In this bulletin:

• Combined force kills militants, detains foreign fighter facilitator in Afghanistan
• Afghan insurgents killed, coalition soldier dies
• Afghan Taleban gun down high court judge in eastern province
• Six suspected Taleban facilitators detained in central Afghanistan
• Dutch troops in Afghanistan as long as 'essential'
• Dutch, Chinese ministers to meet Afghan counterparts in Kabul
• Afghan soil not to be used for attack on Iran
• NATO has no evidence of systematic Afghan torture
• Is Canada failing Afghan captives?
• Clinton appeals to Canadians to keep up fight in Afghanistan
• Top UN human rights official to visit Afghanistan
• Nato chided over Afghan detainees
• Poles held 'over Afghan deaths'
• Latvia decides to increase aid, military presence in Afghanistan
• Afghanistan rich with mineral resources: report
• Significant Potential for Undiscovered Resources in Afghanistan
• Baghlan attack victims remembered in Montreal
• Afghan-Canadians join the Embassy in prayer services for Baghlan victims
• Optimism and pessimism in Afghanistan
• Economic costs of Iraq, Afghanistan wars put at $1.6 trillion so far, about $20,900 per family
• Rise of the Neo-Taliban - Part 1 - Death by the light of a silvery moon
• The nightmare scenario
• Musharraf's Army Losing Ground in Insurgent Areas
• Taliban take over Shangla town
• Cashing in on Karzai & Co.

Combined force kills militants, detains foreign fighter facilitator in Afghanistan

KABUL, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Afghan government troops and the U.S.-led Coalition forces have killed a large group of Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan's Uruzgan province and detained a foreign fighter facilitator in the neighboring Zabul province, the Coalition said.

Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces engaged and killed a large group of insurgents near the Deh Rawod District of Uruzgan province on Tuesday, said a statement released by the Coalition late Tuesday night.

"The combined force was conducting a reconnaissance patrol when a large group of insurgents engaged the patrol with small-arms fire and rocket propelled grenades," the statement said.

Shortly after the combined force determined the militants' positions, four separate precision air strikes effectively eliminated the insurgents who were trying to reinforce the enemy positions, it added.

In another operation conducted on Tuesday evening to disrupt foreign fighter facilitators operating in the Qalat district of Zabul province, the Afghan and Coalition forces detained a foreign fighter facilitator, according to a Coalition statement issued on Wednesday.

Intelligence indicated that the person had connections to foreign fighter facilitation operations as well as other extremist activities, the Coalition said.

"Afghan and Coalition forces are aggressively dismantling the foreign fighter facilitator networks in Afghanistan," the statement quoted Chris Belcher, a Coalition spokesman as saying.

Militancy-related violence and conflicts have killed around 5,600 people since January this year, hitting a record high since 2001.

Afghan insurgents killed, coalition soldier dies

Kabul (AFP) - Afghan and coalition forces used air strikes to kill a large group of Taliban insurgents in the south while an international soldier died separately, the US military said.

The insurgents had moved into a civilian compound after attacking a military reconnaissance patrol in the southern province of Uruzgan on Tuesday, the US-led coalition said in a statement.

Women and children fled the compound. Afterwards the soldiers pinpointed the rebel fighters and "four separate precision air strikes effectively eliminated the insurgents," it said. A "large group of insurgents was killed," it said.

The battle was typical of regular clashes between the security forces, who sometimes undertake patrols to provoke a reaction, and Taliban-linked insurgents who are capable of complex ambushes.

The coalition reported separately that one of its soldiers died Tuesday from a non-combat injury. It gave no details, including the nationality of the soldier.

More than 200 international troops have died in Afghanistan this year. It also said that its soldiers at the weekend had freed seven people who had been captured by the Taliban.

During a search of a compound in the southern province of Zabul, soldiers found the seven in a room, five with their hands tied.

They were detained with 10 rebels. After questioning, it was found they were Taliban prisoners and they were released, a statement said.

One said that he and members of his family had been stopped by 10 masked Taliban while travelling to a wedding, it said.

"My brother-in-law had a contact in his cell (phone) which caused the Taliban to accuse all the men of being connected with or working for the government," one man, identified as Sayed, was quoted as saying.

He said he was beaten with a cable until he agreed that he worked for the government.

The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001. Their insurgency involves suicide attacks, ambushes on military forces, intimidation and a stream of propaganda against the government and its international allies.

Afghan Taleban gun down high court judge in eastern province

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Ghazni City, 13 November: Taleban insurgents shot dead a high court judge in the restive province of Ghazni Tuesday morning, a district chief said.

Abdur Rehman was killed in Sahib Khan village of the militancy-plagued Andar district, the official told Pajhwok Afghan News. Police found the judge's dead body in a desert close to the village and shifted it to the main district hospital.

Administrative chief of Andar Abdur Rahim Desiwal said the deceased was a high court judge based in the provincial capital. Previously, he worked as Andar district judge, he added.

Desiwal blamed Taliban militants for the murder and said an investigation had been launched into the incident. A rebel spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for assassinating Abdur Rehman.

Some three months back, four Paktika high court judges were kidnapped on their way to Kabul from Sharan. Taliban later put them to death and warned that all those accepting governm! ent jobs would meet a similar fate.

Six suspected Taleban facilitators detained in central Afghanistan

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Kabul, 13 November: Afghan and Coalition forces conducted an operation to detain Taleban facilitators operating in the troubled central province of Maydan Wardag, the US military said on Tuesday [13 November].

"The combined force of Afghan and Coalition members conducted a search of compounds in the Nerkh District where Taleban facilitators were indicated to be gathering resources to aid in extremist activities," it added.

During the search, the Coalition said in a statement, six individuals were detained, who intelligence reports indicated as having links to Taleban extremists. The detainees will be questioned about their involvement in facilitating operations as well as other extremist activities.

"Taleban extremists will find their operations severely hampered as Afghan and Coalition forces squeeze the militants' flow of supplies to a trickle," said Army Maj Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman.

Dutch troops in Afghanistan as long as 'essential'

Kabul (AFP) - The Dutch defence minister said his country's 1,500 soldiers would remain in Afghanistan as long as was considered essential, the Afghan government said.

The minister, Eimert Van Middelkoop, was in Kabul ahead of a vote due shortly on extending the Dutch mission beyond the scheduled August 2008 deadline. A majority of Dutch oppose an extension, according to a poll last month.

Middelkoop said Dutch units will stay in Afghanistan as long as they are considered essential, according to Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.

He would not elaborate if this was taken to mean as long as was considered essential by the Dutch government or by any other party.

The spokesman told AFP that an earlier defence ministry statement had misquoted the Dutch minister as saying the troops would stay "until the Afghan army is capable of independent defence."

The Afghan army, which was in tatters by the time the Taliban regime was driven out in 2001, numbers around 62,000 solders. It is projected to reach 80,000, but officials say this will not be enough to fight a resurgent Taliban.

Middelkoop met his Afghan counterpart, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, in Kabul and was due later to visit Dutch troops, who are stationed mainly in troubled Uruzgan province, the ministry said in a statement.

The Dutch troops, serving under the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force headed by NATO, have seen some tough fighting in the southern province, where Taliban militants are active.

The country has lost 10 soldiers, seven in combat, since deploying in Uruzgan last year. A majority, or 54 percent of some 22,000 Dutch polled in October, said they opposed renewing the mandate.

NATO is trying to persuade its partners in ISAF to recommit to the mission in Afghanistan, which some say risks failure, and to meet a shortfall of soldiers and equipment.

Dutch, Chinese ministers to meet Afghan counterparts in Kabul

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Kabul, 13 November: Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Dutch Defence Minister Henk Kamp are scheduled to arrive in Kabul on Wednesday [14 November] for talks with their respective Afghan counterparts.

The Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Yang Jiechi would sign agreements on economic and technical cooperation with his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar-Spanta.

Yang Jiechi will also meet President Hamed Karzai. China pledged $160 million to Afghanistan at the London and Tokyo conferences.

The Defence Ministry spokesman Gen. Zaher Azimi told Pajhwok Afghan News that Henk Kamp would visit the Dutch troops in Urozgan Province. He will also meet high-ranking officials including Defence Minister Abdorrahim Wardag.

Azimi added the ministers will discuss regional security and the role of the Dutch troops in the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] mission of restoration of peace in Afghanistan. Other issues of bilateral impo! rtance will also figure at their meeting.

According to the Defence Ministry, 1,500 Dutch troops are based in Urozgan, where they lead a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). This is the second visit of the Dutch minister to Afghanistan this year.

Afghan soil not to be used for attack on Iran

Tehran, Nov 13, IRNA Iran-Afghanistan-Territory - Afghan government spokesman said on Tuesday that his country will not be used for any attack against Iran.

Mohammad-Homayoun Hamidzadeh made the remark in his weekly press briefing.

Responding to a question posed by a western reporter on the US threats against Iran, he said that Afghanistan will never allow any country to use its soil for military operation against other states, particularly Iran.

The Afghan official also underlined that his country enjoys very good relations with Iran, and that Tehran has always supported Afghanistan.

Iran and Afghanistan have 930 kilometers of joint border, and their political ties are at the highest level. The Islamic Republic of Iran has hosted more than three million Afghan refugees during 25 years of civil war in Afghanistan.

NATO has no evidence of systematic Afghan torture

Wed Nov 14, 2007

KABUL, Nov 14 (Reuters) - NATO said on Wednesday it had no evidence of systematic torture of detainees it had handed to Afghan authorities after a rights group accused the force of breaking its own rules by not ensuring prisoners' safety.

Amnesty International said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was in effect complicit in the mistreatment of detainees it handed to Afghan authorities, particularly the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and should suspend prisoner transfers until safeguards were in place.

"NATO-ISAF has no evidence of systematic mistreatment and torture of detainees handed over to Afghan authorities by ISAF," Nicholas Lunt, the civilian spokesman for the force, told a news conference.

But Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week ordered authorities to stop torturing suspects in a tacit admission that the practice had been carried out.

Lunt said monitoring of detainees was the responsibility of individual nations, not ISAF, and was governed by memoranda of understanding between the individual states and Afghanistan.

The Amnesty report said only five of the 37 states contributing troops to ISAF had signed memoranda of understanding with the Afghan government on prisoner transfer and monitoring. Four more countries were seeking agreements.

The report detailed allegations of Afghan torture of several detainees handed over by Canadian troops to the NDS.

"The obligation of ISAF states to protect individuals from such treatment cannot be discharged by relying upon bilateral agreements," said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's senior research director.

"These agreements are supposed to ensure that detainees are treated in accordance with international standards but have proved to be inadequate," he said.

Amnesty recommended that Afghan authorities reform their detention procedures in order to stop torture and abuse.

"The best thing that ISAF and ISAF nations can do is provide support to the government of Afghanistan to speed up those enhancements and improvements to its own detention system and processes," Lunt said. (Writing by Jon Hemming; editing by Roger Crabb)

Is Canada failing Afghan captives?

November 14, 2007 – Editorial Toronto Star

Have Canada's troops in Afghanistan turned over 40 captured insurgents to the sometimes abusive authorities there? Or 200? Or even more? Canadians don't know, and the military won't say. Have many been tortured, or worse? Canadians don't know.

Are Canada's vaunted agreements with the Afghanistan government working, in order to ensure that the Afghan security services respect detainees' rights under the Geneva Convention and to ensure we can monitor them? Again, Canadians just don't know.

While Canada's prisoner-transfer policy purports to make sure prisoners aren't ill-treated, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has cloaked our handling of detainees in such secrecy that there is no way to tell whether or not it is working as advertised.

That damning allegation from Amnesty International, the respected international rights group, applies to other allies as well, notably the British, Dutch, Norwegians and Belgians. While North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials insist there is "no evidence of torture of detainees" who have been transferred, Amnesty warns that existing monitoring protocols leave prisoners "at substantial risk of torture."

In Canada's case, despite troubling reports of abuses and efforts by Ottawa to improve tracking and monitoring of prisoners, officials have downplayed the number of transfers and have censored or suppressed documents involving detainees. That makes it impossible for the public to know whether claims of abuse are true or false.

As international and domestic concern grows, so must Parliament's oversight. The House of Commons committees on foreign affairs, national defence and security must hold the government to account.

In interviews with 15 people handed over by Canadian troops, Amnesty says six said they were tortured or abused. The claims are not easy to dismiss, given that the United Nations, Canadian diplomats and the Afghan human rights monitor have heard reports that the National Directorate for Security tortures prisoners.

All this has led Amnesty to demand that Canada and its allies stop transferring detainees until international rights monitors are assigned to Afghan jails, and until jailers understand that torture is out.

Canadian officials claim it would be impractical to build camps for thousands of detainees. But unless they lift the veil of secrecy, and provide credible and verifiable assurances that detainees are not being abused, pressure will grow for a moratorium on handovers.

The Harper government must not be complicit in torture. That would betray the core values that Canadian troops are fighting for, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Clinton appeals to Canadians to keep up fight in Afghanistan

Gregory Bonnell, THE CANADIAN PRESS

mytelus.com November 13, 2007

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. - The "tough going" in Afghanistan that's claimed 71 Canadian soldiers has been compounded by the failure of the United States to send more of its soldiers into the war-torn country, but Canada must stand by the mission all the same, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said Tuesday.

In a speech aimed at convincing business leaders to find the economic benefit in tackling global warming head on, Clinton paused to make an appeal for Canada's continued "good work" in Afghanistan.

"I promised myself... I would never come to Canada without thanking you for what I know is often unpopular, which is the participation of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan," Clinton said.

"I know it's tough going and the United States has made it worse, in my opinion, by not sending enough forces there of our own because of our preoccupation with Iraq, but you did a good thing."

Polls suggest that many Canadians are opposed to remaining in Afghanistan until 2011 and would like to see soldiers withdraw by the initial target date of February 2009.

The Harper Conservatives have repeatedly promised that the final say on the mission will not belong to them but to Parliament - which will be able to vote sometime in the next few months.

The government has also set up a task force, headed by Liberal John Manley, to offer advice on the mission.

Clinton concluded his words on Afghanistan with a plea for Canadian policy makers: "I hope you'll stay."

The former U.S. president worked the Afghan message into the broader speech he delivered in this picturesque southern Ontario town, one that focused on the challenges facing the global community - including global warming - and how to overcome them.

Despite such weighty issues, Clinton didn't let the chance pass to joke about the strength of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. greenback.

"I thought if I spent the night here I might have to take a loan," he said.

On the environment, Clinton lauded the work of his former vice president Al Gore and challenged the audience of political and business leaders to see global warming as an economic opportunity.

Oil and gas companies must refocus themselves into becoming "energy" companies that rely on biofuels, he said.

Clinton also targeted inequality, including the lack of access to health care, as a major problem facing the global economy and implored Canada to stick by its political and social institutions.

"Don't ever let the health-care tail wag the health-care dog, or else you'll be in trouble," Clinton said, adding U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost to Canadian companies in recent years due to the country's health-care policies.

Clinton's speech opened this year's Ontario Economic Summit, an annual gathering of provincial political and business leaders.

Top UN human rights official to visit Afghanistan

un.org - 13 November 2007 – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour will visit Afghanistan from 15 to 21 November with the aim of engaging the country’s Government in its efforts to promote and protect human rights.

During her week-long visit to the strife-torn nation, Ms. Arbour will meet with President Hamid Karzai, as well as senior Government officials and representatives of the judiciary and the Parliament, according to a statement issued by her office.

She will also hold discussions with members of the UN family and representatives of the international armed forces operating in the country.

In addition, the High Commissioner will meet with representatives of civil society and victims of human rights violations, as well as with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

This is Ms. Arbour’s second visit to Afghanistan as High Commissioner. Her first visit was in 2005.

Nato chided over Afghan detainees

BBC 13 November 2007 - BBC News - Nato countries risk turning a blind eye to torture by transferring prisoners taken in battle to Afghan prisons, a report from Amnesty International says.

The report cites what it calls "consistent" incidences of torture and other abuse by Afghanistan's intelligence service, the NDS.

International law prohibits the transfer of prisoners if there is reason to suspect abuse or torture. But Nato says Afghanistan has the legal responsibility for Afghan prisoners.

Amnesty wants transfers of those detained by Nato forces in Afghanistan to cease until proper safeguards are put in place.

Some members of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) - including the UK, the Netherlands and Canada - have "memorandums of understanding" with the Afghan authorities, which are supposed to ensure that transferred detainees are treated according to international standards.

Responding to the report, the UK Ministry of Defence told the BBC: "The UK takes human rights obligations very seriously. Procedures are in place to ensure that any detainees transferred from British forces to Afghan government authorities are not mistreated or tortured."

A ministry spokesman said these safeguards include regular visits to transferred detainees, monitoring by both international and Afghan human rights groups, and British logistical help in allowing those rights groups to make visits to restive Helmand province.

"There is no evidence that any person detained by British forces and transferred to Afghan authorities has been tortured or mistreated," they went on to say.

But Amnesty says that proper monitoring of the agreements is impossible, partly because much of the country is inaccessible. The report says that prisoners have been whipped, exposed to extreme cold and deprived of food.

And it concludes that all prisoner transfers should be suspended while efforts are made to improve Afghanistan's prisons and training is given to Afghan prison staff.

Only when the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan meets international standards should prisoner transfers resume, the report urges.
But Isaf is unwilling to change the current arrangement.

"Afghanistan is a sovereign country... which has the legal responsibility for detention of Afghans," said Isaf spokesman James Appathurai.

"It is not for Nato to create a parallel detention structure outside the law of the land," he added.

President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Hamayun Hamidzadah, said the Afghan government condemned any kind of torture wherever it took place.

"If there are instances where torture has taken place, the Afghan government will investigate."

Amnesty said British authorities had confirmed that they were looking into the alleged torture of a transferred prisoner in September, and that Belgian officials had admitted losing track of a suspected suicide bomber after he had been transferred to the NDS.

The report specifically did not examine US troops' detention system in Afghanistan.

Poles held 'over Afghan deaths'

BBC 13 Nov 07 - Seven Polish soldiers who served with Nato-led forces in Afghanistan have been arrested on suspicion of breaking international law, officials say.

A defence ministry spokesman said they were detained in connection with an incident in August when civilians were killed during a clash with insurgents.

No more details were given, but the ministry said the troops had allegedly violated conventions on war conduct. Around 1,200 Polish soldiers are serving in Afghanistan.

"The arrest of the soldiers follows their violation of the standards of international law and notably the Hague and Geneva Conventions," the Polish defence ministry said in a statement.

A spokesman, Jaroslaw Rybak, told Polish television the soldiers were detained in connection with an incident in eastern Afghanistan on 16 August.

On that day Isaf, the Nato-led force in Afghanistan, said five civilians had been killed and three wounded, when coalition troops returned fire after being attacked by Taleban insurgents in the east of the country.

No more details were given, and it was not clear what the soldiers' involvement may have been. A prosecutor said charges were expected to follow on Wednesday.

The incident followed only two days after the death of a Polish soldier, the country's first fatality since it joined Isaf in March 2002.

Latvia decides to increase aid, military presence in Afghanistan

RIGA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian government Tuesday agreed to expand its aid to Afghanistan and increase its peacekeeping troops in the war-torn country.

According to a government-approved statute, Latvia will continue to participate in the NATO peacekeeping mission for the next six years.

Latvia will expand its Afghan mission by increasing the current95 troops stationed in the country to 150-200, and will provide arms and ammunition worth around 3.1 million U.S. dollars, says the statute drafted by Latvia's defence ministry.

It is necessary to continue to provide funds for Afghanistan's reconstruction, as well as material and technical assistance in other fields besides the military, it says.

Latvia began sending troops to Afghanistan to join the peacekeeping mission in February 2003, and rotates its contingent every six months.

Afghanistan rich with mineral resources: report

CTV.ca News Staff, November 13, 2007

Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered non-fuel mineral resources that could present a great source of wealth for the country, says the U.S. Geological Survey.

A 2007 preliminary assessment by the USGS, unveiled today at a U.S.-Afghan Business Matchmaking Conference in Washington, shows estimates for copper and iron ore resources have the most potential for extraction in Afghanistan.

Scientists also found indications of abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, ruby, sapphire, garnet, lapis, kunzite, spinel, tourmaline and peridot.

Gold, mercury, sulfur, chromite, talc-magnesite, potash, graphite and sand and gravel were also listed as examples of mineral resources available for extraction.

"Afghanistan has abundant known mineral resources and also significant potential for additional, undiscovered mineral resources," USGS scientist Stephen Peters said Tuesday in a podcast.

"A viable mineral industry is critical to rebuilding Afghanistan's natural resource sector which, in turn, will contribute to the country's economic stability."

USGS scientists worked alongside the Afghanistan Geological Survey between 2004 and 2007 on the preliminary assessment. The majority of information on Afghanistan's mineral resources was produced between the early 1950s and 1985. Until 2001, most of that data was hidden and protected by Afghan scientists.

Since then, the data has been returned to the Afghan government and used to help scientists with the recent assessment.

"The assessment is preliminary because it is based largely on older existing data with very little ground verification," said Peters. "If the USGS were to conduct additional work in Afghanistan, future activities will be designed to acquire new data on the ground."

The current assessment will be used to attract interest and investment as the country works to rebuild its natural resources sector.

"Exploration for and development of mineral deposits can lead to industry and commerce and provide alternative lifestyles to the Afghan people," said Peters.

"A robust mineral industry provides jobs, builds infrastructure and provides government revenue which will contribute to the economic prosperity and stability in the country."

Peters said the known and potential mineral resources are located in all the provinces of Afghanistan.

Significant Potential for Undiscovered Resources in Afghanistan

USGS, 11/13/2007 - Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered non-fuel mineral resources according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2007 assessment, unveiled today at the 3rd annual U.S.-Afghan Business Matchmaking Conference organized by the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.

Mineral resources present a great source for a country’s industrial growth and wealth. Estimates for copper and iron ore resources were found to have the most potential for extraction in Afghanistan. Scientists also found indications of abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, ruby, sapphire, garnet, lapis, kunzite, spinel, tourmaline and peridot. Other examples of mineral resources available for extraction in Afghanistan include gold, mercury, sulfur, chromite, talc-magnesite, potash, graphite and sand and gravel.

USGS scientists worked cooperatively with the Afghanistan Geological Survey of the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines, between 2004 and 2007, to compile existing information about known mineral deposits and evaluate the possible occurrence of undiscovered deposits of non-fuel mineral resources. This assessment will be used in rebuilding Afghanistan’s natural resources sector, provide valuable new information to the global business and mining communities, and serve as a foundation for future work on areas of mineral resource potential.

“Mineral resource assessments provide government decision-makers and potential private investors with objective, unbiased information on where undiscovered mineral resources may be located, what kinds of resources are likely to occur and how much of each mineral commodity may exist in them,” said USGS Director Mark Myers.

“Afghanistan’s natural resources have a quality comparable to the highest-class minerals of the entire region,” said Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the United States Said T. Jawad. “We are grateful to the efforts of the USGS and our Ministry of Mines in allowing global investors an opportunity to receive the latest information on their assessment for more informed business decisions.”

The majority of information on Afghanistan’s mineral resources was produced between the early 1950s and about 1985. However, during the intermittent conflict over the next two decades, much of that data was hidden and protected by Afghan scientists. After 2001, this valuable data was returned to the Afghan government, and the USGS gathered new data and identified additional information in locations outside of Afghanistan.

The USGS has also been working with the government of Afghanistan since 2003 to provide an earthquake hazards assessment, released on May 30, 2007, and an oil and gas resources assessment of the nation issued in March 2006. A major objective of these assessments has been training of Afghan geoscientists in the collection and interpretation of relevant data.

The USGS was commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to develop this assessment. Results of the 2007 preliminary assessment of non-fuel mineral resources of Afghanistan are available at the USGS Afghanistan Web site, http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov, and at the Afghanistan Geological Survey Web site, http://www.bgs.ac.uk/afghanminerals/.

To listen to a podcast interview with USGS scientist Stephen Peters about this assessment’s results, implications, and more, visit www.usgs.gov/corecast/.

Baghlan attack victims remembered in Montreal

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghan community, in association with the Afghan Embassy in Canada, Sunday held a memorial service in Montreal in honor of those killed in the northern Baghlan town last week.

A large number of Afghan community members in Ottawa and Montreal attended the memorial service the first in North America.

More than 300 people including women and children attended the memorial service, at which participants remembered the victims of last weeks terrorist attack that killed six members of parliament, schoolchildren and other civilians.

The participants strongly condemned the atrocious act of terrorism and said such attacks only strengthened their resolve to defeat extremist groups in the conflict-torn Central Asian country.

The Afghan-Canadian community urged the Karzai government to bring to justice those responsible for the massive bombing. Speaking on the occasion, Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad expressed his sympathies to the families of the deceased.

He assured the community members the Afghan government was investigating the matter and the culprits would soon be brought to justice.

More memorial services are being planned in other cities of Canada including Toronto, which has the largest concentration of the Afghan community.

Lalit K. Jha

Afghan-Canadians join the Embassy in prayer services for Baghlan victims

Montreal – The Embassy of Afghanistan in Canada joined by members of the Afghan-Canadian communities in Ottawa and Montreal organized a prayer service on Sunday to remember the victims of last week’s terrorist attack in Baghlan province.

Ambassador Omar Samad and staff of the Embassy were joined by more than 300 community members at the Chateau Royal near Montreal, where a fateha service was held, expressing condolences to the families of the martyrs and all Afghans.

At the end of the prayer service, the Afghan Ambassador spoke to the audience and denounced the “inhuman and barbaric act of terrorism that took the lives of more than 80 Afghans, including 60 school children, six members of Parliament representing five provinces, teachers and a number of innocent citizens.”

He told the audience that preliminary evidence shows that the attack was a suicide bombing, in which ball-bearing material is said to have been used to maximize the impact. Amb. Samad also reiterated the Afghan government’s strong commitment to pursue an investigation and bring the culprits behind this bombing to justice.

The Ambassador lauded the members of Parliament for their work as members of the Lower House’s Economic Committee and for their past services. Expressing the Afghan people’s strong anger, Amb. Samad described the act of terror as “un-Islamic and counter to Afghan norms.”

He urged all Afghan communities overseas to strengthen their ties with their compatriots inside Afghanistan who are in need of help by setting up special humanitarian funds through trusted intermediaries and provide assistances when a crisis takes place. He also cautioned community members not to be distracted by the negative propaganda of certain individuals and groups who do not have the best interests of Afghanistan in mind and do not offer solutions to the country’s problems.

He thanked the organizers, especially the leadership of the Council of Ismaeli Community in Quebec, and the volunteers for their help in making arrangements for the prayer service.

Embassy of Afghanistan

November 11, 2007

Optimism and pessimism in Afghanistan

By Bill Graveland, E CANADIAN PRESS November 13, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Six years to the day after the fall of the Taliban there are reasons for both optimism and pessimism as Afghanistan struggles to build a democratic and stable government.

It was Nov. 13, 2001, that people celebrated in the streets of Kabul as members of the Northern Alliance rolled into the capital, driving the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies into hiding in the south.

Today, Kabul is rebuilding and in many respects has become a city with western ways. Highrises and shiny glass towers dot the skyline. Many women wear western clothes, are able to attend school and hold jobs.

There is an appearance of stability in the government of President Hamid Karzai, largely bolstered by the powerful presence of coalition troops, including 2,500 Canadians.

Since Canada joined the mission five years ago, the economy had tripled in size, 80 per cent of Afghans now have access to health care and more than six million children are now enrolled in school, a third of them girls.

But the Taliban remain. Afghanistan's deadliest suicide bombing occurred this month. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives as members of parliament were visiting a sugar factory in the country's normally peaceful north. It killed at least 73 people, most of them children, along with six politicians.

Fighters seem to be hidden throughout Afghanistan but most notably here in the south, especially in the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar province.

"This is an insurgency war so it's going to take a while to establish a proper level of security. Security by itself is not the solution," said Lt.-Col Alain Gauthier, head of the Canadian Battle Group.

"We have to bring development, governance and build confidence into their own government and their own security force."

The latest contingent of Canadian soldiers began arriving from Valcartier, Que., in late July and August and are halfway through their rotation.

The Canadian death toll has risen to 71, including four in combat, since the Van Doos arrived. But Col. Gauthier said his troops are making progress.

"It's going extremely well," he said. "So far we're able to achieve most of the objectives we had set out for this rotation. To regain some of the parts of Zhari, the setting up of the police substations.

"Is it fully secure yet? No. It will take quite a while but at least we are moving forward in the direction we have given ourselves," he said.

The Taliban have been difficult to stamp out in the Panjwaii and Zhari districts. The area was largely thought to have been secured last year, but a decision to leave between 30 and 35 Afghan National Police checkpoints in the area to keep the peace turned out to be a failed strategy.

The Taliban came back, regained control in some regions and showed it was still a force.

That is when the Canadian military began establishing police substations in those regions, which includes both ANP and a group of Canadian military mentors.

"I think we learned a lesson from how we did it last year and we are applying those lessons learned and doing it a different way this time," said Gauthier.

The move seems to be paying off and appears to have come in the nick of time since the Taliban have changed tactics and are now focusing a lot of attacks on the Afghan police.

"They adapt constantly and so do we. We need to be able to follow," Gauthier said. "They are trying to find a way to hurt us and to discredit the ISAF force and to instill fear into the population. So whatever worked (for them) they are going to continue to do it."

There have been some attacks on convoys in recent weeks and IED's (improvised explosive devices) remain a popular tool for the Taliban as it continues its guerrilla-style tactics.

The insurgents also launched a significant offensive in an attempt to gain control of the Arghandab district north of Kandahar city. A force of up to 300 Taliban was confronted by Afghan, U.S. and Canadian troops. The result was 50 Taliban dead and an equal number wounded, NATO said.

Whether that is the final hurrah for the Taliban prior to the traditionally quiet winter months remains to be seen, Gauthier said.

"I think they are going to still try. If we look at the past year, even in the winter where it's a little more quiet, they still tried to get a hit here and there," Gauthier said.

"There might be another offensive but I think they got a pretty good slap on the nose in the Arghandab and they're going to rethink before they try that one again."

Economic costs of Iraq, Afghanistan wars put at $1.6 trillion so far, about $20,900 per family

By Associated Press, Tuesday, November 13, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion — roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

The report, released Tuesday, attempted to put a price tag on the two conflicts, including "hidden" costs such as interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars, lost investment, the expense of long-term health care for injured veterans and the cost of oil market disruptions.

The $1.6 trillion figure, for the period from 2002 to 2008, translates into a cost of $20,900 for a family of four, the report said. The Bush administration has requested $804 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, the report stated.

For the Iraq war only, total economic costs were estimated at $1.3 trillion for the period from 2002 to 2008. That would cost a family of four $16,500, the report said.

Future economic costs would be even greater. The report estimated that both wars would cost $3.5 trillion between 2003 and 2017. Under that scenario, it would cost a family of four $46,400, the report said.

The report, from the committee's Democratic majority, was not vetted with Republican members. Democratic leaders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., seized on the report to criticize Bush's war strategy. The White House countered that the report was politically motivated.

"This report was put out by Democrats on Capitol Hill. This committee is known for being partisan and political. They did not consult or cooperate with the Republicans on the committee. And so I think it is an attempt to muddy the waters on what has been some positive developments being reported out of Iraq," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. "I haven't seen the report, but it's obvious the motivations behind it."

The report comes as the House and Senate planned to vote this week on another effort by Democrats to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq as a condition for providing another $50 billion for the war.

Reid said the report "is another reminder of how President Bush's stubborn refusal to change course in Iraq and congressional Republicans' willingness to rubber stamp his failed strategy — has real consequences at home for all Americans."

Perino, while acknowledging the dangers in Iraq, defended Bush's stance.

"Obviously it remains a dangerous situation in Iraq. But the reduction in violence, the increased economic capacity of the country, as well as, hopefully, some continued political reconciliation that is moving from the bottom up, is a positive trend and one that we — well, it's positive and we hope it is a trend that will take hold," Perino said.

Israel Klein, spokesman for the Joint Economic Committee, took issue with the White House's characterization of the panel's report.

"Instead of dealing with the substance of this report, the White House is once again trying to deflect attention away from the blistering costs of this war in Iraq," Klein said. "This report uses the nonpartisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office) budget estimates and was prepared by the JEC's professional economists using the same process this committee has always used, regardless of which party is in the majority."

However, the committee's top-ranking Republican members — Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rep. Jim Saxton of New Jersey — called on the Democratic leadership to "withdraw this defective report." A joint statement from the two Republican lawmakers said the report is a "thinly veiled exercise in political hyperbole masquerading as academic research."

White House Budget Director Jim Nussle accused Democrats of "trying to distort reality for political gain."

Oil prices have surged since the start of the war, from about $37 a barrel to well over $90 a barrel in recent weeks, the report said. "Consistent disruptions from the war have affected oil prices," although the Iraq war is not responsible for all of the increase in oil prices, the report said.

Still, the report estimated that high oil prices have hit U.S. consumers in the pocket, transferring "approximately $124 billion from U.S. oil consumers to foreign (oil) producers" from 2003 to 2008, the report said.

High oil prices can slow overall economic growth if that chills spending and investment by consumers and businesses. At the same time, high oil prices can spread inflation throughout the economy if companies decide to boost the prices of many other goods and services.

Meanwhile, "the sum of interest paid on Iraq-related debt from 2003 to 2017 will total over $550 billion," the report said. The government has to make interest payments on the money it borrows to finance the national debt, which recently hit $9 trillion for the first time.

The report was obtained by The Associated Press before its release. An earlier draft of the report, which also had been obtained by The AP, had put the economic cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars slightly lower, at $1.5 trillion.

"What this report makes crystal clear," said Joint Economic Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., "is that the cost to our country in lives lost and dollars spent is tragically unacceptable." Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the panel's vice chair, said of the Iraq war: "By every measure, this war has cost Americans far too much."

Rise of the Neo-Taliban - Part 1 - Death by the light of a silvery moon

Asia Times, 11/13/2007 By Syed Saleem Shahzad

NAWA PASS, Pakistan border with Afghanistan - Sitting with four key Taliban commanders deep in a labyrinth of lush green mountains, I could see the Sarkano district of the Kunar Valley in Afghanistan, which is the provincial hub of the American military and a base for the Afghan National Army and Afghan intelligence.

Scores of guerrilla groups, each comprising a few dozen men, hide on the fringes of the Kunar Valley and launch daily operations into Kunar and Nooristan provinces, and with each passing day they receive new recruits and their attacks grow in intensity.

A year ago, I spent two weeks with the Taliban in Helmand province (including a few days in captivity - see A 'guest' of the Taliban, Asia Times Online, November 30, 2006 ), but since then there has been a sea-change within the Taliban.

Without legends such as the slain Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Akhtar Osmani, and with an extremely ill Jalaluddin Haqqani, a neo-Taliban movement has emerged with a new leadership, new zeal and new dynamics. The revitalized and resupplied Taliban are geared to enter a new phase of war without borders to fight coalition forces in Afghanistan and the Pakistan army.

In a way, all that has gone before in the "war on terror" in the past six years since the Taliban were ousted from Kabul has been a dress rehearsal.

For its part, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders are preparing to take up the fight. According to Asia Times Online contacts familiar with developments, a joint Pakistan-NATO operation was approved at a meeting of Pakistan's corps commanders at the weekend. Significantly, they agreed that the boundaries would not necessarily be drawn between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Whether a conventional force such as NATO can contain the Taliban is another matter. Obviously, the Taliban are confident. I asked Shaheen Abid, the Taliban's head of guerrilla operations in the strategic Sarkano district, what was behind the group's revitalization. Shaheen smiled in response and turned his gaze to three of his subordinate commanders - Zahid of the Nole region, Mohsin of the Shonk Karey district and Muslim Yar of the Barogai region.

"I only know how to fight. Answering complicated questions is beyond my ambit," Shaheen said apologetically, and immediately signaled for the Taliban's media relations officer of the Kunar Valley, Dr Jarrah (a jihadi name), to respond.

Jarrah began, "Before answering you, I will ask you a question. Who is qualified to claim that he has actually seen world?" Before I could reply to this rather strange question, Jarrah answered himself, "The one who has experienced true love, the one who has lived in an alien atmosphere and place, and the one who has spent time in captivity.

"The mujahideen have experienced all three things in the past seven years. We have been reared on a true love for our global struggle, we were forcibly displaced from one place to another and we spent lots of time in the detention centers of Cuba [Guantanamo], in Pakistan, Bagram [Afghanistan] and Abu Ghraib [Iraq] and braved the brutalities of the CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency], the ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence] and Afghan intelligence," Jarrah said.

"We actually see the world now. We are seasoned and therefore you will see actual fireworks against the one which claims to be the global superpower."

Shaheen then excused himself and joined his subordinates Zahid, Mohsin and Muslim Yar, all in their early 20s. "Please don't mind them, they are discussing their previous operations and planning fresh ones," Jarrah told me.

"We carried out attacks on a daily basis until last Thursday [November 8]. We assign a particular group for a particular assignment. There are different sorts of attacks. We do send attackers called fedayeen in which fighters loaded with rockets and hand grenades and AK-47 guns attack an American base or the Afghan National Army or the intelligence headquarters in Sarkano.

"In such fedayeen attacks, there is zero chance of survival [for the attackers].

"Then we carry out specific attacks based on precise information provided by pro-Taliban elements within the Afghan establishment or by local people. And then the third and the most expensive attacks are those in which we fire missiles on an enemy position from a distance. It costs us 250,000 Pakistani rupees [about US$4,000] per operation.

"We launch all three kinds of operations many times a month. At present, due to the dim moonlight, operations have stopped for few days. We only launch operations during moonlight because Kunar is all jungle and mountains and without such light there is a strong chance of falling into the crevasses," Jarrah explained.

Jarrah said that the Taliban's operations are based on various tactics and are not only asymmetric attacks. "We have tribes and people who live in particular places. They openly resist foreign troops in the Kunar Valley. Then we have organized guerrilla groups - we use them as our special forces - and finally we have a missile battery. Not a single day passes without the enemy facing several of our attacks in various parts of Nooristan and Kunar provinces.

"The fighters have acquired a lot of confidence due to their successes and now they confidently play tricks. Recently, we used Afghan National Army uniforms and laid siege to American troops in Nooristan and killed and wounded many of them. In return, the Americans threatened to bomb a whole village. That's why the local people didn't spy on the Taliban's positions," Jarrah said. Suddenly, in the far distance, we saw the dark skies of Kunar light up.

"That is a light bomb used by the enemy to trace the Taliban's positions. That is approximately 10 kilometers from here, and obviously a battle is going on between the enemies and the Taliban. We are not necessarily aware of such battles every time," Jarrah said.

After a dinner of rice and chicken curry and saying the final prayers of the day, we all slept in an isolated mud house of the village. The call to morning prayers marked the start of a new day and a new struggle. After saying prayers and eating breakfast, the men who had accompanied us the previous evening left, but within two hours a new group joined us.

"They rotate throughout the day and night. Some of the people will go back to Pakistan to stay with their families and new ones will join us. Some will finish their guerrilla operations in the Kunar Valley and join us here to rest, and then a new guerrilla group will be launched," Jarrah said.

"But do you sometimes have a serious dearth of fighters?" I asked.

"Not at all," said Jarrah, laughing. "Instead, the real issue remains how to accommodate all the guerrilla groups because people are flooding to us to join the jihad and we don't always have enough resources to provide for them all at the same time. But I think we will increase our resources soon, and then you will see a flood of fighters finding its way against the foreign occupying forces."

Before I could ask any further questions, a tall man who introduced himself as Maroof asked me, "What is your name, Mr Journalist?" "Saleem Shahzad," I answered. "What?" I repeated my name. "Aren't you the one who was detained by the Taliban last year in Helmand? I listened to your interview on radio after your release," Maroof said with excitement.

"He is with us now, what happens if he is killed?" I heard Maroof inquiring of Jarrah in a loud whisper. Jarrah chuckled, "If he is killed, it would be the will of God."

Maroof was in the Afghan National Army and was once detained by the Americans for being in the army but "facilitating" the Taliban. He says he did not cough up anything during interrogation, but when he was released he promptly joined the ranks of the Taliban.

"The mujahideen have now acquired such strength that neither Pakistan nor NATO can fight against us. The Taliban are standing on both sides of the border. More operations breed more Taliban, and this time the Taliban will rule the whole region," Maroof said confidently. Jarrah summoned a few armed men and we took a long walk on a mountain trail, ending up at a goat farm.

This was the Taliban's missile battery, comprising about 200 Russian-made rockets, which the Taliban call Sakar 20. They are 2.5 meters long with a range of about 30 kilometers and the capacity to devastate an area of about 100 square meters. The Taliban's Sarkano district battery has six donkeys to carry the weapons.

"We use these donkeys to carry the missiles and other equipment when we attack an enemy installation. In this terrain, donkeys are the only 'vehicles' that can be used as transport," Jarrah said.

"These missiles come from old dumps of weapons the Taliban recovered after the fall of the communist government in Afghanistan [in the early 1990s]. Russian technology is far superior to American," Jarrah said, and illustrated his point by taking out his Russian-made pistol.

"This pistol works like a revolver and you don't need to cock it like American pistols. It belonged to the Russian special forces. We have mostly Russian weapons stocks, but we have recently started using American weapons recovered from American troops or the Afghan National Army," Jarrah explained.

Behind the simple structures, I see the formation of a very well-trained army which was non-existent even a year ago. Only three years ago, the Taliban did not have a central command, secure bases, and the motivation they now obviously possess. The ideologues of the neo-Taliban were raised and trained by the Pakistani military to bleed India, and now, using the same techniques, they aim to bleed NATO and the Pakistani Army.

But it was time to run - I had an appointment that evening with these Punjabi ideologues.

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

The nightmare scenario

The Guardian 11/13/2007 By Jason Burke

Things would be much worse for Nato in Afghanistan if the Taliban had anything like the same resources as Hizbullah

The recent attacks in Afghanistan have made it clear that the Taliban are going to keep fighting through the winter, despite the relative disparity between their means and those of the western armies fighting in Afghanistan. When I was out on patrol with British soldiers in the north of Helmand province earlier this year, that disparity was striking. A single Taliban round striking a bunker was met with a deluge of mortar bombs, state of the art missiles and a 5,000lb bomb. Two Taliban were killed. I could not help but wonder if the morale of the British troops would be as high as it clearly was if they were fighting an enemy with greater tactical sophistication - Hizbullah, for example.

There are a huge number of ideological and organisation differences between Hizbullah and the Taliban, but the one that is possibly the most marked is in fighting capabilities. Conversations with British officers recently returned from fighting the Taliban over recent weeks have merely reinforced this impression. The latter were full of praise for the Taliban's tactical ability, speed of movement and determination. Though this may in part be a modern day manifestation of the strange fascination British soldiers always seem to have for opponents in the region - itself possibly due to the legacy of Churchill, Kipling, the Daily Telegraph and George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman - there is no doubt that the Taliban and their various offshoots regularly fight hard against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Yet, hard though they may fight, they are nothing compared to what Hizbullah could do as an enemy. The Taliban's armaments are limited to AK47s, rocket propelled grenades and the occasional mortar. Hizbullah have state of the art weapons systems as good as those of many regular armies. The Taliban's communications still rely on the tried and tested Afghan "man with a crackling old radio" system. Hizbullah's do not. Tactically, though the Taliban show initiative and resilience, there is little real comparison. In last year's war against Israel, Hizbullah fighters positioned themselves in pre-dug reinforced pits in order to target the vulnerable rear of Tsahal's tanks with missiles. Nothing the Taliban have comes close to that kind of ingenuity or efficacy - even if they had the anti-tank rockets necessary. (When the British veterans of the Afghan conflict learned of this, they were aghast.) Equally, the Taliban show little of the initiative that Hizbullah have consistently shown and western troops in Afghanistan largely chose when and how to engage.

This is not to devalue what British and other troops are doing in Afghanistan. They are fighting a tough fight and taking casualties that do not receive the attention they deserve, medical or political, back home. But things could be much worse.

One nightmare scenario for Nato military planners is that the Taliban acquire effective surface to air missiles. When the Afghan mujahideen were supplied with Blowpipes and Stingers, the war was over for the Soviets. All those old missiles have been fired or are unusable, but if the Taliban got hold of the present day equivalent it would have the same effect. If two loaded Chinook helicopters get shot down in a week - killing around 80 people - the primary mode of transport and resupply for Nato troops in Afghanistan will become unviable. The impact on shaky public opinion - and in Europe it is much shakier than in the UK - would be severe. If they manage to shoot down a Chinook a week for a month or so, the British will have no more Chinooks and the government will have no more support for an already unpopular war.

Is there any chance of the Taliban getting large quantities of missiles soon? Not for the moment, it is true. However, quite what the current regional instability might produce is unclear. Certainly if Iran was militarily attacked by the USA or others giving such weapons to the Taliban would be an easy way for Tehran to strike back at one enemy, albeit at the price of arming another. In the meantime, the Taliban continue to listen, watch and learn - and to make their own attempts to acquire the wherewithal to take down Nato and American aviation.

Musharraf's Army Losing Ground in Insurgent Areas

By Griff Witte and Imtiaz Ali, Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, November 13, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 12 -- Across much of Pakistan on Monday, the government was firmly in command -- squelching protests, blacking out television stations and picking up dozens more political prisoners to add to the thousands already in jail.

But in vast stretches of the country's rugged and wild northwest -- heartland of the Islamic extremist insurgency -- President Pervez Musharraf's army did not have any more control than it did when the military-led government imposed emergency rule nine days ago. In some areas, it had less.

While Musharraf has justified emergency rule by arguing that he needs a free hand to battle groups including the Taliban and al-Qaeda, local officials, residents and analysts say that so far, at least, the government's troops remain on the defensive against extremist forces, which have been gaining territory for more than a year.

"For us, it does not make a difference whether it's democracy, emergency or martial law," said Maulana Siraj Uddin, spokesman for a radical cleric who has seized control of much of the scenic Swat Valley in the country's far northwest. "But I can tell you that our mujaheddin are fighting from the core of their hearts, and we have made spectacular progress in the last week."

Fighters loyal to the cleric, 32-year-old Maulana Fazlullah, have in recent days overrun three additional police stations and now roam unhindered through much of the valley, once known to tourists as "the Switzerland of Asia."

A military spokesman confirmed that the group had recently forced local security officials to flee several areas. But as of Monday, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said, the army had taken control of operations in the valley, and he hinted that it was on the verge of launching an operation to stop the losses.

"We don't want these militants to be terrorizing the people. So they'll be taken to task, that's for sure," he said.

To date, it has more often been the other way around, with extremist fighters inflicting damaging defeats on the Pakistani military. In the tribal areas that border Afghanistan, insurgents have virtually free rein, using the territory as a base from which to mount attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond, according to military analysts. When the army has tried to conduct operations in the tribal areas, it has paid a heavy price. In August, for example, Taliban fighters commandeered an entire army convoy, taking 250 soldiers hostage without firing a single shot.

The Taliban held the troops for more than two months. They were released the day after Musharraf imposed emergency rule, when the government acceded to Taliban demands and freed nearly 30 of the group's fighters, including several who had been involved in planning suicide bombings. Advisers to Musharraf have conceded that the main reason he suspended the constitution, fired most of the Supreme Court and declared an emergency was that the court was about to rule him ineligible for another term as president.

But Musharraf himself has explained his actions in terms of the widening war against extremist groups in Pakistan, insisting that the country would spiral out of control unless the government did everything it could to counter the threat. In making his case, he highlighted Swat, saying an emergency declaration allows the army greater latitude to fight in an area where curbing militancy is normally left to local police.

Since the emergency declaration, much of the government's energy has been devoted to cracking down on mainstream political opponents, not militant forces. That could change if the army launches an offensive in Swat. But it is not clear whether even the army will have much impact. Over the past year, Fazlullah's black-turbaned Islamic fighters have established their own state amid the towering peaks of the Hindu Kush, turning the picturesque valley into a battleground.

Unlike the tribal areas, which are officially semiautonomous and in practice have never been under the central government's control, Swat is part of Pakistan's so-called settled areas. The government is supposed to rule there. But in 70 villages throughout the valley, Fazlullah's extreme interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia, is the only law that matters.

Suspected criminals are publicly flogged. Soldiers are beheaded, their bodies dumped in the streets. Extremist fighters direct traffic and run the hospitals. The white flags of the Taliban flutter above government buildings. Education for girls is discouraged, music is banned and barbers have stopped shaving beards.

"Government institutions are completely nonexistent in our whole area," said Rahmat Din, 25, a valley resident. "Fazlullah has appointed representatives in almost all villages under his control for dispensing speedy justice and helping solve the people's problems."

For many residents, that's just fine. "He is fighting for the introduction of sharia, and nothing else, and we are ready to sacrifice ourselves and our sons on his order," said Mohammad Rehan, a 34-year-old volunteer in Fazlullah's army, which numbers in the thousands and is headquartered just a couple of miles from the valley's main town, Mingaora.

Fazlullah rallies his supporters through fiery broadcasts on a pirated FM signal, which has earned him the nickname "Maulana Radio." Earlier this year, he spoke out against the evils of television, and local residents responded by setting thousands of TVs ablaze. In sermons that echo for miles, he also calls on Swat's residents to rise up against Musharraf and his international backers, especially the United States.

"The mission of Fazlullah in Swat is the same as that of the Taliban in Afghanistan and other mujaheddin in Waziristan," said Shah Abdul Aziz, a former member of Parliament. "All of them have taken up arms for the same task of fighting against the puppets of the United States and introducing the system of Islamic laws."

Throughout the northwest, the war against the insurgents is unpopular. Many Pakistanis consider it America's war, though on either side, it's Pakistani blood that is spilled.

Analysts say they fear that while emergency rule may give Musharraf more power to use the army to put down the insurgency, it will backfire when it comes to changing minds.

"The mullahs' main slogan is enforcing sharia, and that is popular with the populace," said Ghulam Cheema, a retired army colonel. "The army, in their heart of hearts, can't fight such a slogan."

Ali reported from Mingaora and Peshawar. Correspondent Pamela Constable in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Taliban take over Shangla town

Staff Report, Daily Times 14 November 2007

PESHAWAR: Around 500 local Taliban took over control of Shangla district headquarter Alpuri moments after sunset on Tuesday, occupying the DPO, DCO and police lines offices without facing any resistance from the government, eyewitness and a local nazim told Daily Times.

The eyewitnesses said the armed militants urged locals to stay calm and extend all possible support to them. Alpuri union council Nazim Sabir told Daily Times that the armed militants, led by Maulana Muhammad Alam, a close associate of rebel Swat cleric Maulana Fazlullah, captured the district.

“All government functionaries, including the DPO and DCO, left the area the moment they heard of the fall of Shangla Top police station, located at the border between Swat and Shangla,” Sabir said.

Taliban commander Maulana Muhammad Alam was quoted as saying that no one would be harmed nor would any private or state property be damaged. “We only struggle for the enforcement of Shariah,” he told Alpuri residents. Curfew imposed: Meanwhile, the government imposed a curfew in Swat, the army said. “The curfew has been imposed to check the movement of the militants,” chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP, adding that it would be in force from midnight Tuesday to 5am on Wednesday. Witnesses said the curfew announcement was made over mosque loudspeakers.

Four militants killed: Separately, four militants were killed and over 50 wounded as army helicopters continued pounding their positions in various areas of Swat late on Monday night and early on Tuesday, the military said on Tuesday. Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed that four militants were killed and four or five of their bunkers and an ammunition dump were destroyed as gunship helicopters targeted their hideouts in the Sambat area.
Another militant checkpost in Kabal tehsil was also destroyed, the army spokesman added. An estimated 35 militants were injured in the airstrike, he said.

Five suspects detained: Another 15 to 20 rebels were injured when they tried to attack and capture the Saidu Sharif airport late on Monday night, said Gen Waheed, adding that five suspects, including four locals and one Afghan, were detained by paramilitary personnel in Chakdara on Tuesday. He said telephone directories had been confiscated from the suspects. “Some weapons were also recovered from their possession,” he said. He said ground troops would be used against the militants when required. Answering a question on when the military operation would end, Gen Waheed said, “It will take time to eliminate the militants.”

One civilian killed: The spokesman said the government was not aware of any civilian deaths during the operation, however locals said one civilian was killed and seven were injured in the airstrikes on Monday night and Tuesday. There were no reports of any retaliatory fire by the rebels.

Cashing in on Karzai & Co.

By Arthur Kent Policy Options, November 2007 http://irpp. org/po/index. htm

The Canadian Forces in Afghanistan have been left exposed at a critical point of their mission, but not due to a lack of public support – it's the Harper government that's absent without leave. While the Forces can point to significant, if painful, gains in flashpoints such as Panjwai and Zhari districts, as well as Kandahar City, the prime minister and his team can boast of not a single clear policy gain, especially not where diplomatic intervention is needed most: pressuring the Taliban leadership in their safe havens in Pakistan, and rehabilitating the Karzai regime in Kabul.

The Harper government continues to acquiesce to the Bush administration's results-barren command of an aid and security mission that is international in name only. Washington's blunders have compromised a force whose success is crucial to Canada's hopes for an eventual end to its combat obligations: the Afghan National Army, or ANA.

At issue is a web of political influence, backed by enormous sums of US military and humanitarian aid dollars, extending from the White House through an array of government officials, neo-conservative outriders and avaricious Afghan-American businessmen. Afghans and foreign observers who've witnessed the web's growth describe it as a network of aggressive political adventurers, hungry for influence and lucrative development contracts.

"These people have hijacked a weak system," says a senior member of President Hamid Karzai's staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "People here initially welcomed diaspora Afghans with open arms and looked to them for guidance. But that's changed. It's clear that too many Afghan-Americans paraded their patriotism only to promote their careers, or to advance ethnic agendas, or just to fill their pockets. On top of that, their scheming has distorted policy in Washington, a lot like Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress at the start of the Iraq war.

"It doesn't matter who Karzai appoints as Interior Minister or Attorney General," the source says. "That's just the visible surface. What really matters is who's making deals behind the scenes, at the US Embassy or over a cosy meal at the Presidential Palace." Member of Parliament Ramazan Bashar Dost says: "The United States and other western countries are not following their own laws. It is obvious to everyone that the contracts go to a minister's son or brother. You cannot get a contract unless you have connections."

Across town from parliament stands an institution that attests to that charge: the Karzai regime's Ministry of Defence. Ask to meet the minister, Rahim Wardak, and you'll be referred to a public affairs desk at the American Embassy. Ask to meet the beneficiaries of the Afghan army building boom, and you'll be invited to leave. But regime insiders will happily recite the names - with Minister Wardak's son, Hamed, at the top of the list.
*    *    *
For Canada and Canadians, the raising of a capable Afghan army is not only vital to stability in southwest Asia. Until the ANA can stand its own ground, Canada and its NATO partners will be forced to maintain combat forces to hold off the Taliban. Yet successive Canadian governments have done little to address the failings of the US-financed army project. Incompetence, conflict of interest, nepotism and corruption has led to chronic shortfalls in troop training targets. Instead of tackling the problem, US and NATO officials have concealed it by padding statistics.

Since 2001, the Bush administration has committed $12 billion to Afghanistan's security forces. A 70,000-man army was called for, but only 25,000 soldiers can be proven to exist today. Of these, perhaps 18,000 are combat-ready. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has admitted to Congress that its investigators are probing criminal misconduct related to $6 billion worth of equipment and service contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan. Keeping track of dollars and troops can't have been easy, given the proclivity of Washington's generals to massage the numbers.

By the end of 2003, only 9,000 army recruits had gone through basic training. Half of these promptly deserted. At the time, US Gen. Peter Pace brushed criticism aside, claiming that the ANA would have 12,500 men in arms by the summer of 2004. That seemed laughable by the Berlin Conference in April, 2004, where the record revealed only 5,721 trained men, with 3,056 recruits in the system. Yet only four months later, Donald Rumsfeld insisted that the ANA was up to 13,000 troops. In January of 2005, US officials claimed 17,800 Afghan soldiers trained, with 3,400 more in the works. By January of 2007, Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin declared: "Currently 36,000 strong, the ANA is on its way to an end state of 70,000 combat and combat support soldiers skilled in counterinsurgency operations."

Which was plainly nonsensical: in February, 2007, it was widely agreed that the Afghan National Army numbered at most 22,000 men. Six years on, Hamid Karzai has less than a third of the force he and his allies regard as minimally capable of defending his regime. An Afghan official familiar with problems at the MoD, says: "It remains a token army. It doesn't reflect the ethnic reality of the country, or even all regions. Finances go to battalions said to be 600 men strong, but in reality there's not a single full-strength battalion in all of Afghanistan. Unfortunately it is still the case that the best Afghan militias are private ones."
Some 2,000 private militias still exist, totalling 120,000 gunmen, according to the joint UN-Afghan disarmament agency. At least 500 of the groups are controlled by regime insiders – ministers, MPs and commanders. Many militias enforce goods smuggling, land grabs and drug trafficking. None battle the Taliban and al Qaeda. That job goes to "the internationals," who have been left by the Bush administration with only one way out of Afghanistan: build up the ANA's combat forces to replace their own.

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According to eyewitnesses, one piece of diplomatic theatre from 2005 typifies how global diplomacy has been conducted in Afghanistan since the collapse of the Taliban regime. Though the event focused on governance, not the army, the same unilateralist strong-arming that ensued has undermined the program to build up the ANA.

The setting was the residence of Jean Arnaud, the U.N.'s special representative.  Arnaud had invited the heavyweights of Kabul's foreign diplomatic corps to debate voting systems for Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections. Among European and Asian embassies, there was unease about the option advocated by the biggest foreign aid donor on the scene, the Bush administration. The single non-transferable vote, or SNTV, would render political parties irrelevant. Because President Karzai had failed to forge his own party, American officials wanted to prevent the emergence of a parliamentary group that might challenge him. But SNTV had a downside: the stifling of parties might well compress the powder-keg of Afghan politics to critical mass.

The discussion was interrupted by a late arrival: Zalmay Khalilzad, the American Ambassador. "I've just spoken with President Bush," Khalilzad announced. "He said that SNTV is the choice. SNTV is going to happen." Then he turned and walked out.

This was not the first time Khalilzad (known as "King Zal" or "The Viceroy") had cold-shouldered foreign policy professionals espousing views different from his own. According to an Afghan legal aide who has worked closely with Karzai: "Frequently the European ambassadors would be angry with Khalilzad. They knew it didn't matter what agreements were made at their meetings with ministers. The key decisions were made over private dinners at the palace, with Khalilzad and his Afghan-American circle from the US Embassy dictating policy. The Europeans said 'why should we contribute to a policy if we have no say in the decision making process?"

This discord belies the multi-lateral intent of the Afghan project: some 70 nations and organizations back the current aid protocol, the Afghanistan Compact. Militarily, 37 nations contribute to the NATO-run International Security and Assistance Force. But one government - the Bush administration – has provided as much financial aid as all others combined. And as people like Zalmay Khalilzad are quick to point out, money not only talks, it shouts out loud for ultimate control.

For an activist-envoy who has left gorilla-sized footprints all over Asia for more than two decades, Khalilzad might be assumed to be have earned his way by making the right calls at the right times. Instead, his career path reveals two constants: a genius for advancing himself by way of influential connections; and a penchant for policies that sooner or later reveal their author's knack for blowback.

When Khalilzad served the Reagan administration in the 1980's, he backed anti-Soviet Afghan resistance figures of his own Pashtun ethnicity – despite their extremist views. He favoured fundamentalists like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and allied himself to Pakistan's campaign against the Afghan nationalist leader, Ahmed Shah Massoud, an ethnic Tajik. Today, Hekmatyar is among America's most-wanted Afghan terrorists. Massoud is revered as a hero who prevented the Taliban seizing all of Afghanistan, but whose warnings about al Qaeda went unheeded by the U.S.

By the time the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996, Khalilzad's geopolitical aim had not improved. As a director of the RAND Corporation, he lobbied the Clinton administration to recognize the Taliban regime. At the time, he was a paid consultant for the proposed UNOCAL trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline. In the March 30, 1999 edition of the Washington Post, Khalilzad was quoted as saying: "In the rural areas, what the Taliban is seeking to impose is not very different than what the norm has been."

Today, Khalilzad's "norm" is almost as evident as the Taliban's, as befits a hard-charging neo-conservative loyalist. A one-time protégé of Paul Wolfowitz, Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney transition team in 2000. Later, he was a counsellor to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Then came a chance to shape post-Taliban Afghanistan, first as President Bush's special representative, and later as Ambassador to Kabul. Says a source close to the Presidential Palace: "He encouraged Karzai to rid his government of Tajiks, and except for a few positions, he has succeeded. Ethnic fascism is not too strong a label for Zal and his friends."

Khalilzad's plan was to weaken the Taliban by co-opting the Pashtun tribes that the movement feeds on for recruits and support. Stack Karzai's ruling elite with Pashtuns, the reasoning went, and the Taliban movement would fade away. "But in many cases, Zal's Pashtuns were the wrong Pashtuns," says a member of Europe's diplomatic corps in Kabul. "Advancing ministers on the basis of ethnicity was a mistake." Figures like Information Minister Khorram and Attorney General Sabet bear that out. Both are unabashed fundamentalists, and long-time aides to fugitive warlord Hekmatyar. While they were empowered, respected Tajiks, notably former Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, were pushed aside.

This strategy has borne bitter fruit: the Taliban have stepped up their insurgency, not eased it, and the regime's ineptitude and corruption have run rampant. "The role of Khalilzad in Afghanistan is like a poison that has no treatment," says MP Ramazan Bashar Dost. "As US Ambassador, he was supposed to act according to the good will of Americans. But even though he is an American citizen and has studied in America, his way of thinking about Afghanistan is according to old Afghan standards. It's more about a tribal system than democracy."

If Khalilzad's concepts of tribalism reveal one Western tendency, it is a passion for promoting Afghan-Americans friendly to the Bush White House. In the 1990's, a new generation of displaced Afghans, the sons and daughters of diplomats, businessmen - and former guerrilla commanders - took root in their parents' adopted homeland. It was within this diaspora that Hamed Wardak came of age.

A somewhat chubby, intensely studious young man, Hamed was destined to emulate, if not exceed, Zalmay Khalilzad's gifts for political networking and hyper-drive careerism. Hamed's father, Rahim Wardak, brought his family to the U.S. from Pakistan. There, in the 1980's, he had garnered a reputation as one of the least accomplished commanders of the American-backed Mujahideen resistance to Soviet occupation forces. By the time of the 1990's civil war, Rahim Wardak had vanished from the Afghan scene.

Bizarrely, his young son, Hamed, would help ignite Rahim Wardak's unlikely comeback. At Georgetown University, Hamed wrote his senior thesis under the mentorship of Jeane Kirkpatrick, formerly Ronald Reagan's ambassador to the UN, and the godmother of the neo-conservative movement. Graduating in 1997, Hamed won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. During this period, he flirted with pro-Taliban sympathies, due both to his ethnic Pashtun fervour and peer pressure from young DC-area extremists.

Gradually, however, Hamed came under the influence of Kirkpatrick's philosophical soul mates, notably Marin Strmecki, a Republican essayist and political facilitator with the Smith Richardson Foundation. Strmecki worked at the Pentagon under Dick Cheney in the first Bush administration, along with Lewis "Scooter" Libby – and Zalmay Khalilzad. It was during Hamed Wardak's reappraisal of the world, via these American political heavyweights, that he came into contact with a group of upwardly-mobile players on Washington's Afghan-American scene: the Karzais; specifically, two of the six Karzai boys – Qayum and Mahmood. Unlike their younger brother Hamid, who had spent much of his life in Pakistan, Mahmood and Qayum were accomplished US-based businessmen.

The brothers recognized a bright prospect in the young Rhodes Scholar. In turn, Wardak saw the benefits of aligning himself with the Karzais' dazzling circle of friends. This paid enormous dividends. By the time war drums sounded in the aftermath of the Sept. 11th terror attacks, Hamed Wardak had toned down his pro-Taliban sympathies and was on his way to becoming vice-president of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce, founded by Mahmood Karzai. He also nabbed an advisor's post with Karzai's first Finance Minister, Ashraf Ghani. But his real breakthrough was joining a Virginia-based contracting firm, Technologists Inc., founded by Aziz Azimi, a close friend of Qayum Karzai.

Hamed Wardak's new alliances proved extraordinarily advantageous as George W. Bush launched his "war on terror," particularly with Khalilzad and Strmecki enjoying direct access to vice-president Dick Cheney's office. The melding of the Wardaks' business and political connections had catapulted them into the front ranks of an advancing legion of state-building, doctrine-spouting capitalists. Along with the leading lights of the Afghan-American business community, they returned to their ancestral homeland, which had become a cradle of treasure and influence few Afghans could have dreamed of after the displacement and loss of the Soviet and Taliban eras.