AF/PAK SWEEP M 1/25/2010

PAKISTAN

1. The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan meet in Turkish-sponsored talk on Monday to discuss cooperation against extremists and improve ties poisoned by the insecurity plaguing their rugged border. Turkish President Abdullah Gul will host the talks between Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, which will also be attended by military and intelligence officials from the two countries. The trilateral summit is the fourth round of fence-mending talks since 2007 held under the auspices of Turkey, the sole Muslim member of Nato which is using its traditionally close ties with both countries to mediate. DAWN

2. A US drone crashed in Hamzoni area of North Waziristan on Sunday evening, but local tribesmen claimed to have shot down the pilotless aircraft. According to the tribesmen, five drones were hovering over the area, about 10km west of Miramshah, and one of them flying at low altitude came down. Drones usually fly low before attacking a target. The AP adds that the tribesmen were congratulating each other for shooting down the drone, said Saudur Rehman, a resident. DAWN

3. Eleven militants have been killed during airstrikes in central Kurram Agency on Monday. Six security officials were also injured during the clashes with militants. According to officials, militants attacked a security check-post in central Kurram. The forces retaliated the attack from the ground and the air, killing 11 militants. DAWN

AFGHANISTAN4. Nato must persevere in Afghanistan despite the sharp rise in allied casualties because the next two years will be decisive for the war effort, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Monday. Briefing officials before an international conference in London on Thursday aimed at shoring up support for the Afghan government, Miliband said that the Afghan-Pakistan border is essential to fighting terrorism. ''It's very important that we not allow (this area) to become the incubator of global terrorism again,'' he told the gathered EU foreign ministers and Nato officials. ''2010 and 2011 are decisive years in the Afghan campaign.'' The conference this week is necessary to provide a political component to the strategy in Afghanistan, he said. DAWN

5. A major conference on Afghanistan this week will conclude that international forces face up to five more years battling the Taliban, a newspaper reported Monday. Citing a communiqu which it said will end Thursday's meeting in London, the Times said Afghan forces will be given up to half a decade to take responsibility for physical security. Continued support from Western troops will be needed until then. The draft statement commits the Afghan troops to taking the lead and conducting the majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years and taking responsibility for physical security within five years, according to the paper. DAWN

6. An Afghan rights watchdog slammed President Hamid Karzai on Monday for giving a top military job to General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former militia chief who has been accused of human rights abuses. Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) said Dostum's reappointment as chief of staff to the commander-in-chief, Karzai, was a blow to justice and efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban. Palace officials confirmed the recent reappointment, which a security source said gives Dostum a largely ceremonial role in charge of the armed forces behind Karzai. Todays Zaman

7. Nato's top commander in Afghanistan has said increased troop levels could bring a negotiated peace with the Taliban. US Gen Stanley McChrystal told the UK's Financial Times newspaper that there had been "enough fighting". He said a political solution in all conflicts was "inevitable". His remarks came as the top UN envoy in Kabul said it was time to talk to the militants. BBC

8. Maj Gen Nick Carter said the operation would "assert the control" of the Afghan government in parts of Helmand now controlled by the Taliban. He told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that Helmand was "a work in progress, with parts simply ungoverned". There have been 251 UK service member deaths in Afghanistan since 2001. BBC

9. Afghanistan is to postpone its parliamentary elections by four months until September, the country's election commission has confirmed. Elections were to take place before 22 May under the constitution but a new date of 18 September has been set. The commission cited a lack of funds and security concerns for the delay. BBC10. Afghanistan and the international community are set to agree this week a framework for Kabul to take responsibility for its own security at a major conference in London, a draft communique obtained by Reuters showed. Afghan troops may be managing some provinces as early as 2011, with NATO-led forces in a supporting role, paving the way for the start of a U.S. military draw-down in 18 months. President Hamid Karzai is under intense pressure from his Western backers to strengthen and expand Afghanistan's security forces aggressively at a time of worsening violence.

11. Four Bulgarian soldiers were wounded in a rocket attack the militants carried out Sunday close to the foreign military base in southern Afghanistan, while the Bulgarian Defense Minister was visiting some of his country's troops stationed there. Missiles launched with a timer mechanism landed at a NATO base in Kandahar, about 300 meters from where Defense Minister Nikolay Mladenov and his delegation have been accommodated. Neither the minister nor the delegation members were hurt in the attack, reports said. RTT News***************************

PAKISTAN1.)

Afghan, Pakistani presidents meet for security summit Monday, 25 Jan, 2010 | 12:49 PM PST |

ISTANBUL: The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan meet in Turkish-sponsored talks here Monday to discuss cooperation against extremists and improve ties poisoned by the insecurity plaguing their rugged border.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul will host the talks between Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, which will also be attended by military and intelligence officials from the two countries.

The trilateral summit is the fourth round of fence-mending talks since 2007 held under the auspices of Turkey, the sole Muslim member of Nato which is using its traditionally close ties with both countries to mediate.

Ties between Kabul and Islamabad were strained as Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions became a stronghold for extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.

Afghanistan says much of its insurgent violence, including attacks on US and Nato soldiers, is planned in Pakistan, and has accused its neighbour of not doing enough to curb the militants.

Afghan and US officials suspect Pakistan's powerful military is sponsoring the Afghan Taliban, preparing for the day US troops leave so Islamabad can exercise influence over a Taliban government to offset regional superpower India.

Monday's meeting comes a day before a gathering in Istanbul of countries neighbouring Afghanistan to discuss ways to help the war-ravaged country achieve stability, security and prosperity.

The meeting will be attended by Gul, Karzai and Zardari as well as senior officials from Iran, China, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, a Turkish government official said.

Several countries and international organisations will send observers, among them British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

The meeting aims to encourage countries to tackle problems in their own region, rather than giving the lead to the West, and underline the need to back up the military struggle against the Taliban with economic and social measures, the official said on condition of anonymity.

There cannot be a more important strategy than winning the minds and hearts of the Afghan people, he said. Sometimes drilling a simple water well, for instance, can be more valuable in the eyes of the people than a costly project.

Turkey has some 1,700 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and takes part in several restructuring projects as well as a role in training Afghan police and security forces.

In a meeting late Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed with Karzai on providing three-mongh training course for Afghan police and military, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The Istanbul meetings come days before a London conference aimed at promoting Afghanistan's development, fighting corruption, improving security, achieving good governance and reconciliation with Taliban fighters.

At the gathering, Karzai will present an ambitious Western-backed reconciliation package aimed at tempting fighters away from their Taliban masters by offering money and jobs to draw them back to civilian life.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/03-afghan-pakistani-leaders-meet-in-istanbul-ss-02 2.)

Drone crashes in North Waziristan Monday, 25 Jan, 2010 | 01:11 AM PST |

MIRAMSHAH: A US drone crashed in Hamzoni area of North Waziristan on Sunday evening, but local tribesmen claimed to have shot down the pilotless aircraft.

According to the tribesmen, five drones were hovering over the area, about 10km west of Miramshah, and one of them flying at low altitude came down.

Drones usually fly low before attacking a target.

AP adds: The tribesmen were congratulating each other for shooting down the drone, said Saudur Rehman, a resident.

Pakistan Army rejected similar claims after a drone crashed in South Waziristan in 2008, saying it was a technical problem.

I saw that the aircraft was coming down and finally crashed in an open area a distance from me, said Rehman, who indicated he heard gunfire just before the crash.

The crash occurred at around 6pm, said two officials.

The US does not discuss the drone strikes, but officials have said that they have killed senior Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the country.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/06-suspected-us-drone-crashes-in-north-waziristan-rs-05

3.)Eleven militants killed in Kurram airstrikes Monday, 25 Jan, 2010 | 05:06 PM PST |

PESHAWAR: Eleven militants have been killed during airstrikes in central Kurram Agency on Monday. Six security officials were also injured during the clashes with militants. According to officials, militants attacked a security check-post in central Kurram. The forces retaliated the attack from the ground and the air, killing 11 militants.

Meanwhile, the military claims to have killed one militant in Swat and arrested six militants from South Waziristan and Swat.

Over in the Khyber agency, five militants have been arrested from Bara Tehsil and a large cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered from their possession.http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-eleven-militants-killed-in-kurram-airstrikes-ss-05

AFGHANISTAN4.)Nato must persevere in Afghan war: Miliband Monday, 25 Jan, 2010 | 05:58 PM PST |

BRUSSELS: Nato must persevere in Afghanistan despite the sharp rise in allied casualties because the next two years will be decisive for the war effort, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Monday.

Briefing officials before an international conference in London on Thursday aimed at shoring up support for the Afghan government, Miliband said that the Afghan-Pakistan border is essential to fighting terrorism.

''It's very important that we not allow (this area) to become the incubator of global terrorism again,'' he told the gathered EU foreign ministers and Nato officials. ''2010 and 2011 are decisive years in the Afghan campaign.''

The conference this week is necessary to provide a political component to the strategy in Afghanistan, he said.

''Troops will not win this war on their own,'' he said.

Miliband said he recognized growing concerns about the numbers of Nato soldiers killed in the war ''but the point is that international terrorism is not going to go away if we avert our eyes from it.''

At least 504 allied soldiers - including 108 British troops - died in Afghanistan last year, a jump of about two-thirds over the year before. This trend has continued in January.

Most of the dead have been U.S. service members, with 305 killed in 2009.

Escalating military deaths and the rising costs of the conflict at a time of economic crisis have drained support for the war in Europe as the fighting drags into its ninth year.

''Everybody grieves in a very, very serious way at the level of casualties in Afghanistan,'' he said. ''2009 was a very bloody year for the international community and in Britain we felt that very strongly.''http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/03-nato-must-persevere-in-afghan-war-miliband-ss-065.)

Foreign forces in Afghanistan face five more years Monday, 25 Jan, 2010 | 08:39 AM PST |

LONDON: A major conference on Afghanistan this week will conclude that international forces face up to five more years battling the Taliban, a newspaper reported Monday.

Citing a communiqu which it said will end Thursday's meeting in London, the Times said Afghan forces will be given up to half a decade to take responsibility for physical security. Continued support from Western troops will be needed until then.

The draft statement commits the Afghan troops to taking the lead and conducting the majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years and taking responsibility for physical security within five years, according to the paper.

Some of the more stable regions could come under the control of Afghan security forces at the end of this year or early 2011 with support from Western troops, providing conditions are met, the document adds.

The Ministry of Defence in Britain, which has the second biggest contingent of troops in Afghanistan after the United States, said Monday it did not comment on leaked documents.

But it added a decision on pulling out troops would be based on conditions, not arbitrary timelines.

More than 113,000 international troops are fighting the Taliban under US and Nato command and losing soldiers almost daily, in the conflict which started with the US-led invasion of 2001.

The United States is pouring another 30,000 troops into Afghanistan this year, on top of more than 70,000 already there, but under US President Barack Obama's plans they are begin withdrawing in July 2011.

Details of a Western-funded reconciliation plan to use offers of cash and jobs to tempt insurgents away from the Taliban will also form part of the closing statement, the Times said, a scheme unveiled several days ago by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Britain's foreign ministry, which is organising the conference, also said it did not comment on leaked documents. AFPhttp://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/14-foreign-forces-in-afghanistan-face-five-more-years-zj-03 6.)

Afghan watchdog slams top job for ex-militia chief Jan 25, 2010

An Afghan rights watchdog slammed President Hamid Karzai on Monday for giving a top military job to General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former militia chief who has been accused of human rights abuses. Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) said Dostum's reappointment as chief of staff to the commander-in-chief, Karzai, was a blow to justice and efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban.

Palace officials confirmed the recent reappointment, which a security source said gives Dostum a largely ceremonial role in charge of the armed forces behind Karzai.

"It is a step ahead in Karzai's old policy of legitimising prominent warlords and maintaining a state of criminal impunity for them," Ajmal Samadi director of ARM, a non-governmental group funded by domestic rights campaigners, said in a statement. "Afghanistan cannot achieve viable peace, stability and prosperity under a government with no commitment to justice."

Dostum had previously held the same position until 2008. That year he was put under house arrest by the government following clashes with a rival, and then left for Turkey in an apparent self-imposed exile.

He returned to Afghanistan days before the presidential election last year, urging his supporters to back Karzai.

Diplomats said the two men had struck an eleventh-hour deal, with Karzai pledging government positions to Dostum's allies in return for his support. Dostum denied any deal.

In January, a member of Dostum's Jumbesh-i-Milli party said they had collected 700,000 votes for Karzai's presidential bid and had been promised several cabinet posts in return.

Both the United States and United Nations expressed concern over Dostum's return. The United States and other countries have accused Dostum of human rights abuses and a US official said in August he may be responsible for "massive war crimes".

Dostum is a leader of Afghanistan's ethnic Uzbek community. He is a former Communist general who led militias through decades of civil war, before joining a loose, US-backed alliance that ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001.

Some 2,000 Taliban fighters who surrendered to Dostum suffocated to death in cargo containers in which they were being held in what became known as the Dasht-i-Laili massacre.

Another 300 Taliban prisoners held by Dostum and US forces in a 19th century prison fortress died during a rebellion. US President Barack Obama instructed his national security team in July to investigate the alleged mass killing of war prisoners.

Dostum has denied accusations of human rights abuses, including responsibility for Taliban deaths in Dasht-i-Laili.http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-199625-afghan-watchdog-slams-top-job-for-ex-militia-chief.html7.)

US general signals Taliban talks Published: 2010/01/25 09:54:25 GMT

Nato's top commander in Afghanistan has said increased troop levels could bring a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

US Gen Stanley McChrystal told the UK's Financial Times newspaper that there had been "enough fighting".

He said a political solution in all conflicts was "inevitable". His remarks came as the top UN envoy in Kabul said it was time to talk to the militants.

Afghan and Pakistani leaders are in Turkey to discuss tackling the Taliban-led insurgency in their countries.

This is the fourth such meeting initiated by Turkey, which has offered to broker talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, will attend an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday.

'Focus on the future'

"I'd like everybody to walk out of London with a renewed commitment, and that commitment is to the right outcome for the Afghan people," Gen McChrystal told the Financial Times.

It's impossible to paint the Taliban all with one brush... [the rank and file] don't want to pay the price for al-Qaeda's extremism for ever Gen Stanley McChrystal, Nato commander in Afghanistan He said the arrival of the extra 30,000 US troops pledged by President Obama and the additional 7,000 troops promised by other Nato countries should deliver "very demonstrably positive" progress in 2010.

But he warned that the level of Taliban violence could increase sharply this year.

The Taliban wanted to create the perception that Afghanistan was on fire, and that President Karzai and his Western allies could not cope, Gen McChrystal said.

However, if the new US-led strategy was successful, the militants "could look desperate" in a year's time, he said.

"I think they will look like an entity that will be struggling for its own legitimacy... I think they will be on the defensive militarily, not wiped out."

On the issue of reconciliation, Gen McChrystal said: "I believe that a political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome. And it's the right outcome."

Asked if he thought senior Taliban could have a role in a future Afghan government, he said: "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past.

"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting," Gen McChrystal added.

'Time has come'

In an interview with the New York Times, United Nations special representative Kai Eide called for some senior Taliban leaders to be removed from a UN list of terrorists, as a prelude to direct talks.

"If you want relevant results, then you have to talk to the relevant person in authority," Mr Eide said. "I think the time has come to do it."

President Karzai recently told the BBC that he planned to introduce a scheme to attract Taliban fighters back to normal life by offering money and jobs.

He said he would offer to pay and resettle Taliban fighters to come over to his side.

Mr Karzai said he hoped to win backing for his plan from the US and UK at the London conference.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8478076.stm8.)

Nato to launch Helmand offensive Published: 2010/01/25 14:16:50 GMT

UK and other Nato troops are to launch an offensive to take back areas of southern Afghanistan, the British general in charge of forces there says.

Maj Gen Nick Carter said the operation would "assert the control" of the Afghan government in parts of Helmand now controlled by the Taliban.

He told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that Helmand was "a work in progress, with parts simply ungoverned".

There have been 251 UK service member deaths in Afghanistan since 2001.

Gen Carter said that if parts of Helmand were governed at all, "it's by parallel governments provided often by the Taliban".

He added: "If we're going to win the argument on behalf of the Afghan government... then we need to assert the government's control over those areas which are at the moment ungoverned."

'Ownership of responsibility'

The news comes as Nato's top commander in Afghanistan, US Gen Stanley McChrystal, said increased troop levels could bring a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

He said a political solution in all conflicts was "inevitable". Also, the top UN envoy in Kabul, Kai Eide, called for some senior Taliban leaders to be removed from a UN list of terrorists as a prelude to direct talks.

Gen Carter, who took over the control of Nato forces in southern Afghanistan in late 2009 and leads 45,000 servicemen and women, refused to say when this latest operation would begin.

ANALYSIS Martha Kearney, BBC Radio 4's The World At One, Kabul At Kandahar airbase in the south of the country, Nato commanders are currently masterminding the plans, made possible by the huge increase in US forces agreed recently by President Obama. But given the deaths suffered during the last major offensive in Helmand, Panther's Claw, there will be trepidation about the possibility of more casualties.

Senior military figures acknowledge there will be some, and the BBC has been told that there are many improvised explosive devices (roadside bombs) in the area.

Maj Gen Nick Carter went to Kabul last Thursday to brief President Karzai about the operation. Senior Afghans have promised full support and have welcomed the fact there will be a full gathering of tribal elders before the operation takes place.

But there's a strong sense among senior Nato figures that military success will go nowhere without political progress, which is why hopes are being pinned on this week's Afghan conference in London, being chaired by President Karzai.

The World At One will come live from Kabul at 1300 GMT on Thursday 28 January

The area likely to be targeted includes central Helmand and to the west and south-west of Lashkar Gah, parts of which have not been under Afghan government control for months or in some cases years.

Gen Carter said there were signs Afghans in the area were taking a greater role in operations.

"[There has been] a transition, about the Afghans taking 'ownership of the responsibility'.

"What I've been very struck about... is the way the provincial governor, Governor Mangal, and the Afghan army and Afghan police wish to take ownership of this problem.

"And when they do, there is an Afghan answer to the problem.

"Afghans are standing up and being counted and that makes a big difference to what happens on the ground."

Gen Carter said the strategy of increased co-ordination with local political and military forces was designed to help minimise casualties.

"What's really important... is that if there is a conversation before the operation between the Afghans and the maliks, or the village leaders, on the ground, and it is explained to them what will happen when the government asserts control and authority over those areas, we often find the Afghans don't fight - but they will welcome you," he said.

Part of this strategy has also seen Gen Carter brief Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the governor of Helmand province, Gulab Mangal, and Gen Sher Muhammad Zazai, who is in charge of the Afghan army in the south of the country.

Similar co-ordination had led to recent successes, added Gen Carter.

He pointed to an operation led by Canadian forces to the west of Kandahar in the past three months "where not a shot was fired".

An operation by the Grenadier Guards in central Helmand province had been equally effective, he said.

"It was preceded by an Afghan-led conversation run by the district governor, and through that process you discover the Afghans welcome you in, rather than it becoming a fight," Gen Carter said.

An earlier offensive, Operation Panther's Claw, was launched in Afghanistan in June and July last year.

Ten soldiers died during that operation, which focused on an area the size of the Isle of Wight between Helmand's provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, and its economic capital, Gereshk.

Gen Carter also said he did not know when UK troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan, but suggested he could give a "better estimate" in nine months' time.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/8478220.stm9.)

Afghan parliament poll postponed Published: 2010/01/24 12:27:12 GMT

Afghanistan is to postpone its parliamentary elections by four months until September, the country's election commission has confirmed.

Elections were to take place before 22 May under the constitution but a new date of 18 September has been set.

The commission cited a lack of funds and security concerns for the delay.

Last year's presidential election was marred by fraud, and Western nations have been pushing for reforms ahead of the parliamentary vote.

'Sensible decision'

Fazil Ahmad Manawi, a senior election commissioner, told reporters in Kabul: "The Independent Election Commission, due to lack of budget, security and uncertainty and logistical challenges... has decided to conduct the [parliamentary] election on September 18, 2010."

ANALYSIS John Simpson, BBC News, Kabul The decision has removed a distinct irritant in the relationship between President Karzai and the Western countries which support him.

The four-month delay will give the international military force more time to improve security in southern parts where the Taliban were able to intimidate many voters in last August's presidential election. The delay will also allow more time to introduce reforms which are intended to prevent the kind of fraud widely alleged in President Karzai's re-election.

The postponement will also greatly improve the atmosphere before next Thursday's international conference on Afghanistan in London.

The commission earlier said it needed about $50m from international donors to part fund the estimated $120m election budget.

United Nations funds are available to fund the elections but have been made contingent on reforms to the system.

The US and other Western nations have said that another election marred by fraud could undermine their strategy in the country.

The chief UN envoy Kai Eide said this month that Afghan law did provide for a delay to the polls, although President Hamid Karzai had wanted the original date to be met.

One international diplomat told the Reuters news agency the postponement was "a pragmatic and sensible decision which will allow time for reform of the key electoral institutions to enable cleaner parliamentary elections".

Underlining the continuing security concerns, Nato said that three US service members were killed in two separate bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.

London conference

Afghanistan is also facing ongoing political uncertainty, with a number of cabinet posts still vacant following the re-election of Mr Karzai as president.

Parliament has twice rejected many of Mr Karzai's nominations for a new cabinet, forcing the president to direct deputy ministers or other caretaker figures to run their ministries.

The uncertainty comes ahead of a key conference on Afghanistan in London next week.

Improving the governance of Afghanistan will be a key issue at the conference, along with security.

Western nations will try to cement their strategy both for increased foreign troops and a strengthened Afghan force.

US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said last week the "strategy for Afghanistan is settled" and the London summit would implement it.

A panel of officials from Afghanistan, the UN and countries contributing troops recently agreed to increase the size of the Afghan National Army from the current figure of about 97,000 to 171,600 by the end of 2011.

Last year, US President Barack Obama announced a review of strategy, saying he would send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Nato allies agreed to send at least 7,000 extra troops to support the US surge.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8477368.stm10.)

London draft sees 2011 start to Afghan handoverSun, Jan 24 2010

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan and the international community are set to agree this week a framework for Kabul to take responsibility for its own security at a major conference in London, a draft communique obtained by Reuters showed.

Afghan troops may be managing some provinces as early as 2011, with NATO-led forces in a supporting role, paving the way for the start of a U.S. military draw-down in 18 months.

President Hamid Karzai is under intense pressure from his Western backers to strengthen and expand Afghanistan's security forces aggressively at a time of worsening violence.

But one major potential source of friction between the two sides at the Jan 28. London conference, which aims to plot a course for Western countries to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan, unexpectedly eased on Sunday.

Afghan election officials announced they had decided to push back a parliamentary election to September from May, pleasing diplomats and domestic critics who want time to prevent a repeat of rampant fraud that marred a presidential vote last year.

The conference will be Karzai's first appearance on the Western stage since his tainted re-election, and both sides hope to use the meeting to relaunch his image, dented among the home electorates of countries with 110,000 troops in Afghanistan.

It aims to crystallize expectations for Afghans to start taking a leading role in fighting the insurgency, which killed record numbers of troops and civilians in 2009.

A copy of the draft communique anticipates a handover under which Afghan troops could take "security primacy" in some provinces by early 2011, with foreign forces in a supporting role, a copy obtained by Reuters showed.

Last month, President Barack Obama committed 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, but also announced a target to start withdrawing them by July 2011 after building up Afghan security forces and government institutions.

Asked to comment on the draft communique for the London conference, British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth said the transition would be a long process. "We'll be able to hand over parts of Afghanistan long before we hand over other parts," he said.

The communique also commits Afghanistan to establish -- and the West to fund -- a programme to "reach out to insurgents" and pay fighters to lay down arms. That received public support on Sunday from the conference's British hosts.

"It is very important that the political system is open enough to bring those insurgents who are willing to work within the Afghan constitution," Foreign Secretary David Miliband told BBC television.

Donors will also promise to deliver more of their aid through the Afghan government, a practice Kabul says would improve its ability to manage its own affairs after years of contracts going to development agencies and Western firms.

ELECTION LOOMS

But clouding efforts to rehabilitate Karzai in 2010 is the prospect of another botched election. The parliament is one of the few Afghan institutions not appointed by the president and a rare outlet for peaceful opposition.

The presidential vote -- in which a U.N.-backed probe discarded as fraudulent nearly a third of votes cast for Karzai -- sparked a crisis of confidence in the West, and made Obama's plan to send more troops a much harder sell.

Since that election, diplomats had been working behind the scenes to persuade Karzai to postpone the parliamentary vote, originally scheduled for May 22, so that changes can be made to ensure there is no repeat of the fraud.

A diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the postponement "a pragmatic and sensible decision which will allow time for reform of the key electoral institutions to enable cleaner parliamentary elections."

The new date of September 18 also means the vote will fall after the traditional summer fighting season, giving more time for the expanding international military force to help improve security, especially in the Taliban's southern heartland.

Last year, Taliban threats kept voters away from the polls in much of the south. With few genuine votes cast there, otherwise empty ballot boxes ended up stuffed with fake ones.

The United Nations is holding tens of millions of dollars for Afghan elections in an account, but diplomats say the money will not be released unless the electoral process is improved.

Critics want Karzai to replace some election commission members who they say unfairly backed him and waved through fraud.

Western leaders also want Karzai to do more to fight corruption, which they say fuels support for the Taliban. A U.N. report last week found that nearly a quarter of Afghanistan's gross domestic product is spent on bribes.

The language in the draft communique suggests that corruption will not take center stage in London.

It lists a number of anti-corruption measures, but describes them either as steps Karzai has already announced or measures to be discussed at a future conference, not new undertakings to be agreed in London.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60N1IE2010012411.)

Bulgarian Troops Injured In Rocket Attack During Defense Minister's Visit To Military Base In Afghanistan 1/25/2010 11:27 AM ET

(RTTNews) - Four Bulgarian soldiers were wounded in a rocket attack the militants carried out Sunday close to the foreign military base in southern Afghanistan, while the Bulgarian Defense Minister was visiting some of his country's troops stationed there.

Missiles launched with a timer mechanism landed at a NATO base in Kandahar, about 300 meters from where Defense Minister Nikolay Mladenov and his delegation have been accommodated.

Neither the minister nor the delegation members were hurt in the attack, reports said.The minister, who visited the injured soldiers, did not say whether he would carry out the visits that were so far part of his program. It was his last foreign trip as Bulgaria's Defense Minister, before being officially appointed as new Foreign Minister Wednesday.

Five-hundred Bulgarian troops are serving in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), of which 270 Bulgarian troops are based in the volatile Kandahar province.

http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1188777&SMap=1