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Monday, February 8, 2010

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Helmand Refugees Fleeing
Ahead Of Anti-Taliban Offensive

February 8, 2010

By Elias Dai, Ron Synovitz
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Hundreds of Afghan families have been fleeing Taliban-controlled territory in the southern Afghan province of Helmand ahead of an expected offensive by NATO and Afghan government troops.

As many as 2,000 Taliban fighters reportedly are concentrated and fortifying themselves in and around the town of Marjah.

Fearful of being caught in the violence, some residents are heading for Helmand's provincial capital of Lashkar Gah or places in neighboring Kandahar province that they consider to be relatively safe.

At the central bus station in Lashkar Gah, buses arriving straight from the town of Marjah have been packed full of the displaced in recent days. Meanwhile, many trucks can be seen along the road -- loaded with furniture, home appliances, and other personal belongings of fleeing families.

Mauwla Dad, a truck driver from Marjah, tells RFE/RL he has made more than a dozen recent journeys, shuttling families and their belongings to safe haven.

"Every day, I have been providing transportation for three or four families," Dad says. "People are leaving Marjah amid rumors that the [anti-Taliban] offensive could begin any day now."

A Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent in Helmand Province reports that villagers also are escaping to the nearby districts of Baba-ji, Nad-Ali, and Gereshk.

But Brigadier James Cowen, the British commander of Task Force Helmand, tells Reuters in Lashkar Gah that he thinks reporters are blowing the civilian movements out of proportion.

"I think those reports of fleeing residents is a little exaggerated, in fact. I mean there are some leaving the area, but by no means the numbers that the news are reporting," Cowen says, according to Reuters. "I think we may see more of that in the forthcoming days, but we are keeping a close eye on it."

Families Uprooted

Ghulam Farouq Noorzai, who heads the Afghan government's refugee affairs department in Helmand Province, says officials have formed an "emergency commission" with plans to receive 15,000 families. They have also sent a delegation to meet with UN humanitarian aid officials responsible for southern Afghanistan.

"The World Health Organization, the World Food Program, and the United Nations Refugee Agency -- the UNHCR -- have accepted our plan," Noorzai says.

Noorzai tells RFE/RL that villagers in and around Marjah are gravely concerned about the expected military offensive. He says many are staying in their homes for now because they have no place to go, but adds that a flood of displaced families are expected in Lashkar Gah and in nearby Kandahar Province once the anticipated offensive begins.

"Around 400 to 500 families already have arrived [in Lashkar Gah]," Noorzai says. "Our emergency commission is registering these displaced people. We have created a refugee center at a school ground in Lashkar Gah and plan to move them there soon."

Haji Akhtar Mohammad, a resident of Marjah, tells Reuters that he considers the offensive a necessary step by Afghan and NATO forces to keep the province free from the kind of intimidation that Taliban fighters have imposed on residents of his community.

"The military operation is being launched in our village in order to keep us from any possible danger," Mohammad says, according to Reuters. "I decided to leave the village [for now] and we are heading to Lashkar Gah to rent a house."

Military Might

Meanwhile, NATO and Afghan government checkpoints have been set up around the Marjah district in an attempt to stop Taliban fighters from slipping out of the area among the fleeing civilian population.

RFE/RL's correspondent in Helmand reports that scattered clashes were occurring today at villages in the nearby district of Nad-Ali, where NATO and Afghan government troops have set up blocking positions.

Marjah sits near the dividing line between British forces who patrol the northern part of Helmand Province and U.S. Marines who patrol the southern areas. The British-led NATO contingent is nearly 10,000 strong while U.S. forces number about 15,000.

Thousands of Afghan security forces also are expected to take part in the offensive -- codenamed "Operation Moshtarak." They include troops from the Afghan National Army as well as about 100 specialists from Afghanistan's elite police unit -- the Afghan National Civil Order Police.

Brigadier James Cown, the commander of British forces in Helmand, says the Afghan security forces will play a greater role than in any previous offensive involving NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Their training has included work on locating and removing land mines and improvised explosive devices -- which are expected to be a prevalent in terrain where Taliban fighters have been preparing defenses.

"All of our officers in the ANCOP team are ready for any kind of operation," Colonel Qadam Shah, a brigade commander in the Fifth Battalion of that elite Afghan police unit, says. "I am proud of my role for being a part of it."

U.S. Marines, the first wave of a U.S. troop surge ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama, pushed Taliban fighters out of much of southern Helmand Province last summer while British forces captured Taliban strongholds in the north.

However, those forces met weaker than expected resistance because many Taliban apparently fled to strongholds in Marjah and nearby villages. Marjah district is crisscrossed by irrigation canals -- terrain that is well suited to the Taliban's style of guerrilla tactics.

New Dynamic

NATO-led air strikes have targeted Taliban forces in previous operations where the Taliban has been concentrated. But air strikes also have the potential to alienate the local population when they miss their targets and kill innocent civilians.

NATO military leaders have said the offensive on Marjah will be one of the defining operations in their counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

Already the U.S. troop surge has created a new dynamic on the ground in southern Afghanistan. In years past, spring offensive operations have been Taliban guerilla campaigns against NATO and Afghan government forces -- as well as bombings and assassinations of civilian Afghan officials in provincial areas.

But with thousands more foreign troops on the ground -- along with better trained and equipped Afghan security forces -- the Taliban now looks set to be on the receiving end of a spring offensive in Afghanistan.

A Taliban statement during the weekend criticized the buildup of forces around Marjah at a time when the government in Kabul has been trying to convince the Taliban that reconciliation and peace talks are possible.

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


Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of assault

by Nasrat Shoib

February 8, 2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – NATO commanders urged the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in Monday for a major assault on a key insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan, sending thousands of residents fleeing.

The Taliban remained defiant as civilians of the Marjah plain accused the militia, which is leading an eight-year insurgency, of massing fighters and arms for a bloody battle in Helmand province expected to start this week.

Taliban fighters "prefer to stay and fight," Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"Afghan and foreign forces have come to the Marjah area and our mujahedeen forces are also in the area firing rockets at them," he said.

The Marjah operation -- dubbed Mushtarak ("Together") -- is the biggest push since US President Barack Obama announced a new surge of troops to Afghanistan, and military officials say it is the biggest since the 2001 US-led invasion.

It is seen as pivotal to a new counter-insurgency strategy, which meshes military operations with the civil and political aims of establishing governance and security as the basis for development.

Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, called on the militants to lay down their arms, and said the aim of the operation was to "separate the insurgents from the population".

"From a strategic perspective it would be better but they are under very high instructions from their senior leadership to stay and fight, and they are still under the impression that they are winning," he said.

Frightened families were leaving Marjah, as provincial authorities set up reception centres and stockpiled food and tents for up to 10,000 people.

Ghulam Farooq Noorzai, head of the provincial department of refugees and repatriation, said more than 400 families, or 2,000-3,000 people had relocated and "people are still leaving the area".

"We have provided some 70 tents with the help of the international military and in Lashkar Gah we have set aside two schools to shelter people as they arrive," he said.

Shir Ali Khan, who arrived Monday in Lashkar Gah with 25 relatives, said he would keep his loved ones in the city until Marjah was safe.

"We left the area because lots of aircraft were flying over and lots of forces moving back and forth," he said.

But local officials sought to reassure people and prevent a mass exodus.

"Everything is OK," said Governor Habibullah of the Nad Ali district, where Marjah is located.

"We have organised local gatherings and described the objectives of these operations, and assured people they do not need to leave the area, that they will not be harmed in the upcoming operation," he said.

Thousands of foreign and Afghan troops have massed around the area in the central Helmand River valley to take on the Taliban in one of the last areas of the province where they hold sway.

Shadow structures, including courts that dispense rough justice, are operating in place of government institutions, officials said.

The Taliban have skillfully exploited a lack of public confidence in the Afghan government to spread their footprint across vast swathes of the country.

General Stanley McChrystal, commander of 113,000 US and NATO forces in the country -- where another 40,000 are to deploy by August -- has said the Marjah operation aims to push the Taliban out and re-establish government control.

The insurgency, now in its ninth year, has been concentrated on Helmand, and neighbouring Kandahar province, fertile agricultural regions where farmland has been transformed under insurgent control into poppy plantations.

Billions of dollars worth of opium and heroin help to fund the Taliban-led insurgency, which has the Marjah region in its grip.

Four NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Sunday -- two Swedes in the north and another two whose nationalities were not disclosed in the south.

The latest deaths took to 61 the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of the year, according to an AFP count based on a tally kept by independent icasualties.org website.


Fleeing on foot at night

KABUL, 8 February 2010 (IRIN) - Hundreds of civilian families are fleeing parts of Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, ahead of a major military operation by foreign and Afghan forces.

The offensive is expected to drive Taliban insurgents out of Marjah, which has an estimated population of 80,000 people, according to government officials, and the surrounding area.

"Marjah has been surrounded by Afghan and foreign forces but people have told us the Taliban are not allowing them to get out of there," Ahmadullah Ahmadi, director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) office in Helmand, told IRIN.

Many were fleeing the area on foot at night, and without taking any belongings with them, he said, adding: "About 300 families have fled the Nad Ali and Babaji areas and over 100 families have left Marjah over the past week."

Some had sought refuge in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, while others had gone to other relatively secure districts.

Dawod Ahmadi, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said 95 families had arrived in Lashkargah from Marjah as of 8 February.

Leaflets

The government says it is not encouraging people to leave their homes.

"The operation has been designed to avoid harm to civilians and we have not asked people to leave their homes," provincial spokesman Dawod Ahmadi told IRIN.

However, leaflets warning of an imminent military operation dropped in Marjah by NATO helicopters may have prompted some to leave, though the insurgents are reportedly preventing civilians from moving out of areas currently under their control.

The UN and rights watchdogs have accused the insurgents of deliberately using civilians and their homes as a defensive shield. No Taliban spokesperson was immediately available for comment.

Among those leaving Marjah and its environs are some Taliban supporters or sympathizers who may not opt to seek refuge in Laskargah city, aid workers say.

"These families usually go to other districts but often do not receive assistance" said ARCS's Ahmadi.

However, the provincial authorities have given assurances that a relief committee set up to assist the displaced would seek to provide aid without discrimination.

"Those fleeing the conflict are not fighters but innocent women and children and we would assist them," said Dawod Ahmadi, the provincial spokesman.

Shelter

Whilst many displaced people are believed to be seeking temporary refuge with relatives and friends in Lashkargah city and elsewhere in the province, some would inevitably need shelter assistance, according to aid workers.

"The weather is cold and shelter is need number one for the displaced," said ARCS's Ahmadi.

The provincial government has earmarked a newly-built school in Lashkargah city to shelter about 100 displaced families.

Provincial spokesman Ahmadi said: "We believe this will be a short-term displacement and people will be able to return to their homes soon after military operations are complete."


Leading stories in today’s Afghan media

UNAMA

8 February 2010 - President Karzai emphasizes peace talks with the armed opposition and ensuring security in Afghanistan; General McChrystal says security jobs will not be assigned to Afghan Army until it is ready for such job; President Karzai calls on foreign forces to halt military raids on Afghan villages; Afghanistan needs strong international backing for plan to woo former militants - Karzai; and US not in direct talks with Afghan Taliban - Holbrooke.

AFGHAN TV NEWS

Tolo TV Headlines

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, President Karzai emphasized on peace talks with the armed opposition and the ensuring of security in Afghanistan.

NATO chief says Russia, China, India and Pakistan can play stronger roles in ensuring stability in Afghanistan.

Defense Ministry says Afghan Army will not be able to respond to the security challenges unless it has modern arms and a powerful air defence force.

Speaking at the NATO session in Turkey, President Karzai asked NATO leaders to work more seriously for the strengthening of the Afghan Army.

General McChrystal says security jobs will not be assigned to the Afghan Army until it is ready for such a job.

The NATO civilian representative to Afghanistan says the organization will not be able to provide civilian services to the Afghan people in the absence of security.

Helmand authorities say 450 families have been displaced from the Marja District because of fear of military operations there.

Floods left five women and six children dead in Pur Chaman District of Farah.

Ariana TV Headlines

Helmand authorities say hundreds of families have left Marja District for other places because of fear of military operations there.

Asking for urgent assistance, Herat authorities says floods destroyed more than 90 houses in Injil District of that province.

Reports say heavy snowfall has cut transportation links between remote areas and the capitals of Kandahar and Faryab provinces.

AFGHAN PRINT MEDIA

Kabul Times

Eleven people drown as floods submerge three villages in Farah, said provincial police officials.

Afghanistan Times

Afghanistan needs strong international backing for a plan to woo former militants and their leaders back into civil life, and it should consider re-introducing conscription, President Karzai told the Munich Security Conference.

At a news conference on Sunday, NATO’s senior civilian representative in Afghanistan said the international community is supportive of the Karzai administration’s open policy regarding peace with the Taliban.

The Afghan Women Network (AWN) has asked the government to consider women’s human rights and justice during reconciliation talks with the Taliban.

Outlook Afghanistan

The National Solidarity Programme completed three development projects in Balkh, according to an NSP press release.

President Karzai called on Sunday for a halt to military raids in Afghan villages by international coalition forces and a complete end to civilian casualties. “We believe that the war on terror is not in the Afghan villages and homes. We believe this war on terror is in the sanctuaries, training grounds and the motivational factors and financial resources beyond Afghan borders,” Karzai told the annual Munich Security Conference.

The US is not in direct talks with the Afghan Taliban, and any eventual discussions would have to go hand in hand with military success, said US Special Representative for Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke in Munich on Sunday.

The success of a planned major US-Afghan offensive in the south depends on how quickly troop and civilian development workers can get public services up and running once the Taliban have been driven away, US and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal said Sunday.

State Media Editorials

Eslah Daily

Our people have asked private media to prioritize the national interest and cultural values of the Afghan people in their broadcast programmes.

Hewad Daily

The international community should help strengthen the Afghan government to take charge of all its affairs by putting an end to the parallel structure within the government and bringing basic changes in the activities of PRTs, international NGOs and other international institutions in the country. The international community should also prevent civilian casualties during military operations, house searches, and the arrest of Afghans.

Anis Daily

According to NATO’s Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, NATO troops will try to weaken the Taliban and maintain security for the Afghan people in the current year. Before conducting any military operation, the international community should consider the situation of local Afghan civilians. It should also consider that most of the vulnerable villagers cannot just leave their villages.

Private Media Editorials

Outlook Afghanistan

It is important to get the support of locals to prevent the penetration of the Taliban. But it is equally important to make sure that the central government is not sidelined. It should also be mentioned that the Afghan people do not have good experience in strengthening tribal structures. Good governance and development will be better incentives for tribes to cooperate with the central government and the international community in repelling the Taliban. It is also worth mentioning that going after tribes should not lead to paying less attention to equipping and training Afghan forces.

Afghanistan Times

The achievements of our athletes in the South Asian games are a matter of pride for every Afghan. They deserve to be admired and supported by the government, the private sector and ordinary people.

Daily Afghanistan

Both the international community and the Afghan government expect something from each other. If they want to reach their aims, they ought to respect each other’s expectations.

Hasht-e-Subh Daily

Reports say American soldiers arrested the Kapisa deputy police chief yesterday. Referring to this, the editorial expressed surprise, asking how he has been able to penetrate a security organization. The editorial added that maybe he has links with some other terrorists inside the police force who still have to be identified.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Herat (RTA) Headlines

Italian PRT funded the construction of a primary school and a health clinic at the cost of 200,000 euros.

Paktya (RTA) Headlines

A two-day workshop on women’s rights was held at the Department of Women Affairs (DoWA) at Gardez city in Paktya. The workshop was initiated by UNAMA’s Human Rights Unit in the southeast region with the cooperation of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and DoWA.

Paktya (Benawa Pashto Web) Headlines

Agriculture department officials in Ghazni province Sunday said orchard owners would be provided with more than 50,000 apple tree seedlings free of cost with support from the United States Agency for International Development.

Nangarhar (RTA) Headlines

The governor of Nangarhar had an introductory meeting with Rafiullah Baidar, the new director of the AIHRC for eastern provinces.


Afghan war claims 2 US-led soldiers

Press TV / February 8, 2010

At least two US-led foreign soldiers have been killed by an explosion in Afghanistan, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"Two ISAF service members died following an IED (improvised explosive device) strike in southern Afghanistan yesterday," NATO said in a statement on Monday.

The statement does not provide a specific location or give the nationalities of the service members.

Sweden's armed forces said earlier that two Swedish army officers and an Afghan interpreter were killed Sunday near the northern Afghan city of Mazar Sharif.

More than 110,000 international troops are in Afghanistan, with another 40,000 arriving to be deployed in the war-torn country.

At least 11 NATO service members have died in Afghanistan so far this month.

Thousands of Afghan civilians have also been killed in the controversial war which the US launched to allegedly destroy the militancy in Afghanistan 


'Afghan war to claim more UK soldiers'

Press TV / February 8, 2010

The British government has warned the country to brace for more casualties, ahead of a major offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Thousands of troops from Britain, the United States and Afghanistan are preparing to launch 'Operation Moshtarak' ('Together') in Helmand province within days.

According to Press TV, over 400 families have so far evacuated the Marjah plain in the central Helmand River valley, where the offensive is to be centered.

The assault is dubbed as the largest against the Taliban militants since the war began.

Reports say up to 4,000 troops from Britain, which has 9,500 service personnel in the country, may be involved in the attack.

UK Defense Minister Bob Ainsworth said on Sunday that such operations can never be made "risk-free."

"Of course casualties are something that we have to expect when we are involved in these operations," Ainsworth told reporters.

He also warned that the number of kits and amount of equipment provided for the troops would make no difference as the environment of the operation is "not in any way safe."

The development comes as the US-led coalition forces have been preparing the ground to bring the Taliban militants to the Afghan government by trying to open dialogue with the militant group.

The US invaded the county to allegedly destroy militancy in the country.

The costly conflict is stretching into its ninth year as thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed both by acts of violence, including bombings and daily fighting, and US military operations in the country.


US rejects 'direct talks' with Taliban

Press TV / February 8, 2010

US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke has rejected any direct talks between the United States and the Afghan Taliban but hints that 'discussions' with the militant group are under way.

"I want to state very clearly that our nation is not involved in any direct contacts with the Taliban," he said at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday.

Holbrooke replied to earlier reports that the UN special representative to Afghanistan Kai Eide had met with Taliban leaders on January 8. The Taliban later denied the claims.

"Of course you saw that the UN senior representative said he had contacts. That's up to him; there have been other contacts, there is a lot of track-two diplomacy," Holbrooke argued.

He added that any talks would run parallel to military efforts, referring to the deployment of almost 40,000 more international troops to Afghanistan.

"Negotiations and military operations, however you define negotiations, can run in parallel ... (but) success in military operations will affect whatever the discussions are," the US diplomat said.

The talks with the militant groups which are said to be aimed at bringing Taliban into Afghan government comes more than eight years after the US invaded the country.

Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed in the controversial war which the US launched to allegedly destroy the militancy in Afghanistan.


Police constable kills 1 colleague;
explosion claims 2 lives in W Afghanistan

KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- A police constable opened fire killing one of his colleagues and wounding four others in Afghanistan's western Herat province while explosion claimed the lives of two civilians there, officials said Monday.

In the first incident, according to police spokesman in west Afghanistan Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, a police constable opened fire on his colleagues Sunday night killing one police constable and injuring four others.

Ahmadi also added that the culprit after opening fire and killing a police constable run away but on the way his car rammed into a tree and badly injured.

In another incident, an explosion rocked a bazaar in Shindand district on Sunday and wounding two brothers, governor of Shindand district Lal Mohammad Omarzai told Xinhua.


Flood kills 16 people, damage
510 houses in S Afghanistan

KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rain and flooding claimed the lives of at least 16 persons and damaged over 500 houses in Kandahar province south of Afghanistan, spokesman for provincial administration Zalmai Ayubi said Monday.

"The flood washed away three vehicles in Shah Walikot district on Sunday as a result 16 passengers were killed and of these only six bodies have been found and search for the remaining 10 is continuing," Ayubi told media.

He also added that 510 mud houses have been damaged in and outside Kandahar city.

Eleven people including five children have also lost their lives in the heavy rains and flooding that hit western Farah province on Sunday.


Tajikistan hands over 171 prisoners to Afghanistan

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tajikistan handed over more than 170 prisoners to Afghanistan in the northern Kunduz province on Monday, a local official said.

"Tajikistan authorities handed over 171 Afghan prisoners to Afghan government at the border town of Shik Khan Bandar this morning," jail director in Kunduz province Shah Mir Amirpoor told Xinhua.

This is the second bunch of detainees handed over to the Afghan government by Tajikistan over the past one week. On Thursday the Tajik government handed over 81 Afghan detainees to the Afghan administration.

Amirpoor further said that remaining Afghan detainees would be handed over to the Afghan side in the coming days. However, he did not give the number of detainees still held in Tajikistan but added all these people had been arrested on charge of drug smuggling and other crimes over the past four to five years.


District chief arrested in NW Afghanistan

KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan authorities in the country 's northwestern Badghis province have arrested the chief of the Balamirghab district on charges of cooperation with Taliban militants and involvement in corruption, a private television channel reported Monday.

"Authorities arrested Hajji Amin on charges of providing information to Taliban insurgents and selling public lands to individuals," said Tolo broadcast in its news bulletin.

However, it did not say the exact date of detaining the official.

This is the second arrest of ranking officials reported over the past two days.

In the first such case, Afghan and the U.S. military arrested the deputy police chief of Kapisa province, 80 km north of capital city Kabul, with similar charges on Friday.

The Afghan government has been under international pressure especially the U.S. government to act against graft and fight corruption in the post-Taliban country.


Senior Afghan policeman held over planting bombs

BBC News / Monday, 8 February 2010

A senior Afghan policeman has been arrested in connection with planting and storing roadside bombs, Nato officials said.

The policeman was held by Afghan and coalition forces in northern Parwan province on Friday.

A Nato statement said that the policeman was "linked to criminal activities, including a murder."

Roadside bombs are frequently used to attack foreign and Afghan forces in Afghanistan, correspondents say.

Taliban fighters make roadside bombs, known as IEDs (improvised explosive devices), from mines and explosives.

They are activated by pressure plates, trip wires or mobile phones.

As foreign troops have become better at detecting IEDs, the militants have become more sophisticated in modifying their designs, our correspondent adds.

In November 2009 five British soldiers were killed by an Afghan policeman they were mentoring.

Correspondents say policemen in Afghanistan are badly equipped and poorly paid.

Many in the force complain that they are neglected and morale in many police units is low.


Afghan President demands judicial independence

BERLIN, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said here Monday his country wanted to regain complete judicial independence as soon as possible.

To reduce civilian casualties completely, international military forces need to stop operations in Afghan villages, Karzai said at the Munich Security Conference, adding "we believe the war against terrorists is not in Afghan villages and homes."

"Ending military operations in Afghan villages is what Afghan people are seeking as a priority. That means Afghanistan regains judicial independence completely and rather very very soon.

"Afghan must be able to, as a sovereign government to justice its people, to explain the reason why people are arrested. The arrested people must not be arrested by international forces. The suspects must be taken by Afghan forces through the Afghan judicial system and through the laws of Afghanistan." Karzai said.

Karzai also asked the international community to play roles of "supporters" instead of "rivals" for Afghan government and "remove any parallel activities toward Afghanistan."

"Any activity that is conducted in the matter of functions of government by our international friends as parallel to our government is reducing the capacity of Afghanistan," he said.

The 46th Munich Security Conference (MSC) entered its third and last day Sunday. About 300 high-level representatives discussed a range of tough topics, including "resource security and shifting global power", "the future of European and global security", "arms control and the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)", "NATO's new strategy and mission" and "the Afghanistan."

The Munich Security Conference was founded as the Wehrkunde Conference by the German publisher Ewald von Kleist in 1962.


Ajmal Khattak passes away

Daily Time (Pakistan)

February 8, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Prominent writer, poet and former Awami National Party president Ajmal Khattak died in Akora Khattak on Sunday after a prolonged illness. He was 85 years old.

According to private TV channels, Khattak’s funeral prayer would be offered on Monday in his native city of Akora Khattak after Zuhr prayers.

In separate condolence messages to the bereaved family, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the sad demise of the politician.

Eulogising Khattak’s services for promoting democracy, Zardari said his death had deprived the country of a courageous politician.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also sent their condolences to the bereaved family. staff report/app


UN completes winterization
programme in Paktya and Khost

By Dilawar Khan Dilawar, UNAMA

February 8, 2010

The United Nations has completed its "winterization" programme in two provinces of the southeast region benefiting 5,000 families in all.

The programme targeted nine districts in Paktya province, and four districts in Khost province. The beneficiaries were the extremely vulnerable individuals/families, vulnerable returnees, returned internally displaced persons and the poorest families among the local communities.

Before launching this programme, local non-government organisation Afghanistan Planning Agency (APA) conducted a general survey in November and December last year to select the beneficiaries.

The beneficiary selection committee comprised representatives from the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, government departments, Provincial Council members and district authorities.

"On behalf of the Governor's office, I want to thank UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), IOM (International Organization for Migration), GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit or German Technical Cooperation) and other agencies that helped our poor people in these rainy days. I would also like to thank APA for conducting a survey with the government of Afghanistan and executing this programme," said Qazi Sahibzada Tariq, executive director of the Governor's office.

In all, UNHCR contributed 3,000 kits for 1,500 families in Paktya and 1,500 families in Khost. Each kit contained blankets, plastic sheets, shoes, socks and sweaters for the entire family, and 220 kilos of firewood.

The other actors involved in this programme were IOM and GTZ-DETA which, besides contributing non-food items, essentially funded the field level operations of the winterization programme.

IOM also contributed family kits for 500 families in Paktya and 1,000 families in Khost.

UNHCR has been distributing winterization assistance since 2002 in the southeastern region and keeps improving this programme to meet the needs of extremely vulnerable people.


Afghanistan: More than 600 vulnerable
families in Maidan Wardak district receive food aid

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

February 8, 2010

Throughout December and January, more than 600 families of the Jalriz district in the province of Maidan Wardak received food packages funded by the Italian Government and distributed by UNOPS.

With an average of seven members per family, over 4,000 people directly benefitted from the recent distribution of food packages to vulnerable families in the Jalriz district.

Each family received a food package containing 100kg wheat flour, 50kg rice, and 18 liters of cooking oil. The families come from the seven villages of Zawalat, Jalriz, Sangalakh, Takana, Sayakhak, Salmanfars and Kotiashro.

The food distribution is part of the community development efforts of the Italian Government and UNOPS in connection with the rehabilitation of the highway from Maidan Shar to Bamyan.

The food distribution is implemented directly by the District Development Assembly. The primary focus is to ensure the poorest and most vulnerable households in the district receive the much needed food assistance, while at the same time promoting the role of the District Development Assembly in providing social services through a transparent and participatory process.

The Ministry of Public Works is presently rehabilitating 136 km of highway under this project with Italian funding. Rehabilitation of the stretch from Maidan Shar to Onai Pass is halfway completed. The tender process for the rehabilitation of the stretch from Onai Pass to Bamyan city is under process. Additional small scale community works are also planned for the next months.

For further information, please contact Katsui Kaya, UNOPS AGOC, E-mail: katsuik@unops.org or Website: www.unops.org, or Italian Cooperation Office – Embassy of Italy, email: press@coopitafghanistan.org

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