In this bulletin:

• Afghan prison bodies discovered -BBC
• Communist era mass grave discovered in Afghan capital
• Turkmen, Afghan leaders in one-to-one talks
• Afghan, Turkmen leaders discuss trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline
• Nato troops killed in Afghanistan – BBC
• Afghan, US Troops Kill 33 Taliban Fighters
• Suicide bomb wounds two UK troops in Afghanistan
• French General Says NATO Holding Back In Afghanistan
• Deadly bomb one of the largest seen by Canadians
• An envoy explains why
• How Panjwai slipped out of control
• Why our Afghan sacrifices matter
• Politics of war; Layton's yapping gives Harper some fodder for Afghanistan mission
• Fresh fighting at Pakistan mosque - BBC
• Iran in Afghanistan, friendly foe
• Iran: Deporting refugees
• Accusations of destabilization attempts haunt Iran
• Opinion: The Afghan conundrum

Afghan prison bodies discovered - BBC

An underground prison containing hundreds of bodies has been discovered in Afghanistan.

At least 15 underground rooms full of human remains were uncovered

The prison, a former military barracks on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, dates from the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, officials say. A senior police officer in Kabul says that many of the bodies were found blindfolded with arms tied.

The find was revealed by a 70-year-old Afghan who worked for the Russians and only recently returned to the country. There has been no immediate response from Russia to the news of the find.

"This is a big mass grave from the Russian days," police chief Gen Ali Shah Paktiwal told the BBC, adding that there were hundreds of dead bodies inside.

He said the base, on the northern outskirts of Kabul, belonged to the communist defence ministry.

"There are at least 15 rooms full of dead bodies," he said, adding that as the base was large there could be further rooms yet to be discovered underground.

Many of the victims' remains were found with rope or cloth around their eyes and hands, suggesting they had been blindfolded and bound.

The old man who led police to the site of the grave is reported to have told police that he had seen people killed by firing squad at the barracks.

The underground prison is the second Soviet-era mass grave to be found near the capital. In 2006, a grave was discovered by Nato-led forces near the capital's notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison.

Communist era mass grave discovered in Afghan capital

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

Kabul, 5 July: A mass grave containing thousands of bodies and believed to be from the time of the Russian invasion has been discovered.

The head of the Kabul security command crime branch, Gen Alishah Paktiawal, told Afghan Islamic Press [AIP] this afternoon: "An old man who had discovered the mass grave informed the police. We went to Chemtala desert near Karez-e Mir to the north of Kabul city and there he showed us a mass grave which had 15 rooms."

He added: "All the 15 rooms had only one door and it seems as if the people had been locked up in the rooms alive."

Paktiawal told about the number of the dead bodies in the mass grave: "Almost one thousand bodies have so far been discovered, but the actual number might be thousands since there are several locations in the grave the probing of which requires time."

The head of the crime branch told in answer to the question who had killed them and when: "This location used to be a military base of the Russian troops and the Defence Ministry during the Soviet invasion and the people were killed at that time."

The Russians terminated the government of the Khalq [communist] party in Afghanistan in 1979 and established a Babrak Karmal led Parcham party government with the help of 90,000 soldiers. The government included members of Nur Mohammad Taraki's Khalq party.

Afghans established a resistance force against the foreign invasion and the Russians and the leaders of the Khalq and Parcham [communist] parties conducted mass killings from time to time.

The Communists have also previously killed thousands of Afghans collectively after the coup in 1978 till Babrak Karmal's presidency. Dozens of mass graves have so far been discovered, but Gen Alishah Paktiawal's expressions gave the sense that the grave could be larger and the number of the martyrs higher than in the previously discovered mass graves.

Turkmen, Afghan leaders in one-to-one talks

Text of report by Turkmen TV Altyn Asyr channel on 5 July

Today, at an invitation extended by Turkmenistan's president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the president of Afghanistan, Hamed Karzai, arrived in Turkmenistan on a two-day official visit.

The high-ranking guest was met at Asgabat Saparmyrat Turkmenbasy international airport by our country's foreign minister [Rasit Meredow].

The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was welcomed then at the presidential palace by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan where an official welcome ceremony was held for the guest.

The ceremony was followed by a one-to-one meeting between the presidents of Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The meeting then was continued in expanded format.

Dear viewers, a detailed report on the first day of the official visit of the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to our country will be presented in the evening bulletin of our Watan news programme.

Afghan, Turkmen leaders discuss trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline

The Associated Press 07/05/2007

ASHGABAT - The leaders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on Thursday discussed prospects for a pipeline that would carry natural gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan.

Reaching out to Turkmenistan's violence-plagued southern neighbor in talks with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, new President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov also promised to provide Afghanistan with electric power worth US$300,000 (€220,000) at no cost.

"This is a big gift from the Turkmen people to the Afghan people," Berdymukhamedov, who came to power after the December death of autocratic longtime leader Saparmurat Niyazov, told a joint news conference with Karzai after talks.

Karzai said the discussions focused on a potential trans-Afghan gas pipeline ? an idea raised more than a decade ago, but stymied by violence and political instability in Afghanistan. Turkmenistan, Central Asia's largest gas producer, now depends on Russian lines for its exports.

"Afghanistan is interested in receiving income from the transit of Turkmen gas to Pakistan and India," Karzai said. Speaking through an interpreter, he said that "one of the main conditions of the project" is the issue of how much money Afghanistan would make for the transit of gas.

"We are not taking this project off the agenda," Berdymukhamedov said of the pipeline. "We will work together to resolve this issue," he said.

Karzai said Berdymukhamedov proposed building a railroad linking the two countries, calling it "very interesting" and saying the Afghan government will consider it. He said he would discuss the pipeline and railroad projects with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Karzai attended Berdymukhamedov's February inauguration and won a deal scrapping US$3.8 million debt for electric power. According to the Turkmen Energy Ministry, Afghanistan is to buy 287 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from Turkmenistan for US$5.74 million (€4.2 million) this year.

Karzai said Afghanistan wants to boost trade with Turkmenistan.
Their economics ministers signed agreements Thursday governing trade ties and cargo transit.

Nato troops killed in Afghanistan – BBC

Two Nato soldiers have been killed during an operation in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said. The alliance has not disclosed the nationalities of the soldiers or the place where the operation took place.

Most of the Nato soldiers serving in eastern Afghanistan are American, according to reports. About 90 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, most in combat for the Nato-led military force Isaf in the country's south.

On Wednesday, military officials said that six Canadian Nato soldiers and their Afghan translator were killed by a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan. Nato-led and Afghan troops have been fighting with the Taleban in the region recently.

Correspondents say that the south of the country has this year seen the worst violence since the Taleban were ousted from power in 2001 by an international coalition. Most of the soldiers deployed there are British, Canadian, Dutch or American.

Afghan, US Troops Kill 33 Taliban Fighters

By RAHIM FAIEZ 07.06.07, AP

Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops, using artillery and airstrikes, killed 33 Taliban fighters after the insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

The militants attacked two police vehicles overnight with gunfire and rocket propelled grenades. Coalition and Afghan forces responded in what the coalition described as a "sparsely populated area" in Uruzgan province.

Gen. Zahir Azimi said 33 Taliban fighters were killed. The coalition reported "no indications" of civilian casualties from the fighting and said no coalition or Afghan forces were killed or wounded.

Suicide bomb wounds two UK troops in Afghanistan

Fri Jul 6, 2007 12:54 PM EDT

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber attacked NATO-led forces near the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, wounding two British soldiers, Afghan police chief General Ali Shah Paktiwal told Reuters.

One military four-wheel-drive vehicle stood burnt out beside a dusty track just outside Kabul and another was slightly damaged. Parts of the bomber's car were strewn over a wide area. The charred stump of his body lay on the ground.

Two soldiers from the International Security Assistance Force suffered minor wounds in the attack, said an ISAF spokeswoman, but she declined to give their nationalities.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed several foreign troops.

There has been a rise in suicide and roadside bombings in Afghanistan this year as Taliban insurgents switch tactics after suffering heavy casualties in conventional attacks against Afghan government, NATO and U.S. forces.

The roadside bomb that killed six Canadian soldiers and their Afghan translator in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday was the biggest yet seen by his troops, the Canadian commander said.

Their armored vehicle was the toughest the Canadian troops have, but it was completely destroyed by the blast and all inside were killed instantly.

"By looking at the crater, it was quite huge. Over three meters across and a meter-and-a-half deep," Lieutenant Colonel Rob Walker told reporters at his base near in the southern city of Kandahar.

"This was very powerful. There is no vehicle that as going to survive that," he said.

Western military experts believe Taliban rebels are learning from insurgents in Iraq and say the technology of what they call improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is constantly evolving.

From July 2006 to June of 2007, there were 150 IEDs against ISAF forces within Kandahar province alone, Walker said.

Sixty-six Canadian troops and a diplomat have died since Ottawa sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002, mostly from IEDs. The death toll has increased doubts among Canadians about the wisdom of keeping the 2,600-strong Canadian force in Afghanistan.

In a separate incident, ISAF said the death toll from a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday had risen to two, but declined to give the nationalities of the dead. Clashes are continuing in the area and air strikes had been called in, the ISAF spokeswoman said.

French General Says NATO Holding Back In Afghanistan

July 6, 2007 -- The top French commander in Afghanistan says NATO could rout the Taliban but has held off using full force in order to spare civilians.

General Pierre-Richard Kohn said if NATO applied "blind force," it would "defeat the Taliban quickly."

But he said the alliance, under criticism for civilians recently killed in its anti-Taliban operations, is not using cluster bombs or weapons that endanger civilians. Kohn accused Taliban insurgents of "barbaric methods," including using civilians as human shields. (AFP)

Deadly bomb one of the largest seen by Canadians

Updated Fri. Jul. 6 2007 1:05 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

The deadly explosion that claimed the lives of six Canadians and an Afghan interpreter on Wednesday was the biggest roadside bomb ever seen by the investigators who rushed to the blast site.

The engineers who arrived soon after the explosion occurred described a massive crater, three metres wide by one-and-a-half metres deep.

Lt.-Col. Rob Walker, the head of the Canadian battle group in Kandahar, said the bomb was in the same class as one last April that also killed six Canadians, The Canadian Press reports.

"To be quite honest and truthful, when I looked at it I went 'wow, this is powerful'," Walker said Friday at a news conference.

"I knew looking at the vehicle these young men died instantly."

The soldiers were riding in an RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle when the blast occurred. Walker said the vehicle was completely destroyed.

However, he said he has not lost faith in the vehicle, which the military considers to be one of the safest and most reliable in the Canadian fleet.

"There was no vehicle -- the RG is one of the best vehicles in the world -- and there was no vehicle that was going to survive that,'' he said, adding that the Taliban's ability to build and detonate improvised explosive devices seems to be improving continuously.

All six of the killed Canadian soldiers have now been identified. They are:

• Cpl. Jordan Anderson, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton;
• Capt. Jefferson Francis, 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Manitoba;
• Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe;
• Cpl. Cole Bartsch;
• Pte. Lane Watkins;
• Master Cpl. Colin Bason.

Meanwhile, Canadian soldiers were continuing their work in Afghanistan on Friday.

CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Kandahar, said there is little time for grieving, and Canadian soldiers remain focused on the task at hand.

"I spoke to an officer this morning who is very closely connected to the company to which these soldiers belonged," Workman told CTV Newsnet on Friday.

"He essentially said they will grieve for a few hours, they will then put their feelings aside and get back to work. He said there's really a great frustration among the troops at not being able to get back against these roadside bombs, but he also told me when asked how the troops are holding up, make no mistake about it they're in for the fight."

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor offered his condolences to the families of the victims on Friday morning, but said Canada remains steadfastly committed to the mission.

O'Connor said Canada is in Afghanistan at the request of the democratically-elected government and he blasted New Democrat Leader Jack Layton for calling for an end to Canada's commitment.

"Thousands and thousands of people were executed by the Taliban and if NATO pulls out of -- as somebody like Jack Layton recommends -- if NATO pulls out of Afghanistan the Taliban would return and that murderous regime would be back and that wouldn't be very good for women and children in that country," O'Connor told CTV's Canada AM.

Senior commanders at CFB Edmonton have called for quiet reflection on the recent deaths, rather than political debate on the mission. Four of the slain men were based in Edmonton.

"I would encourage all of you that at this point in time, that the focus must be on repatriating these valiant soldiers and ensuring their families hear a clarion call of love and support from Canada," said Col. Jon Vance on Thursday.

"The families are well aware that there is debate on this mission. Nonetheless, at this particular point in time, the most sensitive and, I think, mature approach, would be to show them ... love and support. These soldiers died in a mission that they believed in, and saw progress occurring."

Also, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that it was not appropriate to have an immediate debate about the mission in light of the recent deaths.

"Parliament has approved... (the mission) until February 2009, but obviously today is not the day to have a political debate on the future of the mission, we have the House of Commons for that," Harper told reporters at a press conference in Halifax.

With the most recent deaths, 66 Canadian military personnel and one diplomat have now been killed in Afghanistan.

An envoy explains why

Afghan ambassador urges Canadians not to lose heart
The Ottawa Citizen, Kelly Egan, Friday, July 06, 2007

The day after six Canadians die in Afghanistan, you want to hear someone say it, say it out loud, maybe say it over and over. Well done, soldier. Thank you.

Omar Samad looks at the picture on the front page of the newspaper. Beautiful image.

Capt. Matthew Dawe, 27, is crouched down, about to embrace his son, Lucas, a blond-haired tyke with his back to the camera.

The soldier, a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, is wearing desert camo gear. The boy is wearing a white jersey with yellow stripes on the arms, arms he is flailing about, little fists flying, in a toddler trot.

Capt. Dawe is smiling broadly. A good-looking man. His eyes look red, as though overly tired.

There is a Canadian flag on a shoulder patch. He is extending his hands, as though about to sweep the one-year-old off the ground. One is young and innocent, the other grown and worldly.

It was February, as Capt. Dawe was departing CFB Edmonton. And now he is dead. Dad will lift Lucas no more.

Mr. Samad is Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada. He is shown the picture in his office yesterday. I want him to say it.

"I saw this picture," he said, leaning forward in his chair to glance at the paper on the coffee table.

Funny, but the way foreign embassies work around the world, this is actually a piece of Afghan territory in downtown Ottawa. It is the fourth floor of a yellow brick building on Queen Street, above a Thai restaurant and a commercial realtor.

Nothing special about it, really; not like the country it represents. A waiting room with a matching sofa and love seat. A desk with an HP computer. A water cooler in the corridor. A bookcase loaded with magazines.

"I have an 11-month-old son and I saw this picture of the father about to embrace this little boy, the father who is not going to come back to his little boy," and then he leans back in his chair, and finishes.

"And it's heart-wrenching."

Mr. Samad is a well-educated man, fluent in English and French, and speaks slowly, as though practised at careful oral composition.

"I don't have to be Canadian to feel for that family and for the loss they've incurred."

It is only to be human, he added, to appreciate the sacrifice that Canadians have made in his homeland.

"Every time we hear about casualties, we feel it, in the same way Canadians feel it."

It was an affirming visit. After 66 fatalities, it is useful to have a well-positioned someone answer the question: Why, again?

Mr. Samad, a third-generation diplomat in his mid 40s, grew up in Kabul during a time of peace.

He fled in 1979, following a Communist coup and spent many years in the U.S. earning a masters degree.

He said he was one of the first Afghans in exile to return after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Opinion polls have shown that Canadians are decidedly gloomy about the prospects of success in Afghanistan, a country with a history of resistance toward outside meddling.

But Mr. Samad says we should not lose heart.

"If you care about security and the threat of terrorism as we know it today, post 9/11, and how Afghanistan became a victim, pre-9/11, then it makes sense to be in Afghanistan," he said, beginning a recitation.

"If you care about the plight of one of the most impoverished nations on Earth, that has endured almost three decades of continuous destruction and a million deaths and millions of refugees, from the humanitarian point of view, then Afghanistan is the place to be, to help.

"If you care about such issues as gender rights, women's rights, children having access to basic health and education, democracy and freedom of expression, then Afghanistan is the place to show some type of caring."

The ambassador speaks to many groups across Canada and delivered best wishes to the famed Van Doos in a pre-deployment speech in Quebec City on June 22.

Do not fall prey to the idea that progress is not being made, he said yesterday.

"The difference today, for most Afghans, is the difference between night and day."

The rule of the Taliban was apocalyptic, he said, adding that government institutions and the economy are on the rebound. The gross national product, for instance, has tripled in six years, he said.

"I fully believe in the righteousness of what we are doing in Afghanistan, whether for us Afghans to try and rebuild our country, or our international friends, who are there to lend us a hand."

Righteousness. A good, strong word. You needed to hear that, in a week when six men come home in boxes, wrapped in flags, reunited with parents, wives, daughters -- and sons, big and little -- for the final hurt, everlasting.

How Panjwai slipped out of control

Bitter dispute between police forces gives Taliban upper hand in district where Canadians were slain - GRAEME SMITH From Friday's Globe and Mail July 6, 2007 at 4:06 AM EDT

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Afghan police fought deadly battles against their own colleagues from the intelligence service in Panjwai recently, local officials say, in a bloody example of the chaos that has partly unravelled security in a district where six Canadians died this week.

In the hours after an explosion engulfed a Canadian troop carrier in Panjwai on Wednesday, military commanders described the attack as an exception to the success they have enjoyed in the district. Panjwai has been largely pacified, Canadian officials say, by a year of intense military effort and millions of dollars in aid.

"This part of Afghanistan, the Panjwai area, is one of the safer areas in the province," Brigadier-General Tim Grant said of the latest deaths.

But parts of the district are falling back into Taliban hands, locals say, after security duties were handed to a ragtag police force that quickly found itself overwhelmed by a lack of supplies and reduced to banditry for survival.

The 05 Police Standby Battalion, a reserve unit, became notorious for corruption and desertions soon after it deployed to Panjwai this spring. The police unit also marked a new low point in the recent history of policing in the region when a police commander revived an old feud with an official from the National Directorate for Security, the Afghan intelligence agency.

The personal dispute spiralled into open warfare between the two law-enforcement agencies around the villages of Mushan and Talokan in recent weeks, according to police who survived the battles, and village elders from the district.

At one point, officers from the 05 Battalion say they were besieged in a concrete outpost and watched three of their friends die slowly of gunshot wounds, unable to take them to hospital as they remained trapped for days by hostile fire.

Dozens have been reported killed or injured in the fighting, although it's unclear how many of the casualties were the result of internecine warfare and how many were caused by Taliban fighters returning to take advantage of the feud between government forces.

Ismatullah, a young police commander, said his 05 Battalion unit was assigned in April to take over security in Mushan, about 50 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. By his own admission, Ismatullah says his men quickly resorted to thievery to supply themselves with things in short supply: money, food, bullets and fuel.

Even their outpost was taken by force, he said, describing how his police chased away a family that had been living in an abandoned clinic and turned it into a small fort.

Ismatullah says his unit contained 40 officers when they arrived in Mushan, but he now commands only a handful of men after 14 died, five were injured, and others ran away.

What remains of his group pulled back last month to the village of Zangabad, where the fighting continues, he said.

"I haven't slept in two days," he said, during a visit to Kandahar city for supplies. "We are ambushed every night. We have enemies from both sides, Taliban and government. It's a bad position."

Ismatullah's mobile phone rang as he talked and he quickly excused himself. Fighting had resumed, he said, and he needed to help his men.

Another police commander from the 05 Battalion, a middle-aged former mujahedeen fighter named Obidullah, said his unit in Zangabad has suffered similar losses. He commanded 50 police earlier this year, he said, but deaths and desertions have left him with 20 men.

The government hasn't given him enough supplies for any part of his job, he said; he even lacked money to give his fallen comrades a proper burial. But the biggest concern facing the local police is the infighting, he said.

"This is a big problem when two arms of the government fight each other," Obidullah said. "The Taliban take advantage of this."

The recent battles in Mushan started without any Taliban involvement, Obidullah said: The conflict was only between tribal relatives of two factions who held grudges dating back to the 1980s. But the infighting weakened the government forces and insurgents were able to seize the western edge of the district, he said.

The feud started with two commanders of the mujahedeen - holy warriors - who fought the Russians together but then squabbled over control of checkpoints around Kandahar after the Soviet retreat, said Haji Abdul Rahim Jan, a local tribal elder.

Both of the mujahedeen have long since died, Mr. Jan said, but their loyal followers Mohammed Azim and Abdul Ghafar continued the feud even after both enlisted as commanders of pro-government forces, Mr. Azim in the police and Mr. Ghafar in the intelligence service.

The NDS has now imprisoned Mr. Azim, the tribal elder said, and the policeman's family continues the feud. Pashtun culture contains a strong imperative for revenge, and Mr. Jan expressed concern that the dispute could grow into a tribal conflict.

"The tribes aren't involved right now, but they could be pulled in," he said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Rob Walker, Canada's battle group commander, said in a recent interview that he knows the 05 Battalion has struggled. The district has grown more restive since early June, he said, but it's hard to tell why the police have suffered so many casualties.

"They started getting hit," he said. "Was it because they were extorting people? Was it because they're soft targets for the Taliban?"

Why our Afghan sacrifices matter

JAMES APPATHURAI - Special to Globe and Mail, July 6, 2007

A few days ago, six Canadian soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb during an operation in the province of Kandahar. This was a heavy blow for Canada, whose forces have already paid a very high price in Afghanistan.

Not surprisingly, this tragic event has renewed calls for Canada to either abandon the mission immediately or confirm to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that in February, 2009, it is definitely out of Kandahar. It is for Canadians alone to have that debate; as they do, there are a few key points to keep in mind.

It might seem that this mission is all about fighting, but it isn't. Billions of dollars are being spent on development projects, on improving health care and education, on building a government that works for Afghans. And it is paying off. Compared to six years ago, 10 times as many Afghans have access to health care. Six times as many are in school, more than 30 per cent of them female. And they have an elected parliament that robustly challenges the elected President. Canada, and the many other countries investing in Afghanistan and its people, should be proud and encouraged.

But that development needs security. Aid workers cannot go where their lives are at risk unless there are soldiers there to create a secure environment. It is a fiction to suggest that we can invest solely in reconstruction and development without investing in security. It is also a fantasy to imagine that security can take firm root unless development is taking off. These are two sides of the same coin.

We must also imagine what would happen if our soldiers were not there. A few weeks ago, a major battle took place in the province of Uruzgan, next to Kandahar. Dutch NATO troops suddenly faced about 500 Taliban fighters who were trying to overrun the district. The Taliban committed the most profound war crimes: burning and cutting the throats of civilians, forcing civilians to fight with them, using civilians as human shields. The Dutch, heavily outnumbered, stood and fought, and regained control of the district.

Had they been forced to retreat, there is no telling what more would have happened to the people of that region. Canadian soldiers can tell you stories that would make you just as proud.

This is not hyperbole, but 20/20 hindsight. Until they were removed from power in 2001, the Taliban were among the worst human-rights abusers in the world. Tens of thousands of people were killed, often in the most brutal way; we all remember the weekly public executions and stonings of women in the main soccer stadium. Anyone who claims to defend the rights of women must support action against those who shut women up in houses, with even the windows blacked out so that they are never seen. Simply put, defending human rights in Afghanistan means sometimes having to fight.

Some Canadians have concerns about the way that fighting is taking place — in particular, the level of civilian casualties. That concern is shared across the NATO alliance. Our military commanders are keeping procedures constantly under review, improving co-ordination with the Afghans and investigating allegations of civilian casualties promptly and rigorously. One innocent civilian life lost is one too many, and we will continue to make every effort to minimize them.

We must, however, be honest with ourselves, and with the Afghan people. We will never be able to fully avoid civilian casualties — not while the Taliban wear civilian clothes, fight from civilian areas, retreat to civilian houses and use civilians as human shields. If we set ourselves that impossible standard, we play right into the Taliban strategy.

This mission in Afghanistan is perhaps the most difficult operation the international community has taken on in decades: long, grinding, with no clear end date, complicated by an insurgency, poppy production and weak national institutions, and by neighbours that do not always help. Despite all that, it is the right thing to do. It is in our interest, to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming the terrorist's Club Med. It is also in our tradition, to defend basic human rights and the UN Charter.

This week has been a bad one for Canada — and for others, such as Britain, which lost soldiers in the same period. It may not be the last. But when we lift our eyes from the tragedy of these events, we should be encouraged by what we have helped the Afghans to accomplish. And we should remain committed to this good cause.

Canadian James Appathurai is a spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Politics of war; Layton's yapping gives Harper some fodder for Afghanistan mission

Den Tandt, Michael - Editorial - Friday, July 06, 2007

'Students of history will know that all major conflicts are resolved ultimately through peace-oriented discussions," Jack Layton smugly intoned at a press conference Wednesday, with the bodies of six Canadians, who are heroes, not yet cold.

Once again, Layton called on the government to pull the troops out, now. Every new tragedy - every Canadian loss in combat - gives Layton cause to renew his demand that Canada should abandon its allies and leave the people of Afghanistan to their bleak fate. He doesn't bother to wait until the news has even hit home, really. He leaps for the microphone like a trout for a fly.

All major conflicts are resolved through peace-oriented discussions? That's funny. The invasion of Normandy was not a peace-oriented discussion. Nor were the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nor, for that matter, was the American arms-spending spree that bankrupted the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. But never mind that. Jack Layton, the Great Peace Maker, has spoken.

Then there's Stephane Dion. The Liberal leader apparently realizes that a precipitous pullout would be disastrous for NATO and for Canada. Among Liberal heavyweights, Dion was always one of those who strongly backed the Paul Martin-inspired notion of the "responsibility to protect." The same goes for deputy leader Michael Ignatieff. The Afghan mission was a Liberal baby. So, the party can't quite bring itself to disown it.

But neither can the Liberals resist turning tragedy into political fodder.

Wednesday Dion held a press conference of his own, during which he said the Liberals will never support an extension of the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan beyond its current mandate, which ends in February of 2009. Since Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ruled out any extension without Parliamentary approval, that appears to be that.

Here too, as in Layton's rhetoric, there's comfort for the ignorant fanatics who are killing Canadians. For if Canada is leaving in February of 2009, come hell or high water, the insurgents need only redouble their efforts. It's a moral victory for them, a public-relations bonanza, and ample reason for them to continue with the tactics that are serving them so well. This is not an easy thing to acknowledge, but it is true.

There is one silver lining to the growing Canadian political opposition to the war effort, though. It may not be one the opposition is aware of. But if Stephen Harper is as clever a strategist as he is believed to be, it's very likely he is keenly aware of it.

The structural problem with the NATO mission in Afghanistan has always been this: Too large and fractious a country, too few troops, and especially too few deployed in the south. While Canada, the Brits, the Americans and the Dutch bear the brunt of the carnage in Kandahar and Helmand, other major NATO powers, such as Germany and Italy, stick to the relatively safe north and west.

Then there's the problem of the Afghan government. President Hamid Karzai, well-intentioned though he may be, leads an administration rife with corruption. Billions of international aid dollars have been spent in Afghanistan over the past five years. Last year, another $10.5-billion (U.S.) was committed. Still, Afghan farmers in the south are so desperately poor that growing numbers of them rely on poppy cultivation to survive.

Perhaps most egregious at ground level is the problem of the Afghan police. There is no security, no safety, for anyone living in southern Afghanistan. The Afghan National Police are poorly armed, poorly equipped, poorly trained. They rattle around, unprotected, in the backs of pickup trucks, sitting ducks for roadside bombs and ambushes. The earn $40 a month, or thereabouts. Despite many worthy speeches by many worthy experts around the world, and despite some progress on police training (to which Canadian troops and the RCMP have contributed), the pace of change in policing is much too slow. Without security for the average Afghan, everything else stalls: Development, reconstruction, health care, education.

These are major problems - intractable ones. Solving them will require a significant application of power. Strong pressure must be applied on the Afghan government, to root out corruption. Strong pressure must be applied on the European powers, to shoulder their fare share of the burden in the south.

Canada's only leverage in that effort is its powerful foothold in Kandahar, for which 67 Canadians have now paid the ultimate price - and its ability to withdraw. For though the Germans and others have little appetite for combat casualties, they do require the survival of NATO. The Soviet Union is gone, but Russia remains a threat to them. Also, Africa and the Middle East, the geographic epicenter of Islamist radicalism, are on Europe's doorstep.

There is a credible argument that, if NATO fails in Afghanistan because of some members' unwillingness to live up their treaty obligations, the alliance itself will fall apart. Likewise, one can argue that a unilateral Canadian withdrawal from the south would cause the overall NATO mission to fail, because it would precipitate other flights by other nations.

So, Harper's concession to the opposition two weeks ago - that Parliament must approve any extension of the mission - held a not-so-subtle message for Europe, and for the Afghan government: Pay attention to what we say and give us what we need: Do not take us for granted. Or you may lose us and, in losing us, lose much more.

In this diplomatic battle, which will happen entirely behind closed doors, the rantings of Layton and the equivocations of Dion give Harper something he badly needs - leverage. It's small comfort, but it's something.

Michael Den Tandt is Editor of the Sun Times in Owen Sound and a former political correspondent based in Ottawa.

Fresh fighting at Pakistan mosque - BBC

Fresh fighting has erupted at the Red Mosque in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, where a government siege of radical Islamists is in its fourth day.

Troops launched an assault as a group of students tried to leave the complex. Two students were killed, bringing the death toll to 21.

But President Pervez Musharraf has held back from a full assault, fearing casualties among women and children. Earlier the mosque's deputy leader said he would rather die than surrender.

The BBC's Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says a group of students tried to break out of the complex, sparking a co-ordinated assault on three sides by armoured personnel carriers and rangers.

Two students were killed in an exchange of fire and at least 10 wounded, four of them seriously. But our correspondent says the clashes have died down and this has not been a full-scale attack.

Mosque deputy leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi said he would leave on certain conditions, including being allowed to look after his ailing mother.

Pakistani government ministers dismissed the deal and Mr Ghazi said he would not surrender unconditionally.

"We have decided that we can be martyred but we will not surrender. We are ready for our heads to be cut off but we will not bow to them," he said.

Mr Ghazi's brother Maulana Abdul Aziz - leader of the mosque - was earlier captured while trying to escape wearing a woman's burqa.

Separately, Pakistan's media reported that Gen Musharraf's plane came under fire as it took off from a military base close to the capital.

Officials denied the reports, but police said they had found two anti-aircraft guns on a rooftop near the air base, in Rawalpindi. It was not clear if the guns had been fired.

Gen Musharraf, who has survived previous assassination attempts, was said to be unharmed.

It is believed several hundred religious students are still inside the complex, after more than 1,000 left under mounting pressure from security forces.

Officials said about 60 of those remaining are hard-liners, who have been at the vanguard of campaigning for the imposition of strict Islamic law (Sharia) in Islamabad.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the government is piling psychological pressure on those still inside with a mass demonstration of force demanding unconditional surrender.

The view here is that the clerics want an honourable exit, but the president is determined to inflict absolute defeat on the Red Mosque, our correspondent says.

Speaking in a telephone interview broadcast on Pakistani television, Mr Ghazi said he had told government mediator Chaudry Shujaat Hussain that his followers were ready to surrender.

But Mr Ghazi said he had insisted the authorities promise not to detain anyone who they could not prove belonged to any banned militant groups, or were not wanted for any crime.

The cleric also demanded a guarantee of safety for himself and his family, saying he wanted to remain on the premises with his sick mother until they were able to move elsewhere.

Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim Khan said Mr Ghazi and the remaining students would have to lay down their arms unconditionally like all those who left the mosque since the violence began on Tuesday.

Earlier, Mr Khan accused the Red Mosque Islamists of using women and children as human shields, saying a number of them were being held hostage in the building's basement.

Iran in Afghanistan, friendly foe

Some believe recent actions by Iran are deliberately paving the road to Afghanistan's destabilization, but others say a weak Kabul is not in the Islamic Republic's best interests.

International Relations and Security Network (ISN), Switzerland
By Anuj Chopra in Herat, Afghanistan for ISN Security Watch (06/07/07)

Unlike much of Afghanistan, there are no signs of war in Herat, an ancient town in the western part of the country. Far from the dangerous haunts of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, there is little insurgent activity here. Instead, there is prosperity and an economic boom, all thanks to neighboring Iran.

There is 24-hour electricity largely provided by the Islamic Republic. Street lights illuminate macadamized roads, a stark contrast to the capital Kabul where lengthy outages are frequent.

Situated just 120 km from the Iranian border, Herat is emerging as a nexus of trade routes between central and south Asia, and Iran is a major investor. The markets are deluged with Iranian goods from factories on the other side of the border. Major projects, including the Dogharoun-Herat Road, the Milak Bridge and several civil and cultural projects, are underway in Afghanistan, led by Iranian firms.

Iran also plans to establish a railroad system that will link the two countries.

And Afghan officials appear to feel that working with Iranian firms is easier than working with European firms, because of geographical convenience and lower transportation costs.

"Given the proximity, there's much scope for doing business here," Lailla Mercier, an Iranian-British businesswoman, told ISN Security Watch.

Mercier recently signed a three-year lease on a hotel in Herat owned by the municipality.

Since the fall of the Taliban, Iran's contribution to Afghan reconstruction has been close to US$1 billion. Trade between the two countries has touched US$260 million and is expected to rise further.

Iran and Afghanistan share deep ties such as language, religion and a similar culture. But despite the bonhomie, Iran is largely viewed with suspicion in Afghanistan.

Iran: Deporting refugees

According to reports, Iran deports a staggering number of Afghan refugees every day, which has led to accusations that the Islamic Republic is attempting to destabilize its neighbor. So far, more than 100,000 have been sent to Afghanistan in the past two months, compared with 146,387 deported in 2006, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

About 1.5 million illegal migrants live in Iran with an additional 950,000 registered Afghan refugees. Iran received millions of refugees during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the subsequent civil war. Many Afghans found secure jobs and a stable life in Iran.

Even though Iran has been deporting refugees for years, the pace has quickened of late. Nearly 2,000 refugees a day are sent back to Afghanistan through the Islam Qala border crossing - about 120 kilometers west of Herat - almost all of them penniless and empty-handed. The return of these and other refugees is straining Afghanistan's resources.

Syed Hassan Hussaini, 27, says he was picked up last week by Iranian police, manhandled and stuffed in a bus with other Afghan refugees. He told ISN Security Watch that he was dropped off unceremoniously at the Islam Qala border crossing.

His family migrated to Iran during the Russian invasion when he was two. Hussaini was studying literature at Tehran University when he was deported by the Iranians. He was not given the opportunity to collect his belongings, he says. And there's little chance he will be allowed to go back and complete his degree.

Nine family members are still in Iran – in hiding – and he has had no contact with them since he arrived here last week.

"I hate Iran for doing this to me," he said. "They treat Afghans like animals."

The director general of Iran's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrant Affairs, Ahmad Hosseini, denies such allegations of abuse and defends his country's decision to implement full-scale deportation. He points to the rising number of refugees accessing the country's subsidized petrol, food and housing, putting tremendous strain on Iran's economy.

"The money we were supposed to spend on reconstruction for our own country has been spent on [Afghan] refugees. Today when we count the cost, it is US$7 billion a year, or US$6 per Afghan every day," he told the Associated Press in June.

Accusations of destabilization attempts haunt Iran

Washington accuses Iran of using Afghanistan as a buffer and a place to foment aggressive action toward the US . Some believe the Iranian Foreign Ministry is staging a friendly public relations campaign with Afghanistan, supporting the Afghan government, while its religious armed forces and intelligence are discreetly supporting and providing arms to the Taliban.

"Iran is like a wolf in the clothes of a sheep," Halim Fidai, well-known Afghan journalist and president of the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), told ISN Security Watch in Kabul. "It is quietly, yet actively, turning Afghanistan into another Iraq."

In a 28 June interview with the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), Admiral Michael McConnell, the US director of national intelligence, said there was "overwhelming evidence" that Tehran was supporting insurgents in Iraq and "compelling" evidence that the same was happening in Afghanistan.

Sharafudeen Stanikzai, a reporter for Radio Free Afghanistan, has documented and photographed Iranian-made land mines in western Afghanistan near the border with Iran.

"There's no Taliban in this region," he told ISN Security Watch. "It's hard to believe these weapons are coming in without the knowledge of the Iranian government."

Afghanistan shares a 928-km border with Iran ,which runs along three Afghan provinces. It is largely porous and unpatrolled, making it easy to smuggle arms into the nearly empty landscape of scruffy plains, treeless hills and the foothills of the Barkharz mountains in the north.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced recently that a powerful and sophisticated type of roadside bomb prevalent in Iraq - the explosively formed projectile (EFP) - had been discovered near a university in Kabul. EFPs are lethal and capable of destroying armored vehicles. Used by insurgents in Iraq, suicide and roadside attacks using EFPs have become common in Afghanistan as well.

Scheffer said these weapons were crossing the border from Iran into Afghanistan and turning up in the hands of Taliban fighters.

Analysts also warn of a nexus of interests emerging between Iran, Russia, Taliban remnants and renegade Afghan militia leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, all of whom are believed to want to see Afghanistan destabilized.

Iran is boosting the tribal, ethnic and sectarian religious rivalry in Afghanistan to keep the country weak and insecure and to ensure that the US and NATO fail in their mission, local analysts say.

They also believe that the Islamic Republic's intention in Afghanistan is to put pressure on the US by threatening the 27,000 US troops fighting the Taliban there.

Despite Kabul's repeated assurances that it would not allow its soil to be used for attacks against its neighbors, Iran sees the US presence in Afghanistan as a threat to its national security at the height of the nuclear standoff.

Details have also begun emerging that US intelligence has been training and providing arms to Jundollah (Army of God) militants in camps inside Afghanistan. These reports come from the Voice of America, a US federal government media service. Jundollah is a militant Islamic group (Sunni Muslim) based in Pakistan's Balochistan and said to have ties to al-Qaida. The group is fighting for an independent Balochistan in Pakistan's Balochistan Province and Iran's Sistan and Balochistan Province. The group has reportedly killed a number of Iranian soldiers.

In the meantime, Iran says that US accusations that it is attempting to destabilize Afghanistan are "100 percent lies."

"There is no clear evidence that the Iranian government is behind the weapons discovered," Dr Najeeb Ur Rahman Manalai of Kabul's Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies, told ISN Security Watch. "They might even be coming from some anti-Iranian insurgent groups operating in Iran."

Manalai said that while continued US occupation of Afghanistan was not in Iran's vital interests, Afghanistan's long-term stability was of utmost concern to Tehran.

Shia-dominated Iran has had a fundamental problem with the Taliban's virulent anti-Shi'ite ideology, and would be averse to forge any serious relationship with them.

The Iranian leadership will not easily forgive the Taliban for massacring thousands of Shi'ites in the Hazarajat region and in northern Afghanistan during its reign in Kabul. Tehran came close to war with the Taliban when they executed eight Iranian diplomats in Mazar-e-Sharif in 1997.

Throughout the Taliban period of rule, Iran was a principal backer of the Northern Alliance. Even today, the Afghan bazaar is awash with Iranian weapons that were supplied to Northern Alliance groups during the anti-Taliban resistance in the late 1990s.

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London has been monitoring Northern Alliance groups in Afghanistan clandestinely selling their stockpiles of weapons to the Taliban. NATO contingents have also independently confirmed such smuggling.

And these could be the same Iranian-made weapons recently discovered in Afghanistan.

The Karzai-led Afghan government has emphatically rejected allegations that the Iranian government was sending weapons to Taliban fighters. "We don't have any such evidence so far of the involvement of the Iranian government in supplying the Taliban," he said in June. "We have a very good relationship with the Iranian government. Iran and Afghanistan have never been as friendly as they are today."

Karzai visualizes Tehran as a balancing factor in Kabul's troubled equations with Islamabad, say analysts.

Of all Afghanistan's neighbors, apart from India, Karzai has worked tirelessly to maintain a steady and cordial political relationship with Iran, irrespective of the tensions between Washington and Tehran.

"Afghanistan already has a troubled relationship with Pakistan," says Manalai. "It can't afford making more enemies in the region."

Anuj Chopra is a freelance journalist whose stories have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor and The San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. Chopra lives just outside Mumbai in India and is the 2005 recipient of the CNN Young Journalist Award in the print category.

Opinion: The Afghan conundrum

Dawn 4 July 2007 By Najmuddin A. Shaikh

BASING its assessment on Afghan reports, the Associated Press says that coalition forces killed 203 Afghan civilians in the first five and a half months of 2007. It puts the number of those who died at the hands of the Taliban at 178.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan says that the figure for those killed by the militants and coalition forces is 213 and 207 respectively for the first five months of the year.

Most observers agree that these are conservative estimates and that the death toll among civilians is far higher. In an incident on Friday, Afghan officials confirmed that a bombing raid on a Taliban hideout killed 45 civilians along with 62 Taliban.Suicide attacks, earlier unknown in Afghanistan, have surged. In the first five months of 2006, 11 suicide attacks took 63 lives while in the same period this year there were 42 attacks in which 171 people were killed. There are media stories that the suicide bombers are being trained in camps in the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan by Arab veterans of the Afghan jihad and the Arab Brigade created by Osama bin Laden during the Taliban era.

The trainees are, for the most part, Afghans or recruits from other parts of the Muslim world. The Arabs themselves have apparently not carried out any suicide attacks. Suicide bombings and the means of indoctrinating volunteers have been learnt from the experience of insurgents in Iraq and were probably brought to Afghanistan by the Al Qaeda.This is not all. There are indications that the insurgents have now started the manufacture of the same sort of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) that have become the bane of the American army in Iraq.

The statements from leaders of the coalition partners all suggest that they are committed to staying the course in Afghanistan and that unlike in Iraq they believe that the battle in Afghanistan against the Taliban is a “noble cause” and an essential element of the war against terrorism.

Actions on the ground, however, belie these assertions. The Germans are now talking of withdrawing the 100-strong contingent of special forces that are fighting alongside the American special forces as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and there is speculation that the German Bundestag will not renew permission for the deployment of German Tornado fighter planes to fight support missions in southern Afghanistan.

The Canadians who provide a genuine fighting force are hard pressed in the face of domestic opposition to retain their forces. The French, the Italians and the other “old” Nato members are all facing opposition within their coalitions and among the voters.

All observers are agreed that the battle against the insurgency cannot be won from the air, but “boots on the ground” are pathetically few. The Americans have had no success in persuading their Nato allies to send their troops to battle zones in Afghanistan. Their own army is badly overstretched with the deployment in Iraq. There is little success, therefore, in pursuing the avowed objective of “winning the hearts and minds” of the people.

In Afghanistan, there is increasing nostalgia for the Taliban era which the Pashtuns recall as a period of security in which they were not harassed by corrupt officials or suffered indiscriminate air raids killing Taliban and innocent civilians in almost equal numbers.

This year the opium harvest in Afghanistan is expected to top last year’s record-breaking production of 6,600 tons. Afghanistan will contribute about 92 per cent of the total world production, with Helmand province alone producing more opium than the rest of the world. Unlike past years, UN officials estimate that the bulk of the opium, perhaps as much as 90 per cent, will be processed in Afghanistan and exported as heroin or other derivatives.

Given this addition, the narcotics industry in Afghanistan will be worth more than the three billion dollars that it generated last year and will certainly be more than one-third of Afghanistan’s GDP. The farmer gets only a third of this amount and corrupt officials get much of what traffickers have to offer. But there is no doubt that a part of the bribes the traffickers pay goes to the Taliban to finance their insurgency.

It should be noted as a significant aside that heroin consumption in the West is estimated at 170 tons annually. The balance of Afghanistan’s production is, therefore, available for the four million addicts in Iran and an almost equal number in Pakistan. As supply grows so will efforts to encourage further use in these two countries as well as in the Central Asian states.

The Taliban recruits in Afghanistan get paid about $10 a day. In a region plagued by the lack of employment opportunities such concrete inducements — far more than religious fervour — make for a plentiful supply of volunteers.

In contrast, little in terms of development or employment opportunities has been generated by the $13 billion which is estimated to have been spent by the international community in Afghanistan, particularly in the south and east of the country.

The famous offensive launched in Helmand to clear the area and to allow the reconstruction of the hydel power station at Kajaki has, after more than four months, yet to achieve its objective. The area is partly under the control of coalition forces but villagers in the area testify that such control lasts only as long as the coalition forces are present.

The road along which the heavy earth-moving machinery and turbines are to be moved has yet to be built. The repair of pylons and transmission lines is still on the drawing boards. Local officials have little hesitation in contradicting coalition forces’ claims of control over the area.

Observers agree that while the insurgency is an issue, the main grievance and source of insecurity is the corruption of Afghan officials and the poor governance provided by administration officials, most of whom are ill-trained and owe their appointments to the influence of the local warlords to whom they kowtow. The judicial system is weak and the prosecution system poorer still.

As I write this, an international conference is being held in Rome, with President Hamid Karzai and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in attendance, to devise programmes to improve the law and order situation in Afghanistan.

The new UN secretary-general on his first visit to Afghanistan a few days ago made this the principal theme of his visit, and his representative in Afghanistan said that in the last five years little progress had been made to end the “era of lawlessness, corruption, unprofessional police and an unreliable justice system”.

While the conference will probably bring pledges of fresh technical assistance and training programmes, past experience shows that implementation on the ground will be poor.

An American commander has claimed that 60 of the 83 districts in southeastern Afghanistan now owe their loyalty to the Karzai government while last year only 19 districts could be so classified. On the other hand, the World Food Programme has suspended its food aid programme in this area because of the frequency with which its trucks are being looted. According to their statistics, the WFP’s vehicles were attacked 85 times in the last year and in 25 of these incidents (13 of them in the past three months) the WFP lost 200 tons of wheat and $400,000 worth of cooking oil.

Since the WFP ration has meant the difference between life and death for the poor of the area, the distress and despair this suspension will cause needs no emphasising. The poverty-stricken people will now turn to the Taliban and offer their services for whatever succour they can get from that quarter.

Political developments have been just as disquieting. The United National Front, largely a collection of leaders of the former Northern Alliance, formed in March this year has recruited as member Mr Gulabzai, the interior minister in Najibullah’s cabinet and an arch enemy in those days of the so-called Mujahideen who made up the Northern Alliance. It is incongruous but perhaps to be expected that even this former enemy of the stalwarts of the United Front is welcomed in their ranks because he, like them, is opposed to Karzai.

It is also perhaps uniquely Afghan that most of the prominent members of the Front are members of the Karzai government holding what are theoretically important positions. Most observers believe that the Front is a bid by these warlords to restore their regional spheres of power — Dostum in Mazar-i-Sharif, Ismail Khan in Herat, Fahim in Panjshir and so on. They cannot dislodge Karzai while he retains US support but they can and have added to the instability in Afghanistan.

Within the government there are divisions best exemplified by the alleged attack on the attorney-general by a former interior ministry official and by unsuccessful raids conducted by the interior ministry (presumably at the behest of the attorney-general) on the house of a former Kabul police chief, currently the security adviser to Karzai.

It has been generally believed that the Taliban have been receiving, in addition to the recruits from madressahs, much of their arms and ammunition from Pakistan. Recent reports, however, suggest that a substantial quantity is being supplied from Iran.Whether this is with or without the Iranian government’s support is not yet clear, although the western media and some western officials maintain that given the quantity and quality involved it could be presumed that the Iranian government is a party to the supply.

The Karzai regime, anxious to maintain its relations with Iran on an even keel, has been categorical in denying that any evidence exists of Tehran’s involvement in arms smuggling from Iran, but regional officials are less reticent.

The Taliban are, of course, the elements in Afghanistan that the Iranians most abhor. But in the twisted politics of the region, it is possible that elements in the Iranian government regard assistance to the Taliban as a means of discomfiting the coalition forces and keeping Afghanistan unstable so that communication routes through Iran to the Central Asian states acquire an irreversible permanence.

Iran, however, is not the only other source of arms for the Taliban. The northern warlords have surrendered only some of the arms that they had accumulated during the jihad. It is estimated that after the DIAG (Disarming of Illegal Armed Groups) had collected some 70,000 weapons more than one million still remained in the arsenals of the warlords.

Now reports suggest that large quantities of such arms are being transported from the north to the Taliban in the south and are earning a neat profit for the arms dealers. While the Karzai government is aware of this it lacks the means to put an end to it.

All in all, Afghanistan is a mess and is likely to remain so for many years to come. It is against this backdrop and with the full realisation that this mess has perilous consequences for Pakistan that Pakistan’s policy towards Afghanistan has to be framed. What that policy should be will be the subject of my next article.

The writer is a former foreign secretary.

[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.]