In this bulletin:

• President Hamid Karzai Condemns the Terrorist Attack in Baghlan Province
• Afghan suicide blast leaves 100 dead or wounded
• UN chief alarmed by Taliban bid to seize Afghan districts
• Afghanistan's Karzai orders end to torture
• President Karzai discusses security with US and NATO commanders
• More soldiers to Afghanistan
• Dutch weighing Afghan 'responsibilities': minister
• Ottawa overruled on Afghan detainees
• Canadian court case on Afghan prisoners to proceed
• Man held in Afghanistan prison back in Calgary
• Afghan panel asks public for input
• Taliban stealthily sought warlord's weapons cache
• Lessons learned in six months
• Despite war, Afghanistan’s beauty survives
• Afghan Wireless Announces Completion of Digital Microwave Ring
• Afghan woman poet Nadia Anjuman remembered two years on

President Hamid Karzai Condemns the Terrorist Attack in Baghlan Province

Press Release - 6 November 2007

Arg, Kabul – His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Baghlan province which killed a number of Afghan MPs, women and children during a visit to the Baghlan sugar factory.

Security agencies report that the enemies of peace and security in Afghanistan carried out a terrorist attack in the Baghlan sugar factory and martyred a number of Afghan MPs namely Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, Abdul Mateen, Alhaj Sahibur Rahman, Hajji Muhammad Aref Zarif and Sebghatullah Zaki.

The President expressed his deep sorrow at the martyrdom of a number of Afghan MPs and said, "This heinous act of terrorism is against Islam and humanity and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. It is the work of the enemies of peace and security in Afghanistan."

The President has directed the Ministry of Defence and other relevant authorities to take immediate action in transporting and treating the injured.

The President expressed his deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims and prayed for the full and speedy recovery of the injured.

Office of the Spokesman to the President

Afghan suicide blast leaves 100 dead or wounded

Afghan MP Mostapha Kazemi

KABUL (AFP) - Around 100 people including six lawmakers were killed or wounded in a suicide bombing Tuesday at a sugar factory in northern Afghanistan, one of the worst attacks since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Government officials said the bomber blew himself up in the factory in the northern province of Baghlan just as a parliamentary economics committee was visiting.

"Several people, including civilians, children and at least six MPs were martyred," presidential spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told AFP.

Officials were not immediately able to provide a breakdown of the dead and wounded in the immediate aftermath of the late afternoon blast in the town of Pul-i-Khumri, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Kabul.

"According to initial reports from our local health and hospital officials, there are 100 people killed and injured," Ahmad Shah Shokohmand, director of provincial health departments in the public health ministry in Kabul told AFP.

"In one hospital we have got 42 people admitted and in another hospital nine bodies have been brought," Shokohmand said.

The interior ministry said earlier that 50 were dead and wounded. It was a suicide attack, spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

Afghan media cited witnesses saying mutilated bodies littered the scene of the attack, which was covered in blood. Many of the wounded were in a critical condition, they said.

There were about 18 MPs in the delegation that visited the factory, said a lawmaker in Kabul, Daud Sultanzai. His information was that five MPs were dead and at least three wounded.

Bodyguards and other members of the delegation were also killed, he added. The lawmakers were on a tour of Baghlan province, another parliamentarian, Shukria Barakzai, told AFP in Kabul.

Those dead included Mustafa Kazimi, who headed the parliament's economics committee and a former government commerce minister, she said.

"The president condemned this attack in the strongest terms possible," said Hamidzada, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai. "This is the act of the enemies of the people of Afghanistan."

A helicopter was sent from Kabul to evacuate some of the wounded, according to a parliament official. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said it was also mustering help.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast but there have been around 120 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, most of them blamed on the extremist Taliban movement waging an intensifying insurgency.

However, one of the Taliban's main spokesmen, Zabihullah Mujahed, said his organisation was not involved in the latest attack.

Northern Afghanistan, including Baghlan, has seen relatively little of the daily violence plaguing Afghanistan and blamed on the Taliban.

The hardline Islamic Taliban were in government from 1996 until they were ousted in late 2001 by a US-led coalition following the September 11 attacks that year in the United States.

The Taliban's insurgency has grown in strength year after year -- more than 5,000 people have been killed in unrest this year, most of them rebels.

In the past week, insurgents have also driven security forces out of three districts in southern and central Afghanistan, and claim to have captured the areas. The government says it will launch operations soon to drive them out.

About 25 "terrorists" were meanwhile killed in an air strike in the western province of Badghis late Monday, an army general said.

The Taliban are allied with the Al-Qaeda network and are said to be trained and supplied across the border in Pakistan, where rebel leaders are thought to have fled after their government was driven out.

While the Taliban lead the campaign against the government, other Islamist outfits are also involved. They include that of former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who operates in the north and east.

UN chief alarmed by Taliban bid to seize Afghan districts

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern about attempts by Taliban extremists to take control of some districts in Afghanistan.

"The Secretary General has followed with concern the recent fighting in Afghanistan, in particular around Kandahar and in Farah provinces, where formed groups of Taliban have attempted to take and hold certain districts," his spokeswoman said Monday.

Michele Montas said in a statement that Ban "underlines the crucial role that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan security forces are playing to ensure that Afghanistan does not again become a host for terrorist and extremist groups."

Ban noted that "it is an unfortunate reality that such operations continue to be necessary in Afghanistan to bring about lasting peace and "a world without terrorism."

And he appealed to all governments involved in Afghanistan "to maintain their existing commitments in order to ensure the success of the joint effort to rebuild Afghanistan."

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fields 37,000 troops from 37 nations in Afghanistan. Separately, there are around 11,000 US-led coalition troops also battling militants from the ousted Taliban.

Early Monday, Taliban extremists briefly captured a third district in western Afghanistan but were driven out by Afghan forces and their international allies, officials said.

Taliban fighters in about 40 vehicles stormed into Khaki Safed district in the province of Farah around 1:30 am and took the administration headquarters, police and government officials said.

Farah province, which borders Iran, had its Gulistan and Bakwa districts seized by Taliban rebels last week after intense fighting.

The Taliban, in government between 1996 and 2001, have previously overrun several districts in remote parts of Afghanistan but have been easily ejected with the help of the multinational forces.

Afghanistan's Karzai orders end to torture

Kabul (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai told police Tuesday to stop torturing suspects, including those involved in a Taliban-led insurgency marked by acts of brutality.

Speaking to more than 100 senior police officials in Kabul, Karzai said people were still being tortured despite improvements in his US-backed government's prison system.

"Thank God our government is 1,000 times better than it was in the past, but... there are still cases where people are threatened, even tortured," Karzai said.

"Our first task is to eliminate these tyrants, terrorists, but even if we capture such criminals, after they are captured we must treat them humanely. I repeat: respect humans and your acts must be bound to laws," he said.

Canadian rights groups have repeatedly alleged that prisoners transferred to Afghan authorities by Canadian troops based in the south, where the Taliban's insurgency is the fiercest, are being tortured.

Canada's federal court on Monday ruled that rights groups' bid to halt the transfer of Taliban fighters captured by Canadian troops to Afghan jails could proceed.

Karzai told the police officials even "blood-sucking tyrants" should not be physically abused, and Taliban rebels must be treated humanely once they are captured.

"I want to have you promise me that we as guardians of people's security... should make the necessary efforts (so) that... the people of Afghanistan are not afraid of the government," he said.

Karzai also had praise for the country's fledgling police force, which is on the front line of the insurgency and forced to fight extremist rebels.

He said the government had to improve the care it offered the families of the roughly 700 policemen who had been killed this year.

Karzai also said improvements were needed in the payment of police salaries, which he had been told were not paid on time and were subject to irregular cuts.

President Karzai discusses security with US and NATO commanders

Kabul, 11.3.07 (Presidential press statement) - President Karzai on Nov. 03 in the Palace held separate meetings with head of the US Central Command Admiral William Fallon and NATO’s Allied Joint Forces Commander, General Egon Ramms.

Meetings were focused on counterterrorism, security, strong and equipped Afghan national army and more US help for Afghan security forces.

General Ramms urged for strong and equipped Afghan forces assuring the President of more coordination in their military activities with Afghan forces. He haled the increased engagement by Afghan security forces in counter terrorism operations.

Czech decision of helping military choppers for Afghan army was another topic of discussion.

Admiral Fallen of the US Army discussed their joint counterterrorism efforts and reaffirmed his country’s continued commitment in strengthening and equipping the Afghan armed forces.

President Karzai thanked American people and praised Admiral Fallen for his positive role in helping the armed forces of Afghanistan.

More soldiers to Afghanistan

Aftenposten - Norway will send a new special force of 150 soldiers and two to three helicopters to Afghanistan in March

On Monday 260 Norwegian troops were engaged in combat with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, a continuation of hostilities that began over the weekend.

"It is completely necessary to increase the military presence in the area in order to create security," Strøm-Erichsen said after the meeting with the parliament's foreign committee on Tuesday morning.

Strøm-Erichsen said that if needed the Norwegian force could be sent to support planned operations in other areas, a tricky point for many Norwegian politicians who want the special force to remain in the quieter north.

The Defense Minister said that Norway would also step up its training of the Afghan army in order to support Afghan security forces, and that this would require another 50 Norwegian personnel.

From March Norway will have about 700 soldiers in Afghanistan, with this total going down to a bit over 500 in the second half of 2008.

Socialist Left (SV) Party member of parliament Hallgeir Langeland was furious at the government decision - SV is a member of the majority government coalition.

"This only makes the situation worse," Langeland told Aftenposten.no. "Norway should follow Japan - pull completely out of Afghanistan," he said, opening the way for a new round of internal squabbling within his party and the government alliance.

The government has decided to send the new force to the northern part of Afghanistan, a formerly more stable region currently facing growing Taliban activity.

"NATO is no more successful than others that have tried earlier. New soldiers is not an act that will change the situation," Langeland said after the government informed parliament of their decision on Tuesday.

Dutch weighing Afghan 'responsibilities': minister

Updated Sun. Nov. 4 2007 - CTV.ca News Staff

The Dutch government knows that if it decides to pull out of Afghanistan, it will make it more difficult for Canada to stay, says the Netherlands' defence minister.

"But we do realize in this country ... that we started a serious job that will take many, many years to help that country," Eimert van Middelkoop told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

Speaking from The Hague, the minister said that his country's Parliament will be debating the extension issue in December.

The Netherland's international responsibilities, along with its national interests, will be part of that debate, he said.

"For the whole of NATO ... it would be very difficult if one of the countries -- Canada or the Netherlands -- will say 'no,'" van Middelkoop said.

"If one of the countries will go home, all the problems of the other countries will increase. That is the international responsibility."

Van Middelkoop has been very critical of some NATO member countries over their reluctance to put troops and equipment in harm's way.

"There is no such thing as a free ride to peace and security. Fair risk and burden-sharing remain the leading principles of this alliance," he said during a meeting of NATO defence ministers in the Netherlands in late October.

In response, some countries promised small increases in the number of troops and military trainers. NATO will hold a meeting in Belgium this month to talk about more troops for the mission.

The Dutch commitment currently expires in August 2008. The government supports the mission's extension, but the overall Parliament will make the decision. The country's troops are operating in Uruzgan province, which lies immediately north of Kandahar province -- Canada's area of responsibility.

Twelve Dutch troops have died in Afghanistan, the latest in a roadside bombing on Saturday. About 1,700 Dutch troops are serving in Afghanistan.

Canada has lost 71 troops and one diplomat in Afghanistan since 2002. About 2,500 Canadian troops are serving ther.

Extending the mission has been a major political controversy in this country, with the minority Conservative government wanting to extend the current mission to 2011.

The three opposition parties oppose an extension of the current mission, which has seen Canadian troops in heavy combat. The NDP would like to see the troops brought home now.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has advocated that if Canada stays until 2011, Afghanistan's national army could be largely self-sufficient.

Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff, caused a furor when he said it could take a decade to develop Afghanistan's national army -- but he later said he's on the same page as the prime minister.

Van Middelkoop sided with Harper. If the Netherlands extends its commitment to 2010, "the Afghan National Army will be a very effective and realistic actor in the field, and then we can start an exit strategy," he said.

However, van Middelkoop didn't make it clear whether he was speaking about the Dutch operations in Uruzgan or NATO operations as a whole.

On the notion of success, "the term 'winning' is maybe a little bit risky," he said, noting the Dutch and Canadian troops aren't fighting a classic war.

"Winning is that at a certain moment, you can say to Kabul, to President (Hamid) Karzai, 'We think you can do it on your own,'" he said.

"It will be a responsible measure to say goodbye to you. The Taliban maybe will be there in some corners of your country, but they are not a real danger for Kandahar or Kabul. That, if you wish, is winning."

Ottawa overruled on Afghan detainees

Charter challenge can proceed, court says - DANIEL LEBLANC - From Tuesday's Globe and Mail November 6, 2007

OTTAWA — The Harper government failed in its first attempt to quash legal efforts by human-rights groups to halt the transfer of detainees to local authorities in Afghanistan.

In a ruling Monday, the Federal Court rejected Ottawa's argument that a beefed-up deal with the Afghans last May provided detainees all necessary protections against torture.

Madam Justice Anne Mactavish affirmed that Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association have the right to fight the matter on behalf of Afghan detainees, who have little or no access to Canadian courts.

The two groups launched a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms earlier this year against the transfer policy. They are seeking an injunction to prevent any more prisoners from being handed over to the Afghans.

Monday's decision means the case can continue through Federal Court, with Judge Mactavish calling on the parties involved to negotiate a schedule “as quickly as possible.”

“Suffice it to say at this juncture that the applicants have satisfied me that the application raises one or more serious issues and that the applicants have a fairly arguable case,” Judge Mactavish said.

The Department of National Defence did not comment on the matter Monday. However, the government has asked for 90 days to prepare its material, said Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.

Prof. Attaran, who has been working with Amnesty International and the BCCLA, called Monday's ruling a complete victory for his side and urged the government to stop delaying proceedings.

“We are going to try to get the courts to cease further transfers until the detainees are given real safety from torture, which they don't have, in Afghan hands,” he said.

New Democrat MP Dawn Black said she hopes that the legal proceedings will force the government to release information on detainees, including reports from officials who have visited Afghan jails.

The Harper government has been hounded about detainees since The Globe and Mail revealed last spring that, contrary to assertions from then-defence minister Gordon O'Connor, the Red Cross wasn't monitoring their status. Taliban prisoners have said their Afghan handlers tortured them after they were transferred by Canadian troops.

The government had argued in court last month that it would be up to the detainees themselves to sue if they have complaints about their treatment in Afghan jails.

But Judge Mactavish said that would be impossible for “logistical, educational, linguistic, cultural or economic considerations.

“I cannot agree that individuals who have been handed over to the custody of the Afghan government have any meaningful or realistic ability to mount a challenge in this country with respect to the conduct of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan,” Judge Mactavish said in the ruling.

The government also failed to persuade the Federal Court that the controversy ended last May with its second deal with the Afghans, under which Canadian officials can monitor the treatment of detainees.

“The applicants contend that the protections offered under the Second Arrangement are still not sufficient in the context of a country with as serious a history of systematic human-rights abuses as is the case with Afghanistan,” the ruling said.

Judge Mactavish did not rule on the government's argument that the applicants are trying to extend into Afghanistan the protection offered by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

She said it will be at the heart of future hearings. “In the circumstances, and without opining in any way as to whether the Charter does or does not apply in the circumstances of this case, I cannot conclude that this application for judicial review is so clearly improper as to be bereft of any possibility of success,” she said.

Canadian court case on Afghan prisoners to proceed

OTTAWA (AFP) — Rights groups' bid to stop the transfer of Taliban prisoners from Canadian custody to Afghan jails, where some inmates were allegedly tortured, will proceed despite government opposition, Canada's federal court ruled Monday.

"I am satisfied that the applicants should be granted public interest standing in this case," Justice Anne Mactavish said in her decision.

"While a number of the issues raised by this case are novel, I cannot say that they are clearly bereft of any chance of success. As a consequence, the (Canadian government's) motion to strike will be dismissed."

For months, the rights groups and opposition parties have sparred with the Canadian government over the treatment of Afghan prisoners handed to Afghan authorities.

The squabble ended up in court in February with Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association seeking an injunction to halt the transfers.

Subsequently, Ottawa signed a new pact with Kabul to give Canadian officials greater access to insurgents in Afghan jails, and asked Canada's federal court to adjourn the proceedings.

An investigative report by the daily Globe and Mail precipitated the controversy, uncovering "a litany of gruesome stories and a clear pattern of abuse by the Afghan authorities who work closely with Canadian troops."

The report, based on interviews with 30 former prisoners of Kandahar jails, said detainees suffered whippings with electrical cables, electric shocks, exposure to cold and beatings.

It contained no mention of any abuse by the 2,500 Canadian troops in Afghanistan engaged in a fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai also strongly rejected the allegations.

Man held in Afghanistan prison back in Calgary
CanWest News Service - Monday, November 05, 2007

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- A Calgary man is back home after being arrested in May on suspicions of terrorism and being imprisoned in Afghanistan.

Sohail Qureshi was deported back to Canada almost a month ago today, five months after a trip to Afghanistan resulted in him being thrown in jail. At the time, Afghan authorities alleged Mr. Qureshi had links to terrorism.

But an Afghanistan government official now says Mr. Qureshi, a University of Calgary computer science graduate in his mid-20s, had no such ties.

"We could not find any evidence to show this Canadian/Pakistani was linked with any terrorist group," Ghulam Sakhi Abbasi, a criminal and investigation official with Afghan intelligence services, said through an interpreter Monday.

A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said Qureshi was deported Oct. 9 -- a move requested by Afghan officials, Mr. Abbasi said. Canadian consular officials helped him return to Canada. The RCMP, meanwhile, confirmed Mr. Qureshi is back in Calgary.

"I can tell you that we are aware that he's here," said Sgt. Patrick Webb, who wouldn't confirm or deny whether Mr. Qureshi is the subject of any investigations.

The news of Mr. Qureshi's release and return came as a relief to some Calgary Muslims, who have been following the case closely.

"To know that this person is no longer the target they assumed that he was, or that he's no longer what they said was a 'homegrown terrorist' . . . is something we're really happy to hear," said Imam Saed Rageah, who knew Mr. Qureshi through prayers at a Calgary Islamic centre.

"He was a normal kid, any normal kid trying to live his daily life. I don't know him to be a child who was misled by anyone."

Mr. Qureshi's murky case, which had raised the spectre of homegrown terrorism, includes many twists and turns. He left Canada around February to travel abroad, but he didn't return in April as planned.

He was then arrested in Kabul in May. One Afghan official alleged then that Mr. Qureshi had "terrorist intentions," and was attempting to "contact some people in Kabul to organize something." Another report quoted Afghan government sources insisting Mr. Qureshi was part of a Canadian network supporting the Afghan insurgency.

Mr. Abbasi said Mr. Qureshi, a Canadian citizen with Pakistani roots, had a long beard when he was arrested while heading towards the Bagram Air Base on the outskirts of Kabul.

He told Afghan officials he couldn't get work in Canada and was looking for a job in the area. Mr. Abbasi said Mr. Qureshi told them: "I was suffering unemployment in Canada."

Mr. Qureshi had a Canadian passport but no Afghan visa, Mr. Abbasi said, adding Mr. Qureshi arrived in Afghanistan through Pakistan.

Mr. Qureshi told investigators he could speak both English and Pashto. Pashto is one of Afghanistan's two major languages, prominent in the southeast of Afghanistan and Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan.

That made Qureshi believe finding work in Afghanistan would be easier, Mr. Abbasi said.

Ron Hoffmann, the deputy head of Canada's embassy in Kabul, refused to comment on the case on Monday. "This person has legal privacy rights," Mr. Hoffmann said.

Afghan panel asks public for input

ALAN FREEMAN – The Globe and Mail - November 6, 2007

OTTAWA -- The Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan has launched its website and is formally seeking public input into its deliberations.

The panel, headed by former deputy prime minister John Manley, was named by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last month to come up with recommendations on what should become of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan after February of 2009.

Because of tight deadlines - its report is due by Jan. 31 - the five-member panel will not be holding public hearings. Instead, it has asked individuals and groups to make their submissions online about "how Canada's role in Afghanistan should be oriented post-2009."

Submissions should not be longer than 10 pages and are due by Dec. 1. The panel's website is http://www.independent-panel-independant.ca.

"The whole idea is to allow the public to submit stuff in a limited time frame," said a spokesman for the panel, which has assembled a staff of seven officials seconded from their regular positions in the federal government.

The panel has already held several meetings in Ottawa and by video conference and met a week ago with several non-governmental organizations. It is consulting experts and academics and plans trips to Afghanistan, Brussels, London, Washington and New York as part of its deliberations.

The panel's terms of reference ask it to consider four separate options for Canada's mission in Afghanistan, including a phased pullout after February, 2009, or a modification of the current combat role. However, public submissions can also propose other options.

Mr. Harper has already made it clear he believes the mission should be extended until 2011 to continue the training of the Afghan National Army.

In addition to Mr. Manley, panel members include former Tory energy minister Jake Epp, retired ambassador to Washington Derek Burney, former government bureaucrat and corporate executive Paul Tellier and broadcaster Pamela Wallin, who served a term as Canada's consul-general in New York.

It's believed that most members of the panel have declined any remuneration for their work even though the government issued an order-in-council setting per-diems for their time.

Taliban stealthily sought warlord's weapons cache

GRAEME SMITH - From Monday's Globe and Mail November 5, 2007

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — A secret objective of the Taliban's spectacular attack on Arghandab district last week was a brazen raid on a property owned by a former warlord, where the insurgents may have stolen cash, guns, or even Stinger missiles, Afghan officials say.

In the chaos of the insurgents' first major offensive on the northern approaches to Kandahar city, Taliban fighters seized control of Chahar Ghulba, a village about 10 kilometres north of the provincial capital.

The symbolism was immediately obvious: The village had been home to Mullah Naqib, a legendary warrior whose reign as the district's leading tribal elder had ensured the relative peace in Arghandab.

Mr. Naqib died of a heart attack last month, and the Taliban's occupation of his village emphasized how badly the district's security had deteriorated without him.

It was only after the Taliban fled, chased away by the Canadian troops and their local allies, that the government forces discovered signs the Taliban may have had a more tactical reason for raiding the village.

"The place where we were fighting, we found a lot of ditches, so maybe Taliban took away some weapons," said Lieutenant-Colonel Shirin Shah Kowbandi, commander of a battalion in the Afghan National Army's 205th Corps, who led Afghan forces against the Taliban in Arghandab. "I'm not sure yet."

Inside a compound that belonged to Mr. Naqib, piles of fresh soil were heaped around holes recently hacked into the earth, a local politician said.

The excavations were about a metre to a metre-and-a-half deep, he said, and nearby two metal shipping containers appeared to have been forced open.

Like other former warlords, Mr. Naqib had joined the new government's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) program, giving up the weapons he used to fight the Soviet invasion in the 1980s. But he was widely believed to keep a stash of spoils from his days as a warrior: perhaps only a cache of valuables, or maybe more weapons.

One provincial official said the rumours even included tales of hidden Stinger missiles, the anti-aircraft weapons supplied by the United States to the anti-Soviet resistance. Any leftover Stingers from the Cold War would have exceeded their shelf life, but might still prove tempting to curious Taliban who still lack an effective way of fighting NATO aircraft.

However, a former friend of Mr. Naqib said nothing of value was stored inside the compound.

The Taliban were mistakenly led on a treasure hunt, he said, by an insurgent sympathizer from Chahar Ghulba who believed the false rumours.

Zemarai Khan, Arghandab district police chief, gave a similar explanation: "They couldn't take weapons because there weren't any, although they searched many places," he said. "They got rice, oil, wheat, flour, but nothing else."

A Western security official said he heard another version of the story, saying it's possible that Mr. Naqib's tribesmen, the Alokozais, dug up weapons from his arsenal in the days before the Taliban's attack, knowing that insurgents were planning a sweep into the district.

All of the senior Alokozai vehemently deny the existence of any such arsenal. "We gave all the weapons to the DDR," Mr. Khan said. "We didn't keep any of them. I was a close friend of Naqib, and I know he didn't have any weapons."

If weapons were to have emerged from hiding places in Arghandab district, it would serve as another indicator of the rising instability on the Canadians' new northern front.

Since mid-2006, most of the Canadians' efforts have focused on defending Kandahar city from the southwest, and the emergence of heavy fighting north of the city has badly stretched the pro-government forces.

Despite those concerns, Canadian and Afghan security officials held a celebratory press conference Saturday. Their combined forces - in the end, 300 Canadian soldiers, 350 Afghan National Army troops with Canadian mentors, and 200 Afghan National Police with American mentors - quickly defeated a group of perhaps 300 Taliban who infiltrated the district, they said.

"This is the first time when the ANP, ANA and Canadians really worked together," said Lt.-Col. Thomas Ritz, an American police mentor. "This was a very big step on the part of all three agencies." He added: "The shock and violence of our action, without hurting the people of the Arghandab, took it to the enemy and swept them from the battlefield decisively."

Lessons learned in six months

A reporter for The State lists the key things he found out in Afghanistan

By CHUCK CRUMBO - ccrumbo@thestate.com

Editor’s note: Chuck Crumbo, The State’s military reporter, is returning to South Carolina for a break after spending six months in Afghanistan with the S.C. National Guard’s 218th Brigade Combat Team. We asked him to come up with five things he had learned about the Afghan war while overseas. Here’s his list:

1. IT’S STILL UP FOR GRABS

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s future is uncertain today, six years after a U.S.-led coalition drove Osama bin Laden and his band of terrorists into this country’s mountains.

In the past year, the United States has upped its commitment of troops and money. Some allies also are contributing more to the fight.

But the Taliban and bin Laden’s al-Qaida network appear to be on the comeback trail, fueled by cash from Afghanistan’s booming drug trade.

Because of that resurgence, the 1,800 soldiers of the S.C. National Guard’s 218th Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan find themselves in a increasingly dangerous combat zone.

Suicide bombings are up 30 percent this past year, and more people have died in violent incidents than in any year since the coalition ousted the Taliban and al-Qaida from power in 2001.

Forty-six percent of Afghans list security as their top concern, ahead of unemployment, corruption and lack of education, according to a recent poll.

Kidnappings of foreigners also are on the rise. Even the S.C. troops, who formerly drove Ford Ranger pickups between Kabul’s Camp Phoenix and nearby bases, have switched to armored Humvees.

How did 2001’s good news story go bad?

One word: Iraq.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq diverted troops and cash from Afghanistan, giving the terrorists a chance to regroup.

They now control large chunks of southern Afghanistan and are pressuring Pakistan, which has stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

Today, the United States is stuck fighting on two fronts — in Afghanistan and Iraq. And just about everyone in uniform concedes Afghanistan is the second priority.

2. IT’S GOING TO BE A LONG HAUL

The allies’ patience and the Afghans’ determination to keep the Taliban out of power will be keys to bringing this country back from the brink of failure.

More than 40,000 troops from the United States and 36 other nations are part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The United States also has 14,000 more troops under its direct control in the country.

But putting more muscle into Afghanistan alone won’t solve this country’s problems. It will take political resolve and solutions, analysts say.

That means resources are needed to develop Afghanistan’s education and health systems and pump up its economy so it can rely on something other than the poppy-opium trade.

Also, the government of President Hamid Karzai has little influence beyond the Afghan capital of Kabul.

One problem is the central government’s primary force in local communities — its police force — is regarded as weak and corrupt. In the troubled southern provinces, for instance, the cops are known to rob motorists at checkpoints because their supervisors have stolen their pay.

3. CORRUPTION, POVERTY HELP TALIBAN

Afghanistan is the fourth-most corrupt country in the world, according to one recent survey.

That corruption is fueled by the country’s emergence as a narco-state. Its poppy farmers produce 93 percent of the world’s supply of illicit opium, a figure expected to increase to 95 percent by the end of the year.

Illicit drug sales account for about a third of the country’s $10 billion-a-year gross domestic product. Much of that money goes to the Taliban, which provides farmers the connections and protection they need to process, ship and sell their opium.

Drug money also has contributed to the surge in suicide bombings. The Taliban pays $3,600 to a bomber’s family, according to various reports. That is a fortune in a country were the average household income is about $330 a year.

The country’s 40 percent jobless rate also helps keep the Taliban in business.

The Taliban can pay fighters about $250 a month, compared with the $100 a month an Afghan soldier or police officer makes, a U.S. commander said.

Also, there are part-time insurgents who aren’t necessarily Taliban supporters. They find it hard to turn down $50 to plant a roadside bomb.

4. WAGING A WAR ON AFGHAN CIVILIANS

The Taliban and other insurgent fighters increasingly are attacking the Afghan civilian population instead of tangling with coalition and Afghan military forces, which have superior firepower and equipment.

U.S. military sources say 4,000 enemy fighters have been killed in southern and eastern Afghanistan, areas where the Taliban is strongest. Still, the Taliban force is estimated to be about 10,000 strong.

Outnumbered and badly beat up, the Taliban has recruited suicide bombers to inflict casualties on the civilian population.

The Taliban’s hope is Afghanistan’s civilians will grow weary of the attacks and demand the U.S. and its coalition partners leave in order to end the violence.

There also are reasons for concern about the outlook for improved civilian security.

U.S. commanders say a battle for the heart and soul of the Taliban is under way. Taliban leaders who are on the way up are even more brutal than those who now command the insurgents, those U.S. commanders say.

5. AFGHANS STILL BACK U.S., ALLIES

Just about everywhere you go, children wave to S.C. Guard soldiers. Even if the children only are hoping to get a piece of candy, that positive interaction still is a good indication of their parents’ feelings about U.S. and coalition soldiers, commanders say.

Public opinion seems to back up that assessment. Despite an increase in civilian deaths in the fighting, more that 60 percent of Afghans want coalition troops to stay until the fledgling Afghan army and national police force can take up the fight.

One reason the Afghans back the coalition forces is that almost half say their families are better off today than when the Taliban ruled. More than 80 percent don’t want the Taliban back in power, some surveys have found.

However, realizing foreign troops can’t stay forever, Afghans also think their country can and should take over the fight against the insurgents. More than 80 percent of Afghans express confidence in the ability of their army and police to take up the fight, another poll found.

Despite war, Afghanistan’s beauty survives

Online - International News Network, Pakistan, Monday 05th November, 2007
KABUL - I’m 40 minutes into my flight -- glass of white wine in one hand, book in the other -- when it dawns on me that this is no ordinary vacation: I’m going to Afghanistan.

Like many people, I have an image of Afghanistan shaped by what I read and see in the media. Women in blue burqas, fields of opium poppies, fierce-looking turbaned men, tanks churning through dust.

That may well be true, but what I found on a weeklong trip was a surprisingly green country with incredibly welcoming people. I sometimes saw, peeping from beneath those enveloping burqas, strappy high-heeled sandals and crimson toenails.

I climbed the ruins of 12th-century citadels sacked by Genghis Khan, drank cardamom tea beneath a canopy of fruit trees in the Panjshir Valley, and explored the empty niches of 5th-century Buddhas blown up by the Taliban in Bamiyan.

With suicide attacks in the capital, kidnappings of foreigners and a resurgence of the extremist Taliban in the south, Afghanistan doesn’t get many tourists.

Most Western countries advise against all but necessary travel to Afghanistan; some countries have banned it. The U.S. State Department warns of "an ongoing threat to kidnap and assassinate U.S. citizens." Still, a few travel agencies, many run by former backpackers, will arrange trips.

For me, it had become a tradition to do something unusual on my birthday. After e-mails with security agencies, friends who lived in Afghanistan and, by chance, the son of a former Afghan diplomat, I had a loose itinerary: Kabul, Bamiyan and the Panjshir Valley.

Independent travel is not easy or recommended, especially for a single Western woman. I had two choices: using a foreign-run travel agency in Afghanistan, spending upward of $1,000 a day, or hiring a driver for a third the cost.

A friend recommended her driver, Shahabudin Sultani, a Bamiyan native dressed impeccably in a traditional Afghan tunic and trousers. At 6:30 a.m., we loaded bottles of water and bags of almonds and apricots into a minivan for the journey.

Although it is only 150 miles from Kabul, the drive to Bamiyan takes more than 10 hours along a dirt path that winds high up into the snowcapped Koh-i-Baba mountains before dipping into a verdant valley. The faster route -- from the south -- is not recommended.

Dotted along the red craggy cliffs are dozens of fortresslike mud and brick houses with high walls pockmarked by rocket and bullet holes, ubiquitous reminders of war. Children run along the path switching at donkeys or herding goats past rusting Soviet tanks and abandoned mortar guns, some of them used as makeshift dams or bridges.

War has been a constant in Afghanistan, and the Bamiyan Buddhas were silent witness to much of it. The 174- and 125-foot-tall statues were hewn out of the cliffs when Bamiyan, on the fabled Silk Road that linked Rome to China, was a thriving center of Buddhism and culture. They survived the violent introduction of Islam in the 7th century, though Islamic leaders ordered their gilded faces and hands sliced off. They escaped the rage of Genghis Khan, who razed the entire valley to avenge the loss of his favorite grandson at the battle for Bamiyan’s Red City in 1221.

In the decade of resistance against the Soviets, the honeycomb network of 2,000 caves surrounding the statues housed thousands of refugees. Then came the Taliban, who promised to preserve the Buddhas, then blew them up in 2001.

I stayed at the Roof of Bamiyan hotel in a yurt -- a small round hut made of mud and straw and covered inside with Afghan carpets. The next morning, as I watched the sun cast a honey hue across the valley of green and beige fields, it was not hard to imagine how the Buddhas’ gold- and jewel-encrusted face would have shimmered as it caught the light.

headed to the village for a better look. Though Bamiyan is one of the safest places in Afghanistan, I covered my arms and legs and twisted a scarf around my head. I picked my way through the dusty pathways of the village, drawing a few stares and the occasional smile. The towering niches, though empty, are more impressive close up. It’s still possible to see the statues’ outlines, and some parts remain as if in bas relief.

Most people leave after seeing the Buddhas, but there are other sites worth seeing, including the lakes of Band-i-Amir, five pools of sapphire blue set amid desert canyons, and the ruins of the Red City and the City of Screams, which were built in the 12th century and razed by Genghis Khan a century later.

The Red City, or Shahr-i-Zohak, sprawls over three levels atop a red cliff mountain at the entrance to the Bamiyan valley. Sultani, my driver, used to play there as a boy. He practically skips to the top, following our mandatory military guide while I scramble up the path behind. I cling to parts of the citadel’s fortifications and keep an eye out for red-painted rocks, an indication of land mines.

For my last adventure in Bamiyan, we head to Dragon’s Valley, a ridge in a valley of undulating anonymous gray sand dunes. Legend has it that a dragon terrorized locals, demanding a young girl each day to eat, until dragon slayer Hazrat Ali split the beast in two with his sword and left a fissure 3 feet wide at some points. His deed sparked a mass conversion to Islam.

The ribbed mountain does look like a dragon’s scaly back. Inside the chasm you can hear the dragon’s mournful rumbling -- bubbling spring water streaming like tears from his eyes.

Over the next few days I pack in a day trip to the Panjshir Valley, visiting the marble and stone tomb of Ahmad Shah Masood, a resistance hero who was assassinated by al-Qaeda a few days before the Sept. 11 attacks. The tomb is high on a hill with a commanding view of the valley he defended from Soviet troops.

Early the next day, Great Game Travel company picks me up for a daylong tour of Kabul that jumps from the 5th-century city wall to 16th-century Babur Gardens to the Kabul market.

Standing on a hill looking over the city, guide Ghulam Sakhi Danishjo points out the Kabul stadium where the Taliban once carried out public executions.

What happens there now? "Oh," says Sakhi, "now, they just play soccer."

Afghan Wireless Announces Completion of Digital Microwave Ring

By Anshu Shrivastava - TMCnet Contributing Editor

Afghan Wireless has announced the completion of its high capacity digital Microwave Ring around the country, which it says is the first such accomplishment in the country.

The Microwave ring offers immense capacity, with a minimum of STM1 connectivity (155Mbps) and redundancy, while providing connectivity across the country. The ring covers a distance of 2,500 km as it passes through 18 provinces. Company officials say the ring ensures coverage to 31 provinces, more than 250 towns, cities, highways, and also ensures GSM service to the largest customer base in Afghanistan.

Ehsanullah Bayat, Chairman at Afghan Wireless, said, “Since most of the country of Afghanistan is covered with mountains, it is extremely difficult to build a network based on fiber optics and terrestrial links.”

He pointed out that most operators in Afghanistan prefer to roll out faster, using satellite links to remote locations.  Afghan Wireless, however, believes in providing high quality GSM services to its customers, therefore, opting for the Microwave route over the easier satellite route.

Bayat expects that, in the future — when Data services would be moving over GPRS, EDGE, and leased lines, and eventually 3G — Microwave ring would have an important role in providing the necessary bandwidth.

The Afghan Wireless Microwave Ring connects the North of the Country in Mazar, Takhar, Badakshan, and Kunduz, to Kabul over the Salang, which is further connected in the South to Kandahar and Spinboldak.

In addition, it connects West from Kandahar, passing through Hilmand, Nimroz and Farah, to reach Herat. It also extends from Herat to Mazar via Badghees, Faryab and Jawjan provinces. In the East, the ring connects Kabul to Jalalabad and the Turkham Border, along with the Kunar Valley. It also connects Gardez and Khost in the South East of the country.

Anshu Shrivastava is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Afghan woman poet Nadia Anjuman remembered two years on

Kabul (AFP) - Two years ago police discovered the battered body of Nadia Anjuman, a young Afghan poet already known in literary circles for her poignant poems about the misery of being a woman in Afghanistan. Police arrested her husband on charges of beating her to death in their home in the western city of Herat; he confessed to the assault but not to murder. Today the case is classified by the courts as "suicide."

The death of the 25-year-old thrust her work into the spotlight and today her poems -- written in the Dari language, which is close to Persian -- have been translated into several languages. They speak of the pain of Afghan women, trapped in a conservative culture torn apart by nearly three decades of war that were followed by the 1996-2001 rule of the extremist Taliban -- known for their harsh treatment of women.

An extract from "Useless", for example, reads: "Happy the day when I will break the cage/When I will leave this solitude and sing with abandon/I am not a weak tree that sways with every breeze/I am an Afghan girl and it is right that I always cry."

Anjuman's work evokes "a great sorrow directly linked to her status as a woman and an Afghan," says Leili Anvar, a literature expert who has translated some of her poems into French. Under the Taliban, girls could not go to school, women were barred from working and confined largely to their homes.

The removal of the fundamentalist regime has seen few improvements to the lives of most Afghan women, who suffer abuse and discrimination. Women still chose to end their lives through self-immolation, including in Herat, an ancient city of two million people and known for its art, culture and literature.

Anjuman "was becoming a great Persian poet", the head of the respected Herat Literary Circle, Ahmad Said Haqiqi, said at the time of her death on November 4, 2005. Anvar, who has dedicated several pages of an upcoming anthology of Afghan poetry to Anjuman, agrees. "When one considers her age, the extreme maturity of her work is astonishing," she says.

Anjuman "showed a great mastery of Persian free verse and of the music of language," she told AFP. One of the late poet's professors at the University of Herat, Mohammad Daud Munir, says her work showed a "deep and comprehensive thought."

"Her absence has left a gap in the literary community of Herat," he said.

Anjuman's first collection, "Gul-e-dodi" ("Dark Red Flower"), came out a few months before she died and while she was a university student. The Herat Literary Circle has since released a second collection of 80 poems and her work is regularly published, Munir says.

Abroad, beside the publication due in France, Anjuman's work has also been translated into English and Italian. The memory of the young woman is fresh among those who were close to her. Her best friend, Nahid Baqi, who studied with her at university, is bitter.

"Everyone wants to forget," she told AFP. "There was pressure on the authorities to conclude that it was a suicide."

Anjuman's husband, Farid Ahmad Majeednia, who is the head of the Herat University library, says she has written only about the Taliban period and before she was married.

"All of her poems are a narration of sorrow and sadness which is a result of being imprisoned behind home walls," says Majeednia, who is raising the couple's young daughter.

"Now almost two years later, my hands and legs still tremble when I think of her death and her absence," he says. "After Nadia's death lots of things have ended for me."

[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.]