In this bulletin:

• Afghan Leader Criticizes U.S. on Conduct of War
• Germany's foreign minister apologizes to Afghan counterpart for wiretapping incident
• Agency Admits Spying on Afghan Politician and SPIEGEL Journalist
• If France leaves Afghanistan, Pakistan will fall: Sarkozy
• Census official, police among 24 killed in Afghan unrest
• Taliban ease mobile phone threat for Afghan summer
• Taliban angers cellphone users
• UK troops to hand control of Helmand 'hot spots' to Afghan army
• Police say bomb kills 2 officers in central Afghanistan
• Former Afghan minister opposes ‘Talibanisation’
• Poll: government should reject make-up ban
• Taliban hamper dam project in Afghanistan
• Editorial: Truce with Taliban won’t last
• Poor diet undermines health of northern Afghans
• Over half the population at risk of malaria - Health Ministry
• Kabul business choked by fear and corruption
• Lawsuit: Company jeopardized security at US embassy in Kabul
• Afghan Riders Saddle Up for Buzkashi Season
• Afghan, Coalition Forces provide medical care in Kandahar

Afghan Leader Criticizes U.S. on Conduct of War

By CARLOTTA GALL – NY Times 04.26.08

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai strongly criticized the British and American conduct of the war here on Friday, insisting in an interview that his government be given the lead in policy decisions.

Mr. Karzai said that he wanted American forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban and their sympathizers, and that the continued threat of arrest and past mistreatment were discouraging Taliban from coming forward to lay down their arms.

He criticized the American-led coalition as prosecuting the war on terrorism in Afghan villages, saying the real terrorist threat lay in sanctuaries of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

The president said that civilian casualties, which have dropped substantially since last year, needed to cease completely. For nearly two years the American-led coalition has refused to recognize the need to create a trained police force, he said, leading to a critical lack of law and order.

The comments came as Mr. Karzai is starting to point toward re-election next year, after six years in office, and may be part of a political calculus to appear more assertive in his dealings with foreign powers as opponents line up to challenge him.

But they also follow a serious dip in his relations with some of the countries contributing to the NATO -led security force and the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and indicate that as the insurgency has escalated, so, too, has the chafing among allies.

Complaints have been rising for months among diplomats and visiting foreign officials about what is seen as Mr. Karzai’s weak leadership, in particular his inability to curb narcotics trafficking and to remove ineffective or corrupt officials. Some diplomats have even expressed dismay that, for lack of an alternative, the country and its donors may face another five years of poor management by Mr. Karzai.

He was quick to reject such criticism, pointing out the “immense difficulties” that he and his government faced — “What is it we have not gone through?” — while trying to rebuild a state that was utterly destroyed.

He called instead for greater respect of Afghanistan’s fierce independence, and for more attention to be paid to building up the country, than doing things for it.

“For the success of the world in Afghanistan, it would be better to recognize this inherent character in Afghanistan and work with it and support it,” he said, speaking at his presidential office. “Eventually, if the world is to succeed in Afghanistan, it will be by building the Afghan state, not by keeping it weak.”

Mr. Karzai said he was fighting corruption, a problem that is among the chief complaints heard frequently by diplomats and Afghans alike. Mr. Karzai said he had just fired an official the previous day and would be firing more soon.

Yet the president explained that Afghanistan had never had so much money and resources pouring in, or seen such disparities in salaries, and was simply not capable yet of preventing the corruption.

He admitted that “lots of things” in the last six years could have been handled better and singled out policies led by the United States, namely tackling terrorism and handling the Taliban, both as prisoners and on the battlefield.

On terrorism, he repeated a call he has made for several years, that sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan be closed off.

“There is no way but to close the sanctuaries,” he said. “Pakistan will have no peace, Pakistan’s progress will suffer, so will Afghanistan’s peace and progress, so will the world’s. If you want to live, and live in peace, and work for prosperity, that has to happen. The sanctuaries must go, period.”

The deaths of civilians in the fighting have also been a big problem, he said. “It seriously undermines our efforts to have an effective campaign against terrorism,” he said. While NATO says civilian casualties have declined in the last six months, Mr. Karzai said that was not good enough.

“I am not happy with civilian casualties coming down; I want an end to civilian casualties,” he said. “As much as one may argue it’s difficult, I don’t accept that argument.”

He added, “Because the war against terrorism is not in Afghan villages, the war against terrorism is elsewhere, and that’s where the war should go,” referring to the Taliban and Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan.

He said the issue had caused tension between him and American officials. “While those moments were very, very difficult, I must also be fair to say that our partners in America have recognized my concerns and have acted on them in good faith.”

One of the biggest mistakes of the last six years has been the handling of the Taliban, he said, and the failure of his government to guarantee former members the amnesty that Mr. Karzai promised when the movement was toppled in December 2001.

He blamed mistreatment by some warlords and American forces for driving the Taliban out of the country, to Pakistan, where they regrouped and took up weapons again.

“Some of the warlords, and the coalition forces at times, in certain areas of the country, behaved in a manner that frightened the Taliban to move away from Afghanistan,” he said. “That should not have happened.”

The weakness of his own government meant that he learned only much later of some of the things that were occurring, he said.

He gave an example of a former member of the Taliban who was quietly running a paint shop in Kabul and had been arrested three times by American and Afghan security services.

“We have to make sure that when a Talib comes to Afghanistan, that he is safe from arrest by the coalition,” he said. “And we don’t come to know when the coalition arrests them; it is a major problem for us, a problem that we have spoken about repeatedly without solution.”

Asked if he could stop American forces from arresting suspected Taliban or their sympathizers in Afghanistan, he said, “We are working hard on it, very hard on it.”

He added, “It has to happen.” Mr. Karzai said he had not complained to the Americans about their treatment of people in their custody, despite long detentions, because he did not have details of specific cases.

Despite the many problems, Mr. Karzai expressed optimism over Afghanistan’s path, and said that the change of government in Pakistan could bring progress against terrorism. “We began on a very good note,” he said of relations with the new government, led by the party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , who was killed in December.

“I am fairly confident of their good intentions,” he said. “If the current government has the full backing of the military and intelligence circles in Pakistan and with the good intentions that they have, things will improve.”

The president said he supported the Pakistani government’s efforts to make peace with Taliban there who were not a threat to the rest of the world.

“But if the deal is with those that are hard-core terrorists, Al Qaeda, and are bent upon sooner or later again causing damage to Pakistan, and to Afghanistan and to the rest of the world, then that’s wrong and we should definitely not do it.”

He said he did not know Baitullah Mehsud , the militant leader who has been accused of instigating Ms. Bhutto’s assassination, but said he would send him some advice: “All that he is doing is hurting his own people, that he shouldn’t do that.”

Germany's foreign minister apologizes to Afghan counterpart for wiretapping incident

The Associated Press - Saturday, April 26, 2008

BERLIN: Germany's foreign minister has apologized to his Afghan counterpart for officials' snooping on correspondence between a German reporter and an Afghan government minister, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

A spokesman at the ministry, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Frank-Walter Steinmeier telephoned Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta about the wiretapping incident and said those involved had been disciplined and three officials transferred to other duties.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen confirmed the call had taken place. He said Spanta accepted Steinmeier's apology "and both foreign ministers emphasized the good relations of both countries and both mentioned that this will not affect bilateral relations."

Germany's government ordered disciplinary measures against officials at the country's foreign intelligence service on Friday after it was revealed the agency — the BND — had spied on correspondence between Der Spiegel magazine report Susanne Koelbl and Afghan Commerce Minister Amin Farhang.

The BND has not commented publicly on the affair other than to confirm that its director Ernst Uhrlau spoke to Koelbl. A German parliamentary report in May 2006 found that the BND had illegally spied on journalists, picking through their trash and tracing their research in the hope of exposing their sources to plug leaks.

Baheen confirmed that the case involved only Farhang, a one-time German resident. He described it as "an exceptional case" and said that the German ambassador to Kabul had been summoned earlier this week to discuss it but he was out of the country. Germany's foreign ministry said that Steinmeier would also call Farhang this weekend to apologize.

Agency Admits Spying on Afghan Politician and SPIEGEL Journalist

Der Spiegel - 04/24/2008 

Afghan Trade and Industry Minister Amin Farhang was the target of German espionage for six months. The head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency has come under fire over admissions his employees monitored e-mails exchanged between a minister in the Afghan government and a SPIEGEL journalist. Chief spy Ernst Uhrlau will likely keep his job, but the scandal is expected to shake up the organization.

Earlier Thursday, it looked as though Ernst Uhrlau, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence service, might lose his job. Urhlau came under fire this week after it was revealed his agency had been monitoring e-mails exchanged between an Afghan government minister and a SPIEGEL journalist.

A number of new details are emerging that suggest the head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) lost control over some of the agents in his organization and failed to inform the Chancellery of Chancellor Angela Merkel or parliament in a timely manner about what he knew. The Chancellery is officially responsible for supervising the foreign intelligence agency's activities.

But after a meeting of the German parliament's intelligence oversight committee Thursday, the panel's chairman, Thomas Oppermann of the center-left Social Democratic Party, said Uhrlau could keep his post.

After a two-hour period of questioning, he said it was clear there would be consequences for BND personnel and that new structures would be put in place on the level of department heads and staff units. He said the relationship between the intelligence oversight committee and the BND had been damaged and that it had to be re-established. Oppermann also said these changes should be managed by Uhrlau, who is already working to correct other legacy problems at the foreign intelligence agency.

Other politicians on Thursday, led by Hans-Peter Uhl of the conservative Bavarian party the Christian Social Union, had been calling for Uhrlau to step down. But during the oversight committee's meeting, the senior Left Party member on the panel, Wolfgang Neskovic, said his resignation wouldn't change anything. But the senior committee member from the business-friendly Free Democratic Party, Max Stadler, described the espionage case as evidence that the BND was turning into a state within a state. Stadler called for an increase in parliament's power over the BND's work. Speaking for the Greens, panel member Hans-Christian Ströbele concurred.

Earlier Thursday, new information emerged about the incident first revealed last Friday that sparked this week's Bundestag hearings. For months, the BND monitored e-mails exchanged between SPIEGEL correspondent Susanne Koelbl and an Afghan minister during 2006. It has since emerged that Koelbl was not the BND's original target. The intelligence service was attempting to install a so-called "Trojan horse" computer program on the computer of Afghan Trade and Industry Minister Amin Farhang that would send copies of his e-mail to the BND. The agency had hoped to obtain information about Farhang. In its surveillance, the agency also came across e-mails exchanged between the reporter and the minister.

At first, it was unclear why the BND wanted to monitor the Afghan minister, who also holds a German passport and lived in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia for years.

The incident is also expected to raise new questions for the BND -- especially why the German foreign intelligence agency would spy on a minister of a foreign government. After all, Afghanistan is recognized by Germany as a sovereign state.

In its previous reporting, SPIEGEL did not name Farhang because it had sought to protect him as a source for the magazine. But after his name began circulating amongst politicians in Berlin on Thursday, SPIEGEL obtained permission from Farhang to publish his name.

SPIEGEL also announced on Thursday it would consider bringing a lawsuit against the BND over its actions. "Over a period of six months," the intelligence service "monitored e-mail between Susanne Koelbl and an Afghan politician." This is an "unacceptable situation," the newsmagazine stated.

The situation isn't getting any easier for Uhrlau, who must now answer questions about how he, as head of the service, could be kept in the dark about such a sensitive operation undertaken by his own people. During a hearing in the Bundestag on Wednesday, Uhrlau said that he was first made aware on Dec. 21, 2007 that his agency had been monitoring e-mails between Koelbl and Farhang.

So far, it is clear that in the summer of 2006, one BND sub-unit made the decision, without consulting with senior management, to place a tap on the computer of a member of the Afghan government. The operation included the installation of software on the politician's computer that monitored all of his communication and sent copies to the BND.

The monitoring continued for a good six months, and BND employees first expressed their unease about the operation in November 2006. Shortly thereafter, the monitoring stopped.

Uhrlau reportedly first learned of the operation in December 2007. Two months later, an anonymous letter began circulating in Berlin that provided details of the BND operation. The letter is believed to have originated from a BND employee who disapproved of the operation.

The question also remains unanswered why the intelligence issues committee of the German parliament, the Bundestag, was informed so late by Uhrlau -- and why officials didn't tell SPIEGEL until last Friday that Susanne Koelbl's emails had been monitored. Koelbl has reported on war-ravaged Afghanistan for SPIEGEL for a number of years.

If France leaves Afghanistan, Pakistan will fall: Sarkozy

[ANI]  - Paris, Apr 26 : French President Nicolas Sarkozy claimed in a TV show that if France abandons Afghanistan, Pakistan will fall like a house of cards.

"Next to Afghanistan there is Pakistan, there is an atomic bomb. If we let Afghanistan fall, Pakistan will fall like a house of cards," The Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

Sarkozy has announced that France would send another 700 troops to Afghanistan, saying NATO operations are still required in that country.

Sarkozy has said that he would not hold talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At least 1,800 French troops make France the second largest partner of the United States in Afghanistan after Germany.

Census official, police among 24 killed in Afghan unrest

KABUL (AFP) — Bomb blasts killed three Afghan policemen and four suspected Taliban Saturday, officials said, also reporting that 17 other people, including a population census official, died in unrest a day earlier.

Two police officers were killed when a bomb planted in a road blew up their vehicle in the southern province of Ghazni, provincial spokesman Zia Wali told AFP, blaming the attack on Taliban. Three others were wounded, he said.

A third police officer was killed and another wounded in a similar blast in the southwestern province of Farah, regional police commander Khalilullah Ziayee said, also accusing the Taliban.

Insurgents led by the Taliban movement that was ousted from government seven years ago have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on police, seen as a weak branch of the security forces.

More than three dozen Afghan policemen have been killed in attacks this month, according to an AFP tally.

Also Saturday, four suspected Taliban militants were killed when a car they were using to move explosives blew up in the eastern province of Laghman, a provincial official said.

"Four terrorists were killed when the vehicle that they used to transport explosives for terrorist activities exploded. We think they were Taliban," provincial spokesman Abdul Wakil Atak told AFP.

In another attack blamed on the militants, a district director for the census due in August was killed in an ambush in the eastern province of Paktia on Friday, a provincial spokesman said.

His driver was also killed, said local government spokesman Rahmatullah Samoon. "It was the work of the enemies of Afghanistan," Samoon told AFP, using a term to refer to Taliban.

Samoon also reported that 15 Taliban militants were killed elsewhere in Paktia in an air strike Friday by troops with NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

The rebels were preparing an attack on a government compound when ISAF attacked, he said. The NATO force in the region however did not immediately confirm its involvement.

Militants meanwhile fired six rockets at a compound housing various UN agencies in the western city of Herat late Friday but they all landed outside the facility, regional police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said. "It was the work of Taliban," Ahmadi told AFP.

Afghanistan's battle against the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, was its deadliest last year with more than 8,000 people killed. Officials say this year is expected to be just as intense.

Authorities say the rebels do not have the power to take on international and Afghan troops and so are increasingly directing their attacks on "softer" targets, such as the police, aid agencies and government offices.

Taliban ease mobile phone threat for Afghan summer

By Jonathon Burch, April 26, 2008

KABUL (Reuters) - As the days lengthen towards summer in Afghanistan, so will the time locals can use their mobile phones without fear of Taliban retribution.

The Taliban told Afghan mobile phone operators in February to shut down networks from 5 p.m. until 7 a.m. or face attack.

Foreign troops in Afghanistan use mobile phones to track insurgent fighters, they said, and to drive home the threat the Taliban have destroyed several phone towers in the south.

Some operators have cut night-time signals in some areas, causing resentment among residents for whom mobile phones are a vital means of communication.

Faced with an "unruly and irrational enemy ... the Islamic Emirate from time to time is bound by the circumstances and with great difficulty is obliged to take certain actions," the Taliban said in a statement on their website on Saturday.

"As the nights are now shorter and the days longer, the Islamic Emirate ... permits the (telephone) companies to operate from 6:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. in the cities and surrounding areas."

The Taliban largely rely on mobile and satellite phones for communication in their campaign to oust the pro-Western Afghan government and drive out foreign troops.

They accuse international and Afghan forces of using the networks to track their fighters. Western and Afghan government officials say the Taliban move at night and want to stop villagers informing security forces of their whereabouts.

Four mobile phone operators, three of them foreign firms, with an estimated investment of several hundred million dollars have set up in Afghanistan since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The success of the mobile phone industry has been one of the few bright spots in a country that has attracted little foreign investment and has received less per capita aid than other countries emerging from conflict like Bosnia or East Timor.

The new military commander for international forces in eastern Afghanistan said this week he expected the Taliban to increase attacks on what he called softer civilian targets, including mobile phone companies, because they were severely mauled when they took on foreign or Afghan forces directly.

Afghan, NATO and U.S.-led troops have targeted Taliban commanders over the last year. Afghan police killed Mullah Ghazi Jan, a known leader of a group of insurgents in the province of Paktia, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

Three policemen were also killed and five wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the central province of Ghazni on Saturday, officials and witnesses told Reuters. (Editing by Robert Woodward)

Taliban angers cellphone users

Decision to blow up telecommunications towers in Afghanistan has mobile phone owners fuming

The Toronto Star - Canada - Apr 25, 2008 Laura King LOS ANGELES TIMES
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan

Afghans tend to be stoic in the face of poverty, hardship and seemingly endless warfare. But mess with their cellphones, and the response is one of undiluted outrage.

For the past two months, Taliban fighters have been blowing up telecommunications towers, with the aim of preventing NATO-led forces from hunting them down via cellphone signals. It could hardly have been a worse public-relations move for the insurgency. Fuming Afghans call the tactic nonsensical.

"I'm so, so furious about this," sputtered businessman Rahim Agha. "Why do they have to do this to us? Why can't they just turn off their phones?"

To Afghans, the country's rapidly expanding cellphone network is a symbol of pride and hoped-for prosperity. Cellphones are a lifeline to Afghanistan's vast rural hinterlands, an engine of commerce, and a vital link with millions of Afghan refugees around the world.

There is intense competition among the country's cellphone providers – four private companies and a state-run one. Spurred by the scramble for revenues, they provide service in 70 per cent of Afghanistan's territory, from trackless deserts to jagged mountains.

The customer base has essentially doubled every year for the past three years. Some 5.4 million people – about one in six Afghans – have cellphones, an extraordinary number in a country so poor.

"Just look around in any bazaar," said Amirzai Sangin, the country's minister of communications. "Everyone in sight has a cellphone." That includes Taliban fighters – and therein lies the problem.

In recent months, NATO forces have had unusual success in tracking and targeting mid-level Taliban field commanders, killing scores of them in pinpoint air strikes. Military officials, without giving details, say they have a variety of means of conducting such manhunts, but the fighters blame cellphone signals for giving away their location.

The reach and availability of cellphones has apparently been seductive even to some fugitive commanders, who use numbers for a short time before discarding them.

In addition to attacking about a dozen towers, the insurgents have threatened the telecom companies, forcing them to cut off service at night in southern Afghanistan. More than 250,000 people have been affected by disrupted service across the south, where fighting between insurgents and coalition troops is the most intense.

A few weeks ago, insurgents killed two police officers escorting engineers who had been sent to repair a disabled tower.

Medical professionals are particularly alarmed by the curtailed service. In remote villages, when someone falls ill, families are unable to call for help or get advice on how to provide emergency treatment, said Merza Khan, who runs a health clinic in Helmand province. "People are dying from the lack of communication," he said.

Because travel in the south is so dangerous and landline phone service is rare outside cities, cellphone conversations often replace face-to-face encounters.

"I can't always travel to where my constituents are," said Anwar Khan, a member of parliament from Helmand. "But they would use their cellphones to talk to me, to tell me what was happening. Now they can't."

The Taliban, though, may be reconsidering its campaign. Commanders have been quoted as saying they are aware of the angry public backlash and may allow the resumption of normal service.

Sangin said he had heard reports that fighters themselves grumbling about the restrictions, suggesting that the entire contretemps might have been caused by a lack of discipline in the militants' ranks when it comes to cellphone use.

"This is not an attack on the coalition or the government, but on the people," Sangin said. "Cellphones are a huge part of everyday life, and no one is willing to go back in time."

UK troops to hand control of Helmand 'hot spots' to Afghan army

By Jerome Starkey in Helmand, Saturday, 26 April 2008

British troops in southern Afghanistan could hand control of key areas to Afghan forces within months, the commander of British forces said yesterday.

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said he hoped the Afghan army would "deliver security" in the most dangerous parts of Helmand by the end of the year. He said the provincial governor was keen to see Afghan troops take over in three hotspot towns in "the heart of Helmand", and it was his job to help that happen.

"We may see, by the end of this year, or beginning of next, areas where security is delivered by the Afghan army," he said. "The priorities are Gereshk, Lashkar Gah and Sangin."

Fighting in all three towns have claimed British lives. Lashkar Gah is the provincial capital and home of the UK headquarters. Gereshk controls the main road which links Helmand to the rest of Afghanistan, and Sangin, in the heart of the opium belt, witnessed the bloodiest fighting between British troops and the Taliban.

Brigadier Carleton-Smith's strategy does not, however, mean an early exit for UK forces. Preparations are already under way for troops to be deployed beyond 2009, the projected time-frame for the end of the Helmand mission, which began in 2006.

Handing over security to Afghan security forces has its own risks. At Musa Qala, a town recently recovered from the Taliban, the Afghan police have been tasked with maintaining law and order while British forces stayed in the outskirts. A number of residents have complained bitterly about extortion by the police.

Brigadier Carleton-Smith arrived in Helmand last month. His troops have already suffered casualties at the hands of the insurgents, but he insisted beating the Taliban was not his top priority. "The Taliban have been clobbered," he said, referring to a series of successful strikes against its commanders. "The crux of the problem is [winning over] the people.

"Gereshk, Lashkar Gah, Sangin – it's the heart of Helmand. It's where the bulk of the population live."

Speaking at a joint British, Australian and Danish outpost, he said his objective for the next six months was to improve "human security", which he said included physical security from threats such as criminals and insurgents, as well as economic and social security. "To my mind, that is better delivered by their own agencies than by the British," he added.

"What we would like to see is the interface with the Afghan farmers conducted by Afghan soldiers, because they have got a much better rapport with their own people," he said.

The Afghan National Army has been one of the country's few success stories since 2001, especially when compared to the corrupt and inept police force. There are three battalions of Afghan troops based in Helmand, but they depend on help from the British for logistics, medical treatment and air support. That support will continue when they take control of the three key towns.

"In 2006 there was no Afghan army presence to speak of," Brigadier Carleton-Smith said. "The only people trying to stabilise [Helmand] were the British troops. Today you see a greatly increased Afghan army contribution."

Although the ferocity of fighting has diminished, Brigadier Carleton-Smith admitted there was still a long way to go. "When you are growing an army the currency is years," he said. "Think five to 10 years. We have only had a British battle group here since October 2006. Progress here is evolution, not revolution. People need to keep their nerve."

Part of that progress will include giving more responsibility to local communities for their own security, instead of relying on soldiers or police, he said.

Ultimately, Brigadier Carleton-Smith said, the solution in Helmand hinges on negotiation and finding "Afghan solutions to Afghan problems".

"How do wars end?" he asked. "It's not about military solutions, it is about political solutions. The solution here is about governance and rule of law and not the barrel of a gun."

Police say bomb kills 2 officers in central Afghanistan

Associated Press, Sat Apr 26 - KABUL, Afghanistan - A police official says a roadside bomb destroyed a police vehicle, killing at least two officers in central Afghanistan.

Deputy provincial police chief Mohammed Zaman says the remote-controlled bomb went off in Waghaz district of Ghazni province early Saturday. He says two police died and three were wounded.

But an Associated Press Television News cameraman saw three saw three burned, mutilated bodies at the scene and four wounded people at a hospital. All appeared to be police.

Taliban militants increasingly attack Afghan police, who are less trained and worse equipped than the national army.

Former Afghan minister opposes ‘Talibanisation’

Hindustan Times / April 25, 2008 - Former Afghanistan foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah has decried any move by the government to legislate a law to ban men’s jeans, long hair, makeup, and couples talking in public.

“Such a law will not be in the interest of the Afghan people, who have now started breathing afresh after years of Taliban tyranny,” Abdullah told HT in an interview on the sidelines of the Seventh Eurasian Media Forum being held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

“Any such move is actually aimed at not protecting the Afghan society from so called obscenity but to avoid the local people’s attention from relevant issues like spiralling food prices,” Abdullah said.

“Food prices have shot up by 40 per cent in the last one month. Is this a more important issue or is it more important to ban the telecast of Indian soaps on Afghanistan’s TV channels,” he asked.

“Someone in the government is catering to the Islamic clergy in the country and with the 2009 elections in mind. The government does not want people to raise relevant issues affecting their day to day lives.” He said Afghanistan society would not allow the Taliban era to return under the garb of laws that curb its citizens’ personal freedom.

The government’s reported move comes after Kabul’s recent attempts to ban popular Indian soap, and a recent high court decision to confirm the death sentences of 100 people.

The proposed legislation is being viewed as a part of a large push for Islamic values by the country’s ruling religious elite. Earlier, speaking at the meet, Abdullah said the Afghan government was asserting pressure on private television channels to suit its interests.

Abdullah, 47, a Tajik-Pashtun physician, was foreign minister in the short-lived government headed by the Northern Alliance and was “foreign minister in exile” throughout the years of Taliban rule.

Poll: government should reject make-up ban

Written by www.quqnoos.com - Thursday, 24 April 2008

Quqnoos.com poll finds that almost two-thirds reject draft bans

ALMOST two thirds of people polled think a draft law calling for the ban of make-up on women and jewellery on men should be rejected by the government.

About 62% of voters who took part in the Quqnoos.com poll said the government should throw the draft law out.

As it turns out, Parliament have since discussed the law and rejected it.

However, last week’s poll revealed that 13% of voters said the government should ban make-up on women and jewellery on men, with a further 10% saying that only jewellery on men should be banned.

About 13% of people said they did not care what the government did.

The bans on jewellery and make-up were part of a whole host of draft measures drawn up by the commission for anti-social behaviour, which called for bans on everything from pigeon-flying to men and women talking together in the streets.

Have you say

To have your say in this week’s poll, go to the right of your screen and tick one of the boxes.

This week we ask: Should the government search for President Daoud's body?

Taliban hamper dam project in Afghanistan

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press / April 25, 2008

KAJAKI, Afghanistan - British Maj. Mike Shervington watches over a stunning aqua-green lake and a 50-year-old story about U.S. struggles to aid Afghanistan.

Inside a security perimeter is an old American-built dam with the potential to provide Afghanistan with 6 percent of its power. Outside the line roam enough Taliban fighters to prevent Washington's largest single aid project in Afghanistan from ever reaching that goal.

The Kajaki Dam, built in the 1950s to help Afghan farmers irrigate their fields, is in Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan, which grows more opium poppies than any place in the world. And, thanks to an influx of Taliban fighters the last two years, it is one of the most dangerous regions in the country.

Western officials say the Taliban opposes any project carried out by international aid workers — schools, clinics or, in this case, the dam — because locals might turn toward the government. Militants also are likely trying to protect their lucrative drug trade in the area around Kajaki.

A small building at the base of the dam houses one working Westinghouse turbine, one of two the U.S. installed in the 1970s. The second turbine is dismantled for repairs. In between those is a large hole where the U.S. hopes to install a third turbine.

Even a small boost in output would be meaningful in a nation where only 6 percent of the population has electricity.

But because of the swarms of Taliban fighters who control the region, the U.S. has been forced to push back the planned delivery date of needed parts — now set for mid-2009.

Shervington, who commands 200 British paratroopers at the dam, says he's still not sure when the parts can be safely delivered. "These guys are pretty determined, pretty professional," Shervington said of the militants who surround the dam.

"Because it provides such a source of energy, the vast majority of people (Afghans) want this to succeed. It powers farm machinery, allows people to feed their family," he said. "But there are people who don't want that, who don't want this to succeed, who don't want people to feed their families."

The dam — built by the same company that constructed the Hoover Dam, Morrison-Knudsen Corp. — was beset by problems from the beginning, irrigating only 30 percent as many acres as promised.

A report by the Institute for Afghan Studies found that Afghans in the 1950s judged the Kajaki Dam project as a failure and a symbol of neglect and indifference by the U.S. government.

Still, U.S. crews returned to Kajaki in the 1970s and installed two turbines. They've been overseen ever since by an Afghan engineer named Rasool, who kept them both running until 2003.

Rasool, who like many Afghans goes by one name, oversees 36 other Afghan employees. They are qualified to maintain the turbines, but often lack the needed parts or tools.

The province's governor, Gulab Mangal, said the dam — even with only one working turbine — provides Afghans in Helmand and Kandahar with a few, vital hours of electricity a day.

"It's helping agriculture and business," Mangal said. "Soon we are planning to make the security plans to take the third turbine to Kajaki by road. We are planning to make the road secure for the long term."

Rasool said workers sometimes travel to work through barrages of gunfire between British troops and Taliban fighters, but he said the Taliban don't target his workers because "the opposition also needs electricity."

The U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. government aid arm, says the cost for refurbishing the two turbines and the purchase of the third is $51 million. But a lot of other work remains.

Officials want to raise the water level of the dam by 12 feet to better feed the turbines. That will involve relocating people who live close to the lake's shoreline.

The region also needs new transmission lines that can carry the new, increased power to Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. That will cost more than $77 million.

At full capacity, the three turbines together can provide southern Afghanistan with 51 megawatts of power, said John Shepard, an engineer from Tucson, Arizona, who has been working on the Kajaki project since 2004.

In total, Afghanistan has the potential to create about 770 megawatts of power on small, individual power grids that service local communities. That means the Kajaki Dam could provide more than 6 percent of the country's total electricity.

By Western standards, though, 50 megawatts is a modest amount — nearly enough electricity for a town the size of Burlington, Vermont, which has about 160,000 people.

"Afghanistan's future stability depends in large part on growth of the private sector and jobs. The Kajaki Dam is a critical element in our support for Afghanistan, because it will provide the electricity to drive private sector growth in Helmand and Kandahar," said Mark Ward, USAID acting assistant administrator for Asia.

Much of the fighting between NATO-led security forces and Taliban insurgents is centered on these two volatile provinces. Some 3,500 U.S. Marines moved into the region this spring to help bring security and train Afghan police.

Insecurity in the region has warded off investors and hindered development agencies, setting back efforts to win public support for the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Editorial: Truce with Taliban won’t last

Daily Times, Pakistan, Friday, April 25, 2008

The Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief, Baitullah Mehsud, has ordered his militants not to attack Pakistani security forces henceforth and warned that anyone violating his orders would be punished publicly. The TTP distributed pamphlets saying that “offensives” against the Pakistan army in Waziristan, Tank, Gomal and Dera Ismail Khan should be abandoned, and anyone who doesn’t obey the order would be “hanged upside down in the bazaars”.

The governor of the NWFP, Mr Owais Ghani, has confirmed from Peshawar that talks with Mr Mehsud are underway and “making progress”. He said the release of the TNSM chief, Sufi Muhammad, had attracted positive feedback from Malakand Division. He did not say if the talks were made conditional by the TTP to the withdrawal of the Pakistan army from the Tribal Areas, but that is what is being reported. Of course, it is presumed that if the army is withdrawn it would be in return for the re-establishment of the writ of the Pakistan state.

The same day in Bajaur Agency, close to the Afghan border, Afghan troops had an encounter with Pakistani border guards as a result of which one Pakistani soldier died. The Afghan forces were pursuing militants who had gone across the border and attacked the Afghan check post. In the exchange of fire, 10 Taliban militants died. Unfortunately, in the process, the Afghans ended up firing at the Pakistani check post. The press has been told that it was a “misunderstanding” and both sides have met at the command level and sorted it out.

The pattern, though, is familiar. The Afghans think that the Taliban raiders are “facilitated” by Pakistani border guards who let them in before the attacks inland and let them out when they are fleeing. Although the atmospherics with Kabul have been maintained, everyone knows that the Karzai government is deeply suspicious and resentful about what it thinks is Pakistan’s role in infiltrating the Taliban into Afghanistan. The ISAF-NATO command in Afghanistan backs up the allegations and is indeed behind much of the protest launched against Pakistan in Kabul.

Baitullah Mehsud has ordered a kind of ceasefire in certain areas adjacent to South Waziristan but has conceded nothing as far as the TTP’s forays into Afghanistan are concerned. In fact the TTP had earlier announced that its deal with the Pakistan government, whenever it is clinched, will not include a Taliban commitment not to attack Afghanistan. If that is clearly so, what exactly is the government negotiating with Mr Mehsud? The Pakistan army withdraws from the Tribal Areas in return for what?

The answer is obvious. The government is negotiating for the return of its writ in the Tribal Areas. If Afghanistan has to be attacked for any reason, it is Islamabad that should decide and not Baitullah Mehsud and his TTP. Because of the vacuum of sovereign control, the Tribal Areas are subject to the operation of three forces: the Afghan Taliban of Mullah Umar, the local Taliban under Baitullah Mehsud and Al Qaeda and its foreign warriors. Islamabad has been facing problems with regard to all three and keeps on denying allegations made by America and its NATO allies that it doesn’t stop the Afghan Taliban from sheltering in Pakistan for R&R after each attack inside Afghanistan.

Proof has also been forthcoming — and shown on Kabul TV — that Pakistani Taliban are increasingly accompanying Mullah Umar’s men into Afghanistan and striking as far inland as the Helmand province. The three entities located in our Tribal Areas in violation of our sovereignty tend to merge in their activity and are increasingly regarded as one force. Some experts tend to categorise them separately in order to describe their separate agendas, but facts on the ground actually tell a different story. The talks Pakistan is holding with the militants must include discussion and satisfactory resolution of this reality in Pakistan’s national interest.

There can be no cavil with the decision of the governments of the NWFP and Islamabad to initiate talks. This is an option that should never be closed no matter what the outside world tells us. It is communicating with the enemy that enables you to assess what the enemy wants. It is not wise to take on trust Al Zawahiri’s latest claim that Al Qaeda was “winning” in Pakistan. A dialogue with the TTP has to determine for us the nature of concessions the enemy is willing to make and why. Is he showing flexibility because we have become “soft” under suicide-bombing or is he responding to our military operations and would like the pressure off him by getting the army out?

There is no way Pakistan can make a “one-sided” peace with the TTP and allow it to attack inside Afghanistan with impunity. Equally, getting the army out without a quid pro quo that allows Islamabad to reform the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and take development schemes into the Tribal Areas would be the wrong thing to do. *

Poor diet undermines health of northern Afghans

By Tan Ee Lyn - Sat Apr 26, 9:50 AM ET

ESHKASHEM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Lunch at Gada Mohammad's single-room mud-brick house in Afghanistan's far north is the same as most other meals: dry bread washed down with tea.

"We make our living collecting and selling this herb," said Mohammad, a 45-year-old father of four, pointing to a pile of roots on the floor of his smoke-blackened room.

Badakhshan, bordering Tajikistan to the north, is far from the fighting with Taliban insurgents in the south, but is still one of Afghanistan's poorest provinces. Those that fare worst live in the mountains where they are snowed in for up to six months of the year.

In outlying districts such as Raghistan, Kohistan and Darwaz, there is little cultivable land and people survive on mulberries and other types of wild food, aid workers say.

They keep a few sheep, goats and cows for food and dairy products, but winter is espacially punishing.

"Malnutrition is very serious, they don't eat fruit, or vegetables. It's very difficult even for them to eat normal food like bread," said Rona Azamyan, coordinator of the Midwifery Education Program in Faizabad, the main town in Badakhshan.

Because of malnutrition, many women die during childbirth and many children do not survive beyond the age of five.

In Afghanistan, 1,600 women die of complications out of every 100,000 live births, one of the worst rates in the world. Of every 1,000 newborn babies, 128 will not live beyond a year.

Malnutrition causes anemia and generally poor health, making people vulnerable to infections and illnesses such as tuberculosis. Malnourished children are likely to be stunted.

In Afghanistan, women tend to be the most malnourished in the family because of poverty and a lack of knowledge.

"In our culture, women tend to give good food like meat, eggs, cheese and other milk products first to the husbands, then sons, then daughters, before they eat," said Karima Mayar, team leader of the family planning unit at the Ministry of Public Health.

"So the mothers tend to be very anemic and they give birth to anemic, low birth-weight, malnourished babies. Babies tend to develop spina bifida," Mayar said, referring a condition in which the spinal cord is incompletely formed causing paralysis if untreated.

Folic acid, found in dried beans, leafy vegetables and fruit, may help in preventing it.

"For this reason, we try to educate the men too. We tell them that their wives must take enough food, like vegetables, egg, yoghurt, beans, meat and iodine," Mayar said, adding that iodine deficiency is serious in the northern provinces, leading to goiter, bad eyesight and skin problems.

Aid groups are distributing essential foodstuffs to the poorest places in Badakhshan, while government health workers are trying to educate people in nutrition.

"Here, we cannot find any vegetables and fruit, and people lack all sorts of vitamins," said Abdi Mohammad, head of a government clinic in Eshkashem, in the north of Badakhshan. "We want to start teaching people about nutrition."

Badakhshan is helped by many aid organizations but long-term development strategies and permanent solutions are needed to help change the way people live and earn their livelihood.

"Yes, we save lives, we stop them from dying, but how long can we do it?" said one aid expert, who declined to be identified.

"It's deep-rooted, chronic food insecurity that has nothing to do with short-term disasters. The solution is to bring in development, long-term sustainable projects, improve irrigation, livestock, introduce high-yield crops." (Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

Over half the population at risk of malaria - Health Ministry

KABUL, 25 April 2008 (IRIN) - Over half of Afghanistan's estimated 26.6 million population – and especially pregnant women and children - are vulnerable to malaria, according to Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

MoPH says that 14 of the country's 34 provinces are identified as "high risk" areas where, plasmodium vivax, a malaria parasite, is prevalent.

"About 14 million people across the country are at risk of malaria," Najibullah Safi, programme manager for National Malaria and Leishmaniasis Control (NMLC) at MoPH, said in Kabul.

Landlocked Afghanistan has the second highest number of malaria cases in the Eastern Mediterranean region, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

The MoPH and WHO estimate that every year up to 1.5 million cases of malaria occur throughout the country, but most go undiagnosed. Figures verified by the Health Ministry indicated that only 433,412 malaria patients received treatment from March 2006 to March 2007.

"Up to 98 percent of malaria cases were plasmodium vivax – a less life-threatening form of the disease - and only two percent were falciform, the most life threatening form of the disease," Safi said.

While malaria kills over one million people in Africa and Asia, according to WHO just 25 malaria-related fatalities were confirmed in Afghanistan in 2007.

Only about 20 percent of the total 443,412 patients who received malaria treatment last year were clinically diagnosed malaria-positive, NMLC reported.

"About 80 percent of all malaria patients who were treated last year [over 350,000 patients] were suspected cases and were not confirmed through laboratorial tests," the manager of NMLC said.

While malaria treatment is included in MoPH's basic health services package, which reaches up to 85 percent of the population through 1,429 health facilities nationwide, there are not enough facilities to diagnose the disease.

"We do not have laboratories in all our health facilities in the country and therefore cannot do proper laboratory tests to confirm every suspected malaria case," Safi said. "It's a huge problem," he added.

Health specialists warn that any use of anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine can badly affect the health of a person not suffering from malaria.

"If you give anti-malarial drugs to a pregnant woman or a child it can seriously put their health at risk," warned Abdul Karim Norzai, a paediatrician in Kabul.

Ranked the fifth least developed country in the world, Afghanistan does not have adequate resources, or the technical capacity to wipe out the parasite in the foreseeable future, health officials say.

The country is trying to control malaria within five years (2007-2012) with a US$28.3 million fund from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

To control the parasite the MoPH plans to distribute 1.2 million insecticide-treated bed nets to vulnerable communities, particularly in high-risk provinces, in 2008.

Immunised children and pregnant women will receive bed nets for free, while others will have to pay a subsidised price, MoPH said.

Malaria is a major public health problem in Afghanistan, which not only threatens the health of millions of people but also affects human productivity and development, and traps vulnerable communities in continuing poverty, experts say.

Afghanistan is acutely prone to malaria due to its tropical climate, paddy fields, poor waste management and other environmental factors, MoPH said in a statement.

Kabul business choked by fear and corruption

von Jon Boone (Kabul) - Financial Times Deutschland (Germany), April 25, 2008

Kidnappings, killings and organised crime together with huge power and infrastructure problems are hampering Afghanistan's attempts to improve its economy. With Business leaders accusing the Afghan government of incompetence, investors are looking to neighbouring countries.

Mohammad Mirza Kundazi, a goods importer with a sideline in money changing, haggled his own ransom down to $100,000 from $2m seven days after being bundled into a car outside his house last month but his kidnapping, and others like it, are costing his country much more.

On his release from the toilet in which he was chained throughout the ordeal, Mr Kundazi joined a growing band of Afghan entrepreneurs who are moving their businesses to Dubai or at the least scrapping investment projects.

Cases such as his are, the Afghan business community says, damaging the country's efforts to build its economy, so Afghanistan can pay its own way when the foreign cash that pays for almost everything the government does dries up.

But the private sector is so limited - and so reliant on money spent by international consultants, diplomats and aid workers - that a French restaurant in Kabul catering to the culinary needs of the city's expats is one of the country's 100 biggest taxpayers.

Law enforcement officials claim that fear of violence is overblown. Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of criminal investigations in Kabul, says there have been "no more than three" kidnappings in the last year and the Dubai-bound business leaders are just in search of "luxury".

But Azarakhsh Hafizi, chairman of the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce, has a list of almost 30 recent cases of attacks on businessmen or their families. According to his list, ransom payments are as high as $3m, and several children have been killed.

One Afghan entrepreneur is scared enough that members of his extended family believe he is a hotel employee, rather than the wealthy owner of a chain of hotels. He says he has scrapped two multi-million dollar hotel projects in the beauty spots of Bamiyan and Istalif because of security concerns.

The chief executive of Afghanistan's investment agency, Omar Zakhilwal, says a crime wave is just one problem choking off investments. Another big problem, he says, is the intermittent electricity supply. Four hours of city power every two or three days

Sarah Chayes, a former journalist turned soap manufacturer in the southern city of Kandahar, says that with just four hours of city power every two or three days her staff sleep with the electric lights switched on. When the bulbs light up they leap out of bed and start running the soap press for as long as possible. She says that although she is "swimming in demand" she is unable to increase production.

Saad Mohseni, chief executive of Moby Media, which runs television and radio stations, says another vexing problem is taxes. He recently had videotapes of imported Indian television programmes impounded at Kabul airport because a government agency believed they should be paying on the content. "The government says it is dealing with these so-called nuisance taxes, but it's ridiculous that after seven years we are still facing these problems. Why can't the whole lot just be declared null and void?" He says his frustration with Afghan government "incompetence" is so great that the company has set up a business division in Dubai.

One leading international logistics company came close to pulling out of Afghanistan last year after it discovered it had been paying taxes to the Ministry of Communications - technically illegal because only the Ministry of Finance is allowed to raise revenue.

Some efforts to improve the tax system have made the situation worse. Draft laws prepared in English by foreign consultants have been mistranslated into Dari - the official language of government. The garbled version is then treated as the law.

A western official, who declined to be named but has worked closely on tax reform issues, said the "cheques had been made out to the ministry of post, which doesn't exist, so God knows who actually got the money". He estimates the cost of business is at least twice the official amount after bribes, corruption and taxes of questionable legality are included.

"There is an internationally imposed taxation system, which is sensible," he says. "But then there is a parallel Afghan system which requires the permanent employment of full-time staff to pay bribes. Big international companies just can't pay these bribes."

Lawsuit: Company jeopardized security at US embassy in Kabul

April 24, 2008 - WASHINGTON (AP) — Two former security contractors in Afghanistan say in a lawsuit they were fired for questioning security problems at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

The two men's federal lawsuit, filed Thursday, charges that their former employer, ArmorGroup North America Inc., lied to the State Department when it bid on the contract to provide embassy security. The lawsuit claims the company misrepresented it capabilities, its experience and how many hours its contractors would work.

Company spokesman Patrick Toyne Sewell says the contractors, James Sauer of Massachusetts and Peter Martino of New Hampshire, are disgruntled former employees who are angling for an undeserved multimillion-dollar settlement.

The two men say they complained that budget constraints made it impossible to keep the embassy secure. The problems cited in the lawsuit occurred during a transition period before ArmorGroup took over embassy security last July.

The State Department said it investigated the claims and, after working with the company to improve some areas, officials are satisfied the embassy is secure and the contract is being adhered to.

Sauer and Martino are seeking at least $3 million apiece, citing wrongful termination, retaliation and other charges. The Virginia-based employer is part of the worldwide company ArmorGroup International, which has its headquarters in London.

Afghan Riders Saddle Up for Buzkashi Season

The traditional rough-riding sport is as strong as ever, and there are even plans to make it international.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif (ARR No. 287, 24-Apr-08)

Springtime in northern Afghanistan brings the sound of hundreds of horses thundering over the dusty ground near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. This is the season for “buzkashi”, a wild sport in which troops of horsemen fight to seize control of a dead calf and land its carcass in a circle marked out as the goal.

Buzkashi is popular in other parts of Afghanistan, but riders regard Mazar-e-Sharif as the true home of the sport.

Peak season is in the spring, especially around April 20-21, the traditional Afghan new year or “Nauruz”, when thousands of people flock to this northern city for celebrations that last 40 days. The visitors form the bulk of the spectators at the matches, which are usually held on Thursdays and Fridays.

The buzkashi grounds at Dasht-e-Shadian, a desert area ten kilometers south of the city, are a focus for matches which begin in January and reach their height in April, when hundreds of “chapandaz” or horsemen from other parts of Afghanistan congregate here.

This IWPR contributor went to one match between the local Balkh province team and their rivals from Kunduz to the east.

Haji Jamil Bay, who heads the Buzkashi Federation in Mazar-e-Sharif, was in the saddle leading the local riders. After dismounting to give an interview, he told IWPR, "This year it’s been fantastic because hundreds of chapandaz have come here for the buzkashi match."

Jamil Bay outlined his hopes for internationalising the sport, at least in the region. "This game is held every year. But from now on, we’re going to try to make this national sport famous around the world," he said, adding that the Mazar-e-Sharif federation was trying to contact its counterparts in the neighbouring Central Asian states to see whether international matches could be arranged.

Jamil Bay, himself an experienced rider, says buzkashi is one of the toughest sports in the world.

He explained how competitors try to grab the dead calf, which weighs in at around 100 kilograms, gallop away and drop it into the opposing goal – the “daire-ye halal or “forbidden circle” marked out on the ground, in the face of stiff opposition from the other team, who wield their riding-whips with abandon.

The goal-scorer can win cash prizes of up to 1,000 US dollars, which are funded by government officials, the buzkashi federation and local businessmen.

Key to success in this sport – and for real aficionados its main interest – are the horses themselves, short and stocky but extremely agile and specially trained to compete in the melee.

Keeping horses for no other purpose than sport is a costly business, and it is generally businessmen or local militia commanders who can afford to maintain a string of animals and either hire riders for the competitions, or retain them on staff.

The satisfaction comes from seeing one’s horse win after months of pampering and careful training.

"I own five horses and I spend more than 5,000 US dollars on each one every year. I also pay monthly wages to my riders.” said Hussein Bay, whose animals were taking part in the match that IWPR observed.

"The best point in my life is when my horse and rider win a match. It is the ultimate form of happiness in my life," said Hussein Bay.

Another cost is paying professional trainers to feed the horses and prepare them to compete.

"They are experienced veterans who know which fodder needs to be given to the horses in any given season of the year, and when to start the training," explained Hussein Bay, adding that without the trainers, the horses would be unfit to compete and the sport would be meaningless.

Having a star rider also helps. As Hussein Bay put it, "Although buzkashi is a team game, the team needs one player who’s able to snatch the calf off the ground; then the other riders will give him back-up and block the rival horsemen."

Hussein Bay has just such a man in the field in this match, riding one of his string of mounts.

Halim Pahlawan, 35, rides for the Balkh squad and is famous as a matchwinner across northern Afghanistan.

IWPR spoke to him as he left the field – mobbed by crowds of people – after scoring the winning point in the game against Kunduz.

"I always think of victory when I come onto the field,” he said. "I’ve played a lot of buzkashi and I know how to win a game.”

He explained how it was all about grit and mental focus, “When I grab the calf, I might get hit over a hundred times by my rivals’ whips, but the only thing I’m thinking about is the distance between me and the circle, and how I’m going to pick my way through hundreds of horses and get the calf into the circle. I don’t think about the pain."

As the spectators sat on the new-grown grass and watched the game progress, local singers performed in a variety of Afghan languages to drive the horsemen on to greater feats.

The spectators become very animated – yelling as if this might get the horses to change direction. When goal is scored, a singer pipes up to sing the rider’s praises, accompanied by applause from the crowd.

Nazar Mohammad, 73, has come all the way from Kunduz province for the match, and says he never watches other sports, as buzkashi is such a fine game.

"It is our traditional, ancient game. We are used to horses; our forefathers used to defeat our enemies on horseback. That’s why I love buzkashi," he said. "I come to all the major buzkashi fixtures every year. It doesn’t matter where the match is being held, we’ll spend the money to go and watch it."

Like Jamil Bay, Nazar Mohammad thinks buzkashi should expand its horizons.

"We must encourage this game. Businessmen should spend money to get it to take off. Western countries spend millions of dollars on their sports and they’ve made them famous all around the globe,” he said. “We have our sport, buzkashi, and we need to expand it as it really is spectacular and interesting."

For all the drama and fury of buzkashi, the people IWPR interviewed kept coming back to its roots in the cultural value of horses and the importance of maintaining old traditions even in hard times.

"It’s true that we use buzkashi as a sport, but the most important thing to us is training the horse…. it’s a tradition that we respect greatly," said Jamil Bay.

“We carried on training horses even under the Taleban regime, which regarded this as un-Islamic, because we did not want the tradition of our forefathers to go to ruin.”

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Afghan, Coalition Forces provide medical care in Kandahar

American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, April 25, 2008 – Afghan and coalition medical personnel provided free medical care to local citizens in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province April 21.

A joint Afghan and coalition medical team conducted medical screenings and provided routine treatment to more than 490 local citizens, including 230 children.

Working with local leaders, the team set up a temporary treatment facility at an Afghan National Civil Order Police station in Kandahar City. The team treated citizens suffering from various health conditions, such as back and joint pain, stomach ailments, common colds and skin disorders. The team also provided citizens with free clothing, blankets, first aid kits and school supplies.

‘This was the most rewarding mission I have personally been involved with since I’ve been here,’ one soldier who participated in the medical treatment said. ‘I saw the reactions of mothers as their children received necessary care, and it made me think that we all just want what’s best for our families.’

[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.]