Afghanistan News January 29, 2003 MoFA

January 29, 2003

Afghan president changes interior minister
Tuesday, 28 January, 2003, 18:53 GMT BBC World Service
The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has replaced his Interior Minister, Taj Mohammad Wardag, with a former resistance leader.
The new minister is Ali Ahmad Jalali, who was a senior military commander in the mujahideen rebellion against Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

He has recently returned from the United States where he was head of the Pashto and Persian service for an international radio station (Voice of America).

The ministerial change follows criticism of the way Mr Wardag handled student demonstrations in Kabul last year in which at least one person was killed.

There were also complaints about the security situation in Afghanistan

US, Afghan forces battle 80 gunmen near Afghan-Pakistan border
Wednesday January 29, 2:40 AM AFP
Heavy fighting between US-led coalition forces and some 80 armed extremists near Afghanistan's southeastern border with Pakistan has left 18 people dead.

US and Norwegian warplanes began bombing Adi Ghar mountain north of the border town of Spin Boldak Monday, in what US military spokesman Colonel Roger King said was the biggest US confrontation in Afghanistan since last March.

King said between 250 and 300 US troops, accompanied by a small contingent of Afghan soldiers, Tuesday continued to fight intermittently with the group. There were no coalition injuries.

Spin Boldak security officer Mama Obaidullah told AFP late Tuesday that fighting ended around 5:30 pm (1300 GMT), but US Colonel Michael Shields, a coordinating commander, said the operation could go on for days.

The gunmen were suspected to be supporters of renegade former Afghan premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's anti-government Hezb-i-Islami party, King told reporters at Bagram, a US base north of Kabul.

Hekmatyar, who is in hiding and is being sought by US forces, has issued several calls for jihad, or holy war, against US troops, whom he calls "occupying forces."

Fighting broke out at about 11:00 am (0630 GMT) Monday north of Spin Boldak, 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of the main southern city of Kandahar, the former Taliban stronghold, King said.

One Afghan was killed and another wounded in an initial exchange. A third man was captured and revealed 80 armed men were holed-up in nearby caves in the rugged, unpopulated terrain.

"Apache helicopters were called in to check the information and estimated about 18 were ... shooting at them with rifles. The Apaches went into attack mode and engaged them," King said.

Close air support, including Norwegian F-16 fighters on their country's first bombing mission since World War Two, US B1 bombers and a US AC-130 gunship, pounded the area with cannon fire and 2,000- and 500-pound bombs.

"What we know so far is at least 18 enemy forces have been killed," King said, adding that extra forces were drafted in overnight to hunt down the extremists.

Kandahar security chief General Akraam said that 60 "Taliban or al-Qaeda" fighters were involved. Speaking by telephone from Kandahar, he said the brother of a senior Taliban commander, Hafiz Abdur Rahim, had been captured.

King said the fighters were believed to be Hekmatyar loyalists with links to the former Taliban regime and its al-Qaeda terror network associates.

"We have intelligence in the past that Hekmatyar's group was trying to operate in that area. The detainee was someone who was willing to be associated with Hekmatyar."

He added that "the number of casualties makes it the largest engagement since operation Anaconda."

The US military claims Anaconda, a massive 17-day military operation targeting al-Qaeda cave hideouts in the eastern Shah-i-Kot mountains last March, wiped out the terror network's middle-ranking leadership.

Troops from the US-dominated 10,000-strong coalition have been hunting down extremist remnants since the hardline Taliban fell from power in late 2001.

They have come under frequent attack in mountainous areas along the porous border with Pakistan, where the US military believes hundreds of the extremists are sheltering.

King said it was premature to attach any significance to the latest attack.

"The key part is we do our operations with the purpose of catching the enemy in a position where we can have the maximum effect on him while having the minimum effect on us. That's what we have got so far."

Bush talks to leaders of Afghanistan, Mauritius
Tue Jan 28, 5:15 PM ET AP
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush reached out abroad Tuesday as he prepared to address the world publicly in his State of the Union speech, conferring by telephone with the leaders of Afghanistan and the African island nation of Mauritius.

The president called Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan's U.S.-supported government, to reiterate the United States' commitment to seeing "a prosperous, democratic and stable Afghanistan," said Sean McCormack, a White House spokesman.

Bush promised Karzai that the United States would "stay the course," McCormack said. In return, Karzai thanked Bush for U.S. help in rebuilding the war-torn Central Asian country.

Bush also spoke for about five minutes with Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Juganauth, whose country earlier this month hosted the second U.S.-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum. Bush had planned to attend the forum, which focused on the 2 1/2-year-old Africa Growth and Opportunity Act that provides duty and quota-free access for a wide range of products for African countries that meet U.S. political and economic requirements.

Instead, Bush addressed the participants via a videotaped speech.

In the call, Bush also thanked Mauritius for its support for the U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq in the U.N. Security Council. Mauritius no longer serves on the council.

U.S. Soldiers Arrest 3 Afghan Businessmen
Monday, January 27, 2003 4:05 PM EST
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) U.S. soldiers arrested three Afghan businessmen suspected of links to militant Islamic groups, including al-Qaida, a senior Afghan security official said Monday.

The men, who were not identified, were arrested Sunday in the central Ahmedzai Market in the eastern city of Jalalabad, said Gen. Abul Malik Malikzai, who heads the 4th Brigade of the Afghan army.

He said the three were suspected of connections to al-Qaida, the Taliban or renegade rebel commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He said he did not know where they were being held.

Hekmatyar, who is said to have links with both al-Qaida and the Taliban, has openly attacked Afghanistan's U.S.-supported government of President Hamid Karzai. He is believed to be living in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.

For Afghan rebuilding, a key year
Afghanistan will get a boost in US aid from $271 million last year to more than $300 million this year.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - In its second year of power, and its first real year of outright control, the government of Afghanistan has entered a crucial year that decides whether everything comes together - or falls apart.

If Kabul and other major cities are stable, donor money will flow, refugees will return, and roads will be rebuilt. If the nation remains unstable, aid resources will dry up, and Afghanistan could return to the 12th century conditions prevalent under the Taliban.

"The coming year will be the big challenge," says Maki Shinohara, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kabul. "The government will be under pressure to show the people that their lives have improved, and for that we need the continued attention of the international community (of donors)."

Aid workers and the new government of President Hamid Karzai are shifting their attention from short-term emergency aid to the longer-term work of rebuilding all those roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals destroyed by war.

But as with last year, the response from donor nations has been tentative this year, Ms. Shinohara says. "If the international community pulls out, it could quickly go back to the war years."

This mixture of optimism and dread is common around Kabul these days. The sheer physical improvements to this country are dramatic, as Afghans rebuild their homes and shops, clear their fields of land mines, send their children to school, and put 23 years of war behind them. But just as striking are the ways in which Afghanistan hasn't changed. Most women still wear burqas; most buildings and roads remain destroyed; many families have no access to schools, health services, safe drinking water, or electricity; most young men don't have jobs; and most of the military leaders who turned the country into a shambles remain on the loose - or in the interim government - reportedly waiting for their moment to strike.

Afghan and international officials here agree that the first building block of any "Marshall Plan" for Afghanistan is security. Currently the greatest threat to security, Afghan and US military sources say, is a new alliance of Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Afghan religious extremists, whom Afghan intelligence sources say are regrouping along the long and rugged Afghan-Pakistani border.

"The financial transaction system of Al Qaeda - such as money laundering, charities, and sympathizers - has not been seriously disrupted," says an Afghan official in the intelligence agency, Amniat. As for America's number one enemy, he says, "Osama bin Laden is moving back and forth across the border - our surveillance of him is constant."

But perhaps a more immediate threat than Mr. bin Laden himself is a homegrown terrorist named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The chief of Hizb-I Islami, a religious party that fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Mr. Hekmatyar recently called for a jihad against US forces. Unlike his allies - the Taliban and Al Qaeda - Hekmatyar can offer a motivated and trained network of supporters within Afghanistan. A bombing last September in a crowded Kabul market was a signature Hekmatyar event, Afghan police officials say: First, a small car bomb drew a crowd of shoppers; then a second, larger blast killed more than 30 civilians.

The international force that currently patrols Kabul with Afghan police says that such attacks skew public perceptions, when in fact the violent crime rate has fallen dramatically in the past year.

"It's like any major capital city, such as Washington, D.C.; anything can happen, accidents, bombings," says Capt. Mufit Yilmaz, spokesman for the International Security and Assistance Force in Kabul. "But don't forget, a year before, there was no water for people and now there are wells. Women couldn't walk on the street alone, and now they do. People are voting with their feet, they are coming to the city, and the government is establishing a better life for them."

Supporting this reconstruction effort are a shifting cast of international donors, led by the US. Bush administration officials say US nonmilitary spending in Afghanistan will be in the order of $300 to $400 million this year, up from $271 million last year.

The money will be distributed to a number of highly visible projects such as 1,200 primary schools, 600 health clinics, hundreds of wells, three major irrigation systems, projects in democracy and governance, and road and infrastructure reconstruction.

"We need $200 million to just get things started, but we would love to get it closer to $320 million," says Elizabeth Kvitashvili, development officer for USAID in Kabul. "We're not just building a project and walking away. The communities will have to contribute something - teachers, laborers, food, fuel - to ensure that a facility is sustainable."

Both Russia and Iran are tackling major road projects from Kandahar to Herat, and Japan is handling a portion of the effort to rebuild parts of the Kabul-to-Kandahar highway. But others - notably Saudi Arabia, home of bin Laden - are coming up empty. Saudi Arabia originally offered $40 million in grants to rebuild roads. Then they turned the grant into a $30 million loan. The Afghan government refused the terms; insiders suggest the Saudi government may not give any money at all.

Public patience with the Afghan government seems to be wearing thin at times. At a recent protest in Kabul, around 200 amputees and disabled war veterans complained that they'd been paid less than one-fifth of the monthly stipend they'd been promised by the Karzai government.

"We have lost our limbs because of this war, and now these people come to power and they enjoy all the money, and we are just begging on the street to survive," says Mohammad Hussein, a former tank driver for the Northern Alliance, who lost his right leg.

"Karzai promised to help us, but he did nothing," says Mohammad Tahir, a Northern Alliance veteran who lost his left leg. "We want to get rid of him."

Afghanistan: Interview with Afghan President Hamid Karzai
KABUL, 28 January (IRIN) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a man with a mission. He was nominated to head the Interim Administration in Bonn, Germany, in November 2001, and elected President by an overwhelming majority at the Emergency Loya Jirga in Kabul last June. The 45-year-old has worked arduously for years to bring peace and stability to his fractured nation, devastated by over two decades of war.
In an exclusive interview with IRIN, Karzai, the son of a prominent tribal leader, assessed the pressing humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, but emphasised the importance of reconstruction.

QUESTION: What in your view are the most pressing humanitarian issues in your country today?

ANSWER: The most pressing humanitarian concerns or issues in Afghanistan are the continuing effects of drought and war in the country, and the help for refugees returning from neighbouring countries and the internally displaced people. That is, the issue of continuing to provide them with assistance such as food and shelter and all that. That's what we are concerned about. That's where I think we should continue to assist people.

Q: How would you appraise the current humanitarian effort underway in your country?

A: I'm satisfied with the results. I'm satisfied with the humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan by the United Nations. But I would also like to concentrate more on removing the causes of humanitarian difficulties rather than treating the symptoms. We would like to slowly move from a humanitarian operation and more towards one of reconstruction. Moving towards removing the causes of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan so people can make a living on their own.

Q: Are there any areas in which you have found yourself disappointed with the assistance you have received from the international community and UN?

A: We are generally happy with the assistance we have received. What I would like to know - and we are working on that with the UN and with the NGOs - is to have a clearer account of where our work has taken place and how much it costs. In other words, we would like to have a better detail of the areas where work is taking place or work has taken place, and the accountability of it. That applies more to NGOs than to the UN.

Q: In terms of capacity building for the government, where does your administration stand now?

A: It has shown it is taking more responsibility in the past year and I'm glad that the international donor community and the UN see that as well. There is increasing control by the Afghan government. But we still need to do a lot to increase the administrative capacity of Afghanistan. It will take us some more time - quite a bit of time. But we have to continue to pay attention to this problem in the country. I'm glad we have had good support from the international community in this regard.

Q: This past year has been a major challenge for Afghanistan and yourself. How would you rate your own performance?

A: I think the government - as a whole - has been very, very good. There are too many things that we have done that we don't even talk about. In a few months time, I should be giving the Afghan people an account of what we have done. That will show there are some major successes. There are areas in which we have had difficulties with regard to disarmament and all that - and also which work is being speeded up now. In general terms - whether I am happy with the performance of the government or not - I would say largely yes.

Q: What have been the greatest achievements and failures this past year?

A: The greatest achievement is the change of the Afghan currency to the new currency, which went smoothly and nicely in such a short time for a country destroyed like ours; the return of so many refugees in such a short time - more than two million of them; the success in the education programmes is significant; the freedom of the media - lots of other things in the pipe that we have stuck to the datelines that we set for ourselves and own, is a success.

Economy generally. There are more jobs for people, thanks to the international community's participation, and the UN's as well.

The area where we have not been able to make significant inroads was to provide the Afghan people a life free of armed gangs who are fighting each other in parts of the country. That's the only area I'm not happy about. There is [however] work going on. Some matters will take time - some should be done sooner rather than later.

Q: Security remains a major concern within your country. What efforts are you making to improve security over the next year and how do you feel those efforts will be received by local warlords?

A: Security is largely good in Afghanistan. The countryside is even better than it is in Kabul. Other than the skirmishes that I mentioned between groups fighting each other, the overall security situation is all right. Our campaign against terrorism is going on very, very successfully. Just now, from time to time, there have been assassination attempts or rocket attacks occasionally in some places, but generally the country is quite secure, very much secure.

With the increase in the number of soldiers in the national army, with better training of the national army, and the work that is going on with the national army, in a year we should have a much better security situation than we had last year. It should be increasing on the positive side.

Q: There has been much discussion about the lack of reconstruction in the country. What needs to be done?

The reconstruction activity since the holding of the Loya Jirga last June is much better. I'm happy with the way the world has responded to our reconstruction needs. I'm happy with the way the world has given us money and resources. It's much better than the first six months of the interim government. It's picking up more speed so I'm quite satisfied. It's not true that the world is not helping. No they are helping; they're helping quite well.

Q: Afghanistan has been at the forefront of international media attention for over a year. With growing speculation of a potential US-led strike on Iraq, how concerned are you that there could be a shifting of attention away from your country?

A: I am not. First of all, I hope that there will be peace, that matters in Iraq will be resolved peacefully. If that were not the case, than I would wish the people of Iraq a smooth transition to a better regime, to a better government without much problem for them.

With regard to Afghanistan, I'm not concerned. I think the international community will continue to pay attention. It's an effort that we must win wholesomely; making sure the Afghan people see the benefits of international attention and the peace that they have. I am quite confident the world will stay with Afghanistan - even if there is something in Iraq.

Q: If you could give the international and donor community one message today, what would it be?

A: First of all I should thank the international donor community for what they have done for Afghanistan, and to the United Nations. At the same time, I would request them to continue to pay consistent attention to Afghanistan, to rebuild this country, and to enable the Afghan people to stand on their own feet.

Afghan women gain media presence
Tuesday, 28 January, 2003, 19:01 GMT BBC World Service
For the first time in more than a decade, women in the western Afghan province of Herat are to be allowed to perform on radio, television, and the stage.
The move follows a decree from the provincial Governor, Ismail Khan, effective from Tuesday.

Women were first prohibited from working in entertainment media during the period of mujahideen rule after the fall of the Najibullah government in 1992.

The prohibition continued under the Taleban government.

Afghan women complete course in conservative south
CHAMAN, Pakistan, Jan 25 (Reuters) - More than 200 Afghan women have completed a computer course in the southern city of Kandahar, once the stronghold of the ousted Taliban which banned female education, an official said on Saturday.

Mohammed Daud Barak, Kandahar's provincial minister for education, said the former bastion of the hardline Islamic regime was now a pioneer in women's education.

"250 women have successfully completed a short course in IT (information technology)," Barak told Reuters by telephone.

"Kandahar is the only city in Afghanistan where such a large number of women have successfully completed their education in computers," he added.

Barak said women would not be denied access to education or any other activities in the province, despite its reputation as one of Afghanistan's most conservative. "Women have every opportunity to educate themselves according to our religion," said Barak.

There is still widespread resistance to female education and promoting women's rights in general in Afghanistan, despite the fall of the Taliban which outlawed girls' schools and prevented women from working.

The militia was overthrown by U.S. and Afghan forces in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks that year were blamed on the al Qaeda terror network sheltered by the Taliban.

Four girls' schools came under rocket or arson attack in October, near the capital Kabul. The violence followed a series of similar attacks spread over the previous two months, mostly in the south of the country.

Karzai lauds Iran-Afghanistan friendship
Kabul, Jan 25, IRNA Head of Afghan Interim Government Hamed Karzai said here Saturday that Kabul regards its friendship with Tehran as important and essential. In a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian, he added that the Afghan government and people appreciate Iran's assistance in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. He hoped that the assistance will expand and continue to benefit the two peoples. Karzai said the relations between Afghanistan and its neighbors are based on non-interference in each other's affairs and mutual respect which is factor for stability in the region. The Iranian ambassador also briefed Karzai on his trips to the provinces of Herat, and Kandahar and lauded the reconstruction efforts in these areas. He said the recent trips by Afghan official including: Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Minister of Trade Mostafa Kazemi and National Security Advisor for International Affairs Zalmay Rasool to Tehran have had positive!
effects on bilateral political, economic and security ties.

Earlier in January visiting Abdullah described his consultations with Iran's top brass as 'fruitful'. "In meetings with Iranian officials, the two sides conferred on several matters including cooperation in (Afghan) reconstruction projects, the anti-drug campaign as well as the repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland," said the Afghan minster. He further acknowledged the valuable assistance rendered by the Islamic Republic toward reconstruction of his war-shattered country such as the repair of its water supply system, electricity network, rebuilding of schools as well as hospitals and health care centers. "No country can strain relations between Tehran and Kabul," he assured. He said nationwide elections will be held in Afghanistan from June 21-July 21, 2004 to establish a permanent government for the country. Also, in the same trip Iran and Afghanistan signed two memoranda of understanding (MoU) to expand trade and transit cooperation. According to the MoUs, the two sides will facilitate re-export to third countries based on standards and customs laws, participation in various exhibitions as well as cooperation between the two sides' chambers of commerce.

New homes for Afghans just North of Kabul
Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, January 24, 2003
Approximately 1,000 homes that were destroyed by Taliban forces during the Afghan civil war have been rebuilt in the Bagram District of Parwan Province and many former residents have returned to their homes, Radio Afghanistan reported on 23 January. The Afghan rural-development charity organization NPO rebuilt the homes using modern construction techniques. The project is estimated to have cost approximately $1 million. Another 4,000 homes in 36 villages remain in ruin in Parwan Province, but the project is expected to reconstruct another 500 homes by July. KM

Afghanistan gets $30m for judicial reforms
via the Daily Times-Pakistan
KABUL: The United Nations said on Sunday it has signed an agreement with Afghanistan on a $30 million project to reform the country’s crumbling judicial system over the next two years.

The agreement between the Afghan Judicial Reform Commission and the UN Development Programme was signed on Saturday, and aims to rebuild the legal system and re-establish the rule of law, UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.

"This two-year project is a first major step towards reforming the justice system," he told a news briefing.

The spokesman said the first part of the project would involve rebuilding and equipping courthouses across the country, training judges and other law officers and raising the capacity of the justice system.

He said particular attention would be paid to ensuring gender equality and a greater role for women in the judicial system.

He said part of the project would cover strengthening the teaching capacity of Kabul University’s Faculty of Law and Sharia and the establishment of a legal research institute there.

Silva said officials from the United Nations and the Italian embassy would join members of the commission on a steering panel for the project.

International donors pledged $30 million for the project at a conference on legal reform in Afghanistan in Rome last month. Italy has responsibility for legal reform as part of an internationally sponsored overhaul of the security sector.

More than 23 years of civil war and foreign occupation in Afghanistan have left the legal system in shambles.

Many courtrooms were destroyed in the fighting and a UN legal expert who visited the country last year questioned whether the existing judicial system met even minimum standards of fairness. —Reuters

U.N.: Afghan Girls School Enrollment High
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Thousands of Afghan girls have signed up for special winter classes, eager to catch up on schooling they missed during decades of war and hard-line Islamic rule, the United Nations said Sunday.

Some 15,000 girls in Kabul have enrolled in two education programs to take place during the winter, when children usually are on break. About 11,000 had been anticipated by the U.N. Children's Fund.

The majority of the girls about 11,500 have signed up for basic lessons in mathematics and the local Dari language. The rest are taking accelerated classes designed for older girls who missed years of schooling due to the ban on women's education by the ousted Taliban and displacement during the nation's 23 years of war.

More than 3 million children, 30 percent of them girls, returned to school across Afghanistan last year. Some teenagers who had missed years of classes were placed with children as young as six, frustrating education efforts.

``The accelerated learning program is an essential strategy to improve opportunities for children who have fallen behind in their education, and ensures their continued presence in the classroom this year,'' said Edward Carwardine, a UNICEF spokesman.

After the end of the three-month accelerated learning program, the older girls are to be tested to determine which grade they should be placed in when the new term begins in March, he said.

The United Nations also announced plans Sunday to tackle judicial reform in Afghanistan and ensure immunization against tetanus.

The U.N. and the Afghan Judicial Reform Commission signed an agreement to begin a two-year project that will reconstruct dilapidated courthouses, train judges and law assistants and upgrade legal libraries.

The agreement was the product of a two-day December conference in Rome between Afghan ministers and donor countries. Manoel de Almeida e Silva, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said the $30 million effort is ``the first major step toward reforming the judicial system.''

The United Nations also unveiled the first ever campaign to immunize Afghan women against tetanus. The campaign aims to reach every woman of childbearing age by 2005 as part of a worldwide effort.

About 13 percent of Afghanistan's population is immunized against the disease, which can be transmitted from mothers to newborn babies. Tetanus kills approximately 200,000 infants and 30,000 women each year in the developing world, according to the United Nations.

Pakistan To Help Afghanistan In Reconstruction
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Jan 25 (PNS) - Minister for Industries and Production Liaqat Ali Jatoi has stressed the need for enhancing bilateral trade and maximum participation of Pakistan for reconstruction of Afghanistan.

He said this while talking to a 30-member delegation of Kabul Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by Shuja-u-dawla along with members of Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry who called on the Minister here at his office on Saturday.

He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan had brotherly relations and Pakistan wanted to get more shares for rehabilitation of the war-torn country. He said, "Pakistan is ready to provide expertise, technical know-how, reconstruction material, machinery, other equipment and everything required by the Afghanistan for its rehabilitation programme so that there is comprehensive basic infrastructure for industrialization of Afghanistan".

"To enhance interaction and further cement the bilateral relations, there should be visits of chambers of both the countries and business delegations", he suggested.
Jatoi also apprised them that the Ministry of industries and Production had sent an invitation to the Afghan Minister for Trade and Industries to visit Pakistan and on-going Industrial Exhibition at Rawalpindi to see our products for export to Afghanistan.

The leader of the delegation Shuja-u-dawla thanked the Minister and stated that people of Afghanistan were looking forward to Pakistan for help and cooperation. He praised the friendly trade and economic policies of the present government and said that it would further strengthen economic ties of both the countries.

Afghanistan: Women's communal baths set to reopen
KABUL, 28 January (IRIN) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Monday inaugurated the reopening of some 30 communal baths, or hammams, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, thereby resuscitating the age-old tradition for women, which had been outlawed by the Taliban regime.
"The main focus of this project is women," the project manager and gender specialist, Fulya Vekiloglu, told IRIN. During the previous regime, women were banned from using such baths and, as a result hammams - particularly those frequented by women - were neglected or left in disrepair, she said.

From a dilapidated and destroyed condition, however, the bath houses have now been restored, not only to provide original washing facilities, but also new and improved fixtures such as shower rooms, with a stronger emphasis on gender equality in terms of amenities.

At the Karti Sakhi, one of 30 restored hammams in 14 different districts of the city, the Turkish-educated gender specialist noted that in most countries, people went to hammams for pleasure, but in a country where most homes lacked piped water or bathing facilities, such baths took on an added importance. "Hammams have always played an important role in Afghanistan, and can now play a greater role for women as well," she said, noting that venues for women to gather and meet in the city were extremely limited.

"This is the only place where women can meet other women outside their immediate families," Vekiloglu said. "In terms of social and cultural aspects it's very important."

The US $550,000 reconstruction work was carried out by a team of nine engineers, including four women, who were directly responsible for all gender adjustments made during the rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, the UN Children's Fund, in cooperation with the project's engineers, is planning to develop a hygiene education programme with key hygiene messages and visual materials specific to public bathhouses.

The hammams were rehabilitated within the framework of UNDP's Rehabilitation of Public Bath House (Hammam) Programme, a project funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the UNDP and the Municipality of Kabul.

Afghan airline seeks flights to China, Russia
(AFP) - Afghanistan's rejuvenated national airline Ariana is looking to expand its services to include destinations in China and Russia, the company's general director said.

Khalil Ahmad Najim said the airline, only now finding its wings after its fleet was virtually obliterated by conflict and heavy sanctions against the former hardline Taliban, was in talks to reestablish its old network.

"Very soon we plan to start our flights to Moscow on a route we were flying on in the past." he told AFP.

"In addition, an Ariana delegation has been invited to Urumuqi in China's (northwestern) Xinjiang province, so hopefully we will start flights to China too."

Ariana currently runs services to Dubai, Frankfurt, Islamabad, Istanbul, Tehran, the Indian city of Amritsar and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, using a fleet of three Boeing 727s and two India-donated Airbuses.

Najim said the airline was due to take delivery of a third Airbus from India next month which would help plans to operate a service to Azerbaijan. It was also looking to acquire more aircraft for expansion to Europe.

"We have been invited to Baku, so our delegation will go there and study the situation and see if we can have flights to Baku en route to Moscow.
"In our longer-term plans we will try to get more modern planes which can fly for around 10 hours which will give us direct access to European destinations such as London."

Najim said the airline was preoccupied in the short-term with taking a record-breaking 25,000 Afghans on the annual Islamic hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, for which it has chartered several extra aircraft.

Earlier this month, Azerbaijani flag carrier Azal began operating a thrice weekly service between Baku and Kabul, joining Pakistan International Airline as the only commerical foreign operators serving Afghanistan.

UNESCO and the government of Afghanistan launch nationwide literacy project
Source: UNESCO 28 Jan 2003
28-01-2003 4:00 pm (GMT) Paris - UNESCO and the Government of Afghanistan today launched a major project to boost literacy throughout Afghanistan, which suffers one of the world's lowest literacy rates. UNESCO estimates that only 51.9 percent of Afghan men over the age of 15 and a mere 21.9 percent of women in the same age group can read and write. A vast effort is underway to rebuild the country's education system and to get all Afghan children back to school. However, the adult population, which is responsible for the immediate reconstruction of Afghanistan and the revival of its economy, also needs to upgrade skills and knowledge. More than two decades of war have left Afghanistan with few qualified workers and professionals: most either fled the country or were killed during the conflict. Under the rule of the Taliban, women were not allowed to work and girls were forbidden from attending school.
The Literacy and Non-formal Education Development in Afghanistan project (LAND AFGHAN) launched today with the signing of an agreement between UNESCO and the Government of Afghanistan in Kabul, aims to fill part of the education gap that resulted from the war.

The project's main focus will be on building up a nationwide network of literacy teachers, trained in modern non-formal education methods. It will also train people in the development and production of teaching materials and provide the necessary equipment for this, including printing facilities. A wealth of existing literacy resources, developed by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre (ACCU) in Japan and UNESCO's Bangkok office, will be adapted and translated into the dominant Pashtu and Dari languages.

During the second phase of the project, community learning centres will be set up in Kabul and throughout Afghanistan's different regions to provide access to these literacy programmes for as many people as possible. Managers will be trained to run them. A special effort will be made to reach Afghan women and girls with the project, with the establishment of a Literacy Resource Centre for Girls and Women, sponsored by ACCU.

The project is initially financed by a US$500,000 contribution from the Japanese Government through a funds-in-trust. It is considered a flagship programme for the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012) which will be officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York on February 13.

UNICEF needs $534 mln for crises without Iraq war
GENEVA, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday appealed for more than half a billion dollars in relief funds for emergency-hit countries it said were in danger of being forgotten due to the Iraq crisis.
"We are seeking...$534 million to reach kids in 33 countries," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told reporters after presenting the 2003 Humanitarian Action Report to officials from donor countries.

Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be the biggest recipients of aid under plan, said Bellamy.

She appealed for the international community to take note of the plight of countries like Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Eritrea and North Korea, which she said were in danger of becoming "forgotten crises".

"A number of countries are chronically underfunded...While I understand why the world's attention seems to be focused on Iraq, it is these so-called forgotten emergencies which end up a year or two on becoming even greater emergencies," she said.

On Iraq, Bellamy said UNICEF had already budgeted for around $9 million, part of a $37.4 million appeal launched last December with other major UN relief agencies to set up stocks of food and other supplies in case of conflict in Iraq.

The funds for Iraq are earmarked for vaccinating and generally improving the health of more than five million women and children. It does not include extra cash to tackle emergencies in the event of a U.S.-led invasion and war.

"This is a non-war figure. I don't think anybody knows (how much would be needed in the event of a war)," Bellamy said.

UNICEF is making contingency plans ahead of a possible war in Iraq by focusing more intently on clean water access and accelerating a planned measles vaccination campaign.

"We hope very much that nothing happens, but we believe we are as prepared as we can be at this point in time should something happen," Bellamy said.

The UNICEF report highlighted the importance of education to restore some normality in children's lives and acknowledged the problem of coping with crises compounding the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Afghans in Iran to be repatriated by 2004
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Ahmad Husseini, the Iranian Interior Ministry official responsible for refugees, said on 27 January that 500,000 out of the 2.4 million Afghan refugees in Iran have left and the rest of them will return to Afghanistan in the next two years, Iranian state radio's Zahedan-based Pashtu service reported. After what Husseini referred to as the "voluntary repatriation" of the Afghans living in Iran, the only Afghans remaining in Iran would be the ones to whom the Interior Ministry grants temporary residency permits. Husseini added that Afghans in Iran who are working without work permits will be detained and deported. BS

At the Afghan Border, Warnings of Attacks Tied to Iraq War
By CARLOTTA GALL January 28, 2003 The New York Times
NGORADA, Afghanistan, Jan. 24 — Hundreds of Qaeda fighters and Taliban supporters — now living with families in the rugged tribal area of South Waziristan in Pakistan — are planning to intensify their attacks on Afghan territory if war breaks out in Iraq, interviews with three visitors from Pakistani tribal area indicate.

The statements by the men, who traveled across the border to be interviewed, have heightened the concerns of security officials here in this southeastern border village, where the most recent American soldier to be killed by hostile fire, Sgt. Steven Checo of the 82nd Airborne Division, died in a gunfight on Dec. 21.

The sergeant's night patrol surprised three men crossing from Pakistan to leave some rockets beside a house here, and the security officials see his death as a portent. They warn that Qaeda and Taliban supporters are increasing their infiltration — preparing more, and bigger, attacks against American troops and local villagers who cooperate with them.

"They are the people who came out of Afghanistan when the Taliban fell," one of the men from Pakistan, who gave his name as Reghduanullah, said of the foreign fighters. "I have seen them, they come to the bazaar." He described Sudanese, Central Asians and men from Muslim regions of Russia and China. He said they carried radios, were armed with rifles and grenades, and were always accompanied by local armed men, their hosts in the tribal areas.

He quoted the foreigners as saying: "We swore we would fight against the Americans until they leave Afghanistan or we die. We will not give up our holy war against America."

Mr. Reghduanullah asserted: "I am sure they will do an operation soon. A lot of people want to be martyrs so they will come to fight the Americans."

Mr. Reghduanullah said that many Pakistanis from the area joined the Taliban both before and during the American-led campaign, and that they offered the foreign and Afghan fighters shelter when they withdrew from Afghanistan last year.

Mr. Reghduanullah's view was supported by the representative in the border area for the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who for safety reasons would give only his title and first name, Engineer Amin. "These days, Al Qaeda is very active and they are crossing over here a lot," he said. "For a long time they were quiet but in the last two months they have started their activity.

"Our information is that when America starts the attack on Iraq, they will make an attack here. They will attack in big numbers, on the American base and against anyone who works with the Americans," he said.

Such attacks have long been promised, but for months, the raids have been small and isolated, involving just a few men at a time.

Their target is mainly the more than 1,000 American troops stationed in a line of bases along the eastern border with Pakistan. But the fighters have also attacked the Afghan police station in nearby Barmal, the main border crossing, where the police chief is open about his cooperation with American forces.

United Nations officials have reported that Taliban members have been trickling back in from Pakistan. One United Nations official said at a meeting of nongovernmental organizations over the weekend that Taliban fighters were gathering in Tora Bora, the mountainous area in eastern Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden was last heard of in December 2001.

Whatever their plans, the presence of Qaeda and Taliban fighters has alarmed people on both sides of the border. American Special Forces based in Shkin show an aggressive combat readiness when on patrol that is not currently seen elsewhere in Afghanistan. Flanked by heavily armed Afghan militia, they drive armored vehicles with machineguns on the turret and each side door.

Engineer Amin's concern is visible; shadows from sleeplessness ring his eyes. He moves only with well-armed bodyguards, and he meets with a foreigner in a safe house away from his home. Last month his house came under rocket attack for a second time — a message, he said, from Al Qaeda and the Taliban, to stop his work as a liaison between the American military and the local community. His father and brother, who oppose his work with Mr. Karzai's government, left for Pakistan after the first attack, but his wife, children and cousins remain, he said.

Letters were recently left in the bazaar at Barmal, a few miles north of here, with threats to kill him, as well as the commander of the local Afghan militia and any other Afghans who cooperate with the Americans. He has a collection of different notes that have been found on the streets in the last month; all handwritten, photocopied letters, signed "Members of the Mujahedeen."

"The time of the mujahedeen is coming," warned the most recent letter, copies of which were dropped last Thursday night on the main street of Barmal. "Those people who are working with the foreigners, and have good relations with foreigners, we will not let them be," it read, "people like Engineer Amin." There was also an offer of 500,000 rupees — about $9,000 — to anyone who killed him or any other American collaborator.

Such threats against collaborators are repeated publicly in the tribal areas of Pakistan, said a second man from Pakistan, who gave his name as Hayatullah. "In Pakistan they are saying these things openly," he said. "The mullahs are saying if you meet with Americans you are an infidel, and if you kill an American you will go to paradise. If the mullah told some of these people to climb a mountain, they will."

In their interview, the three visiting men said they were worried that the presence of Arab and other fugitive foreign fighters in Pakistan was going to bring war or deeper trouble to their area. "Until all these refugees leave the place we will not have peace," said the third interviewee, an older man from Shkai, who gave his name as Muhammad Sarwar.

The three said they knew of six men who had been murdered in South Waziristan in the last three months because they were suspected of being American informants.
The killers in one case daubed a message on the nearby bridge. "We have killed a spy of America, he had dollars, an expensive watch and a G.P.S. finder," it read, referring to a Global Positioning System, Mr. Reghduanullah said. He added that he saw the decaying body and the message about eight days after the killing.

The three men said that local tribal elders, as well as Pakistani government and secret service officials, were sympathetic to the foreign fighters, in clear opposition to their government's policy of cooperation with the United States. They were tipping the fighters off before raids so they could avoid capture, and allowing them to cross the border on their incursions into Afghanistan, the men said.

Asked about the accounts of the men, a senior Pakistani official dismissed them as baseless. He denied the presence of Al Qaeda in the tribal areas and said families there were too scared of arrest to harbor them. Yet a Pakistani police official in Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, recently acknowledged that there was an Arab presence in South Waziristan.

In Afghanistan, Engineer Amin, and the police chief, Daoud Jan, have been lobbying the central government and the American military for resources to guard against further attacks, but they lament that their pleas are going unheard.

"They should help us, and send the Afghan National Army," the police chief said. "If the attackers see I have soldiers, and the Americans with me, they will never attack us."