ARmy Rumour SErvice

June 7th.

Guardian
Bill Threatens Afghan Aid
Thursday June 7, 2007
By ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House passed $6.4 billion legislation Wednesday that would cut off U.S. aid to local governments in Afghanistan with ties to drug dealers, criminals or terrorists, a standard the White House says is unrealistic.

The legislation was pushed heavily by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who said not enough was being done to curb Afghanistan's growing opium market. Its passage marked increasing tension between the Bush administration, which says it has sole province on foreign policy matters, and lawmakers who say Congress must have a role in overseeing assistance programs.

``The time has come for a clear and comprehensive and truly wide-reaching counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan,'' said Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The White House countered that the bill would tie the president's hands in responding to a complex situation.

``Besides setting an unrealistically high bar, which in fact could encourage the Taliban to promote corruption among local officials, the provision creates a serious barrier to assisting those areas with significant needs,'' according to an administration statement.

The bill, passed by a 406-10 vote, would authorize $2.1 billion in humanitarian, economic and military assistance programs for budget year 2008, which begins Oct. 1. The remaining $4 billion would be spent through 2010.

Before the final vote, the House adopted 419-1 an amendment that would allow the secretary of state to reward Afghan or Pakistani officials for information leading to the capture of high-profile terrorists operating inside Afghanistan.

A Senate companion bill is still under discussion.

The dispute over Afghanistan assistance comes as opium poppy cultivation is on the rise, and as the Bush administration struggles to make strides in Iraq. According to a House report on the bill, poppy cultivation grew by 59 percent during the 2005-2006 growing season, producing more than 6,000 metric tons of opium.

``The Taliban is back, posing not only an insidious threat to the people of Afghanistan, but to America as well,'' said Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, nominated by President Bush to manage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he agrees that a ``long-term, comprehensive approach'' against the drug-trade in Afghanistan is necessary.

``If confirmed, I will consider the counter-drug aspect of the campaign in Afghanistan as one element leading to overall success and seek to improve its integration with the other pillars of the strategy,'' Lute wrote the Senate Armed Services Committee in anticipation of his confirmation hearing Thursday.

The House legislation also requires that Bush appoint a coordinator to oversee a counter-narcotics strategy in Afghanistan, establish a special envoy to encourage Afghanistan-Pakistan cooperation and adopt a policy of encouraging Pakistan to permit shipments from India.

The White House said these provisions overstep Congress' bounds and interfere with the president's authority on foreign affairs.

The cumulative effect of the bill would be ``to divert the attention of those with key responsibilities to implement the diplomacy and programs that actually constitute the president's strategy and foreign policy with regard to Afghanistan and the region.''


http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...689823,00.html
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More on the murder os the Afghan female journalist...
StarTribune(US)
Female head of Afghan radio station shot to death while sleeping with baby
June 06, 2007

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - An Afghan journalist was shot dead by unknown gunmen Tuesday night in her home north of Kabul as she slept beside her 10-month- old baby, Afghan officials said Wednesday.

The journalist, Zakia Zaki, 38, was the director of a private local radio station in Jabal-us-Siraj, an hour's drive north of Kabul. She was shot seven times, said Abdul Jabar Taqwa, the governor of Parwan Province. The baby survived.

Zaki, the mother of six children, had been receiving threats for the last few months demanding that she take the station off the air, Taqwa said. The nature of the threats was unclear, but she had been involved in women's rights advocacy and political activity.

Zaki was killed six days after a TV reporter and anchorwoman on a private station in Kabul was shot and killed in her house by two male relatives, according to Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal, the Kabul police director of criminal investigations.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, barring women from education and work outside the home, Zaki's was the only woman's voice that could be heard near Kabul, on the station Radio-Solh, or Peace Radio. France has provided funds for the station, which operated in an area that had remained under the control of the Northern Alliance during Taliban rule. After the fall of the Taliban, Zaki became the director of the radio station and has remained in that role.

http://www.startribune.com/722/story/1230435.html
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Metro
Soldier was killed as he put on gear
June 6, 2007

Lance Corporal Luke McCullochA British soldier was killed by a Taliban mortar blast as he prepared to put on the helmet which may have saved him, an inquest heard on Wednesday.

L/Cpl Luke McCulloch had taken off his body armour to cool down after coming off sentry duty at the compound in Sangin Valley, Helmand, as temperatures soared to 45°C (113°F).

A mortar shell fell a short while later, as the 21-year-old of 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment, gathered his protective kit to put it back on, the inquest was told.

The South African-born soldier, who lived in Gillingham, was struck on the head by a piece of shrapnel and died later in hospital.

In evidence, Colour Sgt Richard Spence told how, in anticipation of an attack on September 6, he had ordered his men to get their protective gear back on.

'No sooner had I said that than the mortar fell,' he said.

The camp came under fire every day and soldiers had learned to expect at what times the attacks would begin, the inquest heard.

The soldier's mother, Elaine McCulloch- Brandt, said outside court: 'I am here because I want to know why my son and his colleagues were not ordered to wear protective gear all the time.

'The heat is not a reason – rather be hot than die. Luke was 21 and cocky. He was not an officer and he needed guiding by the officers.'

The inquest in Oxford continues.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article....34&ito=newsnow
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Canada.com
Canadian Forces “caught by surprise” in Afghan war
CanWest News Service
Wednesday, June 06, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Canadian Forces have been “caught by surprise” in recent months by a dramatic shift in the Afghanistan war that has seen the Taliban melt into the civilian population and spread into a far wider area, a top officer admitted Wednesday.

The new enemy activity has prompted the kind of rapid “sea change” in tactics that used to be unheard of in the Forces, said Col. Mike Cessford, second in command of the Canadian mission here.

Last year, troops were engaged in fierce fighting with large clumps of insurgents in a single, 20-square-kilometre area west of Kandahar, he said.

Now the Taliban have dispersed among the province's civilians and into a “multiplicity” of different districts, Cessford said in a frank assessment of the operation.

“This mission is evolving dynamically and dramatically,” he told a group of Canadian journalists. “We trained hard for a mission that did not materialize … Here you change on a dime and you have to change on a dime.”

Nevertheless, Cessford said he is convinced NATO forces in southern Afghanistan have taken the initiative from the Taliban, attacking them before they could launch an expected spring offensive.

The security situation is improving for ordinary Afghans, and more reconstruction is being carried out, he said.

The transformation of the conflict into a guerrilla war where combatants are one with the civilians has meant a major curb on Canadian firepower, however.

Soldiers have been able to rely much less on artillery and air strikes, and are erring on the side of caution if they are not absolutely sure a potential target is a Taliban militant, said Cessford.

He also said that he felt Canadians will have a long and enduring presence in Afghanistan after the military force has left. Asked if troops could be here for a decade, though, he suggested that might not be unlikely, given the length of time Canada has had forces in former hot spots such as Cyprus.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/na...d54ab1&k=45178

It seems we Brits are not alone in having supply and equipment problems...
Globe and Mail(Canada)
Copters won't be available before end of Afghan mission
DANIEL LEBLANC

June 7, 2007

OTTAWA — Canada's new transport helicopters will not be battle ready until well into 2011, more than two years after the country's military mission in Afghanistan is scheduled to end and five years after the purchase was announced.

Federal government and industry officials said the contract for the 16 Chinook helicopters has been delayed and the installation of anti-missile and other defensive equipment will further put back their delivery.

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor announced plans to acquire the helicopters last June as part of a major series of military purchases. In a speech in Edmonton at the time, Mr. O'Connor gave the sense the Boeing-built helicopters would be used in Afghanistan, where dozens of soldiers have died after driving over explosive devices.

"Overseas, the helicopters will reduce our reliance on allies and protect our troops on dangerous missions. They will reduce cases in which our men and women in uniform must drive overland, exposing themselves to the risk of ambush, land mines and improvised bombs," Mr. O'Connor said of the helicopters capable of carrying a 30-troop platoon in full combat gear.

But federal officials said the contract for the new medium- and heavy-lift helicopters -- worth $4.7-billion over 20 years -- has been delayed because of the complicated negotiations for the add-ons and is not expected to be signed until early next year.

The deal calls for the first Chinook to be delivered in early 2011, but officials said the aircraft will not be combat ready and will need upgrades before going overseas.

Chinook helicopters are big, noisy and vulnerable. Last week, a U.S. Chinook carrying seven NATO soldiers, including Master Corporal Darrell Jason Priede, a Canadian soldier based at CFB Gagetown, N.B., was shot down by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Chinooks usually fly alongside attack helicopters, which provide protection, but the Canadian Forces do not have these escort aircraft. As a result, Ottawa is negotiating with Boeing to add further defensive aids such as radar and infrared sensors on their Chinooks and extra gas tanks to carry the extra weight, which will take up to 12 months to install, sources said.

A defence official said the helicopters are not specifically geared toward the current military mission in Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan did not motivate this purchase," the official said. "A medium- to heavy-lift helicopter capability will allow the Canadian Forces to reach remote locations in a wider range of geographic areas and challenging environments inaccessible by ground-based transport or fixed-wing aircraft, both at home and around the world."

The Chinooks were one of five major acquisitions announced one year ago by the Conservative government. Overall, federal officials said the planned procurement of $17-billion in military equipment is running smoothly, given the size and the complexity of the package.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home
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Yahoo
Stolen keys delay start of Poland's Afghan mission
07/06/07

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's 1,200 troops assigned to NATO forces in Afghanistan will not achieve full combat readiness for up to several weeks due to stolen vehicle keys, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

"We had been told a 10 percent theft rate was likely in convoys brought in from Pakistan, but we had not expected the spare car keys to go missing," defence ministry spokesman Jaroslaw Rybak told news channel TVN24.

"We shall have to send away for spares, so it may take from several days to several weeks for our contingent to become combat ready."

According to media reports, Polish troops taking part in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan have been assigned to patrol the mountainous border area with Pakistan to search for Taliban guerrilla activity.

The military vehicles used by Polish forces include Poland's Land Rover-like Honkers and U.S.-built Humvees.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070607/...dGzqQAERrtiBIF

Am I alone in thinking there's something very odd about the 'Polish' story above?

"We had been told a 10 percent theft rate was likely in convoys brought in from Pakistan, but we had not expected the spare car keys to go missing," defence ministry spokesman Jaroslaw Rybak told news channel TVN24.

Firstly, why did the thieves steal the keys but not the vehicles?
Secondly, if the spare keys were stolen, why can't they use the originals?
There couldn't be any other reason for the delay - could there?

Reuters
Promises, threats in Afghan valley rid of Taliban
Thu Jun 7, 2007
By Peter Graff

SANGIN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The message couldn't have been clearer.

Keep out the Taliban and we will bring millions of dollars in aid, create thousands of new jobs, and build hospitals, schools and roads.

But let the guerrillas return, and you will get nothing but more war.

British and U.S. forces offered lavish promises of aid -- but also remarkably blunt threats of more violence -- to Afghan elders on Thursday at their first meeting since a battle to clear Taliban guerrillas from a mountain valley that could be a key to controlling southern Afghanistan.

The meeting had a friendly start but broke up suddenly in an atmosphere of tense unease, making clear the challenge NATO forces face if they hope to end fighting and launch a long-awaited large-scale reconstruction and development mission in the opium-growing heartland of the Taliban.

More than 100 bearded elders assembled, sitting shoeless and cross-legged behind sandbag fortifications in the portico of the Sangin district centre.

The building, clinging to the banks of a swift-flowing canal along the Helmand River, has been part of a British base for the past year, during which some of the heaviest fighting of the war laid waste to the surrounding area.

The town is now largely quiet after NATO operations to flush Taliban fighters out of the valley to the north, which culminated with a combined U.S.-British assault, Operation Axe Handle, last week.

The operation's British commander, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Carver, told the elders it had been a success. The Taliban were gone, some having fled, others killed.

"Clearing them out in the first place was the easy part. The more difficult part is making sure they do not come back," he said.

DAM PROJECT

A U.S. official promised that Afghanistan's biggest aid project, the reconstruction of the Kajaki Dam at the head of the valley, could soon begin, with work starting within weeks on a new road up the valley to reach the dam.

The road project will create 2,500 thousand new jobs, the project's head, Stu Willcuts of USAID, told the elders. It will link their villages to market year round. Reliable electricity and improved irrigation will follow.

"We need your help. We need the wisdom of those of you who worked on this project before. We need the strength of the arms of the young people."

Other British and U.S. officials, military and civilian, rose in turn with promises of schools, hospitals, roads and canals.

There were polite speeches of gratitude from the elders, and carefully worded requests for faster aid.

But then a U.S. Special Forces commander sprang to his feet, silencing the gathering.

"My job is to assist the district chief with security by killing as many Taliban as I can. Period," he said.

"All these gentlemen here want to bring aid to Sangin district. They can bring millions of dollars to assist you," said the bearded American commander, who wore a uniform with no insignia and identified himself as Major Gill.

"Honestly, what I have seen is you don't actually want that assistance. Because you continue to allow the Taliban to enter your villages," he said.

"I have seen you allow the Taliban to use your women and children as human shields. I have seen you allow Taliban to use your women and children to resupply ambush sites."

"You say you want schools, hospitals, electricity. How are we going to do that if you continue to let Taliban come into your villages? The workers will not come and build anything if they're going to get killed," he said.

He offered pardons for any Taliban who surrender and turn in weapons, and help for farmers looking for crops to plant other than opium poppies.

When the Special Forces commander fell silent, the elders erupted in murmurs and shouts. Several leapt to their feet.

"The troops have taken over my land! They are using my land to make a checkpoint!" shouted one.

"I have just two acres of land and 20 people to feed. I have to grow poppies. Otherwise, I cannot feed my family!" yelled another.

Afterwards, sitting on a carpet in an outbuilding with a small group of neighbors eating chicken and rice, one of the elders, Haji Mohammed Yaqub, said he believed the valley was indeed now quiet enough for the road work to begin.

"Many places have been cleared of Taliban, so they can start reconstruction," he said.

But he added, it was probably too late for the NATO forces to be welcomed by most residents.

"They have destroyed people's houses and their lives," he said. "So, what do they expect?"


http://www.reuters.com/article/world...S&pageNumber=1

Originally Posted by hansvonhealing

Am I alone in thinking there's something very odd about the 'Polish' story above?

"We had been told a 10 percent theft rate was likely in convoys brought in from Pakistan, but we had not expected the spare car keys to go missing," defence ministry spokesman Jaroslaw Rybak told news channel TVN24.

Firstly, why did the thieves steal the keys but not the vehicles?
Secondly, if the spare keys were stolen, why can't they use the originals?
There couldn't be any other reason for the delay - could there?

My guess is both sets have gone walkies, as some soldiers (who perhaps don't want to go) have spotted an opportunity to slow down their move to the danger zone.

The "we expected a 10 percent loss rate" thing is (for me) a bit of a surprise. In (nearly) 30 years soldiering, I don't remember ever hearing "I lost the ignition key" - keys to hatch padlocks, yes, but not ignition keys.

Some kinda scam going on mayhap? Flog the keys, then someone uses them to nick a wagon? Who knows.

200 pages up for this thread - thanks to all the contributers.
June 8th.

The Independent
British soldier killed clearing Taliban camp
By Victoria Thake
08 June 2007

A British soldier killed in action in Afghanistan was named by the Ministry of Defence today.

Lance Corporal Paul Sandford, of 1st Battalion the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters, was shot during an operation to clear a Taliban compound in the upper Gereshk valley in Helmand province early yesterday morning. He was airlifted for medical treatment to Camp Bastion, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

L/Cpl Sandford, 23, who married his wife Gaynor just a year ago, is the 59th member of the British forces to die in Afghanistan since operations began in November 2001.

His family, from Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, paid tribute to the soldier who, they said, died doing a job he had been determined to do since he was 11.

His father Terry told the Nottingham Evening Post: "Gaynor is absolutely distraught... Twenty-five years of age and then becoming a widow. It's no age at all.

"He was out (in Afghanistan) for his wedding anniversary. Gaynor saw him two or three weeks before he went out. They were planning on having a family and a proper family Army life.

"I just hope to Christ he didn't suffer."

His grandmother, Jean Sandford, said his family were devastated and are "struggling to come to terms" with his death.

Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP for Newark and a former commanding officer with the Sherwood Foresters, described L/Cpl Sandford as a "typical Nottingham soldier".

"He was first-class material and he would no doubt have gone on to have a very successful career. His rank showed there were things ahead for him.

"I am extremely sorry for his family."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...cle2631516.ece
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A body-count tally again...
International Herald Tribune
30 suspected Taliban killed, wounded in southern Afghanistan, ministry says
The Associated Press
June 7, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan: A battle and airstrikes in southern Afghanistan left 30 suspected Taliban dead or wounded, and six people were arrested in the killing of a woman who owned a radio station, officials said.

The battle took place in the Garmser district of Helmand province, the world's largest poppy-growing region and site of fierce battles in recent months, the Ministry of Defense said Thursday.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said officials could not say how many of the 30 reported casualties were killed or how many wounded during the violence Wednesday. He said multiple sources were used to come up with the figure.

Backed by NATO and coalition forces, Afghanistan is struggling to build an effective central government while fending off insurgents supported by the Taliban, the extremist Islamic movement driven out in 2001.

Meanwhile, police arrested six men for the killing of Zakia Zaki, the owner and manager of Peace Radio gunned down Wednesday in the northern province of Parwan, said Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi, counterterrorism chief for the Interior Ministry.

Farahi said the six backed the militant group Hezb-e-Islami, a supporter of the Taliban-led insurgency.

Zaki had been critical of local warlords, who had warned her to change the station's programming, said Rahimullah Samandar, head of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association. Zaki told other journalists that she had received death threats, Samandar added.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...n-Violence.php
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The Times
June 8, 2007

Hostages free after body of Taleban chief handed over
Tim Albone in Kabul

The body of one of the most senior Taleban commanders, killed in fighting last month, was returned to his family yesterday in exchange for the release of four medical workers taken hostage by the group.

Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged commander known for his cruelty and military prowess, was one of the Taleban’s most feared leaders. The release came late on Wednesday after rebels beheaded a fifth medical worker, claiming that the Afghan Government had stalled on a deal to hand over the body.

The five – a doctor, three nurses and driver – were kidnapped in Kandahar province on March 27. They had been administering vaccines in a refugee camp.

The beheaded body, believed to be that of the doctor, was, according to insurgents, left near a British base in Kajaki, northern Helmand. According to Shuhabuddin Athul, who claims to speak for the Taleban, the family of the doctor could now retrieve the body.

The deal was confirmed by General Esmat Alizai, the chief of police for Kandahar province, where Dadullah was buried at a secret location. He told The Times: “Last night at midnight we handed over the body of Dadullah to his closest relative. I cannot confirm which relative, but I can confirm it was one his closest ones.”

One of the released medical workers, named only as Musa, said that they were freed yesterday morning in the Gereshk district of Helmand province.

“This morning the Taleban blindfolded us and put us in a vehicle. In Gereshk they opened our eyes and told us to go since our relatives were waiting,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

“Two days ago they took Dr Khalil. We do not know whether he is alive or dead.”

He said that during their captivity they were well treated, fed and allowed to pray, but their release came as a surprise. “We were not expecting to be released. We are very happy to return home safely,” he said.

It is believed that President Karzai had ordered the release of Dadullah’s body on Monday, but it was not acted upon quickly enough. The rebels said that would kill one captive a day until they had the body of the commander. They were eager to give Dadullah a Muslim burial at a location where his relatives and followers could pay their respects.

The deal to release Dadullah’s body was driven by his brother, Mansoor Dadullah, who has taken over the role as the military commander of the Taleban and has promised an increase in suicide attacks and fighting to avenge his brother’s death.

Mansoor Dadullah was himself released from an Afghan prison in March as part of a much criticised exchange under which five Taleban prisoners were freed in return for the release of the Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo. Mr Mastrogiacomo was being held by insurgents in Helmand province. His driver and translator, who were not included in the deal, were beheaded.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1901421.ece
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UPI(US)
Analysis: Afghan hearts & minds -- Part 1
Published: June 7, 2007
By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- Taliban insurgents have deliberately sought to avoid the kind of mass casualty suicide attacks that have been the hallmark of their counterparts in Iraq, according to new research for the U.S. government.
And analysts say the movement, based in a secure hideout in neighboring Pakistan, is challenging U.S.-led forces for the moral high ground in the Afghan conflict by calling for an international commission to investigate civilian casualties there.

New research carried out for think tanks advising the U.S. government shows that, though Taliban leaders have made increasing use of suicide bombings since importing the tactic from Iraq, they appear to have deliberately avoided the kind of mass casualty attacks that have become the bloody hallmark of the campaign waged by their counterparts and allies there.

"The Taliban understand that (civilian casualties are) a key issue for them," said Brian Gwyn Williams, an assistant professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and author of the research. "They have gone out of their way to avoid killing civilian bystanders. ... They are waging a hearts-and-minds campaign just like the West is."

Williams' research seems borne out by the observations of one senior U.S. official about the security arrangements at Afghan government buildings in the capital.

"When I'd drive around Kabul, I kept thinking these ministries wouldn't be standing in another country in which we're engaged," former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann said last week -- pointedly identifying Iraq without naming it.

"They're too close to the street, there's no setback, there's too much glass."

From a study of more than 130 Afghan suicide bombings in 2006 and 50 so far this year, Williams says only six or seven attacks had killed significant numbers of civilians -- and even in those cases the casualties often appeared to be what the military term "collateral damage" rather than the product of deliberate attacks on civilian "soft targets."

He said a key turning point was an attack in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak in January 2006, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a sporting event -- a classic "soft target" -- killing more than 20 people.

Hundreds of Afghan Pashtuns marched through the town, chanting, "Death to Pakistan, death to al-Qaida and death to the Taliban," reported the British Broadcasting Corp.

Williams said the Taliban had a much better "sense of the pulse of Pashtun tribal leaders than the Karzai government" did, and consequently understood the importance of the issue sooner.

"They were very aware of the fact that doing that (kind of mass casualty attack) again could lose them a lot of support. ... They disowned the bombing."

The way that the issue of civilian casualties -- an inevitable byproduct of the key weapon of choice for both sides in the Afghan conflict -- is perceived by Afghans is a key factor in the hearts-and-minds war that each side is waging there, says Williams.

"Whoever wins that battle -- to keep those numbers (of civilian casualties) down ... and win the battle of perception (on that issue), whoever wins that battle, wins Afghanistan," he told UPI.

The Taliban's key weapon is the suicide bomber, and the movement appeared focused on using it against so-called hard targets, like U.S., NATO or Afghan military.

The result was that a very high proportion of attacks killed only the attacker -- leading Williams to subtitle a portion of his research, "Suicide bombing, or just suicide?"

But the tactic was "a dangerous game" for the Taliban, he added, "they are trying to use an imprecise tool to do a precision job. ...

"If you attack (military) convoys in populated areas, you are going to get civilian casualties."

The director of the U.N. Assistance Mission to Afghanistan said at the end of May that as many as 380 civilians had been killed in the conflict so far this year by both sides, but did not provide a breakdown.

NATO officials told reporters in Kabul earlier last month that 85 people, including 40 civilians, had died in the first 23 days of May from improvised explosive devices, including suicide and roadside bombs.

UNAMA Director Richard Bennett called in a statement for the Taliban to "stop the wanton disregard they have shown for innocent life" by ending "suicide bomb attacks, use of (roadside bombs), abductions, beheadings and the deliberate use of civilian locations to plan and launch attacks."

The Taliban has also very publicly advocated and carried out the murder of "spies" or "collaborators" -- a category that, according to Amnesty International, includes anyone who stands for election, clerics who dispute Taliban religious declarations, government administrators, teachers, health workers and any civilians working for aid agencies or foreign military forces. Scores have been killed by the Taliban in this fashion in the past two years, the group says.

Some observers were rather skeptical then, when, a day after Bennett's comments, Taliban leader Mullah Omar called for an independent commission to investigate and identify those responsible for civilian casualties in the conflict.

In a statement posted on the group's Web site and reported by local media, the fugitive Taliban leader said the commission should be made up of representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross, independent journalists, Afghan scholars and elders, and that NATO and the Taliban should jointly ensure its security.
http://www.upi.com/Security_Terroris...__part_1/9834/
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ReliefWeb
Afghanistan: Pressure mounts for aerial poppy-spraying

KABUL, 7 June 2007 (IRIN) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is under pressure from the USA to implement a controversial counter narcotics plan that should eradicate Afghanistan's poppy fields by spraying chemicals, officials confirmed on Thursday.

"We are under pressure to use chemicals for the eradication of poppy fields," Habibullah Qadiri, Afghanistan's minister of counter narcotics, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul.

In 2006, a US government plan to aerial spray poppy fields to stop opium production in Afghanistan was rejected by President Karzai, following health concerns raised by the country's Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) over the possible side effects on farmers and local residents.

"In rural areas people use stream water for drinking, washing and other purposes. The use of chemicals against poppy fields will contaminate water and that can cause grave consequences for many rural residents," the ministry warned.

"There are also risks of other useful plants being poisoned by the chemicals or farm animals being affected by them," MoPH reported to a government committee on counter narcotics.

However, according to one western diplomat, a US delegation is expected, in the very near future, to present to the Afghan authorities fresh proposals, including a safe spray that will not have side effects.

Opposition to spray weakening?

The UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) estimates that Afghanistan's opium production will increase in 2007 from the record level of 6,100 metric tonnes it produced in 2006.

"The government has virtually failed to counter narcotics and the boom in opium production every year is confirmation of that," a senior official at the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) who preferred anonymity, conceded.

With increasing poppy cultivation and continued pressure from the USA, some Afghan officials have now changed their "no to chemical spray" thinking.

"If we realise that Taliban insurgents and terrorists continue to profit from narcotics and we find that our strategy cannot tackle the problem then, as an ultimate option, we will use chemical spray," Minister Qadiri confirm to IRIN.

UK diplomat sceptical

Meanwhile, a British diplomat in Kabul dealing with counter narcotics doubted the usefulness of aerial or land chemical spray on poppy fields.

"It will not be an Afghan solution to their problem and, meanwhile, it will not be a sustainable solution either. Britain does not support it," added the diplomat who did not want to be named.

The US embassy in Kabul preferred not to comment on the issue until an American delegation visits Afghan officials in the coming two weeks.

Counter narcotics fund

Almost half of Afghanistan's national economy is based on illicit money earned from opium.

According to the UNODC, the country produced US$3.1 billion worth opium in 2006 alone. Although a small fraction of opium money actually remains in Afghanistan, many Afghan farmers say they need tangible assistance in terms of alternative livelihoods in order to stop cultivating poppy.

In an effort to address such demands, the Afghan government, supported by the UN and other donors, established a counter narcotics trust fund in late 2005 which, however, managed to spend less than $800,000 on alternative livelihoods in 2006.

"We admit low capacity in the government [thus] impeding our efforts to spend more funds on alternative livelihoods," acknowledged Wahidullah Shahrani, a deputy finance minister.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/...Y?OpenDocument

A controversial viewpoint....
Guardian
Comment
The west has to accept that there is no military solution

The honest way forward in Afghanistan is to understand the south is lost and refocus efforts on Kabul and the north

Jonathan Steele in Kabul
Friday June 8, 2007

The team that wrote President Bush's Prague speech on democracy this week have clearly never visited Afghanistan. Otherwise they would not have had the president quoting a Soviet dissident who compared "a tyrannical state to a soldier who constantly points a gun at his enemy". The guns that most Afghans see pointed at them are held by Americans, and they are all too often fired. At least 135 unarmed civilians have been reported killed over the past two months by western troops, mainly US special forces.

The deaths by ground fire and US air strikes have become so frequent that last month the upper house of Afghanistan's parliament did something it has never done before. It called on the Nato-led forces to cease taking offensive action against the Taliban and asked the Afghan government to talk to the insurgents, provided the Taliban accept the country's new constitution. It also asked for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. The upper house is not normally a radical body. More than half its members were appointed by Bush's friend, President Hamid Karzai. Its speaker is a moderate former mujahideen leader who was driven from power by the Taliban a decade ago. That men with this background should now be expressing doubts over Nato's tactics and even over its presence in Afghanistan sends a powerful signal.
Five years after western forces arrived here, the upper house's concern reflects an impatience with them that is widespread in Kabul. Initially the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) was considered too passive. The demand was for it to deploy out of Kabul to the non-Pashtun north and west, and arrest or disarm the warlords. Although these were anti-Taliban figures, they ran their areas like fiefdoms, neglecting development and stealing revenues.

After a two-year delay Isaf did move out, and now runs so-called provincial reconstruction teams in most provinces. It still leaves the warlords alone, since confronting them is considered the Afghan government's job. Some have been sidelined by Karzai, but given good jobs in Kabul. Others were elected to parliament, after attempts to ban militia leaders from being candidates were dropped. None has been put on trial - a cult of impunity that also benefits a new generation of corrupt officials.

In the Pashtun south, the Taliban's homeland, the west did little. Instead of pumping in aid while the defeated Taliban were still demoralised, the Taliban were given three years to recover. Now that Isaf has finally gone into the south, the complaint is that it is too aggressive. Isaf troops demolish houses, empty out villages, displace tens of thousands of people, and use indiscriminate firepower that kills innocent civilians. Isaf's task is complicated by the presence of over 10,000 US troops who are not under Nato command but operate in the same zones, killing more Afghans than Isaf, and giving all foreign forces a bad name since no one can understand the difference.

Making a priority of "force protection" - which means that soldiers on patrol or in convoy treat every Afghan as a potential enemy and fire on anything suspicious - has helped the Taliban to gain recruits. Before 9/11 the connection between the Taliban and al-Qaida was only at the leadership level, and tenuous at best. Now it is pervasive and at the grassroots. Young Afghans are strapping on suicide belts, a technique imported from Iraq - it was never used against the Soviet occupiers two decades ago, and shocks older Afghans as a perversion of their warrior nation's traditions. But it helps to make Isaf and US special forces even more jittery, feeding into the instinct to over-react.

Last autumn, British commanders tried to break out of excessive reliance on military force. They made a potentially precedent-setting deal with tribal leaders in the town of Musa Qala by agreeing to withdraw provided the Taliban did not move in. The deal was sabotaged by the Americans and, as on many earlier occasions, Tony Blair failed to stand up to the White House. He let the Musa Qala experiment fizzle out.

In Kabul, some western analysts with long experience of Afghanistan are in despair. They argue that Isaf should recognise the trap it is in. Western governments and their electorates will never provide enough troops to secure the south, but the reckless use of air-power to make up for the shortage of ground troops only loses more hearts and minds. The downward spiral of anger and alienation accelerates.

The only honest solution is to accept that the south is a lost cause as far as western military action is concerned. Isaf should refocus its effort and the available foreign aid money on Kabul and the north. Turn them into an example of how development and modernisation can be done gradually and sensitively and with a real long-term commitment, rather than spending millions on advice on "good governance" from overpaid consultants on short-term contracts. There is no danger that the Pashtun-based Taliban will capture Kabul and the north again. Isaf need not announce a pullout, but it should prepare the ground by redeploying its forces to garrisons in Kandahar and the provincial capitals in the south, and quietly abandoning its isolated outposts and the futile in-and-out patrolling of the hinterland.

Some diplomats argue that, while this may be what the west eventually does, there is still time to use a mix of military attacks in a few areas combined with discreet contacts with Taliban commanders through tribal leaders. These should aim for agreement on phased withdrawals by Isaf, and promises that security will be in the hands of Afghan police chosen by local people rather than sent in from outside. The Afghan army is seen as an adjunct of the occupiers and not welcomed.

Pashtun tribal elders reject Taliban ideology, which they see as obscurantist, regressive, and hostile to development. They had six years' experience of it after 1995, and know what it means. But the Taliban are successfully expanding their reach by exploiting national pride and hostility to foreign occupation and the corrupt practices of Kabul-appointed governors. Removing the occupation and having locally chosen police would allow the elders to reassert control.

A key precondition for a new approach in Afghanistan has to be an end to the west's simplistic "war on terror" rhetoric and its latest incarnation, Bush's Prague talk of "freedom versus extremism". Promising "victory" in Afghanistan only risks the perception of "defeat" when the reality eventually dawns that there is no military solution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/st...098059,00.html

More from Reuters defence reporter Peter Graff, in his series...
'Embedded in Afghanistan'

Back in Bastion
June 7th, 2007

We have hit the ground running. No sooner were we
comfortable in Kabul then we were whisked off in the back of a
Hercules cargo plane to Camp Bastion, the tented camp for
British troops in southern Afghanistan's poetically-named Desert
of Death of Helmand province. The camp, as a British sergeant
once reminded me, is not far from where an entire British
brigade was wiped out in the Afghan wars of the 19th century.
The Baluchi and Pashtun tribesmen who first called it the Desert
of Death named it well: it is about as forbidding a landscape as
I've seen anywhere. Flat and dry as the moon, covered in pebbles
and grey dust like talcum powder. Blisteringly hot in the summer
and (as I learned last December) freezing cold in winter.

Camp Bastion was set up just a little over a year ago and
has grown rapidly. The British are in the process of nearly
doubling its size. It is still quite Spartan when compared to
the luxurious digs on the big American airbase in nearby
Kandahar. Parts of it still smell a bit of sewage. But it's a
whole lot nicer than it was a year ago. They have added a very
nice bar, with lots of TVs (But no booze. Unlike the American
military, British forces allow drinking, but not at frontline
posts like Bastion.) They have at last brought in a railway
box-car containing what promises to be Helmand Provinc's first
Pizza Hut, but it's not open yet.

Which meant that when we arrived after dark we were stuck on
British Army rations. I had the infamous “biscuits, brown” with
“chilli beef paste”, every bit as yummy as it sounds.

In the morning we were whisked off by Chinook helicopter to
Sangin, a town on the Helmand River where British forces last
year faced some of their heaviest fighting since the Korean War
50 years ago, leaving much of the area in ruins. We were there
to attend a “Shura”, or meeting, between British and American
officials and the village elders, following an offensive in the
valley last week.

I filed a story describing the meeting, which started quite friendly
but turned suddenly acrimonious after an American Special Forces
commander rose and denounced the local elders for
shielding the Taliban.

The British commanders were surprised by the aggressive tone
of the American's remarks, although his speech did seem to be
effective in capturing the elders' attention.

It was a striking example in miniature of how the allies
often appear to disagree on the proper mix of carrots and
sticks: so many times, the British seem to play the “good cop”
and the Americans the “bad cop.” It's a subject I've written
about in the past on the level of top commanders and their strategies.

But I was startled to see it play out so openly in the field.

http://blogs.reuters.com/category/fr...n-afghanistan/