In this bulletin:

• Rebel group denies talks with Afghan government
• Afghans relieved talks with Taliban may happen; Canada avoids direct role
• MINISTER BERNIER WELCOMES SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR AFGHANISTAN TO CANADA
• Minister voices Afghan opium fear
• Afghan police seize about 1.5 t of drugs in north
• Local Taliban crossing border to fight NATO
• US in a bind over Pakistan militants
• INTERVIEW-Afghan police needs trainers to reform-U.S. general
• ISAF commander praises Afghan operation in capital
• Afghanistan: Thousands flee as US military operation gets under way
• Two Afghan TV channels disregard ban to air soap operas
• Afghan teachers go on strike to criticize low salary in Kabul
• Teachers in Afghan north strike over low pay
• Afghan parliament asks government to increase teachers' salaries
• Newly Discovered Water, Oil And Gas Locations Surveyed In
• Azerbaijan’s Cellular Operator Signs First Roaming Agreement with Afghanistan
• Suicide bomber targets ‘vice and virtue’ organisation chief
• KOHAT: Taliban decree public execution of ‘outlaws’
• Hidden hands in Pakistan
• Taliban Retake Control Of Region
• Taliban warn newspapers against pics of women
• Taliban, Al Qaeda the main drivers of Islamic terrorism in EU: Report
• Afghans struggle amid food emergency
• WFP: Meeting food needs 'extremely problematic' for millions of Afghans
• Americans build elite Afghan commando force
• Push comes to shove in Afghanistan

Rebel group denies talks with Afghan government

• Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Ariana TV on 1 May

[Presenter] The Hezb-e Eslami led by Golboddin Hekmatyar has said it will never negotiation with the Afghan government. The party announced this at a time when reports already released indicated that the Afghan government and the party's leadership had agreed on negotiations.

[Correspondent] A number of sources have reported that the Hezb-e Eslami led by Golboddin Hekmatyar has agreed to enter into negotiations with the government. The Afghan government is said to have accepted some of the party's preconditions for the negotiations. However, the spokesman for the Hezb-e Eslami contacted Ariana TV and described the claim as groundless, asserting that their leadership will never negotiate with the current Afghan government.

[Hezb-e Eslami spokesman in Pashto] Thank God we have not talked with them [the government officials] and will never do so.

[Correspondent] The spokesman says they will continue fighting as long as the foreign troops are present in Afghanistan.

The Hezb-e Eslami rejects the offer of talks at a time when Afghan President Hamed Karzai has invited the government opposition to peace talks on several occasions.

[Archive pictures of President Karzai speaking at a news conference] Those Taleban, who want to return home and are not members of Al-Qa'idah and other terrorist networks, can come back to their land. The majority of them are the people who are not in favour of destruction of Afghanistan. Only a limited number might have links with Al-Qa'idah and enemies of Afghanistan. They are mainly the people who had left this land due to fear and under pressure by our government officials or for other reasons like unjustified bombardments.

[Correspondent] The Hezb-e Eslami, which is led by Golboddin Hekmatyar, is considered as an armed opposition group. It has so far claimed responsibility for many suicide attacks in the country. The last attack of such a type was the disruption of the ceremony marking the 8th Sowr [27 April] in Kabul. The Hezb-e Eslami also claimed responsibility for this attack.

Afghans relieved talks with Taliban may happen; Canada avoids direct role

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A strategy of talking to the Taliban - once ridiculed as "naive" by the Conservative government in Canada - is being test driven in the Kandahar countryside, much to the relief of some Afghans including one of the area's biggest power brokers.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half brother of Afghanistan's president, said something needs to be done to stop "the madness" of the deadly insurgency.

Canadian troops in Afghanistan are reported reaching out to low-and mid-level insurgents, encouraging them through local villagers to sit down with Afghan authorities and perhaps even NATO forces.

"I absolutely support the Canadian decision," Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council, told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday.

"It's a very wise and proper decision. There are people (with whom) we can talk and reason."

"There would be so many Taliban willing to come home. Nobody supports this madness; this killing of innocent people; the killing of women and children. They are not happy with it, we know this."

Troops in the field are reported being encouraged to gently promote the idea of local negotiations among villages in the far-flung desert and mountain creases.

Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan visiting Ottawa Thursday, said he's not aware of any formal talks with the Taliban. "There's no process of that nature under way."

Eide said it's important to reach out, but any discussions must be led by the Afghan government, directed by politicians - not soldiers - and must be based on the Afghan constitution.

Canadian cabinet ministers were careful to point out Canada is not in any direct talks with the Taliban. "We're going to work with the Afghans in a democratic way, but we are not involved in any direct discussions with Taliban terrorists," Defence Minister Peter MacKay told reporters in Ottawa.

"We don't do that, we will not do that. We will work on national reconciliation, reconstruction development, all of those things with sovereign decisions made by the Afghanistan government," MacKay said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda were also asked about it. Both said Ottawa supports the Afghan government's position, which is that Kabul is willing to talk to people who respect the Afghan constitution and renounce violence.

The New Democrats, staunch opponents of the war, had suggested almost two years ago that peace talks be initiated with the Taliban. The call prompted MacKay - who was at Foreign Affairs at the time - to call the idea "naive." Conservative commentators christened NDP Leader Jack Layton as "Taliban Jack."

President Hamid Karzai has since called for peace talks with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, but militants have insisted foreign forces must leave first and that the country adhere more strictly to Islamic law.

One insurgent commander, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, suggested rewriting the country's constitution - a notion the president's younger brother dismissed as a non-starter.

But Ahmed Wali Karzai said it's imperative that NATO allies get behind the peace bid in order to preserve the Afghan government's credibility. The United States and Canada have been alone among NATO allies in southern Afghanistan in their refusal to talk with the militants.

The British brokered a ceasefire with the Taliban in the hotly contested Musa Quala region of Helmand Province, a deal that ultimately fell apart. Negotiation through the local governor is a cornerstone of the Dutch strategy in Urzugan province.

As recently as last fall, Canadian military commanders saw no sense in trying to reason with militants and preferred to use the cash incentives of local make-work programs to entice low-level Taliban to refrain from participating in the insurgency.

"I don't talk to the Taliban," said Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, Canada's top commander in Afghanistan. The Kabul government has tried to convince militants to put down their arms through its so-called Peace Through Strength program, but many Afghans have complained that it has suffered because of a lack of funding and international support. As long as they promise to renounce violence, hard-liners are welcomed back into society.

The younger Karzai warned that time is running out and pointed to last weekend's assassination attempt on his brother. Afghan authorities said that the attack by gunman, which killed three people including a legislator, was hatched in Pakistan.

Ahmed Wali Karzai watched the event live on television and said his heart sank when there was gunfire, explosions and suddenly the coverage ended. He rushed to the telephone, but it took several attempts to get through. When his brother finally came on the line, the calmness in Hamid Karzai's voice reassured him.

"He was very upset, especially about the loss of life, but ... he was in complete control," said the younger Karzai, who spoke in English - he once lived in Chicago.

Hamid Karzai plans to run for another term as president, but his brother said he often worries about another assassination attempt. Their father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was murdered by Taliban gunmen on a motorcycle in Quetta, Pakistan, in July 1999.

"After my father was assassinated, we always knew that (Hamid) was next and we would receive lots of news daily that people were coming to kill him. But my big problem was I could never stop him or make him listen to me when I sometimes said: 'It's not worth it'."

No `direct' Taliban talks

`We don't do that,' MacKay insists amid reports Canadian troops are seeking negotiations, May 02, 2008 - Allan Woods, Toronto Star

OTTAWA–The Conservative government's prohibition on negotiating with the Taliban was in disarray following reports that Canadian soldiers are seeking talks with insurgents. Government ministers and military officials in Ottawa said there has been no change to Canada's hard-line policy against talking to enemy combatants.

"We're going to work with the Afghans in a democratic way, but we are not involved in any direct discussions with Taliban terrorists," said Defence Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday. "We don't do that. We will not do that."

One senior military officer, speaking to reporters on background, said the Canadian Forces are looking into a Globe and Mail report that detailed the efforts of Sgt. Tim Seely with the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar to engage in talks with Taliban fighters.

The senior military officer said the Canadian Forces have started to "dig in to understand a little bit more of the context" of the surprising overture and reiterated the government ban on talks with the Taliban. The officer did allow that, on the face of it, Seely would appear to be in breach of official government rules.

"The soldier would have been speaking out of turn," the senior officer said. The United States and Canada have been alone among NATO allies in southern Afghanistan in their refusal to talk with the militants.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council, said something needs to be done to stop "the madness" of the deadly insurgency.

"I absolutely support the Canadian decision," Karzai, the half-brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai, told The Canadian Press yesterday. "It's a very wise and proper decision. There are people (with whom) we can talk and reason."

On Parliament Hill, the Conservative government was peppered with questions by opposition MPs, some of whom have been accused of being Taliban sympathizers for suggesting peace talks with insurgents.

"We've called for this for some time. We believe it's fundamental to ultimately finding a solution in Afghanistan because there's no military end in sight or possible," said NDP Leader Jack Layton, who has been mockingly referred to by Conservative MPs and military hawks as "Taliban Jack."

"We do believe that discussions with the insurgency should really be supervised by the United Nations, not by the military for whom this is not really the primary expertise."

International Aid Minister Bev Oda reiterated that a special committee of cabinet ministers is reviewing "all aspects" of the government's Afghan policy playbook, something that should be completed in the coming weeks. But so far nothing has changed, she said. "We continue to support the reconciliation process by supporting the Afghan government," Oda said.

The Afghan government has an official policy of national reconciliation that involves making peace with junior Taliban fighters who agree to lay down their weapons and renounce violence, but the insurgent leadership has set impossible terms for a peace deal, including the departure of all foreign fighters and the re-establishment of an Islamic theocracy.

"There would be so many Taliban willing to come home," said Ahmed Wali Karzai. "Nobody supports this madness; this killing of innocent people; the killing of women and children. They are not happy with it, we know this."

The Dutch, British and German armies, as well as neighbouring Pakistan, have all taken part in talks with insurgents, though official NATO and United Nations policy is to let the Afghan government take the lead in such overtures, providing only support if it is sought.

The British brokered a ceasefire with the Taliban in the Musa Quala region of Helmand Province, a deal that ultimately fell apart. Negotiation through the local governor is a cornerstone of the Dutch strategy in Urzugan province.

"I think it's important that we all engage in outreach in a co-ordinated way in the communities where we are engaged," said Kai Eide, the UN's special representative for Afghanistan. "When it comes to the wider question of reconciliation I think as the minister just said, there are certain considerations that must be respected."

Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, said peace talks must be led by the Afghan government; driven by a political process, not a military one; and based on the Afghan constitution, which contains the underpinnings of the fragile democratic state.

MINISTER BERNIER WELCOMES SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR AFGHANISTAN TO CANADA

The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, is visiting Ottawa on April 30 and May 1, 2008.

“Canada pushed hard for the appointment of a UN Special Representative to bolster international cooperation in Afghanistan,” said Minister Bernier. “Mr. Eide has our full support as he takes on a critical role in coordinating efforts on the ground, including among UN agencies.”

Mr. Bernier expressed strong support for UN education, food, governance, immunization and counter-narcotics programming in Afghanistan, which has received significant funding from Canada.

The Minister also welcomed strong international momentum on the file, as evidenced by the NATO Summit in Bucharest and the UN Security Council’s renewal of the mission in Afghanistan. Canada is committed to working closely with the Special Representative on governance, development and security issues in Afghanistan, including the strengthening of national and regional security and increasing the ability of the Afghan government to deliver basic services to its population.

While in Ottawa, Mr. Eide will meet with members of the newly formed Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan. In addition to Minister Bernier, this includes the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of International Trade and Chair of the Cabinet Committee; the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence; the Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety; and the Honourable Bev Oda, Minister of International Cooperation.

Kai Eide was appointed Special Representative to Afghanistan by the UN Secretary-General on March 10, 2008. As the top UN official in the country, he is responsible for coordinating the international civilian effort in support of the Afghan government.

Minister voices Afghan opium fear

• BBC News 2 May 2008 - Legalising production of opium in Afghanistan for medical use would be unworkable and fuel the drugs industry, a UK Foreign Office minister has said.

Lord Malloch Brown said Afghanistan lacked the infrastructure and resources to control crops. Legalising crops could drive up prices and lead more farmers to grow opium, he told the British Medical Journal.

Doctors have suggested the opium, which contains morphine, could help plug NHS shortfalls of pain relief drugs.

Diamorphine, also known as heroin, is used to relieve pain after operations and for the terminally ill, but in recent years doctors have reported supply problems.

The British Medical Association and some Tories have suggested in the past that Afghan crops could be used to help boost supplies, arguing this would help meet demand and provide much-needed income for Afghans.

But Lord Malloch Brown said opium production in the country "fuels corruption and undermines the rule of law".

And he added: "The Afghan government lacks the necessary resources, institutional capacity and control mechanisms to guarantee that opium is only purchased legally.

"Those cultivating and purchasing opium for medical usage would be in direct competition with illegal traffickers, which could drive up the price of opium and encourage increased cultivation.

"Farmers who do not currently grow poppies would abandon legal crops to meet the market's demand. "Ultimately, the area of land under poppy cultivation could increase. Quite simply, farmers would grow more to supply an additional purchaser."

Instead, he said the government was focusing its efforts on creating the right conditions to tempt farmers away from opium production by working to establish good local government and economic incentives.

And the minister said countries such as Turkey and Australia, which were already established sources of legalised opium production, were best placed to meet demand.

Afghan police seize about 1.5 t of drugs in north

• Excerpt from report by privately-owned Afghan Ariana TV on 1 May

[Presenter] The Balkh Province police report to have seized roughly 1,500 kg of narcotics. Gen Sardar Mohammad Sultani, the provincial police chief, told a press conference that they had arrested two residents of Jalalabad in connection with the case.

[Correspondent] Balkh Province Police Chief Gen Sardar Mohammad Sultani has said that some 1.5 tonnes of narcotics, which was packed in Jowzjan Province and was being smuggled to southern Afghanistan, has been seized by the Balkh traffic police.

According to the official, the narcotics was hidden in a lorry loaded with coal. The northern highway has been a major drug trafficking route. Forces report the discovery of drugs and the detention of drug traffickers in the areas along the highway every now and then.

Local Taliban crossing border to fight NATO

Daily Times 2 May 2008 - LAHORE: The local Taliban have started sending their militants to Afghanistan to fight United States-led NATO forces after announcing a ceasefire in Pakistan, BBC Urdu reported on Thursday.

A Taliban leader told BBC on condition of anonymity that the local Taliban leadership had started sending militants into Afghanistan after announcing a ceasefire in Pakistan following an agreement with the new government. He said that many Pakistani Taliban had crossed into Afghanistan in groups over the last few days to attack the US and NATO forces. He added that the Taliban used “unusual paths” to cross the border because of the presence of Pakistani and foreign troops.

When contacted, Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar neither denied nor confirmed the recent movement of militants into Afghanistan. He said that the infiltration of Taliban into Afghanistan had been continuing for the last several years. He said the “real jihad” was continuing against foreign forces in Afghanistan, adding that the Taliban were “merely defending” themselves in Pakistan.

ISPR: ISPR spokesman Major General Athar Abaas told BBC that he had not received any confirmed reports regarding Taliban’s cross-border movement. He said that 120,000 Pakistani troops, armed with latest weapons and equipment, had been deployed at 1,000 checkposts on the border to check the movement of militants.

He said that cross-border terrorism was also reviewed in the meetings of the tripartite commission comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO, adding that he had not yet received any complaint from other members of the commission in this regard. daily times monitor

US in a bind over Pakistan militants

By Brajesh Upadhyay - BBC News, Washington Thursday, 1 May 2008

The US has given its clearest support yet for the new Pakistani government's efforts to strike a deal with militants. Backing comes even though the state department blames al-Qaeda's resurgence on President Musharraf's botched peace agreements in the tribal areas the rebels operate from.

Many believe this shift in US strategy may be more through compulsion than choice.

In its annual terrorism report, the US state department said al-Qaeda had reconstituted some of its pre-9/11 operational capabilities and the primary reason for this resurgence was instability coupled with Islamabad-brokered ceasefire agreements along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier.

"This [ceasefire] appears to have provided the al-Qaeda leadership greater mobility and ability to conduct training and operational planning," said state department counter-terrorism co-ordinator Dell Dailey.

So, why does the US believe a new agreement will work where others have failed in the past?

Firstly, says Mr Daley, there's an "awful lot of attention" from the United States and, secondly, hardliners in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas lost most of their seats in general elections in February.

This has given Pakistan's former opposition parties who are now in coalition a chance to really move forward, US officials argue.

They also point to the economic and social development plan and military support that the United States is funding to the tune of $150m a year for the next five years and a large amount of money from the Pakistani government.

"We think that all the tools are in place for this treaty to have a successful outcome," said Mr Daley. It's the first time the Bush administration has come out so openly in support of a possible peace deal between Pakistan and tribal militants.

Last week White House spokesperson Dana Perino expressed concern over such a deal, saying "we have been concerned about these types of approaches because we don't think they work".

But a shift was noticed when Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said the United States is with the new Pakistani government and supports talks if the results are positive.

Former CIA official and Pakistan expert Bruce Riedel says the fact is that the United States is "deeply troubled" over this development.

But he says there's also a realisation that the new government has a mandate from the Pakistani people to try a different approach from one that has failed so far.

"What we are going to see is an administration that's very critical and sceptical in private but which has very little capability to influence the outcome and is going to be largely a bystander," says Mr Riedel, who has been senior adviser to three US presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues.

An unnamed Bush administration official quoted by The New York Times conceded this, saying: "We have only a marginal ability to influence actions right now."

The worst nightmare for Washington is the possibility of an attack on American soil planned from Pakistan's tribal belt.

Several intelligence officials have voiced this fear and they hope their efforts to cripple al-Qaeda's safe havens in the tribal areas are not jeopardised by these negotiations.

"It's also a nightmare scenario for Pakistan and the Pakistani government should be thinking about it," says Mr Riedel.

Should there be any evidence of a plot against the United States centred in Pakistan - or worse a successful attack that is linked back to Pakistan - there's going to be a crisis and a wise policy on the Pakistan government's part would be to do what it can now to prevent this, he says.

INTERVIEW-Afghan police needs trainers to reform-U.S. general

KABUL, May 1 (Reuters) - The Afghan police in some areas is riddled with corruption and more than twice as many instructors are needed to retrain the force that is vital to future security in Afghanistan, the U.S. general in charge of training said.

The police force is often the only arm of the Afghan state in many isolated outposts strung out across the rugged mountainous country, but is renowned for fleeing in the face of Taliban attacks and milking the populace for bribes.

"The problem here is corruption," said Major General Robert Cone, the commander of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan which trains the Afghan police.

"There are places that have halfway decent police, but there are places that right now are still rife with corruption, nepotism and those sorts of influences," he told Reuters in an interview.

When U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001, there was almost no Afghan police force to speak of.

At that time, "many of the warlords ... became the governors and police chiefs and their militias became police," said Cone. "And in the absence of a functioning economy other than a narco-economy, power translates to income."

Germany took over the task of recreating the police almost from scratch, starting in August 2002 with three-year courses for officers at the newly reopened Kabul Police Academy.

But the top-down approach was too slow in bringing law and order to a country where corruption was endemic during decades of civil war and where the Taliban had renewed their insurgency.

"If you're just here to train individuals, you don't have much luck because ... you can't take an individual and throw him into a cess pool and expect him to stay clean. What you have to do is essentially drain the swamp and start over," Cone said.

From 2002 until 2007, as police "lead donor", Germany spent only $80 million on reforming the force. Until 2006, less than $200 million in total was spent on the police.

The United States budgeted $2.5 billion in the last fiscal year and has another $800 million in the pot for 2008. Lack of money at least is no longer the problem. The shortage of people to train the police however is.

There are currently around 1,000 foreign trainers working with the Afghan police, but another 1,300 are needed. "I am imploring the international community for assistance," said Cone.

Despite the manpower shortage, progress has been made, he said, with a programme to remove the police force from selected districts en masse for eight weeks of retraining and re-equipping before sending them back under supervision to the communities.

"We have thoroughly reformed now 12 districts and the fact is that we have had an influence in about 102 of the 364 geographical districts of this country," Cone said. 

Fifty-two district police forces are scheduled to be retrained by the end of this year and 172 by the end of 2010, with areas of instability and violence given priority.

Alongside the re-training is a programme to issue police with identity cards which they use to go to a bank to withdraw their salaries, in theory cutting out commanders who skim money off police wages before they reach lower-ranking officers.

Speaking of the often young police recruits, Cone said: "We owe these kids more if they are going to stand and defend their country and they are part of this coalition. The reality is we owe them the kind of training, the kind of pay, the kind of leadership that is necessary to survive when they are attacked." (Editing by Bill Tarrant)

ISAF commander praises Afghan operation in capital

• Excerpt from report by Afghan independent Tolo TV, on 1 May

[Presenter] A commander of the International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] in Afghanistan has praised the Afghan forces for carrying out operation in Kabul yesterday [30 April]. The Afghan security forces arrested three insurgents and killed a number of them in separate operations yesterday.

[Correspondent] The commander-in-chief of ISAF in Afghanistan praised the Afghan security forces for launching the operations yesterday. He said that these forces had been building their capabilities with every passing day.

[Gen Dan McNeill, ISAF commander in Afghanistan, speaking in English with Dari translation overlaid] Yesterday's operation was very good. Brave men sacrificed their lives for protecting their brothers and country during this operation. I know that significant number of extremists have been killed too. [Passage omitted: known details about the operations]

• Afghanistan: Thousands flee as US military operation gets under way

KABUL, 1 May 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in different parts of Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, as a US military operation in and around Garmsir District against Taliban insurgents gets under way, provincial officials said.

"Our preliminary reports indicate that more than 1,000 families [5,000-7,000 people] have left the area and more people are moving out," Assadullah Mayar, president of the provincial department of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), told IRIN from the provincial capital, Lashkargah, on 1 May.

Capt Kelly Frushour, a US military spokeswoman in Kabul, said "groups of women and children" were moving out of the conflict area.

"We've not seen an exodus or a large migration, but we've seen groups of women and children moving to the south," Frushour said, adding that civilians had not been displaced in areas where US forces had established a presence.

"It's also unclear whether these people are moving because of our military operation," she said.

"Civilians might have left the conflict area because Taliban insurgents always use them as human shields," said Carlos Branco, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul.

Provincial officials said civilians had been notified before the military operation started on 28 April and were advised to temporarily leave the area. However, several local people denied receiving any information before the planned operation.

Some displaced families have sought refuge in neighbouring Nawa, Righestan and Khan Nishin districts, while others have headed towards Lashkargah, the ARCS said.

"They are in urgent need of assistance," said Mayar, adding that the ARCS was trying to ascertain how to help needy families. Food, drinking water and tents are the critical needs most displaced people have, he added.

The US military said humanitarian relief was not part of the military operation, but a few wounded civilians had received treatment at their medical facility.

Reports of civilian casualties could not be immediately verified due to access restrictions and conflicting figures given by local people and provincial officials.

ISAF said 7,700 UK soldiers were currently operating in Helmand Province, and Capt Frushour said about 2,400 US marines had recently been sent to the volatile province - widely described as a hotbed of the Taliban insurgency - to defeat the insurgents and improve security.

Thousands of people have reportedly died and tens of thousands been forced out of their homes due to fighting in Helmand Province over the past few years. The conflict has also impeded humanitarian and development activities which have worsened poverty in province, said aid agencies.

Two Afghan TV channels disregard ban to air soap operas

• Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Arzu TV on 1 May

The Afghan Culture and Information Ministry has filed a complaint with the Afghan attorney general against the Tolo and Afghan private TV channels for ignoring the ministry's decision to stop broadcasting Indian soap operas.

A press release issued by the ministry says that the two private stations have ignored a resolution adopted by the Scholars' Council. The release says it is up to the Afghan attorney general to decide about their punishment.

In the meantime, the two Afghan televisions have been broadcasting their soap operas and have not yet commented on the issue.

Afghan teachers go on strike to criticize low salary in Kabul

• Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Ariana TV on 1 May

[Presenter] Teachers and instructors in Kabul city have warned that all teachers across the country will go on strike if the government fails to meet their demands. They have accused the Education Ministry of ignoring their problems, claiming that ministerial officials have even threatened them. Mariam Asi has more details:

[Correspondent] Today is the fourth day of a strike staged by school teachers in Kabul. The teachers have avoided teaching and also criticized the Afghan government for making promises but simply failing to implement them in the past four years. The teachers say their salary is 2,000 afghanis [approximately 50 dollars], which is not enough to purchase even a sack of flour.

[First teacher] People support teachers in every part of the world. He must not have blue-collar job after his regular shift. If we have a four-hour shift, we have to make preparations for our lectures in the rest of time instead of trying hard to make a living.

[Second teacher] We want food. For how long should we deal with such a disaster? For how long should we enter our classes in such a poor condition? We are going to continue our strike unless the government meets our demands. Those who have been unaware of this [strike] should pay attention now. They should no longer ignore the situation if they care about their children, their country and their teachers.

[Third teacher] We do not want to leave children uneducated, but we have no other option. On the one hand, our families are suffering from poverty and misfortune; and on the other, there is children that need education. We had no other choice but to resort to strike. Our families want food and accommodation, so we have done this to protect our reputation and pride.

[Correspondent] These teachers say that the Education Ministry has warned of punishing them in case they do not attend their classes. They say they have not received their salaries over the past t! wo months, adding that they will continue their strike unless the gove rnment meets their demands.

According to the teachers, other provinces will join the strike if the situation remains unchanged. We contacted Education Ministry officials several times, but they refused to express their views on the situation.

Teachers in Afghan north strike over low pay

• Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Ariana TV on 2 May

Hundreds of school teachers have gone on a strike in northern Jowzjan Province to criticize their low salary and irregular monthly payment. As a result of the strike, thousands of students are currently deprived of education.

Teachers at a number of schools in Sheberghan have stopped teaching and have held a gathering to criticize what they describe as the government's lack of attention to the condition of Afghan teachers.

Unconfirmed reports from Samangan Province also indicate that a number of teachers have gone on a strike [for the same purpose].

Afghan parliament asks government to increase teachers' salaries

• Text of report by state-owned National Afghanistan TV on 30 April

[Presenter] Members of the parliament criticize the draft law on salaries [of civil servants] sent to the parliament by the government.

At a meeting chaired by Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Yunos Qanuni today, a number of MPs criticized the absence of a number of other MPs, who describe themselves as supporters of the constitution.

The meeting decided that a commission composed of seven MPs should hold a meeting with the protesting MPs and put an end to the dispute.

The meeting also discussed the absence of a number of MPs at parliamentary meetings, and decided that the [absent] MPs shall be deprived of their entitlements, and their names shall be published through the media.

The MPs criticized the non-payment of teachers' salaries by the government. They said a number of Kabul school teachers had gone on strike in protest against non-payment of their salaries. They said the salary of 4,300 afghanis [around 86 dollars] ! stated in the law on salaries did not meet teachers' needs.

The meeting decided that the government should draft a new plan for an increase in teachers' salaries in view of the teachers' problems.

The parliamentary speaker also condemned the terrorist attack that led to the martyrdom of 25 people and injury of a number of others in Khogiani District of Nangarhar Province yesterday. He said it was an un-Islamic and inhuman act. The parliamentary speaker wished patience for the families of those killed in the attack and prayed for the health of those wounded.

Newly Discovered Water, Oil And Gas Locations Surveyed In

ScienceDaily (May 2, 2008) — Policymakers, potential private investors, and the public received valuable new information to help identify fault lines and the potential location of undiscovered water, oil and gas, and non-fuel mineral resources in Afghanistan.

Data were collected by U.S. Geological Survey scientists, who flew over Afghanistan and conducted an airborne geophysical and photographic survey of the country. Survey data were unveiled at The Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C., April 30.

"Afghanistan has significant natural resource potential, but much of the country's potential remains unknown," said USGS Director Mark Myers. "The geophysical survey provides objective, unbiased information and will enable scientists to better define areas for future exploration and development."

Scientists collected aerial photographs and geophysical data, which includes aeromagnetic and gravity data. Researchers combined the geophysical data with data from previous studies to create a magnetic anomaly map and a gravity anomaly map of Afghanistan.

Airborne magnetic surveys provide a way to see through surface layers, such as sand, vegetation and water. They are a powerful tool for documenting the distribution and relative abundance of magnetic minerals in rocks - information that can help with mineral and petroleum exploration, tectonic interpretations, and seismic hazard assessments. Airborne gravity surveys help identify igneous rocks (rocks produced through intense heat) of interest for mineral resource studies, sedimentary basins for petroleum and water resource studies, and linear features for seismic hazard studies. The aerial photographs have many geologic and civil uses. They can help with the inventory and planning of civil infrastructure and agricultural resources and the development of detailed maps.

In this effort, USGS scientists worked cooperatively with the Naval Research Laboratory, Afghanistan Geological Survey, Afghanistan Head Office for Geodesy and Cartography, personnel from the NRL Scientific Development Squadron ONE (VXS-1), Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Industry, and the Canadian Forces Mapping and Charting Establishment. The airborne geophysical survey was flown during the summer of 2006.

Azerbaijan’s Cellular Operator Signs First Roaming Agreement with Afghanistan

Trend News Agency (Azerbaijan)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 1 May /Trend Capital/ Azercell Telecom LLC, Azerbaijan’s cellular network operator, has put into operation international roaming service with Afghanistan - Etisalat (GSM 900/1800) operator. This is the first roaming agreement with the Afghanistan mobile companies.

Azercell Telecom LLC has signed up 347 roaming agreements with mobile communication operators from 141 countries of the world. Currently Azercell Telecom with over 3mln subscribers is the largest mobile network operator in the country.

Suicide bomber targets ‘vice and virtue’ organisation chief

Daily Times 2 May 2008 - BARA: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a Khyber Agency madrassa on Thursday injuring at least 18 people in a bid apparently aimed at killing the head of a religio-militant organisation, eyewitnesses and security officials said.

“I was the target,” Haji Namdar, chief of the Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar (Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice) organisation, told Daily Times. “I am safe.”

The suicide bomber, aged between 15 and 18, blew himself up as he approached Namdar at the madrassa in Takya, eyewitnesses said. One eyewitness, Amin Khan, said the attacker struck after Namdar had finished a sermon and appealed for donations for jihad, AP reported.

“As people were handing out their contributions, a boy … stood up with a pistol in his hand, pretending to offer the weapon as a donation,” another witness, Mohammad Yaqub, told AFP.

Only one of three explosives-filled sections of the attacker’s suicide belt had detonated, Amin Khan told AP.

“There would have been much devastation if all the detonators worked,” said security officials. They also said the dead bomber’s face was recognisable and “he looks to be a foreigner”.

The injured were rushed to hospitals in Peshawar. Namdar said he was not opposed to suicide bombings targeting “Islam’s enemy”, but was opposed to attacks on fellow Muslims.

He said the attack could be a “reaction” to his organisation’s action against people who attempted to kidnap Mahsud Scouts troops in Kambarkhel this week. “We expelled those people ... and the same people could be involved in the attack,” said Namdar. He said his organisation was investigating the attack and “will move” against the perpetrators.

Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani strongly condemned the attack on Thursday, APP reported. He expressed his sympathies with those injured in the attack, and directed authorities concerned to ensure that they receive the best medical treatment. qazi rauf/agencies

KOHAT: Taliban decree public execution of ‘outlaws’

Dawn - Local - By Our Correspondent April 30, 2008 KOHAT

Chief of Taliban in Orakzai Agency and clerics of 12 out of 18 tribes of the tribal region have issued a decree saying that anyone found involved in robbery, murder and kidnapping for ransom would be hanged publicly.

Sources said that the decision came after the kidnapping of two Sikhs, residents of Orakzai Agency, in Doaba area of Hangu district last week.

The Sikh community living in Orakzai Agency for centuries lodged a complaint with local chief of Taliban. Later, the Taliban conducted an operation on the identification of one of the victim who managed to escape from the custody of the kidnappers.

One kidnapper was injured during the operation who later succumbed to his injuries while another was captured by Taliban. Fate of the arrested kidnapper would be decided within a couple of days.

Chief of Taliban in Orakzai Agency, Mullah Hakeemullah and elders from 12 tribes gathered at a mosque and decided that the decision would be formally announced through loud speakers during the next Friday sermons.

The decision was taken in view of the increasing incidents of kidnappings, murders and robberies in the tribal as well as settled area of Hangu.

Taliban and elders of the area signed a joint decree at a mosque in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency, Maulana Amin, a senior member of ulema council of Hangu told this scribe.

Hidden hands in Pakistan

Pakistan's new government has started its peace strategy -- but neither the Taliban nor Washington is committed to it, writes Graham Usher in Mardan

Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt - 01/05/2008

Last week a car packed with explosives detonated outside a police station in Mardan, a rustic town in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). A police officer and two civilians were killed and homes, stalls, shops and streets were blitzed with shrapnel. Tehrik-i-Taliban, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan (PT), claimed the attack: revenge, said spokesman Maulvi Umar, for a Taliban fighter killed by the police in Mardan some weeks before.

Superficially, there was nothing unusual about the hit. Two hundred and fifty people have been killed in attacks in Pakistan in 2008, many of them bearing the signature of the PT. In Mardan alone 10 police stations have been rocketed. Yet the car bomb sent a shiver throughout the NWFP. It was the first act of violence in nearly a month. And it was the first since the formation of a new civilian government committed to dialogue with Pakistan's Islamic militants rather than repression.

The peace policy has the support of the majority of Pakistanis and seemed to be working. Not only had Islamist-inspired violence slumped: the perpetrators appeared to be on board.

On 23 April the government released from jail Sufi Mohamed, a radical cleric who in the 1990s championed a violent movement for the enforcement of Sharia law in the NWFP's Swat and Malakand regions and, in 2001, led 10,000 ill- armed men to resist the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Today he says he recognises the government's writ and will use only peaceful means to propagate Sharia. The government also hopes he will tame his son-in-law Mullah Fazlullah, who raised an insurgency in Swat last year.

More significantly, the same day saw news that the government, backed by the army, was finalising a peace accord with the Mehsud tribe from the South Waziristan agency on the Afghan border. This means talking to Baitullah Mehsud, PT "emir" and the man President Pervez Musharraf and the CIA say was behind the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last year. Mehsud has denied the charge.

Under an evolving deal Mehsud has agreed to end attacks on the Pakistan army, allow economic development in South Waziristan and other tribal agencies and expel from them all foreign militants, especially Arab and Uzbek fighters with ties to Al-Qaeda. In return, the army will no longer collectively punish the Mehsuds, free 200 prisoners and start a phased withdrawal from Mehsud lands in South Waziristan.

On 24 April, Baitullah Mehsud ordered the PT to end "all hostile activities" in the tribal areas and restive NWFP districts like Swat. "Obeying this order is compulsory and violators would be hanged upside down and punished publicly," he decreed. The Mardan operation was an exception, explained Maulvi Umar. It may again turn out to be the rule.

On 28 April, Mehsud called off talks with the government. The army had reneged on its pledge to re-deploy forces in the tribal areas, he said. Maulvi Umar spoke darkly of "hidden hands" in Pakistan's intelligence agencies that were acting under the influence of "foreign forces". It's no secret what these forces are. "We are concerned about" the peace accord, said US government spokeswoman Dana Perino on 25 April. "What we encourage [the new Pakistani government] to do is to continue the fight against the terrorists and to not disrupt any security or military operations that are ongoing in order to prevent a safe haven for terrorists there".

The Bush administration is particularly concerned that the Taliban may use peace on the Pakistan front to marshal forces for a major spring offensive against NATO in Afghanistan. There are grounds for these fears, says Khalid Aziz, a former government agent in the tribal areas who now heads a research centre in Peshawar. "You cannot deploy the army along 800 miles of the Afghan-Pakistan border. There will be gaps, which the militants will use to infiltrate. And that will lead to an increase in violence in Afghanistan".

The violence is already being felt. On 27 April, Taliban gunmen breached 18 security rings to machine-gun a military parade in Kabul commemorating the 16th anniversary of the fall of the last Communist government in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai escaped with his life; three Afghans and three Taliban did not. The point was "to show the world that we are able to attack anywhere we want to," said an Afghan Taliban spokesman.

US commanders in Afghanistan believe the hit was planned by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Taliban commander whose sanctuary is Waziristan. They want the freedom to go after him. So far the White House has rebuffed the request, unwilling to enter into a confrontation with the new Pakistan government.

But with thousands reportedly massing in the tribal areas to join the fight in Afghanistan few have any illusions that American restraint will last for long. Nor over what would be the consequence if the US took unilateral military action in Pakistan. Says Aziz: "a military strike would not only destroy the peace process and everything else -- it would strain the US-Pakistan alliance to breaking point."

Taliban Retake Control Of Region

• Postchronicle.com by Staff

The Taliban reportedly has regained control of Pakistan's Darra Adamkhel region and resumed its activities despite the presence of security forces.

The region is in the North-West Frontier province near the border with Afghanistan, where violence has escalated with the regrouping of the Taliban.

The Taliban retook the region after an impasse in the talks between provincial government officials and tribal elders to guarantee safety of the Indus Highway, Dawn reported.

Taliban warn newspapers against pics of women

Daily Times 2 May 2008 - KHAR: A senior Taliban leader on Thursday warned national newspapers, particularly Aaj-Kal and Express, to stop publishing pictures of women which offend them. “I warn newspapers which are publishing photos [to stop] and have set a two-week deadline, otherwise we will boycott and take action against these papers,” Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, deputy head of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), told reporters. He said his militants would target government employees if the army takes action. “We will not retaliate against the army if we come under attack. We will target government employees in response to any army action,” he said. He did not elaborate what action the Taliban would take against the newspapers after the deadline expires. hasbanullah khan

Taliban, Al Qaeda the main drivers of Islamic terrorism in EU: Report

• Newindpress.com May 2 2008

NEW DELHI: Pro-Taliban groups and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan are increasingly being recognized as one of the main drivers of Islamist extremism and terrorism in the European Union (EU), according to a EU terrorism situation and trend report.

The report reveals that during 2007, terrorism investigations in at least three countries showed links to groups in this region.

According to the report, the tribal areas of Pakistan host a number of terrorist training camps operating in support of the Afghan Taliban, pro-Taliban Pakistani groups and foreign mujahideen. Both Germany and Denmark reported that several suspects in the attempted terrorist attacks in 2007 had received training in Pakistan, the report adds.

The report says that these camps in Pakistan have links to the increasingly active core-structure of al-Qaeda, which is currently based in the Pashtun tribal areas.

The report pointed out the fact that terrorist attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan increased significantly in 2007, compared to 2006 and these attacks were mainly directed at foreign troops in Afghanistan and government troops in Pakistan.

"In July 2007, the frequency of attacks in Pakistan more than doubled and remained high throughout the rest of the year. This shift happened virtually overnight and coincided with the storming by Pakistani security forces of the besieged complex of Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque, in the capital Islamabad on 11 July, during which the pro- Taliban militants inside the complex were defeated," stated the report.

Afghanistan and Pakistan in general, and the Pashtun areas in particular, are of utmost importance to EU counter-terrorism, said the report adding that in the past, terrorist links between Pakistan and the EU were almost exclusively focused on the UK.

The foiled plot in Germany, related to an Uzbek group based in the Pakistani tribal areas, and recent cases in the UK and Denmark indicate an increasingly assertive and efficient Pakistani-based command and control of Islamist terrorism in the EU it said.

According to the reports key findings, in 2007, the European Union saw two failed and two attempted attacks related to Islamic terrorism; and the arrest of 201 suspects.

The failed and attempted attacks in the member states were aimed at causing indiscriminate mass casualties by means of detonating a main charge composed of home-made explosives. In two cases the suspects attempted to produce TATP.

It also reveals that manuals on how to build bombs, together with Islamic terrorist propaganda, are increasingly spread on the Internet. In 2007, al-Qaeda launched an unprecedented media campaign.

The other points mentioned in the report were as follows:

. Islamist terrorist propaganda is increasingly available in European languages.

. The Al-Qaeda's remaining core leadership in the tribal areas of Pakistan is exercising command and control on and inspiration for planning attacks in the EU.

. A number of EU-nationals who attended training in Pakistan were later involved in terrorist offences in the EU.

. The member states are threatened with violence by Islamic terrorist groups outside and within the EU in an attempt to influence national policies in conflict areas.

. Although the majority of all arrested suspects for Islamic terrorism continue to be North African citizens, the member states reported a high number of arrested suspects with the nationality of the country of arrest.

. The number of persons arrested for recruitment increased. The majority of the suspects were arrested for recruiting for jihad in Iraq, while Somalia was reported as a new destination for jihadists.

. Suspects arrested in relation to financing of terrorism, handling of false documents and training are generally older that those arrested for recruitment, facilitation and the production and spreading of propaganda.

The member states on the eastern border of the EU may be used as transit countries for terrorists in order to reach other parts of Europe.

Afghans struggle amid food emergency

Updated Wed. Apr. 30 2008 12:52 PM ET

Paul Workman, CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief, CTV News

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- They squat in the dirt of a downtown alley-poor, patient, and hungry. Desperately poor is more like it. There's a tall man with a wild orange beard, standing beside a man on crutches with his arm around a young boy. His son. Brown eyes, shaved head, filthy face.

The women all sit together, lumps on the ground, fidgeting under shawls that cover their heads. Somewhere, among them, a baby is crying. "Ras Mohammed," shouts an official, holding a clipboard and calling names.

The man on crutches hobbles through the gate of a compound and the hours of waiting are over. He puts an inky thumbprint on a piece of paper and for an Afghan, without a job and the means to feed his family this must be like winning the lottery.

The prize is a sack of wheat from the World Food Program. "I bought a bag of wheat yesterday," he says. "I had to borrow 4,000 rupees from one man, and 2,000 rupees from another." For a sack of wheat, which cost a third of that amount just a few months ago.

"When was the last time you ate meat?" I ask. "I haven't even thought about eating meat for at least five or six weeks," he replies.

Of all the nations in Asia put at risk by rising food prices, Afghanistan is among the most vulnerable. This is a country that already gets huge amounts of help from the United Nations. There's a "food for going to school" program and a "food for going to work" program, and now the increase in prices has created another food emergency.

"It's a purchasing power issue," says Tony Banbury, director of the World Food Program's operations in Asia. "When the basic necessity of life, food, has a dramatic rise in prices, people are going to suffer."

With an emergency fund of $77 million dollars, the WFP has started feeding the "new" hungry of Afghanistan, mostly in urban areas, because that's where the rise in prices is being felt the most. People such as teachers who get paid so little, and now have to spend more on food, more they simply don't have. Or people like women who are the heads of households. Or families with nine children or more. Or heads of households who are disabled, like Ras Mohammed, the man on crutches.

Hungry, poor people are now called "food insecure," the new term for these difficult times. And Afghanistan is a "critical priority," says Banbury. It was the first country to request, and the first country to receive emergency UN food aid, as a result of rising prices.

"I can't imagine a more difficult situation for parents to be in, not being able to provide food for their children."

He obviously comes to the job with his own sack full of compassion. "They'll go to any end to make sure their children can eat, and in many cases they simply can't do that now."

With a few plain words about tea and bread, he sums this crisis up. "They stop buying vegetables and meat and start living on bread and tea."

There was a big American flag on the sack of wheat given to Ras Mohammed, but Canada was also deeply involved in this program. And the WFP graciously acknowledged that help.

"Canada is an extremely important and generous partner and donor," says Banbury, "We would not be able to do our work here in Kandahar and the southern region without the support of the Canadian taxpayers."

One last point. The rise in prices may also have political consequences that are unique to this country. As the cost of food goes up, families begin to take coping measures. They might sell a sheep or a goat, or fathers and sons might leave home to find jobs. In the case of southern Afghanistan, that could mean going off to work in the poppy fields. Or something far more ominous, fighting for the Taliban.

Remember what the director from the World Food Program said, "They'll go to any means to make sure their children can eat."

WFP: Meeting food needs 'extremely problematic' for millions of Afghans

The Associated Press - Thursday, May 1, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan: A U.N. World Food Program official says Afghans are having a hard time meeting basic food needs as the prices of basic staples rise. Anthony Banbury, WFP's regional director for Asia, says millions of Afghans will remain vulnerable and will require food assistance throughout this year.

He says food prices rose by 30 percent in February. Inflation for wheat was 50 to 100 percent across the country. WFP has $77 million ( € 50 million) in funds to provide assistance to 2.5 million Afghans.

Banbury says the food distribution has resulted in a drop in wheat prices, which are still significantly higher than a year ago.

Americans build elite Afghan commando force

The commando battalions, just a year old, are being trained and deployed nationally as a mobile, quick-reaction force.

By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor - from the May 1, 2008 edition

Rish Khvor, Afghanistan - Pvt. Said Reza says he's ready to be a soldier in his country's fight against extremists, and as he stands in uniform in the middle of a training camp here with his semiautomatic rifle, kneepads, and American-style dark glasses, he looks the part.

Private Reza has already graduated from basic soldier training. He volunteered to become a member of an elite unit of the Army that is being groomed to become a model force of Afghan warriors.

"The only thing I know is that these [extremists] are a bunch of people who sell their country for a very small amount of money," says Reza of the extremists he expects to fight. When asked if he's ready to take them on, his answer is simple: "Bali ho" – of course.

Trained to be "the best of the best," who fight in riskier, more complex political and military environments – say, taking on a popular tribal leader aligned with the Taliban – the Commandos are distinct from the regular Army but are expected to help define the image and capabilities of Afghan security forces as a whole. The goal is an elite, quick-reaction force that can act independently. It's a crucial addition for an uneven US-NATO mission that many military and civilian leaders agree has evolved in a way that has let the Taliban resurface.

But here at this former Soviet training base in the town of Rish Khvor, near Kabul, the company of US Army Special Forces Command in Afghanistan, 3rd Special Forces Group that is training this band of men is in no danger of putting itself out of a job. With training that gives them a leg up from the common Afghan soldier, these Afghans have helped US forces to nab 40 of the most wanted extremist leaders since last year.

But commandos still require oversight, especially when it comes to advanced planning for missions, says the American commander here, who cannot be identified by virtue of his job in Special Forces. They also need help on the missions themselves, as the commandos have no aircraft to speak of and must rely on their US partners in a myriad of ways.

Yet the advent of the 3,500-strong force, now just a year old, is a natural fit in a country that has seen decades of war and where an inherent warrior ethos helps the drive toward a professional military. In Iraq, US forces training Iraqi security forces gripe that many soldiers don't have the necessary will or discipline. But trainers here say they see plenty of will – they just need to be shown the way.

The base here in eastern Afghanistan is nestled amid low mountains in a relatively safe, remote area that stands in contrast to the violence of southern Afghanistan.

The base is likely to become the permanent home of the commandos. American officers here hope they can build up the program as much as possible, but unlike coalition forces training the regular Army, the Special Forces expect a long-term relationship with this base as they seek to build and then nurture the program. "We are sure these guys won't leave us," says Col. Abdul Jaber, the commander of the battalion currently undergoing training.

Indeed, the base generates a sense of permanence with its neat rows of tin-roofed buildings, clean streets, and the bustle of construction on its far side. Surrounded by a tall chain-link fence, there is an American side and an Afghan side, each with its own living and working areas. On the commandos' side is a black billboard featuring a steely-eyed soldier and reminds commandos that they are "the best among bests"; a well-equipped, well-trained, and brave force "to do dangerous and difficult tasks."

The difficulty of the work the commandos do means that they have been given a unique, 18-week operations cycle. The commandos receive extra pay as well as double amounts of food each day, an uncommon perk. Each battalion trains for six weeks, conducts missions for six more, and then essentially "refits and recovers" for an additional six weeks, during which time they may go on leave and see their families.

On a recent day, after their Afghan trainer gave them the high sign, a group of commandos moves into a practice building fabricated cheaply out of stacks of tires. As the trainer yells commands in Farsi or Pashto, the "stacks" – lines – of men snake into the rooms, weapons pointed, and yell "dum, dum dum dum," as they mock the sound of gunfire.

But something strikes the trainer as amiss. He pointedly shoves a soldier's weapon down to the ground, jolting the soldier to attention and loudly scolding him, perhaps a bit more loudly for a visitor's benefit. His message: Aim the weapon at a potential target – not absentmindedly at the ceiling above.

It's a question of showing them "what right looks like," as another American officer here says. The training has produced four battalions, or kandaks, of about 650 commandos each, now assigned permanently around the country and two more are on the way. The commandos have begun to plan some pieces of their own counterterrorism missions, including a violent one recently in the northeastern province of Nuristan that netted key insurgents.

"What we really want to do is empower the Afghans," says the American commanding officer of the Special Forces details. Success is measured in small steps, like the commandos' budding ability to plan their own missions. Now they think at least two weeks ahead, instead of just one day ahead, trainers here say.

"For us, it's a huge step," the American officer says. But even as the commandos progress toward more independence, American Special Forces units, who count as a core mission their ability to train foreign militaries, hope to imbue their charges with the expert training that can help shape a stronger conventional Afghan Army.

The US trainers also face some education of their own. Last year, during Ramadan, in which Muslims fast during the day, the Special Forces tried to continue training. But they quickly realized that stamina was an issue. "It's always a learning process," says one officer.

But the training has translated to some tactical victories on the battlefield. One commando battalion helped American Special Forces on a recent operation in Nuristan that reportedly netted several members of the terrorist group Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), who, along with the Taliban, also operate here.

The April 6 mission led to a coalition airstrike that, along with the ground fight- ing, left as many as 20 dead.

American Special Forces officials said the fight had significantly reduced the ability of the HIG to operate in the area and that the operation resulted in no civilian casualties. Officials at the Afghan Ministry of Defense called the mission a success.

At the same time, Agence France-Presse quoted a local lawmaker, Rahmatullah Rashidi, as saying that the US-Afghan attack had killed several civilians. Independent sources say local leaders have made similar claims before that were unfounded.

But US and Afghan officials acknowledge the challenges in building such a force. Illiteracy is a big issue for all the Afghan security forces, and one that is all the more apparent within the commandos, whose high-intensity work requires higher skills.

"We want these guys to have strong reading and writing skills," says Colonel Jaber, whose battalion is training now. But Jaber laments the lack of trucks, weapons, and other equipment for the program.

Supplies for the force also continue to be a problem. Red tape, onerous Department of State regulations, and manufacturing delays have all contributed to equipment shortages that have handicapped the kandaks' effectiveness, American officials say.

Each kandak, for example, is mandated to have 51 Ford Ranger pickup trucks. But each battalion has only 30 or so, American officials here say.

"Resourcing is a big issue," says another American officer. While shortages often plague any foreign force, the success of the commando program – and its potentially broader influence with the Afghan Army – shouldn't be undermined by such problems, American trainers say.

The commando mission must also compete against gear needs for the Afghan police and Army – not to mention units in Iraq. Manufacturers also sometimes can't keep up with demand, officials at Combined Security Transition Command say.

The officials acknowledge that some equipment is backordered, but point to the speed at which they have supported the building of the commandos. Indeed, the US has significantly expanded its financial to the training and equipping effort here. The budget for the training command has grown nearly seven times in the past two years, from around $1 billion in fiscal 2005 to about $7 billion in fiscal 2007.

Ultimately, commanders here say, one area where the commandos can make a difference is in fostering a constructive sense of nationalism.

Ensuring that men from a variety of ethnic backgrounds get along is critical, American trainers say, and commandos rely on a creed under which they are brothers in arms, whether they are Pashto, Tajik, Hazaras, Uzbeks, or Turkmen.

Rigid rules govern what's acceptable and what's not: talk of politics falls in the second category. Even so, ethnic differences can be acceptable fodder for good-natured ribbing.

As 1st Sgt. Mohammed Akbar supervises the squad navigating the training at the shoot house, one of his trainers jokes that Akbar, a Hazara whose Asian background is apparent in his facial features, has a "flat nose."

But that's fine with Sergeant Akbar, a serious soldier-trainer who says the commandos' diversity is their strength. "This is all Afghan," says Akbar, as he stands atop tires in the training building and gestures to the men below him.

Push comes to shove in Afghanistan

By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Asia Times Online / May 1, 2008

KARACHI - In what has been described as "a good public relations exercise", Prince William, second in line to the British throne, has visited Afghanistan to meet British troops in Kandahar province.

The brief unannounced trip is indeed headline-grabbing, but it cannot disguise the fact that the Western coalition has a monumental battle on its hands against the Taliban-led insurgency, and the first round has already begun.

Surprise Taliban attacks from the northern Afghan province of Kapisa (the Tagab Valley) to the southern Helmand districts and from Kunar to Nangarhar provinces have conclusively engaged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in its biggest operations since the deployment of its forces in Afghanistan in 2001.

In a telling development, several hundred US Marines this week engaged the Taliban in Helmand province near Garmser, the farthest south American troops have operated in that province.

The Taliban rule the countryside here all the way to the Pakistan border. The assault on Garmser was the first offensive by the 2,300 marines who arrived from the United States this month to bolster mainly British forces in the area.

This trend of deploying additional troops in direct confrontations is expected to continue, even at the risk of higher casualties, in provinces such as Nangarhar, Ghazni, Kunar, Helmand and Kandahar, where the Taliban have established strongholds.

This follows a recent NATO summit at which the member countries agreed to reconcile their differences over Afghanistan and commit more troops, especially to the south, where previously many NATO members were not prepared to send troops.The Taliban anticipated this "surge" a la the policy of troop reinforcements in Iraq and adjusted accordingly.

Having had several key commanders killed by NATO forces last year, the Taliban's fight has been supplemented by a new generation of warriors who are the sons of war legends dating to the resistance to the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. These leaders have autonomous command, but are allied with the Taliban.

Local warlords in northeastern Kapisa province belonging to veteran Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami have already started guerrilla operations against NATO troops. New commanders have emerged, though, including Anwar ul-Haq Mujahid in eastern Nangarhar province and Sirajuddin Haqqani in Ghazni, Kunar, Paktia, Paktika and Khost area. Kabul, too, as happened on Sunday, will come under increased attack - there was another shootout with militants in the capital on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a group belonging to Anwar ul-Haq carried out a suicide attack on a pro-government tribal jirga (council) in the Khogiani district of Nangarhar province. Khogiani is the native town of Anwar ul-Haq's late father and mujahideen leader against the Soviets, Moulvi Younus Khalis. Khalis had announced his decision to battle against NATO forces in 2005, but he died a year later and his son has now taken over command. His main stronghold is the Tora Bora mountains and Khogiani. His group says it will spread the insurgency to the provincial capital of Jalalabad this year.

Sirajuddin Haqqani's network has already blown the starting whistle for the spring offensive with the brazen attack on the Afghan national day parade in Kabul on Sunday. Sirajuddin Haqqani is the son of famed mujahideen commander against the Soviets, Maualana Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, based in the South Waziristan tribal area, has ended peace talks with the Islamabad government, just a week after ordering a ceasefire against security forces. A spokesman for Mehsud is reported to have said the talks broke down because the government refused to withdraw troops from the tribal areas, the strategic backyard of the Taliban's insurgency in Afghanistan.

Under a well-orchestrated program, the Taliban "switched off" their attacks on politically vulnerable Pakistan this month and they patiently allowed the Western-sponsored game of carrots and sticks involving tribal peace accords to play out, even letting anti-Taliban politicians into their region. For the Taliban, it was just a matter of buying time until the end of April to put the finishing touches to their spring campaign in Afghanistan.

For the past few weeks, the Taliban have been flexing their muscles against "vice" in Mohmand Agency and in Bajaur Agency. They have executed robbers and rescued two abducted Sikhs from gangs of criminals who were demanding ransom for their release. The abductors were then executed. Importantly, the Taliban have established parallel administrations which have undermined moves by secular political parties to activate local tribal networks against the Taliban.

In North Waziristan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a Taliban commander, supported the tribal security forces (Khasadar) on the issue of their salary and negotiated on their behalf with the political agent representing the central government.

Tribal elders, the Pakistani security forces and the political parties watched these developments with some surprise, compounded when the the Taliban suddenly set a deadline for the withdrawal of security forces from the area, and then announced the suspension of peace accords signed only a few days earlier.

The timing of this suspension coincides with talks between the dominant party in the ruling government coalition, the Pakistan People's Party, and another key party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz group (PML-N), in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

These talks broke down on the issue of the judiciary: the PML-N wants judges dismissed last year by President Pervez Musharraf restored. It says if it does not get its way, it will pull its members from the cabinet.

The Taliban sense that political uncertainty in the capital will render the government incapable of pursuing military options in the tribal areas.

The young chief minister of North-West Frontier Province, Amir Haider Khan Hotti, who used his family's rapport with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to muster support behind the peace accords, besides the British Foreign Office, appealed in a state of shock with the Taliban not to take hasty decisions.

But the peace agreements and their breach are a part of the Taliban's broader regional designs.

From February to April, under the garb of various ceasefires, the Taliban have solidified their supply lines from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Hundreds of fresh recruits have been able to pass unimpeded from the cities to the tribal areas, where they received brief training before being launched into battle.

Hand-in-hand with the suspension of the peace accords, the Taliban are stepping up pressure on the government to withdraw all troops from the tribal areas. If this happens, and it is possible, the Taliban will have a free hand to expand their training camps for fresh recruits.

US President George W Bush could not have summed up the situation better. In comments on Tuesday, he admitted the United States faced a "long struggle" in Afghanistan against a "very resilient enemy" intent on bringing the Taliban back to power.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.

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