“Pakistan must stop the institutional sponsoring of terrorism on our soil, which is sanctioned at the highest levels of government.”

-Top Afghan intelligence official , speaking on grounds of anonymity

“This kind of nonsense cannot be tolerated by us any more. There is a deliberate conspiracy against Pakistan . This involves Afghan intelligence, the Ministry of Defense.”

– President Pervez Musharraf

“If [the attacks] don’t stop, the consequences will be that this region will suffer with us, exactly as we suffer. In the past we suffered alone. This time everybody will suffer with us.”

-President Hamid Karzai

" In the risky environment of Afghanistan , foreign investors prefer government- and donor-funded reconstruction projects or services through which they can quickly recover their investment, to the longer-term process of building markets for manufactured goods. "

• Syed Mahmood , World Bank, co-author of I nvestment Climate in Afghanistan
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“The whole world knows that the Taleban are trained in Pakistan but they ignore it.The Taleban are all over Quetta ,”

- Abdullah , 40, a resident of Quetta

This week in Afghanistan Watch:

• President Karzai and Musharraf spar over insurgency; US urged to intervene
• U.N. Survey: Opium production to rise in 2006
• A look at Quetta , Pakistan : “Where the Taliban Train”

Two Leaders Trade Barbs Over Fight Against Taliban

ISLAMABAD , Pakistan , March 6 (NYT) by Carlotta Gall—President Pervez Musharraf lashed out Monday at President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan for "bad-mouthing" Pakistan in recent weeks and casting doubt on its commitment to fight terrorism. In a speech to Pakistani journalists in Rawalpindi that was broadcast on state television, Mr. Musharraf accused India of feeding false information to Afghan officials suggesting that the Pakistani intelligence agency was training terrorists.

He dismissed the allegation, and he described as "nonsense" a list of Taliban members, including the leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, who Mr. Karzai said were operating in Pakistan . The comments, echoing a message Mr. Musharraf has delivered in recent interviews, point not just to a new low in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan , but also to difficulties with the United States ...

Mr. Musharraf said much of that information was outdated or wrong. He said, for example, that Pakistani officials found "decent people" living at an address given for Mr. Omar. Mr. Musharraf faces increasing international pressure to stem the infiltration of insurgents into Afghanistan and to prevent the recruitment and training of suicide bombers, which the Afghans say takes place in Pakistan , Western diplomats said.

President Musharraf's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Sahukat Sultan, said fierce fighting against militants in North Waziristan over the weekend was proof of Pakistan 's commitment. More than 100 people, including five soldiers, have been killed.

Musharraf urges US to intervene in Afghan dispute
ISLAMABAD, March 6 (Financial Times) By Farhan Bokhari-- General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s military ruler, urged the US on Monday to resolve a growing dispute with neighbouring Afghanistan over the location of Taliban dissidents who Kabul says have taken refuge on Pakistani soil.

In unusually tough remarks, Gen Musharraf said Pakistan would use a visit to Islamabad on Wednesday by General George Abizaid, commander of the US central command, to highlight “baseless” information given by Afghanistan . The dispute began last month when Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, handed Pakistan a list of Taliban suspects alleged to be living in Pakistan , complete with addresses and phone numbers.

Gen Musharraf said on Monday that “two-thirds of the information” was outdated, and the findings of an investigation of the list by Pakistani officials had been shared with the US Central Intelligence Agency…Western diplomats said Gen Musharraf’s remarks underlined the difficulties faced by the US in overseeing greater co-operation between Pakistan’s military and the ruling establishment in Kabul, which deeply distrusts Islamabad.

Survey predicts rise in opium production in 2006

KABUL , March 6 (IRIN) - A recent survey shows that Afghan farmers are planting more poppy this year than in 2005, in what remains the world's biggest opium producing country, the United Nations warned on Monday...

"We are concerned about these trends [in opium production]," Doris Buddenberg, UNODC Representative in Afghanistan said. "But they do not come as a complete surprise. It cannot be emphasized enough that counter narcotics is a long-term process, which must be based first of all on an overall development approach, and this takes a long time," Buddenberg added.

The government said strategies to tackle the opium menace were having an impact. "While the survey predicts an increase [in opium production] in a number of provinces, it is important to note that effective governance and alternative livelihoods is having an impact on stabilizing and reducing cultivation," Habibullah Qaderi, Minister of Counter Narcotics, said on Monday…

Quetta: Where the Taleban Train

Institute For War and Peace Reporting, By Abdullah Shahin in Quetta (ARR No. 205, 3-Mar-06)-- The turbans in black or white, the long beards and the omnipresent "pirhan-tunbon", the baggy trousers and long shirts that are the traditional Afghan dress, tell me I'm in Afghanistan in the late Nineties, during the Taleban regime.

But this is 2006, and I am in Quetta in Pakistan .

Quetta , the capital of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan , lies about 200 kilometres southeast of Kandahar , across a porous border. Many of my fellow countrymen have made the journey here. In fact, some sections of the city seem to be populated almost entirely by Taleban who fled after the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001... Quetta provides a ready supply of young men prepared to wreak havoc in Afghanistan , local observers tell me. There are eight major madrassas or Muslim religious schools in Quetta , each with over 1,000 students or "taleban" in the original sense of the word. In addition, there are hundreds of private madrassas, some with just 100 students, often occupying unmarked, rented houses.

It is these private schools that are a major source of the fighters who are now carrying out insurgent operations inside Kandahar , according to these observers. One 23-year-old madrassa student, wearing the characteristic black turban of the "taleb", spoke to me on condition of anonymity.

“I am preparing for jihad here, until I am sent to Afghanistan ,” he said. “Jihad is my duty and martyrdom my hope.”

Another Taleb, 25-year-old Saadullah, explained why he had decided to wage jihad in his homeland. “I was recruited by one of my friends who told me terrible things about the Afghan government,” he said. “I was also told that the Americans were always abusing people, killing them, going into their homes and insulting their religion.” …

With Pakistani police a rare sight in much of this city, Quetta residents say that the Taleban operate with impunity. They run offices and openly recruit candidates for insurgent operations in Kandahar …When you walk through the streets of Quetta , you hear Taleban religious songs blaring out of music stores. These incendiary chants, called "tarana", call on youths to join the jihad, kill infidels and repel the occupiers. Such recordings were banned a few years ago, but now they are back.

“Pakistani police used to close down shops that played Taleban songs, but now no one is afraid. The mullahs are very strong,” said one shop owner...

Some city residents claim that the Pakistani military is playing a role in training the would-be insurgents. “The Pakistani military headquarters in Quetta is the main Taleban training base,” said Tariq, 31, a resident of the Askari Park area. “I've seen with my own eyes that Taleban were taken there for training. One of my relatives was among them.”

Military officials refused to comment on the allegation. Governor Owai Ahmad Ghani, speaking on Pakistani television, flatly denied that the Taleban were operating in Quetta and rejected claims that Pakistan was interfering in Afghanistan .

“The Afghan government is weak. It can't control the remote areas of its country, so it accuses Pakistan of meddling in its affairs,” he said.

Taleban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, in an exclusive interview with IWPR, said the stories of Taleban bases inside Pakistan were just propaganda. “People think Pakistan is our friend, but it is not true,” he said. “ Pakistan is an ally of America , not of the Taleban.” The Taleban had no need of foreign bases, he insisted, adding, “The Taleban are sons of Afghanistan . They are in Afghanistan and they will fight in Afghanistan .”

But Afghan officials remain convinced that Pakistan is serving as a major operations base for the increasingly frequent insurgent attacks that threaten to destabilise the southern part of their country. Assadullah Khalid, governor of Kandahar province, has repeatedly alleged that Pakistan is behind the recent wave of attacks. In particular, he blamed Pakistan for a suicide bombing that killed 27 and wounded 40 in Spin Boldak in January. “ Pakistan is responsible for the past two decades of war,” he said. “Pakistani police are guarding the houses of the Taleban. We have evidence indicating that memorial services for the suicide bombers are being held in Pakistan .”

Even some Pakistani politicians and analysts agree that their country is heavily involved in creating mayhem on its neighbour’s territory. “ Pakistan does not want stability in Afghanistan ,” said Hasel Bizenjo, leader of the Baluch National Party, which represents ethnic Baluchis. “ Pakistan wants Afghanistan under its influence.” …

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Afghanistan Watch is prepared by Carl Robichaud, a program officer at The Century Foundation.

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