In this bulletin:

• Suicide bomb kills seven in southern Afghanistan
• Canadian soldier killed on patrol near Kandahar
• Drone strike kills 14 in Pakistan
• Canada confident on Afghan troops offer soon
• French pressed to decide on Afghan deployment
• Afghan mission extension right choice: troops
• Japan to provide $29 mln dollars to Afghanistan
• Trans-Afghan gas pipeline project steering committee to meet in Islamabad
• Afghan urges "name and shame" war on graft, drugs
• Analyst: Taliban will exploit Dutch film
• Making a mark in the fight against polio
• AFGHANISTAN: Drought not floods more likely in 2008 – UNAMA
• AFGHANISTAN: Kabul’s air pollution putting people’s health at risk
• Young Afghan woman runs toward Olympics despite jeers, potential danger
• Afghan judges, factories end crime strike
• Lost Afghan gold revealed

Suicide bomb kills seven in southern Afghanistan

March 17, 2008 - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed two Danish and one Czech NATO soldiers, an interpreter and three civilians in southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.

The Taliban have threatened to step up their campaign of suicide attacks this year to wear down Afghan and Western public support for the presence of foreign troops in the country.

The bomber attacked a convoy from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) near the village of Girishk in the southern province of Helmand, an ISAF spokesman said.

"Three ISAF soldiers, one ISAF interpreter and three Afghan civilians were killed by the blast," said spokesman Captain Mark Gough. "Four ISAF soldiers and approximately six Afghan civilians were wounded."

Two Danish soldiers were killed and one was wounded in the attack, the Danish Army Central Command said. The troops were working on a reconstruction project when they were attacked.

The third dead soldier was Czech, as were two of the wounded, the Czech Defense Ministry said.

Most foreign troops in Helmand are British, but another military spokesman said no British soldiers were there at the time. U.S. and Estonian troops are also in Helmand.

Violence has spiraled since the hardline Islamist Taliban relaunched their insurgency to topple the pro-Western Afghan government and eject foreign troops two years ago.

The Taliban rely heavily on suicide and roadside bomb attacks, but as foreign forces use more heavily armed vehicles and are becoming better at avoiding casualties, a greater proportion of the victims are Afghan civilians.

The Taliban carried out more than 140 suicide attacks last year, killing some 200 civilians.

More than 12,000 people, including some 350 foreign soldiers, have been killed in Afghanistan since 2006, according to United Nations estimates.

On Sunday night, a Canadian soldier was killed by an explosion in Kandahar, the ISAF said.

(Additional reporting by Martin Dokoupil in Prague)

Canadian soldier killed on patrol near Kandahar

OLIVER MOORE – Globe and Mail March 17, 2008

KANDAHAR -- A newly arrived Canadian soldier was killed last night while on foot patrol in the volatile Panjwai district southwest of Kandahar city.

The soldier, whose name has not been released, died after triggering an explosion around the village of Zangabad, a dangerous area littered with mines and improvised explosive devices. He was brought by helicopter to the hospital at Kandahar Airfield, where he died of his wounds.

He is the 81st Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan. One diplomat has also been killed. Brigadier-General Guy Laroche, overall commander of the Canadian contingent, praised the slain soldier as a "brother and a fine soldier."

"He answered the call of duty," the general said this morning at the military base outside of Kandahar. "I would like to convey our most sincere sympathies to the family of our fallen comrade."

The soldier's name was withheld at the request his family, as were any identifying details, including hometown, unit and age.

Brig.-Gen. Laroche did say that the soldier was part of the contingent of soldiers that arrived in the past few weeks. But he said that was not a factor in the incident. "It's not a question of experience and it's not a question of his being new."

Securing the Panjwai district has been a bloody and repetitive task for the military.

The regiment known as the Vandoos spent part of its rotation here trying to extend its control further west into Panjwai and Zhari districts, recapturing villages overrun by Taliban earlier in the year. They established small outposts across the volatile districts, gaining ground as the winter cold discourages the insurgents from fighting.

These operations came after other Canadian soldiers had, more than a year earlier, already cleared the area of insurgents. Hastily trained auxiliary local police were assigned to posts throughout the area, but many of these posts were subsequently overrun by insurgents, forcing Canadians to reassert their authority.

Brig.-Gen. Laroche said yesterday's foot patrol in the Zangabad area was a joint operation with the Afghan National Army and was intended to serve three purposes: Show a visible presence, monitor the security situation and interact with local inhabitants.

In spite of the obvious additional risks, deaths while on foot patrol are comparatively rare and it has been about 10 months since a similar incident occurred,the military said. The majority of Canadians have died while riding in their vehicles, victim of the roadside bombs that have struck convoys and patrols with grim regularity. The latest came two weeks ago. Trooper Michael Hayakaze, a 25-year-old with Lord Strathcona's Horse who was days away from returning home, was the victim of a roadside bomb.

Canada is particularly vulnerable to these bombs because its forces do not have their own helicopters in Afghanistan.

But Ottawa and the United States are currently in the final stages of high-level talks that could finally provide Canadian troops with six Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters for operations in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said this month.

Reliable access to helicopters was one of the conditions laid out in the Manley report on Afghanistan. In the wake of that report, the House of Commons voted last week to continue the mission for another two years, provided helicopters could be secured and another 1,000 troops found to assist in the Canadian area of operations.

Mr. MacKay said that the options include leasing the choppers from either the United States or another country or persuading the U.S. Army to allow the Canadians to move ahead of them on the Boeing production schedule.

Drone strike kills 14 in Pakistan

By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad - March 17 2008

At least fourteen people were killed in a remote Pakistani region along the Afghan border in a missile strike on Sunday believed to have been carried out by a pilotless drone operated by the CIA.

Pakistani officials said more than half the victims were Arabs who were meeting at the home of a Pakistani sympathiser when they were attacked. “The target was a cluster of homes where Arabs and their Pakistani friends had assembled” said one Pakistani official.

The attack, which came ahead of Monday’s opening of the new parliament led by the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), raised the possibility of retaliatory attacks by Islamic hardline militants opposed to Pakistan’s support for the US-led war on terror.

In the past, Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have responded to drone attacks with suicide bombings across the country.

On Saturday night, a popular Italian restaurant frequented by westerners living in an upscale area of Islamabad was targeted in the latest incident. One Turkish woman was killed and eleven others including five Americans were injured in a blast at Luna Caprese, a restaurant popular with expatriates.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official on Sunday night told the Financial Times that the bombing was believed to be the latest in connection with a campaign masterminded by Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani tribal militant from the border region.

Western diplomats have warned that internal security conditions will be the most significant challenge of the new government – a coalition between the PPP of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

On Friday, a Pakistani court dismissed the last of seven corruption charges against Asif Zardari, Ms Bhutto’s widower, paving the way for him to hold political office. He is effectively the head of the PPP as its co-chairman along with Bilawal, his 19-year-old son, and his legal victory has prompted speculation that he may contest a parliamentary by-election and position himself to be elected prime minister.

Canada confident on Afghan troops offer soon

BRUSSELS, March 16 (Reuters) - Canada is confident NATO allies will come forward soon to supply the extra troops it has demanded as a condition for keeping its 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Peter Mackay said on Sunday.

Mackay said there had been high-level contacts among NATO allies, including between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and that a decision could be made before or during an April 2-4 NATO summit in Bucharest.

"We feel 1,000 troops (as a reinforcement) is a minimum...I am confident we will have that," he told a security and foreign policy conference in Brussels.

Canadian troops are based in the southern province of Kandahar and have seen some of the highest casualties as NATO's 43,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) battles against a Taliban-led insurgency.

France said last month it was considering an offer of support to the Canadians but since then alliance sources say Paris is also mulling a re-deployment of forces currently based in the capital Kabul to east Afghanistan by the Pakistan border.

U.S. officials told Reuters last week they wanted France to put its troops directly in the south, but would agree to a deployment in the east that could subsequently allow U.S. troops to shift to the south and meet Canada's request.

Such a rotation would be part of a wider effort to reinforce ISAF, with Britain mulling an extra 600 troops in neighbouring Helmand province and Poland ready to take on more responsibility in the east and add some 500 troops, alliances sources said.

Canada's mission in Afghanistan is currently due to end in February 2009, but the government has agreed to remain until 2011 if another NATO country agrees to supply the added troops Ottawa says are needed for the mission to succeed.

Eighty Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan and polls show the public is split on the mission.

Mackay said he believed Canadians were coming round to the view that the Afghan mission was winnable and worthwhile, but played down any prospect of a fast exit of NATO troops or withdrawal of the international presence in Afghanistan.

"Exit strategies are useful for domestic political consumption but this is going to take a consistent long-term international effort," he told reporters at the event hosted by the German Marshall Fund thinktank. (Reporting by Mark John; Editing by Matthew Jones)

French pressed to decide on Afghan deployment

MURRAY BREWSTER - Canadian Press, March 16, 2008

OTTAWA — Canada and its NATO allies, including the United States, have stepped up the pressure on the French government to make up its mind about exactly where it will deploy extra troops headed for Afghanistan.

In an interview Sunday with The Canadian Press, Defence Minister Peter MacKay confirmed weeks of speculation, saying the Americans have “signalled that they will backstop” Canada with reinforcements in Kandahar after February 2009 if necessary.

But the focus of high-level diplomacy and military contingency planning is now squarely on French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had been widely expected to keep mum about his intentions until a summit of NATO leaders in Bucharest, Romania next month.

It's believed that, if the French do not want to serve alongside Canadians in Kandahar, their battle group of paratroopers could deploy in the eastern part of the country, thereby freeing up U.S. forces for the south.

Canadian soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force sit on their armored vehicle as they patrol in the streets of Kandahar on March 12 after a suicide attack. A Taliban suicide car bomb struck a Canadian NATO military convoy in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, killing at least one civilian and wounding a soldier. Witnesses said several wounded and bleeding civilians were rushed from the site of the powerful blast, which set a house ablaze and left several vehicles damaged.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Canada Saturday to protest this country's combat role in Afghanistan. The current arm-twisting comes days after Parliament gave conditional approval to extending the Canadian commitment to Kandahar until 2011.

The Conservative government now faces an impatient Liberal opposition that wants to know how soon 1,000 reinforcements — the key condition to continuing the Canadian mission — will be on the way.

Mr. MacKay acknowledged, in the interview from Brussels, that the Tories have put a time limit on how long they will wait for answers from NATO partners. But he didn't indicate what the deadline might be.

“As you know the French have not proclaimed themselves as of yet, (but) I suspect they may be getting pressure from other countries as well to make a public statement,” he said.

“I think there's pressure for them to simply announce what their decision will be. It's probably coming from within their own country.

“Nobody wants that kind of uncertainty and I think, you know, we can expect they will make a decision — if they haven't already — prior to Bucharest. They may want to make their decision known at the conference and that, of course, is their prerogative, but for planning purposes we need to get on with meeting that contingency of 1,000 (troops).”

In addition to the extra troops, Canada is looking for equipment including helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft.

Mr. MacKay met with allies over the weekend at a conference of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, where transatlantic security issues were debated.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and other alliance representatives were happy the Canadian extension was granted, the minister said.

Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have borne the brunt of the resurgent Taliban, with support from Denmark, Romania, Estonia and non-NATO Australia.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Mr. MacKay cautioned against talk of a NATO exit strategy, citing an influx of Taliban insurgents from Pakistan.

“This type of insurgency is a long and abiding challenge. This is going to take a consistent, long-term effort,” Mr. MacKay said.

He also described the Canadian demand for an additional 1,000 troops in the Kandahar region as “really a minimum.”

Some independent military analysts have suggested that thousands more are needed for effective operations, and Arif Lalani, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan, agreed Sunday that “more troops would be better.”

But Mr. Lalani told CTV's Question Period that finding a “credible military partner” to put up the 1,000 reinforcements will at least improve the situation while the Afghan National Army is trained to take a greater role in the fighting.

“There's very good news in terms of their progress,” he said of the Afghan training effort. “That, essentially, will amount to more troops.”

Canada has lost 80 soldiers and a diplomat in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2002.

The death toll had put Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government under pressure to withdraw Canadian troops in February 2009, when their mandate was to expire.

But with the help of the Liberals, Mr. Harper was able to push the 2011 mission extension through Parliament.

Canada's pleas for more support from its NATO partners have long gone unheeded, creating tensions in the alliance. Meanwhile, militants stepped up attacks to make 2007 the deadliest year in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime.

At the security conference Sunday, Mr. de Hoop Scheffer used NATO's plight in Afghanistan to call for a fresh look at the alliance's current strategic thinking to take account of energy security and climate change.

“We need to anticipate these dangers and do more preventatively to mitigate their effects,” he said. Mr. de Hoop Scheffer suggested the allies develop a new “Atlantic Charter” as soon as the next U.S. administration has taken office in 2009.

Afghan mission extension right choice: troops

Matthew Fisher, National Post Published: Monday, March 17, 2008

The decision to extend Canada's Afghan mission until sometime in 2011 was met with neither joy nor sorrow by the men and women that Parliament expects to fulfill this new mandate.

There was almost universal agreement among those Canadians serving here that the decision was the right one. The news was received quietly, perhaps because victory or defeat still seems very far off.

The political act of extending the mission was the easy part. Sustaining the current high tempo represents a monumental challenge.

Parliament's new chosen end date was as artificial as the one that had Canada leaving Afghanistan next year. Mindful of what needs to be done and the hugely expensive semipermanent infrastructure that Canada is still building in Kandahar, few on the ground here believe that Canada will leave Afghanistan in 2011.

It is impossible to divine the compisiton of the force in 2011 at this point. And not only because three years is a long time to plan ahead in a war against an elusive quarry that appears unbowed by horrendous casualties and regards it as a great victory to simply be able to hang on.

Far from enjoying the "peace dividend" occasioned by the fall of the Soviet Union, Canada's army was badly stretched by 15 years of back-to-back assignments in the Balkans and Africa even before it got to Afghanistan. This has been especially true of those in specialist trades such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, weapons techs and logisticians.

With at least six more six-month rotations to fulfill by 2011, the infantry regiments around which Canada's forges its battle groups are already in a state approaching chaos. Almost every one of the army's nine infantry battalions has had at least one of its three companies poached by other battle group rotations to provide force protection for provincial reconstruction teams or to provide trainers for the burgeoning mentoring teams that are now training the Afghan army and police. In exactly the same way, squadrons have been poached from the three armoured regiments.

Furthermore, because so many of the deaths in this war have been caused by buried homemade bombs and because there has been a fairly constant demand for new forward operating bases, there has been a relentless demand for combat and construction engineers.

To keep providing battle groups for Afghanistan the swapping of more infantry companies and reconnaissance squadrons between regiments is highly likely. There will also inevitably be more of what are called "waivers," allowing soldiers due at least a year at home with their families to be called back to Afghanistan before their planned periods of rest and training are up.

As began to happen with the U.S. armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan two or three years ago, a small but increasing number of Canadian air force and navy personnel have been seconded to the army in Kandahar, a trend that will surely now accelerate.

The pressure of constantly providing 2,200 fresh troops at a time for this mission, after several years of doing almost the same thing for slightly smaller battle groups based in Kabul, at a time when the Canadian economy has been white hot, has created significant stresses. As Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie confirmed in an interview in Kandahar last fall, because so many soldiers can get better paying jobs outside the military, the army he commands has been having serious problems retaining the experienced personnel who are the backbone of any combat formation as well as the boot camp instructors that the badly army needs in order to meet a government-mandated order for a few thousand more combat soldiers.

If the Afghan army and police can shoulder more of the security burden in the next couple of years -- and this is a big if -- Canada may be able to fulfill future Afghan commitments by shifting most of their resources to the kind of mentoring and reconstruction units that the Liberals have spoken about.

An obvious way for Canada to continue in Afghanistan after 2011 without ripping the army further apart might be to dispatch a squadron of CF-18 Hornet fighter jets. This would be an immensely expensive undertaking, but smaller air forces from the Netherlands, Norway and even Belgium have already done this.

Something for Canadians to consider is that even if the mission does not extend beyond 2011 their country will not reach the halfway mark of its new Afghan combat commitment until sometime this August.

Japan to provide $29 mln dollars to Afghanistan

KABUL, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Under an agreement inked Monday in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, the government of Japan agreed to provide a fresh grant of 3 billion Japanese Yen (approximately 29 million U.S. dollars) to the war-torn nation.

Hideo Sato, the ambassador of Japan to Afghanistan, and Mohammad Kabir Farahi, the deputy to Afghan Foreign Ministry, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.

The grant, according to a statement of Afghan Foreign Ministry,will be used in improving economic structure and poverty alleviation projects in the war-battered country.

Japan, with contributing more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in the reconstruction of the post-Taliban Afghanistan over the past six years, is the second largest contributor after the Untied States to the war-torn nation.

Trans-Afghan gas pipeline project steering committee to meet in Islamabad

A regular meeting of the Tran-Afghan gas pipeline project steering committee will be held in Islamabad coming April, Baymurad Khojamukhamedov, minister of oil and gas industry and mineral resources of Turkmenistan, said last week at a government meeting discussing the development of the fuel and energy sector of Turkmenistan.

According to the minister, the Asian Development Bank has been picked as a leading partner that has prepared the feasibility study of the project jointly with British company Penspen. The gas pipeline will have the capacity of 33 billion cubic meters. Baymurad Khojamukhamedov noted the relevance and economic expediency of this project. He also emphasized that "Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and many other countries were extremely interested in the project."

Afghan urges "name and shame" war on graft, drugs

By Paul Taylor

BRUSSELS, March 16 (Reuters) - Afghanistan is ready to launch a "name and shame" campaign against high-level corruption and drug trafficking if it gets international backing, a senior minister and ally of President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday.

Education Minister Hanif Atmar said Karzai, a fellow ethnic Pashtun, was prepared to consider action against members of his own entourage if presented with evidence against them.

"We are ready to do that naming and shaming... Six years ago we didn't want to rock the boat, now it is time for a bold action like that," Atmar told a security conference in Brussels of the period after the 2001 ousting of the Taliban from power.

"It can certainly happen this year ... The president has said that if we talk about certain people in government, the president has to be provided with evidence and he will decide how to go about it," he told Reuters later.

Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of opium, is ranked 172 out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption perception index.

Karzai acknowledged last year that corruption among Afghan officials was rife. The United Nations has named graft as a factor behind the rise in opium production, which has in turn fuelled a violent, Taliban-led insurgency.

Atmar, a technocrat respected as an able administrator, called for international help to ensure full transparency and documentation as cases were investigated.

"We must make sure these people have their basic rights so that when the naming and shaming happens, it should be on the basis of solid evidence. They should not become victims of political rivalry," he said.

In an apparent reference to the United States' alliance with some tribal warlords to ease its 2001 invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban from power, the minister said some of those who needed to be "named" were imposed on the Kabul government.

Efforts should also be made to arrest and prosecute suspects currently living outside Afghanistan, Atmar said.

"There must be due process to prosecute them no matter where they are, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Europe, in Britain. We should remove the sense of impunity." (Writing by Mark John; Editing by Charles Dick)

Analyst: Taliban will exploit Dutch film

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- The Taliban are exploiting popular anger in Afghanistan about a forthcoming Dutch film attacking the Koran, leading to security fears for Dutch troops there.

In an analysis from a new Afghan think tank, the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies, Executive Director Waliullah Rahmani also says the insurgents will use the issue to leverage their way into the political dialogue.

"The Taliban seem eager to exploit the religious sentiments of the Afghan people," he writes, noting "mass protests in the major cities of Afghanistan" earlier this month against the forthcoming film, "Fitna" -- "Ordeal" in Arabic. The director, controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilder, has compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf.

The protestors called for the severing of relations with the Dutch and Danish governments and the withdrawal of peacekeeping troops from both those countries.

The demonstrations were also directed against the republication of the so-called Mohammed cartoons by Danish papers. Criticizing the Koran and depicting the Prophet Mohammed are both regarded as blasphemous by Muslims.

"It is the first time since the fall of the Taliban that popular demands have been issued for the withdrawal of foreign troops," writes Rahmani, noting, "These demands are also the only precondition of the Taliban for peace talks."

"There appears to be an increased danger for Danish and Dutch troops stationed in southern Afghanistan, an unstable region controlled partly by the Taliban and its followers," he concludes.

Making a mark in the fight against polio

Chalk notations help roaming Unicef volunteers track efforts to immunize every child under 5 in Afghanistan

OLIVER MOORE Globe and Mail - March 17, 2008

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Like Egyptologists deciphering inscriptions inside a tomb, the men peered closely at markings covering the door and traded opinions in bursts of Pashto.

These were not scholars discussing hieroglyphics unearthed in a pyramid, but volunteer health workers in a residential area of downtown Kandahar.

Mud-brick walls loomed close on either side and a trickle of sludgy liquid ran along a trench down the centre of the alley. In front of the men, set into the featureless wall, was a firmly locked metal door covered with chalk notations. Similar markings can be found on doors across the south and each is a message to volunteers who fanned out this week on their latest blitz against polio.

Polio is a viral infectious disease that can lead to paralysis. It has been eradicated in much of the world; Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria are the only countries in which it is still considered endemic. In Afghanistan, in the rural areas especially, care for victims is rudimentary or non-existent.

But now, in spite of rising security concerns and the worrying early emergence of new cases this year, Unicef is well on the way to immunizing every Afghan child under the age of 5. It's a mammoth task made possible, in part, by simple chalk notations that act as a sort of evolving medical chart for the roaming volunteers.

One glance at the door and the volunteers should be able to tell whether the house has been visited, how many children were there on the last visit and whether they were immunized. At least in theory. When the crew rapped on this particular door this week, they found children whose ink-marked forefinger and forehead indicated they'd already been immunized.

The family retreated into their home and the medical crew fell into discussion as they pondered the markings on the door. Eventually one used his chalk to add yet another notation. With a shrug, they walked on.

It's an imperfect system, but it may be the only way to be reasonably confident of eventually reaching all Afghan children. There is no census from which to tick off names and the constant movement of people has been increased by security concerns.

"This is a very problematic region and the major problem is poor security," said Dr. Shahwali Popal, who heads the immunization program for southern Afghanistan out of Kandahar's Unicef office.

In the face of that, helped by a three-year commitment from CIDA for approximately $15-million, volunteers working have managed to immunize about one million young children in the past year, Dr. Popal said.

This week they made a three-day sweep known as an NID: national immunization days. It was their third one this year and will be followed later in the month by a "mopping up" operation. Volunteers fanned out and fixed operations were set up at medical facilities and border crossings.

Fourteen-year-old student volunteers named Nasibulla and Atiqulla were manning a table at the gate to Mirwais Hospital in downtown Kandahar. They sprang into action at the sight of any small child, rushing to flag down entering vehicles. For the most part, parents were easily persuaded and the volunteers administered drops of vaccine into the mouths of children who seemed both curious and nervous.

Over the past year, efforts such as these have allowed volunteers to immunize about 90 per cent of children under five, Dr. Popal said, and they are now keen to cut the remaining number in half.

But although the volunteers have officially been given safe passage by the Taliban, the insurgency is not a cohesive hierarchy and this agreement is not necessarily followed by all fighters. As well, smugglers, bandits and other armed men pose a constant risk in southern Afghanistan.

There have also been occasional problems in the conservative areas with religious leaders counselling against the immunization. But the real concern is the security situation, which can change in an instant.

"In the morning you can go in [to a village] but in the afternoon you can't," explained Dr. Rahmatullah Kamwak, who heads up local World Health Organization efforts.

Another concern this year is the earlier and more rapid emergence of polio cases. In 2007 there were 15 cases, but this year there has been three cases already, two in Helmand and one in Kandahar province. That rate could indicate an overall increase and, more worryingly, the first appeared in January, three months before the first case last year.

Health officials are putting an optimistic face on the result, saying that the earlier cases may be the result of more rigorous testing. They also note that the case in Kandahar was in a part of the province that could not before be reached but has since been visited by immunization teams.

AFGHANISTAN: Drought not floods more likely in 2008 – UNAMA

KABUL, 17 March 2008 (IRIN) - Despite widespread concern that millions could be vulnerable to seasonal flooding as a result of rapid thawing of unusually heavy winter snow, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said it does not believe "severe floods" – as witnessed in 2007 – will occur in 2008.

"The technical evidence obtained from remote-sensing - satellite photography - and other sources shows that flooding on the scale of spring 2007 is very unlikely," Charlie Higgins, head of UNAMA's humanitarian affairs unit, told the media in Kabul on 17 March.

Parts of Afghanistan suffered the harshest winter in decades. Heavy snowfall and exceptionally low temperatures killed over 1,000 people and hundreds of thousands of livestock, according to Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) figures.

In February a national emergency commission – made up of several government and non-governmental bodies – warned that 21 out of the country's 34 provinces were "vulnerable" to spring floods. The warning had prompted aid agencies to plan for a possible humanitarian emergency.

However, UNAMA's latest findings show that warm weather since mid-February has already melted up to 70 percent of the snow in areas which experienced exceptionally heavy snowfall in the past several months.

The current "snow-water equivalent" is 25 percent less than average – and 90 percent less than in 2007 - which indicates that the amount of water stored in the snowpack is low for this time of year, UNAMA said.

"This does not bode well for the main 'Aram' [wheat] crop, which is planted in different areas from August to October and will be harvested in 2009," said Higgins, adding that 80 percent of water used for irrigation comes from surface sources.

According to UNAMA, farmers in the northern provinces of Faryab, Badakhshan and Balkh will probably face shortages of irrigation water even in the first cultivation season, which will negatively affect the staple crop harvest in 2008.

"Farmers are right to be concerned about drought," Higgins said.

Parts of Afghanistan, particularly southern, western and southwestern provinces, have already faced years of drought, which has devastated the livelihoods of many agriculture-and-livestock-dependent communities.

Humanitarian agencies are concerned that drought will worsen the plight of the eight million or so food-insecure people in the country.

AFGHANISTAN: Kabul’s air pollution putting people’s health at risk

KABUL, 16 March 2008 (IRIN) - Worsening air pollution in Kabul is “seriously” threatening the health and well-being of its estimated three million residents, Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) has said.

“In terms of air pollution we are facing a crisis in Kabul,” Dad Mohammad Baheer, the deputy director of NEPA, told IRIN.

“Over 70 percent of diseases in Kabul are linked to air pollution, unclean water and solid waste,” he said, adding that children were particularly susceptible to various diseases originating from toxic pollutants in the air.

Severe air pollution causes respiratory disorders, eye and nasal problems, and is one of the major causes of lung cancer, public health experts say.

“Over the past few years diagnosed cases of cancer, mainly among children, have increased considerably,” Baheer said.

A short stroll in Kabul during the daytime leads to clear evidence – when one blows one’s nose on a handkerchief - of the polluted atmosphere.

Kabul has also lost over 70 percent of its greenery, particularly trees, over the past two decades, NEPA’s findings show.

Vehicle emissions are considered a major contributor to air pollution: Every month Kabul’s one million vehicles are added to by over 8,000 new vehicles registered with the Kabul traffic department, officials said. Most vehicles in Kabul are over 10 years old and more polluting than modern ones.

“The problem in Kabul is compounded by the widespread use of substandard car fuel and old engines,” Baheer said.

Power cuts and the absence a national natural gas grid mean that many households use wood, coal and heating oil for cooking and heating.

Moreover, some brick factories, public baths and small businesses burn old tyres, plastic and combustible waste to run their businesses more cheaply. Toxic pollutants, sulfur oxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide are emitted, NEPA experts say.

“Poor waste management – both solid and otherwise - is yet another major problem in Kabul which also damages the air quality,” Baheer said.

Unlike some other capital cities, Kabul has the added problem of its arid and mountainous landscape and lack of nearby woodlands, according to NEPA.

Kabul faces numerous environmental problems: a virtually non-existent sewage and sanitation system, burgeoning slums, crumbling infrastructure and rapid population growth. The fledging environmental protection agency will have an uphill struggle in improving air quality.

“We have to act fast and execute a series of projects such as the rehabilitation of forests and promotion of greenery, ban the import and use of substandard fuel, improve waste management... and build and strengthen our own institutional capacity,” NEPA’s deputy director said.

NEPA is looking forward to receiving its first ever assistance from a donor: The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has pledged about US$500,000, Baheer said.

Young Afghan woman runs toward Olympics despite jeers, potential danger

The Associated Press - Sunday, March 16, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan: The neighborhood boys shout at Mehboba Ahdyar when she leaves home. "Hero, hero! Look at the hero of our country," they yell at Ahdyar, one of Afghanistan's fastest female runners.

But the boys are not saluting a top athlete. Their sarcastic jabs are meant to poke fun at a teenage girl trying to realize Olympic-sized dreams. Ahdyar, a 19-year-old middle-distance runner, is the only female on Afghanistan's four-member Olympic team.

"I feel bad about all these things that happen to me every day, but I'll still march forward," Ahdyar told the AP Wednesday. "I never show weakness. I'll fight through these challenges."

Afghanistan, which has never won an Olympic medal, was banned from the 2000 Games in Sydney because the Taliban regime outlawed women from taking part in sports. The country participated in the Atlanta Games in 1996, before the Taliban came to power, and the Athens Games in 2004.

Ahdyar faces an uphill battle for Olympic success. Practice facilities are Spartan at best in Afghanistan, which is still fighting its way through a violent Taliban insurgency six years after the hard-line regime's ouster.

Although women's rights have improved dramatically since 2001, women here are still second-class citizens. Most wear the all-covering burqa in public and would need male family members' permission before tackling anything remotely as ambitious as trying to become an Olympic athlete.

More ominously, Ahdyar's mother worries about the security situation in the country. Taliban militants often target organizations and individuals who champion women's issues, and the taunting by neighborhood boys — a mere nuisance in other societies — could draw the attention of militant suicide bombers.

"We are scared, really scared about the security situation in our country, and of the people who have negative views about my family," her mother, Moha Jan, said. But she added: "These problems cannot stop us from supporting our daughter."

During practice — held inside Kabul's main sports stadium, where the Taliban used to carry out public executions — Ahdyar wears a headscarf, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, keeping in the tradition of the modest dress of women here.

Though she has won competitions in Afghanistan, she has never competed outside the country. She and Afghan sprinter Masoud Azizi will soon travel to Malaysia for five months to train before the Beijing Games in August.

Her times are not exactly world-class. Ahdyar runs 1,500 meters in about four minutes and 50 seconds, a full minute slower than the Olympic record. Her 800 meter times are not much stronger, but Afghan officials say they do not expect the country's athletes to win any medals.

"The presence of Afghan athletes is more important for us than bringing home medals," said Mohmood Zia Dashti, the Afghan National Olympic committee's vice president.

Ahdyar may draw the neighborhood kids' scorn, but she is a champion in her own home. "I admire my daughter. She is a hero and a very good athlete," her mother said. "My wish is that she comes back with a good result for Afghanistan."

Ahdyar's family of eight lives in a mud brick house in one of the poorest parts of the capital, Kabul. In a sign of the potential dangers Ahdyar's family might face in this conservative country, Jan said she was concerned neighbors might think the family was operating a brothel because she was hosting a group of male journalists at home.

Afghanistan's first female runner to participate in the Olympics was Robina Muqimyar, who ran in the 2004 Athens games wearing a T-shirt and long green track pants. Ahdyar said she would not run in Beijing if organizers force her to wear tight-fitting track clothing.

Another of Afghanistan's Olympic athletes is Azizi, a 20-year-old male sprinter who competed in Athens. Azizi said he has been training hard the last four years and hopes to win a medal in the 100 meters in Beijing, though that might not be likely. His best time is 10.90 seconds, about a second off the world record.

Still, the country's athletes might even be inspiring Ahdyar's name-calling neighborhood boys to give sports a second look. After Ahdyar won US$1,000 (euro642) by coming in first place at a track event held in Afghanistan, Ahdyar said she overheard some of her neighborhood detractors wonder aloud if they shouldn't lace up their running shoes.

"Look at that girl, she won (US$1,000) from running," Ahdyar recalled a boy saying. "Why are we sitting here doing nothing? Let's start running."

Afghan judges, factories end crime strike

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — Judges and factory employees in the western Afghan city of Herat were back at work Saturday, ending a near week-long strike after the government pledged better security, representatives said.

Hundreds of doctors, judges, factory workers and shopkeepers took part in the work stoppage to protest a wave of crime.

Health workers started the strike Saturday last week and were joined for various intervals by the others.

About 250 factories called off the action after authorities, notably the interior minister, promised better security, said Toryalai Raufi, deputy chairman of the city industrialists' union.

President Hamid Karzai sent Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel and other security officials to the city to address the concerns. Police have said there were 40 abductions there last year, many for ransom.

Raufi told AFP the agreement to end the strike was reached late Thursday, before the Friday weekend, and the factories were open again Saturday.

"We agreed to reopen our factories after the government promised to provide us protection. There will be police checkposts in the industrial park," he said.

About 100 judges had returned to their jobs for the same reasons, appeals court judge Abdul Qader Sa'yeem said. "The government promised security and also there were lots of cases that we had to address," he said.

Doctors in state hospitals returned to work mid-week, reportedly on the orders of the government, but some were still not doing private work, doctors' union head Nisar Ahmad Musadeq said.

The interior ministry said meanwhile that Minister Moqbel met tribal elders and other representatives of the city Saturday and listened to their concerns and demand for action, pledging to address matters.

Crime, including kidnapping for ransom, has soared in major cities since the fall of the hardline Taliban government in late 2001.

Herat is a major commercial centre because of its proximity to the border with Iran, a key trading partner.

Lost Afghan gold revealed

By KEE HUA CHEE – The Malay Star 3.16.08

Some 250 rare and precious archaeological objects recovered from the subterranean vaults of a bank in Kabul are now on display.

AFGHANISTAN is unfortunately synonymous with war, despair and desolation. Yet, it was once a powerful, much admired and envied kingdom as it was strategically located along the Silk Route. Ancient Afghanistan was at the very crossroads of civilisations in central Asia and Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and other faiths have left vestiges of their presence over the centuries. For instance, most were unaware two of the Bamiyan statues were among the world’s biggest statues of Buddha till they were bombed into smithereens by the Taliban in 2001. 

By the 20th century, Afghanistan’s days of glory seemed over. Even before the Russians invaded in 1979, this isolated country was already one of the world’s least developed and poorest. During the decade-long occupation by the Soviet Union which caused two million deaths and destroyed the economy and infrastructure, western powers with vested interests fought proxy wars for control over this landlocked land. Lawlessness in the 29 provinces became the norm and power was held by local warlords, kingpins and shadowy brokers who controlled the poppy fields.  

In olden days, Afghanistan was part of Bactria, a flourishing kingdom conquered by Alexander the Great in 327 BC. Alexander was said to store a fabulous hoard of gold and jewels in hill caves before proceeding to India. This became the legendary Bactrian Treasure and was discovered in 1978 by the Greco-Russian archaeologist Viktor Sariyannidis who compared it with the King Tutankhamen hoard as the treasures were so mind-boggling. Rumours said they included gigantic, golden face masks used for the 55m- and 37m-tall Buddha statues at Bamiyan.

The Bactrian Treasures were sent to Kabul for safekeeping but within months the country plunged into civil war and was soon occupied by Soviet troops. During the last quarter century, it vanished and fears mounted they were stolen, plundered, sold, lost or worse of all, melted for their gold contents.  

Such worries were well founded. In 1993, Kabul Museum, which once contained over 100,000 valuable art objects, was looted during factional fighting. Pillaging and general thievery of small items continued intermittently until September 1996 when the Taliban seized control. In 2001, the mullahs decreed all statues and pictorial depictions were against Islam and priceless statues were smashed and hammered into dust.  

It was assumed Afghanistan had all but lost its heritage together with the Bamiyan statues. However, in 1988, the then-president Najibullah, fearing the worst during the last days of his rule, ordered the Bactrian gold and the finest objects from Kabul Museum be squirreled for safekeeping three floors down inside the Central Bank vaults inside the royal palace called the Arg, now the presidential palace. Only a handful of museum employees were involved. Seven men took control of the seven keys needed to open the steel doors and vowed never to open until better days. In Afghan tradition, a tawildar or key holder assumes responsibility for guarding a treasure chest, passing the keys to his son if need be. 

These lowly, underpaid and overworked staff were the real heroes, having sworn they would take their secret to the grave rather than reveal to the Taliban. Beaten senseless and tortured, they persistently denied any knowledge of the keys. Other unknown heroes were those who lovingly wrapped and carefully packed the Roman coins, Chinese ceramics, Roman bronzes, Indian jade, Buddhist statuettes and first-century glassware in pink toilet paper and newspapers. It is said the stains on the papers were caused by tears shed by the museum staff.  

In 2003, during the waning days of the Taliban and knowing their illegitimate government was collapsing, they made a last ditch effort and planted bombs at the entrance of the vault. In the nick of time, the Americans arrived and the Taliban fled before they could detonate. Had the bomb gone off, the entire ceilings and chambers would have collapsed, destroying the treasures forever. 

It was almost like a page from Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring when peace prevailed and the key bearers were summoned, each miraculously producing a key to open the locks simultaneously. 

President Hamid Kazai of Afghanistan was the first to enter in 2004 when the door was finally opened to discover 20,610 pieces of gold jewellery, belts, buckles, gold head dresses, crowns, jewelled swords, funeral ornaments, ornamental tree laden with pearls and semi-precious stones, personal belongings and even gold slippers from the 2,000-year-old tombs of five queens and a king from ancient Bactria in northern Afghanistan. Perhaps the most incredible was a delicate crystal vase engraved with a picture of the famous Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world! 

Hidden Afghanistan was seen for the first time at Guimet Museum in Paris in 2006 followed by Turin and now Amsterdam. 

[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.]