Afghanistan News March 8, 2005

March 8, 2005

Briton shot dead in Afghanistan
Tuesday, 8 March, 2005, 05:40 GMT BBC News
A British man working in Afghanistan as an adviser to the Afghan government has been shot dead in the capital, Kabul.
The man was killed late on Monday while driving alone in his car on a main road in the city centre, near a UN building and the Dutch embassy.

Details of the incident are still unclear, but police say he died from a single shot fired from another vehicle, and the attackers escaped immediately.

The man has not been named. The Foreign Office is informing his next of kin.

The BBC's Andrew North, in Kabul, said the shooting was bound to lead to a reassessment of security in the city, after months of relative calm.

Thirty Taliban surrender under arms-for-amnesty drive: US
March 7, 2005
KABUL (AFP) - Around 30 Taliban fighters have surrendered to the US military in Afghanistan as part of an amnesty offer aimed at bringing members of the ousted regime in from the cold, a top US official said.

Major General Eric T. Olson, the number two US commander in the war-torn country, said the mid-level Taliban had taken advantage of an offer to lay down their arms and return to their villages without facing prosecution.

"We've accepted into the allegiance program about 30 mid-level Taliban officials," he told a press conference in the capital Kabul, without giving details on when the militants had given themselves up.

US-led forces and Afghan generals toppled the Taliban in late 2001 but remnants of the fundamentalist Islamic militia have been waging a violent, open revolt ever since.
The 30 Taliban gave themselves up in response to the US military's so-called allegiance programme, which is paving the way for a similar olive branch expected to be held out by the Afghan government in the near future.

President Hamid Karzai's administration has been in talks with a number of high-level former Taliban figures in recent months but has not yet announced the final details of any offer.

Olson said that the Taliban who gave themselves up were already being reintegrated into society in southern Kandahar and southeastern Khost province, which are both former hotbeds of the insurgency. "There is a mix -- some of them have come into our bases in and around Khost... and others have come in to our facilities in and around Kandahar," Olson said.

Karzai has said that with the exception of a hardcore of around 150 fighters accused of war crimes the country's remaining 1,000 or so Taliban footsoldiers would be eligible for the offer.

Death and disease for snowbound Afghans
By Tom Coghlan in Ghor province, Afghanistan Monday, 7 March, 2005 BBC News
Our two-car convoy ground to a halt in the snow, high on the Janak Pass.

The Toyota pickup from Catholic Relief Services was the first to give up the unequal struggle.

Following in the aid group's 4x4 we could smell its clutch burning out as its wheels spun, despite snow chains.

We were at an altitude of 3,000 metres and the snow on the Janak Pass was higher than the roof of the car.

Lamplight

At the end of January, all access was cut to the impoverished province of Ghor in the central highlands of Afghanistan by the worst winter for 15 years.

Such messages as reached the outside by satellite phone from district officials spoke of widespread child mortality because of disease and cold.

Some estimates put the death toll in the thousands.

We accompanied the first aid workers to try to reach the interior.

The local commander, a genial former Taleban member named Mullah Moustafa, had 50 villagers cutting a path ahead of us, but with night drawing in we transferred to horses and reached the 75-household village of Gar-e-Hasar in darkness.

In the village they told us seven children and six adults were dead.

As we sat by lamplight with the village elders, they carried in a little girl expected to die within hours from pneumonia.

Bibi Gul was two, but looked very much younger.

Her pinched face had a waxy pallor; her fragile limbs showed the signs of chronic malnutrition.

Dr Shoib Fayez, an Afghan doctor accompanying us, told us quietly that he thought her too weak to respond to medicine.

More in hope than expectation he gave her a dose of antibiotics.

When we left in the morning she showed small signs of improvement, though her fate remained uncertain.

The doctor treated six other children suffering pneumonia in Gar-e-Hasar.

The villagers said that no aid workers had ever visited them before.

Their knowledge of basic medical care and hygiene left the doctor despairing.

Many children were half-naked despite the snow.

A village elder complained the medicine he had been taking for months because of severe headaches was ineffectual.

The pills turned out to be for diarrhoea.

Time-warp

Ghor has seen almost nothing of the billions poured into Afghanistan by foreign donors since the fall of the Taleban government in late 2001.

The province remains in a medieval time-warp.

A 4x4 from one of only two international aid groups to work in the province managed to access a remote valley for the first time last June.

The inhabitants of one village they reached had never seen a car.

Some of the children started crying.

A group of villagers collected grass and tried to feed it to the vehicle.

The absence of development was everywhere apparent, as were claims of a terrible death toll to the weather.

During our visits to more than 20 villages in the Tulak and Shahak regions, villagers told us of infant deaths that averaged between five and 10 per village.

It seemed that the cold had combined with malnutrition and poor hygiene to let in a host of respiratory diseases.

Some villages were without toilets of any kind.

To reach one particularly poor hamlet we had to negotiate a carpet of human faeces around its circumference.

Payment refused

Yet despite the abject poverty we encountered, the people of Ghor were everywhere scrupulously welcoming and generous despite their own desperate shortage of food.

The men of O Ghab Khaneh, which means The Eagle's Nest, worked for 10 hours to get us over the Gow Kusht Pass.

Our horses had to be periodically dug out of the snow.

The locals refused any payment.

"Please tell the world about our suffering and ask the aid agencies to set up some work schemes in our area," the village head said.

Studies by aid agencies in the province have shown a worrying dependence on such schemes among villagers, in the absence of any other employment opportunities.

One district official we spoke to conceded that some villages were not clearing the snowbound passes into the province because they hoped that if they waited long enough an aid agency would pay them to do so.

The seven-year drought in Afghanistan has hit Ghor particularly badly.

The marginal land of the province has turned to dust and many families have left.

Coming hard on its heels the winter of 2004/5 has hit a population weakened by malnutrition and underdevelopment.

People told us that they ranged up to six hours a day looking for wood.

Some cut down the fruit trees they rely on for summer food, others ate their seeds and livestock for the coming year, or burned parts of their houses for warmth.

With the weather showing signs of improvement, the infant mortality crisis may be over, though aid agencies are warning of a flood risk in the coming weeks.

One small note of comfort for the farmers is that the heavy snowfall has broken the drought for the time being.

Heightened security measures taken ahead of Afghan New Year celebrations in the north
By Ahmed Naim Qaderi
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Mar. 07, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- With the Afghan New Year or Nawroz, celebrated on the 21st of March only two weeks away, extraordinary security measures are being taken, in preparation for the traditional Red Tulip festival in the provincial capital of northern Baghlan province, Mazar.

Although Nawroz is celebrated throughout Afghanistan, Mazar-e-Sharif, the home of the shrine of Hazrat Ali, the fourth Kalif Islam, is renowned for its colorful celebrations.

Lamps are hung along the streets and the Hazrat Ali shrine is lit, and a fenced garden is built around it.

As the crowds flock to the city, volunteers are engrossed in the cleaning of the streets, and many apartments and houses are painted freshly with bright colours.

The women of Mazar have started preparing Samanak and Haft Mewa the two sweets characterizing Naw Roz.

The traditional tulip festival is known to have drawn thousands of Afghan and foreigners, with the celebrations lasting forty days.

On the first day of the celebrations, the flag of Hazrat Ali is raised in the presence of thousands of people. And some people believe in the healing powers of the Hazrat Ali tomb.

But the festivities haven’t always been a part of people’s lives, particularly during the Taliban.

Atta Mohammad Noor, the governor of Balkh province said the security precautions taken this year are better than in previous years because of the masses it attracts.

"As people from other cities and foreign countries come to Mazar this year, we have made arrangements and taken serious measures to celebrate the festival in safety."

Tight security measures have been taken and the provincial police officers have started searching cars driven during the night.

The head of public relations at the Balkh head quarters, Sher Mohammad Dorani said:"We have taken serious security measures to help people celebrate the New Year in a safer way."

On the second day of the Nawroz celebrations, known as the farmers’ day, farmers from all districts display their harvest.

Bu this year, the farmers believe that their Nawroz will even be better than the previous ones because of the heavy snow fall and rain, so they have started planting saplings.

Ghulam Reza, a 47 year old farmer, while buying some saplings for a nursery, told Pajhwok Afghan News: "I have come here to buy some saplings to celebrate the New Year by planting them."

Nawroz is a traditional festival celebrated on the first day of the new year in Asian countries, in particular in Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asian countries.

Two arrested in connection with the murder of the former district governor of Balkh
By Parwin Faiz
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Mar. 07, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The security authorities in northern Balkh province say they have arrested two men in connection with the murder of the former district governor, who ruled during the time of the Soviet backed government of President Najibullah, on Monday March 7th.

Dr Najibullah was the last leader of the communist regime, whose government collapsed after he resigned, and the Mujahedin fighters took over Afghanistan in 1992.

According to Lt Col Mohammad Akram Khakrezwal, the police chief of Balkh province, Ali Baba was injured along with one of other friend during an attack that involved armed men, on the night of March 5th. They later died in a hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Khakrezwal told Pajhwok that Ali Baba who was a 70-year old ethnic Hazara was not involved in any political activities.

"Since the friend of Ali Baba is killed by blow of a hammer, it is possible that the murder was the result of a quarrel between two parties."

He admitted that there had been an increase in the number of crimes and murders in Balkh province, more recently.

Security officials say nine people were killed in the past 45 days in the province.

On February 19th, two Hazara taxi drivers were killed outside the city.

Tim Rawlinson, a spokesman for the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), in a press conference on March 3rd, said the crime rate in Mazar-e-Sharif had increased, in the last month.

Mohammad Ashraf, a relative of the former district governor says Ali Baba was murdered in his house, just some meters away from the police station.

Government enforcing rules on pharmacies
(Reported by Pajhwok Staffer Bashir Gwakh)
JALALABAD, March 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News) – Health officials are taking measures to ensure controls over the sale of drugs, cracking down on pharamacists.

Afghanistan faces a problem with the use and sale of spurious and expired drugs, having no pharmaceutical industry of its own.

A meeting was held in the eastern province of Nangarhar recently to impress on pharmacists the importance of obeying the rule of law in conducting their business. The drug store owners were told that they would face prosecution if they flouted the laws.

Pharamacies in Afghanistan are ruled by several laws including the basic laws on maintaining hygiene. NGOs operating in this country for example distribute many medicines free of charge. However the drug stores do not always distribute them for free.

Pharmacies are also not supposed to earn more than 15% on the sale of drugs in order to keep the prices of drugs under check. The lure of cheap drugs has in fact led to many people buying medicines from push-cart vendors off the streets, leading to medical complications.

Dr. Fazal Mohammad Ibrahimi, the head of the health department in Nangarhar, told Pajhwok Afghan News that if a pharmacy is not obeying the rules, they will not only close it but also penalize it.

He said it had been agreed that some of the pharmacies would remain open till late at night and some for 24 hours to make medicines easily accessible.

Dr. Ali Mohammad Salam, a pharmacist in Jalalabad, told Pajhwok that it would be difficult to obey all the rules but we will try our best. He added "The pharmacies are built in the past and they don't have enough space, so it is difficult now to build toilet and kitchen inside them."

Ezatullah Shinwari, the owner of a pharmacy in Talashi Chauk, however said they were selling medicine according to the law even before. He added "We have never sold forged and expired medicine and we won't in future as well. It is not a good deed"

On the other hand, residents of Jalalabad happily welcomed the rules. Qudratullah, a resident of Jalalabad, said "Pharmacies are selling fake medicines openly. The Government has to stop them and penalize them".

Dostum's appointment brings about mixed feelings among Afghans
By Parwin Faiz and Ahmad Naim Qaderi
KABUL, Mar. 07, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- When Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, the leader of Junbish e Melli, was appointed as the chief-of-staffs to the commander of the armed forces by President Hamid Karzai on March 1st, some political analysts said the appointment was merely a ceremonial position and did not carry any authority, but his fellow country-men, the Uzbek Afghans welcomed it.

The Jirga e Mardome or the people's assembly from the northern Afghanistan called Dostums appointment a good omen.

While Mohammad Sardar Saidi, a representative of Hezbe Wahdate Islami, invited people to unite, and congratulated Dostum on his new post.

But analysts say Gen Dostum, one of the candidates who stood against Karzai in the October 2004 presidential elections, was not given a post in Karzai's cabinet earlier, because he was accused of war crimes.

And representatives from nine Northern provinces expressed their dissatisfaction with Karzai's chosen cabinet and complained that there was a lack of Uzbeck representation on January 20th.

The US-based Human Rights Watch has been critical of the high-ranking appointment of the controversial militia commander and said he should not hold any government post.

Although it is not clear how much power this new position will give Gen Dostum, Human Rights Watch says it could mean that he may not be held answerable for alleged war crimes.

Najibullah Salimi, speaking on behalf of the young people, criticized the human rights commission and said: "Those who raise their voices today have never stood beside the Afghan people in their joys and sorrows."

Ghulam Farooq Khpalwak, editor in chief of the monthly "Terkha" and a political analyst in Mazar-e-Sharif told Pajhwok: "The new post given to Gen Dostum is a ceremonial post and he won't have control over any military units."

Khpalwak added that not only Dostum but there are other members of the cabinet who have been accused of human rights violations.

Mohammad Aslam, 35, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif said the new post held no power or authority. He added: "With his appointment, the government has shortened Dostum's hand from the parliament. His new post is a post without authority and he would have to resign from the leadership of his political party by taking the new post."

Humayoon Khairi, a spokesman for Gen Dostum told Pajhwok Afghan News: "Gen Dostum's post is an official post with authority and Dostum always acts according to the law."

Gen Dostums controversial past has brought many to question any position in the government.

Correspondents say, in the 1980’s he backed the invading forces of the Soviet Union against the Mujahedeen rebels.

He is then believed to have played a prominent role in the Afghan civil war that claimed thousands of lives.

Then in 2001, when the US campaign against the Taliban began, Dostum’s men were accused of suffocating hundreds of Taliban prisoners to death by locking them inside shipping containers.

A survey carried out by the Afghan Human Rights Commission released in January found widespread support for an investigation into these alleged crimes, and many Afghans and human rights groups say Gen Dostum should be put on trial.

Provincial government in southern Kandahar looks to Kabul government for ban on fishing
By Saeed Zabulai
KANDAHAR, Mar. 07, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The provincial government in southern Kandahar has imposed a ban on bird hunting and fishing, warning that offenders will be punished.

The local people say many people use the traditional art of catching fish by throwing explosives in the water, or spreading poison to trap birds.

The governor of Kandahar, Gul Agha Shirzai, said the drought experienced by the Afghan people has not only harmed agriculture and livestock, but also species of birds and fish.

Governor Shirzai said if anybody is caught hunting birds or fishing they will be punished.

Kandahar's chief of agriculture department, Dr. Salih Wejdan, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the ban on hunting birds was imposed earlier and they were now looking to the Kabul authorities to endorse the ban on fishing.

"Fishing is part of some people’s livelihood, but the central government hasn’t sent a reaction to our request to ban fishing of specific weights," Dr Salih said.

But local fishermen say the government should concentrate on banning other more serious crimes.

Janaan, a fisherman at Topkhana Street of Kandahar, said: "The Governor must ban the abduction of children, everyday one child is taken and why should people be banned from fishing for their food."

A spokesman for the ministry of agriculture and livestock, Abdul Latif Rasuli, told Pajhwok Monday that there was no ban on fishing so far, but the hunting of birds was prohibited.

The Dali Dam, Arghandab River and Loya Wyala stream have been the key places of fishing in Kandahar,and the fish livestock has depleted through years of drought and fishing.

Afghan justice ministry promises to build new prison for women with many facilities
(Reported by Pajhwok Staffer Habiburrahman Ebrahimi)
Kabul, Pajhwok Afghan News, March 6, 2005. The Afghan Ministry of Justice, with funding from the UN has proposed to build a fully-equipped women’s prison and detention center with all the necessary facilities by the end of 2005.

The deputy minister of justice, Mohammad Qasem Hashemzai in an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News on the 6th of March said: "The ministry of justice will build a new prison to meet international standards in 2005."

The warden of the justice’s prisons, Abdul Salam Bakshi said that currently there are 130 female inmates in Afghan prisons throughout the country.

An employee for a UN office in Kabul, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok that they have to improve the conditions in prisons and build new prisons for Afghans.

He added that together with the ministry of justice, they will build a modern one story prison on six acres of land in Tahiye Maskan, in the heart of Kabul.

The women’s prison will have a health care center, separate facilities for expectant mothers and kids, meeting rooms, and many other facilities. The building will be completed within the year and will cost of US$ 250,000-300,000.

The deputy minister of justice is hopeful that the new prison facility will eliminate some of the bad conditions and address some of the issues like overcrwoding.

Japan promises to build three schools and a hospital in western Afghan province
By Zainab Mohaqiq
KABUL, Mar. 07, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The Japanese embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul Monday said they plan to construct three schools and a hospital in the Shindanad district of western Herat province.

The Japanese ambassador to Kabul, Nori Hiro Okuda said the project would cost US$ 332,000.

Ambassador Okuda said thirty-percent of the work force, for these projects will be recruited from the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) program.

The contract for the four projects was signed today between the Japanese embassy and the NGOs, Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) and the Institute for Relief and Rehabilitation of Afghanistan.

The construction work will begin in early April and it is anticipated that the schools and the hospitals will be built in six months.

Afghan Red Crescent gets aid from China to help flood victims
By Ahmad Khalid Mowahid
KABUL, Mar. 07, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has pledged US$ 30,000, that it received from the Chinese embassy in Kabul for flood victims in Afghanistan, officials said Sunday 6th.

The money was handed over by Chinese embassy in Kabul to the head of the ARCS, Fatema Gailani at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Abdul Rahim Zarin from the ministry of rural rehabilitation (MRRD), said the floods were likely to affect Nangarhar, Logar, Parwan, Bamyan, Takhar, Badakhshan, Laghman, Nursitan, Paktia, Kandahar, Helmand and Zabul province.

Fatema Gailani told Pajhwok Afghan News: "The money will be given to people who are displaced as a result of flooding."

She added that some foodstuff had also been transferred to these provinces.

Militancy subsides in Afghanistan: US general
KABUL, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Attacks on the US-dominated foreign troops and insurgency has been rapidly going down in the post-Taliban nation, a top military officer of American forces in Afghanistan said Monday.

"In the spring of 2004 we have experienced about 10 to 15 attacks against the coalition forces per week. And now at this point of time we rarely receive more than five attacks per week,"Eric T. Olson Commanding General of Combined Joint Task Force 76 based in Bagram Airfield claimed here.

Bagram Airfield, 50 km north of Kabul has been serving as the headquarters of over 18,000 US-led coalition troops in the post-war central Asian state since the collapse of Taliban regime in late 2001.

He declined to disclose the exact figure of US army's casualties in 2004 or the current year.

"In terms of number of casualties we suffered, I personally donot count casualties. I do not like to do so," he responded by giving a vague number from 20 to 25.

More than 130 US soldiers, according to US army officials have been killed since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2001.

In the meantime, sources close to the hard-line Taliban movement put the number of US casualties in the post-Taliban country as high as 1,000.

The general, whose forces have been mounting pressure on the Taliban operatives, has backed the peaceful reintegration of Taliban to their communities.

He confirmed that the coalition troops have pardoned 30 middle ranking Taliban leaders who voluntarily laid down their arms, but refused to identify them.

Taliban's leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who is still at large has repeatedly denounced the amnesty offered by Afghan government as a trick to split the militia group and threatened to fight until the foreign troops leave Afghanistan.

Three top Talibs sent to U.S. base
By Janullah Hashimzada and Khalid Mohid
PESHAWAR, Mar. 05 (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Three high-ranking Taliban officials arrested in Pakistan have been sent to a United States military base outside of Kabul, an Afghan intelligence source told Pajhwok on Saturday.

The officials are the former chief of police of Nangarhar Province, Maulawi Mohammad Taha, the ousted regime's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Razzaq, and the leader of Taliban splinter faction Jaish-e-Muslimeen, Syed Akbar Agha, the source said. Akbar Agha is suspected of being behind the abduction of three United Nations elections workers in Kabul at the end of October. The three, Annetta Flanigan of Northern Ireland, Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan, were released after a month. The three Taliban officials, detained by Pakistani intelligence officers in different parts of that country during the last three months, were sent to the U.S.'s Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan on Friday, the source said.

A U.S. military spokesman, Major Steve Wollman, said he could not confirm or deny the reports. A Taliban spokesman, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, said he did not know whether Taha had been arrested, but he did confirm the detention of Razzaq and Akbar Agha.

Too many weapons in private hands - UN
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 7 March (IRIN) - In an episode that suggests Afghanistan is slowly becoming safer, Shir Alam a 50-year-old local commander, surrendered several hundred mt of arms to a United Nations ammunitions stockpile and collection group on Thursday outside the capital, Kabul.

Alam had amassed the arms over three decades of conflict, first fighting Soviet forces during 1980s and later against rival militia groups during the 1990s civil war in the capital. He also fought the hardline Taliban regime as part of the Northern Alliance.

"These [weapons] have cost the sacrifice of hundreds of Mujahideen, but now I do not foresee any further conflicts and now we have a national army, they are of no use," Alam told IRIN, as he opened a weapon cache to the weapons inspectors in Pajak village in the district of Paghman, close to the capital.

Alam’s arms depot - consisting of RPG launchers, machine guns, artillery pieces and hundreds of thousands of shells, mortar bombs and rifle rounds - is just a small portion of the weapons that the UN estimates are being held by different militia groups throughout the country.

Despite the commander’s gesture, the UN says it’s but a drop in the ocean. According to Afghanistan’s New Beginning Programme (ANBP), the official name of the UN-backed disarmament and weapons collection programme, huge amounts of ammunition and guns remain with local commanders and large militia forces and at ex-military bases and private stockpiles throughout Afghanistan.

With many rural Afghan areas still under the rule of the gun, the existence of such quantities of ammunition and weapons in the hands of non-state actors means the danger of further conflict remains real.

"Most of the stockpiles are in the control of individual commanders and different paramilitary groups and they won’t give them up easily," Rick Grant, a spokesman for ANBP, told IRIN on Monday in Kabul.

He said the UN had launched a survey to identify the locations of weapons stockpiles. "The purpose of the survey is to find out where the stuff [weapons] is and the second phase is over to the Ministry of Defence to decide how to collect it."

UN surveyors have so far been to the western province of Herat, Mazar-e Sharif in the north, Nangarhar in the east and Kabul. More surveying teams are preparing to go to other areas of the country, Grant added.

Early findings indicate that there are around 600 Kamaz trucks (large Russian lorries) of ammunition in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif alone. In the capital, where security is good, cooperation from local commanders has been positive "Here in Kabul individual commanders are voluntarily coming to us and say please take my ammunition," Grant said.

Another 5,000 mt of ammunition have recently been moved out of the western city of Herat, which accounts for only a third of the whole problem in Herat province, according to ANBP.

"In Jalalabad region the ammunition survey found almost no ammunition because the [US-led] coalition PRTs [Provincial Reconstruction Teams] were just blowing it up," he said, noting that in Sheberghan and Mazar-e Sharif they expected to come across further massive storages or arms.

Grant said so far the survey teams had discovered 168 different collections of arms and ammunition, comprising 194,076 boxed and 487,729 unboxed arms in nine provinces of the country.

"The distinction between boxed and unboxed ammunition is important because it gives an indication of how much ammunition is potentially unstable or dangerous," Grant noted. The first phase is to find the ammunition, separate out the good material, which can be used by the Afghan army, and then destroy that which is dangerous and unstable, Grant added.

Canada is the lead nation for the project, and so far has contributed some US $400,000 to conduct the survey. The whole programme, which is expected to take more than a year, will require much extra funding.

According to ANBP, more than 40,000 of an estimated 60,000 members of Afghan militia forces have been disarmed since the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process started in late 2003. In addition, more than 98 percent of all heavy weapons - nearly 8,600 different types of active and in active heavy weapons - in Afghanistan have been collected.

On the problem of landmines, so far 2.8 million explosive devices, including mines and UXOs (unexploded ordnance), have been cleared from 320 million sq m of land. But 815 million sq m of land remain to be cleared to ensure the safe return of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.

U.S. General: Omar Loses Control of Afghan Insurgency
Mon Mar 7, 9:32 AM ET By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has lost control of the insurgency in Afghanistan and the number of attacks has fallen dramatically, a senior U.S. general said Monday.

Taliban spokesmen have said attacks will resume once the harsh Afghan winter is over.

But Major General Eric T. Olson told a news conference in Kabul that the Taliban lacked cohesion and were a fading force in the southern and southeast provinces that had been their strongholds.

"We believe that this spring there will be a number of factors combined to make this so-called spring offensive much less effective and much lesser scale than we've seen in the past in Afghanistan," said Olson.

Remnants of Mullah Omar's hard-line Islamist militia have kept up an insurgency since being driven from power in late 2001 for giving shelter to al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, following the Sept. 11 suicide airliner attacks in the United States.

Olson, who last month warned U.S. policymakers against cutting troop levels in Afghanistan because the Taliban and al Qaeda posed a grave threat, now sees a "dramatic decrease" in the number of attacks.

President Hamid Karzai's government will soon announce an amnesty offer to rank-and-file Taliban fighters, Olson said, and he expected the number of diehards to dwindle further by the time parliamentary elections are held later this year.

The elections were due in April or May, but are now expected to be delayed until September.

Many saw the Taliban's inability to mount an effective threat to last October's presidential election as a sign the movement was a spent and demoralized force.

Olson said about 30 fighters, described as mid-level in the Taliban, had surrendered to U.S.-led forces recently.

Karzai has said his government is in contact with Taliban members and the amnesty offer will not extend to Mullah Omar or up to 150 of his most hardened followers.
Omar's whereabouts remains a mystery, said Olson, but the U.S. general was convinced that wherever he is, Omar no longer exerts control over the Taliban.

"It seems very clear to us, given the disjointed and uncoordinated effort that the Taliban has been able to launch, that those types of leaders, Mullah Omar specifically, are not exercising an effective command and control over Taliban operations in Afghanistan."

He put this down to the success of U.S.-led forces in both combat operations and in winning over support from local communities, leaving the insurgents isolated.

Nearly 1,100 people including militants, civilians, aid workers, and government and foreign forces have died in Taliban-linked violence since late 2003, when the guerrillas stepped up their campaign of violence.

UNHCR rushes to shelter Afghan refugees battered by rains in Pakistan
MALGAGAI CAMP, Pakistan, March 7 (UNHCR) – Nature is a cruel host in Balochistan. After many years of suffering from drought, the Afghan refugees in Malgagai camp this winter saw their mud houses collapse under relentless snow and rain.

"Until 15 days ago it was snowing but after that it was rain," said 23-year-old Rahmat Ullah while more ominous clouds spread across the valley from the surrounding mountains. "The houses started collapsing a week ago."

The UN refugee agency, alerted to the problem four days after it started, has just completed a second distribution of tents to provide emergency accommodation to those left homeless, bringing the total number to 808 since Friday. Another 250 tents are on the way in another truck convoy.

Malgagai, with an estimated 7,300 residents, is sited on what is inhospitable terrain at the best of times. Located at the base of gloomy black mountains on a barren slope strewn with rocks and gravel torn from the slopes over the millennia, there was not a blade of grass to slow the torrents of water racing downhill.

The deep gorge that separates parts of the camp has been dry in recent winters. Now the refugees watch a stream heavy with mud tear into the banks. UNHCR vehicles drive through the water to reach the upper part of the camp, the worst-affected section of the scattered houses.

The sheets of plastic that residents placed under a final layer of mud covering the pole roofs made little difference. Three solid weeks of rain this winter had eventually saturated everything. The walls, made of rough earth plastered around stones, began to disintegrate. Even some of those still standing are now considered too dangerous to use.

Fortunately the houses did not collapse quickly, and most of the Afghans abandoned them in time as debris started to fall. One woman suffered a broken leg and was transferred to a hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital. UNHCR staff also checked out reports of fatalities in other refugee camps, but concluded they were unfounded.

As UNHCR staff surveyed the situation on Sunday, Mohammed Rahim was already busy rebuilding, piling up the stones for a new perimeter wall to his compound. The gravel-strewn earth he packed around them was a reminder that these people do not even have the finely ground soil that can help mud houses survive rain.

Inside his compound, two UNHCR tents erected a day before sheltered the families of Rahim and a relative. He estimated it would take a month to rebuild his two-room house if he does not take a break, but that would also mean forsaking any employment and earnings.

UNHCR provides elementary education, basic medical care, and water and sanitation services to refugees in camps, but they must provide for their own food. The refugee agency is also not normally involved in housing, but this was an exceptional winter, with the heaviest rains anyone could remember in decades.

A UNHCR team was dispatched from the Quetta sub-office as soon as the first reports arrived from refugees who had called from a nearby town. By the time the team reached Malgagai on the afternoon of March 3, UNHCR's implementing partner for health services in the area, TARAQEE, had already done a preliminary survey.

Although there was a break in the rain, the team could see that some houses had already collapsed and more were likely to follow if the rain resumed. By the next day a convoy of five trucks was already on the road with about 500 tents, and the second convoy was being prepared.

Distribution is not easy in such emergencies. Tents had to go to those in immediately need, and UNHCR staff had to filter out others trying to capitalise on the situation. Some residents of a nearby town even appeared when word of the UN assistance spread, but were easily detected because they could not produce proof of registration with the camp health clinic.

But the fears of the UNHCR assessment mission about continuing danger were well-founded. By the time the team left Malgagai on March 4, the rain was falling again. While the hot, dry summer is approaching, the first drops from a new wave of threatening clouds began falling late on March 6. The last of the 808 tents were being hurriedly erected and pinned in place, with the children already gathered inside.

The harsh weather in Balochistan has prevented UNHCR and the Pakistani government from completing the first-ever detailed census of Afghans in Pakistan. While the process was completed on Sunday in Punjab, Sind and the North-West Frontier provinces, it has been extended till March 10 in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency on Monday started the year's repatriation season from Pakistan to Afghanistan, bringing home 122 refugees originating from Afghanistan's Nangarhar province. The pace of returns is expected to pick up as temperatures rise later this month. In all, UNHCR anticipates that 400,000 Afghan refugees will return home from Pakistan this year.
By Jack Redden UNHCR Pakistan

Afghan professors learn methods at Purdue
By Charles Sears Staff Writer
Five Afghan professors are visiting Purdue to learn how to put the hands of their liberated countrymen to good use.

Since Afghanistan was liberated, Nazar Mohammad Karyar, a professor of electrical engineering at Kabul University, says there are three categories of college-aged young people in Afghanistan: people who are accepted to study in one of the more than 20 colleges and universities, people who study in the Ministry of Education or vocational schools and people who forego higher education. This sweeping statement seems like it could easily be applied to U.S. high school graduates, but the two countries are anything but similar.

Professor Karyar and four other Afghan professors are guests of Purdue’s College of Technology and College of Education until Monday. They have traveled from the cities of Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan to learn how to more effectively teach job skills to the unemployed.

Charles E. Kline, an associate professor of educational studies, visited Afghanistan last summer and gave multiple workshops, including one that taught Afghan educators how to conduct need assessments. Kline believes the goal of these visits is for Purdue to do everything it can to help Afghanistan rebuild its education system.

Professor Krista Simons has devoted her graduate class in education technology to revamping the education of teachers in Afghanistan. In a country where Simons says, "Many teachers are only educated until the ninth grade," her class’s work in technique development is invaluable. They are working with the Afghan Center, a non-governmental organization in Afghanistan, to develop strategies and techniques for teaching in Afghanistan.

However, the professors from Afghanistan are more concerned with rampant unemployment and the students who enroll in education ministries on this trip. Their aim is to give more options to recently liberated Afghans who have found themselves out of jobs.

Abdul Latif Ashna, one of the visiting professors, said this concerning the recently unemployed: "(The Americans) came in and took the guns away from the men whose job it was to fight. So now they have no jobs."

Through a tour of Ivy Tech State College in Lafayette and stops at career centers throughout central Indiana, these Afghan professors intend to develop a new plan to train the masses of their post-war country with productive skills. Then they may sit back and let these newly educated people rebuild Afghanistan.