In this bulletin:

• President Karzai Attends Eid Prayer
• Karzai urges end to Taliban insurgency
• Afghans celebrate Eid al-Adha amid hope for bright future
• Afghan Leader Makes Surprise Mosque Visit
• AP Interview: 'Higher levels of fighting' coming in Afghanistan, top US general says
• Foreign troops will flee Afghanistan-Taliban chief
• Mulla Omar’s threat
• Coalition forces kill 12 in Afghanistan
• Afghan gov't recaptures district occupied by Taliban
• Afghans protest killing of two by U.S.-led troops
• Lack of Afghan war crime trials shows 'double standard'
• War in Afghanistan overwhelming choice as Canadian news story of the year
• Soldiers ready to re-enlist for Afghanistan
• Where to Shoot an Epic About Afghanistan? China, Where Else?
• Reporter's Notebook: The Fonz of Kabul Found Dead

President Karzai Attends Eid Prayer - Date of Release: 30 December 2006 

H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, attended the Eid prayer held at the Pul-e-Kheshti mosque this morning and spoke to the media.

The President congratulated Muslims around the world and Afghans everywhere on the auspicious occasion of Eid Al Fitr and wished them health and prosperity.

Speaking to the media the President said “I hope the Afghan people will soon achieve their deep and longtime desire for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan. I hope all Muslim pilgrims from around the world will safely return to their countries and the Almighty God will bless them for performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage.” 

Addressing the opposition, the President said “Once again, I urge those opposition groups who still act against the security and welfare of their country to stop destroying their country and religion, to rid themselves of others’ slavery, and to return to their normal life and live in peace among their countrymen. They must stop receiving instructions from foreigners to destroy their country.”

The President also visited a military hospital in Kabul and met with members of the Afghan armed forces who were wounded recently during the fight against terrorism. The President gave financial assistance and residential land to the wounded.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Karzai urges end to Taliban insurgency

AFP 12/30/2006 - KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai used the start of the Islamic Eid festival to again call on Taliban-led rebels to end their insurgency, which he said was being directed by "strangers".

Karzai made the call after leading some of his cabinet and other officials to Eid al-Adha prayers in a busy mosque in the centre of the city, a departure from his routine of praying inside the heavily defended presidential compound.

"I call upon those who are still committing acts against their land, those who are still acting on orders of strangers in the destruction of their land, to give up fighting," Karzai told reporters on Saturday.

The president this month accused the government of neighbouring Pakistan of trying to turn his countrymen into "slaves", in his strongest words yet blaming Islamabad for the wave of insurgent violence.

Pakistan has angrily denied the allegations. The insurgency launched after the Taliban were toppled in a US-led offensive in late 2001 has been at its fiercest this year, with the militants showing new sophistication and launching deadly attacks in the heart of the capital.

The violence has claimed nearly 4,000 lives this year, with most of the dead rebel fighters. Karzai regularly calls on Taliban foot soldiers to lay down their arms and join a government reconciliation programme.

In his message for Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammand Omar on Friday praised his followers' sacrifices in their campaign and said they would never accept defeat.

Afghans celebrate Eid al-Adha amid hope for bright future

Xinhua 12/30/2006 - The war-weary Afghans celebrate Eid al-Adha, the biggest religious festival for Muslims with fervor amid hopes for better future as thousands of the faithful pray for lasting peace in their war-torn country.

"Though I cannot earn enough to properly feed my children I am happy to celebrate Eid al-Adha in a peaceful environment in my hometown Kabul," said Gul Agha, a driver.

Agha, 38 and father of five, described Saturday's situation in his country as a "haven" in comparison with the past, saying that during civil strife and Taliban's reign, Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, had no meaning as war and Taliban's harsh policy did not allow any one to enjoy festival in a free atmosphere.

"Even though I am facing economic problems I have the freedom today to take my children and wife to parks, visit my relatives and friends without any fear," Agha said, referring to Taliban's harsh restriction.

Taliban militants during their six-year reign which collapsed by U.S. military action in late 2001 did dot allowed women to go out of their houses and forced men to sport beard and go to mosque five times a day.

"I am very much hopeful that the situation would improve further in the years to come," Agha said with confidence.

On Saturday morning, the first day of Eid al-Adha, thousands of people went to the Eid-gah Mosque, the largest in Kabul, and offered their prayers while others chose the mosques near their home.

After offering prayers, many wealthy faithful family slaughtered goats, sheep and cows in front of their houses and distributed meat to their relatives, friends and the poor and hungry.

During the three-day national holiday marking Eid al-Ahda, Afghans would visit relatives and friends.

The religious festival observed amid tight security as police have been deployed in sensitive areas including mosques, bazaars and government buildings to foil any possible subversive activities. Some roads were blocked by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) armored vehicles and soldiers for security reasons.

Taliban's chief Mullah Mohammad Omar in a message issued on the eve of Eid al-Adha vowed to strike Afghan government and foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, after praying in a mosque in the center of the city with some of his cabinet officials, called on Taliban-led rebels to end their insurgency. "I call upon those who are still committing acts against their land, those who are still acting on orders of strangers in the destruction of their land, to give up fighting," Karzai told reporters.

"I have no doubt that militancy would continue at least for one or two years but I am sure that Afghanistan would not plunge into civil war again," said a shopkeeper named Mohammad Baqir at downtown Kabul.

Baqir, 45, who worked as street vendor last year, was happy that he had a shop today. "It is a sign of positive development in my life that from street vendor I have developed to become a shopkeeper and am hopeful to have a super store in the next couple of years," said Baqir.

His daily income was 200 Afghanis (4 U.S. dollars) last year when he worked as street vendor and nowadays, he earns about 500 Afghanis or 10 U.S. dollars daily. Afghanistan's per capita income has increased from 293 U.S. dollars in 2005 to 335 U.S. dollars this year.

President Hamid Karzai promised to his people two years ago that he would try his best to increase the per capita income of his people in the post-Taliban nation to 500 U.S. dollars till 2010.

Despite continued insurgency, the government machinery has resumed functions and private housing construction is booming.

"No doubt, still we are suffering from insecurity, poverty and unemployment, but we strongly believe that our future is bright," said daily wage earner Mohammad Usman.

Afghan Leader Makes Surprise Mosque Visit

Reuters 12/30/2006 - KABUL — President Hamid Karzai made a surprise visit on Saturday to a crowded Kabul mosque where he hugged worshipers and gave money to children to celebrate the Muslim festival of Id al-Adha.

It was a rare public appearance for Mr. Karzai, who has survived two assassination attempts since he came to office with American backing after the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban.

Kabul, like other parts of the country, has been hit by a series of Taliban suicide attacks on government and foreign forces this year, the bloodiest since 2001.

Called by critics the "mayor of Kabul" because his influence does not extend much outside the capital, Mr. Karzai seldom ventures outside the ancient walls of his presidential palace compound, and then only with tight security.

But he had only a handful of his United States-trained Afghan bodyguards with him at the mosque, Pul-i-Khesti, which was crowded with hundreds of worshipers.

AP Interview: 'Higher levels of fighting' coming in Afghanistan, top US general says

The Associated Press - Saturday, December 30, 2006 CAMP SHARONA, Afghanistan

The outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan said that he expects higher levels of fighting in the coming year, and that Taliban militants will try to briefly overrun district centers to unhinge Afghans' morale.

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry also said the recent killing of a high-level Taliban commander shows that fugitives like Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar will one day slip up, and that the U.S. will strike.

Eikenberry, expected to be out of Afghanistan in late January, said he expects militants early in 2007 to attack border security posts, to extend their use of suicide bombs and to launch assault on district centers in groups of 25 to 100 fighters.

But Eikenberry said none of the Taliban's efforts would provide "a significant military challenge" for U.S., NATO and Afghan forces, which he said have improved greatly in the past year.

"The capability exists for that array of allied and Afghan forces to dominate militarily wherever they move to," he said.

Eikenberry said that as he looks ahead to the first half of the coming year, "I anticipate higher levels of fighting."

When asked if that was in comparison to 2006, he said: "We should not be surprised by levels of fighting in parts of southern Afghanistan that rivaled what we saw last year."

Violence rose sharply in Afghanistan in 2006, killing an estimated 4,000 people, making it the deadliest year since the U.S.-led coalition swept the Taliban from power in 2001.

Militants launched a record 117 suicide attacks this year, about a six-fold increase over 2005, killing 206 Afghan civilians, 54 Afghan security personnel and 18 soldiers from NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said NATO spokesman Maj. Dominic Whyte.

The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan dropped slightly, from 93 in 2005 to 87 in 2006. But the number of casualties suffered by other NATO countries rose sharply.

Eikenberry on Friday traveled to three U.S. bases in eastern Afghanistan's rugged mountains to talk with commanders and shake hands with soldiers who must fend off attacks by Taliban militants crossing the border from Pakistan.

Using an American football analogy, he told soldiers who had lined up in formation to greet their top commander that the United States was tackled inside its own end zone on Sept. 11, 2001.

"We got the ball back on our own goal line — our mission: to go 100 yards (meters) and score a touchdown," he said, using the term for a goal in the sport.

"You don't have enough time to get us a touchdown, but you can get us another first time. Are we on the 30 yard line? The 40? I can't say, but you are making progress."

Eikenberry said an "extraordinary amount of resources" from the United States government — and help from the Afghan and Pakistani governments — is being used to hunt down al-Qaida leader bin Laden and Taliban leader Omar, generally thought to be hiding in the mountainous Pakistan-Afghan border region.

He said the killing in a U.S. airstrike Dec. 19 of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, regarded as one of Omar's three top associates, shows the U.S. is ready to strike.

"With that intensive effort that is out there, eventually opportunities will occur, and when those opportunities present themselves, as we demonstrated with Osmani, we're ready to strike," he said.

"One day they slip, one day they make a mistake, and we'll be there ready to strike."

Eikenberry is expected to leave the country next month as Gen. Dan K. McNeil, a four-star U.S. general, prepares to take command of the NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Foreign troops will flee Afghanistan-Taliban chief

Reuters 12/30/2006 - KABUL - Foreign troops will be forced out of Afghanistan in the face of Taliban attacks, the Islamic group's fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, was reported as saying in a rare message on Friday.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces ousted the hardline Taliban government in 2001.

In the purported message from Omar, sent to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, Omar said "aggressor forces" in Afghanistan and Iraq were facing defeat.

"I am confident that the enemy will run away in degradation and embarrassment ... Afghans have always expelled their enemies by force and no enemy or aggressive force has left Afghanistan at its own will," Omar said.

Omar also said a plan to hold tribal councils, or jirgas, on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border in an effort to find ways to end the violence was a trap.

"Now the aggressor forces in our country want to entangle our valiant nation and tribes in their devilish trap by way of jirgas," he said, according to an Urdu-language translation of the message, issued by AIP.

"But I am sure that no Muslim will participate in something that is created by the aggressors and puppets. Those who attend will only be people who have sold out," he said.

The Taliban refer to Western-backed President Hamid Karzai and his government as puppets. "Our aggressor enemy has been defeated and now they are hatching new conspiracies for their survival," he said.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are considering how the jirgas can be organised and who will take part. Politicians in both countries have said peace will not be found unless elements of the Taliban are included in talks.

Omar, who has a $10 million U.S. government bounty on his head, disappeared shortly after the Taliban were ousted.

Mulla Omar’s threat – The News Int. (Pakistan) editorial 01.01.07

Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar’s threat in a reported message on Friday that his followers would drive out US and coalition troops from Afghanistan is a sign of his growing confidence after the Taliban’s recent successes. The military successes of the fanatical militia are less alarming than the popularity it has gained because of US excesses in Afghanistan. Even the fiercest critics of the Taliban would find unacceptable the brutalities committed on suspected terrorists at Bagram airbase. The purported message comes at the end of the bloodiest year in Afghanistan in the half decade since the US invasion. At least 4,000 people were killed in the widening war in the country in 2006.

The message, authentic or otherwise, has history on its side. “Afghans have always expelled their enemies by force, and no enemy or aggressive force has left Afghanistan of its own will,” it says. After the Mujahideen’s victory in Afghanistan which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, anyone who still dismisses the Afghans’ defeat of the British as something that relates only to the distant past is in delusion. It would be easy to ask that the United States prepare an exit strategy for Afghanistan and leave as soon as possible. But in a situation where the imbalanced US policies have created widespread resentment in the unruly region, that would be an irresponsible demand. On the other hand, it would be equally unrealistic to look forward to the Americans changing their policies. No administration in Washington would have the courage, for example, to adopt an even-handed approach on the Israeli-Palestinian question, even if the Iraq crisis could be solved. But Washington could at least realise its follies in Afghanistan. The unfortunate thing is that President Bush is giving no sign of fulfilling even that modest expectation.

Coalition forces kill 12 in Afghanistan

KHOST: Troops backed by helicopters from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan killed around 10 Taliban overnight while a rebel bomb killed a child beggar on Friday, officials said. Afghan and NATO-led troops attacked a group of fighters late on Thursday in Khost. “We killed 10 insurgents,” said Khost police commander Mohammad Ayub. The ISAF headquarters in Kabul confirmed the battle but was unable to give the number of casualties. Spokesman Major Dominic Whyte said three injured militants were taken to an ISAF medical facility. Also on Thursday, Taliban attacked a police checkpoint in Helmand. Police returned fire and two Taliban were killed in a 20-minute gun battle. A remote-controlled bomb meanwhile exploded in Khost, police said. A child beggar was killed and six other people, including three policemen, were hurt. Daily Times – agencies

Afghan gov't recaptures district occupied by Taliban

KABUL, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Afghan government repulsed Taliban militants and regained the control of a district in western Farah province Monday, spokesman of Defense Ministry Zahir Azimi said.

    "Anti-government militants took over the control of Khak-e-Safid district Sunday but our troops retook it at 5 a.m. this morning," Azimi told Xinhua.     There were no casualties on either side, he added.

    Blaming the absence of police for the fall of the district to militants, Azimi added only five policemen were on duty when the rebels overran Khak-e-Safid.

    The takeover occurred during Eid al-Adha holidays. Eid al-Adha, the biggest annual religious festival, began Saturday and the government employees enjoy three-day holidays.

    Taliban also briefly took over the control of two districts in the western Farah and southern Uruzgan provinces a few months ago but lost to the government again.

    NATO and Afghan officials predict more insurgency in 2007 but believe it would not undermine the security in the war-ravaged country. Nearly 4,000 people, mostly militants, were killed in the past year.

Afghans protest killing of two by U.S.-led troops

Reuters 12/31/2006 JALALABAD - Scores of people protested in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday over the killing of two civilians and the arrest of three by U.S.-led troops, officials and witnesses said.

The governor of Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai, told reporters troops from a U.S.-led force killed the pair in a pre-dawn raid. Three people had been detained, he said.

"The raid took place without consultation with us," Sherzai said. A spokesman for the U.S. military said he was not aware of any such incident.

Civilian deaths are a sensitive matter for the Western-backed government and the foreign troops supporting it.

President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly urged foreign troops to do all they can to avoid civilian casualties while battling and hunting for militants.

The protesters took to the streets of the provincial capital, Jalalabad, calling on the government stop foreign troops carrying out operations without the consent of Afghan authorities and village elders.

The demonstration was peaceful. More than 40,000 foreign soldiers are in Afghanistan trying to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency and ensure enough security for development to get going.

This year has been the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban government in 2001.

Lack of Afghan war crime trials shows 'double standard'

The Associated Press 12/30/2006 - KABUL, Afghanistan: An Afghan official said Saturday that Saddam Hussein's trial and execution show a double standard in the international community, as no one in Afghanistan has been prosecuted for atrocities from the country's 25 years of war.

Ahmad Nader Nadery, an official with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said war crimes trials would end the impunity enjoyed by Afghan warlords.

"This is something we need in Afghanistan, and it's something the international community has forgotten to do here," Nadery said. He said Saddam's execution signals a double standard "in terms of dealing with the past atrocities in Iraq, but ignoring Afghanistan."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the killing of Saddam was "the work of the Iraqi government" and would have "no effect" on Afghanistan. However, he appeared to criticize the execution's timing.

"We wish to say that Eid (a major Islamic religious festival) is a day for happiness and reconciliation. It is not a day for revenge," Karzai told reporters at the presidential palace after offering an Eid prayer at Kabul's main mosque early Saturday. Karzai did not comment on whether Afghanistan should have war crimes trials.

Nadery said that high-profile figures like fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden should be put on trial, and that other fighters from the war with the Soviets, the country's 1990s civil war and from the Taliban regime should also face justice.

An estimated 50,000 civilians died during the 1992-96 war, a time of anarchy that gave rise to the Taliban. Many commanders from that era now hold positions of power in the Afghan government.

Earlier this month Afghanistan launched an Action Plan on Peace, Reconciliation and Justice, which the U.N. labeled a first step in coming to terms with decades of human rights violations.

U.N. spokesman Aleem Siddique said at the time that countries in post-conflict situations need to document the past "and acknowledge the suffering of people."

Siddique said that perpetrators of abuses in Afghanistan would "eventually be held to account," though he said that it was too early to say how that would play out, and that he did not know if it would involve charging people in court with crimes against humanity.

War in Afghanistan overwhelming choice as Canadian news story of the year

Monday, January 01, 2007 - (CP) - It's being waged half a world away, yet the war in Afghanistan is the overwhelming choice as Canadian news story of the year.

In the annual poll of newspaper editors and broadcasters conducted by The Canadian Press and Broadcast News, the war easily outranked the Conservatives' federal election victory with a margin of 91 to 44.

Last week, the Canadian Soldier was chosen Canadian Newsmaker of the Year in the same poll.

For the first time since the Korean War, Canadian soldiers went into sustained, major combat and suffered hundreds of casualties, including 36 deaths this past year.

Images of Maple Leaf-draped coffins returning home became crimson staples for front pages and newscasts, and delivered the reality of war to millions of Canadians.

As historian and author Serge Durflinger put it, "nothing can bring it home like the faces of the dead."

Soldiers ready to re-enlist for Afghanistan

Sunday, December 31, 2006 - Canadian Press - HOWZ-E MADAD, Afghanistan -- Sweltering heat in the summer, frigid cold in the winter, sleeping in the desert and the ever-present threat of Taliban attacks doesn't seem to be a downside for some Canadian soldiers serving here.

As a matter of fact, with the end of this rotation coming up in February, a number are already talking about coming back for another tour of duty. Forty-four Canadian soldiers have died in this war-torn country since 2002 and 2006 has been the bloodiest year for our troops since the Korean War.

But individuals like Cpl. Mark Ejdrygiewicz, 22, of Lethbridge, Alta., believe a six-month tour isn't long enough to get the job done.

"On this six month tour we did a lot. There was a lot of progress made: Op Medusa and down in Panjwaii and the districts there opening up the schools and building highways," said Ejdrygiewicz, known as "Edge" to his patrol mates, as he rode in the back of a light armoured vehicle near Howz-e Madad.

"We're doing what we can but we know the Taliban are going to come back. Winter's here and they've gone back to Pakistan," he said, taking a drag from his cigarette. "We've got a foothold on the ground in the area but in the back of your mind you know they will be coming back and it will be another threat."

And Ejdrygiewicz takes his job very seriously. Written in felt pen on the cover of his helmet in Pashtu is "Taliban Relocation Service," a tribute to fallen comrade Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh, who was killed by an accidental rifle discharge last summer.

"One of our good friends who passed away back in August, Jeff Walsh, on his first roto, he had the acronym TRS and his idea was to make T-shirts for this platoon," smiled Ejdrygiewicz.

"When he passed away it's something we all kind of held onto and put that tag onto everything. Some interpreters helped me translate it into Pashtu and I thought it would be a nice thing to put on the helmet," he added.

"The reason it is in Pashtu is so we can have a laugh and the locals can have a laugh as well and it's caught on pretty well so far."

As far as Ejdrygiewicz is concerned, any soldier that doesn't want to come back for another tour here, shouldn't have come in the first place. "Being gung ho, being enthusiastic about doing his job? Hey that's a good thing," he said. "If you've got soldiers out here wanting to go home, miserable and complaining, they're a risk to you, they're a risk to themselves and they don't need to be here."

It will be time to go home only when the Afghan people are able to take care of themselves said Ejdrygiewicz.

With his leave just a day or two away, the last thing Cpl. Dave Taylor of Owen Sound, Ont., should be thinking about is coming back. Taylor, 35, will be heading home to see his new daughter, Xandra, who was born a couple of days before Christmas. But he is already talking about next time.

"I love doing this and I personally can't think of anything I would rather do. When I get back, we'll start our training cycle again. The break will be nice but I'll be chomping at the bit to get back to work," Taylor chuckled.

"The wife won't like it," he shrugged. "I gotta find a happy compromise or some medium ground. Not going with the battalion on Roto 108 over here would be tough, but I would be home for Christmas this time."

The commanding officer of A Company 2nd PPCLI, Maj. Mike Wright, isn't surprised at the commitment of his men to the mission. He watched them grow over the past 41/2 months.

"Less than a week after they arrived here they were in their first ambush and everyone stepped up together," said Wright. "It's part of being a soldier to complain and to bitch but when it counts these guys know when to turn it on."

Where to Shoot an Epic About Afghanistan? China, Where Else ?

By HOWARD W. FRENCH – New York Times, KASHGAR, China

THE sun is setting fast and early over Yarbeshe, a hillside neighborhood of crumbling brick houses, dark alleys and a creaky wooden drawbridge that sways uneasily over a stream in this fabled gateway city that links far western China to the recesses of central Asia.

It is early November, and one can already feel winter arriving. You would know it instantly by looking at the director Marc Forster, who is bundled in a parka as he paces the chilly interior of a smart two-story villa built specially for his film in one of the poorer parts of town.

But winter is not arriving fast enough for the demands of this evening’s scene, which is set in Kabul, Afghanistan. So a crew on the villa’s rooftop busies itself operating an artificial snow machine that blows out a respectably thick simulacrum. The lights go on, and for the next few hours — indeed long into the night — the cameras roll.

There are many challenges involved in turning a runaway best-selling novel into a Hollywood film. But when the novel is largely set in Afghanistan, and ranges widely over that country, which after Iraq is perhaps the second most dangerous place in the world for Americans, making snow is the least of the filmmakers’ problems.

Khaled Hosseini’s novel, “The Kite Runner,” has the added complication of being an epic, once a staple of big-budget Hollywood productions but nowadays an increasingly lost art. The story, about the doomed friendship between two Afghan boys, sprawls over generations, and roams well beyond Kabul, notably to parts of Pakistan and to San Francisco, where Afghan exiles live bound and haunted by a common sense of loss.

“For me from the very beginning this was a story that needed to be told on an epic scale, and you tell a story on an epic scale with a little bit of fear,” said Mr. Forster, whose film is scheduled for release by DreamWorks and Paramount Vantage in November 2007. Specifically, he said, he tried to recreate a feeling of Kabul in the 1970s, of streets filled with color and of life in a country whose middle class brimmed with hope, and then revisit the city years later, after the Soviet invasion, to explore the sense of lost identity among exiles and returnees “whose country has been raped and destroyed.”

Hollywood does not have a happy history of managing what has been two of the film’s most daunting problems: finding the ideal remote location and casting a large-canvas story about brown-skinned people from a faraway and little-understood country. Traditionally big films have required Western actors in lead roles, and preferably stars at that. The needs of marketing typically dictate that the dialogue be in English, very often resulting in inconsistent or even ridiculously stereotypical accents. Extras could be relied upon to help moviegoers suspend their disbelief, uttering a few incomprehensible lines and stumbling colorfully about. And once these details have been nailed, location has never loomed terribly large.

For “The Kite Runner,” though, filmmakers have placed a huge wager on authenticity. They are betting, among other things, that American audiences can be persuaded to sit still through two-plus hours of subtitled plot development — something moviegoers have become more accustomed to lately, thanks to studio films like “Apocalypto,” “Letters From Iwo Jima” and “Babel,” all of which unfold completely or largely in languages other than English.

The crux of this gamble is here in Kashgar, where a large slice of the film was shot, and the story of how this came to pass is something of a tale itself.

The production team spent three months researching locations, giving little thought to Afghanistan itself, for obvious reasons, as they drew up an initial list of 20 countries and deliberated on which one would get them closest to Afghanistan’s look. The possibilities ranged from India to Morocco to South Africa, but E. Bennett Walsh, who oversaw the search, said the conversations kept returning to Kashgar, a place that few people in Hollywood had ever heard of and where no Western film had ever been made.

Mr. Walsh was initially attracted to Kashgar through the stories and pictures of backpackers, photographers and other adventurers, most of which he found online. “This place is a kind of Lonely Planet’s greatest hits,” he said. “The kind of travelers you see out here are basically people who rough it and Silk Road fanatics.”

Very quickly other charms came into evidence. Kashgar had almost no history of filmmaking, but China’s movie industry had started booming, and the authorities, eager to put the country’s far west on the map quickly, warmed to the idea of making “The Kite Runner” here. That in itself represented a huge turnabout. Not long before, foreigners were barred from traveling to the region, where separatist sentiments have long existed.

Beyond the cooperation of authorities and the availability of highly skilled filmmakers in China, Kashgar was always the best fit in terms of appearance, beginning with a diverse but overwhelmingly Muslim population and a countryside that plausibly resembles Afghanistan. “In some locations you are limited to working small, little corners, whereas here you can shoot 100 yards down the road,” Mr. Walsh said. “The streets of this city are just dripping with production value. All you have to do is change the signs.”

The search for a cast proved even more challenging. The streets of Kashgar, teaming with bearded men and women in burkhas, might fool the eye into thinking one is seeing Kabul. But dialect cannot be finessed so easily, and the producers needed to find a Dari-speaking cast once the decision was made to film in the original language. Homayoun Ershadi, a 59-year-old Iranian actor who played the lead in “Taste of Cherry,” which was one of the winners of the Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, was recruited from Tehran to play the role of Baba, the father of the principal character, Amir.

Khalid Abdalla, a British actor of Egyptian extraction who starred in “United 93,” plays Amir as an adult. He traveled to Kabul to learn Dari in a crash effort that left a deep impression on the author, Mr. Hosseini, who spent time on the set here, and on all of the native speakers involved in the film. And Shaun Toub, the Iranian-born actor who appeared in the movie “Crash,” appears as Rahim Khan, Baba’s close friend and a mentor to Amir.

In an interview Mr. Abdalla emphasized the desire to get the portrayal of Afghan society right, echoing a sentiment common among many of the actors. “One of the things about this film that is particularly wonderful for me is that the starting point is not violence but rather, ordinary people,” he said. “When you say Afghanistan, the first thing most people will think about is the Taliban or Al Qaeda, which is horrendous. One of the most common reactions to the book is surprise at how rich and interesting Afghan society is.”

Since the story of “The Kite Runner” is centered on the childhood relationship between Amir, the son of an elite family, and Hassan, the son of its servant, the most important piece in the puzzle was finding young actors. “I don’t know how we could have told this story in English and captured the essential innocence of those boys,” said Rebecca Yeldham, one of the producers, explaining the decision to work in Dari.

The task of finding the child actors fell to Kate Dowd, a casting specialist who has previously worked on period productions films like Kevin Reynolds’s “Tristan & Isolde.” Her search initially took her to groups of Afghan exiles in Europe, but it quickly became clear that the children she found in those places were already too far removed culturally from their native land. “We needed something purer,” Ms. Dowd said.

This realization led her to Kabul itself, where she roamed the streets and spent nearly a month visiting schools and orphanages, video camera in hand, in search of the perfect Hassan and Amir.

“I did a lot of research of course, but once I got there, I had to forget everything I had learned,” she said. “In Afghanistan there are no agents there, and there is no ‘business,’ in fact many people don’t even have TVs. I had to walk into classrooms and just remain open to the experience, looking for the bright sparks looking up at me, especially from the quiet ones in the corner.”

In addition to keen eyes Ms. Dowd needed extraordinary patience. She spoke, for example, of having to drink 45 cups of tea with the director of one French-run school in Kabul before the director trusted her enough to let her tour his 25 classrooms. He then granted her all of three mornings to complete her search.

On her ninth classroom, running out of tricks, she asked the students who was the naughtiest kid in class. “There was one child who stood out as the most extroverted, but right next to him there was another boy who was quiet, but who was responding to the scene,” said Ms. Dowd, speaking of an 11-year-old named Kekiria Ebrahimi. “There was a special little moment of energy from him, and it stayed with me. He ended up playing Amir.”

A precociously witty 10-year-old, Ahmad Khan Mahmiidzada, plays the role of Hassan, the servant boy who is betrayed by his best friend, Amir. The boys did not know each other before being brought to western China for the filming, but off camera they became close. And while there is no confusing reality and fiction for either, at a fundamental level the story in which they are acting rubs against the grain of their friendship and seems to trouble them.

In an interview in the yard of their hotel, where the late afternoon sunset is failing, Ahmad, pronouncing himself “very, very homesick,” muses spontaneously about being cast as a tragic victim. “I like both roles, but at the end of the day it is a movie, and they chose me for Hassan because I look more like him,” he says through an interpreter, sounding like a Hollywood veteran. “That’s just how life is.”

The more reserved Kekiria speaks up. “He and I are going to be good friends in real life,” he says tenderly and unprompted. “I don’t know why Hassan had to get hurt like that. I hope you can tell me.”

“Yeah,” says Ahmad. “I want you to tell me too.”

Reporter's Notebook: The Fonz of Kabul Found Dead

Sunday , December 31, 2006 - By Scott Heidler – Fox News - JERUSALEM — Even if you’ve only been to Kabul for a day, you know of the Mustafa Hotel. Some hated it, some loved it — but if you were a journalist, a humanitarian worker or hired gun, you’ve been there and you have a story about your time there.

Wais Faizi ran the place and there was never any question that he was in charge. His office on the second floor between the cafeteria and the bar, like most of the rooms in the place, had walls of glass.

Wais’ family turned it into an indoor bazaar during the Taliban and when seizing the post-Taliban market of hacks, do-gooders and mercenaries that flooded in overnight, instead of putting up real walls they simply hung curtains or painted the glass black. It made most of us even more concerned about bombs: If the hotel were attacked the place would be awash in flying glass. Most people requested rooms in the back, off the street.

It has been over a year since I have been to the Mustafa, but all those memories came rushing back when I heard that Wais was found dead a few days ago. His death was defined as "unexplained."

Wais was known as the Fonz of Kabul, but I never called him that. He was from New Jersey and looked a little bit like Henry Winkler, but the title came more from the name.

Growing up watching "Happy Days," I never thought Fonzy was tough, so I could never make the connection to Wais. He was always very pleasant. One thing for sure — you always wanted Wais on your team.

I lived in Kabul as FOX’s correspondent for a year and a half in 2004 and 2005, but my first time at the Mustafa was a few months after the fall of the Taliban in early 2002.

At that time there were only two places in town to stay — the Intercon Hotel or the Mustafa. If you were working for a TV network you were up the hill at the Intercon (not plush by any standards, but much better than the Mustafa), and the rest were down at the Mustafa. I was not with FOX News yet, so I was at the Mustafa.

Wais had lived in New Jersey for over 20 years and had the accent and down-home charm that was very refreshing in a place so very far from home. Both he and the Mustafa Hotel had a rough-and-tumble charm about them.

There were familiar aspects to both, but you knew there was something hiding not to far below the surface. And that was something you probably did not want to know all the details about.

Wais loved American gangster movies, but I would attempt to resist watching them with the nightly gathering. I would think to myself that the last thing I want to see is Al Pacino shooting guys while there was enough real violence right here in Kabul. But every night there I was — watching Pacino throwing the line, "Say hello to my little friend."

Walking into the Internet cafe and smaller bar on the ground floor of the Mustafa — at any time of the day — you would expect to hear the clarinet music from the bar scene in "Star Wars."

Scruffy humanitarian workers just back from far-off provinces having their first beer in weeks to shady characters who straddled bar stools as if they walked out of a Clint Eastwood movie — sidearm strapped to their leg, or rifle leaning against the bar — every face in every seat had a story.

I "lived" at the Mustafa a few months after Saddam was run out of Baghdad in the summer of 2003. At this point I was with FOX News and went straight from Iraq to Kabul to visit my then-girlfriend, now fiancee. This is when I really got to know Wais and found out he was a FOX News fan.

When I told him my employer — he did a "come here" backward head gesture to bring me into his office. He proudly showed me a FOX News hat on his bookshelf and from that moment on, any time we caught eyes as I walked past his office he pointed at his TV to show me he was watching FOX News and gave me a thumbs up.

A little over a year later, Katherine and I moved to Kabul. I ran into Wais every once in a while. We had a house at this stage so there was not much of a call to go to the Mustafa. Most of the time it was to meet a friend who had come back to town and booked into the place they knew best.

A few times I saw Wais at parties and once he even asked if I remembered who he was — I wanted to say: "Man, you are a legion; how the hell could I forget?" Thinking back now, I should have said that to him.

Now sitting in Jerusalem for a posting I came straight to after Kabul, I find it hard to read the e-mails from my buddies still in Afghanistan and articles about Wais’ death.

Afghanistan has this charm that grabs you with both hands. It’s equal parts — kindness from people who have nothing, the characters that a place like Kabul draws and the endless stories in a time like this. Wais had a peppering of all of the above.

[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.]