Afghanistan News October 28, 2003

October 28, 2003

U.S.-led forces kill 20 al Qaeda and Taliban
Monday October 27, 8:48 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces and their Afghan allies have killed at least 20 members of the al Qaeda network and remnants of the ousted Taliban regime in a clash in southeastern Afghanistan, a top police official said on Monday.

At least three Afghan government soldiers were also killed in the fighting in Gomal district, Paktika province, which took place on Friday, Dawlat Khan, police chief of the province, told Reuters.

"Gomal's authorities a while back told me that there were Arab, Chechen and Taliban fighters among the 20 dead," Khan said, adding that U.S. helicopter gunships were involved in the action.

At least four Taliban fighters were also arrested in the remote district near the Pakistan border, according to Khan, who said he had no further details.

He said he was not aware of any casualties among U.S.-led forces, and the U.S.-led military in Afghanistan was not immediately available for comment.

More than 350 people, including civilians, government soldiers, aid workers, U.S. soldiers and many Taliban fighters, have been killed since August in various parts of Afghanistan.

The violence is the worst since U.S.-led forces overthrew the radical Islamic Taliban militia from power in 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.

The U.S. military in Afghanistan leads a force of some 11,500 troops in the hunt for remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The fate of bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar remains unknown.

10 Taliban Killed in Fighting With Allies
Mon Oct 27, 6:47 PM ET AP
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. and Afghan troops patrolling the rugged border with Pakistan killed at least 10 suspected Taliban who ambushed them with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, Afghan officials said Monday.

The officials gave contradicting accounts of the clash, with a provincial governor saying 22 Taliban were killed after airstrikes were called in by the American and Afghan soldiers.

However, Gen. Atiqullah Luddin, a regional military commander based in nearby Logar province, said his men were involved in the Sunday patrol and only 10 Taliban were killed and no airstrikes were involved. Two other suspected Taliban fighters were arrested, he said.

Both officials said two Afghan soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

Mohammed Ali Jalali, governor of Paktika province, said the Americans and Afghans were in Barmal district, about a mile from the Pakistan border, when they were attacked by rebels using rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and Kalashnikov rifles.

The troops called in airstrikes, he said, and a wave of heavy bombardment hit the unpopulated area near the village of Shkin, 135 miles south of Kabul.

Taliban and al-Qaida rebels have been launching increasingly bold assaults in recent months, raiding police stations, killing aid workers and confronting U.S. troops.

Afghanistan needs more money, troops for reconstruction: UNHCR official
by Shino Yuasa
TOKYO, Oct 27 (AFP) - Two years after the hardline Taliban regime's removal from power, Afghanistan's reconstruction efforts are hampered by the worsening security situation, and the war-weary nation needs more money and troops to achieve economic and political stability, a senior UN official said Monday.

"There are worrying signs in Afghanistan," Filippo Grandi, chief of mission for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Afghanistan, told a news conference in Tokyo.

Before the US-led war against the Taliban, UN workers were able to go anywhere in Afghanistan, but that "has become too dangerous", Grandi said after the UN's announcement Saturday that it had suspended operations in four southern Afghan provinces due to increasing violence.

Grandi, an Italian who has been working in Kabul for more than two years, said the worrying signs included political divisiveness among people, the emergence of increasingly independent, low-ranking but rich commanders who have profited from the drug trade and slow progress in post-war development.

"After the war, Afghans do not speak to each other in the same way physically as they used to speak to each other before the war. I have heard this in Bosnia, I have heard this in Rwanda, I have heard this in other post-conflict countries," said the UN official, who is in Tokyo at the invitation of the foreign ministry.

"This is a very important element, to understand the depth of the divisions between the people," he said.

Referring to the four million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran, Grandi said: "If you ask refugees, they will say they will not come back until the commanders are disarmed."

Factional fighting remains rife in the north while the southern part remains dangerous due to the infiltration of former Taliban militias from Pakistan, he said.

On Afghan reconstruction, Grandi said: "It's still very slow. What Afghans need is development."

He argued the international community must respond with money and troops to prevent Afghanistan from falling back into chaos.

"If we let crises like Afghanistan, countries like Afghanistan, slide back into poverty, underdevelopment, conflict, we may be able to afford to forget them for a while, but they would strike back as September 11 showed," he said, referring to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

"What is needed is money and also what is needed now is troops to respond to the Security Council approval to ISAF's extension beyond Kabul," Grandi said, referring to the UN Security Council's authorization of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF).

Some 5,300 NATO-led international peacekeeping troops are serving in Afghanistan, chiefly in and around the capital Kabul.

On October 13, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to allow ISAF to expand its work beyond Kabul, but so far only Germany has been willing to provide troops for the extended mission.

"We should not be shy in allocating resources and troops for the protection of people in countries that are in transition," Grandi said, warning the global community's neglect of Afghanistan might ultimately backfire against it.

"Without reconstruction, terror would start again in Afghanistan, I can assure you ... September 11 has shown that stability in a very remote country means peace for all of us," he said.

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.

EU Pledges EUR79.5 Million For Rebuilding Afghanistan
The Associated Press10/27/2003
BRUSSELS -The European Union pledged EUR79.5 million for humanitarian and economic aid to Afghanistan on Monday, the fourth in a series of relief packages to the war-ravaged nation since 2001.

The funds are part of EUR400 million set aside in March, with the largest slice, EUR35 million, for rebuilding major roads. Nearly one-third of the money will aim to prop up rural economies.

"The program aims to restore political stability... to promote respect for the rule of law and human rights, especially those of women, and to alleviate poverty by improving levels of economic activity," the executive E.U. Commission said in a statement.

The efforts will engage the U.N., non-governmental organizations and private companies. Government and election reforms will receive EUR15 million.

Social services and housing for refugees will get EUR6 million.

The E.U. provided Afghanistan some EUR48 million in humanitarian aid last year as part of a EUR280 million package.

Afghanistan: Commission Proposes EUR 79.5 million for Fourth Reconstruction programme
Source: Europa (Communiques de presse), Belgium DN: IP/03/1457 Date: 27/10/2003 IP/03/1457 Brussels, 27 October 2003
Afghanistan: Commission Proposes EUR 79.5 million for Fourth Reconstruction programme

As part of its EUR 400 million package to Afghanistan for 2003-04, the European Commission has adopted a proposal to finance a Fourth Reconstruction Programme with a total budget of EUR 79.5 million. The purpose of this Programme is to enhance the living conditions of the ordinary Afghan population, including returnees, by providing a more secure environment and economic recovery. The Programme aims to restore political stability coupled with a fully operational public administration, to promote respect for the rule of law and human rights, especially those of women, and to alleviate poverty by improving levels of economic activity. These objectives support the roadmap set out in the 2001 Bonn Agreement for the creation of a stable and democratic Afghanistan. The programme underlines the European Commission's continuing commitment to the socio-political and economic rebuilding of Afghanistan.

The EUR 79.5 million package breaks down as follows:

-- EUR 23 million in support of rural development. The rural sector is the backbone of the Afghan economy on which more than 80% of the Afghan population depends,

-- EUR 35 million for the reconstruction of the Kabul-Jalalabad-Torkham road. This is one of the most important transport routes, for imports as well as access to central Pakistan. The reconstruction of the road is key to revitalising the wider economy and boosting economic growth along its route.

-- EUR 10 million in support of the reform of public administration. Modernising and strengthening the public administration is critical to enable the ATA to create a cohesive, law-abiding state capable of self-financing public sector spending, controlling its borders and fighting illicit drug trafficking.

-- EUR 5 million in support to civil society with particular reference to the preparation of government elections. The Bonn Agreement commits the ATA to hold elections by mid 2004.

-- EUR 6 million for refugees and Afghan nationals returning to Afghanistan to ensure that they have access to housing and basic services.

-- EUR 0,5 for Contingencies given the current highly unpredictable situation in Afghanistan.

Afghan Government institutions are still weak. Consequently, the Delegation of the European Commission to Afghanistan will ensure overall responsibility for most of elements of the programme.

Contracts will be concluded directly between the Commission and implementing partners such as UN organisations, Non Governmental Organisations and private companies in the case of road reconstruction, and some other programme components. Government institutions will be fully involved in project identification and formulation, and will take responsibility for part of the public administration reform package. This will ensure full transparency of the Commission contribution and will help the Government to build the required capacity for more direct responsibility in future.

Background:

The Commission has been fully involved with the reconstruction of Afghanistan since 2001. The proposed 4th reconstruction programme is part of a EUR 400 million Commission package for 2003-2004 signed by the EC in March 20031 and which concentrates on the four sectors of rural development and food security, public sector reform, economic infrastructure and support for the health sector

In 2002 the Commission provided more than EUR 280 million for reconstructing Afghanistan, which includes about EUR 73 million for humanitarian assistance provided by ECHO. Most of these funds have been contracted, demonstrating that the European Commission is not only strongly committed to Afghanistan, but fulfilling its commitments efficiently. In 2003, the Commission intends to provide an overall budget of EUR 246 million plus approx. EUR 48 million in humanitarian aid2 (ECHO).

For further information on EU Afghanistan relations:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/afghanistan/intro/index.htm

http://europa.eu.int/comm/echo/index_en.htm

1- IP/03/385: European Commission to sign EUR 400 million package for Afghanistan; Afghanistan High Level Strategic Forum

2- IP/03/1389: Afghanistan: Commission provides a further EUR 11.53 million in humanitarian aid

Fund allocates RM114mil for Afghanistan
BY SHAHANAAZ HABIB The Star, Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Stepping in to help less fortunate Muslim nations, the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development has allocated US$30mil (RM114mil) for infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.

The fund’s media officer Tareq Ali Asshatti said it was now working out a feasibility study on which project to channel the funds.

“We are taking Afghanistan as a serious country. It needs development. It needs roads, electricity, telecommunication, dams, bridges, water and sewage. It is a priority,” he said in a recent interview.

The fund’s last project in Afghanistan was a US$30mil (RM114mil) sugar factory back in 1977 – two years before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Since then the Kuwaiti fund had not financed any projects there.

In the 20 years of conflict and the October 2001 war on Afghanistan, the country’s infrastructure had been reduced to shambles.

It has been estimated that it needs US$20bil (RM76bil) in the next five years to build its vital social and economic infrastructure.

Tareq said the fund could have a spill-over effect in a particular area which would spur subsequent developments there.

“In Malawi, a couple of years ago, we put up a telecommunication system in a particular area. When there were telephones, a factory came up.

“This was followed by a hospital and then a market.

“Although our telecommunications project was only US$10mil (RM38mil), it brought on more and more development. So we look out for real projects that will help the people,” he said.

Since the fund was set up in 1961, it has worked on 429 projects worth a total of US$11.1bil (RM42.18bil). Of this, US$8.4bil (RM31.92bil) was in Muslim countries.

Tareq said the fund did not look at colour, religion or region to disburse its funds

Afghans observe Ramadan amid frustrations, expectations
Xinhua 10/27/2003
KABUL - People in Afghanistan on Monday started to observe the one-month Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month, amid frustrations with slow improvement of living conditions and expectations that a new disarmament program would bring lasting peace and stability to the war-plagued country.

"I am happy to observe Ramadan, but my only concern is how to feed my family properly," said Abdul Wakil, a street vendor in Kabul.

Wakil, who is the only bread earner in his seven-member family,earns about 200 Afghanis (more than four US dollars) a day by selling kebabs to passers-by on the New Park Road in downtown Kabul.

"We respect Ramadan, observe it faithfully, but I don't enjoy it, because we the poor are not in a position to support and feed our children decently," Wakil said.

The advent of Ramadan means that Wakil could not do his usual business for one month and he has to find a temporary job as a cargo porter in the day.

Ramadan, the holy month during which faithful Muslims do not eat and drink from dawn to dusk, began on Sunday or Monday in different Islamic countries because of different announcements by local Islamic scholars.

In the coming month, all restaurants across this devoutly Islamic country would remain closed during the day and people are supposed to be polite and abstain from "immoral activities" to promote virtues.

The government announced Monday as a public holiday and the daily office time during the month has been reduced to five hours from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. from the normal eight hours.

Traditionally, people break the fast in the evening with possibly best food, but such fashion is not common now for many inAfghanistan, a country just emerged out of over two decades of warand conflicts.

Many Afghans said that despite millions of foreign aid flowing into the country since the collapse of the austere Taliban rule inlate 2002, their living standard has no any improvements, if not deteriorating.

"I have not received my salaries for the last four months, I amalready in the fast. Ramadan just makes no difference for me," complained Afghan Gul, an electrician working at the Interior Ministry.

The Afghan transition government is struggling to rebuild the country's economy, which President Hamid Karzai once described as "below zero."

Official statistics put Afghanistan's per capita income at 180 dollars, one of the lowest in the world.

Meanwhile, with the inflow of foreign money, prices in this capital city have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels with housingrents in a relative posh Kabul area rivaling that in Manhattan of New York.

Officials here blamed the slow pace of economic reconstruction on the reluctance of donors to provide sufficient assistance and an increasing insurgency by fighters of the ousted Taliban movement in some parts of the country.

Moreover, lawlessness in vast rural areas, where powerful warlords still have complete sway with their own private troops, is also preventing the government from launching much-needed projects to provide job opportunities and alleviate poverty acrossthe country.

People now hope that a newly launched program to disarm some 100,000 soldiers of existing militia troops loyal to different warlords would bring a more secure and peaceful environment in thecountry, thus paying the way for a thrust in rebuilding the bad-shaped economy.

President Karzai on Friday inaugurated a United Nations-backed program, calling on the nations to support what he said a "new beginning" for the war-weary country.

"We are giving up our arms and taking steps towards reconstruction, prosperity and well-being of our people," Karzai said.

Iran Says It Warned of Al Qaeda's 'Fanatic Nature'
Monday, October 27, 2003; 6:36 PM By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Defending its handling of terror networks, Iran told the United Nations it had warned the world of the "fanatic nature" of the Taliban and al Qaeda networks long before anyone else, according to a report released on Monday.

Iran submitted the report to a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on Afghanistan about a month ago. But an extensive list of suspected Taliban or al Qaeda associates accompanying the document was only delivered several days ago, said Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, chairman of the panel.

The committee's task is to enforce an embargo on travel and arms deals and a freeze on the financial assets of the Taliban, al Qaeda and its associates by compiling a list of suspects.

The Iranian list includes 78 names of people detained or deported from Iran to their countries of origin and about 2,300 names of people who crossed the border from Pakistan, including refugees, and were sent back.

Another 147 names have been submitted to the committee by Iran and will circulate among the 15 council members to see if they will be put on the Security Council's consolidated list, Munoz said.

As Afghanistan's neighbor, Iran had for years opposed the former Taliban rulers, which harbored Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Still, U.S. counterterrorism officials say a handful of senior al Qaeda operatives fled to Iran after the Afghan war and may have a relationship with a military unit linked to Tehran's religious hard-liners.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran did not authorize any sort of activity by the Taliban, Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda in its territory from the early days of their domination over Afghanistan due to their sectarian, reactionary and fanatic nature," the Tehran government said in the report.

"Moreover, proper warnings were issued by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the international community regarding the threat they posed against regional and international peace and security," the report said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Iran should turn over members of al Qaeda to the United States and not just publicize a list of them.

"Iran has in the past turned over some al Qaeda to third countries. However, frankly, we're not aware of any particular progress with regards to the al Qaeda who are currently in detention," Boucher said.

"And the Iranians have previously stated that that includes senior al Qaeda officials," he added.

So far, the U.N. committee's list includes about 123 people and 98 groups or businesses associated with al Qaeda and another 151 people linked to the Taliban. Most of the names have been submitted by the United States, which has to agree before anyone can remove a suspect from the roster.

An independent U.N. panel has criticized the list, saying it contains many misspellings and was compiled with little due process. At the moment, any Security Council member can put anyone on the list, with recourse for the accused difficult.

Deported Frenchman tied to Afghan Masood's death
Monday October 27, 9:52 PM
PARIS (Reuters) - A Frenchman with suspected al Qaeda links, who was deported from Australia this month, is being investigated over the assassination of Afghan rebel commander Ahmad Shah Masood, judicial sources said on Monday.

Willy Virgil Brigitte, 35, now in custody in France, is also believed to have run training camps in the Fontainebleau Forest area near Paris to prepare fighters bound for Afghanistan, they said.

"This person is suspected of having helped provide the passports which allowed the killers to enter Afghanistan and to get close to Commander Masood," a source told Reuters.

Masood was killed when two men posing as journalists blew themselves up while conducting a mock interview with him in early September 2001. Two stolen Belgian passports were found on their bodies.

A Belgian court convicted two North Africans last month of recruiting militants and trafficking in false passports linked to the murder.

The charismatic Afghan commander opposed the hardline Islamic Taliban militia who then ran most of the war-ravaged mountainous state and were allied to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Brigitte, from the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, was detained in Sydney on October 9 after a tip-off from French intelligence and escorted back to France on October 17.

The Frenchman, whose case is being handled by two of the country's top anti-terrorist judges Jean-Louis Bruguiere and Jean-Francois Ricard, is under official investigation for "association with criminals engaged in a terrorist enterprise".

Official investigation is the stage before charges are brought.

Brigitte is believed to have trained in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and to have fought U.S. forces there in the military operation launched to oust al Qaeda and the Taliban, the French judicial sources said.

Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said French intelligence services had warned that Brigitte may have been in Sydney for terror-related activity.

Bob Carr, premier of New South Wales province, said on Monday Australia may have broken up a terror cell with a series of raids launched following Brigitte's deportation.

"It's likely that they are breaking up now some cell that has existed in Sydney," he said. "I think it is likely we have prevented something."

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with disarmed combatant
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003
KONDUZ, 27 Oct 2003 (IRIN) - The disarmament of the country's over 100,000 ex-combatants is considered crucial to its future stabilisation. Observers remain concerned over how successful the UN-backed disarmament demobilisation and reintegration programme (DDR) effort will be, and whether the ex-combatants are genuinely ready to give up their weapons and join civilian life.

In an interview with IRIN, Mohammad Ibrahim, an ex-combatant recently disarmed during the first phase of the DDR pilot project initiated in the northeastern city of Konduz, said everyone in his battalion had wanted to be included in the first 1,000 to be disarmed.

Ibrahim, also known as Gurg, or wolf, in recognition of his ferocity as a fighter during over two decades of war, said people were tired of the increasing number of weapons continuing to flow into the area, and which had served to whip up local rivalries in his village of Chahar Tut, just outside Konduz. The 35-year-old ex-combatant noted that disarmament was only part of the answer, as many commanders had several hundred weapons stockpiled. Given the ongoing lucrative drug trade now under way, rearming and further conflicts were still very much major concerns.

QUESTION: How do you feel as a disarmed fighter taking the first steps towards civilian life?

ANSWER: Well, I felt too proud and enthusiastic when I took up the gun as a 14-year-old young fighter against a foreign [Russian] invasion in Afghanistan. That was the beginning of my miseries and years of living in mountains, not to mention moving from one place to another. But today I feel proud in a different way. I'm more proud now and also happy and optimistic about being disarmed and entering a [new] phase in my life. For me, it's the beginning of a normal life in which I no longer have to go to bed at night worrying whether or not I will be alive the next day.

Q: How did your other friends react to the disarmament in Konduz?

A: It was jashen [festive] for everyone realising that they would be disarmed and re-employed in civilian life. But unfortunately the programme only addresses 1,000 out of many thousands of armed people in the province. I hope the remaining number can also be included in the programme very soon, because they would create problems if they see others enjoying a new life with new jobs and professions while they are still in an army barracks with no salary and no clear future.

In my view, the selection took place without any criteria. Even among armed people we have a lot of people with good economic conditions [prospects] and skills, while there are many others with no income at all, with many of them disabled and unable to do anything. They should have been addressed first. Many of them were not included in this programme. I think that the commanders who were authorised to select the first 1,000 men should have taken this point into consideration.

Q: What would you select in civil life to be reintegrated in?

A: Well, I would love to learn to write. I was in the eighth grade when I had to leave school. I can read, but cannot write. However, as a profession, I am a farmer and would appreciate if I am provided with some essential means of cultivation like a water pump, fertiliser, seed, etc. This would be enough for supporting my nine-member family.

Q: What major changes do you expect out of the DDR effort in Konduz?

A: Not only me, but all the people want an end to all those rivalries and armed ambushes and killings which have increased over the last 10 years - at least an end to those thoughts on how to ambush someone or how to escape a probable ambush. We just had a person gunned down in the bazaar of Konduz in front of hundreds of people just a few days before the disarmament started.

The people want an end to such rivalries and a new life without worries of guns and fighting. We can manage to change our lives ourselves once we are sure that what we build will not be destroyed again. If this is ensured, we can leave our guns, as we will no longer have concerns about our personal future protection. I would suggest that besides helping the disarmed soldiers, the government should also think [about] how to weaken the commanders, many of whom are directly or indirectly involved in the poppy trade, so as to prevent any future rearming or further conflicts.

Q: What has been your biggest loss and biggest achievement, having being a combatant for 21 years?

A: The big loss was school. I would have been an engineer if I had continued. As for the biggest achievement, I would say [it] was the defeat of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Of course, there were other losses as well. We left behind all our belongings when we had to leave Konduz and migrated to Pakistan. When we came back our houses were burned down. We still haven't been able to reconstruct them properly.

I have lost many things, and don't own even a bicycle, while unfortunately our commanders own half the [agricultural] lands in this region and have dozens of Buzkashi [a popular game in Afghanistan in which rival horsemen attempt to drag a dead sheep out of a circle] horses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Q: What would you ask of the Afghan government and the international community?

A: I hope that our government and the international community take the issue of disarmament very seriously. It should not be viewed or carried out haphazardly, but seen as critical to the country's long-term stability. All aspects of this process should be addressed. The ultimate success of the disarmament effort depends on its future sustainability. There should be a programme to address the roots of future probable factional conflicts.

AFGHANISTAN: First international peacekeeping forces deployed outside Kabul
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003
KONDUZ, 27 Oct 2003 (IRIN) - Following continual calls by aid workers and Afghans alike for the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) outside the confines of the Afghan capital, Kabul, the first ISAF forces were deployed to the northeastern city of Konduz on Saturday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has long demanded that the 5,000-strong force's mandate be expanded to help him reassert his control beyond Kabul.

"We are 27 men and we will get the next group of people in two weeks' time. By the end of this year, we should have the strength of 150," Col Kurt Schiebold, the German commander of the first ISAF forces outside Kabul, told IRIN following their arrival at Konduz airport. And while they would stick to 150 for this year, to be fully operational, that number would be increased to 450 by the middle of next year, he explained.

Expansion of the NATO-led force beyond Kabul is viewed as a key move towards strengthening security throughout the country's troubled provinces, where insecurity has increasingly hampered reconstruction efforts in the fragile nation. German and Canadian troops make up the bulk of ISAF, which is separate from the US-led operation against Taliban remnants in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Konduz is considered one of the more secure of the country's provinces. It completed a UN-backed disarmament of 1,000 combatants one day before the arrival of the international peacekeepers.

In the context of his force's tasks, Schiebold said these comprised the provision of support for all-round security, such as support for the reorganisation of security, monitoring disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, and contributing towards the promotion of cooperation between the civil authorities and the military.

The Germans troops are set to replace a 70-man US-led coalition provincial reconstruction team [PRT] which had been in the province for several months. "This mission is for sure challenging," the German colonel said, emphasising the importance of their PRT colleagues' experience in the area.

The US PRT commander in Konduz, Col Frederick Towes, said the role of the Germans in Konduz and four other provinces in the region would be significant as many important events were set to take place there in the course of the coming months. "It is extremely significant that they are coming here, which means more help for Afghanistan. There are larger numbers coming to Konduz, more civilians, which will translate to more help for the people of Konduz and the four provinces," Towes told IRIN in Konduz, adding that the Germans would play an important role in the DDR process currently under way in the province.

"DDR is one of the elements that is necessary to help Afghanistan regain its former glory. It is one of the very many pieces of the puzzle."

Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has welcomed the arrival of ISAF in Konduz, calling it a positive development. "This is very significant, because the UN and the Afghan authorities have been asking for it for a long, long time. I am happy this is happening in Konduz," Sergiy Illarionov, the head of office for UNAMA's northeastern region in Konduz told IRIN.

Whereas he did not expect significant changes of the current situation, he did believe there would be positive ones. "We are getting signs from the German government that the deployment of the forces will also be supported by German NGOs with extra financial support for this particular region, which is very important. Unfortunately, somehow this region has been sidelined from big projects and big reconstruction programmes," Illarionov said.

The Germans would play a significant role in capacity building and strengthening the governmental infrastructure, including police stations, detention houses, and the training of police, he said, stressing the need to establish strong community links to educate people on why ISAF was there and what their mission was.

Support for Taliban alive in Quetta
(Gulf News) - Every Thursday, dozens of Afghan Taliban gather at the traffic-choked Meezan Chowk in the heart of the southwestern city of Quetta to exchange news and views on their war-torn country, Afghan-istan – barely a two hour drive from the Balochistan capital.

"We are being treated as criminals in our own country. The Americans and their Afghan stooges hound not just Talibs (supporters of the former government in Afghanistan), but our families and even friends," said Abdullah Khan, who came to Quetta from the one time Taliban stronghold of Kandahar soon after the collapse of the orthodox militia's rule there.

A former guerrilla in the Taliban Islamic militia — he now sells fruits in Quetta on a push-cart.

"But my heart is with my people. I dream of returning to my country," he said. He still visits his hometown, slipping through the porous border. "Not to fight, but to take care of my home, my family members.," he says. "Who will stop me from visiting my own country? Their check posts cannot stop us."

With Pakistan installing barbed wire along some of the portions of its border with Afghanistan in an attempt to stop Al Qaida and Taliban from crossing in and out of the country, the local residents here say such steps are unlikely to achieve results.

While Khan denies that he had taken part in any of the attacks on the U.S.-led allied forces in Afghanistan, Khoshall Noraiz, another Talib, says he participated in guerrilla attacks a few times before slipping in to Pakistan a few months ago. He refused to give any details but kept grinning and sipping sweet green tea.

In recent months there has been a surge of attacks by Taliban remnants, with Afghan and US authorities saying that the militants are using Pakistani soil to regroup and launch attacks. While Pakistan has denied this, local authorities say they have stepped up surveillance of the border.

A Quetta based leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the people on the two sides share the same culture, language, tradition and religion. "One can not break these ties. The government cannot stop Pakistanis from supporting their Taliban brethren.The Afghans are with us since the days of Soviet invasion 24 years ago."

The JUI is part of the provincial government.

While ordinary Taliban, like Khan and Noraiz, roam the streets of Quetta openly flaunting their trademark turban, the leaders and commanders are a little more careful. But as a local police official said it's easy for an Afghan Talib to mingle with the local population. "In fact, those who have come here are involved in their trade and business or education. The fighters do not come to cities."

The Taliban enjoy huge support among the local Pashtun population. "Ninety percent of the local population support Taliban," another JUI official said. "We cannot betray our brothers."

Pakistan Army Set Up 100 Check-Posts Along Afghan Border
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: (PNS) - The Pakistan army has set up more than 100 check-posts along the border with Afghanistan, and has established an effective system of intelligence, patrols, and inspections in the tribal areas, to prevent the movement of foreign terrorists into the country.

This was told by military authorities to diplomats of more than 20 countries, who visited different parts of the region. According to P.T.V. correspondent , the aim of the visit was to apprise the diplomats from American, European and Asian countries, of the Pakistan government’s steps, against suspect elements in the tribal areas, and the development activities being carried out there.

Peshawar Core Commander Lieutenant General, Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, briefed the foreign diplomats on the four-stage operation, carried out in the tribal areas after the 9/11 incidents. He said the Pakistan army had arrested 240 suspected al-Qaeda elements in 26 operations in the area. He said the tribesmen fully cooperated with the Pakistan army during these operations, and abided by their promise not to give shelter to foreign terrorists. he said apart from the frontier core, two divisional headquarters, four brigade headquarters, 10 infantry battalions, and one S.S.G. Battalion had been set up in the area. Century-old no-go areas in the region, had been completely eliminated.

Apart from 500 check-posts of the frontier core, more than 100 army check-posts had also been set up, along the 600-kilometre long border .N.W.F.P. Governor Iftikhar Hussain told the foreign diplomats, that the rule of law had been established in the tribal areas with the cooperation of the army.

He said basic amenities of life, including road networks, drinking water schemes and health facilities, were being provided in the in-accessible and far-flung areas of the region.

He said three billion rupees were being spent on development activities in the area. The intelligence system was being made more effective, and the operation against terrorists would continue until their elimination.

Boost Afghan security force, general urges
The Ottawa Citizen10/27/2003By Matthew Fisher
Attack aircraft, medevac helicopters and quick reaction forces are needed before the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force can move troops into Afghanistan's prov-inces to assist provincial reconstruction teams, NATO's top peacekeeper in Central Asia says.

"The process will be rather complicated," Lt.-Gen. Goetz Gliemeroth said during a news conference at ISAF's heavily guarded headquarters.

Although such troops were "very urgently needed and the sooner the better" in Afghan-istan's vast, lawless hinterlands, "to get a good product we must exercise patience. Careful forethought is paramount," the general said.

The general said one of the reasons for such caution and the need for combat forces to protect provincial reconstruction teams was that "a new species of terrorist," whom the general described as "Arabs," was entering Afghanistan.

"Infiltration from Pakistan -- al-Qaeda and Taliban -- are an increasing problem," the general said. "Arabs have been killed and caught along the Afghan border. These people are from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Chechnya. These people are, unfortunately, excellently trained."

At present, all 5,500 ISAF peacekeepers are based in or near Kabul. Among them are 1,900 Canadians. But NATO, and more recently the United Nations, have ordered ISAF to expand its mission and venture out into Afghanistan's 30 other provinces to help boost the country's overall stability.

The German government is expected to endorse plans by the end of this week to approve the dispatch of several hundred fresh troops to Kondoz in northern Afghanistan. Little is known about what other countries, including Canada, intend to do, although Prime Minister Jean Chrétien hinted broadly when he was in Kabul last weekend that Canada was open to providing military protection for at least one provincial reconstruction team.

Canada's senior military commanders have said many times that Canada's army has been stretched to the limit and cannot possibly contribute more troops in Afghanistan.

Lt.-Gen. Gliemeroth, who is to hand over command to Canada's Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier in February, painted a bleak picture of Afghanistan's overall security situation, with fighting between rebel groups and Afghan's transitional government growing in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Some terrorists "will have definitely penetrated Kabul to try and provoke something foolish and criminal," the German three-star general added, although he was intentionally vague about numbers. "Even if there are only 15 of them, the damage could be terrible."

While worrying about how to bring peace to the hinterlands, ISAF still has to confront serious problems in Kabul.

"There is no doubt that there has been a clear increase in the terrorist threat in Kabul," Lt.-Gen. Gliemeroth said, citing recent rocket attacks and the deaths of two Canadian soldiers whose vehicle ran over freshly planted anti-tank mines.

As a first goal, ISAF was still wrestling with how to convince the militias and private armies in Kabul to surrender their weapons or to, at least, do whatever is necessary to restrict them to safe areas outside Kabul

Afghan Transit Trade Agreement: Six items to go from negative list
* Cigars, silk fabric, ghee, cassettes, capacitors and razors proposed to be allowed for export
By Khalid Mustafa
ISLAMABAD: The ministry of commerce has proposed to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet to exclude six items from negative list of 18 items under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA), official sources said here Monday.

The proposal was agreed after a meeting held in the ministry Monday, which was attended by representatives of the foreign office, the economic affairs division, finance division, the Central Board of Revenue (CBR), communications, railways, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI), and the ministries of industries and commerce. Joint secretary FT wing of the commerce ministry was in the chair.

According to sources in the FPCCI and the economic affairs division, who attended the meeting, the six items on which the meeting developed a consensus are cigar, silk fabric, ghee, cassette, capacitor and razor.

The meeting was of the view that the negative list should be reduced as Afghanistan is importing 85 percent items through the Chahabar port of Iran under transit trade agreement and 15 percent through Pakistan. "We need to be flexible in reducing the negative items lists... our decisions should be business friendly as this is the need of the time," said a source in the FPPCI.

However, commerce ministry officials refused to divulge on the details of the meeting, saying that the meeting was closed-door and the decision is secretive.

According to sources in the EAD, the meeting was held in the wake of the objections from the ministry of industries over the August 4 meeting, which finalised the exclusion of eight items from the negative list. The August 4 meeting was attended by the finance minister, the representatives of the secretaries of CBR, commerce, FO, EAD. But the industries ministry objected on the exclusion of three items - refrigerators, air conditioners and television and its parts - on the ground that these would be smuggled back into the country causing damage to the local industry.

The official said that after the August 4 meeting, the finance minister announced on August 6 - after the Pak-Afghan Joint Ministerial Conference - that eight items would be excluded from the negative list.

President Karzai plans tough measures to help displaced Afghans return to north
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct 27 (UNHCR) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reassured a group of internally displaced Afghans from the north by calling for tough measures to stop the violence that has prevented them from going home.
Meeting the Displaced Persons Council (DPC) at Kabul's Presidential Palace on Saturday, President Karzai acknowledged that the primary obstacle to the return of minority groups to northern Afghanistan was the continuing abuse of civilians by commanders in the region.

Security is crucial if internally displaced Afghans are to return home, he said. Responding to the DPC chairman's appeal for the central government and international peacekeeping troops to extend their control, President Karzai called for a change of leadership that will see certain governors, chiefs of security and commanders in the northern provinces being replaced with top provincial authorities who are impartial and not linked to any of the warring factions.

A professor from Kabul University has already been appointed as the new governor of Mazar-i-Sharif, where the government has sent 300 national police to improve security. Changes will start in this northern city before being introduced in the other northern areas.

Disarming the warring factions will also contribute to better security, said President Karzai, stressing the importance of transparent management in the whole process.

President Karzai was addressing a group of internally displaced persons in the DPC, an initiative of the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation. The council comprises displaced Pashtun men and women originating from the northern provinces of Faryab, Saripul, Jowzan, Balkh and Samangan, who are currently displaced in other parts of Afghanistan and western Pakistan.

Meeting for the first time a week ago, the council aims to empower internally displaced Afghans, offering them the opportunity to discuss why they were uprooted and why they can't return home. It also seeks to make constructive recommendations on how to address these obstacles, presenting these suggestions to Afghan Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Enayatullah Nazeri, UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and various representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations.

The UN refugee agency has supported the DPC initiative in the hope that it will improve security and pave the way for the safe, dignified and voluntary return of displaced Afghans to the north.

There are some 220,000 internally displaced people in Afghanistan. More than 30,000 have returned home so far this year, while others have integrated into their host communities and are no longer dependent on relief aid.

Aid groups in Afghanistan weigh good deeds vs. safety
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
SALAR, AFGHANISTAN – By most standards, Mohammad Sharif and his Belgian shepherd dog Brenda would be considered heroes. Day after day, the man-and-dog team work to detect land mines lurking beneath the soil along Afghanistan's busiest highway, the Kabul to Kandahar road.
But in recent months, Mr. Sharif's aid agency, the Mine Dog Center (MDC), has come under attack by Taliban extremists and sympathizers. But it hasn't stopped Sharif and his team. At least, not yet.

"Whatever the conditions are in the country, we have to continue to do our work," says Sharif, as Brenda licks the face of a visiting journalist. "We did this work during the mujahideen government, we did it during the Taliban government, and we're doing it now. This work is just for the welfare of the people."

With attacks against aid workers increasing dramatically over the past six months, it is those like Sharif who keep Afghanistan's reconstruction process moving forward - risking their lives in the process. Many other foreign aid groups have halted their work, pulling back from dangerous Afghan provinces despite having worked here throughout the many violent twists of the country's 23 years of war.

Before, most aid workers could depend on the reputation of their agency and the decency of the combatants to keep them from harm. But as the Taliban extends its jihad, or holy struggle, to any group that aids in the reconstruction of the country, humanitarian groups are having to reassess the risks of their work, and whether a good deed is worth a person's life.

"The security situation has deteriorated in the last six months, particularly in Ghazni Province," says Manoel de Almeida e Silva, spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan in Kabul. "Aid agencies that have been attacked will not continue working in those areas, and deploy to places that are safer."

This pullback could have profound political consequences, Mr. Almeida adds. With aid agencies leaving mainly the south and southeast of Afghanistan - Pashtun areas where the Taliban are most active, and also where the five-year drought continues - local residents may feel no reason to support the government of President Hamid Karzai, and instead tacitly support the Taliban.

Aid workers killed

Most people mark the turning point in Taliban strategy to the March killing of Salvadoran aid worker Ricardo Munguia, a representative for the International Committee for the Red Cross. According to the Red Cross driver, an Afghan national who was allowed to escape, Taliban gunmen pulled Mr. Munguia from his car, called up a Taliban commander on their satellite phone for instructions, and then shot Munguia dead, point blank.

Since that killing, more than a dozen aid workers, mostly Afghans have been killed in ambushes or at impromptu checkpoints, while dozens more have been attacked or injured. The killing reached a deadly high point in early September, with the killing of four Afghan well-drillers working for the Danish agency DACAAR near the southern Afghan city of Moqor.

It's a situation that has many aid groups questioning the most fundamental assumption behind their job. Does the principle of neutrality provide any protection?

The attacks on demining groups is in some ways the most surprising. In addition to attacks on MDC, Taliban guerrillas or sympathizers have attacked other demining agencies as well, such as the Afghan-run group ATC.

Taliban once sympathetic

Taliban supreme ruler Mullah Mohammad Omar repeatedly praised demining groups for their work in ridding the country of millions of land mines and unexploded bombs left behind after the Soviet invasion. Many Taliban commanders, many of them victims of land mine explosions themselves, provided security for deminers to work.

But the Taliban have apparently changed their minds and their methods, arguing that any relief group that receives American funding or works in support of the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai are deserving of attack.

In a statement faxed to the Associated Press this month, the Taliban explained their new strategy.

"Our government has always respected the people who are working in NGOs that really want to build Afghanistan," read the Taliban statement. "But there is another kind of NGO which only uses the name NGO but is actually working and spying for the United States. We advise Taliban all over the country to attack them and extradite them from Afghanistan."

However, attacks on NGOs have followed no such rhyme or reason.

In this new world where lines are blurred between combatant and relief worker, the MDC has continued to work. Using specially trained Belgian shepherds, the US- and UN-funded agency has cleared about 100 million square meters of minefields in the past nine years, the vast majority in high-density urban areas or agricultural zones and pasture lands where most Afghans make their livelihood.

Pressing on

At MDC headquarters in Kabul, deputy director Mohammad Arif says that he believes his organization still can work in Afghanistan without fear.

"We want to free Afghanistan of mines, and we are ready to do our work," says Mr. Arif. "The majority of people know that we are independent. We worked during the Taliban period, and they guaranteed our safety. We are not afraid, because we don't ally with any politicians."

But even Arif admits that this independence didn't stop unknown assailants from attacking an MDC group in Wardak Province on August 18. No one in the group was injured in the late-night attack, but the assailants burned one vehicle, fired a rocket-propelled grenade at another vehicle, and stole a third.

"Now that they are attacking us deminers, I'm really surprised," says Engineer Mohammad Azeem, team leader for the mine-surveying team of the Mine Clearance Program Agency, a UN agency that works together with MDC. "This is the most dangerous situation I have faced, and I've been doing this for 14 years. The Taliban used to respect us. They used to bring us food and give us a place to stay at night. Now my people are scared, and the villagers are scared too."

Duty to home and country

Saniullah, a young man who recently joined MDC, says he wants the central government to "stabilize the security situation so that we can do our job properly."

But he has never considered leaving his job, or his boisterous young Belgian shepherd, Owen. "I have never thought of leaving. This is our country. These are our people. I have to perform my duties."

The only thing that could keep Mohammad Sharif home from work, he says, is his wife. "My wife worries about me," he says. "So every day, I tell her, we are safe, we are 100 percent safe." He smiles. "And if there has been an incident of attack against MDC, we don't tell our families."

Afghan editor flees to safety in Canada
The Ottawa Citizen10/27/2003By Jake Rupert
A crusading Afghan newspaper editor, whose democratic views prompted Islamic leaders in Kabul to put a bounty on his head, is alive and well and living with his family in Canada after fleeing his home country.

Mir Hussain Mahdavi, 31, his wife, and his two daughters, aged seven and five months, arrived in Canada three weeks ago after a harrowing ordeal that observers say demonstrates a lack of commitment to democratic principles in the U.S.-backed transitional government of President Hamid Karzai.

Mr. Mahdavi came to Canada after being granted emergency refugee status.

After the Afghan Supreme Court decided to try him for defaming Islam and impose a death penalty this summer, Mr. Mahdavi had been in hiding in Islamabad, Pakistan for several weeks until the United Nation's High Commissioner for Refugees fast-tracked his case.

Canadian government officials would not talk about Canada's role in bringing Mr. Mahdavi here, citing concern for his privacy.

However, Mr. Mahdavi had no such concerns, provided the place where he is living is not identified.

"I am very happy to be in Canada," he said earlier this week through an interpreter. "This is a good country where freedom of speech is a right.

"I feel disappointed to leave Afghanistan because we had a new government, and we had high hopes that this government would bring democracy by the people for the people, but, unfortunately this is not the case.

"If I thought it would have changed anything, I would have stayed in Kabul and died, but I hold little hope of true democracy coming to Afghanistan."

Mr. Mahdavi, editor of the Kabul weekly Aftab (The Sun), and his assistant, Ali Reza Sistany, were arrested June 17 and charged with violating an Afghan press law prohibiting the publication of material considered defamatory to Islam. They were also charged under sharia law for offending Islam.

Aftab, which was started in March 2002, was considered the most progressive newspaper in Afghanistan, employing an independent, objective approach to news reporting and blunt editorial opinions.

Mr. Mahdavi published several opinion pieces urging the government to move to a more secular state by separating religion and politics. Furthermore, Mr. Mahdavi wrote and published editorials saying the government had to get rid of several current and former warlords who control important ministries.

The paper also urged that more scholars and intellectuals be appointed to key government positions.

One of the offending phrases in his paper was: "Religion plus governance is equal to despotism." This article was headlined: "Holy Fascism."

Mr. Mahdavi offended many in Kabul by naming names of people who, in his opinion, should not be in government, accusing some of being murderers, and by pushing for a non-religious, non-military government.

This kind of journalism is unheard of in Afghanistan, said John Sifton, Afghanistan researcher with New York City-based Human Rights Watch.

Following the arrests of Mr. Mahdavi and Mr. Sistany, police closed the newspaper's Kabul offices and pulled copies of the publication from newsstands.

After a week in jail and under international pressure from the UN and other groups, Mr. Mahdavi and Mr. Sistany, who has since escaped to Norway, were released by Mr. Karzai personally. However, Mr. Karzai said the men would be tried.

"We don't consider what they have written to be the freedom of the press" Mr. Karzai told Afghan reporters after ordering the men released. "Sincerely, my opinion is that ... it was a violation of the beliefs of the Afghan people, and they shouldn't have done that."

A struggle over how they were to be tried exposed a developing rift in the transitional government's approach to legal issues and system of government.

The country's Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hadi Shinwari, regarded as a conservative who wants implementation of full Islamic law, wanted the men tried under sharia law, which would mean death if convicted.

The court's more moderate judges and others in government wanted them tried under the press law in a more democratic process, which would mean they would lose their press licence if convicted.

This trial took place in early August. Mr. Mahdavi attended, and he was acquitted of offending Islam.

After this however, the court's "fatwah" committee decision to also try Mr. Mahdavi under Islamic law and impose a death sentence was leaked. Several Islamic clerics also pronounced a fatwah on Mr. Mahdavi.

A fatwah is a form of religious bounty and anyone who kills a person subject to a fatwah is said to be rewarded in heaven.

With this news, Mr. Mahdavi decided to leave Kabul and Afghanistan immediately. He and his family went to Islamabad and hid out with friends until he was accepted as a refugee in Canada.

Several human rights and press freedom organizations lobbied the UN to help Mr. Mahdavi get to Canada.

Abi Wright, Asia program co-ordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, which lobbied on behalf of Mr. Mahdavi, said her group has been monitoring a deterioration of press freedom in Afghanistan for the last year.

"We've seen an increase in intimidation of journalists, attacks on journalists and suppression of speech," she said. "Mr. Mahdavi was very brave to write and publish the things he did, but he was also very controversial even with journalists in his own country."

Mr. Sifton, of Human Rights Watch, said Mr. Mahdavi's plight is an example of just how far away the country is from becoming a fully democratic nation.

"Freedom of expression is one of the keys to a democracy," he said. "Many other freedoms flow from it. If they are having problems with this, and Mr. Mahdavi's case shows this to be true, it isn't a good omen for the future."

He said the case shows just how influential Muslim clerics and judges have become in the transitional government because the moderates could not stop the case against Mr. Mahdavi or save him from the fatwah.

Mr. Sifton said the country's draft constitution almost guarantees citizens of Afghanistan will continue to be subject to the repressive social, cultural and political control of sharia law because it gives the judiciary, led by Mr. Shinwari, the power to review all government legislation to make sure it conforms to Islamic law.

He said if the goal of democracy in Afghanistan is to be met, amendments must be made to narrow the areas of society sharia law will be able to address.

"There has to be a clear division between this kind of court and normal courts," he said. "The case of Mr. Mahdavi shows there is no such division right now. And it's not just him. Other journalists are feeling pressure too."

He said police and military in Kabul, and even more so outside the capital, are quelling dissent or perceived anti-Islamic opinion with threats, beatings, robberies and road checkpoint extortions.

Mr. Sifton said the situation was created when religious leaders and warlords who helped the U.S. overthrow the Taliban were rewarded with positions in the transitional government while retaining their military and religious positions.

They are now using whatever means they can to retain and amass power leading up to next year's planned elections.

These people are ruling using fear, and most people are afraid of them, Mr. Sifton said. When Mr. Mahdavi stood up to them, the fear tactics failed, and when this happened, they used the judiciary as a weapon against him.

So deep-rooted is the fear, Mr. Sifton said, Afghans who agreed with Mr. Mahdavi's opinions would not come to his aid or defence because "it would have been suicide" to do so.

For now, Mr. Mahdavi, who is a devout Muslim, is planning on settling his family in his new surroundings, learning English, and looking for ways to support himself. He would like to find a job in journalism, but is willing to take any kind of work.

He also plans to start publishing Aftab again on an Internet website, which Afghans will be able to access.

He says he hopes one day he will be able to return to Afghanistan, but he is doubtful that day will come.

"I think what has happened to me shows that democracy and Islam can be taken advantage of as it has been in Afghan-istan," he said. "World governments should be careful of who they are helping in my country. If they continue to act as they are, all this effort might go to waste."

Ten die as minibus plummets into ravine in Afghanistan
via Arab Times (Kuwait) October 27, 2003
KABUL (AFP) - At least ten people died Sunday when their minibus plunged into a steep ravine in Afghanistan's Panjshir valley north of the capital Kabul, state media reported. "Ten people including men, women and children died when a passenger van fell into the Panjshir river in Parwan province," 55 kilometers (38 miles) north of Kabul, the government-run Bakhtar news agency said.

The main road through the narrow Panjshir valley winds along steep cliffs which drop down into the Panjshir river. The road suffered particularly heavy damage during the Taliban's harsh five-year reign when anti-Taliban Northern Alliance commander Ahmed Shah Masood bombed the southern entrance to the valley to keep Taliban forces out.

Bakhtar described the road as "bumpy and badly damaged." Landslides often block the road and in many parts only one car can pass at a time. Vehicles frequently slide off the road and tumble into the river.

U.N. official seeks Japan's continued support for Afghanistan
Kyodo (Japan) Monday October 27, 5:47 PM
The top official of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mission in Afghanistan called Monday for Japan's continued commitment to Afghan reconstruction, expressing concerns that Iraq is taking the international community's attention away from the country.

Japan is an "important country and big country to be able to have two major crises at the same time," Filippo Grandi told a joint news conference with former UNHCR Sadako Ogata.

Grandi said Japan has been received favorably by the people of Afghanistan because Japan has no history of meddling in the country's affairs.

He added he hopes Japan will "continue to be committed to the political and development process" in Afghanistan.

Grandi said the Iraqi crisis has monopolized world attention but that is not an issue of "Iraq or Afghanistan" but "Iraq and Afghanistan."

He stressed the need to boost reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and called for another international conference to that end.

Last Friday, Jean-Marie Guehenno, U.N. undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations, also warned that continuing political insecurity has been delaying reconstruction efforts.

Meanwhile, Ogata said war could return to Afghanistan unless there is sufficient support from the international community.

"It is important to focus on Afghanistan right now," Ogata said.

Iran participates in 44 infrastructural projects in Herat
Payvand, Iran10/27/2003
Iran is currently involved in 44 major infrastructural projects in Herat province, southwestern Afghanistan, IRNA reported from Kabul.

Iran's Consulate-General in Herat Hassan Qomi told IRNA that the projects belong to various fields including road-construction, education and training, agriculture and cattle breeding, power generation and transmission and border checkpoints.

He added that health, treatment and preliminary studies on railway construction are also among the projects in the country, in which Iran is currently involved.

Turning to the project on Herat-Dougharoun 123-km road, 55 percent of which is already completed, he said that around 60 percent of the Iranian goods will be transited to Afghanistan via this route. "Development of main infrastructures, public welfare and strengthening security are among the focal points in the reconstruction of Iran's neighboring country.

"The feasibility study and design of Tanghan-Herat railway project which has been underway in Afghanistan is expected to be finalized within the current Iranian year (ending March 19)," he added.

It will connect Afghanistan's railway network to that of Iran and eventually Europe. The project will have a decisive role in Afghanistan's economic development, given rich regional mines. "The project related to power generation in Herat which was commissioned in the current year meets part of the demand of the city," he added.

Putting the damage inflicted on provincial infrastructural installations under Taliban rule at 90 percent, he noted that the power generation project for transfer of industrial power from Torbat-e Jam to Herat is expected to be implemented by late spring of 2004.

"Iran's Agriculture Jihad is also engaged in 10 anti-drug campaign and rural development projects in Herat, including those on pest and locust control," he added.

He noted that restoration of mosques and schools, supply and installation of radio and television broadcasting equipment are also among the projects Iran has undertaken to carry out according to mutually-signed agreements.

Turning to reconstruction of Afghanistan as an international commitment, Qomi said that attempts should be made to prevent the country from becoming a hub of global and regional threats and insecurity