Afghanistan News March 7, 2006

March 7, 2006

Afghanistan stokes terror row with Pakistan
Tuesday March 7, 8:10 PM
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan fuelled a row with Pakistan when it reiterated calls for its neighbour to stop cross-border raids by militants the same way it did during Afghan elections nearly two years ago.

The comment was the latest in an escalating tiff between the US "war on terror" allies about Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgents whom Afghan officials say are directing a deadly insurgency from across the border.

President Hamid Karzai's office agreed with comments by Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf that Afghanistan's October 2004 presidential poll would not have been so peaceful without Islamabad's deployment of thousands of troops along the frontier.

If "Pakistan's cooperation can be effective in Afghanistan's elections, this cooperation can also be effective in fighting against terrorism," spokesman Karim Rahimi told reporters.

"That is why Afghanistan has repeatedly been asking for the sincere cooperation of Pakistan in regards to fighting terrorism..."

In particular it wanted "Pakistan to take measures slowly but effectively in cities and in tribal areas where terrorists have training centres, they get support and trained there and get organised."

Musharraf slammed Karzai in an interview with CNN on Sunday, saying he was "oblivious" to events in his own country and blasting intelligence provided by Kabul about the presence of Taliban leaders in Pakistan as "nonsense".

He also said that Pakistan had helped secure the elections that Karzai won, adding "if it was not for Pakistan, maybe (Karzai) and his election would not have taken place smoothly."

Rahimi reiterated the government's defence of the intelligence, which included alleged sightings of the Taliban's fugitive leader Mullah Omar in Pakistan. Islamabad denies that the one-eyed militant is sheltering on its soil.

"If some of the information Afghanistan has given them is old as they say, this doesn't mean that the information is inaccurate... it shows that the problems exists and terrorists and terror networks can change positions there," Rahimi said.

The lower house of Afghanistan's parliament condemned Musharraf's remarks Monday.

A parliamentary statement said Pakistan's "fingerpointing" and questioning the integrity of government intelligence and defence offices was "obvious interference", legislator Shukria Barakzai told AFP.

Afghan officials have been reluctant to criticise Musharraf although one said on condition of anonymity that his comments were "highly undiplomatic".

Afghanistan is trying with the help of about 30,000 foreign troops to crush an insurgency led by insurgents loyal to the Taliban regime that was removed from power in 2001 for not handing over Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

But there are still near-daily attacks, including suicide blasts and car bombings, that have already killed around 150 people this year, and Omar and Bin Laden remain on the loose.

Violence, which is holding back the country's efforts to rebuild after 25 years of war, killed more than 1,600 people last year, many of them militants.

Pakistan is meanwhile hunting two pro-Taliban militants behind three days of heavy fighting with security forces in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan that has left around 140 militants dead.

Musharraf has offered to fence and mine the long, porous border between the nations to stop militants from crossing, but Kabul has rejected the suggestion.

"Afghanistan never wants separation between families on both sides of the border," Rahimi said. "Those who live in those areas are connected and are members of one family."

Afghanistan Defends Terrorist Intelligence
Tuesday March 7, 7:07 PM AP
A rift between Afghanistan and Pakistan deepened Tuesday as Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said intelligence about Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives allegedly hiding in Pakistan was "very strong and accurate."

Karzai's spokesman Karim Rahimi said his government will present Islamabad with further intelligence about the militants' whereabouts and that it was "hopeful that measures will be taken" against them.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan _ key allies of Washington in its war on terror _ have deteriorated sharply since Karzai gave Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf last month a list of Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives he said were hiding in Pakistan.

Afghan and Pakistani officials told The Associated Press the list included Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and top associates, and that Afghanistan also shared the locations of alleged terrorist training camps.

"Afghanistan provided very strong and accurate intelligence," Rahimi told a press conference Tuesday in response to a claim by Musharraf in an interview Sunday on CNN that the information was old.

Rahimi said that even if the intelligence was outdated, "It still shows that there are problems and terrorists have freedom of movement" in Pakistan.

Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of leaking the list to the media because Kabul did not trust Islamabad to act on it. "The bad-mouthing against Pakistan is a deliberate, articulated conspiracy," Musharraf was quoted as saying Monday by the state-run news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan.

Musharraf said nobody should question his commitment to fight terrorism and that his security forces have captured terrorists and will continue to do so. He added that he discussed the matter with President Bush during Bush's visit last week to Islamabad.

Top U.S. military commander Gen. John Abizaid was expected to visit Pakistan later Tuesday to discuss a range of issues, including the fugitive militants list, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

"Definitely, we will present our view about Afghanistan's list when our officials meet with General Abizaid," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

In another sign of the increasing tensions, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam urged Afghanistan _ and U.S.-led coalition forces _ to do more to stop militants from sneaking across the porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border into its tribal regions.

She said Pakistan had deployed some 80,000 troops along the rugged frontier and that Afghan and coalition forces should "equally contribute in stopping militants."

Pakistan, which used to support Afghanistan's former Taliban government, switched sides in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and has backed Karzai since then. But a spike in violence in Afghanistan has fueled suspicions in Kabul that Pakistan's intelligence agencies may be still supporting the Taliban _ a charge Pakistan strongly denies.

Some 1,600 people were killed in violence in Afghanistan last year, the most since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. Recent months has seen a wave of suicide attacks that Afghanistan claims were plotted in Pakistan and executed by militants who crossed the border.
___
Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed to this report from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Afghan elder denies Taliban link for man who attacked Canadian with axe
LES PERREAUX Mon Mar 6, 4:53 PM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - An Afghan elder is disputing the Canadian military's claim that a man with an axe who seriously wounded a Canadian soldier was a Taliban operative, but Haji Mohammed Eisah's assertion only underlines the murky world of political affiliations in southern Afghanistan.

Eisah says the axe-wielding attacker was Abdul Karim, a 16-year-old boy who was upset by the U.S.-led coalition's heavy-handed tactics and insensitivity to tribal traditions. Eisah said the boy had no Taliban connections.

Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, head of the Canadian contingent of 2,200 troops in Afghanistan, said in no uncertain terms Sunday that the attacker was an operative of the Taliban.

A source at Canadian headquarters, speaking on condition of anonymity, said senior military leaders "have a healthy skepticism of Mr. Eisah's version of Karim's affiliations."

The source said the military cannot disclose the evidence leading to the conclusion that the attacker worked for the Taliban, the ultraconservative militant group that allegedly harboured Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization when it was in power in Afghanistan.

The Taliban regime was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2002 after al-Qaida carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Remnants of the Taliban are still active in Afghanistan, attacking coalition forces and intimidating local populations.

Eisah said Karim was the son of a poor shoe repairman in Kondalan Schinkai. Senior military sources confirmed the identity of the attacker on Monday, but said Karim's exact age is impossible to establish.

The town was the scene of the attack Saturday where Karim struck Capt. Trevor Greene in the head with an axe. Karim was shot dead by three Canadian soldiers moments after he struck Greene.

Eisah says the boy was one of many local people who are angry at coalition and Afghan army tactics, such as operations where they search and occupy the homes of villagers.

"They come to our village and search our homes and our women," Eisah in an interview by satellite telephone. "This guy was very angry about these kinds of operations."

Events on Saturday indicated a degree of co-ordination beyond the act of a single teenager or an angry mob. Moments after the attack, insurgents shot at Canadian and Afghan troops, and someone tossed a hand grenade.

Eisah denied that anyone in the village knew the attack was coming. Canadian soldiers on the scene say children were quietly rounded up and moved away moments before the ambush.

Eisah was part of a delegation of conservative rural tribal elders from the heart of Taliban country who travelled to Kandahar city a couple weeks ago to complain about house-to-house searches.

The elders said coalition troops break down doors and search randomly after attacks, sending women out of the house and outraging community members.

Afghan troops often follow up by occupying houses and stealing their meat, the elders complained.

"Coalition forces come and search the homes, Afghan forces stay the night and we have to take our women to another home," Eisah said.

Within hours of the attack on Saturday that left Greene, of Vancouver, in serious condition, Eisah contacted Afghans who work for international media organizations by satellite phone to dispute claims that Karim had a Taliban connection.

Canadian officials could not confirm Eisah's claim that three local Afghans, including two children, were injured in the firefight that followed the axe attack.

Who will repatriate the graves of Afghan refugees?
Tuesday, 7 March, 2006, 10:33 AM Doha Time
ISLAMABAD: Thousands of graves, which are without headstones, might give an impression of an old and deserted graveyard in sector I-11 of Pakistani capital Islamabad, which used to be a mini Afghan town, where many refugees from the then-troubled country married, died and were buried.

The silent graves are reminiscent of untold stories, developed in the dark alleys of the village, which is now being razed by the heavy bulldozers of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Ever since General Ziaul Haq allowed Afghans to stay in Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the influx of refugees in the federal capital became a permanent feature.

For over two decades, their stay in the village was marked by criticism and sympathies from different quarters. Most of these Afghans are anti-Taliban.

No stranger could dare enter the village, considered an Afghan stronghold, without permission from ‘elders’ who used to own kiosks in the long but broken and filthy alley.

To ‘foreigners’ the permission was restricted to the main compound, which existed near the graveyard. No outsider was allowed to move around freely in the narrow alleys beyond the compound.

At the main entrance, any outsider was welcomed by dozens of half-naked children, who always demanded a few rupees. There were dozens of kiosks situated near the main entrance. The kiosk holders were respected among other Afghans.

Zaman Khan was one of them. He was a retailer and used to sell cheap items of daily use. Adjacent to his kiosk, there was a butcher who provided meat to the villagers.

The cleanest kiosk was that of an Iranian doctor, who offered his services to the villagers for free, though he was not affluent enough to provide his patients with the medicines they needed.

After 9/11, the village caught the attention of foreign journalists, hungry for stories of misery and depravity.

Along with their local stringers, the foreign journalists often visited the village to write about the lifestyle and living conditions of Afghan refugees. Sometimes, facts were also twisted to attract the readers thousands of miles away from the village.

Whenever asked whether he wanted to go back, Zaman used to say: “Well, we want to go home, but how can we? Here we at least have shelter and food.

There, we will be at the mercy of the warlords, if not enslaved by Taliban.” Last year, the government decided to dislocate Afghan refugees from I-11 and repatriate as many of them as possible.

But how could it dislocate those who died and were buried there. A senior CDA official says no decision has been taken about the Afghan graveyard so far.

A CDA worker who was involved in the razing of the Afghans’ mud houses in the village, said that the CDA did not face any resistance from Afghan refugees.

He claimed that around 100,000 refugees used to live in the village, and it was an uphill task to dislocate all of them. “But I doubt they all went back to Afghanistan. They must have scattered over different parts of the twin cities.”

Asked to comment on the existence of the graveyard, he said the CDA field workers had instructions from the higher authorities not to touch the graves.

“We don’t know what to do with the graveyard. But we don’t want to flatten the graves since it’s a serious sin.” – Internews

NATO Will Expand Operations Throughout Afghanistan
March 7 (Bloomberg) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will expand its security operation throughout Afghanistan by the end of this year, said U.S. Marine General James Jones, the NATO supreme allied commander.

``Afghanistan will be a NATO mission'' by the end of November, Jones said at a briefing yesterday in Washington, according to a U.S. Defense Department transcript. The alliance will have 21,000 soldiers, including those from the U.S., in the country when the expansion is complete, Jones said.

Afghanistan ``is on the way to recovery, but is also fighting internal demons,'' Jones said. He cited the drugs trade, corruption and attacks by remnants of the ousted Taliban regime and al-Qaeda supporters.

NATO will send an additional 6,000 soldiers into Afghanistan's southern provinces by July and will move later this year into the east of the country, Jones said. NATO already has 9,000 soldiers in the country. U.S.-led forces will maintain their counter-terrorism operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last month.

The NATO mission is to support the government of President Hamid Karzai as it takes control of the whole of the country where warlords have been operating during more than two decades of civil war that began in the 1970s.

The role of warlords is ``certainly not what it used to be,'' Jones said.

Taliban Havens

Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters are finding their havens no longer exist as the Afghan National Army operates in areas that were outside its control, he said.

``The remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taliban are still there in pockets,'' Jones said. ``I don't think it's accurate to portray every instance of violence as an indication that the insurgency is coming back.''

NATO forces will be ``tested'' as they move into the southern region, the former stronghold of the Taliban, and more attacks will take place as Afghanistan's winter ends, Jones said.

``We will have thousands more troops on the ground than ever before in southern Afghanistan. The outcome is going to be swift and decisive,'' he said. The terrorists ``will take their business elsewhere.''

The southern region will be patrolled by soldiers from the U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and Romania, Jones said. The U.S. will lead the NATO expansion in the east, he said. The 26-nation NATO alliance and 10 other countries will be involved in the security operation throughout Afghanistan.

``This is a fundamental change in the way the alliance does business,'' Jones said. ``It is arguably NATO's most ambitious operation, perhaps in its history.''

Allied Forces

The U.S. and allied forces currently have more than 21,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Of that, the U.S. has about 18,000 military personnel in the country. NATO's 9,000-strong contingent forms the International Security Assistance Force, which controls security in the capital, Kabul.

The U.S. military command has said it will withdraw 2,500 soldiers this year because NATO and Afghan security forces are assuming a bigger role. The Afghan National Army has 33,000 soldiers and the police have about 40,000 officers.

Afghanistan in 2005 had its worst year for violence since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. About 25 suicide bombings have taken place in the past four months, and there has been a spate of attacks on schools and clerics during the same period.

Poppy cultivation and drug smuggling, which account for 50 percent of Afghanistan's economy, are breeding corruption and challenging Karzai's government. Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of opium poppies.

Afghanistan in December inaugurated its first parliament since 1969 after elections in September. Karzai, who took over after the ousting of the Taliban, won the country's first direct presidential election held in October 2004.

Pakistan's Cement Exports to Afghanistan Rise in February
Tuesday March 7, 2:32 PM
ISLAMABAD, March 7 Asia Pulse - Pakistan's Commerce Ministry has said in a report that cement exports to Afghanistan have increased with the change in weather.

The report, released here on Monday, said cement exports to the war-shattered country regained momentum in February following a winter slump. The report noted that 941,840 metric tonnes of cement were sent to Afghanistan over the past eight months.

The report further said there was a good market for Pakistani cement in the neighbouring country and the exports could increase if the trade climate improved.

Lucky Cement Factory's marketing officer Dilawar Shiraz linked the winter fall in cement exports to chilly weather forcing a halt in construction work.

"And now with the advent of spring, it seems, exports of cement will sharply increase," he told Pajhwok Afghan News.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)

No time to question Canadian role in Afghanistan, says foreign minister
OTTAWA (CP) - Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay says that despite mounting casualties in Afghanistan, Canadians should be standing behind their troops rather than questioning their deployment.

"This is the type of mission that is demanded in this day and age," MacKay said. "Terrorism, which has its roots in Afghanistan, is something that we have committed to fight with our allies."

MacKay said it would have been preferable if the former Liberal government had held a parliamentary vote before dispatching the first Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan in 2002, as part of a U.S.-led coalition sent to root out al-Qaida operatives and the Taliban government that had protected them. Now that the troops are there, the Conservatives are determined to continue down the path charted by their predecessors, said MacKay.

"The last thing we want to show is any wavering or any backing away from the commitment of our Canadian troops. We have to be 100 per cent behind them."
His comments came as the remains of the latest two soldiers to perish on the Afghan mission were being flown to CFB Trenton, Ont. Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson and Cpl. Paul Davis succumbed to injuries suffered when their armoured vehicle accidentally rolled over.

A dozen others were hurt in the last week in accidents, bombings and rocket-propelled grenade attacks. The most seriously wounded were Cpl. Michael Loewen, who will need reconstructive surgery to save an arm after a suicide bomb attack, and Lieut. Treveor Greene, who took an axe to the head when he was ambushed at a meeting with village elders.

New Democrats and some Liberals have been calling for a debate when the Commons resumes next month and a vote on whether to continue the mission. NDP Leader Jack Layton contended Sunday that the nature of the deployment has changed for the 2,200 Canadians currently in Afghanistan.

"We certainly don't want to become involved in a protracted war," Layton said. "The goal of Canadians being in Afghanistan was in our more traditional role of peacekeeping, peacemaking."

Ujjal Dosanjh, the new Liberal defence critic, has also maintained that the situation has changed and has pressed for renewed debate on the mission.
That drew a sharp rebuke last week from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who accused the Liberals of playing politics now that they're in opposition.

"You do not send men and women into harm's way on a dangerous mission with the support of our party and other Canadians, and then decide, once they're over there, that you're not sure you should have sent them," said Harper.

Opposition Leader Bill Graham, when he was defence minister, warned last year of the potential for casualties in operations around Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan.

So did Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff, who more recently has suggested it could take a decade to rebuild the country. It appears many Canadians either ignored the warnings or have had a change of heart since then. Opinion polls suggest declining public support for the mission in the wake of the recent casualties.

One survey by Strategic Counsel indicated 62 per cent of respondents were against the deployment. Another poll by Ipsos-Reid, with questions framed differently, found 52 per cent support for the mission, but that was down from 66 per cent in 2002.

The first Canadian contingent dispatched four years ago engaged in combat operations. Starting in 2003, however, the Canadian focus shifted to much less dangerous patrol duties in the capital of Kabul. That has changed again with the move to Kandahar, where Canadians again face a hostile environment and renewed attacks by insurgents.

Parliament approves rule on how to replace a minister
Pajhwok 03/05/2006
KABUL - The Upper House Saturday approved rules on how to select another person as cabinet minister in case any of the existing ones fails to get vote of confidence from the parliament.

According to the new procedure, President Hamid Karzai will propose a name in case a minister is rejected by the parliament. He will then get vote of confidence from the parliament. If the next man also fails to get confidence vote, then the president will have to select another individual until he is approved through majority vote.

The MPs hold extensive discussion on the rule which was approved before conclusion of the day. According to the procedures, the cabinet ministers will brief the parliament about activities, achievements and future plans of his ministry and then will present himself before the parliamentarians for confidence vote.

The 27 member cabinet was appointed by President Hamid Karzai after winning the December 2004 presidential elections with a bigger margin.

Musharraf recent statement about Afghanistan reflects changes in Pakistan: Hamid Gul
Pakistani Newspaper - Mar 06 9:00 PM
ISLAMABAD, Mar 6 (Online): Former ISI chief General (Retd) Hamid Gul has said President General Pervez Musharraf’s statement with reference of Afghanistan is reflecting big changes in Pakistan.

"Musharraf’s statement speaks volumes that his meeting with US President Bush failed completely. The US has explored alternate of President Musharraf. Now the next general elections will be held in 2006," Hamid Gul expressed these views in his exclusive chat with Online Monday.

He demanded of President Musharraf to tell compatriot about ground realities and control internal warlike situation.

"Musharraf’s meeting with Bush was not a good meeting. President Bush threatened Musharraf to tame infiltration. Due to President Musharraf wrong policies the United States mounting pressure on us. If Musharraf does not strive for to forge internal unity we will subject to such kind of vulnerability," he remarked.

He ruled out that Karzai was ruling Afghanistan adding that President Bush was directly running the affairs of Afghan government and Musharraf’s reaction was against US president.

"We have killed our own men at the altar of US interests. Pakistan does not involve to create mayhem in Afghanistan rather weapons are flowing in to Balochistan from Afghanistan. The US has sandwiched Pakistan and now there is looming imminent changes in the offing," he observed.

Raising question about Musharraf uniform, President Bush has unleashed a campaign to defame President Musharraf among Pakistani masses, he said adding now there were two ways out for Musharraf to tell nation that US had betrayed Pakistan or forge unity in the country and himself quit as President of Pakistan.

"We will have to stop dependence on US. We will have to depend on our own muscles and tell the world that we will come out as living nation," he informed.

"Upto 300 Indian commandos are landed in Afghanistan. India has been given freehand role to play in Afghanistan. Blind dependence on America will leave our future bleak and dark. We should not carry forward US agenda rather we should prioritize our own national interests," he underlined.

Even China, he stated would not fight our war adding that China had supported Pakistan during 19965 and 1971 but at that time war was forced upon Pakistan.

President Musharraf and his team should know that America would never safeguard Pakistan’s interests and all compatriot without keeping in view political differences in mind should unite at this critical juncture to take country and nation out of current mayhem and turmoil.

PAKISTAN: Afghan quake survivors missing out on aid
06 Mar 2006 16:06:33 GMT
MUZAFFARABAD, 6 March (IRIN) - Hundreds of unregistered Afghan migrant workers living in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, have not received aid since the 8 October earthquake that killed over 80,000 people.

"They don't have identity cards so they are not eligible for aid from the government," said Sarfraz Ahmed Abbas, coordinator for social welfare at the Women's Development Department.

According to Abbas, there may be up to 500 Afghans living in Muzaffarabad. "They are not living in camps, but in bad shelters," said Abbas.

Hidden behind the leafy lawns of Upper Chattur, Muzaffarabad's wealthiest district, over 250 Afghans are living in squalid conditions.

Scavenging among mounds of rubbish, tiny barefoot children in filthy, ragged clothes collect torn pieces of material and old plastic shoes. The children also hunt for bits of food in the rotting mass of detritus.

Piles of rubbish spill into the small, muddy courtyard that Laal Mohammad shares with three other families. The air is thick with the smell of raw sewage. There is only a makeshift latrine which is a small hole in the ground. Children covered in scabies play in the dirt. There are two shabby canvas tents, donated by neighbours, which 25 people must share. The rest must sleep outside under a shack with a corrugated iron roof.

"We haven't received anything," said Mohammad, who is from Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan.

"But we just need shelter and food. When it rains, the water comes in the tent," he said.

Mohammad moved to Muzaffarabad eight years ago and came to find work as a labourer. He earns up to 300 Rupees [US $5] a day on construction sites, but since the earthquake work has been slow.

Mohammad and his family were living in a rented mud house when the quake struck. The house was demolished and fleeing its crumbled wreckage, all he could find was this small piece of wasteland.

"But now the landowner wants it back. I'm looking for another piece of land," Mohammad said.

These Afghan survivors are not entitled to government compensation and their children are not going to school. "There are no beds, the children don't have clothes and the women and children collect rubbish," said Abbas.

Further up the hill, near more piles of refuse that the women and children are sifting through, is a small slum. Around pools of stagnant water are wood shacks, crumbling mud huts and makeshift tents made out of a patchwork of old materials. This is the only shelter they have and at night, for warmth, they burn rubbish and bits of plastic.

"There are 252 Afghan refugees residing on our land. Some of them have been here for up to 12 years," said Riaz Mohammad, the landowner.

"They pay 1,000 Rupees [$16.68] a month which is a nominal amount for the rent of the land," he said.

But with rent to pay, mouths to feed and a husband who is finding it increasingly difficult to find work in the difficult post-earthquake environment, Zaysagal said she does not have enough food for her children.

"We haven't been given anything," smiled Zaysagal.

Zaysagal moved to Muzaffarabad from the Afghan capital Kabul five years ago. The rented accommodation her family were staying in collapsed in the quake, killing a child of a relative. She now shares a tent with nine others and, like the other Afghans who have not received aid, she said that food and shelter were her biggest problems.

"These people are the poorest of the poor and they are living in the worst conditions," said Abbas.

"They need help."

Fight against maternal mortality a priority for Afghanistan: minister
Tuesday March 7, 05:02 PM
KABUL (AFP) - Tackling Afghanistan's maternal mortality rate, among the highest in the world, is a priority in the country where women suffer abuses ranging from forced marriage to honor killings, says Women's Affairs Minister Masooda Jalal.

More than 1,600 of every 100,000 Afghan women die giving birth. With each having on average more than six children, a woman's risk of maternal death is one in about 10, according to official statistics.

"If they lose their lives, we cannot talk of other rights so for us it is a priority that the maternal mortality rate should be decreased," Jalal told AFP in an interview.

"Each 30 minutes we lose one mother. Eighty-seven percent of these losses have been studied to be preventable due to lack of access to health services and lots of other factors," she said.

While there had been some progress in alleviating the plight of women in the country since the hardline Taliban government was removed in 2001, most women still had miserable lives, Jalal said.

"Right now it is very bad. I don't think in any other country it would be like this that women are victims of domestic violence, forced marriages, child marriage," she said.

Another phenomenon was families marrying off their children to settle disputes, including over murder or debt, and killings of women thought to have brought dishonour to their families.

Marriages were not registered, allowing a host of abuses including denial of property and inheritance rights, Jalal said.

The second priority for the ministry was education, with more than 80 percent of women illiterate, the minister said.

"For instance 60 percent of the girls within the school age seven to 13 are outside the education system due to lack of access," she said.

The regime gained notoriety for its treatment of women, including whipping them in the street if they did not wear the all-covering burqa and denying them access to health on the basis that they should not be examined by a male doctor.

When the Taliban was removed from power, to now be waging an insurgency against the new government, the new internationally backed government adopted a constitution enshrining equal rights for Afghanistan's long-downtrodden women.

The first ever women's ministry was established, discriminatory laws were done away with, and schools and universities were reopened to women, many of whom took jobs.

"They are taking part in the economic development of the country. We have hundreds of businesswomen, we have women in parliament," Jalal said.

"These are achievements but they are not enough."

For example, only one percent of the top jobs in the government were taken by women. "Going towards equality, which is guaranteed in the constitution of Afghanistan, there is a long way left," Jalal said.

A key step in correcting the imbalance was a law being processed to eliminate violence against women, she said.

A protocol was also being circulated among ministries committing them to take steps to eliminate child marriage, she said. The law already bans marriage for girls under 16 but this is seldom enforced.

However even with these legal provisions, women's lack of access to male-dominated legal systems often meant they did not have recourse to justice, Jalal said.

A third priority for the government was to encourage women to play a greater role in society, she said. Even in the capital Kabul, only men go to cinemas and shows and few women drive.

Jalal last week led about 40 women to pray in a mosque, which women rarely do in Afghanistan, saying she hoped it would encouraged more of them to leave their homes to worship.

She also oversaw the transport ministry's signing of an agreement to reserve 30 percent of seats on public buses for and to change the attitude of bus drivers who regularly fail to stop if there are only women waiting.

Jalal said resistance from men in patriarchal Afghanistan could be expected to the changes her ministry was bringing about with help from groups such as the United Nations.

"The one who will be losing power will not like it," she said. "But it doesn't matter -- the goal for us is to have half of the citizens of this country getting their equal rights."

Study finds Afghan women still abused
KABUL, March 6, 2006 (AFP) - Four years after the toppling of the Taliban, Afghanistan's women are still suffering widespread abuse including rape, murder and forced marriage, a rights watchdog said Monday.

"From the remotest villages to urbanised areas including Kabul, women are being abused," rights activist Hangama Anwari said at a briefing to release a report by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).

Rape was a particular problem with armed men loyal to warlords raping women in most parts of the war-torn country, she said. There are however no official figures for the crime.

"Another serious problem of Afghan women is forced marriages," she said. The women were being married to settle disputes or in return for expensive dowries.

More than 38 percent of women interviewed for the report, released ahead of International Women's Day Wednesday, said they had been made to marry against their will.

The report did not say how many women were surveyed but acknowledged that its reach had been limited, with some areas inaccessible because of violence linked to Taliban insurgents and some families refusing to be interviewed.

Another 50 percent of women said they were unhappy with their married life, the report found.

The violence and desperation resulted in several suicide attempts, including self-immolation, Anwari said.

The highest incidence of self-immolation was in the western part of the country, where 150 cases were reported last year, according to the report, which included interviews among police and hospital staff.

There were another 34 cases in the southeast part of the country.

Anwari said the AIHRC had registered 198 other suicide attempts by women in the past year, resulting in 69 deaths.

Women were also suffering from a lack of access to health care and education in the destitute country, which is struggling to recover from 25 years of war, invasions and civil strife.

The survey said there was only one doctor and five nurses for every 100,000 people and one hospital bed for every 3,000.

A woman died every 30 minutes while delivering her baby because of lack of medical infrastructure. Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with one in 10 women likely to die giving birth.

More than 80 percent of women in Afghanistan were illiterate, while there were fewer schools for girls than boys especially after the primary level, the survey found.

The 1996-2001 hardline Taliban government entrenched discrimination against women that has long been practised in conservative, male-dominated Afghanistan.

It barred girls from going to school and women from working or even walking in the street without a male relative. Women were also forced on threat of punishment to wear the all-covering burqa.

Chicken farmer or Taliban minister?
The News: Jang 3/6/06
WASHINGTON: A list of detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, compiled from unedited transcripts of "enemy combatant" hearings includes a Pakistani chicken farmer, whom US alleges was a Taliban minister.

Thousands of pages of transcripts have been released by the Pentagon after of a successful Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press. ‘Abdur Sayed Rahman’ identified himself as a poor chicken farmer but the US alleged he was in the Taliban as a military judge or deputy foreign minister. It emerged during the hearing that the deputy minister was ‘Abdur Zahid Rahman’.

Police searched Abdur Sayed Rahman’s home in Pakistan in the autumn of 2001. He was arrested and couldn’t bribe his way to freedom. "An American told me I was wrongfully taken and that in a couple of days I’d be freed," Rahman said. "I never saw that American again and I’m still here."