Afghanistan News December 16, 2005

December 16, 2005

First Afghan parliament in decades to meet Monday
By David Brunnstrom
KABUL (Reuters) - Four years after the overthrow of the Taliban, a new Afghan parliament will meet for the first time on Monday in the culmination of an international plan to bring democracy to the country following three decades of conflict.

Lineups of the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga, the lower house, and the 102-member upper house, or Meshrano Jirga, read like a Who's Who of protagonists of the bloody past -- to the bitter disappointment of many victims.

Former Communists, leaders of guerrilla groups which overthrew them and ex-Taliban will sit side by side in a parliament which emerged from U.N.- backed September elections.

Trying to limit their influence will be a clutch of idealistic new politicians, including technocrats and women's rights activists.

The parliament is seen as a means of reconciliation and a potential counterbalance to the administration of President Hamid Karzai, installed after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 and elected president last year.

Karzai's record has been patchy, but analysts say it remains unclear how much influence parliament will be able to exert.

"It is a very mixed group of people with very different backgrounds," said Niamatullah Ibrahimi, Kabul-based analyst of the Crisis States Research Center.

"Many are not experienced in legislative and parliamentary issues and will have difficulties focusing on national agendas."

Self-styled opposition leader Yunus Qanuni has been seeking to create a front of support, but after an election held on an individual, not party basis, the assembly is expected to be a disparate body with a parochial focus.

In a country which has not seen a representative parliament since the 1970s, procedures still have to be laid down and what happens after the inaugural session is unclear.

It should sit for nine months, but may adjourn until spring, given logistical problems posed by winter and January holidays.

WARLORDS VIE FOR INFLUENCE
Parliament's first task will be to elect presidents of the two chambers.

More than a dozen people are vying to lead the lower house, including Qanuni, two women and several factional leaders dubbed warlords by their critics and accused of serious rights abuses.

The parliament must also endorse Karzai's cabinet.

Before the September vote, Qanuni predicted his National Understanding Front would win more than 50 percent of the lower house seats and said it might not endorse all Karzai's ministers.

Analysts say he appears short of his target, but he is not alone in criticizing Karzai's administration, which many Afghans complain has failed improve their lives.

Tens of thousands of U.S.-led foreign troops and billions of dollars of aid have ensured relative stability and brought new prosperity to cities like Kabul.

But the Taliban insurgency has intensified and beneficiaries of the boom have been the already rich, while the poor struggle with soaring prices.

Plans to reform the judiciary and other parts of government have achieved little, and many people opted not to vote in polls critics say were marred by significant fraud and allowed many figures blamed for abuses to seek legitimacy and influence.

Human Rights Watch says up to 60 percent of deputies are warlords or their proxies, boding ill for efforts to account for abuses and to stamp out a huge opium and heroin trade.

Woman MP Safia Seddiqi, bidding for the lower house presidency, also vowed to oppose some cabinet members.

"We need to reform the entire structure of the government. Some ministers are not capable of doing their jobs. It is parliament's job to restructure the government and cabinet."

Even so, Karzai appears to have enough support to avoid major problems, although he will need to court interest groups, which could water down essential reforms further, analysts say.

While the United States and its partners will hail the new parliament as a success in countering Islamist radicalism, analysts say it is not the end of the story.

"I think the international community has a high motivation to portray the technical success of the elections as a sign of real victory," said Sam Zarifi of Human Rights Watch.

"But many Afghans see a failure of the political process. There will be a heavy burden to show this is not just a talkshop where warlords and druglords further their interests."

Afghanistan: Lawmakers' Slayings Pose Hard Questions
By Amin Tarzi Thursday, 15 December 2005 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
The 4 December killing of Esmatullah Mohabat, who was elected to the People's Council (Wolesi Jirga) of the Afghan National Assembly on 18 September, has reopened questions regarding politically motivated killings in Afghanistan and the effectiveness of the country's disarmament program. It has also forced the Afghan authorities to suspend the current electoral law.

Mohabat was a warlord in Laghman Province, east of Kabul, and was captured after clashing with U.S. forces in neighboring Nangarhar Province in 2004. He spent time in U.S. detention, suspected of having links to the neo-Taliban, before being released a few months prior to the September 2005 elections, in which he won one of four seats allocated for Laghman. Mohabat officially participated in the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) in order to become eligible to appear on the ballot.

President Hamid Karzai has appointed a commission to investigate Mohabat's killing, but the circumstances surrounding the murder remain murky.

While Afghan officials have indicated that Mohabat was trying to confront a "businessman" who had captured one of his men when he was killed along with his bodyguard, his brother Hajji Naqibullah blamed "enemies" for attacking Mohabat's vehicle while he was traveling to their sister's home.

Protests In Mehtarlam

Following Mohabat's murder, authorities reported the arrest of Mohammad Sardar, whose relationship with Mohabat was not elaborated, on suspicion of involvement in the killing. However some of the slain parliamentarian's supporters took the law into their hands and on 8 December set fire to Sardar's house in Mehtarlam, the provincial capital of Laghman, and implicated governmental officials -- including Laghman Province Governor Shah Mahmud Safi -- in the case. The protestors hurled stones at government buildings in Mehtarlam and demanded the resignation of a number of security officials and Safi's dismissal.

In addition, the protestors demanded that Mohabat's seat in the People's Council be transferred to his brother Naqibullah.

Naqibullah blamed his brother's murder on the DDR process, telling the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press on 8 December that "on several occasions we asked the authorities to provide weapons to Mohabat so he could protect himself." However, he added, these requests were rejected.

Not The First

Mohabat is the second parliamentarian-elect to have been killed under mysterious circumstances since the September election. Mohammad Ashraf Ramazan, elected to the People's Council from northern Balkh Province, was gunned down with one of his bodyguards on 27 September as he drove from a vote counting station in Mazar-e Sharif, Balkh's provincial capital. Posthumously, Ramazan was certified as having won one of the province's 11 seats in the lower house.

Following Ramazan's killing, many of his supporters accused Balkh Province Governor Ata Mohammad Nur of involvement in the assassination. Protesters, reportedly as many as 1,000 people, tried to block the main road linking Balkh and points south, include the capital Kabul, prompting the central government to send a unit of rapid-reaction troops to Balkh. The protestors in Balkh, like those in Laghman, demanded the removal of officials and that Ramazan's brother, Ahmad Shah Ramazan, be allowed to occupy the seat that his slain brother seemed poised to win.

Electoral Dilemma

The killings of two members-elect of the People's Council has opened a debate among Afghan commentators and media outlets on whether the electoral law as it stands has encouraged the killings by rival political groups hoping to occupy the vacated seats. The law stipulates that if a candidate is not able to take his or her seat in the lower house for any reason, the seat will be allocated to the candidate of the same gender who received the next largest number of votes.

These concerns have prompted the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) to keep Mohabat's seat vacant while apparently awaiting either changes to the law or intervention by the government. The Afghan cabinet in a meeting held on 12 December suspended the clause regarding replacing slain members of the legislature. However it is not clear what specific steps the government has recommended for filling Mohabat's seat in Laghman. According to the information on the JEMB's website, Ramazan's seat in Balkh has been taken over by Sayyed Zaher Masrur, who came in second in the district. In Laghman, Mohabat is still identified as one of the representatives from that province.

Meanwhile, Karzai appointed Ramazan's brother Ashraf Ramazan as one of the 34 members of the Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga) -- the upper chamber of the National Assembly -- that the Afghan Constitution requires be appointed by president.

An ad hoc measure may also be taken in the case of Mohabat's brother to satisfy his supporters. But the larger and long-term question of reforming the electoral law remains unanswered. Moreover, a more through investigation of Mohabat's murder may reveal the extent to which DDR-process requirements were actually abided as regards candidates who officially gave up their military assets to become Afghanistan's future lawmakers. Unless these cases are pursued with vigor and preventive measures are put in place to prevent politicians from becoming targets or themselves targeting their opponents, lawlessness may prevail among those who will make Afghanistan's laws.

Suicide car bomb blast kills two in Kabul: police
KABUL (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday near a building where a new parliament is due to meet for the first time next week, killing a suicide attacker and one other person, police said.

The explosion on a road between the Kabul zoo and the former King's palace in the west of Kabul damaged a NATO peacekeeping vehicle, but initial reports said there had been no casualties among the soldiers, a spokesman for the peacekeepers said.

A police officer at the scene, who did not want to be identified, said a car bomb had killed a suicide attacker and one other person.

Wreckage of a burnt-out car could be seen about 500 meters (yards) from the building where Afghanistan's first elected parliament since the 1970s is due to hold its first session on Monday.

Major Andy Elmes of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said an ISAF vehicle suffered minor damage. "First reports are no casualties on the ISAF side," he said.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, US tripartite commission hold 14th meeting in Kabul
Friday December 16, 2005 (0049 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
KABUL: The tripartite Commission consisting of senior military personal and diplomatic representatives from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Coalition Forces held the 14th meeting in Kabul today (Thursday).

The delegates included, General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, Vice Chief of Army Staff, Bismillah Khan, Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army, and Lt.Gen. Karl. W. Elkenberry, Commander Combined Forces Command, Afghanistan.

The meeting marks, the first ever-official visit of Gen Ahsan Hayat to Afghanistan.

The session begin with a brief summary of recent Border Security Sub-Committees’ meeting hosted by Pakistan at the Khyber Rifles Mess and the Counter -LED and Military Intelligence Sharing Working Group meetings hosted by Afghanistan in Kabul.

The parties agreed to expand their cooperation in communications, and share intelligence mutually as regards to the growing menace of cross-border terrorism.

The participants also reviewed the role played by participants in the recent devastated quake in Pakistan.

The delegates also discussed future agendas of cooperation between the participants.

This was the third plenary session attended by NATO International Security Assistance Force (NATO-ISAF) as guests

The Commission would meet again on Feb 2006 in Kabul.

Drugs Called No. 1 Threat in Afghanistan
By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 15, 5:46 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Drugs are a greater security threat in Afghanistan than a Taliban resurgence, NATO's top operational commander said Thursday, despite a rise in attacks blamed on remnants of the hard-line Islamic regime and their al-Qaida allies.

Opium production has boomed since the fall of the Taliban, stoking fears that Afghanistan — source of 80 percent of the world's heroin — is becoming a narco-state.

"For my money, the number one problem in Afghanistan is drugs," U.S. Gen. James L. Jones told reporters during a stopover in Qatar on his way to the Afghan capital, Kabul, for talks with President Hamid Karzai.

Jones said it was too early to say if the spate of suicide bombings against NATO and U.S. forces represented isolated copycat incidents — or a long-term shift by Taliban fighters and their foreign allies toward the tactics used by insurgents in Iraq.

"The fact that there are any (attacks) is worrisome," Jones said, adding that part of his two-day Afghan visit would be to gather information from commanders on the ground about the recent attacks.

Last month, a suicide car bomb in Kabul killed a German peacekeeper on NATO duty and eight Afghans. Other recent suicide bombings have targeted U.S. and Canadian troops in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

Increased violence against the 9,000-strong NATO-led force also has seen the recent deaths of two Swedish soldiers and one from Portugal.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said the suicide attacks marked a sign of weakness from an enemy that dares not engage Afghan and coalition forces in combat.

He repeated a claim that the suicide bombers were coming from abroad. "A lot of these suicide attacks have not been made by Afghans. It is by foreigners," he told reporters after meeting Jones.

"I don't think it will reach a magnitude that we will not be able to handle," he added.

Jones also said he saw no risk of the Taliban making a major comeback.

The attacks have raised concerns among NATO allies as they prepare to send up to 6,000 more troops to expand the peacekeeping mission into the more volatile southern region around Kandahar, freeing U.S.-led forces to focus on counterinsurgencies.

The Dutch government has postponed a decision to authorize the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers to play a key role in restive Urzgan province, due to public concern.

But Jones said he was confident the southward expansion would happen as planned around June.

NATO foreign ministers last week approved the southern expansion plan, which includes a more robust mandate for the troops and closer cooperation with the separate U.S.-led combat force of about 20,000.

The NATO force is currently limited to Kabul and the relatively calm north and west.

The new mandate also gives NATO a stronger role in supporting Afghan efforts against the burgeoning opium business. But it stresses that NATO's role will be a supportive one and won't involve soldiers burning poppy fields or launching military raids against drug producers.

AFGHANISTAN: Government criticises UN report on poppy cultivation
15 Dec 2005 16:28:33 GMT
KABUL, 15 December (IRIN) - Recent remarks by the UN suggesting that poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was likely to rise again next year, despite a significant drop in 2005, have drawn criticism from the government.

The remarks were made by Doris Buddenberg, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) Representative in Afghanistan, at a UN press briefing on Monday in the capital Kabul. Buddenberg said that poppy cultivation in 2005 was down by 25 percent compared with the previous year, but would likely rise again in 2006.

"We don't understand the purpose behind such a statement by UNODC, because the autumn plantation season in the country is not yet over," Habibullah Qaderi, Minister for Counter Narcotics said on Wednesday.

The minister also said that much had been done this year to improve counter-narcotics operations with stronger law enforcement. A Counter-Narcotics Judicial Taskforce (CNJT) was established, which so far, has handled over 300 cases and over 500 drug traffickers have been either detained or imprisoned. More than 100 mt of drugs and precursors have been seized and destroyed, the ministry noted. He added that support among the public to tackle the issue had also increased.

Similarly, the Afghan Counter Narcotics Trust Fund (ACNTF) was established recently. It gives the Afghan government greater ownership over the implementation of its counter-narcotics strategy and brings more transparency and accountability regarding the counter-narcotics budget. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the trustee of the fund.

"I think Afghanistan has established an effective foundation this year to build on for the years to come in its counter-narcotics campaign," Qaderi noted.

The minister also revealed that the poppy eradication campaign, due to start in the next couple of months, will be more forceful and comprehensive than ever before.

Opium poppies began to be cultivated on a large scale in Afghanistan in the early 1980s after bans in neighbouring countries.

The desperately poor country now produces about 87 percent of the global crop, the base for nearly all the heroin consumed in Western countries.

The UN and the government have estimated the total export value of Afghanistan's opium in 2005 at US $2.7 billion, equivalent to 52 percent of the country's official gross domestic product.

Education official killed in central Afghanistan
2005-12-15 17:50:37
KABUL, Dec. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The head of district education department and one school staff were kidnapped Wednesday and their bodies were found Thursday in Afghanistan's central province of Ghazni, a local official said.

"The head of the education department of Giro district Assadullah Khan and one of the school staff were kidnapped by a group of militants yesterday, and their bodies were found today in Andar district. We are very sorry to say they have been shot dead," Abdul Wakil Kamaib, head of intelligence service of Ghazni told Xinhua.

Kamaib condemned the enemies of Afghanistan, a term used to point at Taliban militants, to carry out the brutal attack against civilians, and said the searching operation in the area has been taken, no one has been arrested till now.

Two months ago in the same district of Giro, a group of Taliban militants set fire and destroyed two school buildings.

About 1,500 people, with the majority of them Taliban militants, have been killed in the Taliban-linked militancy since the beginning of this year.

UAE to help Afghanistan in educational sector
Thursday December 15, 2005 (2356 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
KABUL: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has pledged to cooperate in construction of educational institutions of Kuchi children in various parts of Afghanistan.
This was announced by the UAE Ambassador during his meeting with Afghan Minister for Tribal and border affairs Abdul Karim Brahvi.

The UAE ambassador also announced that his government would help to provide basic facilities to the Kuchi community.

He did not say as to when these promises would be fulfilled. Earlier, the Afghan Educational Ministry also announced to build schools for the Kuchi children.

US soldier killed in Afghanistan battle
Thu Dec 15, 2:45 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A US soldier and an "enemy" fighter were killed in a battle in volatile southern Afghanistan, while the bodies of two education department officials were found in the east, officials said.

Another US soldier and an Afghan soldier were wounded in the gunfight north of the city of Kandahar, said a statement from the US-led coalition force hunting hardliners from the ousted Taliban regime and other Islamic militants.

"Afghan and US troops were conducting a joint combat patrol when they came under small arms fire from enemy forces," it said.

"US and Afghan forces returned fire and nearby coalition attack aircraft and helicopters responded, engaging enemy positions. The enemy broke contact and fled the scene."

The wounded were in stable condition at a US medical facility.

More than 200 Americans have been killed in the US-led operation in Afghanistan that began in late 2001 with the toppling of the extremist Taliban government for sheltering Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Most of the deaths -- nearly 90 this year alone -- were in hostile action.

A man claiming to represent the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack near Kandahar, once the stronghold of the hardliners who took control of most of Afghanistan in 1996.

Southern and eastern Afghanistan are hotbeds for attacks linked to an anti-government insurgency by Taliban loyalists and other Islamic militants.

The bodies of two education department officials were found in eastern Ghazni province Thursday, a day after they had gone missing, provincial education department chief Fatima Ustaq said.

It was unclear who had killed the teacher and administrator, she said.

The purported Taliban spokesman said the movement was not involved.

About 20,000 coalition troops are based in southern and eastern Afghanistan to round up Taliban and other insurgents.

The violence has claimed about 1,500 lives this year, with many of the dead being rebels killed by foreign and Afghan forces.

Explosives strapped to a donkey were detonated in the northern city of Faizabad Wednesday in an attack that lightly damaged a German aid agency's vehicle, police said.

Police commander Shah Jahan Noori blamed the bombing on "terrorist organisations who do not want Afghanistan's stability".

Attacks linked to the Taliban are less frequent in northern and western Afghanistan than elsewhere in the country, although NATO-led peacekeepers based in the area have been targeted twice in the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in recent weeks.

A British soldier was killed in the city in late October and two Swedish soldiers died after an attack last month.

Afghanistan: Haji Zaher, Commander of the frontier brigade in the Eastern region, voluntarily surrenders stockpile of ammunition
Source: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 15 Dec 2005

On December 14th, the Commander of the Frontier Brigade of the Eastern Region, Haji Zaher, surrendered a significant stockpile of ammunition: 400 boxes of ammunition, 1,648 unboxed ammunition - including 690 mortars rounds and other heavy caliber weapon rounds – as well as anti-personnel landmines. The collected ammunition, handed over to the government of Afghanistan in compliance with the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) process, was verified by the Afghanistan's New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) teams. Ammunition in good condition will be used by the Government of Afghanistan for the security of the country; unstable ordnance will be destroyed.

By voluntarily surrendering some ammunition, Haji Zaher has partially complied with an instruction from the Ministry of Interior whereby government officials known to illegally detain and use weapons or ammunition have been asked to hand them over to the provincial weapons collection point.

Haji Zaher has demonstrated his willingness to participate in the DIAG process; it is now expected that he will fully comply with DIAG, as stated by his deputy in the speech he gave during the hand over ceremony, where he emphasized Haji Zaher's readiness to further contribute to DIAG.

The DIAG process was launched on 11June, 2005 when officially announced by Vice President Khalili.

As of 13 December:

- 16,126 weapons, including 14,413 light and 1,713 heavy weapons

- 24,763 pieces of boxed and 54,125 pieces of unboxed ammunition have been handed over to and verified by ANBP collection teams in Afghanistan.

- 4,857 of the collected weapons have been handed over by 124 candidates to the parliamentary and provincial council elections.

Microfinance could help eradicate forced marriages in Afghanistan, expert says
via PakTribune Thursday December 15, 2005
KABUL, December 15 (Online): Managing director of Parwaz Microfinance Institute Katrin Fakiri said that institutions of microfinance would greatly affect business of the usurers and would also help in protecting women from forced marriages.

Speaking at a microfinance conference organized by the World Bank in New Delhi, she said 90 per cent of the poor people were borrowing money from unofficial and private moneylenders. In the event of borrowers were not able to pay the loans, they were often giving their daughters hands to the usurers, she added.

The small loan or micro-credit system provides short term loans to the poor and needy women to improve their economic plight. In some countries, this system is also called as poors’ bank. [passage omitted]

Said Hashimi, manager of the microfinance project in the World Bank, said the programme was not only meant for womenfolk, but the poor men could also avail the chance.

On this occasion, chief of Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) Amjad Arbab hoped microfinance institutions would get firm roots in the field of business and marketing in five years. Working under the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Ministry, MISFA has been able in establishing 12 microfinance institutions in 17 provinces across the country since 2003. He urged the officials of the microfinance institutions to be clear, transparent in their work and keep international standards of accounting in their dealings.

Deputy Director of MISFA in Kabul Joyce Bortager said they had planned to set up microfinance unions in 34 provinces of the country in the next five years. She said, "We hope to have 250,000 customers by the next year."

Afghanistan defends approach to war criminals
By Rachel Morarjee in Kabul December 16 2005 04:11 The Financial Times
Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, on Thursday defended the government’s softly softly approach to dealing with war criminals and warned that the country had to avoid becoming trapped “in a limited circle of revenge”.

Mr Abdullah was speaking at the end of a three-day conference that brought together more than 300 Afghan and international rights activists to discuss an action plan adopted by the Afghan government on Monday to deal with war crimes.

The government has laid out a five-point strategy that could lead to the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission similar to the one in post-apartheid South Africa or a stronger tribunal to bring prosecutions.

The plan also includes setting up a commission to look into the best way of dealing with war crimes and establishing a body to vet senior government appointments.

Throwing light on some of the darkest moments in Afghan history has become especially crucial now that several warlords accused of atrocities during Afghanistan’s decades of conflict have been elected to the country’s parliament, which is due to sit for the first time in three decades next week.

“Parliament is going to open and the outside world is going to portray it as a triumph when many Afghans see it as a failure of political will,” said Sam Zia Zarifi, of US-based Human Rights Watch.

Many known criminals with links to militias or the drug industry were allowed to stand for election in spite of a slew of complaints about rights abuses to a UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).

“What assurance do we have that the commission would be effective when the government allowed so many criminals and human rights violators into our national assembly?” asked Roha Tarin, a parliamentary candidate in southern Kandahar province, where legislative election results were marred by allegations of fraud.

She said Afghan people had lost faith in the political process because the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the ECC had failed to bring rights abusers to justice.

“These commissions have been largely ceremonial. The government should bring these criminals to justice and prosecution,” she said at the conclusion of the conference.

The political will of Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, to deal with well-armed thugs has been further called into question by his decision to appoint former defence minister Mashal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a warlord accused of rights violations, as a member of the Senate.

Digital Phone Facilities Reach Laghman Districts in Afghanistan
Friday December 16, 11:29 AM
MEHTARLAM, Dec 16 Asia Pulse - Digital telephone facilities have been extended to three districts of the eastern Laghman province, linking it with the rest of Afghanistan.
Laghman communication chief Syed Abdul Jawad Qayyumi, said Thursday that the districts of Alishang, Alingar and Daulat Shah districts had been connected.

Each of the districts has been given six digital telephone sets - three for public call offices and three for government officials including the administrative chief, police head and local court staffers.

Qayyumi said a domestic call to a digital phone number would cost one afghani per minute while calls to mobile numbers would cost five afghanis per minute.

Qayyumi said Indian engineers would soon provide an internet service to the province to provide greater access to information on a wide range of subjects.

"We have informed the central government that boosters installed by Roshan and Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) in Lataband and Daronta are much higher and thus affect the lower frequency level of those in Laghman. The problem will be sorted out soon," he assured.

Alingar district chief Haji Alef Shah hailed the digital telephone service as a significant stride step.

Laghman province governor Shah Mahmood Sapi said he had held talks with cell-phone service providers Roshan and Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) about the installation of additional boosters in the districts.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)

Afghan Daily Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty [ 14 December 2005 ]
Neo-Taliban Renew Fatwa Ordering Death Of Supporters Of U.S. In Afghanistan...
Qari Mohammad Yusof, purporting to speak on behalf of the neo-Taliban, said in a telephone interview on 13 December that a new fatwa in the "form of a pamphlet and a poster" has been issued on the present situation of Afghanistan, the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. According to Mohammad Yusof, "a few days ago, about 100 religious scholars" discussed the current affairs of Afghanistan and based on Islamic texts, they decided that U.S. forces came to Afghanistan "not at the invitation of Afghans," but rather "they invaded" the country as "an aggressor." As such, Mohammad Yusof told AIP that "jihad against the Americans has become a duty." The fatwa orders the Afghans to have "no sympathy for infidels" and to avoid cooperating with them. Moreover, the fatwa instructs that "anyone who supports them [U.S. forces] morally or materially should be killed." The fatwa warns Afghan government employees to quit their jobs and that "anyone who has a father working for the Americans should cut their relations with them and treat them as an enemy." The neo-Taliban have issued similar fatwas in the past, starting with one in early 2003 which was issued in the name of the former leader of the Taliban regime, Mullah Mohammad Omar (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 April 2003). AT

…But Karzai Is Not Singled Out

Commenting on media reports that the fatwa issued by a number of religious scholars sympathizing with the neo-Taliban specifically called for killing Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Mohammad Yusof told AIP on 13 December that no one's "name was mentioned in the decree, but it is said in general in the decree that all those who support the Americans should be killed." Karzai's spokesman Mohammad Karim Rahimi downplayed the fatwa in Kabul on 13 December, Xinhua News Agency reported. "By fabricating such propaganda and labeling marks against the president, the enemies of Afghanistan attempt to sabotage peace in the country and create problems for the people," he said. Rahimi described Karzai as a "good Muslim and servant of the Afghan people," adding that any "conspiracy against him will be foiled." AT

Kabul Faults Remarks Made By UN Counternarcotics Representative

The Afghan Ministry of Counternarcotics has criticized recent remarks made by the Kabul representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Doris Buddenberg. The Ministry of Counternarcotics said in a statement that it "strongly calls on the world body [UNODC] to avoid remarks that create confusion among the Afghan public." It was referring to comments made by Buddenberg in Kabul on 12 December that predicted an increase in poppy cultivation in 2006. Buddenberg made the comments while announcing her agency's report revealing that the poppy cultivation area in Afghanistan has dropped in 2005 by 21 percent compared to 2004 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 December 2005). "I think Afghanistan has established an effective foundation this year to build on for the years to come in its counternarcotics campaign," Afghan Minister of Counternarcotics Habibullah Qaderi said, adding that his side does not see "the purpose behind such a statement by UNODC, because the autumn planting season...is not yet over." While the cultivation of poppies has declined considerably, the UNODC has expressed concern over the sustainability of the trend. AT

Karzai Appointments To Upper House Of Parliament Questioned

Some of the 34 appointments of President Karzai to the Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga) in the Afghan National Assembly have been criticized, the London-based "Daily Telegraph" reported on 13 December. Among Karzai's appointees are former Defense Minister and United Front (Northern Alliance) strongman Mohammad Qasim Fahim; former Helmand Province Governor Sher Mohammad Akhundzada; mujahedin-era Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Sabur Farid; and Mawlawi Arsala Rahmani, the former deputy minister of higher education (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 and 13 December 2005). Sam Zafiri of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Afghan "government has tried to accommodate these different groups, but in doing so they trade short-term gains for long-term political stability." He added that the government is "losing the confidence of the Afghan people." Shukria Barakzai, an elected member of the People's Council (Wolesi Jirga) from Kabul, said that Karzai "has chosen people to try to effect reconciliation rather than chosen people who are capable of running the country." Meanwhile, Karzai spokesman Rahimi insisted on 13 December that all of Karzai's appointments "have been made in the supreme national interest." AT

India to step up security for nationals working in strife-torn Afghanistan
12:26 2005-12-16 Pravda Ru
India has decided to strengthen security for its nationals working in Afghanistan, weeks after an Indian was abducted and killed, an official spokesman said Friday. "A review of security guidelines for Indians working in Afghanistan is being undertaken in consultation with local authorities. Security arrangements are being strengthened and necessary precautions taken," said Navtej Sarna, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman.

A team of Indian officials will visit Afghanistan soon to review the security situation and recommend measures to ensure the safety of Indians there, Sarna said.

An Indian driver, Maniappan Raman Kutty, working at a road construction site in southwestern Nimroz province was abducted and killed last month, prompting the Indian government to order the review of security for the roughly 2,000 Indian nationals working on numerous private and public-sector reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.

India is helping Afghanistan rebuild its schools and hospitals and has supplied dozens of trucks and jeeps to Afghanistan's new U.S.-trained army. It is also involved in building roads and a multimillion dollar dam near the western city of Herat.

India says it has spent about US$400 million (Ђ302 million) in aid for Afghanistan since 2001, mainly for reconstruction work in the areas of hydroelectric power, road construction, agriculture, industry, telecommunications, education and health.

India pledged another $50 million (Ђ40 million) for rebuilding infrastructure in Afghanistan during a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Kabul in August, reports the AP.

Last convoys of the year head home to Afghanistan from Pakistan
ATTOCK, Pakistan, December 15 (UNHCR) – The year's last return convoys are leaving Pakistan for Afghanistan as the UN refugee agency winds up its repatriation season for the winter.

A total of 29 Afghan families – 164 individuals – left three different Pakistani provinces and joined a convoy that set off on Monday towards their homes in three different Afghan provinces. Their departure from Pakistan's North West Frontier, Sindh and Balochistan Provinces came a week before December 20, when UNHCR will temporarily suspend its voluntary repatriation operation over the course of winter.

"I know this is not a suitable time for repatriation, because there is a harsh winter in Afghanistan, but my family feels alone here without my relatives, who left earlier this year," said Mohammad Zia, aged 27. "We want to join them. At least we'll be happy among our relatives."

Zia had been living for five years in Attock, about an hour's drive from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "I'm a carpet weaver and I was working in the carpet-weaving factory in Attock," he explained, adding that he had to complete his last carpet – which took three months to make – before receiving his last pay-check.

"I have a house and land in Kabul and I want to rebuild them now," he said. "I hope and believe that I can spend my life in Afghanistan better than in Pakistan. At least I will not be a refugee, and I will try to find a job. If I don't find one, I will start a small carpet-weaving factory with the help of my uncle in Kabul."

Having finished his last carpet just in time, Zia left on Monday on the last convoy of the year from Attock – the site of a string of long-standing refugee camps dating back to the 1980s' Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the evolving civil war that tore the country further apart during the 1990s.

In addition to those, like Zia, who were making for Kabul, other refugees on the convoy were heading for Jawzjan and Kunduz provinces in the far north of Afghanistan. For them, Kabul would simply be a pit-stop before they headed up the famous Salang highway which cuts through the Hindu Kush mountain range to the north.

Abdul Aziz was one of those heading for Jawzjan, along with his sister. However, he had decided to leave his wife and one-year-old daughter in Attock for the time being. "I am going now to my country because I want to construct my home," he said. "I want to start farming on my land and earn some money. I don't want my wife and daughter to face any problems when they come next year."

During 2005, UNHCR has helped more than 445,000 Afghans to return home from Pakistan under the agency's voluntary repatriation programme. "It's the highest number of returns since 2002, when nearly 1.6 million Afghans went home with UNHCR assistance," said Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR's Assistant Representative in Pakistan. "In all, more than 2.73 million Afghans have gone home from Pakistan under this programme since it started in 2002."

A further 1.5 million refugees have gone home from Iran since early 2002 – meaning a staggering 4.2 million Afghans in all have returned to their homeland since the fall of the Taliban: the biggest organized repatriation since the UN refugee agency was created in 1951.

Under the assisted return programme, UNHCR offers Afghans who wish to go home a package of travel assistance, varying from $4 to $37 per person depending on the distance, and a cash payment of $12 per person to help them re-establish themselves in Afghanistan. The assistance is paid once returnees have actually arrived back in Afghanistan.

All those over the age of six who are repatriating with UNHCR assistance must go through an iris recognition test, which ensures that no one receives the return package more than once. This ground-breaking technology was first tested on returnees in Pakistan in the autumn of 2002, and adopted for all assisted returns the following year.

UNHCR and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to extend the expiry date for the present Tripartite Agreement, which regulates the voluntary repatriation of Afghans, from March to December 2006. Next year's repatriation season will begin in March as usual.

There are an estimated 2.6 million Afghans still living in Pakistan. This figure is based on the March 2005 census that counted some 3 million Afghans in Pakistan and takes into account the 445,000 who have gone home since then. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, there are still approximately one million registered Afghans, after some 260,000 refugees repatriated in 2005 – meaning a total of some 700,000 have returned from both countries during the course of this year.
By Asif Shahzad In Attock, Pakistan