Blast aimed at Afghan powerbroker kills 4 in west

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – An explosion targeting Afghanistan's energy minister outside a girls school killed four civilians in the country's far west, police said. A Taliban official claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning blast.

Taliban assassination attempts against Afghan officials have intensified this year, with more than 100 officials and pro-government tribal elders attacked — half of them fatally.

The convoy carrying Energy Minister Ismail Khan, a powerbroker in the western region of Herat, was headed to the airport when the bomb exploded outside the high school, said Raouf Ahmadi, a police spokesman. Ahmadi said four civilians died and 17 people were wounded, including four of Khan's bodyguards.

He said Khan escaped unharmed and arrived safely at the airport.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for what he said was a car bomb targeting Khan, who was once governor of Herat, a western province bordering Iran. He said Khan was among the dead, though Mujahid's claims often turn out to be false.

The Taliban assassination campaign is a strong sign of deteriorating security in the country, where a record number of U.S. and NATO troops have also died this year. The Obama administration is now debating whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan as its government faces allegations of widespread fraud from the disputed Aug. 20 presidential election.

US forces move into central Afghan city

By KEVIN MAURER, Associated Press Writer



NILI, Afghanistan – The soldiers hesitated as the mullah preached, unsure if they would be welcome at the celebration of one of Islam's highest holidays.

But when the sermon ended, the Afghans draped bright scarves over the soldiers' tanned necks. Then they pushed Chief Warrant Officer Chaka, a Puerto Rican with a thick black beard and a deep tan who could easily pass for Afghan, up front to speak. Chaka thanked the elders and showed them his hands stained orange for the Eid celebration.

"This is our home away from home," said Chaka. "We wanted to come over and be with our neighbors."

The event showed how these dozen Special Force soldiers have joined in the daily life of the town's 95,000 residents since they moved in a month ago. The team is among only a few U.S. troops to live in the midst of Afghans, but there will likely be more. The hope is to push Special Forces teams into villages throughout Afghanistan, giving them the mission of rebuilding and training Afghan police and soldiers.

For its part, the village of Nili, the provincial capital of Day Kundi in central Afghanistan, had built a living compound in hopes of attracting Western aid workers roaming Afghanistan in search of projects. It stood empty for two years, until Day Kundi's governor lobbied international forces for help. The request dovetailed with a plan by the top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to forge closer ties between the U.S. military and Afghans.

"We are enthusiastic about this initiative and believe that it will go a long way to increasing security and enabling villagers to defend themselves," said Col. James E. Kraft, commander of the 7th Special Forces Group. "Everyday we are here, we are making our Afghan partners better. In the final analysis, the onus of security in Afghanistan will rest with its security forces. We want to work ourselves out of a job."

Day Kundi is one of Afghanistan's most peaceful regions, dominated by ethnic Hazaras with long-standing grievances against the mostly Pashtun Taliban. Nili sits in a sharp valley surrounded by towering peaks. Between the biscuit colored compounds and houses that make up the town are acres of almond trees, which the locals harvest. There is little industry and the province exports next to nothing.

Established in 2004 from several isolated northern districts in Uruzgan province, Day Kundi is dominated by ethnic Hazaras, who complain of persecution from their Pashtun neighbors. A Taliban saying about non-Pashtuns goes: "Tajiks to Tajikistan, Uzbeks to Uzbekistan, and Hazaras to goristan (graveyard)."

Day Kundi is a perfect testing ground in many ways, because it is so peaceful and progressive — it is home to one of Afghanistan's few female mayors — and so poor. Overlooked by development projects and the military alike, its streets are dirt, its schools are in shambles and it faces a shortage of water for crops. With winter fast approaching, any building projects will be difficult to complete until spring when the passes are clear.

The Special Forces soldiers spend their days in and around Nili meeting with local leaders, visiting schools and helping the doctors at the province's two hospitals. Everywhere they go, they bring soccer balls and backpacks for the children and radios and food for the adults. They never give out aid directly, relying instead on the elders or Afghan police.

"These guys have to learn how to do this," said Capt. Mark, a former enlisted Green Beret and helicopter pilot whose deep blue eyes draw immediate notice among Afghans. "That way when we are gone, the ideals are already in place." The Special Forces soldiers, who all have thick beards to blend in with Afghan culture, are only identified by their first names under rules for journalists embedded with them.

Last week, they surveyed a school south of Nili that was nothing more than a collection of torn white tents tacked into the mountainside. Dusty, threadbare rugs covered the dirt floors and there were no desks or school supplies for the 400 students.

"It has been nine years that these students have worked out of these tents," said Khanali, the school's 28-year-old principal.

Mark urged Khanali to get him plans for the new school so that he could send up a proposal for funding.

After a month, the Afghans are anxious for some of the building projects to start. Chief Mortaza, the provincial police chief who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said all people want is for the team to start fixing the schools and the mosque.

"If you put one stone on a building, we'll have a party," Mortaza told the soldiers. "Put one stone and the people will be trusting."

But the team is still in the assessment phase and is trying to figure out the needs of the province so they can target the best projects.

The soldiers joke that their Nili compound looks like a trailer park, surrounded by a head-high stone berm and razor wire. It lacks the guard towers and thick walls of the usual imposing Special Forces base. Supplied by helicopters and the occasional air drop from a cargo plane, the base is one of the most remote in Afghanistan.

Since its creation, Special Forces have trained foreign armies and toppled the Taliban by mentoring Northern Alliance fighters. But in the almost nine years since, Coalition units have focused much of their resources on raids. Mark, the team commander, said thousands of soldiers are attacking the "branches" of the insurgency in Afghanistan, but only living among Afghans will get to the root of the problem.

"We lost our way, but have found it again," he said.

Bolstering the strength and numbers of local security forces is also a historic Special Forces mission — and a central tenet of McChrystal's strategy. In Day Kundi, that means the Afghan National Police.

On Friday, a green Afghan police truck led the way over the mountains toward a makeshift range outside of Nili. It was a day off for the Afghan officers, but they were going to learn marksmanship.

"They don't just have to deal with shoplifters and car thieves, but the Taliban," said Staff Sgt. James, the team's 23-year-old weapons sergeant.

He set out targets — black silhouettes a few feet apart on plywood stands — and briefed the Afghans, then walked the line of nine officers to adjust their stances and get them to relax.

"Bend your knees," he said, his words translated by an interpreter. "Bring the gun to you, don't bend to it."

One police officer on the end of the firing line wasn't getting it. He became James' favorite student.

"Watch me," he said, showing the officer the proper movements.

By noon, the Afghans were catching on and firing full magazines, more accurately.

"They left better than when they came," James said.

Despite Day Kundi's poverty and isolation, the provincial governor — Sultan Ali Uruzgani — who appealed successfully for the Special Forces team — said he hopes it can be an example for Afghanistan's future.

"Day Kundi is a role model for the other provinces," he said. "The (Special Forces Team) is working very hard and the future of this province is very bright."

Philippine storm leaves 106 dead and missing

By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – Rescuers plucked bodies from muddy floodwaters and saved drenched survivors from rooftops Sunday after a tropical storm tore through the northern Philippines and left at least 106 people dead and missing.

It was the region's worst flooding in more than four decades. The government declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces.

Tropical Storm Ketsana roared across the northern Philippines on Saturday, dumping more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours. The resulting landslides and flooding have left at least 83 people dead and 23 others missing, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.

Many parts of the capital remained flooded Sunday, although waters were fast receding.

TV footage shot from military helicopter showed drenched survivors still marooned on top of half-submerged passenger buses and rooftops in the suburbs of Manila. Some dangerously clung on high-voltage power lines while others plodded through waist-high flood waters.

Authorities deployed rescue teams on boats to save survivors sighted during the aerial check.

More than 330,000 people were affected by storm, including some 59,000 people who were brought to about 100 schools, churches and other evacuation shelters, officials said.

The "state of calamity" declaration allowed officials to utilize emergency funds for relief and rescue.

Teodoro said that so far, army troops, police and civilian volunteers have rescued more than 5,100 people.

Many residents lost all their belongings in the storm, but were thankful they were alive.

"We're back to zero," said Marikina resident Ronald Manlangit. Still he expressed relief that he managed to move all his children to the second floor of his house Saturday as floodwaters engulfed the ground floor.

Mud covered everything — cars, the road and vegetables in a public market near Manlangit's house.

Governor Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan province, north of the capital, said it was tragic that "people drowned in their own houses" as the storm raged.

The most recently reported fatalities included nine people in Bulacan, most of them drowned. A landslide in northern Pampanga province killed 12 villagers. An army soldier and four militiamen drowned while trying to rescue villagers in southern Laguna province.

In the city of Marikina near Manila, a rescuer gingerly lifted the mud-covered body of a child from a boat. Rescuers carried away four other bodies, including that of a woman found in a church, after a search in a flooded neighborhood, an AP photographer saw.

Distress calls and e-mails from thousands of residents in metropolitan Manila and their worried relatives flooded TV and radio stations overnight. Ketsana swamped entire towns, set off landslides and shut down Manila's airport for several hours.

"My son is sick and alone. He has no food and he may be waiting on the roof of his house. Please get somebody to save him," a weeping housewife, Mary Coloma, told radio DZBB.

The sun shone briefly in Manila on Sunday and showed the extent of devastation in many neighborhoods — destroyed houses, overturned vans and cars, and streets and highways covered in debris and mud.

The 16.7 inches (42.4 centimeters) of rain that swamped metropolitan Manila in just 12 hours on Saturday exceeded the 15.4-inch (39.2-centimeter) average for all of September, chief government weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said, adding that the rainfall broke the previous record of 13.2 inches (33.4 centimeters) in a 24-hour period in June 1967.

Garbage-choked drains and waterways, along with high tide, compounded the problem, officials said.

Ketsana, which packed winds of 53 mph (85 kph) with gusts of up to 63 mph (100 kph), hit land early Saturday then roared across the main northern Luzon island toward the South China Sea.

The View from Khabarovsk: Russia's End

By PETER SAVODNIK / KHABAROVSK

Russians perennially fear that Russia will fall apart. The country is so big and so unwieldy that it seems always on the verge of implosion - like a bolshaya deryevna, or big village, riddled with ethnic fissures and political upheavals, always teetering between calm and chaos. Hence the appeal of the strongman - say, Josef Stalin. Someone to keep everyone else in check.

So the Kremlin and its clients held an Anti-Crisis Economic Forum earlier this month in the city of Khabarovsk, seven time zones east of Moscow in the Russian far east. Whether anything of substance emerged from the forum is unlikely. (Vyacheslav Shport, the governor of the Khabarovsk region, sounded like any old congressman when he suggested the key to economic recovery was more cash for a local Air Force base. "This is an excellent Far East project for the creation of high-tech innovation that could attract investment and defend industries from crisis events," he said.) Of course, substance wasn't the Kremlin's goal. The goal was to send a message to the locals (and especially local officials): You are part of Russia. You are being taken care of. We are one.

Fears of spontaneous disintegration have grown in recent years. First, much of the country did, in fact, disappear after the 1991 communist collapse, only to reappear in the form of 14 independent, post-Soviet republics. Then came the Yeltsin era, with its newfound freedoms and widespread sense of dislocation. Then, in 2000, came the Putin era, in which state-orchestrated television stoked fears of a return to the Yeltsin era (lest the masses not entrust their president with lots of power). Then, in May 2008, came Dmitry Medvedev, causing many to fret that the new president would not be as tough or undemocratic as his predecessor. Then came last September's Lehman Brothers collapse, triggering a global financial meltdown; the downturn fueled fears in Russia that the country was facing another crisis a la 1998, when tens of millions saw their pensions wiped out by inflation and Russia did indeed look to be unraveling.

All these developments - coupled with a population decline of as much as 750,000 yearly and longstanding, sometimes-legitimate - sometimes-not-so-legitimate - nightmares involving a Chinese invasion of Siberia - have prompted Russian leaders to reassert their authority over the whole of Russia

So they flocked to Khabarovsk.

You could tell something important was happening. The business class cabin in the seven-and-a-half-hour Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Khabarovsk on the Friday night prior to the summit was peppered with Kremlin officials and their bodyguards. A cavalcade of black SUV's, with tinted windows and the blue lights that signal someone important is inside, was waiting on the tarmac in Khabarovsk.

At the Parus Hotel, the only hotel in town that's (sort of) equipped to handle a delegation of Moscow bigwigs, there were hordes of militia and security-service agents hanging out in the lobby and outside the hotel. (Wi-fi, fine dining and down comforters, among other amenities, are not common in Russia outside Moscow and St. Petersburg.) At night, the almighty descended on the bar in the first floor of the Parus for a spot of vodka or black tea. The bartender, who declined to give his name for fear of losing his job, quipped: "They ate, they drank, they did nothing."

There's another, much more invidious force contributing to the whole disintegration hubbub: Russian markets' growing integration into the international economy - "not only with regard to oil prices but also when it comes to financial markets," says Alexei Moisseev, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, in Moscow. "Nobody expected the extent to which the financial crisis would hit Russia."

Moisseev noted that a plane ticket from Moscow to the Russian port of Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan is four times as costly as a ticket connecting Vladivostok and any major city in China or Japan. It takes just hours by train for anyone in Vladivostok or Khabarovsk, separated by China by the Amur River, to reach Chinese commercial hubs like Jixi and Shuangyashan. It takes nearly a week to get to Moscow. In Khabarovsk, the Lada, the boxy, no-frills Soviet compact ubiquitous in European Russia, is vastly outnumbered by Toyotas, Nissans and Hyundais on the highway connecting Irkutsk, on the eastern fringe of Siberia, with Vladivostok. "They call the Far East the Land of the White Toyotas," Moisseev says. He added that First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov had been spending a great deal of time in the Far East; in March, Shuvalov had taken part in another anti-crisis forum in Khabarovsk.

The Kremlin, always eager to stomp out political rivalry, nationalize industry and control the flow of gas and oil, may have its reservations about globalization, with all its inherent unpredictability. But the future of Khabarovsk - riddled with sushi bars, Internet cafes, boutique hotels and endless streams of Chinese and Korean tourists - is not in Moscow. For now, most of the Moscow nomenklatura don't seem to get this. That's why they keep having forums and talking about Air Force bases and throwing back shots of Ruskiy Standart at the Parus Hotel.

Gadhafi, Chavez promote Africa-South America ties

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer

PORLAMAR, Venezuela – Moammar Gadhafi and Hugo Chavez urged nearly 30 leaders from throughout Africa and South America on Saturday to form a strong intercontinental alliance to make the two regions a new global power.

The Libyan leader, on his first visit to the Americas, called for the two regions to become a political and economic force, saying that together "we can transform the world."

Gadhafi proposed a defense alliance of South American and African nations, calling it "a NATO of the South" — an idea Chavez has raised with other allies in the past.

Seven South American leaders signed an agreement to create a regional development bank with $20 billion in startup capital, and Chavez offered to help create a "South-South bank" with African countries in the future.

The two-day meeting that began Saturday on Venezuela's Margarita Island addressed a wide range of concerns, from hunger in Africa to the economic crisis and demands for reforming the United Nations.

Chavez called it "a summit of great importance for the struggles of the South." Presidents discussed plans for joint projects in energy, mining, agriculture and other areas.

"Only united will we be free," Chavez said as he opened the summit.

The meeting gave Chavez an opportunity to attempt a greater leadership role outside Latin America while critiquing U.S. influence and promoting socialist-inspired policies. He said on Friday that by uniting, the two regions can confront a legacy of poverty left "by the empires of the North — by the empires of Europe, by the U.S. empire."

Gadhafi echoed some of Chavez's concerns about the world's economic powers in a wide-ranging speech Saturday, saying through an interpreter that "colonialism has stolen our riches."

Without naming any particular countries, Gadhafi also denounced what he called the "politics of the club" used by some nations against others.

Gadhafi made his first visit to Latin America after attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, and met Chavez inside a trademark Bedouin tent next to the hotel's pool.

The Libyan leader said it was "humiliating" that his delegation had to travel 20 hours to reach New York, and held up a map while calling for more air routes between Southern Hemisphere nations.

In his U.N. speech, Gadhafi denounced the Security Council as the "Terror Council" for failing to prevent dozens of wars. He insisted on the need for U.N. reform as he addressed leaders in Venezuela.

"The situation we have in the Security Council is unsustainable," Gadhafi said, noting that one group "enjoys the right to a veto" while the rest "of us have no right."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed the Security Council has "lost relevance" and said "we should work together to reform it."

Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya since he seized power in a 1969 coup, has sought a greater leadership role internationally in recent years and is currently chairman of the African Union.

"South-South" cooperation was a buzzword at the summit, which brought together both the African Union and South America's fledgling Unasur group.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez expressed hope that Africa will expand its potential to produce and export food and said her government is willing to provide technology and expertise to help.

African leaders including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika greeted Chavez warmly, some with handshakes and others with kisses on the cheeks. They were joined by South American presidents from Chile's Michelle Bachelet to Bolivia's Evo Morales.

Chavez called Gadhafi and Bouteflika the historic "liberators" of their countries and said socialism — both in Africa and in Latin America — will be "the path to the world's salvation."

He also said Venezuela is looking into energy projects in Africa.

Chavez has already announced that Venezuela may help build an oil refinery in Mauritania that could process 30,000 to 40,000 barrels per day and supply fuel to Mali, Niger and Gambia.

It is unclear how much the South American oil exporter is prepared to invest since it is coping with a sharp drop in its revenues due to lower crude prices.

Germans vote amid economic issues, Islamic threats

By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press writer

BERLIN – Germans decide Sunday whether to return the nation's first woman chancellor to a second term in office following a lackluster campaign centered largely on economic issues and a rash of last-minute threats by Islamic extremists.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is hoping enough of the nation's 62.2 million eligible voters will support her conservative Christian Democratic Party to give them a solid enough standing to form a center-right coalition with their top partners, the Free Democrats.

In one of the final surveys before the polls were to open at 8:00 a.m. (0600GMT; 2 a.m. EDT) Sunday indicated the conservatives could capture 33 percent of the vote, while the Free Democrats were supported by 14 percent in the poll by the Forsa institute.

That would give them a razor-thin lead in parliament and allow Merkel to break with her partners of the past four years, Germany's other traditional main party, the left-center Social Democrats. In the Forsa survey they received only 25 percent support from the 2,001 people questioned. The poll gave a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Among the other parties currently represented in parliament, the Greens polled at 10 percent, just behind the Left party at 12 percent.

Despite their predicted status as third-strongest party, both the Christian and Social Democrats have ruled out a coalition with the Left, which burst onto the political spectrum in 2005 after the ex-Communists banded together with defectors from the Social Democrats, disenchanted by their party's swing to the center.

The Social Democrats, in power since 1998, are facing historical lows. Many analysts have argued they could benefit from a period in opposition that would let them regroup.

Security is tight across Germany, following a rash of threats by Islamic extremists apparently seeking to sway voters by threatening retaliation if they did not pull their 4,200 troops out of the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Both Merkel, and her main challenger, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats, ignored the threats in their parties' final rallies Saturday and instead focused on the key domestic issues of jobs and economic recovery.

Two videos surfaced Friday — one by al-Qaida and another by the Taliban — threatening retaliation for Germany's military presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban video showed top German landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Munich's world-renowned Oktoberfest.

President Horst Koehler urged Germans go to the polls, recalling that the right to vote was not something to take for granted.

"People have died for the free, secret and equal right to vote. It's our democracy and we should not weaken it," Koehler said in a statement published in the Bild am Sonntag weekly.

Merkel ignores Islamic threats before German vote

By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writer – Sat Sep 26

BERLIN – Ignoring threats by Islamic militants, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her main rival held their final political rallies Saturday before Germany's national election, focusing on the key domestic issues of jobs and economic recovery.

Two videos surfaced Friday — one by al-Qaida and another by the Taliban — threatening retaliation for Germany's military presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban video showed top German landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Munich's world-renowned Oktoberfest.

In response, authorities on Saturday banned all flights over Oktoberfest until it ends on Oct. 4. The annual 16-day beer festival, which was targeted by a student bomber in 1980, draws some 6 million visitors from around the globe.

Security had been already tightened around the country after the first Islamic threats two weeks ago, with many more officers now visible at airports and train stations.

Merkel hopes to win a second four-year term in Sunday's national election and ditch her conservative party's "grand coalition" with her main rivals, the center-left Social Democrats, led by her foreign minister and challenger, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The 55-year-old chancellor wants to form a new center-right government with her preferred partners, the pro-business Free Democrats.

"Germany needs stability," Merkel told supporters on Saturday. "Stability is only possible with a strong (Christian Democratic) Union in a coalition with the FDP."

But a poll published Friday underlined how close Sunday's race could be, with Merkel's sound lead being whittled away in the past weeks.

The survey by the Forsa institute showed her Christian Democrats with only 33 percent of the vote, compared to 37 percent over the summer. The Social Democrats polled 25 percent and the Free Democrats had 14 percent, enough for a razor-thin lead with the Christian Democrats.

The Greens polled at 10 percent and the Left party at 12 percent. However, the two major parties have ruled out any coalition with the Leftists.

The survey of 2,001 people gave a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

At his party's final rally in Dresden, Steinmeier accused Merkel of lacking the creativity to govern and warned that a victory for her party and the Free Democrats would benefit only the wealthy.

"Tomorrow's election is not just a decision for the next four years, but will decide (Germany's) direction for the coming decade," Steinmeier said.

Some 62.2 million Germans are eligible to vote. Germany is the world's second biggest exporter after China and the biggest economy in the 27-nation European Union. Despite pressure from other EU nations to back a bigger stimulus plan, Merkel has kept the country's unemployment rate hovering around 8 percent during the financial crisis using government-supported short-term contracts.

The role of Germany's more than 4,200 troops in Afghanistan has leapt into the spotlight after al-Qaida issued a string of threatening videos aimed at Germans.

Yet with both Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats supporting the Afghan mission, it is unlikely the threats will have a major impact on the election. Only the Left party supports an immediate withdrawal of German troops, and it remains a marginal force.

"At the moment, I am expecting that the terror alerts will generate no direct reaction of the voters at all, at least no reactions that could lead to a change of voting behavior," said Nils Diederich, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University.

In an audiotape that surfaced Friday, Osama bin Laden demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan and threatened "retaliation" against them for their alliance with the United States in the war.

"Your operation here against Islam makes an attack on Germany tempting for us mujahedeen," a German-speaking Taliban fighter in Afghanistan identified as Ajjub said in a separate message released Friday by the Taliban.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported Saturday that, given the recurring threats over the past two weeks, police have been closely monitoring terror suspects. The newspaper, citing unnamed security sources, said 19 apartments of German converts to Islam were searched in five different cities on Wednesday.

President Horst Koehler urged Germans go to the polls, saying the right to vote was not something to take for granted.

"People have died for the free, secret and equal right to vote. It's our democracy and we should not weaken it," Koehler said in a statement.