Afghanistan News February 9, 2005

February 9, 2005

All 104 people on crashed Afghan plane are dead: inquiry panel
Tue Feb 8, 2:21 PM ET South Asia - AFP
KABUL (AFP) - All 104 people aboard the Afghan plane which crashed last week in mountains outside the Afghan capital are dead, an official joint investigation commission said.

Five days after the plane crash, the Afghan government for the first time officially said all passengers and crew on the Boeing 737 plane were dead.

"After the study of the site, the troops found that no one was left alive from the crash," said General Mohammed Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the investigation commission.

Defense Minister General Mohammed Rahim Wardak said the Afghan Army and NATO-led peacekeepers risked landmines and bad weather and went to the crash site to mount a rescue in case anyone was alive.

"Unfortunately no one has survived the accident, so the rescue operation is over, the search and investigation operations will continue in case the weather allows us," Wardak told a press conference.

Right after the crash a joint commission from the ministries of transportation, defense, interior, health and NATO-led troops, US-led coalition forces and the private Kam air was formed to investigate the incident.

The Kam Air Boeing 737-200 jet was on a domestic flight from Herat city in western Afghanistan to Kabul when it disappeared from radar screen. The jet airliner could not land at Kabul airport due to bad weather and was diverted to Peshawar in Pakistan.

NATO-led Peace keeping troops reached the wreckage of the plane by helicopter on Monday, four days after it hit a mountain, and found three bodies.

Among those on board were 24 foreigners -- six Americans, one Iranian, three Italians, nine Turks, a Canadian and four Russian crew members.

The first human remains were found by a team of Slovenian mountain rescuers attached to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Monday but they have been left at the site for examination by a medical team and investigators.

Kam Air is the first private Afghan airline and was launched in November 2003 with a fleet comprising a Boeing 767, a Boeing 727, an Antonov 24 and the Boeing 737 which crashed.

In September last year the Antonov skidded off the runway while landing at Kabul airport, leaving some passengers with minor injuries.

UN officer joins probe into Kam Air plane crash in Afghanistan:
[World News]: New York, Feb 7: A liaison officer from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has joined the Joint Security Committee Centre set up to investigate Thursday's deadly Kam Air plane crash which claimed 104 lives.

"We are confident that a thorough investigation will be conducted so we - and the families of the victims - know what happened to the beloved ones," UNAMA spokesman Ariane Quentier said yesterday.

The Committee is led by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The crash site has been identified, but rescue teams were still unable to reach the plane, according to UNAMA.

"The peaks of the mountain are very steep, making landing of the ISAF helicopters extremely difficult," Quentier said adding that weather conditions and the rough terrain were further complicating the rescue operation.

Most of the 104 passengers on the plane were Afghans, but there were also some international workers "who had dedicated their lives to help in this country's reconstruction efforts," the spokesman said, conveying sympathies to all those affected by the accident. PTI

U.S. sends team to Afghan crash
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The U.S.'s National Transportation Safety Board says it has sent a team to Afghanistan to aid the investigation of last week's plane crash southwest of Kabul.

All 104 passengers and crew died when the Kam Air Boeing 737-200, en route from Herat to Kabul, crashed in mountainous terrain after reportedly being diverted from Kabul due to a snowstorm.

Senior safety board investigator Robert Benzon will lead the five-person team, the NTSB said in a statement Tuesday.

The United States is involved because that is where the plane was made.

The announcement came a day after a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) arrived at the crash site, where they found human remains but no survivors.

The wreckage was spotted Saturday about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south-southeast of Kabul at about 3,300 meters (10,800 feet) elevation by an Apache helicopter from ISAF, which had been leading the search.

The Afghan capital is on a high plateau ringed by mountain peaks.

Flights are often canceled during the winter due to poor visibility.

Kabul's airport does not have advanced radar technology that could help pilots land in bad weather.

Airline President Zimarai Kamgar said the crew consisted of six Russians and two Afghans.

Ninety-six passengers were on board, including nine Turks. A man working for a Dutch engineering company was also believed to be on the flight.

U.S. State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez told CNN there were indications that a total of six Americans was aboard.

This included three female health workers who were on the plane and are presumed dead, their Massachusetts-based company said.

Afghanistan hails Pak agreement with Taliban commander
By Zubair Babakarkhail
KABUL, Feb. 08, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Afghanistan has welcomed an agreement on the surrender of a Taliban commander to the Pakistani authorities, terming it a step for the stability and security of both countries.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that Pakistan's agreement with militant leader Baitullah Mehsud would be good for both countries. The Taliban commander was operating in the South Waziristan area of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. The region has been volatile and Monday's surrender ceremony saw the killing of two Pakistani journalists who had gone to the area to report on the event.
Security forces failed to identify those responsible for the attack, but a top local official said that it had been an attempt to sabotage the peace agreement between the authorities and Baitullah Mehsud, according to reports from Pakistan.

Taliban supporters from the Mehsud tribe near the Afghan border have been the fighting Pakistani army in Southern Waziristan for a long time. The Pakistani army halted its operation two months ago in an attempt to reach an agreement with the militants.

Afghanistan, which shares its border in the southern province of Paktika with the Southern Waziristan area of Pakistan, has frequently complained about infiltration of Taliban and Al Qaeda members into Afghanistan, a fact that has strained relations between the two countries in the past.

Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told Pajhwok that the agreement was a positive step for prevention of disruptive attacks in the border areas. "If the commander really keeps his promise that will be an achievement" Mashal said, adding that it was more useful for Pakistan.

Secretary for the tribal areas in Peshawar Province, Mehmood Shah, told Pajhwok on the phone that Baitullah Meshud agreed not to harbor Taliban and foreign Al Qaeda members in his region, not to help them and not shoot at the government forces.

Pakistani officials said the agreement mediated by tribal elders gave amnesty to Baitullah and his 35 friends, in return for his cooperation with the government. On the militant activities of Baitullah, Mehmood said: "He was chief (of operations) of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, in this region."

A senior militant leader, Abdullah Mehsud, who is accused of kidnapping two Chinese engineers and harboring foreign militants is still at large with the government forces searching for him.

Afghans check reports of aerial spraying of opium
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Afghan investigators have been sent to investigate reports from a southern province that opium fields had been sprayed with pesticide from the air despite Kabul's opposition to this form of eradication, officials said on Tuesday.

Officials and villagers in Helmand province, a major poppy growing area, have complained that several aircraft sprayed pesticide on opium fields in four villages on Thursday night.

"We have sent an Interior Ministry team to investigate," government spokesman Jawed Ludin told a news briefing. Ludin said it remained unclear if spraying had actually occurred and the government would wait for the team's report.

"What is clear is that ... the president is strongly against aerial spraying," he said. "We are committed to eradicating poppy as a whole, but aerial spraying should not happen."

Ludin said the United States, whose troops overthrew Afghanistan's former Taliban government in late 2001, scrapped plans to eradicate opium crops by aerial spraying after President Hamid Karzai declared his opposition last year.

Karzai took his position after reports of a mystery spraying of opium fields in the eastern province of Nangarhar. The government has expressed concern that aggressive eradication would deprive farmers of their livelihoods and risk feeding the Islamic insurgency in the south where most opium is grown. It has expressed concern that spraying could harm health.

"In the past aerial spraying has happened," Ludin said, but did not say who had carried this out. Afghanistan's air space is tightly controlled by U.S.-led forces, but the U.S. military and government has denied involvement in spraying of opium fields.

Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of opium and its derivative heroin and output soared to near record levels after the Taliban's overthrow. The United Nations says drug exports now account for more than 60 percent of the economy.

Diplomats and aid workers have reported a marked drop in poppy planting this year but say this may be due to producers hoarding stocks until prices recover following a glut.

Karzai says his government is determined to wipe out the drug business and in December urged provincial governors and regional commanders to destroy poppies by all means necessary, while at the same time calling for more international assistance.

Earlier this month, Afghanistan rejected remarks by Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Organisation for Drugs and Crime, who said after a visit to Kabul that aid from international donors should be rescinded if drug crops were not eradicated.

Karzai has called on the World Bank to do more to fund alternative livelihoods for farmers while about 30 non-governmental organisations have urged Washington to do more to help farmers and arrest traffickers.

The NGOs said a fierce eradication programme would create instability in the fledgling democracy and line the pockets of drug lords who would benefit from higher prices as they sold off stockpiles.

Investigation into Dostum attack identifies suspects
By Safia Milad
KABUL, Feb. 08, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The investigation into the attack on Northern warlord General Rashid Dostum by a suicide bomber has identified four suspects, two of them foreigners, according to a reliable government source in Kabul.

The Uzbek commander survived a suicide attack on 20 January in his northern hometown of Sheberghan, the capital of Jowzjan province as he came out of a mosque after Eid prayers. The attack killed the suicide bomber and injured 20 people including Dostum's brother.

A senior government official who requested anonymity told Pajhwok on Tuesday that four people, including an Arab, a Pakistani and two Afghans had organized the attack and their whereabouts were being traced. The Interior Ministry had set up a Commission to investigate the incident soon after the attack. Dostum's followers have however been growing restless about the slow pace of the investigation and had gathered in Mazar e Sharif recently to call for early action.

The information provided by a senior official to Pajhwok is the first time that any confirmed information had been made available on the attack. The official added that the two foreigners came Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh province, the adjoining province, from Pakistan. The two Afghans proceeded up to Jowzjan itself. The official said further details would become available soon.

Soon after the incident, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, but government officials said at that time that it was too early for them to comment. Some news agencies had also reported that a Pakistani telephone number was found in the papers on the suicide bomber. The reports claimed that when the number was called a man responded in Urdu before growing suspicious and disconnecting the call. But officials say such rumors were baseless.

Afghan Shiite jihadi leader stands down
By Mohammad Younus Mehrin
KABUL, Feb. 06, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Asif Mohseni, an influential Shia figure and a former jihadi leader stepped down from the leadership of the Hezb-e-Harakat-e-Islami party on Sunday.

In the first nationwide meeting of the party's members, Sayed Ali Javid, former Transportation Minister in the transitional government of Hameed Karzai, was elected to lead the party.

Mohseni, 95, founded the Harakat-e-Islami 26 years ago and fought the Soviet troops when they invaded Afghanistan. In the meeting Mohseni said he resigned because of his old age and because the party needed energy and youth.

"I haven’t resigned because of my political incapacity," he told Pajhwok. He said he would devote his time to cultural issues and research in the future.

Nangarahar claims 99% eradication of poppy
02/07/2005 By Ezatullah Zawab
JALALABAD - Pajhwok Afghan News – Nangarhar, one of the highest poppy producing provinces of Afghanistan has eradicated 99% of its poppy cultivation, according to provincial officials.

Senior security official Commander Hazrat Ali told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday that there were some areas in the mountainous regions of Goshta, Lalpoora and Achin districts from where poppy had not been eradicated due to bad weather.

He added, "Poppy eradication campaign started in the entire province following the presidential decree and so far 99% of the poppy cultivations has been eradicated." The remaining areas will also be cleared in the near future, according to him. Three weeks ago, Deputy Interior Minister, General Daud had said that seventy percent of Nangarhar soil had been cleared of poppies.

Farmers having come from villages to the city confirm that there are still cultivations in the frontier regions. Resident of Nangarhar's Lalpoora district, Matiullah Momand told Pajhwok. "Poppies have been cultivated in Shinwar district related regions, but they are now under the snow."

Afghans Report Decline of Poppy Crop
The Washington Post 02/08/2005
Officials Credit Karzai's Appeals, but Warn Aid Is Needed to Ensure Success
GIRDI GHOUS - Shah Mahmoud smiled ruefully as he surveyed the snow-speckled fields stretching beyond the mud walls of his village. In drought-plagued Nangahar province, a rare snowfall would normally augur a bumper crop for the many opium poppy farmers among his people. But on acre after acre, the green shoots poking through the soil were not fat poppy buds but delicate sprigs of wheat.

"I made the decision this season that it would be forbidden to plant poppy," said Mahmoud, whose edicts as the area's traditional chief, or malek, carry more weight with the 30,000 members of his community than any government law. "So none of us did. Now I'm not so happy about that."

Across Afghanistan, government officials and foreign aid workers who monitor poppy cultivation have reached a remarkable conclusion: One year after Afghan farmers planted the largest amount of poppy in their nation's history and provided the world with nearly 90 percent of its opium supply, many of them have stopped growing it.

Poppy farming, officials said, may have declined by as much as 70 percent in three provinces that together account for more than half of Afghanistan's production: Nangahar in the east, Helmand in the south and Badakhshan in the north.

In Nangahar, where last spring poppies bloomed all along the main road from the provincial capital, Jalalabad, to the Pakistani border, the contrast today is striking.
"I visited 16 out of 22 districts and I couldn't find a single plant of poppy," marveled Mirwais Yasini, head of the Afghan government's counter-narcotics directorate. "It was all wheat."

Several factors may be responsible, including a drop in opium prices after the previous banner harvest, and a reluctance to plant among farmers whose crops were destroyed last season by disease or the police.

Afghan officials, however, claim the news vindicates President Hamid Karzai's decision to reject an anti-poppy aerial spraying campaign, which had been promoted by the U.S. government, in favor of a more consensus-based "Afghan solution."

Karzai voiced concerns that spraying would cause health and environmental problems and antagonize farmers; several foreign nonprofit aid groups here also opposed the idea. Instead, the president used appeals to national and religious pride, the promise of international aid and the threat of crop destruction to persuade hundreds of village and tribal leaders such as Mahmoud to curb poppy cultivation voluntarily.

Yet the very success of this new policy also creates tremendous challenges in a nation where opium cultivation and trafficking made up more than a third of the economy last year and sustained many thousands of poor rural families.

"People will need other sources of income as soon as possible, or we'll be the witness to a big disaster. People may even face starvation," said Gen. Muhammad Daoud, deputy interior minister in charge of counter-narcotics.

U.S. military officials said they plan to conduct aerial surveillance soon to verify reports that poppy crops have been reduced. In December, the top commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, reportedly warned visiting officials, including Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, that drug lords were expanding their influence in the Afghan government and could form ties with Taliban fighters.

But Col. David Lamm, chief of staff for the U.S. military command in Afghanistan, said he was optimistic that Kabul's assertions of progress in reducing poppy production would prove true. "Can you put it under your mattress and let the price go up? Yes," he said, but he added that since Karzai told farmers not to plant, "they are not planting."

International donors have pledged millions to help Afghanistan combat drugs this year; the United States pledged about $780 million. About $120 million of the U.S. assistance package has been earmarked for work on irrigation canals, to improve roads, to create micro-credit systems, and to obtain better seeds and fertilizers so poppy workers can make a living from other crops and industries.

In Nangahar, the first phase of that effort has already begun, with plans to hire about 50,000 workers to do jobs such as clearing irrigation canals. In a largely symbolic gesture, the U.S. government has also distributed 500 metric tons of wheat seeds in Nangahar -- enough for less than 5 percent to 10 percent of farmers, Afghan officials said.

But it will take until at least early spring to start up more lasting infrastructure improvements, U.S. officials said. Also, while aid workers stress that such programs are not intended to compensate individual farmers who gave up their poppy crops, local leaders such as Mahmoud see it that way.

tall man in his sixties with pale blue eyes and a long gray beard, Mahmoud has the regal bearing of a leader whose title has been passed down through generations. If enough aid does not arrive by the start of the planting cycle next fall, he warned, he may not have enough clout to stop growers from switching back.

"The farmers will grab my collar and say, 'You said that we could get aid for not growing poppy and we got nothing!' " Mahmoud predicted. "Then even I will not be able to stop them from growing poppy again."

Mahmoud said he learned of Karzai's new anti-drug strategy in December when he tuned a dusty television set to watch the inaugural address. Karzai, who was elected Oct. 9 after serving as interim president for nearly three years, called for a "holy war" against the drug trade, which Afghan religious leaders have also declared un-Islamic.

Shortly afterward, Mahmoud and more than 40 other tribal and village leaders in Nangahar received invitations to meetings about anti-drug efforts with provincial officials, several national ministries and representatives of the British and U.S. governments.

The purpose was to make clear that the government had the means and the determination to crack down on poppy cultivation, said Ghous, head of counter-narcotics for Nangahar police.

"We told them that the central government is serious -- that if you grow poppy, the government will get rid of it by force," recalled Ghous, who like many Afghans uses only one name.

The community leaders also heard presentations by aid workers about plans for development and assistance projects. Then they were asked to discuss among themselves whether they could pledge to stop growing poppy in their areas. Mahmoud said he struggled with the decision.

"As far back as I can remember, the people in this village have always grown poppy," he said. The reason is simple: Opium harvested from poppy fetches 10 to 20 times the price of legal crops such as wheat.

Last season, Mahmoud said, he and his brothers planted poppy on about 1 1/2 of the three acres they farm and received about $2,500 in return. By contrast, the wheat they planted on the rest of the land earned them one-tenth that amount. He also leased another 25 acres to sharecroppers who mainly planted poppy.

A tour through Mahmoud's fortress-like compound made clear how he has benefited from poppy income. Although it is built of mud brick and lacks electricity and heat, it has walls two stories high, an imposing blue metal gate, three separate courtyards, and a sprawl of rooms with living space for more than 50 members of his extended family.

Inside the walls, his daughters and daughters-in-law padded about in colorful, gold-embroidered garments. Outside, a Toyota Corolla -- one of three vehicles the family owns -- was parked near a mosque built especially for the family.

Mahmoud said that although he would miss the income from a new poppy crop, he could make up for it with savings from last year's harvest. But he worried that many families in the village would not be able to do so.

"Most people here are very, very poor," he said. "I don't think they will starve. But they may have to leave to go to the city to find work as laborers."

Nevertheless, he agreed to the voluntary crop reduction, in part because he feared a more aggressive effort to eradicate the crop would lead to violent clashes with farmers, and in part because he was convinced that the aid officials he met would follow through on their promises. But mostly, he said, it was because he did not want to bring shame on Karzai, for whom he voted, and his new government.

"The international community has its eyes on Afghanistan now. If we cultivate poppy this year, they will say every time Afghanistan is growing poppy. We need the international community's help, and so I don't want us to have a bad reputation," he said.

There is, however, a limit to his support. If the president does not deliver the expected improvements soon, he said with a shrug, "We will vote Mr. Karzai out of office and go back to planting poppy."

Officials claim 98% disarmament in Kandahar
By Javid Samim
KANDAHAR, Feb. 08, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Officials of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration(DDR) program claimed they had completed 98% disarmament in the south western zone of the country.

DDR officials said on Monday that three divisions had been dismantled and demobilized. This leaves only units of Army Corps 2 and those are also proposed to be demobilized by the end of spring.

Head of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) commission in the southwestern zone, Major General Abdul Khaliq Haleem, told Pajhwok: "One brigade of the Army Corps 2, a Commando brigade and the Garrison of Kandahar Airport joined the DDR program." Haleem said 436 people had been demobilized and 335 weapons collected.

Coalition forces to establish five new teams for reconstruction efforts
By Najib Khilwatgar
KABUL, Feb. 07, (Pajhwok Afghan News) – The US-led coalition forces will establish five new provincial reconstruction teams(PRTs) in Afghanistan. The PRTs are part of the civilian reconstruction efforts carried out by the Coalition Forces as well as the NATO led International Security Assistance Force(ISAF).

Colonel Randy Brooks, Director of Civil Military Operations for the coalition forces told a press conference on Monday that the five additional PRTs would bring the total number of PRTs to 24.

"These teams support the Afghan government to expand its control and authority to all parts of the country, to protect security and improve the reconstruction process in provinces," said Col. Brooks.

At present, five teams out of the 19 PRTs are under ISAF and the rest under the Coalition Forces. The ISAF PRTs are in the northern provinces while the coalition forces are in south, east and southeast of the country.

Foreign Minister Gul To Visit Afghanistan
Anadolu Agency: 2/8/2005
ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will visit Afghanistan between February 11th and 13th.

Prior to his visit, Gul met Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok and they exchanged views regarding Gul's tour to Afghanistan.

Gul will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah during his visit.

Zahir Shah ruled Afghanistan between 1933 and 1973 and he was overthrown with a ''palace coup''. He was exiled to Italy. When Taliban regime was overthrown, he returned to his country in April 2002.

Gul will also meet representatives of Turkish firms which make business in Afghanistan. He will visit Kabul University as well.

On the last day of his visit, Gul will attend ceremony for transfer of command of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which will be undertaken by Turkey for the second time.

Gul will return to Ankara on February 13th.

Zabul's first radio goes on air after 26 years
By Saeed Zabulai
KANDAHAR, Feb. 08, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The only radio station in the southern province of Zabul, has been reactivated after 26 years with the help of the civil-military Provincial Reconstruction Team(PRT) in the southern province of Zabul. On Monday, local people turned on their radios to hear Zabul Radio broadcasting for four hours from the provincial capital of Kalat.

Zabul Radio stopped operations during the early years of the war against the Soviet troops. During the ensuing civil war the station was robbed and many machines destroyed.

Broadcasting on 78.5 MHZ, the radio signal reaches 25 kilometers of the area around Kalat city. Saida Jan Ghamkhor, director of the radio, said the four-hour broadcast will have news, cultural, educational and other programs.

Local inhabitants welcomed the move. "Though we know about the developments and international news as well as news about Afghanistan from other radios(whose signals can be received in the area), it will be good for us to know about the local news and developments through this radio," Ali Ahmad, a 25-year old from Siorai district told Pajhwok.

Weapons of Rs. 500 m came from Afghanistan for terrorism: Owais
GEO, World
QUETTA: Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said on Tuesday that modern weapon was used during attack at Sui plant and disclosed weapons of Rs. 500 million was brought from Afghanistan for terrorism and added that Afghanistan government has been informed.’

In his interview with Geo TV he said government was trying to resolve problem of Balochistan through political means.

He said Sui attack was not mere a reaction of lady doctor rape case and added that more than 600 rockets and multi barrel rocket launchers at Sui that showed it was not a masses protest.

About Baloch Liberation, he said terrorist gangs and training camps existed in Balochistan.

Building a bridge of friendship between Kabul and Tehran
By Abdullah Al Madani
Gulf News 2/7/05 - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent visit to Tehran was viewed as another significant step towards enhancing Kabul-Tehran bilateral ties. The two neighbours have witnessed growing cooperation since the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001. The visit was the culmination of the two countries' efforts to rid themselves of decades of suspicions and to establish closer relations.

However, one cannot analyse the two neighbours' ties by relying on these outer features. Any attempt in this regard, without taking into consideration the American factor, may lead to an incorrect conclusion, given Kabul's alliance with Washington and Iran-US hostile relations. Iranian-Afghan relations have undergone several changes in the last five decades.

Generally, they can be divided into five distinct phases:
In the first phase, ending in 1973 with the collapse of the Afghan monarchy, the relationship was characterised by intimacy and cooperation, particularly due to personal ties between the two countries' ruling houses.

This was despite Kabul's refusal of the Shah of Iran's attempts to include Afghanistan in the West-backed regional strategic schemes (such as the Baghdad Pact) and Tehran's uneasiness over Kabul's preference for joining the Non-Aligned Movement.

One of the problems faced by the Shah at that time was differences between Kabul and his Pakistani ally over border disputes inherited from the colonial era, something that was about to develop into a war in the 1960s.

Relying on his influence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and using his country's financial clout to provide them with aid, the Shah succeeded in calming the situation.

Relations in the second phase, ending with the communist coup in Afghanistan in 1978 against President Daoud Khan, were maintained but with less cooperation and contacts, especially with the Daoud Khan regime tilting towards the Soviets and embracing socialism.

The coup and the consequent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which roughly coincided with the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, marked the beginning of the third phase.

In this period which lasted nearly 12 years, relations suffered a serious setback as there was nothing in common between Afghanistan's communist and Iran's Islamic regimes, especially with the latter's support of the anti Kabul and Soviet Mujahideen.

Despite dissatisfaction with its American enemy and regional rival's use of the Jihad in Afghanistan to enhance their positions, Iran's theological regime had no choice but to support the Jihad in order not to lose credibility among Muslims.

Relations in the fourth phase, beginning with the arrival of the Mujahideen to power in Kabul in 1991, was marked by covert suspicion and mistrust as a result of Kabul's sectarian policy and Tehran's continuous interference in Afghan domestic affairs through assisting Afghan Shiite militants and tribesmen.

This, however, developed into an overt hostility after the Taliban came to power in 1996. The two countries nearly went to war over the Taliban's rigid treatment of Afghanistan's Shiite minority, and particularly the killings of Iranian diplomats in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The US-led fall of the Taliban in 2001 brought the Iranians a great relief, initiating the fifth, ongoing, phase. However, with American troops stationed close to their eastern border, the Iranians felt insecure, making them play a double game.

While it helped make a deal at the Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan, voiced its support to the Karzai interim government, and pledged to assist the reconstruction process, Tehran continued providing its agents in Afghanistan with arms and cash to oppose Karzai's authority and the deployment of coalition troops in the country's western provinces.

Tehran also hosted the Pashtun warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former premier who has fought every Afghan government since 1979, trying to use him as a card against Karzai and Washington. Additionally, it was reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were in regular contact with Al Qaida. Such a confusing policy towards Afghanistan is probably attributed to the power struggle within the Iranian regime between the conservatives and reformists.

While reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, during a visit to Kabul last year, was showering his Afghan counterpart with praise, the Ressalat, a newspaper representing the conservative camp led by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, expressed its opposition to the visit, describing Karzai as an agent of the CIA.

Karzai's efforts to strengthen ties with Tehran stem from two goals: the employment of Iran's influence among Afghan Shiite to broaden his government control and the use of its financial clout to enhance Afghanistan's economy and fund the reconstruction process.

While it is difficult to measure Iran's response to the first goal, its response to the second goal has been positive to the extent that Western officials have recognised it.

But Iran's enthusiasm to help Afghanistan stems from its concerns about the build-up of strong influence in the country as a prelude to ridding it of the Americans and controlling the gateway to the Central Asian states.

Probably this is why most of its aid to Afghanistan is concentrated in the road and transportation sector. On the sidelines of Karzai's visit to Tehran, a 122-km highway linking the Dogharoun region in Iran and the Afghan city of Heart was inaugurated.

Last year, Iran completed the building of the Silk Bridge in the Afghan province of Nimroz. Many other such Iran-funded projects are planned, including roads that will give Afghanistan and Uzbekistan access to international waters via Iran.

In preparation to seize economic opportunities resulting from these projects, Iran had resumed commercial flights to Kabul in 2003 and opened the first Iranian bank in Kabul last December under the name Aryan Bank.

Despite all these developments, one must say that the two countries' ties are still under threat. Things, of course, depend on Iran-US hostile relations, power struggle in Tehran, and Karzai's capability to manoeuvre.

AFGHANISTAN: Focus on the forgotten province of Nurestan
BARG-E-MATAL, 8 February (IRIN) - Nurestan is one of Afghanistan's most isolated and poverty-stricken provinces. The presidential election, foreign aid and the optimism of Kabul seem a world away. Just getting there from the capital in winter requires stamina, commitment and a degree of luck. It's a two day drive from the eastern province of Nangarhar through snow capped mountains and several hours on foot battling through more than a metre of snow.

When you finally reach the tiny provincial capital, close to the Pakistani frontier, the vista is bleak. Local authority offices are closed and there is no sign of any aid agencies. There are gutted houses and bombed bridges everywhere. An empty health clinic is serving as winter quarters for someone's private militia. The people look exhausted with thin, colourless faces.

In Barg-e-Matal and Kamdish, the two most troubled eastern districts of Nurestan, there is no sign of any government activity anywhere. In central Barg-e-Matal, Karim, a 40-year-old aid worker, stood behind the closed door of the Afghan Aid NGO's office that was recently burned down by insurgents.

"Everyone here is at risk, [both] aid workers and government officials, from insurgents and people from local disputes," he said.

Nurestan, meaning 'land of light', lies on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush. The inhospitable region used to be known as Kafiristan, or 'land of the infidels' because it was inhabited by an ethnically distinctive people, who practiced animism until their forcible conversion to Islam at the end of the nineteenth century. Nurestanis live in isolated villages in deep, narrow mountain valleys, surviving on subsistence agriculture, growing wheat, fruit and raising livestock, mainly goats.

The province was the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla fighting during the 1979-89 Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Like many rural areas in the south and east, the province can be a dangerous place for aid workers, the army and government agencies.

The area is used as a route into equally isolated regions of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on the Pakistani side of the open border, by Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants. Several government officials including two soldiers and aid workers on the way to the valley have been killed in insurgent attacks since the beginning of the year.

The lack of security or central government presence means development aid has all but dried up. The last operational NGO in the troubled valley, Afghan Aid, ceased work after an armed attack on its sub-office. Karim said the NGO had been the only source of employment in the area and that more than fifty people have lost their jobs while several public utility projects have been abandoned before completion.

LACK OF GOVERNMENT PRESENCE

"We don't blame aid NGOs but we blame the government. They never come to see what is happening and provide security for aid delivery," he said. He added that even the US-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) stationed in neighbouring Konar province did not visit the area.
"People need a government presence here. This is the most important thing," Karim noted.

A local resident who declined to be named told IRIN that extremist religious elements continue to dominate the entire province.

"The top people here are people from conservative groups or linked to those people who don't want aid, stability and peace," he said.

IRIN eventually found the district administrator, Sarmalem Kamdishi, cowering in a bunker on the outskirts of Barg-e-Matal. After several attempts to get him to speak, he said the security situation in the area was "tense" and that journalists were not welcome in the province.

"You find all sorts of problems here. We have very tense local disputes and very high rates of attack by insurgents. Poverty, health issues and lack of roads are major humanitarian concerns," Kamdishi told IRIN nervously. He said NGOs wanted to help but no one could guarantee security.

"As a district administrator I do not feel secure even though I am from this locality," he said. Kamdishi said rival tribes often fire missiles at each other or plant landmines on agricultural land or on what pass for roads in the region. He pointed to the Kushtuz Valley, where tens of people were killed and several hundred displaced after their houses were completely burned by armed men in January.

"All the problems here originate from local disputes. Every year many people are killed or injured due to missile attacks or land mine plots as a result of local disputes," he said. The district administrator added that the absence of police, judges or public institutions means that the law rests with traditional tribal councils which are unelected, uninformed and very conservative in outlook. He added that eastern Nurestan has several connecting border points with the neighbouring Pakistan and extremists easily cross the border after launching attacks in Afghanistan.

"We need a strong border police force to help us prevent this happening," he said.

WIDESPREAD POVERTY

People IRIN interviewed said poverty and health problems are their main concerns. Tuberculosis, malnutrition, maternal and infant mortality are common. As a result of poor health awareness and a lack of adequate nourishing food, almost every household has malnourished members, usually the women and children.

The nearest health clinic is in the town of Chitral, two days walk across the border into Pakistan. There isn't a doctor in the entire province according to Zulaikha, a 45-year-old midwife. She and two male tuberculosis technicians are the only health workers serving nearly 100,000 residents in the two populated districts. There is a single clinic in Bargmatal, where the sign above the rusty door says "Funded by the World Bank and CARE" but the building has been used as a government office and home to bodyguards protecting the district administrator.

"This is a health clinic but neither Kabul nor any aid agency have been able to send health workers and run the clinic. Therefore, it is used as the district administration office," Zulaikha explained. Zulaikha graduated from high school and later attended a midwifery training course in Pakistan. She is the only literate women in the valley and a ray of hope for many mothers and children in the valley. She regularly walks for hours to visit patients and often has to deliver babies and cope with birthing problems in the most primitive of conditions.

"Unfortunately, often mothers die before I can reach them. Because of the lack of roads I have to walk or go by horse," she said. "I know which medicine is needed for certain health problems. But the problem is medicine takes at least 48 hours to bring from Konar or Pakistan," said Zulaikha.

RULE OF THE GUN

Abdul Karim, a local lawyer in Barg-e- Matal, sat in his empty office said he had not processed any criminal cases since he was appointed by Kabul early in 2002. But he pointed out that this did not mean crime rates were low, simply that he and eleven other civil servants did not have the means to try people in a part of the country where mass killings, extortion, drug trafficking and forced displacement are widespread.

"Government means nothing here because local militias are stronger than the police," Karim said, adding that people tend to rely on tribal councils to solve disputes rather than referring them to the local administration.

"The provincial authorities were not able to prosecute several criminals many of them big killers, so now we have lost the trust of people" he added. According to local officials there are just thirty police officers serving the Bargmatal/Kamdish region.valley and they are without vehicles, logistical support, communications equipment or even a police station to operate from.

PRESSURE FROM RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES

Lack of government and law has meant conservative religious leaders hold sway in most of Nurestan. Shah Zaman, a local shopkeeper, was forced to burn his television and a CD player by local clerics. There is no local TV or radio and so Zaman had dared to operate a clandestine video rental scheme to provide some entertainment for his customers.

"The religious people here said it was against Islam and I had to burn them in front of the public," he told IRIN. A local teacher who declined to be named said as a result of pressure by religious elders the local high school was forced to turn girls away and transform into a Madrassa, or religious school.

"This [school] used to be a place of learning and hope. Now we have been forced to hand it over to the fundamentalists. You cannot talk of Afghan progress here," he whispered sadly.

Bamyan is on the map, but its cave dwellers are out of sight
Ahmad Sanayi
BAMYAN (Pajhwok Afghan News) - Afghanistan's central province of Bamiyan shot onto the international map when its giant Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Archaeologists pore over the site nowadays and international organizations make plans for its preservation. Destitute families who have made their homes in the caves in between the stone statues however, live on largely unseen and unheard.

Shah Gul is a 30-year old woman who lives in a dark cave around the destroyed stone statues. Unlike the massive niches that housed the statutes, her cave dwelling is small, its ceiling low. She lives there with her two children without any other place to go to, fearful that the ceiling will collapse any day, killing all of them, she tells Pajhwok.

When the Taliban destroyed the stone Buddha statues dating back to the 2nd Century A.D, declaring them un Islamic, they were condemned by the international community. The Buddhas, which used to attract both archeologists and international tourists, generating some revenue for the impoverished country, became the symbol of Taliban's obduracy leading to their complete isolation from the international community.

Behind the ramshackle wooden door that protects Shah Gul's 'home' is a family that survived two decades of war. The woman's face, aged beyond her years, tells of her travails. An old wood stove stands in the middle of the floor covered with baggy red mattresses and blankets.

"We are really scared of these caves and the holes in the ceiling. When our relatives visit us they warn these holes will grow bigger till the ceiling collapses on us. But we are forced to live in these conditions," the grey-faced woman told Pajhwok in her dark cave-room.

Her 40-year old husband commutes daily to Bamyan city to search for work as a laborer, trying to earn a living even though he barely has the strength. In this winter, the coldest Afghanistan has seen for several years, the family cannot afford to buy the wood they wood burn to keep them warm.

Shah Gul's family is one of 50-odd families which live in these frightening conditions. They all complain about lack of healthcare and shortage of fuel and the dismal living conditions.

An eight-member family lives next to Shah Gul. Nasima, 50, from Shahidaan region of central Bamyan, lives along with her four sons, two daughters and her elderly and ailing husband. "If the government is a real government, it would not have allowed us to remain here in these sub-human conditions" she says. Tattered clothes and the dirty hands and faces of the children tells its own tale of their hardship.

Nasima, who has lived here for three years complains about the lack of assistance from the government and international organizations and says they just survived so far thanks to the help from some rich individuals and relatives.

Some of these families claim that they have been living in the caves since the Taliban era when they escaped from the hardline regime's harassment. "The Taliban used to come and beat our children and were oppressing us," said Hussain Ali, who lives there with his wife and four children.

In Bamyan city, provincial officials promise to help, saying the government is considering distributing plots of land to them. "We plan to distribute government lands to the cave-dwelling families in the new year(the Afghan year begins toward the end of March) in Saighan, Kuhmard, Yakawlang, Panjab and Waras districts, Bamyan Governor, Mohammad Rahim Aliyar told Pajhwok. He added that they tried to help the families through the rural development ministry and some international organizations, but that the money sent was insufficient.

"Over the past two years, the problem of living in caves has been widespread. Last year we managed last year to empty the caves between the two Buddhas and gave land to 150 families," the governor added. He said though they relocated some families new families replaced them every day.

Bamyan Mayor, Nisar Ali Nisar, said a plan was being undertaken to protect the historic areas and objects. "We have prepared a master plan to preserve historical artifacts," the mayor said.

Afghanistan Pins Its Hopes on Pistachios
Environment News Service 02/07/2005 By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi
MAZAR-e-SHARIF - In an attempt to restore the local economy while reviving an Afghan tradition, the government has begun a program to plant pistachio trees in several northern provinces, restoring a crop that has been decimated by years of war and drought. The program began in late January, when 10,000 saplings were planted in the foothills around Maimana, the capital of Faryab province.

For centuries, pistachios have played an important role in Afghan life. Former governments would protect pistachio forests until the crop was ripe, usually in September. Officials would then announce a 20-day period when people could enter the forests and harvest the nuts.

Those harvests grew into major festivals known as Shole-e-Pista. Local residents would slaughter cows and sheep in the forests for huge picnic celebrations, where the harvested nuts would be presented to village elders and prayer services held.

Entire families would take part in the harvest, and they could keep whatever they collected and sell the surplus.

But over the past 20 years, local commanders often took control of the forests, forcing local residents to pick the crop - often before it was ripe – and then sell the nuts and keep the proceeds themselves.

There are still hundreds of thousand of acres of pistachio forest in the northern provinces, including more than 300,000 acres in Badghis and 200,000 more in Samangan.

Despite the destruction of more than 50 percent of its pistachio trees, Afghanistan still exports 1,300 metric tons of the nuts annually, valued at about US$130 million.
Pistachios are a high value crop in the international marketplace.

Afghan pistachios are smaller than those grown elsewhere and are dark green in color. They cost more than those produced in Iran, which accounts for nearly 50 percent of the world's production.

Businessman Mohammad Harun, who buys pistachios in northern Afghanistan and sells them in Indian and Pakistani markets says, "The reason they are more expensive is because of the quality. Afghan pistachios are grown naturally, unlike other countries where chemicals are used to boost production."

Balkh once had more than 70,000 acres of pistachio trees but most have been destroyed by war, neglect and early harvesting. Thousands of trees were chopped down for fuel.

"Twenty years ago, when you were walking in Koh-e-Alburz [Balkh province], your attention would be drawn to the lush green forest on the side of the hill," said Mohammad Ayyub, a local villager.

"But now it is arid land with just a few dried shrubs. Even 10 years ago, most of the trees still survived, but in recent years drought has brought devastation."

The government's pistachio project hopes to reverse that process, both boosting exports and improving the environment with more greenery.

Qara Baig, who took part in the first plantings, said, "During the war years, we paid no attention to our pistachio forests.

"Everyone was preoccupied with survival or with how to get out of the country. But now the situation is peaceful and people are thinking about the reconstruction of their country.

"I volunteered to take part in the project because woodlands will flourish again and the yields should be profitable for the people in the region," he said.

Sayed Ahmad Sayed, deputy governor of Faryab, said he believed "this project will bring tremendous benefits both to the countryside and to the people."

Zain-ul-Abidin, in charge of forests in Balkh province, said he hoped the project would also lead to a revival in the traditional festival. "After more than 20 years, it would be nice to have a big celebration," he said. "I would hope all the commanders and the former fighters will come along to honor the pistachio."

But he cautioned against expecting major changes anytime soon, saying, "It takes 10 years for a tree to reach maturity." {Published in cooperation with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.}

US digs in deeper in Afghanistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - After Afghanistan and Iraq, a new phase in the United States' "war on terror" is under preparation in which the military-minded decision-makers in Washington have short-listed various possible targets, including Iran and Syria. In this scenario, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will play a role, as will Pakistan.

A legacy of the Cold War is widespread anti-US sentiment in the South and Central Asian regions, including Pakistan, which has strong links to militancy. The US has already drawn Islamabad into its fold, and wants to keep a close eye on it to ensure it remains fully on side, and Washington also wants to be in a position to monitor the region closely.

Well-placed sources in Brussels have told Asia Times Online that as a result, a strong NATO base will be established in the Afghan province of Herat, bordering Iran, and a logistics hub for NATO might be established in Pakistan's southern port of Karachi.

Construction work has already begun on the NATO base in Herat, under the surveillance of Italian troops stationed there as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force contingent of peacekeepers in the country. Currently, about 8,000 of these soldiers from 36 countries serve in Kabul and nine provinces north of the capital. The new base in Herat is expected to be big enough for about 10,000 troops, will feature a military airbase, and will act as NATO's headquarters in the country. There are also about 18,000 US troops in Afghanistan.

A request for a NATO logistics hub in Karachi has already been conveyed to Pakistan. General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, NATO deputy secretary general, was scheduled to meet Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf in January, but the meeting was postponed. Their next meeting is likely to be scheduled within the next few weeks and a decision taken on the hub.

A top retired military official and strategic expert told Asia Times Online that this development signifies longer-term goals for the US and its allies in Afghanistan.

"The development looks to be part of a new US plan in the region because previously they had a logistic hub at Karachi airport as well as an operational facility at Jacobabad Airbase. As soon as they occupied Afghanistan, they abandoned the Karachi airport facility and moved everything to Bagram Airbase [near Kabul]. Similarly, they have kept a very minimum of infrastructure at Jacobabad Airbase and abandoned operations from there. Their operations now also originate from Bagram Airbase," the official said.

"After having abandoned their facilities at Jacobabad and Karachi, the reopening of facilities in Herat and Karachi port gives a clear message that the US has some new and long-term designs in Afghanistan," the same strategic expert maintained.

"However, we cannot imply with the construction of a logistics hub that NATO would have any plans for a military base at Karachi port because the port's infrastructure and limited capacity do not allow for such a military base, which essentially needs a big area."

The strategic picture is completed when one tracks other US footsteps: it has asked for the use of a base near Khuzdar in Balochistan province (about 400 kilometers from Karachi), which will soon be operational for US troops.

Now that President George W Bush has won his second term, his priorities have visibly changed. The manhunt for al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan has virtually stopped. Whether it is military exercises or dialogue between the US and Pakistan, the "war against al-Qaeda" is a lesser priority: more important are agreements over the sale of military hardware and an increased role for the US in the region.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online.

Afghans discovered America a thousand years before Christopher, says a new book
02/08/2005 By Danish Karokhel
KABUL - Pajhwok Afghan News - Christopher Columbus may be rocked on his pedestal by an unlikely contender. A book authored by a Canadian writer claims that Buddhist monks from Afghanistan discovered America a thousand years before Columbus.

Popular history believes that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 while searching for India. This theory is however likely to be challenged soon with the publication of a book 'An Impossible Journey from Kabul to Chiapas' by Gary Geddes. Geddes argues that Afghan Buddhist monks had traveled to the American Continent a thousand years before Christopher Columbus.

Afghan historians and researchers have also confirmed the idea. The late Abdul Shakoor Rashad, doyen of Afghan historians with 30 books on history and literature to his credit, had written about this theory on several occasions, contending that Afghan monks had reached America through China.

Geddes, a poet and a historian visited Afghanistan in 2001 during the Taliban regime to collect material for his book. Geddes has investigated Rashad's idea and studied the route on which the Afghan monks reached the coast of America through China, collecting evidence to back his theory.

A group of five Buddhist monks led by Hu Shin went to China from Kabul via the Silk Route in 458 A.D. and from there they got to the American coastlines of the Pacific Ocean by sea. This group toured Canada and America on foot and ended up in the Chiapas province of Mexico he says.

Academics have earlier also discussed the journey of people from the Asian coastlines of the Pacific to America and the release of the new book will bring new evidence to the debate.

The Canada Desk Director in the Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan, Mohammad Hassan Sobman, who helped Geddes in collection of the material, say the book will bring Afghanistan on the center stage internationally.

"Afghanistan has been put back on the stage after decades of isolation and now with disclosure of the fact that Afghans were the first discoverers of America, the country will be never drop off the map", Sobman said.

Afghan artist, Mohammad Yousuf Asifi, appreciating the writer's efforts, told Pajhwok that the historical monuments excavated from Afghanistan shows that Afghanistan was pioneer of other countries in religious affairs. "We have left back a strong history.," he said. He asked Afghan researchers and historians to embark on in-depth investigations and demonstrate to the world a clear picture and identity of Afghanistan.

Pakistan, media watchdog condemn killing of two journalists
WANA, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistan's government and a top media rights group condemned an attack which killed two journalists and wounded an AFP stringer in a tribal area infested with suspected Al-Qaeda militants.

Unidentified gunmen struck late Monday after a ceremony where the government granted amnesty to a rebel leader in return for his pledge to live peacefully in remote South Waziristan, close to the Afghan border.

Amir Nawab, a reporter for the Frontier Post, a national English language daily, and Allah Noor Wazir, who was working for Pushto language Khyber TV, died instantly in the hail of assault rifle fire. AFP stringer Anwar Shakir was in hospital with a bullet injury in the back.

Under the peace deal tribal rebel Baitullah Mahsud -- an alleged ally of a former Guantanamo Bay inmate accused of kidnapping two Chinese engineers last year -- and dozens of supporters pledged not to harbour foreign militants.

"The attack on journalists is an act of terrorism aimed at sabotaging the peace process in South Waziristan," Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the attackers would be brought to justice.

Paris-based organisation Reporters Without Borders -- known by its French initials RSF, or Reporters Sans Frontieres -- said the "cowardly" murder should not go unpunished. "Journalists in the tribal areas have shown their courage and determination to carry out their work under pressure from both armed militants and the authorities," the group said in a statement.

Officials said five journalists were returning to Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, from Sara Rugha, 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the northeast, when two gunmen sprayed their van with bullets.

Two others, BBC stringer Dilawar Khan Wazir and Malik Hassan from a regional daily, escaped unhurt. Al-Jazeera journalist Zardad Khan, who was earlier thought to be in the car, left the vehicle before the attack.

Nawab, 34, had worked as a stringer for Associated Press Television News, family sources said. Fellow victim Allah Noor Wazir was in his mid-30s. "He was a very daring journalist, he was very active and ready to take initiative," said Amir Matin, news director at Khyber TV.

Hospital officials said they had removed the bullet from AFP journalist Shakir's body and he was in a stable condition. "He is fine now but he is unable to walk. He was hit in the back and the bullet travelled into the abdomen, but luckily did not damage any vital organs," his uncle Dilbar, who goes by one name, told AFP.

A security official in Wana said the assailants were apparently chasing the journalists' van for some time. However it was unclear if the attack was the result of a local feud or whether it was carried out by militants

The attack was the first on journalists in the northwestern region, where Pakistani troops have fought Al-Qaeda militants thought to have fled Afghanistan after the Taliban fell three years ago, and their local supporters.

However, correspondents in Pakistan often face threats from extremist or criminal groups. RSF said around 20 local journalists working for international media in the region had received death threats from the Taliban.

US reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted and beheaded by an Al-Qaeda-linked group in the southern city of Karachi in 2002. A number of journalists, including an AFP photographer, were wounded by a blast in Karachi last May.