KABUL - Afghanistan has protested to neighboring Iran over the killing of a number of its nationals by Iranian forces, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry summoned the Iranian charge d'affairs and expressed its strong concern on Tuesday about the killings which happened a day earlier on Iranian soil near the south-western Afghan province of Nimroz.
It was the second killing of Afghans by Iranian forces in less than a month, the ministry said in a statement. It did not give details of Monday's incident or numbers involved.
Afghanistan's western border is generally peaceful though smugglers occasionally clash with security forces. Iran is a conduit for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of opium.
Last month, an Afghan teacher was killed and two Iranian border guards were wounded in a gun battle between Iranian and Afghan forces in Nimroz, the Afghan government said.
The clash broke out after four Iranian border guards crossed into an Afghan village and beat up a number of residents, it said.
Also in April, Afghan police said Iranian border guards killed 13 Afghan refugees on the Afghan side of the border. (Reuters)

KABUL - Attorney general Abdul Jabar Sabit said on Wednesday 22 members of the parliament accused of various crimes have been avoiding facing the law.
The attorney general said the MPs, whom he did not name, were summoned officially many times to attend his office for explanations of the accusations and for investigations.
Sabit said the MPs were accused of various crimes, from murder to grabbing of land.
We have repeatedly sent letters to these MPs through the parliaments administrative office, but we have not got any response said the attorney general in a press conference here.
Sabit said he will announce to the media names of the accused MPs if they did not attend his office for investigations soon.
Head of the MPs privileges and safety committee in the lower house Gul Pacha Majeedi confirmed that they had got official letters from the Attorney Generals office. We have got the letters and we frequently told these MPs to attend the AG office, but none of them did so.
Majeedi said they have told the administrative body of the lower house to bring out the issue to the parliaments session, but it was also not accepted. He added that the AG could use his authority to give the MPs a deadline and then chase them legally if they dont act as wanted.
The attorney general also said that two private television channels have still disobeyed a decree from the information and culture ministry to ban some of the objectionable serials. He named the Afghan TV and Tolo TV which were still broadcasting these foreign televised serials and dubbed into local languages.
The information and culture ministry has earlier banned these as against the Afghan and Islamic culture.
The attorney general said they will send again letters to the two channels to ban it, and if they still defied they will be tried according to the law. (Pajhwok)

LONDON - Australia is considering taking Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the International Court of Justice for inciting violence against Israel, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had threatened to eliminate the Jewish state and the government was taking legal advice on launching a case against him at the international court in the Hague, Rudd said.
"The Iranian president's repeated extraordinary statements, which are anti-Semitic and expressing a determination to eliminate the modern state of Israel from the map, are appalling by any standards of current international relations," he told Sky News.
"They are an incitement of international violence and what we have said in the past is that we will take legal advice, which the attorney-general is currently doing, on whether there is a profitable way forward here through the appropriate international legal mechanisms and we'll study that advice carefully."
Rudd was commenting on a report in The Australian newspaper that he had promised Australia's Jewish community last year that if he won power in November elections his government would act against Ahmadinejad.
Iran does not recognize the Jewish state, and since becoming president in 2005 Ahmadinejad has repeatedly provoked international outrage by predicting that Israel is doomed to disappear.
He has also caused controversy by playing down the scale of the Holocaust.
Rudd said the comments were "dangerous stuff" in the context of international relations.
"It's not just hyperbole from the bully pulpit of Tehran, it's the roll-on effect across the Islamic world, particularly those who listen to Iran for their guidance," he said.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland confirmed to The Australian that the government was seeking legal advice on taking Ahmadinejad to the International Court of Justice.
"The government considers the comments made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for the destruction of Israel and questioning the existence of the Holocaust, to be repugnant and offensive," McClelland said.
"The government is currently taking advice on this matter." (IranMania)

KABUL - Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $50 billion to fund a five-year development plan, a presidential aide said, despite growing criticism that aid money is being wasted.
About $14 billion is to go toward improving deteriorating security, but the key target is reviving the decrepit agricultural sector, Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai, told reporters late Tuesday. The plan will be presented to international donors June 12 in Paris.
"We expect a strong political commitment to Afghanistan," Nadiri said.
Afghanistan is struggling to recover from a quarter century of war. More than six years after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime, the country is mired in poverty and insurgent attacks are increasing. It also produces about 93 percent of the world's opium, the raw material of heroin.
The slow pace of development is hobbling public support for Karzai's Western-backed government as Afghans grapple with food shortages and the sharply rising cost of living. Official corruption is endemic.
"We are building a state, and that is a costly exercise," Nadiri said. "The country had lost its human, physical and social capital ... the collapse of Afghanistan was total."
An estimated 34 percent to 42 percent of Afghans still live below the poverty line. Despite significant improvements in health care, Afghanistan has the world's second-highest maternal mortality rate.
It is also highly dependent on aid. The United Nations, NATO and other international institutions are trying to better coordinate military and civilian reconstruction, widely regarded as fragmented and ineffectual. There is growing concern over how the aid money is spent.
Since 2001, the international community has pledged $25 billion in help but has delivered only $15 billion, according to a report by the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an alliance of 94 international aid agencies.
Some 40 percent of it or $6 billion goes back to donor countries in corporate profits and consultant salaries, the report found.
The new five-year development plan is part of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, a 5,000-page document drafted after a two-year consultative process across Afghanistan and abroad. It will be presented in Paris.
Nadiri acknowledged the government lacks the capacity to administer its aid money alone, but insisted it remains more effective than the myriad of international organizations.
Currently, one-third of foreign aid money is managed by the Afghan government and the rest by donors themselves. (AP)

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai condemned Wednesday bombings that killed about 80 people in the Indian city of Jaipur, saying the killing of innocents was not justified by any religion or culture.
Afghanistan, itself a victim of "terrorism," understood the pain of India, Karzai said in reaction to the eight near-simultaneous bombings in the tourist city late Tuesday, many of them near Hindu temples.
"Killing innocent people is not justified in any religion and culture, and those who killed people through the bombings in Jaipur are no doubt terrorists and the enemy of mankind," Karzai said in a statement.
"The people of Afghanistan, who have long suffered from the destructive activities of the terrorists, understand the pain of Indian people very well and share their pain."
It was not clear who was responsible for the Jaipur bombings.
India's junior home minister Shriprakash Jaiswal told reporters "the people responsible for these attacks have foreign connections," but he refused to point a finger directly at traditional foe Pakistan.
Afghanistan, a close friend to India, is hit by regular bombings, many apparently intended for Afghan and international security forces fighting an extremist insurgency led by the Taliban.
Afghan officials say these attackers are mostly supported, trained or equipped in Pakistan, where the U.S. State department says Al-Qaeda has safe havens. (AFP)

KABUL - The killing and abduction of dozens of health workers in the past two years has prompted officials to shut down at least 36 health facilities in volatile south and east of the country, depriving hundreds of thousands of people of basic health services, according to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
"More than 360,000 people in Helmand, Kandahar, Farah, Zabul and Paktika provinces are deprived of health services due to insecurity," Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the MoPH, told IRIN in Kabul on 14 May.
Afghanistan has managed to reduce slightly its high infant mortality rate from 165 under-five deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to about 135 per 1,000 in 2006, but it is still struggling to deliver basic health services in some 85 percent of the country's territory, according to the preliminary findings of a Johns Hopkins University household survey in 2007.
However, insurgency-related violence and increased attacks on health workers have put the country's public health achievements at risk, experts warn.
Taliban insurgents and other criminal groups have repeatedly attacked aid workers, including health providers, mainly for political reasons. The Taliban reportedly demanded the release of their fighters from jails in exchange for the release of health workers they held hostage in March 2007.
"Forty health workers have been killed and/or kidnapped while delivering health services in the past two years," said Fahim. "They were all innocent people who were working for a noble humanitarian cause," he said.
As the conflict has intensified and spread, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN and other aid agencies have increasingly voiced concern about the "diminishing humanitarian space" which is increasingly impeding access to the most vulnerable communities across Afghanistan.
In April the president of the ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77755] said the Taliban had agreed not to attack humanitarian health activities in areas under their influence. However, an official of the Ibn Sina non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides basic health services in the south and southwest said access had not improved since Kellenberger's talks with Taliban leaders.
"Our 14 health posts in Helmand Province and two in Zabul Province still remain closed and we see no positive signs that the Taliban will allow us to re-open them in the near future," said the official who preferred anonymity for security reasons.
Health officials in Kabul said they did not know for sure what kind of diseases might be affecting isolated communities and what alternative treatment options were available.
"All we know is that TB [tuberculosis], malnutrition, polio, obstetric problems and some infectious diseases are common in those areas," Fahim said, adding that several polio cases had been reported in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in the past six months.
People in the affected areas either trek to provincial capitals for treatment or rely on medicines given to them by irregular traders who often sell medicines without a proper diagnosis having been carried out.
Taliban insurgents have responded negatively to repeated calls by the MoPH and NGOs involved in health activities to allow health workers to access insecure areas.
"Unless we receive reliable assurances that our staff will not be attacked, and will be treated humanely, we will not put their lives at risk by sending them to insecure areas," said Fahim. (IRIN)

BRUSSELS - The leaders of NATO and the UN are due to meet in New York on May 22 to discuss the situations in Kosovo and Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is scheduled to hold talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, 'and you can expect certainly Kosovo and Afghanistan to be on the agenda,' NATO spokesman James Appathurai told journalists in Brussels.
NATO currently maintains some 16,000 troops in the KFOR peace- keeping force in Kosovo, and 47,000 troops in the ISAF stabilization mission in Afghanistan. Both missions are carried out under the UN mandate.
On June 15, Kosovo's UN administrators are scheduled to hand over control of the province to the Kosovo authorities and to a policing mission sent by the European Union.
But the handover is dogged with controversy, as Russia - a UN veto holder - refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence and approve the handover of power from the UN administration.
NATO officials insist that KFOR's mandate will not change if the handover of authority takes place, and that military planners are satisfied with the force's current strength and its reserve plans.
However, the force could take on 'possible new tasks' in Kosovo once the handover is completed, Appathurai said.
A plan for the post-independence rule of the former Serbian province drawn up by UN negotiator Martti Ahtisaari had foreseen that NATO could help to train a Kosovo security force, but the plan was rejected by Serbia and Russia, leaving its fate unclear.
On Afghanistan, Scheffer and Ban are likely to discuss the cooperation between military and civilian missions in the country, and the impact on the conflict of the political turmoil in Pakistan. (Agencies)

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai nominated five members of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan here on Wednesday.
A presidential decree issued here named General Ayub Asil as deputy head of the election commission and Momina Yari, Sulaiman Hamid, Mastora Stanekzai and Prof. Muhammad Hasan Garziwani as members of the body.
Head of the commission, Dr Azizullah Ludin had already been nominated.
It is not clear when the rest of the members will be nominated.
The election commission will arrange the presidential election in 2009. (Pajhwok)

MOSCOW - Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Wednesday condemning Tuesday's bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Jaipur and saying the terrorists must be brought to justice.
Eight explosions in crowded areas of the city claimed at least 80 lives and left around 200 people injured. No terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
"Evil acts such as these have no justification, and the organizers and perpetrators must face severe punishment," the ministry said on its website.
The motive of the attack remains unclear. Police have not accused specific groups over the blasts, but the terrorists are believed to be Pakistani, Bangladeshi or local Islamists, aiming to fuel tensions between Muslims and Hindus. The bombs went off near Hindu temples.
Indian Junior Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, speaking soon after the blasts, said they were part of a "big conspiracy," and that "some foreign hand" could have been involved. (RIA Novosti)

NEW YORK - Observing that there is no magical formula to the current crisis, the Afghan Ambassador to Canada, Omar Samad, emphasized Tuesday a lot needs to be done to build upon the gains Afghanistan has achieved in post-Taliban era.
There are no magical formulas or straight forward answers to some of the challenges we face," Samad said in his address to the prestigious Canadian Club of Ottawa, which is more than a century old.
Building upon the gains made so far, Samad said is in the "need of re-calibrated strategies, adequate resources and human capital if we are to make a difference."
It cannot be a quick and on the cheap proposition, he argued.
Observing that one should learn lessons from the past, Samad said: history of post-conflict reconstruction has shown that such exercises "will need time and may not succeed if we do not seek realistic and sustainable solutions" backed by political determination.
The insurgents, who use terror tactics, not only are a threat to international community, but also every Afghan who seeks a normal and peaceful life, he argued.
Their goal is to re-impose Taliban-style totalitarian rule over Afghans by turning the clock backward, shutting down schools and re-incarcerating women, and recreating a launch-pad for terrorist adventurism," he said.
"Those who want to subvert Afghan people's wish to rebuild their country, or our desire to build a functioning democracy and civil society, or those who are intent on terrorizing the population from their trans-border bases and safe havens, or bent on exporting their brand of violence to other nations, cannot be part of a solution," Samad said.
However, those who are willing to give up on violence and accept the constitutional order, or those with a grievance or economic need that can be addressed, know that the doors for contacts are open. This has been demonstrated by the willingness of more than 5,000 such individuals, who have already chosen peace over violence and destruction, he said. "The reconciliation programme needs to be expanded, but let it be clear that such efforts are led by Afghan authorities that will seek outside support whenever necessary through a UN-NATO-Afghan government coordinated process," Samad said.
Referring to the impressive growth of the Afghan Army, Samad was confident that by end of this year they would be able to take responsibility for the security of Kabul. However, NATO troops, without exception, should continue to peacefully engage local communities alongside Afghan authorities to provide them with immediate needs and listen to their views to better understand the local conditions, which may defer from one district to the other. (Pajhwok)

KABUL - A delegation of American board officials visited Herat and discussed matters in Regional Command West (RC-West).
Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, U.S. assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, Christopher Dell, U.S. deputy ambassador in Afghanistan, and seven other members toured the province, a release issued here said.
The delegation was welcomed by Brigadier General Francesco Arena, RC-West commander, Colonel Giuseppe Levato, Italian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) commander, and Nicola Orlando, head of the PRT civilian component.
Lt. Gen. Lute discussed RC-West’s mission, focusing on ISAF support and cooperation with Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), as well as civil and military cooperation in Herat province.
The delegation also visited the home of Hussain Anwary, Herat governor, where they received an introduction to the local environment, depicting the current state of economics and politics, focusing on development plans.
The governor thanked the delegation and highlighted the accomplishments achieved in the education and health care systems due to ISAF PRT support. (Pajhwok)

KABUL - US Marines have faced "continuous resistance" from the Taliban since an operation began two weeks ago to clear out a key militant stronghold in south, the force said Wednesday.
US Marines and British troops under NATO command launched the operation late April in Garmser district in Helmand province, a key battleground for the Taliban-led insurgency and an opium-producing centre.
"We're seeing a continuous resistance," said Lieutenant Colonel Kent W. Hayes, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's second-in-command in Afghanistan.
"They are consistently engaging us," he said, but added that "the bottom line is: When we fight them, we defeat them."
Hayes refused to comment on militant casualties from the operation, saying it was not policy to give figures, adding Garmser was a "planning, staging and logistic hub" for the rebels.
But he did not dismiss a statement Tuesday by Helmand province governor Gulab Mangal that over 150 militants, many of them Al-Qaeda-linked "foreign fighters," had been killed in the past week in Garmser, which borders Pakistan.
Hayes also said his troops had disrupted Taliban logistics networks in Garmser.
"We are noticing that we have influenced that area greatly and we have seen that they are starting to have trouble reinforcing and getting arms and things like that," he said.
Garmser is said to be a gateway for fresh rebel fighters and supplies coming into Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is fiercest along areas bordering Pakistan.
Some rebels are believed to have their first encounters with international troops in Garmser before moving north. There are about 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan helping the government. The 2,400-strong Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed in March to help NATO forces over the summer, traditionally when the insurgency flares.
A separate US-led coalition including Special Forces has in the past week reported significant Taliban casualties in Garmser.
The Taliban were removed from government in 2001 in a US-led invasion launched when the extremist regime did not hand over their Al-Qaeda allies following the 9/11 attacks.
The operation forced Taliban and Al-Qaeda across the border into Pakistan, where Afghan and US officials claim they have safe havens from which they can plot their bloody insurgency in Afghanistan. (AFP)

KANDAHAR - Top Canadian and Afghanistan army officers want more Afghan National Army battalions in the unpredictable and unsecured province of Kandahar.
Currently, there are three battalions working alongside Canadian Forces in southern Afghanistan. In Zhari district, the Afghans have been in charge for months.
"They have done an outstanding job," said Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the outgoing commander of Task Force Afghanistan. "I didn't expect a (battalion) to be in charge of the most difficult piece of ground in the southern region in January. It's not something I planned on."
The Zhari battalion now plans and conducts their own operations with Canadian mentors. Laroche hopes to see the same thing in the Panjwaii district.
However, that may have to wait until after the expected fighting season over the summer months. It will also require more Afghan soldiers.
On Wednesday, hours before he departed Afghanistan at the end of his tour, Laroche said extra Afghan troops are crucial.
"Are we going to get more in the near future? I'm not sure. We hope that we're going to see more," he said. "The more troops we have, the more progress we can make, the quicker we're going to reach the finish line."
An official request has been forwarded by Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa Naibi, the top Afghan officer in the province where the majority of Canada's 2,500 troops are based.
"To maintain the security ... in Kandahar, we need some more battalions, or kandaks," he said through a translator. "If I get two more kandaks, I will provide security for the whole province."
A battalion contains about 600 troops.
The Afghanistan government has not yet answered the request.
Before he left the country, Laroche highlighted the success of the Afghan army, but admitted the national police are far behind.
"I think the police, in my view, are about three years behind the army, at a minimum. There's still a lot of work yet to be done," he said. "If we cannot improve their capacity, it will have an impact on the security in the long term."
Last fall, Canadian troops expanded their mentoring program to include the Afghan National Police, who had a reputation of incompetence and corruption. For every one death in the army last year, 27 policemen were killed. Now that police are being specially trained in each district and emerging as the Afghan Uniformed Police, there is hope they can gain ground.
Laroche left Afghanistan with a string of accolades from his peers.
"You have (given) us an incredible legacy to follow and your accomplishments will carry us on with this vital mission," said the incoming commander, Brig.-Gen. Dennis Thompson, at the official change of command. Naibi also had fond words for the 10 months he worked with Laroche.
"We were always having close coordination and good communication among us," he said.
"Sometimes, in a serious situation, we were calling at one o'clock at night. When we called him, his telephone was on. He was always ready to support us." (Canwest)

KABUL - In order to raise support for local development, the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) discussed projects and issues in Zabul province with United Nations (UN) representatives during their visit Thursday.
United Kingdom Army Brigadier General Sean Crane, senior military advisor to the UN Secretary General's Special Representative, and Kai Eide, head of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), were briefed on current PRT activities and concerns.
The primary goal of the discussion was to increase international and national awareness of needed support to the province, said Lieutenant Colonel Bryce Brakman, Zabul PRT commander.
'One of the top priorities identified in the PRT's mission statement is to support Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) in its efforts to transform Zabul into an environment in which IOs and NGOs can operate effectively,' said Franz Seitz, a U.S. State Department officer working with the PRT. 'Inter-governmental organization (IO) and non-governmental organizations (NGO) presence in Zabul is crucial to achieve reconstruction and development goals.'
UNAMA is the lead IO operating in Afghanistan and can influence other IOs, NGO and the GIRoA to direct more resources to Zabul, said Mr. Seitz.
Progress in Qalat is strategically important according to the U.S. Agency for International Development's Capacity Development Program. The city is located on Highway 1, which puts it in a prime location for IO and NGO activities with a potential business park promoting economic development.
In a positive step for the province, the Ministry of Urban Development plans to make Qalat a model city for urban development in Afghanistan, according to Mr. Seitz. IO and NGO support is crucial to ensure the province can support reconstruction, development and its own populace.
'Zabul is very impoverished and it's going to take more resources to make substantial impacts,' said Lt. Col. Brakman. 'To promote peace and stability, development initiatives are critical.' (NATO)

WAZIRISTAN - The Pakistan government and Taliban militants in the restive South Waziristan tribal region are expected to swap prisoners as part of efforts for a formal peace agreement. Thirty-one militants have been airlifted from a prison in Dera Ismail Khan and detention centers in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, and brought to Jandola, sources said. South Waziristan, dominated by the Mehsud tribe, is the base for Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.
There were reports that Mehsud would oblige tribal interlocutors by freeing some security personnel and government functionaries being held by the militants. Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar has claimed in the past that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has 80 to 90 security personnel and government officials in its custody. A verbal agreement has been reached by the government and the militants, but it has not been made public, due to the 'sensitivities involved', the Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"I think a verbal agreement is there already. It has to be formalized but it is not being made public for obvious reasons," a source said.
A formal agreement could be reached in three to four days. The swapping of prisoners is expected to take place at Tiarza in South Waziristan, sources said. Six of the militants, who are set to be freed, were being held in the Dera Ismail Khan prison, 19 in the army's brigade headquarters at Zari Noor and two in detention centers in Jandola, sources said.
An official said all of them were members of the Mehsud tribe.
The military's chief spokesman denied that an army helicopter had been used to airlift the detainees. He also said the military was not involved in any prisoner exchange. "What is happening is that locals who may have been detained on suspicion without any strong evidence are being considered for release by the political authorities or Federally Administered Tribal Areas' administration. But the military is not involved," Major General Athar Abbas said.
Official sources also said that the military had started 'thinning down' its presence at Kotkai and Spinkay Raghzay in the Mehsud-dominated part of South Waziristan. "This is a good development and there may be some more good news," an official said.
Major General Abbas said that a decision on pulling out troops from South Waziristan would be made by the government and would depend on the outcome of negotiations with the tribes.
He acknowledged that the military had decided to readjust its current positions and reopen various roads linking villages and townships to facilitate the return of people who had been displaced by fighting in the region.
Pakistan's new coalition government has initiated steps, for holding peace talks with all militant groups that give up violence, shortly after coming to power in March. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said this is part of a new policy to tackle militancy, which combines political dialogue, socio-economic development and the military option. (Rediff News)

DUSHANBE - Over 423 kilograms (923 lbs) of drugs have been seized in Tajikistan, the largest haul in the Central Asian country this year, a drug enforcement agency spokesman said on Wednesday.
The drugs were found in a KAMAZ lorry, which was stopped during a joint Tajik and Afghan special service operation, on the Dushanbe-Khujand highway on May 11.
"More than 423 kilograms of narcotics, including over 33 kg of heroin, was seized," Fakhriddin Dzhonmakhmadov said adding that officers had also confiscated a pistol with 15 rounds.
Experts estimate the haul is worth some $400,000 in Tajikistan and over $10 million in Europe. The drugs originated from a region in northeast Afghanistan, the world's leading heroin producer, and were destined to be smuggled into Russia. Three people were arrested on suspicion of being involved in drug trafficking. (RIA Novosti)