In this bulletin:

• Afghans bury lawmakers killed in deadly attack
• Afghanistan holds funeral for MPs
• Afghans grieve for bombing victims
• Many questions over Afghan blast
• Security Council slams suicide bombing in Afghanistan
• China condemns suicide bombing in Afghanistan
• Seven police killed by Taliban insurgents in S Afghanistan
• Afghan army leader says poor weapons putting his soldiers at risk
• Dutch parliament supports extension of military mission in Afghanistan
• 3 Pakistani Soldiers Found Dead Near Afghan Border
• Pakistan instability could endanger Canada's troops
• Musharraf's grip is looking unbreakable
• Taliban stage a coup of their own
• General’s troops routed by zealots imposing Sharia on tourist haven
• Opinion: Germany Has No Role to Play in Enduring Freedom
• Heroin smuggler is jailed for 16 years in Afghanistan
• ADB to grant 176 mln usd to fund
• ISAF gives seven villages in Baghlan pure water
• First ever female boxing federation established in Afghanistan
• Teacher brings Afghanistan for show and tell

Afghans bury lawmakers killed in deadly attack

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Security was tight in Kabul on Thursday as thousands of people attended a funeral for lawmakers killed in Afghanistan's deadliest-ever suicide attack.

The blast killed at least 73 people — most of them schoolchildren — Tuesday in northern Afghanistan.

At the funeral, clerics recited prayers in a field as the flag-draped bodies of five slain lawmakers and their five bodyguards were lowered into the ground. A sixth lawmaker was to be buried in the southern province of Helmand, officials said.

Hundreds of relatives cried and rushed toward the grave as the body of opposition lawmaker Sayed Mustafa Kazimi was lowered into the ground. Local and international dignitaries stood in silence.

Hundreds of police and army troops were deployed throughout Kabul, the nation's capital. Authorities blocked several streets, fearing bomb attacks.

Tuesdays' attack came just as the lawmakers were about to visit a sugar factory in Baghlan province, where schoolchildren, tribal elders and government officials had lined the streets to greet them.

Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayed Khail said the attack wounded 106 people, and authorities were investigating whether some casualties were caused by gunfire that erupted after the incident in Baghlan, about 95 miles north of Kabul.

Two Afghans were arrested over the attack. Khail said they had ordered women to leave the area before the bombing, raising officials' suspicions.

A deputy education minister, Abdul Ghafor Ghazniwal, said students he had visited in Kabul hospitals told him a conservative cleric had urged female students to go home because they should not be out in public.

Dr. Khalil Narmgui of the Baghlani-jadid hospital said 62 people were buried Wednesday in Baghlan.

Most of those killed were students, Narmgui said, though he did not have an exact figure. The Ministry of Education confirmed at least 18 schoolchildren and five teachers had been killed.

Gunfire erupted from security personnel for a short time after the explosion, said Narmgui, who was at the blast site.

"I ran into a compound, and when the gunfire stopped, I came out and saw that there were dead bodies everywhere," he said.

Five people were treated for bullet wounds in Baghlani-jadid hospital, Narmgui said. Baghlan's governor, Halam Isakzai, said it was "possible" some victims were killed by the gunfire.

Sayed Mohammad Bakir Hashimi, a Shiite cleric in Kabul, saw three bullets wounds — one on the chest and two on the hand — on the body of lawmaker Sayed Mustafa Kazimi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's largest opposition political group.

President Hamid Karzai declared three days of mourning. He called the blast a "terrorist attack," but neither Karzai nor any other officials publicly named any suspects, and no group has claimed responsibility.

The Taliban on Tuesday denied it had carried out the bombing.

Afghanistan holds funeral for MPs

By Alix Kroeger BBC News, Kabul

The funerals have taken place in Kabul of five Afghan MPs who were killed in a bombing on Tuesday in the northern province of Baghlan.

They were buried beside the Afghan parliament under tight security.

Funerals for the rest of the victims, including a sixth MP and dozens of schoolchildren from Baghlan, took place on Wednesday.

The blast was the most serious aimed at politicians since the Taleban were ousted from power in 2001.

Thousands of people came to the parliament in Kabul to pay their respects to the MPs killed in Tuesday's bombing.

Security was tight. Armed police were on the streets, checking cars and directing traffic.

Since parliament was restored after the fall of the Taleban, two other MPs had been assassinated in separate incidents, but this is by far the worst violence to target politicians.

The MPs came from different provinces of Afghanistan, different ethnic groups and religious traditions.

A cleric at the funeral sang prayers of the Hazara people, traditionally the underdogs of Afghan society, for Mustafa Kazimi, the most prominent of the dead MPs.

Neither a perpetrator nor a motive has been identified for the bombing.

However, there are persistent claims - including from some MPs - that the bombing was not a suicide attack, but an explosion from a rocket or a roadside bomb.

In Baghlan, one man has been arrested and is being questioned.

If it was not a suicide bombing, then the range of suspects widens considerably, to take in local warlords or even economic disputes over the forthcoming privatisation of a cement factory.

Afghans grieve for bombing victims

Karzai declares three days of mourning after suicide attack

Kelly Cryderman The Calgary Herald; with files from Reuters
Thursday, November 08, 2007

KABUL - Afghanistan mourned its dead yesterday after a massive explosion ripped through a crowd of children, teachers and politicians.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Peter MacKay wrapped up a four-day visit by expressing condolences on behalf of Canadians.

The blast in Baghlan is believed to be Afghanistan's most devastating suicide bombing. The bodies of six parliamentarians were returned to Kabul from the northern province yesterday.

The governor of northern Baghlan province, Alam Ishaqzy, said last night that the number of casualties had increased to 52 dead and 106 wounded from the previous toll of 41 dead and 80 wounded.

Yesterday also marked the beginning of three days of national mourning, with the flag at the presidential palace flying at half-staff.

"In the very miserable incident ... six of Afghanistan's hard-working, honest members of parliament were martyred, and Afghan people including school teachers, students and children were also martyred, and many were wounded," President Hamid Karzai told a news conference in Kabul.

Mr. MacKay met with the Mr. Karzai, along with Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and other Afghan officials, yesterday.

"This is an undeniable tragedy and one that has shocked many, and yet this is not going to deter the Afghan people on their road to a stable, democratic, fully functioning society -- one that embraces many of the same set of values that we hold dear in our country," Mr. MacKay said.

"We have to steel ourselves to the fact that we're not where we want to be just yet on the security situation, that many challenges still lie ahead."

The blast, in the relatively peaceful north, has shaken public confidence in the ability of the government and the 50,000 foreign troops in the country to provide security more than six years after the Taliban were ousted.

The Taliban have carried out more than 130 suicide bombings in Afghan-istan so far this year, but the insurgents denied responsibility for Tuesday's attack on visiting parliamentarians as they were being greeted by schoolchildren and elders.

Mr. MacKay had his own brush with violence this week as he toured Canadian bases in Kandahar province in the south of the country.

During the early minutes of their official meeting in a marbled room in the palace, Mr. Karzai asked Mr. MacKay how close he was to a rocket that hit a Canadian forward operating base Tuesday -- at the same time the minister toured the camp.

"Close enough," Mr. MacKay replied.

"That is very, very bad," Mr. Karzai said.

Mr. MacKay was unhurt in the attack, but four Canadian soldiers were slightly injured. It's not believed that Mr. MacKay was a particular target.

Many questions over Afghan blast

By Alix Kroeger BBC News, Kabul Wednesday, 7 November 2007

In the northern Afghan city of Baghlan, the immediate shock is over.

Funerals for the schoolchildren killed in the blast have already taken place and the MPs will be buried on Thursday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has spoken of the need to fight extremism.

Forensic investigators are working at the scene.

But questions remain unanswered, among them the most important: who carried out the attack?

The Taleban have categorically denied responsibility. They say such an attack goes against their principles - they do not target civilians.

But so far, suicide bombs in Afghanistan have exclusively been the work of the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

Taleban denial

Even within the Taleban, there are different factions.

One of them is led by the warlord and former mujahideen, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, originally from Baghlan.

His fighters are known to be active in Baghlan province but they, too, have said they were not involved.

Shukria Barakzai, an MP with the opposition Third Line political group, believes the Taleban were responsible.

"No-one else could do it," she says. "Suicide attacks came (to Afghanistan) with them. Even during the Soviet regime, there were no suicide attacks. They are un-Islamic."

There is a good reason why, even if they were involved in the Baghlan bombing, the Taleban would want to distance themselves from it.

When air strikes by Nato and US-led forces kill Afghan civilians, the Taleban uses the deaths to discredit the international military presence here.

For them to cause the deaths of so many civilians would stir up widespread public anger.

But if the Taleban did not do it, who did?

Rival militias

Baghlan province has been relatively unscathed by the insurgency that is wracking the south of the country, but it suffers from other forms of instability.

Private militias operate there. The main road to Baghlan from the south is, like many Afghan roads, a route used by drug traffickers.

"If the Taleban say it was not them, it could be some rival groups or someone inside," says Wadil Sofai, lecturer in law and politics at the University of Kabul.

The governorate of Baghlan changed hands three times last year.

Afghanistan's politics are notoriously factional, but the MPs who died in Baghlan came from all political and ethnic groups.

Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, the director of the Regional Studies Centre of Afghanistan, believes the real target was the authority of the parliament itself.

"The parliament is the symbol of the establishment of the new democracy in Afghanistan," he says.

And Dr Sofai says the bombing has dented confidence in the government: "No family will be ready to send its children to welcome authorities or personalities from now on."

He believes the Afghan government which took power after the fall of the Taleban has failed at a fundamental level. It has been unable to ensure the safety of its citizens or to make important reforms.

"Karzai cannot remove bribery and corruption. He cannot ensure that social justice is there. This government is ineffective. It doesn't have the capacity to lead. There is nothing I can propose to the government to do because it cannot do anything," he says.

Spreading instability

Shukria Barakzai says the Baghlan bombing shows that MPs are a soft target. And she warns that instability in the north will increase.

"People think of the south as unstable, but nowhere is safe. The government must provide more security, not just for MPs, but all the people."

So why was security for the MPs' visit so lax? How could a suicide bomber get so close to the visiting dignitaries?

One MP who was supposed to take part in the delegation but could not go because of illness says it was because the MPs themselves did not request extra security.

But he said the government still had a responsibility to protect its people.

Another puzzling aspect of the Baghlan bombing is the sheer number of people killed, making it the deadliest such attack in Afghanistan's history.

Put bluntly, most suicide bombings here kill only the bombers themselves.

There are still some people who believe, partly because of the devastating death toll, that it was not a suicide bomb at all.

Forensic investigators are now at work in Baghlan, but it will be some time before their findings are released.

Either way, it is a grim reminder that the underlying causes of the violence in Afghanistan have not been resolved, and the instability is likely to worsen still further.

Security Council slams suicide bombing in Afghanistan

11 hours ago

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council slammed the "terrorist attack" which killed 52 people, including six lawmakers, in northern Afghanistan and voiced concern at the increasing threat posed by Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists.

"The members of the Council condemned in the strongest terms the suicide attack against a visiting parliamentary delegation that caused numerous deaths" in Baghlan, northern Afghanistan, said a non-binding statement released by Indonesia's UN Ambassador Marty Natalegawa on behalf of the 15-member body.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon Tuesday also slammed what he called a "heinous attack".

Council members also reiterated their concern "at the increasing threat to the local population, national security forces, international military and international assistance efforts posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, illegal armed groups, criminals and those involved in the narcotics trade."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier Wednesday declared three days of national mourning for the victims of Tuesday's mayhem.

The extremist Taliban movement has been behind most of a mounting number of suicide attacks in Afghanistan but denied it was involved in Tuesday's blast.

Taliban insurgents have in the past three years dramatically stepped up their use of suicide bombings in a campaign against Karzai's Western-backed government that Afghan officials say is plotted in Pakistan.

China condemns suicide bombing in Afghanistan

2007-11-08 19:05:52 Editor: Wang Hongjiang

BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday strongly condemned a suicide bombing that happened in Afghanistan on Tuesday and expressed condolences to victims.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao made the remarks on Thursday at a regular press conference.

The suicide bombing was reported to have killed dozens of children and parliamentarians at a sugar factory in Baghlan province north of Kabul.

China also expressed its sympathy to the injured people and the family members of the victims of the bombing, Liu said.

Liu noted that as a friendly neighbor to Afghanistan, China would continue as usual to support the Afghan government's unremitting efforts to crack down on terrorist forces and to safeguard domestic stability.

Seven police killed by Taliban insurgents in S Afghanistan

2007-11-08 22:18:32 Editor: Yan Liang

KABUL, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- A group of Taliban insurgents ambushed and killed seven policemen in southern Afghan province of Zabul, a local official said Thursday.

The Taliban insurgents attacked police in a highway of Shah joy district in Zabul province Thursday afternoon and escaped after fierce fighting which claimed seven policemen, Abdul Ahmad, provincial deputy police chief of highway, told Xinhua.

There is no report of casualties in Taliban side, and the militants have yet to make comment.

Militancy and conflicts have claimed the lives of more than 5,600 people so far this year in the war-torn Afghanistan.

Japan's Afghan mission part of broad effort: Gates

By Andrew Gray | November 8, 2007

TOKYO (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Japan on Thursday to resume a naval mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan that has been stalled by a domestic political controversy.

The Japanese refueling mission was halted this month after government and opposition could not agree to renew it.

Aware of Japanese opposition criticism that it lacks a United Nations mandate, Gates portrayed the Japanese mission as part of a comprehensive international effort.

"This is not really a bilateral matter between the United States and Japan, but rather Japan's contribution to a broad international coalition that is involved in trying to bring freedom, and keep freedom, in Afghanistan," Gates said.

More than 40 countries involved in efforts to stabilize Afghanistan benefited directly or indirectly from Japan's mission, he said after talks with Japanese leaders in Tokyo.

"We are grateful for this international role that Japan has played and we appreciate the efforts of the government to renew the fuelling operation," he said.

Over the six years of the mission, Japan has supplied free fuel and water worth about 22 billion yen ($195 million) to U.S. and other coalition ships patrolling the Indian Ocean for drug runners, gun smugglers and suspected terrorists.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda wants to pass legislation to resume the mission, but opposition Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa has so far refused, arguing a U.N. mandate is needed.

"PERCEIVED AS PASSIVE"

Seeking to build domestic support for the mission, Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said it was consistent with Japan's national interest and its responsibilities to the international community.

"If the suspension continues for a long time, our position on the war against terror may be perceived as passive," he said at a news conference with Gates. "This would not be to the benefit of our country."

Japanese voters are divided over the mission. The Democrats and their allies have vowed to vote against a new bill in parliament's upper house, where they have a majority and can delay bills.

Faced with that obstacle, parties in the ruling coalition agreed on Thursday to extend the current session of parliament, set to end on November 10, until December 15.

Japanese ships have supplied about 7 percent of the fuel to the U.S.-led coalition in the past few years, Washington says.

While that figure is a small proportion of the total, the United States argues it is still an important contribution to the war on terrorism declared by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks.

U.S. officials said they hoped Gates' visit would help switch the focus away from disputes on individual topics in favor of a broader view of the importance of cooperation between the United States and Japan on security issues.

Gates, who visited China and South Korea earlier this week, had lunch with U.S. military personnel, part of a contingent of some 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.

Afghan army leader says poor weapons putting his soldiers at risk

1 hour ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The buildup of the Afghan National Army, considered an integral part of Canada's 'exit strategy,' will continue at a snail's pace unless NATO provides better weaponry, a senior Afghan military commander says.

There currently are about 38,000 soldiers in the Afghan army, about half the number believed necessary to keep the Taliban at bay on its own.

Canadian commanders have nothing but praise for the bravery of Afghan troops, who only earn about US$100 a month.

But after years of work and training, there are still only about two battalions of Afghan soldiers in Kandahar province where most Canadian soldiers are based.

The matter was raised when Gen. Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff, visited Afghanistan last month.

"An army is what's required to allow them to keep their security, so that's a long-term project," Hillier told reporters.

"It's going to take 10 years or so just to work through and build an army to whatever the final number that Afghanistan will have, and make them professional and let them meet their security demands here," he said.

Bravery aside, Afghan soldiers are in dire need of better weapons, said the commander of the Kandak 21 battalion, which has been working with the Canadian Operational Mentoring Liaison Team.

Most Afghan troops are armed with old Soviet AK-47s and covet the same kinds of firearms being used by Canadian and American troops.

"We are still having the same old weapons. The same complaints exist," Lt.-Col. Shirin Shah Kowbandi told The Canadian Press.

"The Canadian teams, when they first arrived for the training, said they would try and provide us with the good weapons but unfortunately we have not received any (such) weapons yet," he noted. "The old weapons are still misfiring."

What worries him the most is the danger his men are in when doing battle against the Taliban.

"It is a very bad effect indeed. It puts them in danger. If the weapon is not good the soldier is not courageous to go towards the enemy and fight because he does not trust his weapon," said Shirin Shah.

That, he said, also makes it harder to recruit new soldiers into the ANA.

Better firearms are not all the Afghan Army needs. The military vehicle used by the ANA is the Ford Ranger truck with a mounted machine-gun. It's not uncommon to see a dozen soldiers on the trucks, with rifles and rocket launchers slung over their shoulders, heading off to battle.

Shirin Shah said he worries that Hillier may be too optimistic on the time frame for an independent Afghan army.

"I acknowledge his words. He was right. If the process is going the same slow speed as it is going on now I would say it would take more than the 10 years," he warned.

"But if the process gets improved and the weapons are provided as soon as possible, it wouldn't take 10 years."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledged the needs of the Afghan military while in Kandahar this week and promised help is on its way.

"We've been working with other NATO countries to identify firstly what they need most," MacKay said during his recent trip.

"We had hoped to have an announcement this week. There's an announcement coming very soon in that regard with some of that equipment."

"Clearly, as time progresses, we will be working with others to secure larger, more functional equipment that will provide them the ability to do more of their own security," he said. "But they need training in that equipment first."

Shirin Shah has been battling the Taliban for more than 15 years dating to his time as a commander with the Northern Alliance.

Despite a recent offensive by the Taliban in the Arghandab district, north of Kandahar city, the insurgents have been weakened and do not have the support of the Afghan people, he said.

"The Taliban are detested by the civilians and they have now no way except to give up," he said.

"Many Taliban have (already) surrendered," he added.

Terrorism cannot divert Afghanistan from path toward peace – Security Council

8 November 2007 – The Security Council today strongly condemned the suicide attack which claimed the lives of numerous civilians in the northern Afghan town of Baghlan just days ago, reiterating that no act of terrorism can reverse the country’s path toward peace.

In a statement read out to the press by Ambassador R. M. Marty M. Natalegawa of Indonesia, which holds the rotating Council Presidency for this month, the 15-member body noted that “this terrorist attack was one of the deadliest in Afghanistan in recent years and heinously targeted innocent people, including children and representatives of the Afghan democratic institutions.”

Adding its voice to those of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN human rights chief Louise Arbour in condemning the 6 November attack, which killed over 40 people and injured many more, the Council urged the Afghan authorities to do everything possible to bring the perpetrators and organizers of the bombing to justice.

While expressing concern about the increasing level of violence in the country, the Council reiterated that “no terrorist act can reverse the path toward peace, democracy and reconstruction in Afghanistan, which is supported by the people and the Government of Afghanistan and the international community.”

Dutch parliament supports extension of military mission in Afghanistan

www.chinaview.cn 2007-11-08 22:22:36 Editor: Yan Liang

BRUSSELS, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Labor Party, one of the three Dutch coalition parties, supports an extension of the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan, clearing the way for Dutch troops to stay on after August next year, Dutch paper De Volkskrant reported Thursday.

While some Labor lawmakers feel an extension of three to six months should be sufficient, a majority of the party support an 18-month extension after the current mission expires in August 2008, the report said.

The Labor support means that a majority in the Dutch parliament is now in favor of extending Dutch involvement in Afghanistan. This smoothes the way for the cabinet to announce a decision on extension later this month.

The two other coalition partners, the Christian Democrats and the Christian Union, have already given their backing to a longer stay. But the Labor party appeared to have considerable difficulty reaching agreement on the issue.

Insiders say that after several rounds of discussions in the party, the general feeling is "there will be a responsible phasing out of the mission," the newspaper said.

The Netherlands has some 1,700 troops in Afghanistan, mainly involved in reconstruction in the southern province of Uruzgan. Twelve soldiers have so far died on active duty in the region.

The Dutch government is under pressure from NATO allies to stay longer. Both Canada and Australia have said their own position depends on what the Dutch do.

In October, Dutch Chief of Staff Dick Berlijn advised the government to extend the Dutch mission for two years but with a reduced number of soldiers. The Dutch cabinet is to make a formal decision by the end of this month.

3 Pakistani Soldiers Found Dead Near Afghan Border

By VOA News 08 November 2007

Pakistani security officials say they have found the bullet-riddled bodies of three soldiers abducted earlier this week in the tribal North Waziristan region near the Afghan border.

Officials say the men were among four Frontier Corps troops kidnapped Tuesday by suspected Islamic militants as they were on their way to duty in Razmak, near the region's main town, Miran Shah.

The fate of the fourth soldier is not known.

Remnants of Afghanistan's Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists are believed to be hiding in Pakistan's North and South Waziristan regions.

Elsewhere in northwestern Pakistan, fighters loyal to a radical Islamic cleric seized more territory in Swat Valley Wednesday, after paramilitary troops and police surrendered their weapons to militants in the towns of Kalam, Madian and Bahrain.

Militants earlier seized the town of Matta and Khawazkhela, hoisting flags over captured police and military posts.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule last week in part he said, to quell growing militancy by pro-Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

The government sent 2500 troops to the Swat Valley to counter the cleric, Mullah Fazlullah, who has opened an FM radio station calling for holy war against Islamabad.

Scenic Swat Valley is a top tourist destination - known as Pakistan's "Switzerland."

The advance of militants into Swat marks a branching out from their traditional strongholds in tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan instability could endanger Canada's troops

Andy Johnson, CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Thu. Nov. 8 2007 11:07 AM ET

The ongoing political instability in Pakistan could have a direct impact on Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan if the situation continues to erode, according to experts on the region.

Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule on Sunday, suspending the country's constitution ahead of a decision from the Supreme Court that could have floored his re-election as president. He also fired independent-minded judges, muzzled the media and beefed up law enforcement powers, resulting in hundreds of arrests.

Canadian troops serving in nearby Afghanistan could soon be affected if the situation continues to spiral downwards, says Eric Margolis, an expert on the region and author of "War at the Top of the World."

"It's gravely worrying for Canadian forces in Afghanistan," Margolis tells CTV.ca.

That's because Pakistan, the United States' closest ally in the region, is home to three U.S. air bases that provide a whopping 85 per cent of air cover to Canadians fighting on the ground in Afghanistan .

And 75 per cent of military supplies used by NATO troops in Afghanistan come into the country from Pakistan -- much of it over land, by truck.

If Musharraf's government was to fall, those air bases and supply lines could be jeopardized. And the safety of Canadian troops, by extension, could also be put at risk, Margolis said.

"They might at some point become jeopardized by a new government in Pakistan or by guerilla attacks," Margolis said. "It's a possibility within months if the situation continues to deteriorate."

Canada's standing in the world could also suffer in addition to the direct threat that could be posed to its troops, Margolis says. Canada sends aid to Pakistan and has supported Musharraf -- who took power in a 1999 coup.

"Canada could become a target of terrorist attacks as more and more Pakistanis become angry at Canada and see it as a junior enemy and as an ally of the United States," Margolis says. He adds that while Canada claims to be striving to uphold democracy in Afghanistan, it is also supporting what he describes as Musharraf's "military dictatorship."

Margolis dismissed comments made by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who warned Monday that political strife in Pakistan could lead to greater numbers of Afghan refugees fleeing Pakistan to return home, providing a potential pool of new recruits for the Taliban.

Margolis said the situation in Pakistan is unlikely to boost Taliban numbers dramatically, since the militants have a longstanding tradition of crossing the frontier to bolster their ranks.

In terms of Pakistan's future, much is at risk, Margolis says.

"Its whole stability (is at stake)," he says. "The kind of government that rules it, whether it sticks together as a nation -- it's a very fragile nation -- whether some kind of democracy is restored or whether its military dictatorship is maintained."

Tariq Amin-Khan, a Pakistan analyst at Ryerson University, says the situation in Pakistan amounts to a political and constitutional crisis. Musharraf's actions have only encouraged extremism in the country -- something that could endanger Canadian troops, Amin-Khan said.

"Whenever dissent is curtailed, whenever civil liberties are effectively removed or people don't have civil liberties, in those circumstances extremism actually rises, and the border with Afghanistan will be affected, and will be affected in a very adverse way," Amin-Khan told CTV Newsnet.

"So it behooves the Canadian government to put pressure on the military in Pakistan as well as the U.S. and other Western countries."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in his first comments on the crisis, said he was troubled and concerned by Musharraf's crackdown on rights and suspension of the constitution.

He said Musharraf is muzzling legitimate opposition voices under the guise of fighting terrorism and extremism.

"That is not in the interests of the world and this government is going to work with its allies to continue the pressure on Pakistan because this is a very serious, very wrong and very dangerous development for that part of the world," Harper said.

The U.S. is also facing some public embarrassment over its close relationship with Pakistan in light of Musharraf's decision to declare a form of marshal law.

Bush has called Musharraf a personal friend and stabilizing force in the region. But now that a different picture has emerged of Musharraf -- one of a leader willing to use harsh measures against his own people -- his credibility and standing as the "defender of freedom" touted by Bush at the White House, have been thrown into doubt and Bush has been forced to do some tough talking.

"Our hope is that he will restore democracy as quickly as possible," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office this week.

But he added, the U.S. is not about to cut aid to Pakistan and can only work with Musharraf and make the U.S. position clear.

"It's a hypothetical," he said. "I certainly hope he does take my advice," Bush said.

The list of countries opposing Musharraf's actions is growing. In addition to the U.S. and the U.K., the European Union's 27 member nations have called on him to seek reconciliation, return media freedoms and release all political prisoners, including members of the judiciary.

Musharraf's grip is looking unbreakable

TheStar.com - November 08, 2007 Haroon Siddiqui

What can we expect in Pakistan in the days ahead?

Not much. At least not much that would make much of a difference to Gen. Pervez Musharraf's march to reconsolidating his power. And not much to the Canadian troops in neighbouring Afghanistan, notwithstanding Peter MacKay's alarmist musings from Kandahar.

The defence minister, who fortunately escaped injury as Taliban rockets landed near a Canadian outpost he was visiting, was incoherent in his reaction to the imposition of emergency in Pakistan.

He raised the spectre of a flood of Afghan refugees returning home from Pakistan, the chances of which are less than zero.

The 2 million Afghans in Pakistan are a holdover from the 1980-88 Soviet occupation and subsequent Taliban rule. The reason they haven't gone back is that NATO forces, including Canadians, have failed to stabilize Afghanistan.

A Pakistan under emergency rule is a still whole lot safer than Afghanistan with its daily bombs and deadly narcotics economy.

MacKay also fretted about the Taliban recruiting in Afghan camps in Pakistan. If so, he should've been welcoming the prospect of the refugees going home, thus emptying those camps. Or, he should have been offering them all refugee status in Canada.

Absent either proposition, he should have stayed mum and saved Canadians the embarrassment of seeing their defence minister flounder on his most important file.

As for Pakistan, events are unfolding as planned by Musharraf and, perhaps, acquiesced by some level of the American administration.

His main goal, which he has achieved, was to pre-empt the Supreme Court's pending judgment about the legality of his recent election as president by the national and provincial assemblies.

Having fired the judges, Musharraf's main concern is to get to Nov. 15, the date he's to be sworn in, without the lawyers' protests snowballing into a mass movement.

Iftikhar Chaudhry, the fired chief justice, may be a symbol of resistance but his participation in political rallies and his exhortations to the lawyers to take to the streets has been less than judicious.

Besides, the legal community is too small to have a strong street presence. Its ability to draw news coverage, and thus act as a spark for public outrage, is now denuded by Musharraf throttling the media.

Street power belongs to Islamists and to Benazir Bhutto's People's Party.

But the Islamists' concerns aren't the same as the secularists'. And while her agenda coincides with the lawyers', she cannot go all out in confronting the man she's relying on for a job: that of prime minister, to give the Musharraf presidency a democratic sheen, as per a deal worked out in Washington.

So she'll make just enough noises to satiate the public appetite for anti-military protests but not more.

Musharraf, who views her as a cagey customer, has further limited her options with his emergency. She's either with him or she's not.

Barring unforeseen developments, he would be sworn in next week. He would have shed his uniform, just as George W. Bush urged him to. He would no longer head the army, just as Bush said he shouldn't (having already named a loyalist to that post). And he may even end the state of emergency and set a date for the election, just as Bush said he should.

There will be "democracy" and there will be "military rule," a compact of crooked politicians and power-drunk generals and the U.S.

I hope I am wrong but I doubt it.

Taliban stage a coup of their own

By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / November 8, 2007

KARACHI - While the world's attention focused on the troubles of President General Pervez Musharraf following his declaration of a state of emergency in Pakistan at the weekend, the Taliban have launched a coup of their own in Afghanistan and the Pashtun areas of Pakistan.

Pakistani troops had prevented the Taliban from launching their planned post-Ramadan (Muslim holy month) offensive into Afghanistan by invading the Pakistani North Waziristan and South Waziristan tribal areas on October 7.

The Taliban managed to set up a counter engagement by stirring their network in the Swat Valley in North-West Frontier Province, which took the pressure off the Waziristans. The November 4 declaration of an emergency and the preparations before it was enforced distracted the military. As a result, several villages and towns in the Swat Valley, only a drive of four hours from Islamabad, have fallen to the Taliban without a single bullet being fired - fearful Pakistani security forces simply surrendered their weapons.

The Taliban have secured similar successes in the northwestern Afghan province of Farah and the southwestern provinces of Uruzgan and Kandahar, where districts have fallen without much resistance.

A new wave of attacks is expanding the Taliban's grip in the southeastern provinces of Khost and Kunar. And on Tuesday, the Taliban are suspected to have been responsible for the massive suicide attack in northern Baghlan province in which scores of people died, including a number of parliamentarians, most notably Sayed Mustafa Kazimi, the Hazara Shi'ite leader.

Such unexpected offensives have become a hallmark of the Taliban. They surprised many with their successful spring offensive in 2006, when the West had already anticipated their demise.

The Taliban occupied several key districts in the southwest and then as the winter snows closed in - normally a time for the guns to fall silent - they struck ceasefire deals with coalition troops. The aim was that once the weather improved, they would launch a mass uprising and force the surrender of major cities.

However, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) coalition sprung a surprise of its own by breaking the ceasefire agreements and conducting military operations one after the other from December 2006 onwards against the unprepared Taliban.

This forced the Taliban's abrupt retreat from important arteries and effectively ended the dream of a mass uprising this spring. Instead, the Taliban turned more to the use of improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks to irritate the enemy rather than cause serious damage.

NATO was relaxed during the month of Ramadan as Afghans generally don't fight in this period, and with the winter setting in, it was believed that the next Taliban action would only take place next spring.

But the Taliban have taken advantage of Pakistan's political troubles - the Pakistani army is busy saving its political interests in Islamabad - to keep on fighting in what is probably their first real winter offensive.

The fate of the Taliban's offensives in Afghanistan and Pakistan are closely linked with the fate of Musharraf's second coup. He will have to restore the country to normalcy very quickly. If not, the Taliban will go from strength to strength and a vital US-led "war on terror" theater will be closed.

Political shambles

"It is the duty of every citizen, and especially lawyers, to struggle for the supremacy of law, independence of the judiciary and real democracy," lawyer Shaukat Rauf cited Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry as saying in a telephone address to the bar in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Chaudhry is one of thousands of lawyers and opposition members to have been arrested or placed under house arrest since Saturday.

Chaudhry's defiant call illustrates that rolling back the emergency is only a part of the problem - what is wanted is the reinstatement of deposed judges and the full restoration of an independent judiciary.

The imposition of the emergency came as the Supreme Court was about to deliver its verdict on whether Musharraf could run for president while still serving as army chief. Last month, he was reelected by an overwhelming majority in national and provincial assemblies.

The opposition boycotted the polls and asked the Supreme Court to intervene and the judges ordered that official results be withheld until a verdict was reached. It is thought the court planned to rule against Musharraf, hence emergency rule.

Chaudhry has had run-ins with Musharraf before. He was suspended in March for alleged malfeasance (the real reason was the judiciary's opposition to Musharraf's role as army chief). Widespread protests and violence followed, and eventually when the Supreme Court reinstated Chaudhry, the Musharraf regime had little choice but to accept the decision.

Chaudhry might be detained for now, but he has emerged as a formidable foe for Musharraf, and his following is growing by the day.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.

General’s troops routed by zealots imposing Sharia on tourist haven

Zahid Hussain in Islamabad The Times (UK) / November 8, 2007

Dozens of Pakistani security forces policing a former tourist haven surrendered to militants yesterday, raising the stakes in the country’s political crisis. The police officers and troops, outnumbered and demoralised, laid down their arms before hundreds of pro-Taleban extremists who are imposing Islamic law in an area beloved of Western hikers.

The surrender, in the scenic Swat Valley, was deeply symbolic at a time when President Musharraf is pleading for continued Western support as a key regional ally.

General Musharraf argued last week that he was imposing martial law to help the fight against extremists. Yesterday’s cave-in illustrated the limits of Pakistan’s efforts to combat the spread of militancy. And the unwillingness of those in uniform to fight allies of al-Qaeda in northern Pakistan contrasted with the brutal repression by the security forces of lawyers on the streets of the capital.

“The security forces and intelligence agencies are fighting the people instead of the militants,” Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister, said yesterday.

Three main towns have fallen to the followers of Maulana Fazlullah, a radical Islamic cleric, over the past three days. Residents said that heavily armed militants were patrolling the towns of Madayan, Matta and Kwazakhela, which had been favourite destinations for Pakistani and foreign tourists until recently.

They added that the Islamic militia, who called themselves Taleban, had hoisted their flag inscribed with verses from the Koran above government buildings and established Islamic courts. Government officials have fled and police stations are now manned by militants.

Television and music have been banned and barbers ordered not to shave beards. Through an FM radio station, the militants have urged schoolgirls to wear all-covering burkas. They have warned women that their marriages would be annulled if they did not force their husbands to grow beards.

Several development organisations have been forced to close their offices, accused of spreading immorality because they employed women staff. Last week the militia publicly beheaded 12 soldiers.

The region used to attract foreign tourists to its Buddhist heritage and archaeological sites. It is now one of the main centres of al-Qaeda activities, a sign of the growing influence of Islamic radicals in northern Pakistan.

Pakistani security officials said that the militia had the backing of al- Qaeda and included Arab and Uzbek fighters who had set up training camps in the mountains near Kwazakhela, which fell this week. Many members of militant outfits from other parts of the country are also reported to have joined the fighting.

Mr Fazlullah is also a leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), which was banned by General Musharraf in 2002 after it sent more than 10,000 volunteers to fight in Afghanistan against US forces. The cleric, who is also known as Mullah Radio for his fiery speeches delivered from an illegal FM radio station, declared jihad against the Government after Pakistani security forces raided the Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, killing a rebel cleric and scores of seminary students.

Pakistani security officials said that the movement presented the most potent threat to national security because it had developed firmly into a satellite of al-Qaeda.

Opinion: Germany Has No Role to Play in Enduring Freedom
08.11.2007

By extending its participation in Operation Enduring Freedom, Germany is not making the world a safer place, says DW's Nina Werkhäuser. Isn't it time Berlin jumped ship?

Germany's role in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) has long been controversial. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder pledged the US unconditional solidarity and military support in its war on terror. When his coalition partner, the Green party, dug its heels in, Schröder resorted to a vote of confidence in the German parliament to force the Bundestag's pacifist members to swallow a Bundeswehr dispatch to Afghanistan -- and won by a narrow margin.

Back then, Germany offered almost 4,000 troops to help out the Americans in their fight against al Qaeda and its allies, primarily in Afghanistan. Unlike the ISAF mission, which is mandated by United Nations Security Council resolutions, Operation Enduring Freedom is based on the US right to self-defense against terrorism -- which is, granted, recognized by the Security Council.

Nonetheless, six years since the launch of this mission, it is time to ask how long the right to self-defense remains a legitimate argument. If the US is prepared to maintain its war on terror indefinitely, then the German role in the conflict needs to be defined once and for all. This has yet to happen.

According to the Bundestag mandate, elite German Special Forces (KSK) have been deployed to Afghanistan. To this day, the precise nature of their mission is still a secret -- for reasons of security, says Berlin.

All this mystery makes it almost impossible to assess Germany's participation in OEF. One Member of Parliament recently complained that the Bundestag is denied information, while the government insists it has no information to share on Operation Enduring Freedom. For the last six years, Berlin has maintained unreserved loyalty to the undertaking, despite the fact that Washington apparently provides military updates only sporadically. The number of civilian lives claimed in Afghanistan is also information that tends to be swept under the carpet.

But facts are all there is to go on. KSK forces have not been in Afghanistan since Germany's change of government two years ago. The country's current contribution to OEF is 250 marines stationed on the Horn of Africa, which still cost Berlin some 65 million euros ($95 million) this year alone. Past experience suggests that the German frigates do little to deter potential terrorists. So why is Berlin still faithful to Operation Enduring Freedom?

Berlin's argument that it is unwilling to leave its allies in the lurch is a specious one. More to the point, it is unwilling to anger Washington. Germany's involvement in Operation Enduring Freedom does not make the world a safer place. It is high time Berlin abandoned it.

Nina Werkhäuser covers foreign, defense and security policy affairs for DW-RADIO. (jp)

Heroin smuggler is jailed for 16 years in Afghanistan

[Published: Thursday 8, November 2007 - 08:39] By Raymond Whitaker in Kabul

A South African has been jailed for 16 years in Afghanistan for attempting to smuggle out more than 14lbs of heroin disguised as body-building supplements.

Even harsher sentences have been imposed on local citizens as the Afghan authorities, struggling with the highest opium production in the world, seek to emphasise that they are having some success in tackling the next stage of the trade – transporting and smuggling narcotics.

This year's opium crop is 8,000 tonnes so far, up by a quarter from 2006, with more than 40 per cent coming from Helmand province, where British troops are leading the fight against the Taliban. Much of the province's opium harvest is produced on government-owned land, and poppies have even been seen growing in police compounds.

Efforts to curb opium production remain bogged down in controversy over eradication methods and alleged corruption, with the largest growers repeatedly escaping attempts to destroy their crops. President Hamid Karzai has resisted American pressure to allow aerial spraying of poppy fields. He is supported by other Western countries, including Britain, which fear that such a campaign could also destroy food crops and threaten the health of farmers and their families.

Pointing out that in southern Afghanistan crop-spraying planes would be vulnerable to attack, one official described the proposal to spray as "a propaganda gift to the Taliban".

But a special government task force, created 30 months ago to investigate and prosecute drugs traffickers, claims it is making inroads against smugglers. Major cases are dealt with in Kabul to prevent powerful local figures from influencing the outcome.

Apart from this week's conviction of the South African smuggler, who was not named, other successes claimed by the task force this year were the seizure of more than 1.36 tonnes of opium and heroin in Helmand in September, and the jailing of five border policemen in the northern province of Takhar for between 16 and 18 years after they were caught with more than 100kg of refined heroin in an official vehicle.

The task force said an anti-smuggling operation at Kabul airport cracked a trafficking network with links to China, India and Dubai. Three ringleaders have just been sentenced to 16 years each. The authorities also emphasise that the recent jailing of Mesri Khan, a notorious trafficker, for 17 years shows that well-connected figures are not immune from prosecution.

But others express scepticism. "We hope that after dealing with mid-level couriers, the task force will work up to the major figures," said a Western counter-narcotics official. "They have the tools, but it depends on the political will."

ADB to grant 176 mln usd to fund

construction of Afghanistan's Ring Road November 8, 2007

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has signed an agreement with the Afghanistan government to provide a new 176 mln usd grant to complete construction of the Ring Road highway, which loops the country and connects its cities.

The bank said the completion of the Ring Road will be a major achievement for the nation-building effort in Afghanistan adding it is essential for the country's desperately needed economic growth.

The highway will significantly improve accessibility around the country, therefore boosting trade and improving livelihoods, ADB said.

The Ring Road network will cut travel times between the country's northeast and southwest by three to five hours which will lead to significantly lower transport costs, not only domestically but also between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, it added.

With the new grant, ADB has contributed about 600 mln usd for road reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.

ISAF gives seven villages in Baghlan pure water

Source: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) November 8, 2007

(Story by Maj. Antje Krekeler-Jöris)

Thanks to the co-operation of the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team Pol-e Khumri and ISAF Regional Command North, the population of seven villages in Dahana Ghori District, Baghlan province, now has access to pure drinking water.

The new pipeline, built through the moutainous area and now stretching over a total distance of 35 kilometers, provides fresh drinkable water for more than 15,000 in habitants of Dahana Ghori.

The water pipeline project started one year ago. The total costs were approximately USD 160,000. Each step of the construction was discussed with the leaders of the villages. Supported by civil organisations, the digging and laying of the pipelines was done by local workers.

The lack of drinkable water in the district had far-reaching consequences on the locals' daily life as well as on the development of agriculture. A young happy Afghan boy said the water pipeline even gave him the opportunity to go back to school, having no longer the obligation to walk many kilometers every day to fetch water from a well away from his village.

Major Illes Csordas, a Hungarian PRT member responsible for the project, said that, "during the project, different specialists closely worked together – soldiers from the logistic platoon with the infantry company and our health group to the CIMIC group". Other ISAF nations were involved. As Captain Michael Hofmann from Regional Command North CIMIC group pointed out: "this mutual work provided again the truth of our slogan: one team – one mission".

Contact Information

ISAF Public Information Office

Tel: +93 (0)79 51 1155 - Mobile: 0093 (0) 799 55 8291

pressoffice@hq.isaf.nato.int - www.nato.int/isaf/

First ever female boxing federation established in Afghanistan

2007-11-08 15:53:42 Editor: Du Guodong

KABUL, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan National Olympic Committee for the first time established a female boxing federatrion, Afghanistan Times, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

Now women are also able to get benefit from this federation and practice the boxing sports.

There are some 20 Afghan girls who are currently practicing in this federation under the training of expert Afghan teachers.

Saber Sharife, a trainer in the federation, said that it is really hopeful for him seeing Afghan girls practicing boxing.

Sharife also asked the government for more support adding that the families should let their daughters join deferent sports.

Shabnam Rahimi is the first student who is really fan of boxing and enthusiastically registered herself in the field of boxing.

Rahimi said that she really likes the boxing adding that many women in other parts of the country do boxing which is the reason behind her involvement in this field.

Compared with other sports event in Afghanistan, boxing is the competitive one which can hopefully earn a medal in the world scale for this war-torn country.

Teacher brings Afghanistan for show and tell

2007-11-08 08:44:45.000

A St. Joseph Secondary School teacher who spent time in Afghanistan as an Army reservist will speak at the school’s Remembrance Day ceremony tomorrow.

Ryan Kenny will talk about his recent experiences and then students will see a slide show about about the origins of Remembrance Day and Canada's military history, a video documentary, and an interpretation by the drama club.

Schools throughout the Dufferin-Peel Catholic system will be involved in numerous commemorations, including an event at Christ the King Elementary for which teacher Brian Masson has put together a "museum quality" exhibit of 1,000 artifacts.

Other Remembrance Day ceremonies include an event tomorrow at 10:25 a.m. at the Erin Mills Town Centre that's co-sponsored by the Streetsville Legion Branch 139.

On Remembrance Day (Sunday), the Streetsville Legion event begins with a march from their Church St. hall to the Cenotaph at 10:15 a.m.

The Royal Canadian Legion's Branch 82 also holds a service in Port Credit beginning with a 9:30 a.m. march from the Legion headquarters on Front St. N. The service will be held at Trinity Anglican Church and a wreath-laying will take place at the Cenotaph on Stavebank Rd. at 11 a.m.

Army, Navy and Air Force veterans in Lakeview will march at 10:30 a.m. from the Third St. hall to a service at the Port Credit cenotaph.

jstewart@mississauga.net

[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.]