Afghanistan News January 21, 2004

January 21, 2004

U.S. Rejects Report of Afghan Civilian Deaths
KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military Tuesday rejected reports from Afghan provincial officials that it had killed 11 civilians, including four children, in a weekend air strike in central Afghanistan.

A military spokesman said the strike during an operation in Uruzgan province's Charcheno district Sunday killed "five armed men" who left a compound where "mid-level leadership" of the ousted Taliban regime had gathered. Reacting to reports from senior government officials in the province, who said U.S. planes had killed 11 civilians, including four children and three women, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty told a news conference:

"Typically, the Taliban are attempting to spread disinformation, propaganda, in order to discredit the coalition. "Our aircraft did not engage non-combatants. We clearly identified and engaged five armed adult males. We have reviewed the incident, but, as I stated above, there is no indication that any civilians were involved."

Uruzgan's governor, Jan Mohammad Khan and Charcheno's district chief Abdur Rahman both said Monday that 11 civilians were killed in the tiny village. Uruzgan was a stronghold of the Taliban before its overthrow by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 and was the scene of a notorious incident in July 2002 when a U.S. helicopter gunship fired on a wedding party.

The Afghan government said 48 people were killed and 117 hurt in that incident. The U.S. military eventually said 34 died and 50 were wounded -- most women and children -- but said the aircraft came under fire. Only last month, 15 children were among 18 civilians killed in bungled U.S. air strikes targeting militant commanders in the southern provinces of Paktia and Ghazni.

NATO Quickens Drive to Expand Afghanistan Operation
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Military experts will press NATO envoys this week to quicken the drive for an expansion of the international peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan ahead of elections in June, an alliance official said Tuesday.

A resurgence of attacks by Taliban militia in lawless provinces beyond the capital, Kabul -- where NATO runs a peackeeping force of 5,700 troops -- has cast doubt over plans for the country's first free presidential poll.

To widen the security net, NATO wants to take command of military teams in 12 urban areas by the middle of the year, but it is faced with reluctance from militarily stretched member states to offer troops and costly resources such as helicopters.

Military and Afghanistan policy officials from Britain, Germany and the United States will Wednesday brief ambassadors at NATO on the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) their countries have already set up.

"This is part of the campaign to convince allies of the value of PRTs and encourage them to get involved," said the NATO official, who asked not to be named. There are now eight PRTs -- groups of soldiers who carry out small development projects or provide security for aid workers in Afghanistan -- five of which are led by the United States.

NATO so far commands only one of the teams, a large one of 170 troops led by Germany in the northern city of Kunduz. Italy plans to lead another, and Norway is looking at where it could set up a team with Sweden and possibly both Finland and Britain.

Allies have been debating for weeks whether there should be a "one size fits all" concept for PRTs and whether to follow the U.S. model, which focuses on hard security, or the German model, which mixes civilian reconstruction experts with soldiers.

"The briefing from the three countries will pool experience and help thinking at NATO before we approve a final operation plan in March," said one NATO diplomat. One senior diplomat said setting up PRTs under the command of NATO's Kabul-based International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would be simple enough, but providing forces across the country to protect them would be a far bigger challenge.

"I don't think we've realized that we are going from a patrolling infantry operation in Kabul to a much larger military operation that would require between 3,000 and 5,000 extra troops and a whole range of support machinery," he said.

Military experts say NATO will need to set up a cluster of forward operating bases with helicopters both across the country and on its borders to protect the PRTs. Given the embarrassing struggle it had last year to find enough helicopters even for the Kabul operation this could be a tall order.

Pakistan reiterates support for Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri reiterated Pakistan's support for Afghanistan's development in wide-ranging talks with Afghan Vice President Hedayat Amin Arsala, officials said.

Kasuri and Arsala also exchanged views on bilateral and regional issues and expressed determination to augment their economic cooperation, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Kasuri said he hoped bilateral trade between the neighbours would grow from last year's 600 million dollars to one billion dollars next year, it said. He also said Pakistan would construct a kidney hospital in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, an artificial limb centre in southern Kandahar and an IT centre in northern Mazar-i-Sharif.

"The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the recent positive trends in their relations and agreed to continue a high-level political exchange of visits," the statement said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on January 12 and pledged to help Afghanistan fight terrorism and rebuild the country. Jamali also vowed that Pakistan would keep on strengthening measures to eradicate the infiltration of militants into Afghanistan. Afghan officials have expressed concern that elements hostile to Karzai's government infiltrate Afghanistan from Pakistan.

Ongoing Violence Endangers Afghan Political and Economic Progress
CARE USA 1/20/04
Heightened insecurity outside Kabul is endangering Afghanistan's political progress and hindering reconstruction, CARE, the international humanitarian organization argues in a press release.

There have been more attacks on civilians in the last three months than in the 20 months following the Taliban's fall. Since September 2002 armed assaults on aid workers have risen from one a month to one every two days on average. Half a dozen private militia leaders each command larger forces than the 10,000-strong Afghan National Army, which cannot quell the violence that has made many parts of the country off limits to reconstruction and impeded voter registration.

Despite the fact that presidential elections are currently scheduled to be held just five months from now, only 275, 000 out of Afghanistan's estimated 10 million voters have been registered so far. It is crucial that Afghans are able to participate broadly in the entire political process or people will question its legitimacy.

"Elections would be very counterproductive if they are held in an insecure environment or subject to coercion," adds Paul Barker, CARE's country director in Afghanistan. In his last briefing as U.N. special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the Security Council today that: "The new constitutional order will only have meaning for the average Afghan if security improves and the rule of law is strengthened."

CARE urges the international community to go further in supporting the Central government in its efforts to improve security nationwide. "The international community needs to provide vigorous backing for the accelerated training of professional Afghan police and military forces under the control of the central government in order to combat the violence," says Kevin Henry, Advocacy Director for CARE. "The Coalition should cut back its support of non-state militias and expand the ongoing campaign to disarm and demobilize the thousands of militiamen in the country. More efforts are also needed to stop the drug trade, with greater focus on the people engaged in processing and smuggling opium, rather than on the small farmers who are growing poppies."

Much has been accomplished since the Taliban's fall in November 2001. The United Nations, under the leadership of outgoing Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, has played an important role in the country's economic and political reconstruction. NATO recently received an expanded mandate for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and can take more robust steps to improve security outside of Kabul. The U.S. government has also recently increased its engagement in both the reconstruction and security spheres.

"A lot of important milestones have been achieved in Afghanistan, including the recent constitutional Loya Jirga, but there's still a lot that needs doing," says Henry. Afghanistan will succeed only if all parties, including European governments, neighboring states in central and south Asia and the Islamic world, unite and get actively involved in ensuring the country's successful, peaceful, political and economic transformation."

The Taliban Creep Back
The New York Times January 20, 2004
Afghanistan has a fine new constitution, but for most of its people, security remains the foremost concern. Debates about the intricacies of civil versus Islamic law or the division of powers between the central and provincial governments seem secondary when people are afraid to sow their fields or transport their crops to market. Setting the stage for something like normal life in Afghanistan will require sustained military help and training from American and NATO military forces. It will also require stronger efforts by Pakistan to support Afghanistan's government and to prevent Taliban forces from crossing the border.

Despite the presence of more than 10,000 American troops and nearly 6,000 international peacekeepers in Afghanistan, warlord armies, criminal bandits, drug traffickers and resurgent Taliban make travel perilous and threaten people in their homes and villages. The danger is greatest in the provinces along the border with Pakistan. On the Pakistani side of that border, local inhabitants and governments sympathetic to the Taliban, and some sympathetic military officers as well, have permitted the virtually unchecked recruitment of Taliban fighters and their infiltration into Afghanistan.

The Taliban virtually began as a creation of Pakistan's military intelligence services and have long benefited from support among the Pashtun ethnic group, which spans both sides of the border. In response to pleas from Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, cut off all official ties with Taliban leaders and aided American efforts to oust them from power in Kabul. That rupture was courageous and welcome. But it should have been more complete. Local governments along the Afghan border continue to provide the Taliban with valuable sanctuaries.

Pakistan's ambiguous relationship with the Taliban is in keeping with the larger pattern that General Musharraf has followed during most of the past two years, on issues from Afghanistan to Kashmir and domestic Islamic extremism. Rather than following through on his promises to break cleanly with all forms of violent Islamic radicalism, he has moved selectively and equivocally, hoping to keep his opposition off balance. Instead, the various Islamist radical groups have coalesced into the greatest threat to his regime and his life.

In response, Mr. Musharraf has begun to stiffen his denunciations of all forms of Islamic terrorism. He now acknowledges the security problem in the border areas. Although he minimizes the involvement of local political and military authorities, he promises an imminent crackdown. And last week, he sent his prime minister to meet with Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai - the highest-level Pakistani visit to Kabul since the Taliban government fell. By following up this visit with strong and effective measures against the Taliban, General Musharraf can contribute to a more secure future not just for Afghanistan, but for Pakistan as well.

Omar being questioned on Musharraf attacks
Daily Times - Pakistan
HYDERABAD: A British-born militant sentenced to death for masterminding the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl is being questioned about the two attempts to kill Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, police said on Monday. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, better known as Sheikh Omar, was moved to Islamabad from Hyderabad at the weekend for questioning over the bomb attacks on Musharraf last month, police said.

"Sheikh Omar was taken to Islamabad on Sunday after a request from investigators in President Musharraf’s cases," said Mansoor Ahmed, deputy superintendent of police in Hyderabad. "He was flown to Islamabad by helicopter." A police source said investigators suspected there might be a link between Mr Omar and the militants who attacked Gen Musharraf. "Before and after the attacks on the president, a few suspected militants visited Sheikh Omar at Hyderabad jail," he said. —Reuters

Press Release: Ustad Mohaqiq will run for president of Afghanistan
wahdat.org - official site of Hizb-e-Wahdat Islami Afghanistan January 20, 2004
Haji Mohaqiq along with hundreds of supporters arrived in Lyce Hibibiya at 10am which is one of the voter registration centers. He registered himself as a voter of the 3rd district of Kabul, karte-char. After registering, he answered questions from BBC, VOA and Radio Azadi correspondents.

Ustad Mohaqiq has also announced that he will be a probable candidate in the upcoming presidential elections and that he will be one of the strong contestants. He said that "As a Hazara and a citizen of Afghanistan, I also have the right to ask my fellow Afghans to vote for me." He followed by saying "I am going to prove that being Hazara is no longer a crime in this country and that one Hazara can also contest for the presidency of Afghanistan."

Ustad Haji Mohaqiq's reactions after voter registration: He was asked by Ahmad Behzad, correspondent of Radio Azadi after registering himself to vote: How do you feel about the voter registration and what is your message to the people? (Behzad, Radio Azadi)

(Ustad Mohaqiq): I feel very excited and now I've got my ID card as a voter who is going to vote for the betterment of our country hopefully in the near future. My message to the people is this, that they should enlist their name as a voter on the huge scale and no one should ignore this. I feel it is the religious and national duty of all the people to register their name on the voter list because they should have a very active role in this process as they play an active and vital role in the war against terrorism and the barbaric Taliban."

What characteristics should the future president of Afghanistan have? (Behzad, Azadi Radio) (Ustad Mohaqiq): I think the future president of Afghanistan should have the following characteristics: 1. He should be Muslim and respect Islamic and human values. 2. He should not be involved in any activities against the people's vote who fought against Communism and terrorism. Also, he should not try to destroy the image of the mujahideen with the pretext of warlordism. He should respect these people and their sacrifices. 3. There should not be differences between his words and actions and the future president of Afghanistan should fulfill all his promises and commitments. 4. He should not differentiate the citizens of Afghanistan. 5. He should believe in democracy in real manners and should be clean from all types of discriminations. 6. The future president of Afghanistan should respect the Bonn agreement which recognizes the political, ethnical, religious and lingual pluralism in Afghanistan and follow the outlines of this setup on that bases.

VOA correspodent Abbas Agah asked: We've heard that you are also contesting the election for presidentcy in Afghanistan? (Agah, VOA) (Ustad Mohaqiq): A huge circle of intellectuals and mujahideen are encouraging to contest the election. I think there is no other obstacle in this regards. The constitution allows me to do so and now with the blessings of God there is national unity in Afghanistan. I as a proud Hazara will be a candidate for the presidential elections and I ask our other brotherly and sisterly Afghans to vote for me. The other reason for me running for president is that I want to prove that being Hazara is no longer a crime in this country and that one Hazara can contest the presidential election.

We have been hearing the news of reshuffling of the cabinet in the government. Do you have any information about this and what is your views on this? Ahmad Behzad (Azadi Radio)

(Ustad Mohaqiq): I don't have any information about any changes in the cabinet but in my personal view this is not important to me. The Ministry is just a tool to serve the people and you can serve the people by a lot of other means.

Tajiks watch warily as Afghans grow poppy
(AFP) - DUSHANBE: Geography has rendered Tajiks keen observers of Afghanistan and lately they see two worrying trends emerging in their southern neighbour - radicals are establishing bases in the north and poppy fields are multiplying.

Extremists who have been opposing Afghanistan's government following the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001 are beginning to establish bases in the north, near the Tajik border, border guards officials said.

"The Afghan opposition aims to create bases that would support major partisan actions in the northeastern provinces of Kunduz, Takhor and Badakhshan," said one official. Guerrillas from Uzbekistan's Islamist Movement, which features on the US blacklist of terrorist groups, had already moved north from their former bases on Pakistan's border, the official said.

The move places the guerrillas closer to impoverished Central Asian countries where they aim to attract recruits and foment unrest, military officials say. Meanwhile, drug smuggling from Afghanistan, with which Tajikistan shares a 1,340-kilometre border, shows no sign of abating. Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of opium, from which heroin is made, with 77 per cent of world output.

Much of the production is smuggled through Tajikistan in the north on its way to Western markets. "The Afghans are enlarging poppy planting fields in the northern provinces of the country and at the same time are increasing the capabilities of heroin laboratories," said Khushnod Rakhmatulayev, press officer of the Tajik drug agency.

Following the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, opium production in the country has shot up and shows no signs of slowing down. Poppy planting fields have increased by eight per cent in 2003 compared with the previous year, Tajik experts say.

"In the Badakhshan province bordering Tajikistan, the increase stands at 55 per cent," Rakhmatulayev said. Some estimates say that 23 per cent of Afghanistan's working age people are involved in poppy cultivation and that revenues from the illegal drug trade reach up to one billion dollars annually. United Nations figures estimate that this year's opium harvest will yield 4,000 tons of opium from which 400 tons of heroin will be produced.

Officials say it will take years to rein in the burgeoning trade. "The lack of control, the existence of numerous local groups, many of them armed and none subject to the authorities, and their ties to international drug cartels are a serious problem," said Dovud Panjsheri, Afghanistan's ambassador to Tajikistan.

"It will take at least 10 years to solve the problem and only if a strong central government continues to develop," Panjsheri said. Fifteen drug smugglers were killed last year on the Tajik-Afghan border and a record 5.6 tons of Afghan heroin was seized.

Observers say that the trade will not die down as long as profit from poppy cultivation exceeds that from other agricultural products, like grain. "Afghan peasants are used to growing poppy, which is much easier and more profitable than growing rice, wheat or cotton, which requires a lot of work and expenses," analyst Sultan Khamadov said.

Meanwhile, "drug cartels do all in their power to keep that country an opium producer, and use fear, bribes and blackmail through various official circles the local mafia now permeates," Khamadov pointed out.

Kabul Mayor Invites Turkish Businessmen To Invest In Afghanistan
via TurkishPress.com Anadolu Agency: 1/19/2004
BURSA - Kabul Mayor Anwar Jikdalig said on Monday that they wanted Turkish industrialists and businessmen to invest in Afghanistan. Speaking to the A.A correspondent, Jikdalig said that Afghanistan, particularly its capital city Kabul was going through a speedy reconstruction process.

Recalling that Turkish and Afghan peoples had cultural ties that had roots deep in history, Jikdalig said that they were paying a visit to Turkey to consolidate and improve their cultural ties and economic relations with Turkey and they expected Turkish industrialists and businessmen to invest in Afghanistan.

Noting that there were nearly five million refugees outside Afghanistan and some of them had returned to their homeland, Jikdalig said that rebuilding of Kabul should finish as soon as possible.

Stressing that they supported the NATO, ISAF, U.N. and several international coordination organizations which existed in Afghanistan to provide security, Jikdalig said that they loved especially Turkish soldiers and they thought appointment of Hikmet Cetin as the NATO's top civilian representative in Afghanistan as very positive. (MS-AY) 19.01.2004

Russia's UAZ supplies over 1,000 jeeps to Afghanistan
SARANSK, January 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's leading jeep manufacturer, Ulyanovsk automobile plant (UAZ), has supplied a large shipment of all terrain vehicles to Afghanistan. The shipment of 1,010 vehicles was made as part of the U.N. efforts to prepare national elections of a new government in Afghanistan, the plant's press service told Itar-Tass on Monday.

Under the contract, all Russian automobiles will be used to organise voting in the elections. According to U.N. experts, Ulyanovsk automobile plant's all terrain vehicles were chosen for several criteria: manoeuvrability, reliability, simplicity of servicing, and maintainability.

For the first time in January UAZ signed a contract for the maintenance of its automobiles with an agent in Afghanistan - the company ASATSO. It will be in charge of pre-sale preparations, warranty and post-warranty maintenance of the Russian all terrain vehicles.

In 2003, UAZ made more than 78,500 automobiles. One of five of six of them was exported. The plant supplies its all terrain vehicles to 36 countries and has assembly lines in Italy, Vietnam, Ukraine and Cuba.

The Lion of Panjshir
by David Gaines Peabody.jhu.edu 01/19/2004
Afghan Hero Ahmad Shah Massoud celebrated in world premiere of The Lion of Panjshir by David Gaines - The Peabody Wind Ensemble, conducted by Harlan Parker, will give the world premiere of The Lion of Panshjir, (Symphony No. 2) for Narrator and Symphonic Band by David Gaines.

The concert takes place on Wednesday, February 11, in Friedberg Hall at One East Mount Vernon Place in downtown Baltimore beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The narrator will be His Excellency Haron Amin, previously Acting Ambassador at the Embassy of Afghanistan in D.C. and currently Afghanistan's Ambassador to Japan. Ambassador Amin served for several years as the representative of Commander Massoud and the Northern Alliance to the United States. The performance is taking place with the support, assistance, and cooperation of the Embassy of Afghanistan, author Sebastian Junger, photographer Reza, and the prominent Afghan-American musician Ehsan Aman.

Composer David Gaines says: "The Lion Of Panshjir came about following the events of September 11, 2001. That was when I first heard about Ahmad Shah Massoud, the remarkable leader of the Afghan resistance to the Soviet Union in the 1980s and then the resistance to the Taliban in the 1990s. I remember watching Sebastian Junger's reports on television for National Geographic Explorer, as well as reading newspaper reports of Massoud's assassination at the hands of agents of Osama bin Laden. I wanted to know about his role not just as the military leader of the Afghan resistance but as a humanitarian, a man of compassion, a lover of poetry and literature, and a supporter of equal rights for all Afghans."

Ahmad Shah Massoud became known as The Lion of Panshjir because of his constant ability to turn back the Soviet Red Army from his home base in the Panshjir Valley north of Kabul. He and his band of mujahedeen did this a total of nine times, wearing down the Soviet Union until it decided to leave Afghanistan. In 2002, Massoud was nominated posthumously for both the Nobel Peace Prize and the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize.

"As part of this symphony," Gaines explains, "I've included text describing Massoud to bring him to life, in the manner of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait. I have to rely on these materials because Massoud left no significant writings behind."

Some of the text comes from writings on Massoud by Sebastian Junger; from speeches and a press conference given by Massoud himself; from the documentary film Massoud, The Afghan by Christophe de Ponfilly; and from the book Lion by MaryAnn T. Beverley. The images of Massoud to be displayed behind the stage during the performance were taken by Reza, the world-renowned photographer best known for his award-winning work for National Geographic. Reza enjoyed a twenty-year relationship with the Afghan leader.

Ahmad Shah Massoud was born in 1953. Following his legendary resistance to the Soviet Army in the early 1980s, Massoud became Defense Minister under President Burhanuddin Rabbani. Following the collapse of Rabbani's government and the rise of the Taliban, he then became the military leader of the Northern Alliance, a coalition of various Afghan opposition groups, in a prolonged civil war. As the Taliban established control over most of Afghanistan, Massoud's forces were increasingly forced into the mountainous area of the north. On September 9, 2001, two days before the September 11 terrorist attack in the United States, Massoud was the victim of a suicide attack The attackers posed as television journalists, setting off a bomb packed inside their video camera.

The narrator for the premiere has an almost equally dramatic life story. Born in Kabul in 1969, Haron Amin's family fled their homeland when the Soviets invaded in 1980, heading first to Pakistan and then to Germany before finally settling in the Los Angeles area. Amin returned to Afghanistan in 1988 to fight under Commander Massoud, enduring 18-hour treks through the mountains in freezing weather, with little food. In 1990, Massoud assigned Amin to represent Afghan interests before the U.S. government. Amin returned to Afghanistan in 1995, working again under Massoud to battle the Taliban. In 1996, Massoud appointed him to the United Nations, but Kabul fell to the Taliban on the day Amin left to take up the post. Amin spent the next five years working at Afghanistan's permanent mission to the UN, helping prevent Afghanistan's UN seat from sitting vacant or falling into the hands of the Taliban, which the UN never officially recognized. Abdul Rahim Ghafoorza, who became prime minister of the government-in-exile, named Amin director general in 1997. From his new base in Mazar-e-Sharif, Amin and his new boss traveled constantly together. That summer, Amin happened to miss one flight. That saved his life because the plane crashed, killing Ghafoorza and four Cabinet members. Amin stayed on in New York as part of the government-in-exile until the tide turned again and the government of Hamid Karzai was established.

With such a storied genesis, the world premiere of The Lion of Panshjir is a major political as well as musical event.

David Gaines, who holds his doctorate in composition from Peabody, has had two previous compositions premiered by the Peabody Wind Ensemble. His works have been performed in workshops, recitals, and concerts by the Tokyo String Quartet, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Stamford Young Artists Philharmonic and the Bulgarian Esperanto Choir. Gaines' Elegy for string orchestra will be performed this season by the Orquestra de Camara Municipal de Rosario in Rosario, Argentina. Critics have praised Gaines' colorful and imaginative orchestrations as well as the uniquely international flavor of his music. Dr. Gaines is a past guest composer at the University of York in England, the Reykjavik Conservatory in Iceland, and the International Music Seminar in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. He is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland University College.

The February 11 program also includes Martin Dalby's A Plain Man's Hammer; Samuel Adler's Snow Tracks, for High Soprano and Wind Ensemble, featuring soprano Alyssa Bowlby; and Hindemith's March from "Symphonic Metamorphosis" in the arrangement by Keith Wilson.

AP Enterprise: al-Qaida Hid Well in Spain
By DANIEL WOOLLS AP January 19, 04 MADRID, Spain -
One ran a photocopy shop in a drab Madrid suburb, quietly churning out literature preaching holy war. Another directed real estate companies and is now accused of laundering money that went to al-Qaida.

Their purported boss was a balding used-car salesman who spoke to them in code, recruited in mosques, drove like a spy under surveillance and allegedly helped prepare the Sept. 11 attacks.

This personality-driven portrait of how a suspected radical cell of Muslims took shape in the 1990s in Spain - which became a staging ground along with Germany for the 2001 suicide airliner attacks in the United States - is contained in a 700-page indictment by a Spanish judge.

Other Middle Eastern or North African-born members of the alleged cell of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network also ran companies - a carpentry shop, a ceramics factory, an audio equipment store - as fronts while working for al-Qaida, according to the court document.

Many recruits ended up in Bosnia or Chechnya for terrorist training or combat. They also went to Afghanistan, and on Dec. 26 Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon asked the United States to extradite four alleged al-Qaida members arrested in Afghanistan after U.S. military forces toppled the Taliban in 2002. The four - now held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Cuba - were accused of links to the Spanish cell leader and charged with belonging to a terrorist organization.

That was the latest twist in an investigation that began in the mid-1990s and culminated in Garzon's Sept. 17 indictment of bin Laden and 34 alleged terrorists, including 19 suspected members of the Spanish cell.

No trial has been set. Still, the indictment means Garzon has enough evidence to go to trial, although there is no deadline and he can keep gathering evidence as long as he wants.

Spanish authorities say the cell turned the country into an important staging ground for the attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. Lead suicide pilot Mohamed Atta visited Spain twice in 2001, including a trip that July that Garzon says was called to discuss last-minute details with other senior plotters.

The Spanish cell's alleged mastermind was 40-year-old Imad Yarkas, a paunchy, Syrian-born used car salesman with a Spanish wife and five kids. He was jailed in Madrid in November 2001, one of about 40 alleged Islamic extremists arrested in Spain since the attacks.

The cell's financier, Garzon says, was another native Syrian, Muhammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi. He ran construction and real estate companies in Madrid as fronts to receive and funnel money to pay for al-Qaida operations, Garzon charged.

Some $3.1 million entrusted to Zouaydi by "Islamic investors" inside and outside Spain is unaccounted for, the indictment charged. Garzon describes how Zouaydi allegedly laundered money, or tried to, including a transaction in the summer of 2000 in which Yarkas told him of a building materials supplier willing to sell bogus invoices.

Zouaydi said he wanted $240,000 worth. "All the kinds of stuff we work with: paint, flooring, wood," Zouaydi said, according to the indictment, which cited wiretapped telephone conversations. The deal fell through because Zouaydi felt the supplier wanted too much money, Garzon said.

Through their lawyers, both Yarkas and Zouaydi have denied any wrongdoing. "His conscience is clear," Yarkas' lawyer Jacobo Teijelo told The Associated Press. But Garzon charged the two men and nine others with specifically taking part in Sept. 11 planning, accusing them of "direct involvement in preparation of (the attacks) by providing infrastructure and cover, coordinating movements in Europe" of al-Qaida members.

He called them "key persons who catalyze national and international relations of all the members of the group, assuming the obligation of not only meeting their needs but directing and indoctrinating them."

Yarkas was in charge of recruiting fighters, the indictment said. At the Abu Baker mosque in Madrid, Garzon said, Yarkas would hand out copies of pro-jihad - holy war - magazines from Algeria and Egypt or statements attributed to bin Laden.

Such copies were printed in Leganes, just outside Madrid, at a shop owned by suspect Bassam Dalati.

On one day in February 1995, Garzon says, Yarkas spent three hours in the shop, emerging along with Dalati lugging what appeared to be photocopied magazines and loaded them in the trunk of Yarkas' Peugeot, en route to the mosque.

"They kept a constant lookout around them, adopting security measures," Garzon wrote. Elsewhere, Garzon says, Yarkas altered his routes for arriving at the same destination and changed speed constantly.

A senior Spanish law enforcement official said that because police could not enter mosques, these houses of worship were havens for al-Qaida planning and fund-raising. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

By telephone, cell members spoke in code, the indictment charges. Merchandise meant weapons. Pills were bullets, trade offices were recruitment centers and salesmen were mujahedeen sent off to train as terrorists or fighters.

At least one fund-raising scheme involved buying stolen credit cards and running up bogus charges - more than $10,000 in one 20-day period of 1996 - at an audio equipment shop owned by associates.

National Police spokesman Jose Maria Seara said other cell members worked harvesting asparagus or other vegetables in northern Spain or as waiters. And one good way to go unnoticed, he said, was to stay in plain view. "Police cannot spend all day tracking a waiter," Seara said.

Top Saudi Cleric Slams 'Evil' Unveiled Women
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority said Tuesday Saudi women appearing without their veils in the presence of men "cause the doors of evil to open." His remarks came after Saudi Arabia's leading businesswoman, Lubna Olayan, who delivered the opening speech at an economic conference in the Red Sea port of Jeddah this week, was shown on the front of local newspapers without a headscarf.

"This is prohibited for all. ... I severely condemn this matter and warn of grave consequences. I am pained by such shameful behavior in the country of the two holy mosques," Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh said in remarks carried by the state news agency SPA.

Men and women at the conference were segregated by a screen, but women were able to cross over into the men's section -- portrayed by some Saudi media as a sign of liberalization in the conservative country.

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, is ruled by an alliance of the House of Saud and powerful Wahhabi religious authorities. Under Saudi's strict Islamic sharia law, women are required to be fully covered in public. Contact with men outside their immediate family is limited.

Sheikh Abdulaziz said those who strayed away from what he called the righteous path should fear God and His punishment. "They cause the doors of evil to open before the people of Islam," SPA quoted him as saying.

"What was published in some newspapers about this being the start of liberating the Saudi woman ... such talk is null and void. One's duty is to obey sharia by complying with orders and shunning that which is forbidden."

Female speakers at the conference called for unlocking the potential of women in the work force. Economists say women make up more than half the graduates from Saudi universities but just five percent of the work force.

The kingdom, facing a wave of militant violence and growing economic challenges, has embarked on a program of cautious reform despite fierce opposition from some religious figures. Crown Prince Abdullah has promised municipal polls this year, although it is not known if women will be allowed to vote.

Elder Bush asks home builders to help Afghans
Las Vegas SUN 1/20/04 Christina Littlefield
Former President George Bush praised the National Association of Home Builders in Las Vegas Monday for helping millions of Americans to realize their dream of owning their own home. Bush then challenged the association to make the same dream come true for thousands of Afghans.

"You've helped American families build safe, comfortable homes," Bush told the 10,000-plus people gathered for the opening ceremonies of the International Builders Show at The Orleans Arena. "I'd like you to help extend this dream to the people of Afghanistan."

Bush said thousands of "proud and freedom loving" Afghans were internally displaced from their homes or could not afford the housing that was available. He asked the association to help rebuild Afghanistan's private sector and infrastructure, a priority of the current President Bush's administration, but did not give any specific details on how.

The 41st president received an enthusiastic response from the audience, many of whom said afterward they supported giving aid to Afghanistan. "Afghanistan has a tremendous need, not only for homes but for infrastructure, and I think the Home Builders Association can be a part of that," Kent Conine, association president, said after the keynote.

Bush echoed this sentiment throughout his speech, praising the value of family and friends that make a home. The former president spent most of his half hour at the podium entertaining the crowd by cracking jokes, reminiscing about his presidency and taking affectionate jabs at his wife, Barbara, and his political sons, including Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

In comparing retirement to the presidency, Bush said no one praises his golf game anymore and lamented that few people wanted to protest his actions. "The meager amount of demonstrators I get are beneath the majesty of the office I once held," Bush said, calling protests an important part of the the American system.

Bush recalled one protest in San Francisco during his term. "The ugliest woman I've ever seen" came up to his black limousine as his motorcade drove past. "She held a sign that said, 'Stay out of my womb.' "I thought, 'No problem, lady.' "

Indian Foreign Minister gets audience with Bush
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush marked thawing tensions in South Asia and widening ties between Washington and New Delhi by welcoming Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha to the White House.

Bush took time out from preparing his State of the Union address to Congress to hold an early morning meeting with Sinha, who also held talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell. The meeting followed last week's announcement by India and the United States of a drive to deepen relations between the world's richest democracy and its largest, in space, commerce and civilian nuclear programs.

It came amid rising hopes for permanent peace in South Asia, after what Washington has described as India and Pakistan's "historic" decision to resume dialogue. Sinha later said that Indian and US relations, on an upward track for several years, had never been better.

"The nature, the level and frequency of dialogue is unprecedented in our bilateral relations," he said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on Tuesday. The White House said Bush congratulated Sinha on the "important progress being made in the relationship between Pakistan and India."
"They also discussed the next steps in the strategic partnership between India and the United States." India last week warmly greeted Bush's promise last week of closer links with India over nuclear regulation and safety, missile defence and common projects on civilian uses of space technology.

The two sides will tighten restrictions to try to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction, Bush said in a statement released on the margins of the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico. The US had imposed sanctions on India's nuclear and space programmes after New Delhi carried out nuclear blasts in 1998, resulting in a freeze on exchanges on nuclear and critical high-tech sectors.

The decision to resume contact on nuclear safety was taken in November 2001 at a meeting between Bush and Vajpayee. India, which traditionally had closer ties with cold war ally Russia, has been strengthening its relations with the US, evident in a series of joint military exercises in the last two years.

India's support to the US in the global campaign against terrorism following the September 11 attack has helped bring about the transformation. But Washington has carefully balanced its warming ties with India by trying to bind its bitter rival Pakistan into its anti-terror coalition, and hence supports any rapprochment between the two neigbors.

Israel hopeful of possible rapprochement with Pakistan
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel has voiced optimism about a possible rapprochement with Pakistan after allegedly receiving an invitation for an Israeli minister to visit the Muslim state for the first time. Agriculture Minister Israel Katz told military radio on Tuesday that he had been invited to visit Pakistan -- a Muslim country with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations -- as part of a United Nations delegation.

But the Pakistani foreign ministry swiftly denied issuing any such invitation. "The government of Pakistan has not invited the Israeli agriculture minister," spokesman Masood Khan told AFP.

Khan confirmed the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) had suggested sending a delegation to Pakistan in March for a conference on crop maximisation, but had given no details on who would be in the delegation. However, Islamabad told the FAO that March was not suitable, he added.

While Israel's foreign ministry refused to comment, Katz said that he had been "officially invited to go to Pakistan" as part of a United Nations agricultural delegation. "I have been officially invited to go to Pakistan during the month of March and I have accepted," he said. "This visit reflects a rapprochement between the two countries. It is an important visit since Pakistan is a Muslim atomic power," the Israeli minister added.

Katz said a warming of relations with Islamabad would not conflict with Israel's close ties with India. "Pakistan, India and Israel are with the Americans on the same side in the fight against terrorism," he noted.

The Maariv daily said the development followed several secret meetings between officials from Israel and Pakistan that had taken place both in Europe and the United States. It also said that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf could meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that begins on Wednesday.

But a spokesman for Shalom denied the report. "Despite the importance to Israel of establishing relations with Pakistan, no meeting has been set up between Shalom and President Musharraf," he said.

Such false leaks were "damaging Israel's chances of promoting relations with such countries," he said. Last October, Musharraf said Pakistan might consider establishing ties with Israel if progress was made on the Palestinian front. "We have always been ... in support of the Palestinian cause. If the peace process moves forward in justice, we can revise our policy with Israel," he told the Emirati daily Khaleej Times.

Pakistan and Turkey sign anti-terrorist cooperation deal
ANKARA (AFP) - Pakistan and Turkey, two Muslim countries recently targeted by Islamic extremists, signed an anti-terrorist cooperation deal along with agreements on expanding business ties at the start of visit by Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf.

"Turkey and Pakistan are determined to efficiently maintain their joint stance against terrorism. We support the steps that my dear brother has taken against terrorism and extremism," Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer told a news conference held jointly with Musharraf on Tuesday. The anti-terrorist agreement covers the exchange of information and experts, Musharraf said for his part.

Several of the Muslim extremists blamed for November's car bomb attacks in Istanbul, which left 62 dead and hundreds injured, were said to have received training in extremist camps in Pakistan.

In addition to the anti-terrorist cooperation deal, officials signed agreements on economic partnership and preferential trade, along with accords touching on the banking and health sectors. "I'm sure these agreements will strengthen and fortify the already close and brotherly relations between Turkey and Pakistan," Musharraf said.

The Pakistani president, who was making his first visit abroad since two attempts on his life last month by Islamist extremists, said they also discussed regional issues, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Cyprus, along with recent developments in relations between his country and India.

"We agreed that overcoming the problems of Iraq and Afghanistan is of vital importance for the stability of our regions," Sezer said for his part. "We observe we have similar objectives and views on regional issues," he added.

Musharraf's three-day official visit here follows trips last year to Pakistan by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Turkey and Pakistan, founding members of the Economic Cooperation Organisation, a body that aims to boost trade between Caspian and central Asian countries, enjoy warm ties.

"Long live Pakistani-Turkish brotherhood," said Musharraf in Turkish. The Pakistani leader spent part of his youth in Ankara where his father was posted as a diplomat. The Pakistani president was due to address parliament later Tuesday before holding talks with Erdogan.

On Wednesday, he was to travel to Istanbul to meet businessmen. Boosting economic cooperation is high on his agenda. Trade between the two Muslim countries has been around 160 to 170 million dollars per year over the past five years.

The objective, Musharraf said, was to increase the bilateral trade volume to one billion dollars by 2005. After visiting Turkey, Musharraf is to head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday.

India, Russia sign historic 1.5 billion dollar aircraft carrier deal
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India and Russia signed a 1.5-billion-dollar deal for the sale of a refurbished Soviet-era aircraft carrier to the Indian navy, in a major boost to military cooperation between the long-time allies.

The package covers overhauling the 44,570-tonne Admiral Gorshkov carrier and supplying 28 MiG-29K maritime fighter jets and other "components," Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov announced after day-long negotiations on Tuesday.

He did not specify the add-ons but experts said Russia would supply Kamov-28 and Kamov-31 anti-submarine helicopters, missiles, electronics and new navigation systems to the 273-metre (900-foot) carrier, currently rusting in a Russian port.

"Military and technical cooperation is a highly sensitive area and so I am not making any more comments on that," Ivanov said as sources told AFP that Moscow was likely to spend almost 700 million dollars refurbishing the carrier.

The deal, which both Ivanov and his Indian counterpart George Fernandes called "historic," is the largest military sale between India and its main arms supplier Russia since the 1991 Soviet breakup.