In this bulletin:

• Karzai slams foreign troops for civilian casualties
• Pakistanis among 56 killed in Nato sweep
• TALIBAN KILL THEIR HEAD OF DISTRICT, MULLAH MOHAMMAD KUNARI
• Five Afghan soldiers killed rescuing Czech diplomat
• New NATO commander takes over in southern Afghanistan
• U.S. investing billions in Afghan forces
• Afghanistan calls on donors to remain committed
• Afghans protest eviction of refugees by Iran
• Afghan FM met H.E. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
• 13 air transport companies obtain license in Afghanistan
• Pakistan not to stop fencing Pakistan-Afghan border - spokesperson
• Afghanistan slams Pak's decision on border
• Al Qaeda a threat to Pakistan govt: US
• US welcomes Pak-Afghan talks - Associated Press of Pakistan
• “Non-meeting” in Ankara
• Will Ankara accord work?
• Taleban leader says Bin-Ladin alive, to speak on video
• How Pakistan settled an al-Qaeda score
• Bomb plot's roots in Pakistan
• MPs reject motion to end Afghan mission
• Hillier thought he was doing the 'right thing'
• Parliament fails to meet - thanks to absenteeism
• Look-alike Arrested Twice; Close But No Bin Laden

Karzai slams foreign troops for civilian casualties

via Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) - Kabul, May 2 (DPA) Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai slammed foreign forces Wednesday for causing civilian deaths in the country, as more than 1,000 university students took to streets and chanted 'Death to America' slogans in eastern Afghanistan.

US-led coalition forces claimed on Sunday and Monday having killed over 140 suspected Taliban in two separate raids in eastern and western Afghanistan, but Afghan governmental officials and tribal leaders said that a majority of the dead were civilians. 'We can no longer accept our civilian casualties,' Karzai said after meeting with NATO officials in his office.

'We are very sorry when an international coalition force, NATO, soldier loses his life or is wounded. It pains us. But Afghans are human beings too. We like our people to see safety and security, especially during the conduct of operations.

'Extra care should be taken and an Afghan involvement in searches of homes in conduct of operations of that nature is an absolute necessity, which in spite of our efforts for the past four years has not somehow developed and that is something that must be changed, must be corrected or the consequences will be bad for all of us.'

At least six civilians including two women were killed in a raid in Bati Kot district of Nangarhar province by US Special Forces Sunday. Angry local residents placed the bodies of the victims on the highway and blocked traffic on the busy link to neighbouring Pakistan later.

Dozens of civilians were also among more than 130 killed in western Heart province in an operation that lasted three days.

'Unfortunately the suffering of Afghanistan in certain parts of the country has not ended. We still suffer, either by the operations of terrorists or as the consequence of operations by NATO,' Karzai said.

'We still keep losing our civilian lives. Now, the intention may be very good in these operations to fight terrorism. Sometimes mistakes may be made as well, but five years on, it is very difficult for us to continue to accept civilian casualties,' he said.

Karzai in the past has asked the NATO and coalition forces to coordinate with Afghan security forces and to stop searching the homes of civilians without the permission of his government.

'Unfortunately, that cooperation and coordination as we tried it has not given us the result that we want,' an emotional Karzai said. 'I hope the international community finds ways with us, with our relevant ministries, a mechanism that will bring an end to collateral damage,' he added.

Hundreds of protesters stormed the police headquarters and administrative offices in Shindand district of western Heart province on Monday, after US forces killed dozens of civilians during the operation from last Friday to Sunday.

More than 1,000 civilians were among over 4,000 people killed in the fighting last year, making it the worst year for the US-back government since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001.

Pakistanis among 56 killed in Nato sweep

Dawn, Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - KABUL, May 1: A Nato-led offensive in a restive southern Afghanistan district killed up to 56 militants, including some Pakistani nationals, on its first day, an Afghan commander said on Tuesday.

“We've killed up to 56 Taliban, including lots of Pakistanis,” General Moheydin Ghori from the Afghan army told AFP by telephone from the area. The bodies of the dead had been left at the site in Helmand province's Sangin Valley, he said,

and a handful of Pakistani fighters had also been arrested. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) had earlier said the operation, launched on Monday, had killed “a significant number of insurgents.” Some 2,000 Nato-led and Afghan troops are involved in the new sweep, called Operation Silicon. “We're advancing through Sangin very successfully and the Taliban have been defeated,” Ghori said.

The sweep is part of the Operation Achilles, a major offensive launched on March 4 in Helmand, a province plagued by violence. Achilles is the biggest Isaf operation this year, involving some 5,500 soldiers. Local and international forces are trying to “create security conditions in the

Sangin Valley so that meaningful reconstruction and development can occur,” said an Isaf spokesman, who declined to be identified.

Separately, four insurgents were killed in an air raid in response to an attack by a dozen militants late Monday on the administration office of eastern Khost province's Spera district, the US-led coalition said. Also in Khost, 11 suspected Taliban militants with links to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network were seized in a “joint operation” by Afghan and Isaf troops, provincial

governor Arsala Jamal told AFP.

The new claims of success against the Taliban came as police in the western province of Heart said at least 30 civilians died in clashes at the weekend which the coalition said killed 136 Taliban. Hundreds of people had demonstrated in the Shindand district of the western province of Herat on Monday, after coalition and Afghan operations there on Friday and Sunday, insisting civilians were among the victims.

Herat police chief Mohammad Shafiq Fazli told AFP an investigation had found that “there were at least 30 civilians, including women and children, among those killed in Shindand's fighting.”

As government and UN teams were sent to the area to investigate the claims, a spokesman for the US Central Command said it had received no reports of civilian casualties in the fighting.

“Every precaution is taken to prevent injury to Afghan civilians during both battles, and no civilian casualties were reported,” said Major David Small. There were two battles in the Heart fighting. In the eastern province of Nangarhar, meanwhile, 500 students protested against US military action after six people were killed on Sunday.

The demonstrators, who burned an effigy of US President George W. Bush, said all six were civilians. The coalition has said four were militants and that a woman and a teenager were killed in crossfire. In other violence linked to the growing Taliban insurgency, Afghan police in the province of Paktia escaped a suicide attack unhurt, the provincial governor said.

The attacker tried to jump onto a police vehicle before blowing himself up but instead “became the victim of his ill-attempts,” Governor Rahmatullah Rahmat told AFP.

TALIBAN KILL THEIR HEAD OF DISTRICT, MULLAH MOHAMMAD KUNARI

Published in Weesa on Sunday the 29. of April 07 - The head of a Taliban district, Mullah Mohammad Kunari, was killed by the Taliban yesterday [ …]

The Taliban announced that Mullah Mohammad was spying for the Afghan government and the national and foreign troops, and that he was killed on charges of spying. Mullah Mohammad was killed in Shah Kas area in the Khyber agency along with his driver.

According to the reports, Mullah Mohammad was head of Pech Dara district in the Taliban era [1994-2001] and was one of the fighter-commanders of this group.

Five Afghan soldiers killed rescuing Czech diplomat

Middle East Times - May 2, 2007 - KABUL -- Five soldiers and seven militants were killed in fighting that erupted when security forces went to rescue a Czech diplomat who came under fire in eastern Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.

The Afghan military forces responded to a call for help after the charge d'affaires of the Czech embassy in Kabul was fired on by gunmen while he was traveling through eastern Paktia province, a provincial spokesman said.

The diplomat, Filip Velach, was unhurt but two of his bodyguards were injured in the attack in Zurmat district, Din Mohammad Darwish said.

"Fighting erupted after the soldiers arrived in the area. Five soldiers and seven Taliban were killed in the fighting," Darwish said, adding that the battle lasted more than one hour. The men had taken refuge in a house before the troops arrived, the spokesman said.

A Czech foreign ministry spokeswoman said that the three put out a distress call to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). They were taken by helicopter to a US military base.

Velach has been heading the Czech diplomatic mission in Kabul since mid-April. Around 180 Czech soldiers are serving in ISAF.

Paktia, on the border with Pakistan, is among the provinces in Afghanistan that sees regular violence blamed on Taliban insurgents, with several incidents reported around Zurmat.

In a separate incident, five Taliban were killed after about eight rebels attacked a joint Afghan and coalition checkpost in southern Kandahar just before midnight, the US-led coalition said.

"Eight insurgents came out from the vehicles and started firing on the checkpoint. Afghan border police and coalition forces returned fire, killing five of them," it said in a statement.

In another incident linked to an advancing Taliban insurgency, Afghan and coalition forces detained a suspected organizer of suicide attacks in a raid in southeastern Khost province Wednesday, a separate statement said.

There are more than 50,000 NATO and US-led troops in Afghanistan fighting Taliban insurgents alongside Afghan army and police.

New NATO commander takes over in southern Afghanistan

GRAEME SMITH - Globe and Mail Update May 1, 2007 - KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The incoming commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan says one of his biggest concerns is improving the quality of Afghan security forces.

Major-General Jacko Page, a British officer with experience in Sarajevo and Iraq, formally took control of troops in the southern region -- including Canadian forces based in Kandahar -- at a ceremony on the back of a flatbed truck this morning.

“A lot has already been achieved, but there is, of course, a lot more to do,” Maj.-Gen. Page said, in a speech. “One of my priorities will be contributing the building of the Afghan national security forces.”

The behaviour of Afghan forces is now under scrutiny from Canadian investigators, as they try to determine whether suspected Taliban insurgents are tortured in Afghan custody.

Minutes before the event, reporters were informed that the new commander's plans to speak with the media had been cancelled. Maj.-Gen. Page replaces Major-General Ton van Loon of the Netherlands.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization rotates responsibility for the vital southern command among the major countries involved in the fighting; Maj.-Gen. van Loon's predecessor was Canadian Brigadier-General David Fraser.

Fighting has been heating up in the last week, as the poppy harvest finishes in the southern fields and labourers find new employment with the Taliban.

In his speech, however, the incoming commander focused on the softer side of the campaign. “We are focused not just on short-term gains against extremists, but the long-term prosperity and stability of Afghanistan,” Maj.-Gen. Page said.

He added later: “While security is a critical part of the equation, ensuring development can take place to improve the lives of ordinary Afghans will remain a priority in the south. ... Whether it be roads, clean water, or electricity supplies, development can only happen if the security conditions are right.”

U.S. investing billions in Afghan forces

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 2 (UPI) -- The United States will spend $3.4 billion this fiscal year on building Afghan army and police forces, the U.S. military said.

Military officials told The New York Times Afghanistan will need strong security forces before the United States and other western nations can consider leaving.

U.S. military officials would like to spend $5.9 billion more next fiscal year, expanding the Afghan army and police from its current 100,000 ranks to 132,000 or 152,000, training them and equipping them with small arms, tanks, and helicopters and other aircraft, the Times reported. The security-force building is expected to take three years.

"Regardless of what happens in Afghanistan, the security forces need to be beefed up," Steven Ross, of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told the Times. "It was highly underinvested in the first years after 2001, and almost everyone sees the money coming in from the big supplemental as a positive."

Afghanistan calls on donors to remain committed

Xinhua / May 1, 2007  - The Afghan government on Monday called on donor nations to remain committed towards rebuilding the post-Taliban and war-ravaged central Asian state.

The government of Afghanistan urged donors not only to maintain their commitment to Afghanistan, but to increase it, Afghan Finance Minister Anwarul Haq Ahadi told reporters at the conclusion of a two-day forum here. He also urged the international community to help canalize their contribution through the Afghan government.

If the contributions were spent through the government's national budget, it would help improve largely the nation's economy, Ahadi said. Delegates and representatives from more than 60 nations attended the two-day annual Afghanistan Development Forum.

Out of the 12.8 billion U.S. dollars contributed to Afghanistan over the past five years, only 3.8 billion U.S. dollars have been spent through the Afghan government in the rebuilding process of the country. Ahadi said the government would pay much attention to roads, power, health and education.

Afghans protest eviction of refugees by Iran

Tue May 1, KABUL (AFP) - Hundreds of people rallied in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Tuesday to protest Iran's expulsion of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees, witnesses said.

Some 500 people marched from western Kabul to the Iranian embassy carrying banners condemning Tehran's action. One of the banners described Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his forces as "devils." "Islam has no borders, we condemn Iran's brutal act," the banner said.

Iran launched a drive to expel the refugees on April 21 and sent back some 25,000 within the space of a few days, prompting strong protests by the Afghan government.

Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi has said the government planned to send back around 500,000 refugees in the first phase. Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said Tuesday's protest was peaceful.

On Sunday Afghanistan called on Iran to stop the expulsions, saying the destitute country could not afford to resettle the refugees.

Around 20,000 refugees were dropped across the border in Afghanistan's Nimroz province, among them women who were picked up from the streets and who had left family members behind, Nimroz governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad has said.

"Among the forced returnees here, there are women who have left family members in Iran, there are people who have left their accounts unsettled in Iran," said Azad.

Millions of Afghans have fled their country because of the violence and conflict that has destroyed much of Afghanistan over the past three decades. There were up to four million Afghans in Iran during Afghanistan's civil war.

Following the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, millions of Afghans returned home from Iran and Pakistan. But both countries are still each estimated to host two million Afghan refugees. Many of the Afghans in Iran are employed as labourers in the construction industry or in other low paid jobs.

More than 25,000 Afghans have been sent back by Iranian authorities since April 21, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and more are being forced out.

Afghan FM met H.E. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

Posted On: May 02, 2007

On the second day of his official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Dr. Spanta met with H.E. King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.  

At the meeting, Dr Spanta conveyed the message and an invitation letter of H.E. Hamid Karzai to H.E. King Abdullah to pay an official visit to Afghanistan and briefed him on the recent talks between Kabul and Islamabad, which was hosted by the Turkish President.  

The Afghan minister also thanked the Saudi’s constructive role in helping Afghanistan and talked about the achievements and challenges facing Afghanistan. He added that the government and nation of Afghanistan attaches a special importance to its relations with Saudi Arabia.

On their parts, H.E King Abdullah reiterated Saudi Arabia’s long-term commitment to the process of stabilisation and reconstruction of Afghanistan. He also expressed Saudi's determination to deepen its relations with Afghanistan.

13 air transport companies obtain license in Afghanistan

Xinhua / April 30, 2007  - The Afghan government has issued licenses for 13 air transport companies in the post-Taliban Afghanistan, a local newspaper reported Monday.

In addition to Afghanistan National flag carrier the Ariana and the private aviation firm the Kam Air, 11 more air transport companies have obtained licenses from the Ministry for Transport, Daily Cheragh said.

Eight more transport companies have applied for licenses, it further added. Majority of these firms are joint venture with foreigners particularly from the United States, Germany and Russia, Daily Cheragh said.

Nevertheless, the Kabul International Airport as well as other airstrips in the provinces is not so equipped to facilitate the taking off and landing of passenger planes. The Afghan government in the post-Taliban central Asian state has encouraged private sector to play key role in rebuilding of the war-torn Afghanistan.

Pakistan not to stop fencing Pakistan-Afghan border - spokesperson

Text of report by Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency

Islamabad, 30 April: Pakistan will not review the ongoing fencing of its border with Afghanistan and the process would continue, the Foreign Office said Monday.

"Not at all...We are doing it (fencing) inside our territory, on our side of the border," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said in response to a question whether Pakistan would make a review to stop the fencing. The spokesperson said Pakistan was fencing its border with its western neighbour to strengthen the border control and categorically stated that the work would continue.

About the meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai held in Ankara on Monday said, "It is our hope that meeting would help clear misunderstandings."

She said the meeting would also help the two countries better coordinate in countering terrorism, streamlining efforts for peace and strengthening the relationship.

The spokesperson said Pakistan and India would hold talks on Sir Creek on May 17-18 in Rawalpindi, whereas discussions on Wullar barrage would be held on June 26-27 in New Delhi. She said meetings on peace and security and the Jammu and Kashmir issue had also been taken place as part of the ongoing peace process.

She declined to comment on the recommendations by Indian External Affairs Minister on Kashmir at a round-table meeting held in New Delhi. However, she said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statements on Kashmir had many positive aspects, adding that it was important for Pakistan and India to continue working towards the resolution of Kashmir issue.

The spokesperson said upon reaching a stage of Kashmir resolution, President Musharraf would take the nation into confidence.

About foreign ministers' conference to be held in Islamabad in May, Ms Aslam said confirmation of delegates was still in the process. However about 600 participants were expected to attend the meeting, she added.

To a question about contacts with Nuclear Suppliers Group, she said Pakistan was engaged with NSG and its position was based on principles. Due to growth in economy, Pakistan needed nuclear power plants and was ready to remove any concerns in this regard, she said.

She said Pakistan aimed at using nuclear fuel for power generation and it showed country's seriousness to reach an agreement to meet the growing energy requirements.

Ms Aslam also announced the establishment of Strategic Export Control Division at Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take a number of measures and formulating laws in pursuance of export control of goods, technology and material. She said Pakistan was strongly committed to non- proliferation and the export of items on the control list of Pakistan will always be possible as settled by the newly set up authority.

Afghanistan slams Pak's decision on border

PTI - 04/30/2007 - The Afghan government has strongly protested Pakistan's plan to fence and mine parts of the border between the two countries.

Expressing hope that Pakistan would reconsider its decision, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen said that "if it failed to do so, Kabul will call on the international community to pressurise Islamabad and to destroy terrorist centres inside Pakistan."

Pakistan on Tuesday said it would build a fence and plant land mines on parts of its 2,430 km frontier with Afghanistan.

On Islamabad's stand that an agreement with Afghanistan was not needed on the border issue since Pakistan was fencing and mining its own side of the borer, Baheen said, "it is only the loya jirga on the Afghan side and representatives of people on the Pakistani side of the Durrand Line who are entitled to take a crucial decision of this nature."

Pashtoon tribes and clans live on both sides of the border and were artificially divided by the Durrand Line in the British days.

Delineated in 1893 by the British by arm-twisting a weak Afghan ruler, the Durrand Line has never been sought to be fenced before. Afghanistan's Loya Jirga is the grand assembly of the people.

Al Qaeda a threat to Pakistan govt: US

Dawn - By Anwar Iqbal - WASHINGTON, April 30: Al Qaeda’s continued calls for the overthrow of President Gen Pervez Musharraf remained a threat to Pakistan, despite the government’s efforts to eliminate AQ elements, says a US State Department report released on Monday.

About 900 Pakistanis lost their lives in more than 650 terror attacks in 2006, with another 1,500 people seriously injured, says the report which was sent to the US Congress as a policy paper.

“Pakistan also remains a major source of Islamic extremism and a safe haven for some top terrorist leaders,” the report warned.

The State Department noted that Pakistan continued to pursue AQ and its allies aggressively through nationwide police action and military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The report, however, pointed out that “despite having approximately 80,000 troops in the FATA, including Army and Frontier Corps units, the Government of Pakistan has been unable to exert control over the area.” The report acknowledged that Pakistan executed effective counterterrorism cooperation and captured or killed many terrorists during 20006-07.

US welcomes Pak-Afghan talks - Associated Press of Pakistan

- The Post, Wednesday, May 02, 2007

WASHINGTON: A senior US official has welcomed the meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Turkey, where the two leaders vowed to fight terrorism through cooperative efforts.

"We're very pleased that presidents Karzai and Musharraf were able to meet in Turkey, just finished up, and this is also something that we hope we'll be able to build on in the future," Frank C. Urbancic, Acting Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism, remarked at the State Department Monday afternoon.

In answer to a question at a briefing on the release of 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism, the official said both Pakistan and Afghanistan are allies in the war on terror and added the United States is working to help them in establishing their complete control in border areas.

"Pakistan is an ally in the war on terror, Afghanistan is an ally in the war on terror -- we are working very strongly with those allies to help them establish control in those areas," Urbancic stated. The United States, he said, has very close cooperation with President Musahrraf and the Pakistani government in the fight against terrorism. Pakistan, he noted, maintains approximately 80,000 troops, including army and Frontier Corps units along the Afghanistan border.

He added the United States plans to help "modernize and increase the capacity of the Frontier Corps so that they can become a more effective force."

In the context of ensuring control and security in the border areas, he said "there are multiple ways that this has to be addressed. It has to be addressed on the economic side. It has to be addressed on the military side. It also has to be addressed on the social side."

“Non-meeting” in Ankara

– EDITORIAL

President General Pervez Musharraf met President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in Ankara two days ago and agreed with him “to step up joint efforts against terrorism” and “boost confidence building measures”. His comment after the meeting was: “We decided to reconcile our differences...I can say it’s a new beginning”. But, he concluded: “We’ve not yet talked about the details”. The devil, it appears, is in the detail.

The last time they were brought together to swear peace was in Washington in 2006 when President George W Bush tried to make them bury the hatchet. But instead of burying the hatchet the knives were taken out. Mr Karzai’s beef was that General Musharraf was giving sanctuary to the Taliban; General Musharraf shot back that he was lying. The problem was that everybody who went to Quetta saw the Taliban doing R&R after their raids across the Durand Line.

What is different now in Ankara? The two sides have issued a joint declaration which a Foreign Office desk officer could write with his left hand: “They agreed to deny sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists and to elements involved in subversive and anti-state activities in each other’s country” and pledged “to initiate immediate action on specific intelligence exchanges”.

The long-suffering desk-officer also added the tired bit about “the historical ties that existed between the two countries”. Shockingly, the press reported that “Musharraf and Karzai, who traded harsh accusations ahead of the meeting — including the Pakistani president calling his Afghan counterpart a ‘liar’ — did

not shake hands as they appeared before the media. Instead, they stood on either side of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who held and raised their hands as they posed for photographers”. They did not speak to the press and did not take questions.

What did the Turks do? They expressed themselves “satisfied with the meeting” and — believe it or not –described the atmosphere of the talks as “good”. What was the yardstick for this? A desperate Turkish diplomat said: “The fact that they managed to agree to a joint declaration is in itself very important”. Who thought up the meeting? When the news hit the papers first, President Musharraf had carefully expressed what he thought of it. He had let out his usual blue

streak against Mr Karzai. We had editorially predicted that it would be a “non-meeting”.

It is obvious that someone had forced the meeting on the two who then went kicking and screaming to it. The Turks swore they had overcome worse past complications with Greece and Iran, if only the two neighbour presidents would try seriously. The Turks then tried to insert themselves into a tripartite channel and got the two to agree to meet again this year or in 2008.

President Sezer went so far as to say that “we have special place in our hearts for Pakistani and Afghan peoples”. If you ask the Pushtuns of Afghanistan, they would say that the Turks are with the Northern Alliance. When Pakistan was at the back of the Taliban as they attacked Mazar-e-Sharif and sent a wounded Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostam scurrying to Ankara, the Turkish prime minister

Bulent Ecevit was not greatly ecstatic about Turkey’s old friendship with Pakistan. He instead went to India and recited Bhagwat Gita to Mr Vajpayee. At that time even President Clinton of the United States was careful not to show too much warmth to General Musharraf when he visited Pakistan in 2000.

President General Musharraf is entering a strange new phase in his career. Either he has changed radically or he was never serious when he claimed he was thinking out of the box, both in respect of India and Afghanistan. Now he has retreated into his shell, letting the extremists win in Pakistan and allowing most of the windows of opportunity to close in Pakistan’s neighbourhood. The problem is that neither his “conditional” peace talks with India, nor his

denials about the Taliban attacks, are accepted as trustworthy by the world. *

Will Ankara accord work?

By Najmuddin A. Shaikh – Opinion

HAD I been one of the Sherpas charged with preparing for the Musharraf-Karzai meeting in Ankara, I would have regarded the developments of the last few days as “unpropitious”, to say the least. President Musharraf’s interview with the Spanish newspaper in which he lashed out against those who criticised Pakistan while doing nothing themselves to curb terrorism and where he called those who accused the ISI of assisting the Taliban “liars” did not help create a “conducive atmosphere”.

Musharraf was, of course, responding to charges that President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders had been repeating at regular intervals and in increasingly shriller tones. Perhaps it was his view that as part of the preparations for the meeting he had to spell out publicly the limits of Pakistan’s tolerance and to warn Karzai to respect these limits if he wanted any forward movement in the talks.

Pakistan’s leaders have been writhing under the lash of media reports that, in contrast to official statements, call into question the commitment of all sections of the Pakistan establishment to the battle against the Taliban. They term as capitulation the agreements reached with local influentials in the tribal areas and view as diversionary tactics the steps that Pakistan has

proposed or taken to close Afghan refugee camps, regulate border crossings and fence those parts of the border that cannot be easily patrolled.

Pakistani officials find it galling that reports of this nature are based mainly on briefings of coalition forces. They believe that the coalition forces are being fed false intelligence by Afghan officials.

Pakistan’s ire is understandable. Such allegations make substantive cooperation difficult and strengthen forces on both sides of the border who do not want peace in south and southeast Afghanistan to which full cooperation between the Pakistan and Afghan authorities can contribute. Articulating this ire on the eve of the Ankara meeting was a worthwhile ploy, however, only if the cessation of the “war of words” was Pakistan’s sole expectation from the Ankara meeting.

In many ways, Afghan behaviour has been even worse. Afghan officials have refused to accept the biometric passes that Pakistan has introduced to regulate cross border traffic, officials in Kabul have falsely claimed that they have torn down the fencing that Pakistan is erecting, and, most ominously, there have been instances of Afghan and Pakistani forces exchanging fire across the border. It would seem that for the Afghans, now in control in Kabul, the war against the Taliban is less important than foiling Pakistan’s so-called evil intentions.

The situation on the ground has also deteriorated. Despite brave words, the most the coalition forces can claim is that they have prevented the Taliban from launching a full-scale spring offensive. They have not been able to prevent the Taliban from taking over whole towns and districts from time to time. While many of these Taliban successes have been reversed it has been at the cost of civilian casualties for which the coalition forces and the Afghan government, more than the Taliban, have been held responsible.

Most recently, hundreds of Afghan villagers gathered on Monday to protest against the civilian casualties caused by Nato’s actions on Friday and Sunday against the Taliban in Herat province’s Zerkoh valley in which they claimed that more than 140 Taliban, including prominent local commanders, were killed. The battle for hearts and minds is being lost not won.

The State Department’s latest report on global terrorism states that in 2006 the number of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan went up to 749 as against 491 in 2005 and the number of people killed in these incidents went up from 684 in 2005 to 1,040 in 2006. Other more recent compilations suggest that the rate of terrorist incidents, including suicide attacks, climbed exponentially in the first four months of 2007.

In a recent meeting in Brussels of the German Marshall Fund’s forum, former US ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke, lamented the fact that Karzai’s government had “lost momentum” and transparency, and that its erstwhile supporters in Afghanistan were becoming alienated. He said that he was more concerned about the weakening of the Karzai government than the Taliban

fighters.

Holbrooke charged that there had been “massive wastage of American and European funding”. As a result, he said, little of the billions of dollars in aid meant for Afghan reconstruction had gone towards the rebuilding of roads, schools and hospitals. Other speakers at the forum spoke of equally grim developments with a former Polish defence minister quoting Polish military commanders in Afghanistan as saying that the city of Kandahar was a “no-go area” for both

international and Afghan officials.

In Pakistan, the Taliban infection seems to be spreading with increasing rapidity from the tribal areas to the settled districts. Girls’ schools are being closed. Public bonfires are being lit to throw in videos seized from video shops. Barbers are being threatened with dire consequences if they shave the beards of their clients.

The inexplicable tolerance by the government of the illegal and provocative activities of the Jamia Hafsa vigilantes has now led to other seminary students gathering outside the Karachi Press Club to announce their support for the Jamia Hafsa’s goals and methods. The criticism of the Jamia Hafsa by the religious parties is gradually becoming more muted as they perceive the

government’s weakness and are becoming inclined to believe that a religious coup using Hafsa methods against the government is possible.

The attack on Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao’s public meeting in Charsadda is

yet another indication of the deteriorating law and order situation and the government’s inability to cope, despite the support of the “silent majority”, with the rising tide of extremism.

It is against this backdrop that one must see the meeting in Ankara and read the Ankara declaration. It should have been a meeting at which both sides agreed that there was a common danger and that a joint political, as much as a military, approach was needed to lessen and eventually eliminate the danger.

Musharraf should have emphasised that he regarded the diehard Taliban, whether Pakistanis or Afghans, as enemies. He should have acknowledged that when the Taliban gathered strength in Afghanistan they garnered more adherents in Pakistan’s border provinces and, as an inevitable corollary, extremism gathered new recruits in other parts of Pakistan. He should have argued that Karzai had to make greater efforts to win over the moderate Taliban and should have offered the good offices of Afghan experts in bringing this about.

He should have emphasised the importance of holding tribal and not national jirgas to bring together the elders of each tribe that straddles the border. At these jirgas, government representatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan could offer monetary and other incentives to persuade the tribes to deny the Taliban the use of their areas.

Karzai could have argued that while he did not think that border fencing or removing refugee camps or introducing biometric passes would resolve the problem of cross-border terrorism, these would help in some measure and that he would not regard them as indicative of Pakistan’s malevolent intentions. He should have reassured Musharraf that he would not let Indian consulates be misused for nefarious purposes and that he would seek the assistance of Nato

intelligence to ensure this. He should have sought Musharraf’s assistance in the development of the area and the creation of employment opportunities.

If any of this was done it was not apparent in the Ankara declaration or in the body language of the two leaders. As in Washington, so too in Ankara the media noted that the two leaders did not shake hands nor did they agree to a joint press conference. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer found a more elegant way than his American counterpart of creating the illusion of bonhomie by

clasping and raising the hands of both his guests.

Everyone tried to give a positive interpretation of the meeting. President Musharraf spoke of it as a new beginning even while warning that the details had not been worked out. President Sezer expressed the hope that the Ankara declaration would mark a step towards concrete cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A Turkish diplomat, however, put it best when he said “the very fact that they managed to agree to a joint declaration is itself very important.” Unfortunately, in most ways the Ankara declaration is an example of “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” — or the more things change, the more they remain the same.

We have agreement on “denying sanctuary”, on action to be taken when timely intelligence is provided and we have gratitude for past assistance to the refugees. There is agreement on working together to shift the current refugee camps and on Pakistan hosting the next international Aid to Afghanistan conference. All of this is old hat having figured in countless past agreements between the two sides.

The only noteworthy item is the formation of a tripartite working group to monitor the implementation of the declaration. The Turks are trusted and liked by both the Pakistanis and the Afghans. They have past experience of Afghanistan from the days of the First World War.

During the jihad and in the period of internecine war, more particularly during the Taliban era, they maintained close contact with some Afghan leaders notably the notorious Uzbek, Rashid Dostum. The Turks also have had a military contingent in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force and Turkish generals have commanded ISAF for some time. Their association with Pakistan’s military leaders has been of long standing and is of particular value now when Musharraf, a proclaimed admirer of Kemal Ataturk and a Turkish

speaker, is at the helm of affairs.

Their efforts to identify the sources of problems and to suggest ways to eliminate them would probably have greater success than those of less trusted intermediaries. If it can be made to work, some genuine advances can be made.

The problem is to devise the mechanism by which the Turks can really play this role. Will the Turks be in a position to place monitors on the ground to investigate Afghan allegations of cross-border infiltration? Will they be able to ensure that only legal movement takes place across the border? Will they be able to monitor the unchecked flow of drugs and a whole host of other contraband goods from Afghanistan into Pakistan? Will they establish contact with the Taliban to see which of them can be persuaded to reconcile their differences with the Karzai government? Will they be able to check out Pakistani allegations of subversive elements entering Pakistan from Afghanistan?

Pakistan and Afghanistan both have reason to be grateful to Turkey for offering their assistance and doing so at a time when Turkey is embroiled in a political crisis of its own. They should be grateful also that Turkey has offered to do more than merely host meetings. However, realistically it must be recognised that this is a problem that the two countries need to work out between themselves and they can do so only if they tackle their internal problems and seek each other’s help in doing so.

The writer is a former foreign secretary.

Taleban leader says Bin-Ladin alive, to speak on video

Afghan Taleban leader Mullah Dadollah has said in an "exclusive interview" for an Arabic TV station that Usamah Bin-Ladin is alive and well and playing an active role in planning attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. He added that as such attacks escalated, a videotape containing a speech by Bin-Ladin would be made available. Asked about peace talks, Dadollah said the Taleban would never negotiate with the Americans or other foreigners and it was not worth talking to President Karzai since he was a "dummy" without any power to act independently. Dadollah also said two French hostages held by the Taleban are "safe and sound" and that if France wants them back, it must pull its forces out of Afghanistan. The following is the text of the interview with Dadollah by Al-Jazeera correspondent Ahmad Zaydan, broadcast by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 29 April; Dadollah speaks in Pashto, with a voice-over translation into Arabic; subheadings have been inserted editorially:

[Zaydan] Dear viewers, welcome to our feature "Today's Encounter", in which we host leader Dadollah, the Afghan Taleban Movement military official. Leader Dadollah, welcome to Al-Jazeera's "Today's Encounter" programme. To begin the programme I would like to ask you, since Australia has announced that it is going to send more troops to Afghanistan, how do you view this announcement, and what does it mean to you in the Taleban Movement?

[Dadollah] In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The arrival of Australian troops in Afghanistan is not a matter of concern to us at all. On the contrary, we rather feel happy they are coming, and all the world's infidels who are coming to Afghanistan to die here. This does not bother us; let them come over here and we will fight them. This is something joyful, particularly if they come in large numbers, because their casualties will be more.

[Zaydan] Do you view the arrival of additional Western countries' troops to Afghanistan as a military failure or an escalation move against you and your operations?

[Dadollah] The project that was implemented here in terms of assigning each Afghan province to a certain country of the alliance in order to govern it has failed completely and the Afghan provinces have become a real burden to the alliance countries. The solution now lies in either halting this project or having the US provide additional support for it. This is the outcome of the failure, as witnessed by the world. The project has failed and the concerned parties should think of another alternative.

[Zaydan] Let us move to a new topic; kidnapping people and holding them hostage, which the Taleban movement has begun to practise against Western journalists and institutions. What is the reason for this new Taleban military trend and why do you kidnap foreigners?

[Dadollah] Our objective in abducting hostages is to hurt the Kabul government and Karzai, and to be more precise, to hurt the US Administration, which occupies our country and disseminates false reports to the world because it owns the media. We want to show the real picture to the world and to our people. I wonder whether US domination means that we can kidnap foreigners and some US agents, particularly from the city or province, of which they claim they have full control. Also, I wonder if US domination means we can keep the abducted individuals hostages in the same city or in the same country, and then request a prisoner swap in the same area. The alliance forces and the Karzai government cannot come over here and free the kidnapped persons, or even demand them from us. None of the 38 allied countries are capable of protecting their citizens from our might.

[Zaydan] Let us tackle the issue of journalists. The Afghan Taleban movement has, for the first time, targeted foreign journalists and killed one Afghan one. Being a journalist, how can we trust, or where are the boundaries that separate safety from fear concerning those who are covering the war in Afghanistan?

[Dadollah] We do not have any kind of hostility towards any journalist. However, we do target and kidnap journalists who represent the government and speak on its behalf. For instance, I listened to a statement by Rahimallah Samandar, who said that the Kabul government is legitimate and that world countries and the Afghan government do not recognize the Taleban movement, which consequently means obedience to the Karzai government only, not the Taleban. Whether the Taleban is legitimate or not, Rahimallah Samandar has no right to appoint himself judge and pass judgment on the Taleban. He is the last person to do that. His assignment is restricted to act as the spokesperson for the government, if he deems so, and to verify the casualties that we inflicted on them or those inflicted on us. This is why we target only those who represent the Americans or Karzai. We do not harm journalists.

[Zaydan] But you kidnapped an Italian journalist and exchanged him for five prisoners of the Taleban movement; at the time you killed the Afghan journalist. How do you explain releasing the Italian journalist and killing the Afghan?

[Dadollah] It would be much better if you asked Karzai that because these three journalists have connections with him, with foreigners, and with some local agents. We abducted these three journalists because they are spies for Karzai, the US, Britain, and Italy. They used to claim that they were journalists, while they are not. They are spies, not journalists, and that is why we kidnapped them. Initially, we killed Sayyid Agha, and the person who killed him was his hostage. Sayyid Agha personally interrogated his killer previously and tortured him. The other Afghan journalist, who was accompanying Agha, was also working for the government and he was a relative of the information minister. This journalist used to work for the Information Ministry but claimed he was a journalist. So your question should to Karzai as follows: "Karzai, since you consider yourself a president elected by the Afghans, why don't you care about their affairs? You express concern over the foreign hostage and exchange him for five Afghans in order to set him free but you do not care much about the Afghans." I personally consider these three journalists my enemies, whether they are foreigners or Afghans. You had better ask Karzai why released five Afghan prisoners in return for the release of the foreigner. That means he cares more about the foreigner than for Afghans. I do not care much about Afghans who are collaborating with our enemies.

[Zaydan] You are currently holding two French nationals hostage. What are your conditions for their release and why have you not announced your conditions for an exchange?

[Dadollah] We will announce our demands and any matter that is related to the release of our prisoners in return for the release of the French nationals. These two French nationals were not journalists; they were serving a foreign missionary who is seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity. They did not come over here for nothing. Some may say that they were unarmed civilians, as they view all those who support the occupation as unarmed civilians. We are convinced that any foreigner who comes to Afghanistan is an armed fighter, not a civilian.

[Zaydan] What would you tell the French people about the abduction and whether they are in good health?

[Dadollah] Of course, they are both safe and sound. Our message to the French people is the following: You have colonized several Arab countries for a long time, and you know well the result of colonization, in which you sustained heavy losses. I demand that you withdraw from Afghanistan and pull out all your forces.

[Zaydan] A few days ago, you encountered a UN vehicle and killed four Nepali guards. Is this a new escalated action by the Taleban movement against UN organizations?

[Dadollah] We certainly target all those who work for the UN, the US, and Karzai. We are attempting to target everyone that works for the UN and are determined to target all UN organizations and branches, considering them similar to US organizations.

[Zaydan] The UN envoy to Afghanistan made a statement recently in which he called for negotiations between the Afghan government and the Americans on the one side and other elements on the other, which he did not call Taleban, but meant it. How do you view the idea of negotiations, if it is offered to you?

[Dadollah] We do not deem it necessary to negotiate with foreigners. Their collaborators in Afghanistan do not have any choice. Karzai is a dummy and does not have the power to decide when to go to his house and when to return from there. What happened during the recent prisoner exchange is that the government was unable to affect any exchange without the US embassy's approval. Karzai cannot negotiate with us and we certainly do not negotiate with the Americans. We are asking every foreigner that occupies and colonizes our country to go home. We do not want to negotiate with him. If Karzai were in a position to negotiate, then we would think about it.

[Zaydan] What does the Taleban movement want?

[Dadollah] What we want is for US and foreign forces to withdraw from our country, and if power remained in Karzai's hands, we would negotiate with him at the time; otherwise we would fight him. If the foreign forces withdrew, Karzai would run away because the Americans would not simply hand power over to him. Thus, Karzai wants us to negotiate with the Americans, and we absolutely will not do so.

[Zaydan] Let us move to the topic of the spring offensive, which the Taleban movement vowed and threatened to carry out. In a previous interview, we understood from you that you were attempting to take control of a big city. What happened to the spring offensive and why it was not as strong as we were expecting?

[Dadollah] Thank God. Our attacks increased with the advent of the spring season. You might be aware of some of them, but not all. The attacks now are at their peak and you will be hearing about more and stronger attacks within the coming 15 days. At present, we are seizing control of many main roads that were open last year, but are currently closed. The Kandahar and Helmand-Urozgan roads are totally closed and the Herat-Kandahar road is semi-closed and is intermittently opened and closed. We are seizing control of some areas, which have become a cause for concern to the government and the Americans. The Americans are losing now ten times what they were losing in the past, and every time they attempt to enter an area they fail and find themselves forced to withdraw. We have actually begun keeping them worried, and you will be hearing soon about major attacks in numerous areas and provinces, God willing.

[Zaydan] An Afghan national front was formed recently comprising a number of former mojahedin leaders and other leaderships. How do you view this front?

[Dadollah] This front includes former communists, some of whom call themselves former mojahedin, and others. They were obliged to form this front. Everybody knows that during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan there were agents for the Soviets and communists, but they were not slaves like Karzai, who is a US slave. The search campaigns during the Soviet occupation were different because the Soviet forces could not search houses without permission from owners and could not also search Afghan women. The Afghan communists distanced themselves from such things, if they located a mojahed they would arrest him without confronting others.

Everyone remembers the famous story that took place in Kandahar at the time when 70 people were killed in ethnic fighting between the Pashtuns and Persians. The reason for the fighting was that a Persian male made passes at a Pashtun female - the communists were infidels but did not lack the sense of honour - and the fighting began in front of the Kandahar prison and spread to the city, as a result of which 70 people were killed. This story testifies that the Afghans, whether they are infidels or Muslims, have a sense of honour and are jealous about their women, honour, and dignity. See what the Americans did when they stormed the house of mentor Sayyaf; they took his women out. Neither Sayyaf nor his men were able to know anything about their women, what did the Americans do to them, or where did they take them to. The Americans storm the houses of senior government officials without advance notice and harass their women, causing the people to stand against Karzai, who is ready to bargain on the women of his country. The Afghan people, even those infidels among them, did not lose the sense of honour. We will unite against the Americans and Karzai, and if our honour is offended again we will confront offenders. Several individuals are standing against Karzai, and if similar violations take place or are recurred we will not keep silent at it.

[Zaydan] Clashes took place recently in the Pakistani tribes district between Uzbeks and some Pakistani tribes, as a result of which the Taleban movement called on the Uzbeks to relocate to Afghanistan. What is the story about this move and clashes?

[Dadollah] The whole world knows that Pakistan failed in the Waziristan war and that it would not repeat its military action in the future. What Pakistan is doing in that area now is sowing sedition among the people. The Pakistani propaganda used to say that the war in that district was between the Uzbeks and Waziristan's tribes, while in fact it was between the Pakistani Government and the Uzbek mojahedin. The government was able to infiltrate Taleban when some of its paid agents succeeded in being recruited by the movement. Their job was to spy on the movement. These agents were residing near the main Uzbek's positions. The Pakistani government formed groups under an Uzbek cover, which used to storm the houses of Muslims in that area and steal their possessions or kill them, claiming the next day that the Uzbeks were the perpetrators. These groups worked under the control of the [Pakistani] government and the war was between the government and the Uzbeks, at a time the government used to claim that it was between the Uzbeks and the tribes, led by Mullah Nazir, who works as an agent for the government. Additionally, those who were injured in fighting among these groups were transported by helicopters to hospitals. This is a government war, in which it hired two or three persons, paid them money, and called them Taleban. There had never been war between the tribes of Waziristan and the Uzbeks. Thank God, the tribes of Waziristan are sticking to the principles of pride and dignity, and will defend the mojahedin until the last drop of blood. These tribes are fighting on the side of the Uzbeks on all fronts and it could not be believed that they would fight against the mojahedin and Islam. This is false. We will cut off the heads of traitors who betrayed the tribes and will totally absolve these tribes of these acts.

[Zaydan] How many Uzbeks and others were killed, since the government statements mentioned that the figure ranged between 200 to 250 persons.

[Dadollah] That is a big lie by the Pakistani government as it exaggerates figures in order to satisfy the US by saying that it had killed that many Uzbeks. Our authentic sources and contacts indicated that 16 Uzbeks were martyred plus another six of the tribesmen who were fighting on the Uzbek's side. The total is 23 [as heard]; at a time 75 soldiers and army agents were killed.

[Zaydan] Moving to another topic. In recent statements, the Pakistan president threatened to withdraw from the international alliance if the alliance does not have confidence in Pakistan and its war against what is called terrorism. How do you view these statements?

[Dadollah] These few people will repent one day when the world abandons them and when they lose in the after world; when the Muslims resent them and the infidels beat and expel them. When the infidels, strong or weak, are cornered in hell, each will blame the other and the weak will ask the strong: "Why did you force us to do this." The strong will reply: "You had brains; why did you do what we ordered you to do? Why did you not think a little bit? God Almighty sent you scholars and prophets, why did you execute what we asked you to do?" These few people will repent when they are humiliated by infidels. But at present, the Muslims detest them so much, and this is the first time in history and in the history of Muslim rulers that Muslims in general are hating Parvez Musharraf to this degree. The Muslims are hating him, and in the end when the US turns its back on him, General Parvez Musharraf will say that he has abandoned and stop his war against Al-Qa'idah.

[Zaydan] Several media men and journalists wonder why the Afghan Taleban Movement has only one person; namely, leader Dadollah, to deal with the media, and why there are no others?

[Dadollah] Some are delayed for security reasons. You know that we are facing many diversified security problems here and we move from one place to another in order to serve the mojahedin and jihad. Some, including myself, do not face such problems and can appear before the media in the service of jihad and mojahedin. This is my mission. I live in the mountains and do not leave Afghanistan. If I went to another country I will not care if I fall into captivity or be martyred. Every individual is free to appear before the media and to bear its consequences.

[Zaydan] Some describe you as the Al-Zarqawi of Afghanistan, how do you describe yourself?

[Dadollah] There are hundreds of people like me in Afghanistan, thank God, who are participating in battles and confronting infidels. They preceded us in jihad. I do not consider myself like Al-Zarqawi, but I wish that every Taleban element in Afghanistan would be a mojahed that has no equal in the whole world.

[Zaydan] Let us move to the Bin-Ladin issue. Usamah Bin-Ladin has not appeared to the media for almost a year. Tell us how the Taleban movement views his absence, particularly that some reports have said he is dead. Do you have reports indicating that he is still alive?

[Dadollah] Thank God, he is alive, and we have information about him. Thank God, he devises the plans for Iraq and Afghanistan. You may remember the martyrdom-seeking operation at the Bagram base in Afghanistan], which targeted a senior US official [US Vice-President Dick Cheney]. No Afghan national can enter Bagram air base. This operation was carried out because of his blessed plans. He is the one who drew up the details of this plan and guided us through it, and it succeeded. God willing, you will listen to him delivering a speech. With the escalation of operations, he will deliver a speech on a videotape, God willing. We have information that he is alive and in constant contact with the mojahedin.

[Zaydan] Through our visit to Helmand, we realized that the people have started to view the Taleban movement as less fanatical than when it held power in Afghanistan, what measures will you be taking to prevent fanatical people in Taleban from reaching ranks of power that allow them to treat the people with harshness in the future, had you reached power?

[Dadollah] In the beginning, the Taleban Islamic emirate was a blessing, although it looked small to people; but when God Almighty deprives a human being of such a blessing, he then realizes its true meaning. In those days, people used to view small things as being great, but now, after the people have tasted the bitterness of the Americans and Western powers, they feel proud of and rush to help the Taleban elements, because they believe that by doing so they become closer to God. They compete to do so. This is because the people are suffering from the problems which the West has brought to them and are realizing now that the Taleban emirate was better. Our trend is the same. We applied the Islamic Shari'a in the past and we are still adhering to this blessed Shari'a, it is all we have, there is nothing else. In the past we used to cut off the hand of the thief or the head of the killer, and we will keep adhering to these rules now because they are constants.

[Zaydan] What is the nature of your ties with the Iraqi resistance, how do you view its performance?

[Dadollah] Thank God, we have contacts with the Iraqi mojahedin and we consider them our brothers because our objective is the same. We contact them through the Internet sometimes, and thank God, the signs of their victory over the enemy are taken as a good omen. The US and Britain are screaming for help and the entire world is calling for the withdrawal of forces from Iraq. The peoples of Iraq and Britain are demanding a timetable for withdrawal. We want to convey to the mojahedin that the infidels are attempting to exploit every opportunity and are after many schemes. They want to sow sedition between the Sunnis and Shi'i or between jihadist movements. My message to the mojahedin is that the differences, which the infidels are trying to spread among you and inside your movements should be avoided, because the infidels' schemes have become open to the world and their morals are down, awaiting their defeat. The only trick they still have is sowing differences among the mojahedin and implanting spies into their ranks. They are all mojahedin, but the infidels are attempting to split them and spread differences among jihadist movements, in a manner by which one movement accuses the other of something and vice versa, or one member of a certain movement is accused of something to reflect badly on the entire movement. The mojahedin should verify the correctness of any statement issued by any movement against another in order to find out whether the statement was made by an individual or a leader of that movement. This is my message to all the mojahedin, and this is the only trick the infidels have. Had they failed in fulfilling their objectives the infidels would be exposed. Victory will be ours, God willing. [Zaydan] Dear viewers, at the end of this interview, we would like to thank leader Dadollah, the Afghan Taleban movement military official.

How Pakistan settled an al-Qaeda score

By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Asia Times Online / May 1, 2007

KARACHI - Internal squabbling between the Taliban and al-Qaeda and exploited by Pakistan forced many al-Qaeda leaders to move from the tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan to Iraq in search of new headquarters from which to operate.

Senior al-Qaeda member Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, 46, was one of these men - and he paid dearly for the move after being fingered by Pakistan. On Friday, the Pentagon announced that Hadi had been arrested late last year and handed over to the US Central

Intelligence Agency. Describing Hadi as "one of al-Qaeda's highest-ranking and experienced senior operatives", the Pentagon said he had been sent to the US Defense Department-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Pentagon did not say exactly where and when Hadi was arrested, but it is believed to have been in Iraq. Asia Times Online contacts confirm that he was exposed by Pakistani intelligence after it received news of Hadi's movements from Taliban sources close to the Pakistani establishment. Hadi, as a hardcore takfiri, [1] was seen as an enemy of Pakistan.

Although the date of Hadi's departure from the Waziristan tribal areas is not known, it was about the time that several powerful Taliban field commanders, including Jalaluddin Haqqani, Mullah Dadullah and the Taliban leader himself, Mullah Omar, affirmed their support for the Pakistani establishment as a "Muslim state with a Muslim army". They stressed that instead of investing energy to destabilize Pakistan, the focus should be on the jihad in Afghanistan against foreign troops.

The one-legged Taliban commander of southwestern Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, had been sent to Waziristan with a letter from Mullah Omar early last year and he played a pivotal role in stopping the internecine strife between the Pakistani Taliban/al-Qaeda and the Pakistani armed forces. In the months after this, Mullah Dadullah and the Pakistani establishment agreed to a deal to support the Taliban in Afghanistan (see Pakistan makes a deal with the Taliban, Asia Times Online, March 1).

This re-emergence of a soft corner in the Taliban's leadership for the Pakistani establishment was the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda's effective operations in Pakistan, and al-Qaeda leaders felt that it was time to move from Waziristan.

Al-Qaeda adherents were not prepared to serve as foot soldiers under the command of the Taliban. They saw themselves as warriors with a much broader strategy aimed at bringing down US military might. (For a report on Al-Qaeda's move from Waziristan, see Ready to take on the world, ATol, March 2.)

Pakistan's alliance in the US-led "war on terror" turned a whole generation of Arab fighters into foes. More than 700 Arab fighters were arrested by the Pakistani government after September 11, 2001, and handed over to US custody.

This prompted a segment of al-Qaeda to take revenge against the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf. A special cell was established in Waziristan, Jundullah (entirely different from the Iranian Jundullah), to carry out attacks, which it did on several occasions, against Musharraf. This placed Jundullah and takfiris like Hadi clearly in the Pakistani establishment's crosshairs.

In 2003, al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri spoke for the first time against the Pakistani establishment, calling Musharraf a "traitor" and urging Pakistanis to stand up against his rule. (For more on Hadi and his role in a conspiracy to attack Musharraf, see Pakistan and the al-Qaeda curse, ATol, October 1, 2003, and Al-Qaeda cell caught in US squeeze, June 15, 2004.)

By late 2003, the Pakistani military operation against al-Qaeda in South Waziristan had left the group somewhat battered, with its training camps destroyed, but at the same time this created lot of anger against the Pakistani forces. This helped al-Qaeda spread its takfiri and anti-establishment ideology among local tribes and led to the formation of the Pakistan Taliban, which by last year had formed the Islamic State of North Waziristan and the Islamic state of South Waziristan.

In this context, Mullah Dadullah's arrival in South Waziristan as Mullah Omar's envoy early last year was aimed at building bridges between the Pakistani establishment and these renegade Pakistani Taliban who were becoming imbibed with takfiri ideology and who were bloodthirsty for the Pakistani armed forces. Suicide attacks were rampant on troops in the tribal areas, as well as in Pakistani cities.

Dadullah's role paved the way for the Pakistani Taliban to sit with the Pakistani establishment to negotiate a ceasefire, and Pakistani Taliban commanders such as Haji Omar and Haji Nazir talked to Islamabad. Soon, a peace deal was agreed for the two Waziristans, but on the sole condition that all militants who were at loggerheads with the Pakistani establishment would take a back seat, leaving the lead to political faces (see The knife at Pakistan's throat, ATol, September 2, 2006).

Pakistan's priorities were crystal-clear: it did not want anti-establishment elements thriving under the garb of takfiri ideology, although it had no problem with the Taliban regrouping and carrying out actions in Afghanistan.

Leaders such as Haji Omar, Baitullah Mehsud, Sadiq Noor - all close to al-Qaeda - and other prominent commanders were put in the background and Haji Nazir became the most powerful Taliban commander in South Waziristan. Nazir, who was little known only a year ago, was the one who ordered the recent massacre of takfiri and anti-Pakistani establishment Uzbeks in South Waziristan.

These developments, including the infiltration by the Pakistani establishment of the rank and file of the Taliban, rattled al-Qaeda, which realized that its ideology was no longer acceptable in Waziristan and Afghanistan, and that the only way it could stay in Afghanistan was if it agreed to fight under Taliban commanders.

This was intolerable for operators such as Hadi, and dozens of them began the move to Iraq from Waziristan and Afghanistan. And Islamabad swooped on the chance when its intelligence learned of Hadi's movements and passed on the information to the US, thereby closing a powerful chapter of al-Qaeda's operations.

1. Takfiris hold that Muslims who hold anything less than an extreme view of Islam that is intolerant of non-Muslims are themselves no better than kafirs - infidels.

Bomb plot's roots in Pakistan

- By Richard Smith Home affairs correspondent, BBC News

Five men have been convicted of plotting a bomb attack in Britain. Most of the gang were Britons of Pakistani origin and many of them had spent time in training camps in Pakistan.

Out in the Pakistani countryside, at the far end of a dirt track, stands a solitary white house. It has a passing resemblance to a Mediterranean holiday villa and, like some of them, it is not quite finished.

This is the house Waheed Mahmood was building for his family in Gujar Khan. To his mother-in-law Pooj Khala, Mahmood is loving and generous, his so-called links with terror nothing but lies.

"We will pray to God. He is innocent, and God will help him. With the blessing of God he will be found innocent. He's not that kind of man," she told me. But he appears to have been hiding a big secret. Waheed Mahmood and his friends were conspiring to cause an explosion in the UK.

The hills of northern Pakistan might seem a long way from Mahmood's home in the suburban sprawl of Crawley, West Sussex. But it was here he and his friends learned techniques they could use to make a bomb.

Omar Khyam was another plotter with big links to Pakistan. While his parents grew up in Crawley, members of Omar's wider family are in the Pakistani military and its intelligence service, the ISI.

His family, like many Pakistanis, cared deeply about the disputed territory of Kashmir. That passion was passed on to young Omar. It was during a family holiday in 1999 that Khyam first saw an outlet for his anger.

At the hill resort of Murree he met some men from a group called Al-Badr Mujahideen. They said he was welcome to do training in Kashmir but should grow a beard and dress more like a Muslim.

About six months later Khyam was again flying into Pakistan after telling his mother he was going on a college trip. The confidence he had shown in Murree was growing. He hailed a taxi and said: "Take me to the mujahideen office".

This time he got the training, at a camp in Muzaffarabad. "They taught me everything I needed for guerrilla warfare in Kashmir, AK47s, pistols, sniper rifles, reconnaissance," said Khyam at his trial.

Khyam also claimed the ISI were the ones giving the training. From 2001 the city of Lahore was home to Mohammed Babar, an American Muslim with extremist views.

Babar would ultimately turn on Khyam and his friends and become the chief witness against them. But three years earlier he, Khyam and several others discussed how they could become more involved in the jihad.

By then Khyam was working for al-Qaeda's third in command. He had already attended two training camps. But he and Babar began planning another where his friends could learn to kill.

Their camp was near Malakand in the North West Frontier Province. It is here the Pakistani army regularly battles with extremists. Osama bin Laden is rumoured to have hidden near here on the Afghan border since 9/11.

Local journalist Ikram Hoti told me: "The mountains are safe havens. They are easy places to train. They are easy places to have ammunition and a supply of men. It's a kind of culture. You can feel easy there, you can breathe easy while talking about your plan for future terror."

We will never know what really happened at that camp. Jawad Akbar said "it felt like boys with their toys" as he shot at a can.

But Babar painted a more impressive picture during his testimony at the Old Bailey: "They were learning how to shoot an AK47, how to shoot light machine guns, rocket launchers and experiment with making a bomb."

Whoever you believe, it seems there was something in the air. Akbar said his love for the jihad started there. This was team building with a terrible aim.

I asked the Pakistani government for an interview to discuss what they were doing to stop others following in the Crawley team's footsteps. Despite numerous requests I was told no-one was available for comment.

For Khyam and the other young men from Britain, this corner of Pakistan was much more than an exotic venue for a firing range. It was a chance to see the struggle first hand and meet fellow Muslims who hated the West.

From here the men headed back to the UK to begin plotting their attack. But it may be telling that when Khyam was finally arrested, he was planning yet another visit to his spiritual home.

MPs reject motion to end Afghan mission

Apr 30, 2007 07 Canadian Press

OTTAWA – The House of Commons has overwhelmingly rejected an NDP motion calling for an immediate end to Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan. Conservative, Liberal and Bloc Quebecois MPs joined forces Monday to defeat the motion by a vote of 225 to 28.

New Democrats were alone in calling for an immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from the counter-insurgency campaign in Kandahar province.

They want Canada to redouble its commitment to development and aid instead.

Last week, the NDP formed an unlikely alliance with the Tories to shoot down a Liberal attempt to ensure that the combat mission does not drag on beyond February 2009.

That's the end of Canada's current military commitment in Afghanistan. The New Democrats said they couldn't support the motion because they want an immediate end to the combat mission.

Hillier thought he was doing the 'right thing'

TENILLE BONOGUORE - Globe and Mail Update May 2, 2007

The Chief of Defence Staff says he believed he was doing the right thing by signing a detainee transfer agreement that did not allow Canadians to verify the safe treatment of prisoners once they were put in Afghan custody.

Speaking from Kandahar, Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier said the agreement would have been made regardless of his involvement back in 2005. “I signed it, in the presence of the ambassador who would have signed it had I not been here,” Gen. Hillier said.

“Truly at the time we thought that was the right thing to do, that it was the right approach. Obviously we'll reassess that as allegations come out that perhaps that was not sufficient.”

Gen. Hillier said he was made aware that prisoners handed over by Canadians were abused while in Afghan custody shortly before the revelations were made public in The Globe and Mail last week.

He said he was not aware of earlier reports that there was abuse of detainees. “The allegations are there. An investigation will decide if there's substance to them,” he said.

The question of who knew what, when, has turned into a bitter political squabble, dominating political debate in Ottawa and generating calls for Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor to resign and for the transfer of prisoners to cease until their safety is assured.

Senior officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs say the department was “not consulted” when Canada struck its detainee-transfer deal in 2005. Last week, a defence official said foreign affairs staff were too busy “going to their cocktail parties and eating little shrimps” to help the embattled Mr. O'Connor.

The deal has become mired in controversy because it includes no follow-up role for Canada on the fate of detainees in Afghanistan's notoriously brutal prison system.

The Globe investigation, based on 30 face-to-face interviews with men recently captured in Kandahar province, uncovered a range of horrific stories and a clear pattern of abuse by Afghan authorities who work closely with Canadian troops. Some of the allegations were made by four men, whose names were published, and who were originally detained by Canadian forces.

None of the abuse was inflicted by Canadians, and most Afghans captured — even Taliban sympathizers — praised the Canadian soldiers for their politeness, their gentle handling of captives and conditions in their detention facility.

Parliament fails to meet - thanks to absenteeism

Pajhwok 04/30/2007 By Makia Monir - KABUL - Both houses of parliament failed to reconvene on Sunday, a day after a national holiday, due to absence of a large number of legislators.

Saturday was a closed official holiday on account of Mujahideen's victory that saw the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. But the MPs did not bother showing up for Sunday's session either.

Abdul Sattar Khawasi, the first secretary to the lower house, expressed disappointment over the absence of lawmakers. He urged the MPs to attend the session for the wellbeing of the electorate.

Each member was responsible to the voters, the secretary observed, warning the absentee legislators might have their salaries slashed and ran the risk of being exposed to the public through the media.

Although absenteeism is no new issue in parliament, names of those staying away have twice been leaked to the media.

Malali Joya, Qayyum Karzai, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani and many others remained absent on Sunday. They have been in attendance only for a few days since the new parliamentary year began.

Noorzai Atmar, one of the few MPs present today, remarked: "It's very unfortunate that public representatives are not taking the parliament session seriously."

She suggested names of the absentees should be released through the media to the voters concerned and their salaries should be cut so as to make them realise their responsibilities.

Look-alike Arrested Twice; Close But No Bin Laden

ABC News April 30, 2007 - Christopher Isham and Gretchen Peters Report:

An Afghan tribesman with an uncanny resemblance to Osama bin Laden has now been arrested twice, both times following reported sightings and massive manhunts for the al Qaeda leader, Pakistani intelligence officials tell ABC News.

Over six feet tall and with the same angular nose as bin Laden, Sher Akbar comes from an Afghan village, Bagh e Metal, in an area where U.S. officials believe bin Laden has been hiding.

Bin Laden is believed to be six feet four inches to six feet six inches tall and weigh 160 pounds. He is 50 years old.

The most recent arrest of bin Laden's near-twin came after Afghani officials reported informants saw bin Laden moving across the border into Pakistan, near the town of Chitral.

"We arrested this man as a result of this investigation, but it's not who you might think it is," a senior Pakistani intelligence official told ABC News, providing a photograph to make his point.

[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.]