Afghanistan News September 17, 2003

September 17, 2003

Afghanistan grants licenses opening private commercial banking
Wednesday September 17, 2:21 AM
Britain's Standard Chartered Bank Plc. and National Bank of Pakistan are to receive licenses to operate in Afghanistan this week, marking the opening of a private commercial banking system in the war-ravaged country, the central bank governor said.

"Standard Chartered has been already approved to receive a licence," Da Afghanistan Bank governor Anwar Ul-haq Ahady told reporters on Tuesday.

"National Bank of Pakistan has been approved to receive a licence and First Micro Finance Bank funded by the Agha Khan Foundation has also been approved to receive a licence and as I understand all three of them will receive their licenses on Thursday," he said.

Ahady was speaking after President Hamid Karzai signed new laws governing the banking system and the independence of the central bank which are expected to help promote international trade and business.

The laws would allow "Afghans to have access to proper commercial banking," Karzai said.

"Afghans are rich people, their money is in other countries and I want them to bring their money to Afghanistan and put it in safe banks here," he said.

Proving the president's point, Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani said the estimated wealth of Afghans in Dubai alone was between two billion and five billion dollars, with another group of 1,000 Afghan businessmen in Moscow having estimated capital of 200 million dollars.

"This is an incredibly important resource for us and this government will do everything it can to provide the enabling environment for the return of these Afghans," Ghani said.

"One of their central demands was the opening of credible international banks in the country; the promulgation of the banking law does this."

The establishment of private commercial banking will allow the central bank to focus on monetary policy and supervision rather than commercial activities.

Ahady said the central bank hoped to disengage from commercial activities in the next year or so and in two weeks' time would be working on proposals to deal with the existing six state-owned commercial banks.

"We are looking forward to the participation of international banks in Afghanistan as well as the creation of national entities which will be able to ... offer services to the citizens of this country effectively," Finance Minister Ghani said.

Standard Chartered local project director John Janes in June said the bank hoped to open its Kabul branch, the first in its 150-year history, in September, making it the first major international bank group to operate in Afghanistan in years.

The leading emerging-markets bank will initially offer US dollar and afghani deposit services and international transfers in most major currencies.

Standard Chartered will spend around 1.5 million dollars setting up its Kabul branch and negotiate with the central bank on the amount of regulatory capital required.

Afghanistan's banking system is currently being rebuilt from the ground up following 23 years of war. Most people do not have bank accounts and just keep their money at home.

Afgan President Accuses Pakistani Clerics of Supporting Rebels
(VOA) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is accusing Muslim clergy in neighboring Pakistan of fueling attacks inside his country.

President Karzai says religious seminaries inside Pakistan are recruiting fighters to join remnants of his nation's former hard-line Islamic Taleban regime in their battle against Afghanistan's new government.

The Afghan leader accused Pakistani clerics running religious schools of recruiting Afghan refugees and others to cross the border and serve as militants.

Taleban and other insurgent guerrilla forces are raiding Afghan police and military targets, and carrying out terror attacks in towns and cities.

In reaction to President Karzai's speech, Pakistan's Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat says the link between the old Taleban regime and some Pakistani religious leaders has a long history.

"There is no denying the fact that certain elements within the clergy, they have been engaged in activities certainly which have been leading the world to believe that the clergy is involved in cases where there is terrorism," he said. "That has certainly not improved the image of the clergy, in Pakistan or elsewhere."

Mr. Hayat says militants in the Pakistani clergy and the men they recruit are not the core cause of the Afghan insurgency.

"They would certainly have some sympathizers within Afghanistan itself," added Mr. Hayat. "They cannot indulge in such actions all by themselves. So it is also imperative for the Afghanistan government to take steps to neutralize that threat within their own society."

Relations between the two countries have been tense over the past year.

Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of doing little to root out Taleban militants and their allies from the remote and mountainous Pakistani regions near the Afghan border.

Pakistan says it is doing its utmost to stop such infiltrations and has increased its military presence in the region.

Conflicting reports over fate of Taliban commander
Tuesday September 16, 4:22 PM
SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - There was confusion on Tuesday over the reported death of Taliban commander Mullah Abdur Rahim, with some guerrillas confirming it and a man who identified himself as Rahim saying he was very much alive.

Afghan officials said on Monday that Rahim, who controlled Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, was among 15 Taliban guerrillas killed in fighting in Kandahar province on Sunday.

Another Taliban commander, Mullah Abdul Rauf, and Taliban official Mullah Rahmatullah confirmed that Rahim was dead.

"The fact is that Mullah Abdur Rahim has been martyred," Rahmatullah told Reuters.

But a man identifying himself as Rahim called Reuters about 30 minutes earlier to say he was very much alive.

"The Taliban movement cannot be weakened by spreading news of my death," he said in the call arranged by other Taliban officials. "I am alive and all right."

The voice sounded similar to that of Rahim, who has spoken to Reuters several times in the past, but the phone line was of very poor quality.

Mullah Abdul Samad, a Taliban intelligence officer, called the report of Rahim's death "mere propaganda".

The U.S. military said the 15 Taliban fighters killed died in attacks by U.S. and allied warplanes backing Afghan and U.S.-led ground forces.

But the caller who identified himself as Rahim said only six Taliban fighters had been killed along with more than a dozen Afghan troops.

"The attacks against U.S. and other infidel forces in Afghanistan will be intensified," he said. "The Taliban will continue their jihad (holy war) until the American occupation of Afghanistan ends."

Violence has plagued southern Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and has worsened markedly in recent weeks.

Well over 200 people have been killed in the past six weeks. Most have been Taliban guerrillas, but the casualties have included Afghan soldiers and police, civilians and aid workers.

Representative Warns Afghanistan Is At A Crossroads
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 09/15/2003 By Ahto Lobjakas
The EU's representative for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, on 12 September warned that time is running out for efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. He said a stronger international security force presence and reforms of Afghanistan's security apparatus are needed to ward off the threat emanating from remnants of the Taliban and the country's blossoming heroin industry.

Brussels – Francesc Vendrell, the EU special representative in Afghanistan, said he believes Afghanistan is at "a crossroads."

"We are at a crossroads. We are at a crossroads because we are supposed to have a constitutional loya jirga [grand assembly] in December, the constitution needs to be enacted -- first approved and then enacted –- a constitution that ought to reflect if not a full consensus in the population as to what kind of constitution they want, certainly they should feel that the content of the constitution has been properly aired and discussed, even if, inevitably, perhaps some people might not fully agree with some areas of its content," Vendrell said.

Vendrell warned that without greater involvement of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), this process and elections in June next year are in danger.

Vendrell said he will tell a joint meeting of EU and NATO ambassadors in Brussels on 15 September that a few thousand more ISAF troops, robustly deployed, could make a huge difference.

He said he particularly supports the use of mobile ISAF units able to operate outside of the area around the capital Kabul. The NATO-led ISAF force currently comprises about 5,000 troops, with Germany being the largest contributor. Any extension of ISAF's mandate outside the Kabul region would need the approval of the UN Security Council.

Vendrell acknowledged that the military capabilities of some EU member states as well as the United States are currently overextended. But, he said, quick action is necessary to improve security in Afghanistan. "Whatever needs to be done in Afghanistan needs to be done quickly," he said. "We cannot afford to wait because the longer the situation remains as it is, the more difficult it is to remedy it later on."

Pointing to Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai's inability to extend his control far beyond Kabul, Vendrell said Afghanistan will need to quickly set up its own army. It currently numbers about 5,000 men.

He praised a recent decree signed by Karzai that approves a new structure for the country's Defense Ministry. But he said that senior positions in the new structure must be filled in such a way that does not put one single ethnic group or a political ideology in control.

Vendrell said Afghanistan must have its own functioning security forces in place by the June elections, adding that the failure of the registration process or the elections themselves in several provinces could "negate" the results.

In this context, Vendrell said, the fundamentalist Taliban –- ousted from power nearly two years ago -– still remains an important factor in Afghanistan. He said the EU is putting pressure on neighboring Pakistan to act against the infiltration of militants into Afghanistan.

Vendrell warned that a cocktail of internal and international neglect and intervention by Afghanistan's neighbors could breed sympathy for the Taliban in Afghanistan's southeastern provinces. "We're not talking here of tens of thousands [of Taliban], we're talking of a [lesser but still] significant number," he said. "But, equally important to bear in mind is the reaction of the population to the Taliban. To the extent that the Pashtun population in Afghanistan feels -- rightly or wrongly, I'm not saying [which] -- alienated or discriminated, they are more likely to be -– I wouldn't say welcome the Taliban -– but perhaps to be more passive when there is this kind of infiltration. And that's another reason why all these other changes in terms of security elsewhere, in terms of participation by all the ethnic groups in the 'power ministries' is essential."

Vendrell said the increasing activity of the Taliban threatens southern Afghanistan with a cycle of fundamentalist violence and underdevelopment as reconstruction efforts are hindered.

Vendrell also warned that the production of opium –- which is increasingly being worked into heroin within the borders of Afghanistan itself –- is on the rise. This, he said, was a direct function of the weakness of Karzai's administration outside Kabul. He said drug producers have no interest in political reforms and are working to destabilize the country.

Vendrell said Afghanistan will need billions of dollars in the coming years. He said the United States might announce in the margins of a prospective donors' meeting for Iraq in Dubai on 20 September an extra contribution of about $1 billion. Vendrell said he hopes the EU, which last year provided about 40 percent of the international assistance to Afghanistan, will match the increase.

Afghan government introduces new tax system to raise revenues
The Associated Press 09/15/2003
Afghanistan's cash-strapped government introduced a new tax system Monday that it hopes will reduce its dependence on foreign aid — and help wrest monetary control from powerful provincial governors who have previously kept the revenue for themselves.

Under the new approach, set up with U.S. advice, traders in Kabul must register for a 10-digit tax identification number by the end of October, or risk losing their business licenses.

The government plans to computerize its tax records, and with the new ID numbers authorities will be able to track business activities across the city.

If it works, the streamlined system will be a new tool for President Hamid Karzai's administration in its struggle to collect revenue from the provinces, run by powerful governors backed by large private armies.

However, implementing the new tax program will be a challenge. Afghanistan lacks a viable banking system and the bureaucratic infrastructure to efficiently collect tax payments.

Business owners, who for years paid little or no tax, are also likely to resist.

Under the old tax system, it was up to business owners to declare their dealings at the end of each fiscal year in March so that taxes could be assessed.

Customs director Jilani Popal said that approach yielded ``very little.'

The Finance Ministry said the system would be expanded across the country as soon as possible.

``Our aim is that we should meet our budget from the domestic revenue. It's important for the economic and political independence of this country,' Popal said after presenting the plan at a news conference.

``It is very important to keep tabs on all the businessmen, how much investment they have, what they are importing and exporting, and over which border.'

He added that the system, once imposed nationally, would bolster the government's meager authority outside the capital, Kabul, and that provincial governors who oppose interference from Karzai's administration would have to comply.

``They will be reluctant, there will be resistance,' he said. ``(But) we won't let it happen again that anyone other than the central government controls the national resources.'

After pressuring the governors to hand over a share of customs duties, the government expects to raise at least US$200 million this year. Authorities hope to raise the US$350 million balance of its operating budget from foreign donors.

Afghan leader calls on "ordinary" Taliban to return to their homes
Business Week 09/15/2003
Transition Administration Chairman Karzai said in his 12 September speech to the CUA that he has received messages from some of the former leaders of the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan indicating "they are not intent on destroying their own land, but that some among them are forced to do so."

Karzai called on "all those ordinary Taliban of the past to return to their homes and villages and be left alone to live their lives without pressure." However, he added that this applies only to those Taliban members "who have not caused damage in their homeland," and not to those "who committed atrocities under the name of Taliban, who destroyed Afghanistan and sold it to the foreigners."

The latter group, Karzai said, "have no rights" to Afghanistan. Karzai has been trying to gain the support of some elements of the former Taliban regime in an effort to limit the destructive activities of the neo-Taliban in addition to bolstering his own political standing among Pashtuns.

Afghanistan close to resolving mystery of lost Buddha of Bamiyan
(ABC Radio Australia) - French archaeologists say they are a step closer to solving the mystery of Afghanistan's legendary lost "third Buddha" of Bamiyan.

After five weeks of excavations in the valley of the Buddhas, in central Afghanistan, the team of archaeologists say they have found evidence which could cast light on the whereabouts of the "reclining Buddha" mentioned by ancient travellers to the region.

The team has confirmed the existence of a monastery at the foot of sandstone cliffs which, until March 2001, sheltered two enormous ancient Buddhas.

The two standing Buddhas which date back to the 3rd century B.C.E, were destroyed by the Taliban during their campaign to destroy images which they regarded as un-Islamic.

Pakistan deploys troops near Afghan border
(BBC) - Pakistani officials say that troops have been deployed along the border near Balochistan province to try to stop the activities of al Qaeda and suspected Taleban fighters in the area.

A BBC correspondent in Quetta says a high level official confirmed that Pakistani troops have been deployed near Chaman, Toba Achakzzai and Qamar Din Karaiz.

He says that army and Frontier Corp personnel are reported to have begun joint patrols.

Initially the Army was deployed in the Skam Kanra area bordering the Afghan area of Spin Boldak, and Dobandi area of Pakistan close to the Shin Narey area of Afghanistan.

On Monday, Afghan security officials said between eight and 15 Taleban fighters were killed in overnight clashes with military forces near the border with Pakistan.

A senior Taleban commander is reported to have been killed in the fighting which also left five government soldiers slightly injured.

Recent fighting

An Afghan military commander said the clashes occurred in Maruf district in the southern Kandahar province after a group of Taleban attacked army positions.

He said the fighters had come from Pakistan across the border, or from the neighbouring province of Zabul.

The region was the scene of recent fierce fighting between hundreds of Taleban fighters and Afghan and coalition forces in which more than 100 Taleban fighters and several soldiers were killed.

The commander said that in the latest incident, eight Taleban had been killed, among them their southern commander, Mullah Abdur Rahim.

He said the body was taken to Kandahar. But a senior figure in the ousted Taleban regime denied the death.

Other reports from the area said 15 Taleban were killed in the fighting. Afghan government forces had logistical back-up from American forces operating in the area.

Afghan armyman held in Chaman
(Dawn) - QUETTA, Sept 15: Border security officials on Monday arrested an Afghan army major with his weapon in the Chaman area, for crossing into the country.
"An Afghan army major crossed into Pakistan with his AK-47 rifle," a border security official said.

He was handed over to the authorities concerned for interrogation, sources said.

Earlier, the border security forces had arrested around 100 Afghans who crossed into the country from Iran on Saturday night in the Taftan area.

"The Afghan nationals illegally crossed into Pakistan using unfrequented routes, taking the benefit of darkness," a local administration official said. Sources said they were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency for interrogation.

Iranian border authorities pushed back 40 Pakistanis who had crossed into Iran illegally on Sunday.

"The people belonging to Punjab were trying to cross into Iran without travelling documents," an official of Taftan levies said.

The levies arrested the 40 people for illegally entering Iran and handed them over to the FIA for investigation.

REMANDED: The FIA on Monday produced a suspected Taliban member, Mohammad Omar, before a magistrate in Chaman, who remanded him in FIA custody for 10 days.

Sources said a team of FIA and other agencies was interrogating him. "The suspect had worked with the last Taliban governor of Kandahar, Mulla Hasan Hamdani, as computer or telephone operator," they said.

He was arrested last week with 10 other Afghan nationals by the border security officials when they illegally crossed into the country from Afghanistan without the required travelling documents.

Karzai forms council to fight anti-gov't propaganda
Kyodo 09/16/2003
ISLAMABAD - A 2,600 member shura, or council, is being set up in Afghanistan at the directive of President Hamid Karzai to counter enemy propaganda, Afghan Islamic Press reported Saturday.

The Pakistan-based news agency quoted Maulvi Fazal Hadi Shinwari, chief justice of the Afghan Supreme Court, as saying that the shura would comprise 80 clergymen and scholars from each province and be tasked with fighting propaganda against the Karzai government.

The formation of the shura comes in the wake of calls by Taliban guerrillas for jihad (holy war) against the U.S.-led occupation forces and Karzai government and an increase in insurgency in parts of southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Shinwari said that the Supreme Court and scholars firmly believed that the present government is legal and Islamic and that fighting it is not jihad but rebellion.

Shinwari said that the proposed shura would command support from all the provincial governments' institutions and frequently meet in the capital Kabul to discuss important matters.

Land-Grab Scandal In Kabul Rocks The Government
RFE/RL 09/16/2003 By Ron Synovitz
A United Nations housing expert is calling for the removal of Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and other senior Afghan officials implicated in a scandal over the seizure of real estate in Kabul. But some of the accused officials say they have not done anything illegal.

Prague - The recent bulldozing of houses in a Kabul neighborhood to build private homes for senior Afghan officials is growing into an embarrassing scandal for the UN-backed Afghan Transitional Authority.

About 20 families in the Sherpur District of the Afghan capital -- an exclusive neighborhood close to the city center -- have been forced to leave the mud-brick houses they had built in the area over the last two decades.

A critical report by a nongovernmental organization, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, has named 29 senior officials and other powerful Afghan personalities who received plots of land in Sherpur for nominal fees. Included on the list are six cabinet ministers, the mayor of Kabul, the governor of the Afghan National Bank, and two former militia commanders.

Among the most prominent names on the list are Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Education Minister Yunis Qanooni. Both are leaders within Jamiat-i-Islami, the political wing of a former Northern Alliance faction. Jamiat-i-Islami seized de facto control of Kabul after the Taliban regime fled the city but before the International Security Assistance Force was deployed there.

The legitimacy of the NGO report has been strengthened by a separate report by Miloon Kothari, a United Nations special rapporteur on housing and land rights, who recently spent several weeks in Kabul. The report by Kothari accuses Fahim -- and other senior cabinet members -- of active collusion in official land seizures.

Kothari says those involved should be removed: "Fahim, the minister of defense, is directly involved in this kind of occupation and dispossession. And ministers that are directly involved have to be removed."

Fahim has not commented publicly on the accusations or the calls for his removal.

Spurred by the media attention the two critical reports have received, Afghan Transitional Authority Chairman Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Jawad Luddin, yesterday announced that an official investigation is being launched.

"The presidential office has appointed a commission to investigate the housing problem in Sherpur where houses of people were destroyed," he said.

Privately, Karzai is reported to be infuriated about the scandal.

Afghan Reconstruction Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang, who is not among the cabinet ministers listed as taking land in Sherpur, told RFE/RL that Karzai only became aware of the issue last week.

"There was a discussion on this issue last week in the cabinet," he said. "The president asked all individuals who had taken land in Sherpur. [Karzai] didn't know about the Sherpur issue until that meeting. As far as I can remember, no more than five [senior cabinet ministers] were among those who had not taken land."

Karzai's aides have made statements promising that the government's investigation will not gloss over the criticisms made by the NGO and the United Nations.

But Farhang suggests strong measures be taken to save the credibility of the post-Taliban Afghan central government: "The government should take back all this land that was distributed to those [officials] and redistribute it to those who are entitled to it, regardless of whether they are ordinary citizens or government officials in the cabinet. This [taking of land] is against the law, and I reject it."

Two of the officials named in the report by the human rights group say they have done nothing illegal.

Education Minister Qanooni, who headed the Interior Ministry until last year's Loya Jirga, suggested that the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission is being misused by individuals who are spreading what he called "propaganda" aimed at undermining political figures in the country.

"There is a difference between those who are given land by the current rulers under current laws and those who take land by force in Sherpur," Qanooni said. "I was also given land there."

Qanooni said the land had been legally transferred to him on Karzai's orders.

But Kabul's deputy mayor, Habibullah Asghary, who also is among those who received land in Sherpur for a nominal fee, told RFE/RL in May of this year that it was the Defense Ministry that decided which officials and former militia commanders would receive land in Sherpur.

"The land in Sherpur belongs to the Afghan Defense Ministry," Asghary said. "According to the ownership law in Afghanistan, every government institution has the right to do with its land whatever it wants. The Defense Ministry distributed the land to its commanders and high-ranking officials who defended our country and freedom."

Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, has told journalists he has "absolutely no disagreement" with the substance of the report made by Kothari, the UN special rapporteur. Brahimi told "The Washington Post" newspaper that the destruction of the houses in Sherpur is "totally unacceptable."

Some of the Afghans whose houses were recently bulldozed in Sherpur told "The Washington Post" that they were beaten by Afghan police when they refused to leave.

US to name envoy to Afghanistan
Sify 09/16/2003
Washington - President George W. Bush is expected to name his special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad as ambassador to Kabul next week, a senior US official said Tuesday.

Bush is expected to make the announcement, which has long been expected, before or during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly on September 23 and 24, the official said.

Khalilzad, an American born in Afghanistan and a former UNOCAL executive, has played a key role in the US bid to set up a new governing structure in Afghanistan since the ouster of its former Taliban leaders following the September 11 attacks.

Washington accused the fundamentalist militia of shielding Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, the top suspects in the strikes. Khalilzad's preeminent role has caused some discomfort in the State Department, which is nominally in charge of Afghan policy, some senior US officials said privately last month.

The White House declined to comment on its plans for Khalilzad, in line with its policy of waiting until new postings are officially announced.

Another reshuffle hits top levels of Pak army hierarchy
Gulf News 09/16/2003
A second round of changes in the top level of the army hierarchy, carried out by President General Pervez Musharraf on Sunday, only days after similar changes a few days ago, have fuelled speculation about rumblings within the military.

Reports surfacing mainly in the international press, but based on information provided by sources in the country, insist that 'elements' within the military are once more backing 'hardline' forces.

This support is most notably said to be for the former Taliban in Afghanistan, with the pro-India leanings of the ruling Nothern Alliance in the country said to have 'added to such sentiments'.

Officers at various levels have indicated they are not willing to let Afghanistan 'fall into enemy hands', and could even take some action for this, it is said. Recently, around a dozen Pakistan army men were held inside Afghanistan, and are now under investigation for possible support to the Taliban.

Other low ranking officers are also being investigated for backing militants, with sources saying "given religious organisations have consistently sent people into the military, of course the views they propound have huge support there."

While Musharraf recently denied reports of dissent in the military, other sources insist this is there, and that 'hawkish' elements like former Inter Services Intelligence chief Gen (retd) Hameed Gul are again "playing a role."

In the backdrop of this, Musharraf's changes take on special significance.

In the latest move, he has replaced the Rawalpindi and Multan corps commanders, two of the most crucial men within the military structure.

The president appointed Lt-Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani as Rawalpindi corps commander, replacing Lt-Gen Arif Hasan who was appointed Military Secretary at the General Headquarters.

Military Secretary Lt-Gen Mohammed Akram was appointed as Multan corps commander in place of Lt-Gen Shahid Tirmzi. General Tirmizi was posted at the Joint Staff Headquarters.

Other alterations have also been made, with several officers retiring.

The president had kicked off a gradual process of reshuffle at the top army level last week by promoting three two-star generals – Maj-Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, Maj-Gen Malik Arif Hayat and Maj-Gen Anis Ahmed Abbasi – to Lieutenant General. Lt-Gen Hayat and Lt-Gen Abbasi have yet to be given new assignments.

Pakistan and US to launch new operations on Afghan border
Daily Times - Pakistan By Hameedullah Abid
ISLAMABAD: In a meeting this week, Pakistan and the United States decided to send helicopters back from Islamabad to Quetta to launch new operations against Al Qaeda and Taliban activists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, sources told Daily Times on Tuesday.

Sources said a three-member committee consisting of Air Wing Operations Director Brig Shafiq-ur-Rehman, US Embassy Director Brooke Darby and Dyn Corporation Site Manager Curtis Adam, will work on completing training programmes in a month so that operations can start immediately.

Sources said the issue was raised by the Pakistani side which emphasised the need to start operations against Al Qaeda and Taliban remnants, and drugs and arms smugglers along the border. A number of military personnel have been training for the last year. Pakistan is using five US helicopters and three fixed wing aircraft. Three more US aircraft are expectedt to arrive at the end of the month. During the meeting, the Pakistani side said the US had spent $16.7 million on training personnel and maintaining the aircraft, which could have been better spent in an operation against Al Qaeda and Taliban remnants. The US maintains control over the financial allocations for the Border Security Project. Pakistan has demanded more transparency in the whole process. Ms Darby told the meeting that a contract to build hangers at Quetta airport had been awarded and the construction would be completed within nine months.

The US team expressed satisfaction at the expertise of Pakistani personnel but informed them that advance approval from the US embassy would be required for any operation because of the legal provisions in the agreement. "This is not Pakistan specific but a standard procedure for the entire world," Ms Darby explained.

On the issue of the return of helicopters to Quetta from Islamabad, Ms Darby said the US Regional Security Office was finalising the specification for the required security upgrades at the Khalid Air Base in Quetta. She said the helicopters would return by the end of October.

The meeting was also attended by Interior Ministry Secretary Tasneem Noorani, Joint Secretary Junaid Iqbal and Deputy Secretary Shahzad Ahmed Malik.

NGOs warn rising attacks threaten Afghan aid work
KABUL, Sept 16 (AFP) - International and Afghan humanitarian organisations Tuesday warned that worsening security is threatening reconstruction work in Afghanistan, with attacks against aid workers soaring to one every two days.

"The security situation is forcing aid agencies to reconsider activities in more and more areas and is restricting aid and development, resulting in growing public support for radical movements," said Barbara Stapleton, advocacy coordinator for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR).

ACBAR is an umbrella organisation representing more than 90 non-governmental organisations.

"Little time remains, with elections pending, for the international community to provide the Afghan government with the necessary support to establish effective security throughout the country if development and reconstruction under the Bonn process is to progress," she said.

The United Nations last month also warned of the need to dramatically improve security in Afghanistan ahead of presidential polls due to be held in June 2004.

According to US-based CARE International, half of Afghanistan's 32 provinces this month had areas deemed high-risk for aid workers.

"Since September 2002, armed attacks against the assistance community have gone from one a month to one every two days (on average)," CARE country director Paul Barker said in a report.

Aid workers have been increasingly targeted by suspected Taliban militants, especially in southern and southeastern Afghanistan which has seen an apparent resurgence of the militia which was ousted from power by US-led forces in November 2001.

Four Afghans working for the Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees (DACAAR) were killed in execution-style shootings last week by gunmen who told them they had been warned about working for NGOs. A fifth worker survived despite serious wounds from the attack in Ghazni province south of Kabul.

ACBAR said it was "appalled and deeply saddened" by the murders.

"The murder of four defenceless aid workers is the latest incident in a worsening security situation that is threatening the provision of reconstruction and humanitarian assistance to increasing areas of Afghanistan," Stapleton said.

"Many civilian government workers have been targeted and killed as well."

The United Nations in August suspended road missions across much of southern Afghanistan following a series of attacks which left seven dead, including a Mercy Corps worker, and 15 injured, including 10 Afghan aid workers who were severely beaten.

Attacks on aid workers and mine clearing teams are seen as part of a campaign by Taliban militants to undermine reconstruction work which is helping to extend the reach of President Hamid Karzai's government.

The US military has warned that militants were increasingly turning to "soft targets" such as aid workers.

In the mountains of southwest Zabul province, hundreds of US and Afghan troops have been waging a massive ground and air offensive against one of the largest concentrations of Taliban fighters since their ouster in late 2001.

At least 139 militants have been killed in Zabul's Daychopan mountains and neighbouring Kandahar in the offensive, dubbed Operation Mountain Viper, since August 30.

"Osama" film depicts girl's life under Taliban
By Ka Yan Ng Tuesday September 16, 8:11 PM
TORONTO (Reuters) - Siddiq Barmak sees a brighter future for his native land of Afghanistan, but his debut feature film -- the first entirely Afghan film shot since the fall of the Taliban regime -- focuses on its dark past that he hopes will never return.

"Osama," screened last week at the Toronto International Film Festival, tells the story of a girl forced to disguise herself as a boy to escape the oppressive conditions that the Taliban, who sheltered Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, inflicted on women.

"I think Afghan cinema has a good future," Barmak said in an interview. "I think it's a good way to introduce my country to the world. I think it's a good messenger, a good bridge between people for understanding each other."

Born in Afghanistan in 1962, Barmak lived there most of his life, and he fled to neighboring Pakistan during the last 2-1/2 years of Taliban rule. It was there that he read a newspaper story that became the basis of his script for "Osama."

Barmak returned to his native land in February 2002, not long after the Taliban was ousted by Afghan and U.S.-led forces, to head the reinstated Afghan Film Organization.

In the six months it took to shoot the film, he drew his cast of nonprofessional actors from orphanages and refugee camps. The star, Marina Golbahari, was discovered when she happened on the director to beg for money.

"She had wonderful, magic eyes," said Barmak, who instantly knew she would be his lead actress in the title role.

Golbahari's parents were hesitant at first to allow their 13-year-old daughter act in the film, but eventually gave in. The 13-member family was extremely poor, the father was sick, and was too good an opportunity to pass up.

NEED TO SUPPORT FAMILY
In the film, Golbahari's character cuts her hair and dons her father's clothes after the Taliban close down the hospital where her widowed mother works. The mother decides her daughter will now become her "son" so she can work to support the family.

If discovered, the daughter would face a Taliban trial, and possibly a death sentence, for women are allowed outside only with a male escort.

Originally, Barmak titled the film "Rainbow," a reference to a legend told by one of the characters that boys passing under a rainbow become girls, and girls change to boys.

But "Osama," the name of the disguised girl, became the title in the end, Barmak said, because "I saw that this film was about the horror and this is a reaction about the horror."

Although the title and timing of the movie's Sept. 8 screening -- just before the second anniversary of the Sept. 11

-- may have raised some eyebrows, Barmak says the film was not meant as a direct reference to the attacks blamed on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

"It's a coincidence that the film was shown very close to this date," he said.

"I think it was a good time to tell again about Afghan pain because Afghan people were the first victims of this terrorist. We are really sorry about what happened on Sept. 11 in America, but who was the victim of this terrorist for five years?"

Fewer than 40 shorts and feature films have ever been produced in Afghanistan. Barmak's film -- which he wrote, directed, edited and produced -- was backed by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who co-produced it.

"Osama," which won a special mention Camera d'Or award at the Cannes International Film Festival this year, will be released in the United States early in 2004.

Reward for Afghan Who Helped U.S. Root Out the Taliban
By STACY ALBIN The New York Times
The Americans wanted to do something special for the Afghan soldier who had guided Special Forces troops through his country's rugged terrain to help root out the Taliban.

The Afghan had but one request: he wanted his teenage daughter to get well.

Yesterday, his daughter was discharged from Schneider Children's Hospital on Long Island after surgery to correct a heart-valve defect that doctors said would surely have killed her. The operation was the end product of an effort involving the United States military, the State Department, a Manhattan priest, the Long Island hospital and a Brooklyn construction company.

When the girl left home in June, her grandfather carried her malnourished body onto the airplane. By yesterday, she had gained 20 pounds and was walking on her own, said the Rev. Brian Jordan of St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, who helped arrange for her treatment at Schneider Children's Hospital.

"I was about to do handstands after what I saw," Father Jordan said yesterday. "It was miraculous."

Although the girl's English is limited to a few phrases like "I want TV," Father Jordan said she had added, "I love America."

Father Jordan said the American troops who had sought to help their Afghan guide relayed the request about the girl to Col. William Roy of the Army, who passed it on to State Department officials. In May, Father Jordan received an e-mail message from Colonel Roy. Yesterday, he recalled the colonel's description of the situation as an extreme emergency. "If this child Nargis doesn't receive this surgery, she will die."

The oldest of six children, Nargis, who is estimated to be 16, had suffered from a severe blockage of the lower right pumping chamber of her heart. In her rural home outside Kabul, there was no cardiac specialist, the priest said. The family would have had to leave the country to find a doctor to perform the operation. The family, whose last name was withheld by Father Jordan and hospital officials to protect the father, who is still battling the Taliban in Afghanistan, could not afford to do that, Father Jordan said.

After hearing about Nargis, Father Jordan, whose missionary work involves assisting children who need medical care, contacted Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park. The hospital agreed to provide the surgery. Kevin Minihan, the president of a Brooklyn construction company, agreed to pay the airfare for Nargis and her grandfather.

"It was out of gratitude that the father helped so much that we agreed to help Nargis," said a Schneider spokeswoman, Michelle Pinto.

The teenager arrived on July 4, and endured weeks of treatments for various ailments, which included malnourishment and a parasitic infection in her intestinal tract, Ms. Pinto said. In August, she underwent a catheterization to evaluate her condition. Last week, Dr. Vincent Parnell performed the heart surgery.

Yesterday, Nargis was released, and according to Ms. Pinto is expected to recover fully within three weeks. Father Jordan said she would remain with relatives in Suffolk County and return to Afghanistan in about a month.

He said she was already talking about playing soccer.

Georgia new transit route for Afghan aid
TBILISI, Sept 17 (AFP) - The first load of humanitarian cargo bound for Kabul arrived in Tbilisi late Tuesday, making Georgia into a new transit route for aid to Afghanistan.

"The fact that this strategic cargo went through Georgia means our state is now recognised as an integral part of the Great Silk Road, and that would bring us not only political dividend, but financial profit as well," Georgia's Transport and Communications Minister Merab Adeishvili said.

The aid cargo, loaded onto 16 trailers and six jeeps, was shipped into Georgia by sea from Bulgaria, officials said, adding that a special commission headed by Georgia's security council secretary Tedo Dzhaparidze was tasked with the convoy's safety.

Tbilisi celebrated the convoy's passage with a concert staged on the capital's central square.

Rights violations on the rise, says commission
KABUL, 16 September (IRIN) - The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has confirmed that human rights violations are on the rise throughout the country. "Unfortunately forsix months the graph of human rights violation is increasing day by day," Nadir Nadiri, a spokesperson for AIHRC, told IRIN in the capital Kabul on Monday.
Although more instances of human rights abuses are currently reported due to more effective monitoring, Nadiri said continued extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detention and the presence of unofficial prisons run by warlords were the major concerns of AIHRC. "There is no rule of law, the police that are responsible for the rule of law, they themselves are violators and are acting against the law," the spokesperson claimed.

He said AIHRC had registered 634 violations since June 2003,including extra judicial killings, rape, the trafficking of women and children, the widespread destruction of public and private property and arbitrary detention. According to an AIHRC report issued this week, the majority of cases reported related to the destruction of private houses, evictions and forced occupations.

The spokesperson maintained that the majority of detainees in Kabul and the provinces were in custody because of property disputes. "The local authorities, mainly police and governors, are arbitrarily detaining those in a property dispute who don't have money to pay or don't have any influence with the authorities," he explained.

According to AIHRC, there are a number of private jails belonging to the commanders and warlords in provinces, while some in positions of power and influence are using official prisons as their private jails too.

The United Nations in Kabul has confirmed that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is still one of concern. According to a report by the United Nations Assistant Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), violations are exacerbated by a lack of adequate national security and law enforcement capacity as well as the weakness of the justice system.

"What is very important is the reform of the security sector that will enable Afghanistan to have again a working justice system that people can trust and go and see injustice is readdressed," Manoel de Almieda e Silva, a UNAMA spokesperson, told IRIN following the report of AIHRC. UNAMA said that abuses took place countrywide, most often by the forces under the control of regional factions or local commanders.

AIHRC stressed that the credibility of Karzai's government was on the line as Kabul had repeatedly failed to act against human rights violations. "Despite requests and recommendations and AIHRC lobbying for accountability, the government did not bring those who violated human rights to justice," said the rights activist noting that failure to act encouraged perpetrators to continue.

The government has said it does not have the resources to enforce law and order. But the Afghan Interior ministry has said it has started and accelerated a police training programme which will enable it to present 25,000 professional police officers and soldiers within a year, which will significantly contribute to an improved human rights situation.

"The programmes are aimed at existing policemen who have had little or no previous police training and cover the democratic principles of policing, human rights and basic law as well as policing techniques such as arrests," said Afghan Interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali.

EU envoy calls for improved Afghan security
By Judy Dempsey in Brussels September 17 2003 The Financial Times
Europe's top envoy to Afghanistan said yesterday that training of the country's police and army must be speeded up and more international troops were needed to extend security beyond Kabul.

"We need more troops, more security and a more coherent strategy," Francesc Vendrell, the European Union's special envoy, told the FT.

His remarks coincide with a fundamental reassessment taking place inside the EU and Nato on how to stabilise Afghanistan, with senior military officials warning of an "open-ended" international presence unless reforms stipulated in the December 2001 Bonn Agreement are implemented.

The accord that led to the creation of the Afghan Interim Authority called for the demobilisation, demilitarisation and reintegration of all militia groups that existed before September 11 2001, a process Mr Vendrell said was taking too long.

To speed it up, the military officials said the 5,500-strong Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) should be "more robust" in pushing through the demilitarisation process and the reform of the defence ministry under Mohammad Qasim Fahim.

"The army and ministry have to be depoliticised," said a European diplomat. "Police and army training must be rigorous. Recruits should not be chosen by the warlords," he added.

In addition, Germany and Norway, with growing support from the other Nato countries, want Isaf to be expanded outside Kabul under its current UN mandate. With backing from Mr Vendrell, both countries also want a reorganisation of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Germany repeated yesterday it would not establish a PRT in the northern region of Kunduz unless it were sanctioned by the UN.

The PRTs were established last December by the US to provide security to international humanitarian aid agencies.

The five existing PRTs, each made up of about 100 troops, continue to operate under the US Enduring Freedom operation to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.

"We want one model for the PRTs, under one umbrella and with a clearly defined relationship with Enduring Freedom," said Kai Eide, Norway's ambassador to Nato.

He said because the PRTs each had different roles, it "created confusion. If we want to speed up the reconstruction there has to be confidence between the PRTs and the non-governmental organisations."

Several aid agencies are reluctant to work with the PRTs, saying their military links could compromise humanitarian aid efforts.

NGOs warn rising attacks threaten Afghan aid work
KABUL, Sept 16 (AFP) - International and Afghan humanitarian organisations Tuesday warned that worsening security is threatening reconstruction work in Afghanistan, with attacks against aid workers soaring to one every two days.
"The security situation is forcing aid agencies to reconsider activities in more and more areas and is restricting aid and development, resulting in growing public support for radical movements," said Barbara Stapleton, advocacy coordinator for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR).

ACBAR is an umbrella organisation representing more than 90 non-governmental organisations.

"Little time remains, with elections pending, for the international community to provide the Afghan government with the necessary support to establish effective security throughout the country if development and reconstruction under the Bonn process is to progress," she said.

The United Nations last month also warned of the need to dramatically improve security in Afghanistan ahead of presidential polls due to be held in June 2004.

According to US-based CARE International, half of Afghanistan's 32 provinces this month had areas deemed high-risk for aid workers.

"Since September 2002, armed attacks against the assistance community have gone from one a month to one every two days (on average)," CARE country director Paul Barker said in a report.

Aid workers have been increasingly targeted by suspected Taliban militants, especially in southern and southeastern Afghanistan which has seen an apparent resurgence of the militia which was ousted from power by US-led forces in November 2001.

Four Afghans working for the Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees (DACAAR) were killed in execution-style shootings last week by gunmen who told them they had been warned about working for NGOs. A fifth worker survived despite serious wounds from the attack in Ghazni province south of Kabul.

ACBAR said it was "appalled and deeply saddened" by the murders.

"The murder of four defenceless aid workers is the latest incident in a worsening security situation that is threatening the provision of reconstruction and humanitarian assistance to increasing areas of Afghanistan," Stapleton said.

"Many civilian government workers have been targeted and killed as well."

The United Nations in August suspended road missions across much of southern Afghanistan following a series of attacks which left seven dead, including a Mercy Corps worker, and 15 injured, including 10 Afghan aid workers who were severely beaten.

Attacks on aid workers and mine clearing teams are seen as part of a campaign by Taliban militants to undermine reconstruction work which is helping to extend the reach of President Hamid Karzai's government.

The US military has warned that militants were increasingly turning to "soft targets" such as aid workers.

In the mountains of southwest Zabul province, hundreds of US and Afghan troops have been waging a massive ground and air offensive against one of the largest concentrations of Taliban fighters since their ouster in late 2001.

At least 139 militants have been killed in Zabul's Daychopan mountains and neighbouring Kandahar in the offensive, dubbed Operation Mountain Viper, since August 30.

Pakistan's Cement Exports to Kabul up 27% in Year to August
KARACHI, Sept 16 - (Asia Pulse) - Pakistan's cement sales to Afghanistan are gathering momentum with exports to the war-ravaged country for the year to August 2003 at 93,371 tons, representing a meteoric rise of 271 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year.

According to market sources, while cement plants in the country's southern zone have pushed forward sales in the local market, the concrete manufacturers in the northern region have concentrated more on the Afghan market.

In spite of the sporadic fighting, construction activity in Afghanistan is understood to be gradually picking up pace.

Total exports of cement to Afghanistan rose to 430,322 tons in the 2003 financial year, which worked out at four per cent of the aggregate sales volume of 11.4 million tons by all 22 cement units in the country.

Many analysts forecast that in the medium- to long-term, demand for cement in the Afghan market is expected to climb with Pakistan ending up as the main beneficiary.

Pakistani exporters have been passing cement on to Afghanistan through two routes: the Torkhum route in the north and through Chamman into southern Afghanistan.

Between July 2002 and March 2003, about 213,000 tons of cement was exported via the Torkhum route, which accounted for 83 per cent of all of exports during that period.

The Torkhum route was in close proximity to Kabul and generally open to public traffic.

The other route (through Chamman into southern Afghanistan) was quite hazardous and the authorities often put up road blocks to halt commercial traffic for security reasons.

About 44,000 tons of cement passed through the Chamman route in the eight months between July and March 2002-03.

All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCME) chairman Tariq Saigol, who vehemently denies that the cement industry operates under a "cartel" arrangement, says that his association had appointed two firms of chartered accountants, A.F. Ferguson & Company and Riaz Ahmed & Company, to monitor cement dispatches from its member units.

The step had been taken "to ensure that no duty evasion takes place and that the dispatches made by the mills for export to Afghanistan are checked at the border posts at Torkhum and Chamman so that such duty exempted goods are not sold in the domestic market".

He contended that the monitoring arrangement had resulted in bringing about stability in cement prices as well as an increase in government revenue.

Taliban active again along Afghan southern border
KABUL, Sept. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Kabul fell to US-led coalition nearly 2 years ago, but the ousted Talibans are again active along southern border.

In August, the Talibans, who were driven out of Kabul under withering US bombardment and ground assault, assembled some 1,000 troops in the two tribal provinces of Zubul and Kandarhar in southAfghanistan, to launch attacks on US and Afghan forces.

Recruits, arms, money and logistical support from Pakistan's two provinces of North West Frontier (NWFP) and Baluchistan, wherePashtun tribesmen and Islamic parties are sympathetic to the Taliban, have fueled the Taliban's dramatic offensive. Pakistan's Pashtuns find common ethnic and political cause with the Taliban, who are also largely Pashtun. Pashtuns on both sides of the borderare bitterly opposed to the presence of US forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

These days the border area is filled with Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The views of the residents were changed soon. "The Taliban are clean, honest, believe in Islam, and will rout the Americans," says Shakirullah, a Mohmand shopkeeper. "Anyone fighting the Americans is our friend," he adds.

Most tribes also believe that the Americans and, in particular,President George W. Bush, hate the Pashtuns.

After the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Pakistan army entered NWFP one by one at the request of US forces, which are patrolling the Afghan side of the border looking for Al-Qaeda militants and the Taliban remnants. In August, at the behest of the Americans, thousands of Pakistani troops occupied the Mohmand area for the first time. But the army has been unable to stop the flow of guns and fighters to the Taliban. For the first time sincetheir defeat nearly two years ago, the Taliban battling US and Afghan government troops in southern Afghanistan are not retreating under withering air bombardment by the Americans. Instead, they are standing their ground and bringing in more recruits from Pakistan, while at the same time trying to open up other fronts in eastern Afghanistan to broaden the attack against US forces.

The Taliban are now striking at Afghan and US positions all along the 2180-kilometer Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Just last weekend they launched an audacious attack a few miles outside Kabul. The Taliban aim is to humble the Americans and the US-backed Afghan government led by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and delay the political process including the adoption of a new constitution this December and general elections next June. Its final expectation is preventing reconstruction by aid agencies andensuring that instability remains.

The Pakistani army's actions in NWFP are designed to apprehend Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders such as Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding out further south. With American funds, the army is building schools, hospitals and roads in NWFP to try to win the tribesmen's support and glean intelligence from them as tothe whereabouts of Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders.

Meanwhile, US officials and Afghan leaders have charged that Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is clandestinely providing its own support to the Taliban, a charge Pakistan vehemently denies. On Aug. 31, the Pakistani army spokesman Major General Shaukat Saulat admitted that three to fourofficers had been arrested for links to the Taliban in NWFP. In Afghanistan, officials close to President Karzai said that the officers were in fact captured in Zabul province while helping theTaliban and were handed over to US forces who took them to Pakistan for questioning.

The arrests come amidst rising concerns that as President Pervez Musharraf, who is also army chief, allies himself closely to the US in its war against terrorism, Islamic extremism is rising in some part of the army.

The army's failure to contain the growing and widespread support for the Taliban amongst Pakistani Pashtuns is not helped by the fact that the neighboring province of the North West Frontier is presently ruled by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic fundamentalist parties who are all allied to the Taliban.

The MMA came to power after winning a majority in last October's general elections. Its two largest component parties are the Jamiat-e-Ullema Islam (JUI) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

The JUI has a long history of backing the Taliban with tens of thousands of Pakistani men. The JI, on the other hand, is backing its former Afghan ally and Brotherhood pan-Islamicist, the Afghan commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is allied to the Taliban and isactive in eastern Afghanistan. Enditem

UN convoy fired upon in eastern Afghanistan
Tuesday September 16, 2003 (1544 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
KABUL, September 17 (Online): A convoy of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) came under fire while travelling in the eastern Paktia province on Tuesday but there were no injuries, a news report said.

"There were five foreign journalists and UNAMA officials in the convoy," the private Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency quoted local tribal leader Ghani Khan as saying.

Ghani, who also acts as a spokesman for the local warlord Pacha Khan Jadran, said the attack took place in Shabak area, about 25 kilometres away from the provincial capital Gardez.

"It appeared they were firing heavy machine guns but we succeeded in fleeing the area," he said.

While the journalists were brought to Pacha Khan Jadran, the UNAMA officials continued their journey to Khost, he said.

Suspected Taliban Torch Police Station in Afghanistan

Suspected Taliban rebels raided and set ablaze a police station in southeastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan, but there were no injuries, a provincial police commander said yesterday.

More than 15 heavily armed attackers riding motorcycles raided a compound housing the station and district offices in Jani Khel in Paktika province . Police briefly traded gunfire but were forced to retreat after running out of ammunition, provincial police chief Doulat Khan said.

"The Taliban also retreated after burning down a part of the compound," Khan said.

In recent months, Taliban insurgents, their Al Qaeda allies and militiamen loyal to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have stepped up hit-and-run attacks against Afghan soldiers, government officials and humanitarian workers in the south and east of the country, the heartland of the hardline Islamic regime before its ouster by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

Khan said poorly armed police in isolated compounds throughout Paktika often confront heavily armed Taliban raiders.

"We asked for more ammunition and weaponry from the central arsenal in Kabul but so far we haven't received any," he said.

This week, suspected Taliban executed four Afghan aid workers for a Danish charity in southeastern Ghazni province. And earlier this month, Taliban troops battled with U.S. and Afghan soldiers in the rugged Dai Chupan mountains of southern Zabul province. More than 100 Taliban were killed in the fighting, and a U.S. special forces soldier also died, officials said.

Serbian security troops for Afghanistan?
B92, Yugoslavia
BELGRADE -- Tuesday – The commander of Serbia’s special armed police forces, Goran Radosavljevic, is to travel to the US at the end of the week to discuss the deployment of Serbian troops in Afghanistan, B92 learns today.

B92’s well-informed source claims that there are plans to send several hundred members of the joint security forces to Afghanistan including professional Army troops and armed police.

According to the information, Radosavljevic has been nominated as commander of the joint forces and will reach an agreement in the US on the acquisition of equipment for the peacekeeping troops, who will serve under NATO command.

According to unofficial information there are serious disagreements between the Army General Staff and the federal Defence Ministry over whether local troops are adequately trained for peacekeeping operations.

The prevailing opinion in the General Staff is that they are not.

B92 has been unable to get official confirmation of this information despite repeated attempts to contact Goran Radosavljevic and Defence Ministry representatives.

Theological 'Iron Curtain' Descending in Afghanistan
By George Thomas CBN News Sr. Reporter September 16, 2003
Two years after defeating the Taliban, the US is poised to promote a new Afghan draft constitution that's based on Sharia, the same form of harsh Islamic law practiced under the Taliban.

CBN.com – KABUL -- Inside a non-descript and heavily guarded two-story home in downtown Kabul, 33 Afghans are working day and night, putting the final touches on Afghanistan's new draft constitution.
And according to Fatem Gailani, the Consitutional Commissioner and a key constitutional drafter, it will contain all the principles of Islam.

"The constitution will be according to Islamic law," Gailani said.

This is music to the ears of many Afghans who want an Islamic system rather than a Western-style democracy.

"You have to remember that Afghanistan is a Muslim nation and Islam is our way of life and it is a very good way of life," said one Afghan student. "Afghanistan will not be ruled by anything except Sharia law."

That view is shared by even some women that CBN News interviewed at Kabul University.

"Women and men should be under the rules of Sharia," said Nadia Rahimi.

But for some in the West, this is extremely hard to fathom.

"I think this is just an unbelievable development," said Washington, D.C.-based human rights expert Nina Shea.

She worries that in addition to investing in the political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan, the U.S. is overseeing the creation of hard-line Islamic jurisprudence.

Shea continued, "There is a theological iron curtain descending on Afghanistan under our auspices. We are spending billions of dollars to reconstruct this country but yet we are poised to promote a constitution that would install a 7th century version of Islam."

A kind of law where those who dissent or criticize Islam are subject to blasphemy or apostasy charges, "which can carry the death penalty in Islamic jurisprudence," she said.

And what about those who convert from Islam to any other religion?

"There isn't freedom of conversion in Islam," Gailani said.

Some long-time Afghan observers worry that with an Islamic constitution, Christians will not enjoy the rights and protection as a religious minority group.

Fazel Ahmad Manawi, Afghanistan's Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice, explains what would happen to a Muslim who converts to Christianity.

"He will have to appear before the highest court and state (explain) why he has chosen to change his religion. There must be reasons for this conversion," Manawi said.

Manawi's boss, Chief Justice Mullah Fazul Shinwari, has established three choices under the rules of Islam for Christians.

Shea explains them:

"One is to politely invite a Christian man to join Islam; two, if he refuses, to ask him to obey the laws of Islam; and the third option if he refuses that-- is to behead him."

And these laws were not only imposed during the Taliban regime. Manawi says it's being enforced now under U.S. auspices.

"All our laws at present in this country are on the basis of Sharia and the Islamic law," he said.

Punishments include, for example, 80 lashes for alcohol consumption, stoning to death for adultery and amputations for thieves. But there won't be any public display of Islamic justice.

According to Shea, Justice Shinwari recently spoke with a U.S. delegation of religious freedom advocates. Shea says he told them, "We will no longer have public spectacles in the sport stadium of people being flogged and stoned to death, that will be done privately."

Shea says the U.S. government, and in particular the State Department, should have a position on Sharia law. She warns that once it's in place it is going to be almost impossible to get rid off it.

"The State Department has allowed this to go on in country after country. The new Palestine constitution has a provision for Sharia law; in Sudan we gave our blessings to a peace proposal that is still being negotiated that calls for Sharia law in the north of Sudan; and I expect that we are going to run into this problem in Iraq if we don't get a position," she said.

In the meantime, the Afghan Constitutional Commission is expected to release the new draft constitution in a matter of days.

In the end, it will be up to the Afghans to decide how large a role Islam, moderate or radical, will play in the new constitution. But for now in the streets and in mosques, on the airwaves and in the halls of power, a battle rages for the soul of Afghanistan.