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Donkey bomb, a new trick of Afghan militants, kills police officer
By Abdul Haleem, Chen Xin
KABUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The anti-government militants in Afghanistan use a new tactic that took many into surprise - using innocent donkey as bomb that claimed the life of a senior police officer and injured three others in the western Ghor province 360 km west of Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, police confirmed.
"The rebels planted mine on a donkey and stopped it near the gate of the district headquarters of Charsada district and when the district police chief arrived at the gate to go to his office, the rebels exploded it by remote control, killing the police chief on the spot," police chief of Ghor province, Dilawar Shah Dilawar told Xinhua.
The new but bloody tactic which was implemented at around 09:00 a.m. local time had also killed the non-combatant donkey, Dilawar added.
Three more policemen were injured in the blast, he further said.
He put the attack on Taliban militants. However, the outfit fighting the government has yet to comment.
Condemning the incident, Dilawar said that the trick exposes Taliban cruelty against both human being and animals.
This is the first time that militants fighting the Afghan government have been using donkey as military equipment to mount pressure on the establishment.
As the main armed opposition outfit, the Taliban militants, who have been fighting the Afghan administration and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), often use suicide attack and roadside bombings as their attack method.
Using donkey from among domestic animals family by anti- government militants in the conflict-ridden Afghanistan according to locals is the first time of its kind that has been reported.
In addition to killing the district police in Ghor province, the militancy-plagued Afghanistan has also experienced violent incidents in other provinces on the same day Monday.
Anti-government militants in a related incident gunned down the deputy to police chief of Shindand district in Herat province 640 km west of capital Kabul on Monday morning, police said.
"Two unknown armed men riding a motorbike opened fire and killed the deputy police chief of Shindand district in the morning rush hour today," inspector general police of Herat province, Sayed Aqa Saqib said.
In a related development, three bodies were found in Saripul district 350 km north of capital Kabul on Monday. Local officials, according to local media, have blamed Taliban for the abduction and killing of the trio ill-fated men.
Militancy has been on constant rise in Afghanistan since launching the so-called spring offensive by Taliban outfit in May 3 this year. The outfit said anyone works for government or NATO- led force is its target.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of backing Taliban enemy
By Michael Georgy and Matthew Green | Reuters – Sun, Aug 5, 2012
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's interior minister has said elements of the Afghan government are likely supporting a senior Pakistani Taliban leader who is fighting to topple the Islamabad government, accusations which could further raise tensions over cross-border raids by militants.
Pakistani officials say the Taliban commander known as Fazlullah has been orchestrating raids on Pakistani security forces from Afghanistan, where he fled several years ago after a Pakistani army offensive against his stronghold in the Swat Valley.
Pakistan has repeatedly called on Afghanistan to hunt down Fazlullah, whose fighters cross the border in their hundreds, set up ambushes and attack army checkpoints.
"If somebody is living in somebody's house and you ask him 'who is giving you food, who is giving you all this shelter?' You know he is in Afghanistan," Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters in a weekend interview.
"I think some of the elements (of the Afghan government) there are supporters. Maybe state actors, maybe non-state actors."
Afghan officials see Pakistan's suggestion that Afghans are supporting cross-border attacks as an attempt to distract attention from what they say is Pakistan's long history of supporting Afghanistan's Taliban movement and other insurgent factions.
U.S. and Afghan officials say there is no comparison between the relatively small and recent presence of Fazlullah's men in eastern Afghanistan and what they describe as long-standing ties between elements of Pakistani intelligence and the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies backed the emergence of Afghanistan's Taliban movement in the mid-1990s and Western officials believe that parts of the security establishment continue to tolerate or actively abet Afghan insurgents.
Malik provided no evidence to support his assertion that elements within Afghanistan were supporting Fazlullah, nor did he give further details.
"These comments made by the Pakistani Interior Minister are irresponsible and a baseless allegation," said Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.
"Afghanistan has been under attacks from safe havens of insurgents inside Pakistan, and we are quite sure that Mullah Fazlullah is somewhere in Pakistan."
TRADING ACCUSATIONS
Fazlullah and other militant leaders based along the frontier complicate U.S. efforts to stabilize the region before most NATO combat troops withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
The issue has strained ties between Islamabad and Kabul.
Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of backing militants said to be based on its soil who cross the border to attack Afghan and NATO forces, including the Haqqani network, blamed for a series of high-profile attacks on Kabul.
Islamabad denies the allegations.
Pakistan's reluctance to bow to U.S. pressure to take tougher action against sanctuaries used by Haqqani insurgents and other Afghan fighters has been one of the major reasons for a sharp deterioration in relations with Washington.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday he accepted parliament's decision to dismiss the country's two top security ministers for failing to stop cross-border shelling blamed on Pakistan, in what could be a blow to NATO plans to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces.
The fractious parliament voted on Saturday to remove Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi over a series of recent insurgent assassinations of top officials, as well as the cross-border fire incidents that infuriate many Afghan voters as well as politicians.
Afghanistan has rushed additional troops and artillery to the mountainous border with Pakistan as tensions continue to rise over cross-border shelling which Afghan officials blame on Pakistan's powerful military.
Pakistan's military has said it only responds to attacks by militants, including Pakistan Taliban operating from what it says are havens in Afghan territory.
In his heyday, Fazlullah was known as "FM Mullah", for his fiery radio speeches broadcast in Swat, which was a tourist resort before he and his men imposed a reign of terror there.
A burly man in his thirties with a heavy black beard, Fazlullah dispatched his men to publicly flog and behead opponents, or anyone they deemed immoral.
Fazlullah has re-emerged as a major security headache for the Pakistani military, which is already stretched fighting other Taliban insurgent leaders.
"He is as dangerous (for Pakistan) as the Haqqanis are dangerous for Afghanistan. He is energizing terrorism now. He is recruiting people, he is planning," said Malik.
In June, about 100 militants loyal to Fazlullah sneaked across the border and ambushed Pakistani troops. The fighters later released a video of what they said were the heads of 17 ambushed soldiers.
It was a reminder that despite army offensives, militant leaders can simply melt away and reappear to take on Pakistan's army, one of the biggest in the world.
"Unfortunately he is enjoying his life in Afghanistan," said Malik. "I appeal to Afghanistan to look into it and make sure (his) people don't come to us."
Greater cooperation on border security could be hard to achieve. There are no signs that either side will back down.
Asked if Pakistan would be willing to go after the Haqqanis, Malik said: "They are not our babies, they are no longer anyone's babies. They have become independent."
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi in KABUL; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
Afghan President Moves to Reassure Allies After Security Ministers Are Dismissed
New York Times By ALISSA J. RUBIN and SANGAR RAHIMI August 5, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai moved quickly on Sunday to confirm Parliament’s decision to dismiss two senior security ministers the day before, but he reassured the Western allies that he would avoid a vacuum in the two ministries charged with fighting the war and organizing the transition to Afghan control.
In a statement, Mr. Karzai said he had requested that both of the men who were dismissed, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, stay on until replacements could be found. Describing them as “true sons of Afghanistan,” he said that they would be decorated for their service and would remain in the government in different jobs.
The effects of the dismissals will not be clear until Mr. Karzai signals how quickly he expects to replace them and the level of presidential trust they will enjoy in the interim, government officials said.
While some in Parliament who voted for the removal of the two officials were upset that the president did not act immediately to replace them, others said a delay would be understandable. “We have fighting almost every day in all of the provinces; therefore, he should find the best candidate. These ministries are both extremely important,” said Hajji Obaidullah Barakzai, a lawmaker from Uruzgan Province.
The Parliament’s motivation for removing the two ministers remained unclear. Some observers said that the men had failed to award jobs and contracts widely enough and had slighted Parliament members’ demands.
Mr. Karzai was responsible the last time two ministers were removed, in June 2010, when his disapproval of the performance of the interior minister, Hanif Atmar, and the director of the intelligence service, Amrullah Saleh, compelled them to resign.
In those cases, Pakistan prodded the Afghan government to act because it considered the men to be hostile to Pakistani interests.
Pakistan may have been a factor this time, too, but the circumstances are more complex.
In interviews this weekend, Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, accused Afghanistan of harboring insurgents hostile to Pakistan. The accusation rankles Afghans, who feel that they have been the victim of insurgents from havens in Pakistan, and, more recently, of repeated rocket attacks from within Pakistan.
Mr. Mohammadi has been strongly critical of Pakistan, but was seen as failing to protect Afghans from attacks across the border, Afghan officials said.
When he appeared before Parliament on Saturday, he again warned the lawmakers that whether he remained in his job or not, Afghanistan would remain vulnerable to Pakistan. “As long as ISI is free to intervene in Afghanistan, we will not see a happy day,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence. “They still have a very antagonistic strategy toward us.”
Pakistan did not have to press Parliament to remove Mr. Mohammadi or Mr. Wardak because lawmakers were already unhappy with access to patronage networks and their growing sense of the country’s vulnerability.
“There have been attempts to bribe Parliament on national issues, but it has not worked. Their stands reflect their fears or hopes,” said Ashraf Ghani, a senior adviser to Mr. Karzai and leader of the security transition, adding that Mr. Mohammadi’s criticisms of Pakistan had done little to assuage their fears of further hostilities from Pakistan and “a perception of national humiliation.”
Several Parliament members said they were disappointed that Mr. Karzai had not handed over the ministries to the deputy ministers.
One Parliament member, Gul Pacha Majidi of Paktia Province, said he had hoped that the president would put the deputies in charge, and he said that he and others were wary about whether Mr. Karzai would make good on his promise to nominate new ministers.
“The Parliament will decide tomorrow regarding our next step,” he said.
Mr. Karzai has sometimes ignored the Parliament’s decisions to dismiss ministers, leaving them in charge for months or years. However, most lawmakers said Sunday that they did not think that would happen in this case.
Top Afghan security ministers to keep jobs for now
Associated Press August 5 , 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan’s president responded Sunday to parliament’s dismissal of his defense and interior ministers by retaining them as caretakers, keeping his security team intact for now but infuriating lawmakers who suspect he may delay replacing them indefinitely.
The possible removal of both the heads of the military and the police complicates the U.S. effort to gradually turn over more security responsibility to Afghan forces before most international troops leave Afghanistan or move into support roles by the end of 2014.
Legislators voted to disqualify Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi on Saturday after questioning the two on what they said was a weak government response to cross-border attacks that Afghans blame on the Pakistani military, as well as allegations of corruption in their ministries.
President Hamid Karzai met with the National Security Council the next day, and his office issued a statement saying that the council “respects parliament’s constitutional decision” in passing a no-confidence vote, but also that the president instructed the ministers “to continue in office until replacements are introduced within the provisions of law.”
That language drew immediate condemnation from lawmakers, who said the president is overriding the parliament’s authority by keeping on the ministers even temporarily.
“This decision of President Karzai is completely against the law. He doesn’t have the authority to keep a minister that has gotten a no-confidence vote of the parliament. He should have immediately have introduced new nominees,” said Gul Pacha Mujedi, a lawmaker from the eastern province of Paktia.
Karzai could still quickly name replacements for Wardak and Mohammadi, but in past no-confidence votes, he has simply kept other ministers in their jobs in an acting capacity and then dragged out the replacement process, effectively nullifying the parliamentary action.
Lawmakers suspect he is using the same technique to avoid changes to his Cabinet at a time when his government struggles to project an image of a slowly improving military and police force that will be capable of keeping the Taliban insurgents from regaining ground once most international troops leave.
Wardak is one of the Afghan officials most trusted by Washington. He studied in the U.S. and has been defense minister since late 2004. He has overseen massive growth of the army — now 185,125-strong.
As interior minister, Mohammadi has been tasked with professionalizing the various Afghan police units. He is an ethnic Tajik who fought in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the 1990s. He served as chief of staff for the Afghan National Army from 2002 to 2010.
Shinkay Zahin Karokhil, a lawmaker from Kabul, said the president’s statement raised worries. If Karzai truly respected the no-confidence vote, she said, “he could have appointed a deputy minister as caretaker.”
“If the president wants to keep these two, I think it will not help Afghanistan,” she warned, adding that lawmakers would likely discuss Karzai’s response in meetings Monday.
The legislative branch of government has increasingly become frustrated with Karzai’s administration. Parliament occasionally flexes its muscle to thwart Karzai’s policies or appointments, but the constitution still places most power in the president’s hands.
Afghan citizens standing up to Taliban seek support
USA TODAY By Lianne Gutcher, Special for USA TODAY 05/08/2012
KABUL - When the town government of Ander in Ghazni province clamped down on the unlicensed motorbikes that militants were using to get around, the Taliban came in to shut down the schools as punishment.
Rather than cower, the elders and townspeople rose up. After two weeks of fighting, most of the schools were back open.
Local communities in eastern Afghanistan that are tired of both Taliban harassment and government inaction are increasingly mounting spontaneous campaigns of resistance against insurgents who burn down schools, shut health clinics and threaten the local population.
The Afghan government says community-led anti-Taliban movements have occurred in recent months in the provinces of Paktiya, Ghazni, Kunar, Nuristan and Laghman.
"These (uprisings) are real, and they (have been) motivated by the insurgents' bad behavior in the past 10 years," said Waliullah Rahmani, executive director of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies. "I hope this movement can grow because it offers a good alternative and solution for providing stability in Afghanistan."
In Paktiya, there have been five uprisings in four districts in recent months. Two weeks ago in Mirzaka district, tribal elders demanded help from the Afghan National Police and sub-governor after the Taliban abducted seven men and beheaded three of them.
When no help arrived the elders returned to their village and organized a resistance, Mirzaka elder Zabit Mangal said in an interview in Kabul. The Talibs they did not kill were chased out of the district, he said.
"We decided we were not going to let the Taliban get away with bad activities in our area. We fought with our own rifles and our own resources," he said. "The government didn't give us a single round."
Mangal and other Mirzaka elders said they will ask the government to create an Afghan Local Police unit in their town, referring to a joint Afghan-NATO program where villagers are paid to defend their communities from insurgents in areas where the national police do not operate. The program has expanded to about 13,000 members across the country.
With or without government support, villagers seem increasingly willing to take on the Taliban.
Ainullah Khan, a school principal, organized 500 students to fight against Taliban attempts to shut down the schools in the Barkali area of Waigal district, according to Ghulam Hussain, the head of the provincial education department.
"Although they had no weapons or guns, they were able to kick the Taliban out (of their district) and stop them from shutting down schools by using sticks and stones," Hussain said.
Khan was stabbed with a bayonet in three days of fighting but survived. The Taliban no longer has a presence in Barkali.
Noor Mohammad Khan, a tribal elder from Nuristan, agreed that local tolerance of the Taliban is fraying.
"The people of Nuristan are tired of the way Taliban forces treat them and make demands of them," he said. "People don't want to live under Taliban rule, and their law and order, which most of the time is not just. That is why the uprising started, and I can guarantee that soon we will have this uprising all over Nuristan province."
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 sent many Taliban into the hinterlands, but they began to reappear in 2005, elders say. They initially had support among some parts of the community, according to Rahmani. But then the insurgents, who included Pakistani and Arab fighters, began attacking development projects and harassing local people.
"They came to be a force against development in Afghanistan, against development projects wanted by the people," Rahmani said.
The presence of insurgents in the east of Afghanistan has increased sharply since 2009, when a surge of mostly U.S. Marines went into Afghanistan and forced militants to flee the southern provinces.
Paktiya lawmaker Nawab Mangal visited Mirzaka after the Taliban showdown. He says he and other Paktiya lawmakers will be using their tribal connections to spread the resistance.
"If this resistance can be increased and become a general stance then I think the Taliban can be defeated, not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan," Mangal said in an interview at his home in Kabul. "The trouble is that the government is not doing enough to support and provide assistance to these people."
Army Maj. Martin O'Donnell, a coalition military spokesman in eastern Afghanistan, said in an e-mail that the coalition was "aware of the reports of public uprisings against insurgents throughout our region."
He said the uprisings are not a part of coalition initiatives and referred questions to the Afghan government and community officials.
Some observers cautioned against too much optimism over the resistance to Taliban rule.
Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based research organization, said the uprisings are limited to a few areas. What may look like spontaneous uprisings may actually be part of inter-factional power struggles, he said.
Mangal, the Paktiya lawmaker, said the Afghan government must support the uprisings and do more.
Mangal said Afghans are also angry about government corruption, its inability to rule and its failure to provide needed services.
"The government needs reforms," Mangal said. "Today we are watching as people stand up to the Taliban. But if tomorrow the government is not doing enough, one day these people will stand against the government, too."
New Zealand forces come under second attack in two days in Afghanistan
WELLINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand forces in Afghanistan came under attack again on Sunday, the day after insurgents killed two New Zealand soldiers and wounded six others, the New Zealand Defence Force announced Monday.
Members of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the village of Do Abe, in Bamyan Province, came under fire from small arms and rocket propelled grenades in the second attack, said a statement from the NZDF.
"Our personnel returned fire. We also dispatched other forces in support of our people in Do Abe," Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Jones said in the statement.
"In addition, our coalition partners provided significant air support."
The Provincial Reconstruction Team sustained no casualties in the second attack, he said.
"We have begun reviewing this attack, which will feed into our picture of the security challenges in this part of Bamyan," said Jones.
Earlier Monday, Jones said the NZDF remained committed to a smooth and measured handover of its responsibilities in Bamyan Province to the Afghan authorities after the deadly attack Saturday.
Lance Corporal Rory Patrick Malone and Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer, both aged 26, died when NZDF personnel came to the assistance of local security forces who encountered suspected insurgents near a village south of Do Abe, in the northeast of the province.
The six New Zealand soldiers injured in the attack were all in a stable condition, and five of them would be transferred Monday to a military hospital in Germany, with the sixth likely to follow when his condition allowed.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told Radio New Zealand Monday that the deaths would not prompt any changes to next year's scheduled withdrawal of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, which was a large logistical undertaking.
Afghan nomad clashes raise fears of ethnic strife
AFP August 06, 2012
Afghanistan - Bloody raids by nomads armed with machine guns and rocket launchers on villages near Kabul are raising fears about a return to ethnic conflict in Afghanistan 18 months before NATO combat troops leave.
For more than a century, ethnic Pashtuns known as Kuchis have wintered in the south and east where the weather is better, and migrated in the summer to let their herds graze in the cooler north.
But a land dispute between the Kuchis and the settled ethnic Hazaras dating back 130 years has since 2005 disintegrated into seasonal violence in the Kajab valley west of the capital.
With NATO forces due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, there are fears that the country could slide back to the chaos seen in the 1990s, when ethnically aligned factions fought a bloody civil war.
From the early 1990s to 2001 fighting between the Pashtun-dominated Taliban and Hazaras led to tens of thousands of deaths, particularly on the Hazara side.
"Afghans have suffered a lot in internal and mainly ethnic wars in the past, and this problem, if left unsolved could hurt the volatile national unity among Afghans even further," said author and analyst Waheed Mujda.
In early June, up to 2,000 Kuchi nomads swept into Kajab, according to residents and local officials, ransacking several villages and burning hundreds of buildings.
Most of the valley's population of ethnic Hazaras, who are also part of the Shiite Muslim minority, fled. According to villagers, the Kuchis killed four Hazaras and seven soldiers.
Two months on from the raid, Kajab looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland dotted with gutted, fire-blackened mud buildings.
"In each burnt home, there was a Koran. When the Americans set fire to them in the spring, the whole world cried out," said village elder Ewaz, 55.
"But here, no one's said anything. Who are we? What have we done? We're also Muslims, aren't we."
The madrassa in Dahane Gandob village was almost totally destroyed, apparently by rocket fire. The walls of the seminary's mosque are pockmarked with small-calibre bullet holes. A prayer room was saved, though the carpets were stolen.
The village's two medical clinics were badly damaged -- the older one was completely destroyed and the other, which was not yet in service, is now unusable.
Local authorities and villagers say there were Taliban among the Kuchi raiders, suggesting that the Pashtun-dominated insurgent group could be using the Kuchis to win land away from the government and its NATO allies.
Kajab is in Behsoud district of Wardak, a province dominated by Pashtuns where the local government denies what is widely assumed to be a strong Taliban presence.
In neighbouring Uruzgan province last week, a Hazara local police commander reportedly rounded up and killed nine Pashtun civilians in revenge for the death of two local Hazaras. Authorities say the case is still under investigation.
Behsoud lawmaker Ghulan Hussein Nasseri accused the government of President Hamid Karzai, himself a Pashtun, of discriminating against Hazaras and said they would defend themselves if they were not given protection.
"The attacks of the nomads were under the support of the government," Nasseri said.
He said he warned the national and provincial authorities the day before the attack and on the day itself, but claimed the army only arrived in Kajab five hours after the Kuchis left.
Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the Wardak governor, blamed a lack of resources.
"We don't have enough security forces in the area, although we have asked the central government to send us more, and even make a special force to control the Kuchis and Hazara brothers' conflict," he said.
The clashes stemmed from a "legal issue" which was beyond the remit of the provincial authorities and should be solved through judicial channels, he added.
The nomads say they want to reclaim land given to them by a royal decree 130 years ago, which the settled communities have been living on for generations.
Hazaras make up an estimated 15 to 20 percent of the population. They suffered brutal persecution under the 1996-2001 Taliban rule, but have prospered since the 2001 US-led invasion. Elay Ershad, a Kuchi lawmaker, accused the Hazaras of initiating the violence.
"Hazaras said they bought that land from the government, which is not true. Hazaras start to attack Kuchis. They have big fights," he said.
A conflict also erupted last year in Laghman province, a Pashtun province east of Kabul, he said, arguing that giving the Kuchis their own land was the only solution.
Many Kajab residents left for good after the violence in June, abandoning their farms in what is a very green and well-cultivated valley.
"We voted for a government to protect the people. If they don't, I see a very dark future for this country," warned Nasseri.
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NATO forces say coalition airstrike has killed Haqqani leader in eastern Afghanistan
Associated Press Monday, August 6, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO forces say they have killed a leader of the Haqqani insurgent group in an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan.
The international military coalition says Sher Mohammad Hakimi was killed on Sunday in Logar province.
Logar province police chief, Raeis Khan Rahimzai, says Hakimi was sitting under a tree with some associates when the NATO strike killed him. He says four others were injured.
Rahimzai says Hakimi was known for organizing roadside bomb attacks and for training insurgents. NATO says Hakimi transported weapons through the region and served directly under Haqqani leader Muhammad Agha.
The Pakistan-based Haqqani network is allied with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and is believed to be responsible for a host of attacks in Kabul and surrounding provinces.
Belgium begins troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
By Indo Asian News Service
Brussels, Aug 6 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The first group of Belgian soldiers from a detachment providing security at the Kabul airport has been withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Twenty-four Belgian soldiers and 10 from Luxembourg, part of the mixed platoon stationed at the airport in Kabul since 2003, have returned home.
Belgian soldiers will completely end their mission at the airport by Sep 30, Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported.
It is expected that in September-November 2012, five Belgian platoons, a total of 230 personnel, will leave Afghanistan.
By the end of the year, Belgium's troop presence in Afghanistan will be reduced to 360 people from 626.
Six Belgian military F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft will be deployed in Afghanistan until the end of 2014, when Afghanistan will take over full control of the country's security.
Belgian Defence Minister Pieter De Crem said the country's soldiers would maintain a presence in Afghanistan for three more years after 2014 in order to help Afghanistan create a national army.
--IANS/RIA Novosti
CSI Kabul: US military trains Afghan police force in crime-solving techniques
The American military has built a forensic academy to teach the latest crime-solving laboratory techniques to the Afghan police force.
Telegraph.co.uk By Ben Farmer 05 Aug 2012
Kabul - Afghan officers are being trained in methods such as DNA profiling and fingerprint analysis which are staples of British or American detective work and crime shows, but alien to Afghanistan's rough and ready policing.
The race to train Afghans in techniques which could catch Taliban bombers as well as other criminals comes as the Nato coalition has begun withdrawing tens of thousands of soldiers from the country.
The coalition has around 200 of its own forensic experts in seven military laboratories, gathering evidence from insurgent suspects, homemade bombs and mobile phones found on the battlefield.
When these laboratories scale back, the Afghans will be left with virtually no ability to gather or interpret forensic evidence themselves.
Lt Col Syed Rahmatullah Qureshi, the Afghan police's chief forensic expert, estimated only 40 of his officers had ever received any training. Much of that was learned more than 20 years ago from Soviet advisers and was now outdated, or forgotten.
"We have seen many wars, all the laboratories have lost all their equipment," said Lt Col Qureshi, who is a fingerprint expert himself.
The American solution is the Afghan Criminal Techniques Academy, a plain-looking $1.3 million (£830,000) single storey block beside the sprawling Bagram airfield north of Kabul.
Inside the academy, experts from laboratories, police departments and sheriffs' offices across America are trying to train up Afghan technicians who can then go on to train their colleagues.
Classes include ballistics, to compare bullets and weapons, DNA evidence gathering, crime-scene photography, fingerprinting and how to extract data from mobile phones and computers.
"We are using the same type of equipment and the same techniques we would use ourselves," said Paula Clifton, who has 23 years' experience working in US DNA labs.
Those picked to receive training first are largely science graduates of Afghan universities who have been reassigned from other police departments.
The Afghan police at present have little reputation for detective work. More than 85 per cent of patrolmen are estimated to be illiterate and corruption remains a widespread problem.
Their ranks have grown quickly as a paramilitary force to support the army against the Taliban and guard government positions, rather than catch criminals. More than five policemen a day are currently killed in insurgency violence.
Within minutes of major terrorist attacks ending, policemen can usually be seen swarming over the scene hunting for souvenirs and posing for victory pictures, rather than preserving the crime scene.
The American commanders behind the academy admit the scale of their job.
"We're not trying to give them the FBI all at once," said Rear Admiral James Crawford, who has led the coalition's efforts to bolster the Afghan justice system.
The academy is alongside the court where suspected insurgents held at Bagram face trial. An American prosecution adviser said around half of those cases included forensic evidence, usually fingerprints or traces of explosives. The fingerprints of one bomb maker were found on more than 20 different devices.
Outside the heavily US-mentored Bagram court however, Afghan judges and prosecutors rarely make use of forensic evidence. Most cases are settled by confessions, which defendants often say are forced.
The forensic academy is scheduled to be handed over to Afghan control by the end of 2013.
Eleven Afghan police defect to Taliban in Helmand province
6 August 2012 BBC News
Eleven Afghan policemen have defected to the Taliban in the southern province of Helmand, officials say.
The men switched sides early on Monday in Musa Qala district, taking with them weapons and three motorcycles, a provincial spokesman told the BBC.
It is the second such defection in recent weeks - a police commander and 13 junior officers joined the Taliban in western Farah province in late July.
That was one of the biggest defections so far by the police.
It highlighted a major intelligence failure and was a propaganda boost for the insurgents, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul said.
Local police commanders are key to security and stability in remote areas where deal-making is crucial to compensate for a weak Afghan government.
One Afghan intelligence official based in Helmand told our correspondent it appeared the insurgents had infiltrated the local police in Musa Qala some time ago.
A number of people who had vouched for the men who defected, including some tribal elders, are now being questioned, provincial spokesman Dawood Ahmadi told the BBC.
Local elders blamed the government, saying the men who defected had not been paid on time.
"You can't fight the Taliban if you can't feed your children. The local police were like sitting ducks. Their weapons are often not working," one told the BBC.
NDS Detains 12 Insurgents in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 05 August 2012
As many as 12 insurgents have been detained in Afghanistan, according to local officials who spoke to TOLOnews on Sunday.
In a military offensive launched by Afghan National Security Forces in the Kuzare Payen village of Jabal Saraj district, seven Taliban insurgents were detained Saturday night, provincial spokesman Roshna Khalid told TOLOnews.
An Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) soldier was killed and another was injured. Taliban fighters were also killed and wounded but the bodies were taken from the scene, Khalid added.
In a separate incident a prominent Taliban commander, Mawlawi Ghafar, was detained alongside three others by local NDS officials in Kandahar on Saturday.
Mullah Sharifullah, who was responsible for attacks in the Maiwand district in Kandahar, was detained also in Kandahar city.
Kandahar has been one of the most challenging and dangeorus provinces for Afghan and foreign forces alike in southern Afghanistan since 2001.
Illegal to Prevent Media Coverage of Parliament Sessions
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 05 August 2012
Parliament may only restrict the media from covering private meetings and not general sessions, the Information and Culture Minister, Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, said on Sunday.
His statement came after security and parliament's press office prevented broadcasters to film the violent outbursts during the vote of confidence for two ministers on Saturday. "If they [Members of Parliament] have a private meeting, the media may not be allowed inside.
Otherwise, it is the right of the media and the people to be informed of the facts," Mr. Raheen said.
Several Members of Parliament have come out against last week's ban, including Parliament's Deputy Speaker, Mohammad Farhad Azimi, who said that "such acts by the security and media responsible officials of the parliament is censorship."
He emphasized that such acts would not be acceptable in the future.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Abdul Haleem, Chen Xin
KABUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The anti-government militants in Afghanistan use a new tactic that took many into surprise - using innocent donkey as bomb that claimed the life of a senior police officer and injured three others in the western Ghor province 360 km west of Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, police confirmed.
"The rebels planted mine on a donkey and stopped it near the gate of the district headquarters of Charsada district and when the district police chief arrived at the gate to go to his office, the rebels exploded it by remote control, killing the police chief on the spot," police chief of Ghor province, Dilawar Shah Dilawar told Xinhua.
The new but bloody tactic which was implemented at around 09:00 a.m. local time had also killed the non-combatant donkey, Dilawar added.
Three more policemen were injured in the blast, he further said.
He put the attack on Taliban militants. However, the outfit fighting the government has yet to comment.
Condemning the incident, Dilawar said that the trick exposes Taliban cruelty against both human being and animals.
This is the first time that militants fighting the Afghan government have been using donkey as military equipment to mount pressure on the establishment.
As the main armed opposition outfit, the Taliban militants, who have been fighting the Afghan administration and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), often use suicide attack and roadside bombings as their attack method.
Using donkey from among domestic animals family by anti- government militants in the conflict-ridden Afghanistan according to locals is the first time of its kind that has been reported.
In addition to killing the district police in Ghor province, the militancy-plagued Afghanistan has also experienced violent incidents in other provinces on the same day Monday.
Anti-government militants in a related incident gunned down the deputy to police chief of Shindand district in Herat province 640 km west of capital Kabul on Monday morning, police said.
"Two unknown armed men riding a motorbike opened fire and killed the deputy police chief of Shindand district in the morning rush hour today," inspector general police of Herat province, Sayed Aqa Saqib said.
In a related development, three bodies were found in Saripul district 350 km north of capital Kabul on Monday. Local officials, according to local media, have blamed Taliban for the abduction and killing of the trio ill-fated men.
Militancy has been on constant rise in Afghanistan since launching the so-called spring offensive by Taliban outfit in May 3 this year. The outfit said anyone works for government or NATO- led force is its target.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of backing Taliban enemy
By Michael Georgy and Matthew Green | Reuters – Sun, Aug 5, 2012
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's interior minister has said elements of the Afghan government are likely supporting a senior Pakistani Taliban leader who is fighting to topple the Islamabad government, accusations which could further raise tensions over cross-border raids by militants.
Pakistani officials say the Taliban commander known as Fazlullah has been orchestrating raids on Pakistani security forces from Afghanistan, where he fled several years ago after a Pakistani army offensive against his stronghold in the Swat Valley.
Pakistan has repeatedly called on Afghanistan to hunt down Fazlullah, whose fighters cross the border in their hundreds, set up ambushes and attack army checkpoints.
"If somebody is living in somebody's house and you ask him 'who is giving you food, who is giving you all this shelter?' You know he is in Afghanistan," Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters in a weekend interview.
"I think some of the elements (of the Afghan government) there are supporters. Maybe state actors, maybe non-state actors."
Afghan officials see Pakistan's suggestion that Afghans are supporting cross-border attacks as an attempt to distract attention from what they say is Pakistan's long history of supporting Afghanistan's Taliban movement and other insurgent factions.
U.S. and Afghan officials say there is no comparison between the relatively small and recent presence of Fazlullah's men in eastern Afghanistan and what they describe as long-standing ties between elements of Pakistani intelligence and the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies backed the emergence of Afghanistan's Taliban movement in the mid-1990s and Western officials believe that parts of the security establishment continue to tolerate or actively abet Afghan insurgents.
Malik provided no evidence to support his assertion that elements within Afghanistan were supporting Fazlullah, nor did he give further details.
"These comments made by the Pakistani Interior Minister are irresponsible and a baseless allegation," said Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.
"Afghanistan has been under attacks from safe havens of insurgents inside Pakistan, and we are quite sure that Mullah Fazlullah is somewhere in Pakistan."
TRADING ACCUSATIONS
Fazlullah and other militant leaders based along the frontier complicate U.S. efforts to stabilize the region before most NATO combat troops withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
The issue has strained ties between Islamabad and Kabul.
Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of backing militants said to be based on its soil who cross the border to attack Afghan and NATO forces, including the Haqqani network, blamed for a series of high-profile attacks on Kabul.
Islamabad denies the allegations.
Pakistan's reluctance to bow to U.S. pressure to take tougher action against sanctuaries used by Haqqani insurgents and other Afghan fighters has been one of the major reasons for a sharp deterioration in relations with Washington.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday he accepted parliament's decision to dismiss the country's two top security ministers for failing to stop cross-border shelling blamed on Pakistan, in what could be a blow to NATO plans to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces.
The fractious parliament voted on Saturday to remove Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi over a series of recent insurgent assassinations of top officials, as well as the cross-border fire incidents that infuriate many Afghan voters as well as politicians.
Afghanistan has rushed additional troops and artillery to the mountainous border with Pakistan as tensions continue to rise over cross-border shelling which Afghan officials blame on Pakistan's powerful military.
Pakistan's military has said it only responds to attacks by militants, including Pakistan Taliban operating from what it says are havens in Afghan territory.
In his heyday, Fazlullah was known as "FM Mullah", for his fiery radio speeches broadcast in Swat, which was a tourist resort before he and his men imposed a reign of terror there.
A burly man in his thirties with a heavy black beard, Fazlullah dispatched his men to publicly flog and behead opponents, or anyone they deemed immoral.
Fazlullah has re-emerged as a major security headache for the Pakistani military, which is already stretched fighting other Taliban insurgent leaders.
"He is as dangerous (for Pakistan) as the Haqqanis are dangerous for Afghanistan. He is energizing terrorism now. He is recruiting people, he is planning," said Malik.
In June, about 100 militants loyal to Fazlullah sneaked across the border and ambushed Pakistani troops. The fighters later released a video of what they said were the heads of 17 ambushed soldiers.
It was a reminder that despite army offensives, militant leaders can simply melt away and reappear to take on Pakistan's army, one of the biggest in the world.
"Unfortunately he is enjoying his life in Afghanistan," said Malik. "I appeal to Afghanistan to look into it and make sure (his) people don't come to us."
Greater cooperation on border security could be hard to achieve. There are no signs that either side will back down.
Asked if Pakistan would be willing to go after the Haqqanis, Malik said: "They are not our babies, they are no longer anyone's babies. They have become independent."
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi in KABUL; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
Afghan President Moves to Reassure Allies After Security Ministers Are Dismissed
New York Times By ALISSA J. RUBIN and SANGAR RAHIMI August 5, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai moved quickly on Sunday to confirm Parliament’s decision to dismiss two senior security ministers the day before, but he reassured the Western allies that he would avoid a vacuum in the two ministries charged with fighting the war and organizing the transition to Afghan control.
In a statement, Mr. Karzai said he had requested that both of the men who were dismissed, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, stay on until replacements could be found. Describing them as “true sons of Afghanistan,” he said that they would be decorated for their service and would remain in the government in different jobs.
The effects of the dismissals will not be clear until Mr. Karzai signals how quickly he expects to replace them and the level of presidential trust they will enjoy in the interim, government officials said.
While some in Parliament who voted for the removal of the two officials were upset that the president did not act immediately to replace them, others said a delay would be understandable. “We have fighting almost every day in all of the provinces; therefore, he should find the best candidate. These ministries are both extremely important,” said Hajji Obaidullah Barakzai, a lawmaker from Uruzgan Province.
The Parliament’s motivation for removing the two ministers remained unclear. Some observers said that the men had failed to award jobs and contracts widely enough and had slighted Parliament members’ demands.
Mr. Karzai was responsible the last time two ministers were removed, in June 2010, when his disapproval of the performance of the interior minister, Hanif Atmar, and the director of the intelligence service, Amrullah Saleh, compelled them to resign.
In those cases, Pakistan prodded the Afghan government to act because it considered the men to be hostile to Pakistani interests.
Pakistan may have been a factor this time, too, but the circumstances are more complex.
In interviews this weekend, Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, accused Afghanistan of harboring insurgents hostile to Pakistan. The accusation rankles Afghans, who feel that they have been the victim of insurgents from havens in Pakistan, and, more recently, of repeated rocket attacks from within Pakistan.
Mr. Mohammadi has been strongly critical of Pakistan, but was seen as failing to protect Afghans from attacks across the border, Afghan officials said.
When he appeared before Parliament on Saturday, he again warned the lawmakers that whether he remained in his job or not, Afghanistan would remain vulnerable to Pakistan. “As long as ISI is free to intervene in Afghanistan, we will not see a happy day,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence. “They still have a very antagonistic strategy toward us.”
Pakistan did not have to press Parliament to remove Mr. Mohammadi or Mr. Wardak because lawmakers were already unhappy with access to patronage networks and their growing sense of the country’s vulnerability.
“There have been attempts to bribe Parliament on national issues, but it has not worked. Their stands reflect their fears or hopes,” said Ashraf Ghani, a senior adviser to Mr. Karzai and leader of the security transition, adding that Mr. Mohammadi’s criticisms of Pakistan had done little to assuage their fears of further hostilities from Pakistan and “a perception of national humiliation.”
Several Parliament members said they were disappointed that Mr. Karzai had not handed over the ministries to the deputy ministers.
One Parliament member, Gul Pacha Majidi of Paktia Province, said he had hoped that the president would put the deputies in charge, and he said that he and others were wary about whether Mr. Karzai would make good on his promise to nominate new ministers.
“The Parliament will decide tomorrow regarding our next step,” he said.
Mr. Karzai has sometimes ignored the Parliament’s decisions to dismiss ministers, leaving them in charge for months or years. However, most lawmakers said Sunday that they did not think that would happen in this case.
Top Afghan security ministers to keep jobs for now
Associated Press August 5 , 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan’s president responded Sunday to parliament’s dismissal of his defense and interior ministers by retaining them as caretakers, keeping his security team intact for now but infuriating lawmakers who suspect he may delay replacing them indefinitely.
The possible removal of both the heads of the military and the police complicates the U.S. effort to gradually turn over more security responsibility to Afghan forces before most international troops leave Afghanistan or move into support roles by the end of 2014.
Legislators voted to disqualify Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi on Saturday after questioning the two on what they said was a weak government response to cross-border attacks that Afghans blame on the Pakistani military, as well as allegations of corruption in their ministries.
President Hamid Karzai met with the National Security Council the next day, and his office issued a statement saying that the council “respects parliament’s constitutional decision” in passing a no-confidence vote, but also that the president instructed the ministers “to continue in office until replacements are introduced within the provisions of law.”
That language drew immediate condemnation from lawmakers, who said the president is overriding the parliament’s authority by keeping on the ministers even temporarily.
“This decision of President Karzai is completely against the law. He doesn’t have the authority to keep a minister that has gotten a no-confidence vote of the parliament. He should have immediately have introduced new nominees,” said Gul Pacha Mujedi, a lawmaker from the eastern province of Paktia.
Karzai could still quickly name replacements for Wardak and Mohammadi, but in past no-confidence votes, he has simply kept other ministers in their jobs in an acting capacity and then dragged out the replacement process, effectively nullifying the parliamentary action.
Lawmakers suspect he is using the same technique to avoid changes to his Cabinet at a time when his government struggles to project an image of a slowly improving military and police force that will be capable of keeping the Taliban insurgents from regaining ground once most international troops leave.
Wardak is one of the Afghan officials most trusted by Washington. He studied in the U.S. and has been defense minister since late 2004. He has overseen massive growth of the army — now 185,125-strong.
As interior minister, Mohammadi has been tasked with professionalizing the various Afghan police units. He is an ethnic Tajik who fought in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the 1990s. He served as chief of staff for the Afghan National Army from 2002 to 2010.
Shinkay Zahin Karokhil, a lawmaker from Kabul, said the president’s statement raised worries. If Karzai truly respected the no-confidence vote, she said, “he could have appointed a deputy minister as caretaker.”
“If the president wants to keep these two, I think it will not help Afghanistan,” she warned, adding that lawmakers would likely discuss Karzai’s response in meetings Monday.
The legislative branch of government has increasingly become frustrated with Karzai’s administration. Parliament occasionally flexes its muscle to thwart Karzai’s policies or appointments, but the constitution still places most power in the president’s hands.
Afghan citizens standing up to Taliban seek support
USA TODAY By Lianne Gutcher, Special for USA TODAY 05/08/2012
KABUL - When the town government of Ander in Ghazni province clamped down on the unlicensed motorbikes that militants were using to get around, the Taliban came in to shut down the schools as punishment.
Rather than cower, the elders and townspeople rose up. After two weeks of fighting, most of the schools were back open.
Local communities in eastern Afghanistan that are tired of both Taliban harassment and government inaction are increasingly mounting spontaneous campaigns of resistance against insurgents who burn down schools, shut health clinics and threaten the local population.
The Afghan government says community-led anti-Taliban movements have occurred in recent months in the provinces of Paktiya, Ghazni, Kunar, Nuristan and Laghman.
"These (uprisings) are real, and they (have been) motivated by the insurgents' bad behavior in the past 10 years," said Waliullah Rahmani, executive director of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies. "I hope this movement can grow because it offers a good alternative and solution for providing stability in Afghanistan."
In Paktiya, there have been five uprisings in four districts in recent months. Two weeks ago in Mirzaka district, tribal elders demanded help from the Afghan National Police and sub-governor after the Taliban abducted seven men and beheaded three of them.
When no help arrived the elders returned to their village and organized a resistance, Mirzaka elder Zabit Mangal said in an interview in Kabul. The Talibs they did not kill were chased out of the district, he said.
"We decided we were not going to let the Taliban get away with bad activities in our area. We fought with our own rifles and our own resources," he said. "The government didn't give us a single round."
Mangal and other Mirzaka elders said they will ask the government to create an Afghan Local Police unit in their town, referring to a joint Afghan-NATO program where villagers are paid to defend their communities from insurgents in areas where the national police do not operate. The program has expanded to about 13,000 members across the country.
With or without government support, villagers seem increasingly willing to take on the Taliban.
Ainullah Khan, a school principal, organized 500 students to fight against Taliban attempts to shut down the schools in the Barkali area of Waigal district, according to Ghulam Hussain, the head of the provincial education department.
"Although they had no weapons or guns, they were able to kick the Taliban out (of their district) and stop them from shutting down schools by using sticks and stones," Hussain said.
Khan was stabbed with a bayonet in three days of fighting but survived. The Taliban no longer has a presence in Barkali.
Noor Mohammad Khan, a tribal elder from Nuristan, agreed that local tolerance of the Taliban is fraying.
"The people of Nuristan are tired of the way Taliban forces treat them and make demands of them," he said. "People don't want to live under Taliban rule, and their law and order, which most of the time is not just. That is why the uprising started, and I can guarantee that soon we will have this uprising all over Nuristan province."
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 sent many Taliban into the hinterlands, but they began to reappear in 2005, elders say. They initially had support among some parts of the community, according to Rahmani. But then the insurgents, who included Pakistani and Arab fighters, began attacking development projects and harassing local people.
"They came to be a force against development in Afghanistan, against development projects wanted by the people," Rahmani said.
The presence of insurgents in the east of Afghanistan has increased sharply since 2009, when a surge of mostly U.S. Marines went into Afghanistan and forced militants to flee the southern provinces.
Paktiya lawmaker Nawab Mangal visited Mirzaka after the Taliban showdown. He says he and other Paktiya lawmakers will be using their tribal connections to spread the resistance.
"If this resistance can be increased and become a general stance then I think the Taliban can be defeated, not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan," Mangal said in an interview at his home in Kabul. "The trouble is that the government is not doing enough to support and provide assistance to these people."
Army Maj. Martin O'Donnell, a coalition military spokesman in eastern Afghanistan, said in an e-mail that the coalition was "aware of the reports of public uprisings against insurgents throughout our region."
He said the uprisings are not a part of coalition initiatives and referred questions to the Afghan government and community officials.
Some observers cautioned against too much optimism over the resistance to Taliban rule.
Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based research organization, said the uprisings are limited to a few areas. What may look like spontaneous uprisings may actually be part of inter-factional power struggles, he said.
Mangal, the Paktiya lawmaker, said the Afghan government must support the uprisings and do more.
Mangal said Afghans are also angry about government corruption, its inability to rule and its failure to provide needed services.
"The government needs reforms," Mangal said. "Today we are watching as people stand up to the Taliban. But if tomorrow the government is not doing enough, one day these people will stand against the government, too."
New Zealand forces come under second attack in two days in Afghanistan
WELLINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand forces in Afghanistan came under attack again on Sunday, the day after insurgents killed two New Zealand soldiers and wounded six others, the New Zealand Defence Force announced Monday.
Members of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the village of Do Abe, in Bamyan Province, came under fire from small arms and rocket propelled grenades in the second attack, said a statement from the NZDF.
"Our personnel returned fire. We also dispatched other forces in support of our people in Do Abe," Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Jones said in the statement.
"In addition, our coalition partners provided significant air support."
The Provincial Reconstruction Team sustained no casualties in the second attack, he said.
"We have begun reviewing this attack, which will feed into our picture of the security challenges in this part of Bamyan," said Jones.
Earlier Monday, Jones said the NZDF remained committed to a smooth and measured handover of its responsibilities in Bamyan Province to the Afghan authorities after the deadly attack Saturday.
Lance Corporal Rory Patrick Malone and Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer, both aged 26, died when NZDF personnel came to the assistance of local security forces who encountered suspected insurgents near a village south of Do Abe, in the northeast of the province.
The six New Zealand soldiers injured in the attack were all in a stable condition, and five of them would be transferred Monday to a military hospital in Germany, with the sixth likely to follow when his condition allowed.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told Radio New Zealand Monday that the deaths would not prompt any changes to next year's scheduled withdrawal of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, which was a large logistical undertaking.
Afghan nomad clashes raise fears of ethnic strife
AFP August 06, 2012
Afghanistan - Bloody raids by nomads armed with machine guns and rocket launchers on villages near Kabul are raising fears about a return to ethnic conflict in Afghanistan 18 months before NATO combat troops leave.
For more than a century, ethnic Pashtuns known as Kuchis have wintered in the south and east where the weather is better, and migrated in the summer to let their herds graze in the cooler north.
But a land dispute between the Kuchis and the settled ethnic Hazaras dating back 130 years has since 2005 disintegrated into seasonal violence in the Kajab valley west of the capital.
With NATO forces due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, there are fears that the country could slide back to the chaos seen in the 1990s, when ethnically aligned factions fought a bloody civil war.
From the early 1990s to 2001 fighting between the Pashtun-dominated Taliban and Hazaras led to tens of thousands of deaths, particularly on the Hazara side.
"Afghans have suffered a lot in internal and mainly ethnic wars in the past, and this problem, if left unsolved could hurt the volatile national unity among Afghans even further," said author and analyst Waheed Mujda.
In early June, up to 2,000 Kuchi nomads swept into Kajab, according to residents and local officials, ransacking several villages and burning hundreds of buildings.
Most of the valley's population of ethnic Hazaras, who are also part of the Shiite Muslim minority, fled. According to villagers, the Kuchis killed four Hazaras and seven soldiers.
Two months on from the raid, Kajab looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland dotted with gutted, fire-blackened mud buildings.
"In each burnt home, there was a Koran. When the Americans set fire to them in the spring, the whole world cried out," said village elder Ewaz, 55.
"But here, no one's said anything. Who are we? What have we done? We're also Muslims, aren't we."
The madrassa in Dahane Gandob village was almost totally destroyed, apparently by rocket fire. The walls of the seminary's mosque are pockmarked with small-calibre bullet holes. A prayer room was saved, though the carpets were stolen.
The village's two medical clinics were badly damaged -- the older one was completely destroyed and the other, which was not yet in service, is now unusable.
Local authorities and villagers say there were Taliban among the Kuchi raiders, suggesting that the Pashtun-dominated insurgent group could be using the Kuchis to win land away from the government and its NATO allies.
Kajab is in Behsoud district of Wardak, a province dominated by Pashtuns where the local government denies what is widely assumed to be a strong Taliban presence.
In neighbouring Uruzgan province last week, a Hazara local police commander reportedly rounded up and killed nine Pashtun civilians in revenge for the death of two local Hazaras. Authorities say the case is still under investigation.
Behsoud lawmaker Ghulan Hussein Nasseri accused the government of President Hamid Karzai, himself a Pashtun, of discriminating against Hazaras and said they would defend themselves if they were not given protection.
"The attacks of the nomads were under the support of the government," Nasseri said.
He said he warned the national and provincial authorities the day before the attack and on the day itself, but claimed the army only arrived in Kajab five hours after the Kuchis left.
Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the Wardak governor, blamed a lack of resources.
"We don't have enough security forces in the area, although we have asked the central government to send us more, and even make a special force to control the Kuchis and Hazara brothers' conflict," he said.
The clashes stemmed from a "legal issue" which was beyond the remit of the provincial authorities and should be solved through judicial channels, he added.
The nomads say they want to reclaim land given to them by a royal decree 130 years ago, which the settled communities have been living on for generations.
Hazaras make up an estimated 15 to 20 percent of the population. They suffered brutal persecution under the 1996-2001 Taliban rule, but have prospered since the 2001 US-led invasion. Elay Ershad, a Kuchi lawmaker, accused the Hazaras of initiating the violence.
"Hazaras said they bought that land from the government, which is not true. Hazaras start to attack Kuchis. They have big fights," he said.
A conflict also erupted last year in Laghman province, a Pashtun province east of Kabul, he said, arguing that giving the Kuchis their own land was the only solution.
Many Kajab residents left for good after the violence in June, abandoning their farms in what is a very green and well-cultivated valley.
"We voted for a government to protect the people. If they don't, I see a very dark future for this country," warned Nasseri.
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NATO forces say coalition airstrike has killed Haqqani leader in eastern Afghanistan
Associated Press Monday, August 6, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO forces say they have killed a leader of the Haqqani insurgent group in an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan.
The international military coalition says Sher Mohammad Hakimi was killed on Sunday in Logar province.
Logar province police chief, Raeis Khan Rahimzai, says Hakimi was sitting under a tree with some associates when the NATO strike killed him. He says four others were injured.
Rahimzai says Hakimi was known for organizing roadside bomb attacks and for training insurgents. NATO says Hakimi transported weapons through the region and served directly under Haqqani leader Muhammad Agha.
The Pakistan-based Haqqani network is allied with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and is believed to be responsible for a host of attacks in Kabul and surrounding provinces.
Belgium begins troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
By Indo Asian News Service
Brussels, Aug 6 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The first group of Belgian soldiers from a detachment providing security at the Kabul airport has been withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Twenty-four Belgian soldiers and 10 from Luxembourg, part of the mixed platoon stationed at the airport in Kabul since 2003, have returned home.
Belgian soldiers will completely end their mission at the airport by Sep 30, Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported.
It is expected that in September-November 2012, five Belgian platoons, a total of 230 personnel, will leave Afghanistan.
By the end of the year, Belgium's troop presence in Afghanistan will be reduced to 360 people from 626.
Six Belgian military F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft will be deployed in Afghanistan until the end of 2014, when Afghanistan will take over full control of the country's security.
Belgian Defence Minister Pieter De Crem said the country's soldiers would maintain a presence in Afghanistan for three more years after 2014 in order to help Afghanistan create a national army.
--IANS/RIA Novosti
CSI Kabul: US military trains Afghan police force in crime-solving techniques
The American military has built a forensic academy to teach the latest crime-solving laboratory techniques to the Afghan police force.
Telegraph.co.uk By Ben Farmer 05 Aug 2012
Kabul - Afghan officers are being trained in methods such as DNA profiling and fingerprint analysis which are staples of British or American detective work and crime shows, but alien to Afghanistan's rough and ready policing.
The race to train Afghans in techniques which could catch Taliban bombers as well as other criminals comes as the Nato coalition has begun withdrawing tens of thousands of soldiers from the country.
The coalition has around 200 of its own forensic experts in seven military laboratories, gathering evidence from insurgent suspects, homemade bombs and mobile phones found on the battlefield.
When these laboratories scale back, the Afghans will be left with virtually no ability to gather or interpret forensic evidence themselves.
Lt Col Syed Rahmatullah Qureshi, the Afghan police's chief forensic expert, estimated only 40 of his officers had ever received any training. Much of that was learned more than 20 years ago from Soviet advisers and was now outdated, or forgotten.
"We have seen many wars, all the laboratories have lost all their equipment," said Lt Col Qureshi, who is a fingerprint expert himself.
The American solution is the Afghan Criminal Techniques Academy, a plain-looking $1.3 million (£830,000) single storey block beside the sprawling Bagram airfield north of Kabul.
Inside the academy, experts from laboratories, police departments and sheriffs' offices across America are trying to train up Afghan technicians who can then go on to train their colleagues.
Classes include ballistics, to compare bullets and weapons, DNA evidence gathering, crime-scene photography, fingerprinting and how to extract data from mobile phones and computers.
"We are using the same type of equipment and the same techniques we would use ourselves," said Paula Clifton, who has 23 years' experience working in US DNA labs.
Those picked to receive training first are largely science graduates of Afghan universities who have been reassigned from other police departments.
The Afghan police at present have little reputation for detective work. More than 85 per cent of patrolmen are estimated to be illiterate and corruption remains a widespread problem.
Their ranks have grown quickly as a paramilitary force to support the army against the Taliban and guard government positions, rather than catch criminals. More than five policemen a day are currently killed in insurgency violence.
Within minutes of major terrorist attacks ending, policemen can usually be seen swarming over the scene hunting for souvenirs and posing for victory pictures, rather than preserving the crime scene.
The American commanders behind the academy admit the scale of their job.
"We're not trying to give them the FBI all at once," said Rear Admiral James Crawford, who has led the coalition's efforts to bolster the Afghan justice system.
The academy is alongside the court where suspected insurgents held at Bagram face trial. An American prosecution adviser said around half of those cases included forensic evidence, usually fingerprints or traces of explosives. The fingerprints of one bomb maker were found on more than 20 different devices.
Outside the heavily US-mentored Bagram court however, Afghan judges and prosecutors rarely make use of forensic evidence. Most cases are settled by confessions, which defendants often say are forced.
The forensic academy is scheduled to be handed over to Afghan control by the end of 2013.
Eleven Afghan police defect to Taliban in Helmand province
6 August 2012 BBC News
Eleven Afghan policemen have defected to the Taliban in the southern province of Helmand, officials say.
The men switched sides early on Monday in Musa Qala district, taking with them weapons and three motorcycles, a provincial spokesman told the BBC.
It is the second such defection in recent weeks - a police commander and 13 junior officers joined the Taliban in western Farah province in late July.
That was one of the biggest defections so far by the police.
It highlighted a major intelligence failure and was a propaganda boost for the insurgents, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul said.
Local police commanders are key to security and stability in remote areas where deal-making is crucial to compensate for a weak Afghan government.
One Afghan intelligence official based in Helmand told our correspondent it appeared the insurgents had infiltrated the local police in Musa Qala some time ago.
A number of people who had vouched for the men who defected, including some tribal elders, are now being questioned, provincial spokesman Dawood Ahmadi told the BBC.
Local elders blamed the government, saying the men who defected had not been paid on time.
"You can't fight the Taliban if you can't feed your children. The local police were like sitting ducks. Their weapons are often not working," one told the BBC.
NDS Detains 12 Insurgents in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 05 August 2012
As many as 12 insurgents have been detained in Afghanistan, according to local officials who spoke to TOLOnews on Sunday.
In a military offensive launched by Afghan National Security Forces in the Kuzare Payen village of Jabal Saraj district, seven Taliban insurgents were detained Saturday night, provincial spokesman Roshna Khalid told TOLOnews.
An Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) soldier was killed and another was injured. Taliban fighters were also killed and wounded but the bodies were taken from the scene, Khalid added.
In a separate incident a prominent Taliban commander, Mawlawi Ghafar, was detained alongside three others by local NDS officials in Kandahar on Saturday.
Mullah Sharifullah, who was responsible for attacks in the Maiwand district in Kandahar, was detained also in Kandahar city.
Kandahar has been one of the most challenging and dangeorus provinces for Afghan and foreign forces alike in southern Afghanistan since 2001.
Illegal to Prevent Media Coverage of Parliament Sessions
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 05 August 2012
Parliament may only restrict the media from covering private meetings and not general sessions, the Information and Culture Minister, Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, said on Sunday.
His statement came after security and parliament's press office prevented broadcasters to film the violent outbursts during the vote of confidence for two ministers on Saturday. "If they [Members of Parliament] have a private meeting, the media may not be allowed inside.
Otherwise, it is the right of the media and the people to be informed of the facts," Mr. Raheen said.
Several Members of Parliament have come out against last week's ban, including Parliament's Deputy Speaker, Mohammad Farhad Azimi, who said that "such acts by the security and media responsible officials of the parliament is censorship."
He emphasized that such acts would not be acceptable in the future.
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