In this bulletin:

• Security Council extends NATO-led Afghanistan mission
• Afghan General: Peace Talks 'Complex'
• 82 killed in Afghanistan violence
• Six Afghan civilians killed in air strike: governor
• Canadian vehicle kills Afghan, injures 4
• Afghanistan closing in on abductors
• Billions In Aid Wasted In Afghanistan?
• MacKay calls for more NATO help in Afghanistan
• MacKay assails Europe for not sharing burden
• Dion blasts Harper on foreign policy
• Ambassador calls on Canadians to be patient with Afghan mission
• Canada has 'moral' duty to Afghanistan
• Afghan's Kandahar safer, but battle not won-governor
• Large peace march held in Afghanistan
• Afghanistan and Taliban strike deal on health
• Taliban speak in many tongues
• National Army Short Of Everything But Spirit
• Musharraf shakes up Pakistan army
• Warsaw hospitals give life saving medical care to Afghanistan villagers
• Is the 'Kite Runner' Reason to Leave Afghanistan?

Security Council extends NATO-led Afghanistan mission

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to extend for one year the mandate of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, but Russia abstained.

Fourteen of the council's 15 members approved a resolution that decides to extend the authorization of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for a year beyond October 13, when it was due to expire.

But Russia, a veto-wielding council member, said it could not support the text even though it strongly backed ISAF's mission to combat "terrorism" in Afghanistan.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that he abstained after sponsors did not take into account suggestions he and others made to clarify why a certain paragraph was inserted, and expressed concerns that individual countries' domestic affairs had played an undue part in the insertion.

The paragraph in question was to "express appreciation for the leadership provided by NATO and for the contributions of many nations to ISAF, including its maritime interdiction component." It did not name a particular country in relation to the maritime operation.

But the Russian envoy linked this insertion to the internal affairs of "some members" of the United Nations -- an apparent reference to Japan, where opposition politicians have made a political issue of the country's involvement in ISAF.

"A decision was made to give priority to domestic considerations of some members of the United Nations," Churkin said. "The unity of the Security Council has been sacrificed to undue haste."

"We believe that the maritime component is necessary exclusively to combat terrorism in Afghanistan and should not be used for other purposes," he added.

US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad explained that the paragraph was added after council members noticed the raging debate in Japan about Tokyo's contribution to the maritime interception of "terrorists" affecting Afghanistan.

"This is an opportunity for the Security Council to underscore the importance of this mission and to express by that recognition the appreciation that we all have for the important contribution that Japan is making," Khalilzad said.

Ahead of the vote, Japan's defense ministry earlier Wednesday voiced hope that the council resolution would weaken an opposition bid to end Tokyo's mission supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan.

The United States has warned that relations would suffer with Japan, one of its closest allies, if Tokyo does not renew its contribution, which involves supplying fuel to coalition war jets and ships. Legislation on the deployment expires November 1.

Japan's main opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, whose bloc won control of the upper house of parliament in July elections, has vowed to end his country's Afghan mission, saying Tokyo should not be part of "American wars."

More than 50,000 international troops mainly operating under ISAF are helping the Kabul government in its battle against resurgent Taliban extremists.

Afghan General: Peace Talks 'Complex'

By BRIAN MURPHY – BAZARAK, Afghanistan (AP) — One of Afghanistan's most renowned anti-Taliban commanders predicted Thursday that proposed peace talks would be a "long and complex process" but likely would be snubbed by hard-liners and foreign fighters in the Islamic militia.

The comments by Gen. Bismillah Khan — made during a visit by the most senior U.S. military chief for the region — appeared to reflect a more cautious approach by some in the Afghan military toward a push by President Hamid Karzai to open talks with the Taliban.

"This could be a beginning," Khan said following meetings with Adm. William Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command. "But it's a long and complex process. Its not something that will have a significant effect in the short term."

Khan, the army chief of general staff, predicted that some Afghan supporters of the Taliban could be drawn into expanded negotiations for reconciliation with Karzai's Western-backed government — which has been offering peace deals to individual fighters for years.

But he said that foreign jihadists and core Afghan supporters would probably never come to the table.

"There are factions in the Taliban that will reject (talks) completely, he said after taking Fallon on a tour of the tomb of slain anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massood in the Panjshir Valley, about 50 miles northeast of Kabul.

Khan was a top Northern Alliance commander under Massoud, who was killed in 2001 by two Arab bombers posing as journalists. Khan later fought alongside the U.S. forces that helped topple the Taliban following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Fallon's stop in Afghanistan — part of a 10-day visit that includes the Persian Gulf and Iraq — seeks to review U.S.-led strategies to battle Taliban guerrillas struggling to regain footholds around the country. Fallon oversees U.S. military forces across Central Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.

The overtures for peace talks received initial encouragement from a Taliban spokesman and have been welcomed by NATO and the United Nations. But the Taliban leadership returned with preconditions that would effectively kill chances for talks — that the Pentagon and NATO withdraw its forces and Islamic law is re-imposed on the country.

More likely, said Khan and other Afghan officials who greeted Fallon, is that the peace talk offers could attempt to splinter the Taliban and other militant groups between those looking for reconciliation and others seeking to fight on.

Washington urges Taliban fighters to surrender. But it rejects blanket peace talks, saying the U.S. won't negotiate with terrorists. Some Taliban commanders are held at Guantanamo Bay and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

Taliban militants last month forced the government of South Korea to negotiate directly with them over the fate of 23 South Korean church volunteers kidnapped in central Afghanistan in July.

82 killed in Afghanistan violence

09/21/2007 10:01 AM By: Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A bomb attack Friday against a convoy of French troops killed one soldier and injured many Afghans near the blast, while heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan killed about 75 Taliban fighters and six civilians, officials said.

The attack in western Kabul blew the windows out of a civilian bus and set at least one vehicle on fire. At least six civilians were in serious condition, and many others had lesser injuries, said Zormai Rasa, the local police chief.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed that one French soldier was killed in the blast, but a spokesman said he had no other information.

Heavy fighting in the south, meanwhile, killed around 75 Taliban militants during the last 48 hours, the U.S.-led coalition said. Six civilians were also killed after Taliban fighters sought shelter in their homes, which were then targeted by airstrikes, an Afghan official said.

Airstrikes were called in against "anti-coalition militants" in the Garmsir district of Helmand province early Friday, killing about 40 fighters, the coalition said. Soldiers found more than 20 rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and land mines in the militants' compound, the coalition said.

The six civilians, including women and children, died in a separate battle in Helmand province's Gereshk region on Wednesday after Taliban fighters fled fighting with NATO forces and sought shelter in the civilian homes, said Gereshk district chief Abdul Manaf Khan.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said there were "a number" of civilian casualties caused by the fighting. ISAF said Taliban fighters attacked its forces from a housing compound and that an airstrike targeted the compound. ISAF said it had been unaware that civilians were in the area.

In another newly reported battle, more than three dozen Taliban fighters were reported killed Wednesday in Uruzgan province, the coalition said.

The fighting began when Afghan and coalition troops spotted a dozen insurgents planting roadside bombs in Uruzgan province, sparking a 14-hour battle that included airstrikes against Taliban fighters taking cover in village homes.

Six Afghan civilians killed in air strike: governor

Fri Sep 21, 3:55 AM ET - KABUL (AFP) - NATO warplanes killed six Afghan civilians, most of them women and children, in an air strike during a battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, a district governor told AFP Friday.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) admitted civilians were killed in the attack in the southern province of Helmand but it did not say how many died.

ISAF said the civilians were killed Wednesday but the district governor said they died Thursday. Despite the confusion, the incident appeared to be same, as both said it had taken place in Gereshk district.

District governor Abdul Manaf told AFP Taliban fighters had been sheltering among villagers, who were being used as "human shields."

"The NATO forces called for air support. At this time the Taliban had fled the area and due to aerial bombing six civilians, mostly women and kids, were killed," he said.

In a statement, the 37-nation ISAF said that Taliban fighters had attacked its soldiers from a compound and an air strike was called in against them.

"ISAF was unaware of civilians in the vicinity of the target and unfortunately it appears that a number of non-combatants were caught in the attack and killed."

The NATO-led coalition said it had opened an investigation into the deaths in Helmand, which is the most violent region in Afghanistan and its main opium-growing area.

"We take every possible precaution to avoid civilian casualties while conducting our operations and we warn people in advance about operations where possible," ISAF spokesman Wing Commander Antony McCord said.

ISAF troops were operating in that part of Helmand as part of a new operation launched on Wednesday to clear Taliban out of the area.

More than 50,000 US- and NATO-led troops are battling the resurgent Taliban Islamist militia and are under pressure from rights groups and the government to avoid civilian deaths during their operations.

More than 700 civilians have been killed this year, around half in Taliban attacks and half in action by Afghan and international military forces. The Taliban have waged an insurgency since being ousted from power nearly six years ago in a US-led invasion.

Canadian vehicle kills Afghan, injures 4
CanWest News Service; with files from Agence France-PresseFriday, September 21, 2007

KANDAHAR - An Afghan was killed and four were injured when the car they were in was stuck by a Canadian vehicle designed to survive landmine explosions, the International Security Assistance Force announced yesterday.

The accident occurred early Wednesday when the Afghan vehicle tried to overtake another vehicle travelling ahead of a Canadian combat logistics patrol about four kilometres from the main Canadian base in Kandahar.

The driver of the passing vehicle lost control and his vehicle ended up in a ditch with the front end sticking out into the road. The wheels of a Canadian RG-31 Nyala vehicle drove over the hood of the Afghan vehicle, throwing the two passengers in the front seat onto the road.

The Canadian convoy stopped to provide first aid and brought the wounded to the ISAF hospital and Kandahar Airfield, where two of the survivors remain in stable condition. The two other survivors suffered minor injuries and were released.

Traffic accidents are a constant problem for Canadian patrols in Afghanistan. Afghans often drive erratically and in poorly maintained vehicles on crowded roads. Canadians sometimes have trouble reacting quickly because their vehicles can weigh up to 20 tonnes.

A further complication is that all ISAF troops are constantly worried about being struck by Afghan vehicles loaded with explosives. Because of this threat, all ISAF vehicles carry large red signs in local script warning Afghan drivers to give them a wide berth.

"ISAF goes to great lengths to ensure that patrols are conducted safely. This incident is deeply regrettable," said Wing Cmdr. Antony McCord, a Royal Air Force officer who is the senior spokesman for ISAF troops in southern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old Dutch soldier, Tim Hoogland, was killed yesterday in southern Afghanistan when his patrol came under mortar fire, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said.

Afghanistan closing in on abductors

The Daily Star (Bangladesh) Friday, September 21, 2007

Afghan authorities are closing in on the abductors of Brac worker Nurul Islam and they are hopeful of his release soon, said Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury quoting the Afghanistan foreign ministry yesterday.

"The Afghanistan foreign ministry contacted us this morning and told us that they are zeroing in on the kidnappers of Mr Nurul Islam," Iftekhar said at a foreign ministry press briefing.

"They said they are hopeful of his release after they arrested three people in connection with the kidnapping two days ago," he added.

Asked if he still considered Afghanistan a safe place for Bangladeshis, Iftekhar said although the war-torn country remains unstable, Bangladeshi NGO workers from Brac and Grameen Bank are working in similar, if not worse, conditions in parts of Africa and he sees no reason for Bangladeshis to stop working in Afghanistan.

The abduction of the Brac worker is an isolated incident and Bangladeshis are not particularly being targeted by militant groups in Afghanistan, he added.

Nurul Islam was kidnapped from Kulangar district of Logar province in Afghanistan on September 15.

Billions In Aid Wasted In Afghanistan?

CBS, 09/21/2007 - Public Health Expert Documents U.S. Failures In reconstruction

JALALABAD - American doctor Dave Warner is on a mission in eastern Afghanistan to show people back home how billions of taxpayer dollars sent here are being wasted.

“When I was here in December, this was full so you can see they've dug another pit over here,” Warner says, pointing to a pit.

Rotting bio-waste is dumped in the hospital's backyard because as Warner and the hospital director showed CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan - the new waste incinerator donated by the U.S. government is completely useless. Even if the hospital had been trained how to run it, they can't afford the fuel.

“It’s not used very often … at all,” he said.

It was a gift from the American people.

“Isn’t that nice?” Warner said.

Warner is a public health expert from San Diego who's taken it upon himself to do what no one else in Afghanistan seems to be doing - documenting the failures in reconstruction. He says the system can't be fixed unless those responsible first admit that it's broken.

But it's a hard sell, as Warner discovered when he tried to report his findings to officials at the Pentagon.

“I was brought aside and they told me, ‘Don't tell that story.’ I said ‘Why not?’ And they said ‘Well, this is one of our success stories,’” he said.

A success story that quickly turned to disappointment for the hospital when they discovered that a septic truck donated by the U.S. with brand new tires and a new coat of paint wasn't new at all. In fact, it's at least 60 years old and starts up with a crank.

The hospital's plumbing system is new, and certified as complete by the U.S. agency which funded it. But it's a disaster. Blood poured out of an open drain when Logan was there.

The open drains should have been covered - a fact Warner pointed out more than a year ago to those in charge of the project, but no one would take responsibility and finish the job. Warner says leaving it to the Afghans is unrealistic.

“They have no resources, and so every time we leave something 80 percent of the way, that more than overwhelms their capacity,” he said.

It's inside the hospital that you really see how overwhelmed the hospital is. Surgical instruments are sterilized in a pressure cooker.

Babies are kept two or three to one bed. In the newborn intensive care unit, critically ill babies have to share oxygen - there's barely enough power to run two machines.

Newborns with jaundice also have to share fluorescent lights because of the limited power.

“This is what the people have,” Warner said, referencing average Afghanis. “Yes, when you are talking about hearts and minds, these are the hearts.”

Hearts that the United States is failing to win, Warner says, because the system is failing them.

MacKay calls for more NATO help in Afghanistan

Updated Thu. Sep. 20 2007, CTV.ca News Staff

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday NATO allies who are reluctant to lend help in Afghanistan should think about what will happen if Canadian forces are not replaced when they are expected to pull out in 2009.

"We understand the caveats, we understand the constitutional limitations, we understand the political volatility, but NATO cannot fail. This is a no-fail mission," he told reporters in Washington.

MacKay met with his U.S. counterpart, Defence Secretary Robert Gates, for the first time since he took over the portfolio in the cabinet shuffle last month.

His visit caps a series of whirlwind meetings with officials from England, Norway and the Netherlands.

During a meeting in Amsterdam on Wednesday, MacKay said NATO must do more to help in the dangerous southern part of Afghanistan.

Unless Parliament agrees unanimously to extend the mission, Canadian soldiers will pull out of Afghanistan in February, 2009. Currently, no NATO allies have stepped forward to take their place.

"I still hold up a fair bit of hope and optimism that they will recognize that if the job is not done in Afghanistan, if countries like Canada leave, the Taliban can follow them," MacKay said.

"These threats are not going to stay isolated. We know that Afghanistan was an incubator and an exporter of terror."

The concern is shared by Barnett Rubin, director of studies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.

"It means that there would be a very serious deterioration of security in the heartland of the Taliban," he told CTV News. "It's quite possible that they will regain control of large swathes of territory in the south of Afghanistan."

Also Thursday, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion criticized the Conservative government's stance on Afghanistan, saying it was a mirror of the United States' policies.

Dion was attending a conference on Afghanistan held in Montreal this week. 

"The United States is our ally but not our model. This is a distinction this Conservative government has never understood," he told reporters.

When asked, Dion said he would end the combat mission in February, 2009, but keep the troops there to help rebuild.

"To answer in detail your question is not possible for the leader of the Opposition, is not possible today because we need to do that in concentration with our allies," he told CTV Montreal.

Omar Samad, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, also spoke at the conference in Montreal, saying the country's role and its sacrifices are a "positive influence," and asked again for Canada to stay past 2009.

"History has shown us that all nations that have been post-conflict have had to go through many years of rebuilding and Afghanistan is no exception," Samad said.

The Afghanistan mission was the primary focus of MacKay's hour-long meeting at the Pentagon.

After the meeting, MacKay told some NATO countries are assisting by sending equipment and helping with training and reconstruction, but that's not enough.

"We know that we have to have greater capacity in the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, so there are specific niche roles that countries that are not prepared to necessarily to come to Kandahar and RC South (Regional Command South) to play that type of assistance," MacKay said.

"We need people that are prepared, by all means, to come to RC South, to share in the heavy lifting."

He'll be lobbying NATO members to become more active in dangerous southern Afghanistan at informal talks in the Netherlands next month.

MacKay assails Europe for not sharing burden

PAUL KORING From Friday's Globe and Mail September 21, 2007 at 4:16 AM EDT

New Defence Minister lashes out at Liberals for sending Canadian troops into battle without proper protection

WASHINGTON — Defence Minister Peter MacKay lashed out at Liberals and Europeans yesterday, accusing the former of sending Canadians to war in Afghanistan lacking proper protection and some unnamed NATO allies of shying away from combat.

"The question might be asked of the previous government how they could have sent them there without that type of equipment," the new Defence Minister said when asked why Canadian troops in Afghanistan have yet to receive the latest armoured vehicles designed to detect and destroy improvised explosive devices, currently the most common cause of casualties.

Mr. MacKay, who was in Washington to meet with U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, said the Tory government "has been working extremely hard to provide the brave men and women of the Canadian Forces with the necessary protection and the best gear we can possibly supply."

However, the $30-million fleet of new anti-IED vehicles weren't ordered until May of this year, 15 months after the Tories formed the government in early 2006 and long after it became clear that IEDs posed the gravest threat to Canadian soldiers.

Canadians have suffered a killed-in-action rate, mostly from IEDs, three times higher than other NATO nations with troops in southern Afghanistan.

The new anti-IEDs vehicles were supposed to be delivered last month, but still haven't reached Afghanistan. When they were ordered in May, Mr. MacKay's predecessor, retired brigadier-general Gordon O'Connor, said: "Providing Canadian soldiers with the protection they need is of the utmost importance. That is why this government is making sure that they have a capability to detect, investigate and dispose of IEDs."

Mr. MacKay sounded a similar theme yesterday, saying the Tory government is "committed to providing the best possible security, the best possible protection" for Canadian troops. "That's why we got tanks," he said.

The Conservative government, however, didn't ship Leopard tanks to Afghanistan until after the battle for Panjwai District - the biggest combat clash for Canadian troops since the Korean War. In the Panjwai battle, seven months after the Conservative government took office, Canadian infantry troops went into action behind rented yellow construction bulldozers with steel plates hastily welded over the exposed operator's cab.

Mr. MacKay spent the past two days on a whirlwind tour of several NATO capitals seeking to get recalcitrant allies to send their soldiers into combat in the south.

"Clearly, we need people that are prepared to do the business," he said, referring to the few nations such as Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States willing to wage war and suffer the bulk of the casualties in southern Afghanistan, where a raging Taliban insurgency threatens to further destabilize the country.

Echoing U.S. President George W. Bush's stark warnings, Mr. MacKay said if Canada and other countries quit Afghanistan, it will again become a haven for Islamic terrorism.

"If countries like Canada leave, the Taliban can follow them, and by that I mean ... Afghanistan was an incubator and an exporter of terror," he said, after meeting with Mr. Gates.

Mr. MacKay raised the spectre of new and massive terrorist attacks - like the Sept. 11 attacks - if NATO retreats from Afghanistan and allows the Taliban to take over.

"North America is not immune, continental Europe is not immune, nobody is immune," he said.

So far, the Canadian government has failed to persuade major European nations - notably Germany, France, Italy and Spain, all of which have large numbers of soldiers in Afghanistan but keep them far from combat - to send their soldiers south to share the counterinsurgency's twin burdens of fighting and dying.

Mr. MacKay said a forthcoming NATO meeting would provide an opportunity to "look in the whites of their eyes ... and find out if those countries truly appreciate the necessity, the need and the impact."

Dion blasts Harper on foreign policy

The Canadian Press September 20, 2007 at 5:22 PM EDT

MONTREAL — Stéphane Dion unleashed a string of insults Thursday to condemn Stephen Harper's foreign policy, describing it as mediocre, rigid, simplistic, amateurish and incompetent.

Taking aim at the government's unclear plan for the future of the Afghanistan mission, the Liberal leader outlined a foreign affairs agenda that includes a new role for Canada in Afghanistan after 2009 when combat operations are scheduled to end.

But Mr. Dion provided few details on what Canada would do instead, saying he would boost the number of Canadian development workers in the country and help provide Afghans with clean water.

Mr. Dion accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of slavishly following the lead of U.S. President George Bush on foreign policy — abandoning the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases, ramping up defence spending, and ignoring human rights violations in the pursuit of terrorists.

"Mr. Harper has given Canada a foreign policy that draws its inspiration from the American right, a foreign policy that does little to advance Canadian interests," Mr. Dion told a foreign relations think-tank.

Mr. Dion said it's up to Mr. Harper's government to hammer out a plan with NATO allies, not the Liberals. The government is working on it, according to Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre.

Mr. Poilievre accused Mr. Dion of his own flip-flop for demanding an end to an Afghan mission he helped launch while he was a Liberal cabinet minister. "He helped put our troops in heavy combat," Mr. Poilievre said in an interview.

"Then he opposed their mission in an act of breathtaking hypocrisy. He's flip-flopped so many times it's impossible to keep track."

Mr. Dion said a Liberal government would return to a more multilateral approach that puts a little distance between Canada and the U.S.

Among other things, he said a Liberal government would champion global efforts to combat climate change and promote human rights. It would also seek a worldwide ban on cluster bombs, in same way that Canada led the charge to ban land mines under Jean Chrétien's Liberal government.

Mr. Poilievre pointed out that Mr. Dion was in cabinet when Canada failed to meet climate change targets.

"He's trying to distract from his weak leadership with these vicious attacks," the Ontario Tory MP said.

Mr. Dion said he would also attempt to make Canada the world's best "fresh-water managers," preserving a precious resource at home while helping to prevent the rapid depletion of water reserves elsewhere in the world.

Mr. Dion was most critical of the Tory government's handling of Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan, calling it "the most appalling example among a series of foreign policy blunders."

He said the government has bungled the issue of Afghan detainees, proved incapable of administering Canadian aid in the country, and sent a series of confusing mixed signals on when the combat mission will end.

"It's always worrisome when a politician constantly flip-flops, but when people's lives are at stake, it's inexcusable," Mr. Dion said.

Mr. Dion said a Liberal regime would give Canada's NATO allies immediate notice that the combat mission will end in February 2009 so the alliance can plan for the change.

Mr. Dion's attack came one day after Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier gave his first, halting speech in his new job.

Interrupted repeatedly by hecklers, Mr. Bernier read closely from a prepared text and tripped over questions about the Afghanistan mission's structure and mandate.

Mr. Dion chided Mr. Harper for refusing to intervene in the case of Omar Khadr, the lone Canadian being held at the controversial U.S. detention centre in Guantanamo. Mr. Khadr, who is accused of fighting alongside al-Qaeda terrorists and killing a U.S. army medic, was captured by American troops in Afghanistan six years ago when he was only 15.

Mr. Dion reiterated the Liberal contention that Canada should pressure the Americans to ensure Mr. Khadr receives due process in a civilian court.

Ambassador calls on Canadians to be patient with Afghan mission

MONTREAL - Canada's contributions and sacrifices to Afghanistan are a "positive influence," stressed the war-torn country's ambassador to Canada.

Omar Samad made his comments Thursday at an international conference in Montreal, which brought together diplomats and military experts to discuss Canada's role in Afghanistan. Samad told reporters that many Canadians are starting to understand what the Afghan mission is all about.

"All of us collectively are doing a better job of explaining... that it's not just a military one."

He said Canadians are there to help the Afghan people and their government become self-sufficient as soon as possible.

Since Canada began its involvement in Afghanistan, 70 soldiers and one diplomat have died.

Canada's troop commitment to Afghanistan expires in February 2009, and the ambassador called on Canadians to be patient for signs of progress.

"History has shown us that all nations that have been post-conflict have had to go through many years of rebuilding and Afghanistan is no exception," Samad said.

Chris Alexander, the deputy head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, said everyone has to remain focused on bringing security to a country that has been ravaged by conflict.

"It's going to be a team effort every step of the way and that means all the players on the team have to be there," he said in an interview.

But Alexander stressed that the lives of Afghans have improved over the past six years.

Stephen Wallace, vice-president of the Canadian International Development Agency's Afghanistan Task force, agreed.

He said there had been remarkable progress in the fields of education and health. "We have saved 80,000 more infant lives a year," Wallace claimed.

He also described the refugee situation as a success story, pointing out that since 2002 more than four million Afghans have returned to their country.

"Canada is playing a role (and) with patience and perseverance, we will make progress," Wallace said.

Most conference participants agreed NATO forces will be in Afghanistan for the long term.

And though there were calls for Canada to stay beyond its 2009 commitment, many agreed the decision should be taken by Parliament and the government.

Martin Howard, a NATO official, pointed out that Canada has been successful in Kandahar, what he called "the heartland of the Taliban."

"We think Canada is a major player in Afghanistan, both militarily and diplomatically and on the development front and we want it to stay," he said. "It's not something we can force nations to do."

But military historian Desmond Morton said a withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan would be seen as a military setback.

"We would be seen as the people who left and more people would have to be found to deliver the success," he said.

The conference, which was organized by the Universite de Montreal, opened Wednesday evening with a speech by Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier.

His speech was interrupted repeatedly by about a dozen hecklers, two of whom were later arrested.

Canada has 'moral' duty to Afghanistan

MIKE BLANCHFIELD CanWest News Service Friday, September 21, 2007

'If we were to withdraw tomorrow, our allies would feel betrayed,' diplomat says

MONTREAL - Countries that pull their troops out of Afghanistan prematurely would be guilty of a moral failure, senior Canadian and United Nations diplomats warned yesterday.

"If we were to withdraw tomorrow, our allies would feel betrayed," Michel de Salaberry, Canada's new senior civilian

co-ordinator for Kandahar, said in an interview. "We've said we'd stay until 2009. Morally, we have to live up to that pledge."

Over the longer term, he added: "I think we'll want to stay committed to Afghanistan, but that can take a variety of shapes."

Chris Alexander, Canada's former ambassador to Afghanistan and the current UN deputy there, added early withdrawal would amount to "renouncing on a mandate conferred on (Canada) by the Security Council of the UN."

"In fact," he added, "to refuse fighting the Taliban would mean we are refusing and rejecting our responsibilities, our institutions, ourselves. It would be a worldwide failure and a failure of our souls."

The tough rhetoric came at an international conference on the future of Afghanistan, and was a direct response to the growing political opposition among some NATO countries, including Canada and particularly Quebec, to continued military involvement in the war-torn country.

Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier also warned the conference that Canada's international reputation is at risk if it doesn't

meet its commitments in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Parliament must reach a "consensus" on keeping Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond its original commitment of February 2009.

However, this appears unlikely as the opposition Liberals are calling for an end to combat operations by that date, while the NDP wants the troops brought home now.

Alexander said Canada's international commitments to Afghanistan must transcend partisan politics.

"The resolutions authorizing our political mission of the UN, authorizing ISAF, authorizing military action in Afghanistan - military, development, counter-narcotics and otherwise - are all commitments made by the international community, regardless of partisan issues," he said.

An Afghan was killed and four were injured Wednesday when their car was struck by a Canadian vehicle designed to survive land-mine explosions, the International Security Assistance Force announced yesterday.

The Canadian convoy stopped to administer first aid and brought the wounded to the ISAF hospital and Kandahar Airfield, where two of the survivors remain in stable condition. The other two survivors suffered minor injuries and were released.

A 20-year-old Dutch soldier was killed yesterday in Uruzgan, southern Afghanistan, when his patrol came under mortar fire, officials said. Taliban rebels try to avoid head-on clashes with the mostly Canadian NATO forces in the Kandahar region, but in the past year have instead turned to suicide attacks and roadside bombs.

Still, the number of security incidents in the region has roughly doubled in the past year.

Ottawa Citizen canwest news service and Reuters contributed to this report

Afghan's Kandahar safer, but battle not won-governor

By Jon Hemming

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Security has improved in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in the past year, the provincial governor said on Thursday, but it will be a long time before Taliban insurgents are completely defeated in their former capital.

Taliban rebels no longer mount large offensives and try to avoid head on clashes with the mostly Canadian NATO forces in the Kandahar region, but in the last year have instead turned to asymmetric warfare -- suicide attacks and roadside bombs.

While the threat that Taliban rebels might retake Kandahar and other major towns in the south has subsided, the number of security incidents in the region has roughly doubled in the past year.

"Kandahar was the capital of the Taliban and still the Taliban has a lot of interests here and also Kandahar is very close to Pakistan, this is why we had a lot of problems last year," Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid told Reuters in an interview.

"Thank God this year the situation is getting better, that does not mean we do not have any Taliban activity, but we are much better than last year."

Aside from the large number of casualties inflicted on Taliban foot soldiers by NATO and U.S.-led forces and the increasingly confident Afghan army, foreign forces have also gone after Taliban leaders.

In two special forces operations in Kandahar in the last week, one senior field commander was killed and four captured, a Western security analyst said.

Governor Khalid enraged the Taliban by displaying the body of Mullah Dadullah, the top rebel commander for the south killed in May.

The 37-year-old softly spoken governor has survived at least two suicide bomb attempts on his life in the past five months.

The cells of seven suicide bombers were arrested in Kandahar this week, the security analyst said. They all had the same target -- the governor.

Taliban recruitment in the south is down, the analyst said, and the insurgents have upped their rates of pay in response.

"Still in some districts they have group activity but it is much less than last year and the situation is getting better day by day," Khalid said.

But the end is far from being in sight, he said.

"We have had 30 years of war and we had a lot of ammunition and guns and terrorists from all over the world," Khalid said. "A lot of terrorists are still in Afghanistan they are getting support from our neighbouring countries."

Pakistan acknowledges the Taliban have been able to use many of its border areas as a safe haven direct the insurgency and train fighters, but says it is doing its best to combat militants that operate on both sides of the border.

"Our enemy, most of them are living in neighbouring countries, they have families there, their wounded go to neighbouring countries' hospitals the are getting economic support," Khalid said.

"The war against terrorism will not be won in one year," he said. "The Afghan people need peace and they are thirsty for peace more than anyone in the world -- we suffered for 30 years from fighting and from war."

Large peace march held in Afghanistan

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:08:17 Source: DPA

Several thousands of Afghans have marched in Herat, ahead of the International Day of Peace to demand peace for the war-torn countries.

People, including many children, filled streets for more than two hours to take part in the rallies that were organized by the Afghan Red Crescent Society.

Red Crescent Secretary General Fatima Gilani, who led the march, said it was the first time that Afghans were marking the International Day of Peace (Sep. 21) that was aimed at urging a global ceasefire.

The demonstrators shouted slogans for ending the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and carried placards in support of peace.

After three decades of war turning the country into one of the world's poorest nations, Afghanistan still suffers growing violence. MHE/RE

Afghanistan and Taliban strike deal on health

Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:23 PM BST By Jon Hemming

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan health officials said on Friday they had brokered a deal with Taliban leaders to allow the immunisation of children in rebel-held areas in a rare sign of cooperation between the warring sides.

The deal was made as part of a programme by UNICEF to vaccinate more than a million Afghan children against polio after a recent outbreak of the debilitating viral infection that has been eliminated from all but four countries in the world.

The Taliban insurgency against the Afghan government and its mainly Western allies has hampered the construction of hospitals and clinics after 30 years of war and prevented health workers reaching many of the sick and injured.

But even as fighting raged in the most violent southern province of Helmand, government health officials in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah decided to try to help children on both sides of the frontlines and extend their polio vaccination programme to the rebel-held town of Musa Qala.

"We approached elders and tribal leaders and went to Pakistan to get a religious ruling from a mullah, but still the Taliban refused to allow us to conduct immunisations," said Dr. Enayatullah, Helmand director of public health.

Then they hit on the idea of contacting the only medical professional they knew on the Taliban side -- Mullah Ahmad who used to run a 400-bed emergency hospital under the Taliban. He then persuaded the Taliban governor of Musa Qala.

"Before we couldn't vaccinate because of just one or two people in charge," Dr. Enayatullah told a meeting with U.N. workers. "When they changed their minds, it all became possible."

Other health workers in Lashkar Gah also contacted the medical Mullah Ahmad to use his influence to overturn a threat by one Taliban commander to burn down a clinic in government-held territory because male doctors there had helped women give birth.

Helmand, a long fertile river valley etching its way through parched barren desert, has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan since the Taliban rebounded from their 2001 defeat and resumed large-scale attacks two years ago.

The UNICEF vaccination programme was aimed to coincide with United Nations peace day, but came as mainly British troops launched a major offensive between Musa Qala and Lashkar Gah.

Musa Qala was the scene of intense fighting last year between British forces holed up in the town and besieging Taliban fighters until British troops pulled out in a deal under which tribal elders took control and agreed to keep the Taliban out.

But in February the rebels moved in and have set up a shadow fiefdom with their own administrators, courts and officials.

United Nations officials and international health workers hope the deal with the Taliban might be a first step to peace.

"I hope these vaccination campaigns will continue to be used as a bridge towards peace," said Arshad Quddus, a medical officer with the World Health Organisation.

Taliban speak in many tongues

Asia Times Online / September 21, 2007 By Lal Aqa Shirin

KABUL - Taliban spokesman Qari Yusof Ahmadi has confirmed to the press that the Taliban are ready to negotiate directly with the Afghan government. In contrast to Ahmadi's previous statements, he said that the Taliban have never rejected negotiations with the government. Earlier, he had insisted that talks would begin only on the condition that foreign troops leave Afghanistan.

The Taliban agreed to negotiations a day after President Hamid Karzai extended an invitation for talks on September 9. Although the positive response from the Taliban is welcome, it is important

to consider what will be on the agenda for discussion and whether the negotiations will have the impact everyone is expecting.

Will the negotiations address the larger questions confronting Afghanistan or will these be reduced to a few local deals in the south? Will these talks conclude an establishment of real peace in Afghanistan or merely buy time for the belligerents?

These are some of the questions Afghans are asking. They are hopeful, but they also know that the situation is very complex, which will require vision, patience and real leadership from both sides.

Equally important to remember are the interests of the international community, in particular the United States, which invaded this country with a very specific goal in mind: to exact revenge on those who perpetrated the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US (al-Qaeda) and those who harbored them (the Taliban).

Interestingly, despite the invitation to talks, both sides are actively engaged in combat. Neither warring side has made any suggestion regarding putting a ceasefire in place as a precondition for negotiations, which is odd.

Although the initial toppling of the Taliban regime and driving out al-Qaeda at the end of 2001 was welcomed by Afghan people, subsequent military operations against the Taliban and other insurgents, with the resultant losses suffered by the civilian population caught in the crossfire, have angered people and Afghan authorities.

It has undermined the credibility of the government and its international allies in pursuing their "war on terror" in Afghanistan.

From what is known, the government is keenly evaluating the Taliban's positive response to Karzai's offer of negotiations. The government has also welcomed the Taliban's decision to drop their previous precondition for foreign troops to leave Afghanistan before talking.

Talking to the Taliban and reaching any deal with them will undoubtedly change the face of Afghan politics and may further strain relations with Northern Alliance followers, who, helped by US money, special forces and air power, drove the Taliban from power.

The issue of negotiations with the Taliban is hotly debated in media and political circles. Some members of the Mushrano Jirga (upper house of Parliament) in Kabul have already accepted the principle of negotiating with the Taliban and have said that improvement of security in Afghanistan is directly linked to the Taliban's participation in national politics.

A further point to carefully consider relates to who from the Taliban ranks will take part in the negotiations. Will the majority of Taliban leadership come to the negotiation table or only a few disaffected commanders who are unhappy about the Taliban's links to al-Qaeda?

The so-called "moderate" or "new" Taliban, represented by their former foreign minister Maulawi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil or their former ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaif, have already warned the government and the international community that they must negotiate with the Taliban or risk further violence and ascendance of hardcore Taliban who might refuse to negotiate at all.

But whom do they really represent among the Taliban ranks? Do they really have any influence with the Taliban leadership that is waging the ongoing war? Can they bring them to the negotiation table? Should Kabul be taking them seriously? By including such people as Mutawakil and Zaif, can their participation in national politics weaken the hardcore Taliban? Or should Kabul be talking to the hardcore Taliban instead? Or both?

It is likely that the hardcore Taliban leadership with strong links to al-Qaeda will resist talking to the government and its international allies. What would be interesting to know is the numerical strength of these hardcore elements, how close their links are to al-Qaeda and the influence they have over the Taliban's war policy.

Only when this information is available can a strategy to influence their choices succeed. If it is found that the local commanders waging the war are largely acting independently and their agenda is not linked to al-Qaeda, the chances for holding negotiations and succeeding in them are much greater.

It is quite likely that the US administration has realized the limit of its strategy in Afghanistan and is trying to consolidate its gains ahead of the 2008 US presidential elections by orchestrating a deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban that can be heralded as a "success".

Such a scenario makes good sense. For example, US strategic interests will be guaranteed by ensuring the continuity of a friendly Afghan government and its "war on terror", with a slight modification of shifting its war focus from the Taliban back to al-Qaeda.

(Published under an agreement with The Killid Group.) (Inter Press Service)

National Army Short Of Everything But Spirit

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

The Afghan National Army (ANA) has a long way to go before it can stamp its authority on Afghanistan's southern provinces, where the Taliban insurgency is strong. Although the ANA's morale appears to be high, it lacks everything from weapons to basic literacy skills. RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas files this report from the southern provinces of Afghanistan.

KANDAHAR, September 20, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- It is symptomatic of some of the woes of Afghanistan that the higher the rank of the person you talk to, the more optimistic they are.

Drawing on seemingly inexhaustible reserves of pride, the Afghan National Army's top officers are anxious to drum up respect for the institution they represent -- and talk down the prowess of their enemy.

The soldiers on the ground, however, appear a good deal more guarded in their assessments, and their accounts are more in keeping with the slow progress of the ANA and its Western backers in Afghanistan's deep south.

Brigadier General Gul Aqa Nahib commands about 10,000 soldiers who make up the ANA's southern 205th Corps, which has headquarters at the Kandahar Airfield, side by side with the International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) Regional Command South.

In an interview on September 9, Nahib initially brimmed with optimism, saying the Taliban are no longer capable of defeating ANA units in combat.

"The enemy knows our abilities," Nahib said. "Before, they came to fight face-to-face with the ANA, but now they have lost that ability; they cannot come face-to-face in combat. They just have ambushes, terrorist attacks like suicide attacks, bombings, road bombings. They cannot stand up to us as fighters."

General Nahib says the ANA has beaten Taliban insurgents many times, taking their weapons and equipment. He says the four southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, and Uruzgan -- each home to an ANA brigade -- are now secure. He said he is now "very happy with the security situation."

But this account does not match the news of continued fighting southwest of Kandahar -- and constant Taliban attacks in Helmand, Zabul, and Uruzgan -- which dominated the headlines in Afghanistan in mid-September.

When challenged, General Nahib concedes that "some areas" remain where the Taliban is still active, but says they will be "freed soon." He declines to predict when.

The core of the ANA's problem, Western officials say, is that it cannot hold on to the territory won for it by ISAF. It lacks the manpower, equipment, and experience necessary.

Asked if the ANA still needs ISAF, General Nahib conceded. "I can tell you that the ANA cannot stand on its own feet yet, but it will do so in the future," he said. "We are not fully equipped yet and we do not have enough men. When we have enough men and we are fully equipped then we can beat all of them." He noted that the ANA recently conducted two operations without the support of coalition forces.

The governments of ISAF allies are currently supplying the ANA with weapons and equipment, but that process has -- by all accounts -- not reached an advanced stage. Some NATO officials complain that the Afghan Defense Ministry has yet to make the basic policy decision of whether to adopt NATO standards or not.

The ANA soldiers interviewed all said that their worst deficiency was the lack of heavy weapons and air power. This, they said, is the main factor which makes the ANA dependent on ISAF.

In Zabul Province, at Forward Operations Base Massud -- which is operated by Romanian troops -- ANA Sergeant Rahimullah Abdullah said that "if it weren't for ISAF, no one would prevent the Taliban" from overrunning the province. He said the ANA needs "rockets, PKMs [machine guns], hand guns, vehicles, RPGs, all kinds of weapons."

In neighboring Uruzgan, at the Dutch outpost of Chora, hemmed in by mountains on all sides, the relatively well-equipped elite ANA soldiers said their biggest ambition is to acquire the ability to project their own air power.

Training is another problem. There are currently 26 ISAF "Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams" (OMLTs, or "omelettes" as they are known in ISAF jargon) training ANA units across the country.

However, the number barely meets the needs of the 30,000-35,000 current ANA soldiers. The ANA is projected to grow to 70,000 men by the end of 2008, requiring 100 of the 20- to 30-person OMLTs, not an easy task for Western governments struggling to find troops for Afghanistan.

But there are some problems that are even more elementary. ISAF Brigadier General Ryszard Wisniewski, in charge of coordinating some Western training efforts, said in a video interview from Kabul on September 17 that a flagship project to attach 65 ANA officers to ISAF central and regional headquarters is in danger of foundering because many of these hand-picked officers cannot read or write.

"The biggest problem that we met is language skills," Wisniewski said. "Sometimes we have some examples of people who are not able to even read or write in Dari or Pashto." That leaves ISAF with the challenge of running training efforts when it cannot even recruit suitable candidates, he said.

If there is one commodity with which the ANA appears to be well-supplied, it is spirit. The ANA soldiers' morale appears to be high, and Dutch, Australian, and Canadian officers had only praise for the troops.

Some western officials sound a note of caution, however.

One leading ISAF figure pointed out that the ANA troops in the south overwhelmingly consist of non-locals -- mostly Tajiks and Uzbeks, with a greater motivation to fight an almost exclusively Pashtun insurgency.

Brigadier General Nahib, a Dari speaker from the country's north, confirms that although the ANA is "a symbol of national unity," its policy is to send Pashtuns away from the country's south to serve elsewhere.

Musharraf shakes up Pakistan army

BBC News / Friday, 21 September 2007

The Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, has made a series of top-level military appointments. They come days after he promised to step down as army chief if he was re-elected as president.

Nadeem Taj, who has close personal ties to the president, has been promoted to lieutenant-general and appointed head of the influential security service.

Lt Gen Mohsin Kamal has been made commander of the army's most important garrison, in Rawalpindi near Islamabad.

Correspondents say that reshuffles in the army are always closely scrutinised in Pakistan, because the military has ruled the country for more than half the country's 60-year history.

This year's round of promotions and retirements has assumed an added significance because Gen Musharraf is widely thought to be going through one of his weakest phases since coming to power in 1999.

The BBC's Sanjay Dasgupta says that this round of appointments is being seen as part of larger move by President Musharraf to place a core group of loyal supporters in key positions before he quits as army chief.

Who his successor will be is now the big question in Pakistan's military-dominated politics, he adds.

Next month, two of Gen Musharraf's top deputies in the army retire - Gen Ehsan Ul Haq, who is the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, and Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, who is the vice-chief of army staff.

Some analysts say that one of these two men is being freed up to take over as the army chief after Gen Musharraf.

But others disagree, saying the pair have been around long enough to have developed clout and influence within the military establishment in their own right.Hence they have the potential to become alternative power centres, and Gen Musharraf would prefer a new face, who would owe his promotion, and therefore his loyalty, solely to him.

Earlier this week, Gen Musharraf's top lawyer said he would give up the post of army chief if he was re-elected for another term of office.

In a statement to the Supreme Court, the lawyer said that if Gen Musharraf won the election, he would be sworn in for a new term as a civilian.

He is seeking re-election by parliament before its term expires in mid-October.

On Monday, the Supreme Court began debating his right to remain army chief if he stood for president again.

The country's largest political party, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), has been holding negotiations about a possible power-sharing deal, a condition of which is that Gen Musharraf steps down from his military role.

The commission said a constitutional rule that retiring state servants could not run for office until two years had elapsed did not apply to presidential candidates.There had been growing opposition to controversial amendments - to the constitution and in parliament - allowing Gen Musharraf to be both president and army chief until November 2007.

Warsaw hospitals give life saving medical care to Afghanistan villagers

Bogdan Zaryn reports 21.09.2007

Polish hospitals in Warsaw have been giving life saving medical care to a handful of Afghanistan villagers. This gesture of good will has come on the heels of attacks by Taliban insurgents on Polish troops in war torn Afghanistan. BZ has more

Three Afghan women and one elder are to under go rehabilitation while one teenage male is scheduled for open heart surgery next week. A number of clinics and hospitals in Warsaw have flung their doors open to Afghani villagers. Zia Mojadedi the Afghanistan Ambassador to Poland says that this show of humanitarian aid is a blessing in disguise for the people of Afghanistan.

‘Now as a gesture of good will they have brought five people from Afghanistan. The child has a bad heart problem which can not be operated in Afghanistan. The situation of the women is the same, they don’t have the proper equipment and a qualified surgeon. And the same for the elder. They are all signs of good will , signs of consideration for the people of Afghanistan.”

Poland has sent a second rotation of 1200 troops to Afghanistan. Major Daruisz Kacperczyk from the Ministry of Defense says that Polish troops in the ISFOR NATO mission are putting a priority on securing and helping local villagers in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan.

“Most of the soldiers are deployed in the South and Eastern regions of Afghanistan. They conduct construction projects for the people in those provinces which is one of the most important things that we are doing now. We met Afghan people on a daily basis on each patrol and convoy. They met children, elders, every time they stop and talk to them. What they are trying to do is to find out how to solve their daily problems. Help them with food , they lack this. Their lifestyle level in Afghanistan is very, very low.”

Last month Polish soldiers were in a cross fire with Taliban insurgents. The Taliban used civilians as human shields. During this clash a number of civilian fatalities were reported. Polish Ministry of Defense officials say that the NATO led International Security Assistance force ISFOR mission is completely different than the US led stabilization mission in Iraq.

“The Improvised Explosive Devices IED’s in Afghanistan are placed under the ground. In Iraq we have electronic counter measurers to counter the electronically set devices. The possibilities of secure movement around the bases , the security level is higher in Afghanistan right now than in Iraq because every single person in Iraq maybe attacked by IED of shooting. In Afghanistan we conduct foot patrols.” Over the past six months Poland has already lost one soldier. Surveys suggest that nearly eighty percent of Poles are against deploying their countrymen as part of the NATO ISFOR mission. Reports say that Poland may extend their involvement in Afghanistan until Oct. 2008.

Is the 'Kite Runner' Reason to Leave Afghanistan?

Source: NPR By: Brad Brevet September 20, 2007

The upcoming Paramount Vantage release The Kite Runner hits theaters on November 2nd and is described as an epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy to the atrocities of the Taliban reign. This story of redemption is based on the best selling book "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini and word is that it might not be so good for some of the folks involved with the making of the film.

Reported on NPR by Kim Masters there are fears for the children and their families based on the portrayal of deep ethnic divisions and that a key character is a child rapist. The report speaks to the father of Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada who plays young Hassan in the film, who is in fact the victim of the rape. The report goes on to say that in his culture the victim of such an assault would be so stigmatized that even playing the part carries risks.

Ahmad's father told NPR, "They said the movie is about kite flying and nothing else. They didn't give us a script, or a story, or a book; nothing that says what the movie is about."I really have to assume they had to know more about the film outside the fact that it was about kite flying. Then again I am using logic as a person that doesn't live in a war zone and isn't looking for any and all opportunity to do something other than run and hide.

Where the story runs into serious trouble in terms of Afghanistan and the Taliban is that the individual that rapes young Hassan grows up to become a Taliban leader, and crossing the Taliban is not something the Mahmidzada family seems interested in doing. While the film will not be released in Afghanistan the NPR report goes on to say that the DVDs are sure to show up and as a result Ahmad's father worries they may have to leave the country, but may not be at serious risk if they don't flaunt their role in the film.

To hear the entire report click here and then click on the Listen button next to Kim's name.

The Kite Runner is directed by Marc Forster, to check out the trailer and more on the film click here.

[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.]