In this bulletin:

· China, Pakistan, and Terrorism
· Police killed in Taleban ambush in Afghan south
· German Foreign ministry confirms 2 Germans kidnapped in central Afghanistan
· Turkey condemns attack on Turkish troops in Afghanistan
· Afghanistan: Skeptics Urge Caution Over Purported Hekmatyar Cease-Fire
· NATO says Iranian-made explosives found in Afghanistan
· NATO offers military help to Pakistan in action against Taliban
· German chancellor advocates extension of Afghanistan mandates
· NATO forces in Afghanistan insufficient: Canada
· Canadians continue to back Afghan mission, PM insists
· Afghanistan could be world threat without increased military presence: Harper
· Canada beefs up diplomatic effort in Kandahar as end to combat mission pondered
· Jude Law in Afghanistan to promote Peace Day Retaliation?
· Rise of the warlords in the Afghan north - 18 July 2007
· Afghan-Turkmen railway opened in western Herat Province
· Iran, Pakistan discuss gas pipeline and Afghanistan
· US, Germany, Russia Grant $1 Billion Debt Relief For Afghanistan
· 12 uplift projects completed in Herat
· UNESCO to Register Afghan Sites
· Herat Women Thirst for Education
· Pakistan rejects US Qaeda report
· Ringing US support for Gen Musharraf
· US insists on tougher action against Qaeda
· Army Plans Offensive in Pakistan's Northwest
· Editorial: Facing al-Qaeda
· Al-Qaeda's Gains Keep U.S. at Risk, Report Says
· Suicide Blast Kills 1 Outside Afghan Police Station

Suicide Blast Kills 1 Outside Afghan Police Station

By REUTERS - Published: July 19, 2007 - MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a police station in northeastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing one civilian and wounding 11, police said.

The bombing, in the town of Faizabad, was the first suicide attack in the far northeast of Afghanistan, regarded as one of the safer regions of the country and a long way from the Taliban heartlands in the south.

Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase of violence since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001.

The bomber detonated the explosives attached to his body during the morning rush hour outside the main police station of Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan province.

The casualties were all civilians, said provincial police chief General Noor Aqa. He said he had no other details. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but authorities suspected Taliban militants.

The Taliban are largely active in southern and eastern areas where the militants mostly rely on suicide attacks and roadside bombs against foreign and Afghan troops as part of their insurgency campaign.
Police killed in Taleban ambush in Afghan south

Excerpt from report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website; subheadings as published

Kandahar City, 18 July: Two police vehicles were destroyed with five policemen killed and six more injured in a Taleban ambush in the southern Zabol Province Wednesday [18 July] morning, officials said. Taleban, on the other had claimed killing nine personnel in the attack.

Zabol police chief Brig-Gen Yaqub Khan said the two-vehicle police convoy came under attack in Hazartak area, located between Shahr-e Safa District and the provincial capital of Qalat on the highway.
Both the vehicles were destroyed. The injured cops were rushed to the Qalat Civil Hospital, where their condition was stated to be stable, said the officer.

Claiming responsibility for the attack, purported Taleban spokesman Qari Yusof Ahmadi said nine police personnel were killed besides destroying their two vehicles.

Two engineers, an Afghan and a foreigner, were killed and their four security guards injured in an attack on Khost-Gardez highway Wednesday morning.

Security chief of the southeastern Paktia province Brig. Gen. Gholam Dastagir Rustamyar told Pajhwok the road construction workers were attacked in Sato Kandaw area around 10 am [local time] Wednesday morning. They were surveying the Khost-Gardez road when their vehicles were ambushed by unidentified armed men, he added.

The dead included a Philipino and an Afghan national. Four security guards, all of them Afghans, sustained injuries, Rustamyar informed.

Niaz Muhammad, a witness and a driver with the company, told Pajhwok they were part of a 13-vehicle convoy.

Suddenly, they came under fire of small and heavy weapons, including rockets and Pika machineguns, and they started running to save their lives.

Niaz said he did not know about the casualties. Daud, a doctor at the Gardez Civil Hospital, said condition of the four injured was stable. [Passage omitted: Minor incident elsewhere, no casualties.
German Foreign ministry confirms 2 Germans kidnapped in central Afghanistan

The Associated Press - Thursday, July 19, 2007 - BERLIN: Germany's foreign ministry confirmed Thursday that two of its citizens have been kidnapped while working in central Afghanistan, .

"Based on the information we have at this time, we believe this is a kidnapping," Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told reporters. He said a crisis team had been set up in Berlin and the embassy in Kabul was also involved in efforts to solve the case.

Afghan police had said Wednesday that the Germans, along with two Afghans were seized in Wardak province's Jaghatu district. Jaeger said the Germans were employees of a company based in Kabul, but declined to give any further details.

"Since yesterday we have of course been able to gather information and draw up a picture of the situation on the ground," Jaeger said. He did not elaborate.

Another German man was kidnapped in western Afghanistan on June 28, but was released a week later, after the kidnappers — using tribal elders as intermediaries — demanded US$40,000 (€30,000) for freeing them. It was not clear whether money changed hands.

Turkey condemns attack on Turkish troops in Afghanistan

Text of report in English by Turkish news agency Anatolia

ANKARA (A.A) - 18.07.2007 - Turkey condemned the suicide attack which was staged on Turkish convoy in Afghanistan; and stated that its contributions to Afghanistan's development will continue.

Turkish Foreign Ministry stated on Wednesday that the convoy of Turkish Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) - which started activities in November, 2006 - got attacked this morning in Vardak city near Kabul.

The ministry noted that following the suicide attack, militants opened fire on the motor vehicles in the convoy. Attack was claimed by Taleban, and terrorists escaped when special operation teams responded professionally to the fire, added the ministry.

Erol Sarica, one of the special operation guards, was wounded, and hospitalized. His condition is good.
Foreign Ministry also stated that Turkey which pursues its contributions to Afghanistan's security, stability, economic development and reconstruction with a determined manner strongly condemned the suicide attack.

"The Republic of Turkey is determined to continue contributing to stability, safety as well as social and economic development of Afghanistan," stated the ministry.

Afghanistan: Skeptics Urge Caution Over Purported Hekmatyar Cease-Fire

July 19, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Reports of a possible cease-fire declared by rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have emerged in Afghanistan, but close allies of the mujahedin-era prime minister say it's a fake and insist his armed opposition continues to the Afghan government and international security forces.

Meanwhile, an RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent reports that a purported Taliban pamphlet in Helmand Province indicates disunity among Taliban commanders over who should lead the movement's operations in Afghanistan.

Reports that Hekmatyar declared a cease-fire are based on a statement purportedly signed by Hekmatyar himself. Hekmatyar has made no public appearance to confirm or reject its authenticity.
But a longtime political ally of Hekmatyar who now serves as his spokesman says the cease-fire declaration is bogus. Spokesman Haroun Zarghun told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan today that Hekmatyar has not declared any cease-fire. He said the declaration appears to be part of a conspiracy to damage Hekmatyar's political reputation in Afghanistan.

Afghan government officials say they remain unsure of the authenticity of the cease-fire declaration. Hekmatyar has said in the past that he will not join the political process in Kabul until all international forces have left Afghanistan.

The statement has been aired by a private television channel and is being circulated in Kabul today. It says members of Hekmatyar's militant Islamic Hezb-e Islami movement have "stopped and refrained" from killing other Muslims and destroying the country in order to participate in "political activity."

Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and author of the book "Taliban," told RFE/RL today that he is skeptical that all Hizb-e Islami fighters would heed such a cease-fire in the absence of a videotaped declaration by Hekmatyar himself.

"Obviously, if it's true, it would be an enormous boost to the government of Afghanistan," Rashid said. "But Hekmatyar has blown hot and cold many, many times in the last few years. Just three months ago, he came out first talking about a possible rapprochement with the regime and then saying he would never have a rapprochement. So we really don't know where he stands at the moment. And I think that unless it becomes clearer -- possibly with Hekmatyar himself appearing in some kind of video announcing a cease-fire -- unless it becomes clearer, I would be still very skeptical that all of Hizb-e Islami would stop fighting."

History Of Action - Hekmatyar's Hizb-e Islamai is the larger and more radical of two Islamist mujahedin movements with the same name, which translates as "Party of Islam." The origins of Hekmatyar's group were in the Muslim Youth movement of the 1960s that opposed the secularization of Afghan society and the emergence of Marxist groups at Kabul University.

Forced underground during the 1970s and 1980s, Hekmatyar fled to Pakistan, where he fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan by carrying out isolated raids. Those raids later developed into the kind of modern guerrilla warfare that helped end the Soviet occupation.

After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Hekmatyar's movement and the Jamiat-e Islami movement of Burhanuddin Rabbani became the major protagonists in the battle for Kabul during the early 1990s, when much of the Afghan capital was destroyed.

Hekmatyar concluded an alliance with Rabbani in May of 1996 and briefly held the title of Afghan prime minister.

Fundamentalist Credentials - It was the conservative Islamist Hekmatyar's measures that prohibited the broadcast of music from Kabul Radio and television before the rise of the Taliban. Hekmatyar also ordered women to wear strict "Islamic" dress before he and Rabbani were expelled from Kabul by the Taliban.

After the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001, Hekmatyar continued to wage war as a renegade figure, fighting against Afghan government and the international security forces in Afghanistan.

In 2006, Hekmatyar appeared in a video aired on the Arabic language Al-Jazeera television station and declared he wanted his forces to fight alongside Al-Qaeda.

Quariburahman Sayyed, a close ally of Hekmatyar who had been his spokesman until the 1990s, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan today that he doubts the authenticity of the cease-fire declaration.
"The way I know Hekmatyar, it is not likely that he will compromise his demand for foreign forces to leave Afghanistan," Sayyed said. "He has always insisted that foreign forces should leave Afghanistan first and then he would talk to the government."

On July 15, the Afghan Defense Ministry announced that 30 fighters aligned with Hizb-e Islami had laid down their weapons and agreed to cooperate with the government.

Signs Of Taliban Division - In southern Afghanistan, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Saleh Mohammad Saleh reports signs that divisions are emerging between Taliban commanders.

Saleh on July 18 obtained a pamphlet purportedly signed by Taliban commanders from Helmand Province that criticizes Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his leadership council.

The pamphlet, known as a "Taliban night letter," was distributed to tribal elders in Helmand after the Taliban Leadership Council reportedly met in Quetta, Pakistan, earlier this month and decided to put non-Afghan Al-Qaeda fighters in charge of Taliban operations.

"We criticize the decision of Mullah Mohammad Omar," said a copy obtained by a tribal elder who read its contents to RFE/RL but requested anonymity. The pamphlet continued: "We don't accept any other commander. If they continue on this path, we will leave the movement. We only want to carry out jihad against Americans and this is our wish. And we will fight until the end against foreign troops. But the decision of the leadership council in Quetta was a wrong decision. They want to appoint Uzbek or Chechens instead of a Taliban commander. And Mullah Mohammad Omar, you should know that Pashtuns never want to be slaves. We will not accept a Chechen or Uzbek commander. It is still unclear whether Uzbeks and Chechens are good Muslims. Death is better than accepting their commands. If this happens, we will stop and leave everything to Mullah Omar."

Rashid says he does not believe that Mullah Omar and other members of the Taliban leadership would agree to allow non-Afghans to guide their movement -- even though Al-Qaeda has a clear behind-the-scenes role in supporting the Taliban.

"I think there's a huge disinformation campaign -- probably being carried out by NATO and the Americans -- in order to present Mullah Omar in a light in which he is seen as being just a tool of Al-Qaeda and foreigners," Rashid argues. "Many Afghans would be prepared to buy that. Certainly, the Taliban propaganda is being countered now very decisively by a NATO-American counterpropaganda offensive. So we have to take all of this with a pinch of salt."
Taliban spokesman Qari Josef has dismissed the pamphlet, telling RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that it was "propaganda."

(Contributors to this report include RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Saleh Mohammad Saleh in Helmand and Ahmad Takal in Prague)

NATO says Iranian-made explosives found in Afghanistan

Kabul (AFP) - NATO forces in Afghanistan said they had found several Iranian-made armour-piercing explosives but stressed there was no proof of a formal supply from the neighbouring country.
Thomas Kelly, a US colonel under NATO command, said forces had found several of the so-called "explosively-formed projectiles" that were more sophisticated than the crudely-made bombs usually used by Afghan insurgents.

But the senior spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), US Lieutenant Colonel Claudia Foss, stressed that the alliance had no evidence that the Iranian government was involved in the supply.

Kelly said four of the devices, which are also being used by Iraqi insurgents and Lebanon's Hezbollah, were found in Herat near the Iranian border and in Kabul, where a fifth device had harmlessly exploded early this year.

The colonel told a Kabul media briefing that the bombs were "something called explosively-formed projectiles (EFPs)... They're designed to penetrate armoured vehicles.

"These are very sophisticated IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and they're really not manufactured in any other places other than, our knowledge is, Iran," he said, adding that the explosives were factory-made.

Taliban insurgents commonly attack US-led, NATO and Afghan targets with roadside bombs and other explosives made from old ammunition such as mortars and rockets left over from the war-torn country's decades of conflicts.

"The insurgents may have access to this device but may not yet know how to use them or know if they're effective or not," Kelly said.

Foss, however, told the same briefing that ISAF's commander had previously said "that we have no evidence of any formal supply of weapons from Iran."

"For decades this country has been under attack and we find weapons all the time but, as far as any formal supply, there's been no evidence."

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in June that "substantial" quantities of Iranian weapons are flowing into Afghanistan and that it was difficult to believe the Iranian government was not aware of it.
The United States has long accused Iran's Quds Force, an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, of arming and training Shiite extremist groups in Iraq.

But in recent months US military officials have said Iranian-made weapons including EFPs have also turned up in Afghanistan.

NATO offers military help to Pakistan in action against Taliban

The News International 19 July 2007

BRUSSELS: NATO voiced concern at a U.S. intelligence report highlighting the growing strength of al Qaeda Islamist militants in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

The 26-nation Western defence alliance, which is heading international peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan, said the report highlighted the need for closer political cooperation, economic and military assistance to the Pakistani government.

"There is no doubt that NATO and NATO allies would meet this kind of report with concern. It is of concern to be told that al Qaeda and the Taliban are getting stronger in an area across the border from Afghanistan," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

The unclassified report by the 16-agency U.S. intelligence community said Osama bin Laden's militant network, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, had gained strength and become entrenched in remote northwestern Pakistan.

Appathurai told a news briefing it showed why NATO needed a good political relationship with President Pervez Musharraf's government, which was engaged in "a significant effort to try to curb this kind of violent extremism in its own country, which has every danger of spilling over into Afghanistan".

NATO, Afghan and Pakistani intelligence officers were working together at a NATO intelligence centre in Kabul, and some NATO allies such as the United States were working with the Pakistani government to help boost border control. But NATO as an alliance would not play any kind of military role inside Pakistan, Appathurai stressed.

Talking to Geo News in Brussels, NATO Secretary Geoneral said that NATO will not comment on Lal Masjid, as it is an internal matter of Pakistan.

German chancellor advocates extension of Afghanistan mandates

Excerpt from report by German news agency ddp

Berlin (ddp) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) has advocated a prolongation of the Afghanistan mandates. The German commitment in Afghanistan has to be continued, Merkel stated in Berlin on Wednesday [18 July].

For this purpose, all three components have to be prolonged. The US-led antiterror mission "Operation Enduring Freedom" (OEF) is of central importance because it guarantees the security of the ISAF [Security Assistance Force] protection force to a very significant extent. The responsibility for Afghanistan also serves our own security. It would be "negligent" to keep aloof because there are difficulties, she said.

In the fall, the Bundestag will vote on the prolongation of the three Afghanistan mandates, to which, in addition to ISAF and OEF, the "Tornado" mission belongs. For the coalition partner SPD [Social Democratic Party of German] Germany's further OEF participation is particularly controversial.

NATO forces in Afghanistan insufficient: Canada

Wed Jul 18, 2007 - OTTAWA (Reuters) - NATO does not have enough troops in Afghanistan to accomplish the "daunting challenge" of stabilizing the impoverished nation, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Wednesday.

Harper also repeated a complaint that Canada's 2,500-strong military mission was doing a disproportionate amount of the fighting against Taliban militants. Canada has lost 66 soldiers so far in Afghanistan.

"The level of troop commitments from NATO today (is) not sufficient to achieve the long-run objectives that the international community and NATO have set for themselves," he told reporters in Chile, where he is on an official visit.

"So, obviously, we want to encourage that participation, " he said in remarks that were replayed on Canadian television.

Harper made his comments the same day that a British parliamentary committee said NATO nations were not giving enough support to the international force in Afghanistan.

"What I see is a growing concern of Canadians on the burden that we are carrying and the level of Canadian casualties. And let's be blunt about that ... I share that concern," said Harper.

Canada's mission is based in the southern city of Kandahar, a part of the country where the Taliban is strongest. Ottawa is unhappy that other NATO members have stationed their troops in more peaceful regions.

The Canadian mission is due to end in February 2009 and opposition parties in Parliament -- which control a majority of seats -- say they will not support an extension.
"Afghanistan is a daunting challenge ... but I think that if the international community works together we can make progress in that country to the point where it becomes irreversible and it becomes a functioning nation," said Harper.

On Sunday, an Ipsos-Reid poll for the CanWest chain of newspapers showed that support for the mission had slipped to 50 percent from a high of 57 percent at the end of 2006.

"I don't think it's actually an option for Canada or anybody else ... to simply close our eyes and pretend there aren't severe problems in other parts of the world," said Harper.

Canadians continue to back Afghan mission, PM insists

Richard Foot, CanWest News Service - canada.com July 18, 2007

SANTIAGO, Chile — Despite “growing concern” in Canada about the rising casualty numbers in Afghanistan and the failure of some other NATO nations to shoulder their share of the military and humanitarian burden, Canadians continue to support the “moral” purpose of the mission, Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted Wednesday.

Harper also said that the military mission in Kandahar will continue to have a tough and risky combat component, despite public comments last week by Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff, that the Armed Forces will shift their focus from fighting the Taliban to training the Afghan army.

“If I can be blunt, I don’t see in the Canadian population any substantial resistance to the purpose of our mission in Afghanistan,” Harper told reporters during his week of travels through Latin America.

“I don’t see a kind of a moral opposition to this mission. What I see is a growing concern of Canadians of the burden that we are carrying and the level of Canadian casualties.

“I obviously share that concern. I talk to the families who lose loved ones. I understand the pain and I understand the difficulties that this causes the Canadian population. That’s the real controversy.”

An Ipsos-Reid poll released Monday suggested that only half the population “strongly” or “somewhat support” the use of Canadian troops for combat and security purposes in Afghanistan. It said 45 per cent “strongly” or “somewhat oppose” the mission. Five per cent had no opinion.

Harper, however, said Wednesday he doesn’t make policy “on the basis of polls.”
The prime minister also dismissed recent suggestions from the public opinion company The Strategic Council, published in a report commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs, that Canada adopt a softer public tone on the mission and that the government change its message from one of “fighting terrorism” to “rebuilding” and “peacekeeping.”
In order to succeed in Kandahar, Canadian soldiers will have to continue their combat and counter-insurgency role, Harper insisted.
“The fact of the matter is, Afghanistan has enormous security challenges that are related ultimately to international terrorist threats. That’s why we went to Afghanistan in the first place,” Harper said.

“There are strong security challenges, particularly in Kandahar province where we’re based. You can’t simply ignore those. They have to be part of the approach you’re going to pursue if you’re going to be successful and you’re going to survive in that region.”

Admitting that the mission poses a “daunting challenge,” Harper nevertheless predicted that “if the international community works together we can make progress in that country, to the point where it becomes ... a functioning nation, one that will not slip back into the state of being a failed state that represents a threat to the security of the planet.”

Harper also reiterated his position that the mission will end in February 2009, unless Parliament chooses to extend or alter it.

But, he warned, “I don’t think it’s an option for us ... to simply close our eyes and pretend there aren’t serious problems in other parts of the world.”

Afghanistan could be world threat without increased military presence: Harper

July 18, 2007 - SANTIAGO, Chile (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says only a stepped-up military presence in Afghanistan can prevent the troubled country from again becoming a haven for terrorists.
In his most expansive comments on the troubled mission to date, the prime minister suggested Tuesday he was as weary as many Canadians with the state of progress there and the high Canadian casualties.

But he explained that Canada went to Afghanistan because it was a failed state responsible for training the terrorists that killed two dozen Canadians in the World Trade Centre attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and will once again become a global security threat if the mission fails.

"I don't think it's an option for Canada or anybody else to close our eyes and pretend there aren't severe problems in other parts of the world," he said.

Unless Western nations like Canada "take our international responsibilities seriously, these problems will come back to haunt us," he added.

Harper was reacting to a British report that warned the entire campaign is at risk if key NATO countries continue to refuse to deploy additional personnel.

The report also criticized efforts to suppress the opium trade and said NATO is failing to communicate its successes to ordinary Afghans, handing the propaganda initiative to the Taliban.

The prime minister noted that the report praised Canada's role, and he repeated his calls for greater participation by the NATO allies, particularly in Afghanistan's hot spots.

"This government has been clear that there has to be a more equitable burden-sharing in Afghanistan," he said. "We've also been clear that the level of troop commitments from NATO today are not sufficient to achieve the long-run objectives."

Canadians support the reasons for Canada's mission, he said, but they are concerned that Canada is carrying too much of the burden and that casualties, 66 soldiers and a diplomat killed so far, are too high.

"I obviously share that concern," he said. "I talk to families who lose loved ones; I understand the pain; I understand the difficulty this causes the Canadian population."
Harper, who was heading to Barbados, reiterated that he would not extend Canada's military mission in Afghanistan beyond its scheduled end in February 2009 without a "consensus" in Parliament.

Canada's concerns about Afghanistan were buttressed by a British parliamentary committee report that said the NATO mission in Afghanistan has been undermined by serious strategic mistakes and a failure to provide adequate troops.

Though NATO's ISAF force has around 37,000 troops, a much larger number and increased development aid are needed to stabilize the country, the defence committee report said.

Britain has complained its troops, along with those from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, are the only NATO forces fighting the Taliban in the most violent areas of southern Afghanistan. Other NATO-contributing countries restrict the use of their forces to relatively peaceful areas in the north. Spain, Italy, Germany and France have refused to send additional troops to Afghanistan.

Said Harper: "Afghanistan is a daunting challenge but if the international community really works together, we can make progress in that country to the point where it becomes a functioning nation, one that will not slip back into the status of being a failed state that represents a threat to the security of the planet."

Canada beefs up diplomatic effort in Kandahar as end to combat mission pondered

CanWest News Service , Thursday, July 19, 2007 - OTTAWA -- Canada is beefing up its diplomatic presence in Kandahar in an effort to secure a greater say in the future of Afghanistan and as Ottawa considers the possibility of ending combat operations in the south of the country in February 2009.
A senior government official characterized the deployment of Michel de Salaberry, a respected, retired diplomat with a track record in the region as "a beefing-up of firepower on the Foreign Affairs side."
Canada's latest diplomatic manoeuvres also come as a British parliamentary report released Wednesday blasted some NATO countries for not doing enough on the front lines of combat in southern Afghanistan.

"We remain deeply concerned that the reluctance of some NATO members to provide troops for the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) mission is undermining NATO's credibility and also ISAF operations," said the report of Britain's parliamentary defence committee, in a direct reference to the reluctance of countries such as France, Germany, Spain and Italy to send troops to southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.
"I'm glad the Brits have added their voice to this clarion call for other NATO countries to step up and to help with the burden sharing that's going on in the south," Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said in an exclusive interview.

MacKay said that Canada would turn up the heat on some of its fellow NATO members to do more in the "soft underbelly" of southern Afghanistan.

MacKay also dropped strong hints that Canada's combat role could be finished there by February 2009 when parliamentary approval runs out.

"The bottom line is: the clock is ticking, and it's not just ticking on Canada and our role. That bell tolls for all. We're looking at doing our part. And I believe we've more than done our share of staring into the eyes of the enemy. Not to be dramatic about it, but if we are not able to secure that ground in the south, this is the weak underbelly of the mission."

However, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday that Canadian soldiers will have to continue their combat and counter-insurgency role in Afghanistan.

"The fact of the matter is, Afghanistan has enormous security challenges that are related ultimately to international terrorist threats. That's why we went to Afghanistan in the first place," Harper told reporters in Santiago, Chile.

"There are strong security challenges, particularly in Kandahar province where we're based. You can't simply ignore those. They have to be part of the approach you're going to pursue if you're going to be successful and you're going to survive in that region."

Harper also reiterated his view Wednesday that the mission "ends" in 2009 unless Parliament decides to extend it.

"I don't see a kind of moral opposition to this mission. What I see is a growing concern of Canadians, and of the burden that we are carrying and the level of Canadian casualties," the prime minister said.
"I understand the pain and I understand the difficulties that this causes the Canadian population, and that's the real controversy."

Signaling a new role for Canada in Afghanistan's reconstruction, MacKay said more diplomats would be sent to Kandahar as well as the Afghan capital of Kabul to assist the government of President Hamid Karzai to extend its reach throughout the country.

"We are going to be increasing our presence there (in Kandahar). That will include those with specific regional expertise and some individuals within the department and those from other departments," said MacKay.

"Let's be clear, the current military role will expire from a parliamentary point of view in February 2009. That's the mandate that we have to continue in the current configuration. Having said that, there are other roles that Canada can play, transitioning into the aspects of training the army and police, of course, more on the reconstruction side."

Having additional diplomats on the ground would also give Canada a greater say in the future of Afghanistan.

"Having those direct ties will allow us to have perhaps a greater sense of comfort as to the decisions that are ultimately affecting the mission itself," MacKay explained.

De Salaberry, a former ambassador to Iran, Jordan and Egypt, retired three years ago, but as a 2005 Foreign Affairs Department publication made clear, he "remains firmly linked to the Middle East." De Salaberry, whose 29-year career also saw him posted to Israel and Algiers as well as director of the Middle East relations division, will be "senior civilian co-ordinator" in Kandahar.

MacKay, who made clear that Arif Lalani, Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, remains the country's top diplomat, also dropped hints that there is a limit to the sacrifices Canada is willing to make on the battlefield.

"We were asked by our colleagues and our compatriots in NATO to play this important role. We've done so; we've exceeded some expectations I would suggest because of the tough and tenacious nature of the Canadian military. We've accomplished a great deal there and we're going to continue to do so for a period," said MacKay.

"There are other countries who have the capacity, if not the political will to come to the forefront." Sixty-six Canadian troops have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
In their report, British parliamentarians warned that NATO's success in Afghanistan is at risk if some countries refuse to contribute more troops to the 37,000 already deployed, including 7,700 British and 2,500 Canadians.

The British report was also critical of the pace of training for Afghan security forces, citing corruption in local police.

"I agree with the report's recommendation that NATO countries need to do more," British Defence Secretary Des Browne told a BBC breakfast program.

Browne also said that if the mission in Afghanistan fails, Pakistan could also fall creating a "potential nightmare" for the world.

Jude Law in Afghanistan to promote Peace Day

The Associated Press 7.19.07 - KABUL, Afghanistan: Oscar-nominated actor Jude Law traveled and filmed in treacherous areas of eastern Afghanistan to help promote the United Nation's annual day of worldwide cease-fire and nonviolence in September.

Accompanied by British director Jeremy Gilley and a film crew, Law interviewed children, government ministers and community leaders for a movie to mark the U.N.'s Peace Day on Sept. 21.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted Peace Day into its global calendar of events in 2001, following Gilley's lobbying campaign, which he then turned into a documentary called "Peace One Day."
"Afghanistan will be the focal point for the second film, so it seemed important that Jeremy also have a sounding board, a third party perspective on his trip," Law told reporters inside a guarded U.N. compound in Kabul.

"This film is about documenting and seeing how Peace Day can save lives," Law said.
Law's trip was conducted in secrecy for security reasons. The crew also filmed schools and visited United Nations Children's Fund-supported programs in Kabul and in the eastern provinces of Laghman and Nangarhar, where violence often flares.

"This is a country I'd always wanted to visit," Law said. "It was a situation that I found intriguing. I felt that if it was safe for Jeremy it must be safe for me," he said.

Gilley said the film will be played in 50 countries and up to 70 international film festivals.
"Whether there is fighting in our countries, whether there is fighting in our homes, in our communities or in our schools, the message is to us all, there is one day of peace on this planet and if peace is important ... then we will all do everything that we can on that day to send a message of hope to the people of our world," Gilley said.
Retaliation?

The governor of a troubled Afghanistan province spoke out last week about the government’s failure to control the Taliban. This week, he’s out of a job.

EXCLUSIVE - By Dan Ephron Newsweek July 18, 2007

July 18, 2007 - My short time with Abdul Sattar Murad could not have been more revealing. I had watched the governor of Afghanistan’s Kapisa province interact with U.S. military officers for more than two hours last week, settling on reconstruction projects and slashing through red tape. I had scribbled "knows the game" and "very efficient" in my notebook, as he pressed the Americans to quickly authorize two new roads before the clock ran out on the 2007 budget and the leftover funds reverted back to the government. When it was time for NEWSWEEK’s interview with Murad, he spoke bluntly from the get go, warning of a power vacuum the Taliban and Al Qaeda were exploiting in outlying areas and criticizing the government of Hamid Karzai for failing to deliver on its promises.

Three days later, Karzai fired him. Officially, government spokesmen pinned the dismissal on incompetence and said it was brewing well before the interview appeared on Newsweek.com last Thursday. "Mr. Murad hasn’t served the people of Kapisa," the interior ministry said in a statement. It also suggested vaguely that Murad had been "misleading the [NATO] coalition" regarding airstrikes on his province. An interior ministry spokesman could not be reached to explain the accusation, and NATO officials did not respond to a request for comment. But during my time in Afghanistan, several U.S. military officials who worked with Murad described him as one of the most capable politicians in the country.

Those officials and others are convinced it was the criticism that did him in. The interview Murad gave NEWSWEEK was quickly picked up by Afghan television and later by the satellite-news network Al-Jazeera. In a follow-up phone conversation, Murad told me he received word that the president’s office was angry and considering its response. By Sunday, three days after the interview first appeared, he was told to vacate his office. "I had the sense there would be retaliation," Murad said by phone on Monday. "But what surprised me was how quickly they came up with these accusations."
For some longtime Karzai watchers, the dismissal was a troubling sign. Beset by a resurgent Taliban and charges of corruption in his government, the Afghani president might have felt that a lack of response on his part would have been perceived as another sign of weakness. "Unfortunately, President Karzai has shown a low degree of tolerance for criticism," said Barnett Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.

Murad says he has since tried to speak to Karzai but to no avail. (A spokesman for Karzai couldn’t be reached.) A veteran of the war against the Soviets in the 1980s, Murad later studied in the United States and returned home to serve under Karzai in the Afghan Transitional Administration. In 2004, Karzai appointed him governor of Kapisa, a medium-size province east of Kabul. Parts of Kapisa have seen renewed activity by the Taliban in recent months, and Murad said he had been targeted for assassination by the group. Now, Murad harks back on a line in the original interview and feels it rings more true than ever: "Afghanistan [is] at this critical moment of its history, [and] we don’t have a leadership that can unite the national leaders, which can see the needs of the people and respond to them," he said at the time.

Rise of the warlords in the Afghan north - 18 July 2007

In Afghanistan's chaotic security situation one trend has remained relatively stable. Violence has largely been concentrated in the south and east of the country, while the north and west have remained relatively peaceful. Yet, since early 2007, the number of suicide bombings, political assassinations and armed clashes has risen in these previously quiet areas as government control is increasingly challenged.

However, although militancy is undoubtedly on the rise in these areas, the main drivers of instability are the powerful regional warlords and smaller commanders. They maintain a latent threat to the fragile Afghan government because of their stockpiles of weapons and private militias. They range from one-time members of the Taliban and other extremist political groups to disenchanted mujahideen commanders of the Northern Alliance that helped remove the Taliban from government in 2001.

One man in particular has taken a leading role in seeking to engender anti-government and anti-Western sentiments in northern Afghanistan. Currently in hiding somewhere in the mountainous regions of north eastern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan, former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar consistently sends messages to influential former mujahideen commanders in these provinces, inviting them to join him in the struggle against the Western forces currently in Afghanistan.

Hekmatyar was a leader of Muslim Brotherhood movement in Kabul in the early 1970s. He later relocated to Pakistan to organise an Islamic opposition movement against the Mohammad Daud Khan regime in Afghanistan and was one of the major mujahideen commanders in the war against the former Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, Hekmatyar ran several radical Islamist training camps in Afghanistan and was a pioneer in sending mercenaries to fight jihad in other Islamic conflicts. He is thought to have returned to Afghanistan from Iran in 2002.

Afghan-Turkmen railway opened in western Herat Province

Text of report by Afghan Herat Province TV on 17 July

[Presenter] A railway line connecting the Torghondi and Koshki areas [of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan] was inaugurated today. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Herat Governor Sayed Hosayn Anwari, the Turkmen minister of railway, a number of MPs, the provincial administration's executive head, the security commander and the mayor of Herat, the heads of the security, foreign affairs, customs and transport departments as well as a number of civic and military officials.

[Reporter] The Torghondi-Koshki railway, the construction of which was launched some time back in line with an agreement between the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and his Turkmen counterpart, was opened by the Herat governor and the Turkmen railway minister today.
In the inaugural ceremony held in the Torghondi town, Herat Governor Mr Anwari said security and progress in a country were directly related to security and progress in its neighbouring countries. The governor criticized the interference of some neighbouring countries in the Afghan domestic affairs, stressing that those who interfere would soon face the unfavourable consequences of their act.

[Herat Governor Anwari] The prosperity of a country is dependent on the prosperity of its neighbours. I do believe that some of the neighbouring countries that irresponsibly interfere in the Afghan affairs will have to deal with the unpleasant consequences of their action.

[Reporter] Mr Anwari described the construction of the railway between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan as a great facility for the traders of both countries. He said the project would be a giant, effective step to transfer goods between the two countries.

[Herat Governor Anwari] I congratulate the officials of both countries on the completion of the railway, particularly the traders and those who are involved in import and export business with Turkmenistan. It is an effective, praiseworthy step in terms of economy.

[Reporter] The Turkmen minister of railway also expressed hope the railway will be connected to another railway being constructed by Iran so that it will make a circle and provide facilities for the traders in the region.

[Turkmen minister's comments dubbed into Dari] I do hope the railway will connect the other railway from Iran [in the Afghan Eslam Qala border town] and become a useful facility for transferring goods in the region.

[Reporter] Afghan Senator Dr Mohammad Omar Samim also thanked the Turkmen government for the project and described it a step to strengthen ties between the two countries. The construction of the Torghondi-Koshki railway in the border areas started two weeks ago and was completed today. The Turkmen government has provided the 27.5m afghanis [approximately 550,000 US dollars] needed to complete this 2 km long railway.

[Presenter] The inaugural ceremony ended after a reception by Turkmen officials in the Turkmen territory.

Iran, Pakistan discuss gas pipeline and Afghanistan

IRNA, Iran - 07/17/2007 - The Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Mehdi Safari called on Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Tuesday to discuss wide-ranging issues, the Foreign Ministry said. Safari is visiting Pakistan for the regular consultations with Kasuri.

This visit is a follow-up to the agreement reached during the visit of Foreign Minister Kasuri to Tehran in December 2006 to hold such consultations regularly.

"During the call, the Iranian deputy foreign minister conveyed greetings of Foreign Minister of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki to Kasuri and expressed Iran's desire to further strengthen its relations with Pakistan in various fields," a foreign ministry statement said.

Reciprocating Iran's desire, Foreign Minister Kasuri underlined the importance of growth in overall bilateral relations, especially in the commercial, economic and energy sectors, it said.

In this respect, the Foreign Minister emphasized the need for an early agreement on IPI Gas Pipeline Project, which he said would have a strategic benefits on the progress in other areas of cooperation as well, the statement said.

In the regional context, the situation in Afghanistan also came up for discussion, it said and added that both sides reiterated their resolve to assist Afghanistan in its endeavours to restore peace and stability.
US, Germany, Russia Grant $1 Billion Debt Relief For Afghanistan
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S., Germany and Russia will grant $1 billion worth of debt relief to Afghanistan under a program designed to provide relief for heavily indebted countries, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The three creditors will cancel 90% of the non-concessional debt payments Afghanistan would owe during its current International Monetary Fund program.
As of Wednesday's announcement, the U.S. will go beyond that standard and forgive 100% of all debt payments falling due. The three Paris Club countries had already agreed in July 2006 to provide some debt relief for Afghanistan.

12 uplift projects completed in Herat

HERAT CITY, July 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Various uplift projects, including power supply, provision of clean drinking water and construction of a bridge and a park for women, have been completed in three provinces.

Officials in the western Herat province said 12 reconstruction projects, launched with 10 per cent contributions from residents, were completed and handed over to the provincial government on Tuesday.

Ahmad Farhad Qazizada, spokesman for rural rehabilitation and development department, told Pajhwok the projects were completed in Injil and Rubat-i-Sangi districts at the cost of $11.64 million.

The amount was allocated from the development budget of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, he informed.

Qazizada said the projects, including de-silting of canals, digging of 35 wells and construction of 15 toilets, were implemented in six villages of Rubat-i-Sangi district.
He said carpet weaving training course was organised for 35 widows while a gathering hall was also constructed in the same locality.

Four power supply projects, three deep wells and a gathering hall were the projects completed in Injil district of the same province, Qazizada said.

Bridge constructed: A bridge, linking eight districts with Gardez, capital of the southeastern Paktia province, was inaugurated on Tuesday.
Din Muhammad Darwesh, spokesman for Paktia governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News the bridge was constructed in Mirza Baba area of Said Karam district.
He said the project was completed at the cost of $179,000 provided by the provincial reconstruction team (PRT).

Park for women: The first-ever park for women was built and handed over to the municipality in Faizabad, capital of the northern Badakhshan province, on Tuesday.

The park was constructed at one acre of land in the fifth district of the city. Fund for the construction was provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

UNESCO to Register Afghan Sites

Iran daily 18 July 2007 - Historical sites in the western Afghan province of Herat will be registered soon with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Ministry of Information and Culture announced, said Au.biz.yahoo.com.

The ministry rejected as baseless media reports that Herat City’s opulent cultural heritage could not be catalogued by the UN agency, whose Kabul-based representative also dispelled that impression.

In a press release issued, the ministry recalled the Afghan government had requested the organization some years back to put the ancient city with rich historical relics on the world heritage list.

Since 2004, UNESCO has been working with the Information and Cultural Ministry on the project of preserving the sites, which will be hopefully registered within a month.The cultural heritage of Afghanistan suffered irreversible losses during more than 25 years of strife. For many years, UNESCO says, it has been helping to protect it.

In January 2002, it will be pertinent to point out; UNESCO was mandated by the Afghan interim administration to coordinate international activities aimed at safeguarding that heritage.With that in mind, the UN agency has set up the International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage.

Herat Women Thirst for Education

Women in this western city are flocking to literacy classes, which are transforming their lives. By Sadeq Behnam and Sudabah Afzali (ARR No. 260, 17-July-07)
Fatima, mother of five, sits in the tent, sweating in the heat. She is not alone: there are 40 other women with her, all of them busy with the alphabet.
“I really want to learn to read and write,” she told IWPR.

Fatima lives in Dadshan village, in a district of Herat Province that is remote from the splendours of the capital city. Enrolling in the literacy course was not easy: in addition to coping with the demands of her large family, she had to convince her husband, a farmer for whom literacy, especially for women, seemed a luxury.

But Fatima persisted, and the joy of her accomplishment shows in her face as she carefully traces her letters. “I want to become a teacher in my village so I can help other women,” she said. “Besides, I can help my husband by bringing in some money.”

Education officials in Herat say that close to 80 per cent of their literacy students are women. It is the first province in Afghanistan to show such a sharp jump in female education.

“Families here are more open, and the security is relatively good,” said Muhammad Omar Ghafoori, head of the literacy unit of Herat’s Education Department. “We also have a large migration from Iran, which neighbours Herat and has a similar culture.”

Herat is something of an anomaly in Afghanistan today. Its gracious, tree-lined streets, the famed 15th-century minarets, and the spectacular Jamiea Mosque are in stark contrast to Kabul’s dusty, barren roads and ruined buildings. A centre of culture and learning for centuries, it is a fitting place to launch a literacy movement.

According to Ghafoori, more than 50,000 women have participated in literacy courses over the past three years, compared to just over 15,000 men. Herat has 6,000 literacy centres scattered throughout its towns and villages, and the effort has pulled in more than 5500 teachers.

“We have mullahs, religious scholars, high school graduates, community leaders – all volunteering as teachers,” he said. Nooria, a resident of Gulran district, is also learning to read and write. For her it is a matter of women’s rights.

“When the women are able to write and read, they will be able to know and defend their rights,” she said. “When we were living in Iran, as refugees, we learned a different kind of family and social life.”

Sima Sher Muhammadi, head of the Department of Women’s Affairs in Herat, is convinced that it was her office’s hard work that has made the difference.

“We have held more than 100 workshops in women’s rights, literacy, and criminal law,” she said. “We have encouraged women to get educated. In addition, we have had very good cooperation with the Ulema (religious councils).”

The women’s department distributed foodstuffs such as beans, oil, and sugar to poor woman who have enrolled in the literacy programme, which has also boosted attendance, she said. But the literacy campaign has had even greater benefits for Herat’s women, she added.

“Overall we have had a 60 per cent decrease in the rate of self-immolation, which was the highest in the country two years ago,” she said. “Also, the number of forced marriages has decreased. This is the result of our workshops, and of women becoming literate.”

Dr Barakatullah Mohammadi, who heads the Emergency Regional Hospital of Herat Province, confirmed that there has been a precipitous decline in cases of women burning themselves.

“So far this year we have only had 13 cases of self-immolation,” he told IWPR. “This is a 90 per cent decrease over last year. The reason is literacy, and the information campaigns launched by the hospital, NGOs, the mullahs, and the women’s affairs department.”

Men are lagging far behind their wives, sisters, and daughters when it comes to learning to read and write. “Men have to make a living for their families,” said Ghafoori. “Their economic problems make them less interested in literacy.”

Social scientist Ajmal Yazdani agreed that the need to earn money was the main reason men were less inclined to enroll in literacy courses. But male ego also plays a role, he added.

“When men are older they are not willing to sit in a chair and learn the alphabet like a child,” he said. “But women’s literacy is part of the culture in Herat. There is relative security in the province, which helps. But the main reason is that five-year period under the Taleban when women were not allowed to leave their homes. Now they are getting their revenge for that time.”

Sources at the Herat education department have said that 50 per cent of the more than 600,000 children at school are girls. This is in sharp contrast to some other parts of the country, such as the south, where girls make up no more than ten per cent of students.

But problems remain. Many families are still unwilling to let their wives and daughters out to go to school, and women have few resources with which to resist.

Gulsum, a resident of Rawashan village, is a housewife. She wants to learn to read and write, and she told IWPR that many of her neighbours have participated in literacy courses. Her husband, however, is not willing for her to leave the house to go to school.

“When I ask him for permission to go to school he beats me,” she said. “But I don’t care how many times he beats me, I will keep asking. One day he will say yes.”

Sadeq Behnam and Sudabah Afzali are freelance journalists in Herat.
Pakistan rejects US Qaeda report
Daily Times 19 July 2007 - ISLAMABAD: A US intelligence report that Al Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan is unsubstantiated, Pakistan said on Wednesday. “We would firmly act to eliminate any Al Qaeda hideout on the basis of specific intelligence or information. It does not help simply to make assertions... What is needed is concrete and actionable information and intelligence sharing,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Pakistan is “determined not to allow Al Qaeda or any other terrorist entity to establish a safe haven on its territory,” it added. It also reiterated that no foreign forces would be allowed to pursue militants on its territory. agencies

Ringing US support for Gen Musharraf
By Khalid Hasan - Daily Times 18 July 2007
WASHINGTON: President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday received ringing endorsement from the United States of his policies and actions with assurances of continued support for his attempts to fight extremism and steer Pakistan towards democracy.

The assurances came from Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South Asia, at a special briefing held at the State Department. It was clear that the US is un-swayed by the popular upsurge in Pakistan for civilian democratic rule, having thrown its lot with Musharraf, whom it views as the leader best equipped to fight extremism and support US policies in the region.

Boucher was asked several times in different ways why the US continues to support Gen Musharraf when the people of Pakistan want a different dispensation, but he continued to express unstinted support for Musharraf and his policies.

Boucher also expressed understanding for the North Waziristan agreement, saying that it was the other side that had violated the three agreed conditions. He did not criticise the revival of the deal as long as it meets the three conditions that the local leaders had earlier agreed to abide by.

He also expressed support for the storming of the Lal Masjid. He called the mosque “the product of decades” but would not say on whose shoulders lay the responsibility of letting that happen. He said the storming of the mosque showed that the government is prepared to move militarily if that becomes necessary.

He said the US will support the government’s efforts to upgrade the Frontier Constabulary and improve and increase its capabilities. The US will also be part of efforts to economically develop Pakistan’s tribal regions.

Turning to democracy, he said there is a lot of politics in the air and the US supports the coming elections and is fully behind the people having a choice in how they are governed. However, it was clear from what he said a number of times in answer to different questions that the US views Pakistan’s democratisation as a phased process.

Asked if what Musharraf has done in the fight against extremism is “too little too late” and whether he can go it alone, Boucher replied that while Musharraf is capable of “doing it alone”, he will “have our support”. He said the US hopes that the coming elections would be conducted in a free and fair manner. He said it is Washington’s hope that Pakistan will eventually and in the long run become a moderate, stable and democratic Islamic state.
US insists on tougher action against Qaeda
Daily Times 19 July 2007 - WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said on Wednesday it will insist on a tougher approach to fighting Al Qaeda in Pakistan, acknowledging that a strategy pushed by Musharraf had not worked. “There’s no doubt that more aggressive steps need to be taken,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said. “President Musharraf attempted to engage in...carrot diplomacy with tribal leaders in the tribal areas and it didn’t work,” Snow said. “So what you have to do when something doesn’t work is you have to fix it, and that’s what’s going on now.” The strategy had “created an opportunity for Qaeda to find safe haven,” he said. reuters
Army Plans Offensive in Pakistan's Northwest

Pitched Battles Follow Killing Of 17 Troops by Insurgents

By Griff Witte and Kamran Khan - Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, July 19, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 19 -- The Pakistani army fought pitched battles with militants Wednesday in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan following an insurgent assault that killed 17 troops.
The fighting in North Waziristan, an area where the al-Qaeda leadership is believed to be active, went on late into the night, residents said. A local official confirmed that at least six loud explosions were heard in the hills that surround Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. It was not immediately clear who or what had been targeted.
The fighting came during a period of deep turmoil in Pakistan, with radical fighters carrying out a string of deadly attacks after a government raid against a mosque in Islamabad last week.
On Sunday, Taliban fighters in North Waziristan renounced a controversial peace deal that had held for 10 months and had prevented the military from carrying out operations in the area. The deal angered U.S. officials, who considered it a primary reason why al-Qaeda was able to reorganize.
Pakistani officials have tried to revive the deal, but those efforts appeared to break down Wednesday as the violence in North Waziristan escalated.
Early Wednesday morning, Taliban fighters launched a well-coordinated strike against a group of soldiers, killing 17 and wounding more than a dozen. The fighters first hit the troops with a roadside bomb, then with an ambush. In a separate attack in North Waziristan, one soldier and six civilians were injured, and clashes later in the day left five Taliban fighters dead, the military said. Early on Thursday, a suicide bomber killed seven and injured 22 at a police training center in the northwest city of Hangu.
More than 100 people -- most of them members of the security forces -- have been killed in attacks in recent days. Military officials vowed Wednesday to strike back.
"There will now be a full-scale military action against Taliban hideouts in the entire tribal areas," a Pakistani brigadier general said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the record.
A second brigadier general, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Pakistani army was receiving help from the U.S. military in tracking the fighters, including aerial surveillance from U.S.-supplied drones.The officials added that the government would still attempt to negotiate with relatively moderate tribal leaders in hopes of cleaving them from hard-core militants. A jirga, or assembly, was planned for Thursday with that goal in mind.
The United States has long been pushing Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to do more to counter the extremist threat. A U.S. intelligence estimate released Tuesday highlighted his government's shortcomings, noting that al-Qaeda has been able to reestablish itself in the ungoverned areas of northwestern Pakistan.
"President Musharraf attempted to engage in . . . carrot diplomacy with tribal leaders in the tribal areas and it didn't work," White House spokesman Tony Snow said Wednesday. "So what you have to do when something doesn't work is you have to fix it, and that's what's going on now."
Violence has soared this year in neighboring Afghanistan, while more parts of northwestern Pakistan have fallen under the Taliban's sway.
"The back yard of the Afghanistan conflict is Pakistan. And Pakistan will be drawn in more and more," said Ayaz Amir, a leading political commentator. "Pakistan's become like Cambodia during the war in Vietnam."
The spillover has not been limited to the remote border regions of the northwest. The wide avenues of normally sedate Islamabad were the scene of a bombing Tuesday night targeting members of Pakistan's largest opposition group, who had gathered for an anti-Musharraf rally. At least 15 people were killed.
The government said extremists were to blame. But leaders of the Pakistan People's Party continued to suggest Wednesday that the attack might have been the work of the country's powerful intelligence agencies.

"We think it was a bomb planted by those who wish to create a sense of anarchy so they can postpone elections and declare emergency rule," said party spokesman Farhatullah Babar.
The party's leader, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has been in discussions with Musharraf's government about a possible power-sharing arrangement. But the viability of the talks was in doubt Wednesday, Babar said, after 11 party activists died in the blast and more than 35 were injured, including senior party officials who lost limbs.
Musharraf, meeting with journalists Wednesday, said he has no plans to declare a state of emergency.He also said he wants to be reelected to a five-year term by the outgoing parliament while remaining head of the army.Musharraf has faced stiff challenges this year from two distinct camps: moderates who want to defeat him at the polls and bring an end to eight years of military rule, and extremists who want to overthrow his government so they can implement a theocracy.
Musharraf last week vowed an initiative to stamp out extremism. But security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi noted that Pakistan has already tried that. Before last year's peace deal, he said, the military lost hundreds of troops fighting extremists in the tribal areas but achieved little success.
"There's a limit to what they can do," Rizvi said. "For three years they operated in North Waziristan, and that has not solved the problem."
Khan reported from Karachi. Special correspondents Shahzad Khurram in Islamabad and Imtiaz Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Editorial: Facing al-Qaeda

With the terrorists growing stronger, their sanctuary in Pakistan must be eliminated.

Washingtonpost - Thursday, July 19, 2007
HOMELAND Security Secretary Michael Chertoff makes a good point: No one who has been following the news should have been surprised by the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that al-Qaeda is growing stronger and that the threat that it will stage another major attack against the U.S. homeland is a serious one. That al-Qaeda has established a sanctuary in Pakistan's tribal areas -- cited as among "key elements" in the regeneration of "its homeland attack ability" by the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) -- has been known and discussed since last year. The "leverage" provided by a thriving affiliate organization in Iraq is all too obvious. What's missing in Washington is not information about al-Qaeda, Mr. Chertoff says, but a readiness to make hard decisions about how to protect the country.

The Homeland Security chief has some choices he'd like Congress to make, including modifications to visa-free travel to the United States and the installation of technology allowing for tighter screening of air travelers. The issues he raises are important, and we will return to them. Yet, if there is one decision that seems most urgent in light of the intelligence reports, it is what to do about the al-Qaeda base in Pakistan, which is allowing the group's senior leadership to coordinate with what the NIE calls "operational lieutenants" and to train militants for operations in Europe and the United States.

The Bush administration has been ducking this critical problem for too long, despite the clear lesson of Afghanistan. The Sept. 11 commission concluded that tolerance of al-Qaeda's sanctuary there was of "direct and indirect value . . . to al-Qaeda in preparing the 9/11 attack." The commission said the U.S. government must disrupt such bases in the future "using all elements of national power." Senior administration officials have publicly acknowledged since early this year that an al-Qaeda sanctuary exists in Pakistan. But they have rigidly stuck to a strategy of depending on Pakistan's autocratic president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to take that disruptive action -- even while Mr. Musharraf has pursued a contrary policy of appeasing the Pakistani tribesmen who are harboring the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Administration officials say they believe Mr. Musharraf will resume military operations in the tribal areas after a 10-month suspension -- if only because the militants broke a truce last week and attacked government forces. But earlier operations by the Pakistani army failed; government forces may be too weak to break up the sanctuary. Mr. Musharraf himself is preoccupied with preserving his own regime. If the militants offer him a separate peace, he may well accept it.

The administration says it has a comprehensive strategy that involves funneling $750 million over five years into development programs in the impoverished tribal areas and beefing up the Pakistani forces that patrol the frontier with Afghanistan. The State Department says it is also pressing for democratic elections in Pakistan this year, though it has ignored Mr. Musharraf's blatant preparations to manipulate the process. If it really were to focus on economic development and democracy rather than propping up the tottering general, the United States might contribute to stabilizing, over a period of years, one of the world's wildest territories.

Yet that won't address the imminent threat of a revived al-Qaeda organization able to strike the United States from a secure base. If Pakistani forces cannot -- or will not -- eliminate the sanctuary, President Bush must order targeted strikes or covert actions by American forces, as he has done several times in recent years. Such actions run the risk of further destabilizing Pakistan. Yet those risks must be weighed against the consequences of another large-scale attack on U.S. soil. "Direct intervention against the sanctuary in Afghanistan apparently must have seemed . . . disproportionate to the threat," the Sept. 11 commission noted. The United States must not repeat that tragic misjudgment.
Al-Qaeda's Gains Keep U.S. at Risk, Report Says

Safe Haven in Pakistan Is Seen as Challenging Counterterrorism Efforts

By Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus - Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Al-Qaeda has reestablished its central organization, training infrastructure and lines of global communication over the past two years, putting the United States in a "heightened threat environment" despite expanded worldwide counterterrorism efforts, according to a new intelligence estimate.

Intelligence officials attributed the al-Qaeda gains primarily to its establishment of a safe haven in ungoverned areas of northwestern Pakistan. Its affiliation with the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, the report said, has helped it to "energize" extremists elsewhere and has aided Osama bin Laden's recruitment and funding.

The estimate concluded that "the U.S. Homeland will face a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years." Al-Qaeda, it said, "is and will remain" the most serious element of that threat.

The report stressed the effectiveness of counterterrorism measures, in cooperation with other countries, in disrupting terrorist networks and preventing attacks against the United States in the years immediately after Sept. 11, 2001. But it expressed concern that cooperation may wane as memories fade and as perceptions of the nature and origin of the threat diverge.

The assessment was released yesterday in a two-page declassified summary of key judgments of a National Intelligence Estimate titled "The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland." The estimate mentioned a number of possible threat sources, from Hezbollah in Lebanon to self-generating radical cells in Europe and this country.

It was the second government report in the past week that pointed to a heightened risk from al-Qaeda. The other, written by the National Counterterrorism Center, was titled "Al-Qaida Better Positioned to Strike the West."

An NIE on global terrorism written in April 2006 described a downward trend in al-Qaeda capabilities since bin Laden and the rest of the surviving al-Qaeda leadership were driven from their sanctuaries in Afghanistan by U.S. military forces in December 2001. That report, like the one issued yesterday, said that the Iraq war was a primary recruitment vehicle for al-Qaeda. But the earlier report concluded that al-Qaeda's operations had been disrupted and its leadership was "seriously damaged."
In a briefing for reporters yesterday, senior intelligence officials said they expected al-Qaeda to continue trying to "leverage" the contacts and capabilities al-Qaeda in Iraq has established in that country. But they attributed the resurgence of bin Laden's organization almost entirely to its protected safe haven among tribal groups in North Waziristan, part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in northwestern Pakistan.

"Over the past 18 to 24 months, safe haven in Pakistan has become more secure" said Edward Gistaro, national intelligence officer for transnational threats and the primary author of the NIE. The safe haven, Gistaro said, had allowed al-Qaeda to pull together a new tier of leadership in the form of "lieutenants . . . coming off the bench," many of them with long experience at bin Laden's side.
U.S. intelligence and military officials have expressed rising frustration with the government of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. They credit Musharraf with significantly disrupting al-Qaeda havens in the tribal areas in 2004, with operations that led to the capture of most of bin Laden's senior aides. Since then, however, the Pakistani military has largely stayed away from the region, and last September Musharraf formally signed an agreement with tribal leaders allowing them to police the area.

In the past week, the Bush administration has publicly declared that the agreement failed, and officials said yesterday that Musharraf had changed his policy. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, said yesterday that Musharraf was "moving forces, again, into that region to put pressure on al-Qaeda." In separate remarks to an intelligence conference yesterday, McConnell painted a picture of al-Qaeda activities and the threat to the United States that went beyond the NIE judgments. "They're working as hard as they can in positioning trained operatives here in the United States. . . . They have recruitment programs to bring recruits into . . . Pakistan, particularly those that speak the right language, that have the right skills, that have the right base that they could come to the United States, fit into the population . . . and carry out acts."

Bin Laden's ability to establish a safe haven for training and planning has been uppermost in the minds of intelligence and counterterrorism officials since the late 1990s. Missile strikes authorized in 1998 by President Bill Clinton against al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan appeared to have little effect on bin Laden's operations. In the summer of 2001, President Bush received an intelligence warning titled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in the U.S.," but the Sept. 11 attacks occurred before action was taken.

Since then, various administration officials have hailed the success of U.S. counterterrorism efforts. In February 2003, then-CIA director George Tenet told Congress that "more than one-third of the top al-Qaeda leadership identified before the [Afghanistan] war has been killed or captured." Three months later, Bush increased that number to "about half" in a speech he gave in May, amid early concerns that the two-month-old Iraq war had diverted administration attention from the hunt for bin Laden. "Al-Qaeda is on the run," Bush said.

In early 2004, as the Pakistani offensive was bolstered by U.S. and Afghan forces on the other side of the border, Tenet described al-Qaeda's leadership as "seriously damaged" and noted that it had continued to lose "operational safe havens." The following year, Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the time, told Congress that after those operations, "the fundamentalist Islamic terrorist threat has splintered and decentralized."

Those previous judgments were "basically correct at the time," said Thomas Fingar, head of the National Intelligence Council, which assembles NIEs for the 16-agency intelligence community. "All of this has a high level of uncertainty to it, but the situation had changed," he added. Fingar said that one of the lessons learned from the past, when analysts just repeated and built upon earlier assessments -- as with the faulty judgments of Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities -- was that previous NIEs were no longer "sacred text."

Fingar said the intelligence community was not stepping back from its past judgment that as much as three-quarters of the pre-Sept. 11 al-Qaeda leadership was killed or captured. "The obvious word is 'reconstitution,' " he said.

Although the NIE described al-Qaeda in Iraq as the only al-Qaeda affiliate "known to have expressed a desire to attack the Homeland," administration and intelligence officials yesterday cited only one such reference to that threat -- an audio statement posted in November on the Web site of a British-based Saudi dissident group. In the statement, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, threatened to "blow up the filthiest house, which is called the White House."

The Bush administration has long described al-Qaeda in Iraq as an operational subsidiary to the main al-Qaeda group, though intelligence officials have said the main al-Qaeda organization exercises little control over the Iraq group. Yesterday's NIE suggested that al-Qaeda derives stature from al-Qaeda in Iraq's activities, rather than the other way around.

Staff writer Robin Wright and research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report.

China, Pakistan, and Terrorism
Tarique Niazi | July 16, 2007 - Foreign Policy In Focus - www.fpif.org
Sino-Pakistani relations, which are unparalleled in closeness and warmth, have come under severe strain lately from growing militancy in Pakistan. The Pakistani military’s storming of the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) has been an important indicator of the changing tenor of the relationship between the two countries.

The most recent source of stress is the July 8 execution-style killing of three Chinese nationals who owned a small business in a town near Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan. The killings were widely seen as revenge for the government’s crackdown on religious militants holed up in the Red Mosque in Islamabad, the national capital. Earlier on June 23, these militants abducted seven Chinese nationals, six of them women, who worked at a massage parlor in Islamabad. Militants believed the parlor was a front for prostitution, which they vowed to shut down as part of their anti-vice campaign. Outraged by the kidnapping, the Chinese government made a visible departure from its past diplomatic courtesies to publicly demand that Pakistan ensure the safety of its citizens. Hours after the demand, all abductees were freed unharmed.

After the latest slaying, Beijing again went public with its condemnation of the “violent attack.” Its ambassador to Islamabad, Luo Zhaohui, told Pakistan in a public statement to investigate the attack, “round up the culprits, properly handle the follow-up issues, and take effective measures to protect the Chinese in Pakistan.” In a show of further concern, Ambassador Zhaohui rushed his deputy chief of mission to lead a team of diplomats to Peshawar to “deal with the issue.” Musharraf’s order to storm the mosque was in part Pakistan’s response to China’s pressure.

Chinese diplomats in Pakistan do not characteristically voice their concern in public, even for their own citizens’ safety. In the past, they would rather limit their public utterances to the expression of “full confidence” in Pakistani authorities and reserve plain talking for private sessions. It is, therefore, ironic for observers to see Beijing get tough with Pakistan, given a relationship that in Chinese President Hu Jintao’s words is “sweeter than honey.” The recent shift in Chinese posture is, nevertheless, the result of gathering threats to Chinese nationals, who are often employed in remote and troubled parts of the country, especially in Baluchistan and northwestern Pakistan.

Pervez Musharraf is often characterized as Washington’s “man in Pakistan.” But Islamabad’s recent actions reveal more of a Chinese hand behind the scenes.

There are about 8,500 Chinese working in Pakistan, almost three times the size of Americans in the country. Of these, 3,500 are engineers and technicians assigned to a variety of Sino-Pakistani projects. The remaining 5,000 are engaged in private businesses. China’s investment in Pakistan has jumped to an all-time high of $4 billion. Its companies make up 12% -- 60 of 500 – of all the foreign firms operating in Pakistan. Chinese presence in Pakistan has grown dramatically since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, which brought Beijing and Islamabad together to build a naval-cum-commercial port at Gwader, a coastal town in Baluchistan. The Gwadar port alone, where construction began in 2002, employs 500 Chinese engineers and technicians. This growing Chinese presence forces Beijing to go beyond diplomatic niceties to protect its human and non-human interests in Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities never spare any effort to safeguard China’s interests. Soon after the abduction of seven Chinese on June 23, Islamabad decided to lay siege to the Red Mosque, whose radical clerics were behind the sordid affair. On July 2, barely a week after the abduction, the government ordered 15,000 troops around the mosque compound to flush out the militants. On July 4, it arrested the leader of the militants, Maulana Abdul Aziz who, in an ironic twist, is believed to have close relations with Pakistani intelligence agencies. After apprehending the leader, government troops moved to choking off the militants’ supplies of food, water, and power. But as soon as word of the revenge killing of three Chinese on July 8 reached Islamabad, it created a “perfect storm” for Gen. Musharraf. Embarrassed and enraged, he reversed the troops’ strategy and ordered them, on July 10, to mount an all-out assault at the mosque, in which Aziz’s brother and his deputy, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, together with as many as 1,000 people, was killed.

This is not the first time that Musharraf did Beijing’s bidding. Earlier, he hunted down China’s foes, especially members of the China’s Uighur minority and their sympathizers among Uzbeks and Tajiks. On October 2, 2004, his troops killed Beijing’s Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement of Xinjiang, Hasan Mahsum. Xinjiang is China’s only Muslim-majority autonomous region. Mahsum had taken refuge in South Waziristan, one of Pakistan’s six Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (FATA), where the Taliban has established the “Islamic Emirate of Waziristan.” Pakistan has, however, economic and strategic interests in securing Xinjiang, which borders its northwestern edge, including the northernmost tip of the FATA. Xinjiang is linked with Pakistan through the legendary Karakoram Highway (KKH), which runs along the old Silk Road. China is investing roughly $88 billion in the development of western China, including the immense untapped natural gas and oil resources of Xinjiang. Pakistan is expanding the Karakoram Highway with a huge sum of about $1.66 billion to make it traffic-worthy for heavy freight of energy and trade goods.

Seven days after Mahsum was killed, militants kidnapped two Chinese engineers on October 9, 2004 in South Waziristan, which is endowed with the rare natural wealth of uranium that serves as fuel for nuclear power generation. One of them was killed in a botched rescue attempt and the other seriously wounded. Pakistan has since ordered 80,000 troops into its tribal belt and along the 14,000-mile long Durand Line that divides Afghanistan and Pakistan. Early this year, Musharraf ordered a deadly military attack against 300 Uzbek and Uighur militants in South Waziristan, who were suspected of carrying out subversion in Xinjiang. Only a handful of them survived the attack by relocating to neighboring North Waziristan, where they have allied themselves with the Taliban to fight NATO troops across the border into Afghanistan.

The United States, meanwhile, paid the Musharraf government $1 billion a year for military operations against the Taliban, especially in North and South Waziristan, and Bajaur Agency, where Osama Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri are suspected to be hiding. Musharraf kept the money and practically ceded the area to the Taliban after a string of agreements.

Like northwestern Pakistan, southwestern Pakistan also is becoming inhospitable for the Chinese. On May 3, 2004, three Chinese engineers were killed in Gwadar, where China and Pakistan are jointly investing $1.16 billion in building their port. Pakistan blamed the killing on a shadowy armed group, Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA), which is fighting for autonomy and control over the region’s natural resources and strategic coast. Musharraf has since ordered almost one-third of Pakistan’s army to put down the resistance. Three years into the military operation, Baluchistan is still far from being safe for Chinese nationals. As recently as February 15, 2006, unidentified gunmen killed three Chinese workers in Hub, an industrial town in Baluchistan.

Despite Pakistan’s best efforts, militants continue to target the Chinese. Yet Sino-Pakistani friendship is too solid for militants’ attacks, however regrettable, to bruise it. Instead, Sino-Pakistani relations have rapidly grown from the monolithic defense sector into broad-based economic, energy, trade, and investment cooperation. Since September 11, a major thrust has been made toward promoting educational, cultural, language, travel and tourism cooperation between two countries. After an unprecedented Free Trade Agreement that went into effect this year, Sino-Pakistani trade is projected to grow to $15 billion a year, which would put it just behind the current Indo-U.S. trade of $20 billion. In the changing regional situation since September 11, China needs Pakistan as much as Pakistan previously needed it.

Although the United States is concerned about the resurgent militancy in the region, its key focus remains on defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan and dismantling their operational bases in northwestern and southwestern Pakistan. Islamabad, however, has a different view of the Taliban, which it views as a potential government-in-waiting for Afghanistan. Such a Taliban government could help balance the Indian influence in Afghanistan, which has grown since the U.S. invasion. To further confound the situation, India has built its first-ever foreign military base in Tajikistan, which makes both Beijing and Islamabad uneasy. Nor does China welcome the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and its key military base at Bagram near Kabul. Sino-U.S. interests may converge around counter-terrorism, but their strategic objectives in the region do not significantly overlap.

Pakistan is more watchful of the strategic aims of regional powers than counter-terrorism. A recent assessment prepared by Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) foresees the imminent collapse of the Northern Alliance government as soon as the United States withdraws from Iraq. The Lal Masjid incident, however, has increased the threat of reactive terror in northwestern Pakistan, where an overwhelming majority of students are Pashtuns, the Taliban's ethnic community, and hail from