In this bulletin:

• Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan
• More than 20 militants killed in Afghanistan. ABC News Online
• Coalition Forces Kill Three Rebels in Afghanistan
• WFP condemns attacks on food aid trucks in Afghanistan
• Aid For Afghanistan
• UN aid lorries increasingly under attack in Afghanistan
• U.N. should lead Afghanistan peace effort: Britain
• Harper's visit to Afghanistan major boost for Cdn troops, Hillier
• PM trying to rewrite the Afghan narrative
• Visit's not just for our benefit
• NATO concerned about civilian deaths in Afghanistan
• Bush Greets NATO Leader At Texas Ranch Bush On Afghanistan
• Egyptian claims to be new Al-Qaeda head in Afghanistan
• Taliban leader says West must leave Afghanistan
• Al Qaeda Commander in Afghanistan Offers Prisoner Swap With U.S, UK in Audiotape
• Jazeera airs tape of new Qaeda leader in Afghanistan
• Okla. guardsmen return from Afghanistan
• Violence escalates in Afghanistan
• Germans Oppose Mission in Afghanistan
• Secretive work that not all survive
• Support for MP evicted for donkey insult
• Vendetta creates a village of widows
• G8 wants Iran's help in fight against Afghan opium
• Afghans Divided on Regional Integration

Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan

TheStar.com May 25, 2007 Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A Canadian soldier was killed today when an improvised explosive device detonated in Afghanistan's volatile Zhari district.

One other soldier has suffered non-life-threatening injuries and an Aghan interpreter has also been wounded.

The dead soldier, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, is the 55th Canadian serviceman to die in Afghanistan.

The Canadian forces are taking part in Operation Hoover, being billed as the largest and most ambitious anti-Taliban offensive in more than six weeks.

Portuguese and Afghan troops, backed by British air power, are also part of the operation.

More than 20 militants killed in Afghanistan. ABC News Online

Last Update: Friday, May 25, 2007. 6:41am (AEST)

More than 20 militants killed in Afghanistan

Officials say more than 20 militants, including seven foreign Al Qaeda insurgents, have been killed in new clashes across Afghanistan.

The Interior Ministry says most of the rebels were killed on Wednesday by Afghan and foreign forces in southern and eastern parts of the country, which see the worst of the violence.

It says 13 were killed in a battle in the southern province of Helmand.

The ministry says seven of the dead were foreign nationals, believed to be from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.

Wednesday's fighting lasted seven hours.

On the same day, five more Taliban were killed in separate gun fights in the province's Sangin district, the ministry said.

Sangin was brought under Government control early last month after being in the hands of rebels.

The US-led coalition says it was involved in the fighting, which erupted after about 25 fighters attacked coalition forces with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, three insurgents were killed when a bomb they were planting on a road exploded in neighbouring Kandahar, the Interior Ministry said. Two others were injured.

Afghan officials say at least 11 policemen have been killed in two separate roadside bomb attacks in the country's south.

One of the blasts killed six officers and their district chief while they were travelling through the south-eastern province of Paktika.

A few hours later four more policeman were killed in a similar attack in Kandahar. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

NATO says two children were killed and five other Afghans were wounded in a rocket attack in Zabul province.

There has been a spike in Taliban attacks over the past days, with two suicide bombings at the weekend killing 19 people, including three German soldiers.

Coalition Forces Kill Three Rebels in Afghanistan

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

KABUL, May 25, 2007 -- U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say they have killed three rebels in the southern Helmand Province.

In a separate development, a suspected Taliban militant was captured in Helmand during a joint operation by the coalition and Afghan forces early today. There were no civilian casualties in the operations, according to the coalition forces. Mass protests have taken place in Afghanistan recently over civilian deaths resulting from foreign forces' operations.

WFP condemns attacks on food aid trucks in Afghanistan

25 May 2007 13:28:00 GMT Source: WFP

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

Location : Kabul:The United Nations World Food Programme today condemned a series of armed attacks and looting of WFP food trucks, mainly in the south and west of Afghanistan and said it is working with the authorities to step up security measures. The attacks have resulted in the loss of more than 500 tonnes of food aid valued at US$ 350,000.

The most recent attack was on Wednesday, the 20th such incident in the last 12 months involving trucks carrying food to several provinces including Zabul, Kandahar and Nimroz in the south, Farah and Herat in the west and Ghazni and Paktya in the southeast.
The greatest concern is over the increasing incidence of such attacks, with eight taking place since the beginning of April.

The costliest attacks have taken place along the main road from the border with Pakistan at Spin Boldak, through Kandahar to Herat and adjoining provinces. The long and exposed desert stretches in Farah province have been especially risky.

This year, more than one-third of all the food WFP plans to distribute in the country must pass along the southern and western stretches of this road.

“Attacks and lootings are delaying shipments and increasing the cost of delivering food aid to the west and southwest of the country, including to Afghans recently deported from Iran,” said Rick Corsino, WFP Representative in Afghanistan.

“Those carrying out the attacks should be held accountable, if not by law, then at least by those communities for whom they are depriving food. Whatever their motives, they are contributing to the already considerable hardship of the poorest Afghans who need assistance more than ever,” Corsino added

Two of the attacks, in October and April, resulted in the death of a member of the truck crew. Transporters are now more and more reluctant to carry food on this route until they receive assurances of better security.

While the Afghan government has expressed its willingness to improve security, the long, sparsely populated stretches of road make this hard to carry out.

Nonetheless, WFP continues working with authorities in the riskiest provinces and districts to strengthen security measures.

Food recipient communities are also being more actively engaged to secure food shipments, even to those areas largely inaccessible to humanitarian workers.

Aid For Afghanistan

25 May 2007 Afghanistan’s Finance Minister Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady says his country has made “tremendous progress,” thanks in large part to the United States. “I emphasize the U.S. because more than fifty percent of our aid comes from the United States,” he said.

Since 2001, the United States has provided over fifteen-and-a-half billion dollars in security and reconstruction assistance. Mr. Ahady says aid provided by the U.S. and other countries has helped transform Afghanistan from a “failed state” ruled by Taleban extremists into an emerging democracy.

Abandoning authoritarian controls and instituting market-based reforms has improved Afghanistan’s economy. Mr. Ahady says “the government used to provide telecommunications services, now. . . .it is private companies that offer services.” Afghanistan, he said, “has begun privatization of state-owned enterprises” and has “one of the most liberal trade regimes” in the region. The inflation rate was only four percent in 2006.

Afghanistan has almost six-million students in school and over one-hundred-eighty-thousand public school teachers, more than ever before. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Afghanistan’s transition has made the difference:

“If you look at Afghanistan, a place in which only eight percent of the population had access to health care five years ago and now eighty percent has access to health care, that’s a remarkable story. . . . Roads are being built, the economy is coming alive again.”

Ms. Rice says helping Afghanistan to rebuild and defeat Taleban insurgents is a challenge:

“Sometimes there’s disappointment that we haven’t been able to deliver more quickly on things like services. . . . It takes time.”

“The Afghan people need to know,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, that they “are going to have an American friend for a very, very long time.”

UN aid lorries increasingly under attack in Afghanistan

Posted on : 2007-05-25 | Author : DPA News Category : World

Geneva- Armed bandits had stolen food worth 350,000 US dollars in 20 raids in 12 months on aid lorries crossing southern Afghanistan, the UN World Food Programme, WFP, said Friday. It said it was becoming increasingly concerned as the number of attacks were on the rise, threatening the main supply route to the south-east and south-west of the country. There had been eight since April alone.

The lorries were targeted on the "riskiest and most exposed of routes" used to take two thirds of all food aid to some 3.5 million vulnerable people, said a WFP spokeswoman.

It crosses large expanses of desert through Kandahar to Farah from the border crossing point with Pakistan at Spin Buldak.

Drivers were becoming increasingly reluctant to undertake the journey. Efforts so far by the government in Kabul had failed to improve security.

U.N. should lead Afghanistan peace effort: Britain

By Patrick Worsnip Thu May 24, 5:06 PM ET

Britain lobbied U.N. officials on Thursday with a proposal for the world body to lead a comprehensive "campaign plan" for peace in Afghanistan, where NATO-led troops are struggling against Taliban insurgents.

Defense Secretary Des Browne said the United Nations was best placed to coordinate a peace-building effort he said had until now largely fallen on military commanders.

About 40,000 foreign troops are in Afghanistan, whose Taliban rulers were overthrown by U.S.-backed forces in 2001. Some 32,000 belong to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), in which Britain plays a prominent role.

But Browne told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York that the conflict could not be solved by military means alone and challenges from stamping out narcotics to policing and establishing the rule of law needed a strategic approach.

"An overarching campaign plan is required to develop all these disparate strands together. It has to be a strategic plan, not just a military plan," he said.

"The international community then needs ... to coordinate resources, ensuring coherence in what we do ... And this needs leadership. And in my view ... there is no organization better placed than the UN to take that role."

Browne said "a visible leader representing the international community" was also needed.

At present, he said, Afghan President Hamid Karzai spent at least 60 percent of his time in individual meetings with all 42 countries involved in Afghanistan. "If you want to see President Karzai you have to go and join the queue."

British officials said Browne was meeting on Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Ban's deputy for political affairs Lynn Pascoe, and Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of U.N. peacekeeping.

With a troop contingent rising this year to 7,700, Britain is a leading contributor to ISAF and has taken on much of the fighting against the Taliban.

But the British U.N. approach comes against a background of mounting casualties and apparent rifts among the Western allies over how to defeat the insurgents and win hearts and minds. Germany called last week for a review of the way Western forces operate after a spate of civilian casualties.

Browne offered no details of how the United Nations could take control of the peace effort.

But he said: "If we in the international community cannot find a way ... of developing that overarching, politically led campaign plan, then I say to you that we have no moral right to ask our young people to expose themselves to that danger."

Harper's visit to Afghanistan major boost for Cdn troops, Hillier

Keith Leslie Canadian Press Friday, May 25, 2007

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier, centre, and wife Joyce Hillier, far left, and The Canadian Press President and CEO Eric Morrison view photos prior to the Canadian Press Annual Dinner. (CP PHOTO/Aaron Harris)

TORONTO (CP) - This week's surprise visit to Afghanistan by Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a huge boost to the Canadian soldiers working in the war-torn country, Canada's top soldier said Thursday.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier told The Canadian Press annual dinner that Afghanistan is a tough mission for men and women in uniform who are so far from home, calling it a sometimes lonely and frightening job with high costs measured in lives.

But Hillier said any signs from home of support for the troops can result in a big boost in morale for the soldiers who put their lives on the line every day.

"Political parties notwithstanding, the prime minister of Canada visits our soldiers - that is a powerful thing for all concerned," said Hillier.

"He is the actual, visible representation that this country is appreciative of what these young men and women are doing, and they are remembered and maybe, just maybe, that convinces them that the next day they can get up and do their business and accept that risk because we ask them to do it."

Hillier said Harper's visit, and a recent visit to Canadian troops by professional hockey players with the Stanley Cup, also meant a lot to the soldiers so far from home.

"I've got to tell you, bringing that Stanley Cup into Afghanistan and giving the opportunity for 2,500 men and women to get their picture taken with it, to rub their hand over the names of their favourite players on it, was an experience of a lifetime for them," he told the audience of newspaper and broadcast executives.

"It helped convince them that they are appreciated here in Canada, and they are not forgotten."

The colourful Chief of Defence Staff, who marked his 32nd wedding anniversary with his wife Joyce at the dinner, later told reporters he wasn't about to judge which of the two visits - Harper or the Stanley Cup - meant more to the troops.

"You're not going to ask me to rate those now are you," he joked.

Earlier, Hillier delivered an impassioned speech about the future of Canada's armed forces, but returned repeatedly to the difficult mission in Afghanistan, and the soldiers' need for moral support from Canadians.

"Those men and women are sustained and inspired and carried by a variety of things that indicate support from back home," he said.

"They are 13,000 kilometres away, out on a dusty trail, and sometimes you can be forgiven for thinking that you are abandoned, forgotten, that nobody cares."

Despite expressing frustrations in the past about media attention focused on the plight of prisoners that Canada's troops turn over to Afghan authorities, Hillier said most soldiers are not upset by ongoing debates in Parliament about the future of the mission because they know it's all part of a healthy democracy.

"In fact, that's what our young men and women are there to help defend and help ensure for the future," he said.

"They sometimes perhaps don't like it, but they understand it."

Hillier also said a new fund to help military families at home already has $1 million dollars, before fundraising has officially even started.

He said the money would be used to give base commanders instant access to small amounts of cash to help military family members or even more long-term assistance.

"(It could) potentially support the children of soldiers who are lost on operations as they go through their education, and in fact lay out what it is we can do to support the families over the longer term."

Hillier said the forces had been more than meeting it's recruitment target in the past two years, but not in some specialized high-tech areas.

"What I would call 'geeks of action' is what we are looking for now," he said.

PM trying to rewrite the Afghan narrative

TheStar.com May 24, 2007 James Travers

Who can argue when Stephen Harper says Canada is doing a lot for Afghanistan? A mission now costing a fortune in blood and money is making that country marginally safer, more stable and modern.

That's not only as it should be, it's the least to expect. When foreigners topple a local government they assume the burden of cleaning up the mess.

Measured today, the price of that effort is 55 Canadian lives and more than $6 billion. So the Prime Minister has a sizable stake in the progress telegraphed home this week.

Those messages are important to Harper.

Afghanistan hasn't been good to Conservatives lately and the Prime Minister needs the sweet smell of a success to wash away the bad taste left by careless controls over the treatment of prisoners.

To that end, history will footnote Harper's second Afghanistan trip as markedly different from the first.

Gone is jarring U.S. jingoism, replaced by a typically more modest and soothing Ottawa narrative about "helping the country to build a democratic, economically viable future of lasting peace and prosperity."

Up to a point, the Prime Minister has a point.

Given the inherent advantages enjoyed by insurgents everywhere, the military is doing well in countering the Taliban while even the much-maligned Canadian International Development Agency is playing a useful role in, among other things, providing the micro-financing that makes poverty a little less grinding.

But the overarching question for this government, and ultimately this country, is where do these bits and pieces fit in the complex puzzle of a fissured and, in many ways, still feudal state? As clearly as it is in Harper's political interest to boast that the export of Canadian values is booming, Afghanistan remains trapped by opium economics, regional politics and a culture steeped in violence.

The distance between our values and their reality is enormous. To bridge it will require resources and compromises that will test Canadian patience as well as generosity.

It's those demands – along with the pressing need to re-energize a flagging party – that took Harper to Afghanistan this week. Wisely or not, this Prime Minister chose to make a Liberal mission his own and now is stuck with convincing an ambivalent nation to stay what promises to be a long and torturous course.

What makes that so difficult is what made it so easy to "sell" the first operation to a country reeling from 9/11. Bringing down the Taliban made obvious sense to Canadians who then knew even less about Afghanistan than they do today.

True, a minority still cling to the lingering war-to-end-all-wars fantasy of a clear-cut military victory. But many more now grasp that factors beyond Canadian, NATO and even U.S. control will decide Afghanistan's future.

Two stand in particular relief. One is Pakistan, the other, poppies.

There can be no lasting or even temporary peace without the blessing of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf or his successors. And there will be no meaningful development as long as warlords, a corrupt central government and peasant farmers profit most from an economy high on narcotics.

Demonizing the Taliban and torching cash crops are feel-good Western reflexes that only exacerbate the problem.

So, too, are opposition proposals to fix a withdrawal date and to skew the three Ds of defence, diplomacy and development to the latter rather than the former.

Much more innovative political and economic remedies are needed if Afghanistan is to accelerate away from its dark past. Canada's part in that process is to improve the security that is both a chip in the inevitable power-sharing negotiations and a precursor to the long-term development that civilian agencies deliver so much more capably than armies.

Politicians dislike plunging voters into those layers of perplexing nuance as much as admitting that some events are beyond their influence. They prefer, instead, to speak in bromides while advancing anecdotal shards in the hope they will be mistaken for the whole story.

In reinforcing that pattern this week, Harper skimmed lightly over the hardest truths for his government and for Afghanistan. A ruling party that now "owns" the mission has no alternative than to point to modest successes and shout loudly about creating a model state from chaos.

Canadians have done a lot for Afghanistan and the Prime Minister is right to recognize the human sacrifice and good works.

But that's a far cry from having the political permission to stay as long as necessary to do what may not be possible.

Visit's not just for our benefit

TheStar.com May 23, 2007 Thomas Walkom

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's surprise trip to Kabul is not just a photo op for domestic Canadian consumption. It's part of a concerted effort by the U.S. and its NATO allies to stiffen the spine of President Hamid Karzai and forestall growing sentiment in Afghanistan for a political settlement with the Taliban.

That is the real significance of Harper's focus on development during yesterday's meeting with Karzai. "As Canadians we know that Afghanistan's future will not be secured through military means alone," the Prime Minister said, after handing out pencil cases to children at a local school.

It's true that development does play better in Canada than war – a fact not lost on the leader of the Conservative minority government.

But his reason for making that point in Afghanistan was to drive home the point there. He was signalling to his hosts that NATO understands it must do more than kill Taliban insurgents.

Harper's appearance in Kabul came as German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, visiting northern Afghanistan just three days after a suicide bomber killed three German soldiers, pledged that the attacks would not deter his country's commitment to help rebuild the nation.

And it came the day after U.S. President George W. Bush and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer met in Texas to underscore the need for a united front against the Taliban that includes reconstruction as well as military action.

The context for these hurried high-level diplomatic meetings is a confluence of trends that threatens to derail the 5 1/2-year-old Western military mission in Afghanistan.

On the one hand, public opinion in Europe and Canada is increasingly skeptical about the value of a war that produces casualties but no definable benefits.

Germany is to review its commitment later this year. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has hinted that he might withdraw his country's troops. And in Ottawa, opposition parties have demanded that Canadian forces be withdrawn from the danger zones in Afghanistan's south by no later than February 2009.

On the other hand, Afghans themselves are increasingly restive about the presence of foreign troops in their country – especially when those troops kill civilians. Air strikes are particularly controversial, leading even Karzai to criticize the U.S. practice of large-scale aerial bombardments.

After recent air attacks, including one in Herat earlier this month that killed an estimated 50 civilians and left 2,000 homeless, protesters demanded that Karzai resign.

The flip side of this Afghan dissatisfaction with NATO is a growing movement for some form of political accommodation with the Taliban. Two weeks ago, the Afghan parliament's upper house voted to end offensive military operations and enter into direct talks with the hard-line Islamists.

The lower house has not yet decided whether to support this move. But in March, it passed another controversial bill promoting national reconciliation that would grant all warring factions, including the Taliban, immunity from prosecution.

As the Star's Rosie DiManno wrote this weekend from Kabul, even one of the Taliban's arch-enemies, former Herat governor and now Karzai minister Ismail Khan, is hinting at the need to make accommodation with the rebels.

None of this is entirely novel. Deal-making among warring factions is an Afghan tradition. In 2001, as U.S.-backed forces were sweeping the Taliban from power, an Afghan official close to Karzai negotiated an accommodation with Taliban chief Mullah Omar that would have allowed him to live freely in Kandahar in return for abandoning armed struggle.

The U.S. scotched that attempt. But Karzai has continued his back-channel relations with Taliban insurgents, a fact he acknowledged publicly last month.

Indeed, if NATO's days are limited in Afghanistan, then a political deal with the Taliban makes sense for the current Kabul regime. The alternative is continuation of war that those now in power might lose.

But a power-sharing deal with the Taliban is not something Washington would countenance. Such an arrangement, no matter how attractive to Afghan political factions, would undermine the entire rationale for invading that country.

It could also create what Bush's war on terror was designed to destroy – a sovereign state that is openly friendly to Al Qaeda.

So the capitals of the West are in a tizzy. Leaders like Harper have to convince their own electorates that Afghanistan is worth the candle. At the same time, they have to convince Afghans that their troops are more than ham-fisted foreign meddlers.

The alternative is a deal with the Taliban that ends the war and allows the country to rebuild. The U.S. and its friends want the war to end – but not that way.

NATO concerned about civilian deaths in Afghanistan

Friday, May 25, 2007 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KABUL, Afghanistan— Recent U.S. special forces operations that killed 90 Afghan civilians have caused friction with America’s NATO partners, who are concerned that such deaths hurt the standing of Western troops fighting the Taliban insurgency.

The deaths involved troops from the 12,000-member U.S.-led coalition and not NATO’s 37,000-member International Security Assistance Force. But NATO officials fear that Afghans and others don’t understand the distinction.

Mounting civilian casualties have already dented support for the international mission, sparking angry demonstrations and a warning from President Hamid Karzai that Afghans can accept them no longer.

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said Wednesday that the recent operations by U.S.-led troops exposed the need for restraint.

“We have to do everything to avoid that civilians are affected,” Jung said on Germany’s ZDF television.

“We are in talks with our American friends about this.”

Insurgency-related violence has spiked in 2007, with more than 1,800 people killed, according to an Associated Press count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan reports.

They include about 135 civilians killed by U.S. or NATO action, a figure that also could undermine support in Western countries, especially in Europe, for the faraway deployment.

About 135 civilians have also been killed by Taliban suicide bombs and attacks.

Bush Greets NATO Leader At Texas Ranch

CRAWFORD, Texas, May. 24, 2007

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(AP) A relaxed President Bush welcomed NATO's top diplomat to his ranch Sunday for talks to be dominated by the surging violence in Afghanistan. Bush and first lady Laura Bush greeted Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and his wife, Jeannine, in late afternoon sunshine after the guests arrived by helicopter.

"A little slice of heaven," Bush said of his 1,600-acre getaway from Washington.

The president, in blue jeans and cowboy boats, then climbed in his extended-cab pickup truck and drove drove the couples to the Bushes' house down the road _ men in the front seat, women in the back seat.

The invitation for an overnight stay at the ranch is considered a coup, a way for the White House to underscore its commitment to NATO and its leader, de Hoop Scheffer.

Afghanistan's struggles, NATO's role in Kosovo and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe all were likely to be discussed Monday morning.

First, though, the leaders and their spouses were to dine Sunday over pecan smoked beef tenderloin, green chili cheese grits souffle and roasted asparagus.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were among the dignitaries joining them.

In Afghanistan, more than 1,600 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to U.S., NATO and Afghan figures. The mounting civilian death toll has fueled distrust of international forces and U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai.

"It's a very high priority for us, just on a humanitarian level," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Sunday about the civilian casualties. "It's a high priority for us on a hearts-and-minds level: We don't want to see any erosion of support from the civilian population."

Fratto said the blame lies with Taliban militants who use civilians as shields. "This is a clear, express tactic of the enemy to put civilians in harm's way," he said.

The role of the 26-nation alliance in the war in Afghanistan remains a sensitive matter.

The Bush administration is urging some European allies to provide more troops to fight Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan and to lift restrictions on how and where soldiers can fight.

Politicians in the United States, Canada, Britain and other nations with troops in the south have been annoyed by the reluctance of some European allies to commit extra soldiers to the roughly 37,000-strong NATO force _ in particular to be deployed to the Taliban's heartland.

A suicide bomber detonated himself in a crowded market on Sunday in the eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 14 people and wounding 31. That blast in Gardez came a day after a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan killed three German soldiers and seven civilians.

The discussions also were to address the status of Kosovo, a poor region under U.N. administration since 1999.

The U.S backs a U.N. resolution to ratify the province's independence from Serbia, but that plan is opposed by Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power.

Moscow has opposed successive enlargements of NATO into Eastern Europe. NATO's likely expansion into the Balkans does not please Russia, but the Kremlin has shown even more concern about the prospect that neighbors Ukraine and Georgia may be brought into the alliance.

Russia is also critical of U.S. plans to install radar and interceptors in Eastern Europe as part of a missile defense program, another source of growing tension between the countries.

Bush On Afghanistan

25 May 2007 One of the main topics of discussion between President George W. Bush and NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer has been Afghanistan. "Afghanistan," said President Bush, "is a vital mission for the United States; it's a vital mission for our allies in Europe, because what happens in Afghanistan matters to the security of our countries."

The U.S. has contributed fifteen-thousand troops to the NATO-led thirty-seven-nation International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. An additional ten-thousand American troops lead a second multinational force that is training well over one-hundred thousand new Afghan soldiers and police officers.

But Taliban insurgents have adopted new tactics deliberately aimed at increasing civilian casualties. They include staging attacks on troops from compounds located in crowded neighborhoods and the use of suicide bombers and roadside bombs. Unlike the Taliban, coalition forces aim to avoid civilian casualties, said President Bush:

"The Taliban likes to surround themselves with innocent civilians. That's part of their modus operandi. They don't mind using human shields because they devalue human life. That's why they're willing to kill innocent people to achieve political objectives."

Nearly one-thousand six-hundred Afghan civilians have been killed in insurgency-related violence so far this year. This has led to protests against Afghan President Hamid Karzai. But both President Bush and NATO Secretary General De Hoop Scheffer urged continued resolve. "Afghanistan," said Mr. De Hoop Scheffer, "is still one of the front lines in our fight against terrorism."

Ultimately, defeating Islamic extremists in Afghanistan requires more than military action. The U.S. and NATO support a long-term strategy to strengthen Afghanistan's democratic institutions and create economic opportunity that will help the young democracy prosper.

Egyptian claims to be new Al-Qaeda head in Afghanistan

Thu May 24, 1:39 PM ET

A former member of Egypt's fundamentalist Jihad movement declared on Thursday that he was the new head of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the Al-Jazeera satellite television reported.

"Mustafa Abu Yazid, also known as Said, has come forward as the general director of the Al-Qaeda organisation in Afghanistan," the Qatar-based channel reported, airing video extracts of a black-bearded man with thick glasses and a white turban.

"Mustafa Abu Yazid is a former member of Egyptian Jihad who enjoys the confidence of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden," an expert in Afghanistan's Islamist groups told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said Abu Yazid would be replacing Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, an Iraqi and high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, whose arrest was announced by the United States in April.

According to the Pentagon, Iraqi was arrested while attempting to travel to Iraq to head Al-Qaeda's operations there, as well as plan attacks against Western interests outside Iraq.

Taliban leader says West must leave Afghanistan

Article published May 24, 2007

Kandahar, Afghanistan | A man identified on tape as the Taliban's new top field commander warned Wednesday that new recruits were volunteering as suicide bombers and that fighters would continue their holy war until Western powers leave Afghanistan.
Violence struck throughout the country with two bomb blasts that killed four people, including a Finnish soldier in the usually quiet north. NATO said it attacked a meeting of Taliban leaders in the south, killing an unspecified number of militants.
Shuhabuddin Athul, a Taliban spokesman, played an audio tape over the telephone to an Associated Press reporter that Athul said was a recording of Dadullah Mansoor, brother and replacement of Mullah Dadullah, the top Taliban commander shot to death in a U.S. operation this month in southern Afghanistan.
The man on the tape said Taliban fighters were ready to avenge his brother's death and would "pursue holy war until the occupying countries leave."
"They will pursue their attacks against occupying countries and the (Afghan) government," he said in a first public statement. "The number of suicide attackers is increasing. ... All of the Taliban, we are ready to carry out suicide attacks, roadside bombs and ambushes against the Americans and the government."
There was no way to verify that the voice was really Mansoor's.
Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged veteran who orchestrated an intensifying campaign of suicide attacks and beheadings, had long been a top lieutenant of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, hailed Mullah Dadullah in a videotape released Tuesday.
Athul has said that Mansoor was one of five prisoners released in March in exchange for kidnapped Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo. He was named as Mullah Dadullah's replacement last week, Athul said.
In a sign that the insurgency could be spreading, a bomb blast killed a Finnish soldier and an Afghan civilian in the northern town of Maymana, 100 yards outside a Norwegian-led base.
The soldiers had been on their way to a hospital for the opening of a reconstruction project, said Lt. Col. John Inge Oeglaend, a Norwegian military spokesman.
Northern Afghanistan is relatively calm, compared with the south and east, but it has seen a run of attacks in recent weeks. A suicide bomber Saturday killed 10 people in the northern city of Kunduz, including three German soldiers who were walking through a market .

Al Qaeda Commander in Afghanistan Offers Prisoner Swap With U.S, UK in Audiotape

Thursday , May 24, 2007 CAIRO, Egypt —

A purported Al Qaeda in Afghanistan commander claimed in an audiotape released early Friday that the terror group was willing to swap prisoners with the U.S., Britain and other countries.

The audiotape's authenticity could not independently be confirmed, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants. It opened with a short section that said it was produced by as-Sahab, the Al Qaeda media production wing.

It was accompanied by two still photos of a bearded man identified as Abu Laith al-Libi, a Libyan Al Qaeda operative believed to be behind a suicide bombing that killed 23 people outside the main U.S. base in Afghanistan during a February visit by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Al Qaeda in Khorasan, or Afghanistan, "announces its readiness to receive any Muslim captives exchanged with any party by any party," al-Libi, whose name means 'the Libyan' in Arabic, said in the 10-minute tape.

The message concluded with a prayer for the rescue of imprisoned Al Qaeda operatives, including "the virtuous Abu Qutada," a Jordanian of Palestinian origin once described by a Spanish judge as Usama bin Laden's "spiritual ambassador in Europe."

The British government says it has negotiated with Abu Qatada to try to secure the release of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who has been held since he was kidnapped March 12 in Gaza City by Palestinian gunmen. His alleged kidnappers have demanded Abu Qatada's release.

Al-Libi was featured in an Al Qaeda video in late April accusing Shiite Muslims of fighting alongside American forces in Iraq and claiming that Islamic militants would crush foreign troops in Afghanistan. He is believed to have trained bombers at terror camps, including one raided by U.S. forces in the eastern province of Khost in 2005.

Separately, a man claiming to be the new Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan appeared in a videotape on Al-Jazeera television Thursday saying the number of Islamic extremists in Afghanistan was on the rise.

The individual, who identified himself as Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed and appeared wearing a white Afghan robe and white turban, said he was appointed by Al Qaeda, but his claim could not be verified.

Abu al-Yazeed said the number of Islamic militants in Afghanistan had increased after the Afghan people witnessed a rise in poverty and drugs under the current democratic administration.

Jazeera airs tape of new Qaeda leader in Afghanistan

(Adds quotes, conforms spelling of name to Reuters style))

DUBAI, May 24 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda has appointed a new leader in Afghanistan, al Jazeera television reported on Thursday, broadcasting a statement in which he said support for the group was growing.

"The number of fighters is increasing. The support they receive from Muslims in Afghanistan is almost total", Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in excerpts aired by the Arabic channel.

He pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.

"God bless our two emirs, Sheikh Osama and Sheikh Ayman for globalising the jihad (holy war) ... May both sheikhs, Osama and Ayman, remain a thorn in the side of (U.S. President George W.) Bush."

Abu al-Yazid was not known before and it was the first time that Jazeera is known to have broadcast any of his comments.

It was not clear why al Qaeda decided to appoint him at this time.

Okla. guardsmen return from Afghanistan

By Judi Boland - The Associated Press Friday May 25, 2007 7:29:00 EDT

OKLAHOMA CITY — Amanda Rees, of Caney, Kan., got her wish.

“All I want to do is jump into his arms. I’m not sure if I am going to be able to contain myself,” she said as she waited for the bus that was bringing her husband Nathan from Colorado to Oklahoma City.

He was one of the 47 soldiers of a National Guard unit that returned to Oklahoma on Thursday. They are the first contingent of 450 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 180th Infantry who have been on active duty since February 2006 and deployed to Afghanistan for almost a year.

“All 450 should be back by the end of June,” said Lt. Col. John Altebumer.

Stilwell resident Kim Scraper, who was waiting to see her son, Jake, said, “Today is a great day. It was really hard when he left.”

After they had embraced and he was picking up his duffel bag, she added, “I’m glad he’s back and thankful.”

She said it was a bittersweet homecoming for the solders because one of them, Sgt. Buddy Hughie of Poteau, was killed during their tour of duty.

He was shot when he tried to provide medical care to two soldiers in the group who had been injured when they came under fire.

Spc. James Morris of Tulsa and Spc. Joseph Hopkins of Shawnee were both wounded while in Afghanistan. They were gunners on a Humvee and both were injured by an improvised explosive device. Morris also was shot in the leg.

Morris has been a member of the National Guard for three years and is a Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department deputy.

In spite of their injuries, both men said it had been a good year.

I’m a soldier and this is what I do,” Morris said when asked if he would go back again. “The sheriff’s department is real supportive.”

Hopkins, who joined the National Guard right after high school graduation, said he joined with this particular unit because he knew it was going to be deployed to Afghanistan.

“I was bored and so I just decided to join the military,” he said.

He said that he would definitely go back again because “we are doing the right stuff. Plus you get to see the world in a way nobody else could.”

Hopkins said that he would probably return to his job at an auto parts business.

For Sgt. Frank Hayes, of Pocola, he was just glad to be back with his wife, Gena.

“I made it,” he said as the couple embraced.

His wife earlier said they had made plans to spend the weekend in Oklahoma City, then will go back to Pocola and have a cookout and be with their friends and family later.

As the couple started to walk to their truck, Frank Hayes turned and said, “We can get on with the rest of our lives now.”

Violence escalates in Afghanistan

Associated Press Friday, May 25, 2007 (Kabul)

Two operations in southern Afghanistan killed 18 suspected militants, including seven foreigners, while 10 Afghans died in two other explosions around the country.

The battles in Helmand province on Wednesday involved foreign troops and Afghan forces. A fight in Garmsir district killed 13 suspected militants, including the seven foreigners, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry did not give their nationalities, although Pakistanis fighting with the Taliban, as well as Chechens and Arabs associated with Al-Qaida, periodically crop up among casualties in Afghanistan.

Five more militants died in a joint operation in Helmand's Sangin district, the ministry said.

In the eastern province of Paktika, a local government leader, four policemen and a driver were killed when ammunition they were going to confiscate exploded, said provincial spokesman Ghamia Khan.

It was not immediately clear if the explosion was an accident or if the cache had been rigged, Khan said. An investigation was under way.

In southern Afghanistan, four police were killed and two injured when a roadside bomb exploded next to their truck, said Naiz Mohammad Serhadi, the chief official of Kandahar province's Panjwayi district.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in recent weeks. More than 1,800 people have died this year in insurgency-related violence .

Germans Oppose Mission in Afghanistan

Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research May 25, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Germany are against their country’s engagement in the war on terrorism, according to a poll by TNS Emnid released by N24. 68 per cent of respondents oppose Germany’s military presence in Afghanistan, up 24 points in five years.

In November 2005, Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first female head of government. The current administration includes members of the CDU, the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

With around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, Germany has the third largest contingent in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). At least 575 soldiers—including 21 Germans—have died in the war on terrorism, either in support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom or as part of ISAF.

In April, SPD leader Kurt Beck called for direct negotiations with members of the Taliban in Afghanistan, declaring, "We have exhausted our possibilities. It is time to explore the possibility of a national reconciliation with the Taliban." German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was "very much in agreement" with Beck’s suggestion.

On May 19, Merkel issued a statement, which read: "The German military is carrying out an important mission for the reconstruction and stabilization of Afghanistan. (...) It is the goal of the attackers to destroy the established successes of this rebuilding process. The international community is resolved to continue to help the people of Afghanistan ensure a good future for their country through reconstruction."

Polling Data

Do you support or oppose Germany’s military presence in Afghanistan?

Source: TNS Emnid / N24

Methodology: Interviews with 1,000 German adults, conducted on May 21, 2007. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent

Secretive work that not all survive

Tom Blackwell National Post Friday, May 25, 2007

SPERWAN GHAR, AFGHANISTAN - Every day, Saleh comes to the Canadian forward operating outpost to wash floors, empty garbage and do other odd jobs. Although his daily pay of $6 may seem meagre, it is enough to support a family of 10.

Almost as regularly, the Taliban show up at night in his village, he says, leaving letters in the mosque threatening to kill any local who continues to work for the Canadian soldiers. One of the half-dozen villagers on the base's payroll quit last week in terror.

"I am scared, and my friends as well," admits Saleh, a typically wizened-looking Afghan man who says he's only 35 and wants only his first name used.

"When the Taliban catch me, they would just slit my throat. No talk, no investigation, just slit."

Even so, he says he has no choice but to keep showing up for the menial work. His wage is more than twice what he would earn at his regular job as a teacher, and he has no land on which to grow grapes, poppies or other cash crops.

Saleh embodies the plight of many Afghans who have chosen to work directly for Canadian and other NATO forces, ignoring intimidation from insurgents who have a habit of carrying through on their threats. This week, for instance, suspected Taliban terrorists beheaded a man and dumped his body in Herat province, with a note warning that anyone working for foreign military forces would be killed.

The hundreds of interpreters attached to foreign troops may face the greatest risk -- several have already been killed in targeted attacks.

They can also be caught up in assaults aimed at the NATO soldiers. Last week, a rocket fired randomly into the Canadian-held Ma' Sum Ghar forward operating base killed one translator and seriously injured another.

The interpreters, or "terps" as the soldiers call them, often work with their faces covered by balaclavas or scarves.

Many of the local employees, however, seem sanguine about the perils of their work. Although frightened, they say they are grateful to take home what, by Afghan standards, are handsome salaries and proud to stand up to the insurgents.

The U.S.-owned company that supplies most of the interpreters to coalition forces says there is not nearly enough work for all those who apply.

"We don't have anything to do besides this job," says Taz, one of the interpreters with Charlie Company at Sperwan Ghar operating base. "Afghanistan doesn't have factories, it doesn't have any jobs, so we have to do this ... We should serve our country. Who else is going to do it?"

For the custodial work at Sperwan Ghar, the Canadians employ an equal number of men from each of the two tribes in the immediate area, in part just to create local employment, said Captain Andrew Vivian, the base commander. He added he has nothing but respect for the interpreters and their indispensable role as a bridge to the Afghan people.

"It's not an easy job," he said. "We've gone to places before and some of them have been heckled by the locals. Some people aren't nice to them. They call them names because they are supporting us."

In just a few weeks last summer, the Taliban killed 10 interpreters.

International Management Services, the region's main source of English translators, cautions employees to keep quiet about where they are working. Moles are everywhere, says Ash, an Egyptian- American who helps manage the firm's operation at Kandahar Airfield.

"Sometimes they don't [even] tell their families," he says. "They tell them that they're working overseas or abroad. It's a dangerous job."

Support for MP evicted for donkey insult

Human Rights Watch Protest Jim Loney Reuters Friday, May 25, 2007

CREDIT: Shah Marai, AFP, Getty Images File Photo

Malalai Joya, 28, is one of 68 women elected to the Afghan Parliament.

KABUL - A leading U.S. human rights group has called on Afghan lawmakers to immediately reinstate a controversial woman legislator who was removed from her seat for saying Parliament was "worse than a stable."

Malalai Joya, an outspoken MP who has frequently riled fellow legislators, was ousted on Monday for insulting parliament after a recent television interview was played in the lower House.

New York-based Human Rights Watch lauded Ms. Joya as a courageous fighter for women's and children's rights in Afghanistan and said her comments did not warrant her removal.

"The Afghan Parliament should be setting an example by promoting and protecting free expression, not by stamping it out," Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch said in a statement yesterday.

Ms. Joya, one of 68 women elected to the 248-seat Parliament, won fame in Western capitals for her criticism of mujahideen (holy warrior) leaders and commanders, some of whom now serve in Parliament. She has campaigned for punishment for war crimes, even for fellow lawmakers.

In the offending interview she said of Parliament: "A stable is better, for there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk. The Parliament is worse than a stable."

HRW urged the assembly to amend the rule under which Ms. Joya was banished, which forbids lawmakers from criticizing each other.

"The article banning criticism of Parliament is an unreasonable rule that violates the principle of free speech enshrined in international law and valued around the world," Mr. Adams said.

Ms. Joya, a 28-year-old women's rights activist, won her seat in landmark elections in 2005. Twenty-five per cent of the seats in Parliament are reserved for women.

Vendetta creates a village of widows

MURRAY CAMPBELL From Friday's Globe and Mail May 25, 2007 at 5:16 AM EDT

Canada is helping women left to cope after a long-standing tribal score is settled with Kalashnikovs

DARGAIAN NORZAI, AFGHANISTAN — About the only thing that everyone can agree on is that four brothers came with Kalashnikov rifles, killed the men in the village and created 12 widows.

The story is slightly fuzzy but the attacks started four or five months ago and stopped two months ago. They were likely in reprisal for some slight from 50 years ago and the people living in this remote area, on the edge of the vast Registan desert about 120 kilometres south of Kandahar city, seemed to accept the inevitability of what happened.

The brothers, who are from a different tribe, were simply acting in accordance with the custom among Afghanistan's Pashtun ethnic majority that requires revenge - no matter how long it takes. They gave no indication of why they had chosen to act now.

"They probably felt it was the right time to do it, that's all," said a translator familiar with the custom.

No one called for the authorities to intervene. In this region, where people live the way they have lived for thousands of years - electricity and even radio is almost unheard of - there is no government and there are no authorities to which to complain.

Besides, the word is that the brothers took shelter with the Taliban. They likely weren't Taliban themselves - there were simply dushman, or bad guys - but no one wants to mess with the Taliban.

And so, the widows abandoned their houses and moved with their children into a mud-walled compound that the men of other villages built for them. Only one man, Maajan, remains in the village. He somehow missed the attacks. He says some people are saying that he might be killed, too, but that others are saying he will be all right. Meanwhile, he stays.

The widows are getting help from the Canadian government, which is building a new 90-metre-deep well outside their door. A crew of men have been pounding through the sun-baked, rock-hard soil for days now, using a generator to hoist a sharp-edged pole to the top of a tripod and then letting it drop by gravity. It is simple, but the mud around the hole shows that it is effective.

The well will cost about $4,000, an unimaginable fortune by the standards of Dargaian Norzai. And it will give potable water to a region where the shallow wells used for centuries offer up brackish water that kills people over time. The life expectancy of an Afghan at birth is about 42 years.

The work has been subcontracted by the Canadian military to Nemat Arghand, an Afghan whose life summarizes the turmoil this country has seen in the past three decades. Not too far away, he used hired men to dig with shovels a canal to catch the spring rains. He has also built 15 police checkpoints.

He is about 36 years old, although like most Afghans he's not certain of his birth date. At 16, he says, he was conscripted into the army but he didn't like the Soviet-supported regime then in power and he chose to fight instead for the mujahedeen.

Mr. Arghand says he later ran afoul of the Taliban government that had displaced the mujahedeen and sought refuge in Pakistan. Fearing al-Qaeda, he sampled life in seven African countries and had won refugee status in Britain before he returned home where he became, for a short time, a guard at the palace of the new President, Hamid Karzai.

Now, back in Kandahar, he is overseeing about 50 projects that have given temporary employment to about 3,500 young men. The jobs are mostly menial, but Mr. Arghand has a higher purpose in mind.

He remembers that he had no options as a youth when he was asked to fight and he hopes that the jobs he is creating - digging a well for the widows, for example - will allow young Afghans to believe they don't have to go to war.

"The young people, if we don't get the work, they will always find another way, the Taliban will recruit them," he said. "When there is no work, the people will get into trouble."

G8 wants Iran's help in fight against Afghan opium

By Louis Charbonneau / May 25, 2007

BERLIN (Reuters) - The G8 industrial nations are concerned about the rise of opium production in Afghanistan and want to enlist Iran and other neighbouring countries to crush trafficking of the drug, Germany said on Friday.

Opium production in Afghanistan rose by as much as 50 percent last year to supply more than 90 percent of global heroin, according to a United Nations estimate.

"We have made a big effort (to combat drug production in Afghanistan) but the results are not very satisfying, since drug production has increased and trafficking has increased," German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after a meeting of G8 interior and justice ministers.

Germany is currently president of the Group of Eight, which also includes the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia. It will host the G8 summit in the Baltic resort town of Heiligendamm June 6-8.

In a statement, the G8 called for a "strengthening of cooperation with Afghanistan's neighbouring countries" to stop the flow of narcotics out of Afghanistan and prevent smuggling of substances needed to make drugs into the country.

"We also agreed that we have to further involve neighbouring countries, including Iran, in this cooperation, despite all the problems we may have with Iran," Schaeuble said. "Iran also suffers a great deal because of this drug trafficking."

Iran, which the West accuses of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Afghanistan, the world's number one producer of the opium poppy which is the key ingredient for heroin.

Tehran denies wanting the bomb but has been punished with U.N. sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear fuel programme.

The scale of heroin and other drug abuse in Iran, which straddles a major smuggling route, is a growing problem -- and one which the conservative Islamic state shares with the United States and its other Western foes.

COMBATTING TERRORISM

In its statement, the G8 welcomed progress in reducing opium cultivation in the north and centre of Afghanistan, but expressed concern about the increase in the unstable south.

It said this is "where more than 60 percent of Afghanistan's opium was grown last year, and drug traffickers, insurgents and terrorists are making common cause against the government and international forces."

Schaeuble said the group also agreed on some specific steps to be taken in the fight against global terrorism. Those steps included enhanced sharing of information about the Internet and increased protection of key buildings and installations, such as utilities, chemical plants and information technology sites.

"We have to do more to combat terrorists' use of the Internet," he said.

He added they would try to make terrorists' use of the Internet for planning and propagating terrorism a criminal act, which he said was proving difficult to legislate in some countries, including the United States.

Afghans Divided on Regional Integration

Membership of a South Asian economic grouping may not be all it is cracked up to be.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif (ARR No. 254, 24-May-07)

Officials in Afghanistan say accession to a major regional economic grouping should help the domestic economy grow and will open up trade with the country’s southern neighbours. Critics of the move dispute this, saying the domestic economy will reap few benefits from closer integration with neighbours who are themselves poor and argumentative.

Afghanistan was accepted as a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, SAARC, last month, joining India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives.

Both culturally and economically, Afghanistan lies at the crossroads between Iran and the Middle East to the west, former Soviet Central Asia to the north, and the Indian subcontinent to the south, and offers a convenient land trade route between these regions. Afghanistan itself has much to gain from closer economic ties with the Indian subcontinent, despite its fraught relationship with its immediate neighbour Pakistan.

"By joining the SAARC, we will strengthen our political relationships over time, and gain other advantages," Sultan Ahmad Bahin, spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry affairs, told IWPR.

"South Asian countries, particularly Bangladesh and India, need our raw materials, and now we will be able to sell them to these countries more easily. For their part, the South Asian countries want to get their products to Central Asian markets, and Afghanistan is the cheapest route. We will also earn substantial revenues from freight transit fees.”

India and Pakistan feature high on the list of destinations for Afghan exports, which include dried fruit and nuts, wool and animal skins, cotton, precious stones and carpets.

Ainuddin Alawi, a merchant in northern Afghanistan who imports foodstuffs from Pakistan, explained that at present, complex custom arrangements are a major obstacle to trade.

In addition, Afghanistan is heavily dependent on Pakistani goodwill for the free flow of goods – and that is not always forthcoming given the difficult diplomatic relationship between the two countries. Kabul has repeatedly accused Islamabad of not doing enough to reduce the Taleban’s capacity to launch raids over the border into Afghanistan. The Pakistani authorities have argued that the insurgency is ultimately an Afghan problem.

"Our goods sit and go to waste in the Pakistan’s free ports. We have a lot of problems. When Pakistan so wishes, it holds up our goods at the port of Karachi port, sometimes for months on end. And we suffer considerable losses because when they do allow our goods out of their ports, they are spoiled,” said Alawi.

"Once I was importing soft drinks, and my containers were delayed in Karachi for two months. So when they allowed them to be shipped, they were completely unsaleable and I was [nearly] bankrupted."

Bahin insists that SAARC membership will resolve most of these problems. "We’ll be able to take advantages of custom privileges, which means non-stop transit, and this will help our traders a lot,” he said. “In addition, our traders will be able to invest in other member states easily, just as those from other countries will be able to invest in Afghanistan."

Nazir Ahmad Shahidi, the deputy economy minister, argues that Afghanistan will benefit from being able to import technology and know-how at the relatively cheap prices.

"South Asian countries have both cheap technology and inexpensive human resources, so we can use them to develop our economic infrastructure,” he said. "An expert from India currently costs a tenth of the rates charged by a European one.”

He explained his vision of how SAARC membership would pay for itself, saying, "We will earn money from transit fees and we will use it to buy in experts and technology from [other] member countries, and in that way increase our manufacturing capacity and eradicate poverty.”

Ramazan Bashardost, a former planning minister who is now a member of parliament and an outspoken critic of the government, is less enthusiastic about SAARC membership, saying any economic advantages are likely to be obstructed not only by tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, but also by the animosity between Pakistan and India.

"There is a deep sense of dislike rather than rapprochement between some of the member countries, for example between India and Pakistan and between Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said. "Political rivalries between the member countries will prevent Afghanistan from developing as it should.”

Given the historical interest that both Delhi and Islamabad have had in gaining the advantage over each other by engaging with or intervening in Afghan politics, Bashardost warns that even within SAARC, “Afghanistan may become a plaything in their hands".

Bahin argues that the SAARC framework at least imposes fair rules for all its members, and suggests that a revival of economic and trade ties will ultimately serve to defuse more aggressive forms of regional competition.

"Right now there are plenty of problems with transporting goods from Afghanistan to India via Pakistan, but at least when we are bound by a treaty, Pakistan will have to respect the regulations set out in the charter….We will not lose out; this is a step forward," he said.

"Another point is that the expansion of economic relationships between the various countries will have a direct effect on security and political problems. All of SAARC’s members believe that when economic ties are strengthened, military and political rivalries will be supplanted by free enterprise."

Bashardost and other critics also make the point that the Afghan economy is at such a low point that it is in no condition to take part in a competitive regional market.

"Afghanistan would need to have high levels of production in order to be an active member of SAARC, but right now we have nothing to offer [other] markets, and we will merely see [other] SAARC members growing while Afghanistan remains only a destination for their exports. All the money that Afghanistan earns [in transit fees] will disappear on purchases of goods from SAARC states."

Bashardost concluded that joining SAARC was a wasted effort. “Afghan leaders… have miscalculated, and took Afghanistan into SAARC without looking at the current domestic economic situation," he said.

Nabi Assir, an economic analyst in northern Afghanistan, agrees that a country like Afghanistan will not benefit. "The nature of this incongruous group of countries suggests that a new and especially poor member is not going to reap any benefit - these countries are themselves broke, and will grasp at any way of improving their own economies," he said.

Assir also disputed the notion that there is a direct correlation between security and international trade. Quoting figures cited by President Hamed Karzai, he said, “Pakistani exports to Afghanistan in 2002 were worth 50 million [US] dollars. In 2005, even though the security situation was much worse than in 2002, Pakistani exports increased to 1.2 billion dollars.”

Shahidi, however, insists that integration is the only way forward, saying, "We should have done this 20 years ago. Now that there’s an opportunity to do it, why should we miss out? The principal reason for our lack of economic success is that our participation in regional trade has been so minimal."

Alawi, the Afghan trader, is pleased that his country has joined SAARC.

He said, "I don’t know much about these sorts of associations, but one thing I do know is that with the exception of Afghans, traders [in these countries] are not facing difficulties - maybe because they are [SAARC] members.”

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]