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Afghanistan
Taliban denies rumors of Pakistani military presence in Wakhan, Badakhshan
2025-01-01
[KhaamaPress] Amid increasing rumors about the presence of Pak military forces in Wakhan, Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, a spokesperson for the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
 police command in Badakhshan addressed the issue.

Ihsanullah Kamgar told the Bakhtar News Agency that they are monitoring the borders and have not received any reports of Pak soldiers being present.

Following festivities between the Taliban and Pak military forces, some activists and users close to the Mighty Pak Army claimed that if the conflict between the Taliban border forces and Pakistain continues, Pak forces will capture Wakhan.

On Monday, the Taliban police spokesperson in Badakhshan told the Bakhtar Agency, "The country’s security forces are fully prepared to respond to any foreign threats at the borders, and border security is under strict supervision."

Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase...
 Serajuddin Haqqani, acting Interior Minister of the Taliban, met with China’s Ambassador to Kabul, Zhao Xing, to discuss the strategic importance of the Wakhan Corridor amid rumors of Pak military presence in the region.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Matin Qani later confirmed the meeting, stating that Haqqani and Zhao discussed the strategic significance of the Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan, as rumors about Pak troops in the area circulated.

After Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in Paktika
...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency...
 by Pak fighter jets and border festivities, Pak users have criticized the Taliban. These users, who are supportive of the Pak military, have labeled the Taliban—once a strong ally of Pakistain—as an enemy and an accomplice of India. Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase...
 critics of the Taliban view the group as a Pak puppet and remain suspicious of the growing tension between the Taliban and Pakistain.

The Wakhan Corridor is a strategically significant region in northeastern Afghanistan, sharing borders with China, Tajikistan, and Pakistain.

The situation in the Wakhan Corridor remains highly sensitive, with ongoing speculation about the interests of regional powers. While the Taliban maintains that it is vigilant and prepared to defend Afghanistan’s borders, the involvement of neighboring countries, particularly Pakistain, adds complexity to the region’s security dynamics.

As tensions rise, the strategic importance of Wakhan continues to attract international attention. The outcome of this issue could have significant implications for Afghanistan’s future relations with its neighbors, particularly Pakistain and Tajikistan, as well as for the region’s broader geopolitical landscape.
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan Exports Nearly $2 Billion Last Year: MOCI
2024-01-09
[ToloNews] The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) said that the amount of Afghanistan's exports in 2023 was close to two billion dollars, with the largest exports going to Pakistain, India, China, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, the front man of MoCI, emphasized that although the export of coal decreased and there were problems in the trade sector with neighboring countries, the amount of exports has increased.

According to the MoCI, the amount of Afghan exports to other countries increased by 2% in 2023.

Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad told TOLOnews: "Afghanistan has exported $1.9 billion dollars in 2023. The above figure shows a 2% increase, which is equal to $41 million dollars, despite the restoration of the Salang highway, the reduction of coal exports and the problems of neighboring countries."

The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) said that currently Afghanistan trades with all countries in the region and the world, and in order to develop trade, the world needs to remove restrictions on the private sector.

Mohammad Yunus Momand, the first deputy of the ACCI, said: "We export to all countries of the world. We export to Europe, Australia, Canada and important countries of the world. You will not find a country where Afghan fruit is not found or Afghanistan dry fruit is not there."

Meanwhile,
...back at the railroad tracks, Little Nell tried to kick her bound feet and scream post the snotty handkerchief Scarface Al had stuff into her mouth...
 acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, on his visit to Iran, at the meeting of the Afghanistan-Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
Joint Chamber of Commerce on December 26, 2023, said that currently business activities in the country have developed and they are trying to connect to China through the Wakhan Corridor.

Muttaqi said that Iranian investors can invest in the agricultural and mining sectors in Afghanistan.

Muttaqi said: "Now Afghanistan is the best way between South Asia and Central Asia. The government has decided to connect with China through the Wakhan Corridor. As South Asia and Central Asia are connected, we decide to connect North and South as well. China will be connected to Central Asia, to Iran, and through Iran to the world."

Earlier, the Acting Minister of MoCI in an interview told TOLOnews that Afghanistan has established trade relations with sixty countries.

Saffron worth $27 million exported from Afghanista

[KhaamaPress] The Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan has reported exporting saffron worth 27 million dollars in the past eight months.

Abdulsalam Javad Akhundza, the spokesperson for this ministry, told the media that the total amount of saffron exceeded 28,000 kilograms and has been exported to various countries worldwide.

According to him, saffron exports during the eight months of the year have reached approximately 28,620 kilograms, with a value of 27 million dollars. Most of these exports have gone to countries such as India, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, the United Arab Emirates, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
, Indonesia, Spain, Germany, the United States, and England.

Some saffron exporters also mention that despite Afghanistan experiencing several years of drought in recent times and the country’s farming communities suffering in this regard, the efforts of farmers have resulted in a significant increase in saffron production and exports from Afghanistan.

They are urging the authorities of the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
 to facilitate further saffron exports to foreign countries through air corridors.

In this regard, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock had previously stated that they provided training opportunities for 200 farmers to promote the cultivation of saffron in various provinces of the country.

The Chamber of Commerce and Investment states that Afghan saffron has gained a good share in foreign markets, and its exports flow normally.

Due to favourable climatic conditions, Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
 province is the largest saffron producer in Afghanistan. Reports indicate that approximately 80% of the employees in this sector are women.

Currently, there are about 30 saffron trading companies operating in Herat, and over 80% of their employees are women and girls in various saffron processing sectors.
Related:
Wakhan Corridor: 2023-09-12 Vulnerable Chitral
Wakhan Corridor: 2021-07-30 Will China get embroiled in the graveyard of empires?
Wakhan Corridor: 2019-03-02 China Denies Having Troops In Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor
Related:
Saffron: 2023-04-30 Afghanistan’s Saffron Exports to India, China and UAE
Saffron: 2023-04-29 India arms Hindu militias to combat Kashmiri fighters
Saffron: 2022-11-12 Masjid committee member Rafiq, Sri Ram Sene clash over saffron flags in Karnataka
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India-Pakistan
Vulnerable Chitral
2023-09-12
[Dawn] THE Chitral region of KP has been in the headlines of late due to the Sept 6 deadly cross-border incursion in which a large band of TTP turbans reportedly crossed over and attacked Pak positions before being pushed back into Afghanistan.

Though the authorities have not given any numbers, the raiders were reported to be in the ’hundreds’. The interim foreign minister insists this was an "isolated incident" and that the Afghan Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
 rulers did not sanction the attack, while the Foreign Office has repeated the mantra that Pakistain’s concerns have been communicated to the relevant quarters in Kabul.

State functionaries may be giving the impression that all is well in the region, but more information is needed on the exact details of the attack, while the local people need to be reassured that their lives and properties will be protected by the state.

Chitral lies in a strategically sensitive area, bordering Afghanistan and with only the Wakhan Corridor separating it from Tajikistan. China’s Xinjiang region is also in the vicinity.

This makes it an attractive location for transnational jihadists looking to expand their operations, even though Chitral itself has largely been shielded from terrorist activity.

Moreover, the region is culturally, linguistically and ethnically distinct from the rest of KP. While Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
and erstwhile Fata suffered the most during earlier waves of terrorism, Chitral managed to weather the storm. The area where the incursion took place is close to the traditional lands of the Kalash people, and Chitral also has a significant Ismaili population.

Therefore, the state needs to beef up security in the area, as the banned TTP and sectarian turbans thrive on targeting minority communities. While there have been reports of small-scale infiltration from Afghanistan, the last major incursion occurred in 2011 when reportedly a very large number of turbans staged attacks, leading to several fatalities among coppers.

Simply expecting the Afghan Taliban to ’do more’ may not be enough, especially when there is speculation that some Taliban factions may actually be encouraging attacks within Pakistain.

The best option is for the military to provide iron-clad security to all vulnerable border regions, and ensure that no groups are again able to violate Pakistain’s territory.

A jirga in Chitral has asked the army chief to visit the area, and called upon the authorities to fence the border with Afghanistan.

Reports indicate that the Afghan Taliban had started relocating TTP fighters from the border area; the process must be sped up so that this ever-present threat on the country’s frontiers is neutralised.

The terrorist threat on the borders must be handled proactively. In the past, the country has suffered immensely by allowing malevolent actors to establish fiefdoms on Pak territory. This mistake must never be repeated.
Related:
Chitral: 2023-09-09 Chitral attack ‘isolated incident’, not sanctioned by Afghan govt: FM Jilani
Chitral: 2023-09-09 Daily Evacuation Brief September 8, 2023
Chitral: 2023-09-08 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan seizes villages, kills 6 soldiers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Link


Afghanistan
Will China get embroiled in the graveyard of empires?
2021-07-30
[9Dashline] Afghanistan is a complex geopolitical playground and remains one of the world's fiercest battlegrounds. After the recent withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban immediately began claiming territory in various parts of the country. They now control more than 85 per cent of the country. The Afghan government may be overthrown in the next few months due to the poor preparation of the country’s security forces. Against this backdrop, the question arises whether China may be the next great power to get embroiled in the ‘graveyard of empires’.

Great powers have always tried and failed to turn Afghanistan into a hotbed for their geopolitical ambitions. America is the latest superpower to suffer a catastrophic defeat in the country after two decades of unsuccessful occupation and nation-building. Washington's poor performance in delivering major energy, infrastructure, and connectivity projects has been one of its biggest failures over the past twenty years. Meanwhile, Beijing is carefully preparing to fill the void left by the US.

CHINA’S POSITION IN AFGHANISTAN
China is pursuing three main objectives in Afghanistan: avoiding a further expansion of the conflict and all-out civil war, promoting intra-Afghan negotiations, and preventing the rise of terrorist forces and activities. In this respect, China is relying on intensified relations with Russia (the Dragonbear), Iran, and Pakistan. Afghanistan is geostrategically located in a hotspot linking the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and Europe. China views the country as a major geopolitical puzzle piece between Pakistan and Iran, both of which have already deepened their ties with Beijing under the Belt and Road (BRI) and China-Pakistan Economic Corridors (CPEC) initiatives.

In this context, some specific strategic projects in Taxkorgan, Wakhan and Gwadar are of immense importance. The construction of Taxkorgan Airport on the Pamir Plateau in the northwestern Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang is a significant long-term investment, as Taxkorgan is "China's only county-level city bordering three countries — Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan". China and Afghanistan share an 80-km border with the Wakhjir Pass, which is the only potentially navigable pass. However, there is no road connection to the pass on the Afghan side. A potential investment would be to create a direct link to Afghanistan through Wakhan and Little Pamir as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, thus revitalising the Silk Road in Afghanistan through the Wakhan Corridor.

Perhaps that is exactly why the US is pulling out now — the move could possibly become an American trap if China enters the Afghan quagmire and fails.

A road project connecting Bozai Gonbad with the Wakhjir Pass is currently in the implementation phase and is being financed by the Afghan government without any Chinese involvement. Whoever is in charge in Afghanistan will soon have to decide whether to reconnect the country with China by building a 50 km highway, a project estimated to be worth at least 5 million dollars. The realisation of the transit corridor contains potential risks and challenges for China. Beijing considers the Wakhan a potential infiltration route for residents in Afghanistan, who vow to conduct terror activities in Xinjiang. Chinese interest in a direct connection to Afghanistan may grow with the changing situation on the ground as Beijing is seeking to gain a foothold in Afghanistan through the BRI with USD 62 billion in investments following the US withdrawal from the war-torn country.

The CPEC consists mainly of projects involving highways, railroads and energy pipelines between Pakistan and China; the port of Gwadar is a key strategic asset, which enables Beijing's power projection into the Indian Ocean. Beijing could include Afghanistan in CPEC to provide economic incentives through a direct land connection with Pakistan. Concrete projects can be developed under the “Digital Silk Road, the Sino-Afghanistan Special Railway Transportation Project, the Five Nations Railway Project, and a Kabul–Urumqi air corridor”. Currently, China is Afghanistan’s second-largest trading partner (USD 1.19 billion), but it can significantly increase its trade volume through its direct land connection with Pakistan. Talks on the construction of a main road between Afghanistan and the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar indicate this may be the first major project within CPEC in the near future.
Hit the link for the complete article.
Link


Afghanistan
China Denies Having Troops In Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor
2019-03-02
[ToloNews] China’s Defense Ministry on Thursday defended military cooperation with Tajikistan following a report of a sizable Chinese troop presence at a base in the Central Asian state.

Ministry front man Ren Guoqiang told news hounds at a monthly briefing that cooperation between the two was "in line with" international law and related resolutions passed by the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
 Security Council, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named said in a report.

"This cooperation benefits the two countries, their two militaries and regional peace and stability," Ren said.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
 Ren said there was no Chinese presence in the adjacent Wakhan Corridor belonging to Afghanistan, in line with earlier denials of any plans to deploy troops to the war-torn nation with which it shares a narrow border.

Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip of territory in northeastern Afghanistan that extends to China and separates Tajikistan from Pakistain and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Despite the denials of Chinese military activity in the area, unconfirmed reports have shown what appear to be Chinese military vehicles operating in the corridor, which lies in the shadow of the Hindu Kush mountains with Tajikistan to the north and Pakistain to the south.

According to the report, China had apparently sought to keep its Tajikistan base manned by members of the paramilitary People's Armed Police a secret.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
 the Washington Post in February reported on the sizeable Chinese military complex first-hand, although it remains unclear what the troops' mission is and Ren provided no details.
I can say no more!
The area borders China’s restive Xinjiang region, where Beijing has deployed a massive security presence following violent attacks by Moslem separatists in past years.
Link


Afghanistan
China’s latest move in the graveyard of empires
2018-02-16
[ATimes]The latest plot twist in the endless historical saga of Afghanistan as a graveyard of empires has thrown up an intriguing new chapter. For the past two months, Beijing and Kabul have been discussing the possibility of setting up a military base alongside Afghanistan’s border with China.

“We are going to build it [the base] and the Chinese government has committed to help financially, provide equipment and train Afghan soldiers,” Mohammad Radmanesh, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, admitted to the AFP.

On the record, the Chinese Foreign Ministry only admitted that Beijing was involved in “capacity-building” in Afghanistan, while NATO’s Resolute Support Mission, led by the United States, basically issued a “no comment.”

The military base will eventually be built in the mountainous Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of territory in northeastern Afghanistan that extends to China and separates Tajikistan from Pakistan.

It is one of the most spectacular, barren and remote stretches of Central Asia and according to local Kyrgyz nomads, joint Afghan-Chinese patrols are already active there. True to Sydney Wignall’s fabled Spy on the Roof of the World ethos, a great deal of shadow play is in effect. Apparently, this is basically about China’s own war on terror.

Beijing’s strategic priority is to prevent Uyghur fighters of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), who have been exiled in Afghanistan, crossing the Wakhan Corridor to carry out operations across Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in northwest China. There is also the fear that ISIS or Daesh jihadis from Syria and Iraq may also use Afghanistan as a springboard to reach the country.

Even though the jihad galaxy may be split, Beijing is concerned about ETIM. As early as September 2013, the capo of historic al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, supported jihad against China in Xinjiang.

Later, in July 2014, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of Daesh said: “Muslim rights [should be] forcibly seized in China, India and Palestine.” Then, on March 1, 2017, Daesh released a video announcing its presence in Afghanistan, with the terror group’s Uyghur jihadis vowing, on the record, to “shed blood like rivers” in Xinjiang.

At the heart of the matter is China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or the New Silk Road, which will connect China with Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

For Beijing, the stability of one of its links, the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is seriously compromised if terror threats abound in Central and South Asia. It could also affect China’s sizable investments in Afghanistan’s mineral mining industry
Link


The Grand Turk
Ethnolinguistic lines of Turkey, an analysis.
2014-02-03
[Sources and Methods] Turkey’s ethnic populations are, in a word, surprising.

For example, one would expect that speakers of Azerbaijani residing in Turkey would speak Northern Azerbaijani from Azerbaijan. Yet, according to Ethnologue, the Azerbaijani spoken within Turkey’s borders is Southern Azerbaijani from Iran. This begs the question: are the ethnic Azeris in Turkey from Azerbaijan or Iran? Or both? Of course, all Azeris are ethnically Iranian, and Northern and Southern Azerbaijani are mutually intelligible as far as languages go, but the fact remains that many many Azerbaijanis living in Turkey did not originate where the name suggests.

The same is the case for the Kyrgyz speakers in Turkey who did not immigrate from Kyrgyzstan but were resettled in Turkey’s Kars province from the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan after migrating into Pakistan through the Hindu Kush in the early 1980s.

Surprised? I'll admit that I was.
Equally as impressive was the imbedded My conversation with the Free Syrian Army.
Link


Afghanistan
18 Afghan Soldiers Killed in Badakhshan Attacks
2013-03-08
[TOLONEWS] Violent festivities with Taliban Islamic fascisti in north-eastern Badakhshan province have killed at least 18 Afghan National Army soldiers, officials said Wednesday.

Another six ANA soldiers were maimed in the festivities.

"Sixteen Afghan National Army soldiers have been killed in the Warduj District of the province on Wednesday," provincial front man Abdul Maroof Rasikh told TOLOnews.

Two other the soldiers were killed on Tuesday in festivities with the Taliban, Rasikh added.

The deaths in Warduj happened when a supply convoy of Afghan soldiers was ambushed by Taliban Islamic fascisti and most of the soldiers were held hostage, Rasikh said.

"Negotiations using tribal elders as intermediaries were carried out and six of the soldiers were released alive, but another 16 were executed. The bodies were turned over to the authorities by the same elders" he said.

Six Taliban Islamic fascisti were also killed in the festivities and eight others were maimed, he added.

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
 other security officials said that the security forces had launched a clearing operation in the district to clear it of cut-thoats.

It was one of the single deadliest attacks on government soldiers by the Islamic fascisti in recent time.

Warduj district lies along the highway leading into the Wakhan Corridor, an area of very high mountains bordered by China and Pakistain, and one that is popular with foreign trekkers.

It comes a day after the Ministry of Interior said that 11 Taliban have been killed and 19 more injured in a joint Afghan cops operations across Afghanistan in the past 24 hours.

"In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted several joint clearance operations with the cooperation of Afghan National Army, NDS and Coalition Forces to clean some of the areas from faceless myrmidons and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan," the MOI said in a statement on Tuesday.

The operations were done across Kandahar, Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
, Laghman, Zabul, Paktiya, Uruzgan, Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
 and Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
 provinces.

"During the same 24 hour period, Afghan National Police discovered and defused six different types of mines placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Nimroz, Kandahar, Faryab, Kunduz and Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
s," it added.
Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
NATO opens northern supply route to Afghanistan via Russia, Central Asia
2010-06-12
NATO has opened an alternate supply route to Afghanistan via Russia and central Asia — a critical development that gives it the ability to bypass the previous ambush-prone main routes through Pakistan, the alliance said Friday.

Until now, most supplies destined for the 140,000-strong international force in Afghanistan were shipped to the Pakistani port of Karachi, and then trucked to the landlocked nation. But with the Taliban and their sympathizers targeting the convoys, military planners sought other alternatives.

"We will take advantage of all transport routes available as soon as possible," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

The development is important because it signals Russian willingness to indirectly support the NATO-led mission. Moscow has been warmer to the mission's success in recent years, fearing that a NATO defeat in Afghanistan could destabilize central Asia and endanger Russia's security.

Although Russia offered to open its territory to NATO as a whole two years ago, the alliance did not immediately take them up on the offer. After a spate of ambushes in Pakistan in 2009, NATO started negotiating transit rights with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which took almost a year to complete.

Individual alliance members, such as Germany and the United States, were allowed to use the so-called northern route for non-lethal materials — but it was closed to alliance forces as a whole. About 14,000 maritime containers full of supplies had arrived via the northern route before it was opened to the whole alliance, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said.

"It is substantial," he said. "The central Asian states and Russia are playing a key role both in terms of ground transportation and overflights."

There are two other possible access routes to Afghanistan, through Iran and China.

But the alliance cannot use the one through Iran's southeastern port of Chahar Bahar because of the political dispute over Tehran's nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, a dirt road from China through the Wakhan Corridor, leads through some of the world's most mountainous terrain and is blocked by snow for much of the year.
Link


Afghanistan
NATO opens northern supply route to Afghanistan
2010-06-12
NATO has opened an alternate supply route to Afghanistan via Russia and Central Asia - a critical development that gives it the ability to bypass the previous ambush-prone main routes through Pakistan, the alliance said on Friday.
All those jihadis are going to have to find something else to burn, poor darlings.
Until now, most supplies destined for the 140,000-strong international force in Afghanistan were shipped to Karachi, and then trucked to the landlocked nation. But with the Taliban and their sympathisers targeting the convoys, military planners sought other alternatives. "We will take advantage of all transport routes available as soon as possible," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. The development is important because it signals Russian willingness to indirectly support the NATO-led mission. Moscow has been warmer to the mission's success in recent years, fearing that a NATO defeat in Afghanistan could destabilise central Asia and endanger Russia's security. Although Russia offered to open its territory to NATO as a whole two years ago, the alliance did not immediately take them up on the offer.

Individual alliance members, such as Germany and the US, were allowed to use the so-called northern route for non-lethal materials - but it was closed to alliance forces as a whole. About 14,000 maritime containers full of supplies had arrived via the northern route before it was opened to the whole alliance, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said. There are two other possible access routes to Afghanistan, through Iran and China.

But the alliance cannot use the one through Iran's south-eastern port of Chahar Bahar because of the political dispute over Tehran's nuclear weapons. Separately, a dirt road from China through the Wakhan Corridor, leads through some of the world's most mountainous terrain.
Link


India-Pakistan
Mystery Americans on Osama's trail?
2006-05-16
This quiet mountain resort, better known for its polo games and mountain treks, has become the latest site of interest in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, much to the outrage and bemusement of its inhabitants.

Chitral is the remotest northwestern territory in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, stretching along the Afghan border to the high mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs, following the Wakhan Corridor, the long finger of Afghanistan that reaches to the Chinese border.

The territory is home to rare falcons and the snow leopard and is cut off by snow from the rest of the country for six months of the year.

It is here, in the largest town, also called Chitral, that four Americans from the U.S. Embassy rented a house last autumn, apparently preparing for a long stay, according to Siraj ul-Mulk, a member of the traditional ruling family here and the owner of the Hindu Kush Heights Hotel overlooking the valley where the four stayed.

But the house remained unoccupied until two weeks ago, when an American arrived with two carloads of furniture and equipment, provoking a local politician to object in Parliament and lead a street protest against the presence of what he termed an American "secret agency."

The American left three days before the demonstration took place, police officials said.

While there is no indication that more than one American came to the house this spring, the member of Parliament, Abdul Akbar Chitrali, insists that there were four and that they were up to no good.

"They were from an American secret agency - the FBI or CIA," he said. They were seen driving toward Chitral in an official consulate vehicle, he said, but switched to unmarked sport utility vehicles in a town called Dir, about 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, south of Chitral.

Officials at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar declined to comment on the matter.

The registry of the Pamir Riverside Hotel shows that one American, Paul Aurdic, from the consulate in Peshawar, stayed for three nights starting on April 27, along with a Pakistani colleague, Muhammad Iqbal.

Caretakers at the house the Americans rented said the Americans had never stayed there but seemed to be preparing it for occupation. On Saturday, their belongings - fitness machines, furniture and a television satellite dish - could be seen stacked on the terrace, and a pickup truck was parked in the yard.

Maulana Chitrali, a member of the largest Islamist party, Jamaat i Islami, said the Americans were looking for bin Laden.

"They came on the basis of a very fabricated report that some Arabs came down from the mountains in a Jeep and visited the bazaar," he said, "and on that basis they established an office of the FBI because bin Laden might be hiding in that area."

He made clear that he has nothing against Americans, just these Americans. "They have no place coming to Chitral, nor would we allow them to stay there," he said. "We are not against foreigners, but the presence of such elements will destroy the peaceful atmosphere of Chitral Valley." The local deputy police superintendent, Fazal Elahi, said the American told them that he was just preparing a vacation house for himself.

After the fuss, two police guards were posted outside the American's hotel room at night for his protection, and a police vehicle escorted him wherever he went, including on his trip back out of the valley, Maulana Chitrali said. "Chitral is a very peaceful area, but if such activities start, members of the Taliban could come in to attack the Americans and then we would have bomb blasts and such problems," he said.

Chitral is indeed peaceful and has avoided the radicalism and armed militancy so rampant in Pakistan's tribal areas further south. The area was a staging point and weapons route in the 1980s for mujahedeen who were fighting the Soviet occupation, but since then has slipped back into its previous tranquillity.

Yet, according to one Western diplomat in Pakistan, there have been "recurring rumors" that Al Qaeda and foreign fighters have been seen in the Chitral region in the past year, which would justify a "possible step into the region." In a recent interview, an Afghan intelligence official also mentioned the area as a possible hiding place for bin Laden, because well-known areas of the tribal regions, such as Waziristan and Bajaur, have come under intense scrutiny and attack by Pakistani forces and even American missiles.

A Pakistani official, who worked as a deputy political agent in Waziristan last year, recently described an intelligence report from that time of a movement of a large entourage that was protecting an "important leader." The group, which had three rings of security around the leader and bore markings on their clothes so they could identify one another, were dressed as nomads and shepherds and moved from an area near Parachinar, south of Peshawar, northward toward Chitral, the official said. Both officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to talk to the press.

Chitral officials deny that any outsiders could take up residence in the area without it being widely known.

"They are not present here," said Elahi, the police official.

Maulana Chitrali denied that he forced out the Americans in order to protect someone hiding in the area. "I think Osama is dead and the Americans are keeping him alive for their own reasons," he said.

Yet others thought the American presence, and even the bin Laden tale, might be good for tourism, which is the mainstay of the local economy but declined sharply after 2001.

"We want more tourists here," said Maqsood ul-Haq, 35, who sells jewelry and antique guns in the bazaar.

"The taxi drivers make money, even the cold drinks guys make more money."
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