Afghanistan News September 23, 2005

September 23, 2005

Afghan foreign minister urges donors to stay engaged after vote
By NICK WADHAMS
UNITED NATIONS - (AP)- Afghanistan's foreign minister on Wednesday urged U.N. member states not to forget the country now that it has completed the final formal step toward democracy with historic legislative elections.

Abdullah Abdullah told the annual U.N. General Assembly ministerial debate that Afghanistan still needs donors to stay engaged in helping it recover from years of Taliban rule.
“Despite some of the achievements ... the people of Afghanistan continue to face many challenges in their daily lives," Abdullah said, citing extreme poverty, high infant and maternal mortality and a paucity of resources.

The parliamentary and provincial council elections completed the steps to a democratically elected government in Afghanistan laid out in a December 2001 agreement reached in Bonn, Germany, following the Taliban's ouster by a U.S.-led force.

Abdullah also urged the United Nations to adopt a convention outlawing terrorism, citing his own country's battle with al-Qaida and the Taliban. He said that infiltration by the two groups in the south and east "remains a contributing factor to insecurity in my country."

At a U.N. summit last week, world leaders adopted a final document that condemned terrorism in all its forms and sought a convention on international terrorism in the next 12 months. The summit document urged that the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime be strengthened to help U.N. member states fight the production and trafficking of drugs. Abdullah noted that this very office had recorded a 21 percent drop in Afghanistan's opium production in 2005.

Yet, he said that Afghanistan needs more than just drug eradication to stop the drug trade. He sought "alternative livelihoods" for rural communities, as well as agricultural assistance and investment in infrastructure. "A successful strategy in combating illicit drugs requires additional measures aside from asking farmers to plant substitute crops," Abdullah said.

Bosnia, Afghanistan establish diplomatic ties
SARAJEVO, Sept 21 (AFP) - Bosnia and Afghanistan established diplomatic ties on Wednesday, a statement from the foreign ministry said.

Bosnia's Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic and his Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abdullah signed the notes on establishment of diplomatic relations at Bosnia's mission in New York.

The two officials exchanged opinions about the reform of the system of the United Nations, it said, adding that Ivanic invited Abdullah to visit Bosnia. Stability in both countries is maintained by international peacekeeping missions.

US, Afghanistan squabble over resurgent Taliban
Sydney Morning Herald By Paul McGeough, Chief Herald Correspondent in Kabul September 22, 2005
A rift is opening between Washington and Kabul on how to tackle a resurgent Taliban which, mounting evidence suggests, now operates a modern-day "underground railroad" tapping into the terrorist expertise of the Iraqi insurgency.

President Hamid Karzai's demands for the US to back off militarily are becoming more strident, even as his own officials warn that the Taliban has more fighters, has access to better explosives and detonators and is better equipped and funded.

A security analyst operating in Afghanistan told the Herald: "What they're doing is apeing the US.

"The Americans embedded with the Afghanistan National Army to impart experience and to boost morale, and the foreign jihadis are embedding with the insurgents, instructing them on how to deal with the US from their experience in Iraq, how to conceal themselves and how to make, plant and detonate even more sophisticated IEDs (improvised explosive devices)."

It is a development that has been the stuff of background briefings. But this week's edition of Newsweek magazine carries interviews with two Taliban commanders enthusiastically revealing details of their training in Iraq and how, in turn, they pass it on to hundreds of Afghan fighters.

Claiming that the conflict here was entering a new phase, Mohammed Daoud, 35, credits the fugitive terrorism master Osama bin Laden with opening the Afghan-Iraq technology-and-training exchange.

He says: "I'm explaining to my fighters every day the lessons I learned and my experience in Iraq. I want to copy in Afghanistan the tactics and spirit of the glorious Iraqi resistance."

Another commander, Hamza Sangari, 36, tells how he went to Iraq in a group of 15 - eight Afghan Taliban, two Central Asians and five Arab al-Qaeda fighters. Aided by drug-smugglers, they went through Pakistan and into Iran, going by foot, motor-cycle and four-wheel-drive.

Claiming that he spent four weeks at a remote Iraqi training camp called Ashaq al Hoor, he tells how he was drilled in the use of remote-controlled detonators and how to make armour-penetrating weapons by breaking up rockets and rock-propelled grenade rounds and repackaging their explosive content with powerful, high-velocity "shaped" charges.

Mohammed Daoud reveals in the interview that in the past eight weeks his men used as many as 18 IEDs based on his Iraqi training, claiming they had inflicted 20 casualties on their US and Afghan targets.

In background briefings, senior US military officers fret over the Taliban recruiting fighters in dozens of refugee camps just over the Pakistani border, the use of the camps as covert training centres and the failure by Kabul and Islamabad to check the ease with which fighters and bombing teams cross the border.

But, increasingly, the camps are also used as transit points - for Afghans going to Iraq for training and for jihadis from Iraq and other conflicts coming to Afghanistan.

A senior US military officer told the Herald: "There's still a significant Afghan refugee population in Pakistan. This is a generation of Afghans who have grown up in the camps who are ripe for the picking by the Taliban and criminal gangs."

The security analyst interviewed by the Herald stressed that a new development was that the movement between the two countries had become two-way - novices to Iraq to be trained and experienced fighters to Afghanistan and the border camps to impart their knowledge locally.

He said: "The trainers who come here don't go to the frontline. They sit back with radios, guiding the Taliban men in the field and doing static training in the camps. They come in from the Middle East, the gulf countries and other parts of Central Asia."

He explained that proof of the effectiveness of the technology exchange was in the nature of Taliban attacks. "In 2002-03 they were using old Russian stuff - wires and plungers - and they had to be close in.

"Now it's faceless. Their detonators are so sophisticated, they can sit back two kilometres and explode an IED remotely through a simple wire antenna hanging from a bush next to a device that might have been planted days or weeks earlier. Boom! Off it goes and before you know it, he is back over the mountain where he picks up a spade in a field and looks just like any other village farmer."

In the same way that the Americans hailed last year's relatively peaceful presidential election, Mr Karzai yesterday declared Sunday's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan to be a defeat for terrorism.

But the polls, almost 12 months apart, bookend the most violent period since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. So far this year, more than 1000 Afghan civilians and terrorism suspects have been killed, along with almost 70 Americans.

In that time the Taliban has revealed itself as a leaner, more tightly organised guerilla force, intent on adopting the homicidal ferocity of the Baghdad insurgency as a tactical template.

And apart from their use of more sophisticated IEDs, they also have proven access to what are believed to be Russian and Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). They have downed several US aircraft and launched brazen, but failed, strikes on others taking off from American bases.

US officials here believe the SAMs originate in Iraqi Kurdistan and follow the same route as the jihadi trainers and trainees - through Iran to Afghanistan, where they are sold for about $US2500 each.

But using the Taliban's failure to mount a major attack during the weekend election, Mr Karzai is demanding that the American war against terrorism, which is driven by its pursuit of Osama bin Laden, needs to focus less on military action in Afghanistan.

Claiming there was no serious terrorist threat from Afghanistan, he told reporters that the US needed to focus on where terrorists were trained, their bases, their suppliers and sources of funding.

He did not name Pakistan, which Washington treats as a valued ally in its war on terror. But the Afghan President's officials do that for him in briefings with foreign reporters.

Mr Karzai also questioned the US reliance on powerful air-strikes on suspected Taliban and other anti-Kabul camps and hideouts, in which the Americans are frequently accused of killing peaceful Afghan civilians. And he reiterated an early demand that US-led forces must seek permission from the Afghan authorities before searching Afghan homes.

But for all his bluster, Mr Karzai's efforts to neutralise the Taliban have made little headway. Only a handful of key Taliban figures have responded to a generous amnesty under which they are allowed to resume life as ordinary Afghans - six of them were candidates in Sunday's poll.

The Americans measure success against the Taliban in bodies. They claim to have killed at least 450 out of a total insurgent force of several thousand in the past four months.

And the US response to Mr Karzai's latest demands was to duck addressing them directly.

But there was no hint of compliance when Lieutenant-General Karl Eikenberry warned that Afghanistan and its allies, including 190 Australian troops who arrived in the country this month, still faced a big task.

But he seemed to be speaking to Mr Karzai, when he told reporters: "The need for commitment and patience is absolutely essential."

The general accepted that military means alone would not end the terror, but he warned there would be more fighting in the coming weeks, and that 30,000-plus US-led foreign troops in Afghanistan would be on the offensive through the autumn and into the Afghan winter.

Taliban not crumbling, says US general
Fri Sep 23, 2:20 AM ET
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban rebels are not a spent force despite their failure to disrupt the weekend's parliamentary vote and will continue attacks into next year, a top US general said.

"I'm not ready to sign up to the fact that Taliban are crumbling," General Jason Kamiya, second in command of the 20,000 strong US-led force in the country, told reporters at Bagram Airbase on Thursday.

"There still will be an enemy insurgency next spring," he added.

US and Afghan officials said at the beginning of the year that the Taliban's days as a threat were numbered, but militant-related violence since then has made this the bloodiest year since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.

Although the rebels failed to carry out any major attacks on polling day Sunday, Kamiya said the Taliban would keep up their attacks throughout the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins October 4, and beyond.

"The Taliban had the intent to disrupt the elections, but not the capability," he said.

"They realized that the Afghan constitution, then the presidential elections then the election of parliament was one more nail in the coffin."

Kamiya's comments came two days after the US military commander in Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry, also warned of more bloodshed in coming weeks.

This year has also been the deadliest for US troops in the country, with over 50 being killed by hostile fire.

But while Taliban fighters were increasing their intimidation in villages, posting threatening night letters to win new recruits, there were signs that the militia were fracturing as a fighting force, Kamiya said.

"There is intent to coordinate actions in east and south, but we see signs of fractures between moderates and those who want to stick with jihad (holy war)," he said.

"We see signs of young fighters questioning the leaders... Mullah Omar's support is beginning to fracture," he said, referring to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Kamiya also dismissed reports that Afghanistan has been infiltrated by foreign fighters who were transferring skills from Iraq.

"We've seen no evidence in Afghanistan to support the fact that foreign fighters operate in Afghanistan," he added.

Kamiya hit back at President Hamid Karzai's attack on US military policies this week, after Karzai said the US should not enter Afghan homes to search for suspects and should curb its use of airstrikes.

Kamiya said the US was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties and restricted its use of airstrikes accordingly and had stepped up cooperation with Afghan security forces to reduce the number of US troops searching Afghan houses.

"There's not indiscriminate use of military power, (and we're doing as many verifications as we can) before give a lethal effect to people," he added.

Afghan soldier killed, Australian wounded in operations
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Afghan army soldier was killed and an Australian special forces soldier wounded on a recent joint patrol in Afghanistan, the Australian defence department said.

The department said the incident occurred when Australia's newly-deployed Special Forces Task Group (SFTG) and the Afghan army engaged militants during a patrol at an unspecified location.

"During this action, tragically on Afghan National Army soldier was killed and one Australian soldier was slightly wounded, his wound was minor and he did not require evacuation," it said in a statement on Friday.

A department spokesman refused to detail when and where the clash took place, although the majority of the Australians are believed to be stationed near the troubled Afghan-Pakistan border.

"Afghanistan remains a dangerous place, however the SFTG is highly skilled, well trained and well equipped to deal with such engagements," the statement said.

It said the injured soldier was now back on duty.

Australia's 190-strong deployment of Special Air Service troops began operations in Afghanistan earlier this month with operations against insurgents in the lead-up to the September 18 parliamentary elections.

The defence department said the Australian troops had established an operating base and were conducting operations to improve security and stability in the war-torn country.

Australia sent 1,000 troops to Afghanistan in 2001 to help a US-led coalition force topple the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime sheltering Osama bin Laden but withdrew these in late 2002.

The special forces deployment is expected to remain in Afghanistan for up to a year and could be joined around April by a military team of around 200 personnel to help with reconstruction.

Clash leaves 2 Afghan soldiers dead, 3 injured
KABUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Two Afghan soldiers were killed as they came in contact with suspected Taliban militants in southeast Pakitka province late Wednesday night, Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed Thursday.

"The firefight took place in Shakin district of Paktika province at midnight resultantly two soldiers were killed and three others wounded," Zahir Azimi told Xinhua.

Bodies of the deceased, he added, had been taken to their home province eastern Nangarhar province while the wounded soldiers were taken to hospital at US a military base in Bagram, 50 km north of the capital city Kabul.

He did not say about militants' casualties but added "the situation is calm their now."

Remnants of the former Taliban regime who failed to disrupt the Sept. 18 Afghan parliamentary polls have intensified their activities against Afghan government and US military interests.

The movement's spokesman, Mufti Abdul Latif Hakimi, said its loyalists would speed up their Jihad, or holy war, after the elections until the US-dominated foreign troops leave Afghanistan.

Defence minister warns Canadians of casualty risk in new Afghan mission
LES PERREAUX Thu Sep 22, 5:54 PM ET
MONTREAL (CP) - Canadians must prepare for casualties as Canada's contingent in the volatile southern region of Afghanistan grows, Defence Minister Bill Graham warned Thursday.

The army's move from Kabul, the relatively stable capital, to the heart of Taliban country boosts the odds of Canadian deaths and injuries, Graham pointed out in a speech designed to put the Canadian public on notice. A small Canadian force of about 250 troops is working in Kandahar right now with about 1,000 more set to deploy early next year.

A small special forces unit is also operating in the area, hunting and killing Taliban and al-Qaida rebels. Canada will also take command of the international operation in the region next year.

"Canadians should have no illusions," Graham told reporters following a speech to the International Relations Council of Montreal.

"This is a very complex, very demanding and quite dangerous mission. Our troops recognize they are going into a more dangerous mission than Kabul. It is more dangerous."

Graham pointed out three Canadian soldiers died and several more were injured in explosive attacks around Kabul in the past two years. Two more were injured by a roadside bomb just last week.

"Kabul was a downtown patrolling mission and we know we lost some lives in that mission," he said.

Roadside and suicide bombs, rocket attacks and shootouts are frequent in the Kandahar area but only occasionally strike Kabul.

Lewis MacKenzie, a retired major-general who led Canadian troops on dangerous missions in Bosnia and other hotspots, said he hopes Graham is not on just on a public-relations exercise to soften the blow of potential casualties.

"I hope the aim is to explain to the people that this peacekeeping myth perpetrated by the previous government has been dead for about the last 10 years except for Ethiopia and Eritrea," MacKenzie said in a phone interview.

"All the rest have been enforcement missions that are extremely dangerous."

MacKenzie said 26 Canadian soldiers and civilians were killed in Bosnia and dozens more injured and "it didn't even cause a ripple or make the front page when it happened."

The risk those soldiers faced was unfairly downplayed by the government because it did not fit with Canada's peacekeeping image, MacKenzie pointed out.

Canada's is currently running a reconstruction team in Kandahar, a mission that combines security with development efforts. A handful of civilians from the RCMP, Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) are part of the effort.

MacKenzie questioned whether such a scant civilian presence can effectively deliver aid or run diplomatic activities.

"They don't want to be associated with the military," MacKenzie said. "For the government to tout diplomacy and development and then only have this modest representation is surprising."

Graham said the RCMP trains local police and one or two CIDA officials on the ground work with civilian agencies in Kandahar, so they don't need big numbers to be effective.

"The international community's desire is that Afghani authorities take over the running of their own country," Graham said.

"They don't need us to do the job for them."

Iran, Afghanistan discuss expansion of ties
United Nations, New York, Sept 21, IRNA
Iran and Afghanistan here Tuesday explored possible avenues to bolster bilateral relations as well as issues of mutual interest including fight against illicit drugs.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, held a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abdullah on the fringes of the UN General Assembly meeting.

The Iranian minister called for facilitating implementation of joint projects and underlined the need for further promotion of commercial and economic relations between the two countries.
He called for holding joint meetings to reach practical ways to fight against smuggle of narcotic drugs. "The Islamic Republic pays great cost to control and prevent transfer of narcotics to West," Mottaki stated.

Abdullah, for his part, expressed his satisfaction with successful parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, adding holding the elections would help establish stability in the country.

He said the issues of Taliban and al-Qaeda still remain in Afghanistan as internal security problems, stressing the Afghan government made great efforts to solve such problems. He said Iran and Afghanistan enjoy close and amicable relations, thanks to great efforts made by officials of the two sides.

The Afghan minister assessed participation of Iran in his country's reconstruction as very important and appreciated efforts by the Iranians to host Afghan refugees.

People stopped from staging protest on fencing issue
KABUL, September 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Officials in the southern Zabul stopped people who want to carry out protest rallies and stage demonstration against remarks of Pakistani authorities regarding border fencing with Afghanistan.

Pakistan Pervez Musharraf floated the suggestion of fencing the 2,400-kilometre porous border to end the blame-game between the two countries once and for all.

Gulab Shah Alikhel, spokesman for Zabul governor, said the government blocked the people from staging protest demonstration to avoid any untoward incident.

Tough security measures had been adopted across the country to discourage insurgents from carrying out attacks to disrupt the elections or counting process which is presently underway in 32 provinces.

He said they feared if the Pakistani authorities continued with their fencing rhetoric, it might cause unrest in the province, which is in proximity with Pakistan.

He said people of the bordering provinces had rejected the fencing proposal but they banned them for fear that Taliban might not cash the opportunity to carry out terrorist attacks.

Reported by Aziz Zahid

Governor urges federal govt to renew Durand Line agreement
Dawn (Pakistan) September 22, 2005 issue
PESHAWAR, Sept 21: NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman on Wednesday called upon federal authorities to renew an agreement on the demarcation of borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan as the same had expired.

“The official term of the Durand Line Agreement has expired and I have asked the federal government to seek its renewal,” Governor Khalil said.

His remarks came in response to a question about Pakistan’s proposal on fencing the border with Afghanistan. The comments are likely to re-ignite a controversy over whether or not the 1893 Durand Line Agreement is time-specific.

The agreement signed between the then ruler of Afghanistan, Amir Abdur Rehman and Sir Henry Mortimer Durand had led to the demarcation of boundaries between the then British India and Afghanistan.

For decades Afghanistan has disputed the so-called Durand Line with some Afghan historians claiming that the agreement signed under duress was vaild for 100 years only. According to those historians the agreement had expired in January 1993.

The English text of the agreement, however, does not mention any time limit.

On the border-fencing proposal, the governor said that Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan was long and porous and hadn’t been demarcated clearly at several points.

But the governor said the proposal had raised hackles as many Afghan tribesmen who had their kith and kin living on this side of the border were uncomfortable with the idea.

TRIBAL AREAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NWFP: The governor backed calls for tribal areas’ integration into the NWFP, saying the move would benefit tribesmen.

“I personally think it (integration) is good for the tribal people,” he said. “Frankly, I support this idea.”

But the government needs to develop the tribal areas, he said. “You bring development to the area and then see how the tribal people can integrate with rest of the country,” he said.

About amending the Frontier Crimes Regulation, Gov Khalil acknowledged that certain clauses of the British-era law were in conflict with human rights and said that a committee he had set up was visiting the tribal areas to elicit the views of the tribal people and suggest suitable amendments.

BAITULLAH MEHSUD: The governor expressed concern at recent incidents in South Waziristan and said that he would urge Corps Commander in Peshawar, Lt Gen. Safdar Hussain, to call in militant commander Baitullah Mehsud to discuss the situation with him.

“I am going to give it a shot,” he said and held the view that Baitullah was doing something that the government could not tolerate. “He (Baitullah) is asking people to close audio shops and is trying to introduce the Taliban system.”

He said that at time of signing the peace deal with the government, Mehsud had a total of eighty people with him. “Now he has gathered around 2,000 people and he is asking people to do this and that.”

The NWFP governor’s statement about Abdullah Mehsud is at variance with Lt Gen Safdar’s who at a recent press conference in Peshawar had described the militant commander as a “soldier of peace”.

The governor admitted that the situation in Shakai in South Waziristan was getting bad again and militants were violating the terms of the peace accords signed with the government. He said that the government could not fight at two fronts simultaneously, referring to the ongoing military operations in North Waziristan and the fresh disturbances in South Waziristan.

Kabul Reports Low Voter Turnout
By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 22, 4:12 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Only about one-third of Kabul's registered voters cast ballots in legislative elections, an official said Thursday — a turnout that suggests disillusionment with the U.S.-backed government and the pace of rebuilding after a quarter-century of war.

Reports from nearly all polling centers across Afghanistan indicate some 6.6 million voters cast ballots, which would put national turnout at about 53 percent, said Peter Erben, chief electoral officer of the U.N.-Afghan body that organized the polls. But he estimated turnout in Kabul and the surrounding province was just 36 percent.

The indication that national turnout dropped significantly from 70 percent in last October's presidential election had already become a needling footnote to the international community's celebratory script, which cast Afghanistan's first elections for a national assembly in more than three decades as a key step toward democracy.

Many Afghans embraced the opportunity with enthusiasm.

But the low turnout in the capital — which accounts for just under 10 percent of the country's 12.4 million registered voters — amplifies another message from the people: Move fast to rebuild, boost the economy and improve security, or risk embittering those who already feel bypassed by the changes since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001.

In Washington, President Bush called the election "positive news for the world."

"Our mission in Afghanistan is not yet complete. The international community is helping Afghanistan become a lasting democracy," Bush said.

"There are still terrorists who seek to overthrow the young government. You see, they want to return Afghanistan to what it was under the Taliban: a miserable place."

Sarah Lister, head of the Afghan Research Evaluation Unit, an independent Kabul-based research group, said Kabul residents might have had higher expectations for improvement following President Hamid Karzai's election, then felt let down when change was not as swift as they hoped.

"There is no work, no security, no law," said shopkeeper Abdul Satar. "My wife and I voted for Karzai, but there's been no change, and prices are rising."

Human rights activists have said fears of violence, anger over warlords on the ballot and distrust of politicians may have kept people away. With mansions sprouting up not far from squalid slums, Lister said anger about inequality could have played a role too.

"We need to understand whether there is a growing sense of exclusion, a growing sense of disillusionment with the political process to date," she said.

In the relative anonymity of the city, Lister said, it would likely have been easier to avoid pressure to vote from local leaders than for people living in small communities. And Kabul's seven-page ballot, with nearly 400 candidates for parliament, would have been daunting for anyone.

Erben reiterated his upbeat assessment, saying that in countries emerging from war, turnout in the first election is often higher than in the next vote.

Workers began counting ballots Tuesday, and Erben said officials hoped to have complete provisional results by Oct. 4.

Ballot boxes transportation nearly completes in Afghanistan
KABUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The challenging process of ballot boxes transportation from over 26,000 polling stations to 32 counting centers has been almost over, Chief Electoral Officer of the UN-sponsored Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) announced Thursday.

"We now have almost 100 percent of sensitive materials to 32 counting centers," Peter Erben told journalists on Thursday.

About the transporting of remaining of the materials to the counting centers, he added that transport problems and remoteness of the polling stations had affected the take in process in the provinces of Ghazni, Daikundi, Badakhshan, Kunar and Nooristan.

"It will take few days more to take the sensitive materials from these provinces to counting centers, possibly on Saturday," he added.

Besides helicopters and trucks, hundreds of donkeys, horses andcamels have been hired to take in the ballot boxes from far-flung and mountainous areas to counting centers which are located at provincial capitals.

Over 50 percent of 12.4 million Afghans registered to vote turned out to polling stations on Sept. 18 to elect the members of parliament and provincial councils amid tight security.

Some 43 percent of Afghan women, registered to vote, had used their franchise in the first post-Taliban parliamentary elections while during the 6-year reign of the fundamentalist regime they were confined in their houses.

Partial results of the provinces will be displayed day by day from next week, while the final results of the landmark legislative polls, according to JEMB, will be released on Oct. 22.

Observers complain low-efficiency, blank ballots destruction in west Afghanistan
HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- As one of the three provinces of Afghanistan started ballot-counting from Tuesday, the western Herat province at the same time received many complaints about the low-efficiency and the way to deal with the blank ballotin counting process.

"As the observer of the election, each of us only has two hours to oversee the counting work in a day, but sometimes the workers just sit there without doing anything because of the absence of one of the unit members. After two hours, we sometimes couldn't see many useful working," Gulab Shah, representative of a Wolesi Jirga (Lower House) candidate told Xinhua Thursday.

There are 46 counting units, nine persons in each, responsible for counting the ballots collected from 15 districts of Herat, and the two shifts of counting workers work from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m.. "The two hours is too limited for me, especially when most of the time has been wasted in waiting for all the unit members to be present," he added.

"There is another serious problem about the blank ballots. From what we saw these days, the empty ballots haven't been stamped to be invalid or destroyed, but put aside. It's easy for someone to misuse these ballots for some candidates," Gulab said.

He said he and some other observers have put forward the issue to the election center, but some officials from there said they accepted the issue, but would deal with that after the counting work when it's useless to do that.

"At the same time, we found out some of the observers involved in the counting work, and some of the supervisors are the relatives of some candidates. These affairs will influence the equality and fairness of the counting work," Gulab continued to complain.

About 425,000 people in this western province voted for the parliamentary and provincial councils elections on Sept. 18, accounts for about 50 percent of the registered voters. According to the senior count officer of Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) in Herat Williams Diederil, about 1,200 staff attended the counting work in the province.

As the first-ever parliamentary election of Afghanistan after more than three decades, it has attracted more than 6 million people to vote on Sept. 18. The counting work began from Sept. 20,and will last for 16 days before the preliminary result comes out, and the final result is expected to be ready on Oct. 22.

Candidates say ballot boxes filled outside polling stations
KANDAHAR CITY, September 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Candidates for the Afghan Wolesi Jirga and 34 provincial councils from Kandahar Thursday voiced concern over the alleged rigging in Sunday's polls.

"Many ballot boxes were filled outside polling stations," this was alleged during a meeting held here Wednesday night, which was attended by around 20 hopefuls. They said votes were polled by people other than registered electorates.

Prominent among participants of the meeting were Ahmadullah Nazari, Ahmad Fareed Zafar, Haji Abdullah, Engr Ashna, Amma Jana, Latifa Shaikhal, Arif Nourzai, Nasrullah Barakzai, Haji Mohammad Qasem, Ahmadullah Nazak, Toryalai Hussaini, Nasrulalh Balots, Maryam Durrani and Malek Asekzai.

Speaking on the occasion, Engr Ashna, a candidate for the Wolesi Jirga, said the ballot boxes were filled in Chaghi area of the neighbouring Pakistan and then were shifted to the respective polling stations.

Arif Nourzai, a former minister for borders and tribal affairs, said: "I found a ballot box full of votes in an orchard that is still in my possession." He said the box was later handed over to the JEMB officials.

Nasrullah Baloch, another aspirant, said the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) officials had opened a polling centre in Noushaki area in Pakistan, though no constituency outside Afghanistan was allowed.

Approached for comments, Dr Said Mohammad, a local official of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said such complaints had also been received to them which would be decided on Thursday.

However, Qaher Wasifi, head of the UNAMA office in Kandahar, denied the allegations and insisted the Sunday's polls were transparent.

He recommended the aggrieved candidates should forward their gripes, if any, to the domestic and international observers.

Sabawoon

Afghan Elections Provide Momentum to Political Process
Drug trade threatens Afghanistan's fragile democracy, U.S. officials say
By David Shelby Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Afghanistan’s successful parliamentary elections are an important step toward consolidating its democratic rule, according to senior U.S. officials.

But there are many problems that still need to be addressed before Afghanistan can enjoy complete social, economic and political stability, they add, not the least of which is the drug trade.

“The success of the elections demonstrates a very important point, which is that our strategy in Afghanistan is political as much as it is military, in fact maybe political more than military,” Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman told the House International Relations Committee September 22. “What we’re doing is helping the Afghans build their institutions and marginalizing the extremists politically even while we and they are hunting them down militarily.”

The State Department’s coordinator for Afghanistan, Maureen Quinn, agreed that the success of the Afghan people in establishing a stable, constitutional, democratic system is the key to the country’s success.

Quinn said that the September 18 elections were calm, orderly and secure despite enormous logistical and procedural challenges. She noted that there were 69 different ballots for all of the national and provincial races and nearly 6,000 candidates running for office. Election officials distributed 142 tons of balloting materials to polling stations around the country using everything from airplanes to donkeys. She said that despite the difficulties inherent in administering such a complex election, observers called it “one of the best results on record for a post-conflict election.” (See Democratic Afghanistan.)

Quinn also praised the Afghan security forces for their professionalism and effectiveness in preventing the Taliban and other insurgent groups from disrupting the elections.

Turning to future challenges, the officials said that Afghanistan still faces tremendous obstacles to achieving security, the most important of which is the opium trade.

“In addition to all the other nefarious and debilitating consequences of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, robust drug production contributes to an environment of corruption and of political and economic instability, and thereby threatens the democratically elected Afghan government,” acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Nancy Powell said in prepared remarks.

Powell said Afghanistan accounts for an estimated 87 percent of world opiate production, “a devastating threat to the stability of both Afghanistan and the surrounding region.”

She outlined a five-part program that Afghanistan is undertaking with the help of the international community to confront the problem. The components include a public information campaign, efforts to provide farmers with alternative livelihoods to poppy cultivation, eradication of poppy fields, search-and-destroy operations aimed at opium processing facilities and enhancement of Afghanistan’s law enforcement capabilities.

“The just-completed parliamentary elections demonstrate that democracy is taking root, but a democratic Afghanistan cannot be fully realized unless we are successful in controlling the narcotics problem,” she said.

Powell’s testimony is available on the House International Relations Web site, as is the testimony of Quinn.

Afghan president reflects on post-election challenges
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard Source: EurasiaNet 22 Sep 2005
With the votes from Afghanistan's landmark parliamentary election just starting to be counted, President Hamid Karzai says his administration's top priorities are strengthening the country's political institutions and bolstering popular support for the ongoing anti-terrorism campaign.

About 7,000 election officials are going through the painstaking process of counting the approximately 6 million ballots cast in the September 18 election. The plethora of candidates vying for seats in the national legislature and provincial councils is complicating tabulation process. In Kabul, for example, the paper ballot comprises seven pages, featuring 390 candidates for parliament and another 217 contenders for the provincial council. Final results are not expected to be announced until mid-October. Once the legislature convenes, Afghanistan's political transition, envisioned under the 2001 Bonn agreement, will be complete.

That means Karzai administration will be expected to assume greater responsibility for keeping the country on a stable development course. Responding to a question posed by a EurasiaNet correspondent, Karzai suggested the government was reasonably well positioned to move forward with stabilization measures. The most immediate task, he emphasized, was building better connections between the state bureaucracy and the general population.

"We have a constitution, we had presidential elections last October, and now, with these parliamentary elections, we are starting to build walls around the [political] foundation," Karzai said. "We will work to further to improve the bureaucratic and judicial systems in Afghanistan and the ability of the Afghan government to deliver better services to the people."

Karzai did not provide details on his plans for improving the responsiveness of state agencies. Prior to the parliamentary election, human rights groups identified official corruption and the lack of an effectively functioning judiciary as major obstacles hampering the country's reconstruction.

The Afghan president has spoken repeatedly in recent days about the possible need for the 20,000-strong US expeditionary force to revise its counter-insurgency tactics. The insurgency has claimed approximately 1,200 lives so far this year -- the most since 2001, when the US-led anti-terrorism coalition drove the Taliban from power in Kabul.

Karzai has hinted that, in carrying out counter-insurgency operations, US troops ought to be more sensitive to the conservative values held by many Afghans, especially residents of the rural areas in southern and eastern regions where the radical guerrillas are most active. The continuation of some existing tactics -- such as the tendency of US troops to search private homes at night -- risks losing the hearts and minds of some Afghans, Karzai has said. Many men have grown resentful when US troops have questioned female members of the household during searches, the president has said. In the future, Karzai has suggested, US troops should obtain specific authorization from Afghan officials to enter private homes at night.

In addition, Karzai has called on the US military to scale back air strikes on Afghan territory, and has urged stronger political measures to curtail the radical Islamic insurgency. Specifically, he has said the United States should do more to stop the global flow of money that finances the insurgency. Karzai also has voiced a desire for the United States to do more to close down militant training bases.

At the same time, Karzai and other top administration officials have lobbied hard for the United States to maintain the existing troop level in Afghanistan. Earlier in September, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sent signals that up to 20 percent of the troops in Afghanistan could be withdrawn in 2006.

A Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Todd Vician, said that US military commanders were "always ready" to discuss possible strategic and tactical changes with representatives of the Afghan government. "This is a dynamic [military] campaign," Vician said. "We continually reassess strategy ... and [US defense planners] will continue to consult with President Karzai and other senior officials in the effort to achieve our shared strategic goals."

Karzai expressed general satisfaction with the parliamentary election, especially the fact that Islamic militants were not able to carry out spectacular attacks to disrupt the polling, as they had threatened. "This shows that democracy and the right to self-determination for people can be practiced as successfully by a poor and Islamic country, as it is practiced in the West." Karzai said.

Some political analysts, however, were not as enthused as the president about how the balloting went, pointing out that turnout for the legislative vote was just over 50 percent, compared with a 76 percent participation rate for the presidential election in October 2004. Two factors are widely believed to have kept turnout down on September 18 -- the cluttered and confusing ballots, and the fact that many former Mujaheddin fighters -- i.e. those mainly responsible for powering Afghanistan's quarter-century-long cycle of violence -- were among the better known candidates.

According to early analysis of voting patterns, turnout appears to have been significantly lower in Kabul and other major cities than in rural areas. The declining turnout trend has some political experts worried that Afghanistan's new political institutions will not be strong enough to address pressing social and economic issues.

Editor's Note: Camelia Entekhabi-Fard has reported from Afghanistan and Iran for EurasiaNet.

Afghans may vote in Communists they drove out
Nostalgia for the years after Soviet invasion leads to unlikely choices, GRAEME SMITH reports
The Globe and Mail (Canada) / By GRAEME SMITH / Thursday, September 22, 2005 Page A21
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- It's been four decades since Noorolhaq Olomi was a young Afghan army officer, secretly giving Communist books to his troops.

In the years since, Mr. Olomi has played several roles in Afghanistan's turbulent history: political prisoner, asylum seeker, and highest-ranking official in southern Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation.

Now, like many other former Communists returning to the political stage in Afghanistan, Mr. Olomi has taken another important part in the country's development. He leads the National United Party, perhaps the only major political party that spans tribes, regions and religions in a country still divided by ancient factions.

Part of his party's appeal, he says, is Afghans' nostalgia for the years after the Soviet invasion in 1979.

"The happiness people had during those days, it makes them vote for me," said Mr. Olomi, 64, in an interview at his heavily guarded compound in Kandahar.

Observers say it's ironic that Afghans would vote for the same Communists they drove out of the country during eight years of bitter warfare. But the violence and repression that followed the Soviets' departure makes the years under Moscow's thumb seem tolerable by comparison, observers say.

There's also hope that Mr. Olomi's party represents a new breed of Afghan political movement, based on ideas rather than identity.

"Olomi's party doesn't have its basis in any tribe or armed group, which is very unusual," said Hayatullah Rafiqui, general manager of the National Democratic Institute's Kandahar office.

Final results of the election won't be available for weeks, but the National United Party is widely expected to gain a small foothold in the new parliament. A few other former Communists, not associated with Mr. Olomi's party, are also considered likely to win.

These include Kabir Ranjbar, a lawyer and former adviser to the Communist president Mohammad Najibullah; and Mohammad Qasim Ehsas, a former deputy minister of commerce.

All of them were members of a group called Parcham, or Flag, named after a leftist newspaper. The Parchamis emerged in the 1960s after King Zahir Shah experimented with creating a legislature.

The King's liberalization program mirrored some aspects of the current situation: After years without a chance to vote, Afghans were allowed to choose among a polarized list of candidates, ranging from extreme leftists to fundamental Islamists. The elections of the 1960s, like this week's vote, also happened soon after women were allowed to remove their veils and appear in public.

Some of the issues were also similar, Mr. Olomi said: Like today, Afghans needed water, electricity and paved roads.

"We wanted progress, and that's still what we want," he said.

With membership mostly among urban intellectuals, Parcham aimed to moderate the influence of Islam on daily life.

"It was written in our party rules that we must respect Islam," Mr. Olomi said. "The fundamentalists wanted more. They wanted us to obey Islam. At the time, like now, to be labelled a non-Muslim was very dangerous."

Parchamis helped stage a coup in 1973, only to be overthrown by a more radical Communist group, People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, in 1978. Mr. Olomi was lucky; the PDPA only threw him in jail, while executing many.

He was freed during the Soviet invasion, and his Communist credentials earned him plum jobs in the occupation administration. He served as military and civilian governor of Afghanistan's southern regions from 1987 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Despite the constant fighting against the U.S.-backed mujahedeen, Mr. Olomi describes those years as a time of progress. Women were given jobs as construction workers, bus conductors, factory labourers. Some even became government ministers and military generals, he said.

Not everybody remembers the occupation so fondly. Hakim, 45, who like many Afghans has only one name, said the Russians destroyed his house, and forced him to flee to Pakistan as a refugee. He was planning to visit his ruined house this week for the first time in 20 years, and thinking about moving back to the country now that it's more peaceful.

"They [Communists] will only come back and cause problems again," Hakim said.

Like many of the Communist leaders, Mr. Olomi was driven into exile in the early 1990s. Two of his brothers were killed by the mujahedeen. But when he returned from the Netherlands in 2001, the party he formed included former mujahedeen. Mr. Olomi also included about 25 per cent women at the senior level, along with representation from Afghanistan's minority Hindu community.

"Brothers kill brothers; we have no unity in Afghanistan," Mr. Olomi said. "If we have unity, we will have law, democracy, and peace."

Election official arrested in Badakhshan
(Arman-e-Milli) Police have arrested an official of the Joint Electoral Management Body, JEMB, in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, on charges of possessing 16 of the cards issued to election observers. Reports said Shah Agha was arrested on the evening of election day, September 18, while allegedly carrying observer IDs from the JEMB office in Faizabad to a vote-counting centre. The cards belonged to observers representing a number of political parties.

(Arman-e-Milli is an independent daily run by a group of journalists.)

via Afghan Press Monitor (No 159, 21 Sep 05) - published by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Zoo's confines slightly friendlier
By Kim Barker / Chicago Tribune / September 22, 2005
The man picked up a rock and threw it at the monkey cage in the zoo. "Stand aside," he yelled, before grabbing four more stones and chucking them at the monkeys.

Nearby, workers set up a new climbing frame on the monkey island and put up higher fences to protect the animals. But visitors crowded into the one spot that had not yet been fenced and tossed rocks and garbage inside.

"Most people do that," said Bahruddin, 21, a fortuneteller who like many Afghans uses only one name. "I throw stones because I want to have fun."

These are the two faces of the Kabul Zoo, made famous by the plight of its one-eyed lion and other animals after the fall of the Taliban. Since then there have been many positive changes--new animals, new fences, more veterinary help, more workers and less filth. The two new lions look healthy. The birds now have perches to sit on instead of concrete floors.

A sign reads: "Dear citizens. Animals are the creation of God. While you're watching, do not bother them."

But problems remain. People throw rocks, cigarettes and trash, primarily at the monkeys and bears. In the past year, six pigs have died. A bear died after swallowing plastic bags thrown into its cage. A gazelle died. The bear's mate broke out of her cage in July.

In many ways, the Kabul Zoo is a microcosm of all that has happened in Afghanistan since the Taliban fled in late 2001. The world's attention has turned elsewhere. Violence still is ingrained in people. Large amounts of money have been donated, and large amounts have been spent. But change is slow.

"If we're serious about this place, we've got to be in for the long haul," said veterinarian David Sherman, the country program director for the relief agency Dutch Committee for Afghanistan, who also has helped set up veterinary services at the zoo. "Things are not going to change overnight."

Tiger pelts, flamingo kabobs

The zoo had more than 700 animals 20 years ago, but that number dwindled during the country's wars. Fighters killed the two tigers for their pelts. They made kabobs out of a flamingo and a crane. One day they wanted to see how many bullets it would take to kill the elephant. The answer: 40.

People stole the wooden fences from the zebra enclosure to feed fires. The zoo museum and restaurant were rocketed, along with other buildings. Animals died of starvation. Marjan the lion was largely blinded in a grenade attack.

By the time the Taliban fled, all that remained were a few vultures, owls, wolves, a bear and Marjan. The bear and Marjan later died.

The North Carolina Zoo spearheaded international help for the Kabul Zoo, collecting about $400,000 from 6,000 donors, mainly in the U.S., said David Jones, director of the zoo in Asheboro, N.C.

The London Zoo and other animal-welfare groups sent experts to Kabul. Some said the zoo had received more than enough money to rebuild.

But it was not so. A major complication was the decision of the Chinese government in 2002 to donate animals against the wishes of the international zoo community. The Afghans agreed, though, and took two lions, two bears, two pigs, two deer and one wolf. The pigs mated, giving birth to five more.

The first Chinese bear died a year ago, after swallowing a plastic bag filled with banana peels and a man's shoe heel, said Abdullatif Shahnouri, the deputy zoo director.

In January, three of the Chinese pigs died. A fourth died three weeks later, and Sherman sent samples to the U.S. Army that tested positive for rabies. Experts believe stray dogs bit the pigs. The Army later provided rabies vaccines for all the zoo animals.

Other animals died, including a gazelle that Sherman initially treated successfully. The gazelle most likely suffered from a systemic infection, but Kabul has no equipment to make such a diagnosis. It does not even have scales to weigh the animals, let alone modern medicines.

In April, South African zoologist Brendan Whittington-Jones arrived in Kabul as a contractor for the North Carolina Zoo.

His first reaction: "Oh my God." He was amazed at how dirty the zoo was, and at how busy it was--up to 5,000 people visit on Fridays, the weekend holiday here.

`It's gotten so much better'

Since then, the zoo has become cleaner, fences have been set up and painted, and some animals have nicer cages. But in July, the second Chinese bear broke out of her cage and killed two of the three remaining Chinese pigs.

Whittington-Jones, out of the country at the time, said this episode actually showed the zoo had improved; zookeepers surrounded the bear with torches and forced it back into a cage.

"I would've thought that the bear would have just got shot," he said.

Only $50,000 remains from the money from North Carolina.

Experts agree that $50,000 is not enough to fix everything at the zoo. Much more needs to be done. And some zoo officials are talking about expanding and even getting more animals. It's not clear where more money will come from.

But still, the zoo is one of the few places in Kabul where people go for fun. On a recent afternoon, a family laid out a picnic on a blanket near the lovebirds. Three sisters ran through the zoo, with smiles and no head scarves. A 6-year-old boy saw a lion for the first time.

"It's gotten so much better here," said Safiullah, 30, a baker who visits weekly. "And really, we don't have any place else to go."

Afghan Army garrison opens in Herat
September 22, 2005 Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs)
By U.S. Army Sgt. Mason T. Lowery Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan Public Affairs
HERAT , Afghanistan — Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak cut the ribbon of the new Afghan National Army garrison in Herat recently, opening its doors for use by the ANA’s 207th Corps.

“Though this is the third ANA garrison to open, today is especially significant because this is the first garrison outside of Kabul to be opened,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. John Brennan, chief of the Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan, during the opening ceremony “This event is even more significant because, of the 11 garrisons (being) built outside of Kabul, this garrison was the last to be started but today we celebrate it as the first permanent corps headquarters to open.”

Wardak spoke to the assembled ANA soldiers about their role in Afghanistan ’s unity and how they are a truly national army, representing all of their country’s ethnic tribes.

“You might be from different provinces speaking different languages, but you’re one nation and you represent one Afghanistan . You all have one goal and objective, which is strengthening of the national unity.

“When you are trapped in a mine field, none of your family members or your relatives will be there to help you. The one who will help you is your (Tajik, Pashtun, Uzbek, Turkman or Hazara) friend. Friends in battle are closer than real brothers.”

The garrison cost $66.8 million to build, employed approximately 1,000 Afghan construction workers, and took 13 months from contract to ribbon cutting. The garrison was constructed by local Afghans working for Contrak International, a civilian construction contractor, under the management and supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It will be home to the headquarters of the ANA’s 207th Zafar (Victory) Corps and its 1st Brigade. Also located on the compound will be the garrison headquarters and five kandaks (battalions) from the 1st Brigade.

The construction of ANA garrisons provide power projection platforms that allow ANA soldiers from Afghanistan’s five regions to defend their entire country, explained U.S. Army Col. Christopher J. Toomey, commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers- Afghanistan, highlighting the garrison’s contributions to Afghanistan’s defense and stability.

“I think the garrisons are a great step in the right direction. An army needs a power projection platform,” he said. “This is also a recruiting tool – these garrisons have better living conditions than many Afghans have at home. It’s bringing them up in life.”

Afghans don’t travel to different parts of their country as much as people from nations with better infrastructures do in their countries. Building the garrison in Herat localizes the ANA for Herat residents, Toomey explained. “It also infused the local economy with money. We employed locals – it’s good for the community.”

The Afghan workers got more than jobs while they worked on the garrison. “They learned trades while working in Herat . Jobs with our contractors are higher paying and more secure (than many other jobs in Afghanistan ),” Toomey said. The Afghan construction workers’ jobs didn’t end with the ribbon cutting; during construction they were also trained to maintain the facility.

Building the garrison consisted of mine clearing, topographic surveys, demolition and grading, building a waste water treatment facility and sanitary sewer collection system, as well as the design and construction of new buildings. The new buildings include a main dining facility; corps, brigade and garrison headquarters complexes; five kandak complexes; parking areas and maintenance facilities.

With the completion of the Herat Garrison, the engineers, construction companies and Afghan workers will next focus their efforts on completing brigade garrison complexes for the ANA’s 209th and 203rd Corps in Mazar-e-Sharif and Gardez.

Kyrgyzstan: US forces can stay -- if they pay more
By Olga Dzyubenko / Wed Sep 21, 9:57 AM ET
KANT AIRBASE, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Wednesday U.S. forces could stay in the former Soviet state until nearby Afghanistan was "totally stable," but they would have to pay more rent.

U.S. troops moved into Central Asia, traditionally a Russian sphere of influence, when they started the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2001, establishing air bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan for the war in Afghanistan.

Bakiyev said Kyrgyzstan was in talks with Washington on raising charges for its use of Manas International Airport.

"The Kyrgyz economy is weak and we need to look at the (payment) conditions," he said after a tour of a Russian airbase. He said he had raised the issue with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a visit in July.

Kyrgyz officials have said the country's economy receives around $50 million annually from hosting the U.S. base, including money spent by American soldiers.

But Washington's military faces growing pressure in the region. In July, Russia, China and four of the region's ex-Soviet states -- including Kyrgyzstan -- demanded a deadline for the Pentagon to pull out its troops.

Uzbekistan has given U.S. forces a six-month eviction notice after Washington criticized Tashkent over the bloody suppression of a rebellion in the eastern town of Andizhan.

"When the (U.S.) military leaves depends on the situation in Afghanistan," Bakiyev said. "The sooner the situation there is totally stable, the sooner the question of their (U.S.) military pulling out from here will be raised."

He said the situation was "stabilizing" in Afghanistan and had changed for the better since Washington was first offered the use of Manas. He did not say when he expected to discuss a U.S. pullout.

Russia's Kant air base, set up near Manas after U.S. troops arrived and seen as a symbolic gesture by some Western diplomats, is officially tasked with supporting a security pact between the former Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who toured Kant with Bakiyev, said Moscow wanted to keep the base for the long term.

"I want to assure you that Russia sees the air base in Kant as a long-term project and we plan more investment in developing the airport and the whole adjoining complex where the servicemen live," Ivanov said.

"We do not need 1,000 men here, it's about quality," he said. "This airbase provides air support of the Rapid Reaction Forces for the whole of the Collective Security Pact right up to the Afghan border."

(Writing by Michael Steen in Almaty)

Afghan cricket team arrive in Pakistan
Fri Sep 23, 1:09 AM ET
KARACHI (AFP) - A cricket team from Afghanistan, where the sport was once banned by the hardline Taliban regime, arrived in Pakistan for a week-long tour ahead of the Asian Cricket Council trophy.

The 15-member squad's visit to neighbouring Pakistan is the third since 2002 and comes amid a minor cricket revival in the war-torn country, captain Khaliqdad Noori told AFP on Friday.

"Cricket is progressing well in Afghanistan and we hope that in the coming years we will have a very strong team," said Noori, whose brother Allahdad was the first captain of the team and now heads the Afghanistan Cricket Foundation.

"We are here to get prepared for the ACC Trophy next year and hope Pakistan will continue its support for Afghan cricket," Noori told AFP.

During the tour the Afghan team will play against first class teams like Pakistan International Airlines, Dewan Motors and the Pakistan Cricket Board Academy.

Afghanistan featured in the ACC Trophy in Malaysia last year when they won one out of three matches.

Cricket was banned under Afghanistan's hardline Taliban government, but has slowly made a comeback since the toppling of the regime by US-led forces in 2001.

There are now more than 3,500 registered cricketers in Afghanistan and league based events are played in 16 provinces.

"President Hamid Karzai takes a keen interest in cricket and has promised funds and other help for the team which are so much needed for the promotion," said Noori.

Cricket-mad Pakistan has been at the forefront of efforts to help Afghanistan develop a cricket infrastructure, providing them with equipment and allowing them to participate in events.

Afghanistan's cricket team played five one-day games in Pakistan two years ago and featured in Pakistan's first class season in 2002 and 2003.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the governing body of cricket, gave affliated membership to Afghanistan in 2002 and a year later it earned recognition from the ACC.

ACC development manager Iqbal Sikander toured Afghanistan in August 2003 and pledged all out support for Afghan cricket.

The ACC has plans to invite Aghanistan's under-15, under-17, under-19 and senior teams to its events over the next five years, with tour expenses paid by the council.

Aija Demands Security for Journalists in Afghanistan
Friday September 23, 9:04 AM
KABUL, Sept 23 Asia Pulse - Afghanistan Independent Journalists Associations (AIJA) has expressed concern over the harassment and kidnapping of journalists in the country.
Speaking at a news conference AIJA president Rahimullah Samandar said reporters were faced with security problems across the country.

Referring to the kidnap and release of Ezatulla Zawab, editor of Meena magazine in Nangarhar and two other journalists Taqi Siraj and Abdul Baseer Seerat in Kunar, Samandar said these incidents can not be singled out.

Other speakers also condemned the kidnapping of journalists and demanded of the government to take concrete measures in providing security to media men who are performing the sacred job of informing and educating society.

(Pajhwok Afghan News)

USTDA grant supports cement production in Afghanistan
Source: Government of the United States of America 21 Sep 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - (September 21, 2005)Support for reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan is the goal of a U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) grant awarded today to the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Industries. The $1,200,000 grant will be used to partially fund a study that will facilitate the development of the cement industry in Afghanistan.

"Cement is one of the building blocks of the Afghan reconstruction effort, and this cement study, which will look at the rehabilitation of existing plants, as well as the establishment of a new plant, has the potential to make a significant contribution to those reconstruction efforts," said USTDA Director Thelma J. Askey at a signing ceremony held today at USTDA’s office in Arlington, Virginia.

"This USTDA grant will provide the Afghan government with the information needed to promote growth in the cement sector, revitalizing it and creating employment opportunities and hope for the Afghan people," added His Excellency Dip. Engineer Mir. M. Sediq, Minister of Mines and Industries.

USTDA Director Askey and Minister Sediq signed the grant agreement on behalf of the U.S. and Afghan governments, respectively. Ms. Mariam Nawabi, Commercial and Trade Counsel at the Embassy of Afghanistan in the United States, and Mr. Daniel Stein, USTDA Regional Director for Europe and Eurasia, signed as witnesses to the grant agreement.

The Ministry of Mines and Industries has selected Box International Consulting, L.P. of Richardson, Texas to conduct the study. The company’s President, Mr. Tom Box, was present at today’s grant signing ceremony. In addition to the USTDA grant awarded today, Box International Consulting, L.P. will contribute additional resources toward the completion of the study.

Afghanistan’s capacity to produce cement is severely limited by a lack of production facilities. In fact, the country has the lowest cement production per capita in the world. Reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan would greatly benefit from an expansion of locally produced construction materials, such as cement. To support the development of Afghanistan’s production capacity in the cement industry, the USTDA-funded study will include an assessment of existing and half-built cement plants in Afghanistan, an analysis of plans to construct a new cement plant in Afghanistan, and the results of a cement market study.

Since 2002, USTDA has provided more than $9 million in funding to support reconstruction and development activities in Afghanistan. These activities include a wide range of sectors, including telecommunications, oil and gas, civil aviation, human capacity building, power and hotels.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle-income countries. The agency funds various forms of technical assistance, feasibility studies, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment. USTDA’s strategic use of foreign assistance funds to support sound investment policy and decision-making in host countries creates an enabling environment for trade, investment and sustainable economic development. In carrying out its mission, USTDA gives emphasis to economic sectors that may benefit from U.S. exports of goods and services.