US military holding Afghan journalist for 'Taliban contacts'

 

The US military has been holding an Afghan journalist working with Canadian Television (CTV) for three months because of his professional contacts with Taliban militants, media watchdogs alleged Tuesday.

A US military officer at the largest military base at Bagram, north of Kabul, confirmed that the reporter, identified as Jawad Ahmad, was in detention.

However, "He is not being detained because he is a journalist," Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta told AFP, refusing to give details of charges.

Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders said Ahmad, 22, had been held at Bagram since November 2007.

"The US soldiers accused him of having the numbers of Taliban leaders in his mobile phone and of interviewing them," it said in a statement that called on US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to intervene.

"The lack of legal procedures and material evidence confirms that his detention is unjustified," it said.

The US military was also holding at least two other journalists -- Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj at its Guantanamo Bay facility and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein in Iraq, the watchdog said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, said separately it was "deeply troubled" by the Ahmad case.

His brother, Siddique Ahmad, had said the reporter was arrested apparently because "the US military believed he had contacts with local Taliban leaders and was in possession of a video of Taliban materials," the CPJ said in a statement.

"The United States military must explain the reason for his detention and accord him due process. If he is not charged with any crime then he must be released immediately," it said.

Taliban defeat will take years: US general

Major General David Rodriguez, head of the US-led coalition force, said the US military would stay in the country "as long as they are needed."

"We definitely think it will take a few years for the Afghan people and the Afghan leaders supported by the coalition forces to defeat them," he said in a response to a question from a journalist.

An insurgency led by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, has been growing in the past two years with a spike in suicide attacks and roadside bombings.

The deadliest blast struck outside the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday, leaving more than 100 people dead. The Taliban denied involvement but officials said they were to blame.

On Monday another suicide blast -- this time claimed by the Taliban -- killed nearly 40 people in Kandahar province's border town of Spin Boldak.

Deputy US ambassador Christopher Dell, who accompanied Rodriguez on a trip to meet officials in the town of Maidan Shahr, west of Kabul, said that Taliban used terror tactics because they had little support among people.

"They are simply trying to terrorise them to play with fear in order to achieve their objectives," he said.

The coalition works alongside a larger NATO-led force and the Afghan military.

Afghanistan (AFP) - It will take "a few years" to defeat the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, the top US general in the country said Tuesday, reiterating US support for the fight.

Bush Enacts Economic Aid Package

President Bush signs into law an economic aid package that will mean rebate checks of $600 to $1,200 for most taxpayers. Read more for details on how much to expect and vote on what you plan to do with your rebate.
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With his signature, President Bush makes the $168 billion economic stimulus bill official. The package may not prevent a recession, but analysts generally believe it could help suppress an economic crisis.

Roadside bomb kills 7 in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Roadside bombs struck Afghan security forces in two separate incidents, killing seven people and wounding five, officials said Wednesday.

Three Afghan soldiers were killed and four wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb Wednesday in the Musa Qala district of northern Helmand province, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman.

U.S., British and Afghan troops pushed the Taliban out of Musa Qala late last year after the militants overran the area in early 2007 and held it for 10 months. Musa Qala lies at the heart of the country's opium poppy-producing region.

In eastern Khost province, meanwhile, four Afghan guards working for the U.S. military were killed when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb Tuesday, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. Another guard was wounded in the blast in the Shinkay district, he said.

Militants regularly use roadside bombs against Afghan and foreign troops in the country.

1 soldier among 3 killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan

 

KABUL: Three persons including an Afghan soldier were killed in a suicide car bomb blast here on Friday.
Governor Gazni Province, Afghan, Faizullah Faizan said a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a convoy of Afghan troops, killing one soldier and two civilians. Five others were injured in the incident.
Initially no one accepted the responsibility of the attack.

Taliban declare truce in SWA

WANA: Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who has been blamed for assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, has declared an indefinite ceasefire with government forces. "Baitullah (Mehsud) has ordered an 'indefinite' truce following months of clashes in the North and South Waziristan and neighbouring tribal regions," said Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Omar on Wednesday. However, the military spokesman said they were not aware of any truce and vowed that operations against militants in the rugged region near the Afghan border would continue. "We have announced ceasefire for an indefinite period because the government stopped attacking us," Omar, the spokesman, told a foreign news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location. "Baitullah Mehsud has ordered his people to stop attacks against security forces from Waziristan