In this bulletin:

• China wins major Afghan contract
• China Metallurgical Group wins Afghan copper mine bid
• Afghan army bus bomber foiled: ministry
• Arrested suicide bomb suspect is Pakistani - Afghan security
• Afghan, NATO forces retake district from Taleban in west
• Taleban say alleged robber "publicly executed" in Afghan south
• Too much aid to Afghanistan wasted: Oxfam
• Bush sacrifices Afghanistan on the altar of Iraq: Reid
• Listening to Afghans
• Polish minister says no troop cuts in Afghanistan, Iraq pullout in 2008
• Tories say juvenile prisoners kept separate in Afghan prisons
• Tories under fire over detainee abuse
• Karzai under fire for his crowning gesture
• The Business of War
• Russian police seize large batch of heroin precursor destined for Afghanistan
• Editorial: Drug menace continues
• ISAF donates construction equipment to Bagram
• New Clinic for Ghazni
• Afghan game short of cash but full of optimism
• Afghanistan: Blood-donation campaign in the south
• Pakistani army quells tribal clashes: officials
• Three truck drivers beheaded
• Pakistan's problems start at the top
  

China wins major Afghan contract

By Ian MacWilliam - BBC News / Tuesday, 20 November 2007

A Chinese mining company has won a tender to develop one of the world's largest copper mines in Afghanistan.

The state-owned China Metallurgical Group says it will invest nearly $3bn in the mine at Aynak in the province of Logar, south of Kabul.

Officials say it will be the largest foreign investment in Afghan history and will employ 10,000 people. When construction is complete the company will pay the Afghan government $400m a year.

The Afghan government wants to attract foreign companies to make mining a key sector of an economy that is on a slow recovery after three decades of war.

The Aynak copper deposits in Logar province were first explored by Soviet geologists in the 1970s. But then the Soviet invasion of 1979 and years of warfare put an end to plans to develop them.

Officials say the area contains an estimated 13 million tonnes of copper, making it a world-class site. It is also in a relatively safe area, not far from the capital.

The $3bn that the China Metallurgical Group is to invest in Aynak compares with a total of $4bn which the Afghan government says foreign companies have invested in the country since the overthrow of the Taleban six years ago.

Once it goes into operation in five years' time, the mine will provide hundreds of millions of dollars of much-needed revenue for the cash-starved Afghan government.

It will also provide thousands of jobs in a land where unemployment is one of the most pressing problems. Kabul hopes to attract more foreign mining firms. The Aynak tender was hotly contested by companies from Canada, Australia and Russia, as well as China.

Experts say Afghanistan's mountains are rich in minerals, which could become a significant base for the revival of the country's shattered economy. Apart from copper, there is coal, iron, gas and oil.

There is also a sparkling assortment of gemstones - emeralds, tourmalines and garnets, and the lapis lazuli mines which provided jewelry for the Egyptian pharoahs three thousand years ago.

China Metallurgical Group wins Afghan copper mine bid

KABUL, Nov 20 (Reuters) - State-owned China Metallurgical Group, won a tender on Tuesday to develop a large Afghan copper deposit in a $3 billion-project, the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan's history.

The deposit, at Aynak, east of the capital Kabul, is thought to contain up to 13 million tonnes of copper.

The Chinese company will invest $2.898 billion in the project and after construction is complete in five years time, pay the Afghan government $400 million a year to operate the mine.

"This is the biggest investment in Afghanistan's history and 10,000 people will be employed to work there," said Afghan Mines Minister Ibrahim Adel.

"We estimate there are 13 million tonnes of copper present," said Adel, but added that figure might rise to 20 million tonnes. The deposit was discovered in 1974 and surveyed by Soviet geologists in 1979, but was never developed due to more-or-less constant civil war since then.

China Metallurgical Group will first have to build a power station to run to the mine and find coal deposits to fuel the power station. A small town is to be constructed at the site to house the mine workers.

The four losing shortlisted bids were from Strikeforce, part of Russia's Basic Element Group, the London-based Kazakhmys Consortium, Hunter Dickinson of Canada and U.S. copper mining firm, Phelps Dodge.

China Metallurgical Group has invested US$1 billion in mining resources overseas, including iron, copper, gold, nickel, zinc and aluminium, according to its Website.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Valerie Lee)

Afghan army bus bomber foiled: ministry
Mon Nov 19, 3:33 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Alert Afghan soldiers foiled an attempted bus bombing in Kabul early Monday, preventing a would-be suicide bomber detonating his explosives-laden waistcoat, security officials said.

The soldiers became wary when a man in civilian clothes tried to get on an Afghan army commuter bus, the officials said. "If he had succeeded it would have been a big tragedy," Kabul police chief Mohammad Salim Ahsas told reporters.

"When he tried to get on the bus a brave officer kicked him and threw him out. Then two brave police officers tied his hands behind his back."
An army general said 40 to 50 soldiers were on board the bus at the time.

Ahsas said initial investigations showed the would-be bomber was Pakistani and that he may have been on drugs at the time. Some of the worst suicide bombings in Kabul have been on security forces' buses.

On September 29, a suicide bomber in an army uniform blew up a military bus in an attack that killed around 30 people and wounded many more. A similar explosion on a bus taking police trainers to the police academy mid-June killed 35 people.

There have been more than 130 suicide blasts in Afghanistan this year, most of them blamed on the Taliban movement that was in government between 1996 and 2001.

The worst was on November 6 in the northern province of Baghlan and killed nearly 80 people, 59 of them children.

Arrested suicide bomb suspect is Pakistani - Afghan security

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

Kabul, 19 November: Security officials Monday [19 November] claimed that the arrested suicide attacker was a Pakistani national. This was disclosed in a joint press conference of the officials of interior and defence ministries, and Kabul police headquarters here.

The suicide bomber was arrested early morning on Monday in an abortive attempt to blow up a group of 20 soldiers of Afghan National Army waiting for their staff vehicle at Esthgah-e-Sabiqa bust stand in the eighth police district of the city.

Without disclosing the name of the bomber, Kabul police chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Salim Ihsas told reporters that the attacker belonged to Sadda town of Khurram Agency of Pakistan.

Ihsas said the attacker had placed ten kilos of explosive materials in his jacket and was trying to embark a 303 men staff vehicle of Kabul Military Training Centre.

Zmaray Bashari, a spokesman of the Defence Ministry termed today's incident a good example of t! he best coordination between police force and Afghan National Army.

He said that terrorism was an international menace and the fact that the attacker belonged to Pakistan did not mean he was sent by the Pakistan government.

Afghan, NATO forces retake district from Taleban in west

Text of report by private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency

Herat, 19 November: Government forces have reclaimed Bakwa District. The commander of Military Corps No 207 in Herat, Gen Jalandar Shah Bahnam, told Afghan Islamic Press [AIP] that combined Afghan and NATO forces launched an operation to reclaim Bakwa District in Farah Province early this morning. The combined forces reclaimed the capital of Bakwa District. He said: "The Taleban have planted mines in the building surrounding the district office, health clinic and other places. A national army vehicle was blown up by a mine during the operation this morning, killing a soldier and wounding two others."

On the other hand, Mr Feroz, a Taleban local commander in the area, told AIP that the mine blast killed all soldiers aboard the vehicle. Answering a question, Mr Feroz said that the Taleban have tactically retreated from the capital of Bakwa. The Taleban captured Bakwa District early this morning and afterwards, senior officials have claimed reclaiming the distr! ict many times. The Taleban captured at least three districts of Golestan, Khak-e Safed and Bakwa from government forces during this month and the government has said it has reclaimed these districts.

Taleban say alleged robber "publicly executed" in Afghan south

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

Lashkargah, 19 November: Taleban have reportedly executed a person allegedly involved in robberies on Kandahar-Herat highway in the southwestern Helmand Province on Monday [19 November].

A resident, Abdol Jabbar, told Pajhwok Afghan News from Deshao district that Taleban militants publicly executed a robber Abdorrazaq, who used to rob caravans in the area.

Taleban spokesman Qari Yosuf Ahmadi confirming the execution told this news agency that the action was taken on numerous public complaints. Police chief Mohammad Hussain Andewal of Helmand Province however did not say anything about the incident.

"The district is under control of the insurgents and we have therefore no information about the events in the area," he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that the insurgents have also executed many people in suspicion of spying for Americans and Afghan government in many districts of the province in last ten months, while five Afghan policemen were hanged in neighbouring Urozgan province two days back.

Too much aid to Afghanistan wasted: Oxfam

Reuters, 11/19/2007 By Jon Hemming - KABUL - Too much aid to Afghanistan is wasted -- soaked up in contractors' profits, spent on expensive expatriate consultants or squandered on small-scale, quick-fix projects, a leading British charity said on Tuesday.

Despite more than $15 billion of aid pumped into Afghanistan since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, many Afghans still suffer levels of poverty rarely seen outside sub-Saharan Africa.

"The development process has to date been too centralized, top-heavy and insufficient," said a report by Oxfam.

By far the biggest donor, the United States approved a further $6.4 billion in Afghan aid this year, but the funds are spent in ways that are "ineffective or inefficient," Oxfam said.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) allocates close to half its funds to the five largest U.S. contractors in Afghanistan.

"Too much aid is absorbed by profits of companies and sub-contractors, on non-Afghan resources and on high expatriate salaries and living costs," the report said. A full-time expatriate consultant can cost up to $500,000 a year, Oxfam said.

More money needed to be channeled through the Afghan government, strengthening its influence and institutions. Aid also needed to be better coordinated to avoid duplication, it said.

Only 10 percent of technical assistance to Afghanistan is coordinated either with the government or among donors. Spending on development is dwarfed by that spent on fighting the Taliban. The U.S. military is spending $65,000 a minute in Afghanistan, Oxfam said.

The report called for the 25 provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) run by the armies of 13 different nations across the country to withdraw where the security situation is stable enough and carry out relief work only where there is a critical need.

The PRTs, Oxfam said, "being nation-led are often driven more by available funding or the political interests of the nation involved rather than development considerations." The result was "a large number of small-scale, short-term projects."

"Given the historic suspicion of foreign intervention, such efforts to win 'hearts and minds' are naive. It is unsurprising that the huge expansion of PRT activities has not prevented the deterioration of security."

Violent incidents are up at least 20 percent since last year, according to U.N. estimates, and have spread northwards to many areas previously considered safe.

More than 200 civilians have been killed in at least 130 Taliban suicide bombs and at least 1,200 civilians have been killed overall this year -- about half of them in operations by Afghan and international troops.

Oxfam called on the 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan to take greater care not to hurt civilians, particularly in air strikes. The lower number of troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq -- less than a third as many in a much bigger country with a larger population -- leads to a greater reliance on air power.

There are four times as many air strikes in Afghanistan as in Iraq, Oxfam said.

The NATO-led force in Afghanistan says it takes every effort to avoid civilian casualties and has already modified procedures for launching air strikes resulting in fewer civilian deaths.

Bush sacrifices Afghanistan on the altar of Iraq: Reid

NEW YORK, Nov 17(Pajhwok Afghan News): As the war of word between the White House and the Democrat-majority Congress intensified, the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, Friday alleged that Bushs obsession with Iraq has been at expense of Afghanistan.

Delivering his remark on the floor of the Senate on Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act of 2008 Senator Reid said: New evidence emerges every day that President Bush's obsession with Iraq has come at the expense of Afghanistan, once viewed as a success.

Commenting on the current situation in Afghanistan, Reid said: Now, the opium trade in that country is at an all-time high, violence is at its highest since the American intervention, and it was reported yesterday that the Taliban has vastly stepped up its efforts.

Bin Laden is still free, taunting and threatening the US with video tapes, and his Al Qaeda network -- according to the Bush Administration' s own intelligence -- has regrouped and is stronger than ever, Reid said in his fiery speech.

We need look no further than the crisis in Pakistan as a reminder that the world can change overnight and our ability to respond nimbly to new challenges is essential, he said, adding that there has been no result of the increase in US troops in Iraq. Instead, the problem has increased, both in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, an influential Democratic lawmaker said Friday that the tribal areas of Pakistan might be an incubator for insurgents.

There is growing indication that the tribal lands of Pakistan are no longer just a haven for some Al Qaeda elements, they might even be an incubator for insurgents, both crossing the border into Afghanistan and perhaps even posing some threat to the government in Islamabad, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) said at a news conference in Washington.

Commenting on the situation in Afghanistan, the Senator expressed concern over the lack of progress and the increase in activity of the Taliban.

Listening to Afghans
Hekmat Karzai and Julian Lindley- French  Afghanistan Times November 19, 2007

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, surveying the wreckage of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan famously said, “We have been fighting in Afghanistan for six years now. If we don’t change approaches we will be fighting there for another 20 or 30 years.”   Whilst a very different operation to Moscow’s brutal occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, it is a sad fact that NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is slowly reaching the same point in the minds of some Afghans.  Put simply, the yawning gap between what the NATO capitals regard as success, and the reality on the ground is in danger of becoming an exercise in political and bureaucratic self-delusion.  Money is paid, projects are sanctioned, bureaucratic boxes are ticked and progress is declared.  Everybody is happy – except the Afghan people.  Far too many of the initiatives that are launched on behalf of the Afghan people pay scant regard to their views, perspectives and experience.  It is little wonder then that so many of them see little evidence of progress.  Therefore, if anything like success is to be achieved, it is time for the NATO Allies and Partners to go back to first principles and remind themselves that the Afghanistan mission is about poor Afghans, not rich Westerners.  To that end, a new and novel Jirga must be convened as a matter of urgency that for the first time properly seeks the views of senior Afghans from across the country as how best to proceed, including members of the moderate Taliban. 

ISAF has made some progress.  The Provincial Reconstructions Teams (PRTs) are conceptually sound.  However, with the best will in the world, armed forces are not the best instruments to lead complex change beyond the initial phase of forced entry.  The military can create the security space, but they are incapable of filling it.  Afghanistan’s most challenging province Helmand, is a case in point.  Nominally, under British ‘control’, it is led by a British diplomat.  Indeed, it is one of the very few PRTs led by a diplomat.  Unfortunately, he only has twenty-nine other civilian colleagues in support.  Such imbalance generates two contrasting dilemmas.  First, the over-militarisation of the presence on the ground which prevents the subtle management of necessary and complex change.  Contacts with key tribal elders too often take place within a military context, rather than a development context.  When relationships are going well much can indeed be achieved. However, when Afghans are killed in friendly-fire incidents the collective nature of Afghan society rapidly turns an ISAF uniform from an emblem of solidarity into a symbol of threat.  Second, decisions are taken in distant capitals that have more to do with Western political correctness than local needs and which lead to projects that the Afghan people regard with at best disdain and more likely contempt.  The most notorious example was the creation of a one million Dollar Women’s Park.  This was understandably met with derision by local people and undermined all-important credibility.  Still, a box was ticked in London.

However, the most pressing need is to move beyond the theoretical ‘Afghanisation’ so beloved of politicians, diplomats and military commanders.  Sadly, the international community at large has singularly failed to understand the culture, history and faith of the Afghan people.  For all the talk of progress the fact is that investment in the Afghans is the lowest per capita of any development programme by the international community since World War Two.  Indeed, the Taliban pay their forces three times as much as the Afghan National Army pay their own, funded by the burgeoning narco-economy and Middle Eastern money that continues to flow to Al Qaeda in copious amounts. 

Foreigners have always been treated with suspicion in Afghanistan, especially if their presence is defined by the gun.  Consequently, NATO has reached a critical juncture in the ISAF mission.  It has extended its ‘footprint’ across the whole country, but if the tread is to be sure it is vital that Afghans learn to see the presence as good.  That will mean striking a delicate balance between convincing Afghans NATO is there to stay, but not to occupy, that NATO must act against the extreme elements of the Taliban, but the road to dialogue is open, that NATO will leave, but not just yet.  To strike that balance will require a fundamental shift in the character of the mission backed up by demonstrable improvements in the daily lives and well-being of ordinary Afghans.  Such progress means listening far more intently to the people who matter in Afghan society as how best now to proceed, particularly in the south.  Specifically, the views of senior Afghans officials and tribal elders must be sought as to how best they think Afghans and NATO jointly can progressively civilianise the ISAF mission?  Most importantly, tribal leaders and elders must be invited to give their leadership over how best to proceed in Afghanistan, what works and what does not.  In particular, NATO and the Americans need a far better understanding of what role traditional institutions can play in Afghanistan’s future and then act on it. 

Afghanistan is winnable.  However, on the current trajectory the mission will bog down as the gap between what NATO is trying to achieve and what needs to be achieved becomes unsustainably wide.  ‘Success’ in Afghanistan will thus need proper and sustained investment in the Afghan people, rather than bureaucratic exercises in NATO capitals.  The three D’s – defence, diplomacy and development -- and Comprehensive Approach are all well and good in theory, but the devil as ever is in the detail.  And, that ‘detail’ is Afghan.  It is time to listen to Afghans.  After all, they are the people who know.

Hekmat Karzai is Director of the Centre of Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul, Afghanistan. Julian Lindley-French is Professor of Military Operational Science at the Netherlands Defence Academy. 

Polish minister says no troop cuts in Afghanistan, Iraq pullout in 2008

Text of report in English by Polish news agency PAP

Brussels, 19 November: Poland will not reduce its current Afghanistan force but Polish troops will leave Iraq in 2008, new Polish defence minister Bogdan Klich said Monday in Brussels.

Klich also supported Poland's involvement in training Afghan police under the EU's civilian mission in Afghanistan. He added that Poland was ready to send 350 troops to Chad under the EU's peace mission in the country provided it received logistic aid.

The logistic for Polish Chad troops would come from France, which heads the mission, or the EU's Athena military fund.

Klich assured Poland would withdraw from Iraq in 2008, but declined to say whether this would be in the first or second half of the year.

Tories say juvenile prisoners kept separate in Afghan prisons

OTTAWA - Defence Minister Peter MacKay says he believes juvenile soldiers captured by Canadian troops in Afghanistan are kept separate from adults when they are sent to prison.

Opposition parties pounded the Conservative government Monday after documents released by the Foreign Affairs Department last week indicated that officials have been discussing the issue of what to do with the young fighters.

"My understanding is that there are current provisions within the Afghan detention system to segregate or keep juvenile prisoners separate from others," MacKay told the House of Commons.

"Similarly, with respect to detainees taken by Canadian Forces, we take a similar practice. They're not housed in proximity to other detainees. Under this new arrangement they have increased ability to monitor and track detainees."

Jay Paxton, a spokesman for the minister, said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press that "juvenile prisoners are held in a designated wing of the prison in Kandahar, which is where any juveniles detained and transferred by the Canadian Forces would be held."

Canadian diplomats have also reported back to Ottawa on the arrest and firing of the warden at the main prison of Kandahar, accused of raping young detainees. He was exonerated after an Afghan judge ruled a "drunken man in his 50s" couldn't commit rape.

Another set of released documents, obtained by Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre, suggests the military dispatch juveniles to the care of the Afghan forces as quickly as possible.

"Temporarily detained persons who appear to be less than 18 years of age will be treated with care .... in most instances they shall be transferred expeditiously to the Afghan National Security Forces," reads a copy of military standing orders dated February 2006.

Since that time, the Afghan prison system has come under intense fire over allegations of torture, from opposition parties and human rights organizations.

Last week, the Foreign Affairs officials told a media briefing that they had come across "credible evidence of mistreatment" during their latest investigation.

The government was also forced by a federal judge to release more than 1,000 pages of provocative documents detailing what it knew about allegations of abuse last year.

The documents revealed that Canadian officials were reporting back to Ottawa about appalling conditions in Afghan prisons last April, and on claims of mistreatment and torture they had heard first hand.

At the same time officials were wiring back those reports, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and senior cabinet ministers were calling high-profile newspaper reports on the same issue "baseless," and even suggesting there were no "specific allegations of torture."

Harper was blasted on the discrepancy Monday, accused by the Liberals of misleading the Commons and Canadians.

"In April, the government stuck to the mantra as far as torture was concerned that it saw nothing, heard nothing and knew nothing but we now know from federal court documents that it knew the truth all along," said deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.

"It deceived Parliament and deceived Canadians and that is unworthy of the people serving in Afghanistan."

Harper did not address his statements of last spring, instead focusing on what the Department of Foreign Affairs had said last week. "The honourable member is wrong in his assertion, as the government has already said that we learned of evidence of abuse in one recent case in the past couple of weeks," Harper told the Commons. "That is being investigated according to the arrangement we have with the Afghan government."

Tories under fire over detainee abuse
Globe and Mail Update, November 19, 2007

Opposition parties hammered the Conservative government over allegations of detainee abuse Monday, accusing the Conservatives of doing nothing for months while being fully aware that torture was taking place in Afghan prisons.

The controversy stems from heavily censored documents released last week that show the Harper government knew prison conditions were appalling long before The Globe and Mail published a series of stories last April detailing the abuse and torture of prisoners turned over by Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan's notorious secret police.

The documents also show that at the same time as senior ministers were denying evidence of abuse, officials on the ground in Afghanistan were collecting first-hand accounts from prisoners of mistreatment.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion opened Question Period with a pointed attack on the Prime Minister, accusing him of lying to Canadians when he was asked by about abuse allegations in April.

“Since he was able to mislead the House on something so serious as torture, can he tell us why Canadians should believe him about anything?” Mr. Dion asked.

The Prime Minister refuted the charge, saying the government is investigating the latest allegation of abuse made by a Taliban detainee, disclosed by Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier in the House of Commons last Wednesday. It is the seventh such allegation made by detainees since Canada began systematically visiting Afghan prisoners in May.

“The Leader of the Liberal Party is wrong,” Mr. Harper said. “There is evidence of allegations in one case that we learned recently and the Minister of Foreign Affairs explained this to the House of Commons. We are working with the Afghan government to look into this situation.”

Deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff continued the line of questioning, saying the men and women serving in Afghanistan deserve to know the truth.

“In April the government stuck to the mantra, as far as torture was concerned, that they saw nothing, heard nothing and knew nothing,” Mr. Ignatieff said. “We now know from federal court documents that they knew the truth all along. They deceived parliament and they deceived Canadians. That is unworthy of the people serving in Afghanistan. Why can't the government tell the simple truth?”

Mr. Harper said Mr. Ignatieff was wrong, repeating that the government learned of evidence of abuse in one recent case in the past few weeks.

“That is being investigated according to the arrangement we have with the Afghan government,” Mr. Harper said. “The troops and the people who represent the Government of Canada in Afghanistan at all times uphold their responsibilities and are working with their Afghan colleagues to ensure the highest comportment and respect for international obligations. We should be proud of all of them.”

Defence Minister Peter MacKay defended the government's handling of the issue, telling the House of Commons that the improved detainee agreement with Afghanistan, signed in May, means Canadian official have greater access to prisoners and a greater ability to track them.

With reports from Paul Koring and Alan Freeman

Karzai under fire for his crowning gesture

Globe and Mail, /20/2007 Graeme Smith - President criticized for involvement in tribal affairs; young son of late mullah faces doubts he's up to the task as clan's new leader

KANDAHAR — Hamid Karzai flew to Kandahar last month for a ceremony that later emerged as a key moment in the war against the Taliban, although many people here are still arguing about whether the Afghan president averted disaster or opened a new tribal conflict with his visit to the south.

Mr. Karzai arrived shortly after the legendary warrior Mullah Naqib died of a heart attack on Oct. 11. As hundreds of mourners gathered in the front garden of Mr. Naqib's home on the north side of Kandahar city, the president stood and placed a silver turban on the boyish head of Kalimullah Naqibi, the tribal elder's 26-year-old son.

The gesture crowned Mr. Naqibi as the new leader of the Alokozai tribe, a populous and powerful clan that controls strategic territory around Kandahar city, making them the informal gatekeepers between the government's urban enclaves and the wild country beyond.

Some politicians in the city approved of the President's action, viewing it as a swift intervention to give the tribe a leader with firm loyalty to the central government. Mr. Naqibi and his supporters say the move was purely decorous, a symbol of the President's approval for a decision already taken by top elders in the tribe.

But senior members of the Alokozai's leadership are publicly expressing their discontent, blaming Mr. Karzai for interfering in their affairs and violating their traditions. Installing an untested young man as their tribal leader has hurt security, they say, pointing to the fact that, within weeks of the decision, Canadian and Afghan troops were required to push back the first major Taliban attack on Alokozai lands north of the city.

General Khan Mohammed, an Alokozai tribesman who serves as an adviser to the Interior Minister, said he recently visited Mr. Karzai at his palace with another senior elder to complain about the selection of the young leader.

"I said, 'Why did you put the turban on Kalimullah's head?' " Gen. Mohammed said in an interview at his home in the capital. "The tribe didn't choose this leader. I told him, you're increasing the violence in our lands."

Despite his misgivings, Gen. Mohammed said he remains loyal to the young Mr. Naqibi, after serving as his father's trusted deputy through the anti-Soviet wars of the 1980s. While wishing success for Mr. Naqibi, however, Gen. Mohammed hinted that he himself would make a better chief. The Alokozais need an experienced military commander to defend themselves from the insurgents, he said, noting that the Taliban didn't attack the Alokozai territory north of the city until he had left the province for duties in Kabul, making him unavailable to lead the counterattack.

During his meeting with Mr. Karzai, Gen. Mohammed said the President reacted with surprise at his objections. Gen. Mohammed had participated in the ceremony that anointed Mr. Naqibi, the President said, asking why the battle-hardened warrior didn't voice his objections at the time.

Variations of the same question are asked in private by senior politicians in Kandahar, who say the disgruntled contenders for the Alokozai leadership are trying to revoke the blessings they have already bestowed on Mr. Naqibi.

But the rules of Pashtun tribal etiquette forbade anybody from raising a fuss in the wake of Mr. Naqib's death, Gen. Mohammed said, so the elders in attendance that night didn't feel comfortable raising their voices against the President.

"I told [Mr. Karzai], 'You're a Pashtun, you know our culture. ... This is the first time ever in Afghanistan, that a leader is chosen like this.' "

A Western diplomat in Kabul acknowledged that tribes usually choose their own leaders, but added that it's customary in Afghanistan for the central government to play a role in the selection of such an important figure as the Alokozai chief.

Besides himself, Gen. Mohammed said another contender for the leadership would have been Azizullah Wasifi, a former agriculture minister and aide to the late king.

Mr. Karzai telephoned Mr. Wasifi in the presence of the Alokozai elders to consult him about the selection of tribal chief, and the old politician gave his approval. But his son, Izzatullah Wasifi, director-general of Afghanistan's anti-corruption agency, now raises a similar objection to the process.

"You can't put a turban on somebody's head and make him your toy," Mr. Wasifi said. "A lot of people are complaining about this."

Some of the complainers gathered recently in the guest room of Mr. Wasifi's home in Kabul, sitting on the thick carpets and talking politics.

"Karzai announced that Kalimullah was going to be our tribal elder, and in that moment nobody could complain," said Haji Feda Mohammed, a landowner from Arghandab district, flicking his cigarette into a metal spittoon. "If he can bring together the tribe, it's okay. But we will see."

The newly minted Alokozai leader says he can feel the pressure of such scrutiny. Sitting in his father's old house, Mr. Naqibi's pudgy, youthful face showed a mix of emotions as he recalled the moment when the President wrapped the shiny new turban around his head.

"I was happy to be selected," he said. "It's a holy job, to help the people."

He smiled, but then his face clouded for a moment. He invoked a Pashto saying: "When the turban falls from the head, it lands on the shoulders," meaning that the burdens of the father are passed to the sons.

"It's a big responsibility," he said.

Tribes of Kandahar - A selected list of major tribes around Kandahar shows how Canadian troops' understanding of the ancient divisions of the Pashtuns has become a vital part of the war.

PASHTUN - An estimated 13 million Pashtuns live in Afghanistan, mostly in the south and east. In Kandahar, they have two main branches: The Durrani and Ghilzai.

DURRANI - ZIRAK DURRANI and PANJPAI DURRANI

Most of the people who live in Kandahar, with the exception of the nomadic Kuchi herders, belong to a tribe that falls into the Durranis and the Ghilzais. The tribal identity often influences their politics, and whether they support or oppose the government of President Hamid Karzai. Zirak Durranis tend to favour the government, while Panjpai Durranis and Ghilzais often feel disenfranchised.

ZIRAK DURRANI - Government-aligned tribes

POPALZAI : President Hamid Karzai rules in the capital, while his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, plays a major role in Kandahar as chairman of the provincial council.

ALOKOZAI: The late Mullah Naqib was the President's biggest ally in the south, and his tribesmen remain an important bulwark around the city.

BARAKZAI: Former Kandahar governor Gul Aga Shirzai retains influence and business ties to the province through his tribe.

ACHAKZAI: Abdul Razik, a flamboyant young police chief who controls the road crossing to Pakistan, is among this tribe's leading members.

PANJPAI DURRANI - Non-government-aligned tribes

NOORZAI: The politician Arif Noorzai may lead this tribe officially, but arguably its most influence member is Hafz Majid, a senior Taliban leader. The Noorzai are populous west of Kandahar city, the scene of recent battles.

ALIZAI: A bitter conflict between this tribe's leader in Kandahar, Habibullah Jan, and Ahmed Wali Karzai was a source of instability in the province until the two men reached a negotiated truce in recent weeks.

ISSAKZAI: With many of their home villages in the conflict zones of Kandahar and Helmand, they are reportedly fighting to defend their opium business.

KHOGANI

GHILZAI - Non-government-aligned tribes

HOTAK, TOKHI, , NASIR, TARAKI

SOURCES: TRIBAL HIERARCHY AND DICTIONARY OF AFGHANISTAN: A REFERENCE AID FOR ANALYSTS (Feb., 2007) COURAGE SERVICES INC., GIUSTOZZI, ANTONIO AND ULLAH, NOOR (2007) THE INVERTED CYCLE: KABUL AND THE STRONGMEN'S COMPETITION FOR CONTROL OVER KANDAHAR, 2001-2006, CENTRAL ASIAN SURVEY, 26:2, 167 - 184, BBC

The Business of War

CanWest News 11/19/2007 By Mike Blanchfield and Andrew Mayeda

Analysis suggests that a warlord has been awarded contracts worth $11 million

First of a five-part series - OTTAWA -- The Defence Department is keeping secret the names of dozens of companies that received almost $42 million worth of contracts in Afghanistan.

However, an analysis by CanWest News Service suggests that more than $1.1 million in business has been awarded to an Afghan company that bears the same name as one of Kandahar's most infamous warlords.

Citing national security concerns, the Defence Department has blanked out the names of all vendors from an internal database of contracts released under Access to Information. The contracts cover services ranging from hauling gravel to supplying specialized communications equipment and toilet paper.

The censorship is only one example of the growing trend toward secrecy that appears to be enveloping the Canadian Forces as it expands its use of civilian contractors.

This persists despite pledges by the Harper government to improve accountability and transparency, a key plank of the platform that brought the Conservative party to power nearly two years ago.

A three-month investigation by CanWest News Service has concluded that Canadian commanders in Afghanistan retain considerable discretion over which contracts are awarded and how they are reported. The result is that Canadians aren't given all the information they need to determine whether they are getting good value for their tax dollars.

In censoring the vendor names in the Defence Department's database, officials say they are trying to protect contractors from being targeted by the Taliban.

The disclosure policy, however, appears to be arbitrary and inconsistent, since some of the names from the list have already been published on the department's website.

Federal departments are required to publicly disclose the details of all contracts over $10,000.

Even when contracts appear on the website, it is difficult to get a complete picture of how much Canada is paying private companies to support the Afghanistan mission. The website data is part of a massive database that does not single out contracts related to Afghanistan and is devoid of contract details beyond the basic amount.

The Defence Department could not provide an estimate of how much it spends on all civilian contracts in support of the Afghanistan mission. The $42-million database includes some, but not necessarily all, such contracts.

But CanWest News Service found that at least 29 contracts, totalling $1.14 million, went to a corporate entity known simply as "Sherzai," raising the question of whether the contracts were awarded to Gul Agha Sherzai, a powerful warlord and former governor of Kandahar.

Sherzai was instrumental in supporting Hamid Karzai, before he became Afghanistan's president, in his efforts to rout the Taliban from Kandahar in late 2001. Sherzai immediately filled the power vacuum following the Taliban's ouster, establishing a fiefdom with the backing of his own private militia before he was appointed governor.

Under a series of contracts tendered between January 2006 and March 2007, the Canadian military paid the company Sherzai $900,000 for transportation services, while another $240,000 was paid out for services described only as "defence" or "research and development."

CanWest News Service requested copies of those contracts from the military under Access to Information, but was told earlier this month that another 150 working days would be needed to process the request. The military has refused to confirm whether the company is owned or operated by Sherzai.

Western governments sometimes hire former militants in fragile states as a means to bring them into the fold, said Peter Singer, a Brookings Institution analyst who has studied the private military industry. "It gets the warlords doing something else, because if they don't have this kind of business, they will make trouble. It gives their men jobs, it gets them off the streets."

But the practice has a number of troubling implications, he added.

"Are you are shifting these guys away from warlordism? Or are you simply keeping these guys empowered? The other issue is whether they use the positions not to create stability, but to go after their local adversaries."

Sherzai was replaced as Kandahar governor in 2005 after his administration was accused of widespread corruption.

A 2005 report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies described Sherzai as "corrupt and inefficient." He is now the governor of Nangarhar province.

American journalist Sarah Chayes made Sherzai a central figure in her 2006 book about Afghan corruption, titled The Punishment of Virtue. The book describes how Sherzai provided the U.S. army with fleets of trucks, loads of gravel, and other assorted labour, all at inflated prices.

The U.S. army's efforts to stimulate the local economy went awry after Sherzai extorted kickbacks for the work his company provided at Kandahar Airfield, Chayes writes. The kickbacks were worth one-quarter of the daily wages of his workers.

Russian police seize large batch of heroin precursor destined for Afghanistan

Excerpt from report by Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS - Nizhniy Novgorod, 19 November: Officers of the [Federal] Drug Control Service, the FSB [Federal Security Service] and the Interior Ministry in Nizhniy Novgorod have prevented the attempted shipping to Afghanistan of 10 t of toxic acetic anhydride, which is used in the manufacture of heroin. ITAR-TASS learnt this today from Marina Vagina, the head of the Drug Control Service's regional directorate.

Vagina said that a joint operation of the regional FSB directorate, the Drug Control Service and the Russian Interior Ministry's organized crime department had resulted in the detention of three people, including a Russian citizen of Afghan origin. Forty-five barrels containing acetic anhydride, large sums of money and forged documents and rubber stamps were seized from them.

An inquiry has been launched into the incident. [Passage omitted to end]

Editorial: Drug menace continues

Dawn 20 November 2007 - THE two areas where the frontiers of Turkmenistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet on the one hand, and those of the latter two and Pakistan converge on the other have been described by the UN anti-narcotics head as the new ‘Golden Triangles’. The final draft of the 2007 UN report detailing the drugs menace in the country has given figures that justify this description. Afghanistan, the world’s biggest supplier of drugs, has reached a point where it is exporting more than four billion dollars worth of narcotics — amounting to more than half the country’s GDP. As noted earlier, when the provisional findings of the report were made known, opium production is concentrated in the financially better-off provinces of the south — where the Taliban hold sway. The poverty-stricken but politically stable north-central region has managed to bring down the level of opium production with a number of provinces being declared poppy-free. Clearly then, the connection between violence and opium cultivation is far stronger than one between the latter and poverty.

While there is sense in taking poverty alleviation measures in the south, and offering farmers alternatives to growing poppy, it is the political situation that should be the primary focus of the Afghan government. The Taliban menace, that is fuelling the narco-militancy nexus, has to be tackled firmly, and the area made relatively violence-free so that government authorities and international agencies can carry on their development work with minimal hindrance. Unfortunately, while it is easy to blame Afghan and Nato troops for not curbing militancy, the vested interests of Afghanistan’s own politicians who reap considerable monetary profits from drug trafficking is also a factor in their failure. This is why Kabul has to take strong action against corrupt elements in the government, making an example of those who are found guilty of involvement. But since drug trafficking is not only Afghanistan’s problem, other countries, too, should work with Kabul to strengthen measures against drug barons and militant elements. This will only work when Afghanistan and its bordering countries implement a coherent strategy to stop drug smuggling by sharing intelligence and conducting joint raids on suspected venues.

ISAF donates construction equipment to Bagram

KABUL, Nov 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Members of the ISAF Bagram Provincial Reconstruction Team recently donated more than $1 million in construction equipment to locals in the community, says a press release issued here on Saturday. .

The seven pieces of equipment will be used to repair damage caused by flooding in the Salang Pass, keeping Afghanistan connected to Tajikistan through the winter.

The pass was built nearly 40 years ago by the Russians, said Army Col. Jonathon Ives, Task Force Cinncinatus commander. Since its creation, the pass has become a vital link between these countries.

More than 2,000 vehicles drive through the pass everyday, including trucks carrying fuel and clothing from the North. Afghanistan exports agriculture products and the route is also used to bring coal from Bayman Province to the eastern part of the country.

I visited the pass several months ago after flooding had wiped out entire portions of the road, Ives said. I saw the equipment the Afghans were using to rebuild the road.

The colonel saw that the people were working to repair the road themselves, but modern equipment could better facilitate their efforts. The donated equipment included two large graders, a large flat-bed truck, two bulldozers and two hydraulic excavators, one with a bucket and the other with a hammer attachment.

The Afghans already have trained heavy equipment operators, but we will provide follow-up training especially with upkeep maintenance, Ives said.

This equipment will not only be used to repair the flood damage in Salang Pass, but it will also be used to keep the road passable throughout winter. 

The pass gets more than five meters (15 feet) of snow during the winter and this equipment means the trade route between these countries wont be closed during the winter, Ives said.

For this area we needed equipment badly to keep the road open during the winter, said Afghan Maj. Gen. Rajab.

Rajab who is also the Salang Pass Maintenance Group commander, through an interpreter added, This equipment can also be used through several areas to help with emergency repairs.

The delivery of the equipment came just one day before the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was going to meet with the provincial governor about how he planned to keep the Salang Pass open during the winter.

New Clinic for Ghazni

GHAZNI CITY, Nov 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A clinic was inaugurated in Laghabat village in Dehyak district in the southern Ghazni province on Saturday.

District chief Haji Fazal Ahmad told Pajhwok Afghan News the clinic which will cost about $190000 will be completed in six months. It will greatly benefit the people of the area, he added. He said that clinic would be built with the support of Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).

"Patients of the area face great difficulties, because they can not afford to travel to capital city for medical facilities and there is no such facility in the area," He added.

Head of health section of PRT, Hoekman on this occasion said that after completion the clinic would be provided all necessary equipments. "PRT has invested about one million US dollars in the health sector in the province," he added.

Afghan game short of cash but full of optimism
By Jon Hemming Mon Nov 19, 8:50 AM ET

KABUL (Reuters) - Short of funds and experience but bursting with confidence, Afghanistan' s fledgling cricket team are already itching to take on the best sides in the world.

"If we had just 50 percent of the facilities that other international teams have, then nobody would be able to beat Afghanistan," declared national cricket federation president Shahzada Masood.

Buoyed up by what they claimed as victory in the Asian Cricket Council's (ACC) Twenty-20 Cup earlier this month, Afghanistan officials hope to attract aid to help the development of the recently imported but already popular sport.

Officially, the ACC final against Oman on November 2 was declared a draw because Afghan fans invaded the pitch in Kuwait before the umpire could pronounce the match over after Oman, needing three runs to win, had missed the last ball.

Afghans, however, celebrated the result as a victory. Their enthusiasm impressed former England all-rounder Matthew Fleming, who ended a four-day fact-finding trip to the country for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on Sunday.

"Clearly they are bursting with talent and interest is booming on the back of that victory," said Fleming at the national team's practice nets next to the bullet-riddled Kabul stadium where the Taliban used to hold public executions.

"This is my first time in Afghanistan and I had no idea what to expect but the first thing I saw was an area of flattish ground and they were playing cricket," said Fleming.

MCC wants to help to develop the game in the country. The relationship began with a match in Mumbai in March 2006 when Afghanistan thrashed an MCC XI led by former England captain Mike Gatting by 171 runs.

Two members of the Afghan team, Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi, subsequently spent time at Lord's on the MCC's Young Cricketers scheme.

In June this year, fast bowler Hassan became the first Afghan cricketer to play at Lord's, appearing for MCC against a Europe XI.

The absence of cricket in Afghanistan was a sign that the Afghans, unlike neighboring imperial India, had never been conquered by the British.

While the hardline Taliban banned most traditional sports, cricket was one of the things they brought with them from the Pakistani refugee camps where many of their recruits originated.

A new wave of refugees fled to Pakistan to escape the ongoing violence and, in their turn, brought the sport back with them when the Taliban were toppled in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

The Afghan national team have done well in competitions across Asia, including Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Kuwait. Last year, they won six of seven matches on a tour of England against local sides including university teams and county reserves.

In the last decade, the number of registered players in the country has grown to more than 12,000, according to the Afghan Cricket Federation.

The MCC is considering providing equipment and support for schools and helping the federation to complete the building of a pavilion and stands at the national cricket ground.

Where most games are played in a whirl of dust on patches of waste ground, Afghan cricket authorities have brought in soil and laid grass in an effort to create a showpiece national ground. But they have run out of money and it stands half built, the grass patchy and thin.

Despite the problems, national coach Taj Malik sees a bright future for the game.

"Cricket is a new sport here but now it is very popular," he said. "When we won the championship it was appreciated by the whole nation and everybody in Afghanistan now loves their cricket team.

"We are expecting to beat the big teams, we want to beat Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh first because they are in our region, then also we are hoping to play New Zealand," said Malik. "We are sure if we do not beat them, we can fight them."
(Editing by Clare Fallon) International Medical Corps

Afghanistan: Blood-donation campaign in the south

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

November 19, 2007, Press Release No. 07/121 - Kabul (ICRC) – With support from Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has started the first-ever collection of blood in support of Kandahar city's Mirwais hospital, which serves a population of three million people in some of the most insecure, volatile areas of the country. Mirwais is the region's main hospital for the treatment of war-wounded people, including victims of gunshot injuries and burns. The hospital also has extremely important paediatric and obstetrics wards, there being so many poor, displaced children and pregnant women in the area it covers.

"Mirwais hospital has a major shortage of blood for transfusion, especially in emergency cases", says Dr Sharifa Sidiqe, the facility's director. The ICRC's blood-collection initiative started with 46 medical students who volunteered to donate nearly half a litre each.

"We hope that this initial blood collection will motivate everyone in Kandahar to regularly donate blood in future", said Robert Keusen, an ICRC laboratory technician.

Having previously repaired and upgraded the surgical department at Mirwais, the ICRC recently extended its support to the entire 380-bed hospital, signing a five-year agreement with the Ministry of Public Health to implement a package of reforms. ''Together we are aiming to raise the standard of hospital services to a nationally agreed level'', Dr Sidiqe said. ''People expect change to happen quickly, without understanding the concept of capacity-building in order to achieve sustainable results. We should strive for realistic standards here in Afghanistan – which is, after all, not a Western context – and remember that we are starting from zero, from a state of total collapse.''

The ICRC has been working in Afghanistan since 1987, aiding people affected by successive armed conflicts that have ravaged the country. There are currently eight ICRC expatriate medical staff working at Mirwais hospital to support and train Afghan health-care personnel. The ICRC is focusing on improving the capacity of Mirwais personnel to provide essential services including high-quality surgical care for victims of the armed conflict and other emergencies.

Pakistani army quells tribal clashes: officials

Mon Nov 19, 3:14 AM ET - PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Fighting between rival Sunni and Shiite Muslim militants died down Monday after Pakistan army troops entered a restive tribal district bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.

Resdidents said at least 35 bodies had been buried in Parachinar, the main town in the tribal Kurram region, amid an early morning lull. The final death toll in three days of sectarian violence may exceed 100 as dead bodies still lay in some houses and people could not come out because of an indefinite curfew, a security official told AFP.

"The situation in Parachinar area has improved," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP. "There was no fighting this morning and clashes have stopped."

Residents said troops were helping the local administration in evacuating people to safer places as helicopters flew overhead. The heavily armed tribesmen have either vacated their hillside bunkers or stopped firing. Only sporadic gunfire was heard overnight. Security officials confirmed 92 people had died since the clashes erupted on Friday, with nearly 200 wounded. They included 11 soldiers who were killed in the cross-fire along with 32 wounded.

"Security forces have been targeted by both sides," the military said in a statement. Shops, offices and schools remained closed and people are facing shortages of water and electricity, residents said.
Parchinar was also the scene of fierce sectarian clashes in April in which 55 people were killed. Shiites account for 20 percent of Pakistan's 160 million Sunni-dominated population, but are the majority in Parachinar.

Three truck drivers beheaded

By Abdul Sami Paracha- Dawn - KOHAT, Nov 19: In what appears to be a revenge action for sectarian killings in Parachinar, the Taliban beheaded three truck drivers near Darra Adamkhel on Monday. The drivers belonging to Juzara and Marai area of the Kohat district had been kidnapped by the Taliban on Sunday evening when they were passing through the Darra Adamkhel bazaar on their way to the troubled Kurram Agency. The authorities identified the beheaded drivers as Islam, Fateh Ali and Rafique.

The family members of the drivers blocked the Kohat-Parachinar road near the Hangu railway crossing for half an hour in protest against the brutal killings.
After the incident, a mosque in Darra Bazaar came under fire when Zuhr prayers were in progress. Six people were injured in the attack.
The injured–Rawaid, Alam Khan, Mohammad Amin, Farman, Rafique and Musharraf—were taken to Peshawar.

Tribesmen chased the culprits and killed one of them and arrested another.
Later, the Taliban took away the body from the Zarghunkhel hospital.
The tribal authorities arrested five elders of the Akhorwal tribe on whose land the bodies of the beheaded truck drivers were found.
According to unconfirmed reports, the Taliban had kidnapped another three people from Darra Adamkhel after checking their national identity cards.

Pakistan's problems start at the top

Los Angeles Times 11/19/2007 By Pervez Hoodbhoy

Musharraf's military rule has damaged his country's ability to fight Islamist insurgents

Gen. Pervez Musharraf seized power in Pakistan eight years ago, claiming that the army had to step in to save the country from corrupt and incompetent politicians. Since then, he has run both the army and the government himself, with the connivance of a rubber-stamp Parliament put in place through rigged elections. His rule has proved to be a dismal failure, creating more problems than those it set out to solve.
Earlier this month, with opposition to his regime growing and the courts about to rule that he could not legally be president, Musharraf chose to suspend the constitution and impose emergency rule. He dismissed the Supreme Court and arrested the judges, replacing them with judges who will bend to his will. He blocked all independent television channels and threatened to punish the news media if it disparaged him or the army. His police arrested thousands of lawyers and pro-democracy activists. He ordered that civilians be tried in closed military courts. This is what is necessary, he said, to save Pakistan from a rapidly growing Islamist insurgency.

But no one should believe him.

It is true that over the last decade Islamist militants -- Pakistani Taliban nurtured in madrasas along the Afghan border -- have grown stronger and widened their reach. Each day brings news that the government's security forces have surrendered to Taliban fighters without firing a shot. Flaunting its strength, the Taliban has released many of these soldiers -- and even paid their way home. Other prisoners, especially Shiites, have been beheaded and their corpses mutilated.

Musharraf's government and his army have been woefully unsuccessful at handling this insurgency. They have lost control in many areas bordering Afghanistan and in the North-West Frontier Province. Earlier this month, the militants took over a third town in the Swat valley, only half a day's ride from the capital, Islamabad, while others captured the Pakistan-Austria Training Institute for Hotel Management in Charbagh.

Across the country, Islamists have taken over public buildings, forced local government officials to flee and promised to bring law and order. A widely available Taliban-made video shows the bodies of criminals dangling from electricity poles in the town of Miranshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan.

The militants have even made their first major foray into the capital. From January to July of this year, the government allowed heavily armed extremists sympathetic to Al Qaeda and the Taliban to freely function out of Islamabad's Red Mosque. It is less than two miles from Musharraf's official residence at President House, from parliament and from the much-vaunted Inter-Services Intelligence headquarters. But the authorities were nowhere to be seen as armed vice-and-virtue squads sent out by the Islamists kidnapped prostitutes, burned CDs and videos, forced women to wear burkas and demanded that city laws be bent to their will. The government sent in clerics and politicians sympathetic to the militants as negotiators, and made one concession after another.

Amid growing public and international demands to act, Musharraf finally sent in special troops. The military action turned Islamabad into a war zone. When the smoke from rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns had cleared, more than 117 people (the official count) were dead, many of them girls from a neighboring seminary. Mullahs promised revenge, and it began shortly afterward in a wave of suicide bombings across the country that has claimed hundreds of lives.

Why has Musharraf failed so dramatically to stop the insurgency? One reason is that most of the public is hostile to government action against the extremists (and the rest offer tepid support at best). Most Pakistanis see the militants as America's enemy, not their own. The Taliban is perceived as the only group standing up against the unwelcome American presence in the region. Some forgive the Taliban's excesses because it is cloaked in the garb of religion. Pakistan, they reason, was created for Islam, and the Taliban is merely asking for Pakistan to be more Islamic.

Even normally vocal, urban, educated Pakistanis -- those whose values and lifestyles would make them eligible for decapitation if the Taliban were to succeed in taking the cities -- are strangely silent. Why? Because they see Musharraf and the Pakistan army as unworthy of support, both for blocking the path to democracy and for secretly supporting the Taliban as a means of countering Indian influence in Afghanistan.

There is merit to this view. Army rule for 30 of Pakistan's 60 years as a country has left a terrible legacy. The army is huge, well-equipped, armed now with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and has perhaps the world's richest generals. Sitting or retired army officers govern provinces, run government agencies, administer universities, manage banks and make breakfast cereals.

Military rule has also created a class of dependent politicians who understand that cutting a deal with the army is the passage to power. For them, public office is an opportunity not to govern but to gain privilege and wealth for themselves, their relatives and their friends. Meanwhile, barely half of Pakistan's people can read and write, and one-third live below the poverty line.

The ties between the military and the Islamic militants are also well known. For more than 25 years, the army has nurtured Islamist radicals as proxy warriors for covert operations on Pakistan's borders in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Various army chiefs honed a strategy that juggled their relationship with the U.S. against the demands of local intelligence chiefs, and of mullahs, tribal leaders, politicians and fortune seekers who have contacts with the militants. Radical groups are encouraged. As they grow and start to slip out of control, these groups are tolerated and appeased to keep them loyal. When interests inevitably clash, a military crackdown follows. The innocent are caught in the crossfire.

If Pakistan is to fight and win the war against the Taliban, it will need to mobilize both its people and the state. Musharraf's recent declaration of emergency will only make this much harder.

In the short term, Pakistan's current political crisis may be managed by having Musharraf resign -- both as president and as head of the army. And before he does so, he must also restore the judiciary and constitution, lift the curbs on the media, free all political prisoners and set up a caretaker government. These are the necessary conditions for holding free and fair elections.

Credibility of elections requires that former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif -- whatever one might think of their personal integrity -- both be included among the contestants. Bhutto loudly announced in Washington that she will take on Al Qaeda and the Taliban as her first priority, whereas Sharif is closer to the Islamic parties. But, as their past tenures suggest, if elected, realpolitik will force both to act similarly.

Only a freely chosen and representative government can win public support for taking on the Taliban. But to do this, it will need to begin addressing the larger, long-term political, social and economic problems facing Pakistan. The country must seek a more normal relationship with India. Only then can the army be cut down to size and Pakistan free itself from the massive military expenditures and the nuclear weapons that burden it. It must address the grievous regional inequalities that feed resentment against Islamabad. The government must push to provide basic needs and sustainable livelihoods to the rural and urban poor. It must offer people hope.

Pervez Hoodbhoy teaches at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.

[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.]