Afghanistan News December 22, 2005

December 22, 2005

Afghanistan lawmakers squabble in 1st parliamentary session
By Amir Shah Associated Press December 21, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The first full session of Afghanistan's new parliament almost broke down Tuesday after a lawmaker demanded authorities bring to justice all warlords, some of whom are delegates.

Underscoring threats to the fledgling democracy, a purported statement forwarded to The Associated Press from fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar called the parliament "fake," and a suicide bombing wounded three Italian peacekeepers and three civilians.

The NATO peacekeepers were on their way to the airport in the western city of Herat when the bomber's car pulled up next to theirs and exploded, police said. One of the wounded civilians, a woman, was in critical condition.

The attack took place as the National Assembly convened its first working session in the capital, Kabul, a day after it was inaugurated in an emotional ceremony. Good feelings quickly gave way to a stormy debate over procedural matters as well as the potentially explosive issue of warlords sitting among the elected representatives.

One delegate, Malali Joya, called for all of Afghanistan's human-rights abusers and "criminal warlords" to be brought to justice. Delegates responded by pounding on the tables to demand she sit down.

Another delegate, Sayed Mubat Shah, appealed for calm.

"We have a big responsibility," he said. "We all have equal rights. We are the voice of the Afghan people."

Among those in the parliament with allegedly bloody pasts are Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a militia leader accused of war crimes by Human Rights Watch, and Abdul Salaam Rocketi, a former Taliban commander who has since reconciled with the government.

The legislature has been criticized for including many regional strongmen, raising concerns over whether it can truly be a positive political force.

The popularly elected parliament marked Afghanistan's final step in its transition to democracy after U.S.-led forces ousted the hard-line Taliban regime four years ago for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

The country has had no elected parliament since 1973.

A written statement, purportedly from Mullah Omar and forwarded to the AP by e-mail Tuesday, condemned the parliament and claimed the Taliban rebellion was strengthening.

"Now a fake parliament has come into being, inaugurated by the American Vice President Dick Cheney," the statement said. Cheney attended the parliament's inauguration during a brief visit Monday.

The statement's authenticity could not be confirmed independently.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced Tuesday that U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan will be reduced by about 3,500 next spring, the first major reduction since late last year.

UN peacekeeping troops to stay in Afghanistan for next five years
2005-12-21 01:52:16
KABUL, Dec. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations will continue its duty in Afghanistan for the next five years after the complete transition to peace and democracy, the head of UN's peacekeeping operations said Tuesday.

"The starting point at the end of 2001 was a very low one and so there is a huge amount of work that remains to be done, whether it be security, whether it be governance, whether it be development, to use the three key pillars of the compact," Under-Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno told a news conference in the capital Kabul.

Guehenno also said the UN will work closely with Afghan government to continue the reconstruction work and strengthen the central power of the government.

"I think the Coalition Forces and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) have done a remarkable job... It's important now to continue the effort. The Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are making progress, but they still need our support and this support should be forthcoming," he said.

On the same day, it's reported that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has on Monday signed orders that will reduce the American troops in Afghanistan from 19,000 to 16,000 by next spring.

Now there are about 19,000 US troops and 9,000 strong ISAF forces stayed in Afghanistan for anti-terrorism and peacekeeping work. The anticipated reduction on the number of US forces will be replaced by more ISAF troops which will probably increase to 15,000 next year.

Afghan Court Reduces Journalist's Blasphemy Sentence
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
December 21 2005 -- An appeals court in Afghanistan has reduced the sentence of journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab who was found guilty of blasphemy in October and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

The court reduced the sentence of Nasab, the editor of the Haqoq-e-Zan (Women's Rights) monthly, to a six -month suspended sentence after Nasab apologized over articles in his magazine that questioned law against converting to other religions and punishments for crimes such as adultery.

The independent Journalists Association of Afghanistan said even the nearly three months Nasab spent in prison was too severe a penalty. Conservative clerics originally demanded the death penalty for Nasab.

Daily Afghan Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty December 21 2005
Interim Afghan Parliamentary Leaders Appointed...
The director of Afghanistan's National Assembly secretariat, Azizullah Ludin, announced the interim leaders of the National Assembly on 19 December, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. Qazi Habibullah Ramin was named the interim speaker of the People's Council (Wolesi Jirga) and Gharghashta Katawazi was chosen as his deputy. Wali Jan Saberi was selected as the provisional secretary of the People's Council. In the Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga), Mohammad Isa Shinwari was nominated as the interim speaker. The interim appointments will be terminated once both houses elect their own officials. The National Assembly convened in Kabul for the first time on 19 December (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 December 2005). AT

...As Outspoken Delegate Attacks 'Warlords' In Parliament

Speaking at a news conference after the National Assembly was inaugurated in Kabul on 19 December, Malalai Joya, a female representative from Farah Province in western Afghanistan, offered her "condolences to the people...for the presence of warlords, drug lords, and criminals," in the parliament, "The New York Times," reported on 19 December. Afghanistan's people "are like broken-winged pigeons caught in the claws of blood-sucking bats after being released from the Taliban cage," Joya said, adding that "most of these bats are in the parliament," AFP reported on 19 December. As a delegate to the Constitutional Loya Jirga in 2003, Joya objected to the presence of former mujahedin leaders in the assembly, calling them "criminals." That comment led to her expulsion from the meeting (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 December 2003). AT

Afghan Journalists Not Allowed To Parliament Convening

More than 100 Afghan and foreign journalists protested in Kabul on 19 December after being barred from covering the inaugural session of the National Assembly, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. Journalists were put in a separate room and not allowed to cover the ceremonies. "Security officials were not courteous when democracy took its first steps in a country that witnessed its first parliamentary meeting in more than three decades," journalist Mostafa Basharat said. Only a handful of foreign reporters were allowed to cover the inaugural ceremonies. AT

U.S. Vice President Says U.S. Committed To Afghanistan

Speaking to U.S. troops based at Bagram air base north of Kabul on 19 December, Vice President Dick Cheney said that Washington remains "firmly committed to the safety of the Afghan people, to the success of its democracy, and to lasting peace and stability in the region," the American Forces Press Service reported. Calling the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan part of the "battle for the future of civilization," Cheney said that the United States and its allies are going to win this battle. Cheney was in Kabul to participate in the inaugural ceremonies of the Afghan National Assembly (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 December 2005). AT

Spanish Prime Minister Makes Surprise Visit To Western Afghanistan

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited Herat Province on 19 December to pay tribute to 17 Spanish servicemen who died there in August when their helicopter crashed, Madrid's RNE Radio 1 reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 August 2005). Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos accompanied Zapatero in the surprise trip to Herat, EFE news agency reported on 19 December. As part of his visit, Zapatero met with Spanish troops deployed in neighboring Badghis Province, Sada-ye Jawan Radio reported on 19 December. Spain currently has around 500 troops serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. AT

Rumsfeld doubts Bin Laden control over Al-Qaeda
Islamabad (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he doubted that Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was now capable of supervising the global operations of the militant organisation.

"I have trouble believing that he is able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide Al-Qaeda operation but I could be wrong. We just don't know," Rumsfeld told reporters aboard his plane en route to Pakistan.

"I suspect that in any event if he is alive and functioning, that he is probably spending a major fraction of his time in trying to avoid being caught," he said on Wednesday. "I think it is interesting that we have not heard from him for a year, close to a year. I don't know what it means."

Pakistan has been a key ally in the US-led "war on terror" and during his visit, Rumsfeld was to tour areas of the country that were hit by the October earthquake, which killed more than 73,000 people here.

The United States has been a major contributor to the relief effort, and Rumsfeld stressed Washington's cooperation with "moderate" Islamic nations. "I think it is important that the world recognizes the relationships the United States has had in the past with moderate Muslim states and what we do," he said.

Rumsfeld said the world should "see that the activities of the United States are to support those ... who are opposed to the people who cut off heads ... and engage in violent extremist activities." He called Pakistan "a moderate Muslim regime in the world that is demonstrating ... partnership."

Bin Laden's whereabouts are unknown but speculation has focused on the rugged mountainous terrain along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Taleban leader dismisses Afghan parliament as a US forgery
KANDAHAR - (AFP) 20 December 2005 - Afghanistan - A statement attributed to the leader of the ousted Taleban regime on Tuesday dismissed Afghanistan’s first parliament in 30 years as a US forgery and vowed the American “invaders” would be forced out.

The parliament, the first after three decades of war and occupation, was inaugurated on Monday in a ceremony attended by US Vice President Dick Cheney. It was Afghanistan’s latest step in a transition to democracy launched after the Taleban were toppled in a US-led attack in 2001.

“Americans have a policy whenever they decide to carry out a military invasion of a country—they fake documents for their invasion,” said the statement read to AFP over the telephone by a purported Taleban spokesman.

In Afghanistan’s case this included the “so-called government” that was set up immediately after the Taleban regime was removed, according to the statement attributed to fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

“Later they make the symbolic so-called elections—they were forcing people to vote and register to vote, even to the point if someone did not register, they would consider him as an enemy,” it said.

“The special budget for this election was given by (US President George W.) Bush and now a forged parliament has been created...,” it said, noting Cheney’s presence at the inauguration ceremony.

The statement attributed to Omar, who has a 10-million-dollar bounty on his head, said there would be no let up in the Taleban insurgency. “We assure all Muslims and Afghans that ... they (the United States) will not be able to firm their steps in Afghanistan but as in Iraq, we will force them out with our resistance,” the statement said.

Un Security Council Urges Int'l Community to Help Afghanistan
Thursday December 22, 6:48 AM
ISLAMABAD, Dec 22 Asia Pulse - The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Wednesday urged the international community to extend all-out support to Afghanistan to enable the war-torn country to face its challenges.
A press release issued by UNSC said that new parliament in Kabul indicated a new phase of development in the country.

The statement greeted the Afghan nation for opening its window towards democracy in the shape of its first parliament for over three decades. The international community should pledge full cooperation with Afghanistan to equip the war-battered country to win battles against the militants, according to the statement.

"The international world should help Kabul to restore flagship security in the country, to annihilate poppy cultivation, check drug trafficking and eradicate terrorism from the land," the statement added.

(Pajhwok Afghan News)

Australia's foreign minister discusses commitment to Afghanistan
ABC Radio Australia
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has met his Afghan counterpart, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, in Kabul. The two discussed Australia's military commitment in Afghanistan and plans to send a reconstruction team in the middle of next year.

Mr Downer told Dr Abdullah the inauguration of the new parliament this week and the parliamentary elections earlier this year are important steps in the evolution of democracy in Afghanistan.

"These are tremendously important developments where Afghanistan can have a government that reflects the will of the people in Afghanistan and not a government imposed on them," Mr Downer said. "And it is most heartening to see the way the people of Afghanistan have embraced the processes of democracy."

It is the first time in more than 30 years that a democratic-elected parliament has convened in Afghanistan.
It follows elections for the 351 members in September. The sitting of the parliament is the final step in an internationally agreed transition to democracy for Afghanistan after the Taliban regime was toppled in a US-led invasion four years ago.

New Parliament Must Cope With Deep Divisions
RFE/RL 12/20/2005 Amin Tarzi
With the certification of the results of the 18 September voting for the Afghan National Assembly's People's Council (Wolesi Jirga) and provincial councils last week, Afghanistan came one step closer to having its first parliament in place since 1965. Most of Afghanistan's 34 provincial councils have completed their local elections to appoint members for the National Assembly's Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga), paving the way for the opening of the National Assembly on the target date of 19 December.

Despite the more than 70 officially registered political parties in Afghanistan, the vast majority of the candidates for the Wolesi Jirga and provincial council seats ran as independents. Nonetheless, many of the new lawmakers are affiliated with political parties and there are political coalitions, although most are based on short-term political expediencies and have no clearly stated joint policy goals.

No clear-cut political map of the new National Assembly can be drawn. This factor, plus the personality-based nature of Afghan politics and the history of radical shifts of alliances among Afghan political figures in the past, has caused some commentators and news writers in recent days to claim that the future parliament would be support Afghan President Hamid Karzai, while others have predicted that the National Assembly will be dominated by conservative mujahedin leaders. Both of the above assessments could be true, but the first postulate is subject to change.

The 249 members of the Wolesi Jirga can be divided into four broad and often overlapping camps: first, former mujahedin, including the 40 or so members of Hizb-e Islami who have distanced themselves from their party leader and current antigovernment fugitive Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; second, independents, technocrats and those tribal leaders who are not affiliated with other parties; third, former communists and other leftists (ironically some of the former communists abandoned their mustaches --symbol of Afghan communists -- in favor of beards and joined mujahedin parties and even allied themselves with the Taliban, so there can be some overlap between this group and groups one and four); and fourth, former members of the Taliban establishment. Since a large number of Taliban leadership had previous association to the mujahedin parties, this last group could overlap with the first group.

In the absence of official political party lists in the Afghan parliament and because of the fluidity of the Afghan political loyalties it is very difficult, if not impossible, to gauge how the National Assembly will act before they convene. Their immediate agenda, however, includes retroactive action on many of Karzai's decrees, his cabinet nominations, and his choices for the Supreme Court.

The best assessment is that at the outset, the mujahedin and their affiliates will enjoy a majority. This however does not necessarily mean that the parliament in Afghanistan would have a majority bloc pushing for specific agendas as the mujahedin, almost from the beginning of the struggle in 1978, have been and remain hopelessly divided.

Among the mujahedin, a number of the more prominent figures -- such as Abd al-Rabb al-Rasul Sayyaf and possibly leader of the Jami'at-e Islami (Islamic Society) party and president of Afghanistan in the 1990s Burhanuddin Rabbani -- are currently in Karzai's camp. Most of the members of Hizb-e Islami and former Taliban members, lacking any strong leadership, being mostly Pashtuns, and having to deal with the stigma of past association with Hekmatyar or the neo-Taliban, are mostly likely to back Karzai for now. Karzai seems to enjoy strong support among the technocrats and women, most of whom belong to the second grouping mentioned above. The tribal leaders should be expected to stick on ethnic lines and perhaps more than any other group be sensitive to the interests of their constituencies.

In this unscientific calculation of the Wolesi Jirga, Karzai fares well at the outset, but he must navigate very dangerous currents. Some of his allies among the mujahedin may push for reinserting religion -- their prerogative --into the politics of the country. The technocrats, women, and the leftist camp may try to liberalize the society, which in turn would push the mujahedin closer together.

Many elected members of the Wolesi Jirga have fought in opposing groups and have committed atrocities that still haunt the Afghan people. Whether the past bloody memories can be forgotten is another test for the new parliament. As a related issue, Karzai would be placed in a compromising position if, as expected, some members of the Wolesi Jirga who have voiced concern about the crimes committed against the Afghans by some of their colleagues, try to debate past human rights abuses.

'A lot of people are very scared'
Revived Taliban may be aiding Afghan drug smugglers
Declan Walsh, San Francisco Chronicle Foreign Service Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Khanishin, Afghanistan -- The threatening tracts were pinned on mosque doors and shop windows. Signed "The Taliban," their message was simple.

"They said, 'Cultivate the poppy or we will come and kill you,' " said Haji Nazarullah, an elder in Khanishin, a village on the fringe of Afghanistan's lawless southern desert. "A lot of people are very scared."

Local officials say the notes suggest that the Taliban, which once condemned the drug trade as un-Islamic, may have allied with drug smugglers in the southern Afghan province of Helmand as part of a stepped up, increasingly violent drive against both U.S. and Afghan forces.

"They want to make money, and they want to weaken this government," said Haji Ismael, assistant police commissioner in Khanishin.

More than a thousand people have died in combat-related violence in Afghanistan this year, making it the bloodiest period since 2001, when U.S. forces overthrew the Taliban regime. The past six months have seen a spate of suicide attacks, roadside bombings and assassinations of police and pro-government religious leaders.

U.S. and Afghan aid officials in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, said they had also heard reports of links between the Taliban and drug smugglers. A Western diplomat in Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was some intelligence of the linkage but was unable to confirm the origin of the letters.

"We don't know if it's Taliban or traffickers purporting to be Taliban. But someone out there is trying to stimulate farmers into growing poppy," he said.

The United States is scheduled to withdraw up to 4,000 soldiers from southern Afghanistan next year and hand over control of the region to 6,000 NATO forces, so the U.S. troops can concentrate on the eastern zone, where Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are holed up. But the rising bloodshed has raised questions among some NATO allies about giving the military alliance, which until now has operated a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, a more aggressive role.

Only Canada has completed its plans. Half of a planned 2,000-strong force has already set up camp in the southern capital Kandahar, with the remainder due to arrive in the spring. But the Netherlands, which is scheduled to send 1,100 troops to Uruzgan province, is dragging its heels. So is Britain, which is due to take control of Helmand province. The BBC, quoting unnamed military sources, said last week that military planners were considering cutting in half a proposed 2,000-troop force.

Helmand is Afghanistan's largest province and the hub of a drug boom. According to a recent survey by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Helmand farmers grew one-quarter of Afghanistan's opium crop this year. Its southern desert is crisscrossed with smuggling trails running toward the unpatrolled border with Pakistan. The government of President Hamid Karzai, which installed its first elected parliament Monday, has virtually no authority in these areas where, in many cases, only a handful of poorly trained and often corrupt police hint at the presence of a central authority.

The challenge is evident in Khanishin, with its fields along the riverbank freshly planted with poppies, the plants from which opium and, eventually, heroin are produced.

"We planted last month. It's grown about this much," said farmer Tor Jan, indicating his little finger.

Last week, a group of tribal elders gathered inside the ancient fort at the center of Khanishin to meet Lt. Col. Jim Hogberg, the U.S. military commander in Helmand. The elders said they would happily grow legal crops such as wheat but that the central government had failed to deliver on promises to help them.

"Opium is a problem; nobody wants to grow it," said Nazarullah. "But if you want us to stop, give us something first."

The Taliban is growing in strength in the area, he said, "because most people don't have jobs, so the Taliban pays them to plant bombs."

Hogberg tried to assuage the elders, telling them that many good things have happened in Afghanistan, such as last September's parliamentary elections. He also promised that some 3,000 soldiers from the U.S.-trained Afghan national army would be posted to Helmand next year. But he admitted that the Kabul government was almost invisible in this remote village, the southernmost one his troops had ever ventured to in Helmand province.

"From here south to Pakistan is all desert. So you really are the guardians of the southern border of Afghanistan," he told the elders.

Helmand was the center of a concentrated U.S. development program in the 1960s -- so much so that it was nicknamed "little America." U.S. experts eager to use the province as a showpiece for American aid laid out wide, tree-lined streets in Lashkar Gah, built a network of irrigation canals and constructed a large hydroelectric dam. But the program was abandoned when the communists seized power in 1978.

Since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the province has been a low priority. Just 110 U.S. troops are stationed in the province, a mix of Special Forces and regular soldiers guarding the Provincial Reconstruction Team base in Lashkar Gah.

Taliban attacks have grown increasingly bold. Two weeks ago, a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle at the gates of the governor's office minutes before a weekly security meeting with Hogberg.

No one was injured, and the bomber died later in a hospital. A few days earlier, on Nov. 30, a U.S. convoy was ambushed as it passed through a small village in the northern part of the province. Militants raked the armored humvees with machine-gun fire and, after they sped away, attacked again two miles down the road with rocket-propelled grenades.

On Sunday, four Afghan interpreters working with the private U.S. security firm USPI were wounded and four others were missing after Taliban fighters attacked their vehicle on a Helmand road, according to Del Jan, security commander for Sangin district.

"We've never had such an ambush around here," said Capt T.R. Crellin of the 1st Marine Division, who survived the attack last month. "Before this, the Taliban would just take potshots at us."

Afghan Assembly Picks Opponent of President as Leader
Karzai and Rival Are Conciliatory After Close Vote
By Griff Witte Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, December 22, 2005; A20
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 21 -- The lower house of Afghanistan's new parliament elected a leading opposition figure as its speaker Wednesday, raising the prospect of a divided government just two days after the country inaugurated its first legislature in more than three decades.

Yonus Qanooni, who finished second to Hamid Karzai in last year's presidential race, won the speakership over factional commander Abdurrab Rasul Sayyaf on a razor-close 122 to 117 vote. Now, after four years of governing without a legislature, Karzai will face the challenge of sharing power with his chief rival for national leadership.

In the parliament itself, members from virtually every point on the political spectrum will be dealing with a long list of contentious issues, including the U.S. role here, the legal weight of Islam, official corruption and opium poppy cultivation. The largest bloc of members are war veterans, many of whom spent years fighting each other. With 68 women in the lower house, the sensitive issue of women's rights may also arise.

A first test of relations between Karzai and Qanooni, who also represent different ethnic groups, could come in the next few weeks as parliament begins to review Karzai's cabinet choices. Qanooni has criticized some, as have other legislators who came to office vowing to improve public performance in security, jobs and drug eradication.

After Qanooni's victory on Wednesday, though, both men were conciliatory.

"I will not be in opposition to the government," Qanooni said. "What has happened in the past, we should forget that. We should think about the future of Afghanistan."

Karzai spokesman Karim Rahimi called Qanooni's selection a "very positive step. . . . He is a very capable man, and we think in the future there will be very good cooperation between the cabinet and the parliament."

The rift between the two men is well documented. In June 2003, Karzai shifted Qanooni from the powerful post of interior minister to the less influential position of education minister. A year later, Qanooni left government and ran against Karzai for president. Official results showed he came in a distant second, but he has made allegations of fraud.

"There is some bitterness on the part of Qanooni," said Musa Maroofi, a professor of law and politics at Kabul University. "But he is also a very responsible and shrewd politician. He knows he should not inject his personal feelings in the business of the nation."

Despite their differences, Karzai and Qanooni are well-educated political moderates in a country in which both Islamic scholars and communist figures have significant followings.

Sayyaf, who was Qanooni's main opponent for speaker, is a hard-line Islamic scholar and former militia leader who has been accused by human rights groups of war crimes against minority ethnic Hazaras during internecine fighting in the 1990s.

In a move that showed just how transient Afghan alliances can be, former Hazara commander Mohammed Mohaqeq threw his support behind Sayyaf on the eve of Wednesday's vote. Ultimately, Sayyaf came up just short after Qanooni received the crucial backing of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The voting was orderly, with officials publicly counting and recounting the votes during a process that took the entire day.

"It was very peaceful and there was transparency," Sayyaf said following his defeat. "I congratulate Mr. Qanooni."

On Tuesday, the less powerful upper house of parliament elected a moderate religious figure and Karzai backer, Sibghatullah Mojadidi, as its leader. The process there was more disorganized, with the session devolving into a free-for-all debate after Mojadidi won only a plurality of the votes.

In the lower house on Tuesday, Malalai Joya, 27, an outspoken female legislator, was shouted down when she tried to read a statement condemning the presence of warlords and other human rights abusers in the body. She walked out of parliament on Wednesday.

The View from Afghanistan
by Chris Thatcher and Paul Crookall – December 2005 - Vanguard, Canada’s Defence and Security magazine
Omar Samad represents the new Afghanistan. He fled the country in 1979 after the communist takeover. After 20 years in the USA, he was one of the first to return to his homeland in December 2001, shortly after the expulsion of the Taliban. Last year, he was appointed Ambassador to Canada. Urbane, thoughtful, his love of and commitment to his homeland are clear.
International support for Afghanistan's recovery has been coordinated in part through conferences. In December 2001, representatives from Afghanistan’s many factions and expatriate community met in Bonn, Germany. After arduous negotiations, they reached an interim power sharing agreement and set out a roadmap for the next three to four years to establish security, begin reconstruction and create the first institutions of a democratic government. Meetings in Tokyo in 2002 and Berlin in 2004 continued the process. To the surprise of many, Afghanistan met those initial targets. At the January 2006 conference in London, it will launch the next phase in its rebuilding process, a new ‘Afghanistan Compact’ with the international community. We spoke with Ambassador Samad about Canada's contribution and Afghanistan's future.

RECONSTRUCTION
For the first three years, we did not have a good assessment of the degree of devastation and did not have a coherent policy on development and reconstruction. Neither did the IMF, the World Bank or anyone else. We lacked the foundations. For example, roads were destroyed but we didn’t know what roads we truly needed, what standards to build to, and how much it would cost. All indicators show that we are rich in resources – water, minerals, possibility of gas and oil that have yet to be explored and will take time to come on line. But the need is immediate. Energy shortages limit reconstruction. Afghan leaders realize we have to create a strategy that is responsive to our peoples’ needs and demands, but is also feasible and sustainable for donors.

In March we began work on an interim National Development Strategy, to be presented in London. We think the international community understands what needs to be done to solidify the political gains, to improve security, to fight poppy cultivation and drug trafficking, and to send a strong signal to those terrorists and illegal armed groups who still want to destabilize the country. We will seek endorsement of the plan and commitment of funds. London will provide us with the opportunity to renew commitments. We have achieved many goals, reached many benchmarks. We need to push forward the process of democratization, the rule of law, good governance, judicial reform and other issues such as human rights. We need the assistance of the international community for the next five years or so to enable us to provide for our people priority items such as roads, electricity, revitalization of agriculture and access to natural resources. The army and the police are functional but there is still a long way to go. The judiciary will be a very important part of reforms. Agreement on the process and targets for capacity and institution building is part of what we want to achieve in London.

There was a lot of scepticism about whether we would be able to realize the goals set at the Bonn conference. Four years later we are witness to successful implementation of a modern constitution, presidential elections, parliamentary elections, local elections and many other benchmarks that were set. Now we have to build on those gains and coordinate the capacity of government, donors and institutions to ensure those resources are spent wisely. You can build new schools and hospitals, but if you don’t have enough teachers and doctors, the prioritization may be off and money may be wasted. We need the international community to stay with us as partners so we can achieve these goals. The worst thing would be to give up half way, to have the focus shift. Then you’re back to square one. We don’t want Afghanistan to fall into the category of a failing state, because then there are larger issues to tackle such as regional security and international terrorism.

Afghanistan has suffered brain drain over the past 20 years. It’s not just a matter of having desks and chairs and shiny computers; it’s a matter of building up competency and people to manage it. How long does it take to train a diplomat or an IT person or an engineer? We need to find solutions to these problems. In my talks with Afghans this issue always comes up. There are roughly 100,000 Afghan expatriates in Canada. I encourage them, especially those who are young, single, have learned new technologies and are professionals, to at least go for a while, even if it’s just for a year or two. Most who have returned are very satisfied and feel they are contributing to a historic situation where they are rebuilding a country. This unique occasion doesn’t present itself very often. It’s an exciting proposition.

Canada has been very generous and engaged through its 3D sphere of focus, and has played a positive role in encouraging democracy and rule of law, in helping with elections and allocating some resources for reconstruction through the Ministry of Rural Development. The military’s peace-building efforts have been outstanding. Now may be the time to think about how the rest of Canada’s resources might best be disbursed to create institutions, rebuild infrastructure, help us with those functions we both agree are important. Unfortunately, nothing in Afghanistan is short term. I wish that weren’t the case. Security, defence and development issues are long-term projects. We want Canada to have a strong presence and leave behind signs of its commitment that we can all be proud of. Canada has had a significant impact, and I would like Canadian aid to be felt and seen for years to come.

REBUILIDNG TOURISM
I don’t know anyone who has returned from Afghanistan who has not been impressed by the way they were welcomed. Afghanistan is an old country – many ancient civilizations have come through it. It is rich in culture and heritage, and we’re trying to restore some of that to again make it hospitable to tourism. It’s a very beautiful and rugged country and its topography is of interest to many people around the world. People-to-people contacts are very important and we need to promote that at all levels.

The role of the private sector is also important. I would like to see Canadian investors look at Afghanistan as potential for making profit, for investing in many areas, especially natural resources, trade, transport. We are located in a very strategic part of Asia – we connect South Asia with Central Asia and the Middle East. We are building new roads, airports and transport infrastructure to allow trade to flourish. But security is still an issue.

We are wary of the continued presence and infiltration of terrorists. It’s our goal to eventually defeat this menace. But for too many years they had free reign in this part of the world. They established networks and are well rooted. We have been successful to a large extent at uprooting them, but we have long, porous borders with several nations and we still have a problem controlling parts of our borders. We’re counting on the continued cooperation of our neighbours, especially Pakistan and Iran to fight terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking.

Afghans don’t want to see extremist and militants return to power. Whenever there has been a problem, Afghans have been very forthright in picking up arms and defending themselves or making a statement. We have never subscribed to these tactics that are used in other parts of the world, such as suicide attacks. They are un-Islamic and un-Afghan.

COMBATING A NARCO ECONOMY
We don’t want our country to step into another quagmire. We’ve seen what it means to become a narco state in other parts of the world – it’s the wrong place to be. The drug problem may be the result of war and poverty, but we cannot blame the poor Afghan farmer for this menace. We need to come up with practical means of combating narcotics at different levels. If you put all your weight on eradication, you create other problems. We have to address the problems of the farmer, and that requires alternative crops, rural development, market access. And we have to go after the moneymakers in this long chain. Afghans may be the cultivators and producers, but if there is no market for it, the product will not sell. We have to address the consumer market and everything in between. We’ve achieved some results: a 20% decrease in the amount of land that has been cultivated and a slight decrease in the volume of heroin. But it is an enormous challenge that has to be tackled by all of us collectively, with determination.

Our desire is to one day soon rely on our own fully trained army and police, judiciary, institutions; to have our own economic productivity and capacity. Our president and our leaders always remind our people and the international donor community that we would like to reach that point as soon as possible. A lot depends on the decisions we take today and at the upcoming London Conference. It also depends on how we implement those decisions. It is important to review what we have done together and bring any type of correction that is needed in this process of making Afghanistan self-sufficient.

Key U.N. Diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi Retiring
20 December 2005 - By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Top U.N. diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi is retiring after more than a decade in hotspots from Afghanistan and Iraq to Haiti and Nepal, the U.N. spokesman announced Tuesday.

The former Algerian foreign minister will leave his post as special adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the end of the year, said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. Brahimi, 71, began work at the United Nations in 1994 after serving as Algeria's foreign minister from 1991-93.

In his first U.N. job, he helped oversee elections that brought Nelson Mandela to power. He was then named special representative for Haiti, a post he held until 1996.

Annan picked Brahimi to be his special envoy for Afghanistan in 1997, and the veteran diplomat spent more than two years unsuccessfully trying to get warring factions to sit down together and talk peace.

Annan then put Brahimi in charge of a review of U.N. peace-related operations. The panel's report issued in 2000 -- now known as the Brahimi report -- called for a major overhaul of U.N. peacemaking efforts.

Brahimi later resumed work in Afghanistan after a U.S.-led force ousted the Taliban. In the last two years, he has focused on peace and security issues around the world. In Iraq, for example, Brahimi played a major role in helping put together the interim government that took power on June 30, 2004.

While Brahimi is highly regarded by many U.N. diplomats, Israel sent a formal protest to Annan in April 2004 after Brahimi described Israeli policy as "the great poison" in the Middle East.

Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman called Brahimi's comments "vitriolic and biased" and said they heightened concerns about the U.N.'s impartiality in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Brahimi responded that he was reflecting views in the Arab world, and much of the rest of the world.

Returnees key players in Afghanistan's battle of the air-waves
21 Dec 2005 Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees
KABUL, Afghanistan, December 21 (UNHCR) – The decades of violence which devastated Afghanistan have ended, but across the country a new battle is being waged. It is a campaign fought in the simple mud homes of the country's rural farmers and in the garish mansions of Kabul's newly-rich.

Under the Taliban anyone found owning a television would certainly have been beaten and would quite likely have been imprisoned. Today, Afghans face an unprecedented number of television and radio stations competing for their attention, and many of the leading figures in this broadcasting war are former refugees.

In west Kabul, site of a viciously contested front line during Afghanistan's civil war, Feriba Charkhi discusses the coming week's programming with the technical staff of Aryana Television. Feriba is one of the station's best known presenters and, as executive producer, is also responsible for Aryana's more than 30 programmes.

Nine years ago, as the Taliban took control of Kabul and much of the country, Fariba, a married mother of three, fled with her family to Peshawar in Pakistan. For five years they lived as refugees, performing odd jobs and planning for the day when they could return. In early 2002, they were among the first to make the journey home to post-Taliban Afghanistan under the UN refugee agency's organized repatriation operation.

State-run Radio-Television Afghanistan, previously restricted to a single radio station broadcasting religious discussions and readings from the Koran, had resumed its television service and was in need of on-air talent.

"There was a sudden demand for women in the media," says Fariba. "But most women were not even willing to present radio programmes, and certainly not television, for fear of being recognized."

Fariba was soon appearing on television screens across the country. Her decision to play a role in the country's emerging media was supported by her husband, but many were opposed. "In the early days, strangers would come up to me on the street and insult me. Even my family said the time was not yet right for women to be so visible. Now, if some one approaches me it's to pay a compliment or to comment on our programmes."

Aryana is one of four private stations currently broadcasting in Afghanistan, with a fifth due to go on air in the coming months. All but one of them have been operating for under a year, which makes the staff of TV Tolo – or Dawn – veterans of the country's rapidly changing media landscape. Broadcasting since 2004, Tolo was launched following the earlier success of its sister station Radio Arman – or Hope.

Neelab Ahmadi began working at Radio Arman a year ago, after spending nearly a third of her life as a refugee in Iran. In 2003, with the assistance of UNHCR, she and her family returned to Kabul where the fluent English speaker was able to work as a translator. After securing a part-time job with Radio Arman, she went on to become the station's first woman presenter of the peak evening time-slot and now hosts a nightly three-hour programme that combines music with phone-ins from listeners.

"At first people complained a lot about our programmes," she says, recalling the turbulent early days of Afghanistan's first private radio station. "They didn't like the music we played, and they particularly didn't like male and female presenters chatting and laughing with each other live on air."

Calls to the station today are more often to make a song request than to complain about supposed inappropriate behaviour. Neelab's contact with a largely young audience has made her keenly aware of how much has changed in Afghanistan, and how much still needs to. "Everyone has a mobile phone now, so they can call and tell us about their lives. We still get many calls from young girls who say their families won't let them out or attend school."

Returning to Kabul from Tehran, the modern Iranian capital, Neelab and her family were confronted with a way of life very different from the one they had experienced over the previous seven years. Neelab's adolescence had been spent surrounded by radio and television programmes, and she had worked on a magazine aimed at Afghan refugees. The absence of such outlets in her own country was striking.

In Kabul and across the country that void is rapidly being filled, and for Neelab and the other returnees working with her at Radio Arman, coming home has provided an opportunity to be a part of an industry that is profoundly affecting Afghanistan.

In the offices of Aryana Television, Feriba Charkhi is confident that the media can be a positive force for change. "I strongly believe that we're moving in the right direction," she says as she enters the studio. "Through our programmes we can inform people's lives and influence their opinions. That's something I want to be a part of, and I'm proud of what I do."
By Tim Irwin In Kabul