Afghanistan News September 25, 2005

September 25, 2005

First results trickle in from Afghanistan's landmark election
KABUL (AFP) - Nearly a fifth of the ballots cast in Afghanistan's first parliamentary election for three decades have been counted, with the final results expected late next month, the election chief said.

The results already tallied made up 19 percent of ballots cast in the September 18 elections, said Joint Election Monitoring Board head Peter Erben on Sunday.

The more than 5,700 people who stood in the elections were barred from running under the banners of the country's nearly 80 political parties, making it difficult to identify a trend from the early results announced Sunday.

The candidates stood for 249 seats in the national assembly and for places on 34 provincial councils.

Erben said the vote count was on track and would be completed next week. There would be a two-week complaints period before the final results were released on October 22, he told reporters.

"We do need to prepare ourselves for the fact that more than 5,000 candidates will lose this election and that we'll have many accusations from the ones who lost," he said.

Asked about complaints that had already been lodged with the commission, Erben said several "suspect" ballot boxes had been put aside for investigation.

"They only represent a couple of percent of the votes," he said, adding he was confident "that these elections will comply with UN election standards."

Election officials said there had been some evidence of ballot boxes being stuffed with votes.

Erben said the election body, run by Afghan and UN officials, had also slightly raised its estimate for the turnout of the poll to 54 percent, or 6.8 million voters, after analysing nearly all the voting records.

Of this 43 percent were women, he said. Afghanistan sets great store by the number of women who voted after the hardline Taliban regime, toppled in late 2001, forced women out of public life.

The turnout was well below the 67 percent for the October 2004 presidential election that put Hamid Karzai into office. But the poll was another key step in a process to bring democracy that was adopted in December 2001.

Some of the parliamentary candidates are former commanders during the country's quarter-century of war, or affiliated to these warlords or to prominent politicians. Most of them are largely unknown.

Political observers say the future parliament will be dominated by two blocks -- the former commanders and representatives of Karzai's dominant Pashtun ethnic group -- with a minority of independents and communists squeezing in.

Karzai grieved by killing of 5 US servicemen in crash
Pajhwok Report
KABUL, September 25: President Hamid Karzai has voiced profound grief over the killing of five crew members in a US military helicopter crash in the insurgency-torn Zabul province.

A presidential spokesman said in a press statement on Sunday Karzai, on his own behalf and on behalf of the Afghan nation, sympathized with relatives of the five US servicemen killed in the crash that took place in Deh Chopan district of the southern province.

Five Americans die in Afghan helicopter crash
By David Brunnstrom
KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. military helicopter crashed during an anti-militant operation in Afghanistan on Sunday killing all five American crew members, just days after President Hamid Karzai questioned the need for military operations.

The crash of the CH-47 Chinook in the southern province of Zabul came after a series of clashes between U.S.-led forces and Taliban insurgents following September 18 legislative elections that the guerrillas failed in their vow to derail.

U.S. military spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts said the helicopter crashed in Zabul's Dai Chophan district while returning to base after dropping off troops during an anti-militant operation.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed the guerrillas shot down the helicopter using "modern weapons" he did not describe, but Yonts said all indications were that hostile fire was not to blame.

"Five crew members on board were killed," Yonts said.

He said that while militant forces were in the area of the operation, the aircraft, part of a flight of helicopters involved in the mission, came down in a rugged, remote area where there was no civilian population.

"Indications are from crew members' ... reports that there was no hostile file that caused this crash," he said, adding that a mechanical problem may have been to blame.

In the past six months, 56 foreign soldiers have died in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, 39 of them Americans aboard Chinooks.

The United States leads a multinational force of about 20,000 troops pursuing Taliban and allied militants in the country.

BLOODIEST YEAR
Until Sunday, at least 49 U.S. troops had died this year in hostile fire, making it the bloodiest for U.S. forces since they overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 for refusing to give up al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

In June, an MH-47 -- a special forces version of the CH-47 -- was shot down during an anti-guerrilla mission in the eastern province of Kunar, killing all U.S. 16 troops on board.

In another incident early on Sunday, two guerrillas were killed and two wounded trying to plant a roadside bomb in Helmand province, provincial spokesman Haji Mohammad Wali said.

On Friday, the U.S. military said it had killed at least 10 insurgents in fighting in the central province of Uruzgan in which ground troops were backed by attack helicopters.

News of those air strikes came just days after Karzai called for a change in strategy in the war against insurgents, saying he did not think there was a big need for military action, and questioning the use of U.S. air power.

U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Peter Rodman responded to Karzai's remarks on Thursday by saying Washington still saw the need for military action but agreed with him on air strikes.

Despite a surge of violence this year in which more than 1,000 people, most of them insurgents, have died, about 6.8 million of 12 million registered voters took part in last week's national assembly and provincial council elections.

The turnout was down on last year's presidential vote that endorsed Karzai's U.S.-backed rule.

Election authorities said they had counted about a fifth of votes. Provisional results are expected by the first week of October and final, official results by October 22.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Robert Birsel)

Afghanistan has brief chance to turn opium from heroin to medicine
September 25, 2005
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan only has a small window of opportunity to divert its billion-dollar production of opium away from heroin and towards the manufacture of legal painkillers, the head of a drugs think-tank says.

But the fragile country needs to act fast, with drugs cartels poised to take root, Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Paris-based The Senlis Council, told AFP on Sunday.

"I think there is one window of opportunity and this window will be closed in a year or so," he said.

The group will on Monday present the findings of a study into legalising Afghanistan's opium production and using it to make medicine at a conference in Kabul expected to draw government and farmers' representatives among other groups.

Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of opium, producing 87 percent of the world's supply used to make most of the heroin on Europe's streets.

The product, harvested from poppies, is also the war-shattered nation's main source of income, accounting for between 40 and 60 percent of its gross domestic product.

Both the United States and the UN have warned the country is in danger of becoming a narco-state unless it stems its opium production.

But eradication programmes funded by international donors have only made a slight dent in output which has dropped by an estimated two percent over the past year.

With Afghanistan vulnerable as it tries to rebuild after decades of war, the country is ripe for the emergence of drug cartels that would entrench the dependence on opium, Reinert said.

"It's why we are doing this with a sense of urgency. If this market is getting organised, if you have some kind of merger and acquisition going on in the provinces with some major players, it will be very, very difficult to overcome that later on."

There was still time to change this course by legalising opium production and channeling it towards the world's unmet and growing need for painkillers, he said.

Reinert admitted however that the Afghanistan government was cautious. This was because it did not want to alienate the international donors on which the country relies, with Britain yet to endorse the idea, he said.

In March Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali ruled out the possibility of legalising Afghan opium production saying it would be to difficult because the sector was a key component of a murky underworld.

"The money which is being made from drugs finances crime, terrorism, and also using this money some groups form private militia," he said.

Reinert said there had however been an "evolution in attitude".

"There is an incredible shortage of morphine and coedine in a number of countries, including neigbouring countries, and so you have a huge possibility and I think a number of countries are starting to see that," he said.

According to the International Narcotics Control Board, six of the world's richest countries consume 80 percent of the world's morphine and coedine, which are also made from opium, while 80 percent of the world has access to only six percent.

"There is obviously an incredibly large amount of unmet need for painkillers, for treatment of cancer, HIV/ AIDS treatment," Reinert said.

"Millions of people in Latin America, in Africa, in Russia, in China are dying in pain because they don't have access to these medicines and because the system is overregulated right now."

He warned that the policy of eradicating poppy fields, on which farmers survive, would be at the expense of Afghanistan's search for democracy and peace after 25 years of conflict and under the harsh rule of the fundamentalist Taliban regime ousted in late 2001.

"It would eat right at the nexus of the building of this nation and farmers, if they see planes spraying their fields, they will go back to the Taliban, to the local commanders.

"The effect will be exactly the contrary to what everybody wants to see here," he said.

UK fails to stop Afghan heroin
By Severin Carrell The Independent (UK) 25 September 2005
Heroin from Afghanistan will flow into Britain for at least another 10 years despite a multi-million-pound effort to combat the trade, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Senior Western officials in Kabul have admitted for the first time that they are resigned to Afghanistan being a major source of heroin for at least a decade because the country's crippled economy is so dependent on the industry.

"There's no magic bullet," one senior Whitehall official said. "It's a long-term campaign over many years."

The war-torn country is the world's largest source of heroin, producing 85 per cent of the global supply, with a value estimated at $2bn (£1.1bn).

The UK was given the task of leading the global campaign to eradicate opium three years ago - chiefly because 95 per cent of the heroin used in Britain is from Afghanistan.

But progress in stopping poppy cultivation has been slower than expected, leading to intense criticism from US drugs enforcers.

In the four years since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, Afghanistan has produced more heroin than ever before.Earlier this month, the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, conceded it had been far harder to combat the trade than expected. He said the UK will spend another £115m on its Afghan drugs campaign over the next three years, taking the total to £270m.

Last night Mike Trace, the Government's former deputy drugs tsar and now director of the Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme, said: "It worries me this position isn't being discussed with the profession and the public. If we want to get to grips with the drugs problem, we need a more open debate."

Afghanistan: U.S. national security adviser praises elections, urges acceptance of results
16:44 2005-09-25 Pravda, Russia
The U.S. national security adviser on Sunday praised Afghanistan's landmark legislative elections as a "remarkable success story" and urged all candidates to accept the results peacefully.

On a visit to Afghanistan a week after its first parliamentary elections in more than three decades, Stephen J. Hadley also said the vote would show other countries in the region _ which includes several authoritarian governments _ that "democracy and freedom are possible today."

Standing next to the chairman of the U.N.-Afghan body that conducted the elections, Hadley said he had received a report on the vote and called it a "remarkable success story," saying Afghans voted in "impressive numbers" and the organizers tackled serious challenges.

U.S. and other Western officials hope the elections will help Afghanistan move toward stability after a quarter-century of war. But there is concern that its legacy of violence could persist as a parliament and local councils are formed following the announcement of results.

The voting was the last formal step on a path to democracy laid out after the ouster of the Taliban by U.S.-led forces in 2001, when the hardline Islamic group's leaders refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin laden after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.

Hadley was upbeat about the estimated turnout of 6.8 million, or about 55 percent, though it was a significant drop from the 70 percent for U.S.-backed Hamid Karzai's election as president last October, AP reports.

Afghanistan is a neighbor of Pakistan, U.S. foe Iran and countries in Central Asia that have authoritarian governments _ including Uzbekistan, whose leadership has been at odds with Washington over human rights and democracy after a bloody crackdown on protesters in May.

Four policemen wounded in Nangarhar car explosion
Pajhwok Report
JALALABAD, September 25: Four policemen were wounded when their car exploded in Chaparhar district of the eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday, witnesses and officials said.

Munir Ahmad, a resident of Dagai village of the district, where the incident happened, told Pajhwok Afghan News by phone the border police patrolling the area was blown up by a landmine.

Col. Ibrarullah, deputy head of the Nangarhar Border Brigade, confirmed the blast. He said the injured included two police officers and as many constables, who were shifted to Nangarhar hospital.

Famine claims 15 lives in Badakhshan
FAIZABAD, September 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): At least 14 children and a woman reportedly died as a famine is spreading in remote villages in the Zibak district of the northeastern Badakhshan province.

Residents and officials said 15 deaths have so far been registered in the Sang Leech village over the past one week. These people, mostly children, died of starvation.

Dr Momin Jalali, director of the public health department, told Pajhwok Afghan News many people in the remote villages were eating grass and shrubs due to non-availability of food which caused the deaths.

Explaining the reasons, she said remoteness of the areas, heavy rains that washed away the farmland and standing crops and excessive snowfall last year led to acute shortages of food.

Highlighting the measures to avoid large-scale deaths, she said the provincial government had dispatched two tons of medicine and biscuits along with three medical teams to the affected areas. Besides, the World Food Programme (WFP) will also send 45 tons of foodstuffs including wheat, cooking oil, biscuits in a day or two.

Expressing concern over the shortage of food in the area, an official of the WFP in Badakhshan, Dr Said Nasir Mazari said they were trying their level best to avert the gory situation.

Regional director of rural and rehabilitation department Engr Pir Mohammad said as the roads leading to the famine-hit area remained closed due to heavy snow, residents collect food items in advance. But this time, the heavy rains shattered their plans by washing away the standing crops and farmland.

Describing the remoteness of the Sang Leech village, he said it took the residents three days to reach the provincial capital from the Zibak district.
With no modern means of transportation and a difficult journey through rough hilly areas, Sang Leech village, inhabited by more than 240 families, is located some 185 kilometres northeast of Faizabad.

Bomb destroys US military vehicle in former Taliban stronghold
KABUL, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- A roadside bomb attack Friday night destroyed one US military vehicle in southern Kandahar province, the former stronghold of Taliban, local officials said Saturday.

"A US army vehicle hit a landmine 30 km away form Kandahar city and was destroyed," Abdul Hakim Angar, a senior police official, told Xinhua. But Angar did not reveal if there were any casualties. No US military officials were available to comment on the issue.

Kandahar and the neighboring provinces of Uruzgan, Zabul and Helmand, the hotbed of Taliban, have been the scene of spiraling insurgency over the past several months.

Ten suspected Taliban and one Afghan soldier, according to US military, have been killed and three American troopers were wounded since last Thursday in the volatile region mentioned above.

Five Nigerian nationals held with fake US currency
Pajhwok Report
KABUL, September 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Five Nigerian nationals have been arrested with 1300,000 fake dollar notes in Kabul, security officials said on Sunday.

Spokesman for Interior Ministry Dad Mohammad Rasa told Pajhwok Afghan News in an exclusive chat the three foreigners were held on Kabul Airport Road while two others were arrested in Shahr-e-Naw.

The three had entered Afghanistan with legal business documents, he said, adding the detainees were being probed. However, he won't give further details.

Meeting on Afghanistan's rebuilding tomorrow
PESHAWAR, September 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A meeting on reviewing the progress made in Afghanistan under the Karzai-led administration in the wake of the historic Bonn Agreement will be held in NWFP's capital city on Monday.

The September 18 parliamentary elections to a 249-seat Wolesi Jirga (lower house) and 34 provincial councils in the strife-torn country marked the culmination of the accord signed in Germany after the Taliban regime's ouster in 2001.

Ahmad Saeedi, a senior official at the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday the meeting would confer on the headway achieved by the incumbent rulers and major reconstruction projects executed so far.

Saeedi said Afghanistan's deputy education minister Sadiq Patman, deputy water and power minister Eng. Mohammad Amin Munsef and senior officials of foreign and commerce ministries had been invited to the event being organised by the consulate.

Speakers would brief the participants on the rebuilding effort and the measures taken for the promotion of trade and agriculture in Afghanistan, said Saeedi, who added some of the invitees had already reached Peshawar while the rest would arrive tomorrow.

Confirming the meeting, a Peshawar-based official of the Foreign Office, Nadeem, told this news agency the Pakistan government had given the Afghan Consulate the go-ahead for arranging the session.

Australia's defense minister in Kabul to discuss troop deployment
KABUL, Afghanistan - (AP) Australia's defense minister held talks in the Afghan capital on Saturday to discuss the proposed deployment of some 200 Australian troops to the war-battered country next year.

Australia already has about 190 troops in Afghanistan on a one-year assignment as part of a U.S.-led coalition. They arrived earlier this month, ahead of landmark legislative elections on Sept. 18.

After meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said a decision would be made in November on whether Australia will send another 200 troops early next year to help in reconstruction projects.

"We have quite a substantial aid program now," Hill told reporters. "Apart from the military aspect, (we) want to continue to assist Afghanistan in building its economic base, in expanding its education opportunities, improving health care, reconstruction of infrastructure."

Wardak said it had been agreed that Australia would play a role in the training of Afghanistan's new national army. Australia sent 150 troops to back the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in late 2001. But by late 2002, Australia had withdrawn all of its troops except for a single soldier who remained to clear land mines.

200 Australian troops to aid Afghan rebuilding bid
Pajhwok Report
KABUL, September 24: Australia has promised to deploy another 200 soldiers to Afghanistan next year to set up a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in the war-torn country, where a number of civil-military bodies are already active in different regions.

An announcement to the effect came at a news conference jointly addressed by visiting Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill and his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak here on Saturday.

Hill said the PRT would be established in a province after consultations with the Afghan government and other teams of the kind engaged in the ongoing reconstruction effort. A final decision in this regard will be taken after talks.
Wardak told journalists Australia had agreed to support the training of Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers. He added Australia was desirous of greater links with the Afghan government.

Endorsing Wardak's view, Hill observed: "Besides military cooperation, we want to continue helping Afghanistan in building its economic base, expanding its education opportunities, improving health care and reconstruction of infrastructure."

It will be pertinent to recall that Australia contributed 150 troops to the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in late 2001. By late 2002, however, it pulled out all its troops, leaving just one soldier tasked with clearing land mines.

The visiting minister, who arrived here on Friday to meet Australian troops stationed in Afghanistan, is believed to have held meetings with high-ranking Afghan officials. "We have quite a substantial aid programme now."

SAS claims success in Afghan attack
The Age (Australia) By Paul McGeough Kabul September 25, 2005 - 12:42AM
AUSTRALIAN forces in Afghanistan have emerged virtually unscathed from their first combat missions, claiming they had inflicted heavy losses on anti-Kabul forces who attacked them twice last week.

An unnamed Australian soldier received a "superficial" wound. But all returned to base safely, reporting they had killed at least 10 and possibly "significantly more" of the enemy.

Breaking from a round of meetings in Kabul yesterday, Defence Minister Robert Hill gave sketchy details of two encounters by joint patrols of the Australian SAS and the Afghan National Army in an undisclosed part of the country.

"In the last few days there were two significant engagements," he said. "I understand it was the same group each time - I think it was on Monday that our patrols first came under rocket fire from some distance off.

"Days later they were proceeding up the same valley when they were ambushed - the attackers were armed with small weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars."

US helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft were called in to provide support for the Australian-Afghan fighters during a fire fight that lasted "some hours", Senator Hill said. "Our people were able to withdraw and join up with other ground forces."

Asked about information received by The Sunday Age that the Australians had killed 10 of the Afghan fighters, Senator Hill said: "I've heard that it was significantly more than that."

Australia has consistently refused to reveal where the new 190-strong deployment to Afghanistan is fighting. Earlier this month The Age quoted international security sources in Afghanistan describing their turf as the "tiger country" of Uruzgan province, in the lower central region of the country.

The Australian who was wounded - "superficially", according to Senator Hill - did not need a medical evacuation and has already returned to full duties.

High on the minister's agenda in Kabul are plans for Australia to deploy a further 200 soldiers early next year to form a provincial reconstruction team (PRT).

These teams perform a blend of security and humanitarian work aimed at stabilising provincial Afghanistan as the new Government attempts to extend its shaky authority beyond Kabul.

His public comments here suggested that the Australian focus was more on a joint venture with another country in the US-led coalition than on a solo project.

After meeting in Kabul with his Afghan counterpart, Abdul Rahim Wardak, Senator Hill spoke of Australia's preparedness to "support" a PRT, telling reporters: "We're looking at options (of) where best to locate and who we might partner." It was only in response to questions that he raised the possibility of an exclusively Australia PRT, saying: "We are not decided."

However, he said that of the foreign-run PRT operations, Mr Wardak had singled out the success of the New Zealand operation in the central highlands, "despite its lower profile".

"He was very impressed with the relationships the Kiwis are building with the local community and the NGOs in the region," Senator Hill said.

"We've been talking to the Canadians and the Dutch, the Germans and the British and I hope to take a submission to Cabinet in December."

Patrolling with U.S. Marines builds Afghan troops' skills
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Sunday, September 25, 2005
ALINGAR, Afghanistan — U.S. Marines and Afghan National Army troops had just finished meeting Thursday afternoon with local police officials in the eastern Afghanistan town of Alingar and were getting ready to continue their combined patrol through Laghman province.

Then, toward the rear of the several-vehicle convoy where an impromptu roadside checkpoint had been set up, Afghan soldiers found bomb-making equipment during a vehicle search.

Upon further inspection, Marines uncovered more material — some of it hidden under vegetables. In all, the troops found dozens of detonators, a large spool of wire and related electrical equipment.

The men in the vehicle were searched and questioned. Marines took their pictures and wrote down their names.

The man who claimed to own the items said he was going to use them for demolition work, blowing up rocks in a nearby province. When asked through a translator why the items were hidden under vegetables, the man hesitated and could not provide a clear answer.

The detonators, wire spool and related items were seized. Marines told the man — who did not appear upset that the items were taken — that if he had paperwork from his company proving that the equipment was for rock demolition, he could reclaim it at Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam.

This was just one incident during a roughly 32-hour combined patrol of Afghan National Army troops and U.S. Marines of Company F of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division out of Hawaii.

Earlier that day, with Afghan troops leading the way, Marines hiked to the hillside village of Salaw to meet with village elders. They wanted to check out reports that a polling station was attacked in the area during the Sept. 18 Afghan parliament and provincial council elections.

They did not encounter any enemy forces at the village. And at the end of the visit, a medic provided a village elder with a handful of pills to help with his arthritic knees and hips.

The aim of such patrols is to get the Afghan Army used to visiting towns in preparation for the day when U.S. forces are no longer in Afghanistan.

“We’re just trying to let the Afghan National Army do as much as possible,” said Marines 1st Lt. Carl Gregory, Company F executive officer. “We let the Afghan National Army lead, and we’re here for support.”

The troops camped Thursday night on a hillside overlooking an Alingar district village. Early the next morning, they were back on the bumpy, dusty roads patrolling the district. During the drive throughout the Laghman province, Afghan children and adults waved to the convoy and gave troops the “thumbs up” sign.

After meeting with more village elders Friday afternoon, the Afghan troops and Marines made it back to Mehtar Lam. No one was injured during the mission.

Following their return to the base, 2nd Lt. Stewart Geise, commander of Company F’s 1st platoon, said he was pleased with the way things had gone.

“We’re working well with the Afghan National Army,” Geise said. “Good job.”

And with that, the dust-covered Marines broke from their semicircle, removed trash from their vehicles and began awaiting their next mission.

Building an Afghan Army and Learning a Lesson in Patience
By ERIC SCHMITT The New York Times September 25, 2005
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - American and international efforts to train Afghanistan's security forces began in 2002, about a year before a similar program for Iraqi soldiers and police officers. Yet the Afghan model seems to have lagged behind the troubled Iraqi program.

The reasons - like having to rebuild the Afghan Army from scratch and differing allied priorities related to developing a national Afghan police corps - say much about the very different circumstances each program has confronted, as well as how American trainers in both countries are trying to learn from one another's mistakes and successes, senior Army commanders said.

Training Iraqi security forces to replace American troops is the linchpin for the Bush administration's exit strategy for Iraq. Shoring up Afghanistan's fledgling security forces to prepare them to conduct counterinsurgency operations on their own has far-reaching implications for security here, too, particularly in many provinces and villages that still face violence from Taliban fighters.

By September, the Afghan Army had grown to about 26,000 troops and the Afghan police force to more than 50,000. In contrast, the Iraqi Army and special police forces have 87,300 troops, and the Iraqi police force has about 104,300 officers.

Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, the top American commander in Afghanistan, defended the approach American and allied forces had used to develop the Afghan forces, saying trainers have had to overcome the lack of a professional army for the past 13 years, a 20 percent literacy rate among recruits, no barracks or modern equipment with which to start, and other hurdles.

"When you're trying to put the pieces back together again, you need a lot of time and a lot of patience," General Eikenberry said, noting that Afghan Army forces now operate in all regions of the country.

American commanders with experience in both Afghanistan and Iraq note that Iraq has a much higher literacy rate, more of a tradition of professional soldiering and vastly better infrastructure. On the other hand, they say, the effort here is carried out in a much less lethal environment and with people who are grateful for whatever aid they receive.

But senior American officers acknowledged in recent interviews here that the development of both the army and national police forces had stumbled at times.

Worries about persistent problems with logistics and other support for Afghan Army units in the field recently prompted General Eikenberry to slow the creation of new battalions, from about two a month to one. "One of the main vulnerabilities of the Afghan national army is their logistics system," said Maj. Gen. Jason K. Kamiya, the American commander of daily tactical operations here.

Other American advisers say the Afghans are making slow but steady progress. "They are fearless on the soldiering side, and they learn very quickly," said Col. Ron Welch, a Connecticut National Guard officer who is the senior American adviser to the Afghan Army in this region.

But Colonel Welch, a 27-year Army veteran from Waterford, Conn., said that it "would be a while" before the Afghan Army forces could operate without American assistance. "They don't have the ability to do close-air support, artillery support or med-evac flights," he said.

Here in Nangahar Province, just a few miles from the Pakistan border, that is an assessment with which even a senior Afghan Army commander in this region, Brigadier General Aminullah, who uses only one name, agrees. "We could not control a situation without Marine forces," he said. "We haven't gotten all the training we need."

A move to set up what American advisers call "partnering" between Afghan and United States units to encourage on-the-job training - a strategy commanders in Iraq have employed for two years - is just now starting here. The first joint operation between an American battalion and an Afghan one took place in early September in the northeastern province of Konar.

"This question of partnering is something we've now aggressively adopted," General Eikenberry said, "but perhaps we could have moved on that piece a little bit earlier."

But another program to have American military trainers live with and work alongside Afghan soldiers is more developed here than a similar one in Iraq. About 650 American military advisers now live and train with Afghan Army units. About three times that number of advisers are in Iraqi units, but the program did not become widespread in Iraq until a retired four-star Army general recommended it earlier this year to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Of greater concern to the Americans are the police forces, which suffer shortages of vehicles, radios and even basic weapons. Until early September, many police recruits were training with wooden rifles. "It's more or less a hollow force," said Maj. Gen. John T. Brennan of the Air Force, who oversees the police development effort. He said that the United States would spend $860 million this year to train and equip the police but that it would not be until late 2009 that the force was fully trained.

Under an international division of responsibility after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government, Germany has taken the lead in training the police but has mainly focused on churning out lieutenants and senior sergeants. Frustrated by the lack of progress in developing beat officers, the Pentagon stepped in this summer to expand the effort by adding a mentoring program using about 135 foreign civilian law enforcement veterans, and developing senior Afghan trainers.

Over all, the United States has spent more than $2.5 billion in the past two years on training, equipping and paying Afghan security forces.

American commanders say the training program is still a work in progress. Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who recently stepped down as the top American trainer in Iraq, spent five days in Afghanistan in early September, preparing a confidential critique of the Afghan train-and-equip program for commanders here and Mr. Rumsfeld.

General Petraeus was repaying a favor of sorts; early last year, General Eikenberry made an assessment of the Iraqi forces that General Petraeus used as a rough blueprint.

Afghan arrested in Bannu for suspected Taliban links
Sunday, September 25, 2005 Daily Times
PESHAWAR: Police and intelligence agents arrested a 35-year-old Afghan for suspected Taliban links, an official said on Saturday.

The man identified as Hamidullah Khan was blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed location after he was picked up late on Friday from his home in Dhirmakhel, a village on the outskirts of Bannu city, an intelligence official said on the condition of anonymity.

Khan was wanted for links to the Taliban, the official said, without giving further details.

Destruction plan in Miranshah foiled: The political administration has foiled the plan of various miscreants to destroy the Miranshah-Datakhel by-pass, by defusing several remote control rocket launchers.

Security men on duty informed the political administration about the remote control rocket launchers, which were later diffused by bomb disposal units. The locals held foreign elements responsible for the plan.

FC check post in Zhoab rocketed: Unidentified men fired two rockets at a Frontier Constabulary (FC) check post near the city on Saturday, but no casualties or damages were reported. Assailants fired two rockets at Nasir FC check post near the Qamrau Din Qariz area, and fled after FC men retaliated. agencies

Turkmenistan, Afghanistan to improve joint control of borders
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - (AP) Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on Thursday agreed to improve joint control of their shared border, which stretches across a major route for drug smugglers.

A document signed by both sides also reaffirmed that the two countries have no territorial claims against each other, Turmenistan's Foreign Ministry said. The accord came at the end of two days of talks in the Turkmen capital.

Turkmenistan, an isolated, gas-rich Central Asian nation ruled by autocratic President Saparmurat Niyazov, shares 860 kilometers (535 miles) of border with Afghanistan.

Afghanistan remains the world's largest opium producer, and Central Asia is one of the main smuggling routes for illegal Afghan drugs. That transit is taking an increasing toll on the region through rising addiction and diseases transmitted by needle-sharing.

Narcotics, weapons caches unearthed in Kunduz
KUNDUZ CITY, September 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Police in the northern Kunduz province said they had seized 37 kilograms of heroin and a weapon cache in two separate operations over the past two days.

Provincial police chief Colonel Matlab Baig told Pajhwok Afghan News the heroin was recovered from a basement of a residential house in Chardara district. Case had been registered against the owner of the house.

In another raid in Khanabad district, police unearthed a weapon cache including 185 mortar and artillery bullets. The ammunition was dumped in a garden. No arrest had been made, said the police chief.

Another police official Colonel Abdulllah Zmarai said they were informed by a farmer about the presence of the arms stock in the area. He said the grower came to know about it while ploughing his farm.

He said the arms had been handed over the Hello Trust to be defused at a safer place.

Rohullah Arman

Mulla Rocketi takes lead in Zabul as candidates protest
KANDAHAR CITY, September 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A former Taliban stalwart and candidate for the Wolesi Jirga Mulla Abdul Salam Rocketi is leading the vote in the southern Zabul province.

A source privy to the vote count revealed Rocketi was ahead of his rival as 90 per cent of the counting had been done. The source added the former corps commander had grabbed some 3,000 votes, followed by Dr Ghulam Dastagir with 2,300 ballots cast in his favour.

However, regional official of the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) Qudratullah described the information a mere speculation. He said nothing could be disclosed till the final vote was counted.

"The count is on and we hope the process will culminate at the end of the day," said Qudratullah, who refrain from divulging any information regarding the fresh figures.

Meanwhile, a number of candidates for the Wolesi Jirga and the provincial council have expressed doubts about the counting process. They visited the Kandahar City to register their grumbles with the election staff.

The aggrieved aspirants warned of blocking the Kabul-Kandahar highway on Monday if their complaints were not addressed by the authorities concerned.

A parliament for Afghanistan
The Washington Times, Editorial 09/23/2005
The Afghan people defied threats of violence once again on Sunday to exercise their right to vote for parliamentarians and members of provincial councils. The elections were a triumph over remaining insurgents, the country's rough landscape and a history of despotism -- demonstrating how democracy can unfold in a traditional Muslim society.

Early U.N. reports indicate that the turnout was about 50 percent of registered voters, or 6 million people. A sizeable number of women cast ballots, but significantly lower than the 70 percent that participated in the October 2004 presidential election -- perhaps suggesting that this time around Afghans were more interested in the prospect of an election than in the cast of candidates. Twenty percent of the seats in the lower house were reserved for women, but in one-third of the provinces, there were not enough women candidates to meet that quota.

Despite threats by insurgents, violence surrounding the election was not out of the ordinary for Afghanistan. Suspected Taliban militants in the south and east killed about 14 people. A French peacekeeper was killed by a land mine while conducting a security operation on the eve of the vote. Seven parliamentary candidates and six election workers were killed in violence during the two-month campaign before the Sunday election.

Afghan officials said it will take more than a month to collect and count all the ballots, some of which are transported by donkey from districts with have no connecting roads. Preliminary results might be available by Oct. 5, and final results are expected around Oct. 22.

The vote marked a good start to Afghanistan's evolving democracy. While there were some reported irregularities in the election and some alleged human-rights abusers were among the candidates, the election reflects the country's still stratified and tribal society. As the country's economy and institutions develop, new individuals will challenge current power structures and potentially offer Afghans more attractive political choices. Importantly, the vote demonstrated that a significant number of people want a stake in their country's political future, and clearly believe a democratic system is in keeping with their Muslim faith.

While elections for mayors and district, village and municipal councils have yet to be held, Sunday's elections marked the successful fulfillment of the Bonn Agreement, under which donor countries laid out a framework for Afghanistan's transition to democracy. The international community should now reward Afghans' perseverance with a new donor conference.

An Election Not to Be Ignored
The National Review 9/23/2005 By James S. Robbins
Democracy took another important step forward earlier this week, though you might not have heard about it through the hurricane coverage and the Supreme Court hearings. Afghanistan held its first legitimate parliamentary election since 1969. About six and a half million people, 53 percent of the electorate, turned out to vote for candidates for the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga (People's Council, the lower house of the national assembly, the equivalent of our House of Representatives) and for 34 provincial councils. The election came off with comparatively little violence — 19 attacks leaving nine dead, including the first French soldier to die in the country.

Given the size of the country and the low-tech voting system, the results will not be known for several weeks. It is difficult to make predictions because political parties were banned and all 5,800 candidates ran as individuals. There were some reports of irregularities, but a six-member European Union observer team said that the election was free, fair, and transparent. The best news was the women's vote: 44 percent of registered voters were women, and turnout was high even in former centers of Taliban influence such as Khandahar. 582 female candidates competed for the 68 Wolesi Jirga seats that have been reserved for women.

Naturally, the hard-core oppositionists opposed the election. The Taliban, who vowed not to mount attacks on election day in order to spare innocent lives, nevertheless said the election was not lawful, and any laws passed by the assembly would be illegitimate. They threatened all the elected representatives with violence, and said even losing candidates "would not be safe from [their] bullets." Al Qaeda's number two man Ayman al Zawahiri released a tape calling the election a "fraud," and making similar threats.

However, not all the radicals agreed. This election was noteworthy for the participation of many former Taliban, under the conditions of a general amnesty President Hamid Karzai announced last spring, part of a general national reconciliation program. The amnesty extended even to Mullah Omar, who as one might expect rejected it. Since then Karzai has denied he even made the offer, and the United States still has a $10 million bounty on Omar's head.

The purpose of the amnesty was to bring more Pushtuns — the traditional Taliban base — into the political process, and to divide the opposition. The plan has been effective, but it has also demonstrated that one must develop a tolerance for ambiguity in democratic politics in the developing world. Some people running for office were until recently prime candidates for a vacation at Gitmo. Take for example, Abdul Salam, a.k.a. Commander Rocketi, so named for his skill with the RPG-7 rocket launcher. He used to command Taliban forces in Jalalabad, was in custody for eight months, and now says he wants to bring unity and peace to his country.

More troubling is the candidacy of Maulavi Qalamudin, former head of the Taliban's religious police. Qalamudin's ministry enforced the lifestyle strictures of the Taliban utopia, and he oversaw the systematic application of intimidation, torture, stonings, and other atrocities against Afghans who did not show sufficient ardor in pursuit of the regime's religious ideals. President Karzai released Qalamudin from prison in 2004, and the former Taliban minister is now a strong presidential supporter. He has even reconciled himself to the presence of Coalition forces in the county, saying that they are the only means of staving off civil war.

The Taliban still in the field are not sanguine about their former comrades "selling out" to the regime, which is of course the point of the program. The diehards will never reconcile with the system, they will fight it to the end. But if you ban everyone from the former regime from participating in the political process, those who might make peace are forced into the ranks of the irreconcilables. We have seen similar reconciliation processes in post-Junta Argentina, and post-Apartheid South Africa, where retribution was discarded in favor of compromise and stability. We saw it at home as well — many U.S. politicians from the south in the late 19th century had borne arms against the federal government in their youth.

Perhaps there are limits when dealing with people like Qalamudin, who still points with pride to some of the actions he took as the Taliban's chief inquisitioner. However, allowing him to run was a choice made by the legitimately constituted authority in the country, and something we will have to live with. I hope few voters in Longar Province wanted a return to Qalamudin's "tough love" approach and he will remain a private citizen. I think the Afghan people have outgrown the stage where they want to get stoned.

— James S. Robbins is senior fellow in national-security affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council, a trustee for the Leaders for Liberty Foundation, and an NRO contributor.

Armed Forces 'beacon of hope', Hillier says
Top general argues country needs to expand operations abroad - Patrick Dare The Ottawa Citizen, September 23, 2005
Gen. Rick Hillier made a spirited argument for continued and even expanded Canadian military operations abroad last night, to an audience at Carleton University that included anti-military protesters.

The chief of the Canadian Forces told a packed Alumni Theatre that Canada is viewed around the world as an extremely affluent, politically sophisticated country, with a strong rule of law, that can easily give "leadership in a rudderless world." He said international leaders expect Canada to be able to provide large contingents of soldiers for peacekeeping efforts in the world's hotspots, and they are surprised when Canada has only a small contingent, of perhaps 2,000 soldiers, to send abroad.

When Canada does send a military force abroad, it does an immense amount of good, not just in regaining security in the streets but in establishing social and economic stability. He said there's no use providing military presence in a country like Afghanistan if the warring youths of the country have 15 years of fighting experience, but no prospects for a job or a future.
He said the task for the Canadian Forces has changed abroad, and that they must sometimes be involved in getting police forces established, assembling a national army, laying the foundations for economic development and even establishing governments.

He said in countries that have been torn apart by civil war, such as the former Yugoslavia, the vast majority of residents appreciate the Forces and want them to stay so that they can start to consider things like rebuilding their houses, helping children and starting to bring war criminals to account. "We're there to help people. We're not there to occupy," said Gen. Hillier. "We become a beacon of hope. We become a light."

An anti-war group called the Student Coalition Against War protested the lecture and members of the group took to the microphones after his talk to argue with the general. Graduate student Lincoln Addison said he was disappointed the university invited Gen. Hillier, though he felt the general should be able to speak in the interests of open university debate. Mr. Addison would have preferred a roundtable discussion that included peace activists.

The protesters accused the Canadian military of being part of the American world "imperialist" military machine. One asked the general if he would resign. Gen. Hillier walked to the microphone and simply said "No," prompting a loud and prolonged round of applause from the audience.

When another protester accused the Canadian Forces of being involved in an unrepresentative Afghan election, Gen. Hillier shot back that he witnessed Afghan citizens walk eight hours to register as voters and that 12 million people voted, 80 per cent of the adult male population.

Gen. Hillier, who recently toured parts of the Southern U.S. that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, said Canadians don't realize how massive the effect of that storm was, and he compared it to the effect of a nuclear bomb. "The greatest weapon of mass destruction is mother nature," he said.

Gen. Hillier vowed the Canadian Forces will have a streamlined domestic command structure so that if a huge natural calamity happens here, the military will be capable of responding quickly.

Digital telephone facility extended to Ghor
CHEGHCHERAN, September 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghan government has extended the facility of digital telephone to the western Ghor province where people were benefiting from satellite sets to communicate with other parts of the country.

Director of communication department Abdul Qayum told Pajhwok Afghan News 26 connections had been given to government departments while one would be used by the public.

He said under the present scheme, about 5,000 digital telephone connections would be provided to people in Cheghcheran. This would provide them an opportunity of easy and cheaper service.

The exchange, having 042 code number, has been attached to satellite system. Presently two private companies are providing services to people across the country.

Nisar Ahmad, a resident of the city said they were faced with problems in contacting their relatives in other parts of the country and abroad. "But this would solve our problems up to a large extent."

Many other residents demanded of the government to extend the Roshan and AWCC's service to the area.

Fawad Ahmadi

Afghanistan's future perfect
Asia Times 09/23/2005 By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KABUL - As Afghanistan waits for the results of its parliamentary elections to be announced early next month, people can only speculate on the composition of the new chamber.

The low turnout (about 50%) in last weekend's polls has led many to suggest that the Afghan masses don't believe that anything will change for the good in the country, while others debate the merits of the return of a strong Islamic movement in the corridors of power.

There is even talk that people with a similar ideology to that of the radical Taliban, whom the US drove from power in 2001, could come back to haunt Washington.

This led Asia Times Online to Ahmed Shah Ahmed Zai, a former acting premier before the Taliban came to power in 1996 and who was a candidate in the recent elections. He has wide influence in Kabul and southern Afghanistan.

Ahmed Shah is an engineer who graduated from Kabul University and did his masters at Colorado University in the US. He was among the pioneers of the Islamic movement in Afghanistan that emerged from Kabul's campuses in the mid-1960s when Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmed Shah Masoud, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Professor Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf were together under one umbrella.

All of these people went on to play important roles in the country, firstly as mujahideen in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and then as political leaders in the chaotic period between the withdrawal of the Soviets and the ascendency of the Taliban.

Ahmed Shah, who had allied with Masoud's Northern Alliance against the Taliban, went into exile in Turkey when they took power in Kabul. After the collapse of the Taliban he returned to his country, and last year formed his own party.

Asia Times Online: Do you believe the Taliban were a part of an Islamic movement?

Ahmed Shah: Nobody can deny that they were Muslim, therefore nobody could oust them from the Islamic circle. The only difference was in their approach, which was merely a misinterpretation of Islam.

ATol: When the US invaded Afghanistan, Islamic movements from all over the world supported the Taliban.

AS: True. But it happened because nobody knew what they were actually all about. Everybody in the outside world thought that they applied Islamic laws. However, they make a mockery of Islamic teachings. For example, growing a beard is Islamic. But nobody can penalize somebody if he refuses to grow a beard. I know that in many instances they killed people only because they refused to grow a beard. Penalizing women was another thing. They victimized them in the name of Islam. In the name of adultery, they killed a lot of women.

ATol: But is this not Islam?

AS: No, it is not. You must understand that a number of witnesses are required to penalize somebody. There is also a question of how fair the witnesses are. Without that applying, such penalties are victimization. At the same time, they cut off hands for stealing. But they ignored the examples of Omar Farooq [the second righteous Muslim caliph] that he waived that law during times of starvation, saying that if a ruler could not provide food to his subjects, he did not have the right to cut off hands on stealing.

The process of Islamization is a long process which needs a lot of motivation so that people adopt the ideology rather than they are forced to embrace it. Moreover, they [Taliban] imposed things which were fictitious. There is no precedence that wearing a turban is an Islamic tradition. They made it an Islamic identity.

ATol: Was the ouster of the Taliban from government a jolt to the cause of Islam in Afghanistan?

AS: Of course it was. The first thing is that we are under occupation.

ATol: Do you think that the presence of peace troops is an occupation?

AS: Yes it is. Though generally the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] people are good, excluding US forces, they are coercive and forcing Afghans against their will.

ATol: Do you think that the reemergence of an Islamic movement and a movement for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan is possible in the near future?

AS: The process is already started, with the mujahideen set to win 90% of the parliamentary elections. This is a major milestone in the reemergence of an Islamic movement in Afghanistan. Now the next target is to bring all Islamic factions together to bring about an Islamic revolution in society. There is no other system which would be workable in Afghanistan. Those who tried to implement communism or a secular system met with fierce resistance, as our 25-year national struggle is a witness.

ATol: What is your opinion of the "war on terror"?

AS: It is a crusade against Muslims and Islam and all those who are against Muslims banded together in this war.

ATol: What about Osama bin Laden?

AS: As far as I know him he was a good Muslim and a mujahid. However, I never had interaction once he settled in Sudan.

ATol: What program do you have for a stable Afghanistan?

AS: To bring all Afghans together, including Gulbuddin and [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar.

ATol: Have you taken any initiative for this?

AS: I do not have any authority for that. However, currently we are under negotiations with various mujahideen groups to form a single line of action in the future parliament so that we can get rid of the foreign occupation.

ATol: Do you think that Mullah Omar or Hekmatyar [also involved in the Taliban-led resistance] will agree to join the present Afghan government?

AS: I cannot speak for Mullah Omar, but as far as Hekmatyar is concerned, he is a power-hungry man, and once [President Hamid] Karzai asks him to come over to Kabul, he will give up whatever he is doing right now.

ATol: Is there any chance of an armed struggle against the foreign presence in Afghanistan emerging from the ranks of the former mujahideen?

AS: To get rid of the foreign presence, first we Afghans should come together. Even if foreign forces leave Afghanistan, it would be a mess all over again. Once we are united, foreign forces will leave Afghanistan automatically because there will be a majority opinion, and that is why they want us to remain divided. You know, it was nobody else but we mujahideen who were responsible for the emergence of Taliban. We fought so badly with each other for power that despite being a prime minister, I said to then-president Rabbani that it was better for the Taliban to grab power. As far as armed struggle is concerned, I don't agree with that. However, gradually the situation will be ripe for a public reaction against the foreign presence, and the low turnout in the election was a clear message that the public is not satisfied with the helm [government] in Afghanistan.

ATol: Are the Taliban still strong in south and southeastern Afghanistan, and if so, why?

AS: The south and southeast are historically religious areas, and that is why the Taliban are strong there.

ATol: You mean people there approve of the Taliban's version of Islam?

AS: Yes, overwhelmingly. Had there been anyone else with such support, they would never have lost power. But a lack of political wisdom and acumen has left them where they are standing now.

150 Warlord, Taliban Candidates
Tehran Influence – NewsBlaze 09/22/2005 By Willard Payne
KABUL - The warlords of Afghanistan will be well represented as a result of the country's election on Sunday that seemed to indicate growing disillusionment among a large part of the population.

Among the 150 warlords who used the election to retain their influence included some who were implicated in the civil war of the early 1990's that devastated so much of the country: Islamic fundamentalist Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Hazara warlord Mohammad Mohaqiq and important leaders of the Jamiat-Islami faction, among them Younis Qanooni. Other warlords used women to stand in for them as proxies.

When the Taliban were first overthrown in November 2001 the news mentioned that Iran may have found some of them useful. In the meantime Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai realizes that although Washington installed him as President, without Tehran's support he would have no future except perhaps in exile.

Among the Taliban leaders Tehran has found useful and had Karzai urge to run: Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, former Foreign Minister for the Taliban, and Maulavi Qalamuddin who was head of the Department for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, that was noted for abusing men and women for breaches of the Taliban's primitive Islamic codes.

While Karzai claims, "It's opening a new life, a new avenue to the Afghan nation to participate…" In reality it is Tehran that has opened up a new way of luring more NATO units into the country, especially its south and south-east, by increasing its military support of Islamic groups who are attacking the 30,000 Allied troops.

Tehran's Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar realizes that the more the West is forced to commit to Afghanistan the less he will have to face on other fronts. He is continuing Iran's and the Jihad's preparation to engage the West on several fronts simultaneously to eliminate any chance of a coordinated attack on Iran by the West.

In Afghanistan, as in Iraq, Washington-London are protecting a government controlled by their enemy. As mentioned recently, resistance fighters in Afghanistan are learning lessons from the successful attacks conducted against the occupation in Iraq.

To further solidify relations between the two capitals, Tehran-Kabul, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met his Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abdullah during the UN General Assembly meeting. He stated the purpose of increasing joint projects and emphasized the need for continued promotion of commercial and economic relations between the two countries.
Kabul realizes that when the foreign occupation is called elsewhere, due to other international crisis Iran is going to create, the rest of Afghanistan will be eligible to receive the same amount of investment Tehran has been making in and around Herat, western Afghanistan and close to Iran's border. Tehran's massive economic presence has stabilized that area.

Afghan youngest female candidate strives for youth rights
HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) by Xu Qun -- "Although facing challenges from the male candidates and traditional idea, I will not feel regret of running for the parliament member," Qaida Afif,a 26-year-old girl, told Xinhua Thursday in her home in Afghan western province of Herat.

As the youngest female candidate in her hometown and the country, her posters and slogan "choose the right person, choose the good life"in the city as well as her experience and motive tostand for election have attracted many people.

"I have the intention to run for the election. I am an independent candidate, and my emphasis is on the rights and prosperity of the youth as I have seen many cases showing that the young boys and girls always remain weak in decision-making no matter on their study, marriage or family affairs,"the short but confident girl said.

After finishing the 12th grade three years ago, Qaida opened a beauty shop. Her family is very liberal which gave her freedom to decide on her future. Although there is no government official in her family, her father encouraged her to run for the parliament, and all her family members also supported her both mentally and financially.

"I have one sister and one brother who are living abroad. Both of them and my father gave me some money for campaigning," Qaida said with a smile of happiness on her face.

During the one-month campaign period, she often went to villages to call for support. "The villagers welcomed me very warmly and many young boys and girls were in particular interested in my speech and expressed their support to me," she said.

In a conservative Muslim country, a young girl faces unimaginable difficulties to run for the parliament. "My posters on the wall were always removed by other persons, and we have to keep sticking more to let more people know me. Besides, when I delivered the speech in a vehicle driving around the city, many people even pointed at me and said it's a shame that a girl not stays at home but does this kind of things in the street," she said.

"Usually the candidates make their campaign in some mosques where women are forbidden. But I got the permission to enter and deliver the speech because of the identity of being a candidate. So besides mosques, I have to go to some other public places to make more women know my idea," she added.

The most important thing for the country is to achieve the utter unity and solidarity, she said, adding "I will do my best to develop education of Afghanistan if I can be elected, since education is one of the basic and most important elements for the development of the country."

There are 104 observers in Qaida's province, most of them volunteers, to help oversee a fair process of the election. Qaida is very confident about winning the election, "I am 95 percent confident about winning the election. I think many young voters will vote for me because I am on their behalf," she said.