In this bulletin:

• Blast kills 5 police, 1 child in Afghanistan
• Boy escapes from Taliban's captivity
• 'Afghanistan can govern itself soon'
• Afghanistan says needs stable and democratic Pakistan
• Norway to send troops to southern Afghanistan
• Pentagon Releases Projections for Forces
• U.S. Struggles to Find Envoy, Hindering Effort to Stabilize Afghanistan
• US Senator: If Afghanistan Fails, Pakistan Could Follow
• NATO may follow if Canada exits Afghanistan
• Afghan mission most important debate facing nation: MacKay
• Motion on Afghan mission hits snag Liberals deliver ultimatum on ending combat operations
• US plans special centres on the Afghan side near border
• Afghan police officers graduate training
• How he was sentenced to die
• Putting all eggs in Musharraf's basket a mistake: Obama
• Pakistani general's slaying linked to tribal militants
• Pakistan's extremism starts at the top
• Afghanistan's Pop Idol breaks barriers
• Oscars tribute to torture victim

Blast kills 5 police, 1 child in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb hit a vehicle carrying five policemen and a child in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing all six, an official said.

Taliban militants have increasingly aimed their attacks at police, killing more than 925 officers in 2007 alone. Afghan police often work in small groups in remote and dangerous territory, where they are outnumbered, outgunned and overwhelmed by insurgents.

The blast happened in the eastern Khost province close to the border with Pakistan, said police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub. He blamed the attack on Taliban militants.

The victims included the five officers and a 3-year old child, said Lutfullah Babakarheil, a local government official. They were traveling in a private vehicle, he said.

The lack of an effective police training is often cited as one of the West's biggest failings since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime for harboring Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda bases.

Police here are poorly paid — a young police officer makes US$100 a month — but many complain that superior officers skim from their paychecks or that they are not paid at all.

The U.S. began a new training program this year for small teams of American soldiers to mentor and train police officers for several months. The program, which also gives the police upgraded weapons and equipment, is expected to last four years.

Insurgent violence in Afghanistan flared last year, when a record 6,500 people — mostly militants — were killed, according to figures from Western and Afghan officials.

Boy escapes from Taliban's captivity

Pajhwak News Agency 02/25/2008 Sher Ahmad Haider

GHAZNI CITY - A young boy Friday succeeded in running away from the captivity of militants where he was instigated to execute suicide attack on troops in the Chenar village of restive Ander district in the southern Ghazni province, an official said.

Allah Muhammad, 11 told Pajhwok Afghan News that he along his friend was kidnapped by five unidentified militants and was being persuaded for executing suicide attack at district headquarters.

The boy said the militants took them to a mosque and were convincing that there were non-believers in the district.

"When we denied from carrying out an explosion then militants fastened our hands and ordered for explosive waistcoats in 15 minutes for us," he went on "When miscreants left mosque so I ran away but my friend Hameedullah did not."

District chief Abdur Rahim Daisewal confirming the incident said that they would try to release the friend of Allah Muhammad from the militants hold.

However, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman for southern zones, denounced the incident and termed it just to defame Taliban. "It is the conspiracy of Afghan intelligence officials only to disrepute the name of the Taliban among the local people," he concluded.

'Afghanistan can govern itself soon'

Press TV (Iran) / Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:20:16

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Spanta who has started a visit of Nordic capitals says his country will govern itself "in a few years."

Afghanistan should manage to stand on its own feet "when we can (further) the building and rebuilding of the Afghan national army, when we can give better training and equip" troops, police and border guards, Spanta told reporters on Monday.

"I think we will have success in a few years," he said after meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere in Oslo.

On the first leg of a Nordic visit Spanta added that Kabul was prepared to talk with 'all parties' that respect the Afghan constitution. In mid-January, Stoere survived a bomb attack on the Hotel Serena in Kabul where seven people died, including a Norwegian newspaper reporter.

Oslo has said it would allocate 138 million dollars to civilian programs in Afghanistan this year. Norway has some 500 soldiers in Afghanistan, including a rapid reaction force that will be replaced by German troops on July 1.

Afghanistan says needs stable and democratic Pakistan

February 25, 2008 - OSLO (Reuters) - Afghanistan needs a stable and democratic Pakistan to help it fight off Taliban militants, Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said on Monday.

Asked about the impact of last week's election in Pakistan on Kabul's struggle against al Qaeda-linked insurgents, Spanta said: "A stable Pakistan is very important for Afghanistan."

"I hope they will form a government that will strengthen democracy ... and that we will continue our cooperation with Pakistan in anti-terror (activities)," he told reporters.

Pakistani politicians are in talks to form a coalition seen as weakening Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally who seized power in a military coup in 1999.

Pakistani militants linked to al Qaeda warned any incoming government on Sunday that they would increase attacks if Musharraf's U.S.-backed war on terror continued in tribal areas.

The mountainous region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is a stronghold of the Taliban, analysts say.

Spanta said the Taliban in Afghanistan has in past months switched to attacking soft civilian targets instead of military ones, which he said was a sign of their weakness and inability to battle head on against NATO forces there.

On a tour of Nordic countries to drum up support and aid for Afghanistan's democracy, Spanta said NATO forces would be needed "for a few years" more while Afghan police and securities forces gain training and equipment.

Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said that Norway sought greater involvement of the United Nations in Afghanistan's nation-building programmes and more clarity from Kabul about where international aid efforts should focus.

"We share the analysis and the ambition that we need a clearer formulation of Afghan priorities and a clearer formulation of how we, as supporters of this process, coordinate our assistance," Stoere said after meeting Spanta.

"NATO is the only organization that can provide this type of security (in Afghanistan) ... but it is not NATO's specialty to build states, that is more of a U.N. expertise -- that's why we need a stronger U.N. and a stronger mandate," he said.

Norway has about 500 soldiers in Afghanistan and this month the defence minister said Norway could remain there, along with other NATO countries, possibly until 2015.

Norway to send troops to southern Afghanistan

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Norway's Defense Minister Anne-Grete Stroem-Erichsen said her country will send more troops to the troubled southern Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, according to reports reaching here Tuesday.

    The fresh troops, including 50 Norwegian officers and soldiers, will be sent to Afghanistan in October to help training the Afghan troops, the minister told the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

    "They will go with the Afghan force, wherever they are sent. This may mean that they will be engaged in fighting in all parts of Afghanistan, also in the south," the minister said. The missions will last for up to three months, she added.

    Last October, Stroem-Erichsen rejected NATO demand for deployment of Norwegian soldiers in southern Afghanistan, saying that her country should concentrate its troops in north of the war-torn country.

    Norway has deployed around 500 troops in Afghanistan under the command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. Most of the Norwegian troops are based in the peaceful northern province of Faryab.

Pentagon Releases Projections for Forces

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is projecting that when the United States troop buildup in Iraq ends in July there will be about 8,000 more troops on the ground than when it began in January 2007, a senior general said Monday.

Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, head of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that by July the troop total was likely to be 140,000. There were 132,000 troops there when President Bush approved orders to send five more Army brigades to Iraq to improve security and avert civil war.

General Ham also announced that the Pentagon believed that United States force levels in Afghanistan would be at 32,000 in late summer, up from about 28,000 now. The current total is the highest since the war began in October 2001, and 3,200 more marines are scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this spring.

It had been widely expected that some support troops sent to Iraq with the five extra brigades would need to remain, even after July. But until now it was not clear what the number would be.

General Ham stressed that his projected number of 140,000 was subject to change depending on security conditions, but it was the first time the Pentagon had publicly estimated the total.

Asked if the total would be below 132,000 by the time President Bush leaves office next January, General Ham said, “It would be premature to say that.” Among the support forces needed beyond July, General Ham said, are military police officers, logistics troops, aviation forces and a headquarters staff to command combat forces in an area south of Baghdad. The headquarters of the Third Infantry Division was installed there as part of President Bush’s increase in forces in April. It will be replaced this summer by an unspecified unit, General Ham said.

U.S. Struggles to Find Envoy, Hindering Effort to Stabilize Afghanistan

By Michael Abramowitz and Colum Lynch, Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The White House has been pushing since early fall to install a powerful new foreign envoy to oversee international reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Last month it looked as though it had finally found its man: After a meeting in Kuwait, Hamid Karzai indicated he was ready to accept prominent British politician Paddy Ashdown for the assignment.

Less than two weeks later, the appointment collapsed after Karzai changed his mind -- the latest sign of tensions between the courtly Afghan president and the Western powers that have been seeking for nearly seven years to stabilize a country that was the breeding ground for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

U.S. officials have done little to disguise their displeasure with the recent turn of events, which has not only left them without a candidate but also imperiled their strategy of giving a single international envoy a robust mandate for Afghanistan. Over weeks of negotiations, the job has been whittled down from a statesman of stature who would influence decisions by NATO, the European Union and the United Nations to a more traditional role as envoy of the U.N. secretary general, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

"There's no ready, obvious replacement," said one senior U.S. official who is not authorized to speak publicly. "We thought [Ashdown] was best qualified, given his credentials and his experience and his ability to command attention, especially in European capitals."

Talking with reporters last week, Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South Asia, disputed the suggestion that the rejection of Ashdown meant that Karzai was obstructing progress.

"That is our partner and that's who we will work with, because that's who the people of Afghanistan chose," he said. "I think it's very clear that from our discussions with the Afghan government, even since Paddy Ashdown felt he had to withdraw his candidacy, that they, too, want to see better coordination, want to see strong international coordination."

U.S. and U.N. officials said they are still looking for an envoy. Among those said to be under consideration are Kai Eide, a senior Norwegian official with experience in the U.N. bureaucracy; Jan Kubis, the Slovak foreign minister; Hikmat Chetin, a senior Turkish diplomat with experience in Afghanistan; and Joschka Fischer, a former German foreign minister. President Bush discussed the search recently with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who will make the final appointment.

Still, Bush administration officials acknowledge that the episode has highlighted the inability of the United States and its allies to organize civilian reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, the focus of recent criticism by diplomats and a flurry of new reports.

Since the Taliban fell in 2001, the international community has provided about $15 billion to rebuild Afghanistan. But U.S. officials and outside experts say that there has been little coordination among the dozens of countries and international organizations helping to build roads and bridges, create a new police and justice system, and deal with narcotics production.

"There is a very clear need for a joining of the international military strategy with the international civilian strategy," said Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns, who helped recruit Ashdown. "Countries that are extending assistance to Afghanistan are not extending assistance in a central, organized way right now."

The troubles with reconstruction are a companion to the more publicized military difficulties NATO is having in Afghanistan, where U.S. officials -- most prominently Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates -- have complained that some allies are unwilling to participate in the most violent fight against the Taliban. But many officials regard the civilian effort as perhaps even more critical to controlling Afghanistan's insurgency.

Asked recently to assess U.S. progress, a top U.S. official handling Afghanistan said: "Tactically on the security front, I would say we are winning."

"The challenge with Afghanistan is that's not good enough," added the official, who insisted on anonymity to speak more freely. "And it is on some of the other dimensions of the mission where we are not doing as well as we need to be. And mostly those have to do with the non-military . . . having to do with governance, economic development, reconstruction."

Norway first suggested a super-envoy in the fall of 2006, but it was not until last summer, as reports mounted of problems in Afghanistan, that U.S. officials began warming to the idea.

U.S. officials focused on Ashdown, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats in Britain who impressed them with his service as the U.N. high representative in Bosnia from 2002 to 2006. The British quickly agreed.

But early on, U.N., U.S. and Afghan officials argued about how powerful the job should be. Sources said Zalmay Khalilzad, who is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and is close to Karzai, detected reservations among Afghan senior officials -- but those reservations appeared to dissipate after the Afghan president met with Ashdown in Kuwait in January.

Ban then met with Ashdown in Madrid to seal the deal. But when Karzai returned to Kabul, he received criticism from members of his cabinet, while the media portrayed Ashdown as a potential pro-consul, akin to past British colonial rulers. Karzai, meanwhile, believed that Ashdown had planted newspaper stories in Britain suggesting that Karzai was a weak Pashtun leader atop a Tajik government, a remark Karzai viewed as "fanning ethnic tensions," said a senior U.S. official.

Said T. Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, suggested that there were worries about the powerful role Ashdown had played in the Balkans. "Based on his past experience in the Balkans, the Afghan cabinet and other officials raised some concerns," Jawad said. "President Karzai decided his role wouldn't be constructive."

By the time Karzai met with Ban and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in late January, the Afghan leader had soured on the choice. Ban had gone into the meeting expecting to announce Ashdown's appointment; instead, Ashdown soon issued a statement withdrawing from consideration.

It was not the first time in recent months that Karzai has clashed with his Western patrons. He has battled the United States over opium-reduction strategies, and in December he expelled two senior European officials for holding unauthorized talks with the Taliban.

Some analysts saw the Bush administration's inability to secure Ashdown's appointment as a serious setback. "The rejection of Ashdown by Karzai undermines the ability of the Afghan government to be moving more forcefully in the right direction," said Mark Schneider, senior vice president of the International Crisis Group, which has been critical of the reconstruction efforts. "When Karzai said he didn't want it, the U.S. didn't stick to its guns."

Senior administration officials say that there is no major rift and that Karzai, who has a monthly videoconference with Bush, is entitled to veto power over a position that could vastly influence his country.

Seth Jones, an Afghanistan expert with the Rand Corp., said Karzai, who is up for reelection next year, is reluctant to be identified too closely with the United States. "I don't think over the long term it's a significant blow," he said. But the failure to install Ashdown, he added, shows Karzai's sensitivity "to not be seen as being pushed around by the international community."

US Senator: If Afghanistan Fails, Pakistan Could Follow

By VOA News - 26 February 2008 - U.S. Democratic Senator Joseph Biden says Washington must focus on securing Afghanistan because if it fails, then neighboring Pakistan could be next. Biden, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the comment to the Council on Foreign Relations Monday.

He said Afghanistan must never again become a safe haven for al-Qaida, because extremists will - as he put it - "set their sights on the bigger prize to the east" (referring to Pakistan).

Senator Biden also warned that failure in Afghanistan could hurt NATO. Biden said it is time for the alliance to realize it must get fully involved, because if Afghanistan fails, NATO may not be far behind.

Biden just returned from a tour of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Turkey with his fellow Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. The three senators are scheduled to hold a news conference later Tuesday in Washington to discuss their trip.

NATO may follow if Canada exits Afghanistan

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada's defense minister urged parliament to keep its 2,500 troops in Afghanistan until 2011, warning that an earlier withdrawal could lead its NATO allies to abandon the shaky nation too.

"This is perhaps the most important debate facing our parliament and our nation today," Defense Minister Peter MacKay said at the start of a parliamentary debate on whether to extend the military mission or exit.

"The consequences of pulling Canada's military out of Afghanistan could have a far-reaching effect or a domino effect on others," he said. "If we were to pack up and leave Afghanistan, why wouldn't other nations follow suit?"

"How would history judge us if Canada walked away from Afghanistan?"

Previously, the main opposition Liberals agreed with the ruling Conservatives on the need to maintain troops in Afghanistan to 2011 only if NATO allies send reinforcements soon.

But they differed on whether Canadian soldiers should continue hunting insurgents beyond their current mandate of February 2009, or stick to a non-combat role in Kandahar province.

The stalemate could have led to snap elections in March if all three opposition parties united to topple the minority Conservatives over its motion to extend the mission.

Now, the Liberals seem onside with the Conservatives after the motion was tweaked, but still want clarification on some nuances in the government's new plan that differ from their own.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion said he believed that helping Afghanistan rebuild after decades of war is in Canada's "national interest" and "can be successful."

But, he said, the government's wish for NATO to contribute a mere 1,000 additional troops to bolster Canadian forces in Kandahar province by next year, and its proposed end date of December 2011, rather than sooner, must be vetted.

"If the explanation is reasonable and logical our party will not oppose it," said Dion.

If both parties agree, the plan will be presented to parliament for ratification shortly, before a NATO summit in April, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

And if it is adopted, Canada would focus on training Afghan forces and providing security for reconstruction.

However, if NATO does not send reinforcements, medium lift helicopters and drones soon, as requested, Canada will pull out at the end of its current mandate of February 2009, the motion states.

Canada deployed 2,500 troops in Afghanistan's volatile south as part of the 50,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.

Like a dozen countries represented in the south, where opium cultivation is flourishing, Canada too is taking heavy casualties that are feeding public dissatisfaction at home.

Since 2002, 78 Canadian soldiers and a senior diplomat have died in roadside bombings and in fighting with the insurgents.

The main contributors to post-Taliban Afghanistan -- notably Britain and the United States -- have called for more "burden-sharing" in the grueling fight against the rebels.

NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last week that ISAF has swollen by 8,700 soldiers over the past year and he was confident of more support in the coming year. So far, only France and Poland have hinted to Ottawa they may send help.

"We do not want to abandon the Afghan people or turn our back on the international community," said MacKay. "Staying in Afghanistan is not the easy thing to do. But staying there is the right thing to do."

"The world is watching, including the people of Afghanistan and their oppressors."

Afghan mission most important debate facing nation: MacKay

Liberals support revised Conservative motion on Afghanistan as debate begins in House of Commons on extension of Canada's military mission to 2011

BRODIE FENLON - Globe and Mail Update February 25, 2008

History will judge Canada harshly if it abandons the people of Afghanistan and its international allies before the fragile country can stand on its own, Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the House of Commons Wednesday as he opened debate on a government motion to extend the military mission in Kandahar from 2009 to 2011.

“This is perhaps the most important debate facing our Parliament and our nation today,” Mr. MacKay said. “It has important broad implications for Canadians, Afghans and for the world.”

Mr. MacKay said Canada's efforts have won it the respect of the Afghan people, the international community and its allies, and to leave now would be an abandonment of all three. He warned that Afghanistan could again become a “breeding ground for terrorists” if the insurgency succeeded.

“At times, as a country, we have to take a position and assert ourselves. We have to assert ourselves by sharing our fundamental values and interests by expressing those and by defending them,” Mr. MacKay said.

“We can't assume that others are going to do the difficult work for us. If we truly believe in this difficult mission, it's not words that count,” he said.

“Now is the time, and Afghanistan needs us. Stabilizing Afghanistan is a noble and essential cause,” he said, citing several examples of progress since the overthrow of the Taliban: 6,000 kilometres of new roads, hundreds of teachers trained, two million female Afghan students, reduced infant and mortality rates, and greater democracy.

The Conservative motion, which was rewritten to bridge differences with the Opposition Liberals, would change the focus of the mission from combat to training Afghan forces and providing security for reconstruction. The Liberals say that means an end to offensive operations to attack the Taliban, though military commanders would decide what fighting is needed.

The confidence motion, which could trigger an election if it fails, sets 2011 as a firm end-date for the mission and makes Canada's continued involvement contingent on a NATO commitment of 1,000 more troops to assist Canada in Kandahar province, as well as helicopters and unmanned drones.

Mr. MacKay began his remarks by expressing “appreciation and respect” for opposition MPs who sought to reach a compromise on the mission's future, and he acknowledged specifically Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and deputy leader Michael Ignatieff.

Mr. Dion said he supports the new motion – all but ensuring its passage – although he has specific questions he wants debated, including why the government has settled on 1,000 as the required number of troop reinforcements and how long the government is prepared to wait for NATO to meet the demand.

However, the Liberal Leader applauded the government for “taking the reasonable steps it has to find the common ground between our two positions.”

“I agree with the Prime Minister that what we have now is neither a Conservative motion nor a Liberal motion – it is a Canadian motion,” Mr. Dion said.

“We are pleased to see that the government has accepted the fundamental principles that the Liberal Party has been guided by: A change to the mission, an end to the mission, a greater commitment to development and diplomacy, and greater transparency and accountability by the government.”

Bloc Québécois MP Vivian Barbot said the civilian and military loss of life in Afghanistan has been high and Canada has paid its dues as a part of the NATO effort.

“Never has there been such a loss of human life since the Korean War,” she said. “The time has come to pass the baton to someone else.”

The parliamentary debate comes just a day after a top U.S. military official cautioned that soldiers cannot separate the jobs of fighting Taliban insurgents, training Afghan soldiers and reconstructing the country.

Admiral William Fallon, head of U.S. Central Command and the officer responsible for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, would not say whether Canada's target of withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2011 was realistic. He did caution that the Taliban “pays close attention” to what happens in countries that supply troops to Afghanistan and gain confidence “if they perceive there's little commitment – or it's words and not a lot of action to back it up.”

“And that's certainly not the mindset we want to leave them with,” Adm. Fallon said on the CTV program Question Period, echoing controversial comments made by Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier last week, who warned that the Taliban might step up attacks in Afghanistan to sway the political debate in Canada.

“We want them to have the idea that we're committed to helping this country of Afghanistan to achieve its potential,” Adm. Fallon said.

“We have a large number of our forces there and we know that we need help from our good friends and allies, the Canadians being in the lead in the south, and so we're looking for commitment to be with us to help the Afghan people and to put this country in a position of stability and security.”

Adm. Fallon would not comment specifically on the political debate in Canada over the Afghan mission, but disagreed with the idea that the combat portion is separable from the rest of the mission.

“You can't say, ‘We're going to do this and not this.' You need a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach to this problem,” he said. Afghanistan needs everything from good governance to roads and electricity, Adm. Fallon said, but work in those areas needs security and stability.

Late last week, General Hillier called on Parliament to show its support “overwhelmingly” to soldiers in Afghanistan, and implied that waffling on the issue could cost Canadian lives.

“I'm not going to stand here and tell you that the suicide bombings of this past week have been related to the debate back here in Canada. But I also cannot stand here and say that they are not,” he said.

Some opposition MPs suggested that the general overstepped his bounds by making demands of elected officials.

Motion on Afghan mission hits snag Liberals deliver ultimatum on ending combat operations

February 26, 2008 Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau- Toronto Star

OTTAWA–A government motion to extend the Afghan mission to 2011 could be in jeopardy after the emergence of a major difference of opinion with the Liberals on the future role Canadian troops will assume.

While the Liberals insist that another contingent of 1,000 troops must take up the counterinsurgency fight in February 2009, leaving Canada to focus exclusively on training, reconstruction and security, the Tories see the infusion of soldiers backing up and fighting alongside the Canadian battle group that is already on the ground.

Last week, the Conservatives introduced what was seen as a compromise motion on extending the mission, and which seemed to make a vote in the Commons a mere formality. Debate on the motion began yesterday.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the new troops that Canada must find in order to prolong the Kandahar mission will be there "to add to, or reinforce, or certainly buttress the current battalion that we have in Afghanistan."

The government appears to want the military to have wiggle room to respond to insurgent threats and participate in operations with NATO allies, while the Liberals say their support for the extension was based on Canadian soldiers having a limited mandate that would likely see them on the sidelines for major offensive operations.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion downplayed the schism when approached by reporters, saying that the government was obliged to follow the "spirit and the letter" of its own motion.

But deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff delivered a stern ultimatum to the government less than two hours later, clarifying the Liberal position.

"If the government does not accept a clear focus on training and reconstruction, if they believe that they can sneak past Parliament a motion that continues the existing mission ... I am afraid that they will have difficulty securing the Canadian consensus that this party is seeking," Ignatieff said in the House of Commons.

The wording of the motion says the operational decisions about the new mission would come from military commanders, not from politicians.

"We can quibble about words and we can talk about interpretations, but I think the substantive message is clear," MacKay told Ignatieff. "That soldiers and their leadership have to use that discretion in the field, which sometimes ... does include the use of force, lethal force."

During the debate yesterday, MacKay said that: "If we truly believe in the mission, it is actions, not words, that matter."

He said that "reality seems to have escaped" the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois – both parties want to end Canada's participation in the mission – but he praised the Liberals for consenting to compromise with the government in an effort to remain in Kandahar.

Dion said the government must still explain:

The need for just 1,000 additional soldiers when some commanders say 5,000 or even 10,000 more troops are needed.

The cost to Canadian taxpayers to secure additional helicopters and unmanned surveillance planes, which are a precondition for the mission extension.

What specific targets and timelines it wants to meet, specifically regarding the training of Afghan soldiers and police.

US plans special centres on the Afghan side near border

NEW YORK, Feb 25: US officials are quietly planning to expand their presence in and around the tribal areas of Pakistan by creating special coordination centres on the Afghan side of the border where US, Afghan, and Pakistani officials can share intelligence about Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, the Boston Globe reported on Monday, citing State Department and Pentagon officials.

The Bush administration, the Globe says, is also seeking to expand its influence in the tribal areas through a new economic support initiative that would initially focus on school and road construction projects. Officials recently asked Congress for $453 million to launch the effort — a higher request for economic support funds than for any country except Afghanistan.

The expansion of US efforts in the tribal areas — made possible, in part, by rising Pakistani anger at a string of suicide attacks by militants from the region — also includes the deployment of about 30 US counter-insurgency trainers to train an elite Pakistani force to fight Al Qaeda and indigenous extremists.

The CIA was also pushing to enhance its surveillance capabilities and intelligence cooperation with the Pakistani services at a covert location in the tribal areas, the newspaper said quoting to a Pakistani official in the tribal areas who asked not to be identified.

“In order to get a window on what’s happening on the ground, US forces need to be more present, whether they are physically there, or virtually there, monitoring,” Daniel Markey, a Pakistan specialist on the State Department’s policy planning staff from 2003 until his retirement last year told the newspaper.

To get a better picture of the complex insurgency that has grown in the tribal areas over the past five years, US officials are constructing two new coordination centres on the Afghan side of the border at Torkham and at a second position north of Torkham. Four more posts are under consideration, the newspaper said quoting a senior Defence Department official.

According to the plans, the official told the Globe, about 15 Afghan, Pakistani, and American officials would meet daily at each centre to share intelligence about militant activities on both sides of the porous, mountainous border, which extends about 1,560 miles between Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas.

“The purpose of the centres is to share intelligence, ensure that all (parties) have a common operational picture of the area, coordinate operations that might be occurring on both sides of the border at the same time, and (settle conflicts) when necessary,” said the Defence Department official.

Afghan police officers graduate training

HERAT, Afghanistan, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Afghanistan's focused district development initiative graduated its first class of Afghan National Police in Herat Thursday.

The Afghan government's district development project is an effort to improve policing in the country district by district. The reform initiative was developed by the Afghan Interior Ministry. Officials say 143 newly trained Afghan police graduated Thursday, marking the first class to graduate in Herat, the Combined Joint Task Force-82 reported.

Designed to address issues of inadequate training, poor equipment and corruption, the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan developed the district-focused program taught by civilian police instructors at eight regional training centers throughout the country, to make it easier for the police to provide public safety and security for local Afghan communities.

Officials say the officers from the western Afghanistan district of Bala-Beluk graduated Thursday from the program's phase three, in which "their entire district was reorganized, re-equipped and retrained during an eight-week course," the release said.

The final stage of the program, phase four, involves re-inserting the newly trained police officers back into their districts.

"The real test will be this next week, when the police go back to their districts and we see how the people perceive them," Army Col. Peter Foreman, deputy to the commanding general for police development for Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Education fact sheet + Questions & answers

Source: United Nations Children's Fund / February 25, 2008 – Afghanistan

Average adult illiteracy rate: 71% (female illiteracy as high as 86%)

- Up to 30% of primary school age children working to support families

- Early marriage affects many young girls (preventing access to education and increasing health risks)

UNICEF supports The Ministry of Education in the following areas.

- Girls' education especially in rural areas(communitybased schools)

- School construction

- Teachers' training

- Curriculum development

- Capacity building

- Women's literacy

Key achievements in 2007 - We witnessed over 5.7 million children going to school, the construction of 113 schools were completed in 2007 with UNICEF's support. In addition over 48,000 women completed their literacy courses that they had started in 2006.

- 3,643 Community Based Schools (CBSs) for over 140,000 students with no access to formal schools in the remote villages were supported.

- Afghanistan Girls' Education Initiative (AGEI) was launched under the umbrella of UN Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI). With over 20 partners, including line ministries, UN and donor agencies, NGOs and research organizations work plan for 2008-2010 was drafted.

- National de-worming round for 5.6 million grades 1-9 school aged children

- One sample chapter for 100 titles of textbooks books (Science, Math, Social Studies, Languages, and Geography) developed by Afghan authors with the technical support of experts in Jordon. Forty-four Afghan curriculum experts were trained for one month in Jordon; this process was jointly supported by UNESCO.

- Orientation guide on newly developed textbooks of grade 3 and 6 was developed and 80 master trainers from 34 provinces were trained. o 2,901 literacy courses for 77,998 female adult learners were supported throughout the country.

- Teaching and learning materials (TLMs) to 5.16 million children (grade 1-6) and 96,428 teachers distributed.

- 530 classroom tents, 4,313 blackboards and 3,155 floor mats were distributed.

How he was sentenced to die

'What they call my trial lasted just four minutes in a closed court. I was told that I was guilty and the decision was that I was going to die'

By Kim Sengupta in Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan - The Independent (UK) / Monday, 25 February 2008

Clutching the bars at his prison, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh recalls how his life unravelled. "There was no question of me getting a lawyer to represent me in the case; in fact I was not even able to speak on my own defence."

The 23-year-old student, whose death sentence for downloading a report on women's rights from the internet has become an international cause célèbre, was speaking to The Independent at his jail in Mazar-i-Sharif – the first time the outside world has heard his own account of his shattering experience. In a voice soft, somewhat hesitant, he said: "The judges had made up their mind about the case without me. The way they talked to me, looked at me, was the way they look at a condemned man. I wanted to say 'this is wrong, please listen to me', but I was given no chance to explain."

For Mr Kambaksh the four-minute hearing has led to four months of incarceration, sharing a 10 by 12 metre cell with 34 others -- murderers, robbers and terrorists – and having the threat of execution constantly hanging over him. His fate appeared sealed when the Afghan senate passed a motion, proposed by Sibghatullkah Mojeddeid, a key ally of the President Hamid Karzai, confirming the death sentence, although this was later withdrawn after domestic and international protests.

I spoke to Mr Kambaksh at Balkh prison, under the watchful eyes of the warders in their olive green Russian-era uniforms. Here 360 prisoners are packed into a facility for 200, in conditions even the Afghan prison authorities acknowledge are "unacceptable". The inmates, who include 22 women, many convicted of deserting their husbands and adultery, sit around with the forlorn demeanour of those caught up in a vast bureaucratic system with little chance of an early exit.

Since The Independent exposed the case of Mr Kambaksh, eminent public figures such as the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. and Britain's Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, have lobbied Mr Karzai to reprieve him. A petition launched by this newspaper calling for justice for Mr Kambaksh has gathered nearly 90,000 signatures.

Standing outside his cell, Mr Kambaksh looked pale and tired, hunched into his brown leather jacket over a dusty white shalwar kameez against the cold, cutting wind of the northern mountains. He had, in the past, been attacked by fundamentalist prisoners at the instigation of a guard who had said he was a heretic, but the intimidation has tailed off in recent weeks. "I am very thankful for what The Independent has done and the publicity in this case. Most of my fellow prisoners know now that I had not done anything so terrible to deserve this, and they have supported me. Some of the guards have also been kind.

"There are still some extremists who insult me, but I am afraid they are the kind who will not change their minds."

Mr Kambaksh's ordeal began in mid- October after the downloading of the document about Islam and women's rights from an Iranian website. He was questioned first by some teachers of religion from the university where he is a student of journalism.

"They said that some other students had said that I had written the article myself. Of course I denied this, I also asked them who these other students were, but they would not give me the names. They have since repeated these accusations, but they have never told me who these students are. I do not know if they exist ..." His voice trailed off as a guard came and stood listening to him. Not all believe in Mr Kambaksh's innocence.

On 27 October he was arrested at the offices of Jahan-e-Naw, a newspaper for which he had carried out reporting assignments. "It was about 10 in the morning. They told me that one of the directors of the NDS [the Afghan national intelligence service] wanted to see me. I was taken to a police station and sat around until 3 o'clock when they said they were arresting me over the website entry. When I protested they said they were doing this for my own safety, otherwise I may be killed."

Mr Kambaksh received visits from his family in the weeks which followed but says that he was not allowed any access to a lawyer. "My family were upset, my father is so worried, I have seen him age in the last few months. I keep telling them to be strong."

On 6 December he was brought before a court in Mazar where the charges against him, accusing him of blasphemy and breaching other tenets of Islamic law, were read out. But then the proceedings concluded without any evidence being presented before the court.

The next hearing, on 12 January, was cancelled after Mr Kambaksh became ill. He arrived at the court at the next session, on 22 January expecting a date to be set for the trial, only to hear numbing news. "They normally sit for just a few hours in the afternoon. I was taken into the court just before it shut at 4 o'clock. There were three judges and a prosecutor and some details of the case were repeated. One of the judges then said to me that I have been found guilty and the sentence was death. I tried to argue, but, as I said, they talked to me like a criminal, they just said I would be taken back to the prison.

"I was totally shocked. Afterwards I sat and tried to calculate just how long they had taken to judge my case. I thought at first it was three minutes, but then I worked out it was four. That was it, I have been in prison ever since. All I can hope now is that something can be done at the appeal. I would really like the appeal to be heard in Kabul, I think I will get a better hearing there."

Following the international outcry over the case, and the campaign by Mr Kambaksh's supporters, Afghanistan's Supreme Court has said that the appeal may take place at Kabul, away from local justice in Mazar, and that the hearing this time would be in the open. Justice Bahahuddin Baha also stated that the student would have the right to legal representation.

"I think if I get to put over my point of view then the judges will see I have done nothing wrong. But then I was entitled under the constitution to have a lawyer and put my defence the last time and that did not happen. I have heard that President Karzai has taken an interest in my case. He can reprieve me, but I do not know what kind of pressure he is under."

Putting all eggs in Musharraf's basket a mistake: Obama

Pajhwak News Agency, 02/25/2008 -NEW YORK - The leading Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, Thursday charged the Bush Administration of banking entirely on the Pak President Pervez Musharraf, which according to him was a mistake in the US-led global war on terror.

I have said very clearly that we have put all our eggs in the Musharraf basket. That was a mistake, Obama said in a democratic presidential political debate with his rival, Hillary Clinton, in Austin, Texas: the State where the crucial primaries are scheduled to be held on March 4.

Obama, who is now leading against Clinton to bag the democratic presidential nominee, said: We should be going after Al Qaida and making sure that Pakistan is serious about hunting down terrorists, as well as expanding democracy. I was right about that.

Obama has been advocating the policy of hot pursuit against the Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders inside the tribal regions of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, as according to him, the Musharraf Government is not doing enough. The charges have, however been, denied by the Pakistan Government.

On the issues that have come up that a commander in chief is going to have to make decisions on, I have shown the judgment to lead. That is the leadership that I want to show when I'm president of the United States, he said.

On what I believe was the single most important foreign policy decision of this generation, whether or not to go to war in Iraq, I believe I showed the judgment of a commander in chief. And I think that Senator Clinton was wrong in her judgments on that, Obama said claiming that he had better judgment call than Clinton.

While Obama had voted against the Iraq war, Clinton had voted in favor, a decision which she now says she regrets.

The mistake to send troops to Iraq, Obama said has its own consequences. Now, that has consequences -- that has significant consequences, because it has diverted attention from Afghanistan where Al Qaida, that killed 3,000 Americans, are stronger now than at any time since 2001, he said.

You know, I've heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon -- supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq, he said.

Pakistani general's slaying linked to tribal militants

Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan's military said Tuesday that a suicide attack which killed the army's top medical officer was likely in retaliation for operations against Islamic militants near the Afghan border.

Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, the army's surgeon general, was the most senior Pakistani military official to be assassinated since President Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led "war on terror" in 2001.

Monday's attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which killed seven other people, was the first since relatively peaceful elections last week in which Musharraf's political allies were soundly defeated.

"I think apparently it is in response and reaction to the Pakistan army's operations against militants in South Waziristan and other places in FATA (the Federally Administered Tribal Areas)," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

Pakistani intelligence and security agencies have launched a joint investigation and exact details would be known once the probe is over, Abbas said.

Musharraf, caretaker prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro, army chief Ashfaq Kayani and other officials attended funeral prayers for Baig on Tuesday, an army statement said.

Pakistan has lost around 1,000 troops in operations against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who have built safe havens in the lawless tribal areas in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Suicide attacks blamed on tribal militants, especially Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander with links to Al-Qaeda who is based in South Waziristan, have soared since the start of 2007.

Rawalpindi -- the site of army headquarters -- has experienced eight attacks since July, claiming 88 lives including that of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated at a political rally in the city on December 27.

The interior ministry said on Tuesday that security forces had arrested 442 militants in the last three months, 60 of whom were equipped to carry out suicide bombings.

Meanwhile the army said it had busted a bomb-making factory near Spinkai in South Waziristan, including seven boxes of bomb-making material, four readymade bombs, 56 kilos (123 pounds) of explosives, and 12 shotguns.

The latest attacks have posed an immediate challenge to Pakistan's incoming government, set to be a coalition between Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and the grouping of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

A spokesman for Taliban warlord Mehsud said on Sunday that the militants were ready for peace talks with the new government, but only if it does not pursue Musharraf's involvement in the "war on terror".

Mehsud earlier this month also announced a ceasefire with Pakistani troops after a fresh flare-up in the tribal belt, but the army's Abbas denied that there was any such agreement.

"From our side there was no ceasefire nor are we taking part in negotiations with militants," Abbas said.

Pakistan has veered between making peace deals with militants and launching major offensives in the five years since full-scale operations started in the tribal areas in early 2003.

Neither policy has worked and the bloodshed last year spread further from the semi-autonomous tribal belt into the country's "settled" northwestern regions and into major cities.

In the latest violence, gunmen on Tuesday shot dead a Shiite leader in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, police said. Sectarian violence in Pakistan has killed thousands of people since the 1980s.

Elsewhere in the tribal belt a member of Bhutto's party was wounded by a roadside bomb on Tuesday, just over a week after a suicide attack on one of his election rallies left him unscathed but killed 47 people.

Police meanwhile launched a manhunt for the suspected Islamic militants who attacked a British children's charity in the northwestern town of Mansehra, killing four local staff.

Pakistan's extremism starts at the top
By Chietigj Bajpaee – Asia Online

Pakistan's election results have challenged the misplaced fear in the international community that Pakistan could fall under the control of Islamic extremists. However, this does not rule out the possibility of Pakistan's descent into an abyss of instability.

Islamic extremism in Pakistan is not a grass-roots phenomenon as it has been in many states in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Pakistan's founding fathers, led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, preceded by the Indian sub-continent's British colonial rulers and India's Mughal rulers, laid the foundation for Pakistan to be led by the rule of law and moderate Islam.

Nonetheless, successive civilian and military-led governments, the military and intelligence agencies have employed Islamic extremism as a tool of their policies. As such, extremist Islam has emerged as a top-down phenomena.

As demonstrated by the poor performance of Pakistan's Islamic parties in last week's parliamentary elections, Pakistan is far from ripe for an Iranian-style Islamic revolution.

The six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, which secured over 50 seats in the last Parliament with a strong showing in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan, secured less than 10 seats in the National Assembly in this election and lost its lead in tribal provinces to sub-national secular parties such as the Awami National Party and the Balochistan National Party (Awami).

Coupled with the strong showing of the secular Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz at the national level, the election illustrates that secular Islam is alive and kicking in Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan's last parliamentary elections in 2002 were the only time in the country's 60-year history - it has had 10 parliamentary elections - when Islamist parties had a strong showing. This was fueled by the government marginalizing the secular parties, as well as a backlash to the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the ousting of the Taliban from Kabul.

In reality, Islamist groups have only gained ground in Pakistan when the government has employed them as a tool of their policies. During the 1980s, president Zia ul-Haq, backed by the United States, used Islamic extremism to fan the mujahideen against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

During the 1990s, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and successive governments employed Islamic extremism to challenge the Indian claim to Kashmir by undermining India's conventional military superiority with asymmetrical attacks on soft and symbolic targets in Kashmir.

The ISI also attempted to gain "strategic depth" with regard to India by creating an arc of influence from Central Asia to Afghanistan. While Pakistan's military establishment is regarded as professional and secular (with the exception of Zia, who attempted to bring Islam into the political and military sphere), it has not hesitated in using Islamic extremism to battle its enemies. This was seen in Pakistan's support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan until September 11, 2001, and support for Islamic extremist groups in Kashmir.

Under President Pervez Musharraf, Islamic extremists entered Pakistan's mainstream political sphere as Musharraf empowered extremists in order to marginalize Pakistan's secular opposition parties while using the growth of Islamic extremism to justify his non-democratic rule.

While the victory of Pakistan's secular opposition parties will relieve some concern over the "Talibanization" of Pakistan, the threat will not dissipate as long as Islamic extremism continues to be employed as a tool by Pakistan's political parties, the military and the ISI.

In doing so, the government is playing with fire and has occasionally got burned in the process, as seen by the numerous assassination attempts on Musharraf, the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto last December and the death of over 1,000 Pakistani soldiers in operations against extremist elements in Pakistan's tribal regions.

International terrorist and extremist groups have become increasingly localized, as seen by the rise of the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law), led by pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah in the Swat Valley in NWFP and the Tehrek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban) based in the South Waziristan tribal area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, led by Baitullah Meshud. Meshud has been accused by the government of masterminding the assassination of Bhutto.

To quell the rise of Islamic extremism, Pakistan must address fundamental problems plaguing its existence - namely strengthening institutions, reforming the education system and stabilizing Pakistan's periphery.

Empowering Pakistan's institutions and addressing its neglected education system are pivotal to combating Islamic extremism, although Musharraf's pledges in these areas have been unfulfilled.

First, he has undermined the institutions he hoped to strengthen by manipulating the political and legal process to prolong his rule since taking power in a coup in 1999. Second, his military government devoted too few resources to promoting secular education while simultaneously strengthening the military industrial complex and empowering Islamist parties to keep secular opposition parties weak.

The return of a secular civilian government may change this, but given the lack of progress in achieving these goals during a decade of civilian rule by Bhutto and Sharif, significant change is not expected. The fact that Bhutto's inexperienced 19-year-old son, Bilawal, and husband, Asif Ali-Zardari, who faces allegations of corruption, have been appointed as the heads of the PPP ahead of more experienced party members illustrates the continued dominance of feudal patronage over policy platforms in Pakistani politics.

Pakistan's internal stability also remains closely intertwined with its international relations. Although tensions between India and Pakistan have been shelved for the time being, a major terrorist attack on Indian soil or an escalation in terrorist infiltration across the Line of Control that separates the Pakistani and Indian-administered areas of Kashmir, could increase hostility.

The dialogue that was initiated between both states in 2004 is presently in abeyance as the Indian government has apparently decided to take a wait-and-see attitude to the process of political transition in Pakistan. Confidence-building measures must be complemented by a concrete solution to the issue of Kashmir, which remains a thorn in bilateral relations. In the end, rapprochement in India-Pakistan relations will be necessary to justify the Pakistani military's withdrawal from the political sphere.

On Pakistan's western front, addressing the "Pashtun problem" is pivotal to stabilizing relations with Afghanistan. Pashtun nationalism and the disputed status of the Durand Line between the two countries are core issues within Afghan-Pakistan relations.

They were addressed in a "Joint Pakistan-Afghanistan Peace Jirga" (tribal assembly) in Kabul last year, which will be followed by a series of jirgagai or smaller jirgas. However, these initiatives are likely to make slow progress, given the continued level of mistrust between Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the lack of recognition for Pakistani sovereignty over tribal affiliations in the area and the Pakistani side pushing for Afghanistan and the United States to reach rapprochement with "reformed" Taliban.

The recent discussion of Pakistan's "fragmentation" goes back to debates by political pundits during the first decades of neighboring India's independence (1947) that it would also undergo balkanization.

However, a state far more ethnically, religiously and geographically diverse than Pakistan has survived for 60 years and the fear-mongers have been silenced as India has emerged as a darling of foreign investors.

The essential issue that needs to be addressed in Pakistan is one of identity. How does Pakistan see itself? The Nehruvian and Gandhian view of India as a secular democratic state allowed it to reconcile its vast diversity, despite sporadic and ongoing pressures on India to take Pakistan's path based on a narrow religious identity.

Pakistan's Islamic identity has not been sufficient to quell strains between its major ethnic groups and accusations that the national government's policies are dictated by the interests of Punjab province.

India's federalist structure of government, which devolved power to the states, also facilitated in undermining separatist tendencies. A similar empowerment of Pakistan's ethnic and religious minorities would weaken separatist tendencies in Balochistan, NWFP and the tribal areas and help to quell sectarian and ethnic violence on the streets of Pakistan's major cities.

Chietigj Bajpaee is a research analyst for Asia in the Country Intelligence Group at Global Insight. He has been a research associate for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, a research assistant for the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and risk analyst for a New York-based risk management company. The views here are his own.

Afghanistan's Pop Idol breaks barriers

By Alastair Leithead, BBC News, Kabul Monday, 25 February 2008

In the corner of the kebab shop a small television with a crackly picture draws everyone's eye as they plunge their Afghan nan bread into oily sauce and slurp up a chunk of meat.

The cross-legged diners lean to one side as they peer around a sheep's carcass that momentarily blocks the screen as it's passed from the freezer to the hook from which it then hangs in the window.

It's nine o'clock on Friday night and Afghan Star is on the TV, with just a handful of wannabe singers left, competing for fame and fortune in the glitzy and glamorous Afghan version of the talent show Pop Idol.

It's a huge hit on one of the national private stations, Tolo TV, but it's controversial in a country that's still very conservative. Most of the contestants who've not yet been voted out are men, but there is still one woman left.

Lima Sahaar is from the southern province of Kandahar and each week she travels up to the studios in Kabul for the show with her mother.

Her hair is usually covered with a scarf, her face not. The fact that a young woman from the birthplace of the Taleban is on stage performing each week says a lot about the way Afghanistan has changed in six years.

Taking such an obvious liberal stance can be dangerous, and although she explained she had the support of her family, there are many people opposed to her.

"I'm not afraid," she told me. "Afghan people don't care about risks or dangers.

"I think all of Afghanistan is in danger, but if we worry about those dangers we can't move on and the country's not going to develop."

She's already got the precocious traits of a young star - the dismissive attitude, the mobile phone texting while we talk - and the hallmarks of a manager looming large in the shape of her forceful mother.

She's not just the only woman left, she's also the only Pashtun, and in a country where ethnicity still means so much, she's almost guaranteed to stay in the show a little longer at least.

At the rehearsals the night before the weekly studio recording it was good to see the mix of young Afghans, their sights set on a better future for themselves.

They each stand up and perform this week's traditional song in front of their competitors - a modern beat accompanying them on the keyboard.

The presenter, Daud Sediqi, was a medical student when the Taleban were in power, but he also used to be an underground television and video repair man when TV was banned by the oppressive government.

"I always wanted to be in the music industry and now my life has totally turned around," he said.

And indeed it has - he's now one of the most famous people in Afghanistan with a huge crowd clamouring to get in to see his programme every week.

There's barbed wire around the entrance to the Afghan wedding hall that has been temporarily converted into a TV studio.

That, and the armed guards clutching their AK-47s and patting down those holding a golden ticket to the show, indicates how much further the country still has to go.

The women go straight upstairs and take their seats first and then the male majority push and shove, whistling and shouting excitedly and the men with guns and bodyguard style earpieces let them through one by one.

"Afghan Star is very good as it shows all the sleeping talent across Afghanistan," one young man in the crowd told me in good English.

"The young generation before, during the decades of war, could not stand up and show what they had, but now all the young generation can show their talents. Their talent is therefore very important for everyone."

And another laughed when I asked if this would have been possible under the Taleban. "Back then we couldn't even listen to music in our own homes," he said.

Oscars tribute to torture victim

BBC, 02/25/2008 - Tributes have been paid at the Oscars award ceremony in Hollywood to a young Afghan taxi driver who died in US military detention. The American director, Alex Gibney, who won Best Documentary for Taxi to the Dark Side, dedicated his film to the 22-year-old driver, Dilawar.

His death at a prison in Afghanistan in 2002 provided the basis for the film.

A leaked US military report later found that his mistreatment continued after interrogators decided he was innocent.

The film examines the interrogation techniques used by American forces.

[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.]