In this bulletin:

• Pakistani Taliban leader says jihad in Afghanistan to continue
• US coalition: Insurgents killed in Afghanistan
• Ukraine, Afghanistan discuss bilateral cooperation
• UN officials unhappy with foreign aid distribution in Afghanistan
• Ukraine to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan
• Kidnapped Iranian released in Afghanistan
• India deports 10 Afghan militants – paper
• Pentagon says growth of Al-Qaeda safe havens 'troubling'
• Pakistan, US differ on tackling militants in Tribal Areas: Zardari
• Opinion: The Swat peace accord
• A war of money as well as bullets
• Four ancient historical sites unearthed in Ghor
• The Silk Road, Paved in Gold
• Afghans' Passion for Indian Soaps Faces Unhappy Ending After
• 'As if the world vanished'
• Taliban attacks interrupt Canadian entertainers

Pakistani Taliban leader says jihad in Afghanistan to continue

Sat May 24 - PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Top Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud on Saturday said jihad, or holy war, would continue in Afghanistan, despite peace negotiations between the militants and Islamabad.

"Islam does not recognise boundaries and jihad in Afghanistan will continue," he told a group of reporters invited to his stronghold of South Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border.

The Taliban, driven from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001, are active on the border tribal zone, where the Pakistani army has fought the Islamists since 2003.

The new government in Islamabad launched talks with local Taliban soon after winning elections in February, amid concerns that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's military approach was spawning more violence.

Washington has been concerned by the change in policy since the coalition government was formed six weeks ago and began talks with the Taliban, whom US and NATO troops suspect are sending men to fight in Afghanistan.

"In the fight between Pakistani forces and Taliban, both sides are suffering, it should come to an end," Mehsud told reporters during the rare visit, while ruling out a similar move in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Pakistan has suffered an unprecedented wave of militant violence since last year and the current talks with extremists are aimed at transforming the recent lull in violence into a permanent peace with the Taliban.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in suicide bombings since the start of last year, including former premier Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated at an election rally in December.

The government blamed her killing on Mehsud but he denied his involvement.

US coalition: Insurgents killed in Afghanistan
Sat May 24, 6:19 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S.-led coalition says several insurgents have been killed and six others detained during an operation in southern Afghanistan.

A coalition statement says its troops clashed and called in airstrikes on insurgents during an operation in Garmser district of Helmand province on Friday.

It says troops were targeting weapons traffickers and those assisting foreign fighters in the area.

The U.S. Marines pushed into Garmser late last month aiming to open a route to move troops to the southern reaches of Helmand, a center of the Taliban-led insurgency.

According to an Associated Press tally, insurgency related violence has killed more than 1,200 people — mostly militants — so far this year.

Ukraine, Afghanistan discuss bilateral cooperation

Text of report by private Ukrainian news agency UNIAN

Kiev, 23 May: Delegations headed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko and Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar-Spanta, who is on an official visit to Ukraine, have held talks at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

UNIAN has learned from the press service of the Foreign Ministry that the current state of relations between Ukraine and Afghanistan and prospects for the development of bilateral cooperation were considered during the talks.

The two sides spoke in favour of a more intensive political dialogue and stressed the need for Afghan President Hamed Karzai to pay an official visit to Ukraine in 2008.

They discussed the practical aspects of Ukraine's participation in the restoration of the Afghan economy, particularly the reconstruction and construction of bridges, roads, irrigation and water-supply systems, and hydroelectric power plants, and also geological exploration.

The development of humanitarian and educ! ational cooperation was the focus of special attention.

Ohryzko and Dadfar-Spanta signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the Institute of Diplomacy of the Afghan Foreign Ministry.

Ukraine to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan

UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1001 gmt 23 May 08

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has allocated 6,566m hryvnyas [1,354m dollars] for humanitarian aid to be sent to Afghanistan, the UNIAN news agency reported on 23 May. The cabinet took this decision following President Viktor Yushchenko's decree No 246 of 20 March 2008, the agency said.

UN officials unhappy with foreign aid distribution in Afghanistan

Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Aina TV on 22 May

[Presenter] The deputy UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [name as heard] for peacekeeping operations has addressed a joint news conference with Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, in Kabul. He said that distribution of aid from the international community to Afghanistan lacked transparency. He added the measures taken by the international community to implement security and development goals were against expectations of the Afghan government and members of the international community.

[Correspondent] Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, said that a lack of coordination between the Afghan government and donor countries was behind unclear expansion of international aid in Afghanistan. He told the media that implementation of reconstruction and development programmes in Afghanistan was not satisfactory and that the current process was against expectations of the people of Afghanistan. He called on the UN to ma! ke further serious efforts to create more coordination and make the way the international community acts in Afghanistan more transparent.

[Jean-Marie Guehenno in English with Dari translation superimposed] There should be more transparency in implementation of activities in order to achieve development goals. The UN forces should continue acting based on regulations.

[Correspondent] Kai Eide, the UN special envoy, was also present at the news conference, along with Mr Guehenno. Apart from calling on the donor countries to make more aid available to the people of Afghanistan through Paris Conference, he accused the international community of failing to meet some of its commitments regarding the provision of aid to Afghanistan. He said that the Afghan government should put an end to the current administrative corruption in the country.

[Kai Eide in English with Dari translation superimposed] The international community failed to meet the! Commitments it made to Afghanistan regarding assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

[Correspondent] Afghanistan has been enjoying the economic and financial support of the international community over the past six years. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the USA have provided billions of dollars to this country in order to ensure social prosperity and reconstruct economic infrastructure, but 80 per cent of its population is living below the poverty line and the number of street beggars has been increasing with every passing day.

Kidnapped Iranian released in Afghanistan
Press TV (Iran) Sat, 24 May 2008 14:35:30

An Iranian national who was kidnapped and taken to Afghanistan last week by unknown armed individuals has been released in Herat.

"The released Iranian was kidnapped by drug gangs from a village near Torbate Jam (northeastern Iran) and taken to Herat's Golran region," commander of Herat police, Mohammad-Jom'eh Adil told reporters Saturday.

Naming the Iranian only by first name Sohrab, he added that the man was probably kidnapped in connection with drug trafficking.

"The kidnappers escaped before Afghan the police could arrest them," the Afghan official said. Sohrab, the 25-year-old released Iranian, said, "Six days ago, four armed men kidnapped me from my village near Afghanistan."

He added that the Afghan kidnappers had kept him in a house in that country.

India deports 10 Afghan militants – paper

Text of report by Sanjeev Pargal headlined "10 Afghanis freed, deported to Kabul" published by Indian newspaper Daily Excelsior website on 22 May

Jammu, 21 May: After a lot of hiccups, the government today formally released 10 Afghan militants for the first time in two decades of militancy in the State.

The Afghani militants were set free last night from three different jails and a police station and were driven overnight to New Delhi amidst tight security arrangements, official sources said.

While four foreign mercenaries were freed from Sangroor jail in Punjab, three others were released from Kot Bhalwal Central jail here. Two militants were set free from Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan while one militant was taken out of Ramgarh police station in Samba district, they said.

Sources added that all militants were first taken to Tihar jail this morning where their all formalities were verified once again. After a couple of hours strict verification by both Central and State Intelligence agencies, the Afghan militants were finally cleared for boarding Ariana Airlines, the official air! liner of Afghanistan.

Late in the afternoon, all 10 militants left for Kabul bound flight from New Delhi airport.

After the collapse of Taleban and take over of Hamed Karzai led Government in Afghanistan, which has developed very good and friendly relations with India, this was for the first time that the intelligence agencies got the Central Government's nod for release of Afghan militants, who were considered to be very hardcore and had let loose a reign of terror in Kashmir valley and parts of Doda district.

The State Government has also agreed to release the Afghan militants as they were no more wanted in subversive activities here and had completed the imprisonment awarded to them for their involvement in militancy. Barring one Afghani, who was freed from Ramgarh police station, all Afghan militants had been operating in different parts of the State and were involved in several militant acts.

The militants freed from ! Jodhpur jail include [names omitted].

Consular access of the released militants had already been completed by the External Affairs Ministry in which Kabul had confirmed residential address of all 10 militants and admitted that they were their nationals.

Sources said a final decision to release the Afghan nationals was taken by the government in the month of February this year but their release was delayed as new rules had to be framed for their freedom as this was for the first time that Afghanis were being freed from the jails here. The government decision on

release of Afghanis was first reported by the Excelsior.

However, according to sources, the government has put on hold the proposed release of some Pakistani militants following objections raised by the intelligence agencies, which have cautioned that freed ultras could be re-cycled into militancy by Pakistan army and ISI and pushed again into this side on the eve of Assembly elections due in the State later this year.

Pentagon says growth of Al-Qaeda safe havens 'troubling'

The News – Pakistan 24 May 2008 - WASHINGTON: A Pentagon report said Friday that the growth of Al-Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas is "troubling" and warned it may take Pakistan several years to turn around the situation.

The report to Congress by the US Department of Defense said Pakistan increased its troop levels in the border areas by 30,000 last year, and made "significant and costly" efforts to eliminate safe havens.

"It is troubling that despite these efforts, safe havens in the FATA have grown in recent years," the report said. The Pentagon report noted that 700 Pakistanis have been killed in suicide attacks since July 2007.

It said "Al-Qaeda and other violent extremists continue to hide out in the FATA, where they are able to recruit, train, and target US and western interests, including plots against Europe and the US homeland."

Madrassas, or Islamic religious schools, "continue to promote jihad and martyrdom, and provide potential operatives for acts of violence in Afghanistan," it said.

"Despite successful attacks against some terrorist training facilities in the tribal areas, it is believed other camps remain active and safe havens have grown in recent years," it said.

The report described a six-year US program to help strengthen the Pakistani military and security forces' ability to secure the border with Pakistan, but cautioned that it will take time to implement.

"It may be several years before Pakistan's comprehensive strategy to render the remote tribal areas permanently inhospitable to terrorists, insurgents and other violent extremists can be measured for success," the report said.

The United States is helping Pakistan build new training facilities for the Frontier Corps, a poorly equipped tribal force responsible for guarding the border, and is also supporting special forces elements of the Pakistani army, the report said.

Pakistan, US differ on tackling militants in Tribal Areas: Zardari

Daily Times 24 May 2008

ISLAMABAD: There is a “difference of opinion” between Pakistan and the United States on tackling militants in the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday. In an interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI) he said, “There is a position in America which [US presidential hopeful Barack] Obama holds that if they have actionable intelligence, they should have a right to strike.” Zardari said, “We disagree with that position and we just want to make sure that if there is actionable intelligence available, then we will strike.” Asked about US concerns over the government’s talks with militants, Zardari said, “People have had bad experiences in the past. So they are not acting out of malice, they’re acting out of past experiences... One has to find a better model. I refuse to believe that there is not a better model available.” Nni

Opinion: The Swat peace accord

The News – Pakistan, May 24, 2008, Rahimullah Yousafzai.

It took the coalition government comprising the secular Awami National Party and the Pakistan's People's Party and the Maulana Fazlullah-led Islamic militants just three rounds of talks spread over 13 days to reach their peace accord for Swat. It remains to be seen how long the agreement will last in view of the internal and external dimensions of the conflict now raging in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Signed on May 21, the 16-point handwritten accord in Urdu is a comprehensive document of give-and-take by the two sides. The militants, grouped under a faction of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), have renounced militancy in return for acceptance of their long-standing demand that Shariah, or Islamic law, be enforced in Swat and the rest of Malakand region by amending the two similar ordinances promulgated in response to the earlier militant uprisings in 1994 and 1999. They have promised not to challenge the writ of the state, refrain from attacking security forces and government installations and stop opposing girls' education and immunisation of children. They also denounced suicide bombings and agreed to disband their private militia. The carrying of unlicensed arms in Swat was banned and suspected militants in government custody will be released.

Though it is not yet announced, a general amnesty by the government for the militants will cover their leader Fazlullah and his top lieutenants. The government also gave in to the militants' demand to retain control of the faction's sprawling mosque and madressah complex in Fazlullah's village, Mamdheray, and establish an Islamic university there and allow them continued use of their FM radio channel. It is unclear whether the radio will be used for airing religious programmes only or also discussing political issues, as was the case in the past.

The Swat peace agreement has set the stage for similar accords in the more problematic FATA, which comprise seven semi-autonomous tribal regions where Pakistani courts and police have no jurisdiction and the government's writ is weak. Though an 11-member joint committee of government officials, assembly members and militants' representatives has been formed to monitor and implement the accord in Swat, there are worries that problems will arise with regard to the still undecided timeframe for eventual withdrawal of the more than 20,000 Pakistan Army troops from Swat valley and punitive action against those violating the terms of the agreement. Moreover, some of the more radical elements among the militants appear unhappy about the accord, and it is feared they will not abide by it. On the day the accord was signed, some of these militants blew up two girls' schools and shot dead two policemen. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that this band of militants isn't under the control of the mainstream faction headed by Fazlullah.

In fact, the ANP-led coalition government has by now signed two peace accords in its bid to bring peace to Swat, where it swept the assembly elections on February 18 and is now under pressure from the electorate to restore normalcy to the once peaceful valley. And it may be constrained to approach the more radical faction in case it doesn't abide by the peace agreement inked between the government and the group of militants led by Fazlullah.

The first peace agreement was with the TNSM founder Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the estranged father-in-law of Fazlullah released after more than six years of imprisonment. The old and ailing Sufi Mohammad was supposed to help the government in sidelining Fazlullah and his followers. Releasing him only on humanitarian grounds would have been a better strategy to win the hearts and minds of his supporters. The provincial government may have erred in exploiting the situation by signing a rather meaningless peace accord with him as he wasn't the real party to the conflict in Swat where his son-in-law had taken control of the TNSM and was calling the shots.

The secular ruling coalition comprising the ANP, a nationalist party championing Pakhtun rights and originating from the Khudai Khidmatgar of late freedom-fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, alias Bacha Khan, and Benazir Bhutto's PPP, has been criticized by political rivals in Pakistan for appeasing and making deals with Islamic militants who beheaded opponents and tried to forcibly impose Sharia on the peaceful people of the scenic Swat valley.

The Swat peace accord also earned criticism from the Afghan government and the US, which has pledged to monitor its effectiveness in preventing attacks by the militants. Swat doesn't have borders with Afghanistan and thus there should have been no concern regarding a hike in cross-border infiltration by Taliban militants to launch attacks against US-led coalition forces in the wake of peace accords in Pakistan. Still the Bush administration and President Hamid Karzai's government in Kabul were unhappy that the Pakistan army after the peace accords would no more be actively involved in anti-terrorism operations against militants suspected of links with Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Even more alarming for the US and its allies were the ongoing peace negotiations by the Pakistan government with militants in the tribal areas of Waziristan, which border Afghanistan and are known as an abode for foreign fighters ranging from Arabs to Central Asians and Afghan Taliban. The criticism would be annoying for the Pakistan government and military, which obviously would not like being asked to consult Washington and Kabul before taking any policy decision regarding the tribal areas.

The outside pressure prompted Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to reassure the US government that it would not talk to terrorists and engage only those militants who lay down their arms. However, this wasn't true as the negotiations took place with armed groups of Pakistani Taliban who haven't disarmed and may never give up their arms. It was obvious that Islamabad was constrained to make deals with the militants, who were holding the kidnapped Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan and dozens of soldiers and using them as bargaining chip. Besides, the military had lost more than 1100 soldiers in the fighting against the battle-hardened militants since 2003 and suffered demoralization among its troops.

The secret peace talks with Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the most powerful Pakistani Taliban commander, have yielded results. The two sides have swapped prisoners with the government releasing 37 tribesmen suspected of having links with the militants and winning freedom for 18 soldiers. Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin was also freed by the militants after three months in custody through the terms of his release remain a secret. The Pakistan army troops withdrew from certain contested areas in South Waziristan as demanded by the militants and defended the move as "repositioning" of its forces. Roadside checkpoints have been dismantled on the demand of militants and the government has agreed to facilitate return of displaced tribal families and award compensation.

The unilateral ceasefire announced by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organization for militant groups operating in tribal and settled areas of NWFP, is generally holding. The Pakistan army hasn't launched any new military action since February. Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is keen to have the politicians from the ruling coalition on board to take ownership of the "war on terror" and has, therefore, sought guidance from the government on the future strategy of tackling the issue of militancy and extremism in FATA and rest of NWFP.

However, the peace accords now being signed would not be easy to implement due to domestic and outside pressure and already the recent US airstrikes in Bajaur tribal region killing 20 people is an indicator of American displeasure over Pakistan's policy of making deals with the militants. The retaliatory strike by the militants through a suicide bomber attacking a military base in Mardan and killing five soldiers and eight civilians was evidence of how things could go wrong if the US and NATO were not on board with regard to Pakistan's peace overture to the militants.

A war of money as well as bullets

The Economist, UK - May 22nd 2008 JALALABAD AND LASHKAR GAH

The Americans are learning the tricks of the Great Game quicker than the British, who invented it. But a weak and corrupt Afghan government is hobbling them

THE Taliban came at dawn, catching the policemen by surprise while they were at prayer. Fifty of them attacked from three sides, using AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. Closing in for the final assault to cries of “Allahu Akbar!”, they called on the policemen to surrender.

That, until recently, is just what the Afghan police would have done. But this time the young police chief, Daryakhan, decided to hold out behind his new American-built fortifications, shouting back: “This is my country. You are the agents of Pakistan.” In the subsequent fighting the police lost an observation tower, but Daryakhan had a better asset up his sleeve. He called for help with a satellite telephone, and in minutes American Apache helicopters clattered overhead to break the Taliban attack. Several insurgents were later tracked by drones and killed.

This action on April 25th at Charbaran in Paktika province, at the crossroads of infiltration routes from Pakistan, is a footnote in the seventh year of the war in Afghanistan. It was not mentioned in NATO or American reports. Even if it had been, it would quickly have been eclipsed by the uproar in Kabul two days later, when insurgents opened fire on a military parade attended by President Hamid Karzai, as well as by Afghan and foreign dignitaries. At least three people were killed.

But events at Charbaran were important in one respect: in a counter-insurgency strategy that is summed up by the catchphrase “clear-hold-build”, Afghan security forces, backed up by American power, are showing that they can hold areas cleared by the Americans. In a war that has often gone from bad to worse, this is good news for NATO.

A record number of Western soldiers—232—died in Afghanistan last year, and 2008 is unlikely to be better. Some 8,000 Afghans were killed in 2007, more than 1,500 of them civilians, according to United Nations estimates. Much of the Pushtun belt in the south and east, where the insurgency is most intense, is deemed too dangerous for humanitarian workers. NATO says the Taliban's increasing resort to suicide-bombs is a sign that they are weakening. Equally, it could be a sign that the insurgents are getting cleverer.

General Dan McNeill, the American commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), notes that his mission is seriously “under-resourced”. Yet he suggests that the Afghan army and police will become strong enough by 2011 to take the lead in most areas, allowing NATO to start reducing its forces and to take more of an advisory and support role—providing, for example, embedded advisers who can organise air support and medical evacuations.

The Afghan army is the most respected institution in the country. Western trainers say that, in contrast with Iraqi forces, Afghan soldiers have little fear of closing with the enemy; if anything, the problem is holding them back so that Western aircraft can have a clear shot at insurgents. Thanks to a beefed-up training programme, paid for largely by America, the Afghan army has grown to more than 50,000 troops; it has started conducting large-scale operations alone and is building up an air force. By 2010 it is due to expand to 80,000 men. The often corrupt Afghan police are being retrained en masse.

Nobody thinks these forces, even at full strength, will be anywhere near large enough. Afghanistan, though bigger than Iraq geographically and with a roughly comparable population, has less than a third as many security forces employed, whether Western or indigenous. Still, Afghan forces are due to take charge of the capital, Kabul, in the coming months. In Nangarhar province, the gateway to Pakistan, where al-Qaeda had several camps in Taliban times, the Afghan army and police are doing most of the security work in Jalalabad and other main towns, while American forces try to secure the borders.

The Afghans will have their work cut out. A suicide-bomb killed 18 people in the district of Khogiani, near Jalalabad, on April 30th. Ten days later, villagers in the district of Shinwar blocked the road and threw stones at police in protest at the alleged killing of three civilians by American forces. Afghan police opened fire, reportedly killing one man and injuring others.

That said, American commanders feel Nangarhar is ripe for investment in roads, airports and electricity generation. Their confidence contrasts sharply with the pleas for help from the embattled Canadians in Kandahar and the defensiveness of the British in Helmand. Perhaps the most striking evidence of the pacification of Jalalabad is the sight of American Humvees waiting patiently at traffic lights.
 
Detailed data on security are hard to come by in Afghanistan. Even the UN declines formally to release its “accessibility map”, which these days depicts a country in two halves: a relatively quiet north and west and a restive south and east where, with few exceptions, the risk to humanitarian workers is deemed to be either “high” or “extreme”.

Few dispute that the American-controlled east of the country is faring better than the south, where other NATO allies are in charge. Although America accounts for more than half the foreign forces in Afghanistan (divided roughly evenly between ISAF and its own counter-terrorist mission, Operation Enduring Freedom), it has suffered fewer deaths than its allies this year.

The differences between the east and the south are most apparent from the military helicopters that skim the treetops at breakneck speed. This year the fields in Nangarhar and Kunar are green with wheat. Helmand and Kandahar, though, show the pink and purple patchwork of illegal opium poppies. Insecure areas provide the most fertile ground for poppies, and southern Afghanistan is the most insecure. The opium and heroin trade, in turn, finances the insurgency and corrupts the government.

Since Europeans cannot or will not commit more troops against the Taliban, the war effort in the south shows signs of being re-Americanised. Last year saw a mini-surge, with an extra American brigade deployed to Afghanistan when five more were sent to Iraq. This year an additional marine expeditionary unit—a 2,400-strong force with more air power than the whole 7,500-strong British task-force—has been deployed to the south for seven months to disrupt arms- and drugs-smuggling routes in Taliban strongholds.

There is talk of sending two more American brigades, about 7,000 soldiers, and of placing the southern region under permanent American command. This might improve things. At present, each national command has different priorities and allied units are rotated every six months, compared with 15 for the Americans (to be reduced to 12 months later this year). General McNeill, who took over as ISAF commander in February last year, says he is “on my fourth commander in the north, the second in the east, the third in the capital, the third in the south and the third in the west.” The military effort, he says, needs more consistency.

All this is wounding to allies, particularly to the British army with its proud military heritage. It has deployed by far the largest contingent after America and has lost 96 soldiers. It was the British who first played the Great Game in the Hindu Kush to keep Russian influence at bay; Winston Churchill fought on the frontiers of British India against Afghan tribesmen. “To the ferocity of the Zulu”, Churchill wrote of the Pushtuns in 1898, “are added the craft of the Redskin and the marksmanship of the Boer.” Little has changed.

There are underlying reasons why the south is more troublesome than the east: its tribal structures are weaker, making it harder for elders to make deals stick; it is more remote from Kabul and the main trade routes; the population is less educated and more xenophobic; and it is the ideological heartland of the Taliban. That said, a growing number of British officers grudgingly recognise that America is learning the lessons of irregular warfare, drawn mainly from British colonial experience, better than the modern British army.

After much trial and error, the allies more or less agree on the tenets of counter-insurgency. The objective is not so much to kill the enemy as to protect the population and extend the authority of the Afghan government; development, dialogue, amnesties and reconciliation are important tools for weakening the insurgents. Such ideas are as old as the Afghan hills. One senior British officer quotes the ninth-century Muslim scholar, Ibn Qutayba:

There can be no government without an army No army without money No money without prosperity And no prosperity without justice and good administration. How to turn such theories into practice? The Americans, say the British, have the advantage of time and resources: they have been in the east ever since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, whereas the British only got to Helmand in 2006. More important, the Americans have more forces at their disposal. They have been able to deploy right up to the border with Pakistan, whereas the British and Canadians are more thinly spread and have surrendered the southern frontier, and much of the countryside as well, to the insurgents.

Probably the most striking difference between the Americans and the British is in their use of money. Britain channels most of its economic aid through the government in Kabul in the hope of building up the bureaucracy there, whereas America finances private contractors to carry out big projects, such as road construction and power stations.

For American commanders, “money is bullets.” They have at their disposal a slush fund, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, known as the Commander's Emergency Response Programme (CERP). This can be used for any number of schemes—from roads to clinics and schools—that help win local support. CERP is used to build “cultural centres” (ie, mosques) and distribute Korans to show that the foreigners respect Islam; it finances radio stations that counter insurgent propaganda; it pays for food aid, blankets and visits by doctors and vets. In short, it brings a government presence and some economic development to parts of Afghanistan where aid workers fear to venture.

In Kunar province, one of the most turbulent in the American sector, valleys that last year proved deadly to American forces are being pacified. Troops will clear an area of insurgents and seek to stabilise it by bringing in a new road in consultation with village elders, who are expected to do their bit to keep bad elements out. Sometimes a new school will be set up in a hostile village as the precursor to the arrival of American and Afghan government forces.

Roads are especially favoured, because they allow remote villages to sell their produce and enable Afghan forces to move quickly to trouble spots. The recent opening of a new road linking the Pech valley to the provincial capital, Asadabad, resulted in a quadrupling of live births in the town's hospital as villagers were able to get medical help. The Americans unashamedly outbid the insurgents: if the rebels pay $5 a day for a fighter, the Americans will offer $5.50 a day for road labourers. “Where the road ends the insurgents begin,” says one American officer.

“CERP is a nuclear weapon; it is the asymmetrical weapon of choice,” says Colonel Mark Johnstone, deputy commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based in Jalalabad. “I really pity other nations that don't have it.” Indeed, British military commanders watch the Americans with envy. Their civilian bosses, however, believe that soldiers cannot be trusted with money; instant projects are not sustainable, they say, and the aim must be to create long-term development and build up the capacity of Afghans to run their own affairs.

At best CERP provides “artificial resuscitation” rather than real treatment; at worst, as when schools are built without teachers to staff them, the Americans end up constructing what one British official called “the world's most expensive camel sheds”. The Americans reply that CERP projects are increasingly directed by provincial and district governors, in line with plans drawn up by ministries in Kabul. Colonel Johnstone argues that “for every bad CERP project there are ten good ones.”

American commanders now consider the “human terrain” of tribal allegiances to be just as important as valleys and mountains. The Taliban and their allies have learnt to superimpose their insurgency on tribal rivalries and grievances. In Helmand last year a newly arrived British marine major, Tony Chattin, said he felt like “a man in a dark room feeling my way”. He thought British soldiers “will never understand the hidden agendas and history of every tribe, sub-tribe and compound.”

At least some American officers seem determined to prove it can be done. The briefing room of one brigade headquarters has a poster summarising the tribal code of honour known as pushtunwali which, in Churchill's view, “is so strange and inconsistent, that it is incomprehensible to a logical mind.” In Naray, at the eastern end of Kunar, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Kolenda, commander of 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, can list who fought whom, in his particular corner, from Victorian times to the Soviet invasion. The underlying problem, he says, is the atomisation of society: tribal elders have lost control of their young men. America's aim is not just physical reconstruction but a social transformation to restore the elders' authority.

Another human factor is at play, too. The Americans are more deeply committed to winning in Afghanistan—militarily, economically and in terms of mental effort—than any of their allies. They have rewritten their counter-insurgency doctrine, and incorporated all manner of civilian functions—anthropologists, political scientists and agricultural experts—into their ranks. By serving the longest tours, Americans learn faster. Their soldiers may yet end up paying the cost in terms of mental health. But for the moment America sees itself at war, while Britain is still engaged in an optional operation.

The enemy within
 
The most serious problem in Afghanistan, however, will not be solved by new military tactics or command structures. It is the weakness of the Afghan government. Corruption is rampant, from the lowly airport security guard demanding bribes from foreign travellers to government officials who occupy gaudy houses known as “narcotechture”. Afghanistan produces more than 90% of the world's opium and a growing share of its cannabis. If Mr Karzai were not a client of the West, his country might well be classified as a narco-state.

The political mood in Kabul is darkening, and Mr Karzai's popularity is declining even among some of his own officials. A year ago many Afghans regarded Mr Karzai as likeable but weak; these days, he is seen in a more sinister light. Many want him to step down, although it is hard to see a credible alternative. Some complain about his reluctance to confront warlords. Others express disgruntlement over the president's half-brother, Ahmed Wali, the chief power-broker in Kandahar province and, according to widespread rumours denied by the government, a big name in the drugs trade. Much of the former Northern Alliance, the coalition of Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras that helped install Mr Karzai in power, is now openly in opposition. With elections looming next year Mr Karzai is less likely than ever to challenge powerful vested interests.

Instead, he seems to be courting religious support. Some members of parliament are pushing for laws banning women from going outdoors without a male relative. The government has ordered private television stations to remove popular Indian soap operas on the ground that they are immoral. But Jahed Mohseni, the entrepreneurial Australian-educated director of the Moby group, which owns successful stations such as Tolo TV, says the serials are very “conservative”. He sees a process of “re-Talibanisation”, and growing curbs on freedom of speech. Sandbags have recently been placed on the roof of his station. The outside world, Mr Mohseni says, has to interfere more forcefully. Others in Afghanistan, even senior figures such as the education minister, Haneef Atmar, want foreign countries to name and shame corrupt officials.

That is easier said than done. Western diplomats worry that intervening in Afghan politics would make Mr Karzai look like a puppet, or provoke a nationalist backlash. Some Afghans retort that Mr Karzai is already seen as a stooge, and that Western silence over his misdeeds risks looking like acquiescence. Despite his utter dependence on the West economically and militarily, Mr Karzai is jealous of his “sovereignty”. He blocked the appointment of a British politician, Paddy Ashdown, as the new UN envoy for fear that he would be too meddlesome. And a call last month by the Canadian foreign minister for the removal of the governor of Kandahar, Asadullah Khalid, only strengthened the governor's position.

Allied soldiers will continue to fight, build roads and host meetings with tribal elders in the hope of isolating the insurgents. But in the longer term, unless the Kabul government can be made to work more effectively, their efforts and sacrifices may be in vain. As Ibn Qutayba put it a millennium ago, there can be no lasting government without “justice and good administration”. Even American money and power will struggle to achieve that.

Four ancient historical sites unearthed in Ghor

Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 22 May 2008

Province hides monuments some of which date back to 5000 BC

THE MINISTRY of Information and Culture has announced the discovery of four archeological sites in the province of Ghor, some dating back to 5000 BC.

The ministry has sent an Afghan and Lithuanian delegation to the province Ghor to carry out surveys on the sites, which led to the discovery of 17 historical areas and ancient monuments.

Kashaki Bahar, Akbar Minaret, Zahak’s Shrine, Allah Yar Minaret and Malik Antar Minaret are among the discoveries, some of which date back to 5000 BC.

The delegation said that most of these sites were destroyed in the 13th century during the invasion of Ghengis Khan.

About 4,000 historical sites and more than 4,000 historical monuments exist in Afghanistan of which 400 historical sites and 3,000 historical monuments have been discovered and registered, according to the Ministry of Information and Culture.

Nadir Shah Ahmadi, one of the delegation’s members in Ghor, said: “These sites belong to different times, such as the bronze period, the mud (Ahak) period, the beginnings of Islam and the Ghaznawi kings periods."

UNESCO asked the culture ministry to register all historical sites by the end of 2007, but the ministry said it could only register some of the sites. The ministry promised to register all sites by 2010.

The Silk Road, Paved in Gold

Washington Post – 25 May 08, With Afghan Artifacts, D.C. Keeps Up With 'Jones'

The former is at any multiplex. The latter is only at the National Gallery of Art.

It's one of those ripping good yarns of yesteryear, the kind you used to see on cliffhanger serials before the main feature. This one is set in a dusty corner of Afghanistan. It's about ancient art, sealed rooms, looters, gravediggers, the Russians, the French, the Taliban, an invasion or three, civil war, the Silk Road, the Dragon Master and 22,607 pieces of gold and ivory and lapis and turquoise. There's a princess in Tomb I, a surprising role played by pink Chinese toilet paper and six mysterious safes in a sealed underground vault at the presidential compound.

Okay, so the plot gets a little crowded. That tends to happen when your story is true and covers more than 2,000 years.

The show is "Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From the National Museum, Kabul,'' and it is a remarkable display from a remote outpost in the world of antiquity: a dusty land of foreign traders, violent nomads, dangerous women and the unmistakable glint of gold. It has a great subplot of archaeologists winning one against the black market. It opens today and plays until Sept. 7. Like any good archaeological thriller, this one features valuable antiquities and modern twists, set into world-shaping international politics. After being covered by dirt and mud for nearly 2,000 years, most of the artifacts in this show were discovered in digs made during the 1930s or the 1970s. Then, once found, they were lost again, as the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the rise of the Taliban in 1996 raised successive clouds of dust over their whereabouts. Most archaeologists feared they had been lost forever to the black market or destroyed by the Taliban.

Then, three years after the Sept. 11 attacks and the subsequent defeat of the Taliban, the sealed cases and footlockers were opened in vaults in the Arg, the Afghan presidential compound in Kabul.

Nobody was sure what was in them -- the keys had been lost -- until they were broken open with a hammer, crowbar and finally a power saw.

"This power saw starts going -- bbbrrrzzzzttt!!!-- and the sparks are flying, and at first I thought we were going to open them to find a couple of potatoes in a sack with a note saying, 'We got here first! Your friends, the Taliban,' " says Frederik T. Hiebert, the show's curator, who was representing the National Geographic Society when the safes were hacked open. "Or I thought the sparks would set something on fire, and it would burn up all these great artifacts inside."

Hiebert's worries were well founded. It turned out much of the ivory and gold and glasswares had been packed in pink Chinese toilet paper. Which did not catch fire, and instead had preserved tens of thousands of items the wider world has not seen since the time of Christ.

Here was the fabled Bactrian gold, named for the region in Afghanistan where it was found, in the graves discovered at a place called Tillya Tepe ("hill of gold"): Bracelets. Necklaces. A golden belt. A woman's crown, thin hammered orbs of gold, designed to be pulled apart into five pieces and stored flat. Pendants depicting the Dragon Master of lore, a nomadic man holding a dragon's foreleg in each hand. Here, in another case, ivory carvings from the ancient warehouses found in archaeological digs in the city of Begram. A woman astride a mythical leogryph. A fish-shaped flask, made of glass, stunningly blue. A bronze statue of the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis-Heracles. More than 23,000 objects in all. Goods that had been passing through here from China, Egypt, India, Greece, or made in workshops in Bactria itself. Historians were dazzled at the testament to the mix of cultures that artisans there worked with: Here, a golden Aphrodite, Greek in concept, but with an Indian forehead mark denoting marital status and the wings of a Bactrian deity. Northern Afghanistan had gone multi-culti 2,000 years ago.

"This is probably our best picture of how the Silk Road actually worked," Hiebert is saying, giving a walk-through of the exhibit. He gets enthusiastic, pointing to a series of decorative plaques. They are flat and rectangular and carved of ivory. They depict women in various poses, sitting, standing, reclining. All these were part of an elaborate chair or throne, the rest of which is missing. On the adjacent wall, a flat-screen monitor shows a rotating three-dimensional re-creation of how all the pieces would have been placed together on the throne. "This is the first time in 2,000 years anyone has seen that throne," Hiebert says.

The Silk Road of which you'll hear much in this exhibit was not actually a single thoroughfare, but a series of trails, pathways and trading routes that ran from Rome, Greece and Egypt, and stretched all the way to China, with connections to Siberia, India and Persia. Those roads pretty much all ran through northern Afghanistan. Alexander the Great came and founded Greek cities. The exhibit showcases a snapshot of what some of life would have been like in that remote era.

"Nowhere in antiquity have so many different objects from so many different cultures -- Chinese mirrors, Roman coins, daggers from Serbia -- been found together in situ," Viktor Ivanovich Sarianidi, the Russian archaeologist who made the historic find at Tillya Tepe in 1979, wrote in National Geographic in 1990.

As recounted in that article, he was the leader of a joint Soviet-Afghan project that had been digging among ancient ruins in the region, off and on, for nine years. In 1978 he spotted a bit of painted potsherd on a nearby hillock.

They dug beneath it. They uncovered a confusing site, as layers of villages from about 300 B.C. were lying atop the ruins of a massive edifice of walls and turrets more than 1,000 years older. That edifice had been built and collapsed and rebuilt, and apparently sat unused for more than 600 years. And amid these ancient ruins, they made a remarkable discovery: Tombs, from perhaps the 1st century A.D.

"Soon a grave emerged from beneath our picks and scoops. Staring at us were the hollow eye sockets of a skull, a young woman between 25 and 30, perhaps a princess," he wrote.

Layers of gold and jewelry lay about her collapsed skeleton. Nearby, five more graves were unearthed, the remains of a well-to-do nomadic family, apparently all of whom died at the same time.

It was a historic find, but civil war and the Soviet invasion were closing in. Sarianidi got the artifacts from the first six graves to Kabul before war broke out. He left in February 1979. Two more graves had been discovered, but were "apparently looted" by the guards hired to guard them, he wrote. "Artifacts similar to the ones we discovered have turned up for sale."

He photographed the items he had found in 1982 in Kabul, but they were not seen again. In the intervening years, the national museum was bombed. Tons of Afghan artifacts turned up in Europe, traded on the black market. The Taliban, which did not allow graven images, destroyed more than 2,500 pieces of artwork in the museum. Archaeologists figured Sarianidi's historic find had been sold off, melted down or destroyed.

Also missing were artifacts from Begram that had been unearthed by a French and Afghan team in the 1930s. Digging north to south along the site of an ancient city, archaeologists discovered a series of rooms. Two of them were bricked off in ancient times. No one knows why. There is a sepia-toned photograph from 1937, taken at the entrance of chamber known as Room 10, the mud wall twice as tall as a man in the doorway. Inside was a warehouse of ancient trading goods: ivory carvings, statues, figurines, jewelry, glassware, from all over the ancient world. At first thought to be a treasure hoard of a royal family, it is now believed to be simply the warehouse of a trader, storing goods between expeditions.

The find was thrilling in its day, but again, war intervened: World War II ended the dig. The artifacts were shipped to the national museum in Kabul and duly lost.

It turns out they were in the footlockers in that vault in the Afghan presidential compound, the same place the goods from Tillya Tepe were taken. A small society of "tahilwidars," or keyholders, had kept them safe, never saying a word about the treasure. Omara Khan Masoudi, the director of the national museum, was one. After the country was stabilized, they informed Karzai, and the world found them again.

"To me, this exhibit isn't just about archaeology, it's about keeping culture alive, about real heroism in hiding and saving these artifacts," Hiebert says.

Well, of course. Every story, even a 2,000-year epic, has to have a lean-jawed hero. Those guys never say much.

Afghans' Passion for Indian Soaps Faces Unhappy Ending After Ban

Bowing to Clerical Pressure, Ministry Deems Shows Un-Islamic
The Washington Post - Metro By Pamela Constable Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, May 24, 2008

KABUL-Five nights a week, millions of Afghans put aside their dinner dishes, shush their children and turn on the TV to gape at Indian soap operas acted out in impossibly lavish settings by stars in sequined gowns and wedding jewelry.

To their defenders among Afghan journalists and social analysts, the dramas are a harmless distraction from the hardships and tensions of life in a poor, war-torn country where dust invades every crevice and suicide bombings are common.

To their critics in the government and among Muslim clergy, the shows represent an invasion of foreign behavior and beliefs -- from glimpses of cleavage and Hindu shrines to story lines touching on such taboo topics as divorce, infidelity and illegitimacy.

This spring, the off-screen plot has taken a contentious turn. The Ministry of Information and Culture banned the evening dramas last month, and government prosecutors have now charged one resisting TV station with offending public morals and endangering national security.

"These are serious charges that carry prison terms," said Saad Mohseni, co-owner of Tolo TV, which still airs the two most popular Indian soaps. "They are trying to go after us from every possible direction. The things they object to in the serials are happening every day in our own society, but we bury our heads in the sand."

The government of President Hamid Karzai, although propped up by Western aid and defended against Islamist insurgents by Western troops, is also highly sensitive to religious emotions in this conservative Muslim society and reluctant to defy Muslim elders.

Members of the senior religious council had complained that the serials were offensive to Muslims and should be banned. They have expressed similar concerns about other TV shows, such as a version of "American Idol," saying they encourage immorality.

"Our people are not against modern development or entertainment, but they should not turn our children away from the path of Islam," said Enayatullah Balegh, a member of the council. "I can control my daughter to not have illegal relations with boys, but TV is like Satan -- it is something you cannot control."

The substance of Balegh's fears is plastered all over this chaotic capital of dusty bazaars and glittering new office facades. Posters of Indian pop stars adorn shop windows, and everyone seems to know the latest scandalous revelation on "Tulsi," the nickname of the most popular Indian show.

Yet many Afghans who admit to enjoying the shows also say they disapprove of them. In conversations on campuses and in Internet cafes, young people's comments reflected the contradictions of a society undergoing a confused transition from strict, insular tradition to constant electronic exposure.

"These shows have a bad impact on our traditions," said Babrak Yusufzai, 19, a political science student wearing jeans and a Yankees baseball cap. "Children are learning about Indian ceremonies instead of Muslim ones." Yusufzai said he liked the idol-search show called "Afghan Star" but added, "Why don't they have idols of learning or law, not just singing songs?"

Alim Jamali, 27, a psychology student, said the Indian serials are "just like opium -- they make everyone addicted and distract them from the work of rebuilding our country." All Afghans want education and rights, he added, "but they must be within the frame of Islam."

The cult of celebrity is also a booming business, whose proprietors say they are only offering what their customers crave and what their country's new freedom allows. At a busy shop in Kabul's Titanic Market, the walls are covered with mini-posters of Indian TV and film stars in sensual poses.

"The older people don't like them, but the younger people love them," said the owner, Jamshid. "In the Taliban time, we only sold posters of Koranic verses, but we have democracy now, and people can buy whatever they want."

The conflict over TV entertainment is just one front in a broader battle over the role of television here. The medium, which was state-controlled until the 1990s and banned under extremist Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, is already the major source of information in a country where most adults are illiterate.

To violent fundamentalist groups such as the Taliban, television is both a religious offense and a political threat. Last month, armed men wearing masks entered a mosque in Logar province and warned people not to watch it, and masked attackers used razors to slash a female TV newscaster in Herat.

But conservative political factions headed by former Islamic militia leaders are trying to compete with private channels such as Tolo by establishing their own. With elections due next year, media observers say, TV is likely to become a vicious battleground, with propaganda masquerading as news and free speech.

"These former warlords are putting out their viruses on the airwaves now. They are anti-democratic, but they want to use the media for their own purposes," said Shukria Barakzai, a journalist and lawmaker from Kabul. "We need to build an independent, professional media, but I'm afraid it will die before it has a chance to flower."

The same contradictions are apparent in parliament, where liberals like Barakzai have far less influence than conservative Muslim politicians. This spring, the latter group introduced legislation that was almost identical to the old Taliban laws banning women's cosmetics, mixed-sex dancing at weddings, and animal fighting.

The proposal, unlikely to become law but indicative of the conservatives' growing clout, also included a broader ban on TV shows deemed un-Islamic and punishment for anyone who imports, distributes or buys "semi-naked" images in any form.

To Afghanistan's Western backers, the emergence of free media was a hallmark of the Karzai government, installed after the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001, and the reemergence of rigid Islamic policies puzzles and disturbs them.

This month, Tolo's Mohseni visited Washington and made the rounds of think tanks and government offices, warning that Afghan press freedom is under heavy assault. Privately, U.S. officials and scholars have urged Karzai to put more force behind his rhetorical championing of press freedom.

But the president's hopes for reelection have made it difficult for him to defy the Muslim clerics, and his tactic of apportioning senior posts as a form of political peace-keeping has further weakened his hand. The current information minister, for example, is a conservative who was once allied with a militia boss.

In one form or another, Afghan observers here say, the media and culture wars are likely to continue until the older generation of leaders -- veterans of male-dominated, tribal politics and the fight against Soviet communism -- are replaced by a younger generation that is better educated and includes women in leadership positions.

"Change has to come, because 62 percent of Afghans are under 30," said Abdul Hamid Mobarez, head of the national journalists' union. "People need entertainment. There is no security, and no place to breathe," he said. "Our government is weak, but we need to resist the forces of Talibanization and defend our new democracy."

But some analysts here say it would be a mistake to assume that the popularity of foreign shows means the rules of Afghan society -- such as arranged marriages and absolute obedience to elders -- are likely to change. And many young people say that what they like about the Indian soaps is not their exotic, risque aspects but their familiar, mundane ones, such as family feuds that feature dominating mothers-in-law, scheming relatives and timid brides.

"I like the serials because the issues are just the same as ours," said Khatia, 19, a literature student at Kabul University, who wore the modest black tunic and colorful head scarf that is the unofficial uniform of female students in the capital. "We do not want foreign culture to take over Afghanistan. We want to become a developed and modern Muslim country."

'As if the world vanished'
The Age, Australia Stephen Dupont May 24, 2008

Last month, two days after a failed assassination attempt against Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, Dupont and writer Paul Raffaele, both Australian, set out to investigate opium eradication in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar. Minutes later they became victims of the escalating violence threatening the Karzai Government when a suicide bomber attacked their convoy. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 15 and wounded 14. Dupont recorded the experience in his diary.

TUESDAY APRIL 29, 2008. At approximately 10.30am, my colleague and good friend Paul Raffaele and I were almost blown up by a 12-year-old suicide bomber. We were five metres away.

About an hour before, we had set off from Jalalabad on a heavily armed convoy of Afghan police and anti-narcotics men to a mystery destination. We were being taken on a poppy eradication mission. Along with us was a truckload of Afghan civilians, labourers who would do the poppy destruction. There must have been around 50 of them, all crammed into the back of a truck like a flock of sheep on their way to a slaughterhouse.

In our convoy were around eight or nine Ford Ranger vehicles, loaded with police and soldiers. We were second in the convoy as we pulled out of Jalalabad city. We drove around 30 or 40 minutes across the flat desert landscape towards the snow-peaked mountains and natural border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We passed farmers and nomads, crumbling ancient compounds, some destroyed. We were both feeling good about everything and just happy to be out on the road.

We pulled up at a police barracks. It was heavily fortified — sandbags and bunkers around the entrance and perimeter — and the town itself was raised above a valley of lush green fields and typical Afghan mud-walled homes. The cops and soldiers who were disembarking from the Rangers all seemed in good spirits. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to create suspicions.

It was already getting hot and the light was poor, so I was not inspired to walk around and shoot pictures. The police and Afghan civilians were meeting and greeting directly in front of us, just outside the barracks entrance. A crowd was building but I thought nothing of it. One of the soldiers — the only one who spoke some English — told us we were in Khogyani town and that the poppy fields were only a few kilometres away.

We had been sitting around for 20 or 30 minutes when I heard a loud bang, then felt this huge pressure come through the car we were in. It was like a suffocating blanket of heat and pressure inside the cabin, and the car lifted. Then everything went black and silent. It felt as if the world had just vanished. I don't know if I saw black smoke or dust or whether I was unconscious. My head was throbbing, my ears were ringing. I had no idea what was happening. But even as I write days later my memory of the blast is so vivid I can almost feel it all over again. The force of the explosion, the loud bang and the darkness come to me regularly. It was as though the world stopped, as if time somehow stood still.

After blackness and silence I heard repeated shots fired and then people running away screaming, which awoke me from the darkness and triggered my actions. I had no recollection of my friend Paul next to me. I jumped out of the car with my cameras and ran towards a mound of dirt.

There were some policemen taking cover and a cameraman from Nangarhar TV filming. I was in complete shock. I remember blood spurting from my head and down my face. My hands and cameras were covered in blood.

I began to take pictures of the chaos and of the police under fire taking cover. I remember asking the Afghan cameraman if I was OK. I could feel blood in my hair and I had no idea if I was badly injured or not. I looked back for the first time to the car in which I'd been sitting at the time of the explosion. I saw bodies strewn around the car. There was one large pile of them about five metres away from where I'd been sitting.

I heard people crying out for help, the wounded stumbling away from the blast area. No one had gone in yet to help, only the dead and wounded were there. Everyone was in a kind of slow motion and in total shock. I'm sure that all of this took place in less than a minute following the bomb blast, but then how sure can I be? It felt as if so much had happened, but it felt like seconds rather than minutes. This is when Paul flashed through my mind for the first time and I knew that a suicide bomber had struck.

But where was Paul? I wanted to find him but was hesitant — what if there was a second bomb? I saw people now going in to help and I decided to go in as well. I walked towards our car and saw Paul. He was sitting up just as I'd last seen him except he was covered in blood and not making any sounds. He had taken the full impact of the blast, as he was on the side the bomb went off, about five metres away. I looked down from him and saw the bodies of two policemen lying just to the right of my feet and in front. Beyond the bumper bar of the car next to me I saw more bodies in a line and I realised that this may have been where the bomber struck, and just how bloody close it was to us. I looked back at Paul and told him he'd be OK and that I'd get him out of here. I took pictures of the bodies close to me and then talked with Paul again to console him. He didn't respond, but I sensed he knew I was there. He looked dazed and in shock, staring into a void.

I told him to stay and I'd be back soon to help. I moved inside the death zone and saw many more bodies. Among the corpses was one man alive, calling out for help. It seemed so unreal that this living person was there at all — logic said he should have been killed.

I took pictures frantically. It helped me distance myself from the bloodbath — seeing the destruction through my lens was like a shield that lessened the impact. Everywhere I pointed my camera I saw mangled bodies, people shredded like mincemeat, their clothes ripped away from their flesh, body parts all around me. I saw one leg severed at the knee and another leg by the police boom gate. It was carnage. Wherever I looked there was horror.

People were grabbing the wounded and throwing them into the backs of cars and driving them away. The dead were being thrown on the backs of Ford Ranger pick-ups, body bits and slabs of burnt flesh thrown in as well. I felt that I was on auto-pilot, shooting madly and talking into my video camera about what was happening, questioning things and trying to make some sense of it all.

Then I lost Paul. So many things were going through my mind, was Paul stumbling around somewhere, was he lying down in some ditch that he'd crawled into, dying? I started asking people if they had seen him, and one man said he'd been taken to hospital. Which hospital? Was he with the Americans we had passed coming in? I walked away from the blast area towards the compound where I'd seen those Americans. I must have looked worse that I was with all the blood over my face and clothes, a mixture of my own and Paul's I think. They were all incredibly friendly and helpful and when I'd told them about Paul, they immediately prepared to go out there and search for him. A medic treated me on the spot, cleaning up my head wounds. I kept asking about Paul and they said they would find him.

I called my friend Sophie Barry in Kabul to get Paul's mobile phone number and tell her what had happened. I called the number and heard the phone ringing from Paul's computer bag, but he wasn't there. I then called my partner, Lizzie, in Sydney, to tell her what had happened and that I was OK and that Paul was wounded but missing.

When the soldiers returned, they said they had made contact with him and that he was in the main civilian hospital in Jalalabad. They said he was alive, but that they did not know his condition. I got myself on one of the Medivac choppers to the Jalalabad US military base that they call "J-bad". I walked down to the hospital and met four Australian Federal Police officers. They looked shocked and happy to see me. They had initially been told that two Aussie journalists had been killed in the bombing. This had also gone out on the DFAT wire. I told them to immediately change this story and make sure our families and friends didn't get a whiff of this.

Paul was conscious but groggy and in some pain. He told me he couldn't see anything. He was happy to hear me and I stood with him as the medics stabilised him. I went back outside to let the AFP guys know that Paul was doing well and that I'd be flying along with him to Bagram US Air Force Base.

I told them what I remembered about the suicide bombing. They were all really good guys and told me that many worried people back home had already heard about it. That was quick. It had only been a few hours at most since the bomb blast. The Australian ambassador in Kabul was personally wanting to help in any way.

It was about 2pm when we landed at Bagram US air base. For the first time I saw Paul's injuries properly as the medics and doctors removed the bandages and began treatment. He had shrapnel wounds all the way up his right arm and both shoulders and he had at least five holes in the back of the head, two the size of golf balls. I remember praying and praying that he'd be OK. It was Paul's jovial mood and larrikinism with the US nurses that reassured me he was doing well. He'd not lost his spirit. He kept asking for Cokes and Cherry Ripes.

MY WHOLE time at Bagram felt pretty weird, and at times I'd feel like a ghost wandering around base caught up in my head space, trying to deal with everything that had just happened and getting through things hour by hour.

I still can't quite believe I walked out of the carnage unhurt. It was a f---ing miracle. Surreal, miracle, blessed. I'm alive, Paul's alive.

Sadly though, many police and Afghan civilians died that morning: 25 is what I heard at last count, and many more were wounded. This is now an all too common situation in Afghanistan. Suicide bombings have become all too popular with the Taliban and their allies. I read that the bomber was a 12-year-old boy selling papers. A 12-year-old boy. Is this what the war in Afghanistan has come down to? Sending innocent children in to do the dirty work. It's looking so much like Iraq. Whatever the Taliban think of their insanely cruel methods of fighting the US and their allies, they do know suicide bombing is deadly and effective. A walking human time bomb, what could possibly be worse!

Paul took an emergency Medivac flight to Dubai and on to Sydney. He's now back in Sydney recovering from his wounds and is doing extremely well. I stayed on in Kabul for a few more days, collected my thoughts and looked at my pictures and video footage for the first time.

How am I now? I'm great. Nothing like holding my beautiful daughter, Ava, to bring life back into perspective.      

Taliban attacks interrupt Canadian entertainers
Canada.com, Canada Doug Schmidt Canwest News Service 23/05/2008

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - A rocket attack Friday night interrupted Canadian country singer Diane Chase as she was under the spotlight, performing a song about the sacrifices of military life during a show for the troops at this sprawling base.

The Sudbury, Ont., native, a group of fellow entertainers and hundreds of fans in uniform were ordered to take cover.

"I thought at first it was our guitar player getting wonky on us," Chase, referring to the initial wail of the sirens, said later as she stood in a nearby bunker stuffed with musicians, comedians and soldiers.

It was the second night in a row the 10 Canadian visitors, guests of the morale and welfare arm of the Canadian Forces, had a close encounter with the Afghan conflict.

As with three similar rocket attacks over a four-day stretch last week, however, the erratically aimed missiles caused no injury or serious damage at the multinational military base. After half an hour waiting in the bunkers for the all-clear, the show went on.

Two earlier shows originally slated for frontline troops "outside the wire" were cancelled. That sparked one of the performers to speak out for Canada's soldiers earlier in the day and call for more air support for troops he described as the best soldiers among the approximately 40 foreign national contingents of the International Security Assistance Force fighting against a Taliban insurgency.

"I think the Canadian army needs good helicopters . . . so get on with it," East Coast country and blues folk rocker Matt Minglewood told reporters at this huge airfield camp, home to thousands of troops, including most of Canada's 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan.

The majority of the 83 Canadian soldier deaths in Afghanistan since 2002 were due to roadside IED or suicide bomber attacks on military vehicles, used extensively to transport or resupply Canadian troops in the field. Other nations rely extensively on a much safer aerial resupply and the Manley commission recommended the government acquire medium-lift helicopters as one condition of an extension of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan past 2009.

The visiting entertainers include Toronto rock band Suckerfactory, country singer/songwriters Ginette Genereux and Duane Steele, Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser and comedians Kenny Shaw and Pete Zedlacher. After two shows here, they perform Sunday for Canadian and other foreign troops in Kabul.

On Thursday night, some in the group brought their instruments to the base's popular Canada House for an impromptu outdoor jam with the troops, while a similar spur-of-the-moment performance was organized Friday afternoon for Canadians who couldn't make it that night.

The guests all described in varying ways how overwhelming it was to experience the heat and the dust and the sheer size of this military enterprise.

"There is a 'Holy Cow!' moment," said Chase, adding they met with an Afghan "spiritual leader" who explained to them the concept of jihad, or holy war, and "how the Taliban twist it."

"I don't think a lot of people over there (in Canada) get it," Minglewood said of the work being carried out by Canadian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, primarily in Kandahar Province. He described as "chilling" an earlier visit by the entertainers to the military base's "bone yard," where the remains of light armoured vehicles and other targeted and damaged ground transportation vehicles are stored.

"People at home would never understand until they looked inside a LAV that soldiers were killed in," said Minglewood.

[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.]