In this bulletin:

• NATO requests more troops for Afghanistan
• Taliban said to refuse talks on captured Afghan town
• Pakistan probing claims that NATO, Afghan forces violated border
• ‘Afghanistan, Pakistan improve coordination’
• Pakistan to Close 4 Afghan Refugee Camps, Cites Security Risk
• Kasuri seeks EU help in monitoring Pak-Afghan border
• U .S.: NATO must launch Afghan offensive
• Afghanistan Conference Set In Italy For May
• MPs oppose draft law granting immunity
• Exhibit brings Afghan war home – Sun Media 1.9.07
• Ariana to begin flights for Dubai, Tehran from Kandahar
• GOP urges change in Afghan drug policy
• This is holy war. There is no room for fatigue, says Taliban warlord
• Tough steps on road to Afghan peace
• The Taliban in Pakistan
• How to tame the Taliban
• Afghan cleric takes Islamic battle to the airwaves
• Afghanistan handed reprieve after Olympic no-show

NATO requests more troops for Afghanistan

Seville (AFP) - NATO military authorities called for two more battalions and support forces to put down a Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, but some allied defence ministers voiced scepticism.

No public pledges of more troops were made by defence ministers attending an informal meeting in Spain despite broad assurances by Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that the allies will do more in Afghanistan this year.

But he insisted that the talks "saw some nations stepping up to the plate", without elaborating.

US General Bantz Craddock, NATO's new supreme commander, presented the ministers with revised requirements for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan ahead of an anticipated Taliban offensive in coming weeks.

Scheffer would not comment on the specifics of Craddock's report but another NATO official said the general was seeking two additional battalions, about 2,000 troops, in part to secure Afghanistan's long border with Pakistan.

Afghanistan's lawless border regions are a major haven for international terrorism, and the area where the Taliban militia have regrouped.

Yet despite repeated calls over several months by NATO commanders for more resources, the 26 member countries have appeared reluctant to put more of their forces in harm's way.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates extended a US combat brigade for four months in Afghanistan, effectively increasing the size of the 35,000-strong ISAF ahead of the spring fighting season, and urged the allies to follow suit.

"2007 is a crucial year in Afghanistan," he told reporters after the first day of informal talks in Seville ended. "The spring offensive in Afghanistan should be our offensive."

"We have an opportunity this spring to significantly disrupt the increasing cycles of violence that we have seen over the last few years caused by the Taliban," he said.

Allies with troops committed in southern Afghanistan echoed the sentiment.

"We have taken a decision in NATO to do the job and all countries in NATO should provide soldiers," said Danish Defence Minister Soren Gade, whose country is providing 400 personnel, among the most per capita of any member.

"If we do not send more soldiers to Afghanistan there is a risk that we might fail," he warned.

But Germany, which this week approved the deployment of six Tornado fighter jets for non-combat surveillance missions, suggested there was too much emphasis on a military solution.

"When the Russians were in Afghanistan they had 100,000 soldiers and they didn't win," German Defence Minister Franz-Josef Jung told reporters.

French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie urged her partners to set more precise goals in Afghanistan, following Craddock's call for more troops.

We have to debate fixed objectives and know why we have to boost our military means, she told the ministers, according to an official with the French delegation.

The official said that Craddock had been seeking helicopters, special forces soldiers and attack jets.

A NATO official said with the boost in US forces, ISAF will be entering the spring with considerably more combat power than last year when it was surprised by the bloodiest offensive since the Taliban's fall in late 2001.

A brigade from the 82nd Airborne is due to arrive soon in Afghanistan, making available more troops for the volatile eastern sector of the country and a battalion in the south to operate as a theater reserve.

NATO commanders want enough troops on hand to pursue Taliban fighters crossing the border into Afghanistan while also defending major population centers.

Taliban said to refuse talks on captured Afghan town

Kandahar (AFP) - Taliban rebels who captured a southern Afghan town a week ago were fortifying their positions after rejecting talks, a tribal chief said as officials played down the situation.

The Islamist guerrillas stormed and captured remote Musa Qala -- which British forces pulled out of last year in a controversial deal -- after disarming the weak police force last week.

One of their commanders was killed in a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) air strike days later but villagers told AFP by phone there were still a few hundred militants in town.

A tribal elder involved in talks to persuade the insurgents to leave, after warnings they could face more ISAF action, said they had "suddenly" refused further negotiations.

They had said that "our leaders have told us to resist," said the elder who spoke to AFP by phone from Musa Qala on Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing his own safety.

"At the beginning the Taliban had accepted to talk to authorities through tribal elders," the chief said. "But suddenly they said they don't want to talk any more."

The elderly man said there were around 300 Taliban fighters in the town and they had started digging trenches and laying mines to respond to any potential military action by ISAF and Afghan security forces.

Authorities would not confirm the elder's information. "At this point, things are the same as they were," said Nabi Jan Mullahkhail, police chief for Helmand province in which Musa Qala sits.

"The government has got its own programmes and we're working on it." He would not give details. ISAF, which has most of a deployment of more than 5,000 British troops in Helmand, would not comment.

The force has said it is ready to assist the government as it wishes. A spokesman said Wednesday there was "no need to rush into action", and officials wanted to avoid any civilian casualties.

A resident contacted by AFP by telephone said civilians were still leaving, fearing government attacks. ISAF said around 200 people had left but a Helmand refugee official said up to 1,500 families had gone.

"Many people have left. There are people still leaving the town," the resident said, also asking not to be named. The Taliban briefly captured small, remote towns on a handful of occasions last year but were easily run out.

The extremist militants launched an insurgency after being driven from government in late 2001.

Pakistan probing claims that NATO, Afghan forces violated border

Quetta, Feb 9 (ANI): Pakistan authorities are investigating into the claims made by residents of a remote border village in Quetta that NATO and Afghan forces crossed into Pakistani territory to search for suspected Taliban militants and killed a local tribesman.

Citing claims by residents, Abdul Raziq Bugti, spokesman for the Balochistan government, said that Afghan troops entered Killi Qamaruddin on Wednesday morning and began shooting, killing one villager.

The spokesman further said that the villagers reported that the Afghan border security forces also wounded two Pakistani tribesmen and detained 11 villagers who were taken to Afghanistan.

Following the accusations, the Pakistan government ordered authorities in the area to investigate the alleged incident in the village, about 210km north-east of Quetta, reported The News.

Maulvi Muhammed Sharif, Nazim of Zhob where Killi Qamaruddin is located, said on Thursday that NATO forces also entered Qamaruddin along with the Afghan government troops, citing reports by villagers and security officials.

The country's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said that he had read about the incident in newspapers, but denied confirming it. Pakistani military and Foreign Ministry officials were also not available for comment.

On the other hand, a spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force said that no Isaf forces were involved. (ANI)

‘Afghanistan, Pakistan improve coordination’

By Anwar Iqbal Dawn (Pakistan) February 7, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb 6: The United States has said that Pakistan and Afghanistan have improved their cooperation to stop cross-border activities of the Taliban extremists but did not specify.

“Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have responsibilities in this regard,” said US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack when asked at a briefing how could cross-border movement of the Taliban extremists be stopped. “They have improved their coordination.

“They have improved somewhat the effectiveness of that coordination, but there is clearly a lot more that needs to be done,” he said.

The spokesman acknowledged that despite US-led efforts to defeat the Taliban, militancy remains a problem and both Afghan and Pakistani governments were aware of the problem.

Mr McCormack said the United States had been involved with both the governments to remove their differences and improve their coordination.

Pakistan to Close 4 Afghan Refugee Camps, Cites Security Risk

February 7, 2007 - ISLAMABAD (AP)--Pakistan will close four camps for refugees from Afghanistan this year, and hopes that more than 2 million remaining refugees from its war- troubled neighbor will go home by 2009 because they are a security risk, officials said Wednesday.

The four camps in Pakistan's troubled border region will close by August, the U.N.'s refugee agency said after its representatives met with Pakistani and Afghan ministers.

Sajid Hussain Chitta, a senior Pakistani official, said he was hopeful that the majority of the camps' 240,000 inhabitants would return to Afghanistan, though some may opt to move to other camps in Pakistan.

"We're quite hopeful given the trends of recent years," Chitta said. "Security is our main concern."

More than 2 million Afghans have chosen to return home with assistance by the UNHCR refugee agency since U.S.-led forces toppled the hardline Islamic Taliban regime at the end of 2001, including 133,000 in 2006.

However, a Pakistani survey begun in October last year has registered another 2.1 million Afghan refugees still in the country, and the government is pressing hard for them to go home.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said last week that the refugee camps were a haven for Taliban militants and their supporters and that their maze-like streets were too dangerous for security forces to enter.

Wednesday's meeting was held in a five-star hotel where a suicide bomber had killed a security guard earlier this month in one of a series of blasts in Pakistan that officials suspect were the work of Taliban-linked militants in its border region.

Many of the Afghans in Pakistan arrived in the wake of the 1979 military invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union and during the vicious civil war that followed the Soviet departure a decade later. Most live in dusty refugee camps or in squalid settlements near major cities across Pakistan.

Officials hope new housing schemes for returnees in Afghanistan will persuade more of those who fled to Pakistan and also to Iran to go home. Some 200,000 shelters have been built so far, according to the UNHCR refugee agency.

The four camps to close this summer - two each in Pakistan's Baluchistan and North West Frontier provinces - were initially supposed to close as early as 2004.

Identity cards issued to refugees during the Pakistani survey are valid through 2009, at which time Pakistan hopes all will have returned to Afghanistan, Chitta said.

Kasuri seeks EU help in monitoring Pak-Afghan border

Berlin, Feb 9 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has reportedly sought European Union's support for his country's plan to fence part of its border with Afghanistan in order to keep Taliban insurgents at bay from crossing into Pakistani territory.

Kasuri said that Pakistan initially wanted to mine the border as well as fencing it to ensure there would be no movement across it, but that the government decided against that plan "as a mark of respect to the sensitivity of our European colleagues".

"For the time being we will only fence it in certain areas, but I've asked the minister today for the European Union's cooperation in fencing and in better regulating the border," the Daily Times quoted him as saying after meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Kasuri said that Pakistan could use help in building the fence or in aerial monitoring of the border, but gave no other specifics.

He said: "We are looking for all sorts of help," he said, adding that he had also asked for assistance in the repatriation of refugees in order to help shrink the border camps "in which all sorts of people find easy refuge".

The paper also quoted Steinmeier as saying that the two talked about "possibilities to improve the border situation between Pakistan and Afghanistan", but gave no further details. (ANI)

U .S.: NATO must launch Afghan offensive

By LOLITA C. BALDOR - Associated Press February 8, 2007

SEVILLE, Spain - The United States and its allies must launch their own offensive this spring against the Taliban in Afghanistan, a senior defense official said Thursday, calling this a pivotal time in the nearly five-year-old war there.

Previewing the message Defense Secretary Robert Gates will deliver to NATO allies at a meeting here later Thursday and Friday, the official said now is the time to finally defeat the Taliban, who harbored planners of the September 11, 2001, attacks that prompted the U.S. global war on terror.

In addition, NATO's new top commander, U.S. Gen. John Craddock, was presenting ministers with a plan to "rebalance" the force of 35,000, using the more mobile combat units in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan where combat is expected to be most intense.

Allied officials said Craddock was seeking 1,500-2,000 extra combat troops in addition to the extra brigade provided by the U.S. and about 800 more from the British. They said he is asking for a couple of combat battalions and some support forces.

The end of winter has traditionally brought an upsurge in attacks by Taliban militants in Afghanistan, and U.S. commanders have already predicted that this spring will be even more violent than last year, when a record number of attacks included nearly 140 suicide bombings.

"We think the upcoming spring in Afghanistan is a pivotal moment in the conflict, and we're encouraging the allies to do as much as they can as soon as they can," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the planned discussions had not yet been presented to allies. "The offensive should be our offensive. That's the offensive we've been communicating to the allies."

The defense official said there currently are no plans to further increase the U.S. troop commitment to Afghanistan.

Currently there are about 27,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the highest number since the start of the war in 2001. About 15,000 of those troops are serving in the NATO-led force, which now totals about 36,000, while the other 12,000 are special operations forces or are training Afghan troops.

Gates, who was making his first appearance at a NATO defense ministers meeting, also began a series of private meetings with his colleagues, including the Spanish defense chief.

Gates has said he believes there is a need for more military trainers to work with the Afghan Army.

The call for a spring offensive comes just three weeks after Gates made his first trip to Afghanistan, which was followed quickly by his decision to increase U.S. troop levels there by several thousand. He ordered a brigade — or about 3,200 soldiers — from the New York-based 10th Mountain Division to extend their tour in Afghanistan by four months.

Gates, who took over the job in late December after the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld, will spend about two days at the NATO meeting, then go on to Munich for the annual security conference. The defense official said Gates has no plans to meet with Iranian leaders who are expected to attend the Munich conference.

"Nothing is going to happen that would be inconsistent with our policy, and we're not pursuing bilateral dialogues with Iran right now," the official said.

However, Gates is expected to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. The two may discuss current U.S. plans to deploy its missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. "We will try to explain, reassure them again, that it doesn't significantly affect them," said the official. "This is an opportunity to explain things."

The talks to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile interceptor site in Poland, have raised concerns among other nations in the region, and sparked criticism from Russia. The U.S. has offered assurances that the installations would be meant to deal with a potential threat from Iran.

Afghanistan Conference Set In Italy For May

via Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - February 7, 2007 -- Italy will host an international conference on judicial reform and security in Afghanistan in May, one month later than originally scheduled.

The meeting will be part of Italy's stepped-up political involvement in Afghanistan as the new UN Security Council nonpermanent member in charge of Afghan issues.

The conference will bring together the Afghan government's main backers, including Britain, Canada, the European Union, Japan, and the United States, as well as the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Judicial reform, counternarcotics, infrastructure reconstruction -- which have all been hampered by corruption and a violent insurgency -- are to feature highly at the event.

Italy was earmarked to play a prominent advisory role in reforming Afghan judiciary practices under the UN-backed stability and reconstruction plan that followed the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

MPs oppose draft law granting immunity

Pajhwok 02/07/2007 - KABUL - A 20-member team of the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of the parliament rejected a recently-approved draft bill granting immunity immunity to all those accused of war crimes during the past three decades of war and civil strife in Afghanistan.

The parliamentary group, with members calling themselves independent democrats, described the immunity draft law as an attempt to give immunity to a special group of people.

Head of the newly-founded group Shukria Barakzai told a news conference on Monday the draft law was against all norms of justice and the parliament did not have the right to give amnesty to those who had violated human rights.

The draft, officially named as the National Reconciliation Scheme, grants immunity to all jihadi leaders, communist-era officials and even leaders of the ousted Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami. The draft also recommends that they should be above any criticism or inquiry.

Calling it against the constitution, Mrs Barakzai said: "We dont want to sacrifice justice for expediencies and to violate human rights.

"Our group supports a national reconciliation plan in the country, but it should be made clear who are forgivable and who are not while this scheme covers some legal issues that the parliament cannot decide about," said Barakzai.

She noted that a referendum should be held to know about people's views whether they forgive war criminals of the past three decades or not.

She said her group members also raised their voice against the draft when put for votes, but could not reject it since the majority of the members were backing it.

To make it a valid law, the draft must be approved by the Meshrano Jirga (upper house) and signed into law by President Hamid Karzai.

Kabir Ranjbar, another member of the group, said many in the House did not know what was the draft about, but they voted for it. He said some of the members who were aware of gravity of the scheme wanted to change the draft and talk about past war crimes, but their voice was not heard.

Another member of the parliament Abbas Nawyan, although not member of the group, told the press conference those who committed crimes in the past three decades became worried after some big criminals were punished in other parts of the world recently. He was apparently referring to execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and two of his aides.

"Some human rights violators feared that what happened in Iraq (execution of Saddam) can also reach Afghanistan and therefore they hurried to make their future safe," he observed.

Exhibit brings Afghan war home – Sun Media 1.9.07

For many Canadians, the war in Afghanistan amounts to a newspaper story tossed together with headshots of fresh-faced soldiers who have come home in caskets, a blur of skirmishes or a politician's sound bite calling for the return of our troops.

A new exhibit at the Canadian War Museum is pushing past the headlines to give visitors a look at the country's most dangerous military mission since the Korean War.

Afghanistan: A Glimpse of War offers a look at Canada's role in fighting terror since the 9/11 attacks, using photos, video and artifacts from Canadian journalists Stephen Thorne and Garth Pritchard.

"You see a lot of headlines about Canadians dying, and Canadians fighting and Taliban this and Taliban that and the political debate, but the human stories and why we're there seem to get lost," says Thorne, a Canadian Press reporter and photographer who has covered the war extensively since 2002.

Pritchard is a freelance documentary filmmaker who captured the aftermath of the "friendly fire" bombing in April 2002, when U.S. jets killed four Canadian soldiers, including Sgt. Marc Leger of Lancaster.

"What Canadians are doing day-to-day is not being told," Pritchard said yesterday during a media tour of the exhibit. "It's not about being a cheerleader for the military. It's about saying: 'Here it is, here's what's happening, here's what's going on.' "

Many photos focus on the lives of Afghan women and men as they line up to vote, wait outside hospitals and show up to work at shut-down factories.

At the end of the exhibit, there's a slideshow of birthday parties and summers at the cottage -- events from the lives of the 44 Canadian soldiers killed in action.

One of Pritchard's video clips shows soldiers thrust into near-helpless situations. A three-minute clip titled Aid and Comfort shows four soldiers in Kandahar visiting the home of an Afghan boy suffering third-degree burns from a kerosene fire. The viewer is warned the footage shows "graphic images of human suffering."

The boy's screams echo through the exhibit area as a viewer watches a Canadian medic pour disinfectant on the boy's bubbling wounds. Trickles of sweat fall from Sgt. Maj. Billy Bolen's forehead as he stands over the boy, who is screaming in anguish.

"What a brave boy. You're doing good, big fella!" Bolen says. "Tell him we'll get him a soccer ball." The boy died the next day, but Bolen still delivered the ball to the family before he left Afghanistan.

The exhibit opens today and runs until Jan. 6, 2008.

Ariana to begin flights for Dubai, Tehran from Kandahar

KANDAHAR CITY, Feb 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines (AAA) will begin flights from the southern city of Kandahar to Dubai and Tehran from tomorrow, officials said on Tuesday. Head of the national flag carrier in Kandahar Haji Mohammad Qasim told Pajhwok Afghan News there would be one flight for each Dubai and Tahran on weekly basis.

He said the decision was taken in face of the problems confronting by people, who want to travel by air between Kandahar and Tehran. In case of travel to Dubai, majority of Afghans use the Peshawar or other airports in Pakistan.

He said the flights will be undertaken by Boeing 757, newly purchased by AAA. It will fly to the both destinations every Wednesday.

Businessmen, who are expected to be the main class to use the AAA planes, welcomed the development that, they say, will cut their trip to the outside shorter than before.

Haji Abdul Wadood a trader from Kandahar city said it took them long distance and more time to fly from Kabul or Pakistan to outside and it will spare both time and money for them to use planes from their province. He also asked AAA officials to start flights to other foreign countries too, like China and India, where Afghan merchants frequently go for their businesses.

Qasim said they will look into the suggestion of taking more overseas destinations if demand increased for it.

GOP urges change in Afghan drug policy

By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Wed Feb 7 - WASHINGTON - Four House Republicans on Wednesday urged the Bush administration to rethink its policy on opium production in Afghanistan, saying more needs to be done to counter the growing threat of narco-terrorism.

The lawmakers, in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said the U.S. must end its dispute with Britain over opium eradication and design a uniform counternarcotics policy with the British and NATO.

They also suggested a "ride-along policy" where Drug Enforcement Administration agents could join U.S. and international military forces in unsecured areas where the DEA is targeting illicit drugs and drug kingpins.

"It is time for some new thinking to ensure that Afghanistan does not fall into a failed narco-state status and become, once again, a safe haven for al-Qaida," wrote Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (news, bio, voting record) of Florida, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Reps. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana and Elton Gallegly (news, bio, voting record) and Dana Rohrabacher (news, bio, voting record), both from California.

Their proposal included:

_Appointing a high-level coordinator of overall Afghan narco-terrorism policy.

_Doing more to extradite to the U.S. major drug kingpins and drug warlords.

_Giving Colombia's National Police anti-narcotic unit a greater role in training their Afghan counterparts.

_Promoting Afghan trade to provide alternatives to poppy farming.

_Testing the use of herbicides that do not harm the environment or humans.

White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said he had not seen the letter. But he said the administration has undertaken a review of policy in Afghanistan "given the changed circumstances after five years of American assistance" and that President Bush has committed additional resources and personnel to the effort to establish a stable democracy there.

Ros-Lehtinen welcomed the administration's recently announced request for $10.6 billion over the next two years to improve Afghanistan's infrastructure, economy and security. But she said the threat from illicit drugs "will not be alleviated solely by investing more resources."

The British, who are leading counternarcotic efforts in Afghanistan, have objected to U.S. eradication policy. They say it fuels the insurgency in a country where anywhere from 30 percent to 60 percent of gross domestic product comes from opium production.

An estimated 93 percent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan. Trade in opium and heroin, much of it headed for Europe and Asia, brings in as much as $2 billion a year.

Proceeds from drug sales have allowed the Taliban and anti-U.S. forces to buy sophisticated weapons including night vision goggles and more deadly land mines.

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said in a statement that the U.S. and it allies should spend more to train police in Afghanistan and help authorities destroy drug labs and warehouses.

He suggested the possible use of U.S. military force "when necessary" against traffickers and kingpins.

This is holy war. There is no room for fatigue, says Taliban warlord

The Telegraph (UK) February 8, 2007 By Tom Coghlan in Helmand province

The Taliban commander arrived by taxi. Oozing confidence he stepped out of the battered car and into the southern Afghan desert with no visible fear that he might be targeted from above by the Predator drones or Nato aircraft that patrol the skies.

Days earlier, a precision Nato air strike had killed his fellow commander Mullah Ghafoor. Flanked by 15 bodyguards, their faces covered up like their master, Haji Aghar Mohammad made light of the aerial threat.

"There are many air strikes from Nato but they are only rarely on target," insisted the commander, who goes by the nom de guerre of Haji Mullah. "They may kill two or three people, but it is not as you people report."

Earlier, with the help of local contacts, The Daily Telegraph had arranged a rare interview with a senior insurgent leader, only weeks before an expected spring offensive planned by the Taliban.

We were met by an unarmed young Taliban fighter on the edge of Lashkargar, the provincial capital of Helmand, the southern Afghan province where British forces are deployed. He guided us to where a motorcycle waited near a main road.

The driver, his face all but covered by a black turban, then led our car to a desert rendezvous where we were searched, before the commander himself arrived. As we sat inside a disused mud building with two gunmen standing over us, Haji Mullah began to talk.

A white haired man of around 50, he was the police commander for the town of Gereshk under the Taliban regime until the US invasion of 2001. He is now a senior insurgent commander, leading his force of about 100 fighters in operations against British troops in Helmand, in towns with increasingly familiar names such as Musa Qala and Sangeen.

His son Mullah Toor Jan is the group's tactical level commander. Haji Mullah was arrogantly dismissive about the British presence in his country.

"The British are not such tough fighters," he said. "They tend to sit in their bases and not move outside. Even with all the technology they have at their disposal they only control a 2km radius around Gereshk. They have lost control of all the rural districts of Helmand. This area for instance is under our control. You can see that the local people know us."

He boasted that he would use Saturday's launch of the British-organised poppy eradication programme to drive a wedge between local people and Nato forces. British soldiers could be called in to support Afghan police if they are attacked as they clear the fields. Haji Mullah wishes to exploit this, siding with locals in a cynical attempt to draw local people into the Taliban's camp.

Rumours running through the villages around Lashkargar say that Mullah Dadullah, the most feared of the Taliban's frontline commanders, is in Helmand to lead the fight against the eradication force. There is no way of authenticating the claims, which are ridiculed by the police chief of Helmand, Gen Nabi Jan Mullah Khail.

"This is just fake news, propaganda put about by drug smugglers," he said. "We will implement eradication. We won't allow any resistance."

But Haji Mullah's men appeared all too ready to lead local resistance. One fighter said there had been hard fighting around Musa Qala and Sangeen. He claimed that there had been British casualties.

"We faced a British attack in Sangeen recently," he said. "The British began to shell us and advance on us. We held our front line and then we attacked them and they withdrew."

Details of the incident remained vague. When pressed for a fuller account the commander declined to say how many of his men had been killed in the fighting.

Haji Mullah said: "Around Gereshk we have had many clashes with the British. The British technique is that they like to fight very quickly; to strike us suddenly with artillery and their planes and helicopters. But really they are not doing very well."

He bemoaned the Taliban's lack of an anti-aircraft capability against British helicopters. "We are not financially strong, otherwise we would buy some anti-aircraft missiles," he said. He claimed they had an abundant supply of ordinary weapons, but said that these came from old stocks stored from previous conflicts. The weapons they held seemed to bear this out — Soviet-era Kalashnikovs. He was studiously vague about Pakistani funding or militant support, insisting that his fighters were all local men.

Despite his claims of toughness in battle, a Taliban victory did not appear to be an inevitability in Haji Mullah's thoughts. "We are strong Muslims. If Allah wills us victory, then it will happen," he said. "When I started fighting, it was against the Russians. Since then I never stopped. This is my ideology. I will fight till the end of my life."

A trial of strength is now days away in Helmand, pitting the Afghan government and its British backers against the province's poppy farmers. The Taliban, it appears, is keen to stir up trouble.

"This is a holy war. There is no room for fatigue," said Haji Mullah.

Tough steps on road to Afghan peace

Analysis - By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Kabul Thursday, 8 February 2007

The move towards peace in Afghanistan is involving some difficult decisions for international forces in the country.

Musa Qala is one small place in one Afghan province, but it is at the heart of a controversial British strategy to try to end the fighting and get on with the task of rebuilding and developing Afghanistan.

Last week the Taleban drove in and took over control of the town and their flag is flying over a compound that British troops once defended for months.

Last summer it was a town in northern Helmand at the centre of the fighting, where the Taleban were strong and where British troops held off wave after wave of attack.

They were under siege, and the small government compound was almost overrun by Taleban fighters as it became increasingly difficult to re-supply the troops with rations and ammunition.

Major operations were launched simply to keep them going, bombs were dropped close to the front gate, a huge number of hand grenades were used - in all, seven British soldiers died in Musa Qala district in the long and bloody summer.

In October the troops pulled out of the town in a peace deal, which began with the commander of British forces flying in for a desert meeting, and ended with an exhausted group of soldiers hitching a lift out on the back of local trucks.

The deal was that Taleban fighters and British troops would move out of a 5km exclusion zone around the district centre, and the local elders who brokered the deal would provide security for the town and for the aid agencies who would bring in redevelopment projects.

For four months there was peace, but the deal split British and American views in Afghanistan. The Taleban propaganda said the British had been forced out and had retreated.

Nato said it allowed them to "redeploy" their forces to be more mobile and to take the offensive. Many Americans said it was a deal with the Taleban and it would simply store up problems for later.

So with the Taleban flag flying over Musa Qala who was right? That is still unproven, with Nato hanging on to the hope that the elders will make the Taleban leave, but it is looking increasingly likely that military action will be required.

The new Helmand governor Haji Asadullah Wafa has big plans for his province. He does not support the Musa Qala deal, but only because it does not go far enough.

He calls his proposal "protocols" - plans which local elders must sign up to and be responsible for. Essentially it is the same idea but it demands more from them and includes the right of the Nato forces to enter a district centre whenever they want, unlike the deal in Musa Qala.

He plans groups of auxiliary police being trained from each district to become a local security force and give the elders a chance to recommend who they want as their district police chief. But it mainly comes down to where the mission is going from here.

Many worry the new American general Dan McNeill may have more emphasis on force and less on deal-making or reconstruction.

However, outgoing International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) commander General David Richards gave the approval for a huge number of air strikes in his nine months - force was a major part of his strategy even if the mission was to create the conditions for more development and better governance.

Talking appears to be the most sensible way of bringing peace but critics of these deals ask if soldiers really know who they are talking to - and with the tribal nature of Afghanistan it is really difficult to know what other agenda people may have.

The Taliban in Pakistan

Wall Street Journal Online - 02/06/2007 Said Tayeb Jawad

Pakistan's recent proposal to fence and lay landmines along its 1,500-mile Afghanistan border is impractical, ineffective and irrelevant to the problem of terrorism and the Taliban. Terrorism will be contained only if we end the institutional support for extremism and strengthen traditional leadership in our region.

On Jan. 11, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He identified Pakistan as "a major source of Islamic extremism" and said that al Qaeda leaders enjoy a "secure hideout" in Pakistan , while rebuilding their terrorist network and pursuing WMD. These statements reflect a growing consensus among political and military leaders. In his recent trip to the region, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted a "significant increase in cross-border attacks." Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley has stated that Jalaluddin Haqqani and other Taliban leaders are in Pakistan , and in Congress Rep. Frank Pallone urged President Bush and Condoleezza Rice to "work with President [Pervez] Musharraf to eliminate extremist training camps in western Pakistan ." The Taliban are currently training and preparing for a bloody spring operation against Afghan, U.S. and NATO troops. Neither exchanging barbed comments nor concealing and misrepresenting the threat is the solution. Frank discussions and constructive engagements are necessary to contain the impending surge of Taliban violence.

The Afghan government values the high price the people of Pakistan are paying to restrain extremism. We appreciate that President Musharraf, a crucial ally of the U.S. and NATO in the war against terror, has recognized the threat posed by cross-border terrorist excursions into Afghanistan and is intending to do more. However, the border is not where the problem lies. Terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan are the real threat to regional stability and global security. Such sanctuaries are breeding grounds for extremism and violence.

We share the concern of Canada , European countries, the U.N. and human-rights organizations such as Pakistan 's Human Rights Commission that new mines will take the lives of many more innocent civilians in one of the most heavily mined regions in the world. In 2005, 825 new landmine casualties were recorded in Afghanistan . The tribes along the border demand and deserve peace, prosperity and human security. Expanding the benefits of development and trade and providing economic aid for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the North-West Frontier Province will be the best means of achieving these goals. Mining the border will neither stop trained terrorists nor deter suicide bombers. Rather, these measures will divide nations, tribes and communities with a shared culture and common heritage.

In the past, Pakistan has rightfully objected to the fencing of the Kashmir border as ineffective. The most secure fence becomes useless if the border guards at the crossing points are corrupt or accomplices to the extremists. Laying mines along some of the most mountainous terrain in the world is not only impractical but also irrelevant. If the sources of terror remain untouched we will continue to face this threat, even if the border were to become impenetrable.

Afghanistan remains the original front of the war on terror and the chief victim of the Taliban's safe havens in Pakistan . The international community must help Pakistan take additional steps to ensure that the terrorist threat posed by these havens is contained or eliminated. A concerted plan to close down sanctuaries for training, command, control, regrouping and supply will eliminate cross-border incursions. Such a plan should be accompanied by a dismantling of the Taliban's organizational structure in Quetta , Balochistan and Miranshah, North Waziristan . Our allies in the war against terror should work with Pakistan to shut down those madrassas that have become factories of hatred, as well as sources of recruitment and financial and logistical support.

Strengthening the traditional leadership in the tribal areas will yield valuable dividends. The majority of Pashtuns in our region are victims of extremism. Talibanization is a threat to their identity and culture; extremist groups must not be allowed to suppress nationalist leaders who seek "enlightened moderation," traditional values and secular rule. Tribal elders and civic institutions should be provided effective resources to strengthen civil society and empower moderate political parties. Lifting the ban on political parties in the tribal areas will help fend off extremism. The proposed Joint Peace Jirgas in Afghanistan and Pakistan by President Hamid Karzai are intended to empower the border region's traditional leadership through an honorable and time-tested mechanism of conflict resolution.

Afghanistan is in favor of friendship with all its neighbors, through trade and commerce and people-to-people contacts. The people of Afghanistan and Pakistan demand constructive engagement, and the sincere cooperation of our governments. Since reconstruction began five years ago, Afghanistan has followed global trends to open borders and break down the boundaries, physical or otherwise, between peoples. If we must lay land mines and build fences to prevent attacks against Afghan and Coalition forces, it should be around the terrorist sanctuaries and training grounds, not along the border. We must isolate terrorists, not divide tribes and communities.

Mr. Jawad is the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States.

How to tame the Taliban

By Amir Taheri - Gulf News (UAE) / February 7, 2007 - When we met Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Sepanta in London the other day, the news headlines sounded ominous for his country. One headline, running as a strip at the bottom of TV screens said: "Taliban retake Afghan city from Nato! Wow!"

Within minutes, the usual suspects of cyberspace, mostly from the incredibly large number of universities and think tanks in the US, were speculating about the ultimate failure of the democratic experience in Afghanistan and how the Pushtun warriors were poised to defeat Nato as they had defeated Alexander the Great and the British Raj so many centuries ago.

So, was this the beginning of the end? We asked Dr Sepanta who, though German educated, is as phlegmatic as the old products of British public schools. The foreign minister responded with a sigh. "There are those who wish Afghanistan to fail so that the United States and other democracies are humiliated," he said. "Some take their wishes for reality."

When deconstructed, little was left of the ominous headline. It turned out that Qala-Mussa, far from deserving description as a city, is a border village with a population of around 4,000.

Nato handed over the village to local elders months ago after clearing it of the remnants of Taliban and their allies, the Iranian-financed Hizb-e-Islami (Islamic Party) of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The elders in charge had made a deal with Taliban, allowing them to arrive in the village to discuss ending attacks on schools in nearby hamlets. The Taliban, however, broke their promise, sworn on the Holy Book and entered the village armed and overpowered the unarmed elders. There were no Nato troops within a 100 miles and no clashes took place between the Taliban and the forces of the American "Great Satan". (A few days later, Nato dispatched a unit to flush the Taliban out.)

Sepanta admits that the Taliban are preparing for a spring offensive. However, he insists that the security situation is better than last year and improving. He is critical of Nato's decision to hand over Qala-Mussa and a few other remote localities to tribal elders rather than officials from the central government in Kabul.

"We may have to face terrorism for many years," Sepanta says." But, that is not going to slow down, let alone stop, Afghanistan's strategy for democratisation and modernisation."

Do the Taliban still enjoy a popular base?

Sepanta admits that they do. The Taliban appeal to some Pushtun clans in the southeast and reflect the views of some of the most conservative segments of the clergy. All in all, however, without the support of a foreign power, they would not be able to pursue a military campaign for any length of time.

But, which foreign power? Sepanta says he does not wish to provoke a diplomatic row with Afghanistan's neighbours by naming names.

"Those who know the region know the identity of those who keep the Taliban alive," he says. "Which regional country fears a democratic and pro-West Afghanistan? And which has always harboured the ambition of turning Afghanistan into a client state?"

It is clear that Sepanta is referring to Iran and Pakistan which, though rivals in Afghanistan in the past, now indirectly cooperate to undermine the democratically elected government of President Hamid Karzai.

Sepanta says Iran has created "a vast and solid network of influence" in Afghanistan. "No one knows what harvest Tehran hopes to reap from what it has sown," he says.

Both Iran and Pakistan have shaped their different strategies in Afghanistan on the assumption that the US, plagued by its internecine political feuds, will lack the staying power needed to reshape the Middle East. Tehran and Islamabad are preparing for the day the Americans run away from Kabul before the new Afghan regime is strong enough to ward off predatory neighbours. Once the Americans have fled, Iran will activate its network of influence, including the Hazara Shiites, some heavily armed, along with elements of the former Northern Alliance that fought the Taliban in the 1990s.

For its part, Pakistan, which had put all its chips on Taliban in the 1990s, lost everything when Mullah Omar ran away riding his Suzuki motorcycle. Since then, Pakistan has acted tough against the so-called "Arab Afghans" and members of Al Qaida while treating the Taliban with kid gloves. The reason is that Islamabad sees the Taliban as its Trojan horse in Afghanistan, when and if the Americans run away.

Pakistan has more than half a century of experience in low intensity warfare against neighbours. Until recently, it did so against India in Kashmir and seems to be doing the same in southeastern Afghanistan.

Discussing Kashmir with the then Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a few years ago, I was told what he presented as "the secret of Kashmir".

"The war in Kashmir could go on for ever," Vajpayee said. "The reason is that the Pakistanis always have some 2,000 fighters ready to come to kill and die. We kill the 2,000, the Pakistanis send another 2,000. The supply is endless."

Having ended the war in Kashmir, Pakistan can divert its mischief-making energies to Afghanistan where the numbers required may not be as large. Pakistan can always find a few hundred Puhstuns who, if adequately brainwashed and paid, are ready to become "holy warriors" under the Taliban banner.

As is the case with Iraq, the root cause of the continued conflict in Afghanistan is the perception that the Americans will run away, allowing the "holy warriors" to claim divine victory while rival neighbouring powers activate their pawns in Kabul.

If the various protagonists in Afghanistan, just as in Iraq, were persuaded that the "Great Satan" was not going to run away, few would have the incentive to keep fighting a war they know they cannot win.

Sepanta says any sign that the US and its allies may be losing interest in the democratisation project is certain to fan the flames of war.

So, what does he think of the recommendation by the now discredited Baker-Hamilton report that the US withdraw from Iraq and send more troops to Afghanistan?

The foreign minister becomes diplomatic. He does not want to intervene in a domestic American debate. But he admits that the jihadis fighting in Iraq will, if the US runs away from Baghdad, move to Afghanistan to fight the Americans that the Baker-Hamilton "Realists" want to send there.

"This is a war between two visions of the world," he says. "If one side abandons one battlefield, he will have to fight harder in another."

The Afghans are determined to fight the "obscurantist, inhumane" vision of the Taliban and their counterparts in Iraq and elsewhere for as long as it takes, Sepanta says. His hope is that the Western democracies would continue to share the same determination.

Amir Taheri is an Iranian author and journalist based in Europe.

Afghan cleric takes Islamic battle to the airwaves

By Sayed Salahuddin Thu Feb 8 - KABUL (Reuters) - When the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s, Sheikh Mohammad Asif Mohseni formed an Islamic force while in exile to fight alongside other holy warriors against the invaders.

But when the communist-backed regime collapsed, the victorious Mujahideen groups began a bloody power struggle, sparking a civil war that killed tens of thousands and he found himself trying to play peacemaker.

Now, the 75-year-old, silver-bearded Mohseni has another mission; this time to save Afghanistan's deeply conservative Islamic society from corruption by alien cultures.

Mohseni is launching a semi-Islamic television channel which does not focus exclusively on Islamic teachings. It will be Afghanistan's first such channel.

Called Tamadon, or "civilization," the network will go on air in a few months. It is the latest in a string of private channels springing up since the Taliban government fell in 2001.

But while some, especially newly returned refugees, welcome the explosion of choice -- there's even a racy MTV-style channel broadcasting from the United States -- others complain the Indian and Western music and programs are vulgar.

"I want to take part in civilizing my Muslim people in the 21st century and the direction (Muslims now) follow has a deviated from its path," he said.

"Our television is the tongue of the silent majority ... These people want bread, water, clothes; these people want knowledge, they do not want Indian culture to govern them," he added when asked if music will be included in his programming.

"The general beliefs of people are being ignored, people are betrayed, our history and culture is played with. We will talk about these to people in order to enable them to find their identity."

Tamadon will broadcast free-to-air 8 hours a day and include debates on improving the economy, education and the betterment of the younger generation, as well as scientific discussions.

"We are backward in all aspects. Economically, we are in the 16th or 17th century, but our televisions air ten times sexier films (than Western countries)," he said.

"This is a scandal and shame for us. We have a thousand calamities and should not be diverted ," Mohseni told Reuters in a cold room at a massive semi-Islamic university he is building in Kabul, called Khatim-ul Nabiyen.

A leading daily, Cheragh, also recently warned the government the foreign-influenced broadcasters and shows could justify the Taliban war against the Western-backed government.

AFGHANISTAN'S 'KHOMEINI'

Modestly spoken, Mohseni is a veteran Shi'ite scholar, viewed by some as Afghanistan's Khomeini, in reference to Iran's late Islamic revolutionary.

Because of his age, Mohseni uses a walking cane. He normally dresses in a tight white turban and a robe and is revered both by Shi'ites and Sunnis in mainly Sunni Afghanistan.

Every day, people come in droves to seek his advice on religious matters, disputes and for guidance.

He has spent $1 million setting up Tamadon from his own pocket and from donations. His university, due to be completed this year, will cost about $14 million by the time it is finished. Women as well as men are already studying there.

Mohseni has never served as a government official during the Mujahideen rule or the current administration, but the outspoken scholar has long wielded strong influence.

He completed his Islamic studies in Iraq as a young man and blames Western occupiers for the turmoil and sectarian killings there.

"This bloodshed, violence in Iraq ... has no link with Islam," he said. "The Westerners are behind these."

Afghanistan handed reprieve after Olympic no-show

PATTAYA, Thailand, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Afghanistan have been handed a reprieve by soccer's world governing body after heavy snow prevented their team from attending a pre-Olympic qualifying match with Vietnam, FIFA said on Thursday.

Vietnam assumed victory on Wednesday after the Afghan no-show, but after receiving a letter from the war-torn country's soccer authorities, FIFA decided to allow the match to rescheduled for next week.

"In view of the unforeseen circumstances, FIFA have decided the match between Vietnam and Afghanistan will be postponed until February 14," a FIFA spokesman told Reuters.

FIFA said they would assist the Afghan team with visa arrangements to ensure they were able to attend the match in Nam Dinh outside the capital Hanoi.

Their plane was unable to take off because of heavy snow storms, officials in Kabul said.

Vietnamese newspapers had originally reported that the Afghans had conceded the match after discovering at the last minute that there were no flights scheduled for that week.

Afghanistan had earlier agreed to cancel their home leg in Kabul because of security concerns, reducing the tie to a single leg.

[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.]