In this bulletin:

• Afghans Demonstrate Against Pakistan
• Afghanistan Protests Pakistan's 'Flagrant Interference'
• ISAF Blames Pakistan For Serviceman's Death
• Afghanistan Says Clashes To Affect Ties With Pakistan
• Afghan-Pakistan clashes strain ties
• Musharraf says Kabul should talk to dissidents
• Karzai regrets terrorist attack in NWFP
• 3 Taliban released for Italian journalist killed with top commander, Afghan intelligence says
• Ex-captives 'rejoined fight' in Afghanistan
• Rahimi slams attack on jirga as a cowardly act
• Protestors torch Pakistani flag in Paktia
• Locals turn on Taliban as civilians die in strikes
• U.S. transfers responsibility of training Afghan army to Canadians
• NATO sees importance of secret Afghan info
• Rift over NATO's Afghan tactics spills into open
• Rising, uprising Pakistan
• Afghan Refugees - Pawns in Standoff with West
• Afghanistan joins initiative to combat nuke terror
• Call for rethink in aid policy
• China eyes Afghan market
• New justice support centre completed in Jalalabad
• 169 schools in Badakhshan to reopen: Minister

Afghans Demonstrate Against Pakistan

Wednesday May 16, 2007 - By AMIR SHAH Associated Press Writer - KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - About 1,000 Afghans shouting ``Death to Pakistan'' demonstrated in front of Pakistan's embassy in Kabul Wednesday, blaming the neighboring country for some of the bloodiest border clashes in years.

Many of the demonstrators were from the eastern province of Paktia, where the fighting between Afghan and Pakistani troops killed at least 13 Afghan border guards and civilians so far this week.

The demonstrators carried banners and shouted ``Death to the ISI! Death to Musharraf,'' a reference to Pakistan's intelligence agency and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Afghan police wearing riot gear guarded the embassy in downtown Kabul. There were no reports of violence. ``We've run out of patience with Pakistan,'' said Sultan Uddin, 50, from the Jaji district of Paktia. ``We're requesting President (Hamid) Karzai to give us weapons and remove the border police. We know how to deal with Pakistan.''

Tensions have been running high between Afghanistan and Pakistan over controlling their 1,510-mile border, and stemming the flow of Taliban and al-Qaida militants who stage attacks inside Afghanistan.

Afghan officials said this week's border clashes began when Pakistani soldiers entered Afghan territory. Pakistan said Afghan soldiers started the clashes by firing on border posts.

On Monday, unidentified militants killed a U.S. soldier and a Pakistani soldier after a meeting in a Pakistani border region between officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the NATO peacekeeping force. The meeting was meant to cool tensions over the border fighting.

Elsewhere, militants attacked U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan border police in southern Afghanistan, killing one coalition soldier, officials said Wednesday. The soldier's nationality was not released.

The combined patrol was returning from providing medical assistance to more than 600 Afghans in Kandahar province when it was attacked Tuesday about 25 miles southwest of Qalat in Zabul province, a coalition statement said.

The death brings the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 50, including at least 25 American soldiers.

An official with Afghanistan's intelligence service, meanwhile, said three other Taliban commanders were killed alongside the militants' top field commander, Mullah Dadullah, in an operation in Helmand province over the weekend. One of them was Dadullah's brother, identified as Mullah Shah Mansoor, the official said.

The three other commanders killed were among five Taliban released from Afghan prisons in March in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. NATO has said Dadullah was killed after he moved into Afghanistan from his ``sanctuary'' - a reference to Pakistan.

In the southern city of Kandahar, health ministry director Qayum Pukhla said six civilians were wounded after soldiers from NATO's International Security Assistance Force fired on them while driving through the city in a convoy.

Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid confirmed residents were wounded by troops but said he did not know how many. NATO's ISAF said it was looking into the report and had no immediate comment.

In Helmand province, coalition and Afghan soldiers exchanged gunfire with suspected Taliban militants in the Kajaki district. An airstrike destroyed the militants' position, the coalition said. Two fighters were detained.

``A precision strike was conducted when it was obvious the militants were well-armed and had no intentions of surrendering,'' coalition spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher said.

Coalition and Afghan forces also detained what they called a suspected trainer of suicide bombers at a compound in Khost province late Tuesday.

In Helmand province, the Taliban attacked an Afghan army convoy in Sangin district Tuesday night, said Izatullah Khan, the district chief. Two soldiers were wounded, and three Taliban were killed in the ensuing battle.

Afghanistan Protests Pakistan's 'Flagrant Interference'

Daily Afghan Report - May 15, 2007 Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

The Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan was summoned to the Afghan Foreign Ministry on May 14 to receive Afghanistan's "strong protest" over "provocative" actions by Pakistan, a statement posted on the Afghan Foreign Ministry's website said. Additionally, Afghanistan has sent an "official complaint" letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding what it described as "flagrant interference and irresponsible actions by the Pakistani" military.

Kabul claims that Pakistani forces entered Afghan territory and destroyed border posts, erecting their own posts in their place, Pajhwak Afghan News reported on May 14.

According to the Afghan authorities, 13 Afghans, including six border policemen, have been killed in two days of clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces.

Defense Ministry spokesman Azimi said that in fighting on May 14, Afghan forces killed eight Pakistani soldiers and captured five. But Pakistani military spokesman Arshad said that no clashes occurred between Pakistani and Afghan forces on May 14, state-run PTV reported.

The clashes have been taking place along a stretch of the Afghan-Pakistani border where Pakistan is erecting fences to stop militants and smugglers from moving illegally between the two countries.

Kabul vehemently rejects the installation of fences or other barriers, because such measures would presumably lend legitimacy to a boundary that it is not properly demarcated and that Afghanistan does not officially recognize (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," August 7, 2003 and January 15, 2007).

ISAF Blames Pakistan For Serviceman's Death

Daily Afghan Report - May 15, 2007 Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

A soldier attached to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed and four other ISAF troops were wounded near Teri Mangal in Pakistan on May 14, a statement on ISAF's website reported. A Pakistani soldier was also killed and three were injured in the attack.

The soldiers were ambushed "by unknown assailants" after leaving a border meeting between ISAF, Afghan, and Pakistani representatives. While ISAF did not identify the soldiers' nationality, Pakistan armed forces spokesman Major General Wahid Arshad said the dead and injured ISAF troops were from the United States, Karachi-based Geo News TV reported on May 14. Arshad blamed unidentified "miscreants" for the attack.

The meeting in Pakistan was organized in response to armed clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces in the border region which began on May 13. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Zaher Azimi said in Kabul on May 14 that "a Pakistani officer opened fire" on the joint Afghan-NATO delegation, killing two soldiers and wounding three, Kabul-based Tolo Television reported the same day.

Azimi said one of the injured soldiers was Afghan, while the other four were "coalition soldiers," Tolo Television reported. According to Azimi, Afghan and U.S. forces returned fire, killing a "large number" of Pakistanis. However, Pakistani military spokesman Arshad rejected the Afghan Defense Ministry's claim that a Pakistani officer shot and killed U.S. soldiers, calling the charge totally incorrect, Geo reported on May 14. AT

Afghanistan Says Clashes To Affect Ties With Pakistan

Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty KABUL, May 15, 2007 (RFE/RL)

Afghanistan says recent clashes between Afghan and Pakistani troops will have a negative impact on bilateral relations. The comment by President Hamid Karzai's spokesman (Karim Rahimi) follows two days of deadly clashes at

the Afghan-Pakistan border. Kabul says the violence erupted Sunday (May 13) after Pakistani forces encroached inside Afghan territory. Islamabad accuses the Afghan army of sparking the battle with "unprovoked" fire at several of its border posts.

Afghan-Pakistan clashes strain ties

The Associated Press - 05/15/2007 KABUL --  Recent border fighting between Afghan and Pakistani soldiers that killed at least 13 people violated agreements the two neighbors signed to combat terrorism, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said Tuesday. The fighting in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday and Monday killed six Afghan border police and seven Afghan children. Militants killed one U.S. and one Pakistani soldier after a meeting Monday that was held in a Pakistani frontier town to try to calm tensions.

Mohammad Karim Rahimi, Karzai's spokesman, said the border fighting was a "serious" issue. "We have used all diplomatic channels to avoid such incidents because such incidents will affect relations," Rahimi said.

Rahimi said the clashes went against agreements Afghanistan and Pakistan have to fight terrorism together. Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry on Monday sent a letter of protest to the United Nations, saying the clashes went against "all international norms." The letter requested that Pakistan not repeat such incidents.

Afghan officials say Pakistani soldiers entered Afghan territory, sparking the battles. Pakistan said Afghan soldiers sparked the clashes by firing on border posts.

The attack in Pakistan outside a meeting at Teri Mangal on Monday?near a section of the border crossed by Taliban insurgents?produced a rare American casualty inside Pakistan, which is a U.S. ally in the fight against terrorist groups.

Additionally, two American and four Pakistani soldiers were reported wounded, along with two civilians working for the NATO force in Afghanistan whose nationalities were not released. A U.S. military official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was under investigation said U.S. soldiers had gotten into a truck and were preparing to leave when a Pakistani militiaman walked up and opened fire. The U.S. returned fire, killing the gunman, the official said.

An Afghan army brigade commander, Gen. Akrem, who attended the meeting, told The Associated Press that gunmen fired on the participants?including approximately 15 Americans?as they left a school building after the talks.

Pakistani Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad blamed the attack on unidentified "miscreants"?a word often used by Pakistan's government to describe Islamic militants, who are active in the country's lawless border region.

Military officials in Pakistan and from NATO's International Security Assistance Force on Tuesday said they had no new information about the incident.

Tensions have been running high between Afghanistan and Pakistan over controlling their 1,510-mile border and stemming the flow of Taliban and al-Qaida militants who stage attacks inside Afghanistan.

Afghan leaders accuse the Pakistani government of harboring and helping supporters of the Taliban regime that was ousted by a U.S.-led offensive in late 2001. Pakistan denies that.

Musharraf says Kabul should talk to dissidents

ISLAMABAD, May 15 - (Pajhwok Afghan News) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has suggested military action against insurgents should go on in tandem with a meaningful political initiative to bring lasting peace and stability to Afghanistan.

In order to resolve the crisis in an effective manner, the Pakistani leader said, a realistic counter-insurgency strategy based on the ground situation had to be devised. "We have to be absolutely clear about ground realities in the existing environment," he stressed.

"If the ground realities are distorted and we are not clear or have a conflict of opinion, the strategy evolved would be flawed and the tactics of implementation unsuccessful," the general told a meeting of foreign ministers from member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) here on Tuesday.

While reiterating Islamabads stout support to the Bonn Process, he underlined the imperative of long-term international commitment to the reconstruction of Afghanistan, where democracy was being introduced after decades of strife.

"The global community has to persevere and help in bringing peace to that country. We believe a multi-pronged approach is essential," remarked the president, who acknowledged military operations were needed to curb terrorism. But efforts at a political solution and reconstruction were concurrently required to pave the ground for durable peace, he explained.

With regard to the jirga concept, he observed, the process that had the seeds of success ought to be followed with sincerity of intent so as to realise the twin objectives of peace and stability.

He went on to describe a recent summit with President Hamid Karzai in Turkeys capital of Ankara as highly fruitful in removing misconceptions between the two sides.

Grateful to the Turkish president and prime minister for arranging the tension-defusing talks, Musharraf pledged his country would sincerely follow the joint declaration issued at the end of the trilateral meeting.

For the sake of peace in the Middle East, the general called for an end to "outside interference" in Iraq. He also proposed deployment of a Muslim peacekeeping force - acceptable to all stakeholders - to Iraq under the aegis of the United Nations.

Karzai regrets terrorist attack in NWFP

Pajhwok Report - KABUL, May 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News) - President Hamid Karzai has regretted the Tuesday bomb blast in Peshawar and offered condolences to families of the victims.

Thirty people, most of them Afghan refugees, were killed as a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded hotel in Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), this afternoon.

In his message of condolence, the president said his countrymen, who were suffering bombings and terrorist attacks, understand the pain and grief of the people of Afghanistan.

This terrorist attack, that targeted innocent people, once again underlined the need for greater cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan in fighting terrorism and the elements trying to destabilise the region, said Karzai.

He extended his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims and to the people of Pakistan on behalf of his government and the people of Afghanistan. The president prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

3 Taliban released for Italian journalist killed with top commander, Afghan intelligence says

The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 16, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan: Three Taliban who had been released from prison in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist were killed alongside the insurgency's top field commander over the weekend, the Afghan intelligence service said Wednesday.

Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged militant who orchestrated a rash of Taliban suicide attacks and beheadings, died of gunshot wounds in a U.S.-led operation over the weekend in the southern province of Helmand.

An official with Afghanistan's intelligence service identified the three others as Mullah Shah Mansoor — Dadullah's brother — Mullah Hamdullah and Commander Ghafar. They had been freed in March in a prisoner swap for the release of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

The prisoner swap was widely criticized in Afghanistan in part because two Afghans kidnapped with Mastrogiacomo were not freed as part of that deal and were executed by the Taliban.

U.S.-led coalition forces, with assistance from NATO and Afghan forces, were able to track Dadullah to the village of Sarwan using "modern technology," said the official, reading an intelligence service statement. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the agency's policy.

He said the intelligence service buried Dadullah's body in a secret location because the bodies of many of Dadullah's victims were never recovered. The Taliban, meanwhile, demanded that the government hand his body over to relatives and pressed aid groups for support in their request.

"We ask the Red Cross and human rights groups to ask the Afghan government to give his body to Dadullah's relatives because whenever we have the dead body of Afghan forces, we hand over the body to the Afghan government," Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location. "If they won't give the dead body to the relatives, the consequences will be very bad," Ahmadi said.

In Islamabad, Ronald Neumann, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, predicted the Taliban leadership would "regenerate" after Dadullah's death, but said the recent demise of several top figures in the insurgency could dissuade others from joining the fight.

Neumann, who stepped down as ambassador last month, mentioned the killing of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani — in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan in December — and the arrest of former Taliban defense minister, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund.

Neumann's was the first official confirmation of reports from Pakistani intelligence that Akhund was nabbed in the Pakistani city of Quetta in February. He gave no further details, including who was holding Akhund, the highest-ranking Taliban militant to be captured alive since the fall of the Islamist regime in 2001.

"For those Taliban leaders who have been out of the fight and are looking to get back into the fight, the fact that Osmani has been killed, Dadullah has been killed and Obaidullah has been arrested might say something to them about their life insurance policies," said Neumann, visiting Pakistan for talks on Afghanistan.

In Kabul, Lt. Col. Maria Carl, spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the Taliban has lost most of its top commanders over the last year and NATO anticipates the Taliban's operational coherence and morale will suffer as a result.

"This will likely be a serious disruption to the extremists' efforts to terrorize the Afghan people. But we also know that it does not mean the end of the insurgency by any means," Carl said.

She said Dadullah's killing would not have been possible without the help of Afghan civilians and security forces, whose intelligence helped track him down, but gave no details on the nature of the intelligence.

NATO has said that Dadullah was killed after he moved into Afghanistan from his "sanctuary" — a reference to Pakistan, where many Taliban are thought to hide. Another ISAF spokesman, Maj. John Thomas, declined to say if Pakistan provided any intelligence that helped in the operation.

Security officials in Pakistan have hinted that a bombing Tuesday that killed 25 people in a restaurant in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar may have been revenge for Dadullah's killing. They said a relative of Dadullah was arrested in the restaurant a few days earlier.

Ex-captives 'rejoined fight' in Afghanistan

16/05/2007 - 07:23:26 – Ireland Online

Former Guantanamo detainees have organised a jailbreak in Afghanistan, kidnapped Chinese engineers and taken leadership positions with the Taliban, the US military says.

The former detainees were released from the prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba between 2002-2004 by claiming to be innocent or low-level figures, the military said in a statement, responding to questions about ex-prisoners who had allegedly resumed fighting.

The Pentagon gave brief descriptions of six detainees, including two it said were killed in fighting in Afghanistan, which the US invaded to oust the Taliban regime following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.

The statement suggested that the six were released from Guantanamo by mistake.
“These former detainees successfully lied to US officials, sometimes for over three years,” said Navy Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

Last week, a Pentagon official, Joseph Benkert, testified to Congress that about 30 former detainees had rejoined the fight against the US.

Other US officials have made similar claims about prisoners at Guantanamo, where the military now holds about 380 men mostly on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

However, Guantanamo critics say it is part of a US campaign to justify the detention of hundreds of men without charges at the remote base.

Candace Gorman, a Chicago-based lawyer for two Guantanamo detainees, noted that three of the names on the Pentagon list did not appear on official rosters of detainees. She said she believed they were never actually held at the prison in south-east Cuba.

“To say detainees are back on the battlefield has become one of their justifications for indefinite detention,” Gorman said. “They have to justify the cruelty of what they’re doing.”

The military said two of the men were killed in Afghanistan: Mohammed Yusif Yaqub, a commander of Taliban operations in southern Afghanistan who died in May 2004 while fighting US forces, and Maulavi Abdul Ghaffar, a Taliban leader killed in a September 2004 raid by Afghan security forces. A third man, Mohammed Ismail, was captured during an attack on US forces near Kandahar.

The military also said Abdullah Mahsud, released in March 2004, was discovered after his release to have links to the Taliban and al-Qaida. He allegedly directed the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in Pakistan in October 2004.

The other two on the list were Abdul Rahman Noor, who was released from Guantanamo in July 2003 and “has since participated in fighting against US forces near Kandahar”, and Mohammed Nayim Farouq, who “renewed his association with Taliban and al Qaida members” after his July 2003 release.

Rahimi slams attack on jirga as a cowardly act

KABUL, May 15 - (Pajhwok Afghan News) - Terming the Monday's attack on a joint NATO-Afghan delegation a cowardly act, presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi said it was contrary to the tradition of jirgas in this part of the world.

Two US soldiers with NATO were killed and as many wounded when a joint delegation, returning from Parachinar after attending a jirga, was attacked by 'unknown' assailants on the Pakistani soil.

Paktia Governor Rehmatullah Rahmat, who was accompanied the delegation, and Defence Ministry's spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi, alleged fire was opened by a Pakistani soldier, who was later killed in retaliatory fire by the NATO personnel.

However, Pakistani as well as NATO officials say the delegation came under fire from a unknown assailant as they were returning to their helicopter.

Rahimi told journalists the act was against the principles of international norms and good neighbourhood. Investigations were underway to expose the real motive behind the incident and those responsible for it, he added.

More than a dozen people were reported dead and several others wounded when clash erupted between Afghan and Pakistani troops in the border area of Paktia province on Sunday.

The fighting continued till Monday morning with both sides accusing each other of triggering the clash.

Lauding the bravery of his country's troops during the over 24-hour battle, Rahimi said they had the support and well-wishes of the people. The Afghan troops did not retaliated with heavy weapons to avoid civilian casualties on the other side of the border, added the spokesman.

Regarding the fresh border clash, Rahimi said it was a serious problem which might affect relations between the two countries. He said the area was calm now and efforts were on to resolve the problem through diplomatic means.

Rahimi informed the border clash was also discussed at the cabinet meeting and the Foreign Affairs Ministry had summoned the Pakistani ambassador to formally lodge a complaint with him.

At the same time, he added, the foreign minister had also written to the UN General Secretary about the situation arising out of the dispute. Rahimi also spoke on the unseating of foreign minister as a result of no-trust vote against him in the Wolesi Jirga. However, he refrained from going into details.

Protestors torch Pakistani flag in Paktia

GARDEZ, May 15 - (Pajhwok Afghan News) - Hundreds of people staged anti-Pakistan demonstrations in the provincial capitals and several districts of the southeastern Paktia and Paktika provinces on Tuesday.

In some cities, protestors also set fire to Pakistani flag while accusing armed forces of that country for allegedly attacking Aryub Zazai district of Paktia and killing and injuring innocent civilians.

In Gardez, capital of Paktia province, university students, elders and large number of common citizens staged a protest rally which passed through various bazaars and roads.

The participants were carrying banners and placards and chanting slogans against the government of Pakistan and president of that country Pervez Musharraf.

The rally converted into a public meeting at the Shaheedan Chowk (martyrs' square) where they set fire to the Pakistani flag.

Sayed Muhammad Mal, a participant of the protest demo, told Pajhwok Afghan News Pakistan's attack on the border area was a brazen violation of the international laws and principles.

He alleged Pakistani military slammed artillery shells and missiles at civilian population killing and injuring a number of innocent citizens.

Samuillah, another protestor, asked the government to provide them necessary means to defend their homeland. An eight-point declaration released at the conclusion of the protest meeting asked Pakistan to pay reparations for the damage caused to civilian population.

Dubbing the clash as meddling in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, the declaration asked the United Nations to call explanation from the Pakistani government.

Security chief at the Paktia police headquarters Brig. Gen. Ghulam Dastagir Rustamyar told Pajhwok participants of the protest demo dispersed peacefully.

He said similar protest demonstrations were also held in Janikhel and Samkani districts of the province. Anti-Pakistan protest rallies and demonstrations were also reported from Argun, Zerok, Sarobi and Nakai districts of the neighbouring Paktika province.

During the protest demos, elders announced their support for the government and vowed to defend the homeland with their blood, said Governor Dr Akram Khpalwak.

Clash between the Pakistani and Afghan troops erupted on Sunday and exchange of fire continued till Monday morning.

Several people, including policemen, soldiers and civilians, were killed and injured in the more than 24-hour fighting in Aryub Zazai district of Paktia province.

Locals turn on Taliban as civilians die in strikes

By Philip Smucker - THE WASHINGTON TIMES May 16, 2007 GIRISHK, Afghanistan

The British commander's apology for a bombing raid in which more than 20 civilians were killed was depressingly familiar; heartfelt as it was, there have been too many such incidents.

But when Brig. John Lorimer went on to accuse the Taliban of hiding among civilians and putting them at risk with "cowardly action against your people," an interesting thing happened: Dozens of Afghan men nodded in agreement.

The exchange, suggesting progress in the vital battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan public, took place late last week at a jirga, an assembly, with several hundred men, many of them with Taliban sympathies.

Brig. Lorimer, who commands British forces in Helmand, Afghanistan's most troubled province, set the tone for the outdoor meeting with his sincere statement of remorse for a bombing raid two days earlier in which, by Afghan count, 21 civilians were killed.

It was at least the third incident in recent weeks in which Afghan civilians were accidentally killed by NATO allies and coalition troops. U.S. officers have apologized for the losses, but often belatedly and only after the Afghan government has lashed out at NATO with accusations of negligence and overkill.

"I promise you there will be an end to these civilian casualties," said Helmand's governor, Assadullah Wafa, who also attended the jirga. "The NATO troops won't repeat these actions."

But there is rising evidence that the Afghan public is as angry with the Taliban for such deaths as they are with NATO.

Days after the May 8 air strike, Afghan village leaders killed a Taliban commander and two bodyguards near the site of the U.S. bombing raid because he refused to move his operations out of their neighborhood, according to both local Afghans and Western officials.

British diplomats said the elder who ordered the killing accused the Taliban of bringing U.S. bombs against local villages by ambushing U.S. troops from people's homes. The elder himself was killed in retaliation by Taliban fighters, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

There have been a few other signs of progress, said Lt. Col. Charlie Mayo, the British NATO spokesman in Helmand. "In some areas, we've seen the elders -- having spotted the Taliban laying mines -- approach them and ask them to remove these mines."

Not all Afghans are blaming the Taliban for civilian deaths: The nation's elected senate has called for a halt to NATO offensives.

But some of the men at last week's jirga, who were provided with new turbans and serenaded by a girl's choir, said they want NATO to take even tougher action on the ground.

"It has been a long time coming, but I'm finally able to return to my home village after the Taliban has been in control of my home for the last two years," said Booraga Barak, who earns about $60 a month as a teacher at a school for young girls in Girishk city.

"I'm worried, though, that the NATO forces aren't going to fight hard enough. We want all the areas controlled by the Taliban cleared out sooner and not later."

For now, the British are emphasizing the public relations side of the struggle, hoping the contrast between Taliban-run and government-run areas will persuade people to support the government.

"The Taliban need to be careful whom they are targeting," Col. Mayo said. "When you are seeing civilians killed across the board, that is bound to backfire. We hope the population rejects their brutality."

While U.S. and allied forces fight daily small battles against the Taliban, soldier-diplomats such as Brig. Lorimer work to win over "Tier 2" Taliban -- mostly impoverished farmers with no ideological interest in the movement -- with words and promises of development.

"One measure of success is the ability and will of the Afghan people to deny the enemy, the Taliban, room to maneuver," said David Slinn, Britain's senior regional coordinator in Helmand.

U.S. transfers responsibility of training Afghan army to Canadians

Canadian Press - 05/15/2007 KANDAHAR - Canada has taken over the helm of training Afghan National Army soldiers operating in Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces.

The transfer from U.S. to Canadian hands of the mentoring for the 1st Brigade, 205 Corps of the ANA took place today in a ceremony at Kandahar Airfield. The program is designed to help ANA troops get their skills up to speed to provide security for their own country before coalition forces pull out of Afghanistan.

Lt.-Col. Wayne Eyre, who takes over the authority for the training from the Americans, says it's a vital pillar of Canada's exit strategy for Afghanistan.

Eyre says Afghan commanders understand the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

Maj. Peter Sullivan, the program's deputy commander, says soldiers are constantly striving to bring Canadian values to the Afghan operation, particularly in the area of human rights.

NATO sees importance of secret Afghan info

Intelligence crucial in fight against Taliban David Pugliese - The Ottawa Citizen Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 KABUL, Afghanistan

NATO would like to make more use of intelligence gathered by Afghanistan's secret police since such information can be fundamental in saving soldiers' lives and combating the insurgency here, says the Canadian general in charge of the alliance's intelligence section.

Canadian Brig.-Gen. Jim Ferron says he is confident that Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security or NDS is following proper procedures when it interrogates insurgent detainees.

The general also pointed out that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is interested in further developing its relationship with the NDS because it is a key Afghan government agency and the intelligence it is providing is highly credible in the battle against insurgents.

"We'd like to make (NDS intelligence) a significant part because the best information is the information that comes from the Afghans themselves," said Brig.-Gen. Ferron, ISAF's chief intelligence officer. "They have the cultural nuances that we may miss. So I think it's safe to say we would like to make it more of a part of our daily intelligence."

But human rights critics have raised concerns about the NDS, whose predecessor was the dreaded KhAD, the secret police created by the Soviets to hunt down anti-Communist forces. KhAD officials earned a brutal reputation for themselves and torture was a common method in dealing with detainees. Current NDS officers interviewed by the Citizen acknowledged they have worked as intelligence officers and interrogators for various Afghan regimes in their long careers.

The Afghan government maintains that the situation has changed under the NDS, although some of its officers were members of KhAD. A number of Afghan detainees interviewed by journalists allege they were tortured at the NDS facility in Kandahar.

The detainee issue has been front and centre as opposition MPs use it to criticize what they say is the Conservative government's mishandling of the Afghanistan mission. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, however, has criticized opposition MPs for even raising the issue, suggesting they are being unpatriotic.

Brig.-Gen. Ferron said he works a lot with the NDS and the agency has demonstrated that is has a credible intelligence capability. Asked about the NDS's historical links to KhAD, the general responded: "I would not want to make a judgment on how past experiences with the NDS are affecting (the) current (situation).

"But certainly in my discussions with the NDS they are aware of the international communities' concerns and at the senior levels at the NDS have assured me that they take every step and every consideration necessary to ensure their detainees are treated humanely."

Brig.-Gen. Ferron said information is key in battling insurgents and saving lives. One method is to gather information through technological means, such as intercepting communications or using drones to transmit images of enemy movements.

"The other way is through interviewing or interrogating, which is not a bad word if it's done properly and professionally," he explained. "The detainees are detained for a reason. They have information we need."

Brig-Gen. Ferron said much of the information a detainee provides is not truthful and is aimed at deceiving military forces. That's why it is up to intelligence analysts to sift through what is truth and what is deception. "But if we don't have the information we can't even start on that process," he added.

He pointed out that Canadian troops closely follow the Geneva Convention in handling detainees. The Canadian detention centre at the base in Kandahar, where prisoners are briefly held, is professionally run, the officer noted.

Detainees are held in Kandahar for 96 hours and undergo basic questioning. Soldiers will ask for their name, where they are from and why they joined the insurgency. Information about the prisoners is recorded and their photographs are taken. After that they are turned over to the NDS.

Canada is in the process of working out an arrangement with the Afghan government so Canadian officials can be reassured that detainees turned over to the NDS are properly treated.

Brig.-Gen. Ferron said he understands the public might have some discomfort with such terms as "interrogation" but that is a normal process to gather information.

"To interrogate people in a professional, humane manner in accordance with the Geneva Convention (is) to get the information we need to produce usable intelligence, which should save lives and prevent insurgent actions," he said.

Asked why the military has not developed joint interrogation teams made up of NDS and Canadian Forces officers, the general said that is a policy choice he was not involved in.

"But if you're asking me is that possible, would that be something that could be examined in the future, then I would say certainly," he explained. "Any interaction with the Afghan government, the Afghan security forces whether it's in a co-operative role or a mentoring role has got to be a good thing. But right now we're not in (that) position."

Rift over NATO's Afghan tactics spills into open

Reuters - 05/15/2007 LONDON - A US commander's repudiation of a ceasefire in Afghanistan that was backed by his British predecessor reveals rifts among the main Western allies over how to defeat Taliban insurgents and win hearts and minds. London and Washington, with the most troops on the front line, have alternated command of NATO's ISAF force since it was expanded and thrust into heavy fighting last year.

They have occasionally disagreed in private over tactics. But with concern that mounting civilian casualties are alienating Afghans, those disagreements seeped into the open.

"The higher echelons of ISAF appear to be in some disarray over the forward direction of strategy in southern Afghanistan," said British defence writer Tim Ripley.

The aggressive US approach "doesn't seem to be in tune with the philosophy of the British Army," he said. "On several occasions, senior British commanders have expressed a desire to try to modify the allegiances of potential insurgents, rather than try to kill them."

Publicly, the allies still say any differences are over tactics, not the overall strategy of combating Taliban guerrillas while training Afghan forces and supporting the government of President Hamid Karzai.

But underlying the argument over tactics runs a constant philosophical debate over how much force to use and whether too much violence hurts the goal of winning local support.

In an interview last week, the American NATO commander in Kabul, General Dan McNeill, brusquely repudiated a ceasefire that his British predecessor, David Richards, had backed in territory patrolled by British troops.

"In its best case it might have been a tactical error. In it's worst case it might have been a strategic blunder", McNeill said of the ceasefire in Helmand province's Musa Qala district.

He added that he could not give his full views on the British-backed truce because that "might be construed as criticising one of our allies, and I wouldn't do that".

The ceasefire collapsed when Taliban guerrillas seized the area in February, the week that Richards handed over command to McNeill. But the British military has defended its decision to withdraw troops from the district under the truce.

"The long term solution has to be political and local. This is why we welcomed the Musa Qala agreement," a spokesman said. "It enabled UK forces to pull out, and brought months of peace and the chance to build up a local police force."

Privately, British commanders have acknowledged that the ceasefire reached on territory they controlled may have given a propaganda boost to insurgents in neighbouring provinces. But officials also blame Washington for undermining the deal, by persuading Karzai to sack the local governor who agreed it.

Narcotics eradication - Officials from the two allies have disagreed in private about other issues, notably the extent to which authorities should use force to eradicate opium crops.

British commanders say they are trying to persuade locals that they are not there to destroy their livelihoods, an effort that has been undermined by the appearance of an Afghan paramilitary narcotic eradication force led by US contractors.

Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said tactical disagreements were inevitable when an alliance as big as NATO goes to war so far from its North Atlantic home.

"You are fighting a war that NATO was never designed to fight in a place it never planned to fight, and you are beginning to see all kinds of differences emerge," he said.

With few troops on difficult terrain, NATO has had to rely heavily on air support, which has led in recent weeks to scores of civilian casualties. On Monday, German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung called for a review of NATO tactics.

"We have to make sure in future that operations do not take place in this way," Jung said. "We don't want the local population against us."

Cordesman said disagreements between Britain and the United States, which have both committed large forces to dangerous parts of Afghanistan, are different from criticism levelled by allies like Germany, who have kept their troops out of battle.

"I do feel that the countries that try to find rationales for staying on the sidelines -- that's one thing. The differences forced on countries which are actually in the fight are quite another," he said.

Rising, uprising Pakistan

Open Democracy 05/15/2007 - The ultimate source of the political crisis threatening Pervez Musharraf's rule is the failed state of Pakistan itself, says Maruf Khwaja.

It would be tempting to explain away the latest turn in the continuing Pakistani saga of survival by saying that the cauldron which had been simmering on relatively low heat for a number of years has merely come to the boil. Iraq has so inured us to mass death by bombs and bullets that a mere forty-one dead (at the time of writing) in the course of a violent weekend in Karachi barely turns a head. It is true that unresolved matters cannot long remain so - and that something big has soon got to give. But such simplifications do not do credit to Pakistan, probably the most complex geopolitical entity of our time. As the blood on the streets dries, some of the complexity needs to be untangled.

For there are many cauldrons on the boil in the troubled "land of the pure," as a brief list indicates:

- The judiciary crisis, sparked by President Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the chief justice of the supreme court, Iftikhar Mohammed Choudhry, on 9 March 2007 - whose fallout includes the killings among rival groups on the streets of Karachi on 12-13 May

- The older degh (pot) of the Taliban/al-Qaida insurgency, whose overflow into Pakistani society threatens to match the scale of those in Iraq and Afghanistan (only Pakistan is five times bigger in terms of the religious-political dynamite it contains)

- Tension on the Afghan border itself with erstwhile "allies" in the "war on terror" arrayed against each other; skirmishes between the neighboring armies over a revived border dispute have taken a dozen lives

- The Baluchistan uprising continues to send out smoke signals from blown-up pipelines

- Domestic political ferment caused both by continuing denial of a proper political process and of underhand government support and encouragement to both Islamic and secular hardliners to further harass and intimidate the opposition (so that if the scheduled October 2007 elections are ever held, they will be won by the military's stooges in at least the two larger provinces). This combination of crises supports the prediction of many political analysts that 2007 is indeed proving to be the make-or-break year for General Pervez Musharraf. But if the leader's margin of maneuver is diminishing by the day, the reasons lie as much in the deep structures of Pakistani politics as in these diverse political difficulties. Musharraf might in principle be able to turn down the heat of one, several or even all these cauldrons. What he cannot do is address their source, which is - ultimately - the problem of Pakistan itself.

Behind the image A new Pakistani satellite channel has joined the Tower of Babel in the skies over Europe, beaming government propaganda in the wake of the national logo across which flash the euphoric words "Rising Pakistan". For people like myself (a twice-over refugee, who has known only a "falling" Pakistan), the slogan looks like a feeble attempt to dispel painful images of a fragmenting country. In the vanguard of the project is the savior-strongman Musharraf himself, whose projection of himself as a figure of stability and moderation to a sceptical world contrasts with his policy blend of cowardice and brutality in the domestic arena.

Musharraf can beat an abject retreat before the rampaging female jihadis of Jamia Hafsa demanding "instant Islam" ("They are our mothers and sisters in those burqas. Do you want me to kill them?"). Yet he has no compunction in sanctioning the disappearance without trace of innocent people, the firing on or torturing to death of Baluchi and Sindhi ethno-nationalists, or sacking the highest judge in the land for daring to ask where the disappeared folk have gone and why.

The contradictions between Musharraf's image and reality are, however, only the surface of Pakistan's dilemma. The conflicts raging across different levels of its society, more intense and hate-fuelled than ever, make the slogan "uprising Pakistan" more appropriate than "rising Pakistan" to describe the country's current condition. A state better known for its leaders' false promises, empty rhetoric, penchant for easy money and ready subservience to army takeovers has earned the description "failed." After sixty years of parlous, lurching existence it is its army and its possession of the atomic bomb (an Islamic one at that) that defines Pakistan's credentials to modern nationhood more than its achievement of any progressive social or political goals. As if that were not enough, it now has the Taliban on its side.

Pakistan's confrontations are deep and widespread: they pit government against (ineffectual) opposition, army against civil society, mullahs against laity, fundamentalists against radicals, progressives against conservatives, lawyers against a captive judiciary, ethno-nationalists against ultra-nationalists - while the Taliban-al-Qaida alliance is waging war on the world at large from its Pakistani redoubts.

Most lethally of all, they pit the Sunni among Pakistan's 160 million people against its 30 million Shi'a. Murders and assassinations involving these groups continue. People are asking: how long before Iraq comes to Pakistan?

In the west the Baluchi insurrection is gathering momentum. Baluch nationalists have recently discovered the suicide-bomb, and the gas-fields and pipelines there remain vulnerable. The northern quarter of the country is no longer in government hands: the Taliban-al-Qaida alliance rules most of the North West Frontier Province, while pro-Taliban Waziris seem to have got the better of their Uzbek guest-fighters in Waziristan, as the pact with the Pakistan army to let the Waziris be seems to be back in place.

Meanwhile, the western borders with Afghanistan remain porous - as they have to be, for smuggling is the livelihood of most inhabitants of the "tribal belt," and to facilitate that open borders are a prerequisite. The tribals don't like Musharraf's attempt to concretize the Durand line (the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan established by the British in 1893) any more than they care for Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. What Pakistani soldiers build overnight is therefore dismantled the next morning by Afghan askaris.

This continuing little drama hides a harsher reality. Karzai's endless complaints about lack of Pakistani cooperation in stopping Taliban infiltration is a cover for the revival of an old Afghan imperial ambition. Karzai - like his predecessors since before the Soviet occupation in 1979 - doesn't want the border fixed as Durand did; he wants it moved to the Baluchi coast. In the guise of wanting to re-unite Pashtun tribes split by the divison, he is looking for a "greater Afghanistan." With Musharraf's unwitting help he might yet get it.

A disappearing polity The unresolved standoff with the chief justice and the escalation of violence in Karachi means that Musharraf is badly cornered. His characteristic response is to manipulate, even to the extent of being prepared to bargain in secret with Pakistan's permanent prime-minister-in-waiting, Benazir Bhutto. But rumours of a "done deal" involving the dropping of the corruption charges that deter Bhutto from returning to Pakistan were almost fatal to the ambitious ex-prime minister; Musharraf is poison to any sensible politician looking for a future in government.

What remains of the constitution is in tatters. So is the judiciary's credibility as a bulwark against injustice, the lawyers' valiant struggle on behalf of Choudhry notwithstanding. Pakistan's is a chronic litigant culture. People are no fools and lawyers no angels. But the disenfranchised political parties can do little more than hang onto their black coat-tails as the latter protest in the streets.

Elsewhere and everywhere, the lunatic fringe of Islam challenges the government. Its outrages multiply. A women federal minister is shot dead by a mullah for not wearing a headscarf (the third woman he shot in two years); the women of an Islamic school next to the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) are allowed to riot with impunity before the government is shamed into "action" (while imploring the culprits for a dialogue, then effectively capitulating to their demands).

In all this, there is one slender reed of optimism. It lies in the tenuous freedoms acquired by the new Pakistani media, manifested in a jungle of satellite television channels which have opened a completely new window on Pakistan. For the first time in their history Pakistanis are able to see themselves flaws and all, while ordinary people are expressing themselves with unprecedented candor. As hourly debates on "current affairs" push even pop-music program into second place, everything is being scrutinized and commented upon - albeit with a desperate keenness that suggests that people have little faith it will last long. For the first time, the demand for "more Islam" is being publicly resisted. The battle for Pakistan's soul and its future as a nation is being fought over in its rampant media. Politics, the state, and its doctrinal fetishes have failed Pakistanis - but their voices are not yet silenced.

Afghan Refugees - Pawns in Standoff with West

Inter Press Service - 05/15/2007 By Kimia Sanati TEHRAN -  As the Iranian regime firmly implements a plan to repatriate the bulk of an estimated one million Afghan refugees living illegally on its soil, it is apparent that the move is aimed at embarrassing the West over its failures in the region.

Clues to regime's thinking became clear in statements on the issue given to presspersons by Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohmmadi at the inauguration of the ?Asian Centre to Decrease Risk of Tremor in Iran' and cited by the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on May 9.

Pour-Mohammadi said after the United States and NATO troops entered Afghanistan, promising to establish security and remove poverty, the number of Afghan refugees entering Iran has only increased. "I have visited Afghans' camps here and I noticed that most of them who have been arrested recently and returned to their country entered Iran in two or three past years,'' IRNA quoted him as saying.

"Why should a group of people (the U.S. and NATO) come from the other side of the world to Afghanistan and Iranians pay the compensation,'' Pour-Mohammadi reasoned. "During the internal war in Afghanistan a large group of Afghans stayed in Iran for a long period, but there is no reason we tolerate a large number of refugees who have entered Iran during the past 2 or 3 years,'' he was quoted by IRNA as saying.

The minister clearly wanted the world's attention to be drawn to the refugee problem. Iran is currently being threatened with a third round of international sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme. Since December, the United Nations has imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment -- which Tehran insists is meant for power generation rather than making nuclear bombs.

"World community must be sensitive to this (Afghan refugees) issue, many abnormalities have been imposed on us: production of narcotics has increased three to four times, insecurity, terror and trouble-making are among the things being imposed on us,'' IRNA quoted Pour-Mohammadi as saying.

On May 12, Pour-Mohammadi's deputy Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr announced that 85,000 unregistered Afghan refugees had been sent back across the border in the space of three weeks and that the arrest-and-deport drive would continue.

Zolghadr, mindful of legitimate Afghan concerns, said the plan did not apply to refugees residing in Iran legally and otherwise abiding by the law. He also said that Iran was prepared to provide jobs for Afghans who have legal residence status.

Since the Taliban was ousted in 2001 Iran has almost annually issued warnings to Afghan refugees to return to their homeland. Many have gone back with the help of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees but insecurity and lack of jobs, medical treatment and proper education have forced many of them to come back illegally.

According to a U.N. report only about five percent of the 915,000 registered Afghan refugees in Iran live in camps and the majority are dispersed in urban areas throughout the country. With an estimated one million more unregistered Afghans, Iran harbours the largest number of refugees in the world after Pakistan -- where refugees are confined to camps.

The plan to expel illegal Afghan residents is presently being carried out in nine Iranian provinces where more than 85 percent of illegal Afghan residents live and work. During the first three months of the plan 500,000 Afghans are to be expelled, Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) reported.

For the first time all expatriated Afghans are to be be finger-printed to help prevent their return to Iran. Afghans arrested by the Iranian police will be held in camps for 24 to 48 hours before being expelled from Iran, ILNA said.

Reports have surfaced of abuse by Iranian police. Several Afghans expelled from Iran were hospitalised upon their return to Afghanistan for alleged beatings and Afghan officials confirmed the death of one refugee in hospital, the reports said.

The sudden influx of expatriates has caused great concern in Afghanistan. In a telephone talk on May 9, Afghanistan's parliament speaker Mohammad Yunus Qanuni asked his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Ali Haddad Adel to help prevent expulsion of Afghans, the Iranian Students News Agency reported.

On May 11, the country's refugees minister Ustad Akbar Akbar lost his job over the problem of forced return of refugees. A day later, Afghanistan's parliament voted to sack foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta for failing to convince Iranians to stop forcing refugees to go home.

"Iranian officials say only Afghans illegally residing and working in Iran are expatriated but when they storm workshops and other places where Afghan labourers work, they don't even ask for a refugee status registration card or let us take our wages from our employers. They just bus everyone to temporary camps to expel them," Najibullah, an Afghan day labourer told IPS.

"I fled my native village near Mazar-e-Sharif fearing the Taliban when I was a teenager. I came to Iran ill and on the verge of dying from starvation. Here we are always treated as inferiors. The majority of us are illiterate and we have to take the worst jobs for low wages but at least we are better off than back home," Najibullah said.

"I went back to Mazar two years ago but had to return to Iran after a few months. Things are still pretty bad there and people live very hard lives. There aren't jobs or proper medical facilities. I'll hide away for some time now. Maybe this wave of expulsion will be over like in the past years," he said.

Soon after the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, the UNHCR had started a trilateral plan with the governments of Iran and Afghanistan to repatriate Afghan refugees.

In February, Iran agreed with the government of Afghanistan and the UNHCR to extend a voluntary repatriation programme until the end of the current Iranian year (Mar. 20, 2008). The agreement applies only to registered refugees.

The ever-rising unemployment rate in Iran is one reason that has prompted the Iranian government to expel Afghans who are seen to be taking away job opportunities from Iranians.

"Government officials claim Afghans are taking away a million and a half job opportunities from Iranians. They are hardworking and happy with smaller wages, so employers prefer them. If they are sent back, there will be a huge shortage of manual labor in construction, industries and agriculture," an observer in Tehran told IPS.

"Replacing Afghan workers by Iranians can help the Ahmadinejad administration reduce the nagging problem of unemployment but can affect the already ailing economy adversely. Even Tehran municipality relies heavily on an Afghan work force. In spite of the mayor's orders not to employ them, the municipality is still one of the largest employers of Afghans," he added.

"Iran has over all these years carried the burden of refugees. Afghans who work here send their money home and do not pay taxes. The refugees benefit from state food and energy subsidies as well as medical and educational facilities. It is a sin to send them back to misery and it is hard to keep them here. So the only way out is that the rest of the world should take more responsibility and help Iran to deal with the problem of the refugees until things are really back to normal in Afghanistan and the refugees can return home," he said.

Afghanistan joins initiative to combat nuke terror

WASHINGTON, May 15 - (Pajhwok Afghan News) - The governments of Afghanistan, Israel and Sri Lanka have announced their decisions to become partners of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (Global Initiative).

At latest meeting of the Global Initiative in Ankara, Turkey, on February 12-13, 2007, partner nations emphasised the importance of increasing partnership and participation by nations committed to combating nuclear terrorism, a spokesman for the State Department said on Monday.

In a statement, it added, partner nations would meet again in Kazakhstan in June 2007 to review the progress of Global Initiative activities, to address gaps in implementation and to welcome new members.

Call for rethink in aid policy

BBC - 05/15/2007 By Kevin Anderson - Bob Geldof has challenged the world to make poverty history, but some four billion people in the world still live on less than $1 a day. The organisers behind Live 8 called for the cancellation of debt, more targeted aid and the removal of trade barriers that limit African economies.

But leading minds in development at the interdisciplinary TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Oxford have called for a radical rethink of development. They argue that aid as it exists now actually retards broad-based development.

It is not that money is not wanted. Ashraf Ghani served as Afghanistan's finance minister and helped secure $27.5B in aid for his country. But he argues that $1 in aid rarely means that $1 delivered to the people who need it the most.

Mr Ghani and Clare Lockhart with the Overseas Development Institute in London are currently writing a book looking at how to foster development in failed and fragile states like Afghanistan.

Failed states are a problem. They cannot provide the environment to help their population climb out of poverty. And as been seen in recent years, failed states breed instability and insecurity.

But the current system of aid does not work and isn't helping these states and their people. They argue that time lines for aid projects are too short to accomplish much.

Most aid programmes are tied to the annual budget cycles of donor countries, but to be effective, they argue programmes need to be designed with time frames of five years or more.

The programmes would have an end point in sight, but the aid should be focused on creating functioning, capable states. Once that is accomplished, the states would be self-sufficient and aid no longer necessary.

And technical assistance - sending western experts to developing countries - has not proved a panacea in creating stable states that provide for their people.

Mr Ghani advocates intellectual exchanges between fledgling states and developed countries and also a programme of distance education where students could remain in their home countries and still benefit from education at universities abroad.

This major investment in the human capital of these countries would ensure a new generation of capable leaders and managers, Mr Ghani said.

Aid can also distort local economies, Ms Lockhart says, pointing to countries where aid agencies pay doctors more to drive trucks than they can make practicing medicine. And even when aid reaches these countries, bureaucratic costs limit its impact and effectiveness. Ms Lockhart points to a project meant to deliver roofing timbers to the central highlands of Afghanistan.

Villagers described how the agency in Geneva meant to oversee the project took 20% of the $30m for administrative costs, which subcontracted to an non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Washington that took another 20%, which in turn subcontracted to an Afghan NGO that took another 20%. And then they paid money to a trucking company in Iran to haul the timber.

Once the timber arrived, it was found to be of no use as roofing timber to the villagers. It was too heavy for the mud brick walls of their homes so the villagers chopped the wood up and used it as firewood.

They have argued that a better model is to deliver block grants to villagers who receive the money only if they hold local elections and post how the money will be used in a public place in the village.

Mr Ghani definitely follows the old charge of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. When asked by conference organiser Chris Anderson what scared him most when considering the future of Afghanistan, he responded: "You," although it was obvious he meant the comment much more broadly. But he said: "What scares me most is your lack of engagement."

However, Mr Ghani clearly has a different kind of engagement in mind than the system of aid that has existed for the last 60 years.

China eyes Afghan market

PRESS TV, Iran - 05/15/2007 - While most investors view Afghanistan as a war-torn land in need of aid, China is eyeing its economic potentials for major business contracts. "Around 1,000 businessmen from China are currently in the country (and) not just in Kabul," a Chinese diplomat was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

"Our policy is clear. We believe that a stable, developed Afghanistan is in the interests of China," the diplomat, whose name was not revealed, said.

Afghanistan has vast potential for copper mining, a resource that may transform Afghan economy, but the country has a long way to go yet, especially in the south where violence prevails. For China, nothing is impossible, even in a land as insecure as Afghanistan.

Turkey is the largest single investor and accounts for over a fifth of all registered Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The United States is second with 17 percent of investment, followed by China and the UAE at less than 10 percent and Pakistan and Iran at five percent.

Market opportunities are largely driven by Afghanistan's need to completely renovate its infrastructure.

Some of the opportunities for Iranian and international investors are architectural, construction, and engineering services; computer hardware, software and peripherals (to include Dari language capability); telecommunication services and equipment; aircraft parts and equipment, as well as oil and gas field machinery.

New justice support centre completed in Jalalabad

NEW YORK, May 15 - (Pajhwok Afghan News) - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has completed a new justice support centre in Jalalabad, capital of the eastern Nangarhar province.

The facility is aimed at aiding the prosecution of drug-traffickers by reinforcing the ability of Afghanistans legal system, the UNODC said on Monday of the initiative that builds on the opening of similar centres set up elsewhere in the country.

Seeking to provide a one-stop-shop for Afghan law-enforcement officials and the judiciary, the centre would give them a safe environment to learn, work research and conduct criminal trials.

Aleem Siddique, spokesperson for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), assured the justice support centres would play a vital role in strengthening the country's judicial system and would eventually help bring to book some of the biggest drug traffickers.

He hoped the centres would go a long way towards ending impunity and preventing the scourge of narcotics from undermining Afghanistans progress.

Separately, the World Food Programme (WFP) distributed provisions to 4,000 people in support of a food-for-work programme in Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar provinces.

Nearly 35,000 students benefited from school feeding programmes in Nuristan, Kunar and Nangarhar, where over 800 tuberculosis patients are also recipients.

The WFP plans to provide over 520,000 tonnes of food to more than 5.4 million needy Afghans through the end of 2008, via emergency relief and regular distributions.

169 schools in Badakhshan to reopen: Minister

FAIZABAD, May 15 - (Pajhwok Afghan News) - Education Minister Muhammad Hanif Atmar has promised that 169 schools in the northern Badakhshan province, closed in the wake of the firing of 2,800 teachers, would be reopened soon.

At a meeting with provincial authorities here, the minister said the schools hit by teachers sackings would shortly restart functioning after three months of closure.

The teachers in Darwazha, Shahre Buzurg and Khulum districts were fired on the expiry of their fixed-term contracts, forcing the ministry to shut the schools. The closure prompted affected students to stage a string of demonstrations.

Atmar pledged the teachers retrenched would be given their outstanding salaries amounting to 80 million afghanis, though his ministry had earlier expressed its inability to pay any educators not on its payroll.

He also announced the establishment of a laboratory, a teacher training centre and separate dormitories for boy and girl students in the provincial capital.

More than 50 percent of Badakhshan schools are working in the open air even - without tents, according to Education Director Muhammad Rahim Hesar Mahal.

But Atmar vowed the provision of tents within two months to all Badakhshan schools, which would get proper buildings over the next five years.

[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.]