Afghanistan News December 17, 2005

December 17, 2005

Gunmen open fire on Afghan school, student and janitor killed
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Men on a motorcycle have opened fire on students leaving school in volatile southern Afghanistan, killing a pupil and a janitor, a provincial official said.

The attack in Lashkargah, capital of insurgency-hit Helmand province, comes two days after a schoolteacher was shot dead in the province in what President Hamid Karzai condemned as an act of terrorism.

No one claimed responsibility for either attack.

Helmand deputy provincial governor Moheedin Khan said after Saturday's shooting: "We don't know who carried out the attack but definitely they're the enemies of Afghanistan."

Afghan officials use the term to refer to insurgents, including those from the ultra-conservative Taliban movement toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

Remnants of the militia are waging an insurgency against Karzai's US-backed administration, which is trying to combat them with the help of thousands of US-led and NATO troops.

In a statement released after the shooting of the teacher in Helmand's Nad Ali district on Thursday, Karzai said: "This heinous act of terrorism was aimed at depriving the children of Afghanistan of their rights to education and I condemn it in the strongest terms."

"The enemies of Afghanistan must understand that their evil acts won't close doors on schools in our country."

As part of their anti-government campaign, the Taliban target Afghan and foreign troops as well as aid workers and officials in Karzai's administration.

The violence has left more than 1,500 people dead this year alone.

After nearly three decades of war and internal conflict, Afghanistan lacks basic educational facilities.

The Taliban, who ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, introduced a tough version of Islamic law that included barring girls from attending school and women from teaching, which in turn affected boys' education.

With the downfall of the regime, a massive campaign was launched to encourage children to return to school, a message that was heeded by about five million girls and boys.

Taleban shoot teacher in Afghanistan
ITN via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Friday December 16, 12:42 PM
A teacher has been shot dead in southern Afghanistan by suspected Taleban guerrillas after he ignored their orders to stop teaching girls.

The attack was carried out by two armed men who arrived at the secondary school in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province by motorcycle, Helmand police chief Abdul Rahman Sabir said.

"They dragged the teacher from the classroom and shot him at the school gate," he said.

"He had received many warning letters from the Taleban to stop teaching, but he continued to to do so happily and honestly - he liked to teach boys and girls," Sabir said. He identified the teacher by the single name, Laghmani.

The fundamentalist Taleban banned education of girls during their rule before being overthrown by allied forces in 2001.

The guerrillas have carried out a series of attacks in the provinces on schools teaching girls, often burning them down at night.

Clash on Afghan border
The Hindu News - Dec 16 12:46 PM B. Muralidhar Reddy
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghan forces clashed at the border in South Waziristan on Friday forcing the closure of the Angorah port gate for road traffic. Television channels said the clash occurred after the Afghan forces began searching a house belonging to an Ishmael tribesman in Pakistani area. It appears the troops entered the area ignoring warnings from the Pakistani troops. Ironically, the clash came a day after the Tripartite Commission, comprising military and diplomatic representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, held its 14th meeting in Kabul on Thursday to discuss matters related to cooperation on the border and intelligence sharing.

Two Dead, Two Wounded After Patrol Is Ambushed In Afghanistan
All Headline News December 16, 2005 9:30 a.m. EST Matthew Borghese - Staff Writer
Kabul, Afghanistan (AHN) - Two soldiers are dead and two are wounded after a Coalition patrol in Afghanistan came under fire.

One U.S. service member and one Afghan National Army soldier are dead, as well as one U.S. service member and one Afghan National Army soldier are wounded, currently in stable condition.

The firefight came during a joint combat patrol northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan, when small-arms fire opened up on the convoy. Coalition forces returned fire, as well as calling in air support from aircraft and helicopters to engage the enemy.

According to the American Forces Press Service, the enemy fighters fled the scene, with one killed.

"This is a sad day for us all here in Afghanistan," says Brig. Gen. Jack Sterling Jr., deputy commanding general (support) of Combined Joint Task Force 76. "The loss of one of our own is a tremendous weight on all our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of our fallen comrade. Our soldiers are here serving alongside the Afghan National Army to bring peace and prosperity to this great nation, and this tragic incident will only strengthen our resolve toward those goals."

Afghan villagers riot after police capture suspected Taliban
Sat Dec 17, 5:44 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Hundreds of villagers clashed with police near Afghanistan's capital to demand the release of six men they said were ordinary mullahs but whom police suspected were Taliban fighters, authorities said.

The villagers rioted in Logar province just south of Kabul on Friday, breaking windows and throwing stones, deputy police chief Abdul Rasoul said on Saturday. Gunfire was also heard coming from the mob, he said.

The crowd claimed police had shot dead two of the protesters, Rasoul said, adding though that officers had only fired into the air and that no bodies had been found after the clash.

"We've seen some blood at the scene of the riot but not any bodies to back up their claims. We are investigating everything," he told AFP.

The protest erupted in the province's Charkh district after police arrested the men, alleging they had been preparing to ambush a police convoy.

"Four men were arrested on Thursday and two others on Friday. We suspect that they have links to Taliban," Rasoul said. The men were being questioned, he said.

"An investigation will reveal whether they're Taliban or not."

Logar is among regions of southern Afghanistan badly hit by a Taliban-led insurgency launched after the hardline movement was removed from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

Most insurgency-linked attacks however occur along the border with Pakistan, where the Taliban and their Islamic allies, including those from Al-Qaeda, are believed to have fled.

More than 1,500 people, many of them militants, have been killed this year, more than double last year's toll.

Cheney to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Middle East
Fri Dec 16,11:50 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Vice-President     Dick Cheney will travel next week to     Afghanistan, Pakistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, his office announced.

Cheney will focus on Afghanistan's burgeoning democracy, US efforts to help Pakistan in the wake of a deadly earthquake on October 8, and US-Middle East cooperation in the war on terrorism, his office said in a statement on Friday.

On December 19, Cheney will represent the United States at the opening session of Afghanistans new, democratically-elected parliament, and will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to the statement.

He will also visit US troops there to thank them for their service and deliver holiday greetings.

In Pakistan, the US vice president will assess ongoing US relief and reconstruction efforts following the earthquake and will meet with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

In Oman, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Cheney will hold talks with Sultan Qaboos, King Abdullah, and President     Hosni Mubarak, respectively, on US efforts to promote democracy in the region and battle extremist violence.

Cheney last visited Egypt in March 2002, a year before the US-led invasion of     Iraq, in an effort to convince regional leaders that then Iraqi President     Saddam Hussein was a threat to regional and international security.

Egypt, the second-largest recipient of US economic and military assistance after     Israel, opposed the invasion, but has offered to help rebuild the war-wrecked country.

Cheney's visit comes just two weeks after the end of Egypt's month-long parliamentary elections, which were marred by violence and widespread voter obstruction and saw Islamists win 20 percent of the seats.

Egypt is a key player in efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict and is under pressure from the United States to lead the way to democracy in the region. Washington voiced serious concerns about the violence and the rights violations during the election.

Afghans Filled With Hope, Disillusionment
By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 17, 4:50 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Not so long ago, Mohammad Tahir was a government official with a comfortable salary and a position in the Defense Ministry. Today, he sells bread from a wood shack on the side of a road. To Tahir, democracy is a distant dream.

"It appears our country is moving in that direction," he said as just a few miles away the final preparations were being made to open Afghanistan's first parliament in more than 30 years.

"But my life is getting worse."

Though proud to be once again participating in the administration of their own government, the anticipation many Afghans feel ahead of the opening of parliament Monday is marred by deep-rooted pessimism and doubt.

Like Tahir, many cite a litany of pressing day-to-day concerns — rising unemployment and prices, long stretches without electricity, the dangers of crime and the random violence of an ongoing insurgency.

"I'm not optimistic at all," Tahir said as a group of fellow shopkeepers nearby nodded in agreement. "We've done our part. Now it is up to the politicians to do theirs."

In a historic vote, Afghans filled the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga in elections three months ago. They also elected provincial councils that then chose two-thirds of the 102-seat upper chamber, the Meshrano Jirga.

President Hamid Karzai, a popular figure here, appointed the remaining 34 members.

The elections were generally seen as a success and marked a major step forward after the ouster of the hardline Taliban regime four years ago. It will be the first time parliament has convened in this war-ravaged country since 1973.

The elections were even more impressive considering the hurdles Afghanistan continues to face. After three decades of occupation and civil war, its economy is in shambles and its security is in large part in the hands of the 20,000 U.S. troops and thousands of international peacekeepers deployed here. Bombings and suicide attacks are a fact of daily life.

So everyone agrees the road ahead will be bumpy.

Many critics — and average Afghans such as Tahir — say the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections was undermined by the government's failure to keep warlords from strong-arming their way into office.

"The opening of parliament will not be viewed by many Afghans as a positive step," said Saman Zia-Zarifi, the research director for the Asia division of New York-based Human Rights Watch. "They will see it as a potential disaster."

Human Rights Watch has accused many of the lawmakers of rights abuses or of involvement in the drug trade, which Zia-Zarifi said gives them money, power and independence from the dictates of the central government.

NATO's top operational commander, U.S. Gen. James L. Jones, said this week that drugs are a greater security threat in Afghanistan than a Taliban resurgence. 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 state financed by the illegal drug trade.

Human Rights Watch has singled out a number of politicians for abuses including one-time Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim, a former Northern Alliance leader and warlord; Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, another powerful militia leader; and Abdul Salaam Rocketi, a former Taliban commander.

"People look at the parliament and they think, `All these guys are back,'" Zia-Zarifi said. "The day parliament opens, people are going to look at whether the warlords are going to behave themselves, and what is the government going to do about it."

AFGHANISTAN: NEW PARLIAMENT CAN BE A FRESH START FOR WOMEN, SAYS FEMALE MP
AKI, Italy
Kabul, 16 Dec. (AKI) - Under the Taliban, Afghan women suffered great restrictions. They were forced to wear the burqa and stay at home and were banned from getting an education. Four years after the fall of the hardline regime, the first Afghan parliament in more than 30 years will meet on Monday, and now 68 seats in the lower house have been reserved for women, giving Afghanistan one of the highest proportions of female parliamentarians in the world. "By being in a position of power, in this way we can also provide true and direct help to Afghan women," woman MP Shukria Barakzai, told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Barakzai, the 33-year-old mother of three girls, is aiming to head the new parliament, whose members gathered this week in the capital, Kabul, for an orientation course ahead of the legislature's inauguration next Monday.

During the Taliban regime, Barakzai, ran a secret school for girls in her Kabul home. Today, on top of being an MP, she is also the editor of a women's magazine called Aina-E-Zan (Women's Mirror).

"I am responsible for the women, to ensure that they have good laws and create positive discrimination for women," said Barakzai.

Afghanistan's new parliament is made up of a controversial collection of former mujahadeen commanders, warlords, druglords and even former members of the Taliban regime. Barakzai realises the challenges that she faces, just being a member of the parliament, let alone leading it.

"Our parliament has some people from the Taliban. What will they think? Will they want to speak to women? It will be interesting to see them without the burqa, to face the Taliban this way," she said.

Barakzai said she has met former members of the Taliban who are now in parliament, such as one from the province of Zabul who asked her to translate what he had said in Pashto to English when he spoke to the media. "It was very interesting for me," said the magazine editor who also speaks the two main Afghan languages Pashto and Dari as well as English, French, and Urdu. "They seem to really want to join and add to the peace process."

If she manages to secure the position of leading the parliament, Barakzai said that she hopes that in this way it would inspire more men to respect women. "It will be good for them to look at women of power to see that there can be positive changes for women."

The parliamentary elections did not have any political parties and every candidate ran as an independent. Barakzai has already started lobbying other assembly members for support under two different factions - the reformist, made up technocrats who are not really conservatives and another faction of women.

It has not been a easy road for this female member of the legislature. Once she announced her candidacy in the parliamentary elections, she was attacked in the provinces, threatened on the phone, and through email. "But when you want to fight for something, that's normal to do. I am not afraid," she said.

Her only concern has been for her children, who she wishes she could see more often. "It is difficult to deal with time," said Barakzai whose husband also helps with her various roles. "I am working hard but it is for the future of my children and for Afghan children."

"It is difficult for my children but one day I think they will understand," she said.

Number Of Afghan Returnees From Pakistan Increasing
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty [ 16.12.2005 - 14:21 ]
December 16 2005-- The United Nations says nearly 450,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan this year the highest number since 2002.

The announcement was made in Islamabad today by Indrika Ratwatte, an official with the United Nations refugee agency. Since the fall of the Taliban, more than 2.7 million Afghan refugees have returned home from Pakistan under the agency's voluntary repatriation program. A slightly smaller number (2.6 million) still lives in Pakistan.

Suicide Bomb Sparks Security Concerns in Afghan Capital
By Benjamin Sand Islamabad 16 December 2005 VOA
A car bomb exploded in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing the driver and injuring two pedestrians. The attack comes just days before Afghanistan's new Parliament will convene not far from where the blast occurred.

Officials say the attack was apparently a suicide mission.

The explosion slightly damaged a car driven by members of the NATO-led International Security Force, known as ISAF.

ISAF spokesman, Major Andrew Elms, spoke to reporters Friday shortly after the bomb went off.

"Two civilians have been injured in the explosion," said Andrew Elms. "In the area ISAF vehicles were patrolling and one vehicle was caught in the explosion. There have been no casualties from ISAF."

He said ISAF forces assisted local police in securing the area and investigating the attack.

The car bomb occurred just a few hundred meters from Afghanistan's parliamentary building.

The new assembly will convene Monday, opening Afghanistan's first elected parliament in more than 30 years.

The attack seemed to confirm widespread fears that Taleban insurgents may target the landmark session, considered a major advance for Afghanistan's new democracy. The parliament was elected in October, the final step in giving Afghanistan a new government to replace the hard-line Islamic Taleban regime in 2001.

The blast also weakens Kabul's reputation for security. The capital is heavily patrolled by thousands of national and international security forces.

It is, by and large, considered immune to the insurgent attacks that still plague other parts of the country.

Thursday, suspected Taleban rebels in southern Afghanistan executed a teacher for ignoring orders to stop educating girls.

Police officials in Helmand Province say two men dragged the teacher out of his classroom and shot him just a few feet from the school entrance.

Afghan Daily Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty 16 December 2005
Education Head And Staffer Killed In South-Central Afghanistan
The bodies of the leader of the Giro District Education Department in Ghazni Province and one of his staffers were found on 15 December, Xinhua News Agency reported. The intelligence department chief of Ghazni, Abdul Wakil Kamyab, told Xinhua that Asadullah and one of his staff were kidnapped by a "group of militants" they day before their bodies were found in Andar District, north of Giro. Kamyab blamed the "enemies of Afghanistan" for the attack -- a term used by Afghan government officials to denote the neo-Taliban. AT

U.S. Soldier Killed In Southern Afghanistan

A U.S. serviceman was killed and another U.S. soldier and an Afghan National Army soldier were wounded in a firefight with suspected neo-Taliban in Kandahar Province on 15 December, Reuters reported. One neo-Taliban militiaman was also reported killed. AT

Video Recording Of Afghan Suicide Bomber Discovered

A videotape of a neo-Taliban member involved in a deadly suicide attack in Kabul in November has been released in Miarnshah, a city in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, Pajhwak News Agency reported on 15 December. The recorded testimony, similar to those made by Arab suicide bombers operating in Iraq and Israel, reportedly shows a man identified as Amanullah who was one of two suicide bombers targeting NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) troops in Kabul, killing a German soldier and several Afghan civilians (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 and 16 November 2005). Amanullah says in the 30-minute recording that he is willing to "die in the way of Allah." "I am ready for staging a suicide attack and hope Allah will give me a place in paradise," Amanullah says in the recording. It also shows Amanullah on a motorcycle carrying out his mission. At the time of the attack, the neo-Taliban said one of their ranks from Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan was responsible. According to Pajhwak, the man speaking on the videotape has an accent common in eastern Afghanistan. AT

Bosnian Serbs To Donate Weapons To Afghanistan

Republika Srpska Defense Minister Milovan Stankovic has proposed to donate surplus weapons to Afghanistan, the Banja Luka daily "Nezavisne Novine" reported on 15 December. If the proposal is accepted by Bosnian Serb authorities, the Afghan government would receive thousands of automatic rifles and several hundred machine guns. The surplus weapons were to destroyed, Stankovic said. According to a report the United States proposed that the Bosnian Serb forces send their surplus weapons to Afghanistan. AT

Cleric stabbed to death in Kandahar
15. December 2005,
KANDAHAR (AIP) - Unidentified attackers stabbed to death a religious scholar and member of Kandahar Ulema Council in Kandahar city, police source said Wednesday.

Provincial police chief of Kandahar, Colonel Abdul Malik Wahidi while giving details to Afghan Islamic Press said, “Maulvi Ahmad Shah, deputy of preaching wing of Kandahar Ulema Council was killed by unidentified people in Herat Darwaza area of Kandahar city last Monday.” He did not provide further details of the incident.

Meanwhile, a member of Kandahar Ulema Council told Afghan Islamic Press on condition of anonymity that Maulvi Ahmad Shah was coming home from Mulla Muhammad Omar Mosque when he was killed. It is said that Ahmad Shah was stabbed to death.

Although it is not clear that who was behind the killing of Ahmad Shah but the chief of the same Ulema council, Maulvi Abdullah Fayaz was killed by Taliban on May 29, 2005. Similarly Taliban killed several members of ulema councils time by time in different parts of the country.

It is to be mentioned here that ulema councils are existing in all provinces of the country and they support the government. Its central office situated in Kabul and chief Justice of Supreme Court of Afghanistan, Maulvi Fazl Hadi Shiwari is the chief of these councils.

Afghan Muslims begin their Haj
Reuter 12/15/2005
Hundreds of Afghans began their annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Inside the biggest mosque in the capital Kabul, more than a thousand Afghans went through the process of registration and getting vaccination ahead of the pilgrimage.

Health experts have warned that the millions of pilgrims who gather in Mecca for the annual haj pilgrimage risk creating conditions in which a pandemic strain of flu could emerge.

Around 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims from over 160 countries head for Mecca each year in one of the world's biggest religious rituals. The next haj is expected to start in January.

The deadly H5N1 form of bird flu has killed 67 people in five countries in Asia over the past two years. Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, has confirmed seven deaths.
The virus cannot pass among people the way seasonal flu does, but experts fear it could mutate into a form which can be transmitted from person to person. Experts say the risk of mutation would be increased if anyone with bird flu came to Mecca and mingled with people with seasonal flu among the huge crowds.

Many of those who arrived at the Eid Gah mosque were elderly men and women who have travelled all the way from the southern areas of Afghanistan.

The Afghan government has designated 5 airports all over the country to ensure that the estimated 25,000 pilgrims will be able to fly to Mecca without any problems. One of those who traveled for hours to the capital is Haji Zaman Khan from the southeastern province of Paktia.

"Going to Mecca is incumbent on each single Muslim of the world. This shows the unity of Muslim. I pray for myself and all the Muslims in of the world that Allah will bless us," said Khan.
And for one Afghan, Mohammad Nayeem, peace and unity among Muslims will be the main theme of his prayers. Nayeem had spent one year imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, along with hundreds of other detainees arrested following the September 11 attacks in the United States.

"When I arrive at the Kaba (or House of God), I will pray and ask from God that 'Almighty God bless me and the whole Muslim of the world, oh God bring all the Muslims together and make them united and strong. Oh God rescue those Muslims who are under the threat around the world and give them a prosperous life," said Nayeem who was once a commander of a local Taliban unit in Paktia.

The ritual represents a major experience in the life of a Muslim. For at least once in their lives, each Muslim endeavours to make a pilgrimage to Mecca - the holiest shrine of worship for Muslims everywhere.

Deputy DM visits Greek peace-keeping contingent in Afghanistan
Athens News Agency, Greece 12/16/05
Deputy defence minister Vassilis Michaloliakos on Thursday visited the Greek contingent (ELDAF) to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, in the first-ever visit by a representative of the ministry's civilian leadership to the contingent.

Michaloliakos praised the work of the Greek contingent in Afghanistan, both at operational level and at the level of health services provided by the Greek mobile army surgical hospital (KIHNE).

The ELDAF and the KIHNE have both been highly praised by NATO.

Michaloliakos said that Greece, with its participation in international missions of a humanitarian nature "which have been endorsed by the UN Security Council by virtue of a relevant Resolution", is "among the protagonists in the international community's effort for the consolidation of peace and stability on the planet".

The minister brought gifts of the traditional Greek Chrismas sweets melomakarona and kourambiethes, wines, and digital cameras as gifts for the troops, as well as photo printers per unit.

Due to lack of time on both sides, the defence deputy minister was unable to meet with the commander of the NATO Allied Forces Europe, who was also in Afghanistan on a visit.

During a stopover in Yrevan on his return from Afghanistan, Michaloliakos met with his Armenian counterpart, deputy defence minister Artur Agabekian, with whom he discussed the course of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Michaloliakos arrived in Kabul together with 85 Greek soldiers who replaced colleages in the ELDAF whose tour of duty had been completed, and returned to Athens with the returning troops.

The Greek contingent in Afghanistan (ELDAF) comprises one company of 128 men from the army engineers corps to support roadbuilding networks and provide humanitarian and public benefit services and, since August this year, an additional 45 troops were deployed to staff the mobile surgery hospital, which provides health services to members of the ISAF and to Afghan citizens.

Also, as of December 1 this year, the Hellenic Air Force deployed a 38-member mission to assume the rotating administration of Kabul Airport for the period to April 2006.

Taliban re-emergence
DR IJAZ AHSAN – The Nation Column 12/15/05
In 1995 or thereabouts, the Taliban rose to power in lawless Afghanistan after stopping the collection of ‘goonda tax’. In those days, there was no central government in that country, each region being controlled by a different warlord. On a highway close to Qandahar, dacoits had been looting passengers of passing buses and cars for quite some time, with no one taking any notice. Then one day a detachment of the Taliban attacked and killed these bandits, hung the bodies up by the roadside, and burned down their houses. There was no reaction, in fact the people sided with the Taliban. Encouraged by this, the latter established their authority over increasingly larger areas, and finally virtually the whole of Afghanistan.

During recent days there has been a chilling replay of the above incidents, only this time inside Pakistan. In an area of North Waziristan near Miranshah, bandits had made it a habit of collecting ‘goonda tax’ from passing vehicles. However, no effort had been made by the political administration or the Frontier Corps to stop them from doing so. One day the bandits asked a jeep-load of Taliban to pay ‘goonda tax’. The Taliban had even agreed to pay, but an altercation ensued, and the bandits killed three of the Taliban. The fourth member of the Taliban killed three of the bandits. On hearing of this, a party of Taliban killed many bandits and hung their bodies up from electricity poles.

They also burned down as many as eight houses used by the bandits for gambling and other vices. On hearing about the success of the operation by the Taliban against the dacoits, the people distributed sweets. At the same time, hundreds of people took to the roads to witness the successful operation for themselves. Encouragement by the success and popularity of their operation against the bandits induced the Taliban to enlarge the area under their ‘control’. They moved about 30 kilometers east towards Amir Ali, where they arrested two more dacoits, beheaded them and hung their bodies from electric poles.

While all this was happening, neither the Frontier Corps(FC) nor the Pakistan Army, each deployed in large numbers in Miranshah and other parts of Waziristan, intervened to stop the clashes or apprehend the fighters using sophisticated weapons. Even when the Taliban attacked the bandits with rockets near the FC’s own doorstep, the main gate of their Fort in Miranshah, the administration as well as the troops looked the other way.

Now, the depressing aspect of this whole sordid affair is this: the Afghanistan of the 90s was a completely wild frontier. There was no central authority. There was no equivalent of our armed forces or our political administration. There were only several warlords, none of them part of any organised government. In that environment, for the Taliban to behave as a sovereign entity was at least understandable. But in today’s Pakistan with its supposed government, this is incredible.

Such anarchy results when, over a period of decades, every successive government abdicates its powers to different groups and mafias. When the police are part of the business; when the politicians are corrupt and encourage the mafias; when army rulers are content with the privileges and perks they enjoy.

The questions whose answers people have a right to know are these: firstly, why had the authorities been doing nothing about the bandits who were so openly collecting ‘goonda tax’ from travellers? The only reason one can think about is that they had a share in the bandits’ loot! Why else? Secondly, when the Taliban took the law into their own hands outside the Frontier Constabulary’s fort, why were they allowed to do so? If the government wishes to regain any of its lost credibility, they better find the answers to these questions and take action against the officials responsible.

Never mind our people, even our American bosses are going to be upset about the impotence of our authorities in front of the Taliban. The Americans want us to arrest wanted Taliban and hand then over to them. What to say of that, we do not seem to be able to do anything about the latter even when they take the law into their own hands. Therefore, if not to satisfy the people, our rulers ought to do something to pacify at least their American bosses, whose wishes have always been their commands. E-mail: drijaz@nation.com.pk

This Afghan Life
Review by NATHANIEL RICH The New York Times December 18, 2005
'Come Back to Afghanistan,' by Said Hyder Akbar and Susan Burton
With all the attention given to the war in Iraq, relatively few words are reserved for Afghanistan. That war isn't over either. Although President Hamid Karzai's government can claim a number of noteworthy successes, much remains uncertain. Tribal warlords still control many regions. American troops are unable to travel safely in much of the country; more than 200 soldiers have died there since the fall of the Taliban. Despite the extradition of the major Taliban drug lord Baz Mohammad to the United States this fall, poppy production has increased wildly since the American invasion, to the point that Afghanistan is now responsible for nearly 90 percent of the world's supply of opium. Turnout for the country's recent parliamentary election was 20 percent lower than for last year's presidential election, and the announcement of the results was delayed because of widespread complaints about voter intimidation, ballot box stuffing and fraud. And it's widely believed Osama bin Laden is still hiding in the mountainous region that forms the ambiguous, and unmonitored, border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Come Back to Afghanistan" is the story of the country's reconstruction effort over the last three years, as told by Said Hyder Akbar, a teenager whose father, Said Fazel Akbar, is a prominent member of the new Afghan government. Fazel was close to several mujahedeen commanders during the Soviet war in the 1980's and ran Afghanistan's official radio station, Kabul Radio, which was an early target of the Soviet invasion. In 1987, after Hyder's young cousin was kidnapped in Peshawar and the family feared another abduction, Fazel sent his wife and two young sons to America. Hyder was 2.

The elder Akbar returned to Afghanistan after the defeat of the Taliban to help his old friend Hamid Karzai form the new government. Karzai soon appointed him governor of Kunar Province, where Hyder visited his father during his summer vacations. At the urging of Susan Burton, the book's co-author, Hyder began recording an audio diary, which was aired on the documentary radio program "This American Life," where Burton is an editor.

Despite his book's subtitle, Akbar is not your normal California teenager. "I was . . . missing prom and graduation and the senior trip to Cancún, all so that I could make it to Kabul in time for the loya jirga," he boasts of the tribal grand council. Few American students are blessed with such good material for their "What I Did Over My Summer Vacation" essay. In Afghanistan, Akbar learned how to fire rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs, visited Osama bin Laden's old house and was even ambushed by Al Qaeda. At one point he worked as an interpreter during an interrogation of a suspected insurgent named Abdul Wali, who later died in prison. Although American soldiers told Akbar that Wali simply collapsed, he later learned, during the Abu Ghraib investigation, that Wali had been tortured.

Since so few Western journalists are stationed in Afghanistan and few venture outside Kabul, Akbar's observations are particularly illuminating. He shows how, since the early 1980's, "very modern warfare has reduced this country to a very primitive state," and laments the lack of resources devoted by the United States government to building roads and schools. He argues persuasively that the American military's practice of trading aid for intelligence has blurred the line "between militarism and humanitarianism," leading to the horrific attacks on aid groups like Doctors Without Borders; and through his encounters with rural tribal communities, we see how fragmented and bitterly divided the country remains.

Akbar's analysis is much more sophisticated than he, or perhaps his co-writer, seems willing to let on. Despite its many insights, the book is debilitated by frequent displays of wide-eyed innocence and gratuitous, sometimes absurd, pop culture references. On meeting the notoriously brutal warlord Rashid Dostum, for instance, Akbar exclaims: "This is like Lollapalooza, I decide - like going backstage and getting to meet all the rock stars." Karzai's "shades," he writes, make him "look like a rock star - or like a skydiver in a Mountain Dew commercial, about to hurtle down into the atmosphere and Do the Dew!" Fast food chains, Coca-Cola and the music of U2 are recurring themes. For a book that so successfully exposes the naïveté of the United States' approach to rebuilding Afghanistan, these cloying efforts to reach out to naïve American readers are deeply unsatisfying, and even a touch cynical.

This is a pity, since they detract from Akbar's incisive observations of a country struggling through a pivotal moment in its history. In his efforts to bring Afghanistan's plight to the world's attention, Akbar both echoes and warns against the observation of Sir Olaf Caroe, the last British governor on the Afghan frontier, that "unlike other wars, Afghan wars become serious only when they are over."

Nathaniel Rich, an editor at The Paris Review, is the author of "San Francisco Noir."

Forget Taliban, Afghanistan’s stoned
PAUL AMES AP[ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2005 02:25:37 AM] The Economic Times Online
KABUL: Drugs are a greater security threat in Afghanistan than a Taliban resurgence, Nato’s top operational commander said on Thursday, despite a rise in attacks blamed on remnants of the hard-line Islamic regime and their al-Qaeda allies.

Opium production has boomed since the fall of the Taliban, stoking fears that Afghanistan — source of 80% of the world’s heroin — is becoming a narco-state. “For my money, the number one problem in Afghanistan is drugs,” US Gen James L Jones said during a stopover in Qatar on his way to the Afghan capital, Kabul, for talks with President Hamid Karzai.

He said he was confident the southward expansion of Nato forces would happen as planned around June. 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. Jones said it was too early to say if the spate of suicide bombings against Nato and US 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 US 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 Defence 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 US-led forces to focus on counter-insurgencies.The Dutch government has postponed a decision to authorise the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers to play a key role in restive Urzgan province, due to public concern.

Afghanistan Appeal No. 05AA045 Programme Update No. 2
Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) 16 Dec 2005
The Federation’s mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world’s largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 183 countries. For more information: www.ifrc.org

In Brief

Appeal No. 05AA045; Programme Update no. 2, Period covered: 1 April to 30 June 2005; Appeal coverage: 58.2%; Outstanding needs: CHF 2,957,872 (USD or EUR 2,450,699).

Appeal target: CHF 9,055,022 (USD 7,575,389 or EUR 5,863,397)

Related Emergency appeals: Severe winter emergency appeal 05EA003; Spring floods emergency appeal 05EA005; South Asia Regional Annual Appeal 05AA051

Programme summary:

Since the new president took office at the start of the year, the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has been developing a clear vision for its future sustainability, profile and impact. The reporting period saw the appointment of a secretary general, separating for the first time governance from management roles.

The two emergency operations (severe winter and floods) have continued. Most of the planned activities under this appeal were also implemented. However, the two emergency operations had slowed down some disaster management (DM) activities despite colossal progress in ARCS logistics development. This indicates the need for further capacity-building. Over 160,000 people benefited from the ARCS clinics, and significant progress was made in close coordination with the ministry of public health regarding the future sustainability and locations of some of the clinics. However, funding for the health programme remained a huge challenge with a shortfall of CHF 2.3 million on the appeal budget. Further funding support for this progressive flagship health programme is, therefore, still urgently sought.

The organizational development (OD) programme also made significant progress with the revised constitution submitted to the Joint Commission in Geneva for consideration, and over 1,200 members recruited in this quarter, as opposed to only 350 in the first quarter. Plans were developed for a technical support visit from the British Red Cross in the next quarter to start planning for the restructuring of the national society and related change process. Structures and links for cooperation were established between the Federation’s Marastoon (home for the under-privileged) team and the Marastoon programme department at ARCS headquarters. The Marastoon welfare activities facilitate the care of destitute people and cooperation between the five Marastoons, the ARCS headquarters and the Federation delegation.

As indicated above, funding for the Afghanistan programme remains a challenge, and it is clear that the programme continues to be adversely affected by the redirection of resources to the Asia tsunami disaster. Nevertheless, programme expenditure was on target at mid-year and core costs had been further reduced.

Operational developments

The second quarter of the year saw the continuation of floods in various parts of the country as the winter snows melted, and ongoing relief assistance to the most needy affected by the severe winter conditions in Kabul (see operations updates on Federation’s website). The increased needs of many sectors of the population, caused by weather conditions, were compounded by increased violence and security incidents in many parts of the country.

As expected, due to a deteriorating security situation, the general level of humanitarian activity slowed down and there was a feeling of dissatisfaction among the public about the government’s inability to deliver in terms of security or economic development. The situation of women in Afghanistan is becoming a growing concern with an increase in reported domestic and general violence against women, including specific targeting from the antigovernment elements.

The Coalition Forces continued their military operations in the southern and eastern parts of the country, and activities of the anti-government elements were seen in some new, previously relatively safe, areas. Armed and violent criminality was also seen to be on the increase. This quarter saw the kidnapping and subsequent release after several weeks of an Italian non-government organization (NGO) worker, which created a high level of concern and tension amongst the international community.

The date for the parliamentary elections remains on target for 18 September, although full funding for the election process is still being sought, and the security situation is expected to deteriorate in the run-up to and after these elections. The delegation has planned to temporarily reduce its expatriate personnel in this period. Meanwhile, as the security restrictions have remained in force, most operational areas continued to be off limits for the Federation personnel. However, the ARCS activities have proceeded as planned, with ongoing Federation support as needed.

For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:

In Afghanistan: Afghanistan Red Crescent Society, Fatima Gailani (President), phone: +93 79 38 55 33

In Afghanistan: Federation Delegation, Jamila Ibrohim (Head of Delegation), email; jamila.ibrohim@ifrc.org, phone: +882 168 980 2643 (sat phone) or +93 70 278 372 and +92 300 850 6861 (mobile)

In India: South Asia Regional Delegation, Robert McKerrow (Head of Regional Delegation), email: bob.mckerrow@ifrc.org, phone: +91 112 332 4203 or +91 112 332 4206, fax: +91 112 332 4235

In Geneva: Asia and Pacific Department, Jagan Chapagain (Regional Officer), email: jagan.chapagain@ifrc.org, phone: +41 22 730 4316, fax +41 22 733 0395 or Nelly Khrabraya, email: nelly.khrabraya@ifrc.org, phone: +41 22 730 4306