Afghan chaos growing Options

[Marine]

Source: The United Nations
Date: 4 April, 2005
Press Briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Spokesman for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Afghanistan



TALKING POINTS


Berlin Conference Hailed as New Milestone in Afghan Peace Process
The Berlin Conference concluded on Thursday, 1 April, with the adoption of the Berlin Declaration. It is remarkable that more that two years after the Bonn Agreement was signed, Afghanistan is able to bring together more than 60 nations, the majority of them represented by Ministers of Foreign Affairs. It is also remarkable that two years after the peace agreement was signed, Afghanistan is able to have donors pledge double what had been originally pledged in the Tokyo Conference and that they have done it in response to a multiyear development programme designed by the Afghan Government. We also find that the support of the international community is not only based on the successes of Afghanistan but with the acknowledgment that there are issues to be tackled, among them the question of factionalism and the drug problem. The window of opportunity is not closing but there is a lot of work that has to be undertaken by all of us, certainly by the Afghans.
The Berlin Declaration was adopted with three annexes, including: The Way Ahead: The Workplan of the Afghan Government (I do recommend that you take a look at this as it has very important aspects of activities to be undertaken by the Government); A Progress Report on the Implementation of the Bonn Agreement; and the Berlin Declaration on Counter-Narcotics within the Framework of the Kabul Good Neighborly Relations Declaration (signed by Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).

The Declaration highlights the priorities for Afghanistan over the next few years, including intensifying Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration ahead of the elections, reducing and eventually eliminating poppy cultivation, and establishing the rule of law and a functioning judicial system, among others. It welcomes the commitments made by donors at the Conference for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan totaling $8.2 billion over three years, and also welcomes the commitment by NATO to expand ISAF's mission with the establishment of additional Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) by the summer.

In his closing statement at the Conference, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Jean Arnault, called the outcome a "genuine new milestone in the Afghan peace process." He said that the UN was encouraged by the proceedings, and in particular by the participant's unanimous endorsement of the holding of elections in September.

The Special Representative said that the paramount need to create "a free, fair and safe environment" would "require, in a very short time, a genuine transformation in the military and political landscape of Afghanistan." He concluded by saying: "In the countdown to the holding of these genuine and democratic elections, the clock starts ticking today. We trust that it will instill a sense of urgency to our joint efforts. The Afghan leadership now knows that it has the full backing of the international community for the difficult choices that will have to be made."

Copies of the Berlin Declaration and the annexes, as well as the full statement by the Special Representative are available on the side table.

There is also a press release issued by the World Bank which gives you some details of the meetings that were held on 2 April following the Berlin Conference on the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund and the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan which are managed respectively by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.


Karzai Endorses UN Millennium Declaration
While attending the Berlin Conference, President Karzai endorsed the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which commits the Government to reaching a series of development goals by 2015. There are eight Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, among others.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Afghanistan's Human Development Index is currently the worst in the world after Sierra Leone. Life expectancy is 20 years lower than neighboring countries, such as Tajikistan.

The Government of Afghanistan and UNDP have just released a report called "Afghanistan's Millennium Development Goals," which sets out specific recommendations for reducing extreme poverty in the country. These include improving public services and infrastructure, controlling the population growth rate, currently at 4.2 percent, creating economic opportunities for the vast number of returning refugees, expanding the availability of micro-credit, and controlling poppy production.

For more details there is a press release from UNDP on the side table. Unfortunately we do not have a full copy of the report but it can be accessed online at undp.org and also, I believe, on the Afghan Government's website.


Electoral Update
As we announced last week, a donor briefing on the electoral process was held on the evening of 30 March prior to the start of the Berlin Conference. At that meeting, some $68 million was pledged towards the $135 million budget for elections in September. This amount is to cover the presidential and parliamentary elections, but it also includes the estimated cost for voter registration and polling in both Pakistan and Iran.
The pledges cover just over half the estimated budget and we are very happy and grateful that countries understood the urgency because while the actual election plan still needs some refinement, there are certain things that are known and therefore require the procurement of materials, from voting booths to screens to ballot boxes. These things take time to order and you can only order them if you have the money. We are very grateful that the donors responded so promptly and so generously. The budget for the voter registration exercise remains at $98 million. As of 28 March, $94 million had been committed by donors, leaving a shortfall of $4.4 million.

As of yesterday, 1,688,234 Afghans had registered to vote. This includes 1,203,149 men and 485,085 women or 71 percent men to 29 percent women. This represents a gradual and steady increase of women registering to vote. When registration started in the beginning of December, women represented about 14 percentage of the total and are now at 29 percent. What is important is that the number of women continues to increase.

For instance, in Kandahar this week for the first time, the number of women registering reached 50 percent of the number of men registering on certain days. For example, yesterday 1,281 men and 613 women registered. The overall total for women registrants in Kandahar has increased from 13 percent to 18 percent in recent weeks. This is partly due to mobile teams in hospitals and clinics but also due to the encouragement of elders and local officials for women to take part in the process.

For your calendars, the National Football Team will be registering today at 2 p.m. at Zarghona Girls' School in Kabul. And on Monday, 5 April, at 3 p.m., the Father of the Nation, former King Zahir Shah, will register at the King's Palace in Kabul. Media are invited to attend both events.


World Health Day - 7 April
This Wednesday, 7 April, is World Health Day. The theme for this year is: Road safety is no accident. In a message by the Secretary-General commemorating the day, he says that despite enormous improvements in road safety in some countries, nearly 1.2 million people are killed every year in traffic accidents. About 90 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries.
In Afghanistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) will be observing the day with a series of events designed to promote road safety. There will be a cycling contest, in which contestants will be tested on their road safety awareness, and there will also be contests for best drivers and best pedestrians. Awards will be distributed at an official ceremony to be held by WHO on 7 April.

For more information on these activities, there is a press release from WHO on the side table. There are also copies of the full statement by the Secretary-General for World Health Day.

[ghostgovt]

A tragic end came to a fine young lady who devoted her time to helping others. I post this article in memory of her.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1463619,00.html

Wednesday April 20, 2005

Bubbles of Kabul

Blonde and giggly, Marla Ruzicka was at first easy to dismiss. Yet, single-handedly, the idealistic aid worker secured millions of dollars' worth of compensation from America for the victims of its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. After her death in a bomb attack in Baghdad last weekend, Rory Carroll mourns his friend

She had come, she said, to document civilian casualties of the recently concluded US-led campaign to oust the Taliban. She not only wanted to find them - difficult enough amid lawless chaos - she wanted Washington to compensate them, to take responsibility for mistakes in its post-September 11 offensive.

Last Saturday, almost three and a half years later, a journey which started in the Afghan winter ended on a balmy spring afternoon in Baghdad. A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of SUVs on the airport road. Marla Ruzicka and her colleague Faiz Al Salaam, 43, were separate from the convoy but their ordinary car took the force of the blast, killing them both.

[Marine]

Source: The Daily Times (Pakistan)
Date: 21 April, 2005
Northern Afghan warlords hope for ballots not bullets ahead of elections
By Emmanuel Duparcq

‘To build popular support both generals need to strive for a veneer of respectability and the international community has made it clear it would take a tougher line with recalcitrant warlords’

Two of Afghanistan’s most powerful northern warlords have laid down their arms to enter politics as the country prepares for its first parliamentary elections.

The militias of ethnic Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostam and his Tajik rival Mohammed Atta have clashed repeatedly in and around Mazar-i-Sharif since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

But calm has descended on this northern city as both men look to build political power bases.

“There are always underlying tensions, but no major problems lately. Dostum and Atta wanted to be legitimate,” said Captain Tim Rawlinson of the city’s British-run Provincial Reconstruction Team, part of NATO’s peacekeeping mission in the north.

To stand in the September 18 parliamentary elections, candidates must prove they are not linked to an armed group and although commanders such as Atta and Dostam still have ties to their militias, they have disarmed most of their men as part of a UN-backed disarmament drive.

“They realised that they can’t reach their goals by fighting but by being in the political field,” Qasi Mohammed Same, director of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Same added that Mazar residents were war-weary and tired of the constant clashes between the rival militias.

To build popular support both generals need to strive for a veneer of respectability and the international community has made it clear it would take a tougher line with recalcitrant warlords, he said.

A month ahead of the presidential election last October won by President Hamid Karzai, military strongman Ismail Khan was ousted as governor of the western province of Herat amid riots which were quelled by the US military and the fledgling Afghan army.

Since then Karzai has chosen to bring militia commanders such as Atta and Dostam — both of whom have a history of alleged human rights abuses - into the political fold, while Khan was appointed to head the Ministry of Energy..

Atta was appointed governor of Balkh province, which includes Mazar-i-Sharif, ahead of last year’s election, while Dostam was appointed chief of staff of the high command of Afghanistan’s armed forces last month.

Dostam’s appointment dismayed human rights groups but political insiders in Kabul said Dostam, who won 10 percent of the vote in the presidential election, was a political force to be reckoned with.

“It’s a case of keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Dostam needed to have a role in government because they can’t arrest him or get rid of him,” a Western diplomat in Kabul said.

Said Noorullah, Dostam’s aide in charge of his Uzbek Jumbesh party, told AFP, “We can’t say that we have no weapons. But we think we don’t need them anymore, because it’s no benefit to fight each other.”

He added that Dostam was “not a warlord, he’s a political guy. And president Karzai knows that he can do a great job.”

Dostam has changed sides many times in the past two decades, fighting with the Soviets in the 1980s and later fighting with the mujahedin against Soviet-backed President Najibullah.

Dostam’s nomination in the government, to a post that many see as symbolic, could also have been a shrewd political move.

The appointment “calmed the situation here by alleviating the concerns of militia forces who were badly aggrieved that they were excluded from Karzai’s first cabinet,” the head of a humanitarian aid agency in Mazar told AFP.

In January Dostam narrowly escaped assassination by a suicide bomber outside a mosque in his northern stronghold of Sheberghan, where he had been saying open-air prayers at a Muslim festival.

The bomb gave Dostam’s long-term rival Atta an opportunity to bridge the divide between the two men, and he has twice visited Dostam in Sheberghan, first to express his sympathy after the assassination attempt and then in February after the death of Dostam’s father.

Despite the peace overtures, however, tensions remain.

There were popular demonstrations in Mazar over land disputes, with local residents accusing Atta of handing out land to his relatives and militia loyalists.

Atta, however, pinned the blame squarely on Dostam saying it was “the general” who had given out land before the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

When the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance took control of Afghanistan in late 2001, backed by a US air campaign, Dostam was appointed as Karzai’s envoy to the north soon after the hardline Islamic regime was toppled. afp

[ghostgovt]

Hummmmmmmmm, makes one wonder where all the 'misplaced' bio germs ends up from Bush Country.


http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=48637

Mystery disease kills thousands of Afghan animals

Reuters (Faizabad, Afghanistan)
April 17/05

A mystery disease has killed more than 6,000 animals in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Badakhshan in the past two weeks, an official said on Sunday.

Authorities are waiting for test results, carried out by foreign aid workers, to find the cause of the epidemic, said Engineer Mohammad Hassan, chief of the agriculture and husbandry department of Badakhshan.

"It is a very strange type of disease, which locals call animal plague," Hassan told Reuters in Faizabad, the provincial capital of Badakhshan.

"So far more than 6,000 animals, largely goats, sheep and cows, have perished as a result of the outbreak," he said.

Rugged Badakhshan lies near the border with China and Tajikistan and a majority of its residents rely on agriculture.

[Marine]

Hummmmmmmmm, makes one wonder where all the 'misplaced' bio germs ends up from Bush Country.
http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=48637

Mystery disease kills thousands of Afghan animals

Reuters (Faizabad, Afghanistan)
April 17/05

A mystery disease has killed more than 6,000 animals in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Badakhshan in the past two weeks, an official said on Sunday.

Authorities are waiting for test results, carried out by foreign aid workers, to find the cause of the epidemic, said Engineer Mohammad Hassan, chief of the agriculture and husbandry department of Badakhshan.

"It is a very strange type of disease, which locals call animal plague," Hassan told Reuters in Faizabad, the provincial capital of Badakhshan.

"So far more than 6,000 animals, largely goats, sheep and cows, have perished as a result of the outbreak," he said.

Rugged Badakhshan lies near the border with China and Tajikistan and a majority of its residents rely on agriculture.

Oh my, we agree on something. Afghanistan is nasty.

[ghostgovt]

This book tags the truth about Afghanistan and our dirty govt officials. Google Ghost Wars to find more info about it.




Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 - Steve Coll

Ghost Wars is Steve Coll's superlative account of the tangled morass of the last twenty-five years of byzantine manuvering, chaos and war on the Afghan frontier. The war against the Russians was conducted mainly through proxies - the Muhjaddeen and the warlords, the Pakistani government, and the quioxtic brillance of Massoud. Coll outlines the early rise of US policy towards the region, tracing carefully the gradual emergence and steady growth of US involvement as the Muhjaddeen war against the Russians gradually became a key element for US policy.

Coll judiciously examines the post-war American neglect of the region (literally dropping off of the policy radar screen overnight) and the sudden and abrupt roll-up of the CIA's covert support operations (exacerbating the political vacuum), its impact on both the rise of the Taliban and the development of Al Quada and Osama Bin Laden.

Reading Ghost Wars amply demonstrates that none of the subsequent events of 9-11 was surprising in retrospect and that, bluntly, no one involved is a new or unknown player. Bin Laden in particular was amply demonstrating his direction, policy and goals but was initially overlooked and ignored, and later indifferently dealt with, despite mounting evidence of danger. Neither the Clinton nor the Bush (Jr. & Sr.) administrations escapes censure for their failure to recognize the approaching storm and the glimpse Coll offers into the inner workings of covert policy in the region both fascinates and frustrates.

Coll's book is a must-read for anyone genuinely interested in understanding the complex interplay of history, politics, culture and religion in Afghanistan and is, on top of being exhaustive and comprehensive, an excellent, gripping, high-quality and well-written read. Highly Recommended!

[Marine]

Source: Reuters
Date: 23 April, 2005

Another Senior Taliban Official Gives Up
Sat Apr 23, 9:45 AM ET World - Reuters

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A senior member of the ousted Taliban movement surrendered on Saturday, the latest in a series of defections to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government by Taliban commanders.

Mofti Habibur Rahman, chief of the criminal department at Taliban's interior ministry, also said other high-level and low-ranking Taliban officials inside and outside Afghanistan would take advantage of a government amnesty offer.

"The reason is that we now have an elected and legitimate government," Rahman told reporters after surrendering to local authorities in Khost, the southeastern province near the border with Pakistan which is a hotbed of Taliban activity.

When asked if Jalaluddin Haqani, the top Taliban commander for the southeastern region would also give himself up, Rahman said: "I cannot say this because of security reasons."

He said other Taliban officials who were prepared to join the government were living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

His defection comes days after local officials in the southern province of Helmand said two senior Taliban members had surrendered under Karzai's amnesty offer.

Another Taliban commander in Helmand also surrendered this month.

The Taliban have been waging an insurgency since being overthrown by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 for refusing to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities.

The government is seeking to coax rank-and-file Taliban to give up their fight but the amnesty offer does not include 150 of the movement's senior leaders, accused of militant violence or of having links with al Qaeda.

Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his die-hard supporters have shunned the talks and vowed to keep on fighting Karzai's government and foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Guerrilla activity has picked up after a winter lull but activity is down on the past years, fueling speculation the Taliban may be struggling to find recruits and resources.


Maybe Chaos isn't growing as some would like?

[ghostgovt]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15085051-38201,00.html


Further Taliban attacks feared
By Rachel Morarjee in Kabul
April 25, 2005
From: Agence France-Presse


THE Taliban is likely to step up attacks in Afghanistan as a foiled car bombing crowned a week of violence that left a Romanian soldier and 43 militants dead, security experts warned today.
Afghan police found and neutralised almost half a tonne of rockets, mortar rounds, land mines and dynamite wired together and packed into a Toyota car in the western city of Herat late Sunday, officials said today.

The incident came at around the same time as another small car bomb exploded in a residential neighbourhood of the capital Kabul on Sunday, without causing any casualties.

Hours earlier, the Romanian soldier was killed and another was injured when their vehicle struck a mine in southern Kandahar province, the spiritual homeland and birthplace of the hardline Islamist rebels.

The ousted Islamic Taliban regime claimed responsibility for the car bomb in Kabul and the attack on the Romanians.

"I think there will be a more concerted effort towards district centers, urban centers and towards the capital itself," Nick Downie, security co-ordinator for the Afghanistan Nongovernmental Organisation Security Network, which advises aid agencies.

"Militants will also target government at all levels and the reconstruction process especially.

[Marine]

Operation Taliban Eradication
AP WASHINGTON - The Army announced their final operation in Afghanistan, Operation Taliban Eradication. Drawing on National Guard units from the deep-south the Army has assembled a team of Redneck Special Forces.

These forces have been given following briefing:

The bag limit is ten.
The season ends this weekend.
They taste just like chicken.
They don't like beer, pickup trucks, or country music.
Some are queer.
The Army expects this final operation to last about two weeks and to be more successful than Operation Anaconda.

[ghostgovt]

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...5-4-2005_pg7_47

April 26, 2005

Taliban threaten to destroy TAP gas pipeline

KABUL: Taliban have threatened to destroy the proposed gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan if US companies are involved in the project.

The threat was issued by Taliban representative, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, Radio Moscow reported on Sunday. Afghanistan has taken responsibility for the safety of the gas pipeline. The work on the project is expected to start by the end of this year.

[Marine]

Pesky B-52, TAKE THAT!

[ghostgovt]

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&...d=28&m=4&y=2005

US Soldier, 6 Afghan Cops Killed in Clashes
Agencies

KABUL, 28April 2005 — A US soldier and six Afghan policemen were killed in two separate ambushes by militants in southern Afghanistan, the latest casualties in a surge of violence, US and Afghan officials said yesterday.

The US soldier, whose name was not released, was killed on Tuesday while on patrol in the troubled Deh Rawood district of the south-central province of Uruzgan, the military said in a statement. “The soldier was medically evacuated to the forward surgical team in Tarin Kowt where he was pronounced dead by medical personnel.”

“His remains were transported to Kandahar airfield for movement back to the United States,” it added, referring to the main US-led military base in southeastern Afghanistan. No other coalition or Afghan troops were injured in the ambush.

The statement did not provide any details of the attack. However, militants from the ousted Taleban regime have increased their attacks on US and Afghan troops over recent weeks.

Six Afghan policemen were also killed Tuesday when Taleban militants ambushed a local police chief in the restive southern province of Helmand. The police chief of Dishu district, which has been the scene of heavy fighting this month, was ambushed en route to his headquarters, provincial intelligence chief Dad Mohammed Khan told AFP. “Taleban attacked the Dishu police chief — they killed six of his bodyguards,” Khan said, adding that the police chief escaped and the Taleban fled the scene.

Meanwhile in eastern Afghanistan, three civilians were wounded when American soldiers fired on their minibus after a US troop patrol narrowly escaped a blast from an improvised bomb. Afghan officials said the US troops had fired on innocent civilians but a US military spokeswoman said the troops had been aiming at militants who took cover behind the minibus.

The latest violence comes less than a week after a Romanian soldier, also attached to the18 ,000-strong US-led coalition force, was killed and another wounded when a suspected bomb hit their vehicle in Kandahar province. The insurgency-hit Deh Rawood is located in the mountainous central Afghanistan region where militants from the ousted Taleban regime regularly attack US and Afghan forces.

The district, about 448 kilometers southwest of the capital Kabul, was the scene of heavy clashes between US and insurgents last weekend in which two US and two Afghan soldiers were injured.

The latest American casualty brought to 23 the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, including 15 troops who died in a helicopter crash on April 6 in southern Ghazni province.

[ghostgovt]

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pag...ticleID=1916123

world news

Monday, May 02, 2005

26 die in explosion of hidden weapons at Afghan warlord's home

BASHGAH, Afghanistan (AP) - A warlord's stockpile of explosives detonated in a remote Afghan village Monday, flattening a half dozen houses and a mosque and killing at least 26 people in what appeared to be the deadliest accident of its kind since the ouster of the Taliban regime.

The blast shook this farming hamlet in the mountains of Baghlan province, 120 kilometres north of Kabul, at dawn and also injured at least 30 villagers.

[heritage]

I heard or read the other day that Afghanistan women are being targeted (raped, beaten, killed) if they work for foreign aid groups.

[ghostgovt]

http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=48820

US Military: Iraq, Afghanistan Limit Ability to Fight Other Wars
03 May 2005

Al Pessin
The senior U.S. military officer has told Congress the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan limit his forces' ability to deal with any additional armed conflicts. But the officer, General Richard Myers, says the United States will prevail in any conflict anyway.

In a classified report to Congress made available to news organizations, General Myers said any additional U.S. military commitment would likely result in a longer conflict with more casualties than if U.S. forces were not already fighting in large numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan. But General Myers, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the U.S. military would win any conflict it is assigned to fight. He repeated that view Tuesday speaking to reporters.

"The timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources, but it doesn't matter because we're going to be successful in the end," he said.

According to accounts of the general's classified report, he cites particular problems with the supplies of sophisticated weapons and the already extensive use of U.S. reserve forces in Iraq as major factors that would make it more difficult for the United States to take on a further conflict.

The reports say General Myers believes the U.S. military might not meet expectations for speed or precision in any additional war, but would win. The general says efforts are being made to ease the strain on the U.S. military capability, but officials acknowledge those are mostly long-term efforts involving reorganization, retraining and resupply.

General Myers' comments seemed to contradict a statement made by President Bush at a news conference last Thursday, when the president quoted the general.

"The person I ask that to, at least, is to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, my top military advisor. I say, ‘do you feel that we've limited our capacity to deal with other problems because of our troop levels in Iraq?’ And the answer is, no, he doesn't feel we're limited. He feels like we've got plenty of capacity," said Mr. Bush.

On Tuesday, Pentagon officials sought to downplay any discrepancy between the statements by President Bush and General Myers. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman says it should be obvious that there is some stress on the U.S. military, but equally obvious in his view that it remains highly capable.

[ghostgovt]

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1360128.htm


US military reports major clash in Afghanistan

Last Updated 05/05/2005

The American military in Afghanistan says around 20 insurgents and one Afghan police officer have been killed in fighting in the southeast of the country.

Six U.S. soldiers and five Afghan police are also said to have been wounded in
the attack launched by about 25 insurgents in Zabul Province.

The military says Afghan army troops and U.S. soldiers quickly moved to the area and surrounded the insurgent forces.

They were backed by U.S. fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

Correspondents say the clash was one of the biggest since militants loyal to the former Islamic regime began a renewed offensive coinciding with the end of winter in Afghanistan.

[nnrecrut]

40 rebels killed in battle; 9 Afghan troops die in ambush
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200505051755.htm

http://icasualties.org/oef/


Kabul, May. 5 (AP): The death toll from a fierce battle against militants by US and Afghan forces in southeastern Afghanistan doubled to 40 today after troops found more bodies at the scene of clash, one of the deadliest since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Meanwhile, the Government said nine of its soldiers died in an ambush, the worst loss yet for the country's new US-trained army.

Three more troops were injured in the attack yesterday near Spin Ghar in Kandahar province, Defence Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi, told The Associated Press. He had no further details.

The militants killed in the clash with US forces were a "mix of Taliban and anti-coalition militants," American spokesman Col. James Yonts, told AP. "These were well-trained, well-armed people ... not just a rogue group," Yonts said. "They didn't flee, they stood and fought."

"Important documents" found on the dead militants showed two were Chechens and one was Pakistani, said Ali Khali, spokesman for Zabul Province's Governor. He wouldn't give more details about the documents.

US officials were still checking the dead fighters' identities.

The military had previously said about 20 militants died in the battle on Tuesday in Zabul province's remote Dehchopan district, about 330 kilometers southwest of the capital, Kabul, when warplanes pounded militants fighting US troops and Afghan police.

The toll rose to 40 - the highest from a single battle in nine months - after troops found more bodies, Yonts said.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[nnrecrut]

Anti-tank mine blast injures six de-miners in Afghanistan


HEART, May 06 (SANA): Six Afghan de-miners were injured, and at least four seriously when an anti-tank mine exploded during de-mining surveillance in the western province of Herat, officials said Friday.

Doctors treating the casualties in the capital of Herat city said the two wounded were in a stable condition.

The six men were working with the Organization for Mine Clearance and the Afghan Rehabilitation Organization (OMAR), a leading Afghan NGO working on mine clearance and mine awareness since the 1990’s.

Mohammad Yousuf Yousuf an employee of OMAR told Pajhwok Afghan News: "The anti-tank mine went off in an area 20 kilometers northwest of Herat city when they were clearing the area of mines, left over from past decades of war."

Dr Mehrabuddin, a doctor at Herat General hospital said the wounded were admitted to the local hospital and they were doing their best to stabilize the condition of the four more seriously injured.



Back

[ghostgovt]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle...bcontinent&col=

Afghans appeal to Taleban as 13 killed in clash
(Reuters)

9 May 2005


KABUL - Afghanistan appealed to Taleban rebels and their leaders on Monday to give up their fight under an amnesty which has so far failed to stem violence, with 13 people, including two US Marines, killed in the latest clash.

Rebels have launched a string of attacks in recent weeks after a winter lull raised hope they might be struggling to find recruits and resources and their fight might be fading.

Among the latest casualties were two US Marines, killed in a clash in the east of the country on Sunday. US-led forces responded with ground and air attacks, killing 11 insurgents, according to police and a US spokeswoman said.

A Taleban official, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, claimed responsibility for the death of the Marines.

“We have asked our Taleban to step up attacks on coalition forces. The first targets are the US and British,” the rebel official said.

In Kabul, a bomb, which authorities suspect was detonated by a suicide attacker, killed three people in an Internet cafe at the weekend, including a U.N. worker from Myanmar.

About 60 insurgents and 10 soldiers and police were killed in two clashes last week in the south of the country, the US military said. Taleban spokesmen denied such high casualties, saying most of the dead were villagers.

They have rejected the amnesty offer as propaganda and said their war against foreign troops and the US-backed government would go on.

[ghostgovt]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=8452505

Four dead, 52 hurt in Afghan protest : official
Wed May 11, 2005 04:14 AM ET

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Four Afghan protesters were killed on Wednesday and about 50 wounded, a health official said, as anger erupted over a report that U.S. interrogators in Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the Koran.

Government offices in the eastern city of Jalalabad were set on fire, shops looted, and U.N. buildings and diplomatic missions attacked as thousands of people took to the streets, witnesses and officials said. Police opened fire to disperse crowds.

Fazel Mohammad Ibrahimi, head of the provincial health department, citing information from three city hospitals, said four people had been killed and 52 wounded.