Some articles on Afghanistan

Karzai Says Afghan Schools, Clinics Targeted


Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday said Pakistani religious schools were teaching students to go to Afghanistan to burn down schools or medical clinics. The comments came in a speech in the eastern province of Kunar, next to the border with Pakistan. "We have credible reports that inside Pakistan, in the madrassas, the mullahs and teachers are saying to their students: 'Go to Afghanistan for jihad. Burn the schools and clinics,"' Karzai said. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Tasnim Aslam, dismissed Karzai's comments. "These are baseless allegations and we have denied them repeatedly," Aslam said. Karzai said Afghanistan was suffering from terror attacks, and implied that they came from Pakistan's lawless tribal regions in the mountainous border area. "We want to tell the Pakistani government, which is our brother government ... that terrorism is like fire, and it will reach you too," he said. "Today terrorism is in Afghanistan. Tomorrow it will reach you."


Violence Surges Across Afghanistan

Afghanistan saw one of its bloodiest days since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban on Thursday as hundreds of insurgents attacked a southern town and fighting flared across the country. Fighting raged for hours after insurgents attacked the town of Mosa Qala, 470 km (300 miles) southwest of Kabul, in Helmand province, late on Wednesday. Government officials said 13 policemen and at least 40 Taliban were killed, taking the death toll across the country to about 100. The Taliban have stepped up attacks on foreign and Afghan government forces in recent months as thousands more NATO peacekeepers arrive in the country. Helmand's deputy governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada said it was the biggest attack in the province by the hardline Islamists since they were driven from power more than four years ago. "Thirteen policemen were killed and six were injured," Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said. "Forty people on the enemy side were killed." Akhundzada said he believed about 50 Taliban were killed. In a separate incident, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy in the generally peaceful western city of Herat, killing himself and an American civilian.