Canadian Armed Forces Station in Afghanistan

U.S., Iran Downplay Talk Of War Over Nuclear Dispute

2008-07-03T08:40:00.000-06:00

U.S. President George W. Bush continues to insist that both military and diplomatic options remain on the table as Washington tries to convince Iran to end its uranium-enrichment program.

"I have always said that all options are on the table," Bush said on July 2. "But the first option for the United States is to solve this problem diplomatically."

The United States has accused Tehran of trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran insists it only wants to develop nuclear facilities for peaceful, civilian purposes. President Bush now says progress is being made in diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.

"I've also made it clear that you can't solve a problem diplomatically unless there are other people at the table with you, and that is why we have been pursuing multilateral diplomacy when it comes to convincing the Iranians that the free world is sincere about insisting that they not have the technologies necessary to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said. "And we're making progress along those lines."

Tensions have flared in recent days amid reports that Israel might be planning to carry out strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. That has helped send crude-oil prices soaring to record highs on international markets.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki, on a July 2 visit to United Nations headquarters in New York, told journalists he thinks neither the United States nor Israel will risk what he called the "craziness" of attacking Iran.

Mottaki said officials in Tehran think such an attack is unlikely because U.S. forces are bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mottaki said "constructive statements and approaches," as well as an earlier proposal by Iran, had "paved the way" for creating a more positive diplomatic atmosphere. But he also issued a warning that "if the nature of the offense changes and takes on a military shape and form, then the military will use its own language and speak in its own language."

"Our preference is that the environment remains political and diplomatic so that we can find diplomatic solutions as a priority," Mottaki said.

At the Pentagon, the chairman of the U.S. Joint chiefs of Staff, U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, said Tehran has reached the wrong conclusion if it thinks the United States is unable to back diplomacy with military force. Still, Mullen admitted that war with Iran would be a logistical challenge for U.S. forces.

"Opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us," Mullen said. "That doesn't mean we don't have capacity or reserve. But that would really be very challenging. And also the consequences of that sometimes are very difficult to predict."

Mullen, who recently returned from a two-day visit to Israel, said he thinks Tehran is "still on a path to get nuclear weapons." But Mullen said he is convinced that the way to resolve the dispute with Iran is to use other tactics to change Tehran's behavior -- including diplomatic, financial, and international pressure.

U.S. military officials are downplaying concerns that Tehran would be able to close the Strait of Hormuz -- a key oil shipping route -- if Iran does become engaged in any military confrontation with Israel or the United States.

Pakistan Blames IMU Militants For Afghan Border Unrest

2008-07-02T11:57:00.000-06:00

For months, media reports in the region have claimed that militants from Central Asia are conducting violent operations in Pakistan's volatile tribal areas along the Afghan border.

Now, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has not only confirmed those reports, according to which hundreds of IMU militants are holed up in Pakistan's tribal belt, but also pinned some of the blame for a recent rise in violence there on the Central Asian militants.

Speaking on June 28, Gilani stated that "foreign elements hailing from Central Asian republics are disturbing peace in the tribal areas." Gilani was apparently referring to the mainly Uzbek Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an Al-Qaeda-inspired group originally founded to topple Central Asian governments and replace them with an Islamic caliphate.

He gave no other details. And what Pakistan intends to do about the presence of the militants remains unclear -- although senior officials including Major-General Ahtar Abbas acknowledge that military action against them is not imminent.

"There are no operations imminent because, as you know, there are already peace talks between the government and tribes there," Abbas said.

The IMU, which made headlines in January after reports of bloody clashes in South Waziristan with local tribesmen, first emerged as a militant group bent on overthrowing autocratic Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Many of its members were hosted by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan but ended up in Pakistan following the U.S.-led topping of the Taliban in late 2001.

The Pakistani government, in a bid to diffuse rising violence in the area, has been carrying out negotiations with pro-Taliban militants and local tribal leaders. But the IMU militants appear not to be part of this process.

Indeed, Pakistani officials like Abbas say they want to the IMU members to leave the country but would prefer that the problem be solved by local leaders.

"Allow a homegrown solution to emerge is what government is trying to do. This solution would comprise of first to ask [the tribes] to control the area and remove all the foreigners," Abbas said. "The government wants the tribes to throw out the foreigners in the area and is ready to give them some time in this regard."

Gilani reiterated the government's desire to negotiate peace deals with those who put down their weapons. But he added that Pakistan, which this week launched an attack on pro-Taliban militia near the city of Peshawar, would continue to use force against those who resort to violence and sow insecurity.

Experts believe that the group, with some 500 members, now poses more of a threat to Pakistan than to the Uzbek regime.

Pakistani journalist and the author Ahmed Rashid told RFE/RL that the group has localized its activities in Paksitan's tribal belt.

"We've seen more and more of these people coming in. We have seen more suicide bombers in Afghanistan who supposed to be Uzbek from Uzbekistan," Rashid said. "Clearly, there's something going on here."

History Of Violence

Pakistan's "Daily Times" has described IMU leader Tohir Yuldash as staunch follower of Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Aiman al-Zawahiri. Yuldash reportedly believes that jihad should first target not the United States but "hypocritical Muslims" who somehow support Washington.

Uzbek militants have been blamed in some reports for violence against and disregard for local Pashtun culture in Waziristan, including killings and assassination attempts against some tribal leaders considered loyal to Pakistan's central government.

Last year, Pakistani forces claimed to have killed at least 150 Uzbek militants.

Early this year, the IMU said it had joined up with the forces of local militant leader Baitullah Mehsud to battle Pakistani forces and local tribal leaders. In an audio clip sent to RFERL's Uzbek Service in January, a self-described IMU spokesman, Abdulfattoh Ahmadi, purported to describe those clashes.

"For a week, Pakistani forces and tribal Muslims have engaged in heavy fighting in Spinkay, Makin, and Razmak regions," Ahmadi said. "Heavy weapons constantly are targeting civilians and women with babies can be seen running away in severe cold. However, government forces also suffer losses. Some government positions are seized and some burned down."

What is unclear is the real strength of the IMU, which is on the U.S. State Department's list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.

There have been several past reports that Yuldash 40, had been killed. But each time they were apparently disproved with the release of fresh audio addresses from the Uzbek militant leader.

Karimov, speaking after the Taliban's ouster from power in 2001, said "the IMU posses no threat to Uzbekistan." But to help prevent militants from invading the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, governments there have formed a rapid reaction forces under the pro-Russian Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Meanwhile, from South Waziristan, the IMU continues to search for ways to replenish its depleted and scattered ranks by promoting a new strategy - one that seeks to take aim at the government of Pakistan and its supporters.

Radio Free Iraq Correspondents Neighborhood Watch

2008-07-01T10:42:00.000-06:00

Correspondents on the ground for RFE/RL’s Radio Free Iraq regularly send their assessments of the security situation from the viewpoint of ordinary Iraqis. In mid-June, correspondents and contributors in four hot spots -- Baghdad, Mosul, and the central cities of Ba’quba and Hilla -- reported on the conditions amid an apparent lull in the violence throughout many parts of the country.

Correspondent Sa’ad Kamil in Baghdad:
The citizens of Baghdad have been able to breathe more easily during this past period. There has been a tangible improvement in the security situation and there are positive changes on the security front in most areas, even those that used to be described as hot spots. Coffee shops are open late into the night, and the shopping streets have revived with new movement.

But some recent incidents have had a negative effect on people, and we have seen two days of empty streets and very little shopping activity. Even the shops that were open were preventing vehicles from stopping near them, and those entering and leaving the larger shops and malls were being searched. There is a lack of trust, even with the visible military presence and the security measures, but there seems to be a weakness in the security personnel who are simply using hand signals while giving passing vehicles a cursory glance. This does not prevent those who want to hurt people from choosing their own time and place, like the incident in Al-Hurriyah. The general view of the streets of Baghdad shows one or more security vehicles stationed about 100-200 meters apart, but this does not allay fears among the people.

Correspondent Mohammad al-Katib in Mosul, Nineveh Governorate:
Security operations are continuing, and military activity is still ongoing. There have been some security breaches, such as car bombs and explosive devices, and some assassinations including a local Nineveh TV broadcaster. In spite of all that, life is going on normally; people are shopping on the streets where there is normal traffic movement. Again, this is in spite of the ongoing presence of checkpoints and concrete barricades on the streets.

There is a degree of hope and optimism among the people here that the security operation will succeed and achieve its goals. There is also optimism that life in the city will return to normal, and that the people will resume their normal lives and activities. [Residents'] comments on the security breaches indicate that such breaches are likely to occur anywhere in Iraq, regardless of any security operation.

[Regarding areas outside the full control of Iraqi security:] There is no particular area to single out, because such tensions can be present anywhere, but the Right Bank and some parts of the Left Bank [of the Tigris River] are affected.

Diyala Governor Ibrahim Bajellan in Ba'quba:
Two weeks ago, during a meeting of the Diyala Council, we asked the federal government to carry out a law-enforcement operation that would build on the previous operations. The operations in Baghdad, Mosul, and other parts of Iraq have resulted in some terrorists fleeing to Diyala Governorate, and particularly to the area south of Baladrooz, Hamreen, Sa’adiya, and Jalawla’a, and also to the Imam Weys area. The gangs in these areas are mounting roadblocks and killing innocent people; they kill according to the person’s identity.

[Violence has decreased] particularly in Ba’aquba and Muqdadiya, where we have seen, from time to time, operations by women suicide bombers who have come to Diyala Governorate. To date, 16 suicide women bombers have blown themselves up, leaving behind them a number of martyrs and injured people. There have also been some car bombs and roadside bombs. But their presence here as a base seeking to establish an Islamic state in Diyala has been eliminated. The army and the police in Diyala have obtained substantial evidence of this.

[Regarding attacks on the so-called Awakening movements in Diyala Governorate,] there has been a reduction in the number of kidnappings, particularly within the former hot spots of cities such as Ba’aquba and Muqdadiya. The calm that has spread within the cities would not have been possible without the help of the Awakening councils. The official security forces shared 50 percent of the success with the Awakening councils and with former Al-Qaeda dissidents. There are still widespread areas between Khalis and Ba’aquba and other parts of the governorate which are still being protected by the People’s Committees.

Correspondent Ala’a Razzaq in Hilla, Babil Governorate:
The situation is clearly tending toward stability, especially during the past two months, and this has been widely reflected on the streets of Hilla. During the past days and weeks there has been no record of any terrorist crimes, prompting some officials to point out that the terrorist crime rate has fallen steeply. There have been some crimes aimed at the wealthy and members of the medical profession, and officials are indicating that at least ten gangs responsible for such crimes have been neutralized.

Stability has been apparent in daily life on the streets of Hilla, particularly since the security agencies have relaxed the night-time curfew, and we now see vehicles on the streets through the late night hours. People are also showing their sense of security by stepping out to do their shopping, as evidenced particularly on certain streets within the governorate, where the music shops and the shops housing the bands that play at weddings are operating openly and using loudspeakers to advertise themselves. Celebrations after the national football team’s wins have recently filled the streets with thousands of celebrating fans, something which was not seen prior to the implementation of the governorate's security plan. [Previously] when the Iraqi team won the Asian Nations Cup, and when young people took to the streets to celebrate, many of them were beaten by members of some of the extremist factions. There has also been an increase in the number of security personnel on the streets who have been provided with large numbers of specialized security vehicles. The security situation thus appears to be stable.

[Regarding the notoriously dangerous Baghdad-Hilla highway:] In the past, we have recorded a large number of incidents on this stretch of highway, which has been dealt with in an organized way. Citizens took over the positions that were considered terrorist hideouts, and a number of operations were carried out to root out the bases that housed the armed gangs. Fixed and mobile patrols were also used to secure the area completely. The area is now witnessing a reconstruction effort as a result of the governorate's decision to allocate one-third of its budget to the former "Death Triangle" [in Babil Governorate.]

Defense Analyst Sees Enormous Progress In Iraq Security Situation

2008-07-01T10:32:00.000-06:00

The number of Iraqis killed in political violence fell nearly 10 percent in June, according to security officials. The U.S military attributes the drop to the deployment of extra troops, the formation of antiterrorist fronts among Sunni former rebels, and Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to suspend the activities of his militia, the Mahdi Army. Is it a lasting sign that things are finally going right in Iraq? RFE/RL correspondent Andrew Tully put the question to Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

RFE/RL: You recently toured Iraq from May 28 to June 4, going from the Baghdad area north to Tikrit and south to Basra. What are your impressions from this trip?

Michael O'Hanlon: I think the spring of 2008 will be remembered as the period when the Iraqi army began to establish itself as a viable fighting force capable of taking on the country's enemies, capable of helping to stabilize their own nation, and also being able to do more and more of this without American help. Now they still need our assistance in certain ways, but they don't need us, in most cases, to be the lead force. And that's very good news for Americans who are looking for a day when we can pull ourselves out safely.

RFE/RL: Your group moved around southern Iraq with Iraqi troops -- and without U.S. or British armed escorts -- which you see as a strong sign of progress there. Is there just as much progress elsewhere in Iraq? And just as important, is it lasting?

O'Hanlon: The progress is fragile, and it varies from one part of Iraq to another, but the overall death rate in Iraq is down dramatically, by about 80 percent relative to a year and a half ago. But there are still parts of Iraq that are quite tense, up around Mosul in the north, for example, and there are certain parts of central Iraq that are potentially unstable to the extent that certain terrible things could happen again: Al-Qaeda could launch a spectacular attack if the United States pulled out [of the region] too quickly. In other words, there are a lot of reasons to be wary about an overly rapid change in our policy. But we, by the same token, can see a lot of progress, and I think that we can look to a day when, in the next two to three years, the model that we've seen work now in Al-Anbar Province [west of Baghdad] and in Basrah can be extended throughout more of Iraq, and we can see reductions of at least half of the total American presence in Iraq.

RFE/RL: What's the possibility that this let-up in the fighting is a strategy by enemies of the United States, lulling it into withdrawing its forces soon before mounting a major offensive to crush any remaining U.S. and Iraqi forces?

O'Hanlon: Yes, it is a worry, what Iran would do. But we are also seeing a trend in Iraq where Iraqis are starting to get tired of Iran. They're starting to realize what the Iranians have been up to. The Iranians are arming and equipping and funding every imaginable group, and often just trying to stoke violence for its own sake. And that's starting to create a nationalistic backlash among the Iraqi people and government against Iran. There's a chance that Iran won't be able to play this game as well as it has in the past.

Moreover, one last point, the city of Basrah in the south, where the Iraqi army is now really in charge -- along with the police -- that city is a place where they have found a lot of Iranian weapons caches on their own, and they don't have to depend on the United States to convince them any more that Iran's playing a nefarious role in their country. They can see it with their own eyes. So I think that Iran may have a harder time being quite so cynical as it's managed to successfully be in much of the last few years.

RFE/RL: My last question, referring to "enemies of the United States," was meant to include Al-Qaeda in Iraq, as well as various sectarian militias. Your answer focused on Iran. Is Iran the chief antagonist in the Iraq war now? And what about Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the indigenous Iraqi militias?

O'Hanlon: Yes, I think Iran is the main problem right now. Al-Qaeda is probably number two. It's still a serious problem, and it could get worse. But Al-Qaeda is very much on the run, and it has fewer and fewer sanctuaries within the country. And also, the Sunni population has really turned against it, even more fundamentally than the Shi'ite population has turned against Iran. And so I am nervous about both Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Iran, but I think that we are seeing momentum against each of those threats, and probably even more momentum against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

RFE/RL: Yet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki recently spent three days in Tehran, making it clear he wants the two countries to have close relations. At the same time, al-Maliki's government is in difficult negotiations with Washington over the so-called Status of Forces Agreement, which includes rules that U.S. troops and contract employees must follow while operating in Iraq. Is the Iraqi government, at least, truly fed up with Iran, as you say?

O'Hanlon: There is no doubt that Iraq would like to have a decent working relationship still with Iran. They're obviously close neighbors, they share a religious faith, they're the two major Shi'ite countries in the world, there's a lot of movement of their pilgrims and other people back and forth, and a lot of the Iraqi resistance had some debt to Iran from the period when [late former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein] was in control of Iraq. And so for all these reasons it's true: al-Maliki would like to stay on workmanlike terms with the Iranian government. And also, on the Status of Forces Agreement, he is playing hardball with the United States, he's trying to get some improvement on a couple of the stipulations that are currently being discussed. But I do not believe that he really wants us to leave.

RFE/RL: Last year, one of your colleagues said Americans should have what he called "strategic patience" with Iraq because the "surge" was beginning to show progress. At the time, you drew a similar conclusion. Are you again calling for Americans to be patient?

O'Hanlon: As far as it goes, "strategic patience" is correct, and I agree with it. But there could be circumstances in which it would not be appropriate. If we were still losing, if we were demonstrably going to fail, or if that was even the likelihood and it was a question of whether we should keep reinforcing a failing mission in the hope that somehow patience would finally become a virtue, I would not subscribe to that. I think that the reason for patience is the mission is starting to be much more successful, and therefore we are starting to see a way by which we can achieve some of our core goals in Iraq for the first time.

RFE/RL: People often ask if we can win, or are winning, in Iraq. How would you reply after what you have seen?

O’Hanlon: The last year and a half has been a dramatic turnaround; we are making enormous progress. I don't like to use terms like "victory" or "winning" because, I think, given where we are in Iraq, there's been so much sacrifice, so many losses, so many mistakes that such terms are not entirely appropriate for me. But we're making huge progress, and I think we should continue to build on that progress because the stakes are so high and the chances of getting a decent outcome have now become much better.

NATO, Pakistani Troops Kill Taliban On Afghan Border

2008-07-01T10:25:00.001-06:00

KABUL -- NATO troops in Afghanistan and Pakistani soldiers together killed a number of militants along the rugged border, the NATO force said, in a rare show of close crossborder military cooperation.

Afghan officials have for the last month showered Islamabad with accusations it was aiding Taliban insurgents against Kabul, and NATO said on June 29 there could be no peace in Afghanistan as long as militants have sanctuaries in Pakistan. But Afghan, Pakistani, and NATO troops do have regular and open lines of communication to try to coordinate actions along the long and porous border.

Taliban insurgents fired rockets and rocket-propelled grenades at an outpost of troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Spera district of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan on June 30.

The troops responded with mortar, artillery fire, and air strikes, and the militants fled across the border.

"ISAF forces thus coordinated with the Pakistan military border area counterparts; and the Pakistan border force subsequently fired artillery on the retreating insurgents inside Pakistan," ISAF said in a statement.

ISAF does not disclose Taliban casualty figures.

Pakistani military spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

The coordinated attacks contrast with a border clash on June 10 in which Pakistan said 11 of its soldiers were killed in an air strike by U.S. forces in the border area.

U.S. officials have ordered an investigation into the incident, but say those killed were firing on U.S. forces and that there were no Pakistani military units in the area at the time.

Almost all ISAF troops in eastern Afghanistan are American.

Poor relations and mutual distrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan have dogged efforts to undermine the hard-line Islamist insurgency, which now threatens both countries along the Pashtun belt on both sides of the

Iran Sentences Man To Death For Spying For Israel

2008-06-30T12:26:00.000-06:00

TEHRAN -- An Iranian court has sentenced an Iranian businessman to death on charges of spying for Israel on its disputed nuclear program and its military.

The Tehran court handed down its sentence at a time of high tension between Israel and Iran and speculation of a possible sraeli attack on Iranian nuclear installations.

Iranian media identified Ali Ashtari as the manager of a company selling communications and security equipment to Iran's government. He was accused of "engaging in espionage for [Israel's] Mossad intelligence service," the ISNA news agency said. He had confessed and asked for clemency.

"I apologize to the Iranian people and to any organization which has been damaged because of my acts, and I request Islamic clemency," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted 43-year-old Ashtari as telling the court after a two-day trial.

Ashtari said he had accepted a loan of $50,000 from Israeli agents as he had been in financial trouble, Fars said.

His name indicated he was a Shi'ite Muslim, but Iranian media did not specify his religion.

'No Knowledge Of Case'

In Jerusalem, an Israeli government official said: "We have no knowledge whatsoever regarding this case."

Iran, which does not recognise Israel, has previously reported breaking up spy networks and accused the United States and "Zionists" of trying to destabilize the country.

In 2000, 10 Jews from the city of Shiraz were convicted of spying in a closed door trial that sparked international outrage. The last five detained were released in 2003.

Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. But the West and Israel fear Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs. Israel is believed to be the only Middle Eastern state with nuclear arms.

Fars quoted Ashtari as telling the court that three Israeli agents had presented themselves to him as foreign bank representatives looking for a commercial partnership.

Meetings with the agents, two of whom were called Jack and Tony, took place in Thailand and Turkey and they provided him with a laptop computer for coded communication as well as satellite phones, the news agency said.

Television showed images of the equipment allegedly used.

ISNA quoted a senior, unnamed Iranian counterintelligence official as saying Ashtari had business contacts with Iran's Atomic Energy Organization as well as "some defense and military centers" while working for Mossad.

Speculation Rising

With Mossad's help, Ashtari at times supplied "defective and contaminated equipment ... [and] in some instances the application of these parts led to the defeat of the project with irreversible damage," the official said, without elaborating.

Speculation of an Israeli attack on Iran has risen since a U.S. newspaper reported this month that the Jewish state had practiced such a strike against the Iran's nuclear facilities.

The standoff between the West and Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, has been a factor pushing oil prices to record highs.

Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the nuclear row but has not ruled out military action should that fail.

Iraq Unveils Oil Fields Open For Long-Term Contracts

2008-06-30T12:21:00.000-06:00

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's Oil Ministry has unveiled six oil field areas open to foreign firms for long-term development contracts, clearing the way for major international involvement in the country's petroleum wealth.

The fields are Rumaila, Kirkuk, Al-Zubayr, West Qurna Phase 1, Bai Hassan and the Maysan fields. Maysan comprises three fields -- Bazargan, Abu Gharab, and Fakka.

Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani announced the list at a news conference in Baghdad. The government has already prequalified 41 foreign firms to bid for the contracts.

Two gas fields, Akkas and Mansuriyah, were also opened.

The Oil Ministry said last week it had finished negotiations with oil majors on six separate short-term oil service contracts and hoped to sign those deals during the next month.

The short-term deals, each worth about $500 million, are aimed at quickly lifting output at Iraq's largest producing fields by a combined 500,000 barrels a day (bpd). Iraq's current oil production is around 2.5 million bpd.

Taken together, the short-term and long-term contracts will open the door to major international involvement in the OPEC member's oil sector for the first time in decades.

Large Oil Reserves

The majors have been positioning themselves for years in the hope of eventually gaining access to Iraq's proven reserves, which at 115 billion barrels are the world's largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said in April that reserves could be as much as 350 billion barrels.

Five of the short-term deals that have been under discussion are with Royal Dutch Shell, Shell in partnership with BHP Billiton, BP, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron in partnership with Total.

Iraq has also been in talks with a consortium of Anadarko, Vitol, and Dome for a sixth short-term contract.

Those talks on the short-term deals have given the majors a head start in efforts to bid for future oil contracts. The U.S. companies were involved in Iraq long before Saddam Hussein took over the country and nationalized the oil industry.

After bids are submitted for the long-term contracts, negotiations may take months. At the end of 2008 or in early 2009, the oil ministry has said it would announce the winners.

Oil is Iraq's main source of income, and boosting output is key to earning the cash the country needs for reconstruction.

Iraq's cabinet agreed a draft oil law in February last year, but it has failed to get through parliament partly because of rows between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad over who will control oil reserves and contracts.

In the absence of the law, Baghdad has moved ahead with the short and long-term contracts, saying this is in line with an old oil law in existance before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

OSCE Meeting Targets Sluggish Kazakh Reforms, 'Frozen' Conflicts

2008-06-30T12:14:00.000-06:00

Some 270 members of parliament from the OSCE’s 56 member states are meeting in Astana, the Kazakh capital, to discuss an array of issues vital to the future of Europe’s leading human rights organization.

The annual session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly kicked off on June 29 and runs through July 3.

Topics being debated include democratic reform, water management, human trafficking, migration, Afghanistan, and “frozen conflicts” involving Georgia, Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev

But Kazakhstan, the host, was the initial focus. Astana is struggling to implement democratic reforms despite promises to do so as part of its obligations to take over the chairmanship of the Vienna-based OSCE in 2010.

'In Good Faith'

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Goran Lennmarker voiced concerns about the Kazakh chairmanship in his opening speech on June 29.

"At the last meeting among the ministers in Madrid, Kazakhstan made some statements regarding planned domestic legislative reforms," Lennmarker said. "We are confident that Kazakhstan will continue to work towards meeting these commitments outlined by Kazakhstan in Madrid in good faith and in a transparent and inclusive manner."

“Transparency in the OSCE” is the main theme of this year’s meeting, which is supposed to build on last year’s session hosted by Ukraine. But transparency is precisely what has been lacking in many countries in the OSCE, particularly with regard to the democratic process.

Lennmarker said the OSCE is contributing "fresh ideas" and encouraging "lively debates" with Kazakhstan on issues such as transparency.

OSCE Secretary-General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut also reminded Astana of its obligations, but suggested progress is being made.

"I feel confident that the government and the parliament of Kazakhstan will fulfill its commitments," he said.

At an OSCE gathering last year in Madrid, Kazakhstan pledged to push ahead with democratic reforms and create the conditions for a free media as a part of a deal giving Astana the rotating OSCE chairmanship in 2010. But so far, no reforms have been undertaken in Kazakhstan, where the OSCE has never recognized an election, including last year’s disputed parliamentary polls that left the ruling party as the only political force in the legislature.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev told the assembly on June 29 that Astana is focusing on security, interreligious and intercultural cooperation.

While also noting that democracy should respect the "cultural principles of nations,” Nazarbaev used his speech to outline his government's priorities in an effort to show Astana’s willingness to pass democratic reforms.

"First, the creation of a legislative mechanism that allows for the formation of a parliament with no fewer than two parties," Nazarbaev said. "Second, the creation of favorable conditions for the registration of political parties. At the same time, we emphasize, and it should be clearly understood, the creation of a political party and its activities must adhere strictly to the constitution. Third is the development of the procedure for the electoral process. Fourth, the need for the removal of any unneeded bureaucratic barriers that regulate the functioning of the media. But in this the government insists that the activities of the media cannot become a reason for the violation of human rights, social, and religious tolerance or the security of the society of our country."

'Engaged' On Nagorno-Karabakh

On other issues, De Brichambaut said the OSCE remains "fully engaged" in trying to resolve the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

He also clarified the limits of the OSCE’s involvement in Georgia's territorial disputes.

"If you remember that when it comes to Abkhazia, the OSCE is not the organization. It is the United Nations that has a responsibility when it comes to trying to find a solution on Abkhazia," he said. "But the OSCE has a responsibility when it comes to South Ossetia, and there, of course, we want to focus from the Parliamentary Assembly to see a process to find a eaceful solution to the conflict."

The main task of the OSCE parliamentary assembly is to facilitate interparliamentary dialogue as part of seeking democratic reform throughout the OSCE area.

RFE/RL's Kazakh Service contributed to this report

28 Taliban, Six Civilians Killed In U.S. Raid

2008-06-30T12:07:00.001-06:00

KABUL -- U.S.-led coalition troops, backed by air strikes, killed 28 Taliban insurgents in southwestern Afghanistan, but six to eight civilians were also killed in the operation, the provincial governor said.

The raid on June 29 was aimed at a Taliban meeting in the Khash Rud district of Nimroz Province, provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad told reporters.

"The operation was carried out on the basis of a tip-off. Twenty-eight Taliban and between six to eight civilians were killed in it," he said, without giving further details.

The U.S. military confirmed the mission, but said nothing of civilian casualties. It said the operation was aimed at disrupting militant activities in Nimroz.

Civilian Deaths

The issue of civilians killed by foreign troops is a sensitive one in Afghanistan as it further undermines public support for the presence of around 71,000 international troops in the country.

In the first six months of this year, 698 civilians were killed, 255 of them by Afghan government and foreign forces. In the same period last year, a total of 430 civilians were killed, the United Nations said.

In the latest operation, U.S.-led coalition forces identified numerous militants armed with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades, the U.S. military said in a statement.

"Multiple militant groups engaged the force in a compound and in nearby areas. Coalition forces then killed them using small-arms fire. Two additional groups of armed militants manoeuvred against the force and were killed by air strikes," it said.

A Taliban spokesman said no member of the group was killed and the casualties were civilians participating in a party.

15 Taliban Killed

Also in Nimroz, 15 Taliban insurgents were killed in a joint Afghan and U.S.-led forces operation after a group of insurgents attacked an Afghan police post in the Dasht-e Bakwa on June 29, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

Elsewhere, two Afghan soldiers were killed and three more were wounded when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the eastern province of Paktia on June 29, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Afghanistan has faced an upsurge of violence since 2006 and some Western politicians have warned it may slide back into anarchy.

According to Afghan and UN officials more than 13,000 people have been killed since 2006 when the Taliban regrouped to overthrow the Afghan government and drive out foreign troops.

Pakistani Troops Seek To Counter Taliban Threat To Peshawar

2008-06-30T11:56:00.000-06:00

A home in Bar Qambarkhel said to have belonged to Haji Namdar, the head of a hard-line group seeking Taliban-style rule, on June 30

Pakistan's current offensive against pro-Taliban militants in a western tribal region near the North West Frontier Province's capital, Peshawar, is regarded as the country's first military response to ease concerns over a possible Taliban takeover of that strategic metropolis.

The operation comes after months of negotiations and attempts at peacemaking with the Taliban have yielded few tangible results.

Some 5,000 Pakistani paramilitary troops -- equipped with tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery -- have advanced into the town of Bara in the Khyber tribal district, a mere 15 kilometers west of Peshawar.

The aim of their operation is to put an end to the growing influence of pro-Taliban militants in and around Peshawar, a strategic city of some 3 million people located just east of the famous Khyber Pass leading into Afghanistan. The offensive also underscores the role of Peshawar, the purported birthplace of Al-Qaeda, as a key front in the battle against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"If Peshawar falls then the whole of [North West Frontier Province] will fall and the [eastern province of] Punjab is not far," Ijaz Khan, a professor of international relations at Peshawar University, told RFE/RL. "It is wrong to assume that consequences of such an eventuality will not spread. This will dramatically worsen the whole situation."

Some analysts worry that the offensive, like previous Pakistani military actions in the area, will be temporary and lead to more deal making with militants. So far, the military operation has met with little resistance because rival pro-Taliban groups have been involved for years in violent sectarian conflict with one another.

One group is Lashkar-e Islam. The pro-Taliban militia controls large swaths of the Khyber district and is enforcing harsh measures to regulate public life. Lashkar-e Islam is locked in conflict with Ansar-ul-Islam, a rival militia. But the government responded to its activities only after the group reportedly kidnapped 16 Christians from Peshawar on June 21 and made raids into the city.

Regional Ties?

Reports from the tribal region on June 30 said Pakistani forces destroyed a house in the village of Bar Qambarkhel that was owned by another Islamic militant leader -- killing at least six people. The house belonged to Haji Namdar, head of the hard-line Vice and Virtue Movement, a group seeking Taliban-style Islamic law. Reports indicate Namdar's group has sheltered Arab and Central Asian militants suspected of carrying out attacks on NATO supplies being transported through the Khyber Pass.

A senior Pakistani security official has confirmed that Namdar's house was destroyed, saying that Pakistani ground troops were involved in the operation.

Namdar reportedly survived the explosion that destroyed his home. Namdar's spokesman claims the explosion was caused by a NATO missile strike.

On June 28, Pakistani troops destroyed the home of Lashkar-e Islam leader Mangal Bagh in the town of Bara. They also demolished the headquarters of the rival Ansar-ul-Islam group early on June 29 after the government in Islamabad outlawed all three groups.

Apart from the Khyber Pass to the west of Peshawar, Taliban factions also have been extending their influence from the tribal town of Darra Adam Khel on a strategic highway about 40 kilometers south of Peshawar.

Meanwhile, from the tribal districts of Mohmand and Bajaur about 30 kilometers north of Peshawar, fighters from other Taliban-linked groups have been making inroads into the city and the nearby towns of Charssada and Mardan.

Mounting Fears

Concerns about a growing Taliban threat to Peshawar were raised last week when Pakistani and international media published reports about the possibility the city might fall into Taliban hands.

Afrasiab Khattak, a peace envoy from the Awami National Party-led provincial government, has downplayed the threat.

"The peace and security situation in Pakistan over the past few years has deteriorated because of the flawed polices of [President] General Pervez Musharraf -- years of bad policies and judgments have resulted in the current grave state of affairs," Khattak said. "The security situation in FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] and the adjacent settled districts of NWFP is bad. Across the border in eastern and southern Afghanistan the security situation is dire, too. Peshawar is not facing an imminent particular security threat. But it shares the security situation and concerns of the surrounding regions."

Others in Peshawar offered a more alarming analysis.

Ijaz Khan said the Taliban have gradually increased their influence over the past five years from Waziristan, some 500 kilometers south of Peshawar. He said their influence is now visible, with the militants making sporadic raids into Peshawar in a bid to regulate residents' lives by blowing up DVD shops and targeting those considered un-Islamic.

"The notion that Taliban have laid siege to Peshawar might not be right in the conventional sense as their forces are not waiting at the gates to take over the city," Ijaz Khan said, "but their influence is gradually increasing and the government seems to have no clear policy to confront it."

Key Questions

Located on a key route that links Pakistan and Afghanistan, Peshawar had been a bastion for the anti-Soviet Afghan Mujahedin resistance during the 1980s. Radical Arab veterans of that war also founded the Al-Qaeda network in Peshawar during the late 1980s.

Provincial police in NWFP recently announced a comprehensive plan to protect Peshawar. But the plan has so far contributed little to improving security.

The provincial government advocates a comprehensive strategy of political empowerment, economic development, and peace building. Khattak is adamant that Pakistan's new democratically elected government will deliver on its pledge to restore peace and security in the country.

"The new government has been in office for less than a hundred days, but over the past few weeks, we had a lot of high-level meetings in Islamabad and Peshawar and we have completed a comprehensive strategy," Khattak said. "This strategy will be implemented and you will see its results soon. The government is fully aware that protecting the life and property of its citizens is its primary responsibility. Unlike in the past, when using military might was the first and only strategy, the new government will engage in negotiations [with militants] but will use force against those who break the law."

Still, many analysts pointed out that Pakistan's elected leaders may not have the authority or resources to implement any well-intentioned comprehensive anti-terror policy. That is because the country's powerful military establishment continues to dominate vital policy decisions related to security.

Ijaz Khan said the actions of the current government resemble what he described as futile efforts by the previous regime.

"So far, the military actions consist of a few days of fighting resulting in the casualties of combatants from both sides and some innocent citizens," Ijaz Khan said, "Then they start negotiations, which often result in deal making. Such deals, in turn, result in increased Taliban influence."

Many Peshawar residents will have similar concerns, at least until they see real improvements to security in their beleaguered city and the surrounding regions.

Pakistan forces 'clear' Khyber town

2008-06-29T10:41:00.000-06:00

Pakistan has claimed success after a major military offensive cleared anti-government fighters from a town in the northwest of the country and troops returned to abandoned outposts.

Paramilitary troops were on Sunday seen patrolling Bara in the Khyber region in tanks had set up sand-bag checkpoints.

"The government has been successful in the operation in Khyber which was carried out to safeguard Peshawar," Rehman Malik, the interior ministry chief, told a high-level meeting in Peshawar.

He did not say when the offensive would end.

The government launched the operation after attacks on supply convoys for the US-led force in Afghanistan and reports of fighters threatening the city of Peshawar.

There has been growing concern about threats to Peshawar since a Taliban force from Khyber entered the city two weeks ago and seized 16 Christians, before later releasing them.

Around 1,500 troops and police commandos were deployed along the Peshawar border with the Khyber tribal region and its suburbs to protect the city's more than 1m populace.

Buildings destroyed

Muhammad Siddiq Khan, a local official, said that a tribal force that had been forced to abandon its posts in the region several months ago returned to the checkpoints on Sunday, he said.

In a nearby village on Sunday, soldiers blew up a building belonging to the Ansar-ul-Islam group, which is purportedly linked to the Taliban and has been accused of sending fighters across the border into Afghanistan.

"There was no resistance as the building used by Ansar-ul-Islam as their centre was empty," a security official said.

The previous day troops had demolished the house and headquarters of Mangal Bagh, head of the separate Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) group, which officials have said is not linked to the Taliban.

Bagh's group has been accused of robbing vehicles on the Khyber Pass, although officials said his men were not responsible for cross-border attacks on the US-led forces in Afghanistan.

Bagh told a newspaper that he did not know why he was being targeted and said his men had never attacked security forces.

"I have told LI volunteers to go home and not to resist any action," he was quoted as saying by The News, an English language newspaper.

Peace talks halted

Baitullah Mehsud, a senior pro-Taliban leader in Pakistan, has reportedly called off peace talks with the government following the start of the offensive.

"The talks will remain suspended until the government stops talking about operations and attacks against us," the Reuters news agency quoted Mehsud as saying.

About 1,500 troops and police were deployed on the Peshawar-Khyber border

A large military contingent was also reported to have reached the Jandula area in South Waziristan.

Another armed group said that an offensive in the area would only create further problems.

"If the government thinks there is any issue to address, that should be resolved through talks not by the use of force," Munsif Khan, spokesman for the Virtue and Voice organisation, said.

"We are ready for talks with the government."

Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister, denied that the government had launched the offensive after pressure from Washington and said negotiations with armed groups in the northwest would continue.

"This is our war and it is for our own survival," hei told reporters after a meeting of former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party in Lahore.

"Nobody will be allowed to execute others publicly, kidnap minorities, set fire to girls' schools and barber shops in Pakistan.

"We do not take any pressure and I have also explained my policy to US President Bush that we believe in dialogue and want development, health, education and to eliminate terrorism from the country."

Gilani was in Peshawar on Saturday but insisted that his trip was not related to the military operation.

Islamabad Launches Military Operation Against Taliban

2008-06-29T10:33:00.000-06:00

Pakistani troops patrol on vehicles in Hayatabad near the Khyber tribal region

Pakistani forces have launched a military operation against Taliban militants near the northwestern city of Peshawar. The offensive in the Khyber tribal region marks the first major military action which Pakistan's newly elected government has taken against the Taliban on its territory.

Pakistani forces reportedly bombarded suspected militant hideouts with mortar shells in the mountains in Khyber.

Pakistani journalist Syllab Massud, speaking to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan from Peshawar, said the situation is "tense."

"[People] are really worried about their futures because nobody knows what will happen next," Massud said.

Security officials were quoted as saying an around-the-clock curfew has been imposed in the Bara area near Peshawar, close to the Afghan border. Meanwhile, troops were deployed, blocking the main road into Khyber.

No casualties have been reported, but local newspapers report hospitals in Peshawar have been put on alert.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who came to power following February general elections, is in Peshawar. He said his government, which has engaged in a cease-fire and negotiated peace deals with Pakistani Taliban leaders, would not allow the tribal areas to descend into chaos.

'We Will Use Force'

"We are ready to negotiate with those who are ready to put down their weapons," he said. "We are supporting a peace deal with those who want security in the region. We don't oppose any peace negotiation with those people. We will use force against those who are causing insecurity."

The crackdown follows increased activity of Taliban fighters in Khyber and in the sprawling city of Peshawar over the past year. Armed militants have threatened owners of music and video shops to close down, and ordered barbers to stop shaving men's beards.

The Khyber Pass provides the main road link to neighboring Afghanistan.

Kabul and NATO complain about an increase in crossborder attacks following the Pakistani peace deals. Afghan officials also accuse Pakistan of secretly supporting the insurgents and harboring their leaders -- a charge Pakistan's civilian and military leaders deny.

'Clearly A Concern'

On June 27, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates criticized Pakistan for failing to put pressure on Taliban forces along the border, saying it had fuelled a rise in violence.

"The ability of the Taliban and other insurgents to cross [the Afghanistan-Pakistan] border and not being under any pressure from the Pakistani side of the border is clearly a concern," Gates said. "I think that's the area that needs to be addressed with the Pakistani government."

Speaking at a news conference in Washington, Gates said efforts by the Pakistani government to negotiate a peace agreement with tribal leaders had taken the pressure off insurgent groups.

Reacting to the latest government military offensive, Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mahsud said he was suspending peace talks with Islamabad and threatened retaliation across Pakistan unless military offensives against his group stopped.

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan contributed to this report

North Korea pressed to disarm further

2008-06-28T10:34:00.001-06:00

The US has pressed North Korea to fully abandon its atomic weapons programmed, following the "breakthrough" demolition of the cooling tower at Pyonyang's main Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, speaking in Seoul on Saturday, called on North Korea to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons.

"At the end of this [process], we have to have the abandonment of all programmes, weapons and materials," Rice said.

Rice was visiting South Korea for talks with Yu Myung-Hwan, her South Korean counterpart, before traveling to China as part of six-nation talks now focused on verifying North Korea's nuclear inventory.

Following the delivery of the inventory or "declaration" on Thursday, North Korea demolished the Yongbyon cooling tower, allowing foreign media to broadcast the event.

Pyonyang is disabling Yongbyon under US supervision in return for energy aid and the lifting of some sanctions.

"In the next phase we do have to move on abandonment. That is the purpose of six-party talks," Rice said.

'Emotional attachment'

Sung Kim, the US envoy to North Korea, also speaking in Seoul on Saturday, said North Korean engineers appeared to have formed an "emotional attachment" to their atomic programme.

He had seen emotion in the eyes of Ri Yong-ho, the head of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, and his colleagues when they all witnessed Friday's demolition of the plant's cooling tower.

"I think I detected ... a sense of sadness when the tower came down but I thought he [Ri] put it well when he was asked what this all meant for him and he said that he just hoped this would contribute to peace and stability," Sung said.

Rice said she and Yu had held extensive talks about efforts to verify the North Korean nuclear inventory, which covers nuclear facilities and the production of bomb-making plutonium but not weapons.

Critics point out that it also fails to address concerns about a suspected secret highly enriched uranium weapons (HEU) programme or deal with suspicions that North Korea was involved in nuclear proliferation to Syria though both are referred to in separate documents.

"There are documents that are referred to in the declaration concerning those two issues - HEU and proliferation," Rice said.

Nuclear program

The next and final phase of the agreement with North Korea calls for Pyonyang to hand over all nuclear material and weaponry in exchange for diplomatic ties with the US and Japan, and a formal peace pact.

In return, Washington has eased some trade sanctions and moved towards taking the North off its list of state sponsors of "terrorism".

The US helped fund the demolition of the cooling tower with a $2.5m contribution.

"There is still much to be done but it's a good step when the North Koreans comply with their obligations," Gordon Johndroe, the US national security council spokesman said.

The Yongbyon facility produced the plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme which culminated in a nuclear test in October 2006.

Body parts plot leader sentenced

2008-06-28T10:27:00.000-06:00

A US dentist who masterminded a scheme to steal body parts from hundreds of corpses has been sentenced to between 18 and 54 years in prison.

Michael Mastromarino, 44, admitted leading a $4.6 million operation that stole the body parts from funeral homes for sale to transplant operations.

In March, Mastromarino pleaded guilty to charges of body stealing, reckless endangerment and enterprise corruption, and in June he apologised for the anguish he caused.

The ring stole body parts from funeral homes in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, between 2001 and 2005.

Mastromarino, a former "oral surgeon", owned Biomedical Tissue Services (BTS), which supplied tissue to around 10,000 patients across the US.

No medical screening

Prosecutors said that as part of the scheme, a team of so-called "cutters" removed bone, skin and tendons in an unsanitary embalming room.

The bodies were dissected without permission and were not medically screened.

These were then sold to doctors who then used them for dental implants, knee and hip replacements and other transplant procedures.

"I am truly sorry for the pain I have caused," Mastromarino said as he faced relatives of the dead who were in court to deliver statements. "May God have mercy on my soul."

Dayna Ryan contracted Hepatitus B from
a stolen body part

"He fully recognised the gravity of what he has done," Mario Gallucci, Mastromarino's lawyer said outside the court. "He cut some corner and that is why he is here today."

"His sick, disgusting and appalling actions all in the name of greed, have devastated my family to the point where we can never recover," Dayna Ryan told the court.

Ryan, 44, contracted Hepatitus B after receiving one of the stolen body parts during an operation on her lower spine.

"In all of this, we're trying to find completeness and wholeness for him and we'll never find that, but that's our quest because he was just chopped up ... we're just trying to put him back together," said Karen del Re, whose father was also harvested by BTS.

Co-defendents

Three others who worked with Mastromarino have also been charged, as were a number of funeral home directors.

Chris Aldorasi, one of the "cutters", was found guilty of enterprise corruption and other criminal counts earlier in June; he was sentenced to between nine and 27 years in jail.

The plundered bodies included that of the veteran British journalist Alistair Cooke, author of the BBC's long-running Letter from America; he died in 2004, aged 95, in New York.

During Aldorasi's trial, Cooke's daughter testified that she had never spoken to BTS about them harvesting her father's body.

"Definitely not," said Susan Cooke-Kitteridge, when sked if she had given permission for the procedure. "My father would have been against that."

Another "cutter", Lee Cruceta, pleaded guilty and testified against Aldorasi and now faces up to 20 years in prison.

A fourth co-defendent is still awaiting trial.

Many killed in Niger clashes

2008-06-28T10:23:00.000-06:00

At least 17 people have been killed in clashes between Niger's army and Tuareg fighters who have been waging a sporadic insurgency for more than a year, according to statements issued by both sides.

The Niger government said only Tuareg fighters were killed and no government soldiers died in the fighting on Friday.

Both the government and the fighters confirmed battles around the town of Tezirzait, a town in the northern uranium-producing Agadez region.

Among the dead was a senior Tuareg member, the government statement said.

The Tuareg fighters, allies of the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ), said on its website that 26 soldiers died in two other separate clashes in the area, along with seven of its own fighters.

The government operation to recapture Tezirzait was announced by Niger's defence ministry following the release of four French hostages by the MNJ on Wednesday. The French were abducted on Sunday.

Both the Tuaregs and the MNJ demand greater autonomy for the West African region and a bigger share of its mineral wealth for local people.

Encouraged by rising world prices for uranium, the radioactive fuel for nuclear reactors, Niger hopes to become the world's 2nd largest uranium producer by 2011.

UN move against Zimbabwe blocked

2008-06-28T10:18:00.001-06:00

Counting is under way in Zimbabwe after a one-man presidential election, dubbed a sham by the country's opposition and many in the international community.

With Robert Mugabe, the incumbent president, certain to win, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Saturday he was only being kept in power by force and with help from Thabo Mbeki, the South African president .

The MDC, whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted Friday's poll after a wave of deadly attacks against his supporters, suffered a major blow overnight when South Africa blocked a move at the UN to declare the election illegitimate.

The United States and its European allies had pushed for a resolution that would have stated the results "could have no credibility or legitimacy" but South Africa argued the Security Council was not in the business of certifying elections.

The council instead merely issued an oral statement expressing "deep regret" that the election went ahead after widespread calls for it to be shelved.

George Bush, the US president, on Saturday reiterated that the Zimbabwean run-off vote was a sham and said he had directed that sanctions be drawn up against the "illegitimate" government of Zimbabwe .

"Given the Mugabe regime's blatant disregard for the Zimbabwean people's democratic will and human rights, I am instructing the secretaries of state and treasury to develop sanctions against this illegitimate government of Zimbabwe and those who support it," Bush said in a statement.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said the US might introduce a UN resolution calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Sanctions opposed

But African foreign ministers meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh said on Saturday that getting Mugabe and Zimbabwe's opposition to talk will have better results than punitive measures.

Moses Watangula, the Kenyan foreign minister, said the route of sanctions may not be helpful for the southern African country.

Ralph Black, the MDC's representative in the United States, told Al Jazeera that a government of national unity may diffuse the current crisis.

"They must agree to form a government of national unity," he said.

"The two parties must come together to select and share power, but we believe Mugabe must not be part of a unity government - this is because the destruction of Zimbabwe's democratic institutions lies squarely at his feet."

Briggs Bomba, a Zimbabwe activist for Africa Action, a non-profit organisation, also told Al Jazeera the strategy the MDC is using has not been effective.

"What the MDC could have done was to mobilise mass popular support inside the country," he said.

"If Zanu-PF supporters, government officials, and the police, saw massive support for the MDC, and saw the people rally in large numbers in support for a change of political direction in the country, they themselves will be forced to re-think their roles as enforcing the policies of Robert Mugabe."

Poll pullout

Tsvangirai won the first round of the election on March 29, falling just short of the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a run-off.

But he decided to pull out of the run-off last weekend after the MDC claimed nearly 90 of its supporters had been killed in attacks by pro-Mugabe thugs and some 200,000 voters disenfranchised after being driven from their homes.

Amid widespread reports that the electorate was being coerced into voting for Mugabe, Tsvangirai advised followers on Friday against futile gestures of defiance in what he derided as an "exercise in mass intimidation".

Turnout was "massive" in the election, the official newspaper The Herald reported on Saturday, but provided no figures.

Taliban-linked rebels execute 2 Afghans as crowd watches

2008-06-28T10:12:00.000-06:00

The killings, which took place in front of about 5,000 people in the Bajur tribal region, were said to be in retribution for a suspected U.S. missile strike last month targeting Al Qaeda militants.

That strike, in Damadola near the Afghan border, killed at least a dozen people. It was not clear whether a senior Al Qaeda or Taliban figure was the target of the attack, the latest of several such strikes this year believed to have been carried out by U.S. forces.

The dual execution was brutal even by the fundamentalist code that prevails in the tribal areas, which lie largely beyond the jurisdiction of the Pakistani government. The killing of alleged spies is not unusual, but their public parading is rare.

Witnesses said the two men were taken to a gathering place by militants from the Taliban-affiliated Jaish-i-Islami group. Armed men first slit their throats, then sprayed the bodies with bullets from automatic rifles, then decapitated the pair to chants of "God is great!"

In the aftermath, celebratory gunfire killed two people and injured six in the frenzied crowd of onlookers, authorities said.

The militants' local chief, who calls himself Cmdr. Wali Rehman, said the two who were executed had confessed to spying for U.S. forces. He said they had implicated others who also would be brought to justice.

Pakistan's new government has been trying to negotiate peace accords with various militant factions in the tribal areas. No truce has been struck as yet in Bajur, but informal understandings with government forces appear to have given the militants freedom of movement in the area.

The killings come at a time of heightened tensions in Peshawar, the main city in Pakistan's northwest, adjacent to the tribal areas. In the last two days, paramilitary troops have been deployed throughout the city of 4 million after militants made an unprecedented show of force in the heart of Peshawar itself, staging patrols and carrying out abductions.

Abdul Ghafoor Afridi, a senior police officer, said a high security alert had been declared and that government forces were guarding the city perimeter and digging bunkers against possible attack.

Pakistan forces in Khyber offensive

2008-06-28T10:01:00.000-06:00

Pakistani security forces have launched a military operation against Taliban fighters in the Khyber tribal region near the northwest city of Peshawar.

Malik Naveed Khan, police chief of Pakistan's North West Frontier province, of which Peshawar is the capital, said the crackdown on Saturday was "going on smoothly".

"There has been no resistance, so far," he said, speaking to Reuters news agency. "No casualties, so far."

The historic Khyber Pass, long known as a den for smuggling, is the main road link with Afghanistan and provides crucial supplies to US forces across the border.

Military sources told Al Jazeera that security forces were shelling suspected Taliban hideouts in the mountains and had already destroyed three observation outposts.

The operation prompted a swift response from Baitullah Mehsud, a senior pro-Taliban leader in Pakistan, who has reportedly called off peace talks with the government.

"The talks will remain suspended until the government stops talking about operations and attacks against us," Reuters quoted Mehsud as saying.

"The situation is such that [the Taliban] are all around Peshawar, they are on our doorstep"

Mahmood Shah, former security chief in the tribal regions
He said he suspected similar operations being ordered against Taliban groups elsewhere in the region.

A large military contingent is also reported to have reached the Jandula area in South Waziristan.

A Taliban-linked group said an offensive in the area would only create further problems.

"If the government thinks there is any issue to address, that should be resolved through talks not by the use of force," said Munsif Khan, spokesman for the Virtue and Voice organization. "We are ready for talks with the government."

Peshawar fears

There has been growing concern about threats to Peshawar from Taliban fighters. Two weeks ago, a Taliban force from Khyber entered the city and seized 16 Christians, before later releasing them.

Mahmood Shah, a former security chief in the tribal regions, said: "The situation is such that [the Taliban] are all around Peshawar. They are on our doorstep."

"The situation is like water flowing into a field and until you have some obstruction to stop it, you will drown. We are drowning."

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder said there was likely to be some reprisal from Taliban fighters because of the the military operation, such as rockets being fired at Peshawar.

Around 1,500 troops and police commandos were deployed along the Peshawar border with the Khyber tribal region and its suburbs to protect the city's more than 1m populace.

Mujeeb Khan, a senior local official, said a round-the-clock curfew was imposed in the Bara area bordering Peshawar, and heavy contingents of troops were blocking the main road into Khyber.

"All bazaars are shut, and residents have been asked not to come out of their homes," he said.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister, was in Peshawar on Saturday. However, he insisted his trip was not related to the military operation

Bush, Talabani Signal Progress On Thorny Security Pact

2008-06-27T10:06:00.000-06:00

Iraqi President Talabani (left) and U.S. President Bush at the White House

(epa)

WASHINGTON -- The United States and Iraq are signaling progress in negotiating what's called a Status-of-Forces Agreement (SOFA), which would set the rules for the presence of U.S. forces in the country.

U.S. President George W. Bush and his Iraqi counterpart, Jalal Talabani, discussed the issue when they met at the White House on June 25.

"We talked about a strategic framework agreement that suits the Iraqi government," Bush told reporters after their 30-minute meeting. "We talked about elections and different laws that have been passed. I did compliment the president on working hard to see to it that the [Iraqi] legislative session this year has been very successful. We talked about the fact that the [Iraqi] economy's improving, and that the attitude of the people there has improved immeasurably over the years."

Talabani suggested the two sides had made progress in reaching a SOFA deal.

"I agree with [Bush] that we are going to work together for having this agreement, such an agreement between the United States and Iraq, and also to continue our cooperation and our struggle against terrorism and for the promotion of democracy in Iraq and in the Middle East," Talabani said. "We are proud to have such good friends here in this great country."

At A Stalemate

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said SOFA negotiations were at a stalemate because of a U.S. demand that private U.S. security contractors be immune from Iraqi law. Reports say the United States has since dropped that demand. The United States has SOFA agreements with some 80 other countries under which its military forces are immune from local laws.

The Iraqi government also wants U.S. forces to notify it in advance of any military operations. The status of that demand isn't known.

The United States and Iraq hope to complete a SOFA by the end of July so that U.S. troops can stay in Iraq after their UN mandate expires at the end of 2008. They also want to reach a separate understanding on long-term security, economic, and military issues.

At the White House, Bush and Talabani also discussed efforts to improve security within Iraq. Both men said the so-called "surge" of some 30,000 additional U.S. troops during the past year has led to reconciliation among the country's three groups -- Sunnis, Shi'a, and Kurds.

"I complimented the president on the progress that the [Iraqi] government has made," Bush said. "I complimented the president on the fact that, as security has improved, he and his fellow officials are reaching out to all aspects of society to help people realize the blessings of a free life. There's still a lot of work to be done. We recognize that."

Dividing Oil Wealth

Talabani pointed to two laws he said the Iraqi parliament hopes to pass this year. One would divide the country's oil wealth proportionately among the three groups, the other would ensure fair elections nationwide.

The Iraqi president also noted improved ties within the region.

"We improved our relations with our neighbors -- with Turkey, with Egypt, with Jordan, with Kuwait," he said. "We normalized our relations with Iran and with Syria also. So the Iraqi government is now going to play its role in the Arab world."

As the United States and Iraq move forward on the SOFA agreement, however, there's one provision that's of particular concern within the United States, where a new president will take office in January 2009. How long will U.S. forces commit to stay in Iraq, and how great will their role be in defending the country?

The Bush administration originally proposed that U.S. forces defend Iraq. Now Bush's negotiators are reportedly considering changing the role of the troops to merely helping Iraqi forces defend themselves.

A Cleric Accused for Raping a Young Girl in Badakhshan

2008-06-25T11:23:00.002-06:00

June 25,2008 -- This year 10 cases of violence against women and girls has been reported in Badakhshan. This includes two cases of rape, escape from home, beating and divorce.

A young girl was raped in Raghistan district of Badakhshan province. 17-year old Razia claimed that 40-year old Altaf Al-Rahman had raped her several times three days back.

She told PAN that she wanted justice and the punishment of the rapist but didn’t give any further details.
The statistics in the report from Womankind, Afghan Women and Girls Seven Years On, make shocking reading. Violent attacks against females, usually domestic, are at epidemic proportions with 87 per cent of females complaining of such abuse – half of it sexual. More than 60 per cent of marriages are forced.
The Independent, Feb. 25, 2008

…

Brigadier Mohammad Ashaq, the commander of security of Raghistan told PAN that Maulawi Altaf Al-Rahman had been arrested on the claims of Razia and the lawsuit had been sent to the judge of District Court.

But Amruddin Yamin, the judge of the District Court, said that according to the investigations Maulawi Altaf Al-Rahman had raped Razia nine months back and Razia had given birth to a child just some days back.

He added that the new born had been beaten to death and it was most probably done by the rapist.

Yamin said that the punishment of rape in Sharia law (Islamic Law) is stoning to death and according to the law it is serving in prison for a long time; when his crime is proved he will be punished.

Permission to speak to the suspect about the accusations was not given.

The head of the Human Rights Commission of Badakhshan talking about another case of human rights violation in Raghistan, said that four months back 19-year old Fatima had been engaged to Qari Mohammad Hussain in accordance with family settlements. After a few months Fatima had run away with a boy named Ghamkhwar who was also engaged.

He added that when the two had gone to the court of Faiz Abad to marry, they were arrested by the police.

According to the information of the head of the Human Rights Commission of Badakhshan, 13-year old Zarghoona, student of the fifth grade (Fatima’s sister) was then married to Mohammad Hussain. If this marriage has taken place then it is against the law and thus illegal.

According to the named, this year 10 cases of violence against women and girls has been reported in Badakhshan. This includes two cases of rape, escape from home, beating and divorce.

An 8-year old girl named Fatima was raped in the Saray Sang area of the city of Talaqan (capital of Takhar) in April of this year. She was on her way to the agricultural lands when 21-year old Askar Mohammad raped her and then she was killed.

The court of Takhar sentenced Askar Mohammad to death on 10th of June for the crime of raping Fatima.

Pakistan blamed for Karzai attack

2008-06-25T11:12:00.000-06:00

Afghanistan's intelligence agency has accused its Pakistani counterpart of masterminding an assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai in April.

The Afghan president survived the April 27 attack at the annual military parade, but three Afghans were killed, one of them a parliamentarian.

Sayed Ansari, a spokesman for the Afghanistan's national intelligence agency, said on Wednesday his organisation believed Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was involved.

"The investigations, the documents we found and the confession of suspects arrested, show the real schemer and organiser ... of the terrorist attack is the intelligence agency of Pakistan, the ISI," Ansari said.

The statement came a day after Karzai's spokesman made a similar accusation.

Homayun Hamidzada, Karzai's spokesman, said on Tuesday: "Evidence shows the hallmark of a particular foreign intelligence agency which we believe was behind this attack.".

He, however, refused to name the foreign country or the spy organisation.

'Constant contacts'

Ansari said mobile phones seized from the men involved in the attack showed they had "constant contacts" with bases across the border with Pakistan.

The spokesman said eight of the 16 people arrested over suspected links to the attackers were government employees.

He did not give details, but authorities had earlier said a defence ministry weapons expert and a police nurse were arrested for allegedly facilitating the attack.

Islamabad denies any role in the attack.

Germany Signals Plan To Add 1,000 Troops

2008-06-24T12:05:00.000-06:00

Defense Minister Jung (file photo)

German Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung has announced plans to add an additional 1,000 soldiers by the end of this year to the 3,500-strong German contingent already in Afghanistan.

The move would include deploying German soldiers to southern Afghanistan and, if approved by parliament, would appear to signal that NATO is taking the Afghan conflict ever more seriously.

Speaking alongside German military chief Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Jung also recommended extending the mandate of German troops in Afghanistan through December 2009. Jung said the "increase is necessary to give us more flexibility to respond to challenges."

Germany assumes command on July 1 of the rapid deployment forces protecting operations of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in northern Afghanistan.

The announcement follows calls by NATO countries, especially the United States, for Germany to contribute more soldiers to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan. The alliance also wants to move some of the German troops from their bases in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan to the restive south, where there has been fierce fighting with Taliban insurgents for months.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has backed the idea of sending additional troops to Afghanistan but not of sending German soldiers to southeastern areas of Afghanistan.

A German troop increase requires the approval of the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, which would have to overcome the objections of several opposition parties who are critical of the mission as well as growing public skepticism over that country's role in Afghanistan.

There are currently some 60,000 foreign troops supporting operations by the fledgling Afghan National Army. About 43,000 of those foreign troops are under NATO command, and the rest are U.S.-led troops operating under U.S. command. Last weekend, German NATO General Egon Ramms said the alliance needs to add 5,000-6,000 troops to cope with increasing efforts by Taliban and foreign terrorist forces.

Troops from the United States, Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands have done the majority of the fighting in southern Afghanistan.

compiled from wire reports

Clashes continue in Afghanistan

2008-06-24T11:58:00.000-06:00

A suicide car bomb has killed five Afghan civilians and injured 19 others, Afghan sources say, amid continued fighting between multinational troops and Taliban fighters.

The explosion took place on Monday near a convoy of international forces in western Afghanistan, Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman, said.

"A suicide car bomb exploded. Four civilians were killed and 12 others were injured. The target was a foreign forces' convoy," he said.

The condition of the foreign soldiers after the blast, which took place in the Shindand district of Herat province, was not immediately known.

The explosion occurred on the same day that US-led forces said they killed 55 Taliban fighters, including three senior commanders.

The deaths resulted after the fighters attacked a patrol of the US-led force with rockets in the Paktika province, near the eastern Afghan-Pakistani border.

Nangarhar incident

The incidents came a day after a father and son were allegedly killed by gunfire from US-led soldiers in Khogyani district of the eastern Nangarhar province.

US-led and Afghan forces hit a private house after firing on a neighbouring suspected opposition hideout, Haji Zalmai Khan, Khogyani's governor, said.

The deaths later prompted about 200 residents to take to the streets in protest.

The multinational forces, however, denied any civilian casualties.

In another incident on Sunday, air strikes conducted after a Taliban attack killed several fighters in southern Afghanistan, US-led forces said.

Violence surge

The Taliban in Pakistan have recently claimed a number of successes, killing seven foreign troops over the weekend, while violence has surged this month.

The group caused a jail-break of more than 1,000 prisoners on June 14, when suicide bombers attacked Kandahar prison in southern Afghanistan.

Many of those who escaped were Taliban members.

Afghan and Nato forces reacted by launching a major operation to expel Taliban fighters from villages surrounding Kandahar a few days later. Afghan officials said that the operation killed 56 Taliban fighters

Judicial blow for Pakistan's Sharif

2008-06-23T11:19:00.000-06:00

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's former prime minister, will not be able to run for parliament in forthcoming by-elections.

The ruling, announced on Monday by the Lahore High Court, will not allow Sharif to run for Thursday's elections because of previous convictions.

Sharif's rival candidates from the by-election had argued that loan defaulters and people convicted of criminal charges could not contest election.

The Lahore High Court accepted their case.

An order issued by the court said: "Nawaz Sharif is not a qualified candidate to contest a by-election."

Shahbaz, Sharif's brother, also had a case referred to the chief election commissioner.

The court said Shahbaz could continue as chief minister until a final decision on his case was made.

"It's a political decision and we reject it. It is a conspiracy against democracy," Siddiqul Farouq, a spokesman for Sharif's PML-N, said.

The judges who gave the ruling were appointed by Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, after he sacked dozens of judges under emergency rule.

'Musharraf's agenda'

Sharif's allies were furious, with dozens chanting "Go Musharraf, go" outside the court and angry lawmakers walking out of the provincial assembly in protest.

At least 100 Sharif supporters had burned tires in the street.

Ahsan Iqbal, a senior PML-N leader, said: "They are implementing Musharraf's agenda."

The decision is a major political setback for Sharif, making it impossible for the Sharif, the leader of a junior party in the governing coalition, to become prime minister unless the ban on his candidacy is overturned.

Sharif was also barred from running in February elections because of convictions related to his ouster in a 1999 coup, which was left by Musharraf.

Earlier this month, the nation's election commission effectively cleared him to run in by-elections after a tribunal set up to decide the matter failed to reach consensus.

Pervez Rasheed, Sharif's spokesman, said Sharif will appeal the decision before the elections.

Clashes continue in Afghanistan

2008-06-23T11:12:00.001-06:00

Nangarhar incident

Violence surge

Children killed in Afghan raid

2008-06-22T10:29:00.000-06:00

A woman and three children have been killed after rockets fired from Pakistan hit a residential area in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials have said.

Eight people, most of them women, were wounded in the attack - one of three cross-border raids that took place about the same time overnight.

The four civilians were killed when rockets landed in the eastern town of Khost after being launched from about 300 metres inside Pakistani territory, Arsala Jamal, the provincial governor, said on Sunday.

A rocket fired from Pakistan hit a hospital in the northeastern Afghan province of Kunar in a separate incident.

One man was killed and a man and woman were wounded in the attack the provincial governor said.

Three artillery shells fired from Pakistan landed in an Afghan army camp and three more landed close to a Nato base in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika, alliance officials said.

Nato forces returned fire. No casualties were reported.

Suicide bomber targets Iraqi police

2008-06-22T10:24:00.000-06:00

At least 16 people have been killed and many wounded after a female suicide bomber blew herself up among policemen in Diyala province, according to Iraqi police and hospital sources.

The bomber detonated her explosive vest on Sunday beside a police patrol near the gate of the provincial governor's headquarters and a courthouse in Baquba, a security official said.

Dr Ahmed Fuad of Baquba hospital said 16 bodies had been received by the hospital's mortuary.

Among those killed were eight policemen, two women and a child, he told the AFP news agency.

An AFP correspondent on the scene said several police vehicles were set alight by the explosion, and nearby buildings were also damaged by the blast.

Baquba and surrounding areas have seen a series of suicide bombings by women over the past year.

Diyala, a stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq, remains one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq despite levels of violence nationwide hitting a four-year low.

Iraqi and US forces have been engaged in a sustained offensive against al-Qaeda in Diyala.

In another attack on Sunday, four people were killed when their car struck a roadside bomb on a road west of the oil hub of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, a police officer said.

Two others were wounded in the blast.

In a similar incident, three people including two women were killed when their car hit a roadside bomb south of Kirkuk, local police said.

Pakistan remembers Bhutto

2008-06-21T10:30:00.001-06:00

Pakistan's parliament has observed a moment of silence to honour slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto on her birthday.

Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27 in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, told parliament on Saturday that a monument would be built at the site of Bhutto's assassination and that a main road in Rawalpindi and the hospital where she died would also be named after her.

"We will accomplish the mission of our great leader and make Pakistan a peaceful democratic and welfare state," Gilani said.

Gilani also announced that, to mark the occasion, death sentences of all prisoners would be commuted to life imprisonment and a 90-day reduction in jail terms would be given to many inmates.

Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party has started a week-long blood donation campaign and the government has re-named Islamabad international airport after Bhutto, who was born on June 21 1953.

Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and now the chairperson of her party, attended memorial services in her native town of Gharhi Khuda Bakhsh where she was buried in the family mausoleum.

Bhutto's father, former premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in 1979 on the orders of military dictator Zia ul-Haq, propelling his daughter to carry on his legacy.

After Zia died in a mysterious plane crash in 1988, Bhutto - at the age of just 35 - became the first female prime minister of an Islamic country.

She was elected twice, and both times she was thrown out of office on allegations of corruption.

Afghan blasts kill foreign soldiers

2008-06-21T10:22:00.000-06:00

Officials say roadside bombs have killed five foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, the latest in a series of daily attacks that have pushed the death toll for foreign forces this year to over 100.

Two Afghan soldiers also died in a bombing and several fighters were killed in each of three separate clashes with US-led multinational forces on Saturday, including one close to the capital Kabul.

In the deadliest attack, a bomb killed four US-led multinational force soldiers and seriously wounded two others in the southern province of Kandahar, a multinational force statement said.

"Four coalition service members were killed and two more were seriously wounded today in an IED (improvised explosive device) strike while conducting operations in Kandahar province," the statement said.

The nationalities of the soldiers was not revealed.

To the east, a Polish soldier from the separate Nato-led force died when a bomb hit his patrol shortly after midnight in the Dila district of Paktika province.

Jacek Poplawski, a Polish military spokesman in Warsaw, said four other soldiers were wounded, but their lives were not in danger.

The deadly attacks came a day after two other US-led soldiers were killed in separate incidents, including a suicide bombing elsewhere in the country.

Dozens of Taliban fighters were killed during the operation in Arghandab, a district near Kandahar city where about 500 Taliban gathered following a mass breakout from the city's main prison.

The latest deaths took to 32 the number of international soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of this month, the deadliest month for the foreign military deployment this year.

More than 20 soldiers died last month.

With the latest casualties, 99 foreign soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP news agency tally based on official figures.

Pakistan troops killed in Kashmir

2008-06-20T10:58:00.001-06:00

Four Pakistani soldiers have reportedly been killed in clashes on the border with Indian-controlled territory in the disputed Kashmir region.

A Pakistani military spokesman said that his soldiers exchanged fire with "unknown miscreants" along the the so-called Line of Control which separates Indian and Pakistani forces.

"Two of our soldiers embraced martyrdom at the spot and tw others injured later died at hospital," Major-General Athar Abbas, Pakistani military spokesman, said on Thursday.

He said that the Pakistani patrol came under attack from a wooded area along the frontier near the village of Battal.

Abbas said the soldiers returned fire and afterwards search parties were sent to hunt the attackers.

"The fire was not from the Indian bunkers," he said.

Infiltration

Lieutenant Colonel Shantanu Dass Goswami, an Indian army spokesman, said Indian and Pakistani troops both fired at the attackers, who he said were attempting to infiltrate the Indian side from Pakistan.

The fighting lasted about five hours, he said.

"There was an information sharing from both the sides to zero in on the militants," Goswami said.

Last week, India said that armed men ambushed an army vehicle and killed five soldiers on its side of the frontier.

Control of the Himalayan region is split between India and Pakistan, which both claim the whole region, and have fought two of their three wars over it.

However, violence between the nuclear-armed neighbours has declined since they launched a peace process in 2004.

Separatist fighters have been battling Indian rule in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989 and they reportedly slip across the frontier from Pakistani Kashmir into Indian Kashmir to battle Indian troops.

New Delhi has accused Pakistan of training and arming the separatists, a charge that Islamabad has denied.

Indian and Pakistani officials are due to meet in Islamabad next week to try to boost cooperation against terrorism as part of their peace process.

Rights Group Condemns Tehran For Juveniles On Death Row

2008-06-19T11:13:00.001-06:00

Iran has executed 34 juvenile offenders for crimes committed before they were 18 (file photo)

Iran has sentenced 177 juvenile offenders to death in the last decade, and 34 of them have been executed for crimes committed before they were 18, according to an international rights group.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has just published what it says is the first detailed list of juveniles on death row in that country. The group is calling on Iran to immediately abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders, saying it was obliged to do so under international conventions on civil and children's rights.

The group, based in New York and Vienna, says 114 juvenile offenders are in prison awaiting execution, while the remaining 29 have been pardoned.

It did not specify what crime each juvenile offender was convicted of, but it says most are on death row for murder, while one, Mosleh Zamani, faces execution for an "illicit relationship with his girlfriend."

The list also includes youths who were 12 and 13 at the time of their offense.

"We believe that this is the most complete and documented list that exists in this regard," Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesman for the group, told Radio Farda. "But since Iran's judiciary is not transparent , we call on [judiciary officials ] to make all these cases public and announce the date of birth of these people, date of arrest, and their crimes. And if there are any mistakes in this list, [the judicary] should demonstrate that these people are not younger than 18."

The group says it based its list on research compiled from "reliiable and official sources" by Iranian human rights defender Emad Baghi. It says many sentences were based on confessions obtained after torture or from defendants with no access to a lawyer.

It also says lack of transparency in Iran's judicial system means some of the 114 on death row may already have been executed.

Iranian judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said Iran has not executed anyone under the age of 18.

Amnesty International has called Iran "the last official executioner of children" and says it leads the world in carrying out such sentences.

Earlier this month, Tehran stayed the execution of two young convicts after the UN high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, appealed on their behalf.

with agency reports

Taliban swept from Kandahar area

2008-06-19T11:07:00.001-06:00

Hundreds of Taliban fighters have been killed or wounded after the group's forces were driven from all the villages around Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, the provincial governor has said.

"The Taliban have been cleared totally [by Afghan and Nato forces] from Arghandab district," Assadullah Khalid said on Thursday.

About 800 Afghan government troops, backed by hundreds of mainly Canadian Nato soldiers, had fought Taliban who seized seven villages in the Arghandab district three days ago.

Khalid said: "The Taliban have suffered hundreds of dead and wounded and many of their casualties are Pakistanis."

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahlbarra said: "If this is confirmed, it could further strain relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Khalid said the forces have taught a lesson to Baitullah Mahsud [a tribal leader sympathetic to the Taliban] and Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban.

"Some of the people here are returning to their farms as it is harvest season and they want to go back before everything is rotten. It is very quiet, for the moment."

Minor clashes

The Taliban "did choose not to fight" and there had been only minor clashes, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, said on Thursday.

General Carlos Branco, and ISAF spokesman, said: "During the first 24 hours of operations, only small pockets of insurgents were encountered so only minor incidents occurred and some of them are still going on."

He said the incidents were "mainly exchanges of small arms fire and skirmishes."

Branco played down reports about the number of Taliban killed, adding they had "not engaged decisively, limiting their activity to small disruptive attacks".

"Our assessment is that if the insurgents are there they have not the numbers and the foothold that they previously claimed and, obviously, they did choose not to fight," Branco said.

'Dramatic changes'

He said Afghan and Nato forces "do not expect any dramatic changes in the behavior of the insurgents".

About 5,000 families have fled their homes in Arghandab's lush valley after Nato warned about the launch of the offensive, a provincial official said.

A Taliban spokesman said before the assault started that the the group had set its sights on Kandahar.

The al Qaeda-backed group is largely active in southern and eastern areas along the border region with Pakistan.

NATO, Afghan Troops Attack Villages Following Prison Break

2008-06-18T10:31:00.001-06:00

An Afghan National Army soldier keeps watch at a checkpoint in the Arghandab district of Kandahar as part of an operation against the Taliban

(AFP)

Afghan and NATO forces have launched a military operation against Taliban fighters who fled to villages and farmland north of Kandahar following a massive escape from a Kandahar prison on June 13.

The escapees appear to have been reinforced by militants who are infiltrating the area using canals, trees, and vineyards as cover.

The militants are thought to have concentrated in several villages of the Arghandab district, north of Kandahar city. Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar's provincial council and the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that at least one-third of the militants have come from other countries.

"According to credible sources, if you look at all of the 500 or 600 Taliban fighters in this battle, about [one-third] are foreigners," Karzai said. "They are not from Afghanistan. They are from different places -- Arabs, Chechens, Chinese, and people from [Pakistan's] tribal regions of [North or South] Waziristan."

The brother of the Afghan president says the Taliban fighters are thought to include some of the hundreds of suspected Taliban who escaped from a prison in Kandahar on June 13 with the help of a bold attack by militants.

General Carlos Branko, a spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan, told Radio Free Afghanistan on June 18 about the unfolding battle in the area.

"This operation in Arghandab [district] that commenced this morning is part of an overall operation in Kandahar Province," Branko said. "The Afghans are in the lead and supported by [troops from ISAF, the International Security Assistance Force]. This is very important because the Afghan National Army is demonstrating a high capability to conduct and to lead operations. So far, we have not seen large numbers of insurgents. There is only minor contact. But this does not mean there are no insurgents present."

Dawa Khan Minapal, a Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent in Kandahar Province, traveled to a government checkpoint to the north of the city of Kandahar that is on the edge of the battle zone. He described a battle scene in the Arghandab Valley on June 18 in which NATO aircraft searched for Taliban fighters.

"NATO helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft have been flying over the area all morning," Minapal said. "I can hear the sound of heavy weapons firing and the sound of machine guns in the distance. Villagers are still fleeing the fighting, trying to evacuate the area. They were warned in the previous days to evacuate. As the helicopters and fighter jets fly over, I can see two targets that they have been bombing. And I hear the sound of heavy explosions in the area."

Minapal says Afghan and NATO ground troops have set up blocking positions and are moving cautiously toward a series of villages where the Taliban are thought to have fortified themselves.

Destroyed Bridges, Planted Mines

The Arghandab district is divided into northern and southern areas by the Arghandab River. Minapal said the Taliban are now positioned to the south of the river, while government and coalition forces are on the north side. He said the Taliban have destroyed small bridges over irrigation canals in the area and have been planting land mines.

Taliban fighters are thought to be moving into the Arghandab Valley from the Panjwai and Khakrez districts, which are famous as Taliban strongholds, Minapal said. There also is a large hydroelectric dam on the river -- the Arghandab Dam -- that provides electricity to residents in the area. He said the vegetation in the valley and the irrigation canals provide cover for guerrilla fighters, making it easier for Taliban fighters to move in from other districts.

Taliban Reinforcements

Some 400 Taliban prisoners escaped from a jail in Kandahar on June 13 with the help of a bold attack by militants outside of the facility.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar's provincial council and the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told RFE/RL that many of the besieged Taliban fighters are thought to be escaped prisoners. But he says they also have received reinforcements from other militants.

Villagers who have fled areas now under Taliban control say many of the Taliban reinforcements appear to be from Pakistan's tribal regions because they are wearing clothes and "pakol" hats from that region instead of the turbans worn by local Taliban.

There were no immediate reports on casualties among Afghan and NATO troops in the battle. But Afghan officials claim they killed 16 to 25 Taliban fighters during their initial strikes on June 18.

NATO, Afghan Troops Attack Villages Following Prison Break

2008-06-18T10:31:00.000-06:00

An Afghan National Army soldier keeps watch at a checkpoint in the Arghandab district of Kandahar as part of an operation against the Taliban

(AFP)

Afghan and NATO forces have launched a military operation against Taliban fighters who fled to villages and farmland north of Kandahar following a massive escape from a Kandahar prison on June 13.

The escapees appear to have been reinforced by militants who are infiltrating the area using canals, trees, and vineyards as cover.

General Carlos Branko, a spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan, told Radio Free Afghanistan on June 18 about the unfolding battle in the area.

Minapal says Afghan and NATO ground troops have set up blocking positions and are moving cautiously toward a series of villages where the Taliban are thought to have fortified themselves.

Destroyed Bridges, Planted Mines

Taliban Reinforcements

Some 400 Taliban prisoners escaped from a jail in Kandahar on June 13 with the help of a bold attack by militants outside of the facility.

There were no immediate reports on casualties among Afghan and NATO troops in the battle. But Afghan officials claim they killed 16 to 25 Taliban fighters during their initial strikes on June 18.

Baghdad blast death toll rises

2008-06-18T10:26:00.000-06:00

The death toll from a car bomb attack at a market in Baghdad, Iraq's capital, has risen to at least 63, Iraqi officials have said.

The Iraqi government said on Wednesday it will "defeat the terrorists and ... maintain the security achievements" after the bombing, which occurred in the Shia Muslim neighbourhood of Hurriyah the previous evening.

At least 75 other people were wounded in the blast, security officials said.

Tuesday's attack was the deadliest car bombing since March 13, when a parked car exploded near a bridge in Tahrir Square, killing 18 people.

US blame

Tuesday's attack was the deadliest car bombing since March 13, when a parked car exploded near a bridge in Tahrir Square, killing 18 people. Nobody has claimed responsibility.

Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover said the command believed the attack was carried out by a "special group" led by Haydar Mehdi Khadum al-Fawadi, who has been sought by US and Iraqi forces for months.

The US uses the terms "special groups" to describe splinter factions of the al-Mahdi Army, which is led by Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia religious leader.

Washington has repeatedly accused the Mahdi Army of receiving weaponry and assistance from Iran, Iraq's eastern neighbour.

"We believe [al-Fwadi] ordered the attack to incite [Shia] violence against Sunnis; that his intent was to disrupt Sunni resettlement in Hurriyah in order to maintain extortion of real estate rental income to support his nefarious activities," Stover said.

Amara crackdown

Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, has told security forces to refrain from random arrests of al-Sadr supporters during a new operation against militia groups.

Security forces are due to begin a crackdown in Maysan province and its capital Amara from Thursday.

"The prime minister has ordered security forces not to arrest members of the Sadr movement randomly," a statement issued by Maliki's office said.

"He has stressed that only outlaws must be arrested and he hopes that the Sadr leaders will help in isolating such elements to get rid of them."

Amara is said to be a stronghold of the al-Mahdi Army and a centre for weapons smuggling activity from Iran.

The clampdown on the city follows similar efforts in Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City district.

Taliban targeted near Kandahar

2008-06-18T10:20:00.001-06:00

At least two Afghan soldiers and about 20 Taliban fighters have been killed after Afghan and Nato forces launched an operation near the southern city of Kandahar.

The fighting in Arghandab province on Wednesday came after Taliban fighters staged a raid on Kandahar jail freeing hundreds of prisoners and took control of a number of villages.

"A group of enemies of the people was targeted by Nato air force in Ta-been village in Arghandab [district]," an Afghan defence ministry statement said.

"Based on information received, 20 local and foreign terrorists were killed."

Another statement said two Afghan soldiers were "martyred".

Meanwhile, four Nato soldiers died and two were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in Helmand province.

The British defence ministry confirmed the deaths on Wednesday, saying that one of those who died was a female soldier.

She would be the first British female soldier to die in Afghanistan.

Roads blocked

The Arghandab operation began at 8am local time [0300 GMT], the deffence ministry said.

Mark Laity, a Nato spokesman in Kabul, told Al Jazeera: "The operation is pretty much on track.

"There have been a number of engagements with the insurgents, but they have been minor rather than major battles.

"We have killed some insurgents but we have not yet suffered any Isaf [the International Security Assistance Force] casualties."

The number of troops involved in the operation is "substantial", he said.

"The bulk of the troops are from the Afghan army. They are leading that operation and we are backing them," said Laity.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Kandahar, said that the main road leading to Arghandab was blocked and that more army reinforcements were heading towards the district, including tanks, armoured vehicles and soldiers.

"The threat from the Taliban in Arghandab is being taken very seriously by the Afghan army and the coalition forces," he said.

"They are concerned that with the military operation going on, the Taliban could retaliate using suicide bombers and attack inside [the city of] Kandahar."

'Made progress'

Zemarai Bashari, spokesman for Afghanistan's interior ministry, said "the operation is going very well".

"Afghan security forces have made progress … the initial reports are stating that 16 enemies have been killed and around four others are injured."

He said that Afghan and Nato troops were carrying out the operation as a joint force with neither leading the other.

"This is a joint operation … everyone is playing their role and we are seeing very good co-ordination and implementation of this operation," Bashari said.

However, Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, denied that his group's fighters had been dislodged by the Afghan-Nato offensive.

"The fighting started today in the morning but they have not been able to take a metre of the land under our control. We do not intend to leave Arghandab at all," he said.

"We will use Arghandab for specific attacks with motors and cannons on targets in Kandahar city. We have also planned a suicide attack which will be carried out in Kandahar."

'No resistance'

Afghan and soldiers from the multinational force soldiers sealed off the Arghandab district on Tuesday, after the Taliban claimed its fighters had taken control of 10 villages.

The Taliban said it met no resistance as it took control of the villages.

Ahelbarra said on Tuesday that hundreds of Taliban fighters had taken up positions in the area.

It was unclear if the group was just trying to make a statement as it did late last year when it captured the same area for just a few days before retreating under heavy bombardment, or if it would try to take back control of large swaths of the country.

As soon as news of the Taliban takeover circulated, residents fled their villages, some of them with cattle and all their belongings. The Taliban encouraged them to leave.

"We left the area to protect ourselves from the bombing and the risks of a military confrontation. There are many Taliban fighters - some told us they are more than 800," one resident said.

Gholam Razeq, the district chief of Arghandab, said "the enemy wants to create insecurity in Arghandab which was the most secure area".

Haji Ikramullah Khan, a tribal leader from the region, cautioned that the Taliban fighters could use the cover of the district's grape and pomegranate orchards to mount an attack on Kandahar itself.

"All of Arghandab is made of orchards. The fighters can easily hide and easily fight," he said.

"It is quite close to Kandahar. During the Russian war, the Russians didn't even occupy Arghandab, because when they fought here they suffered big casualties."

Kandahar braces for Taliban battle

2008-06-17T10:57:00.000-06:00

Afghan and Nato forces are redeploying troops around the southern city of Kandahar in preparation for a possible large-scale battle with the Taliban.

The soldiers have sealed off the Arghandab district just 30km north of Kandahar where the Taliban claims around 500 of its fighters are now in control of 10 villages.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Kandahar, said the authorities had imposed a curfew and soldiers were building defensive lines, taking up positions on rooftops and patrolling just about everywhere as they await reinforcements for a counterattack on the areas taken by the Taliban.

Mark Laity, a Nato spokesman, said Nato and Afghan troops were being redeployed to the region to "meet any potential threats".

The Taliban offensive comes just few days after a suicide attack on Kandahar's main jail freed more than 1,000 prisoners.

"It's fair to say that the jailbreak has put a lot of people [fighters] into circulation who were not there before, and so obviously you're going to respond to that potential threat," Laity said.

'Message'

And with hundreds of its fighters controlling a large area north of Kandahar, the Taliban seems to be sending a message that seven years after being toppled, it is still a major force in Afghanistan.

The Taliban said it met no resistance as it took control of the villages and announced plans to march towards Kandahar city.

Our correspondent said that hundreds of Taliban fighters had taken up positions in the area and taken over villages in a well organised manner.

But it was unclear if the group was just trying to make a statement as it did late last year when it captured the same area for just a few days before retreating under heavy bombardment by international forces, or if it would try to take back control of large swaths of the country.

Villagers flee

Local residents were paying a heavy price for the instability.

Mohammad Farooq, a government official in Arghandab, said on Monday that around 500 Taliban fighters moved into the area and took over the villages.

As soon as news of the Taliban takeover circulated, residents in Arghandab fled their villages, some of them with cattle and all their belongings.

The Taliban also told residents to leave.

"We left the area to protect ourselves from the bombing and the risks of a military confrontation. There are many Taliban fighters some told us they are more than eight hundred," one resident said.

Gholam Razeq, the district chief of Arghandab, said "the enemy wants to create insecurity in Arghandab which was the most secure area".

But while he said the Taliban takeover of the whole area was just a matter of time, he also vowed that "as soon as we get reinforcements we will attack".

However, Haji Ikramullah Khan, a tribal leader from the region, warned that the fighters could use the cover of the district's grape and pomegranate orchards to mount an attack on Kandahar itself.

"All of Arghandab is made of orchards. The fighters can easily hide and easily fight," he said.

"It is quite close to Kandahar. During the Russian war, the Russians didn't even occupy Arghandab, because when they fought here they suffered big casualties."

Karzai's Retaliation Threat Inflames Relations With Pakistan

2008-06-17T10:55:00.001-06:00

Karzai has threatened to send Afghan troops across the Pakistani border

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pleaded for years with Islamabad to stop Taliban fighters based in Pakistan's tribal regions from launching attacks in Afghanistan.

In the past, Karzai has complained that Pakistani security forces have turned a blind eye to the Taliban's cross-border attacks, allowing them to strike and then flee back to safe havens in Pakistani territory.

But on June 15, Karzai raised his criticism to a new level. He accused Pakistani forces of supporting Taliban leaders in the tribal regions, and threatened to send Afghan troops across the border to kill extremist leaders.
"Afghanistan has the right of self-defense," Karzai said. "When they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and to kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to go back and do the same."

Karzai stressed that he was not threatening to invade Pakistan, saying instead that limited incursions were needed to kill specific Taliban leaders. Nevertheless, the threat angered Pakistan's new government, which summoned the Afghan ambassador to issue a formal complaint.

Pakistani Journalist Criticizes Nation Building In South-Central Asia

But U.S. President George W. Bush, asked on June 16 whether he supported Karzai's threat, made no reference to Islamabad's concerns about its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Instead, Bush urged Pakistan to work more closely with Afghan and U.S. forces in the fight against terrorism.

"Our strategy is to deny safe haven to extremists who would do harm to innocent people, and that's the strategy of Afghanistan," Bush said. "And it needs to be the strategy of Pakistan. It's in all of our interests to prevent those who murder innocent people to achieve political objectives to gain safe haven."

Bush’s comments come as relations between U.S. and Pakistani security forces appear to be at a new low. Last week, a U.S. air strike killed 11 Pakistani soldiers within Pakistani territory. The Pentagon says it targeted a group who had attacked U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and then fled back to Pakistan.

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan have complained for years about the trustworthiness of Pakistani security forces, telling RFE/RL and other international news organizations that informing Pakistan in advance about border operations against the Taliban meant risking the lives of U.S. troops.

Washington's growing distrust was highlighted last week by the release of a Pentagon-funded study by RAND Corporation. That study concludes that individuals in Pakistan's Frontier Corps and intelligence services support the Taliban by providing them with intelligence about the movements of coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and prominent author who is critical of the international approach in Afghanistan, tells RFE/RL that Washington has become frustrated with Pakistan's military.

"There is a very massive breakdown between the U.S. and the Pakistani military. I think talks between these two have failed," Rashid says. "Whatever the details are of this clash [and air strike], we really don't know what happened. There are many versions. But I think the real issue was that the Americans are clearly sending a very tough message to the Pakistanis."

Backing From Washington?

Analysts agree that without U.S. military support, Afghan forces would have little chance of success in a battle within Pakistan's tribal agencies. But it's unclear if Washington is willing to provide that support. James Phillips, a research fellow at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, believes Karzai’s threat does not have Washington’s backing.

"There is growing impatience in Washington with the new Pakistani government's cautious negotiations with radicals -- with the militants. But I don't see President Karzai's statement as indicating that there is backing in Washington for such a cross-border incursion," Phillips says. "President Karzai has his eye more on Afghan domestic politics. He knows that many Afghans see the Taliban as the cat's paw of Pakistan -- specifically of Pakistani intelligence. So it's popular [for Karzai] to threaten retaliation for the cross-border raids" by the Taliban, but that does not necessarily indicates that there is U.S. support for Karzai's threat, Phillips said.

Since he made the statement, Karzai has garnered considerable support among Afghans who blame Pakistan's policies for instability within Afghanistan.

There have been rallies in support of Karzai in the southeastern provinces of Paktia and Paktika as well as the western province of Herat. In the southern insurgency-plagued province of Helmand, and the northern province of Baghlan, similar gatherings have expressed support for the president.

Atta Mohammad Nur, the governor of the northern province of Balkh, said that he supports Karzai's incursion threat and that Afghans from the north are prepared to "make sacrifices" to protect the sovereignty of Afghanistan.

In Kabul, analyst Rashid Waziri tells RFE/RL that Pakistani interference in Afghan affairs is equivalent to a declaration of war. Waziri says a massive escape by Taliban prisoners on June 13 in Kandahar forced Karzai to issue a forceful warning.

"We have the right to strike our enemies inside Pakistan or its tribal territories," Waziri says. "The Turkish government gave itself the right to bomb and target Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and to eliminate their bases. So this is an international right. And everybody can benefit from it."

'Provocative' Threat

But in Pakistan, such reactions are treated with suspicion. Mehmood Shah, a retired Pakistani brigadier general who formerly headed security affairs in the tribal regions, tells RFE/RL from Peshawar that Karzai's threat is provocative and violates international law.

Shah also argues that Karzai's statements, and the reactions from the Bush administration, could indicate U.S. plans to expand operations into Pakistan's tribal areas.

Shah warns that cross-border attacks by Afghan troops would undermine the global war against terrorism, and spread instability throughout the region. He also maintains that the current democratically elected coalition government in Pakistan may be too weak to formulate a comprehensive policy toward Afghanistan.

"In Pakistan, the government needs a comprehensive [anti-terror] strategy," Shah says. "This strategy needs to aim at establishing the government's authority over the tribal territories. This policy should be debated in the parliament and the Pakistani military. The ISI [intelligence service] and civilian administration need to implement such a policy wholeheartedly."

Zahid Khan is a spokesman in Peshawar for the secular Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party, which leads the provincial government in the Northwest Frontier Province. He says that as long as there are elements in Pakistan threatening and endangering the security of neighbors, Islamabad should be ready to face retaliation.

Khan maintains that the two peace deals the provincial government concluded with pro-Taliban militants in the Swat region have been effective. But he says the provincial government has been denied any role in the more significant peace deals the military was negotiating with Taliban leader Baitullah Mahsud and other Taliban commanders across the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"As long as there is no peace in Afghanistan, there will be no peace in [Pakistan’s] tribal areas," Khan says. In turn, if there is no peace in the tribal areas, instability throughout Pakistan and the region will follow, he says.

Khan adds that it was necessary for all sides to negotiate a peaceful settlement, and called on the Taliban to renounce violence and participate peacefully in politics. After a negotiated political settlement, "everybody should have the freedom to campaign for their ideology and ask for people’s votes. But using violence for strong-arming a country into accepting a political solution is wrong. This will only result in more innocent bloodshed," Khan says.

Bush has said the United States can help calm tensions between Islamabad and Kabul by developing a common strategy to eliminate safe havens for militants in the tribal regions -- and by working together to prevent Taliban fighters from moving freely across the border.

Bush also has suggested restarting talks between Afghan and Pakistani tribal leaders on both sides of the border. He said those talks should be conducted under the auspices of a cross-border Jirga -- a council of tribal elders -- similar to one that brought together Pashtun tribal leaders from both sides of the border in 2006. Pakistani Taliban leaders were not part of those talks.

But while such statements belie a desire for a political solution, the situation on the ground is likely to determine any future course of action. Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military commander, for now has ruled out U.S. military action in the tribal areas. Nevertheless, Mullen underscored the threat in Pakistan’s tribal areas in an interview with the “Los Angeles Times” on June 11, saying any future terrorist attack on U.S. soil is likely to originate there.

Britain sends more troops to Afghanistan

2008-06-16T10:51:00.000-06:00

Britain is to send more troops to Afghanistan Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has announced.

"Today, Britain will announce additional troops for Afghanistan, bringing our numbers in Afghanistan to the highest level," Brown told reporters in a joint press conference with George Bush, the US president in London on Monday.

The announcement came as the body of the 100th British troop to die in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 was being repatriated.

The move is expected to take the number of British soldiers to about 8,000 in the country where they have been involved in fierce fighting with the Taliban.

"We have resolved ... it is in the British national interest to confront the Taliban in Afghanistan, or Afghanistan would come to us," Brown said at the conference.

"Eighteen months ago, the Taliban boasted that they and their paid foreign fighters would drive our forces out of southern Helmand.

"Now, most agree that security is on the way to being transformed."

Military deaths

Des Browne, Britain's defence secretary, was to make a full statement in parliament later on Monday.

An official in Brown's office said earlier that about 230 engineers, logistical staff and military trainers would begin a tour of duty over the next few weeks.

Five British troops were killed last week, bringing the total number of military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001 to 102.

Britain has approximately 7,800 soldiers in Afghanistan, most of whom are in Helmand fighting the Taliban, who have been fighting since being removed from power in the 2001 US-led invasion of the country.

Iran standoff

On Iran, Brown said: "Today, Britain will urge Europe, and Europe will agree to take further sanctions against Iran.

"We will take action today that will freeze the overseas assets of the biggest bank in Iran, the Melli bank, and secondly action will start today for a new phase of sanctions on oil and gas," he said at the conference, apparently referring to EU ministerial talks taking place in Luxembourg.

He noted that Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, had had a latest round of talks with Iran over the weekend.

"We await the Iranian response and will do everything possible to maintain the dialogue," he said.

"We will take any necessary action so that Iran is aware of the choice it has to make to start to play its part as a full and respected member of the international community or face further isolation."

Bush warned that he had not ruled out the use of force to end Iran's nuclear work, but said that he hoped to end the crisis diplomatically.

"Now's the time to work together to get it done," Bush said

"All options are on the table, however."

Anti-war protests

Bush’s current visit to Britain, part of a "farewell" tour of Europe, was marred by anti-Iraq war protests.

Security was tight with London's Metropolitan Police saying they had deployed about 1,200 officers to secure the president's 24-hour visit to Britain.

Up to 2,500 demonstrators took to the streets to oppose the visit.

The rally in London's Parliament Square on Sunday was held 300m from Downing Street where Bush was dining with Brown.

Protesters called Bush a "terrorist" and voiced their opposition to the so-called "war on terror".

Twenty-five people were arrested after violence broke out between police and demonstrators who pelted officers with placards as they tried to breach a police cordon set up near the prime minister's Downing Street residence.

Police officers were seen beating protesters with batons.

Deaths in Pakistan mosque blast

2008-06-16T10:48:00.000-06:00

At least four people have been killed after an explosive device went off at a mosque in northwest Pakistan, police said.

Two others were also injured in the blast on Monday.

It was not immediately clear who planted the device at the small mosque belonging to a Shia community in the town of Dera Ismail Khan.

"Four people were killed and two others were injured when a timed explosive device went off at a mosque," Abdul Ghaffar Qaiserani, a district police chief, said.

He also said that people were coming out of the mosque after prayer when the blast went off.

The blast shattered the mosque's front wall and damaged its dome.

Twisted fans hung from the ceiling inside the mosque and prayer mats were scattered across the bloodstained floor.
Police cordoned off the area as people sifted debris looking for survivors.
Shias account for about 20 per cent of Pakistan's 160 million, predominantly Sunni population.

The groups usually co-exist peacefully but outbreaks of sectarian violence involving fighters from both sides have claimed more than 4000 lives across Pakistan since the late 1980s.

Taliban seize Afghan villages

2008-06-16T10:42:00.000-06:00

Afghan Map

June 16,2008 -- Taliban fighters have taken control of 10 villages in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province in Afghanistan, and have said they plan to march towards Kandahar city.

Mohammad Farooq, a government official in Arghandab, said on Monday that around 500 Taliban fighters moved into the area and took over the villages.

Arghandab lies 30km north of Kandahar city.

Haji Ikramullah Khan, a tribal leader from the region warned that the fighters could use the cover of the district's grape and pomegranate orchards to mount an attack on Kandahar itself.

Launching pad

"All of Arghandab is made of orchards. The fighters can easily hide and easily fight," he said.

"It is quite close to Kandahar. During the Russian war, the Russians didn't even occupy Arghandab, because when they fought here they suffered big casualties."

The Taliban offensive follows the escape of more than 1000 Taliban and other prisoners in a suicide attack on the main jail in the southern city of Kandahar on Friday night, which also left many prison guards dead.

Mark Laity, a Nato spokesman, said that Nato and Afghan military officials were redeploying troops to the region to "meet any potential threats".

"It's fair to say that the jailbreak has put a lot of people [fighters] into circulation who were not there before, and so obviously you're going to respond to that potential threat," he said.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Kandahar, said that hundreds of Taliban fighters are taking up positions in the area and taking over nearby villages.

"Ultimately, it is local residents who are paying a heavy price for this increasing instability," he said.

"The Taliban are showing impressive capability in manoeuvring in and around the area."

Child killed

In other violence in Afghanistan, a 12-year-old child was killed by a roadside bomb, while a baby and a woman have been wounded in an air raid by US-led forces in the east of the country.

An interior ministry statement said on Monday the student was on his way to school in the Yaqoubi district of eastern Khost province when he was killed a day earlier.

A roadside blast also struck an Afghan army vehicle in the Girishk district of southern Helmand province on Sunday, wounding two soldiers, police said.

In the US-led air raid against Taliban fighters in the Arghandab district of southern Zabul province, two armed men were killed, police said.
"Coalition aircraft targeted a Taliban position as part of the same operation which wounded a woman and a child," police said.

Both wounded were receiving treatment in hospital, he said.

The violence came after Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, sparked a major row with neighbouring Pakistan by threatening to launch attacks on fighters allegedly hiding in Pakistani territory.

The Taliban have stepped up an insurgency against Karzai's US-backed government since being removed from power in late 2001, resulting in the loss of thousands of lives.

Karzai threatens Pakistan raids

2008-06-15T13:45:00.000-06:00

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has issued a forceful warning to Taliban fighters in Pakistan, saying he will send Afghan troops across the border to fight them.
Karzai, speaking at a news conference on Sunday, said Afghanistan has the right to self defence.

When fighters cross over from Pakistan and kill Afghans, Afghan forces have "the right to do the same", he said.

Karzai also warned Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistan-based Taliban leader, that Afghan forces "will go after him now and hit him in his house".

He gave the same warning to Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Pakistani reaction

Reacting to Karzai's stern warning, Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, said Islamabad will not allow anyone to interfere in its internal affairs.

"We will neither interfere in the internal affairs of any country, nor will we allow anyone to interfere in our affairs," Gilani told private ARY-OneWorld television.

"Such statements will not help in the normalisation of friendly relations between the two countries and will hurt the sentiments of people on both sides of the border," Gilani said.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Peshawar, said that Karzai's comments are likely to cause more anger in Pakistan.

"When Karzai says his forces will go into Pakistan, this kind of talk will not go down well in Islamabad because Pakistan has already been complaining to Nato and US forces for violating the sovereignty of Pakistan," he said.

"We also have to remember the historcal context with respect to relations between the two countries, and they have now come to a very low point, and may further slide if Afghan forces enter Pakistani territory."

Manhunt

Meanwhile, more than 15 anti-government fighters have been killed in Afghanistan during the hunt for those who escaped from prison after a Taliban attack, US-led forces said.

Afghan and international troops have been searching for more than 1,100 inmates who fled after the Taliban blasted open a prison in the southern city of Kandahar on Friday.

During the search, air strikes were called in west of Rawonay, Kandahar province, to destroy a farming compound, the US-led forces said in a statement on Sunday.

Five people were also captured but it has not been confirmed if those killed or detained had been prisoners from the Kandahar jail.

Weapons found

"A large cache of munitions and IED components were discovered during the search," the statement said.

"The combined forces used precision air strikes to destroy the compound after insurgents attacked with small-arms fire."

Sayed Agha Saqib, Kandahar's police chief, said that 14 people who broke out of the prison had been recaptured.

Six others were taken back into custody on Saturday.

The Taliban said 400 of its own fighters had escaped in the prison attack, which they said had been planned over two months.

Afghan authorities put the number of prisoners who fled at 886, of whom more than 380 were Taliban fighters.

Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), which is separate from the US-led forces, said more than 1,100 prisoners had escaped.

Afghan authorities have launched an investigation to find out if any government officials were involved in the jailbreak which began when a suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with bombs into the jail gate and blew it up.

Several dozen Taliban fighters, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, then stormed the mud-built compound and freed the prisoners.

A Taliban spokesman said all Taliban prisoners had reached "safe destinations".

Separately, US-led forces killed several fighters in ground and air strikes in the Garmser district of the neighbouring Helmand province on Saturday, the US military said.

Manhunt follows Taliban jail attack

2008-06-14T12:48:00.000-06:00

A hunt is under way for more than 870 prisoners who escaped from a jail in southern Afghanistan after Taliban fighters blew it open, killing 15 security guards.

The Taliban claimed 400 fighters escaped after the raid in the city of Kandahar late on Friday.

A suicide-bomb blast preceded a fierce gun attack on the prison guards.

A state of emergency has been declared in the southern Afghan province of the same name.

Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai, the Afghan deputy justice minister, said the Taliban spent two months planning the raid and it was their most sophisticated yet.

"A massive operation is under way to find the escaped inmates," Hashimzai told the AFP news agency.

"The Afghan security forces are searching for them within the city and along the main and secondary roads."

None of the escaped inmates have been caught yet, Hashimzai said.

Large numbers of security forces, including those of from the US-trained Afghan national army, have been deployed to search vehicles, AFP reports.

General Carlos Branco, a spokesman for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), said: "Afghanistan national security forces and Isaf forces have cordoned off the area to re-establish security and recapture the escapees."

Taliban's account

The attack came a day after world donors gathered at a conference in Paris and pledged $20bn to rebuild Afghanistan but also called on Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, to strengthen security.

Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesperson, said the fighters used suicide bombers and detonated a bomb-laden water tanker as part of the attack.

"First we exploded two suicide attacks and then our mujahidin (holy warriors) riding motorcycles entered the prison and killed the remaining security guards," Ahmadi said.

"We successfully freed all prisoners, including jailed Taliban and other prisoners."

A statement posted on the Taliban website later said about 400 Taliban-linked fighters and several hundred other inmates were freed from the prison.

The statement, signed by Ahmadi, said the Taliban had planned the attack two months ago.

Afghan officials said seven prison guards were killed in the attack. They had earlier said bodies of 15 guards had been recovered.

Co-ordinated attack

Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Afghanistan, quoted witnesses as saying a vehicle carrying an attacker blew up near the prison gate before other fighters joined the battle and killed the guards.

"It was a co-ordinated attack and they [Taliban fighters] got assistance from the guards within the jail," Ahelbarra said.

Mark Laity, a Nato civilian spokesman, told Al Jazeera: "The release of a significant number of Taliban members is something of a setback."

"They managed to launch this attack and they succeeded, obviously we will have to learn lessons and we'll have to check to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again.

"It is an increased security problem, this is an extra problem for us but I don’t want to overstate it. This is a bad day but this is not a bad year," he said.

Kandahar jail was the scene of a mass hunger strike by hundreds of inmates in May, during which 47 of the prisoners sewed their lips shut after complaining they had been tortured and denied fair trials.

Prisoners, including al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, rioted at Afghanistan's main Pul-e-Charki jail, in the capital Kabul, in February 2006, taking control of a block and leaving several people injured.

Many Important Taliban Among Hundreds Of Prison Escapees

2008-06-14T12:41:00.000-06:00

Police outside Kandahar's main jail, where a suicide bombing launched an attack that freed as many as 900 inmates

Hundreds of prisoners have escaped from a jail in southern Afghanistan, including many "important" Taliban militants, after their accomplices blasted open the prison gate in an overnight attack in Kandahar.

A state of emergency has been declared in the province, and police and troops are on the streets with all residents ordered to stay in their homes.

Kandahar Provincial Council head Ahmed Wali Karzai told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that 800-900 inmates of Sarposa prison are now on the run in the volatile province, which was a traditional Taliban stronghold.

"No one knows the number exactly, but there were around 390 Taliban prisoners in that prison and around 600 or 700 more [who] were criminal prisoners. Two hundred prisoners are still here in the prison -- the rest of them escaped," said Ahmed Wali Karzai, who is Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother.

He said many of the escaped Taliban were high-ranking field commanders who "were organizing suicide attacks." He ran off a list of names that included Mullah Kayom, Mullah Gulbari, Mullah Kayom, Khaled Agha, and "some others who were extremely important."

"They were important because they were able to do most of the assassinations, the killings of government officials and suicide attacks and these types of activities," he said of the escapees.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, confirmed that its fighters were behind the commando-style attack, carried out by at least one suicide bomber and other militants using small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Afghan Deputy Justice Minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai said that "ISAF forces [and] government security department officials are now checking the roads around Kandahar" and inspecting vehicles "to see if they can capture inmates [trying] to leave the city."

At least 15 security guards were reported killed in the assault. Hashimzai said that around 10:00 p.m. "a suicide bomber, together with a truckload of ammunition and explosives," destroyed the prison gate before rockets were fired to demolish the top floor of one of the prison blocks to "open the way for the inmates to manage to escape."

"I was in my shop [when] suddenly I heard a huge bang and I was so afraid -- all the windows of my shop broke," shopkeeper Abdul Sattar said. "Some 20 minutes later, I came out of my shop and saw armed men and prisoners running toward the villages and orchards. When I came back in the morning, I saw that the prisoners had escaped and our shops were destroyed."

Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai, a deputy minister at the Afghan Justice Ministry, said that, as a precaution, the prison's chief official, Abdul Qabir, is under investigation for possible involvement.

Karzai suggested that the breakout is a major security breach that will be of great concern to the Afghan central government and security forces.

"People in Kandahar are used to this type of things, but it's a big blow to the security forces," Karzai said. "It was a huge success for the Taliban."

Kandahar Province is one of the key battlegrounds in the Taliban's insurgency against President Hamid Karzai as well as Afghan and foreign troops.

In May, hundreds of inmates at Kandahar jail ended a weeklong hunger strike after a parliamentary delegation promised to address their demands. They were demanding fair trials and complained of torture by prison authorities.

A group of Taliban prisoners briefly took control of a block in Pol-e Charkhi prison in Kabul in 2006 before it was recaptured by security personnel. Several inmates and security personnel were wounded in the armed encounter.

In 2005, four foreign Al-Qaeda members escaped from a high-security prison at Bagram airfield, Afghanistan's main U.S. military base, north of Kabul.

Debate Flares Over U.S. Security Pact

2008-06-12T10:59:00.000-06:00

Some Iraqi politicians object to the idea of future U.S. bases in their country

(epa)

Negotiations between Washington and Baghdad over a new security pact are turning into a political crisis in Baghdad.

The talks are intended to establish the legal conditions under which U.S. troops will remain in Iraq after their UN mandate expires at the end this year.

Not a great deal is known publicly about the details of the negotiations over the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Washington and the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. That is because both sides are keeping their negotiating stances secret -- precisely to avoid the slowdown of a larger public debate.

But the strategy is producing unintended consequences. In the absence of information, Iraq's fractious politicians have become the public's main source for information about the deal and the tension level is rising steadily.

"We have found a formulation marked by arrogance, dictates, and coercion toward the Iraqi side," Husayn al-Falluji, a leading member of the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, the Iraqi Accordance Front, told Radio Free Iraq on June 11.

"If we have to choose between this agreement and Iraq remaining internationalized under Chapter 7 [of the UN Charter], we are for keeping Iraq at the mercy of Chapter 7 rather than the mercy of a U.S. presence entailing a more uncertain future than at present," al-Falluji added.

Some politicians have gone further, saying Baghdad has put forward its own terms in an apparent showdown with Washington:

"There are in fact two drafts on the table, one presented by the American negotiators and the other from their Iraqi counterparts," Hassan al-Sinaid, a member of the parliament's Security and Defense Committee, told Radio Free Iraq earlier this week.

"The U.S. draft contains extensive, open-ended powers to be enjoyed by the U.S. forces in terms of strength, movement, and tasks," he said. "That is why the Iraqi delegation has rejected these provisions in their entirety as a violation of Iraq's sovereignty."

Often, the debate over the SOFA has the air of a virtual reality, because there is no way to independently verify what is actually being negotiated. On the one hand, there are reported leaks from Iraqi officials and party leaders. On the other hand, there are statements from Washington and Baghdad that all that is under discussion is proposals, with nothing fixed yet.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has dismissed much of what Iraqi politicians say is being discussed, yet added no details of his own.

"This furor that has been kicked up [about the agreement] is politically motivated," Zebari told Radio Free Iraq recently. "It is political posturing because we have made it clear from the beginning that there will be no secret provisions or attachments. When we have an agreement it will be submitted to parliament, to the representatives of the people for approval."

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has also sought to calm tensions. "Nothing has been finalized," he said on June 11. "It takes time for ideas to mature and converge. The Iraqi delegation is committed to safeguarding Iraq's sovereignty in every step and in all talks."

Terms Of Agreement

The SOFA is widely reported to contain the following terms: The United States wants to maintain 58 long-term bases in Iraq after the UN mandate for international forces expires at the end of this year.

Iraqi officials say Washington also wants the U.S. troops to be able to continue hunting down and engaging enemy combatants without prior approval from Baghdad.

And Iraqi officials say Washington wants authority to detain and hold Iraqis without turning them over to the Iraqi judicial system and wants immunity from Iraqi prosecution for both U.S. troops and private security contractors.

Satterfield said he was confident an agreement can be reached in time (epa)Finally, Washington is also reported to want continued control over Iraq's airspace, including the right to refuel planes in the air.

Washington has not commented on these reported terms. U.S. President George W. Bush has only said the agreement contains what is necessary to guarantee Iraq's security and stability.

"I strongly support the agreement because I think it helps send a clear message to the people of Iraq that security they're now seeing will continue," Bush told reporters in Germany on June 11.

"And one of the lessons of Iraq is that in order for a democracy to develop, in order for an economy to develop, there has to be a measure of security, which is now happening," he added. "So, I think we'll get the agreement done. And as I said clearly in past speeches, this will not involve permanent bases, nor will it bind any future president to troop levels."

Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki agreed in November last year on the need for providing a legal basis for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq to defend it against threats and encourage foreign investment to support reconstruction. Washington set a goal for completing the deal by the end of July.

But as the debate among Iraqi politicians grows, it's becoming increasingly unclear whether the SOFA -- at least in its reported terms -- could gain parliamentary approval.

The difficultly of trying to predict passage was further complicated this week by some Iraqi lawmakers saying on that the United States has submitted new proposals to soften Iraqi opposition.

The U.S. State Department's top adviser for Iraq, David Satterfield, did not comment on the talks' progress as he visited Baghdad on June 10. However, he said Washington is confident an agreement "can be achieved, and by the end-of-July deadline," and that "we want to see Iraqi sovereignty strengthened, not weakened."

The United States has more than 80 bilateral agreements in countries where U.S. forces are stationed. But the SOFA negotiations with Iraq are particularly complex because the U.S. forces are engaged in combat in the country and are supplemented in security efforts by tens of thousands of private contractors.

The negotiations are also complicated by Iran's fierce opposition to any deal. Tehran, which has strong ties with Iraq's ruling Shi'ite political parties, has accused Washington of seeking a base in Iraq for attacking Iran. Washington denies any such intention.

In an effort to learn more about the usual terms for SOFAs, a delegation of Iraqi parliamentarians is now on a fact-finding trip to some of the other countries with which Washington has such accords. The delegation is due back in Iraq this week.

The coming days will tell whether this and other efforts to bridge the reported differences between the U.S. and Iraqi positions bear fruit.

If they do not, the fallback position is one that has little appeal for either Washington or Baghdad. That is to extend the UN mandate on Iraq in order to gain the time to try to negotiate a SOFA anew next year.

Relations With U.S. In Crisis After Clash Across Afghan Border

2008-06-12T10:54:00.000-06:00

Pakistani troops in the border regions

(AFP)

Relations between U.S. and Pakistani military forces are in crisis after clashes and a U.S. air strike that hit a Pakistani border post and killed 11 Pakistani soldiers.

Islamabad has called the strike "unprovoked," but the Pentagon says Pakistani troops attacked U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's army says the U.S. air strike early on June 11 on a border post in the Mohmand tribal region "struck at the very basis of cooperation" between the two countries in the war against terrorism.

Describing the attack by an unmanned Predator aircraft as "cowardly and unprovoked," Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the parliament in Islamabad that a formal complaint is being sent to Washington.

"We will take a stand for sovereignty. We will take a stand for dignity. We will take a stand for self-respect. And we will not allow our soil [to be attacked]. We totally condemn it and will take up the matter through the Foreign Office," Gilani said.

Taliban Fight

But in Washington, U.S. Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell defended the U.S. air strike as "legitimate" -- saying the Pakistani troops at the outpost were "hostile" and had attacked U.S. forces across the border in Afghanistan.

"Every indication we have at this point is that the actions that were taken by U.S. forces were legitimate in that they were in self-defense after U.S. forces operating on the border of Pakistan -- in Afghanistan territory -- came under attack from hostile forces. And in self-defense they called in an air strike which took out those forces that were attacking them," Morrell said.

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan have told RFE/RL and other international media in the past that they do not trust Pakistani security forces on the other side of the border.

Pakistan is supposed to be a key ally in the U.S.-led fight against the Taliban. But U.S. commanders in southern Afghanistan have told RFE/RL that sharing intelligence with Pakistan ahead of a U.S. military operation near the border put the lives of U.S. troops at risk. The U.S. commanders say they fear elements within Pakistan's security forces share U.S. military intelligence with the Taliban -- giving them advanced warning about a U.S.-led attack or even providing information about U.S. positions that help the Taliban carry out their own attacks.

But until recently, it was unusual to hear the Pentagon make such allegations about Pakistani forces.

Low Point

Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, a noted author on the Taliban militants, says relations between the United States and Pakistani security forces appear to be at a low point since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.

Writing as a guest columnist for the BBC this week, Rashid noted a crescendo of international criticism against Pakistan recently because of peace deals made with the Taliban in the tribal regions -- deals that critics say are allowing Taliban fighters to freely cross the border to attack U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Criticism of the peace deals has been made by U.S. officials and lawmakers, NATO commanders, European leaders, UN administrators, and the Afghan government.

June 9 marked the release of a new Pentagon-funded study by the RAND Corporation on the counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan. That study alleges that individuals from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate and Frontier Corps provide direct assistance to the Taliban and other terrorist groups in the tribal regions.

The author of the study, Seth Jones, says the Taliban and other militants still find refuge in the tribal regions, the Northwest Frontier Province, and Baluchistan because Pakistan's security forces have failed to root them out. Jones concludes that if Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan are not eliminated, the United States and its NATO allies will face crippling long-term consequences in their effort to stabilize and rebuild Afghanistan.

Pentagon Report

Michael Shaik, an expert on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group, tells RFE/RL that the report is particularly significant because it is funded by the Pentagon.

"A lot of different organizations, including ours, have been talking about this for the past several years. There has been clear evidence that the Taliban leadership has used Pakistani soil to carry out the insurgency in Afghanistan. So really, the findings of this are nothing new," Shaik says. "What is new is that it is a [U.S.] Defense Department-funded report. RAND has finally come to this realization that individuals in the Pakistani ISI and in the Frontier Corps have been aiding and abetting the Taliban. Individuals. The U.S. administration and also the Pakistani military [have failed] to take these allegations seriously."

But Shaik and other experts on security in the region also note that the RAND study does not go as far as supporting allegations made by government officials in Kabul and New Delhi -- namely, that those individuals in Pakistan's security forces and the ISI support cross-border militancy as part of a covert government plan to achieve Islamabad's foreign-policy goals in the region.

Christopher Langton, head of the defense analysis department at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, tells RFE/RL that the RAND report does reflect growing frustration in Washington about Islamabad's failure to root out Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.

"People in the United States are beginning to realize the limitations on Pakistan in dealing with this incredibly difficult problem. And, of course, the Taliban were created by Pakistan with western concurrence at the time. Therefore, it's very, very difficult for Pakistan to wind that clock back," Langton says.

Langton says critics of Pakistan shouldn't ignore the complex domestic political situation that Islamabad faces over the deployment of its troops near the Afghan border.

"There are significant efforts [by Islamabad]. Pakistan has lost nearly 900 troops fighting in the Federal Administered Tribal Areas. Pakistan is suffering a huge number of suicide attacks across the country. And I don't think people should forget this. That's not to say more cannot be done. It probably can. But the domestic difficulties for Pakistan are actually huge," Langton says.

Analysts do agree, however, that fighting between Pakistani and U.S. troops on the Afghan border has raised the crisis in bilateral relations to a new level.

Donors Conference Opens In Paris

2008-06-12T10:49:00.000-06:00

President Hamid Karzai, seen at the launch of construction of a new school, is seeking $50 billion in rebuilding funds

(Pajhwak Afghan News)

An international donors' conference at which organizers hope to raise billions of dollars in reconstruction aid for Afghanistan has opened in Paris.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy inaugurated the conference, which is being attended by delegates from more than 65 countries and 15 international organizations.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai asked participants to support a $50 billion, five-year plan to rebuild his country in the face of an ongoing insurgency.

Karzai said Afghanistan still needs large-scale support from the international community.

He also emphasized that the aid must be spent wisely in an apparent reference to donors' concerns that Afghan state structures cannot handle the aid they already have, let alone billions of dollars in new commitments.

Karzai also urged Afghanistan's neighbors to join with Kabul in fighting terror, saying the problem can only be tackled at regional level.

"The fight against international terrorism calls for a regional political commitment that is based on sincere partnership and cooperation, recognizing that the menace of terrorism is a threat to the entire region," Karzai said.

U.S. First Lady Laura Bush urged world donors not to turn their backs on Afghanistan, saying the country has reached "a decisive moment for its future." She confirmed that the United States is pledging $10 billion in aid to Afghanistan over the next two years.

Some other pledges of assistance were announced before the forum got under way. The World Bank said it would provide around $1.1 billion over five years, and Germany pledged $655 million.

However, the money raised at the conference is expected to fall well below the $50 billion total requirement set out by Karzai. Donor countries are worried about large sums of money being swallowed up by Afghanistan's pervasive corruption.

Diplomats noted that the conference would also seek ways to improve coordination on reconstruction projects among foreign nongovernmental organizations.

AP quoted Brad Adams, Asia director of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), as saying donors cannot simply offer money and ignore the need for systemic reform in Afghanistan.

At least 30 Afghan Civilians Killed by US Forces

2008-06-11T11:38:00.000-06:00

Afghanistan Map

June 11,2008 -- “US aircraft bombed several houses in Ebrahim Kariz village and killed around 40 civilians… first the military forces bombed the area and then descended soldiers from helicopters” (Prof. Marc W. Herold)

At 10 P.M. on Tuesday night, June 10, 2008, in the village of Ebrahim Kariz, Mata Khan district of Paktika Province. US occupation forces launched an air and ground attack upon the village allegedly targeting a “militant hideout.” Residents said that dozens of civilians were killed. Haji Mangal, a tribal leader, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) that “US aircraft bombed several houses in Ebrahim Kariz village and killed around 40 civilians… first the military forces bombed the area and then descended soldiers from helicopters,” adding that the dead included women and children. Given the time of the attack (10 P.M.) this seems very probable. Some hours later, an Afghan lawmaker from the province said he had spoken with several sources who told him 33 civilians were killed. 'I have information from the area that 33 people - including women, children, schoolteachers, school students - were killed in the air raid,' said Khalid Farouqi, member of the Afghan parliament. Farouqi said government sources told him eight of the dead were Taliban militants but added, 'I have accurate information from the area that all of them are civilians.'

U.S. occupation forces admitted that the dead included three women and a boy, but quickly shifted the blame in the scripted manner according to the tried practices of military news management: a senior U.S. military spokeswoman trained in “public relations”, Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green in Kabul called it “tragic” that civilians died because “militants” had put them in harm’s way. Amen.

The reporting by the news agencies is revealing. The wire story headlines were:

“U.S.-led Forces say Kill 4 Afghan Civilians in Raid” (Reuters on June 11 at 3:12 AM EDT)

“US Airstrikes Kill Several Afghan Civilians, say Survivors” (DPA on June 11 at 7:54 GMT)

“Four Civilians, Several Rebels Killed in Afghan Raid: US Forces” (AFP on June 11 at 4 AM EDT)

“Afghan Officials: 31 Killed in Airstrikes” (Associated Press on June 11 at 5:30 AM EDT)

“US Coalition: 4 Afghan Civilians, Militants Killed” (Associated Press on June 11 at 3 AM EDT)”

“35 Civilians Killed in Paktika Operation” (Pajhwok Afghan News on June 11 at about 6:45 AM EDT)

“US Airstrikes Kill 33 Civilians, says Afghan Lawmaker” (DPA on June 11 at 11:28 GMT)

As usual, the Associated Press serves as diligent stenographer of the Pentagon’s virtual reality, whereas DPA quotes survivors and local officials saying over 30 civilians were killed. The local independent Pajhwok Afghan News headlined 35 civilians killed in Paktika operation.

Bush Says Diplomacy Is First Choice In Dealing With Iran

2008-06-11T11:32:00.000-06:00

George W. Bush and Angela Merkel (right)

(AFP)

U.S. President George W. Bush has reiterated that diplomacy is his first choice in dealing with Iran -- but that "all options" remain on the table.

Speaking at a news conference in Germany, following talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush said Washington was working hard with its European allies to persuade Tehran to reverse its policy of uranium enrichment.

But he said more punitive measures could follow if Iran ignored those calls.

"My first choice, of course, is to solve this diplomatically. All options are on the table," Bush said. "The first choice is to solve this problem by working together by sending a dual message, which has been a consistent policy of this administration, that if you verifiably suspend your enrichment programs, you'll end your isolation."

At a summit in Slovenia in June 10, Bush and European leaders warned Iran that they would add new measures to current United Nations sanctions if Iran does not suspend uranium-enrichment activities.

Bush also focused on the situation in Iraq. In an interview published in "The Times" newspaper of London, the U.S. president was quoted as saying he regretted the fact that some people believed he had been "anxious for war" in Iraq.

Bush was asked in Germany whether -- in retrospect -- going to war was a mistake. "You don't get to do things over in my line of work," he said. "But I could have used better rhetoric to indicate that, one, we tried -- exhausted diplomacy in Iraq; two, that I don't like war. But no, the decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision."

Bush said he expects the United States to conclude a strategic security pact with Iraq, despite the controversy the potential agreement has caused in Baghdad.

He said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki supports the deal. And he emphasized that the United States is not seeking to build permanent military bases in Iraq

Merkel and Bush devoted a significant portion of their joint news conference to the issue of climate change.

Bush said it was crucial for large, developing nations -- especially China and India -- to be part of any successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

"Step one of solving the problem is for nations who actually emit carbon dioxide to agree to a goal -- and that's not just European nations, that's the United States along with China and India -- and, once that goal is agreed to, then develop long-term and interim strategies that are binding strategies to meet those goals," Bush said.

Both Merkel and Bush said they hope to make progress on a deal during climate talks next month on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Japan.

Bush travels to Italy next, on the third step of his farewell European tour, for talks with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

compiled from agency reports

Pakistan lawyers on 'long march'

2008-06-10T10:46:00.001-06:00

About 1,000 Pakistani lawyers and political activists are undertaking a cross-country rally to demand the restoration of judges sacked by Pervez Musharraf, the president.

The protest, due to end in Islamabad, the capital, on the weekend, aims to increase pressure on Musharraf to step down.

Iftikar Muhammad Chaudhry, Pakistan's deposed chief justice, has set off from his home in Islamabad on Tuesday to join the lawyers and activists.

He is flying down to Lahore to meet the protesters.

Lawyers have spearheaded opposition to Musharraf since the former army chief tried to dismiss Chaudhry last year.

Chaudhry and dozens of other judges were dismissed after Musharraf declared emergency rule in November.

Tough test

"We are out to save the judiciary. We are out to save the country," Mehmood-ul-Hassan, president of the Karachi Bar Association, told the rally as lawyers chanted "Go Musharraf" in a street in the centre of Karachi.

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "It is going to be a real test for the government and the judiciary.

"Because this is a make-it or break-it' for the judiciary.

"This is a very big march they have organised and they have had to organise it because ... there are serious divisions within the ruling coalition as to the fate of the president at the moment."

Dubbed a "long march" even though the lawyers will travel in a motor convoy from Karachi to Multan, where the march to Islamabad will officially begin, it is the first major protest the new government will have to contend with.

Both sides have vowed to keep the peace, with the Pakistan government saying that the lawyers have the right to protest.

The protest could also trigger even deeper splits in the coalition led by the party of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister, which is seen as dragging its feet on the restoration of Chaudhry and other sacked judges.

Death Threats, Intimidation Part Of Journalists' Daily Lives

2008-06-10T10:39:00.000-06:00

Slain journalist Abdul Samad Rohani

(AFP)

Afghan journalists are becoming increasingly bold about reporting on serious problems facing their society -- the drug mafia, warlordism, and corrupt police or government officials.

But the more these daring investigative journalists reveal about deeply rooted problems in Afghan society, the more dangerous their jobs become.

Intimidation and death threats against reporters or their families have become commonplace -- not just from Taliban militants, but also from warlords, drug barons, but even corrupt government officials and police who do not want the media spotlight cast upon their activities.

The killing in the southern Helmand Province of BBC reporter Abdul Samad Rohani is seen by journalists in Afghanistan as the latest example of a worrying trend. Rohani was kidnapped on June 7 while working on a story about illegal opium-poppy cultivation in Helmand. His body was discovered the next day.

The Taliban -- usually eager to claim responsibility for such high-profile attacks -- denied any role in Rohani's abduction and execution-style killing. Many journalists in Afghanistan think Rohani was killed by gunmen with links to the illegal drug trade -- and possibly with connections to local authorities.

Rahimullah Samadar, the head of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, says that journalists "have always faced tremendous challenges from different groups and factions" in Afghanistan. "They have faced suppression and have been killed in the past. I think illegal gunmen who are working within the government -- or in an area under governmental control -- are involved in this."

Jean MacKenzie, the Afghan country director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), oversees a network of Afghan correspondents who file reports for the nonprofit investigative-journalism organization. MacKenzie tells RFE/RL there are vested interests in Helmand Province, besides the Taliban, who may have been responsible for Rohani's murder. She suspects powerful local figures who also have threatened her own reporters.

"Our reporters are working in some very risky areas and are taking on some very edgy topics," MacKenzie says. "That brings them into conflict with various members of the Afghan society. Certainly, our reporters in the south are under constant threat from a variety of sources. And, as the murder of Abdul Samad Rohani is testament to, it is not necessarily the Taliban or the insurgents who are the major source of risk."

Criminalized Society

MacKenzie agrees that the threats against Afghan journalists are growing as they increasingly cover stories about government corruption and the drug trade.

"I don't want to downplay the dangers associated with covering the Taliban or covering the war in the south. But Afghanistan is also a deeply corrupt and criminalized society," MacKenzie says. "There is very big money involved in the [illegal drug] trade. And certainly, there is a very long chain of traffickers. These people are very sensitive to being exposed and being written about or covered in any way by the media."

MacKenzie cites the case of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, an Afghan journalism student sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by a provincial court in northern Afghanistan. She says the sentence is in fact an attempt to stop journalists from covering corruption in the local government in Balkh Province, noting that Kambakhsh's brother is an IWPR journalist who has filed investigative reports on local officials there.

She says Afghan journalists also face intimidation and death threats from powerful warlords -- some of whom have links with the government.

"These are sometimes very big commanders, and sometimes more petty commanders who are surrounded by their own private militias," MacKenzie says. "They engage in extortion, both large and small, in the communities around them...including rape, murder, and just plain robbery. These people are also very sensitive to being covered. And in many cases, they are entwined with sources within the police and within the government."

Akbar Ayazi, the director of RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, agrees with MacKenzie's assessment about sources of intimidation for reporters, pointing out that the threats vary depending on the location in Afghanistan. Journalists "are not only faced with the challenges of the Taliban. They are faced with challenges from the drug lords and warlords, and also, sometimes, with challenges from government officials," Ayazi says. "We have had reporters who are detained and questioned by governors or district chiefs -- asking them questions about why they are reporting on an issue or why they are not reporting on certain issues."

Ayazi says Radio Free Afghanistan's reporters -- like journalists from other media organizations -- receive threatening phone calls not only from within Afghanistan, but also from neighboring Pakistan. Sometimes, he says, the threats have a chilling effect upon the reporters.

"There are times when the reporter would get threatened and he will have this fear [about] reporting," Ayazi says. "When they are threatened, we transfer them from one province to another. We temporarily stop their reporting -- not airing their voice or their name. We get the audio. We get the material to [RFE/RL's] Prague headquarters. And then we put them together and write a report without giving the source. These are ways that we can manage things."

In fact, Ayazi says he has to deal with a death threat or other form of intimidation against a Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent almost every month. One female correspondent was moved to a different province and stopped reporting temporarily until she and her colleagues believed the threat had subsided. Another reporter was kidnapped by the Taliban for four days, but the service managed to secure her release.

In another case last year, Ayazi says, a reporter from Quetta, Pakistan, was threatened by Pakistani officials. "He was arrested on the border [of Pakistan and Afghanistan] and then he had to quit the job. He just could not take it anymore because he and the lives of his family were threatened. So these are extreme cases that we have," Ayazi says.

Future Threatened by Poor Police, Balkenende Says

2008-06-10T10:33:00.000-06:00

June 10,2008 -- Afghan police have been "corrupt, incompetent, under-resourced and often loyal to local commanders rather than to the central government," according to the National Defense Research Institute

By Ed Johnson

Afghanistan's ineffective police are jeopardizing the country's future and its government must do more to improve the force and the justice system, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told President Hamid Karzai.

"Without highly motivated police officers, there can be no bright future for Afghanistan,'' Balkenende said at a joint news conference yesterday after talks in The Hague.

The Netherlands has about 1,650 soldiers under NATO command in the South Asian country and leads the fight against a Taliban insurgency in southern Uruzgan province. Authorities must improve governance in the region because, without "good public servants and courts, reconstruction efforts cannot get fully under way,'' Balkenende said.
NATO forces in the south of the country say some Afghan police are guilty of corruption and will steal aid if it is handed out. ... A Pentagon official said thousands of cars and trucks intended for use by the Afghan police had been sold instead.
Sunday Telegraph, January 29, 2007

Karzai is in Europe to ask the international community to step up support for his administration, as 80 governments and aid groups gather at a donors' conference in Paris June 12. The United Nations has led calls for Karzai to tackle corruption and improve the rule of law.

While training of the Afghan army is progressing well, developing the nation's police force is proving more challenging, Balkenende said, according to a transcript.

"NATO, the EU and the Netherlands will be increasing their efforts to train police officers,'' he said. "But Afghanistan needs to do more.''

Pentagon Study

Efforts to stabilize Afghanistan are faltering because too little has been done to build an effective government and police force, according to a Pentagon-funded study released yesterday.

Afghan police have been "corrupt, incompetent, under-resourced and often loyal to local commanders rather than to the central government,'' according to the National Defense Research Institute, a center run by the non-partisan policy research group, the RAND Corporation.

Training Afghan police was a low priority for the U.S. until 2005 and it "will take at least a decade'' to build an acceptable force, according to the report.

Karzai agreed with Balkenende that the police force was a matter for concern, Agence France-Presse reported.

"This is a sector of Afghan security forces which received attention quite late,'' the news agency cited him as saying.

Afghanistan needs at least a decade before it can handle its own security and will have a "much better administration by 2010,'' Karzai told reporters, according to AFP.

The government in Kabul is backed by about 70,000 soldiers from more than 40 countries.

The national army currently stands at 57,000 personnel and is expected to rise to 80,000 early next year when it will have the manpower to lead the fight against the Taliban, U.S. Major General Robert Cone, who is in charge of training the force, said last month.

The nation has 79,000 police officers, close to the target of 82,000. Many are ill-trained and underpaid, Cone said.

Khamenei criticises US role in Iraq

2008-06-09T12:14:00.000-06:00

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has advised Iraq's visiting prime minister against signing an agreement with the US keeping foreign troops in the country beyond 2008.

The continued presence of US troops was Iraq's "fundamental problem", Khamenei told Nuri al-Maliki during a meeting on Monday.

"We are certain that the Iraqi people will pass the difficult circumstances and reach the status they deserve. For sure, the American dreams will not materialise," Khamenei said.

"The fact that a foreign element wants to interfere in the affairs of Iraq and dominate the country progressively is the main problem for the development and well-being of the Iraqis."

Washington and Baghdad are in negotiations aimed at signing a deal by the end of July to cover the presence of foreign troops beyond 2008 when the current UN mandate expires.
Iraqi media reports have said the US is seeking to keep as many as 50 bases indefinitely, suggestions that have upset Tehran.

US officials have denied having any such plans.

'Fruitful trip'

Before leaving Tehran, al-Maliki thanked Iran for its "ceaseless" support of Iraq, state television said.

"Definitely this was a fruitful trip," he said.

"This trip was definitely a step forwards in the aims set by both nations, I hope that they are materialised."

The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding on defence, relating to border issues and mine and body clearance from their 1980-1988 war, Parviz Davoudi, Iran's first vice-president, said.

Iraq violence

Meanwhile, on the ground, violence continued unabated in Iraq.

A roadside bomb killed at least four people, including one Iraqi soldier, and wounded at least 12 other people, when it exploded near an Iraqi army patrol in Karrada district, central Baghdad, police said.

US forces killed five members of al-Qaeda in Iraq and detained 13 others in operations on Sunday and Monday, the US military said.

In one operation in northwest Iraq, the soldiers came under heavy fire and called in air support, the military said.

Armed men stormed a house and killed two people in western Mosul, 390km north of Baghdad, police said.

In the same city's western part, fighters killed one policeman while he was on a foot patrol, police said.

Doubts cloud Pakistan Taliban truce

2008-06-09T12:08:00.000-06:00

Pakistan has rejected reports that the government has broken a peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban in the volatile Swat valley.

However, Rehman Malik, the interior minster, implied on Monday that talks with the Taliban are being watched very closely and that the government is losing patience with them due to continued attacks in the region.

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, had earlier quoted Malik as saying that escalating violence against government forces meant there was no point in continuing with the deal signed last month.

"The interior minister, in spite of the fact that he has refuted those reports, has admitted that there has been an escalation," Hyder said, "and that if the government did lose its patience and the militants in that area did not stop their activities then the deal would be off."

Hyder said that the government was talking from a position of strength having fortified positions and moved the military into the Swat valley.

"The government's contention is that as long as those people do not allow the government to re-establish its power over the entire region, then they will not give in to any of their [the Taliban's] demands.

'Warning shot'

"Many analysts are looking at this as a warning shot by the government to the Taliban, saying to them that the challenge to the government is unacceptable," Hyder said.

Hyder said that there are elements within the Taliban who are averse to peace with the government and are attempting to sabotage any dialogue between the two sides.

Pakistan's government had promised to pull out troops from the northwestern valley of Swat after signing the peace agreement.

In return the Taliban was expected to shut training camps, hand over foreign fighters and halt suicide attacks on government installations and security forces under the 15-point pact.

Located about 90km from the Afghan border, Swat, which is tribal, though not a part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), had been the main tourist destination in North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) until last year.

Pro-Taliban fighters then launched a violent campaign to enforce Taliban-style law in the region.

More than Six Million Children in Afghanistan Face Problems

2008-06-08T09:17:00.000-06:00

Afghanistan Map

June 8,2008 -- More than 12 million of the Afghanistan's population consists of children of whom 50% have no access to these services.Zarghoona Salehi

More than six million children in the country face problems such as smuggling, abduction, performing tough jobs and get no education.

This was said by Wasil Noor Momand, deputy minister of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD); on June 1st in a function of Children’s Day in Al-Fath Nursery in Kabul.

He said that all governmental organizations should pay serious attention to administer justice for children, make education available, make health services accessible, make better their financial conditions and prevent the smuggling of children.

According to his information, more than 12 million of the population of the country consists of children of whom 50% have no access to these services.

He said that the population of Afghanistan is estimated to be 26 million.

He also said that the Ministry has made a strategic plan for the protection of the children and the strategy plan for preventing the smuggling of children is being worked on.

Also, he said that in 29 provinces of the country commissions for the defense of children’s rights have been made and they have handled 500 cases until now.

In the end he said that in the future the Ministry would pay more attention for the welfare of the children.

Fahima Hadi, the head of the nurseries, expressed worry in the function about the bad conditions of the children, especially in rural areas.

She said, “Celebrating this day is not just for the remembrance of this day but action has to be taken in giving children their rights.”

Fahima Hadi demanded the government and international community to pay attention to the betterment of the condition of the lives of the children in the country.

Al-Maliki Seeks To Reassure Iran

2008-06-08T09:11:00.000-06:00

Al-Maliki

(AFP)

In talks with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought to ease Iranian fears over the proposed U.S.-Iraq security deal.

On the second day of a two-day visit to Iran, Al-Malik was quoted as saying on June 8 that he "will not allow Iraq to become a platform for harming the security of Iran and neighbors."

After talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki late on June 7, Iran's state-controlled media quoted al-Maliki as saying his government placed great value on Iran's security. State broadcaster IRIB said on its website that al-Maliki also met Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseini Ejehi.

Iran opposes the negotiations going on between Baghdad and Washington, which are aimed at regulating the presence of American forces in the country after their United Nations' mandate expires at the end of 2008. Iran says it will lead to permanent U.S. bases on its doorstep in Iraq.

Iran's concerns come amid renewed international tensions over its nuclear program, which the United States fears is aimed at making atomic weapons, a charge Tehran rejects.

The Iraqi and Iranian sides were also due to discuss alleged Iranian interference in Iraq, including Tehran's support for Shi’ite militias, who have fought bitter battles with U.S. and Iraqi government forces earlier this year.

The U.S. allegations were reinforced on June 8 when the military announced the arrest in Baghdad of an Iraqi arms dealer and "assassination squad" leader responsible for trafficking Shi’ite militants in and out of Iran for training.

The visit to Iran is the second this year by al-Maliki, who is also a Shi’ite political leader, while Ahmadinejad made a landmark visit to Iraq three months ago.

During the Saddam Hussein era, Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war that killed some 1 million people. But after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam's regime, Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated government brought improved ties with Tehran.

Compiled from agency reports

Musharraf rejects calls to resign

2008-06-07T14:06:00.001-06:00

The Pakistan president has rejected calls for him to resign while suggesting he might quit if parliament reduces him to a powerless figurehead.

Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that he would not quit under pressure.

However, he indicated that he would go if the new government succeeds in reducing his still considerable powers to the point where he feels like a "useless vegetable".

"Parliament is supreme. Whatever the parliament decides I will accept it," Musharraf said on Pakistani news channels, which broadcast his remarks.

"If I see that I don't have any role to play, then it is better to play golf."

His critics are calling for his impeachment and trial for treason - a charge which carries the death penalty.

He has been under mounting pressure since his supporters lost parliamentary elections in February.

Musharraf has said he will not
quit under pressure [AFP]

Media reports this week suggested he was ready to resign and go into exile.

Pakistan's two-month-old governing coalition is divided over how to deal with Musharraf.

Nawaz Sharif is a former prime minister whose government was ousted in Musharraf's 1999 coup.

He currently leads the second-largest party in the coalition.

Sharif is demanding Musharraf's impeachment and trial on treason charges.

He is also pressing hard for the restoration of judges whom Musharraf ousted last year to halt legal challenges to his continued rule.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, and leader of the Pakistan People's Party, recently described Musharraf as a "relic of the past" who should resign.

But Zardari wants to restore the judges as part of several constitutional amendments that would also remove Musharraf's power to dissolve parliament and appoint military chiefs.

Pakistan police foil bomb plot

2008-06-06T11:12:00.001-06:00

Pakistani authorities say they have prevented a bomb attack after three vehicles packed with explosives were discovered in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, the home of the country's army.

Rawalpindi and the capital Islamabad were placed on high alert on Friday after the nearly 500kg of explosives were found.

Officials also reported that six people were arrested late on Thursday, including three people suspected of planning to carry out suicide bombings.

"We have recovered three vehicles with a large quantity of explosives from the Dhok Kala Khan area," Rao Iqbal, a senior police official, said.

"We have made some arrests," he added, but did not give any details.

Two security officials, who spoke to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity, said the arrested men were suspected of wanting to target "sensitive installations" and were being questioned by civil and military authorities in Rawalpindi.

The police operation came just days after a car bomb outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad killed at least six people.

On Thursday, a statement posted on a website purportedly used by armed Islamist groups claimed that al-Qaeda had carried out the attack in response to the reprinting of cartoons deemed to be insulting the Prophet Muhammed.

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Says Attack Looks 'Unavoidable'

2008-06-06T11:09:00.000-06:00

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz (file photo)

(AFP)

Shaul Mofaz, Israel's transport minister and deputy prime minister, has told an Israeli newspaper that an attack on Iran looks "unavoidable" because of the apparent failure of UN sanctions to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

In an interview with the "Yedioth Ahronoth" newspaper to be published on June 8, Mofaz is quoted as saying, "If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it."

Iran denies that its nuclear program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, saying it is for peaceful civilian purposes only.

Asked for a response to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's statement that Israel should be "erased from the map," Mofaz said Ahmadinejad "will disappear before Israel does."

Mofaz is formerly chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces and a former Israeli defense minister. His remarks are the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of the Israeli government.

Some political observers suggest Mofaz's comments are meant for domestic political consumption. They say Mofaz and other senior members of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party could be preparing to run for the top office in case a corruption scandal forces Olmert to resign.

The Israeli government has never gone on record about specific military plans against Iran. Its official position is that military options must not be ruled out if UN sanctions against Iran are to be effective.

compiled from agency reports

Khamanei Warns Of Western Evils, As Youth Give Views On Ayatollahs

2008-06-06T10:59:00.001-06:00

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei (file photo)

(MNA)

Iranian Supreme Leader has warned that the nation's "enemies" seek to weaken the country's youth by spreading immorality, prostitution, and drug addiction, as young people themselves express their frustration at hard-line social restrictions.

"Combating organized plots that push Iranian youth toward carnal desires, drugs, or sexuality is a prime duty of the Iranian people and especially the young," said Khamanei, who has the final say on all matters in the Islamic republic.

He made his remarks on the 19th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, his predecessor as Iran's supreme leader.

More than 60 percent of Iran's population is under 25 years old, and there are almost 8 million young people eligible to vote. Iran's youth played a vital role in the Islamic Revolution and have demontrated their power to bring change to the political system. Disillusioned with the restrictions the ayatollahs imposed on their lives, young people were instrumental in bringing reformist President Mohammad Khatami to the presidency in 1997.

The potential power of Iran's youth has led Iran's political and religious leaders -- such as Khomeini and Khamanei -- to try to gain the support of the country's younger generation. Khamanei wrote on his official website last month that in a mosque where he used to be the prayer leader, "the youth constituted about 80 percent of the people there, and this was because I always kept in contact with the youth."

The supreme leader even praised Iranian young people as "fashionable" and said they should not be judged by their clothes or physical appearance.

Increasingly Frustrated

Many Iranian youth -- especially in Tehran and other big cities -- have become increasingly frustrated by the social restrictions that hard-liners have brought into their everyday lives. The restrictions are everywhere -- women have to obey an Islamic dress code, music is prohibited, and people are jailed for drinking alcohol.

Mohammad, a young Tehran resident, told RFE/RL that even websites which have nothing to do with politics and Islamic values have been blocked by authorities.

"It's really ridiculous how websites are filtered here," Mohammad said. "Don't think that the authorities have only filtered sex-related sites. No, rules and laws do not apply here. News, music, and photos are all filtered. Until last week, I used to download music from some sites, but now they are blocked, too. They were Iranian music sites."

So-called morality police are stationed in every crowded place in Tehran, and they stop young women who violate a dress code by wearing tight overcoats or skimpy headscarves. Young men are not allowed to wear ties or to get a "funky" hairstyle.

Twenty-four-year-old Sitareh, one of the "dress-code offenders," says she has been detained and fined by the morality police.

"I was stopped in the street because my trousers were slightly short and my ankles were showing," Sitareh said. "Several other women were also detained. We were transported to the police station and police officers called my family. I spent a few hours in the detention center, and they would bring more girls from the streets. The police treated us in a somehow insulting and rude manner."

Sitareh said she has become more careful after the arrest but still pushes "the dress-code boundaries."

Want To Enjoy Their Youth

Mohammad and Sitareh say that, like young people elsewhere in the world, they want to enjoy their youth by dressing the way they like, listening to music, going to parties, dating, or surfing the Internet without having to deal with blocked websites.

In many countries, that's not too much to ask. But in Iran, a young woman who holds hands with a man who is not related to her can get arrested by the morality police, who seem to be increasingly present.

There are many young Iranians -- especially in the provinces -- who genuinely support the country's hard-line leaders. In cities like Qom and Mashhad, even local residents stop and reprimand women whose hijabs do not "sufficiently cover their bodies." Most of them regard Khomeini and Khamanei as iconic figures who are above the law, and everything else.

But many others find the social restrictions frustrating and suffocating. Younger women especially have been expressing their exasperation with the Islamic regime.

Raha, a Tehran-based young professional, told RFE/RL that "indeed, Iranian women have the right to education and work, but still there are many rules and laws that have turned the women into a half person."

"On the surface, it looks like we have the right to education. In reality, however, husbands have the right not to allow their wives to continue their education, and the government and the law take the sides of the husbands," Raha said. "It is written that women have the right to work but, in reality, the husband can take that right away from his wife."

Iranian student Kiyan told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that, for him, Khomeini's name is related to war and poverty.

"It's very easy to judge what we see here today. It's unemployment, devastation, a failed economy, war with the whole world," Kiyan said. "The foundation of all of these things was formed at the beginning of the Islamic Revolution. I think Mr. Khomeini's responsibility for problems that we face today should not be underestimated."

'Losing Patience'

Mohammad said he "couldn't care less about the supreme leader's speeches or warnings." Mohammad insists he is not interested in politics; however, he is "losing" his patience with the political and religious leaders "who are interfering in people's lives and taking away their most basic freedom, such as the freedom to listen to music."

It was social restrictions that caused students to spill into the streets throughout Iran in 1999 in the most serious unrest in the country since the Islamic Revolution.

There has been an upsurge in student activities and protests in Iranian cities in recent years. In recent months, officials have arrested dozens of leftist student groups whose main slogan is "Freedom and Equality."

Radio Farda contributed to this report

U.S. Faces Opposition On Security-Pact Negotiations

2008-06-06T10:53:00.000-06:00

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says any agreement must be approved by the Iraqi parliament (file photo)

(AFP)

When the United Nations mandate that governs the U.S. presence in Iraq expires in December, a new agreement between the two countries will be needed. U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have been trying to agree on the terms of a security pact that will allow U.S. forces to remain in the country and protect U.S. interests. Everything from judicial immunity for U.S. troops to long-term leases on military bases is being discussed. But most Iraqis oppose any deal that would allow the United States to establish a long-term presence in the country, saying it compromises their national sovereignty.

RFE/RL correspondent Heather Maher asked Middle East expert and former National Security Council adviser Steven Simon, of the Council on Foreign Relations, to explain the controversy and predict what will happen.

RFE/RL: Could you explain why a U.S.-Iraq security pact is needed?

Steve Simon: There are two agreements in the works. One is a "status-of-forces agreement," which is necessary because if you’ve got your military forces in another country, their presence there needs to be regulated. Because, young men, all in uniform, carrying guns, and having the run of the place can make trouble.

You know, I say this in a very jocular way, but it actually becomes a very serious issue. And if your troops are going to make trouble, there needs to be some prior agreement with the host country as to how that trouble gets resolved. Who has judicial responsibility when there’s a problem? And these things need to be negotiated, and the results of the negotiation codified in a "status-of-forces" agreement.

RFE/RL: And the other agreement the United States is seeking with Iraq?

Simon: The other agreement is meant to give shape and content to the future of the U.S.-Iraqi relationship across a range of topic areas, from the economy to security. And on security, there are some provisions in the agreement that are a bit vexing both to Iraqis and to some Americans.

Tremendous Sensitivity

RFE/RL: Last week thousands of followers of the Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr protested the idea of a joint U.S.-Iraqi agreement, shouting things like, “No to the occupation!” Sunnis also oppose the deal, saying it will compromise national sovereignty and “Iraqi interests.” Members of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government have called for major changes to the draft agreements. What is their opposition based on?

Simon: Well, there’s a history here. Because of their experience with the British, who at one time occupied Iraq -- in fact, they did for many years, on and off -- there’s a tremendous sensitivity among Iraqis about being under foreign domination. And certainly since 1958, they’ve considered themselves to be completely independent of foreign rule. And the way in which the United States has gone about pursuing an agreement, which many believe is meant to pave the way for a long-term military presence, has reminded Iraqis, rather unpleasantly, of their experience with the British.

So, in a nutshell, an agreement of the sort the U.S. seems to be seeking right now is bringing to the surface Iraqi fears of a long-term foreign domination, and they just don’t like that.

RFE/RL: It’s been reported that U.S. negotiators have certain demands that they are trying to put in the final agreement. Among the most controversial are granting U.S. forces the ability to arrest and detain Iraqis and to enjoy immunity from Iraqi laws. Then there’s the issue of military bases. The lead State Department negotiator, David Satterfield, told Al-Jazeera that the United States rejects the idea of "permanent bases." But to many Iraqis, long-term lease agreements are the same thing as permament occupation. How is the United States going to get Iraq to sign off on this?

Simon: Look, I am hard-pressed to see this flying with Iraqis. You know, if an American rapes an Iraqi woman, and the U.S. says, "Well, we have a status-of-forces agreement that says we will take care of this problem and it’s none of Iraq’s business," popular feeling in Iraq will be aroused. I think there will be some serious anger. And I think Iraqi authorities who are negotiating these agreements are very aware of these pitfalls. The long-term leases [are] just right out of the British book, and I think that that’s going to rub a lot of Iraqis seriously the wrong way.

But there’s another side to this, too, which is how well this agreement is going to fly on the U.S. side, in terms of American domestic politics. Because one of the agreements, in its current draft, offers U.S. security assurances to Iraq. And, you know, American lawmakers who will have to approve this agreement -- if the final version contains phrases like that -- are going to look askance at those sorts of assurances. They’re going to say, "Why should we do this?" And they’re going to ask certain questions, like "What is the Iraqi government’s relationship to Iran?" and "What’s the nature of Iran’s influence in Iraq? How do the Iraqis view Israel? Do they view Israel as an enemy?"

And, depending on the answers to those questions, American legislators are going to say: "Well, no. This is not a state that the United States ought to be promising help for, in some kind of contingency."

Treaty Arrangement

RFE/RL: Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki has said that any agreement must be approved by the Iraqi parliament. But isn't the White House arguing that these are administrative agreements, which don’t need the approval of the Iraqi parliament -- or the U.S. Congress, for that matter?

Simon: That absolutely is what the White House is saying. And I strongly doubt that the agreement in its current form will be viewed, certainly on the American side, as something that can be negotiated solely as a matter of administrative arrangements, between two governments. I think they’re going to look at the current document very much as a treaty arrangement. And in my experience, when you have draft agreements that offer security assurances, then that agreement crosses a threshold in American law, under which the agreement is required to be submitted to Congress for approval.

So I think the [Bush] administration is certainly very eager to cast it as an administrative agreement so as to keep it out of public view and keep it away from Congress. But I don’t think that Congress -- especially a Democratic Congress -- is going to take very kindly to that.

RFE/RL: The United States initially said it wanted to have an agreement by July, but that seems impossible, given the opposition that has sprung up. The U.S. election on November 4 will bring in a new president, and then the UN mandate expires on December 31. Considering these time pressures, what do you see happening in the next few months with the negotiations?

Simon: I think the way the parties will try and get around this is either to have the UN mandate extended, or put together a skeletal agreement that is cast as an interim arrangement that will buy time and form a bridge between whatever the current arrangement is and whatever the next arrangement might be. So there are two work-arounds, and I suspect that one or the other will be employed.

een Describes Madrasah Effort To Make Him A Suicide Bomber

2008-06-06T10:47:00.000-06:00

Shakirullah was interviewed at a detention center run by the Afghan intelligence service

(RFE/RL)

KABUL/PRAGUE -- Ever since he was caught three months ago in Afghanistan's Khost Province trying to carry out a suicide attack, 14-year-old Shakirullah has been pondering how he went from childhood in Pakistan to imprisonment in Kabul as an international terrorist.

Just one year ago, Shakirullah was living with his family in his native tribal region of South Waziristan, in Pakistan. The world Shakirullah knew in his village of Jandul revolved around his father, Noor Ali Khan, his mother, and three older brothers.

But Shakirullah's childhood in the rugged mountain region near the Afghan border came to a dramatic end last fall when his family sent him to a religious boarding school -- the nearby Salib madrasah in South Waziristan -- to receive instruction from conservative Islamist clerics.

The boy says teachers had taught him the Koran for half a year, then gave him an explosives-packed suicide vest and took him across the border into Afghanistan.

Shakirullah was picked up before he could blow himself up near U.S. troops, a mission that minders at his Pakistani madrasah assured him would bring him eternal life.

He is now being held at a facility run by Afghanistan's national intelligence service -- a detention center that keeps the teenager separated from older Taliban fighters, hardened criminals, and convicted murderers.

'Never Die'

When Afghan officials allowed RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan into the facility to interview Shakirullah, the boy describes a militant network in Pakistan that "forced" him to become a suicide bomber. The teen also directly implicates clerics at the madrasah as being part of that network.

"[I was attending] Salib madrasah. About 50 other people were attending," Shakirullah said. "The teachers were all from Pakistan. I was there for five or six months."

Shakirullah says that his instruction focused entirely on the Koran while he was at the madrasah. But he says the clerics started urging him to become a suicide bomber after he finished studying the Koran.

Shakirullah also says several of the teachers at the madrasah told him that he would "never die" if he sacrificed himself as a suicide bomber in neighboring Afghanistan.

According to Shakirullah, his teachers increased their pressure on him to commit a suicide-bomb attack after he asked to see his mother and father. He says his teachers told him he was not allowed to see his parents before the attack, but assured him that he would "come back" to see them afterward.

Shakirullah identifies a teacher at the madrasah named Azizullah as the person who transported him across the border into Afghanistan's Khost Province, urging him to blow himself up. He says Azizullah also provided him with an explosives-laden vest and instructed him to detonate the device when he got close to a group of U.S. soldiers.

"They told me to go to Afghanistan and carry out a suicide attack and that I would come back," Shakirullah says. "[Azizullah] didn't allow me to inform my family. I was forced to come [to Afghanistan]. When I finished [studying] the Koran, they told me, 'Now you carry out a suicide attack and you will come back to visit your parents.' Then I was brought to Afghanistan."

Close Call

Authorities in Kabul say troops from the Afghan National Army first noticed the teenager as he was walking alone toward a security checkpoint in Khost Province.

Observing that the boy was acting confused and was wearing a suspiciously oversized vest, the Afghan soldiers stopped Shakirullah from detonating the explosives. Instead, they took him into custody for questioning.

Shakirullah says his Afghan jailers have treated him well and that he has not been abused or tortured during the many interrogation sessions he has undergone.

He says that in the three months since his arrest, he has had plenty of time to think about how his teachers at the madrasah took advantage of his impressionable age.

Shakirullah now says the madrasah teachers lied to him -- giving him "bad advice and trying to kill me along with other Muslims."

As for the future, Shakirullah says he is happy just to be alive and safe. But he says he wants to continue his studies to better understand how he was led astray by the madrasah teachers. The boy also says that he misses his mother and wants desperately to see her again.

reported by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Rezwan Murad in Kabul and Jan Alekozai in Prague; written by Ron Synovitz in Prague

US 'plans permanent bases in Iraq'

2008-06-05T16:16:00.000-06:00

Details have emerged of a deal between Washington and Baghdad that would allow the US forces to occupy permanent bases in Iraq, carry out military operations and have immunity from Iraqi law.

The details, revealed in a report by The Independent, a British newspaper, on Thursday, is likely to prompt a violent backlash in the country.

The deal would also cement the US military presence in Iraq and could prevent Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, from making good on campaign promises to withdraw US troops if elected.

The proposed pact has been controversial in Iraq, where there have been protests against it.

"Iraqi sovereignty would be very much diluted if this pact goes ahead as Washington wants," Patrick Cockburn, author of The Independent report, told Al Jazeera.

"It would be very difficult to call Iraq a fully independent country if it agreed to these terms."

The Independent report says that under the proposed "strategic alliance", the US, which currently has about 155,000 troops in Iraq, would be allowed to have more than 50 permanent bases in the country.

Soldiers stationed there would be granted full immunity from Iraqi law and a free hand to conduct arrests and military operations without the consent of Baghdad, or even an obligation to consult the Iraqi government, according to the report.

It also said the US wanted control of Iraqi airspace below about 9,700m.

The US has said in the past that it does not want permanent bases in Iraq, but The Independent quoted an unnamed Iraqi source as calling Washington's position "a tactical subterfuge".

On Thursday, Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, reiterated the US position, rejecting claims that the US wants permanent bases in Iraq.

Iraqi protests

Last week, tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad and other cities to protest against the deal and supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shia leader, have demanded that the government hold a public referendum on the issue.

In the US, the plan has been criticised by Democrats who see in the proposed pact an attempt by George Bush, the US president, to dictate US foreign policy even after he is out of office.

A majority of the Iraqi parliament has already written to the US Congress rejecting the long-term security deal unless it is linked to a requirement that US forces leave.

On Wednesday, William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat in the House of Representatives who opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, released excerpts from the letter, which gave conditions for the security pact.

"The majority of Iraqi representatives strongly reject any military-security, economic, commercial, agricultural, investment or political agreement with the United States that is not linked to clear mechanisms that obligate the occupying American military forces to fully withdraw from Iraq," the letter said.

The signatures represented just over half the membership of Iraq's parliament, Delahunt said.

'No threats on Iraq'

Two Iraqi legislators testified to the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, of which Dealhunt is chairman, saying that US troops should leave Iraq before talks on a long term security pact could be completed.

The proposed 'security alliance' would create a
permanent US military presence in Iraq [AFP]

"I would like to inform you, there are no threats on Iraq. We are capable of solving our own problems," Nadeem Al-Jaberi, a co-founder of the al-Fadhila Shia political party, told the panel.

He said he favoured a quick pullout of US forces.

Khalaf Al-Ulayyan, a Sunni political leader and founder of the National Dialogue Council, said bilateral talks on a long-term security deal should be shelved until after US forces leave Iraq.

"We prefer to delay until there is a new administration in the United States," he said, referring to the US elections which are due to take place in November.

But official sources have said the US still hopes to reach a new security agreement with the the government of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, by July.

9/11 'mastermind' faces US tribunal

2008-06-05T16:04:00.000-06:00

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001, has appeared for the first time before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Mohammed and four other detainees were arraigned on Thursday inside a high-security courthouse at the US naval base.

When told by the presiding military judge that he could face the death penalty, Mohammed said he welcomed the prospect.

"Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time," he said. "I will, God willing, have this, by you."

He also said he was dismissing his legal defence team and would represent himself.

Later a second defendant, Wallid bin Attash, also rejected his lawyers.

"I am a Muslim and I reject this session. The lawyers will stay here and be available to help me if I need, but I will represent myself," bin Attash said.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Alami, who watched the hearings, says the judge granted Mohammed and bin Attash's wishes to represent themselves but expressed concern that they did not understand the dangerous and severe nature of the charges.

The other three defendants are Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Mustapha al-Hawasawi.

All five sat at defence tables alongside their lawyers, before Marine Colonel Ralph Kohlmann, the judge, at the tribunal.

The defendants, whom authorities said had attended court willingly, wore cream-coloured clothing and turbans, without handcuffs.

Mohammed, seeming thin and with a thick grey beard and glasses, at times sang verses from the Quran in court until the judge told him to stop.

All five face trial in September, however some defence lawyers have argued this date does not give them enough time to prepare for trial and say the timing - two months before the US presidential election, is politically motivated to assist John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate.

Journalists watched proceedings on close-circuit television in a nearby press room, while some observers were allowed into the courthouse.

Murder charges

The September 11 attacks in 2001 killed
almost 3,000 people [archive]

The charges are the first to be brought against Guantanamo detainees over the September 11 attacks.

The US claims Mohammed confessed to masterminding the September 11 attacks and to involvement in around 30 more plots, but his lawyers say the confession was extracted by torture.

The CIA acknowledged earlier this year that Mohammed had been interrogated using the controversial "waterboarding" technique which simulates drowning.

He has been charged with 2,973 counts of murder over the death of each victim of the attacks in New York City, Washington DC and Pennsylvania.

Death penalty

The five men were transferred to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in September 2006 after reportedly spending about three years in secret CIA prisons.

Thursday's arraignment poses the most high-profile test so far of the US military tribunal system, which faces an uncertain future.

In 2006 the US supreme court struck down an earlier system as unconstitutional and it is to rule this month on the rights of Guantanamo prisoners, potentially delaying or halting the proceedings.

Eugene Fidell from the National Institute for Military Justice told Al Jazeera that while the creators of the military tribunals say they are better than international tribunals, they are not as good as US civilian courts or even the US military justice system, used for internal discipline.

And whether the outcome and conduct of the trials will satisfy people in the US or people overseas is still very much up in the air, he says.

With less than eight months remaining in office for George Bush, the US president, presidential candidates Barack Obama and McCain both say they want to close the military's offshore detention centre.

Human-Trafficking Report Finds Key Criminals Often Go Unpunished

2008-06-05T11:04:00.001-06:00

"Sveta," a victim of human trafficking in Moldova, cited as having one of the worst records in fighting the problem (file photo)

(RFE/RL)

The U.S. State Department has issued its annual report on human trafficking in 170 countries, citing Iran and Moldova as among those with the worst records of fighting the problem.

The report helps determine whether the United States imposes sanctions or other punishments on countries that are seen as not doing enough to fight the practice. The report puts countries in one of three levels, or "tiers," that represent how well the United States views such efforts: Tier 1 for those doing a good job, down to Tier 3 for those doing an unacceptable job.

Virtually all of the nations of Eastern, Central, and Southeastern Europe are in Tier 2, while Russia and Tajikistan are on the so-called "watch list" of Tier-2 countries because they could slip to Tier 3. Uzbekistan is among four countries that have moved up. It used to be designated as a Tier-3 country, and now is on the Tier-2 "watch list." Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are in Tier 2, except for Turkmenistan, which is listed as a "special case" because of the lack of information from the country.

Georgia in classified as Tier 1, while Armenia and Azerbaijan are on Tier-2 "watch lists."

Afghanistan is classified as Tier 2.

Iraq and Kosovo are listed as "special cases" due to their political transitions.

On May 29, the UN issued a report declaring that the rate of crimes against people and property in the Balkans has improved to the point that the Balkans are considered safer than Western Europe. But the State Department report says human trafficking remains a problem in the Balkans, particularly in Moldova.

"Moldova fell to Tier 3 for the first time, reflecting its government's failure to tackle trafficking-related corruption, as reflected in the handling of several high-profile cases of complicity by government officials in trafficking," said Mark Lagon, the State Department's senior adviser on trafficking in persons. "This failure created a significant impediment to the government's ability to fight trafficking overall."

May Lose Financial Assistance

Lagon said the State Department hopes the new government in Moldova will root out corrupt officials, improve the country's weak law enforcement, and make other efforts to protect victims of human trafficking.

Until then, Moldova -- along with Fiji and Papua New Guinea -- may lose some U.S. financial assistance that isn't involved in trade or humanitarian aid.

In releasing the report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that since the United States began issuing the annual reports in 2000, an increasing number of governments around the world have given greater attention the problem of human trafficking.

"Today -- because of our efforts, the efforts of our allies, and reports like the one we are releasing today -- there is much greater global awareness about the brutality of human trafficking," she said. "Globally, human trafficking is a multidimensional threat. It deprives people of their human rights and dignity, it increases global health risks, it bankrolls the growth of organized crime, and it undermines the rule of law."

But Rice said the more governments delve into the problem, the more trouble they find. Certainly, she said, traffickers have always found ways to kidnap and transport people for labor and prostitution, and there's never been a shortage of victims in regions such as Southeastern Europe, India, China, and the Philippines.

But Rice said that even in countries where such practices are uncovered, the people responsible for this 21st-century slavery too often go free.

"For the first time, in this year's report we closely examined prosecution data and made a disturbing discovery," Rice said. "Although more countries are addressing sex trafficking through prosecution and convictions, the petty tyrants who exploit their laborers rarely receive serious punishment. We see this as a serious shortcoming, and as we move our efforts forward, we and our allies must remember that a robust law enforcement response is essential."

NGOs Not Properly Trained

What's equally disturbing is that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) -- which frequently offer the first refuge for victims who manage to escape the traffickers -- aren't trained or otherwise equipped to handle the victims.

Lagon said that last winter he met two young Romanian women at a shelter in Bucharest for survivors of sex trafficking in Western Europe. They finally escaped to the care of an NGO in the West, then were repatriated to the Bucharest shelter. But Lagon said that once the two women were back in their native country, one was eventually found to have an advanced case of tuberculosis, and the other was suffering from severe syphilis.

"Why weren't these women given proper medical attention before they were repatriated? The time loss made their conditions immensely worse," Lagon said. "Despite increased attention by law enforcement to sex trafficking, we are not seeing -- as the findings of this report [show] -- significant victim protection and victim services provided. This trend has to be reversed or we'll never be able to help significant numbers of victims become survivors. The dehumanized must be restored to their full humanity."

Lagon said the purpose of the report is to diagnose the problem of human trafficking and, from year to year, to track progress -- or lack thereof -- in combating it. In compiling the report, he said, he's highlighted five trends in worldwide human trafficking that need special attention by governments.

"Weak prosecution of labor-trafficking offenses. Secondly, weak trafficking-victim protection. Third, forced labor creeping into new growth industries. Fourth, domestic servitude, and luckily problems there are gaining recognition," Lagon said. "And fifth, closing a window of vulnerability for migrant workers is an imperative."

But Lagon said the thread that unites these five trends is something even more disturbing -- the demand for slave laborers and sex workers.

Rice Gives Blunt Assessment Of Iran In Speech To U.S.-Israel Group

2008-06-04T10:44:00.001-06:00

"Diplomacy is not a synonym for talking," Rice told AIPAC members

(epa)

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reiterated that Washington is willing to hold face-to-face talks with Iran, provided Tehran complies with UN Security Council resolutions concerning its nuclear activities.

Rice made her comments in a speech June 3 to the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group in Washington. Her remarks broke no new ground, but her words were blunt and sometimes scathing.

Rice referred to calls from some quarters, including the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. president, Barack Obama, for face-to-face talks with Tehran. Obama is due to address AIPAC himself on June 4.

"I know that there is a serious debate right now, both in our country and in Israel, about how to address the threat posed by the Iranian regime," Rice said. "This debate, though, should not be about whether we talk to Iran. That's not the real issue. Diplomacy is not a synonym for talking. True diplomacy means structuring a set of incentives and disincentives to produce change in behavior."

Until that behavior is changed, Rice said, Western nations should put more pressure on Iran for flouting three UN Security Council resolutions that demand it suspend its nuclear program.

'Anytime, Anywhere'

Rice reminded AIPAC members that she's offered to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki, if only his government would comply with the UN resolutions.

"I have said that if Iran suspends its [nuclear] enrichment and reprocessing activities, I will join my UN Security Council colleagues, I'll meet with my Iranian counterpart. I'll do it any time, anywhere, on any issue," Rice said. "It's harder to be much clearer than that. And we would welcome a change in Iran's behavior because America doesn't have permanent enemies. We would be willing to meet with them, but not while they continue to inch closer to a nuclear weapon under the cover of talk."

Rice noted that Iran says its nuclear program is meant for peaceful, power-generating purposes, not to make weapons. Why then, she asked, do Iran's leaders reject offers of incentives, such as help with reactors needed only for nuclear power? Why, she asked, did Tehran reject Russia's offer to enrich uranium on Iran's behalf?

"Why -- as the [International Atomic Energy Agency's] most recent report shows -- is Iran continuing to enrich uranium, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions?" she continued. "Why, as the IAEA also suggests, are parts of Iran's nuclear program under the control of the Iranian military? Why is Iran continuing to deny international experts full access to its nuclear facilities? Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's just hard to imagine that there are innocent answers to these questions."

'Simply Unacceptable'

Rice repeatedly referred to U.S. efforts to strengthen Israel's security. At one point, she said the thought of Israelis living in fear and insecurity was "simply unacceptable.”

Rice also referred to statements by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad that Israel should be erased from the map, and his convening of a conference that questioned the Holocaust. She also accused Iran of involvement in the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.

Iran, she said, poses a threat both to Israel and the entire Middle East.

"A regime that denies the Holocaust, threatens, murders its neighbors’ citizens, and seeks to destroy a member of the United Nations should not be allowed to cross the nuclear threshold," Rice said. "As President [George W.] Bush told the Knesset, 'For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.'"

Ahmadinejad is currently in Rome for a three-day UN conference on the global food crisis, where he has criticized wealthy nations for subsidizing their own farmers at the expense of the poor.

While in Rome, Ahmadinejad also spoke of his dispute with Washington over Iran's nuclear program.

"Mr. Bush is very much interested in attacking Iran," Ahmadinejad said. "He has tried many times to come up with different excuses. He has failed each and every time. The issue of our nuclear energy is not a new excuse."

Ahmadinejad also said he expects Israel will "disappear" -- without Iran's help.

Shari'a-Compliant Finance Becoming Viable Part Of Global Banking

2008-06-04T10:38:00.000-06:00

Prohibitions dictated by the Koran make it difficult for Islamic financial institutions to work in the same way as conventional Western banks (file photo)

(epa)

The rise in the price of oil in recent years has meant a windfall of revenue for the oil-rich Middle East. This infusion of petrodollars has led some of the world's wealthiest Muslims to search for new ways to manage their wealth, investment opportunities that are consistent with the teachings of the Koran.

The result has been a rapid growth in Islamic financing, with centers of activity in places as far apart as London, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Singapore.

By some industry estimates, Islamic finance has grown worldwide during the past 20 years to $300 billion in bank assets. According to the General Council for Islamic Financial Institutions, that total is expected to exceed $1 trillion within the next five years. And those estimates do not include private savings accounts, which appear off the bank balance sheets.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions predicts that as much as one-half of the savings of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims will be in Islamic financial institutions by 2015. In fact, Islamic finance has seen so much growth that the sector is now seen as a viable part of the global banking industry.

Asif Mumtaz, the regional head of HSBC bank's Islamic finance arm, HSBC Amanah, agrees that Shari'a-compliant investment is no longer a niche market. Still, he says, Islamic banking needs innovators to come up with new Shari'a-compliant schemes before it is able to compete with the wide range of services offered by conventional banks.

"If we compare what has happened in conventional banking, it has grown over thousands of years. Shari'a-compliant banking, or Islamic banking, is 40 years old," Mumtaz says. "So now we see that, yes, we have moved away from the niche, and we are going into the mainstream. In order to be fully there, we need to have that innovative thought process."

Un-Islamic Investments

Indeed, the focus on the Koran's prohibitions can make it difficult for Islamic financial institutions to work in the same way as a conventional Western bank. For example, Islamic law prohibits investment in sectors such as alcohol and gambling. So an Islamic bank must ensure its clients that their deposits are not being reinvested in a firm that does business deemed as "un-Islamic."

Some conservative Islamic scholars have concluded that investing in stock markets is a form of gambling -- and is therefore prohibited by the Koran.

Another basic rule of Islamic finance is a prohibition against what the Koran calls "riba," a word interpreted as the payment and collection of interest on loans or savings deposits.

"The basic idea about Islamic banking is that it should be riba-free," says Abdul Ghafoor, a Netherlands-based author and expert on Islamic finance. "Riba is generally equated to interest, but there is a little bit of a difference. The interest in a person-to-person transaction is equal to riba. It is also the same thing when I put some money in a bank and they give me interest. That is also riba. But, on the other side, [Islamic] banks lend at a higher rate. This increase can be excessive. But there is a component of expenses incurred by the bank."

'Riba-Free' Savings

As a result, instead of collecting interest on their savings, a person who deposits money into a riba-free savings account instead collects a fee based upon a prearranged contract, a profit-and-loss sharing agreement with their Islamic bank.

"Many people do not agree with the present practices of Islamic banks," Ghafoor says. "The model that they want to promote is what is called 'mudarabah' -- that is to say, business-risk sharing, and profit-and-loss sharing. But that is not used very much. And if it is used, it is used only on one side [often to the disadvantage of the depositor]."

That makes savings accounts at Islamic banks much riskier than a guaranteed savings account at a conventional Western bank that also is backed up by government insurance plans for depositors. If an Islamic bank invests money from savings accounts into a firm that fails, the holders of those savings accounts can actually lose their money.

Aref Ismail al-Khouri is the general manager of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, an Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates that began operations this year. He says continuous economic growth in oil-rich Persian Gulf countries has made it imperative for Islamic banks to diversify the finance options they offer so they can meet the growing demand for both personal and corporate finance in the Muslim world.

Profit Pressure

With savings-account holders essentially taking risks similar to a shareholder, al-Khouri says there is a lot of pressure on Islamic bankers to turn a profit.

"They want us to be profitable from last year. As a shareholder, they always look at this," al-Khouri says. "But, inshallah, we are planning to be profitable from year one."

Other critics of the sector say the strong emphasis on prohibitions in the Koran has led most Islamic banks to serve only the wealthiest clients in oil-rich Arab states.

Michael Gassner, who heads a leading Islamic-finance consultancy that has offices in London, Germany, and Dubai, argues that the basic principles of Islamic finance need to be reevaluated in order to allow microloan programs that can help poor Muslims start small businesses and improve their lives.

"What we need is not only to exclude things which are forbidden by Islam, but to include things which are recommended by the religion," Gassner says. "So we have to look at how we can better finance the poorer people -- how we can include poor people and serve them like clients and earn money with them, having profits even with the poorest. This is something that we need to look at in the future."

Gassner tells RFE/RL that many wealthy Muslims around the world are changing the way they think about Islamic investment. He notes there is a strong movement toward private-equity companies and local investment in the Middle East, despite the declarations of Islamic scholars that stock-market investments are a form of gambling.

Gassner concludes that in the core Middle East markets -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates -- investors are starting to think more about ways to improve living conditions for people in the Muslim world

Iran's Khamenei labels Bush 'mad'

2008-06-03T14:49:00.001-06:00

Iran's supreme leader has reaffirmed his country's commitment to a peaceful nuclear programme, while attacking George Bush, the US president as "mentally ill".

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a ceremony honouring the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, that Tehran had no interest in building nuclear weapons.

"Look at behaviour of the US president and members of his team, their words are like those of the mentally ill," he said on Tuesday.

"Sometimes they threaten … and sometimes they ask for help – it's like mad people staggering to and fro."

Khamenei said that the erratic behaviour of Bush is rooted in the failures in Afghanistan and Iraq and urged countries to resist bullying.

With regards to accusations by the US and its allies that Iran is attempting to manufacture a nuclear weapon, Khamenei said that possessing such arsenal would be "useless".

"No wise nation is interested in making a nuclear weapon," since it is not
logical and cannot be used.

"Iran is after the peaceful use of nuclear energy and we will strongly pursue and reach it despite the envy of our enemies."

US nuclear agreements

Khamenei said that the US was leading opposition against Iran's nuclear programme while signing nuclear agreements with "less advanced countries" which would results in their dependency on the US.

"No wise nation is interested in making a nuclear weapon"

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
He did not elaborate, but the United States has concluded bilateral nuclear co-operation deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Khamenei's remarks came after John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for the US presidency, said Washington should impose tougher measures on Iran if it continues with its nuclear programme.

Speaking at the annual conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) on Monday, he said Iran's "continued pursuit of nuclear weapons" posed an "unacceptable risk".

Mohammed El Baradei, the UN atomic watchdog chief, on Monday asked for greater clarity from Tehran concerning their nuclear programme.

Iran has not provided access to documents and individuals as requested by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Canadian Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

2008-06-03T13:52:00.002-06:00

Captain Richard (Steve) Leary of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, from Shilo, Manitoba.

June 3,2008 --OTTAWA– One Canadian soldier was killed today at approximately 9:30 a.m., Kandahar time. The Canadian soldier was killed by direct fire when a joint Afghan-Canadian dismounted security patrol came under small arms fire from insurgents in the Panjwayi District.

Captain Richard (Steve) Leary

The fallen soldier is Captain Richard (Steve) Leary of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, from Shilo, Manitoba.

During their patrol, the soldiers encountered insurgents who attacked with small arms fire. Capt Leary was struck while the soldiers were returning fire and repositioning. Close air support was called in and the enemy was defeated.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Capt Leary’s family and friends during this very difficult time. We are deeply saddened by the loss of Capt. Leary. In his memory, and in memory of those who have gone before, we will increase our resolve to bring peace and stability to the people of Afghanistan.

OTTAWA - The Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, issued the following statement today on the death of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan:

“Today we are united in our grief for Captain Richard (Steve) Leary who died in the line of duty in Afghanistan. To his family, friends and loved ones, we extend our deepest sympathies.

Captain Leary and his fellow soldiers are affecting positive change in support of the United Nation-mandated, NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Their bravery and sacrifice allows the Afghan people to rebuild their country after decades of turmoil. I join with Canadians, in respect and admiration, for the men and women in uniform who protect Canadians and promote the Canadian values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”

Courts Chip Away At Millionaire's Sentence

2008-06-02T12:30:00.001-06:00

A former shopkeeper, Shahram Jazaeri claims to have made at least $180 million

(Fars)

Some Iranians are fond of comparing Shahram Jazaeri to Russia's fallen oil oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. After all, both amassed their fortunes at early ages and both were eventually convicted of defrauding the government.

Unlike the former Yukos oligarch, however, Jazaeri is not known to have harbored political ambitions. Also unlike Khodorkovsky, whose case serves as a reminder of the cost of running afoul of the Kremlin in the Putin era, Jazaeri has twice been the beneficiary of courts interceding on his behalf.

Last week, an Iranian court reduced Jazaeri's already-shortened 14-year prison term to 11 years.

The 36-year-old Iranian is serving a prison term for his involvement in a high-profile corruption case involving politicians and the family members of many famous Iranian clerics, including the supreme leader's brother.

But Jazaeri's ability to run his multimillion-dollar business activities from prison and two reductions in his sentence for white-collar wrongdoing raise questions about the authorities' seriousness in dealing with corruption.

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his allies have made corruption a frequent theme of their attacks against entrenched political rivals and a convenient whipping boy during the president's whistle-stop tours to drum up support for his policies.

But the leniency now being afforded to Jazaeri could prompt public skepticism of the authorities' willingness to tackle corruption, particularly since it appears that no officials have ever been prosecuted in the case.

Jazaeri reportedly confessed during his 2001 trial to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hadi Khamanei -- the brother of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, who holds ultimate political and religious power under Iran's Islamic constitution -- as well as to former parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi.

Karrubi has denied any suggestion of bribery and described the claim as a politically motivated attack on the legislature, the Majlis.

The scandal has mostly been linked to reformist politicians, but allegations of cash for favors in Jazaeri's case have extended to both reformists and conservatives alike.

Jazaeri was arrested in 2001 and charged with a long list of crimes including bribery, forging official documents, and massive embezzlement of state money and assets.

Key details of Jazaeri's alleged illegal activities were not disclosed during his trial, sparking speculation that officials were trying to cover up their own involvement in the case.

Qasem Sholeh-Saadi, an Iranian lawyer and former legislator, tells RFE/RL's Radio Farda that although Jazaeri was found guilty of bribing some officials, not a single official has been tried or punished in any way for taking the bribes.

"Only Mr. Shahram Jazaeri has been prosecuted and convicted," Sholeh-Saadi says. "I have never heard of any of those people who received this illegal money -- or bribe -- have been prosecuted or convicted."

Jazaeri emerged from modest beginnings and worked as a shopkeeper in the western city of Ahvaz until his mid-20s.

By the time he was arrested in 2001, at the age of 29, Jazaeri had made some $180 million by his own account. Many of his business activities are unknown, but he has founded several successful enterprises and worked as a broker in the oil business.

His 2002 trial reportedly involved 50 defendants -- many of them the sons of prominent clerics. Jazaeri was convicted and initially sentenced to 27 years in prison. In 2004, his sentence was partially overturned and reduced to 14 years.

In February 2007, Iran's Special Judicial Complex for Economic Affairs announced that Jazaeri had escaped while being transferred for a hearing before an expert financial committee.

Reports have suggested that Jazaeri had previously been allowed leaves from prison, a privilege unavailable to most inmates.

Iranian media suggested that some clerics were involved in aiding that escape. Iran's judiciary fired several officials who were involved in his case, including the head of Tehran's vaunted Evin Prison and a number of judges.

Soon afterward, Iranian security services confirmed that Jazaeri had been arrested in an Arab country, with some reports saying he had been hiding in a remote village in Oman.

Many Iranian prisoners suffer desperate conditions with little access to the outside world. But Jazaeri reportedly has access to a laptop computer and mobile phone while in jail, where he continues to manage his business interests.

At Least Six Killed In Car Bombing Outside Danish Embassy

2008-06-02T12:24:00.001-06:00

A suicide bomber killed at least five people outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad

(AFP)

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb in front of the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, killing at least six people and injuring more than a dozen.

Authorities say about 30 kilograms of explosives were packed into the car. The blast heavily damaged the embassy and destroyed its gate and nearby vehicles in the upscale residential district of the Pakistani capital. A huge crater was gouged into the road outside.

All of the dead are reportedly Pakistani, including two police officers.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir visited the scene of the bombing and called it a "very devastating attack."

In Copenhagen, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller called the bombing cowardly and "totally unacceptable."

Rehman Malik, the Interior Ministry's adviser to the Pakistani prime minister, told journalists that investigators are still trying to confirm exactly who carried out the attack. No one has claimed responsibility.

Malik says security officials believe the suicide attacker was targeting the Danish Embassy in reaction to an editorial cartoon that was republished by a Danish newspaper in February. He said the embassy had been receiving threats for a long time.

"This is a very sad incident, and it's a tragedy for the whole nation," Malik said.

Originally published by Danish newspapers in 2005, the controversial cartoon infuriated Muslims around the world by depicting the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban with a bomb in it. Since Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous, a cartoon depicting him as a terrorist hit a particularly sensitive nerve in the Muslim world -- leading to violent protests in 2006 that included attacks on Danish diplomatic missions around the world.

The newspaper cartoons also have led to calls within Afghanistan for Denmark to withdraw its 700 soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

The blast also raises concerns about a peace accord that was signed last month between pro-Taliban militants and the local government in the Northwest Frontier Province. Security analysts had warned that the truce would give militants space to plan and carry out new attacks in other parts of Pakistan, as well as in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials said they are doing everything they can to protect all foreign diplomats and embassies.

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan contributed to this report, which also incorporates agency material

Australian troops pull out of Iraq

2008-06-01T10:52:00.000-06:00

About 500 Australian combat troops have pulled out of southern Iraq, six months after Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, came to power promising to bring the soldiers home.

A spokesman for the governor of Dhi Qar province said the troops had pulled out of the Talil base in Nasiriya on Sunday, with US forces replacing them.

But a British military spokesman in the southern city of Basra said the withdrawal was still under way.

The pullout comes as polls show that 80 per cent of Australians are against the war in Iraq.

Rudd promised to bring home all of his country's frontline troops this year.

Australia is a close ally of the US and was one of the first countries to send troops to the war.

It also sent military aircraft and naval vessels to the Gulf to guard Iraq's offshore oil platforms.

The 515-strong troop contingent has mainly trained and supported Iraqi forces in the Dhi Qar province.

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, Australia's top military commander, said in February that after the troop pullout two maritime surveillance aircraft and a warship would remain in place to help patrol Iraq's oil platforms.

He also said that a small force of security and headquarters liaison troops would remain in Iraq.

The British military spokesman said Australian civilians training the police and advising the Iraqi government would stay behind.

French Foreign Minister Visits Iraq

2008-05-31T09:12:00.000-06:00

Kouchner

(NATO)

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Iraq on May 31 for an unannounced visit as Paris seeks to rebuild ties with the war-torn nation.

The visit is Kouchners second trip to Iraq in less than a year. It comes as France prepares to assume the rotating EU presidency in July.

The French foreign minister said his visit was a "message of peace and cooperation" and a chance to discuss any future French contribution to rebuilding Iraq.

Kouchner arrived in the southern city of Nasiriyah from Jordan, where he announced France will try to take in about 500 Iraqi Christian refugees "because of the oppression of some Christians in Iraq."

Speaking to reporters while touring the ancient ruins of the biblical city of Ur with Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and the governor of Dhi Qar Governorate, Aziz Kadhim Alwan, Kouchner said four Iraqi children would travel to France to undergo cardiac surgeries.

The French Foreign Ministry said Kouchner is scheduled to hold meetings with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari during his two-day visit. Kouchner was also due to meet religious and civic leaders, and visit the Kurdish northern city of Arbil, where he would inaugurate a new French embassy office.

During his previous visit to Iraq in summer 2007, Kouchner said France, which had been one of the fiercest critics of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, wanted to "turn the page" and look to the future.

Nasiriyah, about 320 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, has recently been the scene of clashes between Shi'ite militias and U.S.-Iraqi forces. The situation has calmed since anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared a truce, but sporadic violence continues.

The U.S. military said the Imam Ali base where Kouchner landed was hit by rockets or mortar shells late on May 30, but no casualties were reported.

With material from agency reports

Taliban captures Afghan district

2008-05-30T15:24:00.001-06:00

May 30,2008 -- Taliban fighters have captured a remote district in central Afghanistan, taking prisoner the police and administration chiefs, officials and the Taliban have said.

The fighters attacked the district of Rashidan in the central province of Ghazni in a night attack, the provincial governor and a Taliban spokesman told the AFP news agency on Friday.

"Last night, Taliban attacked Rashidan district and it fell," Jan Mohammad Mujahed, a provincial police chief, said.

Mujahed said the plight of the seized officials was unknown.

'Under control'

Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the Taliban, confirmed the fighters were in control and said the district chief, acting police chief and eight policemen had been taken prisoner.

"They are alive and we have captured them. The district is totally under our control," he said.

Rashidan is a small district about 120km southwest of Kabul.

Teresa Bo, reporting for Al Jazeera in Afghanistan, said Ghazni - located along a major highway from Kabul, the capital, to the south - is one of the most complicated areas where fighting between Afghan, US and Taliban forces takes place almost every day.

She said the Taliban holds power in strategic locations, adding: "Some of the police officers working here say they are afraid they will be the next target.

"Security is one of the major concerns for every one in the area; the soldiers know they can be attacked any minute."

Vicious circle

Bo said a vicious cycle of violence continues as the Taliban fights for the control of the country and the US-led coalition struggles between re-construction and war.

The Taliban, in government between 1996 and 2001, last year overran several districts in remote parts of Afghanistan, but in most cases were ejected by government troops and soldiers attached to Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) and a separate US-led military coalition is fighting Taliban militants.

Taliban officials say they control a handful of districts, mostly in the south of the country.

Nato military force officials said in December that the Taliban held not more than five districts.

Afghan Investment Reveals Larger Strategy

2008-05-29T11:10:00.001-06:00

Ibrahim Adel, Afghanistan's minister for mines and industry

(AFP)

China has won a $3.5 billion contract to develop Afghanistan's Aynak copper field, the largest foreign direct investment project in the history of Afghanistan.

The size of the bid -- almost double the expected amount -- surprised other potential foreign investors.

By some estimates, the 28-square-kilometer copper field in Logar Province could contain up to $88 billion worth of ore. But there is no power plant in the area that can generate enough electricity for the mining and extraction operations. And Afghanistan has never had the kind of railroad needed to haul away the tons of copper that could be extracted.

That is why a large part of the Chinese bid includes the cost of building a 400-megawatt, coal-fired power plant and a freight railroad passing from western China through Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Indeed, the cost of building so much infrastructure in a volatile security environment like Afghanistan is prohibitive for many private firms. But Niklas Norling, an expert on China and Central Asia at the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development, says the price tag is tolerable for a Chinese state firm because the project contributes to Beijing's plans for the development of western China and its regional trade links.

"You have to see this in the context of China's great western development program, which has led to major investment into the western provinces [of China] and, of course, also crossborder connections to Central Asia, South Asia, and Iran," Norling says. "In order to develop the west [of China], they need energy resources, and they need other resource materials. So far, Afghanistan has remained virtually untouched by Beijing's concerns, in contrast to China's involvement in Central Asia, Pakistan, and Iran.

"The past few years have seen investments into the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan, the Gwadar port [in Karachi], [and] a multibillion-dollar pipeline from Kazakhstan to Xinjiang [Uyghur Autonomous Region]. China has signed a $100 billion, 25-year energy contract with Iran. And so on and so on," Norling continues. "So, of course, this forms part of a greater strategy."

China In Competition

Norling says the Aynak copper mine also should be seen in terms of China's competition with countries like Russia and the United States for economic influence in the region.

"All states [in this part of Asia] basically are swing states whose geopolitical alignments could tilt either way during the next decade -- including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran perhaps also, and the Central Asian republics," Norling says. "The state that manages to acquire the most influence will, of course, tie these states into their orbit. And I think China is progressing well to do this."

Industry experts say the venture could be risky for the Chinese company, China Metallurgical Group. They say the same obstacles that prevented Anyak from being developed during the last 30 years also could prevent China Metallurgical Group from meeting its goals there.

Years of war and factional fighting in Afghanistan have ensured that the Aynak deposit has remained largely untouched since Soviet geologists surveyed the area in the 1970s. And although the copper field is in a relatively secure part of Afghanistan, the railroad and power lines would be difficult to defend against attacks by militants.

Safety Of Local Residents

Another important factor would be keeping the local population happy about the venture. For now, many residents in the area say they support the project because of the thousands of jobs Afghan officials have promised it will create. But with corruption in Afghanistan running high, and with billions of dollars at stake, some residents are concerned their safety may be neglected.

"The extraction and production of copper begins with explosives. Then it is processed in a way that produces [toxic] dust and dangerous gasses -- affecting areas near and far," says local resident Abdul Wasi Ahmadzai. "So we want to be sure that the government pays close attention to these issues."

Concerns also have been expressed about the need for the Chinese firm to prevent toxins from seeping into the underground water table. The fear is that drinking-water supplies could be contaminated for people as far away as Kabul.

Fazlullah, a legislator in the upper chamber of parliament from Logar Province, says maintaining support for the project from Logar residents requires proper monitoring of issues such as environmental protection, as well as the private property rights of those who say parts of the copper field are on their land.

"The humanitarian and citizenship rights of our people whose lives are threatened by this project are not being mentioned -- the people who will be losing their homes, stocks, and farms," Fazlullah says. "They must decide about the fate of the villages which will be destroyed by this project. The environmental effects of this project undermine the villages of Surkhab and Mosaayee."

'High Environmental Standards'

Afghan Minister of Mines and Industry Ibrahim Adel tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that there are no villages in the area that is to be mined. He also says the Chinese firm is obliged to compensate residents who will lose their property as a result of the project.

"Regarding the environment, both sides have accepted that the best standards will be enforced. Those are the [international] standards of 'equator principles' and the World Bank," Adel says. "So Aynak will be one of the world's most unique mines, with high environmental standards."

The Afghan government is eager for China's involvement. China has proven in other developing countries that it is an efficient partner and that the projects it initiates are usually realized. But Norling is more cautious, considering the scale and location of the Aynak project.

“These plans are still ideas. It will be seen in the next six years whether this will actually materialize," Norling says. "If the security situation does not improve, or if it even gets worse, it might jeopardize this project. Time will tell. I think the first step will be to see how the security situation turns out in the next one or two years."

With new geological studies revealing other potentially lucrative mineral fields across Afghanistan, the Aynak deal is seen by other would-be foreign investors as a litmus test -- on how Afghanistan deals with international investors, on the level of corruption, and on whether security can be provided for such high-profile, foreign-funded projects.

Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Sultan Sarwar contributed to this story from Prague and Logar Province

Amnesty Asks Governments To Recommit To Rights Declaration

2008-05-28T11:42:00.001-06:00

Irene Khan, secretary-general of Amnesty International (file photo)

(AFP)

Amnesty International is one of the most prominent human rights organizations documenting abuses worldwide. So it is significant when it takes a moment off from the fight and looks, instead, at the larger ideals involved in the struggle.

Those ideals are the rights of all human beings to hold opinions and to express them without fear of arbitrary arrest and persecution by their governments.

And, as Amnesty International uses its 2008 annual survey of human rights conditions to remind the world, these ideals are nothing new. In fact, they are part of an international agreement that all the nations of the world formally subscribe to and which is now 60 years old.

The framework is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948. At the time of its adoption, world leaders enthusiastically welcomed what is, in fact, a point-by-point listing of the basic rights of every human being.

'Magna Carta' For All

“This Universal Declaration of Human Rights may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere,” Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, said at the time of the declaration's adoption.

But Amnesty International says many authoritarian regimes today remain far from accepting any kind of Magna Carta concept. The Magna Carta was a famous agreement in 13th-century England that forced the king to recognize that he, too, must obey the laws.

Instead, Amnesty notes in its current report, people are still being imprisoned by regimes that routinely ignore both their own laws and their international commitments as they repress free speech and political activity. And in 2007 -- the year covered in the report -- there was plenty of evidence of that -- from Russia to Central Asia to Iran.

“This is the 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," says Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan. "It is about time that governments apologized for six decades of human rights failures, and it’s about time that they committed themselves afresh to living up to the promises that they made in 1948.”

She also says that events in 2007 showed that the people who live under repressive regimes know their rights and demand them. It is their governments which do not listen -- to their own shame.

“If I look back at 2007," Khan says, "what I remember most are the saffron-robed monks in Myanmar. What I remember most are the black-suited lawyers in Pakistan demanding justice, demanding equality, demanding the rule of law, demanding human rights. It was people on the streets that put governments to shame in 2007.”

Signers, But Still Abusers

Khan’s cry of anger against the status quo mirrors the frustration that many human rights campaigners feel as decades go by and the very governments that signed the Declaration of Human Rights continue to abuse it.

The frustration is voiced clearly when political dissidents and rights activists from different countries meet to discuss how to force governments to change. The head of one Western-based organization working in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union says it is not possible for civic groups alone to reform repressive regimes.

"I do think we overstate the civic society case," Bruce Jackson, president of the Project on Transitional Democracies, told the Democracy and Security Conferencea in Prague last year. "Civic society confirms democracy and might be a condition of democracy, but it does not cause democracy. There are more NGOs in Belarus today than there are in Georgia, and in fact if NGOs alone can cause democracy, then Alyaksandr Milinkevich would be president of a free Belarus."

He and many other rights activists would like to see Western governments use their economic weight to force abusive regimes to change as the price for better trade relations. Western states routinely isolate smaller, repressive regimes that like that of Sudan or Myanmar but -- rights activists argue -- go slow when it comes to major trading partners like Russia and China.

'Top Of The Agenda'

“This duality has existed practically all the time. It never stopped," former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky said at the same Prague conference. "The question is about the proportion -- whether the main emphasis in your relations with [repressive] countries is made on demanding that they improve their human rights record and release dissidents or whether that is the last point in all your relations. And the first point is, of course, how to have more profits. And that's what our struggle is about, how to make the question of human rights and the fate of dissidents the top of the agenda in international relations.”

That is essentially the message of Amnesty International this year as it calls on all governments -- both repressive and enlightened -- to renew their commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As the declaration says, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. No one shall be subjected to torture. All are equal before the law.

Now, 60 years after these truths were universally adopted, Amnesty says, it is more than time they were universally observed.

Roadside Bombs Kill 12 Civilians

2008-05-27T09:43:00.001-06:00

Afghan officials say eight civilians and four policemen have died in two separate roadside bombings in Afghanistan.

Authorities say the civilians were killed Tuesday when a bomb hit their bus in the Delaram district of Farah province.

The western province borders Iran and is a common target for insurgents fighting Afghan soldiers and their Western allies.

Officials say the four Afghan policemen were killed in Logar province, south of Kabul, when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle today.

Also in Logar, hundreds of protesters blocked a highway after foreign troops killed a religious teacher in an overnight raid.

In the southern province of Helmand, U.S.-led forces say they killed several militants during an operation to stop weapons smugglers in Garmser district.

Tens of thousands of foreign forces have been helping Afghan soldiers battle insurgents and rebuild Afghanistan since the U.S.-led coalition pushed the Taliban government from power in 2001.

Kurdish PM Warns Against Hasty Withdrawal of US Forces From Iraq

2008-05-25T09:37:00.001-06:00

The prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region says the hasty withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq would be catastrophic for the country and the region.

Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (file photo)

Nechirvan Barzani told VOA Kurdish service in an exclusive interview Saturday that people should not underestimate the progress that has been made in Iraq since U.S. forces toppled Sadaam Hussein in 2003. He said Iraq is a special situation that requires patience.

Mr. Barzani met U.S. President George Bush in Washington Friday.

Mr. Barzani said Iraq's Kurdish regional government is committed to fighting terrorism. But he said the conflict in northern Iraq between neighboring Turkey and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, requires a political solution.

Turkey and the United States consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

In recent months, Turkish forces have attacked Iraq's Kurdistan region to drive out PKK fighters taking refuge there.

The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast for nearly 25 years.

Suicide Bomber Kills Child, 4 Soldiers in Afghanistan

2008-05-23T10:25:00.001-06:00

A suicide bomber has attacked an Afghan army convoy in eastern Afghanistan, killing four soldiers and one child.

An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Zahir Azimi, says four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in Friday's attack in Khost province.

News agencies report the bombing is similar to others carried by Taliban insurgents.

On Thursday, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani said the Taliban had shown a readiness for political dialogue and that every effort should be made to establish such contacts to end the insurgency.

Rabbani said the alliance of opposition parties he now leads received a letter, in which the militants said they would accept international conventions and would not oppose education for girls.

Meanwhile, one NATO soldier and two Afghan civilians were killed Thursday during a protest in central Ghor province against a U.S. soldier who shot at a copy of the Koran in Iraq.

The protest turned violent when demonstrators began throwing rocks and setting tents on fire. Afghan police opened fire on the crowd, killing the two civilians and wounding several others.

The NATO mission in Afghanistan says it is not clear how the soldier - from Lithuania - was killed.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.