In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan's deadliest attack leaves 35 dead
• Huge explosion strikes police bus in Kabul, killing dozens
• EU president Germany condemns Kabul bombing, pledges continued police support
• 10 killed in Taliban attack on Afghan-Iran border: police
• Hillier says training Afghan army is now priority
  EU takes over Afghan police training
• NATO to step up training for Afghan army
• NATO image problem: Civilian deaths always blamed on alliance despite Taliban
• ANF seeks clarity in govt policy on 'terrorist groups'
• Kasuri takes Negroponte into confidence on decisions of Pak-Afghan Jirga Commission
• Fazal terms Taliban inclusion in Pak-Afghan Jirga inevitable
• Jirga demands troops' withdrawal from tribal areas
• Taliban warn tribe against sheltering Uzbek militants
• 'Let us defeat Taliban': ex-warlord
• Commander Jalaluddin Haqqani is dead?
• Afghanistan: The winnable war
• Iran, Afghanistan trade set to increase

Afghanistan's deadliest attack leaves 35 dead

Kabul (AFP) - A suicide bomber destroyed a police bus in Kabul on Sunday, killing 35 people and wounding dozens in the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime was toppled in 2001, police said.

Separately a roadside bomb tore through a military vehicle in the southern province of Kandahar and killed three soldiers with the US-led coalition and an Afghan interpreter, the US military said.

Most of the dead in the blast in Kabul were instructors going to work at the city's police academy but bystanders were also killed, police said. The wounded included five foreigners.

The explosion turned the bus into a skeleton of blackened and mangled metal. Body parts and bits of human flesh were flung across a wide area. The Al-Qaeda-linked Taliban movement claimed responsibility.

"We have got 35 people martyred and 52 wounded," Kabul province police chief Esmatullah Dauladzai told AFP. "Those killed include mostly officers and civilians."

Among the wounded were two Japanese, a Korean and two Pakistani nationals, he said. This could not be immediately confirmed by the relevant embassies.

The city's criminal investigation department chief, Alishah Paktiawal, also said 35 people were killed. "It is the work of terrorists, Al-Qaeda and murderers of the people," Paktiawal said.

It was the deadliest bombing in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban. In September 2002 a car bomb in Kabul killed around 30 people. It was also the fifth suicide blast in two days with one in the capital on Friday killing three Afghan labourers.

"Our investigations indicate that it was a suicide bombing carried out by an individual inside the bus. He was seen by witnesses wearing black clothes and was in the bus," Dauladzai said.

The Taliban said the attacker had infiltrated the police on the orders of one of the group's most senior commanders, Jalaluddin Haqqani.

"Under his direct orders, today he strapped explosives on his body and exploded himself inside the police bus," spokesman Saluhuddin Ayobi told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The blast was in a crowded part of the city centre. Two nearby minibuses were damaged. Sirens of ambulances were heard across Kabul as the wounded were ferried to hospitals.

"When I arrived you could see dead and wounded lying everywhere," said one young man who gave his name only as Abbas. "Many of them were torn into pieces. Many of them were headless and others had no legs or arms."

President Hamid Karzai led the condemnation saying "such unhuman and un-Islamic acts" by could not stop Afghanistan moving towards stability.

The attack occurred hours before the European Union officially took over from Germany a project to train Afghanistan's fledgling police forces.

At the handover ceremony, Interior Minister Ahmad Zarah Moqbel paid tribute to the dead men, whom he said were "heroes who wanted to serve this country."

He said the insurgency was rooted outside of Afghanistan. "The enemies are infiltrating our land," he said without making it clear if he was talking about Pakistan or Iran, both accused of a role in helping the Taliban.

He rejected suggestions the insurgency was beginning to bear similarities to the conflict in Iraq. "The Afghan people are determined to bring stability and security to the country," he said.

In another blast similar to scores carried out by Taliban, a bomb killed three soldiers and an Afghan interpreter near Kandahar city Sunday, the coalition said. It did not release the nationalities of the foreign soldiers.

The strike took to nearly 90 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in combat.

More than 2,000 people have died in insurgency-linked violence, the majority rebels, with the insecurity undermining the fragile government's attempts to rebuild a nation devastated by nearly three decades of war.

Huge explosion strikes police bus in Kabul, killing dozens

By Barry Bearak - Sunday, June 17, 2007

KABUL: A mammoth explosion Sunday morning tore through a police bus in the heart of Kabul, killing at least 24 people in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Twenty-two of the victims were instructors at the police academy on their way to work.

The blast occurred at 8:15 and was powerful enough to sheer off the roof and both sides of the bus, uprooting many of the front seats. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with one purported spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, saying by phone that a suicide bomber had successfully infiltrated the police and boarded the vehicle.

Kabul's police chief, Esmatullah Daulatzai, said, "Our investigation shows that a suicide attacker jumped into the vehicle and blew himself up."

Whatever the method, it was spectacularly lethal, unleashing shards of glass and metal into a crowded area beside police headquarters, the governor's office and the national archive. Two other vehicles were ripped apart by the explosion. The many wounded included pedestrians waiting at an adjacent bus terminal.

Raz Muhammad, a policeman standing guard at the headquarters, was among the first to reach the bus. "Those in the front seats - their bodies were very ripped apart," he said. "Very few of those inside survived. I could help those able to walk."

There is confusion about the death toll. Police officials originally said 36 had died, but the chief later amended that number, adding that 52 people were wounded, including 38 who required hospitalization. It remains possible that more than 24 died. Bodies were taken to more than one hospital and then quickly released to families, perhaps sacrificing an accurate count of the dead.

The attack occurred on a torrid day. Havoc immediately spread through a normally teeming area, in a country long contaminated with tragedy.

An anguished 14-year-old named Emal recognized the bus as the one driven by his father, Muhammad Hashib. "I must see him," Emal cried out as police officials kept him away from the wreckage. Though they knew otherwise, they tried to convince the boy that his father was alive, telling him to go home to await news.

Then the policemen themselves began their own mourning, listing the names of those friends they had lost. The officer they called Habib was actually Habibullah, a 26-year-old who had once taught Dari literature and Islamic studies at a high school before entering the police academy. He was such an impressive cadet that after completing the three-year program he was kept on as an instructor. Last year he married, and Sunday morning he ate breakfast with his wife and infant son before leaving for the Interior Ministry, a collection point where the teachers then catch the bus for the academy.

"I barely recognized his corpse," said his brother Wahidullah, another policeman. He had searched for Habibullah at the military hospital where many bodies were taken. "I recognized his belt, but his eyes and forehead were gone. I had to look very, very hard."

As he said this, another policeman embraced him and the two men wept. The dead were washed, wrapped in shrouds and given over to their kin. Habibullah's body was taken to Ahmad Shab Baba Mina, his home village north of Kabul. There, in a ritual of grieving repeated among families, his body was displayed in a coffin in the courtyard of his ancestral home.

Female mourners, who, by Islamic custom, are not permitted to attend the burial, wailed indoors while the men gathered in the street. Dozens of Habibullah's students came to say their goodbyes - each of them dressed in the gabardine of cadets, with blue stripes above their left pocket to indicate their seniority.

"He was so nice," said one cadet, Abdul Wares. "We have a saying in this country, that a man is so good he would not even hurt an ant. Habibullah was such a man."

The suicide attack Sunday was the sixth in Kabul this year and the second within two days. The Taliban are employing tactics similar to those used by insurgents in Iraq. The use of improvised explosive devices is also on the increase here, including one employed Sunday to kill three members of the U.S.-led coalition and their local interpreter in Kandahar Province.

Suicide bombers were a logical topic for conversation among Habibullah's mourners. How could men believe such acts were welcomed by Allah in heaven?

"There is no place in Islam for suicide," said Colonel Abdul Qadir, one of Habibullah's many relatives in the police department. "And this was not just a suicide. This was the murder of people who were innocent of any crime."

At 2:30 p.m., the body was carried from the house in a simple wood coffin that was adorned with a black and gold blanket and wildflowers. A caravan proceeded to a small mosque beside a cemetery. A few prayers were said before mourners took turns looking into the open casket, where the head wounds were hidden beneath balls of cotton.

Then Habibullah, the police academy teacher, was laid into his grave. Though many mourners were in tears, they chanted words of congratulations, because in their eyes the dead man had become a martyr. Finally, his students covered him for eternity with soil.

EU president Germany condemns Kabul bombing, pledges continued police support

The Associated Press - Sunday, June 17, 2007 - BERLIN: Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, condemned the deadly attack on a police academy bus in Kabul on Sunday and said the EU would not be deterred from helping to strengthen Afghanistan's police force.

The bombing at the Afghan capital's biggest transportation hub killed at least 35 people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which Germany condemned "in the strongest possible terms."

EU member countries have committed to send about 160 experts on a German-commanded mission to train Afghan police.

"This attack does nothing to diminish our determination to maintain our support for the construction of the Afghan police force," Germany said in a statement on the 27-member bloc's behalf.

"The European Union is thus also taking a clear stand against the criminal elements responsible for this cowardly act."

10 killed in Taliban attack on Afghan-Iran border: police

Heart (AFP)- The Taliban attacked a remote customs office on Afghanistan's border with Iran overnight, killing two policemen but losing eight of their own fighters, police said Sunday.

The fighting at the remote Qalat-i-Nazar Khan border post in Herat lasted four hours, the top police commander for the country's western provinces, Rahmatullah Safi, told AFP. "Eight Taliban were killed and two policemen were also martyred," he said.

Safi said it appeared that the rebels wanted to capture the border post, but he could not say which side of the border they had come from.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said last week "substantial" quantities of Iranian weapons were flowing into Afghanistan, and other US and British officials have also alleged that Iranian weapons have been found here destined for the Taliban.

There has, however, been no proof the weapons are provided by Iranian authorities, who have strongly denied involvement. President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials have also ruled out Tehran's involvement.

Most of Afghanistan's huge trade in opium is conducted across its western and southern borders with Pakistan and Iran. Fighting on the Iranian border has been rare, with most Taliban activity in the eastern and southern parts of the country bordering Pakistan.

In March, however, an Afghan policeman and an Iranian policeman were killed in a 20-minute gunfight after a group of Iranians crossed the border and refused warnings to leave, Afghan authorities said.

Hillier says training Afghan army is now priority

Updated Sun. Jun. 17 2007 3:12 PM ET - CTV.ca News Staff

Chief of Defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier says the focus of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan has shifted to bolstering the country's national security forces.

As the Feb. 2009 deadline for Canada's mission in the war-torn country approaches, Hillier said the tactics used by his military on the ground are working.

"And now the question simply is, how much support can we give to the rapidly developing Afghan National Amy, and where can we step up to help the Afghan police who are much further behind?" Hiller told reporters at Kandahar airfield on Sunday.

Hillier met with the top leadership of the Canadian forces over the weekend in Kandahar to discuss strategy and the state of Canada's military efforts in Afghanistan.

He said there is still much work left to do in Canada's mandate in the country, but he added that in the 18 months that remain, "we can accomplish a heck of a lot . . . "

Hillier said he was encouraged by what he's hearing from Canadian soldiers on the ground who work with and train the Afghan National Army (ANA).

"My soldiers told me when I was here the last two times in early May and back in March, this battalion is doing extremely well,'' he said, as quoted in a Canadian Press article on Sunday. "What they said was 'Hey sir, it's like looking in a mirror to see us doing our own skills and drills. These guys are good.'"

Hillier says the military now plans to increase ground training, procure better equipment for the ANA soldiers, and assign more soldiers from Canadian battle groups to work with new ANA grads.

There are two full battalions of ANA soldiers at work in Afghanistan, and another is set to graduate in July. Hillier said the situation is a marked improvement from this time last year, when the strength of the ANA was virtually zero.

Hillier concedes the Afghan National Police, meanwhile, need more nurturing. He said the Taliban realizes the police are the weaker of the country's security forces and that's why they're the targets of increasing attacks.

A bomb ripped through a police bus in Kabul on Sunday, killing more than 35 people and wounding at least 35 others.

Afghan police and security forces have increasingly been targeted by militants. At least 307 have been killed this year alone, according to a count by The Associated Press.

CTV's Paul Workman in Kandahar said a Canadian commander told him Afghan police remain a "soft target" for the Taliban.

"They don't have the kind of heavy duty armour, heavy weapons that the military does, both the Canadian and NATO military and the Afghan military, and that they seem to have become the new prime target of the Taliban," said Workman.

With a report from the Canadian Press

EU takes over Afghan police training

From correspondents in Kabul, Afghanistan - June 18, 2007

THE European Union has taken over a mission to train Afghanistan's police force in a ceremony overshadowed by the killing of 35 people in a suicide attack on a police bus hours earlier.

Flags were halfmast as the EU took over from Germany today in front of about 150 diplomats and officials mindful of the blast that ripped through a bus taking instructors to the city's police academy.

It was the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since the Taliban movement was toppled in 2001, launching an insurgency soon afterwards. Most of the dead were police officers, police said.

They were "heroes who wanted to serve this country", Interior Minister Ahmad Zarah Moqbel said in an address to the ceremony.

"The fact that the police forces are targeted attests to the importance of the police, to their key role in ensuring the security of this country," EU representative Francesc Vendrell said. "This project is needed more than ever."

The three-year EUPOL Afghanistan mission aims to mentor and train the Afghan police force trying to rebuild after the destruction of nearly three decades of war that started with the Soviet invasion of 1979.

It will eventually triple to 190 the number of international trainers working with the police force, which aims to grow to was 82,000 by the end of next year - for a population of around 30 million.

The force currently numbers about 60,000 but is dogged by allegations of corruption, including involvement in the booming opium trade, and is poorly equipped and trained.

"A lot of work remains to be done in improving the quality and the quantity of the Afghan national police," Mr Vendrell said. "It is going to be a daunting task."

Afghanistan's policemen have also suffered the most casualties among the international and Afghan forces battling the Taliban insurgency.

Sixteen EU nations and seven non-EU nations are contributing to the police mission, which has already seen the establishment of the police academy, structural reforms and training of about 18,200 men.

Among those nations taking part in the mission besides Germany - which had been in charge for about five years - are Britain, France, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. The non-EU nations involved include Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and Ukraine.

NATO to step up training for Afghan army

BRUSSELS: Defence Ministers from NATO countries agreed to step up training of the fledgling Afghan National Army (ANA) to replace the multinational force in Afghanistan.

Speaking to journalists here, NATO spokesman James Appathurai they wanted the Afghan National Army to lead the operations.

In this connection, the spokesman underline the need for send more training units to accelerate the training of the Afghan military. He said seven NATO countries had agreed to set up more embedded training units alongside about 20 already operating.

He said the NATO commanders had suggested the setting up of at least 46 such teams, which were essential for building up the effectiveness of the Afghan armed forces.

The NATO ministers also stressed the need to avoid civilian casualties following a series of fatal incidents involving international troops.

"Tactics, procedures, rules of engagement will be kept under constant review," said the spokesman, adding: "The ministers agreed on the need to investigate incidents promptly and transparently."

Without giving the figures, he said civilian casualties by NATO troops had declined during recent months. He also appreciated the progress achieved on security and other fronts saying NATO forces had prevented Taliban from launching an expected offensive this spring.

Meanwhile, a statement issued after meeting between Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said security and stability in Afghanistan had remained a priority for the alliance.

The statement said NATO’s presence in Afghanistan aimed at supporting government efforts to instill security and protect the lives of civilians.

During the meeting, NATO’s secretary general hoped permanent stability would be achieved in Afghanistan despite some challenges faced by the alliance.

Wardak thanked NATO and the international community for their support and called for greater political, military and financial aid to help the government take over its full responsibilities as soon as possible, said the statement.

The two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers was started on Thursday, with its agenda including the situation in Afghanistan and the missile defense system that the US intended to set up in Eastern Europe.

NATO image problem: Civilian deaths always blamed on alliance despite Taliban

The Associated Press Saturday, June 16, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan: NATO has an image problem in Afghanistan — and a U.S. Humvee gunner who opened fire on a crowd of civilians following a deadly suicide attack Saturday shows why.

Despite the fact the Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing in a crowded business district — an attack against a U.S. convoy that killed four Afghan civilians — it was the shooting by the U.S. soldier in the aftermath, which killed one Afghan and wounded two, that sparked public anger.

Some 50 to 100 Afghans chanted "Death to America," and others jabbed their fingers at Afghan police.

"They are against us. They are against Afghans," said Abdul Rahim, a man in the crowd. "They should prevent them from doing such actions, otherwise we will join hands and stand against them alongside the others," a reference to the Taliban.

"They are killing Muslims," he said.

Zalmai Khan, Kabul's deputy police chief, and U.S. officials labeled the shooting an accident, saying the gun mistakenly went off when the soldier moved it from one side to another. Witnesses said a bystander who had just bought a cell phone card was killed, and that no one in the crowd had been acting up.

But the shooting was enough to change the headlines. International news Web sites no longer led with a suicide bomber killing four Afghans. One instead said: "U.S. forces kill Afghan haphazardly." Another read: "U.S. troops kill Afghan civilians."

The apparent accidental shooting came the same day four senior officials from NATO's International Security Assistance Force called journalists to ISAF headquarters to discuss civilian casualties, a growing problem that is threatening support — both in Afghanistan and in NATO's European capitals — for the international Afghan mission.

The officials displayed a colorful graph showing that the vast majority of civilian deaths are caused by Taliban bombings, though a sizable number were also caused by soldiers of the U.S.-led coalition, a separate command structure in charge of U.S. Special Forces. Civilian deaths caused by NATO's ISAF represented the smallest sliver.

But no matter which Western soldier fires the gun, and even if the numbers pale in comparison to civilian deaths caused by the Taliban, Afghan anger is often turned toward NATO.

"I feel we're getting blamed for something we didn't do," said one senior ISAF official, who like others at the briefing requested anonymity so he could speak more freely. "We think there is a perception that we inflict civilian casualties, but we think that is not justified."

Fairly or not, Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said Afghan deaths at the hands of foreign soldiers are seen differently than Taliban attacks, which some see as an internal Afghan-on-Afghan conflict.

"Generally people believe that the deaths of civilians at the hands of Americans are intentional. They don't think with all this technology they can keep killing civilians," Alani said. "They believe the U.S. soldier must be more disciplined and they expect a higher moral level, military discipline compared to the Taliban."

The deadliest attacks on Afghan civilians by international forces this year have involved U.S. Special Forces soldiers, which NATO has no control over. U.S. Special Forces in March killed 19 civilians near Jalalabad after a suicide car bomb attack.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher said the coalition does all it can to prevent civilian deaths. He accused the Taliban of choosing to launch attacks in places where civilians are in danger.

Still, Alani said ISAF, which has 36,000 troops in a counter-insurgency fight, "cannot divorce itself" from the 13,000-strong anti-terrorism U.S.-led coalition when it comes to perceptions of the average Afghan.

"I think NATO will pay for any misconduct of American forces," he said.

President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly called on international forces to prevent civilian casualties, and a NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels on Friday stressed the need to avoid such deaths.

An Afghan official at the ISAF briefing Saturday said civilian deaths "are currently the main concern" of Afghan people. The ISAF officials spoke about how many casualties they have saved by calling off attacks that could have caused civilian deaths.

The suicide car attack Saturday — the fifth suicide bombing in Kabul this year — came against a convoy of U.S. contract workers with the security company DynCorp and U.S. military personnel. Four civilians were killed and five were wounded, officials said.

The blast came amid a wave of violence lashing Afghanistan, particularly the volatile south, including a suicide blast Friday that targeted a NATO convoy in Uruzgan province, killing 10 people, including five children.

Kabul has been spared the worst of this year's bloodshed, which has claimed 2,400 lives so far, mostly insurgents, according to an AP count based on figures from U.S., NATO, U.N. and Afghan officials.

In other violence:

_ A suicide bomber in Mazar-e-Sharif killed one and wounded six, said deputy police chief Gen. Abdul Raouf Taj.

_ Three Afghan soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand province on Friday, the Ministry of Defense said.

_ Three "terrorists" — an Arab, a Chechen and a Pakistani — were killed during a U.S.-Afghan raid in Paktika province on Friday, the ministry said.

ANF seeks clarity in govt policy on 'terrorist groups'

KABUL, June 14 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghanistan National Front (ANF) Thursday proposed the establishment of a council led by President Hamid Karzai to resolve the issues facing the country.

Speaking at a news conference here, ANF spokesman Mustafa Kazmi said reforming the system was a key objective of his alliance that brings together former mujahideen, communist leaders and other politicians opposed to Karzai.

The proposed entity - High National Council of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan - would steer the country out of the present confusing situation, Kazmi claimed.

He suggested the council should comprise high-ranking government officials like vice-presidents, ministers for defence, interior and foreign affairs, the Wolesi Jirga speaker, the Senate chairman and judges.

He went on to posit the body could have two main departments looking after security and economic issues. If need be, he said, its scope could be widened so to ensure cooperation on political affairs and national reconciliation.

If established, Kazmi hoped, the council would help forge coordination among the executive, judiciary and legislature. At the moment, he believed, the three organs of the state lacked the requisite harmony and synchronisation.

"Now is the time for these three organs to put an end to the prevailing uncertainty in supreme national interest," he stressed, insisting the ANF was in favour of reforms in the system.

The former minister for economy said: "Afghan people will continue to encounter whole new problems if the government rejects the proposal."

Kazmi also called for open-ended negotiations between the government and its opponents including armed groups. Government policy towards militants had at best been vague, he claimed.

The proposed council, through its reconciliation commission, would make clear which groups were outlawed and why. Representatives of the international community would also be asked to clarify their stance on different groups and people it had designated as terrorist, he concluded.

Kasuri takes Negroponte into confidence on decisions of Pak-Afghan Jirga Commission

Saturday June 16, 2007 (0158 PST) - ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and US have agreed on eradication of terrorism from Afghanistan and further coordinating the efforts for establishment of peace therein besides making the information sharing process more effective in war on terror.

Consensus was evolved in a meeting between foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte held here Friday in foreign office.

Foreign office sources told Online both the leaders exchanged views on all the facets of US, Pakistan ties and cooperation in war on terror.

Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri told Pakistan wanted to further promote strategic relations with US in all spheres of activities. Such high level visits will help strengthen this partnership. Pakistan is discharging its obligations more than any one else for the establishment of peace in Afghanistan as the peace in Afghanistan is in the interest of the region and Pakistan. "We will have to play our role together for peace in Afghanistan", he stressed.

A joint commission has been constituted to remove misperceptions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which will hold its first meeting in August at Kabul, he told. Commission will help defeat terrorism besides paving the way for peace.

He told the assistance being provided by US was being spent for the development and prosperity of FATA and tribal areas.

US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte termed the US relations with Pakistan very vital saying both the countries have got more closer to each other in consequence of thee relations. The misconceptions of the past have been removed.

Pakistan is an important country of the region and no one can deny its significance, he underscored. "We will continue to play our role in the socio economic development of Pakistan. The efforts on elimination of terrorism and establishment of peace in Afghanistan will be further integrated."

Sources told foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri would be leaving for US on June, 18 and he would hold important meeting with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. The agenda of the meeting with Condoleezza Rice has been worked out during the meeting between Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and John Negroponte.

Earlier Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao held separate meeting and Sherpao briefed Kasuri about Pak, Afghanistan Jirga Commission. Later Kasuri took John Negroponte into confidence on the performance and decisions of the Jirga.

Fazal terms Taliban inclusion in Pak-Afghan Jirga inevitable

PESHAWAR: Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly and Central Secretary General of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, Moulana Fazal-ur-Rehman termed the inclusion of Taliban in Pak-Afghan Jirga inevitable.

Moulana Fazal-ur-Rehman expressed these views in the General Committee meeting of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam here on Sunday.

He said that if Pakistan and Afghanistan constitute a Jirga for the solution of problem then it is necessary to include the opponents in the Jirga.

But unfortunately, it (Afghanistan) did not determine its opponents yet. Taliban is one of the major power in Afghanistan. He said that situation in Afghanistan is adversely affecting Pakistan and its tribal areas.

Moreover, he termed the NWFP budget as people friendly that has been prepared by keeping in view people of all walks of life.

Jirga demands troops' withdrawal from tribal areas

PESHAWAR, June 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A grand jirga of Pakistan's Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) has urged upon the government of that country to withdraw combat troops from FATA and focus on promotion of education instead of military actions.

Attended by 1,500 lawyers, tribal maliks, traders and professionals from seven agencies and six frontier regions, the grand assembly also underscored the need for representation of the tribal people in the proposed Pakistan-Afghanista n jirga to be held in Kabul in August.

Organised by the FATA Grand Alliance (FGA), headed by Senator Hameedullah Khan Afridi, the jirga was held in Peshawar, capital of the country's north-western province, on Thursday.

A joint declaration approved by the jirga asked the government to pull out troops from the region and focus on education instead of conducting military operations in the tribal belt.

The tribesmen denounced militancy and the presence of foreign elements, and termed them a major threat to peace in the area.

The representatives were unanimous in their demand for improvement in the quality of education in the remote region and setting up of colleges, vocational institutions and a university in FATA.

The assembly asked the government of Pakistan to give representation to the tribal people in the Pakistan-Afghan joint jirga, which, according to the members, could not achieve its desired objectives without their involvement.

Convener of the grand assembly Senator Hameedullah Afridi said the bone of contention between the two countries was infiltration of militants and the Afghan government's claims that Pakistan's tribal region was being used as militants' hideout.

Therefore, he suggested, it was essential for the government to involve the tribal people in the peace process.

The speakers also proposed legal reforms in the area and amendments to the Colonial-era Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR). They opposed changes in the FATA territorial jurisdiction, saying the jirga system should be kept intact.
PAN Monitor

Taliban warn tribe against sheltering Uzbek militants

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN, June 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban militants loyal to Mullah Nazir have warned elders of Wazir tribe against sheltering Uzbeks in South Waziristan.

If Wazir elders failed to expel Uzbek militants from their respective areas, action would be taken against them, said a jirga held in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, on Thursday.

Local elders said the Taliban were angry at the presence of Uzbeks being hosted by some elders and they demand action against such people. More than 200 Uzbek militants were said to have killed when loyalists of local Taliban commander Mullah Nazir launched a drive against them in March this year.

The Uzbeks have been accused of target-killings, kidnapping, vehicle snatching, and running private jails.

During the jirga, the Taliban threatened to disclose names of elders sheltering the Uzbeks; however, some participants advised against this fearing the step would trigger more trouble in the already restive region.

Quoting unnamed sources in Waziristan region, a Pakistani English daily newspaper reported that Mullah Nazir was reinforcing his position and that his complete control over the areas had led to increased economic activity.

The Uzbeks or the commanders supporting them, the source said, would find it "extremely difficult" to stage a comeback against Mullah Nazir, who denied that he was supported by the Pakistan Army in his drive against the Uzbeks.
PAN Monitor

'Let us defeat Taliban': ex-warlord

A former commander famous for helping defeat the Soviets in the 1980s wants to fight again - Tom Blackwell, CanWest News Service  Saturday, June 16, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan

Three times the shadowy representatives from the Iranian consulate in Kandahar visited Ustad Abdul Halim at his home. Three times, he recalls, they urged him to take up arms against foreign troops in Afghanistan.

But each time the former mujahedeen commander -- famous in the region for helping defeat the Soviet occupiers in the 1980s -- turned them down, he says.

That was two years ago. Now Halim wants to go a step farther, and is offering his services to the Afghan government and Canadian troops to finally rid the area of Taliban.

He says the insurgents will only grow stronger unless authorities bring back mujahedeen generals like he was, with strong tribal followings in the very areas where Canada is now fighting the Islamists.

"Within five days, we can finish all the Taliban," the retired warrior said in a recent interview at his comfortable house in suburban Kandahar. "This is the only solution that can bring stability and peace to the region... Let's put our hands together to defeat the enemy."

As if to underline his point, an improvised explosive device blew up next to a Canadian military convoy on Friday, just as it was passing his house. No Canadians were hurt, although three local civilians were injured.

Halim's ancestral homeland includes Panjwai and Zhari districts, the latter being the area west of Kandahar City where Canadian troops have repeatedly fought with insurgents of late. People there like the foreign soldiers, but disenchantment with the Afghan government and police is driving some to the fundamentalists, he said.

Halim argues he could quickly raise hundreds of fighters, turn support away from the Taliban among his Noorzai tribe, and defeat the insurgents in quick order -- if only given the authority to intervene.

Former "Muj" commanders elsewhere in Kandahar province and throughout the country could do similar work where the insurgents still operate, he says. Those commanders stepped aside after the Taliban fell, letting a new government form a national army and police force. The security situation, however, "is worsening day by day," charges Halim.

With a mischievous twinkle in his eye and a jovial manner, the thickly bearded ex-commander makes for a beguiling figure. It is easy to forget the darker side of his past.

After the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, and their puppet Communist regime was finally overthrown in 1992, the commanders became warlords, fighting each other for supremacy in a vicious civil war.

It was in reaction to such bloody feuding and thuggery that the Taliban first gained support among the people, promising to impose longed-for stability.

In fact, Halim became part of a key chapter in that history when he and his men helped hijack a convoy of trucks sent by Pakistani government and intelligence officials in October 1994 to test out a new smuggling route. The Taliban, in turn, attacked the hijackers and soon moved on to take Kandahar, while cementing their support from Pakistan, notes Ahmed Rashid, a respected Pakistani journalist, in his book, Taliban.

Halim later left the country, returning to help topple the Taliban in 2001.

One senior Canadian officer questions whether putting any power back in the hands of such leaders would be a wise course for Afghanistan, although he notes the Armed Forces do include some former mujahedeen fighters.

"This is a new nation ... with a president, a parliament, a national army," said Col. Mike Cessford, second-in-command of the Canadian task force here. "If we were to slip back into warlordism, that would be a very significant marker that things are going the wrong way."

Halim admits now that the warlord period was a terrible mistake and insists that he and other Muj commanders have learned their lessons.

Even if they could just go on patrols with Canadian troops, he says, they could help identify Taliban and prevent the arrest of innocent people, which tends to turn public sentiment against the foreign soldiers.

At his Kandahar house, whose dusty, nondescript exterior conceals a lovely, English-style garden within, Halim proudly shows off a miniature orchard that includes pomegranate trees and grape vines. In a chaotic, crumbling city, such a refuge could provide a relatively pleasant retirement.

The former commander, however, clearly itches for more. "We are like gold," he says of the mujahedeen alumni, "but we have not been utilized."

Commander Jalaluddin Haqqani is dead?

Pajhwok 06/16/2007 By Abdul Majid Arif KHOST CITY - Intelligence officials in the southeastern Khost province said top Taliban commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani had died after protracted illness in the United Arab Emirates.

Haqqani's death was confirmed only two days after Taliban strongly rejected such reports. However, on Thursday, the militants said they did not know if he was alive or dead.

A commander of Maulvi Younus Khalis' Hezb-i-Islami during the era of jihad, Haqqani joined the Taliban and served as their minister for borders and tribal areas.

A senior intelligence official in Khost told Pajhwok Haqqani had passed away in Abu Dhabi some time back. One of his wives was a UAE national and he himself too, had the nationality of that country, said the official.

His body was yet to be buried, said the official, who based his statement on the secret reports received to the department. Qari Yousaf Ahmadi and Zabeehullah Mujahid, the two men posing as spokesmen for the Taliban militants, neither confirmed nor rejected the claim by the Khost officials.

Haqqani had suffered serious injuries in an airstrike by the Coalition troops some three years back. Later he fell prey to Hepatitis C and his reported death is said to be caused by the deadly disease.

Afghanistan: The winnable war

By Michael Fumento, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Published June 17, 2007

"This war is winnable." I can't say how often during my recent embed in the southern Afghanistan Province of Zabul, just north and east of Kandahar, I heard officers and noncoms say that. Implicit is that it's also losable; but what they really mean is winnable compared to Iraq.

    Strange but true that Afghanistan -- with four major ethnic groups, two official languages, and almost countless lesser languages -- is far more of a proud, united nation than Iraq. They have Sunni and Shia, but their differences are just an excuse for a chat over chai tea.

    Further, while it's way too early to say if the Iraqi "surge" is working, the much-anticipated massive Taliban spring offensive in Afghanistan has thus far proved more a trickle than a deluge.

    Still, as I note in my article in the June 11 Weekly Standard, "The other war," it would be a mistake to assume time is on our side. Afghans seem to be losing patience with the war effort. While that may not help the Taliban (more than 90 percent of Afghans dislike them), it can certainly hinder President Hamid Karzai's efforts to keep the warlords at bay. It's warlords, not sectarianism, that pose the internal threat.

    The most threatening is Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, a major Northern Alliance leader against the Taliban. Before that, he fought on the side of the Soviets and the communist government. Probably to undercut the government, which has essentially excluded him, he announced in May that he can raise an army and drive out the Taliban in six months.

    Further, despite major setbacks this year, including the May 13 killing of Mullah Dadullah, a butcher frequently called "the military mastermind of the Taliban insurgency" whose headquarters were in Zabul, there have been increasing calls for negotiating with "moderate Taliban." This includes the Afghan senate itself, which has grown weary of the Taliban tactic of hiding their forces among civilians to cause the deaths of innocents from U.S. and NATO fire. Yet the enemy itself insists "moderate Taliban" is oxymoronic.

    I have only visited parts of Iraq on three occasions and part of Afghanistan but have seen enough to know that while the Iraq effort is awash with money but lacking in men, the war in Afghanistan is fought on a shoestring in terms of both. There will be about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq when the buildup is complete, but there are only about 27,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a country larger in both geography and population.

    A massive concrete blast wall in Iraq is a mere mud wall in Afghanistan. "It takes four weeks here just to get cement," 1st. Lt. Keith Wei, executive officer of the American unit with which I was embedded told me. "We need to help build and to provide security, but we just don't have the funds. Everybody here understands what needs to be done but their hands are tied by a lack of resources in both funds and people. We could pacify Zabul [Province] in probably a year if they pumped money into here like they do Iraq."

    Yet together, both wars plus all other defense spending consume about 3.8 percent of gross domestic product, or just over a third of the GDP percentage spent at the height of the Vietnam War. Total U.S. forces now in both Iraq and Afghanistan amount to just a third of the 540,000 employed for the limited purpose of driving Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991.

    Still that might not be a problem in Afghanistan if NATO nations didn't refuse to pull their weight -- in total personnel contributed, combat soldiers or defense expenditures. Only six of 37 NATO countries with troops in Afghanistan will even allow them to fight, namely us, the U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, Romania and tiny Estonia. Only six spend as much as 2 percent of their GDP on defense. Even as they refer to America as a bellicose "cowboy" nation, they sit back and let us and a handful of other countries expend the money and blood.

    "You can see victory on the horizon," says Mr. Wei. "We just don't have the means to get there."
    Michael Fumento has been embedded three times in Iraq's al Anbar Province and once with U.S. and Romanian forces in Afghanistan.

Iran, Afghanistan trade set to increase

Tehran, June 17, IRNA - Trade exchanges between Iran and Afghanistan will increase following the resolution of problems pertaining to the border markets, deputy head of Iran's Trade Development Organization Ali Houshmandi-Manesh said on Sunday.

Speaking in a meeting with the Head of International Trade Department of Afghanistan's Ministry of Trade and Industries Mohammad Azam Wardik, he expressed hope that trade exchanges between the two countries will increase to ideal level.

With the resolving of the existing problems in the way of bilateral trade development, in particular on non-oil export from Iran to Afghanistan, the two friendly countries will expand trade exchanges in view of their cultural, religious, traditional and social commonalties, he added.

Houshmandi-Manesh referred to the preferential agreement between Iran and Afghanistan, adding, "We hope the agreement will be signed by the end of this year, and the joint chambers of commerce will become operational soon."

The Afghan official, on his part, said the volume of trade between Iran and Afghanistan can increase to one billion dollars.

Wardik also expressed hope that in light of mutual cooperation, they will establish railroad transportation system, as well as finalize and ink the preferential agreement soon. The Afghans, he said, are more inclined to buy Iran-made commodities since they observe the standards more than the products coming in from China and Pakistan.

[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.]