In this bulletin:

• Nawroz celebrated with traditional fervour
• New year fever grips Afghanistan
• AFGHANISTAN: Record numbers enroll in new school year
• Afghan hostage deal is condemned
• Afghan clash 'kills 40 militants'
• 'Militants' caught in Afghan raid
• AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Claim Freed Fighters Took Part In Attacks
• Afghan NATO supply truck driver beheaded
• PAKISTAN: Pro-Taliban Leader Behind Suicide Attacks Says Official
• Pakistan Military Officer Arrested In Southeastern Afghanistan
• Pakistan rebel clash 'kills 100'
• Waziristan jihadis wage war on each other
• Afghanistan: Exclude Taliban From Talks
• UN chief says Afghan bombers increasingly crossing border
• U.N. urges more control by Pakistan on Afghan border
• U.S. Urges Greater International Support for Afghanistan
• Drug Chief Says Opium Production In Southern Afghanistan "Out Of Control"
• Germany rethinks its Afghan presence
• Entrepreneur hopes to bottle success in Afghanistan
• Afghan emerald miners see no sparkle in foreign investment
• Rocking to the sound of guns (and roses)
• Matzos from NY help last Kabul Jew keep Passover

Nawroz celebrated with traditional fervour

KABUL, Mar 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The traditional new year festival or Nawroz was celebrated in Kabul and other parts of the country with zeal and fervour.

The day was an official holiday and offices, business centres and shops remained closed in Kabul and other big cities.

In the central capital, people from different areas thronged the Ghazi Stadium where a colourful function was organised to declare the beginning of the new year. Afghan calendar year starts on March 21.

The ceremony at Ghazi Stadium was started with the recitation of few verses from the Holy Quran, following which messages from Baba-i-Millat Zahir Shah and President Hamid Karzai were read out.

In his message for the first day of the new year, Zahir Shah hailed the reconstruction process and other steps taken by the incumbent government for restoration of lasting peace and security in the country.

President Hamid Karzai, in his message, highlighted the achievements of his government in maintenance of security, fight against drugs and terrorism and rooting out of administrative corruption.

At the same time, the president noted that some shortcomings were still existing, which would be removed with the cooperation of the people of Afghanistan.

He assured the government would take decisive steps against administrative corruption and other problems faced by the countrymen in the new year.

Addressing the function, Minister for Information and Culture Abdul Karim Khurram said they were celebrating the new year at a time when enemies of the country were active to harm it.

He said no one had the courage to subdue the Afghans with force; however, the invaders usually attacked their culture. He informed about organizing an exhibition in Kabul in connection with the new year's celebrations.

In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the flag on the mausoleum of fourth caliph was hoisted by Vice President Karim Khalili. The ceremony was also attended by first Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud and some members of Karzai's cabinet.

Nawroz was also celebrated in Jalalabad, Gardez, Khost, Ghazni, Kandahar, Lashkargah, Pul-i-Khumri, Faizabad, Herat, Maimana, Kunduz and some other cities and provinces.

New year fever grips Afghanistan

By Mark Dummett - BBC News, Kabul Wednesday, 21 March 2007

It is the Afghan New Year, or Nowruz, and the people of Kabul have been celebrating the first sunshine of spring on the city's muddy hillsides. With the winter now over, the Taleban, who had banned this festival when they were in power, have threatened to unleash a wave of suicide attacks.

But their warnings have not dampened the mood. "My friends and I have been dancing and enjoying ourselves. It is the start of the New Year and I'm very happy," Mohammed Jamshaid, a journalism student says.

"It is going to be a good year and I'm looking forward to going back to university." His friend Baktaz agrees. "Everybody is very happy and wishing each other happy Nowruz," he says. "Fortunately the sun is shining, because in the last few days it has been raining cats and dogs."

Hundreds of people walked to the top of Bibi Mahro hill to enjoy the spectacular views of the city, and celebrate beside an empty Olympic-sized swimming poll built by the Soviets.

Crowds clapped and cheered as young men took turns to dance and wrestle. Children flew multi-coloured kits and had rock-throwing competitions.

There was the faint smell of marijuana and smoke from charcoal grills cooking kebabs. Most women kept to a discreet distance and sat around picnics in large family groups.

After a long, cold and wet winter, people enjoyed the good weather. "This winter there was too much rain and snow," Hamayoun Khattack, who works for an international aid agency, said. "But that is good for our country because we've been suffering from drought. We hope this will be a good and peaceful year for us."

At a ceremony at the city's main Shia shrine, the Sakhi Shrine, an eight-metre flag pole was erected smoothly. This is considered an auspicious sign for the coming year - 1386 by the calendar used in Afghanistan and Iran. If the pole falls or slips as it is manoeuvred into place, as happened last time, some people believe the year will be bad one.

Certainly, many are worried that the onset of spring will see a sharp rise in violence across Afghanistan. Kabul suffered its first suicide attack in 2007 on Monday.

A bomber drove his car into a convoy carrying US embassy personnel. Like in many such attacks, the only person killed other than the suicide bomber was a young Afghan passer-by.

"Yes, everybody is concerned by the Taleban's threats," Mr Khattack says. "But I hope this year will be a year of reconciliation between the government and the Taleban. They are our countrymen."

"These attacks take place all over world," Baktaz the student said. "So long as we get the co-operation from the rest of the world our country can defend us."

AFGHANISTAN: Record numbers enroll in new school year

KABUL, 21 March 2007 (IRIN) - Schools in Afghanistan will open their doors to more than six million pupils at the start of the new academic year on 24 March - almost double the number of the past five years.

"This is a historical moment in Afghanistan," said David McLoughlin, a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official in Kabul. "Afghans have reaffirmed their commitment towards an educated society."

In 2002, more than three million students enrolled in grades one to 12, according to Keiko Miwa, an education specialist with the World Bank.

Girls comprise about two million of all students who will join school from Saturday. In an effort to ensure equal access to education, Afghanistan's Ministry of Education plans to enrol 400,000 more female students in 2007.

During the Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001, girls were deprived of any formal education. Enrolment rates vary greatly between urban and rural areas, however. In the capital, Kabul, and western city of Herat, enrolment rates for girls can reach 50 percent, while in insurgency-hit Uruzgan and Zabul provinces in the south, more than 90 percent of girls cannot go to school.

More than three decades of conflict and conservative customs have restricted female education, with the result that about 80 percent of Afghan women are now illiterate, according to UN agencies.

The Afghan government has placed education at the top of its development agenda. It has allocated 4.3 percent of its national budget to education and has requested donors for an extra US$300 million development fund.

The country needs 7,800 additional schools over the next five years, the international agency Oxfam said in a report in late 2006.

UNICEF is supporting endeavours to fight widespread illiteracy among Afghans. "UNICEF will provide assistance to the Ministry of Education in rural girls' education, teachers' training, curriculum development, capacity building and women's literacy," McLoughlin said.

The UN agency spent $6 million on stationary kits, which will be distributed to students in grades one to six on their first day at school in 2007. About 100,000 teachers in Afghanistan's 34 provinces will receive similar assistance.

Other major donors, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and European Union (EU), have printed millions of textbooks in addition to supporting an extensive teacher training programme.

In 2006, hundreds of schools were shut in the south and southeast of Afghanistan where the Taliban resurgence threatened students and teachers.

At least 120 public schools were torched and 10 teachers killed in 2006, while 273 schools were set on fire in 2005. In some provinces insurgents have circulated 'night-letters', threatening parents who send their children to school.

"We do not have soldiers to guard all schools and protect every student," said Zahur Afghan, a spokesman for the education ministry, "but we have tried to attract people's support for their children's education."

Hundreds of schools will remain closed in volatile provinces in the south and southeast, denying thousands of children the right to education, say officials and aid workers.

Afghan hostage deal is condemned

BBC News / Thursday, 22 March 2007 - The US and UK have criticised a deal made with the Taleban by Italy and Afghanistan to secure the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist.

They say the release of five militants in exchange for Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was freed on Monday, endangered Nato troops and encouraged kidnappings.

The deal has sparked a row in Italy, which has some 1,800 troops stationed in the country. The Afghan translator working with Mr Mastrogiacomo is still being held.

US and UK officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the swap increased the risk of similar kidnappings of Nato and Afghan troops.

"The UK has serious concerns about the implications of releasing Taleban in return for hostages," a UK Foreign Office spokeswoman said. "This sends the wrong signal to prospective hostage-takers."

Washington has formally complained to Rome over the exchange, adding the deal "caught the US by surprise", a senior US administration official said.

"It is US policy to use every appropriate resource to gain the safe return of hostages, but to make no concessions to individuals of groups holding those hostages," she said, adding that the US "did not and do not approve of concessions to terrorists".

On Wednesday, the move was also condemned by Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen during a visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"When we create situations where you can buy the freedom of Taleban fighters when you catch a journalist, in the short term there will be no journalists any more," he said.

The Afghan government has defended the move as "exceptional", carried out because of Italy's relationship with Afghanistan. On Wednesday, journalists' groups called for the release of translator Adjmal Nasqhbandi who was seized with Mr Mastrogiacomo three weeks ago.

Afghan clash 'kills 40 militants'

BBC News / Thursday, 22 March 2007 - Foreign and Afghan forces have killed about 40 militants in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, police say. Troops attacked rebel positions in two separate operations, district police officials said. There were no reported casualties among international troops.

In recent weeks, the province of Helmand has seen some of the heaviest fighting between Nato and Afghan forces and the Taleban and their allies. There has been no independent confirmation of the latest deaths. It was unclear if the foreign troops were from the US-led coalition or Nato. Helmand province is a major centre for opium production.

Helmand officials said the operations had been launched from the town of Gereshk and the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, 40km (25 miles) to the south-west. Gereshk district police chief, Habibullah Khan, told the AFP news agency troops had "captured Taleban ground".

Provincial police chief Isau Khan told the same news agency: "In the anti-Taleban joint operation which started this morning... so far around 40 Taleban have been killed." He said about another 10 had been arrested.

A Nato spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of any Nato involvement in the operation. US forces were unavailable for comment. Earlier in the day, US-led forces said they had detained two men near Gereshk they suspected were involved in "anti-government activity" in the area. Another five suspects were detained in the eastern province of Kunar.

Bloodshed in Afghanistan last year returned to levels not seen since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, with the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar and areas in the east of the country particularly hard-hit. Some 4,000 people are believed to have died last year in the insurgency - about a quarter of them civilians.

Nato and Afghan forces began what they said was their largest offensive to date against the Taleban in the south of the country earlier in March. Operation Achilles will eventually involve more than 4,500 Nato troops and nearly 1,000 Afghan soldiers in Helmand province, the alliance says.

'Militants' caught in Afghan raid

BBC News / Thursday, 22 March 2007 - US-led coalition and Afghan troops have detained seven suspected militants in two raids in the east and south of the country, the coalition says.

Five men were arrested in a compound near Asadabad in eastern Kunar province early on Thursday. Two others were captured in southern Helmand province. The five are suspected of helping militants from neighbouring Pakistan, a statement said.

There are fears of renewed Taleban and al-Qaeda attacks this summer. A coalition statement said that the five men arrested in Kunar are suspected of helping foreign fighters enter the province from Bajaur in neighbouring Pakistan. The two men detained in Helmand were suspected to be involved in "anti-government activity" in the area.

Bloodshed in Afghanistan last year returned to levels not seen since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, with the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar and areas in the east of the country particularly hard-hit. Some 4,000 people are believed to have died last year in the insurgency - about a quarter of them civilians.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Claim Freed Fighters Took Part In Attacks

Kabul, 21 March (AKI) - The Taliban have said that the fighters released by Afghan authorities in exchange for the Italian journalist, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, were involved in planning and carrying out attacks by the militant group. "The mujahadeen who were freed in the exchange for the Italian journalist participated in the planning and execution of the military operations by the Taliban in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," said Taliban spokesperson Muhammad Yusuf, in a statement released on Wednesday on Islamist forums on the Internet.

In the statement which was dated 20 March, the spokesperson announced that another three Taliban leaders joined the first two whom the Taliban said were released on Sunday.

"The number of mujahadeen released up until yesterday (Monday) has reached five in exchange for the Italian who was captured about two weeks ago. The exchange operation was carried out by tribal leaders in the province of Helmand," said the statement.

On Tuesday Mohammad Karim Rahimi, a spokesperson for Afghan president Hamid Karzai confirmed that the government had released Taliban prisoners in exchange for Mastrogiacomo but he did not specify how many prisoners had been exchanged. He also said that it was an "exceptional measure" that would not be repeated.

In the statement posted on Islamist websites, the Taliban said that the five Taliban fighters released were five Taliban leaders.

"Mufti Latifallah (Hakimi) was an official spokesperson for the islamic emirate, Ustad Muhammad Yaser was the president of the culture commission of the Islamic emirate," said the statement. "The other three mujahadeen who were liberated were people who have participated in the planning and execution of military operations within the Islamic emirate and they are Mullah Akhtar Muhammd, Hafith Hamed Allah and Mullah Abdel Ghaffur. Some of them were deatined at the Bul Tharkhi jail for two to three years."

Afghan NATO supply truck driver beheaded

AFP / Wed Mar 21, The decapitated body of an Afghan truck driver supplying NATO forces in southern Afghanistan was found dumped at the side of a highway, a district chief said.

The murdered man was captured with his vehicle in Zabul province about a week ago by suspected Taliban who are active in southern Afghanistan.

His body was found at the side of the Kabul-Kandahar highway Wednesday with the head next to it, Shah Joy district chief Tor Jan said. The remains were taken to the district hospital, he added.

The drivers of trucks supplying foreign forces are regular targets of the extremist Taliban, which was toppled from government in 2001 by a US-led coalition.

Militants at the weekend cut off the noses and ears of three drivers supplying US military bases in the mountainous eastern province of Nuristan. Police blamed the Taliban.

The Al-Qaeda-linked movement also last week beheaded the driver of an Italian journalist captured March 4 in the southern province of Helmand. The journalist was freed Monday in exchange for Taliban prisoners. His Afghan interpreter is still being held.

PAKISTAN: Pro-Taliban Leader Behind Suicide Attacks Says Official

Peshawar, 21 March (AKI/DAWN) - The director general of Pakistan's Federal Investiagtion Agency (FIA) Tariq Pervez has said that interrogation of arrested terrorists across the country indicates that Baitullah Mehsud, a local Taliban leader in South Waziristan agency, is linked to incidents of suicide blasts in various parts of the country. “We have reached the conclusion after interrogating terrorists that Baitullah Mehsud is involved in suicide blasts in Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Dera Ismail Khan,” he told reporters at FIA’s regional headquarters on Tuesday.

To assist the local police and other law-enforcement agencies, he said that the Special Investigation Group (SIG) had been tasked to keep vigilance on terrorists’ movements besides investigating bomb blast incidents at their own level.

Similarly, by interrogating arrested terrorists, investigators have found links with Waziristan Agency in the recent suicide attacks across the country.

Pakistan Military Officer Arrested In Southeastern Afghanistan

Daily Afghan Report / March 21, 2007 - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

A Pakistani officer was arrested in Paktiya Province on March 19, AIP reported on March 20. Sher Ahmad Kochi, commander of Border Brigade No. 2, responsible for Paktiya and the neighboring Khost Province, told AIP that the Pakistani officer was arrested in the Aryub Jaji area and has been transferred to Khost city where the brigade is headquartered. "Some documents and a map of Khost have been taken from him and he is being interrogated," Kochi added. There has been no Pakistani reaction to the incident, AIP added. AT

Pakistan rebel clash 'kills 100' – BBC

At least 100 people have been killed in three days of clashes between local and foreign militants in Pakistan, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao has said.

Mr Sherpao told the BBC that dozens more had been wounded in heavy fighting near Wana in the South Waziristan tribal area close to the Afghan border.

Officials say that most of those killed since Monday were Uzbek fighters with suspected al-Qaeda links. Local sources say troops have been sent in. The military denies this.

Hundreds of foreign militants fled to the tribal areas after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The battle west of Wana is between mostly Uzbek fighters and Pashtun tribesmen led by a militant commander called Mullah Nazir.

Earlier, Mr Sherpao told the BBC that 17 local tribal militants had been killed, along with four civilians. Heavy fighting with mortars and rockets broke out on Monday, punctuated by a brief truce on Tuesday.

Local sources say they have seen 25 bodies. Independent confirmation of the reports is extremely difficult as access to the area is restricted and telecommunications poor. Local sources say the army has now sent in ground troops with light artillery and these are firing at Uzbek positions.

"Residents said troops at the army compound fired at least 15 rounds this morning towards the Kalusha and Azam Warsak areas, the scenes of this week's militant-tribesmen battles," the AFP news agency reported.

Reports suggest the latest fighting erupted after Taleban and local tribesmen demanded the mostly Uzbek militants to leave or disarm. But they refused to do so. Tensions spilled over after an Arab militant was killed on Sunday.

Foreign militants had largely kept themselves to themselves and were not linked to al-Qaeda's anti-Western agenda, but in recent months they are reported to have become more involved in local disputes, observers say. The latest fighting follows similar clashes in which 19 people were killed earlier this month.

In recent peace deals with the government, the tribesmen had promised to either get rid of the foreigners or prevent them from fighting. The tribesmen did not take action and the Afghan government and Nato criticised the agreements for creating militant safe havens.

Pakistan's government says this latest battle shows the tribesmen are now turning against the foreign fighters. "It is the result of government policy that the local tribesmen are acting against foreign militants," Mr Sherpao told The Associated Press news agency.

But the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says others believe it looks more like an internal power struggle. Local militants are fighting on both sides and tribal elders are trying to broker a ceasefire. So is at least one senior Taleban commander sent in from Afghanistan.

The militants in Pakistan's tribal areas support the Taleban insurgency against coalition forces in Afghanistan so it is not in the interests of the Taleban to have them fighting each other, our correspondent says.

Waziristan jihadis wage war on each other

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

The present bloody infighting between al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal areas is likely to end in reconciliation between the two groups that will mark the beginning of the Taliban's major Afghan offensive.

Well-placed sources maintain that the chief commander of the Taliban in South Wazirstan, Baitullah Mehsud, was in Afghanistan's Helmand province when the fighting, in which scores have died this week, erupted. He immediately rushed to South Waziristan on the orders of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.

He put his foot down, and the fighting has now eased. A new protocol is imminent, under which all parties will agree to fight in Afghanistan and not inside Pakistan.

How did this internecine strife in South Waziristan evolve? Is it just a battle between foreign militants and Pakistani Taliban - a clash of interests - or is it a blessing in disguise for the Taliban and a serious problem for the US-led forces in Afghanistan?

There has long been debate within the Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants over strategy in the fight against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and US-led-coalition forces in Afghanistan: Should war be waged against all opponents - including US ally Pakistan - without discrimination, or should political issues be considered, so as to allow for strategic repositioning in future?

The Uzbek al-Qaeda-linked militants in South and North Waziristan believe in a global war against NATO and all its allies, such as the Pakistani government. This strategy is now in conflict with that of the Taliban leadership.

The tension between the two sides broke out into open warfare on Wednesday in South Waziristan, with thousands of Pakistani Taliban dug in against the Uzbek militants and their supporters, believe to number 20,000. So far, at least 110 people have been killed, mostly Uzbeks.

The fight has isolated the chief of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tahir Yaldeshiv. Tahir is the main preacher of the idea that fighting the Pakistan Army is the first priority, and he is violently opposed to any rapprochement between Pakistani Taliban and the army.

"The implementation of the sharia [Islamic law] and the appointment of the emir of the sharia emirate are supposed to be the first priority of mujahideen in Pakistan," Yaldeshiv said in a speech now widely available on disc.

Should the Taliban be part of a solution for their sympathizers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or a constant problem? That was the debate initiated by Mullah Dadullah when he tried to mediate a ceasefire between Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistani military early last year. Dadullah has constantly argued that Pakistani Taliban going into Afghanistan and fighting against NATO forces was a greater service to Afghanistan's cause of freedom than staying in the two Waziristans and fighting Pakistani soldiers.

The dialogue convinced the leading anti-army commanders in North Waziristan, Sadiq Noor and Abdul Khaliq, and they agreed that jihad was only relevant in Afghanistan and that fighting against the Pakistan Army had no relevance to the Afghan resistance.

Al-Qaeda elements in North Waziristan, including Uzbeks settled in the town of Mir Ali, were converted to this point of view and broke with Yaldeshiv, who was living in South Waziristan and still demanding the establishment of the Islamic Emirates in Pakistan by waging jihad against "the crusaders' ally".

At present, information coming from South Waziristan suggests that Uzbeks settled in three main points, Shin Warsak, Azam Warsak and Kaloosha, have now in effect been surrounded by local Taliban. The Uzbeks are tenacious fighters, but the most likely outcome will be their surrender and agreement that from now on all fighting will be done in Afghanistan. Such unity of purpose would be a boon for the Taliban's looming offensive against NATO.

Syed Saleem Shahzadis Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.

Afghanistan: Exclude Taliban From Talks

stratfor.com / March 20, 2007 -Any peace conference such as the one proposed by Italy should not include active Taliban members, the Afghan ambassador to Italy said March 20. Responding to an Italian proposition for an international peace conference with the Taliban, Ambassador Musa M. Maroofi said the Afghan government's position is that anyone who supports the insurgency will be disqualified from participating in talks.

UN chief says Afghan bombers increasingly crossing border

SAM DOLNICK - Associated Press - UNITED NATIONS — Suicide bombers are crossing the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan with increasing frequency, launching attacks directed against foreign military convoys with funding from abroad, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council on Tuesday.

Despite high losses during the past year, the Taliban insurgency appears to be “emboldened by their strategic successes, rather than disheartened by tactical failures” in Afghanistan, Mr. Ban said in the report.

The September, 2006, peace agreement between Pakistan and pro-Taliban fighters in that country's North Waziristan region did not prevent the border area from being used as a staging ground for attacks on Afghanistan, Mr. Ban said. Instead, the agreement led to a 50 per cent increase in security incidents involving insurgents in Afghanistan's Khost province and a 70 per cent increase in Paktika province — both on the border — between September and November, he said.

A record number of 77 suicide attacks occurred in the last six months, up from 53 over the previous six months. Most were directed against foreign military convoys, “but civilians were increasingly targeted,” Mr. Ban said. “Many attacks appear to have been financed from abroad,” he said in the report.

“According to national and international security sources, the training camps for these attacks are located outside Afghanistan,” Ban said. “The al-Qaeda affiliated trainers in these facilities reportedly include Chechens and Uzbeks, as well as Yemenis and other Arab nationals. Four of the 12 identified suicide bombers in January 2007 were not Afghans.”

The United States voiced concern earlier this month that al-Qaeda was regrouping in the same border region. U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell said in Washington that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, were believed to be hiding in northwestern Pakistan and trying to establish an operational base there.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has vowed to take tough action to expel foreign militants from Pakistan's mountainous border regions, but he has said there is no evidence that Mr. bin Laden is on Pakistani soil.

During an open meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday, the top UN envoy to Afghanistan said the international community must step up efforts to help develop the war-ravaged country, improve security and eradicate the drug trade in order to counter the Taliban resurgence.

“To be candid, international participation needs to improve,” said Tom Koenigs, the UN's special representative to Afghanistan.

“I am counting on the support of the council to make the Afghanistan National Development Strategy work,” he said, referring to the Afghan government's overarching plan for rebuilding the country. “It will only deliver results if everyone contributes to the process.”

Afghanistan's UN Ambassador Zahir Tanin echoed the call for international aid, saying his country has received “far less assistance from the donor community in comparison to other post-conflict countries.”

Mr. Tanin said reconstruction projects and basic services should be expanded throughout Afghanistan and more attention should be paid to the “inextricable link between development and security.”

The Bush administration has said it would ask Congress for $10.6-billion (U.S.) for training Afghan security forces and reconstruction. The U.S has given $14.2-billion in aid to Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government.

Mr. Koenigs said all donor governments should ensure “meaningful participation” in Afghanistan, beefing up staffing and resources on the ground and strengthening the military presence.

Germany, France, Italy and other European allies have been criticized in the past for limiting the role of their NATO troops to relatively quiet areas of Afghanistan, while the U.S., Britain, Canada and the Netherlands operate in the dangerous southern region.

Mr. Koenigs also criticized the Afghan government, saying that many agencies, including the Interior Ministry, which runs the police, “need to take more seriously their responsibilities.”

“The continued passivity of many government agencies in the expectation that the international community will come to their rescue ... only serves to delay progress and in some cases undermine it,” he said.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told the Security Council that eradicating poppy cultivation is also key to defeating the Taliban.

The UN drug office warned this month that 2007 cultivation could expand again after last year's record crop, which spiked upward by 59 per cent. Profits from poppy, the raw material for heroin, are being used to fuel terrorism and the Taliban insurgency, experts say.

“The vicious circle of drugs funding terrorism and terrorism funding the drug trade is stronger than ever,” Mr. Costa said.

Still, he said there are signs of hope, citing the northern part of the country as a cause for cautious optimism. A strategy in the north to help farmers replace poppy fields with legal crops is succeeding, he said, “creating an opium-free belt across the middle of the country.”

U.N. urges more control by Pakistan on Afghan border

By Michelle Nichols - Tue Mar 20 - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Suicide bombers and Taliban fighters are crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan, and Pakistan must take more action to stop the incursions, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday.

Reporting to the Security Council on Afghanistan, Ban said many attacks appeared to be financed abroad and insurgents in the country were emboldened by strategic successes despite the deaths of some fighters.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan during the past year to its most intense since U.S.-led forced ousted the Taliban in 2001. Afghanistan and its allies say the Taliban's strength is partly a result of safe havens in Pakistan.

"Suicide bombings represent the most visible link between the insurgency and international terrorism," Ban's report said. "Many attacks appear to have been financed from abroad. According to national and international security sources, the training camps for these attacks are located outside Afghanistan."

Tom Koenigs, the U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan, said there had already been 27 suicide attacks this year with 80 percent of the victims civilians, while Ban's report showed at least four suicide bombers in January were not Afghans.

Ban said coordinated efforts by Afghanistan and Pakistan would be vital to curbing incursions into Afghanistan, adding some steps taken by Pakistan were "encouraging, but further resolute action is still needed."

Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Munir Akram said the onus was not only on Islamabad to control its border with Afghanistan and that "the crossing of the border is in both directions."

"Most of the Taliban activity is within Afghanistan as are their five command structures. This should not be distorted," Akram told the Security Council. "As for financing the Taliban from abroad, the major source of financing for the Taliban lies within Afghanistan -- that is the production of drugs."

But Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the council that Pakistan and Iran needed to boost border controls to help stop the flow of drugs, chemicals used in drug production and money.

"At the moment the Afghan government is in no position to control its territory, let alone its borders," he said. Afghanistan produces the most opium poppy in the world, which is used to make more than 90 percent of the world's heroin.

But Akram said Pakistan would act shortly to eliminate what he described as "atrocious allegations" that the country was a safe haven for the Taliban and terrorist training camps by closing four border refugee camps.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has said the camps -- most set up when Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979 -- were a haven for the Taliban. Akram appealed for international support to re-establish the camps in Afghanistan.

Akram said a total of 3 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan would be repatriated during the next few years.

"We have hosted them for 30 years without any appreciable international assistance. This has placed an unconscionable burden on our nation's exchequer, our economy, our environment and our society," Akram said.

"We hope conditions will be created in Afghanistan for the return of these refugees in dignity and security," he said.

U.S. Urges Greater International Support for Afghanistan

(Media-Newswire.com) - United Nations -- Emphasizing that 2007 is a turning point for Afghanistan, the United States urged the international community to increase its efforts to help stabilize the country.

In remarks to the U.N. Security Council March 20, U.S. Ambassador Jackie Sanders said even with robust and determined military action against the Taliban and its supporters, Afghanistan is "confronted with a ruthless enemy ... [that] will not be defeated by force of arms alone."

"It is essential that as the international community steps up its efforts to assist the Afghan authorities, it carries out a comprehensive security, political, and economic strategy," Sanders said.

The Security Council and the international community "need to continue to work toward a secure, stable, and more prosperous Afghanistan, based on the rule of law and human rights, so that the country will never again fall prey to extremists and terrorists," said Sanders, the U.S. alternate representative to the U.N. for special political affairs.

The United Nations, the ambassador said, should continue to promote a sustained international engagement in Afghanistan through the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board which helps the government and international community implement the five-year Afghanistan Compact and by reaching out to key members of the international community for support.

U.N. Special Envoy Tom Koenigs of Germany described Afghanistan as a "place of hope and challenge."  The threat to peace has not diminished, but the response by the government, donors and the Afghan people themselves is encouraging, he told the council.

It is crucial that the country's national development strategy works well and delivers.  But, Koenigs said, international participation "needs to improve," including adding staff and resources on the ground in the capital, Kabul, and the provinces.

Afghan government agencies also need to take their responsibilities more seriously, the U.N. envoy said.  "The continued passivity of many government agencies -- in the expectation that the international community will come to their rescue to meet the compact objectives -- only serves to delay progress and, in some cases, undermines it."

Koenigs said as the weather gets warmer, the violence in Afghanistan will intensify.  The Taliban's ability, however, to acquire and retain the military initiative "is now under active challenge in many districts" and "the Taliban model of governance remains broadly unpopular."

The protection of civilians is "a burning concern" as military action increases, he said.  Despite some success by Afghan security forces in detecting and dismantling suicide attack networks, the rate of suicide attacks is at an all-time high, Koenigs said.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, reported that even though the opium poppy crop survey predicts a record harvest in 2007, an analysis of the situation "shows a new and possibly encouraging phenomenon:  divergent cultivation trends between the center-north and south of the country."

In the center-north where security and development slowly are taking hold, farmers are turning their backs on drug cultivation, Costa said.  A balanced system of eradication and assistance "is creating an opium-free belt across the middle of the country from the border with Pakistan in the southeast to the border of Turkmenistan in the northwest."

Costa said he expects the number of opium-free provinces to increase from six in 2006 to about 12 in 2007, making one-third the country without opium cultivation.

In the south, however, "the vicious circle of drugs funding terrorism and terrorism supporting drug lords is stronger than ever" with increased opium poppy cultivation in five provinces, he said.  "It is therefore vital to fight them both together, at the same time, with the same weapons."

Costa said the international community, especially Afghanistan's neighbors, must help with improved border management and increased aid for security and judicial reform.

The United States is the leading donor to Afghanistan, having provided more than $14.2 billion in reconstruction and security assistance since 2001.  President Bush recently asked Congress for an additional $11.8 billion for the remainder of 2007 and fiscal year 2008, which is a significant increase in resources.  The new U.S. funding, if approved, will go to security, infrastructure, governance, counternarcotics and rural development projects.

The United States also has increased the number of troops to the International Security Force by 3,400 along with increased troop contributions by the United Kingdom, Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary.

Drug Chief Says Opium Production In Southern Afghanistan "Out Of Control"

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - UNITED NATIONS, March 21, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said today that poppy cultivation in southern Afghanistan is "out of control"

In his progress report briefing at the UN today, Costa said: "The situation is out of control in the southern part of [Afghanistan], in some provinces [opium poppy cultivation] increasing, in some provinces stable, but we don't have a specific number. Last year, I remind you all, the cultivation was 166 thousand hectares."

Costa said the Taliban insurgency in the southern provinces is playing an active role in the increase of the poppy growth and trade.

He said that there is a notable decrease in the poppy cultivation in northern provinces but that the increase in the south will largely offset any positive gains against overall opium production in Afghanistan.

In its 2006 Afghanistan drug report the UN singled out three provinces -- all in the north, where poppy cultivation has been eradicated. Costa said that by June of 2007 up to 12 provinces may be declared opium free.

Germany rethinks its Afghan presence

By Mariah Blake - The Christian Science Monitor March 22, 2007

HAMBURG, GERMANY - For decades, Germany was Afghanistan's best friend. It built many of the nation's factories, schools, and electric plants and trained its police force and university professors, creating ample goodwill among the Afghan people.

"The Afghans have large – one might even say blind – confidence that they will be supported by the Germans," said Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a visit to Berlin this week.

Indeed, as NATO has endeavored to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban's influence and bring security to the struggling nation, Germany has played a prominent role. Though its wariness of combat has made Germany resistant to entering Afghanistan's restive south, its peacekeeping troops form the third-largest contingent among coalition forces after the US and the Britain.

But German doubts about the nation's expanding role in Afghanistan have arisen in recent months, fueled by a spate of attacks against German citizens and a plan to send six Tornado reconnaissance jets and 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan in April. The controversy has created a conflict within Germany's grand coalition government that echoes the crises faced by other European nations such as Italy, where Prime Minister Romano Prodi was temporarily forced to step down last month, largely because of discontent over his nation's role in the Afghan conflict.

At the time, 62 percent of Italians were in favor of total withdrawal, according to the Guardian newspaper. In comparison, a poll published Monday by news magazine Der Spiegel showed 57 percent of Germans want their government to pull out its 3,000 troops.

The rift in German Parliament was brought into sharp focus when lawmakers voted on the Tornado deployment. In a rare show of protest, 69 members of the Social Democrat party, one of the two main factions in the the grand coalition government, broke ranks with party leadership and voted against the measure.

Since then, many of the party's lawmakers have publicly railed against the plan. Former cabinet minister Renate Schmidt warned at a recent meeting that Germany risked a "slide into a second Vietnam," according to Der Spiegel.

Two members of Angela Merkel's party, the Christian Democrats, filed suit to block the deployment, saying it violated Germany's Constitution to support the "human-rights-violating war conduct of the United States"; the case was dismissed last week.

The party's leadership has insisted that Germany must stay the course. "If we leave Afghanistan now, the situation would only deteriorate," the Christian Democrats' foreign policy spokesman Eckart von Klaeden told the Monitor. "Afghanistan would be reestablished as a haven for terrorists and Islamic extremists, and we would lose all credibility in the Muslim world."

Adding to German concerns is the recent murder of a German aid worker in Afghanistan. What's more, a militant Islamic group has captured two Germans in Iraq have threatened to kill them if Germany didn't pull out of Afghanistan by Tuesday of this week. Two other militant groups also recently threatened to retaliate against Germany if it doesn't withdraw. As of Wednesday, there had been no word of the hostages' status.

While the German Constitution, written in the wake of World War II, includes a ban on participating in any "war of aggression," Germans have made modest contributions to several peacekeeping operations in the last eight years. In Afghanistan, Germany has played a larger role, leading the peacekeeping force known as ISAF, which patrols the country's north. But for the most part, it has refused to send soldiers to the restivesouth.

This has vexed many of its NATO allies, and in the last six months Germany has come under increasing pressure to step up its involvement, as have other nations, like France and Italy, that have avoided sending troops to hot spots.

At the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, last November, assistant US Secretary of State Daniel Fried said that Germany's refusal to put troops in harm's way was a threat to "allied solidarity."

President Bush has repeatedly called on Germany and other nations to lift restrictions "so NATO commanders have the flexibility they need to defeat the enemy," noting the alliance was "founded on this principle." Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta also weighed in this week during his visit to Berlin with Mr. Karzai, warning Germany to "fight terror where it starts," or find itself under attack at home.

The pressure is only likely to increase as the coalition ramps up operations in coming months to keep the security situation from deteriorating. At the moment, insurgent attacks are on the rise – there were a record 77 suicide bombings in the last six months – and this year's opium-producing poppy crop is expected to be the largest ever. Government corruption is also widespread. These developments have caused alarm on both sides of the Atlantic, especially since the conflict in Afghanistan is seen by many as a litmus test of NATO's strength and credibility in a post-9/11 environment. "Failure could be a death blow for the organization," says Constanze Stelzenmüller, who directs the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

These concerns are not lost on German leaders, and the upper ranks of the grand coalition government have recently voiced a willingness to take German troops into the danger zone despite strong public opposition if the situation requires. "In the case of an emergency we would send troops to the south," says Mr. von Klaeden. "It would be our responsibility."

Entrepreneur hopes to bottle success in Afghanistan

By Mark Sappenfield - The Christian Science Monitor - March 22, 2007

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - There is no chatter of gunfire or smell of smoke, but this plot of ground near Kabul is every bit as important to the future of Afghanistan as any battlefield teeming with Taliban.

The warehouse that stands here, surrounded by high walls and razor wire, holds the hope of a more prosperous Afghanistan. It is the home of Afghanistan Beverage Industries Ltd., the nation's first bottled-water maker and employer of nearly 150 Afghans.

For all the focus on nascent democracy, it is jobs that Afghans say they want – and jobs that will diminish the Taliban's appeal here, analysts and generals agree. But a look at the Kabul beverage maker's experience reveals both the promise of the Afghan economy, and the enormous challenges that would keep it stuck in a decades-old pattern of smuggling, corruption, and small-time trade.

"It's not all gloom and doom," says Cecil Galloway, operations director of Afghanistan Beverages Industries, sitting in a well-appointed office that could just as easily be in Cleveland as Kabul. "But investing in Afghanistan is not easy," he adds. "You can't come in here and expect to make millions or make a profit your first year."

With uncertain security, a dysfunctional government, and the promise of only modest profits, entrepreneurs both here and abroad are wary of spending money to mine Afghanistan's emeralds or harvest its apricots. More than half the government's revenue comes from foreign aid, and more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product is generated by the illegal opium trade.

The result is that economic progress is stuttering, and investment is the province only of the most daring or optimistic. "There is potential, but we have to be a lot more patient," says Michaela Prokop, an economist in the Kabul office of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

By the numbers, the legal economy is doing moderately well. Since 2001, the country's gross domestic product has doubled, and the economy grew by 13.8 percent in the 2005-06 fiscal year, according to an ADB report.

But the starting point is low. Before 2001, the economy was ruined by 10 years of civil war and Taliban rule. Moreover, much of the new growth is funded by foreign aid or by the opium boom – with annual poppy production rising by 49 percent in 2006. These trends "will not sustain growth," according to the ADB report.

Building a more sustainable economy is Omar Zakhilwal's job. As president of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency in Kabul, he sees plenty of opportunities.

Afghan fruits are among the best in the world. Before the jihad against the Soviets in the 1970s, Afghanistan grew 60 percent of the world's raisins.

Its mountains are also an untapped resource of natural resouorces: Some of the crown jewels of England, Russia, and Iran came from here, and the Hindu Kush contains some of the world's largest iron-ore reserves, as well as substantial amounts of copper and coal.

Most promising of all, however, is Afghanistan's location, which could make it an economic keystone between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. "What is abundant in Central Asia is what is desperately needed in South Asia," says Mr. Zakhilwal, citing the construction of a natural-gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to India as a prime example. "The two markets have been separated by Afghanistan, but they could be connected by Afghanistan."

Other experts agree with him – to a point. The problem is that while the rest of the world progressed economically Afghanistan was going backward. "Afghanistan used to have a large market, but it has now been captured [by other countries], and it would be hard to get it back," says Ms. Prokop of ADB.

Clearly, the security situation will need to improve. But Afghanistan could be making more progress now, say critics: Millions of dollars of foreign aid are being wasted on poor planning and bad policy.

For example, Afghanistan imports $1.5 million in food products that it can grow domestically, says Zakhilwal. If some of the aid money were used to build cold storage, Afghanistan wouldn't have to send its produce to Pakistan, then buy it back later. "There's no comprehensive strategy," adds Zakhilwal. "The donors and the government are going in different directions."

Moreover, the government's economic policy seems to be directly at odds with building domestic industry, others add. Spurred on by the Bush administration's commitment to the free market, Afghanistan has thrown its doors wide open – and been flooded by cheap goods.

That helps Afghan consumers. But it makes it difficult for fledgling businesses here. While Afghanistan levies a 20 percent import tax, for instance, neighbors Pakistan and Uzbekistan charge 57 percent and 120 percent, respectively.

Foreign competition is one of several disadvantages to running a business in Afghanistan, says Mr. Galloway of Afghanistan Beverage Industries:

• In Pakistan, electricity costs 5 cents a kilowatt hour. Here, Galloway must rely on generators, which burn 220 liters of diesel an hour at a cost of 60 cents a liter.

• He maintains a team of 36 security guards.

• And he has to import everything: The bottle pre-forms come from Dubai at $5,000 a shipment, caps by truck from Istanbul at $7,000 a load – even the electric hand driers in the bathrooms come from Turkey.

The good news is that he has proved it is possible to run an international-quality operation here – one that meets the rigorous standards of his biggest customer: the US military. The bad news: Galloway's water is more expensive than every brand made abroad.

But ABI has a missionary zeal – its shareholders are all Afghan-Americans. And the company is proof of how investment can change the lives of everyday Afghans.

"If somebody had showed me a plant like this, I never would have thought that I would have been put in charge," says Mohammad Habeeb Faqirzada, who runs a section of the beverage plant.

"The best part is that in my war-torn country, we are able to have a company [like this], and I am a part of that," he says.

Afghan emerald miners see no sparkle in foreign investment

By Mark Sappenfield - The Christian Science Monitor March 22, 2007

KHENJ, AFGHANISTAN - Outside Kabul, where the city's cosmopolitan character dissipates into tribal communities cloistered by high mountain passes, "foreign" and "investment" are fighting words. There is a deeply rooted sense that foreigners have come to Afghanistan only for conquest, and that foreign investment is just a form of economic imperialism.

High on the slopes of the mountains that encompass this narrow valley, the men of Panjshir have long burrowed into the granite in search of emeralds. There are few trappings of modernization – a drill here, a head lamp there. In Khenj, miners gather in the center of town every Saturday to take the three-hour trek several thousand feet straight up to the high shoulders of the Hindu Kush. They stay for the entire week, living in stone huts and returning to town only for Friday prayers, to sell what little they find, and to see their families.

Yet Mohammad Feda says he doesn't want foreign companies here – even if they could bring paved roads and regular salaries. "They will cheat us, and nothing else," he says, sitting in the dim light of Khenj's one restaurant on a Friday afternoon.

His colleagues nod. "We will not let them come here," says Hayatallah Asadi, his expression stony beneath a furry black hat.

Lacking the stability needed for businesses to take root, Afghanistan has instead developed an informal economy of traders, merchants, smugglers, and middlemen. "The conflict went on so long that it created a conflict-based economy, and that becomes hard to change even after the conflict ends," says William Byrd, an analyst at the World Bank.

But Khenj's district chief has higher hopes. Some 55 percent of Panjshiris have moved elsewhere because there is little arable land, no factories, and no border for trade, he says.

Sitting on a wide, ankle-high platform in a general store that appears to double as a district headquarters, he presents a regal figure, calm and wise. Unmistakably, Mr. Sayed is proud, but his words betray some desperation.

There could be fish farms on the Panjshir River, chicken farms in the valley, and groves of apple and apricot trees. But his people are poor. "They need a helping hand," he says. "I will welcome any foreign or local investment to come here and employ my people."

Rocking to the sound of guns (and roses)

By Mark LeVine Asia Times Online March 22, 2007  - Driving into Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, there is a sign on the road that welcomes you to "the land of hospitality". This is not what you'd expect to find on your way to Peshawar, gateway to the region of the country controlled by the Taliban and al-Qaeda, where Osama bin Laden is likely hiding. But it's an indication of how diverse and filled with contradictions Pakistan is today; why so many people with whom I spoke fear that without a significant but unlikely change for the better, the Pakistani state and society will fracture beyond repair in the coming years.

Each meter of Peshawar brings new contradictions. The "smugglers' bazaar" features both an age-old arms market and one offering the latest Chinese electronics. It's an extremely conservative city in which cheap drugs and pornography are readily available. Some of Pakistan's most militant madrassas (Islamic seminaries) are minutes away from two of its best universities. Road signs point to the "Imaginarium Institute for American Studies", but the US Consulate's American Club changed its name for security reasons. There are innumerable non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with names like the Center for Excellence in Women's Studies, yet female literacy stands a bit above 2% in the surrounding region.

The gates leading into the tribal areas warn, "No foreigners allowed," yet Peshawar is awash in foreign money and people. The US Central Intelligence Agency, US Agency for International Development, European NGOs, the Taliban - you name it, all have staked a claim to a city that has been at the crossroads of empire since Alexander the Great crossed the nearby Khyber Pass. And then there is Sajid & Zeeshan, one of Pakistan's hottest new rock bands, whose improbably beautiful new album of songs driven by acoustic guitar was recorded almost entirely in the home studio of the band's keyboard player using vintage synthesizers and guitars bought for a song at the smugglers' bazaar.

The contradictions of life in Peshawar are almost as glaring in the more cosmopolitan cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Violence, both petty and political, permeates society. Hotels and airports are bombed with increasing frequency. Each day brings news of soldiers, rebels, and too often civilians killed in clashes in Balochistan or North West Frontier Province.

US Vice President Dick Cheney stopped in Islamabad the day I arrived to warn Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to "do more" in the fight against the Taliban; yet nothing short of a massive investment into fighting Pakistan's debilitating corruption and improving the country's underdeveloped infrastructure will win the allegiance of an increasingly alienated populace. Tragically, this is a path the governments of neither Musharraf nor US President George W Bush seem inclined to pursue.

Indeed, the greatest threat to Pakistan's stability, if not existence, is the vast disparity in wealth that divides the privileged upper class from the mass of the people. The country is ranked 134 out of 177 countries in the most recent Human Development Index, although you wouldn't know it in the neighborhoods, malls and coffee bars of the country's elite. News reports in the West suggest that religion, or at least militant Islam, is the main threat to democracy and modernization, but it is better understood as a tragic response to the deliberate attempts by the country's elite and its Western backers to stymie both.

And the children of the elite seem disinclined to break this cycle, as I saw at a party thrown by the son of a senior government official. The festivities featured a stage, light and sound system on which local bands played their best Guns N' Roses impersonations, a catered buffet, and half a dozen heavily armed, poorly paid and angry-looking guards there to protect the teenage revelers as they engaged in all sorts of religiously - not to mention legally - prohibited activities late into the night.

Ironically, among the few optimistic developments in Pakistan has been the emergence or, better, re-emergence of a more "moderate" - in fact, in the current context, "radical" - Islam than the Saudi-sponsored Salafism of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. This became clear in several days of lectures and meetings at Islamabad's International Islamic University. I arrived expecting to find a bastion of Sunni conservatism, but instead found it filled with intellectually curious students and faculty intent on synthesizing the best of the Islamic and Western intellectual traditions.

In one meeting, a group of PhD students of comparative religion described their mandatory courses in Hebrew and offered detailed comparisons between American Christian and Pakistani Muslim fundamentalisms. As I've found with younger members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the students were anxious to move beyond the closed and violent vision of the Taliban and toward a more tolerant and open Islam. The dean of the faculty of Islamic law described plans to expand the offerings of "secular" courses, while my host, the chair of history, expanded on his eclectic pedagogical philosophy.

But the professors were also uneasy; as one complained, I might risk losing my job for speaking my mind, but he risked disappearing at the hands of the US-allied intelligence services if he spoke out too strongly against the corrupt elite.

Students and faculty agreed that it was going to take a lot of time to bring about the kind of large changes that many believe are necessary to avoid political and social disintegration. The question on many people's minds, however, is whether Pakistan has enough time to achieve a transformation that goes against the interests of so many forces in society before disaster strikes. One thing is for sure, hardly anyone expects the United States to play a positive role here. One student argued, "The US preaches democracy and secularism, but you have a fundamentalist government that supports the undemocratic Musharraf regime. What are we supposed to think?"

While Musharraf's recent attacks on lawyers and opposition figures point to the autocratic nature of his regime, not all the news is bad. Pakistan's news media are generally freer than their counterparts in Egypt or Jordan. An information-technology-driven middle class is emerging that is drawing into Pakistan the kind of tech services and call-center jobs that have helped drive economic growth in India. And Pakistan's artists have experienced unprecedented freedom and even government support under Musharraf, a far cry from the more or less open contempt in which previous regimes held them.

Almost a dozen music-video channels beam a constant supply of the country's powerful and eclectic pop music, far superior to the formulaic Bollywood music of Pakistan's much larger neighbor India, into the country's homes. While largely unknown outside the subcontinent, it's far more popular than the country's conservative religious establishment (Islamist parties polled around 20% in the 2002 legislative elections). The head of newly established MTV Pakistan, Wiqar Khan, was raised in England by a father who is the imam of one of London's most important mosques. Like most of the musicians I've met, he sees no problem blending together the best of South Asian Islam and English heavy metal, as long as the intentions are pure on both sides.

Running the gamut from hedonistic rock bands such as Karavan and Akash to more spiritually grounded artists such as Mekaal Hasan, Faraz Anwar, Ali Roooh and the supergroup Junoon, Pakistani rock 'n' roll symbolizes the potential of Pakistan to return to its historic roots as a bastion of tolerance and artistic and intellectual creativity.

But at this crucial moment in the country's history, most artists are hesitant to step into the fray. One of the country's biggest stars told me, "If we were to protest and hold rallies for a return to democracy, the last thing we would want is to go back to the bad old days of [former prime ministers] Nawaz Sherif and Benazir Bhutto. And the other alternative is the mullahs." With few good option, he prefers to "sit on the sidelines and see how things develop".

The West, however, doesn't have this option. And in reality neither do most Pakistanis. The disastrous repercussions of a disintegrating Pakistan are almost too frightening to contemplate. Iraq pales in comparison. Yet the policies of Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and their European allies are pushing the country toward precisely such an outcome. Someone had better sound the alarm before it's too late.

Mark LeVine is professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture and Islamic studies, University of California-Irvine, and author of Why They Don't Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil (Oneworld, 2005).

Matzos from NY help last Kabul Jew keep Passover

By Reuven Fenton - Wed Mar 21, NEW YORK (Reuters) - Every spring Zebolan Simanto, the last Jew in Afghanistan, receives a care package from New York City.

Simanto uses the matzos, grape juice and oil sent by New York's Afghan Jewish community to conduct the Seder, a meal eaten on the first evening of the Passover holiday to commemorate the enslavement of the Jews in ancient Egypt and their later escape into freedom.

Jack Abraham, the president of Congregation Anshei Shalom, the only Afghan synagogue in the United States, says he started sending the Passover packages to Kabul in 2003 after hearing that Simanto had no matzo for Passover.

Abraham says he sends the packages "to keep our presence in a land we were in for over a millennium."

He bought the food from a kosher grocery in New York's Queens borough and sent it by courier UPS. The 60-pound (132-kg) package cost about $650 to ship, he said.

He plans to send this year's package within the week to arrive in time for Passover, which begins on April 2. Until the middle of the 20th century there were about 10,000 Jews living in Afghanistan but all but Simanto, 45, have fled because of religious persecution.

When the Taliban fell in 2001, Simanto and one other Jew were found in living in a crumbling building in Kabul, apparently locked in an intractable dispute over a 500-year-old Torah that had been taken by the government in 1999.

Following the death of his elderly neighbor in 2005, Simanto is believed to be the last member of Afghanistan's Jewish community.

Abraham, who keeps in contact with Simanto, recalled a home video of the synagogue Simanto uses for prayers. The floors were cracked, the windows were taped up and walls were black from smoke.

"I said, 'Wait a minute,"' Abraham recalled. "'This is the synagogue my father helped build?"' He sent money to have the synagogue repaired and its door fixed so Simanto would not have to climb through the window.

[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.]