Afghanistan News January 29, 2005

January 29, 2005

Karzai urges Iraqis to vote, hopes Afghans will follow 'very soon'
January 28, 2005
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged Iraqis to vote, also saying he wanted parliamentary elections in Afghanistan to be held "very very soon" without giving a specific date.

"Voting is the only way for our brothers and sisters in Iraq to have a government of their choice, to have complete peace and to have prosperity," Karzai told reporters gathered at his palace in Kabul.

The October 9 presidential election in Afghanistan "was the defeat of all of those who did not want Afghanistan to live in a prosperous, peaceful environment," he added.

"Iraq is no exception ... by voting they will actually determine their own future," Karzai said.

Thousands of Iraqis living outside their country began voting Friday in the first elections since president Saddam Hussein was ousted in March 2003 during the US-led invasion with polls opening around the world -- notably in key Middle Eastern countries.

Polls for the battered country's 275-member Transitional National Assembly will be held in Iraq on Sunday amid increased militant attacks against US and Iraqi troops, candidates and civilians.

In Afghanistan, electoral authorities said last year that parliamentary, provincial and district elections should be held before the end of the Afghan month of Saur, the 20th of May in the western calendar.

But analysts expect a delay as the authorities did not respect a deadline last week to define electoral boundaries 120 days ahead of the polls.

The date of the polls "will be decided by the Afghan election commission together with the United Nations," Karzai said.

"They are studying it, they are having their technical preparations for the elections. I hope they can do it as soon as possible. We are in great hurry to have a parliament as soon as possible."

Afghan president presses for early parliamentary vote amid talk of delay
Associated Press / January 28, 2005
President Hamid Karzai on Friday urged organizers of Afghanistan's parliamentary election to hold the vote this spring, but acknowledged an uphill struggle to keep the country's democratic transition on schedule.

Afghans are supposed to elect members for a National Assembly in April or May, though most observers expect a delay because U.N. and Afghan organizers are not ready. Foreign Minister Abdullah said Thursday the vote could be postponed until summer.

Speaking to reporters at his Kabul palace, Karzai said he wanted the country's first post-Taliban parliament to be chosen "very, very soon."

"If they can manage to be ready for the spring we will be very happy, but we cannot force the commission to do it quickly," Karzai said. "Of course they need time."

The election would complete a U.N.-sponsored process to restore the Afghan political system begun after a U.S. bombing campaign drove out the former Taliban government at the end of 2001. Karzai was elected president in a landmark vote in October, but concerns about security prompted the delay of the parliamentary election until the spring.

The hold up has allowed more time for a campaign to disarm regional warlords and militia units who fought in the country's long wars, but has also frustrated powerful opposition figures frozen out of Karzai's new Cabinet.

Foreign Minister Abdullah told The Associated Press on Thursday that technical problems could delay the vote by "around one or two months" _ the clearest admission yet from a senior official that the timetable may slip again.

"This would be OK, and the people would accept that," Abdullah, who goes by one name, said on the margins of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland.

The Afghan electoral commission says it is still considering whether the logistical challenge of organizing the vote _ to elect provincial and district councils as well as a national parliament _ will mean a delay.

Indian FM to visit Afghanistan, Pakistan in Feb
NEW DELHI, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh will pay a brief visit to Afghanistan on Feb. 15 en route to Pakistan, the ministry officials said on Friday.

Singh, who is the first Indian minister to visit Afghanistan since his predecessor Yashwant Sinha was there in 2002, will arrive in Kabul in the morning and leave for Islamabad in the evening for a two-day visit after spending about nine hours in theAfghan capital.

Officials said he would hold talks with President Hamid Karzai,Vice President Ahmad Zia Masood and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Singh will also declare open the new surgical block of the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul, the largest healthcare center in the country built with Indian assistance.

Natwar Singh's tip to Pakistan Feb. 16-17 will be the first official visit by an Indian foreign minister in 16 years.

Pakistan police arrest 23 Afghan terror suspects
Jan. 28, 2005, 9:17AM Associated Press
QUETTA, Pakistan — Police arrested 23 Afghans in raids in the Pakistani border city of Quetta on suspicion of links with Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, officials said today.

The suspects, who included a former deputy governor and ex-police chief in Kabul, were captured from three neighborhoods of the city late Thursday and were being interrogated, said Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqub, the police chief in southwestern Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital.

He said the detainees had held "important positions during Taliban's tenure" in Afghanistan, and "we suspect that some of them have close links with al-Qaida."

Yaqub said the suspects were rounded up in coordinated raids, launched after a tip that terror suspects were hiding in the neighborhoods of Kharotabad, Pashtun Abad and Nawan Kili.

"We have also heard that these people were involved in conspiracies against the Afghan government," he said.

Yaqub identified three of the suspects as Mullah Abdur Razzaq, Mullah Sher Dil and Mufti Rehmat Ullah.

Also among the detainees were former Kabul police chief, Mullah Ibrahim, and Mullah Khush Dil, a former deputy governor of Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

However, Mullah Hakim Latifi, who claims he speaks for the Taliban, denied that any of their former government officials or Taliban leaders had been arrested in Quetta.

"There is no truth in this claim. Our people live in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan," he told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location.

Pakistan was a Taliban supporter but switched sides to support Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. U.S.-led coalition forces ousted the hardline Islamic militia from power in late 2001.

Since then, Pakistani police and intelligence agents have arrested more than 600 terror suspects, including some al-Qaida operatives, who were later handed over to U.S. officials for further investigation.

Eight Afghan refugees killed in Pakistan road accident
Friday January 28, 9:08 PM AP
A bus carrying Afghan refugees collided with a truck in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing eight people and injuring nine, an official said.

The accident happened near Landi Kotal, a town about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, said Iqbal Khan, a government official in the area.

The dead were all male Afghan refugees heading to neighboring Afghanistan. Khan had no details about cause of the accident and said authorities were still investigating.

Millions of Afghans fled their homeland to escape two decades of strife and drought, but many have returned home in the past three years amid hopes for peace and reconstruction.

Fatal traffic accidents are common in Pakistan, where most roads are poorly maintained and drivers are often not properly trained and frequently disregard rules.

IMF Says Afghanistan Making Economic Progress, Warns on Opium
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
28 January 2005 -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is praising Afghanistan for progress in rebuilding its economy, but has criticized the country for not doing more to stop opium production.

A report released late Thursday by the Washington-based lender forecast Afghan economic growth of 8 percent in 2005, far below the high levels of 29 percent that followed the ousting of the former Taliban rulers by U.S.-led forces in 2001. But it said growth is primarily due to foreign aid and, possibly, opium-related demand.

The IMF said ending the opium economy is vital for Afghanistan's political and economic stability. Experts say Afghanistan accounts for about 70 percent of worldwide supplies of the drug.

In a separate statement on Thursday, the World Bank said it has approved a 27-million-dollar grant for Afghanistan to strengthengovernment administration, public procurement and financial and accountability systems.

Rampant graft among IMF concerns in Afghanistan
Fri Jan 28,12:19 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The IMF has expressed concern over "widespread" graft, increasing drug activities and lack of transparency in Afghanistan, in an annual review of the economy.

The International Monetary Fund said such concerns might undermine the business environment picking up after the country's first presidential elections last year following 20 years of civil war.

The IMF said "notwithstanding progress made so far, much remains to be done with respect to improving governance."

Directors of the IMF executive board "regretted indications that widespread corruption, the rise in drug activities, and the lack of transparency in many areas may have undermined the business environment," the report said.

But the IMF pointed out that Afghanistan, still battling an insurgency in the south where the ousted Taliban militia remains active, had successfully implemented a one-year Fund-monitored program expiring in March.

The country, which relies on donor funds, had kept its commitments for fiscal discipline and management, the IMF said on Thursday.

"Overall, the authorities have successfully implemented this program," which focuses on "capacity building and establishing basic economic underpinnings for many of government reforms," it said.

But the report cautioned that the government was not making progress in the battle to halt opium farming, which generates about 2.8 billion dollars in revenue and is equivalent to about 60 percent of non-drug Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of opium, used to make heroin.

President Hamid Karzai, who won elections in October after serving two years as the US-picked interim leader, is facing an uphill battle trying to wean the economy from drug dependence.

Karzai said earlier this month he was considering an amnesty for drug traffickers, many of whom allegedly hold senior government positions and are making millions of dollars from the opium trade.

Separately, the World Bank said Thursday it had approved a 27 million doilar grant to strengthen the administrative functions of Karzai's government.

It will support ongoing work to improve public procurement, financial management and accountability systems, a Bank statement said.

Jean Mazurelle, World Bank Country Manager for Afghanistan, said although the government had taken substantive measures to build an effective public administration, it faced "enormous challenges."

Afghanistan: Newly renovated Wazir Akbar Khan
Hospital handed over to Public Health Ministry
Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) / January 28, 2005
Following extensive renovations, Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital in the Afghan capital, Kabul, was handed over to the Ministry of Public Health on 25 January 2005.
Technicians from the Norwegian Red Cross, working closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Ministry and senior hospital staff, had been carrying out repairs to the building since the summer of 2002, installing a new central heating system, (with financial support from the Kuwait Red Crescent Society) and fixing the roof, windows and doors. The water supply system has also been improved, the wiring completely replaced, the walls plastered and painted, and floors and walls tiled where needed. The hospital also received two generators, and the Danish Red Cross, working under the auspices of the ICRC, installed a waste management station, maintenance workshop and X-ray machines.

The ICRC's connection with Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital goes back many years. The 100-bed facility was, and still is, the main referral hospital for orthopaedic and emergency surgery in Afghanistan. In the 1990s, as fighting raged in and around Kabul, the ICRC provided the hospital with regular supplies of medicines, medical material, food and fuel - help it sorely needed. In 1994, for example, up to one third of the capital's thousands of war wounded were treated there or at Karte She Hospital in western Kabul, which the ICRC also supported. Between 1996 and 2004, Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital admitted 71,500 patients and performed 50,000 operations. Some 28,600 patients received blood transfusions.

Today, the spacious building with its new cream and pale lilac paintwork presents a gracious face to the outside. Inside, the wards and staff rooms are warm and cheerful. The rooms are bright, and the formidable treeless mountains around Kabul can be seen through the tall windows.

Now that the renovation is practically finished and the building handed over to the Ministry of Public Health, the ICRC will continue to provide medical and non-medical supplies, hygiene items, stationery and staff incentives for another three months.

In all, about 20 staff from the Norwegian and Danish Red Cross Societies and the ICRC have been associated with the project since the renovations began nearly three years ago. During the handover ceremony, the head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan, Philip Spoerri, paid tribute to the patience and dedication of all those involved in the programme, not least the hospital's own doctors and nurses, who risked their lives to assist the sick and injured during the terrible years of war and continue to serve their people today.

For further information, please contact: Jessica Barry, ICRC Kabul, tel. ++9370 282 719 or ++9370 276 465 or visit our website: www.icrc.org

Bush frees defense aid for Afghanistan
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (AFP) - Two days after seeking some 75 billion dollars for Iraq and Afghanistan, US President George W. Bush on Thursday ordered that 88.5 million dollars in military aid be provided to the government in Kabul.

"I hereby direct the drawdown of up to 88.5 million (dollars) of defense articles, defense services, and military education and training from the Department of Defense for the Government of Afghanistan," he said.

Bush's order came in a memorandum for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which was released by the White House.

'I will never surrender,' Abdullah Mehsud
Kashmir Images, January 27, 2005 - By Mohammad Shehzad
Abdullah Mehsud, the commander of the Islamic militants who kidnapped two Chinese engineers in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, spent 25 months in custody at the US base in Guantanamo Bay before his release in March 2004.

As a young man, Mehsud, now 29, fought for the Taleban against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. He lost a leg in a landmine explosion a few days before the Taleban took Kabul in September 1996.

He surrendered along with several thousand fighters to the forces of Uzbek warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum, in December 2001 in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, and was later turned over to the US military authorities.

Mehsud studied at a government college in Peshawar before attending a seminary where he befriended Afghan Taleban members and joined their movement. Mehsud, whose real name is Noor Alam, is a Pashtun, the same ethnic group as the Taleban and belongs to the Mehsud tribe that inhabits South Waziristan on the Afghanistan border. His long hair and daredevil nature has made him a colourful character.

Since his return from Guantanamo Bay, Mehsud has become a hero to anti-US fighters active in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was a comrade of another tribal militant commander, Nek Mohammad, who was killed by a Pakistani army missile in June. Mehsud sometimes rides a camel or horse while visiting his fighters in his mountainous abode. On other occasions, his men drive him in a vehicle and protect him round-the-clock. Abdullah Mehsud contacted Mohammad Shehzad by sat-phone from an undisclosed location and answered the following questions:

Q: The Government of Pakistan has asked you to surrender before January 27 or face dire consequences. What have you decided?

A: Surrender is out of question. I will never surrender and prefer to embrace martyrdom while fighting till the last drop of blood.

Q: Aren't you killing your own Muslim brothers! This is a great sin. How could you compare it with martyrdom?

A: They are not Muslims. Their deeds are not Islamic. They are the agents of the evil powers and America is their boss. Our enemy is America because it is the biggest terrorist on earth. It is massacring the innocent Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. We have waged jihad against America. Now, if somebody-Muslim or non-Muslim is with America in this jihad, he is the enemy of Islam. He is our enemy and we are bound to attack him. Musharraf and Pakistan army is the enemy of Islam. Both are the slaves of America and massacring the innocent people of South Waziristan at America's behest. In these circumstances, jihad is mandatory against Musharraf and the Pakistani army and we will continue to fight it.

Q: You are the killer of the Chinese engineers. They were innocent people. Islam does not allow the killing of the innocent people.

A: I did not kill the Chinese engineers. They were killed by the Pakistan army...

Q: It is a lame excuse. You kidnapped them and the army had to launch an operation to save their lives. Had you not kidnapped them, they would been still alive.

A: Had my demands been accepted, they would been still alive! You must have heard that all is fair in love and war!

Q: Why do you want to be another Nek Mohammad?

A: It is an honor to die like Nek Mohammad. He was a great mujahid. He has set an example for people like us. One should aspire to embrace martyrdom like Nek Mohammad. And remember one thing. Nek Mohammad was the name of a mission and cause i.e. fight against the tyrant and oppressor. When he received martyrdom, I replaced him. When I will receive martyrdom, someone else will replace me. Causes and missions don't die with the death of the people. We have waged jihad against oppression and we will continue it until we finish the oppressors.

Q: What do you want?

A: It is very simple-we are not terrorists. We are mujahideen. Don't label us as 'terrorists'. There is only one terrorist i.e. America. It should stop massacring our people in South Waziristan. It should stop massacring the Muslims of Afghanistan. Like Nek Mohammad, I am also telling you that there are no foreign terrorists in the tribal areas. The army has failed to arrest a single foreign terrorist. It is killing its own innocent people to please America.

Q: Some newspapers wrote that you are an agent of America and it is using you to spoil China-Pak relations. And you kidnapped the Chinese engineers at the US behest.

A: It is absolutely false allegation. I am an 'agent' of Allah and I report to Amir ul Momineen Mullah Omar.

Q: What's the latest about Mullah Omar?

A: He is absolutely fine. He is holding meetings with several of his commanders at various locations in Afghanistan and planning a new strategy against America. You will soon be hearing about the new plans. I can assure you that the 2005 will be 'hell' for America.

Q: This is a 'stereotype' that we all hear...

A: It is not a 'stereotype'. Americans have failed to gain the complete control of Afghanistan and our jihad is behind their failure. I can tell you that it will be very difficult for Karzai to hold parliamentary elections successfully. We will foil it the way we foiled the presidential election.

Q: Wasn't the presidential election very successful!

A: You seem to be very influenced with the reports of the western media!

Spanish troops for west Afghanistan
By Daniel Dombey in Brussels - Jan 28 2005
Nato is set to expand its mission in Afghanistan, following a Spanish decision to break an impasse within the 26-nation alliance by committing troops to the west of the country.

Madrid's move, which has yet to be formally announced, may diminish tensions with the US, which flared up last year after the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero withdrew Spanish forces from Iraq.

It also paves the way for Nato to take much greater responsibility for the country as a whole. "This is obviously going to have an effect in Afghanistan," said a senior Spanish diplomat. "I hope that it's also going to have a substantial effect on relations with the US."

The decision follows Nato's failure in December to provide sufficient forces to carry out the second phase of its stabilisation mission in Afghanistan.

Spain and Lithuania have now both come forward to provide forces for two separate provincial reconstruction teams in the west of the country, while the US has made it clear that it will transfer command of two teams of its own in the area to Nato. Italy will also assist the effort.

Spain will be moving almost all of 540 soldiers, currently in the relative security of Kabul. About half the Spanish soldiers will set up a reconstruction team, eventually with assistance from non-governmental organisations. The other half will man a forward support base to protect all four reconstruction teams in the area.

The alliance has to date established five provincial reconstruction teams in the north of the country and hopes to follow up with expansion to the south of the country. The UK and Canada are standing by for this phase.

World Bank Increases Support For Public Administration
World Bank 01/27/2005
Washington - The World Bank today approved a US$27 million grant to strengthen the administrative functions of the Government of Afghanistan. It will support ongoing work to improve public procurement, financial management and accountability systems.

Afghanistan's economy has performed strongly in the past two and half years with non-drug GDP reaching US$4.6 billion in 2003-04 (corresponding to a GDP per capita of about US$200 per year), an increase of almost 50 percent, albeit from a very low base. This is mainly attributable to the recovery of agriculture from the drought, revival of economic activities after major conflict ended, and the commencement of reconstruction efforts. This solid performance has been supported by the government's sound macroeconomic polices-a highly successful currency reform in late 2002, a prudent no overdraft policy prohibiting domestic financing of the budget deficit, conservative monetary policy, and good management of the exchange rate.

"The Government of Afghanistan has taken substantive measures to build an effective public administration that is small and focused on core functions. It is more decentralized, better skilled, equipped and managed, more accountable, and more representative in terms of gender and ethnicity," said Jean Mazurelle, World Bank Country Manager for Afghanistan. "However enormous challenges remain, including improving security throughout the country, re-establishing national unity, developing institutions capable of formulating and implementing policies, and reaching out to provinces to collect revenues and deliver services."

The Third Public Administration Capacity Building Project, financed by a grant from the World Bank's International Development Association, builds upon successful work of two earlier projects and aims to build capacity within the government in key procurement and fiduciary areas so that government staff can assume key functions to adequate standards. The project will help develop the regulatory and institutional framework in core fiduciary management areas; furthering systems development based on a full understanding of medium-term requirements and the country's implementation capacity; and building capacity so that government staff can maintain and operate systems independently and effectively.

The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Finance, the Afghanistan Research and Development Services, and the Control and Audit Office.

Chinese company to rebuild Afghan power station
Radio Afghanistan 01/27/2005
An agreement on reconstruction of Kajaki power dam in Helmand Province was signed between the USAID and the Chinese international machine-building company in Beijing today.

A source of the Afghan embassy in China reported to Bakhtar Information Agency that according to the agreement, the reconstruction of the Kajaki power dam would start shortly and would be completed in two years. [Passage omitted]

Prof. Dr Rahi Barlas, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to China, and the US charge d'affaires to Kabul, David Sydney, attended the signing ceremony. The Afghan ambassador to China expressed thanks to those countries taking part in the reconstitution of Afghanistan.

Relations Between Tehran, Kabul Growing Stronger
Golnaz Esfandiari - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Iran today for a two-day visit during which he will officially inaugurate a road linking the Doqarun border region in northeastern Iran with the western Afghan city of Herat. Karzai's Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Khatami, will also participate in the ceremony. Iran recently completed work on the 122-kilometer road, which both sides hope will be a further boost to bilateral trade. Iran is already one of Afghanistan's main trade partners. RFE/RL takes a closer look at the broadening ties between Tehran and Kabul.

Prague, 26 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- This is Karzai's first official visit since taking presidential office in early December. He is leading a high-level delegation that includes the ministers of the interior, finance, and economy, as well as the minister for refugees. Karzai and Khatami are set to inaugurate the Doqarun-Herat road tomorrow.

The Iranian Embassy in Kabul said Karzai and Khatami would also open a newly completed power transmission line running from Torbat-e Jam in northeastern Iran to Herat, as well as eight border stations constructed by Iran in Afghanistan's Herat, Nimruz, and Farah provinces.

Iran is working on several other reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Media in December reported the opening of the first Iranian bank (Ariyan Bank) in Kabul. Iran and Afghanistan are also cooperating in the fight against the trafficking of drugs from Afghanistan.

Colonel Christopher Langton, who heads the defense analysis department at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said Iran is an important country in the future reconstruction and development of Afghanistan.

"They are being closely linked by efforts against the Taliban in the past, but also because of the influence that Iran can bring there with the Hazara population [who, like Iranians, are Shi'a Muslims]. And in the development sector, there are already projects which Iran is involved in -- for instance, the road from Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf up through Afghanistan to Central Asia is a very, very important project for the future of Afghanistan," Langton said. "There is a whole list of political, economic, and security issues which connect Afghanistan and Iran."

Iran and Afghanistan are also connected historically and culturally. And Iran's strained relations with the United States have not prevented Tehran from strengthening its economic and trade cooperation with Kabul since the U.S.-led fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

President Karzai's trip to Iran comes amid growing speculation about a U.S. military strike on Iran. An article published recently in "The New Yorker" magazine said U.S. Special Forces have been penetrating eastern Iran from Afghanistan since last summer in order to identify sites for possible strikes.

In a recent interview with RFE/RL's Afghan Service, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi denied the report. "No forces have entered Iran from Afghanistan," Azimi said. "Afghanistan's policy and strategy is to have good relations with its neighbors. We want to be sure about their non-interference, and they also should be sure about Afghanistan's non-interference."

A spokesman for Karzai, Rafiullah Mujaddedi, said he was unsure whether the Afghan and Iranian presidents would discuss reports that the U.S. military
-- which has thousands of troops in Afghanistan -- had conducted spying missions inside Iran.

Langton said a U.S. military strike on Iran would have a deeply negative impact on ties between the two neighbors. "The Iranian regime sees [Karzai] as somebody who was brought to power quite legitimately, but nevertheless on the back of very, very strong support from the U.S., which is still to a large extent maintaining its position inside Afghanistan," Langton said. "So any American military action against Iran -- however likely or unlikely -- is going to affect the way Iran and Afghanistan develop their relationship in the immediate and near future."

Lieutenant General Eric Olson, the operational commander of U.S. forces pursuing Taliban and Al-Qaeda remnants in Afghanistan, told AP on 24 January that he knew of no U.S. spying missions in Iran.

He also cautioned that any instability in the Islamic Republic could have an adverse effect on U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Karzai and Khatami are also expected to discuss security issues and the repatriation of Afghan refugees living in Iran.

There have been reports in recent weeks of round-ups of illegal Afghan immigrants in Iran. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) has expressed concern over the wave of arrests and said that there are indications that some registered refugees are being forcibly returned as well.

Iran has been host to more than 2 million Afghan refugees during the last two decades. But since the fall of the Taliban, Iranian officials have called on the refugees to return home. The UNHCR estimates there are still 950,000 Afghan refugees in Iran.

Afghan girls secure second position in Asian women's competitions
By Frozan Danish
KABUL, Jan. 27, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Afghanistan has emerged in the second position in the Asian women's sports championship being held in Iran. Afghanistan's women athletes picked up nine silver and bronze medals in the competition which saw the participation of 72 teams from 19 Islamic countries.

Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani, head of the Taekwando Federation and the National Olympics Committee of Afghanistan, led the Afghan delegation which comprised of 22 women athletes from inside the country as well as from the refugee Afghan population in Iran. The women participated in the taekwando, karate, athletic and ping pong competitions.

The Afghan taekwando players won two silver medals and five of bronze with the karate athletes securing two more bronze medals, Rabbani said. "Though teams from Iran won both the first and second place, Afghanistan came third securing the second rank amongst all the participating countries which included Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran and Arab countries, Rabbani told Pazhwok. The women ping pong players have their competition two days later.

Afghan chief justice urges US military to observe human rights
Radio Afghanistan 01/27/2005
Kabul - The US forces should observe human rights in our country. This comment was made by the chief justice and chairman of the supreme court, Fazl Hadi Shinwari, at a meeting with the UN legal advisers today.

He said: The Americans should consult officials of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan before arresting suspects. They keep the arrested people in detention for several months without any trial who later turn out to be innocent. The chief justice drew the attention of the United Nations to this issue.

In turn, a UN legal adviser said that they had discussed the issue with the American military authorities in Afghanistan. He said the reason for such actions is that the presence of the international forces in Afghanistan had not been organized in a framework which should define the limits of their activities and relations. They also discussed the cases of some people involved in human rights violations in the past.

Helmand army corps disarmed and dismantled
By Javid Samim
KANDAHAR, Jan. 27, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- An army corps has been disarmed and dismantled in southwestern Helmand province as part of the nationwide disarmament program.

Abdul Aziz Ahmad, an official of the regional office of the Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration(DDR) program in the southern zone, told Pajhwok that the Infantry Army Corps No. 93, which had two battalions in the capital city of Lashkargah and two battalions in Garishk district, had been disarmed and dismantled.

"Three hundred people have returned to civilian life from this corps which gave up 200 light weapons and 40 pieces of heavy weaponry," Ahmad said, promising that the disarmed men would be provided with jobs and vocational training.

He added that disarmament of the No. 2 Army Corps along with its divisions and brigades in the southern zone would be completed by February 3. So far, 2,400 soldiers and military officers have been disarmed in five southern provinces, including Helmand, Oruzgan, Zabul, Kandahar and Nimruz.

Kandahar Governor issues warning on poppy
By Saeed Zabulai
KANDAHAR, Jan. 27, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Governor of Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar has threatened to dismiss his district chiefs if the poppy growing in their areas is not eradicated.

In a meeting with district chiefs and security officials in Kandahar city, Governor Gul Agha Shirzai told his subordinates to obey the law and avoid corruption.

"I will severely punish the person responsible before dismissing him if poppy is seen in his district," Gul Agha threatened. He added that he would replace non-performing officials with officials from the northern provinces.

Gul Agha emphasized that the era of lawlessness had come to an end, saying officials should now work for the rule of law. Inefficiency and corruption would no longer be tolerated he said.

United in fighting Afghan drugs trade
Financial Times Letters to the Editor, UK. 01/27/2005 By Mary Beth Long and Lance L Smith
Sir, Your article "Poppy crackdown could alienate warlords and imperil Afghan poll, say US generals" (January 3) incorrectly asserted that US government civilian and military officials are "divided" on their approach to addressing Afghanistan's burgeoning illicit drug trade. The article also alleged that counter-narcotics efforts would result in the "alienation of regional warlords" and therefore threaten the very stability the Afghan government is trying to create.

Both of these assertions are incorrect. The Department of Defence civilian and military leadership are in full accord on this issue.

The adverse effect of the narcotics problem on Afghanistan's security, stability and society is significant, and requires a multifaceted and long-term effort that the Afghan government must undertake. The US government has developed an interagency plan to support the Afghans in this endeavour. Our assistance rests on five pillars: eradication, interdiction, public information, law enforcement and economic development. This plan is part of the overall strategy for Afghanistan.

The department of state conducts eradication. Contrary to the suggestion in your article, the US military does not eradicate poppy. The military does, however, provide support to counter-narcotics efforts, including support to US, UK and Afghan interdiction activities.

The US plan has been developed to enhance and enable our Afghan allies, and reflects Afghan president Hamid Karzai's recent declarations that the fight against the drug trade is analogous to a "jihad", and that those involved in the drug trade, including warlords, will not be tolerated. The plan has been integrated with efforts planned by the UK, which is the lead country for the coalition's anti-drug efforts. The Afghan narcotics threat commands increasing attention and will require more resources from all the coalition partners in Afghanistan. The democracy and freedom the Afghan people long for and deserve hang in the balance.

Lance L. Smith, Lieutenant General, US Air Force, Deputy Commander, US Central Command Mary Beth Long, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Counternarcotics.

Afghan opium town suffers hard times after ban on drugs bazaar
By Nick Meo in Jalalabad 29 January 2005 Independent News & Media (UK)
Until a few months ago Afghanistan's biggest opium bazaar was on the outskirts of a ramshackle village called Ghani Khel, on a lush plain near the Khyber Pass backed by the snow-covered Tora Bora mountains.

Trade in the grey-brown cakes took place in a row of rickety wooden huts behind the main street. Farmers flocked there with the precious harvest, hard and grey on the outside, gooey and black in the middle, and traders came from Pakistan, Iran or Turkey to find the best-quality source.

Now opium is banned, the farmers have been forced to plant wheat, and Ghani Khel is a boom town that has gone bust. Opium was the only reason for outsiders to ever come here.

The bazaar is a 15-minute bumpy drive from the main road, halfway between the eastern city of Jalalabad and the Pakistan border, in the middle of what were until recently Afghanistan's richest poppy fields. Every spring for the past three years a sea of beautiful white and purple blooms has covered Nangarhar province, even though growing it was technically illegal.

The authorities also turned a blind eye to the throngs of turbaned farmers who headed to the bazaar to haggle with the Arthur Daleys of Afghanistan's opium world, men enriched by years of bumper crops.

A handful of really big players have invested their illicit fortunes in Dubai or Tajikistan, potential bolt-holes if the government ever gets serious about arresting them. Middle- men have built ugly villas in Jalalabad. The farmers have rebuilt villages destroyed in the war, invested in shiny new tractors, or blown the profits on extravagant weddings where tracer fire lights up the sky.

This year, however, the party is over. Furtive, scowling characters still lurk around the bazaar, and it doesn't take long for shady youths to offer opium at an inflated price - £70 for a 200g lump the size of a small orange, looking like a dried, misshapen cowpat.

But pickings are lean. Ghani Khel looks today more like a fly-blown town from a spaghetti western than the Afghan version of Wall Street.

The grim mood of the town's residents matched its depressed appearance, a far cry from the get-rich-quick atmosphere of the past.

"I have 16 members of my family to support and the government will not let me grow poppy," said Hezbullah, who shook with anger as he brandished a sheaf of prescriptions for medicines that he could not afford to buy.

"The Russians destroyed our homes, opium is the only crop we can sell. Without it we will have to head back to the refugee camps in Pakistan where we lived for years."

Another man blamed the American military. "The police would not stop drugs if they were not told to by the Americans," he said. "What can we farmers do against men with guns? And the Americans will bomb us if we resist."

Women in filthy burkhas sit in the dust staring into the distance. Shops are reduced to trading potatoes or cheap Chinese-made cooking utensils. An unemployed army of farmers and traders wander the dusty main street, grousing to anyone who will listen about how the government's ban has put them out of business.

The man chiefly held responsible for their plight is the warlord-turned-police chief Hazrat Ali. Mr Ali was hired by the American military in 2001 to fight the battle of Tora Bora. Mr Ali's family was controversial before that - it has prospered for years in one of Afghanistan's main opium producing areas.

But Western diplomats in Kabul are quietly delighted that the poppy-growing ban has been enforced, the first time anyone has succeeded in stopping opium cultivation since the Taliban managed it, and the first big success for President Hamid Karzai's government.

Mr Ali believes he has brought about a 98 per cent reduction in the province of Nangarhar. Western sources estimate it closer to 70 or 80 per cent, still astounding after the figures last year showed the biggest ever area under poppy cultivation.

If the grip of the drugs industry is to be loosened, consolidating the success is vital. The second-biggest poppy growing province of Helmand has seen only a modest reduction in planting while Badakshan, the third big opium province, is thought to have seen business as usual.

Pakistan says will go ahead with pipeline with or without India
DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - Pakistan said that it would press ahead with a gas pipeline project even if India refused or was unable to join the plan. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the pipeline, an energy corridor linking Pakistan and India with Iran, Qatar and the Middle East, would also bring a political dividend by helping create interdependent relations between the two nuclear neighbours.

But he told a breakfast meeting on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Pakistan would need to import much more gas over the next few years just to meet its own needs.

He said he had told the Indian government: "If you come along, we would be delighted to work with you. "If for some reason you don't (take part), Pakistan is going to go ahead anyway, so tell us when you're ready."

The 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) pipeline is designed to transfer gas from Iran to India through Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, which has been under a low-level tribal insurgency.

Speaking at an earlier press conference, Aziz said that as well as talks with Iran and Qatar, he was also talking to officials in Turkmenistan as the shortest route might pass through that central Asian republic, depending on which of three construction projects was chosen.

"If all hands are on deck we could do the full project in three to five years," Aziz said on Friday. "This project can create history and really change the energy dynamics of the region ... even the diplomatic relations and the political dimensions of the region," he predicted.

Aziz said he would discuss the 4.05-billion-dollar (3.1-billion-euro) project when he met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the fringes of a February 6-7 summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Negotiations on the pipeline began in 1994, but made little headway owing to tensions between Pakistan and India which have fought three wars since gaining independence in 1947 from Britain. However, improving relations between India and Pakistan since April 2003 have revived hopes the project could go ahead.

Reward announced for information on kidnappers of murdered Kandahar boy
Pajhwok Afghan News 01/27/2005 By Najib Khilwatgar
KANDHAR - Provincial officials in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar have announced a reward of one million Afghanis for any information leading to the capture of the kidnappers of a 10-year old boy.

The 10-year old boy Mohammed Tahir was killed by the kidnappers despite the ransom paid by the child's father. Earlier the kidnappers had chopped off the boy's finger and sent it to his father with a ransom note. The boy was kidnapped when he was on his way to school last week.

Kandahar Governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, said identity of those who provide the information will be kept secret.

Tahir's father, Abdul Qader, said the abductors made him pay for the life of his son but he never saw him alive. "The kidnappers sent the small finger of my son to me with a letter asking for $15,000 telling me not to without inform officials the day before Eid. I brought the money to the place they assigned. But they didn't free my son," the father told Pajhwok. He found his son's dead body enclosed in a carton on the second day of Eid.

Provincial officials confirm the account of Abdul Qader and say they will arrest the kidnappers soon. "Efforts are underway to arrest the child-abductors soon," Gen. Salim Ehsas, security chief of Kandahar told Pajhwok. Ehsas did not give further details as this would jeopardize the efforts.

Last month the Kandahar police had arrested a child kidnapper and rescued a 14-year old girl in the Loya Viala area of the province.

Heavy snowfall leads to traffic accidents
Ahmad Khalid / Frontier Post (Pakistan) / January 27, 2005
KABUL: The heavy snowfall in Kabul over the past few days has been costly for some residents with the slippery roads leading to a spurt in traffic accidents. At least nine persons were either injured or suffered damages to their vehicles during the past few days in seven separate accidents.

Nazar Mohammad, who was driving a land cruiser, collided with a car in the snow today, blaming the accident on the fact that the car had no snow chains. Claiming that it would cost him 2000 Afs to repair his vehicle Mohammad said traffic police should not allow cars without chains on the roads during snowfall. Municipal authorities should also clear the roads of the snow he said.

The number of actual traffic accidents is likely to be much higher than the number of cases registered with the Kabul city traffic department as most people resolve the issue themselves without going to the traffic police.

Fateh Mohammad, assistant chief for the assessment of traffic incidents, told this scribe that the reason for the spurt in traffic incidents was the carelessness of drivers and their ignorance about traffic safety rules.
"During snowy days, drivers don't use safety chains and they drive fast causing traffic accidents."

According to him, most traffic incidents could be prevented by following traffic rules, lining the roads with sand and salt and widening of the roads.

Traffic rules stipulate that drivers are required to put chains around the tires of their vehicles during snowfall. Amir Mohammad, head of a traffic unit in Kabul City asked all drivers to be equipped with tools such chain, snow cleaner and headlight during snowfall.

15 commerce ministers to attend Expo 2005
Dawn
KARACHI, Jan 28: At least 15 commerce ministers from different countries, including Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Jordan, Azerbaijan and Uganda, will visit the Expo Pakistan 2005 along with their delegations and hold talks for bilateral trade promotion.

Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, Export Promotion Bureau vice-chairman Abid Javed Akbar said that leaders of chambers of commerce of these countries would also accompany them and sign MoUs with the FPCCI and chambers of Karachi and Lahore.

Besides, delegations from the US, the EU, China, Latin American countries, the Middle East, Far East and African region have also confirmed participation at this first-ever mega exhibition of "made in Pakistan" products, he adds.

Mr Akbar said that the number of foreign guests willing to attend this exhibition was growing day by day and the EPB had sought the availability of state guest houses and Army mess other than five-star hotels for the lodging and boarding of foreign guests.

He pointed out that 10 sectors had been selected for displaying their products at the exhibition on the basis of unique items, established brands and style of products.

These are textiles and garments, gems and jewellery, leather, rice, sports goods, engineering goods, surgical items, pharmaceutical, fisheries, fresh fruits and auto parts.

Mr Akbar said that 450 exhibitors had so far booked space for stalls, while the remaining available space was sufficient for 50 stalls at the exhibition. He pointed out that an investment conference would also be held on February 3.

Besides, product clinics will be held for eight sectors to train Pakistani manufacturers, he added. The EPB vice-chairman said that UN procurement experts had been invited to teach procedures to Pakistani exporters to enable them to successfully participate in procurements. -APP