In this bulletin:

• Afghan war crimes amnesty passed
• "Afghanistan to punish war criminals" – Spanta
• MPs sceptical of reforms programme
• ITALY: GOVERNMENT LOSES SENATE VOTE ON AFGHAN MISSION
• PM doubles Afghan troops
• Afghan official: Taleban spring offensive "backed by their foreign supporters"
• Suicide bomber targets Afghan hospital, 7 NATO troops wounded
• Pakistan Rejects allegations of new training compounds by Taliban
• Pakistani FM says West also to blame for Afghan violence
• Khalid raps Aurakzai for remarks
• 2 Afghan refugee camps to be closed by June 15
• Analysis: How much longer in Afghanistan?
• Pak embassy refutes Afghan envoy's assertions
• Taliban more powerful than before: Ex-US general
• Commanders aiming to cut Afghan civilian casualties
• Canadian actions questioned in killings
• Amnesty slams Canada over Afghan detainees
• Liberals back Afghan mission until 2009
• GG presents medals to heroes of Afghanistan
• Pakistan continues to ban Afghan TV broadcasts - official
• Afghanistan-Pakistan: Agencies urge rethink on border landmines plan
• fghan official hopes for drastic reduction in poppy cultivation
• A Court in Afghan east acquits officials of corruption charges
• Afghan Authorities Detain 14 For Illegal Alcohol Sales
• 5,000-Year-Old Artificial Eye Found on Iran-Afghan Border
• Killer says Pakistan minister was 'spreading evil': police

Afghan war crimes amnesty passed – BBC

The upper house of the Afghan parliament has passed a controversial bill giving amnesty to people accused of war crimes over the past 30 years.

Both houses have now backed the bill. It has yet to be signed by President Hamid Karzai, who could veto it. Many atrocities were committed under Soviet rule, as well as by mujahideen leaders who fought a civil war and finally by the Taleban.

Many victims have reacted angrily to the idea of an amnesty. Some MPs in the lower house, which passed the bill last month, now say they did not understand its implications when they voted for it.

Supporters of the amnesty say it is a move towards reconciliation. They say if it does not happen there will be more war. President Karzai is known to be opposed to the bill.

In the warlord period some 80,000 civilians died in Kabul alone. Large numbers of others were kidnapped, mutilated or raped. The United Nations and Afghan's leading rights groups say only victims of war crimes can forgive the perpetrators.

"Afghanistan to punish war criminals" - Spanta

Reuters - 02/20/2007 - KABUL - Afghanistan vowed on Tuesday to punish those responsible for war crimes over three decades of fighting, rejecting parliament's move to grant a blanket amnesty, including to its own members and fugitive Taliban leaders.

"We have our international responsibilities," Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta told Reuters in an interview. "Under international law ... crimes against humanity, systematic violence against human rights is not a matter for amnesty."

International rights groups say that punishing those guilty of war crimes is essential to bringing peace to a country that last year suffered its bloodiest year since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.

Parliament, which includes former Mujahideen (holy warrior) leaders, ex-senior communists and former Taliban, voted three weeks ago to grant an amnesty to all Afghans, including fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and MPs accused of abuses. The move, yet to be made law, sparked a walkout by some parliamentarians and condemnation from the United Nations.

"They are letting people who committed atrocities hold onto power," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbor said. "An amnesty is permanent, there is no going back on it."

New York-based Human Rights Watch accuses President Hamid Karzai and his foreign allies of wrongly trying to bring war criminals into government as a way of ensuring stability.

"For the past five years, the Afghan government, the United Nations and the international community, led by the United States, have pursued a counter-productive policy of relying on war criminals, human rights abusers and drug-traffickers instead of prosecuting them," it said in a recent report.

"Karzai mistakenly tried to bring all political forces under his umbrella, while the U.S. worked with many such individuals as part of its 'war on terror'."

MPs argue the rights group is biased against the Mujahideen who granted an amnesty to communists after taking power in 1992. More than 1 million Afghans died in a decade of war between Soviet-backed communists and Western-funded Mujahideen groups.

Afghanistan has no formal political opposition and Karzai has included former communists, Mujahideen and tribal leaders in his administration in a bid to forge a united rule.

But five years after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban's strict Islamist government for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden in the wake of Sept. 11, fighting in the country is intense and both sides warn of a bloody spring offensive.

More than 4,000 people died last year in fighting. There was also a dramatic jump in suicide bombings, a tactic increasingly used as insurgents copy operations in Iraq, and both the Taliban and NATO commanders are warning of a further increase this year.

The Taliban have been boosted by the slow pace of reconstruction, the failure to establish a non-drugs economy that offers real jobs in the world's biggest opium producer and safe havens across the lawless and porous border in Pakistan.

Spanta said al Qaeda had "resources" in Pakistan and worked closely with the Taliban, and he urged Islamabad to do more to stop cross-border infiltrations.

"We work on more cooperation and I hope we receive that," he said. Pakistan denies Afghan charges it still supports its one-time protege, the Taliban, and says the rebels are bolstered by the failures of the Kabul government.

Afghanistan's Western allies say the Taliban shelters and trains in Pakistan and more needs to be done on both sides of the border to quash the insurgency.

Spanta said al Qaeda remained active and he believed bin Laden was alive despite his long public silence. "I have not heard anything to the contrary yet," he said. "The al Qaeda leadership is active and enjoys certain support beyond Afghanistan's borders.

MPs sceptical of reforms programme

KABUL, Feb 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Zalmay Mujaddedi, head of the internal security commission of the lower house of parliament, on Sunday criticised the government for the reforms programme in the Interior Ministry.

Mujaddedi alleged the government was replacing mujahidin leaders with communists under the garb of the reforms programme in the ministry.

He said this while speaking during the session of the lower House, which was also attended by Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbil.

Blasting the communist-era governments in Afghanistan, he said it was those people who sacked employees of the ministry who did not belonging to their party. He said appointing members of Khalq or the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) would lead the country towards another crisis of more serious nature.

Without naming other people, Mujaddedi said recent appointment of the Kabul police chief was an example of that programme. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said they would address the concerns of the parliamentarians. At the same time, he said: "Reforms were the only way out."

Khalid Pashtun, another MP, said mujahideen were being replaced with members of Khalq, whom, he said were responsible for the killing of Afghans. Pashtun was also not happy with the response of the Interior Minister.

ITALY: GOVERNMENT LOSES SENATE VOTE ON AFGHAN MISSION

Rome, 21 Feb. (AKI) - The Italian government lost Wednesday a key Senate vote on its foreign policy centred on the deployment of its troops in Afghanistan. The Senate, where the center-left government has a mere one-seat majority, voted 158 in favour of a motion supporting the government's foreign policy, failing to reach the required 160-ballots quorum; 136 Senators voted against while 24 abstained. In statements to the press published by all main Italian newspapers Wednesday, Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema had said the government would resign if it did not reach a majority.

"Without a majority, we are all going back home," D'Alema was quoted as saying in front-page headlines of all the main Italian newspapers, in statements indicating the vote would show the government coalition's unity despite the staunch opposition of leftist allies to the Afghan mission. Italy has some 1,800 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan under NATO command.

The cabinet approved a decree refinancing the Afghan mission last month, angering key coalition allies - the Communists and the Greens - who want Rome to pull its troops out of Afghanistan and who had threatened they would not back the government in Parliament, where the measure needs to be approved.

Right after the vote, the opposition called on the government to resign. "The Prodi government has fallen here in this chamber," said Renato Schifani, the whip of the largest opposition party Forza Italia. Prime minister Romano Prodi reportedly called a government coalition meeting right after the Senate defeat.

PM doubles Afghan troops

The Australian - National security editor - February 22, 2007

AUSTRALIA is poised to nearly double its military commitment to Afghanistan to about 1000 personnel. Cabinet's national security committee has approved initial planning for the deployment - which includes sending a special forces task group back to Oruzgan province and additional air support - with a Defence team to report back soon on its scope.

The result could be the deployment of up to 450 extra personnel and new capabilities, possibly including Black Hawk helicopters and an air defence radar team. The security cabinet is expected to sign off on the new commitment next month, pending the results of a reconnaissance mission to Afghanistan.

The plan to commit a new force of up to 250 ground troops - composed of elite SAS and commandos - comes as NATO-led coalition forces face an uphill battle to stabilise Afghanistan and as security in Oruzgan province remains precarious.

The bigger Australian commitment is being studied as British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepares to withdraw up to 3000 troops from southern Iraq and commit an additional army brigade of about 3000 troops in Afghanistan. Denmark is also poised to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of its 470 troops in Iraq.

But John Howard, who on Monday announced plans to send another 70 army instructors to Iraq, said yesterday the British Government's phase-down would not affect Australia's military commitment to Iraq.

"The reason I understand Mr Blair will give is that conditions have stabilised in Basra so that there can be this decision taken," the Prime Minister said. "They will still have 5000 (troops) and we will (have) 550. I don't think it follows from that that there should be a reduction in our 550."

But Kevin Rudd challenged the Government to follow Mr Blair's lead and outline a time frame for withdrawal. "If the British have an exit strategy from Iraq, the Australian people ask themselves a pretty basic question: why doesn't Australia also have an exit strategy from Iraq?" the Opposition Leader said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who initially refused to admit that Britain was withdrawing troops, told Southern Cross Broadcasting that Australia would pull out troops when Iraqi security forces were sufficiently built up and trained to maintain the democratic process and withstand terrorism.

He refused to say when. "What sort of a fool would say to the terrorists, 'we'll go on the first of January, so you guys just have a bit of a rest, put your feet up, get a bit more equipment, wait till we have gone and then make whoopee'," he said.

The Howard Government has kept an open mind about fresh commitments to Afghanistan since the withdrawal of a special forces task group in September.

Mr Rudd has long called for a greater troop commitment to Afghanistan as one of the central theatres of the war on terror. The Opposition Leader's stance on Afghanistan stands in stark contrast to his hardline position calling for a withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq.

The Australian Defence Force has about 550 personnel serving in Afghanistan. They include a 370-strong reconstruction taskforce working as part of a Dutch-led provincial reconstruction team at Tarin Kowt, in Oruzgan province, as well as Chinook helicopters and logistics staff based in Kandahar.

NATO commanders have made repeated calls in recent months for more troops as coalition forces and Afghan army soldiers battle a resurgent Taliban. The Afghan Government would also welcome a larger Australian deployment, with Afghan ambassador Mohammed Anwar Anwarzai this week nominating the special forces as a group he would like to see re-deployed.

Over a 12-month deployment, the previous Australian special forces group based at Tarin Kowt saw more sustained combat than any other Australian military force since the Vietnam War. In three separate rotations, the Australians suffered 11 wounded but no combat deaths. NATO-led coalition forces in Afghanistan now total about 36,000 troops, but commanders want more ground troops as well as aircraft.

Defence spokesman Brigadier Gus Gilmore said yesterday that while security around the Australian base at Tarin Kowt was good, army planners were bracing for a possible spring offensive by the Taliban.

Afghan official: Taleban spring offensive "backed by their foreign supporters "

Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV on 20 February - [Presenter] The office of the president has for the first time commented about the Taleban's likely spring offensive. Karim Rahimi, the spokesman for the office of the president, has told a news conference that the Taleban's threat of launching a massive spring offensive is backed by their foreign supporters.

[Correspondent] NATO commanders in Afghanistan had some times ago had also commented about the possible increase in armed opponents' attacks in the coming spring and had urged NATO member states to send extra troops and weaponry to Afghanistan.

In reaction to the Taleban commanders' threats, for the first time, the spokesman for the president has said that the Afghan and NATO forces are ready to respond to any attack by opponents.

According to Rahimi, the Taleban made these threats with the support of their foreign supporters. Afghan officials have always talked of Taleban's foreign supporters and on occasion have openly accused Pakistan of supporting the Taleban.

In reaction to these remarks, Pakistan has said that the factor behind Taleban's increased activities is the indifference of Afghan government officials in the fight against terrorism.

Suicide bomber targets Afghan hospital, 7 NATO troops wounded

The Associated Press - Tuesday, February 20, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan: Seven NATO troops, described by local officials as Americans, were wounded in a thwarted suicide attack at a city hospital in eastern Afghanistan, while Afghan forces in the west recaptured a town that fell to Taliban militants.

The suicide bomber, wearing a doctor's white coat, was initially stopped by Afghan police on Tuesday as he entered the compound of the main government hospital in the city of Khost, where about 150 people had gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open an emergency ward.

The bomber ran off as he was being questioned, and NATO troops shot him several times before one soldier "wrestled him to the ground, restraining him long enough to allow the crowd of people to move safely away," a statement from the Western military alliance said.

That soldier was able to break free before the bomber detonated his explosive and sustained only minor injuries, but two other wounded troops were evacuated to a NATO base for treatment, the statement said. The bomber died in the blast.

"The people were running everywhere and it was difficult at first to figure out what was happening," Cpl. Anthony Rush, who witnessed the attack, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The alliance did not give the troops' nationalities, in accordance with policy. However, Khost provincial Gov. Arsalah Jamal identified them as Americans, and said one hospital employee also was wounded. Most of the NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan are American.

The blast left a shallow crater in the earth a few meters (yards) behind the site of the ceremony and left shredded flesh hanging from the backs of guests' chairs.

Last year, Taliban-led militants launched about 140 suicide attacks, mostly targeting foreign and Afghan forces and officials of President Hamid Karzai's elected government — part of a wave of violence that made 2006 the bloodiest year since the ouster of the hardline regime in 2001.

In western Farah province on Tuesday, about 200 Afghan police and soldiers, backed by NATO, retook the remote town of Bakwa that was overrun by Taliban the previous day, provincial Gov. Muhajuddin Baluch said. They met no resistance as the militants had reportedly left the area soon after they staged their attack and police fled.

It was the second time this month that the government has lost control of a district in the region.

Taliban militants overran Musa Qala in nearby Helmand province on Feb. 1, defying a peace deal between the government and elders last year that capped weeks of fighting. The government is negotiating with elders to get them to persuade the militants to leave.

Pakistan Rejects allegations of new training compounds by Taliban

21 February 2007 - By Maria A Khan 'Pakistan Times' Diplomatic Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tuesday rejecting allegations of establishing new compounds by Al-Qaeda in tribal areas for training reiterated its commitment to take all possible measures to counter the threat of talibanization and extremism.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Ms Tasnim Aslam said, “We are taking all measures, in our own interest, to counter the threat of Talibanization and extremism.”

She said, “Pakistan is also firmly committed not to allow its territory to be used for militancy and violence against Afghanistan.” “We are fully cooperating in this regard with NATO and Afghan forces,” she said.

The Spokesperson as regards North Waziristan agreement stated that Pakistan is addressing the problem of Talibanization and extremism in some of the Tribal agencies comprehensively which combines military action with political and administrative measures besides socio economic programme.

She said, “We continue to keep the implementation of North Waziristan agreement under review and would plug all shortcomings and take firm action where needed to ensure full compliance.”

The spokesperson said, “We, however, strongly reject aspersions against authorities in Pakistan and their commitment to combat the menace of extremism and terrorism as well as to help Afghanistan re-establish peace and stability.”

In response to a question relating to a reported statement by Governor NWFP Aurakzai, and a press statement issued from Kabul on February 18, the Spokesperson stated that the Kabul statement is based on distorted report of what the Governor NWFP had said to a delegation of foreign journalists who recently visited Peshawar and North Waziristan.

She said, during this meeting, the Governor had mentioned what militant Taliban were saying to win the sympathies of Afghan population living in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan. Some reports had wrongly presented this as assessment and views of the Governor himself, she clarified.

The spokesperson said the phenomenon of Talibanization is a common threat to Pakistan and Afghanistan. She added “No one should have any doubt about our commitment and will to fight terrorism and extremism.”

The Spokesperson said, “We have deployed more than 80,000 troops along with our border with Afghanistan and maintain nearly 1,000 military posts on the border.” “More than 700 of our troops have lost their lives. We are taking further steps to control the border starting with selective fencing,” she said.

Ms Tasnim said, “We are also seeking international assistance to remove refugee camps located close to the border to deny any hideouts to militant Taliban who are also Afghans.”

It is important that Pakistan as well as the NATO and Afghan forces maintain close cooperation to counter the common danger of terrorism and extremism, she added.

The Spokesperson said, however, it must be emphasized that the problems of Afghanistan have to be addressed inside Afghanistan. Pakistan is doing whatever is needed to prevent any support from its bordering areas to Taliban or extremists inside Afghanistan, she added.

Pakistani FM says West also to blame for Afghan violence

NEW DELHI, Feb 20, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistan's foreign minister said Tuesday
the West shares responsibility for suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters
re-grouping along its border with Afghanistan, because it started the
problem.

He said Western pressure to evict the former Soviet Union from Afghanistan
after a 1979 invasion led directly to the recruitment of  Muslim fighters
from around the world to move to its lawless tribal  belt on the border.

"Pakistan and many other key countries cooperated in the exercise of
getting the Soviet Union out," Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri told
reporters in New Delhi ahead of a meeting Wednesday with his Indian
counterpart.

"In the process, not just Pakistan, (but) the United States, Europe and
many other countries invited young men of the Muslim world to come to the
tribal areas and fight the Soviet invaders.

"When that was set in motion, the Soviets were of course thrown out.
Pakistan alone was not responsible for this entire action. It's very easy
to find convenient scapegoats. It's an international responsibility."

The comments came after a US official said Monday that compounds training
10 or 20 people -- Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters -- at a time for possible
attacks on the West had been detected over the past year in a
semi-autonomous tribal area along the mountainous border with Afghanistan.

Kasuri arrived in New Delhi a day after blasts that killed 68 on a
cross-border train to push ahead peace talks, despite the carnage.

He visited a hospital in the capital to meet survivors -- including several
Pakistanis -- of what officials described as a fireball that ripped through
two carriages of the "Friendship  Express".

Unofficial talks were expected in the evening between Indian foreign
ministry officials and members of the 17-man Pakistani team, before
Wednesday's official meeting of the India-Pakistan Joint Commission.

Pakistan has been repeatedly accused by India of arming and training
militants to launch attacks in Kashmir where a separatist insurgency has
claimed more than 44,000 lives since 1989.

Islamabad denies the charge as it did the US officials' allegations Monday,
the latest in a series to trouble Washington's  relations with its key ally
in the "war on terror."

In September, Pakistan signed a peace deal with militants in North
Waziristan, prompting suspicions from Kabul and the commanders of
international forces battling the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has strongly defended the agreement, saying it has helped curtail
infiltration across the porous frontier into Afghanistan. The insurgency in
Afghanistan killed 4,000 people last year. Kasuri also reiterated that stance Tuesday in New Delhi.

"We know what is behind it. The government has taken a tough and resolute
decision. There are problems with the legacy of the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan," he said. "Let's not trivialise matters."

Khalid raps Aurakzai for remarks

KANDAHAR CITY, Feb 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): In a tit-for-tat response to Pakistan's NWFP governor's statement regarding Taliban, Governor of the southern Kandahar province Asadullah Khalid said Pashtuns on the other side of the Durand Line had started efforts for their liberation from "Punjabi imperialism".

Pashtuns living in the tribal and other areas, had started meetings to get liberation from "Punjabi imperialism", said Khalid while addressing a news conference in this southern city on Sunday.

On Friday, while briefing foreign media about the situation in Afghanistan and tribal areas, Governor of Pakistan's North-Western province Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai warned that if left unaddressed, the Taliban insurgency would take the shape of a liberation war.

In this connection, he referred to the frustration among Pashtuns in Afghanistan, especially in the south and southeastern parts of the insurgency-wracked country.

Condemning the remarks, Khalid said it was an example of open interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. Regarding the Taliban movement, he said the people of Afghanistan and the international community had rejected them and their policies which paved the way for their downfall.

He said all the nationalities in Afghanistan were enjoying equal rights in the present set-up. At the same time, he asked Aurakzai to concentrate upon the rights of Pashtuns living in Pakistan.

"The day is not far when Pashtuns on both sides of the divide come closer to discuss their problems and get their rights," he said.

He condemned the suicide blast in Quetta and said the victims of such attacks are the Pashtuns on the other side of the border. Once again blaming Pakistan for supporting terrorists, the governor said there were training centres for terrorists in Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi.

He also rejected as baseless the Taliban claims regarding their spring offensive and said the coming year would prove the year of peace for Pashtun living on both sides of the Durand Line.

2 Afghan refugee camps to be closed by June 15

ISLAMABAD: The government has announced that two Afghan refugee camps – the Katchagari camp in NWFP and the Jungle Pir Alizai camp in Balochistan – will be closed by June 15 in accordance with plans to shut them down.

According to a press release by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday, Afghan refugees will begin vacating the camps on April 15. It said the refugees could choose to repatriate to Afghanistan with the UNHCR’s help, and Afghans without proof of registration cards must get these cards between March 1 and April 15 to avail the UNHCR assistance.

Afghans who do not want to repatriate at the moment would be relocated to other camps identified by the government. The UNHCR will also help such refugees, who would have to give their names to the district administrator or a designated official of the Commission for Afghan Refugees (CAR) in the camps the are relocated to.

The press release said that the Girdi Jungle camp in Balochistan and the Jalozai camp in NWFP would also be closed by August 31. (Daily Times)

Analysis: How much longer in Afghanistan?

By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE - UPI Editor at Large

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The way Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf reads the geopolitical tea leaves in the Middle East and South Asia is not to our liking, but hardly surprising. Political science 101 shows a U.S. Congress, controlled by the Democrats, not prepared to see the Iraq conflict through to victory -- i.e., a free democratic country able to sustain and defend itself without the U.S. military.

In fact, Musharraf, like the rest of the world, noted that Democratic frontrunner for the White House Hillary Clinton, who voted for the Iraqi war, is now calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin in 90 days. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid calls Iraq "the worst foreign policy mistake in American history" as senators prepare legislation that would revoke authorization for the war.

Musharraf can also see that two-thirds of U.S. voters are against the war. The corollary is what happens in Afghanistan if the United States does not prevail in Iraq. He began hedging his bets with a controversial deal signed last Sept. 5 with tribal leaders in North Waziristan, a Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) on the Afghan border. Tribal elders, who are Muslim fundamentalists and pro-Taliban, guaranteed Taliban guerrillas would be held in check and not allowed to cross into Afghanistan.

Skeptical NATO and U.S. commanders in Afghanistan decided to give Musharraf the benefit of the doubt. Today, there is no doubt. Both North and South Waziristan are under virtual Taliban control and attacks into Afghanistan have trebled. Even more worrisome, Pakistan's all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, ISI, received a wink and a nod from Musharraf to assist "moderate" Taliban elements in their campaign to wrest control from President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

On Feb. 19, the New York Times, in a front page article about al-Qaida's revival in Pakistan, reported U.S. intelligence has spotted small al-Qaida training camps in North Waziristan. That this tribal area was entirely in Taliban and al-Qaida hands was originally reported in this space in October 2005 following this reporter's unauthorized trip there.

Mohammad Aurakzai, the Musharraf-appointed governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier province, described the Taliban as waging "a war of liberation" against foreign troops occupying Afghanistan. Local populations, he added, are "increasingly supporting Taliban."

ISI was the Taliban's principal support when it launched an offensive in 1992 to seize control of a country torn by multiple warring factions ever since defeated Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. The Taliban declared victory in 1996, and imposed a medieval theocracy on almost 30 million people while embracing Osama bin Laden who then set up a score of al-Qaida training camps. Following 9/11, U.S. forces collapsed the whole Taliban-al-Qaida edifice, which ended with the battle of Tora Bora, and bin Laden's escape into Pakistan.

Musharraf cordially loathes Karzai. When President Bush, hoping for reconciliation, had them both to dinner at the White House last Sept. 28, they avoided each other's gaze and declined to shake hands. It's been downhill since then, each side hurling insults at the other. Karzai's writ doesn't extend much beyond Kabul. His government is riddled with corruption and Afghanistan is fast becoming a narco-state (producing last year a record 6,700 tons of opium poppy, enough to make about 670 tons of pure heroin), fertile ground for Taliban successes. And Karzai's warm relationship with India , "our most cherished partner" , further exacerbates relations with Pakistan.

Musharraf is constantly criticized in his own media for throwing in his lot with the U.S. after 9/11. He had little choice in the matter. President Bush gave him none. But in the wake of the U.S. fiasco in Iraq, politico-religious extremists are steadily gaining ground in what is a military-ruled "guided democracy."

The banned militant sectarian Sunni terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, involved in most terrorist attacks in Pakistan since 9/11, is forming new cells at the district and provincial levels throughout the country. Its leaders fought in Afghanistan and the cadres and recruits came from madrassas (Koranic schools) throughout the country.

In a major speech last week, Bush rang a loud Afghan alarm bell coupled with a ringing endorsement of Musharraf. He also called on NATO member states to supply more troops and to cease and desist putting restrictions on their roles and missions in the field. Italy, France and Spain declined additional forces. NATO's bean counters estimate the daily cost of keeping one soldier in Afghanistan at $4,000. There are now 35,000 troops in Afghanistan under NATO command, including 13,000 Americans. Another 9,000 U.S. troops operate independently of NATO on counter-terrorism and Afghan army training missions. And following a brief visit to Kabul, Defense Secretary Bob Gates diverted the 173rd Airborne Brigade slated for Iraq to Afghanistan and ordered a brigade of the 10th Mountain Division to stay another four months.

Meanwhile, public and political support for a close U.S.-Pakistan partnership is rapidly evaporating in a Muslim country with the world's second largest Muslim population -- and a nuclear arsenal. Pakistani extremists are making their views known with suicide bombings in major cities, including Islamabad, and rocket and mortar attacks on mosques. By Musharraf's own reckoning, there are about 1.6 million people willing to push extremist agendas through acts of violence -- or one percent of the population.

Pakistan's 1,400-mile border with Afghanistan is more porous than the U.S.-Mexican frontier. The Pakistani army flew reporters to North Waziristan to meet with tribal elders last week, but they didn't show up.

In his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Anthony H. Cordesman said, "No one can return from visiting the front in Afghanistan without realizing there is a very real risk that the U.S. and NATO could lose their war with al-Qaida, the Taliban and the other Islamist movements fighting the Afghan government. We are still winning tactically, but we may well be losing strategically."

Cordesman, the Center for Strategic and International Studies' strategic thinker, added, "Winning will take more resources, more forces, more patience and at least five to 10 more years of persistent effort."

In the light of the Congressional debates over Iraq, and the reticence of America's NATO allies to provide more troops for Afghanistan, Musharraf and his ISI analysts have concluded the West's will to win won't last the required five-to-10 years. Hence, the Pakistani leader's belief, denials notwithstanding, that a "moderate" Taliban regime in Kabul is a safer strategic bet.

Pak embassy refutes Afghan envoy's assertions

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (APP): An embassy spokesman has reiterated that Pakistan supports a stable and prosperous Afghanistan and strongly refuted assertions of Afghanistan's envoy alleging support for extremism in Pakistan and added that the blame game would not help.

        In a letter published in The Wall Street Journal, the embassy spokesman also recounted Pakistan's crucial efforts in fighting off terrorists in the region and pointed out the need for addressing problems inside of Afghanistan.

         "Passing blame for the ills of Afghanistan to

Pakistan will certainly not help," Press Minister Akram Shaheedi wrote in a detailed rejoinder to both Afghan ambassador Said T Jawad's recent commentary in the paper and an editorial of the Journal.

        He wrote that if indeed the envoy and the Afghan government are sincere, it will be more fruitful for them to talk to the Pakistani government through institutional links rather than resort to the blame game.

        The spokesman added that Jawad's assertion of "institutional support for extremism" is absolutely baseless when seen in the context of a recent spree of suicide bombings in Pakistan, including at Islamabad airport by terrorists, which killed army troops, police officers and civilians.

        "How can Pakistan support those who kill its citizens?"

         Pakistan, he said, subscribes to the view of the Afghan ambassador in Washington that strengthening the traditional leadership in the tribal areas and isolating the terrorists will bring peace, security and prosperity to both countries.

         "Talibanization is their common enemy and therefore should be fought tooth and nail, jointly, by both countries." The embassy spokesman underscored the need for addressing problems confronting Afghanistan internally.

        "There is no doubt that the nexus between drugs and terrorism is a major contributor in escalating and sustaining insurgency in Afghanistan. A substantial amount of illicit drugs found in the world have their origin in Afghanistan," he said and questioned as to why have the coalition forces not been able to eliminate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

        "There is no such thing as writ of the government in the vast territory of Afghanistan and the Afghan government is confined to Kabul." Akram Shaheedi agreed that the increased strength of US-ISAF (international security assistance force) troops will not only result in qualitative improvement in the security situation in the country but also reaffirm their resolve to take the Taliban bull by the horns during the spring offensive.

         "Pakistan has all along been advocating that Afghanistan deserves more US attention and troops to defeat the Taliban. Also, massive reconstruction is required to bring about improvement in the quality of life of the Afghan people, who are still in a state of disillusionment and despondency."

        The press minister rejected the notion that last year's North Waziristan agreement has provided "Taliban sanctuary in Waziristan and more than doubled the number of raids into Afghanistan." 

        Substantiating, the press minister recalled that the NATO and ISAF have maintained that the incidence of violence have decreased in the adjoining areas of Afghanistan during the past months. 

        In this respect, Shaheedi recounted that Gen David Richards, former NATO commander, during a tripartite commission meeting last month, said that "military efforts of Pakistan to contain insurgents on its territory had resulted in fewer attacks on the coalition forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan."

        There is no "abdicating of responsibility to control the border," he remarked and added that not a single soldier has been withdrawn from the tribal areas as a result of the "truce."

        Writing about Pakistan's efforts, he said, the country "deployed 80,000 troops to nab the Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents who fled into tribal areas when US forces bombed Afghanistan." Pakistan has established 938 checkpoints as compared with 100 on the other side of the border manned by the ISAF, NATO, Afghani forces. Pakistan has suffered more than 700 casualties, more than double those of the coalition forces.

         "Pakistan supports a stable, prosperous and vibrant Afghanistan because of guaranteed dividends for Pakistan's security and prosperity. A stable Afghanistan would allow us access to Central Asian republics. Pakistan also sees itself as a hub of economic, communications and trade activity linking Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia. This dream can come true only when there is peace and stability in Afghanistan."

Taliban more powerful than before: Ex-US general

Paktribune February 21, 2007 - NEW YORK: A former commander of the US forces in Afghanistan has said that Taliban today is more powerful than it was two-three years ago and they then miscalculated that Taliban was on its way out.

Terming it as a "new Taliban", which is aggressive, emboldened, well supplied and employing new tactics, Lt Gen (Retd) David Barno told a key Congressional Committee last week that the Taliban was not those whom they fought in 2004 and 2005. Today, they had become more elusive and notably more powerful, he noted.

Commander of over 20,000 US and coalition forces in Afghanistan from October 2003 to mid 2005, Barno now is the director, Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies, National Defense University in Washington.

By the spring of 2005, the US and its coalition partners began to conclude that the Taliban was exhibiting signs of defeat. "I believe in retrospect that this was not an inaccurate assessment," he said.

"But, I also believe that some significant change took place in 2005 that re-energised the Taliban movement and ultimately delivered this 'new Taliban' which we see today," Barno said.

In his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Barno analysed that this emergence of new Taliban had been due to several factors. The decision to withdraw some 1,000 US troops from the combat zone, which was replaced by forces from Europe, send a wrong message to the Taliban and the allies of the US, including Europe and Pakistan that the US was leaving the mission and leaving for some other countries.

"It is my personal opinion that since mid-2005, Pakistan has also re-calculated its position vis--vis Afghanistan in light of concerns for a diminished and less aggressive US presence in the nation that lies in Pakistan's backyard," he pointed out.

He believed the truce between Pakistan and groups in North Waziristan, had resulted in three-fold insurgency in Afghanistan. "Neither NATO, nor Afghan forces can overcome the existence of a sanctuary for the Taliban, al-Qaeda and various other foreign fighters," he said.

Commanders aiming to cut Afghan civilian casualties

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) -- Canadian commanders in southern Afghanistan are still looking for the right balance between protecting their soldiers from the Taliban and safeguarding the lives of civilians who get caught in the crossfire.

Brig.-Gen Tim Grant said yesterday that he has spoken to his battle group commander about the rash of civilian shootings since fresh Canadian troops arrived in the region earlier this month.

"Every time that we injure a civilian, it is devastating to us, it's devastating to the families and it's something we have to stop," he told reporters following a change of command ceremony, where the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment officially took over operations in Kandahar.

"It's a clear priority of mine that we reduce the number of rounds fired and that we protect the people as we go through the city, particularly," he said. Late Sunday, Canadian troops mistakenly shot and killed a homeless beggar on the street outside of the governor's palace as well as an Afghan National Police officer.

The day before that, Canadian troops gunned down an apparently deranged man in the village of Senjray, outside Kandahar. Early last week, soldiers guarding a convoy opened fire on an Afghan army truck, wounding an officer.

Canadian military police were investigating all of the incidents. They say they have yet to reach any conclusions. But the incoming deputy commander, Col. Mike Cessford, said he's confident that the troops behaved appropriately given the threat of suicide bombers and ambush. "The investigations are underway now, but the initial analysis seems to indicate we have followed the steps that we need to take," he said.

Prior to opening fire on civilians, soldiers are required to shout verbal warnings, use hand gestures as necessary and fire a warning shot. If that fails to deter the individual - or halt a vehicle - only then are the soldiers allowed to take direct aim and fire.

Canadian actions questioned in killings

Conflicting stories emerge after Afghan beggar, policeman shot

GRAEME SMITH From Tuesday's Globe and Mail - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian soldiers have fatally shot an Afghan policeman and a homeless beggar during the latest in a series of bloody incidents that have tarnished the reputation of foreign troops in the city.

The shooting on Sunday night happened after insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and smaller weapons at a Canadian convoy, the first such attack within the city limits since Canada took responsibility for security in this dangerous province nearly 12 months ago.

The Canadian military says two people were mistakenly killed in the ensuing gun battle. “The shootings occurred during the firefight, while we were engaged with the insurgents,” Major Dale MacEachern said.

Afghan police describe a different version of events. Three senior officers say half an hour had passed since the RPG attack and nobody was shooting at the Canadians when the policeman was killed.

Gulab Shah, 31, the slain officer, had strapped on a pair of night-vision goggles and was peering out from a rooftop watch post overlooking the governor's palace in downtown Kandahar when he was hit by Canadian bullets, police say. He was shot twice in the chest, and was struck by a third bullet in the back of the head as he collapsed.

The Canadian troops and their Afghan allies often disagree over what happened during such incidents; last year, an investigation proved that Afghan authorities lied about a similar shooting in the desert west of Kandahar.

Canada's military police will examine the latest shooting. Kandahar's police chief, Asmatullah Alizai, said he trusts his foreign allies to dig up the relevant facts, but he suggested that the Canadians must ask themselves some troubling questions. If a soldier could see the policeman well enough to target him precisely, Mr. Alizai said, why didn't they notice his police uniform?

“We have specific uniforms, specific watch posts, so why don't you recognize them?” Mr. Alizai said during an emotional interview at his office. “Why do you aim your guns at the governor's office? Don't you know we always guard that place?”

The latest incident marks the eighth time in the past six months that Canadian troops have injured or killed people they mistook for threats on the roads around Kandahar. Mr. Alizai said it's an issue he has already complained about during meetings with military officials at Kandahar Air Field.

It's ironic that the most recent shooting happened at the governor's compound, Mr. Alizai said, because the cluster of buildings contains the 24-hour nerve centre where Canadian, U.S., and Afghan officers from all security forces in the province try to co-ordinate their work — in part, to prevent friendly-fire incidents.

The violence started at 11:16 p.m. on Sunday, shortly after the convoy of Coyote reconnaissance and RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicles had passed through the city's eastern gates on the way into town from Kandahar Air Field. Local police said two rocket-propelled grenades whistled out of a jumble of mud buildings on the south side of the highway and struck just outside the yellow walls of the District 5 police station.

“Having sustained hits by anti-tank rockets, the convoy pushed through this attack without casualties,” Major MacEachern said.

“Approximately 27 minutes later, and three kilometres down the road, the convoy was forced to halt when a Canadian vehicle became disabled as a result of damage sustained from the first attack,” Major MacEachern continued. “It was during this halt that the second attack occurred and the convoy was engaged by small-arms fire. Members of the convoy visually identified and engaged armed insurgents.”

That story of a second attack doesn't fit with the interviews conducted with police and other witnesses, said Aminullah, deputy head of Kandahar's criminal investigations branch, who did many of the interviews himself. Nobody reported skirmishing at the second location, he said, although the Canadian troops probably heard a burst of warning shots about two blocks away as Afghan police shooed away a motorcyclist approaching the Canadian convoy.

The sound of gunfire likely made the Canadians skittish, especially after such an unusual attack inside the city, police said.

The nearest person to the shooting was a 23-year-old police officer whose name was given as Kefayuddin, who had been sitting on a pile of bricks on the rooftop with his friend Mr. Shah. The younger officer was assigned to watch over the governor's compound, while his older friend was off duty, but keeping him company in the late evening.

“My friend was with me,” a signed statement from Mr. Kefayuddin said. “From the main road he was shot by three bullets, and he fell on the roof. I was afraid, so I gave a warning shot back. ... My friends inside said, ‘Don't shoot, they're NATO.'”

The second person killed that night was a homeless drifter, known as a religious man who often loitered around a nearby mosque. A NATO statement said he ignored warnings to stay away from the convoy, and didn't heed warning shots.

It may take weeks for Canadian investigators to develop a clear picture of what happened; initial reports about such incidents in Afghanistan are often misleading.

In August, after Canadian soldiers killed an Afghan police officer and injured six others, two local authorities publicly declared that the Canadians were at fault because the troops fired at pickup trucks clearly marked “Police” in large letters.

The Canadians maintained they shot at armed men in unmarked vehicles, and were eventually vindicated when military police photographed a pickup truck riddled with bullet holes but with no police markings.

Amnesty slams Canada over Afghan detainees

PAUL KORING - Globe and Mail Update - Canada's practice of turning detainees over to Afghan security forces, widely accused of torture and abuse, violates international law and the Charter of Rights, Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association say.

The two groups will Wednesday file an application in Federal Court in Ottawa seeking judicial review of the military's controversial policy. Named as respondents in the action are Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, General Rick Hillier, Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, and Attorney-General Robert Nicholson.

The legal action will be announced today by Alex Neve, Amnesty International Canada's Secretary-General, and Shirley Heafey, a B.C. Civil Liberties Association board member. “There's a very strong chance of it winding up in the Supreme Court,” said Paul Champ, who is acting on behalf of Amnesty and the BCCLA.

The case will raise significant constitutional issues, including whether Canadian soldiers fighting abroad are legally bound by the Geneva Conventions even if generals insist that “enemy combatants” aren't entitled to Geneva rights, and whether Charter guarantees of due process extend to captives apprehended on battlefields halfway around the world.

“They are turning those people over to states that are likely to torture,” Mr. Champ said yesterday.

Under a deal Gen. Hillier and Afghanistan's Defence Minister signed in December, 2005, all terrorism suspects and Taliban fighters that Canadian Forces capture in Afghanistan are turned over to the Afghan police or military. Canada informs the International Committee of the Red Cross about the handover, but unlike other NATO countries in Afghanistan, notably Britain and the Netherlands, makes no effort to check on the condition of detainees.

“The current Canada-Afghanistan Detainee Agreement does not provide adequate safeguards to ensure that detainees will not be tortured by Afghan forces,” Amnesty and the BCCLA said yesterday.

Canada's treatment of captives is already under scrutiny. Last month, allegations of detainee abuse arose after the discovery that several Afghans suffered an odd pattern of injuries in the custody of Canadian soldiers in April.

A criminal investigation, a board of inquiry ordered by Gen. Hillier, and a probe by the independent Military Police Complaints Commission were all launched this month.

Now, the human-rights groups want Canada's courts to review the legality of turning detainees over to a country with a notorious record of torture and abuse, and a nascent government whose remit often extends only tentatively beyond the capital Kabul.

Handing detainees over to Afghan security forces violates “the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the National Defence Act and Canada's international obligations amongst others under the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” Amnesty and the BCCLA said.

Gen. Hillier has called the policy part of helping Afghanistan rebuild itself as a nation. What happens to detainees once they are in Afghan hands remains largely unknown. But the murky network of Afghan jails — where some prisoners disappear, others are released after payment of bribes and only a few seem to be charged and tried — has been harshly criticized.

The most recent assessment of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said there were “reports of prolonged detention without trial, extortion, torture, and systematic due process violations.”

The U.S. State Department annual report was similarly harsh. “Afghanistan's human-rights record remained poor. There continued to be instances in which security and factional forces committed extrajudicial killings and torture,” it said.

Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, in its own report last year, concluded, “The incidence of torture on detained or imprisoned persons was still occurring throughout the past year,” albeit at a declining rate.

The filing today will start a 30-day clock running. By then, Amnesty and the BCCLA must file evidence buttressing their claim. Then the government has 30 days to file its evidence.

Liberals back Afghan mission until 2009

CAMPBELL CLARK Globe and Mail Update

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals will support Canada's NATO mission remaining in southern Afghanistan until 2009 but call for another country to take over afterward, according to sources in the party.

Split between hawks and doves, Stéphane Dion's opposition party has hammered out its long-promised common-ground position that includes signalling to allies that Canada will give up the leadership of the Kandahar-based NATO mission at the end of its current tour, two years from now.

When he took the reins of the Liberal Party in December, Mr. Dion said he would have little patience for a rising Canadian death toll unless the mission achieved better results. But he also faced a faction of MPs, including deputy leader Michael Ignatieff, who adamantly oppose early withdrawal.

Tomorrow, Mr. Dion will deliver an address in Montreal outlining his party's new position. Liberal sources said the key elements have been hammered out in meetings of MPs over several weeks.

Canadian troops moved from Kabul, the Afghan capital, to the more dangerous Kandahar province at the beginning of 2006, where a reconstituted Taliban has conducted a series of bloody offensives. Forty-three Canadians have been killed since the Canadian military deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002.

Last spring, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper extended the mission, initiated by the previous Liberal government, to February 2009. But some candidates then running for the Liberal leadership, including Mr. Dion, suggested Canada might consider withdrawing sooner.

Now, the Liberals have decided to back the current Kandahar mission until the end of that current deployment, hoping to avoid criticisms that they would abandon a Canadian international commitment.

They will also argue that the mission is misguided and losing support from Afghans, that the West should change its approach and that Canada should tell NATO to find another country to take over the mission in 2009.

However, one Liberal said that does not mean Mr. Dion will rule out a possible future role for Canadian troops in other parts of Afghanistan.

That position will allow the Liberals to criticize the Conservative government on its conduct of the Afghan mission, but might also reduce its impact as an issue differentiating the two parties in an election campaign. Now only the NDP is calling for early withdrawal.

In addition, the Liberals will propose changing Canada's approach to Afghanistan, including a bigger commitment to development aid, political efforts aimed at broadening the support of the Afghan government and combatting corruption, and dealing with the illegal opium-poppy crop that helps finance the Taliban.

The Liberals say public support for the mission is waning because the Conservatives have focused Canada's role too much on military efforts and not enough on diplomacy and development aid. The Conservative government has insisted it is doing both, but that it is impossible to deliver aid without securing a strife-torn region.

Many experts have recently called for a major increase in both troops and aid. In January, the United States and Britain announced increases in their troop contingents in the country, and U.S. President George W. Bush said he would seek an additional $10.6-billion over two years.

GG presents medals to heroes of Afghanistan

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean has presented medals to six soldiers who performed extraordinary deeds under fire in Afghanistan. It's the first time the decorations for military valour have been awarded since they were created in 1993.

Maj. William Fletcher of Edmonton and Sgt. Patrick Tower of Edmonton and Sidney, B.C., were awarded the Star of Military Valour, which is second only to the Victoria Cross in recognition of courage under fire.

Sgt. Michael Denine, of Edmonton and St. John's, N.L., Master Cpl. Collin Fitzgerald of Shiloh, Man., and Morrisburg, Pte. Jason Lamont of Edmonton and Greenwood, N.S., and Capt. Derek Prohar of Edmonton and Avonlea, Sask., were awarded the Medal of Military Valour, the third decoration in the hierarchy.

Another 33 soldiers, including Capt. Nichola Goddard of Calgary, who was killed in Afghanistan last May, were awarded meritorious service decorations. Capt. Goddard's husband, Jean Beam, accepted the medal on her behalf.

Pakistan continues to ban Afghan TV broadcasts - official

Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV on 19 February

[Presenter] Several months have passed since the ban on Tolo TV broadcast in Pakistan, but the reasons for the move by the Pakistani authorities are still not clear.

Officials of the Ministry of Information and Culture say they are in talks with the Pakistani authorities, but the discussions have not yielded any satisfactory results yet.

[Rashedi, the deputy minister of information and culture for broadcasting] The government of Afghanistan has not imposed restrictions on Pakistani broadcasts or broadcasts from any other country. But we see that Pakistan, for the second time, has banned Tolo TV programmes. The second ban was imposed two weeks ago. We also have reports that broadcasts of other Afghan channels such as the national TV, Aina TV and Ariana TV are also banned in Pakistan.

[Correspondent] Mr Rashedi says the government of Pakistan, due to its double- standard policies towards Afghanistan, cannot tolerate to see Afghan media reflecting the realities. The Pakistani authorities want to keep their people away from the facts in Afghanistan by imposing restriction on TV broadcasts.

Tolo TV programmes have been banned in Pakistan several times. Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said that they would address the problem through diplomatic channels. During his visit to Kabul, the Pakistani minister of foreign affairs had expressed unawareness about the issue, but promised to speak to the Pakistani minister of information about it upon his return to his country.

Afghanistan-Pakistan: Agencies urge rethink on border landmines plan

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

QUETTA, 19 February 2007 (IRIN) - Anti-landmine activists are concerned that a proposal, made in December by the Pakistani government, to mine its western border with Afghanistan will increase the landmine casualties and have called on the government to drop the plan. However, a military spokesman told IRIN the matter was still “under consideration”.

“The government’s position on laying landmines is a great source of concern,” said Muhammad Imran Khan, deputy director of the Sustainable Peace and Development Organisation - a Peshawar-based non-governmental organisation that serves as a focal point for the Geneva-based International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) in Pakistan.

Scores of Afghans and Pakistanis have fallen victim to anti-personnel mines laid along the border during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s.

Should the contentious plan go ahead, communities on both sides of the border will see many more victims, given significant population flows. According to Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, more than 14 million people cross the border annually.

Pakistan's decision followed international criticism that the country had failed to do enough to prevent alleged cross-border movements by Taliban insurgents to and from Afghanistan. Riaz Muhammad Khan, the Pakistani foreign secretary, defended the move, saying that “safe transit passages would be established along the fortified stretches of the more than 2,400km border, and mining should be done with great care in areas that require monitoring”.

“We urge the government to drop the idea of mining and use alternative means to secure the borders and restrict cross-border militants’ movement,” Khan said.

According to the Landmine Monitor Report for 2006, at least 214 casualties were reported in Pakistan in 2005, while 263 people were killed by mines in the first five months of 2006 alone.

“Almost 75 percent of the victims are innocent civilians, mainly women and children, including Afghan refugees,” Khan maintained.

However, Major-General Shaukat Sultan, director-general of Inter-Services [military] Public Relations, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad, that no decision had yet been made about mining the border. “The matter is still under consideration and we are looking forward to the international community’s response and suggestions in terms of alternatives to mining,” Sultan said.

Islamabad is not a signatory to 1997 Ottawa Convention, an international agreement prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and their production.

“The regional security environment and its military requirements have constrained Pakistan from joining the Ottawa Treaty,” a Foreign Ministry official told ICBL's Landmine Monitor in February 2006. “Since our long borders are not protected by any natural obstacle, the use of landmines forms an important part of our self-defence strategy given the nature of our security compulsions [to the east].”

Pakistan remains among a handful of countries that still produce mines. It is estimated the country has stockpiles of at least six million anti-personnel mines, the fifth-largest stockpile in the world, according to the Landmine Monitor Report, although no official confirmation of these numbers has ever been given.

Landmines in Pakistan

- Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,400-km border.

- More than 14 million people cross it annually.

- Landmines killed 214 people in Pakistan in 2005.

- 263 people were killed by mines in the first five months of 2006.

- Pakistan has the fifth largest stockpile of landmines in the world (6 million units).

Afghan official hopes for drastic reduction in poppy cultivation

Text of report by Iranian provincial radio from Mashhad on 19 February

This year the Afghan government has given more emphasis on eradication of poppy fields in this country. The decision has been taken after the international community, in particular the British government, failed to root out poppy in Afghanistan. The strict measures by the government have been taken to eliminate or at least reduce poppy cultivation in this country. My colleague Mr Fakhari in Kabul has a report on this:

[Reporter] Afghan Interior Ministry has announced launch of an extensive programme to eradicate poppy in Afghanistan. The counter-narcotics officials have said that around 20 provinces will be cleared from poppy in the next two months. The poppy eradication has started in most of the provinces, including the southern Helmand where most poppy has been cultivated. At least 25 per cent of the total narcotics are produced in Helmand, where more than 4,000 British troops are stationed. In fact, the British government has been leading the campaign against poppy in Afghanistan for the past five years. However, there has been a dramatic increase in poppy cultivation in this country since then. According to the reports, poppy production in Afghanistan has increase from 200 tonnes a year to 6,100 tonnes a year in the last five years.

It seems the Afghan government has been disappointed with efforts of the British government and decided to tackle this problem on its own. The Afghan Counter-Narcotics Ministry destroyed more than 2,300 hectares of poppy lands in different provinces of Afghanistan last year. However, this year, the government has taken strict measures to eradicate poppy cultivation. The setting up of a centre for coordinating counter-narcotics affairs, assigning ministers to follow up developments on counter-narcotics in different provinces and establishment of a special court with 16 judges and 33 prosecutors are the new initiatives taken by the government to address this problem. Currently, in each province of Afghanistan around 550 policemen are busy with eradication of poppy. It is of note that around 90 per cent of the narcotics in the world are produced in Afghanistan.

[Presenter] To provide you with more details on the issue, my colleague has arranged an interview with the Deputy Interior Minister on Counter-Narcotics Mohammad Daud Daud who says that around 4,400 hectares of poppy fields have been destroyed since the start of eradication campaign some 40 days ago. Please listen to interview with Gen Daud:

[Reporter] In your recent news conference, you have said that so far around 4,400 hectares of poppy fields have been destroyed and tremendous efforts are under way to root out poppy in Afghanistan. However, according to some reports, despite all these efforts, there has been a 60-per cent increase in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2006. What is your opinion in regard with this issue?

[Gen Daud] There was a 48-per cent decrease in poppy cultivation in 2005 in Afghanistan. However, in 2006 poppy production increased along with increase in security problems and corruption. Poppy cultivation mainly increased in the southern provinces where the situation was not stable last year. The government was not able to eradicate poppy in the insecure areas and that has mainly caused the increase.

In the current year we are determined to root out poppy or at least reduce cultivation of poppy as much as possible. An intensive programme has been launched in 20 provinces of the country and it is going on well. Since the launch of the poppy eradication plan some 40 days ago, there have been remarkable achievements such as eradication of more than 4,400 hectares of land. We are very optimistic about this year's programmes.

[Reporter] One of the main problems ahead of poppy eradication campaign is involvement of international mafia and high-ranking Afghan officials in production of narcotics in Afghanistan. What is your opinion on the issue? I mean why the government is not able to track down the involved officials and put them on trial?

[Gen Daud] As I told you before, the government of Afghanistan is a newly-established government and with the current capacity the government is not able to eliminate poppy from the country. Eradiation of poppy takes more time and requires lots of resources. Despite all the security and economic problems, the counter-narcotics officials have arrested more than 1,193 people on charges of drug smuggling over the last 18 months. Most of the people who were arrested have been sentenced to short-term and long-term imprisonment and there were some government officials among those arrested. We have a transparent policy towards those who cultivate or smuggle narcotics. The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is determined to eradicate poppy and bring those involved in narcotics affairs to justices. In fact, the mafia and big drug smugglers receive the main profit from narcotics.

Court in Afghan east acquits officials of corruption charges

Text of report by Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency

Khost, 19 February: Some officials earlier arrested on charges of embezzlement have been set free. According to the details, a court in Khost Province today exculpated six high-ranking government officials who had been arrested by attorney-general on charges of embezzlement some time ago.

Among those exculpated are deputy governor of Khost Province, Ajab Khan Sangin, provincial director of rural rehabilitation and development Mohammad Omar Aryan, provincial head of natural resource mines, deputy mayor Ghazi Mohammad, the deputy director of agriculture and the deputy director of rehabilitation directorates.

Khost court Judge Sediqollah reviewed their files in the presence of journalists and exculpated them.

It should be mentioned that the court also exculpated the accountant of Khost governor's office and the head of provincial directorate of martyrs and disabled persons.

They and other government officials were arrested on Afghan Attorney-General Abdol Jabbar Sabet's orders last month.

Afghan Authorities Detain 14 For Illegal Alcohol Sales

KABUL, February 20, 2007 -- Afghan authorities have detained 14 people, including five foreigners, for allegedly selling alcohol without licenses in the capital Kabul.

Hundreds of bottles of alcohol were also seized during a series of raids late Monday (February 19). According to Afghanistan's constitution, it is illegal for Afghans to drink alcohol or sell it to another Afghan national. But it can be sold in shops and restaurants that cater exclusively to foreigners. Officials said the raids were carried out on the orders of Attorney
General Abdul Jabar Sabet.

5,000-Year-Old Artificial Eye Found on Iran-Afghan Border

Tuesday , February 20, 2007 – The Times

A 5,000-year-old golden artificial eye that once stared out mesmerisingly from the face of a female soothsayer or priestess in ancient Persia has been unearthed by Iranian and Italian archaeologists.

The eyeball — the earliest artificial eye found — would have transfixed those who saw it, convincing them that the woman — thought to have been strikingly tall — had occult powers and could see into the future, archaeologists said.

It was found by Mansour Sajjadi, leader of the Iranian team, which has been excavating an ancient necropolis at Shahr-i-Sokhta in the Sistan desert on the Iranian-Afghan border for nine years.Italian archaeologists said yesterday that the prophetess had also been buried with an ornate bronze hand mirror, which she presumably used to check her “startling appearance”.

They said the eyeball consisted of a half-sphere with a diameter of just over an inch. It was made of a lightweight material thought to be derived from bitumen paste. Its surface was meticulously engraved with a pattern consisting of a central circle for the iris and gold lines “like rays of light”.

Lorenzo Costantini, leader of the Italian group, said the eyeball still had traces of the gold that had been applied in a thin layer over the surface. On either side of it two tiny holes had been drilled, through which a fine thread, perhaps also gold, had held the eyeball in place.

Costantini said the woman had been as tall as 6 feet, putting her head and shoulders above most other women of the time. Aged between 25 and 30, she had a high sloping forehead, a “determined” jutting chin and dark skin, suggesting that she was from Arabia. Farad Foruzanfar, an Iranian anthropologist, agreed that the woman’s height and her “Afri-canoid cranial structure” suggested that she came from the Arabian Peninsula.

“She must have been a very striking and exotic figure,” Costantini told Corriere della Sera . He said the team had initially thought the eyeball might have been placed in the woman’s eye at burial. But microscopic examination had found an imprint left on her eye socket by prolonged contact with the golden eye. The socket also bore the marks of the thread, further proving that she had worn the eyeball in life.

Sajjadi said the skeleton had been dated to between 2900 and 2800 BC, when Shahr-i-Sokhta was a bustling, wealthy city and trading post at the crossroads of East and West. He said the woman might have arrived with a caravan from Arabia. Shahr-i-Sokhta means “Burnt City”, a local name referring to the fact that it burnt down and was rebuilt three times during Persia’s turbulent history before being finally destroyed in 2000 BC — about the time that Stonehenge was erected. The archaeologists said it was not clear what caused the woman’s death.

Costantini said the articial eye was clearly not intended to mimic a real eye but had “a special purpose... It must have glittered spectacularly, conferring on the woman a mysterious and supernatural gaze”. This would have been effective for someone who claimed to see into the future, such as a soothsayer or oracle. Analaysis suggested that the woman may have suffered from an abscess on her eyelid because of long-term contact with the golden eyeball.

The archaeologists earlier unearthed what is believed to be the oldest backgammon set in the world, with 60 pieces made of turquoise and agate and a rectangular ebony board, probably imported from India.

Killer says Pakistan minister was 'spreading evil': police

Islamabad (AFP) - A Muslim cleric arrested for killing a female minister in Pakistan told interrogators he was fired by a passion to purge society of women who defy Islamic customs, police said Wednesday.

Mohammad Sarwar was detained minutes after shooting Punjab provincial minister and women's rights campaigner Zilla Huma Usman, 35, at a public meeting on Tuesday in the central city of Gujranwala.

"I have no regrets. I killed her out of the conviction that she was leading an un-Islamic life and spreading an evil influence on other women," he told police interrogators in custody, according to a police source.

Witnesses said Sarwar approached the minister as she was about to give a speech to party activists then took out his pistol and blasted her in the head.

Officials described him after the killing as a "fanatic" with no affiliation to any extremist group. Police said in a statement Tueseday that he was opposed to the involvement of women in politics.

[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.]