In this bulletin:

• Taliban commander was 'shot dead'
• UK soldier killed in Afghanistan named
• NATO Air Strikes Kill Scores In Afghanistan's South
• Divisions Among Taliban Kidnappers Reportedly Delay Negotiations
• Tracking the Taleban's kidnap tactics
• Korean hostages alive in Afghanistan, say Taliban
• Muslims in S. Korea urge immediate release of hostages in Afghanistan
• Korean envoy's hostage mercy dash
• Hostages in Afghanistan, what was their mission?
• US rejects Italy's call to withdraw from Afghanistan
• A reporter embeds with the Taleban to see the brutal evidence of war in Greshk.
• Grand Pashtun alliance on the cards in Pakistan
• Pakistan's Pashtun 'problem'
• The riddle of Afghan graves
• Pakistan: Radio Free Afghanistan -- Al-Qaeda Regroup Poses Dual Threat
• Militants 'Much Stronger'
• Bring 'em on: Militants in Pakistan await US
• AFGHANISTAN: UNICEF appeals for more aid to help women, children

Taliban commander was 'shot dead'

By Abdul Hai Kakar BBC Urdu service, PeshawarThursday, 26 July 2007

Taleban commander Abdullah Mehsud was killed by Pakistani soldiers and did not commit suicide, one of the owners of the house in which he died says.

The man, Shaikh Alam Mandokhel, said that Mehsud was shot in the stomach.

Pakistani police had said Mehsud blew himself up to evade arrest after being surrounded in Balochistan province.

Mehsud, a Taleban veteran who the US freed from custody at Guantanamo Bay, became one of Pakistan's most wanted Islamic militant leaders.

He was buried in his home village in the South Waziristan tribal area on Wednesday.

Knock on the door

Shaikh Alam told the BBC Urdu service the militant arrived at his house in the town of Zhob on Monday night.

He said that neither he nor his cousin, Shaikh Ayub Mandokhel, had been at home at the time.

The militant and his companion told the boy who opened the door they had been sent to spend the night by an Islamic priest, Shaikh Alam said.

He said the boy opened the guest quarters for them, served them dinner and went back to his computer in another room.

"We keep receiving guests from the city or the villages. We have been hosts to government and intelligence officials too on several occasions. This is part of the Pashtun tradition," Shaikh Alam said.

At 5:30 on Tuesday morning, there was another knock on the door.

Shaikh Alam says this time another boy answered the door and was arrested by security forces who had surrounded the house.

The boy's father, who followed his son to the door, was also arrested.

Shaikh Alam says Abdullah Mehsud was killed in the intense firing by the security forces which then followed.

"If he had blown himself up, his body would have been in pieces. But he only had bullet wounds to his stomach," he says.

Shaikh Alam said it was Mehsud's first stay at their house, and that he had never spent a night there before.

Important figure

His account differs from the official version.

An interior ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that Mehsud's movements had been monitored for three days, and he blew himself up with a grenade to avoid arrest when the house was raided.

Correspondents say Mehsud was an important figure who had a fearsome reputation among pro-Taleban militants.

Mehsud, whose real name was Noor Alam, was a Pashtun, the same ethnic group as the Taleban of Afghanistan.

He lost a leg in a landmine explosion as the Taleban fought to take over the Afghan capital Kabul in 1996, and was eventually captured and handed over to the Americans in 2001.

Released from Guantanamo in 2004, he quickly resumed his militant role and was involved in the kidnap of two Chinese workers, one of whom died during a rescue bid by Pakistani forces in South Waziristan later that year.

UK soldier killed in Afghanistan named

Jul 27 2007

A British soldier killed in a battle against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan has been named by the Ministry of Defence.

Guardsman David Atherton, 25, of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, from Manchester was killed when his company came under fire after securing a bridge north east of Gereshk in Helmand province.

His Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Carew Hatherley, said: "Guardsman Atherton was a real character and a good friend to all who knew him.

"Whether he was conducting ceremonial duties in London in his tunic and bearskin, or fighting in combats, he was immensely proud to be a Grenadier. He was highly respected by all who served alongside him.

"During his time in Afghanistan he had been operating in the most austere conditions and the harshest of climates. He had risen to the difficult challenges he constantly faced, given selfless service to his nation and died doing what he loved alongside his Grenadier comrades.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, fiancé and daughter as they come to terms with his death."

He was the second British casualty in the southern province in as many days and the 66th since military operations began in Afghanistan in November 2001.

The soldier killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday was named as Lance Corporal Alex Hawkins, 22, of 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment.

NATO Air Strikes Kill Scores In Afghanistan's South

July 27, 2007 (Reuters, AP)-- NATO and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban militants in Helmand Province overnight, with NATO air strikes killing scores of people.

There are conflicting claims about the number of Taliban and civilians killed.

Wali Jan Sabri, a lawmaker from Helmand, said he has credible information that up to 60 civilians were killed by air strikes during the battle in the Gereshk district.

Gereshk district chief Abdul Manaf Khan said 50 suspected Taliban fighters were killed, along with up to 28 civilians.

A spokesman for British forces, Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Mayo, denied that any civilians were killed.

Divisions Among Taliban Kidnappers Reportedly Delay Negotiations

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

KABUL, July 27, 2007 -- Afghan negotiators say differences among Taliban kidnappers have caused an indefinite extension of a deadline for a deal on the release of 22 South Korean Christian aid workers.

The governor of Ghazni Province, Mehrajuddin Patan, says the kidnappers extended their deadline because they are not yet ready to meet with Afghan negotiators.

Khawaja Mohammad Sedeqi, a member of the government's mediation team, says the kidnappers want more time to settle differences among themselves. He said the abductors are divided into three groups with different demands for the release of the hostages.

RFE/RL spoke to a member of the negotiating team, Deputy Interior Minister Major General Muhammad Munir Mangal, about the situation today:"So far they (eds: the hostages) are alive. We will see. Our

negotiations with the Taliban are continuing. So far nothing has happened (to the 22 hostages who are still alive.)"

Mangal also said some kidnappers want members of Afghanistan's parliament to be involved in the negotiations.

Tracking the Taleban's kidnap tactics

By Daud Qarizadah BBC News, Kabul Friday, 27 July 2007

Foreigners in Afghanistan have rarely been targets of kidnappings in the past.

But all that changed some four years ago, when a Turkish engineer was abducted by the Taleban in the south.

In subsequent years, the kidnapping of foreigners has become more common, and in recent months there has been an unprecedented increase in the practice.

Foreign aid workers and journalists have been seized, as well as Afghans working with foreign organisations.

Last week, the Taleban took 23 South Koreans - most of them female Christian workers - hostage in Ghazni, south-west of Kabul. The body of one hostage has been already found.

The Taleban want the release of eight of their members from jail, and say more hostages will be killed if their demands are not met.

'Successful policy'

A Taleban commander has called the abduction of foreigners, to be traded for Taleban prisoners, "a very successful policy".

Afghan officials acknowledge that the Taleban insurgents are using kidnappings as a useful tool of pressure against the Western-backed government of Hamid Karzai.

The kidnappers have usually demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces, the release of Taleban prisoners and ransom in exchange for their hostages.

The Afghan government has also been under tremendous pressure from foreign governments in securing the safe release of the hostages belonging to their countries.

One of the most talked-about kidnappings was early this year, when Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo was abducted along with two Afghans - his driver and a young journalist who worked as his interpreter.

The Italian government is believed to have put huge pressure on President Karzai to get Mr Mastrogiacomo released, and at one point even threatened to withdraw the 2,000 Italian troops from Afghanistan.

Mr Mastrogiacomo was released in a much-criticised exchange for five senior Taleban prisoners, including the brother of the slain Taleban commander, Mullah Dadullah. But the two Afghans were beheaded.

'Cutting deals'

In a separate case, a substantial ransom was said to have been paid to release another Italian hostage, Gabriele Torsello, a London-based photographer.

The governments of Afghanistan and Italy have been criticised for the way they dealt with the Taleban in securing the release of these hostages.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had called on member states to draft common rules on how to deal with hostage-taking.

Observers believe cutting "deals" to secure the release of hostages have only helped the Taleban.

The Afghan interior ministry says the number of kidnappings could be reduced if potential targets sought advice before their journeys and co-ordinated their security arrangements with the police.

Officials are putting the blame mainly on the carelessness of foreigners and Afghans working with foreign organisations.

"Look at the nationals of South Korea. They hired a bus to travel from Kabul to Kandahar without seeking advice from the government about the security situation," says Zamarai Bashari, interior ministry spokesman.

"We cannot travel that route without a convoy of security personnel. We know the security threat is high and the insurgents have taken root in areas along the road," he said.

"So the kidnappings are partly blamed for the insecurity and mainly for the carelessness of foreigners who are considered soft but important targets."

Korean hostages alive in Afghanistan, say Taliban

By Yousuf Azimy Friday, July 27, 2007

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The remaining 22 South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan are alive, a Taliban spokesman said on Friday, and the group will not set further deadlines as it negotiates with the government on freeing them.

A government official also said the Christian volunteers, whose leader was killed two days ago by their Taliban captors, were alive, adding an Afghan delegation was in talks with the militants.

"They are alive and fine," Munir Mangal, a deputy interior minister who also heads an Afghan team trying to secure the freedom of the hostages, told reporters in Ghazni. Medicines had been sent for some of the captives who are ill, he added.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the government had assured the group it would release eight members of the Taliban as part of an exchange deal for the freedom of a similar number of the hostages.

"They are alive. The talks are going on and we are not giving further deadlines for the government has assured us that it wants to resolve the issue through talks," he told Reuters by phone from an undisclosed location.

Earlier, he had accused the government of "killing time and playing tricks" and had said the Taliban would kill the captives if rebel prisoners were not released by the Afghan government by Friday noon (0730 GMT).

On Wednesday, the Taliban killed the leader of the 23 volunteers they snatched last week from a bus on the main highway in Ghazni, which lies to the southwest of the capital Kabul.

But several previous deadlines have passed without them carrying out their threats to kill others.

South Korea's chief presidential national security adviser, Baek Jong-chun, arrived in Afghanistan on Friday to step up efforts to free the hostages, an Afghan official said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pledged not to swap prisoners for hostages after being criticized for releasing five Taliban from jail in March in exchange for an Italian reporter.

The president and ministers have remained silent throughout the latest hostage ordeal.

One German and four Afghans snatched separately are also still being held hostage by the Taliban.

The past 18 months has seen rising violence in Afghanistan, with daily clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan and foreign troops.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul)

Muslims in S. Korea urge immediate release of hostages in Afghanistan

By Kim Young-gyo Yonhap News (South Korea)

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of Muslims in South Korea gathered Friday and urged Taliban insurgents to immediately release South Korean hostages they have been holding for more than a week.

During their weekly prayer session at the Seoul Central Masjid, the Muslims also spent five minutes grieving over the death of Bae Hyung-kyu, a 42-year-old pastor who was killed by Taliban forces six days after he was taken hostage by the militia along with 22 fellow church volunteers.

A purported Taliban spokesman said Wednesday the militants killed Bae because the Afghan government didn't accept their demand to release Taliban prisoners. His body was found by Afghan police later in the day.

"We, Korea Muslim Federation and the Muslims in Korea, express our deepest condolences for the Korean victims in Afghanistan and share his family's sense of bereavement," said Abdul Rashid, who gave the sermon, called "Khutbah."

Quoting a verse from the Koran, "kill not anyone whom Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause," Rashid stressed that it would not be "true Islam" if the Taliban killed the hostages.

"Islam respects human life," he said.

More than 400 Muslims participated in the gathering.

"I had wished that all of the 23 hostages come back to their homes without any accident," said Kamal Kaair, a first secretary at the Sudanese Embassy in Seoul, who also attended the meeting.

"Whether the hostages are men or women, their lives must be held in high respect," he said. "The Taliban must refuse the use of violence or abduction."

A Moroccan woman at the service, who declined to give her name, said, "I have read about the abduction in the paper." "I believe all of the Muslims in the World are praying for the immediate release of the South Koreans."

She said she was in South Korea for a two-week training program, arranged under government-sponsored exchange programs.

Korean envoy's hostage mercy dash

BBC News / Friday, 27 July 2007

A Seoul envoy is due in Afghanistan to step up efforts to save 22 South Korean hostages held by Taleban captors.

Baek Jong-chun is expected to meet Afghan government officials to discuss negotiations to free the aid workers, who were abducted a week ago.

The militants have already shot one of their captives and threatened to kill others unless the Afghan government released jailed insurgents.

The body of pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, 42, was found in Ghazni on Wednesday.

Mr Baek, South Korea's chief national security adviser, was set to arrive shortly after a new deadline set by the captors expired.

Threats

The fate of the remaining hostages was not known after a Taleban spokesman threatened to kill them unless the Afghan government freed prisoners by noon on Friday (0730 GMT).

Several previous deadlines have passed without the militants carrying out their threats.

One of the hostages was allowed by the captors on Thursday to make an emotional plea by telephone for help to secure their release.

The captives are aid workers for a Christian group.

The group of 23 Koreans, mostly women, were abducted in Ghazni province, south-west of the capital Kabul a week ago.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pledged not to swap prisoners for hostages.

He was criticised for releasing five Taleban members from jail in March in exchange for an Italian reporter.

There has been an increase in kidnappings, roadside bombings and suicide attacks in recent months in Afghanistan.

Hostages in Afghanistan, what was their mission?

By Job Boot* 27-07-2007

he South Korean government has sent an envoy to Afghanistan to negotiate the release of 22 South Korean Christians held hostage by the Taliban since last week. Earlier this week, the Taliban killed the leader of the South Korean group. Threats have been made that the other 22 hostages will also be shot if the Afghan government doesn't release Taliban prisoners. A number of deadlines have already expired.  

Are they courageous or just naive, the South Koreans who are being held hostage in Afghanistan? The Taliban removed them from a bus between Kabul and Kandahar, but what were the 23 Koreans doing in Afghanistan? Boudewijn Walraven, Professor of Korean language and culture at Leiden University, says: 
"These are people who all belong to a religious community, a Christian church that cooperates with a relief organisation that works in Afghanistan on a permanent basis. This humanitarian relief organisation implements all kinds of medical and educational projects.
 
For example, it supports students at the Kandahar University by giving English and IT classes. It's the reason why the group of South Koreans consists of English teachers, nurses and medical students. They came to Afghanistan in order to help people." Spreading the Christian gospel
Professor Walraven says that, save for the USA, South Korea has the highest number of missionaries outside its borders, spreading the gospel and providing assistance to local people. In 2006, some 16,000 Koreans were working as missionaries in a total of 173 countries. 

"The people who are now being held hostage by the Taliban aren't fulltime missionaries. They do belong to this church, and they want to do good wherever they are needed in the world. They travelled to Afghanistan in their holiday with the intention of helping people and spending their holidays usefully."It's not easy to say whether the South Korean envoy will be able to get the hostages freed. Professor Walraven says it's out of the South Koreans hands.  

"Initially, the Taliban demanded the withdrawal of the 200 South Korean troops from Afghanistan. That is scheduled to happen anyway, by the end of this year. When the Taliban learned this they changed their demands. Now, the Afghan government has to release 23 Taliban prisoners. But South Korea has no say over that. Only the Afghan government can decide. However, it seems extremely doubtful that it will give in to the Taliban's demands."

US rejects Italy's call to withdraw from Afghanistan

Wed Jul 25, 5:12 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday rejected Italy's call to end the US military mission in Afghanistan over what Rome termed "morally unacceptable" civilian casualties.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema had told a parliamentary committee that lack of coordination between US and NATO-led international forces are to blame for civilian deaths.

But US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack blamed the enemy for the civilian casualties.

"Taliban forces, Al-Qaeda forces, will very often use innocent civilians, including children, as human shields with the thought that that will prevent an attack," he said.

McCormack said the US mission, "Operation Enduring Freedom, and the NATO mission are separate missions yet complementary missions" with different duties and concentrated in different parts of the country.

Some 11,000 troops including 8,000 Americans, 1,000 Australians and 200 South Koreans take part in Enduring Freedom, which was launched in October 2001 against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

"All of these forces ... take the greatest possible care to avoid civilian casualties," McCormack said.

The UN mission in Kabul estimated in early July that some 600 civilians had been killed since the start of the year, more than half by Afghan and international forces.

D'Alema, quoted by the ANSA news agency, said: "The civilian casualties resulting from recent operations against the Taliban are morally unacceptable. They are a real disaster politically and have created major tensions between the Afghan government and the international forces."

"We think it would be advisable to end" Enduring Freedom, D'Alema said.

NATO has led the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), with contingents from 37 countries totaling around 39,000 men, since 2003. It has been in charge of almost all international operations in the country since the east came under its authority in late 2006.

Italy's 2,500 men are mainly based in a calmer area in the west.

An international conference in Rome early this month on rebuilding the justice system in Afghanistan was dominated by debate over mounting civilian casualties there.

Deep in Taleban Country

A reporter embeds with the Taleban to see the brutal evidence of war in Greshk.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Aziz Ahmad Tassal (ARR No. 261, 23-July-07)

The image I cannot erase is a burqa in the ashes of a bombed-out house. When I close my eyes I can still see it, that bit of blue cloth specked with blood amid the blackened soot that used to be someone’s home.

I had come to Hassan Khan Kalay with the Taleban. It was the only way of getting there, as this village near Hyderabad in the Greshk district is under their control, and journalists cannot go there without their permission.

The negotiations took about a week. First we called Qari Yusuf, the Taleban spokesman, and he passed us on to others, who referred us in turn to the local commanders.

Finally we got the go-ahead. But our Taleban contact told us on the phone to be very careful about what we filmed and who we talked to in Hyderabad.

“If they don’t like what you are doing, you won’t live,” he said simply.

Greshk is about 40 kilometres north of Lashkar Gah. According to the Afghan government, the district has been captured and recaptured many times over. At the moment, it seems that not a single day passes without some sort of incident there.

Hyderabad is completely ruled by the Taleban. Our first problem was getting out there. When I went to the bus station in Lashkar Gah, I could not find a driver willing to take us. They all looked at us suspiciously, maybe because we did not have turbans or the right kind of clothes. I was just wearing a Kandahari hat, and I had a big bag with my camera and recording equipment.

Finally, a driver in a yellow Toyota Corolla asked whether we had permission from the Taleban to go to Hyderabad. When I said yes, he told us to get in.

Once we crossed into Greshk and entered a desert area, our driver, who was wearing a white turban, began looking around anxiously, smoking one cigarette after another.

At about 11 in the morning, we rounded a bend and saw our first Taleban. There were two of them standing in the road in full Taleban gear - black turbans, black shawls and Kalashnikovs, with bandoliers slung across their bodies. They were holding bundles of money – afghani and Pakistani rupees.

I was shocked and afraid, but they said, “Oh, we’re Taleban, and you should help us.” They were smiling – and then they looked into the car and saw our filming equipment. They stared hard at it for a while.

We gave them two ten-afghani notes - worth about 40 cents - and they said, “Okay, you can go.”’

But as we were driving off, one of them pulled out his mobile phone, which had a home-made red pom-pom on it, and made a call. That made me nervous, so I called our contact just in case.

According to our driver, we were in a place called Gaamash. We could see large numbers of American military vehicles on the desert floor – tanks, armoured personnel carriers and jeeps – all of them destroyed, burnt out. There were also oil tanker trucks marooned in the desert.

It seemed that every few steps there was another shattered vehicle.

As we came into the village of Hassan Khan Kalay, I saw a burnt-out tractor by the road. In the distance, I could see houses that had been flattened by bombs. It looked like it had once been a busy little village, but no one lived there now. It was deathly still.

We were supposed to wait here for our contact, Mawlawi Ahmad. I could not even film – I was too scared to do so.

There was a small shop nearby, and we decided to interview the shopkeeper.

His name was Gulzaman, he told us, and he had lost his sister and her three sons in the bombings. His family had fled to this village from Sangin because of the fighting and NATO bombing raids in that town.

“But we got bombed here anyway,” he said bitterly. “I had to bury my three nephews in this place, because I could not get them to our local cemetery. For three days, I was not able to bury them because of the fighting. I just put some bushes on them and waited.”

His mother and the rest of his family were now in the mountains seeking refuge from the fighting, he said.

“In war, it’s every man for himself,” he added.

Suddenly we heard the roar of a motorcycle, and a strong young man swept into view. This was Mullah Khaled, sent by the local Taleban field commander to escort us through Hassan Khan Kalay. He came towards us and we shook hands.

He examined our equipment, studying the English-language markings. Finally, without further talk, he led us into the village.

Everywhere there were ruins – collapsed walls and ashes. There were a lot of impressions at once: a woman’s green scarf, a single sandal, a tea kettle with so many holes in it that it looked like a strainer.

We were approached by an old man, all hunched over. His turban was hanging in rings around his neck, and he seemed to have lost his senses.

He told us his name was Sher Gul, and that he had just lost six members of his family, including his sweet young wife, two daughters aged 18 and 12, and two sons, one aged seven and the other a baby of 11 months.

His teeth flashed under his beard as he spoke, and I could not tell whether he was smiling or grimacing in pain.

Sher Gul took me by the hand and led me to the ruins of his house, pointing to the place where his wife and children drew their last breaths.

“It was about 8:30 in the evening,” he said, “and we were having dinner outside in the courtyard. Then there was thunder, a roar, and the women and children ran into the house. My brother and I stayed where we were, and then the bombs began to fall. We threw ourselves on the ground and then just lay there, nailed in place by the bombs. I could hear screaming, and my wife calling to me, ‘For God’s sake get me out of here, my legs are broken.’

“But we couldn’t move, because the sky was raining red fire. My brother’s wife ran out of the house – she had been injured and was holding her baby in her arms. She fell on top of me and then died. Finally, the screaming stopped. And then the bombs stopped.”

When the smoke cleared, Sher Gul saw what had happened to his family.

“My wife was lying under the walls, and her legs had been cut off. I started to pull her out, but she was gone. Later I found my little son.”

Sher Gul cursed the Afghan president, Hamed Karzai, and laughed, but his laughter was unhinged.

“This is a good thing he has done for us,” he said. “We don’t even need to bring our dead to the graveyard. Look – everywhere is a graveyard now.”

The locals say that 135 people died that night in June when the NATO bombs came.

About 40 people tried to get away by loading themselves and their few possessions onto a tractor – the burned-out husk we had seen on our way into the village.

“Then the planes came and bombed them, too,” said Mohammad Faroq, an elder from the village. “They all died.”

Faroq said he and his neighbours had heard that Sher Gul’s house had been hit and that the tractor had been bombed. They ran to help as soon as they were able to move about. But it was near morning when they saw the scale destruction.

“I came to one house and everything was burnt,” he said. “I saw a woman’s body - she was still on fire. I ran home for some water to put out the flames.”

Faroq said he had seen many victims of the raid. “I saw people who had been shot while trying to run away,” he said. “There were bodies everywhere. The place was full of the dead.”

Now there were just a few people around, scattered among the ruins. They did not look twice at us or the Taleban commander with us. They seemed used to having the insurgents around, no longer shocked by their presence.

“When night starts to fall,” said Mohammad Nabi, an old man in the village, “everyone heads for the mountains. The women sleep out in the fields among the crops, up in the hills. No one stays here.”

Our contact Mawlawi Ahmad joined us for a few moments. We shook hands, he offered his assistance, and then left.

Meanwhile, our escort, Mullah Khaled, was eager to tell of his exploits.

“When a convoy of British troops was passing this way, I set off a remote-controlled mine,” he said. “Three NATO soldiers were killed. The others removed the dead bodies, then put a mine in the vehicle and blew it up.”

Khaled said that at one point he had been captured by the British and later released.

“I told them I was just a traveller,” he laughed. “Thank God I threw my walkie-talkie away before they got me.”

Aziz Ahmad Tassal is a freelance reporter in Helmand.

Grand Pashtun alliance on the cards in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, July 23 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Two leading Pashtun nationalist parties - the Awami National Party (ANP) headed by Asfandyar Wali Khan, and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) of Mahmood Khan Achakzai - are likely to form a grand alliance next month.

The two parties having their roots among Pashtuns living in NWFP and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan have constituted two separate committees to finalise their recommendations in this regard.

Two names, Pashtun Qaumi Mahaz (PQM), and Pashtun Ulasi Jirga (PUJ), are presently under considerations by the two sides, who are likely to announce formation of the grand alliance next month.

The five-member committee appointed by each side to review the pros and cons of the grand alliance, will give the go-ahead signal after discussing some common points, basic slogans and charter of demands.

The leadership of the alliance is focusing on a united province for Pashtuns living in Pakistan; a proper name for the Pashtun province; greater provincial autonomy; right to control resources of the province; combating the rising trend of terrorism on the Pashtun soil and stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan, reports a leading Pakistani English daily Dawn.

According to the report, the five-member ANP committee is headed by Ghulam Ahmed Bilour. Its other members are: Muhammad Afzal Khan and Abdul Latif Afridi from the NWFP and Dr. Inayatullah and Kudaidad Khan from Balochistan.

The PMAP committee is headed by Abdur Rahim Mandokhel. Other members of the committee are: Senator Nawab Ayaz Jogazai and Akram Shah from Balochistan and Dr. Said Alam Mahsud and Mukhtar Khan Yousufzai from the NWFP.

The first meeting of the two committees is scheduled in Islamabad on July 25.

Pakistan's Pashtun 'problem'

By Haroun Mir Asia Times Online Thursday, July 26, 2007

At least since September 11, 2001, most of the perpetrators of terrorist actions in the West have been Arabs or Pakistanis, yet the victims of the West's military reactions have been Afghans and the Pashtun tribes living in Pakistan.

The majority of Pashtuns have fallen prey to Arab and Pakistani propaganda against the West. The continued insurgency in Afghanistan and the sudden deterioration of the situation in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province make the Pashtun tribes the prime target in the "war against terror".

They have lived in poverty and become the proxy soldiers in the confrontation between the West and the Islamic extremists. The radicalization of young Pashtuns in madrassas (seminaries), generously financed by Saudi Arabia, menaces the cohesion of Pashtun tribal structure.

About 30 million to 35 million Pashtuns live in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they are divided and engaged in internal feuds. Only once - and for a short period - have they stood united. This was under the rule of Ahmad Shah Durani (1747-73), who created modern Afghanistan and conquered significant territories in India and Iran. Ever since British rule in India, Pashtun tribes have been in conflict either against foreign intruders or among themselves.

They have deliberately been kept away from modern education and economic development. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, they were tools in the hands of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And today they are the direct victims of the "war on terror".

In the years of conflict in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and other major Persian Gulf countries have financed thousands of madrassas for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, which resulted in a massive radicalization of young Pashtuns. In addition, the influx of Wahhabi Arab fighters and madrassa teachers transformed the dominant moderate Hanafi school of jurisprudence into a new breed of religious extremism, which resulted in the creation of the Taliban-type movement.

For instance, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, not a single act of suicide bombing was committed against the Soviet military or their family members in Kabul. The first suicide bombing in Afghanistan was committed by two Arabs against the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan's former defense minister, on September 9, 2001. At least since 2003, young Pashtuns have become involved in suicide bombings, which go against their tribal and religious values.

A new breed of extremist Islamic sect is taking shape in the Pashtun heartland. Only a limited number of the 15 million to 20 million Pashtuns who live in Pakistan enjoy modern education. Sadly, secular and modern schools are being burned down by the Taliban in Afghanistan's Pashtun-dominated provinces. Each year, thousands of young Pashtuns are trained in the madrassas, and only a limited number of them have access to secular education.

Pakistan's military rulers have an interest in keeping the masses of Pashtun people ignorant. They need the support of Pashtuns to dominate other minority groups. Until now the Pakistani authorities have used the old British system of divide-and-rule to play off local Pashtun leaders and in exchange require their loyalty.

This colonial system has kept the masses of Pashtuns illiterate and uneducated, and only selected families have received quality education to fill senior positions in the military. The presence of Pashtuns in the Pakistani military is used to dominate Balochs, who have been struggling to gain their autonomy since the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Without the support of the Pashtun tribes, the Pakistan Army would be unable to control a widespread Baloch insurgency.

President General Pervez Musharraf is keen to keep the truce with Pashtun tribes and save his tacit alliance with extremist religious parties. He knows well that the expansion of conflict with Pashtun tribes in Pakistan not only forces them to unite against Pakistani authorities, but also could incite Balochs to side with the Pashtuns.

Pakistani military authorities want to keep the status quo in the tribal regions. They are more interested in the integrity of their territory than in the global fight on terror. Musharraf has always sought the cooperation of radical religious leaders instead of the main secular leaders because only the religious leaders are capable of reaching out to the radicalized Pashtuns tribes.

Pakistan's military interests are in the interests neither of the West nor of Pashtuns. Keeping Pashtun tribes divided and backward might serve the short-term militaristic interests of Pakistan. But it is already backfiring against the long-term interests of the West.

The Pashtun-dominated territories have become a de facto sanctuary for international terrorism. North Atlantic Treaty Organization and US forces are fighting and bombing those who have nothing to do with terrorist acts in the West. Al-Qaeda and other international terrorists are taking advantage of the religiously devoted and fiercely independent Pashtun tribes.

Indeed, extremist religious groups and local Taliban have become an alibi for Musharraf to continue his military rule in Pakistan, despite the contempt shown by the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis. Pakistan's military authorities have been able to persuade the West to accept their ill-conceived tribal policies of promoting radical extremist leaders to the detriment of more traditional moderate Pashtun leaders.

The West, instead of alienating and pushing Pashtun tribes further into the camp of extremists, could reach out and assist moderate Pashtun leaders. But young Pashtuns have undergone almost three decades of radicalization, and it will require much time to reverse the trend.

Haroun Mir was an aide to the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan's former defense minister. He works as a consultant and policy analyst in Kabul.

The riddle of Afghan graves

By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Kabul Thursday, 26 July 2007

On a dusty desert plain a few kilometres north of Kabul, Afghan security officials recently revealed to reporters the latest mass grave discovered in the country.

Some of the bodies were still in a sitting position in rooms built underground the former weapons depot in the Shomali plain. Others were in a lying position. Some still had clothes on.

What is known is that the bodies are of victims of Afghanistan's war-torn past. But what is not known is - from which war?

Afghanistan is no stranger to such sites. Many - the authorities say more than 20 - have been discovered throughout the country since the US-led invasion and the fall of the Taleban regime in 2001.

A new commission, appointed by President Hamid Karzai, has been directed to investigate who these anonymous victims in the grave were, when were they killed, and by whom?

'Atrocity'

The commission is led by former chief justice Mawli Fazal Hadi Shinwari who showed the site - now heavily guarded by the Afghan National Army - to a group of journalists.

He ordered members of the commission to go inside the grave, to inspect and note the condition of the victims' final resting place.

"An atrocity has been committed, and we have to determine what occurred here," Mr Shinwari said after his investigators identified scores of victims throughout the site.

The site was discovered a few weeks ago by a 75-year-old Afghan villager who used to work as a driver for the Soviets.

He told the Afghan police that the place was used by Soviet officials for investigations and executions during their occupation of the country in the 1980s.

It is not yet clear whether the allegations are true.

The commission's challenge is to determine who is responsible for the executions.

Two Afghan security officials, who requested anonymity, said the commission would hand over its findings directly to President Karzai.

'Heinous act'

"We will carefully go through all of the details to find out whether this massacre was carried out by the communists or the mujahideen when they took power," one official said.

The head of Kabul police's crime branch, Gen Ali Shah Paktiawal, told the BBC: "We must all wait for the DNA tests and the investigation to finish. Only then can we be sure when this heinous act took place."

He said documents and clothing had been found at the site that would help the investigation.

Afghans have suffered at the hands of their various regimes, all of which have been responsible for filling mass graves.

Thousands vanished during the four Moscow-backed communist governments, and thousands of others during the infighting among the warring mujahideen factions that led to the Taleban gaining power. Life under the Taleban was even harsher for Afghans.

Scared

Carpenter Mohammad Eashan is one of many Afghans with shattered lives and broken dreams.

Speaking to the BBC at his workshop in western Kabul, he said he was only 10 when the communist government took away his father. He never saw him again.

"My father went to offer his Friday prayers," Mr Eashan said.

"He was taken to Paghman district by the communist police who accused him of helping the mujahideen.

"We don't know if he is alive or dead. It has been 26 years since this happened. I have now lost hope that he is alive. Criminals should be tried for their crimes."

A resident of west Kabul, 31-year-old Mariam, is scared to be even photographed.

She lost her brother during the civil war. He was abducted from a bus.

"He was taken by one of the factions because of his ethnic identity. To this day we don't know if he is alive or dead. His children are always asking if their father will come back one day," she said.

"We all know who the killers were in this country. They should be tried for their crimes. The communists, too, should be tried for their crimes and they shouldn't be in the government and parliament."

The relatives of those missing are keenly awaiting the result of the investigation into the most recently-discovered mass grave.

They hope it will determine which government killed hundreds of Afghans on the Shomali plain.

It is unclear, however, what legal action might then follow, as parliament recently voted to grant a broad amnesty which is intended to give alleged war criminals immunity from prosecution.

Pakistan: Radio Free Afghanistan -- Al-Qaeda Regroup Poses Dual Threat

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

July 27, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The attempted reopening today in Islamabad of the Red Mosque complex that saw a bloody confrontation between security forces and militant Islamic radicals on July 10-11 is a reminder of the challenges confronting Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf. The event was descending into rioting as Islamic hard-liners sought to retake the facilities.

Another reminder is taking shape in Washington, where legislators are pressing to tie U.S. aid to Pakistan's success in combating Al-Qaeda. Reuters reported today that U.S. lawmakers are nearing agreement on a bill to would make funds contingent on a crackdown on Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other militants.

With Pakistan long a source of concern in the U.S.-led counterterrorism effort, there is also new speculation about whether the U.S. military in Afghanistan might be tempted to cross the border into Pakistan to respond to any threat. In the United States, officials have declined to rule out direct strikes against Al-Qaeda targets in Pakistani territory, angering some Pakistanis.

The debate follows three shocks that reverberated in swift succession in Pakistan in the span of less than two weeks in July. First, more than 300 people died in the storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque and subsequent revenge attacks. Then Al-Qaeda's number-two man, Ayman al-Zawahri, urged a holy war against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. And last week, a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate described Al-Qaeda as having regrouped and refortified itself in Pakistan's tribal belt.

Militants 'Much Stronger'

Zahid Hussain is a senior Pakistani journalist and analyst who recently published a book on Islamist militancy since the attacks on the United States in September 2001. He told RFA that the Al-Qaeda network has been operating in Pakistan for a long time and has strengthened itself over the past six years.

"Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are much stronger and they have extended their network largely because of the support they are getting from the outlawed [Pakistani Islamist] militant groups," Hussain said. "In fact, the militants Islamist groups that were outlawed by President Pervez Musharraf in 2002 disintegrated into small cells and now they work as an extension of Al-Qaeda's network in Pakistan. Some of the planning for the attacks on Western countries had emanated from Pakistan. Some arrests have been made. But if you look, actually their capacity to attack has not [been] completely removed."

"Some arrests have been made. But if you look, actually their capacity to attack has not completely [been] removed."

Most observers agree that Musharraf's efforts to confront or contain militants have met with limited success. Critics say they've left Al-Qaeda and Taliban elements in control of large swaths of the borderlands, from which militants can extend their reach in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

"North and South Waziristan has really become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban," Hussain said. "The [Pakistani] government had been carrying out an operation for two years (2004-06) before reaching a cease-fire with the militants in North Waziristan in September of last year, but that 10-month truce was always tentative. After the truce there was a marked increase in attacks on the other side of the border, in Afghanistan. So the peace agreement gave Pakistan a period of respite, but it never resolved the problem."

Some Western analysts have argued that President Musharraf is allowing an Al-Qaeda presence in Pakistan in order to prolong his leadership.

Marvin Weinbaum, a Pakistan specialist at Washington's Middle East Institute, suggests the reality might be rather complicated.

"I believe that allowing the threat to be visible has been in Musharraf's interest," Weinbaum said. "However, certainly he could not have wanted it to progress as it has. It's one thing to be able to turn to the U.S. and the international community and say, 'You see, don't push me too hard because you see this is what I'm confronting and these are the elements that are going to succeed if I'm not here.' [But] right now the kind of extremist development that we see in Pakistan really does threaten the [Pakistani] army [and] the state -- and that in no way can be seen as a positive for Musharraf."

Much At Stake

The United States has given Pakistan some $10 billion in assistance since September 2001. The bulk of this has been to reimburse Islamabad for military operations against Al-Qaeda in the border region.

But some analysts warned that U.S. support has strengthened Musharraf's military-led government at the expense of a more democratic political order that might ultimately help curb extremism and militancy among Pakistan's 160 million people.

Peter Bergen is a terrorism analyst and author of a biography of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin. He said he thinks President George W. Bush's administration should take a hard look at its counterterrorism cooperation with Islamabad.

"I think the United States needs to be a little more firm about the need for the return to civilian rule," Bergen said. "President Bush has been pretty silent on that. Other people in his administration keep supporting Musharraf, but the larger question is bigger than just one person. The return to civilian rule is important for Pakistan's long-term viability as a successful state. There are other things that the United States and Pakistan have been talking about: One is putting more reconstruction money into the tribal regions, and I think that makes a lot of sense if the money is spent in the right way."

Bergen argued that the United States should continue small-scale CIA operations inside Pakistan to hunt Al-Qaeda leaders. But he said Pakistan needs to crackdown on Taliban militants on its territory.

A 'More Serious' Effort?

"The Pakistani government also should try and go after the Taliban leadership in Quetta and Peshawar in a more serious manner," Bergen said. "And that's not something that's just in Afghanistan's interest -- that's also in the U.S. military's interest in Afghanistan and [the interest of] all the NATO countries that are participating there."

Weinbaum, however, suggested that Pakistani forces face daunting challenges in their efforts to battle Al-Qaeda. He noted that the army has already suffered significant losses in Pakistan's rugged northwestern border region, abutting the Afghan border. Violence there has resulted in more than 300 deaths in July -- roughly half of them government soldiers.

"I think it's very doubtful that the military has the capacity to deal with the threat, as [militancy] has now rooted itself in the tribal areas," Weinbaum said. "After the Red Mosque affair, there is probably more public support for more aggressive policy. But what has not changed is that the military lacks the capacity and the ability to confront groups that have taken root there. It is not capable of counterinsurgency; it doesn't have the training, the equipment, and, yes, even the motivation to really challenge that [insurgency] and be successful."

Weinbaum speculated that Musharraf's priority -- given the current state of affairs in Pakistan -- might be to contain the Al-Qaeda threat while not eliminating it altogether.

"About the best that they can do is to contain this," Weinbaum said. "A political development in Pakistan [in which] the [political] parties and Musharraf would together see a mandate to do this, I think he would be more impelled to act. But I think right now the best we can see is some response to some of the attacks. But a full-scale approach that tries to eliminate the threat that exists in the frontier [region] would incur enormous risks -- the military knows this, and they don't want to be humiliated again as they were for 2 1/2 years."

Bergen maintained that Al-Qaeda will continue operating out of Pakistan in the absence of sufficient political will and popular backing to launch large-scale attacks against its bases there.

But he also suggested that Western determination to liquidate the militant threat emanating from Pakistan could prove a tipping point if it is found to be a launching pad for a new terrorist attack.

"If there is another attack in Britain or another attack in the United States that's traceable to the tribal regions in Pakistan, then of course there would be a lot of political pressure to do something in a larger manner than has been done in the past."

(Abubakar Siddique is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan)

Bring 'em on: Militants in Pakistan await US

By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Asia Times Online / Friday, July 27, 2007

KARACHI - Efforts by the Pakistani establishment to defuse the volatile situation in its tribal areas have failed, despite the carrot of large amounts of money being dangled before the Pakistani Taliban there.

Islamabad is now caught between militants spoiling for a fight and US and coalition troops in Afghanistan ready to give them one - and there is little Pakistan can now do to prevent this from happening.

"There is no chance for any peace deal that allows Pakistani troops to stay in the tribal areas. If this situation allows NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] to enter Pakistan, let them come. It is better to fight against NATO than to fight Pakistani troops. But if they fight together against us, we are ready for that too," Rasool Dawar told Asia Times Online from the North Waziristan tribal agency on the border with Afghanistan.

Dawar is a close associate of Moulvi Sadiq Noor, one of the several hardline Pakistani al-Qaeda leaders who have taken control of the militancy in the area, along with the Pakistani Taliban. Another prominent commander is Moulvi Abdul Khaliq.

As if to back up Dawar's words, on Wednesday militants fired several rockets into the town of Bannu in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), killing 10 people and injuring more than 40.

Since President General Pervez Musharraf sent in the troops against the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad this month to root out militants, Pakistan has sent thousands of troops to the tribal areas, where they have been met with open hostility resulting in the death of scores of military personnel.

The United States has seized the opportunity to threaten its own military action on Pakistani soil against militant targets, which Washington says includes al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Other emerging young al-Qaeda leaders include Gul Bahadur and Baitullah Mehsud. Their opposition is centered in North Waziristan and South Waziristan, where they aim to expel Pakistani troops (or any others who might venture there). In addition, they support the Taliban movement in the cities of Bannu, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat Valley (all in NWFP) and nearby Bajaur Agency. The ultimate objective is to boot Musharraf from power.

Asia Times Online has learned of increased Pakistani military activity in the Waziristans in preparation for a large-scale operation, possibly augmented by NATO forces from across the border in Afghanistan.

However, given the topography of the region, with its high mountains, there is more likelihood of foreign troops entering Pakistan in Bajaur, from where the largest infiltration into Afghanistan takes place.

For the Waziristans, where the US says it has identified "high-value" targets, pin-point air strikes are a better option. Certainly, the US would prefer quick strikes from safe bases in Afghanistan to committing troops to what would become a protracted battle a la Iraq and Afghanistan.

The balance is tipped

Since 2001, when Pakistan joined the US in the "war on terror", it has tried to strike a balance between its alliance with Washington and the jihadi establishment that the Inter-Services Intelligence had built up.

In this peculiar situation, the world watched as Pakistan helped the US arrest more than 700 al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, mount devastating battles in its own tribal areas against its own tribesmen, kill dozens of militants and have hundreds of its own security personnel killed in return.

Then Islamabad signed a peace deal with militants in the tribal areas that allowed for its troops to withdraw, leaving the militants in charge of stemming cross-border activity - a bit like placing prisoners in charge of their jail keys, and this in an area crucial to the "war on terror".

At the same time, Pakistan looked on (until the Red Mosque saga) as the Taliban consolidated their assets, breeding countless fresh militants to go and fight in Afghanistan, while also appearing deaf to repeated US calls to share intelligence on what turned out to be a highly successful spring offensive for the Taliban in 2006.

Through Pakistan's prism, there was no contradiction here, just a question of safeguarding its national interests, and for several years Musharraf managed not to fall off his tightrope. Now, though, it looks as if he's heading for a plunge as the jihadist networks and the US prepare to confront each other on Pakistani territory - regardless of what Islamabad might want.

Time running out

Musharraf's administration has been on edge since the storming of the Lal Masjid, as it was a confrontation it knew would have unpleasant consequences. And with US war drums beating ever faster, Musharraf became even more nervous. If troops going into the mosque could inflame the tribal areas, imagine the reaction foreign troops in the tribal areas could provoke.

A contact in Rawalpindi familiar with goings-on in the capital's twin city, which is home to the military's top brass, told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity of Musharraf's desperate efforts to speak to Washington at the highest level and request some breathing space.

According to the contact, Washington insisted that Islamabad press on relentlessly by military means against Taliban and al-Qaeda assets in Pakistan, saying that NATO would be supportive. Apparently, a personal request by Musharraf to speak to US President George W Bush about being given time for matters to cool off was declined.

In effect, Washington is brushing aside Musharraf's concerns over an extremist backlash of momentous proportions should foreign forces join in the fray in the tribal areas, let alone threaten the general's hold on power.

But one can understand Washington's determination to force the pace when one of the more notorious architects of the Taliban's military offensive, Libyan Abu Laith al-Libby, is sitting in North Waziristan. The hardened al-Qaeda operator is believed to have come up with the idea of stepping up the number of abductions of foreigners in Afghanistan. The seizure of more than 20 South Korean aid workers is the latest example of this.

The reasoning is that it will force coalition troops deeper into the civilian population to protect them, thereby exposing them to improvised explosive devices, rocket attacks and suicide bombers.

From the perspective of the al-Qaeda hardliners taking control in the tribal areas, they relish a confrontation with foreign troops in Pakistan as they see it as a chance to boost their broader aims in the region.

Such a confrontation would force the Pakistani jihadist community to rise up fully. This happened last year when the Pakistan Army mounted operations in South Waziristan - the ranks of the jihadis swelled by thousands within months. Such renewed fervor could be channeled to Afghanistan, and against Musharraf's administration.

While Washington wants to take action in Pakistan, it does not want the country to turn into a jihadist playing field, so it is preparing for the consequences. This includes the encouragement of liberal democratic forces to step into any power vacuum should Musharraf be forced out or choose to walk into the sunset. Quick regime changes have in the past worked to take the steam out of potentially disastrous backlashes, and given the military time to regroup.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.

AFGHANISTAN: UNICEF appeals for more aid to help women, children

KABUL, 26 July 2007 (IRIN) - In 2007 floods, diseases, drought and armed conflict have increased the need for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) said in its donor update report issued on 26 July. Women and children have been particularly affected, it said.

"UNICEF urgently requires US$7 million to respond to the needs of children and women," UNICEF said in its report entitled Humanitarian Action, Afghanistan - Donor Update Report.

Catherine Mbengue, UNICEF representative in Afghanistan, told IRIN on 26 July that 200,000 children would receive humanitarian assistance through an emergency programme for which urgent funding was being sought. In addition, 2.2 million children will benefit from educational interventions.

"Thousands of families have either been displaced or lost their livelihoods and face the threat of disease outbreaks," Mbengue said in her office in Kabul.

The UN agency will spend the requested funds on medical supplies, tents, sanitation services, education and protection efforts.

Complex humanitarian emergency

Since the ousting of the Taliban over five years ago and the launch of rebuilding and development efforts, war-ravaged Afghanistan is still considered a complex humanitarian emergency, aid officials say.

The country has one of the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world, with 1,600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, and one in four children die before their fifth birthday, according to the UN.

"Seven percent [of children] suffer from acute malnutrition and 54 percent of them are chronically malnourished," UNICEF said.

Furthermore, over 28 floods that occurred in the first half of 2007 have affected some 10,000 Afghan families across the country. According to the Afghan disaster management body, 2007 has so far seen over 150 people die in flash floods and avalanches, with hundreds of houses washed away.

Afghanistan, particularly its southern, eastern and southeastern provinces, also suffers from an armed insurgency.

More than half of primary school age Afghan children, about two million, are deprived of schooling, UNICEF says.

"The crisis is not causing new problems. It is aggravating old and current vulnerabilities," Mbengue said.

UN facing access problems

As of May 2007, the UN did not have permanent access to about 41 percent of districts in Afghanistan, UNICEF confirmed in the report.

"In inaccessible areas we operate through government institutions or non-governmental organisations (NGOs)/ third parties," Mbengue said.

UNICEF's report calls for over $15 million to respond to humanitarian needs in the country. Canada, Norway, Australia, the Netherlands and some other donors have contributed over $9 million to the requested annual emergency fund, to date, leaving some $7 million still required.

[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.]