November 13, 2004

Taliban Leader Omar Vows to Retake Afghanistan
November 12, 2004
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has accused the United States of trying to impose a puppet administration in Afghanistan and vowed to regain control of the country, a Pakistan-based Afghan news agency reported on Friday.

A message from the leader of the Taliban movement overthrown by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 was sent to newspaper offices in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, the Afghan Islamic Press said.

The message, to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr starting this weekend, came the day before the third anniversary of the day when U.S.-backed Afghan forces captured Kabul from the Taliban on November 13, 2001.

Omar said the Taliban remained committed to their Islamic ideals.

"There is much more brotherhood, obedience and steadfastness in the Taliban's Islamic movement than before," he said.

"America and its puppets should know that we are determined to free and regain the sovereignty of our country."

Omar said Eid was coming at a time when Afghanistan and Islamic values "remain plunged into horror and Crusader vengeance" and Taliban and mujahideen (holy warriors) continued to be imprisoned by the United States in Cuba and Afghanistan.

"America...is trying to impose its puppet administration," the message said. "Moral decadence, desecration of Islamic values and crime are increasing in Afghanistan. Every ploy is being used to mislead women."

U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban after the Islamic fundamentalists refused to give up Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Like bin Laden, Mullar Omar has remained at large despite a three-year hunt by thousands of U.S. and allied troops. U.S. officials say they believe the men are hiding somewhere along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Bin Laden issued a video tape last month ahead of the U.S. presidential election in which he taunted President Bush and warned the United States to expect more attacks.

Omar said the Taliban "could have connived with America to retain power and this worldly rule by giving up Afghan honor.

"But they didn't do it," he said. "You should rest assured that I and my Mujahid colleagues will never accept anything except Islamic injunctions." The past year has seen increased violence by the Taliban and their militant allies, but they failed in their vow to disrupt presidential elections last month won by U.S.-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai.

A Taliban splinter faction, which says it broke away from Omar in August, says it is holding three U.N. election workers abducted in Kabul on Oct. 28.

The group, Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), has threatened to kill Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan unless 26 Taliban prisoners are freed.

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Questions Raised Over Assembly Ballot
Despite success of recent presidential vote, some observers wonder whether country is ready for general election scheduled for spring.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Hafizullah Gardesh in Kabul (ARR No. 147, 11-Nov-04)
Following the country's recent presidential elections, political observers in Afghanistan are now looking ahead to parliamentary elections in the spring.

That is, if they happen at all. Some analysts say it might be better to postpone the vote if it becomes clear that the government cannot guarantee security. Others, however, insist that the elections should be held on time.

Elections are to be held either in April or May - the precise timing has yet to be determined by the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body. Each province will have a different number of seats, based on its population. All told, Afghanistan's national assembly will have 249 elected members.

Afghanistan's October 9 presidential vote was not marred by major violence.

However, analysts say holding parliamentary elections is likely to be much more challenging than the presidential election. One major obstacle is the slow pace of disarmament: there are some areas that are still under the sway of local militias, and some observers fear that truly representative figures will not find their way into the national assembly.

Habibullah Rafih, a political analyst and member of Afghanistan's academy of sciences, sees trouble ahead.

"In my opinion, if the parliamentary election is held while arms are still uncollected, then… the results will be painful," he said.

However, Rafih added, . that it is the government's constitutional obligation to hold parliamentary elections. Postponement of the election, he said, would be seen as a failure for the government and might undermine the legitimacy of the new administration of president-elect Hamed Karzai.

"Laying the proper groundwork for successful parliamentary elections is the government's obligation," he said. "And it is the government's responsibility to hold the elections on time."

Another political analyst, Mohammad Qasim Akhgar, takes a different view. If the conditions are not right, he argues, it would be better to postpone the election.

"If the situation [during the elections] is the same as it is right now, a truly representative parliament will not come into existence," he said.

Even if circumstances for the election are ideal, Akhgar added, the outcome of the election will be influenced by both national and international players.

Those who fail to win posts in the new administration currently being formed by Karzai may try to hold on to their power via the parliamentary election. And there is a risk, he added, that armed groups and local drug barons might try to gain legitimacy through the electoral process.

"If warlords, terrorist groups and narcotics traffickers win seats in parliament, the situation will become too dangerous, and democratisation of Afghanistan will be pushed back for a long time," warned Akhgar.

Mohammad Younis Qanuni, an important political player who came second in the presidential election, insisted that the Karzai government - not militia commanders - are the main threat to the upcoming elections.

"Sabotage, fraud and whatever else happens are all the responsibility of the government, not the warlords," he said.

Qanuni, who drew strong support from some former mujahedin, said the election must be held on time. And he said the parliamentary vote would serve as a referendum on the government's policies.

"The issue at stake will be whether the government is on the right track and whether it really is implementing the national constitution," he said.

The hope is that through the elections process, real political parties will begin to take shape. Some observers worry, however, that militia groups or their proxies will take many of the seats.

Sebghatullah Sanjar, head of the Republican Party, supported Karzai in the presidential election and is now preparing his party for the election.

"If a parliament is formed… on the basis of the narrow interests of a few individuals and groups, it is better not to have it," he said.

Security is not the only issue. Afghanistan has not had a proper census in decades, and some observers are questioning whether there will be true proportional representation.

Mohammad Seddiq Patman, a political analyst who helped draft Afghanistan's constitution, thinks full disarmament and a proper census are two measures that must be implemented prior to the parliamentary election.

"Parliamentary seats are supposed to be distributed according to the size of the provinces' populations," he said. "If we don't have precise statistics on that, then there will be trouble. If a census is not taken, the new parliament will be decided by force, rather than by the people."

Patman said the elections are a vital chance to end the "politics of making excuses" for past crimes. Noting that powerful commanders alleged to have been responsible for atrocities had been able to run for president, he expressed concern that the same individuals might also try to win parliamentary seats in order to keep their cases closed to public scrutiny.

Another political analyst, who asked not to be named, worried that Karzai would bring powerful figures into his government, and their allies would then take seats in parliament.

"I am pretty sure that some notorious figures will occupy some of the cabinet posts, and their representatives will find their way into parliament, and they will tie Karzai's hands," he said.

Despite those fears, there is hope for positive developments. Women will be guaranteed seats in the national assembly. Two female representatives will be sent from each province, with a total of 68 female representatives.

Akhgar speculated that some women would be directly elected to parliament in major cities. In other areas, he said, they would probably be appointed rather than elected to their seats.

Intriguingly, the parliamentary elections may also be an avenue for some factions of the Taleban to lay down their arms and become part of the political process.

According to recent reports, there have been contacts between the government and representatives of some factions of the fundamentalist movement.

At present, the Taleban are still openly at war with the Afghan government and its foreign allies. It is not clear whether Taleban elements will join in the parliamentary election, or participate in government through some other means.

Most analysts agreed that Taleban members who are not accused of war crimes and who accept Afghanistan’s current constitution should be given the right to participate in the election.

Patman, for one, was hopeful that the Taleban might somehow join the government.

"If the people of Afghanistan can forgive Russian sympathisers and the Soviet occupation, and they can forgive war criminals as well, they can also forgive the Taleban," he said.

"Everyone has the right to take part in government and political life, provided they obey the constitution of Afghanistan and work for democracy. Because issues cannot be resolved by war. Blood cannot be washed out by blood."

Hafizullah Gardesh is a staff reporter with IWPR in Kabul.

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Afghan president orders review of cable TV ban
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a review of a government ban on cable television, imposed this week after complaints about un-Islamic material on some channels, a minister said on Friday.

Television programming in post-Taliban Afghanistan has sparked controversy, with some more racy programmes offending Islamic conservatives and some of the public.

"On my insistence, a commission has been formed, on the basis of the president's order, to assess the networks' programmes and allow those to operate that have not run anti-Islamic and immoral films and songs," Culture and Information Minister Sayed Makhdom Raheen told Reuters.

The cable channels, operated by Afghan businessmen in cities across the country, mostly broadcast a mix of Western and Indian films and romantic songs but some also show erotic programmes late at night. The ban was imposed this week during a cabinet meeting presided over by Karzai, Raheen said, adding that a majority of cabinet members had agreed with it.

Karzai gave the order for the review after Raheen threatened to resign from the cabinet unless the ban was lifted, another minister, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

Raheen is among a handful of technocrats who have come home from years of exile in the West to join Karzai's government, installed after U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban in late 2001.

The militant Islamic Taliban outlawed music, television and the cinema during their rule. While many of these curbs have been relaxed over the past three years, Afghanistan is still a deeply conservative country.

Raheen has in the past resisted similar moves by more conservative members of Karzai's government and he lifted a ban more than a decade old on women singers on state television despite a Supreme Court ruling backing the ban.

Raheen said it was not fair to punish all the operators for the actions of a few. "We have between 40 and 50 networks and will not allow some people to get rich through corruption and bring about moral decadence in society through their late-night content," he said.

Cable networks were briefly shut last year after criticism of their programmes by the Supreme Court and the public. Karzai won Afghanistan's first direct presidential election last month and is widely expected to remove some figures from the Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservatives.

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Students Learn Lesson in Politics
Some who thought they would be paid for their work for presidential candidates discover they were actually volunteers.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul (ARR No. 147, 11-Nov-04)

Mohammad Jalil, a 23-year-old student in the science department of Kabul University, worked as an election observer in his home province of Ghazni for presidential candidate Mohammad Younis Qanuni during last month’s landmark vote.

Under election guidelines for Afghanistan's first direct presidential election, the candidates were allowed to send their own representatives to polling stations to work as observers, so as to ensure fair elections.

For Jalil, there was only one problem: he was never paid for his work.

In interviews with IWPR, Jalil and other students recounted how candidates recruited students to work as election representatives. Many students were led to believe that they would be paid as much as 300 US dollars, a small fortune for one day's work.

After signing up with his favourite candidate, Jalil was referred to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA. Campaign workers were trained for one day by UNAMA, and Jalil was sent to Ghazni province to serve as one of Qanuni's observers.

"I went to a polling station in Ghazni province. I worked there for one day and then returned," Jalil said. "I have still heard nothing about compensation. If I’d known from the beginning that this was the case, I would never have signed up."

Jalil was not the only one complaining.

Abdul Shakoor, 21, a student at economics department of Kabul University, also claimed he was deceived by Qanuni's campaign. He enrolled in the candidate’s party and was sent to Wardak province, where he also worked for one day as an observer.

"When the election was over, I went to the national party office and asked for money," he said. "And I was told by the director of the office that I should wait until the election results are clear and then I would be paid."

The election results were announced on November 3, and Shakoor has still not received payment.

Campaign officials chalk this up to a misunderstanding. They confirmed that university students were not paid, but said they were volunteers who enrolled as campaign observers out of a sense of service.

Murtaza Hamid, a representative of Qanuni’s party, said, "The students who worked as observers on election day were paid neither by me nor by Qanuni. They were motivated by political conviction, not by money."

A representative of President Hamed Karzai had a similar explanation. Razia Naime, a Karzai campaign official who recruited university students, said she believed those who worked on the campaign were volunteers. According to her, they neither asked for nor were promised money.

"During the training session, when they asked about money, they were told it’s a one-day job and doesn't pay," she said.

Many students claimed they were misled.

Mohammad Sharif, 19, a student in the agriculture department at Kabul University, worked on the Karzai campaign. "We were deceived," he said. "We dropped out of classes for several days, but we were never allowed to work [directly] with candidates."

Complaining that he was "cheated," Sharif added, "Karzai became president through our work, and if I had known, I would have voted for another candidate."

Some people registered as official observers for candidates, but never showed up to work when they learned they wouldn't be paid.

Hidayatullah, 23, a third-year student in the geology department, agreed to work for Qanuni. Asked why he didn't turn up to work as an observer, he said, "I was very excited at the beginning, and ready to work. But when I heard they were not paying, I didn't go to work as an official observer and voted for another candidate instead."

Mohammad Qasim, 22, who studies Russian at Kabul University, also worked for Qanuni. "We voted for him and we persuaded others to vote for him too, but later when we asked for money, they made excuses and told us to come back the next day. And finally I was told ‘no’," he said.

Fazilhaq, a 26-year-old law and political science student, worked for Karzai's election campaign, and is disappointed that he’ll never see the 300 dollars he was promised.

"Now when we speak about money, people laugh at us," he said. "They say that everyone should serve his nation… but the reality is that the money is taken by candidates' representatives and it never reached us."

Ziaurrahman, 22, in the fourth year of journalism school at Kabul University, said he worked for Karzai's campaign, but now he doubts the winner's integrity.

"I wonder whether, when he becomes president, he will give salaries to officials or not," he said.

However, some university students were less than sympathetic to their colleagues.

Mohammad Shafiq, 25, a second-year student on the literature faculty of Kabul University, said, "We should serve our nation and we shouldn't work for money. Even if there was a lot of work, it was only for one day."

Shir Ahmad, 23, a student who worked on Karzai's campaign, agreed.

"We won peace and security in one day after 23 years of fighting in our country," he said. "We shouldn't give importance to money, but should work for our nation, because the nation's future depends on these students."

Amanullah Nasrat is a staff reporter with IWPR in Kabul.

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Afghan government continues to push for UN hostage release
November 12, 2004
KABUL (AFP) - As Afghanistan's hostage crisis dragged into its fifteenth day, the government said it was pulling out all the stops to get the three foreign UN workers released unharmed by Islamic militants holding them.

"We are sparing no efforts to get Annetta Flanigan, Shqipe Hebibi and Angelito Nayan from the kidnappers peacefully," Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.

With the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan nearing its close there are hopes that the hostages would be freed before Eid, the biggest celebration of the Islamic year, which is set to fall in Afghanistan on Sunday.

The United Nations Thursday called on kidnappers holding three of its staff in Afghanistan to release them in time for the end of Ramadan, as it raised security for its staff in Kabul to the highest level since the fall of the Taliban.

The appeal came as a splinter group linked to the hardline Taliban regime, which was ousted by a US-led invasion in late 2001, said it could reach a deal on the hostages if fresh talks with government officials produce "results".

The militants have held Flanigan of Northern Ireland, Hebibi of Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Nayan since October 28 and want 26 comrades freed as part of a deal.

Manoel de Almeida e Silva, spokesman for the UN in Afghanistan, called for the hostages to be released by this weekend's three-day festival of Eid, which marks the end of the traditional Muslim holy month of fasting and prayer.

The UN has stepped up security in the capital following the kidnappings, according to a written version of a report on the country given to the Security Council on Tuesday.

"A number of special measures have been taken by the UN to enhance staff safety at a time of possible increased exposure to risks," UN under-secretary general Jean-Marie Guehenno said in the report.

"These are the most stringent staff security measures in place in Kabul since 2001."

Measures include a curfew, limited travel in the capital and escorts for UN personnel, an official said on condition of anonymity.

The Afghan capital remains tense with restaurants frequented by foreigners nearly empty and few foreigners now seen walking unescorted on the streets because of fears of copycat kidnappings.

Ordinary Afghans have condemned the hostage-taking as contrary to Afghan and Muslim traditions of hospitality with 20 Afghan women offering Thursday to swap places with the UN hostages.

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Afghan hostage-takers "disappointed" by government
12 Nov 2004 17:02:59 GMT
KABUL, Nov 12 (Reuters) - An Afghan militant group that has threatened to kill three foreign U.N. hostages said on Friday it was disappointed the government had taken so long to free 26 Taliban prisoners to secure their release.

Mullah Sabir Momin, a commander of the Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), a Taliban splinter faction, said it was considering withdrawing better conditions it had provided to the hostages and would not allow them to telephone their families.

"We are greatly disappointed over the pace at which things are moving," he told Reuters. "According to our information, the government has not taken any step for the release of our men.

"We will wait until the second or third day of Eid and then our Shura (council) will decide the future course of action," he said, referring to the three-day Muslim festival that starts at the weekend.

Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan were abducted in Kabul on Oct. 28 after helping to organise presidential elections won by U.S.-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai.

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Russia begins to hand over Afghan border control to Tajik guards
Friday November 12, 11:46 PM AP
Russia began handing over control of the Tajik-Afghan border to Tajikistan Friday, withdrawing its forces from the frontier, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

Russian troops have helped Tajikistan patrol its border with Afghanistan since 1991. Tajikistan asked them to leave this year in an apparent assertion of sovereignty, having achieved relative stability after a five-year civil war in the 1990s.

Tajik guards have started replacing the Russians along the 950-kilometer (590-mile) Pamir stretch of the border, said the chief of staff of the Tajik border troops, Maj. Gen. Nuralisho Nazarov. It should be fully under Tajik control in two to three weeks, the Russian news agency quoted him as saying.

Russian guards are still patrolling 390 kilometers (242 miles) of the 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border. Under an agreement signed last month, the entire border should be under Tajik control by the summer of 2006.

The Tajik-Afghan border is a major trafficking route for illegal drugs from Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer.

U.N. drug officials and diplomats have expressed concern over a possible rise in smuggling after the Russians leave. Tajik border forces are paid less and lack the advanced equipment of the Russians.

Russia will maintain its 5,000-strong 201st Motorized Rifle Division in Tajikistan after signing a deal last month allowing it to set up a permanent military base in the Central Asian nation.

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NATO Chief Affirms Expansion Of Security Force In West Of Country
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has affirmed that the alliance plans to expand its operations into western Afghanistan in advance of the next round of elections. Yesterday, de Hoop Scheffer told the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent policy institute, that extra NATO battalions will be committed to help safeguard parliamentary elections due to be held in the spring. There are currently about 9,000 NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, most of them in the Kabul area. De Hoop Scheffer did not say how many new forces would be committed to the country.

New York, 12 November 2004 (RFE/RL) -- NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday that the current situation in Afghanistan makes it logistically viable for the alliance to expand its operations there.

"We have lived up to our promises, and at the moment the signs are good that NATO is going to expand ISAF -- the International Security Assistance Force -- into the west of Afghanistan," de Hoop Scheffer said. "We have covered the north now with a number of so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams. We will now go west, setting up what we call a forward support base in Herat, and then we want to move counterclockwise to the south and the southeast of Afghanistan, as well."

De Hoop Scheffer said that NATOs forces in the country have, in general, been received well by the Afghan people. Asked why NATO, originally created to provide security for Western Europe, is now operating in Afghanistan, the secretary-general said the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 brought about a major shift in NATO policy.

"What is NATO doing in Afghanistan? Defending values at the Hindu Kush in the present day international climate," Scheffer said. "We have to fight terrorism wherever it emerges. If we dont do it at the Hindu Kush, it will end up at our doorstep. In other words, this perception gap in the long run must be closed and must be healed -- that is, for NATOs future, of the utmost importance."

Another priority for NATO in Afghanistan, he said, will be providing additional security during parliamentary elections, scheduled for April. The secretary-general said that extra NATO battalions will be committed.

De Hoop Scheffer described NATOs operations in Afghanistan as a "moderate success." But he warned that without deeper involvement by the international community in the fight against drug production and drug trafficking in Afghanistan, NATOs ability to ensure the countrys stability will be limited.

Referring to Afghanistans neighbors, de Hoop Scheffer underlined the strategic role the Central Asian states play in the fight against terrorism. Having just returned from a trip to Central Asia and the Caucasus, de Hoop Scheffer said he envisions closer cooperation with these states.

"We need, by the way, Central Asian nations, and the Caucasian nations [to] play an important role in supporting the ISAF operation because we need the lines of communication -- to say in military terms -- [and] transit agreements with the Central Asians, to see that we can adequately run the ISAF operation in Afghanistan," Scheffer said.

De Hoop Scheffer said Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia have all expressed interest in closer cooperation with NATO in its Partnership for Peace program.

"They all want to extend their partnership with NATO. Even Armenia has now applied for the so-called Individual Partnership Action Program, which means that we are going to develop a tailored, Armenia-tailored partnership program with that country, with Yerevan," Scheffer said. "That goes for the Central Asian nations, as well. So that partnership is developing very well."

De Hoop Scheffer stressed that Turkey is playing a particularly active role in the Partnership for Peace program.

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Wana operation to continue: Rashid
Appreciates Indian govt’s decision to allow APHC leaders to visit Pakistan
The New International (Pakistan) / November 12, 2004
JEDDAH: Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad here on Thursday said that the US would have launched an operation in South Waziristan to eliminate al-Qaeda militants and Taliban remnants had Pakistan not acted swiftly against them. Rashid was talking to journalists here before his departure to Kolkata via Dubai to witness Pakistan-India cricket match.

Rashid said that the Wana operation would continue until all terrorists were eliminated. He said: "As Muslims, we believe in Jihad. But we should differentiate between Jihad and terrorism. It is the moral duty of our religious and political leaders to differentiate between Jihad and terrorism."

"The government never wanted to interfere in the tribal regions given the independent nature of the people there. But after the September 11 attacks in America and the fall of Taliban, a large number of al-Qaeda suspects and Taliban remnants had sneaked into our tribal regions and found sanctuary there with the help and support of some tribal elders," he said.

"Pakistan came under tremendous pressure but it was mainly because of our national interests that we launched the operation to flush out the terrorists. It was not because of outside pressure that we acted against the terrorists," he said.

"Pakistan deployed troops on its borders with Afghanistan to pre-empt any infiltration by the Taliban remnants from the other side of the border. Nevertheless, some terrorists managed to sneak into our territory. We offered amnesty to the militants if they surrendered, but they did not pay heed to our offer. We learned after clashes in Angor Adda, the most volatile area in Wana, that seven of the militants killed carried head money," the minister said.

Subsequent clashes, seizure of CDs and attempts on President Pervez Musharraf’s life made it clear that a terror network was operating in Wana and had its members across the country, who were involved in bomb blasts and other terror activities, he said. Some of the most-wanted terrorists were arrested on tip-offs by militants arrested in Wana, he added.

Speaking about the Kashmir issue, the minister said the solution of the problem should be in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. He appreciated the Indian government’s decision to allow Hurriyat Conference leaders to visit Pakistan and also supported their contention that they should not travel on Indian passports.

He was upbeat that the Kashmir problem would be resolved given the very positive signals from the Indian side. President Musharraf is very optimistic, he said. Regarding the ailment of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, he said: "There is no truth in it. I am in touch with him, and he is in stable condition. Some people are misguiding him."

About attending cricket match between India and Pakistan to mark the 75th year celebrations of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Kolkata, he said: "It is a friendly match, there will be around 100,000 people in the ground. So, as the government minister I’ll be there to wake up my team. This is a game not a war."

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Minister Scorns NGOs’ Work
Planning minister says most domestic and international aid organisations are more interested in their own well-being than in aiding Afghans.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Abdul Baseer Saeed in Kabul (ARR No. 147, 11-Nov-04)

The thousands of international and local non-governmental organisations operating in Afghanistan have largely failed to deliver effective assistance to the Afghan people, according to Dr Ramazan Bashar Dost, the controversial planning minister in President Hamed Karzai’s current government.

Ever since he was appointed planning minister in March, Bashar Dost has sought to reduce the number of NGOs operating in the country. He has complained publicly that they are ineffective and waste money that should be spent on the Afghan people.

He has spearheaded a draft law that would regulate their operations.

In an interview with IWPR, Bashar Dost said that if the new cabinet approves his draft law, all domestic and foreign NGOs would have two months to re-register under new rules, or suspend operations.

Bashar Dost, 43, emigrated to Iran in 1978 to complete his secondary education, then lived in Pakistan for a time. In 1983, he moved to France where he subsequently received a master’s degree and three doctorate degrees, in diplomacy, politics and law.

In 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked him to return to work in its strategy research centre. That same year he was appointed head of the foreign ministry department for political affairs dealing with western countries.

On March 8, 2004 Bashar Dost, a Hazara from the southern province of Ghazni, was appointed by Karzai as planning minister to replace prominent Hazara leader Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq.

One week later, he proposed the new law on NGOs in order to control what they spend on reconstruction.

The existing law “didn't clarify the responsibility of NGOs and the procedure for their control,” said Bashar Dost. “That draft was unprofitable for Afghanistan and Afghans. We added all these things in the new law.”

"When we drafted the NGO law, we invited all the heads of NGOs, and we explained to them that if all the basic provisions [of the law] were implemented, many problems would be solved," he said.

Bashar Dost highlighted article 3 of the proposed statute, which would prohibit NGOs from profiting from the funds they receive for reconstruction work. Provisions in the draft law, he said, would prevent NGOs from spending excessive amounts of money on themselves.

For example, he said, "They can use a car costing 12, 000 US dollars instead of using a 40,000 dollar car.”

There is a certain amount of resentment in Afghanistan directed toward the “white Land Cruiser crowd”, as NGO workers are sometimes known.

Bashar Dost said that when an NGO receives funds, either from a government or a non-governmental source, they must distribute most of those funds to the people of Afghanistan.

He says out of 4.5 billion dollars pledged to Afghanistan by international donors at the Tokyo conference last year, about a third has been allocated to international NGOs, the same again to the United Nations, and the roughly one third directly to the government of Afghanistan.

"I have yet to see an NGO that has spent 80 per cent of its money for the benefit of the Afghans and 20 per cent for their own benefit," Bashar Dost said.

“International NGOs get big amounts of money from their own nations just by showing them sensitive pictures and videos of Afghan people, and there are even some individuals who give all their salaries to NGOs to spend it on charity here, but they [NGOs] spend all the money on themselves, and we are unable to find out how much money they originally received in charitable funds,” he said.

He also criticised NGOs - which are tax exempt - for getting privileged access to government contracts that tax-paying commercial companies should have won. He believes they have inside access to contracts because of their close relationships with government officials, including ministers, some of who were formerly their employees. At the same time, he said, many qualified government employees have gone to work for NGOs where the salaries are higher.

“We want the reconstruction carried out economically, and to be handled by private companies which are be under the control and supervision of the government,” said Bashar Dost. "Donors should contract directly with the companies – this is the rule all over the world.”

He believes the “golden period” for non-government groups was when the mujahedin were battling the Communists from 1978 to 1992. Bashar Dost said that in those years, the NGOs shared their bread with the fighters in the mountains and deserts.

Bashar Dost said that some foreigners working with international NGOs who were killed during the fighting were buried in Afghanistan. “If it were possible, I would put flowers on their tombs,” he said.

He also looked favourably on NGOs and their work in the period from 1992 to 1996 when Burhanuddin Rabbani was president, and thereafter under the Taleban.

Now he believes there are too many NGOs in the country. In fact there’s a moratorium on registering NGOs until the new law is approved. There are 2,355 NGOs registered in Afghanistan, of which 333 are international, he said.

"We don't have NGOs in Afghanistan, but we have NGO-ism, and we want to get rid of the NGO-ism, not the NGOs," he said. He complained that there are some so-called NGOs that operate for profit, like private companies.

When asked about the effectiveness of the organisations working in Afghanistan, he said, “I haven’t seen any NGO at all which works efficiently yet.”

Bashar Dost said the government would wait until the new law is passed before shutting down any NGOs. In the whole time that he’s been planning minister, he has not forced any group to suspend operations.

It’s unclear what post, if any, Bashar Dost may hold in the new Karzai government, due to be appointed in December. However, an unofficial list that was published in Arman-e-Milli daily on November 2, said to come from a source close to vice president-elect Ahmad Zia Massoud, names Bashar Dost as the likely next minister of education.

When asked what the future holds for him, he said, “I don’t want to talk about it right now. It’s too early.”

Under the new Karzai administration, the planning ministry will no longer handle NGO registration, the task going instead to the ministry of labour and social affairs, he said. The planning ministry itself will disappear, merged with the ministry of reconstruction to create an economics ministry.

While these changes may come as a relief for many aid workers who have said privately that Bashar Dost has done nothing to help their organisations - and that his comments could compromise the security of their operations - NGOs are still analysing what his law could mean for them.

Mohammad Hashim Mayar, a programme coordinator for ACBAR, an umbrella organisation, said that NGOs are reviewing the law. "There are some confusing parts in this law and after the NGOs finish their review they will propose a response to the ministry of planning."

He took issue with Bashar Dost's definition of an NGO in the draft law. Mayar told IWPR, "An NGO is a non-government and non-profit organization which is established for the achievement of a legal goal." The part about NGOs spending most of the funds it receives on Afghans is not in Mayar's definition.

Last April, Bashar Dost made a speech comparing NGOs to warlords, and complained that they were ineffective. The UN’s humanitarian information unit, IRIN, ran a story quoting aid agencies which expressed concern over his comments.

"NGOs work for peace, reconstruction and development, not conflicts and destruction. Therefore, it is outrageous to compare NGOs with warlords," Mayar said in an interview for IRIN at the time.

In mid-July, the NGOs were caught unawares when police suddenly started stopping and seizing vehicles with green “M” plates, the kind typically issued to their vehicles, and in some cases detaining their drivers. The planning ministry had decided the plates were no longer valid, and the groups were forced to re-register their cars and get new plates.

The international community was also concerned by comments made by Bashar Dost not long after the respected group Medecins Sans Frontieres pulled out of the country after five of its aid workers were murdered this summer.

“Afghans pray for them to leave. We don't want that kind of NGO here," Bashar Dost was quoted as saying to the AFP news agency. He added that that violence against NGOs was “inevitable”.

"Justification of violence in general, and against NGOs in particular, is unacceptable," UN spokesman in Afghanistan Manoel de Almeida e Silva told a news briefing at the time. "The government has a paramount duty to uphold law and order, and it cannot be involved in legitimising or condoning physical aggression in any way."

Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR reporter based in Kabul.

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Pakistani Soldiers Search for Militants
By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Some 2,000 soldiers, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, fanned out across Pakistan's tense tribal region on Friday, searching for foreign militants and a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, a senior military commander said.

Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, the top commander in northwestern Pakistan, said the operation in South Waziristan began at dawn. Soldiers were looking for Pakistani militant leader Abdullah Mehsud and allied "foreign miscreants," he said.

Troops seized a cache of weapons in the first few hours of operation. The army was facing some resistance, Hussain said, but it was not clear if there were casualties.
Mehsud is accused of organizing last month's kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in South Waziristan where they were building a dam. One of the Chinese men was killed and the other was rescued by commandos.

Mehsud, 28, was freed in March after about two years' detention at the U.S. prison for terror suspects in Cuba. Since his return, he has emerged as a rebel leader, opposing Pakistan's army as it hunts remnants of al-Qaida in the country's semiautonomous tribal regions along the Afghan border.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, and authorities here say hundreds of Central Asian, Afghan and Arab militants are in hiding in South Waziristan — also a possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Pakistan, which has about 70,000 troops along the border, has carried several military operations this year that have left killed scores of soldiers, militants and civilians.
On Thursday, five local tribal elders wanted for sheltering foreign militants accepted a government amnesty, signing an agreement that they would not maintain such ties in the future, said Inam ul-Haq, an elder who helped negotiate the deal.

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Text of Richard Armitage’s interview
Following is a transcript of an interview the US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, gave to PTV on Tuesday.

Question: Just starting off straight with what’s been happening in the United States, with the re-election of President George Bush for a second term. Looking back on his four years, what would you say were the defining moments of success and possibly any areas where you feel you didn’t do enough?

Richard Armitage: I’ll tell you one of the key areas of success was the re-establishing of a relationship with Pakistan, and look how far we’ve come in four years. Beyond that I think you have to look at your neighbour in Afghanistan. What we all witnessed in the election on October 9 was a tribute to the men and women of Afghanistan. In fact it is a tribute to Pakistan, who was so helpful in bringing about that election.

Q: One of the campaign issues was the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, and that hasn’t happened. So looking at that now, are you going to be devoting more resources towards that? Are we going to see any particular efforts stepped up to find him at this point?

RA: I think the efforts have continued unabated since 9/11. We have thousands and thousands of US soldiers, we have Afghan national army soldiers, and certainly Pakistani soldiers looking for Osama Bin Laden. Sooner or later, we’ll get him. So I don’t think it is a lack of resources; he’s just got a lot of holes in which he hides, and eventually we’ll poke our heads into the right one.

Question: And, of course, in terms of policy towards Pakistan, can we expect any changes in American foreign policy toward Pakistan in the second term?

RA: I was just speaking with our colleagues today in the Foreign Ministry, and I expressed the hope to them that any changes we see are changes of acceleration. We want to have a relationship with Pakistan that’s political, that’s economic. That’s lagging a bit, I think, and we need to get some foreign direct investment in here. We certainly want to continue our excellent cooperation with the military, and we want to develop more of a cultural exchange with Pakistan.

Q: Regarding the situation between Pakistan and India, recently President Musharraf asked for people to suggest options to resolve the continuing problem with Kashmir. Would there be any kind of situation you would see where the US would facilitate such a dialogue or even offer options of its own?

RA: I don’t think it’s appropriate for the United States to get in the middle of a question that exists between Pakistan and India. We’ll certainly, where appropriate, make suggestions to the two sides. We have in the past, I think, been helpful in calming things down. But this is, at heart, a question for Pakistan and India to resolve. I was very interested in the proposals that President Musharraf made. It looked to me that he .vas being very forward thinking. And I think he has caused a great deal of thinking, both in India and here in Pakistan about the way forward.

Q: What about the role of the Kashmiris? There continues to be a lot of debate. What role would the United States like to see the Kashmiri people have in this process?

RA: The Kashimiri people are the ones that ultimately suffer the most, and their voice has to be heard, whether it is on either side of the Line of Control. The Kashmiris have to be able to speak their minds and to feel that they are being heard and that they are being listened to.

Q: Switching to Afghanistan, as you mentioned earlier, with President Hamid Karzai’s re-election, one of the things he keeps talking about is the fact that he hasn’t received the kind of financial support that his government needs to fight the drug problem, the warlordism, and the various other issues. Will the United States be coming forward with some initiative to either restart the Bonn process, kick-start into Tokyo, anything? We don’t see it happening.

RA: We’ve put in excess of a billion dollars in, and we’ll be continuing that. The Kabul-Kandahar road, for instance, which has enormously aided commerce, is a function of US assistance. I understand the frustration on the narcotics area because the growth of poppy has continued unabated. We have to do a better job to assist the government of Afghanistan, and our friends the British, who are the lead country in the counter narcotics area, have to do a better job.

Q: Moving on to the Middle East and the situation in Iraq. The situation is getting worse everyday in terms of the security problem, and now Prime Minister Alawi has announced a 60-day state of emergency. Does that worry you that this had to be done?

RA: No, I was speaking to the Prime Minister. I came from a 36-hour visit in Iraq. He feels that he has to change the equation. He no longer could stand to have insurgents basically own a town and prevent the government from extending its influence there, and he’s made a decision to route the insurgents out. You’re correct about the 60-day emergency law, but it’s only applied to certain areas, for instance the Syrian border, the al Anwar province, things of that nature. It’s not nationwide.

Q: And the situation in Fallujah, the United States has now started what was the anticipated assault on Fallujah. There has been severe criticism of the United States for not insuring enough precautions to make sure that civilian casualties can be minimised. Any efforts in that regard to minimise civilian casualties or even eradicate them?

RA: First of all, there are over 3,000 Iraqi soldiers who are leading the activities, and we are certainly supporting them. This was called for by the government of Iraq. There is about 25 percent of the Fallujah population left in the town, about 60,000 people. The rest have fled and are awaiting the results of the battle. We’ll be as careful as we possibly can. The government of Iraq has made every precaution to have medical supplies; equipment, blood, should it be needed, pre-positioned around Fallujah so that they can immediately take care of any civilian casualties.

RA: None. These elections have to be held so that all Iraqis can take part in them, and that’s what the government wants. They don’t want to have an election that disenfranchises some citizens, no more than we in the United States would like to have an election that disenfranchises, say, California.
Q: Of course, in the Middle East, critics of the previous administration, President Bush’s first term, say that he didn’t do enough on the Middle East peace process, that there was no actual work done during that time. Now that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is in critical condition, whom is the United States looking to talk to now?

RA: We’re waiting for the Palestinians to come up with new leadership. Of course, we don’t wish anyone ill, and we’re sorry for the ill health of Chairman Arafat. But should he pass, the Palestinians have 60 days to come up with a new leadership, and that will give the Israelis someone with whom to deal, as well as the United States. By the way, it was only George Bush among American presidents who spoke for the first time about a two-state vision - Palestine and Israel - living side-by-side. And it was only George Bush who laid out a roadmap for peace, and that roadmap is still the only map in town.

Q: Let’s talk about that roadmap, because we haven’t seen it implemented. Are we going to see further work being done on that roadmap?

RA: It has obviously, in recent months, been in abeyance, as it were. It’s been stopped. The Israeli government has just pushed through their Knesset a disengagement from Gaza plan. We’re very keen on this. We want the Israelis to disengage from Gaza and the Palestinians reoccupy this territory. We want them to see that it is possible for Israel to peacefully give back land, and hopefully that would be a good primer, if you will, as we move forward to the question of the West Bank.

Q: On the question of Iran and Syria, let’s quickly talk about Iran. Relations have been tense between the United States and Tehran recently. In this administration, what are we likely to see on that front?

RA: We’re likely to see a continuation of the struggle over the nuclear question, though it looks, temporarily at least, as though the EU has been able to broker some sort of suspension of the nuclear programme, which is a good thing. We don’t wish Iran ill in the long term, but we also don’t like to see Iran trying to undermine activities in Iraq. We don’t like to see Iran, which has certain Al Qaeda folks in Tehran, under surveillance, I believe, but we can’t get any information from them. So there are a lot of stumbling blocks between ourselves and Iran.

Q: The situation between what is now perceived as the war between terrorism, is often perceived as a war between Islam and the West. Even President Musharraf has talked about an “iron curtain” descending between the West and Islamic countries. What efforts will you be making in this new administration about trying to ameliorate this perception?

RA: First of all, I think it’s more than a question of “war” between Islam and the West. There is a struggle going on in Islam, between those who love this great religion and want to practise it as it was meant to and those who want to misuse it for secular aims or for extremist aims. That’s a war that’s going on inside of the Islamic community, inside the Muslim community. From our point of view, we are going out of our way to make sure all of our Muslim citizens and all Muslims around the world realise how much we respect the religion, that Islam is one of the great religions of the world, and we look to increase our own understanding of Islam as a way to move forward.

Q: Any changes likely in the State Department, Cabinet in this new term?
RA: Yes.

Q: Are you going to tell us which ones?
RA: (Laughs) I don’t know which ones yet. I’ve been travelling since the election, but, sure, inevitably there will be changes, we just don’t know who will go where.

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U.S., Afghan officials weigh adding crop dusters to beefed-up counternarcotics campaign
Saturday November 13, 8:06 AM AP
U.S. counternarcotics experts are looking at using crop dusters in a beefed-up campaign to destroy Afghanistan's burgeoning opium poppy crop, Afghan and Western officials say.

Aerial spraying of herbicides is a key tool in the U.S.-backed war on coca farmers in Colombia. But critics warn that bringing the planes to Afghanistan could make its foreign sponsors look like occupiers and deal a blow to its fragile rural economy.

It is unclear whether planes could be ready in time for the harvest of the first crop in May, when fields of poppies turn hot southern valleys into a sea of color.

"The planes could be useful, and would frighten people," said Mohammed Daoud, Afghanistan's deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics. "Still, we want to see first what results we can get through our own efforts."

Under pressure from the United States, newly elected Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said fighting drugs is now a bigger threat to the country than Taliban insurgents or warlords.

Despite an official ban, poppy-growing has skyrocketed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, making the country the world's largest supplier of opium, the raw material for heroin.

Last year, the Afghan drug business was worth an estimated US$3 billion (€2.32 billion), almost half the overall economy, and Daoud said a U.N. report on this year's crop will show that the area under cultivation jumped more than 60 percent from 2003 to a record 131,000 hectares (320,000 acres).

Still, total output remained static at about 3,400 tons (3747 US tons) because of drought, disease and some farmers' inexperience, he said in an interview this week.

Aerial spraying of herbicides is just one of the tools under consideration in a beefed-up effort to turn the tide. Karzai's aides say the tactic is still under discussion.

"The Americans are looking at the feasibility," one Western official involved in Afghan drug policy said in a recent interview. "It's not going to be imposed on anybody without the government of Afghanistan asking for it."

The United Nations says a controversial U.S.-financed campaign in Colombia to spray herbicides over coca crops, the main ingredient of cocaine, has halved the area under cultivation.

But critics point to the difficulty of spraying Afghan poppies, which are often planted among regular crops and near villages, without wrecking the livelihoods of farmers and draining support for the Afghan government.

Herbicide used in South America is suspected of causing health problems for both people and livestock as well as destroying legal crops, and winds can blow it far off course, observers say.

Such an outcome could discredit Karzai and his already feeble authorities, and result in increased hostility toward foreign troops and aid workers.

"Aerial spraying will have no political support in Afghanistan," said Barnett Rubin, a senior fellow at New York University's Center on International Cooperation. "It will be seen as a sign of an occupation, not democratization and will undermine the legitimacy of the entire international presence."

Officials insist they are aware of the dilemma.

Eradication programs using squads of laborers to thrash down poppy crops are to be intensified in three provinces accounting for more than half of total production: Helmand, Nangarhar and Badakhshan. Daoud insists local officials will be fired if they don't comply.

At the same time, hundreds of millions of dollars are being drummed up for programs to help farmers grow alternative crops, said the Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the pressure is mounting to snatch big smugglers _ possibly including government officials _ and prosecute them to show ordinary Afghans that farmers are not being victimized.

America and Britain have trained small paramilitary units to smash laboratories and arrest suspects. NATO and U.S. troops in the country are under growing political pressure to help them, at least with intelligence and transport.

Daoud said judges have already been recruited for a special court and that a wing of Kabul's grim Pul-e-Charkhi prison had been earmarked for convicted drug kingpins.

Officials say much of the profit from drugs goes to warlords, criminal groups and corrupt officials _ and possibly militants _ who know that a strong central government means an end to a lucrative trade that has spurred the country's economic resurgence but risks turning it into an anarchic "narco-state."

"We've got about two years to get this thing turned to where the pendulum is swinging back," the Western official said. "If you don't do this, you run the very serious risk of losing this country and then you've got a fertile breeding ground all over again for the next Taliban and the next al-Qaida."

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Women struggle in Afghan cinema
Friday, 12 November, 2004, 13:57 GMT By Soutik Biswas BBC News, Kabul
"Look, there goes the wife of the mullah!"

This is what boys in the Afghan capital, Kabul, cry when 14-year-old Marina Gulbahari steps out of her house.

The taunts refer to her star role in Osama, the first feature film to be made in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban regime.

In this dark film, set in Taleban-ruled Afghanistan, Gulbahari plays a girl who dresses up like a boy to earn money for the family.

She is forcibly married off to an old mullah after her disguise is blown.

The neighbourhood taunts have not deterred Gulbahari from pursuing a fully-fledged film career after Osama, directed by Kabul-based filmmaker Siddik Barmak, gained critical acclaim around the world and took her to festivals in Seoul and New Delhi.

Gulbahari's decision to opt for a career in films is considered to be bold in a conservative society where women are still recovering from the hangover of the repressive Taleban regime when they were forbidden to work or go out alone.

After all, the only film the Tajik girl had watched before she was spotted by Barmak begging on the Kabul streets was a grainy, pirated version of Titanic during the Taleban rule - a furtive late night television show at home.

Film 'epidemic'
A year after the release of Osama, Gulbahari has already acted in four films, and gone back to school to catch up on her lost years when she was forced to beg with her brother for the family after the Taleban destroyed her father's music shop.

"I want to be actress all my life. I want to grow as an actress. One day, I even want to direct my own film," says Gulbahari.

Acting, she says, has changed her life: two years ago, she earned $14 for her 45-day shooting stint for Osama; and this year, she picked up a $4000 cheque as a prize for her performance at a film festival in Seoul.

With the money, Gulbahari has bought a new family home, and is paying for her own studies.

She is one of only a small number of girls and women stepping out to face the cameras and earn a living in a country where, according to filmmaker Barmak, "there is an epidemic of movie making today".

This "epidemic" comes after Afghanistan produced barely 50 movies between 1947 and 2002, according to one estimate.

Young, impressionable movie makers armed with digital cameras funded by small production houses in Kabul are making love stories and black comedies on modest budgets ranging from $10,000 to $30,000.

But getting women to act in the films remains an uphill task, and more ambitious filmmakers are now scouring neighbouring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for heroines.

"In the 1970s and 1980s, it was not difficult to get women to act in films. The war and the Taleban rule changed mentalities. Now people cling to nonsensical traditions as shields against what they think is cultural pollution", says Siddik Barmak.

Rage against repression

But the filmmakers are not giving up easily.

In a tarpaulin shed in the state-run Afghan Film's musty offices in Kabul, filmmaker Engineer Latif is shooting a educational film on women's literacy.

On the carpeted floor sit a group of veiled women, awaiting the director's instructions.

"Show me your faces!", Latif exhorts the women. "You seem to be living in the stone age." The women obey.

Sometimes, a collective rage against repression drives women to face the cameras.

Barmak found this out when he needed over 900 women for Osama's striking opening scene where a group of blue veiled women are chased by the Taleban through crumbling Kabul streets.

"When I went to a NGO to find out whether the women working there would be willing to act, more than 1000 of them signed up.

"Most were poor, and needed the money. But many told me that they wanted to show their protest by acting in the scene," he says.

Marina Gulbahari's father asked her what kind of film she was doing when she told him that she wanted to act in Osama.

"I told him it was a film which shows the cruelty and repression of the Taleban. He said, 'Go ahead'."

Brave exceptions

Engineer Latif's upcoming $1.5 million feature on the first Taleban offensive against the Northern Alliance will feature two heroines.

But he could only manage to get one - a Kabul beautician - from his country. The other girl is from Tajikistan.

"The civil war and the Taleban have affected the mindset of our women. So it is difficult to get women to act here," he says.

There are exceptions like Saba Sahar though.

The svelte 30-year-old daughter of a teacher father and a working mother first faced the cameras as a girl 15 years ago in a Dari language film.

After spending time in exile in Moscow, Tehran and Peshawar, she is back in her country with her husband and three children to act in films and plays.

"It will be not easy for a while. After a play in Kabul after the fall of the Taleban, a man sidled up to me and said, 'See what happens to you if you act again'," says Sahar.

Amina Jafari, 24 years and 10 films-in-three-years old, still gets teased for a commercial she did for bread.

"'Here comes the bread girl!' the boys go all the time. But I am not daunted. I will act, and begin directing too. Just wait."