition forces were required to escalate force when militants demonstrated hostile intent, killing several militants," the statement said.

A woman was also wounded during the operation, it said. Nine other people suspected of links to the militants were detained during the operation, the coalition said.

Karzai orders to flow Afghan national flag at half mast for Bhutto's death

KABUL, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued an order Friday morning that the national flag be flown at half mast across the country and abroad for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, said a statement from the presidential office.

    The Afghan national flag will be flown at half mast for 24 hours starting from Saturday at 08:30 a.m.(GMT0400) as a mark of respect for the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party and former prime minister, and sympathy with the people of Pakistan, the statement said.

    Bhutto was killed in a terrorist attack in Rawalpindi of Pakistan Thursday evening.

    Hamid Karzai held an emergent press conference after Bhutto's death and said that the tragic death of Mrs Bhutto is an immense loss for Pakistan and the Muslim world.

    Hamid Karzai, on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, also expressed his deepest sympathies and condolences to members of Bhutto's family and to the people of Pakistan.

Bhutto killing blamed on al-Qaeda – BBC

Pakistan says it has strong proof that al-Qaeda assassinated opposition politician Benazir Bhutto at an election rally on Thursday.

The interior ministry said it had intelligence indicating Baitullah Mehsud, whom it called an "al-Qaeda leader", was behind the killing.

Baitullah Mehsud is a wanted pro-Taleban militant leader based in the South Waziristan tribal region.

Ms Bhutto has been buried in her family tomb amid scenes of mass grieving.

Video of her last moments before the attack in Rawalpindi was shown at the news conference given in Islamabad by the interior ministry.

Addressing reporters, ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said the primary cause of Ms Bhutto's death appeared to have been a knock on her head as she tried to duck her attacker, and not bullets or shrapnel.

A surgeon who treated her, Dr Mussadiq Khan, had earlier said she may have died from a shrapnel wound. Brig Cheema added that all possible security arrangements had been put in place for Ms Bhutto.

Her supporters say the government did not do enough to protect her. After a previous attempt on her life in October, Ms Bhutto accused rogue elements of the Pakistani intelligence services of involvement.

Pakistani intelligence services had intercepted a call from Baitullah Mehsud in which he allegedly congratulated another militant after Bhutto's death, Brig Cheema said.

There was, he added, "irrefutable evidence that al-Qaeda, its networks and cohorts were trying to destabilise Pakistan".

Talking about the cause of Ms Bhutto's death, the spokesman said she had died from a head wound.

It was, he said, sustained when she smashed against the sunroof's lever as she tried to shelter inside the car from the gunman, who set off a bomb after opening fire with a gun.

"The lever struck near her right ear and fractured her skull," he said. "There was no bullet or metal shrapnel found in the injury."

Ms Bhutto's security adviser Rehman Malik had earlier said she had been shot in the neck and chest by the gunman.

Bhutto Death Puts a Spotlight on War in Afghanistan

The Washington Post, 12.27.2007 By Thomas E. Ricks

Experts Worry Domestic Concerns May Take Precedence for Musharraf

The death of Benazir Bhutto is an ominous sign not only for the future of Pakistan but also for the course of the U.S.-led war in neighboring Afghanistan, U.S. military officers and other experts on South Asian security affairs said today.

The assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister came at the end of a year in which the Afghan war turned more violent, with a sharp spike in suicide bombings and roadside bombs. Also, the Taliban, ousted from power by a U.S.-led campaign in November 2001, have regrouped and expanded their operations beyond their homeland in Afghanistan's south-central mountains.

"This event is just the latest in a line of disturbing events," said Andrew Exum, who fought in Afghanistan in 2004 as a U.S. Army officer and now studies Islamic militant groups at King's College London.

The prime concern of defense experts is that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will have his hands full domestically, and so will be less helpful to the U.S. government, and less able to crack down on the movement of Islamic fighters across Pakistan's ungoverned border with Afghanistan.

A longer-term worry is whether the assassination sets off a chain of events that fractures Pakistan politically, an outcome that would far outstretch the ability of the U.S. military to respond. The major focus then would be securing Pakistan's arsenal of 60 to 100 nuclear warheads and ensuring that some aren't captured by al-Qaeda and its allies.

How the short-term effects play out in Afghanistan depends largely on whether Islamic extremists are found to have carried out the killing of Bhutto, and, if so, how Musharraf reacts. If those groups are found to be behind the killing, then attention will focus on their redoubts in the border areas. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates expressed concern last week that al-Qaeda has "reestablished itself" in Pakistan's ungoverned area along its border with Afghanistan.

"The big question is, will the Pakistani government be able to do anything there under these circumstances, [ as it is] preoccupied with post-assassination trouble?" said Teresita C. Schaffer, a former State Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The U.S. military has about 26,000 troops in Afghanistan, many of them near the eastern border. Some experts predicted that the killing of Bhutto will encourage Islamic extremist elements in that area.

"They will see this as a victory, and . . . Musharraf looks weak," said John McCreary, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency's 2001 task force on Afghanistan. "Spillover effects will be to embolden the Taliban and tribal miscreants."

If Musharraf escalates operations against al-Qaeda militants in the border areas, that also could complicate the situation in Afghanistan, said J. Alexander Thier, a former United Nations official in Afghanistan. "If done in a significant way, it will stir up the hornets' nest, which may well result in a surge in Afghan violence," he said.

There is also the possibility that the Pakistani government will turn hostile to U.S. interests, which would change the entire nature of the war in Afghanistan.

"If there is a break in U.S.-Pakistan relations due to some ill-considered policy decision on the part of the U.S.," said retired Pakistani Brig. Naeem Salik, now a scholar at Johns Hopkins University, "it wouldn't be possible for anyone in power in Islamabad to continue to allow the transit facilities and the flow of logistic support" for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Harper calls for Pakistan election to proceed as Canada gauges Bhutto fallout

OTTAWA (CP) - The shockwaves of Benazir Bhutto's assassination rippled into Canada as the government, the military, and the Pakistani community cast a wary eye toward tumultuous south Asia.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged Pakistan to proceed with its scheduled election in two weeks - this despite the country's main opposition party announcing a boycott after Bhutto's murder.

"This cannot be allowed to permit any delay in the return of Pakistan to full democracy," Harper said in Calgary. "(Democracy is) something the people of Pakistan have been waiting for, for far too long."

Bhutto, the leading lady of Asian politics, was shot in the neck and chest while leaving a rally as she campaigned for her third stint as Pakistan's prime minister. Her attacker then blew himself up, also killing at least 20 others.

Images of burning tires, smashed glass, grown men crying, and angry mobs forming in the streets of Pakistan offered an instant illustration of the turmoil in which the nuclear-armed country now finds itself.

With so much of Canada's interests tied up in next-door neighbour Afghanistan, politicians and military experts grappled with the potential implications of Bhutto's killing.

Canadian policy-makers weighed the possible impact on diplomats, aid workers, and 2,500 soldiers helping to rebuild Afghanistan.

The fears were far more personal for Canada's Pakistani community, which was gripped with concern for relatives and friends back home.

News of Bhutto's killing reached the prime minister as he was wrapping up holidays with his family in Calgary, and it caused him to briefly delay his return to Ottawa.

He implored Pakistani authorities to seek out and prosecute the organizers of what he called an abhorrent act of terror. And he insisted that elections proceed as planned on Jan. 8.

Those elections are now soaked in uncertainty following Bhutto's killing, with a main opposition leader boycotting them and Pervez Musharraf grappling with whether to suspend them. Harper said they must go on despite the assassination.

The western world's interest in Pakistan has grown exponentially in the past few years, largely because it is a volatile nuclear power at the forefront of the war against terrorism.

And Canada is right in the thick of it. The country has lost 73 soldiers in Afghanistan and sustained hundreds more injuries fighting an enemy whose central command is actually across the border.

Canada's multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort has also been slowed by the spate of suicide bombings, shootings, and roadside explosions in southern Afghanistan.

Military analysts and the Afghan government note that pro-Taliban fighters often are recruited, armed, and given refuge in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan.

One expert on the region laid out what he calls the nightmare scenario. It involves a potentially lethal combination: nuclear weapons, radical Islam, and the Pakistani military.

Bhutto's assassination could embolden Islamist military leaders in Pakistan enough to launch a coup against president Pervez Musharraf, said Louis Delvoie, Canada's former high commissioner to Pakistan.

"You would have not only no longer any effective action against the tribal areas, you would have in fact probably support for the Taliban," said Delvoie, now a senior fellow at Queen's University.

"And you would have an Islamist military government with nuclear weapons."

"That is the nightmare scenario."

While in Pakistan, Delvoie met frequently with Bhutto in her role as opposition leader and then as prime minister. He said her killing has taken an already complicated situation and made it more dangerous.

Even if there isn't a coup attempt, he warned the country could devolve into something resembling a civil war, with tribal factions fighting against each other, as well as against the Musharraf government.

But another prominent military analyst said there could be a brief silver lining in Afghanistan amid the instability next door. He urged Canada and its NATO allies to work quickly to exploit a possible opportunity.

John Thompson of the Mackenzie Institute says Islamic fighters in Pakistan will probably have their eye on a bigger prize - gaining control of their own country - and may scale back operations across the border.

"There might be a desire to pull guerillas out of Afghanistan for the next little while to use them to support Islamist paramilitaries inside Pakistan," Thompson said in an interview.

"The supply of arms and ammunition, and IEDs . . . could be diverted to other points for the next little while."

So what should Canadians and their NATO allies do if there's a temporary lull in the fighting? Work twice as quickly on development prjects to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Afghans, says Thompson.

"I think they've got an opportunity right now - if they act quickly," he said.

"(They should build) more schools, more roads, convince more tribal elders that the government is a good thing. they need to build more medical clinics now, when they have a chance."

It's true that chaos in Pakistan could, over the long term, further destabilize Afghanistan by prompting a greater flow of insurgents, military equipment and heroin across the border, he said.

But the border area has never been governable and will continue to be that way regardless of who's leading Pakistan.

"You land in Karachi and take a short taxi ride, and you're suddenly in an area where Pakistan police don't dare to go," he said. "Support for al-Qaida and the Taliban, and the sanctuary areas, will always be in use."

To members of Canada's Pakistani community, which by some estimates numbers more than 300,000, the fears are far less academic.

Mubashar Rasool, head of the Pakistan People's Party of Quebec, believes the country may be on the verge of civil war. "We're very close to that." he said.

In the shops of east-end Toronto's Pakistani business district, many expressed concern for loved ones living in a country embroiled in strife.

"All the time, every week, it's bomb blasting over there," said Anwar Ahmad, 50, who spoke with his father and sister in Pakistan following the assassination.

Canadian troops in Afghanistan will feel aftershocks of Bhutto's murder

MIKE BLANCHFIELD - CanWest News Service 12.28.07

As fires of rage burned deep into the Pakistani night, the fallout of Benazir Bhutto's assassination rippled across Central Asia, right down to the boots of Canadian soldiers in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Bhutto's murder plunged an already unstable Pakistan - a nuclear power facing growing Islamic fundamentalism - into deeper chaos yesterday as thousands took to the streets to set fires and destroy property.

Her demise represented a bloody watershed in what has been months of escalating violence that saw suicide bombers unleash a wave of attacks across Pakistan.

Seth Jones, a political scientist with the RAND Corporation in Washington who has made more than two dozen trips to Afghanistan, said that taken with attacks on the 2,500 Canadian and other Western troops in southern Afghanistan, yesterday's tragedy represents irrefutable evidence of the potent threat of Islamic militancy across Central Asia.

"Canadian troops, in general, feel the effects virtually every day of the Pakistan issue. There are the suicide bombers coming across the border, the improvised explosive device parts coming across the border. They feel the effects of Pakistan," said Jones.

"The problem on the diplomatic front with Canada is they do not have the leverage that other countries, especially the Americans, have with the Pakistanis."

Bhutto's death will help the Canadian government persuade "reluctant" Americans to pressure Pakistan to crack down on the Islamic militants who have found sanctuary within their borders, particularly its lawless tribal belt on Afghanistan's eastern frontier, said Jones.

The futures of Afghanistan and Pakistan are "inextricably linked" because of the "war on terror," said Fen Hampson, director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.

"Growing levels of political instability in each country adversely impacts the other," said Hampson. "It is quite clear that we - the UN and NATO alliance - need a new regional approach to the problems in these two countries."

As Louis Delvoie, Canada's former high commissioner to Pakistan, said yesterday, Bhutto's death heightens the danger in the region "and, from a point of view of the interests of Western countries, does nothing to enhance Pakistan's ability to be an important ally in either the war on terrorism or in combating the Taliban in southern Afghanistan," Jones said.

Assassination could unleash 'nightmare scenario,' says former diplomat

Foreign affairs minister condemns attack, as Liberals call for greater involvement by Canada - December 27, 2007 - Terry Pedwell,The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – The assassination of Benazir Bhutto could unleash a wave of instability in southeast Asia that would have dire consequences for Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan, warns a former Canadian diplomat.

Louis Delvoie's warning came Thursday as Canada's foreign affairs minister condemned the killing of Bhutto and the Liberal foreign affairs critic called for Ottawa to take a bigger role in diplomacy in the region.

Bhutto's assassination could embolden Islamist military leaders in Pakistan enough to launch a coup against president Pervez Musharraf, said Delvoie, a senior fellow at Queen's University who was Canada's high commissioner in Pakistan in the mid-1990s.

"You would have not only no longer any effective action against the tribal areas, you would have in fact probably support for the Taliban," Delvoie said in a telephone interview from his home in Kingston.

"And you would have an Islamist military government with nuclear weapons."

"That is the nightmare scenario."

Bhutto was killed Thursday in a suicide attack at a campaign rally. At least 20 other people also died in the attack.

While in Pakistan, Bhutto met frequently with Delvoie, in her role as opposition leader and then as prime minister, hosting a farewell reception for him as he left the diplomatic post.

"We already had in Pakistan a complicated and dangerous political situation," in the runup to elections scheduled for Jan. 8, said Delvoie. "This has just made that situation more complicated and more dangerous."

The western world's interests in Pakistan have grown exponentially in the past few years, largely because it is a volatile nuclear power at the forefront of the war against terrorism.

Canada and other countries have prodded Pakistan to take stronger action to prevent Taliban and Al Qaeda militants from crossing the border into Afghanistan to fight NATO forces in southern and eastern regions of that country.

Afghan officials have repeatedly said that militants use bases inside Pakistan to orchestrate attacks against NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, where Canada has roughly 2,500 soldiers battling insurgents and attempting to stabilize the region enough to allow further development aid money to flow.

Canada's defence minister Peter MacKay also criticized Iran this week, accusing Tehran of supplying weapons and explosives that insurgents are using to kill Canadian and other NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.

Even if there isn't a coup in Pakistan following Bhutto's death, the country could devolve into something resembling a civil war, Delvoie predicted, with tribal factions fighting against each other, as well as against the Musharraf government.

That would also have a destabilizing effect on the region, he said. "Another possible scenario is Pakistan becoming a totally failed state, with secessionist movements and insurrectionist movements tearing the country apart," said Delvoie. "Pakistan is a fragile state. This only makes matters worse."

Now more than ever, Canada must take a much bigger role in diplomatic efforts between Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent insurgents from crossing the border between the two countries, said Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, who predicted that Bhutto's assassination will have a significant effect on Canadian efforts in Afghanistan.

"It has a huge (impact) on what we're thinking about and what we're doing right next door (to Pakistan)," Rae told a news conference in Toronto Thursday. "It's not a question that we can afford to ignore."

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier condemned Bhutto's assassination, saying it's clear her killers were bent on preventing fully democratic elections scheduled for Jan. 8.

"Canada condemns in the strongest terms this attack on the restoration of Pakistan's efforts to return to full democracy," Bernier said in a written statement.

"I urge the Government and people of Pakistan to continue to reject all forms of violence and to resist those who seek to destabilize their country. Stability in Pakistan is vital for regional stability and security."

Political turmoil threatens Afghanistan relationship

By Jon Boone in Kabul, Joe Leahy in Colombo and Amy Yee,in New Delhi

Published: December 28 2007 02:00 | Last updated: December 28 2007 02:00

The death of Benazir Bhutto would paralyse the vital strategic relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan and attempts to tackle cross-border terrorism, diplomats in Kabul warned last night.

One diplomatic source said progress had already been stalled by the political turmoil in Pakistan.

"It has been incredibly difficult to get things done. People had been looking forward to working with General Kayani [the new head of the Pakistani army] - but this just before the election will make the situation even worse."

Ms Bhutto's death will also be a blow to Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, who had high hopes that she would begin an open dialogue between the two countries. Mr Karzai had talked about Ms Bhutto as a fellow scourge of Islamic fundamentalism.

The relationship between Mr Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, has at times been poisonous. Mr Karzai had seen Ms Bhutto just hours before her death during a visit to Pakistan yesterday to discuss cross-border terrorism.

Back in Kabul last night he said the assassination was an act of "immense brutality" by the enemies of Pakistan and peace. The relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan is regarded as vital for the stability of the region and in the fight against terrorism.

Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters operate on both sides of the border, with the senior leadership of each movement believed to be based in the autonomous tribal areas of Pakistan.

India, meanwhile, vowed to fight the "scourge" of terrorism following the death of Ms Bhutto, as analysts warned that her killing would heighten concerns over the rise of Islamic extremism in its volatile nuclear-armed neighbour.

Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, praised Ms Bhutto as someone who had wanted to break the "sterile patterns of the past" that had strained relations.

New Delhi issued an alert to its forces along the Indo-Pakistan border to be vigilant following the assassination, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

Analysts said terrorists could take advantage of an increasing power vacuum in Pakistan to attackand to try to seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. "What's going to happen to those nuclear weapons? This is beginning to worry everybody," said Mohan Guru-swamy, chairman of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a think-tank in New Delhi.

Bhutto's death could have impact on Afghanistan mission

Extremists in border region could be encouraged by chaos

Craig Offman, National Post – 12.27.07

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto will push Pakistan further into chaos, embolden extremists on its Afghan border and imperil Canadian troops who are trying to root out Taliban forces.

"This is obviously a negative development," Robert Grenier, the CIA's former top counterterrorism officer, said in an interview. "This event holds the seeds of regional instability."

Ms. Bhutto had just addressed a campaign rally before an attacker shot her and then blew himself up at a park in the northern city of Rawalpindi, killing the opposition leader and at least 16 others. Earlier that day, the former prime minister had a state visit with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, with whom she discussed the thorny issue of cross-border insurgents, an issue that has a direct effect on Canadian soldiers stationed in the southern province of Afghanistan.

Taliban-trained insurgents, suicide bombers and supplies often come and go with near-impunity, wreaking havoc on forces trying to stabilize Mr. Karzai's country.

"Karzai has seen her as a natural ally who has voiced opposition to Islamic fanaticism," said Mr. Grenier, who observed that the "atmospherics" between the two countries had improved recently.

Afghan officials had been hoping that Ms. Bhutto, the main opposition leader in the upcoming Jan. 8 elections, would have helped to improve relations between the neighbours and eliminate insurgents who are destabilizing both of their countries.

Still, Kabul and Islamabad have long disputed the origins of intensified Taliban-and Al-Qaeda-linked violence. President Karzai often pits the blame on militant sanctuaries in Pakistan, led by President Pervez Musharraf, rather than in his own country, where 60,000 international soldiers -- more than 1,700 of whom are Canadian -- are hoping to demolish a Taliban-led insurgency that seeks to install a theocracy like the one it had before NATO forces drove them out after the 9/11 attacks.

Serving in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, Canada's troops are confronting well-organized extremist fighters who have allegedly been trained in Pakistan or have been seeking shelter there. More than 70 soldiers have already died there.

Seth Jones, a Southeast Asian politics professor at Georgetown University, said that political instability in Pakistan does not bode well for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, who were counting on Pakistan to quell extremism within its borders.

"If the government is focused on opposition and it is spending most of its resources on stabilizing its volatile politics, it will have negative implications for Canadian forces," said Dr. Jones, who is also an analyst for the Virginia-based Rand Corporation.

Most analysts predict that Gen. Musharraf will devote most of his resources to a clampdown on his opponents, diverting his attention from other concerns such as his neighbours. In the long term, however, this kind of martial law might include a more major effort to root out extremists who profoundly dislike his rule. "If there is a silver lining," said Dr. Jones, "is that nothing could push these two government together like this kind of situation." National Post

Taliban leader warns against using religion for electoral gains

* Terms democracy ‘un-Islamic’
* Says Taliban members participating in elections ‘will be severely punished’
* Private candidate says Taliban divided over supporting JUI-F
* JUI-F leader says no immediate threat to his life

By Iqbal Khattak – Daily Times

BANNU: A senior Taliban leader warned parties on Thursday against “using religion for electoral gains”, saying they would join parties urging boycott of January 8 polls.

“In Shariah, democracy is un-Islamic. Our movement is completely against what you call democracy in which a small majority can decide irrespective of the fact whether what they have done was good or bad,” the Taliban leader, asking not to be named, told Daily Times in an interview here.

He said the Taliban were “against elements who are using Islam for electoral gains”.

The warning comes at a time when Maulana Fazlur Rehman, contesting the National Assembly seat NA-26 in Bannu besides NA-24 (Dera Ismail Khan), is rallying for party candidates to win as many National and provincial assembly seats amidst stiff challenges from rival candidates in southern districts of the Frontier province, the JUI-F heartland.

Severe punishment: “Our members in Bannu district are strictly barred from taking part in the elections and anyone found guilty of violating the directive will be severely punished,” said the senior Taliban leader who did not wish to be identified.

He said there were around 500 Taliban members in Bannu city. “We will join forces trying to convince the people that people’s solution of problems does not rest with democracy,” he said.

Taliban divided: A candidate contesting provincial assembly seat PF-72 said the Taliban were “divided” over their support for the JUI-F in Bannu district, very close to North Waziristan.

“Some of the Taliban support the JUI-F but some of them do not,” private candidate Dr Sahib Zaman told Daily Times. The JUI-F chief, according to the government, is on the “hit-list of terrorists”.

Police sources in Dera Ismail Khan said on Tuesday that a bulletproof jeep was provided to the JUI-F and his security level was upped following a suicide attack on former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Eid in Charsadda district.

The JUI-F chief denied that he was target of terrorists but acknowledged that the government did notify him that he was a likely target of terrorists.

No immediate threat: “I do not think there is an immediate threat to my life. Why should I be killed?” the JUI-F chief told Daily Times on Tuesday moments after he addressed local party leaders and vehemently dismissed as “baseless” accusations that he made little efforts to stop military operations in tribal areas.

EDITORIAL: Two controversial leaders with the same problem

Daily Times 12.28.07 - President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart President Hamid Karzai met Wednesday in Islamabad and pledged once again to “share intelligence and tighten border controls” to end attacks by Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists in their respective countries. They said that people from both sides were suffering from extremism and terrorism. President Karzai said the two states were “twins with joined bodies” (Siamese twins) and had to work together although, he observed, the attacks in Afghanistan had decreased even as they had increased in Pakistan. President Musharraf injected optimism into the press briefing by saying Pakistan had put the terrorists on the backfoot in Swat.

The two leaders seemed a bit more determined to work together and convene another joint grand jirga to let off steam rather than resolve the clashing versions of what is happening across a border that has never been effectively monitored. President Karzai was his usual smooth self and muffled his complaints about the “Quetta shura” of the Taliban that plans attacks in Afghanistan, and President Musharraf was no longer shooting from the hip as was his wont when he thought the Pushtun of Afghanistan, under-represented under Mr Karzai, had to be defended.

What brings them together is the fact that both are controversial in their countries. They point to a threat that their nations simply do not wish to recognise as a threat. President Karzai sits on top of a country without resources, virtually no disciplined army and a very unruly police that can hardly stand up to the warlords that proliferate. President Musharraf controls a much more developed state but is undermined by the lack of political support behind his project to end Talibanisation; he also suffers from diminishing legitimacy in the eyes of Pakistan’s civil society owing to series of political blunders.

On the other hand, President Karzai’s authority is buttressed by troops from the world’s most sophisticated militaries, who have seen some success against the Taliban in recent days. Both are bothered by the switching off of their anti-terrorism agendas: in the case of President Karzai, by the NATO states; and in the case of President Musharraf by the new parliament in 2008. The culprits they face are ensconced tantalisingly in the region that straddles the Pak-Afghan border, enabling their intelligence agencies to accuse “the other side” of aiding and abetting the raiders. Both leaders face a rapidly dwindling writ of the state in different parts of their countries.

The past catches up with both sides. And the past has not been good, with Pakistan making trespasses into Afghanistan in the 1990s to set up a government in Kabul which would eat out of the hands of Islamabad. The past is also hitting back in Pakistan’s tribal agency of Kurram, situated next to Tora Bora where Al Qaeda had made its last stand and had to flee into a hostile Shia-dominated Parachinar after the NATO invasion in 2001. In the last one month, 150 people have been killed in the Sunni-Shia carnage in the agency’s headquarters Parachinar, where the war started after some Sunnis threw a bomb at a Shia mosque. The Sunnis accuse the Shia Turis of getting weapons from Iran. Heavy weapons are being used from both sides, which means the Sunnis too have weapons loaned to them by Al Qaeda.

Pakistan must be more tactful vis-à-vis Afghanistan because the latter is a small state with a self-destabilising revisionist intensity aimed at Pakistan. No Afghan leader can survive without appearing to bow to Afghanistan’s anti-Pakistan nationalism. Therefore Islamabad should understand Afghanistan through the lens of its own revisionist-nationalist attitude towards India. Pakistan’s Foreign Office and its Intelligence Agencies should be accordingly briefed before being put to the task of cooperating with their counterparts in Kabul. The pantomime of the joint jirga should be carried on despite its apparent zero result. It lets off steam and puts on the participants the onus of coming to some meaningful conclusion.

We are sure that the two presidents have discussed the stalled Pakistani projects in Afghanistan. More friendly meetings are required to end the tilt Kabul has been showing towards India’s projects in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan must not think in punitive terms because it is still the beneficiary of increased private sector trade across the border. In the final count, it is a peaceful Afghanistan that will make it possible for Pakistan to meet its energy needs from the gas wells of Central Asia.

Iran has always backed Afghanistan during hard times: MP

Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN (MNA) -- Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaedin Borujerdi here Wednesday said that Iran has always supported the Afghan nation at hard times.

In a meeting with Afghanistan’s Red Crescent Society (ARCS) Head, Fatima Gailani, Borujerdi underlined that Iran was always in support of Afghanistan whether in war and occupation times or after establishment of democracy and in holding elections.

The senior MP also pointed to Tehran-Kabul commonalities in the arenas of history, culture, and religion. Gailani appreciated Iran’s aids, and called for sharing the experiences of Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS).

Afghanistan’s Creaking Court System

Most Afghans prefer the traditional, tribal system of justice to state courts, according to a new report.

By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul (ARR No. 276, 06-Dec-07)

The area around the Afghan Supreme Court in Kabul is teeming with people, both plaintiffs and defendants. Some have spent months, even years waiting for a resolution to their problems. Many have given bribes; many more have lost cases on lower courts because, they say, they could not afford to pay the judge.

But one thing unites them all - their anger and dissatisfaction with the Afghan justice system.

“In our courts, bribery is at such a level that anyone with money can buy a decision in his favour,” said Mohammad Zaki. “There is no justice.”

Zaki has spent seven months trying to find out what has happened to his wife. While he was away in Iran working as a labourer, his wife became pregnant by another man. Zaki is convinced she was raped, and brought a case in a tribal court against the man he holds responsible.

The elders sitting in judgement ruled that the alleged rapist must pay Zaki the equivalent of 15,000 US dollars so that he could remarry.

The man accused, however, rejected this decision, and insisted that the case be brought before a state court. After a judicial hearing, the man was briefly jailed, but soon bought his way out.

The wife, meanwhile, remains imprisoned, on charges of having sexual relations outside marriage. Zaki now has no wife, no money, and no decision on his case.

“I preferred the decision of the elders,” said Zaki. “The accused has money, so he paid the court and they released him. But I still know nothing about my wife, or the child.”

Zaki is now making the rounds of the Supreme Court. “There is no one here who will listen to me,” he complained. “They just send me from office to office.”

His case illustrates the difficulties of the Afghan justice system, where two traditions exist in uneasy symmetry, with the population caught in between.

On the one hand is the formal justice system, where written laws are administered by official courts, in a manner similar to the western legal tradition.

On the other is the centuries-old tribal system, where councils called “jirgas” or “shuras” make decisions based on local traditions and mores.

According to a recent report by the Centre for Policy and Human Development at Kabul University, the state system lags far behind the traditional courts in terms of public confidence and effectiveness.

In a questionnaire cited by the report, fewer than 20 per cent of Afghans put the state courts first when asked “Whom do you trust most to resolve any dispute you might have?” while over 70 per cent said that tribal or community elders and shuras were their preferred option.

The study condemned the state court system for corruption and ineffectiveness, saying that problems in the judiciary were jeopardising the entire structure of state governance.

“Corruption in the judiciary undermines confidence in governance, as it facilitates corruption across all sectors of government,” read the report.

The Supreme Court reacted swiftly and decisively, summoning several of the authors to the court for a dressing down.

“This report is an absolute lie,” said Abdul Rashid Rashed, spokesperson for the Supreme Court. “These people are just against the system. They were summoned to the Supreme Court and questioned about the accuracy of the report, and in the end they accepted that their report was not based on truth. And they apologised.”

According to Rashed, Afghans do trust the courts and use the legal system to resolve their problems.

“We only have problems in some areas like Khost, Kunar, Paktia and Paktika provinces,” he told IWPR, referring to Pashtun-dominated areas on Afghanistan’s southern and eastern fringes. “The rest of Afghanistan goes to the courts, and respects their decisions.”

Rashed acknowledged that bribery and corruption were an issue, and that claimants faced long delays in having their cases resolved. However, he maintained, steps had been taken to remedy these problems.

“In the past year and a half, we have fired or replaced approximately 700 judges,” he said. “Nowadays people do trust the courts.”

According to Rashed, those who have access to state courts both trust them and use them. This accounts for approximately 60 per cent of the population. The rest, he said, may live in remote areas where the state system has not yet penetrated.

Some of the compilers of the report denied that they had apologised. They were not able to give their names, however, as they said the Supreme Court had warned them not to talk to the media.

But Dr Daoud Saba, one of the report’s main authors, insisted that the document was produced according to international standards, and was founded on scientific methods.

“This report reflects the reality of Afghanistan,” he said.

Those milling around the Supreme Court seem to agree. Most complain about delays in decisions, corruption, and bribery.

“It has been more than two years since a commander claimed my property,” said Najibullah, from Ghor province. “There’s still no result. It was heard in provincial courts, and now in the Supreme Court - but no decision yet.”

Land issues are particularly difficult to resolve given Afghanistan’s turbulent recent history. Returning refugees may find that their property has been taken by a local strongman; neighbours quarrel over borders or water rights. In many cases, no formal deeds or proof of ownership exist. The legal system has not yet developed ways of dealing with the issues.

“One of the primary challenges to land administration, and thus a central cause of land disputes, is the absence of an effective legal framework for land issues,” according to the report.

Najibullah said that he had not paid any bribes or been asked for money.
But bribery does not always solve the problem, as a man from Takhar province found out to his cost.

“I have money, and I paid the judge,” said the man, who did not want to give his name. “But the other side also has money, and they too paid the judge. So my case has been dragging on for 12 years.”

Nasrullah Stanekzai, former deputy minister of information and culture, now a professor of law at Kabul University, sees serious problems with the study.

“I do not accept this report at all,” he said. “They did not contact any of the Afghan legal institutions when they were compiling this report. They did not contact the law department at the university. But it is clear that people are turning to the jirgas to solve their problems. This is particularly true in Pashtun areas.”

Stanekzai disagrees with the report’s conclusions.

“I do not believe that only 20 per cent of the people trust the justice system,” he said. “If we look at the cities, where millions of people live, there are only state courts. But unfortunately, Afghanistan’s justice system is not complete. It is not independent, and there is a lot of corruption. The procedures take too much time, and are very difficult. For all of these reasons, people go to the traditional jirgas.”

The jirga system also has its problems, as the report points out. Many practices embraced by local tradition are in violation of Afghan legislation, such the tradition of “bad”, an exchange in which a woman or girl is offered in marriage as a means of settling a dispute.

As time goes on, the report says, the two systems should cooperate and reinforce each other. Its authors propose “a hybrid model for justice in Afghanistan, in which alternative dispute resolution mechanisms remain important in providing justice, but under the regulation of state institutions”.

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff trainer, reporter and editor in Kabul.

US avoided formal recognition of Daoud Government

BOSTON, Dec 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The United States of America had initially shown reluctance in recognizing the Government of Mohammad Daoud after he overthrew the then King Zahir Shah in a coup on July 17, 1973.

In its first communication to the US Embassy in Kabul, the Department of State instructed the then American Ambassador Robert Neumann to avoid the issue of recognition of the new government while establishing contacts with the top officials of the new President Daoud.

This was the crux of the three-page secret message sent to the US Embassy in Kabul by the Department of State, according to the documents declassified by the US Government last week.

The message was sent three-days after the coup, by which Neumann had established contacts with officials of the new administration.

The basic thrust of our approach to play any question about recognition in as low a key as possible with a view to avoidance of seeming to approve or disapprove the new government, the message said.

In brief, the Departments policy is to minimize to the greatest extent possible recognition questions.

The Department of State supported the Ambassadors effort to establish informal channels of communication to Daoud and emphasized that questions of recognition do not in any way restrict his flexibility in establishing informal contacts with new authorities.

Ambassador Neumann met with Mohammad Naim, President Mohammad Daouds brother and chief advisor on July 20, 1973. The discussion centered on the continuation of U.S. development aid. At this meeting Naim assured Neumann that Afghanistan desired continued cordial relations with the United States.

Naim said the USSR had no role to play in this coup. While seeking support from the US, Naim said Afghanistan would continue with its non-aligned foreign policy.

Guantanamo Terror Convict to Be Set Free

By ROHAN SULLIVAN – ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Convicted terror supporter David Hicks was due to walk free Saturday after more than six years of captivity in Guantanamo Bay and Australia, but will face strict controls on his movements after a court found he was still a security risk.

Hicks was the first person convicted at a U.S. war-crimes trial since World War II after he pleaded guilty in March to providing material support to al-Qaida.

The former Outback cowboy had been fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan when he was captured in December 2001 by U.S.-backed forces. A month later, he was sent to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he spent more than five years without trial.

A U.S. military tribunal sentenced Hicks — a Muslim convert who has since renounced the faith — to seven years in prison, with all but nine months being suspended, after he confessed to aiding al-Qaida during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Under a plea bargain, Hicks was allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence at a maximum security prison in his hometown of Adelaide in South Australia state, but was told to remain silent about any alleged abuse he suffered while in custody.

Hicks' sentence ends Saturday, when he will be allowed to walk out of Yatala prison, where a throng of news crews gathered Friday in anticipation.

Under his plea deal, Hicks has forfeited any right to appeal his conviction and to a gag order that prevents him speaking with news media for a year from his sentencing date. The government concedes the gag order may not be enforcable in Australia, where Hicks has not been convicted of any crime.

Hicks, who has been described as depressed and anxious by family members, was not expected to speak to the media upon his release. But his father, Terry, said Hicks would issue a brief statement through his lawyer, David McLeod, apologizing for any inconvenience.

"There'll be some sort of apology," Terry Hicks told Sky News television. "It is important to him that he gets this message across and thanks everybody who has been supportive of him."

Throughout his ordeal, Hicks' lawyers described their client as an immature adventurer who traveled to Afghanistan only after his application to enlist in the Australian army was rejected because of his lack of education.

In the months before his plea deal, his lawyers and family said Hicks was severely depressed and eager to leave Guantanamo, where he was isolated in small, solid-walled cell.

His case became a cause for rights campaigners in Australia, and a political problem for former Prime Minister John Howard, who was criticized for letting an Australian citizen spend so long behind bars without trial.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who defeated Howard at elections in November, was a strong critic of Hicks' treatment and the military tribunal system that convicted him, saying it could not deliver justice.

But Rudd has not challenged the plea deal, and said Friday that Hicks would have to comply with restrictions placed on him by a court at the request of Australian federal police.

"Mr. Hicks should be treated no differently to any other Australian citizen in these circumstances and our expectations of Mr. Hicks is that he would comply with the requirements which have been imposed upon him," Rudd told reporters in the southern city of Melbourne.

A federal court ruled last week that Hicks was a security risk because of the training he had received in terrorist camps in Afghanistan. The court was told he met al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden at least 20 times.

Under the court order, Hicks must report to police three times a week and obey a curfew by staying indoors at locations decided by police. Other restrictions include that he not leave Australia or contact a list of terror suspects.

The restrictions will last for one year. Hicks will have an opportunity to challenge the orders at a hearing set for Feb. 18, though his lawyers say they doubt he will do so.

Terry Hicks said his son was eager to resume a normal life in Australia, and hoped to find a job and attend university.

Afghanistan, firmly in focus

War and politics play a major role in new releases

By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff  |  December 28, 2007

It's been widely noted that 2007 saw a comeback for at least two genres. "Hairspray" headed a list of musicals that included "Once," "Across the Universe," and "Sweeney Todd." And Westerns came in three varieties: traditional ("3:10 to Yuma," "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"), modern day ("No Country for Old Men"), and in between ("There Will Be Blood").

It has, however, gone unnoticed that another genre not only flourished this year, but nearly doubled in size: the Afghan movie. Who even knew there was such a thing? But the last two months have seen the release of three films set partially in Afghanistan. That brings to at least seven the list of movies that qualify.

Here's a modest summary of an even more modest genre.

"The Horsemen" (1971) John Frankenheimer directed and Dalton Trumbo wrote the script for this story about the Afghan national game, buzkashi. Think of it as polo on steroids: Two groups of riders contest control of a headless goat carcass. Omar Sharif and Jack Palance are the chief contestants.

"The Man Who Would Be King" ( 1975) Although the setting is called "Kafiristan," it's pretty plain that's a euphemism. Equally plain is that John Huston had a splendid time directing and adapting (with Gladys Hill) this Rudyard Kipling tale about two British soldiers (Sean Connery and Michael Caine) who decided to impose themselves as monarchs over the natives.

"Rambo III" (1988) Sylvester Stallone takes on the Soviet army. He wins. He also plays buzkashi, but the game is interrupted by the Soviets. It's a safe assumption he would have won.

"The Beast" (1988) A Soviet tank crew, headed by Jason Patric, loses its way and is stalked by a mujahideen band led by Steven Bauer. "Rambo" this is not.

"Lions for Lambs" (2007) Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise talk about the war in Afghanistan while Michael Pena and Derek Luke fight it. Robert Redford and Andrew Garfield talk about Pena and Luke (among other subjects). It's not exactly high praise to note that the best thing in the movie is the Afghan part.

"The Kite Runner" (2007) Small as the genre of Afghan films is, it's more than triple the number of best-selling Afghan novels. That's a genre of two, both by Khaled Hosseini: "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and its predecessor, which has been adapted into Marc Forster's film.

" Charlie Wilson's War" (2007) There's a lot more Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) than war here, a lot more, but the war in question is the one in Afghanistan during the '80s. Of course, getting the Soviets out may have helped the Taliban in - not that that's much on the minds of director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.

[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.]