Afghanistan News April 6, 2005

April 6, 2005

Afghanistan wants to control development aid, but donors balk
Tue Apr 5, 2:03 AM ET South Asia - AFP
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan has called on foreign donors to hand over a larger slice of development funds to the government, which controls less than a quarter of the aid flowing in to the war-torn country.

At the start of a three-day forum on Afghanistan's development, US-backed President Hamid Karzai outlined his strategy for rebuilding the country's shattered infrastructure in the coming years.

But brewing at the center of the forum is a row over whether the development money should be channeled to Afghans or foreigners aid workers and contractors.

A huge amount of resentment both within the Afghan government and the public has built up against the international community in Afghanistan, as foreign workers nicknamed the "Toyota Taliban" drive around in landcruisers as most of the population ekes out a living on less than two dollars a day.

However, with Afghan ministries still struggling to find their feet after 23 years of war, international donors are skeptical the Afghan government can transparently deal with the massive flows of reconstruction cash.

And since about 93 percent of Afghanistan's 2005 reconstruction budget of 4.75 billion dollars is financed by foreign governments, international donors have the last word.

In April 2004 in Berlin, the international community pledged 8.2 billion dollars for the 2004-2006 period, including 4.5 billion in 2004.

Only 23 percent of the international assistance goes through the Afghan government, with the remaining 77 percent being channeled through humanitarian aid agencies or private contractors, according to Afghan budget figures released Sunday.

The lion's share "of the development budget goes outside our government budget. Given the responsibilities of the government to the people, we should relook at this issue," Karzai's economic advisor Ishaq Nadiri said on Monday.

In parts of Afghanistan, especially in the south where US-led soldiers are battling a Taliban insurgency three and a half years after the fall of the regime, reconstruction has stalled and rural development in the country has remained painfully slow.

"I don't think that the money that has been given to Afghanistan has reached the Afghan countryside in a proper manner," Karzai said.

However, he added that government corruption and private companies that have set themselves up as charities in order to escape paying taxes was also a mounting problem.

"We must make sure that corruption in administration, corruption in private sector and corruption in NGOs (non governmental organisations) is handled, in order to respect the donors' taxpayers' money," the president added.

While Afghan and foreign NGOs have been criticised for squandering funds instead of supporting the Afghan public, international lenders said the Afghan state is still too embryonic to absorb all the reconstruction money coming in.

Praful Patel, president of the World Bank for South Asia, said lack of skills within Afghan ministries and departments was "worrying."

"Indeed, there is some evidence from the health sector in Afghanistan that contracting out delivery of basic health services to NGOs produces accountability and equitable service provisions at competitive costs," Patel said.

UN special representative Jean Arnault echoed his comments about the vital role of aid agencies.

"Government institutions, bilateral efforts, private sector, multilateral organisations, NGO and community organizations have been present working together in many of the most successful endeavours to date," Arnault said.

The Afghan government had planned to adopt a law aiming to regulate humanitarian aid agencies more tightly but drew flak from international donors after it said it would bar NGOs from being able to bid for government contracts.

After an outcry by aid agencies and donor governments Karzai backed down announcing Sunday that he would launch a "working group to look into the issue."

A western source working with the Afghan government said: "The Afghan government wants more money, but it is not able to absorb it and manage it, because of the corruption and the lack of training of its thousands of officials."

There was also "an enormous waste of the international assistance by certain NGOs, in particular Afghan", the source said.

Billions in foreign aid a mixed blessing for Afghanistan
by Rachel Morarjee
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 6 (AFP) - Gynaecololgist Daud Shah says he can no longer afford any staff to work at Kandahar's Mirwais Hospital and so the medical treatment for women is now worse than under the Taliban.

Foreign aid agencies have driven up wages, he says -- 800 US dollars a month for a local position at United Nations agencies compared with 50 dollars for a nurse at a government hospital in the southern Afghan city.

"We've gone backwards. We used to have 20 female staff and now we have two because we can't afford to pay them," he tells AFP at the run-down hospital's obstetrics department.

The vexed issue of how best to spend the billions of dollars of aid pumped into the country since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001 has dominated a three-day meeting of international donors which will close Wednesday in Kabul.

The Afghan government asked for more control of the aid budget, amid public resentment at foreign workers whom they see driving shiny sports utility vehicles while most of the population lives on less than two dollars a day.

"The Afghan government, as the ultimate body accountable to the Afghan people, must also be better informed about, and play its due role in, steering the development process," US-backed President Hamid Karzai told representatives from some 40 donor countries earlier this week.

Over 90 percent of the 4.75 billion dollars pledged for reconstructing Afghanistan in 2005 comes from foreign governments but only 23 percent of that went through the Afghan government last year.

The rest went through humanitarian groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Foreign donors said that Karzai's three-month-old government cannot yet handle the massive flow of cash, while ministries are poorly staffed and officials are often inexperienced or corrupt.

"There is some evidence from the health sector in Afghanistan that contracting out delivery of basic health services to NGOs produces accountability and equitable service provisions at competitive costs," Praful Patel, president of the World Bank for South Asia told the conference.

Afghanistan remains the sixth poorest country in the world, according to United Nations development rankings.

Average life-expectancy is 44 -- more than 20 years lower than neighbouring countries -- one in five children dies before the age of five, a woman dies in childbirth every half-hour and the main economic activity is growing opium.

Open sewers criss-cross the capital Kabul, where over 2,000 foreigners helping with the development process live in gated compounds and go to upscale bars run by other westerners.

Afghan officials charge that between 35 and 60 percent of overheads on reconstruction projects is squandered on highly-paid foreign consultants or goods and services which could have been bought more cheaply.

The Afghan government said last week it would adopt a law barring NGOs from bidding for government contracts, but on Sunday Karzai backed down and said he would launch a working group into the issue after an outcry from donors.

Many foreign humanitarian workers fear that aid agencies are being made scapegoats for Afghanistan's continuing lack of roads, power and healthcare.

"In healthcare, 95 percent of the healthcare being delivered outside Kabul is being delivered by NGOs," said Paul Barker, director of Care Afghanistan.

If the government barred foreign agencies for bidding for government contracts "there would be massive gaps that they could not fill with their own resources," he added.

But in Kandahar, the former spiritual home of the Taliban, doctor Shah says his hospital deserves the aid, not the NGOs who have been setting up less well-equipped private clinics in local districts.

Despite being the main healthcare center in Kandahar, it can no longer properly care for seriously ill patients who need a full hospital, not just a clinic, he says.

Many therefore die on rugged mountain passes as they seek treatment in the Pakistani city of Quetta, just over the border.

"The government and the NGOs need to help this hospital. It should be the best place for treatment so there would be no need to go to Pakistan," says Qasem Mohammed, one of Shah's beleaguered colleagues.

"The work is difficult here. You work round the clock and at a foreign agency you can earn much more for sitting in a chair for six hours."

Afghanistan wins support for more say on aid funds
05 Apr 2005 22:33:09 GMT By Simon Cameron-Moore
KABUL, April 5 (Reuters) - Afghanistan won support from the World Bank and Britain on Tuesday in its bid to have a bigger slice of the billions of dollars of aid money that flow into the country channelled through its own budget.

Britain also offered to arrange an international donors conference on Afghanistan one day before a Group of Eight foreign ministers meeting it is also hosting in June.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has argued that large amounts of aid are wasted due to inefficiency or corruption among non-government organisations stepping outside their role as providers of humanitarian and development aid.

The government, formed three months ago after Karzai's election victory in October, is under pressure to show signs of economic progress in terms of infrastructure projects and jobs, even though it has little control over funding allocations.

A World Bank representative backed Karzai's request for greater control of the purse strings, not least to enable Afghan firms to become more involved in reconstruction.

"Capacity will not be built if aid is delivered off budget and the government has little knowledge of what is being done and how much it costs," Praful Patel, World Bank's South Asia regional vice president told the forum.

The Afghan government, for its part, should take a tough line to combat corruption and hire international firms to ensure funds are used appropriately, he said.

This week's Afghan Development Forum (ADF) in Kabul, which includes donors from some 40 countries, is focused on spending strategy and prioritising needs. The three-day meeting is due to end on Wednesday.

At the Berlin ADF in 2004 multi-year pledges of $8.3 billion were made for the country's post-conflict reconstruction.

PLEDGING CONFERENCE IN JUNE
Britain also backed Karzai's view and offered to host an international donors conference on June 22 one day before the Group of Eight foreign ministers meet in London, a date aimed at keeping Afghanistan's profile high on the international agenda.

The conference would aim to raise fresh reconstruction and development aid before current commitments are exhausted.

"Our suggestion is that this meeting should focus on increasing donor commitments, preferably multi-year commitments, to the government's budget," Charlotte Seymour-Smith, Asia Director of Britain's Department for International Development, told the forum.

Those commitments would primarily be made through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan and the new Counter-Narcotics Trust Fund.

In 2002, the Tokyo forum pledged $4.5 billion for Afghanistan, as the world came together to help the country after U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban, following their refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden in the wake of al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Humanitarian and emergency needs were the priority back then but governments recognised that developing Afghanistan to lessen the risk of the country sliding back into conflict required their long term commitment.

Afghanistan can beat drugs without force -minister
LONDON, Apr 5 (Reuters) Afghanistan, source of the majority of the world's heroin, can defeat drugs without unleashing a Colombia-style military eradication campaign, its defence minister said today.

The United States, Britain and others have contributed millions to fighting drugs in Afghanistan, but so far have had limited success.

Cultivation of opium poppies has declined in many parts of the country over the past year, but only after soaring uncontrollably in the first three years since Taliban rulers were toppled in 2001.

''I am optimistic we will defeat this plague and I am quite confident that this year we will make real progress,'' Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told a conference at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

With progress slow, some U.S. officials have hinted they may consider using their troops and aircraft to destroy poppy crops in the future, as Washington does against coca growers in Latin America.

But so far the government of President Hamid Karzai has resisted such measures, asking donors to invest in law enforcement and alternative livelihoods for poppy growers, rather than crop spraying or eradication at gunpoint.

''I think this problem can be taken care of and we will not need to reach to use force against poor farmers,'' Wardak said.

But he said force would still be used in ''exceptional cases'' against drug processing labs, as opposed to poppy growers.

Since last year's election, Karzai's government has been gaining control of rural areas, creating an environment that makes it easier to fight drugs, Wardak said.

U.S. Troops to Widen Afghan Anti-Drug Role
By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. military will take a major role in training Afghanistan's police and will provide intelligence and transport for the country's new anti-drug forces, dramatically expanding American efforts against a booming narcotics trade, a top general said Tuesday.

Afghanistan produced an estimated 87 percent of the world's opium last year, threatening to derail its post-Taliban revival and prompting warnings that it is turning into a "narco-state."

Lt. Gen. David Barno, the outgoing commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the drug issue had risen on the military's agenda because of the waning strength of Taliban-led militants and the taming of Afghanistan's former warlords.

"The military will play a supporting role but one that's very, very large for Afghanistan," Barno said in an interview at his Kabul headquarters. "The whole police organization will be improved out there across the country."

Under international pressure, President Hamid Karzai has vowed to eliminate the cultivation of opium poppies, which has boomed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The U.S. government has already earmarked $780 million to train Afghan anti-drug forces and help farmers switch to legal crops this year. A group of 23 Afghans graduated from a U.S.-funded course Tuesday to join a National Interdiction Unit charged with arresting traffickers.

Barno said the Defense Department was seeking a "tremendous amount" more to fund the military's part in the crackdown and was confident Congress would approve it.

A Counter-Narcotics Intelligence Fusion Cell to pinpoint targets is already up and running and military helicopters and transport planes were available to carry Afghan anti-drug police, he said.

Another chunk of the money would go to building outposts along Afghanistan's porous borders and training and equipping the guards to intercept smugglers.

However, the military has fended off pressure from some U.S. lawmakers to get directly involved in eradicating opium poppy crops, which commanders feared would turn the rural population — especially in the south where Taliban loyalties run deepest — against them.

U.S. forces will instead identify "key targets that can be hit by Afghan interdiction forces to take down labs, take down the bazaars down there, perhaps eventually to take down some of the key figures if the Afghan government makes that decision," Barno said.

Germany will retain lead nation status for the police program, which Barno said has been "chaotic." It will also be overseen by the U.S. military's Office of Military Cooperation, which is training the Afghan National Army, now more than 20,000 strong.

The plans foresee embedding 500 advisers in a police force widely seen as involved in crime and drug trafficking, work which Barno said may be contracted out. Private security firms Dyncorp and Blackwater are already involved in training Afghan police.

Barno, who is expected to leave Kabul next month after 19 months in charge, said the police project would take time to bring results and that the American force here would stay at 17,000 through parliamentary elections in September.

He also said it was unclear if al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who evaded capture in 2001, was even in the region.

"After the election, we'll be taking a hard look" at U.S. troop numbers here, Barno said.

Afghan army officers visit Quantico
By JAMES W. CRAWLEY Media General News Service Wednesday, April 6, 2005
QUANTICO -- The six Afghan army officers have fought the Soviets, the Taliban, maybe even each other. This week, the men, a lieutenant colonel and five captains, are learning a different way to fight -- the American way.

Their thick black hair, moustaches -- two sported beards -- and chiseled faces suggested age and combat experience well beyond the clean-shaven Marine Corps officers teaching them Tuesday about the intricacies of the M82 sniper rifle.

The soldiers are part of a Marine Corps pilot program to give Afghan military officers in the middle ranks -- company and battalion officers -- a taste of American military leadership and training to take back to the troops of the fledgling Afghan National Army, said Lt. Col. Keith Jensen, a Marine officer escorting the Afghans.

They have flown halfway around the world to tour Marines bases here, Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Parris Island, S.C.

Back in Afghanistan, Marines are training two battalions, about 600 men each. U.S. Army advisors are training more than a dozen other battalions.

At Quantico, the Afghans observed how new officers learn military leadership and how snipers improve their marksmanship. They will see how enlisted Marines become infantrymen at Camp Lejeune and, during their visit to Parris Island, they will watch how recruits train.

"This is very important, especially for the Afghan National Army, because it's the first time we're coming to the U.S.," said Lt. Col. Ishaq Tamkin, the leader of the Afghan contingent.

While here, Ishaq's men hope to learn American leadership skills, logistics and training techniques.

One officer, Capt. Zabibullah, speaking haltingly in English, said the Afghan soldiers have become wiser since working with the Marines for several years.

"We came here to see and learn," he added. Back in Kabul, he and the other officers will teach what they learned to their troops.

The Afghans might teach the Americans a few tactics too.

"Thirty years we've been at war," Ishaq said through an interpreter, nodding his head at the other Afghans. "So, I think we have good combat experience."

Especially, he added, in fighting guerillas; leading small units, like squads and platoons; and dealing with land mines -- a battlefield scourge that still kills or injures up to 100 people per month in his country.

While he and his men are experienced soldiers, Ishaq said the Afghan army is "like a new-born baby, so it needs training."

When will it be able to provide security without assistance from the United States and other nations?

Ishaq contemplated his answer for several seconds before speaking. "I'm sure after three to four years we'll have a strong army," translated the interpreter.

Coming to America was a first for all.

Asked about his impressions, Ishaq answered, "The culture is different. I can't find any good green tea."

Some of the Afghans are finding American food -- heavy on beef -- difficult to stomach. Their diet leans toward lamb or goat -- two meats not normally on mess hall menus.

Their Marine escorts are searching for green tea and a restaurant serving roast lamb.

US$25 MLN to be Spent in Renovating Afghan Cement Factory
Wednesday April 6, 8:29 AM Asia Pulse
KABUL, April 6 Asia Pulse - A cement factory based in Dubai, the International Star Cement Factory, has announced that it will spend US$ 25 million on the renovations of an old cement factory in Ghor district in northern Baghlan province.

The international companies will, after talks with the United Sates, India and the Arab States announce the starting date soon.

The Ghor Cement Factory was built in 1961 by Czechoslovakian government. At that time the factory had 736 employees. It was later partially destroyed when fighting broke out between the Mujahideen Resistance and the Soviet forces.

According to a foreman in charge, the factory aims to increase production by manufacturing 400 tons of cement a day.

The factory currently employs 527 workers and produces nearly 190 tons of cement in a day.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)

Germany Assures Support for Reconstruction of Afghanistan
Wednesday April 6, 8:13 AM Asia Pulse
KABUL, April 6 Asia Pulse - Germany on Tuesday renewed its commitment to the ongoing reconstruction of Afghanistan, ruling out an early withdrawal of its troops and assuring its continued cooperation in areas of police training and promotion of basic education.
In a free-wheeling interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, German Ambassador Dr. Rainald Steck frankly broached a whole host of subjects including the challenges posed by insurgents, the role of Afghanistan's neighbours in bringing a lasting peace to the conflict-battered country and the prevailing security situation. Here are some of the excerpts: Q: As you are aware, Germany had hosted the famous Bonn conference three years back. do you think the international community is honoring its commitments to Afghanistan made at that conference? A- I think so. After the Bonn moot, we have seen the Tokyo conference and the Berlin conference held last year. And today we are sitting together at the ongoing Afghan Development Forum in Kabul, discussing issues facing Afghanistan. It shows the international community remains committed to the post-conflict development of this country.

Q: German troops, under the rubric of ISAF, have played a key role in restoring peace and stability to Afghanistan. Will Germany send more forces to Kabul? A: Germany is the largest troop contributor to the International Assistance Security Force (ISAF), with 2,250 of its troops deployed in Kabul as part of the ISAF force, a multinational brigade, and two Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in the northern Kunduz province and the Faizabad city. I don't think we will for the time being increase the number of troops, but we will stay on and keep our commitments.

Q: Does Germany have any plan to withdraw forces from Kabul, if yes when and why? A: At the moment, there is no concrete plan to do so.

Q: Attacks on Afghan troops and coalition forces have registered a sharp rise in recent months. Do you think Afghanistan would wriggle out of the militancy quagmire any time soon? A: It's a difficult question to answer; in any case, the problems facing this country are varied and complex - terrorism, militancy and illegal militias. These problems persist despite a number of measures taken by the government - with the help of international community, coalition forces and ISAF. I think the Afghan government and its security forces - as well as the international community, ISAF and coalition forces - will have to work in tandem to address these issues. Hopefully, the problems will be resolved in the future.

Q: There is widespread perception that the Karzai administration is heavily dependent on US forces in terms of security. Do you think his government will be able to rule the country in a more effective manner after the US pullout? A: Well, I don't know how I should answer this question. You can ask the Afghan government and the US forces in this regard. I don't know whether the administration of this country is heavily dependent on foreign forces. The government of President Hamid Karzai is a democratically elected dispensation. So it is representative of the will of Afghans. Therefore, I do think, it is recognized by the majority of this country; I don't know why it should not be able to rule this country. It is already in charge; actually, I think it will continue to do so.

Q: Do you think the neighbouring countries are still meddling in Afghanistan? A: Well, I don't know that neighbouring countries are interfering in Afghanistan, which encountered the problem over the last 23 years of Soviet occupation, civil war, resistance to Taliban rule, and all that. Now Afghanistan has reached agreement with its neighbours on forging good neighbourly relations. That convention was signed two years ago.

Germans are engaged in the reconstruction process, training some personnel of the police force and border police. In this connection, we are working together with the Afghan government and the neighbouring countries to make sure management on the borders of Afghanistan is as good as possible. So I don't see any meddling.

Q: As a diplomat, how do you look at Afghanistan's transition towards democracy? A: You know, since you asked me as a diplomat. An optimist as I am, I think the future is bright. There are still a number problems - everybody knows it, the government and the international community as well. But I think these problems can be overcome. I can show you the German government is certainly honouring its commitments towards bringing about a stable democracy in Afghanistan. We will do anything we can in order to help the Afghan government make all-round progress.

Q: Your country played a key role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. What does Germany plan to do in the future for the betterment of this war-weary nation? A: We are engaged in Afghanistan in two main areas: One is the security. On which front we are taking concrete measures under the ISAF; two, our troops are part of PRTs. Also in terms of security, we are the leading the reconstruction of the Afghan police force, which is ethnically balanced. The other aspect is economic reconstruction. We have three main areas in focus - clean drinking water supply, improvement of the energy situation including renewable energy and support for the private sector in terms of small and middle-size enterprises, industries and so on. We think the private sector will play an important role in bringing long-lasting, sustainable development to Afghanistan. Ergo, we support it. We are also doing our bit in areas of promoting basic education and cultural cooperation with universities and schools. But the main focus is really on these three pillars I am talking about.

Q: How is Germany contributing to the development of an open and strong civil society in Afghanistan and what measures other countries should take to make it happen? A: It is not easy for a foreign country to contribute to the development of an open civil society elsewhere; this is something which must come from within the country. But as far as Afghanistan is concerned, I am very optimistic because I do see there is a quite active civil society in the process of being built. The process is not yet complete but there are lots of civil society organizations, political and social groups - especially women organizations. Our government and Germany-based political foundations are supporting these organizations. The second step would be to create - slowly but surely - political parties which then could contest regional and national elections.

Q: What has Germany done for the promotion of independent media in Afghanistan? A: Our contribution has a long tradition. First of all, DW Radio has broadcast here for almost 50 years. On the 19 pf March of this year, we had an FM channel broadcasting in Dari, Pashto, Urdu, English and German languages. Then we have DW TV News, produced in Germany and broadcast in Dari and Pashto through the State TV and Radio RTA. Hopefully, these programs will be transferred to Kabul; at a later stage, they will be produced here. DW has trained Afghan journalists, technical and management staff. We have been training journalists from all Afghan provinces since 2003 through an initiative called Free Press Afghanistan. We have invited a number of Afghan journalists to Germany. We do supply Afghan media technical equipment. The Germany Embassy offers a number of services to the press. For instance, we have organized for some time regular media days. We present a specific subject which might be of interest to the public in Afghanistan - for instance, the German-Afghan relations in terms of development cooperation and the German contribution to the reconstruction of the police.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)

Ambassador to Afghanistan named to Baghdad post
4/5/2005 5:07:16 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Zalmay Khalilzad, a former White House official who has served as U.S. ambassador in his native Afghanistan, was named Tuesday to take over the post in Iraq.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced his selection at a State Department ceremony, where Khalilzad pledged to work to improve the lives of Iraqis through postwar reconstruction so the country "can stand on its own feet."

Iraq "has experienced great heights across the centuries and can rise to new heights by continuing the hard work of embracing the universal ideals of freedom, representative government, individual rights and the rule of law," he said.

If confirmed by the Senate, Khalilzad would succeed John D. Negroponte as U.S. ambassador to Baghdad. President Bush has named Negroponte the U.S. intelligence chief, also subject to Senate approval.

Rice, praising Khalilzad, said that for over a year he has helped lead U.S. efforts to help millions of Afghan refugees return to their country and rebuild lives of freedom.

"Zal has certainly been effective," she said.

Khalilzad worked with Rice on Bush's national security council during the president's first term.

Afghanistan likely to have permanent US military
By Peter Spiegel in London
April 5 2005 21:47
Afghanistan's defence minister on Tuesday gave one of the clearest signs yet that Kabul is open to permanent basing of US forces in the country, saying his government was in discussions with the US that could include air bases in Afghanistan after the current nation-building process ends.

General Abdul Rahim Wardak said the details of what would constitute a long-term US presence were still under discussion. But he signalled Kabul was eager for “enduring arrangements” that could include permanent air bases or “pre-positioned” military equipment that would be used by rapidly deployed US forces in a crisis.

“We will certainly seek enduring relations and partnerships with our international friends,” Gen Wardak told a gathering of military analysts in London. “This will prevent the repetition of the catastrophic disengagement of the international community from Afghanistan in the 1990s, which cost us all so dearly.”

The discussions have been under way for several months, but both US and Afghan officials have been reluctant to discuss the issue given geopolitical sensitivities in the region, particularly in neighbouring Iran.

Senator John McCain, an influential Republican on defence issues, first hinted at such a possibility in February, when after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, he said it was his “personal view” that permanent joint bases should be established.

Last month, General Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, acknowledged during a trip to Afghanistan that the US was considering such a move. Such comments come as the US continues to expand its capabilities at its main air base in Bagram, a Soviet-era facility north of Kabul, where it is building a new runway. Bagram would be the most likely location of a permanent US presence.

Gen Wardak sought to assuage concerns of neighbouring countries of a permanent US presence, saying any agreement with the US would come at the same time Kabul attempted to secure security pacts with regional powers.

He dismissed reports that the US was using Afghanistan as a staging base to conduct reconnaissance operations in Iran. “The US has enough electronic capability to do it from anywhere else. They don't need to do it from Afghanistan.”

The US military is due this week to hand control of a civil-military unit based in the western city of Herat, close to the Iranian border, to Nato. The handover is part of a scheduled expansion of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, but may help quell rumours that the US was using the unit as a figleaf for a military build-up near Afghanistan's neighbour.

Afghan opium production has tripled: report
via Tehran Times
WASHINGTON (AP)- More than three years after installing a pro-U.S. government, Afghanistan has been unable to contain opium poppy production and is on the verge of becoming a narcotics state, a presidential report said Friday.

The report said the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation last year set a record of more than 510,000 acres, more than triple the figure for 2003.

Opium poppy is the raw material for heroin.

The Afghan narcotics situation "represents an enormous threat to world stability," the report said.

It listed opium production at 5,445 tons, 17 times more than second-place Myanmar.

The massive study, covering the state of illicit narcotics in 2004 in virtually all countries, was transmitted to Congress by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on behalf of President Bush.

Colombia remains a major drug country, the report said, despite impressive progress against narcotics trafficking.

It credited Colombia's public security forces with preventing hundreds of tons of illicit drugs from reaching the world market through interdiction, spraying of coca and poppy crops, and manual eradication.

The United States has been a major counterdrug partner of Colombia, having contributed billions of dollars to the effort since 2000.

Colombia is the source of more than 90 percent of the cocaine and 50 percent of the heroin entering the United States, the report said. It is also a leading user of precursor chemicals and the focus of significant money laundering activity.

In Afghanistan, the U.S. military deposed the Taliban government in November 2001. President Hamid Karzai has been in charge since then with strong American backing.

"Dangerous security conditions make implementing counternarcotics programs difficult and present a substantial obstacle to both poppy eradication efforts by the national government and to international efforts to provide related assistance," the report said.

Also contributing to the situation is the destruction resulting from 25 years of conflict, the lack of legitimate income streams, and the limited enforcement capacity of the national government, the report said.

A five-point plan for Afghanistan developed in the latter half of 2004 includes promotion of alternative crops for poppy farmers, ground eradication and interdiction of heroin labs and storage facilities.

The administration is proposing $780 million to help implement the plan.

The report said that with U.S. efforts, the size of illicit drug crops in the Western Hemisphere was cut significantly.

Nonetheless, the study pointed out that Bolivian coca cultivation increased 6 percent even though the government exceeded its commitment to eradicate nearly 20,000 acres of the coca crop.

On Mexico, the report credited the government of President Vicente Fox with continued "unprecedented cooperation" in combating drug flows.

The cooperation included, the report said, the arrest of numerous Mexican drug kingpins and top aides as part of an effort to dismantle major crime organizations.

However, it added, Mexico was the transit point for 90 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States from South America. It also listed Mexico as a major the producer of heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana destined for U.S. markets.

Worldwide, the United States is committing $1.2 billion to counter-narcotics activities this year.

The undersecretary of state for global affairs, Paula Dobriansky, told reporters there was significant progress globally against narcotics trafficking in 2004.

She cited Latin America and Southeast Asia as areas of progress. Nonetheless, she said, "all nations must redouble their efforts to meet the challenge posed by drug trafficking.

Making Afghanistan Green Again
The government launches a drive to plant trees throughout the country.
By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul (ARR No. 167, 04-Apr-05)
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Kabul is a drab, dun-coloured city, its formerly lush hills now lying bare under the harsh sun, the air thick with a fine, acrid dust. More than 20 years of conflict followed by a seven-year drought have decimated the city’s greenery and left its residents gasping for oxygen.

In his address to the nation to mark the start of the traditional new year on March 21, President Hamed Karzai announced a major new green offensive, in which the government will sponsor the planting of nearly 4.5 million saplings this year.

The same day, United States Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad also promised 200,000 US dollars for trees in Kabul. Meanwhile, President Bush has asked Congress for an additional 10 million dollars for reforestation in Afghanistan.

The ministry of agriculture and animal husbandry has received a grant of 80,000 dollars from the central government to plant the saplings. Deputy minister Ghulam Mustafa Jawad said that his ministry is committed to using only indigenous plants.

“Importing from other countries does not work, because foreign plants may not be compatible with Afghanistan’s weather,” he said. “We have nurseries that have been growing saplings for the past three years.”

Jawad added that there are now more than 70 government-supported nurseries, as well as some private ones that have sprung up.

“We will be able to get the four and a half million saplings domestically,” he said.

Jawad said that his ministry has decided to plant fruit-bearing and decorative trees all over the country. In addition, the ministry will subsidise sales of fruit trees to private gardeners as a way of encouraging them to repair the damage done to their own plots of land by war and drought.

“This year we are going to plant saplings in eight areas of the hills surrounding Kabul, the capital’s ‘green girdle’,” said Jawad.

Jawad added that the ministry has tasked its provincial branches throughout the country with protecting the saplings against marauding animals and the effects of weather. The planting process has been completed in the southern parts of the country, such as Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Khost, he added. In the more temperate regions the process will continue until April 20.

Dost Mohammad Amin, head of the environmental protection department, said he welcomed the planting project and the positive ecological effects he hopes it will have.

“The only way to keep the air clean is to plant trees,” Amin told IWPR.

According to Amin, last year Afghanistan received gifts of one million saplings from various countries including Pakistan, Iran and America. But 30 per cent of them died, unable to adapt to Afghanistan’s harsh climate.

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff writer in Kabul.

Female Footballers Overcome Obstacles
Afghanistan's first women’s team looks forward to performing on the international stage.
By Mohammad Jawad Sharifazda in Kabul (ARR No. 167, 04-Apr-05)
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
They practice on concrete rather than on grass, and their kit is far from uniform, but Afghanistan's premier women’s football team is looking forward to making history this summer when it plays its first international match.

Even before they step onto the pitch at the Banuwan women's competition in Iran in August, the women of Kabul Selected will have overcome more obstacles than most athletes.

The team has been playing in organised leagues for a little more than a year. When they began, most training took place behind closed doors. While they still lack the amenities available to male players, the best players from the capital's 12 girls' teams have moved into the open.

Ranging in age from 12 to 18, they train on the concrete apron next to the grass field at Kabul Athletic Stadium, where the Taleban once conducted public executions. The grass is usually reserved for male teams, so the women make do with a practice area smaller than a regulation pitch.

They wear caps and outfits in varied colours that cover them from head to toe.

Few have more than a few months' experience, but what they lack in skill they make up in enthusiasm.

Team captain Shamila, 16, has been playing for six months. She can recite a litany of obstacles that she and her teammates face, including lack of transportation to and from practices, inadequate training facilities and even the absence of snacks.

Shamila said she and her teammates would prefer to have a female coach, although they have no complaints about Abdul Saboor Walizada, 41, their current trainer, a man.

Then there are the neighbourhood gossips who can't accept the idea of female athletes.

"The neighbours haven't said anything to me directly, but my father was asked, 'Why is your daughter playing football?' " said Shamila.

"'I myself told her to play football,' my father told him,” Shamila continued with a trace of pride in her voice.

Much work still needs to be done. Kabul Selected has yet to face an opponent on a regulation football pitch and the current roster of 25 players must be reduced to 18 before their first match.

Sayed Ahmad Zia Mozafari, secretary general of the Afghan football federation, said plans are in hand to help the girls’ team, such as providing it with a proper playing field near the Wahadat High School.

The federation will also try to recruit a female trainer from Germany.

Mozafari noted that that the Federation of International Football Associations, FIFA, has pledged 35,000 US dollars to promote women's football in Afghanistan – but said the money has yet to arrive.

Mohammad Jawad Sharifazda is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Marriage Swaps Spark Tragedy
The practice of marrying off daughters to allow sons to afford a bride is sometimes doomed to failure.
By Shahabuddin Tarakhil in Kabul (ARR No. 167, 04-Apr-05)
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
It sounds like the stuff of romance: Obaidullah, a 28-year-old from Logar province, finds the woman of his dreams, Nooria, 25, but is unable to marry her because he doesn’t have the money.

So in lieu of the bride price, the young man offers to give his own sister, Sharifa, 22, in marriage to Nooria’s elder brother, Latif, 28.

Latif agrees and in short order, the families are joined by not one marriage but two.

However, this story ended in tragedy - after suffering years of abuse, both young women are being divorced by their husbands.

"Whenever my brother beats Nooria, then her brother beats me for no reason,” said Sharifa.

The custom of offering a female family member in marriage so that a male member can afford the cost of marrying his bride has been practiced for years. Since the money that has to be paid over to obtain a desirable wife can runs into thousands of dollars, female family members are sometimes seen as a handy substitute for cash.

While the practice is on the wane in the larger cities, in the provinces it continues as before.

Murad Ali Mateen, head of the Kabul family court, said that about half of the 50 divorce cases he has reviewed over the past year were the result of such exchange marriages.

“The family courts try to make peace between the two sides, using mullahs and influential elders,” he said. “But if the two sides will not reconcile, then we pave the way for divorce.”

Latif admitted he had treated his wife roughly in part because of the way the marriage was arranged.

“I didn’t get married of my own free will," he said. “My father forced me. Now my wife goes to her father's house and anywhere else she wants without permission. I would kill her, if my sister Nooria were not involved.”

Obaidullah said he has simply responded in kind, "I beat my wife because my sister is being beaten. Now that Latif is divorcing my sister, I’ll divorce his sister."

Nooria told IWPR how she had been abused because of her brother’s treatment of his wife. "Once my husband was informed that Sharifa's husband did not give her any food for one day,” she said. “So he locked me in a room for three days with nothing to eat."

Despite such treatment, Sharifa said she opposed the divorce, "I know that if he divorces me, no one else will ever marry me, and I’ll live poor and alone for the rest of my life."

Shahida Barmal, who works on women’s affairs at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, said her organisation is aware of many incidents of retaliatory violence against women involved in marriage swaps.

But she says the commission is powerless to stop the practice. “We have held many workshops on women’s rights, but women are afraid to come to them,” she said. “They fear that if their husbands find out, their lives will get even worse.”

For Nooria and Sharifa, as for thousands of other Afghan women, there will be no happy ending.

"Fathers would be better off burying their daughters alive rather than exchanging them," said Sharifa.

Shahabuddin Tarakhil in an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Drive to Get More Girls Back to School
As the school year starts, the continued campaign to encourage families to send daughters to school will have a special focus on rural areas.
By Amanullah Nasrat in Chak (ARR No. 167, 04-Apr-05)
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
As a new school year begins, a record number of children are enrolled in the country’s schools. But national and international officials know that more needs to be done, especially when it comes to providing educational opportunities for girls.

The education ministry, with help from the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF, has begun a campaign to enroll an extra 500,000 girls in schools across the country, particularly in rural districts.

Because many remote areas lack school buildings, the programme will pay for mosques and homes to be fitted out as classrooms. About 75,000 girls are already studying in such temporary schools.

The main obstacle is not a lack of facilities, however. Authorities are hoping to overcome years of prejudice by showing parents and village leaders the benefits of educating girls as well as boys.

UNICEF and the government started laying the groundwork for the education drive last October, when interviewers fanned out into remote communities to ask families why their daughters were not in school.

"What they found were actually two key things which families thought were important," UNICEF spokesman Edward Carwardine told IWPR. "One was that it was a matter of pride for an Afghan family to have an educated girl, and that most families said they would feel proud of their girls if they were educated.

"The second thing was that because this is an Islamic country, it was very clear that people believed that to be a good Muslim, you have to be able to read and write - whether you're a boy or whether you're a girl."

In practice, however, many families continue to prevent their daughters from getting an education.

“I wish my father would let me go to school," said Farida, 14, who lives in Chak in Wardak province, about 90 kilometres southwest of Kabul. "When I ask my father about school, he tells me education is not for women. Women are only for housework, and improving your life is your husband’s job, not yours."

Farida’s mother, Habiba, sides with her daughter. She hopes the government's campaign will help change her husband’s mind.

Carwardine said it would take time, particularly because the education drive is aimed at people in isolated areas. In addition to television and radio, the government is using posters and even banners strung across roads to get the message across.

"We have material for religious leaders; we have material for community leaders, we have material for speakers," said Carwardine, "so that they can then explain in their communities the importance of education.”

Rustam Faqir Zada, a senior education ministry official, said the campaign was more likely to succeed in rural areas than in heavier populated places like Kabul, which has seen an influx of thousands of refugees in recent years, many of them seeking jobs that don't exist.

“Instead of going to school, they work with their fathers and mothers in animal husbandry and carpet weaving in order to earn a living, so this campaign will have no effect on them,” he said.

Most Afghan schools open in March, and the education ministry has sent out exercise books, pens, pencils and paper for more than two million children, plus over 90,000 sets of teaching aids. Enough material for 4.3 million children is expected to be available by mid-April, according to UNICEF officials.

Nationwide, about 1.2 million girls have enrolled in primary schools since 2002, but that still leaves more than one more than million who missing school, according to UNICEF figures.

Amanullah Nasrat is an IWPR staff writer in Kabul.

Pope's words were "worth considering", says Taliban
Reuters 04/04/2005
KABUL - The leadership of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan sent a message from their hiding place on Sunday calling on Pope John Paul II's successor to use his influence to stop persecution of Muslims.

The Pope's death left leaders of the puritanical Islamist movement unmoved, but they acknowledged, in a prepared statement, listening to what he said.

"We neither express grief nor joy over the death of the Pope. Some of what he said about peace and harmony was worth considering," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi told Reuters by satellite telephone.

"We hope that his successor will try to lead his followers to the path of peace. Many of the Pope's followers want peace, but there are many others who are still committing excesses against Muslims," said Hakimi.

The Taliban were vilified in the West for their oppressive policies toward women.

U.S.-backed forces ousted the Taliban militia from power in late 2001 after it had refused to surrender al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

There are currently 18,000 U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan hunting remnants of the Taliban, along with their one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and bin Laden.

In his New Years Day sermon in 2002, Pope John Paul said: "No one, for any reason can kill in the name of God. Only forgiveness can quench the thirst for revenge and open the heart to a real and lasting reconciliation between peoples."

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai is expected to offer amnesty shortly to all but the most hard-core Taliban fighters. Meantime, the guerrillas have stepped up a campaign of violence.

Rice sees big change in Pakistan under Musharraf
The News International, Pakistan
WASHINGTON: There is a "night and day" difference in Pakistan nowadays compared with almost four years ago, when the country backed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and was a "very, very high penetration" by Islamic extremists, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday.

Pakistan is "150 degrees" from where it was, Rice said in an interview with The Associated Press. She also noted that during the earlier period Pakistan and India were on the verge of conflict and "Pakistan had not made the strategic choice between extremism and modernity."

Rice also pointed out that Pakistani military forces were fighting for the first time in Federally Administered Tribal Areas. "You have to say that in three and a half years, President (Pervez) Musharraf has done a lot," she said.

She said the United States will move cautiously in releasing terror suspects in the Guantanamo Bay prison to guard against freeing those who might strike again. "This is a delicate balance," Rice said. In a handful of cases of released prisoners, "we met them again on the battlefield".

At the same time, Rice said the Bush administration wants to send certain prisoners back to their home countries if it can be determined that they truly do not pose a danger. "If there is a case to release them, we don’t just want to permanently imprison people either," she said.

On Syria’s pledge to withdraw all remaining troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon, Rice said: "You always need to be on guard, because words and deeds don’t always match with the Syrians."

And on U.S. intelligence lapses, she declined to say whether anyone should be fired following a presidential commission’s harsh criticism of US spy agencies’ findings before the war with Iraq.

"That’s not my call," Rice declared. "There are no guarantees where intelligence is concerned, particularly when you are dealing with opaque and difficult societies like the ones that tend to want weapons of mass destruction."

Rice rejected the idea that continuing attacks on US-led forces in Iraq were due to the troops’ presence in the country two years after Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled. The notion that attackers’ were motivated only by anger at the United States "just isn’t right," Rice said.