In this bulletin:

• Kouchner sees 3,000 French troops in Afghanistan
• Foreign chiefs head to Afghanistan
• Canada won't turn Afghanistan into thriving democracy by 2011: Emerson
• Keep expectations for Afghanistan realistic: Emerson
• Politicians from U.S., U.K., praise Canada's Afghan mission
• Afghan aid in doubt as tax goal missed
• Afghan minister statement on nuclear waste dumping highly irresponsible: Pak
• India to train Afghan army in counter-insurgency operations
• Rudd demands safety of Aussie athletes
• Khalilzad, next Afghan president?
• The Taliban talk the talk
• Iran surveys offer for proposal of Afghan woman as UN Human Rights Commissioner
• US is 'undermining' Afghan trials
• Can You Hear Me Now? Taliban Fears Cell Phones
• Concerns as Government in Afghanistan Bows to Hardline Pressure
• From Kabul to California: the incredible journey of Khaled Hosseini

Kouchner sees 3,000 French troops in Afghanistan

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - French troops operating in Afghanistan will number about 3,000, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Friday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced last week that Paris would send an extra 700 troops to Afghanistan, which would bring France's contribution to NATO's fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda there to roughly 2,300 men.

On a visit to the Central Asian state of Tajikistan, Kouchner gave the higher figure and officials in Paris said it was likely he had included in his estimate the 700 troops based in nearby states and involved in related operations.

"I cannot give you an exact figure, because the military must make their own decision, but I can tell you that about 3,000 French troops will be placed in Afghanistan," Kouchner said, speaking through an interpreter.

"This is the will of our president and his decision was not spontaneous. He sent a letter to all coalition members to inform them about it," Kouchner told reporters.

He did not say when the extra troops would deploy or what role they would play, but his mention of Sarkozy's letter suggested he was referring to the previously announced increase.

Officials in Paris said on condition of anonymity that they had not seen Kouchner's comments but they presumed that if he was accurately translated he must have accidentally included troops stationed nearby rather than in Afghanistan.

Kouchner will visit Afghanistan this weekend, French diplomats said, his first trip there since France announced it was sending an extra 700 troops to the east of the country.

French officials have said those reinforcements were conditional on a more unified overall strategy on issues including development, and on progressively handing over responsibility for security and other issues to Afghans.

France is hosting a conference on June 12 aimed at raising funds for Afghanistan and reviewing that strategy, and an official who briefed reporters said preparing for the conference would be the focus of Kouchner's trip.

Kouchner is due to meet President Hamid Karzai and officials including his counterpart, Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta on Saturday. He will also hold meetings with non-governmental organizations and visit a hospital in Kabul.

He will then go to Kandahar, in the south of the country, with Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier, despite Canada's disappointed at France's decision to send reinforcements to the east rather than help it fight the Taliban in the south.

France has fighter jets stationed in Kandahar providing aerial support for its allies' ground forces.

"He will meet various people there to receive an evaluation of the situation, not just in Kabul but also in a province, and a province where the situation is not easy," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Last week U.S. President George W. Bush welcomed France's extra contribution to the 47,000-strong NATO force and said it would allow some U.S. troops to move from the east to the south, scene of the worst clashes with the Taliban and where Canada demanded reinforcements or else it would leave the mission.

(Additional reporting by Francois Murphy in Paris; Writing by Christian Lowe and Olzhas Auyezov)

Foreign chiefs head to Afghanistan

The foreign ministers of France and Canada will visit Afghanistan this weekend as Nato prepares to bolster its forces there. Bernard Kouchner and Maxime Bernier will go to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the south-eastern city of Kandahar on Saturday and Sunday.

Mr Kouchner, who was visiting Tajikistan and Turkmenistan this week, will meet in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, government ministers and aid groups working in the country.

The visit is meant as a follow-up to the French announcement last week that it is sending 700 more troops to Afghanistan. The trip will also help with France's preparations for an international donors conference for Afghanistan in June.

France's offer of more troops at a Nato summit in Bucharest averted a looming crisis in the alliance over Afghanistan. Canada had threatened to pull out its 2,500 beleaguered soldiers in the southern Kandahar province unless they had reinforcements from another ally.

France's combat troops are expected to move into eastern Afghanistan, freeing up US forces to help the Canadians in the south. France currently has 1,430 troops serving as part of the 47,000-strong Nato force in Afghanistan. The US plans to send 3,200 extra Marines to Afghanistan.

Washington has been lobbying European allies for months to send more troops to the front lines of the fight against the Taliban.

Canada won't turn Afghanistan into thriving democracy by 2011: Emerson

OTTAWA — The first step in Canada's exit strategy from Afghanistan will be for Canadians to shed the rose-coloured glasses about what can be accomplished over the next three years, says a senior Conservative minister.

The best Canada can hope for in Afghanistan in the short-term is that it will become a "viable state," Trade Minister David Emerson said Thursday during a weekly briefing.

"I don't think any of us should be under the illusion that Afghanistan is going to be a thriving, prosperous democracy by 2011.

"But we hope we can get to the point where Afghanistan has become a viable state and we can normalize Canada's relationship," said Emerson, chair of a cabinet committee overseeing Ottawa's war-and-development strategy.

At last week's NATO summit in Bucharest, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada would set its own benchmarks and goals in Kandahar province, which will pave the way for withdrawal.

Emerson, a former business executive, said the cabinet committee is setting those priorities.

"Our committee will be paying particular attention to being realistic as to what we can achieve by 2011."

Among the immediate goals is to reduce the number of casualties as Canadian soldiers battle Taliban insurgents in frustrating hide-and-seek warfare, Emerson suggested.

Since 2002, 82 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in the strife-torn region. Parliament recently approved an extension to the Afghan mission, which had been slated to expire next year.

NATO has come up with reinforcements as well as extra equipment. The presence of Canadian troops, diplomats and development workers is now assured until July 2011.

The benchmarks, which the government hopes to point to in three years in order to declare the mission accomplished, will touch on security, governance, economic development and education.

"You have to think that if our military role ceases in 2011, we have to look at what we're doing to ensure that the legacy we leave behind does not crumble because the military is out of there," he said.

"These things are always very easy to talk about, but very hard to do ... but we're going to take out best shot at it."

The committee, which includes all ministers who have a responsibility for Afghanistan projects, has been trying to establish a clear picture of the Kandahar situation.

Emerson was hesitant to predict precisely what kind of Kandahar the Canadians will leave behind, but emphasized that the hopes and expectations of the Afghans themselves are being taken into account.

"We are consulting with them about what the key priorities should be in their minds," he said. "There's not much point having benchmarks that are critical to Afghanistan's future and Afghanistan doesn't buy into them."

Meanwhile, the country's top military commander gave the House of Commons foreign affairs committee a cautious assessment of the insurgency on the ground.

"The direct threat is still very real," said Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff.

"The mission continues in a positive direction, but that threat remains high especially in the south of Afghanistan and especially, from our perspective in the west and north of Kandahar city itself."

Hillier said the move towards normalization is still being hindered by the abence of international aid groups, which largely abandoned Kandahar in 2006 when fighting escalated.

Keep expectations for Afghanistan realistic: Emerson

No illusions about a thriving democracy by 2011, minister says - The Canadian Press- 11 April 2008

The first step in Canada's exit strategy from Afghanistan will be for Canadians to shed the rose-coloured glasses about what can be accomplished over the next three years, says a senior Conservative minister.

The best Canada can hope for in Afghanistan in the short-term is that it will become a "viable state," Trade Minister David Emerson said Thursday during a weekly briefing.

"I don't think any of us should be under the illusion that Afghanistan is going to be a thriving, prosperous democracy by 2011.

"But we hope we can get to the point where Afghanistan has become a viable state and we can normalize Canada's relationship," said Emerson, chair of a cabinet committee overseeing Ottawa's war-and-development strategy.

At last week's NATO summit in Bucharest, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada would set its own benchmarks and goals in Kandahar province, which will pave the way for withdrawal.

Emerson, a former business executive, said the cabinet committee is setting those priorities. "Our committee will be paying particular attention to being realistic as to what we can achieve by 2011."

Among the immediate goals is to reduce the number of casualties as Canadian soldiers battle Taliban insurgents in frustrating hide-and-seek warfare, Emerson suggested.

Since 2002, 82 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in the strife-torn region. Parliament recently approved an extension to the Afghan mission, which had been slated to expire next year.

NATO has come up with reinforcements as well as extra equipment. The presence of Canadian troops, diplomats and development workers is now assured until July 2011.

The benchmarks, which the government hopes to point to in three years in order to declare the mission accomplished, will touch on security, governance, economic development and education.

"You have to think that if our military role ceases in 2011, we have to look at what we're doing to ensure that the legacy we leave behind does not crumble because the military is out of there," he said.

"These things are always very easy to talk about, but very hard to do ... but we're going to take out best shot at it."

The committee, which includes all ministers who have a responsibility for Afghan projects, has been trying to establish a clear picture of the Kandahar situation.

Emerson was hesitant to predict precisely what kind of Kandahar the Canadians will leave behind, but emphasized that the hopes and expectations of the Afghans themselves are being taken into account.

"We are consulting with them about what the key priorities should be in their minds," he said. "There's not much point having benchmarks that are critical to Afghanistan's future and Afghanistan doesn't buy into them."

Meanwhile, the country's top military commander gave the House of Commons foreign affairs committee a cautious assessment of the insurgency on the ground.

"The direct threat is still very real," said Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff.

"The mission continues in a positive direction, but that threat remains high especially in the south of Afghanistan and especially, from our perspective, in the west and north of Kandahar city itself."

Hillier said the move toward normalization is still being hindered by the absence of international aid groups, which largely abandoned Kandahar in 2006 when fighting escalated.

Politicians from U.S., U.K., praise Canada's Afghan mission
Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service Thursday, April 10, 2008

OTTAWA - Canada's efforts in Afghanistan received high praise Thursday from two disparate corners - a Clinton-era defence secretary and a British Conservative MP. Both praised Canada's combat mission while criticizing European allies for not pulling their weight on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

Former U.S. defence secretary William Cohen said some European countries are growing too fond of "soft power" and are shying away from "hard power responsibilities."

At the same time, the prime minister's office said that Stephen Harper and two senior cabinet ministers met the British Conservative defence critic Liam Fox Thursday and that he gushed that Canada is a "model NATO citizen" that other reluctant European allies should emulate.

Fox, a one-time_British Conservative leadership hopeful who now serves as his party's defence critic, met not only with Harper but also with Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. The high-level access for Fox, a rising star in the British Conservative party, comes as the Labour government of Gordon Brown fares poorly in domestic polls.

After the meeting, Harper's office drew attention to the glowing statement that Fox posted on his website.

"More European nations should follow Canada's example and start playing a more meaningful role in the NATO alliance," Fox wrote.

"Canada is the model NATO citizen. Under the Government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada has seen a steady increase in its defence spending and a modernization of its defence capabilities, along with an increasing willingness to play a full role in international security."

Fox's warm reception in Ottawa comes as the Harper Conservatives are watching the decline of some right-of-centre Western governments across the globe. Last fall, Australia's John Howard, a model for Canada's Conservatives, went down to defeat. In the U.S., the Bush administration relinquishes power early next year and the Republicans face a tough Democratic challenge for the White House.

Cohen, who served as Democrat Bill Clinton's defence secretary, is a moderate Republican. On Thursday, he criticized European members of NATO that do not permit their troops to engage in the heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan.

Cohen is the second former U.S. cabinet minister this week to criticize Western European allies for avoiding direct combat in Afghanistan.

Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger lamented Europe's reluctance to enter the heavy fighting in an essay published in a leading international newspaper.

"That's what I mean by a two-tier system. Dr. Kissinger explained it very well," Cohen said in Ottawa, where he was attending a major defence industry trade show.

"You are seeing a transition within the European countries. They're soft-power, shying away from hard-power responsibilities."

During the Clinton years, the U.S. criticized Canada for putting too much emphasis on soft power - using hard rhetoric but not backing it with military might as they cut defence spending. Former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy championed soft power.

Cohen also had high praise for the Conservative government's commitment to greater defence spending to back the Canadian Forces in their fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Cohen said that has brought Canada and the U.S. closer than in the Clinton years.

"It's grown closer. I don't think there's any question that Canada has decided it has neglected its defence capabilities for too many years," Cohen said.

For more than a decade, Washington criticized Ottawa for not spending enough on defence. That started to change in 2005 when the former Liberal government of Paul Martin boosted defence spending by $13 billion, halting the rust-out of heavy equipment and the decline of various military capabilities.

The Conservatives have picked up that momentum, by committing an additional $5 billion, while rebranding their efforts as a Canada First defence policy, something Cohen praised by name Thursday.

"That is a very positive sign. The sentiments being expressed by the prime minister are certainly welcome in the United States. Canada is our friend. You're our neighbour. Your security is tied to our security, and vice versa. I think the relationship has improved significantly."

Trade Minister David Emerson also said Thursday that a cabinet committee that he chairs hopes to release benchmarks that would be used to publicly measure Canadian progress in Kandahar in the coming weeks. Emerson offered no specifics.

Afghan aid in doubt as tax goal missed

By Jon Boone in Kabul – Financial Times, Published: April 1 2008 22:15

International aid and debt relief for Afghanistan has been thrown into doubt by the country’s failure to honour an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and warnings that its three-year development master plan could be rejected.

Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady, finance minister, last week admitted to donors the government had failed to meet a target agreed with the IMF to raise $715m (€458m, £362m) in taxes. At just 8.2 per cent of gross domestic product, the goal had been described by economists as “unambitious”.

At the same time the World Bank and other donors have told the government that the latest drafts of the Afghan National Development Strategy, a key document to which future funding and debt relief is pegged, is of such poor quality that it will be rejected if submitted in its current form.

The government has had almost three years to produce the document and received at least $15m from donors to support its drafting. Western observers in Kabul have caustically referred to it as the “world’s most expensive poverty reduction strategy”.

The document has been heavily criticised for being unwieldy, lacking specifics and with free-market economic principles sitting uneasily with more statist objectives.

A western official in Kabul said it “appeared the Afghans have tried to avoid making tough decision about priorities by simply throwing everything into the document”.

The World Bank says the plan has not yet been rejected and that they look forward to receiving the complete document, but time is running out.

A Ministry of Finance team has taken over the project in a desperate bid to get a workable document together before a donors’ conference in Paris in June when the international community is expected to make future development pledges.

The hope had been that they would be able to use the existing strategy document as a basis for making future donations.

Both the failure to meet the tax revenue target and the risk that it will fail to produce an adequate development strategy have serious ramifications for both future international funding and the $10.6bn of debt relief it currently enjoys through the IMF-backed Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

Under the terms of its agreement with the IMF, Afghanistan must produce a poverty reduction strategy – which the Afghans have wrapped into their National Development Strategy – acceptable to the fund.

At the same time, Afghanistan must meet other obligations, including gradually raising its tax take, to make it less dependent on aid.

Mr Ahady told donors in Kabul last week that the government fell short of the $715m target by about $50m because political turmoil in neighbouring Pakistan reduced customs revenues on imports into Afghanistan.

But members of the international community have questioned the explanation, and an IMF team due to visit this month is to decide whether Kabul is at fault. They could recommend that Afghanistan be stripped of its debt relief facility.

Afghan minister statement on nuclear waste dumping highly irresponsible: Pak

ISLAMABAD (Pak Tribune) 11 April 2008: Pakistan strongly condemning the Afghan minister statement about dumping of nuclear waste into Afghanistan territory as highly irresponsible and baseless said Islamabad is consistently in contact with Kabul on this count.

"Disposal of nuclear waste in Pakistan is strictly regulated in accordance with the international standards. Our nuclear power stations are under IAEA safeguards which not only keep an oversight on their operations but also on storage of nuclear waste which has to be fully accounted for", Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said this in his weekly press briefing here Thursday in foreign office.

He went on to say if Afghan Government has any doubts, Pakistan would suggest that it should invite experts from IAEA to inspect the site where nuclear waste is allegedly dumped. The international experts could easily verify if the waste is there. Since nuclear waste carry distinct signatures, the experts could also verify its origin.

"Pakistan has taken up the matter with the Afghan Foreign Office which neither confirmed the statement of their Parliamentary Affairs Minister nor commented upon it", he said. Citing to Dr A Q Khan detention and later relaxation of curbs by government of Pakistan for him, spokesman said it was upto government to take all such steps. No statement has come from any foreign country after the restrictions were eased with respect to Dr A Q Khan.

"A. Q. Khan is a national hero and he is an old man and not keeping good health; there will be no harm to allow him to meet friends, go out on a drive or eat in a restaurant. No country has reacted to the Foreign Minister’s statement or have demanded to question him as internationally the A.Q. Khan issue is a closed chapter", he said.

Regarding bilateral peace talks between Pakistan and India he said the 4rh session of composite dialogue process between the two countries would start from May 20 in Islamabad. Kashmir issue would figure atop in the agenda which would be resolved soon, he hoped. Wide spectrum of issues including CBRs, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wooler Barrage, war on terror, anit drug trafficking measures, trade ties and ways and bilateral relations between Pakistan and India would feature in the talks, he told.

Pakistan is concerned over non-identification of 1000 unknown graves in occupied Kashmir, he held. India should invite international human rights organizations to visit Occupied Kashmir so that they could conduct free and independent investigation and identify unknown graves.

Settlement of Kashmir problem is must and a fact finding commission on the pattern of South Africa would be set up to ascertain facts after Kashmir issue was resolved, he indicated.

About President Musharraf visit to China he said it was manifestation of multi-faceted relations prevailing between Pakistan and China. Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, chairman Higher Education Commission, Dr Atta ur Rehman and defence minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar would also accompany the president.

Commenting on letter written by US democratic party legislators to president Bush with reference to war on terror and possible attacks by Al-Qaeda he said " we don’t want to enter into any debate over it. Pakistan is engaged in war against terrorism and extremism in its own interest. The socio economic development of tribal areas is also must for resolution of this issue, he stressed.

To a question about tragic events in Tibet and Olympic games he said linking sports to politics is regrettable. Pakistan will take part in the games. Sports and politics should be kept isolated from each other, he underlined.

Replying to a question on anti drug trafficking measures and illegal entry of Nigerian nationals in Pakistan he said they could come to Pakistan with legal traveling documents. They will have to provide invitation cards from Pakistani companies and certificate from Nigerian anti drug trafficking departments in this regard. Investigations are underway into several incidents wherein illegal foreign nationals were involved, he told. Outcome will soon come out, he added.

In response to a question regarding fate of politically appointed High Commissioners/Ambassadors of Pakistan since Prime Minister took office the FO spokesman said, "The Government has the prerogative to recall any Ambassador whether on contract or a regular appointee. Whenever the Government takes a decision to recall an Ambassador or appoint a new one, announcement will be made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as per practice".

India to train Afghan army in counter-insurgency operations

NEW DELHI, April 11 (APP): Indian Army will impart training to Afghan Army in counter-insurgency operations. It was decided during a meeting between the Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and his Indian counter-parts here.

The Afghan Defence Minister is here to discuss enhancement of military cooperation with India.

On Thursday, he paid a daylong visit to Srinagar-based 15 Corps of the Indian army where he was briefed on the counter-insurgency operations in occupied Kashmir, The Tribune quoting defence sources said.

“As Afghanistan had no big training institute there, their officers and jawans used to come to India to undergo special training here,” a senior official said.

“Terrorism is a common threat to both the countries. Cooperation between us is important against fundamentalism and terrorism,” Wardak was  quoted having said.

Rudd demands safety of Aussie athletes
AAP via Yahoo!Xtra News - Apr 10 8:33 PM

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has demanded China take whatever steps are necessary to protect Australian athletes at the Beijing Olympics in the wake of a foiled terrorism plot.

As Mr Rudd winds up three days in the Chinese capital on the last leg of his 18-day world tour, controversy over the Olympics has again taken centre stage.

At the start of his Beijing visit, Mr Rudd made waves when he sent a blunt message about "significant" human rights problems in Tibet after protests marred the Olympic torch relay in Europe.

Just hours before Mr Rudd departed the city, Friday, he made it clear that safety must be paramount for Australian athletes.

Chinese authorities revealed overnight they had foiled plots to carry out suicide bomb attacks and kidnap athletes during the Olympics beginning in August.

Two terrorist groups in China's predominately Muslim west were planning attacks aimed at the Beijing Olympics, according to the nation's security ministry, with one group plotting to kidnap foreign journalists, tourists and athletes.

Mr Rudd told reporters the Australian government's first responsibility was to ensure the safety of athletes and our authorities were in contact with their Chinese counterparts.

"The first responsibility which the Australian government has is to take whatever practical steps are necessary to ensure the safety and security of our athletes," he said.

"Our security authorities are now in close contact with the Chinese security authorities, and subsequent to that, we will be in close contact also with the Australian Olympic Committee.

"Our bottom line is this, every practical measure must be taken to ensure the safety of Australian athletes and this is why we'll be taking these matters very seriously."

Mr Rudd was due in the southern Chinese resort town of Sanya later Friday for talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Global security was on the agenda, with Mr Rudd saying he intended speaking to General Musharraf about what his country should be doing to help fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, believing Pakistan's cooperation with the West is "less than it could otherwise be".

"I will be seeking to engage President Musharraf in what Pakistan can do more to underpin the efforts of the United States and its allies in Afghanistan, in what is a difficult and protracted war," he told reporters in Beijing.

"Together with other members of the international community, I have concerns about the level of co-operation on the part of the government of Pakistan and the overall effort against terrorism in Afghanistan, both in relation to the Taliban and in relation to al-Qaeda."

Mr Rudd said he wanted to explore with the Pakistani leader ways his country can help the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

He also pledged to ensure that two pandas China promised to Australia during last year's APEC conference in Sydney won't fall victim to government budget cuts.

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer has said the deal could be in jeopardy if the government does not come up with the $5 million needed to fund the transfer of the two giant pandas and to house them at Adelaide Zoo.

But Mr Rudd told reporters in Beijing: "I'm confident the pandas will be safely and effectively brought to Australia."

"We'll be in contact with our friends in China to make sure the necessary funding arrangements are put in place."

Mr Downer said if the deal did not go ahead because of budget cuts it would be "quite a slap in the face" of China's President Hu Jintao, whom Mr Rudd was due to meet Saturday.

Khalilzad, next Afghan president?

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:36:05 – The Independent

US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad is to step down within months amid rumors that he plans to run for the Afghan presidency.

The Afghan-born diplomat made the announcement in a televised interview with Afghanistan's Ariana Network.

"I will resign from my official work in the next few months and start a private business," said Khalilzad.

However, Khalilzad scotched rumors that he planned to put himself in Afghanistan's presidential race. "I have said earlier that I'm not a candidate for any position in Afghanistan, but I am at the service of the Afghan people," he added.

A fluent Pashto and Dari speaker with close ties to the Republican Party, Khalilzad has worked for the Bush administration as a special presidential envoy to Afghanistan and ambassador to Iraq.

The Independent had earlier noted that Khalilzad's ideology of US supremacy has resulted in a series of foreign policy disasters.

"If he was in private business rather than government, he would have been sacked long ago," said Foreign policy analyst Anatol Lieven.

The Taliban talk the talk
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / April 11, 2008

KARACHI - With the destruction of a bridge on the Indus Highway in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) region of Darra Adamkhel last weekend, the Taliban have taken another step towards choking the supplies that flood through Pakistan to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission in Afghanistan.

At the same time, the Taliban believe an agreement Russia concluded with NATO at its summit last week will not alleviate the situation. Moscow agreed to the transit of food and non-military cargo and "some types of non-lethal military equipment" across Russia to Afghanistan. NATO is acutely aware that the 70% of its supplies that enter Afghanistan through Pakistan are in jeopardy with the Taliban's new focus on cutting transit routes.

These developments take place as the Taliban-led battle in Afghanistan is about to enter a new phase; for the first time since their ouster in 2001, the Taliban will scale back their tribal guerrilla warfare and concentrate on tactics used by the legendary Vietnamese commander General Vo Nguyen Giap, an approach that has already proved successful in taming the Pakistani military in the tribal areas.

"For the first time, the Taliban will have a well-coordinated strategy under which we will seize isolated military posts for a limited time, taking enemy combatants hostage, and then leaving them," "Dr Jarrah", a Taliban media spokesman, told Asia Times Online in a telephone conversation from Kunar province in Afghanistan.

"This is the second tier of General Giap's guerrilla strategy. The third tier is a conventional face-to-face war. This aims to demoralize the enemy," Jarrah explained. "We have been delayed by rainfall, but you shall see action by mid-April."

Jarrah claimed the Taliban have already launched some attacks over the past few weeks in Nooristan province, killing several American soldiers. Jarrah said retaliatory bombing only resulted in civilian casualties.

The Taliban and al-Qaeda used these tactics against the Pakistani military in the South Waziristan tribal area during 2007. This involved targeting remote military posts and forts and other installations on the fringes of towns such as Bannu. The Taliban would occupy the positions for only a few hours, long enough for them to take scores of soldiers as hostages. These would then be swapped with Taliban prisoners or used as bargaining chips for ceasefires and other demands.

The Taliban's new focus is the brainchild of several retired Pakistani military officers who are now part of the Taliban movement. They are complemented by men trained by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence's India cell to fuel the insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir.

These "neo-Taliban" have changed the face and dynamics of the Afghan insurgency. They are particularly careful not to blindly waste manpower, as in the past. During 2008, the main center of Taliban activity will be eastern Afghanistan.

"Almost 90% of the men have been launched for this spring," a Pakistani Taliban told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity. He is known for his professional military skills and strategic planning.

"About 10,000 fresh men have joined hands with us. Of these, half of them have been trained and launched, along with the old lot, while the other half [5,000] are getting training and will be launched in the next phase," the man said.

He continued, "Chopping off NATO's supply lines from Pakistan is the prelude of our operations and, believe me, the NATO deal with Russia for an alternative supply line is useless. To me, this is a fallacy or a political slogan to pressurize the strategically illiterate Pakistani leadership that NATO can do without Pakistan."

The strategic expert pointed out that the transit agreement was signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan because historically NWFP has always been the lifeline for southeastern Afghanistan, and nothing has changed this status. Iran is the second choice, but it is not willing to allow its territory to be used to support NATO.

Maintaining military supplies to Afghanistan this year will be a great challenge for the US, which is why Richard Boucher, the top US official for South Asia, and US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte were in Pakistan's Khyber Agency recently to try to get tribal elders on side. But because of the Taliban's threats, only three elders turned up for secret meetings.

Brigadier General Carlos Branco, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, is skeptical of the Taliban's claims, calling them unrealistic and no more than propaganda.

"Every year they claim a spring offensive. What offensive are they talking about? Blowing up cell phone towers in Helmand and Kandahar [provinces] or blowing up power stations in Ghazni? This is not an offensive," Branco told Asia Times Online in a telephone interview from Kabul.

"You know much better than me this [cutting supply lines] is not true. We rely on various means of transportation; besides, we do have a lot of supplementary stocks with us. Therefore, a few attacks will never have any effect. We do have sea problems [Afghanistan is landlocked] but this claim of completely chopping off our supply lines has no base in reality. I completely deny their claim," Branco said.

Commenting on the Taliban's new strategy, Branco dismissed it as old wine in new bottles.

"The Taliban haven't had a new strategy in the past, neither will they have one in the future. They will do what they did in 2007. They avoided any confrontation with NATO or the Afghan National Army and instead they attacked district headquarters and claimed they had captured the whole district. But before the arrival of our troops, they left.

"They did indeed attack some of our forward operation bases, but their attacks were ineffective as they lack the military capability ... it makes me laugh when they try to compare their guerrilla strategy with that of General Giap's," said Branco.

"This is really nonsense. General Giap used coordinated guerrilla attacks and employing conventional tactics with a range of weaponry. The Taliban's tactics are useless. The tried to use those tactics in 2006 and suffered heavy losses. I don't think they will be able to repeat those tactics. They are not able to confront us on open ground, not even at the platoon level," Branco said.

Similarly, a United Nations representative who spoke to Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity said the tide had changed against the Taliban. He said this had been brought about by the National Solidarity Program - a rural development initiative - and with a more visible and effective presence of the army and police, especially in Paktia and Kandahar provinces.

"He said governance is improving after some "inspired appointments" and that international organizations like the UN are gaining improved access in almost all areas.

Other observers, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) , see the situation differently. The ICRC said in a press release from Kabul dated April 8:

The president of the ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, is in Afghanistan for a seven-day visit to get a first-hand look at the situation in the country. "We are extremely concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. There is growing insecurity and a clear intensification of the armed conflict, which is no longer limited to the south but has spread to the east and west," said Mr Kellenberger.

"Intensification of the conflict has forced a growing number of people from their homes. While the ICRC has stepped up its humanitarian activities in recent years, dangerous conditions often prevent it from reaching groups such as displaced persons who need protection and assistance. The harsh reality is that in large parts of Afghanistan, little development is taking place. Instead, the conflict is forcing more and more people to flee their homes. Their growing humanitarian needs and those of other vulnerable people must be met as a matter of urgency. The Afghan people deserve to live in a secure environment and have access to decent health care, safe drinking water and adequate food supplies," added Mr Kellenberger. "

These are different views from different perspectives. The Taliban, NATO, the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, they each have their own agenda. Ultimately what matters is what happens on the battle field.

A new generation of neo-Taliban has emerged under Sirajuddin Haqqani (son of veteran mujahid Jalaluddin Haqqani) . They are ideologically more radical than their elders, but much more strategically attuned, having proved themselves in Indian-administered Kashmir against Indian forces a few years ago and against the Pakistani military.

Now they have to prove their claim that the summer of 2008 will be a hot one in Afghanistan.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.

Iran surveys offer for proposal of Afghan woman as UN Human Rights Commissioner

Kabul, April 11, IRNA - Iran's Embassy in Kabul issued a communique here Friday announcing Iran is surveying Afghan Government's proposal for nomination of Sima Samar a candidate for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to IRNA office in Kabul, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan invited the foreign countries' ambassadors and charge d'affaires in Kabul to introduce Sima Samar, the US Special Reporter on Human Rights in Darfur, Sudan, and the Head of Afghanistan's Human Rights Commission, as nominee for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry also on Thursday issued a communique in which Samar has been referred to as a woman who has spent tremendous efforts during the past two decades for restoration of human rights, campaign against aggression, and cultural blossoming of the Afghan nation.

The "friend countries" have been asked in the communique to support Samar's candidacy for the UN high post, which has been held by Louise Arbors from Canada ever since the year 2004.

Samar was born in southern Afghanistan's Qazney Province in 1975 and graduated as a medical doctor from Kabul University. She migrated to Pakistan after graduation form university as a medical doctor, where she established a hospital and began curing the Afghan immigrants.

This Afghan woman has so far established 55 schools and has been an activist in human rights affairs, served as the first Minister of Women's Affairs in temporary government during her country's transitory era.

Samar has so far received two honorary doctorate decrees from Canada's Alberta University and the United States Brown University.

The prizes she has won include one on social leadership, one on global leadership, the 100 brave women's prize, and the prize for call to heed human rights.

US is 'undermining' Afghan trials

By Elettra Neysmith - BBC News

A report by a US-based rights group has said the United States is failing the Afghan government by contributing to violations of fair trial standards.

Human Rights First says the US is not providing adequate evidence in cases of former detainees from Guantanamo Bay being tried in Afghan courts.

It says the detainees are being put on trial with little or no evidence. The report says the US is standing by while international standards for fair trials are violated.

America's special detention facility is located at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Set up as a solution, it quickly became a problem, beset by accusations of illegality, and violations of human rights.

One answer has been repatriation, and that has seen many Afghan inmates transferred back to Kabul. But Human Rights First suggests that that process has led to Afghanistan's nascent judicial system being undermined.

"We would like the US government to make available to Afghan officials the name of soldiers, other personnel involved in apprehension of these detainees as witnesses for these trials, and any evidence they have in their possession should be handed over to Afghan officials," Sahr Muhammed Ally, the report's author, says.

She said in Iraq, the US has made a policy decision to support criminal prosecutions - soldiers are trained in evidence gathering and can testify as witnesses.

She said that if the Americans can do it in Iraq, then they can do it in Afghanistan.

Can You Hear Me Now? Taliban Fears Cell Phones
Thursday , April 10, 2008 By Allison Barrie Fox News

Sometimes, simpler is better — even in war and counter terrorism. Who would have guessed that a secret weapon in the fight to defeat terrorists and insurgents would turn out to be ... the mundane cell phone?
As a general rule, insurgents worldwide don't much like the sight of a civilian holding a cell phone. All it takes is one quick phone call, and here comes the cavalry.

Rebel groups take the threat so seriously that they often seize all cell phones when they enter a village. If they miss just one, it could mean game over.

In most rural areas of Afghanistan, there are no landline phones or shortwave or any way other devices to communicate quickly. So Taliban militants, who rely on poor communication in rural areas, have recently been attacking cell phone facilities and confiscating phones, stripping locals of the chance to alert U.S. soldiers to their movements.

This provides a huge advantage to the Taliban, because it means that locals, from villagers to shepherds, cannot report their activities fast enough to have an effect.

But Taliban combat units ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred armed men are issued satellite phones, giving them a key tactical advantage.

Peacekeepers have learned that providing local citizens with a simple cell phone is an excellent tool in the fight against extremists and insurgents. An emergency number is distributed to peacekeepers that can transform a humble cell phone into a "bat phone" capable of sending an SOS to soldiers.

In North Korea, a non-governmental organization has launched a successful campaign against leadership by sneaking cheap radios into the country. For ages, only radios that receive one state-approved station have been permitted in the country. "Normal" radios have been illegal, since they could receive Chinese and South Korean programming that is not in the best interests of the North Korean government.

A plan of action similar to the underground pipeline of radios to North Korea is on the table for Afghanistan, where the U.S. military would drop cheap cell phones that could also receive radio broadcasts in Taliban-dominated areas.

U.S. psychological operations aircraft or blimps would transmit programming that these cell phones can receive — weather reports, health and farming updates, religious messages from moderate imams and local and national news.

These cell phones also would be able to dial out — but only to a 911 equivalent manned by Afghan police. The idea is, "If you hear something or see something, let the good guys know."

Have you heard of the program in the U.S. where old cell phones are modified to call only 911 and given away to make sure people have access to help? Same idea here.

Simple, but smart. Arming civilians with cell phones could save not only the lives of locals, but the lives of our soldiers.

Concerns as Government in Afghanistan Bows to Hardline Pressure

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its associate, the Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association (AIJA), in expressing growing concern about the Government of Afghanistan bowing to pressure from hardliners seeking to obstruct Afghan journalists’ hard-won right to freedom of expression and an independent media.

AIJA has called for public discussion about freedom of expression and the media in Afghanistan in an effort to raise awareness among authorities and across the wider community about the importance of a free and independent media in a democracy.

AIJA’s call comes after the Ministry of Information and Culture warned four private television stations this week to stop broadcasting five Indian soap operas by April 15. The ban was instituted after a meeting of clerics, members of parliament and television station owners following alleged complaints from the public, AIJA reported.

The ban underlines the challenges confronting independent journalists and media institutions in Afghanistan. AIJA is especially concerned about journalists being targeted in relation to similar pressure from groups opposed to discussion about the role of Islam and women in Afghan society.

The most prominent example is the death sentence imposed on Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, 23, a journalism student and reporter for the Jahan-e Naw. Parvez is accused of blasphemy for allegedly downloading and disseminating materials about the role of women in Islam. He was sentenced by the primary court of Balkh province in a closed-door trial at which he was denied legal representation on January 22. He has been transferred to a prison in Kabul while his sentence is appealed.

The role and portrayal of women in the media is a component of AIJA’s training program under the IFJ-AIJA Media for Democracy project. Twenty-eight journalists, including 12 women, attended the fourth and final workshop in the series in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province on April 2 and 3.

It was the first time that a large group of women journalists have attended such training in a remote provincial area, the AIJA said. The training is intended to boost journalists’ knowledge and skills in the practices and processes of democratic elections.

”Democracy’s success depends on a viable, critical and independent media that gives voice and makes space for a range of competing views and ideas about society,” said IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park.

“The IFJ calls on the Government of Afghanistan to refrain from interventions to restrict free expression and a free media. In particular, it demands that the death sentence against Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh be repealed.”

From Kabul to California: the incredible journey of Khaled Hosseini

His first novel, The Kite Runner, sold 10 million copies. His second, A Thousand Splendid Suns, has just won the Richard and Judy award - ensuring another blockbuster. Meet the Afghan refugee who became a literary phenomenon.

It is only five years since a doctor called Khaled Hosseini joined ten people in a small bookshop in Peckham for the British launch of his first novel. This was an improvement on his tour through America, where he had been lucky to attract five or six. A little disillusioning, he remarks gently.

April 2008 is rather different. The film of his bestselling novel, The Kite Runner, has just opened in Italy, so he has done some publicity in Rome and come to London to attend the Galaxy British Book Awards, otherwise known as the Nibbies. There he received the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year for his second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which has sold 700,000 copies, making it the bestselling book in Britain this year. The Kite Runner has now sold 10 million throughout the world and the second novel is also to become a film. Hosseini, the first Afghan to write novels in English, has become a phenomenon.

I wasn't at the Nibbies, but having met Hosseini I can say with confidence that he will have treated the event and its commercial barnstorming with respectful humility. He doesn't do celebrity culture. “I'm a homebody. Being with my children and my wife, that's what I really love. I can't say I ever enjoy the cameras. If you have to achieve some kind of quasi-fame, being a writer is the best way because you can be reasonably anonymous.”

We are in a chic London hotel near his publisher's offices, though the publicist relates that when asked about his airline and hotel preferences, Hosseini had none. I admire his beautifully tailored jacket and he thanks me - he is unfailingly polite - and, only when prodded, says he bought it, inexpensively, in Rome. He is trim, very still, and holds himself upright. His handshake is crushing, his demeanour self contained.

It seems strange to meet a man whom we know only for his luminous and compelling writing, and the window he has opened on to Afghanistan and its internal divisions for those of us who know it largely through news reports about British troops. How else can that be when 80 per cent of its people are illiterate and only the elite speak English? Whether or not our unfamiliarity with Afghanistan contributed to The Kite Runner's slow start, it succeeded through word of mouth and Hosseini hasn't been to the UK since the launch. Thus we know nothing of his character and only the outline of his life.

The eldest child of a diplomat and a school vice-principal, both highly educated, respected and liberal in their instincts, he was born in 1965 when Kabul was peaceful. He attended the French Lycée and remembers that the tanks in the military barracks - near his parents' comfortable home - hadn't moved in 20 years. Socially, life was rich, full of conversation and gossip: “You know, I don't recall ever eating dinner alone.” In the winters he flew kites every day with his brother and cousins. He has an almost overwhelming sense of family, I comment. “There's no such thing as not having a close family in Afghanistan,” he replies. “That's the unit of life.”

He was 9 when his father was posted to Paris. In 1980 the family - his parents, their five children, an aunt and a grandmother - responded to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by seeking political asylum in the United States, and swapped a life of privilege for welfare. Hosseini was catapulted into high school in San Jose, northern California and, remarkably, went on to study medicine. He worked as a general practitioner until 18 months after the publication of The Kite Runner.

An instinctive and compulsive storyteller, he has written for his own pleasure since the age of 8, he explains. “I must have harboured some kind of secret dream to be a writer but I never allowed that a chance to blossom into becoming a real-life pursuit. I never felt I had what one would call genuine talent. The whole notion of creating a story and putting it down and making a living from it seemed so outlandish and detached. I was always a very sensible kid: very responsible, and I was the first born and I chose medicine for those reasons, though I can't say it was my lifelong passion. It was a choice I arrived at through rational thought. The idea that I could become a writer was so ridiculous I never thought about it.”

You have to understand, he says, that when his family arrived in the US they were penniless. They lived in a small house, initially on benefits, his father worked on an assembly line and then as a driving instructor, his mother worked in a 24-hour diner. Hosseini had only a handful of English words but, always a good student, he felt a sense of responsibility to knuckle down.

“I can't say I enjoyed high school. I ended up making friends with some Afghans and a lot of South-East Asia refugees. If you don't speak the language and you're completely foreign to the culture and the norms of expected behaviour, it's hard. While that was going on my parents were having their own identity issues because they'd suddenly lost everything that had given them pleasure and comfort. In Kabul they were cogs in a big engine. Suddenly they didn't feel attached to anything, neighbours didn't interact, they had no money. It was very shameful for them to go to the supermarket and pay with food stamps. I sensed it, but when you're a teenager you're a terribly narcissistic creature and so preoccupied with your own bubble that you don't appreciate the big picture. My father told me recently that he was seriously depressed. He never showed it to us but inside I think he was crushed.

“He is part of that stoic generation of men that don't let anything wear them down. I'm sad to see that generation slowly fading away. He is a very principled man, very strong mentally, robust. Our relationship was based on etiquette and respect. He is a very kind and sweet man but at the same time there was no question as to who was boss. Growing up, I always wanted him to be very, very proud of me. I still do. I'm 43 now and he's a central presence in my life. I envied his presence, I respected it, I responded to it. That hasn't changed.”

And his mother? “There's definitely an emotional availablity with the mother and an immediacy which doesn't always arise with fathers. She's a classic selfless mom who rarely thinks about anything but her children. I love her to death.”

Hosseini is not a gusher: he is too private and respectful for that, and it is only when I refer to his mother and his wife - an Afghan too - that he can't help himself. When I ask about his homeland's prospects, his tone is measured, his evident love of the place balanced by his ability to see it both from the inside and the outside. He went back five years ago and was shocked by the debris he found. Last year, as a UN goodwill envoy, he met returning refugees - a rewarding experience, he says, but he does not allow himself to become sentimental. He hopes for peace but doesn't see an end to the fighting yet, and as for democracy, he points out that you can't impose a Western political system on a country that is impoverished, religious, conservative and tribal. “That doesn't mean that people can't vote within the confines of that society and its customs and traditions. It's possible to have a quasi-democracy.”

However much he loves creating stories, I feel sure that his personal history is part of his motivation too, so I ask about the theme of redemption that colours both his books. “I think most people want to be good and we're all so fallible, so flawed,” he replies. “I think we've all done something that we're terrribly ashamed of. Who hasn't? We've mistreated somebody, been unkind, aloof, negligent, insensitive. There are episodes where we think about how we spoke to somebody where it's like biting on tinfoil, it just makes you cringe.”

That human instinct apart, he regards his life as privileged and recognised this even as a child: his stories always had a rich guy and a poor guy whose lives collided, with tragic consequences. “I don't want to overstate my conscience but I think there were some things that in a limited capacity as a child I had begun to understand. I could sit here and be noble and say, yes, I have a sense of mission. With The Kite Runner I was compelled to write because I had these two boys in mind, one was troubled, the other was very pure and good, and that was so intriguing to me. As I wrote I realised I couldn't tell the story without getting into what happened in Afghanistan, so that became part of it.

“With the second book I went in with a slight tremulous sense of mission because I wanted to write about Afghan women, which I felt was an important and relevant story and so rich a possibility for story-telling and drama. Life has been exceedingly kind to me. Considering where I've come from, what could have happened to me and where I've ended up, it's a miracle. I had the good fortune of leaving Afghanistan a couple of years before the communist coup and the Soviet invasion. I always think what might have happened if my father wasn't assigned to go to Paris. I probably would have been drafted into the army and I would have been sent somewhere to fight the Mujahidin. I would have either defected or killed somebody or gotten killed or lost a leg. Instead I'm here with these two books and my medical career and my healthy children. I'm alive - life has been more than reasonably kind. It would be truly petty to ask for more.

“For a lot of people who left behind these homelands entangled in conflict, and they find much more comfortable lives abroad, there is that sense of survivor's guilt, that sense that you escaped where others did not, and is it random? Does it mean anything? Why you? I don't want to make it sound like a bit of navel gazing - it's pure genetic lottery, I suppose. It makes you feel terrible. There's the kind of guilt that gnaws at you and you feel bad and you distract yourself and there's the kind where you internalise it and turn it back around and use it as a tool to do something about that which caused the guilt in the first place. You turn it into a positive thing. You know, I've tried to do that because I feel I owe it. I haven't acted out of guilt per se, but there is an element of that - you have to give back.”

He is unquestionably a serious man, earnest, driven, uncomplicated, I would say. He has no idea how many books he has sold and when I ask if he has spent the millions he must have made he looks uncomfortable and replies that his lifestyle in California is a simple one, and it's good to be able to help his family when there is hardship. His wife, a successful corporate lawyer, has given up work - just as he never felt passionate about medicine, so she never felt fulfilled by the law - and now she runs their lives, he says with evident pleasure. And no, they are not practising Muslims, though he occasionally joins his father at the mosque and likes to observe Ramadan because denial gives him a sense of having nothing, which he regards as empowering, and he enjoys the familiarity of Islamic culture, which is part of him, he says.

What distinguishes him, of course, is the quality of his imagination, yet to see just the exterior of this dignified man you would have no inkling of his inner life.

“Some people enjoy public declarations of admiration,” he notes. “It happened to me at a good time. At 38 you have a family, you have kids, you have a reasonable grasp of what's important in life: what matters and what's fluff. If it all magically evaporates it's not the end of life either.”

[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.]