In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan to ask donors for $50-billion
• Afghan teacher killed after speech condemning suicide bombings
• NATO urges Pakistan to combat cross-border Afghan attacks
• Afghan official accuses Iran of interfering in western province's affairs
• Taliban resisting southern Afghan operation: US Marines
• Afghan army number to reach 87,000 by next year - ministry spokesman
• Afghanistan's food appeal "embarrassing", says president
• Corruption, drugs challenges for Afghans, envoy says
• Tajik leader upbeat on joint Afghan projects with Kazakhstan
• Afghan government unable to provide discount coupons to employees - spokesman
• War takes time out for opium windfall
• Taliban step up intimidation campaign
• US helicopter 'downed by Taleban'
• Four Afghan policemen killed in Taleban attack in eastern province
• Taliban invite Pak govt, military, people to join hands against US
• Militants attack Pakistan forces' convoy in tribal area - website
• Afghan leader demands action against people abusing connections
• Kabul's big, bad warlord
• Mullahs versus Bollywood

Afghanistan to ask donors for $50-billion

FISNIK ABRASHI - Associated Press May 14, 2008

KABUL — Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $50-billion to fund a five-year development plan, a presidential aide said, despite growing criticism that aid money is being wasted.

About $14-billion is to go toward improving deteriorating security, but the key target is reviving the decrepit agricultural sector, Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai, told reporters late Tuesday.

The plan will be presented to international donors June 12 in Paris. “We expect a strong political commitment to Afghanistan,” Mr. Nadiri said.

Afghanistan is struggling to recover from a quarter century of war. More than six years after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime, the country is mired in poverty and insurgent attacks are increasing. It also produces about 93 per cent of the world's opium, the raw material of heroin.

The slow pace of development is hobbling public support for Mr. Karzai's Western-backed government as Afghans grapple with food shortages and the sharply rising cost of living. Official corruption is endemic.

“We are building a state, and that is a costly exercise,” Mr. Nadiri said. “The country had lost its human, physical and social capital ... the collapse of Afghanistan was total.”

An estimated 34 to 42 per cent of Afghans still live below the poverty line. Despite significant improvements in health care, Afghanistan has the world's second-highest maternal mortality rate.

It is also highly dependent on aid. The United Nations, NATO and other international institutions are trying to better co-ordinate military and civilian reconstruction, widely regarded as fragmented and ineffectual. There is growing concern over how the aid money is spent.

Since 2001, the international community has pledged $25-billion in help but has delivered only $15-billion, according to a report by the Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an alliance of 94 international aid agencies.

Some 40 per cent of it — or $6-billion — goes back to donor countries in corporate profits and consultant salaries, the report found.

The new five-year development plan is part of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, a 5,000-page document drafted after a two-year consultative process across Afghanistan and abroad. It will be presented in Paris.

Mr. Nadiri acknowledged the government lacks the capacity to administer its aid money alone, but insisted it remains more effective than the myriad of international organizations.

Currently, one-third of foreign aid money is managed by the Afghan government and the rest by donors themselves.

Afghan teacher killed after speech condemning suicide bombings

Associated Press / May 14, 2008 - KABUL, Afghanistan: A teacher was shot to death in northern Afghanistan after he gave a speech condemning suicide bombings, officials said Wednesday.

Abdul Hadi criticized such attacks as un-Islamic and un-Afghan during a speech Tuesday in the Archi district of Kunduz province, said Khair Mohammad Subat, the provincial education department director.

Hadi spoke at a gathering of about 700 people, including the Kunduz governor, and was on his way home when he was killed, Subat said.

Kunduz police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi said police were investigating. No arrests have been made.

In January, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said the number of students and teachers killed in Taliban attacks spiked in the past year in a campaign to close schools and force teenage boys to join the Islamic militia.

According to UNICEF, there were 236 school-related attacks last year.

In central Logar province, meanwhile, education department director Kamaluddin Zadran said three girls schools have been set ablaze in the past three weeks.

Girls were barred from schools under the Taliban regime. After the Taliban fell in 2001, girls were allowed to return to attend, but many conservative and uneducated Afghans still forbid their girls from going.

Arsonists regularly attack girls schools. Last year, gunmen killed two students walking outside a girls school in Logar.

Education Ministry statistics indicate only 35 percent of students enrolled are girls.

NATO urges Pakistan to combat cross-border Afghan attacks

BRUSSELS (AFP) — NATO urged Pakistan Wednesday to improve security on its border with Afghanistan following a rise in cross-border attacks by Taliban fighters and Al-Qaeda militants.

"The number of attacks is up significantly from the same period last year," the alliance's chief spokesman James Appathurai said. "There is not enough effectiveness in border control on Pakistan's side."

"The concerns have been communicated to Pakistan," he told reporters.

He said the level of attacks from across the border -- where Taliban fighters and Al-Qaeda militants control some of their operations -- climbed to a high in April close to figures recorded during peak fighting last summer.

"The increase is some 52 percent more than same period last year. It's very close to the August 2007 peak we have seen last year," Appathurai said.

"The main concern is the extremists regroup, rest, reconstitute and then move through the border again," he said.

The Taliban, ousted from power in Afghanistan in late 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden, have been using Pakistan's lawless tribal belt to stage attacks in Afghanistan.

NATO has some 47,000 troops in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, with the aim of spreading the rule of the central government and fostering reconstruction in the conflict-torn country.

But it has struggled to quell the tenacious insurgency.

Last month, a Pakistani Al-Qaeda warlord accused of ordering former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination told followers to halt attacks amid peace talks with the new government.

Pakistani officials said Wednesday that Pakistan's army had moved away from villages and towns in the volatile North West Frontier Province tribal region bordering Afghanistan as the peace talks moved forward.

As part of the process, some 30 tribesmen held in various prisons were freed Tuesday in return for the release of 55 soldiers detained by pro-Taliban militants, a senior security official said on condition of anonymity.

But Afghanistan and the United States, which is the biggest and most powerful of NATO's 26 allies, have expressed concern about any peace deal between Pakistan and Taliban fighters.

Appathurai said: "We are concerned about the effects of what's going on in Pakistan and the rising degree of incidents" in eastern Afghanistan.

ISAF's operations in that part of the country are led by the United States.

Appathurai underlined, however, that NATO was not trying to interfere in the internal affairs of Pakistan, whose President Pervez Musharraf has been a key ally in the US "war on terror".

"The bottom line is Pakistan internal activities are internal activities, but on the NATO side we are concerned about the consequences... of what's happening on the other side of the border," the spokesman said.

Afghan official accuses Iran of interfering in western province's affairs

Text of report by Afghan female-orientated community Radio Sahar on 13 May

[Presenter] Officials in [western] Farah Province have accused Iran of interfering in the internal affairs of that province. The security commander of Farah said Iran was helping insurgents and intended to disrupt the construction work on a water dam in Bakhshabad region in the province.

[Correspondent] Iran's interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs is nothing new. It has repeatedly been said that Iran is involved in interfering in Afghan affairs, especially in the western provinces. Khalilollah Rahmani, the security commander of Farah Province, said that Iran was supporting insurgents in that province in order to prevent the construction of Bakhshabad Water Dam. The security commander added that intelligence organizations in the province had evidence proving Iran was interfering in the province's affairs.

[Rahmani] We have information that proves Iranian networks are giving money to government opponents to prevent the project from being complete! d. This is true and we have information in this regard.

[Correspondent] Although Iranian officials have always denied allegations of interference in Afghanistan's domestic affairs, Farah Governor Gholam Mohioddin Baluch some while ago said that Iran was interfering in the work on Bakhshabad Water Dam, which is one of the biggest reconstruction projects in Farah Province. However, the local authorities claim that the project has failed to be brought into use due to violence and Iran's interference.

Taliban resisting southern Afghan operation: US Marines

May 14, 2008 - KABUL (AFP) - US Marines have faced "continuous resistance" from the Taliban since an operation began two weeks ago to clear out a key militant stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the force said Wednesday.

US Marines and British troops under NATO command launched the operation late April in Garmser district in southern Helmand province, a key battleground for the Taliban-led insurgency and an opium-producing centre.

"We're seeing a continuous resistance," said Lieutenant Colonel Kent W. Hayes, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's second-in-command in Afghanistan.

"They are consistently engaging us," he said, but added that "the bottom line is: When we fight them, we defeat them."

Hayes refused to comment on militant casualties from the operation, saying it was not policy to give figures, adding Garmser was a "planning, staging and logistic hub" for the rebels.

But he did not dismiss a statement Tuesday by Helmand province governor Gulab Mangal that over 150 militants, many of them Al-Qaeda-linked "foreign fighters," had been killed in the past week in Garmser, which borders Pakistan.

Hayes also said his troops had disrupted Taliban logistics networks in Garmser.

"We are noticing that we have influenced that area greatly and we have seen that they are starting to have trouble reinforcing and getting arms and things like that," he said.

Garmser is said to be a gateway for fresh rebel fighters and supplies coming into Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is fiercest along areas bordering Pakistan.

Some rebels are believed to have their first encounters with international troops in Garmser before moving north.

There are about 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan helping the government. The 2,400-strong Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed in March to help NATO forces over the summer, traditionally when the insurgency flares.

A separate US-led coalition including special forces has in the past week reported significant Taliban casualties in Garmser.

The Taliban were removed from government in 2001 in a US-led invasion launched when the extremist regime did not hand over their Al-Qaeda allies following the 9/11 attacks.

The operation forced Taliban and Al-Qaeda across the border into Pakistan, where Afghan and US officials claim they have safe havens from which they can plot their bloody insurgency in Afghanistan.

Afghan army number to reach 87,000 by next year - ministry spokesman

Text of unattributed report in Dari, "Number of national army soldiers reaches 68,011", published Afghan independent secular daily newspaper Hasht-e Sobh on 12 May

Hasht-e Sobh: Gen Zaher Azemi, spokesman for the Defence Ministry, told journalists at a joint news conference in Kabul yesterday [11 May] with the military and civilian spokesman of the International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] that the number of national army soldiers has reached to 68,011. He also said that apart from them, 7,884 soldiers and 770 officers are receiving - middle of 1389 [2010].

Mr Azemi also said that the operation being carried out by the US marine forces in Garmser District of Helmand Province was successful. He said that a new operation by the name of "Sword One" will be launched in the south and western parts of the country. The Afghan Air Force Corps's aircraft will conduct its first air mission in this mopping-up operation.

Meanwhile, Gen Branco, military spokesman of ISAF in Afghanistan, said that number of operations carried out by the local and foreign forces had increased. He added that increase in number of operations ! does not mean insurgents in the country have become stronger but rather an increase in the activities of local and international forces.

He added that activities of insurgents have been further restricted in 10 districts located in the south and east; 78 per cent of incidents have been registered in these 10 districts.

The ISAF spokesman said that the main goal of insurgents is to cause civilian casualties and damage the country's infrastructures.

Afghanistan's food appeal "embarrassing", says president

Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV, on 13 May

[Presenter] President Karzai says Afghanistan's appeal for food from the international community is embarrassing and that Afghanistan should be self-sufficient in crops.

President Karzai has invited to Kabul around 400 farmers from throughout Afghanistan to discuss with them ways of improving Afghanistan's agriculture.

My colleague Parwez Shamal has more:

[Correspondent] President Karzai speaks about the reduction in the level of crop production in the world and stresses that poppy cultivation is the main reason for low level of crop production in Afghanistan.

[Hamed Karzai] If we did not cultivate poppy in Helmand, Kandahar, Badakhshan and other places where there is poppy cultivation, the president and cabinet of Afghanistan would not have wasted three months begging foreigners. We begged for three months dear brothers. Your president sits and begs foreigners, and tells them: For God's sake, give us a little wheat because we have no other! option. [The leader of] one country told me: Brother, you should not cultivate opium. Why do you ask me for wheat? Do not cultivate opium. Work hard. Do not ask me for wheat.

[Correspondent] Mr Karzai says if there were no poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, if attention were paid to the condition of farmers and if there were efforts for the reconstruction of irrigation systems, Afghanistan would be self-sufficient in crops.

[Hamed Karzai] If I ask the world for help in building a water dam, they will say that is fine. If I ask the world for support in building electricity dams, they will say that is fine. I ask them for roads, schools, doctors, and engineers, they will say that is fine. But it is shameful if I ask them for wheat. We claim that we are an agricultural land, but we cannot find bread to eat. We can claim to be an agricultural country when we can afford our food.

[Correspondent] A number of Afghanistan's farmers say the lack of seeds and modern! agricultural equipment is one of their problems.

[First farmer, in Pashto] If they [farmers] are given long-term loans, and if they are provided with chemical fertilizers, tractors, and seeds, the farmers are not in favour of [poppy] cultivation.

[Second farmer] If the government support us, we will destroy poppy cultivation throughout Afghanistan.

[Correspondent] President Karzai, meanwhile, says the Paris Conference, which will be held next month, will discuss Afghanistan's agricultural needs and shortcomings.

[Hamed Karzai] We have asked for 2.5bn dollars only for agriculture for the coming three years.

[Correspondent] This year, Afghanistan's need for crops is higher than the previous years. Poppy cultivation and the use of traditional agricultural methods have been described as the main causes of the crop shortage in the country.

[Presenter] The farmers' discussions with government officials will continue until Thursday [15 May 08].

Corruption, drugs challenges for Afghans, envoy says

The star May 13, 2008 - Allan Woods OTTAWA Bureau

GATINEAU, Que.——It will take a decade for Afghanistan to conquer the tandem scourges of corruption and drug production that are holding back progress in the country, Afghan ambassador Omar Samad says.

At a luncheon speech today, Samad said 20 regions of the country have been declared poppy free this year, up from 16 last year. But it will take cash and other incentives from the national government and international community to continue that trend.

It will also be a battle to ensure that southern Afghanistan also quits producing opium, the key ingredient in heroin. Afghanistan produces an estimated 95% of the world's opium supply.

Better security, governance and a strong program to help farmers turn to other crops are vital to accomplishing that goal, Samad said.

"We also need to combat the diffuse networks in the region and beyond that is sustaining the drug economy of Afghanistan. I think that all these measures will take up to 10 years to make a difference."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government is putting the finishing touches on a five-year national development strategy that is designed to refocus international assistance efforts and put the country on the road to self-sufficiency. The document, which will be presented next month in Paris, will focus broadly on security, governance and economic and social development.

Tackling corruption will be among the issues addressed in the document, and Samad suggested more focus be placed on training poorly paid local officials than on punishing them for corrupt practices.

"It would not be fair to victimize those who are already victims of poverty and lack of opportunity," he said.

Ottawa is planning to step up its efforts to build the competency and capacity of Karzai's government by boosting its Kabul-based Strategic Advisory Team by about half-a-dozen civilian officials that will teach their Afghan counterparts in the art of bureaucracy and communications, said Mike Capstick, a retired Canadian Forces colonel who led the team from August 2005 to August 2006.

Canada will also be asked at the Paris donor conference to start doing things differently in Kandahar, based on a thorough assessment of the needs of local security forces, government and tribal leaders and individuals. Samad said his government would identify funding gaps and specific figures that would help the international community better target the outstanding needs.

"If it's clean water that the people of Kandahar need, then it is an issue that Canadians should talk to the Afghans about," he said.

"If it's a road that would enable the farmers to transport their produce to market and would change livelihoods and improve them, then that is an issue that we should talk about.

"If it's to fund an agricultural and irrigation project that could create thousands of jobs and raise the levels of productivity of the land in Kandahar then we should focus on that."

Tajik leader upbeat on joint Afghan projects with Kazakhstan

Text of report by Russian internet news agency Regnum, specializing in regional reporting

"Attracting Afghanistan to participating in regional events testifies to our intentions," Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, who is ending his two-day visit to Kazakhstan today, 13 May, has said following talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a correspondent of the Regnum news agency has reported.

"We know that Kazakhstan is providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan very actively and looking at the possibilities of implementing various projects in this country. Tajikistan has built four bridges connecting Tajikistan with Afghanistan in a short period of time. Another two projects are at the stage of beginning the construction. Power lines, connecting Dushanbe and Kabul, are being constructed," Rahmon said.

The Tajik president said that an international consortium would be set up to construct high voltage [electricity] line, which will connect Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is an agreement to build this line up to [Kazak! h commercial city of] Almaty. "That is, Kazakhstan is also included in the project," Rahmon said.

Afghan government unable to provide discount coupons to employees - spokesman

Excerpt from report by privately-owned Afghan Ariana TV on 13 May

[Presenter] The Afghan government is unable to distribute money-off coupons to civil servants. The Afghan Finance Ministry has said the government cannot help the employees because of a shortage of resources and the free market system.

The lower house of the Afghan parliament agreed yesterday that the government should set up a programme for the distribution of such coupons and present it to the parliament. Rahimollah Shareyar reports:

[Correspondent] The lower house has been discussing a pay rise for government employees in the past few weeks and finally approved on Monday [12 May] that a minimum of 5,000 afghanis [approximately 100 US dollars] and a maximum of 32,500 afghanis [approximately 660 US dollars] should be paid to government employees. The parliamentarians also asked the government to set up a programme for the distribution of coupons to employees and present it to the lower house in two months' time.

[Passage omitted: Speaker's remark! s, repetition about the two-month deadline]

[Correspondent] However, Aryan Sharifi, the Finance Ministry spokesman, told Ariana TV that the lower house's decision cannot be implemented. He argued that they are unable to pay the employees and at the same time distribute coupons because of a shortage of resources as well as the free market system.

According to the spokesman, the suggested pay rise is the highest among countries in the region.

[Passage omitted: ministerial spokesman's remarks, repetition about inadequate resources]

Before the Taleban took power, the Afghan government used to provide its employees with coupons in addition to regular payment, thus it used to distribute wheat, rice, ghee [clarified butter used for cooking] and other basic items. However, these services were suspended after the approval of the new constitution and once the new government was established.

Economic observers believe food price rises will not be controll! ed unless the government starts distributing coupons to employees once again. On the other hand, they argue that increasing payment is not a good solution to help employees meet their needs.

War takes time out for opium windfall

In Afghanistan, spring brings calm as farmers harvest their poppies only to see renewed fighting fuelled by narco cash in summer

KATHERINE O'NEILL AND GRAEME SMITH - From Tuesday's Globe and Mail May 13, 2008

NEAR BAZAR-E-PANJWAI and KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The swollen green poppy bulbs are being plucked from the fields as the annual spring harvest is under way in Afghanistan's volatile and dangerous Panjwai district.

"Fifteen days," an Afghan farmer told a Canadian soldier yesterday, when asked about how long he expected it will take to clear his field. As the farmer talked, he carefully cut open a bulb the size of a walnut and scooped out the oozing sap.

In nearby fields, the harvest could be finished as early as Friday.

Canadian soldiers patrolling areas southwest of Kandahar are closely watching the calendar, as they prepare for a renewed Taliban offensive after the fields are cleared.

In nearby Kandahar, the annual start of the fighting season has become as regular as the harvest season. When the bulbs ripen on the poppy stalks, farmers hire armies of young men to work the fields. For a few weeks in late April and early May, it's difficult to find a taxi or a construction worker in the city, as every available labourer goes into the countryside. Many shops are shuttered, and the city takes on an air of sleepy anticipation.

The level of violence in Kandahar province has dropped sharply during this period of calm that comes with the harvest, as it always does in late spring. Village elders say this is partly because the young men are farming instead of fighting, but also because the Taliban feel social pressure from ordinary people who need a good opium crop to pay for the year's expenses; the insurgents would lose support if they disrupt the harvest.

As the last remnants of dark tar get scraped off the plants, however, the tension grows. City residents ask people who recently returned from the fields when the harvest will finish, trying to guess when the fighting will start.

Military officials usually describe the annual outbreak of fighting in purely economic terms, saying the end of the harvest leaves thousands of unemployed young men who don't have any financial alternative except selling themselves as hired guns to the insurgency. At the same time, however, many poor labourers find themselves flush with more money than they've seen all year, after making inflated wages four or five times higher than their salary rate in slower seasons. Some observers say it's the influx of cash into the countryside that brings a fresh supply of ammunition and supplies to the insurgents; others say it's only the summer heat that brings war, as the nights are warm enough for a band of fighters to sleep in the fields without blankets.

Whatever the reason, the escalating violence of each summer is sickeningly predictable - so predictable, in fact, that pharmacists in Kandahar city are stocking extra medicines in anticipation of higher casualties and increased sales.

Haji Agha Raheemdin, head of Pharmaceuticals Services Union of Kandahar, said he usually sells about $100,000 worth of supplies a month, but anticipates sales of $200,000 to $300,000 in the month after the harvest's end. That estimate does not include the medicine his group will donate to the city's main hospital, he said.

"This problem can't be solved by fighting," Mr. Raheemdin said. "But the fighters don't know this. Every year, the fight is bigger."

As the fighting has escalated every year, fears spread in Afghanistan last spring that the 2007 season would include a so-called "spring offensive" by the Taliban, possibly a frontal attack on a major town or city. Such an attack never happened, and NATO officials trumpeted this as a successful thwarting of a Taliban offensive.

But the insurgents claimed their new strategy called for more numerous attacks by smaller groups of fighters, and the statistics from last year's fighting season did record a spike in violence that some analysts have described as an offensive.

"We totally disagree with those who assert that the 'spring offensive' did not happen," concludes a year-end report by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, describing a fourfold increase in attacks from February to July, 2007. "The numbers do not lie," the report said.

This year's numbers look similar, but worse. Data collected by security consultant Sami Kovanen, of Vigilant Strategic Services Afghanistan, show a steady increase in insurgent attacks in the first 14 weeks of 2008, with every week except one recording a higher volume of incidents than the same week in the previous year. Then, in the 15th to 18th weeks, the number of attacks dips down in a lull similar to the calm before previous fighting seasons. Over all, however, VSSA had counted 226 insurgent attacks in Kandahar this year, as of May 4, compared with 167 during the same period last year, leading some analysts to predict that this fighting season will bring more violence than the last.

Military officials privately acknowledge that their own statistics reflect a similar increase in the number of insurgent attacks, but they draw different conclusions from the data. The fact that insurgents are not massing in the large battle groups seen in 2006 shows that NATO and Afghan troops are forcing them to scatter, increasing the number of incidents but lowering the insurgents' effectiveness, officials say.

Taliban step up intimidation campaign

Irish Sun - World - Reuters Published: May 13, 2008

Khost- Afghans call them "night letters" - notes scattered or pushed under doorways by Taliban militants in the dead of night, threatening villagers' lives if they cooperate with foreign forces and the government.

The threats have picked up in recent weeks in areas across southeastern Afghanistan, US officers and Afghans say, as the Taliban intensify their activities along the Pakistan border and in mountainous communities inland towards Kabul.

The notes are often poorly written but the message is clear - have nothing to do with the foreign troops or serve in the government they back, otherwise, your business will be destroyed, your livestock snatched or your throat cut.

At least six people have either had their throats slit or were beheaded by the militants for allegedly acting as spies for the foreign forces in recent weeks in various parts of southeastern Afghanistan, according to officials and the Taliban.

Scores have lost their lives for failing to take notice of the Taliban's verbal threats, or the "night letters", since 2006 when the Al Qaida-backed Taliban made a return.

"It's usually the merchants or those with something to lose," says Lieutenant Augie Gonzalez, a platoon commander based at a camp outside Khost, a city in the southeast of the country, 20km from the Pakistan border.

"The threats are for real and it gets to them, you sense it," he says, explaining how he'll often visit a village to talk to local leaders and deliver food and other aid, only to return three days later and learn the Taliban have been there.

"The villagers don't want the Taliban there, there's no sympathy and they'll tell you that straight, but they can't take them on on their own and we can't be there every day."

The night letters form part of a campaign of intimidation and violence that appears to be steadily escalating, although the commander of US forces in the area, Colonel Pete Johnson, dismisses suggestions of a renewed Taliban offensive.

Four US troops were killed in ambushes or roadside bomb attacks last week alone, while Afghan security forces, particularly the less well organised police, have also repeatedly been targeted, with around a dozen killed.

"Yes, there's more fighting right now than there was last month, but that's just the way the context is in eastern Afghanistan," Johnson said last week, describing the idea of a Taliban offensive as a "myth".

Lieutenant Gonzalez and his men don't see their day-to-day work as countering a Taliban offensive. Instead it's more about trying to get into villages and win the population over before the militants have a chance to do so and impose their will.

"It's a slow process of pushing forwards, providing security so that others can come in and rebuild," says Gonzalez.

For Afghans, the Taliban threat is very real and there is no doubt in their minds it has risen in the past month as the season has shifted and it's become easier for militants to move across the border from Pakistan.

Several senior Afghan security officials including Kabul's police chief have been suspended and were being questioned over an attack last month against President Hamid Karzai, an official said yesterday.

Karzai survived the April 27 attack at a military parade, but three other Afghans were killed. The three attackers were killed in return fire by security forces.

The attack was claimed by Taliban militants who have been waging an insurgency against Karzai's US-backed government.

Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet has suspended eight officials and taken over investigation of the attack from a government commission, said spokesman Haytuallah Hayat.

"We have taken over the investigations," Hayat said.

"We have suspended eight senior government officials including the Kabul police chief (Mohammad Salim Ihsas) so they can be questioned," Hayat said.

The suspended officials include senior security officials in the interior, defence and intelligence ministries. They would be questioned over charges of negligence, Hayat said.

They would be tried if found guilty of negligence, otherwise they would return to their duties, he said. - AFP

US helicopter 'downed by Taleban'

BBC News 13 May 2008

A US military helicopter has made an emergency landing in Afghanistan amid reports that militants shot it down.

No one was seriously injured in the "hard landing" in the north-eastern province of Nuristan on Monday night, coalition forces said. The Taleban say they shot the helicopter down.

Separately, the coalition says troops killed 12 Taleban fighters in southern Helmand province, an opium production centre and insurgent stronghold.

The US military says the helicopter has been taken to a coalition base.

"The cause of the helicopter incident is still under investigation. However, initial reports indicated it may have been caused by some form of ground fire," a statement said, the AFP news agency reports.

"No one aboard the aircraft sustained significant injuries."

In southern Helmand, fresh clashes and air strikes killed a dozen Taleban fighters, the coalition said. Troops had come under fire during a search operation in Garmser district.

Four Afghan policemen killed in Taleban attack in eastern province

Text of report by private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency

Kabul, 13 May: Four policemen have been killed in a Taleban attack and the Taleban say they have also executed 13 policemen.

The security commander of Wardag Province, Mozafaroddin, told Afghan Islamic Press [AIP]: "The Taleban attacked a security checkpoint guarding a pedagogical building, which is being built near Maydanshahr, the capital of Wardag Province, last night. Four policemen were killed." He also said that the Taleban attacked a convoy of ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] in the Haft Asia area of Salar yesterday. Four Taleban were killed and two others wounded.

On the other hand, Spokesman for the Taleban Zabihollah Mojahed claimed responsibility for the attack on the pedagogical department, which is newly built near the capital of Wardag Province. He claimed that in addition to killing two policemen during the fighting, they had captured another 13 policemen and then executed them a short while later.

Officials have not y! et commented on the Taleban's claim that they captured a number of policemen and then executed them.

Taliban invite Pak govt, military, people to join hands against US

Daily Times 14 May 2008

PESHAWAR: Members of the Taliban delegation holding talks with the NWFP government on Tuesday distributed pamphlets asking the government, military and people of Pakistan to join hands with the Taliban against the United States. The pamphlets were distributed at the Shahi Mehmankhana, where the provincial government and the Taliban discussed peace in Swat valley for over seven hours. The two-page pamphlet asks for a joint struggle for the implementation of Shariah law in the country. It says President Pervez Musharraf will be put on trial in a Shariah court by the Taliban shura for launching operations in Waziristan, and against Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad. The pamphlet warns that if any action is taken against the Taliban anywhere in the country in the future, the ANP-PPP government will be held responsible. The pamphlet says militant warlord Baitullah Mehsud is their leader and the Taliban will continue to fight for the cause of Islam under his leadership. When Awami National Party (ANP) NWFP President Afrasiab Khattak was asked about the distribution of pamphlets by the Taliban delegation, he claimed ignorance of the development. daud khattak

Militants attack Pakistan forces' convoy in tribal area - website

Text of report by Dubai-based Geo TV News website on 13 May

Peshawar: A convoy of security forces targeted with a remote-controlled bomb at Pakistan-Afghan road in Khyber Agency but no loss of life was reported in the incident.

According to sources, unknown miscreants planted a remote-controlled bomb at Pakistan-Afghan road in tehsil Jamrood that went off with a bang when security forces convoy was passing through the area. However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.

Afghan leader demands action against people abusing connections

Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Ariana TV on 13 May

[Presenter] President Karzai has ordered that any individual who tries to take advantage of the president's name and act illegally in government departments must be identified and presented to the presidential office.

The [government's presidential] office of administrative affairs says the decree is aimed at tackling administrative corruption. A number of parliamentarians, however, believe the move is part of a publicity programme [for the forthcoming presidential elections] and cannot be implemented. Naser Ahmadi is reporting:

[Correspondent] In a statement, the Afghan presidential office has asked all government departments to pass on information about the abuse of the president's name to promote illegal activities and benefits. The statement reads that those individuals who introduce themselves as the president's relatives or as the presidential office's employees in order to have their illegal requests carried out should be pursued.

[MP Shok! ria Barakzay] Firstly, I wish the president had this done six years ago, because it is too late now. Secondly, he should not have limited the decree to his own name and instead should have ordered that any individual that abuses the name and authority of government officials must be pursued. And finally, he should have mentioned whether or not there was a mechanism for people to contact him [personally and complain about their problems].

[MP Abdol Kabir Ranjbar in Pashto] There is a strong possibility that this [the decree] is part of a publicity programme [for the upcoming elections]. Although there might be pressure for this plan, it is impossible to implement. As a result, the decree might be used as a tool during the [election] campaign.

[MP Zalmay Mojaddedi] Perhaps the president has recently realized that some individuals are abusing his name or taking advantage of being his relative or an employee of the presidential office in the government departments.

[Correspondent] However, the office of administrative affairs sa ys the decision has been made to provide more opportunities to qualified, competent officials and prevent administrative corruption in the government departments.

Appointing officials in the Afghan government departments on the basis of nepotism and mediation is regarded as one of the major causes of increasing corruption and failure.

Kabul's big, bad warlord

Wanted by police, notorious militiaman hides away as city awaits his next move

The star.com May 13, 2008, Rosie DiManno- Columnist

KABUL–The big, bad warlord is ... hiding behind the door.

Won't show his well-known swarthy face to a visiting reporter, though he usually revels in the company of journalists, loves entertaining them with exaggerated stories of battlefield bravery and womanizing prowess.

On this morning, however, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum – perhaps most notorious of the militia commanders from mujahideen days (at least those still alive) and certainly the most colourful – demands that questions be provided in writing first, and then maybe he'll answer, but only through a go-between, his confidante and ally of 28 years, Sayed Nurollah.

So we go through the charade: Questions written in English, translated into Dari, and passed through the door of his office at the TV station he owns, located right next door to his house, accessible without having to walk outside.

Even given his extensively chronicled eccentricities, the 54-year-old general is behaving most strangely these days, a paranoid pariah who hasn't been spotted publicly in three months, cooped up in his pastel-painted mansion and ignoring a warrant for his arrest on charges of brutally beating a political rival.

This is Afghan politics. "I'm not talking about that matter," comes the response through the door.

When last seen, the infamous Uzbek jang salar – warlord – was standing on the roof of his rococo palazzo, shaking his fist at police. That was in February, when dozens of officers were dispatched to the home, a standoff that lasted for hours, police and Dostum's men pointing guns at each other, all of Kabul transfixed.

While Dostum wouldn't submit to authorities, he did agree to release Akbar Bai, an ethnic Turkmen and his former election manager, who'd broken with the general's party a year ago. Dostum had allegedly taken Bai hostage the previous night.

The bizarre incident began, it's believed, when Dostum, well into the vodka, decided to invite Bai over for a conciliatory drink. The latter refused. Dostum was indignant and, posse of henchmen in tow, reeled through the neighbourhood – the posh Wazir Akbar Khan enclave inhabited by diplomats and drug kingpins – to Bai's house. Bai and his son were severely pounded, then Shanghaied.

At a press conference from his hospital bedside, Bai demanded justice. But Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabat has not been able to bring Dostum to heel and gave up trying to arrest him after pro-Dostum riots broke out in the northern provinces, where the general remains revered as a Northern Alliance hero, albeit with much blood on his hands. (Many have long demanded that he be prosecuted for war crimes; his troops accused of murdering 200 Taliban detainees when they retook Mazar-e-Sharif.)

Sabat did suspend Dostum from his symbolic position as chief-of-staff of the armed forces, which has not satisfied Bai in the least.

President Hamid Karzai merely cemented his perceived weakness by offering only tut-tutting words of disapproval. "This culture of impunity has to stop. I can live with undue influence, because it is part of this arrangement we have. But we cannot tolerate criminals, or the whole arrangement will lose its moral existence."

The president is not quite an innocent bystander to events. He needs Dostum onside, because of the authority the general extends over seven northern provinces, a swath of Afghanistan that is relatively stable and free of insurgency violence. But Karzai is leery of the power that Dostum wields.

During the civil war era, Dostum changed sides multiple times, variously a hard-line Communist and pious Muslim, pro-government and anti-government, loyal one moment to the iconic Shah Massoud and treacherous the next. Yet, with his horse-mounted troops – at one time he commanded 100,000 men, a brave but disreputable legion known for raping and pillaging – Dostum held out in the north against the Taliban longer than anyone else, maintaining a secular fiefdom in Mazar.

Eventually, Dostum was also driven off by the Taliban. But after 9/11, he offered his services to Washington and in late 2001, with Massoud assassinated by Al Qaeda, it was Dostum, along with U.S. Special Forces, that broke out of the Hindu Kush mountains and destroyed the Taliban army in the north. And it was Dostum, at the head of the reconstituted Northern Alliance, who rode triumphantly into a liberated Kabul.

He's since made a political transition, of sorts, creating his own party – the Islamic Movement, with Nurollah as titular chair – and garnered 10 per cent of the vote in the last presidential election.

Dostum will never be president, at least not through the ballot box, an ethnic Pashtun voting bloc denying him that office and his ruthless record as a warlord unappealing to those pulling the strings in the West. But, as he reminded yesterday through Nurollah – the latter reading from scribbled notes – few have more experience fighting the Taliban, now resurgent, if only Karzai would allow it.

A private militia of battle-hardened mujahideen, loyal to Dostum, distinct and detached from the Afghan National Army, is the last thing Karzai wants to see. What he really wants is to have Dostum neutralized, not reclaiming his charismatic command in the north or plotting a putsch in the capital.

Dostum reclusive and contained in his palatial Kabul fortress is just fine with the president.

But the resilient general, even when outflanked, has never been outwitted. All Kabul is waiting for him to come busting out.

Mullahs versus Bollywood

IWPR 05/13/2008 - By Hafizullah Gardesh in Kabul

As two Afghan TV stations hold out against a ban on Indian soap operas, analysts warn freedom of speech is at stake.

With two television states still battling a government ban on Indian serials regarded as too racy for local sensibilities, viewers are trying to make sense of the government’s increasingly muddled media policy.

The dispute has raised questions about who should have the moral authority to censor the airwaves, how politics influences decisions on the media, and – most importantly of all – what kind of society Afghans want.

The Ministry of Information and Culture gave private channels a deadline of April 15, later extended by a week to April 22, to stop showing certain Bollywood series on the grounds that they offended Afghan sensibilities.

The ministry demanded that five serials be taken off the air.

Two television stations, Noorin and Ariana, bowed to the ban, but Tolo, responsible for two of the series, and Afghan TV have continued to air the popular serials.

The ministry has referred Tolo TV to the prosecutor’s office, but no legal action had been launched by the time this report was published.

The Indian-made soaps enjoy huge popularity among viewers. However, at a meeting last month with religious scholars and TV representatives, Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Khurram claimed these programmes ran counter to Islamic culture and promoted “idolatry” with their depictions of Hindu imagery.

Critics say the clothing worn by the female actors is too revealing for Afghan tastes. The dialogue and plot lines are also offensive to many, with hints of unlawful sexual conduct and other titillating material.
The driving force behind the government ban was the Council of Clerics, which brings together leading Muslim scholars. The council had called for all Indian serials to be taken off the airwaves, but expressed satisfaction with the selective ban.

"We are against anything that is against the tenets of Islam. We propose that broadcasting be adjusted to fit Islamic culture," said Enayatullah Baligh, a member of the Council of Clerics. He said clerics were pleased with what the ministry had done although they felt it had not gone far enough.

Baligh said the Council of Clerics would assert its right to prevent immorality at any cost.

"We prevent all kinds of vice. We aren’t afraid to do so even if it means we are described as Taleban, al-Qaeda or something else,” he said. “We defend anyone who defends Islam. Afghanistan is an Islamic country and it should live under the umbrella of Islamic law."

The cleric added that the council was well able to act on such matters independently, but in this instance had chosen to defer to government – as long as it acted in the correct manner.

The Senate or upper chamber of parliament has backed the ministry’s decision. Members of the lower house also spoke out against the “anti-Islamic” content of TV programming last month. In addition to the drama serials, they were annoyed by a show in which men and women were seen dancing together.

At national level, a bitter debate continues between those who want to impose a conservative morality and advocates of freedom of speech.

Some, like Abdul Hamid Mubariz, head of the National Union of Journalists, insist that the ban is a deliberate ploy by political and religious conservatives.
"There is a body of people in government who want to do without freedom of speech and democracy,” he said. “They are people who see freedom of speech as being against their own personal interest.
"If we are to follow Taleban-style policies, then why didn’t Mullah Omar become president of Afghanistan instead of Hamed Karzai?" he asked.
Mubariz challenged President Karzai to issue a formal ruling on the matter.
"Karzai should issue a decree and snatch away our freedom. Then we will take away from him the mantle of freedom and democracy,” he said.
Karzai has issued contradictory statements, straddling a line between upholding freedom of speech, as guaranteed by the constitution, and backing moves to defend Afghan culture.

But the Ministry of Information and Culture has no such qualms.

“Every freedom has its limits,” said ministry spokesman Hamid Naseri. “Every human being is free insofar as he does not violate and harm the person, sensibilities and faith of others.”
Naseri said that the ministry had issued its ruling based on “hundreds” of complaints sent in by members of the public.

“This is the people's will, and we respect the wishes of our people," he said.

Naseri also attacked external critics who depicted the TV serial ban as a restriction of media freedom. Responding to a statement issued by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, he said it had “misjudged” the situation.

“Without contacting the people and our ministry or being award of the reality, they contact traitors and accept what they say and react to that,” he alleged.
Turning to the private TV stations, Naseri accused them of being too lazy to make their own programmes, despite what he said was encouragement by the ministry to use Afghans in productions that reflected local values and traditions.

“Officials at Tolo TV are trying to ‘hide the sun behind two fingers’ [conceal the obvious]. What scenes in these serials and movies are based on Islamic and Afghan culture? This is a cultural assault pursued by Tolo TV.”

Sediq Ahmadzada, executive manager of Tolo TV, maintains that there is no justification for halting the Indian serials.

“Our programmes and broadcasts are not against the law. The statement the information ministry sent us does not contain any convincing legal reasons,” he said. “We resist any pressure that is not legal and we will continue our broadcasts.”

Political analyst Mohammad Qasim Akhgar believes that the background to this dispute has more to do with politics than with morality.

“There are some fundamentalists in government, who have put pressure on private TV stations, and Tolo in particular, in the past, too. This is a continuation of that previous pressure,” said Akhgar. “This group of people is trying to eliminate free speech as a way of maintaining their strength and giving legitimacy to their demands. Freedom of speech unmasks their plans and programmes.”

Control of the media is becoming increasingly important as Afghanistan prepares for presidential elections in 2009. Many political groups have opened their own media outlets, and Akhgar is not alone in thinking that there may be political motives behind the current tussle over the airwaves.

Akhgar disputed the ministry spokesman’s claim that the ban reflected popular demand.

“It’s completely the other way round…. People really want these serials to be broadcast. Those who complain about [them] can switch off or watch something else,” he said. “Representing this as if it came from the people is not good.”

Another analyst, Ahmad Sayedi, said it was hard to know what was really really going on in government, given the mixed messages coming out about freedom of speech.

"In a situation like this, one gets confused. On the one hand, President Hamed Karzai talks about freedom of speech and sees himself as a defender of freedom, but on the other hand, the information and culture ministry does not believe in freedom of speech. We don’t really know what is behind the curtain," he said.

Kabul residents are divided in their outlook on the ban, and on the controversy surrounding it.

Some, like Dr Gul Rasul, argue that the Indian soaps undermine Afghan traditions, and even faith.

He recalled the day he visited relatives to pay his respects after a death in the family. Afterwards, his five-year-old daughter asked him, “Father, why were the family of the deceased not wearing white?”
Rasul explained that this was because Afghans wear black as mourning, whereas the Indian actors on TV wear white.
Schoolteacher Saleha complained that her pupils were slacking because they spent so much time gripped by the latest serials.

"The children have stopped attending to their lessons,” she said. They watch these serials until late into the night. I teach the first grade, and believe me, the girls aged six and seven pay no attention to their lessons. They’re always telling each other romantic stories about the actors from these serials."

On the other hand Zuhra, who is 18, loves the Indian soap operas so much that she dresses like the actresses.

She says it is wrong to blame Indian programmes for Afghanistan’s many problems, "There are thefts, robberies, murders and thousands of other anti-Islamic actions taking place in this country but the Council of Clerics, parliament and government never pay attention to these things because they are implicated in these crimes themselves,” she said. “Yet they try to ban a few Indian serials that spread love, friendship and honesty among the people."

[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.]