Friday, February 29, 2008
Engineers Without Borders Evacuates?
Governor Sher Alam Ibrahimi of Ghazni Province decried the evacuation order given by the Washington headquarters of Engineers Without Borders. "This is exactly what the enemies of Afghanistan want," he said, "They want to chase Western aid organizations out of our country. This is bowing to their pressure."
Jihadi Sympathizer Group?
A group calling itself "Brothers in the Road to Hattin" has claimed responsibility for a bombing in Peshawar, and has expressed solidarity with a group called "Warriors of Hattin" which is believed in some circles to be behind the seizure of Western hostages in Ghazni province. The "Warriors of Hattin" have yet to respond to this expression on their website.
Ibrahimi: Ghazni Not Dangerous
Governor Sher Alam Ibrahimi of Ghazni Province reiterated this evening that, in spite of the recent ambush and hostage crisis, Ghazni Province should not be thought of as dangerous.
Ambush Site Discovered
Governor Sher Alam Ibrahimi of Ghazni Province reports to Afghanistan Today that an ambush site has been discovered near the town of Janda, center of Gelan District. Bodies of at least eight Westerners were discovered, including at least seven uniformed soldiers.
Provincial Reconstruction Team Lost
International News Network reports that German government sources indicate that a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has been lost in Ghazni Province. Afghanistan Today has been unable to reach Governor Sher Alam Ibrahimi for comment on the possible incident.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
29 Taliban killed protecting Afghan opium
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — Twenty-nine Taliban were killed trying to protect opium crops from eradication in southern Afghanistan, most of them in a six-hour gunfight with police, officials said Thursday.
A senior commander was among the dead in the clashes in Helmand province, the top opium-producing area in Afghanistan, which churns out 90 percent of the world's supply to make heroin for Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Rebels on Wednesday used rockets and gunfire to attack a team that was destroying opium poppy crops in remote Marja district, provincial police chief General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told AFP.
A police vehicle was badly damaged and a policeman was wounded. Police reinforcements were sent to the area and the fighting accelerated, lasting well into the night, Andiwal said.
"The six-hour fighting killed 25 Taliban and two Taliban were arrested," he said.
On Thursday four more rebels were killed when a landmine exploded as they were planting it to target the eradication team, he said.
The interior ministry said a Taliban commander named Mullah Naqeebullah was among the dead in Wednesday's fighting. He had twice escaped from Afghan jails, it said in a statement.
A spokesman for the hardline Taliban movement, Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed that Taliban fighters were involved in the incident but said only one was killed.
Helmand experiences some of the worst violence linked to a Taliban-led insurgency which officials say is funded in part by a 10 percent tax that the rebel movement takes from opium farmers.
Officials admit the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, control a handful of districts in the province but say they will be removed.
The rebels used the Helmand town of Musa Qala as a base for 10 months before they were ejected in December by Afghan and international soldiers.
US intelligence officials told the US Congress Wednesday that the Taliban had retaken control of about 10 percent of the country since they were removed from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
The government of President Hamid Karzai meanwhile controlled just "30, 31 percent, and then the rest of it was local control," US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the Senate's Armed Services Committee.
Afghanistan's defence ministry rejected this assessment as "far from reality."
The government was in control of all 34 provinces and most districts, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Officials have said that militants control at least three districts in Helmand, but there are other areas where government authority is tenuous and security forces weak or allied with the rebels.
Last year was the deadliest of the Taliban insurgency, increasing pressure on the United States and its allies in NATO to beef up their military contingents to avoid the country falling again to the radical Islamists.
A senior commander was among the dead in the clashes in Helmand province, the top opium-producing area in Afghanistan, which churns out 90 percent of the world's supply to make heroin for Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Rebels on Wednesday used rockets and gunfire to attack a team that was destroying opium poppy crops in remote Marja district, provincial police chief General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told AFP.
A police vehicle was badly damaged and a policeman was wounded. Police reinforcements were sent to the area and the fighting accelerated, lasting well into the night, Andiwal said.
"The six-hour fighting killed 25 Taliban and two Taliban were arrested," he said.
On Thursday four more rebels were killed when a landmine exploded as they were planting it to target the eradication team, he said.
The interior ministry said a Taliban commander named Mullah Naqeebullah was among the dead in Wednesday's fighting. He had twice escaped from Afghan jails, it said in a statement.
A spokesman for the hardline Taliban movement, Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed that Taliban fighters were involved in the incident but said only one was killed.
Helmand experiences some of the worst violence linked to a Taliban-led insurgency which officials say is funded in part by a 10 percent tax that the rebel movement takes from opium farmers.
Officials admit the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, control a handful of districts in the province but say they will be removed.
The rebels used the Helmand town of Musa Qala as a base for 10 months before they were ejected in December by Afghan and international soldiers.
US intelligence officials told the US Congress Wednesday that the Taliban had retaken control of about 10 percent of the country since they were removed from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
The government of President Hamid Karzai meanwhile controlled just "30, 31 percent, and then the rest of it was local control," US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the Senate's Armed Services Committee.
Afghanistan's defence ministry rejected this assessment as "far from reality."
The government was in control of all 34 provinces and most districts, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Officials have said that militants control at least three districts in Helmand, but there are other areas where government authority is tenuous and security forces weak or allied with the rebels.
Last year was the deadliest of the Taliban insurgency, increasing pressure on the United States and its allies in NATO to beef up their military contingents to avoid the country falling again to the radical Islamists.
Afghan police shut down dozens of Kabul snooker clubs
KABUL (AFP) — Police closed down dozens of snooker clubs in the Afghan capital, alleging the entertainment venues were being used by men involved in petty crimes, chiefly gambling, a city police chief said Wednesday.
More than 200 people, including teenagers, were also picked up from the clubs in the city-wide raids on Tuesday but most had already had been bailed out by their families, Kabul police chief General Mohammad Salim Ahsas said.
"We closed about 70 clubs and detained about 200 people, most of them bad boys," told AFP.
The raids were conducted after complaints by residents that the clubs were being used by people involved in crime, he said.
"Before carrying out the operations, we had sent in our secret police who found and took pictures that people were gambling there. The venues had turned to places for bad boys and criminals," he said.
Gambling is illegal in this conservative Islamic country but it is rife, with bets placed on dog fighting and buzkashi -- a form of polo played with a calf or goat carcass -- among other pastimes.
Snooker halls were banned during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime but have since flourished becoming among the main entertainment venues in a country where basic infrastructure was destroyed during nearly three decades of war.
More than 200 people, including teenagers, were also picked up from the clubs in the city-wide raids on Tuesday but most had already had been bailed out by their families, Kabul police chief General Mohammad Salim Ahsas said.
"We closed about 70 clubs and detained about 200 people, most of them bad boys," told AFP.
The raids were conducted after complaints by residents that the clubs were being used by people involved in crime, he said.
"Before carrying out the operations, we had sent in our secret police who found and took pictures that people were gambling there. The venues had turned to places for bad boys and criminals," he said.
Gambling is illegal in this conservative Islamic country but it is rife, with bets placed on dog fighting and buzkashi -- a form of polo played with a calf or goat carcass -- among other pastimes.
Snooker halls were banned during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime but have since flourished becoming among the main entertainment venues in a country where basic infrastructure was destroyed during nearly three decades of war.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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