Afghanistan News March 16, 2005

March 16, 2005

September proposed for Afghan parliamentary poll
By Simon Cameron-Moore
KABUL, March 15 (Reuters) - A joint Afghan-U.N. election commission has proposed holding Afghanistan's long-delayed parliamentary polls in mid-September, its chairman said on Tuesday.

The polls were supposed to have been held in tandem with last year's presidential vote won by U.S.-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai, which was itself repeatedly delayed amid concerns about security and logistical problems before taking place on Oct. 9.

"We suggest that the parliamentary election should be delayed for another six months. It means that the parliamentary election should be held in the third week of Sunbula," Bismillah Bismil, chairman of the Joint Electoral Management Body said on Tuesday, referring to mid-September on the Afghan calendar.

The JEMB, which met political parties on Tuesday, will have to get the parties' blessing and will also need to consult donor countries funding the elections. Karzai, installed as transitional leader after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001, does not have a political party, but his cabinet will need the approval of the new parliament to keep their jobs.

More than 10.5 million people will be able to vote in the election for a 249-seat lower house of parliament and provincial councils, and there will be a chance for new voters to add their name to the voter register.

Officials have said district council elections supposed to be held at the same time might not be possible this year, unless disputes over electoral boundaries are resolved. Delay in the district polls would mean it would not be possible immediately to create a full-sized upper house, or Senate, since district councils are supposed to send representatives to the chamber.

Fifty political parties, many of them run by former mujahideen who fought the Soviets and the Taliban have registered to contest the polls so far. Some, including a new party formed by the runner-up in the presidential election, Yunus Qanuni, have still to complete the process.

These elections will be more complex than the presidential election, as the commission will probably have to deal directly with several thousand candidates, said Julian Type, from the commission's operational planning unit.

Security will be a big issue, as ever, even though the Taliban failed to mount any serious attacks during last October's election and nearly all the heavy weapons in the country have been rounded up under a disarmament programme and around three-quarters of the private militias have been disbanded.

But turf rivalries are intense in a country riven by tribal and ethnic divides. Regional warlords still exert plenty of influence and the numbers of small arms in private hands is substantial. "There will have to be a robust (security) presence in all 34 provinces," Type said.

Two priorities for the commission will be to properly train the large numbers of electoral workers needed, and the establishment of a strong and transparent mechanism for dealing with complaints. It will also take steps to ensure there is no repeat of the mix-up over pens used in polling stations. In October, many election workers mistakenly used an ordinary pen to mark the hands of people who had voted rather than an indelible ink pen meant to prevent multiple voting.

Afghanistan rules out legalising opium cultivation for medical use
KABUL, March 14 (AFP) - Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali ruled out Monday the possibility of legalising Afghan opium production, the largest in the world, for making medicines. An international drug policy think-tank, The Senlis, suggested to President Hamid Karzai in December that Afghanistan could be offered a special licence for opium production for use in the manufacturing of medicines.

"Changing this and legalising it from my view is not that easy and is not possible," Jalali told a press conference. "We cannot just legalise it," he said. This included because, "The money which is being made from drugs, finances crime, terrorism, and also using this money some groups form private militia," he said.

Afghanistan produces 87 percent of the world's supply of the opium, according to United Nations. The UN and the US State Department have warned that the country is on the brink of becoming a narco-state. Paris-based The Senlis suggested that the forced eradication of poppies, used to make opium, could risk undermining the nascent Afghan democracy.

Some 2.3 million Afghan farmers grow poppies and can make 10 times more money than they would cultivating legal crops. The Senlis Council says in a statement on its website that it will launch a feasibility study for the creation of an opium licencing framework for Afghanistan, similar to frameworks already in place in Australia, France, Turkey and India.

Under the current international system, countries are free to apply for a licence from the UN's International Narcotics Control Board to legally produce and sell opium for medical purposes. Many countries, including Australia, France, Turkey and India, already produce opium legally under such licences.

A crack team of British-trained Afghan anti-drugs police last week kicked off a series of anti-drug raids in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, one of the country's top drugs growing regions. Afghanistan saw a 64 percent leap in opium production in 2004 and has also branched into heroin refining over the past year, but the Afghan government backed by the international community is taking a harder line on the issue.

Karzai declared a holy war or "jihad" on drugs shortly after being elected president in October and the United States has pledged 780 million dollars to battle Afghanistan's burgeoning drug industry.

New U.S. commander vows to protect Afghan elections, plays down hunt for bin Laden
Associated Press / March 15, 2005
Bolstering the re-emerging government of President Hamid Karzai is the immediate priority for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, their new operational commander said Tuesday, playing down the unsuccessful hunt for top al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.

Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya took command of the 18,000-strong U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan Tuesday as American troops based in Europe rotate into the country ahead of parliamentary elections expected in September.

"We will continue to focus our energy, number one, on supporting the government of Afghanistan's vision," Kamiya told reporters at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul. "We have the election coming up ... and that will be one of our major focuses."

Kamiya takes over after a year which saw Afghanistan pass a new constitution and hold a landmark presidential election won by Karzai with a landslide despite threats from Taliban militants to disrupt the ballot.

U.S. commanders say their operations helped prevent attacks on the vote and have increasingly focused on supporting local officials and encouraging reconstruction in former Taliban strongholds.

However, fugitives including al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Omar remain at large, along with hundreds of militants still mounting ambushes and bombings on Afghan and foreign troops.

"The success of this mission should not be predicated upon the amount of fugitives or threat groups we remove," Kamiya said. "Instead it should be focused on increasing the capacity, increasing the reach of the Afghan central government."

Kamiya, the commander of the Vicenza, Italy-based Southern European Task Force (Airborne), relieved Maj. Gen. Eric Olson of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division at a ceremony in an aircraft hangar attended also by the overall U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno.

Barno said at a news conference that the hunt for bin Laden and other militant leaders would continue, but acknowledged the trail was still cold.

"We don't know where he is. If we had a good definition we'd obviously have apprehended him," Barno said of the al-Qaida leader, who some analysts suspect may be hiding near the rugged border with Pakistan.

"We will be successful eventually, but it is a very, very difficult challenge given the immensity of the territory involved, the mountainous terrain, the tough weather," Barno said.

Barno, who is also expected to leave Afghanistan soon, suggested that the insurgency maintained by Taliban-led militants since U.S. and allied Afghan forces ousted the hardline militia in late 2001 was losing steam.

February saw the lowest level of attacks for two years and a mooted reconciliation plan could blunt the challenge from militants further, he said, while cautioning that violence will likely increase as winter fades.

Barno said the Afghan and American governments would decide whether U.S. military bases such as Bagram, which is being equipped with a new runway, would become permanent and that it was too early to say when U.S. troop levels might fall.

"We'll be assessing that as the security situation changes, as it gets better potentially, as the Afghan national army and police continue to grow and be more effective" he said.

India-Pakistan peace process tops agenda as Rice meets Indian leaders
Wednesday March 16, 9:46 AM AFP
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to hold a flurry of talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi focussing on the India-Pakistan peace process and other regional issues, as well as bilateral trade.

"India is emerging not just as a regional power, but also as a global power," Rice told reporters on board the aircraft that brought her to the Indian capital for the start of her six-nation tour of Asia, her first visit to the region since being appointed to the job in January.

"We saw that in the work that we were able to do with India in the core group for the tusnami relief, and I think there are many more opportunities -- economic, in terms of security, in terms of energy cooperation -- that we can pursue with India," she said.

India and the United States, on opposite sides during the Cold War, cooperated on relief efforts after the December 26 tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, using their navies to rush relief supplies to Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand.

"With India, we clearly have a broader and deeper relationship than we ever had," Rice said.

She was to have a full working day Wednesday in the Indian capital, meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Natwar Singh among other leaders before flying to Islamabad in the evening.

She was also to address a joint news conference with her Indian counterpart after their talks in New Delhi, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.

Bilateral trade, economic and security relations, the situation in Nepal, Bangladesh and the India-Pakistan peace process, ongoing cooperation in Afghanistan, developments in Iraq and United Nations reforms are some of the issues expected to come up for discussion, Sarna added.

In Islamabad, Rice will hold talks with her counterpart Khurshid Kasuri and meet President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said earlier this week.

Rice said that at the same time as US relations with India have been moving forward, her country's relations with Pakistan are perhaps the best they have ever been as well. She cited deepening relations with Pakistan in the war on terrorism, support for President Musharraf's efforts to modernize his country, and support for Pakistani education and the globalization of the Pakistani economy.

"And so our ability to have good relations with India and good relations with Pakistan I think has helped the two states to have good relations with each other," Rice said.

Pakistan has been a staunch ally of US President George W. Bush since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, which killed about 3,000 people and for which Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.

Rice has not commented about Pakistan's request to buy more F-16 fighter jets from the US. India strongly opposes the sale.

The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday that Rice would signal US willingness to sell F-16s to both Pakistan and India.

The paper, citing US government sources, said the US could sell Pakistan about two dozen of the jets while India could buy as many as 125.

On Thursday Rice will make a short trip to Afghanistan's capital Kabul and return the same day, leaving Islamabad Friday.

"We will continue to talk to the Afghans about reconstruction, about building an economy there that can be self-sustainable, about the problems they continue to face in the war on terror, and of course on the counter-narcotics side as well," she said Tuesday.

Rice continues from Pakistan to Japan, South Korea and China.

Iranian minister renews security agreement with Kabul
KABUL, Mar. 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Iran and Afghanistan have renewed their agreement on combating drugs and enhancing border security, border security and for cooperation in the training of Afghan border police and setting up of security posts on the Iran-Afghanistan border.

A decision to this effect was taken during the ongoing visit of Iranian Home Minister Abdul Wahid Mosawi to Afghanistan on Monday. The two countries had signed the agreement exactly a year ago during the visit of the Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali to Tehran.

Addressing a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart on Monday, Jalali said Iran had met its commitments during the last year by providing training to border police and setting up border posts on the Iran-Afghanistan border. Afghanistan has a common border of 963 kms with its western neighbor Iran, facilitating bilateral trade but also drug trafficking.

Mosawi emphasized the existence of friendly relations between the two countries. "My feeling is that we share common cultural and historical values," Mosawi told the press conference. "Other issues we discussed in the meeting were improvement of urban management training of fire fighters and assisting Afghanistan in meeting its fire fighting requirements," Mosawi said.

Jalali said the agreement was helpful in improving security in Afghanistan. "The discussions we had today were about permanent relations between the two countries and other issues of mutual interest," Jalali said.

He appreciated the promise by Iran to build the capacity of Afghan police and to improve security. Iran had pledged $500 million to Afghanistan's reconstruction in the Tokyo conference in 2002, and half of that is in the form of a grant. Ends

Iran helps Afghanistan's war on drug traffickers
March 14, 2005
KABUL (Reuters) - Iran offered Afghanistan support in fighting drug traffickers on Monday by training Afghan border police, tightening borders and sharing intelligence. Iran has lost thousands of police and enforcement officers in armed encounters with Afghan drug runners over the past two decades and has made some of the heaviest seizures of smuggled opium and its more valuable derivative, heroin.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari met Afghan counterpart Ali Ahmad Jalali in Kabul on Monday to discuss joint efforts in the war against drugs and common security issues. Afghanistan has become the world's number one producer of opium in little more than three years since U.S.-backed forces ousted the Taliban militia from power in late 2001.

Nearly 90 percent of heroin sold worldwide comes from Afghanistan and, with the opium economy accounting for up to 60 percent of GDP, there are growing fears that the country could end up being run by narco-mafia.

"The thing we all should fight against is drug traffickers, who pose a domestic risk for both Afghans and our people," Mousavi-Lari told journalists. "Making border checkpoints has helped us in this issue, and the help of Afghan security and border police is very important," the Iranian minister said, adding that he had also discussed intelligence sharing.

Jalali said Iran had begun building border checkpoints for the Afghan authorities and training guards to man them last year, and the two sides has signed a new accord on Monday covering some of the same ground.
The United States has earmarked $700 million to fight drugs in Afghanistan, and Britain is to spend $100 million while trying to raise a further $300 million from smaller countries.

Taliban intelligence officer captured say Afghan defense ministry
KABUL, Mar. 15, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The defense ministry in Kabul announced Tuesday that a leading Taliban intelligence officer had been captured in southern Kandahar province.

A spokesman for the defense ministry, Sayed Is'haq Paiman said Mullah Ramazan was arrested with another Talib on Sunday by Afghan army forces and was now being questioned. He said they found a sniper gun, some hand grenades and documents showing links to the Taliban. However, a spokesman for the Taliban, Lutfullah Hakimi, told Pajhwok Afghan News he was unaware of the capture of these Taliban members.

NATO to take over four civil- military bases in Afghanistan
KABUL, Mar. 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- NATO forces are to take over four provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) in four provinces from the US-led Coalition Forces. The PRTs are the civil-military teams carrying out construction projects in different parts of Afghanistan.

Announcing the handover here on Monday a senior US commander in Afghanistan said command of PRTs in Herat, Ghor, Badghis and Farah provinces will be handed over to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force Force on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference in Kabul, Col. Phillip Bookert, commander of Task Force Longhorn, based in western Afghanistan, said the job of his unit had been to support the disarmament program and establish two PRTs in Western Afghanistan. The PRT in Farah commanded by NATO will have US soldiers who also form part of the ISAF forces. Reported by Pajhwok Staffer Najib Khilwatgar

Pakistan says forces nearly hunted down bin Laden
LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday his forces believed they nearly hunted down Osama bin Laden about 10 months ago but the trail had since gone cold.

"Through interrogation of those who have been captured, the al Qaeda members who were apprehended here, and through technical means there was a time when the dragnet had closed," Musharraf told the BBC in an interview.

"We thought we knew roughly the area where he possibly could be. That was I think ... not very long (ago), maybe about 10 months back," said Musharraf, a close ally in U.S. President George W. Bush's declared war on terrorism.

The BBC quoted Musharraf as saying his forces had since lost track of bin Laden's possible whereabouts.

Some security experts say bin Laden is hiding somewhere in the rugged mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanisatan. On Sunday, Pakistani officials said the country's security forces had mounted a search for suspected al Qaeda foreign fighters in a tribal area near the Afghan border. Ten men were detained for questioning.

Last week, Pakistani soldiers killed two foreign al Qaeda suspects. Pakistani officials say security forces killed or arrested hundreds of al Qaeda foreign fighters and their local supporters in operations in the South Waziristan region last year.

But they say about 100 are still hiding in the mountainous area and that others have moved into the North Waziristan region. U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have been involved in the hunt for bin Laden on Kabul's side of the border.

Poppy cultivation in northern Afghanistan has decreased this year say officials close to the eradication program
MAZAR-e-SHARIF, March 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News) — "Our work is quite hard. When I get home at night, I can't fall asleep because I suffer from back-ache and my legs hurt. But I take opium to ease the pain," said 36-year old Fatema from Chimtal district in northern Balkh Province, while busying herself weeding a field of poppies with her family.

While Fatema, her husband and four daughters prepare their 2,000 square meters of land she said they had turned to growing poppies because they had to, and if the Afghan government destroys the poppies across the provinces, it means that the government is killing their livelihood. The poppies planted in late December or January will be harvested at the end of May, she said.

As farmers prepared to harvest their crop in two months, provincial government officials say they are not able too keep up with the poppy eradication program, because they don’t have enough money and the right facilities. Balk Security officials say that thirty to forty thousand jeribs of land was cultivated with poppies this year and they were only able to destroy three to four thousand jeribs of poppies.

The district administrative manager of Chimtal, Haji Salamuddin said that the district has some 12,000 jeribs of cultivated poppy land. Since the eradication program began in this district, the provincial officials say they have only been able to destroy 7% of the poppies. In his estimation there were nearly 80,000 jeribs of cultivated poppy land in the previous years.

But Fatema says that they earn a living through poppy cultivation and if they grew wheat or something else, it would not be sufficient for their winter needs. But Fatema’s family is not the only one dependent on poppy farming; nearly one-third of the fields surrounding her are dependent on the income earned from the crop.

Thirty-five year-old, Mohammad Aman has leased a small poppy field from his relatives, and works daily tending his crop. "I am weeding this field because I am poor and when the crops are harvested, the owner of this field will give me half of the takings."

Mohammad Akram Khakrezwal, the police chief of Balkh province speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, claimed that seventy to eighty percent of the land in the province was cultivated with poppies the year before, but there is a considerable decrease in poppy cultivation this year, due to the media campaign on poppy eradication.

Khakrezwal added that the government has not made serious efforts for the eradication of poppies this year. He added, "Balkh province police have neither an allocated budget for poppy eradication nor technical means, so they can't destroy poppies with their bare hands."

General Mohammad Daud, deputy interior minister of counter-narcotics department at the interior ministry, told Pajhwok in a telephone interview on March 13th: "We haven’t got any money allocated to the poppy eradication program or the money to buy equipment." According to him, they will soon put forward this issue to the president.

Meanwhile, Ikramuddin Sarwary public information officer for the counter-narcotics ministry told Pajhwok Afghan News, "We don't have the precise numbers of poppy cultivation yet, so we have sent out our teams to the Northern provinces of the country and these teams are expected to return in the near future. We will then be able to announce the precise statistics for poppy cultivation." ENDS Pajhwok reporter from Mazar Parwin Faiz wrote this story

Kabul residents call for the dismissal of the mayor of Kabul and the minister of information and culture
KABUL, March 14 (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Nearly 2,000 representatives of the Kabul residents’ council took to the streets of the Afghan capital Monday protesting against the city mayor and the minister of information and culture, claiming they were not addressing their problems and breaking the rules of democracy in Afghanistan by using their positions in power.

The demonstrators, who gathered at Shah Doshamshera, an area in southern Kabul and passed via Pashtunistan Intersection near the Presidential palace, claim that the minister of information and culture, Sayed Makhdoom Rahin controlled the output on TV and the Mayor of Kabul; Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Nurzad forcefully seized land from the people.

They were also chanting slogans against some of the actions taken by the government and demanded President Karzai reconsider his cabinet. The Kabul Residents Council was established in the summer of 2003 by Sayed Makhdoom Rahin, and after being the chairman of the council for over a year he left the post after contradictory accounts of dismissal and voluntary resignation.

Ahmadullah Siddiqi, the deputy of Kabul Residents Council said: "When Rahin was the head of the Kabul Residents Council, he was reflecting the views of the members, but now he is opposing the council." Ghulam Farooq, another member of the council, who called for Rahin’s dismissal said: "Rahin is using all media outlets, including TV for his purposes."

However, Dr. Rahin thinks all the government controlled media should be allowed to freely express themselves. "We want to make all Afghan media free, including TV and it shouldn’t be under control of any organization or person."

According to Ghulam Farooq, they have tried to meet with president Karzai three times, but the Minister Rahin did not allow them. But Rahin denies this and says: "When I was the head of the council I took them not only to Mr. Karzai but also to Baba-a-Millet, also known as the elder of the nation to listen to them."

Astana Gul a resident of Deh Sabz District at the demonstration said: "Our land is handed over to powerful commanders; therefore, we want an ideal mayor." Mohammad Omar Naeemyar a high-ranking official in the Kabul municipality said the mayor himself welcomed the suggestion of a people’s mayor, who was responsible for the peoples needs.

"During the protest the mayor of Kabul walked amongst the people and accepted the notion of an ideal mayor representing its people.” At the end of the march, one of the protestors said "We want the ministry of information and culture to give us all a chance to participate in TV programs, because this is our national treasure." ENDS The story is reported by Pajhwok staffer Mohammad Younus Mahrin

Ulema Council criticizes TV channels
KABUL, March 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News)--Afghanistan's national Ulema Council, comprising of mullahs from all over the country, has criticized all television channels being telecast in Afghanistan. Independent Afghan TV channels Tolo TV and Afghan TV have come in for stringent criticism, for what the Council has termed the "transmission of programs opposed to Islam and national values." The channels themselves have however dismissed the charges saying they are well within the provisions of the Constitution.

Convening in Kabul, some 100 members of the Council issued a statement on Sunday asking the government to stop "immoral and un-Islamic" broadcasts. Maulavi Qiam-ud-Din Kashaf, secretary of the council, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday about their decision: "We've decided this in accordance with the Constitution and also called for a ban on telecasts which have dances as this is absolutely contrary to the Sharia."

However, officials of the two television stations maintain that their broadcasts are in accordance with the Constitution and the mass media law of Afghanistan. The Third Article of the constitution says that no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam and the values of this Constitution in Afghanistan. Article 34 of the Constitution says that freedom of expression is protected from violation and every Afghan has the right to express his thought through speech, writing, illustration or other means, as long as they observe the provisions spelt out in the Constitution.

Kashaf said the Ulema had taken a stand and it was up to the Government now whether to implement their request or not. When Pajhwok asked the Presidential press office in Kabul about the mullah's statement, it refused to comment.

The Council's statement further says: "It has been seen that all TV channels being telecast in the country, particularly Tolo and Afghan TV, broadcast music, naked dances and foreign films contrary to Islamic and national values." The Ulema Council has asked for a ban on these telecasts and said that immoral telecasts should be prevented.

Ahmad Shah Afghanzai, director of Kabul-based Afghan TV, said programs of his channel do respect Afghans' traditions. "If our transmissions were against the law the government which is in charge of law enforcement would ban our television," Afghanzai told Pajhwok. He noted that religious scholars and intellectuals had a big role in making the Constitution which the government was bound to enforce.

Sediq Ahmed from Tolo TV reacted similarly, saying the view expressed by the Ulema Council was their personal view. Both Tolo and Afghan TV are private channels who have started their broadcasting last year and they telecast a variety of foreign and national song and dance clips as well other programs.

The mass media law of Afghanistan says that whatever leads to an insult to the principles of Islam and of other religions is banned from being published, broadcast or telecast. Earlier this month, Information and Culture Minister, Sayed Makhdoom Raheen called on all TV channels to observe Islamic and cultural values in their programs.

The Ulema statement also called for appointment of pious people on senior governmental posts, like ministerial and deputy minister posts, in order to work with sincerity and faith. In addition, the statement calls for prohibition of narcotics and alcohol as well as for a public trial of officials accused of mistreating Afghan Haj pilgrims who they say should be compensated for the losses they suffered.

The Nationwide Ulema Council of Afghanistan led by Chief Justice, Fazl Hadi Shinwari, has hundreds of members throughout the country and convenes once a month usually in Kabul. At the end of their meetings, they issue statements and put forward their suggestions to President Karzai. Ends (Reported by Pajhwok Staffer Habib Rahman Ibrahimi)

The wrong voting system
International Herald Tribune - 03/15/2005 by Barnett R. Rubin
In Iraq, after it was already too late to change, it eventually became clear that the particular electoral system chosen to form the country's new parliament threatened to precipitate a crisis. The system, recommended by UN electoral officials solely because it was the easiest to administer under a tight deadline, turned out to have the politically dangerous effect of underrepresenting Sunni Arabs, whose disaffection fuels today's insurgency.

In a comparable fashion, the electoral system recently chosen by the Afghan government, with little international scrutiny, for Afghanistan's coming parliamentary elections also risks potentially disastrous effects. Under the system, known as the "single nontransferable vote" within multimember provincial constituencies, candidates register solely as individuals, though they can list a party affiliation. Each voter casts one vote for one candidate. If a province elects five seats, the five candidates with the most votes gain the seats.

Afghan leaders like this system for several reasons: It is easy to understand, it marginalizes political parties and, deceptively, it appears to provide a direct link between the voters and their representatives.

It sounds fair, but the system favors well-organized minorities, despite voter intentions. One or two well-known candidates may garner the lion's share of votes. After that, among dozens or hundreds of individuals on the ballot, representatives can be elected with very few votes. Which lower-ranked candidates win is at best random, and at worst, the result of manipulation. Most voters may end up voting for losing candidates.

This system in fact virtually guarantees the formation of an unrepresentative parliament of local leaders with no incentive to cooperate with one another or the government. It places a premium on vote buying and intimidation, since swinging even a small number of votes can easily affect the outcome. Well-organized parties that can propose a limited number of candidates and discipline voters to spread their votes among them can win a disproportionate share of seats.

A voting simulation for Wardak Province, for instance, which Hamid Karzai won 2-to-1 over his closest opponent in the recent presidential election, shows that with minimal discipline of voters, Karzai's opponent could win five of six seats. Slight changes in voter behavior could shift the seats in any direction, leading to unpredictable outcomes. Yet, Karzai, who shares popular antipathy toward political parties, refuses to organize the multethnic constituency that supports the reforms he proposes.

By now you can see the root of the problem. Outside a small group of specialists, few people appreciate how electoral systems - as much as or more than voter intentions - determine the outcome of elections. And even fewer people can bridge the gap between leaders concerned with the specific characteristics of a nation and general experts on electoral systems.

The Afghan Constitution requires that the lower house be elected "in proportion to population." Lacking population data adequate to delimit constituencies of equal size, the Afghan government has made each of the country's 34 provinces into a multimember constituency, electing a number of seats in proportion to its estimated population.

In such a situation electoral experts often recommend proportional representation with closed lists. In this system voters cast ballots for party lists, which gain seats in proportion to their vote, and allocate them to candidates ranked by the party. But Afghans associate parties with both the Communists who brought the Soviet invaders and the ethnic militias that pillaged the country after the Communists' downfall.

A different system, proportional representation with open lists within the same provincial constituencies, avoids the problems of closed lists, while preserving some benefits of the single nontransferable vote. It would represent Afghan voters better and meet the concerns of their leaders not to empower parties controlled by militia leaders.

Under this system, candidates can stand as independents or as part of a list of candidates. As in the present system, each voter votes for an individual candidate. The electoral commission totals the votes for each list and allocates seats to lists in proportion to the vote.

But the candidates who win seats are those with the most votes on the list, not those chosen by the party. This system assures that the electorate's views are represented proportionately, while enabling the voters to reject corrupt or abusive individuals. Unlike the single nontransferable vote, where each candidate competes against all the others, it creates incentives for cooperation among candidates and ethnic groups across a province. The results are more difficult to change through bribery and intimidation than under the present system.

Experts are unanimous in rejecting the present system, which today is used only in Jordan, Vanuatu and the Pitcairn Islands. Before locking a major international effort and tens of millions of dollars into a system that is likely to produce an unworkable parliament, the international community should engage with the Afghans to persuade them to adopt something better. (Barnett R. Rubin is director of studies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.)

Business seminar in Pakistan calls for better commercial ties within Central Asia through Afghanistan
Peshawar, March 15, 2005, Pajhwok Afghan News – A three day business conference held in Pashawar Pakistan attended by delegates from Afghanistan, Japan, Iran and China called for businessmen to invest in Afghanistan and also extend commercial ties with Central Asia through Afghanistan.

The seminar which was also attended by other delegates from Europe and America was mainly aimed at encouraging international businesses to invest in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and give them assurance about dealings with the province being run by Islamic parties, but participants also talked about the importance of commercial ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The delegates concluded that after the establishment of the interim administration and the strengthening of security in Afghanistan, people should be able to invest in Afghanistan. Dr. Hafiz Shaikh, Pakistani minister for investment, told the conference that foreign investors had turned their back on Pakistan some years back because of the war in neighboring Afghanistan, but today Afghanistan's reconstruction is underway and investors are beginning to be interested in the country.

Another speaker of the conference, Senator Ilyas Belour, a Pakistani businessman said that commercial ties with Afghanistan are important and if Pakistan has good relations with Afghanistan, his country can continue its commercial ventures in Central Asia.

An Afghan delegate attending the seminar, Abbas Akbari, said the improvement of commercial ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan could be useful. He told Pajhwok Afghan News: "Afghanistan is a war-stricken country and it needs reconstruction, so any country interested in investing in Afghanistan is welcome."

He added: "Investment in Afghanistan is not only useful for our country but it is useful for neighboring countries too." The Pakistani Prime Minister Shawkat Aziz is also expected to address the conference on the last day. The conference that started on March 14th is to end on March 16th.

Animal epidemic spreads to Badakhshan
FAIZABAD, Mar. 15, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Nearly 65% of the animal livestock in north-eastern Badakshan province have died after contracting a form of mad-cow disease from cattle exported from Pakistan, said the head of the agriculture and livestock department, Eng. Mohammad Hassan.

The disease has affected mainly animals in the districts of Shahr-e-Bozurg, Khiwa, Arghanshas and Wardaj.
"This disease which was first discovered in Badakhshan two years ago, has been transmitted from commercial animals from Pakistan and other provinces."

"We have many problems with agriculture and farming, and there is only one veterinary surgeon in Faizabad city with nobody in the districts," he said. He warned if the disease was not controlled it could spread throughout Faizabad.

Jafar, a resident of Shahr-e-Bozurg talked to Pajhwok at the agriculture department. "I have 800 sheep out of which 750 are healthy so far, but 50 have died due to the epidemic," he said. He said there is no veterinary surgeon in his region to treat the animals.

US army medics deliver baby aboard flying Black Hawk
KABUL, March 15 (AFP) - An Afghan mother of 14 children added another to her large family, but this time in mid-air on a US military helicopter, the army said Tuesday, hailing the onflight birth as a first. “Hey, we've got another passenger on board," the pilot radioed to escort aircraft Saturday after US medics delivered 40-year-old Melawa's baby girl, the first onflight birth over a combat zone according to the military.

Melawa, the wife of a local village elder, was evacuated from Shkin, in southeast Afghanistan close to the Pakistani border, as she was struggling to give birth after 18 hours of labour. Her baby daughter, however, did not wait for the crew to land.

Specialist Kyle Storbakken, a medical technician, and Doctor David Barber, commander of the General Hospital's medical detachment at Salerno, in southeast Afghanistan, delivered her while in flight. "It was pretty intense. It's hard to believe we helped a woman give birth to a baby up there," Storbakken said.

Storbakken helped the woman and her husband onto the helicopter. Shortly after it took off, the woman's situation appeared to worsen, Storbakken said. The helicopter's pilot powered the rotors at full speed toward the US camp near Khost. A few minutes later Storbakken came over the aircraft's intercom with good news. “We've got a baby girl," Storbakken announced, after he cut the umbilical cord, the press release said. They were later transported to US Bagram Airfield, where doctors reported both were doing well.