Afghanistan News March 9, 2005

March 9, 2005

Karzai to attend celebrity forum in Spain
Xinhua 03/09/2005
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai left for Spain Wednesday morning to attend an International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, a press release said here.

The President, invited by Spanish King Juan Carlos, will deliver a speech at the four-day summit to be closed on March 11, it said. Over 50 former and serving heads of state and about 200 scholars and experts from across the world will attend the international forum.

Karzai would also hold talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf, and former US president Bill Clinton among other top officials during his stay.

Afghan bomb explosion wounds four people
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, March 9 (Reuters) - At least four people were wounded when a home-made bomb exploded in Afghanistan's northwest province of Faryab, a police officer said on Wednesday.

The bomb exploded on Tuesday in Maimana town, the provincial capital of Faryab, minutes after an explosion outside a Western-funded aid group called Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA), the officer said.

The first blast caused minor damage to the CHA office, but attracted a crowd of people to the site. "While police and civilians gathered to see what had happened a second explosion occurred," said Faryab's governor Abdul Latif.

The wounded included two soldiers from the Afghan National Army, a policeman and one civilian, said Mohammad Aslam, a senior police officer for Maimana town.
Latif said no arrests had been made and the bombs were probably detonated by remote control. He blamed terrorists, a term usually used by Afghan officials to describe members of the ousted Taliban militia and their al Qaeda allies.

Two CHA workers were killed in the southern province of Kandahar in April last year in an attack blamed on the Taliban. islamist militants are mostly active in the restive south and east, where they have been waging an insurgency since the U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban from power in 2001.

But a handful of aid groups and foreign workers have come under attack in northern provinces. Eleven Chinese engineers were killed in the northeastern province of Kunduz last June.

Afghan official condemns killers of Briton, as authorities hunt for vehicle used in the shooting
Associated Press / March 9, 2005
A top government official on Wednesday branded the killers of a British development adviser as "enemies of Afghanistan" and said security would be stepped up for foreign workers.

The motive for the Monday night murder of Steven MacQueen, 41, who spent two years working with the rural development ministry, remained a mystery. Authorities searched for the black landcruiser used in the drive-by attack, but reported no progress in their investigation.

On Tuesday a purported spokesman for the ousted Taliban militia claimed responsibility for what was the first fatal shooting of a foreign development worker in Kabul since the fall of the hardline regime in late 2001.

The claim could not be independently confirmed, and was regarded with skepticism by foreign residents in Kabul who speculated the attack was more likely the work of a rogue Afghan commander or element within the security forces.

Haneef Atmar, the rural development minister, said security would be increased for foreign experts working at the ministry _ among them about 15 core experts, supported by dozens more foreigners on short-term assignments.

He condemned the killers as "enemies of Afghanistan" and said the shooting appeared premeditated but would not speculate on the motive. He had heard of no threats made to MacQueen.

"I can't tell you whether it was a criminal or political action," Atmar told reporters. "We have to wait for the completion of the investigation." In the past three years, eight ministry employees, all Afghans, have been killed in attacks.

MacQueen, a former banker from Scotland, worked on a micro-finance project that supplies loans to nomads, the disabled and a housing project for government employees. Atmar said in the coming months it was planned to extend loans to help farmers stop growing opium and take up alternative livelihoods.

Debra Boyer, a colleague of MacQueen, said they were determined to continue the work that he had started. "We have to be alert and be careful and stay out of the crosshairs of people who don't want us here," she said.

MacQueen was shot after two vehicles overtook and cut him off as he drove down a heavily policed, downtown street after eating dinner at a Kabul restaurant. An official at the Interior Ministry press department said on condition of anonymity that two armed men had stepped out of a black landcruiser with tinted windows that was carrying four men and opened fire on MacQueen, then got back in and drove off.

Police were monitoring the four main roads into the Afghan capital, and have contacted police around the country with a description of the vehicle, he said. They have made no arrests.

Since holding its first direct presidential elections in October, Afghanistan has enjoyed a period of relative calm, marked by a decline in attacks by Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents that have long plagued the south and east.

The last major security scare in Kabul was the abduction of three foreign election workers by a Taliban splinter group in November. They were released unharmed a month later. On Tuesday, the British government advised its nationals in Kabul "to keep a low profile, and avoid all but essential travel after dark."

Westerners told to lie low after killing in Kabul
By Simon Cameron-Moore
KABUL, March 9 (Reuters) - Westerners living in Kabul have been advised to keep a low profile and avoid moving around at night after the shooting of a British consultant to the Afghan government, diplomats and security sources said on Wednesday.

Police say they are baffled why Steven MacQueen, an adviser to the rural development ministry, was killed in an ambush on Monday night by gunmen driving four-wheel-drive vehicles.

“It is a little bit early to say how it's going to affect the international community because we don't know yet what are the reasons related to this incident," Jean Michel Emeryk, of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO), told Reuters.

"For the time being, we are advising people to limit their movement during hours of darkness." Aside from thousands of Western military personnel, there are some 2,000 foreigners working in Kabul mostly as diplomats or aid workers for the many non-government organisations operating here.

On Wednesday, several foreigners could be seen travelling in their four-wheel-drive vehicles on Kabul's muddy, clogged roads, and others were walking on the sidewalk in the city's main shopping area during lunchtime.

But the many restaurants catering to the international community may suffer a fall in trade if people follow the advice to stay home at night. Few people gave credibility to a Taliban claim of responsibility for MacQueen's murder, although the guerrilla movement has said it would attack Westerners working with the government and aid workers as well as military targets.

The Taliban have been unable to mount an attack in Kabul since October, when a militant blew himself up along with an American woman and an Afghan girl on a popular shopping street.

There has not been a rocket attack for months either, but the occasional night-time burst of small arms fire or controlled explosions of weapons caches by NATO-led peacekeepers are regular reminders of the dangers in Kabul.

Many Afghans despair at the enduring lack of security, and while they are glad that the Taliban have gone and women and children can go out on the streets without fear of being punished, they now worry about being attacked or kidnapped.

Toofan, a bespectacled university student wearing a baseball cap, feared a backlash unless President Hamid Karzai's government vastly improves the law and order situation.

A demonstration against the relentless crime in the southern city of Kandahar earlier this week was broken up by guards after the crowd threatened to storm the governor's residence.

"If this situation continues and the government does not act positively, I am sure people will return to the Taliban," said Toofan. ANSO's Emeryk said criminals posed more of a threat than militants to foreigners.

"Generally speaking, the major problem we have in Kabul is the criminality," said Emeryk. "That's what we have identified so far as a major threat for the western community."

Whether MacQueen was killed because he was Western or for a more personal reason, investigators said it was too early to say. Emeryk said extra security should probably be provided for foreign advisers to the government until more was known.

MacQueen appeared to have been tailed after he drove alone from a restaurant favoured by Westerners. One of the attackers' cars pulled in front, forcing MacQueen to stop, whereupon he was shot several times and died on the spot.

Among several theories being circulated was one that MacQueen was targeted by drug lords, though Afghan and Western officials say everything is mere speculation.
MacQueen was helping run a micro-finance programme that would have included creating alternative livelihoods for farmers who have been growing poppy -- the flower that produces opium -- the base product for heroin and morphine.

Afghan authorities search for black landcruiser used by killers of British development worker
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Afghan authorities are searching for a black landcruiser with tinted windows used by the killers of a British development worker in Kabul, but have no information yet who was behind the nighttime gun attack, an official said Wednesday.

Police are monitoring the four main roads into the Afghan capital, and have contacted police around the country with a description of the vehicle, said the official at the Interior Ministry's press department who requested anonymity. Additional checkpoints were set up in the city, where police searched four-wheel drive vehicles and checked the drivers' documents Tuesday night.

Steven Blair MacQueen, 41, who was an adviser to Afghanistan's rural development ministry, was shot in the head Monday night after two vehicles overtook and cut him off as he drove through downtown after eating dinner at a Kabul restaurant. The attack happened close to the main guest house for U.N. workers in the city.
A purported spokesman for the Taliban claimed responsibility for what was the first fatal shooting of a foreign development worker in Kabul since the fall of the hardline regime in late 2001. The claim could not be independently confirmed.

There have been conflicting accounts of the circumstances of the attack. The Interior Ministry official said two armed men stepped out of the black landcruiser that was carrying four men and opened fire on MacQueen, then got back in and drove off. Another police investigator said Tuesday that gunmen opened fire from inside the vehicle.

Police have made no arrests, and refused Wednesday to comment on the case, referring all inquiries to the Interior Ministry. Afghanistan's intelligence service was believed to be leading the investigation.

Since holding its first direct presidential elections in October, Afghanistan has enjoyed a period of relative calm, marked by a decline in attacks by Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents that have long plagued the south and east.

The last major security scare in Kabul before MacQueen's killing was the abduction of three foreign election workers by a Taliban splinter group in November. They were released unharmed a month later.

On Tuesday, the British government, which already warns against all but essential travel to Afghanistan, beefed up its advice. ``Until more is known, it would be sensible for those in Kabul to keep a low profile, and avoid all but essential travel after dark,'' said the British Embassy's Web site said.

Afghan warlords suspected of killing British aid worker
The Independent, UK 03/08/2005 By Nick Meo
Kabul - A British financier shot dead in Kabul may have been targeted by warlords angry at Britain's lead role in countering Afghanistan's opium trade. Steven Blair MacQueen, 41, a World Bank expert from Scotland, was days away from finishing his work as an adviser to Afghanistan's rural development ministry when he was ambushed on Monday night as he drove past aUN guesthouse.

Mr MacQueen was due to fly to Washington on Sunday to meet his American fiancée, Kay McGowan, a former US embassy employee whom he had met in Kabul. The couple's baby is due next month.

It was not clear if Mr MacQueen had been deliberately targeted or had been picked at random by waiting gunmen as he drove home from dinner with friends in central Kabul.

A theory suggested that he was killed because of his involvement with Britain's counter-narcotics efforts, which have seen British Government spending doubling in the past month and increased activity by British soldiers and civilians advising Afghan counterparts.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the shooting, which followed several months of relative calm in the Afghan capital after bombings and a kidnapping last year. But security sources in Kabul were sceptical that the organisation was still capable of staging such an attack.

Police said a vehicle blocked Mr MacQueen's car before a gunman in a four-wheel drive with blacked-out windows fired four shots, hitting him in the head and arm.
An American colleague paid tribute to Mr MacQueen, whose work for the World Bank involved setting up microcredit schemes to provide loans for opium farmers wishing to grow new crops, who would otherwise be forced to turn to drug traffickers.

She said: "It's not easy to work in Afghanistan but he hardly ever had a sense-of-humour breakdown in the two years I worked alongside him. I think the motivation for being here was the work - it is a fascinating place and he really helped to make microcredit happen, that's a big help for Afghan farmers. He was very good at explaining what we do and how we work.

"It's such a terrible shock. The last person you would expect to be targeted would be a microcredit person. He was planning to get married. He spent Christmas with his fiancée's family; they were just waiting for the embassy checks to come through before they fixed a date. They were planning to live in Washington."

Mr MacQueen's job and the nature of the attack raised fears in Kabul that drug lords may have been responsible. But Afghan and British officials refuse to speculate on a possible motive for the killing

Kabul's estimated 2,000 foreign aid workers and diplomats have been advised to take extra security precautions. Dave Mather from the British aid group, Afghanaid, said: "Foreigners in Kabul are very much saddened about this, he was a very popular guy, but they're not panicking. Nobody is talking about leaving Kabul."

Taliban's Mullah Omar Vows Attacks After Winter
By Sayed Salahuddin / March 8, 2005
KABUL (Reuters) - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a rare statement Tuesday saying his fighters will increase attacks on government and foreign forces in Afghanistan once the harsh Afghan winter gave way to spring.

The statement, issued through a spokesman, was a riposte to U.S. Major General Eric T. Olson that Taliban attacks had "decreased dramatically" and Omar was no longer able to exercise control over the insurgents.

"This is part of America's psychological war aimed at demoralizing the Taliban and creating rifts among them," Omar said in a statement read by spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi to a Reuters correspondent in Kabul.

"I have support not only from Muslims in Afghanistan, but from around the world," said Omar, who once declared himself to be a "Commander of the Faithful," a title used by companions of Prophet Mohammad.

Remnants of 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 (news - web sites), following the Sept. 11 suicide airliner attacks in the United States.

Hakimi also telephoned another Reuters reporter claiming the Taliban was responsible for the killing of a British man in Kabul Monday night, but security sources in the Afghan capital doubted the veracity of the claim, saying it appeared opportunist and the Taliban had often made false claims in the past.

Hakimi said Omar had told his deputy, Mullah Obaidullah to initiate an attack that would send a clear signal to the Americans that the Taliban command could order a strike whenever it chose.

Olson said he expected President Hamid Karzai to announce an offer of amnesty to Taliban rank-and-file soon and said some 30 medium-level Taliban had recently surrendered to U.S.-led forces.

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 statement said those who had surrendered were bandits and added that no "true Muslim will surrender to the infidels." He vowed a fresh campaign of violence once spring arrives. "You will see increase in our attacks after the end of winter."

A regional Taliban commander is arrested in eastern Kunar
KABUL, Mar. 09, (Pajhwok Afghan News) - A regional Taliban commander was arrested when he was attempting to plant a bomb on a main road in eastern Kunar, officials said Tuesday 8th March.

According to the governor of Kunar, Assadullah Waffa, Qari Abdul Sattar is an important Taliban commander. Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News in a telephone interview, the governor said:“There were two other accomplices with Sattar, but they escaped.”

He also said security officials in Kunar found light weapons, explosives and a remote control bomb devices in Satar’s house. According to Haji Jahan Shah, the head of the intelligence unit in Kunar, they have also found a video tape from the talib’s house. So far, Taliban sources have not commented on the claims made by the provincial officers in Kunar.

Officials blame Taliban for violent mob in Kandahar
KANDAHAR, Mar. 08, (Pajhwok Afghan News) - Officials in the southern province of Kandahar say that an armed group of the Taliban was behind Monday's demonstration which turned violent and wounded several people. However, Kandahar citizens say ordinary people staged the march against kidnapping of children and administrative corruption and that there were no Taliban among the demonstrators.

A group of more than 4,000 protestors had gathered in Kandahar town on Monday morning to protest against recent incidents of kidnapping which have resulted in the deaths of several children in recent weeks.

As the crowd moved towards the Governor's mansion to lodge its protest it turned violent and broke shop windows, looted shops and damaged some buildings and vehicles. Security forces called in to control the crowd fired in the air.

Khalid Pashtun, a spokesman for the Kandahar Governor, said that authorities had arrested some armed Taliban in connection with the incident. "This group was related to Jaish-ul-Muslimeen and its leader was someone named Atiqullah Agha," Pashtun told Pajhwok Afghan News. He said they had also seized some light weapons and a satellite phone from the three Taliban arrested. They were being questioned in order to locate other accomplices, Pashtun said.

Jaish-ul-Muslimeen, a splinter Taliban group, was believed to be behind the abduction of three United Nations workers last November in Kabul. The captives were finally released after a month of intense negotiations.

But Haji Din Mohmmad, a shopkeeper at the Haji Nani Market in Kandahar, said no specific group organized the demonstration and all the participants were ordinary citizens of Kandahar. Abdul Salam, 32, a resident of Shahidan Square in the city center where the demonstration was staged , told Pajhwok the demonstration was not held by the Taliban, or traders or students, but by ordinary residents of Kandahar who raised their voice for their rights.

"Government officials blame the Taliban or other groups in order to preserve their jobs. Every person of Kandahar has a knife with him and many Kandaharis wear turbans. That does not mean that all of them are Taliban," Salam said.

Group plans to study whether Afghan opium could be used for production of medicine
By SUSANNA LOOF
VIENNA, Austria (AP) Experts are to study whether some of Afghanistan's illicit opium poppy cultivation could be transformed into legal production of medical morphine and codeine, a drug policy forum announced Wednesday.

Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of The Senlis Council, a France-based group that tries to influence drug policy, said transforming some of Afghanistan's illegal poppy fields into legal ones would be a way of using farmers' expertise and providing them with a legal income.

Reinert argued that Afghan opium could be used to reduce what he called ``a huge shortage'' of morphine and codeine in several parts of the world. By extrapolating European countries' use of the drugs to countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa, where morphine and codeine use is currently much lower, his group came to the conclusion that there's a shortage of 10,000 tons of opium per year.

Afghanistan produced 4,200 tons of opium in 2004, according to a U.N. survey.

The International Narcotics Control Board, which monitors the global supply of legal drugs, said in a report released last week that it is concerned about ``the low consumption of opioid analgesics for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, especially in developing countries.''

``Developing countries, which represent about 80 percent of the world's population, accounted for only about 6 percent of global production of morphine,'' the report said.

But the report also noted that too much opiate raw material had been produced in recent years, and that global production was anticipated to be ``slightly higher than the level of global demand.''

The board did not immediately return a phone call placed by The Associated Press. Reinert argued that part of the Afghan opium poppy production could, at least as a transition, be channeled into the legal market if the country is granted licenses to carry out such production.

`It's not a problem of demand, it's a problem of reorganizing the market,'' Reinert told a news conference. He saw no danger in continuing to grow a crop that now ends up in the hands of traffickers.

``The situation cannot be worse,'' he said. ``Right now, 100 percent of the market in Afghanistan is in the hands of the drug lords and the drug mafia.'' The result of the study will be presented in September in Kabul.

Habibullah Qaderi, Afghanistan's counter-narcotics$minister, told the news conference that his government had not yet decided whether it would support legal opium cultivation in the country, but that it had no objections to the study ``provided this idea helps Afghanistan and the international community.''

Qaderi also said his country remained opposed to aerial spraying as a means of combatting opium production ``because we all know the consequences are$not good.''

Qaderi, in Vienna to participate in a meeting of the Commission for Narcotic Drugs, also criticized suggestions that aid should be conditioned to a reduction of poppy cultivation. The commission,4the U.N. decision-making body on drug issues, is a part of the Vienna-based U.N. Office for Drugs and Crime.

Karzai lauded for Dostum appointment
Al Jazeera
senior US official has praised Afghan President Hamid Karzai for appointing regional commander General Abd al-Rashid Dostum as the new army chief. The compliment from US ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, was in sharp contrast to the collective dismay voiced by human rights groups over the appointment.
Afghan regional commanders have been accused of rights abuses and non-governmental groups have been demanding that they be sidelined. "I believe that President Karzai's decision to give a role to General Dostum and give a role to other regional strongmen is a wise policy," Khalilzad said. "I think that's part of the approach to minimize the use of force."
Abuse taint - New York-based Human Rights Watch says Dostum has been implicated in countless human rights abuses in the last quarter of a century. His forces were accused of letting hundreds of Taliban prisoners suffocate to death in transport containers after their capture in 2001, a charge the general has denied.

Dostum, who finished fourth in October's presidential elections, had served as a military adviser in Karzai's previous interim administration, but relations have often been strained.

When Karzai came to power after the Taliban's overthrow by US-led forces in 2001, his attempts to stabilise Afghanistan were undermined by repeated clashes between Dostum's fighters and rival ethnic Tajiks.

Khalilzad said Washington had tried to persuade regional commanders to give up their heavy weapons and militias, especially since the election, which gave Karzai a clear mandate to build democratic institutions.

"You can always threaten people and say, 'You will do this in 24 hours or I am going to come and bomb you,'" he said. "We try to the maximum degree possible to avoid that ... Keep the use of force in your background but talk to people about the wisdom of this new opportunity."

New political parties formed by Qanuni and Kazimi to register
Pajhwok Afghan News 03/08/2005 By Habib Rahman Ibrahimi
Kabul - The former Afghan ministers of commerce, Mustafa Kazimi and education Mohammed Yunis Qanuni, who formed two independent political parties after President Karzai's victory in the 2004 October presidential elections, will be authorized to register their parties in the near future, said the ministry of Justice in the capital Kabul.

Yunis Qanuni, the runner-up with nearly 16-percent of the votes in the Presidential election, accepted defeat and earlier and promised to form a new independent party.

Mohammad Hashem Hashimi, the director of registration of political and social parties, in an interview with Pajhwok Afghan News on March 7, said: "Qanuni and Kazimi's parties will go through the appropriate processing and their licenses will be granted in the next few days."

Qanuni an ardent campaigner during presidential election was keen to play a political role in the future of Afghanistan. And following the announcement of the new government, President Karzai speaking to reporters encouraged him to form a political party and take part in the parliamentary elections.

Kazimi who was a member of Hezbe Wahdate Islami under the leadership of second vice president Mohammad Karim Khalili, said he cut ties with the party five years ago.

He also said Afghanistan is just evolving from its historical past of conflicts, and in the past many parties had military backing, but now the country needs independent political parties driven by intellectuals and educated people instead of warring factions.

Qanuni was a former member of Jamiate Islami Afghanistan party, under the leadership of Burhanuddin Rabbani, and he later became a member of Shorae Nezar, an offshoot from the Jamiate Islami party, under Ahmed Shah Massoud.

According to Mohammad Hashem Hashimi, director of registration of political and social parties, the registration process of Qanuni's Modern Afghanistan party and Kazimi' Eqtedare Melli (National Rule) is under way. So far, 51 political parties have registered with the ministry of justice.

The Afghan parliamentary elections were initially set for June 2004 but then postponed to October and then delayed again. But correspondents say the delayed parliamentary elections may now take place in September 2005. The September date has not yet been agreed but with so much preparation still needed, it is considered to be the earliest realistic timeframe to work with.

Afghan women need help to hold onto gains -minister
By Paul Eckert
WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's women have won a range of rights since the fall of the Taliban regime, but those gains remain precarious without greater resources and security, Kabul's minister of women's affairs said on Tuesday.

Massouda Jalal said Afghan women were celebrating their third International Women's Day since the ouster of the Muslim fundamentalist Taliban, which imposed on Afghanistan a medieval version of the faith that was particularly harsh on women.

"Afghan women are working now in governmental organs, in nongovernmental organs. They can move around freely within the secured areas without being made to have a male member of the family accompanying them," Jalal told reporters.

The Taliban, who forbid women from leaving their homes to work or attend school, were ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001. Jalal said women in Afghanistan were deeply involved in building the South Asian country's civil society and political parties. Gender equality is incorporated in the constitution and women are ensured 25 percent of parliamentary seats.

"Still they need to go a long way to reach a real equality in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country," she said, citing statistics that highlighted the gap between formal equality and actual conditions.

Sixty percent of school-age girls are still outside the educational system, which needs more teachers and must work hard to convince families to educate daughters, Jalal said. Women still face legal problems and domestic violence.

Afghanistan's maternal mortality rate, at 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births, is second highest in the world, and 70 percent of the population live in extreme poverty, she said.

"Equality is guaranteed in the constitution, but not in real life," said Jalal, a physician who ran in the country's presidential election last year. Asked what Afghanistan women needed most, she said "security and resources" and compared post-Taliban Afghanistan to a three-year-old child.

"A three-year-old child needs support, needs to be taken care of," said Jalal. "Otherwise, a three-year-old child left alone ... will face a very risky life of falling back."

The Long Road To Democracy For Afghan Women
published as op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen and the Montreal Gazette on March 8, 2005 - by Khorshied Samad
Under the oppressive Taliban regime, Afghan women had no rights and suffered as non-citizens forbidden from education, work, proper healthcare, and travel even within city limits without a male guardian or relative. After the September 11th 2001 tragedy, Kabul was finally liberated through the efforts of Coalition forces - and so were Afghan women. The achievements thus far in Afghanistan have been heroic but the going has been slow, and the long road ahead to democracy is filled with obstacles for the Afghan people and especially Afghan women to overcome.

Historic elections were recently held in Afghanistan on October 9th, 2004. More than 8 Million Afghan voters participated in these mostly violent-free elections, with women comprising a remarkable 42% of registered voters. The election was an astonishing success, surpassing the expectations of even the most optimistic observers. Indeed the first ballot to be cast was by a 19 year old Afghan woman in a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. This small act speaks volumes about the will and determination of Afghan women, and demonstrates that they have come a long way both socially and politically since the Taliban were driven from power a little over three years ago.

In last January’s Constitutional Loya Jirga, it was women who had the courage to stand up and ask the hard questions, stirring up emotion and controversy among predominantly male constituents and political leaders. It was the unity of their voices that insured that under the new constitution ratified in 2004, women are protected as citizens with guaranteed equal rights in Afghanistan.

Afghan women are now leading the small business revival throughout the country. At a recent awards ceremony honoring entrepreneurs who have successfully started small businesses with the assistance of microfinance programs, 18 of the 23 recipients were women. And, access to media and other forms of _expression are on the rise, including new women-run radio stations.

Women by the hundreds of thousands have returned to work and to school to reclaim an education that was forbidden to them during the five-year Taliban regime. More than four million children have returned to school, and one-third of those students are girls. However, poverty, malnutrition, poor healthcare, violence, illiteracy and forced marriage are among the many human security concerns that still face Afghan women today. Here are some of the startling and ongoing challenges that still demand attention and require assistance from the international community:

After almost three decades of war and destruction accompanied by severe drought, Afghanistan has the world's worst health indicators. The country’s first National Human Development Report, just released on February 21st by the United Nations Development Program, presents a gloomy picture. Afghanistan is ranked 173 out of 178 nations on the 2004 Human Development Index. Only a few Sub-Saharan nations rank lower. Afghans have a life expectancy of 44.5 years, among the lowest in the world. The infant mortality rate is 115 per 1,000 births; in most Western countries, the rate is fewer than 30 per 1,000 live births.

Although access to healthcare for women has improved, it is still severely restricted in rural areas. Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, which means that a woman in Afghanistan now dies in childbirth every 30 minutes, usually without access to even a nurse. UNICEF reports that 1,600 women per 100,000 die in childbirth in Afghanistan; in stark contrast to the UK, for example, where the rate is 16 per 100,000. In the most remote areas the maternal mortality rate is 6,000 per 100,000, meaning that 6 percent of women die during childbirth. Even if mother and baby survive, their prospects are dismal. One in five children dies before their fifth birthday from diseases that are 80 percent preventable.

Chronic shortages of trained doctors, midwives and hospitals also mean most women who develop complications during labor are likely to die. There are very few clinics and hospitals dealing in reproductive health and childbirth for an estimated 25 million people who live in Afghanistan.

Another tragic situation has been the reporting of at least 50 cases of self-immolation among very young women in just the last year and a half, protesting their forced marriages to much older men. A fair system of justice complemented by a modern education system can remedy such long-standing traditions that collide with the younger generation’s aspirations.

In a country endowed with rich water sources but plagued by years of drought, seventy-five percent of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. And, Afghanistan is among one of the six remaining countries in the world where polio, like landmines, still kills and maims many children every day.

Although improving, security is still one of the greatest challenges, especially in the Pakistani border regions with Taliban and Al-Qaeda incursions. The narcotics trade results in ongoing corruption and an imbalance of power at the hands of local renegade commanders, who still manage to defy the reach of the central government.

Wages are extremely low. Civil servants, teachers and even doctors are lucky to receive between $40 and $100 per month. Building up administrative capacity by teaching Afghans modern-day management skills is a necessity.

The Afghan population is said to be 70 percent illiterate, and illiteracy among women in rural areas is estimated at 98 percent. Even in Kabul, probably no more than half the population is literate. The Afghan government has estimated that nearly 2,000 schools will need to be constructed every year for the next five years to meet the demands for education.

Education and economic opportunity for all Afghans will lead to improvements in human rights and social equality. But this process will take many years with democracy still in its early stages of development. The legitimate grievances of the Afghan people must be addressed, and the interests of other nations should not overshadow the needs for human security. Afghans should rightly expect to lead a life of dignity, free from fear and disparity.

At two major aid conferences in Tokyo (2002) and Berlin (2004), the world pledged strong support for Afghanistan. The Afghans welcomed and expressed appreciation for the donors’ generosity. However, the disbursement of funds for reconstruction projects and rebuilding the country’s infrastructure has taken longer to materialize. All stakeholders now agree that developmental prioritization and implementation should bring qualitative change to the lives of the people and make the country’s economy more sustainable. It is crucial to rebuild systems of agriculture, water management and renewable energy sources, and create opportunities within the private sector that will have a real, lasting and positive impact in Afghan society, especially for Afghan women.

This April, the annual Afghan Development Forum will be held in Kabul, bringing together donor countries and the Afghan government to review the funding and allocation of aid for various sectors of the economy. Canada is a major force in improving stability and rebuilding Afghanistan. This meeting is an occasion for the donors and the newly elected Afghan government to look at the overall funding objectives and development priorities of Afghanistan. It offers an opportunity to study how countries have and could be spending their aid money on essential reconstruction and development that works in Afghanistan. This is an opportunity that must not be wasted.

(The author is the former Kabul bureau chief and correspondent for Fox News Channel, and is the wife of the Afghan Ambassador to Canada)

A Drug-Free Afghanistan Not So Easy
Yale Center for the Study of Globalization 03/08/2005 By Paula R. Newberg - Western eradication drive means increased poverty and political tension for the Afghans

WASHINGTON: Last week, the International Narcotics Control Board made official what everyone in Afghanistan already knew: Poppy production rose to near-record levels in 2004. This is one indicator of economic growth that spells trouble for the country.

While the surging poppy production - now accounting for at least 40 percent of the country's small GDP - could translate into lower street price for heroin, it rocks the country's rickety economic prospects and further complicates Afghanistan's warped politics. This dismal news reflects deep divisions within the development and political communities about how to sustain post-conflict recovery in a drug-torn state. Poppy has therefore emerged as major bone of contention among donor governments, and between donors and the Afghan government. Without acceptable solutions, Afghanistan's renewal could easily fail.

Afghanistan's narcotics problems have long accompanied its long journey through war. Poppy profits helped finance the anti-Soviet war of the 1980s: Almost every mujahidin group profited from drugs, but patrons valued Soviet defeat over stopping trafficking. When anarchy overtook war, narcotics trafficking increased dramatically. After central Asia's borders opened in 1991, Afghanistan became the primary source of opium in London and Moscow. By the time the Taliban seized power, solving the drug problem had risen high on the West's diplomatic agenda. The Taliban subsequently banned cultivation and production just before it lost power. The absence of poppy was more formal than real: Poppy was a profit-center for war, so the ban was meant to help correct a market glut in an otherwise devastated economy. When the Taliban was overthrown in late 2001, soon after the ban was enforced, almost no poppy was grown in Afghanistan.

That's when current troubles began. The new Afghan government certainly didn't want illegal poppy. But warlords across the country - patronized substantially by the western coalition in its fight against Al Qaeda - invested in poppy to support their private armies. President Hamid Karzai - and crucially, his major donors - missed his chance. Desperate for political unity, he cultivated warlords to avoid cultivating conflict. Poppy was outlawed, but took over the economy.

How important is poppy for today's Afghan economy? The answers loom large and small. Before war overtook the economy, Afghanistan could easily feed itself and even export foodstuffs. But violence and subsequent anarchy destroyed the state; in the wake of that destruction, drugs traders became surrogate bankers. For a small investment in food seeds, farmers agree to grow poppy. Though they rarely see direct profits from the crop, poverty-stricken rural Afghans strike these deals just to survive. For the state as a whole, the consequences are equally severe. Poppy is illegal, and illegal profits cannot be taxed. Drugs, therefore, enrich a few at the expense of the many, and cost the government (in law enforcement) without contributing to public funds.

This is how humanitarian and development groups understand the economy. They note, quite accurately, that poppy fills an economic vacuum, and argue that only investments in the rural economy, education, and health can release Afghan farmers from a tragic poverty cycle. Afghanistan ranks fifth from the bottom in the UN's human development index, and even with the benefits of foreign assistance, 15 percent of the population received 80 percent of the benefits of growth, with rural areas disproportionately disadvantaged. Even though Afghanistan now has a banking system and unified currency, and aspires to join the World Trade Organization, farmers remain small cogs in an illegal economic machine - and the machine itself must be rebuilt from scratch.

But discord now reigns among aid providers and development experts about how to remove drugs without creating greater poverty and courting instability. Recent debates have highlighted the eradication policies that are promoted by major donors (and political allies) in the United States and UK. Fearing the premature eradication of poppy - removing it before alternative crops and stable economic policies are put in place - an alliance of 31 international and Afghan aid organizations publicly petitioned US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this winter to end current US poppy eradication practices in Afghanistan. They cited the fears of grassroots organizations - more than 350 were represented in the letter - that a political system dominated by drug profiteers will compromise Afghanistan's potential recovery. The World Bank echoed these sentiments last week, warning against the "vicious cycle associated with the opium economy warlords." Many observers rightly anticipate that parliamentary and local elections, scheduled for later this year, could be held hostage to narcotics profiteers and provoke more instability.

But stability means something different to the US-led anti-terror coalition, which views Afghanistan as a signal player in a global war - and predictably, Rice promised little. Until now, the coalition has alternately ignored drug production, cultivated drug lords as intelligence and military assets - and occasionally provided funds to areas that might otherwise support alleged terrorists. The result: High poppy producing areas receive disproportionate assistance that - no surprise - often ends up in the hands of warlords already enriched by poppy. Power doesn't change hands, law and order deteriorates, Afghanistan's development becomes increasingly unbalanced, and narcotics flourish in Afghanistan and among its neighbors.

But with cultivation and production rising steadily and dangerously, coalition partners are looking for quick fixes to Afghanistan's problem. For them, eradication seems an efficient tactic. Indeed, Afghan farmers in some areas believe that aerial spraying began last autumn - despite US and UK denial - and now fear that crop contamination will turn a short-term tactic into a strategic disaster. And of course, drug lords can live off their stockpiles, but farmers can easily starve.

The coalition's backup strategy is to condition all economic aid to tangible anti-narcotics process. The goal isn't wrong: Combating trafficking is a clear social and economic good. But holding all recovery to an anti-drugs standard is a risky venture. Afghans know too well the devastation that poppy wreaks on its fragile politics. They also know that when fighting drugs weakens the Afghan polity, the anti-narcotics fight fails; when fighting terrorism allows drugs to flourish, the anti-terror fight fails, too. In fact, some Afghan ministers have been warning of the dangers of drug cartels, narco-terrorists, and possible state failure since Karzai took office three years ago.

Even more, Afghans know that a commodity is valuable only if someone buys it The market for opium is not in Afghanistan but in Europe - where Afghan opiates account for at least 75 percent of the market - and if any place is to benefit from these blunt anti-poppy measures, it will be Europe, not Afghanistan. Although Karzai has assured the Narcotics Board that Afghanistan will take all measures to become "narcotics-free," his Minister of Counter-Narcotics continues to remind donors that drugs are a multi-dimensional problem whose solution requires shared responsibility - and refuses aid that is "tied, in any direct or indirect way, to the fight against narcotics."

These disputes pit rich donors against poor farmers, and Afghanistan's hard-won sovereignty against a global anti-narcotics struggle. When Afghanistan's state failed, the world learned that Afghanistan can't go it alone - on drugs or anything else. Only a legal economy, honest politics, and educated citizens will make it possible for Afghanistan to survive. The first step is taking its government seriously by helping it replace drugs - investing, not destroying. Otherwise, Afghanistan's failure will be built on the self-defeating intentions of others.

PAKISTAN: Afghan census concludes
IRIN 03/08/2005
ISLAMABAD - Officials conducting a census of Afghans living in Pakistan have failed to count hundreds of people living in parts of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, local Afghan residents told IRIN.

The survey, which concluded on Sunday in most of the country, was run by the Pakistani government with financial and technical support from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). All Afghans residing in Pakistan since 1979 were obliged to take part.

"Our school was closed for about two weeks. We were asked to stay at home so that the census teams could conduct counting. But no one came there in G-8 [a suburb of Islamabad], and there are a lot of Afghan families," student Nadia Ahmedzai told IRIN in Islamabad.

The census, conducted by some 2,640 enumerators from the Pakistan Census Organisation (PCO), was due to last 10 days from 23 February until 4 March but operational problems caused delays in parts of the country. In the southwestern province of Balochistan the survey will continue until 10 March due to bad weather.
Pakistan Census Organisation (PCO) teams were sent all over the country, with 25 teams in Islamabad alone. The census was also observed by the UN and by diplomatic representatives to ensure that correct procedures were followed.

"The census teams were sent everywhere across the country from well-off neighbourhoods to slum areas, from long-established refugee camps to main cities," Shams-ul-Islam, deputy census commissioner at PCO, told IRIN in Islamabad on Monday.

But many Afghans in and around the capital said they had not seen any census officials. Residents in the nearby town of Rawalpindi told IRIN they had not been informed properly about the census, despite a media-wide advertising campaign.

"We've not seen anything on TV or newspapers, we found out just three days ago when the extension was announced on TV," Shafiqa Poppal, a 50-year-old woman living in the Khayaban-e-Sir Syed district of Rawalpindi, told IRIN.

In addition, many enumerators were reported to be facing logistical and operational difficulties - such as a lack of appropriate clothing and equipment, and a lack of transport to reach some areas.

"We've not got enough stationery like pens, markers and data forms, nor have we been given any funds to purchase them for ourselves. Our forms have run out and we are using photocopies now to enter the particulars of families," Umeed Ali, an enumerator told IRIN in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

In its defence, the PCO deputy commissioner told IRIN they had done all they could. "We tried our best to cover every part [of the country], however, 100 percent is never possible, so there may be pockets left. But now the census is over and nothing can be done," Shams-ul-Islam said.

But to count the large number of Afghans living in Rawalpindi, only 12 teams were employed. "Thousands of Afghan families are living alone in Khayaban-e-Sir Syed, even sometimes four to five families are housed in one residence comprising three rooms. But hundreds would be left uncounted at the pace they are going and tomorrow is the last day of census," Ghulam Rasool, a 42-year-old resident of Khayan-e-Sir Syed told IRIN on Saturday.

UNHCR appeared pleased with how the census had been conducted, despite the logistical problems. "We are happy that the whole process was conducted smoothly, for which we were preparing for over an year. But, in such a huge logistical operations there, obviously, will always be some kind of problem," Jack Redden, a UNHCR spokesman, told IRIN.

According to some reports, the census has not been conducted in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Federally administered Northern Areas. "Obviously, the areas which were completely closed by snows, there census couldn't be conducted. But, mapping was done in those areas. So we've an idea of Afghan population over there," the UNHCR official said.

Final results of the census are expected in April. The data will be analysed to devise comprehensive solutions for Afghan citizens who continue to live in Pakistan after expiry of the tripartite agreement.

The agreement between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UN refugee agency governs the voluntary repatriation of Afghans to their homeland till March 2006.

The government of Pakistan estimates more than three million Afghans living in Pakistan, with some 1 million residing in the UNHCR-administered refugee camps mainly located in the North West Frontier province and Balochistan province.

'1.8m Afghans in NWFP and Fata'
PESHAWAR - The Dawn, March 8: About 1.8 million Afghans are living in the NWFP and adjacent Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the just concluded census of Afghans revealed here on Tuesday.

The Population Census Organisation, which conducted the nationwide census in camps and urban areas, suggests that over 2.41 million Afghans are residing in Pakistan. The countrywide census of the Afghans was started on Feb 24 in collaboration with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR).

Officials said that the two-week-long exercise had finished in the NWFP, Fata, Punjab and Sindh while it would conclude in Balochistan in the next few days. Officials said that the final census report would be released soon following and after that the government would start registering all Afghans.

The government conducted census of the Afghans who arrived in Pakistan since Dec 1979 to produce first detailed profile of the Afghan population. The census will be followed by proposed registration of Afghans which would allow Afghans to get temporary residential and work permits.

The government had earlier estimated that over three million Afghans are living in Pakistan, while the UN agency said that 1.5 registered refugees are living here. The UNHCR said that over 2.5 million Afghans had returned to their homeland under the voluntary repatriation programme since the fall of the Taliban government.

Figures show that 1,805,817 Afghans are living in the NWFP and Fata, while the number of Afghans living in Karachi and Punjab is 1,36,000 and 200,000, respectively. In Balochistan, where census is still under way, about 400,000 Afghans have been counted so far.

In the Frontier province, Peshawar district shelters the highest number of Afghans and enumerators have listed a total of 608,653 registered and unregistered Afghans. It is followed by Nowshera district where 229,318 Afghans are living.

The Kurram Agency shelters the largest number of Afghan population in all seven agencies of Fata. It has 116,000 Afghans, South Waziristan 28,868, North Waziristan 58,196, Khyber 55,447, Mohmand 12,415, Bajaur 55,301 and Orakzai Agency hosts 3427 Afghans.

Navistar wins $467 million contract to help rebuild Afghanistan
Navistar International Corp. announced Tuesday it has landed a three-year military contract worth up to $467 million to help rebuild Afghanistan. The Warrenville, Ill.-based truck and engine maker could build up to 2,781 vehicles, including 2,400 general transport trucks, under the new contract with the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command.

The hubs for the trucks will be produced at Navistar's Springfield plant, said Roy Wiley, spokesman for Navistar. Springfield's plant will tackle the first order under the contract for 374 vehicles by the end of the spring.

Wiley wouldn't speculate on what the contract could do for employee counts in Springfield, but added the contract is just part of Springfield operations, which produce more than 5,000 hubs annually.

Navistar's (NYSE:NAV) largest assembly plant is in Springfield, where the company employs about 1,500 workers. Wiley said the contract was the first sizable contract for the company's new effort to move into the military market. Other military contracts had been for less than $100 million in the past few years. "It's a good win," Wiley said. "It could be a portend of other things to come."

Afghan copper source touted as economic boost for country
National Post 03/09/2005
An unworked copper resource 45 kilometres southwest of Kabul could spark the country's economic recovery, Afghanistan's presidential advisor on mines and energy, Rahman Ashraf said yesterday.

The Ainak resource contains about 240 million tonnes of copper at 2%, said Stan Coats, a member of the British Geological Survey, an organization that has been assembling geological data in Afghanistan for about six months.

The BGS is also looked at data created by Russian prospectors, which estimated that Ainak contains about 360 million tonnes at 0.7% to 1.5% copper. The copper at Ainak is about 3.6 million tonnes, with a value of about US$11.9-billion, according to a report on minerals in Afghanistan.

Rights to the Ainak resource will be tendered within the next few months, Mr. Ashraf said, adding that companies in China and South Korea have expressed interest. As a mine, Ainak could last between 40 years and 50 years, Mr. Coats said.

Other copper resources surround Kabul, he noted. About 1000 Afghans would be employed if Ainak became a mine, Mr. Ashraf said. "When you have 1,000 workers, that's 1,000 families," he said. "The ministry of mines is a backbone for the future of Afghanistan."