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Daily Afghan Report


		[ 20 March 2008 ] Czech Reconstruction Team Begins Work In Central Afghan Province The Czech Republic has officially opened its own provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in the Afghan province of Logar, Czech Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Vlastimil Picek said on March 19, the CTK news agency reported. Picek and Deputy Defense Minister Martin Bartak attended the ceremony in Logar, as well as the provincial governor. Approximately 200 Czech soldiers, plus civilian agricultural, construction, and hydrology experts will operate in Logar. The Czech team is expected to complete some schools and hospitals begun by U.S. personnel. Picek said the security situation in the province is generally stable, but there are some districts where security is not good. The Czech PRT is to be in place for at least three years. After Lithuania and Hungary, the Czech Republic is the third new NATO member to have its own PRT. AT Militants Destroy Another Mobile-Phone Tower In Southern Afghanistan Taliban militants have destroyed another mobile-phone antenna in the southern Kandahar Province, according to local official Mohammad Ahsan on March 19, Xinhua news agency reported the same day. "The enemies in their subversive activities attacked an antenna of a mobile [phone] company in the Loya Wala area, 5 kilometers north of Kandahar city, and destroyed it," Ahsan said. There were no casualties, he added. Nearly a dozen towers owned by telephone companies have been destroyed by Taliban insurgents since the insurgents warned the companies recently to shut down from dusk to dawn in the areas Taliban militants are active (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 3 and 5, 2008). AT Three Suspected Terrorists Arrested By Afghan Police According to an Interior Ministry statement on March 19, police have arrested three suspected terrorists in Afghanistan's western Herat Province, Xinhua reported. "These rebels who were involved in disrupting peace and stability were captured from Gazara district and a number of arms and ammunition, including four assault rifles, have been seized," the statement added, without providing further details. Police in the province killed two suspected insurgents and arrested another five on March 17, reportedly after they sabotaged a mobile-phone antenna, AFP reported on March 19. AT NATO Asks For Afghan Support On Anti-Koran Film NATO is concerned about the possible repercussions over a film by a right-wing Dutch member of parliament criticizing the Koran and has asked Afghan leaders for support, Reuters reported on March 19. Supreme Allied Commander Europe John Craddock said that insurgents could use the film to whip up anger against NATO troops in Afghanistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 6, 10, and 18, 2008). "Yes, I think it is a concern...that they will take out their ire on all of those people such as the Dutch in Oruzgan Province," Craddock said. He told a news briefing at NATO headquarters in Kabul that "the problem is the extremists. They want to use this as a rallying point to their advantage." AT archive homepage