Photo: An Afghan girl peers from the window of her a bullet-ridden wall of a house in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Security Incidents on November 12, 2007

The Times of India is reporting the deaths of two NATO soldiers in the Bermal district, Paktika province eastern Afghanistan according to NATO. The soldiers died when an IED hit their vehicle on Monday, November 12. An Afghan interpreter was also killed and one other soldier was wounded.

At least 18 people are dead in southern Afghanistan in U.S.-coalition raids on suspected bomb-making compounds. The worst of the damage in Sunday's raids came from a single grenade lobbed at a building where militants were holed up. The building collapsed, killing several militants along with a woman and two children. Coalition troops had come under heavy fire.

Coalition kills 15 Afghan rebels, 3 civilians

In central Afghanistan, militants ambushed a police convoy Sunday, killing four officers and wounding two others.

Security Incidents on November 13, 2007

Two Nato soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed in a roadside bomb blast yesterday , as officials said 22 other people including three civilians were killed in separate attacks.

Security Incidents on November 14, 2007

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – A Coalition servicemember died here today of a non-combat related injury. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin. The incident is under investigation.

U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces clashed with militants in southern Afghanistan and called in airstrikes that killed dozens of insurgents, a spokesman said Wednesday. Insurgents attacked the joint force with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenades in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province on Tuesday, before fleeing into a civilian home, the coalition said. Dozens of militants were killed during the operation, said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. There were no reports of casualties among coalition and Afghan forces.

One ISAF soldier was killed in southern Afghanistan today when he was caught in an IED explosion during a routine patrol. A local interpreter was also injured and is being treated at an ISAF medical facility.

Iranian engineer kidnapped in Afghanistan-police

Thanks whisker for many of the links above.

REPORTS

How to Help Afghanistan people

Baghlan's shock - Survivors recall the horror of the deadly Afghan suicide blast

The lane leading to the Baghlan sugar factory is lined with trees. All of them have been painted white at the base, but one is now blackened. This is where a suicide bomber detonated explosives last week. In all, around 70 people died here. More than 100 people were injured. The bomb, laced with ball bearings, targeted a delegation of MPs, but most of the victims were schoolboys, there to welcome the visiting dignitaries. In the confusion after the blast, bodyguards working for the MPs opened fire. When we arrived in Baghlan, north of Kabul, survivors and the bereaved clustered round us in minutes, eager to tell their stories. Mahmad Jaweid, 15, was on crutches. He was one of the walking wounded - one of the lucky ones. He had been brought by his teacher to welcome the MPs. He ran away when he heard gunfire but was injured in the leg. Shafiqullah, 18, lost two of his brothers in the blast. One of them was 10, the other 11. After 30 years of conflict, Afghans have had to get used to violence. But this bombing shocked the country profoundly. Partly because of the high number of deaths, partly because so many of the dead were children. And partly because no-one has claimed responsibility. Many people blame what they call "the enemies of Afghanistan" - a phrase that can cover the Taleban, other insurgents or the factions led by various warlords.

Corruption rife in Afghanistan, president admits

Corruption among Afghan officials is rife and government must be reformed to help end 30 years of war, misery and oppression, President Hamid Karzai said n Tuesday in an unusually frank assessment of his country's woes. Large profits from Afghanistan's $3-billion opium crop, funds skimmed from aid and reconstruction contracts and bribes for services fuel official corruption, weaken public faith in the government and increase support for hardline Taliban insurgents. "We have seen a lot of misery in this country, but still we have not learned a lesson from our mistakes. The luxurious houses and buildings either belong to government staff or members of parliament," Karzai told a meeting of village elders in Kabul. The capital Kabul and other cities are currently undergoing a building boom with gaudy villas springing up in wealthier neighbourhoods while the poor live in mud huts with no running water or electricity. After Karzai spoke, an old man rose to his feet. "There is something I can't tell you, but if I don't tell you I will feel guilty inside," he told the president who urged him to speak his mind. "The government and cabinet members are sucking the blood of innocent people, we can't tolerate the corruption in every government office," he said.

Private security firms a problem in Afghanistan-study

Private security contractors in Afghanistan add to the sense of insecurity, are often confused with foreign troops, employ former militiamen and may have links to crime, said an independent Swiss study published on Monday. The number of private security companies has risen steadily since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001, with armed men guarding homes and offices in cities and supply convoys and construction projects in the countryside. The Afghan government has failed to introduce proper legislation or regulations to govern the private security companies, but the police have nevertheless begun a crackdown on those operating without a temporary licence. Some of the companies are Afghan-owned, while among the foreign-owned companies the main country of origin is the United States followed by Britian. The main problem, said Susanne Schmeidl, the author of the Swiss study, is that "nobody guards the guardians". Private security companies represent a new form of mercenary activity, a United Nations report said last week. The firms have come under increased scrutiny since a shooting in September in which guards working for the company Blackwater were accused of killing 17 Iraqis in Baghdad.

Poland charges 7 in Afghan killings

Prosecutors charged six Polish soldiers Wednesday with murder and violating international law in the deaths of several civilians in an allegedly unprovoked attack in Afghanistan. A seventh soldier involved in the Aug. 16 attack on the Nangarkhel village faces lesser charges, said Karol Frankowski, a military prosecutor in the western city of Poznan. The criminal charges were the first brought against Polish soldiers in connection with military actions while serving in Afghanistan. Several soldiers who served in Iraq were found guilty of corruption while on duty. The group is accused of firing mortars and machine guns on the village in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika without "any simultaneous, direct threat," in violation of The Hague and Geneva conventions protecting civilians in areas of armed conflict, Frankowski said. Six civilians — including children — were killed and three women suffered wounds that resulted in amputated limbs, Frankowski said.

Transitional Justice An Uphill Battle in Afghanistan

“A Platform for Citizen Initiative in Truth and Justice” is the latest effort to nudge Afghanistan along the road to dealing with its vicious war years. Last week’s conference held in Kabul formed part of a year-long effort to raise awareness and encourage activism among civil society organizations and the community. The goal is enabling citizens to band together and advocate with one voice for justice. Yet in Afghanistan, transitional justice is an uphill battle.

Report: British troops encircling Musa Qala

A report in the British Telegraph newspaper, citing senior British military sources, said a column of 50 British armored vehicles have begun to encircle the Taliban viper’s nest, Musa Qala. The move comes nearly nine months after Taliban fighters seized the poppy-producing district from tribal elders aligned with British forces in Helmand province. Since then bloody clashes have erupted frequently, most notably since August, leaving hundreds of Taliban fighters dead.

Iraq and Afghanistan violated just war theory

On the eve of Remembrance Sunday, 11 November 2007, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams described the Western-backed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a tragic mess which failed to conform to the principles of 'just war' theory and brought great suffering. The remarks came over the weekend as the head of the Church of England continued his visit to Norfolk. Dr Williams was speaking during a visit to Norwich Cathedral as part of a three-day tour of the region, reports the Norfolk Eastern Daily News. The archbishop said that while people should recognise and honour the bravery of soldiers at war, past and present, the Middle East conflicts fell short of one of the significant requirements of what is traditionally held to be a just war. He told an audience of 600 clergy and lay church leaders that: “One of the aspects of traditional just war theory is that you need to know what would count as a good end and how you would know when you have that and what to do then." Dr Williams continued: “I don't think we had that in place sadly. I don't think we knew what we would do next or what would count as our ending. And that is the tragedy.” Dr Williams also talked about how Christian pacifists can reconcile their beliefs with the reality of war and the church's development during some of the most turbulent times in history saying that for much of its early history it was involved in “damage limitation” exercises. “Granted there are going to be wars, how do you stop then being nightmares and a mere expression of naked power?" he asked.

A massacre in Afghanistan (May 8, 2007 – May 11, 2007)

In what must surely be labeled a massacre, some 50-80 civilians were killed in a string of small villages including Sarwan Qala and Sra Ghar. An occupation force convoy was attacked in the afternoon of May 8th. Later U.S. Special Forces called-in close in support. US/NATO war planes then bombed houses where they believed Taliban were hiding. Even the puppet governor of Helmand Province, Assadullh Wafa, admitted that 21 civilians had died in the bombing (a figure widely cited by the Associated Press which routinely and uncritically publishes accounts by the U.S. military and the Kabul client regime). Others put the deaths much higher. A resident of the bombed area, Mohammad Asif, said five homes in the village of Soro were bombed, killing 38 and injuring more than 20. "Foreign troops are killing Afghans every day, but our government has closed its eyes and does not see our casualties," local resident Haji Ibrahim said. Residents disputed that Taliban fighters were involved. "There were no Taliban in our area," Mohammad Rahim, a resident of Sangin, told Reuters by phone, adding he had seen 24 bodies in three houses. The village of Sarwan Qala was demolished.

Death by the light of a silvery moon

A revitalized Taliban stage daily operations in the Kunar Valley in Afghanistan, either with suicide bombers, guerrilla attacks or Russian-made rockets. Deep in their mountain hideaway, they tell Syed Saleem Shahzad why they have to wait for moonlit nights, and about the importance of donkeys in a struggle they increasingly believe they can win. NAWA PASS, Pakistan border with Afghanistan - Sitting with four key Taliban commanders deep in a labyrinth of lush green mountains, I could see the Sarkano district of the Kunar Valley in Afghanistan, which is the provincial hub of the American military and a base for the Afghan National Army and Afghan intelligence. Scores of guerrilla groups, each comprising a few dozen men, hide on the fringes of the Kunar Valley and launch daily operations into Kunar and Nooristan provinces, and with each passing day they receive new recruits and their attacks grow in intensity.

Military starts using drug dogs to search troops' bags in Afghanistan

Canadian military police have started using drug dogs to search troops' bags at Kandahar Air Field after being tipped about soldiers suspected of using heroin, hash and pot, say newly released documents. The documents, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, indicate there were at least five targeted and random searches of soldiers' belongings in June and July at Kandahar Air Field.

U.S. soldiers ambushed in Afghanistan

Village elders in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan are suspected of helping militants ambush U.S. soldiers. Elders in the Korengal Valley of Kunar Province are suspected of informing Taliban fighters of the schedule and location of U.S. troops operating in the area, ABC News reported Monday. The network has recorded exclusive footage of one of the attacks, shot by journalists embedded with the 2nd Platoon, Battle (B) Company of the 173rd Airborne. The footage was to air Monday night on ABC's "Nightline." The video shows the U.S. soldiers being ambushed twice after leaving meetings with village elders.

Amnesty Urges NATO to End Afghan Prisoner Transfers Amid Torture Fears

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International urged NATO-led forces in Afghanistan Tuesday to stop transferring prisoners to the Afghan authorities, saying it feared they could be tortured. In a new report, Amnesty said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could be exposing detainees to abuse, including whipping, beatings, exposure to extreme cold and food deprivation. It singled out Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) as a major offender and said the agency "currently poses a serious threat to those in its custody". Amnesty said Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway had signed "memorandums of understanding" and other accords on prisoner transfers with the Afghan authorities, and that Belgium, France, Germany and Sweden may do so too.

Six million Afghan schoolchildren to get landmine lessons

The government of Afghanistan and the UN Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA) have launched an awareness campaign to educate more than six million schoolchildren countrywide about the risks of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), the Ministry of Education (MoE) and UN told IRIN on 14 November. The country is replete with landmines and UXO, which kill and injure about 60 people, almost half of them children, every month, according to UNMACA. On 10 November, 125 trainers from 34 Afghan provinces started a three-day course in Kabul, the capital, covering a new educational method designed to boost public awareness, particularly schoolchildren’s knowledge, about landmines and other risky unexploded devices. “These 125 trainers will train teachers in their respective provinces across the country who will then share their lessons with other teachers and finally teachers will teach students in classrooms,” said Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, a UNMACA public information officer in Kabul. Officials expect that by the end of 2008 all schoolchildren in the country will have basic awareness about the risks of landmines and UXO. More than 17 million Afghans have been educated about landmines and UXO hazards in the past two decades, mine clearing agencies say. However, children and returning refugees are considered particularly vulnerable to the risks.

AFGHANISTAN: Insecurity stops food aid to a Daykundi district

A UN World Food Programme (WFP) convoy with 50 metric tonnes of mixed food aid for thousands of beneficiaries in Geeti district of Daykundi province, central-south Afghanistan, could not reach its final destination due to security concerns, WFP told IRIN. “A safe passage for the WFP food aid convoy to Geeti district was not available due to increased insecurity,” said Rikki Maliklali, WFP’s deputy representative in Afghanistan. WFP distributed some of its food aid in Daykundi’s provincial capital, Nili, after it became clear that the convoy - about five private trucks - could not wait indefinitely. The remaining aid has been sent to Waras district in neighbouring Bamyan province where it will be distributed through WFP’s ongoing projects, Maliklali added. Security concerns arose after Taliban insurgents infiltrated Kajran district in southern Daykundi in a bid to destabilise the province, which borders insurgency-torn southern Helmand, Afghanistan’s interior ministry confirmed. Afghan government forces launched a military operation on 11 November to drive out Taliban insurgents from Kajran. WFP has suffered unprecedented attacks on its food aid convoys in Afghanistan in the past 11 months.

Upwardly mobile - How cell phones are providing opportunities for Afghan women

The mobile phone has boosted the incomes of African women farmers and empowered poor Muslim women in Bangladesh. But can it also change women's lives in a conservative country where, only six years ago, a Taleban government confined women to the home? "Absolutely," insists Shainoor Khoja, who heads social programmes for Roshan, one of the biggest mobile telephone networks now operating in Afghanistan. But she admits it is still a "monumental task" to get women into the workforce. In a country with few landlines, nearly four million Afghans now have mobile telephones and the number keeps rising. It is big business and there are now four mobile phone companies in Afghanistan. All have social programmes including projects to distribute telephones free to women, especially in even more conservative areas outside Kabul. Suhaira, 27, is one of the success stories. Married at 14, and now mother to five children, she runs a fruit and vegetable stand in her Kabul neighbourhood. Inside her crowded shop, there is a phone box, essentially a pay-per-call mobile telephone for public use. "I wanted to be the first woman shopkeeper in Afghanistan," she declares as she serves customers wearing a black scarf that covers her head and half of her face. Her eyes shine with conviction. A sympathetic government official agreed to give her a licence. Roshan helped - through its programme to subsidise phone bills for women's businesses. And her husband gave her permission. That did not stop rumours circulating at the local mosque about her talking to men outside her family circle. "At the beginning people would come and warn my wife, 'We will kill you'," says her husband Meraj. "But the government of Hamid Karzai says women can work... we do not care what people say about us."