In this bulletin:

• Afghan airline set to collapse
• Karzai Talks Tough in Helmand
• Taliban leader threatens to kill Afghan hostage: TV
• Headless Body of Murdered Driver Returned
• Russia, Afghanistan may postpone debt deal signing
• British Ministers In Afghanistan For Military Visit
• NATO Soldier Killed in Eastern Afghanistan, 3 Others Injured
• India to Host South Asia Summit
• Dr. Spanta Interview with Reuters on SAARC
• Pakistani Taliban blow up video shops
• Pakistan fights near Afghanistan kill 52
• Pakistan Wrongly Blamed for Afghanistan's Insurgency, says National Assembly Speaker
• Afghan Envoy Responds to Pakistani Speaker's Remarks
• Afghan war may be lost: experts
• Afghan fight part of battle on global terrorism
• Political Alliance Creates Strange Bedfellows

Afghan airline set to collapse

Debts, graft and mismanagement have brought Ariana Afghan Airlines, Afghanistan's national carrier, to the brink of collapse.

BY JASON STRAZIUSO - Associated Press / March 30, 2007 - KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's national airline could be days from collapse due to corruption, mismanagement and a crippling airplane lease that has drowned the struggling airline in debt.

The government is scrambling to court investors to privatize up to 75 percent of state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines and is tallying its assets in case the company is liquidated, an Associated Press investigation has learned.

The collapse of the 52-year old airline, which survived the Taliban regime despite international sanctions, would be a potent symbol of failure by the administration of President Hamid Karzai and would reinforce growing perceptions of corruption and incompetence.

''If Ariana collapses, it will be a very heavy blow for people's trust in government,'' said Ziauddin Zia, deputy commerce minister.

Afghanistan would lose 50 percent of its international flight capacity. Ariana is blacklisted from flying to European Union countries because of safety concerns; it mostly flies to the United Arab Emirates, India and Turkey. U.S. Embassy and United Nations employees are also banned from flying the airline due to safety concerns.

Ariana's former maintenance director told The Associated Press that the airline's safety department issues licenses and certifications to mechanics and pilots in exchange for $200 bribes.

Yousuf Sultani, who left his post in February and now lives in the United States, also said Ariana has 500 people on its maintenance department payroll but that only 30 work.

Afghanistan's transportation minister, Niamatullah Ehsan Jawid, acknowledged the airline is beset by corruption that prevents it from turning a profit. Ariana employs some 1,800 people but operates only seven planes.

Among the estimated $14 million in immediate debts Ariana owes is a $1.9 million bill to Chicago-based Boeing for two leased 757s, which must be paid by Saturday. Ariana also owes some $7 million to its Afghan fuel supplier, which could turn off the pumps any day.

''If they are patient, we can continue. If they are not, we will have to stop [flying] tomorrow,'' said Abdul Rahman Sultani, Ariana's vice president of finance. ``Either the Afghan government helps us or we stop our service.''

Ariana owes $41 million overall, Sultani said. It earned $3 million profit last year on an estimated $74 million in revenue. It lost $25 million the year before.

Ariana's acting president -- engineer Raz Mohammad Alami, named last week after Ariana lost its second president in six months -- hopes the United States will intervene and ask Boeing for leniency, though Boeing has already pushed back the due dates on some of the debts Ariana owes.

''My message for Boeing is that they are aware that the international community is helping Afghanistan, and Boeing knows that there was 25 years of war in this country,'' said Alami, also the deputy transportation minister.

''We have been very lenient, and we will continue to do everything we can to help Ariana, just like we do all our customers,'' said Brian Walker, Boeing's communications director for the Middle East and Africa. He did not elaborate.

Since the fall of the Taliban regime, Ariana has received considerable foreign support. India donated Airbus jetliners to help the airline recover from the U.S.-led invasion, when six jetliners sitting on runways were bombed.

But Kabul's debilitated airport still can't provide satisfactory security checks, Jawid said. ''You can give a border police officer $50 and you can transport anything'' on a flight, Jawid said.

Flight schedules are erratic, flight attendants typically don't conduct preflight seat-belt checks, and a pilgrimage flight to Mecca that Ariana chartered on a Boeing 747 this year carried 640 people -- some 25 percent over maximum capacity, according to a company publication.

But it was the leased Boeing 757s -- which Ariana was never able to use as it wanted -- that could cause financial ruin.

The planes, contracted in 2005, couldn't be delivered for over a year because of leasing agreements and security requirements, said Abdul Ahad Mansoori, Ariana's former president. As the planes sat idle in London and Paris last year, Ariana was accruing about $1.1 million in monthly debt for the lease, parking, maintenance and flight crews, said Sultani, Ariana's vice president of finance.

Afghanistan's attorney general's office is investigating whether any Afghan officials improperly benefited from the contracts. Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Aloko said the office hadn't named any suspects, but Transportation Minister Jawid and other officials question whether former Ariana President Mohammad Nader Atash profited from the deal.

''I worked with integrity and honesty,'' Atash said of his tenure between May 2005 and fall of 2006. Atash, a university professor and researcher with no experience in the airline industry before his appointment, alleged that a high-level government mafia wants Ariana to fail so officials can start -- and profit from -- their own airline. He declined to name the officials, saying to do so could put him in danger. ''They thought that if Ariana is not there, it's open season for themselves,'' Atash said by phone from his home in Virginia.

Jawid said he would let 75 percent of Ariana be privatized if an outside investor wanted to take over the company. He said he planned to meet with executives from Dubai-based Emirates airline next week. Other investors are said to have expressed interest, but no firm offers have been made.

Jawid is also contemplating another proposal. He plans to ask U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann next week whether the United States could help with the Boeing contracts in exchange for the value of the planes bombed by the U.S. military during the invasion in 2001.

The U.S. Embassy said it wouldn't comment until it saw the specifics of any such request. At least Ariana's Afghan-based fuel supplier, which is owed some $7 million, appears ready to grant the airline more leeway.

Abdul Ghafar Dawi of the supplier Dawi Group said he will continue to give Ariana the 60 to 80 tons of fuel it uses every day. ''Ariana is the dignity of Afghanistan,'' Dawi said. ``All my friends say it will collapse, but I love Ariana.''

Karzai Talks Tough in Helmand

The president delivers a tough-love speech in the troubled province, calling on residents to take responsibility for their own security.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting - IWPR trainees in Helmand (ARR No. 248, 29-Mar-07)

Afghan president Hamed Karzai gave a blistering tongue-lashing to the residents of Helmand on March 29, accusing them of perpetuating the violence and insurgency in their province.

“I am not blaming Pakistan and other countries - I blame you, the local people,” he thundered, addressing approximately 2,000 hand-picked representatives in the central mosque of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. “You are making problems. You do not want security in your province.”

This was Karzai’s first visit to Helmand, arguably the most troubled of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Over the past year, bombings, kidnappings, and killings have multiplied as the Taleban have shifted their focus from neighbouring Kandahar.

Helmand is also the centre of the poppy industry, supplying well over 40 per cent of Afghanistan’s harvest. This makes Helmand alone the world’s largest producer of opium, the raw material from which heroin is made.

In February, the Taleban overran the town of Musa Qala, the site of a controversial agreement brokered between the Taleban, the village elders and British forces last October. The British agreed to withdraw, and in return the elders promised to keep the town free of insurgents.

But after a NATO strike that killed a prominent commander in Musa Qala district, the Taleban ejected the elders from the town centre and ran up their flag. Residents have been braced for weeks, waiting for the government’s response.

On March 29, it finally came. “I do not want to take Musa Qala by force,” said Karzai. “I want to solve problems through negotiations with all sides. I am asking the Taleban to stop attacking. I say to them, ‘why are you killing your own people?’”

In Lashkar Gah, security was tight for the visit, which was not announced in advance. All the roads were blocked to traffic, and shops and offices were closed down. Jets and helicopters roared overhead for most of the day,

The president brought his own guards with him, who carefully checked the crowd at the mosque. The invitees included mullahs, elders, students, as well as the local media.

Journalists were also screened, and their equipment checked for explosives by sniffer dogs. Those summoned to the meeting were not told beforehand who the speaker was to be.

Security is Helmand’s main problem and is the issue most on people’s minds. But Karzai was in no mood to coddle them. “As I entered Lashkar Gah, I asked many police and soldiers where they were from. I only found one from Helmand, while the rest were from other provinces.”

He urged residents, “Don’t send your young people to Pakistan and Iran, send them to the army and the police. I promise you that they will get good salaries, and that they will work here in Helmand.”

His message met with some resistance from the crowd. “Mr Karzai, you are not thinking of us,” said one elderly man from Musa Qala. “You are visiting people behind security walls. You should come out to the districts and see what is going on there.”

But the president was not receptive to criticism. “Everyone is asking me to bring them security, but how can I do that if you won’t help me?” he said. “I met students at a school. They asked me for security. They did not ask me for new schools.”

Over the past two years, almost half the schools in the province have been closed because of the deteriorating security situation. Teachers have been threatened, even killed, and dozens of schools have been torched.

The lack of security has made reconstruction almost impossible. There has been fierce fighting around the Kajaki dam in the province’s north, which is the site of a major hydroelectric station. Electricity in Lashkar Gah, and also in neighbouring Kandahar, which also receives power from Kajaki, has been intermittent at best. In January, the lights went off for over a month, forcing the capital to rely on expensive generators.

“We have 180 million dollars for the Kajaki dam,” Karzai told the crowd. “We will rebuild the dam and there will be work for 2,500 people and electricity for two million.”

The dam will also help supply irrigation waters to Helmand’s farmlands, making crops like wheat and cotton a viable alternative to opium poppy.

Karzai declared a very public “jihad on drugs” early in his presidency, but since his inauguration in December 2004, the situation has become steadily worse. Last year’s crop was the highest ever, and 2007 may well break even that record.

“You will have water for your lands and you will not grow these red flowers,” said Karzai. “When I was coming into Helmand I saw these flowers everywhere. You people are not poor - you are making lots of money out of these flowers.”

For the most part, the response to the president’s speech was positive, with laughter and clapping. But on the street, reactions were mixed.

“I am happy the president is here,” said Abdul Malik, 40, a resident of Lashkar Gah. “He should see with his own eyes how the situation is. Things are bad even in the city. We do not feel secure. I hope Karzai brings changes.”

Atta Mohammad, 20, was not so gracious. “Just visiting is not going to help,” he said. “It’s good we have him here today, but I would like him to make Helmand stable.”

Ahmad Shah, 22, a baker, was irritated at losing business due to Karzai’s visit. “I wasn’t able to open my bread shop today,” he complained. “Because of Karzai, all the roads were closed. We don’t need him to come here, as he won’t change a thing. We need the prosecutor down here; he should come and fire all the corrupt officials. “I wasn’t able to sell any bread at all today.”

IWPR is conducting a journalism training and reporting project in Helmand. This story is a compilation of reports from participants.

Taliban leader threatens to kill Afghan hostage: TV

Thu Mar 29, 2007 - ROME (Reuters) - Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah threatened to kill an Afghan interpreter held hostage unless the Kabul government freed two Taliban prisoners, according to an interview broadcast on Italian television on Thursday.

Dadullah said President Hamid Karzai must negotiate with the Taliban for the release of interpreter Adjmal Nasqhbandi, just as the Italian government had negotiated the release of reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo, whom Adjmal worked for.

"We ask the Karzai government to release two of our prisoners," Dadullah reportedly said in the interview with Sky Italia, which was broadcast in his native tongue with Italian subtitles.

"The Kabul government has got no option, it must negotiate with us for Adjmal. If this doesn't happen ... then we will kill him."

Dadullah taunted Karzai, saying he was a puppet in the hands of Western governments and should show he had the same concern for the fate of Adjmal as the Italian government had shown for Mastrogiacomo.

The Taliban freed the Italian reporter last week in exchange for the release of five Taliban prisoners who were held by the Afghan authorities, but they kept Adjmal captive. They had already killed Mastrogiacomo's driver.

Romano Prodi's administration drew criticism from several governments, including the United States and Britain, for coming to terms with the Taliban to secure the release of the Italian national.

Headless Body of Murdered Driver Returned

The family of an Afghan killed while working for an Italian journalist struggle to give him a decent burial.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting - IWPR trainees in Helmand (ARR No. 248, 28-Mar-07)

The body of Sayed Agha, the driver who was kidnapped along with an Italian journalist in Helmand and later killed, has been brought back to his native Lashkar Gah for burial, say relatives.

Sayed Agha was killed some days after he and his colleagues - Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and Ajmal Naqshbandi, a journalist and translator - were seized by the Taleban in Nadali, a district of Helmand not far from the provincial capital Lashkar Gah on March 5. (For more on this, see “Afghan Victims Go Unnoticed in Kidnap Release”, ARR No. 246, March 20.)

According to Mastrogiacomo’s published account, Sayed Agha was beheaded and his body dumped in a river in Garmseer, a district approximately 50 kilometres south of the capital.

The body was subsequently retrieved from the water, but the head has not been found.

“We still do not know where the head is,” said Khan Zaman, a cousin of the victim. “Local people have told us that they don’t know, either. The Taleban killed him somewhere else and then put the body in the river. The body didn’t float away, and kept coming back to the riverside, so they left it there.”

Relatives of the slain man attempted to bring the body back to Lashkar Gah for burial, but were detained by the Taleban. A delegation of elders negotiated their release, but the Taleban refused to let them take the body, and would not allow it to be buried. (For more on this, see “Taleban Voice New Demands for Driver’s Body”, ARR No. 247, March 21.)

According to Zaman, a cousin of the victim, people in Garmseer defied the Taleban and buried the body locally. Afghan tradition requires interment to take place as soon as possible.

Finally, on March 24, the Taleban gave permission for the family to disinter the body and bring it home for burial.

“None of the family knows that the body has no head,” said Zaman. “We haven’t shown it to the family. The only people who know are those who went to bring the body back. We are still trying to find the head.”

Sayed Agha, 36, owned a shop and was married with five children, the youngest of whom, was born a day after the kidnapping. He sometimes worked as a driver for foreign journalists visiting Helmand province.

Amid the media interest in the foreign journalist’s safe release, many local people were angered that their own government appeared to show little interest in the fate of Sayed Agha, an Afghan.

IWPR has recently begun a journalism training programme in Helmand province. This story was compiled from reports written by the trainees.

Russia, Afghanistan may postpone debt deal signing

MOSCOW, March 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Afghanistan may postpone the signing of a bilateral agreement on the settlement of Afghan debt to the former U.S.S.R., which, according to Russian experts' estimates, totals $10 billion, a source in the Finance Ministry said Friday.

According to Russian experts, 70% of the debt was provided to Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in the form of fighter planes, other heavy weaponry, spare parts and for services of Russian military experts. The other 30% remains unexplained and most likely consisted of civilian aid under programs to propagate communist ideas and to educate local officials.

The source said the sides may fail to draft the document by April when the signing was planned. Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said earlier the agreement may be signed at the spring session of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington in April.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during his visit to Kabul in late February that the debt settlement will help the two countries cooperate in economic and trade spheres and contribute to Russian investment in the Afghan economy.

Russia will write off Afghanistan's debt under agreements reached as part of the Paris Club of Creditor Nations in July 2006. This move will help Russia raise its international authority.

British Ministers In Afghanistan For Military Visit

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan; March 30, 2007 -- Two senior British ministers have arrived in southern Afghanistan on a surprise visit.

Defence Secretary Des Browne and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who is expected to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister within months, are scheduled to meet with British military commanders and local political leaders. London announced in February that it would boost its troops in Afghanistan by almost one-quarter (to 7,700) by summer.

NATO Soldier Killed in Eastern Afghanistan, 3 Others Injured

By Patrick Donahue - March 30 (Bloomberg) -- A NATO soldier was killed and three others were wounded in eastern Afghanistan late yesterday.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's International Security Assistance Force, in an e-mailed statement, didn't identify the soldiers or their nationalities, and didn't give details of the incident.

Afghan and NATO troops are countering a Taliban-led insurgency that's focused on the country's southern and eastern provinces as military leaders brace for a spring offensive. Taliban fighters have crossed from Pakistan into Helmand and neighboring Kandahar province.

India to Host South Asia Summit

Voice of America - By Anjana Pasricha - New Delhi, 30 March 2007

Leaders from South Asian countries will gather in India in the coming days for a regional summit expected to focus on trade and terrorism. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, Afghanistan will join the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation for the first time as its eighth member.

At their summit in New Delhi, South Asian leaders will look at ways to improve economic integration in a region where economies are growing rapidly, but where trade among member countries is still meager.

A major theme at the summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, will be opening new road and rail links between countries to boost trade. The two-day gathering opens Tuesday.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon says the summit will be an opportunity for the "subcontinent to reconnect with itself and the rest of the world."

"There is no question that the more we can open up the linkages between our economies, the more we can use our complementarities and synergies, and the fact that our economies have developed in different directions and can now complement each other," he said.

The countries also will discuss efforts to combat terrorism in a region that has suffered some of the world's worst terror attacks and where dozens of militant outfits are based.

For the first time since the group was formed in 1985, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union will attend the summit as observers.

Indian officials say this is a sign of growing international interest in the region. Political analysts say there is hope the summit in Delhi will present new opportunities for the group.

Since it was formed in 1985, SAARC members have signed several agreements - ranging from free trade to environmental protection. But many have not been implemented due to regional rivalries - particularly the hostility between India and Pakistan. However, a peace process between these two countries has improved the climate.

S.D. Muni, a political analyst in New Delhi, says there are indications that SAARC might be moving beyond rhetoric.

"There are signs of change on two [or] three counts - all the South Asian economies are feeling far more confident and they are registering better growth," he said. "Earlier emphasis on bilateralism has now been given a shift toward greater multilateralism, and thirdly India-Pakistan equation is still not straightened, but there are very strong benign influences on both of them, and with observers coming and new members … coming, the region can look forward to faster progress."

This year Afghanistan becomes the eighth SAARC member, joining India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal. Indian officials say Afghanistan's entry represents an opportunity for South Asia to connect with Central Asia.

SAARC leaders will discuss the establishment of a South Asian University based in India, and setting up a regional food bank to help in times of natural disasters.

Dr. Spanta Interview with Reuters on SAARC

Posted On Ministry website: Mar 30, 2007

KABUL: Afghanistan joins a South Asian economic grouping next week but Pakistan’s refusal to allow transit for Indian goods headed for Kabul would prevent true integration, the Afghan foreign minister said yesterday.

Afghanistan will become the eighth member of Saarc, or the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, during a summit of member nations in New Delhi on April 3 and 4.

By joining Saarc, strategically located Afghanistan hopes to link its war-ravaged economy with the more prosperous subcontinent to spur reconstruction and development and boost trade.

However, Pakistan’s denial of transit rights to Indian goods bound for Afghanistan - saying New Delhi and Islamabad must first resolve their longstanding political disputes, including Kashmir, was a major hurdle, said Rangin Dadfar Spanta. “Indeed, that is one of the serious barriers on the way to bringing the countries closer together,” Spanta said in an interview. “But I recognise ... hopeful progress in the relationship between India and Pakistan. And I hope the result of this development is and will be to open the roads from India to Afghanistan.”

Saarc, which also includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, was formed in 1985 to help bring prosperity to one of the world’s poorest regions. The region is home to about 1.5bn people, tens of millions of them living in abject poverty. Although Saarc aims to boost growth, critics say it has remained a talking shop whose lofty speeches are rarely translated into action.

Much of the blame has been laid on hostilities between two of its biggest members, India and Pakistan, as their historic rivalry has spilled over into the grouping and overshadowed it. Both countries have also been vying for influence over Kabul since the Taliban government was ousted by US-led forces in 2001 but Islamabad’s denial of transit rights to New Delhi has meant Pakistan remains Afghanistan’s biggest trading partner.

While Afghan exports are allowed to transit through Pakistan to India, Indian businessmen complain flying goods to Afghanistan or using the sea route through the Pakistani port of Karachi or the Iranian port of Chabahar are too expensive.

Spanta said this had been raised often by Afghan President Hamid Karzai with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and by himself with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasur.“We need more time and also patience,” Spanta said, adding that a slow peace process between India and Pakistan was expected to resolve the transit dispute.

Karzai’s Western-backed government has struggled to reconstruct a country torn by almost three decades of conflict, despite billions of dollars being pumped in by donors. Its farm sector has been neglected for decades and industry non-existent. This, combined with a lack of jobs, high levels of graft, a thriving drug trade and a resurgent Taliban, have led to widespread unhappiness among Afghans, analysts say.

Afghanistan is a transit route for gas from Central Asia and itself has rich reserves of copper, iron and coal. While Afghan exports were just $470mn in 2005 - mostly wheat, fruits, nuts, wool, meat and sheepskin, gems and carpets - the country imported almost everything else at a cost of $3.9bn, according to one American estimate.

But this only indicated Afghanistan had major business potential, said Hamidullah Farooqi, chief executive of the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce. “Wherever there are problems there are opportunities,” said Farooqi, who also teaches economics at Kabul University. “This is a country with some risks but huge opportunities.” - Reuters 29th March, 2007

Pakistani Taliban blow up video shops

March 30, 2007 - PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Local Taliban militants seeking to impose Islamic law blew up two video shops and torched a cable television operator's office in northwestern Pakistan, officials said Friday.

There were no casualties in the blasts which happened late Thursday in Kohat, a town close to Pakistan's troubled tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

The attackers forced people out of the local office of World Cable 2000 and sprinkled kerosene over it before setting it on fire, the officials said.

Later they detonated crudely-made bombs at the video shops, which were empty at the time. Both shops were badly damaged. Residents said the attacks followed threats to the owners to shut down their business because they were un-Islamic.

Northwestern Pakistan has seen previous attacks on video and music shops blamed on extremists emulating the ultra-orthodox Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

A homemade bomb in a market in the main northwestern city of Peshawar on March 18 damaged four music and video shops weeks after their owners refused an order to close down from Islamic hardliners.

There has been growing concern about the "Talibanisation" of Pakistan, with heavy fighting in the tribal areas and another northwestern town under curfew for the last three days following clashes between militants and security forces.

Pakistan fights near Afghanistan kill 52

Islamabad (AP) - Fighting between local and foreign militants Friday killed 52 people, bringing to more than 200 the number of dead in recent days in a conflict between Pakistanis and suspected al-Qaida-linked extremists, a senior official said.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said 45 Uzbek militants and seven tribesmen died in battles in South Waziristan, a lawless region used as a rear base by Taliban militants fighting in Afghanistan and where the United States fears that al-Qaida is regrouping.

Since fighting began last week, 213 people have been killed, including 177 Uzbeks and their local alllies, Sherpao told The Associated Press.

The minister said the conflict intensified Friday after foreigners failed to comply with an ultimatum from tribal elders to leave their territory. Security officials said tribal militias had fired rockets at the hideouts of the foreigners in several locations.

An aide to Maulvi Nazir, the leader of the purportedly pro-government side in the conflict, said earlier Friday that they had killed 35 Uzbeks and lost 10 of their own men. He said both sides were using heavy weapons. The aide, who spoke to AP by telephone, asked for anonymity to prevent enemies from identifying him.

South Waziristan is generally off-limits to journalists, making it hard to verify reports of the fighting.

Under pressure from the United States to do more against the Taliban and al-Qaida, the government has claimed that the violence in South Waziristan vindicates its policy of using traditional leaders, and not the army, to combat militancy along the border.

The government claims Nazir, a tribal chief previously aligned with the Taliban, has come over to their side.

Some analysts, however, say militants with links to Taliban and al-Qaida are involved on both sides of the current conflict, which also pits local tribes against each other, and that blood feuds could deepen insecurity in a region viewed as a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

Hundreds of Central Asian and Arab militants linked to al-Qaida fled to the semiautonomous region after the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and forged alliances with local tribes. Other Uzbeks opposed to the regime of President Islam Karimov have reportedly since joined them.

As part of its support of the U.S.-led war on terror, Pakistan launched military operations in 2004 to wipe out the foreign militants. They succeeded in busting camps used by al-Qaida, but suffered hundreds of casualties and failed to expel the foreign fighters.

More recently, Pakistan has cut deals with pro-Taliban militants and urged local tribal elders to police the region themselves.

Pakistan Wrongly Blamed for Afghanistan's Insurgency, says National Assembly Speaker - Embassy Magazine, March 21st, 2007 - By Lee Berthiaume

Chaudhry Amir Hussain says there are 'misconceptions' about the security at the Afghan-Pakistan border, and that there is 'not much problem' on his side.

The Afghan government is vilifying Pakistan as it attempts to cover up its own shortcomings by alleging that the Taliban and other insurgents are using Pakistani territory to operate and stage raids across the border, the speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly says.

"To give cover to these weaknesses, the Afghan government is blaming the Pakistan government unnecessarily," Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain said in an interview with Embassy on Monday.

Pakistan has been under increasingly heavy pressure to control its territory bordering Afghanistan, as seen from a recent visit by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney for this very reason. The area itself is extremely mountainous and comprised of traditional tribes that have essentially governed themselves for centuries.

Because of the terrain and lack of central Pakistani government control in the border regions, numerous reports have said over the past few years, the Taliban and other insurgents have been able to establish bases and stage attacks across the porous border, which is difficult to patrol and guard. It is felt by many that eliminating what are essentially safe zones within Pakistan will significantly weaken the insurgency, and is essential to successfully rebuilding Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government has long said it has 80,000 soldiers operating along the border, a message Mr. Hussain, who met with members of the Foreign Affairs committee on Monday and was scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Peter MacKay and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor yesterday, repeated several times.

"This is the reason I am here," he said. "There are certain misperceptions, misconceptions. They don't have the firsthand information. On our side there is not much problem. The problem is inside Afghanistan because there are certain groups that have their own areas and are powerful."

Mr. Hussain said Pakistan has established about 1,000 military posts along the border, and has conducted numerous operations against known insurgent positions, resulting in the deaths of as many as 800 Pakistani soldiers. While the cost in lives has been high, he said, the results have been significant.

"As far as we are concerned, that is a very safe territory," he said. "Sometimes there may be one or two insurgents. But we've used our air force, we've used our army. "There may be some insurgents, but there are no permanent camps there, and if there is, we will smash that and throw them out."

But the same cannot be said for the Afghan side of the border, Mr. Hussain said, which is not being controlled and is rife with warlords and insurgents.

"All of them belong to Afghanistan," he said. "The forces of Afghanistan should control them in their own territory and it's not true that Pakistan is not in control of its territory."

The speaker said Pakistan is committed to bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan, and that it's the responsibility of all parties to work towards this goal rather than assigning blame and pointing fingers when things don't go as planned.

"We have determination, and we think it is in the interest of Pakistan that there should be stability in Afghanistan, there should be a stable government and the situation should be normal," he said. "Pakistan is the first neighbour of Afghanistan."

Pakistan's newly minted High Commissioner to Canada, Musa Javed Chohan, took a harder stance with regards to Pakistan being singled out by military and media reports.

"The point is not to keep on blaming," he said. "The point is to win the hearts of the Afghan people. If you don't win their hearts, you can't have a successful anti-insurgency campaign.

"They are not happy. They do not feel the promises made to them are being kept. The reconstruction process has not succeeded. They have to feed their poor families. So where do they go?

"We think that instead of naming names or blaming other people, everybody should play their role seriously. It's not only Pakistan's responsibility. It's a collective responsibility and every partner has to play its role."

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/march/21/pakistan/

Afghan Envoy Responds to Pakistani Speaker's Remarks

EmbassyMagazine, March 28th, 2007 By Lee Berthiaume

Omar Samad says recent fighting on the Afghan-Pakistan border shows the region is not safe, but that neighbours must work together for peace and security.

Fighting between pro-Taliban tribal militants and foreign insurgents in Pakistan last week, days after Pakistan's National Assembly speaker said the insurgency was confined to Afghanistan, only highlights the need for all parties to come to grips with real situation on the ground, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada says.

"I think we need to get our facts straight and I think that will help all of us in addressing our common issues," Omar Samad said in an interview with Embassy last week.

His comments came days after the Chaudhry Amir Hussain accused the Afghan government of vilifying Pakistan in an attempt to cover up its own shortcomings by alleging that the Taliban and other insurgents are using Pakistani territory to operate and stage raids across the border.

Mr. Hussain's remarks were in direct contrast to statements made by military and government officials from a variety of countries and organizations, including Canada, as well as statements made by some Pakistani officials who have confirmed there is a problem.

Ironically, days after Mr. Hussain spoke with Embassy–as well as Canadian officials–during a trip to Canada about what he termed misconceptions about insurgents operating in Pakistan, violence broke out in the same border area that has been the focus of so much international attention, but which Mr. Hussain alleged was safe.

According to the Associated Press, pro-Taliban tribal militants attacked a number of foreign insurgents, mostly Uzbeks and Chechens, who had come to fight in Afghanistan. However, the militants said they would not hesitate from carrying out similar attacks on NATO forces operating along the border.

"What is ironic in terms of what Mr. Hussain, the speaker of the National Assembly, has said, that basically the problem is not in Pakistan and that there are very few security issues on their side of the border," Mr. Samad said, "is that on the heel of this statement, right away major fighting erupted in some parts of the tribal northwest frontier province.

"Just in the past few days, there has been major fighting between tribal, pro-Taliban groups and foreign insurgents in that same region that he claims to be secure and safe. So these are not misconceptions on our part."

Mr. Samad also pointed out that while stability in many parts of the country has resulted in positive gains towards reconstruction, "if you look at the map, it is only the border provinces along Pakistan's frontier that have security problems, hence reconstruction challenges. What does this tell us?"

Mr. Samad said the Afghan government, in making its assertions about insurgents operating on Pakistani territory, is not vilifying anyone.

"If we, as friends and neighbours, express our opinion about our collective security and what we think is good for the region as a whole, that cannot be termed vilification. That is basically good neighbourliness on our part because we definitely do not think Talibanization on either side of the border is acceptable to the vast majorities of our two nations or good for our futures."

The ambassador said the Afghan government has never shied away from admitting its own shortcomings, and making such allegations as Mr. Hussain did will only impinge upon efforts to rebuild the country.

"It doesn't help us in addressing the basic issue," he said. "We have heard different things from different leaders in Pakistan. On the one hand we sometimes hear them admit to facing serious problems and that there are insurgents crossing the border, and then there are others who come and deny the whole thing.

"We have to confront this element, otherwise it will take Afghanistan back into the Dark Ages and destabilize the region and beyond. Our Pakistani neighbours and friends should also realize that public opinion in Afghanistan nowadays is very important, not only for us, but also for the international community. "To further alienate the Afghans is not going to help us resolve our issues."

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/march/28/afghan/

Afghan war may be lost: experts

Ottawa Citizen, 03/30/2007 By Andrew Mayeda - Taliban are back in force, MPS hear. Contradicting military chief's optimistim

Two Afghanistan experts painted a sobering picture of the conditions there yesterday, arguing support among Afghans for NATO forces is plummeting, the U.S.-driven policy of poppy eradication is wrongheaded, and the war might not be winnable in its present form.

U.S. scholar Barnett Rubin and Gordon Smith, Canada's former ambassador to NATO, delivered their withering comments to a Commons committee only days after Canada's top military commander, Gen. Rick Hillier, touted progress being made there.

Hillier, the chief of defence staff, this week predicted Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan will soon see a rise in attacks from the Taliban. But he insisted on using the term "surge" rather than "offensive."

He also noted many Afghans are moving back into their homes in districts west of Kandahar following a Canadian-led NATO offensive last fall.

But Rubin, who has been to Afghanistan 29 times over more than two decades, said yesterday many Afghans are growing frustrated with the pace of Western efforts to stabilize the country.

"They're not at all happy. Support for both the international presence and the government has plummeted in the past year or so," he told the foreign affairs committee.

He said Afghans aren't seeing the results of promises by the United States and NATO, which took over the mission in 2003, to increase security, establish democracy and improve the economy. "The main complaint that I hear from Afghans is ... that we haven't delivered what they think we promised."

Rubin recently published an article in Foreign Affairs magazine warning Afghanistan "is at risk of collapsing into chaos." In it, he blasts the U.S. for underestimating the influence of Pakistan, which he accuses of providing "safe haven" to the Taliban.

Smith, meanwhile, threw cold water on Hillier's suggestion that Canadian troops are facing a weakened enemy.

There is evidence Al-Qa'ida-affiliated militants, who often fight alongside the Taliban, are actually gaining strength, said Smith, now executive director of the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria.

"The Al-Qa'ida problem has not gone away," he told MPs. "It's important that we not forget the original motivation for going to Afghanistan, and that was to deal with Al-Qa'ida."

Smith recently released a critical report of his own, titled Canada in Afghanistan: Is it Working? He questions whether NATO can achieve its stated goals, even within 10 years. Canada has committed to maintain its military presence until 2009.

He argued NATO needs to hike its troop commitment, while using development aid more effectively and opening negotiations with the Taliban. Smith also said NATO must create a market so Afghan farmers can sell their opium for legal use in medical products like morphine.

Both Rubin and Smith suggested Canada needs to have a new debate about its role in Afghanistan. Liberal MP Keith Martin welcomed their remarks.

Afghan fight part of battle on global terrorism

By RONALD ZAJAC - Staff Writer Tuesday, March 27, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times

Canadian troops fighting in Afghanistan are part of a broader global battle against Islamic extremism and terrorism, the Afghan ambassador to Canada told a Rotary Club luncheon here Monday.

"It does matter," Omar Samad said when asked whether Canada is right to be involved in the Afghan mission. "It's because of a much larger threat that ... we could all face and continue to face down the road."

The world can allow the extremism represented by the Taliban insurgency to prosper or "checkmate it," added Samad, who spoke to a joint lunch meeting of the Brockville and 1000 Islands Rotary Clubs at the Quality Hotel Royal Brock.

Samad also said the international community did not show up when the current Afghan troubles began and added that, when it was ready to help, the Iraq war prevented it from dealing decisively with the Taliban when it had the chance.

Samad was one of two guest speakers the Rotarians are bringing in to discuss Afghanistan. Brigadier General Mark Skidmore, commander of western Canada's land forces, who has troops serving in Afghanistan, will talk to the group next Monday.

A former journalist, Samad gave a brief but informative history lesson on his country dating back to the 19th century, when Afghanistan was a "buffer state" between the British and Russian empires.

In the 1950s, after the United States refused to help Afghanistan modernize its military, the Afghan government made the pivotal decision to ask the Soviet Union for help, said Samad.

As a result, a core of Soviet-trained officers returned to the country filled with Marxist doctrine, and this group was part of a coup that, in 1973, ended a "decade of democratic experimentation," he added.

These pro-Soviet officers took over completely in a violent coup in 1978, and, at the end of 1979, the Red Army invaded Afghanistan when this Soviet-aligned regime was nearly toppled in a rebellion, said the ambassador.

The 1980s, when an Afghan resistance fought the Soviet invaders and ultimately repelled them, shaped the current history of Afghanistan, said Samad. During that time, he said, factions emerged within the rebellion and the Taliban found its roots in the more extremist elements backed by neighbouring Pakistan. Meanwhile, "extremist combatants" from around the world came to the country to join in the fight.

"At the end of the day, these guys all became terrorists," said Samad, adding Osama bin Laden was among these foreign combatants. After the Soviets fled in 1989, said Samad, "Afghanistan fell into the wrong hands because the wrong hands had been promoted."

After the communist government collapsed in 1992, a civil war ensued, leading to the seizure of power by the repressive Taliban regime. The Taliban, said Samad, represent a narrow interpretation of Islam that runs counter to the more mainstream practices of that religion in Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan became a concentration camp ... a prison for its people and the world was absent," said Samad. The "alarm bell" that woke the world up to Afghanistan was the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, perpetrated by bin Laden and al-Qaida, which led to the overthrow of the Taliban regime by coalition forces including Canadians, he said.

Those thousands of Taliban supporters who ended up in Pakistan are now causing the problems that have left Canadian soldiers dead, said the ambassador. "Not only are they aiming at your troops, but they are aiming at ordinary people," said Samad, adding insurgents target such people as teachers and religious scholars.

And while the past five years have seen a young democracy take root in Afghanistan, the insurgency is delaying further development, he said. "How can you have development when they come and burn down schools?"

Samad steered clear of expressing an opinion on the conduct of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, but he said that war "took some attention away from Afghanistan, took some resources away from Afghanistan" and prevented the world from focusing on neutralizing the Taliban.

The ambassador drew laughs when asked by city Councilllor and Rotarian Larry Journal where he thinks bin Laden is now. "You and I will be sharing $25 million," said Samad, referring to a reward posted by the United States for the terrorist leader's capture. "Almost certainly, he is not in Afghanistan," added Samad. He would not say where he believes bin Laden is hiding, but strongly hinted it is Pakistan.

And while he did not wish to get involved in domestic Canadian politics, Samad referred to "certain parties" that support women's rights but advocate a pullout of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

Women, who lost many rights under the Taliban and are now making gains, would be the first victims of a pullout, he said. In a subsequent interview, Samad said it does not matter which Afghan leaders have the support of the people. What does matter is that the people now support the democratic process.

There are "strong indications," he said, that Afghanistan is emerging as "a moderate Islamic state that reflects the will of its people."

Political Alliance Creates Strange Bedfellows

Former political rivals come together in a new bloc which observers say will try to undermine the present government.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting - Hafizullah Gardesh in Kabul and Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif (ARR No. 248, 29-Mar-07)

A newly-formed political coalition in Afghanistan, the National United Front, brings together a broad assortment of former mujahedin leaders from most of the groups that fought the Soviet-backed communist regime in the Eighties. However, the inclusion of several communists has left observers wondering who exactly the alliance is opposing.

The stated goal of the National United Front, or Jabhe-ye-Motahed-e-Milli, is nothing less than an overhaul of the present system of government.

“We have both long-term and short-term strategies,” said Sayed Mustafa Kazimi, spokesperson for the new group. “We will begin in the short term with government reforms, and if need be we will change the system of government from a presidential to a parliamentary one.”

Kazimi told IWPR that the all-embracing composition of the alliance is proof that former enemies can work together in a democratic manner.

“Our movement goes beyond ethnic or regional boundaries; it is a gathering of influential political figures,” he said. “Unless we form these kinds of movements, the ethnic and local tensions will persist.”

The National United Front includes members of factions that fought each other bitterly in the Eighties and Nineties. First come the “jihadi” parties - Jamiat-e-Islami led by Burhanuddin Rabbani and Hezb-e-Wahdat, headed by Afghan vice-president Karim Khalili. Then there is General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s Junbesh-e-Milli-e-Islami, which was allied with Jamiat in the “Northern Alliance” of the Nineties.

But the alliance also includes two prominent figures from the communist government of President Najibullah, ousted by the jihadi factions in 1992.

Sayed Muhammad Gulabzoi was interior minister in that government and a member of the Khalq faction of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, PDPA; while Noor-ul-Haq Ulumi belonged to the rival PDPA faction called Parcham, and commanded government forces fighting the mujahedin in southwest Afghanistan. Both men are current members of parliament.

Gulabzoi told reporters that one of the main goals of the new front was to shift power from the chief executive to the legislature.

“We want to change the constitution, change the form of government from presidential to parliamentary, and have direct elections for mayors and governors,” he said.

Currently, local leaders are appointed by President Hamed Karzai. The Karzai government is steering clear of comment on the National United Front, merely describing it as part of the country’s growing democracy.

“Everyone has the right to form political parties and movements,” said presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi. “This will help the government’s efforts to democratise the country.”

But observers are not so sure. “Khalq, Parcham and jihadis coming together – what a surprise!” said political analyst Mohammad Qaseem Akhgar. “They fought each other for years, but now they have a common purpose – to escape retribution for what they did over the past 25 years, and award themselves immunity.”

Fazel Muhammad Oria, an editor and analyst, agrees. “This movement is of no benefit to the government or the people of Afghanistan,” he said. “It will only make things worse.”

In Oria’s view, the National United Front is really a power grab by Jamiat-e-Islami. “Jamiat opposes the government, and is attempting to infiltrate it,” said Oria.

Oria pointed to the prominent Jamiat members who are highly-placed in the current political line-up, among them Younus Qanuni, the speaker of parliament, and Vice-President Ahmad Zia Massoud, brother of the slain Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

However, Oria does not believe the new coalition will not take root in Afghanistan’s current climate. “These figures are well-known to the people and they have no support. They have done nothing for the people or the country; they fought for their own personal gain,” he said.

Given Afghanistan’s violent past, forging political partnerships can be a challenge. The Northern Alliance, for example, was made up of former jihadi leaders whose forces fought among themselves following the collapse of the Najibullah government, and destroyed much of the country in the process.

The Taleban emerged and took hold of Afghanistan largely as a response to the chaos and lawlessness of the civil war years. As the fundamentalists gained power and territory, the jihadi groups withdrew to a small sliver of the country in the northeast.

Because of the extreme brutality of the civil war years, many of these faction leaders – termed “warlords” by Afghans - have been accused of serious war crimes by human rights groups, and there have been calls to bring them to justice.

Many Afghans see the jihadi-dominated parliament as a safe haven for former warlords, and are fearful that their growing power could presage a return to the mayhem of the early Nineties.

“These people are troublemakers,” said Qayum Babak, chief editor of the Jahan-e-Naw monthly in Balkh and a leading political analyst. “They have come together to form an alliance against the government.”

Babak reckons the National United Front will have a limited shelf life because it has no popular backing.

“This is not the first time these people have assembled to form a front. They have made alliances many times in the past, but these did not last,” he said.

Kazimi rejects such criticisms, saying that the coalition was set up to fill a political vacuum. “There has been no party able to cope with the deteriorating situation over the past five years,” he said. “There are a lot of registered parties in Afghanistan, but none of them has been able to fill the gap.”

There are currently more than 80 registered political parties in Afghanistan. Kazimi acknowledged the challenges facing the new group, but voiced cautious optimism that the front would overcome them.

“There is no guarantee that the National United Front will not break down, but we will do our best to save it,” he said. “Even if it does collapse, we will have lost nothing - we are practicing democracy.”

Ordinary Afghans who have been the real victims of decades of violence look on the new alliance with distaste. Many fear that the National United Front will pave the way for a recurrence of past crimes.

“Looking at those polluted faces, and listening to murderers talking is shocking,” said Fauzia, a resident of the Microrayon district of Kabul. “It doesn’t matter what shape they assume - the people see them for what they are.”

Yama, a student at Kabul University, voiced similar sentiments. “People who should be brought to justice are running away from it,” he said.

“In the history of Afghanistan, the jihadi leaders and the communists will never be forgotten. They have no place among the people. They governed the country for years and did nothing, so what can be expected from this alliance?”

Hafizullah Gardesh is IWPR’s editor in Kabul. Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.

[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.]