Afghanistan News October 20, 2003

October 20, 2003

Six Killed in Two Blasts on Afghan Roads
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A bomb blew up a pickup truck on a dirt road in eastern Afghanistan, killing four people, and two Afghan soldiers were killed in a land mine explosion in the country's south, officials said Sunday. Officials blamed fighters of the al-Qaida terrorist network and the ousted Taliban regime in the attacks, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The explosion in eastern Kunar province on Friday came two days after the Taliban allegedly distributed pamphlets in the province warning Afghans against working with the post-Taliban U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, said Irshad Khan, an official in the 9th Afghan military brigade based in Asadabad, the provincial capital.

The blast killed the driver of the vehicle, his brother, the brother's son and the daughter of another brother, Khan said, speaking by satellite telephone from Asadabad. The five wounded were in serious condition and were moved to a U.S. military hospital in Bagram, north of the national capital, Kabul, Khan said.

The pickup truck was traveling from Pashat village to Asadabad, about 9 miles to the west. "Taliban and al-Qaida are not new in Kunar. They have carried out many explosions here. This one was also carried out by them," Khan said.

In Helmand province on Friday, two Afghan military intelligence agents were killed and three others were wounded when their pickup truck hit a land mine 25 miles south of the provincial capital of Lashkargah, said provincial government spokesman Mohammed Wali Khan.

"Taliban are carrying out terrorist operations in Helmand and other provinces of Afghanistan," said Khan, who is no relation of the official in Kunar. Afghan officials often blame insurgents from the two groups for attacks targeting government troops, aid workers and U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Kabul holds talks with Taliban 'moderates'
By Victoria Burnett in Kabul October 19 2003 20:51
The Afghan government is in talks with prominent "moderates" from the former Taliban regime in an attempt to turn the tide of anti-government and anti-US sentiment in southern Afghanistan, a senior Afghan official said.

Mohammed Umer Daudzai, chief of staff to President Hamid Karzai, said the Kabul government was talking to a group of Taliban figures who it hoped would come back into the fold and draw in Afghans who might otherwise side with hardcore militants.

"We cannot afford to have a major group like the Taliban, who has links with our neighbouring countries, living on the outside," Mr Daudzai said in an interview. "It's a new effort . . . which has intensified." Mr Daudzai did not name any of the Taliban figures approached. Other government officials and western diplomats in Kabul said they were aware of talks but unsure what stage they had reached.

"It's a message of inclusiveness," said Omar Samad, foreign ministry spokesman. "But overtures are one thing . . . actual actions are another."

Efforts to persuade moderate Taliban figures to support Mr Karzai come amid a powerful, violent offensive by the hardline Islamic group that the central government and western officials believe is being planned by Taliban leaders living principally across the border in Pakistan.

The Afghan government has given Pakistan a list of top, hardline Taliban commanders who it believes are behind the attacks and demanded their arrest.

Afghan and western officials say the former regime, which was ousted in October 2001 by a US-led military offensive, has the co-operation inside the country of disgruntled ethnic Pashtuns. The Taliban came largely from among the highly-conservative Pashtuns, many of whom sympathise with their view of Islam but do not necessarily espouse their militant cause.

It is not clear how much US support exists for the fresh overtures to the Taliban. US officials have denied involvement in talks, but Mr Daudzai said any initiative would have been taken in consultation with US officials.

Speculation that the Afghan government and its US backers were in talks with the Taliban has risen with reports of the release of Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban's former foreign minister, who has been held by US forces in Afghanistan since he turned himself in during February 2002.

Government and western sources say talks with Taliban figures are limited to a small group close to Mr Karzai, who supported the Taliban in its early days. Some government figures from the Northern Alliance military coalition, which fought the Taliban for years, are opposed to the moves, they say.

Taliban general caught carrying Australian passport
10/19
Australian Federal Police were investigating the capture of an alleged former Taliban army general who slipped into Thailand with an Australian passport, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty revealed today.

Thailand's Sunday Nation newspaper said the man, identified only as Montegoro, entered the country several days ago and was stopped by police in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok.

Mr Keelty said the AFP's Bangkok office was involved with the Thai investigation. "I'm aware of the incident in Thailand," Mr Keelty told reporters. "We obviously have an office in Bangkok that's working with the Thai authorities. "That matter is being followed through as I speak."

Mr Keelty said the apparent security breach did not suggest that Australia was a weak link in the international security crackdown against the threat of terrorism.

"The concern about people in Australia is obliviously a concern for us all," he said. "It's something that's been the focus of agencies here in Australia since September 11 (2001) and will continue to be the focus of investigative agencies in the Australian intelligence community from here on. "I wouldn't call Australia a weak link."

Mr Keelty said the government's announcement last week of a 24-hour National Threat Assessment Centre and the amount of work Australian intelligence and law enforcement agencies had achieved revealed Australia's commitment in the war against terror.

"We continue to do as much as we possibly can in this country to ensure that a terrorist act doesn't occur here and we have commitment from all those involved that that will remain the case," he said.

Mr Keelty said new audio tapes said to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden which named Australia as a terrorist target emphasised the need for maximum effort against terrorists.

The two tapes, currently being analysed by the CIA, warned of more suicide attacks around the world and singled out both the United States and its allies in Iraq.

"This just adds on to a number of threats attributed to Osama bin Laden, and it just serves to emphasise the importance of keeping on track with combating terrorism and making sure that we are all doing as much as we can to chase down terrorists and to prevent terrorist acts occurring here in Australia," Mr Keelty said.

Prime Minister John Howard, who is in Bangkok with other world leaders for an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, said he would find out how the man got the passport.

Canada Won't Send Troops Beyond Kabul, Says Prime Minister
(VOA) - Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien says, for the time being, his country will not be sending troops beyond the Afghan capital, Kabul, despite plans to expand peacekeeping operations into violent, rural Afghanistan.

On a one-day visit to Afghanistan, Mr. Chretien told reporters that Canadian peacekeepers will not deploy outside Kabul in the foreseeable future. "We don't have the intention of doing that at this moment," he said. "Eventually, there might be different needs. But the needs of today (are), we have to concentrate in Kabul."

Canada currently holds rotating command of the 5,500 troops in the International Security Assistance Force, known as I-SAF. The Afghan government has long called for I-SAF peacekeepers to deploy beyond the capital, into the countryside, where terror attacks and banditry represent a serious security threat.

The NATO military alliance, which took over control of the I-SAF force in August, has agreed to begin deployment outside of Kabul. German troops attached to the force are now being sent to Kunduz province as part of the expansion.

But Mr. Chretien, whose country is one of the biggest contributors of troops to I-SAF, says its current role as commanders of the force means its troops will stay in the capital.

"As we are the senior (patrol) in Kabul, we have to concentrate in Kabul, but our role as the senior in I-SAF will lead to perhaps induce other people to come," he stressed. "As I can say as prime minister of Canada, it is a place, being here today, (where) I can measure the effect of our presence."

Mr. Chretien's comments follow the death of two Canadian peacekeepers in an explosion earlier this month on the southwestern outskirts of Kabul. Investigators are still trying to determine whether the explosion was a land mine accident or a deliberate act of sabotage.

Afghan Movie 'Osama' Wins Award
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Afghan movie "Osama" by director Siddiq Barmak won the top prize on Sunday at Montreal's New Movie and New Media Festival, one of the first features produced in Afghanistan and nominated since the fall of the Taliban. Barmak, who was not able to work in his country after the Taliban came to power in 1996, tells the story of the social situation in Afghanistan at the time, with a focus put on women and their lack of status in society.

The film, named after Osama bin Laden who at the time was established in Afghanistan, was also greeted with enthusiasm at the Cannes Film Festival last spring.

The jury's special mention went to the Moroccan movie "Les fibres de l'ame" (The Soul's Fibers), the first feature of Hakim Belabbes which was also well received in Venice last month. Another Moroccan movie, "Les yeux secs" (The Dry Eyes) of female director Narjiss Nejjar won the award given by the public.

"Depuis Qu'Otar est parti" (Since Otar Left) of French director Julie Bertucelli and Georgian director Bernard Renucci obtained the prize for best screenplay, an award presented by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The jury, directed by Louis Belanger, Mostefa Djadjam and Peter Scarlet, also gave a special mention to Quebec directors Claude Fortin and Serge Laprade for their script of the movie "100% Bio" on the life of a former TV star turned presenter of infomercials.

The 32nd edition of the Montreal festival, one of the largest in Canada, paid tribute to Iranian cinema as well as to German director Werner Herzog and British director Peter Greenaway, who released the third part of his "Tulse Luper Suitcases" trilogy last Friday.

Lost Afghan city located, says expert
Dawn (Pakistan) October 19, 2003
PARIS, Oct 18: French journalist Olivier Weber, just back from Afghanistan with an expedition he organized under the patronage of Unesco, says that he has rediscovered the lost city of Siruzkoh , the mythical Atlantis-like former capital of Afghanistan that was destroyed in 1222 by Genghis Khan.

The Paris-Kabul scientific expedition was able to determine "irrefutably," he says, the precise emplacement of Siruzkoh, as a result of the investigation of a scientific researcher, Monique Kervran, who works for a French thinktank.

Afghans uncover lost treasure
Jason Burke Sunday October 19, 2003 The Observer
It lay hidden for 2,000 years in Afghanistan, eluded the Taliban and escaped dozens of adventurers and bounty hunters. Now the Bactrian hoard, one of the world's greatest archaeological collections, has been found. President Hamid Karzai discovered the 20,000 gold coins and artefacts, worth tens of millions of pounds, in a sealed vault under the main palace in the capital, Kabul, after ordering it to be opened earlier this year.

No one expected it to contain the treasure, dating from Alexander the Great's conquest of Afghanistan in 327BC. The vault was thought to hold £60 million of bullion hidden by the state bank more than a decade ago. 'We opened one box and saw the gold,' Karzai said. 'Everything is safe and in its place.'

Ashraf Ghani, the Finance Minister, said the treasure was probably the most important collection of antiquities in the world outside Egypt. It lay in six tombs under the grassy wastes of northern Afghanistan until it was excavated in 1978 by a Soviet archaeologist on the eve of Moscow's invasion of the country, and was hailed as one of the greatest, and most valuable, archaeological discoveries of all time. It includes a collapsible gold crown, a solid gold pendant of Aphrodite and a dagger studded with scores of jewels.

Ghani said the vault had not been opened for decades despite efforts by the Taliban, who ruled Kabul from 1996 to 2001, torturing staff to reveal the code to get at it. 'They were beaten almost senseless but did not reveal it,' he said. The surprise find is a boost for Afghanistan, where reconstruction has been progressing slowly and conditions for most people are still very bad.

Tehran, Kabul remain good friends
IRIB 10/19/2003
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday refused any discrepancies between Kabul and Tehran and said Iran and Afghanistan would remain good friends. Talking to reporters, Karzai said he had held fruitful talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami on the sidelines of the summit of heads of state members to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia.

In response to a question by journalists on Khatami's calls for the exit of the foreign forces from Afghanistan, Karzai said in his talks with Khatami, the sides discussed ways of restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan.

He said Khatami has expressed support for Afghanistan and the peace process in the country while adding that he had full trust on his good intention. Asked if the soured relations between Tehran and Washington would influence the Iran-Afghanistan ties, Karzai said Tehran and Kabul would remain friends for ever.

He said the Tehran-Kabul ties is indeed the cooperation between two Muslim countries within the Islamic world. Karzai said he had told both Iran and the United States that their problems with each other should not influence the Tehran-Kabul relations at all.

He said in the Malaysia OIC summit the participants supported Afghanistan in its efforts to cement regional and global peace adding that the summit had mostly anti-West attitudes. The Afghan president said President Khatami had renewed his call for replacement of poppy cultivation with their crops in line with the international campaign against illicit drugs.

The Iranian President, he noted, said that establishment of tranquility in Afghanistan would help attract foreign investment and develop tourism. He said his participation in the Malaysia summit was of great importance for Afghanistan and a "victory".

ADB submits feasibility report to Pakistan: Gas pipeline
Khaleeq Kiani Dawn Oct.19 03
ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: The Asian Development Bank has submitted to Pakistan the feasibility study of the $3.2 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project and has found it technically and economically feasible, informed sources told Dawn.

However, the quarterly meeting of the steering committee comprising petroleum ministers of the three countries scheduled to be held on Oct 15-16 has been cancelled. The next meeting is expected to be convened by the first week of December, a senior government official confirmed.

The security of the pipeline in view of volatile situation in Afghanistan still remains a big question mark, he said. The official said Pakistan had asked Turkmenistan to update certification of the reserves of Daulatabad Gas field but that was still awaited.

The ADB was earlier expected to finalize the feasibility study by the end of September for discussion by the committee in October. Since the feasibility came during the first week of October, the steering committee meeting was cancelled.

The official said commercial terms of all the three gas import options would be final by February next year and then it would be prioritized as to which project should be pursued first. At present Pakistan is pursuing all the three options of gas import. These include gas pipeline from Qatar, Iran and Turkmenistan.

All the three pipelines have the option of carrying gas to India as well. India has not yet made it clear whether it intended to join the TAP project. Its discussions with Iran and Russian firm Gazprom are still in progress for a pipeline from Iran to India.

Islamabad believes that unless complete information on the Daulatabad gas field and its reserves are made available, no bank, independent lending institution or project sponsor would be willing to join the $3.5-billion TAP pipeline project.

Pakistan says it is difficult to back up any buyer's guarantee for the purchase of gas in the absence of the certification of reserves and other associated guarantees on allocation to the TAP project from the government of Turkmenistan. Also no project sponsor will be willing to enter into the gas transportation agreement with Turkmenistan in the absence of the reserves certification.Pakistan has also asked Turkmenistan for the information relating to gas produced since the start of supplies from the field and the remaining recoverable reserves, information on dedication of the field reserves for any other buyer under a long-term agreement and maximum gas processing capacity installed and the date of initial installation along with current production rates of pipeline quality gas.

It also wants information relating to future plans for installing additional production capacity and time schedule to meet the project gas flow requirements in phases starting from May 2008 at about 0.6-1 bcfd (billion cubic feet per day) to 2-2.5 bcfd by 2015.

The ambassadors of some countries have started communications and meetings with the government officials to pursue the project, sources said. They said earlier around 40 companies had shown interest in the TAP project, and some of them had even sought technical details of the project.

The parties to the project have already agreed to the Southern route for the project that starts from Daulatabad to Herat-Kandahar-Quetta and Multan. The project also envisaged gas storage facilities in Pakistan and establishment of an independent security agency to take care of the 1,700-km gas pipeline.

India currently required 5-6 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day of gas and the market would be growing even further. This indicated that perhaps India would be needing gas intakes from both the pipelines, including from Iran and Turkmenistan.

The trans-Afghanistan Turkmen pipeline promises substantial amounts of royalty and security fees to Afghanistan, long-term guaranteed gas supplies to Pakistan and of course gas sales revenues to Turkmenistan, besides chain generation of economic activity throughout the region. Ashkabad has been indicating that the Daulatabad field had total reserves of 45 tcf, of which remaining recoverable reserves stood at 23 tcf. At a rate of 15 million cubic feet per day supply to India or Pakistan, this gas was sufficient for 30 years.

Voter registration kits for Afghan elections arriving
Xinhua 10/19/2003
KABUL - Voter registration kits donated by Canada and the United States are arriving here this week as Afghanistan prepares for its first nation-wide public registration process in the history, a United Nations spokesman said on Sunday.

Registration workers are scheduled to fan out across the country in December to register some 18 million Afghans eligible to vote in the next year's historic general elections, which will elect a new government to replace the current transitional one.

The kits, which include cameras, films, registration books, stationary and other materials necessary for the registration process, will arrive in Kabul, the capital city, in 27 containers from Monday through Friday this week, the spokesman told reporters.

These voter registration kits, which later will be kept be in storage in different locations around the country later, are a joint donation of 7 million US dollars from the Canadian government and 1 million dollars form the US Agency for International Development (USAID), according to the spokesman.

The United Nations last week said the upcoming voter registration project in Afghanistan has a big funding shortfall ofsome 57 millions dollars.

Donor nations so far have contributed or pledged 23.5 million dollars out of the total budget of 78.2 million, it said. The Afghan transitional government, with the assistance by the United Nations office here, is to start the voter registration work first in eight major urban areas around the country, including Kabul, Bamyan, Jalalabad, Kundoz, Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat,Kandahar and Gardez.

Bush Welcomes Approval of Iraq, Afghan Aid
(VOA) - President Bush has welcomed Congressional action on his proposal to spend more than $86 billion on military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Bush said in a statement that the money will provide resources to make Iraq more secure and support its transition to self-government, and will help continue U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives approved different versions of the legislation on Friday. A joint Senate-House committee will meet this coming to week to reconcile the differences before sending the final version to President Bush for his signature.

Some of the money will be used to rebuild Iraq's education system, a project that Mr. Bush said will ultimately serve "the cause of security and peace."

The president said in his weekly radio speech that U.S. led efforts to refurbish Iraqi schools and provide needed supplies and textbooks will help "young Iraqis to learn skills and to grow and hope, instead of being fed a steady diet of propaganda and hatred."

But, Democrats say Mr. Bush's plan to spend billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq means there is not enough money for U.S. education and health care programs.

The mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, Douglas Palmer, said in the weekly Democratic radio speech that instead of spending more money in Iraq, the president should concentrate on improving U.S. schools, creating more jobs, and other domestic problems.

New Afghan Constitution Juggles Koran and Democracy
By CARLOTTA GALL The New York Times October 19, 2003
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 18 — The question now facing Afghans is: how to devise a constitution that combines the country's deep-rooted Islamic traditions and its aspirations for democracy?

The answer Afghans find in the next few weeks will be closely monitored by Iraqis, who have to write a constitution of their own over the next year. In Afghanistan, the process has not been easy.

After months of tortuous discussion, consultations around the country and thousands of comments sent in by the public, a commission of lawyers and experts has drawn up a draft constitution to put before the Afghan people.

"This is a moment for Afghanistan to ensure its survival or go back to the darkness," said Prof. Muhammad Amin Ahmadi, a member of the constitutional commission. "The crisis of Afghanistan has its roots in illegitimate power. We must have legitimacy and responsibility."

Last touches are still being made to the proposed constitution at the insistence of President Hamid Karzai, who has followed the drafting closely. The final version will be published within days, his aides said on Saturday. That should allow six weeks or more for public discussion before 500 delegates convene for a constitutional loya jirga, or grand assembly, that is scheduled to convene here in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Dec. 10 to debate and approve a final version.

The commissioners say they have found a balance between the need for guarantees for both democracy and Islam. The country will be named the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. "If the name did not include Islam, people would not feel confident," said Professor Ahmadi.

The country will be governed by civil laws as long as they are in keeping with Islam. The draft contains the same language as the country's 1964 Constitution to guarantee that "in Afghanistan no law will be made which will oppose Islamic principles."

The chief justice of Afghanistan, Fazel Hadi Shinwari, an Islamic scholar and a conservative, said he was satisfied with the draft. "Previous constitutions have been in keeping with the Koran, and this one is, too," he said. "Afghans and Muslims living in Afghanistan will accept it."

But the fine balance may not survive debate at the 500-member grand assembly, commissioners conceded. Diplomats fear that Islamic hard-liners will try to force a stronger Islamic rule.

The commissioners, who will attend the assembly to defend and explain their draft, will argue that any constitution must recognize that Afghanistan cannot survive without international protection and assistance, and that the Western powers want to see democratic standards and human rights protected in the new constitution.
The constitution will set the parameters for national elections next summer. The commissioners said the draft called for a directly elected president, supported by a vice president and a prime minister, a strong central government rather than a provincial federation, a two-chamber parliament with significant representation for women and an independent judiciary.

There are guarantees protecting the human rights and civil rights of all citizens, democracy and pluralism, as well as recognition of international conventions and measures for an open-market economy with an independent central bank.

The former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, will continue to hold the symbolic title of "father of the nation," but there will be no return of the monarchy.

"The spirit of this constitution will provide an opportunity for the country to move on the path of democracy," said Interior Minister Ahmed Ali Jalali after the draft was put before the interim cabinet and approved a few weeks ago.

A new constitution will be an important milestone. Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan has been ruled under the United Nations-sponsored Bonn accords of December 2001. Those accords laid out a plan for a new constitution and national elections within two and a half years.

President Karzai was named leader of an interim administration and later approved by a traditional loya jirga for an additional two years, until June 2004. The constitution will not solve all of Afghanistan's problems. Warlords, drugs and the Taliban remain serious threats. But the commissioners said the new constitution was a start.

"The country cannot go on in a legal vacuum," said Prof. Musa M. Maroofi, a constitutional lawyer at Kabul University, who was one of eight co-authors of a first draft. "There should be a constitution. There should be the rule of law."

Members of an expanded commission of 35 people have traveled around the country holding public meetings as they have reworked the draft. Nearly half a million questionnaires were sent out, asking people what principles should guide the state, what rights should be guaranteed and what system of government they wanted.
They received 100,000 questionnaires, 10,000 written opinions and 300 cassettes of ideas recorded by illiterate people, said Abdul Ghafoor Lewal, spokesman for the Constitutional Review Commission. Standing at their elbow throughout the process were representatives from the United Nations and several foreign experts to advise them.

"People want peace and security, and a government that will stop the gunrunning, warlordism and other crimes," Mr. Lewal said. "Generally, they want Afghanistan to go toward government by the people."

People also expressed an overwhelming desire for Islam to rule their lives. "There was to be no compromise on Islam," said Fatima Gailani, one of eight women on the constitution commission. There was widespread anxiety that Afghanistan would become a secular state, Professor Maroofi said.

"The collapse of the Taliban regime created the concern for a large number of people that maybe this government, or a future government, would be so secularist that they would completely make religion irrelevant," he said. "So people needed some kind of assurance through this constitution that Islam is still the official religion of the country."

"Afghanistan is a Muslim country that wants freedom, peace and food," said Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, chairman of the Central Bank and leader of Afghan Millat, a political party. "But never such a freedom or peace at the expense of Islam."

Many expect difficult arguments at the national assembly over the structure of government, in particular the powers of the president and prime minister and parliament, as well as ethnic issues like the choice of a national language.

The draft as it stands creates a strong presidency, with powers to appoint the prime minister and cabinet, and to preside over cabinet meetings. "The reason for this is to create stability," said Professor Ahmadi. But members of the Tajik ethnic group, the second largest group in Afghanistan after the Pashtuns, are pushing to give more power to the prime minister.

The balance of power in Afghanistan is inextricably tied up in the ethnic groups, and language will be a very sensitive issue at the grand assembly. Pashtuns, the traditional rulers of Afghanistan, will want Pashto named as the national language, even though that means little more than having the national anthem in Pashto. But the Tajiks, who dominate the present interim government, are insisting that the two main languages, Dari and Pashto, are both made official languages, and that the national anthem be sung in both.

Building a better future
U.S. News 10/19/2003 By Ilana Ozernoy
KABUL--At 4 o'clock on a weekday afternoon, the Ministry of Reconstruction sits empty. A tidy, rectangular Communist-era building with peeling paint and a fleet of shiny Land Cruisers in the parking lot, the ministry is supposed to accommodate 450 civil servants. But there aren't that many offices here and on most days the only people around are the minister, a few of his flitting subordinates, and a western visitor or two.

Where are all the workers? "They're in some other buildings behind us," says Nazir Shahidi, the deputy reconstruction minister, who moonlights as an economics professor at Kabul University. He waves his hand in a vague direction and then addresses what, to him, is the more pressing issue. "We have lost our skilled personnel. We have [staff] but they need to be trained. We need to strengthen the capacity of our government."

"Capacity" is the fashionable buzzword in talking about Afghanistan. Last year, at a Tokyo conference, the western world came together to hem and haw over Afghanistan's cadaverous state. Still reeling from 9/11, donor countries committed to giving $4.5 billion in aid. That's a fraction of what Afghanistan needs, of course, but officials from aid groups spearheading the reconstruction effort say that the level of assistance is only part of the problem.

The hitch, they say, is that Afghanistan doesn't have the capacity--meaning physical infrastructure and skilled labor force--to handle any more. "We've had a tremendous brain drain in Afghanistan over the last 20 years [and] a collapsed educational system," says Andrew Wilder, director of the Afghanistan Research & Evaluation Unit, an independent research group based here. "Afghanistan can't absorb large quantities of money in short periods of time . . . because it's going to take time to rebuild the capacity."

Import city. Still, the streets of Kabul clatter with the frenetic din of construction. Brightly painted trucks, overflowing with imported products ranging from shrimp to electronics, speed past large, rusted machinery raising new buildings out of the dust. Construction is booming, but it's under the gun of impatient donors who want to see the job done quickly. So the workers manning the cranes and hammering away amid the dust are imported too, mostly from Pakistan and India. They provide the skills and effectiveness the Afghan labor force lacks.

This doesn't sit entirely well with Afghans, who say the reliance on foreign workers slows the development of their capacity to do the work. In fact, just a fraction of the foreign reconstruction money even flows to the Afghan government to disburse; the Reconstruction Ministry handled only $200 million of the $1.8 billion in aid that Afghanistan received last year. Most aid money is managed by non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, and donor countries themselves--with good reason, since they have the expertise that the Afghan government lacks.

The government pays just $30 a month to civil servants, and the 28 dilapidated ministry buildings in Kabul remain largely unoccupied, since many government workers also tend to private businesses to make a decent living. Still, Afghan officials complain about being circumvented in the rebuilding of their own country, and they suspect that the NGOs and expatriate workers benefit from money meant for Afghans. "Whatever assistance was pledged to Afghanistan was not implemented through the government," gripes Shahidi. "The money is wasted on buying expensive transportation . . . and the high salaries of the NGO staff. So the money is not spent in due course."

Though perhaps overstated, such accusations are not groundless. Aid groups are operating in a risky climate of frequent attacks, making security measures a major, but vital, expense. And the money spent on overhead quickly adds up given the costs due to "hardship living" compensation for the expatriate staff and Kabul's skyrocketing real estate costs.

With aid policy centered more on short-term spending than on nation-building, the money often is needed for immediate relief projects rather than reconstruction work that provides for long-term change. The United States is bankrolling the cost of rebuilding the main highway connecting Kabul with the south. But with plans to finish by June 2004, there is concern that additional money will have to be found to fix potholes in the thinly laid cement.

Russia plays its hand in the OIC
By Anil Netto - Aisa Times
PENANG, Malaysia - The presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the ongoing summit of the 57-member-nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) near Kuala Lumpur is likely to raise eyebrows in Washington. It marks a coup of sorts for Putin and could realign the power balance in the Islamic world, which has become increasingly suspicious of US hegemony.

Putin's presence has been the talking point among delegates attending the summit, which is one of the last major meetings for outgoing Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

As a vocal opponent of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, Russia won new friends around the Muslim world in the run-up to the war. And despite the United Nations Security Council voting unanimously in favor of an amended US text mapping out Iraq's future political direction, it is likely that Russia, along with other war critics Germany and France, will not contribute troops or fund the reconstruction effort in Iraq.

Putin's presence, however, is unlikely to dispel the lingering uneasiness in the Muslim world over Russia's actions in Chechnya, and delegates at the OIC are likely to call for a quick start to peace talks between Moscow and the Chechen rebels. Although a Kremlin-backed former Muslim cleric won in presidential elections earlier this month, the rebels have ignored the result and are determined to fight against what they regard as an occupation.

This is the Russian president's second visit to Malaysia within the space of three months, and once again, it's not only strategic considerations that Putin will have in mind during his visit. If all goes well, there could be more business spin-offs among other Islamic nations, who are casting a wary eye on US intentions in its "war on terror".

In August, Putin visited Kuala Lumpur for talks with Mahathir and to sign a US$900 million deal to supply Malaysia with 18 Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 MKN fighter jets. The deal also came with an irresistible perk for record-hungry Malaysians: as part of the agreement, Malaysia will get to send a cosmonaut to space after 18 months' of training in Russia - seen by local elites as another feather in the cap for Malaysia. The deal was hailed in Russia as a "contract that would open the regional market to Russia", and it marked a warming of relations between Putin and Mahathir, who visited Russia in March. Malaysia is chair of the Non-Aligned Movement and the OIC and this cozying up between the two countries could set the stage for Russia to extend its sphere of influence.

Significantly, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who also has to deal with Muslim grievances in the war-torn south of her country, is the other main non-OIC leader attending the summit. It's the first invitation for a Philippine head of state, and Arroyo is likely to lobby for more support in dealing with insurgency in Mindanao and in her "fight against terrorism".

But while Putin makes inroads into Southeast Asia, the United States will not remain idle. President George W Bush is likely to use his visit to Thailand over the weekend to reaffirm US-Thai military and security cooperation and announce the designation of Thailand as a major non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally.

Both Putin and Arroyo are in Malaysia at the invitation of the host nation. Although there was some controversy over whether the Philippines' bid for OIC observer status had been rejected, Malaysia's ambassador to the Philippines was reported as having strongly denied a Philippine Inquirer report that the OIC's Committee of Eight had rejected the Philippine's bid.

This is the first time the OIC summit is being held in the Asia-Pacific region. And it has drawn the most Muslim leaders - 33 - since the OIC was formed in 1969. It is also being seen as a farewell for Mahathir, who steps down on October 31 in favor of his deputy, Abdullah Badawi.

While delegates will no doubt rail at the hypocrisy and double standards of the West over human rights and democracy, critical outsiders say they will also need to take a long hard look at their own societies. The political climate in many Muslim societies reflects "an obvious bias in favor of a culture of violence, force and power; a cult of leadership centered around either despotic leaders or theological elites; ever-widening gaps of income and uneven development; and a host of other ills associated with the developing world", said Malaysian academic Farish Noor in a paper presented at the OIC business forum.

In Malaysia, for example, Mahathir's former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, once highly regarded around the Islamic world, languishes in jail, serving terms totaling 15 years after being convicted for abuse of power and corruption in widely criticized trials. His last avenue for appeal is pending.

Consequently, the Malaysian organizers, probably in a bid to ward off domestic criticism, have invited Abdul Hadi Awang, the president of the conservative opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), who has accepted the invitation. Hadi is also chief minister of the east-coast state of Terengganu, which two days ago announced that it would enforce Islamic shariah (hudud and qisas) laws on October 27. Arguing that the laws would not apply to non-Muslims, he challenged those who felt the laws were against the federal constitution to bring the matter to court. The move is unlikely to endear PAS to non-Muslim voters, however.

The OIC summit brings together leaders who are no stranger to controversy and criticism. True to form, Mahathir has already earned the ire of the European Union, the United States and Australia over his criticism of the Jews, which stems from his persistent refusal or failure to distinguish between sweeping remarks against the Jews and legitimate criticism over Israel's aggressive foreign policy and its occupation of Palestinian territories.

Indeed, the OIC's failure to achieve anything tangible over Palestine reflects badly on the Arab world - a fact conceded by Mahathir. If anything, it is the one measure that will be widely used to gauge the success or failure of the OIC in the long run. Many OIC member leaders are perceived within the Islamic world to be too undemocratic, corrupt, and beholden to the United States - characteristics that hinder any meaningful united attempts to seek legitimate justice for the long-suffering Palestinians, for instance.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, meanwhile, is embroiled in a widely criticized military offensive in the province of Aceh that has displaced thousands of residents and created tremendous hardship.

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, still unelected after taking power through a coup, raised the Kashmir issue at the summit, arguing that the plight of the people of Jammu and Kashmir represented a "core Islamic cause". He also took pot shots at India urging the OIC to "ask India to reconsider its rejectionist and belligerent posture".

Though Putin may be holding court in Putrajaya, the US influence is never far away. Delegates are likely to be in two minds over the presence of a bevy of US-backed leaders such as Afghan Interim Chairman Hamid Karzai and members of Iraq's Governing Council.

Passing largely unnoticed was a report pointing out that the Iraqi Governing Council had rejected the participation of peacekeeping troops from all Islamic countries, not just neighboring countries such as Turkey. A member of the council attending the OIC summit said this was to allow Iraqis, who are working with "coalition forces", to take charge of their own security as the first step toward responsibility over its future. Such statements, however, will do nothing to dispel cynicism over who is really calling the shots in Kabul and Baghdad.

War on terror 'not against Islam' pledges Rice
WASHINGTON: Daily Times 10/20/03
President George W Bush's national security adviser insisted yesterday that the US fight against terrorism is not a war between Christianity and Islam, despite a top general's comments that seemed to say it is.

But Condoleezza Rice twice avoided a question about whether Bush will condemn statements by Army Lt Gen William G Boykin, the deputy under secretary of defence for intelligence. "The president has been absolutely clear that this is not a war of religions," Rice told ABC television.

"Islam is a peaceful religion. The president is respectful of those who practice the Islamic faith," Rice said from Thailand, where Bush was attending a summit of Asian and Pacific nations. The Pentagon released a statement by Boykin late Friday in which he apologised for his characterisations of Islam and said he never meant to offend Muslims.

"I am not anti-Islam or any other religion," Boykin said. "I support the free exercise of all religions. For those who have been offended by my statements, I offer a sincere apology."

Rice was asked on ABC whether Bush would condemn Boykin's comments, in which he seemed to describe monotheistic Islam as a religion whose followers worship idols.

She replied by outlining the president's views of the religion, the fastest-growing religion in the US. She said terrorists targeted in the US anti-terrorism campaign are "people who murder and maim and in fact pervert Islam."

Meanwhile, a top US leaders took issue of Boykin comments on Islam, saying no one should characterise the war on terrorism as a religious conflict.

The controversy erupted last week after NBC News broadcast videotapes of Boykin, an intelligence officer and evangelical Christian, giving speeches while wearing his Army uniform at various Christian functions.

Top Democrats, including presidential candidates Sen Joseph Lieberman and Sen John Kerry, chastised the administration for failing to criticise Boykin. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday not only declined to criticise him, but praised his "outstanding" military record. Boykin, in a statement issued by the Pentagon on Friday, apologised to those offended by his remarks but did not retract them.