In this bulletin:

• Taliban commander seized in Afghanistan
• Afghan secret service says Mullah Omar in Pakistan (Roundup)
• President Hamid Karzai Meets US Secretary of Defence
• US defence secretary "sympathetic" to Afghanistan troop needs
• NATO pledges no let-up in fight against Taliban, seeks help from Pakistan
• The Associated Press
• Gates' Afghan trip throws spotlight on Pakistan
• Blast kills 3 Afghan soldiers, wounds 4 in eastern Afghanistan
• Afghan civilians stop terror attack at U.S. baseStory Highlights
• 8 killed in strike on militant camps in Waziristan
• Tribesmen protest against air strike
• Waziristan pact to remain intact
• Musharraf says no haven for militants
• FACTBOX-International peacekeepers in Afghanistan
• EC to provide 26m euros for health sector in 10 provinces
• Foreign Minister visits Norwegian troops in Afghanistan
• Afghan Leader, Allies Act to Extend Kabul's Influence to Provinces
• COMMENT: Dealing with Afghan refugees —Ijaz Hussain

Taliban commander seized in Afghanistan

Kabul (AP) 1.17.06) - NATO-led troops and Afghan forces detained a prominent Taliban commander, the alliance said Wednesday, while the Taliban confirmed the arrest of one of its spokesmen.

The commander was the leader of the insurgents in Panjwayi district of neighboring Kandahar province, where last summer NATO troops waged their biggest ground offensive in the Western alliance's history, said NATO spokesman Squadron Leader Dave Marsh.

"This seizure of a Taliban commander, once again shows that there is nowhere to hide for insurgent leaders," Marsh said.

The captured militant, whom NATO did not identify, had fled another recent offensive by Afghan and NATO forces in the south of the country, is wanted for questioning by Afghan security forces, NATO said.

He was captured in the Gereshk district of Helmand province late Tuesday and is the first Taliban leader captured by NATO-led and Afghan troops, NATO said. The raid came a day after Afghan agents arrested Mohammad Hanif, a purported Taliban spokesman, near the border with Pakistan.

Hanif, one of two spokesmen who often contacts journalists on behalf of the militia, was arrested at the border town of Torkham on Monday after crossing from Pakistan, said Sayed Ansari, the spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service. Two people traveling with him also were detained, he said.

But Noor Agha Zooak, a spokesman for the governor of the Nangarhar province where the arrest took place, said Wednesday that Hanif and his two associates, Asadullah and Tavab Nijazi, were detained in a raid at a house further from the border crossing.

It was not immediately clear what caused the discrepancy in the accounts. Zooak said Hanif was being questioned by intelligence agents in Nangarhar's capital, Jalalabad.

The troops recovered weapons, cell phones and other documents, which they showed to journalists in Jalalabad on Wednesday. Hanif used to convey alleged statements from Taliban leader Mullah Omar and comment on fighting in the north, center and east of the country.

Another purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, confirmed Hanif's arrest in a phone call from an undisclosed location, but said that the Taliban's governing body already has appointed a new spokesman, Zadiullah Mujahid.

Western and Afghan officials have claimed a number of recent successes against Taliban leaders. Last month, a U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a key associate of Omar and the highest-ranking Taliban leader killed by the U.S.-led coalition since the late 2001 invasion of Afghanistan that ousted the hardline regime for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Over the past year, the Taliban have launched a record number of attacks, and some 4,000 people have died in the insurgency-related violence, according to a tally by The Associated Press based on reports from Afghan, NATO and coalition officials.

Afghan secret service says Mullah Omar in Pakistan (Roundup)
By DPA Jan 17, 2007

Kabul - Taliban leader Mullah Omar is commanding rebel forces in Afghanistan from across the border under the protection of Pakistan's ISI secret service, a spokesman for the Afghan secret service said Wednesday, citing a captured insurgent.

According to the testimony of the high-ranking rebel, Omar was operating from the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta and was being protected by the ISI, the spokesman said in Kabul.

Former ISI head Hamid Gul was supporting a training centre for Taliban suicide attackers in Peshawar on the Afghan border that had been disguised as a madrassa or Islamic religious school, he said.

The testimony is believed to come from former Taliban spokesman Mohammed Hanif. Hanif was arrested in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar Monday as he crossed the border from Pakistan.

'Hanif told us that without the help of the ISI, the Taliban would not be able to offer any resistance (to the international troops and the Afghan government) and that the ISI played a major role in arming and financing the Taliban,' Afghan secret service spokesman Sayed Ansari said.

Omar went into hiding after the fall of the Taliban regime at the end of 2001. The news came as Afghan and NATO troops captured another Taliban leader in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not release the name of the person detained but said he was placed into Afghan police custody and was being interrogated. He did not put up a fight, ISAF said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Kabul, an Afghan guard prevented a suicide bombing at an ISAF base when he identified a driver as looking suspicious and called for backup, the ISAF said. A large amount of explosives was found in his truck, and he was arrested, the ISAF said.

President Hamid Karzai Meets US Secretary of Defence

On January 16, President Hamid Karzai met Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defence, at the Gul Khana Palace, and held a joint press conference with him after the meeting.

Addressing the press conference, President Hamid Karzai said, "It is a pleasure to welcome Defence Secretary Gates to Afghanistan. He reiterated his country’s commitment to the fight against terrorism, the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and the strengthening of the Afghan national army and police.

“The United States of America is not only firm in its commitment to the strengthening of peace and stability in Afghanistan, but its commitment has further deepened.”

Addressing the press conference, Robert Gates said, “It has been a pleasure to meet and have a conversation with President Karzai. I think he has shown extraordinary leadership and courage in making tough decisions for Afghanistan. I want to thank him for his hospitality and leadership.”

“The Afghan army is increasingly taking the lead in combat operations, and the force continues to grow in size and strengthens the confidence, and I met some of these forces this afternoon and was very impressed.”

“There has been a lot of progress in Afghanistan. For example, under the Taliban government, women were subject to arbitrary rules and punishment, now 74 women serve in the Afghan Parliament, writing the laws that govern the society.”

“Only eight percent of Afghans used to have access to some form of health care, today some eighty percent do. This is an important time to secure the gains of the past, and to build on them in the future.”

In response to a question about the increase in the number of border incidents since an agreement in September by Pakistan with tribal leaders in North Wazirestan, Robert Gates said, “There is no question that there has been a significant increase in attacks from across the border, particularly in north and south Wazirestan.”

“We will continue working with Pakistan to see if there is a way that we can begin to reduce the violence coming from that side of the border.”

In response to a question, the President said, “Senior US officials’ visits to Afghanistan show their friendship and continued commitment to the people of Afghanistan.”

US defence secretary "sympathetic" to Afghanistan troop needs

Kabul (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan by saying he is sympathetic to a request for more troops to battle an expected upsurge in the Taliban-led insurgency this year.

Gates said commanders had told him during his two-day visit that they needed more troops but he would not be drawn on how many. "It depends on different scenarios and those are the kinds of decisions we are going to have to look at," he said Wednesday.

"If the people leading the struggle out here feel they need additional help, I'm going to be very sympathetic to that kind of a request."

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) includes about 33,000 soldiers from 37 nations but is still short of the manpower it has been promised, despite pleas for more support after a year of intense fighting.

Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said Tuesday ISAF was about 10 percent short of the troops it had been pledged.

Gates, who met President Hamid Karzai Tuesday, said it was "very important not to let the success in Afghanistan slip away from us, and that we keep the initiative." "There's no reason to sit back and let the Taliban regroup," he said.

Eikenberry pressed him Tuesday for more troops to confront a major surge in Taliban attacks, notably out of Pakistan. He said he had requested that an infantry battalion with a force of 1,200 slated to move on to Iraq be retained.

Gates said Wednesday the issue would be studied by the US joint staff and also raised with NATO. He said he would press the allies at an upcoming NATO defence ministers' meeting in Seville, Spain, to fulfill commitments they have already made.

Last year was the deadliest in the insurgency launched following the Taliban's ouster in late 2001 in a US-led operation after the regime failed to hand over Al-Qaeda leaders in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

About 4,000 people were killed in 2006, most of them rebels. The number of suicide and roadside bombings, and direct attacks on troops, rose severalfold, with some foreign commanders expressing surprise at the rebels' capacity.

Eikenberry predicted more violence this year, telling reporters Tuesday: "I would expect that the enemy will have its main effort against southern Afghanistan and what we'll see is more violence in the south."

He anticipated terror attacks in Kandahar and other urban centres, attempts to restrict the movement of coalition and Afghan forces and attacks in southern district centres and outlying areas.

He said there had already been a doubling in the past month in the number of cross-border incidents in Afghan areas opposite a Pakistani tribal zone where the government struck a peace deal with tribal leaders in September.

In one such attack, three Afghan soldiers were killed in the border province of Khost Wednesday by a remote-controlled bomb of the type often used by the Taliban.

Rowing between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the roots of the insurgency peaked last year as the neighbours accused each other of not doing enough to round up insurgent leaders and shut down their facilities.

Top US officials have joined Afghanistan in recent weeks in saying that Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants have found safehavens in Pakistan. Islamabad rejected the allegations.

ISAF said in Kabul Wednesday that the first intelligence and operation centre staffed jointly by Afghanistan, Pakistan and ISAF was due to start working in the city this month.

This should go some way towards improving ties between the neighbours' armies, spokesman Major Richard Nugee said.

NATO pledges no let-up in fight against Taliban, seeks help from Pakistan

The Associated Press

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium

NATO's top diplomat insisted Wednesday that the alliance's force in Afghanistan would remain on the offensive against Taliban forces regardless of the expected surge in attacks by the insurgents in the spring.

"NATO has not the slightest intention to cede the initiative to anyone — spring, or no spring," Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters.

In his New Year address, de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance was seeking closer cooperation between its 32,000-strong force and Pakistani authorities to prevent Taliban fighters crossing the border into Afghanistan.

"It is crystal clear Pakistan has to do a lot to prevent further incursions across that border," he said. "More effort is needed." He said Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was expected for talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Jan. 30.

NATO officials said alliance military experts on the ground in Afghanistan were stepping up contacts with their Pakistani counterparts to build up controls on the border. However, de Hoop Scheffer rejected a Pakistani suggestion that mine fields be laid along the border.

He did not comment directly on American suggestions that the troops levels in Afghanistan be increased to deal with the risk of increased Taliban attacks in the spring, but he urged all allies to respect commitments to contribute to the NATO force.

On a visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said U.S. commanders have recommended an increase in U.S. force levels, in part to deal with an expected upsurge in Taliban violence. Gates said he was "strongly inclined" to recommend a troop increase, if commanders believe it is needed to succeed.

About one-third of the troops under NATO command are American. NATO commanders have struggled to persuade European allies to commit more troops and aircraft to the mission — particularly for the south and east of the country where the fighting has been most intense.

Wednesday said Pakistan must take stronger action to stop the cross- border infiltration of insurgents into Afghanistan amid fears of a further rise in violence in the country.

Scheffer, speaking to reporters in Brussels, said NATO was determined not to cede to "spoilers" who were seeking to step up attacks on alliance forces during warmer weather in spring.

"Those seeking to try and undermine progress in Afghanistan...will find NATO on the front foot," said Scheffer.

But the NATO chief insisted that the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan was a "problem" and said Islamabad must also do more to capture al-Qaeda operatives in the Balochistan city of Quetta.

He rejected Pakistani efforts to mine the border with Pakistan, however.

Scheffer insisted it was "not useful to blame and shame" Pakistan and said he wanted Islamabad to be "part of the solution" to the problems facing Afghanistan.

However, Pakistan "must intensify efforts" to stop the incursions, said Scheffer.

The NATO chief said contacts on the issue were continuing with Pakistan, adding: "Continued dialogue between Pakistan and NATO is important."

Scheffer is expected to convey his message directly to Pakistani Prime Minister Shauqat Aziz who is scheduled to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels on January 30.

The NATO chief's remarks follow comments in Afghanistan by US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates who also called on Pakistan to stop the cross-border infiltration of insurgents into Afghanistan.

NATO diplomats say alliance officials are discussing ways of helping Pakistan step up border controls through the use of new technology.

US intelligence chief John Negroponte also said last week it would be necessary to eliminate Taliban safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas to end the Afghan insurgency.

Pakistan was the main backer of the extremist Taliban during the 1990s but joined the US-led war against terrorism following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

Gates' Afghan trip throws spotlight on Pakistan

By Andrew Gray Reuters Wednesday, January 17, 2007

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates met U.S. commanders at the main U.S. base in Afghanistan on Wednesday on the second day of a visit that has thrown a spotlight on Taliban infiltration from Pakistan.

Gates traveled to the sprawling Bagram air base from the capital, Kabul, where on Tuesday U.S. military commanders told him militant attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan had surged, several-fold in some areas.

Violence in Afghanistan intensified last year to its bloodiest since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Fighting has eased since winter set in but U.S. and NATO forces expect a renewed Taliban offensive in the spring.

U.S. military officials in Kabul told reporters traveling with Gates on Tuesday command and control of the Afghan insurgency came from the Pakistani side of the border.

Training, financing, recruitment, indoctrination, regeneration and other support activities were also taking place in Pakistan, a U.S. military intelligence official said.

U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said last week it would be necessary to eliminate the Taliban safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas to end the Afghan insurgency.

Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban during the 1990s but officially stopped helping the hardline Islamists after the September 11 attacks, when Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

But while Pakistan has arrested or killed hundreds of al Qaeda members, including several major figures, critics say it has failed to take effective action against Taliban leaders and their sanctuaries.

Afghan anger over the infiltration from Pakistan has damaged relations between the neighbors but Pakistan rejects accusations it is not doing enough. Pakistan has sent 80,000 troops to its side of the border and has lost hundreds of them fighting militants.

But it has also sought political ways to isolate the militants to reduce the risk of sparking a wider conflict in its semi-autonomous tribal areas.

Those have included peace deals in tribal regions aimed at ending attacks on Pakistani forces and cross-border incursions but U.S. commanders said raids into Afghanistan had increased sharply from areas where the deals were struck. Nevertheless, Pakistan says the Taliban are an Afghan problem.

"The basic problem is in Afghanistan but we don't deny that there are some people from Pakistan in the FATA region supporting them," Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday, referring to Pakistan's border lands officially known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"We are doing everything to reduce the movement to the minimum, but basically it's Afghanistan's problem. Pakistan can only help to the extent that it controls the cross-border movement but for that, too, we need support of the international community."

Gates said Pakistan was "an extraordinarily strong ally" of the United States in the war on terrorism but militancy on the Pakistani side of the border would have to be dealt with.

There are more than 40,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, the highest level since 2001, about 22,000 of them American.

Gates said it was important to take the initiative in dealing with the security threat and if commanders in the field believed more forces were required, "then I certainly would be strongly inclined to recommend that to the president."

Blast kills 3 Afghan soldiers, wounds 4 in eastern Afghanistan

The Associated Press - Wednesday, January 17, 2007

KHOST, Afghanistan - A remotely controlled bomb struck a vehicle carrying Afghan troops in eastern Afghanistan, killing three soldiers and wounding four, officials said.

The blast in Khost province occurred during a visit to the province by President Hamid Karzai, but he was miles away from the scene of attack in Nadir Shah Kot district.

The pickup truck that soldiers were riding in was completely destroyed in the blast, said Gen. Murad Ali, the deputy corps commander for Afghan National Army's eastern command.

Afghan civilians stop terror attack at U.S. base

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two civilians thwarted an attempted terrorist attack Tuesday when a vehicle loaded with explosives attempted to crash through the front gate of a U.S. base in the Afghan capital, according to the U.S. military.

The two men, an interpreter and a security guard, dragged the apparent suicide bomber from the vehicle before he could detonate explosives, said Col. Tom Collins, the chief spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

"I think it's a pretty amazing and heroic event," Collins said. He said that at about 9 a.m. Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET Monday) a driver crashed his vehicle into Camp Phoenix, the base where the Afghan National Army and police are trained. The driver reached for what appeared to be a cord to detonate a bomb, he said.

"Amazingly, a couple of Afghans who just happened to be on the scene there realized what was happening," Collins said. "Anyone's inclination would have been to run away but these guys are genuine heroes," Collins said.

The area was immediately cordoned off while authorities waited for a bomb disposal team. During the attempt to disarm it, the device went off. It's unclear how much or what kind of explosive material was used, Collins said. No U.S. or coalition troops were injured.

In the past six months more than 70 allied troops -- mostly Canadian and British -- have died. About 70 U.S. troops also have been killed.

Because there has been so much violence in Afghanistan, Collins said his troops and the people who work near them are particularly alert.

"We're trying to control these attacks. We have a pretty high level of awareness. That's why [the interpreter and security guard] were able to act so quickly," he said, adding that the men may be honored in some fashion.

Asked if it's easy for someone to ram a car into a compound, Collins replied: "We're in a very large city here in the country of Afghanistan. There's lots of people driving around. This man just happened to get his vehicle along the entry control point."

Though Collins said attacks on bases the size of Camp Phoenix are rare, it's not the first time a suicide bomber has tried to attack soldiers close to the base.

Last summer a suicide bomber carrying 300 pounds of explosives killed two U.S. troops, the colonel said. The attacks comes on the heels of U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' first visit to Afghanistan. ( Read full story)

Gates arrived Monday and was scheduled to meet with Afghan officials and U.S. and NATO commanders to address the increased fighting against Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists. ( Watch Gates assess situation in Afghanistan)

Around 6:55 a.m. Tuesday, Pakistani security forces carried out an airstrike on an insurgent hideout that had been under surveillance for several days in the Zamzola area of South Waziristan, in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, a Pakistani army spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, intelligence sources confirmed that 25 to 30 suspected foreign terrorists and their local backers were occupying a complex of five compounds in the area.

The Pakistani spokesman said three of the five compounds were destroyed, killing at least 25 of the insurgents in the complex.

Last week, troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan National Army killed as many as 150 insurgents along the mountainous border with Pakistan, NATO officials reported.

That same day U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told a Senate committee that al Qaeda leaders have a "secure hideout" in Pakistan.

The chief U.S. commander in Afghanistan Lt. Gen. Ken Eikenberry said Tuesday that in December, Taliban attacks have increased 200 percent. Pakistani officials denied the assertion. ( Read full story)

NATO commanders have called for the coalition to have more manpower and equipment, and for leaders of each participating country to stop restricting their troops to relatively safer areas.

Afghan forces find 40 truckloads of weapons

KHOST: Afghan forces have uncovered 40 pick-up truckloads of weapons, said to belong to Taliban insurgents, that were hidden in mountain caves near the border with Pakistan, a military general said on Tuesday.

The cache included machine guns, rockets and explosives, and was found this week in eastern Paktika province’s Gomal district, some 40 kilometres from the border, army general Samiul Haq told AFP.

The general said some of the weapons appeared to have been deposited recently while others may have been put there “a long time ago”. “But there is no doubt it is a Taliban weapons cache. Taliban had control over it,” the general said. Intelligence reports led the troops to the discovery, he said. He was not more precise about the quantity of weapons except to say they would fill 40 four-by-four pick-up trucks. Afp

8 killed in strike on militant camps in Waziristan

By Iqbal Khattak – Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Attack helicopters of the Pakistan Army struck hideouts of suspected militants in South Waziristan early on Tuesday morning, leaving eight “terrorists” dead and 10 injured.

Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said the latest reports he got from the area indicated eight terrorists had been killed and 10 wounded in the airstrike launched at 6:55am. “The compounds were being used for training purposes,” he told Daily Times.

“Intelligence sources had confirmed the presence of 25-30 foreign terrorists and their local facilitators, occupying a complex of five compounds in the area,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. “Three out of the five compounds have been destroyed killing most of the terrorists present in those compounds.”

Tribal MP from South Waziristan Maulana Mirajuddin said that eight “innocent” labourers were killed in the “unjustified” airstrike. He denied that the place was being used as a training facility for militants.

Sources in Wana said the raid involving four gunship helicopters targeted five mud-walled hideouts in the middle of thick forest in the Saloomat Raghzai area in Ladah sub-division, which lies close to the South and North Waziristan border.

The air strike, the first of its kind in the area since November 2004 when the government inked peace agreements with senior tribal militants, came hours after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Residents in Ladah said 10 bodies were dug up and three were identified as local Mehsuds while five others were Afghan nationals. The other two bodies were charred beyond recognition.

The raid followed days of reconnaissance of the area where intelligence agents spotted “unusual activities”, said Gen Sultan. Among the dead militants were foreigners also, the military spokesman added. But he denied that the raid aimed at “a high-value target”.

Reports reaching here from Wana said that between eight to 10 people appeared to have survived the raid with injuries. Sources in Wana said the Baitullah Mehsud-led militants were using the compounds.

Tribesmen protest against air strike

WANA: Hundreds of angry tribesmen protested on Tuesday against an air strike on a remote town in South Waziristan, saying the dead were all innocent labourers. Some 600 people gathered in Tank, blocked traffic and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and George W Bush. “The attack was unjust, it killed innocent people,” tribal leader Dilawar Khan told the rally. He insisted the victims were “local labourers who were cutting trees when the raid was conducted”. He said local tribes were abiding by the terms of a two-year-old peace accord, but the government had violated it “to appease the US”. afp

Waziristan pact to remain intact

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said on Tuesday that the government would not withdraw from the North Waziristan peace agreement but would consider amending it if there were any shortcomings in it. Kasuri told reporters here that Pakistani military forces had not withdrawn from the area after the agreement, but only pulled back from certain check posts. “Their visibility is reduced but they are very much present in the area,” he said. “No force can fight with its own people for ever. There has to be a political settlement. Through the agreement we have involved the local people and the clerics,” he said.

Musharraf says no haven for militants

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday told top army commanders that Pakistan would destroy any hideout used by militants it finds on its territory. “Any hideout/sanctuary being used by terrorists/miscreants shall be knocked out wherever it is found,” ISPR quoted the president as saying at the 100th Corps Commanders Conference at General Headquarters. The ISPR said the participants decided that the political process in FATA to control extremism and terrorism would continue, but “we shall not allow any illegal cross border activity or any terrorist to take refuge in our area, which shall be dealt with by direct military action”. staff report

FACTBOX-International peacekeepers in Afghanistan

Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday he would consider sending more troops to Afghanistan where U.S. commanders say the Taliban insurgency, commanded from Pakistan, is expected to intensify.

Following are some key facts on international peacekeepers in Afghanistan:

- About 40,000 foreign troops are deployed in Afghanistan, of whom 32,000 are part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

- Some 8,000 American soldiers operate under a separate command to mount search-and-destroy missions against major Taliban and al Qaeda targets, and train Afghan forces.

- ISAF, which has participation from 37 countries, has been conducting operations in Afghanistan since 2003, two years after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban.

- NATO assumed responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan in October 2006, when it took command in the east of the country from a U.S.-led coalition force.

- Some nations have different mandates for their troops within ISAF -- particularly concerning "rules of engagement". For example, some only provide logistical support staff, whereas others provide combat troops.

- A total of 518 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, including 357 Americans, 46 British and 44 Canadians.

EC to provide 26m euros for health sector in 10 provinces

KABUL, Jan 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The European Commission (EC) will provide 26 million euros to support the country's public health sector during the coming two years.

In this connection, agreement was signed between the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance here on Wednesday.

The amount will be spent on provision of improved health services to the four million people of Nangarhar, Logar, Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan, Kunduz, Daikundi, Uruzgan, Zabul and part of Ghor provinces.

A press release issued here said the agreement ensured the continuing provision of the Basic Package of Health Services (PBHS) in ten provinces with a special focus on reproductive, maternal and child healthcare.

Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Dr Anwarul Haq Ahady said only proper health services could help create a healthy population. In order to achieve the goal of a democratic, prosperous and healthy nation, the government, in collaboration with the international community, was trying to improve the quality of health services in the country.

"We highly appreciate the enduring assistance of the European Commission as they continue to help us achieve our long-term visions," said the minister. He said health was a crucial issue and it could not be ignored at any point.

Head of the EC delegation to Afghanistan Hansj.rg Kretschmer, addressing the ceremony, said health had been and would continue to be one of the key sectors for them.

According to the press release, the Grant and Contracts Management Unit (GCMU) of the Ministry of Public Health will manage the overall implementation of this grant in close collaboration with EC Afghanistan delegation.

Foreign Minister visits Norwegian troops in Afghanistan

Norway Post - 17/1/07 - Strict security measures were enforced when Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere on Tuesday visited Norwegian NATO troops at Meymaneh in Northern Afghanistan . reason for this was the explosives charge found just outside the Norwegian camp on Monday .

It was not believed that the bomb had anything to do with the Norwegian Foreign Minister's visit, but extra security was mounted from when he landed at the airport, NRK reports .

Stoere said that Norway will increase its civilian aid to Afghanistan, and he repeated earlier statements saying that civilian aid is just as important as military support .

One's opinion that the solution in Afghanistan is political, economic and social, has been strengthened. There is no military solution alone to Afghanistan's problems, and the military know this, Stoere said

The Norwegian military and civilian engagements in Afghanistan will this year alone cost around NOK 1.1 billion. According to Stoere, quoted by Aftenposten, the civilian aid alone will add up to around NOK 400-500 million. This makes Afghanistan the second largest recipient of Norwegian development aid. Only the Palestinians get more .

Afghan Leader, Allies Act to Extend Kabul's Influence to Provinces

Elaine M. Grossman | 16 Jan 2007 - Inside the Pentagon

The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, and an international advisory team he has assembled are moving to exercise more control over two dozen provincial reconstruction teams, or "PRTs," in a bid to more effectively extend the central government's power outside Kabul, according to a top U.S. general.

The initiative comes at a precarious moment, as Taliban extremists are increasingly warring with NATO troops and have tightened their grip on southern Afghanistan, weakening Karzai's hand.

The Afghan president's "policy action group" or "PAG" -- which includes representatives from the United States, United Nations, European Union, NATO and nongovernmental aid organizations -- has made extending governance into the provinces a critical priority and intends to use the PRTs as a key instrument.

In many Afghan provinces, a 70- to 100-person PRT constitutes the central government's only presence, even though it is composed almost entirely of international personnel rather than Afghans, according to experts.

To date, PRT objectives and specific projects have been left largely to sponsor nations and have varied widely. Input from the capital has remained limited.

"How do you get the government outside of Kabul?" asks Air Force Gen. Lance Smith, who as head of U.S. Joint Forces Command is responsible for drawing lessons from American military operations around the world. "That's always been a problem in Afghanistan."

Smith previously served as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, the organization that oversees American military activities in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

"Reconstruction projects [have] suffered from a lack of coordination and oversight," Robert Perito, a senior program officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace, wrote in an October 2005 research report on PRTs in Afghanistan. "In the view of many PRT veterans, the entire multinational PRT program would benefit from an agreed concept of operations and an effective central coordinating authority."

Though change has been long in coming, Karzai appears to have drawn the same conclusion.

His new effort is aimed at providing "more top cover for the PRTs [to] make sure that the central governments have an influence on what the PRTs are doing and where they ought to focus their attention," Smith told Inside the Pentagon in a Dec. 15 telephone interview. The general spoke from a facility near his Norfolk, VA, headquarters.

Karzai created the multinational policy advisory group last year to more effectively coordinate and integrate strategic policy initiatives, according to experts. The body reports monthly to the Afghan president, with the next such gathering expected in Berlin at the end of the month, says one observer. In between the monthly briefings, subcommittees hash out detailed initiatives, this source says.

The panel has urged Karzai to make poppy eradication and the cultivation of alternative crops a top priority for the PRTs, according to Smith.

The Afghan poppy crop -- cultivated for processing into heroin -- accounts for nearly 90 percent of the world's market, Ahmed Rashid wrote in The New York Review of Books last June. And drug smugglers have forged new alliances with the Taliban, according to the Pakistani journalist and author of widely acclaimed books on the Taliban and militant Islam.

The latest resurgence of the extremist Muslim fighters has made a third of the nation "ungovernable," Rashid wrote.

Smith says the new Afghan policy effort draws lessons from a similar challenge confronted by neighboring Pakistan.

"When [the leaders of] Pakistan dealt with their poppy problem, they recognized that the first thing they had to do was build roads so that, once they did an alternative livelihood program, [farmers] could get their goods to market," Smith said. "So that is part of the coordination effort that, I think, will come out of these efforts" in Afghanistan, he said.

Karzai's policy action group "would like [PRT work] to be more centralized," the general told ITP. "So if you're going to build roads, for instance, build them so that [paving] connects cities" and helps Afghans move legitimate agricultural products to the marketplace, he said.

In fact, since their 2003 inception, the PRTs have been envisioned as a means of extending stability and reconstruction to remote provinces until the Afghan federal government could operate more effectively on its own.

But the PRTs' earlier emphasis on promoting governance "translated into supporting the respective provincial governors," Perito wrote in his 2005 report.

"We'd take a principal out of Idaho and we'd put him in the middle of Afghanistan and give him some folks and say -- you know, he was a [military] reservist -- and we'd say, 'Hey, go do good work,'" Smith explained. "And what they learned over time is that [it is more effective if] you deal through the tribal leaders, you deal through the governor, you deal through the people -- to let them more or less determine what you should fund."

Local constraints in resources or manpower can limit a PRT's agenda, he noted.

Should a given PRT build schools or devote its assets to other projects? "It's sort of foolhardy to build a school when there's no teachers to teach in the school," said Smith, illustrating the thinking process.

"Should it be training for nurses? Should it be building hospitals?" he continued. "It doesn't make sense to build a hospital if you don't have nurses and doctors."

Previously, nongovernmental aid groups undertook a small number of reconstruction projects in the provinces, often working with regional warlords to get objectives accomplished.

Now there are 24 PRTs operating in Afghanistan, a State Department official said this week.

The United States leads 13 of the 24 teams: 11 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and two under the umbrella of NATO's International Security Assistance Force. Other nations, including Germany, Italy and Spain, lead the remaining nine NATO-ISAF reconstruction teams.

American-led PRTs in Afghanistan typically are composed of 70 to 80 military personnel, augmented by three civilians: one from the State Department, one from the Agriculture Department and one from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Perito noted in a Dec. 21 interview. Typically there are no Afghans representing the government in the PRTs, though sometimes a single Afghan officer is assigned as a liaison, he told ITP.

In his 2005 report, Perito called for "improved civilian agency staffing, funding and administrative support" for the U.S.-led PRTs. At the same time, he cited recommendations that the largely military-centric PRTs would be "better suited for performing security-related tasks. PRTs should concentrate on supporting Afghan security sector reform and providing a security presence in contested areas" -- leaving reconstruction and humanitarian work more in the hands of development and relief agencies.

Critics also have said that, in the eyes of the Afghan public, the PRTs symbolize a foreign military presence more than represent the central Afghan government.

"The trick is: How do you have an entity that is wholly foreign . . . extend the presence of the government into the countryside?" Perito, a former foreign service officer with prior Peace Corps experience in rural development, asked in last month's interview. "[There's] no plan or even concept of how you transition from entities that are basically United States military to ones where the Afghan government takes over."

The new initiative appears aimed at offering the international teams more Afghan guidance. But the effort will not have the Kabul government dictating to the PRTs exactly what will be on their to-do lists, Smith said.

"It is more an effort . . . to try and let the central government have a stronger role and a better role in trying to coordinate everybody's efforts in reconstructing the country and stabilizing the country," Smith said.

On a parallel track, the United States and NATO will focus more effort on training new PRT leaders and sharing with them "best practices" that teams have developed in Afghanistan, Smith said.

About 50 individuals attended the first alliance training session for PRT members in September, the general said.

COMMENT: Dealing with Afghan refugees —Ijaz Hussain

The best solution to the refugee problem lies in repatriating them to the towns and villages where they lived before their displacement. It signifies that conditions conducive for their return should be created

There is a consensus in Pakistan that Afghan refugees are an albatross around the country’s neck and must be repatriated to Afghanistan at the earliest. Following revelations that elements in this refugee population are using camps located near the Durand Line as bases for operations inside Afghanistan, the demand for repatriation has grown in intensity.

A former foreign secretary writing in a newspaper has argued for moving them out of the major Pakistani cities into ‘guarded camps’ (read detention centres) as a first step; this is to be followed by their shifting, with or without international cooperation, to Afghanistan.

Similarly, the government has asked the Western countries to help it repatriate the refugees since Pakistan could not effectively prevent them from using their camps as ‘safe havens’. Pakistan also argues that this exercise would cost the Western powers less than what they are spending in combating Taliban insurgency.

How sound is the proposal and will the Western powers buy it? Let’s first consider the ‘guarded camps’ proposal in the context of the 1951 Refugee Convention. This is so because the UNHCR considers it the benchmark to judge the actions of a State vis-à-vis the refugees in accordance with the standards laid down by the Convention whether or not a State is a party to it (Pakistan is not).

According to article 26, refugees, subject to certain regulations, like aliens enjoy the right to choose their place of residence and move freely on the territory of the State of asylum. However, article 31 circumscribes this right by entitling the latter to limit in exceptional circumstances their freedom of movement in the interests of national security or after their illegal entry to check identities, travel and identification papers claimed to have been lost or destroyed.

In other words, the Refugee Convention does not bar States from putting asylum seekers or illegal immigrants in closed or restricted camps. However, the international community abhors the idea as it considers it violative of the human rights instrument such as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that prohibits arbitrary arrest or detention.

The next issue relates to the forcible relocation of refugees to another country. According to international law, a change of circumstances, among others, in the country of origin of refugees can bring the refugee status to an end. As to the meaning of change of circumstances, it stands for the removal of fear of persecution that led to the refugees’ flight. The first step in this direction is the replacement of the tyrannical government by a democratic one followed over a period of time by legal reforms, declaration of amnesty and gradual improvement in the human rights situation. In other words, international law leaves no scope for forcible eviction of refugees except when a State of asylum does so on the ground of national security. However, here a State’s room to manoeuvre is limited, as it has to observe the principle of non-refoulement, i.e. that it cannot send refugees to the border where their life or liberty are in danger.

Examining the Afghan refugees’ case, according to the 2004 census jointly conducted by UNHCR and the Pakistan government, of the three million Afghan refugees still in Pakistan about 1.2 million live in camps as opposed to 1.8 million who live outside of them. The international community is likely to disapprove the idea of putting the latter into ‘guarded camps’ as testified by the hue and cry that the global media raised when the Australian government some years ago put asylum seekers in detention centres. Besides, it is going to be an utterly impracticable idea; Afghan refugees are not only widely scattered in the cities and villages of Pakistan but also have well-established businesses and other interests which they will not easily abandon. Therefore, it will be well nigh impossible to forcibly drive them into the camps. Such an exercise would also make Pakistan lose the goodwill it has earned over the years for its generous refugee policy.

Next, even if the Pakistan government somehow succeeds in putting refugees in ‘guarded camps’, it simply cannot forcibly push them into Afghanistan for a number of reasons.

First, given the fact that the international community will consider the move as a threat to life and liberty of refugees, it is likely to create hell for Pakistan. Secondly, the Afghan government that is certainly not in a mood to take these refugees back at this point will not cooperate with Pakistan. The response of the Western powers is not likely to be sympathetic either. Thirdly, the 2004 tripartite agreement signed between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR obliges Pakistan not to use force to repatriate the Afghan refugees.

If Pakistan cannot repatriate refugees through the use of force, it is however determined to go ahead with their voluntary cooperation. Its determination is evident from the statements of intent made at the highest level of government; the establishment earlier this year of a high-powered inter-ministerial committee headed by the Interior Minister for this purpose; and the refugee registration drive the government is currently undertaking. Will the government succeed this time or will it cave in as it did in 2003 when it failed to carry out its repatriation plan in the wake of a personal request by then- Afghan president to his Pakistani counterpart to defer it?

It appears that Pakistan this time will not accede to any request for deferring repatriation. It is outraged by Karzai’s accusations of helping the Taliban and wants Afghan nationals living in the camps — that are the source of infiltration — to go back. Also, Pakistan appears to feel that now is the time for the return of these refugees and another concession will signify an indefinite postponement of their repatriation. However, what really matters is convincing the Western powers of the indispensability of repatriation in the fight against the Taliban insurgency. The former know it very well that Pakistan has certain limits in dealing with the inmates of these camps. Still they may not buy Pakistan’s idea of repatriation because it would signify enormous expenditure that they may be reluctant to incur. They are likely to look for a cheaper solution, for example, by pressurising Pakistan to move camps away from the border.

According to press reports Pakistan prefers refugees to be shifted to the other side of the Durand Line. This approach may be good as a stopgap arrangement but cannot be a long-term solution because it will be extremely expensive and dangerous to do so. Even for Pakistan this is not an ideal solution as Afghan refugees have a history of returning to its territory (they did so in the 1990s when out of the 1.5 million who went back to Afghanistan under the UNHCR-funded programme about two thirds returned).

The best solution to the problem lies in repatriating the refugees to the towns and villages where they lived before their displacement. It signifies that conditions conducive to their return — provision of land and water to returning farmers, removal of land mines, establishment of schools, etc — should be created. The Western powers have been reluctant to undertake this agenda so far. Could Pakistan convince them that this is the only way to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans?

The writer is a former dean of social sciences at the Quaid-i-Azam University. He can be reached at hussain_ijaz@hotmail.com

[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.]