Afghanistan News August 17, 2005

August 17, 2005

Bomb kills policeman, 16 wounded in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed an Afghan policeman and wounded 16 others on Wednesday in the southern city of Kandahar, police said.

The blast hit the police vehicle in a crowded area of the city, police said.

Officials said the bomb was triggered by remote control and blamed Taliban insurgents for carrying out the attack. No Taliban member could be immediately reached for comment.

On Tuesday, eight Afghan troops were wounded in a similar attack in adjacent Uruzgan province.

Two U.S. military personnel were wounded in a clash with insurgents in the eastern province of Kunar on Tuesday, the U.S. military said in a statement in Kabul.

Eastern and southern parts of Afghanistan have been the scene of a series of attacks by Taliban and their hardline Islamic allies in recent weeks ahead of next month's parliamentary polls.

Hundreds of people, mostly militants, have been killed in those areas since March, the bloodiest violence since the Taliban's fall in 2001.

Spanish Defense Minister Arrives In Afghanistan
17 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono arrived in Afghanistan today to visit the site where a helicopter crashed killing 17 NATO peacekeepers from Spain.

Bono has not ruled out that the chopper might have been brought down by hostile fire. It crashed on 16 August during an exercise near the western city of Herat.

There were no survivors.

A second helicopter that carried Spanish troops flying nearby made an emergency landing that slightly wounded five soldiers.

The helicopters were involved in an exercise ahead of Afghan parliamentary polls next month.

Spanish witnesses say helicopter was attacked, minister cites strong winds
MADRID (AFP) - A Spanish military helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan killing all 17 soldiers aboard may have been blown off course by strong winds, a government minister who visited the crash site said, while eyewitnesses quoted in the press said the aircraft had been attacked.

Defence Minister Jose Bono, who left for Afghanistan after the crash on Tuesday and later flew over the site near the western city of Herat, told Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Wednesday that there were no obvious signs that the helicopter had been attacked.

"The specialists in charge of the investigation cannot see any signs pointing to an attack from outside, but the existence of strongly gusting winds in that area at the time of the tragedy ... could be the cause, and that is the most likely hypothesis," Bono said in a statement made over a video link and released by the Spanish government in Madrid.

"No hypothesis can be ruled out," he said however.

Earlier, Spanish newspapers quoted accounts from soldiers who were in a second Spanish helicopter, which made an emergency landing just after the first one crashed, injuring five of the soldiers on board.

"We all felt a strong impact, like an explosion, and our helicopter began turning until it fell to the ground," said an unnamed soldier who was among the five injured, and who was interviewed by phone by the La Voz de Galicia newspaper.

"The others, the ones in front, must have been hit full blast," he was quoted as saying.

"When we came down, their aircraft was already burning."

Also in La Voz de Galicia, a parent of one of the dead soldiers was quoted as saying that they had received a call from the pilot of the second craft, informing them of the death of their son.

"Their helicopter was shot down. They were fired on from the ground, they were attacked," the pilot was quoted as telling the family.

The paper said that 10 of the 17 Spaniards who died in the incident were from Galicia, a region in the northwest of the country.

Most Spanish media meanwhile reported that only a few seconds before the crash, the pilots of the two craft were apparently unaware of any problems.

Six seconds before the incident, the pilots of the second helicopter asked the other over the radio how things were going.

"Great," replied the pilot of the aircraft which went down.

In Kabul, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), to which the Spanish troops were attached, said: "We still believe it was an accident, we don't believe it was hostile fire." However he added that the cause was not yet known.

A Spanish diplomat meanwhile told the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Brussels that Spanish investigators, who have been put in charge of studying the tragedy, were working on the hypothesis of a technical problem, but had not ruled out an attack.

The Spaniards were on a training exercise ahead of upcoming parliamentary polls in Afghanistan.

Six enemy killed near Deh Rahwod
August 16, 2005 Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs)
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan –Afghan and U.S. forces killed six enemy forces after militants fired at a forward operating base near the city of Deh Rahwod in southern Afghanistan Aug. 14.

The militants engaged the FOB with small arms and rockets. Afghan National Army and U.S. forces returned fire with small arms and called for close air support. They also captured one light machine gun, four assault rifles and one radio.

“Afghan and U.S. forces are engaging and killing the enemies of Afghanistan at every turn,” said Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara Combined Joint Task Force-76 spokesperson. “It has been proven, time after time, that the enemies of Afghanistan cannot stand face to face with Afghan and U.S. forces and expect to be successful.”

There were no Afghan or U.S. forces injured in the incident.

21 suspected Taliban insurgents killed in S. Afghanistan
KABUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Clean up operations and gun fires conducted by Afghan and US troops in the troubled southern provinces of Afghanistan late in the weekend led to the elimination of 21 suspected Taliban insurgents including their commander and detaining five others, a defense ministry statement received Tuesday said.

"Personnel of Afghan National army (ANA) in a mop up launched in Khawja Baghzari district of Zabul province, took the lives of 16 Taliban militias including commander Mullah Nasirullah," it said.

Five more Taliban operatives were killed in Deh Rawad district of the neighboring Uruzgan province when they came in contact with the US and Afghan troops on the same day at 9:20 a.m.

"Five more insurgents were captured from Wazokhaw district of Paktika province on Sunday and a quantity of arms and ammunitions including three kalashnikovs were also recovered from their possession," the statement asserted.

Zabul, Uruzgan, Paktika and the neighboring provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Khost and Paktia, the former bases of Taliban, have been the scene of increasing hit-and-run attacks since early this year during which over 500 including rebels, Afghan and US troops as well pro-government figures had been killed.

Afghanistan's Taliban threatens to kill kidnapped Lebanese engineer
Tue Aug 16, 5:55 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Taliban militants threatened to kill a kidnapped Lebanese engineer if his Turkish construction company fails to leave Afghanistan within 24 hours.

The engineer, Ahmed Reza, was abducted on Monday near Qalat, the capital of the restive southeastern Zabul province, local officials said on Tuesday.

"If the Turkish company he works for will not leave or prepare for leaving we will kill this engineer" by 12:00 pm (0730 GMT) on Wednesday, Abdul Latif Hakimi, the ousted regime's purported spokesman told AFP.

Some of Hakimi's claims have proved unreliable or exaggerated in the past.

A number of engineers working on construction projects in Afghanistan's restive south and east have been kidnapped by militants.

Hostage-takers killed a Turkish road worker in December last year in the eastern province of Kunar during an abortive rescue attempt by Afghan forces.

Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni was kidnapped and then released by a criminal gang in the Afghan capital Kabul this May, although her abduction was not thought to have any link with Islamic militants.

Three United Nations workers were abducted from the centre of the capital, Kabul, and held for nearly a month before being released unharmed in late 2004.

As Afghanistan approaches landmark September parliamentary elections, Taliban loyalists and their Al-Qaeda allies have stepped up attacks on US and Afghan troops and softer targets such as aid and reconstruction workers.

Afghans turn in cache to U.S. forces
August 16, 2005 Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs)
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan -- Members of the Helmand Province Governor Security Task Force turned in a large cache of ammunition to the Lashkar Gah Provincial Reconstruction Team Aug. 14.

The cache consisted of 172 rockets, 123 mortar rounds and six tank rounds.

The Afghan Task Force members recovered the cache in a village northeast of Lashkar Gah. This is the first time Governor Security Forces in the Helmand Province have turned in a cache to coalition forces. It is also the largest the PRT has received in the past three months.

“Munitions such as these are dangerous and unstable and pose a great threat to the people living and working near then,” said Capt. Fidel Arvelo, officer in charge of the PRT’s explosive ordnance control team. “We applaud the efforts of security forces that are doing the right thing by turning these dangerous items to us for safe destruction.”

Coalition forces reported a 25 percent increase in the number of cache’s recovered by Afghans and Afghan forces as compared to this time last year.

Afghan Press Monitor
Published by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (No 132, 14-15 Aug 05)
14 Aug 05 Leading Taleban figure killed
(Hewad) Qari Ahmadullah, a prominent Taleban commander, has been killed in Paktika province in recent clashes. He was believed to have led more than 500 fighters in Paktika. He bears the same name as the Taleban's intelligence chief, but neither the Afghan government nor US officials have confirmed whether the same man is involved. US forces said Ahmadullah's death would have a powerful effect on the Taleban's operations in this part of Afghanistan.

(Hewad is a state run daily mostly in Pashto.)

Pakistanis find alleged Taleban spokeman

(Islah)Mohammad Yassar, who claimed to be a spokesman for the Taleban movement, was arrested in Pakistan on August 11. Yassar, 65, was arrested on the Mardan to Naw Shar highway by intelligence officers, according to reports. He had been living in areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border since the fall of the Taleban regime in 2001. Pakistani officials have not issued a statement about his arrest, but members of his family have already spoken to reporters.

(Islah is a state-run daily mostly in Dari.)

Three arrested in Helmand for Taleban links

(Anis)Police arrested two Taleban fighters and a man suspected of links to the movement in the Nawzad district of Helmand province on August 13. According to interior ministry's press office, the two known insurgents were Mullah Noorulhaq and Mullah Qasem. Police found a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a remote-control mine on the men.

(Anis is state-run daily published mostly in Dari.)

Former Ghazni governor arrested

(Arman-e-Milli) The Afghan National Army, ANA, and US-led Coalition Forces have detained a former governor of Ghazni, Maulavi Taj Mohammad (also known as Qari Baba) after conducting a joint assauot on his house in the Andar district. During the mujahedin period, Taj Mohammad was a commander with the Harakat-e-Inqilab-e-Islami faction. In the early Nineties, he held the post of governor of Ghazni province, a job he also served in briefly under President Hamed Karzai. A senior officer with the ANA's [203rd] Thunder Corps said Taj Mohammad had been arrested for keeping a large quantity of illegal weapons in his house. The police chief in Andar district confirmed the incident, adding that two of Taj Mohammad's grandsons had also been arrested.

(Arman-e-Milli is an independent daily run by a group of journalists.)

Candidates again urged to turn in weapons

(Outlook) The Afghan National Army has warned candidates in Nangarhar province that they must turn in any weapons they possess to the government ahead of the elections slated for September 18. General Aminullah Patiyani, corps commander for the eastern provinces, said on August 13 that anyone who was found to be still in possession of arms after being elected to the National Assembly or the provincial councils would be stripped of their mandate. The warning came shortly after former police chief in Nangarhar had surrendered a large amount of weapons. However, parliamentary hopeful Malik Mohammad Hassan Kamalzai claimed that many of his fellow-candidates still held weapons illegally.

(Outlook is an independent daily published in English.)

Alleged kidnapper denies army officer assisted his escape

(Cheragh) Timor Shah, the alleged kidnapper of Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni, has said he made no deal to secure his release from police custody last week. The interior ministry has said that that a general in the Afghan National Army helped Timor Shah to escape after he had been arrested by police. The officer is accused of taking a bribe and is now under investigation in custody. Timor Shah - now back on the run - denies paying money to anyone. A kidnap gang released Cantoni in late May after police freed Timor Shah's mother from detention.

(Cheragh is an independent daily run by the Development and Democracy Association.)

Land dispute leaves one dead in Paktia

(The Kabul Times) One man has been killed and two injured in a clash between two tribes involved in a land dispute in the southern province of Paktia. Provincial security chief Ghulam Nabi Salem said the firefight erupted between the Darawal and Daulatzai tribes, some 10 kilometres from the regional centre Gardez on the morning of August 13. Gunfire continued until four in the afternoon, when police intervened. Salem said the dead and injured all belonged to the Darawal, and he said about 60 people including armed men from both sides had been taken into custody. A similar dispute the day before in neighbouring Khost province, involving nomadic Kuchis and members of the Matun tribe, left about a dozen people injured.

(The Kabul Times is a state-run paper published in English every other day.)

Two die in Nangarhar flooding

(Erada) Floods in Nangarhar province have washed away two people and hundreds of animals and damaged farmlands and houses. According to local officials, the Haska Mina, Rodat, Chaparhar Lalpur and Mohmand Dara districts were all badly hit by the flooding. Nazir Jan, a resident of Mohmand Dara, said a woman had been killed as the result of the previous night's flooding in his neighbourhood. Haji Naeem Shinwari, the district chief in Pachiragam, said the floodwaters swept away a man and more than 100 animals, and washed over hundreds of acres of farmland. Nangarhar suffered heavy losses in similar flooding just two months ago.

(Erada is an independent daily run by the Afghan Media and Resource Center.)

15 Aug 05

Ten Taleban killed over three days

(Outlook) At least 10 suspected members of the Taleban militia have been killed and 14 others detained in the past three days, according to Afghan and US military sources. On August 11, troops of the Afghanistan National Army killed six suspected Taleban members and captured 13 others in the Wazokhah district of Paktika province, a press release from the Afghan defence ministry said. US-led Coalition Forces reported at least four Taleban insurgents killed and one captured in August 12 incidents in Urozgan and Kabul respectively.

(Outlook is an independent daily published in English.)

Joint operation leaves three Taleban dead in Urozgan

(Cheragh) Three insurgents were killed and two Afghan policemen wounded in a firefight near Deh Rahwod in Urozgan province on August 12. The fight occurred as Afghan and US forces patrolling the area came into contact with an unknown number of militants. One of the militants was detained. "Afghan and US forces are experiencing tremendous success against the enemies of Afghanistan," said Sergeant-Major Luniasolua Savusa of Combined Joint Task Force-76 Command. "Our combined forces will continue to bring the fight to the enemies of peace, to not let up and to ensure Afghans across this nation have a safe and secure future," added Savusa.

(Cheragh is an independent daily run by the Development and Democracy Association.)

Suspected opium smuggler arrested on Herat road

(Arman-e-Milli) Police arrested a suspected drug smuggler and seized 96 kilograms of opium on the Herat-Badghis highway on August 13. According to Noorjan Nikzad, press officer at police headquarters in Herat, the alleged smuggler, named Hamidullah, had the opium in his vehicle when he was detained by police in Karukh district. Hamidullah is a resident of Sangin district in Helmand province, and is believed to have been planning to take the drugs to Herat and then on to Iran or Turkmenistan. Nesar Ahmad Paikar, head of the anti-crime branch of Herat police, noted that drug smuggling has recently increased in Herat, which serves as an export route for illegal substances.

(Arman-e-Milli is an independent daily run by a group of Journalists.)

Militia chief in Khost changes sides

(Hewad) A militia commander in Khost province has gone over to the government side. Addressing a meeting at the provincial administration to mark his change of allegiances, Maulavi Shamsurrahman said, "I had been against the government for some time, but after I saw that the government has taken effective steps in all respects. such as ensuring peace and stability and reconstructing our war-ravaged country, I decided to join the government." Mirajuddin Patan, the governor of Khost province, urged all dissident field commanders to come over to the government.

(Hewad is a state run daily mostly in Pashto.)

Armed robbers prowl Kunduz

(Erada) Residents of the Archi and Khanabad districts of Kunduz province are complaining that armed robbers are breaking into their houses at night to steal money and property, and are even taking cars in broad daylight. But security officials say the disarmament process has been intensified in these two districts and the crime problem will be resolved soon. According to Abdul Ghafar, head of the anti-crime branch of Kunduz police headquarters, crime has decreased by 70 per cent in the last year, with the collection of weapons has began a month ago the key reason for the decrease.

(Erada is an independent daily run by the Afghan Media and Resource Centre.)

Arms cache attributed to Taleban

(Anis) Officers of the National Security Directorate have discovered an arms cache in the Bala Koo area of Mahipar, between Kabul and Jalalabad. According to a source in the directorate, the arms were dumped by Taleban insurgents in preparation for attacks during the forthcoming parliamentary election. The weapons have been transferred to Kabul.

(Anis is a state-run daily published mostly in Dari.)

Eight million dollars for Sar-e-Pul reconstruction

(Islah) Some eight million US dollars has been allocated for reconstruction of the northern Sar-e-Pul province, from the National Solidarity Programme. The funding was decided after a government delegation including Rehabilitation and Rural Development Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Refugees and Repatriation Minister Mohammad Azam Dadfar and Frontier and Tribal Affairs Minister Abdul Karim Brahui went to Sar-e-Pul to evaluate the problems facing people, such as the shortage of roads, electricity, drinking water, health clinics and schools.

(Islah is a state-run daily mostly in Dari.)

Afghanistan faces more Taliban violence - U.N. report
Wednesday August 17, 4:28 AM
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A resurgent Taliban, a rampant drug trade and persistent corruption are hampering Afghanistan's reconstruction and threatening next month's elections, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday.

The country urgently needs extra funding to prevent any further delay in parliamentary and provincial elections now set for Sept. 18, Annan said. The elections were originally expected in October 2004.

With the elections just weeks away, some $31 million is needed to avoid any slippage in the technical preparations for the elections, the U.N. leader said in his latest progress report on the central Asian nation of some 30 million people.

International donors have already contributed $8.4 billion to help Afghanistan rebuild and establish itself as a democracy after decades of violence. U.S.-led forces ousted the country's former Taliban rulers for harboring al Qaeda leaders following deadly Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Afghans chose Hamid Karzai as their president last October in an election that took place in relative calm and with few serious irregularities.

Annan said the country faces a worrying resurgence of violence despite the presence of 8,000 peacekeepers under NATO command and about 18,000 U.S. troops.

"Afghanistan today is suffering from a level of insecurity, especially in the south and parts of the east, not seen since the departure of the Taliban," his report said. "There have been troubling indications that remnants of the Taliban and other extremist groups are reorganizing."

'NO SIMPLE ANSWER'

Bombings and mine explosions in May were up 40 percent from the previous year in the south and southeast, Annan said.

He blamed the increase on extremist groups -- some claiming allegiance to the Taliban and al Qaeda -- extending their attacks beyond international targets to local community leaders and pro-government clerics.

Afghanistan is also struggling with a thriving drug trade, corruption and a weak economy as it inches toward democratic parliamentary rule and a sound legal system, the report said.

"The money generated from narcotics production and trafficking is used to fund crime, corruption, illegal armed groups and extremist elements," Annan said. Afghanistan is the world's largest opium producer, supplying nearly 87 percent of the world's supply, according to the United Nations.

The drug trade accounts for about 60 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product, hampering legitimate economic growth. The economy grew 7.5 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund, below the country's recovery target of 9 percent.

Government revenues are expected to average less than $400 million per year until 2008, less than half of the projected spending on public-sector salaries and operations, Annan said. The government is not expected to cover its own costs until 2013.

"There is no simple answer to the problems of extremist violence and terrorism," he said. "The government of Afghanistan must do its share to address them, in particular by tackling forcefully official corruption and ineffectiveness, which undermine the population's confidence in government institutions."

Afghanistan: Protect Women Candidates
16 Aug 2005 21:50:13 GMT Source: Human Rights Watch
(New York, August 17, 2005)-As campaigning begins for the September 18 polls for parliament and provincial councils, the Afghan government and international monitors must take special measures to protect women from attacks and intimidation by the Taliban and regional warlords, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Afghanistan's official election campaigning period kicks off today.

Human Rights Watch said that key measures to protect women candidates include improving complaint procedures and organizing direct coordination between security forces and the candidates.

"Women candidates in Afghanistan are courageously defying the Taliban, warlords, and conservative social norms that exclude them from public life," said Nisha Varia, Asia Researcher in the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "The Afghan government, election observers, and peacekeeping forces can make a difference in women candidates' safety and confidence by responding quickly to complaints of intimidation."

The 28-page report, "Campaigning against Fear: Women's Participation in Afghanistan's 2005 Elections," is based on dozens of interviews with women candidates and election workers during the past month. Human Rights Watch details the challenges confronting Afghanistan's 582 women candidates, who make up approximately 10 percent of the total 5,800 candidates.

Human Rights Watch said that a pervasive atmosphere of fear persists for women involved in politics and women's rights in Afghanistan, despite significant improvements in women's lives since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. In the south and the east of the country, Taliban forces have reemerged and are trying to disrupt the elections, while in other areas local military commanders seek to influence election results and intimidate voters and women candidates, who often are not aligned with parties.

One female parliamentary candidate in the eastern city of Jalalabad told Human Rights Watch, "I feel frightened. I am not afraid of Al Qaeda, I am afraid of commanders who are candidates."

"It is no surprise women are worried about their security, with warlords and human rights abusers on the final candidate lists," said Varia.

Human Rights Watch said that the September 18 elections for the lower house of parliament (Wolesi Jirga) and provincial councils are likely to witness increased levels of threats and intimidation compared to last year's presidential elections, given the greater number of candidates and the local power at stake. The security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated in recent months, including the shooting of a female election worker, the murder of a woman accused as "an American spy" by the Taliban on August 10, and the assassination of six pro-government clerics, likely by the Taliban.

"There are two main threats around the polls-warlords who want to dominate the elections through any means necessary," said Varia. "And there is the increasingly active Taliban, who have pledged to disrupt the election process itself."

Human Rights Watch said that the failure of international donor countries to match the shortfall in Afghanistan's election budget and to provide adequate security throughout the country may adversely affect women's participation during the campaign period and on election day.

Under Afghanistan's constitution and election laws, 25 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament (Wolesi Jirga) and the provincial councils are reserved for women. Approximately 12 percent of the candidates for the Wolesi Jirga, 328 out of 2707, are women.

Proportionally fewer women announced candidacies for the provincial councils, where pressure from local commanders and restrictive social norms will likely be greater than the national-level Wolesi Jirga in Kabul. Only 8 percent of the candidates for the provincial councils, 247 out of a total 3025, are women. In southern and eastern provinces with high levels of insecurity and resurgent Taliban forces, five reserved seats for women in provincial councils will stay empty because of a lack of women candidates.

The report describes how women candidates confront numerous challenges to equal participation, including access to information, free movement around the country, few guarantees for physical safety, and lack of financial resources compared to men.

"Public outreach is often much riskier for women candidates. They encounter greater barriers than men if they choose to print their photographs on campaign posters, travel to conservative rural areas, or deliver public speeches," said Varia. "Unfortunately, the lack of security means that many women candidates may curtail their campaigning."

Human Rights Watch said that the United States and its NATO allies should expand the mandate of international security forces toward disarming militias and protecting targeted groups such as women and independent political actors. The Afghan authorities should fully investigate threats, harassment and attacks against all candidates, and they must prosecute the perpetrators.

Select personal accounts featured in the report:

Security is different for men and women. Men candidates have put their pictures everywhere in the bazaar. Women candidates can't do that, because they are afraid. Somebody might come during the night and kill them. Anything can happen. Warlords are ruling. They can do anything they want. Commanders have lots of guns.

─Woman Wolesi Jirga candidate, Kandahar province, July 27, 2005

I am afraid of going to Kalafghan district of Takhar province. I also don't want to go to Chal district. They are remote areas and lots of commanders stand [as candidates] from there. I don't walk out of my house by myself. I go everywhere with my father and brother.

─Woman provincial council candidate, Takhar province, August 7, 2005

Security has always been a concern since the fall of the Taliban. This recommendation has been repeated many times. But the government should come up with the mechanisms to ensure security. They say women are free. But they cannot just say they give rights to women, they have to ensure it. They have to make the environment safe and secure.

─Woman election worker, Kabul, August 10, 2005