In this bulletin:

• Afghan Leader Seeks Help With Troops
• Bush, Karzai review Afghan security
• 170 rebels, foreign soldier killed in Afghan clashes
• Suicide bomber kills five Afghan border police
• Canadian reservist killed in Afghanistan
• Canada to decide by April on Afghanistan mission's future
• Harper highlights Canada's global role in Afghanistan, climate change
• Taliban must be involved in peace process: Defence Minister
• Father warns over Taleban talks
• What chance Afghan peace talks?
• Afghan Embassy Statement
• Afghan officials slam NDP for alleging DND ghost-wrote Karzai speech
• Afghan ambassador denies NDP claims on speech
• Canada opposition questions Karzai talk
• A political standoff tests Afghan leaders
• Children share deprivations of imprisoned mothers
• Conflict, Shortages Push Food Prices Up
• Pakistan: How Are Domestic Crises Impacting War Against Terrorism?
• Military brains plot Pakistan's downfall
• NATO providing assistance for the education of Afghan women
• Drama serial on Abu Hanifa presented to Afghan TV
• Buddhist-era site found in Mazar-i-Sharif

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan addresses the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007. (AP Photo/Ed Betz)

Afghan Leader Seeks Help With Troops

Wednesday September 26, 2007 3:31 AM, By PAUL BURKHARDT Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on world leaders Tuesday to provide more help in strengthening his country's military and police forces to battle resurgent Taliban militants.

``The war against those who continue to pose a threat to the security of our people will continue unabated,'' he said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly. He requested greater international assistance to help train Afghan security forces ``to take a leading role'' in protecting the country.

While Karzai praised the U.S. for helping Afghanistan build its security forces to their present capabilities, he also urged international forces to avoid the unintentional killings of civilians.

``I emphasize the need for maximum caution on the part of international forces operating in Afghanistan, as well as increased coordination with Afghan authorities, in order to avoid civilian casualties,'' Karzai said.

More than 4,400 people - mostly militants - have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials. Last month, Karzai said after a meeting with President Bush that the U.S. leader shares his concerns about the mounting number of Afghan casualties. Militants often wear civilian dress and seek shelter in villagers' homes, making it hard to differentiate the enemy from the innocent.

In the past two years, the number of terrorist attacks have increased in Afghanistan, as well as the degree of brutality with which they are carried out, Karzai said Tuesday, emphasizing that the country has only been a victim and not a perpetrator of the problem.

``Terrorism was never, nor is it today, a homegrown phenomenon in Afghanistan,'' Karzai said.

In August, Karzai participated with Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a four-day ``peace jirga'' in Kabul. In his speech, he called the event ``a promising step ... in our common fight against terrorism and extremism.''

Karzai said another priority of the government would be to curb Afghanistan's drug trade by providing alternative livelihoods to farmers who grow poppy crops and increasing the implementation of other strategies including poppy eradication.

Bush, Karzai review Afghan security

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer - President Bush said Wednesday that Afghanistan is becoming a safer, more stable country, thanks to the efforts of President Hamid Karzai.

"Mr. President, you have strong friends here," Bush told Karzai after they met for about an hour at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here. "I expect progress and you expect progress and I appreciate the report you have given me today."

The two leaders made no direct mention of Afghanistan's soaring drug trade, the unsuccessful search for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden or the resurgence of the Taliban. Karzai said the liberation of Afghanistan is often overlooked these days.

"I don't know if you feel it in the United States but we feel it immensely in Afghanistan," Karzai said. "Afghanistan has indeed made progress," he said, citing improvements in basic services such as roads and education. Afghan opium poppy cultivation has hit a record high this year, fueled by Taliban militants and corrupt officials in Karzai's government, a U.N. report found last month. The country produces nearly all the world's opium, and Taliban insurgents are profiting.

Also, Afghanistan remains in a fight for basic security, a constant threat to its growth as a new democracy. Karzai is pledging to work hard on peace talks with the Taliban to draw the insurgents and their supporters "back to the fold," as he put it this week. The United States has more than 20,000 troops in Afghanistan. Aides say it is natural for Bush to meet Karzai to review progress, but no single issue prompted their sit-down.

Bush, in New York for the annual gathering of the U.N. General Assembly, made only brief mention of the war in Afghanistan during his speech to world leaders Tuesday. He said the people of Afghanistan — and Iraq and Lebanon — were in a deadly fight for survival.

"Every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand with them," Bush said.

Bush also was to pivot to his domestic agenda Wednesday before wrapping up three days in New York. He planned to tout new national test scores as evidence that the No Child Left Behind Act, his signature education law, is working and deserving of renewal by Congress.

Those new national test results, released Tuesday, show elementary and middle schoolers posted solid gains in math. The students made more modest improvements in reading, however. Bush scheduled a meeting with Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City's school system, which has won the nation's top prize for urban districts. The district garnered the honor chiefly for reducing achievements gaps among poor and minority kids, a key educational goal for Bush.

The president intends to miss no chance to talk up the No Child Left Behind law, which is up for renewal in Congress. Many lawmakers say it is too narrow and punitive. Before leaving town, Bush was to speak at a private fundraiser for the Republican National Committee. Back in Washington, more international diplomacy awaited.

The president was hosting a two-day climate meeting, starting Thursday, of major industrialized nations, the United Nations and a few developing countries. Bush tried to emphasize throughout his meetings in New York that his efforts on climate change were in support of — not in competition with — a U.N. conference in December in Indonesia. That later session will be a time of negotiations on a new international climate agreement.

On the sidelines of the U.N. meeting, Bush pressed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday to move on stalled measures deemed critical to political reconciliation. Much-delayed action, such as a national oil law, have bogged down in the Iraqi parliament amid factional bickering, which, in turn, has only deepened frustration among U.S. lawmakers.

170 rebels, foreign soldier killed in Afghan clashes

KABUL (AFP) — NATO and US-led troops backed up by warplanes said Wednesday they had killed nearly 170 Taliban in two major battles in southern Afghanistan, while a US-led coalition soldier also died. The heaviest of the fighting with the Islamic insurgents erupted on Tuesday in the volatile southern province of Helmand, a Taliban stronghold, and continued into Wednesday, the coalition said.

"The initial estimate by the ground force commander assessed that more than 104 insurgents were killed thus far in the engagement," it said in a statement. The figures could not be verified independently. A soldier with the 15,000-strong US-dominated coalition was also killed and four wounded, it said. The nationalities of the foreign soldiers were not announced.

The fighting erupted during an Afghan and coalition patrol aimed at clearing an "extensive trench system" near the Taliban-controlled district centre of Musa Qala in Helmand, Afghanistan's main opium-growing province. More than 65 rebels were killed late Tuesday in a similar battle in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan, another hotbed for the Taliban insurgents, said a separate NATO-led force which has around 40,000 troops.

NATO warplanes and artillery supported the Afghan and NATO forces on the ground, it said.

"Precision-guided munitions were employed on positively identified Taliban positions, killing more than 65 insurgents," the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) statement said.

There have been several major clashes in southern Afghanistan in the past few weeks during which scores of rebels have been killed. The latest death of a coalition soldier took to 173 the number of international troops to have died in Afghanistan this year, most in combat operations, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

About 4,000 rebels have also been killed and hundreds of civilians. An American, Canadian, French and two Spanish soldiers have been killed in action since Friday, while an Italian intelligence officer was severely wounded in an operation Monday that freed him and a colleague from Taliban kidnappers.

The Musa Qala district centre has become one of the Taliban's most significant strongholds since the rebels overran the small town in February.

"The end is near for the Taliban that believe Musa Qala is safe from Islamic Republic of Afghanistan forces," coalition spokesman Major Chris Belcher said in a statement about the latest fighting.

"This combined operation is just one more step to securing the Musa Qala area of the Helmand province," he said.

The NATO force reported meanwhile that one of its helicopters overturned in the western province of Badghis late Tuesday while trying to land during a mission to rescue Afghan police wounded in a bombing. No ISAF staff were hurt during the incident, which did not involve hostile activity, it said in a statement. The Taliban reportedly claimed the chopper was shot down.

The bomb blast killed three Afghan police and wounded four more, ISAF said. A local police official also confirmed the incident. A second helicopter was able recover the crew of the damaged helicopter and two critically wounded Afghan police.

The Taliban were driven from government six years ago and are waging an insurgency that has intensified this year with almost daily attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In other incidents reported Wednesday, two rebels were killed when a bomb they were planting on a road in southern Ghazni province went off on Tuesday, the defence ministry said.

And more than 36 Taliban insurgents, 16 of them badly wounded, were captured by Afghan forces after two separate battles in the eastern province of Paktia and central Wardak on Tuesday, officials said.

Suicide bomber kills five Afghan border police

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber rammed a motorcycle into an Afghan border police convoy on Tuesday, killing five guards, the commander for Spin Boldak town, on the border with Pakistan, said.

The commander, Abdul Razaaq, survived the attack. Taliban guerrillas claimed responsibility.

"I am fine, but five of my guards have been killed and four have been wounded," Razaaq told Reuters by phone. Earlier, a police official in the southern province of Kandahar said the bomber was driving a car and that three people had been wounded.

The convoy was traveling through Spin Boldak, about 4 km (2 miles) from the border with Pakistan, when the bomber struck outside the district police headquarters. Southern Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in violence during the past year-and-a-half, with daily clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan and foreign forces.

More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months, the bloodiest period since the Taliban government was overthrown by Afghan and U.S.-led forces in 2001. (Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin)

Canadian reservist killed in Afghanistan

OTTAWA (AFP) — A Canadian soldier was killed in a mortar attack while repairing a tank in the northern part of Panjwayi in Afghanistan, Canada's defense ministry said Tuesday.

One other soldier was wounded in the blast, while three soldiers were wounded in a subsequent firefight with insurgents when they tried to come to the aid of their comrades, Brigadier-General Guy Laroche said in a televised briefing from Kandahar.

The deceased soldier was identified as Corporal Nathan Hornburg, 24. He is the 71st Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002, and the 27th since the start of the year. The soldiers were helping to establish a police sub-station in the volatile region when the incident occurred Monday, about 47 kilometers (29 miles) west of Kandahar City, the defense ministry said in a statement.

Hornburg had been trying to repair a broken tread on a Leopard tank when he was killed. Three of the wounded were hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, Laroche said. The wounded soldiers are in stable condition, the ministry said.

Operation Sadiq Sarbaaz (Honest Soldier) is a joint Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and ISAF operation aimed at clearing the region of insurgents and bolstering security and policing in the northern part of Panjwayi. Some 2,500 Canadian soldiers are deployed in the war-torn nation alongside other NATO-led forces to stabilize the country amid an insurgency following the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Canada to decide by April on Afghanistan mission's future

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada will decide by April whether or not to extend its mission in Afghanistan where 70 of its troops have died battling the Taliban, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said late Monday.

He said the decision would be made by the time of the NATO summit in Romania in April. "It will be necessary to communicate a final decision before that meeting," said MacKay, cited by media. Two opposition parties to the conservative government -- the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois -- are demanding the mission not be renewed beyond February 2009 when its current mandate is due to expire.

A third, the New Democratic Party, has demanded an immediate withdrawal. The issue is set to play a key role in a vote of confidence on October 16 which could threaten the position of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's ruling conservative minority.

Harper has said he wants a consensus on the troops' deployment but also does not want to pull them out when he considers there job is not finished. Canada has 2,500 troops in the south of the country, part of a large multinational presence patrolling the country and helping Afghans fight against the resurgent Taliban, who were toppled form power by the US-led 2001 invasion.

Since 2002, 70 Canadian troops have been killed in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week urged the Canadians to stay beyond the end of the current term to prevent a resurgence of unrest.

Harper highlights Canada's global role in Afghanistan, climate change

NEW YORK - Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a New York audience Tuesday that Canada is making important contributions in key global challenges such as Afghanistan and climate change.

Harper spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York after addressing a UN panel a day earlier.

He said Canada didn't hesitate to join the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan, noting that Canada has just lost its 71st soldier in that country. Canada is in Afghanistan "because we believe it is noble and necessary - a cause completely consistent with our country's proud history of supporting international action to fight oppression and brutality, and to assist our fellow human beings."

"Since 2005 Canadian troops have been in one of the most violent regions in Afghanistan: the southern portion of Kandahar," Harper said.

"And there has been a significant price, as we were reminded yesterday with the death of a Canadian soldier" and injuries to several others.

The prime minister said Canada is taking a leadership role on climate change, even though critics are upset that Canada has joined what they call an 'anti-Kyoto' group opposed to mandatory cuts of greenhouse gas emissions. While praising the benefits of hemispheric co-operation, Harper complained that the requirement of passports at the Canada-U.S. border is an ill-conceived plan.

Taliban must be involved in peace process: Defence Minister

BOURNEMOUTH (AFP) — Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban militia will have to be involved in the country's peace process, Defence Minister Des Browne told delegates at the Labour Party conference. Browne also echoed comments made by the head of the British Army General Richard Dannatt, who said in June that Britain faced a "generation of conflict."

"In Afghanistan, at some stage, the Taliban will need to be involved in the peace process because they are not going away any more than I suspect Hamas are going away from Palestine," Browne told delegates at a fringe meeting late on Monday.

"But in my view, those who convene that process are entitled to say there are some basic parameters that people ought to apply to their engagement."

Browne said that he did not believe that a legal system with its roots in "a sort of Judeo-Christian or Romano-system" could be established in Afghanistan, adding that "some solution that has its roots in Islamic law" would likely emerge.

"I don't want to tell you the colour of the face of the Swedish defence minister when I suggested to her at some stage it may be necessary for us, in order to get to where we want to be in Afghanistan, for us to accept that there is some route through an Islamic-based legal system that will get us there."

He added that British commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan would last "for decades, some of them may be commitments for generations," though he noted that such involvement would not necessarily be in a military role. Regarding Darfur, Browne said that British involvement in any solution there "will not be boots on the ground when we have those boots on the ground on other ground."

Britain currently has about 5,500 troops in Iraq, a figure that is set to drop to 5,000 by the end of the year, and more than 6,000 in Afghanistan, set to increase to 7,700 by the end of the year.

Father warns over Taleban talks

The father of a British soldier killed in Afghanistan has said a tough stance must be made in any negotiations with Taleban leaders. Alan Hicks told the BBC the Taleban were promoting a view unacceptable to the international community. Captain David Hicks was killed last month in a battle, a day after paying tribute to one of his men who had died.

Defence Secretary Des Browne told a Labour conference meeting the Taleban should play a part in a peace process. Mr Hicks told BBC Radio Five Live: "We are in a conflict of good against evil, right against wrong.

"The Taleban are using Islam as a vehicle to promote a view of the world that is simply unacceptable to the 21st century international community."

He added: "In my view, the international community has to draw a line in the sand, and for it to be made very clear to the Taleban that if they wish to engage they must be on the right side of that line, and at the moment they are very clearly not."

Mr Browne told the Labour meeting that engagement with the Taleban should happen "because they are not going away". He also told BBC News: "If you're going to make peace, you need to make peace with your enemies.

"The Taleban, at some stage, could make a contribution to that peace. It will depend on their commitment to peace, of course."

Capt Hicks, 26, of Wokingham, Berkshire, died after being injured at a base north-east of Sangin in Helmand province on 11 August. There are more than 7,500 British troops fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan.

What chance Afghan peace talks?

By Chris Morris - BBC News, Kabul Tuesday, 25 September 2007

It's all quiet in Afghanistan's national stadium in Kabul. The grass is being watered, the pitch is being marked out for a football match, and a couple of workmen are carrying wooden scaffolding behind one of the goals. But only a few years ago - at the turn of the century - this was where the Taleban held their public executions, hanging or stoning people to death in front of large crowds.

And the comparison between then and now is worth thinking about, at a time when there are suggestions that the Western-backed government here could be about to start talks with the Taleban. President Hamid Karzai has always been keen to promote reconciliation. This still feels like a very early stage of negotiations, but the United Nations has now upped the ante by offering to mediate.

It could all come to nothing or - possibly - something significant could be starting to happen.

"The government has left the door open," said President Karzai's spokesman, Hamayun Hamidzada. "We welcome any initiative, any effort, that will lead to peace."

So the government is putting out feelers, trying to work out whether there is a genuine desire for contact among the central leadership of the Taleban. It is useful to remember that Taleban has become a catch-all term used to describe quite diverse groups and tribes - local Afghans, groups backed by Pakistan, foreign radicals linked to al-Qaeda.

They won't all be welcome at the negotiating table. "We have been in contact with the Taleban," Mr Hamidzada said, "with those who actually wanted to join the political process, or just come back as ordinary citizens."

But can there really be meaningful talks at the same time as military clashes are taking place every day in places like Kandahar and Helmand?

"What we're doing is opening the door of negotiation for those Taleban who are actually Afghan," he replied.

"But others, more radical, who are coming from outside - their intention is to destroy Afghanistan and we have to deal with them militarily."

Finding out what the Taleban really think is not easy. We reached a Taleban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, by phone somewhere in southern Afghanistan. He told the BBC that the government should agree to the Taleban's demand that foreign troops leave the country, before serious negotiations begin. In other interviews he's phrased things slightly differently.

"We want a free independent Afghanistan," he said. "We want 100% Islamic law and no foreign interference. That is the inspiration behind our jihad [holy war]."

But there are tens of thousands of foreign troops in Afghanistan at the invitation of President Karzai's government. Many of them are fighting against the Taleban every day. Still, senior officials at Nato and the UN say they are interested in the idea of formal discussions between the government and the Taleban, provided that the Afghan constitution is respected.

As for the Americans, for a long time their mantra has been "no talks with terrorists". But it is a little more nuanced now. The Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, was a recent visitor to Kabul.

"We would think that this proposal for talks should be handled in such a way by the government of Afghanistan," he said, "that it does not in any way undermine or prejudice all the important political, social and economic accomplishments that have occurred in this country since 11 September 2001."

That seems to be a view shared by many vendors on Kabul's Music Street, a riot of noise in the heart of the city. There are CDs, DVDs, videos... Hollywood, Bollywood, you name it.

All of it was banned completely under the Taleban. So there are - understandably - mixed feelings about talking to the Taleban once again.

"They can't come back with the same system that they used to have, but talking is good because we're fed up with the war, with the fighting," said one man.

"They might try to ban music again, so I'm not sure I want them back. But we're all sons of the same soil," said another.

So will anything significant actually happen? At the moment, it is hard to tell. Some well-connected sources argue that it probably won't. There are elements in Hamid Karzai's government - and in parliament - who do not want to talk to the Taleban at all. Sharing power in any sense would mean they would lose ground.

And then there are other foreign powers - who do not have military forces in the country - but who have their own interests in Kabul.

"Moscow is ruling here, India is ruling there, Tehran is ordering here. So now Afghanistan's [destiny] is not in our own hands."

Professor Wadir Safi of Kabul University points out that all Afghanistan's neighbours have got a finger in the pie, and wield influence somewhere in this complex political system.

But he is looking in particular at events in Pakistan. "I think if Benazir Bhutto is coming to power there, they will be happy for these talks to happen as soon as possible," he argued.

In order to solve Pakistan's internal problems it will be in their interest "to talk to the Afghan government through the Taleban to finish this situation".

That could just be wishful thinking. Perhaps a few disaffected tribes could be persuaded to talk and to change sides.

And there are certainly officials in Kabul who think constant military pressure on the Taleban over the past six months could be pushing them towards compromise.

But one source in Pakistan, with close contacts in the Taleban, is not optimistic. They will always talk at a local level, he argued, but there is little sign of change in the central command.

Central Kabul is busy and bustling these days. People enjoy basic personal freedoms they never had under the Taleban.

And that begs a question - is the Afghan government's vision for Afghanistan really compatible with that of the Taleban anyway?

"The government's vision is the legitimate one for Afghanistan," said presidential spokesman Hamayun Hamidzada.

"The burden of responsibility is on the Taleban to make their vision compatible, not on us," he added. "So you're asking them to change?" I ask.

"Of course. Change in the light of the constitution. Change for the Afghan people. Change for the sake of peace." But there are some who won't change.

And even if a meaningful process of reconciliation does begin, the future of Afghanistan will probably be fought over as well as talked about for years to come.

Afghan Embassy Statement

Ottawa – Omar Samad, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Canada issued the following statement this afternoon:

“Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s speech delivered last year in the Parliament of Canada was an Afghan speech highlighting achievements and challenges, expressing the thoughts and wishes of the Afghan people as well as the views of the country’s elected leader.

The draft were conceived and written by key officials within the President’s office in conjunction with Afghan diplomats, and was accompanied with personal input from and direct supervision by the President.

Canadian and Afghan officials in Kabul and in Ottawa spent several weeks working on various facets of the important September 2006 visit to Canada and, as is customary in diplomatic arrangements and coordination, they shared information about protocol, agenda, discussion items and other relevant bilateral issues.

To suggest otherwise is not only ludicrous but also verges on being insulting. It is also sadly diverting attention away from the real issues we face together as two nations, and as part of a strategic multilateral engagement to change conditions for the betterment of Afghanistan.”

September 25, 2007

Afghan officials slam NDP for alleging DND ghost-wrote Karzai speech

NDP allegations about Karzai's address 'insulting'
CanWest News Service, Mike Blanchfield, Wednesday, September 26, 2007

OTTAWA - The Afghanistan government says the federal NDP is being "ludicrous and insulting" for suggesting that Canadian military officials wrote President Hamid Karzai's speech to Parliament last year.

The Afghan embassy in Ottawa issued the blunt denial after the New Democrats released documents obtained through Access to Information indicating the Department of National Defence provided "messages" and "themes" that were adopted by Mr. Karzai in his address to Parliament.

An internal military report, provided to the federal party under Access to Information, says members of the Canadian Forces strategic advisory team accompanied Mr. Karzai and his Afghan delegation to New York before his arrival in Ottawa last September for a historic address to a joint session of the House of Commons and the Senate.

It says that "at the request of president's office" the Canadian military team "prepared initial draft of president's address to Parliament Sept. 22."

The note goes on to say that: "It was noted that key statistics, messages and themes, as well as overall structure, were adopted by the president in his remarks to joint session."

NDP defence critic Dawn Black said the report is an example of how the Conservative government is trying to manipulate public opinion for the country's military involvement in Afghanistan.

"President Karzai's address to Parliament was an elaborately staged political stunt by this government to sell Canadians on the combat mission in Kandahar," said Ms. Black, who called Mr. Karzai a "front man" for the Conservative government. The NDP has called for the immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, Omar Samad, lashed out at the NDP, and said top Afghan officials, including Mr. Karzai himself, crafted drafts of the speech. Mr. Samad said government officials from both countries shared information over several weeks as Mr. Karzai's trip was being planned.

"As is customary in diplomatic arrangements and co-ordination, they shared information about protocol, agenda, discussion items and other relevant bilateral issues," he said in a statement.

"To suggest otherwise is not only ludicrous and insulting, it is also sadly diverting attention away from the real issues we face as two nations."

A spokesman for Peter Mac-Kay, the Minister of National Defence, said there is nothing nefarious in a host government providing input for a speech by a foreign visitor.

"The NDP's attempt to undermine President Karzai's integrity shows once again its willingness to say anything as it opposes Canada's commitment to the United Nations and NATO to help Afghanistan," Dan Dugas said. Mr. Karzai's speech before Canadian MPs and senators did not differ significantly in substance from the usual theme of other international speeches he has given in recent years.

As he has done in most of his public appearances in the past five years, Mr. Karzai spoke of the need for foreign troops to remain in his country until it can protect itself from radicals and terrorists.

He cited both progress in reconstruction -- a doubling of per capita income to $355, six million children in school including more than two million girls, and 28% of the seats in parliament occupied by women -- but did not shy away from the problems that his country still faced.

He told Parliament that the Taliban insurgency in Kandahar had burned down 150 schools, denying 200,000 children access to education, while the illegal opium trade was threatening to destroy his country. He thanked Canadians for the sacrifices of their "sons and daughters" who have laid down their lives fighting to secure his country's freedom.

Ms. Black questioned Mr. Karzai for failing to repeat controversial subject matter he used a day earlier in a speech in New York, when he criticized the accidental killing of Afghan citizens by NATO bombers. Canada has not deployed fighter jets to Afghanistan and has so far not been implicated in any of the accidental killing of civilians there.

Ms. Black said the memo raises questions about whether a recent news conference in Kabul Mr. Karzai gave to Canadian journalists based in Kandahar was also a stage-managed event designed to disseminate "propaganda."

The embedded journalists were flown on a military aircraft to the Afghan capital especially for the press conference, where Mr. Karzai warned that if troops were withdrawn from his country, it would descend into anarchy. Ms. Black called for an inquiry by the Commons defence committee on the military's communications strategy as well as an emergency debate in the House of Commons on that matter.

Afghan ambassador denies NDP claims on speech

Updated Wed. Sep. 26 2007 CTV.ca News Staff

Afghanistan's ambassador denied Wednesday that Canadian military officials had anything to do with a speech that President Hamid Karzai delivered to Parliament last year, contradicting recent claims by the NDP.

Dawn Black, the NDP defence critic, said Tuesday that heavily censored access-to-information documents indicate military advisers were asked to prepare an initial draft of Karzai's speech on Sept. 22, 2006.

Ambassador to Canada Omar Samad, speaking on CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday, denied that was the case and said he himself helped write Karzai's speech.

"I was one of those who spent hours, along with other Afghan officials, with the president himself working on the speech, and the president himself was the last person who edited and finalized it, as is his style," Samad said.

"He's a president who, for the past six years, either gets up and speaks without notes or occasionally uses notes or has a mixture of notes and spontaneous talk. And as you saw in Parliament there were times when he spoke spontaneously without notes."

Samad said it is common for bilateral diplomatic talks, negotiations and preparations to occur between the officials from both countries leading up to such an address, but that's as far as it went.

NDP Defence Critic Dawn Black refused to back down, however, appearing on Canada AM just after Samad.

"All I can tell you is that through access-to-information, the documents I received say -- and I'll quote from them for you -- that the strategic advisory team in Afghanistan, the Canadian National Defence, did write the speech," Black said.

The document says Canadian military officials wrote the initial draft of the president's address to Parliament for September 22, Black said.

Reading from the heavily censored document, Black said it noted that guidance was given on key statistics, messages, themes and even the overall structure of Karzai's speech.

"So clearly, the initial speech was written by the Canadian military and I leave it to Canadians to decide, but I would say that that's not an appropriate role for the Canadian military."

In the speech, Karzai expressed his gratitude to the families of Canadian children killed in combat. He presented an optimistic but not rosy picture of Afghanistan's future.

He also slammed critics of Canada's combat role who say the emphasis should shift from combat to reconstruction -- a position held by NDP Leader Jack Layton.

Those points were not markedly different from other speeches by Karzai, who has called on NATO countries to boost and extend their troop commitments to Afghanistan.

But Black said the speech to Parliament differed greatly from Karzai's speech one day earlier in New York. During that address, she said, he asked the international forces to halt aerial bombings -- a concern that wasn't mentioned when he was in Ottawa.

Black stopped short of calling Samad a liar, but said the onus is now on the Canadian government to reveal all the documents that show whether the speech delivered by Karzai was different from the first draft she says was written by the Canadian military.

Meanwhile, Samad on Wednesday repeated the message that Karzai has been delivering to various nations, saying Canada's work has been "tremendous" but the job is not yet complete.

Canada's combat role will end in 2009 unless consensus is reached in Parliament to extend the mission.

Canada opposition questions Karzai talk

By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press Writer, Tue Sep 25, 11:11 PM ET

Canada's leftist opposition party claimed Tuesday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's speech to the parliament last year was written by the Canadian military — an allegation quickly rejected by the government and Afghanistan's embassy.

The New Democratic Party's Dawn Black said documents the group obtained under freedom of information laws indicate Canadian military advisers were asked to prepare an initial draft of Karzai's speech, delivered on Sept. 22, 2006.

"What Canadians heard was not the voice of the Afghan people, but the talking points of the Department of National Defense," Black said, whose party wants Canadian troops withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Black quoted document references to a situation report from Task Force Afghanistan as saying: "Team prepared initial draft of President (Karzai's) address to Parliament 22 Sep."

In the speech, Karzai thanked the families of soldiers killed in combat. He also took aim at New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton's opposition to the war, saying that those who believe the mission was weighted too heavily toward combat and not enough toward reconstruction were wrong.

Both Afghanistan and Canadian government officials rejected the party's allegation.

"I can say something simple and say it's laughable and I could say something a bit more serious and say it verges on being insulting," Afghanistan's Ambassador Omar Samad said.

He acknowledged Canadian diplomats may have been asked for input as part of the normal planning process prior to a state visit. But he stressed that he and other Afghan advisers, including the president's chief of staff, prepared their own versions of the remarks and the final speech went through several drafts, which Karzai edited himself.

"He personally added and took things out, and we worked on it for several hours before he delivered it," Samad said.

A Defense Department spokesman called Black's take on the matter "spin."

"When a visiting dignitary is asked to speak to Parliament, it's not precedent-setting nor a surprise that information on Canada would be provided to him or her," said Dan Dugas, the spokesman for Defense Minister Peter MacKay. "This NDP spin on this, this attempt to undermine Karzai's integrity, goes to show their opposition to a United Nations-NATO mission to help Afghanistan gain freedom."

Seventy one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002. Canada has about 2,300 soldiers in the country, mainly operating in Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold.

The Afghan mission is increasingly unpopular in Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan will not be extended beyond 2009 without a consensus in Parliament.

A political standoff tests Afghan leaders

By Kirk Semple - IHT, Tuesday, September 25, 2007

KABUL: In May, the lower house of the Afghan Parliament voted overwhelmingly to remove the country's foreign minister on the grounds of incompetence. In a different time and place, the matter probably would have been over as quickly as it began.

But this is Afghanistan, still in the tense, halting infancy of a new democratic era. And more than four months after the vote, much to the anger of the parliamentary majority, the minister remains in his post, protected by the man who appointed him: President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai says the vote was illegal and motivated simply by politics. The legislators have accused the president of snubbing the Constitution and undermining the democratic foundations of the republic.

The dispute is the most serious manifestation of the long-simmering tension between the Karzai administration and the warlords and former mujahedeen in the legislature, who want more control over policy making. It now threatens to bring Parliament to a halt and pitch Afghanistan into a political crisis.

Karzai's opponents have promised to boycott Parliament unless he removes the minister, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta. And in recent days, a group of more than 50 legislators, most of them members of a new opposition coalition, have threatened to quit altogether over the president's intransigence.

"This is serious," said Wadir Safi, a member of the faculty of law and political science at Kabul University. "It's dangerous for the government and the nation." The showdown, he said, is eroding whatever public confidence in the elected leadership remains.

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Karzai, a member of the Pashtun majority, cast himself as a unifier of the country's diverse political and ethnic populations, and he sought to elevate government above party politics.

During the writing of the new Constitution, he advocated a strong presidential system to break the power of the country's warlords and concentrate authority in the president's hands. The northern ethnic groups advocated a parliamentary system with a prime minister, which they hoped would break the Pashtuns' historic hammerlock on power.

The presidential system - and Karzai - prevailed.

"Karzai has a particular vision for dealing with government, and it doesn't involve a big role for the legislative branch," said a Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

But the president has long been dogged by criticism of ineffectiveness and chronic indecision. Government corruption and poppy cultivation are rampant and public services remain a wreck; food prices are soaring, unemployment remains high and resurgent Taliban forces in the south are pressing toward the capital.

As public confidence in Karzai has evaporated, opposition to the president has escalated sharply from within the government, led by regional power brokers who feel he has marginalized them.

During his three-year interim presidency, Karzai created a cabinet that fairly reflected the country's different political and ethnic factions - including military commanders who had led the fight against the Soviet occupation and, later, the Taliban. But Karzai largely purged his second cabinet of warlords and replaced them with technocrats, shifting the balance of power in favor of Western-oriented Pashtuns like himself.

In March, a coalition of legislators and other politicians formed a sprawling political coalition called the National Front. At its core were former members of the Northern Alliance, the mostly non-Pashtun resistance group that fought the Taliban. The coalition is a direct challenge to Karzai's vision for governance: It has vowed to affect a series of constitutional and electoral changes that would weaken the presidency and give more influence to political parties.

And it showed its strength in the drive to toss out Spanta, the foreign minister.

A Western-educated technocrat who has shunned tribal politics, Spanta had alienated the warlords and former mujahedeen in Parliament with his opposition to a blanket amnesty for war crimes committed during Afghanistan's three decades of conflict. His supporters say he also angered some politicians by refusing to appoint their allies and relatives to ministerial and diplomatic posts.

Last spring, Spanta and the country's minister of refugee affairs, Ustad Akbar Akbar, were accused by many legislators of failing to stop the expulsion from Iran of about 50,000 Afghan refugees and immigrant workers. On May 10, the 248-member lower house voted to remove Akbar, according to a provision in the Constitution that allows Parliament to recall ministers. Two days later, a majority of lawmakers voted against Spanta.

Karzai accepted the resignation of the refugee affairs minister, pending the appointment of a replacement, but took the matter of the foreign minister to the country's Supreme Court, contending that the issue was not directly related to the Foreign Ministry. The court supported the president.

The legislators, in turn, have insisted that the court's opinion was nonbinding (Afghanistan does not have a constitutional court, and though the Constitution provides for a committee to supervise its "implementation," Karzai's government has not yet formed one.) Both sides have since dug in their heels. Both ministers remain in their jobs.

Saleh Mohammad Registani, a member of the National Front, said he was among the 50 to 60 members of Parliament who are threatening to quit Parliament unless Karzai drops Spanta. "If the executive doesn't pay attention to our decisions, what can we do?" he asked in an interview last week. "If 60 MPs resign, definitely Parliament will collapse."

In an interview last week, Spanta said he had submitted his resignation "two or three times" to Karzai but that the president had rejected it. "I'm still minister of foreign affairs," he said. "I have the support of the president."

The struggle could be seen as the healthy growing pains of a new democracy, some analysts say. But Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister under Karzai and a member of the Northern Alliance, said Afghanistan was too fragile to withstand this sort of political standoff.

"Somebody should put an end it," he said in an interview. "All of you have shown your stamina, your perseverance, your strength or whatever you want to call it. You cannot pull the rope until it breaks."

Children share deprivations of imprisoned mothers

KABUL, 26 September 2007 (IRIN) - Fatima (not her real name) lives with her mother and a younger brother in Pul-e Charkhi prison, in the eastern outskirts of Kabul.

The 12-year-old was first brought to the prison four years ago, after a court sentenced her mother to 11 years for murdering her husband.

"There are six women and seven children living with us in a single cell," complained Fatima, who added that she finds it annoying living with "those naughty kids".

Unlike other children in Kabul, both Fatima and her brother are deprived of an education, because there is no school in Pul-e Charkhi prison, Afghanistan's biggest jail.

"I dream of being able to go to school just like other girls," she said.

Fatima's education prospects are grim. In the absence of a male guardian outside the prison, both children are likely to stay with their mother until she is released in 2014. It is unusual for a young woman to live alone in traditional Afghani society.
According to Afghanistan's criminal code, children who stay with an imprisoned guardian must have access to education.

In practice, however, the country cannot implement this legal provision due to the shortage of resources, officials acknowledge.

Over 60 children are currently living with female prisoners in Pul-e Charkhi prison, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which runs prisons in the country, told IRIN.

Children who live with their parents in prisons are currently entitled to a single food regime available for all prisoners. MoJ officials say a three-meals-a-day routine is in place in Pul-e Charkhi jail which provides sufficient nutrition for an adult.

However, according to a report published in August by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the prison food regime does not meet the nutritional requirements for children's physical and mental growth.

The report entitled Afghanistan: Female Prisoners and Their Social Integration highlighted problems of pregnant women who, in addition to nutritional deficiencies, also suffered from lack of health care.

"They [imprisoned women and their children] can receive no specialist health care or education, due to acute resource problems," said the report.

To mitigate the hardship for the incarcerated children a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Afghan Women's Education Centre (AWEC), has set up a kindergarten in Pul-e Charkhi prison where children receive preschool training to build their cognitive skills.

AWEC also provides basic health services for pregnant women and children suffering minor illnesses.

The NGO's services could not be relied upon indefinitely as it was dependent on donor funds, observers said.

NGOs working in Pul-e Charkhi prison who prefer anonymity due to the sensitivity of their work, say almost all children have been affected psychologically by the prison environment.

"They [children] do not concentrate in the kindergarten and show clear signs of obsession," said one aid worker who works with prison children.

The UNODC findings confirm the existence of a number of issues stemming from the prison's environment which are considered unsuitable for the upbringing of children, particularly their health, social, educational and emotional development.

"Research has also indicated that the children of imprisoned mothers may be at greater risk of future incarceration themselves," the report said.

Afghanistan requires ample resources, institutional and legal reforms and generous international assistance to end the deprivation and suffering of children in prisons.

NGOs such as AWEC are advocating that legal measures be adopted which ban the imprisonment of pregnant women until at least six months after delivery, unless an extremely serious crime has been committed.

Others call on the international donor community to help the Afghan authorities construct schools, nurseries and other facilities adjacent to Pul-e Charkhi and other big prisons around the country.

Conflict, Shortages Push Food Prices Up
By Ashfaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sep 26 (IPS) - An acute shortage of food items in Afghanistan and Pakistan have sent prices shooting upwards in both countries.

But, while the food crisis in the war-torn country is a result of continuing conflict, north-western Pakistan has been suffering a shortage because of rampant smuggling of edible goods to Afghanistan.

"Re-building of war-ravaged Afghanistan besides affecting the prices of various non-food items has also had adverse effects on the commodity market of the bordering North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) because of massive smuggling," said Sharafat Ali Mubarak, a leading trader.

Everything from flour and rice to pulses and edible oil is taken illegally across the porous NWFP and adjoining Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) borders, and sold across Afghanistan. According to traders, there has been a 100 percent hike in prices in Pakistan because of unhindered smuggling.

"The people who bought 20 kg of wheat flour at five US dollars one year ago are now getting the same thing at 10 dollars. The situation in Afghanistan is very bad. The same bag of flour is sold for 15 dollars," said Mubarak.

Gul Ahmad, an Afghan trader in Peshawar, told IPS that smuggling was very lucrative. "It’s very tough," he added. "The routes are not good. We pay huge amounts to the customs officials on both sides of the border."

Ahmad who called Peshawar his second home said: "I frequently visit Peshawar and take back food items to Kabul to make more profit."

According to the exporters, most of the country's export via land routes is taking place through official customs posts at Chaman, Torkham and Ghulam Khan, but there are also a number of traditional routes through which goods are smuggled from both the countries.

Even fruits, which used to be imported by Pakistan from Afghanistan till 1990, are now brought in clandestinely from Pakistan. "The price of grapes, pomegranates, oranges, mangoes, apples and bananas besides all kinds of vegetables has increased because of smuggling," said a vegetable dealer.

According to Naeem Butt, president of the NWFP Flour Association, the considerable increase in the flow of edibles to Afghanistan from NWFP during last couple of years has widened the demand and supply gap subsequently pushing up the prices at the local level.

Official data shows that in 2005-06, the overall volume of exports to Afghanistan was 1,063.463 million dollars, out of which the value of edibles was 397.393 million dollars.

In 2004-05, the volume of commodity export was 291.699 million dollars, but Butt said that worth of smuggled items was far more than the official trade with the landlocked country.

"This is the tip of the iceberg. The quantum of smuggled edible items to Afghanistan is four times higher than this," asserted Liaqat Ahmad Khan, president of the NWFP Chamber of Commerce and Industries (NCCI).

Satar Muhammad, president of the Food Grain Dealers Association said the price of rice (in NWFP) has shot up mainly because of growing smuggling to Afghanistan.

Officially, Pakistan has a bilateral trade of 2 billion dollars with Afghanistan. But the volume of clandestine business between the two countries is estimated to be more than ten billion dollars every year.

Authorities in both Pakistan and Afghanistan profit from the huge bribes paid out to ensure the illegal trade continues without interruption.

Numan Wazir, president of the Industrialists Association in Peshawar, said trade and industry in the NWFP is mostly focused on the consumer markets in Afghanistan, but the government’s inability to give incentives is cramping business.

Flour is being smuggled to Afghanistan by NWFP traders. Afghanistan has emerged as an ideal destination for the flour industry, which is in a severe crisis for the last few years owing to a variety of reasons. Most of the 350 flourmill owners prefer to smuggle the commodity to Afghanistan.

Multan Khan, a resident of Leghman province in Afghanistan, said that he has been in the poultry business for 10 years. "There is no loss," he boasted. "We purchase 1 kg of chicken at 2 dollars in Pakistan and sell it for 4 dollars in Afghanistan," he said.

The people most affected by the rampant illegal trade to Afghanistan are those living in the border areas of NWFP, FATA and Balochistan.

"I had not seen a price hike of tomatoes till 1990. But the people not only have to pay more for tomatoes but at times are faced with shortages," said Mian Khan.

Pakistan: How Are Domestic Crises Impacting War Against Terrorism?
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

September 26, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is facing crisis from within and without his country. The governments of neighboring countries like Afghanistan and India are demanding that he do more to curb Islamic extremists operating in Pakistan. Meanwhile, he faces a domestic political crisis over his failed attempts to control the judiciary, his refusal to quit as head of Pakistan's Army before an October parliamentary vote on the next president, and from Islamists angry about the deadly storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque in July. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz spoke with Mark Schneider, vice president of the International Crisis Group think tank, about how these crises are impacting the war against terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan.

RFE/RL: Afghanistan has repeatedly alleged that elements within Pakistan's military and intelligence community help the Taliban in Afghanistan and turn a blind eye to Taliban camps within Pakistan. Do you agree? And if so, why do you think President Musharraf -- a key ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism -- would permit such support for the Taliban to continue?

Mark Schneider: Musharraf and the Pakistan military have a view that the direction of political events in Afghanistan are not desirable. They would like to see a government which is more directly responsive to their concerns and Pakistan's long-term interests. They see India having too much of a role. They are not pleased by [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai's close relationship with India. They believe that in the end, the West will lose its interest and commitment to Afghanistan and that, over time, the Taliban will come back into power. They want that government, if not beholden to Pakistan, at the very least to be heavily influenced by Pakistan. So they continue to provide sanctuary despite all the internal political dynamics in Pakistan.

Pakistan's military, its intelligence arm -- the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence agency), and Musharraf continue to, in a sense, play both sides against the middle. They respond with some increasing action in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and the Northwest Province areas against some of the Taliban military buildups there -- but particularly the foreign buildups. They have been responsive against Al-Qaeda. They've gone after Uzbek and Tajik foreign groups that have been linked to both Taliban and Al-Qaeda. But they haven't gone after the major Taliban command-and-control centers in Quetta and Peshawar.

RFE/RL: How do you think the Taliban leadership views Pakistan's domestic political crises?

Schneider: The Taliban leadership is clearly somewhat unsettled by the signs that there may be political change inside Pakistan. There's no question that they would be uncomfortable with a government which is less controlled by the military. It's not just Musharraf. The Pakistan military and ISI were the ones who helped train and equip and work with the Taliban initially. So there is that strong relationship between the ISI and the Taliban -- even beyond the religious.

RFE/RL: Pakistan's political crises have raised questions about whether President Musharraf's government can remain in power much longer. What impact do you think new leadership in Pakistan might have upon the Taliban in Afghanistan?

Schneider: Whether or not there is a change to a democratic government in Pakistan, the Pakistan military will continue to have a significant degree of influence and power. And I suspect that [the Taliban] believe that will be sufficient to permit them to continue to operate. Their goal is not to participate in a democratic political process in Afghanistan. [The Taliban's] goal is to take over the government and return to an Islamist extreme fundamentalist control of Afghanistan.

RFE/RL: Do you think Musharraf's government deserves the praise it has gotten from Washington about the efforts it has made in the war against terrorism?

Schneider: Thus far, the Pakistan military and Musharraf have not done what now U.S. law requires them to do -- which is to do everything in their power to close down the Pakistan sanctuaries. They have not gone after the major command-and-control centers in Quetta and Peshawar. That's really the key. It's one thing to say that it is difficult for them to get out to some mountain hideout to identify and destroy a Taliban military operation there. It is another thing when you have a major city, as you do in Quetta, where they are known to be located and do nothing.

RFE/RL:The standoff between Musharraf and an increasingly independent-minded judiciary in Pakistan has added to Musharraf's domestic political woes. The Supreme Court in Islamabad is now considering a series of petitions seeking to have Musharraf eliminated as a candidate for president when parliament appoints the country's next leader in October. How do you see this situation playing out?

Schneider: Without any question, the independence of the Supreme Court in Pakistan has posed a major obstacle to Musharraf's and the Pakistan military's political plan -- to have him simply be reelected, to maintain his military role as chief of the army, and to maintain his presidency. And without any question, the current lawsuits pose a significant obstacle to Musharraf and the military's planning. Whether that will result in the Supreme Court deciding that Musharraf cannot do both -- that is, cannot stay in the military and run for the presidency. Whether the court will decide that even if he steps down from the military, he cannot run for the presidency for two years. There's a bar against military officers running for civilian offices for two years after they retire. Sometimes there is a waiver. But the court may decide that that's not possible in this instance.

In that case, the question is what the Pakistan military does. Do they accept that? Do they declare a state of emergency? There have been a significant number of people around Musharraf who have urged him to declare a state of emergency -- which would essentially reestablish military law, which is what he did when he first came into power in a military coup to take over the government.

RFE/RL: When U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte visited Pakistan on September 12, he publicly praised Islamabad's contribution to the war on terrorism. But there has been criticism in the United States that Pakistan isn't doing enough to battle religious extremism. Does this send mixed messages to Islamabad about the importance of cracking down on Taliban fighters within Pakistan?

Schneider: There's been a rising amount of criticism in the United States, particularly in the Congress, that Musharraf and Pakistan have not done what they promised when they signed an agreement with Secretary [of State Colin] Powell some five years ago -- which is to go after the Taliban insurgency, to close it down, to close down its command-and-control centers and its sanctuaries. As a result, the Congress this year for the first time has passed very stiff conditionality language saying, "We're conditioning any further military assistance on your doing that." And [U.S.] President [George W. Bush] has to certify that Pakistan's government is, in fact, taking significant action to close down sanctuaries. Otherwise, [Bush] is barred from providing assistance.

"Publicly, clearly, [U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte] is saying that Musharraf is still an ally in the war against terrorism and is not putting pressure on publicly. Hopefully, privately, the message was different." -- Mark Schneider, ICG

I would assume that the message from Deputy Secretary Negroponte was that this legislation has now been signed into law and that there is other legislation coming down the pike that would effect additional flows of assistance to Pakistan if nothing is done. If he wants to continue to receive U.S. support, he's going to have to do that. One doesn't know whether Negroponte is saying, "I'm sorry to tell you," or whether he is saying, "This is the law. You have to do it." Publicly, clearly, he is saying that Musharraf is still an ally in the war against terrorism and is not putting pressure on publicly. Hopefully, privately, the message was different.

RFE/RL: Earlier this year, as the U.S. National Intelligence Director, Negroponte testified to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that it is necessary for Pakistan to do more to eliminate safe havens for the Taliban and other extremists within Pakistan's tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. On September 12 in Islamabad, he said Pakistan was at a "critical juncture in history" and has the opportunity "to forge ahead as a vibrant, moderate, successful, and democratic Muslim nation." Does this indicate a tougher U.S. position toward Musharraf on the issues of terrorism and democracy?

Schneider: There have been some indications that [Negroponte] has made it clear that the past attitude and actions of the Pakistan government towards the Taliban are no longer acceptable. It's not clear whether or not what he said privately with respect to opening up the political process and allowing the secular democratic parties freedom to participate in the upcoming elections.

RFE/RL: What impact do you think increased pressure from Washington on Islamabad could have upon the situation in Afghanistan?

Schneider: One would hope that the consequences of increasing pressures on Musharraf and the Pakistan government to restrict the freedom of movement of the Taliban forces -- denying it sanctuary in Pakistan -- would have some impact on making the Taliban's life more difficult. How that will play itself out in the long term is still not clear. In the short term, it probably will have some impact in making it more difficult for the Taliban forces to move around and to plan their operations. It is unlikely to be a strategic change. It's unlikely to weaken them significantly unless the U.S. places more pressure on Musharraf and they, in fact, do take more serious actions to close down the Taliban command and control centers and to cut off the flow of weapons and stopping the Taliban recruitment processes in the mosques of Pakistan.

Military brains plot Pakistan's downfall
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / September 26, 2007

KARACHI - Al-Qaeda has been in the process of a decisive ideological and strategic debate over the past few years. At times it developed fault lines that brought forward extremists in the organization, whom the Sunni and Shi'ite orthodoxy of the Muslim world calls takfiris. [1]

This rise of the takfiris within al-Qaeda gave an unprecedented boost to its anti-establishment drive. This concept is based on the philosophies of 13th-century Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who

threatened to revolt against the Muslim sultan if he did not give up his neutrality toward the invading Tartars and eventually forced him to fight to defend Damascus. [2] It also draws on General Vo Nguyen Giap's guerrilla strategy against French and US forces in Vietnam.

The aim of the takfiris now is to extend the current insurgency against the establishment in the North Waziristan and South Waziristan tribal areas of Pakistan into a large-scale offensive to bring down the central government or force the government to support their cause.

The US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Pakistan's post-September 11, 2001, about-turn into the camp of the United States led to a marriage of convenience among the flag-bearers of Ibn Taymiyyah's ideology, zealots of al-Qaeda and experts in Giap's guerrilla strategy - former officers of the Pakistani armed forces who were upset with Pakistan's policy reversal, which included abandoning the Taliban.

These groups joined forces to take control of the state through a popular revolt or by using violent means, or force on the state apparatus to support the battle against the Western coalition in Afghanistan. The alliance has had some success, notably in the Waziristans, where in effect a rigid Islamic state prevails beyond the control of the central authorities in Islamabad. Indeed, the highest level of casualties in the history of the Pakistan Army has forced Pakistani leaders to speak of stopping operations in the Waziristans, saying it is a wrong war.

But while there have been several serious popular outbursts against President General Pervez Musharraf - and attacks on his life - his military government remains in power since staging a coup in 1999.

Meanwhile, after a long lull, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden resurfaced recently with three video and audio tape messages. His emergence on the horizon of the jihadist audience came at a time when Islamic militants of varied backgrounds (in the Waziristans) had finally sorted out their conflicts on issues such as revolt against a Muslim state and fighting Muslim armies.

Those groups include the Taliban (led by Mullah Omar), the command of the Pakistani Taliban (led by a shura - council - of mujahideen in the two Waziristans), leading Arab scholars in the Waziristans, such as Sheikh Essa, Abu Waleed Ansari and Abu Yahya al-Libbi, the command of Pakistani jihadist organizations in the Waziristans under Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri and its allied group of former officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces who resigned to join the Afghan resistance.

Bin Laden has always spoken out against the Western world, but in his most recent audio message last week, for the first time he urged Pakistanis "to fight against Musharraf, his army, his government and his supporters". This was the first endorsement of his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri's anti-establishment theory under which war should be waged first against the un-Islamic Muslim states before fighting infidel armies. In the past, Mullah Omar and bin Laden have always avoided stirring revolt within countries such as Pakistan.

Pakistan immediately dismissed bin Laden's call. Army spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad was quoted as saying, "If Osama bin Laden has spoken to the people and urged them to rise, and the people were really following him, they would have done so much earlier. He doesn't have much following here."

However, this was clearly for public consumption. Asia Times Online has learned that these new developments were so seriously viewed on the intelligence radars of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that they devised a joint strategy.

Islamabad is so concerned over the latest developments that it asked Saudi Arabia to approach al-Qaeda to abandon its anti-establishment policy.

The Saudis are concerned that should their erstwhile son bin Laden succeed in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia would be one of the next logical targets. So a joint strategy was devised to confront the threat.

According to a witness who spoke to Asia Times Online, last month a Saudi consul visited North Waziristan in the first such interaction with the al-Qaeda command since the US invasion on Afghanistan in 2001. The consul was meant to meet Zawahiri or bin Laden, but he was not allowed to see them and instead met second-tier al-Qaeda leaders.

The consul wore traditional clothes of the region and a Pashtun-style hat, and carried several gifts, mostly food items, especially dates and figs. He also carried with him messages from Saudi royal family members. He spent two days in North Waziristan before returning safely to Islamabad. Immediately after, the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan, Ali Awad al-Asiri, went to Saudi Arabia. He was not carrying good news - the Saudi offer of a ceasefire with al-Qaeda for both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had been rejected, as the al-Qaeda leadership is determined to pursue its policy of bringing down "un-Islamic" governments and imposing their own policies or alternatively getting Pakistan to change its policies in favor of the militants.

Pakistan is the first stepping stone in al-Qaeda's global strategy. Once the organization and its allies take control of the country or force the decision-makers to promote global Islamic resistance, the first direct impact will be on the Afghan insurgency, where support would multiply against Western coalition forces there.

Jihadis take aim

The September 13 attack on Zarrar Company's Tarbella Ghazi camp in northwestern Pakistan in which 20 military men were killed raised alarm bells in Islamabad. Zarrar Company is involved in anti-terror operations.

Pakistani jihadis have launched many attacks on the establishment and against Musharraf, but now they face a well-coordinated "guerrilla" strategy, spearheaded by former army officers.

The former military men are operating out of the Waziristan camp of former Pakistani jihadi commander Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri. They are mostly ex-middle cadre (captains, majors, colonels) who resigned upon Pakistan's U-turn after September 11.

Initially, the architect of the struggle against Pakistan's alliance in the US-led "war on terror" and the operations in the Waziristans against the Pakistani military was an ex-captain of Pakistan's Special Services Group (he served in Zarrar Company). Captain Ahmed (not his real name), who also served in Pakistan's peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone, was killed a few months ago in the Garmser district of Helmand province in Afghanistan fighting against British troops.

The captain had also taught Kashmir separatists the guerrilla concepts of Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. These proved successful in the Kashmir Valley.

In Afghanistan, he oriented the fighters to adopt the three-phase guerrilla tactics of Giap in the southeastern provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika. These are now being adopted against the Pakistan Army in the two Waziristans.

The first phase involves armed opposition to the Pakistani forces in the two Waziristans. This has been going on for some years, and has proved successful, with the troops even being withdrawn at one point, leaving the militants in peace.

In the second phase, which has now begun, the militants are targeting isolated security posts and enemy personnel. This had a spectacular result recently, with more than 500 Pakistan Army soldiers being captured in different phases, mostly from the 7 Baloch Regiment (most of them were also released in phases).

At the same time, the insurgency has to spread. This it has done, into the adjoining Mohmand and Bajaur tribal agencies, as well as Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat Valley in North-West Frontier Province. The intensity of the opposition will be raised to include large-scale attacks, centered in Swat Valley, which will be Waziristan's outpost of insurgency and from where the insurgency is planned to spread into the federal capital.

The only parallel in Pakistan's history was the 1970 insurgency in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) when a colonel, along with a few other middle-ranking officers in the Pakistan Army, formed the Mukti Bahni (separatist group) for the separation of East Pakistan. Later, Bengali officers of the East Bengal Rifles mutinied against Pakistan and joined the separatists.

For the final stage, the ex-army planners aim to take the battle to Islamabad. The trigger for this will be presidential elections scheduled for next month in which Musharraf will run - and while still wearing his uniform.

Notes

1. Those who consider non-practicing Muslims as infidels.

2. Ibn Taymiyyah fought against the Tartars who attacked the Muslim world and almost reached Damascus. The people of Syria sent him to Egypt to urge the Mamluke Sultan, the sultan of Egypt and Syria, to lead his troops to Syria to save it from the invading Tartars. When he realized that the Sultan was hesitant to do what he asked of him, he threatened the Sultan by saying: "If you turn your back on Syria we will appoint a Sultan over it who can defend it and enjoy it at the time of peace." The strategy was successful and the Sultan was eventually forced to fight against the Tartars.

3. Vo Nguyen Giap (born in 1911)was a Vietnamese general and statesman.

4. For more references of al-Qaeda-Pakistan Army connections see Musharraf's army breaking ranks, Asia Times Online, August 30, 2003, and Pakistan: FBI rules the roost, ATol, August 4, 2003.

NATO providing assistance for the education of Afghan women
Source: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) September 26, 2007

The brief video highlights how NATO continues to provide support for the education sector in Afghanistan. Today over seven million children are attending school, which is a six-fold increase since 2001. Thirty-seven percent of these children are girls and about 400 000 female students started school for the first time this year. In addition, ten universities are functioning throughout the country, compared to only one during Taliban rule.

The five-minute video, commissioned by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, gives an insight into the efforts made by NATO and NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams for rebuilding schools and giving Afghan women and girl access to education. Cooperation with Afghan partners makes it possible that these Afghan women are attending school in a safe and secure environment. The video is available in both low- and high-resolution versions for viewing and distribution.

Drama serial on Abu Hanifa presented to Afghan TV

KABUL, Sept 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Karim Khurram received Egyptian Ambassador to Afghanistan K. Sharaf here late Sunday. The ambassador presented the minister with a donation of the popular historic and religious television drama serial "Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nauman" to be televised on Afghan television.

The drama serial narrates the life and times of the great seventh-century Imam, considered a paramount figure in religious interpretation and Islamic jurisprudence, and a beckon of Islamic moderation and founder of one of the principal sects of Islam adhered to by millions of moderate Muslims around the world. A press release issued by the Egyptian embassy here said the donation was made at the request of the Afghan minister due to popular demand.

Commenting on the donation, the Egyptian ambassador said the drama reflected many of the true values of Islam, and was presented on behalf of the people of Egypt to the Afghans to further strengthen religious and cultural ties during the holy month of Ramadan. The ambassador added the 37 hours of televised material was produced by the Egyptian Television and Radio Union under the strict supervision of Al-Azhar El Sharif in Cairo, and that further cultural contributions of this nature to Afghanistan were expected in the near future.

Buddhist-era site found in Mazar-i-Sharif

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Sept 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A historical Buddhist-era site has been discovered east of Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of the northern Balkh province, an official said on Monday. The location - looking like a hill - was found by labourers working on the Amiri township scheme, said Saleh Muhammad Khaliq, director of the information and culture department.

[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.]