Afghanistan News December 3, 2005

December 3, 2005

Pakistan, Afghanistan re-open border, establish hot line
Islamabad, Dec 3, IRNA Pakistan-Afghan Border
Pakistan and Afghanistan reopened their border after three days on Saturday after successful negotiations between the border security authorities, a senior Pakistani security official said.

The border at Chaman was closed three days ago after Pakistan said Afghan border forces had taken one of its soldiers to the other side of the border.

Afghan authorities admitted their fault and regretted the incident in which the Afghan forces kidnapped a paramilitary soldier from Pakistani area along the Pak-Afghan border on Thursday last, Pakistan paramilitary Frontier Corps Commandant Col Nasrullah Niazi said.

"They have also assured us that no such incident would happen in future," Col. Niazi said.

He said the border was reopened following assurance and regret by Afghan authorities over the incident.

He, however, said the security would remain tight along the border and only people with proper travel documents would be allowed to cross the border.

Those using non-traditional ways would be dealt with strictly, he warned.

Meanwhile TV reports said the two sides have agreed to establish a hot line between border officials.

Thousands trapped in Afghan territory due to border closure were allowed on Saturday to enter in Pakistan as a goodwill gesture.

Pakistan officials signed an agreement with Afghans under which the two sides will be in contact on the hotline in case of such incident as kidnapping of a security official.

Afghanistan must act now to prevent HIV/AIDS explosion, experts say
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan must act now to prevent an explosion of HIV and AIDS fuelled by a potential hike in the number of drug users sharing needles, experts here have warned.

Health officials estimated in October there were only up to 1,500 cases of HIV/AIDS in the country but this could be pushed upwards by the some 7,000 people estimated to inject heroin, a drugs policy think-tank said.

"Many factors point to a situation which could get a lot worse," Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Paris-based Senlis Council think-tank, told a meeting of government officials, aid groups and other agencies Saturday.

These factors included the increasing return of refugees from Iran and Pakistan, where many Afghans inject heroin for the first time, and a high degree of poverty.

"HIV in Afghanistan is not yet a pandemic but can become in the next five years a big pandemic," said Massimo Barra, chairman of the Development Commission of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"You are in the best position to prevent suffering, death and economic problems."

Barra urged the government to open anti-drugs centres, begin methadone treatment to wean users off heroin and distribute clean needles and condoms.

Afghanistan must not repeat the mistakes of its neighbours, he said, citing the example of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan which had reported only between five and 10 HIV cases 10 years ago and now had about 50,000.

Barra downplayed a link between Afghanistan's opium production -- estimated to account for more than 80 percent of the world's supply -- and drug use, saying the international criminal network was efficient enough to provide drugs whereever there was a demand.

Afghanistan is trying to persuade thousands of poppy farmers, who produce the some 4,000 tonnes of illicit opium estimated to be smuggled out of the country every year, to switch to other crops.

The government says the area under cultivation dropped by about 20 percent last year, but output is believed to have been much the same because of a high yield.

The Senlis Council has recommended that the illicit crop is turning towards the production of legal opium-based painkillers but authorities say that would be difficult to police and confuse their messages against poppy cultivation.

Afghan disabled storm UN event
Sat Dec 3, 7:21 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Dozens of disabled Afghans stormed a ceremony attended by several ministers to mark world disabled day, sending delegates fleeing as they overturned furniture to protest government policy.

A man who lost a leg during Afghanistan's decades of war doused himself with petrol and threatened to torch himself, shouting he wanted to highlight "unjust" policy towards the country's thousands of disabled people.

He was stopped by fellow protestors and police.

The demonstrators interrupted the ceremony as the first speeches were under way, up-ending chairs and tables and ripping up stage decorations. A journalist was lightly wounded in melee.

Ministers, high-ranking government officials and representatives of foreign countries and aid groups fled the hall and the event was called off.

The crowd shouted slogans against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai and the minister for the disabled, Sidiqa Balkhi, whom they said should be removed from her post.

"Death to minister Balkhi, death to Karzai," they shouted.

The UN International Day of Disabled Persons event was held in a gaint tent that accommodated a 2002 conference of tribal chiefs and elders that approved the post-Taliban constitution which grants support for the disabled.

There are regular demonstrations in the capital Kabul by people disabled during Afghanistan's three decades of war who feel they have been neglected despite having fought for the country.

A UN human rights report published in September said there were about two million disabled people among Afghanistan's population of more than 28 million.

Around quarter of them were disabled by war or landmines and more than 80 percent were believed to be unemployed, it said.

Karzai pledged after his election in October last year to boost public support for the disabled, including by raising their monthly grant of about 300 afghani (six dollars).

Deputy minister for the disabled, Sayed Mohammad Hadi Hadi, told AFP there were between 800,000 and two million disabled people in Afghanistan but only 70,000 had registered to receive the government grant.

The UN report said many of the disabilities in destitute Afghanistan were the result of prenatal complications, such as malnourishment and drug addiction.

Taliban bomb, ambush kill Afghan official, three policemen
Sat Dec 3, 5:41 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A remote-controlled bomb and a separate ambush, both claimed by Taliban militants, have killed a district chief and three policemen in southern     Afghanistan.

The bomb was detonated Friday under the vehicle of the head of Shawali Kot district of insurgency-hit southern Kandahar province, deputy head Obaidullah Khan said.

The official, Ayatullah Popal, and two of his bodyguards were killed. Three policemen were wounded, Khan told AFP Saturday.

"The bomb was set by Taliban," he said, adding an investigation was under way to find those responsible.

Also on Friday, Taliban fighters ambushed a routine police patrol in neighbouring Helmand province, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Jan said.

At least one was killed and five others wounded in the attack in Nawzad district, he said, blaming it on loyalists of the hardline Taliban regime that was removed from power in November 2001.

Helmand, the country's top opium-producing area, has seen some of the bloodiest attacks on Afghanistan's police force.

Eighteen were killed in an ambush on October 10 that officials said could have been carried out by Taliban fighters or people involved in the drugs trade.

A man who said he was a spokesman for the Taliban claimed responsibility for both of Friday's incidents.

"We carried out the attacks in Nawzad and Shawali Kot district," the man, who identified himself as Yousuf Ahmadi, told AFP by telephone from an unknown location.

Four years after the fundamentalist Taliban regime was ousted in a US-led offensive, fighters loyal to the movement still regularly attack government and foreign troops and other targets with links to the US-backed government.

The unrest has escalated this year despite the presence of a nearly 20,000-strong coalition force under US command and a separate     NATO-led peacekeeping force of about 10,000 troops.

About 1,500 people -- many of the militants -- have been killed, the most in a year since the Taliban was ousted because it did not hand over     Osama bin Laden for the September 11 suicide attacks in the United States.

Govt to beef up security for Indian personnel in Afghanistan
Outlookindia.com-India NEW DELHI, DEC 1 (PTI)
Making it clear that India would not succumb to terrorism and continue to help Afghanistan, Government today said it proposed to beef up security for Indian personnel working in that country following the abduction and killing of BRO driver Maniappam Raman Kutty.

"We are concerned. A large number of people are working not only working Afghanistan but the whole of West Asia. From security point of view, these areas are of concern," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha replying to a clarification on a suo motu statement on the killing of the Border Roads Organisation driver at the hands of Taliban last month.

But at the same time, he said, there could be no foolproof security as Indian government had to depend on the local government as well.

Regarding the Highway construction project connecting southern Afghanistan with Iran, Mukherjee said it would continue. "We will not succumb to this type of terrorism and we will continue to help Afghanistan".

He said 38 ITBP personnel were providing security for the project and efforts are being made to increase the security strength and its details were being worked out by the Director General of BRO with Afghan authorities.

It was the desire of Taliban to stall the project but India was committed to complete it, the Minister said.

Asserting that India's hand of assistance to Afghanistan government is intact, Mukherjee said "in no part of the world you can buy peace by compromising or succumbing to the pressure of terrorists whatever be the price". Sometimes the country had to pay a very heavy price, he said. As a nation India was the worst victim of terrorism both inside and outside and "it was necessary to tell them that the project will continue".

To a pointed question from former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Mukherjee admitted that Pakistan authorities had been contacted to explore possibilities of release of Kutty from Taliban.

He, however, said that Pakistan was not approached in a formal manner and Islamabad had responded by saying it ceased to have any contacts with the Afghan militia.

At that point of time, the main concern was to secure the release of Kutty and all possible channels were explored.

"Our entire exercise (then) was directed at whatever source we can to save the person. It is not correct to say that we did not make any effort", Mukherjee said.

He also made it clear that National Security Adviser M K Narayanan had not stated that there was a Pakistani hand in the killing of Kutty.

All he had stated in Kerala was about the growth of Taliban and Pakistan's close links with it. Nowhere had he mentioned that Islamabad was involved in this particular incident, the minister said.

Regarding adequate compensation to Kutty's family, Mukherjee said the normal provident fund and other benefits worked out to about Rs nine lakh. That apart, the Centre has announced Rs five lakh aid and state government had reportedly agreed to give a matching assistance, he added.

Also Kutty's wife would get a pension equivalent to the last salary drawn by him as a special case, he said adding efforts are being made to provide her employment in a public sector unit besides providing education to her two children at least up to the graduation.

First Photography From Afghanistan's University System Since Fall of Taliban to Show in Brooklyn
Source: Servicio Ejecutivo Friday December 2, 2005
Servicio Ejecutivo Presents The Mirror Inside: Reflections of Afghanistan
Opening Reception December 9, 2005, 7 p.m. at Studio Five in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

NEW YORK, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Servicio Ejecutivo is proud to announce The Mirror Inside: Reflections of Afghanistan, a photo exhibition by the inaugural class of Kabul University's new photography program. The exhibition will also include work by the founder of the program, Masood Kamandy. This is the first time the students' photographs will be shown alongside those of Kamandy, who was also their teacher.

An accomplished photographer himself, Kamandy, against seemingly insurmountable odds, commenced classes at the university this past April. For this show, Kamandy has selected the most powerful of his students' photographs to display with his own. In line with Servicio Ejecutivo's objective of transporting international art to a broader audience, The Mirror Inside is a candid and rare look at Afghan society through the perceptive and honest eyes of a teacher and his students.

According to Tatiana Arocha, founder of Servicio Ejecutivo, Kamandy's desire to share his craft, both with his students and now with the world at large, makes the exhibition perfect for the gallery. "I am incredibly inspired by this project," said Arocha. "Our gallery is not a commercial endeavor, and Masood's desire to fill such a monumental educational void without compensation corresponds with many of Servicio Ejecutivo's values."

The opening reception for The Mirror Inside: Reflections of Afghanistan is December 9, 2005 and begins at 7 p.m. Presented by Servicio Ejecutivo, 242 Wythe Avenue, Studio Five, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the show will be on display until January 5, 2006.

Servicio Ejecutivo first showed Kamandy's photographs in 2003, almost two years prior to his initiative at Kabul University, and the arts organization has maintained close ties with the artist since.

"I've always loved the diverse group of artists that Servicio Ejecutivo has been able to bring together," said Kamandy. "The Web site is already internationally known in the arts community, and the gallery is the perfect extension of what has worked so well on the Web."

Afghanistan: EU promises to increase counter-narcotics-Russia To Join NATO Antiterror Ops
Radio Free Europe/ Radio Free Liberty
December 1 2005 - EU justice and interior inisters, meeting in Brussels today, adopted a statement promising increased aid to Afghanistan and its neighbours to fight drugs production and trafficking.

The European Commission has previously decided to contribute 15 million euros. The size of further contributions is not yet clear. The contributions will be channelled through Afghanistan's Counter Narcotics Trust Fund (CNTF), which is operated by the Afghan government, but is accountable to and scrutinised by the United Nations.

Apart from promising financial contributions, EU member states also committed themselves to provide trainers for police, the judiciary and other relevant sectors. Today's EU statement also welcomes what it says is "important progress" made by Afghanistan in combating drugs.

Afghanistan deployment for CT troops put on hold
HARTFORD (AP) -- Hundreds of soldiers from two National Guard units won't be going to Afghanistan after all, at least not soon.

The 300 soldiers of the 242nd Engineer Battalion from Stratford and the 250th Engineer Company of Vernon were getting ready to work under the 10th Mountain Division.

But they learned Thursday they'll remain at home for now. Maj. Gen. Thaddeus J. Martin, the Connecticut National Guard commander, credited "rapidly changing requirements" for part of it.

Next year, 600 soldiers from Connecticut are due to be called up to serve under the 10th Mountain Division, but for now most of the traffic is incoming. Only 56 Connecticut Guard soldiers are in Iraq right now, and they expect to return soon.

Thanksgiving eve, 50 members of Windsor Locks-based 189th Aviation Regiment arrived back in the state after a year in Iraq. They were pilots and maintenance specialists for Black Hawk helicopters.

Thursday, 300 soldiers in two engineering units learned they won't be going to Afghanistan after all. Friday, 50 soldiers from the 208th Personnel Service Attachment were due in Fort Benning, Ga. They are expected back at their Niantic headquarters next week.

Next year, the state's 102nd Infantry is still planning on its Afghanistan deployment of almost 600. Two soldiers from the 102nd, which sent a platoon to Iraq for a year, were killed in action.

The 250th, which specializes in building bridges, was going to send about 150 to Afghanistan, matched with 150 from the headquarters company of the 242nd. They weren't expected to do engineering there, but rather to conduct patrols and run security missions.

However, "they still remain on alert, pending any additional data," said Lt. Col. John Whitford, the guard's communications director.

When it arrives in Afghanistan, the 102nd expects to be the only state Guard unit overseas. The 242nd's now-cancelled deployment was to be its last mission before it is absorbed into 192nd Engineer Battalion, which is commanded by Whitford.

But some of the 242nd soldiers were placed in a new company within the 102nd Infantry, so although the 242nd may not be going to Afghanistan, some of its former people will end up there anyway.

Musharraf confirms Al-Qaeda commander killed in Pakistan
Saturday December 3, 11:40 PM
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf has confirmed a top Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan had been killed close to the border with Afghanistan, as he arrived on a visit to Kuwait.

Asked by reporters at the airport to confirm a newspaper report that Hamza Rabia was killed in a missile strike on Thursday, Musharraf said: "Yes indeed, 200 percent confirmed."

Musharraf said Hamza was killed "in North Waziristan", a tribal area on the Afghan border.

"It is a place called Mirali, or little north of this town, that's the place," he said Saturday.

"I think he was killed the day before yesterday (Thursday), if I am not wrong," he added.

In Islamabad, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao also confirmed the killing and made clear Rabia was an Egyptian national. The Dawn newspaper, which had reported the news earlier Saturday, had said he was a Syrian.

"Al-Qaeda operative Hamza Rabia who was killed in the explosion was an Egyptian national," Sherpao told AFP.

"Five people were killed in the explosion and we have identified that one of them was Hamza Rabia. There were two other foreigners but we do not know their identities," he said.

The body of Hamza was not with the authorities as it was probably taken away by the militants and Sherpao said the identification was made by intelligence through its sources.

According to a CIA list of most wanted Al-Qaeda terrorists operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan seen by AFP, Hamza has a five million dollar bounty on his head.

Pakistan's English-language daily Dawn, quoting unidentified sources, said Hamza Rabia was Al-Qaeda's operational commander and was among five militants killed in the missile attack Thursday on a house in North Waziristan.

The paper said officials claimed the casualties were the result of an explosion inside the house, but tribal witnesses insisted that a "hail of missiles fired from unmanned air vehicles struck the house".

On Thursday local officials said the explosion occurred when bomb-making equipment detonated, killing five people, including three foreigners, in Haisori village, North Waziristan.

Musharraf's visit to Kuwait, his first to the emirate since ascending to power in 1999, is the first leg of a tour in the Gulf region which will also take him to Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

He is due to hold talks with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah during his two-day visit.

Musharraf said the purpose of the visit is "to strengthen political bonds through stronger economic and commercial relationships ... and how to enhance our commercial and economic relationships."

Talks will also tackle "coordination on the anti-terrorism campaign that Pakistan and other countries are involved in," he told reporters at the airport.

The official KUNA news agency quoted Musharraf on Saturday as saying that his talks in Yemen will discuss efforts to improve intelligence cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

In Saudi Arabia, Musharraf will attend the summit meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Oil-rich Gulf Arab states have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and airlifted large amounts of relief assistance for survivors of the devastating quake that recently struck Asia, mainly in Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia announced an emergency aid package worth 133 million dollars to help rebuild infrastructure in Pakistan, while Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates pledged 100 million dollars each.

Half of the amount granted by Kuwait will be offered in the form of relief assistance while the other 50 million dollars will be used to repair infrastructure damaged by the quake.

JEMB completes its tasks in Afghanistan for upcoming election
PakTribune.com, Pakistan Friday December 02, 2005 (2301 PST)
KABUL, December 03 (Online): Election Commission with the collaboration of Joint Election Management Body (JEMB) has completed their assignment before the time.
The head of the JEMB Petter Harban announced that he had fulfilled his responsibility for holding parliamentary elections, reports BBC Pushto service.

Mr, Petter said that independent Election Commission is capable enough to continue the process and we will now shift the responsibility to the Afghan members of the commission.

According to the election Law, the JEMB is to function one month after the first session of the Afghan parliament.

EU must come together on policy in Afghanistan
Europe's efforts have been 'insufficient'
Saturday, December 03, 2005 The Daily Star
By International Crisis Group (ICG)
REPORT INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP

Editor's note: The following text was taken from the latest ICG report, titled, "Rebuilding the Afghan State: The European Union's Role." To view the full report, visit www.crisisgroup.org

Since the Taliban's fall in 2001, the European Union (EU) has been a major contributor to Afghanistan. A substantial European Commission (EC) delegation oversees an annual budget of some 200 million euros in development aid, and a Special Representative (EUSR) is in residence. Altogether the EC and member states pledged nearly a third of the money at the 2002 Tokyo and 2004 Berlin donor conferences and the latter contribute over two thirds of the peacekeeping troops as well as coalition forces battling anti-government insurgents. However, EU influence is less than it should be. As a new agenda is drawn up to succeed the Bonn process, the EU needs more internal coordination if it is to gain greater leverage and hold the Afghan government to higher standards of governance and democratic development.

While Europe is widely trusted by Afghans, few - even at high level - appreciate the full scale of EU commitments. This is partly due to the UN's coordinating role and the sheer scale of U.S. military and development involvement, but also to the complexity of EU foreign policy structures and lack of coherence among EU institutions and member states on and in Afghanistan. Too often development funds are used in place of collective political and military action.

The consequences of insufficient influence and insufficiently forceful policy were nowhere more apparent than during the National Assembly election process, the culmination of the Bonn process. Europe paid around 40 percent of the costs but failed to secure a satisfactory voting system. Likewise, it did little - and now looks set to do even less - to help build the political parties that are vital to ensure a stable and sustainable political system, despite the avowal of member state foreign ministers that party development is a top priority.

The individual national limitations placed on the peacekeepers provided under a NATO umbrella contribute to the lack of inter-operability between forces. The ad hoc manner in which the International Security Assistance Force has moved outside Kabul highlights this further, with each country-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) a fortress unto itself. Developing at least minimally agreed standards for military-civil cooperation is an area Europe, in concert with NATO, should prioritize. The same is true for coordination within and between the teams - hopefully those of all nationalities, but at the very least for EU member states. A "European" model could not only help strengthen coherence but also influence the wider debate on the role of PRTs.

International interest must not be allowed to lag with the conclusion of the Bonn process - the bedrock of international assistance to date - following the recent National Assembly elections. Gains remain perilously fragile. Even meeting recurring costs to keep the state running will require donor support for years to come. Afghanistan's social indicators are some of the lowest in the world, on a par with sub-Saharan Africa, and the insurgency in the south and east borderlands with Pakistan produced this year the bloodiest summer since the fall of the Taliban. Poppy cultivation - both a symptom and a major source of ongoing instability - is responsible for 90 percent of the heroin on the streets of Europe.

The EU role in rebuilding Afghanistan is not about altruism. Failed states are a danger to the world, and Afghanistan presents specific problems for Europe. It is a political project the ultimate aim of which is to bring this failed state back to the fold of nations so that it is no longer a danger. Reassembling the state apparatus has been, and must remain, central but emphasis should now shift from legitimizing the newly elected institutions to ensuring their effectiveness in providing services and security to citizens. The new "Kabul Agenda" must emphasize sustainability and be much more specific than the Bonn Agreement about what is to be achieved.

The EUSR needs to be retained but with a refocused mandate. Its good offices are required all the more as new legislators become demanding interlocutors for the international community. At a time when it appears large financial commitments will again be undertaken, the links between performance and payment need to be made more explicit. Europe's concerns over human rights issues should be translated into hard demands for good governance from an administration that has allowed a culture of impunity.

The EU should strive to produce more cohesive policy and effective action by agreeing both within itself and with the Afghan administration on common benchmarks and monitoring mechanisms. As well as simplifying and clarifying obligations on a fragile state, this would give more coherence to programs and save resources. Europe will punch at its true weight in Afghanistan only through better coordination, and using to maximum effect the full array of foreign policy tools at its disposal - diplomatic, development assistance and military.

RECOMMENDATIONS
To the European Union and its Member States:

1. Ensure that Afghanistan remains a priority in the post-Bonn period by:

(a) maintaining financial assistance at around present levels for the next five years, focusing on reconstruction and reducing the proportion available for recurring expenses;

(b) renewing the mandate of the EUSR in Kabul and reviewing the current practice of giving six-month mandates to EUSRs generally; and

(c) working to achieve substantially higher visibility for, and domestic and international recognition of, the EU's role in Afghanistan.

2. Achieve greater policy coherence and coordination of EU institutions and member states through:

(a) developing common benchmarks and monitoring mechanisms, starting with the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund and the National Solidarity Program;

(b) formalizing internal conflict indicators in the new Country Strategy Paper (CSP), monitoring them effectively, and taking them systematically into account in all areas of EU activity;

(c) instituting regular formal meetings, preferably weekly, of the EC head of delegation and the EUSR;

(d) seconding to the EUSR from the EC in Brussels an expert on development economics to facilitate reporting on reconstruction efforts;

(e) creating a common Electronic Bulletin Board for EU institutions and delegations in Afghanistan to improve communication and information-sharing; and

(f) maximizing cooperation and inter-linkages with EU programs in neighboring states, using the CSPs as the primary planning tool.

3. Continue and strengthen the EU's policy focus on democratization by:

(a) financially supporting voter registration and at least two more election cycles, subject to constitutional changes producing an acceptable electoral timetable and process;

(b) prioritizing support for political party development, a women's caucus within the National Assembly, civil society and the media; and

(c) emphasizing, within support for the capacity building of new legislators, training for female members to ensure that they can be active participants in the political process.

4. Continue to emphasize human rights and good governance by:

(a) making a long-term financial commitment to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC);

(b) insisting that the Afghanistan Transitional Justice Plan be built into post-Bonn compacts;

(c) supporting the establishment of a high-level advisory panel, including female and minority representatives, acting with clear criteria and transparent process, to advise the president on senior Afghan appointments; and

(d) continuing to mainstream gender issues, while setting aside 5 percent of EC development funding specifically for women's projects.

5. Seek greater institutional linkages with NATO and involvement in the direction of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) through:

(a) the EUSR taking a seat on the PRT Executive Steering Committee;

(b) helping drive wide-ranging discussion on agreed minimum standards for PRTs and future roles that emphasize security;

(c) backing a forum for member state political representatives and development agencies involved in PRTs to interact with each other better; and

(d) investigating the possibility of using European Security and Defense Policy civilian missions in the field of security sector reform across European PRTs for both long or short-term projects.

6. Harmonize the priorities of EU institutions and member states with those of the Afghan government by holding a high-level workshop after release of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy as well as annual high-level meetings in Kabul or Brussels on the state of implementation of post-Bonn compacts.

The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.