In this bulletin:

• Taliban kill 13 in series of Afghan attacks
• Denmark evacuates embassies in Algeria, Afghanistan
• Musharraf, Afghan FM discuss bilateral relations
• Afghan FM visits Pakistan focusing on anti-militants co-op
• Pakistan, Turkmen, Afghan and Indian ministers begin talks on natural gas pipeline
• Afghan TV Station Rejects State Ban On 2 Indian Programs
• Media freedom under threat in Afghanistan
• Afghanistan Eyes $50 Billion In Aid For National Development Plan
• Afghans protest over rocketing food prices
• Afghanistan launches hunt for body of president killed 30 years ago
• ISAF, Afghanistan and Pakistan address border security in Kandahar
• British Foreign Secy says strong evidence of Al Qaedas presence in Pak tribal areas
• Praise for Pakistan's 'fragile coalition'
• Pakistan Taleban praise release
• How Islamicised is the Pakistan army?
• Ambassador: Chabahar port important for Afghanistan economy
• Oda joins governor at literacy event in Kandahar
• Awkward, but honest words
• Mystery buyer of Afghan poppy resin thrives on drug trade
• UN supported theatre tour gives Afghan victims a voice
• Afghanistan struggles to provide decent healthcare
• Al-Qaida No. 2 says 9/11 theory propagated by Iran
• UK fails to extend would-be Taliban's jail term
• Dying Afghan Girl Leaves Country for Surgery

Taliban kill 13 in series of Afghan attacks

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents killed 13 people, including 10 police, in a series of attacks across the country on Wednesday, officials said.

Afghanistan has seen a rising tide of violence following the traditional winter lull. Some Western leaders have warned this year Afghanistan risks sliding back into anarchy unless more is done to coordinate military, political and development efforts.

Five police officers were killed when Taliban fighters stormed their post in the eastern province of Kunar, near the border with Pakistan, Abdul Saboor Allahyar, a senior provincial police officer said.

"After the attack, a clash erupted in which 13 Taliban were also killed," Esmatullah, a border force commander, told reporters. Three more policemen lost their lives when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in the northwestern province of Badghis, the provincial governor said.

In a separate incident, a suicide bomber attacked a police compound in the Girishk district of the southern province of Helmand, the district police chief said.

Police opened fire on the bomber, setting off his explosives belt as he tried to enter the compound, but two officers were killed in the blast, Girishk police chief Khan Mohammad Shuja told Reuters.

Another suicide bomber blew himself up in a bazaar close to the Pakistan border, killing three civilians and wounding at least 14 more, officials said.

The bomber blew himself up after being identified and chased by Afghan security forces in the southern town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, Afghan and foreign military officials said.

A caller identifying himself as a Taliban member contacted Reuters reporters to claim responsibility for the attacks.

Ousted from power in 2001, the al Qaeda-backed Taliban have vowed to launch a wave of suicide bombs across Afghanistan this year to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and drive out foreign troops.

Nearly 12,000 people, including more than 330 foreign troops, have been killed since 2006, the bloodiest period since 2001. The increase in violence comes despite the presence of some 55,000 foreign troops under the command of NATO and the U.S. military and more than 100,000 Afghan security forces.

U.S.-led troops and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001 after it refused to surrender al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11 attacks on America.

Denmark evacuates embassies in Algeria, Afghanistan

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Danish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it has evacuated its staff from embassies in Algeria and Afghanistan because of threats after newspapers reprinted a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Embassy employees have been moved to secret locations in both countries' capitals but continue to work, Foreign Ministry spokesman Erik Laursen said.

The announcement comes after Danish intelligence officials warned of an "aggravated" terror threat against Denmark since newspapers in the country in February of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The warning specifically singled out North Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The threat "is so concrete that we had to take this decision," Laursen told The Associated Press. "The decision is based on intelligence," he said, declining to elaborate.

The staff in Algiers was relocated "some days ago" and employees in Kabul were moved Wednesday, he said. Laursen stressed that the embassies have not been closed and can still be reached by telephone and e-mail. "Right now, we are in places that we consider safe," he said.

The cartoon showing Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. It was one of 12 Danish prophet drawings that caused riots in the Muslim world in 2006 and it was reprinted on Feb. 13.

Newspapers said they reprinted the cartoon in support of free speech after police revealed a plot to kill the creator of the caricature. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

Musharraf, Afghan FM discuss bilateral relations

RAWALPINDI: Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta met with President Pervez Musharraf here on Wednesday. During meeting President Musharraf underlined need for mutual cooperation to ensure stability and peace in bordering areas. They discussed various matters including Pak Afghan relations, situation in tribal and bordering areas, terrorism, bilateral trade and overall situation of the region. The Afghan Foreign Minister conveyed greetings of Afgan President, Hamid Karzai to his Pakistani counterpart, sources said. President Musharraf pointed out that Pakistan and Afghanistan have always enjoyed cordial relations and that a durable peace is in the larger interest of the region. “Pakistan has gained a breakthrough in cracking down Al-Qaeda network and the areas along the borders are no longer safe havens for the militants,” he informed. The Afghan refugees will be repatriated to their homeland once there is peace in Afghanistan.

Afghan FM visits Pakistan focusing on anti-militants co-op

ISLAMABAD April 22 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta arrived here on Tuesday to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on wide-ranging issues, especially on cooperation to fight militants.

It is the first visit to Pakistan by the Afghan foreign minister since the formation of the new Pakistani government last month.

The Afghan foreign minister will also meet President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani and speaker of the National Assembly Fahmida Mirza, News Network International (NNI) said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a border of 2,400 kilometers. Many militants fled to Pakistan's tribal areas after U.S.-led troops ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.

Pakistan, Turkmen, Afghan and Indian ministers begin talks on natural gas pipeline

The Associated Press - Wednesday, April 23, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: South and Central Asian officials opened talks Wednesday on a pipeline to carry natural gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India by way of Afghanistan, a spokesman said.

Oil ministers, officials and experts from the four countries will discuss a range of matters relating to the proposed project during the two-day talks in Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said.

He said officials and experts from Pakistan, Iran and India would also meet later this week in the Pakistani capital to discuss another multibillion dollar gas pipeline — one opposed by the United States, which is trying to isolate Iran because of its nuclear program.

The second project has been delayed in part because of Indian worries about the safety of portions of the pipeline running through Pakistan. Pakistan and India are longtime rivals who have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

The Afghan-Turkmen pipeline project has been on hold since the 1990s, when the hardline Taliban Islamist movement came into power in Afghanistan. The 1,680-kilometer (1,044-mile) project was revived after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001, although Afghanistan remains mired in violence, especially in its south.

Sadiq said Pakistan would ensure the safety of its portion of both pipelines. "These projects are vital for us to meet our fast-growing energy requirements," he told The Associated Press.

Afghan TV Station Rejects State Ban On 2 Indian Programs

KABUL (AFP) 22 April 2008 --Afghanistan's most popular private television station, Tolo, defied a government deadline Tuesday to drop two hit Indian soap operas deemed to violate Afghan culture, saying the order was illegal.

Two other television stations have already canceled shows that the culture ministry has ordered must not be aired, a decision backed by President Hamid Karzai Monday.

"We won't ban our serials," Tolo director Jahid Mohseni told AFP. "The government action is illegal ... it's not based on law but on the personal opinion of the culture minister."

The controversial minister, conservative Soviet-era resistance jihadist Abdul Karim Khurram, ordered five Indian serials to be pulled from television, saying he had received complaints from religious circles.

His spokesman, Hamid Nasery, reiterated Tuesday that if all shows were not off air by Tuesday evening the ministry would take court action. "If they don't stop airing those serials, their cases will be referred to legal authorities," Nasery told AFP.

The two soaps Tolo refused to drop are "Tulsi," said to be the most popular in Afghanistan, and "Kasauti Zindagi Kay" (Tests of Life).

Ariana Television pulled "Kumkum," named after its central character, and Noorin TV dropped "Dar Intizar" (Awaiting), the broadcasters told AFP.

Small station Afghan TV has also been ordered to cancel a serial of Aladdin- like tales called "Thief of Baghdad," but could not be contacted Tuesday to confirm whether it would obey.

The shows, which were criticized as "un-Islamic" by the country's top religious council, the Ulema Council, feature unveiled Indian Hindu women in waist-exposing saris and sometimes include Hindu deities.

Karzai told reporters Monday his government was committed to media freedom but "we want our television broadcasting to be in line with our culture, based on our society's moral standards."

But Tolo's Mohseni said the culture ministry was acting "against the law, constitution and media freedom."

"We are requesting from the leadership of this country to urgently take action to stop the activities of the Ministry of Information and Culture that are counter to the laws of this country, that are only inflaming the public," he said.

Media freedom under threat in Afghanistan

Kabul, 23rd April 2008 – TOLO TV

Media freedom, enshrined within the Afghan Constitution, is today facing a crisis. The Government’s continued manipulation of media for political gain, shrouded under the banner of Islam, has escalated with recent moves by the Ministry of Information and Culture to ban the broadcast of popular Indian produced family dramas.

The Ministry of Information and Culture has bypassed appropriate legal channels and issued an edict to broadcasters to cease broadcasting Indian produced drama .This action fails to engage the appropriate legal process of addressing the media complaints commission, who are empowered to consider and refer relevant cases to the courts.

The banned serials, already broadcast for two and a half years, have been universally popular across the traditionally conservative Afghan society. Whilst other stations have bowed to this pressure, there is a consensus among the independent stations that this order is illegal. In the interests of supporting a free media, TOLO TV will continue to broadcast its programs.

“TOLO TV is Afghan owned and operated and has always broadcast within the boundaries of our media laws and respected the values of our Islamic society.

“The series currently under focus are all family oriented and conservative; their universal popularity with our audiences should provide any commonsense test of such. The Ministry’s sudden interest in them, after years of broadcast, is more in line with hobbling the development of free media and debate in Afghanistan. The fact that there are elections in 2009 should be lost on no one when assessing what is motivating the Ministry’s actions.

“TOLO TV has achieved its position of market leader through its focus on providing quality, appropriate entertainment as well as rigorous and fair news and current affairs. We have developed programs that promote ethnic tolerance, education, equality, democracy and health. Our news and current affairs teams have been rigorous in dealing with the scourges of our society, including corruption, extremism, the narcotic trade and human rights abuses.

“The Ministry’s continued and legally baseless efforts to hinder rather than support free media is a critical issue for broadcasters, the people of Afghanistan and those in the international community who believe in free media as a path to redevelopment of this nation” said Jahid Mohseni, COO of TOLO TV.

A free and fair media is critical for Afghanistan as the country moves towards its national elections scheduled for 2009. TOLO TV, together with the Afghan National Journalists Union, is calling on all Afghans and members of the international community to ensure that Afghanistan’s media industry is allowed to operate within the boundaries of its common law and constitution, and not subjected to the political control of the current Ministry.

Afghanistan Eyes $50 Billion In Aid For National Development Plan

KABUL (AFP)--Afghanistan hopes a June donors' meeting in Paris will secure $50 billion in aid to implement a five-year development plan, Finance Minister Anwar-ul haq Ahadi said Monday.

The plan, called the National Development Strategy, or ANDS, was presented to donors at an "aid effectiveness" conference here. Based on a year of wide-ranging consultations, it will be assessed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Ahadi told reporters after the meeting.

The finalized strategy would become the basis of requests from donors at the June conference, he said. "For this strategy, the Afghan government has asked the world for $50 billion in aid for five years," he said.

The ANDS was a comprehensive plan, the minister said. "All walks of government are included: security, good governance, financial growth, important issues such as counternarcotics, capacity building, equal rights of women ..."

One of the biggest projects in the strategy was for the production of electricity, which reaches only about 10% of Afghans. There were also plans to build thousands of miles of roads as well as more dams and irrigation systems, the minister said.

Afghans protest over rocketing food prices

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, April 22, 2008 (AFP) - About 400 people demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday against skyrocketing food prices, witnesses said, in the country's first protest at food costs rising worldwide.

The demonstrators blocked a key road linking the eastern town of Jalalabad to the capital Kabul and demanded the government step in to control prices at food markets.

"We can't afford to buy food. We want the government to control the prices," said one demonstrator, Rais Khan.

The protestors in particularly lashed out at Pakistan, which is the main supplier of food to Afghanistan but which in the past month has stopped wheat exports to its neighbour.

"Down with Pakistan," demonstrators shouted, said an AFP reporter who put the crowd at 400. The demonstration was the first such protest in Afghanistan, which is heavily reliant on food imports.

Rising fuel and food costs pushed inflation here to 17 percent in December, according to the Asian Development Bank, while around the world the increasing prices have prompted riots and protests.

The costs of wheat flour has reportedly more than doubled over the past year, with the prices of other staples such as oil and sugar also rising.

The government said Tuesday it was in contact with Kazakhstan, Pakistan and other countries about buying in 50 million dollars' of wheat.

These nations were only willing to sell to the government and not the private sector, which may hoard the food or try to profit from it, presidential spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told reporters in Kabul.

"Countries like Kazakhstan, Pakistan and India, where we traditionally purchase food, also face food shortages and that is why they are not ready to sell food under easy circumstances to the private sector," he said.

However, "We must make it clear that we are not facing famine but expensive prices," he said.

Afghanistan launches hunt for body of president killed 30 years ago

KABUL (AFP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai has appointed a commission to find the bodies of ex-president Mohammad Daud Khan and his relatives killed in a 1978 military coup, the government said Wednesday.

Khan, Afghanistan's respected first president, was shot dead in the presidential palace in a communist, Soviet-backed coup on 27-28 April, 1978, almost exactly 30 years ago.

Several of his relatives were killed, including at least one daughter and several women and children, although the number is not clear. Their remains have never been recovered.

The commission appointed to find them is headed by national intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh and includes representatives of the interior, defence and culture ministries, a statement from Karzai's office said. A member of Khan's family, Nadir Naeemi, is also on the team, it said.

The commission, appointed out of "respect for the national figure", was tasked with searching for the remains of the dead and drawing up a proposal for the construction of a mausoleum for them, it said.

They had a month to report to Karzai. Khan himself came to power in a coup when he overthrew his cousin Zahir Shah -- the last king of Afghanistan.

A moderate who tried to counter the influence of Islamists, Khan abolished the monarchy and established a republic, introducing reforms and eventually favouring relations with the West over the Soviet Union.

The announcement of the presidential decree ordering the search for his remains comes just days before Afghanistan's commemorates the 1989 removal of the last Soviet-backed communist regime.

ISAF, Afghanistan and Pakistan address border security in Kandahar

KABUL, Afghanistan (NATO) - Major General Marc Lessard, Regional Command South (RC-South), joined Afghanistan and Pakistan officials at the 3rd Border Security Sub-Committee Meeting (BSSM) at the Afghan National Army Headquarters in Kandahar on 17 April 2008.

The meeting, hosted by Brigadier General Ghulam Ali Wahdat, Regional Chief of Police, and Brigadier General Gul Aqa Naibi, Commander Army 205 Corps, was held to discuss key topics such as improving communication and liaison between Afghanistan, Pakistan and ISAF, and how to improve cooperation along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan National Security Forces.

"The military-to-military cooperation between ISAF, the Afghan National Security Forces and Pakistani forces continues unabated," said Brig. Gen. Naibi. "This is very important for us and efforts to curtail cross-border support to insurgents must continue."

"We are fully committed to support the Afghan National Security Forces as progress is being made in initiating joint border patrols and in improving cooperation at the tactical level," said Maj. Gen. Lessard. "Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasing their substantial support to stabilise the security situation along their borders but much more needs to be done."

Border security, a key component of ISAF's strategic vision for Afghanistan

ISAF's strategic vision for Afghanistan was adopted by the Heads of state and government of the nations contributing to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at the NATO summit held in Bucharest on 2-4 April 2008.

ISAF's statement said Afghanistan's neighbours have an important role to play in helping Afghanistan build a more stable and secure future. The threats of violent extremism and narcotics are not Afghanistan's alone. The region stands to benefit when these threats are dealt with effectively. To help foster a long-term regional approach to security challenges and cooperation, ISAF contributing nations:

- Calls on Afghanistan's neighbours to act resolutely in support of the Afghan Government's efforts to build a stable Afghanistan with secure borders;

- Looks forward to deepening their engagement with Afghanistan's neighbours, particularly Pakistan;

- Supports efforts to improve security and stability along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border; and

- Encourages further cooperation and intensified dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan including through the Jirga mechanisms, the Ankara process and the Tripartite Commission.

The BSSM is a sub committee of the Tripartite Commission. It takes place approximately every two months and the meeting is held alternately in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The purpose of the BSSM is to enable the commanders in the southern region, the Regional Command South commander, 205th Corps commander and the Regional Chief of Police to meet their counterparts in Pakistan in order to continue to foster the security relationship and contribute to regional security.

British Foreign Secy says strong evidence of Al Qaedas presence in Pak tribal areas

Islamabad, Apr 22 (ANI): British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that there was strong evidence of Al Qaeda operatives presence in the tribal Areas along the Pak-Afghan border.

Rejecting the idea of unilateral action against Al Qaeda, he said that Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO forces should together fight against the terrorist organization.

The evidence shows that Al Qaeda is present there (along the Pak-Afghan border), the Daily Times quoted Miliband as saying while addressing a joint press conference at the Foreign Office with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Miliband said he backed Pakistans multi-pronged strategy to deal with militancy through political and economic means as well as security measures. However, he added, Reconciliation does not mean creating safe space for terrorists.

Earlier on Monday, Miliband held discussions with Qureshi, during which the two foreign secretaries reviewed all aspects of relations between the two countries. (ANI)

Praise for Pakistan's 'fragile coalition'

By James Robbins - Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News, David Miliband speaks to the BBC about Pakistan

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has told the people of Pakistan that the country's new coalition government deserves credit for coming through the trauma of an assassination, and then being elected by genuine democracy.

It was very deliberate praise of the new and still fragile coalition. That government is setting out on a long, hard road to demonstrate that democratic civilian rule can succeed and survive in Pakistan in the face of both extremism and major economic challenges.

Mr Miliband, completing a two-day visit to the country, had dinner with the rivals who have come together in coalition - Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari. They had been bitter enemies over many years.

Mr Miliband said he was humbled to sit with one on either side of him and hear them talk to each other about democracy.

But Britain’s foreign secretary did not deny the immense challenges facing the new coalition. He said there was clear evidence of a continuing al-Qaeda presence on both sides of Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

Britain supports the country's commitment to dialogue leading to the possibility of reconciliation with those extremists who are prepared to play by the rules within Pakistan's constitution.

However, Mr Miliband gave a very clear warning to those in the country who argue that their army should not be used to fight against militants, including fellow Pakistanis in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. "Reconciliation," he said, "does not mean creating a safe space for terrorists to operate."

That reflects a fear that, to some, reconciliation could simply mean the government reaching an accommodation with extremists in return for some sort of undertaking that they will attack targets outside, not inside, the country.

The danger to Britain is something Mr Miliband has also stressed. There is no question that Britain has a life and death interest in the long-term triumph of democracy over extremism in Pakistan.

Mr Miliband told me that 70% of the terrorist plots now being investigated in Britain could be traced back to Pakistan.

The country does have a historic opportunity to end the cycle of corrupt civilian rule punctuated by military take-overs, but the new coalition has to rise above a history of past corruption and abuses of power if it is to break that cycle.

Pakistan Taleban praise release

BBC - A spokesman for Taleban fighters in Pakistan has welcomed the release of a well-known militant leader. On Monday night the authorities set free Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the founder of an outlawed Islamist group that has fought in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He was released under an agreement to renounce violence and help restore peace in the north-west valley of Swat. Pakistan's new government is trying to deal with Islamic militancy through dialogue and development.

Sufi Muhammad was released from prison hospital after nearly seven years in detention. He was arrested in 2001 while returning from Afghanistan where he had led his poorly armed followers into battle against coalition forces.

He is the head of the Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM) movement that demands the enforcement of Islamic law in the Swat valley. While he was in prison his more radical son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, assumed control of the group and took up arms against the state.

Hundreds of people welcomed Sufi Mohammad when he returned to the TNSM headquarters on Tuesday in the district of Malakand in Swat. He told the crown that he had "signed an agreement with the government so that we can peacefully work for the enforcement of Sharia in our area".

According to an official statement, the agreement commits the TNSM to renounce violence in the Swat valley where the army has been engaged in an intense struggle with militants.

Under one clause of the agreement, The TNSM declares that the killing of police, military or other government employees is "un-Islamic".

Negotiations over Sufi Muhammad's release began some months ago. It is not clear, though, whether the sick and elderly man still has the authority to bring his rebellious movement into line. Some observers say that he is a spent force.

Observers predict a confrontation with his son-in-law if he tries to do so. "We welcome his release, it is a positive development and augurs well for peace in the area," Taleban spokesman Maulvi Omar said.

The militants are also observing an unofficial ceasefire to facilitate talks. But the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says their terms for a lasting peace are tough.

They want President Pervez Musharraf to stand down and they are demanding that the government abandon its pro-American policy and implement Islamic law in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. They are also committed to continuing their fight against Nato in Afghanistan.

How Islamicised is the Pakistan army?

Myra MacDonald, Reuters, 4.23.08

While living in Delhi after 9/11, and in particular after India and Pakistan nearly went to war over an attack on the Indian parliament on December 13, 2001, one of the questions that cropped up frequently was about how much the Pakistan army had been permeated by hardline Islamists. In other words, how much sympathy did the army feel for al Qaeda and Taliban militants that then General Pervez Musharraf had pledged to fight?

Several years later, while researching a book on the Siachen war, I had occasion to travel with the Pakistan army and assess the Islamist question up close.  My impression was that the Pakistan army was not driven by religious fanaticism. Yes, it exhorted its soldiers to embrace “shaheed”,  or martyrdom,  in the name of Allah.  But it was otherwise remarkably similar to the Indian army. Both relied on a blend of nationalism and loyalty to their fellow men in the same unit; both found recruits in the mountains and rural villages who could be inculcated with a spirit of “ours not to reason why”; both counted on officers to lead from the front. Men did not go into battle dreaming of death. An officer who thinks only of killing himself is of little use to a professional army, which needs men who are above all sane, who can remain focused and objective, who know the difference between suicide and getting killed.

My Pakistan army minder on my trip to the Siachen war zone was clearly religious, respected prayer times, and did his best to explain to me the teachings of the Koran. But he probably expended more energy telling me off for smoking –  particularly on the world’s highest battlefield where the air is so thin that it can be difficult to walk — much as my minder during a tour of Siachen on the Indian side had done.

So I thought I had settled the Islamist question — at least in my own mind — until August 2007, when more than 200 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan in Pakistan’s tribal areas were taken captive by Islamist militants without firing a single shot.  During a visit to Delhi shortly afterwards, I discovered that people from the Indian army were as surprised as me — accustomed as they were to seeing their rivals on the Pakistan side at least make a show of fighting. Had the Islamists so permeated the Pakistan army that its soldiers had gone soft? 

Pakistan army expert Brian Cloughley addresses this question in his book ”War, Coups and Terror”, a review of Pakistan since 1971 and due to be published next month.  His conclusions make interesting reading.

While he recognises that the Pakistan army includes “some religious extremists among its officers and soldiers”, he says the promotions system overseen by President Pervez Musharraf made sure that officers were promoted on the basis of professional competence rather than religious devotion.

The rub came in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) next to the Afghanistan border, where religious ideologues had affected the morale and efficiency of the military. ”There is evidence that some soldiers have been so influenced by religiosity as to have doubts about their being regarded as Shaheed in the event of being killed in conflict with fellow Muslims who are held (by extremist clerics) to be engaged in fighting against infidels,” he writes. “This has resulted in incidents of refusal to take part in operations in the tribal areas, which indicate a serious malaise.”

Cloughley quotes the following from a source that he is unwilling to identify, but I think is worth reproducing here:

“Statements [by terrorists captured during an army operation] and [other sources] leads to one inevitable conclusion, that deep in their hearts . . . [some of the] troops have sympathies for AQ/Taliban who, in their perception are fighting a holy war against non-Muslims now occupying  Afghanistan.  This feeling has got further impetus and strength because of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and a partisan approach towards  the Palestinian issue.  Print and electronic media, anti-US sentiments among the general public, bitter criticism by opposition leaders of our government’s policy regarding Afghanistan [and] support to the Coalition (US) forces in combating terrorism . . .  and the anti-Islam propaganda by the west, have further reinforced the perception of the common man that Muslims all over the world are being victimised.  These feelings have obviously . . . penetrated the rank and file of the Army despite our best efforts that whatever we are doing is in the overall best interests of the country.  Having identified this weakness, we now need to apply all our command and leadership skills to educate our troops on the logic and necessity of what we are doing.”

Cloughley tries to take a positive view of this by saying that at least the problem was recognised by those in command and that  action was being taken to address it. But he adds that Pashtuns — the ethnic group who live on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and who make up about a fifth of the regular army – had sometimes shown reluctance to engage militants both out of a disinclination to kill fellow tribesmen and antipathy against fighting fellow Muslims. ”Another factor is the widely-held belief that the counter-insurgency war in FATA … is not being conducted on behalf of Pakistan but is waged at the behest of the United States.”

Cloughley also says that missile attacks blamed on U.S. Predator drones targeting al Qaeda leaders hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas had further angered the army, since they also killed civilians. Yet at the same time, the army had found itself caught in the middle, facing itself a steep rise in suicide attacks directed against military targets, in retaliation for its operations on the border. Though I have seen only one advance chapter of Cloughley’s book, it makes an interesting read, highlighting as it does one aspect of the phenomenally complex challenges faced by Pakistan in battling Islamist militants.

Ambassador: Chabahar port important for Afghanistan economy

Chabahar, April 22, IRNA - The Afghan ambassador to Tehran heading a delegation arrived in Chabahar Free Trade Zone on Tuesday.

During the visit, Mohammad Yahya Maroofi held talks with Managing Director of Chabahar Free Trade Zone Organization Mohammad Taher Baqeri Zadeh and a number of provincial officials on issues of mutual interest.

"Chabahar port is of utmost importance to Afghanistan's economy," the ambassador said. Maroofi added that Chabahar port can play a pivotal role in connecting the two countries.

Referring to the investment in Chabahar by some Afghan tradesmen, he said, "We are interested in using investment opportunities in this place."

Referring to a proposal of the Iranian government on utilization of the capacities of Chabahar Free Trade Zone, the ambassador termed the proposal as a gift for the Afghan government.

Pointing to both countries' commonalties, Maroofi underlined that Iran and Afghanistan enjoy long-standing friendly relationship.

He further noted that the Islamic Republic has always helped Afghanistan during its tough days. The managing director of Chabahar Free Trade Zone, for his part, said that Chabahar plays a positive role in Afghanistan economy.

Baqeri Zadeh noted that the presence of Afghan tradesmen in the region plays a key role in economic growth and development of Chabahar Free Trade Zone.

Oda joins governor at literacy event in Kandahar

Updated Tue. Apr. 22 2008 The Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid shared a laugh with the ambassador, snipped a pink ribbon alongside a cabinet minister and showered Canada with praise Tuesday to demonstrate he holds no ill will toward the country that let slip it was seeking his ouster.

Khalid was making his first appearance in public since Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier triggered a diplomatic maelstrom last week by telling reporters Khalid should be replaced -- an inadvertent admission that was swiftly retracted.

The embattled governor was met by International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, who was wrapping up her three-day visit to Afghanistan by becoming the first Canadian minister to host a news conference in the heart of perilous Kandahar city.

Together with Arif Lalani, Canada's affable ambassador to Afghanistan, the trio took a pair of scissors from an ornately decorated platter and cut the ribbon on a new Department of Literacy building aimed at buttressing vital skills in a province where 26 per cent of men and barely five per cent of women can read.

Speaking slowly, without notes and in strong English, Khalid reminded the gathered dignitaries, ministry officials and aid workers about Canada's sacrifices in Afghanistan and the country's importance to his province's future welfare.

"All the small and big issues will not bring any difference in our relations," he said, a wan smile crossing his face.

"Afghans and Canadians, especially Kandaharis and Canadians, they (were) friends, they will be friends, and hopefully we will continue this for a long, long, long time."

Guarded at every turn by a well-armed military security detail, Oda lived up to her ministry's name by shrugging off the controversy and singing the praises of the Kandahar government and its willingness to work side by side with the Canadians.

"Canada and Afghanistan and Kandahar have been friends, we will continue to be friends, we've got challenges that we have to work together to meet," Oda said later.

"He appreciates Canada's efforts, not only the military, but the development side."

She cited the example of the literacy building which was funded in part by a $1.4-million contribution CIDA made to UNICEF last February.

Oda also spent time in Kabul during her visit, meeting with students at a new teacher's college and speaking to an aid conference about Canada's plan to refine and focus its development goals in Kandahar province.

"We owe it to not only Canadians, but we owe it to the Afghan people and the Kandaharis, to say what we're going to do, what we want to accomplish, in a time frame so that they can see what they are going to get from Canada's work here."

Tuesday's exhibit served to cap a tumultuous week in Canada's often murky relationship with Khalid, a young, mercurial leader whose gradual falling out with the Canadian Forces has been punctuated by allegations of torture and corruption -- allegations the governor has strongly denied.

Khalid spent four years as governor of Ghazni province after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 before Afghan President Hamid Karzai, head of a centralized government that appoints its provincial representatives, moved him to Kandahar.

He spoke out on the weekend for the first time following Bernier's remarks, carefully aiming his barbs not at Ottawa, but at Kandahar Airfield where the Canadian military contingent and its leadership are based.

He made pointed allegations that some NATO troops, including those from Canada, have failed to support the Afghan government's poppy eradication efforts -- a thorny issue for coalition troops, who depend on strong relationships with local farmers and villagers.

Khalid also accused Canadian forces of ignoring repeated warnings about intelligence that indicated a pending suicide attack in the border town of Spin Boldak -- an attack that ended up killing 38 civilians.

The Canadian Forces have repeatedly denied that there is any problem with the relationship between the military and the Kandahar government, insisting the spirit of co-operation remains "very strong."

Prominent Afghan parliamentarian Khalid Pashtun, a well-connected veteran of Kandahar political circles, said in a Canadian Press report Monday that the governor had already quietly packed his things and was en route to Kabul, poised to leave his post, when Bernier's comments landed like a bombshell.

Pashtun said he believes Karzai, sensitive to the political dangers of being perceived by his constituents as a puppet of international forces, was forced to delay his plan to replace Khalid to avoid the impression he was doing the bidding of the Canadian government.

On Tuesday, Khalid repeated his satisfaction with Bernier's retraction.

"This issue is finished already, and there was no issue," he said. "It was a misunderstanding, which I believe, and for me, relations between Afghans and Canadians, this is more important."

He also seemed to suggest, when asked whether he had any plans to step down, that his fate rests squarely in the hands of the Afghan president.

"We have had a lot of successes, and things (are) getting better day by day," he said. "The system which we have in Afghanistan, this (responsibility) belongs to (the) president."

Awkward, but honest words
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 – Ottawa Citizen

Canada has every right to speak out about corruption and incompetence in Afghanistan. There's a good way to do it and a bad way, though. Maxime Bernier chose the bad way.

During a trip to Afghanistan, Canada's foreign affairs minister suggested, to reporters, that Asadullah Khalid was not the best person to be governor of Kandahar.

Almost as soon as Mr. Bernier had spoken, the Canadian government began a furious effort to retract his comments and placate Mr. Khalid.

There have been rumblings about the governor of Kandahar for some time. In 2006, the Senlis Council put it this way: "Locals believe governor Khalid prioritizes the U.S. and U.K.-led counter-narcotics efforts over local farmers' desperate economic situation. These eradication policies rapidly reduce the support for Khalid, the central government and the foreign military presence in Kandahar." He has also been accused of personal involvement in the torture of detainees. Mr. Khalid has denied the accusations against him.

Mr. Bernier's gaffe was an understandable one. In principle, he was doing many things right: He was being open with reporters, and frank and specific about the challenges in Afghanistan. He was also showing his respect for Afghanistan by treating it as a country that can rid itself of bad politicians. Too many westerners speak of corruption and mismanagement in developing countries as though these were elemental forces. They're not; they're the bad choices of individuals. Just as Canadian politicians should be held to account when they go wrong, so should Afghan politicians.

As Mr. Bernier and others in the government have been at pains to point out, Afghanistan is a sovereign country. That doesn't mean Canada should abstain from trying to influence its direction. Our soldiers are dying there; our soldiers are killing there. The time for non-interference passed long ago. The sooner Afghanistan develops its own democratic institutions and culture, the sooner it will be free from foreign interference. It is in both countries' interest to make sure that every governor is a good one.

But in diplomacy, the ends count far more than the means. As justified as Mr. Bernier's comments might have been, they had a number of undesirable effects.

Assume, for the sake of argument, that Mr. Khalid really is a bad influence in Kandahar. Because of Mr. Bernier's precipitous and offhand remark, Canadian bureaucrats and ministers are now having to indulge him. Bev Oda, the development minister, was pointedly nice to him on her recent trip.

There's even a chance that Mr. Bernier's remark could lengthen Mr. Khalid's time in office. There are reports that Mr. Khalid was on his way out anyway - but now, the government of Afghanistan can't get rid of him because that would give the impression that Afghanistan does Canada's bidding.

If it's true that Mr. Khalid was about to leave his job, it seems Mr. Bernier was out of the information loop. Communication between governments is important precisely to avoid this kind of diplomatic misstep.

It is never easy to be firm and honest without being rude. Mr. Bernier should continue to speak plainly - but he should first make sure the time and place are appropriate.

Mystery buyer of Afghan poppy resin thrives on drug trade

From The Times, April 23, 2008 - Everyone in this part of Helmand is waiting for the arrival of “The Businessman” – a mysterious individual who turns up at about this time each year to buy poppy resin from the acres of crops in the green belt along the Helmand river.

No one knows what nationality he is – Afghan, Pakistani or Iranian – but during the winter he turns up with cash to pay the farmers to keep them in food and supplies, on the understanding that he gets the lion’s share of the poppy resin the following April or May. Even the locals refer to him as The Businessman, never putting a name to the one who guarantees them an income, although the farmers receive a meagre wage for a product that generates millions of dollars further up the drugs chain as heroin in the rest of the world.

The Taleban demand one kilo of the poppy resin for every ten produced, telling the farmers it is a tax that they have to pay. But The Businessman scoops up the rest, and neither the farmers nor the Taleban interfere. As one British Army officer said: “This is real Mafia territory; it’s like The Sopranos but without the humour.” For the British troops at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Inkerman, a Rorke’s Drift of a place between Sangin to the south and Kajaki to the north, there is nothing they can do to stop the trade. That is the job of the Afghan police’s counter-narcotics teams. But in this swelteringly hot, dusty location – desert on one side, poppy-growing fields on the other – there is no sign of anyone trying to prevent the poppy harvest, let alone seeking to uncover the identity of the man who stands to profit the most.

From the ramparts of FOB Inkerman, crafted by Royal Engineers out of a deserted compound, the soldiers of B Company 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment keep a wary eye on all the activity. Among the farmers and their families scraping off the resin as it oozes from slits made with razor blades in the poppy heads, there are probably lower-tier Taleban helping out, ensuring they get their money’s worth when the harvesting finishes in less than three weeks. They spend the cash on more arms and ammunition to fight the British.

It already looks like a bumper harvest. Wherever you look in Helmand, where the bulk of Afghanistan’s poppies are grown, there are fields and fields of poppies. Last year, as part of the Government’s eradication programme, about 3,000 acres (1,215 hectares) of poppy crops in Helmand were destroyed – out of nearly 100,000 acres in the province.

British officials acknowledge that it will take at least 20 years to rid Afghanistan of its opium economy. In the meantime, with the Government and international community pecking around the edges of the poppy business, the farmers carry on with their normal lives, catering for their families but also for the Taleban, the drug barons and their intermediaries.

Poppy farmers here say that it takes 20 days to harvest the crop and they are already three days into the time-table. The resin is put into saddlebags and containers, and when the scraping is completed the first of the “jingly trucks” will arrive to pick up the opium and take it on to Garmab, up the road north towards Kajaki.

Once the poppy harvest is over, the troops at FOB Inkerman are sure that the Taleban will go back to attacking them from across the fields, hiding in the deep irrigation ditches and wheat crops that grow to chin height. The Taleban are concentrated here mainly in an area known as Jusaly, consisting of about 15 villages to the west of FOB Inkerman. The soldiers can see Jusaly from the ramparts.

No one is expecting any full-scale assaults – the base is too well defended, as the Taleban know. But they have a range of weapons that pose a threat through indirect fire, including the RPG7 rocket-propelled grenade, a recoiless rifle called SPG9, 107mm Chinese rockets and the fearsome Russian DshK, a 12.7mm antiaircraft gun.

UN supported theatre tour gives Afghan victims a voice

Source: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) - April 22, 2008

A new Afghan theatre show supported by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), premiered today at the Russian Cultural Centre in Dar-ul-Aman, Kabul. The play highlights the need to deal with the impunity of past human rights abuses spanning nearly three decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

The theatre show named after an anonymous Afghan prisoner called ‘AH-5787’, uses a medical metaphor to illustrate how many Afghans continue to physically carry the pain of Afghanistan’s past conflicts and how victims struggle to find a way to confront and live with the past. The play challenges the audience to recognize this pain and to consider how best to deal with it as individuals and as a society so as to move forward.

Norah Niland, head of UNAMA’s human rights unit said: ‘The people of Afghanistan are crying out for justice. There is a great history of story-telling and oral history in Afghanistan and through this play we hope to tap into that tradition. Justice deals not only with prosecutions, but also with the need for a deep understanding of what happened in the past.’

During the play, the main character, Sardar, is haunted by ghosts who represent victims of incidents of violence from the years of conflict in Afghanistan. Sardar wants to get rid of these ‘voices’ in his head and asks many questions in his quest for peace. Do these voices want knowledge or information? Do they want truth? Do they want prosecutions; justice; revenge; peace? Sardar explores these questions in a monologue with the audience.

Afghan victims’ groups have increasingly been demanding an opportunity to have their stories heard and acknowledged. The United Nations hopes to encourage all Afghans to explore the legacy of their past history and in doing so enable them to come to terms with the reality of Afghanistan’s years of conflict. The show will begin touring Afghan provinces in the coming weeks.

Afghanistan struggles to provide decent healthcare

By Tan Ee Lyn, April 21, 2008

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan laborer Chaman traveled a whole day to bring his son to Kabul to have a kidney stone removed after doctors in their home province turned them away because they could not afford the fees.

The two-year-old boy, who suffered excruciating pain for three days, finally had the stone removed in a charity hospital funded by Turkey.

"The private hospitals are only for rich businessmen. Poor people have to use government hospitals and if they can't help, the children die," said the young father from Ghazni province as he unwrapped a piece of paper to show a brown pebble measuring half a centimeter in diameter. Ghazni is southwest of Kabul.

Foreign donors have given some $15 billion in aid to Afghanistan since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, but several times more was spent per person in other conflict zones such as Bosnia and East Timor.

The U.S. military alone spends $100 million a day fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan while the total spending by all donors is only $7 million a day, aid groups say.

Nevertheless, the number of health facilities in Afghanistan has risen from 550 in 2001 to 1,429 now.

The government says free basic healthcare is available within two hours walking distance to 85 percent of the population, from just 9 percent in 2003. But people say they are far from adequate and decent healthcare is available only to those who can afford to pay, travel to the capital city, or go overseas.

"My friend's son died last year from pneumonia because he could not borrow enough money in time to take him to Kabul. In Ghazni (where they were living), good medicines aren't available in the public hospitals," said Afghan driver, January

Afghanistan has one of the world's highest infant and child mortality figures. Out of 1,000 live births, 128 die before they are a year old, and one out of every five children will not live beyond the age of five, according to official statistics.

Thirty-nine percent of children under five are malnourished due to poverty and 54 percent of Afghan children are stunted and 40 percent are underweight, according to UNICEF.

"Every 24 hours, 10 to 15 children under five die in the pediatric ward," said Sister Mary Francis, a volunteer nurse from India who works at the 500-bed Herat General Hospital.

"They die of meningitis, infections, pneumonia or because they are premature. The children are very anemic because of malnutrition which makes them very susceptible to infections." "There is a lot of crying (by parents). It is very sad."

Healthcare workers and NGO groups say many government hospitals are poorly equipped and often, doctors do not have the skills or equipment to perform some surgeries.

Institutions fell apart over the last 30 years of violence, leaving few facilities to train recruits with. "There is only oxygen available in ICUs (intensive care units) and there is no equipment even to monitor heart rates," Francis said, referring to the Herat hospital.

While many seek treatment in Kabul, hospitals here are grim. At the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital, a leading pediatric facility in the country, patients need to buy their own sutures, gauze, medicines, and even surgical gloves for their doctors.

"We don't have the budget, we only provide the bed and the doctor. We don't even have enough detergents to clean the floor," said a doctor, who declined to be identified. He earns $100 a month.

Many doctors run their own private practice. The facade of tattered buildings in downtown Kabul is plastered with signs advertising the many tiny clinics inside.

Observers, however, say there has been marked improvement in Afghan healthcare compared to the bleak decades of the past.

"You have to put it in perspective, this country has just come out of 25 years of devastation and war, health facilities will take time to build up," said Eric Sinclair, chief operating officer of the Cure International Hospital in Kabul.

Cure is one of several foreign aid groups helping Afghanistan run some of its hospitals. These are to be handed back eventually with more skilful medical staff and better facilities.

Al-Qaida No. 2 says 9/11 theory propagated by Iran

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press / April 22, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden's chief deputy in an audiotape Tuesday accused Shiite Iran of trying to discredit the Sunni al-Qaida terror network by spreading the conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

The comments reflected al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri's increasing criticism of Iran. Al-Zawahri has accused Iran in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

The authenticity of the two-hour audio recording posted on an Islamic Web site could not be independently confirmed. But the voice sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader, and the posting where it was found bore the logo of Al-Sahab, al-Qaida's official media arm.

It was the second of two messages answering questions that were posted to Islamic militant Web sites earlier this year.

One of the questioners asked about the theory that has circulated in the Middle East and elsewhere that Israel was behind the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Al-Zawahri accused Hezbollah's Al-Manar television of starting the rumor.

"The purpose of this lie is clear — (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it," he said.

"Iran's aim here is also clear — to cover up its involvement with America in invading the homes of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said. Iran cooperated with the United States in the 2001 U.S. assault on Afghanistan that toppled al-Qaida's allies, the Taliban.

Answering questions about Iraq in Tuesday's tape, al-Zawahri said the insurgent umbrella group led by al-Qaida, called the Islamic State of Iraq, is "the primary force opposing the Crusaders and challenging Iranian ambitions" in Iraq, he said, referring to the Americans.

As he often does in his messages, al-Zawahri denounced the "Crusader invasion" of Iraq, but in Tuesday's tape he paired it with a mention of "Iranian complicity" or "Iranian agents."

In the latest tape, al-Zawahri was also asked if the terror group had further plans to attack Western countries that participated in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent war.

"My answer is: Yes! We think that any country that has joined aggression on Muslims must be deterred," he replied.

In response to a question signed by the Japanese news agency Kyodo asking if Japan remains a target because it once had troops in Iraq, al-Zawahri said "Japan provided help under the banner of the crusader coalition ... therefore it participated in the Crusader campaign against the lands of Islam."

Japan deployed non-combat troops to southern Iraq in 2003 to carry out reconstruction work. It withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2006 and now conducts airlifts to help supply U.S.-led forces in that country.

Al-Zawahri spoke on a wide range of issues, even global warming, which he said reflected "how criminal, brutal and greedy the Western Crusader world is, with America at the top."

He predicted that global warming would "make the world more sympathetic to and understanding of the Muslims' jihad against the aggressor America."

Asked if there are any women in al-Qaida, the terror leader answered simply: "No." In a follow-up answer, he said: "There are no women in al-Qaida jihadi group, but the women of the mujahedeen are playing a heroic role in taking care of their houses and sons."

In several parts of Tuesday's audio message, Al-Zawahri claimed that the Taliban took over 95 percent of Afghanistan and is sweeping Pakistan as well.

"The Crusaders and their agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are starting to fall," he said.

In another answer Tuesday, al-Zawahri said it was against Islamic religious law for any Muslim to live permanently in a Western country because in doing so they would "have permanent stay there under the laws of the infidels."

Al-Qaida's media arm, Al-Sahab, announced in December that al-Zawahri would take questions from the public posted on Islamic militant Web sites and would respond "as soon as possible." Queries were submitted on the main Islamist Web site until the cutoff date of Jan. 16.

UK fails to extend would-be Taliban's jail term

April 22, 2008 - LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has lost a bid to extend the "unduly lenient" jail term given to a London dentist for planning to fight for the Taliban and "kill many" British and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Pakistan-born Sohail Qureshi was jailed for 4-1/2 years in January for preparing to commit attacks but Attorney General Patricia Scotland appealed, arguing the sentence was "unduly lenient."

However, London's Court of Appeal rejected that call on Tuesday, with senior judge Lord Nicholas Phillips saying that while the term was lenient it was "not unduly lenient."

He said links between Qureshi, described as a "Walter Mitty" fantasist character and acts of terrorism were "relatively remote."

Qureshi, 30, was arrested in October 2006 at Heathrow Airport as he prepared to fly to Pakistan with about 9,000 pounds ($17,780) in cash, medical supplies and night vision gear.

He pleaded guilty to preparing for the commission of terrorist acts, possessing an article for a terrorist purpose and possession of records likely to be useful in terrorism.

It was the first conviction under a 2006 law covering cases where suspects are preparing to commit an act of terrorism but fall short of having a concrete plan in place. Prosecutors said he was a "dedicated supporter of Islamist extremism."

Police had found a posting he had made on a militant Web site referring to his Pakistan trip which read: "All I know is that it is a two or three-week operation. Pray that I will kill many, brother. Revenge, revenge, revenge."

Lawyers for the Attorney General had argued that the starting point for his sentence should have been between 10 and 16 years.

But Appeal Court judge Brian Barker said that while Qureshi had admitted "grave charges," the offences were at the lower end of the spectrum. Qureshi will now walk free in about a year.

Dying Afghan Girl Leaves Country for Surgery

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

All Things Considered, April 22, 2008 · Adila, a young Afghan girl with a life-threatening heart defect, has been dispatched to Pakistan, where it is hoped she will undergo emergency surgery. But some worry she won't survive the trip.

Adila, 6, breathes with the help of an oxygen tube at the French Medical Institute for Children in Kabul.

All Things Considered, April 21, 2008 · Much of the work of U.S. troops in Afghanistan involves helping local communities. They build schools and roads — and they host clinics for people living in remote areas who otherwise wouldn't get medical care.

But, occasionally, the Americans' good intentions run awry — sometimes, with potentially fatal results.

In this case, a 6-year-old Afghan girl's life is at the center of a lapse in communication. And while, after uncertainty over funding, an anonymous donor has offered to cover costs for surgery required to keep her alive, transportation logistics remain unclear as her condition worsens.

Adila's Story

Beeping monitors and strangers in an Intensive Care Unit in the French Medical Institute for Children frighten Adila.

A few wails are all she can muster. Her dark eyes close. She falls asleep, exhausted from her outburst. She struggles to breathe, even with an oxygen mask.

Her Pashtun name is a variation of the Arabic word for "just." Yet what is happening to Adila seems anything but just. On this night, doctors try to stabilize her after she shows up for a heart test. Her lips were blue from a lack of oxygen.

Adila suffers from a birth defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Parts of her heart are malformed and can't get enough oxygen to her tiny body.

Dr. Amena Shaheer, who heads this ICU, says the girl is in bad shape. But there is little they can do for her. Adila needs emergency surgery, immediately, she says.

An American army doctor who reviewed Adila's case, made a similar diagnosis. He wasn't available for an interview.

The Military's Role

Relatives and Afghan officials say Adila was taken by her family to Camp Blessing, an American outpost in war-torn Kunar province in northeastern Afghanistan. There, the Army doctor hatched a plan to have Adila evaluated in neighboring Pakistan. If doctors there deemed her a suitable candidate, he would ask a charity called Save a Child's Heart to send Adila to Israel for corrective surgery.

The military told Adila's family that all they needed to do was to get her a passport and make the trip to Kabul. That's no easy task for an impoverished family without documents — and who rarely leave their remote village.

But with Afghan officials' help, Adila got her passport in one day. American soldiers nearby at the Kunar provincial reconstruction team, dug into their pockets for the $70 cab fare.

Last Tuesday, Adila and her guardian set off by taxi for Kabul. And that's when the American plan fell apart.

A Communication Lapse

Adila's guardian, an uncle named Talib, says by the time they got to Kabul, the girl was dehydrated and blue from lack of oxygen. No hospital was aware of Adila's arrival or her case.

The Army doctor who made the plans had left the country. The people he asked to follow her case in his absence failed to do so.

So in a mad scramble, the Kunar PRT told Adila and her uncle to go to the CURE hospital in Kabul, run by a Pennsylvania-based charity group. Eric Sinclair, chief operating officer of the hospital, agreed to admit Adila and stabilize her.

"I applaud the work they are doing on behalf of the community, but in this case, they've dropped the red-hot potato, so to speak," says Sinclair of the military's effort.

Maj. Nick Sternberg, an American military spokesman, called it a miscommunication.

"Based on the fact that we've helped so many people in the past, locals often expect that once a problem has been given to us, it'll be taken care of immediately and completely," Sternberg says.

With the help of CURE hospital, Adila was sent across town to the French Medical Institute for Children, where she could get the tests she needs.

The half-hour trip sent the girl crashing again. She wound up in the ICU. Her condition improved and she was moved to a regular room, where she remains. But doctors say Adila is running out of time.

Next Step in the Plan

Officials at the CURE and French hospitals say they've repeatedly asked the Americans what they plan to do. Both charity hospitals say they are in no position to pay for Adila's treatment, let alone the surgery. They say she needs to be flown to Karachi in Pakistan, where the surgery can be done quickly.

Sternberg, the military spokesman, says soldiers reached into their own pockets to pay for her care at the French hospital. Sinclair says he waived his hospital's costs.

"There is a whole logistics nightmare again ahead of us and time is something that is pressing against us so we obviously need to come up with a solution very quickly," Sinclair says.

One of the main obstacles is money for the surgery. The medical officials in Kabul say it should come from the military, which sent Adila here in the first place.

Sternberg says they can't, under their rules, spend military funds on her surgery. But he says the army has located an anonymous donor willing to pay for it.

How Adila will get to Karachi, though, is still unclear.

[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.]