The following is reprinted by permission of The Christian Science Monitor

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai's first news conference in six months was dominated by his increasing frustration at the level of violence in his country. Hundreds of people have died in fighting in the south over the past few weeks as the Taliban has ratcheted up attacks. But the Scotsman reports that Mr. Karzai made a point of criticizing the international community, and the US-led coalition's antiterror campaign in particular.

"It is not acceptable for us that in all this fighting, Afghans are dying. In the last three to four weeks, 500 to 600 Afghans were killed. [Even] if they are Taliban, they are sons of this land," a clearly frustrated Mr. Karzai told reporters.

Mr. Karzai said the current focus on hunting Taliban militants did not address terrorism's root causes. "We must engage strategically in disarming terrorism by stopping the sources of supply of money, training, equipment and motivation," he said.

Karzai also said the war on terror needs to be broadened outside the boundaries of his country, blaming both weaknesses in his own government and "foreign factors" for the rise in terrorist attacks. By advocating that the international community spend less time on "the war on terror" and spend more time focusing on the causes of that terrorism, Karzai was referring indirectly to Pakistan's role in the conflict.

The BBC reports that NATO military leaders had already predicted a "tough start" in Afghanistan, as they move into areas that have never really been under the control of either the Kabul government, nor the US-led coalition, since the fall of the Taliban.

Whether they were hoping for the best, and preparing their home nations for the worst or not, it's clear to coalition insiders that the Taliban are "fighting harder and more coherently, tenaciously and in bigger numbers than they expected."

They are predicting "a bloody summer," but are confident that come the autumn the extra forces will have paid off and the Taliban will be severely weakened.

Meanwhile, The Daily Times of Pakistan reports that Afghan journalists and legislators are furious over a list of new "guidelines" being for the country's media.

Considering the present situation, media reports should not weaken people's morale and affect the national interests, it says, referring in part to stories about the regular Taliban attacks. The list, marked not for publication, says there should be no interviews with terrorist commanders and that criticism of the NATO and US led forces based in Afghanistan is forbidden.

Also frowned on are enemy statements that portray the government as un-Islamic or suggest the security forces are weak. Stories of attacks, such as the regular suicide blasts and car bombings, should not lead news bulletins.

Voice of America reports that local journalists say they were given the guidelines document during a meeting earlier in the week with the Afghan intelligence service. Although the document bears no signature, and the guidelines are not accompanied by any penalties for ignoring them, many journalists believe they are an attempt to intimidate the country's editors into self-censorship.

Jurist.com reports that when asked about the document, Karzai said it was " a request that journalists refrain from reporting such news, and not a government restriction, because there are no penalties for failing to comply."

The Independent reports that on the other hand, the Taliban are showing that they have learned how to use propaganda very effectively.

The Taliban now have three different press spokesmen covering three separate regions of the country. In Kandahar this summer, Taliban cassettes, DVDs and magazines are available in numbers never previously seen. Their focus is the "puppet" government of Mr Karzai and its complicity in what is portrayed as the Western military persecution of ordinary Afghans.

"This propaganda does have an effect, particularly when it is repeated again and again," Hamidullah Tarzi, a political analyst and former finance minister, said. "As Goebbels used to say, it doesn't matter whether propaganda is a lie or not, if you repeat it enough people will believe it."

The Taliban have also started broadcasting from a pirate radio station called "the Voice of Sharia," using two mobile transmitters in southern provinces.

Finally, The New York Times reports that Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri called on Afghans to rise up against the US-led coalition. His call for Afghans to fight foreign forces came as the Pentagon reported four more US troops were killed in fighting in the far northeast corner of the country." (Tom Regan, The Christian Science Monitor, June 23, 2006)

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