In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan growth expected to exceed 13 pct in 2007-08 – IMF
• Nato chief calm on Afghan visit
• Taliban defeat will take years: US general
• Canada leader confers with Karzai over Afghanistan mission
• President Karzai Talks with Canadian PM
• Canada's Manley denies he Afghan envoy candidate
• Ottawa proposing Manley as UN boss in Kabul
• CTV journalist in Afghanistan held without charge by U.S., group says
• Opium strategy useless, Fitzgibbon tells US
• Afghanistan training mission carries 'significant risk'
• Czech prime minister to visit Ottawa for talks on Afghanistan
• Canada to buy old German tanks as spare parts for Afghan mission
• New surveillance drones for Kandahar by 2009
• Afghan troops detain 11 suspected Taliban militants
• More Pakistanis Flee to Afghanistan
• Fear as Afghans ponder arrest of warlord
• President Karzai Awards State Medals of Good Performance to Governors
• Islamist phalanx routed all across Pakistan - SANKARSHAN THAKUR
• Democratic Pakistan set to keep up 'terror' war: analysts
• Afghanistan's 'Hidden' Art Treasures on Exhibit in Amsterdam

Afghanistan growth expected to exceed 13 pct in 2007-08 - IMF

02.20.08 - MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - The International Monetary Fund said growth in Afghanistan is expected to exceed 13 pct and inflation to return to double digits in 2007-08, mainly due to sharp increases in prices of imported fuel and foodstuffs.

The IMF staff report for a review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility said economic growth over the medium term will depend critically on confronting governance issues, overcoming infrastructure bottlenecks (particularly in the electricity sector), and implementing structural reforms in support of private sector activities.

The security situation continues to impact economic activity and the widespread drug economy is undermining the authorities' efforts to broaden economic development, the agency said.

Economic performance since the fall of the Taliban regime has been strong, and substantial progress has been made toward achieving macroeconomic stability, the IMF said, adding that during 2002-07, real GDP growth averaged 15 pct a year and inflation declined markedly.

The Afghan authorities have agreed that greater government ownership of the policy framework and an acceleration of structural reform is needed and that the government should reaffirm its support for the development of a market economy, the IMF said.

Revenue mobilization requires further efforts aimed at capacity building and introduction of a broad-based consumption tax, while maintaining a transparent and equitable trade regime, and the role of capital notes should be expanded to better manage liquidity and improve the effectiveness of monetary policy, the IMF said.

Bank supervision and the regulatory framework for the financial sector need to be strengthened, the IMF said, adding that there are no immediate risks to external stability and the exchange rate level appears broadly in line with fundamentals.

Nato chief calm on Afghan visit

By David Loyn - BBC News, Kabul

The Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is in Afghanistan as the military alliance faces unprecedented tension over its mission there. Many of the nations with troops in Afghanistan prevent them serving in the most dangerous areas in the south.

Forthcoming elections in Canada and the Netherlands, two of the nations who do send troops to fight in the south, could raise further questions. But Mr de Hoop Scheffer denied tensions over the mission would destroy Nato.

Canada has already signalled that it will have to pull its troops out next year if more forces are not sent to Kandahar, scene of Afghanistan's worst suicide attack when 80 were killed on Sunday.

Speaking on his plane to Kabul, Mr de Hoop Scheffer told the BBC that he was "following the Canadian debate with great interest".

He said that that he was not happy about the "caveats" - the limitations on troop deployment imposed by some countries - but that he was a realist and realised that "we do not expect soon to see Germans or Italian forces in the south, except for the occasional emergency".

He said he was trying to convince some countries to send more troops, but that it was best done privately.

In recent weeks the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made a series of very public speeches, warning that if Nato was allowed to become a "two-tier" organisation, with only a few countries willing to put troops in harm's way, then that "would in effect destroy the alliance".

While preferring a more discreet debate about this issue, Mr de Hoop Scheffer denied that the tensions over the Afghan mission would destroy Nato. "In my long career, Nato has been declared terminally ill or dead six or seven or eight times. So I am not worried about that," he said.

"I am also not worried that we are losing in Afghanistan. We are not losing. The challenges are huge, but we are not losing. We are making tremendous progress."

He said that the important thing was to improve training of Afghan troops and police, as well as better training for Nato troops in counter-insurgency warfare. There has been an increasing emphasis from the international community in recent months in Afghanistan on securing political progress as well as fighting insurgents.

The expulsion of two European diplomats, and President Hamid Karzai's very public row with Britain and blocking of the appointment of Lord Ashdown as UN envoy, all testify to strains over the speed of progress.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer said that President Karzai realised the need for dialogue with some Taleban elements, but "it is his nation not ours.

"I think he realises very well that in Afghanistan some sort of political process has to take off. You do not of course talk to people who are beheading people and hanging them and burning schools.

"But everywhere in the world where there is a conflict at a certain stage, a form of political process has to start."

Taliban defeat will take years: US general

Maidan Shahr (AFP) - It will take "a few years" to defeat the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, the top US general in the country said, reiterating US support for the fight.

Major General David Rodriguez, head of the US-led coalition force, said the US military would stay in the country "as long as they are needed."

"We definitely think it will take a few years for the Afghan people and the Afghan leaders supported by the coalition forces to defeat them," he said in a response to a question from a journalist.

An insurgency led by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, has been growing in the past two years with a spike in suicide attacks and roadside bombings.

The deadliest blast struck outside the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday, leaving more than 100 people dead. The Taliban denied involvement but officials said they were to blame.

On Monday another suicide blast -- this time claimed by the Taliban -- killed nearly 40 people in Kandahar province's border town of Spin Boldak.

Deputy US ambassador Christopher Dell, who accompanied Rodriguez on a trip to meet officials in the town of Maidan Shahr, west of Kabul, said that Taliban used terror tactics because they had little support among people.

"They are simply trying to terrorise them to play with fear in order to achieve their objectives," he said. The coalition works alongside a larger NATO-led force and the Afghan military.

Canada leader confers with Karzai over Afghanistan mission

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper conferred with Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the future of NATO's Afghanistan mission, his spokeswoman said.

Speaking by telephone, Harper told Karzai that Canada wishes to extend its deployment of 2,500 troops in battle-scarred Kandahar province to 2011, but only if NATO allies send reinforcements.

To that end, Harper has in recent weeks urged the heads of France, Germany and Australia to boost their troop deployments in southern Afghanistan.

Defense Minister Peter MacKay told NATO defense ministers Ottawa's demand for an extra 1,000 troops in Kandahar to fight alongside Canadian soldiers against insurgents was "not a negotiable item."

Otherwise, Canada would withdraw from Afghanistan at the end of its current mandate in February 2009, said Harper. Canada's parliament is expected to vote next month on whether to extend its combat mission in the volatile south.

In his discussion with Karzai, Harper "confirmed that he is in contact with NATO allies regarding additional troops and expressed his hope that Parliament will support a motion that would see an extension of Canada's mission to Afghanistan," his spokeswoman Sandra Buckler said in an email.

"President Karzai reconfirmed his support for the Canadian mission, a message he will carry to NATO in the coming weeks," she added.

Harper also announced Tuesday he will meet with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek in Ottawa on February 28 and 29 to discuss Canadian-Czech cooperation in Afghanistan.

President Karzai Talks with Canadian PM

Kabul (Bakhtar News Agency) - President Karzai talked with Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper on Monday night and discussed the extension of Canadian troops mission in Afghanistan.

President discussed the report of Canadian commission which was published about the extension of Canadian troops mission in Afghanistan. Afghan president and Canadian prime minister considered the report positive.

Karzai considered the existence of Canadian troops in Afghanistan important and hoped that NATO will continue support to Canadian troops.

The Canadian prime minister promised to continue its support to people of Afghanistan and the government under NATO leadership.

Canada's Manley denies he Afghan envoy candidate

OTTAWA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Former Canadian deputy prime minister John Manley on Wednesday denied a newspaper report that said he was a candidate to be the United Nations' new "super envoy" for Afghanistan.

The Globe and Mail, citing unspecified sources, said Ottawa was floating Manley's name as a replacement for Britain's Paddy Ashdown, whose appointment was vetoed last month by President Hamid Karzai.

"All I would say is that I am not a candidate and I have not consented to my government advocating for me to take on this responsibility," Manley told Reuters.

Among the leading candidates for the post of envoy is Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat who is a Balkans expert. Manley headed an independent panel which last month urged Canada to pull its military mission out of southern Afghanistan on schedule next year unless NATO committed an extra 1,000 troops to the region.

Ottawa accepted the panel's conclusions and is pressing the Alliance for more soldiers.

Ottawa proposing Manley as UN boss in Kabul

BRIAN LAGHI - From Wednesday's Globe and Mail, February 20, 2008

OTTAWA — The federal government is floating the name of former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley as the United Nations' new "super envoy" to co-ordinate aid and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Sources have told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Manley is being suggested as a replacement for former British politician Paddy Ashdown, who was originally nominated for the job. Mr. Manley is the recent chair of a panel that recommended Canadian troops remain in Afghanistan, but only if NATO is able to come up with 1,000 more troops, as well as helicopters and unmanned aircraft.

Such a move, if successful, would make it doubly difficult for the Canadian government to withdraw from the combat mission, because a pullout would be seen as a humiliation for a country that has one of its own as the special representative. Having a Canadian in such an influential role would also help to sell the mission in Canada, where voters are divided over it.

Sources said that other candidates are in the running, including one from a Scandinavian country.

Mr. Ashdown withdrew from the post last month after opposition from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was reportedly concerned that the former British politician would have too much influence in the country. Some Afghan officials have difficulty with the idea of a special representative, saying there is a "negative atmosphere" in the country created around the notion.

Installing Mr. Manley in such a role would also make life difficult for the Liberals, who would be hard-pressed to oppose the mission if one of their own was acting in such an influential role.

Sources said it would be unheard of for the government to have suggested Mr. Manley without the former deputy prime minister's approval.

It was unclear whether the government has broached the idea with the UN. Mr. Manley was unavailable for comment Tuesday. "He would have to give his nod to have his name floated," said a source.

Typically, an appointment of this type would be forwarded to the Canadian ambassador and staff at the United Nations, who would then attempt to get the ear of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The UN Security Council would also be asked to weigh in.

If the UN is looking for someone with clout, Mr. Manley would be a strong candidate, given that Canada has troops in Kandahar, the country's most dangerous province. But Mr. Manley would also have to be careful to not wield too much influence, lest it appear that Mr. Karzai was being dictated to by foreign powers.

"This isn't like sending a special representative where you're not sure who the sovereign authority is," a source said.

While the envoy would be stationed in Kabul, a good portion of the job would be flying to various world capitals to get countries to fulfill commitments to the rebuilding process. The envoy would also have to work with the military presence in Afghanistan, which is operated by NATO.

An official with Canada's Foreign Affairs Department said yesterday that the individual who ultimately gets the job would have to enjoy the strong support of the Afghan government and the international community.

"There is an urgent need for stronger UN leadership and better co-ordination of the international community in support of the Afghan government," Lisa Monette said in a statement.

"The countries that are carrying the heaviest loads, Canada among them, are obviously eager to see this appointment occur as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke with Mr. Karzai Tuesday to express his sympathies for the recent loss of Afghan lives in a suicide bombing, while Mr. Karzai did the same for injuries sustained by Canadian soldiers in an IED attack Monday.

Mr. Harper also reviewed the Manley panel recommendations with Mr. Karzai. "The Prime Minister confirmed that he is in contact with NATO allies regarding additional troops and expressed his hope that Parliament will support a motion that would see an extension of Canada's mission to Afghanistan," Sandra Buckler, the Prime Minister's director of communications, said in a statement. "President Karzai reconfirmed his support for the Canadian mission, a message he will carry to NATO in the coming weeks."

CTV journalist in Afghanistan held without charge by U.S., group says

NEW YORK - The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concerns Monday about the U.S. detention of a journalist employed by CTV in Kandahar.

The New York-based group said Jawed Ahmad, 22, also known as Jojo Yazemi, has been detained for almost three months by the U.S. military at Bagram Air Base near Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Ahmad said he's being held because the U.S. military believes he had contacts with local Taliban leaders and had a video of Taliban materials, according to his brother Siddique, who has been in touch with the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ.

"We are deeply troubled that Jawed Ahmad has been secluded in a U.S. military base for nearly three months without charge," CPJ executive director Joel Simon said in a news release.

"The United States military must explain the reason for his detention and accord him due process. If he is not charged with any crime then he must be released immediately."

CTV officials say Ahmad was believed detained on Oct. 25 when Siddique called CTV correspondent Paul Workman to tell him about the detention.

Siddique told the CPJ that Ahmad was arrested when he went to Kandahar airport for what he thought was a meeting with his CTV colleagues. It's unclear who called him. CTV said Workman was in Kandahar at the time but had not planned on meeting with Ahmad that day.

"Since his disappearance in late October, CTV News has been deeply concerned about Jojo Yazemi's whereabouts and well being," Robert Hurst, president of CTV News, told the CPJ in an e-mail message included in the news release.

"CTV News has made inquires to NATO, Canadian, and U.S. military officials. No information has been forthcoming. CTV News has also made representations to the International Committee of the Red Cross and diplomatic channels including the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan."

Ahmad had only worked in journalism for one year, according to New York Times correspondent Carlotta Gall who knows him and his brother from her reporting trips to Kandahar.

"All of the local press corps have numbers of the Taliban and interview them regularly," she told the CPJ. "Jawed had nothing more than the others in the way of contacts with the Taliban."

Opium strategy useless, Fitzgibbon tells US

Tom Allard National Security Editor - February 20, 2008

THE Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, has warned the US that its plan to aggressively eradicate Afghanistan's opium crop by widespread aerial spraying will not work and risks driving Afghan farmers into the hands of the Taliban.

The blunt advice was revealed as the Federal Government announced it would rejig its troop commitment to Afghanistan, sending a 70-member military training team into the troubled province of Oruzgan while winding back its reconstruction team.

The development comes as Afghanistan reels from a series of deadly bomb attacks amid fears that the country will suffer worsening violence in 2008.

While the insurgency gathers force, opium production remains high, contributing more than 90 per cent of the world's output of the narcotic.

The surge in opium cultivation from a base of almost zero before the US-led invasion in 2001 has vexed military commanders, political leaders and civilian planners. Although it is clear that opium production is financing the insurgency, it is also the only livelihood for tens of thousands of impoverished farmers and their families.

Mr Fitzgibbon told the Herald that Australia did not support the US push for a crackdown on poppy growers in the next few months. "I have told the US that eradication without alternative means of economic development is problematic," he said. "It pushes farmers back into the arms of the insurgency, especially the Taliban.

"We need to do more to build economic livelihoods before we deprive people of the only livelihood they have."

Mr Fitzgibbon also said the Afghan criminal justice system was weak and corrupt, meaning the drug kingpins were able to avoid prosecution while ordinary farmers lost their only source of income.

Afghanistan training mission carries 'significant risk'

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon is playing down concerns the new training role for Australian troops in Afghanistan will be more dangerous.

Mr Fitzgibbon says the role of the Australian reconstruction team will soon be extended and some Army trainers will be embedded with Afghan soldiers. He acknowledges the new role carries risks but says he is confident they can be managed.

"Arguably some people who have been doing reconstruction work will face significant risk being embedded with an Afghani battalion, no doubt about that," he said.

"But risk is always manageable and I think that the capability we'll be providing will give us significant confidence that that risk is anything but unacceptable."

Czech prime minister to visit Ottawa for talks on Afghanistan

OTTAWA - The prime minister of the Czech Republic will be in Ottawa next week to talk about the war in Afghanistan with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Mirek Topolanek will be bringing along his defence minister for the Feb. 28-29 visit, which will also include a stop in Toronto.

In a statement, Harper said Canada and the Czech Republic enjoy a strong bilateral relationship, including co-operation in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

"I look forward to continuing to strengthen the friendship between our two countries," said the prime minister.

The Czech Republic has made a modest contribution to the mission in Afghanistan since 2002, deploying 200 personnel to operate a military field hospital and special forces soldiers operating in Kandahar.

Harper has been canvassing NATO allies looking for an extra 1,000 combat troops to bolster the Canadian army in Kandahar - and warning that Canada will withdraw unless reinforcements are forthcoming.

A Harper spokeswoman said Topolanek's visit was planned before an independent panel on the future of Canada's involvement in Afghanistan delivered its report last month.

A defence analyst says the Czechs would probably be able to contribute a few teams of soldiers to help train the fledgling Afghan army.

Alain Pellerin, a retired colonel and executive director of the Conference of Defence Associations, said it's pretty clear that in order to meet the goal set out in the Manley commission report, Canada will have to rely on a number of different countries.

"What the government is probably trying to do is do what the Dutch did last year," said Pellerin.

When the Netherlands last fall debated an extension to its mission in Urzugan, a province north of Kandahar, the government was forced to cobble together a patchwork of troops in order to meet its requirement.

Having the Czechs on board in Kandahar, even in a limited role, would be useful and symbolic, said Pellerin.

"It's not large numbers but at least you've got a couple of more countries associated with the south of Afghanistan," said Pellerin.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said recently he wanted to avoid, if at all possible, the Dutch experience and draw the reinforcements from one country.

At an informal meeting of defence minister in Vilnius, the French expressed an interest in supplying part of the troop commitment, but they have made it clear a final decision won't come until April at the NATO leaders summit in Romania.

Poland has also hinted it is interested, but not until it completes a withdrawal of 900 soldiers from Iraq later this year.

Harper has been working the telephone with other allied leaders, including Germany, Australia, Britain and the United States, explaining Canada's position and looking for commitments of support.

He spoke Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and expressed his sympathy after dozens of civilians were killed in a two suicide bombings in Kandahar province this week.

The Germans have ruled out sending any of their 3,500 troops based in northern Aghanistan to the south while the Australians are already partnered with the Dutch in Urzugan.

The British have twice increased their contingent, but those troops have bolstered existing forces in Helmand province. Pellerin said Canada's principle hope may be persuading the Americans to extend the deployment of 3,200 Marines past their planned seven-month stint.

Canada to buy old German tanks as spare parts for Afghan mission

OTTAWA - Canada plans to buy a handful of older, surplus German tanks to cannibalize for spare parts to keep its combat forces on the move in Afghanistan.

The undisclosed purchase is apparently part of the $1.3-billion tank modernization program announced last year by former defence minister Gordon O'Connor.

The current minister, Peter MacKay, says the purchase was necessary. "Our loaned Leopard 2 tanks are an invaluable asset to commanders in Afghanistan," MacKay said in a statement late Tuesday.

"The procurement of surplus German vehicles will provide the Canadian Forces with valuable platforms for training, testing and, where applicable, spare parts."

This acquisition fills the short term needs of the military, he said while on a trade mission in India. Defence industry sources said the plan involves 15 Leopard 2A4s, which have already been taken out of service by the Bundeswehr.

A request for proposals is expected to go out to contractors next week, asking for detailed plans to disassemble the 60-tonne iron monsters and catalogue their parts.

The Canadians "are procuring spare parts, but obviously not enough," said a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Last summer, the Canadian army borrowed 20 Leopard A6Ms from the Germans in order to quickly replace its nearly 30-year-old Leopard tanks, which were not suited for the Afghan heat. It has since completed a deal to buy an additional 100 surplus tanks from the Dutch and will return the loaners in September 2009.

The German tanks, specially armoured to deal with powerful improvised explosive devices, have taken a pounding on Kandahar's highways and are burning through spare parts at a high rate.

Industry sources said stripping the older A4-variants for parts may present a bit of a problem since the tanks in Afghanistan are newer, contain fewer hydraulic systems and "not all the parts are "in the same configuration" as the A6-type.

"It is an issue they will have to resolve," said a source. The Defence Department would not comment on the plan Tuesday.

The news comes one day after word that the first batch of tanks from the Dutch are being given upgrades in Germany and not in Canada, as the Conservative government initially planned last year.

Part of the problem is that cuts to Canada's defence industry throughout the 1990s eroded its ability to service armoured vehicles.

It's expected that either Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann, the manufacturer of the Leopards, or Rheinmatell - both German companies - will get the latest contract to cannibalize the older tanks.

During the Cold War, most countries with armoured divisions kept stockpiles with thousands of spare parts.

The Germans, for example, had 2,125 types of replacement parts for all types of Leopard tanks, ready to be slapped on at a moment's notice. But that inventory has dwindled to just over 400, and often when new parts are needed they have to be machined - or stripped off other vehicles.

A former Canadian tank commander says a variety factors, not just the post-Cold War supply chain, are driving the problem.

"We have a shortage of spare parts and the Germans are quite "astounded at the mileage we're putting on these tanks," said Chris Corrigan, a retired colonel.

As the builder of the Leopards, Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann sets guidelines, tolerances and maintenance schedules for tanks, much as car-makers recommend guidelines for service.

Corrigan said part of the problem is that Leopards are designed for combat on the plains of Europe, where distances are not as great and the vehicles don't have to be driven as much.

Also, since Canada has fewer tanks than some of the bigger armies, it uses each vehicle more often, leading to a higher rate of wear and tear.

New surveillance drones for Kandahar by 2009

February 20, 2008 - Allan Woods, Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–The Department of National Defence will have unmanned surveillance drones in the air above Kandahar by next January, according to government documents.

The new drone program, reported to be worth $120 million, will satisfy one of several conditions that must be met if the government is to extend Canada's military presence in Afghanistan past next February.

Other conditions include acquiring medium-lift transport helicopters and finding a NATO ally willing to send at least 1,000 more troops to Kandahar.

The military is looking to lease, rather than buy, the drones for two years, with the option to extend the contract for 12 months. The drones would be used to track insurgents from the sky rather than putting soldiers at risk on the ground.

The drones will take over from the current crop of Spewer drones, which were purchased in 2003 for $34 million, and will fill the gap until the next phase of unmanned aircraft come on line in 2011-12.

Critics said the Spewers were poorly suited to the mission in Afghanistan because they were built to operate at sea level and could undertake missions of only five hours or less.

They also had difficulty landing in Kandahar. Rather than landing like a normal airplane, the ground operator simply cuts power to the Spewer's engine and deploys a parachute, which carries the craft to Earth. The imprecise landing capability meant that some drones were lost after they landed in minefields, according to reports.

The new drones must be capable of taking off from a runway at 1,800 metres above sea level, flying at least 100 kilometres from Kandahar Airfield, and remaining "over a target" for up to 12 hours. They must also be able to land "like a conventional aircraft," reads a list of instructions sent to industry players this week.

Meetings next week with interested bidders will be followed up by a formal bid for proposals in April. The government hopes to award the contract by July and have the drones sailing through Kandahar's skies no later than January.

The current Canadian mission expires next February, but is likely to be extended through to 2011 with the backing of both the Conservative government and the Liberal opposition.

Afghan troops detain 11 suspected Taliban militants

KABUL, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Afghan forces backed by the U.S.-led Coalition forces have detained 11 suspected Taliban militants from Afghanistan's southern Zabul province, a statement of the Coalition released here Wednesday said.

    These suspects were detained on Feb. 19 from Dey Chopan district during an operation to disrupt Taliban leadership networks in the southern province, it said.

    The Coalition said all the detained individuals will be questioned on their involvement in Taliban operations as well as other illegal activities. Taliban outfit has yet to make comment.

    Zabul and the neighboring provinces of Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar have been regarded as the hotbed of Taliban militants in the war-ravaged Afghanistan.

More Pakistanis Flee to Afghanistan

By PAULINE JELINEK – WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Pakistanis fleeing to eastern Afghanistan to avoid violence in their country has risen to about 10,000 in recent weeks, a U.S. military official said Tuesday.

Commanders had reported last month that the number was only between 300 and 400 families. But Army Col. Jeffery Johnson, the U.S. command surgeon in eastern Afghanistan, said thousands more had crossed over the border and been taken into the health care systems in Khost and Paktika provinces.

"That was really a response to some of the turmoil that was taking place inside of Pakistan and the people there understood that their lives potentially could be better if they were in Afghanistan," Johnson told a Pentagon press conference via video hookup from Afghanistan.

Pakistan, particularly its northwest, has been wracked by Islamic militant violence, with bombings targeting the military or top officials, and clashes between security forces and pro-Taliban fighters.

Violence also has increased in Pakistan over months of political upheaval, including unrest leading to parliamentary elections that could threaten the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, a key American ally in the war on terror. Final results from Monday's vote had not been announced early Tuesday.

Musharraf in late October declared emergency rule for six weeks — a move he said was necessary to combat rising Islamic extremism, but was widely seen as a ploy to prolong his own presidency. Thousands of his opponents were rounded up and Supreme Court justices fired.

The emergency order was barely lifted when opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, throwing the nation into chaos as enraged crowds rioted across Pakistan.

Fear as Afghans ponder arrest of warlord

The Scotsman, 02/20/2008 By Jerome Starkey

AN INVESTIGATION into claims a notorious Afghan warlord led a drunken raid on his neighbour's home, kidnapped its occupants and slapped the owner's wife are threatening to split the country's key power brokers along ethnic lines and plunge its only peaceful region into civil war.

The whisky-swilling warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum was stripped of his position as the army's chief of staff yesterday, amid allegations he had laid siege to a rival commander's home in Kabul.

A spokesman for the interior ministry said: "There is no doubt it was an illegal act." But the ministry has passed responsibility for the investigation to the attorney-general.

Gen Dostum's allies in the Northern Alliance – which includes the country's senior vice-president – have threatened to break away from Kabul if the prosecutor's office pushes ahead with plans to bring him to justice.

The Uzbek commander allegedly led more than 50 armed militiamen in the booze-fuelled attack against the neighbour – one of his former lieutenants.

Police said Gen Dostum's men stormed the home of Akbar Bai, in the diplomatic district of the city, before beating up his children and shooting one of his guards.

Mr Bai, who led Gen Dostum's doomed presidential campaign in 2004, claims he was then dragged back to the warlord's compound in the same neighbourhood and held hostage. He was released and taken to hospital only after a tense stand-off in which police gunmen surrounded Gen Dostum's home.

The attorney-general, Abdul Jabar Sabit, threatened to arrest Dostum unless he answered questions about the attack. He said: "Anyone who commits a criminal act must be brought to justice."

He admitted, however, that the investigation might spark fresh factional fighting in northern Afghanistan.

Gen Dostum has denied the allegations, and his spokesman warned the inquiry could start a new civil war.

Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai's office tried to distance themselves from the row, by claiming Mr Sabit was acting on his own and not on the president's orders. Mr Karzai is mockingly called the "mayor of Kabul" by detractors, who claim his influence stretches no further than the city limits.

Afghan politics is often divided along ethnic lines. Mr Karzai is a Pashtun. His support comes mainly from the east and south, which are also the areas most affected by the insurgency. Afghanistan also has sizeable Tajik, Hazara, Turkmen and Uzbek populations.

The Taleban are also Pashtun. The United States relied on their ethnic enemies to defeat the regime in 2001. As a result, a lot of the warlords behind the bitter civil war were given positions in the new government.

But they continue to operate along sectarian lines. Experts say the Dostum fiasco has shed an unwelcome light on the murky dealings and daily horse-trading that goes on behind the scenes to maintain a semblance of coherent government.

Gen Dostum fought on both sides of the jihad during the Soviet occupation from 1979 to 1989. He also swapped sides during the civil war that followed Russia's retreat.

From his stronghold in the north, he resisted the Taleban until 1997, and he was instrumental in helping to oust them from power in 2001.

He is now the leader of a political party and most of his men have been disarmed or incorporated into Afghanistan's army.

Mr Bai, an ethnic Turkman, worked on Gen Dostum's election campaign when he ran against Mr Karzai in 2004, but he has since angered his old boss by setting up a rival party.

President Karzai Awards State Medals of Good Performance to Governors

February 19, 2008 – Presidential statement

Governors of provinces of Balkh, Nangarhar, Faryab and family of the martyred Deputy Governor of Helmand were awarded on Tuesday the State Medals of Ghazi Wazir Mohd. Akbar Khan during a formal ceremony in Ghulkhana Palace.

The President presented the medals to governor Atah Mohammad Noor of Balkh, Gul Agha Sherzai of Nangarhar, Abdul Haq Shafaq of Faryab for the good performance they have demonstrated in their respective provinces in areas of reconstruction, counter-narcotics and fighting drug trafficking, security and support to the DIAG disarmament program in a sincere spirit and loyalty to the government and people.

Also in the ceremony, a medal and a cash assistance of 100,000 Afs was given to the family of Helmand deputy governor, who was killed in a terrorist attack at a local mosque in the provincial capital, Lashkargah.

The President instructed that a meeting be chaired by Water and Energy Minister to discuss on 26 construction projects proposed by Nangarhar governor.

Islamist phalanx routed all across Pakistan - SANKARSHAN THAKUR

Islamabad, Feb. 19: Much more astounding than the defeat of the king’s party in these elections has been the verdict on Pakistan’s Islamist phalanx spearheaded by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

They’ve been routed everywhere they ventured, staggeringly in the jihad-ridden North West Frontier Province (NWFP). They’ve lost the key province to the liberal-secular Awami National Party (ANP)-PPP alliance. They’ve been reduced to ciphers in the National Assembly — they held 59 seats, they’ve managed just three.

“This is one of the most significant messages emerging from this election, especially because we are caught in a situation where the line between politics and jihad was fast getting blurred,” said respected commentator Rashid Rehman.

“This means a definite swing away of the public mood from the religious Right back to old-fashioned politics of the mainstream. They have not only lost in the NWFP, they have lost all across the country.”

Experts are attributing the rejection of the MMA, also allies of President Pervez Musharraf, to three factors:

• The split which saw Qazi Hussein Ahmed take his Jamaat-i-Islami into the poll boycott camp

• Their inability or reluctance to contain jihadi proliferation in the NWFP which they ruled and, of course,

• Their association with a President whose popularity has been on a downhill.

Elements of the al Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban, led by Baitullah Mehsud, prospered under the MMA in NWFP and were able, during the last few months, to strike at will even in the Punjab heartland. There are those who believe, in fact, that the MMA used them to hit political opponents during the election campaign as well.

Most suicide attacks in the run-up to the elections in the NWFP targeted the ANP and the PPP. “It was not lost on anybody what the MMA was upto,” a retired army general said. “I would say there was extreme fatigue against the unabated violence, people wanted an end to it. The MMA’s ouster may not end violence, but people have tried a change.”

Terror is a major concern with people across the country but opposition to terror does not quite add up to supporting the US-led war on terror. “There is no getting away from the fact that Pakistan is a deeply religious country and the US is a red rag,” said Abid Hussein, an Islamabad-based scholar. “Most people believe terror is a consequence of American policies, not the other way around.”

It might be erroneous to interpret the defeat of the MMA as a setback to jihadi forces, though; the dynamics of jihad are quite independent of ups and downs of electoral politics. “There might be a honeymoon period, a brief peace,” Rahimullah Yusufzai, one of Peshawar’s most respected journalists told The Telegraph. “They will see the new government’s attitude towards them, they will size them up, but their war really is not against governments, their war is against the US, that is why a change in government may not matter much.”

Observers believe that anti-US sentiment in Pakistan is not limited to the religious Right-wing and so to see the MMA’s defeat as a radical change in street perceptions would be to over-interpret. “Even mainstream parties are not able to take overtly pro-US positions,” said the retired general.

“That was part of the reason by Musharraf lost credibility. The US, particularly the Bush regime, is seen as an enemy at large and no political party can fight that perception. So they have to play things very delicately.

The ANP in NWFP, for instance, does not collude with the jihadis but it is not for their military extermination, it is for talks, for bringing them round.” So if American policy-makers — there are always too many in Islamabad — are divining in the change of political guard in NWFP a bolder offensive against jihad, they only might be deluding themselves.

Democratic Pakistan set to keep up 'terror' war: analysts

Islamabad (AFP) - Western allies will anxiously eye Pakistan's new political set-up for signs of backsliding in the "war on terror", but a democratic government will likely help their cause, analysts say.

The nuclear-armed nation's voters on Monday handed a massive electoral defeat to parliamentary allies of President Pervez Musharraf, Washington's trusted bulwark against Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels since 2001.

The biggest parliamentary parties are now those of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, but they are untested when it comes to curbing Islamic militants based near the Afghan border.

"It is the only thing that concerns the West, frankly," said Najam Sethi, editor of the Daily Times newspaper.

He said that if the parties in parliament become more sensitive to public opinion -- which says Musharraf conducted the war under the dictates of America -- then the West fears the "war on terror" could take a lower priority.

But analysts expect that whatever coalition emerges as the new government will pursue Musharraf's policies -- and say the transition to civilian democracy will encourage a political solution to extremism.

"We will have to carry on the war against terrorism because it is in our own national interest. All the political parties understand this," Jamshed Ayaz, head of the Islamabad-based Institute of Regional Studies, told AFP.

"This is the fight for the survival of Pakistan. I am optimistic that they will join hands to fight the menace together," added Ayaz, whose institute is partially funded by the government.

Washington and other capitals will be encouraged by the fact that Bhutto, who was assassinated in a December suicide attack blamed by the government on Al-Qaeda, was seen as a force for moderation.

In a book published posthumously this month, she spoke of the need to tackle Islamic extremism through political means. Before her death, she often expressed her commitment to the "war on terror".

"The PPP (Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party) will give the official sanction to the war on terror aspect even if Musharraf is not there," Sethi said.

"The only person who can object to this war on terror is Nawaz Sharif but Nawaz will not do that. Nawaz will probably find he is restrained," he added.

"The West is feeling much more comfortable now than they were the day after the election."

Western diplomats also trust the taciturn army chief General Ashfaq Kayani to carry on the military's commitment to the fight, whether Musharraf stays in power or not. Kayani replaced Musharraf as army chief in November.

"The West has come to the conclusion that all things considered, Musharraf's sell-by date has either passed or is about to pass. That is why there is all this emphasis now on General Kayani," Sethi said.

The near-total electoral defeat of hardline Islamic parties, which lost power in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, is meanwhile seen outside Pakistan as a sign that the moderates are winning, analysts said.

This emphasises the need for a political solution to the problem, said Rasul Baksh Rais, a political analyst at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

Under Musharraf, Pakistan's government has alternated between making peace deals with militants and their supporters in the troubled tribal belt, and killing them.

A democratically elected, non-military-backed government "will strengthen the war on terror -- the war on terror doesn't just mean you go and drop bombs and do not negotiate," Rais said.

"How can you fight against a section of your own society without building a national coalition against them?

"The moment you build that, you have achieved half of your objectives already and that is the greatest deterrence and counter-threat to people who pick up arms."

Afghanistan's 'Hidden' Art Treasures on Exhibit in Amsterdam

By Lauren Comiteau – Amsterdam 19 February 2008- VOA

The Taliban's destruction of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan in March 2001 was the most dramatic expression of their mission to obliterate all "idolatrous" images from Afghanistan's pre-Islamic past. Along with the Buddhas, the Taliban destroyed 2,500 other cultural gems from Kabul's National Museum of Afghanistan. But thanks to the heroic efforts of the museum's curators, not all was destroyed. A traveling exhibit that recently opened in Amsterdam has brought some of what has survived under one roof. Lauren Comiteau visited the exhibit at Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk - or New Church - and files this report.

As one enters the Hidden Afghanistan exhibit, a banner headline reads: "A Nation Stays Alive When Its Culture Stays Alive." A glimpse of that culture - and how it survived invasion, civil war, and even the Taliban - is what this exhibit is all about.

"I believe this exhibit is going to go and show the world that Afghanistan is not what they hear in the West, that it's Taliban and war and this and that," says Omar Sultan, Afghanistan's Deputy Minister of Information and Culture. "But that we have a cultural heritage that is not only belong to Afghanistan but it belongs to the world."

That's because the world so often came to Afghanistan.

Marlies Kleiterp, the Nieuwe Kerk's head of exhibitions, explains that because Afghanistan was located on the trade routes between East and West, it has historically served as a crossroads of civilization.

"Because of that, local traditions mixed up with those from east and west that were brought in, and from north and south. I think the thing people recognize best was influence of the Greeks. Alexander the great in the 4th century B.C. conquered large part of Asia and ended up in this river. And also Afghanistan was part of his empire during that time," says Kleiterp.

Chinese pilgrims passed through this territory on their way to India. Afghanistan's location on the Silk Road brought Buddhism, which also flourished there. The rich legacy of art and culture were also influenced by the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, the Indian subcontinent and Rome.

Khalid Siddiqi fled Afghanistan during the war and now studies in Amsterdam. He says the exhibit shows the "beautiful side of integration."

"What we see today here in Amsterdam, Berlin, New York - all these great cities; all these different cultures - coming together is pretty much the same as Afghanistan 2,000 years ago," he says. "All different cultures coming together and leaving their traces behind."

But Afghanistan's geography has also had its downside, witnessed in the years of strife that left the country's cultural heritage on the verge of extinction.

The Soviets invaded in 1979, and during the war that followed, many priceless works of art were plundered.

What remains from the National Museum's collection has survived civil war, a rocket attack, fire, a collapsed roof, snow, and the Taliban. That anything is left at all is in large part due to the efforts of Museum Director Omar Khan Massoudi and his staff. In 1988, they secretly moved the highlights of the collection to a vault in the Central Bank at the presidential palace.

"They put them in crates and put them in a special safe in the Presidential Palace and locked the safe with in fact seven keys," Marlies Kleiterp explains. "And the seven keys were given to seven different persons. And the idea was that nobody could come back and open the safe without any of the other keys. And in the end, they gathered together. Unfortunately, not all the keys were there, not all the keys survived, and so they had to use mechanical techniques to open the safe. But they did, they succeeded."

Massoudi risked his life to preserve his country's cultural heritage. He was one of the seven men who had keys to the vault. He came to the exhibit's Amsterdam opening, talking modestly of his role in saving his country's art.

"During the civil war these people knew about the transfer of these pieces and never gave any information to anybody," he said. "Luckily, they keep it secret. "

It wasn't until 2003, more than a year after the overthrow of the Taliban, that the Afghan government confirmed the existence of the treasures and restoration work began.

The original collection numbered more than 100,000 pieces. Fewer than one-quarter survived. "One of the best pieces is this crown. Extraordinary," says Kleiterp. "You can see Indian, eastern influences."

For now, this traveling exhibit is the only way for Afghans to see the museum's collection. Afghanistan is still deemed too unstable for the art to go home, and the museum itself remains badly damaged. The exhibit's catalogue, though, has been translated into the Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto, and will be distributed to every school in the country. And, Deputy Minister Sultan says if his country's art can survive the Taliban, he has no doubts about its future.

"And if they could have saved it at that time, I promise you we can save it for as long as we are alive," he says.

[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.]