In this bulletin:

• Afghan Security Concerns Rise With Strife, Poll Finds
• NATO should focus on training Afghan forces: Karzai
• US pushes for Afghan reinforcements as support wanes
• Gates faults NATO on Afghanistan
• Failure would be a disaster, Dutch warn NATO
• Several militants killed in Afghan clash
• NATO force looks into claims of Afghan civilian casualties
• US being mulled to extract forces from Afghanistan, says Fazal
• 'Pak is the most dangerous place in the world'
• Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan
• AFGHANISTAN: Unveiling Women's Rights
• Policy on cross-border pipelines on the cards
• Afghanistan's exports up by 13pc in 2nd quarter
• Afghan Soul Searching
• Truth surprises CBC
• Afghan Official Loses Job For Inviting Israeli Diplomat To Party
• Afghan Homecoming

Afghan Security Concerns Rise With Strife, Poll Finds

By KIRK SEMPLE, The New York Times Published: October 23, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 22 — In a 12-month period during which the Taliban insurgency spread in Afghanistan and violence rose in the country’s major cities, Afghans grew increasingly concerned about security and more people came to regard it as the most serious issue facing the nation, according to the results of a poll set for release on Tuesday.

About a third of the poll’s respondents said security issues, including terrorism and violence, were the single biggest problem in Afghanistan, a significant increase from a similar poll last year, in which only 22 percent gave top priority to security concerns.

“Insecurity is the main reason for the people to believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction,” the authors of the poll wrote. “In the eyes of men and women of Afghanistan, the security situation in the country has deteriorated.”

But the survey, financed by the United States, found that, over all, Afghans have about the same view of their country’s path as they did last year.

Forty-two percent of respondents said the country was moving in the right direction, compared with 44 percent last year, according to the Asia Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, which conducted both surveys. With a margin of sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points, the change is not considered significant.

Twenty-four percent said the country was headed in the wrong direction this year, compared with 21 percent in 2006.

The poll was financed by the United States Agency for International Development and conducted by a team of Afghans, who interviewed more than 6,200 people in June in rural and urban areas in all of Afghanistan’s provinces. The main goal was to gauge public sentiments on social and political issues, “in a country that is undergoing rapid changes,” the authors said.

In addition to security issues, respondents listed unemployment, the poor economy and corruption as major concerns.

A majority of those interviewed — 57 percent — said national corruption had worsened in the past year, but fewer than half said it had worsened at the provincial and local levels. Nevertheless, 60 percent said corruption remained a major problem at the provincial level.

The poll said development-related issues remained the biggest local problems, with respondents citing, in order of importance, electricity, unemployment, water, education and roads.

The only exception to those priorities was in the southwestern provinces, where the Taliban insurgency has been most active and security was regarded as the biggest local problem.

Of those who said Afghanistan was headed in the right direction, 39 percent said reconstruction was the biggest factor and 34 percent cited good security.

About 25 percent of those surveyed said the government was doing a “very good” job and 55 percent said it was doing a “somewhat good” job.

The survey also found evidence to suggest that the ideas of political tolerance and freedom of expression were not yet firmly rooted in Afghan society. A large proportion of respondents said Afghans did not feel free to express their political opinions in the area where they live, and 69 percent agreed it was not acceptable to speak critically about the government in public.

The survey showed confidence in some national institutions, including the security forces, the news media, tribal and provincial councils, aid groups and some government entities. But fewer than half of the respondents expressed confidence in the government’s justice system, political parties and local militias.

The poll showed mixed feelings about the empowerment of women. About 53 percent of the respondents said they “strongly agreed” that women should have equal rights, while 32 percent “somewhat agreed.”

A majority of men and women agreed that women should be allowed to work outside the home, but a majority of men and women also agreed that women should wear a burqa in public.

Respondents expressed respect for religion. About 66 percent said they believed democracy could be Islamic, while 29 percent said democracy challenged Islamic values.

NATO should focus on training Afghan forces: Karzai

AFP, 10/24/2007 -LONDON - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan should focus on training Afghan security forces and strengthening domestic institutions, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview.

Karzai also told Channel 4 News he was concerned about reports that neighbouring Iran was helping to arm the Islamist Taliban militia and would discuss the issue with Iranian officials.

"The answer to the difficulty in Afghanistan is the strengthening of the Afghan institutions, not adding more troops, from any country to Afghanistan," Karzai said.

"We need NATO to train more Afghan forces, we need NATO to train more Afghan police, we need NATO to, or the countries of NATO, to concentrate on enhancing the abilities of the Afghan government, the civil services.

"The strengthening of Afghan institutions and for Afghans shouldering more of the responsibility is the way forward."

Thirty-seven nations are contributing around 40,000 troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

But the US, Britain and Canada are doing the lion's share of the fighting and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is expected to call on NATO defence ministers at a meeting in the Netherlands Wednesday for reinforcements.

Karzai also reiterated his concerns over the number of civilian casualties from NATO-led operations in Afghanistan, saying it was of "very serious concern" to the Afghan people.

A nomad child was killed Tuesday after clashes between NATO-led forces and insurgents, while ISAF is currently looking into claims that 13 civilians were killed in a bombing raid on Monday west of Kabul.

"Six years on (from the US-led invasion of the country in 2001), the continuation of civilian casualties is something our people cannot understand, and rightly so," Karzai said.

Asked whether he was concerned by reports that Iran was helping to arm the Taliban, which was ousted in 2001 but has been mounting a violent insurgency in the past year, Karzai said: "It's something that definitely worries us."

"Since we have close relations with Iran, we have the liberty to discuss these issues with them," he added, noting that he had spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki recently on the subject.

"It's something that worries us, they deny it, but we will have to find out the truth."

The top US commander in Afghanistan, General Dan McNeill, said earlier this month that a convoy of explosives intercepted in September had arrived from Iran and probably with the knowledge of the Iranian military.

US and British officials have alleged for months that weapons from Iran are going to the Taliban. Iran has denied the allegations and Afghanistan has also said it has no proof.

US pushes for Afghan reinforcements as support wanes

by Lorne Cook - October 23, 2007

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The United States will press its European allies Wednesday to provide more troops and equipment to combat the insurgency in Afghanistan, as mounting casualties undermine support for NATO's mission.

At closed door talks in the Netherlands, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will buttonhole his European counterparts for reinforcements, as the US military is increasingly stretched by fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The desire for a ministers-only session is so that they can be candid with each other about what's missing and who needs to step up," a senior US official said, ahead of two days of informal talks in the coastal town of Noordwijk.

Thirty-seven nations are contributing around 40,000 troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which is battling to extend the rule of the weak central government across the country.

ISAF commanders have requested more combat troops, helicopters and aircraft, as well as trainers to help bring fledgling Afghan soldiers up to a standard where they can provide security on their own.

But countries doing the lion's share of the fighting -- the US, Britain and Canada -- feel let down that their allied partners are still unwilling to deploy troops to the volatile south and east of Afghanistan.

"We expect NATO allies and EU partners to meet their responsibility in sharing the risks and costs of collective action," British Defence Secretary Des Browne told parliament last week.

"The contribution of some European nations is quite disappointing," he said.

In a sign of growing US exasperation, Gates has even let speculation mount that Washington might withdraw its 1,800 troops from Kosovo, in Europe's backyard, to plug holes in Afghanistan.

"If it's difficult for some Europeans to give generously in Afghanistan, after we get through this interim period (of Kosovo status talks), maybe there's a division of labour solution here," noted the senior US official.

Yet the importance of NATO's mission in Afghanistan -- its biggest and most ambitious operation ever -- cannot be overstated.

The strife-torn country's mountainous border area with Pakistan has proved a training ground for extremists -- including Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network -- and a platform for launching attacks around the world.

And under pressure from drug lords, not to mention Taliban rebels desperate for money to buy weapons, Afghan farmers are producing around 90 percent of the opium that reaches Europe's streets in the form of heroin.

But four years into NATO's mission -- the alliance took over ISAF in 2003 -- mounting troop and civilian casualties, the latter often caused by air strikes used when soldiers have been lacking, are turning public opinion.

A survey in Canada in August showed that solid majorities of people in Britain, France, Germany and Italy thought the ISAF-mission was a failure, while almost one in two Canadians agreed.

A poll in Germany, which has lost more than 20 troops since 2002, found that almost two out of every three people want the government to withdraw its 3,000 troops, even though they are deployed in relatively stable areas.

The Netherlands, which one official said is "punching above its weight class", is expected to renew in coming weeks the mandate of some 1,500 Dutch troops deployed in the southern province of Oruzgan. Surveys suggest the majority of Dutch people are against an extension.

In a briefing paper this month, security experts at the Chatham House think-tank in London underlined that the reticence of some allies to put troops at risk have made the chances of success in Afghanistan unpredictable.

"The willingness to share risks has become a key issue. Not all NATO member states are prepared to send their forces into combat. This puts the fundamental principle of alliance solidarity on the line," they said.

Gates faults NATO on Afghanistan

Associated Press / October 22, 2007, By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer

KIEV, Ukraine - Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized European members of NATO on Monday for failing to provide the extra troops that their governments promised last year for security duties in Afghanistan.

"I am not satisfied that an alliance whose members have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen cannot find the modest additional resources that have been committed for Afghanistan," Gates told a news conference after a meeting of a separate organization of southeast European countries.

The main shortfall is in troops to serve as trainers for the Afghan National

Army and the Afghan police. Gates said he intended to pursue the matter at a NATO defense ministers meeting in the Netherlands this week.

During Monday's meeting here of the Southeast European Defense Ministers, a group that was created in 1996 mainly to promote stability in the Balkans, several countries "indicated that they intend to increase their commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq, principally in Afghanistan," Gates told reporters.

He added that those countries did not want to be identified publicly yet because they have not finalized their plans.

Earlier, Slovak officials told Gates that they will send at least 47 more troops to Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, where they will work with Dutch forces, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. That will increase its troop total in Afghanistan to 125 next year, he said.

Slovakia also will send eight doctors to work at a military hospital in Kabul, the Afghan capital, Morrell said.

At his news conference, Gates said it was too early to know how the outcome of Poland's parliamentary elections, in which the current government was ousted, will affect U.S. efforts to win Polish approval for placement of U.S. missile interceptors there and to maintain Polish troops in Iraq.

He said the United States has enjoyed good cooperation from Poland regardless of the makeup of its government. "I expect that cooperation to continue," he said. "Obviously we'll have discussions with the new government of Poland in terms of their specific plans.

We clearly are hopeful that the kind of cooperation we've enjoyed recently both in Iraq and Afghanistan on the one hand, and in moving toward negotiating an agreement on missile defense “will continue as before."

In opening remarks to Monday's session, Gates urged members of the Southeast European Defense Ministers to boost their contributions to security efforts in Afghanistan, warning that the group "risks eventual irrelevance" unless it does more to fight terrorism and increase European security cooperation.

In his address, Gates praised the group for sending a small headquarters element to Kabul, Afghanistan, last year and said more such missions should be considered.

"Given the wide range of global threats which confront us, contributions by SEDM members to the war on terrorism are particularly important," Gates said, according to a transcript of his remarks released after the start of the closed-door conference. SEDM is the acronym for the defense organization.

"SEDM risks eventual irrelevance if it is principally only a talk-shop," Gates said. "To sustain and increase SEDM's relevance, member nations must be willing to address these crucial issues."

Gates used Monday meeting to underscore the importance of international assistance for Afghanistan, where violence remains high despite some success

this year in blunting a planned Taliban offensive.

Gates has been pushing for more help in Afghanistan from European countries, not only those in the NATO alliance but others with security and other resources that could contribute to stabilizing the country.

After the meeting Gates was headed to the Czech Republic for talks on the U.S. proposal to install a missile-tracking radar there as part of a Europe-based U.S. missile defense system that is strongly opposed by Russia.

Much of the higher levels of violence in Afghanistan has been in the southern and eastern provinces. The insurgents are increasingly using Iraq-style tactics, such as roadside bombs, suicide attacks and kidnappings to hit foreign and Afghan targets around the country.

Failure would be a disaster, Dutch warn NATO

Globe and Mail, 10/24/2007, Alan Freeman

NOORDWIK, THE NETHERLANDS — As NATO defence ministers prepared for the start of a crucial meeting on the future of the precarious mission in Afghanistan, the Dutch Defence Minister warned that failure in the war-shattered country would be a "disaster."

"I think everyone realizes that NATO took on a responsibility [to Afghanistan]. We have to succeed," Eimert van Middelkoop told The Globe yesterday. "It would be a disaster for world peace and justice if a modern professional alliance such as NATO will fail in a country like Afghanistan."

Mr. van Middelkoop is hosting the two-day meeting of the 26-member alliance, which starts today, at a particularly sensitive moment. The Dutch cabinet is to decide any day now whether or not to renew the mandate of its 1,500 soldiers stationed in the volatile region of Uruzgan.

As in Canada, the Afghan mission is unpopular with the Dutch public, which is increasingly bitter about the failure of other NATO nations, such as Germany and Italy, to pitch in and help in the south, where violence is heavier and the risk to troops all that much higher. Instead, those nations have decided to stick to the safer northern regions.

Yet despite the mission's unpopularity, the Dutch government is reluctant to let NATO down in its most ambitious military venture ever and does not want to be the first to abandon the alliance. If the Dutch were to pull out in August of next year, it's widely believed that Canada would be next when the current parliamentary authorization runs out in February of 2009.

"We do realize that because we are the first making a decision that it has enormous international implications," said Mr. van Middelkoop, who added that he feels particular kinship with Canada because of its commitment to Afghanistan and its role in liberating the Netherlands from the Nazis. "Canada is watching us, and we are watching Canada."

It's widely believed that the Dutch cabinet will agree to a two-year extension of its commitment and will continue to lead the force in Uruzgan, though with a reduction of its force to about 1,200 members. Making up the numbers is still a challenge, although Australia has upped its troop numbers, Slovakia has agreed to send 35 more soldiers to the region and there is talk of adding 200 or so troops from Georgia.

Britain has also added recently to its force, which now numbers 7,700, as it reduces its troop strength in southern Iraq. The United States is by far the largest foreign presence in Afghanistan with more than 15,000 soldiers.

"What's at stake is the foundation of NATO," said Frank van Kappen, a senior analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, who added that the Dutch are angry that they volunteered to do some of "the heavy lifting" in the south for two years but nobody has turned up to pick up the load.

"NATO doesn't have any troops of its own so a promise from NATO that they would find others is not exactly rock solid," he said.

Mr. van Kappen said that when it became time to pacify Kosovo at the start of the decade, NATO had no trouble gathering a force of 65,000 for a tiny piece of territory. Instead, the alliance has assembled a force of just 40,000 to pacify Afghanistan, a territory twice the size of Germany.

"ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] doesn't have enough troops and because it doesn't have enough troops, it can't keep the territory it takes," said Timo Noetzel, a visiting fellow at Chatham House, a foreign-policy think thank in London.

"A German newspaper has called it a discount war," he added.

Dr. Noetzel is particularly concerned about what will happen if Canada decides to bring its soldiers home. "If a government like Canada decides to pull its troops, the entire operation would run into great difficulty."

In Denmark, which is beefing up its commitment to 650 soldiers from 450, the public appears less concerned even though the troops are fighting alongside the British in Helmand, another hot spot.

"Our commitment is open-ended," said Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, head of the Danish Institute for Military Affairs, who expects the Danish parliament to continue renewing the mission annually.

The more positive attitude toward the Danish role is based on a key fact. The Afghan mission has replaced a more controversial one in Iraq.

"Because we've been in Iraq, Afghanistan looks more benign," Dr. Rasmussen said.

Several militants killed in Afghan clash

Kabul (AP) - U.S.-led coalition forces clashed with suspected militants in central Afghanistan, leaving several insurgents dead and detaining two, a statement from the coalition said Wednesday.

The troops moved into compounds in Nirkh district, in Wardak province late on Tuesday after "intelligence sources indicated militant forces were hiding" there, the statement said.

"During the course of operations, militants opened fire on coalition forces," it said.

The troops returned fire, killing several militants, said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. During a search of the area, coalition troops discovered weapons, ammunition and explosive material, and also detained two suspected militants for questioning.

In the same province on Monday, NATO and Afghan troops called in airstrikes during a battle against insurgents that killed 20 suspected militants, but also up to 12 civilians, officials said.

NATO's force in Afghanistan said 50 insurgents were trying to set up an ambush and that fighter aircraft dropped two bombs on their positions.

Spokesman Maj. Charles Anthony said Wednesday the alliance had no evidence that civilians were killed. "All of our reports to date report that only armed militants were killed when airstrikes were called in on their positions," he told reporters. NATO said it killed "numerous" enemy fighters.

Mohammad Hussein Fahami, the deputy head of the Wardak provincial council, said 12 civilians were killed — eight people from one family and four others. Ten civilians were wounded, he said.

Anthony said soldiers had been on the ground to guide the bombs to their targets. He said ISAF has "no evidence" the bombs hit a housing compound.

Some 700 civilians have died in fighting this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials. About half of those deaths were caused by U.S. and NATO forces.

Maj. Zalmay Khan, an Afghan army commander, said 20 enemy fighters died in the joint NATO-Afghan operation. But a governor's aide, Mohammad Sadiq, said the operation killed 12 fighters and three civilians.

Khan said militants were firing at Afghan and NATO forces from the cover of civilian homes.

Casualty figures from remote battles often vary widely in Afghanistan and are hard to independently verify. U.S. and NATO officials say insurgents commonly force villagers to claim civilians casualties when none happened and that sometimes villagers falsely claim deaths in order to receive monetary compensation.

NATO force looks into claims of Afghan civilian casualties

Tue Oct 23, 7:50 AM ET - KABUL (AFP) - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said Tuesday it was looking into claims that civilians were among the dead after a bombardment that the defence ministry said killed 12 "enemies".

But the International Security Assistance Force had received no reports from its own sources of any civilian casualties after the bombing raid on Monday 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Kabul, an ISAF spokesman said.

The Afghan defence ministry said in a statement that "12 enemies of the people were killed" in the strike near Jalrez town in Wardak province.

The statement made no mention of civilian casualties but an Afghan military commander from the province, Zalmai Khan, said separately that only three civilians were injured. "We are not aware of any civilians killed," he said.

However the head of the Wardak provincial council, Haji Janan, said 13 villagers were killed, including 11 from the same family.

"There is an emergency meeting at the provincial headquarters and we may send a delegation down to the area for an assessment," he told AFP.

ISAF had people in the area talking to villagers "to make sure there were no civilian casualties," spokesman Major Charles Anthony said.

"As of this moment we don't have reports of civilian casualties," he said. The bombing raid was called in against a large group of "anti-government militants who we were able to spot setting an ambush," he said.

An ISAF patrol was ambushed in the same area on October 15 and 12 soldiers were wounded. An airstrike called in afterwards killed five Taliban, Afghan officials said.

Some said three civilians were also killed but this was rejected by ISAF. The lines in the battle between security forces and insurgents in Afghanistan are often blurred with fighters living and operating among villagers.

ISAF and the other international force here, the US-led coalition, have been accused of killing hundreds of civilians in their pursuit of rebels including the Taliban whose regime was ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

The extremist insurgents have killed hundreds more in suicide attacks that are aimed at security forces but end up killing more civilians.

US being mulled to extract forces from Afghanistan, says Fazal

Online - International News Network (Pakistan) - October 22, 2007

PESHAWAR: Secretary General Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman has hinted that US is considering taking out forces from warn torn country of Afghanistan due to unity and power of religious forces.

Talking to media men after meeting of Jamaat Ulama-e-Islam (JUI), he said he is being blamed despite accepting all decisions of All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM).

Ameer JUI Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman added that all the decisions taken by APDM were emotional, which badly affect the role of the Opposition. Maulana Fazal said he will try his level best to save MMA but the decision to remain in APDM will be taken in the meeting of Majlis-e-Shura scheduled to be meet on October 24 and 25.

Answering to a question, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman said, so far he has not been contacted by President General Pervez Musharraf for the setup of interim Government.

Majlis-e-Shura of JUI will also take the decision to participate in All Parties Conference.

The Government’s decision to ban on public rallies and gathering reflects a “sorry state of affairs”, as Government has failed to maintain law and order in the country.

Today the religious Parties in the country have prime and major role in politics, therefore US is being mulled to extract forces from Afghanistan, he noted. Fazal said that US ambassador to Pakistan also confirmed that US is considering taking out forces from Afghanistan during meeting with him.

'Pak is the most dangerous place in the world'

via The Times of India - 23 Oct 2007, 0647 hrs IST, PTI

NEW YORK: Pakistan, which recently witnessed a series of suicide attacks by pro-Taliban and al-Qaida militants, is the most dangerous country in the world, and has become a safe haven for terrorists, a media report says.

"Unlike countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan has everything al- Qaida chief Osama bin Laden could ask for: political instability, a trusted network of radical Islamists , an abundance of angry anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas and security services that don’t always do what they’re supposed to do," says ‘Newsweek’ in an investigative report being published in its upcoming issue.

Then there’s the country’s large and growing nuclear programme, the report adds ominously. The conventional story about Pakistan, it says, has been that it is an unstable nuclear power, with distant tribal areas in terrorist hands.

"What is new, and more frightening, is the extent to which Taliban and al- Qaida elements have now turned much of the country, including some cities, into a base that gives militants more room to manoeuvre, both in Pakistan and beyond," it adds.

Taliban militants, the magazine reports, now "pretty much come and go’ ’ as they please inside Pakistan. Their sick and injured get patched up in private hospitals there.

Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan

Source: Crisis Group - Islamabad/Brussels, 22 October 2007: The insurgency in Balochistan province will only subside when free, fair and transparent elections establish a legitimate government to replace Pakistan’s current military dictatorship.

Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the tensions across the strategically important and resource-rich province, where violence continues unabated between the military government and militants demanding political and economic autonomy. It urges the federal government to return power to democratic institutions in order to stem growing Baloch alienation and regional instability.

“The military relies on repression, killings, imprisonment, disappearances and torture to bend the Baloch to its will”, says Robert Templer, Director of the Asia Program. “That only feeds the insurgency”.

Relying on divide-and-rule policies, the military supports Pashtun Islamist parties like the JUI-F, a key patron of the Afghan Taliban, in a bid to counter secular Baloch and moderate Pashtun forces. Using Balochistan as a base of operation and sanctuary and recruiting from JUI’s extensive madrasa network, the Taliban and its Pakistani allies are undermining the state-building effort in Afghanistan. At the same time, U.S. and other Western support for Musharraf is alienating the Baloch, who otherwise could be natural partners in countering extremism in Pakistan.

The federal government needs to restore a democratic election process for national and provincial governments and allow representative and participatory institutions. It should cease all military operations, release all political prisoners, including those in the unlawful custody of intelligence agencies, and accept the Supreme Court’s directive to end the disappearances of political opponents. It should immediately produce those charged with criminal offences before competent civilian courts, which should be responsible for any trials, and drop terrorism charges against Balochistan National Party leader Akthar Mengal, transfer his kidnapping trial to a sessions court and release him on bail.

The government should also ensure freedom of speech, movement, association and assembly and remove all restrictions on Baloch nationalist parties.

“The staunchly anti-Taliban and secular Baloch believe the international community has yet to understand the threat the military’s Islamist allies pose, domestically and externally”, says Samina Ahmed, South Asia Project Director. “The restoration of participatory democratic institutions willing to accommodate the legitimate political demands of the Baloch would assuage dissent and restore trust in constitutionalism and rule of law”.

AFGHANISTAN: Unveiling Women's Rights

By Fawzia Sheikh - KANDAHAR, Oct 23 (IPS) - A giggly, sweet demeanour masks Shaqofa's toughness.

Her dark hair swept up in a traditional headscarf secured under a standard police cap, Shaqofa offers a stark contrast to the many Afghan women who don the restrictive, full-length burqa, a symbol of Taliban rule in the 1990s still observed six years after the regime's fall.

The 18-year-old former shooting instructor, now a police sergeant enrolled in computer classes at the Afghan regional police training centre in the southern province of Kandahar, uses a pseudonym out of fear of Taliban retaliation but still shows up for class every day.

Kandahar is a Taliban hotbed that has borne much of the violence in the war between insurgents and coalition forces.

Neither a Taliban note threatening Shaqofa's death tacked to her family's door, nor the murder two months ago of a training centre instructor, have spurred her to hang up her uniform. But the incidents prompted other staff to quit and illuminated the perils of being a cop in Afghanistan, where insurgents routinely target government workers.

Shaqofa joined the police two years ago out of a desire to investigate crimes committed by the Taliban who "kill the people for no reason," she told IPS.

Under the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan administered by the United Nations Development Programme, more women are being recruited as police officers, gender units are being established within police headquarters and law-enforcement officers are being sensitised toward issues like domestic violence.

Afghan women first put on police uniforms in the 1960s in a more liberal era.

A sense of pre-Taliban normalcy is returning not only to the law-enforcement arena but also is seeping into other aspects of life -- girls wearing school uniforms are a common sight in the streets and women are again taking jobs as teachers, for example.

Yet Afghan society remains highly influenced by bad memories of a regime that essentially erased women from existence. Under the Taliban's overzealous rule, women were forced to cover their faces, outlawed from working, speaking loudly, appearing on television or at public gatherings and even forbidden from wearing nail polish or shoes that made clicking sounds against the pavement -- lest these activities should entice men.

Human-rights activists argue today that even some well-educated Afghan men are staunch advocates of the burqa, a sign that changing the mindset of this ultra-conservative culture remains a daunting challenge.

Women like Shaqofa, listed by the interior ministry as one of 150 female police officers in the country, have their work cut out for them but seem primed for the task.

Although her family opposes her profession, arguing that she can earn a higher salary as an international organisation employee, a nurse or a teacher, the young police officer said she has signed a three-year contract and will be jailed if she quits.

Her performance, meanwhile, has drawn plenty of attention.

Described by the United States troops working with her as someone who does not take any attitude from her male classmates, Shaqofa seems unfazed about working in a patriarchal institution.

"She's one of the best shots in Afghanistan," declared one U.S. army officer. Shaqofa is not alone in her efforts, though.

Her colleague Roya, also using a pseudonym, travels to work every day incognito, wearing traditional clothes that she discards for her uniform once she enters the training center. She simply tells inquisitive Afghans she works for an international company.

The Taliban have not caught on to the fact she works as a police officer but would kill her if they discovered her deception, said Roya, dyed reddish-blonde hair sprouting from under her white headscarf. The job helps the 27-year-old widow to support her three children.

Despite working in a traditionally male bastion, Roya told IPS she stands "shoulder to shoulder with our brothers" and has not experienced any harassment on the job.

Brig. Gen. Nasrullah Zarife, an Afghan officer whose task is to build and train the national police, spoke proudly of the two women from his office at the training center. "They're scared of nothing," he said.

Miles from their precarious existence in the troubled south, Roya and Shaqofa's predecessor, Gen. Aziza Nazari, 53, embodies the possibilities open to the two young officers -- provided their fellow Afghan security forces can defeat the insurgency in Kandahar and neighbouring provinces.

A 34-year veteran of the police force, Nazari now acts as Afghanistan's passport department chief and is one of the most senior female officers in the country. In an interview in Kabul, she said she has introduced reforms to streamline the passport process and eliminate corruption.

But her success followed years of Taliban repression. Under full burqa cover, Nazari and her female colleagues were tapped by the Taliban to conduct searches of women in the airport for two years but later were confined to their homes along with millions of other women. The general, once whipped by a Taliban member for lifting her mesh-like veil due to illness, always feared the regime would lash out at her children out of anger over her former job as a police officer.

Without a salary and divorced from her husband, she said she was forced to offload her belongings, hawking her uniform for ten dollars and selling a washing-machine that offered a few months of income to support her children.

Nazari put on her uniform again in 2001. Today she freely wears earrings and black patent-leather heels that click -- accessories which would have earned her a flogging during the Taliban's heyday.

She is hopeful of the future because under Islam women can stand alongside men, meaning they can join the police and take on other professions, she said.

But Afghan society still faces a long road ahead, according to some international observers.

Norine MacDonald, president and lead field researcher of the international non-government organisation, the Senlis Council, told IPS that the government of Hamid Karzai is struggling to satisfy the expectations of the international community on the status and freedom of women.

Because the southern insurgency has consumed most Western attention and resources, "there hasn't been the impact on the day-to-day lives of the average Afghan woman that everyone had hoped for," explained MacDonald, who spends most of her time in the Kandahar city area.

While it is true some girls can attend school and women can work in certain parts of Afghanistan, life in less-enlightened areas denies women the luxury of such "free choices," she continued. She said she faces a tough job convincing families that permitting their daughters to work at the Senlis Council in research, policy and administrative capacities is honourable.

The ubiquitous blue burqa is also a sign of Afghan society's reluctance to soften views. "I've talked to a lot of women about why that's the case and it is partly because they don't feel secure yet in the post-Taliban regime," she said.

"You know, the Taliban were so cruel and their psychological terror went so deep in the population. You can't just throw that off overnight and say, 'Ok, we're never going to face that again. There will never be any reprisals for me not wearing a burqa in my city or town.'"

Men, moreover, also play a pivotal role in this debate, MacDonald argued.

Many discussions with "Afghan men who are very open and internationally minded" have revealed to her a mindset adamantly opposed to the "Western position that it should be the women's choice," she explained.

"It's not a conversation they're used to having and it hasn't been pursued with sufficient vigour."

(*Fawzia Sheikh was recently embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan)

Policy on cross-border pipelines on the cards

Hindustan Times / October 23, 2007

The government has begun efforts to put in place the broad contours of its strategy on cross-border gas pipelines to ensure the country's energy security.

Even as India takes stock of various options on contentious issues in Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, it is all set to join the US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline project next month to import natural gas from the Central Asian nation.

India is expected to take a major stride on the issue by signing “Project Heads of Agreement” and a “Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement” at the Steering Committee meeting in Islamabad called by project sponsor Asian Development Board on November 28-29, sources said.

Turkmenistan would make a presentation on the potential of its gas reserves and volumes available for export to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The buyers are expected to make projections about their demand scenario and the quantum they would seek to meet through the multi-nation project.

As per the “Heads of Agreement” pact, the four nations would undertake project feasibility studies and device financial structure.

In another development, Pakistan has invited India next month for discussions to resolve the transit fee issue. India refused participation in an official level talks on the gas pipeline in Tehran last month, saying it wanted transit fee issue with Pakistan to be resolved first before it could attend a trilateral meeting.

Pakistan's Petroleum Secretary Farrakh Qayyum had last week written to his Indian counterpart M.S. Srinivasan inviting him for bilateral parleys either between November 1 and 3 or between November 12-14, sources said. New Delhi has not yet conveyed its acceptance of Pakistan's invitation.

According to the draft Heads of Agreement, Turkmenistan has projected gas reserves of 159 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in its Dauletabad fields, of which 34.26 Tcf would be dedicated to the project.

Afghanistan's exports up by 13pc in 2nd quarter

Zainab Muhammadi  - KABUL, Oct 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghanistan's exports had registered 13 percent increase during the second quarter of the current Afghan year as compared to the same period during last year, officials said on Sunday.

Rohullah Ahmadzai, director public relations with the export promotion department, told Pajhwok the country's exports had reached $112 million during the second quarter of the current Afghan year.

Last year, the figure was 101 million US dollar, registering a 13 percent increase, said the official. One of the reasons behind the boost, he said, was removal of irritants pertaining to taxes and customs duties.

Following a gradual process, all kinds of duties and taxes on the country's exports would be withdrawn, said the official, who added that the step was being taken under a decree of President Hamid Karzai.

According to Ahmadzai, the country's exports were about $107 million during the first quarter of the current Afghan year. The exports had increased by 12 percent as compared to the first quarter of the last year.

He said the country's exports included handcrafts, fresh and dry fruit, minerals, leather products, cotton and precious stones.

Ahmadzai said most of those products were being exported to India, China, Pakistan, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Europe and the United States. He hoped the exports would further increase in the years ahead.

Official figures show a big gap between exports and imports of the country. According to officials, the country's exports are $500 million a year while goods worth five billion US dollars are being imported each year.

Afghan Soul Searching

Council on Foreign Relations, 10/24/2007 By Greg Bruno

Violence in Afghanistan has reached its highest level since the ouster of the country’s Taliban rulers six years ago, marked by a worrisome rise in suicide bombings. Attacks have also increasingly spread beyond the restive south to central and eastern provinces, which have been far more stable. The Associated Press estimates insurgency-related deaths topped 5,000 this year, up by 1,000 from 2006. Most of the dead have been militants (3,500), but soldiers are also dying at a higher pace (including eighty-five Americans and nearly one hundred international troops), the AP says. The United Nations has also seen a spike in violence targeting civilians countrywide. Kidnappings, shootings, and suicide bombings—a tactic rarely used in the war’s early stages—are on the rise, particularly in Kandahar, Kabul, and Khost. A September 2007 analysis (PDF) by the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan says seventy-seven suicide bombings were reported in the first six months of the year, killing 183. Between 2001 and 2005 there were only five such attacks nationwide.

The surge in violence comes amid growing signs of domestic unease about the country’s post-Taliban course, experts say. An October 2007 Asia Foundation survey (PDF) found 42 percent of Afghans feel their country is “moving in the right direction,” a slight decline from a year earlier. Concerns over security and government ineptitude were the biggest factors for pessimism. Seth Jones, an analyst for the Rand Corporation, tells CFR.org an unpublished report conducted for the U.S. military indicates another trend: a near-doubling of support among Afghans favoring a return to power by the Taliban. In May 2007, Jones says, 15 percent of Afghans favored a return to Taliban rule, up from 8 percent in November 2006. Says Jones: “I think the primary reason is the inability of the Afghan government to protect its population and provide services.” The September UN report goes further, suggesting frustration with the Afghan government may be a motivation behind the spike in suicide strikes.

The increase in violence has forced some NATO partners like Germany and Canada to consider scaling back or pulling out, prompting Defense Secretary Robert Gates to consider shifting U.S. forces from Kosovo in 2008. The United States contributes (PDF) 15,100 of the 41,000 NATO forces in Afghanistan . Yet an increase in the U.S. contribution might not stem the surge of violence. John Kiriakou, a former CIA anti-terrorism official based in the region, tells CFR.org Afghan officials need to stabilize their capital before real progress can be made.

But getting there will require stepped-up global cooperation. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a “more comprehensive counter-insurgency strategy” to stem the violence, a plan he says will require stronger local leadership, increased international engagement, and tighter regional partnerships. Clamping down on militants holed up in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is also crucial. The UN report on suicide attacks notes that an increased “Talibanization” of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan threatens the stability of Afghanistan. So far, however, Pakistan’s efforts to crack down on cross-border attacks have failed. Finally, a more sophisticated approach to stemming illicit opium production—an important funding source for insurgents—is called for in a new U.S. government strategy paper issued in August. It emphasizes dramatically increased development assistance to lessen dependence on opium as a cash crop.

Truth surprises CBC

Edmonton Sun, 10/24/2007 By Licia Cobella

Corporation's reporting from Afghanistan distorted reality

had been back from Afghanistan for a few months when I saw a television news report on the CBC that had me screaming at the TV set.

Somehow, a veteran CBC reporter had found the proverbial needle in a haystack -- a Kabul shopkeeper who said he didn't like having foreign troops in Afghanistan.

When I got into the newsroom the next morning my phone rang almost immediately.

It was an angry Garth Pritchard, an independent and fearless documentary film maker from Alberta I first met in Kabul in December 2003.

Together we saw the wells Canadian soldiers had dug, the schools they built, the orphanages they supplied with food, cooking and heating oil, school supplies and hope and the resulting affection from Afghanistan's grateful citizens.

"Did you watch the CBC news last night?" asked Garth. "Do you believe what was reported? It's the exact opposite of what we know is the truth," he said.

In the two weeks I spent as a non-embedded reporter in Afghanistan I spoke to at least 10 Afghan adults a day and sometimes as many as 30. I asked all adults a variety of questions, but always one question remained the same: "What do you think about having foreign troops in your country?"

Of the about 200 Afghan adults I spoke with they all told me they appreciated our troops being there, that they didn't want them to leave and that their lives were vastly improved.

I have written that in at least 10 columns since I returned from that troubled country filled with hospitable, resilient and handsome people.

Turns out my informal 200-person poll conducted in Kabul and the northern town of Kholm, located 40 km south of the Uzbekistan border, was more accurate than the picture the CBC has been feeding Canadians for half a decade.

My writings about how the Afghan people view our troops being in their country has recently been proven correct by a CBC/Environics poll released last week.

The poll, which interviewed 1,600 Afghan men and women, found that 60% of those questioned said the presence of foreign troops in the country was a good thing, with only 16% saying it was bad.

CBC commentators told viewers last week that they would be "surprised" by the poll results. That's not surprising. After all, if those viewers get most of their news from the Corporation they would have been hearing the polar opposite.

I also asked virtually every adult what they thought about the Taliban. They used words like: I hate them, they are demons, they should be killed. That kind of thing.

Again, the poll backs up what I reported. Some 73% have a negative opinion of the Taliban.

More than 70% said they had a positive opinion of President Hamid Karzai's government.

"The CBC seemed shocked by this poll," said Pritchard yesterday. "But you have to wonder why. All they would have had to do to know the truth themselves is go out and talk to Afghanis, like I have on five separate occasions.

"It's basic reporting. Ask a question and let people talk. Instead, I think they're going there with an agenda and only airing the views that back that agenda."

Jeff Keay, head of media relations for the CBC, disagrees with that view.

"From the point of view of CBC News through long, broad and comprehensive coverage, we ensure that a range of views are represented both pro and con as reflects the situation," said Keay yesterday.

So, if that's the case, why the surprise, CBC?

Afghan Official Loses Job For Inviting Israeli Diplomat To Party

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

KABUL, October 23, 2007 -- The Afghan government has sacked an official from its embassy in Germany for inviting an Israeli diplomat to an event.

Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said the invitation was "a technical mistake" made by a political employee. It said the unnamed official had sent the invitation card to the Israeli Embassy in Berlin by "mistake" on the occasion of Afghanistan's Independence Day in August, and that the Afghan ambassador was not aware of the invitation. Afghanistan, like most Muslim-majority countries, does not recognize the Jewish state.

Afghan Homecoming

[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.]