Afghanistan News October 26, 2003

October 26, 2003

Karzai's minister for women condemns bikini-clad Miss Afghanistan
Sat Oct 25,11:18 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai's minister for women's affairs condemned Miss Afghanistan, as Vida Samadzai became the country's first woman in the post-Taliban era to appear in a bikini during a beauty contest in Manila.

"Appearing naked before a camera or television is not women's freedom but in my opinion is to entertain men," minister Habiba Surabi told AFP on Sunday.

"We condemn Vida Samadzai, she is not representing Afghanistan's women, and this is not women's freedom."

Surabi said according to Afghan culture women should not demonstrate their worth using their "beauty or bodies" but by their skills and knowledge.

"In the name of women's freedom, what this Afghan girl has done is not freedom but is lascivious," the minister said.

The 25-year-old Afghan contestant, who lives in the United States, is the first Afghan woman in 30 years to participate in the Miss World international beauty contest being held in the Philippines capital this week.

The dark-haired, black-eyed Samadzai, apparently from a Pashtun tribe, was born and raised in Afghanistan but left for the United States in 1996 to escape the extremist Taliban regime which forced women to cover themselves from head to toe.

Under the harsh regime women were not allowed to work outside their homes or go out without a close relative beside them. After the fall of the militia in 2001, an increasing number of women left the burqa, or veil, at home and some took jobs.

The only other Miss Afghanistan was Zohra Daoud, who jointed the Miss Universe contest in 1972.

Taleban retaking land says UN
Saturday, 25 October, 2003, 03:01 GMT 04:01 UK BBC News
Taleban forces are retaking parts of Afghanistan as the post-war government shows signs of weakening, the UN's top peacekeeping official has said.
In a regular briefing to the Security Council, Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno said many causes of insecurity "remain unresolved".

"In several border districts (near Kandahar and Paktika), Taleban have been able to establish de facto control over district administration," he said.

Germany has agreed to send 450 troops to deploy around the northern city of Kunduz where President Hamid Karzai launched the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme on Friday.

Insecurity has without question slowed the delivery of reconstruction, if not outright prevented it in the most insecure areas

But so far no other countries have committed to the international force which the Security Council last week authorised to deploy outside the capital Kabul.

"There are worrying signs that the political compact that has allowed the government to press ahead... in spite of the differences of its individual members may be weakening," Mr Guehenno said.

"Insecurity has without question slowed the delivery of reconstruction, if not outright prevented it in the most insecure areas," he added.

Disarmament campaign

The Afghan Government aims to disarm 100,000 militiamen within two years.

Estimates say they number 400,000 throughout the country.

However, there are still doubts whether Afghanistan's warlords will co-operate with the plan.

Mr Karzai called for a jihad for peace and reconstruction
In Kunduz, Mr Karzai greeted about 1,000 fighters who had been disarmed over the past few days.

He said all of Afghanistan must embark on a jihad (struggle) for peace and reconstruction.

Mr Karzai also paid tribute to the soldiers, saying they had suffered like all Afghans in 23 years of war

Arms for food
Fighters who take part in the UN-sponsored disarmament programme will, after handing over their weapons, receive some money, clothes and vouchers for food.

In the following weeks the disarmed militiamen will be interviewed and if jobs are available, employed.

However, the BBC's Crispin Thorold in Kunduz reports that critics believe it is unlikely warlords will be prepared to let their men fully participate in the programme.

Even if they do, the sceptics argue, the amount of artillery and the number of tanks at the disposal of the most powerful factions will make the scheme irrelevant.

Only small weapons are being collected at this stage.

Fahim's faction

The plan is being run under the auspices of the Afghan Ministry of Defence, led by Marshal Mohammed Fahim, who has one of Afghanistan's largest militias at his disposal.

In an effort to persuade others that the programme will be equitable, there have recently been reforms in the ministry in an attempt to reduce the influence of Marshal Fahim's faction.

Earlier in the week the commander of the international peacekeeping force, Isaf, called on the main militias in Kabul to remove tanks and heavy weapons from the city.

Demilitarisation of the capital was a key component of the Bonn Agreement, signed after the fall of the Taleban regime.

Reports on Friday from a commander of General Dostum of a deadly attack north of Kabul revealed how difficult the disarmament plan could be.

Ahmad Khan told the AP news agency that 10 people, including two children, were killed when unknown attackers fired rockets and machine-guns at their truck in the town of Shamar in Samangan province.

He said the attackers probably suspected an important commander was riding in the truck.

Former Taliban Foreign Minister Released
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS October 25, 2003
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Taliban's former foreign minister has been released from U.S. military custody and is living at his home in this southern Afghan city, the spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province said Saturday.

Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil was released 10 days ago and is in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, said Khalid Pashtun, spokesman for Gov. Mohammed Yusuf Pashtun.

Muttawakil's precise whereabouts weren't known and the circumstances of his release weren't clear.

Recent unconfirmed reports of Muttawakil's release fueled speculation that the U.S.-backed central government was pursuing talks with moderate members of the former Taliban movement, hoping for further reconciliation in the country where attacks by fugitive Taliban and al-Qaida members continue to plague the countryside.

``We have invited other Taliban also who have been released from custody to come together and join hands, and participate in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country,'' Pashtun told The Associated Press.

The spokesman said Muttawakil would be able to participate in next year's nationwide elections, the first since the Taliban were forced from power by a U.S.-led coalition in late 2001.

Earlier this week, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman Jawid Luddin said the government received an offer of assistance from Muttawakil if it aided in his release. Luddin said Thursday that the government was considering whether to speak with him but hadn't responded to the offer -- and would do so only if it was determined that Muttawakil wasn't directly involved in terrorist acts or crimes against the Afghan people.

Muttawakil is believed to be a moderate member of the hard-line Taliban movement and had previously been held by the U.S. military at its main base in Bagram, north of Kabul.

Also Saturday, the governor of southeastern Ghazni province said 21 suspected Taliban were arrested during a 10-day operation. Afghan forces working alone also confiscated 38 assault rifles, 18 heavy machine guns and thousands of bullets, said Haji Asadullah.

German peacekeepers arrive in sleepy Afghan town
10/25/2004 By Simon Denyer Reuters
KUNDUZ - Twenty-seven German soldiers arrived in rural northern Afghanistan on Saturday to launch an eagerly awaited expansion of a NATO-led peacekeeping force outside the capital Kabul.

The deployment has been welcomed by residents of the town of Kunduz, but aid workers are wondering why peacekeeping troops have arrived first in one of Afghanistan's safest provinces when they are urgently needed in other parts of the country.

The German army is planning to send 150 soldiers into Kunduz before winter sets in, and up to 450 by the middle of next year. The contingent may include a small number of Dutch commandos.

In their wake are also expected dozens of German aid workers, with the German government likely to fund development projects in Kunduz to make sure their soldiers continue to be welcomed.

"Our hope for the mission is safety for all our men, a safe return home when we have finished our mission and a safe environment for those who follow," Colonel Kurt Schiebold told reporters as he stepped off the C-160 military cargo plane.

Schiebold added that German troops were aiming to help "establish a secure environment" to enable Afghan authorities, the United Nations and aid agencies to do reconstruction work and provide aid to the region.

"The security situation is fine here, but we want even better security in our city, so it is good they are coming here," said Najibullah, who works in a local chemists' shop. "We hope they rebuild our roads, and build clinics and schools."

The German troops are sure to stand out in the dusty tree-lined streets of Kunduz, where brightly decorated horses and carts usually outnumber cars.

Aid agencies hope the deployment will be the precursor to a much wider deployment of peacekeepers, especially to the south and east of the country where militants from the ousted Taliban regime have been increasingly attacking and killing aid workers.

With elections due to take place next year, the need for thousands more foreign peacekeeping troops outside Kabul is even more pressing, aid workers and diplomats say.

But so far no country apart from Germany has agreed to send significant numbers of troops to expand the 31-nation 5,500-strong International Security Assistance Force outside the Afghan capital.

A GOOD EXAMPLE
Kunduz suffers from less of the political and ethnic tension that bedevils other parts of Afghanistan, which is perhaps why the cautious Germans chose it as their new base.

It has also been chosen to launch an ambitious U.N.-backed plan to disarm 100,000 militiamen over the next two years, with 1,000 men handing in their weapons this week and being demobilised by President Hamid Karzai to get the scheme under way.

Officials in Kunduz hope the two initiatives will complement each other, with German aid money providing jobs for some ex-combatants and even encouraging other provinces to take part in the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) plan.

"If people see changes here after the beginning of DDR, everyone will benefit," said Sergiy Illarionov, the senior U.N. official in Kunduz. "If they see good results in Kunduz, they may think 'we have to join them'.

Schiebold said the Germans would help to monitor the DDR process and would also help to train local police and security forces.

But one thorny question does await the German peacekeeping force whose mandate will ultimately cover all four provinces of northeastern Afghanistan.

Remote and mountainous Badakshan is one of the country's major poppy-growing areas, and much of the opium which ends up as heroin on the streets of Europe transits through Kunduz on its way to Tajikistan.

Combating the drugs trade is not part of their mandate, and Schiebold said it was "not our business". But the German public might not be happy if their soldiers do nothing to prevent Afghan heroin ending up on the streets of Berlin.

Statement by Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, on the start of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program for ex-combatants in Afghanistan
Source: Government of Japan 24 Oct 2003
The Government of Japan welcomes the start of the first project in the pilot phase of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) for ex-Combatants in Afghanistan by the Transitional Administration in Afghanistan on October 24 in Kunduz.

Japan hopes that the implementation of the pilot phase in Kunduz and several other regions will lead to the main phase of DDR process as soon as possible, thereby bringing peace and stability to the country forthwith.

Japan has actively provided humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan. In the field of Security Sector Reform in particular, Japan, with a view to make a tangible contribution to the Consolidation of Peace in Afghanistan, has vigorously supported the DDR process in Afghanistan as a lead country and has extended political, technical and financial support in the formulation and implementation of programs since May last year, in collaboration with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA). Japan intends to continue to actively support the promotion of the DDR process in cooperation with the United Nations and other countries concerned.

Pakistan Arrests Al Qaeda Suspect in Faisalabad
Saturday, October 25, 2003; 1:00 PM
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have arrested a foreign al Qaeda suspect in a raid in an industrial city on Saturday, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

The Arab-speaking national is believed to be an important member of al Qaeda with bounty on his head, the official told Reuters but gave no further details.

The arrest took place in a raid in the city of Faisalabad on information gleaned from interrogation of three al Qaeda suspects, two of them Yemeni nationals, arrested from the same city on Tuesday.

The three had fled from a tribal area bordering Afghanistan after Pakistan's military swooped on al Qaeda suspects on October 2 killing at least eight suspected militants and arresting 18.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said they are trying to track down an Egyptian-born Canadian, Ahmed Said Khdar, alias Abur Abdur Rehman, a suspected al Qaeda financier who escaped the military operation near the Afghan border town of Angor Adda.

Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war on terror, says it has arrested more than 500 Taliban and al Qaeda suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

WAPDA offers to restore Afghan power supply
(News International - Pakistan) - KARACHI: The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has offered Afghanistan to help restore its power system and a team has also been constituted that could be sent to Kabul at 24-hour notice, Chairman WAPDA, Lt Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan said here on Friday.

Talking to newsmen after inaugurating the new customer service centre at Gulshan-i-Iqbal, he said that WAPDA has selected Khost City of Afghanistan as a model where the team could be sent immediately. MD, KESC, Brig Tariq Sadozai was also present. The help could also be extended for restoring electricity in Kabul and Kandhar, he said.

To a question on dams, he said WAPDA was a government organisation and will execute whatever decision the government takes. Besides, being a technical organisation, it is responsible for providing technical information.

However, Zulfiqar Ali Khan said, "We still are of the view that 20 MAF water goes waste as it falls into the sea annually and we are duty bound to save it for the future generations of the country."

"These figures are not ours and are infact provided by the irrigation department of Sindh," he said adding, "we just say that the storage capacity is declining day by day and in order to stop this process, we have to build new dams."

On the privatisation of KESC, he said these efforts have again been started however in the meantime a comprehensive Rs13 billion plan for improving the KESC has been launched.

As far as power tariff is concerned, he said, unless the input cost declines, the tariff could not be curtailed as it was already low compared to the cost of production, he said and added that the rate of furnace oil that was Rs5500 per ton in 1999 has now touched Rs13000 per ton and similarly the gas prices have also increased.

Earlier, during his address he appreciated the performance of KESC in its efforts to provide maximum facilities to its consumer and its efforts in recovery of outstanding dues.

But, there is still room for further improvement and KESC’s ultimate plan is to further devolve the city into 97 sub-divisions having small units to cater for 15 to 20 thousand consumers, having dedicated staff to deal with problems regarding grant of new connections, entertaining complaints against low voltage, outage etc, under one window operation, he said.

He appreciated that line losses have reduced with the dedicated efforts of KESC’s monitoring teams. The recoveries have significantly improved because it was now easy to achieve the target after restructuring of zones into small centres.

He said establishment of these centres would further improve the monitoring system. He said now there is no load shedding in Karachi city, consumers are getting more facilities than in the past. But still there is room for further improvement.

Managing Director of KESC, Brig. Tariq Sadozai, who was also present at the briefing, informed Chairman WAPDA that KESC plans to restructure its twenty two zones where such facilities will be available to consumers under one roof.

Gen Zulfiqar Ali was informed that the corporation under its re- structuring program has established Customer Services centres in Defence area, which is catering to 62,000 consumers under its four sub-divisions.

The Korangi industrial centre is catering to 3,789 industrial and 12,000 residential consumers under its one sub-division. The centre is functional from Oct 2.

The Clifton center which is functioning since March 3 is entertaining 58,000 consumers with the support of three sub-division while, Gulshan/ Gulistan-e-Jauhar caters to 1,48,000.

He was informed that Saddar and SITE zones are under re-structuring while in the next stage Garden, Old town and Maripur zones will be taken in hand. The chairman was informed that the customer service centre in Gulshan-i-Iqbal is catering to the need of 66,288 consumers and another 61,302 in neighbouring Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

The nazim Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town, Abdul Wahab will formally inaugurate the KESC customer service centre on Saturday.

Regarding recovery position the chairman WAPDA was informed that it was steadily improving. In July it was 71.37 per cent, while in September it rose to 109.62 per cent.

On the occasion, chairman WAPDA made a searching query about recovery of out standing dues from domestic as well as commercial consumers. He also inquired about the procedure and ratio of recovery of dues from those involved in theft.

The chairman WAPDA was informed that in July it recovered Rs1,197,127 after issuance of detection bills, while it rose to Rs2,144,908 in September.

He was informed that vigorous efforts were under way to arrest theft cases. In July, it was informed that 397 such cases were detected while in August it was 527 while in September it rose to 909.

To a query about feeder losses, the chairman WAPDA was informed that in June it was registered 51.52 per cent which was scaled down to 34.8 per cent in September.

President Karzai to replace key northern Afghan rulers
Reuters 10/25/2003 By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is to remove two strong northern rulers and several other key officials as part of an effort to extend his authority outside the capital, a northern commander said on Saturday.

The shake-up, the most extensive since Karzai came to power in 2001, affects commander Ustad Atta Mohammad, Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum and governors and police chiefs of four provinces loyal to them, Atta told Reuters.

The move follows this week's security meeting in Kabul and intense fighting between Atta and Dostum's supporters in the north earlier this month.

Karzai faces a dual challenge of controlling warlords and military commanders allied with him, and countering the threat posed by the Taliban fighters who have stepped up their attacks in recent months.

Afghan officials said on Saturday they had arrested 21 Taliban and their supporters in the eastern province of Ghazni and another 15 Taliban from a southern district in Kandahar province in anti-rebel operations in the last three days.

Atta, whose Jamiat-e-Islami faction comprises ethnic Tajiks, is the commander of a military corps; while Dostum has been serving as Karzai's adviser in security and military affairs.

Atta and Dostum, whose forces have intermittently fought each other since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, would be given positions in the central government, Atta said.

The governors and police chiefs of Sari Pul, Balkh, Samangan and Jozjan provinces may also be given new positions, he said.

"The first move will be to replace the governors and police chiefs... Those who have good record will be given new positions," Atta said.

"We will be moved to Kabul. We will be based in Kabul, but it is not yet clear what positions we will be given."

Atta said he welcomed Karzai's decision but Dostum was not immediately available for a comment. Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali is due to travel to the north on Sunday for talks with Dostum, Atta said.

Both Atta and Dostum, despite being top officials of the government, run their own armies of thousands of fighters.

Their bloody power struggle has been a major setback for Karzai's efforts to unite and rebuild Afghanistan after more than 23 years of foreign intervention and civil war.

Karzai's imminent reshuffle of the northern region coincides with the launch of the disarmament process of about 100,000 factional fighters. The first phase, supervised by the United Nations, started on Friday from the northern province of Kunduz.

Embassy to Repatriate Afghan Teens Illegally Brought to Kingdom
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
RIYADH, 24 October 2003 — More than 208 Afghan children allegedly trafficked to Saudi Arabia over the past few years will be repatriated within the next few days, according to Syed Muhammad Nabi Fatmi, first secretary at the Afghanistan Embassy.

The Afghan Embassy has also been working with Saudi government agencies to regularize the status of some 50,000 illegal Afghan workers in an effort to ensure that they continue to stay and work in the Kingdom.

“A large number of teenage Afghans have been brought to Saudi Arabia by certain unscrupulous elements during the past few years without the knowledge of relevant government agencies,” said Fatmi. He quoted the Afghan minister for social affairs as saying, “42 children were sent back to Afghanistan from Jeddah last week.” Some of the children, who have already arrived in Kabul, are now in an orphanage run by the Afghan Social Affairs Ministry.

Asked about the assistance provided by the Kingdom, Fatmi said that many Saudi charities had supported the project to return the children to Afghanistan.

Dr. Abdul Wahab Noorwali, assistant secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, said that three major organizations — WAMY, the International Islamic Relief Organization and the Al-Bir Charitable Association in cooperation with the authorities — have agreed to provide shelter for the children in the Kingdom pending their return to Afghanistan, where they will be accommodated in WAMY-run orphanages.

Dr. Noorwali said, “Saudi charities will continue to cater to the needs of the children in Afghanistan and will search for their parents and sponsors in an effort to reunite the children with their loved ones. Children who cannot be reunited with their relatives or parents will stay at WAMY orphanages, and will enjoy all services provided to orphans, including an annual grant, free education and medical treatment.”

WAMY has recently implemented a sacrificial meat project from which thousands of poor Afghans will benefit.

Many Saudi charities as well as Afghan officials and officials of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have expressed serious concerns over reports of children being abducted and trafficked from Afghanistan.

According to UNICEF, since early this year at least 80 children have been abducted, apparently to be trafficked to Iran and Pakistan. UNICEF has called for intervention by Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali.

It is cause for additional worry that some 85,000 Afghan children die every year in Afghanistan because of poor nutrition and the lack of health care facilities. The Kingdom employs some 160,000 Afghans. Riyadh has also been in the forefront of nations pledging aid and financial assistance to Kabul for relief and reconstruction.

Over 2,000 latrines completed in Herat Afghanistan
Saturday October 25, 2003 (1544 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
Herat, October 26 (Online): This week the ICRC and the Australian Red Cross finished building over 2,000 latrines in three of the poorest districts of the provincial capital of Herat, in north western Afghanistan. In a further effort to reduce the risk of disease in the city, teams already on the spot are also working with families to improve hygiene.

"Before, many kids suffered from diarrhoea, but this is no longer the case," said Abdul Azim, a father of five who lives in the Mal-e-Now district of southern Herat. "It is important for the children to be reminded that they have to wash their hands before eating and after they have been to the toilet," he added. "It is also useful to know that diarrhoea can be treated with a mixture of water, flour and salt."

The teams, who go from door to door, show the female members of the households, and often the children as well, how to avoid and treat common diseases. Abdul Azim's wife has passed on her newly acquired knowledge to her husband and children. They share a house with two other families of relatives in all, 12 adults and eight children live together. This is not unusual in the district.

"We selected the poorest parts of the city, where people had either dilapidated latrines or none at all," explained project manager Margaret Walker of the Australian Red Cross. "The messages we pass on are very basic: keep the wells covered, wash your hands and boil the water."

The ICRC, which plans to pursue its hygiene promotion activities for another year, has built or repaired more than 60,000 latrines in Afghanistan since 1996.