Afghanistan News March 1, 2005

March 1, 2005

Over 200 Afghan children killed by cold: health minister
February 28, 2005
(Kyodo) _ More that 200 children in Afghanistan have died of pneumonia and whooping cough caused by cold weather during the last two months, Afghan Health Minister Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi said Monday.

Fatemi told Kyodo News that 219 children under 5 years of age, including 100 in Ghour Province alone in the country's southwest, died of cold-related diseases, adding the total number of deaths was expected to increase.

He pointed out that several fatalities go unreported, adding that reports from remote areas cut off because of snow were not available.

At least 40 deaths have been caused by avalanches and landslides in different parts of the country.

A Ghour official said the NATO-led multinational International Security Assistance Force in coordination with World Food Program has air dropped food supplies and essential items in some parts of the province.

Several Afghan elders believe that this year's winter in Afghanistan was the severest and coldest in more than a decade.

AFGHANISTAN: Battling to bring winter relief
28 Feb 2005 16:41:16 GMT
KABUL, 28 February (IRIN) - Emergency relief still hasn't reached many areas of rural Afghanistan suffering from avalanches and intense snow storms, IRIN learnt on Monday. Aid agencies, the United Nations and the Afghan government have been battling to assist thousands of victims of the unprecedented cold winter that has killed more than 500 people, mostly women and children, around the country.

Aid workers said disease outbreaks, blocked roads and food shortages were the immediate problems. Roads blocked by snow have led to a delay in getting emergency assistance to nearly 61 districts in 19 provinces where access has been restricted by snowfalls, according to aid bodies.

Although hundreds are reported dead in the coldest winter in the region in decades, officials at the Ministry of Health have confirmed only 200 deaths so far, mostly attributed to severe respiratory disease such as pneumonia, whooping cough and tuberculosis.

Ministry officials said they had been trying to deploy health workers to badly affected areas using two military helicopters, but the aircraft were only of limited use due to the continuing appalling weather conditions, a spokesman said.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said 3,000 mt of food items had been airlifted to vulnerable communities with the help of US-led coalition helicopters to areas with no access by road.

"There are many places where we are struggling to reach people hit by the worst winter in a decade," Ebadullah Ebadi, an information officer with WFP in Kabul, told IRIN. Ebadi said that in the past two weeks the food was distributed mainly in the central, east-central, southern, northeastern and western parts of the country. "Roads are so difficult to use that one WFP four-wheel-drive vehicle took seven hours to cover a 10 km distance in Ghor province," he noted.

WFP's efforts to help tens of thousands of Afghans who have been hit by the unusually harsh winter run parallel to the food agency's national programmes to provide food aid to nearly six million people around Afghanistan, Ebadi added.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the situation was being tackled through a winter coordination group meeting every other day, bringing together representatives from nine government ministries, the coalition, the NATO-led protection force known as ISAF, USAID, UN agencies and other relevant organisations.

According to UNAMA, emergency workers from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and UN agencies are currently working in 13 provinces to determine the most vulnerable people and their needs. "But there are still some areas which are hard to reach," Ariane Quentier, a UNAMA senior public information officer, told IRIN. Among the areas of greatest concern are the mountainous provinces of Badakhshan and Baghlan in the north and Nurestan, further south, she said.

Meanwhile, 21 of 25 passes in the country were reopened after several days of work by Afghan Ministry of Public Works, Solidarités, the NGO in charge of the maintenance of three of the main passes in the central highlands region, and the United Nations Office for Project Service (UNOPS).

But milder weather may bring little respite. There is a real potential for serious flooding as the great mass of snow covering most of the country starts to melt. Afghanistan has had to deal with floods in the past, but this year, aid workers said, risks are greater due to the increase in snow and ice.

Karzai considering role for Afghan strongman Dostum
01 Mar 2005 10:11:01 GMT By Yousuf Azimy
KABUL, March 1 (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is considering reappointing a controversial regional strongman to a government post, despite calls by rights groups for him to sideline warlords.

Karzai's spokesman Jawed Ludin told a news briefing on Tuesday that General Abdul Rashid Dostum had held a number of meetings with the president in Kabul and that the possibility of Dostum taking a government post had been discussed.

Dostum narrowly survived an assassination attempt in January and contested recent elections against Karzai.

"All I can say at this stage is that, yes, he is being considered," Ludin said. "If he is willing to take up a government post and he is offering his services to that effect, I think that is a good thing; that's a positive sign."

"I am sure that General Dostum can be offered a very good, respectable, and appropriate job."

Asked about charges that Dostum was guilty of human rights violations and war crimes, Ludin replied: "Let's not talk about that because that's a completely different issue."

"That's a completely separate discussion, and I think that's for the future, but as things stand, everyone in Afghanistan has the right to basically fulfil their responsibilities and be given opportunity to do so."

Ludin did not say for which post Dostum might be considered, but Karzai has already given a cabinet post to another regional strongman, Ismail Khan, who resisted attempts to extend central control in the west of the country last year.

FOURTH IN ELECTION
Dostum came fourth in October's presidential elections and diplomats say he has felt sidelined after being left out of Karzai's new cabinet, having served as a military adviser to his previous government.

Relations between the two have often been strained.

After Karzai came to power, Dostum's fighters threatened attempts to bring stability by clashing repeatedly with those of an ethnic Tajik rival, and last April, the president was forced to send national army troops to restore order after the general's federalist militiamen moved into a northern province.

Before the elections, Karzai vowed to make warlord militias such as Dostum's a thing of the past, but analysts have warned that despite some progress, the process of disarming such private armies is in danger of derailing.

This month, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank said Karzai's government and its U.S.-led international backers had been complicit in maintaining the power of militia commanders to fight Islamic militancy, threatening parliamentary polls due later this year.

In considering Dostum for a government post, Karzai will be aware that the general retains considerable popularity in his native ethnic Uzbek heartlands of northern Afghanistan, where his private army helped U.S. forces defeat the Taliban in late 2001.

In January, Dostum narrowly escaped injury when a suicide bomber blew himself up and wounded more than 20 people in his home town of Shiberghan. The Taliban said the attack was in retaliation for Dostum's killing of their fighters in 2001.

Dostum's forces were accused of letting hundreds of Taliban prisoners suffocate to death in transport containers after their capture in 2001. Dostum has denied the charge but said that many may have died of wounds from the fighting.

Explosion wounds 3 in south Afghanistan
KABUL, Feb. 28 (Xinhua)-- At least three Afghan policemen were wounded as the vehicle they were traveling in run over a landmine in the troubled Helmand province Monday, a spokesman of the Interior Ministry said.

"Three policemen were injured when their car hit a landmine in Helmand's provincial capital Lashkargah at 12:10 pm today," spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told Xinhua.

It is the second attack on government interests in Taliban's former stronghold in south Afghanistan over the past week.

In a similar attack by suspected Taliban militia in Helmand province last Friday, nine paratroopers were killed. In a statement issued two weeks ago, Leader of the hardline fundamentalist movement Mullah Mohammad Omar said that the movement will step up anti-government activities when the winter ebbs.

Former Taleban minister pushing talks with Afghan government
(AFP) 1 March 2005 Khaleej Times
KABUL - The former Taleban foreign minister is playing a key role in efforts to persuade members of the ousted regime to join amnesty talks with the Afghan government, officials said on Tuesday.

Wakeel Ahmed Mutawakel, who was detained after the ultra-Islamic militia was toppled by US-led forces in late 2001, is said to be a leading moderate and would therefore be an ideal go-between for Kabul.

“Recently members of the former Taleban regime who have come (for talks with the government) are of course in consultation with him,” President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman Jawed Ludin told a weekly press conference.

The Afghan government has launched a major reconciliation drive to get moderate Taleban to rejoin the nation’s political and social life.

Continuing attacks by remnants of the regime on US-led and Afghan troops are hindering international efforts to get the war-wracked country back on its feet.

Karzai has previously extended an olive branch to all but some 100 or 150 Taleban who are alleged to have links with Al Qaeda or to have committed war crimes.

Mutawakel, in his early 30s, was the highest-ranking Taleban figure held in US custody after his surrender just over three years ago.

He has since been under various forms of custody and house arrest but authorities have kept his precise whereabouts under wraps.

“I can say that he is in Kabul. He is in Kabul since long ago, he is under supervision,” Ludin said.

The government has been trying to enlist moderate former Taleban leaders as many members of the regime are fearful they will be arrested by Afghan or foreign forces if they turn themselves in.

Ludin confirmed that the government was considering issuing special ID cards to Taleban who come forward as part of the reconciliation process to protect them from any further action.

“Cards to those members of the Taleban regime who come back is one of several suggestions (made) in talks with our authorities and in consultation with international coalition,” Ludin said.

However the Afghan government has refused to officially confirm negotiations with the Taleban as a movement, insisting it is in contact only with individuals.

“There is no issue of negotiations with a party, a movement or a side,” Ludin said.

US military leaders estimate as many as 1,000 Taleban might take advantage of the amnesty offer.

Afghan governor says hopeful of Taliban defections
By Mirwais Afghan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The governor of Afghanistan's restive Kandahar province said on Monday he was hopeful large numbers of Taliban would soon defect to President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government.

Gul Agha Sherzai said he had had face-to-face meetings and telephone talks with "some important Taliban leaders", but did not identify them. He said there had also been contacts in neighbouring Zabul and Ghazni province.

"We are in touch with them by telephone, we are hopeful that in the near future a large number of Taliban will decide to join us," Sherzai told a joint news conference with the U.S. military at Kandahar Air Base.

"We want to announce that those Taliban who want to join us will be protected by the government of Afghanistan," he said. "As you know, we have announced an amnesty for their safety."

The comments came after a flare-up in violence at the end of last week following a comparative lull since the Taliban, ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, failed to fulfil a vow to disrupt a presidential election Karzai won in October.

Despite the latest violence, the governor said the Taliban leadership was in disarray and the guerrillas were no longer an effective force.

"The Taliban do not have any leadership," he said. "We have destroyed them -- they have been separated in to many branches; they do not have the ability to operate against government or coalition forces in Afghanistan."

The government has offered amnesty to Taliban members not associated with atrocities or al Qaeda in an effort to quell an insurgency that has cost hundreds of lives and severely disrupted reconstruction work in the south and east.

However Taliban hardliners have dismissed talk of reconciliation as propaganda and vowed to continue their war.

UNITY TALKS, CAR BOMB
Last week, four former Taliban officials said they had had successful reconciliation talks with the government aimed at "national unity, understanding and peace".

Their leader, Abdul Hakim Mujahid, the former Taliban ambassador to the United Nations, stressed though that they had not represented the Taliban but Khudam-ul Furqan (Servants of the Koran), a group some moderate Taliban members joined after the overthrow of the Taliban government.

Colonel Richard Peterson, commander of a U.S.-led force in southern Afghanistan, said it had a separate programme offering Taliban who laid down their arms identity cards to protect them from arrest.

He said his force had had several contacts with Taliban members and more were interested in joining the programme, but he also did not elaborate.

Peterson said he expected more Taliban attacks after the winter but not any "comprehensive campaign which is really going to accomplish anything".

On Monday, a car bomb exploded outside a government building in Lashkargar, capital of Helmand province adjoining Kandahar, wounding three policemen, one seriously.

Provincial spokesman Haji Mohammad Wali blamed the Taliban for the attack.

A Taliban spokesman said last week the harsh winter had limited guerrilla attacks but elusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had ordered that they be stepped up in the spring. (Additional reporting by Ahmad Sear in KANDAHAR)

Bin Laden urges Zarqawi to get involved in attacks in the United States: official
Tuesday March 1, 2:22 PM AFP
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has suggested to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leading US foe in Iraq, that he get involved in attacks inside the United States, a US counter-terrorism official said.

The official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that "it has been suggested to Zarqawi to involve himself in attacks in the US."

The suggestion came from bin Laden, whose followers carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks against New York and Washington, the official said. The official would not comment on how bin Laden and Zarqawi communicated with each other.

"We know that Zarqawi has his hands full in Iraq, but we do know he has struck before, or parts of his network has been active in Jordan and in Europe and what have you," the official told AFP.

A Jordanian, Zarqawi was sentenced to death in Jordan for the 2002 assassination of a US diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman.

He later gained fame in Iraq as the militant behind a gory campaign of televised beheadings, car bombings and massacres that have taken a toll on US forces and their Iraqi allies.

In December, bin Laden named Zarqawi "emir" of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The United States has placed a 25 million dollar bounty on both men.

Why bin Laden is turning to Zarqawi's network for attacks on the United States at this time is "an interesting question," said the US official, who declined to comment further.

Al-Qaeda is still "intent on finding ways to circumvent US security enhancements to strike Americans in the homeland," CIA director Porter Goss told Congress earlier this month.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also warned Congress this month that Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda were planning attacks on the United States and other countries.

Bin Laden and a handful of his closest lieutenants remain at large, possibly hiding in remote tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

But al-Qaeda has carried out no known attacks in the United States since September 11, 2001.

And the CIA contends that a fierce global campaign waged by US forces, including a US-led offensive that toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, has dealt "serious blows" to the al-Qaeda organization.

US military officials have said intelligence indicates that al-Qaeda's finances, movements and communications are constrained.

Some analysts believe al-Qaeda has been forced to rely more on other likeminded groups to carry on the struggle.

That might explain why bin Laden would suggest that Zarqawi target the United States for attack.

But Zarqawi's network also appears to be under pressure in Iraq.

Over the past two months, Iraqi officials have announced a string of captures of key figures in his organization.

Asked how close US and Iraqi forces have come to capturing Zarqawi himself, General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox television this month: "We've been very close."

"I think he personally is undaunted, but a lot of his lieutenants, people that he trusted, I mean, lots and lots of them, have been rounded up and are now detained in Iraq by the Iraqis and by us," Myers said.

Myers said al-Qaeda was providing Zarqawi with help, most likely from its strongholds in the Afghan-Pakistan border areas.

Study says less students at Pakistan Islamic schools
By Tahir Ikram
ISLAMABAD, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A World Bank-sponsored study has said enrolment in Pakistani madrassahs, or Islamic schools, that critics believe are misused by militants, has been exaggerated by the media and a U.S. 9/11 report.

The working paper published this month on the World Bank Research Web site and reported by daily The News on Sunday criticises local and foreign media for exaggerated accounts of number of Islamic schools and their students in Pakistan.

Madrassahs are often blamed for instilling religious radicalism and inciting militancy and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has promised in the past to reform them.

Pakistani officials say very few madrassahs are involved in activities that promote militancy, but Musharraf urged his nation on Saturday to stop militants trying to misuse the schools.

The study also expressed concern at the U.S. 9/11 Commission report into the attacks on U.S. cities in 2001, which said millions of families send their children to religious schools in Pakistan.

"Striking, yet unsubstantiated claims such as 'millions of families ... send their children to religious schools' are of particular concern given the emphasis on identifying and curbing potential sources of extremism," it said.

The report (www.econ.worldbank.org/working_papers/41363/) dispelled general perceptions that enrolment was on the rise saying: "We find no evidence of a dramatic increase in madrassah enrolment in recent years."

ESTIMATES
It said figures reported by international newspapers such as the Washington Post, saying there were 10 percent enrolment in madrassahs, and an estimate by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group of 33 percent were not correct.

"It is troubling that none of the reports and articles reviewed based their analysis on publicly available data or established statistical methodologies," it said.

The research, conducted by Jishu Das of the World Bank, Asim Ijaz Khawaja and Tristan Zajonc of the Harvard University and Tahir Andrabil of Pomona College, said "madrassahs account for less than 1 percent of all enrolment in the country".

"The educational landscape in Pakistan has changed substantially in the last decade," it said. "But this is due to an explosion of private schools, an important fact that has been left out of the debate on Pakistani education."

The report said it had worked out its figure based on official surveys, 1998 census and its own separate report on school education in central Punjab province.

It said during the religious-based resistance to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets in 1979 madrassahs became popular in the northwestern and southwestern Pakistan.

Many of these students came from Afghanistan and some of them joined hands to form the hardline Islamic Taliban movement, which rose to power in 1996 but was finally ousted by the United States in late 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The report said the Pakistani districts where madrassah enrolment was relatively high were in the so-called "Pashtun belt" near the Afghan border while in the rest of the country enrolment was thinly but evenly distributed.

"Even in the districts that border Afghanistan where madrassah enrolment is highest in the country, it is less than 7.5 percent of all enrolled children," it said.

Citizen of Japan detained on Tajik-Afghan border
01.03.2005, 12.18
DUSHANBE, March 1 (Itar-Tass) - Russian border guards have detained a citizen of Japan for illegal photography near the Nizhny Pyanzh border checkpoint on the Tajik -Afghan border.

The trespasser, who had illegally crossed into the territory of the border guard post a day before, offered resistance when he was detained. An inquest into the incident continues, the press service of the Russian FSB border guard department in Tajikistan told Tass.

The same man was earlier detained at the same border guard checkpoint on February 23 because he did not have the necessary documents for crossing the border. The intruder was turned over to representatives of Tajik law enforcement bodies for an investigation.

Pakistan Exports to Afghanistan Touch US$670 MLN in Jul-Jan
Tuesday March 1, 1:33 PM Asia Pulse
ISLAMABAD, March 1 Asia Pulse - Exports through land route from Pakistan to Afghanistan has Increased substantially during the first seven months July-January of the current fiscal as the Pakistan's exports have reached 39.756 billions (US$670 million), while the imports from Afghanistan stood at Rs. 2.471 billion.

The Pakistani exporters have managed to export goods worth Rs 32.075 billion via Torkhum, said the figures compiled by the customs authorities at the bordering checkpoint. Pakistan exports through Chaman stood at Rs. 7.681 billion in the review period, said the official data, which is quite encouraging for the two neighbourly countries for enhancing trade relations.

Pakistan's exports to Kabul during this period includes fruits and vegetables valued Rs.734.626 million, milk and cereals of Rs. 573.183 million, Wheat and flour Rs. 4.609 billion, Rice Rs. 1.556 billion, Pulses and other grains Rs. 38,498 million, Ghee Rs. 3.654 billion, Sugar Rs. 1.911 billion, Cement Rs. 1.709 billion, Paints and Varnishes Rs. 1.256 billion, Mild Steel Products Rs. 2.557 billion, Sanitary Wares Rs. 51. 097 million, Construction Materials Rs, 852.763 million, Electrical goods Rs. 183.901 million, Electronic goods Rs. 124.624 million, Medicines Rs. 349.274 million and Miscellaneous goods worth Rs 18.437 billions. Pakistan has imported goods valuing Rs. 2.471 billions from Afghanistan during July-January period that include Vegetables, Fresh Fruit, Dry Fruits, Seeds, Country Drugs, Spices, Timber, Scrap and other goods used commonly.

LAVROV TO PROPOSE MEASURES TO COMBAT DRUG THREAT FROM AFGHANISTAN
LUXEMBOURG, February 28 (RIA Novosti) - At the meeting with the leading trio of the European Union in Luxembourg, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will propose measures to combat the drug threat from Afghanistan.

"These measures imply a further assistance to the Afghan authorities in forming capable anti-drug units in the police and in the frontier and customs services and their equipment with up-to-date weapons and technologies," official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko specified.

"The Russian side believes it perspective to cooperate in the context of the Collective Security Treaty Organization-NATO and NATO-Shanghai Cooperation Organization in countering the Afghan drug threat. In this case NATO would operate in Afghanistan and the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - in the zone of their geographical responsibility," Mr. Yakovenko said.

Apart from that, according to him, Moscow is convinced that a successful fight against the Afghan drug threat is impossible without the disclosure and neutralization of the network of transnational criminal groups, which deliver and sell Afghan drugs.

"The drug situation in that country continues to worsen," Mr. Yakovenko said. He underscored that the production of raw opium in Afghanistan (in heroin equivalent) increased in 2004, in comparison with 2003, by 17%, from 360 to 420 metric tons. According to the forecasts of international experts, the figure may reach 500 metric tons in 2005.

"Correspondingly, the amounts of heroin smuggling through Iran, Pakistan, Central Asia and Russia to Europe and the North American countries have grown. The number of drug addicts and the death rate from the so-called "heavy" drugs have also gone up," Mr. Yakovenko said.

The official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry underscored that the Russian side considers it necessary to take urgent measures to combat the Afghan drug threat.

Sri Lanka to welcome Afghanistan, but not Iran, to SAARC
UNI 02/27/2005
New Delhi - Sri Lanka today endorsed Afghanistan's bid to join SAARC but expressed its reservations over Iran's desire to become member of the South Asian regional grouping.

''Way back in 1985, when SAARC was founded, the grouping treated Afghanistan to be part of South Asia,'' Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told a news conference here.

Sri Lanka, he said, would welcome formal inclusion of the war-ravaged Afghanistan in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. But Mr Kadirgamar opposed the idea of expanding the grouping beyond South Asia's geographic limits when asked about his opinion on Iran's desire to become part of SAARC.

''Iran is in West Asia,'' he said, adding any expansion of the grouping should not rob it of its South Asian character. During his visit, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said his country wanted to become a link between the regional grouping and Central Asia.

''It would be an honour for Afghanistan to be invited to join SAARC. We would like to see it emerge as a great grouping for the development of Central and South Asia,'' Mr Karzai has said.

SAARC, founded in 1985 to promote economic cooperation, groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Iran too recently said was intending to join SAARC. ''That has been in the talks for some time,'' Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Tuesday.

DCCI calls to set up Afghan business Council in Dubai
Khaleej Times - 27/02/2005
DUBAI — A meeting was held at Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) yesterday to discuss bilateral economic and commercial relations and the ways of enhancing interaction and cooperation between Dubai and Afghanistan. Abdul Rahman Ghanim Al Mutaiwee, director general of DCCI and Rashideddin Mohammedi, the Consul-General of Afghanistan in UAE, chaired the meeting.

Al Mutaiwee suggested to the Afghani businessmen in Dubai and Northern Emirates to come up with establishing a Business Council to coordinate their business and work in consistency with more than 30 other business councils operating under the umbrella of DCCI.

He also added: "Establishing a business council will also help maintaining good approaches to educate the business community in Dubai of the updated field information about the situation and the developments of the economy and market there, which may create an effective tool to attract their invests and build up a commitment there.''

AFGHANISTAN MOBILE PHONE COMPANY ROSHAN TELECOM WINS GLOBAL GSM AWARD FOR BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Award points to emergence of positive Afghanistan business climate after decades of strife - KABUL, Afghanistan (26 February 2005): The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) is delighted to announce that Roshan, the leading Afghan telecommunications company, has won the 2005 Global GSM Association Award for Best Marketing Campaign.

The GSM Association Awards are the leading awards for the global mobile communications industry. This is the first time an Afghanistan company has won an award and demonstrates another step along Afghanistan’s road to recovery and peace.

The tenth GSM Association (GSMA) Awards winners were announced on 16 February during a spectacular gala evening at the mobile industry’s leading annual event, the 3GSM World Congress 2005, in Cannes, France. Roshan beat international companies such as Motorola USA and Vodafone UK to win the coveted Best Marketing Campaign Award for its “Light and Hope” campaign, aimed at making mobile communications widely accessible to the Afghan people. Roshan was praised for navigating through religious, ethnic and cultural issues to establish a brand and significantly grow the Afghan communications market. Roshan has become the Afghan brand, embracing the hope and opportunity that Afghanistan now represents. The highly successful campaign was developed exclusively in Afghanistan by the country’s leading advertising agency, Altai Consulting, and supports a new era of high quality and reliable communications throughout the country.

Roshan, established in 2003, is the brand name of the Telecom Development Company Afghanistan Ltd., (TDCA) an international consortium with strong regional connections led by AKFED and comprising of Monaco Telecom International (MTI) and U.S.-based MCT Corp. The word Roshan means "Light" in the Dari and Pashto languages of Afghanistan, and symbolises Roshan's commitment to supporting the rebuilding of Afghanistan after its strife-torn recent history. The company has a 55 per cent share of the country’s 550,000 mobile subscribers and the share has been increasing. The total market is expected to nearly double in 2005.

Karim Khoja, CEO of Roshan, stated:

This award is a great honour, not only for Roshan but Afghanistan as a whole. Addressing needs in as vital an area of infrastructure as communications is one of the ways in which Roshan is helping to jump-start economic development in Afghanistan. Furthermore, by working with experienced partners to bring GSM services to the country we are able to "leap-frog" older technologies and quickly contribute towards increased efficiencies across a broad spectrum of activity nationally and region-wide.

“We are extremely proud of the marketing team that produced this campaign for us. It included Altai Consulting, an Afghanistan-based company that designed and helped tremendously in executing the campaign nationwide. Our marketing campaign has helped solidify our lead market position in the Afghanistan market.”

Anwar Poonawala, Chairman of Roshan and Director of AKFED, said:

“Roshan is a powerful example of how technology, when supported adequately, can help spur development even in the most difficult of terrains. Roshan's involvement in the telecommunications sector complements and strengthens various development initiatives that have been launched by the Aga Khan Development Network in Afghanistan in the last decade. These range from the expansion of rural development and the rehabilitation of infrastructure to microfinance, upgrading educational and healthcare capacity and the revitalisation of cultural spaces of historic importance with a view to improving urban development. We also look forward to opening Kabul’s first five-star hotel this summer through Serena Hotels which will be an important support to business development and tourism.”

U.S. plans to expand TV broadcasts to Iran
By David Morgan Tuesday March 1, 5:22 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is planning to expand its Persian-language satellite-television broadcasts to Iran as part of an initiative to press for democratic reforms in the Islamic Republic, officials say.

As U.S. President George W. Bush ponders incentives to encourage Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, Voice of America plans to go from a 30-minute to a four-hour daily news and information broadcast to Iran within the next few months.

"Iran is an information-deprived society, much like the former Soviet Union," said Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency that oversees international civilian broadcasts including VOA.

"A large percentage (of Iranians) appear to be thirsting for information," he added. "What we propose to do is exactly what Radio Free Europe, Voice of America and Radio Liberty did in the Cold War, and that is provide a window on the world."

The new initiative comes as the Bush administration reviews options for dealing with Iran's nuclear program that range from economic incentives to military action.

Washington accuses Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear arms under the guise of civilian energy, a charge Iran denies.

Officials say the Bush administration also plans to begin Arab-language satellite-television broadcasts to Europe later this year in a new escalation of its information war against Islamic extremism.

But VOA broadcasts are unlikely to have much effect in Iran any time soon, independent analysts say.

"Expanding Voice of America might have some marginal impact. But I don't think it's going to create the climate for a popular uprising," said Shireen Hunter, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic & International Studies.

Analysts also warned that expanded broadcasts could stir nationalist distrust of the United States and inadvertently strengthen the current government.

"People could see it as a sign that an invasion is coming. It's the sort of thing that happens before nations build up their war effort," said Nancy Snow, a propaganda expert at California State University, Fullerton.

CHIPPING AWAY
U.S. officials believe VOA TV broadcasts could chip away at Iran's unpopular religious leadership over time by emphasizing issues of economic and political opportunity.

"We're trying get people to say ... what do we want opportunity to be in Iran? Do we want a government controlled by mullahs? Do we want a government of the people?" said Tomlinson, who expects the expanded TV format to include close coverage of Iran's presidential election in June.

VOA already has a 24-hour Persian-language radio service called Radio Farda, which offers a pop-music format geared toward Iran's large youth population.

The administration is seeking money for the expanded telecast in Bush's $81 billion (42 billion pound) supplemental budget request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other U.S. efforts abroad.

The supplemental is expected to win congressional approval over the next several weeks.

Officials hope to receive $1.5 million to expand Voice of America's "News and Views" current affairs service into a one-hour program that would be rebroadcast three times a day with hourly news updates.

A further $5.5 million would be spent on studio construction and other investments that could pave the way for further Persian-language programming expansions.