Afghanistan News January 6, 2006

January 6, 2006

No Taliban or Al-Qaeda resurgence in Afghanistan: NATO chief
6 January 2006
MONS, Belgium (AFP) - NATO's military chief said that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were not regrouping in Afghanistan despite more than a dozen suicide attacks there in the last three months.

"There's a knee-jerk reaction that wants to say: 'Oh, the Taliban is coming back' or 'Al-Qaeda's coming back'. I don't know of any commander or any estimate that can say that with certainty," US General James Jones said.

Jones acknowledged that some members of the former Taliban regime, which was ousted by a US-led coalition in 2001, and Al-Qaeda were operating in Afghanistan but that there was also plenty of criminal activity.

"The violence that we're seeing is disparate and for now I don't think it is focused. In other words, I don't see an allegiance between, say, criminal gangs and the Taliban, or narco-traffickers and Al-Qaeda," he said.

"These are different groups that have their own agenda," he told reporters at NATO's military headquarters in Mons, southern Belgium.

Ten people died and 50 were wounded on Thursday in a suicide bomb attack in central Afghanistan during a visit by the US ambassador. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

More than 30 people have been killed in more than a dozen suicide attacks in the last three months. Most bombings have been blamed on remnants of the Taliban, who are thought to be copying the tactics of insurgents in Iraq.

Jones said he had studied data about attacks in Afghanistan since the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force began operating there in late 2001 and that no new spike or trend was evident.

"Historically there is no rise, no significant change from one year to the other in terms of incidents," he said.

But he added that attacks sometimes rose short-term in response to events, like the two new stages of ISAF's expansion into volatile southern Afghanistan which are due to start in the next six months.

"With NATO coming into stage three and stage four, obviously people are trying to send a message to try to discourage or intimidate," he said.

NATO chief hopes Dutch will send troops to south Afghanistan
Fri Jan 6, 7:52 AM ET
MONS, Belgium, Jan 6 (AFP) - NATO's military commander was hopeful on Friday that the Netherlands would agree to send troops to southern Afghanistan but insisted that the alliance should move into the region by June.

The Dutch government has delayed a decision on deploying 1,100 troops into the region, which is more volatile than other parts of Afghanistan, until parliament gives its backing, possibly in February.

"We're hopeful that the parliament will reach the right decision," US General James Jones told reporters at the alliance's military headquarters in Mons, southern Belgium.

"We're doing everything we can to be informative and responsive to any questions that any of our allies have who are going on these missions," he said.

The Dutch government wants to move into the region, where NATO troops would eventually number about 6,000, but there is heavy opposition in the assembly.

The army and the public also oppose committing troops to the restive province of Oruzgan, where Taliban holdouts have regularly launched attacks since being removed from power in Kabul in late 2001.

But such a move would give the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is helping extend the influence of the Afghan government, a strong foothold at all points of the compass except the east.

Other countries are prepared to join the Dutch, who have important resources like attack helicopters, but they are unable to make any clear commitments until the Netherlands makes up its mind.

Jones said he wanted the move into the south, known as "phase three", to be completed by mid-year, and that NATO's goal would be hard to achieve if the Netherlands were to back down.

"What we are trying to shoot for is the June, July time frame," he said. "I'd like June."

If Dutch troops do not go "it will certainly make things more difficult. If NATO wishes to continue with phase three, we're going to have to find other ways of doing it," he said.

Operating under a UN mandate and under NATO control for two years, ISAF usually numbers around 10,000 troops from more than 30 countries and has been in Afghanistan since the end of 2001.

Karzai Wraps Up Visit To Turkey
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
6 January 2006 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai today wraps up a landmark visit to Turkey, the first by an Afghan head of state in 48 years.

On the agenda on 6 January are talks with Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Karzai is meeting Turkish political and military leaders to discuss ways of boosting investment in his country. Turkish private investors and aid groups in Afghanistan are involved in a range of contracts worth about $1 billion. Most of that work is in the construction sector, building roads, medical clinics and schools.

Karzai met his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer on 5 January. They later signed an accord aimed at making it easier for Turkish aid to reach Afghanistan.

Afghanistan, Turkey Sign Cooperation Accord
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
January 6 2005 -- Turkey and Afghanistan today signed a cooperation agreement in Ankara during a visit by

President Hamid Karzai.The bilateral accord is due to facilitate development and infrastructure aid to Afghanistan delivered through the Turkish International Cooperation Agency.

At a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Karzai expressed appreciation for Turkey's assistance and urged greater investments from Turkish firms. Sezer promised his country will continue to help Afghanistan's development and security.

During his two-day visit, Karzai is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the chief of the Turkish military General Hilmi Ozkok and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. The talks are expected to focus on rebuilding Afghanistan. Karzai is the first Afghan head of state to visit Turkey in 48 years.

Afghan President Takes Landmark Turkey Trip
Ankara (AP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with his Turkish counterpart on Friday at the beginning of a landmark visit to Turkey to boost historic ties with one of his impoverished country's biggest private investors.

Washington sees predominantly Muslim but secular Turkey as a role model for Afghanistan. Turkey has led the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, supporting Washington's position that the war against terror is not between Islam and the West.

Turkish private investors and aid groups are employed in Afghanistan on a range of contracts worth about $1 billion. Most of their work is in the construction sector, building roads, medical clinics and schools.

"I am happy to be in Turkey, our brotherly country," Karzai said, after he was welcomed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in an official ceremony at the presidential palace. The visit is the first by an Afghan head of state in 48 years.

The leaders are to discuss bilateral ties, focusing on rebuilding Afghanistan, where Turkish firms have invested about $130 million.

Karzai is the first Afghan head of state to visit Turkey since former Afghan King Zahir Shah in 1957. Karzai briefly visited Turkey in 2002 as interim leader of the Afghan government. He had no scheduled talks Wednesday.

Karzai meets with a business group in Istanbul on Friday before returning to Kabul. The Turkish premier visited Kabul nine months ago and pledged to promote more Turkish investment there.

Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO, has previously commanded a NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan and it still keeps about 200 troops in the force. The possibility of sending more troops to Afghanistan could also be discussed during Karzai's trip, the Turkish Daily News said on Wednesday.

Turkey has been steadfast in its support for the U.S.-led campaign against Afghanistan's Islamic Taliban rulers and Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Turkey to continue to support Afghanistan: Sezer
It is an objective of Turkey to assist Afghanistan take the place it deserves in the international community as a country assuring stability and prosperity in its region, Turkey’s President said.
Güncelleme: 07:31 ET 06 Ocak 2006 Cuma
ANKARA - President Kharzai called on Turkish entrepreneurs to invest in his country.

Speaking at an official dinner Thursday night honouring visiting Afghani President Hamid Khazai, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said Turkey attaches importance to Afghanistan’s sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity.

“Our contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, which we commanded in 2003 and 2005, and our support for the Afghan army and police will continue,” said Sezer. “Our country also supports the reconstruction of Afghanistan as well as its contributions to Afghanistan’s security, stability and peace.”

Earlier Thursday, Presidents Sezer and Khazai signed a protocol establishing a Program Co-ordination Office of the Turkish International Co-operation Agency (TIKA) in Afghanistan, in order to facilitate the smoother flow of assistance to Afghanistan.

President Kharzai used the occasion to thank Turkey for its support, saying Turkey had always stood by Afghanistan during good times and bad and called on Turkish entrepreneurs to invest in his country.

Canada’s Elite troops bound for Afghanistan -Kashar News
OTTAWA, Jan 5 (SANA): The Canadian Forces is sending up to 100 commandos from its elite Joint Task Force 2 to Afghanistan this month, the largest contingent of special forces Canada has ever sent overseas, the National Post has learned.

Between 75 and 100 soldiers of JTF-2 will arrive just ahead of a 2,000-member Canadian battle group that is deploying to the restive southern province of Kandahar amid growing warnings of high casualties and a looming enemy offensive in the region.

Defence sources familiar with the mission said the commandos will arrive in the Kandahar region by the end of the month, part of an unprecedented surge of troops by the secretive JTF-2. "They're coming in in a big way," one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This is more boots on the ground than they've ever had in one place before."

Captain Stephanie Godin, a military spokeswoman, would neither confirm nor deny the unit's deployment to Afghanistan. "We can't confirm the numbers or specific missions of JTF-2 for reasons of operational security," she said.

But military experts said it only makes sense to "flood the zone" with special forces after new warnings from key NATO allies to expect high casualties from the Kandahar mission.

"The situation's going to get more hazardous there, so they'd be foolish not to flood the whole area with special forces in advance of the deployment," said John Thompson, the director of the MacKenzie Institute, a Toronto-based think-tank specializing in defence and security issues. "The first few weeks of any deployment is one of the most dangerous times for the troops."

British officials have warned the public to expect high casualties from the mission to Kandahar, a hotbed of support for Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers and their al-Qaeda allies.

The Dutch, who were to provide a third of the troops for the Canadian-led Task Force Aegis in Kandahar, may pull out of the mission entirely. And Australia, which has an estimated 190 special forces in Afghanistan, is considering delaying a 200-strong military reconstruction team that was to be sent to the south.

However, Alain Pellerin, director of the Canadian defence lobby group Conference of Defence Associations, said the Dutch will likely join the mission despite their misgivings.

But he said the dangers should not be understated. "In the south of Afghanistan you're really moving into bandit country," he said. "The Americans have lost more than 100 soldiers there in the past year -- the war is not over in the south."

"There's bound to be encounters with fairly large groups of Taliban. ... The Canadians and other NATO troops will be a magnet. They'll be tested as soon as they arrive, I'm sure."

The large Canadian force will be comprised of soldiers from the Alberta-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the same regiment that served in Afghanistan in 2001-02.

Mr. Thompson said the JTF-2 is being sent in such large numbers to help the Princess Patricia's deal with the Taliban threat.

The deployment to Kandahar would represent between a third and half of JTF-2's total strength. The military has never officially acknowledged the total strength of the special forces unit, based in a facility just outside Ottawa, but most observers place their numbers at between 200 and 250 soldiers.

US congressman to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (SANA): Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. has left for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan - his fourth trip to the region since Sept. 11, 2001 - where he will thank the troops for their service, meet with military commanders and top government officials, and assess progress in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a statement, Ford said: "There is mixed news coming out of Iraq. Elections have taken place, but the insurgency is still very active. I am looking forward to assessing our progress in helping train an Iraqi army and police force. I am most interested in understanding our military commanders' plan for drawing down our troops and the impact this will have on Iraqis' ability to govern themselves and secure their country.

"I am anxious to meet with Tennessee soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines while there and thank them personally for their sacrifices and service, especially during this holiday season.

"In Afghanistan, we will meet with President Karzai to better understand how the government is faring and see firsthand the efforts to eradicate the drug trade and replace it with viable economic alternatives. In Pakistan, we will meet with American and Pakistani officials to understand how our countries can work better together to fight al Qaeda."

US plans Afghan jail for terror suspects
Financial Times, 01/04/2006, Jimmy Burnsand Rachel Morarjee
The US government has plans to build a high-security prison in Afghanistan to hold terror suspects, including some who would be transferred from the controversial US naval base at Guantánamo Bay.

The site selected for the jail is Pol-e-Charki, a rundown prison near Kabul dating from the Soviet era. Some of the base's prison facilities have recently been refurbished as part of a European Union-financed criminal justice reform programme backed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The transfer of prisoners of Afghan origin from Guantánamo to Afghanistan is intended to take pressure off the US administration, which continues to face strong international criticism for holding detainees without trial or other legal recourse.

The administration is eager to return as many detainees as possible to their home countries, while bringing what it considers the most dangerous ones to trial before US military tribunals.

According to estimates by Amnesty International, the human rights group, about 750 people have been detained in Guantánamo since January 2002, many of them of Afghan origin.

As of August an estimated 510 detainees were still held, with 167 prisoners released and, according to the US defence department, a further 67 moved to the custody of other governments.

Under an agreement announced by the US administration last August, 110 Afghan detainees were to be repatriated from Guantánamo initially to be detained together with about 350 others held without trial at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

The prospect of terrorist suspects being held under indefinite detention in Afghanistan could fuel concerns about their treatment at a time when the Afghan judicial system is in its infancy. Human rights groups have made allegations of mistreatment of detainees in Afghan jails.

Last year, senior US administration officials were quoted as saying the US and Afghan governments had reached an understanding allowing for the gradual transfer of Afghan detainees held by US forces in Guantánamo and in Afghanistan to the control of the Afghan authorities. About 500 prisoners are under US detention at Bagram and Kandahar in Afghanistan, with an undisclosed number of terrorist suspects believed held in secret locations elsewhere in the country.

Western diplomats say the UN and the EU have been resisting US plans to have the Pol-e-Charki base turned into a secure prison that would hold Afghan terror suspects. The UNODC project was intended to house prisoners involved in drug trafficking. Evidence that the US intends to push ahead with its plans emerged last month with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Afghanistan issuing a public notice for the renovation and construction of a cell block at Pol-e-Charki. It said the project would be aimed at accommodating "detainees presently in sub-standard and/or overcrowded facilities". It added the cell block would be refurbished to accept "detainees to be processed through the Afghan courts".

'Afghans killed' by cold weather
BBC News, 5 January 2006
Severe cold weather has left five people dead in a camp providing temporary accommodation for returning refugees in northern Afghanistan, an official says. A government official told the BBC that five members of a newly-returned family from Pakistan died in Sakhi camp, 12km east of Mazar-e-Sharif on Wednesday.

The dead includes four children and a women, he said. He said they were living in tents with inadequate heating facilities. Jan Mohammad, the father of the dead child said that if the severe cold persisted his other three children were also in danger of dying.

Atiqullah Ansari, an official with the ministry of repatriation of refugees in Mazar-e-Sharif, told the BBC's Bilal Sarwary that a better place with better facilities was urgently needed to house the refugees. Sakhi Camp in the northern Balkh province houses more than 120 families all living in tents.

These families include both returning refugees from Pakistan and Iran as well as internally displaced Afghans (IDPs). Refugees have been complaining that the Afghan government has failed to provide proper housing for those returning.

Hawaii Marines Head To Afghanistan
Source: KITV The Hawaii Channel Thu Jan 5, 7:29 PM ET
About 400 Marines stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe left for a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan on Thursday.

Officials made a final roll call before the Marines left on their next overseas assignment.

There were more than a few tearful hugs goodbye and phone calls to family and friends.

Among those being deployed was Cpl. Daryl Sannicolas. Sannicolas is a 2001 Campbell High School graduate who has already served two tours in Afghanistan.

"So, what's it going to be like?" KITV's Dan Meisenzahl asked him.

"Don't know, can't tell you. Hopefully everybody comes back, though," Sannicolas said.

That wasn't the case when Sannicolas' unit went to Iraq.

"We lost quite a few. It was like IED (individual explosive device) attacks and small arms fire," he said.

Iraq war veteran Marvin Blanio is a medic born on the Big Island. He spent every minute he could before his departure with his new girlfriend, Aby Jane Pisbe.

"So I stayed up all night, just about all night, with her talking and making sure everything is good to go," Blanio said.

Pisbe said she doesn't know what to expect when Blanio's gone.

"Like he said, it didn't hit us yet, but maybe, I don't know. We'll see," she said.

Blanio and the rest are off to a faraway land where American forces are in constant danger. They're all leaving loved ones behind. Sannicolas has two daughters, ages 3 years old and 5 months old.

"They want it all to end already, but it's our jobs, so we do what we got to do," Sannicolas said.

Their journey half a world away began with a short bus trip to Hickam Air Force. If all goes well, the group will be back in the summer.

Daily Afghan Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty January 6 2005
U.S. To Reduce Troop Levels In Afghanistan
U.S. President George W. Bush said on 4 January that the United States will cut the number of troops in Afghanistan this year from 19,000 to 16,500 because of improving security, according to a U.S. State Department press release the same day. NATO forces will take over some of the duties of U.S. soldiers. "Our strategy has been to provide a strong commitment to provide stability so that democracy can flourish and then as others, including Afghan troops as well as NATO troops, step in we step back," Bush said. "We're going to continue to conduct antiterrorist operations in Afghanistan as well. This is all part of a global war against a terrorist network." Bush said that his decision to reduce troop levels was based on recommendations from commanders on the ground, rather than a result of domestic pressure. CP

Suicide Bombing Kills 10 In Afghanistan

Ten people were killed and approximately 50 wounded in a suicide attack in the Afghan city of Tarin Kot in central Oruzgan Province, "The New York Times" reported on 5 January. The bomb exploded as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Ronald Neumann, was visiting the city, but he was unhurt in the blast, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy. A spokesman for the neo-Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was meant to disrupt the ambassador's visit. CP

Militants Surrender To Afghan Government In Amnesty

Twenty-four neo-Taliban and Islamist militants surrendered to the Afghan government as part of a U.S.-supported amnesty plan intended to reduce violence, Pakistan's "Daily Times" reported on 6 January. The militants, four of whom were part of the Taliban regime and the rest from the extremist group Hizb-e Islami, gave themselves up in Gardez, capital of Paktiya Province. They had been living in Pakistan. Mawlawi Abdul Hodod, who spoke for the militants, said they would now participate in Afghanistan's reconstruction. CP

More Than 500,000 Afghan Refugees Returned In 2005

520,100 Afghans were repatriated last year with help from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, according to a 2 January press release from the UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan. The vast majority, 453,000, came from Pakistan, a significant increase over the 380,000 who returned from Pakistan in 2003, and due, in part, to the closure of several refugee camps. About 67,000 people returned from Iran with assistance from the UN, a number smaller than predicted. CP

AFGHANISTAN: ADB to launch integrated water resources project in the west
KABUL, 5 January (IRIN) - About 400,000 low-income Afghans stand to benefit from a water management project for country's western basins thanks to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance package totalling US $75 million, the bank said on Wednesday.

The project will help boost agricultural production and rural livelihoods in the Hari Rud River Basin, which includes parts of Herat province and the Murghab River Basin located in Badghis, Ghowr and Herat provinces, the ADB said.

"Given the importance of water to livelihoods in the Hari Rud River Basin, improving integrated water resource management is critical to the area's development," said Thomas Panella, an ADB water specialist from the bank's headquarters in Manila.

The project will improve irrigation, and promote more efficient agricultural practices to increase productivity in an area that contains some of Afghanistan's most extensive and intensively farmed fields.

"Irrigation systems can be rationalised to operate more efficiently and increase the total irrigated area, while water allocation also needs to be rationalised," Panella noted.

Poor irrigation directly limits yields of wheat, which is the primary crop grown in the western region of Afghanistan. Farmers cite lack of water as the primary constraint on agricultural productivity.

The project will provide for the rehabilitation and upgrading of 55,000 to 65,000 ha of traditional irrigation systems.

Local communities developed low-tech irrigation systems to provide water for crops, livestock and domestic use more than 500 years ago. But the systems deteriorated due to neglect during decades of war and civil unrest, which have impeded routine maintenance and repair.

The project will also enhance capacity among staff at the Ministry of Energy and Water, which handles irrigation, as well as the mirabs who are the traditional community managers of irrigation systems responsible for overseeing system management and operation and maintenance, the ADB said.

Taking into account this project, the ADB provided $235 million in loans and grants to Afghanistan in 2005, fulfilling a commitment to the country made in 2004. Of this total, $100 million was in the form of grants and the remainder in highly concessional loans.