In this bulletin:

• Afghan woman shot for not helping Taliban
• Taliban kill Afghan boy for teaching English: police
• New case of potential abuse involving Afghan prisoner uncovered: Bernier
• Karzai Probes Allegations of Torture by Afghan Forces, AFP Says
• Monitoring for torture
• British soldier killed in Afghan bomb blast
• NATO's top general: force shortfalls holding back progress in Afghanistan
• German parliament extends Afghan anti-terror mandate
• Dutch troops to stay until Afghan forces independent: minister
• Experts: Afghan Mission Crucial for NATO's Survival
• Daikundi governor claims Taliban forced from Kijran
• Survivors recall Baghlan bomb horror
• U.S. says not worried about Pakistan nuclear weapons
• Among poppies and Taliban, Afghan pomegranate farmers see prices, demand rise
• Karzai lauds NSP as a flagship project of his govt
• Rise of the Neo-Taliban - Part 2 - 'Pain has become the remedy'
• Afghan teacher: 'You are so lucky'

Afghan woman shot for not helping Taliban

KABUL, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led Coalition forces medically treated and evacuated an Afghan woman on Tuesday whom were shot by Taliban insurgents for not helping them in southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, said a Coalition statement.

"The Taliban came to her tribal camp asking for food and supplies," said a Coalition commander.

"The tribal elders explained they did not have any extra food to give the Taliban," he said, "and that they were in short supply themselves... the Taliban retaliated by shooting at the civilian residents' homes."

An innocent Afghan woman received a severe gunshot wound to the hand, the statement said.

Afghan and the Coalition forces treated the woman's wound and medically evacuated her, along with her escort, for further treatment, it added.

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

Taliban kill Afghan boy for teaching English: police

By Elyas Wahdat - KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban militants shot dead a teenage boy in southeastern Afghanistan for teaching English to his classmates, police said on Thursday.

Taliban militants have killed a number of teachers and students in recent years for attending government-run schools, taking part in classes for girls or what the hardline Islamist militants consider un-Islamic subjects.

Armed men arrived at the school in the Sayed Karam district of Paktia province and grabbed a 16-year-old student and dragged him outside.

"Taliban militants took the boy out and killed him outside the school just because he was teaching English to his classmates," said General Esmatullah Alizai, the police chief of Paktia province.

Police arrived on the scene and in the ensuing gun battle, two policemen and two militants were killed, he said.

A Taliban spokesman denied the group was involved in the killing. The militants often deny carrying out unpopular actions. The Taliban are divided into a number of factions with no unified command and individual units act with a high degree of autonomy.

Afghanistan has suffered from two years of steadily rising violence as the Taliban have reignited their campaign to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and eject foreign troops.

Taliban insurgents suffer heavy casualties whenever they engage with foreign troops, but there are few signs they are suffering from a shortage of recruits. Both the number of clashes and their geographical range has gone up this year.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants in clashes in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Thursday, and an explosion killed a British soldier in the troubled region.

The latest clashes came in the Garmser district of Helmand province, where mostly British and U.S. troops are battling to extend Afghan government authority to a string of towns along the fertile Helmand River that cuts through the barren desert.

"During a search of compounds in the district, coalition forces encountered armed militants in multiple buildings on the compounds," a U.S. military statement said.

"Coalition forces responded with a combination of small-arms fire; accurate, conventional munitions and precision-guided munitions killing several militants during the engagement," the statement added.

Precision munitions normally refer to weapons launched in air strikes, but can be ground-launched weaponry.

"Precision munitions were also used to kill several other militants who were attempting to use a tree line outside one of the compounds as cover to engage Coalition forces," it said.

There was no immediate comment from the Taliban. In a separate incident, a British soldier was killed in an explosion in the Sangin district, further north in Helmand province on Wednesday, the British Defence Ministry said.

More than 7,000 people have been killed in that period, the bloodiest since Afghan and U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban for refusing to give up al Qaeda leaders in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

New case of potential abuse involving Afghan prisoner uncovered: Bernier

OTTAWA - Canadian diplomats and corrections officers in Kandahar have come across what they consider to be a clear and "credible" case of torture involving a Canadian-captured Taliban fighter.

The revelation came as the federal government was forced to release over 1,000 pages of court documents that outline in graphic detail some of the abuse claims made by Afghan prisoners.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier told the House of Commons about the latest case, which brings to seven the number of complaints Canadian authorities have received since Ottawa signed a revised prisoner transfer agreement with the government of Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

Senior government officials, speaking on background late in the evening, said the incident was discovered during the latest inspection by Canadian authorities of a jail - likely belonging to Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service.

"Our trained observers came across particularly credible evidence of mistreatment," said a senior official, who indicated the injuries were physical.

"We have since heard from the Afghans that their investigation has already been launched and they come to an initial indication of wrongdoing and that they're considering measures that include both firing personnel and prosecution."

Published reports last spring said as many as 30 prisoners - captured by Canadian troops, but handed over to local authorities - complained of being beaten and abused prior to the signing of a new transfer arrangement last May. Six more cases surfaced in the wake of the new deal.

"The allegation has come to light, Mr. Speaker, because we have a good agreement with the Afghan government," Bernier told the Commons on Wednesday.

The new arrangement allows Canada the right to check on the prisoners it has captured - something it wasn't able to do up until last spring. Foreign Affairs officials refused Wednesday night to say how many prisoners had been captured and handed over.

Heavily censored court documents, released as part of a lawsuit launched by Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, describe some of the complaints Canadians have heard in the runup to the new agreement and afterward.

One prisoner claimed to Canadian officials last spring that he had been burned and beaten while blindfolded by Afghan guards at a prison belonging to the Afghan National Directorate of Security.

Another claimed to have been given electric shocks and interrogated by "foreigners."

Both the Canadian and Afghan governments promised investigations into the allegations last spring.

Senior officials said, with the exception of the latest case, the investigations are either incomplete - or inconclusive because record-keeping in Afghan jails is spotty.

Human rights officials have raised concern that Canadians maybe held liable under international law if they've been deemed to have handed someone over to be tortured.

A senior federal official, with responsibility for United Nations matters, said the issue falls into a legal gray area and that Canadians might not be accountable as long as it's demonstrated they took every precaution to ensure torture didn't take place.

But a University of Ottawa law professor, who first raised concern about prisoner treatment, dismissed the defence.

"We have not met our obligation under international law to avoid aiding and abetting torture," said Amir Attaran. "If you deliver the body to them in good faith and they go away and toture, you're safe? There's no disputing we now know torture is taking place."

Bernier said Canadian authorities have visited Afghan prisons, including ones operated by that country's notorious intelligence service, 16 times in the last five months and interviewed 32 prisoners.

The court records show that Canadian officials are not sure what happened to a number of the prisoners it transfered to the Afghans prior to the signing of the new arrangement. They were also put in the embarassing position of writing to the United States, which took custody of Canadian-captured insurgents between 2002-2005, to determine what happened to some of them.

Karzai's government announced Wednesday that it will look into overall complaints by Amnesty International that systemic torture is taking place in jails throughout the war-torn country.

The human-rights group said Monday that it "remains gravely concerned that detainees handed over by (NATO) to the Afghan authorities are currently at substantial risk of torture and other ill-treatment."

In a special report, Amnesty specifically criticized Canada's transfer agreement, describing it as flawed because the arrangement doesn't prevent possible torture, it only detects it afterwards.

Canada and other NATO countries, including Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, should stop handing over captured fighters to local Afghan authorities, the group demanded.

Amnesty has been fighting a protracted legal battle in Federal Court, trying to stop Canadian prisoner transfers. The Foreign Affairs Department was set late Wednesday night to release thousands of pages of documents previously deemed secret that relate to the case.

Responding to Amnesty's renewed criticism, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the military alliance was convinced that there was no systemic torture taking place in Afghan jails.

But a German general said Wednesday that NATO has heard of isolated, individual cases where prisoners have been tortured when they were handed over to local jailers.

"We are aware of individual cases where employees in Afghan prisons committed actions that, according to international law, certainly do not meet our expectations," Gen. Egon Ramms, a senior officer at alliance's field headquarters in Kabul, told the German media in an interview.

Bloc Quebcois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who pushed the issue in question period, said Bernier obviously doesn't know what he is talking about and if authorities have uncovered a potential case of abuse Canada is in trouble in the eyes of international law.

"If he's talking about one case, that is already in violation of the Geneva convention," Duceppe said. "Maybe he doesn't realize that. I think he doesn't even know what is the Geneva convention."

Canada has promised to treat Taliban prisoners with the same rights and dignity accorded under the Third Geneva Convention, but since their status is somewhat murky it is supposed to hold battlefield hearings to determine whether the person they've captured is a bona fide insurgent. Those hearings have never happened and the prisoners are simply handed over top Afghan authorities to sort out.

Amnesty argues that many of the detentions are arbitrary and the NATO dragnet sweeps up innocent civilians.

Karzai Probes Allegations of Torture by Afghan Forces, AFP Says

By Ed Johnson - Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai appointed a commission to investigate allegations the nation's intelligence service is torturing and abusing detainees, Agence France-Presse reported.

``Afghanistan is against any physical and mental torture and is committed to all international human rights standards,'' AFP cited the Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement yesterday. ``An authorized commission appointed by the president will seriously investigate the issue.''

Amnesty International said in a report two days ago that the National Directorate of Security has been known to whip prisoners, expose them to extreme cold and deprive them of food. The London-based human rights organization called on NATO forces to stop transferring prisoners into Afghan custody.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization leads a force of more than 35,000 soldiers from 37 countries fighting a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The United Nations in September called on Karzai's government to investigate allegations of inhumane treatment and torture of detainees by the intelligence service.

Monitoring for torture

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail - Globe editorial
November 14, 2007 at 7:36 AM EST

Canada and other NATO countries should not be in the business of building
and running jails for prisoners of war in Afghanistan. That job belongs to
the government of Afghanistan, but Amnesty International believes the risk
of torture is too great when coalition countries turn prisoners over to
Afghan authorities. The human-rights group would give the job back to Canada
and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization until the risk of
torture in Afghanistan is gone.

Amnesty has legitimate concerns, as Canada's own diplomats can attest,
having found repeated instances of torture in prisons run by Afghanistan's
National Directorate of Security. And while General Rick Hillier signed an
agreement with Afghan authorities in 2005 in which those authorities
promised not to abuse prisoners turned over by Canada, this country seemed
content not to probe too deeply into what befell those prisoners once they
were not in Canadian hands. Then, last spring, The Globe's Graeme Smith
reported allegations of abuse from several of those prisoners,
then-defence-minister Gordon O'Connor wrongly claimed that the International
Committee of the Red Cross had promised to keep this country informed of any
abuse, and leading cabinet members claimed never to have seen the
human-rights reports from Canada's own diplomats.

But since that time, Canada has negotiated a much stronger agreement than
the initial one signed by Gen. Hillier. Canada has "full and unfettered
access to detainees, including private interviews," report Janice Stein and
Eugene Lang in their book The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar. Afghan
human-rights monitors now have better access to the prisons and an improved
relationship with the security directorate. Britain, the Netherlands and
several other NATO countries also have agreements that allow for monitoring.

Does any of that guarantee no one will be tortured? Of course not. To
Amnesty, the attempt at monitoring is therefore fatally flawed. It comes
"after the fact." By even admitting that monitoring is necessary, the
coalition acknowledges that there is a continuing risk of torture, Amnesty
says.

Its skepticism is understandable, especially in light of the willful
blindness to the possibility of torture that Canada has shown at times. But
the improved monitoring agreements are a step in the right direction.
Crucially, they give Afghan civil society a chance to grow. That's part of
why Canada is in Afghanistan: not to impose parallel structures, but to help
that country build its own democratic institutions. If Afghanistan fails in
its treatment of the prisoners, the larger project may well fail, too.

For now, Canada and other NATO countries should press Afghanistan to keep to
international standards for the treatment of prisoners, and provide as much
transparency as possible to their own citizens and the international
community to satisfy concerns that they are not complicit in torture.

British soldier killed in Afghan bomb blast

LONDON (AFP) — A British soldier was killed Wednesday by an explosion in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, the defence ministry said.

"It is with deep regret that the ministry of defence must confirm that a soldier serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment has been killed today ... in southern Afghanistan," a defence ministry spokeswoman said.

"An interpreter was also injured and is currently receiving treatment at the field hospital at Camp Bastion."

The spokeswoman said that a joint Afghan National Army and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force patrol was caught in the explosion. "Immediate medical assistance was provided but sadly the soldier was declared dead at the scene," she said.

The soldier's next of kin have been informed but have requested a 24-hour grace period before any further details are released.

The soldier's death brings to 84 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in late 2001 to oust the Islamist Taliban regime.

Britain has about 7,000 troops in Afghanistan, most of whom are in Helmand, a number that is set to increase to 7,700 by the end of the year. The current troop figures are the second-highest number after the United States in ISAF.

NATO's top general: force shortfalls holding back progress in Afghanistan

Associated Press - Wednesday, November 14, 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO's top solider complained Wednesday that recent efforts to overcome shortfalls in the alliance's force in Afghanistan had made only limited progress, holding back efforts to improve security in the country.

"We have seen modest progress on force generation," said Canadian Gen. Ray Henault, chairman of NATO's military committee, after talks with chiefs of staff from the 26 allied nations.

"There are still shortfalls, and we discussed the strategic risks and consequences associated with continued under-resourcing of the minimum military requirement," he said in a statement.

Henault issued the comments after a serious of meetings designed to drum up reinforcements for NATO's force of 41,000 in Afghanistan which is facing the most violent year since the U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban in 2001.

Although the force has grown by 8,500 over the past year, NATO commanders on the ground say they need more helicopters, planes and mobile units to step up the fight against the Taliban.

"Given the deployed resources, we remain satisfied in the main with the pace and progress," Henault said. "With more, we could do more and do it faster."

Concern over casualties, costs and commitments elsewhere have made some allies reluctant to send more troops, particularly to the southern and eastern areas where most of the recent fighting has been centered.

The United States and nations such as Britain, Canada and the Netherlands have been pressing other allies to step up their efforts during meetings of ministers and military brass in recent weeks.

NATO commanders are also seeking to persuade allies to send more teams of instructors to train the Afghan army so that it can eventually start to take over front-line security from the international forces.

"Fielding more training and liaison teams for the Afghan National Army remains a key priority," Henault said, adding that such teams can produce "a large payoff for a relatively small investment."

Recent offers from NATO governments should take the number of embedded training teams to a number in the "low- to mid-30s," compared with 26 last month, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

However the alliance's target is 46 and growing, as more Afghan army units are put together.

Appathurai declined to say which countries had made new offers, but Germany and France have indicated they would both be sending more instructors.

Afghan units in eastern Afghanistan have recently taken the lead in some operations against the Taliban, with U.S. support. However, NATO commanders estimate it would take up to 10 years before the Afghans could stand alone.

German parliament extends Afghan anti-terror mandate

BERLIN, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Germany's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to renew its option to participate in U.S. counter-terrorist operations in Afghanistan, despite widespread public opposition.

The Bundestag said there were 413 votes in favour, 145 against and 15 abstentions.

Although no German special forces have taken part in such activities for two years, opinion polls show the vast majority of Germans oppose staying on the list of potential participants.

For months left-wing lawmakers have called for an end to German involvement in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), the official name for the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to topple its Taliban government after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Since then, OEF has been expanded to cover the broader fight against terrorism and not only special combat operations in Afghanistan, where NATO troops are struggling to pacify an increasingly resilient Taliban insurgency.

Germany has some 3,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led peacekeeping operation that is separate from the OEF mandate, which allows the deployment of up to 100 special forces in Afghanistan and up to 1,400 to monitor the Horn of Africa.

The decision will come as a relief to the United States. For months, U.S. officials have been meeting with German officials and lawmakers to try to persuade them that Germany should not break ranks with its Western allies.

Washington had strong backing from Chancellor Angela Merkel, conservative Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung and Social Democrat (SPD) Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, all of whom campaigned for OEF. They called it vital for the stabilisation of Afghanistan.

Most parliamentarians from the SPD, Merkel's centre-left coalition partners, voted for renewal of the mandate but 42 voted against. Merkel's conservatives and the liberal Free Democrats, an opposition party, overwhelmingly supported it.

U.S. officials had said privately that failure to renew the mandate would have been a serious public relations blow for the fight against terrorism. After the vote, a U.S. official told Reuters that Washington was pleased with the Bundestag decision.

Dutch troops to stay until Afghan forces independent: minister

KABUL (AFP) — The Dutch defence minister said his country's 1,500 soldiers would remain in Afghanistan until its own forces could mount an "independent defence," the Afghan government said.

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.

"Our units will stay in Afghanistan until the Afghan army is capable of independent defence," the Afghan defence ministry quoted Middelkoop as saying in a statement.

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, which 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 troops 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.

Experts: Afghan Mission Crucial for NATO's Survival

By André de Nesnera - Washington   14 November 2007

Forces from the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, are encountering stiff resistance from Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan. In this report from Washington, VOA senior correspondent André de Nesnera looks at what is at stake for NATO.

NATO has been operating in Afghanistan since 2003, leading a 41,000-troop U.N.-mandated contingent known as the "International Security Assistance Force." It is the military alliance's first mission ever outside the Euro-Atlantic region.

Experts say NATO has three missions in Afghanistan. The first is to assist the government of president Hamid Karzai in its efforts to rebuild and stabilize the country. The second is to train the Afghan army and police. And the third mission is to hunt down and eliminate insurgents in southern Afghanistan.

Former U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Clinton administration, Robert Hunter, says NATO is having a difficult time implementing the various goals.

"I cannot say they are winning the war because a lot of other things that need to be done, both economic development and the efforts of the Karzai government in Kabul, are lagging far behind," he said. "Poppy production has hit an all-time record. Police training is not going very well. The judiciary is not going well. The Provincial Reconstruction Teams that NATO and some other countries are operating in 25 of the 36 provinces really are not big enough and well staffed enough or have enough money to get the job done. So if you look at it in terms of hearts and minds, that is which way will the average Afghan jump, whether for the central government and let us say the modern age or the intimidation of the Taliban, the jury is very definitely out."

The fiercest combat has been centered in southern Afghanistan, the home of the Taliban, ousted from power by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001.

Charles Kupchan with the Council on Foreign Relations, says the situation is not getting better.

"Violence is increasing," he said. "More suicide attacks are occurring. And if you look at the numbers, the trend is somewhat worrisome. In this year 2007, we have already had more U.S. soldiers die than in all of last year. On the civilian front, in 2006, the number was 4,000 killed. In 2007, we are already well above 5,000. And so it is clear that the situation is getting worse, not better.'

Kupchan and others - such as Ambassador Hunter - say NATO's credibility is at stake if it does not defeat the Taliban and help bring stability to Afghanistan.

"You have to remember, NATO's reputation is built in part [on] never having failed. And if the NATO alliance fails, then it is going to be very difficult for people to take NATO as seriously in the future," he said.

A NATO expert at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, Michael Williams, says the alliance is failing.

"You have the situation where you have increasing collateral damage [civilian], which although very limited, still does a lot of damage when magnified in the global media, both on the ground in Afghanistan but also back at the home countries - the pressure then accumulates and is applied to politicians to pull the troops out. So I think really, when it comes down to it, the whole idea of collective security and solidarity and the ability of the alliance to provide security is going to be called into question if they cannot manage to extract themselves over the longer run from Afghanistan," said Williams.

Analysts say for NATO to succeed, member countries must provide more troops and equipment to fight the Taliban. But experts also agree that NATO alone cannot stabilize the situation in Afghanistan.

They say the international community must also provide the necessary economic and financial help to aid the government of president Hamid Karzai.

Daikundi governor claims Taliban forced from Kijran

NEILI, Nov 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan security forces recaptured Kajran district of central Daikundi province from Taliban militants, the provincial governor claimed on Monday.

In an exclusive chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, Sultan Ali Uruzgani said the insurgents, who overran the city on November 6, were forced out during an overnight operation by 500 policemen.

Although he had no information about the casualties inflicted on the guerrillas or the police, the governor said the fighters ran away in the still of the night. Some weapons and clothes were found on mountain peaks, where the rebels hid, he continued.

In Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesman Zmaray Bashary confirmed the capture of

the district by the provincial police, but gave no further details.

Survivors recall Baghlan bomb horror

By Alix Kroeger BBC News, Baghlan, Afghanistan Wednesday, 14 November 2007
The lane leading to the Baghlan sugar factory is lined with trees. All of them have been painted white at the base, but one is now blackened.

This is where a suicide bomber detonated explosives last week. In all, around 70 people died here. More than 100 people were injured.

The bomb targeted a delegation of MPs, but most of the victims were schoolboys, there to welcome the visiting dignitaries.

The explosives were laced with ball bearings to inflict the maximum damage. In the confusion after the blast, bodyguards working for the MPs opened fire.

The scene of the blast is still the focus of local attention. When we arrived in Baghlan, north of Kabul, survivors and the bereaved clustered round us in minutes, eager to tell their stories.

Mahmad Jaweid, 15, was on crutches. He was one of the walking wounded - one of the lucky ones.

"Our teacher brought us here to welcome the MPs who were visiting. I heard an explosion, but I didn't know how many people were injured," he said.

"After five minutes, the guns began firing. I didn't know who was shooting so I ran away to the guard at the end of the street and then to the bazaar in town.

"My leg was injured, so people took me to the hospital."

Shafiqullah, 18, lost two of his brothers in the blast. One of them was 10, the other 11.

"When I heard the bomb blast, we ran to the scene. Lots of people were crying and shouting, and I saw my brothers lying over there on the ground.

"Both of them were dead. When we saw they were dead, my father carried one of my brothers away, and I took the other one."

After 30 years of war and conflict, Afghans have had to get used to violence. But this bombing has shocked the country profoundly.

Partly because of the high number of deaths, partly because so many of the dead were children. And partly because no-one has claimed responsibility.

Many people blame what they call "the enemies of Afghanistan" - a phrase that can cover the Taleban, other insurgents or the factions led by various warlords.

But they also blame the government, for failing to protect them and their children.

Waladaji Barakat, a farmer, was at home when a neighbour came to tell him about the bomb. One of his sons had been killed and another injured.

"They told me my son's body was at the mosque, so I went there, but when I found him, I didn't believe it was him. So I went to the hospital to see if he was there but I couldn't find him," he said.

"I went back to the mosque and when I washed his face, I saw that it was my son. So I took his body home and went to find my other son, who was injured."

He said he would continue to send his five other sons to school once the period of mourning was over and the school had reopened. But one of his neighbours said he was withdrawing his children.

And all of them agreed, they would never send their children to greet visiting officials again. They did not trust the government to protect their children from attacks.

But whether the school will be able to reopen is unclear. Five of its teachers were also among the dead.

Since 2001, and the fall of the Taleban, the number of schools in Afghanistan has skyrocketed. In a small town like Baghlan, finding so many qualified teachers will not be easy.

For Mohammad Fahim, one of the teachers who was unharmed, the suicide bomb meant the loss of five of his colleagues. One of them was also his father.

"I have a suggestion for the government of Hamid Karzai," he said.

"Representatives of the government should not use bodyguards who have no experience and no judgement. When the bomb went off, the bodyguards opened fire and killed some of our young people."

He pointed out two school exercise books still lying on a dusty wall opposite the spot where the bomb went off.

Leafing through them, he said they were from a geography class, they belonged to a 16-year-old pupil. He would never claim them now.

There were also ribbons in the colours of the Afghan flag - red, green, black and white - tied round a nearby tree. No other visible marks remained.

Rumours that it might have been a roadside bomb, a landmine or a rocket attack circulated in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.

But there were no marks on the pavement. And all the eyewitnesses we spoke to confirmed that it was in fact a suicide bomb.

Dr Ahmad Zia Muzhda, who treated some of the wounded, wanted the government to make public the results of its investigations as soon as possible. But he was certain of one thing - the bomber did not come from Baghlan.

"The man who did this was not from our province," he declared. "Nobody wants to kill their own sons or the sons of this province. No-one would want to destroy his home by his own hand."

But the truth is that nobody really knows. The Taleban have denied responsibility. So have the Hezb-e Islami faction led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, which has a strong base in Baghlan province.

As well as the government in Kabul, anger has been directed at the provincial governor and the police commander. Neither was in Baghlan at the time of the attack.

The governor of Baghlan refused to speak to us. The police commander, Maulana Abdurrahman, defended his absence, saying he was at a seminar in Mazar-e-Sharif.

He was among those who blamed the "enemies of Afghanistan". "If they attacked the army or the politicians, we'd say these are enemies of the government," he argued.

"But by attacking the students, they attacked all the Afghan people. They are the enemies of the Afghan people, and of course they are terrorists."

Outside the commander's office, a man with a video camera showed us some footage. He was a police officer who had been filming the MPs' arrival when the bomb went off.

The pictures showed Mustafa Kazimi, the most prominent of the MPs, striding along the lane and being handed a bunch of flowers by one of the pupils.

Then there was an explosion. A couple of minutes later, the tape showed a man holding up what he said was the head of the suicide bomber.

Cmdr Abdurrahman did not want to say whether he thought there would be other suicide attacks in Baghlan in the future.

"Do you know of any suicide attacks which have been prevented?" he asked, intending the question to be rhetorical.

In fact, there had been one in the neighbouring province of Kunduz, just the day after Baghlan.

A suicide bomber had blown himself up before reaching his intended target when he realised he was being followed by a secret policeman.

The policeman and one other person suffered minor injuries. The only person to die was the bomber.

At a building next to the Baghlan sugar factory, a tattered grey mailbag held some of the objects recovered from the scene. There were sandals, a policeman's cap and a Unicef exercise book.

The Unicef logo was almost obscured by the blood that had dried on it.

The man who showed us the bag said they would bury the objects in a specially dug pit. A white flag would be put up to remember the innocence of the victims.

The political shockwaves of the Baghlan blast continue to ripple out.

On Monday, the Afghan parliament said the weakness of the authorities was the main obstacle to improving security in the country.

Since the insurgency began two years ago, suicide bombings have become almost commonplace in Afghanistan.

But Baghlan marks a new milestone of violence. One many Afghans wish had never been reached.

U.S. says not worried about Pakistan nuclear weapons

By Kristin Roberts, Reuters Wednesday, November 14, 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday said it was not worried about the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons amid the political crisis there, rolling back from comments made by a senior U.S. general who called the issue a "primary concern."

"At this point, we have no concerns," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. "We believe that they are under the appropriate control."

Last week, Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was concerned about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule and arrested thousands.

"Any time there is a nation that has nuclear weapons that has experienced a situation such as Pakistan is at present, that is a primary concern," Ham said.

But U.S. defense and military officials have since backpedaled, saying the weapons are controlled by Pakistan's military and that the military is a responsible steward of the arsenal.

Pakistan carried out its first nuclear test in 1998 and experts estimate it has material for as many as 90 weapons.

Washington considers Pakistan an important ally in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism. The U.S. military in particular works closely with Pakistani forces, especially along the Afghan border.

While the United States is reviewing all aid to Pakistan, which has received about $10 billion in U.S. funding since 2001, the Pentagon has been careful to say the Defense Department does not want to "punish" Pakistan for Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule.

Morrell said the Pentagon had no indication that any U.S. funding to the Pakistani military had been diverted by Musharraf's government to implement the emergency rule. He said aid programs included checks and balances to ensure against such a diversion of funds.

"We have no indication that any of our aid to Pakistan is being used for anything but its intended purpose," Morrell said.

The U.S. military has begun looking at alternate routes to send supplies to its troops in Afghanistan in case the political crisis in Pakistan makes current supply lines unavailable.

The United States sends 75 percent of its supplies for the Afghanistan war through or over Pakistan, including 40 percent of the fuel sent to troops, the Defense Department said.

"There are efforts under way right now to figure out contingency supply lines to our troops in Afghanistan if it becomes necessary to alter the way we now support our troops in Afghanistan," Morrell said.

"In light of the fact that there is civil unrest in Pakistan, in light of the fact that there is a state of emergency in Pakistan, we feel it is responsible, given the importance of the Pakistani supply lines to our operations in Afghanistan, to have a contingency plan."

Among poppies and Taliban, Afghan pomegranate farmers see prices, demand rise

The Associated Press - Wednesday, November 14, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: Farm hands place mounds of bright red pomegranates into shipping boxes stamped with "Product of Afghanistan" on the side. The price and quality of the sweet fruit are up, and the farmers are happy about a new storage facility that has extended their selling season.

The advances in the pomegranate trade are a sliver of good news from a region of Afghanistan known more for its Taliban attacks and thriving opium trade.

Ubaidullah Jan, a 50-year-old farmer from the Arghandab area just north of Kandahar, said the price his pomegranates command has doubled this year to about US$1.20 a kilogram (54 cents per pound), due to the new cold storage facility and quality control programs implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

"The goods we are selling with the help of USAID, and being able to keep them in cold storage have brought a tremendous change in our business," Jan said, adding his goods are being sent to Dubai, Pakistan, India and Singapore.

Scarred by an almost perpetual state of conflict since 1980, Afghanistan has only one truly successful export: opium and the heroin that's made from it.

The country produced 8,200 tons of opium in 2007, up 34 percent from last year's record harvest. Farmers this year can make US$5,200 per hectare (US$2,105 an acre) of opium poppy; wheat yields about US$550 per hectare (US$222 per acre). The total value of the opium trade for Afghanistan farmers this year stands at US$1 billion.

The value of all of Afghanistan's legal exports in 2006, meanwhile, was US$193 million, with animal hides and wool skins topping the list at US$21 million. The overall legal export market has increased an average of 28 percent a year over the last four years and will continue to expand, said Loren Owen Stoddard, director of alternative development and agriculture for USAID.

Afghanistan's fruit and vegetables in particular have a lot of potential, he said. The "perceived value" of Afghan pomegranates and other fruits is high in regional markets.

"Talk to an Indian fruit seller and he'll instinctively know that (Afghan pomegranates) are the best in the world," Stoddard said. "When we show up the reaction is, 'Oh, these are the great Afghan products I used to buy.'"

In Kandahar, USAID is spending US$6.6 million on agricultural and marketing assistance programs for producers of fresh and dried fruits and nuts.

The goal is sustained economic growth that can help reduce and eventually eliminate poppy cultivation. About 330 vineyards and orchards have been developed in Kandahar, and 51 dry raisin sheds have been rehabilitated through the program. Next year 12,500 grape vines will be planted.

Farming in Afghanistan holds its challenges. Pomegranate farmers from Arghandab district abandoned their fields en masse earlier this month and headed toward the relative safety of Kandahar city after Taliban fighters moved into the region for several days.

USAID opened the cold storage facility in September and is trying to increase contacts with potential buyers in overseas markets. Farmers are being taught to grow their raisins away from Kandahar's dusty earth; cleaner raisins can fetch up to four times more at market.

Western aid workers dress in local outfits and travel around the province to help connect buyers and sellers.

"War creates a lack of communication and so some of what our guys are doing is reintroducing Afghans to buyers who have changed over 30 years," Stoddard said.

So far, the program has helped ship 690 tons of pomegranates to India, 600 tons to Pakistan and 36 tons to Dubai, mostly on outgoing military flights.

A sample 500 kilogram shipment was also sent to the United States, said Mohammad Gul, a USAID program officer in Kandahar. Future shipments to North American could be possible through refrigerated container shipments.

The pomegranate growers say Taliban fighters — who recruit armed gunmen and force some farmers into the poppy trade across Afghanistan's south — leave them alone.

"This is a business we've inherited from our ancestors," said Hayatullah Khan, 42. "The Taliban never say that we should grow poppy instead of pomegranates."

Khan said the success of the pomegranate project could lure other farmers back into legal crops, though the trend is currently in the opposite direction. Kandahar province in 2007 saw a 32 percent increase in the amount of land the region's farmers used for poppies.

Before more food products can be made at home, Afghanistan needs a better electrical grid. Only the western city of Herat, which imports power from Iran, has reliable power. The municipal electrical grid in Kabul on average provides only three hours of power a day.

"The No. 1 challenge to agribusiness is electricity," Stoddard said. "You can't keep things cold and you can't bottle them without power."

Karzai lauds NSP as a flagship project of his govt

KABUL, Nov 13 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai Tuesday described implementation of the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) through Community Development Councils (CDCs) as a flagship project of his government.

Speaking at the inaugural session of a conference on CDCs in the tent of the Loya Jirga in Kabul, the president urged members of the councils to expend NSP funds judiciously.

The CDCs were established as part of the NSP launched by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) in 2001 to assess community needs in terms of uplift projects.

Under the NSP, reconstruction schemes like small dams, roads, power-supply plans and other projects are selected by locals and financed through the MRRD budget.

At the three-day conference, more than 500 members of CDCs from 280 districts, where such projects have been executed, will discuss their problems with the officials concerned and explore solutions.

Representatives of education, public health, water and energy, counter-narcotics, agriculture and public works ministries are attending the moot.

Karzai observed more than 80 percent of the population lived in the countryside and thus rural development meant Afghanistans development.

While hailing achievements of CDCs, the president said the Afghans had finally waked up and the fate of their country was in the hands of a more aware nation.

"I humbly request my brothers and sisters to join hands for forging national unity, avoiding bickering and serving the country selflessly. There is enough money, now is the time for serving Afghanistan," he remarked.

He emphasised upon the CDCs members to convince the people into giving up poppy cultivation and switching over to other cash crops and industrial activities.

MRRD Minister Muhammad Ihsan Zia told the conferees public participation in the decision-making process for uplift projects was the key to the success of the programme.

The CDCs were established to bring transparency and accountability to the implementation of development schemes, contended the minister, who hoped the conference would help the officials a great deal in fashioning future strategies.

Zia recalled a similar moot held two years back, saying CDC members from 80 districts had attended that event. The current conference was much larger in terms of participation, he pointed out.

More than 18,400 CDCs have been set up in around 25,000 villages and 32,000 projects have been launched or completed through the councils. He said the NSP would stay in place until 2010.

Over $700 million had been spent under the NSP, the minister revealed, saying that another $500 million would be allocated for it by the time the programme would be terminated.

Rise of the Neo-Taliban - Part 2 - 'Pain has become the remedy'

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

NAWA PASS, Pakistan border with Afghanistan - While I was waiting in a village mud mosque, several motorbikes emerged from the evening darkness along a dirt track.

Four strongly built men stopped in front of me and alighted, their faces flushed from their ride. They each gave me a hug, and their traditional Punjabi greeting was music to my ears after listening to a lot of Pushtu.

I asked the obvious question: "Are you Punjabi?" The concern on their faces was immediately noticeable. "No! We belong to this land and like many Afghans we were settled in Punjab [in Pakistan] and therefore learnt Punjabi and forgot Pashtu, but now we are back in our land and have learnt our language again," one of the men explained.

This is perhaps somewhat romantic. Although such Punjabis might have romantic ties with Afghanistan, they actually come from Pakistani Punjab. Before the partition of British India in 1947, Punjab was seen as a loyal colony of the British and their recruits fought against the Afghans. After partition, Punjabis were seen as usurpers who divided the Pashtun tribes in the name of a new country called Pakistan. To many Afghans, Punjabis are opportunists and while they claim to be Muslims, their culture is a blend of Hinduism and Sikhism.

Sadiq is not a commander: he cannot be, because whatever he might say about his ethnicity, for Afghans he is a Punjabi. I watched as he spoke fluent Pashtu to his Afghan comrades, moving from one group to another with a permanent smile on his face. Clearly, he is the natural leader of the diaspora of Punjabi guerrillas now in Afghanistan.

Sadiq was in the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistani jihadi group focused on the struggle to regain Indian-administered Kashmir. He was trained by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to conduct guerrilla operations all across India. He knows how to generate resources and lead sorties.

He joined the Taliban in late 2004 as an ordinary fighter, but because of his skills he quickly rose through the ranks. He became a trainer and honed his men's battle skills. And although he is not a commander, he is more respected and important than many of them. He is the mastermind of all guerrilla operational plans in Afghanistan's Kunar Valley.

An emirate in the making
I said my final prayers of the day and had my dinner. It was tolerably cold, and I sat back and by the light of a gas lamp watched and listened to tired guerrillas discussing their day.

"I was thinking before coming here, how do you say your Friday prayers in the battlefield - I noticed you did not say any today?" I started the conversation with Sadiq.

"First, we are all travelers, so Friday prayers are not compulsory. But most importantly, this region has been declared darul harb [enemy country], so Friday prayers are suspended until it becomes darul Islam [abode of Islam]," Sadiq replied.

I continued this discussion with Sadiq on prayers and the circumstances in which they are suspended and restored, and soon all the people in the mud hut had gathered around and the conversation turned to the new dynamics of the Afghan resistance.

So I launched a series of questions. "It is still not clear who is in whose command. What is the command of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar [leader of the Hezb-i-Islami]? Is [veteran Afghan resistance figure] Jalaluddin Haqqani under [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar, or is he commanding separately? Who do the Pakistan Taliban answer to? To Mullah Omar? And what are Pakistani jihadis up to?

Sadiq smiled at the barrage of questions and responded with some breaking news, "Mullah Omar, the Taliban shura [council], al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have resolved this issue once and for all. Soon the mujahideen will announce the revival of a [region-wide] Islamic emirate, and after this - like all fighting groups gathered under a single command in Iraq - all commanders in Afghanistan will fall under the umbrella of the Islamic emirate.

"The Islamic emirate will govern [operations in] Afghanistan and Pakistan, and whether it is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or any other, they will be under a single command and will not be able to defy the emirate because this is Islam," Sadiq said.

The pronouncement of an emirate would be a major development, and I jumped to my feet. "Are you sure that an Islamic emirate will be announced soon?"

"Yes, indeed," said Sadiq smiling. "Sadiq, you know what this means? It would challenge both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Are the Taliban capable of doing this?" I asked. "Of course we are," Sadiq replied calmly. "How?" I asked.

"Three years ago, it was actually a dream, but now circumstances have enabled such an environment. Apart from North Waziristan and South Waziristan [tribal areas in Pakistan], the mujahideen used to move in Bajaur [Agency] and Mohmand Agency as if they were moving in [the Pakistani cities of] Karachi or Lahore. We were terrified of being arrested and of the fact that somebody would be spying on us.

"We used to make secret trips to Afghanistan to conduct occasional raids. On the one side the Americans were after us, and on the other side our own Pakistani army was tracking us. We didn't want to fight the Pakistan army, after all, they are Muslims. We tried our best to avoid fighting them, and still hardly 3% of the mujahideen are fighting against them. However, Pakistan did not think the way we were thinking. They were more cruel and gruesome than the Americans.

"We had a companion who had fought alongside us in Kashmir. His name was Umer, and he was dead against fighting the Pakistani army. Whenever the military conducted operations, he used to desert his companions, saying he could not fight against Muslims.

"One day, he was arrested by the ISI. They hung him by one hand from a roof, and carved stars on his thighs with daggers. They humiliated him in all manners. When he was released, it was thought he would be a broken person.

"But now he is an advocate of jihad against the Pakistani army, bigger than anybody else. These sorts of incidents have turned the mujahideen into our camp. They understand they have been fooled in the name of jihad in Kashmir," said Sadiq, referring to Islamabad's de-escalation of fighting in the Kashmir Valley.

"In 2003, a gathering in Muredkey [the LeT's Pakistani headquarters] was an eye-opener to sincere jihadis. Hafiz Mohammed Saeed [chief of the LeT] introduced us to one Abdullah, a person wearing a prayer cap and a small beard. Many among us knew he was the head of the ISI's Kashmir cell.

"He addressed the gathering and made the point that the Kashmiri jihad could not achieve its objectives and that it was a lame duck. He advised the mujahideen to sit quietly at home until new circumstances developed. This sort of advice turned people into our camp, but the real revolution came because of al-Qaeda," Sadiq said.

"[Senior al-Qaeda leader] Abu Marwan al-Suri was killed [in May 2006] by the Khasadar force in Bajaur Agency. This is a force of peons. Had Marwan been killed by any elite commando force of the Pakistani army, we would not have been so saddened, but for a person like him to be killed by a third-rate force like the Khasadars, it was bad.

"He was traveling in bus when he was identified as an Arab and was asked to descend. He took out his revolver and warned the Khasadars that he was a mujahid and did not want to kill any Muslims, so they should let him go. The Khasadars did not listen to him. You know Arabs, they do not escape - they fight until their last - but he tried to flee to avoid fighting Muslims, and was killed.

"His body was photographed and the pictures were presented to the Americans with pride and the people responsible received medals. Every mujahid felt humiliated. Brother ... our blood is not so cheap to be played around with by any third-rate person. Mujahideen were full of rage. They rose from their hideouts.

"Marwan's body became an inspiration. The aroma from his blood was a legend in Bajaur and his graveyard became a holy site. Reaction swept through Bajaur and in a matter of days the Khasadars' posts were wiped out and blown up. The army came to conduct operations, but was defeated.

"Our victories gathered all tribes around us. You know our biggest commander in Bajaur, Maulana Faqir Muhammad, was trained by the Pakistani army to resist the Soviets [in the 1980s] but after September 11 his brother was detained by the army. He was beaten to death.

"In 2005 the Taliban were limited to South Waziristan and North Waziristan and in Mohmand Agency there were only a few dozen of them, but now we number 18,000, thanks to the operations of the Pakistani army," Sadiq said, his face full of emotion.

"You asked me what makes us think we can establish an Islamic emirate," Sadiq said, and then recited famous Urdu and Persian poet Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, who went under the pen name of Ghalib: "Pain has crossed its limits and has become the remedy."

"We have braved all their tyrannies. They cannot be more tyrannical than that. We are hardened and they are tired and now it is our turn and I promise that we will turn the tables on them soon," Sadiq said.

We were all tired, and went to bed, but my brain was racing so much it was a while before sleep came. The next morning at breakfast we pick up on the same topic.

"Sadiq, whether it is right or wrong, don't you think that the new Taliban plans will create problems within the Pakistani army?" I asked.

"That does not matter. This battle cannot stop now. The mujahideen have been deceived so many times that now they have decided to fight the Pakistani army at all costs," Sadiq said, sipping his tea.

After a long pause, he continued, "You know, the Taliban are blamed for all the problems, but in actual fact it is America which will never allow a ceasefire between the Pakistani army and the mujahideen. The Americans will force the Pakistani army to fight against us and therefore this battle will continue," Sadiq said.

"Man, you are fighting against the army and blaming America," I taunted him.

"I will tell you why. The Americans know exactly how near we are to Islamabad and they are aware of defections in the Pakistani army, and they are also aware that only one or two defections at the level of colonel will mean that the mujahideen will get their hands on some batteries of missiles which can carry nuclear warheads.

"And they [Americans] know the moment the mujahideen get that, the game will turn in favor of the mujahideen both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and then nobody will be able to stop our march. So the Americans want a big battle between the army and the mujahideen so that the end game will be that they can step in and destroy Pakistan's nukes under the pretext that the Pakistani army cannot protect them from the mujahideen," Sadiq said.

Shortly after breakfast, the Taliban said goodbye to me. On my way home, as I passed deserted checkpoints in Bajaur, I cast my mind back to the origins of the US-led "war on terror", the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Al-Qaeda carried these out with a particular aim - to invite the wrath of the American "cowboys" who would beat up Muslims to such an extent that a severe backlash would be generated.

Six years have passed, and we have had the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq (maybe Iran in the offing). Yet it might be in the tribal areas of Pakistan that the real showdown begins. I can just imagine the dance of jubilation Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri will do on the news of a fresh grand operation by the Pakistani army there - it will only breed more Taliban.

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

Afghan teacher: 'You are so lucky'

STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT EDUCATOR'S STRUGGLE, By Lisa Fernandez Mercury News

Article Launched: 11/14/2007 01:37:05 AM PST

The words she chose weren't the typical way to begin a presentation to second-grade students.

"I come from a country where there are wars and blood," Fatema, a 36-year-old educator from Afghanistan, told the rapt 7-year-olds on Tuesday. "The Taliban are people who believe girls shouldn't go to school."

Girls shouldn't go to school? The children, who sat cross-legged on a rug in an East Bay classroom, couldn't believe what they were hearing. The second-graders fired questions at Fatema: Why doesn't the Taliban want girls to be educated? How much money would it take to get girls back in school? Do kids have playgrounds in Afghanistan?

What Fatema didn't tell the students was that her campaign to educate girls in Afghanistan, and even her tour of the United States to highlight the problem, endanger her and her family. The resurgent Taliban - the Islamist group that once ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist - has left threatening letters on her husband's car.

Her hair covered in a simple chador, or loose veil, as is Muslim tradition, Fatema tried her best to describe to the Americans what it is like to be a child in Afghanistan and to study in a tent with no books to read.

"You are so lucky," she told Kerry Dunigan's class at Marin Elementary School in Albany, one of her stops at mostly private gatherings this week in the Bay Area on her first visit to the United States.

Fatema, who asked that only her first name be used because of Taliban threats, also is visiting schools and homes in Hayward and San Francisco, and possibly the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

She had hoped to meet with Afghan leaders in Fremont, where a large group of Afghan emigres now live, but scheduling conflicts made that impossible, said Humaira Ghilzai of San Francisco, president of Afghan Friends Network, who organized and paid for Fatema's Bay Area trip. Afghan Friends Network has a loose membership and donor base of about 700 people, Ghilzai said, including "The Kite Runner" author, Khaled Hosseini of San Jose.

"We wanted her here to have her share what it's like to be an educator," said Ghilzai, who was born in Afghanistan and moved to the Bay Area in 1979 after the Russian invasion. "And to have her story told first person. We hardly ever get that kind of opportunity."

Fatema, who also didn't want the name of her province or other identifying factors published, said the Taliban leaves "night letters" on her husband's car threatening to kill her or kidnap their six children because she is a leading educator in her country. She used to run secret girls schools when the Taliban was in power before 2001. In the past two years, Fatema said, the abusive factions of the Taliban are again strong - and growing. The Afghan Constitution allows schooling for boys and girls; in reality, the Taliban makes an equal education increasingly difficult and dangerous, she said.

Fatema told only her immediate family that she was flying to New York - her first time on a plane - for a world gathering last week at UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. She said she told other people that she was at a teacher workshop in Kabul. Fatema said she spoke for about ten minutes at UNESCO's unprecedented gathering called "Educators Under Attack," convened for an Afghan teacher who was killed September 2006.

She told them how her 9-year-old daughter studies in a tent, with a blanket and no heater, in the winter. She also talked about colleagues who have been killed and students who were injured by the Taliban. The UNESCO gathering also included educators from Colombia, Iraq, Burma, Nepal and Thailand.

But Afghanistan leads the pack in atrocities, according to the UNESCO report. In 2006, Islamists killed 85 students and teachers and destroyed 187 schools in Afghanistan. In the same year, Human Rights Watch documented 190 bombings, arsons and shootings of teachers and students in Afghanistan, up from 91 in 2005.

For Fatema, it's also the other differences between classrooms in Afghanistan and schools in the Bay Area that define the vast gaps in educational systems.

While touring the elementary school in Albany, Fatema marveled at what many take for granted: the colorful murals on the walls - and the walls themselves, which many schools in Afghanistan don't have. There, a school is hundreds of children sitting outside trying to learn without books or computers.

Fatema also said the children in Afghanistan don't start school until they are 7, and then they are dropped off in a classroom of 70 kids, with no preschool or kindergarten preparation. Many of the children are unruly and can't read. She was impressed with Ghilzai's 5-year-old, Sofia, who attends school in San Francisco and already can print her letters and sound out words.

"I'm just so impressed at how she is so young and can already think and use her mind," Fatema said. "When I think about how far away we are, using computers and the Internet, we're at least a century away from where you are in this country."

[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.]