In this bulletin:

• Karzai: Contact With Taliban Increasing
• Nato defends Afghanistan tactics
• Leaders reject report of Afghan 'crisis'
• Attack Taliban training camps in Pakistan, Senlis Council tells NATO
• Media statement released by the Embassy of Afghanistan in Canada:
• Afghanistan urges Japan to resume mission
• Switzerland pulls military staff out of Afghanistan
• Czech Republic delivers helicopters to Afghan military
• Afghanistan a thorn in Canada's side on Iran vote
• CFB Valcartier honours memory of fallen soldiers
• War-crimes allegations 'un-Canadian,' MacKay says
• Germany, Italy back new conference for Afghanistan
• British MPs express Taleban fears
• NATO short-numbered troops in Afghanistan alarms danger
• Police: Afghan provincial offical kidnapped by Taliban insurgents
• US envoy meets Fazl
• Indian and British diplomats meet Fazl
• Baluch leader killed in Afghanistan
• Chinese Copper Cos. Get Afghan Rights
• Afghan to benefit from Safta: Ramesh
• All private security firms must close: Afghanistan
• Military hires former Afghan fighters as security guards
• 'I deny the allegations made against me'
• Student faces jail for acting as a scout for jihadist cell

Karzai: Contact With Taliban Increasing

By RAHIM FAIEZ – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that his government has had increasing contact with Taliban insurgents this year, including several talks this week with militant leaders living in exile.

Karzai said militants in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan have increasingly approached the government in the last eight months, even as the country goes through its most violent phase since the ouster of the Taliban after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

"Only this week I've had more than five or six major contacts, approaches, by the leadership of the Taliban trying to find out if they can come back to Afghanistan," Karzai told reporters in Kabul after meeting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Karzai did not specify which leaders he had spoken to or where the discussions took place.

"We are willing to talk. Those of the Taliban who are not part of al-Qaida or the terrorist networks, who do not want to be violent against the Afghan people ... those elements are welcome," he said.

In the past Karzai has offered to hold talks with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and to give militants positions in government in exchange for peace. Omar has rejected those offers.

Afghan and Western officials believe many Taliban and al-Qaida leaders are organizing militant activities across the border in the lawless tribal regions of Pakistan. Pakistan says its doing its best to quell the insurgency.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence in 2007, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.

De Hoop Scheffer, meanwhile, said NATO has "worked hard" to change their procedures in order to avoid civilian deaths, following U.N. criticism that NATO troops were behind an alarming number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

"I see scores of Afghan civilians being killed by the spoilers, by the Taliban, whose aim it is to indiscriminately kill innocent Afghan civilians in their reign of terror they want to impose," de Hoop Scheffer said. "I never met a NATO soldier ... who will intentionally kill an innocent Afghan civilian."

Karzai has repeatedly pleaded with international forces to do all they can to prevent civilian casualties.

On Tuesday, the U.N.'s top human rights officer, Louise Arbour, said she is concerned about the high rates of casualties caused by militants, but also the "alarming levels" this year caused by NATO forces.

De Hoop Scheffer said NATO's International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan should not be put in a "same moral category as our opponents," and called for an end to a blame game between international organizations on this issue.

Nato defends Afghanistan tactics

By David Loyn - BBC News, Kabul

Nato head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says its forces are doing all they can to avoid Afghan civilian casualties. After a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he said that Nato forces had changed their procedure to reduce the threat to civilians.

The meeting comes amid growing concern in several member countries about the continued commitment to Afghanistan. The UN too has expressed alarm at the number of civilians killed by international forces in Afghanistan

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer referred directly to the increasing questions being asked about the Afghan deployment in some Nato member countries, saying there was a need to win hearts and minds back home.

But the issue of hearts of minds in Afghanistan was a more pressing concern for President Karzai.

The two men meet regularly and always talk about civilian casualties but President Karzai has now become much more outspoken under increasing local pressure on this issue. There was a protest rally in Helmand province on Wednesday.

Gen Scheffer said Nato forces had changed their tactics to avoid killing civilians.

"The president [Karzai] and I also realise that civilian casualties are never entirely avoidable. But we have done a lot since we also saw many - too many - civilian casualties in adapting and changing our procedures."

Gen Scheffer appealed for understanding on this issue and said there was no moral equivalent between the civilians killed by the Taleban and those killed by Nato.

He said that Nato needed to do far more to train Afghan forces to be able to take on the fight for themselves.

Leaders reject report of Afghan 'crisis'

AP, Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Nato chief led strong criticism on Thursday of a European think-tank report that said the Taliban were installed in more than half of Afghanistan.

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said The Senlis Council report released on Wednesday "should not be considered as realistic".

"Of course there are parts of Afghanistan where the going is tough from time to time," he told reporters after talks with Karzai. "We all know that... and we all know that Nato forces are in combat in certain parts of Afghanistan."

But he added: "The analysis the council makes on the situation in Afghanistan, I simply do not share."

The report called for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to be doubled in size to 80 000, saying a study had found that 54 percent of Afghan territory had a permanent Taliban presence.

ISAF spokesperson Brigadier General Carlos Branco said it was unclear where this figure came from.

"We have shortfalls and more troops would be most welcome," he told AFP. But, "We have not identified a need for 80 000 troops," he said, labelling the report "sensationalist".

Karzai was also dismissive, saying there had been clear progress in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001.

"There are certain areas in southern parts of Afghanistan, especially close to our border with Pakistan, that see attacks from some of the Taliban elements from time to time," he said.

And "there are parts of Afghanistan that fall to the Taliban", he said, but "I do not share the analysis."

Branco said the claim that insurgents controlled vast areas of unchallenged territory and 54 percent of Afghan territory had a permanent Taliban presence was baseless.

"They control not more than a handful of districts, even less," he said adding these were "very small pockets without territorial continuity".

The insurgents also only moved into areas with limited security presence and had often left before troops arrived to reassert control, he said.

On a statement that "the question now appears not to be whether the Taliban will return to Kabul, but when this will happen", Branco said: "The shops are open, people are on the streets, it is a normal city.

"It does not seem like a city on the eve of being overtaken by the Taliban."

The Senlis Council has been pushing for the legalisation of Afghanistan's opium production, which is 93 percent of that of the whole world, a proposal that the government and the United Nations have flatly rejected.

The think-tank has offices in London, Paris, Brussels and Kabul. - Sapa-AFP

Attack Taliban training camps in Pakistan, Senlis Council tells NATO

By Murray Brewster - THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA _ An international group often cited by peace activists is recommending NATO broaden the war in southern Afghanistan and attack Taliban training camps in northern Pakistan.

The Senlis Council, a European-based think-tank known more for its development and aid research, is also suggesting the number of troops in the war-torn region double to 80,000.

Pakistan is clearly unable to control its northern border and NATO could offer military assistance to the government of President Pervez Musharraf _ but if the offer is rejected, training camps and insurgent hideouts should be attacked, says the council's Canadian manager.

``If we don't do that, we will be in Afghanistan and the insurgency will go on forever,'' Almas Bawar Zakhilwal said Wednesday.

``It's impossible to defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan. If we want to defeat the insurgency and stabilize Afghanistan, we have to take another step and deal with the insurgency at their home, at their bases.''

In releasing the group's latest report in Ottawa, Zakhilwal was unclear on what kind of military operation should be undertaken.

But he later clarified his remarks by saying that the council was not advocating an all-out ground war or air strikes. Instead, he said, NATO special forces units should be deployed inside Pakistan in pinpoint strikes aimed at training facilities.

It is a startling declaration from a group that has advocated progress through development, such as a poppies-for-medicine program, but Zakhilwal says the security situation is so bad Kabul could soon be in danger.

A Senlis Council analysis suggested as much as 52 per cent of Afghanistan's geographic area faces a threat by insurgents, but much of the land cited by the group is isolated mountain ranges or desert wasteland.

But the group's conclusion that safety and security in populated regions is backed by up the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights _ former Canadian Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour _ who said Tuesday that civilian casualties from both Taliban and NATO bombings have reached ``alarming levels.''

The council's recommendation, including incursions into Pakistan, were curtly dismissed by Defence Minister Peter MacKay he as left the Commons on Wednesday. ``It's not credible,'' he said.

NDP Leader Jack Layton, whose party has often quoted Senlis Council reports in the Commons to buttress its case against the combat mission, was troubled by the group's hawkish turn.

``We do not favour an expansion of the war in Afghanistan and we do not share the analysis that's been offered by this particular group,'' he said following question period.

``A broadening of the conflict could lead to further international destabilization.''

Pakistan, currently under emergency rule and swamped by street demonstrations and mass arrests, is a powder keg waiting to explode, said Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre.

``No, no, invading northern Pakistan is not the solution,'' he said. ``Diplomacy is the solution.''

But Coderre was not prepared to dismiss everything the council had to say, especially its recommendation that NATO look to Muslim countries to provide troops in order to counter Taliban propaganda that claims Western countries are occupying Afghanistan.

``We need to find a way to get Turkey more involved,'' Coderre said of NATO's only Muslim nation.

Last January, Canada held low-level military talks with the United Arab Emirates about that Gulf state contributing a small combat task force, but it's unclear what _ if anything _ came of the discussions.

Zakhilwal says most NATO countries have the room to increase troop levels and suggested Canada could contribute at least another 200 ground soldiers. But Coderre and Layton said the suggestions would not fly with the Canadian public.

The latest Senlis report also renewed its criticism of the aid and development effort, suggesting that Canada form a combat aid agency to deliver immediate humanitarian relief.

``The military should now be tasked to deliver aid to ravaged areas in the south and east and be granted control'' of CIDA's war zone budget.

Steve Staples of the Rideau Institute, an outspoken opponent of the war, said the council has done a good job trying to create new solutions to difficult problems.

``We would agree with the analysis the situation is dire, but while the report is well-intentioned, it's misguided,'' he said.

Media statement released by the Embassy of Afghanistan in Canada:

“Some of the claims by the Senlis Council, released as part of a report in Ottawa, Wednesday, sound exaggerated, not based on realistic assessments and designed to unnecessarily stir up fear.

While the Taliban threat has grown in small pockets in several Afghan provinces, mostly adjacent to the tribal regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and while their tactics have become more lethal and more vicious, there is no credible evidence or reason to believe that the Afghan State will fall into their hands or that the country will become a “divided state.”

While terrorists opportunistically strike innocent people in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan as part of their agenda to instill fear among civilians and our international friends, it is irresponsible to assume that they will reach the city of Kabul in 2008.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Secretary General of NATO echoed their views today in Kabul following the release of the latest report by the European-based organization that favors legitimizing opium production in Afghanistan.

President Karzai dismissed the report findings and said “I do not share the analysis.”

Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the Senlis Council report “should not be considered as realistic”.

Every poll and survey undertaken by credible independent organizations in recent times shows that most Afghans (three out of four) have a negative view of the Taliban and are in favor of the international presence to help the country reach self-sustainability as soon as time permits.

Most Afghans are also supportive of the young democratic State and appreciate the progress that has been made over the past six years, even though they have misgivings about certain aspects of security and economic conditions.

The Afghan Government and donor nations continue to work together to address those concerns and to deal with the evolving dynamics, especially in terms of security, social and economic development and governance needs. Afghans appreciate this partnership and remain confident that as long as we continue to maintain a strong level of commitment and focus we will overcome the existing challenges.

Exaggerated claims can only help those who see the glass half empty for political gain or extremists such as the Taliban who may be encouraged to continue their campaign of violence and intimidation.”

Ottawa, November 22, 2007

Afghanistan urges Japan to resume mission

Daily Times - TOKYO: Afghanistan’s finance minister on Wednesday urged Japan to resume a naval mission backing the US-led “war on terror,” even if it limits operations to assuage domestic criticism.

“Japan, in its own capacity, is providing the maritime interdiction operations to help the war on terror,” Finance Minister Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady told a news conference on a visit to Tokyo. “We hope that that will continue although I’ve realised that there is a bitter debate,” Ahady said, referring to the opposition camp’s strong objections to a bill to restart the mission.

“We would like Japan to remain an ally ... in the war on terror in Afghanistan with whatever methods or whatever model Japanese people can agree on. That will be fine with us,” he said.

Switzerland pulls military staff out of Afghanistan

GENEVA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland announced on Wednesday that it would end its four years' cooperation with the NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan by recalling its military personnel.

Two Swiss army officers, currently working with a German team in the northeastern Kunduz province, will return home by March next year, Swiss Defense Minister Samuel Schmid told a press conference in Bern, the Swissinfo website reported.

Schmid said he took the decision for security reasons. The NATO-led mission in Afghanistan has become a peace enforcement operation rather than a peacekeeping duty, he said.

According to Schmid, a continued Swiss military presence in Afghanistan - although "rather symbolic" - is impossible because it goes against the spirit of the constitution and is not in line with the law.

The Swiss decision comes a few weeks after a meeting of NATO defense ministers to boost efforts to provide security in Afghanistan.

Switzerland, which is not a member of NATO but joined its Partnership for Peace program, has participated in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan since 2003.

According to the Swiss Defense Ministry, the nature of NATO's engagement in Afghanistan has changed since 2005. But its mission has progressively turned into a campaign against insurgents.

Even in the regions where warlords and fighters only carry out sporadic activity, the mission has faced difficulties because of the need for troops to resort to self-protection measures.

In areas of the country where the Taliban have regained strength, reconstruction work has become practically impossible, the Swiss authorities said.

Czech Republic delivers helicopters to Afghan military

PRAGUE, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Czech Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanova and Chief of Staff Vlastimil Picek delivered the first three second hand helicopters to Afghan army representatives in a ceremony at Prague-Kbely airport on Wednesday.

In all, the Czech Republic will donate six transport Mi-17 helicopters and six Mi-24 combat helicopters to the Afghan armed forces.

All 12 helicopters will become part of the newly formed Afghan air forces and help in humanitarian missions in inaccessible regions.

The helicopters had to be repaired and upgraded at the Letecke opravny Malesice (LOM) military repair works first. They are to be supplied to Afghanistan by mid-2009.

Afghanistan a thorn in Canada's side on Iran vote
CanWest News Service , Wednesday, November 21, 2007

UNITED NATIONS - Afghanistan effectively snubbed Canada in United Nations votes affecting a Canadian-led censure of Iran's human rights record.

Canada had been desperate for support in the measure to avoid international embarrassment, and Iran came within two votes of defeating it in an initial round.

Afghanistan supported an Iranian bid to have the Canadian-led censure thrown out, then voted against Canada's actual censure - both against Canada's hopes.

One interpretation of Afghanistan's move will be that the government of President Hamid Karzai cares more about its relations with Iran than with Canada - despite Canada's massive commitment to Afghan reconstruction, and cost in Canadian lives.

"We enjoy a very fruitful relationship with Canada," Shah Mohammad Niazi, a senior official at the Afghan mission to the UN, said Wednesday.

He assured that the question of why Afghanistan voted the way it did would be put to Zahir Tanin, the Afghan UN ambassador, who was unable to immediately comment.

The matter arises as debate unfolds in Canada about whether the current mandate for Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan should be extended beyond 2009.

In addition to pledges to spend $1.2-billion on rebuilding Afghanistan through 2011, Canada has lost 73 soldiers and one diplomat in the country over the past five years. There was no immediate response from the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Ottawa.

While Iran is a fellow Muslim state and neighbour of Afghanistan, the United States has charged that Iranians have aided Taliban insurgents there - despite once considering theTaliban a bitter enemy. UN officials have questioned this assessment, however, and trade between the two countries has increased since the Taliban's overthrow in 2001.

The showdown at the UN took place Tuesday in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, where the UN's 192 member states make decisions that the umbrella General Assembly later enters into the international record - barring some major change in circumstances.

Canada sought for the fifth consecutive year to convince the world body to approve a resolution censuring Iran for grave human rights violations.

Canada took on the main responsibility for pushing through the censure following the 2003 torture and murder in a Tehran jail of Iranian-born Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.

The importance of such "name-and-shame" resolutions is emphasized by the world's leading human rights groups, as well as persecuted communities within Iran such as the 300,000 followers of the Baha'i faith.

During the UN debate, the U.S. also argued they let the violators know the "world is watching," and reassure victims that "they are not alone."

One senior member of Canada's 30,000 Baha'i community said recently she believes the annual resolution has served to deter the Iranian regime from carrying out it 1990s threat to "suffocate" Iranian Baha'is.

But there was a danger Iran would muster enough support this year to have the Canadian-led bid thrown out after it came within just three votes of doing so for the 2006 resolution.

Focused on countries beyond the advanced democracies, Iran launched an aggressive campaign to win support for tossing out the Canadian-initiative.

As the fall UN summit approached, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a 70-page booklet claiming Canada's human rights record was itself highly questionable.

The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned up at the summit with a huge delegation, whose members fanned out to meet with their counterparts in other countries.

Canada knew it had a fight on its hands, diplomats said. During his summit visit, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier met with 30 of his counterparts - including Afghan Foreign Minister Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

John McNee, Canada's ambassador to the UN, and his senior staffers also furiously worked the phones and the UN corridors - and he was still reaching out as late as the UN debate's lunch break just ahead of Tuesday's vote.

The strategy Iran employed both last year and this involved tabling a motion for "no action" on the Canadian-led censure on grounds that the UN shouldn't be picking on any one country.

Many countries outside the advanced democracies are sympathetic to this argument, charging "name-and-shame" resolutions are a Western plot to pick on them.

Significantly, the most ardent opponents of so-called "country-specific" censures are states that themselves have some of the world's worst human rights records.

Among countries speaking out against them Tuesday were Cuba, China, Libya, Sudan and Syria.

Afghanistan was silent, but this issue does not appear to trouble the Karzai government because Afghan delegates voted against a "no action" motion linked to a country-specific censure targeting Myanmar.

Just after Iran tabled its "no action" motion for the Canadian-led Iran censure, Canada's McNee appealed to countries to oppose it. Afghanistan voted for the measure, which was defeated 79-78, with 24 abstentions, and the rest not registering a vote. Under UN rules, a tie would have also meant defeat.

Voting similarly against Canada's wishes were Bangladesh, which Canada has just given substantial disaster aid, and Barbados, recently visited by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In the subsequent vote on the actual censure, McNee appealed for support. Afghanistan voted no, but it passed 72-50, with 55 abstentions. Afghanistan voted similarly last year, records show.

CFB Valcartier honours memory of fallen soldiers

Updated Thu. Nov. 22 2007 - CTV.ca News Staff

Soldiers at CFB Valcartier in Quebec are steeling themselves to move on after the recent deaths of their two comrades in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp, 28, of the 5th Field Ambulance in Valcartier and Pte. Michel Levesque, 25, of 3rd Battalion, the Royal 22nd Regiment were killed Saturday when their Light Armoured Vehicle

hit a roadside bomb near Kandahar.

Maj. Pierre Voyer told Canada AM on Thursday that morale on the base, which is located 25 kilometres north of Quebec City, remains "very good."

Voyer described Beauchamp as a supportive soldier who was always there for the troops on the front lines.

"As a medical personnel, he was with them at the front to be sure they were well supported," Voyer said.

"He was doing a really good job."

Col. Eric Tremblay, a fire brigade commander in Valcartier, said Beauchamp's spouse, Cpl. Dolores Crampton is receiving support from her family and her colleagues. Crampton was a medical technician based with Beauchamp's unit in Kandahar.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the whole community here in Valcartier, and in fact throughout the Canadian Forces, are behind Cpl. Crampton," Tremblay told Canada AM on Thursday.

"We will do our best during this very difficult situation for her, and for the military community."

Crampton accompanied her husband's body back to Canada, laying flowers on his coffin during a repatriation ceremony on Tuesday.

Tremblay said funeral arrangements for both soldiers are underway.

"They are still working on the details in dignity and compassion with the families," he said.

An Afghan interpreter was also killed in Saturday's blast. Three other Canadian soldiers were wounded and transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

War-crimes allegations 'un-Canadian,' MacKay says

CAMPBELL CLARK - From Thursday's Globe and Mail November 22, 2007

OTTAWA — Defence Minister Peter MacKay called his Liberal critics "un-Canadian" yesterday for accusing the government of allowing the transfer of juveniles taken prisoner in Afghanistan into the hands of "torturers."

Mr. MacKay insisted that Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre was making "scurrilous allegations" against soldiers, while Mr. Coderre bristled that the Defence Minister had attacked his patriotism for raising questions about the government's conduct.

The exchange came when Mr. Coderre demanded that Ottawa stop transferring juvenile detainees to Afghan authorities because of allegations of abuses, arguing that the practice violates international human-rights treaties.

"Why are we transferring minors to Afghan prisons, instead of rehabilitating them? How many youths have we transferred to these torturers?" Mr. Coderre asked.

When Mr. MacKay responded that juvenile prisoners are jailed separately and that members of the Canadian Forces meet international standards, Mr. Coderre accused the minister of hiding behind the troops when the policy for detention is the responsibility of the government, not of soldiers.

Mr. MacKay replied: "What is immensely clear is that the bombast and the blast coming from the member for Bourassa does nothing to demonstrate that his party or that member support the troops.

"These scurrilous allegations that somehow Canadian soldiers are complicit in war crimes is beyond contempt. It is reprehensible. It is un-Canadian for that member to make those kind of allegations in this place."

Outside the Commons, Mr. Coderre likened being called un-Canadian to U.S. citizens being dubbed un-American for opposing the war in Iraq.

He said that Mr. MacKay obviously has not read the documents the government was forced to release last week in a Federal Court case, which indicate Canada has transferred juvenile prisoners to Afghan jails.

One of the documents noted that the warden of the notorious Sarpoza prison in Kandahar, where many prisoners handed over by Canadians were held, had been fired after charges that he raped juvenile detainees.

Germany, Italy back new conference for Afghanistan

Earthtimes.org - Meseberg, Germany - Germany and Italy favour a new conference to speed up reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, sources said Tuesday on the fringe of a meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The sources said the international meeting could have a similar framework to the conference held in London in 2006, which raised 8.7 billion euros (12.7 billion dollars) for Afghan reconstruction.

Such a conference could provide new impulses for Afghanistan, said the sources, adding that the two countries planned to consult with other nations about the plan.

Merkel and Prodi were joined by their foreign ministers for their meeting at Schloss Meseberg, the German government guest house some 70 kilometres northwest of Berlin.

Transport and economics ministers from the two countries were holding their own bilateral meetings on a range of issues.

British MPs express Taleban fears

BBC News - An all-party committee of British MPs has issued a report expressing concern about progress in Afghanistan.

The MPs visited the country last month and issued interim findings ahead of a major statement on Afghanistan by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

The International Development Committee reserved its strongest criticisms for the state of Afghan justice.

The MPs said failure in this area could lead directly to an increase in support for the Taleban.

They said a lack of training and corruption meant that the police were not an effective national force, and it would be another four years before the army was capable of conducting independent operations.

At the same time, the aid agency Oxfam published the evidence it gave to the committee. It criticised aid spending as ineffective or inefficient, saying almost half of the US' aid budget goes directly to five US contractors.

Oxfam is highly critical of the international community for not building Afghan capacity to help itself, and it believes the military is making a mistake in engaging too much in development.

All of these announcements are designed to influence decision-making in Britain ahead of a statement which Mr Brown is due to make shortly, amid growing unease about the direction of events six years after the Taleban were pushed from power in Afghanistan.

NATO short-numbered troops in Afghanistan alarms danger

BRUSSELS, Nov 20 (KUNA) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is still short-numbered in troops in Afghanistan, Chairman of NATO's Military Committee General Raymond Henault said on Tuesday.

Responding to a question by KUNA in a meeting with visiting Arab journalists meeting NATO officials to discuss role of the alliance in regional and international issues, the Canadian General said that numbers of troops had been cut from 15 to eight percent, which would increase the level of danger faced by the alliance.

Yet, such cutbacks would not "foil" NATO's peacekeeping mission in the volatile country, Henault noted, adding that NATO officials were constantly visiting concerned countries, including Arab ones, as part of the Organization's coordination efforts.

The 2006 NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, which focused on the war in Afghanistan and the future role and borders of the alliance, was an opportunity to establish security cooperation between the Organization and Arab countries, Henault said.

NATO's military priority is in Afghanistan, where some 50,000 soldiers are currently situated with the aim of rebuilding the war-torn country's infrastructures, he told reporters.

Foreign fighters, mercenaries and drug cartels, in addition to the Taliban were all threatening to destabilize security in Afghanistan, Henault said, hoping at the same time to eradicate as much of these threats as possible.

On that regard, an intelligence center was established in collaboration with Pakistani officials to curb border smuggling of fighters and ammunition, he noted.

NATO adopted its decisions by consensus of the 26 member states, citing Iraq where the Organization did not participate because no consensus was reached and that NATO was not part of the US-led alliance there, the official said.

Police: Afghan provincial offical kidnapped by Taliban insurgents

KABUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Taliban insurgents on Thursday kidnapped the director of custom department of the unrest southern Afghan province of Kandahar, local police said.

"Taliban insurgents attacked the viechle of the director on his way from the spinboldak district to Kandahar city in the afternoon," said Sayed Aqa Saqib, provincial police chief, "one security guard was killed and two others injured in the incident."

He also told Xinhua that policemen have started the investigation, but there is no further information so far.     However, Taliban denied such accusation and said they has nothing to do with that incident.

The Taliban, removed from power by the U.S. invasion in late 2001, has waged insurgency against Afghan administration and the international troops deployed in the country.

Rising militancy-related violent incidents have killed over 5,800 people so far this year in the war-torn Afghanistan.

US envoy meets Fazl

Dawn -ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: The US ambassador to Pakistan met Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday, the embassy said, in the latest in a series of encounters with the country’s opposition leaders.

Anne Patterson met Maulana Fazl, embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said.

Patterson’s meeting with Maulana Fazl, who has previously voiced support for Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, came a day after she held talks with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Patterson and Maulana Fazl discussed a range of issues, including “the importance of having free and fair elections”, Colton told AFP.

“She also discussed importance of lifting the state of emergency,” Colton said, adding that “it was a good meeting”. It was the US envoy’s second meeting with Maulana Fazl, Colton said. The first was before the imposition of emergency rule on Nov 3.

The ambassador is expected to meet other political leaders in coming days, she added. Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq announced on Tuesday that general elections would be held on Jan 8 despite threats of a boycott by some opposition parties.

Reports here say neither Bhutto nor Rehman favour a boycott, while former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, do.

Indian and British diplomats meet Fazl

Dawn -ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rahman said on Wednesday that the international community could not remain unconcerned over the situation arising out of the imposition of emergency in Pakistan.

He was talking to media personnel after meeting Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal who had called on him at his residence.

During the meeting, Maulana Fazl expressed concern over political instability in the country and is reported to have shared his desire for early return of normality by ensuring a level-playing field to all political parties in the coming elections.

Earlier, the British political counsellor met the MMA leader and discussed with him the political situation in the country.

When asked about the possibility of an election boycott by the opposition, the Maulana said: “My party is in favour of participating in the polls, but final decision will be taken by the MMA supreme council in its next meeting”.

Answering a question about the possibility of expanding the anti-Musharraf alliance by adopting a flexible approach towards the Pakistan People’s Party, he said Benazir Bhutto had gone too far in distancing the PPP from religious parties.

Baluch leader killed in Afghanistan

English.aljazeer.net - A senior Baluch leader wanted by the Pakistani security forces has been shot dead in Afghanistan, according to a spokesman for his group.

Balash Khan Marri was the head of the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) which blew up a gas pipeline and two power pylons in January.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder in Islamabad said that Pakistan's security forces had asked the Afghan government several times to hand over Marri, who they thought was hiding across the border.

"The attack came in the same area that Mullah Dadullah was killed not so long ago," he said on Wednesday.

Pakistani security forces have been involved in a number of clashes in Baluchistan several movements are demanding greater autonomy for the region and improved benefits from the area's mineral wealth.

"This will come as a major blow to the Baluch Liberation Army and already we are seeing protests in the provincial capital, Quetta, at that news," Hyder reported. 

Chinese Copper Cos. Get Afghan Rights

Associated Press 11.22.07, SHANGHAI, China - China Metallurgical Group Corp. and Jiangxi Copper Co., two of the country's biggest metals groups, plan to spend about $3.7 billion developing a large copper mine in Afghanistan, the companies said.

The companies have won the right to extract high-quality copper from the Anyak copper field near Kabul, state-run metal producer and contractor China Metallurgical said in a statement Thursday on its Web site.

Aynak has an estimated total deposits of 11 million tons of copper. China Metallurgical said it expects to produce 220,000 tons of copper a year from the mine.

Jiangxi Copper, China's largest integrated copper producer by output, said it will have the right to buy at least half of the copper generated by the project. The company, which has shares traded in Hong Kong, said in an announcement it will be responsible for at least 20 percent of the cost to set up a joint venture with China Metallurgical Group to develop the mine.

Afghan to benefit from Safta: Ramesh

Statesman News Service - NEW DELHI, Nov. 21: Afghanistan’s economic engagement with India will receive a major push from February next year, when the protocol to make Afghanistan the eighth member of Safta is finalised. As member of Safta, Afghanistan will receive the benefit of zero import duty by India on 4536 tariff lines, the minister of state for commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said here today.

Currently, under the Preferential Trade Arrangement (PTA) with Afghanistan, the rules of origin stipulate 50 per cent domestic value addition for export within the South Asian region. Once Afghanistan comes under the Safta fold, this would come down to 30 per cent.

“This will mark a significant step forward for the Afghan economy and help boost its export to India,” Mr Ramesh said, inaugurating the seminar ‘Doing Business with Afghanistan’, organised by Ficci, in association with the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) and USAID. 

India will also undertake a review of the 744 items in sensitive list of export (largely in the areas of agriculture and textiles) within the Safta region, the minister said adding, “We are currently working on a review of the negative list particularly with regard to the least developed countries in the South Asian region ~ Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Afghanistan.”

Responding to observations by Ficci secretary general, Mr Amit Mitra, the minister said investment is key to increasing trade in the region. “What we need to import, you don’t export,” he told the Afghanistan business delegation, adding that in order to bridge the gap it was imperative to promote Indian Investment in Afghanistan as much as in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Mr Ramesh lamented that the track record of Indian investment in the least developed countries of the region was not positive. For instance, as against a total FDI of $400 million received by Afghanistan in 2006-07, India’s share was a mere $10 million. He, therefore, urged Indian companies to make pro-active investments for the development of the Afghan economy.

Mr Ramesh, however, expressed satisfaction that the total commitment of Indian investment for the reconstruction of the Afghan economy during the last five years was a whopping $750 million.

All private security firms must close: Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) — Authorities in Afghanistan want to close down all private security firms operating in the country, many of them illegally, President Hamid Karzai's office said.

About nine unlicensed companies have already been shut down in a crackdown that has been under way in Kabul for weeks, according to city police.

Under the constitution "only the Afghan government has the right of having and handling weapons, so private companies are against the constitution," the president's spokesman Siamak Hirawi told AFP late Wednesday.

A cabinet meeting Monday argued that the dozens of private security firms were illegal and a source of criminality. "The session decided that in the long term all private companies should be shut down," he said.

"But for the time being a small number of private companies which can prepare themselves to meet the regulations put in place by the ministry of interior will be allowed temporary licences."

Only a "handful" of such companies would be allowed to operate mainly for the use of international organisations and the United Nations, he said.

"In the long run, when Afghan security forces have the capacity to replace them, they will be replaced by government security personnel, police."

Insecurity in Afghanistan has sharply increased because of a rise in crime and an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban who held power until 2001.

A range of security companies are operating in Afghanistan, from US-based Blackwater to smaller Afghan firm, some of them linked to militias or former warlords.

They guard embassies and other premises or act as bodyguards, while some, like the US-based DynCorp, also train Afghan police.

A report released this month by the Swisspeace research institute said that while about 90 firms could be identified by name, only 35 had registered with the government.

Some are alleged to be involved in extortion, kidnapping and the smuggling of drugs, it said.

Military hires former Afghan fighters as security guards
CanWest News Service , Thursday, November 22, 2007

KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan -- The Canadian Forces have hired a former Afghan warlord to provide private security guards at one of Canada's remote forward operating bases deep in the heart of Taliban country, CanWest News Service has learned.

Military officials say the government employs private security contractors to protect its forward operating bases in Kandahar province, but they refuse to identify the contractors or the bases they protect.

However, an analysis of publicly available contract records and documents, obtained under the Access to Information Act, has determined that one of the contractors is Gen. Gulalai, a former warlord aligned with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

In January, the Defence Department awarded a $168,150 contract to a vendor identified as "General Gulalai" to provide security guards at an undisclosed forward operating base.

Gulalai was one of several southern Afghanistan warlords who helped drive the Taliban from their Kandahar stronghold in 2001, enabling Karzai to consolidate power in Kabul.

In December 2002, forces loyal to Gulalai clashed with police in Kandahar City. According to a Reuters report, the Gulalai forces were asked to disarm but refused, triggering a gun battle in which three soldiers were killed and five other people wounded, including two shopkeepers.

Private security contractors have been under close scrutiny since employees of Blackwater USA, charged with guarding a convoy of U.S. State Department officials, opened fire last month in a Baghdad public square, killing 17 civilians.

In Afghanistan, the governments of NATO coalition nations such as Canada commonly employ private security firms to guard embassies and convoys of government officials.

Most of these firms are at least partly owned or managed by former military officers from western countries such as Britain and the United States, although they have been known to hire former Afghan militia commanders and their supporters.

A handful of firms has taken on contracts in the more volatile southern provinces, including Kandahar. U.S. Protection and Investigations, for example, has protected road building projects carried out by the U.S. government's development agency.

The Canadian Embassy in Kabul is guarded by Saladin Security, a British-based firm. Heavily censored contract records, released under the Access to Information Act, suggest the firm can also be called upon to guard Canadian "military facilities."

The military has three main FOBs in the province: Masum Ghar, Wilson and Sperwan Ghar. All three are sparse, crude installations compared with Kandahar Airfield, the massive NATO base that houses Canada's command centre.

Taliban insurgents regularly attack the FOBs with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. Earlier this month, Defence Minister Peter MacKay narrowly escaped a rocket attack by insurgents at FOB Wilson.

Canadian soldiers are usually far better equipped than local Afghan fighters, who typically carry Soviet-era Kalashnikovs and drive around in unarmoured pickup trucks.

Government records obtained by CanWest News Service under Access to Information also reveal the use of private security services in Afghanistan's urban centres.

For instance, an undisclosed contractor was paid $236,926.92 to protect Canada's Strategic Advisory Team, which supports the Karzai government in Kabul.

The Defence Department also paid an unnamed contractor $25,632 to provide protection and "defensive supplies" for Afghan New Year's celebrations.

Another former warlord, Col. Haji Toorjan, has been hired to provide security at Camp Nathan Smith, home of the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar City.

Toorjan's militia force of roughly 60 Afghan fighters has guarded the base and even guided Canadian soldiers on patrols.

Toorjan is believed to be allied with former Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai, according to Nasrullah Duranni, regional manager of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency.

However, no vendor by the name of "Toorjan" is found in publicly available contract records.

'I deny the allegations made against me'

In his first interview with any media outlet, Sohail Qureshi urges the removal of foreign forces from Afghanistan

DAWN WALTON - From Wednesday's Globe and Mail - November 21, 2007

CALGARY — Sohail Qureshi has been called a spy, mule, fledgling suicide bomber and member of an international terrorist network determined to destroy the precarious state of democracy and security in Afghanistan. But the 24-year-old Calgary man describes himself somewhat differently.

"I deny the allegations made against me; however, the allegations made against me is terrorism from the point of view of those in the West, whose hands are still fresh with Muslim blood," Mr. Qureshi told The Globe and Mail in his first interview with any media outlet.

Mr. Qureshi was held in an Afghan prison for five months this year. His arrest stoked fears of homegrown terrorism and prompted the inevitable comparison with the capture of 18 suspected terrorists - most of them impressionable young men - in Toronto in 2006, all linked to a bomb plot allegedly set for Canadian soil.

At the time of his arrest, a local imam revealed that Mr. Qureshi's parents tried to dissuade their son from embarking on a jihad (holy war), one seemingly spawned by extremist religious views he picked up on the Internet in the months before he travelled abroad.

But Mr. Qureshi, a University of Calgary computer-science graduate, was never charged with any terror-related crimes. He was deported back to Canada last month and has since lived under virtual house arrest - the blinds drawn, visitors scarce - as mysterious men in vehicles with tinted windows and remote cameras keep tabs on his family's suburban Calgary home.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, RCMP and other agencies have refused to comment on the apparent surveillance activities taking place around Mr. Qureshi's home, other than to say they know he is back in Canada.

Despite the firestorm that erupted around his arrest last spring, Mr. Qureshi has not spoken publicly about his ordeal - or his steadfast beliefs - until now.

In a lengthy e-mail exchange, Mr. Qureshi is unfailingly polite, but he does not offer many details to separate fact from fiction. (Despite the allegations against him, he says only that he was in Kabul to obtain a visa from the embassy of Pakistan when he was arrested.) He is speaking out to spread the "true message of Islam" - at least, his vision of it.

He talks about Islam as historically being "spread by the sword." He urges the removal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and other Muslim lands. He lauds the period when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. He speaks of the Western world, even some members of the Muslim world, as being "brainwashed" by the so-called war on terror. Any negative reactions to his views do not seem to concern him.

"Well, as a Muslim it's not in my intentions to please people or to present an image which is likeable," said Mr. Qureshi, who was born in England to a father of Pakistani descent and mother of Iranian heritage and moved to Canada when he was a youngster. "Whatever happens in this life is only temporary, while the next life is eternal punishment or pleasure; so as a Muslim, the Hereafter is what we work for."

People who know Mr. Qureshi remember him as an introvert at university, where he completed his degree in 2006. Some neighbours unflatteringly describe him as looking like a "little bin Laden," referring to the al-Qaeda leader.

When Mr. Qureshi answers the door at his family's home he wears a beard that belies his youth. He is well mannered, despite the intrusion of a stranger hoping to talk about the intimate details of his life. Later, in the e-mail exchange - the only way he would agree to talk - he would explain the challenge of abiding by Islamic values in Calgary.

"It is quite difficult for Muslims to live in Canada according to the true Message of Islam," Mr. Qureshi wrote. "This is because they are ruled in their everyday lives by secular, democratic law, which is in opposition to the values of Islamic sharia."

Neighbours whisper about hearing accusations of kafir [infidel] coming through the windows of the family's home, an insult that seemingly prompted Mr. Qureshi's mother to seek out a local imam for support.

His father also spoke to a local imam of his son's extreme religious views, including an announced intention to become a jihadist in Afghanistan. The imam, in turn, reminded the young man the Koran prohibited such actions.

"After he confirmed this was his intention, I told him he had to stand down," Imam Sheik Alaa Elsayed recalled.

Mr. Elsayed added that he told the young man he would have no choice but to share his concerns, a move that may have prompted police to keep an eye on Mr. Qureshi. "I told him I had an obligation to notify the authorities, because I don't want to be an accomplice, nor did I want it to go further than this," Mr. Elsayed said.

Later, Mr. Elsayed would soften his comments. Remarks about Mr. Qureshi's family changed to vague chatter about an unnamed Muslim man, and the chair of the Muslim Council of Calgary asked the Muslim community not to speak to the press about Mr. Qureshi.

Mr. Qureshi, however, has much to say. Mr. Elsayed spoke without having the "slightest bit of evidence" about why he was captured in Afghanistan, Mr. Qureshi says, adding that the imam is spreading false interpretations of the Koran.

"The reason is because he and others following his path wish to please the Christians and Jews by creating an image of Islam and Muslims which they will accept, instead of trying to please Allah by spreading the true Message of Islam," he explains.

Just what landed Mr. Qureshi in a Kabul jail is unclear. Court records and statements from officials include allegations he was training in a paramilitary camp to become a suicide bomber, that he was spying on Western armed forces and that he was moving money for a terrorist group. In any event, he was never charged with a terrorism offence and was sent back to Canada on Oct. 9.

Since Mr. Qureshi's return, neighbours have reported seeing strange vans and pickup trucks parked on their street and stationed across the ravine. The drivers sometimes work on laptop computers. A remote camera has also been spotted hidden in the back of an otherwise empty truck. Nothing about it seems covert. A spokeswoman with Foreign Affairs in Ottawa would not address whether Canada received a dossier of Mr. Qureshi's alleged insurgency activities from the Afghan government. Under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, Canada can lay charges for terrorism crimes that occur in other jurisdictions.

For now, Mr. Qureshi's concern, it seems, is not for himself, but for the "sincere" followers of the Prophet Mohammed.

"The brothers whom I was with while in prison were the true Muslims who were being oppressed for practising Islam and upholding the values of the sharia," he says.

He describes the current Afghanistan government under President Hamid Karzai as a "puppet" of the Western "invaders." He accuses Canadian and foreign forces of killing civilians and torturing prisoners, warning they should leave Afghanistan and other Muslim nations immediately or face "a slow suicide."

He dismisses anyone critical of his views. "Those who opposed such violation and oppression are then slandered and labelled 'extremists,' 'terrorists' and 'fundamentalists.' It is as if the Muslim Nation is a sheep being slaughtered, and if the sheep moves its leg, it is a bad sheep!"

ROOTS - Sohail Qureshi was born in England to a father of Pakistani descent and a mother of Iranian heritage, and moved to Canada when he was "4 or 5," according to court records viewed after his arrest in Afghanistan. Mr. Qureshi said he was 9 when he came to Canada, lived for a spell in Saskatchewan, moved to Calgary when he was 15 and turned 24 last week.

HOME LIFE - Since 1999, the Qureshis have lived in a two-storey home with a double-car garage in a comfortable neighbourhood in Calgary's northwest, known fittingly as Scenic Acres for its view of the Rocky Mountains and abundant green space. Their 3,000-square-foot home backs onto a ravine and, like everything else in the city, it has benefited from Alberta's economic boom. When the Qureshis purchased the property it was valued at $427,000; it was recently assessed by the city at $700,000.

FAMILY TIES - Mr. Qureshi's father, Zia, is a respected family physician with a practice in the city's northeast, where a large concentration of Calgary's 65,000-member Muslim community resides. His mother, Mahin, also works at the clinic. They have not spoken to the news media about their son's situation and, at times, have threatened to call the police when approached by reporters. Just what Sohail Qureshi was doing in Afghanistan is unclear. The timeline of events and trail of unproven accusations is muddled.

Court records show that early this year he trekked to Pakistan, where his father was born, to learn Arabic, and then journeyed to Afghanistan with a friend. Afghan officials said at one point that Mr. Qureshi claimed to be in Afghanistan to find work, due to lack of employment opportunities in Canada.Later, in an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Qureshi denied all allegations of terrorism-related activities against him, saying his sole reason for being in Kabul was seeking a visa from the Pakistan embassy.

Last spring, the head of Afghanistan's anti-terrorism unit said the government had been watching the Canadian. Officials said, but offered no proof, that he crossed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border several times - even spending more than 20 days in southern Afghanistan. Officials accused him of training in Taliban or al-Qaeda paramilitary camps in Pakistan before he was arrested on the road to the Bagram Air Base outside Kabul in late April or early May.

Afghan officials considered Mr. Qureshi "suspicious," but pointed out that he wasn't picked up carrying a bomb or other materials to suggest he was about to unleash a suicide attack. There was another allegation early in the investigation that Mr. Qureshi hoped to model himself after a "brother" who carried out a suicide bombing the year before. The Interior Ministry would later retract that claim.

"I have no older brother, which the media made lies about," Mr. Qureshi said later. "Apparently they seem to know my kinship more than I do?"

Mr. Qureshi allegedly told officials he visited the northeastern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, but no evidence emerged to support an early theory by investigators that the tour was part of a surveillance mission to plan an attack on a German military base. Still, a report surfaced in a magazine quoting an unnamed source that Mr. Qureshi had been taking notes on troop activities and security at the base.

According to another hypothesis, again unproven, Mr. Qureshi was acting as a mule, moving money to a fundamentalist Islamic group in Afghanistan.But by the end of June, the case had been closed. No charges were laid in connection with suspected acts of terrorism. On Oct. 9, Mr. Qureshi was sent home. Dawn Walton in Calgary

Student faces jail for acting as a scout for jihadist cell

Young Pakistani who was the link between ideology and action is the first to be found guilty of disseminating terrorist information – The Times

A Pakistani student who ran a terrorist cell recruiting disaffected Muslims from northern England to join a holy war against Coalition forces in Afghanistan was warned by a judge yesterday that he faces six years in jail. Abdul Rahman, 25, once a sales assistant for Primark, acted as a “vital link”, putting the ideology of extreme Islamic philosophy into practice on the remote battlefields close to Pakistan’s northwest border. He is the first person in Britain to be convicted of a charge of disseminating terrorist information. He is also the first to be convicted of helping another to breach a Home Office control order.

He has been told that he can expect to be jailed today for six years. He changed his plea to admit an array of terrorism charges on the morning of his trial after the Crown agreed to withdraw the most serious charge of assisting another to commit or prepare a terrorist act, which carries a maximum life sentence.Instead, he admitted possessing articles for the purpose of terrorism, dissemination of terrorist propaganda and aiding or abetting the breach of a control order. Rahman, his floppy hair neatly barbered and wearing a blue suit and tie, appeared uninterested in proceedings and, at one point, Judge Clement Goldstone rebuked him for grinning and appearing to laugh inappropriately in the dock.

Parmjit Cheema, for the prosecution, told Manchester Crown Court that Rahman came to Britain in September 2004 to study biotechnology at the University of Dundee. He left for Manchester by train without attending a single lecture or tutorial. He was at the centre of a small “cell” of radicalised young Muslim men, some British-born, largely based at a council house in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. At least one of their number travelled to Afghanistan where he sent home a dispatch encouraging others to follow on. Ms Cheema said: “What this group, particularly this defendant, were involved in was scouting, recruiting and encouraging others to join their philosophy of extreme jihad, or holy war. Their interest was the perceived assault of Islam in Afghanistan and the need to provide resources and fighters for that conflict.

“In essence, they were a group or cell of young men who all espoused a radical extreme jihadi philosophy that says nonbelievers are legitimate targets, especially if they are engaged in conflicts with the true believers of Islam, like the Taleban and residual insurgents.”

[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.]