Serving you since 1998
June 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

June 11, 2007 

Afghanistan: Child Laborers Miss School, Face Spiral Of Poverty
By Ron Synovitz Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
June 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Hasib is a 12-year-old Afghan boy who spends his days working at a bicycle repair shop in Kabul. He says he considers himself lucky because he is learning a trade that he will have for life. But since he started the job at the age of nine, he has had to quit school. And he does not know how to read or write.

"I'm fixing this bicycle, so I've just unscrewed these handlebars," Hasib tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. "I've been working here for the past three years. I had to learn how to do this work. My hands would get hurt very badly at first, until I learned how to do it. I got burned until I learned how. I had to work a lot to learn and become someone."

Like many Afghan children who must work to help their families survive, Hasib says he hopes he will be able to go to school in the future.

Opportunity Cost

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says economic difficulties in Afghanistan force one in three school-age children to work in order to help their families survive. As a result, many are missing out on a basic education.

School enrollments are up dramatically in Afghanistan since the fundamentalist Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001, but Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission warns that the prevalence of child labor is creating a generation of illiterate Afghans and that many will be trapped in a spiral of poverty.

Roshan Khadivi, a spokeswoman for UNICEF in Afghanistan, tells RFE/RL that Hasib's story is not unusual. She says many Afghan children are being caught in an inescapable spiral of poverty because they are missing out on an education. Khadivi says the issue of child labor in Afghanistan is a complicated one that cannot be separated from the country's economic and security challenges.

"Afghanistan has one of the highest proportions of school-age children -- age seven to 12 -- in the world," Khadivi says. "So despite successes, you obviously have a lot of remote areas in Afghanistan where children do not have access to school. A lot of them have to work to support their families. Also, a lot of these children who go to school face another challenge of staying in school. Because of the economic hardships facing them and their families, some of them are forced to drop out."

Back To School

UNICEF is trying to help impoverished Afghan children get an education. Khadivi says that for children who are forced by poverty to become laborers, the first step is simply to get into a school where they can learn to read and write.

"We are still dealing with a large number of children who are not going to school," Khadivi says. "A lot of them do not have any sort of skills. Some of them obviously were involved in the conflict; they were child soldiers. And now we are trying to reintegrate them. So the problem is huge. But steps are being taken forward. Some of these kids who are former child soldiers are being reintegrated into society through learning how to read and write, through classes where they are learning to do some carpentry work, or also learning other skills. So their drive is there. But the security [conditions] -- and also the economic hardships -- make it difficult for all families to really be involved."

Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission agrees. It calls the situation for child laborers in Afghanistan a grave concern.

The commission says a large number of Afghan children are subjected to the worst forms of labor -- and that the high number of children employed in vehicle repairs and metal workshops represents Afghanistan's harsh reality.

Future Risk

The commission says Afghanistan's next generation is seriously threatened by the trend, which is manifesting itself through an increasing number of street children, groups of children used by adults for begging, and an "inconceivable" number of children exploited in activities ranging from carpet-weaving to the narcotics trade.

Thirteen-year-old Wahidullah says the hours he spends making teapots and water containers at a metal shop in Kabul only leave him time for a few hours of school each day.

"I am working in this metal shop," Wahidullah says. "I get a monthly wage of 1,000 afghanis (about $20). I come to the shop early in the morning and work here until 9:00 a.m., then I go to school. After having lunch at home, I return to the shop. My father is ill. He can't work, and I have to work. My older brother also is ill. My uncle, who was living with us, used to help us a bit; but not anymore because he has moved to another place. There are 11 people in my family. I am 13 years old."

The Afghanistan Evaluation and Research Unit (AERU), an independent research group, says its research shows that most Afghan parents want an education for both their sons and daughters. But it concludes that Afghan families often are constrained by poverty. And in provincial regions, it says social pressures frequently prevent parents from sending young daughters to school. Instead, many children are sent on the streets to help their families survive.

Ten-year-old Amanullah is among them. He spends his days collecting small pieces of wood and blackish seeds that he burns inside a tin can. Walking the streets as an "espandi," Amanullah waves the tin can at passersby in the belief that the smoke will protect them from curses and bring them good luck. In return, some people give Amanullah small amounts of money.

"I make 50 afghanis a day (about $1) and take some bread home," Amanullah says. "I live under a tent along with my father, mother, five sisters, and five brothers. As the eldest son, I do the routine. My father does not have a job. He is capable of doing work. But when he goes to the city seeking a job, people tell him that he is too old to be employed."

Amanullah's younger brothers also work in the streets, begging and selling bottled water, rather than going to school. All say their dream is to someday be able to go to school.

In November, the London-based Oxfam International charity reported that some 7 million Afghan children -- more than half of the country's young people -- do not go to school.

In the same report, titled "Free, Quality Education For Every Afghan Child", Oxfam notes a fivefold increase in school enrollments across Afghanistan since 2001. That means about 5 million Afghan children are now getting an education. But Oxfam warns that "poverty, crippling fees, and huge distances to the nearest schools" prevent many parents from sending their children to get an education.

(RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Safia Hasass contributed to this story from Kabul)
Back to Top
Back to Top
General: Iran aids Karzai, maybe Taliban
By JASON STRAZIUSO and JOHN DANISZEWSKI, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan -  Iran gives political and material support to President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government, but it also may be aiding the Taliban as a way of hedging its bets in neighboring  Afghanistan,  NATO's top general here said Monday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill said Taliban fighters are showing signs of better training, using combat techniques comparable to "an advanced Western military" in ambushes of U.S. Special Forces soldiers.

Iran's possible role in aiding insurgents in  Iraq has long been hotly debated, and last month some Western and Persian Gulf governments charged that the Islamic government in Tehran is secretly bolstering Taliban fighters.

"In Afghanistan it is clear that the Taliban is receiving support, including arms from ... elements of the Iranian regime," British Prime Minister  Tony Blair wrote in the May 31 edition of the Economist.

Iran, which is also in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, denies the Taliban accusation, calling it part of a broad anti-Iranian campaign. Tehran says it makes no sense that a Shiite-led government like itself would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban.

McNeill, the commander of 36,000 soldiers in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said indications on the ground cut both ways.

There is "ample evidence" Iran is helping Karzai's administration, particularly with road construction and electricity in western Afghanistan, he told the AP.

But he added that he wouldn't doubt Iran may also help the Taliban and other political opponents of Karzai.

"So what does that add up to? It makes me think of a major American corporation that will give political campaign money to three or four different candidates for president of the United States," he said. "Somebody is going to come out on top. This corporation wants to be aligned with whoever comes out on top."

McNeill, a 60-year-old, four-star general from North Carolina who has fought in most American conflicts since Vietnam, said he had no hard evidence the Iranian government has helped the Taliban. He said munitions, particularly mortar rounds found on Afghan battlefields, "clearly were made in Iran," but said that does not prove the Iranian government is formally involved.

"If I had the information, I would have no reservation about saying it," he said.

In a separate interview Monday, the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan rejected the accusation that his government aids the Taliban.

"This is not correct," Mohammad R. Bahrami told the AP at his embassy. "The return of extremism in Afghanistan will affect not only Afghanistan and the region, but the entire world."

Bahrami claimed the U.S. and Britain are making the accusation as an excuse to "justify their failures" in Afghanistan, such as the increasing opium poppy production and the resurgence of the Taliban.

Insurgents have stepped up the pace of suicide and roadside bombings from last year, which saw the most violence since the Taliban was toppled in late 2001. More than 2,200 people, many of them insurgents, have died in fighting this year, according to an AP count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan reports.

McNeill said NATO forces under his command pursued a successful offensive this spring against insurgents, but he acknowledged Taliban militants are showing signs of improved training.

For instance, they have advanced on U.S. Special Forces in recent months after staging ambushes in tight terrain between high ground and a river, a complex military maneuver that McNeill termed "surprising."

"We have now seen them shoot and maneuver a couple times in ways we haven't seen before. Where that's coming from I'm not exactly certain," he said. "But they have used some versions of fire and maneuver that makes one think of an advanced Western military."

There also has been speculation Taliban fighters are adopting tactics used by insurgents in Iraq, and McNeill said he wouldn't rule out that they are coordinating their efforts. But he stressed he didn't have any information to state conclusively that is happening.

NATO forces gained a major victory in Afghanistan last month with the killing of Mullah Dadullah, who was deemed the top Taliban commander.

McNeill said Dadullah had attained "iconic" status among some Afghans, but his reputation had begun to wane after the distribution of videos showing his participation in beheadings of enemies and his encouraging a 12-year-old boy inside Pakistan to behead an alleged spy.

While withholding details about how Dadullah was tracked down, McNeill said it was the "ego" of the Taliban commander that led to his death.

"It was my view that any of these Taliban leaders, especially Dadullah, if they ever left their sanctuaries, especially if they came into Afghanistan, that their egos would be their undoing. In Dadullah's case that was a large part of it," McNeill said, alluding to the belief that Dadullah and other insurgents have operated from bases in Pakistan's tribal region.

McNeill said NATO forces have slightly reduced the number of insurgents flowing into Afghanistan from Pakistan, but he gave no details.

"We have stemmed it a tad. Have we stemmed it greatly? I'm not in a position to say that's the case," he said. "Do I continue to be worried about what's coming over the border? The answer is yes."

McNeill painted an optimistic picture of the development of the Afghan National Army, now approaching the fifth anniversary since its first battalions were trained.

The Afghan army has made "tremendous strides" and is taking the lead in a new operation in Ghazni province, he said. Recruitment is up from 600 soldiers a month last year to more than 2,000 a month this year, McNeill said.

"When I see how they are moving and shooting on the battlefield today, I realize how far they have come and how more advanced they are," he said.

"That does not mean game over, time for us to go home. But I think that quite possibly the fighting season next year, maybe some fighting units will be operating independently."
___
Associated Press writer Alisa Tang contributed to this report.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Iranian influence in Afghanistan
By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Herat, western Afghanistan Monday, 11 June 2007, 15:27 GMT 16:27 UK
The pylons get smaller and smaller as they disappear in a long, straight line, across the wide-open, windswept desert, through the heat haze and over the horizon to Iran.

In the electricity sub-station just outside of Herat, western Afghanistan, there's the loud hum of power - Iranian power.

More electricity reaches Herat than the city can use, but the industrial park just across the road from the Nato military base is putting it to good use.

Small plastic bottles of fizzy orange juice shuffle along the conveyor belt to be labelled and packed - the building is noticeably Iranian in design and the markings on the machinery show exactly which country helped these Afghan businessmen.

The camels grazing outside cautiously cross the fast, straight, asphalt road - one of the best roads in Afghanistan stretching the 120km to the border.

Soon a railway line will link Afghanistan to Europe, or so boasts the Iranian government.

'Same destiny'
"We are one of the major donors in Afghanistan," said Mohammad Bahrami, Iranian ambassador to Kabul.

"We believe all of the international communities are in the same boat. We have the same destiny in Afghanistan."

Iran has always had close ties with western Afghanistan, and millions of dollars have been spent providing arguably the best infrastructure of any city in the country.

But in the murky world of global politics is the shared destiny he speaks of more about control and influence than charity?

The border policemen cover their faces and cling on to their weapons as the shiny, new, bright-green pickup trucks bump their way along the border patrol route, throwing up choking dust into the back.

The frontier runs for hundreds of kilometres and here, near the border post, both sides eye each other suspiciously from old mud forts and new wooden observation posts.

The Afghans' vehicles were bought by the Americans, and US bases are springing up along the border.

Given the fragile international relations between the US and Iran, there is a much bigger political reason to fight for influence in Afghanistan.

Afghan opium is smuggled between the gaps between observation towers to fuel Iran's four million addicts, and there's increasing concern about what is now travelling in the opposite direction.

"The intelligence reports that we get from our agents in Iran say some weapons come into Afghanistan," said Rahmatullah Safi, the border commander for western Afghanistan.

"The weapons which the enemies use these days such as Kalashnikov, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns, hand grenades, explosives - they are not coming from the sky, these definitely are coming from across the border.

"Pakistan is kind of doing it openly but Iran is doing it behind the curtain in a secret way, helping the Taleban or the other opposition of the Afghan government."

Every week there is more evidence that the high-powered, hi-tech bombs being used to deadly effect in Iraq are now arriving in Afghanistan.

The commander of Nato's International Security Assistance Force for western Afghanistan (Isaf), Brigadier General Antonio Satta, discovered one cache: "We examined the charges, and unfortunately it is one of the first that is found in Afghanistan. So there are some concerns about it, but hopefully it's an isolated case".

"In Iraq the insurgency developed and they got more and more sophisticated. I believe we are seeing the same thing in Afghanistan, but fortunately they are still quite a long way behind Iraq."

Intelligence sources say Iranian agencies, but not necessarily the government, are talking to the Taleban and that weapons are on the move.

Right now, nowhere in Afghanistan appears to be safe from the insurgency.

'Iranian origin'

Roadside and suicide bombs have been killing soldiers and policemen from the Afghan and international security services, as well as civilians in every corner of the country from Kandahar to Kunduz, Badakhshan to Herat.

The British ambassador for the last year, Stephen Evans, has just left Afghanistan, but he had to deal with at least one case in Helmand.

"I think it was 11 April that a Taleban convoy was intercepted in southern Afghanistan and there was ammunition and explosives of Iranian origin," he said.

"Who supplied them, and why, and under what circumstances not yet clear."

Britain already blames Iran for: "backing, financing, arming and supporting terrorism in Iraq," and it suspects the same thing could happen in Afghanistan.

But the Iranian ambassador dismisses the allegations of supplying weapons: "Strongly denied. Strongly denied and we are ready to make that clear," he says.

Beautiful, ancient Herat with its huge citadel towering over the old city and its famous mud brick minarets has a multi-layered history of foreign powers using Afghanistan to expand their empires - to achieve their own global ambitions.

Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan came here. The British fought Persia here in the 1850s when the Great Game with Russia was at its height.

'Long, strategic game'

Rory Stewart, a former diplomat now living in Afghanistan, believes little has changed: "Both here, and in Iraq, the Iranian government's objectives are probably simply to destabilise the situation and deter the US-led coalition from attempting anything against Iran," he said.

"They play very, very long strategic games, and do a lot of very traditional interference in neighbouring countries in order to try to defend their own national interests."

Everyone, of course, is at it - even British, European and American forces are here to protect themselves from terrorism at home - it's another bigger battle being fought in Afghanistan.

And when diplomatic games are played in other lands, it's the people who suffer - it's their lives which are caught up in someone else's war.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan MPs insist on foreign minister's sacking
Monday, June 11 01:28 pm
KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan lower house of parliament refuses to back away from its decision to remove the foreign minister, the chief of the house said on Monday, highlighting a growing divide between the president and parliament.

President Hamid Karzai is in a standoff over the fate of Western-educated Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta and the dispute is seen as a challenge to Karzai's leadership at a time of worsening violence and public disillusionment with his rule.

"Our decision is final...our stance is as before. Karzai has to introduce a new minister," the head of the lower house, Yunus Qanuni, told a news conference.

The lower house, made up of factional leaders, ex-communist officials, some former Taliban members and women rights activists, censured Spanta last month for failing to stop the expulsion of Afghan refugees from neighbouring Iran.

Faced with attacks by a resurgent Taliban and political pressure from some senior members of his own government, Karzai opposed Spanta's sacking and referred the case to the supreme court.

The court said the vote of no-confidence against Spanta had no basis because Iran's deportations were outside his control.

Spanta continues to go to work at the foreign ministry and represented Afghanistan on the sidelines of the summit of leaders of G8 countries on Friday, despite parliament's objections.

Under the constitution, the lower house can remove ministers who fail to carry out their jobs, Qanuni said when asked to comment on the supreme court's view.

Iran has expelled more than 50,000 Afghan refugees over the past two months as part of a new campaign to repatriate Afghans living illegally in the country.

The lower house has also censured the refugees minister over the same issue, but Karzai has agreed to replace him.

Spanta says he did all he could to urge Iran to suspend the repatriations because Afghanistan lacked the resources to resettle them.

Qanuni and nearly two dozen lawmakers along with Karzai's first deputy and some of his former and current cabinet ministers are pushing to reduce the president's powers.

Spanta was seen as opposing Karzai's proposal to reach out to the Taliban and other opposition leaders to end the country's growing violence.

But Spanta has the confidence of Germany, one of Karzai's Western allies in the fight against the Taliban which ruled the country before U.S.-led troops overthrew the rebel group in 2001.

Spanta has also opposed an offer of blanket amnesty passed by the lower house for those who committed war crimes during the country's nearly three decades of conflict.

Spanta has denied any differences with Karzai.
Back to Top
Back to Top
U.N. demands action on Afghan graft, lawlessness
Monday June 11, 10:01 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - The United Nations accused the Afghan government, its Western allies and lawmakers of failing to curb corruption and lawlessness on Monday, warning that this could fuel militant insurgents and threaten stability.
Corruption and violent crimes are widespread in Afghanistan, feeding disillusionment with the government of Western-leaning President Hamid Karzai who has been leading the country since U.S.-led forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001.

Tackling corruption, taming war-lords and improving living standards were top of Karzai's agenda when he won the country's first ever direct elections in 2004.

But U.N. Special Representative to Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, called a news conference in Kabul to urge faster progress on the government, its foreign allies and the parliament, and he said the establishment of rule of law should be a top priority.

"There won't be stability without justice," he said.

Koenigs said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would put law and order at the top of the agenda for an international peace conference on Afghanistan to be held in Rome on July 2 and 3.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Germany fears more attacks on troops in Afghanistan: report
Mon Jun 11, 12:20 AM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - Germany fears further attacks on its troops in northern  Afghanistan like the one that killed three of its soldiers on May 19, according to a foreign office report seen by a German newspaper.

German troops "must expect further attacks in the coming days," according to a report sent to Berlin by a foreign ministry official in Afghanistan on June 7, Handelsblatt said in an article published on Monday.

The report, compiled just after a visit to Afghanistan by Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung and cleared by military officials in the country, said that several militant groups appeared to be forming in the north of the country.

"Several groups with links to the Taliban are developing in Kunduz province plans on carrying out attacks. Suicide bombers are apparently available," it said.

Asked about the report by AFP, a spokesman for the ministry declined to comment on the security situation in Afghanistan, but stressed that "all possible measures" had been taken to ensure the safety of soldiers, diplomats and reconstruction teams in the region.

On May 19 a suicide bomb killed three German soldiers and six civilians in a crowded market in the town of Kunduz, 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Kabul, in Germany's biggest loss in Afghanistan since 2003.

Germany has around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan serving under NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), most of them in the normally calm north.

Handelsblatt also cited another report, from June 3, as blaming the worsening security situation in northern Afghanistan first and foremost on the "halfhearted" attitude of the Afghan security forces.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Laura Bush Condemns Female Afghan Journalist's Murder
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
June 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- U.S. First Lady Laura Bush has condemned the assassination of female Afghan journalist Zakia Zaki.

Zaki, director of the private Peace Radio, was killed by suspected Taliban gunmen on June 5 in Parwan Province, north of Kabul.

It was the second recent killing of a female Afghan journalist.

In a statement posted on her official website, Laura Bush said Zaki's murder was a reminder of the threat that terrorism poses to the rights to free speech, a free press, and to equal dignity for women.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Arrests made in Afghan rocket attack
By FISNIK ABRASHI Associated Press / June 11, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan officials arrested seven suspects in connection with an apparent assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai, a government spokesman said Monday.

Karzai was giving a speech on Sunday to elders and residents in Andar district in central Afghanistan when rockets were fired nearby, said Ali Shah Ahmadzai, the provincial police chief. The rockets missed their target, and no one was hurt.

"After the rockets were fired, we launched a search operation in the area," Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said Monday. "We arrested seven people from nearby villages."

He provided no further details.

Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, said the world body condemned the rocket attack Sunday in central Ghazni province, which narrowly missed Karzai.

"This is an outrage," Koenigs told a news conference. "Those who are responsible clearly do not respect the views of the millions of Afghans who elected President Karzai."

Witnesses said they heard between three and six rockets, but the Taliban claimed it fired 12.

The rockets missed their target, with two of them landing some 200 yards away from the crowd, said Arif Yaqoubi, a local reporter attending the event.

"Please sit down," Karzai told a nervous crowd under a tent in a school yard. "Don't be scared. Nothing is happening."

Karzai finished his speech and his security detail whisked him off by helicopter to Kabul, witnesses and officials said. It was the third attempt on Karzai's life since he became president following the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press that Taliban militants were behind the attack.

"The Taliban knew that Karzai was coming to Andar district. When Karzai was meeting with the people, the Taliban fired 12 rockets," Ahmadi said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location. "The rockets fell nearby."

Elsewhere, in eastern Khost province, a suicide car bomber blew himself up Monday as police were approaching to search his vehicle at a checkpoint in Gurbuz district, said provincial governor Arsalah Jamal. Eleven people were wounded.

Afghanistan's eastern border provinces have been plagued by insurgency related violence, which has killed about 2,200 people so far this year, most of them militants, according to an AP tally based on reports from western and Afghan officials.

In Kabul, the former head of Afghanistan's radio and television department under the Taliban regime joined the government during a ceremony organized by Ministry of Information and Culture.

Mohammad Ishaq Nezamy, who until recently lived in Peshawar, Pakistan, praised Afghan government efforts at co-opting former Taliban and their sympathizers during a brief speech on Sunday.

"Now it is up to the Afghan people that they should start negotiations with each other and find solutions for their problems," Nezamy said.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan leader not cowed by rocket attack: spokesman
By Mark Bendeich Mon Jun 11, 4:44 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has no plans to restrict his travel or beef up personal security after surviving a third assassination attempt in a rocket attack outside the capital, a presidential spokesman said on Monday.

Taliban insurgents fired several rockets at a building where Karzai was giving a speech on Sunday. They fell harmlessly wide of their target but the incident highlighted the dangers for Karzai of traveling outside his heavily fortified base in Kabul.

"The president's schedule is business as usual," a presidential spokesman Khaleeq Ahmad said. "His security has done a great job and no changes will be made ... The president will continue his provincial visits all over  Afghanistan."

Since installed to lead Afghanistan in 2001, following the overthrow of the Taliban, Karzai has now survived three assassination attempts, including a previous rocket attack during a helicopter trip in the 2004 presidential election race.

In 2002, a Taliban fighter tried to shoot him during a visit to southern Kandahar city -- his birthplace and the stronghold of Taliban insurgents.

That attack and the assassination of one of Karzai's deputies in broad daylight in Kabul, prompted Washington, the president's staunch supporter, to provide him protection with scores of U.S. security guards.

In the face of criticism by some Afghans over the protection by U.S. bodyguards, Karzai publicly relies largely on his American-trained Afghan security apparatus.

The president is known as the "mayor of Kabul" to his critics, who say his power does not extend much beyond his palace, which hides behind sandbag ramparts, concrete blocks, razor wire and machine-gun nests in the capital.

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE?
A government official, who declined to be identified because he feared he was breaching security protocol, said Karzai had been notified that militants might attempt a rocket attack during his visit to Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, on Sunday.

Spokesman Ahmad declined to comment on Karzai's prior intelligence but said threats are constant.

"Rocket attacks are something normal for him," Ahmad said, noting that for several years in the 1990s rockets rained down on parts of Kabul. "For an Afghan, when a rocket lands close by their house, no one flinches. They keep watching their TV."

Karzai had been in Ghazni to speak to elders of impoverished Andar district at a government building. Another government official and an eyewitness said the audience began to flee when the rockets crashed down several hundred meters away, but Karzai urged them to stay and finished his speech.

Provincial authorities in Ghazni on Monday said they have arrested 11 suspected Taliban in an operation following the attack and all "have confessed to being behind it."

Despite winning a historic mandate in the country's first ever presidential elections in 2004, Karzai has been politically weakened by a resurgent Taliban, widespread corruption and constant battles with parliament.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Pakistan leader condemns attack on Afghan president
Mon Jun 11, 2:20 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Monday expressed concern over a "cowardly" attempt on the life of his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, a statement said.

Military ruler Musharraf, who has been at loggerheads with his fellow ally in the US-led "war on terror" for several months, also called for a firm stance to end terrorism in the region.

Karzai escaped unhurt after Taliban militants fired rockets Sunday at a school in the southwestern Afghan province of Ghazni, where he was meeting with tribal elders.

"I was deeply concerned to know about the cowardly attack on your life while you were addressing a public meeting in Ghazni," Musharraf said in his message to Karzai, according to the statement.

It said Musharraf added: "We are grateful to almighty Allah that you are safe and no harm has come to the life of our other Afghan brothers as well."

Musharraf, who has himself survived at least two assassination attempts blamed on the Taliban's Al-Qaeda allies, said "the attack reinforces our common resolve to eliminate the menace of terrorism and violence from the region."

Karzai and Musharraf agreed to step up joint efforts against terrorism at a meeting in the Turkish capital, Ankara, in late April which was held to ease simmering tensions.

The pair have recently traded barbs over accusations that Islamabad is not doing enough to stop Taliban militants based in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas from launching cross-border attacks into  Afghanistan.
Back to Top
Back to Top
U.N. condemns assassination attempt on Afghan president
Monday June 11, 7:30 PM
(Kyodo) _ The United Nations on Monday condemned an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a rocket attack outside the capital.
"This is an outrage and I condemn it utterly," Tom Koenigs, the world body's top envoy in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul. "Those who are responsible clearly do not respect the views of the millions of Afghans who elected President Karzai."

On Sunday, Taliban militants fired several rockets at a building where Karzai was giving a speech in the Andar district of Ghazni Province, central Afghanistan, officials said. The rockets missed the building and caused no injuries.

Afghan authorities said they have arrested at least seven suspects in connection with Sunday's failed attack, the third assassination attempt on Karzai.

In 2004 a rocket was fired at Karzai's helicopter as it was landing in Paktiya Province, and in 2002, he narrowly escaped injury when a uniformed gunman opened fire directly in front of his vehicle in the southern city of Kandahar.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Sophisticated bomb found in Kabul
By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Helmand Monday, 11 June 2007
A hi-tech bomb, similar to the ones used by militants in Iraq, has been found in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Afghan intelligence sources say the bomb can penetrate heavily armoured vehicles and was set up by a road to target a high-level government convoy.

There is increasing evidence that sophisticated explosives technology is crossing into Afghanistan from Iraq.

Police and government officials say they believe Iran is the source of these so-called "shaped charges".

'Shaped charges'

They have been used widely in Iraq and now it seems they are on the streets of Afghanistan.

These "shaped charges" are designed to explode in a specific direction, to concentrate the force into one point, and their discovery in Kabul is a worrying development for security forces.

A source from the Afghan intelligence agency said the bomb had been planted by a busy roadside in the centre of the capital but had been discovered before it was detonated.

He said the intended target was mostly likely a high-level government convoy.

Hi-tech charges have been found in Afghanistan close to the Iranian border before and senior police and government officials have told the BBC that Iran's security agencies are involved with supplying the Taleban insurgency with money, weapons and explosives.

In April, in the southern Helmand province, weapons of Iranian origin were found but there was no direct link to the government.

The Iranian ambassador to Kabul strongly denies any involvement.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan, five hurt
Mon Jun 11, 6:34 AM ET
KHOST, Afghanistan (AFP) - A suicide attacker detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a police checkpost in Afghanistan's southeastern city of Khost Monday, wounding at least five people, officials said.

The attacker drove a car into the police post about three kilometres (two miles) south of Khost, provincial criminal police chief Mohammad Ayob said. "It was a suicide attack," Ayob said.

He was not immediately able to say what casualties were caused.

The provincial health director, Gul Mohammadin Mohammadi, said five people were brought to hospital with injuries. "Three of them are police and two others are civilians," he told AFP.

The blast site was cordoned off by police who barred reporters from the scene.

Khost province, on the border with Pakistan, sees much of the Taliban-led insurgency although the militants are more active in the south.

The insurgents have this year carried out a series of suicide attacks but Monday's blast was the first in two weeks.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan capital blast may have been gas cylinder
KABUL (Reuters) - An explosion was heard in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday night, but police said it might have been caused by a gas cylinder.

The blast was heard in the northwest of the city, prompting local authorities to investigate. Foreign forces sometimes carry out controlled explosions of ordnance but rarely at night.

"As far as we have checked, it looks like the blast was caused by a faulty gas cylinder," said a police officer.

Kabul has had a series of blasts, including suicide attacks against government and Western troops, in recent months caused by Taliban insurgents. The Taliban have been active in southern and eastern areas of the country.
Back to Top
Back to Top
AFGHANISTAN: UN says rule of law a top priority
11 Jun 2007 15:26:35 GMT
KABUL, 11 June 2007 (IRIN) - The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan (SRSG), Tom Koenigs, on Monday called on the government of President Hamid Karzai and the international community to intensify their efforts to end "lawlessness" in the war-ravaged country.

"Ensuring the rule of law should become a top priority for the government of Afghanistan and its international friends – people are fed up," said Koenigs, who recently briefed members of the UN Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan.

In addition to an increasing number of insurgent attacks that, according to the UN, have killed more than 380 civilians in the past five months, Afghanistan's post-Taliban fragile political stability has been threatened by competing warlords who fear they will be marginalised during the country's transition to democracy.

On Sunday, five missiles were fired close to a location where Karzai was delivering a speech to a local gathering in the Andaar district of Ghazni province.

A government press release stated that no-one was hurt in the attacks.

"Those who did the attack do not value the millions of Afghans who voted for Karzai as their president – we utterly condemn it," Koenigs said.

The UN also denounced the recent assassinations of two female journalists in Kabul and Parwan provinces – both relatively free of Taliban insurgency.

Shakiba Saanga, an anchor for a TV station in Kabul, and Zakia Zaki, the director of a radio station in Parwan province, were both shot dead by unidentified armed men in separate attacks.

Lawlessness hinders progress

Lawlessness in Afghanistan is greatly hindering progress in the country. For the past five years, dozens of donor countries have spent billions of dollars on reconstruction and development in Afghanistan which, some Afghans say, have not brought tangible changes to people's daily lives.

Widespread insecurity in the south and south-east of the country has impeded rebuilding and development activities, donors and Afghan officials say.

The UN, too, is also not satisfied with the pace of development in Afghanistan, Koenigs told a briefing in Kabul on Monday.

According to him, some people, particularly in the south, have been alienated due to poor government performance and lack of development.

The UN has played a critical role in supporting post-Taliban arrangements in Afghanistan and garnering international assistance to help the country's transition to democracy and statehood.

Noor Akbari, an Afghan MP, told IRIN that the UN's plea for an end to lawlessness and a fresh start to development in Afghanistan is a clear warning to the national government and its international partners.

"I think the UN has realised the fact that Afghanistan has reached a crossroad of success and failure and that the international community should overhaul its security, reconstruction and development engagements in the country," said Akbari.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Aga Khan calls for private sector role in Afghanistan
BY A CORRESPONDENT The EastAfrican
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia and the Aga Khan, have called for the private sector to play a greater role in Afghanistan’s development. 

Speaking at the recent two-day Enabling Environment Conference in Kabul, the Aga Khan called for government, civil society, and the business community to better co-ordinate their efforts in fostering the development of the country’s private sector. 

“Too often, the various actors go about their business without enough reference to one another. The result often reminds me of an orchestra made up of talented and dedicated artists — but playing from different scores,” said the Aga Khan. “The result is not harmony but cacophony — and an unevenness of public impact which is inherently unfair,” he added. 

He made the remarks in a keynote speech last Monday, to the opening session of the conference organised jointly by the government of Afghanistan and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) to help spur development following 30 years of war. Over 300 government officials, entrepreneurs and civil society leaders from around the world attended the conference. 

The conference was co-chaired by Prince Amyn Aga Khan, the Aga Khan’s younger brother, and Professor Ishaq Nadiri of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s president Karzai told the conference that the long-term future of Afghanistan will depend on the Afghans themselves. “Afghanistan’s prosperity today and in the future will be linked to our ability to attract and support private business,” he said. 

In his address to the conference, the Aga Khan thanked Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, for his support for the conference. He praised Malaysia as the example of a successful, pluralistic, Muslim country, guided by the ethics of Islam. 

We are approaching the 50th anniversary of Malaysian independence in September — so it is a particularly appropriate moment to salute Malaysia’s record as a role model for the Ummah (Islamic Community) and for the entire developing world,” he said.

The Aga Khan is the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. This year he will mark his 50th year as the leader of the Ismaili Community.

Prime Minister Badawi, who addressed the meeting via a video link, said his country had gone a long way in the past 50 years.

“Fifty years ago, Malaysia was merely the largest producer of rubber and tin in the world. Today, Malaysia produces palm oil on an industrial scale and leads as an exporter of many manufactured products and services,” he said.

Mr Badawi said Malaysia was willing to share its experience with Afghanistan. He noted that Afghanistan, like Malaysia, can also transform itself from an agriculture-based economy to a centre for labour-intensive manufacturing. 

The Aga Khan said the lack of co-ordination and fragmentation of development efforts has been a barrier to progress in Afghanistan. He cited illegal drug production as one example.

“The most profound example is the fact that much of this country’s economic life — activities related to illicit drug production — falls outside the reach of any legitimate regime. In many developing countries, illicit activities have shrunk as legal authority extends its influence and as alternative licit activities — in the realm of agriculture for example — take on added value,” he said. 

The Afghanistan conference is believed to be the largest such gathering held in Kabul in recent years. The World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Asian Development Bank also were partners in the conference.

The Aga Khan recalled that the term “enabling environment” was originally coined in Kenya more than 20 years ago during the first gathering devoted to building an enabling environment. He said since then Enabling Environment for Development has been a central theme for his Imamat.

In a brief address to the conference, the gathering’s co-chairman, Prince Amyn Aga Khan, recalled that 25 years ago Kenya faced some of the problems Afghanistan is confronted with today, citing hesitancy by investors to get involved in a high risk-environment. He mentioned middle-level economic activity as a key factor in fostering private sector development.

The Aga Khan reiterated that conditions, such as political stability, safety and security, citizen rights, predictable democratic practices and legal and administrative frameworks that are streamlined and efficient, impartial and effective are necessary to create an enabling environment in Afghanistan. But he stressed that effective government alone will not suffice.

“Laying the State’s political foundation is a necessary first step for an enabling environment, but even effective government can take us only so far. And that is why we have been talking more in recent years about two other sectors: First, what I often call the role of ‘civil society’; and, second, the capacities of the private sector,” he said. 

The Aga Khan said that a greater role should be played by public-private partnerships in development, citing several successful examples of such projects from Egypt to Tajikistan to Afghanistan. He called for alliances built around common interests rather than geography.

“Here, as elsewhere, the future will depend on our ability to rise above the accident of common geography and to rally around common interests — whether our skills lie in apricot processing or tourism, transport or literature or law,” he said. 

The conference organisers say its purpose is to work towards identifying ways to increase the private sector’s participation in the country’s economic and social development — to create jobs, provide better services, find new ways to address chronic and emerging issues, and improve the general climate for private initiative.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Danish minister predicts long-term Afghan commitment
(DPA) 11 June 2007 via Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
COPENHAGEN - As Denmark prepares to redeploy troops from southern Iraq to Afghanistan, Defence Minister Soren Gade said Monday he expected that foreign troops should be prepared to remain in Afghanistan for at least ten years.


‘In my view there is no doubt that foreign soldiers will remain in Afghanistan for ten years or more,’ Gade said in remarks quoted by Danish news agency Ritzau.

Denmark’s 450-strong contingent in Afghanistan is due to increase to 650 this autumn after a broad political agreement between the government and main opposition parties.

Gade said that to ensure long-term stability in Afghanistan there would likely be need for agreements between the central government in Kabul, various governors and former warlords.

‘The base would be the legitimately elected Afghan government,’ Gade said.

Denmark was in August to withdraw its 500-strong contingent from southern Iraq as Baghdad takes charge of security.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Sri Lanka to establish diplomatic ties with Afghanistan
Monday, June 11, 2007, 14:01 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 11, Colombo: Sri Lanka has decided to establish a mission in war-torn Afghanistan soon, an official source said.

He said that the new mission will be established following a concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in order to strengthen diplomatic relationships with the people of Afghanistan.

Already a top delegation led by Foreign Ministry’s Additional Secretary T.B. Madawegedara and an advisor to the Foreign Ministry, Lal Kumara Gamage is in the Afghan capital of Kabul to hold discussions with the government official there, he added.

According to the official Gamage, is to be appointed as the new head of the Sri Lankan Mission in Kabul.
Back to Top
Back to Top
NATO pins Afghan hopes on a single road
June 11, 2007
SANGIN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - NATO is pinning its hopes to restore peace in Afghanistan on a single road.

At the bottom of the Sangin Valley road is the highway that links southern Afghanistan to Kabul. At the top is the Kajaki Dam, by far the biggest aid project the West envisions for the country.

In between are 180 km (110 miles) of rutted, pitted mountain track, winding past opium fields and through bazaars along the banks of the Helmand River.

Contractors say they are ready to start within weeks on a $150 million (76.2 million pound) project to renovate the dam, providing power to millions of Afghans and proving once and for all that the international community can provide the sort of benefits the guerrillas will never deliver.

But to build it, they will need to drive two 12-tonne transformers and a 26-tonne turbine up into the mountains. And that means they first need to rebuild the road.

Winning control of the valley so the dam can be rebuilt has become the prime goal of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.

"It has been the main focus of our military objectives in the last two months: clearing the upper Sangin valley in order for governance and stability to develop and for the road and dam to be completed," said Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo, spokesman for NATO forces in Helmand province.

Thousands of U.S. and British-led NATO troops have mounted a series of assaults on the valley, and NATO now says it is ready to proceed.

The road goes through territory that until a few weeks ago was completely controlled by Taliban guerrillas.

For the past year, the main bazaar town along the way, Sangin, was perhaps the fiercest battlefield of the war, with British troops fighting sometimes to nearly their last round of ammunition to hold a single compound.

The latest operations seem to have been a success. In the past weeks, once-deserted market stalls have reopened.

Now, says the newly installed district chief, the locals are ready to help start rebuilding the road.

"All the elders have promised us that they will provide workers," District Chief Haji Issatullah said over glasses of sweet tea on a carpet in his new compound, a sandbagged municipal building inside the perimeter guarded by a company of British infantrymen.

The area is still far from wholly quiet. One British soldier was killed and four were wounded in an ambush on Saturday.

The Taliban are now in complete control of Musa Qala, a connected mountain valley which British troops abandoned last year.

But Issatullah insisted Taliban attacks would not stop the road.

"The road will provide jobs, and then people will be able to use the road itself," he said. "The Taliban might try to attack, but I don't think they will be able to stop the roadwork."

The next few months will be make-or-break for a project that could come to define the West's efforts to penetrate the Taliban heartland.

Stu Willcuts, who runs the dam project for Louis Berger, an engineering firm hired by the U.S. government, says the road itself will generate up to 2,500 jobs, with another 400 or more hired to restore the dam and replace cables through the entire valley.

He now has promises from elders leading two tribes that each control six km stretches of road near Sangin to help build it.

"I've got 12 km. They say: hire our boys," he told Reuters. "It just takes a lot of hard work, a lot of meetings, a lot of drinking tea."

He recites the names of tribes along the route, some of which are sceptical, some of which are murderously hostile. The hope is that when tribes allied to the Taliban see other groups getting a new road, they will want one too and lay down their arms.

The dam and the road were first built by the Americans 30 years ago. Willcuts hopes to attract local engineers who still remember that original project.

"You can't be a pessimist," he says.

(Read more from Peter Graff's reporting trip to Afghanistan on his blog http://blogs.reuters.com/category/from-reuterscom/embedded-in-af ghanistan/)
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan envoy warns against joining Taliban 
June 11, 2007 at 12:03 PM
WASHINGTON, June 11 (UPI) -- The Afghan ambassador to the United States has encouraged Afghans to support their government and not join the Taliban insurgency.
Said T. Jawad, a former press secretary for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told a news conference Friday that the Taliban had been able to recruit more fighters because of the government's inability to improve the standard of living.

"They capitalize on the frustration of the Afghan people when they don't see improvement in their life," he said. "This is because of a lack of reconstruction and the lack of capacity of the Afghan government to deliver services."

Taliban attacks have risen from 1,632 in 2005 to 5,388 in 2006. There have been 59 suicide attacks this year alone, and violence increased by almost 400 percent in 2006. Four thousand Afghans died last year because of terrorist activity.

But Jawad rejected the notion that the Taliban was a suitable alternative to the government. "The Taliban are a xenophobic terrorist group with a very dark past and a history of oppression. They do not provide a clear political vision," he said.

"Their leader is a blind cleric who isn't even Islamic and whose religious credentials are seriously under question. But they do enjoy foreign ideological, financial and logistical support, and as you know most of the senior leadership of the Taliban resides outside Afghanistan," he said.

However, the Taliban's deep pockets have made it difficult for the government to recruit a police force. The Taliban pays recruits $250, and a suicide bomber gets between $8,000 and $10,000, according to Jawad. A policeman on the other hand gets only $40 per month.
--
Leander Schaerlaeckens, UPI Correspondent
Back to Top
Back to Top
Lalani says he's keeping close eye on detainees
By STEPHANIE LEVITZ
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Canada's top diplomat in Afghanistan said Monday he will keep a close watch on the progress of an Afghan investigation into new allegations that detainees captured by Canadians and handed over to Afghan authorities have been tortured.

Canadian Ambassador Arif Lalani said a credible investigation will take time but he will be speaking with the Afghan government regularly to check on progress.

"We've moved very quickly. I expect the Afghan government to move equally quickly," Lalani said during a briefing with Canadian reporters in Kandahar.

The fresh allegations surfaced during a visit by Canadian authorities to Afghan prisons as part of a new agreement signed May 3.

Coming in the wake of reports that as many as 30 people captured by Canadians were being abused by their Afghan captors, the agreement allows Canadian officials and international human rights workers to check regularly on the well-being of prisoners.

Lalani said he raised the new allegations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government immediately.

"The process is working; the process is supposed to allow us to monitor and deal with the results," he said.

"We have monitored and now we are dealing with the results."

He said charges could be laid if the allegations are substantiated.

Lalani acknowledged he's also keeping an eye on a Canadian detained by the Afghans.

University of Calgary student Sohail Qureshi was arrested in Kabul last month, suspected of being a suicide bomber.

"I've personally been watching that file," he said, adding consular officials have had access to Qureshi, who remains in custody.

He said he couldn't reveal anything more due to privacy concerns.

Lalani's signature on the prisoner-detainee agreement marked one of his first tasks as Canada's ambassador since he was appointed to the post in late April. He met with local and Canadian reporters on Monday to give his assessment of Canada's work on the ground after 30 days in his job.

Lalani said Canada is one of the leaders in Afghanistan because of the military and development assistance being provided.

"We really have a chance to influence some key issues in this country and to influence them in a way which will also have a positive impact on the things we're trying to do here," he said.

"It's a unique position for Canada to be that much in the lead."

Canada's current commitment to the NATO mission in Afghanistan is scheduled to end in February 2009. Lalani said whether Canada will pull out is going to depend on politics and progress.

In the meantime, he said, Canada should keep focused on making as much of a difference as it can.

He said he was in Afghanistan a year ago, before his appointment as ambassador, and could see clear examples of progress.

"There is more Afghan army, more Afghan police, more Afghans at work, more Afghan children at school here than there was a year ago," he said.

Lalani also said Kandahar province, which is Canada's responsibility in the international effort to secure and reconstruct Afghanistan, is safer than it was one year ago. He pointed to more national security forces at work and continued economic growth as evidence.

Violence, however, has flared in the southern part of the country in recent weeks, with insurgents targeting both local and international security forces.

One Canadian was killed earlier this month when a helicopter he was riding in was reportedly shot down by the Taliban.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Big majority wants Afghan mission to end in 2009: poll
Canadian Press Monday, June 11, 2007 Article tools
OTTAWA (CP) - A new poll suggests the vast majority of Canadians want the country's military mission in Afghanistan to end as scheduled in 2009.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has repeatedly hinted that Canadian troops may have to stay on in the troubled country to finish the job there.

But a survey by Decima Research, provided exclusively to The Canadian Press, found that only 26 per cent of respondents believed the military mission should be extended "if that is necessary to complete our goals there."

Two thirds, or 67 per cent, said Canadian troops should do their best but must stick to the deadline and leave in February 2009.

The majority sentiment, according to Decima, held true in every region of Canada, among men and women, all age and income groups and among both urban and rural residents.

Among Conservative voters, respondents were evenly split, with 48 per cent saying they could support an extension and 47 per cent wanting to stick to the withdrawal date.

That's not to say Canadians feel the mission is a wasted effort.

A healthy plurality of respondents felt the mission was helping to rebuild Afghanistan (49-35) and fostering democracy (46-35), although respondents were more skeptical that sufficient progress is being made to reduce the threat of global terrorism.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Forces accused of leaving Afghan police in lurch
They're ill-equipped and under-trained, and one Afghan officer says their calls for help go unheeded, reports Tom Blackwell.
Tom Blackwell, with files from Taimoor Shah The National Post Monday, June 11, 2007
ZHARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan -- On the dusty front lines of Canada's latest battle with the Taliban, Abdul Hakim is smarting, and not just from the suicide bomber who blew up inches away from him.

The commander of a beleaguered Afghan National Police detachment in Kandahar province's Zhari district is becoming increasingly frustrated with the Canadian Forces in the area. The foreign soldiers, he charges, have repeatedly ignored police calls for help in fighting the insurgents and overlooked tips on where to find and destroy Taliban nests.

Mr. Hakim contends a lack of co-operation between the police, the Afghan National Army and Canadian troops has helped insurgent strength in the district grow to 300 or 400 fighters from 100 six months ago .

"We don't have a connection with the Canadians. Never, ever," he said in an interview on the floor of his mud-walled headquarters. "We give information to the Canadians and they are not acting upon it. That is why the enemy is getting stronger and stronger."

Mr. Hakim is no general in the anti-insurgent war. He heads two checkpoints in the district, with about 30 officers under him. They're a ragtag bunch who, for the most part, lack uniforms, let alone body armour. Nevertheless, he offered a frank, unofficial assessment of the battle from his desert-level perspective.

He does not suggest the Canadians are afraid to engage the insurgents. In fact, they have had numerous firefights with the Taliban over the past several weeks, and a Canadian corporal was killed recently in a major operation.

Rather, the police and NATO seem to be waging their own, independent wars, the commander said. The Canadian offensives against the Taliban, such as Operation Hoover a few weeks ago, are largely "useless," because the militants hear in advance of the large-scale missions that often involve tanks. They hide to avoid confrontation and sometimes lay down improvised explosive devices to sabotage the Canadian advance, the officer observed.

"Unity is a must among the police, the Canadians and the (Afghan National Army)," Mr. Hakim said, languidly brushing aside flies. "Without the co-operation of these three groups, there will be no security."

A Canadian Forces spokes-man declined to comment on the officer's assertions, calling him a minor figure with a limited perspective on the strategic situation.

In the past, trust has been an issue between the Canadian army and the Afghan police. Tribal prejudices and corruption among some of the underpaid officers -- such as the chief in neighbouring Panjwai district who sold uniforms on the black market, and the officer arrested for theft during a village search -- have made the Canadians skeptical of the advice.

Canadian troops, meanwhile, have begun using decoy tactics in Zhari to try to deflect the Taliban's attention and make their operations more of a surprise.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said in a telephone interview that insurgents can see the Canadian operations coming and avoid a direct conflict.

"We are moving and launching a hit-and-run war against them," he said. He also confirmed that the militants have focused on destroying police checkpoints in Zhari.

"Then we are able to go around and plant mines and attack the Canadian or foreign troops," he said. "It's harder to bring the Canadians down."

Mr. Hakim's account of the conflict was similar. He said his checkpoints are attacked almost daily and he avoids firefights with the Taliban.

In one recent case, Mr. Hakim said, insurgents surrounded his deputy and several men, killing two officers and destroying two police vehicles. When they requested support, the Canadian military called in an aircraft that dropped a flare over the scene, Mr. Hakim said.

"We are not strong enough. Our people are just trying to avoid their attacks."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Japan unveils aid worth 18.65 mil. yen for Afghanistan
June 11, 2007
(Kyodo) _ The Japanese government said Monday it will provide grant aid worth 18.65 million yen to nongovernmental organizations in Afghanistan for literacy education and job training.

The aid is the first project in line with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pledge during his trip to Europe in January to work with NATO on assistance for Afghanistan.

The money will be allotted to employment of teachers and purchase of textbooks, blackboards and stoves, government officials said.

Abe had expressed his intention to work with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on aid for Afghanistan, namely strengthening cooperation with NATO's provincial reconstruction teams, increasing support for security maintenance and helping to beef up the Afghan government's border control capabilities.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Iran sees little U.S. threat
KUWAIT CITY, June 11 (UPI) -- The head of Iran's parliament doubts the United States will launch a military strike against his country due to its troubles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Concluding a three-day visit to Kuwait, Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel told reporters Sunday that a military action against his country is a "weak eventuality," the Kuwait News Agency reported.

"After its bitter experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States is unlikely to launch a military showdown with Iran," he said.

Adel was asked to comment on a threat made by Iran's foreign minister that the Islamic republic would target all U.S. interests in the gulf if attacked.

"If Iran was attacked by a military base in the region, it would be natural for the Iranian response to be directed to that same base," he said.

Adel said his country was prepared to defend itself no matter what happened.

He said the talks with Kuwait did not deal with Iran's nuclear plans.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan Firebrand Gets Burned
The young parliamentarian is unrepentant after her suspension for insulting her colleagues, and vows to continue her struggle.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul Afghanistan (ARR No. 256, 11-June-07)
“I will never apologise!” said Malalai Joya, bitter and defiant over her suspension from Afghanistan’s parliament.

For almost three weeks, the young legislator has been on the run, unable to show her face, meet openly with journalists or disclose her location, for fear of reprisals. She spoke to IWPR by telephone.

An interview Joya gave to Tolo TV, in which she compared some of her colleagues to barnyard animals, riled lawmakers to such an extent that they voted to suspend her from parliament, although legal scholars say the decision has no basis in the law.

“A stable is better,” she said, in a video clip that was shown repeatedly in parliament on May 21. “At least there you have a donkey that can carry a load and a cow that gives milk.”

The remarks inflamed many members of parliament who already had a long and hostile relationship with Joya. She has often spoken out about the “warlords” who tore her country apart.

In May, 2006, she was pelted with water bottles and threatened with death after she called some of the mujahedin “criminals.”

Joya claims that her latest remarks to Tolo TV were misinterpreted.

“I was misquoted,” she told IWPR. “I made a distinction between members of parliament. We have two types of parliamentarians – those who are the real representatives of the people, although they are very few in number; and the majority, who are criminals and who came to the parliament by the use of force.”

Joya said that she had named some of the “criminals” in her remarks, but the references were “censored” out by Tolo.

Her suspension, she insists, is a plot by her political enemies, of whom there are many.

“It is absolutely a political conspiracy,” she said. “I was not even allowed to speak in the lower house before they suspended me.”

Joya’s colleagues in parliament are in no mood for conciliation.

“Malalai Joya has offended the whole Afghan nation,” said parliamentarian Haji Mullah Tarakhil, defending the decision to suspend her.

“If we say that parliamentarians are animals and parliament is a barn, that is abuse,” said Ahmad Bihzaad, another legislator. “Even if she only named one parliamentarian, it is clearly an insult.

“Those who sit in parliament are the elected representatives of the people, and should not be insulted.”

But legal experts say parliament has no right to suspend one of its members. Joya is an elected representative in her own right, they say, and as such can only be judged by the courts.

“Parliament does not have the right to suspend or cancel a deputy’s membership,” said Nasrullah Stanekzai, a lecturer in law at Kabul University. “According to Article 120 of the Constitution, Malalai would have to be sued in a court of law. The lower house’s action is in breach of the law.”

Bihzaad disputes this legal opinion, saying that the legislature’s code of conduct give it the authority to act against members.

“If a member of parliament acts in such a way as to cause chaos in the lower house, then we can discuss his or her suspension,” he insisted. “There is an article in the internal [operating] principles of the lower house stating that the house can stop a member from attending for more than one day. It does not, however, specify a time limit.”

But Stanekzai is adamant that the law does not give the parliament such authority.

“Article 70 of the Code of Conduct of the lower house of parliament states that if a member violates the internal rules, then he or she must be notified by the administrative board of the house. The parliament does not have the authority to punish one of its members. That is the exclusive right of the courts,” he said.

Stanekzai does not dispute that Joya committed an offense.

“If Malalai called someone an animal, it is a violation of human dignity, which is a crime in itself” he said.

Following Joya’s suspension, her supporters staged rallies in her support in Farah, Nangahar, Baghlan and Kabul. In addition to demanding that the United Nations take action to restore Joya to her former position, they are asking that “warlords” be put on trial for crimes against humanity.

It was her tirade against the mujahedin that first launched Malalai Joya to international prominence in December, 2003, during the Constitutional Loya Jirga. Her question to the assembly, “Why have you again selected as committee chairmen those criminals who have brought such disasters to the Afghan people?” prompted angry outbursts from delegates, who demanded her removal from the hall.

In the three and a half years since that outburst, Joya has traveled the world with her speeches against the former mujahedin fighters, and has become arguably the most famous woman in Afghanistan.

She has also become a parliamentarian, winning a seat easily in Farah province in September 2005 election.

But many of those whom she criticised in 2003 also entered parliament, some gaining very prominent positions, And they have shown no signs of forgiving or forgetting the former slights.

Even some of Joya’s female colleagues condemn her for her latest remarks, and call on her to make amends.

“Joya has offended the parliament,” said Norzia Atmar, a female member of parliament. “If she really wants to serve the people of Afghanistan and be the envoy of the people, we respect her and her ideas. If she apologises, she can come back to work.”

But Malalai Joya is unrepentant.

“If animals had a tongues with which to speak, they could sue me for comparing them to these parliamentarians,” she said. “Then I would apologise – but to the animals!”

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul
Back to Top
Back to Top
In Afghanistan, It Takes A Soap Opera To Build Villages
A radio show offers lessons on democracy and multiple wives
By Anna Mulrine 6/10/07
KABUL—Afghanistan's first home-grown soap opera may air for only 10 minutes each day, but rehearsals are quite rigorous. As an actress practices her lines for the show's latest installment, a coach is on hand to critique. "You don't let me work?" she asks the actor playing the part of her apparently unenlightened husband. The coach interrupts to suggest that the actress opt for a bit more gusto—and a more accusatory tone. "You don't let me work?!" he demonstrates.

This radio serial has developed a steady stream of fans—from Kabul to the most isolated provinces of Afghanistan—who discuss the show's themes around, if not the office water cooler, at least the local water well. The characters in Let's Build Our Village get themselves into jams that allow the show's writers to tackle some of the touchiest subjects in Afghanistan today—topics that include the use of condoms, the marrying of child brides, and the headaches of managing multiple wives.

The show is also part of the Afghan government's effort to help rebuild war-torn villages. In a country where electricity (and therefore television) do not reach most rural areas and some 80 percent of the population remains illiterate, Village was created to spread the word about the new Community Development Councils. The lowest official level of democratic governance in Afghanistan, councils are elected by secret ballot and tasked with devising projects to improve rural towns—everything from building bridges to setting up health clinics to be funded by the National Solidarity Program in the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.

To that end, the solidarity office hired some 108 actors—including a number of famous Afghan thespians—to play characters who populate five villages in a fictional land called Chamanistan, or Greenland. In a bit of modern-day re-education, Village also weaves in lessons about just how, exactly, this democracy stuff is supposed to work.

There are plenty of pointers about public health, too, told, for example, through the character of the town's hapless yet lovable barber. When at one point he manages to get hooked on hashish and gamble away the tools of his trade, he learns the error of his ways. In towns where barbers often function as musicians and notorious gossips as well as town doctors, he also helps raise the question: Is this really the guy you want to trust with your health?

Life lessons. Other topics are approached far more delicately. After the birth of their first baby, one couple learns from a doctor that, for the sake of the mother's health, they should hold off on having another child for a bit. When the doctor says they can still share the same bed, the couple asks how it is possible to do this and not have another child. This is where the condoms come in.

The soap's stories don't always have a happy ending. One story line delves into a feud between two families, which is resolved when the victim asks to be given his enemy's daughter as a token of reconciliation. The young bride is miserable, throws herself off the roof of her home, and dies. In another instance, a father and son are torn apart by rumors that the father is cultivating poppies. Another male character is plagued by problems in his house when he decides to take a second wife.

Despite the program's popularity, the National Solidarity Program is in the process of evaluating Village's budget. The show's funding, which comes from many nongovernmental organizations, is on the decline, says project spokeswoman Judith Szabo. "Now, we're trying to figure out, if funding is limited, where do we cut?"

But Szabo adds that Village has a fierce following and serves as a school of sorts for many rural listeners who have long relied on gossip to know what's going on. And although the plotlines may be simplistic, writer Mahmood Ghaus, who has also been a scriptwriter for the BBC, says it's just as popular among sophisticates in Kabul. "My family is constantly asking me what's going to happen next."

It's a question many Afghans pose for their nation's future as well. Economic initiatives have lagged behind in many parts of the country, and the Taliban continues to represent a major source of insecurity in rural areas. Still, Ghaus sees his country on the brink of change. "People have started to realize that they have civil rights," he says. "Now, they are learning what they can do to get them."
This story appears in the June 18, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Pakistan crucial to solving problems in Afghanistan: Rifkind
Associated Press of Pakistan, Pakistan
LONDON, June 11 (APP): Acknowledging Pakistan's key role to solving problems in Afghanistan, former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind has called on Western countries to work for South Asian country's self interests. In his article appearing in the daily ‘The Independent’, the Conservative party member said "if we ignore Pakistan, we won't solve Afghanistan  while claiming the Taliban is stronger today than it has been at any tine since 9/11.

According to Rifkind, if the United States and Britain want more wholehearted co-operation from Pakistan they need to work with the grain of Pakistani self-interest.

This could be achieved in three ways. First, Hamid Karzai and his government must be pressed to recognize the current frontier with Pakistan, known as the Durand Line.

Second, India should be encouraged to reduce its presence in Afghanistan. It has opened two consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad. The Pakistanis fear that these are being used as bases from which to foment mischief. Third, there is a need to encourage more normal politics into Waziristan and the frontier areas to enable the political parties to play their role and prevent giving Islamic jihadists and their allies a free run at winning local hearts and minds.

Rifkind writes that winning in Afghanistan means defeating the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in Helmand and it also means winning the support of the Afghan people through social reform and economic growth. However, he added that all that effort may be wasted if the Pakistani interests are not given due importance.

"The key will be winning full Pakistani support for the pacification of that region. That will not be achieved by threats or exhortations. It needs a more sophisticated approach, one that recognizes legitimate Pakistani concerns and interests. Only then will we make real progress.”
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghanistan accused of meddling in Balochistan
QUETTA, June 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Accusing Afghanistan of creating unrest in Balochistan, a spokesman for the government of that province has said "sheltering Baloch separatists by the Afghan government was clear evidence of their involvement in instability in Balochistan."

"There is ample evidence to substantiate our allegations that Afghanistan is creating trouble in Balochistan and extending full support to Baloch fighters," said Raziq Bugti, spokesperson for the Balochistan government while addressing a news conference in Quetta on Friday.

Referring to a statement from Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid, Buti said their stance had become self-evident after the governor (Khalid) stated that several Baloch had taken refuge in his province after fleeing from the conflict-stricken Balochistan.

From day one, the government of Balochistan had not ruled out involvement of foreign hand in creating trouble in that province, said the spokesman.

He said the Balochistan government had made a formal request to the Afghan government for handing over people who the government believed were involved in terrorist activities across the province. "Though we have not received any response from the Afghan side yet, we expect a positive reply," Bugti said.

He hoped Afghanistan would not give shelter to Baloch sanctuaries who were wanted by the Pakistan government in serious cases such as bomb blasts, rocket attacks and blowing up of railway tracks in Balochistan.

According to Bugti, majority of the people who were hiding in Afghanistan had escaped from Dera Bugti and Sui areas last year when the conflict between the government and Bugti tribesmen intensified.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Registered Afghan refugees can stay till 2009: Pakistan
DUBAI, June 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan, Pakistani and UN officials Friday discussed the voluntary and sustainable repatriation of refugees to their homeland on a scale the war-wracked country could absorb without any humanitarian problem.

In view of the worsening security and humanitarian access in parts of Afghanistan, Salvatore Lombardo of UNHCR and Afghan First Deputy Minister Abdul Qadir Ahadi urged the Pakistan government to ensure refugee camps were closed as a result of dialogue with elders and that the use of force must be avoided.

At the trilateral meeting, the UNHCR said in a statement, Ahadi said: Afghanistan has been taking positive steps towards development. But still our country faces serious challenges, such as a lack of housing, jobs, schools, clinics, security.

If large numbers of Afghans return involuntarily, we cannot absorb them. They may go back to Pakistan and create more problems, the deputy minister added.

Sajid Hussain Chattha, secretary to Pakistans Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), agreed the future of repatriation must be based on the policy of sustainability and a realistic assessment of the situation on the ground.

However, he continued: After 27 years, we dont favour the unlimited right to stay of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The pace of returns depends on the absorption capacity, thus we advocate for the government of Afghanistan and the international community to intensify rehabilitation and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Pakistan presented its three-year strategy for voluntary repatriation and camp closure during the meeting. At the previous Tripartite Commission meeting in February, all parties had reaffirmed the decision to close four camps this year - Katchagari and Jungle Pir Alizai by 15 June, Jalozai and Girdi Jungle by 31 August - mainly for security reasons.

Affected Afghans have been given two options by the Pakistan government and both options must be respected, said Guenet Guebre-Christos, UNHCRs Representative in Pakistan. Those who choose to return home must be able to do so voluntarily, in safety and dignity. At the same time, the same principles must apply for those who cannot repatriate and choose to relocate to an existing camp in Pakistan.

Afghanistan provided an update of reintegration activities for returnees, focusing on land allocation as an integral part of Afghanistans National Development Strategies. It noted out of more than half a million applications for land allocation, 70,000 families have been selected, 41,000 plots distributed and over 5,000 families are actually living on the sites.

With five pilot returnee townships now under development, demand far outstrips supply.  We need further international support to strengthen and expand our national development programmes in order to enhance sustainable return, especially in areas with high return potential, said Ahadi.

A separate presentation on security in Afghanistan revealed humanitarian agencies access to areas of return has decreased dramatically, affecting the UNHCR ability to assist returnees - especially in the south, east, southeast, and increasingly in the central and northern areas as well.

The consistent problem of security has a big impact on the sustainability of returns, Chattha acknowledged. He assured registered Afghans with Proof of Registration (PoR) cards - who decide not to repatriate for the moment - had the right to stay in Pakistan till December 2009.

He explained undocumented Afghans were considered illegal migrants subject to the Foreigners Act, but any deportation would abide by international human rights and humanitarian standards.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Karzai compensates families of blast victims
PESHAWAR, June 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan Consulate in Peshawar has distributed compensation among victims of the deadly Peshawar blast last month.

The recompense was announced by President Hamid Karzai for Afghan families who lost their dear ones in the blast.

The explosion took place at Marhaba Hotel, owned by an Afghan Sadruddin, in Peshawar. Thirty-two people were killed and dozens more wounded, majority of whom were Afghan nationals.

Those perished in the dastardly act also included owner of the hotel Sadruddin and six members of his family.

The compensation amount, $4,000 for families of dead and 1,000 for each injured, was distributed at a ceremony held at the Afghan Consulate on Friday.

In his telephonic message, the president expressed sympathy with families of those killed in the blast and prayed for early recovery of the injured.

Consul General Haji Abdul Khaliq Farahi told Pajhwok Afghan News the amount was distributed to the families and heirs of the victims during the Friday's ceremony.

Sayed Qamaruddin, son of late Sadruddin, owner of the hotel, thanked the president for the help. "We have lost everything, including our father, brothers and the property" he told Pajhwok.
Janullah Hashemzada
Back to Top
Back to Top
MMRD to execute 26,400 rural uplift plans in three years
KABUL, June 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): As many as 26,400 welfare projects would be executed in rural areas over the next three years, Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) officials said on Saturday.

MRRD Minister Muhammad Ehsan Zia, addressing a two-day workshop here, said the schemes would be implemented under on a three-year strategic development plan devised for the vast countryside.

The minister listed fast-track rural uplift, peace in far-flung villages, supporting corruption-free local administration, peoples participation in the process and better coordination of the schemes as salient features of the strategic plan.

Other objectives of the three-year strategic programme include the formation of rural rehabilitation councils, their capacity-building, giving women a greater share in the ministrys activities and creating a training and research centre.

The overall cost of the ambitious plan was yet to be worked out, Zia said in response to a query from Pajhwok Afghan News. However, he added the annual ballpark figure for various uplift schemes carried out by his ministry was 400 million dollars.

Ajmal Sherzai, advisor to the MRRD, said the workshop had been arranged to discuss the implementation of the strategic plan. The plan envisages small loans for 300,000 people, construction of 5,660-kilometer roads and more than 830 toilets and implementation of 67,000 water supply schemes.
Zainab Muhammadi
Back to Top
Back to Top
Balkh declared poppy-free but residents unhappy
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, June 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Counter-Narcotics Ministry Saturday declared Balkh as a poppy-free province, but residents complained the central government had failed to provide them alternative livelihood sources.

Deputy Minister for Counter-Narcotics Affairs Gen.  Khuda-i-Dad made the announcement at a public meeting here attended by Balkh Governor Ata Muhammad Noor, parliamentarians and growers of the province.

As a result of a poppy eradication drive, the deputy minister said, Balkh had joined the provinces declared free of the unlawful crop. He would not name the other provinces purged of the menace.

The goal of halting poppy cultivation in the northern province was achieved after three years of determined efforts, the governor told the gathering. More than 30,000 acres of land sown with poppies in Balkh were wiped out with whole-hearted cooperation from the people, he added.

However, Ata regretted the central governments failure to compensate the hard-hit farmers under the Alternative Livelihood Programme - aimed at encouraging the Afghans to grow cash crops other than poppies.

Outside of the Governors House in Mazar-i-Sharif, a group of farmers from Chamtal, Char Bolak and Daulatabad districts protested what they called the rulers apathy to their festering problems.

Leading the demonstrators, Chamtal dweller Dr Syed Habib told Pajhwok Afghan News the government should honour its commitment like the straightforward people who have kept their promise to destroy poppy crops.

Sardar Wali from Char Bolak district said he owned 100 acres of land but his farm income had slumped precipitously ever since he had stopped growing the illegal crop. But when the government was going to compensate him, asked the grower - feeling a sense of loss and frustration.

For his part, Gen. Khuda-i-Dad promised he would assess residents problems during his week-long stay in the region before the launch of development projects with different timelines.
Reported by Zabeehullah Ihsas
Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah
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).