Afghanistan News December 31, 2005

December 31, 2005

U.S. Commander Sure of NATO in Afghanistan
Kandahar (AP) - A U.S. commander expressed confidence Friday that NATO-led peacekeeping troops will aggressively keep up the fight against insurgents when they take over control of southern Afghanistan from American troops in the spring.

Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the U.S.-led coalition's operational commander, also called a recent rise in suicide bombings a sign of the insurgency's increasing desperation over Afghanistan's successful parliamentary elections in September and other democratic advances.

"As we approached the elections I think the enemy realized what was at stake," Kamiya told reporters at the U.S. base in Kandahar, a southern city that was the former stronghold of the ousted Taliban religious militia.

NATO foreign ministers approved plans earlier this month to send up to 6,000 mostly European and Canadian soldiers into volatile southern Afghanistan, while about 10,000 NATO troops continue to watch over the north and west.

The expansion, which is expected to begin in May, will free U.S. forces to focus on counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters along the country's southern and eastern frontier with Pakistan, where insurgents are most active.

The plans give the NATO peacekeepers a stronger self-defense mandate, guarantee support from U.S. combat troops if they face a serious attack and set rules for handling detainees — all issues concerned some European allies mulling participation in the expanded force. Kamiya said NATO troops would be aggressive in the fight against insurgents.

"I feel very, very confident ... that each nation understands what the conditions are here," Kamiya said during a visit by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is making a six-nation tour to rally U.S. troops during the holidays.

Canadian Col. S.J. Bowes said his nation, which will assume responsibility for Kandahar, was prepared to extend the offensive nature of the operation. "It's clear that this is not a peacekeeping mission," he said, although he stressed that he couldn't speak for the British army, which will command the NATO mission in the south.

The British Foreign Office had no comment on the comments by Kamiya and Bowes. However, the Ministry of Defense said several tasks needed to be carried out around the country and the British government recognizes that Taliban remnants are active in southern Afghanistan.

This year has been the deadliest in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led offensive ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida training camps. More than 1,500 people have been killed as militants loyal to the Taliban, al-Qaida and other groups have stepped up attacks.

Two suspected Taliban suicide bombers died Thursday when explosives they were strapping to their bodies exploded prematurely in the south, officials said. The blast followed a string of suicide attacks and came days after a top rebel commander claimed more than 200 insurgents were willing to kill themselves in assaults on U.S. troops and their allies. Kamiya dismissed the claim by Mullah Dadullah as propaganda but acknowledged such attacks have been rising.

"Suicide bombers were almost nonexistent when we came here in March. What we did notice though is that the rise in suicide bombings began in June," he said. "The enemy began to realize that every time he came at us directly he would always lose great numbers of fighters and insurgents. So this caused him to adapt his tactics."

Unlike in Iraq, suicide attacks were relatively rare in Afghanistan until September, fueling fears that rebels could be adopting tactics used in the Middle East.
There have been about a dozen such attacks the past few months, including twin assaults in Kabul on Nov. 14 that targeted NATO-led peacekeepers and killed a German soldier and eight Afghans.

A suicide bomber also set off explosives near a U.S. and Afghan military convoy in Kandahar on Dec. 11, killing himself and wounding three civilians. A week earlier, a suicide bomber killed a civilian and wounded a Canadian soldier.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld announced earlier this month that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be cut from 19,000 to about 16,500 by spring, but he cautioned that removing forces too quickly could impede the long-term hunt for terrorists.

That was welcome news to Army Specialist Aaron Krueger, 21, of Mentone, Ind. "The sooner we get the job done the better," he said after listening to Pace address troops at Kandahar.

Desperate Afghan farmers returning to opium
Saturday December 31, 02:39 PM
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) - For three years Gulam Gul has been growing wheat, rice, radishes and cauliflower -- anything but the opium that his family once depended on.

The work is hard and his income too low to support his 13 dependents, and he is planning a career change -- to merchant in a bazaar.

"When I was growing opium, for one season I was earning 200,000 rupees (3,345 dollars). Now I get 60,000 rupees for one season," Gul says in his field on the outskirts of Jalalabad, where the Pakistani rupee is commonly used.

He and other farmers ripped up their opium poppies because the government ordered a halt to Afghanistan's huge production of illicit opium, which makes up more than 85 percent of the world's total and is used to make heroin.

In eastern Nangahar, of which Jalalabad is the capital, the order was particularly successful with a more than 95 percent reduction in the poppy cultivation this year. The province was the second largest producer in 2004.

But many Nangahar farmers, especially those in remote, mountainous areas, have turned back to the lucrative crop this planting season which began a few weeks ago, says former agriculture minister Sayed Aziz Zaheer, who oversaw the drop in output.

"I know people have already planted in the far districts. Between 40 to 50 percent of them are in mountainous areas -- it's far away where people cannot see it," he says.

One reason is that farmers have not been successful in switching to other crops, in part because the government has failed to distribute promised fertilizer and seeds, Zaheer says.

"I say for the next year poppy cultivation will increase because the government hasn't fulfilled their promise," he says.

Another reason is that opium is so much more lucrative than other produce: income from opium poppies was around 5,400 dollars per hectare (2.47 acres) this year compared with about 550 dollars for wheat, according to UN figures.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime also expects opium production to creep up in several provinces, including Nangahar, after slipping in 2005.

In August the office announced there had been a 21 percent drop in land area planted with poppies, although this only translated into a 2.4 percent drop in output to 4,100 tonnes because of favourable weather conditions for the crop.

The decline was nonetheless the first since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban government, under which Afghanistan's opium production was largely unchecked until the hardliners ordered a ban in 2000 in a bid to avoid international sanctions.

But the ouster of the Taliban also meant the collapse of law and order which saw a resurgence in the crop first grown on a large scale in Afghanistan in the early 1980s.

The new US-backed government now has support in its fight against the drugs trade -- which is equivalent to 52 percent of the official gross domestic product -- from its international partners, notably Britain and the United States who stress the link between drugs and terrorism.

To curb production, eradication programmes must be stepped up, says an American official involved in the counter-narcotics efforts, adding though it is likely to take at least 20 years for "overall elimination" of the crop.

There should be more "prosecution of traffickers, more law enforcement, and removals of some corrupted local officials involved in the trafficking," he says, under condition of anonymity.

The government is defensive of its efforts in its "war on drugs", regularly releasing details of the smashing of makeshift heroin labs and confiscation of batches of opium.

It has also enlisted mullahs in this devout country to preach against the scourge, but resisted suggestions that it legalise its opium and turn it towards the production of legal painkillers.

Authorities are reluctant to resort to chemical spraying, such as used in Colombia -- which is the world's leading producer of cocaine with 480 tonnes annually despite the huge US-sponsored spraying, but some of Afghanistan's partners say this is the answer.

"If the government doesn't take action and reduction cannot be sustained, the idea of aerial spray will certainly be revisited. Not in one or two years, but it's a cloud in the horizon," says a Western official.

For Gulam Gul, in his field outside the city of Jalalabad, the risk of jail or having his crop destroyed is not worth the money to be made from opium, which he grew for years under the Taliban.

"If the government destroys my crop, I am a poor person. What would I do?" he asks, taking a break from meticulously sweeping grains of rice into a pile.

Bush, Blair Pledge Continued Support For Iraq, Afghanistan
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
December 31 2005 -- The leaders of the United States and Britain have pledged in New Year's messages to continue to support Iraq and Afghanistan as the two countries move toward peace and democracy.

President George W. Bush, in a written statement to mark the start of 2006, noted elections in 2005 in Iraq and Afghanistan and said America will continue to stand beside what he called these "young democracies" as they lay the foundation of peace.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, in his New Year's message, pledged that Britain will continue efforts to bring hope and democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq. Blair, citing last July 7's bombings in London which killed 52 people, also vowed that Britain's resolve would not slip in the battle against terrorism.

Bush says US will stand behind Afghan, Iraq democracies
HindustanTimes.com 31 Dec 05
Lauding the "brave men and women" of the American armed forces for advancing the cause of freedom overseas, President George W Bush has said the US will continue to stand behind the young democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The New Year is a time of hope as we reflect on the past and prepare for the future," Bush said in his Greetings Message along with that of the First Lady Laura Bush.

"The great strength of our nation lies in the hearts and souls of the American people. This past year, Americans responded with an outpouring of compassion to help the people of the Gulf Coast region recover from one of the most devastating natural disasters in our nation's history (hurricane Katrina)," he said.

Taking specific note of the developments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush said, "In the past year, we continued our work to spread freedom and peace."

"In 2005, Iraqis three times exercised their right to vote in free elections, and the Afghan people conducted successful parliamentary elections. In the coming year, America will continue to stand beside these young democracies and lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren," he said.

"We appreciate the brave men and women in uniform who protect our country and advance freedom around the world. We are grateful to their families for their support and sacrifice, and we pray for all those who have lost loved ones in freedom's cause. Our nation will always remember the heroes who have given their lives to protect us all," the President remarked.

Afghan mission needs support: Labor
The Weekend Australian by John Kerin December 31, 2005
AN Australian military reconstruction team should not be sent to Afghanistan without adequate protection and air support, according to the Labor Party.
Defence Minister Robert Hill confirmed yesterday that Australia's plans were awaiting a decision by the Dutch parliament on sending a 1400-strong assault force to Afghanistan.

But Labor defence spokesman Robert McClelland said the team would need helicopter support for medical evacuation and supplies. "There is no way Australians should be sent to any hostile sphere without adequate troop and air support," he said.

Defence sources have told The Weekend Australian that the Government is relying on the Dutch contingent to provide air and other support to a 200-strong provincial reconstruction team it is preparing to send to the troubled country.
Though the Dutch cabinet has given its approval to sending 1400 troops, including Apache helicopters and F-16s, to the southern Uruzgan province, it has made the deployment contingent on parliamentary approval.

But the Dutch parliament is divided over the proposal because of concerns that a resurgence by Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters could result in heavy casualties.

The Dutch move is part of a wider plan by NATO to expand its forces in the country to 16,000, freeing up US forces to take on the fighters in the mountainous regions bordering Pakistan, where they are mostly hiding out.

Australia has already deployed a 190-strong special forces taskforce to Afghanistan to help NATO and US troops put down a resurgent Taliban and provide security for elections.

Australian special forces have been involved in a series of clashes with gangs of Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters. The Dutch parliament is expected to make its decision within weeks.

The Australian Government is expected to then make a decision on the composition and size of the reconstruction team. A spokeswoman for Senator Hill said yesterday that he would await the decision of the Dutch parliament before any announcement was made.

The developments came as Finance Minister Nick Minchin defended the Defence Department over another damning audit report that showed it could not account for more than $4.4 billion in assets.

Senator Minchin said enormous pressure had been brought on the department to improve its accounting practices. But Labor treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said Defence was "completely out of control".

India’s panchayati raj model for Afghanistan
PakTribune (Pakistan) Saturday December 31, 2005
KABUL: Afghanistan is formulating legislation for its village-level local government system that is modelled on India’s panchayati raj system.

Afghanistan’s rehabilitation and development ministry is making a thorough study of the salient features of the Indian model for its Community Development Shuras (Councils). It plans to introduce legislation for village-level governance system in the newly constituted parliament that is currently holding its first session.

Afghan Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development Mohammad Haneef Atmar said: "We want to develop a constitution for local governance. We are reviewing our own experience and that of the Indian Panchayati Raj while formulating our legislation."

The Afghans are particularly studying the functions and jurisdiction of the panchayats, or village councils, in relation to the other government departments and division of work between a panchayat and the public administration.

One of Atmar’s biggest worries is opposition from warlords and drug lords who are against local democratic institutions, fearing erosion of their grip over the people.

Twelve officials of the rural rehabilitation and development ministry have lost their lives in violence in rural areas. But Atmar is determined to overcome such challenges.

Another problem is the human resources crunch due to untrained personnel.

India’s panchayati raj ministry has evolved a programme to provide training to Afghan officials. Indian experts are visiting Afghanistan in this regard.

Impressed by the small self-help groups in India’s rural areas, Afghanistan is looking forward to replicate them in their country. It is also seeking Indian assistance in the fields of non-conventional energy, small-scale industries and the rural road sector.

Atmar had met officials from the non-conventional energy sources ministry during his visit to India in October and invited teams of technical experts and sector specialists to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is keen to set up small hydel, solar, wind energy and biogas projects in rural areas and is looking to India’s help in reviving scores of hydel projects lying in disuse.

Security of Indians in Afghanistan to be enhanced
Press Trust of India New Delhi, December 30, 2005
Alarmed by the killing of BRO jawan MR Kutty and threats issued to other Indians in Afghanistan, the strength of the security personnel deployed for the protection of Indians in the war-torn country is likely to be increased.

A high-level team of Indian officials has returned from Afghanistan after assessing the threat perception and conducting a review of the security arrangements for the Indians, official sources said.

The sources said the contingent of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), deployed for security of the Indians there, would have be increased in view of the threat perception.

Modalities in this regard would be worked out.

The officials had been deputed to Afghanistan soon when several Indians, working on various developmental projects there, received threatening letters from suspected Taliban.

The threats came a few days after Kutty was kidnapped and killed by Taliban in Kandahar. Kutty was one of about 300 personnel of BRO (Border Roads Organisation) working on construction of a vital road between Delaram and Zaranj in Kandahar province.

The killers of Kutty had left a slip demanding that BRO wind up its operations in Afghanistan and leave the country.
via The Hindustan Times

Bamiyan police seizes two tones of narcotics in Yakaulant
Dec. 31, 2005 - Paktribun
KABUL: Bamiyan police has seized around two tones of narcotics in Yakaulant district of the province here the other day. According to the details Bamiyan police had seized around two tones of narcotics in Yakaulant district and burnt it near the office of the Provincial Reconstruction Department in presence of newsmen.

The narcotics Ministry of Afghanistan hailed this step adding that northern to southern parts of Bamiyan had become a route for narcotics smuggling. Chief of law enforcement agency of Bamiyan, Samoon Jan told that though poppy cultivation had been checked in the area but its smuggling through it is still continue.

Governor Bamiyan, Habiba Sarhadi appreciating performance of the police said that smuggling in narcotics province would also be discouraged. She however also admitted the problems in checking the narcotics smuggling in the province.

Yearender: Post-war Afghanistan on way of reconstruction, reconciliation despite militancy
Xinhua 12/30/2005
While a series of upheaval and challenges, particularly in the fields of security and economic recovery, have slowed down the reconstruction process in war- battered Afghanistan, the year 2005 still saw the central Asian state achieve a host of vital projects, including the landmark legislative polls.

As a stride toward durable stability in the country, the parliamentary elections, held for the first time in three decades amid tight security on Sept. 18, facilitated the war-weary Afghans to move toward national unity and begin their political fight inside the parliament house rather than on the battleground.

President Hamid Karzai selected one third or 34 members of the 102-member Mushrano Jirga or the Upper House of the two-chamber parliament, in the post-Taliban country just days ahead of inaugural session of the legislation on Dec. 19.

The majority of the parliamentarians were former anti-Soviet resistance leaders, remnants of erstwhile USSR-backed regimes and ex-officials of fundamentalist Taliban regime, who had fought each other and been involved in the past 25 years of war and civil strife.

In another stride toward stability and national unity, the Afghan government launched a national reconciliation program and so far over 300 opposition elements with the majority of them Taliban fighters, according officials, have laid down their arms and joined the peace process throughout the outgoing year.

Though no prominent military figure of the hardliner militants has been seen among the Taliban defectors, the head of the Reconciliation Program Sibghatullah Mujadadi and newly elected president of the Mushrano Jirga predicted more desertion of Taliban fighters to government in the coming year.

True, the process of reconciliation is slow, but it has paved the way for the armed opponents to contact government. That is why several former Taliban officials contested the legislative polls and even a few of them, including ex-notorious commander Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi and Mawlawi Mohammad Islam Mohammadi, who governed Bamyan during the destruction of giant Buddha's statues in March 2001, have secured seats in the parliament.

To further boost its popularity, the Karzai-led administration launched a one-week Accountability Program late last month, during which all ministers and head of independent bodies briefed the nation on their performance over 2005.

In addition to hosting two regional conferences to boost economic activities with countries in the region, Afghanistan also received over a dozen of world leaders and foreign dignitaries in the outgoing year.

Prime Ministers of Pakistan, India, Norway, U.S. Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State and dignitaries from other countries toured Afghanistan in 2005 to side with the post-Taliban nation to rebuild itself.

Afghanistan under President Karzai in 2005 was able to sign a joint declaration with the White House and paved the way for long- term presence of the U.S. troops in the war-shattered country.

The leadership also succeeded in convincing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to expand its mission in Afghanistan and the western military pact has announced its deployment to the militancy-plagued southern region from next year. Meanwhile, economy in the post-war country also recorded a 14 percent growth in 2005, as against 8 percent in the previous year.

More than 2,480 national and international firms have registered to invest over 600 million U.S. dollars in the country, of which half has been realized during the outgoing year, mostly in the construction sector.

According to the Commerce Ministry, Afghanistan exported 120 tons of fresh and dried fruits in 2005 from 42 tons in the previous year, while the export of hand-woven carpets rose to 2 million square meters in the year from 1.5 million square meters in 2004.

In value, the country's total export also jumped to 500 U.S. dollars in the outgoing year from 300 million U.S. dollars in 2004. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's request for joining the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was also accepted in 2005.

The strength of the under training Afghanistan National Army ( ANA) also reached 31,000 while the number of national police as per schedule reached 55,000 in the outgoing year.

Nevertheless, despite the country's myriad of achievements, curbing militants and strengthening central government's control in the vast rural areas, particularly in the militancy-hit southern and southeastern region, remained a daunting challenge as the Taliban-led militants and its al-Qaida allies still frequently struck the government and US military interests.

In the outgoing year, the anti-government militants, contrary to people's expectations and predictions, further intensified their activities, during which over 1,500 people, including 80 U.S. soldiers, were killed.

Bridge blown up in Balochistan
By Zaffar Abbas BBC News, Islamabad Saturday, 31 December 2005
Suspected tribal militants in Pakistan's troubled south-western province of Balochistan have blown up a railway bridge, officials say.

The overnight explosion on the bridge at Tandoori is the latest in a new round of violence between rebels and security forces in the province.

Two soldiers and a tribesman have been killed in weekend violence in the area.

Gas-rich Balochistan has seen months of violence as tribal groups push for greater political and economic rights.

A series of rocket attacks by militants earlier this month prompted a major security operation in the district of Kohlu and Dera Bugti, which is still continuing.

A senior official said a bomb planted at the railway track on the bridge connecting the town of Sibbi with Harnia went off early on Saturday.

He said the blast badly damaged the bridge and the railway track, and it may take the authorities several days to restore railroad services.

Earlier on Friday, unidentified gunmen killed two paramilitary troops in the town of Khuzdar.

Equal rights

These incidents were said to be the latest in a series of ambushes and rocket attacks on government personnel and installations in Balochistan.

Reports from the nearby town of Dera Bugti said soon after Khuzdar incident, clashes started between the paramilitary troops and tribesmen loyal to their chief, Nawab Akber Bugti.

A local police official Rahmatullah Sasoli said one person was killed and seven injured.

But a spokesman for the Bugti tribe claimed that at least 20 people were injured.

The situation in the Kohlu district, from where the latest spate of violence started two weeks ago, was said to be relatively quiet.

Here the trouble had started after rockets fired by militants had fallen close to a building where President Pervez Musharraf had been attending an official function.

A day later the commander of the Frontier Corps was injured along with another official when their helicopter was fired at by gunmen.

Since then security troops have been using helicopters and ground troops to wipe out what they describe as militant training camps.

Tribal elders say the raids left dozens dead, including innocent women and children, a charge the authorities deny.

The parliament's upper house is also holding a debate on the Balochistan situation, where opposition members from the province on Friday presented some photographs of dead civilians to support their claim of alleged atrocities.

Baloch opposition leaders say the protesters have only been demanding equal rights, and better share in revenues from the province's mineral resources like natural gas, but were being targeted by the security forces.

But the state interior minister Shahzad Wasim said the security forces were involved in targeted operation against those who, according to him, were miscreants.

The minister said there was absolutely no evidence to suggest that civilians have been killed.