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Aid pledge boost for Afghanistan
Tuesday, 31 January 2006, 17:54 GMT BBC News
International donors have said they will provide nearly $2bn (£1.1bn) in aid to help transform Afghanistan.
The US has promised $1.1bn while the UK says it will give $800m, as part of a five-year development plan being discussed at a conference in London.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his country had made great strides towards peace and democracy, but warned drugs and terrorism remained grave threats.
Officials from about 70 nations are attending the two-day gathering.
The plan, known as the "Afghan Compact", aims to promote stability and development in Afghanistan in return for economic and military support from the international community.
The BBC's Nick Childs in London says one major theme at the conference has been that the world as a whole still has a major direct stake in Afghanistan's future.
With more than four years passed since the US-led overthrow of former Taleban regime, he says a key question is whether the outside world will back up its pledges of support with real commitments.
'Ambitious goals'
Speaking at a news conference on the first day of the meeting, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced Britain's pledge.
He said the money would be made available over the next three years.
Mr Straw said the conference had set ambitious but achievable goals.
"No-one underestimates the many problems the country still faces", he said, "and they require long-term investment and commitment".
"The international community," he said, "remains strongly committed - indeed more strongly than ever - to supporting the people of Afghanistan for the long-term".
The financial pledge followed an earlier announcement by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Bush administration planned to give Afghanistan $1.1bn in aid next year.
"The transformation of Afghanistan is remarkable but incomplete," she said. "And it is essential that we all increase our support for the Afghan people."
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Moscow would write off Afghanistan's $10bn Soviet-era debt.
Mr Karzai said Afghanistan needed $4bn in international aid annually.
'Road to success'
Our correspondent says Afghanistan's huge illegal drugs trade remains a major concern among the international community.
Afghanistan is the source of nearly 90% of the world's opium and heroin, with the illegal drugs trade accounting for a third of the country's economy.
President Karzai said it would take at least 10 years to eradicate poppy growing in his country as part of the counter-narcotics effort.
But Mr Karzai said: "Afghanistan would like to continue on its road to more success, prosperity and Afghanistan will remain a great asset for security in the region and the globe."
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said the international community was determined to stick with the Afghan people through a "struggle that concerns all of us".
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan echoed that theme, but also warned that Afghanistan's future remained in the balance.
"Afghanistan today remains an insecure environment," he said.
"Terrorism, extreme violence, the illicit narcotics industry and the corruption it nurtures threaten not only continued state-building, but also the fruits of the [December 2001] Bonn process."
The conference comes as Nato prepares to expand its role in Afghanistan with the deployment of an extra 6,000 troops amid renewed concern about the level of violence in the country.
The troops will move into the volatile south of the country where US-led troops have been operating.
Peace in Afghanistan fragile, says Annan: Islamabad pledges $50m
By Our Correspondent Dawn
LONDON, Jan 31: Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed the joint initiative of the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and the United Nations for the ‘Afghanistan Compact’ development plan at the London Conference as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pointed out that recent attacks had been a reminder that the country’s peace was fragile.
Addressing delegates from more than 50 countries and international bodies, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said Pakistan welcomed the Afghanistan Compact and pledged $50 million for the neighbouring country’s reconstruction.
He said the amount would be made available as soon as the $200 million already pledged by Pakistan were exhausted.
Urging the international community to support rebuilding of the state and development activities in Afghanistan, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was time for committed action.
He said recent attacks in Afghanistan were a reminder that the country’s peace was fragile and that Afghanistan remained in an insecure environment of terrorism, extremist violence and the illicit and corrupting narcotics industry.
Mr Annan said: “It is in the interest of the entire international community to provide assistance as the country consolidates its moves towards peace, democracy and, above all, security, which underpins advancement on every other front.”
He called on Afghanistan’s leaders at all levels to deliver on their end and said the long-term stability of the state and the credibility of its government depended on it.
Mr Kasuri said the Afghanistan Compact showed the way forward as the Afghan government committed itself to goals in security and governance, economic and social development as well as counter-narcotics. He said the compact set out benchmarks and timelines to achieve the goals and reforms proposed in judicial and administrative institutions were most appropriate.
Pakistan continued to host 2.6 million Afghan refugees, who could contribute to Afghanistan’s development, he said.
“There is need for the international community to facilitate their return, particularly by increasing Afghanistan’s absorptive capacity,” he said.
Mr Kasuri welcomed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s expanded role in Afghanistan and said restoration of peace and stability were central to development in the country. He said Pakistan believed that broadening of international responsibility, without loss of military capability, would have the desired stabilizing effect.
He said Pakistan remained committed to the fight against terrorism and would continue to extend full cooperation to Afghanistan in this regard bilaterally as well as in the tripartite commission, which includes the United States.
Mr Kasuri said the Kabul conference on regional economic cooperation was a useful initiative and called for early follow up action for enhanced trade, investment and joint promotion of infrastructure activities, especially in transport and energy sectors.
The foreign minister said Islamabad was working on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project and pursuing import of electricity from Tajikistan via Afghanistan.
He said Pakistan wanted to intensify trade and economic contacts with Central Asia through Afghanistan.
Pakistan looked forward to increased regional cooperation as Afghanistan assumed membership of the South Asian Association for regional Cooperation, he said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the United Kingdom was committing £500 million worth of aid over three years in addition to its armed forces to help maintain security.
China pledges 80 mln yuan in aid to Afghanistan
LONDON, Jan. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said on Tuesday that China will provide 80 million RMB (nearly 10 million US dollars ) in aid to Afghanistan in 2006.
China will offer long-term assistance and engage in long-term cooperation with Afghanistan in the win-win spirit of mutual benefit and common development, Li said at the international conference on Afghan reconstruction hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Besides the provision of 80 million RMB, China will also levy zero tariff on most Afghan export products in 2006, said the Chinese minister.
China will continue to support the Afghan government's anti-terror efforts and help train more Afghan defense and police officers, Li said.
China will furthermore work with the international community and other Afghan neighbors to tackle the booming drug production in Afghanistan, which is said to be the source of nearly 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin, Li said.
The top Chinese diplomat said Chinese industries have been encouraged to participate in the reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, and also to make investments in such fields as infrastructure, electricity, mineral resources, and transportation.
Li also emphasized that regional cooperation is an effective way for international community and neighboring countries to help Afghanistan move toward a stable and prosperous country.
He suggested that building a regional transportation network be a priority in cooperation with Afghanistan.
China will make full use of the existing regional cooperative mechanism to promote practical cooperation with Afghanistan in the fields of fighting drugs-trafficking, anti-terrorism and border management, Li added.
Envoys from nearly 70 nations and international bodies, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, attended the conference and signed a five-year blueprint for helping the war-shattered Central Asian country along the road to peace and self-sufficiency.
The plan, known as the "Afghanistan Compact", sets out specifictargets for boosting economic and social development, bolstering security, enhancing governance, strengthening the rule of law and improving human rights conditions.
Afghan reconstruction not just about fighting Taliban, opium
Tue Jan 31, 10:50 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Observers gave a guarded reception to the signing in London of an agreement on Afghan reconstruction, calling for a parallel focus on governmental reforms as well as combating opium producers and insurgents.
As the so-called "Afghanistan Compact" talks entered their second day Wednesday, specialists agreed the five-year plan, with its focus on improving internal security, was vital to provide a solid foundation for internal development.
But for one, the soon-to-be-expanded North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ( NATO) forces for peace-keeping and counter-insurgency operations against a resurgent Taliban in the south face a difficult task.
For another, the issue was more about rooting out the whiff of or actual corruption in governmental agencies and establishing a broader consensus against terrorism with neighbouring Pakistan to stabilise the region.
Ayesha Khan, an associate fellow of the London international affairs think-tank Chatham House, told AFP the increased NATO presence was a "positive" move, but they could face problems getting local support.
"In this region, the US Operation Enduring Freedom has been very aggressive in its 'war on terror'," she explained.
"In the absence of a peacekeeping force, there have been B-52 bombings and insensitive house-to-house searches. It's been very aggressive and potentially antagonistic."
As a result, NATO's dual role would be a "very diffcult balance to strike", she said, calling for troops to have a "clear mandate" and rules of engagement to prevent too much time being spent simply protecting themselves.
Farzana Shaikh, from the Centre for South Asia Studies at Cambridge University, agreed with Afghan President Hamid Kharzai's admission Tuesday that resolving the problem was a long-term strategy.
The international community should not concentrate solely on targeting poppy production, she said, instead calling on Karzai to weaken the grip of powerful former warlords now sitting in the democratically-elected parliament.
"I don't think there's going to be any early resolution to the problem. It's going to take some time before Karzai can really strengthen his government to a point where it can stand on its own two feet," she told AFP.
Asked for a timescale, she said probably looking at about the same time as the "at least 10 years" Karzai said he felt was necessary to tackle the rise in poppy cultivation.
What would also help for stability would be an agreement against terrorism with Pakistan -- which has been suspected of funding insurgents -- "but that kind of agreement is nowhere on the horizon", Shaikh said.
In signing the compact, the US -- which announced plans for 1.1 billion dollars in funding for Afghanistan in the fiscal year 2006-07 -- and other Western powers were "sending a signal" that they are committed to Afghanistan, she added.
But Shaikh, also an associate fellow at Chatham House, suggested the fact that Karzai has not been able to secure the levels of funding he required stems from "real concerns about corruption in the government".
"Some of this has to do with the fact that the recently-elected parliament has a fair sprinkling of those whose record on human rights abuses and corruption is... dubious," she added, referring to some of the former warlords.
"There's concern that the Karzai government has not been able to address the problem of corruption within government agencies in the way many Western donors feel it should."
If Afghanistan "cleans up its act", it is likely to get more money, she added.
Dominic Nutt, from British aid agency Christian Aid, said promises had been made in the past for increases in funding for projects in Afghanistan.
"But seeing is believing," he told AFP. "As long as they're offering the money and it gets through, then great. Experience dictates that that may not help, however."
The charity is currently working in west central Afghanistan to improve living standards among a people blighted by three decades of foreign occupation, civil war and repression under the extremist Taliban regime.
Nutt said it was impossible to build stability and a democracy -- plus fight the lucrative opium trade -- with troops alone, likening it to "trying to put out a forest fire with flip-flops".
Afghan Leader Outlines Plan as Aid Pledged Anew
By Kevin Sullivan and Griff Witte Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, February 1, 2006; A19
LONDON, Jan. 31 -- Diplomats from more than 60 countries began pledging aid and investment for Afghanistan at a conference here Tuesday, as President Hamid Karzai outlined a five-year plan to strengthen democratic institutions and combat terrorism and drug-trafficking in his struggling nation.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that President Bush would ask Congress for $1.1 billion in aid for Afghanistan in next year's budget. U.S. officials declined to detail what that money would be used for, but it is roughly equal to the amount the United States budgeted for Afghanistan reconstruction projects this year.
"The transformation of Afghanistan is remarkable but, of course, still incomplete," Rice said at the opening of the two-day conference. "And it is essential that we all increase our support for the Afghan people."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, hosting the conference, pledged $880 million over the next three years to aid the country, whose transition to democracy remains difficult more than four years after a U.S.-led military campaign drove out the Islamic Taliban militia.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan told the gathering in the ornate hall: "Afghanistan is now a nascent democracy. Yet our optimism is necessarily tempered by the serious challenges the country is facing."
The five-year plan known as the Afghan Compact, which will be signed here, is a blueprint to improve governance, the economy and security in the country, which is still trying to recover from years of devastating conflict that began with the invasion by Soviet forces in 1979.
"It is important in order to demonstrate that where people stand up to terrorism and opt for democracy, we will be on their side," Blair said.
Karzai, addressing the gathering Tuesday, listed his country's successes since the Taliban was routed from power two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. He noted that the country has a constitution and an elected president and parliament. He said that 6 million children are now attending schools in a system that was totally collapsed and that economic output has grown by 85 percent.
But Afghanistan remains a place of staggering illiteracy, with a massive gap between a comfortable elite and millions of poor. A flourishing illegal poppy trade supplies more than 87 percent of the world's opium. Karzai acknowledged that "we have a long road ahead."
"On behalf of the Afghan people, I pledge today that we will be a dependable asset to the security of the region and of the world," Karzai said, adding that "a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan is not a blessing for the Afghans alone; it is for all of us."
The London conference follows a 2001 gathering in Bonn that outlined a U.N.-supervised transition to democracy, culminating with the seating of an elected parliament this past December. This week's conference focuses on diverse subjects such as judicial reform and improvements in rural irrigation -- the nuts and bolts of developing institutions.
On the drug issue, the compact calls for tougher enforcement and economic alternatives for poppy farmers, who are often tempted into the illegal trade because it pays so much better than traditional crops. The document also says the government will "reinforce the message that producing or trading opiates is both immoral and a violation of Islamic law."
Karzai told delegates that the amount of land in Afghanistan being used for poppy cultivation has decreased by 21 percent in the past year. "We are determined to take further steps to completely eliminate this menace," he said. "We expect the international community to cooperate with us realistically, not only to help us root out narcotics, but to do so without causing undue economic hardship and instability."
The United States has focused its anti-drug campaign in Afghanistan on a program known as "alternative livelihoods," which is designed to give farmers other ways to earn a living. The campaign has included distribution of free wheat seed and fertilizer, as well as the construction of new roads designed to help farmers get their crops to market.
On security, the compact calls for establishment of a "nationally respected, professional, ethnically balanced Afghan National Army" by the end of 2010, with a goal of 70,000 troops. It also calls for establishing national and border police forces with a combined membership of 62,000 officers in the next five years.
More than 200 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan since the American military invaded in 2001 and toppled the Taliban. About half those deaths occurred last year.
The United States has announced that it intends to reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan in the coming months, from about 19,000 to about 16,500, as NATO forces assume a greater role. The NATO alliance, meanwhile, will increase its numbers from the current 9,000 to 15,000. Next summer, an international force led by NATO is due to take control of the country's volatile southern region.
The compact also calls for improvements in roads, airports and access to fresh water. It sets a target for 65 percent of urban households and 25 percent of rural households to have electricity by the end of 2010. It calls for basic health services to be available to 90 percent of the population in the same time frame.
Among ordinary Afghans, there was little awareness Tuesday that the conference was taking place.
Khalilullah, 26, a Kabul resident who, like many Afghans, uses only one name, said he has given up on the idea that increased economic aid to Afghanistan will make his life better. He operates a stand selling fast foods, which are increasingly popular among Kabul residents. He said he makes about $9 a day when business is especially good, and goes home empty-pocketed when it isn't.
"Nothing will change," he said. "I'll still be out here, selling burgers and french fries."
Witte reported from Kabul. Staff writer Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.
World has stake in helping Afghanistan: Annan
London (AFP) - The entire international community has a major stake in helping Afghanistan meet the "serious challenges ahead," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned at a conference of world leaders in London.
Speaking before countries signed a new compact with President Hamid Karzai's government, Annan Tuesday said continued international involvement was necessary to build on developments since the extremist ruling Taliban was ousted in 2001.
"This is a time for committed action," he explained. "After being forced to sacrifice so much in war, the Afghan people have willingly given even more to peace. They expect a peace dividend. And they deserve it."
Annan, flanked by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Karzai and US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, praised Afghanistan's transition from "a nation held hostage by terror and by terrorists" into a "nascent democracy".
But he warned that the creation of a democratic constitution, representative national parliament and legitimately-elected government should not blind people to the "serious challenges ahead".
Chief among them were the fight against a resurgent Taliban, particularly in the south, extremist violence and the illegal narcotics industry, all of which threatened the gains made in the last five years, he added.
"Afghanistan's progress is also a global concern. It is in the interest of the entire international community to provide assistance as the country consolidates its moves towards peace, democracy and, above all, security, which underpins advancement on every other front," he said.
"The partnership (between the UN and Afghan factions) which emerged in Bonn (in 2001), and which we renew today, must continue to support the Afghan people... as they work to realise their vision of a vibrant Afghan state."
Annan said the new "compact" -- which will provide international military and economic support in exchange for Kabul promoting stability and development -- commits other countries to "sustained and prolonged engagement" in Afghanistan.
Security concerns were at the head of the list of priorities, he stated. Forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are deploying extra troops to Afghanistan as part of the reconstruction and security effort.
Envoys Pledge to Keep Afghan Money Flowing
By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 31, 2:42 PM ET
LONDON - Envoys from nearly 70 nations and international bodies vowed Tuesday to maintain their financial support for Afghanistan, which is still plagued by violence and poverty more than four years after the fall of the Taliban.
Speaking at the start of the two-day meeting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration planned to ask Congress for $1.1 billion in aid for Afghanistan next year — a figure similar to 2006.
"The transformation of Afghanistan is remarkable but incomplete," Rice said before traveling back to Washington for President Bush's State of the Union speech Tuesday night. "And it is essential that we all increase our support for the Afghan people."
Britain announced $800 million in new aid over the next three years, and Prime Minister Tony Blair said seeing Afghanistan become a stable democracy was "in the interests of the whole international community."
"This is a struggle for freedom and for moderation and for democracy and we will be with you," he told Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The conference delegates, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, issued a five-year blueprint for the troubled central Asian nation's security, economic development and counter-narcotic efforts.
The plan, dubbed the "Afghanistan Compact," is intended as a successor to the deal reached at a December 2001 conference in Bonn, Germany, establishing a political process for Afghanistan after a U.S.-led coalition overthrew the hard-line Taliban regime.
In the new document, Afghanistan promises to strive to disarm illegal militias, guard human rights, cut poverty and tackle the drug trade, while international donors vow to provide support.
"The Afghan nation has emerged from the ashes of conflict to stand today as a beacon of hope to our people and the world," the document said.
"Our people, in particular our children, now have real hope of living in a time of peace, stability and economic development."
Billions of dollars in aid have brought new hospitals, clinics and roads to Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion. School enrollment has soared from 900,000 to 5 million and many of the new students are girls, who were barred by the Islamic regime from attending classes.
But most Afghans remain mired in poverty, and the country — which was torn by war for decades — still has some of the highest mortality rates in the world. Many have grown frustrated with the aid effort, complaining that much of the money flowing in from abroad has been wasted.
Security remains a major problem.
About 1,600 people were killed last year in militant violence, including 91 U.S. troops, making 2005 the deadliest year since 2001. The past four months have seen an unprecedented spate of 20 suicide bombings, raising fears of further bloodshed.
The fighting has left parts of southern and eastern regions off-limits to aid workers, while a series of attacks on schools — including three burned down last week and a principal beheaded earlier this month — have forced many to close.
Annan said the violence "serves as a sad reminder of the fragile state" of the country's progress.
Bush said this month he plans to cut U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan from 19,000 to 16,500 during this year as the NATO force expands.
Rice said Monday it would be wrong to interpret that as a sign the United States plans to walk away from Afghanistan. She said Washington had learned a lesson from the chaos that wracked the country after the United States failed to help it rebuild following the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989.
Afghanistan quickly became a haven for terrorists.
The booming trade in opium and heroin is another major challenge for Karzai's government. Afghanistan is the source of nearly 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin, and many warn the country is fast becoming a "narco-state."
The development plan says tackling drug production will be a priority for Afghanistan and lays out a strategy combining better interdiction and law enforcement with rural development that gives farmers better ways to earn their living than growing opium.
Karzai predicted it would take at least 10 years to eradicate the drug trade, saying it had resulted from decades of desparation in rural Afghanistan.
The compact sets out a series of targets for Karzai's government. They include tripling the Afghan army to 70,000 troops and disbanding all illegal militias by 2007.
"Coalition must leave Afganistan"
Iran - Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network 01/31/2006
London - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called Tuesday for a timetable to be set for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan to prevent the risk of causing further domestic insecurity and regional concerns.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that foreign troops and security forces must set a timetable for their withdrawal," Mottaki said.
"Their presence, in the meantime, must be in context of resolutions and International agreements," he told delegates from some 60 countries attending the two-day Afghanistan conference, which opened Tuesday.
The Iranian foreign minister warned that after the completion of the institution building phase in Afghanistan, the continued presence of foreign forces will "Lead to domestic insecurity and regional concerns."
"Unfortunately, the proposals tabled by the Islamic Republic of Iran on the issue of security have not been included in the text of the final document" of the conference, he said.
The conference is being hosted by the UK to provide an opportunity for the government of Afghanistan to present its interim national development strategy, setting out its political and economic plans and priorities for the next five years.
Afghan official urges ECO members to participate in reconstruction
Tehran, Jan 31, IRNA Iran-ECO-Afghanistan
Afghan Deputy Minister of Communication Berialy Hessam here Tuesday called on all members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to comply with their commitments on the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Speaking to IRNA on the sidelines of the 16th session of ECO Regional Planning Council, he said that at the recent ECO meetings, all member states were called upon to expedite the reconstruction projects in which they were involved in Afghanistan.
Turning to Iran and Pakistan as the only countries which have paid their share for establishment of Afghanistan's Cooperatives Fund, he noted that other members have been called on to comply with their commitments in this respect.
Hessam referred to Afghanistan's common border with five ECO member states as a connection point and said that the country's potentials can play an effective role in growing economic and trade cooperation among member states.
He pointed to the crucial role of ECO in supporting economic projects in Afghanistan and noted, "Despite the organization's role in reconstruction of the country so far, all member states are still being encouraged to participate in the process."
Heading the delegation attending the meeting, Hessam noted that given Afghanistan's pivotal role among ECO member states, in talks held so far, all these countries have been called upon to participate in the reconstruction process more extensively.
He expressed the interest of his country in expansion of economic and trade collaboration with Iran in various fields and called for participation of Iranian investors in Afghanistan's development projects, particularly in the construction sector.
The Afghan official said that proper grounds have been prepared for investment by Iranians in various economic domains in his country and requested Iran to participate more actively in the reconstruction process.
The 16th meeting of ECO Regional Planning Council (January 30-February 2) is being attended by experts and officials from ECO member countries.
The four-day gathering aims to draw up the organization's working plan.
To get it on its feet, the West must stay the course
By OMAR SAMAD Tuesday, January 31, 2006 Posted at 12:21 AM EST Special to Globe and Mail Update
Nation-building has never been an easy endeavour and Afghanistan is no exception.
After almost three decades of traumatic existence, Afghanistan has achieved a fragile stability in the past four years. Failing to address the country's challenges in a timely manner will undermine the post-Taliban political gains and jeopardize that stability.
The targets for future efforts to foster sustainable security and development are enshrined in the Afghanistan Compact - the successor to the 2001 Bonn Agreement - which will be presented todayjan.31 and tomorrow to the international community in London. The compact provides the framework for international engagement in Afghanistan for the next five years. It sets benchmarks and mutual obligations to ensure greater coherence and co-ordination between the Afghan government and international donors.
The London Conference on Afghanistan, co-chaired by Afghanistan and the United Nations, will be attended by more than 70 countries and multilateral organizations. The gathering will also provide an opportunity for President Hamid Karzai's government to table its National Development Strategy.
Following extensive consultations with donors, including Canada, the Afghan-led strategy will set out the government's priorities for accelerating development, increasing security, tackling narcotics and strengthening rule of law, governance and human rights.
None of these goals can be met, however, unless we can ensure that the Afghan government has adequate resources at its disposal to meet its domestic and international commitments.
The World Bank warned last week that the fragmentation of foreign assistance may adversely affect the accountability and capacity of the Afghan government. While 75 per cent of foreign aid bypasses government channels, it is critical that in the years to come, development aid be disbursed through the Afghan budget, with the explicit goal of building capacity and maximizing the socio-economic benefits.
While a dynamic private sector is giving rise to a new middle class, poverty is still pervasive in Afghanistan, where 53 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line on less than a dollar a day. Other indicators are even more worrisome. Life expectancy is about 45 years; one of every five children doesn't live long enough to see their fifth birthday; about 1,600 of every 100,000 mothers die in childbirth or from related complications. Only 13 per cent of Afghans have access to safe water; 12 per cent to adequate sanitation; 6 per cent to electricity.
For the next few years, our collective efforts should focus on creating new opportunities, jobs and addressing aid delivery and aid effectiveness in terms of services. Sustained growth should help fight the endemic public-sector corruption and non-governmental-sector aid wastage that prevails.
A key cross-cutting issue in London will be illicit narcotics, which account for more than 40 per cent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product. The United Nations is recommending a two-pronged approach - investment in infrastructure, and broad-based rural and urban development.
Preventing the emergence of a narco-state requires drastic and innovative ways of providing new livelihoods, promoting agri-business, and co-ordinating law enforcement across boundaries to put drug trading networks out of business. As a prerequisite, Afghanistan's dysfunctional justice system needs structural reform.
In London, the international community will mark the successful end of the Bonn accord, which gave Afghanistan a constitution, an elected president and elected national and provincial assemblies.
Moreover, the country has remarkably experienced, on average, 10-per-cent annual economic growth since 2002. Studies show that an annual growth rate of 9 per cent over a 10-year period is needed to achieve adequate progress toward the UN's Millennium Development Goals, while phasing out the drug economy.
Underlying these multipronged efforts is the security factor, namely the threat posed by the remnants of terrorism. While continuing to maintain a tacit alliance, the Taliban and al-Qaeda, joined by collaborating drug lords, have a common interest in destabilizing the nascent state and discouraging development activity, especially along the southern and eastern border regions.
Increasingly reliant on Iraqi-style tactics, the attackers target ordinary Afghans, teachers, religious figures, aid workers, policemen and even foreign officials, like Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry, whose tragic death was caused by a suicide bombing attack in Kandahar earlier this month.
The message coming out of London should be unequivocally clear. The Afghan people, assisted by coalition troops and newly deployed NATO/ISAF forces, will not back down in their efforts to stabilize and reconstruct Afghanistan until conditions on the ground show permanent signs of improvement. Collectively, we will do what is right to help Afghanistan stand on its own feet again. Today, that means supporting the Afghanistan Compact.
Omar Samad is Ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada.
Iraqi, Iranian and Pakistani 'terrorists' seized in Afghanistan
KABUL (AFP) - Counter-terrorism police have arrested an Iraqi, an Iranian and three Pakistanis allegedly planning attacks in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said.
The men had entered Afghanistan's Nimroz province from neighbouring Iran, ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said on Wednesday.
"They are all terrorists. They had crossed illegally into Nimroz from Iran and wanted to go to other provinces to carry out terrorist attacks," he told AFP.
"They all had documents proving their identities. The investigation is ongoing."
Stanizai said the Iraqi, whose name was not disclosed, was on his way to southern Kandahar province.
The province is a hotbed of an insurgency that erupted after the Taliban government was ousted in late 2001. It has suffered frequent suicide and car bomb attacks that officials often blame on foreigners allied with the Taliban.
Stanizai said the Iranian had initially claimed to be from Herat province in western Afghanistan but police later found Iranian identity cards with him identifying him as Qurban Ali.
The Pakistanis were identified as Gul Nazar, Mohammad Nawab and Alif Khan.
The governor of Nimroz, Ghulam Dastageer, confirmed the arrests but said only two Pakistanis had been caught. They were picked up between Friday and Monday in the provincial capital Zaranj, he told AFP.
Afghan officials widely blame a spate of suicide attacks -- a phenomenon that only emerged in the country after the collapse of the Taliban -- on foreign elements, especially from Pakistan.
Analysts have said the suicide blasts and car bombs suggest the insurgents have adopted Iraq-style tactics or are increasingly being influenced by Al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the Taliban regime.
In the worst of at least 20 suicide attacks in the past four months, 22 people were killed on January 16 when an man on a motorcycle blew himself up in a crowd leaving a wrestling match in the town of Spin Boldak on the border with Pakistan.
Afghan army and police and foreign troops helping to stabilise Afghanistan have previously been the prime targets of the militants.
The US military, which helped topple the extremist Taliban in late 2001, is leading a coalition of about 20,000 troops hunting remnants of the regime mainly in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
NATO forces are due to take over their duties in southern Afghanistan later this year.
Taliban recruits promised booty in this world, virgins in the next
Wed Feb 1, 12:06 AM ET
SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (AFP) - Saifullah was tired of his exhausting job as a blacksmith in a Pakistani village when a friend suggested he join the jihad, or holy war, against US troops in Afghanistan.
The 20-year-old, who shared a simple mud-brick house with his father, mother and a brother, told AFP he wasn't sure whether to accept the call to fight in the country of his forefathers or to continue with his hammer and anvil.
"If you kill one American soldier, then you can keep his money, his gun, boots and clothes," he recalled his friend saying.
"And if I die?" Saifullah said he asked of the young man, himself a recruit of Taliban commander Mullah Samad who is said to be close to the fugitive leader of the ousted extremist Taliban regime, Mullah Omar.
"If you die, you will get seven virgin 'houris' in paradise," the man said, referring to the virgin angels the Muslim holy book, the Koran, says awaits good Muslims, especially martyrs, when they die.
"I accepted," Saifullah said Tuesday from his hospital bed in the dusty Afghan border town of Spin Boldak hours after being shot in the legs in a clash with Afghan tribesmen.
He and nine other Taliban recruits -- all descendants of Afghan refugees in Pakistan -- were attacked late Monday by the chief of Loy Kariz village, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Spin Boldak, and his men.
They had been in the village under the command of Mullah Samad to look for and kill US troops and their "spies". They had also set up roadblocks to interrogate clean-shaven men and confiscate cassettes, in line with the Taliban's doctrine that shaving and listening to music are "un-Islamic".
Two of Saifullah's comrades were killed in the clash. His own dreams were shattered when his injured hands were tied behind his back and he and another wounded fighter were handed over to Afghan security forces.
The young blacksmith's experience of jihad had lasted 72 hours from the time of his recruitment.
Abdul Wasey Alakozai, the police chief of Spin Boldak, said one of the rebels had detonated a grenade at his feet, in a suicide attack, when he realised he would be arrested.
The rebel and a villager were killed and 14 other locals were wounded, Alakozai said.
The incident is a rare example of villagers taking on the Taliban, who are leading a guerrilla-style insurgency plaguing southern and eastern Afghanistan almost since the hardliners were overthrown in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
The regime was toppled after it refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities.
Most of the ousted government and its Al-Qaeda allies fled to Pakistan, according to Afghan officials.
Since then, they have been crossing the poorly controlled 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) border to carry out attacks on Afghan and foreign targets inside Afghanistan.
"Mullah Samad gave me a gun on the border," recalled Saifullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name. He and the others walked 48 hours to reach Loya Kariz village, he said.
Alakozai and Asadullah Khalid, governor of Kandahar province which includes Spin Boldak, admitted they did not have enough security forces to control the rugged border.
But Khalid also blamed Pakistan for propping up the militants. "They have training facilities in Pakistan and are being supported down there," he told AFP in Kandahar city.
To support his claims, the governor said three of about 20 suspected rebels arrested in recent days for allegedly plotting attacks were Pakistani citizens.
He said they were planning suicide attacks - which have spiked in Afghanistan with at least 20 in the past four months in a trend analysts say shows rebels have adopted Iraq-style tactics.
On January 15, a senior Canadian diplomat was killed and three Canadian soldiers were injured in a suicide attack in Kandahar.
The governor said the Taliban fighters had some support among Afghans in villages along the border, although this was low.
From his hospital bed, the body of one of his slain fellow recruits nearby, Saifullah agreed, saying his band of men had no problem moving through the area until they were stopped by the village chief and his men.
Mullah Samad had even been allowed to use a loudspeaker atop the Loya Kariz mosque to call people to jihad. He remembered the message as: "Join us in jihad. If you don't join us, God will punish you."
Australia could send 200 more troops to Afghanistan
Wed Feb 1, 2:27 AM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia is likely to send 200 more soldiers to Afghanistan to assist a Dutch deployment in a former Taliban stronghold, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
Speaking in London on Tuesday, Downer said that the troops would probably be sent to take part in a proposed provincial reconstruction team with Dutch soldiers in the southern province of Uruzgan as early as July.
Downer, in London to attend an international conference on Afghanistan, said the Netherlands was expected to decide later this week on whether it would boost its deployment to the Central Asian nation.
"We'll have to wait and see whether that happens, but I think it's much more likely than not that we will send those extra troops there," he told reporters.
Australia has already committed some 300 troops and support personnel to Afghanistan, mostly special forces soldiers.
Downer said that if the Netherlands decided against the deployment, Australia would still discuss deploying with British or American troops.
"We won't necessarily abandon the idea of a provincial reconstruction team," he said.
"We know how important it is for the new democratic government in Afghanistan and the new free and democratic processes there to survive, and every country that possibly can needs to give support to Afghanistan."
The Australian government also announced it would commit up to 150 million more dollars (113.5 million US) over the next five years to assist Afghanistan.
Canberra has spent some 110 million dollars in the war-torn country since the US-led coalition invaded in late 2001.
The new money includes a commitment of 55 million dollars before June 2007, with additional funding dependant on Afghanistan's government meeting benchmarks in the Afghanistan Compact announced Tuesday.
Under the compact, Afghanistan has pledged to meet targets in security, governance, rule of law and human rights, and economic and social development in return for military and financial aid from its international partners.
Australia also has about 900 troops in Iraq, a fact that Downer said the government would have to take into consideration when deciding on troop levels for Afghanistan.
About 450 of the soldiers are guarding Japanese forces on a humanitarian mission in southern Samawa, which Japanese media reports said could end by May.
Downer said Australia would "wait and see" what Japan would do before deciding whether to bring its Samawa troops home or redeploy them elsewhere in Iraq.
Afghan Villagers Clash With Taliban
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
January 31 2006 (RFE/RL)-- Police say Afghan villagers have clashed with suspected Taliban insurgents near the border with Pakistan. Two Taliban and a villager were killed.
The Kandahar provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said the clash erupted when a small group of Taliban tried to take refuge in a village near the border town of Spin Boldak on Monday night.
It is unusual for villagers to launch attacks against the Taliban. The violence occurred close to the site of a 16 January suicide bombing that killed more than 20 civilians.
Think tank promotes strategy for country's opium problem
The international community needs to reshape its strategy in Afghanistan and resolve the opium crisis in order to increase development and improve security in the country. That is the conclusion of an international conference in London in which deputies from Afghan's parliament took part. An international drug policy think tank, The Senlis Council, organized the conference to promote its idea of replacing Afghanistan's opium-eradication program with a licensing system for farmers to enable the production of opium-based medicines.
LONDON, 31 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- As international donors for Afghanistan gathered in London on 30 January to pledge funds for the political and economic development of the country over the next five years, they were told to change their strategy.
Some 200 participants in a separate conference organized by The Senlis Council say that a new drug policy is needed to resolve Afghanistan's opium problem.
Others say licensing could be dangerous because the drug mafias could buy the licenses from the farmers or force them to turn them over.
Novel Idea
The Senlis Council says that in order to help the many thousands of Afghan farmers reliant on opium-poppy cultivation for their livelihood, the international community should replace the poppy eradication policy with a licensing system. The license would allow for the legal production of opium to make morphine and codeine that could supply the country and be a major export to the rest of the world.
Emmanuel Reinert is the executive director of The Senlis Council. "[A] quick fix, [an] aggressive policy such as eradication, chemical spraying, would not only be inefficient, but extremely counterproductive and will encourage...unrest in the country," he said. "It will actually undermine the primary mission of the coalition forces and NATO in Afghanistan, which is the establishment of the rule of law and the development of the country."
Reinert stresses that the Afghan people and especially the farmers -- including women -- who actually work in the fields the most should be directly involved in the formulation of an opium policy. So far they have had no influence on such policies and this is why The Senlis Council wants to gather farming representatives to enable them to help formulate national policies, Reinert said.
"That's why we will be organizing a 'Farmers' Jirga' in Kabul with 100 farmers coming from all the provinces in Afghanistan to discuss their views on the opium crisis," he said.
Parliamentarians' Support
Reinert says that a number of members of the Afghan parliament are also interested in a new proposal for legislation that would firmly put the licensing of farmers for the legal production of medicinal opium into the antinarcotics law. It should also help the government formulate a means to make that law work.
Separately, The Senlis Council has also prepared a draft proposal of a bill that would make any eradication policies -- including the damage to the soil done by aerial spraying -- illegal.
The members of the Afghan parliament who are in London for the donors meeting seem interested in the proposals. One of them is Safia Seddiqi, from Nangarhar Province.
"This is a very good idea," she said. "I am really supporting that, but [only] if the real beneficiaries are the farmers. In Afghanistan the [strongest] party is the poppy traffickers, not the farmers. The farmers are poor people. They are not receiving their benefit from [the poppies]. For example, out of $100,000, they are receiving just maybe $100 or $200. For that reason, in my opinion, we should be very, very careful."
Another member of the Afghan parliament is Shukria Barakzai, from Kabul, who agrees that the proposals are interesting. Barakzai was the organizer of underground schools for women during the reign of the Taliban. She stresses that a Loya Jirga should approve the proposed new legislation.
"They're thinking about 13 million Afghans, [either] directly or indirectly [affected], [for whom] that's the only way [in] which [they would] benefit," Barakzai said. "We should build a law for it, but by the constitution we are not allowed to do it, but we can invite our Loya Jirga [to convene], and [it] can change the constitution."
Too Radical?
Some other Afghan conference participants say The Senlis Council proposals could be a basis for further discussion, but regard them as being too idealistic in current circumstances. One participant asked that with so many Afghan police being illiterate, how could they enforce complicated licensing regulations?
Others say licensing could be dangerous because the drug mafias could buy the licenses from the farmers or force them to turn them over. One Afghan student even recommends the best solution to the problem is burning the poppy fields and instructing imams to tell the people to grow something else.
Gulalai Momand, The Senlis Council's deputy country manager for Afghanistan, remains optimistic that the proposals are a viable alternative to what she calls the "dangerously pauperizing" eradication program. She stresses that the donor countries should listen to what the people of Afghanistan actually want.
"We expect [the international community] to listen to the voice of the Afghan nation when they are making their decisions," Momand said. "The purpose of our whole conference was to propose some of the questions that we had, especially in terms of drug policy and women's issues going on in Afghanistan right now, so that they can consider them while they are here."
Momand concludes that it will soon be known if the donor countries have listened to and understood the message of the conference.
Afghan murder inquiry draws blank
By Andrew North BBC News Monday, 30 January 2006, 17:12 GMT
Foreign workers in Afghanistan say there has been almost no progress in investigating the murder of a Scotsman who worked for the Afghan government.
Steve MacQueen was shot dead in Kabul city centre on 7 March last year.
The murder - and the fact it appeared to be a targeted killing - shocked the foreign community, including veterans used to the threat of violence.
The concerns come as Afghan officials meet donors in London to seek continued support for their rebuilding efforts.
Aid workers and other members of the foreign community in Kabul are concerned at what they say is a near total lack of progress in investigating the murder of Mr MacQueen, who ran a key development programme for the Afghan government.
He was killed just days before he was due to leave Afghanistan, after finishing a two-year contract running a loan scheme for poor rural communities.
Almost a year on, no one has been charged in the case and several people with knowledge of the investigation have told the BBC the Afghan authorities are no longer pursuing it.
"There's nothing going on," said one Afghan source.
Some fear the case is being quietly forgotten.
Corruption claims
British police did help with the investigation initially. But they are no longer actively involved.
It is an Afghan-led inquiry, they say, and they can only assist if asked to do so. The BBC tried several times to contact General Manan, an official at the Afghan interior ministry who is now responsible for the inquiry, but got no response.
"We are obviously very concerned," said one aid worker and former colleague, who like most people contacted for this article, asked to remain anonymous.
"Steve was here to help Afghanistan. It's hard to accept his killers are still on the loose. The same thing could happen again."
One theory is that Mr MacQueen's murder may be linked to his reported discovery of alleged large-scale corruption in an Afghan aid organisation.
Several sources say these corruption allegations could implicate senior officials if proven. It is a murky story, which is difficult to unravel.
Taleban link?
Another theory is that the Taleban were behind the shooting.
The hardline movement's former spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, who was handed over to the Afghan government in late 2005 is reported to have told his interrogators that they ordered the killing of a foreigner after hearing a US general say the Taleban no longer had the capacity to mount attacks in Kabul.
The BBC was told that Mr Hakimi provided names and telephone numbers of Taleban commanders involved in the incident.
However, given the spokesman's past record of claiming all incidents, there is widespread scepticism about his statement.
Also still unresolved is the murder of a British security contractor in south-west Afghanistan in August last year, as well as the killings of five workers for the French agency Medecins Sans Frontieres in 2004, which led to the group entirely withdrawing from Afghanistan.
In this same period, many other people have died violent deaths in Afghanistan - the vast majority of them Afghans. And most of these will never get any attention.
But with continued foreign assistance essential to Afghanistan, aid workers say these cases should not be allowed to fade.
"For the peace of mind of people here, it's important these cases are investigated thoroughly," said one well-known figure in Afghanistan's foreign aid community.
Britain and US split over defeating Afghan opium trade
The Independent Online - UK By Kim Sengupta and Anne Penketh 31 January 2006
Attempts to eradicate Afghanistan's opium crop have abjectly failed and British soldiers who take part in such operations may face legal action, an international think-tank has said.
Britain is sending a task force of almost 6,000 troops to Afghanistan to fight the resurgent al-Qa'ida and Taliban and also take part in tackling the country's poppy crops. These supply 90 per cent of heroin to this country and the UK is planning to spend £20m a year on eradication.
But at the eve of the London Conference on Afghanistan co-hosted by Tony Blair, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President differences are emerging between Britain and the US.
American officials are pressing for aerial crop-spraying. But aid agencies and human rights groups point out that poppy fields are often adjacent to ones growing vegetables and wheat. British officials are against spraying. But a report by the Senlis Council, the think-tank, showed yesterday that the US administration was advertising for aerial spraying jobs in Afghanistan.
Recent job postings by the US Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs include the position of "Aviation Eradication Ops and Safety Officer" and an "Aviation Maintenance Adviser" for operations in Afghanistan. According to the report, a US government document says "the end game of the CN [Counter Narcotics] aviation programme is the curtailment of the supply ... through aerial and airmobile eradication of drug crops".
The Senlis Council is setting up a fund, and commissioning lawyers to act for farmers whose poppy fields are destroyed.
The British force being sent to Afghanistan will come under a Nato mandate which stipulates that troops deployed should concentrate on peacekeeping and training the Afghan police and army. Nato officials said that does not include opium eradication.
The UN has also warned about the dangers of foreign intervention. Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said the military "should not be involved in eradication. This should be run by the national authority" because crops destroyed could be "replanted in weeks".
Mr Costa said the West had been the author of its own misfortune over heroin. "I see very little progress in the consumption side. We need prevention programmes in schools, testing on roads like breathalysers, and campaigns like anti-smoking campaigns," he said.
British defence sources said last night that British troops would not be playing a direct part in opium eradication, but would be training and guiding Afghan government forces.
Attempts to eradicate Afghanistan's opium crop have abjectly failed and British soldiers who take part in such operations may face legal action, an international think-tank has said.
Britain is sending a task force of almost 6,000 troops to Afghanistan to fight the resurgent al-Qa'ida and Taliban and also take part in tackling the country's poppy crops. These supply 90 per cent of heroin to this country and the UK is planning to spend £20m a year on eradication.
But at the eve of the London Conference on Afghanistan co-hosted by Tony Blair, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President differences are emerging between Britain and the US.
American officials are pressing for aerial crop-spraying. But aid agencies and human rights groups point out that poppy fields are often adjacent to ones growing vegetables and wheat. British officials are against spraying. But a report by the Senlis Council, the think-tank, showed yesterday that the US administration was advertising for aerial spraying jobs in Afghanistan.
Recent job postings by the US Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs include the position of "Aviation Eradication Ops and Safety Officer" and an "Aviation Maintenance Adviser" for operations in Afghanistan. According to the report, a US government document says "the end game of the CN [Counter Narcotics] aviation programme is the curtailment of the supply ... through aerial and airmobile eradication of drug crops".
The Senlis Council is setting up a fund, and commissioning lawyers to act for farmers whose poppy fields are destroyed.
The British force being sent to Afghanistan will come under a Nato mandate which stipulates that troops deployed should concentrate on peacekeeping and training the Afghan police and army. Nato officials said that does not include opium eradication.
The UN has also warned about the dangers of foreign intervention. Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said the military "should not be involved in eradication. This should be run by the national authority" because crops destroyed could be "replanted in weeks".
Mr Costa said the West had been the author of its own misfortune over heroin. "I see very little progress in the consumption side. We need prevention programmes in schools, testing on roads like breathalysers, and campaigns like anti-smoking campaigns," he said.
British defence sources said last night that British troops would not be playing a direct part in opium eradication, but would be training and guiding Afghan government forces.
US leads world powers toward new compact with Afghanistan
January 31 2006
LONDON (AFP) - The United States pledged an extra 1.1 billion dollars in financial aid as it led world powers toward a new compact aimed at helping Afghanistan defeat a resurgent Taliban and opium traffickers.
The announcement came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai and some 70 foreign partners were in London to sign the pact under which Afghanistan is to promote stability and development in return for military and economic support.
"President (George W.) Bush will ask our Congress for 1.1 billion dollars to support the Afghan people" in the next fiscal year beginning in October, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the conference.
"For us, it is a strategic partnership," she added on Tuesday.
US-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban regime, which was funded by and sheltered Al-Qaeda, for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Having previously committed six billion dollars in aid, Washington has been Afghanistan's biggest donor, but it now wants others to carry more of the burden, US and European officials say.
The five-year Afghanistan Compact is to set out specific targets for bolstering security, improving governance, strengthening the rule of law and human rights, while boosting economic and social development.
Karzai warned the conference that "terrorism and narcotics represent the gravest of threats," even though his people have "made great strides towards peace, stability and democracy".
"It is not the security and independence of Afghanistan alone that is threatened by terrorism; this menace is the enemy of peace and of humanity and is responsible for the massacre of innocent people across the world," he added.
Karzai welcomed growing military support.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO) is deploying thousands of extra troops to parts of southern Afghanistan where remnants of the Taliban and drug traffickers are working together.
But Karzai has repeatedly appealed for more funding, including those sent directly to the government rather than non-governmental organizations (NGOs) -- a trend reinforced by donor fears of corruption and mismanagement.
Karzai said Afghanistan had a national development strategy of state building which would enforce the rule of law and create an efficient administration to lay the ground for combatting poverty.
He pledged to focus on infrastructure, water and electricity services and improve the prospects of Afghan business.
Underscoring Karzai's point, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the entire international community had a major stake in helping Afghanistan meet the "serious challenges ahead" because of the Al-Qaeda threat.
Conference host Tony Blair, the British prime minister, vowed that the world would stand firm alongside Afghanistan in its fight for freedom, moderation and democracy.
He said winning that fight was vital not only for the Afghan people but for the entire international community.
Blair told Karzai: "That's why this is a struggle that, of course, primarily concerns the Afghan people, but it is also a struggle that concerns all of us."
Thousands of British troop reinforcements are deploying this year to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.
Ravaged by 25 years of war, the fledgling democracy has few of its own resources.
Last year only seven percent of the Afghan budget was financed by the government through about 330 million dollars in domestic revenues, generated for the most part through tariffs.
About 90 percent of the rest came from international donors, notably the United States.
'Long road' to Afghan stability
Tuesday, 31 January 2006 BBC News
Afghanistan still faces a long road to peace and stability, President Hamid Karzai has told international donors.
Speaking at a conference in London to discuss a new five-year development plan, he said terrorism and drugs remained the nation's biggest threats.
Mr Karzai praised the progress made but said more help from outside was needed.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said international involvement was important not just for Afghanistan but for the security of the whole world.
Despite progress in building up a new government, major concerns remain over security, poverty and the drugs trade.
Co-chaired by Afghanistan and the UN, the two-day conference will launch the Afghan Compact, a framework for international engagement with Afghanistan over the next five years.
Speaking as the meeting opened, Mr Karzai said "great strides" had been made towards peace and stability but terrorism and narcotics remained "the gravest of threats".
"It is not the security and independence of Afghanistan alone that is threatened by terrorism," he told delegates.
"This menace is the enemy of peace and humanity and is responsible for the massacre of the innocent across the world."
Mr Blair said the international community was determined to stick with the Afghan people through a "struggle that concerns all of us".
UN Secretary Kofi Annan said Afghanistan could be proud of the progress made over the past four years, particularly in democracy, but warned against complacency in the face of increasing violence.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the Bush administration planned to give Afghanistan $1.1bn (£621m) in aid next year.
She stressed US commitment to the long-term success of Afghanistan and urged the international community to redouble its efforts.
"The transformation of Afghanistan is remarkable but incomplete," she said. "And it is essential that we all increase our support for the Afghan people."
'Naive'
The Afghan government will present its strategy on development, security, good governance and the drugs trade to officials from some 70 nations and international organisations over the next two days.
Mr Karzai earlier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the eradication of Afghanistan's poppy fields could take 10 to 15 years because many people relied on the drugs trade for their livelihood.
He admitted to having been "naive" about the difficulties of ending poppy cultivation when he came to power three years ago.
Afghanistan remains the source of nearly 90% of the world's opium and heroin, with the illegal drugs trade accounting for a third of the country's economy.
Mr Karzai also cited a need for better cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terrorism. A recent upsurge in violence has largely been blamed on Taleban insurgents.
The conference comes as Nato prepares to expand its role in Afghanistan with the deployment of an extra 6,000 troops.
The troops will move into the volatile south of the country where US-led troops have been operating.
Afghans Find Key Promises Unfulfilled
London Conference Offers World a Chance To Reassess, Recommit
By Griff Witte Washington Post Tuesday, January 31, 2006; A12
PAGHMAN, Afghanistan -- When pledges of foreign aid began pouring into Afghanistan after the collapse of Taliban rule in late 2001, Mohammed Latif Kokan was sure he would soon be rid of the artillery shell fragments that had lodged in his shoulder during the Soviet military occupation of the 1980s.
More than four years later, the shrapnel is still there; no physician in Afghanistan has the facilities or expertise to remove it. Likewise, Kokan said this week, few of the promises made then for rebuilding schools, hospitals and public works have materialized.
"When it gets cold, I feel the pain," said the grizzled truck driver, 50, who lives in this hillside village about 25 miles west of Kabul, the capital. "We had been very hopeful. But in the past four years, nothing has happened at all. Our leaders get the money, and they put it in their pockets."
As Afghan officials and representatives of more than 60 other nations gather Tuesday in London to forge a new compact for rebuilding Afghanistan over the next five years, they are expected to point to the progress that has begun to remake Afghanistan: new highways, disarmed militias, an elected president and parliament, and schools open to both boys and girls.
But they will also need to respond to criticism from people like Kokan, whose perception of a wide gap between promises and results is shared by many Afghans. Although billions of dollars have been spent, sentiment is growing that much of the aid has benefited officials and a small, wealthy elite, leaving scraps for the millions who remain in dire poverty.
More than a third of rural families lack enough food for at least part of the year. Life expectancy is only 45; infant and maternal mortality are as high as in the poorest African countries. And the female literacy rate -- below 20 percent nationwide, less than 1 percent in some provinces -- remains the world's lowest.
But there are reasons for optimism. The legal economy has grown by 85 percent since the extremist Taliban regime was forced from power. School enrollments have quadrupled to 6 million pupils, a third of whom are girls. Inflation has fallen, the currency is stable and urban commerce is booming. Warring factional militias have been replaced by a national army and police force.
"What has happened here the last few years is a major success story. But we're not under any illusion that it's in the bag," said Richard B. Norland, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. "We recognize fully that there are still major, major problems to be resolved. And it could slide backwards."
The two-day conference in London is a chance for the world to recommit to Afghanistan. Several senior international figures are expected to speak, including U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
It will also be an opportunity to chart a road map for the country's future. In December, the seating of the new parliament successfully completed the plan, outlined at a 2001 conference in Bonn, for a U.N.-supervised transition to democracy.
While the Bonn accord was primarily a political document, the Afghanistan Compact slated for approval in London is much more focused on economic development. It will lay out specific benchmarks for growth in the next five years and will detail how international donors and the Afghan government should work together. A commission composed of Afghan and international officials will be created to make sure aid money is well spent.
One expected change is that Afghan officials will be given more control over the management and disbursement of aid funds. The World Bank reported last week that only 25 percent of aid to Afghanistan was flowing through the government, hindering its ability to budget and plan reconstruction.
At a breakfast with reporters in Kabul this month, President Hamid Karzai criticized aid organizations for wasting funds, saying that his government could manage them better and that too much was spent "on high salaries, on overhead charges, on luxury vehicles, on luxury houses and lots of other luxuries that Afghanistan cannot afford."
But the Afghan government has been criticized, too. Many Afghans say they believe corrupt officials are doling out the spoils of reconstruction -- from building contracts to highly paid office jobs -- to friends and relatives, while people without connections struggle to make ends meet and even skilled public employees such as teachers and doctors earn less than $40 a month.
"I don't have a home of my own," said Mohammed Ibrahim, 27, a porter in Logar City, about an hour's drive south of Kabul. "The governor distributed a lot of land, but he gave it to his own people. Not to the poor people who need it."
Ibrahim acknowledged that at least one thing has gotten better: The rocky dirt road that once ran between Logar and Kabul has been replaced by a smooth asphalt highway. In Paghman, too, a new blacktop path has helped spark business as it becomes easier for tourists to drive here and take in the picturesque mountain views.
Ishaq Nadiri, Karzai's senior economic adviser, said the new roads improve security by giving insurgents fewer places to hide. He said they also undermine Afghan poppy production -- which now supplies 87 percent of the world's opium and employs hundreds of thousands of people -- by making it easier for farmers to get such crops as melons or wheat to market.
Nadiri said a major focus of the London meeting will be eliminating the narco-economy and replacing it with legal crops that allow farmers to earn a decent living. Karzai and others have said recently that unless Afghanistan gets control of the drug problem, all redevelopment efforts here could be for naught.
"Development so far has been urban-centric, unfortunately. And that's exactly what we want to avoid," Nadiri said. "Afghanistan's economy has been and will be dependent on the growth of agriculture and our rural areas. That's where most of our poor live. That's where most of our people live. So we can make a big dent by changing the nature of our agriculture."
Officials Stress Long-Term Commitments As Afghans Open 'New Chapter'
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
January 31 2006 (RFE/RL) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have told participants in a two-day London conference devoted to the future of Afghanistan that their administrations are committed to that country's long-term health.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai then hailed a "new chapter" in his country's history and predicted that efforts would be focused increasingly on improving the country for its roughly 30 million inhabitants.
U.S. Aid Pledge
Rice announced that the United States plans to give that country $1.1 billion in additional aid next year.
"In addition to our current commitment of nearly $6 billion, today I am proud to announce that [U.S.] President [George W.] Bush will ask our Congress for $1.1 billion in new assistance to support the people of Afghanistan in the next year," Rice said.
Rice's speech came after British Prime Minister Tony Blair opened the so-called London Conference on the future of Afghanistan. She laid out the importance that the Bush administration assigns to a close, "strategic partnership" with Kabul in the years to come.
"With so much progress [in Afghanistan during the last four years], some could be tempted to think that the hard work is done," Rice told participants from 70 countries. "President Bush and I do not share this view, nor do the American people. The United States is fully devoted to the long-term success of Afghanistan. For us, this is a strategic partnership."
'Tremendous Progress'
In his opening speech, Blair warned of obstacles ahead but stressed positive achievements since the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001. He said the international community is committed to building a stable and democratic Afghanistan
"Afghanistan faces immense challenges. But let us also remember the tremendous progress that has been made," Blair said. "I don't just mean progress in terms of its economy, where the living standards of the people have risen and the economy has grown. But I also mean the progress in terms of the liberty and freedom that people enjoy in Afghanistan when for so long they were denied it."
The two-day meeting is expected to result in support for a five-year plan setting out goals for economic development, increased security, and success in the battle against corruption and the illegal opium trade in Afghanistan. That document is known as the London Compact.
"The purpose of the conference today is, of course, to sign the London Compact -- which will pledge us to help Afghanistan in any way that we can for the future," Blair said. "My own country -- over the next three years -- is committed fto some 500 million pounds' worth of help. But we're also not just committing financial assistance, but of course, the forces -- the armed forces of many countries around this table -- are represented in Afghanistan."
Organizers also are seeking increased independence for the Afghan government -- rather than the international community -- to administer to the country's affairs.
Afghan President Hails 'New Chapter'
In his speech, Afghan President Karzai touted his country's progress. But Karzai, who emerged as the internationally backed choice to lead a transitional administration in 2001 and was reelected in the country's first-ever direct presidential election in 2004, noted that it is time for a "new chapter" that is focused more specifically on the needs of Afghans.
Through developing the institutional capacities of the state, we will enforce the rule of law and ensure the protection of the rights of our people."
"Four years ago, the Bonn Agreement presented us with a formidable set of objectives," said Karzai. "Today, I am pleased that we successfully conclude the Bonn Process and open a new chapter of Afghanistan's rebuilding and partnership with the international community. However, in spite of the achievements, we have a long road ahead and significant challenges to overcome. We have reestablished our institutions of governance and justice. But these need to develop to serve the interests of the Afghan people."
He alluded to decades of destruction and impairment, suggesting that Afghanistan's economic fortunes will take years to reverse. "Our resurgent economy will need many more years to grow at substantial levels before it can uplift the majority of our people from poverty," Karzai said. "And above all the challenges, terrorism and narcotics represent the gravest of threats. Terrorism no longer rules Afghanistan. But it continues to be a threat to our people's security and welfare."
Through developing the institutional capacities of the state, we will enforce the rule of law and ensure the protection of the rights of our people," Karzai said. "We will expedite administrative and judicial reforms, remove red tape, create an efficient and transparent administration, and fight corruption and nepotism."
Al-Zawahri Calls Bush a 'Butcher' in Video
Cairo (AP) - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in a videotape aired Monday that President Bush was a "butcher" and a "failure" because of a deadly U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeting the bin Laden deputy, and he threatened a new attack on the United States.
Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said a Jan. 13 airstrike in the eastern village of Damadola killed "innocents," and he said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.
"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said, referring to Bush. "Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses."
The airstrike hit a building in Damadola, where U.S. intelligence believed al-Zawahri had been attending an Islamic holiday dinner. The strike killed four al-Qaida leaders — including a man believed to be al-Zawahri's son-in-law — but intelligence officials said later they believe al-Zawahri sent his aides to the dinner in his place. Thirteen villagers also were killed in the strike, angering many Pakistanis.
"The American planes raided in compliance with Musharraf the traitor and his security apparatus, the slave of the Crusaders and the Jews," he said, referring to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
"In seeking to kill my humble self and four of my brothers, the whole world has discovered the extent of America's lies and failures and the extent of its savagery in fighting Islam and Muslims."
The video was al-Zawahri's first appearance since the airstrike and came 11 days after the latest audiotape by bin Laden. IntelCenter, a contractor working with U.S. intelligence agencies, said the video of al-Zawahri is new.
The last video from al-Zawahri came Jan. 6, when he called the U.S. decision to withdraw some troops from Iraq a victory for the Islamic world. The Al-Jazeera newscaster said Monday the network was airing excerpts, and it showed two short segments. It was not immediately known how long the entire tape was.
In the video, al-Zawahri spoke before a black background. No automatic weapon was visible, unlike past videos by the al-Qaida deputy in which a gun often appeared leaning next to him. In the bottom left corner, the video had the logo in Arabic and English of Al-Sahab, an al-Qaida video production company that made some past videos by bin Laden and al-Zawahri.
"My second message is to the American people, who are drowning in illusions. I tell you that Bush and his gang are shedding your blood and wasting your money in frustrated adventures," he said, speaking in a forceful and angry voice.
"The lion of Islam, Sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, offered you a decent exit from your dilemma. But your leaders, who are keen to accumulate wealth, insist on throwing you in battles and killing your souls in Iraq and Afghanistan and — God willing — on your own land."
Al-Zawahri then vented more fury at the United States and Britain, its main coalition partner in Iraq.
"Your leaders responded to the initiative of sheik Osama, may God protect him, by saying they don't negotiate with terrorists and that they are winning the war on terror. I tell them: You liars, greedy war mongers, who is pulling out from Iraq and Afghanistan? Us or you? Whose soldiers are committing suicide because of despair? Us or you?" he said.
"You, American mother, if the Pentagon calls to tell you that your son is coming home in a coffin, then remember George Bush. And you, British wife, if the Defense Department calls you to say that your husband is returning crippled and burnt, remember Tony Blair."
The video came in the wake of a Jan. 19 audiotape by bin Laden in which he warned that al-Qaida is preparing attacks in the United States but offered a truce "with fair conditions" to build Iraq and Afghanistan.
The al-Qaida leader did not spell out conditions for a truce in the excerpts aired by Al-Jazeera. U.S. officials said after the bin Laden tape that they had no sign that al-Qaida was preparing an imminent attack in the United States.
In an Arabic transcription of the entire tape on the Al-Jazeera Web site — but not aired — bin Laden made an oblique reference to how to prevent new attacks on the United States but did not specify if those were conditions for a truce.
The tape was the first message from bin Laden in more than a year. The CIA authenticated the voice on the tape as that of bin Laden. Al-Jazeera said the tape was recorded in the Islamic month that corresponds with December.
The White House firmly rejected bin Laden's suggestion of a negotiated truce. "We don't negotiate with terrorists," Vice President Dick Cheney said at the time. "I think you have to destroy them."
During the year of silence from bin Laden, al-Zawahri issued several video and audiotapes, including one claiming al-Qaida responsibility for the July 7 London bombings.
AFGHANISTAN: Snowstorms kill 18 in the north
31 Jan 2006 19:41:42 GMT
KABUL, 31 January (IRIN) - Severe winter weather in Afghanistan has killed at least 18 people in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
"Heavy snowstorms have hit five villages in the Kuhistan-e-Ragh district of Badakhshan, killing 15 people," Abdul Majid, governor of Badakhshan, said, adding affected people were in dire need of relief assistance. At least three more people are reported dead in the Ragh district of Badakhshan due to the bad weather.
The death toll is expected to climb as relief teams reach the isolated province. "Officials and local people are still evacuating dead bodies from under the snow and the death toll may rise," Majid noted.
"Due to heavy snow, only helicopters can be used for delivering aid to the affected areas of Badakhshan," Majid said. "We need more relief assistance to help the victims."
"Powerful snow has hampered relief operations in the affected areas of Badakhshan," Abdul Rahim Zarin, spokesman at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) said, adding they have sent relief teams to the affected areas to assess the damage.
Meanwhile, a landslide triggered by heavy snow has killed at least one person in the eastern province of Noristan, according to officials.
"A landslide hit a village in Wai Gul district of Noristan killing one person and 20 domestic animals," Zarin noted.
In the middle of January, a landslide triggered by heavy rain and snow killed at least 13 people in a remote village in the Sar-e-Pol province, in the north. Last February, cold weather and heavy snowfalls across the country killed more than 500 people, mostly women and children. Roads blocked by snow led to a delay in getting assistance to nearly 61 districts in 19 affected provinces during that emergency.
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