In this bulletin:

• Afghan Raid on Suspected Assassins
• Afghan President Was Warned of Attack
• New UN Envoy to Afghanistan Concerned Over Weak Kabul Government
• Bush meets with new U.N. representative to Afghanistan
• Afghanistan vital for south-central Asia: Boucher
• Gen Petraeus must also focus on Afghanistan: Biden
• US marines launch mini surge to weaken Taliban
• Afghan ministers survive no-confidence vote after parade attack
• Afghan paper says Taleban must never be considered weak
• Iranian President: Afghan terrorism must end
• Defence minister visits Afghanistan
• Gas pipeline to provide money, jobs, energy: Afghan minister
• Turkmen leaders hails economic cooperation with Afghanistan
• Afghan government to launch large-scale project to rebuild southern town
• Afghan gov't launches Skill Development Project
• Afghan trade minister calls on Khaqan Abbasi
• Afghanistan: Key road toward Pakistan to improve trade, security
• Pakistan's Moment
• A pro-Taliban threat
• Is Afghanistan worth it? A brigadier general answers
• UK's Prince William on secret Afghan trip
• Death in Childbirth: A Health Scourge for Afghanistan
• Afghanistan's insurgency spreading north
• Al-Alam TV "With the Event" programme on the "Taleban threat"
• Editorial: Attack in Kabul
• Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass
• A media soap opera in Kabul

Afghan Raid on Suspected Assassins

By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and GRAHAM BOWLEY – NY Times 4.30.08

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan security forces attacked a house early Wednesday occupied by suspected plotters of the foiled assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai , in a clash that officials said left three militants dead, including a woman, and a child. Three intelligence agents were also killed during the attack, according to reports.

Government officials announced the operation at a news conference in Kabul. They said the house was in a poor district in the west of the city. They did not give the age of the child.

One of the officials, Amrullah Saleh, director of the National Security Directorate, said the operation was based on information given under interrogation by a person who had infiltrated the security forces and was arrested shortly after Sunday’s assassination attempt on Mr. Karzai. The person gave three addresses in Kabul, all of which were raided Wednesday, Mr. Saleh said.

The two sides traded rocket-propelled grenade and automatic gunfire over several hours, The Associated Press quoted Mr. Saleh as saying.

It quoted him as saying the government troops finally destroyed the two-story house with heavy weapons fire after the third intelligence agent had died and it was clear the militants would not surrender.

One of the dead militants had supplied weapons used in the attack on Mr. Karzai, the A.P. quoted Mr. Saleh as saying. Mr. Karzai escaped assassination during the attack on a military parade on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Mr. Saleh admitted before Parliament that there had been negligence by some in the presidential guard, his own intelligence service and possible complicity by some police officers, making it possible for the gunmen to fire from a hotel room, killing three people and wounding 11.

The attack at the parade ground sent government officials, diplomats and legislators scrambling for cover and caused a stampede of soldiers, embarrassing the government just as it was seeking to take over security of the capital from international forces.

In the account he gave on Tuesday, Mr. Saleh said one of his intelligence officers had warned the presidential guard that three men were acting suspiciously in the hotel room that was ultimately used in the attack.

The president’s men kept a close guard on the room while Mr. Karzai was inspecting the troops on the parade ground in an open-topped vehicle, but when he drove off to the spectator stands, they dropped their guard. It was then, as the artillery fired a salute, that the attackers opened fire, he said.

The three attackers, who were all killed, have been identified, he said. He said that the plot was hatched on March 10 and that the attackers had rented the room overlooking the parade ground 45 days before the event. The room was searched two days before the parade, and nothing suspicious was found, police and intelligence officials have confirmed.

There may have been a fourth plotter, who locked them into their room from the outside for the last 36 hours before the attack. The three did not leave the room after that.

Two of the gunmen may have killed themselves before security forces reached them. The third was shot dead, Mr. Saleh said.

Abdul Waheed Wafa reported from Kabul, and Graham Bowley from New York.

Afghan President Was Warned of Attack

NY Times, By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL April 30, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai was warned that an attack was being planned on a military parade on Sunday, when he escaped an assassination attempt, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief told Parliament on Tuesday. He said two groups of attackers were thwarted the same day, though a third succeeded in opening fire on the ceremony.

The intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, director of the National Security Directorate, bowed his head before Parliament and said there had been negligence by some in the presidential guard, his own intelligence service and possible complicity by some police officers, making it possible for the gunmen to fire from a hotel room, killing three people and wounding 11.

The attack sent government officials, diplomats and legislators scrambling for cover and caused a stampede of soldiers from the parade ground, embarrassing the government just as it was seeking to take over security of the capital from international forces.

During the session, reports came in of another coordinated suicide bomb and gun attack in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, in which 19 people were killed and 41 wounded. Among the dead were 12 police officers and 7 civilians, including the district administrator and police chief of Khogiani District in Nangarhar Province, officials said.

Mr. Saleh was called before Parliament, along with the defense and interior ministers, to explain the security failings. They hung onto their jobs when Parliament moved a no-confidence vote on each of them in a daylong session in which lawmakers criticized their performance, that of the government and even the president.

The men blamed differences among the various security forces and gaps in communication for the failures. Mr. Saleh and some lawmakers complained that reforms of the army, the police, intelligence services and the presidential guard left the forces uncoordinated.

Mr. Saleh gave the most detailed account of the events and appeared to lay the blame with the American-trained presidential guard. The force, which is independent of the three security ministries and answers directly to the president, was responsible for the security of one square kilometer, or less than half a square mile, around the parade ground, assisted by the intelligence service, he said.

One of his intelligence officers warned the presidential guard that three men were acting suspiciously in the hotel room that was ultimately used in the attack, Mr. Saleh said. The president’s men kept a close guard on the room while Mr. Karzai was inspecting the troops on the parade ground in an open-topped vehicle, but when he drove off to the spectator stands, they dropped their guard. It was then, as the artillery fired a salute, that the attackers opened fire, he said.

The three attackers, who were all killed, have been identified, he said. He said that the plot was hatched on March 10 and that the attackers had rented the room overlooking the parade ground 45 days before the event. The room was searched two days before the parade, and nothing suspicious was found, police and intelligence officials have confirmed.

There may have been a fourth plotter, who locked them into their room from the outside for the last 36 hours before the attack. The three did not leave the room after that.

Text messages on their cellphones, in the Pashtu language, suggested they were preparing to die, Mr. Saleh said. “They asked for prayers and forgiveness, and from the other side they were messaged: ‘You are close to God. Don’t speak a lot, and endure the hunger,’ ” he said.

Two of the gunmen may have killed themselves before security forces reached them. The third was shot dead, Mr. Saleh said. In the room were found assault rifles capable of launching grenades and a heavy machine gun, the defense minister, Rahim Wardak, said. It is not clear how they brought the weapons into the room, but he said officials had also found a rope in the room.

Intelligence officials had learned that a three-pronged attack was being planned, with a mortar team, a suicide bomber and a third team, Mr. Saleh said. Security forces arrested men with mortars on one of Kabul’s mountainsides, and also caught a suicide bombing group, he said.

Lawmakers were scathing in their criticism of the lapses. “The heart is weak in this country, the heart is sick, and unless we treat the heart I don’t think we can have the other organs with a sick heart,” said one lawmaker, Maulavi Sheikh Ahmad. “This weakness and failure and insecurity all over the country is due to the president we have,” he said.

Mr. Saleh said that Afghanistan had suffered over 4,000 attacks last year and that with the current security system he could not guarantee there would not be 8,000 this year. “If there is not a change in plans, methods and way of working, for all this questioning the issue will not be solved,” he said.

Mr. Wardak, who had overall responsibility for the parade and whose troops provided a ring of security around the capital, also admitted that the security forces had failed. “What happened was really shameful,” he said. “Clearly it was a blow to our national and international prestige.”

The interior minister, Zarar Ahmad Muqbil, whose police officers are generally seen as the weakest of the law enforcement forces, said little, but admitted to gaps in security.

The United States ambassador in Kabul, William B. Wood, issued a statement of condolence, and support and appreciation for the security forces.

“Tragically, the attackers succeeded in getting close enough to fire some shots,” the statement said. “The security institutions of Afghanistan defeated the attack within 120 seconds of the first shot and performed in a skilled, professional, and disciplined way during the attack.”

Abdul Waheed Wafa reported from Kabul, and Carlotta Gall from Kandahar, Afghanistan. Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting from Kabul.

New UN Envoy to Afghanistan Concerned Over Weak Kabul Government

VOA, By Meredith Buel 29 April 2008

The new United Nations envoy to Afghanistan says the weak government in Kabul and a poorly coordinated international aid effort is threatening the future of the country more than six years after the Taliban regime was ousted. Ambassador Kai Eide is using a visit to Washington to highlight his concerns about the situation in Afghanistan and VOA correspondent Meredith Buel has details.

Ambassador Eide says after his recent visit to Afghanistan and discussions with U.S. and European leaders that coordinating the international effort in Afghanistan will be his number one priority. "We have a very fragmented international community, strong and fragmented international community, meeting a fragmented and weak Afghan administration. That is not a recipe for success," he said.

Eide says there has to be better coordination among the international community to use aid more effectively and help the Afghan government grow stronger.

He says more resources are needed, but he understands why some donors are reluctant to send money to Afghanistan without significant strings (restrictions) attached.

"Yes I know that much of this is difficult because the situation is such on the ground that corruption is there, there is a lack of accountability, so it is difficult, of course, for nations to tell their parliaments, to ask for permission to use the money in the way we now seek.," he said.

Ambassador Eide's visit to Washington comes just days after Afghan president Hamid Karzai escaped a Taliban attack in Kabul.

It came on the same day a suicide bomber and insurgents struck a group of tribal leaders and police who had gathered for an opium poppy eradication campaign. Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium and money from the illegal crop is helping to fund the Taliban insurgency.

Ambassador Eide, who was appointed in an effort to streamline and coordinate various development projects with the Afghan government and NATO forces, says the Afghans themselves must lead the reconstruction efforts.

"It must be led by the Afghan government with the support of the international community. The international community can never play a leading role in this respect. As with the military campaign, it is not the internationals who will win the hearts and minds of Afghans. It is the Afghans themselves. That we must understand and I am not sure it is fully understood everywhere," he said.

U.S. President George Bush met with Ambassador Eide and acknowledged that the United States and other countries are facing a long struggle in Afghanistan. But Mr. Bush says progress is being made.

"One, I am pleased with the number of roads that have been built. I am pleased with the number of schools that have opened up. I am pleased that a lot of young girls are going to school. I am pleased health clinics are now being distributed around the country. I am pleased with the Afghan army that when they are in the fight they are good. I wish we had completely eliminated the radicals who kill innocent people to achieve objectives, but that has not happened yet," he said.

That is why, President Bush says, it is very much in the interest of the United States to continue helping what he calls the young democracy in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bush says the United States is supporting Ambassador Eide's mission in Afghanistan to coordinate all the nation's reconstruction and development projects.

Bush meets with new U.N. representative to Afghanistan

By Deb Riechmann, ASSOCIATED PRESS April 29, 2008

WASHINGTON – The new U.N. envoy to Afghanistan told President Bush on Tuesday that an upcoming donors' conference in Paris is key to helping rebuild the war-ruined nation. Bush said he sees progress, but difficult challenges remain.

France, host of the June 23 meeting, has set a broad goal of raising $12 billion to $15 billion to fund Afghan reconstruction projects through 2014. The United States is looking to contribute a minimum of 25 percent of that total.

Kai Eide of Norway said he and Bush discussed the “importance of doing everything we can to mobilize support, mobilize donors and also see to it that our efforts are as coordinated and as effective as they possibly can.”

The donors will gather as NATO tries to better coordinate military and civilian reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan with the newly appointed U.N. envoy. Eide attended the recent NATO summit in Romania where France and other nations agreed to deploy more troops to Afghanistan to boost the alliance's 47,000-strong force there.

But more manpower is still needed to fill gaps in the force and international assistance to Afghanistan has been criticized as wasteful, with one umbrella group of aid agencies estimating that 40 percent of donations go to salaries of highly paid foreign experts. Eide has said one of his main roles will be to see the aid money is well spent.

Bush said Eide had a difficult job to help coordinate worldwide efforts to help Afghanistan grow.

“We're making progress in Afghanistan, but there's tough fighting,” Bush said during a news conference before the meeting. “I'm under no illusions that this isn't tough. I know full well we're dealing with a determined enemy. ... We're facing people who are willing to strap bombs on themselves and walk into places where the innocent dwell, or the innocent shop, and kill them.”

Sunday's attempted assassination of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai underscored the fragility of his U.S.-backed government. But Bush urged Americans to remember what life was like in Afghanistan before U.S.-led forces liberated it from the hardline Taliban regime.

“We had a government in place that abused people's human rights, they didn't believe in women's rights, they didn't let little girls go to school, and they provided safe haven to al-Qaeda,” he said.

Afghanistan vital for south-central Asia: Boucher

Paktribune April 30, 2008

WASHINGTON: The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher, has said peace, stability and development is vital for the entire South and Central Asia. We do believe that the development in Afghanistan is vital to these countries and presents a tremendous opportunity," Boucher said during the course of a press conference at the Foreign Press Center in Washington.

The problems of Afghanistan are problems for the region, but the opportunities of Afghanistan are strategic and historic opportunities for the region as well, and we work on it all, he observed. "For Afghanistan to open up - as an open nation, a trading nation, a nation with good relations all around - really presents everybody in the region with a new strategic opportunity," he said.

"Everybody from India, with a potential new source of energy and a place to export to; to Pakistan, which becomes a logical port and hub for a lot of this trade; Afghanistan, which becomes a transit point and contributor to the trade; or Central Asia which, in addition to their ties to Russia, China, Europe, gets to open up another set of export routes and avenues," Boucher said.

At the same time, he conceded problems of Afghanistan would be troublesome for the entire region too. Problems of Afghanistan, the problems of terrorism and narcotics are very much of concern to the countries of Central Asia. "So we’re working with them on how to control the problems, how to deal with terrorism, how to deal with better control of borders, how to deal with narcotics flow, working together at the center that is being organized in Almaty on sharing information on narcotics trafficking so we can stop it better," he said.

Referring to the developments in the region, Boucher said: "There’s enough roads being built by us and Japan and the Asian Development Bank and the Chinese and others that there’s really coming together an Almaty-to-Karachi highway that this bridge is part of. That’s new, that’s different, that’s good, and that’s an opportunity. Customs revenues across that bridge have already increased 10 times since last August across that crossing point. So there’s definitely an opportunity there."

Boucher said the US is working with all countries; all the neighboring countries of the North - Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan - to develop electricity lines and supply for Afghanistan, because Afghanistan needs electricity and they can generate it. We’re working with Tajikistan to help bring electricity south to Pakistan, where Pakistan really needs the electricity," he said.

Stating that the Afghan Government is a partner in the US effort in the region, Boucher hoped that 2008 is going to be an year of better co-ordination. We’re beginning to see more concentration of effort particularly at the district level. And the third thing I’d say is Afghan ownership or Afghans in the lead. In a lot of places militarily, you see Afghan forces taking the lead with support from the coalition," he said.

"If you look at the governance effort, the new director of local governments in Afghanistan has the central government sending out officials and organizing with the local shura, organizing the ministries to do projects together with the locals.

A national solidarity program is that way too. So you see the Afghan government extending itself more and more; the Afghans in the lead on policing now, that when policing are trained - new policemen are trained, they go out in the field, they go out with foreign support and mentors, but essentially they’re taking - they’re trying to reform the policing in the districts that they go to," he said.

Boucher said the indicator of stability in Afghanistan is going to be the ability of the Afghan government to deliver opportunity, to deliver justice, to deliver governance and services to the people of Afghanistan in the field. That, I think, is growing steadily and that they’re a lot stronger this year than they were last year. A lot of the ministries are capable. The local governors, the local officials are capable. They’re being supported with money. Their plans are coming forward and being funded," Boucher observed.

The Assistant Secretary of State said the recently concluded NATO summit has been a significant meeting for Afghanistan. "in Bucharest where you heard, from the international community, a strong long-term commitment, again broad- based, using all available tools and means to bring stability to Afghanistan," he said.

And we’ve had one of the appointments that I think sort of reflects where I’d like to see the effort concentrate this year. And that’s the appointment of Kai Eide as the new special representative for the U.N. secretary-general for Afghanistan," Boucher said.

Observing that one of the important efforts this year is to better coordinate all aspects of the effort in Afghanistan, is to improve the coordination and concentrate the effort. "So a real opportunity there, I think, if we can coordinate well, that’s what brings stability. Extending the government, extending the capabilities of the government, into the districts, is what brings real stability in Afghanistan," he said.

Appointment of Kai Eide, as a better coordinator for the international community, I think, is also a sign of our intention to coordinate all these efforts, between ISAF, between the UN, between the donors and between the Afghan governments," Boucher said.

Gen Petraeus must also focus on Afghanistan: Biden

Paktribune April 30, 2008

WASHINGTON: Senator Joe Biden, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the newly appointed commander of the US Central Command, General David Petraeus, should focus on Afghanistan too in his new capacity. Biden’s statement came soon after it was announced that General Petraeus will be nominated by US President, George W Bush, to be the next commander of the US Central Command.

Appreciating General Petraeus role in Iraq, Biden said: "If confirmed, Gen. Petraeus’ mission will no longer be just Iraq it will be the entire region, including the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area where those who actually attacked us on 9-11 have regrouped, where our Ambassador to Iraq acknowledged to me that Al Qaeda is a bigger threat, and where we do not have enough troops because of Iraq."

The Congress must ensure that Gen. Petraeus does not bring an Iraq bias to his new job, at the expense of America’s broader security needs, Biden said in his statement. In the past few months, Biden has been a leading advocate of review of the US policy towards Afghanistan. He has been advocating the need to give more focus on Afghanistan, which he believes is the real threat to the US and global peace and security rather than Iraq.

US marines launch mini surge to weaken Taliban

British troops aid attack on Afghan insurgents
Mission aims to disrupt major smuggling routes

Declan Walsh in Garmser, The Guardian , Wednesday April 30 2008

A strike force of US marines punched through Taliban frontlines in southern Helmand yesterday as part of an Afghan "mini surge" intended to weaken the insurgents' grip on the war-ravaged south.

The marine force, numbered in the hundreds, exchanged fire with Taliban fighters as they pushed through Garmser, a town abandoned by its inhabitants in recent years and ringed by poppy fields.

The American soldiers are the core of a new 2,300-strong reserve force under the control of the US commander of international troops in Afghanistan, General Dan McNeill. The Helmand mission aims to disrupt drugs and smuggling routes into nearby Pakistan.

The marines landed before dawn yesterday, some trundling in on Humvee trucks and others arriving by helicopter. Within a few hours, insurgents armed with guns and rocket launchers poured out of a local madrasa, sparking fighting that lasted several hours.

The combat petered out by late morning after US helicopter gunships pounded suspected Taliban positions with rockets. Casualty figures were unknown. "We're ready to push up against the enemy. I know the boys are pretty hungry," said lieutenant Tom Lefebrvre, platoon leader of a mortar team stationed less than a mile from the fighting.

The operation was coordinated with the British military, which has a fortified base in the town and several outposts in surrounding areas. Scottish infantrymen provided covering fire as the marines passed through their lines, while British commanders coordinated surveillance of Taliban movements.

In the surrounding poppy fields, some farmers and hired labourers fled in fear. The difficulty of securing Garmser symbolises the broader problems of taming Helmand. Only two and a half years ago the town had a thriving market, but since clashes between British forces and the Taliban it has become a ghost town.

Yesterday morning Corporal Lachlan MacNeil, stationed at a British observation post, saw 40 fighters in 10 vehicles leave a madrasa outside the town and speed towards the advancing marines. He said the insurgents appeared to be using a tunnel system to attack the Americans, because after opening fire with a heavy machine gun they quickly disappeared from view. The militants were led by diehards from Pakistan and central Asia countries, he said.

An hour after he spoke, Cobra helicopter gunships fired Hellfire missiles into two buildings near the madrasa. The fighting slowed and the Americans bedded down near the town for the night. The marines are part of a 2,300-strong reserve force under McNeill. Another 1,200 marines have arrived to train the notoriously weak Afghan police. The deployment to southern Helmand is the first major US operation in the area since late 2001, when US soldiers touched down at a remote airstrip in southern Helmand.

Lefebvre said their objective was "force projection". "The war on terror is about keeping the terrorists at bay. Anything we can do to keep them away from the home front is good," he added.

For now, British efforts in Helmand are concentrated further north in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, and in the Sangin Valley. "We're in a holding pattern until the centre is clear," said Battlegroup South commander Lieutenant Colonel Nick Borton. "Then we will come down and sort this place out."

Afghan ministers survive no-confidence vote after parade attack

Media observation by BBC Monitoring in English 29 Apr 08

Afghanistan's security chiefs on 29 April survived a no-confidence vote in parliament after they were accused of failing to stop an attack the previous day on President Hamed Karzai that killed an MP and two others at a military parade in Kabul celebrating the 16th anniversary of the victory of the mojahedin forces over the communist regime.

The vote was called after MPs said they were not satisfied with explanations from the defence and interior ministers and intelligence chief about how an attack had been allowed to happen.

The proceedings in parliament, starting at 0300 gmt and ending at 0930 gmt, were shown live on state-owned National Afghanistan television and private Tolo TV, while other private channels carried the National Afghanistan television coverage.

During the live relay, Tolo TV periodically cut to a live studio discussion to ask for comments by various experts and political analysts. During the proceedings a number of MPs st! rongly criticized the security officials for incompetence and forcefully demanded they be sacked.

Defence Minister Abdorrahim Wardag made a speech expressing regret that the security plan prepared for the parade had failed to prevent what he called a "very shameful incident".

He was followed by Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel, who explained very briefly that the police had done their job properly but called for an impartial parliamentary commission inquiry to determine who was at fault.

After that, the head of the National Security Directorate, Amrollah Saleh, apologized to the Afghan people and MPs for what he said was a failure for the government of Afghanistan in general and said he was prepared to be suspended until the results of an inquiry were announced. However, he declined to go into details about the incident itself in the presence of the media lest that give away intelligence information to the Taleban and Pakistanis.

The ministers an! d national security chief then briefly answered MPs' questions, occasi onally interrupted by shouting and vociferous criticism by some MPs.

After the three officials had finished and left the hall, a majority of MPs expressed dissatisfaction with their explanations and a vote of no-confidence in them was held, starting at 0700 gmt.

The results were as follows:

Defence Minister Abdorrahim: Votes for - 62, against - 109, abstentions - 5.

Interior Minister Zarar Moqbel: Votes for - 62, against - 10, abstentions - 5.

National Security Directorate chief Amrollah Saleh: Votes for - 73, against 100.

However, the three survived the no-confidence vote because parliamentary rules required 121 MPs out of a total quorum of 240 to vote against them before they could be sacked and on this occasion there was a lack of quorum and insufficient number of votes against them.

The Speaker of parliament brought proceedings to a close at 0930 gmt, immediately after the count, at which point the live TV relay also ended!.

Afghan paper says Taleban must never be considered weak

Text of an editorial in English entitled: "The organized plot", published by state-owned Afghan newspaper The Kabul Times on 28 April

The crisis that has been lasting over the past thirty years has left two major legacies to our nation: discord among different groups and easy infiltration of the enemy into our security lines. The outbreak of gunfire right at the beginning of yesterday's ceremony marking the 16th anniversary of the mojahedin's victory, is an open example of it.

Security officials have over the last two or three weeks worked hard to create an atmosphere of security by providing tight security for the ceremony. Also from the early morning the area was circled by armed security units. Everything was going well and everyone looked happy rushing to Chaman-i-Hozori to watch the parade. Because they wanted to see their newly trained army with their new military equipment. The scene was well organized, decorated with photos of former Afghan rulers, together with jihadi figures who had been martyred in different periods of time over the past three decades.

But the Taleba! n, the enemy of our unity and happiness, intruded on the scene and disturbed the ceremony of the day. The fact that they appeared on the scene and started the disturbance shows that they had organized the plot. How were they able to interrupt is a question to be answered later, but it is obvious that the Taleban do have their agents among us in daily life. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the enemy to enter the ceremony with their weapons amid tight security.

This unpleasant event angered a lot of people and increased their hatred of the Taleban and those who are against our peace and tranquillity. We have learnt a lot from this tragic event. According to a degree issued by the presidential press office, no high-ranking official was hurt in the incident.

President Hamed Karzai right after this event condemned it and asked people to be calm. We have to be smart enough. In the last three weeks, the Taleban have decreased their subversive activities in the capital, deceiving people, but they were looking forward to a big plot. We have to be careful and not consider the enemy as weak. They always lie in ambush.

Iranian President: Afghan terrorism must end

LONDON, April 30 (IranMania) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad underlines the need to stop terrorism in Afghanistan and restore peace and stability to the country, PressTV reported.

?Terrorism must be stopped in Afghanistan and peace and stability restored to the country,? said Ahmadinejad in a Tuesday meeting with the Indian President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi.

?Iran and India suffer the most from terrorism,? he insisted, describing the two countries as influential states in the region and the world.

Cooperation between the two states would benefit international peace and security, the Iranian president remarked.

Ahmadinejad said relations between Tehran and New Delhi had to be redefined according to current regional and global circumstances .

Commenting on the need to expand economic ties, he said Iran and India have the potential to increase their trade volume to 30 billion dollars in a 5-year period.

Patil, for her part, repeated Ahmadinejad's call for an end to terror in Afghanistan. She also described Iran as a country committed to peace and security.

The Indian president also said that New Delhi favors greater economic and commercial ties with the Islamic Republic, particularly in the energy, industrial development, and mining sectors. Ahmadinejad started a tour of South Asia on Monday which took him to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.

Defence minister visits Afghanistan

April 30, 2008 - theaustralian.news.com.au

DEFENCE Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has paid a visit to to Australian troops in Afghanistan following the death of a commando there this week.

Mr Fitzgibbon flew to Afghanistan to meet colleagues of Lance Corporal Jason Marks, who was killed in a Taliban attack on Sunday.

He said that despite the tragedy, the soldiers were generally in good spirits.

"Morale on the ground I would have to say, given the events of this week, was very, very good," Mr Fitzgibbon said on Sky News.

Mr Fitzgibbon said he assured the troops Australia was behind them.

"I think they were generally appreciative that I came to extend the Prime Minister's message and of course the message from the whole of the whole of the Government and indeed all Australian people that we are with them in their time of mourning," he said.

"And we appreciate what they are doing in Afghanistan, they are doing it in a most professional and successful way and to reassure them that they have the full support of the Government."

Mr Fitzgibbon echoed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's call at a NATO summit in Romania last month for more coherent planning in the troubled nation, combining military and civilian strategies.

"We review the deployment on a regular basis, that's the only responsible thing to do, but we acknowledge that if we are going to have long term success in Afghanistan the military effort will need to be in place for some time to come," he said.

"Now how long that is, is an open question, but obviously it's going to be a shorter period of time if we can get a coherent team in place which properly knows the military and non-military contribution."

Gas pipeline to provide money, jobs, energy: Afghan minister

30 April 2008 - KABUL (AFP) - A planned gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to India will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, as well as jobs, for Afghanistan and give the country much-needed power, Kabul's mining minister said.

The multi-million-dollar scheme, which was planned years ago and also includes Pakistan, was given fresh impetus at a meeting in Islamabad last week where the nations agreed basic terms, Mohammad Ibrahim Adel told reporters.

The agreement is expected to be finalised at a meeting in India later this year, he said. India officially agreed to join the project during the meeting in Islamabad and promised to buy 50 percent of the gas from Turkmenistan, he said.

The gathering also worked out how the gas would be distributed and fixed prices, including for transit fees, the minister said.

The pipeline would bring cash-strapped Afghanistan "hundreds of millions of dollars" in transit fees and provide jobs for more than 1,000 people, Adel said.

If finalised, the seven-billion-dollar project, which will carry 33 billion cubic metres of gas every year from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, would start construction in late 2009 and finish five years later.

For the first two years, Afghanistan would buy up to two billion cubic metres annually for power production, later boosting this to five billion.

A lack of power is among a host of problems, not least an insurgency, holding back development in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Turkmen leaders hails economic cooperation with Afghanistan

Text of report by Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS

Asgabat, 29 April: Priorities of economic cooperation between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan have been reflected in the memorandum on cooperation in the transport and energy sectors, which was signed during Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow's one-day state visit to Afghanistan on Monday [28 April].

A treaty between the governments of Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on cooperation in science, culture and arts provides for boosting humanitarian relations between the neighbouring states, the Turkmen government press service reports.

"Today, the history of Turkmen-Afghan relations sees a qualitatively new stage, which is opening broad prospects and opportunities for the development of fruitful cooperation," Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow said in Kabul.

"Turkmenistan continues to help and assist Afghanistan in its social and economic development," the Turkmen president said, noting that "Turkmenistan provides Afghanistan with electricity and liquefied gas at preferential prices, and exports products of the agricultural, textile and chemical industries as well as helps to train skilled personnel and develop health care. With the efforts of Turkmen specialists, a railway line which is linking the two states has been reconstructed free of charge as well as joint projects to build and reconstruct a system of power supplies to Afghan provinces are being implemented".

Among new joint projects, which are especially important for the Afghan people, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow mentioned the laying of the Trans-Afghan gas pipeline, the construction of railroads and the lines of electricity supplies.

Afghan government to launch large-scale project to rebuild southern town

Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Ariana TV on 29 April

[Presenter] Qalat, the capital of Zabol Province, is to be reconstructed with 30-40m dollars in investment. The Town Planning Ministry and Zabol Province officials held a meeting in Kabul today to approve the project.

[Correspondent] Afghan Town Planning Minister Mohammad Yusof Pashtun has said his ministry, in cooperation with USAID, has decided to implement this, the first project of its kind, in Qalat, the capital of Zabol Province. According to Mr Pashtun, the first phase of the project, which requires 40m US dollars, is going to cover education, reconstruction and security reinforcement.

[Yusof Pashtun] A large amount of money is spent [in Kabul and other provinces] while we do not have fundamental projects. We do not enjoy modern irrigation, improved water supply system and electricity, but millions of dollars are spent on skyscrapers. This is itself a huge obstacle to investment because one should not expect the investors to spend money on these ! [construction of buildings]. As a result, the government should complete such fundamental services, even if it means taking out loans.

[Correspondent] Zabol Province Governor Delbar Jan Arman believes that insecurity is the most challenging problem ahead of the residents of his province.

[Zabol governor in Pashto] Security is our prime need that must be ensured. And the second important issue is education.

[Correspondent] Zabol has been one of the remote Afghan provinces and the residents have been complaining about a shortage of basic facilities, among them paved roads, security disruption and a shortage of professional personnel in the government departments.

Afghan gov't launches Skill Development Project

KABUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The government of Afghanistan in an effort to build the capacity of human resources in the war-torn nation launched an essential project titled Afghanistan Skill Development project (ASDP) on Tuesday.

Financed by the World Bank, Norway and the Untied States Agency for International Development (USAID), the 35 million U.S. dollar project would enable the Afghan government to establish long-term and short-term vocational training courses so as to boost the capacity and skills of courses attendants.

In his opening remarks, Afghan Vice President Ahmad Zia Masoud said that Afghanistan is facing skill shortage and Afghan children cannot compete at this time with the children from neighboring states.

"While our children are very intelligent, they cannot at this point compete with other children from the regions. We must make sure our system prepares them for the competition they face in the future," Masoud stressed.

Many foreign experts are seen in Afghan government departments serving as advisors helping the post-war nation to recover from war aftermaths.

"We also realize they (foreign experts) are here for short period of time and that we have to build the abilities of our young boys and girls to enable them to take the running of the country through the government and private sectors," Masoud further said.

Speaking on the occasion, Afghan Minister for Education Mohammad Hanif Atmar said that in line with the project, a national institute for Management and Administration will be established in the capital city Kabul besides having dozens of educational centers in provinces to present 150,000 skilled and professional human to society.

Afghan trade minister calls on Khaqan Abbasi

Daily Times 30 April 2008

ISLAMABAD: A seven-member trade delegation of Afghanistan, headed by the Afghan commerce minister Dr Amin Farhang met Federal Minister for commerce, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi here on Tuesday.

Secretary Commerce Syed Asif Shah and officials of the ministry were also present on the occasion.

The Afghan trade minister briefed the commerce minister about the current wheat crisis in Afghanistan and requested the government of Pakistan for assistance.

The commerce minister informed the Afghan delegation about wheat shortage in Pakistan.

The minister reiterated that Afghanistan is a brotherly Islamic Country and that Pakistan is cognizant of the food crisis in Afghanistan. app

Afghanistan: Key road toward Pakistan to improve trade, security

Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)- Date: 29 Apr 2008 Ron Synovitz

A contract has been signed for a $100 million highway project in Afghanistan intended to dramatically reduce travel time from Kabul to border areas near Pakistan's volatile tribal region of North Waziristan.

The 100-kilometer stretch of road will link the provinces of Khost and Paktia to Afghanistan's "ring road," which will circle the country. The contract was signed on April 26 by the Afghan and U.S. governments. The project is being funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and is scheduled to be completed in 2009.

The new asphalt road is seen by Kabul as one of the most important reconstruction projects in southeastern Afghanistan. One reason is its economic impact. The road is intended to reduce travel time between Kabul and the Khost by four hours, making it much easier for agricultural produce from the border areas to be transported elsewhere in the country.

Loren Stoddard, the director of USAID's Agriculture and Alternative Development program in Afghanistan, explains that the primitive condition of roads on the Afghan side of the border has kept economic activity in Khost tied more to Pakistan's tribal regions than Kabul.

"The Khost area has long been isolated from the rest of Afghanistan," Stoddard says. "Khost has a fairly vibrant economy because of its closeness and interaction with the Pakistan economy, but it has always been somewhat of a regional economy that has been tied more to Pakistan than to the rest of Afghanistan. What we expect with this road is that Khost's economy will then begin to be somewhat more oriented toward the rest of Afghanistan, which is new."

Kabul also considers the road development as vital to the goal of improving security along Afghanistan's southeastern border with Pakistan. Khost lies at a strategic position across from Pakistan's tribal region of North Waziristan, an area that serves as a base for Al-Qaeda-linked militants, as well as pro-Taliban fighters who signed a peace accord earlier this month with Pakistan's new government. Despite the accord, militants continue to use Pakistan's tribal regions as a staging area for crossborder attacks.

Security officials say road improvements to Khost would make it easier for Afghan and international security forces to rapidly send ground troops and equipment into blocking positions along the border just a few kilometers from the Pakistani tribal town of Miram Shah.

Indeed, U.S. military officials in Afghanistan have told RFE/RL that completion of Afghanistan's ring road -- as well as secondary roads to connect that main highway to Afghanistan's provincial administrative centers -- is central to their strategy of deploying "rapid-reaction forces" overland for counterinsurgency operations.

That is why the regional and national highway system meant to link Afghanistan's major cities and economic centers has been a focus of the U.S. military and reconstruction aid groups since the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001. Work began in 2002 to rebuild and improve the ring road's southernmost section, much of which had been destroyed by the Taliban in late 2001 as the regime fled Kabul.

Reconnecting Kabul with the western Afghan city of Herat required some 700 kilometers of USAID-funded construction work through the cities of Ghazni and Kandahar, and through volatile provinces like Helmand and Zabul where the Taliban remains active.

Complete 'Ring'

In October 2007, the Asia Development Bank approved a loan of more than $170 million to make the ring road a complete circle within the country by building a northwestern spur between Herat and the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif. Work on that final segment of the ring road continues and is expected to be completed by December 2009.

USAID says the latest road improvements certainly will make it easier for surplus food production to be sent from Khost to parts of Afghanistan where there are food shortages. It also is expected to increase international trade through access to Pakistan's nearby rail head, providing a shorter, alternative route for freight to Kabul and relieving the heavily congested freight-traffic route from Jalalabad through the Khyber Pass and on to the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Stoddard agrees that the new road will help Afghanistan benefit from legitimate trade by increasing its exports to international agriculture markets.

"Afghanistan is famous for some big export products like pomegranates," Stoddard says. "Some of the best pomegranates in the world actually come from Afghanistan. And even in this area, in the area of Paktika, Paktia, and the Khost area, we see a solid [base of] pomegranate [production]. Also dried apricots, almonds, and walnuts. So there [are] a number of tree fruits -- that's probably the way you would identify them -- that come out of these three provinces. And by having this piece of road between Khost and Gardez and being able to get into the ring road, we expect that those products would be able to be consolidated with other similar products from around the country so we could get higher volume exports."

But as with any development project in Afghanistan's isolated provincial regions, meeting the time schedule for the Paktia-Khost road also depends upon maintained security along the proposed route. Work on the ring road's southern segments often was delayed by kidnappings and killings of foreign engineers in provinces like Zabul and Ghazni.

Pakistan's Moment

We Will Fight Terrorism -- Our Way - Washington Post By Yousaf Raza Gillani

Wednesday, April 30, 2008; Page A19

It is important for Pakistan -- which has transited from an authoritarian regime to democratic governance -- that the message of this first critical post-election period be bold and clear. Like newly elected governments in other democratic societies, we intend to set the tone and agenda. We want to show the world that our nation is back in business, with an overwhelming mandate from our people.

This is not an easy transition. The scars of the past decade are deep. The problems facing our country are great. But the sacrifices of millions of Pakistanis -- including Pakistan's quintessential democratic leader, Benazir Bhutto -- were not made so that our new government could be timid. We know our people expect action and progress. Our boldness is a manifestation of our awareness of the stakes -- both of success and failure.

My government is a coalition of modern, moderate, innovative, progressive democratic forces determined to jump-start the economy and to rebuild the social fabric of Pakistan. We have already freed political prisoners and lifted press censorship. We have released detained judges and will restore an independent judiciary, the centerpiece of civil society. We will strengthen and protect our neglected democratic infrastructure, especially Parliament. We will reform our tribal areas economically, politically and socially through measures that address the needs of the people and will integrate these areas into mainstream society.

The world is rightly concerned about the threat of terrorism and expects its elimination to be our government's highest priority. We intend to vigorously continue the war against terrorism with the support of the people. Pakistan must fight terrorism for Pakistan's sake. Past efforts have suffered because of the view that Pakistan sought to combat terrorism only in response to international pressure.

Our strategy against global terrorism will be multifaceted. We will combine the use of force against terrorists and civil dialogue with those who, because of religious or ethnic considerations, were misled into supporting extremists. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, people and tribes along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan were swept into a wave of violence and anti-Western sentiment. Pakistan will not negotiate with terrorists, but it will not refrain from talking to insurgent tribesmen whose withdrawal of support could help drain the swamp in which terrorists fester and grow. Yet no talks will be held with anyone refusing to lay down arms.

Our policy aims to marginalize terrorists in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and our North-West Frontier region, where the rule of law had been abandoned and territory all but ceded to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Negotiations with the various tribes are being pursued with the help of the secular Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party, which has intimate knowledge of tribes and clans in the area and which, along with my Pakistan People's Party, received the bulk of the votes of ethnic Pashtuns in the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections.

Erroneous comparisons have been made between our new policy and the failed deals reached with tribal militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in 2004 and 2006. Those agreements were signed after militant groups bruised Pakistan's security forces in battle. Now we are negotiating from a position of strength. Militants have been asked to surrender their weapons and unequivocally give up violence. We will not cut off our ability to use force or lower the vigilance we maintain to guard against violations of the peace agreements.

We intend to restore order and to give the people an option other than collaborating with murderers whose sole goal is chaos and anarchy. We will welcome our tribes back into society while respecting their conservative interpretations of Islam, as long as they give up violence and refuse to acquiesce to the intimidation of terrorists.

Since the anti-Soviet resistance of the 1980s, the security and prosperity of Pakistan and Afghanistan have become interdependent. The border between our countries is porous, not least because some 3 million Afghan refugees still in Pakistan need to maintain ties with their kin. We intend to work with the Afghan government to secure the border and to ensure the repatriation of the refugees with dignity, security and full economic opportunity.

We understand that unemployment, inflation and poverty are corrosive elements that, if left unaddressed, can create hopelessness and ennui that undermine authority. Our government confronts high global food and oil prices and has inherited food shortages exacerbated by the smuggling of Pakistani wheat across our borders. Yet our government plans to be the safety net that ensures equity and protects people. We seek and expect the support of the international community in attaining these objectives.

There are moments in all nations' histories that divide the past from the future, that define nations' souls. This is such a moment for Pakistan. God willing, we will demonstrate to our people and to the other 1.3 billion Muslims on this planet that democracy works and is the best guarantee against terrorism, injustice and hopelessness.

The writer is prime minister of Pakistan and vice chairman of the Pakistan People's Party.

A pro-Taliban threat

Washington Times - Opinion/Editorial By Malou Innocent April 29, 2008

Pro-Taliban militants are currently in talks with one of Pakistan's provincial governments to enforce Shariah, or Islamic law. Though the deal is meant to stop the spreading Islamist insurgency on Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan, if passed, the deal will only embolden radicals and undermine U.S. interests in Afghanistan.

The militant group Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi is currently in talks with the North-West Frontier Province, one of Pakistan's westernmost provinces, to have Shariah formally imposed in the province's Malakand district. Both sides are hammering out details on the release of Sufi Muhammad, one of TNSM's founders who was arrested by Pakistani authorities. The provincial government is also close to clinching a deal with Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the tribal-based Islamic movement Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which operates as Pakistan's version of the Taliban. Mehsud has been accused of playing a central role in a wave of deadly suicide attacks that engulfed Pakistan from November 2007 through January 2008, and was named by CIA Director Michael Hayden as the prime suspect behind the December assassination of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto. One senior government official engaged in the talks says, "It's now a matter of days before we have an agreement. The talks are in a very advanced stage."

But any deal with pro-Taliban groups is untenable, and recent events show why. Over the past year, Pakistan has been cutting ceasefire deals with various militant leaders. In August and September 2007, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the government decided to broker peace deals with native tribes after a series of Taliban ambushes at border checkpoints. Under the deal, the tribes agreed not to shelter foreign militants and Islamabad agreed not to arrest militants without consulting tribal elders. Similar arrangements were made in North Waziristan in September 2006, and the Bajaur Agency in March 2007, both administrative units along the Afghan border. But since initiated, all of the deals have failed, precipitating a resurgence of Taliban hostilities.

The deals were initially pursued because the Pakistani army and Frontier Corps experienced disastrous losses in confrontations with insurgents. In August, 250 Pakistani troops were captured by Tehrik-e-Taliban. In December, militants blew up a checkpoint in North-West Frontier Province and kidnapped 10 policemen. And as of January there have been 36 suicide bombings directed against the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, the air force headquarters in Sargodha, and the naval war college in Lahore.

The region's extremism is now harming U.S. interests. Just last month, dozens of oil tankers headed for NATO operations in Afghanistan were attacked in the tribal town of Landi Kotal. Last June, several trucks headed for Afghanistan were gutted by insurgents in a grenade attack. It was the third incident in a month. In addition, Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month that the Taliban has regrouped, gained strength, and now attacks NATO forces in Afghanistan by using Pakistan's tribal areas as a base of operations.

But it's clear that peace deals have not strengthened Pakistan's security. The glaring weakness was that they left the Taliban firmly in place because they functioned more as appeasement, rather than a concerted effort to contain radicalism. Until these deals are stopped, militants will continue to come down out of the mountains and spread into Pakistan's major towns and cities. In some areas, relentless Taliban incursions have already led to the complete collapse of civilian and tribal administration.

Instead of toothless peace deals, a better strategy would be to isolate and contain the militancy through "clear and hold" operations. Since America has a vested interest in a secure Pakistan, and the capabilities of Pakistan's Army must be improved substantially, Washington can assist Islamabad by raising the professionalism of Pakistan's army by increasing the number of joint military-to-military training operations, and enhancing human-intelligence sharing in the tribal areas. Though it will be difficult for Pakistan's Army to overcome the demoralizing defeats it's been experiencing at the hands of insurgents, opening avenues for capturing militants is a better alternative than withdrawing the writ of the Pakistani state.

If these latest deals go through, as many South Asia analysts hope it won't, pro-Taliban militants will embed themselves deeper into Pakistan's social and political fabric, and further destabilize U.S.-led NATO efforts in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the longer U.S. policy-makers overlook this region, the more the Pakistani government's feckless strategy will destabilize the real central front in the war on terror.

Malou Innocent is a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute.

Is Afghanistan worth it? A brigadier general answers

DENNIS TABBERNOR - Special to Globe and Mail Update April 29, 2008 Web-exclusive comment

I was recently asked if Afghanistan was worth the death of a Canadian soldier. It is a question that goes to the root of our nation's involvement in this vitally important region, a question made all the more poignant by the losses here that our nation has endured.

Let me answer. The terror of 9/11 was born and bred in the lawless vacuum that was Afghanistan, a shattered land of shattered lives left desperate after 30 years of war and corruption. Around this vacuum swirled the regional turbulence afflicting Iran, Pakistan, China, India and Russia. An Afghanistan left unstable and vulnerable to the inrush of these forces would prove an immense incubator for terrors beyond the compass of imagination.

So, as part of a coalition, we went to Afghanistan. If we fail here, if we leave Afghanistan without security forces, without sound governance, without the rule of law, without an infrastructure and an alternative to narcotics, we will invite back the forces that spawned 9/11.

I have been to Afghanistan every year since 2003; every year, I see improvement as the country, with the help of the international community, reawakens. Kabul is home to ten times the population I recall in 2003. Young women and girls are in school, an economy is growing and the people have a capable, principled army of which they are proud. In the growth of a police force and the admittedly, but perhaps understandably, more gradual birth of a system of governance, Afghans can see the dawn of a rule of law.

In April, 2007, I joined the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, a coalition comprising military personnel from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Albania, Germany, France and Romania, as well as contracted civilian advisers, all working together as mentors and trainers. Our mission is to partner with the government of Afghanistan and the international community to organize, train, equip, advise and mentor the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. As deputy commanding general for Afghan National Army Development, I am focused on development of the army.

Success for us is a national army that is professional and competent, literate, ethnically diverse, and capable of providing security throughout Afghanistan. The army comprises five ground manoeuvre corps and one air corps; by December, it will consist of 70,000 troops. Each region of the country is secured by one ground corps. In addition, we have trained and equipped three battalions of superbly capable commando soldiers. Equipment, from helicopters to rifles, has been donated by coalition countries.

I have seen little evidence of corruption in the army; its senior leadership is working hard to ensure it is a national institution Afghans can trust. Part of that is to identify and root out corruption, if and when found.

Afghans come to their army already quite willing to fight. Training occurs nationally and in each corps area. Beyond the basics any new soldier learns, commanders at all levels hone the ability to work in units and in co-operation with coalition forces. Growing leaders in the non-commissioned officer and officer ranks takes time, but pays off: Two corps are now able to plan and conduct complex missions with police and coalition forces. Of the security operations now in progress across the country, ANA forces are in the lead in all but a small minority.

We are working with the army to improve their artillery force, which is based on old Soviet equipment. While the coalition now provides air support and aerial medical evacuation, the Afghan air component, as its capabilities increase, will begin assuming these missions.

With soldiers from all of Afghanistan's major ethnic groups — the Pashtun, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Turkmen — this is truly a national force. Their battlefield success attests to their competence: These are soldiers who want to close with and engage their enemy. Whenever that enemy has been foolish enough to stand and fight, they have lost. We do not see hundreds of Taliban forming up to attack. They know better. They poke around by the handful and most end up dead or captured.

Instead of fighting, insurgents are resorting to improvised explosive devises and suicide bombers; the growth of confidence among Afghans in their army is, in turn, prompting more tips that expose such threats.

The spectacle of suicide bombs notwithstanding, violence is not the rule. Last year, 70 per cent of incidents occurred in 10 per cent of the nearly 400 districts. The commander of our Regional Command East, centred around Jalalabad, reported that more than 90 per cent of Afghans there enjoy a peaceful life; the violence shown by our media does not represent the lives of the vast majority of Afghans.

Instead, the lives of most Afghans are lived peacefully, with increasing access to basic services, the prospect of a representative and responsive government at the local, regional and national levels. The economy rewards honest work, and the possibility of education exists for their children.

Instead of a breeding ground for corruption and terror, their homeland is becoming, ever so slowly, but ever so surely, a nation of stability and dignity with something of value to offer its global neighbours.

Back to the question. There is nothing we do that is worth the life of an individual, but do I think it is important for me to be in Afghanistan and do I think my actions and the actions of other Canadians have made a difference here — the answer is, absolutely yes.

Brigadier General Dennis Tabbernor is deputy commanding general, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.

UK's Prince William on secret Afghan trip

30 April 2008 - By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince William, second in line to the British throne, paid a secret visit to Afghanistan to meet frontline British troops, his office said on Wednesday.

A spokesman said the 25-year-old prince, who was recently awarded his Royal Air Force (RAF) wings after a training course, flew a military transport plane for part of the journey to Kandahar.

He spent three hours with British service personnel at the airfield before returning to Britain, the spokesman said. Permission for the confidential trip on Monday had been given by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and his father, Prince Charles.

The spokesman said: "The purpose of the trip was for the Prince to familiarize himself with the operations of the RAF in theatre."

Calling the confidential 30-hour trip a success, he said: "It passed without a hitch."

The prince flew in a C-17 Globemaster military transport plane which left a Royal Air Force base on Sunday, arriving in Afghanistan the next day. He flew back home via Qatar.

William's younger brother Harry served for 10 weeks with British troops in Helmand province earlier this year.

His tour of duty was abruptly cut short when a media blackout was broken. That prompted military chiefs to pull him out amid fears for his safety as a prime target for a Taliban attack.

William's secret trip came after four months of training with the Royal Air Force which ended at a graduation ceremony with him being presented with his wings by his father.

William and Harry's uncle, Prince Andrew, was a Sea King helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands war.

Death in Childbirth: A Health Scourge for Afghanistan

By REUTERS- Published: April 29, 2008

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A woman hemorrhages to death as she lies screaming in agony in a Spartan hut in a remote region of Afghanistan. There is no doctor or midwife to help and the hospital is several days journey away.

Women die this way every day in Afghanistan, a country with one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates.

About 1,600 Afghan women die in childbirth out of every 100,000 live births. In some of the most remote areas, the death rate is as high as 6,500. In comparison, the average rate in developing countries is 450 and in developed countries it is 9.

Virtually everyone in Afghanistan can recount a story about a relative dying in childbirth, often from minor complications that can be easily treated with proper medical care. Sharifa's sister, a mother of six, bled to death after giving birth at home.

"There is no clinic, no cars, no proper roads. It is a remote village, we could not take her to hospital. She remained at home for one day and one night, then she died," recalled Sharifa, who identified herself only by her first name.

Afghanistan's government aims to reduce maternal mortality by 20 percent by 2020 but there are many obstacles to overcome such as a reluctance by women to be examined by male doctors and a lack of female doctors, nurses and midwives.

Then there are the vast distances in this war-torn country where hospitals are generally poorly equipped and medical help is inaccessible to those living in remote locations.

It is an age old practice for Afghan women in rural areas to deliver babies at home. Trained midwives are rarely in attendance. If there are complications, it might take hours, even days to reach the nearest clinic.

Even when women with labor complications get to hospital alive, there are often no doctors or medical equipment to perform caesarean sections and other life saving procedures.

"In some places, there aren't even operating theatres and women just wait for their death," said Rona Azamyan, who coordinates the Midwifery Education Programme in Faizabad.

Among the prime complications of childbirth in Afghanistan are bleeding, infection, hypertension and obstructed labour. It is not uncommon for girls as young as 13 to marry in Afghanistan and there are often complications when they give birth.

"The mothers are very young, so their (pelvic) bone development is immature," said Karima Mayar, a family planning team leader at the Ministry of Public Health.

Poor and malnourished, many pregnant women in Afghanistan are severely anemic. "If they get post-partum hemorrhage, they will die 100 percent of the time," said Mayar.

Women's access to healthcare has generally been poor in deeply conservative Afghanistan.

Afghan men prefer their women to consult only women doctors, but that is easier said than done in a society where there are few female doctors and nurses and little emphasis is placed on educating girls.

The problem got worse during the Taliban regime, when girls were banned from schools and there were severe restrictions placed on women leaving their homes.

During those years, from 1996 to 2001, there were only around 1,000 female healthcare workers in the whole country, staffing female-only hospitals.

But the situation is still far from ideal now, more than six years after the fall of the Taliban, even in places such as the northeastern province of Badakhshan where the town of Faizaban is located. The area is far from fighting with Taliban insurgents.

Only 66 percent of basic healthcare centers have at least one female health worker. Women make up only 23.5 percent of the country's healthcare workforce and 27 percent of its nursing staff.

"One woman dies every 27 minutes in Afghanistan due to complications in childbirth & and the tragedy doesn't stop with the mother's death," said Mayar.

"When the mother of a newborn dies, 75 percent of these babies die. Who will feed them, keep them warm? There's an Afghan saying: 'When the mother dies, the child is sure to die'."

The government plans to distribute the drug misoprostol to pregnant women in 13 provinces this year.

"We will distribute this to women in their seventh month of pregnancy and they must take it right after delivery. It will remove the placenta and prevent hemorrhage," Mayar said.

In the pipeline are plans to set up more midwifery schools and assign more female students to medical and nursing schools.

"To reduce maternal mortality, we need 8,000 midwives by 2010 to cover needs of all pregnant women," said Mayar. There are 2,143 midwives in the country of 26 million people.

But years of neglecting girls' education is taking its toll.

"In the provinces, the maximum level of education is the 10th grade, but the minimum requirement for entry into nursing school is 12th grade," said Fatima Mohbat Ali of the Aga Khan Foundation, an aid group in Afghanistan.

Some progress has been made in recent years, owing to government and NGO efforts to improve rural healthcare.

In Badakhshan's Eshkashem district, which borders Tajikistan, Afghan women have been frequenting the health clinic, the most modern looking facility in a town where most of the 13,000 residents live in mud houses.

From headaches to prenatal checkups, childbirth and advice on contraception, women have been bringing their complaints to the clinic's female doctor for the last three years.

"Ever since we got an ambulance, a lady doctor, two midwives and an operating theatre three years ago, we have not had a single case of maternal mortality," said Abdi Mohammad, head of the Eshkashem health clinic and an obstetric surgeon. (Editing by Megan Goldin)

Afghanistan's insurgency spreading north

Militant attacks are increasing outside the Taliban's southern stronghold, such as Sunday's on President Hamid Karzai.

By Anand Gopal | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

From the April 29, 2008 edition

Kabul, Afghanistan - The attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai Sunday came as the latest sign of a trend worrying Western officials: that the insurgency is spreading from the Taliban stronghold of the south to the central and northern regions of the country.

The militant attack, the biggest in Kabul since mid-March, came during a public ceremony. Despite a massive security presence, militants managed to fire bullets and rockets at the president, killing two nearby lawmakers and a boy.

The insurgency in Afghanistan has not been "contained," Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell testified before a Senate subcommittee in February. "It's been sustained in the south, it's grown a bit in the east, and what we've seen are elements of it spread to the west and the north."

A recent study by Sami Kovanen, an analyst with the security firm Vigilant Strategic Services of Afghanistan, echoed this assessment. He reported 465 insurgent attacks in areas outside the restive southern regions during the first three months of 2008, a 35 percent increase compared with the same period last year. In the central region around Kabul there have been 80 insurgent attacks from January through March of this year, a 70 percent jump compared to the first three months of last year.

The numbers are part of a nationwide trend of rising violence. In the southern and southeastern provinces, including the insurgent hotbeds of Kandahar and Helmand, guerrilla attacks spiked by 40 percent, according to Mr. Kovanen's research.

Kabul itself has been largely free from the violence, but as Sunday's attack shows, there are signs that the Taliban's presence is growing here, too. On the sprawling, serene campus of Kabul University, where the nation sends many of its best and brightest, the Taliban has reached an unprecedented level of influence, students say.

Young men gather in campus dorm rooms and watch slickly produced DVDs of the latest insurgent attacks. One video shows Taliban fighters firing rocket launchers and shrieking, "God is the greatest!" as orange fireballs reach their targets, presumably Coalition forces, in the distance. The attacks are set to religious music, backed by a staccato drumbeat meant to impassion and inspire viewers.

"Many of us have contact with Taliban leadership," says one student and Taliban member, who asked to be called Naqibullah. "I talk to commanders based in the south maybe once a week on the phone." Naqibullah and others like him disseminate Taliban propaganda throughout the university, hoping especially to reach students from various parts of the country.

Naqibullah suggests that places like Kabul University might be a fertile recruiting ground for operations in the capital and in northern areas of the country. "There are many students waiting to launch suicide attacks," he says. "One student launched a suicide attack in Bagram," an American base north of the capital.

"I, too, would like to become a suicide bomber," Naqibullah continues. "But educated Taliban like me are needed to teach the uneducated ones." Instead, the young man is training to become a doctor so he can eventually treat the war wounds of Taliban fighters.

Insurgents' influence is spreading to the northern and western regions of the country as well, analysts say. In the northern province of Baghlan, insurgent group Hizb-i-Islami is growing in presence, says Antonio Giustozzi, a researcher at the London School of Economics and an expert on the Afghan insurgency. Hizb-i-Islami, once the country's leading mujahideen party, was a US and Pakistani ally when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Today it is considered one of the most effective insurgent groups in the north and east, and it is aligned with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The group has received a surge of funding in the last year, says Mr. Giustozzi, allowing it to spread from its eastern stronghold near the Pakistani border – where it has launched many attacks against Coalition forces – into northern areas. "They are regrouping and reactivating old networks that existed during the Russian war and the '90s," he says.

Taliban insurgents are making headway in some districts in the far western province of Badghis, according to Satar Barez, deputy governor of the neighboring Faryab Province. "There are now frequent bombings and kidnappings in Badghis," Mr. Barez says. In the first quarter of 2007 there was just one insurgent attack in Badghis, but the guerrillas have already launched 17 in the first three months of this year.

While violence in the north has not reached the levels seen in the restive south, Giustozzi says that in many areas insurgents are in the initial stages of infiltration and propaganda, just as they were in the south after the 2001 invasion.

"We have openly engaged the government and foreign forces in the south, but in the north we are quietly expanding our area," a Taliban commander told reporters past year.

In some northern provinces, the Taliban issue "night letters," documents posted to villagers' doors at night threatening them if they spport the government or Coalition forces, locals report. The tactic has been highly successful in intimidating residents in the south and quelling support for the international presence.

But analysts say the insurgency is spread not by fear alone: A weak central government and the country's declining socioeconomic situation also bolster militants' efforts. "The population of Afghanistan is becoming disillusioned with the government," Halim Kousary, an analyst with Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies, a Kabul-based think tank. "People in the north believe there hasn't been enough reconstruction."

Analysts suggest that the north is taking on increased importance to the Taliban because of the major drug smuggling routes that cut through it.  

Al-Alam TV "With the Event" programme on the "Taleban threat"

Al-Alam's "With the Event" programme discusses on 28 April "Taleban's threat to the Afghanistan regime". The presenter begins the show with asking questions like "why did NATO fail in establishing security in the country?", "how will the Taleban project be dealt with after Karzai's assassination attempt?" and "will Taleban strongholds be granted self-rule in exchange for laying down arms?"

The presenter quotes the assassinated former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto as saying that the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan are the ones who created Taleban.

The guests are, Tarik Ibrahim, an analyst in Tehran, Shaykh Mohammad al-Nasiri, representative of the Islamic Afghan unity party [as translated from Arabic] in Syria, and Nur Silab, an analyst in Afghanistan.

Al-Nasiri says the recent Taleban attack is "no indication that the Taleban movement has regained its strength". Taleban aims at "showing that Afghan authority has not bee! n capable to establish security", he adds. Asked "is Afghanistan living the same chaotic situation that enabled the previous rise of Taleban, or is the situation different in the presence of NATO forces", Al-Nasiri says the situation is not chaotic.

In response to a question about Bhutto's statement on creation of Taleban, Al-Nasiri says her comments were true but that circumstances were different at the time. He adds: "Ever since the Taleban was created and until today, we have not seen any independent project by the Taleban. It has not presented a state project and this proves that these are people that have been pushed into the political scene." He also stresses the importance of the government-organized "free elections" and constitutional state-rule.

For his part, Silab is asked if Taleban is on the rise "especially with the talk about its preparation for an assault that might be on the Afghan capital this time". He says "there is no way for Taleban to ! return to political life". He adds that Taleban "is not necessarily th e only side that would benefit from such acts" because there are other considerations "like the neighbours' role and even international troops are inventing their own standards to enable them to stay for the longest possible time in Afghanistan".

Asked if he expects more frequent Taleban attacks, Silab accuses international forces of "attempting to invent new stories in Afghanistan and prolong the issue". In response to a question on whether a deal with Taleban that exchanges self-rule to laying down arms is possible, Silab says this would represent "the project to divide Afghanistan", which is rejected by all parties.

From Al-Alam's Tehran studio, Ibrahim says we "cannot ignore that the Taleban is actually present on the ground in more than eight provinces" in Afghanistan. He highlights the support of Islamist groups in the GCC countries to Taleban.

He says Afghanistan "like Iraq is an arena for international and regional confrontations" and that th! e country has never had throughout its history a strong central government. Ibrahim adds that prior to the 9/11 attacks, there was a Saudi plan to use Taleban as a Sunni force to counterbalance Iranian influence.

Ibrahim says that the timing of attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan is not a coincidence. He concludes that the way the US is dealing with Awakening Councils in Iraq will be duplicated in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Editorial: Attack in Kabul

Dawn 29 April 2008 - THE intention, or so the Taliban claim, was not to kill any particular individual but “to show to the world that we can attack anywhere we want to”. Vile as it is, this may be no idle boast by the Taliban, at least in the context of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The presence of the Afghan president and local and foreign dignitaries would suggest that security at the venue of Sunday’s deadly assault in Kabul must have been as tight as it gets. Yet, gunmen ensconced in a nearby building managed to attack the stage where the VVIPs were seated to view a military parade. The shoot-out claimed at least three lives but Mr Hamid Karzai luckily escaped unhurt. Pakistan too has seen several incidents in recent years where pro-Taliban militants have managed to hit key targets in areas that remain off-limits to most civilians and which are ringed by several security cordons. Such audacious assaults have led many to wonder who is safe in Pakistan if military officers and intelligence personnel cannot be protected. Scores of civilians have also lost their lives in terrorist attacks and as such the insecurity felt by ordinary citizens is understandable. The same is true of Afghanistan where an estimated 1,500 civilians were killed last year in the war against the Taliban.

Clearly, militancy is a problem common to both countries and only through sustained cooperation can it even begin to be tackled. Commitment to this goal may have been far from total in the past but it now seems that there may be room for optimism. The change of guard in Pakistan, for one thing, could help mend fences and put an end to the blame game. Already the Afghan president has publicly stated that he has confidence in the “good intentions” of the new government in Pakistan, which has “strongly” condemned Sunday’s attack. The Afghan president has also backed moves by Islamabad to negotiate peace deals with Taliban leaders operating in Fata. Criticising the US and echoing what many in Pakistan were asking of the last Musharraf-led regime in its dealings with Washington, he moreover demanded that his “government be given the lead in policy decisions”.

An arduous struggle lies ahead. Militancy is deep-rooted in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and a problem that has been decades in the making cannot be cracked overnight. On the home front, there is no guarantee that the militants now talking peace will indeed live up to their word. Also, the recent car bombing in Mardan and a public execution in Mohmand Agency suggest that Baitullah Mehsud, who has pledged to lay down arms, may not enjoy complete control over the diverse militant groups that operate under the banner of his Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Still, pessimism is not in order and there must be no letting up in forging a path to future peace, security and prosperity on both sides of the Durand Line.

Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass

Asia Times 04/28/2008 By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - The Taliban and their al-Qaeda associates, in what they considered a master stroke, this year started to target the Western alliance's supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan.

Their focal point was Khyber Agency, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a key transit point for as much as 70% of the alliance's supplies needed to maintain its battle against the Afghan insurgency.

The spectacular blowing up on March 20 of 40 gas tankers at Torkham - the border crossing in Khyber Agency into Afghanistan's Nangarhar province - sent shock waves through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led (NATO) coalition. So much so that it made a deal for some supplies to transit through Russia, a much more arduous route.

The Torkham success was followed by a number of smaller attacks, and the Taliban's plan appeared to be going better than they could have expected.

Then came this week's incident in which the Taliban seized two members of the World Food Program (WFP) in Khyber Agency, and it became obvious the Taliban had been betrayed, and all for the princely sum of about US$150,000.

Their Khyber dreams are now in tatters. With friends like this When the Taliban's new tactic emerged, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - which Pakistan's intelligence community says maintains its biggest South Asian presence in Pakistan - sprung into action and staged a coup of its own.

But that's getting ahead of the story. After coming under intense pressure in its traditional strongholds in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas, al-Qaeda and the Taliban staged a joint shura (council). This meeting concluded that they had to be especially careful of local political parties and tribals who were all too ready to sell themselves in the US's quest to find Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. The council pointed to the example of Iraq, where the US's policy of courting Sunni tribes to turn against al-Qaeda has had marked success.

At this point, the council hit on the idea of taking the initiative and turning Taliban and al-Qaeda attention on Khyber Agency with the aim of bleeding the Western coalition without having to launch major battles.

This was fine in theory, but there were practical difficulties: the agency is the most unlikely place for "Talibanization". The majority of the population is Brelvi-Sufi Muslim, traditionally opposed to the Taliban's Deobandi and al-Qaeda's Salafi ideology. Being an historic route for armies and traders, the population is politically liberal and pragmatist, not easily swayed by idealist and Utopian ideology such as the Taliban's and al-Qaeda's.

So the Taliban sent in its own fighting corps gathered from other tribal areas, and drafted in Ustad Yasir, a heavyweight Afghan commander, from Afghanistan. These predominantly Pashtun fighters consider the Afridi and Shinwari tribes, the natives of Khyber Agency, as materialist and non-ideol