Afghanistan News March 19, 2005

March 19, 2005

Taleban coming in from the cold
By Andrew North - BBC News, eastern Afghanistan, 18 March, 2005
They are nervous, frequently tugging on their beards. Neither man wants to give his name. "It is very dangerous for us," says one. "Both here and in Pakistan." They are former members of the Taleban, allowed to return to their homes in Khost under a low-key reconciliation initiative here, involving the US military and local Afghan officials.

There are cautious hopes such efforts could help end the Taleban insurgency that has affected much of eastern and southern Afghanistan since 2003. The message from these two men is that it is already fading.

"The majority of the Taleban are tired," said one. Yet still only a handful have responded to these US and Afghan offers and come in from the cold. The US military's initiative is known as the "allegiance programme".

It is aimed at lower level figures, the "rank and file Taleban", as Colonel Gary Cheek, US commander for Eastern Afghanistan, puts it. In return for promising to give up violence and pledging support to the government of Hamid Karzai, they are granted an amnesty.

If someone approaches US troops asking to join the scheme "we'll take some data down on him", explains Col Cheek, "and make a formal declaration". "Then we'll send him on his way and if he's good to his word, he'll be all right."

They are given an ID card, which they can show if they should be arrested in the future by US or Afghan security forces. Senior Taleban leaders are excluded - though exactly which ones have still not been made clear.

But American commanders have gone further with this reconciliation drive. In some cases, they have released militants from US detention. In his area, Col Cheek has set free a man allegedly linked to several bomb attacks. The man has subsequently been appointed as a local police chief in one eastern province.

Col Cheek admits he had doubts about the move, but "as it's turned out, it's been a very positive measure - the security's much better there, the populous are very pleased with how he is doing".

More controversially, he has released another man directly implicated in an attack that killed five people last year in Paktika province, including a popular local doctor. Col Cheek admits cases like this call into question the whole basis for detaining other suspected militants. The US military has an estimated 500 people still in custody at its Bagram and Kandahar bases - all held without charge.

But he says these releases have only happened on the recommendation of local Afghan officials, as part of their own reconciliation efforts. "We are working with the government and we are pretty much doing what the government would want us to do."

But things have changed, he adds: "Maybe a year or two ago this might not have happened." Nonetheless, it is a dramatic change in strategy. However, the military has little to show for its efforts since it announced the programme three months ago.

In eastern Afghanistan, just five militants have been signed up, according to Col Cheek. Nationwide, US commanders say they have had about 30 in total. But with the number of Taleban attacks down significantly, US officers insist the hardline movement is a declining force.

The Khost provincial governor, Mirajuddin Pathan, agrees and says through his contacts he believes "there are many Taleban who want to come home". A large number of them are from the Pakistani tribal areas just across the border from Khost.

This province is a good place to test the mood. Nestling against the Pakistan border, it was one of the Taleban's strongholds and has seen some of the worst violence of the past two years. Al-Qaeda had one of its main bases here until 2001. Some 40 of its members killed in a US air strike are buried just outside the city at a place which has become an unofficial memorial.

When the BBC visited, there was a steady stream of locals arriving to pay their respects to people they regard as martyrs. The grave sites - some marked simply with the words "Arab Martyr" are festooned in colourful pieces of cloth.

Many of the plots are covered with rice and seeds, placed there as offerings. The graves bring miracles, some say. "My daughter couldn't walk," one old man told me. "But now after bringing her here three times, she is fine again."

Yet several Taleban figures the BBC spoke to in Khost said support for continuing the battle against the Americans is waning. One dismissed the idea put about by some militant leaders that this is a "jihad" or holy war, like the struggle against the Soviet invasion.

"It is like the difference between sky and land," he said. "What the Americans are doing here is completely different to the Russians." Another said: "The Taleban are still organised, but they cannot overthrow the government or cause any serious trouble." He had been living in the town of Miram Shah, in the tribal agency, or region, of North Waziristan.

However, his friend said that although other Taleban still there want to return, they are still not convinced it is safe. "One reason so few have come back is because so many of our friends are still in Bagram and Guantanamo Bay. If more people were released, they will believe the process is real," he said.

"But the majority of the Taleban are tired, if there are proper talks with the government most will give up their weapons." But he said they are also scared of possible reprisals by hardliners in the tribal areas, including members of al-Qaeda.

And that is why many say that even if reconciliation efforts gain more momentum, there will not be peace. In statements, Taleban leaders have vowed to keep the attacks going. And at Camp Salerno, the main US base in Khost, troops are still preparing for more clashes.

But what both US commanders and Afghan officials in Khost say is really needed is for President Hamid Karzai to set out an official nationwide policy on reconciliation. The Afghan leader has in the past said he would welcome back any Taleban not involved in serious crimes.

It is now thought only 30 senior figures, including Mullah Omar, would be kept out. But months after the idea was first discussed, no-one knows for sure and that uncertainty has held reconciliation efforts back. With the Taleban still deeply reviled in some quarters - particularly among the Shia Hazaras who suffered particularly under Taleban rule - it is a highly sensitive issue for Mr Karzai.

Colonel Cheek says he understands the difficulties for the Afghan leader. But he says: "As an American, with the American experience with our civil war, our reconstruction was based on malice toward none and charity to all, healing the wounds of conflict."

That is a very different message to the one the Americans were sending when they first arrived here, when all Taleban were irredeemable terrorists. Now they are hoping that this more conciliatory approach could eventually be the key to bringing the Taleban insurgency to an end.

Condoleezza Rice Gives Exclusive Interview to RFE/RL
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - March 17, 2005
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Kabul today for talks with Afghanistan's leadership. After the meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials, Condoleezza Rice gave an exclusive interview to RFE/RL Kabul journalists.

RFE/RL: What is the purpose of your visit to Afghanistan and are you going to discuss any new issues with the Afghan authorities?

Condoleezza Rice: This is my first trip to Afghanistan and I came here to demonstrate the commitment of the United States as a long-term partner and friend of the Afghan people. To congratulate the Afghan government and especially the Afghan people on the inspirational efforts that they are making to build a democracy and a better and more prosperous life. I discussed with President [Hamid] Karzai the upcoming parliamentary elections and I also had a chance to discuss that with the independent election commission. That was very good. I had a chance to talk to people about the rights of women and the progress that women are making in this country and the need for further education.

RFE/RL: You are arriving at a time when the United States and the Afghan government are discussing the possibility of establishing long-term or permanent bases in Afghanistan. Is there any connection?

Rice: Well, we have not yet determined what we would do in terms of a presence here, but we are committed to a long-term relationship -- whatever that might mean -- and we understand that it was not a good thing the last time when the Soviet Union left that the United States did not stay by the Afghan people. This time around the Afghan people can be certain that they will have friends and partners for a long time to come.

RFE/RL: It is your first trip to Afghanistan, so how do you assess the general situation here, and from your point of view what kind of challenges are the Afghan people, Afghan government, and the United States facing?

Rice: I find Afghanistan incredibly energetic and vibrant. The Afghan people have obviously had tremendous challenges. After 25 years of civil war, to build a strong and stable economy will take time.... I hope that the people are responding to President Karzai's call that responsible Afghan citizens would not engage in poppy growing. I know that he has made that call. We also have challenges to complete the efforts to rid Afghanistan of terrorists on this side of the border and also with the Pakistanis. It is a wonderful story of the last three years. So much has been accomplished and, even though there is much more to achieve, we have seen a lot of progress.

US deploy crack squads, beef up air power to fight Afghan drug trade
WASHINGTON, March 17 (AFP) - The United States will deploy crack anti-drug squads, beef up interdiction air power and tighten border surveillance to combat burgeoning opium production in Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.

The narcotics problem "is perhaps the greatest obstacle to our goal of seeing Afghanistan become a peaceful, prosperous country that never again harbors terrorists like those who attacked" the United States on September 11, 2001, US State Department official Maureen Quinn told Congress.

"Although we have seen some evidence of short-term success on counternarcotics in the past few months, it is important that we not let up," said Quinn, the department's coordinator for Afghanistan, the world's number one source of heroin.

US Drug Enforcement Administration operations chief Michael Braun told the hearing that its foreign-deployed advisory and support teams, or "FAST" squads, "may initiate their first deployment in Afghanistan as early as March 30."

These teams of DEA special agents and so-called intelligence research specialists "will provide guidance and conduct bilateral investigations to identify and dismantle illicit drug trafficking and money laundering organizations," he said.

Five Virginia-based FAST teams, which have received specialized training, will be deployed two groups at a time, and will rotate every 120 days, Braun said. The deployment was part of the DEA-led "Operation Containment" in Afghanistan, which he said, had notched "tremendous" success since the intense, multinational cooperative program was established in 2002. Braun said that nearly half of the 40 organizations classified as terrorist groups by the State Department had possible ties to the drug trade.

Afghanistan, which saw a 64 percent leap in opium production in 2004, is the world's leading source of heroin, supplying mostly to regional markets, Europe and Russia. The United Nations says the landlocked nation is responsible for nearly 90 percent of the world's illicit opium production.

Mary Beth Long, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics, said conducting interdiction operations by using ground vehicles had proven to be ineffective, and unveiled plans to beef up air support.

In the near term, she said, interdiction forces, including those working with the DEA and the British-trained forces, might receive some "tactical lift" from the US Department of Defense, "using a mixture of UH-60 Blackhawk and leased MI-8" helicopters.

Long said the US Central Command believed it might be able to support four or more operations per month. In addition to this support, the department has leased two MI-8s for use by interdiction forces and Afghan police, she added.

These aircraft were used in a series of raids on March 15 in eastern Nangahar province, one of the primary sources of Afghan opium, which destroyed 15 kilograms of heroin and more than two tons of opium. Long said the Defense Department was refurbishing two-Afghan-owned helicopters and prepared to refurbish up to six additional helicopters for use by the Afghan police by 2006.

The department also would help step up Afghan border surveillance, including installation of communication systems, along routes to Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Afghanistan's drugs are trafficked via many routes, including to Iran, Pakistan, India, Central Asian States, Russia and Western and Eastern Europe and the United States.

Henry Hyde, chairman of the House of Representatives committee on international relations which held the hearing, said he would introduce a resolution in Congress calling for a comprehensive US plan to counter the drug problem in Afghanistan.

Hyde expected support from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers for his "Afghan reconstruction, trade promotion and economic development proposal" modeled in part on US counter-drug strategy across the Andes.

UNICEF helps Afghanistan get ready for new school year
UN News Centre
18 March 2005 – As more than 4 million Afghan children prepare to return to school from next week after a particularly harsh winter, the United Nations Children’s (UNICEF) has been helping the Ministry of Education to provide basic classroom stationery and materials to schools nationwide.

Although the difficult weather delayed distribution of some materials en route from Pakistan and classroom kits destined for northern provinces, tens of thousands of student kits have been prepared for more than 2 million children, containing materials such as exercise books, pens, pencils and other stationery.

Full distribution to an estimated 4.3 million children is expected to be completed by mid-April.

Underscoring Afghanistan’s major progress in managing its education sector, UNICEF noted that the ministry’s logistics centre – managed by the agency in 2002 – now has full responsibility for packing and distributing the kits. At present it is producing 5,000 student and teacher stationery kits per day.

This year, students in Grades 1 and 4 will also benefit from new textbooks, developed in a partnership between the Government, UNICEF and Columbia University’s Teachers College. The new textbooks are more student-focused and relevant to the new Afghanistan, according to UNICEF, and mark a notable improvement in the quality of education delivery.

While some 1.2 million girls have enrolled in Afghanistan’s primary schools since 2002, more than 1 million primary school age girls are still not attending classes. In addition to the support being provided for classroom materials and curriculum development, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are focusing efforts on developing learning opportunities for girls in communities with no formal school, with the aim of providing education for an additional 500,000 girls in 2005.

Wolves eat humans in Afghanistan after bitter winter, locals say
Saturday March 19, 07:33 PM
KHOST, Afghanistan (AFP) - At least four Afghans have been devoured by wolves driven down from the hills in search of food during the worst winter in a decade, family members said.

Villagers in Naka, a remote settlement in southeastern Paktia province, found little more than remains and bloodied, shredded clothes when they went looking for 27-year-old Sher Gull and Gull Nawaz, 32.

"They had planned to go to another village to participate in a funeral ceremony. We are sure they were killed by wolves," Sher Gull's grieving father Haje Baz Khan told AFP from his mud-brick house.

Two other people from Sadar Khel village in the mountainous Mosa Khel district of neighbouring Khost province were also killed by wolves, locals said.

Akhtar Mohammad, 36, and 40-year-old Shah Mahmood wanted to buy household goods from the small bazaar near to their village but they never made it.

Fellow villager Rab Nawaz said they had probably got lost in the snow and were attacked by wolves.

"After two days of searching we found the remains of each one in separate places by following their steps in the snow," added Akhtar's brother Door.

"Wolves are a big problem this winter because the roads are so bad that villagers have to go everywhere on foot, which leaves them vulnerable to attacks by wild animals," police chief of Paktia, Hayighul Sleman Khael, told AFP.

Almost all villages in Afghanistan are guarded by dogs but several of them, as well as other domestic animals, have reportedly been killed by increasingly vicious wolves across the southeast in recent weeks.

After a quarter-century of war, Afghanistan faces serious environmental problems including deforestation, which have reduced the numbers of animals for wolves to feed on in the country's snow-covered mountains.

There have also been reports of children and travellers being devoured by wolves in eastern Logar province, although authorities were unable to confirm them.

Pakistan, Afghanistan Cooperation Will Revive Region, Rice Says
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- The improved relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan will help establish the ``economic vibrancy'' of the region, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the end of visits to both countries.

``It is a relationship that could anchor an entire region in trade and in development, in economic commerce,'' Rice said late yesterday in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, according to a U.S. State Department transcript. ``We look forward to trying to help the regional actors, particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan, reestablish that economic vibrancy.''

Afghanistan will hold parliamentary elections in September, President Hamid Karzai said as Rice visited the capital, Kabul, yesterday. The polls will be delayed from May for ``technical reasons,'' Karzai said at a briefing.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have improved since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. The countries cooperate in the hunt for Taliban and al-Qaeda along their 2,430- kilometer (1,510-mile) border. Pakistan withdrew its support for the Taliban in 2001 and joined the U.S.-led war against terrorism that began after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

``The increasingly productive relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, one that was really unthinkable some years ago, has really begun to blossom,'' Rice said at a briefing with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri. ``The United States and Pakistan are working closely together in this region also with Afghanistan in the fight on terrorism.''

Afghan Democracy - Rice, who travels to Japan today on the next stage of her first visit to Asia as secretary of state, said in Kabul the commitment of the Afghan people to democracy was ``an inspiration to people all over the world.''

The country took its first step toward democracy with presidential elections in October won by Karzai, 46, who led an interim government after the fall of the Taliban. Karzai won 55.5 percent of the vote. About 8 million of the 10.5 registered Afghan voters took part. Karzai said yesterday the delay in holding the elections was at the suggestion of the joint electoral commission that includes Afghan and international officials.

``It was impossible to have it in May as we wanted it,'' Karzai said at a briefing with Rice, according to the U.S. State Department. ``I cannot enumerate the issues there, from refugee participation to the census, to the forms of election, to the district boundaries, to so many questions that the election commission has to find technical solutions for.''

Election Costs - Afghanistan needs $148 million to run the parliamentary and local elections, the United Nations said yesterday. About 8,000 officials will be needed to prepare the polls and about 180,000 people will be helping on polling day, Ariane Quentier, a spokeswoman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said at a briefing yesterday in Kabul, according to the UN.

The Joint Electoral Management Body forecasts there will be 10,000 candidates for the two houses of parliament, she said. The cost of the polls will increase by $30 million if the estimated 3 million Afghan refugees living in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, the UN said in January.

Two decades of civil war and drought in Afghanistan produced the world's largest refugee population of 3.5 million people, most of whom fled to Pakistan and Iran. Afghans have returned to the country under a UN program since 2001. About 850,000 Afghan refugees voted in Pakistan and Iran in the Oct. 9 presidential election.

Severe floods in Afghanistan kill at least 24, thousands homeless
(AFP) 19 March 2005
KABUL - At least 24 people have died and thousands were made homeless after severe floods hit south-central and western Afghanistan and destroyed hundreds of houses, officials said Saturday.

The floods triggered by heavy rain hit Uruzgan, Farah, Ghor and Jawzjan provinces.

Twenty-one people died in Farah province on Friday and three in neighbouring Ghor province, said interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal.

“Around 600 houses have been destroyed in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province. They are in severe need of food and tents,” Mashal said.

Scores of houses have also been destroyed in the Uruzgan capital Tarin Kot, in Chori and in Khas Uruzgan district, the spokesman said.

Afghanistan suffered its worst winter for a decade after seven years of drought. Current heavy rains coupled with the melting of thick snow are washing away houses in the war-torn country, which has little infrastructure to cope with rising waters.

At least 580 people have died from disease, avalanches and road accidents during the bitter winter months and many more were feared dead in remote parts of the country where communications were bad.

Afghanistan asks India for help in health care
Associated Press / March 18, 2005
Afghanistan's public health minister asked Indian officials on Friday to help bring modern health care to his war-ravaged nation, officials said.

Afghanistan will set up a countrywide network of "telemedicine" centers with the help of India's space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, said Abdul Salam Jalali, a member of the delegation.

Telemedicine centers are located in areas where hospitals don't exist or specialists are not available. They are equipped with a computer, video camera, clinical equipment and a satellite connection which allow doctors in another location to examine patients.

He said Afghan Public Health Minister Syed Mohammed Amin Fatimie held talks with officials of India's health and family welfare ministry and visited hospitals in New Delhi.

"Two and a half decades of war and internal fighting have destroyed our infrastructure, including health care facilities," Jalali said in the southern city of Bangalore.

In the first phase, Afghanistan will set up telemedicine centers in 11 cities, including Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalali said. The first center in Kabul will become operational in early 2006, he said.

Jalali, also the director of the Indira Gandhi Institute for child health, a hospital in Kabul set up with Indian assistance, said Afghanistan lacks specialists to provide advanced medical care in several disciplines. Afghan hospitals are in talks with several Indian hospitals to enable these patients to get treated in India at affordable rates, he said.

US army releases Afghan detainees
By Andrew North - BBC News, Khost Friday, 18 March, 2005
The US military in Afghanistan has begun to release a few detainees as part of efforts to persuade the Taleban to end their insurgency.

It has also been offering an amnesty to militants who pledge support for the government of Hamid Karzai.

The detainees are suspects held after the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

The US is holding more than 500 suspected Taleban insurgents at its two main bases in Afghanistan, Bagram and Kandahar.

The amnesty to militants initiative is still in its early stages, but US commanders hope it could eventually tempt many Taliban to give up fighting.

The idea is simple.

Anyone from the Taliban - except their most senior leaders - can now ask for a US amnesty.

One of the areas where the scheme is in operation is Khost province in eastern Afghanistan.

Little response

Colonel Gary Cheek, the commander for eastern Afghanistan, explains what happens if someone asks for amnesty.

"We will bring him in and say: 'Ok you want go back and join your family'.

"And we will take some data down on him and make a formal declaration. He can keep that and then we'll keep it as well and we'll send him on his way. If he's good to his word, he'll be alright."

But Colonel Creek has gone further.

On the recommendation of local Afghan officials, he has released several people from US detention, including militants implicated in bomb attacks.

Perhaps more surprising, two of these militants have become local police chiefs.

However, despite such a dramatic reversal in strategy, the US military has little to show for it so far.

Only five people have signed up to the scheme in the Khost area, which has long been a stronghold of Taliban support.

But the governor of Khost says he has attracted many more to his own reconciliation initiative.

Three of these former Taleban said most of their compatriots want to leave the Pakistani tribal areas where they're currently sheltering.

Many more will do so, both US commanders and Afghan officials predict, if and when President Karzai sets out an official nationwide reconciliation policy - making clear who will be included and who will not.

But it is a highly sensitive issue for him, with the Taleban still deeply reviled by some of Afghanistan's ethnic groups.

In Khost though, many believe a full reconciliation drive could eventually bring the Taleban insurgency to an end.

Daily Afghan Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - March 18, 2005
President Announces Delay In Parliamentary Elections
In a widely anticipated move, President Karzai announced on 17 March that Afghanistan's parliamentary elections will be postponed until September, AP reported. Legislative elections had been slated for the spring. But election officials have been struggling to count and register returning refugees, among other logistical difficulties. "The preparations are going on and now they told us -- the commission chairman -- that the elections will be held in September," said Karzai, who announced the delay to reporters during a news conference with visiting Secretary of State Rice. "The Afghan people are waiting very eagerly to send their members to parliament," he added. Rice vowed continuing U.S. support for Afghanistan in the fall elections and beyond. "We will stand by the Afghan people as they go through the next stage in their democratic development, the parliamentary elections that will take place this fall," Rice said. "We look forward to continuing to help in the reconstruction of Afghanistan," Rice said. MR

Afghan Crash Victims' Relatives Demand Remains

Families of crash victims who perished in an airline disaster last month demanded their remains in a demonstration outside the airline's Kabul offices, AP reported on 17 March. Roughly 40 protesters gathered at the Kam Air office. "I have no more patience to wait for my son's body," said Pashtun Gul, whose 28-year-old son was among those killed. The Kam Air 737 slammed into a snowy mountainside east of Kabul in bad weather on 3 February, killing all 204 aboard. Afghan authorities launched a search effort to identify and recover the bodies, but weather conditions and land mines scattered in the area have hindered the operation. "They tell me to come today, come tomorrow," said shop owner Haji Khan Ali, who also lost a son in the crash. "What kind of government is this?" Authorities have so far recovered the remains of 16 victims and returned them to their families. An Afghan soldier who was part of the recovery effort was killed on 15 March when he triggered a land mine. MR

Shoot-Out Erupts As Afghan Police Hunt Opium Crops

Afghan police and opium farmers traded gunfire in northeastern Afghanistan in an incident that left two farmers wounded, AP reported on 17 March. The fighting erupted as about 100 police officers combed the Achin District of the eastern Nangarhar Province. Farmers, apparently trying to save their opium-poppy crops from destruction, fired on police, officials said. Police returned fire, injuring two attackers, deputy police chief Amir Khan Lewal said. The condition of the injured farmers remained unclear. The area is notorious for opium production, and authorities say Achin is a leading district for the local narcotics trade. Afghan officials claim opium cultivation is down this year, although Afghanistan's drug market remains the largest sector of the country's economy. In 2004, opium from Afghanistan is believed to have accounted for 90 percent of supplies on the world market. MR

Huge hurdles for Afghan election despite delay
by Rachel Morarjee
KABUL, March 18 (AFP) - Afghanistan faces huge challenges to be ready for its first presidential polls, the next step in the country's road to democracy, despite a decision to push the date back to September, officials said Friday.

Local authorities and the United Nations have had a long time to deal with the logistical and security problems surrounding the vote, which was originally scheduled for June 2004, then for April or May 2005 and finally, President Hamid Karzai announced Thursday, for six months from now.

But with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushing for the latest hold-up in Washington's flagship experiment in nation-building to be the last, the heat is on as never before, experts say.

"It is important that they hold them on time in September if that's what they have announced, because the Afghan people are impatient to have their elections," Rice said in an interview with the US television network ABC.

Karzai himself admitted the postponement was due to "technical" problems, while a bomb blast that killed five people in the southern city of Kandahar Thursday has raised fears of fresh Taliban violence.

A source at the electoral commission told AFP the September date, though likely, had not even been made official, underlining the scale of the difficulties.

Afghanistan's first presidential elections, which took place in October after initial plans to hold them alongside the parliamentary polls, were deemed a success with some eight million voters turning out and no major attacks.

The parliamentary vote has proved more complex, with problems ranging from disputes over district boundaries, finding accurate population figures and working out how refugees and nomads could vote.

Julian Type, an international expert on Afghanistan's Joint Electoral Management Body, told AFP the commission was on a very tight timeline to organise the vote and would "need a fair wind" to be successful.

The body, which met with international donors in Kabul Wednesday, will have to raise 148 million dollars to ensure a fair and transparent electoral process, Type said.

So far the United States has pledged 12 million dollars but funding and training electoral staff remain the biggest likely problems ahead, electoral officials said.

The parliamentary polls will involve nearly 8,000 national and international staff, with an additional 180,000 people being employed around election day.

They will also need to be trained to avoid a repeat of the mix-up over pens used in polling stations in October, officials said.

The presidential polls were marred by allegations of fraud after many election workers mistakenly used ordinary pens instead of indelible ink to mark the hands of people who had voted and thereby prevent multiple ballot casting.

An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 candidates are likely to stand for a 249-seat lower house of parliament and provincial councils.

The ballots could be the size of posters because each candidate on the 69 different ballot papers due to be designed would need to be depicted, officials said.

"That means bigger ballot boxes than we currently have, and more trucks to transport them. It's the biggest logistical problem," Type said.

Officials said district council elections supposed to be held at the same time would not be possible this year, due to disputes over electoral boundaries. This will in turn delay the creation of a full upper house, or Senate.

Violence also remains a concern, despite the Taliban's failure to derail the presidential vote. Experts say Warlords with their own private armies could pose an even bigger threat than the ousted Islamic regime.

"The nature of this election is different because there will local contests for political power," said Type.

Afghanistan - Resumption of voluntary repatriation of IDPs
Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM) - March 18, 2005
IOM has resumed the voluntary return of Afghan IDPs after a temporary suspension since December due to the harsh winter this year. About 114 IDPs from Maslakh camp in Herat province returned to their homes in other parts of Herat on March 15.

The Afghan Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) estimates that there are still about 160,000 IDPs in camps and settlements in the south and west of the country and another 20,000 in urban areas.

According to an IOM survey conducted last month, there are more than 2160 families living in Maslakh camp, half of them from Faryab province in the north of the country. IOM expects to organise one return a week from the camp with an anticipated 500 families being returned in 2005. However, final numbers will depend on security conditions in destination areas and on water access for people.

IOM assistance to the IDPs, in close coordination with the MoRR and UNHCR, includes pre-travel medical screening and safe and dignified transport back home through a fleet of 40 heavy-duty trucks (Kamaz) escorted by light vehicles and IOM operations staff. Once back home, IDPs are also given food and non-food relief items, including shelter and agricultural kits, provided by IOM, WFP, FAO and UNHCR.

For those who have to travel long distances to get home, IOM operates three transit centres for IDPs and refugee returnees that provide warm meals and safe accommodation in winterized shelter with potable water and sanitation facilities in a secure compound.

Long-term assistance aimed not only at the successful reintegration of IDPs but also at preventing further displacement by stabilizing communities, consists of infrastructure projects, vocational training and job creation at the places of origin. Such projects include the rehabilitation of irrigation canals and other water systems.

The British government recently committed £500,000 to IOM's return and reintegration activities for IDPs. Other donors include the Australian, Finnish, New Zealand, Norwegian, Swiss and US governments.

Afghanistan-Pakistan: Finding a solution for Afghans who wish to stay
ISLAMABAD, 18 March (IRIN) - The government of Pakistan and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have started discussions with donor agencies over the future of Afghans who wish to stay in Pakistan at the end of the tripartite agreement in March 2006.

"Consultations are going on to look into the options for the Afghans in Pakistan after the expiry of the existing agreement for voluntary repatriation in March next year. Besides that, consultations are going on over the development of the Afghan refugee-impacted areas of Pakistan," Jack Redden, a spokesman for UNHCR told IRIN in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

The issue of the rehabilitation and development of land and facilities currently occupied by Afghan refugees in Pakistan also came up in discussion during a meeting in Brussels in February, which was jointly convened by UNHCR and the European Union (EU) to discuss future policy options for Afghans living in the neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Iran.

Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghans fleeing conflict in their country for over a quarter of a century. But there has never been any comprehensive registration for those Afghan nationals arriving in Pakistan since the Soviet invasion in December 1979.

The Pakistan government, with financial and technical support from UNHCR, has recently completed a countrywide census of Afghans living in the country since 1979. The results of the census are likely to be made public by the end of April.

"The outcome of the census will help in discussions towards identifying management arrangements for the Afghan population that will be in Pakistan at the end of the tripartite agreement in next March [2006]," Redden said.

With an improvement in weather conditions, the number of Afghans repatriating to Afghanistan under the UNHCR-assisted voluntary repatriation programme is on rise. "More than 1,600 individuals of about 297 families have repatriated in the last 10 days since the programme resumed on 7 March," the UNHCR official said.

The UN Refugee agency has assisted some 2.3 million Afghans to repatriate from Pakistan since the programme started in 2002, under a tripartite agreement between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UNHCR. In 2002, about 1.6 million Afghans returned to their homeland, while around 343,000 went back in 2003 and nearly 383,600 Afghans repatriated last year.

The UN Refugee Agency expects some 400,000 Afghans to return this year.

"State building on the cheap"
The Nation 03/16/2005
The visit of Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain, plus the release of an alarming UN report, put Afghanistan back in the news this week, at least temporarily. According to the UN report--the first examination of Afghanistan's development in more than thirty years--the country ranks near the bottom of virtually every social development indicator, behind only a few war-torn countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Progress has not replaced peril. New schools are opening, but Afghanistan still has the world's worst education system. Life expectancy, at 44.5 years, is at least twenty years lower than in neighboring countries. One out of two Afghans is classified as poor. "The fragile nation could easily tumble back into chaos," the UN report observed. "The price the international community would pay to protect itself from Afghanistan would be far greater than what it will pay to develop the country."

Four years ago, the world recognized this objective. "To overcome evil, the great goodness of America must come forth and shine," President Bush said in October 2001, a few weeks after launching Operation Enduring Freedom. "And one way to do so is to help the poor souls in Afghanistan." Dick Cheney reaffirmed US support a month later. "We've made it clear that we have no interest in abandoning the country."

Though commitment may have been the mantra in the months following invasion, international assistance and attention--particularly with regards to reconstruction--has not been sustained. A new constitution and elected government cannot by itself erase a legacy of foreign intervention, chronic poverty, ethnic dominance or a war-driven economy. Six months after the international community pledged $4.5 billion over five years in January 2002, then-Afghan Reconstruction Minister Amin Fahang warned that the money was not reaching Afghans as promised. Congress scrambled to add $300 million for schools, roads, hospitals and infrastructure after Bush provided no money in the 2003 budget. A Government Accountability Office review found the US lacked "a coherent, consistent, and closely coordinated" aid strategy between 2002 and 2003.

As the US shifted resources and attention to Iraq, the resurgence of the Taliban, continued warlordism, spikes in opium production and delays in funding hampered long-term reconstruction efforts. Money allocated in 2002 wasn't spent until late 2003. On the one year anniversary of the 2002 Bonn Agreement declaring a new Afghan government, only two of USAID's six planned long-term reconstruction projects--for infrastructure and economic governance--had begun. By the Berlin conference in April 2004, the world community had netted an additional $6 billion for reconstruction. But the $13.4 billion pledged was less than half of the $27.5 billion the Asian Development Bank estimated Afghanistan needed. "The low level of funding for reconstruction remains astonishing, given the importance with which major nations claim to regard it," wrote the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.

To date, $9 billion of the $13.4 billion has been committed, of which only $3.9 billion has actually been disbursed. A mere $900 million worth of reconstruction projects are actually finished. The completed projects, such as the highly-touted Kabul-Kandahar road, did little to foster long-term independence. (USAID contracted the road to a Texas firm who then subcontracted to Turkish and Indian companies.) "The reconstruction money is too little and spent badly," says Barnett Rubin, an advisor to former UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and internationally-known expert on Afghanistan. The US gave Iraq $18.6 billion for reconstruction in 2004 and Afghanistan only $1.2 billion. This is what Ashraf Ghani, the chancellor of Kabul University and former minister of finance, rightly labels "state building on the cheap."

Many high-ranking Afghan officials, including Minister of Rural Development Haneef Atmar, affirm this view. James Dobbins, Bush's first special envoy to Kabul, calls Afghanistan "the least-resourced long-scale American reconstruction program ever." Cambodia, Sierra Leone and the Congo received more per capita spending in their first two years of reconstruction than Afghanistan, to say nothing of expensive efforts in Kosovo, Bosnia and East Timor. Revenue from poppy cultivation is now double the amount of disbursed international aid. The cost of maintaining 18,000 US troops along the Afghan-Pakistan border is nearly four times that, at $12 billion yearly. "The focus on security is also deviating necessary funds from reconstruction," says Sharbanou Tadjbakhsh, editor of the new UN report. "Poverty is more threatening to the every day life of Afghans than terrorists."

If this failed trajectory continues, Afghanistan will never develop into a viable state, and the US will never leave. On his recent visit, John McCain floated the idea of permanent US military bases. But the country would be better served by the massive infusions of economic and humanitarian assistance promised by the US three years ago.

"In your struggle to regain your nation's independence, the American people stand with you," an American President said not long ago. "This policy has broad and deep bipartisan support; it is an unshakable commitment. Your goal is our goal--the freedom of Afghanistan. We will not let you down." That was Ronald Reagan in 1986.

More gas, another deal
Financial Express, UK 03/17/2005 - Focus shifts to Turkmenistan with Iran pipeline on backburner
New Delhi - Clearly the focus seems to be shifting away from the proposed Iran-India pipeline with India actively contemplating a dialogue on extending the proposed $3.3 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) natural gas pipeline to its border. Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the lead project development partner. Alongside, India is also working out a strategy for tapping the huge gas reserves of over 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf) which exist in the northern part of Afghanistan.

A senior petroleum ministry official told FE, "The energy ministers of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan are keen to associate India in the proposed natural gas pipeline project. Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has been invited as an observer at the 8th steering committee meet of energy ministers of these countries in Islamabad on April 12."

Mr Aiyar, sources said, was also equally keen to attend the meeting and has conveyed the same to the MEA. With the Cabinet authorising him to negotiate all gas import options, MEA clearance does not seem to be an issue, sources said.

Officials said Turkmenistan is slated to make a detailed presentation of its gas reserves at the 8th steering committee meet following a certification report from international consultants DeGoyler and MaccNaughton on the Dauletabad field. The ADB-assisted feasibility study on TAP proposes a 1680-km pipeline, with a capacity of 90 million cubic metres per day at a cost of $3.3 billion.

Officials said the ministry has asked ONGC to explore the huge gas potential in Afghanistan. At a recent meeting, Afghanistan's mines and industry minister Mir Mohammad Sediq had conveyed that many of the wells in the gas-bearing areas of Afghanistanhave been clogged and choked up after the exit of Russia.

"It was with great difficulty that the Afghan government could revive two wells for meeting the requirement of a urea plant nearby. ONGC can associate itself in reviving the remaining wells. An equity stake can also be negotiated," a senior ministry official said.

Chess tournament begins in Kabul with hopefuls for the national team competing against each other
Pajhwok Afghan News - 03/17/2005
KABUL - A chess tournament to choose a national Afghan team will be held in the capital Kabul in one months time, said Babrik Hesar, head of the Chess federation at the Afghan national Olympic committee.
Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News on March 16, Hesar said that the federation was dismantled years of civil war, but it was recreated in the past three years.

But he said Afghanistan has no female chess team. "We also want to form a female team from school and university students." Twenty-one year old chess player from the Youth team, Faraidoon is eager to gain a place on the national team.

In the meantime, forty of the best chess players from all over Afghanistan compete at a club in the center of capital Kabul, in Shar-e-Naw to secure a place in the national team. The competition ends this week. The Afghan chess federation become a member of the international chess federation in 1985.

Union of construction companies demand more astringent government controls on building regulations
Pajhwok Afghan News 03/18/2005
Members of the Afghan Union of construction companies meeting at a seminar on Wednesday in the capital Kabul have expressed concern over the unauthorized construction of buildings and apartments around the country, using low quality material, and called for stricter government controlled building regulations.
The seminar which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel, under the banner of "construction problems and solutions", was addressed by the deputy director of professional affairs of the Afghan Union of construction companies, Abdul Latif Noorzad.

"We have to be concerned about the buildings constructed in our country. The structure of the buildings cannot withstand the pressures of earthquakes, which Afghanistan is so prone to." Since the fall of the Taliban, there has been a boom in the building industry in Kabul city and the provincial capitals.

With many returnees and expatriate Afghans coming back to their homeland, there has been an influx of private companies that flocked to the cities with construction companies. Noorzad added that the houses and apartments were being built without planning permission from the municipality, and every one introduces himself as a professional engineer or architect. It is a big threat to the lives of teh Afghan people.

In particular, the members of this meeting complained about the low quality of the materials and the lack of cement, and asked for cement factories to be built in the country. Nearly six months ago, the Jumhuriat General Hospital under construction by a Chinese company in Kabul collapsed and some 50 people were killed or injured.

Mohammad Hanif Atmar, minister of rural rehabilitation (MRRD), speaking at the seminar said the role of the private sector in the country is very important, and said: "The Afghan government and the international community are concerned about the management of the private sector."

Leaders of the union suggested that in order to improve the work within the private sector, a commission comprising of representatives from the rural rehabilitation ministry, urban development, and Kabul municipality and the union, should be set up.

Landslide kills five gem miners on Afghan mountainside
Saturday March 19, 5:01 AM AP
A landslide killed five men prospecting for gemstones on a remote Afghan mountain, an official said Saturday.

The five died Thursday near Keranomunjan, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Kabul, said Shamsul Rahman Shams, deputy governor of Badakhshan province.

It was unclear what caused the landslide, though Afghanistan has seen heavy rain in recent days, just as warmer weather melts snow from the country's coldest winter in years.

Shams said the men were digging illegally in search of lapis lazuli, a precious blue stone found mainly in Afghanistan, Russia and Chile.

Japan and Afghanistan to study ancient temple
03/19/2005 By EIICHI MIYASHIRO,The Asahi Shimbun
Decades of warfare and civil strife have devastated Afghanistan's historical heritage and cultural sites, including large statues of Buddha carved in a mountainside of the Bamiyan Valley, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

Now on the road to recovery, the country will launch a full-scale archaeological excavation and research project with Kyoto's Ryukoku University this September.

According to an agreement recently signed in Japan by Mohammad Nader Rassoli, head of Afghanistan's National Institute of Archaeology, and Abdul Wassey Feroozi of the Ministry of Culture and Information, a joint research team will study the ruins of a newly found Buddhist temple in Keligan, about 120 kilometers west of the Bamiyan ruins.

Atsushi Naka, a photographer and graduate of Ryukoku University, discovered the Keligan ruins in June 2003. In October 2003, Meiji Yamada, professor emeritus at Ryukoku University and a scholar of Buddhism, also visited Keligan and confirmed that the ruins were the remains of a Buddhist temple built before the eighth century.

Rassoli said: ``The remains are far off to the west, away from the route people imagined Buddhism took in the region. The temple could prove a world-class discovery that sheds light on the transmission of Buddhism.''

The research project will include another set of ruins, Chehel Burj, possibly a fortress, located six kilometers west of the Keligan site.

According to Rassoli: ``This year, we will do a preliminary investigation. Using those findings, we hope to do a complete excavation starting next year and preserve both sites.''

Not just cultural assets were destroyed during Afghanistan's more than two decades of turbulence. The country also lost many archaeologists and scholars. In prewar times, the National Institute of Archaeology had at least 50 researchers. Now, there are 12, some with little excavation experience.

Feroozi said: ``Some researchers were killed, and others left the country. It was impossible to do excavations during the civil war.''

Afghanistan was an ancient crossroads where East met West. Culture and religion intermingled in a land that straddled trading routes in central Asia. Before the war, the United States, France, Germany, England and other countries sent excavation teams to Afghanistan. Supported by their findings, archaeological studies flourished.

Rassoli said he hoped the Japanese team would help train the institute's archaeologists. The agreement for the project specifically states that Ryukoku University will provide ``assistance in training young professionals to become well versed in studies of Buddhist culture.''

According to Feroozi, the biggest problem facing archaeology in Afghanistan is looting.

Almost a historical museum in itself, the country is home to some 2,800 officially recognized archaeological sites. Another 1,500 have been discovered ``through the efforts of looters,'' confessed Feroozi with a wry smile.

``Our country is poor. Theft of artifacts is a way to earn cash. Also, professional thieves urge ordinary citizens to steal artifacts. We are baffled as to how to stop illegal excavations.''

He added that protecting cultural assets is no easy task when the government is struggling to exert control over the entire country.

``The first step to stopping theft is to instill a sense of honor for our cultural treasures. We have to make people realize that once invaluable items are lost, they cannot be replaced. It is an uphill battle, but we have to push on.''(IHT/Asahi: March 19,2005)