Afghanistan News February 11, 2006

February 11, 2006

Three Wounded In Protests In Herat
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
KABUL, 10 February 2006 -- Afghan police in the western city of Herat opened fire on protesters today, wounding at least three people.

The protest came after yesterday's clashes in Herat between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that left five people dead. A crowd of several hundreds protesters gathered outside the office of Herat governor Sayed Hussein Anwari, blaming him and local authorities for failing to prevent the clashes. The crowd demanded Anwari be dismissed.

Police first fired in the air to get the crowd to disperse but some protesters tried to storm the governor's office. Police then fired at the protesters, wounding three people.

Elsewhere in Herat, protesters threw stones at the Iranian consulate and at some aid agencies.

Four Canadian soldiers slightly wounded in roadside bombing in Afghanistan
Canadian Press STEPHEN THORNE Thu Feb 9, 3:46 PM ET
OTTAWA (CP) - Four Canadian soldiers escaped with bumps, bruises and a concussion after a roadside bomb exploded next to their light armoured vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, part of an escalating campaign by insurgents resisting U.S.-and NATO-led forces.

The unidentified soldiers were riding in a 21-tonne LAV-3 armoured vehicle when the explosion occurred 50 kilometres north of Kandahar. They did not require hospitalization, said a Canadian military spokesman. The attack came less than a month after a Canadian diplomat was killed and three soldiers seriously wounded by a suicide bomber in Kandahar.

The troops wounded in the Thursday evening attack are part of a 2,200-member Canadian force known as Task Force Orion that is gearing up to take over patrols in the volatile, ultra-conservative region.

It is an area that sheltered and trained al-Qaida terrorists and gave birth to the Taliban and its extreme form of Islamic rule.

The Canadians were on a joint patrol with U.S. forces and were treated at the scene, three kilometres south of a village called Gumbad. The four were spending the night at a secure platoon house in the area permanently manned by coalition troops. Their vehicle was only slightly damaged.

Earlier in the same patrol, another LAV-3 tipped on its side. No one was injured in the accident, and the vehicle was immediately righted and returned to duty.

The 7:28 p.m. attack involved a so-called improvised explosive device, or IED, similar to that which wounded two Canadian soldiers in September.

Such bombs, usually triggered by a cellphone or some other remote method, can be hidden in everything from garbage to vehicles and even roadkill. A similar device wounded U.S. television journalist Bob Woodruff and his Canadian cameraman Doug Vogt last month in Iraq.

While a spate of suicide bombings have grabbed headlines in Afghanistan in recent months, soldiers are most wary of these explosive devices. More liberal rules of engagement may allow NATO troops to fire on suspect vehicles and other attackers in Afghanistan, but the IED can be an invisible weapon.

More than a third of the 62 U.S. military deaths in Iraq in last month were because of IEDs. A website that tracks coalition deaths in Iraq (icasualties.org), says at least 695 U.S. military personnel have been killed by IED attacks since the war started in March 2003, making them the leading cause of death.

Their powerful blasts propel shock waves and shrapnel that can kill or maim soldiers equipped with the best body armour.

Some insurgents have moved from Iraq to Afghanistan, bringing with them refined techniques for constructing, concealing and detonating the devices. U.S. soldiers in Iraq have found IEDs buried in the soil, concealed in piles of garbage, stuffed in soft-drink cans and even in the carcasses of dead animals.

Canadian troops in Kandahar recently found a car stuffed with wired explosives sitting alongside a well-travelled road. Last year, Canadians found a vendor's cart laden with explosives set to go off in a busy Kabul market. The devices could have been planted by Taliban, al-Qaida or allied groups.

Soldiers are trained in spotting telltale signs of IEDs such as loose detonator wires and disturbed earth.

Radio-detonators used to trigger some blasts can be jammed, so in Iraq insurgents have begun using a device triggered when a vehicle crosses an infrared beam. The technology was first used in Lebanon and Northern Ireland.

Many roadside bombs are little more than an artillery shell with a detonator cord linked to a battery, but some have been found with a steel plate underneath to direct the force of the blast up into a passing vehicle. Others have been rigged to fire a solid steel penetrator that can pierce armour.

The weapons are invaluable to al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, who are usually outnumbered and outgunned in head-to-head confrontations.

Fighting normally eases during the Afghan winter but military brass believe the recent attacks point to a possible new strategy by pro-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, many of whom are believed to be working out of the mountainous frontier regions across the Pakistan border.

Violence across southern and eastern Afghanistan spiked last year, killing about 1,600 people, the most since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

AFGHANISTAN: No alternative to opium, say farmers
KANDAHAR, 10 February (IRIN) - Sitting in his neighbour's swirling field of poppy, wearing dusty clothes, farmer Abdul Qauom, 32, is keen to find an alternative crop that will earn him a living after his two hectares of opium fields were recently destroyed by state security forces, in line with government policy.

"I don't know what to cultivate. There is nothing that can meet the financial needs of my family," said father-of–six Qauom. "The government has destroyed my crops without paying any compensation or giving me anything else to farm."

Abdul Qauom lives in the Arghandab district, around 25 km west of Kandahar city in the southern province of the same name – where production of the drug is prolific. He exemplifies the dilemma for thousands of Afghan farmers – they would give up the lucrative poppy if only there was a viable alternative.

"We don't have any choice about cultivating poppies because it's the only means for our survival," said Amir Mohammad, 30, another farmer in the village, as he lanced the bulbous poppy heads to encourage the precious fluid to ooze out.

The UN puts the dependence on opium production down to a series of structural problems faced by the farmers in the arid region. "Due to a severe lack of proper irrigation and assistance, farmers are mostly relying on poppy cultivation to make a living," Fazal Mohammad Fazli, regional coordinator of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) in Kandahar, said.

Post-conflict Afghanistan still supplies almost 90 percent of the world's opium. The international community set up drug eradication programmes in Afghanistan after US-led coalition forces toppled the hardline Taliban regime in 2001, but they have had little impact on poppy production.

Said Mohammad Azam, spokesman for the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN), said that alternative livelihoods was one of essential pillars of the country's national drug control strategy.

"During the past month, the government has already provided farmers in all provinces with chemical fertilisers and proper seeds worth US $25 million," Azam explained, adding that the government would not make particular deals with opium producers who continued to grow the crop.

The country's economy also continues to rely heavily on the trade in illicit drugs. The UN and the government have estimated the total export value of Afghanistan's opium in 2005 at $2.7 billion - equivalent to 52 percent of the country's official gross domestic product.

Analysts question the government's current policy on poppy eradication, dubbing it all stick and no carrot. They also believe that eradication of the crop at gunpoint, with no compensation or alternatives offered, is fuelling ongoing insecurity in the country.

"It is a multi-factorial issue," said local writer Sadullah Ghelgai, adding; "Widespread unemployment, poverty and pressure on farmers from the drug traffickers are the main factors behind poppy cultivation."

"Farmers are trapped between two opposite demands. The government is forcing them to stop poppy cultivation while the Taliban and the powerful drug dealers, active in this region, are pressuring them to do so. Even some farmers had left their homes and migrated to neighboring Pakistan because they cannot handle this pressure," Abdurrahman, a local analyst in Kandahar, told IRIN.

An extra 3,300 UK troops are heading to the southern Helmand province as part of a NATO-led force to help boost security and combat trafficking in drugs.

But this won't deter Abdul Qauom, who has already bought new poppy seeds with a loan from a local opium trafficker and will plant them when the eradication teams move on. "I know it's against the law, I'm not a bad man, but I have to feed my family and pay bills."

Daily Afghan Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty [ 9 February 2006 ]
Protests Over Cartoons Claim More Lives In Afghanistan...
Continuing protests throughout Afghanistan against the publication by a Danish newspaper and other media of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad have claimed more lives in Qalat, the provincial capital of Zabul in southern Afghanistan, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported on 8 February. Zabul Province security commander Mohammad Nabi Manakhail told RFE/RL that the 8 February demonstrations turned violent when protesters shot at Afghan security officers. When the officers returned fire, three protesters were killed and up to 13 others were injured. Manakhail said that several security officers were also injured. Police have arrested 40 people who Manakhail said were responsible for instigating violence and destruction of property. According to AFP on 8 February, a total of four protesters were killed in Qalat. The protests over the cartoons have claimed 12 lives since they began in early February, and have prompted Afghan officials to speculate that foreigners are behind the ongoing violence (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6, 7, and 8 February 2006). AT

...As Neo-Taliban Offers Rewards For Killing Publisher Of Cartoons, ISAF Soldiers...

Mullah Dadullah, identifying himself as the military commander in chief of the Taliban militia, on 8 February offered a reward of 100 kilograms of gold to anyone who kills "the person responsible for publishing the cartoons," Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. Speaking with AIP, Dadullah said the militia will give 5 kilograms of gold to anyone who kills a Danish, Norwegian, or German soldier serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The rate of neo-Taliban suicide attacks has increased since the publication of the cartoons, Dadullah claimed in his remarks to AIP. The cartoons were originally published in September 2005. There was, however, no noticeable reaction to them in Afghanistan until early February. AT

...And Declares Jihad Against Danish Forces In Afghanistan

Qari Yusof Ahmadi, claiming to speak on behalf of the neo-Taliban, has said the militia has declared jihad against Danish forces in Afghanistan because of the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, the Copenhagen daily "Berlingske Tidende" reported on 7 February. While all foreign forces remain targets of neo-Taliban attacks, "because of the insults we will to a particular extent attack Danish soldiers," Ahmadi said. Denmark currently has upwards of 150 soldiers in Afghanistan, but Copenhagen has indicated the number of Danish forces will increase to around 350 as part of ISAF's expansion to southern Afghanistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 February 2006). AT

School Tents Torched In Northern Afghanistan

Unidentified arsonists have burned two tents used as classrooms in the outskirts of Sheberghan, the provincial capital of Jowzjan, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported on 8 February. Abdul Hayy Yashin, head of the provincial education department, told RFE/RL the tents were located in the Afghan Tapa area and that no suspects have been arrested in the case. The neo-Taliban has began a campaign of targeting schools in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan, where they are operating. However, there are few, if any, reports of neo-Taliban activity in Jowzjan. AT

Authorities Arrest More Than 40 Foreign Women In Kabul For 'Immoral' Activities

Afghan Interior Ministry legal adviser Abdul Jabar Sabet told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on 8 February that upward of 40 foreign women have been arrested in Kabul for alleged involvement in "immoral" acts. The women were working in brothels disguised as guesthouses and restaurants operating throughout Kabul, Sabet added. While the media has identified the women as being from China, Sabet refused to disclose their nationality to RFE/RL. Twenty-two establishments involved in immoral activities have been identified in Kabul, Sabet added. The Afghan National Assembly has been debating the spread of what it calls immoral acts in Kabul, including prostitution and the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Sabet, however, said that the action taken by the Interior Ministry was not the result of direction by the parliament. AT

Chinese prostitutes arrested in Kabul 'restaurant' raids
Independent Online By Justin Huggler, Asia Correspondent 10 February 2006
Afghan police rounded up scores of suspects in a series of raids across Kabul yesterday. But this time the prisoners were not Taliban insurgents or Al-Qa'ida suspects. They were Chinese women - the notorious Chinese prostitutes of Kabul.

In the four years since the fall of the Taliban, an extraordinary number of "Chinese restaurants" have opened in Kabul. Although they have bright neon signs and menus, and they do sell food, most are simply fronts for prostitution.

In fact, so synonymous have Chinese restaurants become with brothels in Kabul that it is not a good idea to tell anybody you are going for a Chinese meal - in case they get the wrong impression.

Nobody is really sure how the Chinese came to dominate the market. But in Kabul, traditional Chinese lanterns outside a restaurant can mean more is on offer than just good food.

By day you can spot the prostitutes hanging around the restaurants, often wearing skimpy clothes that would be unimaginable for any Afghan woman.

For years the police have turned a blind eye to the brothels, but now they are cracking down. The Interior Ministry said 46 foreign women had been arrested for prostitution and for selling alcohol to Afghans. Privately, the ministry said they were all Chinese.

The crackdown comes after newly elected members of parliament said they would go after the government over Kabul's widespread prostitution.

The brothels are seen as a corrupting effect of the West. Most are located in the expensive neighbourhoods like Wazir Akbar Khan and Shar-e Now, amid the expensive restaurants and bars frequented by the plethora of foreign diplomats, UN staff and NGO workers who live in Kabul.

These are liberal areas and no brothel would last long in the traditional Afghan neighbourhoods that make up most of the city: they would be chased out by local sentiment.

Undeniably the brothels attract foreign clientele. They also attract a steady stream of Afghan men.

Adding to the controversy are Afghanistan's laws on the consumption of alcohol, still illegal for all Afghan Muslims. But it is allowed to sell alcohol to foreigners, who can freely drink it. The illegal status of the Chinese restaurants has meant, however, that many have also sold alcohol to Afghan men, which has added to their notoriety.

There is a growing backlash to the Western presence in Kabul from Afghans embittered at a lack of economic progress since the fall of the Taliban. Intolerance of Westerners' drinking and foreign women not covering their heads in public is growing.

The Interior Ministry said the women arrested yesterday would be deported. Under the Taliban they would have faced a public lashing or being stoned to death.

Afghan police rounded up scores of suspects in a series of raids across Kabul yesterday. But this time the prisoners were not Taliban insurgents or Al-Qa'ida suspects. They were Chinese women - the notorious Chinese prostitutes of Kabul.

In the four years since the fall of the Taliban, an extraordinary number of "Chinese restaurants" have opened in Kabul. Although they have bright neon signs and menus, and they do sell food, most are simply fronts for prostitution.

In fact, so synonymous have Chinese restaurants become with brothels in Kabul that it is not a good idea to tell anybody you are going for a Chinese meal - in case they get the wrong impression.

Nobody is really sure how the Chinese came to dominate the market. But in Kabul, traditional Chinese lanterns outside a restaurant can mean more is on offer than just good food.

By day you can spot the prostitutes hanging around the restaurants, often wearing skimpy clothes that would be unimaginable for any Afghan woman.

For years the police have turned a blind eye to the brothels, but now they are cracking down. The Interior Ministry said 46 foreign women had been arrested for prostitution and for selling alcohol to Afghans. Privately, the ministry said they were all Chinese.

The crackdown comes after newly elected members of parliament said they would go after the government over Kabul's widespread prostitution.

The brothels are seen as a corrupting effect of the West. Most are located in the expensive neighbourhoods like Wazir Akbar Khan and Shar-e Now, amid the expensive restaurants and bars frequented by the plethora of foreign diplomats, UN staff and NGO workers who live in Kabul.

These are liberal areas and no brothel would last long in the traditional Afghan neighbourhoods that make up most of the city: they would be chased out by local sentiment.

Undeniably the brothels attract foreign clientele. They also attract a steady stream of Afghan men.

Adding to the controversy are Afghanistan's laws on the consumption of alcohol, still illegal for all Afghan Muslims. But it is allowed to sell alcohol to foreigners, who can freely drink it. The illegal status of the Chinese restaurants has meant, however, that many have also sold alcohol to Afghan men, which has added to their notoriety.

There is a growing backlash to the Western presence in Kabul from Afghans embittered at a lack of economic progress since the fall of the Taliban. Intolerance of Westerners' drinking and foreign women not covering their heads in public is growing.

The Interior Ministry said the women arrested yesterday would be deported. Under the Taliban they would have faced a public lashing or being stoned to death.

A brain drain threatens Afghanistan's future
Obaid Younossi International Herald Tribune THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2006
WASHINGTON On the eve of the Soviet invasion almost 26 years ago, I left Afghanistan as a young man in search of a better life. Recently, I returned to my native land for the first time and found that many bright and ambitious young people have been following in my footsteps, creating a brain drain that will make it much harder to rebuild Afghanistan as a democratic and economically viable nation.

While in Kabul on a project for the Rand Corporation, the nonprofit research organization where I now work, I saw young men lining up in the passport office and at embassies to get documents needed to leave Afghanistan. When I asked university students whether they want to stay in Afghanistan or go to another country, an overwhelming majority said they want to emigrate.

One of the greatest challenges in Afghanistan is to halt or at least seriously reduce this brain drain and attract talented Afghans to return. But how?

Talented Afghans are leaving - and few are returning from abroad - because insurgent attacks, threats and criminal activities are still common. As long as Taliban remnants and criminals continue to kill and terrorize Afghans, the nation will not be an attractive place for young people to build their futures.

In addition, Kabul lacks a steady supply of electricity and clean water. The city's air is choked with dust and pollution from diesel fuel that is used to run electric generators and from the huge number of cars crammed into a city designed to sustain only a fifth of its roughly four million inhabitants.

Afghans with an education and the skills in greatest demand know they can earn far more and live far better abroad. For example, university professors make less than $2 per hour in Afghanistan, and licensed physicians make about $100 a month working in a government hospital.

To stem the brain drain and entice professional Afghans to return, the United States and the international community need to make Afghanistan a better place to live.

First, security needs to be improved. This will require an intensified effort to train and supply Afghan security forces to maintain peace and order on their own, so they are not permanently dependent on U.S. and NATO forces. In addition, the United States needs to give Afghans concrete assurances that America is their long-term security partner.

Second, the United States need to work with Afghans to develop a long-term development plan for the nation, and back it with a multibillion-dollar financial commitment lasting at least 10 years. If it can hasten a real peace, this investment in creating a thriving Afghan economy would cost less than spending on continued warfare.

Third, alternative livelihoods must be found for farmers now growing poppies, the biggest cash crop in Afghanistan and a major source of heroin sold around the world. The illegal drug trade fosters corruption, instability, and disrespect for government and the rule of law.

Fourth, a system of Afghan government accountability and good governance needs to be established to ensure that U.S. aid is being spent effectively, that corruption is eliminated and that programs are in place to improve living conditions and opportunities for the Afghan people. This means bringing readily available electricity, clean water, better roads and new jobs to Afghanistan.

Finally, neighboring countries need to be pressured to stop jockeying for more influence in Afghanistan.

While Iraq dominates the news and is getting far more U.S. money and military manpower than Afghanistan, it is important to remember that Afghanistan remains a nation in need of U.S. help, and faces a continued threat from remnants of the Taliban forces that once made it a haven for Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists.

I'm glad I chose to come to the United States and become an American citizen. But I recognize that Afghanistan needs its most promising young people to stay at home today to build a better tomorrow. By stepping up efforts to bring security, democracy, equality and economic opportunity to Afghanistan, the United States can slow the brain drain that is weakening my native land. Both America and Afghanistan would be better off as a result.

(Obaid Younossi is a senior analyst at the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization.)

New-look Afghanistan leaves mullah longing for days of Taliban
Globe and Mail, Canada MICHAEL DEN TANDT 2/10/06
KANDAHAR -- During the Taliban years, Mullah Saeed Ahmed says in a voice barely above a whisper, life here was good. People lived carefully, cautiously, and according to the laws of the holy Koran.

Now everything has changed.

"Men wore beards; they followed all the rules," he says, sitting cross-legged on a thin red cushion in a tiny room of the Ghos Saklin mosque in Kandahar's Herat Bazaar. "Now it's democracy. Whatever people want to do, they can do it. That's the difference."

Mullah Ahmed was born in this city 30 years ago and has lived here all his life. He's lived through the invasion of the Soviet army and its defeat at the hands of the mujahedeen, the subsequent civil war, the rise of the Taliban Islamists and their defeat at the hands of the U.S.-led coalition. And now, the Western-backed government of Hamid Karzai and the presence of NATO troops, including Canadians.

Like most Afghans, he looks a decade older than his age. His father was also a mullah. When he was 10, he says, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. He studied hard in the Islamic schools and began his ministry at 22, four years before the Taliban fell.

"We carried on our work during the Taliban's rule, and we still do the same," he says through an interpreter.

Outside, in the bazaar, the scene is chaotic and noisy. Three-wheeled motor scooters compete for road room with motorcycles, bicycles, ancient tractors, trucks, fruit carts and an endless stream of Toyota taxis. Horns beep incessantly as the taxis jostle for position. Of late, they have become weapons for suicide bombers.

Mullah Ahmed knows who's responsible for the bombings, he says in the relative quiet of his aerie in the mosque, a thermos of tea on the faded rug in front of him. The bombers are not acting alone. "A lot of countries support them," he says. "There's Pakistan. And behind Pakistan is the United States."

Mullah Ahmed says he's not interested in politics. His main role is to preside over funerals, births and weddings. He leads the men in prayer. He interprets the Koran and conveys its message to the people.

But it doesn't make sense, he adds, that the Afghan government and its coalition allies can't defeat the insurgents. They were able to topple the Taliban so easily. The insurgents now have few weapons and must live in the mountains. "There are countries supporting them," he repeats.

American and Canadian soldiers are not wanted in Kandahar, he continues in the same polite, measured tone. They simply draw the suicide bombers into the cities, where they kill innocent Afghan people. "They kill people in the cities, and children, just because the foreigners are here," he says. "If they were not here [the insurgents] wouldn't do it."

Before the foreigners came, he says, life was stable.

Everyone knew the rules. "Now, nobody knows whether they're going to die or not die, so they just don't care about anything. That's why I don't like democracy."

The suicide bombers cannot be true Talibs, he continues, because their actions violate the Koran.

"Talib means student," Mullah Ahmed says. "I am a Talib and I have never touched a gun." This is further proof that foreign powers are behind all the bombings, he says. As for those who carry out the bombings, he says, they have been misled. "Someone poisoned the terrorists' ears. They tell them that foreigners are not supposed to work here, that they are against Islam. So people who work with the Americans or foreigners, they get killed, and others die."

He sighs. "Maybe it's Pakistan. Pakistan doesn't want Afghanistan to go forward. I'm not sure why. We are in a dilemma." Whatever the cause of the conflict, Mullah Ahmed says, the people of Kandahar are afraid. Even a month ago, refugees were still returning from abroad to build homes, work and invest money. Now, he says, they don't want to work here, because there's no security.

His mosque, one of about 200 in and around Kandahar city, has been here for more than 50 years, he says.

But he is thinking of moving on. "I want to go. Because there is nothing to carry on."

Mullah Ahmed yearns for a time when things were settled. "With democracy, a lot of things are going on, people are not following religion. During the Taliban time they had to follow the rules."

He knows what will solve Afghanistan's problems. "If the foreigners left, everything would be fine."

As we speak, the room slowly fills with half a dozen spectators, who sit silently and listen. Curious children peek in through the one window and flit away.

A few minutes later, with impeccable Afghan courtesy, Mullah Ahmed shakes a visitor's hand and bids him goodbye. "You are welcome to come back any time," he says.

Dirty money from Afghanistan keeps feeding terrorists – Russian DM.
TAORMINA, Italy, February 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Flows of dirty cash from Afghanistan keep feeding terrorists, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a meeting of the Russian-NATO Council on Friday.

“Although the social and political situation in Afghanistan is far calmer than in Iraq, it is far from stable,” Ivanov said. “There have been continued terrorist attacks by extremist groups. The International Security Assistance Force has failed to put the situation under control so far. Drugs and arms smuggling are booming and ‘dirty cash flows’ keep feeding extremist and radicalism. The reason for this is identical to that in Iraq – weakness of national bodies of power. In our opinion the further march of events in these troubled countries will largely depend on efforts to ensure regional stability in the Middle and Near East,” Ivanov said.