In this bulletin:

• Scores of Afghan insurgents killed
• Four killed as Taleban attack wedding in Afghan Logar Province
• Czech soldiers in Afghanistan take part in security operation
• France redeploys six fighter planes to southern Afghanistan
• 19 Freed Korean Hostages Fly Out of Afghanistan
• Taliban say S.Korea paid over $20 mln ransom
• South Korea insists it paid no ransom to Taliban
• Pakistani nationalists visit mausoleum of anti-Taleban hero in Afghanistan
• Afghan leader, British development secretary discuss cooperation
• Germany increases education aid to Afghanistan to 70 million euros
• What happened to CIDA's aid funds?
• Reform of Afghan police hindered
• Police 'threat' to frail Afghan democracy
• Securing Afghanistan's future
• Teams Focus on Poppy Eradication in Afghanistan
• United States does nothing about Afghanistan’s booming opium production
• Back To the Future in Afghanistan
• Afghan refugees' camp 'extended'
• War on Terror: Policy Experts See A World Growing More Dangerous
• Iran: regional alliances and the dilemma of stability in Afghanistan

Scores of Afghan insurgents killed

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Saturday, September 1, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan troops backed by foreign soldiers and airpower killed about 70 suspected Taliban fighters in raids close to the Pakistan border and throughout in the country, authorities said Saturday.

Insurgent violence in Afghanistan is running at its highest level since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban despite the presence of more than 50,000 foreign troops and 110,000 Afghan police and military officers.

U.S.-led troops and Afghan security forces raided compounds late Friday in three villages in the remote Pitigal Valley border region, where intelligence has shown that top militant leaders take refuge as they travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said.

More than 20 insurgents were killed and 11 others were detained, and officers discovered a bomb-making factory, the coalition said in a statement.

Afghan authorities have accused Pakistan in the past of not doing enough to prevent the movement of militants across the border to attack Afghan and foreign troops in the country. Pakistan says it has deployed tens of thousands of the troops along the volatile frontier to stem the flow of militants.

In the central province of Ghazni, where insurgents recently released a group of South Korean church workers they had been holding, Afghan police attacked a group of Taliban planning to strike security forces, killing 18 and arresting six others, said provincial police Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadai. A coalition statement said the operation was meant to target "a militant responsible for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters," but did not say if the militant was among those killed.

The statement also said the raid resulted in the seizure of mortar and artillery rounds, numerous hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition.

Taliban militants abducted 23 South Koreans in Ghazni six weeks ago. They killed two male hostages, released two women last month and freed the final 19 last week after holding unprecedented negotiations with the Korean government.

In the Musa Qala district in southern Helmand province, a combined police and coalition patrol came under attack on Friday from mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, the coalition said in a statement. In the fight that ensued, almost two dozen insurgents were killed.

No Afghan or coalition soldiers, or civilians, were killed, the statement said. Also in Musa Qala, Afghan forces Saturday called in coalition airstrikes after coming under attack, the coalition said. Seven insurgents were killed, the statement said.

It was not possible to independently verify any of the death tolls because travel to the areas is extremely dangerous. Taliban commanders were not available for comment.

Parts of Musa Qala have been under the control of Taliban militants for months. The region has seen several weeks of bloody combat.

The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until 2001, imposing an extreme version of Islam and harboring al-Qaida leaders and thousands of other Muslim militants from around the world.

They were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, but are now leading an increasingly bloody campaign against the country's Western-backed government.

More than 4,200 people — most of them insurgents — have been killed so far this year, according to an Associated Press count.

Four killed as Taleban attack wedding in Afghan Logar Province

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

Pol-e Alam, 31 August: Four people were killed as insurgents clashed with a family at a wedding function in the central Logar Province, a security official said on Friday [31 August].

Initially the militants warned the family in Zarghun Shah village of Mohammad Agha District against music at the marriage ceremony, provincial crimes branch chief Col Qodratollah Arabzai told Pajhwok Afghan News.

As the function went on, the police officer said, the guerrillas threatened the wedding guests with death if they did not stop the musical entertainment. In the ensuing clash, two insurgents and two sons of Abdul Hakim were killed.

The marriage of Hakim's son turned into a tragedy as a result of the shootout that lasted half an hour, said Haji Niamatullah, a resident of the village. "Scared by the bloody incident," he added, "the guests ran pell-mell before police reached the scene."

Bodies of the slain Taleban were still lying at the site, Arabzai said, adding police had mounted a search for the militants in the area, where the security situation has been on a nosedive in recent months.

Czech soldiers in Afghanistan take part in security operation

Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK

Kabul, 31 August: Czech soldiers from the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the Afghan province of Badakhshan participated in the security operation Kuitisani at the end of August, the Czech Defence Ministry said today.

The goal of the operation was to strengthen cooperation between the ISAF units and Afghanistan's national army and ensure security in the regions on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the ministry said.

The operation was held in the border areas that are considered of key importance for the stability in the entire province. There are some paths there leading across the border that are being used by the opposition military forces for illegal crossing of border to Afghanistan and for drug-smuggling.

The Czech soldiers operated in the Jorm region. Their task was to ensure security on the local roads and to detect armed groups, the ministry said.

Apart from Czechs, Danish and German soldiers from the PRT took part! in the operation, as well as a Norwegian rapid reaction force unit and Afghanistan's national army units.

The Afghan soldiers organized meetings with local residents that were designed, along with a radio and leaflet information campaign, to explain them the reasons of the operation and convince the people that the Afghan government is interested in all provinces.

Czech soldiers' commander Lieutenant Colonel Petr Prochazka said the operation had two main goals. One of them was to increase the prestige of the Afghan national army and the Afghan government and this goal has been achieved since the presence of the soldiers meant increased security in the region and most residents welcomed it, he said.

Another result of the operation is that it helped establish more close contacts between the ISAF units and the national army and thus create advantageous conditions for a better control over the region, Prochazka said.

After the end of the operation, the ! PRT units will operate in the region in cooperation with the Afghan na tional police. This will allow to ensure security in poorly accessible regions, he said.

France redeploys six fighter planes to southern Afghanistan

Text of report by French news agency AFP on 30 August

Paris, 30 August: The six French Mirage aircraft operating in Afghanistan's airspace supporting NATO land forces are going to be redeployed to Afghanistan in the autumn, to the NATO base in Kandahar (southern Afghanistan), the Ministry of Defence announced on Thursday [30 August].

Up until now, these fighter jets were stationed at a base set up by the French air force at the civilian airport of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. "This is so that the aircraft are as close to their engagement zone as possible and to spare our pilots long transits," the new Defence Ministry spokesperson, Laurent Teisseire, explained during his first weekly press briefing. Mr Teisseire also announced that the minister of defence, Herve Morin, will be going to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Qatar from 6 to 9 September.

The redeployment of the Mirage aircraft will be done in two phases, first with the departure of the three Mirage 2000 followed by the departure of the three Mi! rage F1, Captain Christophe Prazuck of the general staff said without giving further details about the operation's timetable.

Mr Teisseire explained that the objective of the redeployment is to take advantage of the accommodation offered by the Kandahar base, which provides accommodation for 11,000 soldiers and civilians, as well as some 100 chase, cargo and drone aircraft.

The logistical support from the allies will also make it possible to reduce the number of French soldiers assigned to the deployment of the Mirage planes in this theatre of operations from 200 to 150, he said.

The spokesman noted, however, that "Tajikistan remains for us an essential partner in the operation and we will keep all logistical aspects of the operation there." Two Transall cargo planes will therefore remain stationed there. In the same way, two French tanker planes C-135 will remain based in Manas, Kyrgyzstan.

The decision to redeploy the Mirage aircraft on a NATO base! "was taken for operational reasons", said Mr Teisseire when he was as ked by AFP about a possible link of the decision to recent declarations by President Nicolas Sarkozy advocating a greater role for France in NATO. Commandant Prazuck also said that it is "a purely technical decision, the missions of the French aircraft in this theatre of operations and the means employed remains unchanged". "Today, for a five-hour flight, two hours are used in transit from Dushanbe to the zone of action," he said

19 Freed Korean Hostages Fly Out of Afghanistan

NY Time, By DAVID ROHDE Published: September 1, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 31 — Nineteen Koreans left Afghanistan on Friday after spending nearly six weeks in Taliban captivity, as Afghanistan’s main opposition political party criticized the agreement that led to their release.

Before leaving Kabul, two former hostages apologized to their government for their capture in an interview with South Korean television, The Associated Press reported. The two, Yoo Kyung-sik, 55, and Suh Myung-hwa, 29, said they regretted the problems they had caused.

“I can’t sleep due to concerns that we caused so much trouble,” Ms. Yoo told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. “I feel very sorry.” The women said some hostages fell to the ground when they learned two members of their group were shot dead by the Taliban soon after they were taken hostage, The A.P. said.

Ms. Suh also showed reporters how she had written detailed lists on the inside of a pair of pants that showed the times the hostages had meals and when the Taliban moved the group. “All I could think about was staying alive,” she said. “I didn’t feel any pain under captivity, I guess, because I was in a panic the whole time. But now that the tension is gone my body aches all over.”

The women spoke in a hotel in Kabul before leaving with the other hostages for a flight to Dubai. From there, the hostages were expected to fly to Korea.

Since releasing the hostages, the Taliban have vowed to kidnap more foreigners, calling the abduction of the South Koreans a “successful” way to punish allies of Afghanistan and the United States.

Sayed Mustafa Kazimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s main opposition party, the National Front, said the Afghan government should not have allowed South Korea to hold direct talks with the Taliban. He also condemned Seoul for allowing the Korean missionary group to journey to Afghanistan, saying its presence reinforced Taliban claims that missionaries were trying to convert Muslims.

“The government of Korea’s activities are also not acceptable,” Mr. Kazimi said. “Why are they sending such a group?”

Under the agreement that led to the hostages’ release, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, and agreed to prevent any South Korean missionaries from going to Afghanistan. The Taliban dropped their demand that eight senior Taliban prisoners be released. Afghan officials have speculated that South Korea paid a ransom for the release, which South Korean and Taliban officials have denied.

A suicide car bombing at the military entrance to the Kabul airport killed two Afghan Army soldiers and wounded five others on Friday morning. A German soldier and four Belgian soldiers were also wounded, according to military officials.

Taliban say S.Korea paid over $20 mln ransom

Sat Sep 1, 2007

KABUL (Reuters) - South Korea paid Afghanistan's Taliban more than $20 million to release 19 missionaries they were holding hostage, a senior insurgent leader said on Saturday, vowing to use the funds to buy arms and mount suicide attacks.

"We got more than $20 million dollars from them (the Seoul government), the commander told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "With it we will purchase arms, get our communication network renewed and buy vehicles for carrying out more suicide attacks."

The commander is on the 10-man leadership council of the Islamist Taliban movement, which is led by the elusive Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The freed hostages flew out of Afghanistan on Friday to Dubai en route for South Korea. Seoul has denied paying a ransom, but critics say negotiating with the Taliban sets a dangerous precedent that could spur more kidnappings -- which the Taliban have vowed to carry out.

South Korea insists it paid no ransom to Taliban

Sat 1 Sep 2007 - SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's presidential office denied a Taliban claim on Saturday that it had paid a ransom of more than $20 million (9.9 million pounds) for the release of 19 Christian missionaries held hostage in Afghanistan.

"We deny any payment for the release of South Korean hostages," said an official at the presidential Blue House.

"The two conditions for the release are that we pull out our troops and stop Korean missionary work in Afghanistan by the end of the year," said the official who declined to be identified.

The freed hostages flew out of Afghanistan on Friday to Dubai en route for South Korea.

A Taliban commander, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday: "We got more than $20 million dollars from them (the Seoul government). With it we will purchase arms, get our communication network renewed and buy vehicles for carrying out more suicide attacks."

Pakistani nationalists visit mausoleum of anti-Taleban hero in Afghanistan

Text of report by state-owned National Afghanistan TV on 31 August

Mahmud Khan Achakzai, Esfandyar Wali Khan, Mir Hasel Khan Franjo and other political and social personalities of Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Province [of Pakistan], who had attended the 100th anniversary of the birth of Khan Abdol Samad Khan Achakzai [a late Pashtun leader] in Kabul, this morning went to [northern] Panjsher Province.

This cultural and political delegation visited the mausoleum of Ahmad Shah Masud, the Afghan hero. In addition to praying for the soul of the national hero of the country, they signed a memorial book.

This delegation was also accompanied by Salman Khurshid, one of the leaders of the National Congress of India; and Prof Qasem Shah Skanderov, a Tajik scientist

Afghan leader, British development secretary discuss cooperation

Text of report by state-owned National Afghanistan TV on 31 August

Hamed Karzai, president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and Douglas Alexander, the British state secretary for international development, have reiterated the continuation of cooperation in the development of Afghanistan in different fields.

At a meeting held at the presidential palace this afternoon, the British secretary for international development announced that his country would donate 55m pounds as part of the UK's assistance to help pay salaries of teachers, health workers, and government workers in Afghanistan.

He said Britain was planning to offer financial, technical, and consulting services to help develop the capacity of government departments, and the economic growth in Afghanistan.

Hamed Karzai thanked Douglas Alexander for his country's cooperation with Afghanistan, and expressed hope that Afghanistan would move towards economic growth with the help of the international community, and economic cooperation between the two cou! ntries would further improve.

At the London Conference, Britain committed to donate 500m pounds for reconstruction and economic growth of Afghanistan in three years.

Germany increases education aid to Afghanistan to 70 million euros

Earthtimes.org 31 Aug 2007

Berlin - Germany is to increase its annual education aid to Afghanistan to 70 million euros (95 million dollars) from 50 million previously, the Economic Cooperation and Development Ministry announced in Berlin Friday. During 2007, some 17 million euros were being spent on building and equipping schools and for the training of teachers, the ministry said.

Girls' schools are a particular focus of the German aid. The ministry said international efforts to improve the Afghan education system were working.

Since 2001, some 3,500 schools have been built and the number of pupils has more than quintupled to around 6 million, with more than 2 million being girls.

What happened to CIDA's aid funds?

From Friday's Globe and Mail

August 31, 2007 at 7:34 AM EDT

'We know that Afghanistan's future will not be secured through military means alone," Stephen Harper said while visiting that country in May. The Prime Minister was expounding upon a familiar theme: the importance of civilian humanitarian efforts alongside those of our troops. "Success also requires a strong and unwavering civilian contribution," he told the United Nations last year. "That is why ... we increased our development assistance, raising Canada's total contribution to nearly $1-billion over 10 years, to assist the people of Afghanistan. These two actions -- rebuilding a shattered society and providing a stable security environment -- go hand in glove."

Few would dispute that analysis. But there is a long way between allocating funds and putting them to good use. And a new report by the Senlis Council, a respected international think-tank with offices in Kabul, raises troubling questions about how the money is -- or isn't -- being spent.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) claims to have invested $39-million last year in Afghanistan's Kandahar region, and another $100-million in the country at large. But the council, encouraged by CIDA to take a close look at the Canadian-funded projects after criticizing the spending as ineffective, reports that some expenditures are missing in action.

Senlis raises questions about whether thousands of tons of food aid have reached their targets in Kandahar, and found evidence of only $5-million of the $18.5-million in infrastructure development purportedly spent in that region. Most disturbing is what the council says it found at Kandahar's Mirwais Hospital. Even before last week's announcement by CIDA Minister Bev Oda of $10-million for maternal and infant health care, Canada had earmarked $3-million for the hospital. But Senlis says the building was overcrowded and in a state of disrepair - unable "to cope with day-to-day health needs of Kandahar's population, let alone the influx of bombing victims." (A video shown to reporters seemed to back this description.) A room in the hospital's starving-children ward reportedly had 28 kids sharing eight beds. A maternity unit to which CIDA allocated $350,000 was nowhere to be found. And a doctor interviewed on film said he and his colleagues lack the resources to perform routine blood tests and are paying for medications themselves.

Rather than invest directly in Afghanistan, CIDA funnels funds through organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations. That makes more sense than going it alone, since international bodies are able to co-ordinate efforts between different countries. But unless CIDA carefully monitors how its funds are invested, accountability can be lacking. Ms. Oda - whose initial response was to accuse the Senlis Council of having "an agenda of its own," presumably a reference to its criticism of destroying Afghanistan's poppy crops - wound up conceding to CTV News that she "can't say whether they're right or they're wrong."

That's not good enough. As Mr. Harper has repeatedly identified, developmental aid is essential to the success of the Afghan mission. CIDA should be able to account for every dollar of it. If it is not able to do so now, the Senlis report should be all the reason it needs to redouble its efforts.

Reform of Afghan police hindered

ByAunohita Mojumdar in Kabul

FT.com August 31 2007

Crucial reform of the Afghan police has been hindered by its neglect by the international donor community, according to a Brussels-based think-tank, resulting in the emergence of a corrupt, inefficient and politicised force.

In a report released on Thursday, the International Crisis Group says that even though they are being paid less than the army, the police are being used in anti-insurgency operations for which they are ill-trained and badly equipped, rendering them as vulnerable targets to anti-government forces. Last year (May 2006-07), 406 police officers were killed compared with 170 soldiers, it says.

There have been some improvements, at least the “hardware” of equipment and buildings, the report says, but the “return on invested human and financial capital is modest”.

The ICG criticises the lead nation approach to the security sector whereby different donor countries were made responsible for a particular sector - the US for the Afghan National Army and Germany (recently replaced by the EU Police Mission to Afghanistan) for the police. This, it says, results in the “absence of a comprehensive strategy” and a failure to grasp the “centrality of comprehensive reform of the law enforcement and justice sectors”.

The Afghan National Army “received the lion’s share of attention though a reformed police and judiciary would have had far more impact on the average citizen’s life and perception of the government’s legitimacy”.

The result has been the emergence of a force which citizens view “more as a source of fear than of security”, the ICG says, noting that currently even the numbers of Afghanistan’s police force on duty are not known.

The report documents a highly politicised appointments procedure in the police with factional networks and those linked to the drugs world competing for posts especially those that oversee smuggling routes. It says the Karzai government lacks the political will to tackle a culture of impunity and end political interference, resorting to reshuffling police chiefs from one province to another in response to complaints.

Humayun Hamidzada, presidential spokesperson, said : “I have not seen the report as yet, but in general I can say the president and the government are trying seriously to reform the police. The president on Friday called a meeting of police chiefs and spoke of the urgent need of building confidence and regaining trust of the people. The president said the governor was chief in the province and the international and national forces and the PRTs were there to help them.

Ali Wardak, a senior researcher with the Centre for Policy and Human Development, who has also not seen the report but has been working on the issue of rule of law, said: “One of the problems with the Afghan national police is that it does not operate as an integral part of the justice system and has little to do with prosecution.The judicial system should be one system in its entirety.”

Police 'threat' to frail Afghan democracy

The Age, Australia 08/31/2007 By Brendan Nicholson

BADLY trained police in Afghanistan are spreading fear on behalf of political masters instead of protecting the community, the International Crisis Group has warned.

The independent group set up to resolve conflict said in a report released yesterday the Afghan police had become a "coercive tool" of the governing elite. It said the exploding narcotics trade was a major corrupting influence and factional networks and drug alliances were competing for positions in the police, particularly lucrative ones that oversaw drug-smuggling routes.

The group, headed by former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, said insecurity would worsen and democracy could fail in Afghanistan if the police were not reformed and depoliticised.

The report said that in the early stages of the international intervention in Afghanistan the police force was neglected in favour of building the army.

The group's senior analyst in Afghanistan, Joanna Nathan, said rooting out corruption and ensuring operational autonomy, with proper oversight, was critical to Afghanistan' s security.

"Instead of increasing coercive power and force size with poorly trained recruits, the Government and its partners need to focus on increased accountability, ethnic representation and professionalism," the report says.

In Kabul this week, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson reportedly told 12 Dutch MPs that if their country withdrew its major force of troops from Afghanistan, Australia would have to consider pulling its own soldiers out.

The Dutch Government has faced considerable public concern about its involvement in Afghanistan and the issue has been voted on several times by the Dutch Parliament.

The 970 Australian troops involved in reconstruction work rely on the Dutch for air support and some protection.

The report says Afghanistan' s citizens often view the police more as a source of fear than security.

The US decision to give a leading role in its police programs to its Defence Department had helped blur the distinction between the military and the police.

"It is counter-productive to treat police as an auxiliary fighting unit battling the insurgency as has been happening with increasing frequency in the troubled south," it says.

"Afghanistan, like any other democracy, requires police service more than police force."

President Hamid Karzai's Government lacked the will to end political interference in appointments and operations.

The report says new systems and structures have given the police at least "a shell of professionalism", but a lot more had to be done.

The creation of an auxiliary police force had blurred distinctions between the agencies and put having police — any police — on the ground over building up professionalism.

A trusted police force would help nearly everything that had to be achieved in Afghanistan, from security through to gender and minority rights to building investor confidence and development goals, the report says.

The newly freed South Korean hostages were expected to fly out of Kabul yesterday following a deal critics fear could spur more abductions.

Taliban insurgents freed the remaining seven South Korean Christian volunteers late on Thursday. They are part of a group of 23 kidnapped in mid-July.

The Taliban agreed to release the remaining hostages after Seoul agreed to pull all its nationals out of the country.

Some Afghan officials say South Korea also agreed to pay a ransom during negotiations with the Taliban, which one foreign diplomat said started out as a demand for $20 million. Critics say this set a dangerous precedent.

Securing Afghanistan's future

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke candidly at the Third National Conference on Counter Narcotics in Kabul on Wednesday. Reiterating Afghanistan's commitment to fight the narcotics problem, and asking the Afghan people to do their share, he asked international stakeholders, the international community and countries of the region to do more to help stem opium production and crack down on the drug trade.

Following the latest report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that shows a new high in opium production in Afghanistan for 2007, the President also asked the international community to expand its co-operation with the Afghan government. He said the fact that worldwide trade of opium is in the hands of the international criminal organizations necessitates joint international co-operation to combat it.

The President pointed to several accomplishments, including the increase in the number of poppy-free provinces from six to 13 over the past year, and further reduction in several others where security and government presence is strongest.

Alluding to the growth of opium production in several southern and eastern provinces, especially Helmand, President Karzai blamed the international community for failing to do enough joint planning with the Afghan side. Although the lead country -- in this case the United Kingdom -- has worked hard to help Afghans, he urged donors to do more to co-ordinate security-related and anti-drug activities at the national and provincial levels with Afghan authorities.

As demonstrated by the survey, there is a direct link between the expansion of government authority, security and decrease in poppy cultivation. The production levels

have gone up in provinces where criminality and Taliban activity present the greatest threats. This means that counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency strategies need to be further linked.

Moreover, insecurity has limited the ability of the central government and donors to provide economic development, alternative livelihood programs, new jobs, civil society activities, investment and even education services.

While Afghanistan should be helped to continue to fight a culture of impunity that exists in certain parts of its society, different forms of practical incentives -- development, building infrastructure, providing alternative

crops, financial remuneration and job creation initiatives -- have encouraged farmers not to revert to poppy planting. Yet there is still more that can be done. Various approaches to poppy eradication need to be addressed and resolved amongst international proponents first, before they are debated and approved by the Afghan government and parliament.

Calls from certain quarters to legalize Afghanistan's opium poppy crop, given Afghanistan's real challenges with governance, rule of law, institution building and national security, remain a dangerous idea.

The proposal, which calls for a licensing platform allowing farmers to grow opium for medicinal use, will remain unfeasible for as long as violence disrupts normalcy and prevents a viable government presence in all regions affected by the insurgency. Illegal armed activity, farmer harassment and a black market-driven local economy will surely drive the license market out of business.

Conducting polls in countries like Canada about the Afghan poppy legalization scheme (as done by the Senlis Council recently) raises questions about the motivations, the relevance to the target audience and the politics behind the demand for legalization. It is the Afghans who will decide whether a certain plan is best suited to help them resolve this all-encompassing poppy-related problem, not political parties or interest groups overseas.

The present solution to Afghanistan's troubles lies in keeping the population on the government's side through the accelerated buildup and reform of administrative, judicial and security structures while supporting intensive development and alternative livelihoods until full security in all of Afghanistan is reached.

And we can all be certain that it will take several years of collective effort, co-ordination and the will to address all dimensions of this problem, much of it rooted in poverty and a troubled history of warfare, before it is overcome.

-Omar Samad is Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada

Teams Focus on Poppy Eradication in Afghanistan

NPR..org, by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson 

August 31, 2007 · The cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan is at an all-time high. The United Nations says the country is expected to produce nearly 9,000 tons of opium this year — nearly all of the world's supply.

Officials say the multibillion-dollar trade is spurred by the Taliban and by corrupt members of the Afghan government. But U.S. officials insist they can win this war — especially with the help of provincial governors like the one in Badakhshan, a province where opium cultivation has plummeted.

Planting season starts next month. And as Friday prayers wind down on a recent afternoon in one town, a U.S.-funded poppy-elimination team pressures farmers not to plant opium poppies.

Farmers in Jurm pour out of the mosque and walk to the police compound to meet with the anti-drug team.

"Don't grow poppy and you'll get development projects like roads," says Mohammed Akbar, a member of the task force. "Besides, when you grow poppy, you don't have room for other crops like wheat and grain. That drives up the cost of feeding your families and livestock. Then, when we destroy your poppies, how will you pay your landlords?"

It's a tough sell. Especially when the farmers say they've seen little in the way of development projects year after year. They complain that even the small hydroelectric plant being built nearby will light only one light bulb per household here.

One of the farmers is Qari Hafizullah. The poppy elimination teams cleared his fields this spring. But he says neither that nor the anti-drug team's pitch will keep him from planting poppies again in a few weeks.

"I can't do much with wheat, except make bread," he says. "I wouldn't make enough money to do anything else."

The farmers' resistance to abandoning opium poppies is common across the province of Badakhshan. Opium has been a staple of trade here for centuries. In fact, Jurm's neighboring district of Khash — located on the ancient Silk Road to China — is the source of the Afghan word for opium poppy. Just 50 years ago, cultivation was legal here.

Another obstacle to the opium war in Badakhshan is the fact the West has given authorities only 10 tractors with which to eradicate nearly 5,000 acres of poppies. Many of the fields are in highlands that the tractors can't reach.

Still, Badakhshan is emerging as one of the few success stories. Cultivation here is down by 75 percent. U.S. officials say most of the credit goes to Governor Abdul Majid.

A respected elder with a gray beard, the governor is an agricultural expert who has made poppy elimination a top priority.

Majid says the drop is because he, like the U.S.-funded team that works with him, travels from district to district to convey the anti-opium message in person. He remains the only Afghan governor to eradicate poppies at the "cabbage" stage, when they appear as little more than green fuzz in the fields.

He says that gives the farmers time to plant something else. "The reason I'm successful is because I've gained people's trust," Majid says. "It certainly isn't because of an effective police force or the central government's efforts."

Thomas Schweich, the acting U.S. assistant secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, says that under a recently revised strategy against opium, the United States plans to bolster local Afghan officials like Abdul Majid with millions of dollars.

"You have a governor who really did a very good job in eliminating poppy — over 75 percent reduction, I think, over the past 12 months," Schweich says. "So, it's our job in the international community to reward a province like that with that kind of assistance — so that there can be sustained reductions. And that's what we are going to be encouraging the international community to do."

But Majid and others here in Badakhshan fear the new U.S. strategy could backfire. For one, the new policy demands that provinces be 100 percent poppy free. Afghan officials say even a popular governor like Abdul Majid cannot control every part of Badakhshan. There may not be any Taliban here, but most villages are isolated by high mountains and the lack of roads or phone service.

Local officials add that without more immediate rewards for farmers who've abandoned poppies, Badakhshan's victories could be fleeting.

United States does nothing about Afghanistan’s booming opium production

Pravda, Russia, 08/31/2007 By Vladimir Anokhin

According to the UN 2007 World Drug Report, opium production in Afghanistan has increased by nearly one hundred times since 2001, the year when the Taliban regime was overthrown by U.S.-led coalition forces. The poppy crop is on the rise in complete connivance with the occupying forces – locations of drug labs and traffic routes are an open secret. The United States and Britain seem to be trying hard to pour tons of opiates into the markets of competing countries. In today’s world, any armed conflict or aggression not only has an impact on the situation in the area of a conflict, it can also make waves that hit the regions lying thousands kilometers away from the epicenter of a conflict.

The occupation of Iraq set fire to the entire Middle East region, which was consequently split into supporters and opponents of the aggression. The occupation of Iraq also put diplomatic and territorial disputes between the neighboring Arab countries into a phase of direct confrontation. Likewise, it created conditions for incessant military operations which could be carried out by the United States and its allies in the region. The war in Iraq and U.S. plans for launching an attack against Iran posed a threat to the economy of European and East Asian countries. A global energy crisis may be looming on the horizon.

A different kind of problem for the whole world took shape following the attack against Afghanistan. Compared to the issues mentioned above, the problem is much more complex, it is very far-reaching, and it is virtually insoluble. The problem concerns a global geopolitical catastrophe waiting in the wings. The catastrophe may have a devastating impact on many generations of human beings.

According to official data contained in UN’s 2007 World Drug Report, released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan accounts for 93 percent of the illicit global opium crop. Last year saw a one-third increase in Afghanistan’s opium harvest. Opium production in the country increased twofold in the last two years.

It is worthy of notice that the dramatic increase in opium production has been taking place with the connivance of NATO forces, if not with their knowledge. The UNODC report says that the value of the crop in Helmand province alone, where thousands of British troops are stationed, accounts for more opium than was produced in three of the world’s other leading countries, Colombia, Morocco, and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Last year opium production in the province shot up by 30-50 percent, according to estimates.

The United States and Britain commenced their “counterterrorist” operation against al-Qaeda’s international terrorist network in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. The allies failed to reach the objectives of the occupation, by and large. Opium production in Afghanistan soared following the U.S-led invasion of the country and the defeat of the Taliban regime.

The Afghan poppy crop skyrocketed by 1,400 percent in 2002. In fact, the 2002 poppy crop bounced back to production figures registered in the mid-1990s, a period when Afghanistan accounted for 70 percent of poppies cultivated in the planet. In 2001, the last year when the Taliban were still in control, 185 tons of poppies were harvested; poppy crop produced in 2002 totaled 1,900-2,700 tons; more than 7,000 tones of poppies or 87 percent of global heroin market and nearly 100 percent of Europe’s heroin market were produced in 2003. The amount of opium produced in Afghanistan in the last years totals more than 15,000 tons. The amount is sufficient for producing 810 tons of pure heroin.

A highly efficient infrastructure which includes production, credit facilities and banking operations has been put in place by those involved in Afghanistan’s drug trade over the last five years. The infrastructure covers the full production cycle of opiates from poppy harvesting and storing to morphine processing to heroin manufacture and shipping.

Opiates had been traditionally produced in the world’s three regions, namely, the so-called Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran), the so-called Golden Triangle area of southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand and Laos), and Central and South America (Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia). However, opium producers in the Golden Triangle area went bankrupt following a huge increase in poppy crop and heroin production in Afghanistan, which became the world’s top heroin producer in 2002.

In the early 2000s, wholesale price of heroin reached $10,000 per kilo in Bangkok, whereas pre-shipment price of one kilo of heroin was a mere $650 on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The question is: What are the United States and Britain trying to accomplish in Afghanistan? Are they seeking to make enormous profits by pouring tons of opiates into the illicit drug markets of the countries they deem enemy or rival? Are they trying to gain control over traffic routes and deny any responsibility for the consequences in the end? Is there any other possible reason for keeping their eyes closed to the problem? How else could we explain why they are conniving at the formation of the Afghan opium empire? The point is that poppies are being cultivated and transformed into morphine right under the noses of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s vast fields on which the poppies are cultivated can be easily spotted by satellite and aerial reconnaissance. The location of drug labs has long ceased to be a secret. The same applies to major state-controlled and private chemical facilities in Pakistan e.g. a number of pharmaceutical companies in Peshawar province supplying chemicals required to transform opium into morphine. Shipping large consignments of drugs by road involves the use of numerous vehicles, which cannot but draw attention in Afghanistan, a country with extremely poor road network.

The coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan seem to have forgotten an old proverb that says: “They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind.” Afghan-produced heroin already accounts for 35 percent of U.S. illegal drug market. Up to 80 percent of all illicit drugs consumed in the UK are drugs produced in Afghanistan. No doubt about it, the United States and Britain are going to reap the whirlwind in several years.

Vladimir Anokhin, Pravda.ru Translated by Guerman Grachev

Back To the Future in Afghanistan

By Alex Crawford - sky.com September 01, 2007

They are returning to their homeland in their tens of thousands. But the Afghanistan they have been promised is not quite the dreamland they hoped for.

Huge truckloads of refugees are flooding back over the border from Pakistan - partly because the Government there no longer wants them and  partly because they hope the land they left so long ago is peaceful and prosperous.

It does not take long to realise that Afghanistan is neither yet.

One of their first introductions to the country is to be warned about the huge number of landmines scattered across the country - the legacy of three decades of almost constant fighting.

One returning refugee Hazar Gul said: "We spent 25 years in Pakistan and I never felt insecure. But its dangerous here and we feel really upset."

The challenge of rebuilding Afghanistan is a huge one - and expectations are high. Six years after the US-led invasion to rid the country of the Taliban leadership (and find al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden) more than half the country are living in poverty.

It is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite the worldwide pledges of millions of pounds. The Afghan Government estimates it will need at least £20bn to get itself back on its feet.

Money is pouring in but the Afghan authorities are still beset by allegations that corruption is endemic and certainly the pace of change is not quick enough for many ordinary Afghanis.

Britain's ambassador in Kabul is frank in his assessment of the commitment needed here. It is going to require an international presence for decades.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles told Sky News: "It doesn't mean troops here for decades. It means giving support to the Afghan people to help rebuild this country.

"It's important to the people of Afghanistan because they are terrified of being left in the lurch."

He added: "We should be in no doubt that if we were to pull out soon then the Taliban would sweep back through the south and Kandahar would fall and Kabul would be fought over again like it has been for the last 30 years."

There is still fierce fighting in the south and east of the country and almost daily reports of explosions, roadside bombs, militant ambushes and shootings.

Yet, troops on the ground and officers truly believe they are winning, slowly. Bit by bit they believe they are getting the upper hand.

British money helps fund training, mentoring and rapid impact work such as the building of wells and roads and the refurbishment of schools - projects the locals can quickly see having a positive effect on their lives.

Importantly, they decide what the priorities are. The challenges are considerable and go hand in hand. The military has to make the country secure while the international civilian workforces focus on rebuilding communities and lives. No mean feat.

Afghan refugees' camp 'extended'

Friday, 31 August 2007 BBC News

Afghan refugees in Pakistan's largest camp have been given another six months to relocate, local media reports say. The Jalozai camp, near Peshawar city, was planned for closure on Friday but the refugees have been given an unofficial extension, say journalists.

The UN refugee agency earlier appealed to Pakistan to postpone the closure, warning that "tens of thousands" of Afghans were being pressured to leave. Pakistan's government has not yet commented on the reports.

But it has said that the "voluntary repatriation" of the refugees will continue and that the camp in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) must be closed. Local journalists say the refugees will have to re-locate to three designated camps in six months.

Till a few months ago, there were 109,000 refugees in Jalozai. Of these, 20,000 have left for Afghanistan and some have moved to other camps. But most of the remaining are reluctant to leave.

The Pakistani government says that some of the camps - mostly inhabited by people who have fled decades of fighting in Afghanistan - have been used as a safe haven by Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

But the UN said that refugees in Jalozai had been given a "very short deadline" to leave, and that it would be "impossible to manage a safe, voluntary and sustainable repatriation operation".

The agency has warned that camp closures late in the year result in "secondary internal displacement" with returnee families living in inadequate and makeshift shelters over the winter.

The UN says that the closure of Jalozai should be suspended until 2008 to permit a more "dignified and controlled conclusion to the process".

Correspondents say many refugees do not want to return because they do not have land, shelter or jobs in Afghanistan. Some have lived all their lives in Pakistan.

War on Terror: Policy Experts See A World Growing More Dangerous

VOA 08/31/2007By Judith Latham

Washington - According to a recent survey conducted by Foreign Policy magazine and the liberal policy group, Center for American Progress, 100 of America’s most respected foreign policy experts see a world that is growing more dangerous, a national security strategy in disarray, and a war in Iraq that is alarmingly off-track. And that’s six years after the September 11th terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, which prompted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the larger war against terrorism.

Caroline Wadhams, a senior policy analyst for national security at the Center for American Progress, is one of the co-sponsors of the survey. Speaking with host Carol Castiel of VOA News Now’s Encounter program, Ms. Wadhams says 91 percent of the experts believe the world is getting less safe for the American people and 85 percent believe the United States is not winning the war on terrorism. She said the major factor driving that pessimism is the war in Iraq. Although the Bush administration did well in some areas, such as controlling terrorist financing, Ms. Wadhams says, it received “low grades” in areas such as public diplomacy and democracy promotion.

Dana Dillon, the author of China Challenge, is a retired major in the U.S. Army and a former senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy group based in Washington. He says that, although the United States is not winning the war terrorism, neither is it losing that war. For example, terrorism has been reduced in Indonesia, but not in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though the “surge” in Iraq has temporarily reduced the amount of violence there. Caroline Wadhams counters that the purpose of the surge was to “create space for political reconciliation,” but Iraq’s leaders have not gotten any closer to meeting political goals such as sharing oil revenues and including more Sunnis in the government. Even though the military aspect of the surge is going well, according to Mr. Dillon, he agrees with General David Petraeus, the top U.S. Commander in Iraq, that military success represents “only a small fraction of what you can do in a counter-insurgency.”

Some critics of the war argue that the U.S. military presence in Iraq exacerbates violence. But Dana Dillon says the critical question to ask is: “We’re there now, so what do we do?” He notes that time is on the side of the insurgents and all they have to do is “not lose.” Regarding comparisons with the war in Vietnam, Mr. Dillon says a lot of “terrible things will also happen in Iraq” if the U.S. military pulls out, although he thinks it may be possible to “develop a better relationship with Iraq in the future.”

Caroline Wadhams says the Terrorism Index highlights Pakistan as a major problem. About half the experts surveyed believe U.S. policy toward Pakistan is having a “negative impact on U.S. national security,” and most of them think the “next al-Qaida stronghold will be in Pakistan.” They also chose Pakistan as the country most likely to transfer nuclear technology to terrorists. She describes the war in Iraq as a “distraction” that has strained the military to an extent that the United States is unable to meet other threats and it has diverted attention from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where the Taleban and al-Qaida have found safe haven. But Ms. Wadhams says the experts were “all over the map” on what to do about Pakistan.

Regarding Saudi Arabia, Dana Dillon says it is a “tainted friend.” He says one of the reasons Saudi Arabia funds madrassas, or Islamic schools, in other Muslim countries is to “displace the terrorists from attacking the Saudi government.” He says fighting terrorism will require a combination of economic development, diplomacy, and what he calls the “linkage of all agencies of government.” To combat global terrorism, Caroline Wadhams says, the “first step” is to get out of Iraq because the war has become the “perfect recruiting tool for al-Qaida and its affiliates.”

Iran: regional alliances and the dilemma of stability in Afghanistan

Equilibri, Italy 08/31/2007 By Elisa Morici

The weakening of Sunni cells in Iraq, as a result of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, has recently prompted a rise of the Islamic Republic of Islam in the region. Diplomats in Tehran have kept close relations with the Afghan executive, as reconstruction in the country has helped Iran strengthen its presence both in Afghanistan and within Central Asia, apart form becoming a mediator of two opposing fronts, Pakistan on the one hand and Afghanistan on the other. As such, the country has guaranteed itself the neutrality of the two countries vis-à-vis continuously hostile US foreign policy.

Accused of fuelling instability in Afghanistan, expelling refugees and selling weapons to rebel groups, Iran's strategy in the war-torn country could seriously deteriorate relations with its neighbours and catapult an unpredictable crisis that would trigger the destabilisation of Afghanistan and pitting Pakistan as a future enemy in the process.

The Islamic Republic between Pakistan and Afghanistan - The recognition of the Taliban's illegitimacy and the consequential expulsion of the central Afghan government have led Tehran's diplomacy along a noticeably different path in collaborating with its neighbours, as it seeks to establish greater presence in Afghanistan and maintain its historic alliance with Pakistan. The Islamic Republic has succeeded in becoming the centrepiece of the region's two opposing forces (Afghanistan and Pakistan) by earning itself political and economic benefits as well as an insulation from potential US interference. In the context of the latter, neither General Musharraf nor the government of President Karzai are willing to let go of Iran's alliance in favour of a US military invasion that could see the region plunge into instability.

The beginnings of cooperation between Iran and Pakistan date back to the foundation of the Pakistani state. The two countries have achieved considerable results thanks to political and commercial agreements, as well as through joint military efforts. For one, the initial stages in Iran's nuclear programme saw, for example, the transfer of know-how and structures from Pakistan. In turn, recent Iranian mediation to transport gas to India helped the inclusion of Pakistan in projecting gas pipeline. Reciprocity between the two has been mainly dictated by strategic considerations, whereby the government in Islamabad sees it as necessary to cooperate with Tehran in order to avoid tensions with its southern neighbour. Tensions could potentially bring about a triple axis of allies between Iran, Afghanistan, and India, especially considering secessionist movements located in Balucistan, the Western province of Pakistan and where a number of important resources are located. Since the start of US military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan has served as a point of reference from where Iran has been monitoring American influence in the region.

As a matter of fact, Iran's rapprochement with Afghanistan after the Taliban's exit has been significantly hinged on countering US influence in the region. Iran's role in helping re-build Afghanistan, for example, is allowing it to penetrate Afghan territory in response to US threats against Iranian nuclear sites. Iran's help, in turn, constitutes a good opportunity for Afghanistan to come out of internal turmoil. Since the fall of the Taliban, Tehran's funding for reconstruction has totalled billions of dollars, going towards programmes for strengthening links between the two countries and forging actions between national police forces against the narcotics trade.

Last year, President Ahmadinejad received numerous accusations from Washington and other members in the Afghan press, fuelling instability on many fronts whilst the Iranian government attempted to re-build the country. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the Iranian government forced the repatriation of several hundred Afghan refugees since 2006. Official sources defended the government's good intentions, holding that the repatriations serve only to reduce the negative effect of individuals on the country's system of subventions and public subsidies, and that in no way do they serve to hurt the social and economic tissue of Afghanistan.

According to NATO, Iranian intelligence is used as a pathway for weapons and explosive devices from Iraq to the Taliban resistance. At the present state, however, it is not clear whether Iran may have satisfied weapons demands coming from the Taliban, with whom Iranian secret services have been supposedly cooperating. Rather, according to a survey carried out by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London, weapons made in Iran could reach the Taliban by way of illegal trade links established by current and former combatants from the Northern Alliance who emerged in the 1990's in opposition to the rise of the Taliban. Preoccupied with improving the partnership between the two countries, President Karzai came out in public to defend Iran against the accusations.

On the other hand, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been subject to greater suspicion and conflict. The replacement of a pro-Taliban government by Musharraf's presidency has not sufficed in obliterating Afghans' memories of Pakistan's role in helping the Taliban's takeover. As boundary issues still call for solutions, Karzai has often stated that internal violence within his country has its main roots lying over the border. Pakistan, in turn, fears that India may serve as an Afghan training ground for subversive militias entering its territory, threatening a potential blockage of the country's stance in managing crisis in Afghanistan. The statements made public by the two presidents after a meeting on the fight against terrorism (concerning ongoing actions and future intentions by the two countries) are still too recent to show if the facts shall follow suit and if relations shall be subject to further cooperation.

Destabilising Afghanistan? A dangerous game for everyone - For a number of reasons, both Pakistan and Iran could see themselves capable of fuelling violence in Afghanistan, albeit such strategies would certainly not go without serious consequences for all sides involved in the conflict.

As US efforts in Afghanistan crumble, Iran could be the benefactor of a considerable boost in image, especially among neighbouring Arab countries. On the other hand, the White House could become more cautious towards establishing a new front there, especially as the 2008 presidential elections approach and pressures against Iranian nuclear plans die down.
Still, the financing of the insurgency could also deteriorate relations between Kabul and Tehran, hampering progress made on commercial and political fronts to date between the two governments. In addition, Afghanistan's internal disorder could spread to the Central Asian region, triggering a “snowball effect” of unexpected proportions. Equally worrying for Iran would be the rise of Sunni movements or even the return of the Taliban, insofar as such groups may still find fertile grounds for developing in Pakistan.

Both in the Pakistani and Iranian cases, guerrilla training still consists in a highly risky operation, so long as results fail to materialise and operations are not restricted to within one border, still yet when considered the amount of disorder within Pakistan, including secessionist pressures in Balucistan, as well as dissent from the Iranian Islamic Republic. Both Musharraf's and Ahmadinejad's governments lack the popularity and ability necessary to control internal misunderstandings.

Conclusions - Iran could potentially use Afghanistan as a “hostage” towards countering US interests in the region, especially taking into account the latter's hostility to the Iranians' nuclear development plans. On the other hand, the possibility of staving off foreign pressures would only remain realistic if Tehran and Kabul agree to a common plan led by increased Iranian influence in Afghan territory, i.e.: only if Iran continues to fuel instability in the country and is then able to secure its increased presence and an exit of Western troops.

The regional web of alliances is a second aspect that Tehran will have to consider in establishing a strategy for Afghanistan. Allies in the region have yet to support US policies of containment and counterpositioning, as many fear that embodying such policies would frustrate the balance struck with Iranian authorities. If, on the other hand, Iran uses Afghanistan as a tool for keeping enemies away, it is likely to ruin its relations with Kabul and especially Islamabad, where interests in Afghanistan are still too remote to guarantee Pakistan's commitments to a potential regional alliance and where the US still possesses considerable influence. The Islamic Republic of Iran would then find itself surrounded by enemies, isolated by the embargo and becoming an even worse enemy in the eyes of the US.

[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.]