La Repubblica: Defense Ministry Says No Italians Fired at Cars Containing Afghanistan Hostages

September 25, 2007

["Behind-the-scenes" report by Carlo Bonini: "Hit by Bullets in Trunk of Car"]

The two warrant officers from the SISMI [Intelligence and Military Security Service; now renamed Italian Agency for External Security and Intelligence (AISE)] who were captured on Saturday in the district of Farah (western Afghanistan) are free. But one of them is only free to begin his fight against death. Because this time weapons had their say. Five minutes of hell, at 0820 hrs in the morning, Afghan time (0450 hrs yesterday, Italian time). Thousands of shots were fired, in a joint Anglo-Italo military operation.

There were 10 bodies in the dust: nine bandits (there is no confirmation of the existence of a tenth bandit, and of his fate), and one of the two Afghan interpreters abducted with our troops (the second was injured in his right leg). Commandoes from the Special Boat Service of the British Navy pulled our military intelligence agents, covered in blood, out of the trunk of a car which was intercepted 40 kilometers south of Farah, and which would have handed them over, a short time later, to the Taliban militias. The same car at which they had just finished firing off hundreds of armor-piercing shells. Our two soldiers still do not have a name, but only an age. The younger, aged 30, is close to death at the intensive care unit at the UK Marines’ field hospital, at “Camp Bastion,” the British headquarters in the province of Helmand. He was hit in the neck and the head by two bursts of automatic gunfire. The elder man, aged 50, has a broken shoulder and collar-bone. They were defenseless targets of the people holding them prisoner, or, perhaps, of British friendly fire. Because — as Italian defense sources were still claiming yesterday — “It is as yet hard to establish, with some degree of reasonable certainty, the dynamics of a shoot-out which was particularly bloody.” And only one circumstance of which has been stated at Palazzo Baracchini [defense ministry] as being an established fact. Our commando soldiers involved in the action — paratroops from the Col Moschin regiment — did not fire a single shot at the cars which were carrying the hostages.

Thus ended a 12-hour political and military crisis, which it is now possible to begin to reconstruct in some of its initial, but not yet definitive, details. It began at 0930 on Saturday morning (Afghan time), when, in an area between the districts of Shindad and Farah, contact was lost with the two SISMI warrant officers and the Afghans who were accompanying them. Engaged in a routine mission in the area which falls under the military jurisdiction of our contingent stationed in Herat, the two agents had to gather information from local tribal chiefs to make the work of controlling the local area more effective. Discreet and remote surveillance of the local police was scheduled, and fixed rendez-vous at meeting points. Which the two agents missed repeatedly. Their radios fell silent. In the afternoon, their capture became a certainty. Gen Fausto Macor, the commander of the Western Military Region, began search operations.

In his report to the Chamber of Deputies, Defense Minister Arturo Parisi wrote: “All available units were placed on alert. In particular, the “Predator” plane (unmanned aircraft for electronic surveillance and the location of objectives), the CH-47 transport helicopter unit, the “Mangusta” combat helicopters, and the forces in the ISAF contingent present in the area of operations. Then close liaison was set up with the Italian commander of the ISAF special forces.” In the early afternoon on Sunday, Italian time, the bandits and their hostages were located. The information in the hands of Italian intelligence, and German, British, and Afghan intelligence services, and the photos taken by the “Predator” and by NATO satellites, all agreed in identifying the prison of the two intelligence agents, and of the two Afghans abducted with them, as a house in a small village in the district of Shindad. The people holding them hostage were identified as a group of local throat-cutters (perhaps Mullah Khuda-i-Dad’s men, as claimed by the Afghan press agency Pajhwok. Or perhaps the men of some other local leader, which changes nothing). At the Farah base, work began on an intervention plan.

The technical and political motives for a raid had no difficulty in making headway in Rome. If handed over to the Taliban, the two agents were destined for a certain death. If handed over to the Taliban, the government would not be able to withstand a new “Mastrogiacomo test” within its own walls, and at the table of the Atlantic Alliance. Thus it happened that, on Sunday afternoon, while Oliviero Diliberto [leader of Party of Italian Communists (PDCI)] was dictating to press agencies his call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops from Afghanistan, Minister Parisi, after having spoken to [Prime Minister] Prodi, put down in writing to the Italian command station in Herat the two conditions on which, for the first time in the history of the Republic of Italy, Italian troops were authorized to carry out a war operation on foreign soil, releasing them from the rules of engagement which make provision for the use of force only in defense of their own safety. As he was later to report to parliament, the defense minister ordered that “the operation should aim for the safeguarding of the lives of all four hostages.” And that “the risk of the involvement of Afghan civilians be reduced as much as possible.”

In Farah, the Italian command and the ISAF command agreed that the two conditions set by the government prevented a night-time operation, because the risks of losing all the hostages, and causing deaths in the village which was hiding the prison, would increase. Thus Sunday night became an ordeal. The plan was ready. But it had to be put back to Monday morning. The problem is that nothing changes with darkness.

It was decided that two teams of commandoes, each of 12 men, would intervene. The Italian paratroops from the “Col Moschin” regiment. The UK Marine commandoes from the Special Boat Service. The Italians were to burst into the prison and release the hostages. The British were to close off the area of the operation, and “clear” it of any surprises. The former would be loaded aboard a “Mangusta” helicopter. The latter, with their reinforced cars, aboard a CH-47 transport helicopter. Spanish helicopters would act as an umbrella and provide logistical support.

Daybreak on Monday did not seem to bring any surprises. The bandits and their hostages woke up exactly where they had slept. The helicopters took off from Farah. But, shortly after 0800 hrs, when they were just a few kilometers from the target, the scenario suddenly changed. And became more complicated. Perhaps having been alerted, perhaps because they had already made this decision, the bandits left the prison, loaded the hostages on two cars, and began to drive along the road which, from north to south, links the district of Farah to the area nearer the Iranian border, where NATO is blind, and the Taliban hold sway. It was too late to modify the battle plan. The opportunity — as Parisi later put it — “was the first and last one that would be available.” But, at that point, the only ones who were able to take on the convoy of cars on the move were the British commandoes with their reinforced cars in the hold of the transport helicopter. The Italians and the “Mangusta” would switch to a covering role, tasked with neutralizing any portable anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons.

With the convoy on the move, the element of surprise could no longer be such as to avoid a bloodbath. The bandits began to open fire on the British vehicles which, once offloaded from the helicopters, intercepted their two cars. The response was violent. The British commandoes hit everything that moved and which was holding something resembling a weapon. Ten people died. And the SISMI agents were probably saved by the fact that they had been placed in the trunk of one of the two cars. They were each protected by the other’s body. Probably they were not hit by raking fire from their rescuers. It is just as probable that their hostage-takers could not finish them off directly with a coup de grace. At 0825, Afghan time, it was all over. The Italian hostages, and one of the two Afghans who survived, were evacuated to the British field hospital at “Camp Bastion.” At dawn, in Rome, the defense minister’s phone rang. In New York, it was no longer a black night for Prodi and [Italian Foreign Minister] D´Alema.

[Description of Source: Rome La Repubblica (Internet Version-WWW) in Italian -- moderate left-of-center daily. OSC EUP20070925058001 Rome La Repubblica (Internet Version-WWW) in Italian 25 Sep 07]

La Stampa: ‘Sources’ Allege Mullah With Iran Ties Behind Abduction of Italians

September 25, 2007

["Behind-the-scenes" article by Syed Saleem Shahzad: "One Abductor Was Linked to Iran"]

Karachi — The matter of the abduction of the Italian soldiers in north-western Afghanistan underlines, once again, the fact that the Taliban are not the only ones who are perpetuating violence; there are also the warlords, and the interest of neighboring countries such as Iran in fomenting the rebellion and the multiplication of problems for their Western rivals present in Afghanistan.

The history of this abduction revolves around two figures: Mullah Akhtar, who issues his proclamations from the Shindand district of Herat, and Mullah Khuda-i-Dad, in the province of Farah. Independent sources claim that there is no rancor against the Italian forces, which, in south-west Afghanistan, devote themselves only to the work of reconstruction, and which have rarely been involved in war operations. The aim of the abduction seemed to be the payment of a ransom. From the context, it was immediately apparent that it was aimed at further destabilizing that area, so as to create a nuisance for the Western coalition which operates in Afghanistan.

According to independent sources, the chronology of the events would suggest that the soldiers were abducted from the area of Azizabad, in the district of Shindand. “It was a joint operation, planned by two warlords in the area, who in the past used to belong to the Taliban regime, and who are still close to the movement, Mullah Akthar and Mullah Khuda-i-Dad — these sources told me — They had their sights set on a ransom. The soldiers were taken away from Shindand and moved, later on, to the unruly province of Farah.” When I contacted Mullar Khuda-i-Dad to have confirmation of this version, he denied, however, that he was involved in the abduction.

The shadow of these two figures explains the events behind the abduction. Mullah Akhtar is in hiding, and is wanted by NATO. He comes from the pashtun tribes in Shindand, who protect him. At the beginning of this year, NATO carried out a major attack on the villages in that district, killing many civilians. The NATO commanders explained to the inhabitants that the operation had been carried out because the local tribes offered a safe refuge to Mullah Akhtar who, according to them, was linked to the Taliban. However, when I met with the tribal leader Haji Nasru, in the summer, he refuted NATO’s version, claiming that Mullah Akhtar had belonged to the Taliban regime up until 2001, like all Pashtuns, but after the defeat of the Taliban, the local tribes had withdrawn their support, and he had done so too. According to Haji Nassru, Mullah Akhtar now lives in Shindand as a peaceable citizen.

NATO has never accepted this point of view, claiming that it has convincing proof of Mullah Akhtar’s link with the Taliban. However, it has not been able to undertake an action against him, and it has never been authorized to enter the villages of Shindand so as to comb the area in the search for Taliban.

Mullah Khuda-i-Dad is an ally of Mullah Akhtar in the strategies of the warlords. He goes regularly to Iran, where he claims that he has financial and logistical support for his followers. His involvement in the abduction of the Italians indicates that Iran is interested in reinforcing the elements which are able to keep the Western coalition occupied in north-western Afghanistan, in such a way as to reduce their involvement in Iraq.

The abduction of the Italian soldiers in that zone indicates that there the rapid deterioration in law and order has strengthened the warlords, who can play any game: whether it involves the Taliban, Iran, or simply money.

[Description of Source: Turin La Stampa (Internet Version-WWW) in Italian -- leading centrist daily; owned by Fiat's Agnelli family. OSC EUP20070925058003 Turin La Stampa (Internet Version-WWW) in Italian 25 Sep 07]

La Stampa: Reconstruction of Hostage-Taking Suggests Italians Victims of Trap

September 26, 2007

[Report by Guido Ruotolo: "The More Seriously Injured Man Is Fighting for His Life"]

Rome — Unfortunately, the condition of the SISMI [Intelligence and Military Security Service; now renamed Italian Agency for External Security and Intelligence] warrant officer, who was wounded in the turbulent minutes of the Anglo-Italian blitz, has become worse. He has been intubated, and is alive only thanks to a respirator. He was hit in the head, in the chest, and in the spine by several bullets. Over the next few hours, if the conditions were to come about for him being able to withstand transfer to Italy, the young officer, who is just over the age of 30, will be placed aboard a special flight. And with him the wounded Afghan interpreter will also depart.

The day after the blitz by the Anglo-Italian special troops, Defense Minister Arturo Parisi issued a statement to make it clear that “the details of the event are still in the process of being established,” and that, at present, the only valid reconstruction is the one he gave in Montecitorio [Chamber of Deputies] on Monday afternoon. This is not to issue a contradiction of the “inferences” over the dynamics of the events — in particular, over the doubt that the Italian hostages were struck by “friendly fire” — but rather to have an official report, which is currently being drawn up, “to be made known in official institutions.”

Yesterday’s edition of the Guardian, citing British defense ministry sources, wrote that the blitz took place at Farah, and that the Italians attacked a building where it was believed that the two SISMI officers were being held prisoner, while the British opened fire on the convoy of the hostage-takers, which was making off. The reconstruction by the British newspaper was confirmed in Rome, although with some clarifications and with several more details. Let’s start from the “new details.” The first, regarding “friendly fire.” Some items removed from the SISMI officer who was hit in the shoulder are compatible with the weapons issued to NATO special units. The two Italian hostages, as the Guardian writes, had been “beaten,” the Afghan driver had the bridge of his nose broken. The other new detail is the confirmation supplied by the intelligence officer who was wounded in the shoulder, and by the Afghan interpreter, regarding the “suspicion” that the driver had “sold them out” to the gang of “bandits.”

Also yesterday, speaking in New York, [Italian Prime Minister] Romano Prodi stressed that the blitz was “indispensable; otherwise we would no longer have been able to do anything, any alternative would have been worse.” We had the “certainty,” thanks to an allied intelligence operation, that the “bandits” had already agreed on the handover of the hostages to the Taliban. And that the hostage-takers knew that the two Italians were not simple soldiers but two spies. A certainty confirmed by the “suspicion” that the driver, who had already been used in the past by the Italians, had organized the “trap.”

Let’s go back to Saturday, when, at 0930 hrs, a convoy of two cars moved off from the Italian base at Herat. The two Italian intelligence agents were aboard a Toyota Corolla with their Afghan driver and interpreter. They were followed, at some distance behind, by a car with Afghan police officers. At Shindand, this car lost contact with the Toyota, and returned to base. The certainty of an abduction came at 1330 hrs Italian time. The Predator, in the air, manages to photograph every movement on the ground. At a certain point, the “eye in the sky” intercepted the hostage-takers, and followed them. Meanwhile, on the ground, allied intelligence gathered information. This brings us to Sunday. The hostages were headed south, to Farah. And then east, toward Char Rah, in the district of Helmand. At 40 km from Farah they stopped for the night. There were just a few dwellings. They were “followed” by the armed forces. The blitz was planned. At 0450 hrs Italian time, on Monday, Anglo-Italian special troops, transported by helicopters, began the blitz. One team went for the building, another for the hostage-takers’ convoy of four vehicles. It was not known with any certainty where the hostages were. Only afterward were the two SISMI officers found in the trunks of two Toyotas. Injured.

[Description of Source: Turin La Stampa (Internet Version-WWW) in Italian -- leading centrist daily; owned by Fiat's Agnelli family. OSC EUP20070926058001 Turin La Stampa (Internet Version-WWW) in Italian 26 Sep 07]

NY Post opines on “Iran the Bully,” points to Iranian weapons in Afghanistan

NY Post:  IRAN THE BULLY

By PETER BROOKS

September 26, 2007 — IRAN’S President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spent much of his U.N. speech yesterday complaining of “bullying” by the West. Funny – in addition to its well-known bloody works in Iraq and Lebanon, Tehran’s meddling in Afghanistan is a major, and rising, menace.Tehran is aiding the Taliban and other anti-government insurgents with weapons and training. It’s also pouring spies over the border – and forcing Afghan refugees to return home. Up ’til now, Pakistan was Afghanistan’s biggest problem – the host for Taliban safe havens in the border tribal areas. But now Tehran is becoming another major source of trouble. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte points to weapons shipments to Iran that are finding their way into the mitts of Taliban and other insurgents.

For instance, a 10-ton weapons cache recently was found in Herat, along the Afghan-Iranian border. It included artillery shells, land mines, assault rifles, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades with Chinese, Russian and Iranian markings.

Early this month, NATO forces in Afghanistan pulled off their third – and biggest – interception of a weapons shipment near the Iranian border this year. It included explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) – Tehran’s trademark roadside bombs, the kind responsible for so many GI deaths in Iraq.

In the restive southwestern Helmand province, near the Pakistan border, British troops recently seized Chinese HN-5 anti-aircraft missiles, which could be used to down Coalition helicopters, from Taliban fighters. The weapons could have come in via Pakistan, but China is a major arms supplier to Iran – which has been known to pass them along to clients such as Hezbollah.

Some analysts are linking the Iranian arms shipments, along with development of Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, to a significant up-tick in fighting this year for the Afghan government forces and their allies.

NATO’s top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeil, said this summer that recent improvements in the fighting skills and tactics of the Taliban could be an indication of training by Iranian advisers.

Local officials in border provinces insist that Iranian helicopters have violated Afghanistan’s airspace several times this year – and that the central government opponents are being trained in camps in Iran.

Of course, Tehran denies training or supplying arms to anyone in Afghanistan – especially to the Taliban, which was no Iranian ally when it held power – but the evidence against Iran, specifically the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is mounting.

Meanwhile, Tehran’s spy service, the feared Ministry of Intelligence and Security, is flooding Afghanistan with agents. (Since the two countries have some common ethnic groups, these operatives can blend in.)

Iranian operatives are keeping an eye on Coalition forces, too. Just this week, the top Revolutionary Guard commander crowed that his forces were monitoring U.S. troop movements in Iraq.

Iran is also broadcasting in agitprop, and garnering clout via public and social works. And it’s sending cash to sympathetic Afghan Shiite leaders and religious schools – and to warlords with historic ties to Iranian security services.

Tehran is also squeezing Kabul by forcing up to 200,000 (of as many as 2 million) Afghan refugees in Iran to return home – causing a humanitarian nightmare. The move is a clear warning to Afghan President Hamid Karzai: Don’t cross us, or the pain we’re causing you will only get worse.

In fact, Karzai has been quite reluctant to publicly highlight Iran’s interference, saying, “Iran and Afghanistan have never been as friendly as they are today.”

That’s clearly an exercise in diplomatic relativism. But Karzai has enough enemies already without adding Iran. Indeed, he’s been trying to bolster relations with Iran and India as counterweights to testy ties with Pakistan.

Iran has a large population, oil and natural-gas wealth. Historically, it’s been a regional power. It naturally has influence over an underdeveloped neighbor like Afghanistan.

But the Iranian regime is seeking hegemony across the region in a bid to become a world power. It’s treating Afghanistan as a poker chip in its high-stakes game of preventing the spread of democracy and thwarting U.S. interests.

In short, just like in Iraq, the Iranian regime is trying to advance its own position through the pain and suffering of Afghans, not to mention those protecting them.

Heritage Foundation senior fellow Peter Brookes is a former deputy assistant secretary of defense.

peterbrookes@heritage.org

AP: Italian minister: condition of Italian injured in rescue operation in Afghanistan deteriorates

The Associated Press

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

ROME: The condition of an Italian intelligence operative kidnapped with a colleague in Afghanistan and injured during a NATO-led raid that secured their freedom has deteriorated, the Italian defense minister said Tuesday.

The man, who has been in a NATO hospital in Afghanistan since the rescue mission Monday, has been put on a respirator to help him breathe, Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said in a statement.

The two Italians, who worked for the SISMI intelligence service, disappeared along with their two Afghan colleagues Saturday. They were freed by Italian commandos aided by other NATO forces and aircraft as the coalition forces determined the kidnappers had started moving the hostages.

Italian special forces ambushed the convoy, sparking a gunbattle that killed at least nine of the kidnappers. Both Italians were injured, the other one not seriously.

AFP: Iran again under scrutiny after new Afghan weapons find

September 23, 2007

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — For the second time this month, Iran has come under scrutiny after Afghan security forces recovered a shipment of weapons destined for Taliban insurgents that came from across the border.

The latest discovery occurred on Saturday when Afghan authorities said they found about 40 Iranian- and Chinese-made mines and rocket-propelled-grenades in a vehicle abandoned by Taliban rebels in Herat province near the border.

Some of the rockets shown to reporters carried Iran’s coat of arms.

Two weeks earlier, NATO soldiers deployed in Afghanistan seized in Farah province, also on the border, a significant convoy of explosives that came from the Islamic republic and also was apparently destined for the hardliners.

“We do not have problems with Turkmenistan — all the trouble comes through Iran,” the deputy chief of border police for western Afghanistan, Samowal Hamidullah, told AFP in the western city of Herat.

“There are many illegal crossings between the two sides,” said Hamidullah, who monitors about 20 border posts between Afghanistan and the two countries.

US officials allege that Tehran is supporting the Taliban in their bloody rebellion against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai and the 50,000 foreign soldiers backing him, most of whom are American.

Iran denies the charge and many Afghan officials also say there is no proof Tehran is directly involved, with Washington irked by Karzai’s insistence that Iran is a good neighbour.

The 928-kilometre (575-mile) border between Iran and Afghanistan is porous and difficult to patrol. It is relatively easy for traffickers moving through the semi-desert of plains and hills to avoid detection.

All kinds of items smuggled over the border have been seized, including arms and drugs — especially opium, which is being produced at record levels in Afghanistan.

Afghan intelligence services say the weekend’s haul of arms is definitely from Iran, but they don’t know “if it is Tehran which helps,” Hamidullah said.

When asked who might have despatched the convoy found in early September, the top commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, US General Dan McNeill, remained cautious.

“The geographic origin of that convoy was clearly Iran but take note that I did not say it’s the Iranian government,” he told AFP in a recent interview.

Najeeb Ur Rahman Manalai from the Centre for Conflict Studies and Peace in Kabul agreed.

“There is no clear proof that the Iranian government is behind these arms discoveries,” he said. “They could even come from anti-Iranian insurgent groups in Iran.”

The governor of Herat province, Hossein Anvari, also said he doubted direct Iranian involvement.

“We do not have any proof that weapons come from the government of Iran into Afghanistan,” he told AFP.

This is the position of Karzai, who wants to keep good relations with Iran while ties with his other neighbour, Pakistan, are already strained.

Under the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, toppled in an invasion led by the United States, Shiite Iran supported the Northern Alliance as it opposed the Sunni Wahhabist Taliban.

But US officials say Tehran has changed this stance because it wants to destabilise Afghanistan to get at Kabul’s principal ally, the United States, perhaps as a response to repeated US threats about its nuclear programme.

IRIN: Increasing armed robberies, abductions in Herat

Increasing armed robberies, abductions in Herat Photo: Abdullah Shaheen/IRIN There are only 2,700 police to protect over two million people in Herat Province. HERAT, 25 September 2007 (IRIN) – Increasing armed robberies and abductions are causing widespread concern in Herat, a relatively peaceful province in western Afghanistan. In one of the most recent cases, over 600 workers at a flourmill in Herat Province lost their jobs when the company was shut down after its owner was abducted by armed men in September. The closure of Aria Flour Company, which supplied about 400 bakeries in Herat city, has resulted in rising flour prices and affected the work of hundreds of bread shops, local residents said. Over 12 cases of armed robbery, kidnapping, extortion and attacks on financial centres have been reported in Herat city in September alone – a 50 percent increase on the same period in 2006, provincial security officials said. One of the country’s main commercial centres, Herat’s share of Afghanistan’s national income has already seen a marked reduction in the last four months. “In the first four months of 2007 we saw a reduction of about US$14 million in Herat’s overall income compared to 2006,” said Ziaullah Sakha, head of the customs department in Herat. Multiple culprits Thousands of Afghans have swarmed into Herat Province since April after at least 200,000 Afghans have been deported to Afghanistan from neighbouring Iran, according to the Afghan government. Iran’s deputy interior minister, Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr, told the Iranian IRNA news agency on 12 May that about 85,000 Afghans had been deported to Afghanistan in three weeks alone since 21 April. Most deportees are single men who, in view of their plight, are considered susceptible to crime, according to the Herat branch of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), the country’s rights watchdog. Herat Governor Alhaj Sayed Hussain Anwari, however, classified wrongdoers in his province into three main categories. “First, there are armed thieves who are widely involved in security incidents. There are also Taliban elements, who try to destabilise the whole situation. Some people with political motivations also contribute to the festering security situation,” Anwari told IRIN. Officials in Herat Province acknowledge that criminal gangs and their influential kingpins easily escape legal action as a result of endemic corruption and their ability to exploit kinship ties in provincial bodies. Photo: Khalid Nahez/IRIN Hundreds of people in Herat have lost their jobs due to a worsening security situation. Limited police force There are only 2,700 police for over two million people in Herat Province, Afghanistan’s second most populated province after Kabul, according to the provincial authorities. Devastated by decades of armed conflict and chaos, Afghanistan is yet to build up its security infrastructure, including a national police force of 80,000. Governor Anwari complained about lack of police resources and professionalism, saying they contributed to deteriorating security. “The police are not professional,” he said. In a press release issued on 20 September the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency expressed concern about the impunity of those accused of the abduction of businessmen, and armed robberies. Noor Khan Niekzad, a senior police officer, said: “We are doing our best to arrest criminals and ensure an atmosphere of peace for the citizens of Herat”. “Insecurity plunges people deep into poverty and vulnerability,” said Gulam Nabi Hakak, head of the AIHRC in Herat Province. “People could again migrate to Iran and Pakistan if security does not improve.” khn/ad/cb

Themes: (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Migration, (IRIN) Urban Risk

[ENDS]

Report can be found online at: http://www.irnnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74465

AFP: Italian Soliders Freed After Kidnapping

September 24, 2007

 HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — NATO freed two kidnapped Italian soldiers in western Afghanistan in an operation which left both troops wounded and up to nine of their captors dead, officials said.

But in a blow to multinational forces, two Spanish soldiers were killed in a bomb blast hours later in the same western province, which has seen a recent upsurge in Taliban-linked violence.

The Italian troopers were rescued in Farah province two days after going missing in the neighbouring province of Herat, bordering Iran, with their Afghan interpreter and driver.

An Italian-led contingent of troops from the International Security Assistance Force intercepted the hostages and their kidnappers early on Monday, an ISAF statement said.

“In the ensuing firefight the two Italian hostages were wounded, one of them seriously,” it said. One Afghan citizen was wounded while the fate of a second Afghan with the Italians was unknown.

“All the kidnappers were killed,” the statement said, adding that there were either eight or nine abductors.

“This successful operation is evidence of ISAF’s resolve to deal with acts of terrorism in Afghanistan,” said the force’s spokesman, Major Charles Anthony.

An Italian diplomat in the capital Kabul said it was not clear who abducted the men, while Italian Defence Minster Arturo Parisi told public television that an “an independent group” appeared to be responsible.

Police said the men were guerrillas from the Islamic extremist Taliban, which has waged a bloody insurgency since being toppled from government by US-led forces in late 2001.

A Taliban commander named Mullah Abdul Hamid took the Italians from near Herat’s Shindand district to Farah province, the police chief of criminal investigations for western Afghanistan, Ali Khan Husseinzada, told AFP.

Another police official, citing intelligence reports, said that the Taliban were trying to take them southwards to their stronghold in Helmand province, Afghanistan’s most volatile region.

But the main Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, said he knew nothing about the kidnapping of the Italians. The militia has been behind several abductions, including of 23 South Koreans in July.

Diplomatic sources in Kabul said the Italians were warrant officers who had been on a routine mission.

There are about 2,000 Italian soldiers in Afghanistan with ISAF. They are involved in military as well as reconstruction work and some are believed to be intelligence officers.

The Taliban killed two of its Korean captives before freeing the remainder in August after direct talks with Seoul.

The hardline Islamic militia said afterwards the kidnapping of foreign nationals was an effective tool against the government.

At least three Italian nationals, all civilians, have been abducted in Afghanistan since 2005.

The most controversial case was in March this year and involved journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

He was freed after the government released five Taliban prisoners, but his interpreter and a driver were beheaded. Kabul later came under fire for negotiating with “terrorists.”

It is almost unheard of for foreign soldiers to be captured in Afghanistan as they usually move in heavily secured convoys or foot patrols that are backed with air power if attacked.

Two Spanish soldiers were killed and another two were badly injured on Monday when their convoy was hit by an explosion in Farah province’s Shewan district, the Spanish defence ministry said.

An Iranian interpreter working with them may have also been killed, the ministry added.

Western Afghanistan has experienced a recent rise in Taliban activity. In May a Spanish military commander said reinforcements were needed in the region.

The casualties mean that 171 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP count.

NYT: 2 Italian Soldiers Missing in Afghanistan

September 23, 2007

By Kirk Semple

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 23 — Two Italian soldiers disappeared under mysterious circumstances while on a patrol Saturday night in a western region of Afghanistan where the Taliban has been active, Afghan and Italian officials said today.

The Italian Defense Ministry believes the soldiers have been kidnapped, according to a Reuters report.

In northeastern Afghanistan, NATO officials were investigating a report that four suspected insurgents gunned down by helicopter gunships on Saturday may have in fact been Afghan police officers and security guards on patrol, the NATO military command in Kabul said today.

The Italian soldiers began their night mission on Saturday at a garrison in Herat province, and were traveling with a driver and an interpreter, both Afghans, an official at the Italian embassy in Kabul said. At some point during the night, the Italians became separated from the Afghans, apparently in the Shindand region of Herat, where the Taliban have periodically clashed with NATO forces, officials said.

“They went out and lost contact with the headquarters,” said the Italian official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name.

It remained unclear how the two soldiers became separated from the Afghans.

Gen. Ali Khan Hussainzada, chief of criminal investigations in western Afghanistan for the Afghan police, said that the interpreter was safe, but that he had no information about the driver.

If the soldiers fell into the hands of the Taliban, it would be a significant propaganda coup for the insurgency, which is seeking to drive all foreign troops out of Afghanistan and topple the government in Kabul. While the Taliban has kidnapped numerous foreign civilians in Afghanistan, the group has apparently never captured a member of a Western military force, at least since its resurgence began last year.

The Taliban has been most active in the east and south of the country, though it has conducted sporadic attacks in other regions. In western Afghanistan, the Taliban has been most active in the Shindand district of Herat and in the adjoining province of Farah. About half of the roughly 2000 Italian forces in Afghanistan are stationed in Herat, the Italian diplomat said.

In Kabul, NATO officials said they were investigating a possible case of mistaken identity in the deaths of four suspected insurgents and the wounding of 12 others early Saturday afternoon in the Sarkani district of Kunar province.

According to the NATO command here, helicopter gunships responding to a rocket attack on an Afghan military base fired on a group of about 30 men thought to be insurgents, killing 4 and wounding 12.

A NATO statement said “initial reports” indicated that the victims were Afghan police officers and road construction security guards “who were dressed in civilian attire and carrying weapons on an uncoordinated patrol in the area.”

The Afghan government and NATO were trying to determine the “official status of the engaged forces,” the statement said.

The rising number of civilian casualties this year, most caused by aerial bombardments, has angered Afghans, driven a wedge between members of the coalition over differences in military tactics and eroded public support for the administration of President Hamid Karzai.

A NATO service member was killed today in eastern Afghanistan, the military reported, offering no further details. It was at least the third death among allied forces in Afghanistan in the last four days.

In the southern province of Zabul, the Taliban kidnapped three Afghan men accused of spying for the United States and executed them, said Wazir Khan, the police chief of Shamulzayi district, according to The Associated Press. One of the victims was beheaded and the other two were shot dead, The A.P. reported.

Abdul Waheed Wafa contributed reporting from Kabul.

Reuters: Two Italian soldiers missing near Shindand

Two Italian soldiers missing in Afghanistan
Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:48 AM EDT

ROME (Reuters) – Two Italian soldiers have gone missing in Afghanistan, Italian authorities said on Sunday.

Earlier agency reports said two Italians, possibly journalists, had been kidnapped in the west of Afghanistan.

“Contact with two Italian soldiers was lost some hours ago,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “From our checks no journalists are missing, contrary to early reports,” it said.

The defense ministry also issued a statement saying two soldiers were missing and their families had been informed.

An Afghan-based Western security analyst said there were reports the two missing men had been working for Italian intelligence.

He said the men, together with two Afghan translators, had gone missing on Saturday in the area around Shindand, on the border between Farah and Herat provinces in western Afghanistan, the site of a large former Soviet air base now used by U.S. and Afghan forces.

General Alikhan Hosseini, the head of criminal investigations in western Afghanistan, said he had heard on police radio that two foreigners were missing, but could not offer any more details.

The police chief of Farah province said he did not know anything about any foreigners missing in his province and said his forces were currently engaged in a firefight with Taliban rebels.

There has been a steady rise in Taliban activity in Farah province in recent months.

Italy’s prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister were following the situation closely, the foreign ministry said.