In this bulletin:

• Twenty-six militants, ISAF soldier killed in Afghanistan (Roundup)
• NATO soldier killed in eastern Afghanistan
• NATO sees long haul in Afghanistan
• Rocket kills Afghan women
• Soldier’s photos live on Canadian - Combat photographer shot down over Afghanistan
• FACTBOX-Military deaths in Afghanistan
• Defense Secretary Gates Calls Losses in Iraq, Afghanistan "Painful, Personal"
• Taleban target cleric, kill 13
• TALIBAN ATTACKS KILLS AT LEAST 16 POLICEMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
• Western forces say squeeze Taliban in Afghan south
• Retiring envoy comments on Afghanistan By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
• News media invited to witness ANA bridge training
• ISAF Regional Command East Press Event
• Pakistan's Musharraf increasingly isolated
• Shamshatoo Refugee Camp: A Base of Support for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
• UN agencies make house calls to vaccinate Afghan newborns
• Volunteer physicians depart for Afghanistan
• Women in burqa march in support of suspended MP
• AFGHAN GOVERNMENT BANS SMOKING IN PUBLIC SPACES
• Q&A: Author of "The Kite Runner" revisits Afghanistan in new novel

Twenty-six militants, ISAF soldier killed in Afghanistan (Roundup)

By DPA Jun 1, 2007, 12:07 GMT 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Kabul - NATO and Afghan forces killed 26 Taliban fighters in two separate battles with the militants, while one soldier of the International Security in Afghanistan Forces (ISAF) was killed in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan national security forces fought with Taliban insurgents in Zhari district of southern Kandahar province, killing 20 militants, including a commander called Mullah Naqibullah, the district administrator, Khairuddin Khan, said in a statement.

In another incident, a soldier of the International Security in Afghanistan Forces (ISAF) was killed Friday in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, while three other soldiers were wounded, ISAF said.

In keeping with its practice, ISAF did not specify the nationality of the soldiers. But it is mainly US forces who operate in the eastern part of Afghanistan.

The casualties came two days after Taliban insurgents shot down a helicopter in southern Afghanistan, killing five US soldiers along with one British and one Canadian soldier.

In a separate incident, Afghan police exchanged fire with Taliban militants after they attacked the home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province late Thursday, killing six of the militants, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said in a statement.

Seven Taliban fighters were injured in the incident, while there were no casualties among the police, he said.

Weapons and vehicles belonging to the militants were seized at the scene.

Five rockets hit a residential area in Sirkana district of Kunar province, injuring two women and their five family members.

Several houses were also damaged in the attack, provincial police chief Abdul Jalal said.

Violence has been on the rise in Afghanistan for the past several weeks. The Taliban-led attacks and retaliations have left more than 1,700 people dead, mostly insurgents, so far this year.

NATO soldier killed in eastern Afghanistan

KABUL, June 1 (Reuters) - A soldier with NATO's International Security Assistance Force was killed and three others were wounded in combat in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, ISAF said.

ISAF had no further details and does not release the nationalities of casualties.

The soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Mehtarlam district, according to Ahmad Jawid Shamsi, cultural adviser to a provincial reconstruction team in Laghman.

Clashes between the Taliban and Western forces have surged in recent weeks.

Seven NATO troops -- five Americans, a Briton and a Canadian -- were killed in the crash of a Chinook helicopter during heavy fighting in Helmand province on Wednesday. NATO said the helicopter may have been brought down by enemy fire.

NATO sees long haul in Afghanistan

By CP Fri, June 1, 2007

OTTAWA -- Canada's top military commander at NATO says the alliance's mission in Afghanistan will continue after 2009 with or without the Canadian army.

Gen. Ray Henault, this country's former chief of defence staff, told a Commons committee yesterday that the alliance isn't looking at end dates, it's looking at what needs to be done before troops can safely be withdrawn from the war-torn country.

If Canada does decide to pull out of Kandahar in 2009, Henault says NATO will provide for another nation to go in behind, adding that international missions in places such as Bosnia and Kosovo have lasted for 10 years -- or more.

He says NATO planners are looking ahead to see which country might take over the combat role in southern Afghanistan should Canada depart, but added that the exercise is part of the normal planning process.

Parliament has authorized the deployment of troops until February 2009, but the Conservative government has refused to set an end-date, while the Liberals says the pullout should happen on schedule and the NDP calls for an immediate withdrawal.

Henault says his experience as head of NATO's military council has been that more countries are trying to get into Afghanistan to help than trying to get out.

Rocket kills Afghan women

01 June 2007 ASADABAD, Afghanistan - Two women have been killed and another six people wounded when a rocket fired by militants hit a civilian house in eastern Afghanistan, police said.

The barrage of rockets was apparently aimed at an Afghan and US military base in eastern Kunar province but missed and landed on nearby farming plots, provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal told AFP.

"Two women were martyred and six other civilians from one family were wounded when one of the rockets hit a civilian house," said Jalal.

The police chief blamed the attacks on "enemies of Afghanistan," a term often used to refer to the ultra-Islamic Taliban movement that has been waging an insurgency since being ousted from government in late 2001.

Up to 380 Afghan civilians were killed in Taliban attacks and anti-militant raids by Afghan and international forces in the first four months of this year, the United Nations said.

In a separate incident, insurgents attacked a police post in neighbouring Nuristan province, sparking a gun battle that killed a policeman and a militant, provincial governor Tamim Nuristani told AFP.

Four other police were wounded, he said.

And in the eastern province of Nangarhar, a spokesman for the Taliban militia said the group had beheaded a man on charges of espionage. The claim could not be independently confirmed.

The Islamic extremists have a brutal code whereby they behead people they accuse of spying, chop off the hands of thieves and stone to death alleged adulterers.

The movement was removed from government in a US-led offensive launched after it refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The US-led coalition announced meanwhile that it and Afghan police had arrested on Thursday a Taliban sub-commander and bomb-maker in the south of the country who was "known for his terror tactics."

The man, identified as Haji Salam, had also been involved in suicide attacks in the southern province of Ghazni, which has seen a spike in violence in the past week, the coalition said in a statement.

AFP

Soldier’s photos live on Canadian - Combat photographer shot down over Afghanistan

By STEPHANIE LEVITZ The Canadian Press Published: 2007-06-01

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Master Cpl. Darrell Jason Priede died in a combat zone but it was his work as a military photographer documenting reconstruction that other soldiers were remembering Thursday after he was confirmed as the 56th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Priede, 30, based at CFB Gagetown, N.B., died when a U.S. Chinook helicopter he was riding in went down in southern Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province late Wednesday night. He was photographing coalition forces trying to wrest control of a strategic valley from insurgents to pave the way for reconstruction.

Five Americans and a Briton on board were also killed when the helicopter was apparently shot down after dropping off U.S. troops. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

Initial reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, said a U.S. official who insisted on anonymity. Hostile fire was also mentioned by Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.

"It was a hostile area, where the helicopter went down," Thomas said. "Initial indications are that enemy fire may have brought down the helicopter."

Thomas said the Chinook had just dropped off a full load of U.S. troops from the 82nd Airborne before it went down. He said 30 to 40 troops would likely have been on board.

"There will be a full investigation," Thomas said.

Lt.-Col. David Accetta, the top U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, said enemy fire was only one of several possibilities.

"We will investigate thoroughly," he said. "There’s no solid evidence we can point to that suggests it was shot down."

Canadian military officials, too, said only that the incident is under investigation.

A National Defence news release said Priede "was killed when the helicopter in which he was a passenger went down at approximately 9 p.m." near the town of Kajaki, about 95 kilometres northwest of Kandahar city.

Priede was born in Burlington, Ont. and grew up around Grand Forks, B.C.

Lt. (Navy) Desmond James worked closely with Priede while serving with the Canadian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team — or PRT — just outside Kandahar city.

Flipping through a sheaf of photos that Priede took, James said Priede had learned a lot in the six weeks he’d been in the country, especially during the week he spent with the PRT.

James remembered how the photographer always captured a unique view of soldiers on the ground. Priede’s work was put on display at the PRT late Thursday.

"He loved what he was doing, he was a great guy," James said, his eyes welling with tears.

"He had a greater understanding of how important it is to continue doing what we’re doing and really appreciated the chance to work down here."

Priede was doing his job as photographer for the Regional Command South, which oversees multinational efforts in each of the five southern Afghan provinces.

He was killed during Operation Lastay Kulang, part of the ISAF offensive against the Taliban in Helmand province.

The area has been a hotbed of military activity for months, as coalition forces tried to clear the way for the Kajaki dam reconstruction project designed to provide electricity for both Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Priede is the second Canadian soldier to die in less than a week. Master Cpl. Matthew McCully was killed last Friday when he stepped on an explosive device.

Since 2002, 56 Canadian soldiers and one Canadian diplomat have died in Afghanistan.

Canadian Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant acknowledged the Taliban are putting up determined resistance to development in the south, but he remained confident it’s a battle that the international forces would win.

"We’re seeing it unfold much as we thought it would: in small groups they will attack ISAF, unsuccessfully on the bigger front," Grant told reporters at Kandahar Airfield.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed in a phone call to The Associated Press that insurgents brought down the helicopter. Ahmadi did not offer any proof, but he specified the helicopter crashed in the Kajaki district hours before NATO reported it.

NATO troops secured the wreckage on Thursday after encountering enemy fighters earlier on as they approached the site. They called in an air strike "to eliminate the enemy threat," NATO said.

The CH-47 Chinook, a heavy transport helicopter with two rotors, can carry about 40 soldiers plus a small crew.

Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan have been relatively rare.

A Chinook crashed in February in the southern province of Zabul, killing eight U.S. personnel. Officials ruled out enemy fire as the cause.

In May 2006, another Chinook crashed attempting a nighttime landing on a small mountaintop in eastern Kunar province, killing 10 U.S. soldiers.

In 2005, a U.S. helicopter crashed in Kunar, after apparently being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 16 Americans.

’He had a greater understanding of how important it is to continue doing what we’re doing and really appreciated the chance to work down here.’

FACTBOX-Military deaths in Afghanistan

June 1 (Reuters) - A soldier with NATO's International Security Assistance Force was killed and three others were wounded in combat in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, ISAF said.

The soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Mehtarlam district, according to Ahmad Jawid Shamsi, cultural adviser to a provincial reconstruction team in Laghman.

Seven NATO troops -- five Americans, a Briton and a Canadian -- were killed in the crash of a Chinook helicopter in Helmand province on Wednesday.

Here are the latest figures for foreign military deaths in Afghanistan since the Taliban government was toppled in 2001:

NATO/U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES:

United States 395
Canada 56
Britain 58
Spain 21
Germany 21
Other nations 41
TOTAL: 592

Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001 and violence is increasing this year.

More than 4,000 people were killed in fighting in 2006, a quarter of them civilians and about 170 of them foreign soldiers killed in fighting or in accidents while on patrol.

Defense Secretary Gates Calls Losses in Iraq, Afghanistan "Painful, Personal"

Fri, 06/01/2007 - 10:43 — admin

CAMP H.M. SMITH, Hawaii, May 31, 2007 – Of all the challenges he confronts at the helm of the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today said one of the most difficult for him is writing condolence letters to families who have lost a loved on in the war on terror.

“I feel very strongly about the families of every soldier and Marine who is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Gates told reporters today during a media roundtable at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters here.

Speaking on the last day of a particularly difficult month for U.S. forces in terms of troops killed, Gates said he feels each and every loss.

“It is very painful. It is very personal,” he said. “It is why I handwrite notes on each of the letters (to families), because I want them to know that each and every one of them is important to me, important to the president.”

Gates said the Defense Department is sympathetic to families’ losses and is “deeply grateful” for their support and sacrifices. “We feel them very personally as well.”

In the face of these losses, the secretary said he’s encouraged to see that the troops remain committed to the mission in the terror war, despite the potential risks. He noted that for the first time since in the country’s history since the Revolutionary War, it is fighting a war with an all-volunteer force.

“These young men and women in uniform who are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq are fighting there because they believe in what they are doing,” he said. “And we have the greatest admiration for their willingness to serve and their willingness -- as they know, potentially -- to have a personal sacrifice.”

Gates met personally today with servicemembers based here to thank them for their service and their continued commitment. A sailor who attended the brief session summed up the message he took away from Gates’ troop talk as “Keep charging.”

Source: AFIS

Taleban target cleric, kill 13

Web posted at: 6/1/2007 7:54:37 Source ::: AFP

PESHAWAR ╛ At least 13 people were killed yesterday when around 100 pro-Taleban radicals launched rockets and lobbed hand grenades at the home of a top Pakistani cleric, police and witnesses said.

The attackers targetted the house of Pir Attique Gilani, an influential tribal elder known for being anti-Taleban, in northwestern Tank district near the border with Afghanistan, district police officer Mumtaz Zareen said.

The house also belonged to Gilani's brother, the government's representative in the lawless Khyber tribal region, but witnesses said the attackers specifically asked for the cleric's whereabouts after storming in.

When they did not find him, they launched the assault.

Zareen said it would be "premature to name elements behind the attack" in the village of Jatta Kallan, but other police officials blamed pro-Taleban rebels and said Gilani's rivalry with them was a likely possible motive. The cleric publishes a monthly newsletter from the southern city of Karachi, in which he has sharply criticised fighters from the extremist movement.

Six members of Gilani's family were among the dead, but Gilani himself was not believed to have been killed, the officer said. Two others were wounded in the pre-dawn attack. Residents said they recognised some of the 100 or so assailants from a group of militants who took up positions on a road leading out of nearby Tank earlier this week.

A suicide car bomber killed two soldiers and gunmen shot dead a paramilitary commander on the same road on Monday.

Tank, a town of about 100,000 people, has been wracked by bloody clashes between security forces and Taleban insurgents since the start of the year. It was placed under curfew last month amid violence triggered by the killing of a militant leader following attempts to recruit school students to fight in Afghanistan.

TALIBAN ATTACKS KILLS AT LEAST 16 POLICEMEN IN AFGHANISTAN

RFE/RL Newsline Friday, June 1, 2007 Volume 11 Number 100

Some 16 Afghan policemen were killed and at least five were injured in an attack attributed to the Taliban in the southern Zabul Province on May 31, AFP reported, citing Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zmaray Bashari in Kabul. The Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press reported that 19 were killed. AT

Western forces say squeeze Taliban in Afghan south

By Jim Loney Fri Jun 1, 7:30 AM ET

KABUL (Reuters) - Despite the loss of a NATO Chinook helicopter this week with seven servicemen aboard, a British-led thrust to drive the Taliban from strongholds in Helmand province is yielding success, Western military officials said on Friday.

"We're creating pockets in which the Taliban are caught. We're just squeezing them," Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo, a spokesman for British forces in Helmand, told Reuters.

A force of 2,000 troops, including 1,000 British and 500 Afghan National Army soldiers backed by Danes, Estonians and elements of the elite U.S. 82nd Airborne, launched the operation two days ago to trap Taliban militants north of the Sangin Valley and in the Kajaki dam region, officials said.

Improving security in Helmand, a vast province of deserts, fertile valleys and towering mountains that is the heartland of ethnic Pashtun sympathy for the Taliban, is the aim of "Operation Lastay Kulang," or "axe-handle" in the local Pashto language.

The province is the leading producer of opium poppies in Afghanistan, which supplies about 90 percent of the world's heroin. Authorities say the Taliban is heavily involved in the drugs trade and have stepped up anti-narcotics operations to choke the militants' funding.

Securing the area around the Kajaki dam, a key hydro-electric project that could bring power to hundreds of thousands of poor Afghans, is a key objective.

Officials hope a turbine can be transported to Kajaki this summer for a power project that by some estimates could improve electricity for 2 million Afghans.

"It's about stabilizing this region, helping local governments get established. It's getting people to believe we're not leaving tomorrow," Mayo said.

Dozens of Taliban were killed and wounded in fierce fighting on Thursday near Kajaki, the Afghan defense ministry said.

In recent weeks the towns of Sangin and Gereshk were cleared of Taliban, allowing the installation of a local governor in Sangin and opening the way for tribal councils to meet, officials said.

"The operation is absolutely on track," said Lieutenant-Colonel David Accetta, a U.S. military spokesman.

Following a winter lull, fighting has surged in recent weeks between Western forces and the Taliban, whose radical Islamist government was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Taliban guerrillas have carried out a series of suicide bombings, roadside explosions and attacks on Afghan police. Sixteen policemen died in a Taliban ambush on Thursday in southern Zabul province.

The downed Chinook was part of an air support operation by the elite U.S. 82nd Airborne. The twin-rotor troop transporter had just dropped soldiers in an area of heavy fighting and may have been hit by enemy fire, NATO said.

All those aboard -- five American crew, a Briton and a Canadian -- were killed, according to officials.

The Taliban gave two figures for casualties in the crash -- 35 and 60 foreign troops killed. Taliban death tolls have often been exaggerated and NATO called the claim "absurd."

A U.S. military official said the Chinook only carries 28 battle-equipped troops, plus crew.

Retiring envoy comments on Afghanistan By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

Thu May 31, 3:13 PM ET

The retiring U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, in a farewell assessment, said Thursday he did not know how long U.S. troops ought to remain in the South Asian country.

But on his last day in the foreign service, and after two years in a post his father also once held in Kabul, Ronald Neumann said helping Afghanistan to develop its first democratic government was "a long-term process."

"There is corruption of society at all levels," he said, but there are several positive developments, including growth of the Afghan army and the judicial system and the building of roads.

"It is a weak state and not a strong Taliban that is causing us problems," he said.

A U.S.-led NATO coalition remains in the country, grappling with insurgents, more than five years after U.S. forces helped overthrow the Taliban.

Five U.S. soldiers were among the victims Thursday in the downing of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in southern Helmand province, raising the U.S. death toll for U.S. forces in the country to about 400.

"I am sorry for the loss of life," Neumann said, after a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

"But I don't consider it significant from a strategic point of view," he said of the attack, noting that they have become less frequent.

Neumann said he did not know who shot down the helicopter, and urged the United States to keep troops in Afghanistan.

"We cannot afford the destruction of Afghanistan and the rebirth of radicalism," he said.

"It is a very long-term process and we have to dedicate ourselves to that," he said.

Neumann said he did not know how long U.S. troops would be needed. But, he said, "I hope the country will recognize that the price we are paying in blood and treasure is justified."

News media invited to witness ANA bridge training

ISAF/NATO: KABUL, Afghanistan (June 1) – Media are invited to observe a portable bridge-building demonstration. This is a training event for the Afghan National Army and will be held on Camp Invicta June 5.

The Multi-National Engineering Group is conducting this training for the ANA.

Interested journalists should confirm their intention to attend no later than 5 p.m. June 2. They must arrive at the Camp Warehouse main gate on Jalalabad Road no later than 9 a.m. June 5.

For further information, call the Regional Command Capital Public Information Office at 0799 51 41 61. An ISAF media accreditation card is required to enter the camp.

ISAF Regional Command East Press Event

ISAF/NATO: KABUL, Afghanistan (June 1) - Media are invited to a Regional Command East press event Saturday, June 2 at 9 a.m.

The Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team will be hosting a Shura with local tribal leaders at the Miri District Centre in Andar District, Ghazni Province.

The Shura will cover many topics including the security situation within the district. Immediately following the shura will be a ground breaking ceremony to mark the construction of the Miri road. Governor Patan will then hold a press conference where he will address current issues affecting the province.

Media interested in attending the Shura and press event should contact Captain Larynilsa Medina at 0093 (0) 797518510 for further information. There are a limited number of places available on a helicopter leaving at 8:30 a.m. from Forward Operating Base Ghazni for Miri District Centre.

Pakistan's Musharraf increasingly isolated

TheStar.com June 01, 2007 Laura KingLos Angeles Times

ISLAMABAD–When Pakistani President Perez Musharraf survived back-to-back assassination attempts in 2003, he might have thought the worst lay behind him. But now, after easily quelling any threat to his power during eight years of military rule, the general appears trapped in a labyrinth of his own making.

His attempt 2 1/2 months ago to sideline the country's independent-minded chief justice touched off nationwide protests that have coalesced into a full-blown pro-democracy movement. Islamist militants have established a firm foothold in the tribal borderlands, and vigilante-style followers of a radical cleric here in the capital have been kidnapping police officers and menacing those they consider to be promoting a licentious lifestyle.

Musharraf's supporters are blamed for bloody street fighting last month in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, which killed more than 45 people, many of them workers for opposition political parties. And the general's once-polished speeches and public statements lately have taken on a tone that alternates between shrill accusations and near-tearful pleas for understanding.

Long-time political allies are beginning to distance themselves from the 63-year-old Pakistani leader. And although top generals appear to be standing by him, even government ministers are remaining silent in the face of withering criticism of his rule, or offering only a tepid defence.

"His position has become untenable, unsustainable," said author and analyst Ahmed Rashid.

"I don't see how he can hang on," said prominent journalist Zahid Hussain.

The choices facing Musharraf are stark ones, analysts say. He could hunker down and try to ride out the current crisis, or move to declare martial law. He could seek to strike a deal with opposition figures, who are likely to spurn him. Or he could step aside.

"It's a scenario that could play out over some time, or could play out quite quickly," said Teresita Schaffer, director for South Asia affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "My experience is that in Pakistan, when things are in decline, they don't go down a sloping ramp; it's a series of steep stair steps.''

Amid the turmoil, the United States increasingly is viewed as the main power propping up Musharraf in the face of calls that he renounce his position as army chief, allow the creation of an interim government and call free and fair elections.

Some observers warn that the Bush administration's continuing support for Musharraf at this crucial juncture could threaten long-term U.S. interests in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state that is considered an indispensable ally in the fight against Islamic insurgents across the border in Afghanistan.

"There's a huge disappointment over the American position, a real sense that it is a short-sighted one," said Samina Ahmed, South Asia project director at the Brussels, Belgium-based International Crisis Group.

For the time being, the general appears to retain the backing of his patrons in the Bush administration, with whom he cast his lot after the Sept. 11, 2002, attacks.

"Are we pulling away from Musharraf? No," said a U.S. diplomat. "Because that would be pulling away from the government of Pakistan. We will not draw away from this relationship.''

The conventional wisdom has held that Musharraf is a bulwark against Islamic fundamentalists, and that without him, the country could slide into chaos, creating a vacuum that extremist groups would rush to fill.

But opposition parties insist that free and fair elections could empower a moderate, Western-leaning regime. Islamist parties won only about 12 per cent of the vote in the last parliamentary elections, in 2002, and many people believe they would draw less support now.

"There's this perception that if Musharraf goes, in come the Taliban," said Sherry Rehman, a Pakistan People's Party MP. "That's really not the case.'' The opposition insists the groundswell of support for Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whom Musharraf is trying to oust, has become a larger renunciation of military rule.

Shamshatoo Refugee Camp: A Base of Support for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

By Omid Marzban
Terrorism Monitor (jamestown.org/terrorism) Volume 5, Issue 10 (May 24, 2007)

Two years after the Pakistani government banned it from publication, Shahaadat Daily newspaper, funded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Party of Afghanistan), is again available on the streets of Peshawar (Ariana Television, May 6). The daily has published articles that denounce the Afghan government and its major supporter, the United States. Shahaadat is the second newspaper, after Tanweer, which publishes articles that support Hekmatyar's declaration of jihad against the Afghan government and Western troops in Afghanistan. The paper prints new statements from Hekmatyar and serves as a vehicle for the leader's propaganda. Both Shahaadat and Tanweer are supported from Hezb-e-Islami's stronghold, the Shamshatoo Refugee Camp. According to Waheed Mujda, an Afghan analyst and a former member of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan, who lived in Shamshatoo during the 1990s, "Shahaadat restarted publication when Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ordered his followers to reinforce Islamic law and to strengthen Hezb-e-Islami activities inside Shamshatoo refugee camp" [1]. Located some 25 kilometers southeast of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, Shamshatoo remains a bastion of support for Hekmatyar.

The Camp

Shamshatoo is a dusty and dry piece of land, surrounded by almost two-meter high clay walls. Inside the camp reside approximately 2,000 Afghan refugees. Almost all of them consider Gulbuddin Hekmatyar a hero. "Engineer Hekmatyar is a hero, his declaration of jihad against Americans shows that he is a servant of Islam," said a resident of the camp and a financial officer for the camp's administration, who went by the alias Haji Abdul Qahar [2]. Speaking to The Jamestown Foundation inside the camp, Qahar said, "Whoever lives or has lived in the camp is a supporter of Engineer Hekmatyar and a member of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan because this camp belongs to Hezb-e-Islami." Qahar, who was planning to visit Saudi Arabia a few days after his interview, apparently for umra, said, "whoever once became a member of Hezb-e-Islami will never quit following Hekmatyar because only those who become Hezb-e-Islami members believe in Hekmatyar's ideology with all their hearts."

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar did not return to Shamshatoo refugee camp after the pro-Pakistani Taliban rejected negotiations with him and refused to give him a role in their regime in 1996, but his thoughts are still alive with the residents of Shamshatoo and his statements continue to have a strong effect on the Afghan refugees living in the camp [3]. "I remember how Hekmatyar was speaking here in the mosque," says Ezatullah Menhaj, a young, 29 year-old resident of Shamshatoo. "Hekmatyar's words and his loyalty to Islam taught me to be a good Muslim. Wherever he is, I pray for his safety" [4]. Menhaj attended a school funded by Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan in the 1990s. His comments demonstrate Hekmatyar's ability to influence the residents of Shamshatoo. "In one of Hekmatyar Sahib's statements [published] in Tanweer, I read that he said killing one American soldier is more rewarded by God than killing 10 Afghan soldiers," Menhaj explained. Asked whether he agreed with that statement, Menhaj said, "Yes, I do, because they [Americans] have come all the way from their country to occupy our country and joining in jihad against these infidels is farz (obligation) for us." In the August 10, 2006 issue of Tanweer, for example, Hekmatyar pledged to fight foreign troops in Afghanistan "till the last drop of blood moves in his body."

The Shamshatoo refugee camp has its own leadership and its own conservative Islamic rules. Watching television, listening to music, dressing in Western-style clothes and shaving facial hair are prohibited by the camp leader, Tooran Amanullah Khogman, who is extremely loyal to Hekmatyar [5]. Khogman is a former commander of Hezb-e-Islami, and he led party militants during the early 1990s in Charaasyab, south of Kabul [6]. Nevertheless, there is a girls' school in the camp, and even those who once allegedly poured acid on schoolgirls in Afghanistan now send their daughters to this school.

The History of the Camp

Shamshatoo is a Pashto word, meaning little male tortoise. "The place is called by the name of the animal because before the influence of refugees in the area, there were a lot of tortoises living there," explained Waheed Mujda, who was one of the first residents of the refugee camp [7]. The piece of land, once also called Woch Nahr, which means dried stream, was given to Hekmatyar and Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan by the Pakistani government in 1979 when the anti-communist party was gaining strength. A dried steam, which is the basis of the area's name, still exists in the camp.

Hekmatyar, who fled Kabul in 1974 after spending almost a year in prison because of his membership in the Muslim Youths Movement, was given shelter inside Pakistan and was later recruited by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence as an anti-Afghan government element. He first started his political and military activities in a small building in the Faqir Abad district of Peshawar. Later, because of a huge influx of Afghan refugees into the frontier province of Peshawar, and also because of security threats, the Pakistani government decided to move the bases of Afghan jihadi groups to the outskirts of the city. As part of this plan, the Jalozai Refugee Camp was given to Abdul Rasool Sayyaf, an anti-communist leader who later formed the party Ittehad-e-Islami, and Shamshatoo Refugee Camp was given to Hekmatyar. Waheed Mujda explained that the first building built in Shamshatoo was a mosque: "Like any other Afghan jihadi party at that time, Hezb-e-Islami established its base in Shamshatoo by building a mosque there."

Besides its military and political activities and despite its involvement in the war against the Russians in Afghanistan, Hezb-e-Islami granted social services—such as health care and educational facilities—to Afghan refugees in Shamshatoo. This social support network, which helped to make Hezb-e-Islami the biggest and the most influential party among jihadi groups in Afghanistan, aimed to attract more and more Afghans to the organization. Other activities, such as Hekmatyar's speeches to refugees and his regular publications, which were mainly based in Shamshatoo, played a significant role in making him a "hero" among the camp's residents.

Conclusion

Today, Hekmatyar's whereabouts are unknown. Nevertheless, his statements, newspapers and audio cassettes are still available in Shamshatoo and the surrounding area. Despite having gone underground, Waheed Mujda claims that Hekmatyar recently ordered his men to restore humanitarian services in the camp, including the funding of schools for the children in Shamshatoo [8]. According to individuals from the camp who declined to be identified, Hekmatyar maintains a leadership role in the camp through his representatives in Shamshatoo.

Just as he did during the jihad against the Russians and their appointed government in Kabul, Hekmatyar continues to exploit two key assets: providing humanitarian aid to the people and garnering positive publicity. For more than two decades, Shamshatoo has played a key role in this strategy. Furthermore, the camp demonstrates Hekmatyar's entrenched support in not only Afghanistan, but also Pakistan. It is unclear whether Hekmatyar still recruits fighters from Shamshatoo, but his popularity in the camp and the region displays his capabilities. It is also unclear whether Hekmatyar still receives support from state clients. The fact that Shamshatoo's finance officer, Haji Qahar, is able to make trips to Saudi Arabia, coupled with the nearly free reign of Hezb-e-Islami activists in Pakistani territory, raises further questions about the origins of Hekmatyar's bases of support.

Omid Marzban has worked for Good Morning Afghanistan Radio Station and Radio Free Europe. He is based in Afghanistan.

UN agencies make house calls to vaccinate Afghan newborns

UNAMA: 31 May 2007 – Joining forces with the Afghan Government, two United Nations agencies are conducting their final round of house calls to vaccinate newborns and their mothers against tetanus in the capital, Kabul.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children╝s Fund (UNICEF) are also participating in campaigns to immunize children between the ages of 59 months and six years in schools, mosques and other locations. This provides an opportunity for children who rarely visit clinics to receive free vaccinations in community centres.

ôWe want all parents to take part in this valuable vaccination campaign,╜ said WHO╝s Riyad Musa. ôWe are here to serve the families of our nation╝s capital, to ensure the future health of our children, and therefore the future of Afghanistan.╜

Approximately 3,500 trained vaccinators and volunteers are involved in the campaign, which will continue to furnish vaccinations free of charge at local health clinics beyond this week.

Neonatal tetanus can be fatal, and can be contracted if the birth process or the baby╝s cord comes into contact with dirt. However, provided the mother has received at least two tetanus vaccinations before or during her pregnancy, her child will not contract it.

While people of any age who have not been immunized can contract measles, young children are most at risk. Deaths from measles in Afghanistan have been slashed 90 per cent through two nationwide campaigns from 2001 to 2003 which were supported by WHO, UNICEF and their partners.

In a related development, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that in spite of obstacles posed by growing insecurity in the south and east of the country, it continues to operate in almost all parts of the war-torn country.

Afghanistan poses extreme challenges for WFP, with the effects of two decades of war and unrest being exacerbated by natural disasters, such as floods, harsh winters and severe droughts.

In a press release, WFP noted that is has distributed 10,000 metric tons of food for 350,000 people in Kandahar. This year, it plans to provide an additional 20,000 tons to feed 600,000 people, with assistance from the Canadian International Development, the agency╝s largest donor in Kandahar.

Volunteer physicians depart for Afghanistan

Twin surgeons from New York City depart June 1 for Kabul hospital

Source: Medical Teams International

(PORTLAND, ORE. – May 31, 2007) Amid rising volatility in the region, two physicians with Medical Teams International are headed to Kabul, Afghanistan to treat Afghan children suffering from landmine blasts and other traumatic injuries. The New York City twin surgeons—a cardiologist and an urologist— are making their second trip to the country in 17 months.

Drs. Vince and Vance Moss are scheduled to spend four weeks in Kabul, performing reconstructive surgeries at the Tanghi Saidan Community Health Clinic and training healthcare providers in updated surgical procedures.

The doctors have been instrumental in setting up a rehabilitation unit at the Kabul medical clinic. The Moss brothers raised more than $10,000 in donated medical supplies—including splints, bandages, crutches and collapsible wheelchairs—which they will carry in when they arrive June 2. Medical supplies, equipment and medicines are nonexistent in the region and patients often lose limbs and mobility because of the critical shortages.

"As Afghanistan continues to rebuild and recover, the work of the Moss brothers will bring much hope and help, especially for children suffering from landmine blasts and others who have not had access to surgical care," says Brian Heidel, director of international development programs for Medical Teams International. "Their work will also help the local medical professionals to improve the quality of care they provide to their people."

Medical Teams International is partnering with Morning Star Development for this mission, a relief agency based in Kabul whose goal is to rebuild Afghanistan and its families through community development.

Medical Teams International has been working in war-torn Afghanistan since November 2001. The country has endured a Soviet takeover, an ongoing civil war, repeated attacks by the Taliban and years of drought---all during the past 30 years. The civil strife has created a fragmented health care system with few trained professionals. Medical Teams International is working to meet the needs of the Afghan people through shipments of medical supplies and volunteer medical teams. The agency plans to send nine teams to Afghanistan during 2008.

Women in burqa march in support of suspended MP

AFGHANISTAN 05/31/2007 17:15

Street demonstrations continue in Afghanistan in support of Malalai Joya, an MP who was suspended for criticising warlords and other ‘criminals’ in parliament. “Down with fundamentalism” could be read on some banners whilst some flyers warned that the incident was causing “anger throughout Afghanistan.”

Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Street demonstrations in favour of Malalai Joya, a member of Afghanistan’s parliament suspended for daring to criticise the country’s warlords, continued Wednesday.

About 300 people, including some women wearing burqas, marched through the Afghan capital yesterday shouting “Down with fundamentalists, down with criminals who are in parliament”. Another 200 Afghan women had similarly taken to the streets in Jalalabad in support of the lawmaker last Friday.

Ms Joya was suspended by the lower house of parliament on May 21 for the duration of the legislature, i.e. till 2010, after she dared to compare parliament to a stable on TV.

“A stable is better, for there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk,” she said, adding that “parliament is worse than a stable.”

Men and women, a handful of them hidden beneath blue burqas, praised her for the courage she displayed in defying fellow MPs who played a role in the 1992-96 civil war.

“She is the only person who is fighting against the warlords—these people who killed Afghan people during their war,” said one protestor, a bearded and elderly farmer from the southern province of Kandahar.

A statement distributed by march organisers said that parliament's “unjust action” had caused “nationwide anger.”

Joya, who was elected in her home province of Farah in the 2005 parliamentary elections, was “the rightful representative of her people and no person or organisation has the right to suspend her,” it said.

In reaction to her criticism some have threatened her with death; others have called for her to be raped.

AFGHAN GOVERNMENT BANS SMOKING IN PUBLIC SPACES

RFE/RL Newsline Friday, June 1, 2007 Volume 11 Number 100

The Afghan government has initiated legislation calling for a ban on smoking in government buildings, stadiums, airports, hotels, restaurants, schools and on public transport, the Pajhwak Afghan News reported on May 31. "Let's create a smoking-free environment," said Afghan Public Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatemi in announcing the government's decision in Kabul. The ban would take effect if it is passed by the Afghan National Assembly. AT

Q&A: Author of "The Kite Runner" revisits Afghanistan in new novel

By Haley Edwards Seattle Times staff reporter

Since the popular success of his first novel, "The Kite Runner," Khaled Hosseini has become for his millions of readers an unofficial porthole into Afghanistan.

In "The Kite Runner," the two main characters — two boys plucked from different ends of the ethnic social spectrum — guided us through the shadowy streets of Kabul. It was through their eyes that we understood the devastation of civil war. It was through Hosseini's prose that we felt the power, beauty and terror that has wracked that nation since the monarchy toppled in 1973.

Hosseini's new novel, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (Riverhead, 384 pp., $25.95), is also set in Kabul during the same bleak decades covered by "The Kite Runner": the Soviet invasion in the '70s, Muslim war-lording during the mujahedeen era in the '80s and into the medieval oppression of Taliban rule in the '90s.

Khaled Hosseini will read from "A Thousand Splendid Suns" at 7:30 p.m. June 11 at Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle. For more information, call Elliot Bay Book Co. (206-624-6600 or go to www.elliottbaybook.com).

Only this time, we see the destruction of a nation through the eyes of two women: Mariam, the disgraced illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, and Laila, an educated beauty and the daughter of a scholar.

Misogynistic Islamist mores and a murderous missile bring the unlikely pair together when they become wives of the same abusive man, Rasheed, who is the only tangible villain in a tale saturated with faceless violence.

As in "The Kite Runner," Hosseini doesn't shy away in his new novel from the grotesque realities of living in a war zone. But this particular porthole into his native country ultimately emerges as a love story: It's violent and sorrowful and savagely human.

Hosseini, 42, is the son of an Afghan diplomat who was exiled during the Soviet era and resettled in the U.S. He is a physician as well as an author. We caught up with him over the phone from Boston, during the first week of his book tour. He'll be in Seattle on June 11.

Q: Elements of "Kite Runner" reflect your childhood in Kabul. Does "Splendid Suns" draw at all from your past?

A: Not really. This book was inspired by my visit to Kabul in the spring of 2003 (after the publication of "The Kite Runner"). It was the first time I'd been back since I was 11. I didn't go for the purpose of research. I went to try to understand what had happened there. I had a journalistic understanding, but I wanted to know how people coped, how people managed their day-to-day lives during those various periods — the Soviets, the mujahedeen, the Taliban. When I was there, I met a lot of people and listened to their stories and asked a lot of questions. I didn't meet just one person who inspired Mariam or Laila; it was the collective spirit of all the people I met.

Q: Did you set out to write a book about women? About mothers and daughters, and female friendships?

A: The story of women in Afghanistan is an amazing, compelling, riveting, sad, important, ongoing and developing story. As a writer and an Afghan, nothing compelled me more. I had the opportunity to tell the story of what happened to Afghan women, if just a narrow slice of that story.

Q: You write about women, but you also write from the perspective of women. You climb into their minds.

A: Yes, and at first, I kept worrying about whether they sounded like authentic female voices or not. After I wrote one draft after another — and I probably wrote five drafts of this novel — an imperceptible change happened. I stopped thinking about them as women, but rather as just people. Just human beings with hopes and disappointments and desires and silliness and thoughtfulness and so on. The characters began speaking for themselves. It was like a reverse act of ventriloquism. I became their puppet.

Q: With the Taliban making a resurgence, how are the lives of real-life Mariams and Lailas now?

A: It depends on where in Afghanistan. In Kabul, even the most hardened cynic has to say things have improved since before 9/11. There are women teaching, working, sitting in Parliament. Yes, it's not a perfect system — they're being threatened — but they're there. But that's Kabul, an urban center. And Afghanistan is not an urban country. I don't think the changes that have happened in Kabul have affected the women in the impoverished rural areas. They are still living in compounds. Covered up and not working. It's a very different life.

Q: There aren't very many likable Afghan men in "Splendid Suns." The main male character, Rasheed, is an incredible villain.

A: Well, yes [laughs]. Rasheed is the embodiment of the conservative, tribal and patriarchal system that exists in parts of Afghanistan, where all things masculine are cherished. He is the byproduct of a custom, but he's also tender sometimes. By contrast, Laila's father is the urban intellectual who could almost pass for a feminist. He wants his daughter to succeed and go to school and become a professional. There's a balance. What I'm trying to say is there's no such thing as an Afghan man. There are many ideological divides that depend on which part of the country you're from, your education and your socioeconomics.

Q: Some artists paint themselves into their paintings. A little face in the back of the frame. Do you make a cameo appearance in "Splendid Suns"?

A: It's hard to keep yourself out of your writing, but I wouldn't say I'm any one character. I'm in the spirit of it. I've made no secret of my disdain for the Taliban or the sadness of what happened in the early '90s, when the mujahedeen took over and destroyed a city I've always loved. The sense of anger and outrage in the book? That comes from a very personal space.

Q: Did you feel pressure writing your second novel, after the extraordinary success of "Kite Runner"?

A: I did. I guess you want to prove to yourself you haven't told your last story. You didn't pour everything you ever knew or felt or sensed into that first novel. And, in that way, I'm prouder of this book than the first. It was more of an accomplishment. I meant this book as a corollary to "The Kite Runner." Both are love stories. One is set in the world of men; the other is set in the world of women.

Q: Any plans for a trilogy?

A: I haven't been working on anything else yet [laughs]. Come on — I have seven more weeks of a book tour! I thought I would get more of a grace period here.

[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.]