Afghanistan News December 15, 2005

December 15, 2005

Afghan parliament to convene for the first time in 30 years
Thu Dec 15, 2:51 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan's parliament convenes on Monday for the first time in 30 years, signalling the return to the political foreground of warlords responsible for decades of ruinous conflict, and the arrival of women.

It will be another milestone for the country following the adoption of a new constitution, last year's presidential election and September's legislative vote, all made possible with the toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001.

But despite the political reforms and the support of the international community and its military, notably the United States, the situation in the country remains precarious and threatened by growing insecurity, corruption and the trafficking of drugs.

There is much that is still unclear about the new parliament, which will have 249 seats in the lower house and 102 in the upper house.

Even details for its first sessions have not yet been finalised, according to MPs at an orientation course this week.

Monday's opening will be a ceremony of government officials and foreign dignitaries with the parliament likely adjourned immediately afterwards until January when it will sit for two weeks, they said.

After a break for February's harsh winter, it is expected to convene again in March.

What is clear though is that the body will have wide-ranging powers, particularly the lower house (Wolesi Jirga) which will be able take decisions on matters of national sovereignty, alter the constitution, approve the budget, reject government appointments and even put the president on trial.

What is still to be seen is whether the president will find majority support in both houses.

"Karzai needs a majority at the parliament because he's in a sensitive position: in the provinces, people are angry because of slow reconstruction, despite billions of dollars of international aid, the rise of prices and corruption," said analyst and former minister Hamidullah Tarzi.

The allegiances within the parliament are difficult to determine because of the absence of political parties.

Alliances could form along the lines of pro- or anti-Karzai camps, or ethnic loyalties with the Pashtuns -- the president's own group -- in the majority and traditionally in power, analysts said.

Or the divisions may be historic, given the high presence of mujahedin and with at least 25 percent of seats taken up by women, a revolution in a country that once hid them from public view.

MP Shukria Barakzai played down suggestions factions would emerge that would hinder the work of the national assembly.

"At first there will be ethnic divides but soon the atmosphere will change and I think the majority of the MPs will try to work with the government and to push for reforms ... to establish law and security in the country," she said.

"We want to start working as soon as possible," she added.

But analysts said it could take months before the parliament will be able to get down to its business of working on laws, with most parliamentarians coming from a tribal background that has little to do with Western democracy.

"Only 10 to 12 percent of those elected really know how parliament functions," said National Democratic Institute analyst Neik Mohammed Kabuli.

"They are first going to think about their own personal benefits, then of their province and lastly of the interest of the country."

"All that could help corruption for the profit of the government or of drugs barons who have their representatives in parliament," he said.

Once they do begin work, one of the main topics facing the new MPs will be delicate questions about the destitute country's future links with the international community on which it is heavily dependent.

The matter will be the subject of a conference in London early next year.

Another important question will be how to deal with human rights abuses committed in Afghanistan's decades of conflict, with some of the new MPs accused of war crimes.

Suicide bomber kills self near shrine, donkey explodes in northern Afghanistan
Associated Press December 14, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber blew himself up near a major shrine in a northern Afghanistan city Wednesday, and a donkey carrying a land mine exploded near a foreign aid agency's car in a separate incident, police said.

In Faizabad, on Afghanistan's northeastern fringe, the donkey carrying a mine on its back exploded on a main road near a German aid agency's vehicle but caused no injuries, said Shah Jahan Noori, the chief of police in Badakhshan province.

He said terrorists were suspected, but further details were not available.

Earlier Wednesday, a bomber with explosives wrapped around his body blew himself up in a park beside a large shrine in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province. He was outside the shrine when the explosives went off, according to Sheir Jahn Durani, spokesman for the local police.

The bomber's motive was not immediately clear. There were no other injuries.

Mazar-e-Sharif, in the country's far northern region, has been spared much of the violence that has wracked southern and eastern parts of the country.

But a roadside bomb tore through a vehicle carrying NATO-led peacekeepers there late last month, killing two Swedish soldiers. On Oct. 29, gunmen killed a British soldier and wounded five others by firing at their vehicle.

AFGHANISTAN: Earthquake destroyed 200 homes in northeast
14 Dec 2005 15:40:23 GMT
KABUL, 14 December (IRIN) - At least 10 people, including three children, were injured and 200 homes destroyed when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit northeastern Afghanistan early on Tuesday, officials at the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred in the remote Hindu Kush region of northeastern Afghanistan. It struck shortly before 02:30 local time.

The quake, felt in several Pakistani cities, including Muzaffarabad and Balakot, as well as in India's capital, New Delhi, came after October's massive regional quake of 7.6 magnitude, which killed more than 80,000 people in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir and more than 1,200 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The quake's epicentre was about 100 km southeast of Faizabad, capital of Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province. The tremor shook large parts of eastern and northern Afghanistan and was felt in the capital Kabul.

"The quake hit Shahr-i-Buzurg and Keran-o Munjan districts of Badakhshan injuring 10 people and killing 400 domestic animals," Yousuf Stanizai, spokesman for the interior ministry said, adding they were still trying to contact remote parts of Badakhshan for more information on casualties and damage.

"The quake destroyed around 200 homes in both Shahr-i-Buzurg and Keran-o Munjan districts," Stanizai noted.

The last major earthquake to hit Afghanistan was in March 2002. The epicentre was in the south of Badakhshan province and killed nearly 2,000 people.

AFGHANISTAN: World Bank provides US $80 million for government support
14 Dec 2005
KABUL, 14 December (IRIN) - The Word Bank approved a grant of US $80 million to support post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

"The programme supported by the grant is at the core of the government's objective to build an accountable and effective state. This is critical for successful poverty reduction," Jean Mazurelle, the bank's country manager for Afghanistan, noted in a press release.

The government has made significant progress in implementing important economic reforms since the World Bank financed the first Programmatic Support for Institution Building project in July 2004. Notable among these achievements are improvements in fiscal standards, the adoption of a modern civil service, construction of an appropriate budget, the adoption of procurement laws and the initiation of a merit-based recruitment process, the bank stressed in its statement.

Economic growth in the post-Taliban period has been strong – albeit from a very weak starting point - reaching 8 percent in 2004, and is projected to reach 14 percent in 2005, while inflation and the exchange rate have remained under control, the bank has said.

"While recognising the challenges facing Afghanistan and its government, this grant builds on encouraging signs of progress toward stronger government capacity and sound economic management," said Stephane Guimbert, World Bank economist and team leader for the project.

The World Bank has contributed over $900 million to post-war Afghanistan since 2002 with the major component being soft loans.

In a September 2005 review of its programme in Afghanistan, the bank highlighted that the issue of weak capacity within the fledgling government - notably to carry out the legal reform agenda - should inform the design of subsequent assistance programmes.

Afghanistan destroys 181 heroin labs
2005-12-14 20:09:01
KABUL, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The government of Afghanistan in its war on drugs has destroyed over 180 heroin labs and 200 tons of narcotics in the past year, Deputy Interior Minister on narcotics Mohammad Daud said Wednesday.

"Personnel of Counter-Narcotics Force have discovered and destroyed 181 heroin labs and 200 tons of illicit drugs across the country over the past one year," Daud told journalists at a pressconference here.

During the year 649 persons have been arrested on charge of drug smuggling while over 400 cases have been investigated, he added.

His remarks came amid concerns at the United Nations circles that the poppy cultivation would further grow next year.

Daud rejected the concerns as groundless, saying the Afghan government is committed to eliminating poppy cultivation in the country.

Doris Buddenberg, the representative of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan, has predicted a new surge in the poppy production in Afghanistan next year.

The Afghan Ministry for Counter Narcotics also spurned the concern as baseless.

The Ministry of Counter Narcotics found recent remarks of the UNODC representative to Afghanistan about the increase of poppy cultivation in 2006 as irresponsible. The ministry strongly calledon the world body to avoid remarks that create confusion among Afghan public, the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

A survey conducted by Afghanistan and UN early this year indicated 21 percent drop in poppy cultivation.

Under a strategy initiated by the Afghan government in May 2003,poppy cultivation in the country would be reduced by 75 percent by 2008.

Job Creation Key to Fighting Terrorism, Says Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister
Source: Embassy- Canada, December 14th, 2005 By Sarah McGregor
The government of Afghanistan needs to curb the illicit drug trade if it wants to reap economic benefits, say IMF and Carleton professor.

Mahmoud Saikal slips in a half hour media interview while a handful of Ottawa-area entrepreneurs break for tea and figs. Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister of Economic Affairs is convening a business seminar in the living room of the country's official residence in Ottawa.

Meeting with high-level government officials and small-time shop owners, Mr. Saikal is on a frenzied dash to promote economic recovery in one of the world's poorest and most unstable nations.

"Undoubtedly, the elements of threat are still there. But at the same time, we firmly believe we've reached a turning point," says Mr. Saikal. "If we ignore the economic, trade and commercial activities, I don't think we'll see the further enhancement of security itself."

Mr. Saikal was in Ottawa last week as NATO announced an expansion of 6,000 more troops in southern Afghanistan, the country's most volatile region. Days ago, it was the scene of a bloody bomb attack on three Canadian soldiers and a journalist, which destroyed the vehicle that carried them.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de hoop Scheffer, in announcing the military expansion, also called on the European Union, the United Nations and G-8 countries to renew their financial commitments to Afghanistan for economic development.

Mr. Saikal says the nearly 9,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission and separate force of almost 20,000 U.S. troops are essential in eliminating the terrorist threat. He says their presence has already secured "80 to 90 per cent of the country," and will pave the way for prosperity.

With an elected government in place, politicians like Mr. Saikal are now promising financial prudence to citizens who had been forced under Taliban rule to survive on a subsistence economy and local trade. The nation had little infrastructure and no manufacturing base at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, which led to the overthrow of the Taliban.

Mr. Saikal explains that rooting out violence that persists in some regions is a parallel priority to creating employment for the impoverished people.

"Where we have poverty the terrorists can go and recruit. When you have young men with no income, it's very easy for Osama bin Laden's men to offer them monthly pay," says Mr. Saikal. "But if we create jobs, and an income for them, we are fighting terrorism."

Development spending is a key job creator, says Mr. Saikal, but he calls agriculture the "backbone" of the economy.

He says prospective infrastructure projects in irrigation, a gas pipeline between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the creation of power grids pose long-term employment opportunities.

Afghan authorities are tasked with eliminating the country's illegal opium trade; which is no small task as poppy cultivation is the leading wealth generator. It accounts for about half of the country's gross domestic product, according to the Embassy of Afghanistan in Ottawa. The CIA World Fact Book's latest figures show Afghanistan's GDP was $21.5 billion in 2003.

The International Monetary Fund reported this month that Afghanistan's economy could expand by 14 per cent next year with favourable agriculture growing conditions and a boom in construction. But the country faces "lingering insecurity, the effects of the illegal opium industry activities and poor infrastructure and institutions," reports the IMF.

Dane Rowlands, associate professor of Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, says the smooth functioning of the Afghanistan's economy hinges on the government's ability to curb the illicit drug trade. "The more it takes root, the more difficult it's going to be build a national economy," he says.

Mr. Rowland points out that the recruitment of bored youth to terrorists groups is an unfortunate reality because so many people are unemployed in Afghanistan. He also notes that the country faces a geographical challenge, being landlocked and without an industrial foundation on which to build.

"I think in the short term the best they can hope for is a gradual development of the institutions: the courts, the banks. That will facilitate investment and give security. The second side is to provide security at least in the region where people will undertake economic activity," he says.

An international conference in London between Jan. 31-Feb.1, 2006 will likely have at its central theme institutional reform aimed at bolstering security, good governance and economic development in Afghanistan.

At the event, Afghan President Hamed Karzai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will launch an "Afghanistan Compact" that includes a five-year economic development plan that is in the midst of completion.

Mr. Saikal says he hopes there to collect money pledged by donor governments and to secure new funding for the future.

He is also urging nations to put more resources under the control of the fledging government, rather than in the hands of aid groups. "We are hoping to see future funding go through the government because we are in the front seat. We are the ones at the end of the day that will receive blame if things go wrong," he says. In the meantime, Mr. Saikal is looking to promote trade and economic cooperation with neighbouring countries and around the world.

Jobs vs. efficiency as Afghan Ma Bell goes private
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor December 13, 2005 edition
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Businessman Jamil Noorzaie doesn't know how many employees he has. The first estimate said 750 people. A month ago, the figure had moved up to 1,025 people. Mr. Noorzaie estimates that he only needs about 350 of them.

Such are the pitfalls involved in Afghanistan's first attempt at privatizing a government entity. Noorzaie, who is inheriting the staff of Afghan Telecom from the Ministry of Communication, hopes to turn the company into a profitable business and a model for other joint ventures here.

"I want people to pay attention to Afghanistan not just as a war zone, but as a marketplace with opportunities," says Noorzaie, an Afghan American who used to run his own telecom business in the Dallas area. "They should feel comfortable bringing their families here. Only then will there be the security in this part of the world."

Afghanistan has become a nation of state-owned industries that don't make anything, bureaucrats who don't do anything, and citizens who don't get anything from their government. The solution seems simple on paper: Tear it all down and start from scratch. Yet laying off thousands of well-educated bureaucrats would only add to the angry unemployed.

For now, the state is easing citizens into the free market and quietly making Afghanistan a decent place to make a buck.

While Afghan Telecom has not earned a profit for years, it expects to attract corporate partners into a country where the telecom industry has grown at more than 35 percent a year over the past four years.

At the end of the Taliban era, there were only two telephones for every 1,000 Afghans. Today, landline phones managed by Afghan Telecom reach just 36,000 subscribers, but mobile phone service has skyrocketed to 500,000 subscribers. By 2015, the government hopes there will be 3.5 million subscribers in Afghanistan, equivalent to 120 phones for every 1,000 citizens.

The Afghan government has awarded mobile-phone licenses to three private companies, but Afghan Telecom hopes to enter the market using a different technology. Afghan Telecom also has the right to develop a nationwide fiber optic network.

Noorzaie's first taste of running a state-run company came early, when job seekers arrived for interviews. "They used to say, "The businesses make me work a lot, so I want to come to Afghan Telecom,' " laughs Noorzaie. "I told them, 'I have news for you. We're making people work hard, too.' "

Layoffs are currently out of the question, he adds, so he must show that there is a reward for hard work. "If they see the results, they won't see us as an evil foreign company taking away jobs," he says.

Mohammad Sharif, a 22-year veteran at the Ministry of Communication, is one of those few who, Noorzaie says, "gets it."

"A private company is better," says Mr. Sharif, head of general projects. "When they start to do something, they do it quickly and they finish the job."

Yet there are some here who think it is too early to privatize. Mohammad Hakim Marifat, a legal adviser at the Chamber of Commerce's reform commission, says that current laws allow foreign companies to dump products and force most Afghan businesses out of the market. Even in agriculture, where 80 percent of Afghans make a living, foreign buyers control prices and terms of trade. Afghan trucks cannot travel to Pakistan, for instance, but Pakistani trucks bring daily loads of goods.

"Every country in the world is dumping their trash, and ... trying to kill the country's ability to produce," says Mr. Marifat. "All traders want privatization, but can we protect it" from foreign competition?

David Garner, an American adviser to the Ministry of Mines and Industries says that there are dangers in moving too quickly. He advocates a three-step process. First, the ministry must commercialize, finding out what a particular state-owned business does well and what staffing it needs. Second, the business must figure out how to make a profit. Then, once the state knows the value of what it has, it can privatize.

"Let's say you have a coal mine that digs up 10,000 tons of coal a month," he says. "That operation may be sitting on a huge deposit, but the low output may make you say, 'Heck, we'll sell that for $1,000.' You may have given away mineral rights for a song."

Noorzaie says that Afghanistan has to start somewhere, and telecom just happens to be the business that offers the best opportunities for big change. "I want us to be a model for others to follow," he says.

U.S. paid for media firm Afghans didn't want
Millions spent despite complaints deals were `rip-off' to taxpayers
December 13, 2005 Chicago Tribune
By Kim Barker and Stephen J. Hedges, Tribune correspondents. Kim Barker reported from Kabul and Stephen J. Hedges reported from Washington

KABUL, Afghanistan -- When The Rendon Group was hired to help Afghan President Hamid Karzai with media relations in early 2004, few thought it was a bad idea. Though Rendon's $1.4million bill seemed high for Afghanistan, the U.S. government was paying.

Within seven months, however, Karzai was ready to get rid of Rendon. So was Zalmay Khalilzad, then the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and now the American envoy in Iraq, according to interviews, e-mails and memos obtained by the Tribune. The complaint: too much money for not enough work.

Despite such grumbling, The Rendon Group, based in Washington, managed to secure even more U.S.-funded work with Karzai's government, this time a $3.9 million contract funded by the Pentagon, to create a media team for Afghan anti-drug programs. Jeff Raleigh, who helped oversee Rendon in Kabul for the U.S. Embassy, and others in the U.S. government said they objected because of Karzai's and Khalilzad's opposition but were overruled by Defense Department superiors in Washington.

"It was a rip-off of the U.S taxpayer," said Raleigh, who left the U.S. Embassy in September.

Rendon departed Afghanistan in early October when its $3.9 million contract expired. But diplomatic sources said it is in line for another multimillion-dollar Afghan contract: a three-year deal to work on counternarcotics public relations.

The company's work in Afghanistan is just a sliver of the more than $56 million the Pentagon has paid Rendon since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when it became one of the leading media consultants in the Bush administration's war on terrorism. It also is doing work for the Pentagon in Iraq.

Its performance, and the Defense Department's use of the company to shape its anti-terrorism message, has come under renewed scrutiny amid reports that the Bush administration hired Rendon to track foreign media and reporters and to help foreign governments shape their own anti-terrorism messages and images.

Advocates say Rendon helps fight propaganda from Islamic fundamentalists. Critics say the Pentagon's use of media firms such as Rendon blurs the line between public relations and propaganda.

Cost complaints

The company's fees also have been an issue. CIA staff members have complained about the group's work on other projects, such as a costly media campaign against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul estimated that the work the company was hired to do on its second contract in Afghanistan could have been performed for about $200,000 rather than $3.9million.

The firm was to train five Afghan press officers, according to e-mails and people familiar with the contract. But it trained only three, and one has left her job.

Company founder John Rendon, a former Democratic political operative, said neither Afghan nor U.S. officials complained about his firm's work in Afghanistan. "I never heard that from Karzai," he said.

He said he won the second Afghan contract by applying anti-drug campaign experience he gained years ago as a state official in Massachusetts.

"I took that experience over to the Ministry of Interior and provided training to people in the ministry so they could use communications to support their police initiative," with good success, he said.

At least one Afghan official publicly backed Rendon--the deputy interior minister for counternarcotics. And a former U.S. government official who worked in Afghanistan with Rendon said the company did a good job of helping Karzai organize his media operations.

"There was just remarkable improvement," the former official said. "It was a fledgling government office, but they did a great job, really."

In early 2004, presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin asked the U.S. Embassy for $1 million to help develop his office. He spoke to Richard McGraw, a former Pentagon spokesman and congressional liaison working with the little-known Afghanistan Reconstruction Group, a small group of U.S. executives, lawyers and other professionals who advise Afghan and U.S. officials on reconstruction.

Instead of handing over money, McGraw suggested hiring Rendon, which already was working in the country for the Pentagon, Ludin said.

McGraw, who said he became familiar with Rendon's Pentagon work during his own service on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's staff, requested bids from Rendon and the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Rendon's bid was "far and away the best," said McGraw, who was the main public relations officer at G.D. Searle & Co. outside Chicago when Rumsfeld was the drug company's chief executive.

But Jim Lake of Burson-Marsteller's Washington office said McGraw asked only for a preliminary assessment, not a formal proposal that the company routinely prepares for competitive bidding.

Rendon workers spent about five months at the presidential palace on a contract reportedly worth $1.4 million. "I think they did an excellent job in a tough circumstance," McGraw said.

The contract ended in August 2004. Raleigh, who had replaced McGraw with the Afghanistan Reconstruction Group, pushed for a two-month extension because of the upcoming presidential election. But by then, Karzai and his staff had concluded that Rendon wasn't worth its pay.

"The president was really upset about it," said Ludin, now the president's chief of staff.

Karzai also complained to Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, who agreed with Karzai, U.S. officials said.

Several U.S. Agency for International Development and State Department officials said in interviews that Rendon's work had been inadequate and that others in the U.S. Embassy ended up doing a large share of media advisory work with Karzai's staff.

"There's been a sense of frustration that a lot of money is being wasted on consultants who, frankly, just aren't worth the money," said a senior U.S. official familiar with Rendon's work in Afghanistan who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They were very well-intentioned, but they weren't plugged into what was happening there."

A $3.9 million deal

But within a month of the contract's expiration, Rendon won a new contract through the Defense Department, $3.9 million to train Afghans in counternarcotics public relations at the Interior Ministry, officials said.

Raleigh said he told Pentagon officials that Khalilzad and Karzai did not want Rendon to stay, but that they worked out a plan to allow Rendon to report directly to Raleigh and Doug Wankel at the U.S. Embassy, instead of to the Pentagon. Wankel, who refused to comment for this story, works on counternarcotics for the embassy.

An e-mail from Wankel on Sept. 10, 2004, backed up Raleigh's account, saying Wankel had met with Khalilzad to discuss whether the Defense Department contract with Rendon would be canceled or continued. Wankel said in the e-mail that Khalilzad agreed to a third option--a 90-day trial in which Rendon would work under Raleigh and Wankel.

Rendon and the Afghan government would hire and train five Afghan media specialists and support all counternarcotics publicity, Wankel wrote.

At first, the company helped put on a counternarcotics conference, just after Karzai's inauguration in December 2004. But by January, the end of the trial period, Raleigh questioned where the money was going. He said the company should lose its contract, according to e-mails. But Rendon stayed.

Mary Beth Long, who oversaw the contract for the Pentagon, declined to be interviewed.

By May, Rendon was pushing to have its contract extended from the end of July through the parliamentary elections in September. Raleigh sent an e-mail to Long and others. "For the record, let me reiterate what I have been saying for months--paying The Rendon Group is a waste of taxpayer funds," Raleigh wrote.

But the Rendon contract was extended through the end of September for $600,000, according to interviews with officials.

"I don't think their performance was worth more than $50,000," said Lutfullah Mashal, until recently the spokesman for the Interior Ministry. "It certainly was not worth millions of dollars."

Ministers Play the Blame Game
Given the chance to list their accomplishments during the past year, most point the finger of blame at others as explanation for the lack of progress.
Source: Institute For War and Peace Reporting By Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada in Kabul (ARR No. 197, 14-Dec-05)
It seemed like a good idea at the time. A little more than a year after being elected president, Hamed Karzai decided it was time for the ministers in his government to go before the public and account for their activities during their term in office.

“This is not just a ceremonial event or propaganda,” promised Jawed Ludin, the presidential chief of staff. “This is a moment of truth, so that the government understands that it is serving the nation and must answer to the nation. The people must realise that they have the right to call the government to account.”

Over the course of a week in late November, each of the government’s 34 ministers was given 20 minutes on national television to summarise successes and failures. These accounts were also aired on radio and published in the press.

These appearances were then followed up by news conferences, where reporters could question the ministers.

That, at least, was the theory.

In fact, Karzai’s “Accountability Week” failed to shed much light on government operations. Many of the 250 reporters who participated in the news conferences came away complaining that the ministers wasted much of the time allotted for the question-and-answer sessions by merely repeating what they had said during their previous television appearances.

Others grumbled that the ministers largely avoided dealing with difficult issues, turning the seven-day event into an exercise in public relations.

For example, there were few answers to questions concerning the slow pace reconstruction in the country. With a small army of aid workers and over four billion US dollars invested in numerous projects, many Afghans had expected to see more accomplished since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

“At this rate, it will take 400 years to reconstruct Afghanistan,” muttered one Kabul resident as his car clattered over the unpaved road leading east from the airport.

But all Economics Minister Mir Mohammad Amin Farhang could do when questioned on the topic was complain that his ministry is hampered by the lack of accountability among the international assistance community which fuels the bulk of Afghanistan’s economic growth. Some estimates say international aid accounts for 90 per cent of Afghanistan’s official economy.

“When we ask the [non-governmental organisations] to account for their performance and activities, they ignore us, because the international organisations working in the country consider themselves to be above the government. If we put pressure on them they threaten to shut down operations,” he said.

Officials were equally evasive when faced with questions regarding public corruption. A recent report by Transparency International, the international corruption watchdog organisation, ranked Afghanistan among the 50 most corrupt nations in the world. Karzai himself has referred to corruption as one of his country’s most severe problems.

But Prosecutor General Mahmood Daqiq had little to say when faced with a barrage of questions about transport minister Inayatullah Qasimi, who has been accused of embezzlement but has not yet been brought to trial. Qasimi is still in office while the investigation is pending.

“We have sent 11 official letters to the transport minister, but he does not answer them,” said Daqiq “We are neither the police nor the army. When we want to arrest someone, we do it through the police, and we investigate,” he added. “We have written many times to the government, and explained that we need to start an investigation, but we have not received an answer.

“One day when I went to meet President Hamed Karzai, he asked me, ‘Why are you after the transportation minister?’ I said he’s accused of embezzlement, but added that if the president does not want this, he should give us an order so we can postpone the trial.”

Fazel Rahman Oria, a political analyst and editor of the bi-monthly magazine Payam, was dismissive of the whole exercise. “This is not accountability. It is cheating the Afghan people and the international community,” he said. “If this is the way ministers are called to account, the embezzlers will only get braver. They will steal with both hands in future.”

“We need a real mechanism for accountability,” said political analyst Mohammad Qasim Akhgar. “The people of Afghanistan must be able to question the ministers, and put real pressure on them if they refuse to answer questions.”

Akhgar added, “With this kind of accountability, you could bring Mullah Omar in and he could give you an account, too.”

Saifuddin Saihoon, a lecturer in economics at Kabul University, said if Accountability Week was an attempt to showcase the cabinet’s competence, it failed.

“The journalists knew more than some of the ministers,” he said.

The public also seemed less than impressed by what they saw as the president’s public relations event.

“This was really a kind of amusement for the ministers,” said Nafiza, 40, an employee at the ministry of information and culture. “Who did they render their accounts to? Really, just to each other.”

“This was just a sort of show,” said Ahmad Farid, 43, a resident of Kabul. “What has the government done? Kabul doesn’t have electricity, unemployment is very high, and so are prices.”

Kicking the Habit
Using opium or hashish is considered perfectly acceptable by increasing numbers of people.
Source: Institute For War and Peace Reporting By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif and Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul (ARR No. 197, 14-Dec-05)
After a long day of carpet weaving, Abdullah, 48, likes to relax with a nice cup of tea - and some opium.

“I have been eating opium for as long as I can remember,” said Abdullah, who lives in the northern province of Jowjan. “People say it is harmful, but it isn’t true. My father and grandfather ate opium. Everyone in our village does. They’ve been enjoying it for a very long time.”

While much of the world’s attention has focused on illegal narcotics being exported from the country, the spotlight has now been turned on Afghanistan’s internal drug problem.

According to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, and released in November, Afghanistan now has close to one million drug users, or 3.8 per cent of the population. This is roughly on par with its neighbours: the figure is a slightly higher than the percentage of drug users in Pakistan, but lower than in Iran, say experts in the area.

Out of 920,000 users, 740,000 are men. The UN report also estimates that 60,000 children under 15 also use drugs.

The substance of choice for the vast majority of these users is hashish, with approximately 520,000 people smoking or ingesting the drug. Another 150,000 use opium, while a much smaller number, estimated at 50,000, use the heroin, the refined derivative of opium. Of these, an estimated 7,000 inject the drug.

Jehanzeb Khan, international project coordinator for UNODC, says many of Afghanistan’s addicts were first introduced to drugs when their were living abroad as refugees. “I would say that 35 per cent of our male addicts and 25 per cent of our female addicts became addicted in Iran,” he said.

Large numbers of Afghans fled the wars and conflicts of the past three decades and sought refuge in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. Now they are flooding home and, says Jehanzeb, bringing their drug habits with them.

Najibullah 38, a resident of central Logar province, admits he is an opium addict. He started smoking three years ago, when he was refugee in Iran. When he returned home, he found that his father was growing opium poppies.

“Instead of kicking the habit, I grew more addicted,” he said. “Now I have to smoke at least once a day. I have come to Kabul, so that no one in my family can see me when I smoke.”

But it would be difficult to blame the bulk of the drug problem on returning refugees, according to other medical professionals. Opium use, in particular, is traditional in Afghanistan, with the number of drug users disproportionately high in northern provinces such as Balkh, Jowjan and Kunduz.

According to Dr Mohammad Bashir, head of the drug treatment centre in Mazar-e-Sharif, some addicts quite literally get started at their mothers’ knee.

“Eating opium is a tradition in the north, particularly the districts around the river Amu Darya,” he said. “Women engaged in the carpet-weaving trade give their children opium to keep them quiet. It enters their bloodstream, and they become addicted.”

Parents also use opium as a treatment for childhood coughs and colds.

Mohammad Khan, 32, a resident of the Kaldar district of Balkh province, says he has been addicted to opium since he was a child. He thinks that his mother must have given him the drug.

“I am dependent on opium. I can’t work. I just lie half-dead in a corner when I use it,” he said. “I have three children, and I don’t want them to use opium. I want to get rid of this habit somehow.”

Bashir said that in the six months since the drug treatment centre was established, approximately 100 addicts have been referred to him. Most, he says, ingest opium, with a smaller number of intravenous drug users.

“We are very concerned about those who inject drugs,” he said. “They make up about 20 per cent of our patients.”

Local people traditionally eat opium, he said. It is the returnees who are introducing intravenous use, and it is on the rise, particularly among young people.

“This has been a shock to us,” he said. “It is much more difficult to treat those who inject drugs.”

Bashir noted that using needles also brings the risk of HIV/AIDS, a growing concern in Afghanistan.

“We don’t have modern equipment to test patients, so we don’t know how many people in Balkh may be infected,” he said.

Bashir says he sees very few patients who use hashish, probably because most do not think they need treatment. “Hashish addiction is not a matter of concern,” he said.

Dr Mohammad Zafar, director of Drug Demand Reduction at the Counter-Narcotics Ministry, confirms that drug addiction is a problem.

“Cheap price and easy availability, along with the high level of unemployment, have paved the way for drug addiction,” he said.

According to the survey, the average heroin addict spends 60 to 100 afghani per day (between 1.50 and 2 US dollars).

“Now that this survey has clarified the number of addicts, the Counter Narcotics Ministry must take action,” said Zafar.

Dr Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the public health ministry, said his ministry will work with foreign organisations to establish hospitals for addicts in those provinces where drug use is highest. At present there are only two hospitals that provide such treatment, one in Kabul and one in Herat. But according to Dr Fahim, the ministry intends to establish another 150-bed hospital in Kabul, and six 50-bed hospitals in other high-risk provinces.

The ministry will also launch a campaign to discourage drug use.

But first, they’ll need to convince some people that drug use is a problem.

Nasrullah, a soldier in Balkh, says he has been using opium for 10 years.

“I am not sick, so why should I go for treatment?” he said. “I use narcotics because I want to. I don’t want to stop. I have no trouble affording it, and it’s easy to find,” he said.

Others, however, acknowledge that drug addiction has ruined their lives and are looking for help.

Sayed Rahman, 29, is a day labourer who lives in a dirty mud hut on the outskirts of Kabul with four other men, all of them opium addicts. Rahman lies on a mattress amidst unwashed dishes and assorted clutter, too lethargic to move.

“My relatives do not want to see me now,” he said. “When I make money, I spend half of it on opium. I don’t know what to do to get rid of this habit. My life is ruined.”

Afghan Daily Report
Radio Free Europe/ Radio Free Liberty [ 13 December 2005 ]
UN Report Indicates Drop In Afghan Poppy Cultivation
The latest report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has revealed that the area under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2005 dropped by 21 percent compared to 2004, a joint press statement released in Kabul on 12 December by the UNODC and the Afghan Ministry of Counternarcotics indicated. Afghan Minister of Counternarcotics Habibullah Qaderi called the decrease in poppy cultivation a "great achievement for Afghanistan and its international partners." According to the report, the number of households involved in poppy cultivation -- 309,000 in 2005 -- fell by 13 percent compared to 2004. The total number of people involved in cultivation has been estimated at 2 million, or 8.7 percent of the population. According to Doris Buddenberg, UNODC representative in Kabul, the "challenge" is to make sure that the reduction in poppy cultivation achieved in 2005 can be sustained in 2006. While the area under poppy cultivation has dropped considerably, opium production for 2005, estimated to be 4,100 metric tons, is only 2.4 percentage points lower than 2004. The low decrease in opium production has been blamed on "improved weather conditions," the released indicated. AT

New Governor Appointed For Restive Southern Province In Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai has approved the appointment of Engineer Mohammad Daud as the new governor of Helmand Province, the official Bakhtar News Agency reported on 11 December. Mohammad Daud replaces Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, whom Karzai chose as one of the members of Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga) in the Afghan National Assembly (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 December 2005). AT

Official Denies Recruitment Of Neo-Taliban Into Afghan Army

Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi on 11 December rejected the charges that members of the neo-Taliban have been recruited into the Afghan National Army (ANA), Sheberghan-based Aina TV reported. Azimi said it is impossible for antigovernment insurgents to join the ANA because the procedure of recruitment is designed to prevent such occurrences. Every recruit's application has to be supported by two individuals, then each recruit is evaluated once in their command, Azimi explained. "Our intelligence unit is actively working" to prevent the neo-Taliban from infiltrating the ANA, Azimi added. Additionally, any individual who tried to falsify his background information would be rejected based on recruitment regulations. There has been a general concern that in the quest to find recruits for the ANA the Afghan government may unknowingly admit members of the neo-Taliban into the ranks of its national military force. AT

Former Mujahedin Party Denounces NATO Expansion In Afghanistan

In a statement sent to some media outlets on 11 December, Hizb-e Islami (Khales faction) denounced the planned expansion of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan as a "satanic plot," Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. The statement adds that the Afghan "mujahedin will continue their armed jihad against all those forces which in any part of the world are committing aggression against the Muslim nation or support the invaders." The statement warns NATO member states not to "drag themselves" into the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Hizb-e Islami (Khales faction) was one of the seven mujahedin parties operating against the Soviets and their client regime in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Party leader Mawlawi Mohammad Yunos Khales, after staying away from the Afghan civil war of the 1990s when mujahedin parties were fighting for power, resurfaced in 2003 and declared a jihad against U.S. forces in Afghanistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 October 2003 and 1 March 2005). Rumors have circulated since early 2005 that Khales is either dead or is very ill. The most recent statement is signed by Mawlawi Anwar al-Haq Mojahed, identifying himself as "the acting head of Hizb-e Islami-ye Afghanistan," while there is no mention of Khales. AT

Afghanistan: Statement by Ms. Mehr Khan Williams the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
Source: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 13 Dec 2005
Honorable Ministers, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is an honour to be here today with representatives from such a wide spectrum of Afghan society including government officials, religious and community elders, civil society groups and victims’ representatives, to support your efforts to achieve transitional justice.

I want to thank our co-sponsors, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UNAMA for their role in making this historic event possible. Thanks are also due to the International Centre for Transitional Justice and Global Rights for their contribution.

I last visited Afghanistan more than 30 years ago and admired its calm, its beauty and the special warmth of its people. Since that time this country has experienced incredible suffering. The severe hardships inflicted on family after family, the loss of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children, and the widespread damage to homes and livelihoods is almost beyond comprehension. Thankfully, this painful period has now come to an end.

Afghanistan has made significant progress during the past four years, particularly in the recent parliamentary elections, which marked the political transition envisaged under the Bonn Agreement. It now has a democratically elected President, a national assembly that will convene for the first time next week, and it has provincial councils. These are very considerable achievements.

But for many Afghans the legitimacy of the new governmental and parliamentary structures will be measured by their effectiveness in promoting national reconciliation, lasting peace, stability and respect for human rights. These can only be achieved through accountability for grave human rights abuses, both past and present.

Tragically, impunity prevails for serious crimes committed during the past quarter century. This is not simply a matter of dealing with history. The absence of accountability for grave crimes committed in the past has serious repercussions for rule of law and democracy today, and in the future.

I noted the reports of popular disappointment that the final lists of candidates for parliamentary elections included some individuals who were alleged to have committed human rights violations and other criminal acts. Clearly Afghans are not willing to accept the status quo and faith in new democratic institutions could diminish if past crimes go unpunished.

The national consultation on transitional justice undertaken by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission last year also underscored this. The vast majority of the 6,000 or so respondents involved demanded justice and felt that the government would win the confidence of the Afghan people if it addressed the issue of impunity. Such sentiments have also been expressed in the pre-conference consultations undertaken in all the eight regions by UNAMA, our office, the International Centre For Transitional Justice, and Global Rights.

The consultation also revealed a desire for a comprehensive approach to transitional justice that should include public acknowledgment of past suffering, institutional reform, truth-seeking and documentation, reconciliation and accountability.

The President’s Office must be commended for its efforts to respond to these findings by drafting, in co-operation with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UNAMA, a strategy for the implementation of transitional justice in Afghanistan. International groups have endorsed its comprehensive approach and offered to assist Afghanistan with its implementation.

I am very pleased that yesterday the Cabinet approved the strategy. This is a very positive step forward. It is also a ground-breaking achievement because it may be the first time a government has developed a comprehensive approach to transitional justice. I congratulate the government for doing so.

But I also understand the challenges involved in implementing transitional justice in Afghanistan. Countries emerging from extended conflict have to balance conflicting priorities. The tense security situation, particularly in the south and southeast of the country reminds us of how fragile the transition from conflict to peace is.

In these circumstances, it is argued that Afghanistan can neither risk nor afford to address the issue of accountability. I would argue that Afghanistan can neither risk nor afford not to. We know from experience that in societies emerging from conflict the past must be confronted if it is not to come back to haunt us.

This conference is intended to contribute to the discussion on achieving justice and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

In recent years we have supported truth and reconciliation initiatives in a number of post-conflict countries including in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Liberia, and Timor Leste. I am therefore delighted to have with us representatives from the International Centre For Transitional Justice and from truth and reconciliation commissions in Sierra Leone and South Africa who will share their experiences. They will provide information on the possible ways to address challenges here.

I use the word “challenges” deliberately. To many people, transitional justice primarily means trials. Thus, fact-finding commissions and reconciliation initiatives are often regarded as “soft options” -- a second best when “real justice” is not possible.

The first point to make is that truth, reconciliation and justice are mutually reinforcing. International law requires that there be no impunity for those who commit war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, truth-seeking or other related processes should not diminish the likelihood of trials. However, not every offender must be punished in order to achieve respect for the rule of law. Societies have the right to demand a full and impartial narration of the past without closing the door on criminal responsibility. We must look at complimentary approaches that allow us to go beyond individual accountability to questions of why and how such actions were permitted and their impact on victims, communities and society at large.

The second point is that truth-seeking and reconciliation are enormously complex undertakings requiring a detailed and lengthy but also painful and sensitive scrutiny of the past. Handled carefully, they can put to rest the past and help to shape a better future.

One of the more shocking findings of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission’s national consultation on transitional justice was that 69 percent of the respondents or their families were direct victims of human rights abuses during the conflict. I am sure that many victims know precisely what happened to them or their families or who carried out the abuses. Others may not know.

In Afghanistan, many thousands of people disappeared or were killed during the conflict and remain unaccounted for today. Their families are entitled to know what happened to them. Future generations of Afghans should also be aware of these events.

More generally, as in any post-conflict situation, it is likely that incorrect assumptions about responsibility and motives for abuses may also exist. Contradictory versions of the same event can exist. Absence of factual information and contested truths create space for politically-motivated denials or revisionist arguments, which do nothing to serve the goals of peace and reconciliation.

The importance of truth in combating impunity is recognized in the recently updated UN Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Action to Combat Impunity. Under these Principles “the right to know” is recognized as a key component in combating impunity. The State also has a duty to preserve archives and other evidence concerning violations of human rights and humanitarian law. And, victims and their families have the right to know the truth about the circumstances in which violations took place, irrespective of any legal proceedings.

Each State responds differently to these obligations -- truth commissions are one possible option. This option has so far been taken up in more than 30 countries. Each commission has been different. Some have been more successful than others. Afghanistan can benefit from lessons learned from these experiences and apply them to its own social, cultural and political norms in its own specific needs for truth and reconciliation.

One of the clearest lessons from the truth commissions is that key stake holders must participate in the process. I commend the Government of Afghanistan on the consultative approach taken to date and encourage this consultation and participation to be broadened and deepened to include marginalized groups.

Women and children in Afghanistan have endured extraordinary levels of suffering -- for many, the suffering is not over. Comprehensive and gender sensitive strategies must be designed so that the experience and needs of female victims, including girls, are fully included in the truth and reconciliation initiatives.

Last night I read the results of the National Consultation on past human rights abuses. It vividly brought home to me how much of the pain and anguish of the past is still present with most people. It must be addressed for the future of Afghanistan and all its people.

Let me conclude by saying that I hope the discussions here will help you to develop appropriate approaches to truth and reconciliation in Afghanistan. We are committed to supporting the implementation of transitional justice as set out in the new Action Plan.

Jailed Afghan Publisher Faces Possible Execution
The Washington Post 12/13/2005 By Griff Witte
KABUL, Afghanistan -- When Ali Mohaqeq Nasab returned to Afghanistan last year after a long exile, he thought the atmosphere had opened up enough to raise questions about women's rights and the justice system in his country's nascent democracy.

But now the magazine publisher's provocative essays have put him at the mercy of that system -- imprisoned on blasphemy charges and facing possible execution.

Nasab's case has ignited fierce debate over free speech in a country that has been rapidly modernizing since the end of Taliban rule four years ago, and yet remains deeply rooted in traditional Islamic culture and extremely sensitive about issues of religion and the role of women.

His offense, according to the Afghan courts and conservative clerics, was to contravene the teachings of Islam by printing essays in his monthly magazine, Women's Rights, that questioned legal discrimination against women, harsh physical punishments for criminals and rigid intolerance of Muslims who abandon their faith.

The essays, published in May, attracted the belated attention of a prominent Muslim cleric, who delivered a sermon several months later denouncing Nasab as an infidel. Nasab reported the incident to Afghanistan's justice system, but instead of receiving the protection he had expected, he was arrested, put on trial and sentenced to two years in prison. Nasab, 47, has appealed to a higher court, but so have the prosecutors. They contend the two-year sentence was far too lenient, and that unless he apologizes, he should hang.

"According to sharia law, if he does not repent and if he does not return to his religion, he should be executed," Abdul Jamil, who heads the public security division of the attorney general's office, said, referring to Islamic law.

In an interview last week in his cell, Nasab, a short, soft-spoken man with a graying beard, said he had no intention of repenting and that he could not return to a religion he never left.
"I haven't committed any sin to repent for. If I'm not a sinner, then why should I repent?" he said. "I'm a Muslim, and what I mentioned in my magazine doesn't have a single conflict with my religion. I'm more of a religious person than they are."

Nasab's conviction already has had a chilling effect on other Afghan journalists and threatens to seriously erode freedoms achieved since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, according to Rahimullah Samander, director of the Center for International Journalism here.

It has also put President Hamid Karzai, who heads a fledgling, Western-backed democratic government, in an uncomfortable position. Karzai has repeatedly expressed support for a free press, but the constitution prevents him from interfering in the decisions of the judiciary, which is dominated by religious hard-liners.

A Western diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said various Western embassies expressed concern about the case to the Afghan government and were following developments closely.

Samander said the Karzai government generally has refrained from meddling with the country's nascent but rapidly proliferating media outlets, which include 350 publications, 40 radio stations and four independent television stations. The Nasab case, he said, has thrown all that progress into doubt.

"If they release him, they will show to everyone that they are serious about press freedom," Samander said. "If he is kept in jail, all this talk about press freedom will amount to nothing."
Karzai's spokesman, Karim Rahimi, said the government strongly supports free speech but cannot do anything to influence the courts. "The judiciary system is entirely independent," he said.

In his magazine, Nasab suggested that a woman's testimony in court should be given the same weight as a man's, rather than half. He also questioned whether cutting off the hands of thieves was too severe a penalty. Finally, he argued that it was up to God, not to man, to punish Muslims who convert to another religion.

Nasab, who studied Islam at a university in Iran, ran afoul of the government there after he published a book questioning its religious authority. After returning to Afghanistan, he began writing increasingly controversial articles based on views he said were supported by a careful reading of the Koran and shared by other Islamic scholars. But some Afghan religious leaders disagreed vehemently, and several campaigned for his arrest this fall. Turning to the judiciary for help, Nasab walked into a Kabul courthouse Oct 1. -- and was promptly handcuffed.
Just two weeks later, he was put on trial for blasphemy. The outcome was never in doubt, according to Ahmad Nader Nadery, who heads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

"The way the trial was conducted, it was very obvious that there was an intention that . . . without respect to rules and procedures, they were going to punish him," Nadery said, noting that Nasab was not allowed to choose an attorney and was shouted down by prosecutors and judges when he tried to speak.

Indeed, Nasab's essay in May amounted to a challenge of the very justice system that is now prosecuting him. Nevertheless, one of the judges said Nasab got a fair hearing and that his sentence offered "a great chance" for him to reconsider and apologize.

"We listened to him very carefully," said Alhaj Ansarullah Maulavi Zada, who heads the public security court. "We listened to him a lot. We gave him a three-day trial. But he couldn't answer the court. He was not showing any kind of remorse. He still said changing your religion is forbidden but it is not a crime."

Nasab contends that his prosecution was political, engineered by religious hard-liners who see him as a challenge to their authority and who are also biased against him because he is an ethnic Hazara. The Hazaras, distinctive for their Asian Pacific facial features, have long occupied the lowest rung in Afghan society. Mostly Shiite Muslims in a Sunni-dominated society, they have been victims of massacres, relegated to menial jobs and often forced to live in extreme poverty.

Even with press freedom protected by law, Afghan journalists have faced their share of constraints. Outside the capital, the Afghan news media are especially vulnerable if they challenge local powers such as militia leaders. A reporter in Nangahar province was recently taken hostage for a week after he wrote a story critical of authorities there.

"My colleagues are under threat," said Shukria Barakzai, editor of the newspaper Women's Mirror. "They haven't got any security, any safety while they are working."

Barakzai said Nasab's case should never have gone to the courts. A government-appointed media commission found him innocent of the charges against him. But not all of his fellow journalists have been so supportive.
Mohammad Fahim Dashty, editor of the Kabul Weekly newspaper, said Nasab chose the wrong time and place to raise such volatile issues. Dashty's newspaper has attacked the Karzai administration and the United States on warlordism and drugs. But he said Nasab crossed the line when he took on basic tenets of Islam.

"We know that Afghanistan is a very unstable country," he said. "We know that the tradition of religion here is very strong. So when you say something which is very new and which you believe, but nobody else does, it's dangerous. "It's a risk, and sometimes you have to pay for it. He is paying for it now."

The new Afghan constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but the law governing media says journalists should not discuss matters of religion or national security. The exact boundaries of what is permissible are ill-defined, and the courts seem inclined to interpret the limits rigidly.

After Nasab's conviction, the Supreme Court issued a religious edict, or fatwa , saying he "should be given the harshest punishment, so he will be a lesson to others." A group of 200 religious scholars and clerics in the southern city of Kandahar recently issued a fatwa that said he should be given three days to repent or be hanged.

"It is up to the central government whether they execute him," said the group's leader, Maulavi Ghulam Mohammed Gharib. "We have simply sent our message." Gharib said he had not read Nasab's magazine but had seen him interviewed on television.

Nasab conceded he was "concerned" by the fatwas against him. But he said he would not back down and hoped Karzai or international officials would intercede on his behalf.

"I made one mistake. When I heard there was democracy in my country, I came back because I'm an educated person and I wanted to help," he said. "I didn't know that still there was no democracy, still there was the influence of the Taliban and still there is the culture of the Taliban regime."

Afghan hanged in Iran for crime committed as minor
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Dec. 12 – Monday’s edition of the state-run daily Hamshahri carried the photo of a young Afghan who was hanged in public on Saturday for a crime he was alleged to have committed as a minor.

Rostam Tajik, 20, was hanged in a public park in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the state-run news agency reported on Saturday. The sentence was carried out in the presence of judicial officials. Tajik was sentenced to death for the murder of a woman on May 13, 2001, when he was 16 years old.

Ray of hope in Afghanistan?
Najmuddin A. Shaikh – DAWN (Pakistan) 12/14/05
EARLY on Tuesday morning an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit north-eastern Afghanistan. The scale of the damage was not known at the time of writing but one can only hope that the tremors which were also felt in Balakot and Muzaffarabad have not done any further harm to a country already suffering from decades of war and doused the faint light at the end of the tunnel that some optimistic observers of the Afghan scene were beginning to see in Afghanistan.

Much of optimism has been generated by political developments. The parliamentary elections for the 249 member Wolesi Jirga (Lower House) and for the provincial councils (420 members) had a much lower turnout than the presidential elections but were correctly regarded as a success since despite Taliban threats they were held in a generally peaceful atmosphere and despite many irregularities and allegations of fraud were seen as being largely fair.

The 102 member Mushrano Jirga (Upper House), in which 68 members were elected by local bodies reached its full strength when President Hamid Karzai used his constitutional powers to appoint the remaining 34 members. The newly elected Afghan parliament is scheduled to meet on December 19.

Optimists also believe that Karzai’s effort to reach out to the Taliban is succeeding. They point to the fact that according to Sebghatullah Mojaddedi, a former president of Afghanistan and the head of the Independent National Commission for Peace in Afghanistan, known as “Peace Commission”, more than 700 Taliban, including the former Taliban foreign minister, Motawakil Wakil, have accepted the amnesty offer and have been reconciled with the government. Some of them like the infamous Mullah Rocketi have even become members of the new parliament.

On the economic front starting from what was an abysmally low base Afghanistan’s economy grew by 30 per cent in 2003 and an estimated 7.5 per cent in 2004. The Afghani, now pegged at 45 to a dollar, is relatively stable and agriculture is beginning a slow recovery with the wheat crop in 2003 being 58 per cent higher than in 2002. Vast sums of money have been expended by the Americans and the international community on reconstruction in Afghanistan and it is hoped that the conference being convened in London in January will bring further pledges of assistance for the rehabilitation of the economy.

The Demobilizing, Disarming and Reintegration (DDR) programme has been termed a success with claims being made that this Japanese financed UN programme has led to the disarming of the many official militias that existed in the country and has weakened the hold of the warlords. A degree of success is also claimed for the successor programme — the Disarming of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) started in June 2005.

The insurgency continues and has intensified in the last year but American and Afghan officials insist that this owes to the fact that the US-led coalition forces are now moving into areas that, in the part, were left in the hands of the Taliban, and while no one is now talking about the insurgency dying out there are claims that steady progress is being made in winning the hearts and minds of the people in the Taliban strongholds in the south and southeast of the country.

The pessimists’ view, and most would say the more realistic view, is that while there has been a marginal improvement in the economic situation and while the trappings of democracy have been introduced, the deteriorating security situation, the growing importance of opium production in the Afghan economy, the continued influence of the warlords, the corruption in government, the mismanagement of reconstruction efforts and the consequent disillusionment of the people have meant that the situation in Afghanistan is today worse than it was in the immediate aftermath of the American invasion.

The facts on the ground would appear to support this pessimism. Despite the expenditure of more than $5 billion in assistance, not one new power plant has been built in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has, at 70 per cent, the highest level of malnutrition in the world and is classified as one of the poorest counties in the world.

Much of the assistance is channelled through the NGOs and it is estimated that their overheads take up some 60 per cent of the amount. Afghans maintain that it is not 60 per cent but 80 per cent. In a recent statement, the Afghan transport minister disclosed that Ariana Airlines was paying two of its foreign advisers $2,000 per diem and that there were other ministries in which foreign advisers were getting $2,500 per diem. It is no wonder that many Afghans say only half jokingly that having suffered in the past from Soviet and Taliban rule they were now suffering under NGO rule.

An investigative report by the Washington Post last month on a USAID programme for building schools and clinics in Afghanistan showed that the programme had been an outstanding failure. An eight room school building cost $426,000 while other donors were building at between $40,000 and $60,000. Many of the buildings were found to be non-existent or collapsed shortly after they were built while a large number of them remained incomplete.

An example was that of a clinic opened in March 2004 with much fanfare in Qala-Qazi village just 30 miles from Kabul and which when visited 15 months later by Post reporters invited the following comment “Mold and mildew stained the ceiling. In one room, the ceiling had fallen. Paint inside and out had blistered and peeled off in sheets. Cracks crawled across exterior walls. In a side yard, two girls laboured in vain to pump water from a new, US-built well.”

The much publicized programme for reducing opium cultivation brought down the area under cultivation by 22 per cent but better weather conditions ensured that the crop was reduced only marginally from 4,200 tons to 4,100 tons. Drug eradication officials fear that since alternative crops and aid to farmers have been in short supply, the area under cultivation will go up again this year.

Since a farmer earns nearly $2,200 for an acre of opium poppies, while those growing wheat make about $220 an acre this is almost inevitable, particularly when virtually no effort has been made to eliminate the drug traffickers who make the major part of the money from the drug trade. It is well known that several of the new members of the Afghan parliament are prominent traffickers as are many of the officials in the Afghan administration.

The Americans have made it clear that their preoccupation in Afghanistan is with the Al Qaeda and they have little or no interest in devoting their resources to fighting the warlords or the drug traffickers many of whom have been their loyal allies in the fight against the Al Qaeda. In any case, they are now reducing their forces in Afghanistan and such forces as remain will focus on combing the hitherto inaccessible areas close to the Pakistan border to smoke out such elements of Al Qaeda as remain there.

Many of the Nato forces which are to move into South Afghanistan next year are reluctant to take on a combat role against the Taliban and the drug traffickers. It seems likely, therefore, that at least for the next few years the Taliban, who are said to be encouraging opium cultivation in the areas under their control and using drug money to finance their operations, will not be deprived of their access to drug money and Pakistan, Iran and Europe will continue to see their heroin addicts receive ample supplies from Afghanistan. There seems to be little doubt that in these circumstances the amnesty offer has had few takers from prominent Taliban.

As regards security, this year has been the deadliest in four years in Afghanistan, with violence claiming the lives of nearly 1,500 people. More than 90 American servicemen have been killed and thanks to the link that seems to have been established between the insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban/Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan the suicide bomber has now become a part of the security scene in Afghanistan with ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) forces in Kabul also being targeted.

They can, in the coming years, be expected to increase their activities against the coalition forces and the Karzai government. It is no wonder that President Karzai said while in Saudi Arabia for the OIC summit, that his government will need US led coalition forces to remain in Afghanistan for another 10 years. It is also no wonder that European members of Nato even while agreeing to increase the size of ISAF to 16,000 and to take over responsibility for supporting reconstruction activity in the Taliban south of the country have not yet agreed to participate in anti-narcotics, anti-warlord or anti-Taliban operations.

The British, who are increasing their force presence in Afghanistan by 4,000 men and will be leading Nato forces, are pleading with the Australians and the New Zealanders to provide troops along with the Canadians for the anti-narcotics operations.

If they succeed one might see three forces operating in Afghanistan, a reduced American force operating exclusively to track and eliminate the Al Qaeda and their Taliban sympathizers, the British led effort to eliminate poppy cultivation and the warlords and the Taliban who support such cultivation, and lastly, the Nato forces supporting the provincial reconstruction teams. There could be hardly be a better formula for ensuring the failure of all three efforts and yet this is what seems to be on the cards.

Is there reason for optimism after this? I think so. There is too much at stake for the Americans and the Europeans and they, along with the rest of the international community, are at least agreed that Afghanistan cannot be abandoned. Past mistakes can be corrected. The disagreements within Nato notwithstanding, it will soon become apparent on the ground that no reconstruction will proceed unless there is military action against the Taliban and the drug barons. The January conference in London will provide an opportunity for closer scrutiny of what has gone wrong and what needs to be done.

The fallout from the Afghan situation on Pakistan is becoming increasingly grave. Despite the deployment of 60,000 troops in the tribal areas Pakistan has not, as recent reports from North and South Waziristan show, been able to root out foreign militants or even to establish military control over the area. Press reports suggest that it was Taliban representatives rather than the local administration that apprehended and then hanged “bandits” who were extorting money from travellers on a road in the vicinity of Miranshah, the largest city in North Waziristan.

Other reports claimed that the Taliban were now controlling, or at least patrolling, the streets of Miranshah. In South Waziristan, four people from the paramilitary forces have been abducted presumably by Taliban sympathizers.

While allegations of Afghan officials about Pakistan support for the Taliban can perhaps be ignored, we need to give serious thought to what their continued presence here is doing to the country itself. Whatever may have been our assessment of their value in the past, it should now be clear that our national interest requires us to expel all Afghan Taliban from our soil. This will certainly improve our relations with Afghanistan and curb narcotics and other smuggling into our country but these benefits, substantial though they may be, are less important than removing the threat they pose to our security interests. The writer is a former foreign secretary.

Pakistan opposes use for force against Iran over nuclear row
Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan said it was against the use of force against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme and wanted to resolve the issue through dialogue.

"Pakistani is against the use of force on Iran's nuclear issue," Pakistan's foreign minister said during talks with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.

Mottaki, who arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday, is making his first visit to the country since August when he was named to his post.

Kasuri reiterated Pakitan's support for the Iran-European Union dialogue and expressed hope it would lead towards an "amicable" solution, a Pakistani foreign ministry statement said.
Mottaki's visit to Pakistan comes ahead of December 21 talks between Iran and the so-called European Union 3 -- Britain, France and Germany -- on its disputed nuclear programme.
EU-Iran talks collapsed in August when Tehran ended its suspension of uranium conversion, a first step towards enrichment, and the planned talks are aimed at determining if negotiations can resume.

"The issue should be settled within the framework of the IAEA," Kasuri said referring to International Atomic Energy Agency, the global nuclear watchdog.

The two foreign ministers also agreed to raise the level of bilateral trade to one billion dollars and reviewed the progress of a multi-billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, the statement said.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan has figured in the IAEA's investigation of Iran's atomic fuel reactor programme.

Pakistan in May sent parts from used nuclear centrifuges to the IAEA to allow the agency to compare microscopic traces of uranium on them with those found on devices in Iran.

The IAEA confirmed in August that the particles found at a key nuclear site in Iran were from Pakistani centrifuges, which were passed to Tehran by the disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.