Afghanistan News January 22, 2005

January 22, 2005

Authorities Launch Investigation Into Suicide Bomb Attack
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
21 January 2005 -- Afghan officials say authorities have launched an investigation into a failed suicide bomb attack on Abdul Rashid Dostum, a powerful Uzbek militia commander, AFP reported.

Dostum was unhurt in the bombing outside a mosque in his hometown of Shiberghan, which wounded more than 20 people, including several seriously.

A man who purportedly was speaking for the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The hard line Islamic movement is blaming Dostum for killing some of its troops after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan three years ago.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP that the government has sent a four-man delegation to Shiberghan to investigate who was behind the bombing. He said the situation around the town is calm.

Since the fall of the Taliban, Dostum has backed the government in Kabul. He recently began disarming his militia as part of a UN-backed scheme but was allowed to retain 200 bodyguards

Police question Bangladeshi over failed attack on Afghan warlord
AFP 01/21/2005
KABUL - Police investigating a failed suicide attack on an anti-Taleban warlord said on Friday they were questioning a Bangladeshi man over the incident, while a hospital said all but one of the 25 people wounded were out of danger.

The victims were hurt on Thursday when a man with explosives hidden under his clothes blew himself up near Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum after open-air prayers in the northern city of Sheberghan. Dostum was unharmed.

A spokesman for the former ruling Taleban said it carried out the attack to avenge the deaths of hundreds of Taleban prisoners at the hands of Dostum's militia during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. However, investigators initially speculated that the attack was more typical of al-Qaida.

Provincial police chief Mohammed Nader Fahimi said Friday that a Bangladeshi man picked up in a market in the city just after the attack was still being questioned.
"We cannot say at present whether he has a link with the man who carried out the attack or not," Fahimi said. He declined to elaborate. Police were also seeking two former Taleban officials they said had been spotted in the area a few days ago.

Fahimi said he had met with Dostum on Thursday afternoon. "He is fine, but he is worried about those who have been injured," he said. Six of the 25 people injured required surgery, and Mirwais Amini, the deputy director of the city hospital, said one man was still in a critical condition Friday. "There is still a piece of shrapnel in his head," Amini said. "Our doctors will operate on him again, but I think he will be OK."

The bomber was among a crowd which pressed toward Dostum after prayers in a city park on the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. The man, who had been posing as a beggar, blew himself up when Dostum's bodyguards held him back.

Dostum has accumulated many enemies in a long career marked by brutality and political opportunism. A feared commander for Afghanistan's communist government after the Soviet invasion of 1979, he later switched to join the mujahedeen rebels.

He was then a key player in the civil war which destroyed much of Kabul in the mid-1980s, helped U.S. forces oust the Taleban in 2001, and has feuded violently with ethnic Tajik rivals in the north. He is particularly disliked by ethnic Pashtuns, from whom the Taleban drew their main strength.

Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi, a man who claimed to speak for the Taleban, said that one of its members had carried out the attack to avenge the alleged slaughter of Taleban fighters in the north in late 2001. it was impossible to verify his claim.

Human rights groups have long called for an investigation into the deaths of Taleban prisoners, many of whom apparently suffocated in metal shipping containers. Several mass graves were discovered in a northern desert.

Reception marks 50th anniversary of China-Afghanistan ties
BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the Afghan Embassy to China held a reception here Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of China-Afghanistan diplomatic relations.

Vice-Chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Bai Lichen, President of the (CPAFFC) Chen Haosu, CPAFFC Vice-President Wang Yunze, Vice ForeignMinister Wu Dawei and Afghan Ambassador to China Qiamuddin Rai Barlas attended the reception.

Chen Haosu said China and Afghanistan, as two developing countries, share much in common, such as the same goals of developing the economy and raising living standards. Strengtheningthe relationship between the two countries is in the fundamental interest of both sides and is conducive to regional peace and stability.

He said China will make efforts to work with Afghanistan to contribute to the China-Afghanistan friendship, the world peace and common development.

Barlas said the China-Afghanistan relations set a good example for other neighboring nations in this region. Afghanistan will continue to promote the relationship.

Pictures recording the history of friendly relations between China and Afghanistan were displayed at the reception.

Pakistan badly needs TAP or Iran-India pipeline, ADB sees worst gas shortage by 2008-09
Business Recorder 01/20/2005
ISLAMABAD - Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director to Pakistan Marshuk Ali Shah on Wednesday said that Pakistan badly needed either Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) or Pak-Iran-India gas pipeline to thwart anticipated gas shortage, which can take turn for the worse by 2008-09. Addressing a press conference on the ADB's financial support for Pakistan's various sectors here, Marshuk said that Pakistan was fully alive to the situation arising out of its depleting gas reserves and it was actively engaged in bringing either TAP or Pak-India-Iran gas pipeline project on ground within the shortest possible time.
He expressed optimism that Pakistan's strategy to plug increasing gap in its gas demand and supply would work to the expectations and help Islamabad in thwarting looming energy crisis. He referred to the TAP's steering committee meeting to be held in Islamabad next month.

When asked if Daultabad gas field of Turkmenistan had proven reserves to ensure supply for TAP for the stipulated period, the ADB country director answered in affirmative.

He told a questioner that independent study has confirmed sufficient reserves at Daultabad gas field. According to him, the report of the study would be presented before the steering committee in its next meeting.

Daultabad's proven gas reserves had become a controversy when Afghanistan and Pakistan questioned Turkmenistan's agreement for gas export with the Russian government from the field. The aggrieved members demanded independent study of the field's reserves to prove its life so that TAP did not suffer any setback at any stage.

Marshuk said that storage facility would be a part of the TAP project to keep gas supply smooth in case of disruption or blasting of the pipeline.
He said that the stand-off at Sui was a cause of concern for all of us. However, ADB Chief Economist Naved Hasan disagreed with a questioner on duration of resumption of gas from Sui field.

The questioner had referred to a statement wherein he quoted some experts as saying that resumption of gas was matter of months. Naved clarified his bank's position on the issue, saying that the ADB was convinced that restoration of gas from Sui was a matter of days and not months.

Naved said that agricultural reforms do not rule out the possibility of subsidies for farm sector. However, the reforms abstain the authorities from using coercive measures such as inter-provincial movement of wheat as was done by the Punjab government this time. He hoped that Punjab would refrain from repetition of such happenings in future.

His understanding was that the Punjab government's ban on wheat movement was now story of the past and all the provinces were free to transport the commodity to meet their needs.

Afghanistan Reestablishes Diplomatic Relations with Argentina
Washington, D.C. – H.E. Said Tayeb Jawad, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States, met today with H.E. Daniel Scioli, Vice President of the Argentine Republic, at the Government House, to reestablish Afghanistan’s diplomatic relations between the two countries. Ambassador Jawad presented his credentials as non-resident Ambassador of Afghanistan to Argentina and conveyed message of goodwill from President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah to the President and Foreign Minister of Argentina. In addition, he placed a wreath at the monument of “Libertador General San Martin” in Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning.

Ambassador Jawad commented on his trip saying, “Argentina is the second largest country with vast natural resources in South America. A major energy provider, Argentina is the fourth largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the region. We look forward to investment by Argentine companies to develop Afghanistan’s energy sector. They have previously shown interest in building a trans-Afghan pipeline from Turkmenistan to the Indian subcontinent.” Praising the support of Argentine government for emerging democracies and contributions to peacekeeping operations, Ambassador Jawad said, “We will welcome Argentina’s participation in the International Security Assistance Force and appreciate their help with the process of training counter-narcotics police in Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan is emerging as a successful model of partnership with the international community. Pursuing a policy of engagement in international affairs, the Government of Afghanistan has rapidly restored its relations with the international community. Afghanistan presently maintains more than 70 diplomatic missions abroad. Ambassador Jawad has been accredited to Mexico and Brazil and is planning to visit Panama and Colombia.

Afghanistan’s first indirect diplomatic relations with Argentina began in June 1960. Afghan Ambassador to the US and former Prime Minister Hashim Maiwandwal became Afghanistan’s first non-resident diplomat serving as Counselor to Argentina. In June 1964, the relation was elevated to the ambassadorial level when Afghan Ambassador to the US and Former Finance Minister Abdul Majeed presented his credentials as non-resident Ambassador to President of Argentina, while Argentina’s Ambassador to Iran Freera Svahi was accredited as non-resident Ambassador to Afghanistan. In December 1983, a high ranking Afghan delegation attended the Argentina’s presidential inauguration ceremony when both countries intended to enhance bilateral relations. However, relations between the two countries stalled given increased political instability and subsequent breakdown of government institutions in Afghanistan in late 1980s and during 1990s. In July 2001, then Interim President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah sent congratulatory letters to the President and Foreign Minister of Argentina on the country’s National Day.

Slow Progress for Pilgrims
Winning the lottery to make the annual Haj to Mecca is only the first of many challenges Afghan pilgrims encountered this year.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Nazifullah Sader in Kabul (ARR No. 158, 20-Jan-05)

For devout Muslims, completing the Haj is a lifelong goal. Making the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia counts as one of the five pillars of Islam and the ultimate act of worship, and is the duty of everyone physically able to make the journey.

But Afghans hoping to participate in this year’s pilgrimage found they had first to overcome numerous obstacles, including restrictions imposed by the Saudis and their own government, as well as alleged corruption by officials responsible for coordinating the trips and mistreatment by law-enforcement officials.

With more than two million visitors from all over the world attempting to reach the holy sites for the start of the Hajj ceremonies on January 18 (the eighth day of Dhul Hijjah in the Muslim calendar). Saudi Arabia has often been overwhelmed by the sheer number of pilgrims. In recent years, such overcrowding has led to violence and deaths.

To cope with the problem, the Saudis have imposed quotas on the number of pilgrims who can come from any one country. This year, 30,000 Afghans were allowed to make the journey.

To cope with the large demand by would-be pilgrims, the Afghan government established a lottery to determine who would be allowed to make the trip.

But some of those who won the right to travel to Mecca claimed they were forced to wait for days for their transit papers and transportation, and that they were abused by soldiers charged with maintaining order. Some said they were victims of attempts to extort money.

Haji Nader Shah, 48, said he had been waiting for 24 hours to get the documents to make the trip. "Officials at the Haj ministry asked me for 2,000 afghanis, 40 US dollars, to process my documents quickly,” he said.

Shivering in the freezing cold, Haji Dost Gul, from Paktia province, said: "We have been here for eight days and nights in this cold weather, just waiting for our turn.

"When we ask to see someone in authority, the security forces beat us with their rifle butts and do not allow us to see anyone. One woman has died due to the cold weather and others have been admitted to hospitals," he said.

And Ghulam Hussain, 45, representing 135 pilgrims from the central province of Bamyan, said he had been waiting in Kabul for 35 days.

"When we apply to any official, we are neither heard nor helped," he said.

Deputy minister in charge of Haj affairs, Qaseem Khan, acknowledges that there were problems processing the pilgrims.

"Our country has faced many problems, and transportation is one of them,” he said. We only have two international airports flying to Jeddah - one in Kabul and the other in Kandahar. Kabul airport has been assigned to transport pilgrims from 13 provinces, and Kandahar for the remaining 19."

Qaseem Khan said the government was able to fly pilgrims from regional airports in more remote provinces to Kabul and Kandahar.

He added that Ariana, Afghanistan’s national airline, flew between 700 and 800 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia daily.

Qaseem Khan noted that Afghanistan’s quota of pilgrims was 5,000 higher this year than in 2004.

“We have also provided more facilities but dealing with such large numbers always causes some problems," he said.

As for the allegations of bribery and mistreatment, Qaseem Khan said, "I have no knowledge of this, and anyone who has a complaint should come and talk to me."

Nazifullah Sader is a freelance reporter based in Kabul.

Afghanistan: Antidrug Minister Vows Action But Says Farmers Need Aid, Alternative Incomes
By Ahto Lobjakas
Afghanistan's newly appointed "counternarcotics minister," Habibullah Qaderi, was in Brussels this week to attend a NATO seminar on the challenges facing his country. Although NATO and Afghan authorities agree that poppy cultivation and opium smuggling are among the biggest challenges facing Afghanistan, both sides admit there are no easy or quick solutions. NATO is unwilling to commit troops to enforce a poppy eradication drive, while Afghanistan's new government says its farmers -- many of whom are heavily dependent on poppy cultivation -- cannot be robbed of their livelihoods without hefty Western subsidies.

Brussels, 21 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan now has its first-ever government minister directly in charge of tackling the drugs trade, which represents some 60 percent of the country's total economy.

However, the appointment of Habibullah Qaderi is unlikely to bring immediate improvements to the situation.

Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels on 20 January, Qaderi said his government will -- for the foreseeable future -- limit itself to conducting police crackdowns on smugglers and laboratories producing heroin from opium extracted from the poppies.

Large-scale eradication of poppy fields will have to wait, he said, not least because the money involved in the trade makes it a highly sensitive issue in the runup to local and parliamentary elections, tentatively scheduled for May.

"We will be careful with the eradication," Qaderi said. "Certainly, it's in the plan, but we have not yet decided how to do it [or] when to do it. You know, to take away the livelihood of the farmers could create security problems in certain parts of Afghanistan, especially at this moment in time, because the elections [are] coming."

Qaderi cited recent statistics from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which found that the drug trade accounted for about 60 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product in 2004. That amounts to almost $3 billion.

The minister said an eradication drive is not be economically viable before alternatives are found to provide farmers with sustainable livelihoods.

"That's why we don't have to be in a hurry to eradicate the whole thing in one year's time," Qaderi said. "Then we [would] lose $2.8 billion and it is very, very important -- this money -- for the Afghan economy."

Hikmet Cetin, NATO's chief civilian representative in Afghanistan, acknowledged the same difficult truth -- that decades of war have left Afghanistan with few of the roads, irrigation networks, or markets necessary for farmers to cultivate more traditional crops.

"Now for the farmers, [poppies have] day by day became the only crop, the only source of income," Cetin said. "And the farmers get only $1 billion every year on average from opium, but its [worth]...is maybe $40 billion in the European market."

Qaderi indicated that if the West -- and specifically Western Europe, the main market for Afghan heroin -- wanted to cut this involuntary subsidy to the dark side of the country's economy, substantial funds needed to be made available to provide farmers with alternative incomes.

He avoided saying precisely how much money would be needed.

Qaderi also said Afghanistan needed more international troops to help prop up what he called the "security side" of confronting the country's drugs economy.

Cetin appeared to rule out NATO involvement, however. He said NATO has no mandate and no capacity to go after drug producers in Afghanistan. He also warned that attempts to take them on could destabilize the country in the "crucial" period before the elections.

"To have a kind of fight with the farmers, I think, will destabilize Afghanistan, will be an element of destabilization of Afghanistan," Cetin said. "It is very critical -- the next six-month period. And not only that, we do not have the mandate. Generally speaking in Afghanistan, we are responsible for supporting the peace and stability in Afghanistan, [and going after drug producers] will destabilize -- it is my view -- in the next months the situation in Afghanistan. We have to be very careful."

Cetin acknowledged, however, that in the long term, the stabilization of Afghanistan would be impossible without effective counternarcotics measures.

Cetin did promise NATO support in expanding the areas of responsibility of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which are operated by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

He said ISAF would also provide security for the parliamentary elections and would continue to support the country's disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration process, known as DDR.

Cetin said the security situation in the country was "getting better." He said that the "mass threats" posed by Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or forces loyal to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had receded.

Cetin also said the Afghan National Army is "getting on its feet" with the help of U.S. training. It now comprises 16,000 men and should expand to four corps of troops by the time of the elections -- to be stationed in Mazar-e Sharif in the north, Herat in the west, Kandahar in the south, and Gardez in the east.

Afghanistan's police force, which is under Germany's supervision, now numbers 33,000 men. Cetin said the eventual target is 62,000 men. Particularly important, he said, is the training of specialized forces for border protection and counternarcotics operations.

Cetin said the DDR process was going well, but added that reintegration must be improved. He said more than half of nongovernment forces had already been disarmed and demobilized and that he expected the process to conclude by 31 March, the Afghan new year.

Cetin also called on the international community to provide Afghanistan with a new "road map" after the parliamentary elections, complete with another international donors conference.

Afghan students from different Afghan universities on their first visit to Germany Deutsche Botschaft Kabul
German Embassy Kabul
On 22nd of January 2005, the best 41 students from Afghan universities in Kabul, Kunduz, Khost, Bamiyan, Kandahar, Balkh, Nangarhar, Takhar, Faryab, Parwan and Baghlan will be travelling for the first time to Germany. They are invited by the University of Bochum and the German Academic Exchange Service. For the duration of 4 weeks they will take part in a special computer training course at Bochum University.

Financed by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supports the academic rehabilitation of Afghan institutions of higher education. Priorities are set on the training of Afghan lecturers as well as on the development of new curricula in the Faculties of Economics, Geo-Sciences, Nature Sciences, and Informatics. A further emphasis is stressed on the education and training of young students of the Afghan universities nationwide.

As German partner of Kabul University, Dr. Wilhelm Löwenstein, Director of the Institute for Research and Development and Development Policy of the University of Bochum invited a group of 41 Afghan students to stay in Bochum for the duration of 4 weeks studying in the fields of hardware, software, networks and visual basic for applications.

For Afghan students, this journey to Europe will be the first of its kind. Long-term objective will be to encourage these elite to develop a network among all students in Afghanistan and to interact with each other.

Imports Threaten Local Industries
Clothing and shoe manufacturers complain that they’re unable to compete with lower cost goods imported mainly from China.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada in Kabul (ARR No. 158, 20-Jan-05)

Three months ago, Latif Sediqi decided to invest 70,000 US dollars to expand his 20-year-old tailoring business.

His business – Latif Sediqi’s Tailoring Company – employed 14 workers and produced 10 suits a day. He charged, on average, about 30 dollars, 1,600 afghanis, per suit.

But because of foreign competition, Sediqi finds himself with 300 unsold suits and has been forced to shut down his business.

“Because of the Chinese suits available in the market, we have not been able to sell even one suit, " said Sediqi. Suits manufactured in China sell for an average price of 20 dollars, 1,000 afghanis, in Afghanistan.

The story of domestic producers losing business when cheaper foreign exports flood the market has been told in capitalist economies the world over. Now some of Kabul’s small manufacturers are telling similar tales.

Tailors and shoemakers located in the centre of Kabul, most of whom had about 10 years experience in their trade, told IWPR that they have been losing business, and in some cases their jobs, because of the influx of cheaper Chinese goods. They say while they make a better quality product, they can’t compete on price. China is the main exporter of clothing and shoes to Afghanistan.

Haji Ghulam Hassan Rawshan, head of the handicraft and export development department in the ministry of commerce, said that the Chinese imports are a serious threat to local small businessmen. "It will be a severe blow to our local producers if action isn't taken," he said.

Rawshan said he would appeal to the new commerce minister to impose a ban on all imports from China.

Sardar, a Kabul shoemaker in business for 10 years, sits on a table drinking tea with three of his associates in his12-square-metre shop. He has plenty of time for breaks these days.

“Chinese merchandise has paralysed our product completely. The shoes the traders are importing are really without quality but people buy them because they are cheap," he said. "Our people, with their closed eyes, prefer buying goods that have."

Sardar said his shoes sell for about eight dollars, 400 afghanis, while those from China are sold for three dollars, 150 afghanis.

Waseh, 37, the owner of a second-hand shoe store in Kabul, also complained that “Chinese shoes are of low quality and don’t last long, but they are showy. They are made of plastic, which causes feet to sweat and smell."

But Mustafa Kazemi, the outgoing minister of commerce, defended the government’s current policy on imports. He said the commerce minister must “create the right [economic] conditions so that poor people can afford to buy merchandise from the bazaar, and stop the prices from going sky high.”

Kazemi also argued that the quality of domestically produced goods in general isn’t good enough, and that local manufacturers don’t produce enough to meet the demand.

He said the government should only impose trade restrictions once the quality and quantity of similar Afghan products improves.

"The government has chosen a free-trade policy, and each importer is free to import goods from all over the world without regard for quality or quantity, and which don't have to conform with international standards,” he said.

In fact, Afghanistan does impose tariffs on many imported goods, ranging from 2.5 to 16 per cent. Azizuddin Shams, a spokesman for the ministry of finance, said there is a five per cent tariff on all clothing, including shoes manufactured abroad.

But Saifuddin Saihoon, an economics professor at Kabul University, complained that government’s current trade policy favours foreign businessmen and local merchants who sell foreign goods.

"Our neighbours and the traders are taking advantage of our demand. They supply us with poor quality goods, so our money goes abroad... instead of to our producers,” he said.

“In the current situation we have almost no [local] production. Because we’ve opened up our markets to the world, in fact we are discouraging domestic production, spending our money in a useless way, and taking losses. Our country will remain a consumer forever," he said.

Saihoon said that tailors and shoemakers should form unions and take their concerns to the new government. Currently neither group has its own union. According to Nesar Ahmad Habibi, head of Kabul’s office in charge of markets, there is only one union for private enterpreneurs - the union of craftsmen of Afghanistan.

Such a development can’t come soon enough for Tamim, 22, who’s been sewing suits since he was 12 and now says he can’t find work.

"If I don't find work, I will have to go to Iran," he said.

Mohammed Jawad Sharifzada is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Once more, the heat's on Iran
By Ehsan Ahrari / Asia Times Online / January 19, 2005
Is Iran the next US target for regime change? That is the bombshell of a question that investigative reporter Seymour Hersh has raised in the latest issue of New Yorker magazine. The White House's response: Hersh's essay is "riddled with inaccuracies".

Hersh claims that US special forces are operating from bases in Afghanistan and Pakistan, conducting reconnaissance missions in Iran for the past six months. Their potential objective includes "identifying target information for three dozen or more suspected nuclear, chemical and missile sites" in that country. The special forces are reportedly leaving behind remote detection devices called "sniffers" that have the technical capability to test for radioactive emissions in the atmosphere. One US government official told Hersh, "The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible."

The alleged use of special forces in such an operation, according to Hersh, is evidence that President George W Bush will continue to downgrade the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). What is also alarming, if true, is his claim that Bush has "signed a series of top-secret findings and executive orders authorizing secret commando groups and other special forces units to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as 10 nations in the Middle East and South Asia." By depicting such operations as military rather than intelligence, writes Hersh, "will enable the administration to evade legal restrictions imposed on the CIA's covert activities overseas".

What is in it for Pakistan? According to Hersh, Pakistan has made a devilish bargain with the US. In exchange for allowing US special forces to operate from its territory, Washington will not demand that Islamabad hand over Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, A Q Khan, for interrogation about his role in nuclear proliferation. In addition, the special forces are reportedly working closely with a group of Pakistani scientists who had cooperated with their counterparts in Iran. Needless to say, Pakistan has promptly denied such collaboration as "far fetched".

The question now is what are the chances that Hersh's story is right? The story may be right in the sense that the US is badly in need for evidence of Iran's nuclear intentions. There is little doubt that the Bush administration suffers from a serious credibility gap about making future claims regarding Iran's aspirations to develop nuclear weapons without hard evidence. The necessity of hard evidence might be driving any alleged penetration of special forces into Iran, rather than the objective of another regime change. Once such evidence is at hand, Bush may be able to go to the world community and demand that sanctions be placed on Iran.

It is also possible that the US is of the view that Iran might be closer to developing nuclear weapons than anyone - including the nuclear watchdog entity, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has anticipated or speculated. Thus, it does not want to encounter another terrible surprise, as was the case when India and Pakistan brought their nuclear programs out of the closet, or when North Korea made some bold claims about its own nuclear weapons development capabilities.
What are chances that Pakistan is cooperating with the US? It is possible that Pakistan is busy making the best out of the worst situation related to Khan's involvement in nuclear proliferation. More to the point, considering the fact that there is ample suspicion in Washington that Khan might not have acted as a loose canon on his own, and that the government of Pakistan might have tacitly approved his activities at least in the case of North Korea, Musharraf cannot afford to become a target of US sanctions in the future.

Besides, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's unilateral decision to take a "tell-all" approach regarding his own nuclear aspirations has shaken up Pakistan's own nostalgic and starry-eyed perspectives regarding Islamic solidarity. So, establishing a clear distance between itself and Iran might have been just a Machiavellian approach of Pakistan to save its own hide.

If the US really wanted to seek hard evidence about Iran's nuclear intentions, one wonders how much damage Hersh's story has done. Considering that its platter is currently full with the problems related to Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration might not want to create another unmanageable mess by destabilizing Iran. There is also an outside chance that Hersh might have been given this story as a larger campaign of the US to forewarn Iran about the consequences of developing nuclear weapons. Ehsan Ahrari, PhD, is an Alexandria, Virginia, US-based independent strategic analyst.

Karachi opens door to US forces
By Syed Saleem Shahzad and Masood Anwar Asia Times Online / January 19, 2005
KARACHI - Having teamed up with the US to help eliminate Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan is once again proving its worth in the "war on terror", this time in Washington's quest against Iran.

Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker has reported that since at least last summer, US teams have penetrated eastern Iran, reportedly with Pakistan's help, to hunt for secret nuclear and chemical weapons sites and other targets in the hardline Islamic country, which features prominently on the Bush administration's "axis of evil", along with now "liberated" Iraq and North Korea.

Exclusive information gathered by Asia Times Online shows that Pakistan has provided extensive facilities to special United Kingdom and US units to train them in commando operations in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, which in many ways resembles the Iranian towns of Tehran, Shiraz, Isphan and other urban centers. Special forces from the US and Britain have staged unannounced exercises in Karachi. With its maze of high rises, communication networks and the division of the city (Sher-i-Bala and Sher-i-Payien), Tehran and Karachi are very similar.

"Pakistan's support to the US against Iran is logical as Iran did not hesitate to hand over all evidence of Pakistan helping Iran in developing nuclear technology to the international agency [International Atomic Energy Agency]," commented one analyst.

During the exercises, the troops got to know different localities, residential areas, roads and exit points of the city, including railway and bus stations and the airport. For the exercises, the troops were provided with detailed maps of Karachi, including important buildings. The exercises, which started several weeks ago, ended on January 17, highly informed sources revealed to Asia Times Online. The troops were barracked at Malir Cant, the cantonment area of the Pakistan army adjacent to Karachi airport.

On January 11, the troops conducted anti-hijacking exercises on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft at an isolated yard several kilometers from the main terminal and runway, although they were provided with detailed maps of the airport.

While confirming the exercises, a spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Colonel Tahir Idrees Malik, said they were anti-terrorist drills. He said it was an honor for Pakistan to be able to give training "to these friendly countries". When asked why Karachi had been chosen, and why the troops did not do the drills in their own countries, he said exercises always took place where action was expected.

He refused to mention the names of the countries participating in the exercises, and repeatedly said that they were simply meant as preparation for anti-terrorist activities. He also confirmed the anti-hijacking exercises took place on a A-300 PIA aircraft, saying they were part of a long program for troops which included railway and bus stations. Any crowded place could be a target for terrorists, Idrees said.

This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that armed forces, including the Pakistan army, have been known to stage exercises in city areas. Traditionally, they exercise in areas resembling the borders, including deserts and mountains, to prepare for assaults from forces such as India's. Pakistan has fought three wars with India.

Asia Times Online sources maintain that for practical reasons it is difficult to accept the ISPR official's statement that the drills were meant for anti-terror activity in Karachi or in Pakistan. Karachi has been an exit point for Arab-Afghans to their countries of origin in the past, and almost all of the top al-Qaeda operators arrested were captured in or around Karachi, and their network effectively destroyed. Now, official handouts from the government of Pakistan or the US maintain that other al-Qaeda figures are likely to be moving around the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas, while others have been tracked to the northern Punjab or North West Frontier Province.

-Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. -Masood Anwar is a senior reporter of The News International based in Karachi, and an expert on aviation affairs.