Afghanistan News September 12, 2005

September 12, 2005

Welcome to Taliban Central, pay at the gate
Bordering on the absurd … a guard takes a bribe at the Waish crossing in south-eastern Afghanistan. Photo: Ash Sweeting
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) / September 12, 2005
By Paul McGeough, Chief Herald Correspondent in Spin Boldak
Before easing his machine forward, the Afghan motorcyclist sits back from the throng and nods to a Pakistani border guard.

His hand goes into his pocket as the guard raises two fingers. They shake hands and a tight wad of cash is exchanged. As the guard pockets the money, the Afghan throttles up and enters Pakistan in a cloud of dust.

Just 30 minutes at the Waish border crossing, in this south-eastern corner of Afghanistan, reveals all of Islamabad and Kabul's hand-wringing about tighter border security as a joke at Washington's expense - there is virtually no border to secure.

And now the laughs could be on Canberra too. As Australian troops join the hunt for Taliban and other anti-Kabul forces in the treacherous mountains of Afghanistan's Uruzgan and Zabul provinces, Waish is a frontier funnel through which their enemies come and go with abandon.

The farce unfolds under the watchful eye of officials from both countries who sit in a cluster of buildings that fly their respective national flags. Despite a sign that says "only for passport holders", hundreds amble through with no documentation - and without challenge. Heavily laden trucks and utilities, many without numberplates, stream in both directions. None is searched.

Robed men on horseback and dilapidated donkey carts don't even acknowledge the guards.

Dozens going both ways wear jet-black turbans, which at the very least indicates they may be Taliban sympathisers. They waltz through as untouchables.

In a matter of minutes we witness one green-bereted guard pocket three bribes, prompting a local to volunteer that all of six or eight Pakistani guards on duty this morning are on the take.

Shortly after our arrival, the Pakistanis rough up a few travellers. One of the guards angrily kicks three big cartons from the back of a bicycle, but he doesn't bother to look inside them, and a handful are pushed back into Afghanistan.

An agitated, Urdu-speaking Pakistani intelligence agent marches over the line - into Afghanistan - to challenge our presence. But a stream of Pashtun invective from the chief of the Afghan border police, Akthar Mohammed, pushes him back into Pakistan.

The commandant apologises for the behaviour of his Pakistani counterparts: "They're making problems only because you are here. Normally it's very smooth - people pay their bribes and go."

And why are his men not challenging a turbaned procession that is presumed from London to Washington to be a cover for the Taliban and its foreign allies? "We have orders from Kabul not to mess with the people. This is a free border. There is no checking."

This line on the map straddles a Pashtun-populated belt extending from southern Afghanistan into Pakistan. And as the helpful local puts it: "'Local' here means from Kandahar [two hours over rutted roads to the west] to Quetta [also about two hours to the east]."

The Pashtuns remain the backbone of the Taliban, and as long as their jihadi confrères from the Middle East and Central Asia dress as they do, they can cross with impunity into Afghanistan.

Once in the country, they jab at the Americans - and now, inevitably, at the Australians - before nipping back to safety in Pakistan, where US-led troops are barred from venturing after them.

The Defence Minister, Robert Hill, last week confirmed that the first of 190 Australians were already in action in Afghanistan. They include about 50 men from the Special Air Service Regiment, with the remainder drawn from the 4th Royal Australian Regiment army commando battalion and the Incident Response Regiment.

But in keeping with one of the most restrictive cones of silence imposed on foreign military operations here, Senator Hill refused to give reporters any detail of where the Australians were based or their areas of operation. US and other sources have confirmed to the Herald that the Australians are moving into an area described by one analyst as "real tiger country" - the central province of Uruzgan and parts of adjoining Zabul, which stretches through to the Pakistani border north of Spin Boldak.

This geography puts the Australians further from the frontier than has been previously understood.

As the crow flies, the nearest point on the border is a good 200 kilometres from Tirin Kot, which sources say is to be the focus of the Australian operation. But confirmed terrorist transit routes from Waish and other smugglers' passes along the porous border deliver fighters to the Australians' area of operation.

The mountains around Tirin Kot, some of which peak at more than 3000 metres, have been a security vacuum for much of the time since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan late in 2001. The road - it's more a track - from Kandahar, 200 kilometres to the south, is described as "IED [improvised explosive device] Alley".

A well-placed security analyst said: "It was not until early last year that the marines were sent in to kick over this hornets' nest - they went hell for leather, killing about 380 people.

"In September 2004, the Bobcats [a Hawaii-based infantry regiment] replaced them. They were about 1000 strong and they were grinding down the Taliban, but since they left earlier this year it's been a vacuum that will test the mettle of the Aussies."

In May - apparently to the disquiet of US military officers - a political decision was taken to replace the Bobcats with forces of the fledgling Afghan National Army, who are mentored and supported by a significantly smaller US force of about 250.

There are constant clashes between the National Army-US forces and Taliban cells that operate from caves and other hideouts in the mountains, which in winter become impassable with chest-deep snow.

Dozens of Taliban fighters have been killed, some reports claiming up to 50 in a single series of skirmishes. Four of the Bobcats died in action late last year.

Some of the Taliban's most diehard fighters have been killed or captured in Uruzgan. They include Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, who had been arrested in the US round-up of Taliban fighters back in 2001 and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay, but who when released after eight months rejoined the fight as leader of the Taliban in Uruzgan; and Mullah Mohammed Naeem, one of Ghaffar's leadership successors who was sprung hiding in a well.

But their removal has not prevented a surge in attacks on US and Afghan forces - the response to which is usually mixed Afghan-US patrols on the ground backed by attack helicopters and/or B-52 bomber and A-10 attack aircraft.

Last week an election candidate was murdered in the province, and in July the Taliban retaliated against the loss of several fighters by kidnapping nine village elders and a 10-year-old boy. The elders were executed and the boy sent to local authorities with a proposal that the men's bodies be traded for the Taliban dead. It was refused.

A security analyst observed: "It's a deadly mix - the insurgency, drugs, unstable provincial government and a lack of Afghan security forces. It's alleged that the local governor is involved in the drug trade and has his own private army - that doesn't help, either."

But his greatest concern was the foreign fighters who, he said, used the same routes to the mountains from the border region that the Afghan mujahideen fighters used against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

Refugee camps beyond Afghanistan's southern and eastern borders had become Taliban bases and transit stops for the foreigners who moved to the mountains by night, usually by motorcycle, truck or "Corollas", he said. Once in the high country, they switched to foot, motorcycles or donkeys.

"The Taliban training camps are linked to the presence of the foreigners. They enter Pakistan with ease, moving first to Quetta, still the Taliban's political centre. The leadership has fractured, but they still get Saudi money and you see truckloads of madrassa students moving around, flying the Taliban flag. They bring their experience from Iraq and Chechnya to this battlefield."

Last week a cautious Senator Hill said of the Australian area of operation: "All we have said is [it] has been particularly troubling for a long time in terms of Taliban activity. That continues to be so.

"The overall operational command is American. We are fitting with the special forces that are provided by a small number of countries to provide long-range reconnaissance and to effectively deal with what are loosely described these days as the anti-Kabul forces, those who are seeking to disrupt the democratic process through violence."

Senator Hill would not reveal the identity of those other forces, but the south-east of the country has become something of a global special-operations bazaar.

Apart from the SAS and US troops, the French and Dutch run covert operations in the adjoining provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, respectively.

For now, most of the Australians are based in a self-contained section of a sprawling air base run by the US at Baghram, north of Kabul. A small number of New Zealand special operations troops are also at the base.

An Australian advance party has been seen at a US base near Kandahar and there is an expectation that Australian missions will stage through Forward Operating Base Ripley, near Tirin Kot, where the Americans are accommodated in eight-man, air-conditioned tents. The recent arrival of a mobile field kitchen has ended their steady diet of MREs - pre-packaged, long-life meals ready to eat.

There has been a sharp increase in pre-election violence.

US officials have predicted that the security vice to be imposed while the country votes next Sunday will be effective.

But non-military analysts caution that the movement of ballot boxes during a count that is expected to take weeks will provide the Taliban with vulnerable targets; and when the count is concluded, so too will the naming of the successful 249 MPs.

They predict there will be no let-up for the Australians until the winter snow slows the movement of the Taliban and frigid weather makes their battery-operated improvised explosive devices temporarily ineffective.

On the eve of last year's presidential election, Afghan forces stopped an explosives-rigged tanker, loaded with 65,000 litres of fuel, on the outskirts of Kandahar. There are warnings of a similar attack in the lead-up to Sunday's vote - in Kabul, Herat or Kandahar.

The tanker came from Pakistan last year. But Islamabad and Kabul would have us believe the border has been secured. Meeting in late July, Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, and Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, said they were on top of it.

Afghan poll ban for militia links
Monday, 12 September 2005 BBC News
Afghan election officials have disqualified 21 candidates from Sunday's polls for having links to armed groups.

Under election law, anyone linked to militias is not allowed to run.

Grant Kippen, chairman Electoral Complaints Commission, said another seven candidates had been disqualified for holding government posts.

About 2,800 people are running for parliament and another 3,000 competing for 34 provincial assemblies.

Potential chaos

The BBC's Andrew North in Kabul reported last week that the 21 candidates were likely to be banned.

He said then that as the ballot papers were already printed, people would still be able to vote for the disqualified candidates.

Officials admitted there was a real chance some might win enough votes to qualify for a parliamentary or provincial council seat.

They could then challenge the decision in court, he said, potentially throwing results into chaos.

Only 11 candidates were barred in the first round of vetting in July.

The complaints commission says there is new evidence against the 21 now disqualified.

Many Afghans believe there are considerably more militia commanders on the ballot than have been barred, our correspondent says.

Afghanistan Disqualifies 28 election Candidates
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
12 September 2005 -- Afghanistan Electoral Complaints Commission announced today that it has disqualified 28 more candidates from the parliamentary election to be held on 18 September.

So far, there have been 45 candidates barred from the UN-backed vote for both Wolesi and Meshrano Jirga.

Of the total, 21 were disqualified for links to illegal armed groups and the rest for accepting or failing to resign from government positions, commission chairman Grant Kippen told a news conference.

Kippen also said that he Commission has received about 2,000 complaints against candidates. As regards the work of the Electoral Complaints Commission work, Kippen commented: "Our mandate is to look at violations or offences under the electoral law; we are not a criminal court or a transitional justice body."

Rights groups have expressed concern that figures implicated in major rights abuses are being allowed to stand in the elections, reinforcing a culture of impunity.

Also, on Sunday, Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) announced in its official press release that the reports on alleged fake copies of voter registration cards issued by JEMB are fake and incorrect.

JEMB have already made steps to investigate two separate cases where two of its district-level election workers who allegedly stole 100 and 262 blank copies of voter registration cards. Both former employees of JEMB have already been dismissed.

On 18 September, Afghanistan will reach its final phase of political reconstruction period which was set forth in the Bonn Agreement of December 2001 and will thus establish its first democratically elected legislation body after almost thirty years.

Some Afghan districts still waiting for troops to guard vote
KABUL, Sept 12 (AFP) - Troops have yet to reach some parts of Afghanistan ahead of key legislative polls next week, electoral officials said Monday, as one district said it might have to cancel voting because of security fears.

Peter Erben, head of the joint UN-Afghan Electoral Management Body, told reporters there were a number of districts where security forces had not yet been deployed to defend polling stations.

He would not specify how many or where they were.

"Last year, there were a number of districts where the vote did not take place. This year we hope we can do it in all of them," Erben said.

Militants from Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime have vowed to disrupt Sunday's parliamentary and provincial council elections. More than 1,100 people have died in rebel-related violence this year.

The electoral body's spokeswoman, Bronwyn Curran, denied the polls were under threat in any of the affected areas.

"No, we are setting up in every single district, and we have security plans for every single polling station in every single district," she said.

But the remote, northeastern province of Nuristan said security was deteriorating in one district bordering Pakistan and they would have to cancel polling unless the government sent more troops.

"Unless the government sends us reinforcements from Kabul we will not be able to conduct the elections in Kamdesh district," provincial governor's spokesman Abdul Wakil Atak told AFP.

"If there are no more troops there will be no elections," he added.

Kamdesh, a rugged valley some 220 kilometers (130 miles) northeast of the capital Kabul, shares a 60-kilometer border with neighbouring Pakistan and is known as a hotbed for Taliban-led militants.

In July a female election worker was wounded in an attack there, while two election workers and a friend were kidnapped by 80 armed men who later released them unharmed but seized vote registration material.

Local officials had informed the US-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai of the threat but they had not responded, Atak said.

Defense ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said Afghan troops had already been deployed in Nuristan and that "we will consider all possible ways to send troops to Kamdesh."

More than 30,000 Afghan army soldiers and 40,000 national police will be on duty for the elections, as well as more than 20,000 US-led forces and 12,000 NATO-led peacekeeping troops.

'Suicide bombers' held in Kabul
By Andrew North / BBC News, Kabul / Monday, 12 September 2005
Afghan officials say they have arrested two people they believe were intending to carry out suicide bomb attacks in the capital, Kabul.

The officials told the BBC the two men were found with explosives on them when they were arrested.

The past year has seen the worst violence in Afghanistan since 2001.

There are fears of more attacks by the Taleban and other militant groups in the run up to parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Particular target

The suspected suicide bombers were arrested on Sunday, officials said, in a central area of Kabul.

Two vehicles were also seized in the operation, they said.

The officials said they believed the two men had been trained in neighbouring Pakistan, although they did not provide any evidence.

Afghan officials in the past have accused the Pakistani authorities of failing to prevent extremists operating on their soil who then infiltrate Afghanistan.

There have been several suicide bomb attacks this year. The last one in Kabul in May killed three people.

An official said Kabul was on high alert because it was a particular target before polling day.

ADB to lend 200 mln dlrs to Afghanistan annually
MANILA, Sept 12 (AFP) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday that it will lend about 200 million dollars a year to Afghanistan between 2006 and 2008.

This is in line with the multilateral institution's country strategy and program for Afghanistan intended to promote growth, reduce poverty, spread anti-narcotics efforts and offer "alternative livelihood approaches," the ADB said in a statement from its headquarters here.

Up to half of the assistance will be provided on a grant basis, the ADB said.

Another 10 million dollars will be given annually for technical assistance to boost Afghanistan's human resources and increase the government's capacity for carrying out projects.

"Afghanistan has made remarkable progress since emerging from conflict in 2002," the bank said, but added that it still faces serious challenges including extreme poverty and insecurity.

Although ADB's efforts in Afghanistan will focus on promoting economic growth, social and gender concerns will be incorporated in all ADB projects along with "alternative livelihood efforts to counter opium poppy cultivation and the production of illegal narcotics," the bank said.

Since resuming operations in Afghanistan in 2002, the ADB has approved seven public sector loans totaling 513.7 million dollars and some 40 million dollars in technical assistance grants as of July, the bank said.

Afghan vote a milestone but democracy fragile
By David Brunnstrom
KABUL, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Millions of Afghans will vote next Sunday for a national assembly and provincial councils, a milestone in Afghanistan's difficult path to stability after the fall of the Taliban.

The vote will be a step forward to broadening representative government but analysts say the fledgling democracy remains fragile and many years of international support will be needed before it can stand on its own.

"People are really over-estimating what these elections will accomplish," said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University.

"Basic institutions are at a very poor state of development. Until Afghanistan has a functioning, legal economy and basic institutions, there's nothing really for a parliament to do except act as a kind of puppet platform for people's views."

About 12 million of Afghanistan's 25-28 million people are registered to vote in the U.N.-backed polls, the first of their kind since 1969. They follow presidential elections in October won by U.S.-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai.

Critics say the voting system is likely to produce a fragmented parliament that is both conservative and parochial, and possibly more of a hindrance than a help to government.

The polls are being fought on a non-party basis but parties have candidates running and envisage parliamentary blocs. Opposition leader Yunus Qanuni, head of the National Understanding Front coalition, hopes to win 50 percent of seats.

The election comes nearly four years after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban for refusing to give up Osama bin Laden, responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities in 2001.

Since then the United States and its allies have spent tens of billions of dollars pursuing Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents and provided several more billion in reconstruction aid.

The engagement has brought Afghanistan its longest period of relative stability for more than a quarter of a century.

But bin Laden remains at large and thousands of foreign troops have been unable to subdue a Taliban insurgency that has worsened ahead of the polls. Meanwhile, frustration has been growing among Afghans about a lack of progress to improve their lives.

SUCCESSFUL VOTE
Analysts say a successful vote, with a high turnout despite Taliban intimidation, would be a significant boost for a U.S. administration reeling from the fallout from Hurricane Katrina and its bloody involvement in Iraq.

The United Nations says the polls will not be perfect, given Taliban threats and questions about the past of some of the 5,800 candidates.

But it says Afghanistan badly needs more representative government after years of rule by presidential decree.

"In spite of existing insecurity, holding these elections is the right thing to do," U.N. Special Representative Jean Arnault said in an interview. "Most Afghans are keen to have them."

Karzai's administration has drawn criticism over a perceived misuse of aid money and many have been disappointed by a failure to prosecute those responsible for war crimes and the fact that some of them are candidates.

Western governments have been disappointed that more has not been done to control the drugs trade.

Those standing in the election include several Taliban defectors, among them a former vice minister responsible for the notorious religious police, something that has bemused many Afghans.

"If they win, Afghanistan will return to the tragedy it suffered in the past, but people won't vote for people with blood on their hands" said 58-year-old Abdul Majid Ghafory.

One of the assembly's first jobs will be to approve Karzai's ministers and already the opposition says some might not win their backing.

Analysts say the massive drug economy presents perhaps the biggest threat to stability, greater even than the Taliban.

"Taliban violence is manageable as long as Western countries are devoted to staying," said Olivier Roy, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

"But drugs mean corruption, and as long as the local governor or police officer can make more money with drugs than from his salary, government will not work."

Fallout from Hurricane Katrina and Iraq has raised concern that Washington might want to cut its commitment in Afghanistan, where it provides two thirds of foreign troops.

At the same time, doubts remain about the willingness of other NATO states to commit the men and resources for the alliance to take a greater counter-insurgency role.

James Dobbins, a former envoy to Afghanistan for George W. Bush and now with the Rand Corporation, said long-term international commitment was vital.

"Without the international presence, the country would begin to disintegrate again," he said. "And if the commitment of the United States to help rebuild societies after conflicts is shown to be unreliable, it obviously has big implications for its capacity to make such commitments in future."

Main steps in Afghanistan's Bonn agreement
Sept 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations convened a conference in Bonn with four anti-Taliban Afghan groups in November 2001, days after the Taliban were forced from power, to work out a road map for a new Afghan government.

The factions agreed on a series of steps, beginning with a six-month intermim administration and culminating in elections by mid-2004.

Afghanistan's delayed Sept. 18 parliamentary and provincial elections are the last step of the Bonn process.

Following is a chronology of the agreement's main points.

Nov 27, 2001 - The United Nations convenes a conference in Bonn, Germany, with four Afghan groups, including Northern Alliance factions that had just helped defeat the Taliban.

Dec 5, 2001 - The groups agree on a plan for creating a government, starting with a six-month intermim administration and international peacekeepers in Kabul. Hamid Karzai, a leader from the biggest ethnic group, the Pashtun, is made chairman of the interim authority.

Dec 21, 2001 - First members of multinational peacekeeping force arrive.

Dec 22, 2001 - The interim authority, with Karzai as chairman, officially takes power. The Bonn plan says an emergency Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, must be held in six months.

June 11-19, 2002 - Emergency Loya Jirga agrees on a transitional authority, which the Bonn agreement says should hold elections within two years.

June 19, 2002 - President Hamid Karzai sworn in as head of transitional authority.

Dec 14, 2003 - Constitutional Loya Jirga is convened.

Jan 4, 2004 - Constitution adopted, paving the way for elections within six months.

Oct 9, 2004 - A delayed presidential election is won by Karzai.

Dec 15, 2004 - Karzai is inaugurated.

Sept 18, 2005 - Delayed elections for a lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, and provincial councils are due to be held. District council elections have been postponed.

Facts about Afghanistan
Sept 12 (Reuters) - Ringed by Iran, Pakistan, three central Asian states and a corridor to China, landlocked Afghanistan formed part of the ancient east-west trade route and has a history of repeated foreign occupation and interference.

After 25 years of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries and security remains a problem, especially in the south and east where 20,000 U.S. troops are helping government forces battle Taliban insurgents.

Following are some facts about the country:

-- No census work has been done in decades but the population is believed to be between 25 million and 28 million. Annual population growth is 2.6 percent, according to the United Nations. Life expectancy is 43.

-- An estimated 40-45 percent of the population is Pashtun, 27 percent Tajik, nine percent Hazara, nine percent Uzbek, and the rest Turkmen, Baluch and other minorities. Virtually all are Muslim, mostly Sunni Muslim.

-- Afghanistan has an area of 650,000 sq km (250,000 sq miles), about the same size as Texas.

-- About a quarter of all children die before they are five and half of all men and 80 percent of women are illiterate.

-- Aid donors pledged $4.5 billion in 2002 and another $8.4 billion for three years in 2004.

-- Gross domestic product was $4.6 billion in 2003, with agriculture making up about half that.

-- The world's largest producer of opium, Afghanistan accounts for 87 percent of world supplies, according to the United Nations.

-- The opium economy is believed to be equivalent to about half of GDP.

-- The IMF forecast economic growth of 8 percent in 2005, off high levels of 29 percent that followed the ousting of the Taliban by U.S.-led forces in 2001.

-- Growth is booming in the construction and services sectors, fueled by foreign aid and possibly opium-related demand, the IMF says.

-- About 12 Afghans out of 1,000 have a telephone and about one in 1,000 uses the Internet, according to World Bank figures for 2003.

Afghanistan slips from public radar
Fremont's 'Little Kabul' much quieter four years after attacks
By Scott Wong / The Argus (Fremont, California, USA)
FREMONT — In the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, microphones and TV cameras bombarded Fremont restaurant owner Wahid Andesha.

BBC, CNN and other major news networks broadcast worldwide his feelings about the brazen terrorist assault and the ensuing U.S. invasion of his native Afghanistan.

And some 15 news vans camped out in front of the cluster of Afghan-owned businesses along Fremont Boulevard in Centerville that the world came to know as "Little Kabul."

Today, four years after the attacks, Afghanistan has largely disappeared from headlines and television sets.

Motorists speed along the main drag through the Centerville district with little notice that they have entered Little Kabul, save for a tattered Afghan flag, Farsi writing etched on a hair salon window or the marquee of the landmark Center Theater that announces the showing of Afghan films.

Many Afghans say their native land — and their once-celebrated Little Kabul — simply has been forgotten.

"Bush and the government claim Afghanistan is a top priority for us, but it never has been and it never will be," says Andesha, 58, who owns Salang Pass Restaurant. "Some Afghans say if 9/11 didn't happen, Afghanistan would be completely forgotten."

The war in Iraq and other unrest in the Middle East have largely diverted the media's attention from Afghanistan. But local Afghans say it is crucial that Americans keep a tight focus on the ongoing situation in the war-torn nation.

"This is the beginning of the war on ignorance and extremism," said Nasir Durani, 48, an Afghan refugee who serves on the board of the Afghan Center, a Fremont nonprofit group that provides support services to Afghans here and in Kabul. "Afghanistan is the front line. We must not forget Afghanistan."

Second flight

Bordering countries such as Iran and Pakistan, Afghanistan has had a history of conflict. Spurred by a Soviet occupation beginning in 1979 and the subsequent civil war that gave way to the rise of the Taliban, millions have fled the politically unstable country during the past 25 years.

Today, it appears many of the 15,000 who made their homes in the Fremont area are taking flight once again — this time for economic reasons.

Local business owner Homayoun Khamosh said he will continue to live in Fremont. But many of his Afghan customers, friends and family members have escaped the rising housing prices and flat economy of the Tri-City area, and relocated to more affordable Central Valley cities such as Tracy, Modesto and Sacramento.

About one-quarter of the local Afghan population has moved away, Khamosh estimates. And emigration from Afghanistan is at a trickle.

That has had a profound effect on foot traffic along the two-block stretch of Fremont that is home to more than 20 Afghan businesses that include a travel agency, banquet halls and restaurants.

Losing a chunk of his primary customer base is one of the reasons Khamosh sold Pamir Food Mart last month. The popular Afghan market — which for nine years sold fresh-baked naan bread, large Afghan melons and halal meats, the Muslim equivalent of kosher — will continue to operate under the same name.

"People are not worried about Afghanistan anymore," Khamosh said. "They are worried about the economy and making a living."

Patriotism and resolve

Many younger Afghans also have left town — but for a different reason. They are lending their skills and services to the U.S. government in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. They have taken military and civilian roles, ranging from advisers to interpreters to engineers.

"You will see more Afghan Americans walking in the streets of Kabul than in the streets of Centerville," quips Durani, who frequently travels between the Bay Area and the Afghan capital for which Little Kabul is named.

Their contributions demonstrate a sense of patriotism and resolve to defeat the Taliban and other extremist factions, Durani says.

It is a conviction many Afghan Americans hold.

Marina Amin opened Nilare Boutique, an Afghan clothing and jewelry shop, a year ago. Under the Taliban regime, women such as herself would not have been able to own a business, says Amin, who emigrated from Afghanistan when she was just 10.

"The Taliban had to go, especially for the women," said the Union City resident. "They couldn't go to school or university. They couldn't watch TV or wear makeup."

A delicate fabric

Like many other Americans, Berkeley resident Ruth Silverman knew nothing about Afghanistan before 9/11.

"It's like it didn't even exist," she says while browsing through Amin's store with a friend one recent morning.

Today, however, Afghan culture appears to be woven into the fabric of the Fremont community. Non-Afghan customers ask Amin for burkas, while others pick up loaves of naan next door at Pamir market.

A few steps away, members of Bay Area book clubs meet at the cozy Salang Pass. They nibble on lamb and rice pilaf and sip hot tea while discussing themes in "The Kite Runner," a New York Times best seller about a boy who emigrates from Kabul to Fremont.

But restaurateur Andesha is quick to warn that the community fabric is delicate and easily torn.

"If Tillman gets killed in Afghanistan, we don't get Americans for a week until they find out it was friendly fire," said Andesha, referring to NFL player-turned-soldier Pat Tillman, who was accidentally killed in Afghanistan by U.S. forces during a firefight. "If an American truck gets blown up, we feel the effects."

Community rallies behind Afghan family
ABC Online (Australia) / September 12, 2005
An Afghan family which won the heart of the Launceston community in its fight for Australian residency celebrated with new Australian friends at Launceston's City Mission yesterday.

The community raised nearly $70,000 for members of the Sarwari family so they could prove their identity, after the Immigration Department suspected they were from Pakistan.

Sydney migration agent Marian Le travelled to Afghanistan to help the family prove its right to permanent Australian residency.

Ms Le says Launceston's support was crucial and there are other families that have not been so lucky.

"The Sarwaris were very, very fortunate actually to have the backing of the Launceston community behind them but they're symptomatic of an ongoing problem that the department has with determining of identity," she said.

United Nations Drug Czar Calls for the Removal of Afghan Officials Involved in Deadly Heroin Trade
(PRWEB) - (PRWEB) September 12, 2005 -- In Afghanistan, Lower Opium Cultivation and Declining Drug Incomes in 2005 Break Four-Year Trend - First Improvement Since Fall of Taliban UNODC Executive Director Calls for the Removal of Officials Involved in Deadly Trade VIENNA, 8 September (UN Information Service) -- Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), will offer the first complete analysis of the 2005 opium situation in Afghanistan at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, United States, on Monday, 12 September at 10 a.m.

According to UNODC's Afghanistan Opium Survey 2005, to be published in late September, opium cultivation is down this year by 21 percent, from 131,000 to 104,000 hectares (ha). Also, fewer households were involved in opium production (-13 per cent), revenues from drugs were lower (-3.5 per cent), and Afghanistan's legal economy continued to grow significantly (10.4 per cent).

"This is the best drug-related news since the fall of the Taliban," said Mr. Costa. "This year, we saw how well the stick and carrot approach really works. The fear that authorities would eradicate the opium crops made it riskier for farmers to cultivate poppies. At the same time, income support in the countryside gave farmers an opportunity to engage in other, legal activities. Of course, one year does not make a trend, but these policies are working."

The UNODC Executive Director warned that, "The counter-narcotics story is the same the world over. From Colombia, where the problem is coca, to the Golden Triangle and Afghanistan, where opium is prevalent, law enforcement and income support are both needed to eliminate drugs from the fields without triggering humanitarian disasters."

Nature did not help, so opium production remained high. UNODC reports that the 2005 decline in opium cultivation had limited impact on production. Significant rain and snow during the winter resulted in a 22 per cent higher yield (from 32 kg/ha in 2004 to 39 kg/ha in 2005). At 4,100 metric tons of opium, Afghan opium production in 2005 was only marginally lower (-2.4 per cent) than it was in 2004 (4,200 tons). Afghanistan remains the world's largest supplier of opium (87 per cent).

According to UNODC Executive Director Mr. Costa, "One farmer out of five, who cultivated opium in 2004, did not do so in 2005: in this case, the human players delivered."

"Of course, you cannot control nature," stated Mr. Costa, adding that, "from Europe's point of view, what counts, of course, are tons of production, not hectares of cultivation, because Europe is where the bulk of Afghan heroin is consumed. We are asking European States for greater engagement in Afghanistan."

Corruption among governors causes crop shifts. In different provinces, drug cultivation was affected by different degrees of corruption, pressure from insurgents, and law enforcement.

According to the UNODC Report, opium cultivation shifted from the centre and east of the country, to the north and west - away from some of the traditional centers (Nangarhar, Badakshan and Hilmand), towards the fertile lands where crop productivity is high.

"Incidentally, these northwestern Afghan provinces, where the opium crop has increased, are also the places where NATO forces operate. I call for greater NATO involvement in counter-narcotics," said Mr. Costa.

The uneven decline also reflects different degrees of commitment on the part of provincial governors, some of whom continue to maintain links with the drug trade.

"How do you explain the collapse of cultivation in the province of Nangarhar (-96 per cent), and the enormous increases in key provinces such as Balkh (+334 per cent) and Farah (+348 per cent)? Corruption is the wild card, and we have got to remove it from the deck," said Mr. Costa.

The United Nations has called for the removal of corrupt governors from office. UNODC reports that cultivation declined most in regions that benefited most from economic assistance.

"Illicit though it is, in many parts of Afghanistan, opium is the only commercially viable crop. It is no surprise, therefore, that the three provinces that received the greatest volumes of income support in 2005 -- Nangarhar, Badakhshan and Hilmand -- curbed cultivation the most. Assistance to farmers is needed until the legal economy takes over as the mainstay of growth in Afghanistan," said Mr. Costa.

UNODC confirms that overall, in 2005 the drug economy was equivalent to half (52 per cent) of Afghanistan's Gross Domestic Product, a major decline from the 2004 figure (67 per cent). The opium market is splintering, due to interdiction and supply changes.

In 2005, opium prices across Afghanistan changed greatly, evidence of growing market fragmentation. Much lower prices per kilogramme (112 US $) in the North reflect strong increases in production. Higher prices in Eastern (179 US $) and Central Afghanistan (235 US $) show lower output and greater interdiction.

"The market is more fragmented than ever since the Taliban: higher prices are an important leading indicator of higher risk. Traffickers now face tougher law enforcement, especially in the provinces where the Enduring Freedom coalition forces operate," UNODC reports.

Farmers suffer as traffickers get richer: the case for targeted measures A smaller number of farming families (-13 per cent) were involved in the opium cultivation in 2005. Those who did cultivate, because of higher yields, earned a bit more (6 percent). However, as in 2004, farmers took in a much smaller percentage of revenue (560 million US $) than Afghan traffickers (2.1 billion US $).

Once again, the United Nations has asked for stronger measures against opium trading.

"It is time to cut the proverbial umbilical cord between traffickers and farmers: arrest the drug lords, destroy the labs, and stop the convoys. Farmers themselves will not know what to do with the opium, prices will decline, and grain and apples will become attractive crops", said the UNODC Executive Director.

Goals and Prospects In 2004, UNODC asked the Government of Afghanistan to focus on four goals, and there has been progress: the Government has conducted an eradication/persuasion campaign to discourage poppy cultivation; some traffickers have being prosecuted, albeit at a slow pace; the Government is now struggling, painfully, with corruption in Kabul and the provinces; and a Ministry of Counter-Narcotics has been created.

UNODC recommendations for 2005 are:
* The removal of corrupt governors, and arrest of corrupt officials;
* The resignation of (newly elected) members of the Afghan parliament upon indictment on drug charges;
* Zero-tolerance toward militias and their warlords involved in drugs;
* The extradition of major traffickers from Afghanistan;
* A commitment by farming communities to refrain from drug cultivation in exchange for greater development assistance.

"It takes more than counter-narcotic efforts to fight drugs," said Mr. Costa. "Fighting corruption, violence, crime and money-laundering; creating a stronger judiciary, a clean parliament, and an honest police force are all parts of the process. Without all these measures, democracy, peace and stability in Afghanistan remain threatened."

The Statistical Annex will be available on the UNODC website: www.unodc.org , as of Monday, 12 September, 10:00 a.m. EST (16:00 Vienna time). For information contact:Kathleen Millar Deputy Spokesperson, UNODC Mobile: +43 699 1459 5629/ 202-438-9780 Thomas Pietschmann Research Officer, UNODC Telephone: +43-1-260 60 4645

###

United Nations
Kathleen Millar
43+1 0 699 1459 56

The Taliban's battle over the ballot
By Syed Saleem Shahzad / Asia Times Online / September 10, 2005
KARACHI - Rich with money they make from Afghanistan's opium trade, the Taliban-led resistance has the funds to finance its struggle against foreign troops in the country, in many cases using the same smuggling routes the drugs take to procure arms on the black market. These routes traverse Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey, the Central Asian states and Iran.

The Taliban are buying more sophisticated arms, and Russian and Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles in particular are flowing into Afghanistan in increasing numbers, according to people familiar with the resistance who spoke to Asia Times Online.

Obviously this gives an added dimension to the Taliban's fighting capabilities, and in recent months they have succeeded in bringing down several helicopters - the most recent being an attack last month that claimed the lives of 17 Spanish soldiers.

In June, 16 US service members aboard a MH-47 helicopter died

when their aircraft crashed near the Afghan-Pakistan border. The US military believes the chopper was downed by the resistance.

The Taliban have been less successful in attacks on foreign aircraft using the main bases at Sheendand and Bagram. As one contact told Asia Times Online, the Taliban now have an abundant stock of surface-to-ground missiles, but they are still learning to use them properly.

"A general conduit of the weapons smuggling for Afghanistan is from Iraqi Kurdistan, from where the weapons are transported through Iran to Afghanistan. The SAM missiles of Russian and Chinese origin are available at a cost of US$2,500 each. The main market of these missiles is Afghanistan," a confidante told Asia Times Online on a condition of anonymity.

The Taliban already have close links with elements of the Iraqi resistance in terms of tactics and training, so it is logical that they also cooperate over arms.

Asia Times Online has reported in detail on Mullah Mehmood Haq Yar, an expert in guerrilla and urban warfare, (see Revival of the Taliban, April 9) and how Taliban leader Mullah Omar sent him to Iraq before the war. There, he interacted with Islamic groups in northern Iraq before returning to Afghanistan to introduce similar tactics to those of the Iraqi resistance.

According to a report from Reuters news agency, last month al-Arabiya television aired a video purportedly depicting foreign militants in Afghanistan, including Europeans, Arabs and others, preparing to attack US troops and Afghan officials.

"These foreign guys are pretty well-armed," the Reuters report quoted a US paratrooper on patrol in Orgun-E, an area in southeastern Paktika province, as saying. "They have expensive weapons you can't get in this country."

Back to the source

Earlier this year, the Iraqi resistance leaked some documents to the media, including Asia Times Online, which showed correspondence between the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and a US contracting firm by the name of Wye Oak Technology. The documents detailed correspondence in August of last year relating to the sale of weapons from Saddam Hussein's army for scrap. The list of weapons includes missiles, artillery and light- and medium-size weapons, all of Russian, Chinese or French origin.

Though there is no way to confirm the authenticity of the documents, it is widely believed that arms of a similar nature made their way onto the black market, and in particular to Iraqi Kurdistan, from where the Taliban is now sourcing Russian and Chinese-made weapons.

No letup in the resistance

With nationwide parliamentary elections due in Afghanistan on September 18, the Taliban have raised the tempo of their attacks in an attempt to disrupt the voting process. In the latest attack, Afghan officials say that six Afghan policemen and two suspected Taliban insurgents had been killed this week after militants attacked a police post in Muqur, a district of southern Ghazni province.

More than 1,100 people have been killed in bomb blasts and shootings so far this year, compared with 850 for the whole of 2004. This includes more than 70 US troops.

An estimated 12 million voters are expected to vote for the lower house of the national legislature and for provincial councils across the country. Voters will choose 249 people to fill the People's Council, which is the lower house of the new National Assembly, marking the country's first national legislative body under its new constitution. Voters will also choose between nine and 29 members (depending on the size of the population in their province) to fill provincial councils.

However, the election commission has yet to release a full list of the candidates, partly because the Taliban have unequivocally stated that they will specifically target candidates, and they are believed to have drawn up plans for where they will strike. These targets could include 17 Taliban who have joined the administration of President Hamid Karzai.

Maulvi Pir Mohammed is one of them. This correspondent met him in the North Waziristan tribal area in Pakistan last year. Pir Mohammed was vice chancellor of Kabul University during the Taliban's rule - 1996-2001. When the Taliban retreated in the face of the US-led invasion of late 2001, Pir Mohammed took sanctuary in Dand-i-Darpa Khail, North Waziristan, where he lived in severely reduced circumstances. A few months ago, he suddenly surfaced to condemn the Taliban movement and announce his support for Karzai. Now he is chief justice of the Supreme Court in Kabul.

However, this elevation has not come free. Recently, two of his nephews were kidnapped in Miranshah, North Waziristan by men loyal to Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. According to Asia Times Online sources in the area, they were released once Pir Mohammed paid a ransom of two trucks loaded with weapons and $7,500 in cash.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online.

Clerics mull madrassa regulation
BBC News / Monday, 12 September 2005
Senior clerics in Pakistan are meeting to discuss the government's demand for tighter regulation of the country's thousands of religious schools

Following the London bombings in July, President Pervez Musharraf renewed a long standing demand for all madrassas to register with the authorities.

He also ordered the expulsion of all foreign students by the end of 2005.

The five education boards that oversee the madrassas are considering a joint response to the government's demands.

It says it wants to integrate the thousands of privately-run madrassas into the country's education system.

But some madrassa leaders say they are worried the government will use the registration drive to force them to disclose their private sources of income.

Musharraf 'not serious'

Madrassa leaders have held a number of meetings over the past several weeks to draw up a joint response to the government's drive for more regulation, but have so far come up with nothing concrete.

President Musharraf first called on madrassas to register with the government in 2002, months after the 11 September attacks - a move that was welcomed in the West.

However, more than three years on, less than half of Pakistan's madrassas are registered and some critics say this shows General Musharraf has not been serious about curbing religious extremism.

Under international pressure to prove his critics wrong, he has also ordered Pakistani madrassas to expel all foreign students after it emerged that one of the London bombing suspects visited a madrassa in Lahore shortly before the attacks on 7 July.

Candidates

The five boards are meeting to debate and agree upon what they call a "final and definitive response" to some recent measures adopted by the Musharraf government to regulate the functioning of these institutions.

"We will discuss the registration issue, expulsion of foreign students and the Supreme Court judgment barring madrassa students from contesting the recently-held local elections," spokesman Hanif Jullundhry told BBC News.

The BBC's Jannat Jalil in Islamabad says the Supreme Court ruling could affect hundreds of candidates in last month's local elections who are backed by the religious parties.

The clerics say the ruling is an attempt to weaken Pakistan's religious parties which at one point backed President Musharraf but are now increasingly critical of his policies, including his decision to establish formal contacts with Israel.