Serving you since 1998
July 2007 :   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

July 2, 2007 

Afghan justice conference meets in Rome
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 2, 5:28 AM ET
ROME - The U.N. chief, the Afghan president and other top officials gather in Rome this week to discuss how to strengthen Afghanistan's frail justice system amid the country's violence.

The conference on Monday and Tuesday will examine a legal system largely destroyed by more than 25 years of violence. From reconstructing buildings destroyed by fighting to training magistrates, the challenges to establishing the rule of law in Afghanistan are enormous, experts say.

The event opens with closed-door technical panels focusing on access to justice and human rights, legislative processes and coordination among law-enforcement officials. Discussion will also focus on judicial reforms and financial aid for the justice sector, according to Italian Foreign Ministry officials.

"The aim of the conference is to stress how the justice system represents a priority ... to consolidate democracy in Afghanistan," Pasquale Ferrara, Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters ahead of the conference.

Afghani President Hamid Karzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema are scheduled to address the conference on Tuesday. Italian Premier Romano Prodi, who will open the conference's second day, is scheduled to hold talks with Karzai on Monday.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad, NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, also will be among the participants, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.

"There needs to be donor commitment," said Geralyn Busnardo, an official with the Rome-based International Development Law Organization, or IDLO, which has helped rebuild the Afghan judiciary.

"We need to have a plan for the next five years, perhaps not necessarily a comprehensive, full-blown strategy, but we need to have some sort of a plan that talks about where we're going to be in five years," she said. "That was something that was not well done for the past five years."

Issues on the agenda include prison reform and legal training. The conference will try to provide concrete tools to improve coordination among law-enforcement officials and tackle corruption.

Some of the main challenges in Afghanistan's legal system include improving professional training, achieving consistent interpretation and application of law by judges, as well as building schools and courthouses.

There are some 1,400 judges in the country, according to IDLO, which said it is working to establish the use of private attorneys to represent individuals in criminal or civil cases — something there's no history of in the country. There are about 200 such lawyers now.

The Afghan police and the NATO-led international contingent have struggled in the face of intense fighting by resurgent Taliban fighters, especially in the country's south.

"With rule of law and security, it's a little bit of what came first, the chicken or the egg," said Busnardo. "What the international community has decided to do is to do them at the same time."

Italy has long maintained that nation-building measures must accompany the military campaign.

For 2007, Italy has allocated $13.47 million to rebuild the justice sector in Afghanistan, mainly for infrastructure and legal training, and it plans to give $18.18 million more, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The Rome conference gathers regional players such as Pakistan along with foreign ministers from European countries, NATO and EU representatives, and delegations from the United States, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Italy has 2,000 troops in Afghanistan, deployed between Kabul and Herat.
___
Associated Press Writer Marta Falconi in Rome contributed to this report.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan president leaves for justice meet in Italy
Mon Jul 2, 4:19 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai travelled to Italy Monday to attend an international conference aimed at renewing the focus on building Afghanistan's limping law and justice sectors.

Karzai was due during the visit to Rome to meet United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Romano Prodi, his office said in a statement.

More than 20 delegations are due to attend the UN-sponsored negotiations, including representatives from the World Bank, the European Union and the United States.

Afghanistan's judicial system is in tatters after almost three decades of war and conflict.

Nearly six years after the fall of the extremist Taliban government, it is corrupt, overburdened and under-resourced, and internationally backed efforts to reform the sector have dragged.

"The conference aims at reaffirming commitments of the Afghan government and the international community in accelerating the judicial reform process and the rule of law, which are basic pillars for the reconstruction of Afghanistan," the statement said.

Karzai will be joined at the meeting by several officials, including the Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi and Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Civilian deaths fuel Afghan outrage
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent The Independent (UK) / Published: 02 July 2007
More than 100 people, nearly half of them Afghan civilians, were killed in Nato air strikes against the Taliban this weekend, an investigation by local officials in Helmand province has concluded.

The civilian deaths are just the latest incident of so-called collateral damage to have occurred in recent weeks - a pattern that even foreign troops admit is rapidly undermining efforts to establish some sort of security in the country and win the support and loyalty of local people.

The assessment of Saturday's pre-dawn air strike in the Gereshk district came from the mayor and police chief, who said that 62 Taliban militants had died during the attacks as well as 45 ordinary Afghans including women, children and the elderly. President Hamid Karzai said this weekend that it was "difficult for us to accept or understand" what had happened .

He has repeatedly called on US, Nato and Taliban forces to do more to prevent civilian casualties, warning that "Afghan life is not cheap and it should not be treated as such". And he has ordered foreign forces to co-ordinate military operations with the Afghan government. "From now on, they have to work the way we ask them to work in here."

Concerns about the impact the fighting is having on civilians, especially children, has been growing since clashes increased after the spring thaws.

Such appeals appear to have had little impact on the operations of Nato's International Security Assistance Force [Isaf] or the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom, both of which are supposed to co-ordinate their actions with the Afghan authorities but often appeared to act unilaterally.

Isaf has previously admitted there was a problem with the number of civilians being killed. But after this latest incident officials disputed the Afghan total. Major John Thomas, an Isaf spokesman told the Associated Press: "We don't mean to trivialise any of those who died but we want to make it clear that we believe the numbers are a dozen or less."

He blamed the Taliban for the civilian deaths, saying: "It's the enemy fighters who willingly fire when civilians are right next to them."

The deaths occurred after fighting late on Friday. Helmand's provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein said Taliban fighters had tried to ambush a joint US-Afghan military convoy and then fled to the village of Hyderabad to take cover.
Back to Top
Back to Top
UN Says 600 Civilians Killed In Afghanistan This Year
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
July 2, 2007 -- The United Nations says it estimates that about 600 Afghan civilians have been killed in insurgency-linked violence this year, just over half of them by pro-government forces.

UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said today that the number of civilian killed in May was the highest in months. Edwards said that in June, those killed by national and foreign forces supporting the government appear to "largely exceed" those killed by rebels.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he delivered a "strong" appeal to military commanders in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties. Ban met the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul on June 29.

Also, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission says air strikes have recently killed more civilians than the Taliban. The group urged U.S. and NATO-led forces to cut back on air strikes and boost the number of foot soldiers in Afghanistan.
(AFP, Reuters)
Back to Top
Back to Top
UN chief urges military in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties
Mon Jul 2, 7:38 AM ET
GENEVA (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said he had delivered a "strong" appeal to military commanders in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties.

"I'm still very much concerned and saddened by this continuing violence and particuarly by the civilian casualties," Ban said ahead of a meeting in Rome with NATO and Afghan leaders on conditions in war-battered Afghanistan.

The UN chief made a fleeting visit to Kabul on Friday for talks with President Hamid Karzai and with the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"I have made a strong request to the Afghan leaders as well as military commanders to avoid civilian casualties during the course of their military operations," Ban said in a news conference in Geneva.

Ban is due to meet Karzai and NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer in Rome on Tuesday for two days of talks, UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze said.

More than 20 delegations are also expected to attend the UN-sponsored negotiations on Afghanistan's beleaguered justice system, including representatives from the World Bank, the European Union, the United States, and Italy.

The rising Taliban-linked unrest has claimed the lives of about 1,000 civilians over the year with the government and its foreign partners unable to bring security or rule of law, the human rights group Amnesty International said in May.

Village elders in southern Afghanistan said Sunday they had recovered the bodies of 45 civilians, mostly women and children, killed in foreign air strikes last week.

However, NATO, which is under pressure over civilian casualties, said it believed fewer than a dozen villagers and a "significant number" of Taliban were killed in Friday's bombardment in the southern province of Helmand.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Gunmen kill Afghan education director
KHOST, Afghanistan (AFP) - Unidentified gunmen assassinated a deputy education chief in eastern Afghanistan Monday, police said, in the latest attack on the country's schools system.

Sayed Usman Hussaini was on his way to work in Khost province when he was shot and killed, police spokesman Wazir Badshah told AFP. A friend accompanying him was wounded, he said.

He "was assassinated by enemies of learning and education," the interior ministry said in a statement.

The police did not blame any particular group for the murder but similar attacks have been attributed to the Taliban movement which has waged a bloody insurgency since 2001, when it was toppled from power.

"The attackers have fled the area. Hussaini did not have any enmity with anyone. This could be the work of enemies of Afghanistan," said Badshah.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied his group's involvement in the assassination. "This is not our work, we don't do this," he said.

At least 85 students and teachers were killed last year in incidents blamed on insurgents, who also torched 187 schools, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said in April.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan rights body urges cut in foreign air raids
By Sayed Salahuddin Mon Jul 2, 4:09 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Air strikes by foreign forces in Afghanistan have recently killed more civilians than the Taliban and the U.S.-led operation should cut them back, an Afghan rights group said on Monday.

Instead, NATO and U.S.-led coalition troops battling the Taliban and other insurgents should boost the number of their foot soldiers -- already numbering nearly 50,000, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission said.

In the latest incident involving civilian fatalities, Afghan officials said on the weekend that 45 civilians were killed in an air strike in the south of the country.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the toll from the pre-dawn raid was much lower.

The rising toll on civilians is proving a major irritant for President Hamid Karzai whose government is under fire for rampant corruption, growing insecurity and lack of economic development.

Civilian deaths caused by foreign forces have sparked protests demanding the expulsion of foreign troops and Karzai's resignation.

"Air operations have killed more civilians than Taliban," Nader Nadery, a commissioner with the rights group told Reuters.

"Certainly, reduction of air operations decreases civilian deaths for it is difficult to distinguish between military and non-military people."

Foreign forces concede some civilian deaths but argue the Taliban are using civilians as human shields. Critics say they are not doing enough to minimize casualties among ordinary people.

Nearly seven years after the Taliban was overthrown in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States, the fundamentalist Islamic group has regained strength and is engaged in daily clashes with foreign troops.

Karzai, who was handpicked by Western powers after the Taliban's removal and was elected in 2004, has repeatedly urged foreign forces to better coordinate operations with his government.

He has warned that civilian deaths would have bad consequences for his government.

A leading state-controlled paper highlighted Karzai's warning on Monday.

"Repetition of such mistakes and occurrence of such events not only puts under question the credibility of the government, but also leads to the failure in the war against terrorism," the Anis daily said.
Back to Top
Back to Top
UN chief urges military in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties
GENEVA (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said he had delivered a "strong" appeal to military commanders in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties.

"I'm still very much concerned and saddened by this continuing violence and particuarly by the civilian casualties," Ban said ahead of a meeting in Rome with NATO and Afghan leaders on conditions in war-battered Afghanistan.

The UN chief made a fleeting visit to Kabul on Friday for talks with President Hamid Karzai and with the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"I have made a strong request to the Afghan leaders as well as military commanders to avoid civilian casualties during the course of their military operations," Ban said in a news conference in Geneva.

Ban is due to meet Karzai and NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer in Rome on Tuesday for two days of talks, UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze said.

More than 20 delegations are also expected to attend the UN-sponsored negotiations on Afghanistan's beleaguered justice system, including representatives from the World Bank, the European Union, the United States, and Italy.

The rising Taliban-linked unrest has claimed the lives of about 1,000 civilians over the year with the government and its foreign partners unable to bring security or rule of law, the human rights group Amnesty International said in May.

Village elders in southern Afghanistan said Sunday they had recovered the bodies of 45 civilians, mostly women and children, killed in foreign air strikes last week.

However, NATO, which is under pressure over civilian casualties, said it believed fewer than a dozen villagers and a "significant number" of Taliban were killed in Friday's bombardment in the southern province of Helmand
Back to Top
Back to Top
5 years later, Afghanistan still a cauldron of blood and turmoil
Rising violence, civilian deaths have clouded claims of progress in the five-year conflict with Taliban.
BY JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan -- U.S. and NATO commanders say they have blunted the Taliban's threatened spring offensive, killing almost 40 commanders and 2,000 insurgents. But suicide bombings and civilian deaths inflicted by international forces are all on the rise, threatening to derail the five-year mission to pacify and rebuild Afghanistan.

Six months into 2007, claims of progress in stabilizing the government of President Hamid Karzai are clouded by strains in the Western alliance and what analysts say is growing pessimism in NATO capitals.

Five years after the Taliban's ouster, the militia is again a serious adversary, seizing control of swaths of the south, despite the presence of more NATO, U.S. and Afghan troops.

In a another possible setback, U.N. and other Western officials expect this year's opium-producing poppy crop to exceed last year's record haul, mostly because of a spike in Helmand province, the world's largest poppy-growing region.

Two Afghan officials from Helmand on Sunday said 45 civilians and 62 insurgents were killed by NATO and U.S. airstrikes in their province Friday night. NATO admits some civilians were killed but says that estimate is far too high.

The military insists increased fighting this year reflects their own more aggressive approach. However, there is doubt that the fighting will pave the way for the Western-backed government to assert control over longtime Taliban strongholds and allow foreign troops to go home.

''I feel there is a growing air of pessimism, but I don't think there is anything inevitable about it,'' said Joanna Nathan, Afghanistan analyst for the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit research group.

''I do not feel it's lost at all, but at the same time I feel it requires a hard look at the strategies here,'' she said.

U.S. and NATO commanders say they quashed Taliban hopes of a spring blitz with offensive operations of their own, including an ongoing British-led effort in the southern province of Helmand.

The U.S. and NATO say the insurgents' use of Iraq-style tactics is a sign of desperation -- that the Taliban have lost 39 commanders, including its ruthless southern commander, Mullah Dadullah, and close to 2,000 fighters.

Other figures tell a different story.

In eastern Afghanistan, attacks were up 83 percent during the first half of the year compared with the same period of 2006, according to the U.S. units who operate there.

Yet the Taliban has managed to kill 94 international troops, including 46 Americans in six months, and appears to have no difficulty finding recruits.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Russia to allocate $200 million to Afghan army
13:43 | 02/ 07/ 2007
MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has allocated $200 million to the Afghan army, and negotiations are underway to write off an $11 billion debt, Russia's deputy foreign minister said in an interview with a Russian newspaper Monday.

Earlier reports said that according to expert estimates, Afghanistan owed Russia $10 billion for Soviet-era arms supplies.

Alexander Grushko said the interests of Russia and NATO coincided in Afghanistan. "We have established direct cooperation with NATO on the issue of transit, and have signed relevant agreements with Germany and France," he said, adding that Russia was ready to repair the Afghan economy, implement infrastructure projects, render necessary rear-area support and consider applications to equip the Afghan army.

The official said Russia was interested in reviving the Afghan economy as soon as possible so that the country could be a safe partner in security.

"It is not in our interests that the Taliban reestablish control of the country, the more so since that would threaten other countries with instability," Grushko said.

From 2002 to 2005 Russia provided over $200 million worth of assistance to Afghanistan's defense industry. Facing an increase in the activity of the Taliban, al Qaeda and other extremists, the Afghan authorities recently asked Russia to resume aid programs suspended in 2005.

Afghanistan is rich in mineral resources and has a huge potential for economic growth. One of the Russian Foreign Ministry's priorities has been to attract Russian companies in the implementation of economic projects in Afghanistan, which could yield substantial dividends both to Russian and Afghan businesses.

Russia has been urging NATO to launch a more active fight against Afghan drugs, Grushko said, citing a project being currently implemented at the Foreign Ministry's center in Domodedovo, Moscow Region, to train drug control officers.

At a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he expected the alliance and Russia to further expand their cooperation against drug trafficking in Afghanistan and to overcome.

NATO is contributing to the fight against terrorism through military operations in Afghanistan.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghanistan is moving backward
By Haroun Mir Asia Times
KABUL - The Afghan government and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies are struggling to bring stability to Afghanistan as NATO's stabilizing efforts are being undermined by bad governance.

Reforming government institutions and rebuilding vital economic infrastructures should have been the priority since the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001. In fact, during the past three decades of continuous conflicts and civil wars and the Taliban's assumption of power in 1996, Afghanistan's administration and economic system became paralyzed and dysfunctional.

The country has not seen economic progress since the Soviet invasion in 1979. The middle class disappeared, the best-educated people left the country, and all signs of modern education and government institutions were replaced by a traditional, not to say archaic or "backward", system.

Since the fall of the Taliban, the effectiveness of the governing authority has been mediocre at best. Afghanistan has not been able to reform a corrupt and antediluvian administrative structure. While the Taliban and their foreign allies are the cause of many troubles, bad governance also contributes to the worsening of the country's situation.

Despite international attention and the presence of NATO forces, as well as billions of US dollars in aid, nothing substantial in terms of reconstruction has been accomplished. Even in relatively peaceful provinces, popular frustration over government ineptitude is mounting.

Two aspects of an efficient and effective administration, performance and accountability, are entirely absent from the Afghan administration. Rampant nepotism eliminates the notion of merit and competency. In the absence of effective government actions and activities, the functionality of the government's vital institutions is reduced even in the immediate periphery of Kabul. Deficiencies in government services force the villagers in the south and east of the country to turn to the Taliban for security, justice, and protection of their private property.

Corruption has become a common practice in the country, seriously undermining NATO's effort to win the "hearts and minds" of Afghans. Without an effective monitoring system, administrative corruption could undermine all financial efforts to develop the Afghan economy. Despite widespread cases of corruption and mismanagement of funds, not a single corrupt senior official has been brought to trial, much less seen justice.

Ordinary Afghans believe that some of the corrupt high officials are implicitly protected by powerful NATO countries. NATO ends up bearing the brunt of the blame in part because the Afghan Parliament does not have the capacity to monitor the government's activities.

But international institutions have made their share of mistakes. With a mandate to reform the Afghan administration, they have failed in their mission. The misunderstanding and lack of communication between foreign advisers and Afghan administrators has ensured that the pace of administrative reforms is very slow, despite the presence of a significant number of foreign advisers and allocation of plenty of financial resources.

The majority of Afghan high officials, who have come from Western academic institutions, have limited management skills. Sometimes they have difficulties reconciling modern concepts with the reality on the ground. In addition, higher salaries in non-governmental and other foreign organizations attract the best civil servants from crucial positions in Afghan administration.

As a result of dysfunctional administration, President Hamid Karzai is losing the broad popular support and legitimacy that he had enjoyed before the presidential elections in 2004. People in remote provinces distrust the central government and are tired of unfulfilled promises. Until now, Kabul has failed to recognize priorities in each province, and the bulk of aid provided by foreign donors is unaccounted for.

Decentralization in public administration has been a major policy in many developing countries. Why should Afghanistan become the exception? A centralized education system, a centralized economic policy, a centralized heath-care system, and similar inefficient and ineffective centralized systems are bound to fail in Afghanistan as well as elsewhere.

As in developed countries, the criteria of responsiveness and accountability should become the norm in Afghan public administration. In fact, local-government officials, instead of being accountable to the people and responsive to their needs, are following ill-advised directives from the central government in Kabul.

To achieve the long-term goal of stability and progress in the country, people should be given the opportunity to participate directly in their own local political life by electing provincial governors as an alternative to their arbitrary appointment by the central government. The initiation of political debates about the possibility of alternative governing systems in Afghanistan, which would provide a greater role and political participation for people living in remote provinces, should be encouraged. Indeed, modern effective governing systems well suited to the geography and ethnic mosaic of the country should be considered as potential alternatives to the current failed centralized governing system.

Indeed, the growing administrative corruption combined with recent resurgence of Taliban attacks in the northern and western provinces is a major cause for the degradation of security throughout the country. This is a signal for a deeper problem that, if not dealt with appropriately and in a timely way, could expand resentment and insecurity to the relatively peaceful northern and western provinces.

It is incumbent on NATO countries to help the Afghan government reform its old and inefficient institutions. The stakes are too high to let a dysfunctional government undermine NATO's efforts to stabilize the country.
Back to Top
Back to Top
South/Central Asia: Is Talk Of IMU Aimed At Courting Outsiders?
By Farangis Najibullah
July 2, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan's National Security Directorate announced today that at least seven men with alleged connections to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) have been arrested in two northern provinces, Faryab and Jowzjan.


The announcement is the latest warning of radical Islamist activity in Central and South Asia.

In neighboring Tajikistan, authorities detained 10 suspected IMU members in late June as a trial there continued of 14 others facing similar allegations.

Tajik and Uzbek defense officials warned last week of "increasing threats posed by terrorist and extremist groups" in Central Asia.

But could the region's leaders be inflating the threat posed by extremist groups in order to portray their countries as the front line against terrorism and boost their leverage ahead of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)?

Shady Past

The IMU is regarded by U.S. and the members of the SCO as a terrorist group. Officials have in the past pointed to senior leadership and training ties between the IMU and Al-Qaeda.

At an SCO meeting in Bishkek on June 27, Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloev predicted that militant groups would be more active throughout Central and South Asia as the last of the current crop of opium poppies are harvested in Afghanistan.

"Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and IMU followers will intensify their activities starting from July," Khairulloev said. "As far as their impact on Fergana Valley is concerned, we are more concerned about the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. As you know, they are being financed by some foreign governments, and they have to justify their existence -- because if there is no activity, there would be no financing."

Speaking alongside his Central Asian counterparts, Khairulloev said that Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have sought to tighten their borders to intercept IMU members' movements.

Skeptic Abound

Despite official warnings -- and prominent arrests and trials of suspected IMU supporters -- some observers say there is no evidence to support claims that militants are more active.

Critics accuse Central Asia's bullying governments of playing up perceived threats to justify crackdowns on dissent at home and to portray themselves as crucial to international counterterrorism efforts.

Michael Hall, head of the Central Asian project for the International Crisis Group (ICG), a nonprofit analytical and advocacy group, said authorities in the region are likely to issue more statements highlighting the IMU threat ahead of a major summit in August of the SCO.

Hall said he thinks officials want to show fellow SCO members Russia and China that they are valuable counterterrorism allies who deserve greater support.

IMU 'Remnants'

Hall said that while there has long been some degree of threat in Central Asia, the IMU is actually weaker now than before the United States declared its "war on terror" in 2001.

"There probably are remnants of the IMU in Central Asia to this day," Hall said. "But to what extent they are linked to what is left of the IMU currently based in Pakistan -- to what extent they are connected with one another and to what extent they are capable of pulling off any major acts of terrorism -- I think it is very difficult to make any clear statement on that front. I think [that] in many cases the threat posed by the groups is certainly, to a certain extent, exaggerated."

Matthew Clements, Eurasia editor in the Country Risk Department for the U.K.-based Jane's Information Group, argued that if there is any danger of radicalism in Central Asia, it stems from authorities' pressure on religious and political freedom, as well as a lack of socioeconomic opportunity.

"I think the danger of this [situation] is that elements of this could become more radicalized -- and this is mainly due to government action [and] to the fact that these people feel that their socioeconomic well-being is being put second by the government," Clements said. "[They feel] that they are not being politically represented. And also because the populations are being cracked down upon by the governments. And these crackdowns themselves are likely to engender greater feelings of radicalism."

Creating Sympathy?

Hikmatulloh Saifullozoda heads the "Dialog" think tank in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, and is a prominent member of Tajikistan's Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) -- the only officially registered Islamic party in Central Asia. He said that while radical Islamic underground groups might have a limited number of followers in Central Asia, they don't enjoy much popular support. Saifullozoda questioned whether what he labels authorities' "unnecessary pressure" on religious freedom might help religious extremists win sympathy.

He also warned governments against provoking public anger by needlessly intervening on sensitive issues like conservative women's wearing of head scarves.

"If the authorities solve these social problems, and as long as they do not interfere in sensitive issues -- which could take an unexpected turn -- I think no one would support the radical groups," Saifullozoda said.

There is a general consensus among analysts that groups like the IMU currently are not capable of destabilizing the region on any grand scale. But that does not mean they could not try to launch isolated acts of terror.

Observers pointed out that democratic reforms -- fostering freedom of speech, religion, and political activities -- could reduce the risk of radical groups winning public support.

They also suggested that governments could help their own cause through efforts to raise living standards by creating jobs and battling corruption.

In poverty-stricken regions like Central and South Asia, these observers warned, social unrest can take on virtually any form. And regardless of the immediate threat they present, radical groups like the IMU have a lot of experience at harnessing public disenchantment.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Number Of Private Airlines In Afghanistan Set To Climb
Monday July 2, 11:58 AM
KABUL, July 2 Asia Pulse - The number of private airlines operating in Afghanistan will more than double in the near future, a minister said here on Saturday.

Aviation and Transportation Minister Niamatullah Ehsan Jawed told a news conference at De Afghanistan Bank here three more private airlines will soon go into business, raising the number of such companies to five.

Afghanistan's aviation sector emerged 55 years ago when two state-run airlines - Ariana and Bakhtar - formally launched their operations, the minister recalled. The first-ever private airline Kam Air began operation some four years ago, followed by Pamir Airlines, he added.

Bakhtar Airlines, meanwhile, had to wind up its operations for reasons not explained by Jawed, who said 15 companies had recently submitted applications to his ministry for licenses.

Of them, Afghan Air, Safi Air and Access Air - all Afghan companies - were issued with licenses, the minister revealed, saying they will soon start functioning.

Due to the non-existence of seaports and railway lines in Afghanistan, he reasoned, air travel had acquired added importance and hence the need for its reliability.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)
Back to Top
Back to Top
Australian troops to stay in Afghanistan for years: FM
People's Daily - Jul 01 6:50 PM
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said Australian troops will need to stay in Afghanistan for years to buttress international efforts to defeat the Taliban and establish a secure state.

Downer made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan during the weekend and met with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai.

After their meeting, Downer warned that Afghanistan "is a struggle for the long haul."

"I believe Australian troops will be in Afghanistan for years," he told The Australian, one of the leading newspapers in Australia.

This view is driven by the backwardness of the country, the scale of the threat, and the risk to Australia and other nations of allowing the Taliban to regain influence and export jihadist terror, said the newspaper Monday.

After two days visiting Australian forces in southern Uruzgan province and in Kabul, Downer left distinctly more optimistic, unconvinced by gloomy assessments provided by Australian intelligence, according to the newspaper.

"There has been a lot of military activity in Afghanistan in recent times and much of it has been successful," he said of the combined efforts of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom.

"I come away more optimistic," he said.

Australian troops levels will reach a new peak of more than 1, 000 next year.
Source: Xinhua
Back to Top
Back to Top
Aid squeeze in Kunduz after security scare
Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) 29 Jun 2007
A spate of attacks in the normally quiet Kunduz province has resulted in the shutdown of many reconstruction projects.

By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Kunduz (ARR No. 258, 29-June-07)

The damage done to reconstruction efforts when security takes a downturn is all too clear in the northeast Afghan province of Kunduz, where the German government shut down its assistance projects and evacuated its staff after a series of suicide bombs left over a dozen dead and many more injured.

The first attack, on an Afghan police vehicle, occurred in April and resulted in nine officers killed and 30 injured. This was followed in late April by an attack on the German Agro Action group in which an Afghan staffer was killed.

In May, a German military convoy was targeted, leaving three soldiers and six civilians dead.

These attacks were followed by rumours of more suicide bombers moving around Kunduz city, with German aid groups as their intended targets.

At that point, the reconstruction projects were shut down and German staff were withdrawn. The heads of reconstruction agencies say they will not continue their work unless the security situation improves.

Dr Phillip Ackermann, who heads the civilian side of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, PRT, in Kunduz, told a news conference in Kunduz that the PRT had advised NGOs to leave.

"After witnessing these suicide attacks in Kunduz targeting German staff we decided to advise them to leave Kunduz," he said. "Or at least to work in safe areas."

According to Ackermann, 40 German staff who had been running dozens of reconstruction projects had now left Kunduz.

"Security problems are an obstacle to the reconstruction efforts. And we won't reactivate our projects unless there is security," he said.

The head of one agency, who did not want to be named, told IWPR, "This is really a nightmare. There are people who want to kill you, and you continue to work. We feel that our staff are not safe in the districts, and every moment there is the possibility that they might come under attack."

He added that his agency would not reopen until they felt safe.

"Of course our work is important, but our security is important as well," he said. "We came here to rebuild Afghanistan, and the government of Afghanistan is responsible for our security and our safety."

According to the authorities in Kunduz, the Afghan government is continuing to run its own reconstruction projects, but those funded by the Germans have been stopped.

Residents of the city and the surrounding province have taken the shutdown hard.

Sarwar is a farmer in the Chahar-Dara district of Kunduz province, where German Agro Action had been building a dam to help with irrigation. Everyone in the village had been waiting for the new water management system.

"We were hopeful that after this dam was built, our problems would be solved," he said. "Now we don't know what is happening and we are worried."

"I want to ask the Germans to continue their work," he said. "We will take on their security. We will guarantee their safety. We won't let anyone put obstacles in the way of our reconstruction work."

But the German security authorities are adamant. Colonel Peer Luthmer, military commander of the Kunduz PRT, told a press conference that the security situation was not good.

"A few people cooperate with the enemies," he said. "But they should know this - they are supporting the enemies and they are weakening their friends."

Engineer Omar, the governor of Kunduz province, confirmed that some local people were cooperating with the insurgents. But he said that the government was trying its best to bring Kunduz back to its former stability.

"The main cause of the lack of security is that Kunduz was the Taleban's second centre after Kandahar," he told IWPR, referring to the period prior to 2001 when the Taleban were in power.

"Some of the Taleban who still remain have become active again, and they are cooperating with the terrorists who come across the borders."

Kabul has accused neighbouring Pakistan of allowing insurgents to cross the border as part of a policy of keeping Afghanistan unstable. Islamabad claims it is doing its best to curb the insurgents and shut down their training camps.

Engineer Omar said police in his province had arrested 14 people and were working hard to identify more of those responsible for recent attacks.

"Unfortunately, this situation has damaged the reconstruction effort," he said. "The Germans were frightened and stopped their projects. It is a big blow for reconstruction."

He insisted the Germans' reaction was based on false information.

"The Germans were afraid that there were suicide bombers in the city who were trying to kill them," he said. "But this is just a rumour spread by our enemies. It is not true."

The governor added that he had tried to persuade the Germans to continue their work.

"They say that they will obey their parliament and will not resume work until it says they can," he told IWPR. "But we have held meetings with the [Afghan] national security department, and we have promised that there will be no more attacks."

Meanwhile, the people of Kunduz are desperate for help.

"The roads in our area are very bad," said Naqibullah, a resident of the Aliabad district. "Sick people are dying because they can't get to the clinic.

"We are grateful to those foreigners who came to pave the road, but now, unfortunately, the work has stopped. I don't know whether it will ever be finished. Will we ever be able to solve our problems?"

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Back to Top
Back to Top
New Zealand soldier wins top bravery award for actions in Afghanistan
The Associated Press Sunday, July 1, 2007
WELLINGTON, New Zealand: A 35-year-old corporal who carried a badly wounded colleague to safety across a battlefield in Afghanistan has been awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military honor among British Commonwealth countries.

Cpl. Bill Apiata became the first New Zealander to win the medal since World War II, Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday, announcing the award and heralding Apiata's actions.

"Cpl. Apiata carried a severely wounded comrade over 70 meters (yards) across broken, rocky and fire-swept ground, fully exposed to the glare of battle, heavy opposing fire and into the face of return fire from the main New Zealand troops' position," Clark told reporters.

"This brave action saved his comrade's life," she said.

Three other members of Apiata's squad, from the Special Air Services commando unit, were awarded lesser gallantry medals for actions in the battle, in Afghanistan in 2004. They were not named for security reasons, Clark said.

Apiata was a member of the SAS squad that won a Presidential Citation from U.S. President George W. Bush in 2004 for their actions in Afghanistan.

The soldier said he was "overwhelmed" by the honor. "At the time I was just doing what I've been trained for, doing my job," Apiata said, adding he had only been "looking out for my mates."

"I see myself as Willy Apiata. I'm just an ordinary person and this is me," he told reporters.

Apiata, born in the North Island town of Mangakino in 1972, first joined the army reservists in 1989 and the regular army in 1999, before gaining selection for the SAS.

His medal is the first Victoria Cross awarded a New Zealander since WWII and the first to a serving member of the Special Air Service anywhere in the Commonwealth, Clark said.

Clark said Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, New Zealand's head of state, had approved the award for Apiata.

Apiata is one of only 13 living recipients of the Victoria Cross — a gallantry medal awarded in the British Commonwealth, a grouping of 53 nations — and the only New Zealander.

His medal is the 14th awarded since the end of WWII, Clark noted.

The last New Zealander awarded a Victoria Cross was Squadron Leader Leonard Henry Trent in 1946. Trent was awarded the medal for gallantry over Amsterdam in 1943 when he guided a formation of Ventura bombers to their target while under continuous attacks from German fighters.

Six other New Zealanders have won the Victoria Cross while serving with other forces.
Back to Top

 Back to News Archirves of 2007
 
Disclaimer: This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).