In this bulletin:

• Car bomb kills two Afghan police
• Taliban involved in SKorean kidnappings killed: government
• Ex-hostages say Taliban beat them for refusing to convert
• South Korea's top spy under fire for Taliban mission
• Afghan Taliban vow to kidnap, kill more foreigners
• Six US-hired militiamen killed in Afghanistan
• Bhutto favours dismantling of terror networks in Pak.
• Jalozai refugee camp wins temporary reprieve
• Layton Calls for Canada to Push Peace Talks
• Tories getting wires crossed, Dion says
• Joint council for talks with Taliban
• Berlin Braces for the Long Haul: Ten More Years in Afghanistan?
• Leaving Afghanistan is no answer
• Women suffer in Afghanistan's jails
• Study highlights socio-economic challenges faced by Afghan returnees
• Wolesi Jirga panel launches probe into jail riot
• $10m WB grant to help Public Health Ministry combat AIDS
• Rocky Terrain Slows Construction in Afghanistan
• Head of graft watchdog challenges Wolesi Jirga decision

Car bomb kills two Afghan police

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AFP) — A suspected suicide attacker exploded a bomb-packed truck at a police post in northern Afghanistan Tuesday, killing two Afghan policemen, a provincial governor said.

The hardline Islamic Taliban movement waging an intensifying anti-government insurgency said it was responsible for the bombing, which was similar to nearly 70 this year blamed on extremist rebels.

The driver detonated the explosives packed into the cabin of the small truck as police began to search the vehicle at a checkpost at the entrance of the northern town of Kunduz, provincial governor Mohammad Omar told AFP.

"Two police officers searching the car were killed and six others, five of them police and a civilian, were injured in the explosion," Omar said.

The interior ministry in Kabul, nearly 300 kilometres (190 miles) to the south, said one policeman was killed and four wounded.

The bomber had apparently wanted to drive into the normally calm town, where Germany military forces serving under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force are stationed.

Three German soldiers were killed in a suicide blast in Kunduz in May. That attack was also claimed by the Taliban.

Tuesday's bombing was the latest in a string of Iraq-style suicide explosions which Taliban-led extremists use against the better-armed Western and Afghan military forces.

Taliban involved in SKorean kidnappings killed: government

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) — Security forces killed a Taliban commander involved in the kidnapping of 23 South Koreans in an overnight operation that left 15 other rebels dead, the Afghan government said Tuesday.

The insurgents were killed in an operation launched late Monday in the central province of Ghazni, where the aid workers were snatched July 19, and lasted several hours into the morning, officials said.

Among the dead was Mullah Mateen, a key player in the abduction of the group, two of whom were killed before the remainder were freed -- the final batch of 19 of them late last week.

"We killed 16 enemy fighters and among them was Mullah Mateen, the Taliban commander who along with Mullah Abdullah Jan was a key person behind the kidnapping of the South Koreans," Ghazni police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said.

"We are sure that Mullah Mateen is dead and I'm sure and everyone knows that he was behind the kidnapping of the South Koreans," he told AFP.

The operation was in the Qarabagh district, where the aid workers were captured while travelling by bus. The area is about 180 kilometres (120 miles) south of Kabul.

The interior ministry in the capital confirmed that Mateen was dead and had been involved in the abductions.

He was a "key person behind the kidnapping of the Koreans," ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

The US-led coalition, which is supporting the Afghan security forces, said merely that "several" suspected insurgents were killed in the hours-long battle in Ghazni. "The forces suspected Taliban militants were hiding in an area of Qarabagh district," it said in a statement.

They were attacked while moving through the area and returned fire, "resulting in the death of several militants who were armed and wearing ammunition vests."

The Koreans, from a Christian church, were kidnapped by men posing as police. They were split into small groups and held in different locations. Two men were killed early on in the ordeal after the Afghan government refused to release Taliban prisoners.

Two were freed after the rebels began direct talks with the South Korean government which resulted in a deal that saw the remainder released last week.

Both sides said the deal included Seoul's agreement to withdraw its 210 non-combat troops in Afghanistan by year-end, as previously scheduled, and to stop trips by its missionaries to Afghanistan. They have denied foreign media reports that a ransom was paid to the Taliban.

The 19 Christians returned to Seoul Sunday, after six weeks in captivity, amid criticism about what was seen as a reckless trip to a war-torn devoutly Islamic nation.

Medical checks found that some had been beaten for refusing to convert to Islam and for protecting women among them, a Seoul hospital chief said Monday.

"They said they were beaten at first for refusing to take part in Islamic prayers or for rejecting a demand to convert," Cha Seung-Gyun told reporters.

South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun on Monday ordered that the former captives repay some of the costs of their rescue.

The church group undertook the trip in defiance of foreign ministry warnings. Before departure it was pictured posing with an airport notice warning against travel to the Central Asian nation.

The Taliban were in government until 2001 and are now waging an insurgency against the new Western-backed administration.

The hardline Islamic rebels, who are influenced by Al-Qaeda, have said the kidnapping of foreign nationals is an effective way to build their profile and undermine the government.

Ex-hostages say Taliban beat them for refusing to convert

Mon Sep 3, 7:50 AM ET - SEOUL (AFP) - Some of the South Korean Christian aid workers held hostage by Afghanistan's Taliban said they were beaten for refusing to convert to Islam and protecting female captives, a hospital chief said Monday.

"We found through medical checks that some male hostages were beaten," Cha Seung-Gyun told reporters after the 19 freed aid workers -- 14 women and five men -- underwent examinations at a hospital outside Seoul.

They had returned home Sunday after six weeks in captivity. "They said they were beaten at first for refusing to take part in Islamic prayers or for rejecting a demand to convert," Cha said.

The disclosure was likely to increase public sympathy for the ex-hostages, mostly in their 20s and 30s, following increasing criticism of what was seen as a reckless trip to a war-torn devoutly Islamic nation.

President Roh Moo-Hyun on Monday ordered that the former captives repay some of the costs of their rescue, which followed a deal between South Korean government negotiators in Afghanistan and the hardline Islamic insurgents.

The hospital chief said two male hostages, Je Chang-Hee and Song Byung-Woo, were beaten or threatened with death whey they refused to move out of a dugout shelter and leave some of their female colleagues behind.

But Cha said medical checks on the women showed no signs of rape, and they did not report having been sexually assaulted.

The aid workers repeatedly apologised after arriving home early Sunday. They were taken to Sam Anyang General Hospital south of the capital for check-ups.

Cha said the men had fully recovered and no longer showed external signs of their beatings. He did not say how many of the hostages had been assaulted.

A pastor from the Saem-Mul Presbyterian church which organised the ill-fated mission said Sunday that some male hostages had been "severely beaten" for refusing to embrace Islam.

The pastor, Park Eun-Jo, also said some of the women had been "at risk of being sexually assaulted."

Cha said six or seven female hostages showed symptoms of insomnia and depression, and expressed worries about their lives after being released from hospital.

"Some patients require a close look and intensive care and treatment," he said, adding they are still suffering from shock after learning upon their release that two male hostages were murdered in July. The ex-hostages need about two weeks of treatment, he said.

The church group undertook the trip in defiance of foreign ministry warnings. Before departure it was pictured posing with an airport notice warning against travel to the Central Asian nation.

"By ignoring the government's warning and rashly carrying out a mission in a politically unstable Muslim country, the captives have laid a great burden on their country," JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said.

"By violating international principles and directly negotiating with a terrorist group, our country has invited censure from other countries. Korean churches cannot escape the scathing criticism that their aggressive missionary work put the lives of several innocent young people in dire jeopardy."

The group was abducted on July 19. The Taliban murdered two men last month to press their demands that some Taliban prisoners be freed in exchange for the Koreans, a condition rejected by Kabul.

After starting talks with Seoul officials, the Taliban on August 13 released two women. They freed the remainder of the hostages last Wednesday and Thursday.

Seoul agreed in return to withdraw its 210 non-combat troops by year-end, as previously scheduled, and to stop trips by its missionaries to Afghanistan.

It has denied foreign media reports that a ransom was paid to the Taliban.

South Korea's top spy under fire for Taliban mission

Sun Sep 2, 11:18 PM ET - SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's spy chief is under fire for a high-profile mission to Afghanistan to negotiate the release of hostages which critics said violated the agency's motto to "work in the shade in pursuit of light."

National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Kim Man-bok brought home 19 hostages on Sunday after their six weeks in captivity and said on arrival he had spent 11 days in Kabul orchestrating South Korea's negotiations with the Taliban.

South Korean media said Kim's conduct in Kabul and Seoul made no secret of the agency's role in the talks and went beyond what was necessary, particularly in the face of international criticism for striking a deal with the Taliban.

Mainstream Chosun Ilbo daily said in an editorial the NIS may have been the appropriate unit to deal with the Taliban. "The problem is Chief Kim's conduct was such that he could not help exposing his identity."

Arriving on Sunday at Incheon airport near Seoul, Kim denied his role included handover of a ransom to the Taliban. A senior Taliban leader has told Reuters that Seoul paid $20 million.

"Exhibitionist spy chief?," read a Dong-a Ilbo newspaper headline. "Kim has in effect greatly raised the expectations of terrorists," it said in an editorial.

On the flight back from Dubai, Kim invited reporters to his first-class seat for an interview and distributed photographs of himself taken with the hostages and also with an unidentified man believed to have been South Korea's hostage negotiator.

The agency said Kim had made a strategic decision to direct the mission to rescue lives from the field and there was no lapse of sensitive intelligence.

Kim has been a career-agent who in the first case of internal promotion rose to the top rank in November.

In a rare show of confidence by President Roh Moo-hyun, he made two secret trips to Pyongyang in August to strike a deal with North Korea on holding the second only summit between the two Koreas since their war more than half a century ago.

Afghan Taliban vow to kidnap, kill more foreigners

By Sayed Salahuddin - Mon Sep 3, 6:21 AM ET - KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban plan to abduct and kill more nationals from foreign countries whose troops serve under NATO and the U.S. military in the country, a spokesman for the Islamic movement warned on Monday.

The vow comes just days after the Taliban released 19 South Korean hostages after their government struck a deal that critics said sets a dangerous precedent that could spur more kidnappings and make life even more dangerous for foreigners.

"We consider it (kidnapping) as an arm that can help us in imparting a blow to the enemy," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"Kidnapping ... and killing of (nationals) of those countries who have come for the annihilation of the nation of Afghanistan, are works which suppress the enemy," he added.

Yousuf, one of two Taliban spokesmen, said the group would not target nationals from foreign countries who have no troops in Afghanistan.

Under the deal agreed last week, South Korea said it would pull its civilian nationals from Afghanistan by the end of August and withdraw its 200 troops working as doctors and engineers by the end of the year. The troop pull-out was already planned.

The Taliban, for its part, dropped its central demand for the release of jailed insurgents.

A senior Taliban commander said on condition of anonymity at the weekend that the deal also included a ransom payment of more than $20 million, which would be used to buy weapons and fund suicide attacks.

The commander's comments followed widespread rumors of a ransom in Afghanistan and South Korea.

Afghan officials had said the deal was reached in a series of face-to-face negotiations after the group had already killed two men among the 23-member group of mostly female missionaries. A foreign diplomat said the Taliban side started the negotiations with a demand for $20 million.

Both the South Korean government and Taliban spokesman Yousuf deny a ransom was paid but when asked about the idea earlier in the week, a spokesman for South Korea's president did not answer directly, saying only that the government had done what was necessary.

Since their ouster in 2001, the Taliban have kidnapped a host of foreigners and Afghans as part of their campaign against the Afghan government and the nearly 50,000 troops led by NATO and the U.S. military.

The group has killed some, but freed others. It is still holding one German aid worker kidnapped last month along with another German and five of their colleagues.

One German was found dead with gunshot wounds and the Taliban demand Berlin withdraw its troops serving to secure the release of the other. Germany has ruled out the Taliban demand.

The kidnapping of the Koreans has been the largest mass-abduction in the Taliban campaign so far.

The Taliban are largely active in southern and eastern areas of Afghanistan and are locked in near daily clashes with Afghan and foreign troops, in which around 7,000 people have died in the past 19 months -- the bloodiest period since the resurgent Taliban's fall.

Six US-hired militiamen killed in Afghanistan

Mon Sep 3, 3:27 AM ET - ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) - Six Afghan militia fighters hired by US-led forces were killed in a landmine explosion in eastern Afghanistan blamed on Taliban guerillas, officials said Monday.

The six, who were working with coalition forces in the fight against the hardline Islamist movement, were killed late Sunday in Kunar province bordering Pakistan, police commander Abdul Sabour Allahyar said.

"A mine went off under their vehicle," Allahyar said, adding that four other militiamen were wounded in the blast. He blamed the attack on Taliban militants.

Kunar has been hit by a spike in violence which has left nearly 15 civilians dead this week.

In a separate incident in the southern province of Zabul, rebels late Sunday attacked a convoy of civilian trucks supplying foreign military bases, burning at least 16 vehicles, police and witnesses said.

The convoy containing some 50 trucks was travelling from Bagram Airbase, the main US military headquarters just north of Kabul, to the international military airbase in the southern city of Kandahar.

It was the latest in a string of similar attacks targeting civilian convoys supplying foreign troops in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is at its fiercest.

Bhutto favours dismantling of terror networks in Pak.

New Delhi, Sept. 3 (PTI): Strongly favouring dismantling of terror networks in her country, former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Sunday hoped that New Delhi and Islamabad could reach a "peace treaty" for building common future for the people of two countries.

As she prepares to return her home country in next few weeks after being in exile for over eight years, Bhutto said it was in Pakistan's "own interest and regional security for us to dismantle the terrorist networks and militant cells".

She voiced concern over the increased pro-Taliban activities in Pakistan and observed that certain areas of the country "no longer seem to be under the authority of the constitution or law of the land".

"Pro-Taliban elements have "asserted their autonomy" and are attacking NATO troops in nearby Afghanistan.

"Similarly, militants had attacked the Indian Parliament," she told Times Now news channel.

"In our 60th years of independence, India and Pakistan can embark on building hope for all the people through a common future, through a peace treaty," she said.

Bhutto said she was planning to return to Pakistan in the next few weeks to work for "a moderate, a democratic Pakistan that is free from threat of terrorism and which can address the basic needs of its people".

"I look forward if the people of Pakistan honour me with the election to working with both my neighbours in Afghanistan and in India," she said.

Jalozai refugee camp wins temporary reprieve

KABUL/ISLAMABAD, 3 September 2007 (IRIN) - Thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan's largest refugee camp have won a temporary reprieve after an official closure date set by Islamabad was postponed by about six months.

"Pakistan's Interior Ministry has ensured that the Jalozai refugee camp will not be closed down until March 2008," Shojauddin Shoja, an adviser to Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Returnees (MoRR), told IRIN in Kabul. "We believe Pakistan has helped us to avert a possible humanitarian tragedy in the coming winter."

Faridullah Khan, an official with the Afghan Refugees' Commission (ARC) - a Pakistani entity dealing with Afghan refugee affairs in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where the camp is located - confirmed the latest news, adding: "An agreement will be signed in the very near future to formalise the extension."

The weekend development was well received by residents of the camp, many of whom were unsure what to do, especially with winter approaching.

Abdul Hamid Ahmadzai, an Afghan diplomat in Peshawar, NWFP's provincial capital, said after days of constant worry and stress refugees in the camp were now relieved Pakistani security forces in the area had been instructed not to demolish the camp.

But despite the passing of the 31 August deadline, the future of the camp's tens of thousands of residents remains tenuous.

Jalozai, which is the largest and one of the oldest refugee camps in the country, is 35km southwest of Peshawar, and was established in the 1980s after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Earlier this year the camp, one of 85 in the country, had a reported population of 110,000. Some 14,000 have since opted for repatriation.

Pakistan decided to close four camps in the country this year, including Jalozai, after claims they harboured criminal elements and cross-border insurgents - a contentious issue that Islamabad has been keen to resolve.

As part of the government's plan, residents of the camps could either repatriate to their homeland, taking advantage of assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), or relocate to other government-designated camps inside Pakistan.

"We will assist them in moving to the camps, as well as provide them with the same assistance they are currently receiving at Jalozai, including primary education," Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman said in Islamabad.

According to a recent report on the registration of Afghans living in Pakistan, the majority of Afghans registered (82 percent) said they had no intention of returning to their homeland in the near future, citing insecurity, lack of shelter, and lack of limited livelihoods - a fact that the Pakistani government was quick to affirm.

"The international community needs to help Afghanistan in settling these refugees who are leaving voluntarily because we have to close down refugee camps close to the border," said Tasneem Aslam, the spokeswoman for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Afghanistan is vulnerable to a mass return of its citizens from neighbouring countries, and experts believe the postponement of Jalozai's closure will only temporarily ease a potential humanitarian crisis.

In April, tens of thousands of Afghans were deported from Iran, many of whose urgent humanitarian needs remain unmet.

Since the collapse of the Taliban regime in December 2001, close to 3.2 million Afghans have returned to their homeland from Pakistan; 324,000 this year alone.

According to UNHCR, there are still some 2 million registered Afghans in Pakistan today.

Layton Calls for Canada to Push Peace Talks
Josh Pringle Monday, September 3, 2007

NDP Leader Jack Layton wants Canada to take the lead in a comprehensive peace process for Afghanistan. Layton is repeating his call for the Federal Government to safely and securely withdraw Canadian troops from southern Afghanistan, saying the military mission isn't accomplishing increased security.

Layton told the Canadian Press "Canada's voice and reputation as a country that can lead in peace negotiations and discussions should be used here instead of using the approach that emerged from the White House."

Layton insists aid and reconstruction have a much better chance of taking place under a ceasefire in Afghanistan. Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Sunday that a signal has been sent that Canada's current configuration in Afghanistan will end in February 2009.

MacKay told CTV's Question Period that a vote will be held in Parliament if there is any extension of the military mission.

Tories getting wires crossed, Dion says

CAMPBELL CLARK From Tuesday's Globe and Mail September 4, 2007

OTTAWA — The Conservative government is muddying the debate on Afghanistan to assuage public opinion while hiding its true intentions, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion charged yesterday.

The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is sending signals and hints to suggest that it does not expect to extend the combat-heavy Kandahar mission past 2009, but refuses to make unequivocal official statements to its allies and Canadians, Mr. Dion argued.

The oft-repeated promise of a vote in Parliament on Canada's future on Afghanistan is particularly confusing because the Harper government will not say what the question will be, or even which side it will take, he said.

"How will they vote on their own vote?" Mr. Dion asked in an interview yesterday. "Why don't they say that today?

"The Prime Minister wants this confusion. He's not clear at all, because he wants the extension. ... What he would like to do is to have an open-war mission with no deadlines. But he has to cope with the public opinion of Canada, and they are a minority government."

Both Mr. Dion and Bloc Québecois Leader Gilles Duceppe have called for the government to notify its allies that Canada will not extend its mission leading NATO troops in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, past February of 2009.

On Sunday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in a television interview that Canada has signalled to allies that they cannot count on our troops fighting in the Kandahar region past 2009.

"The signal that has been sent already is that our current configuration will end in February, 2009. Obviously the aid work and the diplomatic effort and presence will extend well beyond that. The Afghan compact itself goes until 2011," Mr. MacKay said on CTV's Question Period.

"But the way the mission is currently configured, with respect to our presence in Kandahar, there is an expiration date that has been set."

Mr. MacKay added that Parliament will vote on Canada's future role in Afghanistan after 2009. And a spokesman, Dan Dugas, said later that the Defence Minister had not meant that Canada has sent a new signal to NATO, but rather that allies know that the current mission ends in 2009, and that a new vote must be held in Parliament to decide what Canada will do after that.

Mr. Dion said Mr. MacKay's indication that our allies have been advised not to expect an extension of the Kandahar mission is an effort to hint to Canadians that it will end in 2009 - but without saying so unequivocally.

He noted that Mr. MacKay did not categorically rule out prolonging the Kandahar mission because he said a future role will be subject to a Commons vote.

"Why not do what I am suggesting? Not to signal - what a word - but to say officially to NATO and to the government of Afghanistan that the combat mission of Canada will end in February, 2009, and they need to plan for a replacement," Mr. Dion said.

"That's not what they're saying. They're saying there will be a vote, and before the vote, we will continue the ambiguity. A signal is an ambiguous word - it's a decision that they should make. And there is no decision made because this government is looking for a way to extend the mission."

Yesterday, Public Works Minister Michael Fortier said that all options remain open, including the possibility that the House of Commons will vote on a different mission for Canada in Afghanistan after 2009.

"Any renewal of the mission in its current form or another form will be subject to the approval of the Parliament of Canada," Mr. Fortier told Radio-Canada television.

"This renewal, or non-renewal, will take place in February, 2009. We're in the fall of 2007. So we still have some time before making this decision."

Today, the government will offer reporters in Canada a technical briefing on the situation in Afghanistan.

Joint council for talks with Taliban

Dawn, Monday, September 03, 2007‎ By Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: Pakistan and Afghanistan have finalised the names of 50 members of a tribal council from their Joint Jirga Commission to hold talks with the Taliban leadership for restoration of peace in both countries, interior ministry sources told Dawn on Sunday.

The sources said that 25 members had been selected from each side for the talks and they would soon hold talks with the Taliban leadership.

When contacted, interior ministry spokesman Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema said that talks with Taliban would be held soon, but declined to say when. He also declined to say anything about the agenda and venue of the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Taliban are reported to have rejected the jirga and its proposal for talks and reiterated their demand for all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan.

Tribal elders from Jamrud, Bara and Landi Kotal tehsils of the Khyber Agency have reportedly offered their services for direct talks with Taliban leaders both in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Tribal leader Malik Ahmad Khan, who was also a member of the Kabul Peace jirga, said if the government of Pakistan could hold talks with India to resolve the Kashmir issue, why it could not launch a dialogue process with the Taliban.

Expressing satisfaction at the outcome of the Kabul jirga, he urged the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan to continue the process.

He told mediapersons that at least 50 elders of the Khyber Agency were ready to open talks with the Taliban leadership.

Another tribal leader, Malik Guli Shah, said that the tribal people wanted peace in their region and Afghanistan and, therefore, there was no harm in initiating a dialogue with the Taliban leadership.

Berlin Braces for the Long Haul: Ten More Years in Afghanistan?

Der Spiegel - 09/03/2007

Social Democratic Floor Leader Peter Struck says that despite growing international exhaustion with the engagement, NATO might have to remain in Afghanistan for another decade. Otherwise, things could go badly wrong.

It's no secret that Germans are tired of their country's involvement in Afghanistan. A poll at the beginning of August showed that fully two-thirds of them would like to see an immediate pullout of the more than 3,000 German soldiers currently stationed in northern Afghanistan.

But according to former Defense Minister and current Social Democratic Floor Leader Peter Struck, that may not be possible. Indeed, Struck thinks that the international community might have to remain in Afghanistan for another decade.

"A majority (of Germans) would like to see all the soldiers come home. I am strictly opposed to such a move because it would mean a major defeat for human rights and for the international community," Struck told SPIEGEL in an interview published on Sunday. "I think the international community will have to remain there for at least another 10 years."

Otherwise, Struck says, the radicals with the Taliban and al-Qaida might regain the upper hand. The 2001 invasion of Afghanistan aimed at rooting out the Taliban and al-Qaida immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

Struck, though, would like to see talks started with "moderate Taliban." "One has to work together with the governors and with the so-called warlords," he said.

He would also prefer to see German troops in Afghanistan focus more on military training and on reconstruction. Training police is another priority, he says, but not enough German police are volunteering for duty in Afghanistan.

"We absolutely have to augment military and police training (more...). We have to send more police," Struck said. "But that is incredibly difficult, because not enough police officers are stepping forward."

Public support for Germany's mission in Afghanistan, where they are a major part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), has been dropping in the face of increased activity by the radical Islamists of the Taliban, numerous kidnappings and recent deaths of German soldiers. In mid-August, a roadside bomb killed three (more...) German policemen in Kabul.

Far from merely weighing in on Afghanistan, Struck likewise offered up his assessment of the current debate about whether Germany should ban the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany. The country attempted to ban the NPD in 2003 and failed, but with right-wing violence on the rise in Eastern Germany once again, the movement to ban (more...) the party has once again gained steam.

Struck, for his part, agrees with SPD head Kurt Beck that the party should be prohibited. "The scandal is that the NPD is financed by tax money," Struck said. "They are getting €1.4 million from a country that they are fighting hard to destroy. That is absurd!"

Leaving Afghanistan is no answer

By ED FEUER – Sun media (Cananda)

As opposition politicians scramble to score political points on Afghanistan, Stephane Dion's position bears the most scrutiny because his party has the only chance of replacing the government.

On the Liberal party website, we read: "In the face of a mounting insurgency in Afghanistan, and with fading support from our NATO partners, our troops are facing an increasingly difficult mission. We owe it to our soldiers to develop a strategy that will achieve real results in establishing a lasting peace."

But last week Dion said: "I want the prime minister to say right away that we are out of the combat mission in February 2009."

If the Liberals think that'll bring "real results," they really should update their website.

Dion says Canadians could do development and humanitarian work or help train Afghan soldiers and "provide security in certain provinces" -- in other words like what some European NATO countries do in the so-far safer zones.

While that line might work with focus groups, there is no development without security. Australian counter-insurgency expert David Kilcullen, now an adviser to U.S. Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq, hit the nail on the head.

A Dec. 18, 2006, New Yorker article says Kilcullen met senior European officers with the NATO force in Afghanistan applying "a development model to counterinsurgency," hoping that gratitude for good work would do the trick. "The gratitude effect," Kilcullen said, "will last until the sun goes down and the insurgents show up and say, 'You're on our side, aren't you? Otherwise, we're going to kill you.'"

That harsh reality is why Retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis Mackenzie recently called for at least another 10,000 NATO combat troops in the south.

Dion doesn't answer the tough question -- who will replace the Canadians? As with the Europeans, the unstated answer is Let George Do it. The sorry pattern is familiar: The Europeans won't do their share of the heavy lifting, but are then quick to accuse the Americans of unilateralism.

Meanwhile, can we expect to see Dion touring Europe, encouraging NATO allies to step up to the plate? Don't hold your breath.

Women suffer in Afghanistan's jails

Aunohita Mojumdar in Kabul - Afghanistan is building brand new jails for its female prisoners.

Currently there are around 300 women in jail in the country, but the number of women prisoners is expected to grow, putting extra strain on existing facilities.

All agree that Afghanistan's prisons lack the most basic amenities for their prisoners but less talked about is the fact that an estimated half of the female prisoners should not be there at all.

Imprisoned for what are loosely described as "moral crimes", these women would qualify as victims rather than criminals under any interpretation of international human rights laws, including those to which Afghanistan is a signatory.

A report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Afghanistan's female prisoners and their social reintegration, released in Kabul on Sunday, drew attention to the dismal condition of women prisoners, who are among the most victimised women in a country where discrimination still remains acute.

Not only are an estimated half victims themselves, but they are further victimised by the criminal justice process.

And on release from prison, they face victimisation for a third time. This can take the form of, at best, rejection by the family leaving the woman to fend for herself, and at worst a so-called honour killing.

UNODC has recommended laws changes, better facilities and improved legal aid to address some of the issues facing female prisoners. These suggestions were debated with representatives of the ministry of justice, the supreme court and other Afghan departments.

The UN women's fund (Unifem) found that 80 per cent of the violence perpetrated against women in Afghanistan originated in their homes.

According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), 60 to 80 per cent of marriages in Afghanistan are forced, some of them involving girls as young as six years old.

So, subjected to sexual and psychological abuse along with violence in their marital home, many girls run away. When they come into contact with Afghanistan's criminal justice system, rather that receiving any protection, they are seen as offenders and convicted.

Opening a seminar organised jointly with the ministry of justice, Christina Orguz, UNODC country office representative, said that many people do not want to talk about the issue of female inmates.

Many are "in prison for things that would make them victims not perpetrators", she said.

Anou Borrey, a gender and justice consultant with Unifem, said: "There is a need to increase the awareness of women about their rights so they don't end up in prison".

She said simple measures like registering marriages and the birth of child could prevent adultery charges and stop child marriages.

"Currently the majority of the female prisoners are being held for violating social, behavioural and religious norms," UNODC said. The reason is the lack of a robust formal criminal justice system.

An estimated 80 per cent of all legal cases are dealt with by the traditional justice system, based on customary laws that vary from region to region and tribe to tribe.

Documentation of the customary laws by the International Legal Foundation showed that the laws are at their most discriminatory towards women.

Not only are women penalised disproportionately for crimes, but they are punished on evidentiary standards that discriminate against them. Moreover, some of the customary laws also allow for them to be used as barter for settling other disputes, debts and feuds.

"In the restorative practice of the justice in Afghanistan, women who are regarded as the property of men, are often used as valuable commodities in the settlement of crimes and disputes" UNODC said.

"Rape may be treated as adultery and punished accordingly if a settlement cannot be reached between the two families concerned."

Even Afghanistan's formal justice system does not clearly define rape as a separate crime, including it under the offence of "zina" or adultery, pederasty and violation of honour.

In practice, a woman often has to prove her lack of consent in a rape case in order to avoid being punished for it.

Although there is no distinct penalty for rape, there is a distinction - the so-called honour crimes. Those who commit them are exempt from the charge of murder, the conviction is discretionary and imprisonment is for a maximum of two years.

A 30-year-old woman serving a six year sentence in Pul-e-Charkhi jail became the victim of this clause of the law.

When her husband killed his neighbour during a dispute, he claimed he had been driven to murder by the man committing adultery with his property. He received leniency from the court and his wife was jailed for committing adultery.

Several women who were interviewed by UNODC were verbally divorced and had married again, but were later "reported" by their first husbands and jailed. In one case the woman had been in her second marriage for 10 years and had given birth to five children.

The reason is not necessarily malignancy but often mercenary. If a man can prove his "property" has been seized by another, he can claim compensation using the threat of the criminal justice system.

But, as the UNODC report says, being in prison for moral crimes is only part of the problem. Other women are dealt with outside the formal justice system, a threat that still awaits the prisoners when they step out of jail.

Shukria Noori, the national project co-ordinator for social reintegration of prisoners, says that women may be "threatened, violated and even killed".

Aghanistan does not have enough shelters for women do not have the capacity to absorb the large numbers of victims and are reluctant to accept inmates from prison, she said.

Borrey said there is a lack of support from the government, non-governmental organisations and the community to ensure that the women are reintegrated.

Even if she does not become the victim of a so-called honour crime, a female prisoner's chance of survival after her release is very low.

In a substantial number of cases, her family refuses to take her back. She has few marketable skills and Afghanistan's social mores make it extremely difficult for a single woman to survive on her own.

"A lot of women in prison are not criminals according to international standards" Dorothea Grieger, a criminal justice programme assistant with UNODC, said.

"But the underlying principles of minimum standard rules apply to them as well. Improvement should be used to benefit them also to lead self supporting lives after release."

This is something that UN bodies and women's organisations like Medica Mondiale are trying to address.

Legal aid as well as literacy, education and vocational training inside the prisons would empower the women prisoners with some marketable skills that could help them survive.

But most important of all perhaps is preparing them for release.

Mediation with the family, local elders or religious leaders enhances the chances of her acceptance. Sudden releases, like the release of prisoners as a goodwill gesture during Id al-Fitr, can actually harm the women more, leaving them on the streets.

Transitional houses, which could help in such cases are yet to be established and, in the interim, suggestions include using prisons as safe locations where women can stay until they can be reintegrated.

It is easier to get funding for more jails than help for their inmates.

Study highlights socio-economic challenges faced by Afghan returnees

03 Sep 2007 Source: UNHCR

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

KABUL, Afghanistan, September 3 (UNHCR) – A lack of jobs, safe drinking water, accessible health care, education and housing are the main obstacles to the return and reintegration of Afghan refugees, according to a recent report by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).

Titled "Economic and Social Rights in Afghanistan II," the report released last week is the second of its kind by AIHRC and the UN refugee agency to assess the Afghan government's ability to advance and protect the economic and social rights of its citizens. But with a high number of former refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) among those interviewed, the findings also provide valuable insight into the major challenges faced by returnees.

During the assessment period of January to December 2006, UNHCR's financial and technical assistance enabled AIHRC to have significant field presence throughout the country and to benefit from the agency's global experience in monitoring returnee communities.

Over 11,000 people were interviewed in 32 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. More than half (54 percent) were returnees – former refugees and former IDPs. The benchmark for the survey was the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Afghanistan ratified in 1983.

"Full integration of returnees and a permanent peace closely and directly depend on the realization of

economic, social and cultural rights, even if this is only to the level of the minimum standards set by the ICESCR," said Sima Samar, chairman of the AIHRC.

The vast majority (over 85 percent) of those interviewed listed job opportunities, access to safe drinking water, improvement of health and education facilities, and housing as their top priorities for the future – overshadowing security (4 percent) and justice (3.1 percent).

Specifically, the study confirmed an alarming level of chronic or transient food shortages, with only 37.7 percent of interviewees stating that their household has a stable income source and 60.3 percent living below the poverty line of US$1 a day. More than half of the interviewees said they do not have access to safe drinking water.

While health care facilities were found to be generally available, Afghanistan continues to have one of the world's highest infant and maternal mortality rates. Many of the interviewees said they do not use the services due to the poor physical access and staff quality; 65 percent did not approach skilled health personnel during the birth of their last child.

Similarly, although interviewees reported that primary education was generally available in their area, one-third said their children were not attending school. Parents of girls cited the distance to school and security concerns while boys are kept out of school in order to work. The study also shows a significant discrepancy in the percentage of girls and boys completing primary education. Just over half of girls who start primary school are able to complete it, while for boys the figure is 80 percent.

With regards to child labour, over one-third of all those interviewed had at least one working child in the family. Among them, nearly half said that most or all of their children work, while 31 percent said their children's work is the only source of income for the family.

The lack of housing is also a key obstacle to return and reintegration, affecting 67.1 percent of interviewed returnees who chose not to return to their places of origin, 67.3 percent who left their places of origin and 43.4 percent of interviewed IDPs in protracted displacement. Furthermore, for 32.8 percent of returnees, the lack of housing was the main cause of dissatisfaction after returning to their places of origin.

While the findings indicate major challenges for the Afghan government to provide socio-economic rights to its people, the majority (78.8 percent) of those interviewed said they remain positive about the future – a sign of the Afghan people's resilience through decades of conflict.

Nonetheless, much remains to be done. "Despite all efforts made by the government, this report shows that Afghanistan needs more time to reach sustainable reintegration for those who have come home," said Salvatore Lombardo, UNHCR's representative in Afghanistan.

In response to the findings, AIHRC is urging the Afghan government to ensure a rights-based approach to the National Development Strategy and Afghanistan Compact. It has also called for more focus on the situation of vulnerable groups, including returnees who have to rebuild their lives after years in exile.

Wolesi Jirga panel launches probe into jail riot

KABUL, Sept 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Lower House of Parliament Sunday appointed a seven-member body to probe a recent uprising at the Pul-i-Charkhi Prison on the eastern outskirts of Kabul.

The riot that erupted in the third block of the jail two days back was allegedly put down by law-enforcement officials using intoxicating gases. For an assessment of the incident, the Wolesi Jirga speaker appointed a panel comprising members of the five house commissions.

The commission appointed by Younus Qanuni is headed by Attaullah Ludin, chairman of the justice panel of the lower house. Before leaving for the jail at 10am, he told journalists they would look into allegations that prisoners had been tortured.

Certain inmates, declared innocent by courts, were still languishing in the jail, claimed Ludin, who slammed the use of intoxicating gases as illegal. He promised the commission would dispassionately look into the charge levelled against the jail administration.

Word on the prison riot got out on Saturday, but details of the incident remain sketchy. A jail warden told Pajhwok Afghan News prisoners held at the third block gave prison officials poisonous food Friday night.

About 400 prisoners later started rioting and chanted Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great), he said, alleging the inmates wanted to escape but 100 Afghan National Army (ANA) and police personnel frustrated their attempt.

Major-General Abdul Salam Esmat, head of prisons at the Justice Ministry, said some prisoners on the first floor of the third block planned to go on strike. Police went in to maintain security, but the prisoners sprinkled the policemen with oil and torched blankets and cushions.

He added ANA soldiers then used anesthetic gases to put down the riot, Esmat explained, saying the situation was calm at the prison, housing approximately three thousand prisoners. Three inmates were killed and 30 others wounded in a similar riot in February this year.

$10m WB grant to help Public Health Ministry combat AIDS

KABUL, Sept 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The World Bank will grant $10 million to the Public Health Ministry over the next three yeas for measures preventing the spread of the deadly Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV).

A contract for the grant was inked between Finance Minister Anwarul Haq Ahady and Alastair J. Mckechnie, World Bank director, in Kabul on Sunday. Public Health Minister Syed Muhammad Amin Fatemi promised the grant would be used judiciously to strengthen preventive measures against AIDS.

He acknowledged 245 HIV-positives cases had been detected in Afghanistan. Seven of the infected people have died and the rest are under treatment. The minister added 75 per cent of the infected cases were male and more than 60 percent of them were addicts.

Dr. Fatemi revealed his ministry had devised a five-year strategy outlining areas where the grant would be expended. He reckoned the Public Health Ministry needed $38 million to implement the project, with the World Bank becoming the first source to help finance implementation of the strategy.

Alastair J. Mckechnie pointed out at the moment there was no accurate number of HIV-infected Afghans. But he praised the efforts being made by the Public Health Ministry to combat the fatal virus in a cash-strapped country.

Anwarul Haq Ahady, welcoming the grant, recalled the World Bank had provided Afghanistan $360 million for reconstruction projects this year. Since 2001 the bank has pledged $1.5 billion to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. So far $1 billion of that amount has been spent a string of schemes aimed at rebuilding the war-devastated country.

Rocky Terrain Slows Construction in Afghanistan

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, National Public Radio - NPR (USA)

Morning Edition, September 3, 2007 · Six years after the fall of the Taliban, reconstruction in Afghanistan is slow at best.

Key projects like a paved "ring road" to link Afghanistan's provinces are far from complete, despite billions of construction dollars pouring into the country each year from three dozen nations.

Growing insecurity caused by insurgents is partly to blame. But terrain and tradition are often far greater obstacles.

In northeastern Badakhshan, dusty Afghan villagers are using shovels and pickaxes to turn a tiny mountain trail into a rare road linking the northern and southern parts of the province.

It's a painfully slow process. The men beat at the mountain to widen the trail into a single-lane road made of rocks and dirt. Debris is flung some 600 feet below into the riverbed.

A stubborn outcrop is dealt with more forcefully, using dynamite provided by the German team supervising this project.

"They drill the holes like a half meter deep, then they have plastic bags with dynamite powder and they push it in with a wooden stick," says Joerg Yoder, a manager for GTZ who is overseeing this 10-month-old road project.

The project costs half a million dollars and will eventually stretch six miles. Yoder admits the new road will be a far cry from any autobahn back home.

But Abdul Rahzed Rohani, the crew foreman, says the road is a lifesaver for his village. He says trucks will use the road to supply villages like Farghambol year round.

Rohani says that the $3 each of his workers earns daily is a small fortune by local standards.

"It's just so little what is here. You really have to do so many things just to get development started. Yeah, you really have to start from scratch here. Nothing has ever been done here," says Thomas Zahneisen, the civilian in charge of the German provincial reconstruction team.

This project is like most across Badakhshan — developing unpaved roads, wells and small bridges — all modest by Western standards.

But each is vitally important to the inhabitants of this mountainous region, because the nearly one million Afghans here live pretty much like their ancestors did centuries ago. Many families live in mud homes without electricity or running water or cars. They spend half the year growing food for themselves and their livestock so they can survive the other half of the year when they are socked in by snow.

Yoder, the program advisor for GTZ, a state-run, German development company, says it's impossible to meet Western expectations of how fast development should happen. Let alone to get villagers to follow standard business practices.

"We will not be able to shape Afghanistan according to our wishes," Yoder says. "That is one of the principal problems here. It's still an oral culture — many people do not know how to write and read and it's a very slow step-by-step process to introduce a requirement, like an official bill."

Afghans, too, are frustrated with the slow pace of reconstruction.

When Yoder and colleague Marina Kielpinski come to Yawan, not far from the border with the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, the local police chief does something unthinkable by Afghan standards of hospitality — he launches into a tirade over a badly needed bridge before greeting the visitors with steaming cups green tea.

Police Chief Najibullah quickly apologizes. He says he's upset because he worries a 90-foot bridge proposed for Yawan's river won't be done before the weather turns bad.

The bridge will connect seven northern districts with the rest of the province. Najibullah says it will also save Yawan's children and livestock from drowning, as sometimes happens here.

Kielpinski reminds the chief that while the Czechs and Germans are paying some $90,000 for the project, it's up to the villagers to build the bridge.

"The most important thing now is to select exactly the right place to start excavation and they can start now — the money is here and the project is ready to move forward," says Kielpinski. "But only the people who live here can tell us exactly where the water rises and how it will be in the springtime."

The village elders and German team eventually head to the river and agree on a spot for the bridge. The German team says that with a little luck and local elbow grease, the bridge could be ready by winter.

Head of graft watchdog challenges Wolesi Jirga decision

KABUL, Sept 1 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The head of Afghanistans independent anti-corruption commission has poured scorn on a Wolesi Jirga decision disbanding the watchdog for being unable to stem rampant sleaze and bribery.

Ill accept the Lower House verdict on abolishing the commission only if it is endorsed by President Hamid Karzai, Izzatullah Wasefi told a crowded news conference here. He also angrily spurned as wild the allegations levelled against him by lawmakers this last week.

In its previous session, the Wolesi Jirga disbanded the autonomous body for what legislators described its interference in the Ministry for Judicial Affairs and its failure to curb administrative corruption.

The house first secretary, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, then alleged: Ever since its inception, the commission could not refer even a single person to the attorney-general office in spite of blatant backhanders in government departments.

In response to the allegation, Wasefi claimed the graft watchdog had sent as many as 174 corruption cases, including those against six ministers, nine deputy ministers and 16 top-ranking officials, to the authorities concerned over the last three years.

Without naming anyone, the anti-corruption czar asserted his role in preventing illegal occupation of 130,000 acres of state land and detecting government revenue worth more than 1.5 billion afghanis, which was misappropriated by certain quarters.

He went on to dismiss the impression the agency was meddling in the affairs of the judicial ministry and the attorney-general office. The role of the commission in fighting sleaze and bribery had been defined by the president himself, he argued.

Wasefi maintained the decision taken by the Wolesi Jirga, whose members tended to fuss over personal problems, amounted to nose-poking in the presidential domain. But he would not elaborate on what he meant by personal problems.

Spokesman for Parliamentary Affairs Ministry Asif Nang, meanwhile, said the Wolesi Jirgas decision on disbanding the anti-corruption commission was beyond its power. The Lower House is not empowered to abolish organisations created under presidential decrees, Nang told Pajhwok Afghan News.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]