 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serving you since 1998 | ||||||||||||
|
|
Afghan Minister Reshuffles Administration
Sun Oct 26,10:46 AM ET By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - Boldly asserting the central government's power in the tense north, Afghanistan's interior minister on Sunday dismissed a range of top officials after the outbreak of some of the worst factional fighting there since the fall of the Taliban.
During a visit to the northern capital of Mazar-e-Sharif, Ali Ahmad Jalali appointed a new provincial governor and deputy governor and replaced the city's mayor and police chief, local officials said.
The reshuffle was part of unpublished measures passed by Afghanistan's national security council aimed at "bringing more security to the north and finding a solution to some of the security problems," presidential spokesman Jawid Luddin said.
Feuding warlords have routinely clashed in isolated villages across the north since they returned to power there after helping the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition topple the Taliban in late 2001.
But earlier this month, fighting between forces under the ethnic Uzbek warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Tajik rival Gen. Atta Mohammed erupted into a pitched battle just outside Mazar-e-Sharif, with tanks rumbling through the city of 1.5 million on their way to the battlefield. One side claimed that more than 60 were killed; the other said there were fewer casualties.
In one of the more startling appointments, the former police chief of the southern city of Kandahar — Mohammed Akram, an ethnic Pashtun — was named top cop in Mazar-e-Sharif, said Sultanali Sultani, a spokesman for an ethnic Hazara faction.
Many Pashtuns have left the north, where they are in a minority, because of discrimination after the ouster of the Taliban, whose stronghold was in Kandahar and who were mostly Pashtun.
Sultani said the head of Balkh University, Habibullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name, was appointed caretaker governor of Balkh province, of which Mazar-e-Sharif is the capital.
Dostum, who is a deputy defense minister in President Hamid Karzai's government, and Atta Mohammed, who is a military commander under the defense ministry, weren't affected themselves in the shakeup, although it removed from power those who had loyalties to their factions.
Both sides accepted the new appointments, although they met separately with the interior minister, said Gen. Abdul Sabor, one of Atta Mohammed's senior lieutenants.
Jalali earlier this month helped negotiate a cease-fire in Mazar-e-Sharif. Under its terms, 300 Kabul police were deployed in the city to help patrol checkpoints — and extend in a tangible way the influence of the central government.
Karzai has criticized warlords for fomenting instability in the country, and also blamed them for using illicit opium crops to help finance their private armies. Afghanistan is world's largest opium producer.
Helping to bring increased security to the north, an advance team of German troops arrived Saturday in Kunduz, some 90 miles east of Mazar-e-Sharif, to prepare for the arrival of 450 peacekeepers by spring.
Mazar-e-Sharif is one of the eight cities expected to host international troops after the U.N. Security Council agreed this month to extend their mandate outside the capital Kabul. However, no country has yet volunteered troops for other missions.
Kabul strikes deal with warlords
(BBC) - The government in Kabul has reached an agreement with two rival regional leaders in northern Afghanistan under which they will merge their forces, according to a senior advisor to the Afghan interior minister.
President Karzai's forces control little territory beyond Kabul
There have been repeated outbreaks of factional fighting between soldiers loyal to the two leaders, Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Muhammad.
The government's attempt to broker a deal comes as Kabul begins an ambitious United Nations-backed programme to disarm many of Afghanistan's private militias.
Afghan officials say that under the deal, armed fighters loyal to General Dostum and General Mohammed will be merged under a single neutral commander to be appointed by Kabul.
General Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek and one of the most powerful leaders in northern Afghanistan, is also President Karzai's special representative there.
General Ata Mohammed, an ethnic Tajik, is a regional army commander with close ties to the defence minister.
Power shift
General Dostam used to be the undisputed power broker in the north, but Ata Mohammed's influence has grown since the Tajik-dominated Northern Alliance took over Kabul after the fall of the Taleban.
This power shift has led to repeated outbreaks of fighting between the two men's militias.
The deal to merge their forces is an optimistic attempt to end this continual bickering as the government begins a major disarmament programme, backed by the UN.
This programme, launched last week, aims to disarm up to 100,000 private militiamen across the country - either helping them to return to civilian life or integrating them into the new national army.
With about 15,000 American, coalition and Nato troops now based in Afghanistan supporting the Kabul government, regional commanders know they have to behave.
But the two northern rivals will have to take this latest protestation of friendship seriously if it is to translate into peace on the ground.
Afghanistan accuses UN of exaggerating security risks
KABUL, Oct 26 (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai hit out at a top UN official Sunday for his criticism of security in Afghanistan, saying he was "essentially mistaken" and had exaggerated the impact of a Taliban resurgence.
"While ensuring security for the Afghan population is admittedly unsatisfactory ... the extent and impact of the threats in the country as a whole must not be exaggerated," a statement from Karzai's office said. Karzai was responding to a report to the United Nations Security Council by Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno, who said that "many fundamental, structural causes of insecurity" were unresolved in Afghanistan, two years after the Taliban's ouster. Guehenno announced the suspension of UN operations in four provinces and said the chief sources of insecurity were "terrorist attacks and continued sizeable cross-border infiltration by suspected Taliban, al-Qaeda and Hizb-i-Islami insurgents."
Hizb-i-Islami is headed by Islamist rebel Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was briefly prime minister in the 1990s. Karzai said Taliban remnants consisting "of small pockets ... carrying out cross-border operations in the border districts," were a disturbance, but were "not capable of posing any significant threat, either in military or political terms, to the administration of government in the relevant areas." "There is not a single district in the areas referred to in the report where the central government does not exercise full control over administration and security," his statement said.
The government "strongly rejected" Guehenno's claim that the Taliban "had established de-facto control over district administration" in some border districts. Karzai said his government had taken rigorous actions to defeat terrorism and achieved "significant results" in moving away from the fundamental causes of instability. The statement stressed that Afghanistan needed its neighbours to cooperate, a veiled reference to eastern neighbour Pakistan, the Taliban's former chief supporter, where many Taliban fighters are believed to be regrouping.
Officials from the southeastern district of Barmal, 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the Pakistan border, told AFP last month that it was under Taliban control. Some 300 people, including militants, have been killed in the south and southeast since August in attacks blamed on Taliban guerrillas.
Disarming of Afghans Called Vital to Security
By CARLOTTA GALL October 26, 2003 The New York Times
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Oct. 25 — A long-overdue program to disarm and demobilize thousands of Afghan guerrilla and militia fighters began this week, with President Hamid Karzai personally locking away a truckload of weapons on Friday in this sleepy northern town in front of hundreds of schoolchildren and townspeople.
Nearly 1,000 men from Kunduz Province handed over weapons to United Nations inspectors this week and agreed to return to civilian life. For many of them, it was the end of 20 years of fighting.
The $150 million "Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration" program, run by the United Nations, plans to demobilize 100,000 men over the next three years, to try to rid the country of its warring factions and replace them with a new national army and police force. But it has begun tentatively, with a pilot operation in one of the calmest parts of Afghanistan, a region controlled by Gen. Muhammad Daoud, who is close to the minister of defense.
Germany's lower house of Parliament approved legislation this week expanding the scope of the country's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan by sending troops to Kunduz.
Mr. Karzai said Friday was "one of the best days after 20 years of war and devastation," which civilians hoped would lead to peace, security and prosperity. He praised the men who had fought against occupation and urged them to embark on a new phase of the "holy struggle" to reconstruct the country.
The program is seen as a crucial step to dilute the power of regional commanders and warlords — many of whom exert political and economic control through their armed militias — and to prevent them from influencing the political process, particularly elections next summer.
But the program has been delayed for almost nine months, as the foreign countries sponsoring it insisted first on reforms in the Defense Ministry, to give it more ethnic balance and to reduce the power of the mostly Tajik Northern Alliance.
The failure to begin disarmament in the two years since the Taliban government collapsed has had serious security repercussions — not least on efforts to create a new Afghan Army. It has failed to draw recruits while so many soldiers have remained with their faction leaders.
Most of the first 1,000 men to disarm were illiterate farmers and laborers. They walked — rather than marched — before the president on Friday, dressed in civilian clothes, without weapons. Many actually returned to civilian life a year ago but were now making a formal break from the military.
Each will take an oath swearing to follow a code of civilian conduct and will receive $200 and a set of civilian clothes. Farmers among them will get wheat seed, fertilizer and tools, and others are to receive training and help with employment.
"We wanted to leave the army so we could be free to travel and do business," said Abdullah, a 25-year-old illiterate soldier who has been fighting since he was 13. "I think the fighting is over now, and we are very happy to have a peaceful life."
A disabled former fighter named Qasim, 35, asked, "Will they train me; will they help me find a job?" He said stomach wounds had left him unable to do heavy physical work.
The program remains fraught with difficulties, not so much from ordinary soldiers but from their commanders, who will be demobilized later but are reluctant to lose power by demobilizing their men. Sixteen officers from one unit were resisting orders to demobilize, a battalion commander said at the ceremony. Those demobilization can apply to enroll in the Afghan National Army, but they will have to be screened and start from the bottom.
Many regional groups are also reluctant to hand over weapons to the government in Kabul. The weapons are to go to the newly formed army. But the man who took the keys of the first weapons container on Friday was the defense minister, Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, leader of the powerful Northern Alliance, which could deter rival factions from taking part.
Jim Ocitti, the United Nations spokesman for the program, said, "We are starting from the bottom up." Later, when the commanders are demobilized, those who do not join the army are to be given help to set up businesses or trained to clear land mines. Dealing with the bigger warlords would involve a political decision by the leadership, he said.
Marshal Fahim, who has been criticized in the past for delaying the reform process and thus disarmament, has thrown his support behind the effort in recent weeks, a senior United Nations official said. He gave a strong endorsement of the program on Friday.
"We will overcome any kind of obstacles and difficulties we encounter on the way to establishing peace and security in the country," he said in a speech to the demobilized soldiers and hundreds of onlookers.
Iran breaks silence on names of al-Qaeda suspects in its custody
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has finally revealed to the UN Security Council the names of scores of suspected al-Qaeda members in its custody, state media said. A report to the council identified 78 suspected members of the Islamic militant network who Iran says have already been extradited to their countries of origin, the official IRNA news agency said.
The Iranian mission in New York also provided the names of 147 suspected members of al-Qaeda -- or of its former Afghan hosts, the Taliban militia -- who remain in custody here pending trial, extradition or deportation, the news agency said. IRNA's dispatch did not reveal the names of the detainees or any further details about them.
Iran has previously acknowledged holding some senior members of al-Qaeda but despite US strong pressure, had not identified them, other than saying they are "important and less important members" of the terror network. Between October 2002 and April 2003, more than 2,300 people who illegally entered Iran were handed over to border guards and the United Nations (news - web sites) also informed of their names, IRNA said.
About 400 people linked to al-Qaeda were refused entry to the Islamic republic during the war in Iraq (news - web sites), IRNA added. Previously, Iran said it arrested and deported some 500 people belonging to or linked to al-Qaeda since late 2001.
Tehran has come under fire from Washington for not doing more against al-Qaeda and for refusing to extradite the suspects to the United States, with which it has no extradition treaty.
The Washington Post reported October 14 that the eldest son of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), Saad, had risen to the top ranks of al-Qaeda and is helping run the terror network from inside Iran.
The paper, which quoted US, European and Arab officials, said Saad was being protected by an elite unit linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic republic's ideological army.
Iran dismissed the allegation as an "absolute lie" and challenged foreign intelligence services to prove it.
Diplomats and Arab press reports have said other senior al-Qaeda suspects held in Iran include the movement's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, a former Kuwaiti, and its number two and number three -- Ayman al-Zawahiri and Saif al-Adel -- both of them formerly Egyptian.
Iran has never sanctioned any al-Qaeda activity on its soil, and opposed the Taliban even when other states recognized its government in Kabul, IRNA said, alluding to the United States which initially supported the fundamentalist ruling party.
Hekmatyar urges Ramazan attacks against US forces
DAILY TIMES - PAKISTAN
ISLAMABAD: Hizb-e-Islami Ameer Engineer Gulbadin Hekmatyar has directed his newly established "Secret Army of Mujahidin" (SAM) militants to accelerate the guerrilla warfare in the month of Ramazan against the US-led forces in Afghanistan, sources revealed on Friday.
"Hekamtyar will identify all SAM’s targets," Hizb-e-Islami sources privy to the development in Afghanistan told Daily Times.
"The militant force has been divided into seven groups to strike US-led forces and the Afghanistan government," sources said.
The sources said Hekmatyar has done his homework. "People belonging to six major militant organization and Taliban were inducted into the SAM. The organisations are Hizb-e-Islami (Khalis), Hizb-e-Islami (Hekmatyar), Jamiat-e-Islami of Prof Burhan-ud-Din Rubbani, Ithad-e-Islami of Prof Abdur Rasool Siaf, Jumbash-e-Mili of Sibghatullah Muddadi, Al Qaeda and Taliban," sources said.
These sources also claimed that around 40 per cent of the Northern Alliance people also assured Hekmatyar they would support him. Sources also said SAM is using old weapons which the former USSR abandoned in Afghanistan and those which were dumped by the Hizb-e-Islami before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. —Mohammad Imran
Taliban threatens to kill Afghan women in foreign NGOs
Kyodo (Japan) Friday October 24, 5:37 PM
Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime has threatened to kill Afghan women working for foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported Friday.
The Pakistan-based news agency said the Taliban distributed a pamphlet in Laghman Province ordering Afghan women working for foreign NGOs to quit or face the death penalty.
The pamphlet also warned Afghan drivers not to carry foreigners or their belongings on highways in the eastern province.
"If this order is not implemented then the foreigners will be killed and the vehicles will be set on fire," said the pamphlet.
The pamphlet renewed the call for jihad, or holy war, against U.S.-led forces in the country and called on the Afghan people to unite under the Taliban's ousted leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.
"Jihad has become obligatory because all infidel powers have captured Afghanistan," the pamphlet said.
Bin Laden 'alive' in Kabul region
An intelligence report says he's hiding out in mountains with a tribe that would help him.
STEPHANIE RUBEC, Free Press Parliamentary Bureau 2003-10-25 03:29:16
CAMP JULIEN, AFGHAN-ISTAN -- Osama bin Laden is hiding out in the mountains less than 200 kilometres from Kabul, according to the latest intelligence reports obtained by Sun Media. The leader of al-Qaida, which has recently been re-invented under Fateh Islam (Victory of Islam), has been seen in the mountains in the province of Kunar, an ultra- religious conservative region that supports bin Laden and is pro-Taliban.
"Fateh Islam's leader, none other than Osama bin Laden, is very much alive," says the report.
The No. 1 Urdu-language paper in the Pakistani port city of Karachi says bin Laden is living in a Pakistani city 80 kilometres from the Afghanistan border.
But a classified intelligence document produced by the International Security Assistance Force said bin Laden is living with the Guzer tribe, which "would militarily support him."
"Bin Laden could hardly ask for a better hiding place," the report reads, pointing out that the mountains northeast of Kabul are covered with evergreens and shrubs, crisscrossed by smugglers' trails.
"It's impossible to access the area where al-Qaida is hiding."
The document confirms that bin Laden has recently received a visit from a foreign doctor for his kidney problems.
According to the Afghanistan Defence Department, al-Qaida has rebranded itself as Fateh Islam, is re-organizing and is operating two training camps in Pakistan.
The department also claims the terrorist organization is trying to acquire surface-to-air missiles in China to attack the Afghani government.
Bin Laden has been on the run since the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism entered Afghanistan after his operatives flew jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001.
Since then he's issued many video and audio messages warning of more terrorists attacks against the West.
Miss Afghanistan stirs criticism from home country
www.chinaview.cn 2003-10-27 14:33:46
KABUL, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- An Afghan girl, living in the United States and currently taking part in a beauty contest in the Philippines, has stirred a hurly of criticism in her home country.
Vida Samadzai, 25-year-old contestant at the Miss World contestin Manila, said she was representing Afghan women who are "talented, intelligent and beautiful."
However, women and men in her home country seem to be unhappy with the international media hype about Samadzai's symbolism for amore liberal Afghanistan.
"She is not representing Afghanistan's women. Appearing naked before a camera or television is not women's freedom," Afghan Minister for Woman Affairs Habiba Surabi said on Sunday.
The minister criticized the girl's participation in the contest,saying her appearance in a bikini in front of the public was not permitted by the Afghan tradition and Islam principles.
A statement from the Afghan Embassy in Washington dismissed media reports that Samadzai was representing Afghanistan at the Manila pageant.
"Samadzai's participation in the contest was not recommended bythe embassy, and it was herself's decision to take part," said thestatement.
During the six-year rule by the Taliban, women in Afghan were prohibited from working outdoors and walking outside of their houses without wearing the burqa, a traditional gown-like garment covering the body form head to toe.
Many Afghan women take off the burqa and go to work after the Taliban's ouster in late 2002, but woman rights activists here said that the women's situation in various aspects is still far below their expectations, especially in rural areas.
"It was against our religion and culture," said Frouq Shah, a former soldier of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance that had fought against the hard-line regime.
Samadzai, who was born in Afghanistan and escaped from the country for the United States with her family when the Taliban came to power in 1996, said last week that she had a plan to return to Afghanistan to raise money for girls' schools.
NATO chief asks Turkey for troops for Afghanistan
ANKARA (AFP) Oct 23, 2003 - NATO Secretary General George Robertson said on Thursday he had asked Turkey to provide more military support for security and reconstruction missions in Afghanistan, where the military alliance is preparing to expand its operations outside the capital Kabul.
"I expect Turkey to contribute more to our special priority mission in Afghanistan," Robertson said during a conference he gave following talks with Turkish political and military leaders.
"We need more provincial reconstruction teams -- small military teams that are working in the outline regions of Afghanistan. Turkey has got the expertise to be able to do one of these," said the outgoing NATO chief, during what is a farewell visit to Ankara.
"And of course, if we are going to go outside Kabul, then I need to be sure that if we do so we have the troops to do that.
"Turkey has also strength, for example, in military intelligence-gathering and in gendarmerie," Robertson said.
"I put on the table all these requests and in due course I'll get a reply."
Turkish officials declined to say what response Robertson might get from Ankara, which is the sole Muslim member of the NATO alliance and has its second largest army.
Turkey is currently considering sending troops to Iraq, although both Ankara and Washington appear to be back-pedalling on the idea in the face of the Iraqi leaderships' harsh opposition to a Turkish deployment in the country.
Turkey led the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan for six months last year. A small unit of Turkish soldiers remain in the country.
At present the NATO mission in Afghanistan is limited essentially to providing security in and around Kabul.
On October 13, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to allow international peacekeepers to expand their work beyond the Afghan capital.
Robertson flew to Turkey from Greece, where the Athens government rejected his request to provide military helicopters for operations in Afghanistan. Greece the 2004 Olympics in Athens had increased its domestic financial and security responsibilities.
The NATO chief, whose mandate ends at the end of the year, defended an enhanced role for NATO in Afghanistan, saying that challenges to the stability of the war-ravaged central Asian country remained "enormous".
"If we abandon the Afghan people once again, Afghanistan will again become a safe haven for terrorists," he warned.
Greece turns down NATO request on helicopters for Afghanistan force
ATHENS (AFP) Oct 23, 2003 - Citing heightened financial and security concerns in view of the 2004 Olympics, Greece rejected Thursday a NATO request to provide helicopters for its Afghanistan force as the alliance prepares to deploy troops outside the war-ravaged country's capital Kabul.
"Unfortunately, we believe that Greece, because of increased financial needs related to the Olympic Games and... because we need to have the troops here in the country in 2004... we cannot meet that request," Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis said in a statement after meeting outgoing NATO Secretary General George Robertson.
"The central issue is financial," Simitis said.
"I'm disappointed to get a negative reply on the helicopters... once the Olympic Games are over, I think my successor will be knocking on the doors of Greece yet again," Robertson told reporters after his talks with Simitis and the country's Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou.
"NATO is going to be in Afghanistan for some time," Robertson said.
Simitis reportedly told Robertson early Tuesday Greece could not meet NATO's request because of the cost involved and the country's heightened security needs for the August 2004 Athens Olympics.
According to a NATO official speaking on condition of anonymity, NATO asked Greece to contribute to a force of a total 10 additional attack and supply helicopters the alliance requires as it prepares to widen its mandate outside Kabul.
"Within the next few weeks we'll be able to make a decision about moving out into the regions of Afghanistan," Robertson said.
On October 13 the UN Security Council voted unanimously to allow international peacekeepers in Afghanistan to expand their work beyond the capital Kabul.
"The military modalities have not yet been agreed," Robertson said.
Greece is already participating in the international security efforts in Afghanistan, with some 140 technical unit troops deployed there.
Robertson said he would keep pushing NATO countries that "have not deployed enough of their troops in Afghanistan and Kosovo" to beef up contributions for the Afghanistan force.
"No country is immune from the knock on the door of the Secretary General," he said.
After the talks, Robertson left for Turkey.
German Parliament Approves Expanded Afghanistan Mission
Deutsche Welle (Germany) October 24, 2003
As the German Bundestag on Friday voted to expand the scope of Germany's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Peter Struck said German troops wouldn't get mixed up in the country's war on drugs.
Until now, the mission of the German army, or Bundeswehr, in Afghanistan has been contained to the area in and around the capital, Kabul. But to combat increasing lawlessness in remote parts of the country, the leaders of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan say it's necessary to set up a center of command in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz.
Due to constitutional requirements, the German parliament has to approve any military deployments or, as in this case, significant changes to deployments. The petition before parliament on Friday included an extension of the German ISAF contingent's mandate to October 13, 2004, as well as increasing the number of soldiers from 1800 to as many as 2250. A team of 230 - 450 soldiers is set to be deployed in Kunduz.
Bundestag convinced
An overwhelming majority of 531 out of 593 MP's voted in favor of the motion. Only 57 MP's voted against, while 5 abstained. Despite criticism about the government's handling of the expansion plan, the opposition conservatives and liberals supported the new mission.
HRW Urges Karzai To Enshrine Rights Protections In Draft Constitution
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 10/24/2003 By Antoine Blua
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has sent a private letter to Afghanistan's Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai, asking him to incorporate strong human rights protections into the country's draft constitution. In an interview with RFE/RL, HRW's main Afghan researcher, John Sifton, talks about his organization's concerns.
Prague - In a private letter sent this week to Hamid Karzai, Human Watch Rights asks the president of Afghanistan's Transitional Administration to work with his cabinet and the country's Constitutional Commission to ensure that key human rights provisions are incorporated into the country's draft constitution.
HRW also calls on Karzai to include language giving the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) a meaningful mandate.
The long-delayed draft constitution, which is expected to be made public in the coming days, is due to be debated and voted on by a Constitutional Loya Jirga, or Grand Council, in December.
John Sifton is a U.S.-based researcher on Afghanistan at Human Rights Watch (HRW). Sifton told RFE/RL that, according to several preliminary drafts of the constitution that have been circulating, several key provisions suggested by the AIHRC have been left out.
Sifton said HRW wants Karzai to make sure these suggestions are included in the final draft constitution. "There are several [provisions] that the Afghan Human Rights Commission has suggested, several provisions protecting specific human rights, including due process rights, the right to challenge your detention [in a court of law, that is] 'habeas corpus,' rights about discrimination against women and ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities, and more specific protections for asylum seekers. Things like that," he said. "And these suggestions have not been incorporated. Without them, I don't think we're going to have a constitution that adequately protects human rights for the future."
But Sifton stressed that the most important thing Karzai himself can do at this point is to make sure the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission is given an "adequate" role, as required by the Bonn agreement, which set up the current Afghan government.
"The draft constitution does maintain the [Afghan Independent Human Rights] Commission, but it's not given adequate powers to do its job. We believe a human rights commission should have the power to investigate all human rights abuses, and specifically issue subpoenas to bring witnesses before it, and to initiate court cases in any Afghan courts to remedy [human rights] abuses," he said. "Right now, the constitution doesn't give the commission that power."
Sifton said this is what he calls the "last moment" for this issue to be meaningfully debated and for human right provisions to be included. "When this draft goes before the public, we believe the debates are going to be about more symbolic and more large-scale issues, like how big the parliament is, how many powers it has, [or] the official language of Afghanistan," he said. "Those are going to be debated in the convention that takes place -- the Loya Jirga. We don't think that [the human rights] issue will be dealt with then. So it has to be dealt with now."
Sifton deplored that Loya Jirga candidates who are interested in debating these issues are being threatened. The current climate of intimidation and fear around the country, he insisted, may have indirectly affected the overall drafting process. "That does not allow an open debate. That just allows one side -- the side with the guns, the side with the power -- to write the constitution, literally."
The Constitutional Commission, Sifton noted, is very reluctant to support provisions that are opposed in Kabul by powerful leaders, such as radical Islamist leader Abdur-Rab Rasul Sayaf, or groups like the Shura-yi Nezar. The former Northern Alliance faction is the military wing of Jamiat-e Islami -- a political party that includes Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, and Education Minister Yunus Qanuni.
Talibs To Help Americans Establish Order in Afghanistan
Parvda 10/24/2003 By Vasily Bubnov Most likely, the idea of negotiations appeared in Washington, not in Kabul
Hamid Karzai's government has lost the final hope for a change. The situation in Afghanistan is still unstable. The presence of international peacemakers does not help to ease the situation, the financial help is not enough to change anything for the better either. Talibs are still conducting subversive activities in addition to the autocracy of local warlords (provincial governors currently). What can be done with all those problems? The Afghan government is incapable of handling them all. There is no point to count for peacemakers' help - they prefer not to leave their bases without an extreme need for it.
According to the Pakistani newspaper The News, Hamid Karzai's government has recently started negotiations with moderate Talib leaders who have not been implicated in bloody crimes against the Afghan nation. It was decided to conduct negotiations through former Foreign Minister in the Taliban government Abdul Wakil Mutawakil, who had been released from the American jail in Bagram base on the outskirts of Kabul. Negotiations have been started on the initiative of Talib leaders and they are still continuing.
Presidential spokesman Jawid Luddin has also confirmed the fact of contacts with the moderate leaders of Taliban. In an interview to journalists, Luddin said that several Taliban leaders had contacted the Afghan government and stated that they were prepared to cooperate.
It has been emphasized that Kabul is not intended to conduct negotiations with the Taliban officials implicated in the cooperation with al-Qaida. In general, it seems to be rather interesting: "moderate Talib leaders." Until recently, no one has ever heard anything about them. Now it turns out that they exist, although it is not clear, why they are called "moderate leaders."
It is worth mentioning here that the officials from the Afghan government say that Talibs have initiated negotiations. Kabul is demonstrating who controls the situation in the country (or at least pretends to do so). One shall assume, Americans are implicated in the matter as well. Indeed, it is hard to believe that they have released Abdul Wakil Mutawakil from jail so easily to let him help Hamid Karzai establish contacts with the "moderate leaders." Most likely, the idea to start negotiations appeared in Washington, not in Kabul. If they are successful, it will be possible to launch a large campaign about the "national reconciliation" in Afghanistan and to make it an accomplishment of the American administration. If nothing good happens - they will simply pronounce "moderate" Talibs extremists again and the subject of negotiations in Afghanistan will be quickly forgotten.
Obstacles to Afghan Defense Reforms Persist
The Washington Post 10/24/2003 By Pamela Constable
KABUL - In a gold-encrusted salon at the presidential palace last week, 22 new senior Afghan military officials were silently presented to the press while Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim announced that his ministry was a "vanguard of reform" and would now be run by an ethnically balanced corps of military professionals.
But as the new officials take up their duties this week, after months of pressure from international advisers and a week of intense seminars on human rights, civilian supremacy and other modern military values, experts and officials said it was unclear whether they would bring meaningful change to a powerful institution long dominated by one ethnic and political faction.
The overhaul is widely viewed as the first critical piece of an ambitious plan -- strongly backed by the United Nations and Western governments -- to depoliticize the Afghan armed forces, disarm and demobilize thousands of militiamen loyal to regional bosses and accelerate the creation of a foreign-trained, multiethnic national army. The disarmament program got underway this week in the far northern province of Kunduz.
Even some of the newly appointed officials acknowledge that the challenges they face are formidable, given the weakness of central civilian authority, the resistance by ethnic militia leaders who feel they deserve a major share of power, and the gun culture that has become entrenched across Afghanistan during 25 years of war and civil strife.
"Our job is to build a ministry and an army like those of other free-world countries, obedient to civilian authority and committed to national interests," said Rahim Wardak, 57, the new deputy defense minister and a former general in the Afghan army. "It is an enormous job, and I'm going to give it a real try. But a lot will depend on what changes we are able to make in the second and third and fourth echelons, not just at the top."
Some critics said even the top-level changes were inadequate because Fahim remains the ministry's head, with one of his closest associates, Gen. Bismullah Khan, as chief of staff. Both are ethnic Tajiks from the Panjshir Valley, a group that dominates most security ministries. Of the Defense Ministry's top three leaders, only Wardak is a member of the Pashtun ethnic group, Afghanistan's largest, which includes President Hamid Karzai.
Other observers disagreed, saying they believed that the Panjshiris were prepared to share power. The faction's main concern, they said, was making sure it was adequately rewarded and respected for its role in fighting the Soviet occupation in the 1990s and helping Western military forces drive out the radical Islamic Taliban militia in 2001.
"This is a massive organization, a personal fiefdom with a long habit of political interference. It needs to undergo a complete cultural change," said a Western diplomat who closely follows Afghan military issues. "But I don't think the Panjshiris want to dominate power. They are resentful that other ministries are not being asked to reform, though, and they are worried that their interests are not being well represented."
One source of concern is the recent public opposition to the disarmament program expressed by some militia leaders in the Northern Alliance, the anti-Taliban coalition now headed by Fahim. The program was to have begun months ago but was put on hold until the Defense Ministry reforms could be put in place.
But even though the ministry is now far more ethnically and regionally balanced at the top -- the 22 new officials come from 14 provinces -- and Fahim has repeatedly endorsed disarmament, some of his closest associates have said they are still unprepared to give up their weapons.
In some cases, reluctance to disarm stems from rivalries between militia forces, such as the continuing clashes between Gen. Abdurrashid Dostum and Gen. Attah Mohammad in the north. In others, there is concern for the fate of thousands of unskilled fighters and alarm about intensifying attacks by a resurgent Taliban.
"Before we even think about disarming, the government needs to find jobs for people," said Sidiq Chakari, a senior aide in Jamiat-i-Islami, the dominant political party of the Northern Alliance. "If you make all those freedom fighters disarm by force, they may escape to the mountains and join the [Taliban] opposition to take revenge." Premature disarmament, he added, "could be very dangerous."
Another issue clouding the picture of military reform and reorganization is the return of partisan politics. With a constitutional assembly scheduled for December and national elections slated for next summer, some military figures -- possibly including Fahim -- are positioning themselves for a political role and searching for civilian alliances.
Afghan law now bans any party with a military nature or structure, but some militia bosses, including Dostum, already head political parties and could wield power through them. Other ambitious Northern Alliance figures, such as Education Minister Yonus Qanooni, have already reestablished themselves as civilian officials.
Several weeks ago, a group of Northern Alliance leaders met in Kabul while Karzai was abroad, reportedly to discuss forming a party and finding another candidate for president. The meeting broke up in disagreement, and Fahim hurriedly called a news conference in which he reiterated his support for the Karzai government.
Several analysts observed this week that Fahim has become uninterested in his job as defense minister. That could leave much of the reorganizing work to Wardak, which would bode well for serious change in the defense forces. But if Fahim is seen as losing his grip, the analysts said, that could deepen his armed supporters' resistance to institutional reforms and disarmament.
The single most powerful inducement to both military reform and pacification, Afghan and foreign officials said, is the recent agreement by NATO and the U.N. Security Council to expand the mandate of the 4,500 multinational peacekeeping forces who patrol Kabul. It is not yet clear how many additional troops will be sent here, but observers said the actual numbers do not matter.
"Even if you have 10 or 20 peacekeepers in a town, it will be a deterrent to the warlords and others," Wardak said. "No matter how small the forces are, there will be the image of 1 million NATO troops behind them." If anyone still wants to resist, he said, "this will break their back."
Pakistan Says Attack Threat Up Since Joining U.S.
By Amir Zia
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security officials said on Friday the threat of militant attacks had increased in the country's rugged southwest bordering Afghanistan (news - web sites) since Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on terror in 2001. Pakistan lacked the resources to halt infiltration by members of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban and their al Qaeda allies across the porous, mountainous border in Baluchistan province, they said. "Pakistan's decision to join the international anti-terror coalition has given militants a solid reason to fight against us," Ashraf Nasir, chief secretary of Baluchistan, told reporters. "They have zero tolerance level. They are hardened fighters. It has added a new dimension to the law and order challenges."
Baluchistan, which shares a 720-mile-long border with Afghanistan, has seen a spate of violence in recent months, including a suicide attack on a mosque in its provincial capital, Quetta, in July that killed more than 50 people.
Nasir said such attacks were a new phenomenon in Baluchistan where there had been a new wave of what he called illegal Afghan immigrants since the beginning of the war on terror after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. There had also been a steep rise in crime such as vehicle snatching, highway robbery and murder, he said.
Pakistan estimates more than a million Afghan refugees live in Baluchistan province, while about the same number are in North West Frontier Province, that also borders Afghanistan. There had also been an increase in drug smuggling as Afghanistan expects a bumper opium poppy crop this season, he said. Opium is refined into heroin. "Narcotics money has a direct link with terrorism," Nasir said.
Afghan authorities have alleged that the Taliban were using Pakistani soil to regroup and launch attacks back into Afghanistan, a charge vehemently denied by Pakistan. Shoaib Suddle, inspector general of Baluchistan provincial police, denied the presence of militant training camps in Baluchistan.
"We would also like to know where they exist? We will immediately go and arrest them," he said. While officials do not deny the presence of low-level Taliban members in Pakistan, Suddle said no senior Taliban officials were allowed to stay.
UN funds project to house refugees returning to Afghanistan
DAILY TIMES - PAKISTAN
GENEVA: The United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) said Friday it is funding the construction of 52,000 homes across Afghanistan to house more than 270,000 returning refugees in need of shelter as temperatures drop.
Tens of thousands of people coming back to the war-torn country were building their own homes as part of the massive project, it said.
"To date, 13,000 shelters have been completed, while another 27,000 are under construction," the UNHCR said in a statement.
Afghans received timber for the roof, window frames and door frames of their do-it-yourself domiciles, which typically consist of two rooms and a hallway suitable for a family of five, explained UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler.
They are also given an allowance of between 50 and 100 dollars to help them hire skilled labour or pay for vital material such as bricks.
Last year, returning refugees built more than 40,000 homes under the UNHCR’s reconstruction scheme, which helped over 200,000 people.
Most of the shelters are built in rural areas on land requested by the refugees, but some 1,500 new homes are under construction in Kabul. —AFP
Afghans to observe Ramadan, freer than under Taleban but still hungry and poor
AFP 10/24/2003
"As we poor have no money, no food, no shelter, it's always Ramadan for us"
KABUL - In a grimy Kabul bazaar Feroozuddin surveys the pickled treats on offer as he prepares to observe Afghanistan's second Ramadan since the fall of the Taleban, free of the defunct regime's religious police but struggling under crushing poverty.
"Peace and freedom is always good, but when your stomach is empty that's not peace and freedom," the 38-year-old taxi driver, who gave only one name, said.
It is one of the main dilemmas facing Afghanistan today. The only breadwinner in a family of nine, Feroozuddin is glad the Taleban has gone. But he is unhappy he can barely scrape together the two dollars needed to buy four kilograms of the pickles favored by Afghans for breaking the daily fast starting at the end of this week.
Afghanistan's war-weary people have more freedom in the two years since the harsh Taleban regime was removed from power. And most are pleased to have seen the back of the religious police who used to whip people into mosques during Ramadan to observe Islam's five daily prayers.
Some people have done well since the Taleban left power. "This year, Ramadan will be good, better than last year, and much better than the Taleban time," said Ruhullah, a money-trader, stocking up on the tasty treats in the same bazaar.
But families like that of Feroozuddin are struggling to survive and when you are always hungry, there is a particular irony about starting a month of religious fasting.
Nearby in the market, a vendor who pushes his handcart round the city all day, expressed a common sentiment. "As we poor have no money, no food, no shelter, it's always Ramadan for us," he said.
In September, the United Nations World Food Program expressed its concern over the rampant poverty and hunger in the war-shattered country, which has suffered more than two decades of conflict since a Soviet invasion in 1979.
"Despite (an) anticipated good harvest, access to food will remain a major concern for a significant number of rural household in Afghanistan," according to the UN agency.
Besides decades of war and conflict in the country, Afghanistan has just started to recover from five years of drought with improved rains helping the harvest. But this has not so far had much impact on daily lives.
"The people get poorer by the day and the government, which is responsible for their well-being, is doing nothing," complained Safiqullah, 44, browsing the bazaar.
President Hamid Karzai last Sunday summoned his ministers to a special session to address the social and economic problems facing Afghans as the holy fasting month approached. But little was agreed beyond a promise to supply 24-hour electricity to Kabul residents, who live with power blackouts every second night.
Karzai's US-backed government is an odd mix of technocrats and warlords, the latter having their own private armies. And with the warlords often at loggerheads, the government has been unable so far to tackle many of the country's problems, one disgruntled official of the administration told AFP.
"As the rival warlords apparently loyal to the central government have been involved in factional fighting, they have had less time to think about improving people's lives," the official said, referring to clashes like that near the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif earlier this month.
Much remains to be done. As it is, Afghanistan has a life expectancy of just 42 years and remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
In the mountains of south and southeastern Afghanistan, militants opposed to the Karzai government and its US-led coalition allies continue to mount attacks on the governing forces.
DHL plans Bahrain operations boost
(Gulf Daily News) - DHL is to carry out a multi-million dinar investment in the region and expand its hub in Bahrain for its new operations to Iraq and Afghanistan, it has been revealed.
The air fleet has been doubled from seven to 14 in one year, said Middle East area director Philip Couchman.
The DHL road fleet has also undergone huge expansion - from seven trailers last year to 22 this year, and will double to 44 next year, he told the GDN.
"Business is booming. Our Gulf wide distribution road service has grown in the first nine months of this year by 26 per cent in shipments and by 20pc in revenue," said Mr Couchman.
"Bahrain has become even more important to us as a hub for our new operations to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We are the first international transport company to open a facility in Iraq, which is destined to assume a major economic role in the region."
Iraq's rebuilding alone will demand the massive transit of people and goods, said Mr Couchman.
"Once its infrastructure is rebuilt, its air and sea links re-established, it is poised to be a major player in the region's trade," he noted.
"When the war started, DHL in Brussels encouraged us to make available half of our total aircraft capacity for transporting relief materials and humanitarian goods to Iraq.
"We currently operate two Airbus freighters daily from Bahrain to Iraq."
DHL has offices in 13 Middle East countries and close to 100 branches throughout the region.
"Our headquarters now occupies nearly 15,000 square metres in Bahrain, which we see as the best strategic location for our next steps into the millennium," said Mr Couchman. "We started with 10 employees in the region, and it has now grown to nearly 2,000."
DHL would soon appoint a consultant to study the expansion of its airport facilities in Bahrain, revealed Mr Couchman.
"We are working in close co-operation with Civil Aviation Affairs to upgrade our facilities here," he said.
"We have a major facilities development plans in Saudi Arabia, for which $30 million has already been allocated.
"DHL has also expanded its airside facility in Abu Dhabi by investing $1m."
Globally, said Mr Couchman, DHL has finished the acquisition of Airborne Express, the third largest courier company in the US.
"This has made us a strong international player and helped increase our market share in the US from three pc to 20 pc," he said.
"For customers in Bahrain and other Middle East countries, this means an improved transport time throughout the US."
REGION: UN suspends operations in four Afghan provinces
Daily Times - Pakistan
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has suspended operations in four southern Afghan provinces due to increasing violence and concerns that aid workers could be seen by local militants as targets, a top UN official has announced.
UN Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno told the UN Security Council Friday the decision had been made because many of the fundamental causes of insecurity in Afghanistan "remain unresolved."
Guehenno said the insecurity came from extremist attacks, factionalised government ministries and the weakening of the political compact that supports the provisional government.
"Many fundamental, structural causes of insecurity remain unresolved," Guehenno noted, even as the final and most important stages of the Afghan internal peace process move ahead.
He cited a tank battle between two rival Afghan factions earlier this month, but said "the primary source of insecurity remains terrorist attacks and continued sizable cross-border infiltration by suspected Taliban, Al Qaeda and Hizb-i-Islami insurgents."
According to Guehenno, every border district in the country except one has been labelled "high risk" by the UN security coordinator.
The announcement coincided with a report by Afghan state television that 10 civilians, including five women and two children, had been killed in a "terrorist" ambush in northern Afghanistan.
UN peacekeeping staff have noted that attacks against government, military and humanitarian personnel are "steadily increasing," especially against Afghans working with international organisations, the UN undersecretary general pointed out.
Such attacks, he said, "seriously jeopardize the safety of personnel and limit the ability to conduct reconstruction and political activities."
"The trend towards targeting civilians supportive of the central government and peace process supports the view that the UN must also be seen as a target," Guehenno said.
The undersecretary general pointed to "worrying signs" that the political compact that helps support the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, "may be weakening."
He added that further reforms are needed in national security ministries and all other government ministries, which remain influenced by factional and ethnic interests.
"Over the past few weeks, the division between those that would turn the corner of Afghanistan’s past, and those that would preserve their entitlement appear to have deepened," Guehenno stressed.
Donors have pledged more than four billion dollars in aid over five years but as much as six billion dollars annually could be needed to get the country back on its feet, according to UN officials.
The Security Council, which last week authorized international peacekeepers to deploy outside the capital Kabul in a bid to help restore order, is expected to send a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan next week for a first-hand look at the situation.
Meanwhile, German troops gearing up for deployment in northeast Afghanistan will be asked to help fight booming opium poppy farming, the local military commander said Saturday.
"We don’t need them for security. We need them because of opium," General Mohammad Daud, commander of the Sixth Corps which covers Kunduz, Baghlan, Badakshan and Takhar provinces told AFP.
"We want help from the Germans to destroy poppies."
"Farmers are growing it. They sell it to smugglers who take it to Tajikistan and Pakistan."
Some 250 troops will be deployed over the coming months in a joint civilian-military program, known as a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), with the dual aims of helping in reconstruction and security.
Ethnically mixed Kunduz is relatively free of the factional fighting afflicting other parts of Afghanistan’s north and the guerrilla campaign by resurgent Taliban in the south and southeast.
"I’m not worried about the Taliban, because these four provinces are all enemies of the Taliban. They don’t want the Taliban," Daud said.
Ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks, Pashtuns and Hazaras cohabitate peacefully and security command is delicately balanced between the three main groups, with an Uzbek as governor, a Pashtun as police chief, and Tajiks as the Sixth Corps and 54th division commanders.
The biggest problem, according to Daud, is the explosion in opium poppy farming, particularly in Kunduz’ neighbouring provinces. Opium is the raw ingredient for heroin.
Daud’s troops destroyed poppy fields around Kunduz last year.
"There are no more poppies around Kunduz. We destroyed 100 hectares," the general said.
"But it’s a big problem in Baghlan, Badakshan and Takhar."
Since the harsh Taliban regime was ousted by US-led forces in 2001, cultivation of the lucrative poppy crop has taken off across Afghanistan and the country has regained its title as the world’s top heroin producer.
The fundamentalists had almost eradicated poppies toward the end of their five year regime, but subsequent power vacuums and lack of central government authority have allowed it to return.
Kunduz residents and researchers from the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank report the existence of refineries, turning opium into heroin, in Badakshan province.
A local United Nations official told the ICG that commanders in Takhar province, where Daud’s authority is reportedly challenged, had begun planting poppies this year and were involved in trafficking.
The ICG blamed the growth in poppy farming in the northeast on warlordism and loose security at the Tajik border.
"The entrenchment of warlordism in northeastern Afghanistan and a corruptible border security regime in Tajikistan have fuelled an explosive growth in poppy cultivation in Badakshan province," an ICG report in September said.
Farmers in Mazar-i-Sharif to the west of Kunduz say poppies bring in 10 times the price of wheat crops. In southern and eastern Afghanistan the price is almost 40 times that of wheat.
Development workers interviewed by ICG predicted poppy farming would explode in Takhar after the huge wealth brought in by poppies in Badakshan.
"This is the first year that commanders have planted (poppy)," a local UN employee told the ICG.
"They have collected taxes and are involved in trafficking. Next year, I foresee that none of the people will plant wheat."
Daud said he welcomed the imminent arrival of German troops. "For 23 years Afghanistan was destroyed. If any country comes to rebuild it, we’re happy." —AFP
Balancing vital U.S. interests and values in Pakistan
Indianapolis Star, IN October 27, 2003
A U.S. Army colonel recently told me in blunt terms of our urgent priority in dealing with Pakistan and its president, Pervez Musharraf: "We have got to support Musharraf. If he goes, we're in big trouble."
Indeed, it is hard to overstate the importance of Pakistan, and Musharraf, to the United States. Within Pakistan's borders are scores of al-Qaida terrorists, Taliban fighters and -- many believe -- Osama bin Laden. Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons and has come frighteningly close to war with nuclear-armed India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Meanwhile, an ideological battle rages among anti-American Islamic fundamentalists, the Pakistani military and more moderate mainstream political forces. There have been attempts on Musharraf's life. Our worst nightmare is an Islamic fundamentalist government armed with nuclear weapons and harboring bin Laden.
Within this cauldron of activity, Musharraf has supported the war on terror. Since 9/11, he has ended Pakistani support for the Taliban; facilitated our war effort in Afghanistan, and turned over critical intelligence and more than 500 suspected al-Qaida terrorists to the U.S., including key leaders. To bolster Musharraf and sustain this cooperation, we have granted Pakistan nearly $2 billion in aid, and President Bush has pledged $3 billion more over the next five years. While there are strong reasons for this support, there is also cause for concern on three issues: terrorism, proliferation and democracy.
On terrorism, Musharraf has repeatedly said he will close terrorist offices and stop terrorists from crossing the Pakistani border into Kashmir. But his record does not match his rhetoric.
The stakes could not be higher. A major terrorist attack on an Indian target could launch a war with the potential to go nuclear and kill millions.
Musharraf's commitment to cracking down on the Taliban has also been questioned. U.S. military commanders complain that Pakistan does not adequately seal its Afghan border, permitting Taliban fighters to take refuge in the ethnic Pashtun areas before returning to Afghanistan to strike at American and Afghan government forces. While Musharraf's control over this rugged and tribal border region is not complete, it does seem that Pakistan's cooperation has not been absolute.
On proliferation, Musharraf has repeatedly said that Pakistan does not barter with its nuclear technology. But it has been widely reported that North Korea obtained enriched uranium technology from Pakistan in exchange for missile technology, and Pakistani companies reportedly provided critical support to Iran's nuclear program.
Finally, Pakistani democracy has suffered under Musharraf, who took power in a coup. In August 2002, he rewrote the constitution to grant himself extensive powers, including the ability to dissolve the national assembly. And while he did hold parliamentary elections in October 2002, these were regarded as badly flawed and restricted.
How does the U.S. balance this myriad of interests in Pakistan? Does the war on terror force us to compromise our principles and forge alliances with troubling leaders?
The answer is we must protect and balance our interests but also act on behalf of our values. Too often in the Islamic world, America has supported troubling rulers who keep the lid on the cauldron without addressing the systemic problems that ultimately cause the cauldron to boil over. Right or wrong, this causes Muslims to associate American policies with support for oppressive regimes and their own lack of freedom. It is not yet clear if Mushurraf is prepared to implement his stated long-term vision of a democratic Pakistan divorced from terror, or if he is simply another self-interested military dictator.
We should support Musharraf. But we should also prod him in the right direction. Aid should be conditional, not a blank check. And America's message to Pakistan and the Islamic world should be clear: We stand against exportation of dangerous weaponry and terror, and we stand for democracy and human rights.
Afghans trade guns for a shot at a new life
27-10-2003 Gulf News
Kunduz, Afghanistan "Name?'' "Shah Mahmmed.'' "Age?'' "Thirty-four.'' "Can you read?'' "No.'' "Any skills?'' "Just this gun.''
With such terse exchanges, repeated several hundred times during the past two days at army bases across the northern province of Kunduz, Afghan and UN officials launched a long-awaited national programme to disarm tens of thousands of factional fighters, demobilise them from their militia units and reintegrate them into civilian life.
At one base, long lines of grizzled men in tunics and baggy trousers, each lugging a battered assault rifle or rocket launcher, waited hours to register for the programme. Then they filed over to a cargo truck where each weapon was inspected by UN officials, slapped with an identifying bar-code sticker and stashed away.
In return, each fighter was handed a plastic ID card that entitled him to $200, a change of civilian clothes, a box of food and vocational training and employment counseling in such fields as land mine clearance, road construction and factory work.
"I feel like I've been let out of prison after a long time,'' exulted Nizamuddin, 35, a hulking man who had just turned in an enormous mortar tube. "I have been carrying a gun since I was 20, and I never learned to do anything else. People in my village blame every crime on me. Now maybe I can finally get a job and get married.''
The pilot project in Kunduz, scheduled to include 1,000 fighters, will be celebrated on Friday with an official parade and ceremony to be attended by top Afghan and UN officials. Every demobilised man will receive a military medal, and President Hamid Karzai will symbolically lock up a truckful of weapons.
Hopes for pacifying Afghanistan, which has been embroiled in a succession of conflicts since the Soviet army occupied it in 1979, rest largely on the success of this programme. Karzai's authority remains limited, and some regions are controlled by militia leaders with little loyalty to the government. A constitutional assembly and national elections are scheduled in the coming months, and there are widespread fears of political violence.
The start of the programme was delayed for months while reforms were carried out at the Defence Ministry, giving its leadership – once dominated by former militia commanders from a single faction – a more ethnically balanced and professional nature. Now, in theory, no ethnic militia should object to handing over its weapons or decreasing its forces for fear that a rival group will exploit this weakness.
Kunduz, a remote but verdant province that borders Tajikistan in the far north, was selected as the programme's launching pad because it is unusually peaceful. Nearly two years ago, after the collapse of the Taliban, Afghan military officials spearheaded a weapons collection drive here and registered most former militiamen with new army units.
Across the province this week, civilians expressed universal and often impassioned support for the programme, saying that two decades of conflict had destroyed normal life. Tea shop customers and schoolteachers, farmers threshing rice and horse-cart drivers waiting for riders all said the only way to ensure peace was to rid the region of guns, by force if necessary.
"The warlords and commanders with guns just drink the blood of the people,'' said Anakhul, 62, a baker in Aliabad, a busy town surrounded by rice paddies and melon fields. "We have all been their victims, and we have all had enough. If the government can negotiate seriously and get the guns away, that's fine. If not, then they must search every house and take every weapon away.''
Pakistan arrests 230 Al-Qaeda suspects in raids
Operation launched in Northwest tribal region bordering afghanistan
Detentions elsewhere net 1 suspect in Faisalabad after tip-off from 3 captured earlier in the week
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Pakistan has netted 230 Al-Qaeda suspects in a military operation in the northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan this month, state media said Sunday, quoting a senior commander.
The operation launched on Oct. 2 is continuing in phases, Corps commander Lieutenant General Ali Mohammed Jan Aurakzai told a team of foreign diplomats Saturday, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
Three phases have been completed in the rugged tribal terrain and the fourth phase of the operation, named Al-Meezan (balance), is currently under way, he told about 20 ambassadors and military attaches at the Corp headquarters in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
During the operation, more than 230 suspects believed to belong to the Al-Qaeda network have been rounded up while 10 others were killed, Aurakzai said, according to the APP report. It did not identify their nationalities.
Ten Pakistani military personnel were killed in the operation, the news agency quoted the general as saying. In a major operation against suspected Al-Qaeda fighters in the border town of Angoor Adda in the South Waziristan tribal area, hundreds of commandos surrounded the suspects’ hideouts on Oct. 2.
Eight fighters and two Pakistani troops were killed in the ensuing battle while 18 Taleban and Al-Qaeda suspects were captured. Two Pakistani Army soldiers were also killed in the Oct. 2 encounter.
Angoor Ada faces Afghanistan’s Shkin district and is just 15 kilometers from the Afghan town of Barmal, part of which was reportedly controlled by Taleban.
US troops hunting Taleban and Al-Qaeda remnants in Afghanistan have frequently been thwarted by the fugitives escaping over the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas.
The 18 arrested from Angoor Adda were Uzbeks, Afghans and Pakistani nationals, intelligence officials said earlier.
Local residents deny any of them were Al-Qaeda or Taleban members, and have accused the government of carrying out the operation to appease the US.
Meanwhile, police said another Al-Qaeda suspect has been detained in Faisalabad in central Punjab province, the fourth such arrest in the industrial city in a week.
The Arabic-speaking man was arrested in a raid Saturday, following information obtained from three other Al-Qaeda suspects held in Faisalabad.
FBI agents were not involved in the operation, unlike in previous arrests of top Al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan, a police official said.
Seven or eight intelligence agents climbed over a perimeter wall of the house, and 10 minutes later led out the blindfolded suspect. They drove away to an unknown destination, he said.
Based on the tip from the arrested Yemenis, the raid was expected to net about a half dozen suspects, but only one was taken from the house. The official did not say how much reward had been posted for him.
The Yemenis, along with a Pakistani, were stopped as they were leaving Faisalabad, in the eastern Punjab province, about 270 kilometers south
of Islamabad.
One of the Yemenis was identified only as Abu Saleh. He was believed to be an aid of Abu Zubaydah, a senior lieutenant of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, one of the key money handlers of the network and an organizer of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Abu Zubaydah also was arrested in Faisalabad in March 2002. The second Yemeni was identified as Adnan, alias Hasanat. Their Pakistani companion, identified as Mohammed Javed, was believed linked to the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an extremist Sunni Muslim organization blamed for killing hundreds of minority Shiites in Pakistan.
Preliminary investigations have shown the men had fled from the Oct. 2 operation, the sources said. Officials say more than 500 Al-Qaeda suspects have been rounded up, including three key associates of bin Laden, since Pakistan joined the US-led war against terrorism two years ago. The majority of those arrested are now in the US custody at the US Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Agencies
Suspected Taliban bomb another Afghan school
(Reuters) - Suspected Taliban guerrillas bombed a school in the south-eastern Afghan province of Khost, the second such attack in less than a week in the area, officials said.
Two classrooms of the school were completely razed by the explosion on Saturday night, Kheyal Baaz Khan, a military commander of Khost, told Reuters.
No one was injured in the explosion, which took place at night.
About 1,300 boys and girls attend the school but classes came to a halt on Sunday as security officials searched the compound of the single-storey building for more explosive devices. Teachers said that they would resume lessons only after getting an assurance that the compound was safe.
The incident was the second attack on a school in Khost in less than a week. Earlier, a girls school was torched.
Since the overthrow of the Taliban regime by US-led forces in 2001, about three dozens schools, mainly for girls, have been either destroyed or burned down in several parts of Afghanistan.
Authorities blame the Taliban religious militia for the incidents. The Taliban had banned girls from education and barred women from most outdoor jobs during its about five years of rule.
Bush Sends Ramadan Greeting to Muslims
(BBC) - President Bush has issued his annual greeting to the world's Muslims preparing to observe the holy month of Ramadan.
In his message, Mr. Bush calls Islam a peaceful religion that has helped shape the character of the United States and has made great contributions to the world. He says Americans cherish their freedom to worship, they remain committed to welcoming individuals of all religions and are ready to work "together to advance freedom and mutual understanding."
Fasting during the daylight hours of Ramadan is a religious requirement for all Muslims. Ramadan begins in Egypt and Yemen on Sunday, and in most other Muslim countries on Monday.
Ramadan is calculated according to the lunar calendar. When it begins in each nation depends on when the crescent moon is first sighted with the naked eye.
On Sunday in time for Ramadan, U.S. military officials in Iraq have said they will lift an overnight curfew in Baghdad that has been in effect since U.S. forces captured the capital almost six months ago.
American soldiers in Iraq have been receiving briefings about the traditions of Ramadan.
The U.S. military commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, says officials are making sure the troops "understand the rhythms of the people involved and the sensitivities" during the holy month.
Soldiers have also been warned that Ramadan could bring an increase in attacks in some parts of the country.
During Ramadan, Muslims are forbidden to eat, drink or smoke during daylight hours. Followers traditionally end each day of fasting with feasts and visits to friends after sundown.
Soldier collects toys, clothes for Afghan orphans
(Edmonton Journal - Canada) - ST. ALBERT - Thousands of Afghan orphans will be better off if a military volunteer in St. Albert matches the success of others in gathering donated toys and clothes.
A single Canadian soldier in Kabul, Master Cpl. Russell Storring, is behind the distribution of most of the items to children in Kabul. Stephanie Taylor of St. Albert, a sergeant with the military's medical headquarters in Edmonton, is assisting him locally.
Despite its small size and lack of funding, Storring's unofficial program, nicknamed Mercury Hope, has already collected hundreds of boxes from across the country. The items are being collected at Storring's home base at CFB Petawawa before shipment to him in Afghanistan.
"There's no red tape; there's no paperwork. It's just the people doing it and the items go hand-to-hand to Russell and to the kids," Taylor said.
The 1,200 children at the Kabul orphanage that Storring frequents range up to age 15, Taylor said. They need clothes, shoes, school supplies and toys that don't require batteries.
Because Mercury Hope is not an official charity, they are not accepting donations of money.
Taylor has arranged drop points for donations in St. Albert.
‘Pakistan ready for talks or war with India’
By our correspondent The News International, Pakistan
MULTAN: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Sunday said that Pakistan was prepared for dialogue or battle with India at all levels. However, he added that Pakistan was interested in dialogue.
Talking to journalists before addressing the silver jubilee function of an Urdu daily in Multan, he reacted to Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes’ statement, saying that Pakistan would not beg for dialogue.
Responding to a question whether the constitutional amendment package would be tabled in parliament, Rashid said there were 50-50 chances. Later, addressing the silver jubilee function, he said Pakistan has told the US that it would not send its troops to Iraq without parliament’s approval. He said that the Ummah was undergoing a difficult period in its history and against this backdrop Pakistan had to steer itself out of the crisis. "Any error of judgement could be disastrous for the country," he said.
He said the crisis began from Bosnia and after passing through Chechnya and Afghanistan was now being witnessed in Iraq. He added that the next 12 to 14 months were crucial for the Ummah, and Pakistan had to watch the situation carefully and respond to it judiciously.
Responding to speeches of leaders of the opposition parties, the minister asked the audience that if there was a single politician or party that had emerged in politics without Army’s support except Quaid-i-Azam.
When Rashid started his speech, he was heckled by the gathering, calling him an Army spokesman, but he stood his ground, saying: "I have listened to all the speeches and allegations calmly; be patient to have my response."
He said that the Army had been the nursery school to all the politicians. "A number of politicians who remained a part of General Ziaul Haq’s cabinet, a martial law administrator, but are opposing General Musharraf. Under what logic?" he questioned. "Is their present or their past stand correct?"
He praised "press freedom during President Musharraf’s period", saying not a single example of such press freedom could be found in the past governments. "When I was minister during Nawaz Sharif’s period, he pressurised me twice to stop advertisements of an English daily, but I did not care for his orders."
The PML-N Acting President, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, PPP Senior Vice-Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, JI Naib Amir Prof Abdul Ghafoor, Federal Minister of State for Agriculture Malik Sikandar Bosan, Multan District Nazim Riaz Hussein Qureshi, Syed Fakhar Imam and Newspapers Hawkers Association Secretary-General Tikka Khan Abbasi also spoke on the occasion.
Swallowed by Kabul's Cracks
The Washington Post 10/25/2003 By Constable Pamela
Afghan Returnees Find The Living's Not Easy
KABUL, Afghanistan -- They live in tents and storefronts and abandoned ruins, cooking and bathing on patches of dirt. The men haunt traffic circles, hoping to be picked up for a day's construction work. The women knock on doors asking for clothes to wash. The children forage for firewood and filch potatoes from bazaars.
They are returnees without a refuge, the least skilled and most vulnerable of an estimated 750,000 Afghans who have flooded into Kabul in the past 18 months from Pakistan, Iran or other parts of Afghanistan where they had fled during years of war, drought, civil conflict and religious repression.
They came back because they had heard there was democracy and peace in their homeland. Mistakenly, they thought this also meant jobs, land and help. Instead, they fell straight between the cracks of a vastly overburdened Afghan government and an international aid network that is geared to help almost every category of need except theirs.
"People were promised green gardens, but when we got here, we found there was nothing at all," said Abdul Moqim, 33, an illiterate, one-legged war veteran who returned from Pakistan nine months ago and now lives with his wife and six children in a tent colony of 150 families in the city's Khair Khona district.
Moqim, who worked as a cook in Pakistan, said his disability has doomed his job prospects in a capital crammed with idle, able-bodied men. He spent the summer building a mud baseboard around his flimsy home, but he knows that when winter comes, it will not keep out the bitter, high-altitude cold. "We have extra blankets," he said.
When families like Moqim's cross the border into Afghanistan, as about 2.2 million returning refugees have done since early 2002, they register with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which gives them some cash, wheat, plastic sheeting and a few other basic necessities.
After that, those headed for the countryside are eligible to receive additional foreign assistance, in keeping with U.N. policy to encourage Afghans to repopulate their original villages and farmlands. But those settling in the capital, which is densely crowded and poorly serviced, are virtually on their own.
"Frankly, our priority has been rural," said Maki Shinohara, spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency here. "People come to Kabul because it is more secure and there are more job opportunities, but it is already overpopulated. There was a big pull factor toward the city, so we have tried to pull people back to the rural areas."
Despite such efforts, the tide of immigrants into the capital has continued, though at a less frantic pace than a year ago. Those with skills generally find a niche in the fast-growing urban economy, and those with land are eligible for reconstruction assistance from foreign aid groups. But thousands of families have ended up as penniless squatters on blighted urban tracts.
Across the street from Moqim's tent colony is a row of vacant shops into which another 54 impoverished refugee families have hunkered down. Each has erected a blue U.N. plastic sheet across the entrance for privacy, but the cloth does not keep out the stench from the open sewer that runs alongside.
"We were happy to come home, but we are living like animals," said Raz Mahmad, 27, a leader of the community, whose members migrated from a refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan. "In the camp, we had water, electricity, shelter and jobs," he said. "Now we have to rely on our children for food. It is a great shame for us."
The only sign of government help these families see is a teacher who comes every day from the Afghan education ministry to hold literacy classes in one of the mud shops. Most of the attendees are small children, who practice math tables on a homemade blackboard and read short passages from an illustrated workbook.
But although the classes are free and have no age limit, almost everyone older than 12 is out in the streets, hustling for food and money. Boys shine shoes, search garbage dumps for soda cans or swing jars of incense as a form of alms-seeking. Girls beg for vegetables or snatch them from carts.
Allah Mahmad is a quick-witted 15-year-old who finished third grade in Pakistan and can recite most of the alphabet in English. But now he spends his days selling pink toilet paper from a sidewalk tray. His father, who brought the family of nine to Kabul two months ago, is sick and jobless. Mahmad and his younger brother, who also sells toilet paper, bring home about 50 cents a day.
"I liked school, and I even learned some foreign words, but now I have to work to feed my family," Mahmad said with both pride and regret. "I'd like to study to be a mechanic some day, but I just don't have the time."
The tent colonies of Khair Khona are the most startling evidence of a festering urban problem that is largely hidden from view. Along the endless lanes of abandoned houses in West Kabul, an area virtually destroyed by civil war in the 1990s, hundreds of returnee families live in crumbling, lightless ruins, uncounted and unnoticed.
In one block, a maze of tumbled walls, live 18 families who returned together from Iran last summer. Dropped at a city bus stand, they walked as far as they could with their bundles and stopped. Now they occupy stone rooms with gaping windows and ceilings, sleeping on dusty carpets and hanging their laundry from the roof.
"My children are hungry, my father is sick, and we are afraid to go out at night," said Khalid Mahmad, 54. None of his children attend school, and he has not been able to find work. "We've spent all our money, and we can't go back to Iran," he said. "We are stuck."
Both Afghan authorities and international aid agencies are aware of the returnees' plight, but local government has few resources to help them and foreign assistance programs, initially unprepared for the mass urban influx, have been slow to respond to the city's urgent need for emergency shelters and low-cost housing.
One problem, Shinohara said, has been the difficulty of finding land in an overcrowded, poorly regulated city where property is often in dispute and prices are skyrocketing. She said the U.N. refugee agency has persuaded authorities not to evict squatters from public buildings this winter, but that its plan to rehabilitate one housing complex has become mired in bureaucracy.
For impoverished returnee families who own land and need help rebuilding their former homes, a few sources of help are available. Currently, a French aid organization called ACTED is providing 300 such families with roof beams, windows, doors and enclosed cement latrines. The residents provide all labor except for the bathrooms.
"We are trying to get everything finished by December, before the real cold sets in," said Beth Bolitho, an ACTED official. "These are traditional Afghan homes. The families supply the mud and most of the manpower, so there is an important element of self-mobilization."
In Kalai Fatu, a rural area south of the city that was decimated by bombs and rockets during the civil war, 36 mud-walled homes are in various stages of reconstruction with ACTED's help. The area has no electricity and no drinking water, but it has the feeling of a community that is coming alive again.
On Sunday, a woman named Tahira came to her door with mud-caked hands. She proudly showed off her parlor, with new wooden window frames and a half-finished mud floor she was smoothing over with a flat spade. A canary was singing exuberantly in a cage.
"When we came back, the house was totally destroyed. It had been burned by rockets, and we could never afford to rebuild it," said the mother of nine, whose husband earns $33 a month as a government janitor. "Now we are happy that God has beaten our enemies and we can finally come home again."
A New Magazine Helps Afghan Children Build Dreams
National Geographic Magazine 10/28/2003 By Claudine Boeglin
It's August, and Kabul is powdered with dust and car exhaust. The traffic and the heat are unbearable. But 160 feet (50 meters) from the chaos, the Afghan Media Center (AÏNA) offers a serene work atmosphere for 70 Afghan journalists producing eight publications. In front of the garden, the office of the children's magazine Parvaz is a shady room filled with pictures of children and colorful drawings by them.
Parvaz, the first full-color magazine for Afghan children, offers a bimonthly escape for Dari-and Pashto-speaking girls and boys from 7 through 14 years old. It was launched in August 2002 as a means of educating and entertaining children, bridging gaps between parents and their kids, and providing an educational tool for teachers. The Farsi word for "flight," Parvaz presents vivid artwork and photographs aimed at encouraging creativity and freedom of expression among Afghan children. It's all about seeing things differently and letting imaginations fly.
On this particular afternoon only a handful of people are working together. Mariam, 22, researches the traditions of Kuchee nomads on the slow-loading Internet. Siam and Nasratullah share the same chair while perfecting their design skills on Quark Express. Tamim, 14, is drawing the Tower of Pisa for the Travel Around the World section in an upcoming issue featuring Italy. And 25-year-old Capac, the magazine's graphic designer, is busy drawing a map of the world for the layout of the new Game section.
Producing the bi-monthly 64-page color magazine is a tremendous effort. Color printing is prohibitively expensive in Kabul, so Parvaz is printed in Tehran, Iran. The Afghan government airline, Ariana, flies the magazine back into the country on irregular deadlines, and their apologetic faxes are small consolation.
But the delay doesn't matter. Distribution starts in Kabul and covers 16 of Afghanistan's 32 provinces. Its main readership—Afghan children—dash to get their hands on a copy. And for the very reasonable price of 10 Afghanis (equivalent to the cost of two packs of Korean chewing gum), they sell fast!
A recent cover—dedicated to friendship—features two Afghan boys whose hearty laughter shows off new teeth just growing in. Masoud Wasiq, a 13-year-old student photojournalist and regular contributor to Parvaz, shot the photo on a street corner in Karte Parwan, a neighborhood in west Kabul.
The Parvaz team is a mix of journalists, illustrators, and photographers ranging in age from 13 to 46. All contributors gather for the Saturday editorial meeting, where they participate in loud, lively debates fueled with steaming hot chaï.
Almost 80 percent of editorial production is done in Kabul. A story on hats was shot in AÏNA's garden with 15 child models from the Aschiana Center next door, a non-government organization that provides support and training to homeless children. A grape featured in the Fruit section was selected from a kilo of candidates at the bazaar. Parvaz guarantees authentic Afghan material.
The magazine's content is equally divided into Dari and Pashto, the two official languages of Afghanistan. There is a separate editor handling quality control for each language. Since journalists writing in Pashto are hard to come by, editor Said Mahiudin Hashimi needs to translate some texts from Dari to Pashto.
When it all comes together, children can enjoy an issue filled with a variety of topics. Main features are devoted to social issues such as children's rights, education of girls, and traffic and pedestrian safety.
Panoramic, double-page spreads present a medley of fairy tales, science articles, games, historical legends, technology trivia, and cultural traditions. And each issue includes children's perspectives.
In an environment where the harshness of daily life obliges Afghan children to work hard to support their families, Parvaz returns childhood to them while helping to create the journalism stars of tomorrow. This afternoon one of our contributors, Masoud, came in after school wearing a look of pride. A kid had stopped him in the street yelling, "You are Masoud! I have seen you in Parvaz!"
Pakistan Seeks U.S. Border Security Help
By SATTAR KHAN The Associated Press Sunday, October 26, 2003; 6:36 PM
TARIQ OUTPOST, Pakistan - By day, Pakistani troops stake out a hilltop shelter built of mud and stone, peering through binoculars at the narrow gullies and expanse of plain below.
At night, they climb into four-wheel-drive pickup trucks and patrol the unpaved tracks along the Afghan border - round-the-clock vigilance aimed at catching Taliban and al-Qaida militants.
Stung by accusations by the Afghan government that militants find a safe haven in this desolate region, the Pakistani military gave journalists a rare look Friday and Saturday at their border operations. Diplomats and officials from 17 countries were given a separate tour farther north.
The goal: To prove that Pakistan is using all available resources, including some help from the United States, to tighten this frustratingly porous border and to keep rebels from using its soil as a staging ground for attacks against Afghan President Hamid Karzai's fledging government.
Pakistani officers say their extra effort is paying off.
In recent months, 62 foreign nationals have been arrested illegally crossing the border in the southwestern sector, said Maj. Gen. Sadaqat Ali Shah, the head of the Frontier Constabulary paramilitary troops in the province of Baluchistan.
"They were not Afghans. I cannot say who they were," said Shah. The detained men were handed over to Pakistani intelligence agencies.
Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, chief spokesman for the Pakistan army, added that tightened controls have stopped almost all free movement over parts of the border.
"We will not allow Pakistani soil to be used for terrorism in any neighboring country," he said.
Yet he also said the army needed more help from the Americans, who have provided five helicopters, vehicles and other equipment to bolster Pakistan's border crackdown.
"Whatever we got from the United States is just peanuts," Sultan said.
Marked mostly by intermittent white-painted stones, the Pakistan-Afghan border runs 2,050 miles from the Himalayas in Pakistan's northern territories to the desert of Baluchistan.
Pakistani troops have not patrolled this border since their country gained independence from Britain in 1947. The area is largely undeveloped, and follows tribal law and enforced by tribal elders. Here, the federal government has little sway.
While Pakistan switched from supporting Afghanistan's Taliban regime to aiding the U.S. war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, attacks, many Pakistani tribesmen still sympathize with the Islamic militants.
Though the surroundings look empty, there is a surprising amount of legal traffic across the border.
Maj. Mohammed Ashraf, a senior government official in the provincial capital of Quetta, said 207 checkpoints have been set up along the border, and a 25-mile embankment was being built in the area of Chaman, a border town about 85 miles northwest of Quetta.
Already, a towering gate stands in the middle of a desolate plane in Chaman, the main crossing point from southern Afghanistan. Up to 6,000 people cross the so-called Friendship Gate every day, Shah said.
Meanwhile, in the northern sector, commanders told the diplomats that 10 infantry battalions and three engineering battalions and a Special Services Group were now deployed, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan, a local news agency.
Three weeks ago, the army conducted a major operation in the area after an intelligence tip that al-Qaida fighters were hiding there. The army reported eight suspects killed and 18 captured in one day.
Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai was quoted as saying a total of 230 suspects have been rounded up and 10 killed in various operations in his sector.
Disclaimer:
This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles
on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles
and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright
laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).