Afghanistan News February 18, 2005

February 18, 2005

Cold spell in Afghanistan kills at least 260
Thu Feb 17,10:09 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A cold snap has claimed at least 267 lives in Afghanistan in the past month and thousands more people are thought to be stranded in remote areas, Afghan and UN officials said.

Many of the deaths were children under the age of five suffering from respiratory infections, pneumonia and whooping cough caused by the freezing conditions, Public Health Hinister Mohammad Amin Fatimie told AFP.

"We can confirm some 105 people, mainly children, died of diseases throughout the country in the past one month," Fatimie said.

At least 162 other people have died in avalanches, road accidents and collapsing mud-brick houses due to heavy snowfalls in the poverty-stricken rural areas, according to Afghan officials.

Twenty-three have died in the eastern province of Nuristan, 15 in northeastern Badakhshan, 40 in southern Logar, 13 in central Deh Kundi, nine in central Uruzgan, and 46 in southwestern Paktia, a high-ranking official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Ten other people died on Monday when an avalanche hit their village in the mountainous Panjshir valley, north of Kabul, local officials said earlier. Six more died in an avalanche on a northern highway on Saturday.

Fatimie said that lives in 22 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, mainly in central, northern and northeastern regions, were under threat from the coldest winter in Afghanistan for six years.

Countryside areas were the worst hit and there were fears more children and elderly people might have died in districts which remained cut off from aid.

"We don't have a clear picture, for the simple reason that many of these areas are still inaccessible," Edward Carwardine of the United Nations Fund for Children told reporters in Kabul on Thursday.

Carwardine said the western province of Ghor and parts of northeastern Afghanistan were particularly badly affected.

Another United Nations relief group, the World Food Program, said there were serious problems reaching impoverished communities affected by the cold weather in central Afghanistan.

"WFP faces major difficulties in reaching Saghar and Tulak districts of Ghor province to provide assistance to 15,000 people," it said in a statement.

"Two convoys of 12 trucks with 140 tons of food left from Herat on February 3 but could not reach the districts due to the heavy snowfall," the statement added.

This year's snowfalls, while being welcomed by the drought-hit country's farmers, have mainly affected tens of thousands of crushingly poor villagers and refugees who live in tents unprotected from the elements.

UK appoints special commission on counter-narcotics in Afghanistan
By Zubair Babakarkhail
KABUL, Feb. 17, (Pajhwok Afghan News) – Britain has nominated a new counter-narcotics delegation to lead the war against drugs in cooperation with the Afghan government.

The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, in his visit to Kabul on Wednesday, had announced that Lieutenant –General John McColl would head that commission. Lt Gen. McColl was the first commander of the International Security Assistance Force in 2001-2002 when it was deployed in Afghanistan under British command.

Britain is at present leading the combat against drugs in Afghanistan and Straw had announced the doubling of British aid to the drug eradication effort, bringing it up to $90 – $100 million.

Pajhwok Afghan News talked to the Deputy Minister of Counter-narcotics, Mirwais Yasini on how the money was going to be spent. "Half of this money will be allocated to finding an alternative livelihood for the farmers," Yasini explained. Farmers would be given improved seeds, fertilizers, agricultural machines and tractors, the Minister added. Yasini said that the rest of the British aid money would be spent on enforcement of the anti-drugs policy.

Britain's move has come at a time when the Karzai government has declared a new anti-narcotics policy, launching a ‘jihad’ against drugs. The eight-point policy includes preventing cultivation and production of poppy, eradication of poppy crop, prevention of trafficking, treatment of addicts, improving the judicial system, lessening the demand for drugs and finding an alternative livelihood for the farmers.

Mohammad Musa Marufi, professor of law in the Kabul University, said Afghanistan's economy was dependant on drugs and that many farmers made their living through this business. He suggested the government should provide a good market for the farmers to produce wheat, cotton, rice and other crops.

Britain hails Karzai's Taliban reconcilation drive
Reuters 02/16/2005
KABUL - British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw welcomed today Afghan President Hamid Karzai's amnesty offer to rank-and-file Taliban who lay down their arms.
Straw said he had discussed the issue during a visit to Kabul that concentrated mainly on Britain's lead role in the international effort against Afghanistan's massive drugs trade.

''In any post-conflict situation, there has to be reconciliation with people who are adversaries,'' he told a news conference after talks with Karzai and Foreign Minister Abdullah.

''If you are able to reach out to the Taliban who are, as it were, simply the foot soldiers, that is a good idea. On the other hand, I quite understand their determination to bring to justice those who are simply war criminals.'' Straw said there had been ''quite a lot'' of progress as a result of the amnesty offer, but declined to give details.

His comments came after the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said this week said that some ''senior'' Taliban members had taken up the offer. Khalilzad did not identify them and the government has refused to give details.

But today's Washington Post quoted an unnamed U S official as saying they included the Taliban's former U N ambassador, Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former deputy minister of higher education, Arsullah Rahmani, and a former refugees minister, Rahmatullah Wahidyar.

Also among the group was a former charge d'affaires at the Afghan embassy in Saudi Arabia named Fawzi, while 22 low-level Taliban members had agreed to lay down their arms in several provinces, the paper said.

Despite Khalilzad's remarks, none of those mentioned in the Post report are known as senior figures in the guerrilla campaign the Taliban has fought since its overthrow in 2001.

Hardline Taliban guerrilla leaders have repeatedly dismissed the amnesty talk and vowed that their holy war against Karzai's government and foreign forces will continue.

The government has stressed that the amnesty offer does not apply to up to 150 Taliban figures blamed for atrocities during the group's rule or those linked with al Qaeda.

U S-led forces overthrew the Taliban for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders responsible for the September 11 attacks on te United States in 2001.

Straw noted that action was also being taken against the Taliban in neighbouring Pakistan, which U.S. and Afghan officials say has been used as a base for guerrilla attacks in Afghanistan.

Pakistan, which used to be the main backer of the Taliban but became a major U S ally after Sept. 11 attacks, said last month it had arrested 17 Taliban suspects, including a former Kabul police chief and a provincial governor.

More than 1,000 people have died in Taliban-linked violence in Afghanistan in the past 18 months, but the number of attacks has declined since the guerrillas failed to make good on their vow to disrupt presidential elections won by Karzai in October.

This has been at least in part due to harsh winter weather and the militants are still seen as a threat to more complex parliamentary polls due later this year.

Army backed Taliban for ‘strategic depth’
By Khalid Hasan / Daily Times (Pak) / February 17, 2005
WASHINGTON: The Pakistani military believed that the Taliban were the “best means” of achieving “strategic depth” for the country, according to a memo by former senior White House official Richard Clarke, whose full text was recently declassified. The memo dates back to the pre-9/11 period and, as has since become public knowledge, Clarke’s warnings about Al Qaeda and the possibility of an attack on the United States were ignored.

In the section devoted to Pakistan, Clarke wrote that Pakistan’s approach to the Taliban and to terrorism flows from concerns with “seizing Kashmir and redressing its defeat by India in three wars”. He pointed out that “support for the Taliban has run through three Pakistani governments – Bhutto, Sharif and now Musharraf – and is predicated on the concept of ‘strategic depth’, i.e., ensuring a friendly government in Kabul that will not pose a threat in the event of war with India. The Pakistani military has consistently believed the Taliban was the best means of achieving that goal. Russian and Indian support for the Taliban’s only remaining military opponent reinforces Pakistan’s tendency to view Afghanistan through an Indo-Pakistani lens. Pakistan’s acquiescence in the Taliban’s hosting of terrorist camps and Bin Laden is a product of the nexus between Afghanistan and Pakistan’s proxy war in Kashmir.”

Clark wrote that support for Bin Laden also “comes also from a small but dedicated cadre of Islamist leaders whose electoral influence in Pakistan is minimal but whose street power has intimidated successive governments into fostering Islamic causes ... As we seek Pakistani cooperation, we need to keep in mind that Pakistan has been most willing to cooperate with us on terrorism when its role is invisible or at least plausibly deniable to the powerful Islamist right wing … Only Pakistani support for US action against Bin Laden, who is a hero especially in the Pushtun-ethnic border areas near Afghanistan, would be so unpopular as to threaten Musharraf’s government.”

Clark wrote that “we do have levers with the Pakistanis, despite the deleterious effect of overlapping sanctions that we impose beginning in 1990”. He listed the “levers” as: “the blunt instrument of UNSC sanctions”, “increasing domestic opposition to clandestine campaigns” and economic support. He noted that as Gen Musharraf implements his economic policies that he hopes would take Pakistan out of its “steep decline,” he “needs our moral and practical support in the IMF for a medium-term economic support package”. He said the US was already pursuing policies in support of the outlined objectives but felt that it would take a long time before Pakistan was encouraged to develop a “distaste” for its “Taliban adventure”. He recommended lending support for a “fair but non-violent settlement of Kashmir”, “demonstrating that there are alternatives to the Taliban that serve Pakistan’s national interest” and “helping to build up a secular educational system that ends rural Pakistan’s exclusive reliance on the fundamentalist madrassas”.

He also noted that “Chief Executive Musharraf has been clear in his discussions with American officials that: he opposes terrorism and Al Qaeda and believes that the spread of such fundamentalism threatens Pakistani internal stability; Pakistan requires a Pashtun majority in Afghanistan and the repatriation of refugees, which can best be achieved through support to the Taliban; but there are influential radical elements in Pakistan that would oppose significant Pakistani measures against Al Qaeda or the Taliban; Pakistan has been unable to persuade the Taliban to yield up Bin Laden and close the sanctuary and is unwilling to do more to persuade them.” He added that in the wake of the attack on USS Cole, Pakistan had called upon the United States not to violate Pakistani air apace “again” to launch punitive strikes in Afghanistan.

Militants kill ‘Afghan spy’
Daily Times (Pak) / February 17, 2005
MIRALI: The body of an Afghan was found in North Waziristan Agency on Monday with a message warning that “American spies will meet the same fate if anyone tries to spy on the Taliban.”

The body was found on the Miranshah-Bannu highway with a hand-written message, eyewitnesses told Daily Times. The message named the dead Afghan as Wasayel Shah from the Afghan province of Khost. “The message stated that he (deceased) was spying for the US forces in Khost province with sat-phone and GPS (global positioning system),” the eyewitnesses who read the message said.

It was signed by a “local mujahideen” group and warned other tribesmen not to provide “intelligence information” to US and Pakistani agencies. “Before Wasayel Shah was killed he provided names and addresses of all other spies and they will all be killed in similar fashion,” the message said. The political administration later handed over the body to relatives who took it to Afghanistan.

80% of disarmament process completed
By Najibullah Khilwatgar
KABUL, Feb. 17, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The Defense Ministry has said that 80% of the militias have been disarmed in Afghanistan under the ongoing disarmament process. The Army Corps No. 6 of Kunudz joined the nationwide Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration(DDR) program on Tuesday.

The total number of armed people disarmed has reached 40,000, according to the Ministry. Sources in the Ministry said more than 8,400 pieces of heavy weaponry had been collected so far, achieving 97% of the total target of collection of heavy weapons.

Under the process of reform of the Defense Ministry, most of the former military units have joined the DDR drive and those who haven’t joined the program yet are being dismantled and deprived of all official privileges. Gen. Zahir Azemi, a spokesman for the defense ministry, said the DDR process was successful.

So far, the provincial army corps of Balkh, Jowzjan and Nangarhar have been dismantled, Azemi said. Ten provincial army corps were planned to be disarmed in the previous program of the defense ministry and so far four of them have been dismantled. The rest will be dismantled soon or will join the DDR.

As part of the reforms, four newly-trained corps have been deployed to Herat, Balkh, Kandahar and Paktika provinces and a fifth is functioning around the central provinces.

UN mission hails new landmark in Afghanistan’s disarmament programme
Source: United Nations News Service 17 Feb 2005
Afghanistan has passed a new landmark in its demobilization efforts after two decades of war and factional conflict, with more than 40,000 combatants now disarmed, about four-fifths of the total outside the national army, the United Nations mission announced today.

“This is another milestone in the disarmament process, which has kept gaining momentum since it was initiated last year,” Ariane Quentier, a spokesperson for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told a news briefing in the capital Kabul.

Nearly 8,500 heavy weapons have also been consigned to secure compounds as part of the Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP).

Meanwhile UN agencies are scrambling to help local authorities respond to a spell of unusually cold weather and heavy snowfalls that have reportedly killed children, primarily in the north and central western regions, and left several areas in need of food.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is in daily contact with Government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGO) across the country, providing winter family kits containing basic household supplies and blankets, emergency medication, wood-burning heaters, tarps and plastic sheeting for shelter and winterized tents.

UNICEF has also sent in vaccines following unconfirmed reports of whooping cough among children.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has also airlifted emergency food and medical supplies to the most affected districts of Zabul province as well as in Kandahar province in the south, aiming to cover the needs of over 28,000 people for the next two months.

WFP has faced major difficulties to the west in reaching Saghar and Tulak districts of Ghor province to provide assistance to some 15,000 people. Two convoys of 12 trucks with 140 tons of food left from Heart on 3 February, but could not reach the districts due to heavy snowfall. One convoy offloaded 100 kilometres from its final destination, Farsi. The second convoy is still stuck, 125 kilometres from Heart.

The operations come on top of WFP’s ongoing pre-positioning of food, ensuring that vulnerable Afghans living in remote, snowbound areas have sufficient food during winter. As early as September 2004, WFP started pre-positioning over 23,000 tons of food for almost 600,000 vulnerable persons in the central and western highlands and in the north and northeast. As of Monday, 21,000 tons of food has been dispatched for further distribution.

Many passes in the country remain blocked by snow and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is working with the Ministry of Public Works on a snow clearance programme throughout Afghanistan.

World Bank and Afghan government discuss power projects
By Mustafa Basharat
KABUL, Feb. 16, (Pajhwok Afghan News) – Preliminary discussions on Afghanistan’s future energy sources have begun between the World Bank and the Afghan government. World Bank South Asia Country Director, Alistair McKechnie, had a meeting with the representatives of the Ministries of Mine and Industries, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance and representatives of some international NGOs on Wednesday.

While the World Bank official suggested that gas from the Shibergan area in the Jowzjan province in the North would be the best source of electricity, representatives of the Afghan government expressed the view that water, wind and coal would be the best sources.

McKechnie said studies had been conducted on Afghanistan's gas supplies which revealed that the country had one trillion cubic feet of gas. He said the shortage of electricity in Afghanistan was caused by the shortage of water and that the substantive gas deposits were best suited to meet this shortage. However government officials said they wanted the World Bank to build projects around the other sources.

Kabul's electricity is provided from Sarobi and Naghlo water factories but it is far from adequate. After the collapse of the Taliban the government had made plans to draw electricity from Iran and Tajikistan, currently the sources of supply to the Western province of Herat and the Northern province of Balkh, respectively.

The World Bank has emphasized that power lines from Pakistan and Tajikistan would not be a good source for Afghanistan due to bad financial and transport conditions and security problems.

Thousands choose army after abolition of poppy cultivation
KABUL, 17 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Almost every young man in the Sherzad district of eastern Nangarhar province wants to join the fledging Afghan National Army (ANA) as an alternative means of employment following a ban on poppy cultivation in one of the country's largest poppy-growing provinces.

"The army is the pride of a country and [if you join] you will see the country. The salary and food I heard are excellent," Gulab Shah, an ex-poppy grower and now new recruit, told his friends who also sought alternative employment after the ban on poppy cultivation came into effect. "Poppy was rich materially but poor morally," he maintained.

Tens of thousands of ex-poppy growers are choosing to join the ANA after the ban on poppy cultivation and a serious eradication campaign began in the country's eastern and southern provinces.

"More than 8,000 eligible people in Nangarhar alone are on the standby list of the ANA recruitment centre after a 98 percent reduction in poppy cultivation in this province," Haji Din Mohammad, the governor of Nangarhar, told IRIN in the provincial city of Jalalabad.

Din Mohammad said hundreds of thousands of people had become jobless after stopping poppy cultivation or when their poppy fields were destroyed over the last two months. The governor said he was now under pressure from community elders to help thousands of young men join the US-supported and trained new Afghan army.

"This is very promising. From a negative business, people have voluntarily chosen to turn to the most positive [the ANA]," the governor said. "For example, Shinwaris [residents of a region in the east] didn't join the army even when it was compulsory in the past, but now they voluntarily want to serve in the ANA," he noted enthusiastically.

Meanwhile, authorities in the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MOD) confirmed to IRIN that an increasing number of people were coming to the ANA and the Afghan National Police (ANP) recruitment centres after this year's anti-narcotics campaigns and the disarmament of tens of thousands of militia forces.

"We have 20,000 people on standby in 34 ANA recruitment centres despite recruiting 3,000 every month," General Mohammad Ibrahim Ahmadzai, the chief of staff in the ANA recruitment command, told IRIN.

In addition to poppy growers, most of the demobilised ex-combatants had also chosen to join the ANA, he noted.

But Ahmadzai said the massive turnout was a serious challenge to the ANA recruitment centres. "We can only recruit 100 applicants from one province every month. Yes it is a voluntary process but we have to consider the ethnic balance," he maintained.

Attempts to increase the number of soldiers in the fledgling force have been hampered by a lack of suitable recruits and poor pay and conditions. But Ahmadzai said there was now more enthusiasm to join up, as ANA recruits currently enjoyed better pay and privileges than Afghan civil servants.

"Every ANA soldier is paid 3,500 Afs [US $70 per month] and the salary is doubled on missions outside duty stations," he said, adding they also received very good food and logistical support.

According to Ahmadzai, who also coordinates the national police force recruitment, so far 24,000 people had been recruited in the ANA since its creation in 2002 and 28,000 people in the ANP. The country would have a well-trained 70,000-strong army and 50,000-strong police force by 2006, he asserted.
Outside observers have long maintained that Afghanistan desperately needs a well-trained and well-led army to promote law and order, provide security and take on private militia groups run by powerful regional warlords.

Parties differ on electoral system
By Mohammad Younus Mehrin
KABUL, Feb. 16, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Seventeen political parties have asked for 70% of the 249 seats in Parliament to be reserved for candidates of political parties with the remaining 30% of the seats reserved for independent candidates. Others however are opposed to the idea.

After a two-day discussion by the National Democratic Advisory Commission comprising of 35 political parties earlier this month, 17 parties had asked for changes to the electoral law before the parliamentary election.

Wasil Rahimi, leader of the Afghanistan-e-Wahed party, said the request, if implemented, would pave the way for more political parties to make their way to parliament. Rahimi claimed that elections to the two Loya Jirgas were under the influence of local governments. "In order to prevent such fraud, I think it will be fairer to have 30% of the seats reserved for independent candidates and 70 percent for political parties," Rahimi told Pajhwok.

Bashir Bizhan, deputy leader of the Kungara-e-Milli Afghanistan party is doubtful about this proposal saying that a proportional representation system would be more acceptable. Bizhan said every party should present a list of candidates and the number of candidates from the list could be elected in accordance with the number of votes polled by the party.

Habibullah Rafi, political analyst based in Kabul, believes that the parties should first make their policies known to the public because people still don’t know about them.
"Some of the parties which were established during the ‘decade of democracy’ (commonly accepted term for the 1960s under King Zahir Shah) are illegal because of their affiliation with foreigners," Rafi told Pajhwok.

Dr Firozuddin Firoz, former deputy minister of public health, backs the suggestion of the 17 parties and believes that the more parties that are there in the parliament the bigger the parliament will be. "At present, we need a more open political atmosphere and that can be achieved by a wider participation of political parties in the parliament," he noted.

Germany Opposes US Plan in Afghanistan
Deutsche Welle
At a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Romania on Wednesday, Germany objected to Washington's proposal for NATO forces to take over the US military mission in Afghanistan as part of next year's reorganization efforts.

German Defense Minister Peter Struck, who met NATO counterparts including US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for informal talks in Romania, told reporters he opposed the proposal to integrate the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan within the 18,000 strong US-led combat mission fighting remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda.

NATO's mandate in Afghanistan is to stabilize the country, not to fight international terrorism he said. "The German government sees its mandate as protecting and helping, not fighting," Struck added. "Therefore, we are against a merger of the two mandates."

Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to NATO, said the aim of the United States is to combine the two missions under a single alliance commander, possibly as early as 2005.

"It's a very complicated issue," Burns said. "That's the direction the alliance has been heading for many months now," he added and hinted to reporters that the proposal would find several supporters in the near future.

New role for NATO?

NATO is in need of a reorganization in Afghanistan, Burns said. The transatlantic alliance has been in command of the 8,000-strong International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan since last year, but has struggled to drum up the troop numbers needed to expand the UN-mandated force outside of Kabul.
The alliance's weakness was particularly evident in the run-up to last week's presidential elections when NATO members only reluctantly relented to supplying more troops. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said although the alliance had succeeded in guaranteeing a peaceful election environment, there was still a good deal more to do in Afghanistan.

The United States, which provides the biggest number of troops in the war-torn country, has been pushing its European allies to commit more resources and to expand into western Afghanistan, where war lords and armed factions of the Taliban still hold sway.

While ISAF is primary involved in peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts, the separate US mission "Operation Enduring Freedom" includes heavily armed units fighting suspected militants and terrorists, notably on the Pakistan border in the southeastern part of the country. Several NATO members have criticized the fact that the two forces operate independently of one another.

German support for combat not likely

Struck said Germany generally supported the NATO initiative to increase its troops and expand its area of deployment, but he doubted his country's parliament would support a change of its mandate to allow its troops to take on a combat mission. With some 2,500 soldiers, Germany is the largest contributor to the ISAF peacekeeping mission.

"I will not accept that Germany continues to be heavily engaged in Afghanistan while others, despite their pledges, have held back from doing the same," Struck told the gathering of 26 defense ministers

"I do not believe that the German government will be prepared to deploy its current 2,500 soldiers in a fight against terrorism. We would prefer to continue using them for reconstruction efforts," he concluded.

Limbaugh to visit Afghanistan with US aid official
18 Feb 2005 01:40:10 GMT
WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is expected to visit Afghanistan with the top U.S. aid official to spotlight America's aid work there, officials said on Thursday.

Political commentator Mary Matalin, a former White House aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, will also be on the trip. She said she was not being paid to go and would pay her own way to Dubai but she believed the U.S. government would cover the cost of her visit to Afghanistan from there.

The Bush administration has come under sharp criticism for the Education Department's payment of $240,000 to conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to tout President George W. Bush's education plan.

Spokesmen for Limbaugh were not immediately available to comment.

"It's trying to get people to pay attention to all the good things we are doing in Afghanistan," a U.S. official who asked not to be named said of the trip, which is expected to take place next week. "This is just a different kind of outreach."

Jeffrey Grieco, a deputy assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, declined comment on the trip or on whether Limbaugh and Matalin would accompany USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios.

"The successful reconstruction of Afghanistan is a story that has not yet reached a wider American audience," he said.

"The administrator of USAID is anxious to get that message out to the American public about our successful programming ... on democracy building, improved health care, improved access to education for women and children," Grieco added.

Matalin, who does volunteer work for the White House and makes paid speeches about the U.S. political system, said she wanted to see Afghanistan with her own eyes and to tell the story of its evolution since the Taliban regime's overthrow.

U.S. and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban regime after it refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"Everybody I have talked to who has actually seen what is unfolding is so amazed and proud of the people," Matalin said in an interview. "I hope, to the extent I can, to tell the story that I believe is not being told as well as it can be."

Asked what was the untold story, she said: "The absolute gut desire of the Afghanis to be free and to put together a democracy, or their version of a democracy, and to put in place those institutional hallmarks of a modern state."

Another 1 million Afghan refugees are likely to return home by 2006
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
BRUSSELS, Feb. 17 (UNHCR) – More than 1 million Afghan refugees are likely to return to Afghanistan in two years with prospects of improved security, but the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, says planning should begin soon for those who wish to remain in Pakistan and Iran.

Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday at a high-level meeting of officials from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, Lubbers expressed appreciation to donors for their assistance in the return of more than 3.5 million refugees to Afghanistan since a voluntary repatriation programme began in 2002 following the fall of the Taliban regime.

He said at the meeting co-chaired by UNHCR and the European Commission that it is "absolutely crucial" that donor commitment to the Afghan returns remains high, saying that successful integration is a longer task. "Millions of Afghans have come back to help rebuild their country and we must continue to help them help themselves," he said.

The meeting discussed the options available to Afghans refugees, conditions of return in Afghanistan, as well as the broader issue of how to manage population movements within the region. Last year alone, UNHCR helped in the return of more than three-quarter of a million Afghan refugees. There are between two and three million Afghans still in Iran and Pakistan.

Lubbers later told reporters that voluntary repatriation remains his top priority, and that there is still the potential for large numbers to return. He said more than half a million people could return this year from Iran and Pakistan, and a similar number in 2006. "In the area of security, we have seen improvements in the past few months. It is a step by step process, but slowly we are getting there," he said.

Some donor countries said the situation in Afghanistan has improved enough that it has become possible to discuss a future transition from humanitarian assistance to development activities. Several key sectors were identified, notably the need for urban development but also for strengthening agriculture and the good management of water resources.

The High Commissioner also said that there was a need to start thinking of solutions for Afghans who have become so well integrated in their adopted country that they may not wish to return to their homeland. Some refugees have lived in Iran or Pakistan for more than two decades. Some have married there and have become productive members of the society they live in.

"Voluntary repatriation is the preferred solution,' said Lubbers, "but in some cases it may not be appropriate, and we need to start planning ahead and find solutions for those Afghans who will remain in Iran and Pakistan once the voluntary repatriation operation is over."

Iran and Afghanistan have shown great generosity in harbouring Afghan refugees since war broke out in their country more than a quarter of a century ago. The two nations have also benefited from the presence of Afghans on their territory. In Iran, Afghans play an important role in the economy, notably in the construction and agriculture sectors. The High Commissioner said it was important to develop a suitable regional migration framework.

"We think that it is possible to achieve regional success," he added, "not only in repatriation but also in building a win-win situation between Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, the focus being on economic cooperation and development."

To help develop such long-term policies, the government of Pakistan and UNHCR will later this month conduct a nationwide census of all Afghans living in Pakistan. The census will record vital information such as date of arrival, place of origin and of current residence, and intention to repatriate. It will provide the first comprehensive picture of the number and current activities of the Afghans who arrived in Pakistan since their country dissolved into war a quarter of a century ago. In Iran there are currently 960,000 Afghan refugees, and pre-census estimates put the Afghan population in Pakistan at 1.2 million in the camps plus an indeterminate number living in urban areas.

Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan have agreed to continue consultations with UNHCR and donor countries on this issue. Another meeting is scheduled for later this year.

Pakistan, Iran urged to integrate DPs
By Shadaba Islam / Dawn (Pak)
BRUSSELS, Feb 16: Pakistan and Iran should start looking at ways of integrating their population of Afghan refugees since many may decide against going back home, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Wednesday.

UNHCR Chief Ruud Lubbers said his "first priority" was to continue with the current voluntary repatriation programme for the three million Afghan refugees still in Pakistan and Iran.

But Mr Lubbers, attending a conference on Afghan refugees in Brussels, said not all refugees were ready to go back to the country. Islamabad and Teheran should therefore begin to take a "more relaxed attitude" towards their Afghan populations and look at them as productive migrant workers, Mr Lubbers said.

Afghans in both countries should be allowed to stay on if they wanted, have the right to earn a living and be ensured of access to health and primary education facilities, he added.

Mr Lubbers said his message was especially directed at Iran which is stepping up pressure on Afghans on its territory to go back. Pakistan and Iran had hosted Afghan refugees very generously for many years but Afghans had also made "a very positive contribution" to the national economies of both countries, he said.

The UNHCR chief said 600,000 Afghans had gone back to their country from Pakistan and Iran last year, adding that he expected another 500,000 to return in 2005 and the same number in 2006.

But Mr Lubbers cautioned that despite the voluntary repatriation programme, "substantial numbers" of refugees would still be left in Pakistan and Iran. While aid was needed to help rebuild Afghanistan, with the focus on the reintegration and rehabilitation of those refugees who agreed to return, the UNHCR chief also urged donors to help Pakistan cope with Afghans still on its territory.

Pakistan had appealed for international aid to tackle environmental problems in Afghan refugee camps and help to transform the settlements into "productive" sites, he said.

European Union officials attending the meeting said they were gradually going to replace their humanitarian assistance programme in Afghanistan with aid for reconstruction and development.

Additional help for Pakistan was also in the pipeline, with the focus on Balochistan and the Frontier province, the officials said. This assistance would be for everybody, not just Afghans in the two regions. Aid from the EU is expected to be part of a new so-called "country strategy paper" for Pakistan to be drawn up for the 2007-2013 period.

Pakistan: Preparation for Afghan census underway
ISLAMABAD, 17 February (IRIN) - In preparation for a full-scale census of Afghans living in the country, the Pakistan Census Organisation (PCO), in collaboration with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), conducted a pilot census earlier this week across the four provinces of the country.

"The exercise was basically to check the operational procedures and make the enumerators prepared to deal with any particular condition," Jehangir Khan, head of the Commission for Afghan Refugees (CAR), told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad. "We've come across certain problems during the pilot census, which we have discussed with the UNHCR officials and hopefully tomorrow we'll finalise the recommendations."

In January, the government of Pakistan and the UNHCR agreed to conduct a census and record vital information about all Afghan refugees in Pakistan arriving after December 1979. The census would record the number and profiles of Afghans, including details of their arrival, their place of origin, where they are living now, current livelihood, as well as their intention to repatriate.

The test exercise was conducted by the PCO census teams in the four selected districts of Karachi, Sialkot, Pishin and Peshawar. UNHCR teams monitored all stages of the process to ensure that agreed procedures were followed by the PCO enumerators.

"The pilot tests were also to check the full range of housing areas that have been identified during two months of mapping of concentrations of Afghan population throughout Pakistan - in camps, rural areas and urban centres," Jack Redden, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, told IRIN in Islamabad.

Since 2002, UNHCR has assisted 2.3 million Afghans to voluntarily repatriate under the tripartite agreement between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR that runs until March 2006.

UNHCR has been undertaking several promotional activities to ensure that Afghans are aware of the importance of participating in the census.

"We are airing the advertisements on Khyber TV - the only Pashto channel in the world and popular among Afghans. We are advertising in about four Pashto newspapers of Karachi and Peshawar. Besides, a 15-minute radio programme is also being aired on Radio Pakistan from Quetta and Peshawar," Redden noted.

The UNHCR official further added that the refugee agency had already distributed thousands of information leaflets, posters and banners amongst the Afghan community, encouraging their participation in the census.

The data collected by the census teams would be entered into a database and the first results would be available for detailed analysis by the second half of March. Accordingly, the information would help the government of Pakistan and the UNHCR to develop future policies for Afghan refugees living in the South Asian nation after the tripartite agreement expires next year.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting in Brussels this week, arranged by the UNHCR and the European Commission, stressed the continuing problems facing displaced Afghans in Pakistan and Iran. The UNHCR head, Rudd Lubbers, on Wednesday urged Islamabad and Tehran to take a "more relaxed attitude" towards their Afghan populations and look at them as productive migrant workers as many may decide against returning home.

Flight recorder of Kam Air plane being scrutinized
By Ahmad Khaild Mowahid
KABUL, Feb. 17, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The flight recorder of the Kam Air flight which crashed on Februayr 3 has not yet been sent to the United States. The box is being checked by a joint commission of the transport ministries of Afghanistan, Russia, US, Italy, Kyrgyzstan and representatives of the company which owned the Boeing 737. Gen. Zahir Azemi, a spokesman for the defense ministry said that the box may be sent to the US after the commission finishes checking it in two or three days.

The flight recorder provides details about any technical problems of an aircraft and could yield valuable information about the cause of the crash. The flight recorder was found on Tuesday at the same time as the bodies of the passengers were first found.

Two weeks after the crash, the black box of the plane continues to be missing. Finding the black box which records the cockpit conversation, may help reveal the actual reasons behind Afghanistan's worst air accident.

Passport issuance procedures simplified
By Habiburrahman Ibrahimi
KABUL, Feb. 17 (Pajhwok News) – Government claims of having simplified the procedure for obtaining passports are refuted by applicants who say the old problems still remain.

Muhammad Khalil Aminzada, Director in the Department of Passports told Pajhwok Afghan News in an interview that applicants could now obtain a passport simply by showing their national ID card (Tazkera). The ID card is issued by the Interior Ministry to all citizens. Earlier applicants had to bring letters from local elders, the Mullah of the nearest mosque, police of that area and judicial departments.

Aminzada said the fee for issuance of passports had also been decreased. According to Aminzada, the fee had been reduced from 1160 Afs to 860 Afs for a year. Simplifying the procedure further, passports are now being issued in Nangarhar, Paktia, Kunduz, Balkh, Herat and Kandahar provinces Aminzada said.

Applicants lined up outside the passport office however still complain of many difficulties. A man from Paktia who was standing near the door of the passport department in front of the interior affairs ministry who wished to remain anonymous said, "I have been standing here for four days and every day they are telling me to come next Sunday". But Aminzada refuted this. He said before people had to struggle for weeks to get a passport but now anyone can obtain a passport in two days.

Army Files Cite Abuse of Afghans
By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, February 18, 2005; Page A16
Members of an Army Special Forces unit allegedly punched, slapped, kicked and beat Afghan civilians in two villages southeast of the capital of Kabul last May, prompting official complaints from two senior Army psychological operations officers who were present and said they witnessed the incidents.

The allegation is detailed in internal Army criminal files, released yesterday, that also document other allegations of abuse in Afghanistan as recent as last year. Previous abuse allegations have mostly concerned U.S. military activities in Iraq in 2003; these documents detail parallel conduct in Afghanistan in 2004.

In one strikingly similar event, the Army last year found about half a dozen photographs that depict masked U.S. soldiers standing with their weapons pointed at the heads of handcuffed and hooded or blindfolded detainees at a base in southern Afghanistan and, in one case, pressing a detainee's head against the wall of a "cage" where he was brought for interrogation.

The photographs were found on a compact disc left in one of the unit's offices, and the discovery set off a lengthy search by the Army for additional copies in the cars, homes, barracks, computers and cameras of members of the unit, part of the 22nd Infantry Regiment based in Fort Drum, N.Y.

None of the photos have been published -- unlike a set of photos the news media obtained last summer depicting similar acts of abuse and humiliation in Iraq -- and an Army spokesman said yesterday that they are being withheld from release "to protect the privacy" of the Afghan victims.

The acts photographed in Afghanistan occurred without provocation between December 2003 and February 2004 and violated Army regulations, according to testimony in the Army documents. The Geneva Conventions, which the Bush administration pledged to respect in Afghanistan "to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity," bar inhumane treatment as well as any "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."

Members of the unit said they took the pictures for sport and also said they destroyed some images after photos appeared in the media of similar acts at the U.S. military's Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, according to the documents.

"I realized there would be another public outrage if these photographs got out, so they were destroyed," said a soldier whose name was deleted from an Army investigative report dated July 8, 2004. Another said his squad leader had directed that photos be deleted from a camera, adding that "I realize it makes me and my unit look bad, and in no way meant for this to happen."

Several of the published photos of earlier abuse in Iraq depicted the corpse of Manadel Jamadi, who had been in the custody of a Navy SEAL team and CIA interrogators. Yesterday, the Associated Press reported for the first time a claim by Army guards at the prison that before the man's death, he had his hands handcuffed behind him and was suspended by his wrists in an effort to coerce his cooperation.

The wire service, quoting what it described as a summary of an interview conducted by investigators with one guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said Frost had depicted Jamadi's arms as so badly stretched he was surprised they "didn't pop out of their sockets." Eight Navy workers have received nonjudicial punishments in the case, while two others are awaiting further Navy judgment.

None of those involved in the seven new cases of alleged abuse detailed in the Army documents released yesterday were charged by the Army with criminal wrongdoing, although six soldiers received unspecified administrative punishment for dereliction of duty in taking or participating in the photos. Although investigators found probable cause to charge another soldier in the unit with assault for punching a bound detainee in the back of the head, the documents do not indicate any punishment was imposed.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the new documents under a court order compelling the Army to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request filed with four other organizations, said in a statement that they show military abuses were widespread.

The abuse -- including photos that the ACLU said depicted "mock executions" -- cannot "be dismissed as the rogue actions of a few misguided individuals," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.

Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, an Army spokesman, did not address the claim directly but said the Army has "made a lot of progress in detainee operations over the last year" and is committed to investigating abuse allegations.

In the case involving alleged abuses in the Afghan villages of Gurjay and Surkhagen last May, all of the Special Forces personnel interviewed by Army investigators denied impropriety. "The fact is that villagers who offer resistance or even try to escape are dealt with very aggressively due to the number of detainees we have to deal with," the unit's unnamed commander said, noting that nine or fewer soldiers were responsible for controlling 50 to 90 detainees.

The commander added, however: "Everyone knows that we have such a small force very far away from any other real support that [angering] . . . the locals by beating them for no apparent reason will just make things worse for our isolated unit. One of the core things in Special Forces that we are taught early on is to win the hearts and minds."

But one of the Army psychological operations officers, whose name was deleted from the copy of the report provided to the ACLU, told investigators that "throughout the day, I witnessed . . . [name deleted] punching people, slapping them, pulling his M-9 [pistol] out and threatening to shoot the village people. This was done in front of the villagers with no discrimination. I witnessed [name deleted] strike multiple villagers throughout the day."

The officer said he witnessed one Special Forces member take a man, who had his hands bound and his eyes covered, behind a wall. "For the next one to two minutes, you could hear the sounds of someone being beaten. After that, [name deleted] brought him out," bleeding from the "mouth and/or nose." The witness said the soldier also fired his pistol behind the wall after announcing to other villagers that he planned to kill the man.

Other soldiers said the man taken behind the wall had been found with an explosive device. The soldier accused of beating him said the man incurred his injuries in a fall. Army investigators terminated their investigation without reaching a conclusion because the victims reside in "a high-threat combat area" and are allegedly anti-U.S. combatants.

Bush War Bill Includes Money for Afghans
Thu Feb 17, 3:46 AM ET By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Money for public opinion research for the new Ukrainian government, seven provincial Afghan hospitals and Palestinian community centers was included in President Bush's $81.9 billion request for war and aid to U.S. allies, according to administration documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The materials, obtained Wednesday, also describe spending to start a law school in Afghanistan, smooth the issuance of Ukraine's driver's licenses and passports and build water treatment facilities in Jordan.

The papers, spotty in detail, describe how $4 billion of Bush's proposal would be spent for a handful of countries, the Palestinians, and trouble spots like Sudan and Indian Ocean countries flooded by the December tsunami.

In some instances, they are reminiscent of materials the administration distributed in 2003 describing how reconstruction money for Iraq would be spent. At the time, many in Congress contrasted that proposal's planned purchases of items like garbage trucks with tight spending for U.S. domestic programs.

On Wednesday, two top House Republicans said lawmakers might remove some foreign aid proposals from Bush's latest package. Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said lawmakers would scrutinize the request for items that could be dropped until later this year.

Congress is only beginning to consider Bush's 2006 budget, released last week, which proposes cutting scores of domestic programs.

At the very least, the new papers underscore the dramatic reshaping of Bush's foreign aid plans since he first ran for office in 2000 and expressed disdain for nation building. The expenditures described in the new documents read like a blueprint of nation building for a range of allies.

"How we've had to budget our resources in the post-9/11 era is different than how we envisioned it pre-9/11," said White House budget office spokesman Chad Kolton, referring to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The overall war and foreign aid bill Bush sent Congress Monday was dominated by $74.9 billion for the Defense Department, mostly for its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Half of the $4 billion in foreign aid the documents describe would be for Afghanistan. That includes $68 million to build 65 schools and seven technical training centers and provide vocational training, teaching training for women and scholarships abroad.

There is also $25 million for the country's legal sector, including unspecified funding to establish a law school, with money for its planning, teachers and student exchanges. Another $69 million would be for seven provincial hospitals, 210 health clinics and other health projects.

There would be $285 million to train Afghan police, including providing 532 "embedded" advisers, 34 driving practice ranges and literacy training. Salaries of 62,000 police officers would cost $40 million, while another $74 million would be spent to buy gear, including 6,000 vehicles, four helicopters and fingerprinting equipment.

Other Afghanistan expenditures would include $300 million for the country's electrical system; $82 million for water and farm projects; $66 million to develop private businesses; and $85 million for creating legal and electoral systems.

The papers say illegal narcotics production in Afghanistan "threatens to undermine all of the progress that has been made towards restoring stability and democracy."

"We need to expand and accelerate reconstruction and security to ensure democracy there does not fail," the documents say.

The $200 million for economic and military aid for Jordan would include unspecified funds for school construction, job training, night vision equipment and other gear for border guards.

Ukraine, where free elections were held a month ago, would get $60 million that the papers say would be largely aimed at helping pro-western President Viktor Yushchenko solidify his victory so his party can win a parliamentary majority in the scheduled March 2006 elections.

Of that, $3 million would be for strategic aid to the Yushchenko government, including unspecified money for public opinion research, policy formulation and communications strategies.

Another $19 million would be to improve Ukraine's judicial system and improve the government's image at home. That includes unspecified funds for a "transparent and efficient provision of passports and driver's licenses, which will have an immediate impact on the average citizen," the documents said.

The $200 million for Palestinians would include money for promoting trade, boosting agriculture, building schools and community centers, instituting democratic reforms and providing social services.

Afghan minister of defense requests weapons for future
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - As the United States accelerates its training of Afghanistan’s fledgling army, the nation’s defense minister has revealed a list of high-tech weaponry he says his nation needs to defend itself.

Defense Minister Rahim Wardak said his requests include Apache helicopter gunships and A-10 ground attack planes, which the more than 1,000 U.S. trainers embedded with the new Afghan army can currently call in from U.S. bases in an emergency.

He also would like U.S. forces to help create and train Afghan commando, engineer and intelligence units. Transport planes and armored vehicles also would help, Wardak said, and he predicted a positive response from Washington.

"Once we improve our capabilities, I think we will be good enough to deal with any sort of internal threat," including Islamic militants, drug smugglers and warlords, Wardak said.

"We think if we take more of the burden of security, it will be much more economical - in terms of money and human life - for the coalition and NATO," he said.

But Wardak and Col. Bob Sharp, a senior official in the U.S.-led coalition, also said Washington and Kabul are considering a long-term security relationship that might include continued U.S. bases.

The office of Lt. Gen. David Barno, the overall commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul had no comment.

Three years after a devastating air campaign drove out the ruling Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden, the U.S. military still has 17,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Swaths of the countryside remain under the influence of militants or warlords resisting the authority of President Hamid Karzai.

But the re-emergence of the central government and the expansions of both the U.S.-trained Afghan national army and NATO-led security forces in Afghanistan are easing the burden on the U.S. military, which says that Taliban-led insurgents are a waning threat.

The Afghan army had been expected to reach its full strength of 70,000, including 43,000 ground troops, by September 2007.

But Sharp, the British chief of staff of the Office of Military Cooperation, which coordinates the training, said that the number of Afghan battalions being trained simultaneously is going up to six in March and that the increase will allow the force to reach full strength by the end of 2006.

With the graduation of 709 trainee soldiers and officers Sunday, the army numbers almost 20,000 soldiers, already more than a match for the factional militias the soldiers are supposed to replace under a U.N.-sponsored disarmament campaign.

Sharp and Wardak said they didn’t know when the Pentagon might decide to reduce its presence in Afghanistan, though Barno has suggested it could happen this year if Taliban fighters sign up for a planned amnesty.

"The more" Afghan national army "we get on the ground, wearing their green berets with their very high reputation, the easier we’ve found it is to stabilize the country and put an Afghan face on it," Sharp said.

Wardak said it was too early to say how long the United States would maintain air bases in Afghanistan, which borders Iran, Pakistan and China as well as oil-rich central Asia. The country’s first post-Taliban Parliament also would have to approve any security pacts with the United States or anyone else.

"It’s all in an ideas stage," Wardak said.

via Columbia Daily Tribune, MO

PM concerned over poppy cultivation in Afghanistan
By Our Staff Reporter Dawn
RAWALPINDI, Feb 17: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has expressed concern over the increase in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, saying it will have a negative impact on Pakistan in particular and the world at large.

He was talking to reporters at the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) headquarters on Thursday. "The increase in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is a negative development. It will have negative fallout on Pakistan and other countries. We are in contact with the Afghan government and are also planning to take action against laboratories which deal in processing of opium," he said.

About Pakistan, the prime minister said the government had controlled poppy cultivation to a large extent and poppy growers had been provided alternative means of earning.

To a question, he said drug addiction was a great menace as it destroyed the whole society. "The government has been trying to control drug addiction, prevent poppy cultivation, stop heroin consumption and its supply," he added.

Mr Aziz said for this purpose a separate ministry had been formed with Ghous Bux Mahar as minister in order to eliminate this curse from the society. He said rehabilitation concept was being introduced so that drug addicts, who were considered social outcast, could be brought to the mainstream of the society.

He expressed satisfaction over the role of the ANF in combating drug abuse. Out of its meagre resources, the force had been able to control the menace, adding that more resources would be provided to it to make it effective and strengthen its rehabilitation and treatment capacity.

He said the government had approved establishment of two model addiction treatment and rehabilitation centres, one each in Islamabad and Quetta for treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Mr Aziz said drug abuse was a big issue for Pakistan and the world at large. Pakistan, he said, had a big role to play in fighting this menace and also controlling poppy cultivation.

He said the government had also been taking other preventive measures. We have been planning to initiate awareness programmes through educational institutions to educate children in every school and every class about the dangers associated with drug addiction.

Once a child or a grown-up becomes a drug addict, he is lost, he said, adding that it needed a lot to reclaim him and make him an important member of the society.

Earlier, the ANF officials briefed the prime minister about narcotics situation and poppy cultivation in the country. During the briefing, he was informed that in 2003-04, the total area under cultivation in Pakistan was 6,694 hectares of which 78 per cent had been eradicated.

During the year 2004, 7,783kg of heroin, 679kg opium and 57,111kg hashish had been seized by the ANF. From January to February 16, 2005, a total of 1,359kg opium, 1,654kg heroin and 3,719kg hashish had been seized.

The prime minister was informed that a record cultivation of poppy had been made in Afghanistan. According to estimates, the total heroin seizures last year in the region totalled 72 metric tons. Domestic consumption was approximately 112 metric tons.

Since the total production in Afghanistan translated into 360 metric tons, there was still scope for 176 metric tons to be trafficked to the international community. Last year, about 392 foreigners were arrested while trafficking heroin and other drugs from Afghanistan into Pakistan and onward to other countries in the Middle East, Europe and the US, the prime minister was informed.

Czechs to send 40 troops to Afghanistan
2005/2/17 PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP)
The Czech Republic will send 40 troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, in Afghanistan next month, an official said Thursday.

Andrej Cirtek, a spokesman for the defense ministry, said the troops are scheduled to leave for Afghanistan in mid-March. They will be deployed in the northeast of the country, he said.

The Czech Republic already has 15 specialists operating within the ISAF in Kabul.

The deployment of the fresh troops was approved by the Czech parliament in December last year. Their mandate will expire on Dec. 31.