Afghanistan News February 19, 2005

February 19, 2005

Up to 1,000 children feared dead in Afghan cold snap: aid group
Fri Feb 18, 9:38 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Aid workers and officials sounded alarm bells over a looming humanitarian crisis in western Afghanistan saying they feared up to 1,000 children may have died during severe winter weather.

Cold, disease and malnutrition were the biggest killers and relief groups said they could not reach snowed-off areas to help after the poverty-stricken province of Ghor was hit by the harshest winter in a decade.

"Several hundred to a thousand would be a low estimate of the number of children that could have died," Paul Hicks, program director western region Afghanistan for Catholic Relief Services, told AFP.

Afghan and UN officials said Thursday that the cold snap had claimed at least 267 lives in Afghanistan in the past month, many of them children. Thousands more people are thought to be stranded in remote areas.

Hicks said a 10-person team from his organisation had hiked to 16 villages which had been snowed in and had found five children had died in each hamlet in Ghor's Sharack district.

"Eighty children died last month -- most in the last 10 days or two weeks and what is getting them is the cold and lack of food, because they are already undernourished due to the drought," Hicks said.

Afghanistan has suffered from a lengthy drought in recent years which has caused misery for poverty-stricken farmers and people throughout rural areas.

Hicks said his team had reached only a fraction of the 250 villages in Sharack district alone and had not been able to get through to any others in neighbouring Tulak and Saghar districts.

Deputy Provincial Governor Ikramuddin Rezaie told AFP that tens of thousands of people were facing a food shortage in remote villages.

"It is a serious challenge -- if not taken care of it will cause a human catastrophe," he said.

Rezaie joined aid workers in calling for help in getting relief to some of the worst hit areas and said local authorities were struggling to clear roads and get relief to the isolated villages.

Geno Teofilo, communications manager for World Vision, which has seven clinics in the province, said 28,000 people were at risk in Ghor from the cold, disease and related health problems.

Because the roads have been blocked and daily efforts to clear routes are wiped away by heavy nightly snowfalls, food and other humanitarian aid is stranded with UN agencies in western Afghanistan's largest city of Herat.

"The most urgent need now is to get helicopters up to the most remote areas to determine how serious the situation is and provide relief where it's needed," Hicks said.

"Most of Ghor is isolated right now. We are not even talking about communities which are remote and far-flung but the district centers, which are normally accessible, are isolated right now," he said.

Deputy governor Rezaie said a team of doctors sent from Kabul by the Ministry of Health were yet to reach the remote villages as most of the roads remained blocked.

"If they don't send the supplies by air it wouldn't be possible to make it by road," he said.

Two convoys of trucks with supplies donated by the World Food Program remain stranded on the road between Herat and Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province.

"We are considering sending the supplies or the aid by air but the decision has not been taken yet," said WFP spokesman Maarten Roest.

Ghor is one of the most isolated and impoverished parts of Afghanistan, and even in the summer the journey by road from Herat to Chaghcharan can take up to 15 hours.

"Part of the problem with Ghor is that it is so underdeveloped. Reliable numbers are impossible to find and going there is like travelling back in time about 1,000 years," said World Vision's Teofilo.

Karzai to explore trade corridor
Times of India 02/17/2005
NEW DELHI - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he would explore the possibility of a trade corridor between India and Afghanistan through Pakistan during his visit to New Delhi later this month. This will be beneficial to the entire Central Asian region," he said talking to Aaj Tak's 'Seedhi Baat' programme.

During his three-day stay from February 23 here, Karzai said he would also talk about a gas pipeline through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as well as transit facilities.

On India-Afghan ties, he said "we share a very old and friendly relationship. In the last three years India has helped us a lot in the reconsruction of the country, and we are very thankful to them. They have helped us immensely in the field of education".

Describing himself as a product of Indian education, Karzai, who sayed in Shimla, said he would look at the possbility of geater economic cooperation between his country and India.

"It would be good if transit facility between India, Pakistan and the Central Asian countries come into existence. Economic openness is very important. Our Commerce and Finance Ministers are already in talks with Pakistan on the issue of allowing free passage of Indian trucks through Pakistan," he said in respnse to a query, according to a release by the TV channel.

Pakistan deploys commandos as Sunni suspects blow themselves up
Saturday February 19, 12:14 AM AFP
Pakistan deployed specially trained anti-Al-Qaeda commandos to guard against sectarian violence Friday as two Sunni militants planning to attack parades by rival Shiites blew themselves up.

The so-called Quick Reaction Force -- which formerly battled militants linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network in tribal areas near Afghanistan -- was to patrol in sensitive central and northwestern regions.

The deployment comes ahead of Ashura, the ceremony marking the death over 1,300 years ago of the prophet Mohammed's grandson, when minority Shiites traditionally stage processions featuring graphic displays of self-harm.

The ceremony, which starts late Saturday, is often marked by clashes with Sunnis. Last year's festival was one of the most violent, with 48 people dying in a bloody attack in the southwestern city of Quetta.

Police in Quetta said two members of a banned Al-Qaeda-linked Sunni extremist group had killed themselves with a grenade early Friday after a raid on their hideout.

"The militants could have attacked Shiite processions in the city today and there is also a possibility they were planning to attack the main Ashura procession" on Sunday, said provincial police chief Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqub.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi later said in a statement faxed to newspapers that the militants were its members and that it was proud of their acts.

The group vowed it would carry on attacks against Shiites and warned the government not to be happy about killing two of its men.

"Our members were ready to launch suicide attacks and by dying they have provided inspiration to other Lashkar-e-Jhangvi mujahideen and Sunni youth to follow their footsteps," spokesman Commander Zarar said in the message.

With tensions remaining high, the commandos were biding their time but would be sent out "on an urgent basis to deal with any situation," said Lieutenant General Safdar Hussain, army commander in North West Frontier Province.

The commando force demonstrated its skills at a dress rehearsal in the central city of Multan Thursday, in which pretend militants attacked a mock Shiite procession and staged a chase with military helicopters and ground forces.

"We wanted to assess the ability of the force and test the security arrangements," the force's commander Brigadier Mohammad Ibrahim told reporters.

Ashura is held on the 10th day of Muharram, an Islamic mourning month for Imam Hussein whose death in battle in 680 AD led to the split between the Shiites and Sunnis.

Shiites mark the day by parading the streets of major cities, beating their chests and whipping themselves with sharp knives fixed to iron chains.

Reciting elegies and hymns, participants carry black banners and march behind the replicas of Hussain's tomb in Iraq.

However the processions often spark clashes with Sunnis, who make up 80 percent of Pakistan's 150-million population. They oppose the public displays of grief, one of a number of doctrinal differences between the sects.

The situation in Pakistan was already tense following deadly riots in the Himalayan gateway town of Gilgit last month.

The commandos were being deployed in parts of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, and in North West Frontier Province on the Afghan border, which have been hit by unrest in previous years.

Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces were covering the rest of the country, officials said, including 4,000 in Islamabad and 15,000 in Karachi.

Authorities in Punjab have declared about a dozen places including Jhang, Multan, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur as sensitive areas.

"Miscreants trying to disturb peace will be crushed with an iron hand," said the military commander of Faisalabad, Lieutenant General Javed Alam Khan.

Clashes between Sunni and Shiite militants in Pakistan have claimed thousands of lives over the past decades.

Afghan Photos Sparked Inquiry
By Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 18, 2005
WASHINGTON — In a case that echoes the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan posed before cameras while threatening to shoot prisoners in the head, shoving a detainee into a wall and punching another inmate. The troops also mugged for "trophy shots" with the corpse of an enemy fighter who had invaded their camp last year.

According to military documents disclosed Thursday, the soldiers, fearing "another public outrage," destroyed many of the photos and video images after photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib were beamed around the world, resulting in widespread shock and criticism.

The remaining images were discovered by happenstance last year during the routine cleaning of a captain's office at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

The photos — apparently shot at a small base in the Central Asian country around the same time the abuses were occurring at the large Iraqi prison — triggered an Army investigation centering on soldiers from a platoon within the 22nd Infantry Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, based at Ft. Drum, N.Y. The inquiry led to preliminary charges against eight soldiers for dereliction of duty after the Army decided more serious assault charges would not hold up.

It was unclear, however, whether the eight were ever prosecuted or disciplined. It was also unclear whether charges were brought against supervising officers in Afghanistan who admitted they had ordered the destruction of many of the photos after the Abu Ghraib scandal erupted.

The Army said Thursday when asked about the case that it remained "committed to addressing identified problems in detainee operations and to communicating the progress to the public." Officials at the Pentagon, Army headquarters, the Army Criminal Investigation Command and at Ft. Drum did not respond to queries seeking more information about the status of the investigation.

Hundreds of pages of Army investigative records, made public Thursday as a result of a public records lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, recount interrogations of dozens of soldiers who were confronted with the photos. Most admitted to military investigators that they were posing in them. Many acknowledged that their behavior was wrong.

The documents are the latest indication of alleged U.S. military abuse of detainees in Afghanistan. Military investigators are probing a December 2002 incident in which two detainees died after being captured and beaten.

Military investigators have also been looking into allegations of murder and torture involving an 18-year-old Afghan army recruit who died while in U.S. custody last year. The inquiry has also focused on the alleged torture of seven other Afghan soldiers.

At least eight prisoners have died in U.S. military custody in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, according to military officials and documents.

In the newly disclosed case, the images are also said to show U.S. soldiers "hazing" fellow troops by dressing them up as detainees with their hands cuffed and sandbags over their heads, then dousing them with water and rolling them through mud. The soldiers said it was done to celebrate birthdays, promotions and New Year's.

Although it is not known what activities were depicted in the destroyed photos, the surviving images from Firebase Tycz, near the Afghan village of Deh Rawod, do not show the kind of sexual humiliation of prisoners that was a hallmark of the sensational disclosures at Abu Ghraib. Also unlike Abu Ghraib, the Afghan case involved regular Army troops rather than reservists.

In Afghanistan and other military theaters, U.S. troops are allowed to take personal photographs but not shots of prisoners or other sensitive operations. Yet at Firebase Tycz, GIs routinely carried digital cameras, disposable cameras, camcorders and video cameras, and in interviews with investigators implied that almost everything they saw was memorialized on film or video.

The soldiers were investigated on suspicion of aggravated assault, maltreatment of detainees, obstruction of justice and failure to report crimes, the military documents show. Dozens of soldiers were interrogated at Ft. Drum in June and July about the incidents, which took place about a year ago.

The records indicate that two privates, four specialists, a sergeant and a staff sergeant were formally accused of dereliction of duty.

According to the records, the eight "committed the offense of dereliction of duty when as guards detailed to secure and protect detainees they willfully failed to perform their duties with no reasonable or justifiable excuse by jokingly pointing weapons at the bound detainees and exposed photographs of this unwarranted activity."

However, accusations of aggravated assault were discounted in August by the chief of the staff judge advocate's office at Ft. Drum. The captain "opined" that "aggravated assault did not occur" because the soldiers did not have the "intent to cause harm" while pointing weapons at detainees. Several of the soldiers said their weapons were unloaded when they aimed them at prisoners' heads.

The officer also concluded that there was "no evidence to show the bound and hooded detainees were in fear for their life or even aware the weapons were pointed at them."

It was unclear what happened, if anything, to soldiers who were described as being shown shoving or striking detainees, or taking the photos of the dead enemy soldier.

At the heart of the investigation were the images of soldiers pointing M4 rifles and 9-millimeter pistols at the heads and necks of detainees. Many soldiers said the photos were taken in fun.

Some soldiers were wearing helmets and masks in the pictures, making them difficult to identify. But others were identified by their clothing — one wore a cap with the words "No Fear" on it; another was clad in a black sweatshirt sent to him by his girlfriend.

How do these photos make you feel? investigators asked an army specialist.

"Dumb thing to do," he answered.

Another specialist was remorseful.

"I apologize for what I did," he said. "It was wrong…. This was the first time I have seen the photo of me holding the weapon to the detainee's head, and it is I in the photo, regretfully."

Some defended themselves. "Pictures were taken of my soldiers mistreating PUCs [persons under control]," a sergeant said in a statement. "I have seen a few pictures of this nature before but thought nothing of it since these people are the ones that are trying to kill us…. These people might have been humiliated, but I am sure they were never in risk of losing [their] life while in our custody."

A specialist who took some of the photos told investigators the "bad photos" were shot before the Abu Ghraib scandal erupted. He added that he "only became aware of this after the news broke on television and newspapers of the Iraqi incidents."

What constituted a "bad photograph?" investigators asked.

"One where the public would be outraged," he said.

Other soldiers said the photographs were commonly traded around the firebase. "It wasn't something that we thought was wrong," said a specialist. "Only something cool to have as a memory of our time there."

The soldiers said they prepared two separate slide shows of their photographs from Afghanistan. The first showed soldiers relaxing. The other included the photos of soldiers threatening detainees, and of the corpse.

"One was for family and friends and the other was for members of our platoon," explained a sergeant. "There were pictures of the dead guy on the platoon slide show, and you don't want your kids seeing that kind of stuff."

The pictures of the corpse were said to have been taken in January 2004 after a man fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a firebase watchtower, wounding three GIs. The attacker then ran onto the base firing an AK-47 and was felled by several shots to his chest and one to the head.

Photographs were taken of the body, and the interviews implied that soldiers mugged for the cameras. "These pictures were posed trophy shots," said a first sergeant.

One of the photographers, a private, said his supervisor, a specialist, told him that he saw "nothing wrong" with taking the pictures "and let me in" close enough to get shots of the corpse.

Many of the photos in Afghanistan were shot around the time of the abuses in Abu Ghraib. The Iraqi prison scandal became public in spring 2004, and it appears that at that time, many of the Ft. Drum soldiers began destroying their pictures.

"After seeing the problems they had in Iraq, I knew this was a problem and should have never been done," a specialist said of the picture-taking. "I realized there would be another public outrage if these photographs got out, so they were destroyed."

He added that he "knew it was wrong after I [saw] the reports in the newspaper on the prison abuse scandal in Iraq."

In another instance, a staff sergeant told a specialist to "get rid of the pictures" because he "believed someone might misinterpret them, [but] not because he thought they were criminal in nature."

Another specialist "verbally counseled" a soldier and advised him to "get rid of" his photos.

"I told him and the rest of them that they should not do anything that they were not supposed to," he said.

The ACLU also released documents Thursday detailing abuse investigations in Iraq involving alleged beatings of prisoners, including evidence that two soldiers punched and kicked a prisoner at a roadblock. In another incident, a prisoner complained that nonuniformed Americans beat him on the head and stomach and broke his nose.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

An Afghan Abu Ghraib?

In a case like the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, Army troops were questioned in July at Ft. Drum, N.Y., about incidents of alleged abuse in Afghanistan in late 2003 and early 2004. None of the soldiers is identified by name. Here are some of their responses:

* "At no time did I ever physically abuse any of the prisoners .... Looking back, it was foolish and stupid to conduct myself in this manner, but before the incidents in Iraq nobody thought that way."

* "I told him if he had any pictures that he was not supposed to have, to include bodies of the enemy, that he should not have them and get rid of them."

* "I don't feel any of the photos show physical abuse, nor do they imply physical abuse. The soldiers took a picture, or had a picture taken of them during a stressful time, where they were joking around. I don't feel it warrants this kind of attention."

* "The bad photos depicting fellow soldiers with prisoners were taken before the incident in Iraq, and after seeing the problems they had in Iraq, I knew this was a problem and should have never been done. I realized there would be another public outrage if these photographs got out, so they were destroyed."

* "I apologize for what I did. It was wrong. I did not physically abuse anyone. This was the first time I have seen the photo of me holding the weapon to the detainee's head, and it is I in the photo, regretfully."

"This is a good platoon. Sgt. 1st Class ------- ran a tight ship; all his actions throughout the whole deployment kept us all alive and made us better soldiers. If he knew this was going on, he would have handled it."
*
Source: U.S. Department of Defense

Analysis: Pipelines Or Pipe Dreams?
By Amin Tarzi and Daniel Kimmage Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty February 18, 2005
The on-again, off-again prospects of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan Natural-Gas Pipeline Project (TAP) have come alive once more with a recent decision by India's cabinet to authorize discussion of three pipeline routes to India, including TAP. Without the Indian market, TAP was not deemed a profitable undertaking. But even if New Delhi and Islamabad come to a full agreement on the project, and Kabul's enthusiasm remains at current levels, a multitude of other problems could render the pipeline no more than a pipe dream.

First envisaged in 1991, TAP is designed to transport natural gas from the Dawlatabad fields in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and eventually to India. The initial phase of the project, excluding the pipeline's possible extension to India, would involve the construction of a pipeline about 1,700 kilometers in length, mostly through Afghan territory, that can transport up to 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has financed a feasibility study for the project, has estimated that the Turkmenistan to Pakistan section of the pipeline would cost between $2 billion-$2.5 billion and would require four years of construction after all decisions are taken by the cooperating countries and international financial institutions.

According to a 14 February report by "International Oil Daily," ADB officials have confirmed that the TAP pipeline is "economically and financially a viable project." While Turkmenistan has yet to submit a certification of its Dawlatabad gas reserves, an unidentified ADB source quoted on 1 February by "Platts Energy Economist" said that the Turkmen side is expected to deliver the needed certification by March.

India's Geostrategic Fears

On the receiving end, India's reluctance to rely on gas from a pipeline crossing the territory of archrival Pakistan had proved to be a major stumbling block. However, the recent authorization given by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his country to explore several possibilities to transport much-needed natural gas to India has rekindled interest in the TAP project.

Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters in January that by looking at the region's map "you may accuse me of dreaming, but as a minister I am paid to dream." Aiyar added, "We have the Bangladesh-Burma [Myanmar] pipeline, we are looking at a pipeline from Iran that would cross Pakistan, and we want a pipeline from Turkmenistan that would cross Afghanistan and Pakistan," "Platts Energy Economist" reported on 1 February.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose country is eager to get the TAP project under way, told visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh on 15 February that his country hopes New Delhi will look favorably at the trans-Afghan pipeline. A press release from Karzai's office indicated that pipeline would bring "significant economic benefit to Afghanistan and the region."

But before Karzai and his Indian and Pakistani partners begin to celebrate economic prosperity and a constructive new phase in the elusive New Delhi-Islamabad partnership, several stumbling blocks need to be cleared.

The Security Issue

Afghanistan's security remains a major question, especially if the U.S.-led coalition forces and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) begin to withdraw from that country. Beyond interim security, which could be provided by Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) under ISAF command, and perhaps air patrols by Afghanistan's future military partners, Kabul needs to extend its legal and physical authority throughout the pipeline route.

Currently there are two routes under discussion. The first runs through northern Afghanistan, cutting through Kabul before entering Pakistan; the second travels through western Afghanistan, passing through Kandahar into Pakistan.

Unfortunately, security concerns extend beyond Afghanistan. If the route through western Afghanistan emerges as the best option, the pipeline would cross Pakistan's Baluchistan Province. In January, a little-known separatist group attacked a gas storage facility in Baluchistan. The attack was not unique, as local tribesmen increasingly are targeting natural gas facilities in the province to settle accounts with the central government, ask for higher royalties, or promote their nationalist agendas.

If the alternative option is chosen, the pipeline would cross the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, which includes the semi-autonomous tribal areas. These regions, most notably the tribal areas, are known for their fierce independence. Both the NWFP and the adjoining Afghan border regions are also home to radical Islamists groups with very strong anti-India sentiments. A pipeline serving Indian interests would present them with a tempting target.

Turkmenistan's Price Hikes

Turkmenistan's relations with Russia are another variable in the complex equation that will determine the gas-rich Central Asian country's future deals. As the "RFE/RL Central Asia Report" has noted, Turkmenistan has signed a 25-year "gradual increase" contract with state-controlled Russian gas company Gazprom under which Russia's purchases of Turkmen gas will rise from roughly 7 billion cubic meters in 2005 to 70 billion-80 billion cubic meters by 2009.

But the Russian-Turkmen relationship has been showing signs of strain lately. In early January, Turkmenistan strong-armed Ukraine into accepting a price hike, raising the price of gas from $44 per 1,000 cubic meters to $58. Fighting for similar gains on the Russian front, Turkmenistan shut off gas shipments to Russia in January. Gazprom head Aleksei Miller met with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat on 10 February, but their talks were inconclusive. Although Gazprom stated in a press release after the meeting that the two sides agreed to "follow existing agreements," Turkmenistan's official news agency stressed that the current price -- $44 per 1,000 cubic meters, paid half in cash and half in kind -- is "unacceptable," Russia's "Vremya novostei" reported on 14 February. Further talks are expected.

However, Gazprom and Turkmenistan resolve the price dispute, the Turkmen government's desire to force the renegotiation of an existing contract, not to mention the hardball negotiating tactics implicit in the shutoff of gas shipments to Russia, are a cautionary lesson to other would-be partners. Moreover, Gazprom has its own concerns about Turkmenistan's gas reserves. As "Nefte Compass" reported on 20 January, Gazprom is waiting to see an audit of Turkmen gas reserves conducted by Texas-based DeGolyer and MacNoughton before investing in an upgrade of the Central Asia Center pipeline.

Gazprom, which has contracted to buy large amounts of Turkmen gas to cover for declining yields at its existing fields against a backdrop of fearsome development costs for new fields in Siberia, is likely to take a dim view of any alternate export routes for Turkmenistan. State-controlled Gazprom provides a steady stream of revenues to the Russian budget, and the Kremlin can be expected to safeguard its interests. An anonymous oil-industry source told RBC on 18 January that the Russian gas company Itera, which at one point considered involvement in TAP, might have disassociated itself from the project because it "was not supported by Russian authorities."

India, now drawing attention with its interest in TAP, may also be looking to expand its ties with the Russian energy sector, and specifically Gazprom. Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is expected in Moscow on 21 February for talks that will focus on a possible agreement between India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Gazprom to cooperate on natural-gas extraction projects in both Russia and India, Reuters reported. ONGC has also been conducting talks about the possibility of acquiring a stake in Yuganskneftegaz, the Yukos production asset state-owned Rosneft recently plucked from the ruins of erstwhile oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovskii's empire. Should India cement its links to big state-owned players in Russia's energy industry, Moscow could increase its leverage over a potential TAP participant, rendering the dream of riches for Kabul and peace and energy for New Delhi and Islamabad a mere pipe dream.

Washington's Afghan poppy policy withers
By Ramtanu Maitra Asia Times Online February 18, 2005
On January 28, the Washington Post reported "an unusual and abrupt resignation" by the US assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, Robert Charles. At a time when attention was focused on the appointment of cabinet secretaries, the Charles resignation hardly caused a ripple. Charles cited "personal reasons" for his departure. But the fact that he was a point man for a policy of aerial spraying to eradicate poppies in Afghanistan - a policy opposed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Pentagon, and now put on hold in Washington - probably has more to do with it.

With US$780 million earmarked overall, including $300 million for eradication and $152 million for aerial spraying due to start in March, the US dollar investment in Afghanistan's drug fight is substantial. Needless to say, the political investment is no less. And, until recently, all lights were green. At this writing, however, the State Department is reportedly reworking the budget proposal, possibly removing funds for spraying.

Washington's at least temporary reversal of its earlier policy to hasten the drug eradication process in Afghanistan points to the fact that the issue of aerial spraying itself is now in hot dispute. It also reflects a deeper churning in US policy toward Afghanistan, ever in the shadow of Iraq but arguably as critical.

Kabul takes a stand

The Kabul regime, which has all along been a rubber stamp for Washington's wishes and will, has come out strongly opposing the eradication of poppies by aerial spraying. "We don't know the side effects of spraying," said General Mohammed Daud, head of the Anti-Narcotics Department at the Ministry of Interior. "Also, Afghans are not used to seeing this kind of thing [spraying]; it could be seen as an attack on the people, not just the poppy crops. That is a dangerous road to take."

Daud stated that the president is strongly against aerial spraying. "We are committed to eradicating poppy as a whole, but aerial spraying should not happen," Kabul government spokesman Jawed Ludin told a news briefing in Kabul on February 8.

The issue came to the fore last November, when the Karzai government protested about someone spraying a "mysterious substance" in poppy fields in two Afghan provinces without Kabul's knowledge. Both the US and British governments denied any involvement. But local witnesses in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar claimed the substance was sprayed from airplanes, and some Afghan government officials pointed out that the US military controls Afghan airspace.

Another spraying incident was reported from the south. Kabul announced on February 8 that it had sent investigators to follow up reports from the province of Helmand that opium fields had been sprayed with pesticide from the air, despite Kabul's official opposition to this form of eradication.

While ruling out crop spraying, however, Karzai is advocating a controversial alternative. At a recent press conference he told reporters that he was considering offering amnesty to former drug traffickers with the hope that they would lead the Afghan government to the bigger drug lords.

Aid pressure
Due to a drop in poppy production this year, Karzai may get a little time to work out his strategy. Nationwide, officials forecast a drop of 30% to 70% in this year's crop. In crucial growing areas such as eastern Nangarhar province and southern Helmand, it could be down more than 75%, they say, though reliable statistics are not yet available. This could be a one-time drop in production: it is likely that the heroin cartel is taking measures not to run down the opium price through overproduction.

At the same time, the surprise cutback in poppy growing has put increased pressure on the international community to deliver hundreds of millions in aid to prevent a potentially violent backlash by impoverished Afghans who have survived by growing opium.

"The first priority which we are supporting is self-restraint and self-eradication, and it is happening amazingly well," Rural Development minister Haneef Atmar said in a recent interview. "The risks are now too high for [the farmers] and they hope the government will protect them and help them," he said.

Karzai has appealed to the World Bank to do more to fund alternative livelihoods for farmers hit by the anti-drug drive. The Karzai government's firm opposition to aerial spraying is also backed by Barnett Rubin, a former adviser to the United Nations in Afghanistan who is a professor at New York University. "Spraying is a ridiculous and shameful misallocation of resources, reflecting the political agenda of a few people in Washington," Rubin told the media. "Fortunately, faced with the united opposition of the Afghan government and the severe doubts of much of the US government and all US allies, they are now backing off and may reprogram funding for aerial eradication to alternative livelihoods," he added.

The Washington muddle
But if the issue has been settled in Kabul, it is decidedly not settled in Washington. Charles was a strong proponent of aerial spraying. His abrupt resignation indicates that aerial spraying, openly or surreptitiously, does not have unanimous endorsement.

Washington insiders claim that both President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice support aerial spraying of herbicides to get rid of the poppies that have made Afghanistan the world's number one producer of opium. Indeed, during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 19, Rice stated that "at this point, manual [eradication] is all we can do, but we'll see whether aerial is needed."

The US made it clear last year that they believe the United Kingdom's "slowly but surely" approach to the drug problem in Afghanistan was wrong. "We believe that if there is a heroin poppy that needs to be eradicated, we shouldn't be picking and choosing, we shouldn't be waiting for an alternative revenue stream to become available," Charles told a congressional committee early last year.

The Pentagon backs Karzai
Significantly, however, the US military has so far shied away from playing a more active role in combating drugs in Afghanistan. Analysts say that US military involvement could overly tax its forces, and prove more expensive and time-consuming than mobilizing the Afghan government to tackle the problem. Partly as a result of its long experience in Colombia, where aerial spraying has drawn more wrath than success, the Pentagon believes that aerial spraying is not the way to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans.

It is evident that former assistant secretary of state Charles had locked horns with the Department of Defense. With Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld opposing aerial spraying, it was impossible for Charles to stay on. Syndicated columnist Robert Novak pointed out recently that almost everybody familiar with the drug war believes aerial spraying to kill the poppy plants must be instituted sooner or later in Afghanistan, but that it surely will be later. Karzai has ruled out eradication by air. Rumsfeld agrees with Karzai, Novak declares, and opposes expanding the US military's role.

On the other hand, certain realities make American lawmakers squirmy. Representative Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, issued this statement January 25: "Until the time the newly democratic Afghan government signals its support for aerial spraying of illicit crops, we need a very robust and effective interdiction strategy to go after the heroin labs and the Afghan narco-terrorist kingpins." Four days earlier, Hyde wrote Rice before her confirmation as secretary of state to warn that "time is not on our side on the Afghan drug and related terrorism issue".

Hyde was referring to the fact that billions of dollars pour out of heroin production, threatening to turn Afghanistan into a narco state. The numbers, measured by the Central Intelligence Agency, are daunting. In 2003, 151,000 acres yielded $2.8 billion worth of heroin. In 2004, the acres totaled 509,000 - an increase of 239% - bringing in $7 billion. That means Afghanistan outstripped Colombia, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand to top the list in heroin output.

In addition, drug trafficking has become a major source of income for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, a fact that has deepened US concerns. "Virtually anything in Afghanistan that is funded by something other than foreign aid is funded by drug profits. According to reports, drug income in the south is sometimes split among various tribes, with a portion going to local Taliban," said former UN advisor Rubin.

A political chip
The aerial spraying program received a further setback with the "mysterious substance" spraying incident last November in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces. Following the spraying, dozens of villagers showed up at hospitals with skin ailments and breathing problems. Dr Mohammed Rafi Safi of the Khogyani District Hospital said he treated 30 Afghan farmers who allege their opium crops were sprayed. Skin diseases and eye and respiratory problems had increased. On November 29, 2004 Public Health Minister Dr Sohaila Sediq presented a report prepared by the joint delegation of the Health Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry that confirmed the aerial spraying. The herbicides left negative effects on the environment, caused asthma and diarrhea and contaminated water.

The delegation returned with samples of the tiny grey pellets, the size of grains of sugar, that were sprayed on the crops, and soil samples for analysis. Attempts to identify the chemical have been unsuccessful so far, but seem to exclude glyphosate - the herbicide used by the US in Colombia to eradicate coca bushes and opium poppies - as well as mycoherbicides and fungal herbicides.

Moreover, there is no doubt that there is a strong emotional opposition to spraying. As the chancellor of Kabul University, Ashraf Ghani, wrote recently, "Today, many Afghans believe that it is not drugs, but an ill-conceived war on drugs that threatens their economy and nascent democracy."

Eradication should only be considered once the political climate is more stable, argues Mark L Schneider, a former Peace Corps director now at the International Crisis Group. Aerial spraying, Schneider warned, would be tantamount to "providing the Taliban with a great recruiting slogan: 'Go with us, or they'll spray you'."

Ramtanu Maitra writes for a number of international journals and is a regular contributor to the Washington-based EIR and the New Delhi-based Indian Defence Review. He also writes for Aakrosh, India's defense-tied quarterly journal.

U.S. Runs 'Wanted' Ads on Pakistan TV for Bin Laden
By Amir Zia / February 18, 2005
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States launched a campaign on Pakistani television and radio in the past week to advertise multi-million-dollar rewards for information leading to the arrest of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders.

A 30-second television commercial shows pictures of bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, who both have $25 million rewards on their heads, and 12 other terrorist suspects, including Mullah Mohammad Omar, the leader of Afghanistan's vanquished Taliban militia.

"State-run Radio Pakistan is running these commercials since last Wednesday in Urdu, Pashto, Baluchi and Sindhi languages," Greggory Crouch, press attache of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, told Reuters.

Private television channel Geo is also running the U.S. appeal, and talks are on to air it on state television, he said.

This is the first time that the United States has used these methods in Pakistan, although officials routinely speculate that the al Qaeda leader is hiding somewhere on the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The reaction of Pakistanis living in these border areas was mixed.

"Even if one terrorist is arrested because of these advertisements, it would be worth it," said Gul Baran, a 35-year-old man from Chaman, a frontier town in Pakistan's western province of Baluchistan.

But Juma Khan, another resident of the town, was outraged.

"These advertisements are an insult to Muslims. Pakistani television and radio channels and newspapers should not stoop so low for the sake of money."

In Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal area, where the Pakistani army has concentrated efforts to kill or capture al Qaeda linked militants, bin Laden was a hero to many people but he could still be betrayed.

"The American propaganda proved effective in Afghanistan and helped them to catch many Taliban. It can also work here," said Muzaffar Khan a resident of Wana.

The advertisement, carries a contact telephone number and an e-mail address, and promises confidentiality and resettlement for informants and their families.

Pakistani newspapers ran similar advertisements last month.

A key ally of Washington in the war on terrorism, Pakistan has so far arrested hundreds of al Qaeda-linked militants and handed them over to the U.S. authorities.

Afghan immig fights deportation
BY LESLIE CASIMIR New York Daily News / February 18, 2005
Her brother was murdered by the Taliban, and her father is still missing and presumed dead in Afghanistan, but U.S. officials believe it is now safe to deport Samira Rahman - a Long Island resident with two U.S.-born children - to the country she fled long before 9/11.

Rahman, 30, a Levittown housewife, is fighting to stay with her family in New York. She is now a prisoner at the immigration detention center in Elizabeth, N.J., and could be placed on a plane to Kabul in 30 days, her lawyer, Darryl Wynn, announced at a Manhattan press conference yesterday.

Wynn has petitioned the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to defer any action against his client until her husband, Abdul Rahman, 29, can obtain a green card for her. Afghanistan native Abdul Rahman was granted political asylum, but he has been waiting for the government to issue him his own green card for three years.

"I'm lost, confused and shocked," said Abdul Rahman, who operates a food cart on Pearl St. in lower Manhattan. "I don't know what will happen if she gets deported - I don't know what to do with the children."

Yesterday, Senator Charles Schumer issued a statement asking immigration officials to grant her a reprieve.

"We can't pull a family apart," Schumer said.

Immigration officials arrested Samira Rahman in her home last month, prying her from her screaming children, Zikira Rahman, 2, and Zaky Rahman, 1.

Her lawyers believe that she is a victim of circumstance. By the time her asylum case was heard by immigration officials, Afghanistan's government had changed hands. In 2003, she was denied political asylum because the Taliban had been removed from power, Judge John Opaciuch concluded. And since the fall of the Taliban, there have been improvements in human rights conditions there.

Pamela Falk, a law professor at the City University of New York who specializes in asylum, said women are still routinely victimized in the country despite the U.S.-installed government. Manizha Naderi, director of Flushing, Queens-based Women for Afghan Women, said women who have no husbands or other family members to claim them usually end up in jail.

"I have personally met the president, Hamed Karzai, but that does not change the political climate of Afghanistan," said Falk, as Zaky Rahman wailed in the background. "If we could control what is going on in Afghanistan, the United States would have Osama Bin Laden."

Michael Gilhooly, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs, said Samira Rahman was given the opportunity to leave the country voluntarily, but failed to do so. Now, her time is up.

"ICE is moving ahead with the process of enforcing the court order of removal," he said.

Canada to Train Iraq Soldiers, Boost Afghan Role
Fri Feb 18, 4:17 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is ready to send up to 30 military specialists to train Iraqi soldiers at a base in Jordan and will also be boosting its military presence in Afghanistan, officials said on Friday.

They said Prime Minister Paul Martin would formally make both announcements when he addressed a summit of NATO leaders in Brussels next week.

Canada, which angered Washington by refusing to take part in the war on Iraq, already has 20 police trainers working with Iraqi police recruits at a training center in Jordan.

NATO members agreed last year that the alliance would launch a mission to train Iraqi officers. So far, 10 countries have come forward with staff to carry out training inside Iraq, with a number of others either offering training programs outside or helping to fund the mission.

Canada has 700 troops in Kabul as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force. The officials said Canada would send a 250-strong provincial reconstruction team to the southern city of Kandahar later this year to help restore order.

Russia preparing to combat drug trafficking from Afghanistan
Daily Times
MOSCOW: Russia is preparing a special programme to combat drug trafficking from Afghanistan, a Russian news agency reported on Friday.

“In anticipation of a drug tsunami from Afghanistan, we are soon going to adopt a programme to fight the drug threat coming” from the region, Security Council chief Igor Ivanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He didn’t offer any specifics, but called for a focus on prevention and said the state hadn’t adequately made use of civil society to combat the scourge, which he called a “serious state problem.” Russia is considered a major gateway for traffickers moving drugs from Afghanistan, the world’s largest opium producer, through former Soviet republics in Central Asia and on to Europe.

“The Russian Federation is taking active steps to create and enhance drug security belts on the perimeters of Afghanistan’s borders,” Ivanov was quoted as saying. Russia already has troops deployed on Afghanistan’s border with the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

He also called for better-coordinated international efforts to stem the trade. Ivanov said that drug abuse is “a direct threat to the health and security of the state,” adding that drug proceeds were often used to fund terrorism and criminal activities. Experts estimate about 4 million Russians are drug addicts, and drug-related crimes have grown in recent years. “We must admit that we have failed to shift the accent to prevention,” Ivanov was quoted as saying. ap