In this bulletin:

• Afghan attacks kill two newlyweds, 13 policemen
• Afghan bomb kills Nato Canadians
• Gunfire hit most of Afghan bomb victims
• US to speed up Afghan weapons supplies: minister
• UN drug agency seeks NATO help in eradicating Afghan Opium trade
• Iran supports insurgent groups in Afghanistan: Khalilzad
• US House of Representatives condemns Baghlan bombing
• Police rounded up 500 Afghan refugees in Peshawar
• Explosive material by Indian consulate removed
• A Mullah Dies, and War Comes Knocking
• Kabul Signs Deal On Transit of Central Asian Electricity To Pakistan
• No steps to save Kidyali forests
• Afghan dies in shooting involving Canadian convoy
• French foreign minister defends Canada's treatment of Afghan prisoners
• MacKay insists government open over Afghan abuse allegations
• Canada violating Geneva treaty, MPs say
• See no evil?
• The general pulls a fast one
• AFGHANISTAN: Uneasy Over Pakistan's Emergency

Afghan attacks kill two newlyweds, 13 policemen

Kandahar (AFP) - A Taliban ambush killed two newly married women and a child in Afghanistan Friday while 13 policemen were killed in separate attacks, police said.

The women were travelling in a convoy to the southern city of Kandahar after their marriage to two brothers in Herat further west, Kandahar province police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib said.

Rebels opened fire with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, striking the vehicle carrying the two brides and the child, he told AFP.

The women's father-in-law was also in the vehicle and was wounded in the attack, added Saqib, who said he had spoken to the man in the hospital. "They were bringing the brides home," the police chief said.

"There were no military convoy, military post or any military target near the blast site," Saqib said, referring to Taliban claims that they only attack military targets.

The ambush was on a main road in the Zahri district, which sees regular attacks by Taliban fighters. In an attack claimed by the Taliban, four policemen were killed Friday when their vehicle was struck by a bomb in Kandahar's Zahri, police said.

A district police chief and eight of his men were killed in a separate attack in the central province of Ghor when they were ambushed while driving, Shahrak district governor Haji Mohammad Haroon said.

He said 19 other policemen were captured. The abductions were not confirmed by the provincial police chief, General Shah Jahan, but he also said nine policemen were killed and five wounded in the attack on the Shahrak police.

The officials did not say who might have been responsible. Afghanistan's daily fare of violence involves insurgents as well as other fundamentalist groups, drugs traffickers, criminals, factional rivals and others.

Meanwhile, the bodies of 20 Taliban were found on the battlefield following a clash Thursday in the south-central province of Uruzgan, police said.

Two policemen were killed in the fighting, which also involved international troops with the US-led coalition, provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat said.

Five rebel fighters were killed in a separate clash in Uruzgan Wednesday, he added.

The NATO-led force that operates alongside the coalition said meanwhile that a man had died after being shot Thursday by its soldiers who had opened fire on a taxi that had ignored warnings to stop approaching a patrol.

Another was hurt in the shooting in Kandahar, it said in a statement expressing regret.

In the country's west meanwhile, a suicide attacker blew up a car bomb near an Italian military convoy Friday, killing only himself, an Afghan general said.

There have been more than 130 suicide blasts in Afghanistan this year, the worst taking 80 lives this month in the north.

Most such bombings are claimed by the hardline Islamic Taliban movement, which is waging a nearly six-year-old insurgency after it was ousted in late 2001 during a US-led invasion.

The violence has intensified, despite the presence of 55,000 international soldiers helping the weak Afghan security forces, and spread into once calm areas like Ghor.

Afghan bomb kills Nato Canadians – BBC

Two Canadian soldiers of the Nato-led force in Afghanistan have been killed by a roadside bomb in the south of the country, military officials say. An interpreter was also killed in the incident while three other soldiers were wounded.

More than 200 soldiers of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) have been killed in 2007. Meanwhile, US and police forces claimed to have killed scores of insurgents in clashes across southern Afghanistan.

The roadside bombing happened north of a Canadian base near Panjawi in Kandahar province. The Canadians who died were identified as Cpl Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp and Pte Michel Levesque.

The wounded were taken to a hospital at Kandahar air field with non-life threatening injuries, a military spokesman said.

Wing Commander Antony McCord, a spokesman for Isaf Regional Command South, said in a statement: "Isaf troops contend with the threat of [bomb] strikes on a daily basis, but our soldiers continue to improve the security situation and make a very real and positive difference to the lives of normal hardworking Afghan people.

"Our thoughts at this time are with the families and friends of those who have been killed or injured in today's incident."

Also on Saturday, the US military said at least 23 insurgents were killed during a search for weapons in the south of the country.

One report said a lorry full of Taleban weapons exploded in the province of Helmand, one of the centres of the Taleban insurgency.

In a separate incident, Afghan police say at least 10 militants were killed in Kandahar province.

In the central province of Ghor, Afghan officials say at least four policemen were killed when they were attacked by militants. Isaf has more than 41,000 soldiers in Afghanistan.

Gunfire hit most of Afghan bomb victims

Up to two-thirds of the 77 people killed and 100 wounded in a suicide bombing last week were hit by bullets from visiting lawmakers' panicked bodyguards, who fired on a crowd of mostly schoolchildren for up to five minutes, a preliminary U.N. report says.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry says only a "small number" of the victims were hit by gunfire, but an Afghan official in Baghlan province told The Associated Press that bodyguards were "raining bullets" on the crowd.

The suicide bomb contained ball bearings, the Interior Ministry said, which may have caused wounds that look like bullet holes.

An Afghan doctor who treated patients after the Nov. 6 blast, meanwhile, told the AP that a high-ranking government official told him not to publicly reveal the number of gunfire victims, suggesting a possible government cover-up.

Separate teams of U.N. investigators have uncovered conflicting information about the number of people hit by gunfire and are trying to reconcile the differences, according to two Western officials who have seen the internal reports. The two spoke to the AP on condition they not be identified talking about preliminary findings.

But at least one of those reports — based on interviews with witnesses and medical authorities and a reconstruction of the bomb scene — says that of the roughly 77 people killed and 100 wounded, up to two-thirds were hit by the three to five minutes of gunfire the bodyguards fired into the crowd, one official said.

"A large number of people — and quite probably a majority — were killed and wounded as a result of gunfire after the blast," said the second official, a U.N. employee. The official said one internal report is highly critical of the bodyguards' reaction.

Among the dead were 61 students and five teachers, said Education Ministry adviser Hamid Almi. Six members of parliament and five bodyguards also died. The deadliest previous suicide bombing in Afghanistan was in June, when 35 people were killed in a bomb attack on a police bus.

Among the parliamentarians killed was Sayed Mustafa Kazimi, the chief spokesman of Afghanistan's only opposition group, the National Front. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and Afghan officials say they don't know who was behind the bombing. The Taliban has denied it was responsible. A government investigation is also under way.

Sayed Mohammad Bakir Hashimi, a Shiite cleric who performed a religious ceremony on Kazimi after the blast, told the AP the lawmaker had three bullet wounds. However, Kazimi's family now denies he was hit by bullets.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said most of the victims were hit by ball bearings from the bomb, and not bullets. Bashary gave different casualty numbers than the Education Ministry, saying 59 people in total were killed and 100 wounded.

"There was small number of people injured by bullets," Bashary said. "Bodyguards of lawmakers opened fire into the air and hit some people."

Adrian Edwards, the spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said there is "very, very conflicting" information on the number of gunfire victims.

"The reports we're hearing are that significant numbers were victims of gunfire, but defining who died from gunfire, who died from the explosion is pretty difficult," Edwards said.

Hundreds of children had crowded onto the tree-lined driveway leading to the New Baghlan Sugar Factory to greet visiting lawmakers when the blast went off. Witnesses and survivors describe bodyguards firing into the thick black smoke for up to five minutes after the attack.

"One guy pointed his gun at me, but I put my hands up and said, 'Don't shoot!'" 13-year-old Nezamuddin said this week from his hospital bed. He said a bullet had passed through his ankle, which was bandaged with gauze. "A lot of bullets were fired. ... My friends were hit by bullets."

The trees near the blast are pockmarked from the impact of bomb's ball bearings, and a nearby wall is scarred with bullet holes. Mourners set up a small memorial, including a red plastic flower wreath from the British Embassy. Visitors lit candles on the site, leaving puddles of white wax around the tree.

Dr. Khalil Narmgui, director of the Baghlani-jadid hospital, said his staff treated 11 gunfire victims — five killed and six wounded.

In the nearby city of Pul-i-Khumri, Dr. Mohammad Yousuf Fayyez of the provincial hospital said his staff were not able to differentiate between gunfire and bomb wounds, while Dr. Habib Rahman Fazli said none of those treated at the Pul-i-Khumri Textile Hospital suffered from gunfire.

However, the U.N. official who asked not to be identified said that doctors told investigators that "we know how to differentiate between the bullet and blast wounds, we know how to tell the difference."

One doctor who helped treat patients said he was pressured to hide the truth. "One of the deputies of the ministry — I won't say which ministry — said please don't reveal the high number of casualties by the bullets," the doctor said. He asked not to be named out of fear of reprisals.

The head of Baghlan's elected provincial council said he found it hard to believe that so few people admitted to the hospital were gunfire victims.

"The people said it was raining bullets from the gunmen and security guards," said Sarajuddin, who goes by one name. "It is surprising a mine or suicide bomb could hurt 200 people," he said.

At the Baghlani-jadid hospital this week, six boys and one man lay in a room, recovering from wounds. Ahmad Fareed pulled up his left pant leg to show where surgeons removed a bullet lodged in his left knee. A doctor held up the silver-colored, inch-long bullet.

Outside on the hospital steps sat Mohammad Gul, who buried his 5-year-old son, Nazir. His older son Nassir, 13, is recovering from shrapnel that ripped through his legs.

"Nassir doesn't know about his younger brother. He asked me just now, 'Where is my brother?' ... I told him, 'He's fine. He's at home,'" Gul, 55, said, his voice cracking. "Half of Nazir's head was blown off, and he was hit in the shoulder by a bullet."

Afghanistan's north has been relatively quiet compared with the violence-plagued south, but a handful of attacks, including at least five suicide bombs in neighboring Kunduz province, indicate some anti-government presence here. This was the first suicide bombing in Baghlan province, officials said.

Security officials and elders in Baghlan suspect that the Taliban or militant group Hezb-i-Islami — both of which still have supporters in the area — are behind the attack, although the Taliban denied involvement.

"We have no al-Qaida here. Just Hezb-i-Islami and Taliban," an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Baghlan police chief Gen. Abdul Rahman Syed Kheil said five suspects have been arrested, but he would not say if the suspects belong to a militant group.

"No faction has claimed responsibility yet," Syed Kheil said, though he believes the attack is "definitely" linked to violence in Kunduz. "There is a network, and they are organizing."

US to speed up Afghan weapons supplies: minister

AFP, /17/2007 - KaBUL - The United States will speed up the supply of 50,000 assault rifles to the Afghan army, boosting its ability to take on the Taliban, Afghanistan's defence minister said Saturday.

Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters that he convinced US officials during a recent visit to accelerate supplies after delays caused by demand for guns in Iraq. The new weapons will phase out old Russian and Chinese-made arms.

"This issue was very sensitive to us. There are lots of complaints about weapons in the army. The weapons in hand are very old, some 30 years," Wardak added.

The first batch -- some 5,000 assault rifles -- is scheduled to arrive in January and a further 10,000 each month until the target of 50,000 is met.

"I think when the snows have melted and the fighting season arrives, a vast majority of the Afghan army will be armed with M-16s instead of AK-47s," he said.

Wardak said US authorities had also pledged thousands of armoured vehicles.

Meanwhile, more than two dozen military aircraft, most of them Russian-made helicopters donated by the United Arab Emirates, were due to start arriving in batches of around three from next month, he said.

Building up the air force is the "only factor which has prevented us from independent operations," Wardak said.

Development of Afghanistan's security forces is part of an international commitment to the war-torn country made after a US-led invasion drove out the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, which had sheltered Al-Qaeda.

The army numbers about 50,000 soldiers and is scheduled to reach 64,000, with an additional 4,000-strong air force, by the end of next year.

However, Wardak has said the forces would need to be significantly larger to secure Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is gaining pace.

Afghanistan's international allies, which have about 55,000 soldiers in the country, are also keen for the Afghan forces to become established since this would allow them to withdraw from intense and costly battles.

UN drug agency seeks NATO help in eradicating Afghan Opium trade

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The head of the United Nations Offices on Drug and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, Friday urged the US-led NATO forces to help destroy drug trade in Afghanistan, which would cut off the Talibans main funding source.

Observing drugs are funding the insurgency and the Taliban in particular, Costa said at a conference in Brussels on the future of Afghanistan: NATO has self-interest in supporting the Afghan forces in destroying drug labs, market and conveys.

Costas remarks at the event organized by the Princeton University, gains significance in view of the latest report Afghan Opium Survey 2007 -- released by United Nations Offices on Drug and Crime on Friday.

The report, which documents the alarming increase in opium production in Afghanistan this year, links the rise / resurgence in Talibans rise to this, as the drug trade fuels them and provides them the necessary funding for their terrorism. Afghanistan now has the distinction of becoming almost the sole supplier (93 percent) of opium in the world.

Stressing on the urgency to rescue Afghanistan from drug and terror, the Costa says: It would be an historic error to let Afghanistan collapse under the blows of drugs and insurgency.

This double threat is real and growing, despite a foreign military presence in the tens of thousands, billions of dollars spent on reconstruction, and the huge political capital invested in stabilizing the country, which has been in turmoil for a third of a century.

Buttressing for an active NATO involvement in taking action against opium drug trade in Afghanistan, Costa observed in her remarks in the report that the opium problem cannot be contained solely by counter-narcotic measures, nor can counter-insurgency disregard the threat posed by drug-related funding to terrorists.

 Urging NATO to help taking on opium labs, markets and traffickers, the report reasserts that opium economy of Afghanistan can be bankrupted by blocking the two-way flow of imported chemicals and exported drugs. In both instances several thousand tons of materials are being moved across the southern border and nobody seems to take notice.

In 2007, the number of heroin laboratories in Afghanistan increased. Most of the opium produces in Afghanistan is converted to heroin within the country, she said.

Since drug trafficking and insurgency live off of each other, the foreign military forces operating in Afghanistan have a vested interest in supporting counter narcotics operations: destroying heroin labs, closing opium markets, seizing opium convoys and bringing traffickers to justice, she argued.

This will generate a double benefit. First, the destruction of the drug trade will win popular support as only one out of 10 Afghan farming families cultivate opium, earning a disproportionately large share of the national income. Secondly, lower opium demand by traders will reduce its price and make alternative economic activity more attractive.

In a very comprehensive documentation of the various facets of opium production and its trade, the report observes that this is probably the only reason for the ills Afghanistan is facing today. Besides fueling the insurgents, it is also responsible for the large scale corruption and poor governance of the country.

The report says that in provinces bordering Pakistan, the foreign military forces permit opium trade in an effort to extract intelligence information and occasional military operations against the Taliban and Al-Qaida. This undermines stabilization efforts, Costa said.

Iran supports insurgent groups in Afghanistan: Khalilzad

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16, (Pajhwok Afghan News): The United States Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, charged Thursday that Iran is helping the insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And since Iran is seeking regional hegemony and has ties with terrorists organizations, it is time for the international community to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons; he told the media at the UN soon after the IAEA released its report on Iran.

Because Iran is seeking regional hegemony, because Iran has ties with terrorists organizations, because Iran supports insurgent groups in Iraq and in Afghanistan, because of rhetoric of the Iranian leaders given all that it is a defining issue and therefore the international community as a whole has a stake in doing all that we can diplomatically to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, Khalilzad said.

For the past several months, the US has been charging Iran of helping the terrorists organizations in Afghanistan with arms and ammunition. Its officials have even produced alleged Iranian built weapons in Afghanistan captured from the militants. However, the Afghanistan Government has always insisted that there has not been any such concrete evidence, though there have been some reports in this regard and it is watchful on this issue.

Khalilzad said after the IAEA report it has become clear that Iran is going ahead with its nuclear program. As a result the US believes that there is need to move forward with another resolution in the Security Council under Chapter 7, to impose additional sanctions on Iran, he said.

US House of Representatives condemns Baghlan bombing

WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The US House of Representative has passed a Congressional resolution condemning November 6 th terrorist bombing that killed more than 50 people, mostly children and women, and six Members of the Parliament.

Introduced by Congressman, David Price (D-NC) the resolution expresses condolences to the people of Afghanistan and its MPs. Price, chairs House Democracy Assistance Commission and has been working with Afghan Government to help strengthen its capacity to govern.

The resolution received bi-partisan support and was passed by the House of Representatives on November 14 with consensus. It was co-sponsored by as many as 41 Congressmen.

Terming the suicidal terrorist bombings as the deadliest since the fall of the brutal Taliban regime, Price said in his remarks introducing the resolution on the floor of the House: I rise to say to those behind these attacks that, despite your cowardly actions, Afghanistans democracy remains strong.  And our support for Afghanistan remains unwavering.

Offering, deepest sympathies to the families and friends of these members, who died in the attack, Price said: The resolution calls upon our nation and the international community to redouble our efforts in support of Afghanistan, to turn back the forces within the country and beyond that are capable of the barbarism we witnessed last week.

 Price said the main target of the attack was a delegation of members of the Wolesi Jirga: a delegation that strongly represented the new democratic of the country.  The 18 members on the delegation represented diverse ethnic groups and religious affiliations, included men and women, and covered the full political spectrum. 

The resolution reaffirms the long-term commitment of the US to the establishment of security, the strengthening of democratic and civil institutions, and the promotion of economic opportunity as the basis for a stable, secure, and democratic Afghanistan.

It calls upon the US and other responsible nations to strengthen their efforts to further the goals and standards set forth in the Afghanistan Compact for improvements in security, governance, and economic development.

Police rounded up 500 Afghan refugees in Peshawar

ISLAMABAD, Nov16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): About 500 Afghan refugees have been arrested from various parts of Peshawar for not having legal traveling documents, a police official Tahir Khan told Pajhwok Afghan News on Friday.

He added that these refugees have been locked in various police stations of the city. Another official inspector Imtiaz said that police has been directed to arrest all those refugees in the city who have no legal traveling documents. He said that legal documents were a must for traveling and those refugees who had no passport or refugees' identity cards would be arrested.

"After the Friday prayers we would again start arresting the refugees," he said

Imtiaz said that majority of the refugees were arrested from Gulbahar, Town, Hayatabad and Faqirabad localities of the city.

Wala Jan, father of an arrested refugee told this news agency that his son had a refugee's card but at the time of arrest the card was at home.

He said that his son was innocent and worried about the whereabouts of his son.

Above mentioned source said that all the arrested refugees who had no traveling documents would be sent back to Afghanistan while those having cards would be freed soon.

Explosive material by Indian consulate removed

JALALABAD, Nov 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Explosives materials planted by some unidentified people in front of Indian consulate in Jalalabad city of Nangarhar province last night has been removed, security officials informed.

Col. Abdul Ghafoor, a spokesman of Nangarhar police headquarters told Pajhwok Afghan News on Friday that the explosive materials were planted by some unknown people and were destroyed with the help of Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).

Noor Agha Zwak, spokesman of the governor of Nangarhar also confirmed the incident and told this news agency that the explosive was destroyed by security forces.

Zwak made no mention of any arrest in regard of the incident but added that soon information would be made public.

However an eye witness of the incident Shahid Shafiq told this news agency that security agencies had arrested two persons in the incident. The Indian Consulate has however issued no statement about the incident. It is pertinent to mention here that last year too a blast had taken place near

the consulate causing no loss of life.

A Mullah Dies, and War Comes Knocking

The Washington Post, 11/17/2007 By Sarah Chayes

Wednesday, Oct. 31: I woke to the sound of artillery thudding -- like the beat of a heavy heart. It was Afghan army batteries firing into Arghandab, at new Taliban positions there. Through several nights, I had been listening, my ears pricking like a dog's, to the faint popping of gunfire, the clattering of helicopters, the whine of personnel carriers speeding along the roads, falling asleep only when the morning call to prayer rang out in the pre-dawn chill.

I can't explain how this felt, the penetration of war to this crucial part of Kandahar, where I have lived for six years. Arghandab district, with its riot of tangled fruit trees, is the lung of Kandahar province; its meandering, stone-studded river is the artery of the whole region. Arghandab is shade and water, and mud-walled orchards, and mulberries and apricots, and pomegranates the size of grapefruits hanging from the willowy branches.

This magical land was first given to the fighting Alokozai tribe by Nadir Shah, who brought down the Safavid empire of Persia with its help in 1738. The latest in the line of Alokozai leaders was the gentle, jocular military genius Mullah Naqib, who died of a heart attack in mid-October. Mullah Naqib fought the Soviets from his base in Arghandab; they were never able to dislodge the mujahideen from this place.

As the Taliban gathered strength and insolence recently, they would contact the mullah from time to time, trying to strike a deal, telling him that they wished him no ill, but just to pass through Arghandab. He would bellow his retort. He would get on the radio and vow by God that if they dared set foot inside his Arghandab, the whole population would rise up. And thus he held his fractious, disgruntled tribesmen firm against them.

A week after the mullah's death, Zmarai, the district police chief, received a phone call at 1 a.m. "You're alone now that Mullah Naqib is gone," said the voice on the line. "We're coming to Arghandab, no matter what. Why don't you just stand aside? We're your friends and tribesmen."

"If you're coming as our friends," Zmarai shot back, "don't. If you're coming as our enemies, we will fight you."

I heard about this the next day, at an Alokozai elder's house where some friends of Mullah Naqib's had gathered to figure out how things would shake out in the wake of his death. It seemed as though the governor of Kandahar, President Hamid Karzai's two brothers and the president himself were deliberately creating the conditions for disaster in Arghandab.

They had interfered in the recent selection of a new elder, sidelining a man who had been Mullah Naqib's deputy during the anti-Soviet jihad, army corps commander after the fall of the Taliban, then chief of police in two cities. This man had been implacable in his opposition to the Taliban since before the Islamic radicals first appeared in Kandahar in 1994. If anyone knew how to fight the Taliban in Arghandab, it was he. And yet the government's machinations were plainly aimed at shutting him out.

We spent several urgent days thinking strategy, poring over maps, cross-checking the stories people were reporting. The Taliban now owned the whole district of Khakrez, just to the north of Arghandab. They had mined the roads and trapped the police and government officials in the district government building.

We looked at the roads leading down through the mountains, picking out good places for checkposts to stop a Taliban advance. Veteran fighters said each one needed only about 50 NATO soldiers and 200 Afghans. When I went to the local Canadian peacekeepers with the advice, they laughed. The Canadian commander simply didn't have the men.

Some days later, after a couple of desultory Taliban advances across the Arghandab district line, word leaked out from an infiltrated contact that they were withdrawing back to Khakrez, that we were safe for a time. It was a lie. And the effectiveness with which it was put about, the degree to which the truth was sealed away, demonstrated a significant level of command and control.

In fact, just a day or two before, the Khakrez district chief -- a friend of the Karzais' -- had struck a deal with the Taliban, according to numerous Khakrez residents, a deal reportedly sealed with a transfer of some weapons and some wheat. They could go where they liked, as long as they didn't attack the police.

On Monday, Oct. 29, I had a missed call from Zmarai on my cellphone. I rang him back. The Taliban were in Chahar Ghulba, his racing words announced, Mullah Naqib's home village. They were in his very house. Their commanders were meeting in the village mosque, and they were thick in the country all around.

All through that day, the battle lines were drawn: the Taliban north of the Arghandab river bed, government forces to the south. Cars ferried women and children away from the scene of the impending fight. Others, on foot, drove the animals that sustained their families ahead of them as they moved south, toward the city of Kandahar. It was the scene that has come to characterize the tragedies of recent years: poor people, innocent of the decisions that brought about violent events, fleeing ahead of their unfolding.

Only that night was a general council of war convened on the NATO military base outside Kandahar. All the actors were there: the chief of police; the head of the army corps; a representative of the governor, who was away on vacation; the Canadian battle group; the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team; U.S. police trainers and Special Forces officers; the untried son of Mullah Naqib. What a strange task it must have been for the Canadian commander to try to wrest a concerted plan from this company.

On the base the next day, I found a quietly exultant mood of work well done: NATO troops had responded, the Afghan National Army had responded, and some villages had been retaken, with significant Taliban casualties. The beginnings of a noose had been arrayed around the rest.

And yet I knew that the significance of this event could not be weighed in the usual quantitative metrics dear to journalists and military men. The number of bodies, the number of houses vacated, the inches of terrain occupied or retaken did not add up to the full reality of what had taken place. That reality was in the hearts of the people, the sinking sense of impending tragedy.

What had in fact transpired, in my view, was a deft, successful psychological operations action by the Taliban. Their attack on Arghandab was designed to communicate, and it did -- eloquently. It said that they are here. It said that, despite the likelihood that they would attack after the death of Mullah Naqib, no obstacle was thrown up to oppose them, and they were able to walk into the district. The targeting of the mullah's house was a deliberate affront. It said: "You see, o men of no honor? You can't even protect his house. You are nothing now." The sum of these messages was aimed at the ordinary people who are the prize in any insurgency: Our encroachment is inevitable, the Taliban said. You should align yourselves with the inevitable.

In the end, after three days of fighting, the Taliban were not crushed in the jaws of a closing trap, as we had been led to expect. They executed a disciplined, fighting withdrawal -- one of the most difficult maneuvers on a battlefield. Even their retreat emphasized their message.

Now, Kandaharis fear, they will quietly capitalize on this psy-ops victory. They will visit the villages and the mosques in tiny groups. They will instill their poison, a savant dose of seduction ("Brother, we have nothing against you; you are a Muslim, and we love you. Our fight is with the infidels. Let us pass") and terror: a "collaborator" tracked down and cut into pieces, a suicide bomber at a normally tranquil village crossroads. They will work to turn the people toward the inevitable.

All of this is a pattern familiar from other districts. What troubles me more is evidence that the battle for Arghandab may have been a piece of psy-ops mounted by a different set of actors, aimed at a different audience, against a backdrop of diplomatic initiatives that would have been unthinkable a few short years ago. There is suddenly this backbeat -- persistent references in the media, unchallenged pronouncements by Karzai -- that the only way to end the "insurgency" is to negotiate, to invite the Taliban back to share power.

This is a seductive refrain. After all, wasn't the IRA brought to the table? Didn't Yasser Arafat win a Nobel Peace Prize? Isn't it true that insurgencies are never defeated, that they are always accommodated in the end through negotiations?

Except these Taliban are not home-grown insurgents. These Taliban, I have become convinced by evidence gathered over the past six years, were reconstituted into a force for mischief by the military establishment -- in other words, it seems to me, the government -- of Pakistan, as a proxy fighting force to advance Pakistan's long-cherished agenda: to control all or part of Afghanistan, directly or indirectly.

The only reason Pakistan's invasion-by-proxy has morphed into something even vaguely resembling an insurgency is that the Afghan people are at the limit of their endurance with a government that pillages and brutalizes them and lies to them barefaced. Judges demand fortunes for positive verdicts. Customs agents expect kickbacks for every transaction. Police officers shake people down or kidnap them for ransom. Six years of depredations by the government have led to its rejection -- and to resentment of the international community that installed it and then refused to supervise it. From those feelings of anger have spread pools of collaboration with the Taliban.

Meanwhile, have the Taliban changed their approach to the exercise of power? Not in the least. They still seek to gain control via terror -- by hanging bodies upside-down from trees, by placing pieces of men in gunny sacks like quarters of meat to horrify their neighbors.

So what has changed in six years, except the West's failure to provide a palatable alternative? Is this to be the world's response to that failure? "Oh, we weren't able to do any better for the Afghans than the Taliban, so we may as well bring them back in and get the place off our hands."

The battle for Arghandab never had to happen. The probable consequences of Mullah Naqib's death were plain even to me, a foreigner. Surely they were clear to Afghan leaders who have spent their lives in the tortuous politics of the place.

But far from taking steps to prevent the Taliban attack, those leaders did exactly what would help bring it about, almost as if they wanted it to happen. If they did, perhaps they too sought the battle for its psy-ops value. In the West, the message would be: "You see, there's just no way to achieve a military victory over the Taliban. You don't have the forces or the political will. You will always be putting out fires. You should let us negotiate."

As if echoing this message, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown emerged from a meeting with Karzai in late October to say that solutions in Afghanistan require "reconciliation of all the groups." Karzai alluded to "the need for political activity alongside our military campaign."

Absent from these statements was the least recognition that proper conduct of government is the best antidote to the Taliban. Provided with accountable, responsive leadership, the Afghan people wouldn't give that lot a second glance.

Sarah Chayes, a former NPR reporter, runs a local cooperative in Afghanistan.

Kabul Signs Deal On Transit of Central Asian Electricity To Pakistan

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - November 16, 2007 -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan today signed an agreement on electricity exports through a cable network they hope will be completed by 2012.

Afghan Energy and Water Minister Ismail Khan says electricity shipments from the former Soviet republics in Central Asia would transit Afghanistan in order to reach markets in Pakistan. He says Afghanistan also would be allowed to use about 25 percent of the power for its own needs.

Taliban-related violence and disputes between rival Afghan militia factions have hampered efforts to build a proposed natural gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan to Pakistan. But the proposed electricity cables would pass through the relatively stable north of Afghanistan.

No steps to save Kidyali forests

Pajhwok News Agency 11/17/2007 - MEHTRLAM - Government has yet to take any action about putting off the blaze that has been destroying the Kidyali forests of Daulat Shah, district in eastern Laghman forests for the last three days, officials said on Thursday.

According to Abdul Walli, the spokesman for the provincial governor the blaze was brought just under control but the incessant rain and wind on Wednesday further increased it.

The cause of fire has not been ascertained yet.

Engineer Jaafar Amirzai director forest of Agriculture department claimed that with the help of local people the fire was controlled about 70%.

A tribal leader of Daulat Shah, district told Pajhwok Afghan News that some 300 people are trying to control the blaze. He urged the government to provide them proper fire fighting equipments."

It is for the third time in last two years that these forests faced flare up.

Forests are the greatest asset of the nation but in the last decades the forests of Afghanistan were being destroyed either by timber mafia or fires.

Afghan dies in shooting involving Canadian convoy

Updated Fri. Nov. 16 2007 - CTV.ca News Staff

An investigation is underway after an Afghan man died, and another was injured in a shooting involving a Canadian convoy just outside Kandahar city on Thursday.

Military officials said a taxi had approached an International Security Assistance Force convoy and ignored visual warnings to stop.

Warning shots were fired and troops then carried on with their patrol, ISAF said in a written statement.

The two Afghan men in the taxi were seriously injured and treated at a hospital where one later died.

The other man was transferred to a medical unit at Kandahar Air Field where he underwent medical treatment. He is expected to be discharged shortly.

"We deeply regret the loss of innocent civilian lives and a full investigation is being carried out," said Wing Commander Antony McCord, an ISAF spokesman for Regional Command South.

"ISAF reserves the right to self defence, but every effort is made to avoid risk to civilian life while also dealing with the potential insurgent threat posed by vehicle born suicide bombers. Afghan citizens are urged to comply with the warning signs in order to prevent these incidents."

The Canadian military confirmed the incident but did not release a comment.

Canadian convoys are usually led by one vehicle that drives in the middle of a road and honks its horn to alert traffic to yield.

But convoys in Kandahar province, regularly dealing with ambushes and roadside bombs, have been involved in friendly fire.

On Oct.4, a convoy fired on a truck driving with its headlights off, which turned out to be an Afghan National Police patrol.

Later that evening, the convoy fired on another truck, which belonged to a private security company employed by other coalition countries based at Kandahar Airfield.

On Oct. 2, Canadian troops accidentally shot and killed an Afghan man and injured a young boy Tuesday in southern Afghanistan when they approached a Canadian re-supply convoy on a motorcycle in downtown Kandahar.

Another Afghan civilian was killed in late September and several others were injured in a road traffic accident involving Canadian troops in Kandahar.

"Afghan citizens are urged to comply with . . . warning signs in order to prevent these incidents," McCord said on Thursday.

During the summer, Afghan elders raised safety concerns about military convoys cutting through Kandahar city.

In response to the rising number of civilian casualties, Afghan National Police have suggested Canadian convoys share times and routes and be escorted by local authorities.

French foreign minister defends Canada's treatment of Afghan prisoners

PARIS - The French foreign affairs minister is defending the treatment of Afghan prisoners by Canadian soldiers.

Bernard Kouchner said Friday that France has total confidence in Canada when it comes to the way captured Afghans have been treated.

The French minister expressed support for what he called his Canadian friends after meeting in Paris with federal Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier.

Kouchner says he is confident human rights and international agreements have been respected.

Bernier told reporters that Afghan authorities have assured him they will carry out a detailed and transparent investigation of prisoner treatment that he has requested.

Kouchner also says he hopes that Canada and France will work together to help open up access to health care for the civilian population.

MacKay insists government open over Afghan abuse allegations

THE CANADIAN PRESS - November 17, 2007 - HALIFAX — Defence Minister Peter MacKay is brushing off opposition criticism over the Conservatives' handling of abuse allegations by Afghan detainees.

The Liberals say the government lied last April when it downplayed and even denied the existence of reports that Afghan authorities were torturing prisoners captured by Canadian soldiers.

Court records show the government received detailed accounts of the alleged abuse 48 hours after the claims first appeared in media reports.

But Mr. MacKay said accusations that the government tried to cover up what it knew are “simply untrue,” and said some information would have been dangerous to make public.

“There are certain elements of transfers — particularly around where Taliban have been captured — that are very sensitive as far as operational detail, that could ...put Canadians soldiers' lives at danger,” Mr. MacKay said following a funding announcement in Halifax.

“So, there are certain aspects of disclosure around where and when and how detainees were captured that we do not release in the middle of an operation.”

Mr. MacKay insisted the government has been forthcoming with its efforts to improve the transfer of detainees amid the allegations, which he noted have not

been proven.

“This is in the al-Qaeda and the Taliban handbook — they're expected to make allegations,” said Mr. MacKay. “What we did was the responsible thing in calling for an investigation to look into these matters.”

The government has since signed a revised prisoner deal with the Afghans, giving Canadian authorities the right to check on the status of those captured.

Canada violating Geneva treaty, MPs say

Opposition accuses government of hiding reports, presses demand for immediate end to detainee transfers

ALAN FREEMAN - November 17, 2007

OTTAWA -- Opposition MPs have called on the government to order the Canadian Forces to halt the transfer of detainees to the Afghan government, alleging that Canada has violated the Geneva Conventions by permitting prisoner abuse to continue.

Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre alleged in the House of Commons yesterday that government documents released this week prove that the government knew that torture was taking place in Afghan prisons and did nothing.

"For months, the government tried to hide specific reports on torture," Mr. Coderre said during Question Period. "These reports of torture are now confirmed. Canada must stop the transfer of detainees or it will continue to violate the Geneva Conventions."

NDP MP Paul Dewar said the documents, released on Wednesday, confirm that the government knew of appalling conditions in Afghan prisons at the same time that ministers were reassuring the public that they knew nothing. He also alleged that Canada is unable to track the prisoners it has handed over to the Afghans and that its detainee agreement is not being respected.

"Is the government finally willing to admit that it has been caught?" asked Mr. Dewar, referring to an April, 2007, document in which Canadian diplomats reported that the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission was unable to monitor the condition of detainees. A day later, Gordon O'Connor, defence minister at the time, assured the Commons that the commission would report on any prisoner abuse.

Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary for defence, said it was ridiculous to allege that Canada was violating the Geneva Conventions and said that, in any case, the primary responsibility was with the Afghan government.

"We are abiding by all measures," he said, referring to the arrangement on treatment of detainees between Canada and Afghanistan agreed to last May.

"We are not abusing anybody's rights," Mr. Hawn continued. "We are working together with the Afghan authorities to ensure that those rights are sustained under the Geneva Conventions and every other agreement we have entered into."

Outside the Commons, Mr. Coderre said he was particularly concerned about an e-mail dated April 5, 2007, in which a Canadian official noted, without elaborating, that "there are also indications that Canadians may been present during questioning of detainees by the NDS [National Directorate of Security]."

Mr. Coderre said it was important to find out what these Canadians had seen because during that period incidents of torture had taken place.

The Liberal MP called on the Canadian military to stop detainee transfers and bring back the prisoners it had captured to the compound at Kandahar Air Base. Canada should then press NATO to set up a detainee system that covers all of the coalition members in Afghanistan.

"One case [of torture] is too many," he said. "Our role, our reputation is at stake."

"If you send and transfer those detainees and you know that there's torture, you're complicit," Mr. Coderre said later.

See no evil?

The Guardian, UK 11/16/2007 By Amir Attaran

If Nato investigated the treatment of its detainees in Afghanistan, it would no doubt find a disturbing reality

This week Amnesty International released an extraordinary report, which says essentially this: Nato and the countries operating in its coalition in Afghanistan are complicit in the arresting and torturing of detainees. In a totally dismissive response, Nato denies everything: "Nato has no proof of ill treatment or of torture of [its] detainees." Both cannot be correct, so who's telling the truth?

Beginning in 2005, Nato recommended to the 37 countries fighting in its coalition in Afghanistan that they transfer any persons arrested to the Afghan authorities. Nato presented this as a simple bureaucratic adjustment: the coalition had been transferring detainees to the Americans, but could not do so after news of the CIA's underground gulags broke. Nato argued that transferring the detainees to the fledgling Afghan government would help it build its capacity.

Under the Nato's plan, coalition forces in Afghanistan arrest both combatants and non-belligerents. There is no list of approved offences, and soldiers can arrest any person for any reason they think necessary (ie the detainees are not all Taliban prisoners). Once in custody, detainees are fingerprinted and interrogated, but never provided a lawyer. Within 96 hours, the detainee and the interrogation files are transferred to the Afghan secret police.

Britain, Canada, Denmark, Holland and Norway, and possibly other countries in Nato's coalition, have signed agreements with Afghanistan based on this model.

Trouble is, Nato's plan overlooks mountains of evidence that Afghanistan tortures prisoners. The United Nations' highest human rights official writes that complaints of torture in Afghan custody are "common". The US state department writes that the Afghan authorities "routinely" torture detainees, using methods such as "pulling out fingernails and toenails, burning with hot oil, sexual humiliation and sodomy".

Even the Afghan government's own human rights watchdog writes that "torture [is] a routine part of police procedures". Just last week, President Hamid Karzai said in a speech that "there are still cases where people are threatened, even tortured".

These statements defeat Nato's claim that it knows nothing about torture. Most likely, Nato's denial is a silly see-no-evil pretense to duck controversy about the Afghan secret police's well-documented criminality. But it could also be that Nato knows about the torture, and finds it convenient to accept the intelligence it yields - in which case the detainee transfers are actually renditions, and Afghanistan's torturers are performing an outsourced service. (Evidence is lacking as yet to discern which explanation is the correct one.)

But motives aside, it is sure that if Nato investigated, it would find a disturbing reality.

Earlier this year, Graeme Smith, a Canadian investigative journalist, interviewed 30 men who the Canadian military transferred to the Afghan authorities in the course of Nato operations. Many gave accurate, detailed accounts of their handling in Canadian custody, thus proving they spoke with firsthand knowledge. The Canadians treated them well, but the Afghans tortured them. Some of the detainees were beaten or given electric shocks. Others were starved, choked or frozen. One man's torturers hung him upside down and beat him for eight days.

Asked about their cases, the human rights ombudsman for the local Afghan police force answered "these people need some torture, because without torture they will never say anything".

These revelations forced Canada to dispatch inspectors to Afghan jails. There the inspectors found more instances of torture, not to mention "the universal use of leg-irons", and the fact that "some detainees were languishing in custody for up to a year without charges being laid".

Canada's government, once admired internationally for protecting human rights, denounced none of this; rather it denied and dissembled, just as Nato now seems to be doing. But the revelations hurt Canada's Conservative government terribly: they aborted Prime Minister Stephen Harper's run-up to an election in spring, and obliged Harper to sack his defence minister. Worse, legal scholars have advised the international criminal court that Canada's top military officers, having authorised the transfers and so having aided and abetted the torturers, could now be prosecuted for war crimes. The Harper government is dolorously navigating a thicket of lawsuits and investigations (interestingly, with the help of Professor Christopher Greenwood, who is known to Britons as the very well-remunerated barrister who soothed the Blair government with a memo that going to war in Iraq was legal).

There are crucial lessons for Europe here. Whether to protect detainees from torture, or to keep their own soldiers becoming war criminals, or simply not to lose an election, European governments must look past Nato's canard that torture doesn't happen - or Europe will repeat Canada's mistakes. Amnesty International reports that the Belgian, British, Dutch and Norwegian forces have transferred dozens of detainees who either cannot be located, or who are held in prisons never visited by these countries' inspectors. Norwegian officials admit they "cannot rule out that torture is going on". Surely it is only a matter of time before a similarly intrepid European journalist as Smith investigates these cases. Then what?

Nato's administration has disgraced itself by these foolhardy adventures in torture. Not only is its see-no-evil complicity in torture illegal, but a detainee scandal involving any of the European Nato countries I name would probably tip that country to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan - something Nato cannot afford. To avoid that, Nato should do as Amnesty recommends, and establish constant, 24/7 coalition oversight in an Afghan prison where detainees are held. Such a prison would be run cooperatively with the Afghans, and could serve as a training college where safe detention and interrogation are taught. A solution like this would build Afghanistan's justice capacity infinitely better than robotically handing bodies to torturers. If Nato has the imagination and courage, it will seize on Amnesty's recommendation to turn its detainee liability into a desirable opportunity.

Attaran is a University of Ottawa professor.

The general pulls a fast one

By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / November 17, 2007 

KARACHI - A few days after President General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on November 10, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the secret service agency, met with leaders of the opposition parties to decide on a roadmap for a caretaker administration leading to general parliamentary elections in January and then to a post-election government.

The opposition parties, including the six-party religious alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, and the ruling Pakistan Muslim

League, finalized a seat adjustment mechanism through which these leading parties would receive significant representation in the next government.

At the same time, the ISI had a separate meeting with the Pakistan People's Party and assured its leader, Benazir Bhutto, that she would head a caretaker administration as prime minister.

As a result of these meetings, the opposition response to the declaration of the state of emergency was relatively muted - most reaction came from the legal profession, outraged at the sacking of Supreme Court judges, as well as the chief justice, and the suspension of the constitution.

But this week, the day that Pakistan finalized the details of a visit by US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, starting on Friday, it also announced an interim government - and without Bhutto. Mohammedmian Soomro, chairman of Pakistan's Senate since 2003, was appointed interim prime minister to prepare for the parliamentary elections.

The message from the government to Bhutto was that it wanted a "non-controversial" premier. Bhutto's reaction was immediate and cutting - she called on Musharraf to step down as president, something she had not done before. But again the reaction of her supporters and those of other opposition groups was muted and they were unable to mobilize a significant show of strength on the streets.

Even Imran Khan, the leader of one of the smaller opposition parties, Tehrik-e-Insaf, was handed over to the authorities by students of one of the parties close to his.

So at the time of Negroponte's visit, there are unlikely to be any opposition rallies, and he will be advised that the only players in the ring are militants, including the Taliban, and the Pakistani military headed by Musharraf. And Negroponte will be told that the military is quite capable of dealing with this threat.

In other words, the US-inspired plan for Musharraf to form a political alliance with Bhutto is off the table - for now at least. Lulled by Musharraf's intrigues, Bhutto has not been able to stitch together an alliance of opposition parties.

In the meantime, perhaps as a show for Negroponte, Musharraf has switched on the "war on terror" in the Swat Valley in North-West Frontier Province. Over the past few days there has been a surge in military operations in the area against militants, including the Pakistani Taliban.

Musharraf can flick the off switch at any time, subject to the demands of the militants. They have already been granted their call for sharia law in the Swat Valley, but the real issue is the withdrawal of Pakistani troops from the key areas from which supplies are sent to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Either way, Negroponte knows that he will be dealing with Musharraf, who for now has effectively sidelined the opposition.

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

AFGHANISTAN: Uneasy Over Pakistan's Emergency

KABUL, Nov 17 (IPS) - A wary Afghanistan has been closely following events across the border in Pakistan where President Gen. Pervez Musharraf clamped an emergency on Nov. 3 citing rising militancy and "interference" by the judiciary.

For two weeks, a defiant opposition has protested the clamp down on civil liberties and the abrogation of the Constitution. Hundreds of lawyers, civil society activists and journalists have been detained by military intelligence, and the orders for the arrests are "coming right from the top", according to Pakistan media reports.

A ban on public gatherings means that those who participate risk being detained and beaten up.

On Wednesday, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, an outspoken critic of Musharraf, was arrested on the campus of Punjab University in Lahore where he was addressing a student protest. Ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto who threatened a ‘long march to Islamabad’ on Nov. 13 was put under house arrest for a week.

Pakistan’s widely-watched, independent, Urdu-language news channels are off the air. The ban also extends to all Afghan channel telecasts from Pakistan. Gag orders have been lifted only on the English-language media, both print and TV, which do not threaten the authorities since they reach only a tiny elite.

The government has amended the Army Act of 1952 to allow military courts to try civilians. With Musharraf both the president and army chief, there are fears that the country may be under ‘martial law’ once again.

Turmoil in Pakistan has a direct impact on Afghanistan, Faruq Meranai, member of Parliament from Nangarhar province told the independent, Kabul-based newspaper Erada. "We are afraid that if the Pakistan military once again take power, they will interfere in our domestic affairs," he said bluntly.

Islamabad has had a hand in this country’s affairs since the Soviet occupation in 1979. Then military dictator Zia-ul-Haq joined on the side of the United States in its Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union over Afghanistan.

Through the 1980s, Pakistan was a conduit for arms and ammunition to mujahiddin factions who first fought against the Soviets and then the communist regime in Kabul before turning their massive firepower on each other.

The feuding factions who turned Afghanistan into a bloody battlefield were ousted in 1997 by the Taliban or student warriors who came over the Hindu Kush from madrasas or religious schools that sprouted along the Pakistan border with backing of the country’s shadowy Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

According to Sibghatullah Mojadedi, speaker of the upper house of Parliament, the ISI which has gone beyond the control of Pakistani governments, is "the main enemy of the people of Afghanistan". He was interviewed in the Hasht-e Sobh daily, Nov. 8.

When U.S. troops marched into Afghanistan in the so-called "war on terror" after the 9/11 bombings, the Taliban which refused to hand over al-Qaeda leaders, fled across the porous border with Pakistan to sanctuaries in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in end-2001.

Over the past two years, the Taliban have regrouped to challenge the Hamid Karzai government in southern Afghanistan, while militancy has engulfed both sides of the border, admitted Abdul Khaliq Hosaini, second secretary in Afghanistan’s Wolesi Jirga or lower house, speaking to Erada newspaper on Nov. 6.

In a bid to secure peace, Musharraf signed a controversial pact with pro-Taliban groups in FATA, enabling them to run a parallel government. But the violence has continued unabated, and spread to new areas like Swat, in neighbouring North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

The army is launching a major offensive in the picturesque Swat valley against pro-Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah whose men have overrun most towns and villages in the valley. On Wednesday, 33 militants and two army soldiers were killed in the nearly daily air and gun battles.

Pakistan-watchers here view the escalating military action with scepticism. Most believe that until the support networks that feed the cross-border insurgency are not crushed, the arrests and gun battles will not make the slightest difference in restoring law and order along the conflict-scarred frontier.

The insurgency continues unabated in Afghanistan and it appears that the emergency in Pakistan will only embolden the Taliban and their allies to continue to consolidate their power in the tribal and border areas. Instability in Pakistan means instability for Afghanistan.

Moreover, according to Afghan journalist Rohullah Yaqubi, militancy in Pakistan has a direct bearing on the economic plight of people in Afghanistan. Most of what is sold in shops in Afghanistan is either smuggled or brought over land from Pakistan. Food prices have shot up alarmingly in recent months.

Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbil acknowledged that recent events in Pakistan have had a negative impact, Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN), an independent news agency reported. That view was echoed by Sultan Ahmad Baheen, spokesman for the foreign ministry, who said Afghanistan was apprehensive of the volatile situation across the border.

(*Reporting for this contributed by The Killid Group and Pajhwok Afghan News)

[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.]