Afghanistan News September 27, 2005

September 27, 2005

Afghan interior minister submits resignation
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan's Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali submitted his resignation to President Hamid Karzai, a government spokesman said, after reports of rifts between the pair.

Jalali, who would become the first minister to quit Karzai's cabinet, had stepped down because he wanted to start an academic career in the United States, said presidential spokesman Khaliq Ahmad.

"I can confirm he intends to resign," the spokesman said on Tuesday. "It was a purely personal decision because of his interest to pursue an academic career in the United States."

Karzai has yet to say if he would accept the resignation.

Another government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the minister wanted to quit due to disagreements with Karzai over the appointment of provincial officials.

Afghan Official Predicts Long Terror Fight
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer Mon Sep 26, 3:44 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah says the fight against terrorism in his country will go on for years.

Emerging with U.S. and international help from Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, Afghanistan is laying the foundation for a democratic state, Abdullah said Monday, citing legislative elections this month and 5 million boys and girls being schooled.

Five years ago, he said, women in Afghanistan were beaten up on the streets of Kabul, the capital, and humiliated.

Every household was under surveillance by the religious police of Taliban, Abdullah said.

Still, the problems confronting Afghanistan are enormous, Abdullah said at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In choosing priorities, "we do not know where to start. The problems are so grave," he said.

Attacks by Taliban and the al-Qaida network are rising, and narcotics traffic is a serious problem, he said.

Abdullah called for sustained international support.

A renewed Taliban insurgency has led to the deaths of about 1,300 people in the last six months, many of them rebels killed in fighting with coalition troops and the fledgling Afghan security forces.

Nearly 200 U.S. military members have been killed in and around Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001.

This year alone, 79 died during an upsurge in violence.

Pakistan seizes six Stinger missiles near Afghan border
Tue Sep 27, 2:19 AM ET
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani paramilitary forces seized six US-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in a raid on a house near the Afghan border, a top paramilitary commander said.

"Pakistani paramilitary forces have recovered six Stinger missiles in one of the biggest weapons hauls," Major General Tariq Masood told reporters at a briefing on Monday.

"It is no doubt the biggest catch outside South and North Waziristan agencies," Masood said.

Pakistan has deployed thousands of troops into the tribal areas near the Afghan border to hunt Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who crossed the border after the hardline Islamic regime fell in late 2001.

The cache comprising 437 missiles, anti-aircraft guns, mortar shells and landmines was recovered when troops mounted a raid on the house of local tribesman Taj Mohmmad in Mohamand district's Khazina Ziarat village, he said.

The troops had surrounded the area late Sunday night and on Monday morning they asked the occupants of the house to surrender who gave no resistance and came out, he said.

Mohammad was arrested and investigators were grilling him about why he had such an arsenal in his home, which faces eastern Afghanistan, Masood said.

"All weapons that we have recovered are useable," he said.

The United States supplied a large number of shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to Mujahedin fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

The CIA has offered 150,000 to 200,000 dollars for each remaining missile in Afghanistan, an Afghan intelligence official has said.

Dutch prosecutor demands sentences of up to 12 years in Afghan torture case
Mon Sep 26, 4:09 PM ET
THE HAGUE (AFP) - Dutch prosecutors demanded sentences of 12 and 9 years in prison for the former head of the Afghan military intelligence services and his head of interrogations respectively for war crimes and torture committed in Afghanistan the 1980s.

Heshamuddin Hesam, 57, is charged with violations of the laws and customs of war, allowing a subordinate to violate the laws and customs of war and in his position of government employee allowing another person to torture.

Hesam was the head of Afghan military intelligence from 1983 to 1991. He later became secretary of state attached to the security ministry before being sent to Moscow as a military attache.

According to the prosecutors, Hesam personally shot at one prisoner causing him grievous bodily harm and ordered subordinates to torture prisoners to get confessions.

This was done by forcibly keeping people awake for days on end, electric shock treatment to fingers, toes, tongue and genitals, beatings and forcing people to stand outside in the cold, prosecutors said.

"During the communist regime in Afghanistan Hesam played a leading role ... He could decide about arrests, detentions, transfers and who would be tortured and how," prosecutor Thea Polescuk said.

"Because of his important position and because he could have used his influence to stop the torture we ask that Hesam be convicted to a 12-year-sentence," she added.

Hesam's former subordinate Habibullah Jalalzoy, 59, has been charged with violating the laws and customs of war by torturing, commiting physical violence and cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners at the detention unit of the military intelligence service. Prosecutors have asked for a 9-year-sentence for him.

Jalalzoy was the head of the interrogations unit within the military intelligence under the communist regime from 1979 to 1992.

Human rights groups say more than 200,000 people were tortured by the Afghan secret service during that period and about 50,000 of them died.

The men, who both tried to get political asylum in the Netherlands in the 1990s, can be charged in the Netherlands because the Dutch high court ruled that the Netherlands has universal jurisdiction to try suspects of war crimes committed in other countries as long as they reside in the Netherlands.

Both men have consistently denied the charges against them.

Although the sentencing demands are steep, the prosecutors said this was a difficult case for them to bring to trial because it deals with events that happened decades ago and in a foreign country.

They have presented several witnesses who tell first hand of being tortured by Hesam and Jalalzoy but other then the victim's accounts, often not backed up by eyewitnesses, there is very little direct evidence in this case.

Prosecutors said that the influence of the suspects in the Afghan community in the Netherlands is still significant and said that several witnesses and court translators had been intimidated by friends and relatives of the suspects.

On Wednesday and next Monday the defence will have a change to present its closing arguments. A ruling is expected in three weeks.

Two US soldiers killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan
KABUL (AFP) - Two US soldiers were killed in separate attacks in insurgency-hit provinces in     Afghanistan, the US military said, as violence continues to plague the country following key parliamentary elections.

The deaths on Monday bring the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year to 83, more than 50 of them in hostile fire. This year has been the worst for US fatalities since American forces arrived in late 2001.

One soldier was killed when "enemy forces" opened fire on US and Afghan troops taking part in a ground assault in the southeastern province of Kandahar, the US military said Tuesday.

Another soldier was wounded and in stable condition in Kandahar hospital, it said in a statement.

"The unit returned fire, killing two enemy and wounding a third," the statement said.

In another attack Monday a US Marine was killed when an American base near the eastern city of Asadabad, capital of Kunar province, came under attack, it said.

"Coalition forces responded with mortar fire and coalition close air support aircraft. Battle damage assessment is ongoing," it said.

Kandahar and Kunar are hotbeds of an insurgency that began after the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban government was toppled from power in late 2001 with the help of US forces.

A US-led coalition of about 20,000 troops has been based in the country since then.

The United States launched its operation against the Taliban after the hardliners refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader     Osama bin Laden for the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

Afghanistan has been trying to install a democratic system since then. The latest step was parliamentary elections on September 18 that were the first in the war-scarred country since 1969.

The Taliban had warned it would disrupt the vote and attack voters on polling day, but the election passed off without major violence. Nine people including a French soldier were killed around voting day.

Experts have warned however that attacks could increase when the results of the election are finalised and it becomes clear which of the 5,700 candidates -- many of them Taliban loyalists or warlords with private militias -- have failed to win a seat in the new national assembly or 34 provincial councils.

The results are expected next month.

US National Security Advisor     Stephen Hadley on Monday defended an Afghan government amnesty offer to leading members of the Taliban regime but said those who were guilty of war crimes would be held accountable.

Around 1,300 people have been killed in attacks in Afghanistan this year, many of them Taliban-linked militants.

On Sunday five US soldiers were killed when a military Chinook helicopter crashed in Zabul province. The central province is caught up in the insurgency but the US military said there were no signs it was shot down.

In June suspected Taliban militants shot down a Chinook in Kunar, killing all 16 servicemen on board.

New guns, new drive for Taliban
By Scott Baldauf and Ashraf Khan The Christian Science Monitor September 26, 2005
KHOST, AFGHANISTAN; AND CHAMAN, PAKISTAN - An internal debate within the Taliban - whether to launch increasingly aggressive attacks against the US-led coalition or to allow the insurgency to bleed the Afghan government over time - has been settled this year, according to a rebel commander and Afghan security officials.

In the most violent year of their insurgency to date, the Taliban have gone on the offensive, launching more pitched battles in an effort to persuade the international community and Afghans that this remains very much a nation at war, says Mullah Gul Mohammad, a front-line commander for Jaish-e Muslimeen, a recently reconciled Taliban splinter group.

"For the past many days we [the Taliban and the Jaish] have been fighting together against our common enemies," says Mullah Mohammad, who says he traveled from Afghanistan to Chaman, Pakistan, for an interview. The insurgents are flush with new weapons - including surface-to-air missiles - and cash, he says, and are pausing only to see if the US military decides to draw down forces following the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections. "If they stay, we would launch our attacks anew."

In the four years since the fall of the Taliban government, there have been many moments when it appeared that the Taliban insurgency had breathed its last breath. But this year was different. The Taliban have launched a series of attacks that has raised this year's death toll - 1,200 civilians and military personnel so far - to a wartime high. Their attacks show increasing sophistication, US and Afghan officials say, and a UN report now warns that the Taliban may be receiving tactical training from jihadists returning from Iraq.

With an apparently revitalized Taliban insurgency, the American military and its NATO allies must now decide whether their strategy needs retooling, and American diplomats could have increasing difficulty convincing NATO allies to take over leadership of the Afghan counterinsurgency campaign. It could be a hard sell, indeed. Even US military commanders say it is too soon to count the Taliban out.

"I'm not ready to sign up to the fact that Taliban are crumbling," said Gen. Jason Kamiya, operational commander for the US-led Combined Forces Command, at a recent press conference at Bagram Airbase. "There still will be an enemy insurgency next spring."

Maybe only 800 Taliban

At first glance, the Taliban appear to be a weak force. US military estimates suggest there may be only 800 Taliban fighters left, many of them holding out in villages along the Afghan-Pakistan border, and in rugged mountainous regions of south and central Afghanistan. One clear sign of Taliban weakness was seen on election day, where no significant incidents of violence disrupted voting, despite a call for a boycott by Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi.

Yet, US and Afghan intelligence sources suggest that the Taliban have shown recent signs of confidence - or desperation. Roadside bombings have increased 40 percent this year over last year, according to a report by the UN. These bombings have become increasingly effective, using "shaped" explosives used by Iraqi militants against US forces there, set off by sophisticated remote-control devices.

Perhaps more important, the Taliban are sticking around to fight US forces after they detonate roadside bombs, using heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and Kalashnikovs to pin down US troops and increase casualties.

When they are captured, the Taliban often carry high-tech radio equipment, and are even wearing new sneakers, all signs that the insurgents have found new financial support.

"They are updating their technology," says Gov. Mirajuddin Pathan, governor of Khost Province, which shares a 110-mile border with Pakistan's tumultuous Waziristan district. "They have new remote-control devices, new explosives. They never stay quiet. But now, we have better intelligence of what they are planning."

Just last week, national intelligence police swept through the dormitories of Khost University and arrested eight people. The leader appears to have been a third-year engineering student from Afghanistan's central Wardak Province. He and the other suspects were captured with 200 pounds of explosives and two sophisticated remote-control systems.

The simplest of the two was designed to set off one land mine in an urban area to attract a crowd. Once a sufficient crowd had gathered, and police officers had arrived to investigate, a second larger explosion would detonate, inflicting a heavy death toll.

"This has become rather ordinary technique," says a senior officer for the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's intelligence agency, based in Khost.

He picks up a black box of circuit boards, wires, and a battery. "The technique is very old, it belongs to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar," he says, referring to the commander of Hizb-e Islami, a radical Islamist party that fought against the Soviets. "The technology is new, from Japan and China. The training is Al Qaeda."

Pakistan, which many Afghan officials believe is continuing to support the Taliban movement, says that it has killed 353 militants in its border tribal areas since March 2004. Some 175 of these militants have been foreigners such as Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens, Chechens, and a few Arabs.

This month, Pakistani authorities also announced a major haul of explosives and weaponry after an early September raid of a madrassah near the Waziristan town of Miranshah. The madrassah, run by a relative of Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, had become a storage depot for weapons. Twenty-one suspects, 11 of them foreigners, were arrested.

Among the items found at the madrassah was a small battery-operated remote-control plane with a wide-angle camera lens, apparently used to track US military troop movements inside Afghanistan.

US military commanders admit that 2005 has been the bloodiest year yet in the Afghan campaign - with 82 US military fatalities this year. But they insist that the higher death toll comes from a more aggressive US strategy to take the war to the enemy.

Taliban commanders and their allies say that it is their own strategy that has changed, and they boast that they now have the finances, equipment, and motivation to fight on for years, or even decades.

"Both the Taliban and Jaish have weapons and arsenal which were being piled up in the past several decades; we have enough for centuries to come," says Gul Mohammad, one of a few top commanders for Jaish-e Muslimeen. He is on Pakistan's most wanted list.

Newly acquired stingers

Mohammad says the Jaish, with help from Hizb-e Islami, have recently uncovered a large cache of old weapons, including American shoulder-fired rockets that are capable of shooting down US military planes and helicopters.

In 2002, US forces found an old cache of 30 such rockets as part of a wider effort to collect any US-made Stinger missiles leftover from the anti-Soviet jihad. Over 2,000 Stingers were sent to Afghanistan via Pakistan in the 1980s, and the weapons proved extremely effective against Soviet airpower. As of early this year, no US aircraft has been shot down by a Stinger.

"We have found a new depot of weapons in Afghanistan and we can now strike down American aircraft and helicopters," Gul Mohammad declared enthusiastically. A US Chinook helicopter crashed Sunday in southern Afghanistan, killing all five crew members. The Taliban claim to have shot it down, but the US military said that did not appear to be the case. The crash remains under investigation.

Aside from weapons, Gul Mohammad says the broader insurgent movement is now adequately funded through zakat, the traditional tithe that Muslims pay to their mosques as charity for the poor and disadvantaged.

Khost officials such as Governor Pathan say that the peaceful elections are a sign that the Taliban are disorganized, weak, and on the run. It is certainly true that the Taliban have had an ongoing debate about how aggressively they should fight against the US, whose airpower killed hundreds if not thousands of Taliban fighters with high-flying B-52 bombers in October 2001.

But while the Jaish recently broke with the Taliban in Oct. 2004 - with its brazen kidnapping of three UN election workers in the middle of a Kabul traffic jam - Gul Mohammad says that these differences have been settled for now.

"Our differences were based on some principles, but even those were just for a temporary phase," Gul Mohammad says. "We are fighting a common enemy."

Landmine Kills Four In Afghan Police Vehicle
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
26 September 2005 -- Government officials in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province say four people were killed today when a land mine planted by suspected Taliban insurgents blew up a police vehicle.

Mohammad Wali, a spokesman for Helmand provincial governor Sher Mohammad, said two police officers and two civilians inside the vehicle were all killed in the blast.

The spokesman blamed the Taliban for the attack, saying the mine was new and had been recently planted.

Officials in Pakistan say they seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition today in a pre-dawn raid in a tribal region near the Afghan border.

Pakistan, an ally in the U.S.-led war, has sent forces to the border areas to fight Al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants crossing over from Afghanistan.

BearingPoint Awarded $6.85 Million Contract by Afghanistan
via Finanzen.net, Germany
MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BearingPoint, Inc. , one of the world's largest management consulting and systems integration firms, today announced that it has been awarded a three-year contract to support treasury operations and implement efficient business processes within the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's Ministry of Finance. BearingPoint will help the Ministry build its accounting and financial management capacity as well as manage incoming funding from international donors.

Valued at $6.85 million, the new engagement calls specifically for BearingPoint to strengthen the Ministry's cash management capabilities and to develop strategies for treasury processes and human resources management.

BearingPoint was first engaged by the Republic in 2002 to provide a benchmark for a fully functional financial management system. The scope of the current work includes managing the client's existing Afghan Financial Management Information System (AFMIS, which was implemented by BearingPoint), continuing the deployment of AFMIS functions to line ministries and provincial administrations, transaction processing and reporting support, strengthening the client's cash management capabilities, and developing strategies for treasury processes and human resources management.

"Our work with the Afghanistan Ministry of Finance demonstrates BearingPoint's position as a world leader in treasury reform and financial system implementations in emerging markets," said James Horner, senior vice president for BearingPoint's Emerging Markets sector. "Post-conflict development is extremely complex and presents a host of unique challenges, yet we are confident that with BearingPoint's expertise supporting the proficiency of the Afghan government, both short-term goals and long-term development objectives will be met."

BearingPoint has steadily become a provider of choice for these types of projects in post-conflict environments including Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and South Sudan.

"This assignment is particularly gratifying as the government and the people of Afghanistan have been extremely welcoming of the assistance we are providing to ensure the integrity of the system," added Horner. "In addition, it's important to note that we are assisting the region's development by utilizing local labor where and when possible."

About BearingPoint, Inc.

BearingPoint, Inc. is one of the world's largest management consulting, systems integration and managed services firms serving government agencies, Global 2000 companies, medium-sized businesses and other organizations. We provide business and technology strategy, systems design, architecture, applications implementation, network infrastructure, systems integration and managed services. Our service offerings are designed to help our clients generate revenue, reduce costs and access the information necessary to operate their business on a timely basis. Based in McLean, Va., BearingPoint has been named by Fortune as one of America's Most Admired Companies in the computer and data services sector. For more information, visit the Company's website at http://www.bearingpoint.com/.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to our operations that are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections. Words such as "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. As a result, these statements speak only as of the date they were made and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Our actual results may differ from the forward- looking statements for many reasons, including: the business decisions of our clients regarding the use of our services; the timing of projects and their termination; the availability of talented professionals to provide our services; the pace of technological change; the strength of our joint marketing relationships and the actions of our competitors. In addition, these statements could be affected by domestic and international economic and political conditions. For a more detailed discussion of these factors, see Exhibit 99.1 in our Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2004 and our Form 8-Ks filed as of December 16, 2004, March 18, 2005 and April 20, 2005.

3 Iranian citizens kidnapped in western Afghanistan released
Kabul, Sept 26, IRNA
A security officer in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan, Nassir Ahamad Peykar, announced on Monday that three Iranian citizens kidnapped earlier had been released.

Speaking to reporters, he said that the three Iranians, kidnapped by an Afghan in West Azarbaijan province eight months ago, were taken to the city of Herat in the Iran-Afghanistan border and detained in a private house.

"The three kidnapped Iranians, ranging in age from 19 to 24, were delivered to the Iranian Consulate in the city of Herat on Monday.

They were apparently taken hostage during personal clashes among smugglers," concluded Peykar.

Meanwhile, two other Iranian citizens taken hostage eight months ago in the Afghan provinces of Helman and Farah have been rescued by Afghan police, it was learned.

400,000 Afghan refugees repatriated from Pakistan this year
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 26 (Xinhua)-- The UN Refugee Agency or UNHCR has assisted more than 400,000 Afghan regfugees to voluntarily repatriate from Pakistan to Afghanistan in 2005 under its ongoing voluntary repatriation program, according to a UNHCR statement issued here Monday.

UNHCR resumed its voluntary repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan on Sept. 21 after a six-day break due to the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.

Around 1,500 Afghans left for home Wednesday, the first day after the resumption of the program. Some 1,370 were assisted on Sunday, bringing the total number of Afghans seeking UNHCR assistance to go under the voluntary repatriation program to 400,586 during the year 2005.

"The numbers may reach around 425,000 till the end of the year.During the Ramadan and winters, the pace of the voluntary repatriation slows down considerably," Indrika Ratwatte, assistantrepresentative of UNHCR in Pakistan was quoted as saying.

More Afghans opted to voluntarily repatriate from Pakistan during the month of August and at the beginning of September with the expiry of the extended deadline of Sept. 15 to close refugee camps in Kurram and Bajaur tribal agencies.

The government of Pakistan announced last year their intention to close all refugee camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Pak-Afghan border due to security concerns.

Afghan refugees living in Islamabad's I-11 sector were also asked to vacate the place as they were occupying private land.

The Afghans in those areas were given the option to relocate tothe other existing camps inside Pakistan or voluntarily repatriateto Afghanistan.

More than 2.6 million Afghans have returned home under the UNHCR assisted voluntary repatriation program that began in 2002. The voluntary repatriation is governed by a three-party tripartiteagreement between the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR.

All the parties agreed in principle to extend the agreement up till December 2006 pending the formal approval from the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A census of Afghan refugees completed by the Pakistani government in March 2005 indicated that there were still 3.047 million Afghans in Pakistan.

Another 19 Afghans freed from Bagram prison
KABUL, September 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Nineteen people arrested on charges of having links to al-Qaeda and Taliban have been released from a US detention facility at the Bagram Airbase, a senior official announced on Tuesday.

Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, chairman of Afghanistan's National Reconciliation Commission, told Pajhwok Afghan News the freed men had already been sent home. He hinted at the release of another batch of prisoners in the near future, but did not give specific details.

A former Afghan president, Mujaddedi said the 19 people hailing from the southern Zabul province walked out of jail on Monday as a result of his efforts. At the airbase, he added, the suspects had served different jail terms ranging from one to three years.

According to the reconciliation commission head, the men of different ages (25 to 40) had been detained in operations against al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents by US-led coalition forces. Up to 300 Afghans have been set free hitherto owing to the commission's intervention.

Reported by Habib Rehman Ibrahimi & translated by Mudassir

Afghanistan: Observers say frustration, complications led to low voter turnout
By Golnaz Esfandiari
According to the latest elections results released by Afghanistan's Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), 6.8 million registered voters -- about 53 percent of the total -- participated in last week's parliamentary and local council elections. The figure is significantly lower than during last October's presidential election, when 7.3 million people -- or 70 percent of the eligible voters -- cast their vote. In Kabul, only 36 percent of the registered voters cast ballots in the key vote.

Kabul, 26 September 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Election officials say several factors contributed to the low turnout for Afghanistan's recent parliamentary elections.

Sultan Ahmed Bahin, the spokesman of the JEMB, spoke to RFE/RL in Kabul.

"Usually in elections that are held after a war, during the first vote, more people participate and then during the next elections there are less people. These elections were very complicated. During the presidential vote we had only 16 candidates, but this time we had 5,800 candidates, that made voting difficult," Bahin said. "And there were also security concerns, during the morning hours there were less people but in the afternoon it got better, it shows that people were waiting to see whether the assurances we gave them were valid. Maybe there are some political reasons [why the turnout was lower than last year], but it is not our job as the officials in charge of the election office to investigate it."

Bahin did not comment on what the political reasons could be. But some observers believe political frustration and discontent about the slow pace of reconstruction could be the main cause for the relatively low turnout, especially in Kabul.

Horia Mossadegh, the country director of the Human Rights Research and Advocacy consortium, which groups together several nongovernmental organizations, says the slow pace of bureaucratic reforms and also the presence of some human rights abusers on the candidates list turned off some voters.

"I talked to several people who did not participate in the elections. They told me that when [Afghans] voted in the [2004] presidential election, they expected to see a series of reforms within the government. Unfortunately, these reforms did not take place. The presence of some unpopular candidates [accused of committing war crimes during the past three decades] also caused frustration among people and made them not vote," Mossadegh said.

Several Kabul residents interviewed by RFE/RL believe that the low turnout is an indication of a growing disillusionment with Karzai's government.

Farid, 26, a taxi driver in Kabul, says that people had more hope during the presidential elections. "They had put behind a dark era and were hopeful in life and in the government, therefore more people participated in the presidential elections," he said. "When the ministers were appointed, they swore on the holy Koran that they will work hard, that they will root out bribery and fight corruption in government offices. But they were not able to fulfill their promises and they were discredited among the people, therefore less people voted.

Another Kabul resident, 22-year-old Amir, told RFE/RL a day after the elections that frustration amongst Afghans was the main reason for the 53 percent turnout nationwide.

"In my opinion, the expectations that people had from their president during the presidential election, well, their demands [were not fulfilled]. And it led to frustration. That's the feeling I get. And this frustration has made people have a different [reaction] to these elections," Amir said.

"Arman-e Melli," one of Kabul's dailies, recently wrote that the "cold election atmosphere" is a failure for the Afghan government and "foreign authorities" in charge of organizing the elections.

Other Afghan publications have however hailed the elections and noted that Afghans successfully passed their second test in democracy.

As far as Afghan officials and elections organizers are concerned, the 18 September vote was a successful step along Afghanistan's difficult path toward democracy.

Bahin, the JEMB spokesman, says one of the positive factors of the vote was the fact that in parts of Afghanistan's southern region the number of female voters increased.

According to the first partial results that were released in Kabul on 25 September, more women than men voted in some provinces that, nationwide, include Paktika, Nuristan, Panjshir, and Faryab.

Peter Erben, the JEMB's operations chief, said yesterday: "We believe that the turnout will end up being around 6.8 million, this compared to the turnout of last year [presidential election] of 7.3 million. Of the 6.8 million voters that voted, 43 percent were women. This is slightly higher than the proportion of women versus men who are registered, but only by 1 percent. So with the approximate figures here, I would say that we have seen the same turnout of women in the election as we have seen during the registration."

Complete preliminary results are expected to be issued by 4 October. Final certified results are due on 22 October.

Afghans take to the airwaves
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Monday, September 26, 2005
U.S.-backed radio station broadcasting in Mehtar Lam
MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan — Afghans in the Laghman province capital of Mehtar Lam are making waves. Radio waves, that is.

Thanks to funding and equipment provided by a U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team, the United States’ Agency for International Development and other agencies, a fully functioning FM radio station is now up and running.

Afghans in this eastern province can tune to the station to hear news, music, health tips, educational programming, sports news, programs geared toward women and more.

A ribbon cutting for the station took place Wednesday afternoon with local dignitaries in attendance.

“I’m sure the radio station will broadcast not only this year, but for many years in the future,” said Navy Cmdr. Frank Gutierrez, commander of the Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team.

The team is based at Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam and is tasked with identifying local projects worth funding. The Mehtar Lam PRT provided roughly $3,000 for purchase of power generators for the station; USAID came through with the station equipment.

A new radio tower extending about 100 feet into the sky replaces the former antennae, which was strapped to a bamboo pole. A carpet-lined broadcast room boasts modern equipment, including a computer, radio equipment and a microphone.

“Most of the people here are very far from medical care,” said a station employee speaking through a translator. “This will provide them a way to learn about health advice.”

And the populace will be able to tune into the station as a result of dozens upon dozens of hand-crank radios given away by the Provincial Reconstruction Team in recent weeks.

All the news will be broadcast by the station, not just the good news, Gutierrez said.

“Good or bad, the people must know what’s going on in their country,” he said.

Following the ribbon cutting, station employees had U.S. troops sit in their second-story offices, where the men munched on fruit and sipped cola. The Afghans were genuinely excited about the ribbon cutting and the station’s future.

One station employee was so proud of the new antennae that earlier in the week, he climbed the skinny tower and planted an Afghan flag at its peak.

US team to visit Peshawar to discuss fencing of Afghan border
NewKerala.com
Peshawar: A three-member US delegation led by Congressman Mark Wood is likely to visit Pakistan on Wednesday to discuss the issue of erecting a fence along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

The delegation, which would be accompanied by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington Jehangir Karamat, would discuss the issue of erecting the fence with the Peshawar Corps Commander and Senior Frontier Corps, The Dawn reported.

Only a couple of weeks ago, Afghanistan had rejected Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s proposal of constructing a security fence along the border with Afghanistan to prevent incursions by Taliban and drug smugglers, saying that first the international border should be determined according to international laws.

“We want the border determined in accordance with international laws first. The proposal is unacceptable before determination of the border,” Afghanistan Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashaal had reportedly said rejecting Islamabad’s proposal.

Afghanistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Naveed Ahmed Muazad had said that Pakistan had not formally presented the fencing proposal to the Afghan government.

The proposal from Musharraf had come after Kabul’s repeated accusations at all forums that extremists belonging to al Qaeda and the Taliban were being infiltrated from Pakistani territory.

Pakistan and Afghanistan may sign MoU on bus service
* Proposed routes between Peshawar and Kabul, Chaman and Kandahar
* Pakistan denies receiving proposal for K-2 expedition
By Mohammed Rizwan Tuesday, September 27, 2005 Daily Times, Pakistan
LAHORE: Pakistan and Afghanistan are preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to run a bi-weekly bus service between Peshawar and Kabul, and Chaman and Kandahar.

Both countries have already agreed in principle to the proposal, first discussed between President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the former’s last visit to Kabul.

Federal Minister for Tourism and Culture Ghazi Gulab Jamal will travel to Afghanistan during the first week of Ramazan to sign an MoU for the bus service, which will have international security cover, along with the Afghan national army, for the Afghan stretch.

The bus service, expected to start by the end of February 2006, will have international passenger terminals and passport control sections at Peshawar and Chaman in Pakistan, while Afghanistan will arrange for these facilities at Kabul and Kandahar. “Roads are not a problem as the Chaman-Kandahar Road, which was destroyed by fighting, is being re-built,” sources said. “The Peshawar-Kabul route and security details will be worked out during the minister’s visit to Kabul,” they added.

“Federal Tourism Minister Ghazi Gulab Jamal will travel to Afghanistan to discuss the bus service along with other things,” confirmed Federal Tourism Secretary Salim Gul Shaikh. “But at this stage, I can’t say whether an MoU will be signed.”

In another development, Pakistan denied receiving any proposal from India for a joint expedition on K-2 to bolster the ongoing confidence building measures (CBMs) on Siachen. The Indian media reported this week that New Delhi had sent a proposal to Pakistan, through the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and the Ministry of Defence, for a joint expedition.

The trek to K-2 goes through Pakistan’s approach to Siachen. “I don’t know of any such proposal at the moment,” said the tourism secretary. Pakistan Alpine Club Secretary Saad Tariq agreed, saying the proposal did not seem feasible as it involved defence and security issues. “We have not received any such proposal,” Tariq said. “If we get it through our Ministry of Defence or Foreign Affairs, we’ll go for it. But the proposal looks impossible.”

Since 1947, no Indian expedition has been allowed by Pakistan on any of its peaks.

UN announces 10 per cent increase in assistance to repatriating DPs
ISLAMABAD, September 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced a 10 per cent increase in its assistance for DPs who are returning to Afghanistan under the UN's Voluntary Repatriation Programme.

The decision has been taken in face of the rising bus fares in Pakistan due to the recent manifold increase in prices of diesel and petrol.

In a statement released here, a UNHCR spokesman said the transporters had increased route fares after soaring petroleum prices which also affected the returning refugees. After receiving complaints from DPs, they had decided to increase the assistant by 10 per cent, said the spokesman.

About the refugees' repatriation, the spokesman said they had set the target at 400,000 for the current year, but it had been achieved long before that date. He added due to Ramazan (fasting month) and the winter season, a drop had been recorded in the process.

Another UNHCR official Babar Baloch told Pajhwok Afghan News the largest number of returnees was registered during the current year to the five province including Kabul, Kunduz, Ghazni, Khost and Nangarhar.

UNHCR spokesman in Kabul Nadir Farhad confirmed the 10 per cent increase in the assistance and said it had been implemented after resumption of the repatriation process which was temporarily halted during the parliamentary elections.

Reported by Pakhtun Sahar and translated by Daud

Afghanistan: Students express concern over country's transition
Johannesburg, South Africa, 27 September 2005 - Half of Afghanistan's population is estimated to be under the age of 30. Many of these people grew up during two decades of war and conflict. Some lived for years as refugees in Iran and Pakistan. Now they say they look to the future with a mix of hope and concern. RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari recently visited Kabul University to talk to more than a dozen students about their lives and about the country's recent elections. She found that some believe the newly elected parliament will help stabilize the country and speed development. But half said they did not vote because of lack of trust in candidates and frustration with the political process.

By Golnaz Esfandiari

Kabul, 27 September 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Their demands are simple. They want jobs, an improved education system and teaching standards, and also better university facilities.

But in Afghanistan, a country that is still only slowly recovering from decades conflict, even such simple demands are difficult.

Mohammad, 21, is a student at the faculty of law and political science. He tells RFE/RL that unemployment is the main problem facing young Afghans.

"I, as one of Afghanistan's youth and hopes for the future, will graduate from Kabul University in two years. It is the best academic center in Afghanistan and I also speak English and I'm able to operate a computer. But I keep having bad thoughts [about the future], [and] what I will do?" Mohammad says.

Mohammad tells RFE/RL that he has witnessed with great concern the fate of university graduates who have not been able to find a job according to their qualifications.

He says that society at large seems to have little faith in young people and that connections are needed in order to obtain a good job.

Mohammad voted during the 18 September elections. Now, he hopes that the candidates will keep their promises and serve the Afghan nation.

Farzaneh, 22, is a student at the faculty of science. She, too, is concerned about the future once her studies are over.

"It is possible that once I get my diploma, I might have to sit at home and say to myself 'why did I go to the university'? [That instead] I should have learned a [practical] skill like how to sew and that it would have been better [for me]. I am very worried," Farzaneh says.

Farzaneh says that she did not vote because she does not trust any of the candidates. She said they just made "empty promises" and filled the streets with campaign posters.

Najibeh, 23, from Badakhshan studies Turkish literature at Kabul University. She participated in the elections hoping that things will change for her and her countrymen once the parliament starts its work.

"Maybe there are some [candidates] who could achieve something positive. We young people have many demands from the parliament, young people are without jobs, we have many problems [the parliament] should do its best. Our expectation from the parliament is that they should focus on the society, they should focus on young people who are growing up under very bad conditions," Najibeh says.

Najibeh tells RFE/RL that many students suffer from financial problems and some of them cannot even pay for transportation fees. She believes that female students have an even more difficult time because in many cases they have to face discrimination and insecurity.

Akmal, 22, studies at the engineering faculty of Kabul University. He did not vote because of disillusionment and distrust in candidates.

He is also concerned about lack of employment opportunities and the quality of the educational system. But he cites other concerns such as the slow pace of reconstruction and widespread corruption.

"We call on the [future] parliament members not to think only about their own benefits. Parliament can be very positive if it serves the people's interest. We see in other countries, they have a parliament, they have a president and ministers. [But] in our country appointments by President Karzai have failed to stop bribery," Akmal says. "I have witnessed it myself in many places. We also see that whenever one of our ministers passes through town all streets are closed. I think this is very wrong, that someone becomes so important and enjoys [so many privileges]. Whether it is a minister, or a [future] member of parliament, I think this is wrong."

Akmal expresses suspicion over the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"Not having fighting in Afghanistan is not enough, only a few people who live in Kabul earn some money, in the provinces people have no jobs, they live in poverty. The economy is poor, people can't even feed themselves. I think there is nothing positive about the presence of U.S. troops and all the other countries that have come here. They are just after their own interests," Akmal says.

But 25-year-old Kader from the faculty of law and political science has a different view.

"Our country cannot be without them, [without their presence] there could civil war, warlordism, no one would be able to study and go to the universities. I think the presence of U.S. troops is positive here," Kader says.

He voted with enthusiasm during the 18 September poll. He hopes that Afghanistan's future parliament will address youth issues and help move the country forward.

Pakistan, Afghanistan Trade Records 40-Fold Increase
Tuesday September 27, 9:24 AM
ISLAMABAD, Sept 27 Asia Pulse - The trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which was just US$30 million four years earlier, has registered a 40-fold increase during the last couple of years.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri said this in a television interview on Sunday September 25.

(PPI)

Another Abu Ghraib?
By ADAM ZAGORIN From the Oct. 03, 2005 issue of TIME magazine (USA) Posted Sunday, Sep. 25, 2005
Captain Ian Fishback, a West Point grad who served in the Army's élite 82nd Airborne Division and is currently in special- forces training, spent 17 months trying to get his superiors to look into allegations of serious prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. But on the same day that his claims were first made public last week by TIME, the Army stepped up its official inquiry into his charges--by giving him "the third degree," says a source close to the criminal investigation. Under intense pressure, the source says, Fishback refused to identify two unnamed sergeants, who corroborate some of his allegations in a new Human Rights Watch report but fear reprisal as whistle-blowers.

The charges of abuse--which center on Camp Mercury, near Fallujah, but include incidents at Tiger Base, near the Iraq-Syria border, and in Afghanistan--allegedly occurred in 2003 and '04, before and during the Army's investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal. In addition to the claims of sheer brutality at Camp Mercury--in one alleged incident, a cook blew off some steam by breaking a detainee's leg with a metal bat--there are several similarities to Abu Ghraib, located a few miles away, which include alleged picture taking, detainees being forced into (albeit clothed) human pyramids and low-ranking soldiers claiming they were ordered by military-intelligence personnel to beat prisoners daily.

Fishback, who reported his charges of abuse to three G.O.P. Senators, emphasized what he regards as an undeniable failure of leadership and lack of accountability in the U.S. military. The Human Rights Watch report quotes Fishback as saying, "It is infuriating to me that officers are not lined up to accept responsibility for what happened." To date, the Army says it has investigated more than 400 allegations of detainee mistreatment since Abu Ghraib--and more than 230 of its personnel have been dealt with through courts-martial and nonjudicial punishments--but has yet to find senior officers culpable. --By Adam Zagorin

Guantánamo inmate says US told him to spy on al-Jazeera
Vikram Dodd / Monday September 26, 2005 / The Guardian (UK)
The US military told an al-Jazeera cameraman being held at Guantánamo Bay that he would be released as long as he agreed to spy on journalists at the Arabic news channel, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

The journalist has been in the prison without charge for three-and-a-half years after being accused by the US of being a terrorist, allegations he denies. He claims that he has been interrogated more than 100 times but not asked about alleged terrorist offences. Instead, Sami Muhyideen al-Hajj says US military personnel have alleged during interrogation that al-Jazeera has been infiltrated by al-Qaida and that one of its presenters is linked to Islamists.

Some of the interviews have been carried out by British interrogators, who also wanted the cameraman to spy for them. Mr Hajj was arrested in December 2001 on the Afghan-Pakistani border while on assignment. His allegations are contained in notes of visits he received in Guantánamo in June this year from his lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith. The notes have been declassified by the US military.

The documents appear to show that the American military views the broadcaster, which is popular in the Arab world and is about to launch an English language channel, as an al-Qaida front.

Mr Hajj said that in one session of questioning he was offered US citizenship if he became a spy: "They have said, 'If you work with us, we will teach you journalism, we will get you a visa to live anywhere you want, we will even give you US nationality, we will protect you, we will give you money. We will help you write a book and then we will publish it. This will help make the al-Qaida people contact you, and work with you.'"

Mr Hajj is a Sudanese national and is married with a five-year-old child. In the documents he also alleges that the US military threatened his family if he accepted release and then refused to spy on al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera has angered the US by broadcasting recordings of Osama bin Laden threatening the west.

One of its correspondents is being held in Spain over alleged links to terrorism and at one point the US raised its threat level after wrongly believing terrorists were hiding coded messages in the scrolling text reporting the headlines that appears on the screen on al-Jazeera.

The US military has questioned Mr Hajj about one of al-Jazeera's presenters, Ahmad Mansour, who hosts an interview programme for the channel and used to work for the BBC. Mr Hajj says that he has been interviewed in Guantánamo by the British five times.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "Our position on torture and mistreatment is very clear. The British government is against mistreatment of any kind."

Bollywood and Mr Bean battle it out in Afghanistan
Tuesday September 27, 5:57 PM
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - In the city that spawned Afghanistan's Taliban, music and TV were crimes punishable by beatings and jail just a few years ago.
Now, India's Bollywood and its raunchy song and dance numbers and wet saris compete with Mr Bean and women's wrestling in the Sadat music and film market, a chaotic cacophony of sound where it's always night inside and it's always packed.

"I like Mr Bean, he is very funny," says 12-year-old Mohammed Rahim, from behind the counter of his father's Ariana VCD Center.

"I watch him all the time."

Ariana is one of the dozen or so shops in the market. Rahim says he sells 50 VCDs of British comedian Rowan Atkinson's famously bumbling Mr Bean every week.

A VCD costs about 100 afghanis, or $2, still a lot of money in Afghanistan, a country ravaged by decades of war and chaos and with a shattered economy. ADVERTISEMENT

Many people, too poor to buy, come just to watch the video discs that are constantly and loudly running in every shop, or to play the video games also on display.

Bollywood movies such as "The Rising," about the 1857 mutiny or first war of independence, "Policewala" and "Salaam Namaste" - a daring tale of sex without marriage - pack the shelves under posters of Bollywood pin-ups such as Shah Rukh Khan -- a Muslim -- and Aishwarya Rai, once voted the most beautiful woman on the planet.

"Bollywood is great," says 18-year-old student Nur Mohammed. "The stories are so good. And Aishwarya is so beautiful. I enjoy her."

He buys one or two VCDs every week. That is all he can afford.

Afghan, Persian and Arabian music CDs, with busty, scantily clad women on the covers also sell quickly.

This now bustling trading city on the road from southern Pakistan to Kabul is where the hardline Taliban began. They took over the city in 1994 and ruled until they were driven out by U.S.-led forces in 2001.

They banned music and television, closed schools and put women under virtual house arrest, not allowed to step outside without a male relative as an escort.

Now, with the Taliban gone -- leader Mullah Omar's sprawling and luxurious compound now a U.S. base on the lunar-like landscape on the edge of town -- and the end of a seven-year drought, the city is booming.

But it is still a deeply conservative place, the pomegranate and Chinar gardens of saint Baba Wali park just past Mullah Omar's compound are packed every Friday, but strictly men only.

"Hollywood and Bollywood and Mr Bean give us something different," says Rahim. "Then, it's not like we're here at all."

LDP OKs bill to refuel U.S.-led warships off Afghanistan for 1 yr
Tuesday September 27, 10:59 AM
(Kyodo) _ The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday approved a bill to extend the special antiterrorism law for another year, allowing the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force to provide fuel to the U.S.-led coalition naval forces operating off Afghanistan, LDP officials said.
The Cabinet is expected to endorse the bill next Tuesday for enactment during the current Diet session.

The antiterrorism law, which will expire Nov. 1, was enacted in October 2001 following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. It was extended for two years in October 2003.

Under the law, Japan has provided free fuel to military vessels from the United States and other countries operating in the Arabian Sea.

As of late August, an MSDF task force had provided a total of 407,000 kiloliters, or 16 billion yen worth of fuel, on 541 occasions to vessels from 11 countries.

The trees that vanished: crisis in the Hindu Kush
The Independent (UK)-Published: 24 September 2005
The aromatic groves of cedar and pine that once covered Afghanistan are disappearing, cut down by smugglers. Justin Huggler reports from Kabul on a desperate struggle to avert ecological disaster.

On a clear day in Jalalabad, you can just see them, green against the distant mountains, some of the last cedars of Afghanistan. The mountains are the Spin Ghar range, home to Tora Bora where Osama bin Laden fought the last stand against the US-led invasion in 2001. But today, another war is going on up there, unnoticed by the outside world. This time the enemy is not the Taliban or Bin Laden, but smugglers. This is the war to save Afghanistan's last forests.

There is a beautiful scent that lingers in Afghanistan's cities, overpowering even the rotting garbage and open latrines. It is a sweet, aromatic scent, instantly recognisable. It is the smell of cedar wood burning.

An ecological disaster is unfolding in Afghanistan, under the noses of the international community who are trying to rebuild the country. Once, large areas of the country were covered with forests of cedar and pine, oak and fir but today there are just a few dwindling patches of forest left. Old photographs of Kabul tell their own story. Once, it was a green city of avenues lined with trees. Compare that to the rocky dustbowl familiar from television news pictures today. Today, just 2 per cent of Afghanistan is still forest, and conservationists are warning it is on its last legs.

It is not just a concern for ecologists. Wood is the main winter fuel in Afghanistan, and the experts agree it is fast running out. Huge areas of Afghanistan that were once forested have turned to desert. Foliage for livestock to feed on is disappearing, destroying the traditional lives of nomads who can no longer graze their flocks. Worse than that, the climate is changing. During the spring thaw, the trees used to hold back the snow on the mountainsides. Now, with no trees to hold it back, there are flash floods in the valleys.

It is not the fires and stoves of Kabul that are destroying Afghanistan's forests. Nobody would cut down trees as valuable as cedar just to use as firewood. The fuel is a by-product of the illegal trade in timber. When a tree is cut down, the trunk is smuggled across the border into Pakistan, and the smaller branches are cut off and kept as firewood.

The wood is smuggled out by donkey and mule across the same borders that the Taliban and foreign militants slip across to launch hit-and-run attacks on US and Afghan forces, before retreating back to the safety of the Pakistani border areas.

The men in the front line of the struggle to save the trees are Frank Lefebvre and Alain de Bures of Madera, a small French NGO that works exclusively in rural and remote Afghanistan. The deforestation of Afghanistan is a disaster that started to unfold relatively recently, according to Mr Lefebvre, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Soviet soldiers notoriously cut down Kabul's tallest tree, which had stood for hundreds of years, because they feared the mujahedin resistance could use it climb up and fire downwards on their advancing troops. In the years that followed, Afghanistan's forests were ravaged.

By a cruel irony, what is left of Afghanistan's forests are in some of the most dangerous parts of the country. The best preserved are in Nuristan and Konar, generally agreed to be the riskiest two provinces of Afghanistan in which to operate. In the recent parliamentary elections, they were the only two provinces where election monitors didn't go. Most Western NGOs won't set foot in them.

But they are dangerous for very different reasons. Konar, a region of isolated valleys against the Pakistani border, is a heartland of the Taliban. It has been suggested as a possible hiding place for bin Laden. In June, an American helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in Konar with 16 soldiers on board. It came down not far from some of the forest Madera is trying to save, says Mr de Bures.

But the province is very fractured. When four US Special Forces soldiers went missing in the province in June - the helicopter that was shot down was part of a rescue mission - three were killed by the Taliban. But the fourth was rescued by a shepherd whose village refused to hand him over to the Taliban. They are said to have issued a statement to the Taliban that, as long as women and children were alive to fight in their village, they would not hand over the wounded man to whom they had extended their protection according to the tribal customs of the region.

Nuristan, by contrast, is a place where even the Taliban were afraid to go. Made famous in the West by Eric Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, it is a fabulously remote land of high peaks and notoriously independent people. The Nuristanis, a distinct ethnic group with their own language and customs, who often have blond hair and green eyes, do not welcome any strangers interfering in their mountain fastnesses, and it remains the most inaccessible and undeveloped province in Afghanistan. There are almost no roads; some villages are almost 48 hours on foot from the nearest road.

Madera is only able to operate in these difficult regions because of Mr de Bures, a short, grizzled man who has spent decades in Afghanistan. He knew the former King of Nuristan, when the province declared independence during the Soviet occupation. He knows the tribes in Konar so well that he can travel safely where others would be in great danger. He comes alive when the subject turns to his beloved Afghanistan, he can talk for hours about the tribal intricacies of the region.

Nuristan is Afghanistan's one safe reserve of forest, according to Mr de Bures. "The Nuristanis look after the forest because they really understand that if the forest disappears, they will disappear with it," he says.

But Konar is a perfect example of the timber-smuggling problem in Afghanistan. Since the Soviets left, 25 per cent of the Konar's entire area has been deforested. The problem is that Afghanistan's richest forests lie on the border with Pakistan, next to the traditional smuggling routes. A piece of timber worth 500 Pakistani rupees in Afghanistan is worth 9,000 in Karachi. "We've been trying to explain to the people in Konar that cutting down the forest like this is not sustainable," says Mr Lefebvre, "but they just don't see it that way. If they need wood, they cut down the first tree they see."

The French conservationists are trying to educate the people of Konar about a sustainable timber trade. In such a sensitive region, they can do little more: outright interference would not be tolerated. "The smugglers are not supporting the Taliban at all," says Mr de Bures, "but they're not happy with the presence of the Americans because they can't do the timber trade properly. The problem with the Americans is that they see everything in black and white."

Most of the smugglers come from the famous and powerful border tribes of Pashtuns, such as the Mohmand and Shinwaris. These tribes are ferociously independent and the Taliban stay away from their homelands. The conservationists too have to stay away - they are not welcome either.

The fighting in Konar has put Madera's staff in constant danger, not only from the Taliban, but from US forces as well. "One of our staff got arrested and held for 24 hours by the Americans because they thought he was one of the Taliban," says Mr Lefebvre. Most of the NGO's staff wear Afghan dress in order not to attract attention in Konar. That protects them from the Taliban, but can make them suspicious to US soldiers.

Madera were forced to abandon their compound in Konar after US forces moved in next door. The organisation's staff had lived there peacefully for many years but, after American forces moved in, suddenly there were rocket attacks in the area.

Mr de Bures blames the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), teams of Western military forces who have been sent to the provinces of Afghanistan to help with the reconstruction. "But in Konar they don't do anything for the people," he says. "They are just police for the Americans." He says the PRTs are only there as a military tactic, to win hearts and minds - but they are failing even to do that in the hills of Afghanistan.

There have been some benefits from the US presence in Konar, says Mr de Bures. Because the timber-smugglers use the same passes to cross the Pakistani border as the Taliban and foreign militants, US forces are now patrolling the entire border and stopping timber smugglers as well as insurgents.

Better still, Mr de Bures says, the new Governor of Konar province, Asadullah Waffa, has clamped down hard on the timber-smuggling and recently brought it to a virtual standstill.

The illegal timber trade is already having a serious effect on the Afghan economy. Afghans still use wood where plastic or metal would be cheaper alternatives in the West. Door frames and window frames are wood, made to measure in the timber yards that dot every Afghan town. But the wood has become extremely expensive because so much is being diverted to Pakistan. A basic window frame - a flimsy affair with no ornamentation - costs $40 (£20), which is serious money in a country as poor as Afghanistan.

The government is becoming increasingly concerned about the fuel situation. Temperatures in Kabul reached as low as minus 30C last winter, and most Afghans rely on wood as their only heating fuel. That is no longer sustainable, according to Ehsan Zia, the deputy minister at the Rural Redevelopment and Rehabilitation Ministry. "We have to find some alternative fuel," says Mr Zia. "We have to find some way of getting gas into Afghanistan for heating fuel."

It is ironic that before the 2001 war the US was lobbying hard for a pipeline across Afghanistan for gas from Turkmenistan but today Afghanistan is in serious need of gas.

"Even in Nuristan, you can see the difference," says Mr de Bures. "The ground used to be so thick with fallen branches that it was hard to walk. But now all the fallen branches have been scavenged. Those fallen branches were vital to protect the soil," says Mr de Bures.

With most of Afghanistan's forests already gone, the question looms: is the damage reversible? "To be honest with you, I don't know if it's reversible," says Mr Lefebvre. "We're just trying to save what's left."