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Pak threatens to derail Afghan endgame over troop deaths in NATO airstrike

 Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has threatened to review the country's role in facilitating the United States' talks with insurgents and re-think participation in next month's Bonn conference.

It comes after a cross-border NATO airstrike in Pakistan's Mohmand district killed 24 Pakistani soldiers wounded at least a dozen others.

"Pakistan will revisit its engagement with the US, NATO and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF," Gilani told the Express Tribune.

Meanwhile, an unnamed Pakistani official said that the country's security establishment has already halted "all efforts to persuade the Afghan Taliban to come to the negotiating table."

The NATO attack is the worst single incident of its kind since Pakistan allied itself with Washington following the 9/11 terror attacks. 

The incident prompted Pakistan to summon the US Ambassador in Islamabad, lodge a protest with NATO, and shut a vital supply route for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government also gave the US fifteen days to vacate Shamsi air base. Pakistan had made a similar demand earlier this year, following the raid which killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. (ANI)

Karzai opens Facebook, Twitter accounts 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has opened personal accounts on social network Facebook and micro-blog Twitter, a presidential spokesperson said.

After opening the accounts, Karzai had 172 friends in Twitter and 134 in Facebook, among them the White House and BBC Pashto.

The Afghan president also 'likes' the Twitter blogs of both the Russian and US presidents.

Rockets fired into Kabul during national assembly - 11-17-11

Two rockets were fired Thursday into the Afghan capital as President Hamid Karzai met tribal elders at a national assembly to discuss the future of US military presence in the country, CNN reported.

The rockets landed near a market, injuring one civilian, the Kabul police chief said.

Karzai and tribal elders are participating in a national assembly -- or loya jirga -- to look into a long-term agreement with the US military and NATO troops in the country.

The president Wednesday said there should be limits to what US and NATO troops could do in his country as the Afghan people were the 'lions' in their territory.

'America is powerful, has more money, but we are lions here. Lions have the habit of not liking strangers getting into their house,' CNN quoted Karzai as saying.

'We want our sovereignty from today. Our relations should be between two independent countries,' he said.

Karzai said the intended departure of NATO troops by 2014 was 'good for Afghans'.

NATO troops deployed on Afghan border with North Waziristan again - 10-22-11

Hundreds of US-led coalition forces have again shifted, along with heavy arms, to Afghan areas bordering Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency, according to a media report.

Pakistani security officials and tribesmen living in the border town of Ghulam Khan, adjacent to Afghanistan's Khost province, said that the US forces had clamped curfew in Tarkhobi and adjoining villages and launched a major search operation in the area, The News reported. 

The US and Afghan authorities had earlier asserted that the operation was directed against the Haqqani militant network. 

It was the second time this week that the US-led NATO forces had moved in a big way to the area bordering Pakistan with heavy arms, including gunship helicopters, tanks and long-range artillery guns, locals were quoted as saying. 

According to sources in the area, NATO and Afghan security forces had moved to Gurbaz district, close to Pakistan, last Sunday and established checkpoints and observation posts, the report said.

The border between the two neighbouring countries had been closed for traffic as well. However, US troops subsequently packed up all of a sudden and left the border area a few days later.

According to tribal sources, now more troops and arms had been moved to the border and curfew was clamped prior to the search operation, the report added.

The Gurbaz tribe, living on the Afghan side of the border, had been directed through loudspeakers to stay home until further orders following the imposition of curfew.

Some of the Gurbaz tribesmen crossed the border into North Waziristan through unfrequented routes and said that US troops had suspended cellular phone services in the area, the report said.

A Pakistani security official based in North Waziristan was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity that US forces had reached the border with Pakistan and established observation posts on hilltops. 

Other officials said that NATO had started a major military operation in Afghan provinces along the border with Pakistan, and the latest surge of US troops near the border could be part of an offensive against the Afghan Taliban, particularly the Haqqani network. (ANI)

Pakistan blocks fuel supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan 10-14-11

Pakistan has stopped all supplies of motor spirit (petrol) and high-speed diesel to the US Defence Energy Supply Company, which is catering to the energy requirements of NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to a news report.

The ban has been implemented with immediate effect, The News quoted a senior official at Pakistan's Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry, as saying.

Until now, the US Defence Energy Supply Company was being provided petrol and high-speed diesel without the petroleum levy and Generate Sales Tax, which is otherwise being levied on Pakistani consumers.

According to a Petroleum Ministry official, Pakistan had been extending the supply of the POL products at subsidised rates to NATO forces since 2002-03, and had sustained a colossal loss of 35 billion rupees in the process. 

The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Asim Hussain, confirmed that six oil-marketing companies- including Pakistan State Oil, Attock Petroleum Company, Total-Parco, Shell and Byco- had been directed to stop the supply of petrol and high-speed diesel to the US company. 

"However, jet fuel will continue to be provided to the US," the minister said, adding that this was being done because there was no levy on jet fuel in Pakistan. 

"The huge loss of Rs35 bn sustained by Pakistan, due to the non-payment of the usual levies etc., should be compensated by the company," another official at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources was quoted as saying.

On this, Hussain said that in case the US company sought the restoration of supply with an offer of payment of all future taxes as well as payment of previous tax dues since 2002-03, he would be ready to negotiate. (ANI)

Afghanistan 10 Years Later - 10-08-11

Afghans are expressing a mixture of disappointment and uncertainty about their future, as they mark the anniversary of the start of the Afghan war.

The United States launched its military campaign in Afghanistan, shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The mission, hunt down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and topple the Taliban-led government.

While the Taliban were ousted from power, 10 years later, many Afghans still feel let down by the international effort to rid their country of the Taliban and normalize its institutions.

Sitfatullah Safi is the deputy chief of Afghan government media relations.

"There is a lot of achievement in Afghanistan in the last ten years, but not as much as people expect," said Safi.

Safi says the biggest disappointment is the failure to ensure Afghanistan's security.

"The Afghan people were hoping that international forces in the last ten years should secure their lives, and secure the Afghan borders - especially the east[ern] and south[ern] borders," added Safi. "But unfortunately today, the security situation is a big concern of the Afghan government and Afghan people."

Wahidullah Ghazikhail, an independent Afghan researcher, is blunt about the U.S.-led stabilization mission.

"They are not successful in this 10-year war in Afghanistan," said Ghazikhail.

Ghazikhail says many Afghans were looking to the United States and its international partners for something similar to what followed World War II. "They helped Europe, especially Germany. And they went there with the Marshall Plan. And people were expecting the rehabilitation, rebuilding the nation, democracy, and reconstruction. But unfortunately we were expecting more," added Ghazikhail.

Among ordinary Afghans, opinions about the decade-long, multi-billion dollar effort are mixed.

Ahmad Yossuf, a construction worker, has a bleak view of the state of his country. Neither the Taliban nor this government ever gave us anything, he says. It's the poor people, he says, who are the losers.

His fellow laborer, Nesar Ahmad, sees a brighter side. He says that in the past ten years, development programs have been implemented, a national army has been formed, bridges and schools have been built - and some degree of democracy has been established. So it is a fact, he says, that some positive changes have taken place.

Pak was behind 2007 Afghan border ambush on American troops too - 09-27-11

A new revelation has suggested that Pakistan was involved in the 2007 ambush in Teri Mangal that had left an American major killed and three American officers wounded, an allegation that could further strain the relationship between Washington and Islamabad following US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen's Haqqani network comment against the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The Afghan and American officers present at that time have revealed that the calculated attack, carried out by Pakistan, injured three American officers along with their Afghan interpreter. They also claimed that the Pakistanis opened fire on the Americans, who returned fire before escaping in a blood-soaked Black Hawk helicopter, The New York Times reports. 

The attack, in Teri Mangal on May 14, 2007, was kept under wraps by Washington. 

The officers suggest that the attack was carried out to take revenge for Afghan or Pakistani deaths at American hands, the paper said. 

On being pressed, Pakistan blamed militants for the attack.

"The official line covered over the details in the interests of keeping the relationship with Pakistan intact, "said a former United Nations official who served in eastern Afghanistan and was briefed on the events immediately after they occurred, said. 

"At that time in May 2007, you had a lot of analysis pointing to the role of Pakistan in destabilizing that part of Afghanistan, and here you had a case in point, and for whatever reason it was glossed over," he added. 

American officials familiar with Pakistan say that the attack fitted a pattern. 

The Pakistanis often seemed to retaliate for losses they had suffered in an accidental attack by United States forces with a deliberate assault on American troops, most probably to maintain morale among their own troops or to make a point to the Americans that they could not be pushed around, a former American military officer who served in both Afghanistan and Pakistan said. (ANI)

'India natural destination for Afghanistan on New Silk Road'  9-22-11

 Welcoming the international initiative to help Afghanistan in building a self-reliant and sustainable economy, India has said its rapid growth and its large market make it a natural destination for Afghan exports.

Similarly, India can be a cost effective and efficient source for Afghan imports, External Affairs Minsiter S. M. Krishna said at a meeting here on New Silk Road hosted by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and attended by Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

 Welcoming the operationalisation of APTAA (Afghanistan Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement), Krishna said: 'This could serve as a start for trade and transit through the land route for other countries including India.'

 With the onset of the drawdown of foreign security forces and the transition process, it was important that Afghanistan's growth strategy is built upon the country's comparative advantage of abundant natural resources and its strategic geographical location, he said.

'These would have to be the building blocks of our vision for Afghanistan as a hub linking Central and South Asia through pipelines, trade and transit routes for the common good of the people of our region and the world,' said Krishna describing the New Silk Road initiative as an important step in that direction.

 Noting that India was already undertaking reconstruction and development activities in Afghanistan, with its total bilateral assistance commitment reaching $2 billion, he said: 'We have always considered Afghanistan as a South Asian country with natural complementarities and synergies' with other countries in the region.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he noted had articulated his vision for the region much before the idea of a New Silk Road initiative and quoted him as saying: 'I dream of a day, while retaining our respective identities, one can have breakfast in Amrtisar, lunch in Lahore, and dinner in Kabul. That is how my forefathers lived. That is how I want our grandchildren to live.'

'The time has come for all of us to start the process of building a better future for the generations to come,' Krishna said.

 (Arun Kumar can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

 4 NATO Troops, 10 Insurgents Killed in Afghanistan 09-20-2011

NATO said Sunday that four of its service members died in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, while a joint NATO-Afghan patrol killed more than 10 insurgents in a raid on a narcotics laboratory in southern Helmand province.

NATO said roadside bombings killed three of its troops Sunday, while the fourth died in an insurgent attack Saturday. It did not disclose the nationality of the service members.

The narcotics raid took place in the Baghran district of Helmand province. The alliance described the laboratory as one of the biggest heroin-producing facilities to be destroyed in Afghanistan in the past five years. It contained more than 5 tons of chemicals used in processing heroin, more than 16,000 liters of morphine solution, 15 kilograms of wet opium and four kilograms of pure heroin.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said government forces and their NATO allies killed 49 insurgents and detained 25 others in a series of battles across Afghanistan since Saturday. It said two Afghan policemen also were killed in the fighting.

In eastern Logar province Sunday, a rocket struck a school, killing a boy and wounding 10 other students. It was not clear who fired the rocket.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

US Ambassador Promises Not to Abandon Afghanistan

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States began a new engagement in the Muslim world. One of the key architects of that engagement is the newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker.

Few American statesmen have spent more time on the front line of America's post 9/11 diplomatic efforts than current U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker. He re-opened the U.S embassy in Kabul in 2001 following the fall of the Taliban, later served as ambassador to Pakistan and then to Iraq, where he was partnered with General David Petraeus during the surge of U.S. troops.

He was also in New York on the day of the attacks and carries the memory close to his heart. "It has defined my life and my career from that moment to this. I've spent five years since 9/11 deployed in these countries and I expect to be here for several more. Because I, you know, 3,000 people killed on one New York morning is something none of us ever want to see again," he said.

At first, the U.S. was reluctant to engage in nation-building in Afghanistan, preferring to focus on removing the Taliban from power and hunting down al-Qaida.

But within a few years, it became apparent that without building institutions it left a vacuum in the country that allowed the Taliban to sneak back in from safe havens in Pakistan and destabilize Afghanistan again.

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, a former Afghan foreign minister who became an opponent of President Hamid Karzai, says the internatonal community, and the Afghans themselves, have missed an opportunity by not understanding one another better, ignoring the Pakistani safe havens and allowing corruption to grow in the country, notably within the government. "These three factors (have) led to this situation, and 10 years down the road we should have been in a much better situation in terms of Afghan institutions assuming responsibility,shouldering responsibilities," he said.

When the U.S. came to Afghanistan, the policy was to put anti-Taliban warlords on the payroll - turning a blind eye, critics say, to their abuses. which led to an environment of corruption.

Afghanistan is a devastated, impoverished country. Ambassador Crocker has seen firsthand what happens when institutions are either non-existent or removed, and he says that people need to be patient in building up Afghan civil society.

"Institutions take time to build. Particularly in Afghanistan, like in Iraq, you've had not just the removal of a leader, you've had a revolution. All these old structures are gone. So you don't get ministries that function perfectly overnight, or even over a decade. It takes time to develop those. It takes time to develop the rule of law. Which means, whether it is Iraq or it is Afghanistan, you are going to have corruption. It has to be taken seriously," he said.

But with a 2014 timetable set for NATO combat troops to leave Afghanistan, many say the Taliban is under the impression they can just wait out the West. Dr. Abdullah says this is due to the past experience of Soviet forces leaving in haste, and a lack of clarity of message about what will happen after NATO combat troops leave.

"It's a very uphill struggle, with the past experience of the Afghan people, the Soviet withdrew overnight, and the last soldier, the last tank... That is very vivid in the memory of the Afghan people. But, at the same time, the admiinistration, the Afghan administration, confusing it's own people. The range of the views of the Afghans, you will be surprised that it differs from a complete withdrawal, nothing left behind, to permanent bases," he said.

To avoid another vacuum and civil war like the one that broke out following the Soviet withdrawal, the West is working on building up local forces, as they did in Iraq.

And not abandoning Afghanistan again, as well as getting that message across, is a priority for Ambassador Crocker. Because, he says, the consequences are unacceptable.

"To leave before the job is done, to leave before Afghan security forces are capable of providing security throughout the country, risks a return of the Taliban. And that is why, a decade on, we must muster the strategic patience, as a nation and as a people, to do everything we can to make sure that things come right here, and next door in Pakistan, precisely so we never have to endure that kind of attack again," he said.

Like the Ambassador, Many Americans involved say despite the distance of time, the images from 10 years ago remain a driving force in their work in Afghanistan.

Civilian with US military killed in Afghanistan

09/02/11 - Afghan police vehicles are seen parked near to the area where the bodies of two Germans were found in Salang, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. Two Germans who disappeared nearly three weeks ago while hiking in the Hindu Kush mountains were shot to death, a police general said Monday. Read more at AP

Buddha Statue on Display in Afghanistan

An Afghan woman looks at the head of a Buddha, made from raw clay, found in the region of Kabul Province, Afghanistan, and dated from the 5th to 6th century.

The head is part of a collection of ancient sculptures currently on display at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul.

They had been destroyed by Islamists during the Taliban regime and w... ...

Read the full story at The Epoch Times