Serving you since 1998
October 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

October 9, 2007 

15 executions break Afghan moratorium
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Tue Oct 9, 3:21 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Ending a three-year moratorium on the death penalty, Afghanistan executed 15 prisoners by gunfire, including a man convicted of killing three foreign journalists during the U.S.-led invasion, the prisons chief announced Monday.

The United Nations protested the executions, which could complicate the missions of some NATO nations here.

The mass execution took place Sunday evening according to Afghan law, which calls for condemned prisoners to be shot to death, said Abdul Salam Ismat, who oversees Afghanistan's prisons.

On Tuesday, Humayun Hamidzada, a presidential spokesman, said Afghanistan will continue with executions of inmates on death row, saying they will be a lesson "for those who are committing such crimes, as murder, kidnapping, adultery and rapes."

The crimes committed by those executed Sunday included murder, kidnapping and armed robbery, but officials said no Taliban or al-Qaida fighters were among the prisoners.

Until it was ousted in late 2001, Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban regime carried out executions in public, many of them at the Kabul stadium. The new government pledged to the international community it would halt executions, and had carried out only one previously, in 2004.

The 15 deaths could complicate relationships between the government and some NATO countries with military forces here. Foreign troops often hand over captured militants to the Afghan government, raising the question of whether countries that do not use the death penalty might stop surrendering prisoners.

The Netherlands was one of the first to criticize the Afghan announcement, calling the executions "extremely unwelcome." But it also said Dutch troops would continue to transfer militants to the Afghan government, saying it had an agreement protecting those prisoners from execution.

Anger over the executions also could prove a snag for NATO's efforts to get its member nations to send more troops to Afghanistan. NATO has some 40,000 soldiers here but commanders complain they need more helicopters, mobile troops and instructors to train the Afghan army.

"The fact that we have not fully been able to live up to the promises that nations have made is a point of concern for me," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday in Denmark before the executions were announced.

Among those executed was Reza Khan, who was convicted of adultery and the murder of one Afghan and three foreign journalists in 2001. The four were pulled from their cars, robbed and shot near the eastern city of Jalalabad while driving toward Kabul six days after the Taliban abandoned the capital under heavy U.S. bombing.

The four were Australian TV cameraman Harry Burton, Afghan photographer Azizullah Haidari of the Reuters news agency, Maria Grazia Cutuli of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and Julio Fuentes of the Spanish daily El Mundo.

Also executed was Farhad, who is also known as Pahlavan and like many Afghan used only a single name. He was involved in the 2005 kidnapping of Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni; she was freed after three weeks.

Tom Koenigs, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said the U.N. had expressed its concern over the use of the death penalty many times in the past.

"The United Nations in Afghanistan has been a staunch supporter of the moratorium on executions observed in Afghanistan in recent years," Koenigs said. "I expect Afghanistan to continue working towards attaining the highest human rights standards and ensuring the due process of law and the rights of all citizens are respected."

The government's official announcement of the executions came on state television Monday evening, saying said Karzai ordered the executions following a decision by a special commission he set up to review rulings by the Supreme Court.

"After all the discussions and after looking back over the cases ... in order to prevent future crimes, such as murders, armed robberies, kidnappings, and to maintain the stability of the country, (Karzai) approved the prisoners' death sentences," a statement read over the news said.

Hamidzada, Karzai's spokesman, had told The Associated Press last week that Karzai was taking "extreme care in execution cases."

"He has been holding on to these cases because he wants to make sure that the justice is served and the due process is complete. He personally does not like executions, but Afghan law asks for it, and he will obey the laws," Hamidzada said.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry expressed distress at the executions.

"For the Netherlands, the abolition of the death penalty is one of our priorities in terms of international human rights policy," spokesman Bart Rijs said. "We had understood there was a moratorium on the death penalty in force."

Rijs said Dutch troops would continue to hand over prisoners because the Netherlands had signed a memorandum of understanding with Karzai's government guaranteeing those inmates would not be executed. Rijs said there were 10 such prisoners and all were believed in good health.

Amnesty International said six countries were responsible for 91 percent of all known executions worldwide last year: China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and the United States. Eighteen other countries also carried out executions, the group said.
___
Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Amir Shah in Kabul and Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Ottawa's silence on Afghan executions concerns rights groups
The Canadian Press October 9, 2007 at 11:22 AM EDT
OTTAWA — The lawyer for Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association says the silence from Ottawa following Afghanistan's execution of 15 prisoners is troubling.

Paul Champ said Tuesday that it raises fresh and immediate concerns about the Conservative government's policy of handing over captured insurgents to Afghan authorities.

On Sunday, Afghanistan's chief of prisons announced it had executed 15 prisoners, including the man responsible for the murders of three Western journalists and a local photographer in 2001.

It is the first time in three years that Kabul has imposed the death penalty, and it prompted an immediate condemnation from the Dutch Foreign Ministry, which called the executions “extremely unwelcome.”

The sentences were carried out as Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier wrapped up a visit to Canadian forces in Kandahar.

The government in Kabul said it will continue to execute prisoners, but not those captured by NATO forces – a guarantee that Mr. Champ said no one can rely on because detainees in Afghan jails routinely go missing.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Bin Laden may be in city, not cave: ex-spy chief
By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent October 9, 2007
LONDON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden could hide more easily in a city than a remote tribal region, a former Pakistani intelligence chief said on Tuesday, challenging the notion that the al Qaeda leader is probably holed up in a mountain cave.

Lieutenant-General Asad Durrani, former head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), said news of outsiders' presence travels fast in the tribal areas and it would be hard to keep it secret for years.

"In the countryside or in tribal areas ... it's difficult to hide yourself because there people live ... and operate in a manner in which finding out about unusual presence is very important," Durrani told Reuters in an interview in London.

He said it was true that tribal customs placed great value on showing hospitality and not betraying a guest. "In the tribal code, anyone who seeks your protection has to be defended, if necessary with your life."

However, he added: "I am not sure over a period of four, five or six years that it would be possible even for the tribesmen to keep his presence under wraps."

Such information would have traveled or been divulged, given the incentives, Durrani said in a reference to the $25 million U.S. bounty on bin Laden's head.

"My conclusion therefore is it's extremely unlikely that he is around that place."

ON THE RUN
In the six years since the September 11 attacks on the United States and subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Western intelligence officials have frequently said they suspect he is hiding somewhere in the inaccessible mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

"This is a man on the run in a cave who is virtually impotent other than his ability to get these messages out," White House homeland security adviser Fran Townsend said last month when bin Laden issued his first new video for nearly three years.

Durrani said an urban centre could provide a better refuge.

"Why not a big city? Anywhere in Pakistan, Afghanistan. Anywhere outside the region where it is easier to keep cover," he said. "These are the places where you can hide yourself much better."

Other top al Qaeda figures associated with the September 11 attacks have been captured in Pakistani cities -- alleged plotter Ramzi Binalshibh in Karachi in September 2002 and self-confessed plan mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Rawalpindi in March 2003.

Pakistan has seen an upsurge in violence since July, when militants scrapped a peace deal with authorities in the tribal region of North Waziristan and army commandos stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad. U.S. intelligence officials fear al Qaeda is using the tribal areas as a safe haven in which to rebuild its strength.

Durrani said he was concerned that next week's expected court ruling on the whether President Pervez Musharraf is eligible for re-election and the return of exiled opposition leader Benazir Bhutto could provide a focus for further attacks.

"She (Bhutto) will have to take extraordinary security measures," he said.
Back to Top
Back to Top
NATO chief to meet Rice, Gates on Afghanistan, NATO
BRUSSELS (AFP) - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will discuss Afghanistan and NATO enlargement Tuesday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a NATO official said.

"Two main subjects will be on the menu -- preparations for the next NATO summit in Bucharest in April, and particularly the candidature of three Balkans countries -- Croatia, Macedonia and Albania," the official said.

"The situation in Afghanistan will also be discussed" during the talks in Washington, he said, on condition that he not be named.

The three Balkan states already have special partnerships with the 26-member NATO military alliance but they hope to be invited soon to become official candidates for membership.

Diplomats have said, however, that their status is unlikely to be fully resolved until a summit in 2009 marking NATO's 60th anniversary.

NATO ambassadors will also meet Rice and Gates on Wednesday to discuss the same issues, as part of a traditional annual meeting that will also include a seminar in Norfolk, Virginia.
Back to Top
Back to Top
14 Taliban dead in Afghan battles
Tue Oct 9, 6:07 AM ET
HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - About 100 Taliban stormed a remote police post, sparking lengthy exchanges which left 10 militants and a policeman dead, while four rebels died elsewhere, officials said.

After 11 hours of fighting overnight in the western province of Farah, the attackers left three bodies at the scene and took the rest with them, provincial police operations chief Juma Khan told AFP.

"Ten Taliban were killed, 10 Taliban were wounded and a policeman was also martyred in the battle," Khan said.

In another incident on Monday, four Taliban were killed when NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) ambushed them in the eastern province of Paktika.

"ISAF ambushed the Taliban as they crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Their bodies were brought to the provincial capital," said army spokesman Colonel Mohammad Gul said.

The troops also seized 36 anti-personnel and anti-tank land mines, he added. ISAF could not immediately comment.

The extremist Taliban movement launched an insurgency after it was removed from government in late 2001. Around 55,000 international troops are in Afghanistan to help fight the rebellion.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Canadians pay to bolster Afghan security
GRAEME SMITH From Tuesday's Globe and Mail October 9, 2007 at 1:41 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada has decided to sidestep the corrupt Afghan government and ensure the safety of Canadian soldiers by paying Afghan police directly, in cash.

It's an attempt to buy stability in the dangerous districts west of Kandahar city, where Canadian soldiers stake their lives on the reliability of their Afghan allies.

“This is brand new,” said Brigadier-General Guy Laroche, Canada's top commander in Afghanistan, during an interview Monday. “We're going to make sure our people eat.”

The lack of salaries made it especially difficult to keep Afghan officers serving in Zhari and Panjwai, where the insurgency has inflicted heavy losses on local police and provided an ongoing challenge to Canadian Forces.

“The money did not get to these guys,” Gen. Laroche said. “Somebody is taking 10 per cent here, 10 per cent there, and at the end the poor guy is left with nothing. Would you stay in a place like that without being paid? I mean, c'mon.”

Starting last week, police officers in Zhari and Panjwai districts no longer received their monthly salaries through their regular chain of command in the Ministry of Interior, Gen. Laroche said.

Instead, payments were distributed by Canadian and U.S. soldiers who serve as mentors for Afghan law-enforcement, in the first such experiment in southern Afghanistan. The mentorship programs are themselves a new initiative, as NATO struggles to rein in Afghan forces widely accused of thievery and corruption.

Police were forced to steal for a living when their pay didn't arrive from Kabul, which hurt morale and fostered resentment among local Afghans, the commander said.

“They had to take bribes from the people, because they have to live,” Gen. Laroche said.

Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid announced last month that a basic patrolman's wages would be increased to $150 a month, up from $77, but many officers say they rarely see a fraction of that.

“The government failed to pay salaries, made promises and didn't pay them, so the condition of the police was very bad,” said Bismullah Khan, Panjwai police chief, in a telephone interview.

“We are happy about the Canadians' new plan, because I want my men trained and paid,” the police chief continued. “They will be controlled by the Canadians, trained by them and paid by them directly. It's a very good idea.”

The problems of underpaid police, and the mayhem that results when armed citizens resist thieving cops, were so widely understood in Kandahar that many residents applauded the Canadians' pay reforms, saying it could help bring peace to their war-torn districts.

“This is a good plan, this is the way to success,” said Ajmal, 26, a wealthy landowner whose farms surround a small Canadian base in the village of Sperwan.

Noor Rahman, 40, moved his family off their farm in Zhari district as the Canadians got embroiled in fighting there last year, and now owns a shop in Kandahar city. He said there's hope of peace returning to his village if the police can be brought under control.

“If the Canadians pay the police, the police won't steal things from us,” Mr. Rahman said. “If they have a good salary, maybe they will behave. The Canadians will give them good training and weapons and monthly salaries, and this is the way they can clean the Taliban from our area.”

The Canadian military is not funding the salaries, which continue to be drawn from an Afghan government trust fund. All of the money in the fund comes from donor countries, however, and Canada is a major contributor.

Last year, military officials said they planned to fix the pay system by giving Afghan police their own bank accounts and depositing money directly from Kabul. Banks are non-existent in rural areas, however, and the difficulty of travelling to the nearest branch made this idea difficult to implement.

Gen. Laroche said his soldiers are also supporting their Afghan allies with supplies, and ensuring that military backup is available if they get attacked.

The results are already showing, the commander said. When a corrupt police chief was fired recently in Zhari district, local officials worried that the departing chief would inspire many of his patrolmen to abandon their posts.

“When he left, we thought at one point he would be leaving with all the police in the district,” Gen. Laroche said. “It did not happen. All the policemen at the different checkpoints, they stayed there. They stayed with our people. It's a good sign.”
Back to Top
Back to Top
130 militants, 45 soldiers killed in Pakistan clashes
Mon Oct 8, 2:28 PM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Around 130 pro-Taliban militants and 45 Pakistani soldiers have died in two days of intense fighting in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the army said Monday.

Fighting broke out in North Waziristan on Sunday after the rebels bombed army convoys and the military responded with air strikes and ground operations, top military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.

"Forty-five security personnel have been martyred and 130 militants killed in the two days of fighting in North Waziristan," Arshad said.

"The clashes broke out after militants set off IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and conducted ambushes on the security forces," he added.

"The forces retaliated and killed 130 militants in air strikes and ground attacks.

"The army is fighting well-trained militants. There are linkages with Afghanistan. Many of them are getting money and weapons from across the border."

Waheed said contact had been established with a group of around 50 missing soldiers and only 10 or 12 had not been accounted for, but it was not clear if any of those had been killed.
Back to Top
Back to Top
No ordinary trip: Visiting Afghanistan
By CASSIE BIGGS, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 8, 3:30 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - I'm at least 40 minutes into my flight — glass of white wine in one hand, book in the other — when it suddenly dawns on me that this is no ordinary vacation: I'm going to Afghanistan.

Like many people, my image of Afghanistan has been shaped by what I read and see in the media. Women in blue burqas, fields of opium poppies, fierce-looking turbaned men, and tanks churning through dust.

That may well be true, but what I found on a weeklong trip was a surprisingly green country with incredibly welcoming people. Often peeping from beneath those enveloping burqas I saw strappy high-heeled sandals and crimson-colored toenails.

I climbed the ruins of 12th century citadels, sacked by Genghis Khan, sat in sunlight beneath a canopy of apricot and apple trees in the Panjshir Valley drinking cardamom tea, and explored the empty niches of 5th century Buddhas famously blown up by the Taliban in Bamiyan.

With suicide attacks in the capital, kidnappings of foreigners and a resurgence of the extremist Taliban in the south, Afghanistan doesn't get many tourists. Most Western countries advise against all but necessary travel to Afghanistan, while some countries have outright banned it. The U.S. Department of State warns of "an ongoing threat to kidnap and assassinate U.S. citizens ... throughout the country."

Still, a few travel agencies, many run by former backpackers, will arrange trips there.

For me, it had become a tradition to do something unusual on my birthday. I have chased hammerhead sharks in Baja, Mexico, explored the jungle lairs of Indonesia's former separatist guerillas and hung out with street kids in China. This year it was Afghanistan.

After e-mails with friends who lived there, security agencies and by chance, the son of a former Afghan diplomat, I had a loose itinerary: Kabul, Bamiyan, and the Panjshir Valley.

Due to concerns about kidnappings, and lack of a tourism infrastructure, independent travel is not easy or recommended, especially for a single Western woman.

So I had two choices - either a foreign-run travel agency in Afghanistan, spending upward of $1,000 a day, or I could hire a driver for a third the cost.

A friend recommended her driver, Shahabudin Sultani, a soft-spoken Bamiyan native dressed impeccably in a traditional cream Afghan tunic and trousers. And so at 6:30 a.m., we loaded bottles of water and bags of almonds and apricots into a minivan for the journey.

Although it's only 150 miles from Kabul, the drive to Bamiyan takes over 10 hours along a dirt path that winds high up into the snowcapped Koh-i-Baba mountains before dipping down into a verdant valley. A faster route — from the south — is not recommended as it passes through some risky regions.

Dotted along the red craggy cliffs are dozens of fortress-like mud and brick houses with high walls pockmarked by rocket and bullet holes, ubiquitous reminders of war.

Children run along the path switching at donkeys loaded up with bails of wheat or herding goats past rusting Soviet tanks and abandoned mortar guns, some of which have been used as makeshift dams or bridges.

War has been a constant in Afghanistan, as regional powers battled for control of the territory often described as the cockpit of Asia, and the Bamiyan Buddhas were silent witness to much of it.

The two statues, at 174 feet and 125 feet, were hewn out of the red cliffs when Bamiyan, on the fabled Silk Road that linked Rome to China, was a thriving center of Buddhism and culture.

They survived the violent introduction of Islam in the 7th century, although Islamic leaders ordered that their golden-gilded faces and hands be sliced off. They escaped the murderous rage of Genghis Khan who lost his favorite grandson at the battle for Bamiyan's Red City in 1221, and razed the entire valley in revenge.

During the decade-long resistance against the Soviets, the honeycomb network of 2,000 caves that surround the statues housed thousands of war refugees.

Then came the Taliban, which initially promised to preserve the Buddhas, then blew them up in 2001 to an international outcry.

I stayed at the Roof of Bamiyan hotel in a yurt — small round huts made of mud and straw and covered inside with Afghan carpets.

The next morning, my birthday, as I watched the sun cast a honey hue across the patchwork valley of green and beige fields, it was not difficult to imagine how the Buddha's gold and jewel encrusted face would have shimmered as it caught the light.

After a breakfast of warm flaky Afghan bread, scrambled eggs and scented black tea, I headed to the village for a better look.

Although Bamiyan is one of the safest places in Afghanistan, I was careful to wrap up, covering my arms and legs and twisting a scarf around my head. I picked my way down the hill and through the dusty pathways of the village, drawing few stares and the occasional smile.

The towering niches, although empty, are more impressive close up. It's still possible to see the outline of the statues, and some parts remain, as if in bas relief, although most is in rubble.

UNESCO and Afghan archaeologists have spent years collecting and cataloguing fragments of the statues and stabilizing the cliff side.

For $3 — plus a negotiable "tax" — it's possible to explore the caves. I'm escorted by an earnest young Afghan archaeological student to the smaller statue, Buddha's wife.

As we approach a locked wooden door in the base of the cliff, my guide begs off, saying he wants to attend a party, and leaves me with a set of heavy keys, a yellow hard hat and a warning that "some parts are still unstable."

I inch my way up a narrow, dark and crumbling staircase that branches out on several levels into empty caves, some of which bear a hint of the elaborate paintings and frescoes that once decorated the now-musty interior.

The walls crumble beneath my touch. I step gingerly on the decaying floor, acutely aware that mobile phone reception is sketchy here and shouts for help would be futile. When at last I reach the top, I sit for a while in a Buddha-shaped cave where the devout once came to pray, looking out over green fields of wheat and potatoes to the snowy mountains of the Hindu Kush.

Most people leave after seeing the Buddhas, but there are other sites worth seeing, including the lakes of Band-i-Amir, five pools of sapphire blue set amid desert canyons, and the ruins of the Red City and the City of Screams, which were built in the 12th century and razed by Genghis Khan a century later.

The Red City, or Shahr-i-Zohak, sprawls out over three levels atop a red cliff mountain at the entrance to the Bamiyan valley. Sultani, my driver, used to play there as a boy, and practically skips his way to the top following our mandatory military guide, as I scramble up the path behind, clinging to parts of the citadel's fortifications and keeping an eye out for red-painted rocks, an indication of land mines.

Both Shahr-i-Zohak and Shahr-i-Gholghola, the City of Screams, were heavily mined during decades of war, although most have been cleared.

For my last adventure in Bamiyan, we head to Dragon's Valley, a mountain ridge in a valley of undulating anonymous gray sand dunes. Legend has it that a dragon terrorized locals, demanding each day a young girl and the occasional camel to eat. Until that is, Islam's dragon slayer Hazrat Ali split the beast in two with his sword leaving a fissure 3 feet wide at some points, and sparking a mass conversion to Islam.

The ribbed mountain does look like a dragon's scaly back. Inside the chasm you can hear the dragon's mournful rumbling - bubbling spring water streaming like tears from the dragon's eyes.

Over the next few days I pack in a day trip to the Panjshir Valley, visiting the marble and stone tomb of Ahmad Shah Masood, a resistance hero who was assassinated by al-Qaida a few days before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The tomb is perched high on a hill with a commanding view of the valley he defended from Soviet troops.

I'm picked up early the next day by Great Game Travel company for a daylong tour of Kabul, the capital, that jumps between the 5th century city wall to 16th century Babur Gardens to the buzzing Kabul market. Here fighting cocks are sold for $100 each, and women in sky-blue burqas teeter on high heels as they jostle to buy tea and spices.

Standing on a hill looking over the city, our guide Ghulam Sakhi Danishjo points out the Kabul stadium where the Taliban once carried out public executions.

What happens there now? "Oh," said Sakhi, "now, they just play soccer."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Guard struggles with poverty in Afghan duty
Tuesday, October 09, 2007 TOM GORDON Birmingham News staff writer
The Taliban has been an ongoing concern for a group of Alabama Army National Guard soldiers since their arrival in Afghanistan last May, but so have some practices and mindsets in the Afghan National Army.

"The ANA comes with a set of issues that we are all trying to solve," said Maj. James Weakley of Huntsville, a member of an embedded training team who is working with the Afghan Army's 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 203rd Corps.

One of the biggest problems, cited by other U.S. soldiers who have worked with Afghan Army units, is logistics, getting supplies to units when they need them and in the amount they need. Based on what he has seen, Weakley said the Afghan system is "broken" and the country's widespread poverty is a big reason.

"We typically get supplies at the last minute and it must always be a situation where you just have to have the supplies," Weakley said in a recent e-mail from his forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province.

"We are dealing with a poverty mentality from the Afghans," Weakley added. "The attitude at every level of leadership is one of hoarding all classes of supply. The idea is the more you have as a leader, the more power you have.

"The Afghan Army leadership must understand that power is when you have units that are equipped and trained to fight. Believe it or not, the commanders at each level, battalion, brigade and corps, all must sign for any soldier to get fuel. Again, they are keeping their assets close and make it difficult for soldiers to get anything."

Weakley, a physical education teacher and head football coach at Huntsville Middle School, also is grappling with another problem other American soldiers have encountered in their Afghan counterparts - corruption.

"With a poverty mentality, you grow up with very little, so when you are the one in charge, you use your position for your own benefit," he said. "In the past, soldiers and leaders have stolen fuel, parts, weapons etc., for personal gain. I am not sure if we as ... (trainers) can ever teach them to completely overcome this attitude.

"We may not can change their attitude, but we can definitely impact their behavior. We have successfully implemented procedures to reduce the stealing. But we are struggling with the hoarding issue. A military cannot keep quality soldiers if they are not paid correctly or they are not issued the proper equipment."

Weakley said the training that he hopes can reduce the scope and severity of his Afghan Army unit's problems has been limited so far, due to the many missions the unit has undertaken in the warm weather.

"This winter when missions are reduced will be the time to get in the classroom and hold formal classes supported with practical exercises," he said.

In the past, Taliban forces also have reduced their activities in the winter, but that doesn't mean they are not around.

"The enemy lives among the populace and he doesn't have a sign that depicts him as the enemy, such as a uniform," Weakley said. "I am confident that we have had tea with Taliban members in the various villages. You know for sure who the enemy is when he identifies himself by taking some form of action against you."
E-mail: tgordon@bhamnews.com
Back to Top
Back to Top
Hosseini condemns arrest of Press TV reporter in Afghanistan
Tehran, Oct 9, IRNA
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini here on Tuesday strongly condemned the arrest and beating up by US forces in Afghanistan of the Iranian English Press TV channel reporter in Kabul Faez Khorshid.

Speaking to reporters, he called the move as inhuman which runs counter to the principle of freedom of press and free flow of news and information.

Abduction, torture and arrest of a legal reporter who officially works for a newly-establish TV network engaged in reflection of realities and news, is considered as an inhuman behavior which runs counter to existing rules and regulations on freedom of reporters and free flow of information, Hosseini said.

It is vital to observe dignity of reporters under any

circumstances but the Americans have once again proved that they pay no attention to this principle, he said.

The Americans do not want news and realities in Iraq and Afghanistan to be reflected, he said.

They try to limit people's access to official or military sources in order to cover up their heinous crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq and prevent free flow of information, he said.

The Americans have tried to win support of international community but to no avail, he said.

A reporter of Iranian English TV network 'Press TV' was arrested by the US security forces Sunday night in Kabul on his way home from office.

Faez Khorshid was freed after 18 hours while having bruises on the face showing he was beaten by the American soldiers.

Faez Khorshid in his latest report on presence of US forces in Afghanistan had accused US forces of being main cause of instability in the country.
Back to Top
Back to Top
UN relief operation spurs rebuilding efforts
STEVEN CHASE Globe and Mail Update October 9, 2007 at 12:06 AM EDT
OTTAWA — Trucking food aid into Afghanistan is getting riskier as the war-torn country grows more insecure, but a United Nations relief program is reporting small victories in using rations to spur rebuilding efforts.

The World Food Program in Afghanistan has found a way of using food handouts to bring about social change, motivating men to let women and girls attend school, villagers to rebuild infrastructure and the sick to take western medicine.

Canada is among the leading donors to the WFP's Afghan operations. Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, the Harper government said it is donating $25-million more to the Afghan effort, on top of $14-million it doled out over the past 12 months.

The program expects to ship 225,000 tonnes of food to Afghanistan this year, but delivery has grown more dangerous amid a rising threat of insurgent attacks. Since 2006, the areas where the UN program's staff can safely operate has shrunk.

Convoys carrying wheat, beans and cooking oil to southern Afghanistan have also come under increasing attack this year, said Rick Corsino, director of the WFP's Afghan operations.

These raids have seen 1,000 tonnes of wheat, beans and cooking oil lost since January. That's more supplies stolen in the past 10 months than in the past two years.

“The reality over the past 12 to 18 months is it's been more difficult to operate and we don't necessarily see an end to that trend,” said Mr. Corsino, who is meeting Canadian government officials in Ottawa this week.

But there are bright spots, including the success of a program that offers food to Afghan husbands, fathers and brothers if they allow their wives, daughters and sisters to attend schools that teach them reading and other basic skills.

The UN program gives female students a four-litre tin of cooking oil to take home every month they're in school.

“Call it a bribe or incentive but it encourages the family to allow the girl to go to school and keep her there,” Mr. Corsino said. Today the education program reaches 1.4 million schoolchildren, 40 per cent of whom are female.

A similar effort is offering food to the heads of Afghan households if they allow women to attend classes that teach them to read. In Kandahar province, the UN food-aid effort is schooling more than 5,000 women where it reached only 300 two years ago.

The same food incentive is used to encourage Afghans stricken by tuberculosis to complete their eight-month regimen of drugs.

“We've doubled the [drug-treatment] completion rates,” Mr. Corsino said. He added he's talking to Ottawa about ensuring new aid money gets flowing to forestall a looming food-supply crunch.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Iran: Concern in Kabul over fate of Afghan minors on death row
Kabul, 9 Oct.
(AKI) - The Afghan parliament has expressed its concern over the fate of 17 Afghan minors who have been sentenced to death in Iran.

The parliament has asked the government of president Hamid Karzai to intervene and get Tehran to save the lives of these minors.

The Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan presented the parliament with the list of 17 Afghan minors who are on death row in Iran. These offenders committed the crimes as minors - under the age of 18 - and will only be sentenced to death after they turn 18.

According to this independent commission, at least two Afghans who had committed crimes in Iran when they were minors, were executed over the past few months.

The Afghan parliament is currently involved in discussions with Tehran for a bilateral agreement on the exchange of ordinary prisoners.

Earlier this year, the international human rights group Amnesty International released a report saying that since 1990, 24 child offenders have been executed in Iran - more than in any other country in the world.

The rights group said that 11 of these people were still under 18 at the time of their execution, while the others were kept on death row until they reached 18 or were convicted and sentenced after reaching that age.

The Iranian government however denies executing children.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Japan should aid NATO-led Afghan troops-opposition
Tue Oct 9, 2007 7:20am EDT
TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Japan should provide support for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, but pull out of a naval mission in the region, a senior lawmaker of the largest opposition party said on Tuesday.

The Democratic Party -- the biggest force in the upper house -- has vowed to vote down the ruling bloc's plan to continue Japan's contribution to the U.S.-led operation, a move that could sour relations with Washington.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is seeking to extend the naval mission in the Indian Ocean beyond Nov. 1, when it is due to expire, arguing that stopping it would prompt criticism that Japan had abandoned its role in combating terrorism.

But Kenji Yamaoka, chief of parliamentary affairs for the Democrats, said the party was against the mission, which provides fuel and water to ships policing the Indian Ocean, because it lacked a U.N. mandate.

"There is no need to take part in America's war," Yamaoka, also a close aide to party leader Ichiro Ozawa, told Reuters.

"But we're more than willing to provide materials and human resources for ISAF, which is a peace-keeping mission," he added, referring to the U.N.-authorised International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

A vote to suspend the Indian Ocean mission now appears inevitable, although the ruling bloc can override the upper house with its two-thirds majority in the more powerful lower house, enabling Japanese ships to resume operations.

But Yamaoka said plenty of other measures would better contribute to stabilising Afghanistan, where ISAF's nearly 40,000 soldiers are fighting the country's former Taliban rulers, ousted by U.S. and Afghan forces in 2001.

He said logistical support for ISAF, such as supplying fuel, was possible, but added the party had not finished its proposal.

The government has said Japan cannot take part in ISAF, given its pacifist constitution. Analysts have also said Japanese participation would not be realistic, as ISAF not a peacekeeping mission but is rather fighting a war against Taliban insurgents.

Security conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated in the past 20 months and over 700 ISAF members have been killed.

But Democrat leader Ozawa has said taking part in ISAF would be in line with the constitution's preamble, which calls on Japan to contribute to international efforts to secure global peace.

Japanese voters are split on whether to continue the Indian Ocean mission. A weekend survey by broadcaster NHK showed 25 percent of respondents supporting it and 21 percent opposed.

The LDP's July election defeat gave the opposition a majority in the upper house -- and the ability to delay most legislation.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghanistan – Still major challenges ahead
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 09 Oct 2007
Since major repatriation operations to Afghanistan resumed in 2002, more than 4.8 million Afghans have returned to their country, mostly from Pakistan and Iran. Another half million internally displaced people have gone back home. However, approximately 3.5 million Afghans still remain in the two neighbouring countries alone. Localised conflict continues to displace some communities within Afghanistan, while poverty and lack of job opportunities oblige many Afghans to seek employment abroad.

With the successful completion of the Bonn process agreed in December 2001, Afghanistan has a democratically elected president, a parliament and a constitution. But the political transition and economic development still face challenges.

Continued insecurity, particularly in the south and east, is a major impediment to reconstruction and development. The violence is also linked to drug production and trafficking which obstruct the building of a viable and effective state. Though economic growth has been strong over the last five years, Afghanistan's per capita income and social indicators remain among the lowest in the world.

In recognition of the long-term engagement required to sustain Afghanistan's recovery and progress towards peace and stability, the government and the international community committed themselves to a five-year plan in January 2006. Known as the Afghanistan Compact, it outlines key objectives for improving security, governance, rule of law and human rights, as well as economic and social development. It includes provisions for supporting the reintegration of Afghans returning voluntarily from abroad and for addressing the broader challenges of population movements.

After the huge return movements of 2002-2004, the pace of repatriation has dropped in the last two years. (Nevertheless, Afghanistan has been UNHCR's largest repatriation operation worldwide for five consecutive years). This was anticipated. Many of the remaining Afghans have been living outside their country for more than 20 years. More than 50 percent were born overseas. They have become used to different living conditions. Moreover, many originate from areas currently affected by insurgency and deep structural poverty.

Nevertheless, voluntary repatriation will continue to be the preferred durable solution. This year UNHCR has adjusted its support for initial travel and reintegration assistance to bring it more into line with recent cost increases. It will continue to support a shelter programme – with an additional 10,000 units in 2007 – that has built new homes for more than a million returnees since 2002. Cooperation with the Afghan authorities to allocate land for poor and homeless returnees and local people will be intensified. Moreover, UNHCR will continue to work closely with the Afghan government and its international partners to identify new opportunities to address employment, livelihood, and social sector requirements.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghanistan: Aid being pre-positioned to avert crisis in winter
KABUL, 9 October 2007 (IRIN) - The government of Afghanistan and UN agencies are pre-positioning humanitarian relief aid in 18 provinces of the country before snowfall and heavy rains block roads and impede access to areas with rugged terrain during the winter and early spring months.

In early 2007 hundreds of families affected by seasonal floods and avalanches in some isolated regions of the country repeatedly complained about lack of assistance due to aid workers' inability to reach them.

Food and non-food items will be stocked in strategic locations from where it will be easy to deliver to those who need it after natural disasters.

Afghanistan is prone to various natural disasters, including floods, avalanches, landslides and earthquakes.

"Already 10,000 tonnes of wheat provided by WFP [the World Food Programme], has been stocked in various provinces and a further 10,000 tonnes will be dispatched in the near future, before first snowfall," said Ghulam Haider, a senior official from the Afghanistan National Emergency Commission (NEC).

Joint plan

According to Haider, a joint plan entitled Winterisation 2007-2008 - adopted by the Afghan government and the UN - contains specific responsibilities for different stakeholders.

The ministries of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and Public Works have been tasked to keep main highways and peripheral roads clear of snow and ensure roads are kept open between districts and provincial capitals, officials say.

The Ministry of Defence has designated two military helicopters for use in possible evacuation operations.

During the first half of 2007 floods caused by heavy rains contaminated many water sources across the country and raised concerns about possible outbreaks of diarrhoea and other diseases.

The Ministry of Public Health, supported by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), is working to avoid a similar situation in the coming winter by supplying rural health facilities with chlorine, sachets of oral rehyderation salts and other medications, officials at the Afghanistan Disasters' Management Authority (ANDMA) said on 8 October.

US$3.5 million needed

ANDMA officials say 8,000 emergency family packages, including kitchen utensils, blankets and other non-food items, have already been prepared and will soon be dispatched to the most vulnerable provinces.

But "these [packages] are not sufficient," acknowledged Mohammad Siddiq Hassani, ANDMA's head of policy and coordination.

At least 30,000 more family packages should be delivered to disaster prone provinces such as Badakhshan, Ghor and Daykundi, Hassani told IRIN.

In some parts of the country health facilities lack the resources to prevent disease outbreaks and provide services for people, provincial authorities and local aid organisations said.

"We need US$3.5 million for health and other non-food preparations," Haider of NEC said. However, donors have shown little interest in the NEC's funding appeal, officials said.

Because "donors have different priorities," Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to grant the requested funds through national resources, Haider said.

A plea for access

The restricted humanitarian room for manoeuvre in Afghanistan, with no direct access to one-third of the country, has been an increasing challenge for most aid workers, according to the UN: Taliban insurgents have repeatedly kidnapped, killed and harassed aid workers.

Furthermore, the virtual absence of the rule of law in large parts of the country has encouraged criminal groups to attack aid organisations.

The NEC has called on all warring parties in Afghanistan to allow humanitarian access to all parts of the country, particularly volatile areas, so that aid workers can ease suffering due to natural or man-made disasters.

"Humanitarian relief is apolitical, impartial. and should be respected by all sides of the conflict," said Haider.
Back to Top
Back to Top
AFGHANISTAN: Boys' education slides in Helmand
LASHKARGAH, 8 October 2007 (IRIN) - More than 30,000 pupils who attended schools in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan last year have been absent in 2007, the provincial department of education told IRIN. About 102,700 students attended school in 2006, fewer than 14 percent of them girls.

[Read this story in Arabic]

“This year we have 70,000 students in 90 functioning schools in Helmand province,” said Saeed Ibrar Agha, head of the provincial education department.

While schooling started on 10 September in southern Afghanistan, education facilities have remained closed in several districts in Helmand, which has been severely affected by the insurgency, including Sangin, Gereshk and Musa Qala, according to education authorities.

In 2002, less than a year after the Taliban were toppled, there were 224 functioning schools all over the province, officials said.

For the past 15 months, gunmen associated with Taliban insurgents and other armed radical groups have torched more than 20 schools and killed 17 students, teachers and staff, Ibrar Agha added. “In several districts 98 schools remain closed due to insecurity.”

Female students increase

Ironically, numbers of female students have steadily increased, with 14,500 now against 12,228 in 2006, government statistics show.

As more rural families flock to Lashkargah, the provincial capital, because of insurgency-related violence and search for employment, female children get more chances to attend school.

Moreover, a World Food Programme (WFP) project designed to boost girls’ education urges destitute families to send their daughters to school and receive aid in return. WFP distributes cooking oil, wheat and fortified biscuits to schoolchildren in food-insecure provinces of Afghanistan, a WFP spokesman said.

The Taliban banned female schooling during their reign from 1996 to late 2001.

Soft targets
About 400 schools remain out of commission in the south, east and central part of the country due to violence, the Ministry of Education (MoE) said.

A 13-year-old student was reportedly shot dead on his way to Zokur high school in Lashkargah in February 2007.

Four days later armed assailants started shooting indiscriminately outside Karte Laghan School, killing a student and a gatekeeper, officials said.

“Men identifying themselves as Taliban regularly send me warnings by phone, night letters and other ways ordering me to quit my job,” Jamila Niazi, headmistress of a girls’ high school in Lashkargah, told IRIN.

Taliban rebels and other anti-government forces have repeatedly targeted schools and teachers as symbols of the government - often the only sign of officialdom in rural areas.

Influx to Lashkargah

Owing to deteriorating security, more and more boys come to Lashkargah in search of education. Officials in Helmand’s education department say the influx is beyond the capacity of only 27 schools open in the city.

The headmaster of Zokur high school, Shadi Khan Ilham, said: “Every day tens of students seek admission in this school.” It has admitted more than 800 students from several districts in the past 10 months alone, Ilham added.

Half of all provincial students - 35,000 - attend schools in Lashkargah city, officials say.

As a result, classes are being held in the open, where students sit on the ground, either sweating in hot weather or shivering in the cold.

Overwhelmed by hundreds of extra learners, many schools in Helmand also lack proper water and sanitation facilities.

Teachers and other school staff, meanwhile, complain about numerous problems, particularly low salaries. On average, teachers earn about US$60 a month, according to the ministry.

Even so, said Ilham: “We are happy to teach students even under worse circumstances, only if security is ensured.”

Hardship

Students who stay in rented rooms in Lashkargah say financial hurdles force them to abandon education. “My parents send me 2,000 Afghanis [$40] monthly, but I have to pay 2,500 for a single room,” said Hamidullah, a 15-year-old student from Musa Qala district.

Others face threats from Taliban insurgents and criminal gangs. On 30 September, armed Taliban men reportedly hanged a 15-year-old boy in Sangin District on charges of spying for foreign troops in Afghanistan.

“Every afternoon before departing Lashkargah I double-check my pockets and other belongings and make sure I do not carry a book, an identity card or anything which may cause Taliban’s suspicion,” said another teenager, who travels five hours daily to attend school in the provincial city.

“I fear, one day, if Taliban know that I am coming to school, they will kill me,” the boy, who cannot be identified for security reasons, told IRIN.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Tehran desires closer defence cooperation with Kabul
TEHRAN, Oct 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Iran has said forging closer defence relations with neighbouring countries, particularly Afghanistan, is among its foreign policy priorities.

"The expansion of defence ties with all Muslim and neighbouring countries, especially Afghanistan, is a priority of our policy," the Iranian defence minister was quoted as saying.

At a meeting with the Afghan ambassador here on Saturday, Brig. Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar recounted a host of commonalities between the neighbours.

Long borders and deep historical, ethnic and cultural bonds would pave the way for greater defence cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan, the minister hoped.

A media report said Najjar underlined the formation of a joint defence commission and implementation of provisions of a joint defence declaration.

IRNA news agency quoted the minister as telling Ambassador Muhammad Yahya Maroofi: "Through mutual cooperation, Iran and Afghanistan can overcome such problems as terrorism, drugs transit and adverse impacts of contraband smuggling on regional stability and security."

Urging greater bilateral cooperation between the neighbours, Maroofi invited on behalf of Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak his interlocutor to visit Afghanistan. The ambassador hoped the visit would prove a turning point in bilateral relations.

The envoy lauded Tehran's support for peace and stability in Afghanistan, saying expanding relations with Iran figured prominently on his country's foreign policy agenda.
Back to Top
Back to Top
ECO foreign ministers to meet in Herat on 24th
KABUL, Oct 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The 17th foreign ministerial meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) will be held in the western city of Herat on October 24, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Foreign Ministers from the 10 member countries will attend the gathering to discuss economic cooperation and strengthening of commercial ties among the member states.

Addressing a news conference here, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Bahin said Afghanistan would seek cooperation from the member countries in several reconstruction projects.

The schemes included construction of a park in Deh Mazang locality of Kabul, re-building of a health clinic in Deh Khudaidad area, reconstruction of a school in Do Sad Family area in Rahman Mena locality of Kabul, construction of a maternity clinic in the northern province of Faryab and survey of the canal system in the western province of Farah.

Among the projects, only the Deh Mazang Park was under construction while the rest were being surveyed. 

Bahin said the four-day moot would begin from October 24. This is the second time Afghanistan is hosting the ECO meeting. The first such meeting was held in Kabul last year.

The 10-member Economic Cooperation Organisation has established a special fund for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Among the member countries, Pakistan has contributed five million dollars for the fund.
Zarghona Salehi
Back to Top
Back to Top
Canada to grant $3m for preservation of Murad Khani
KABUL, Oct 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Canadian government would grant $3 million to Afghanistan for the preservation of a historical site in the heart of Kabul, two visiting ministers from the friendly country pledged on Sunday.

Canadian ministers for foreign affairs and international cooperation, on a daylong trip to the Afghan capital, assured their country would help rebuild Murad Khani located south of the Presidential Palace here.

The site of historical opulence - damaged by decades of war and neglect of the authorities concerned - retains to this day its past glory in terms of architectural brilliance and artistic excellence dating back 400 years.

International Cooperation Minister Beverley Gee Oda, during a visit to Murad Khani, said he was glad that his country was helping Afghanistan in the reconstruction effort. "During years of war, the former centre of trade and culture was badly damaged."

Flanked by Afghan Foreign Minister Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the visiting dignitaries told a press conference Canada would help Afghanistan in the fields of security and diplomacy in addition to overall development.

Foreign Minister Maxime Bernie promised Canada would spend $1.2 billion, including $60 million for the education sector, in Afghanistan by 2011. Around 2500 Canadian troops under the command of the NATO-led ISAF would continue to help restore security to Afghanistan, he assured.

Speaking to reporters here a day earlier, Bernier said Canadas mission in Afghanistan would focus on boosting the fledgling Afghan police force, a prime target for the resurgent Taliban movement.

"We agree that we must support the Afghan National Police (ANP) to give them more training and more equipment. I can assure you it will be the focus of our government," said the foreign minister, who was proud of Canadian soldiers presence in Kandahar. We can see improvement in the life of Afghan people everyday."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Import tax down by two percent
KABUL, Oct 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan (EPAA) on Saturday announced a two percent tax cut on imports in line with a presidential decree issued on Thursday.

The decree was primarily aimed at encouraging the importers. It was issued after repeated demands from the EPAA, ministries of Commerce and Industries, Finance as well as representatives of traders and private sector, EPAA chairman Suleman Fatimi told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Deputy head of the customs department in Kabul Safiullah Mushfiq said there was two percent fixed tax on all imported goods while another two percent was charged on profit of the businessmen, which is called welfare tax.

Mushfiq said the welfare tax was slashed three years ago while the importers were exempted from the fixed tax under the last week presidential decree.

There is a vast gap between exports and imports of the country. According to official figures, the country's annual exports are equal to $500 million while imports are five billion dollars.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Denmark to stay in Afghanistan for a decade: Envoy
KABUL, Oct 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): At a meeting with President Hamid Karzai, Denmarks new ambassador Franz-Michael S. Mellbin Sunday promised his country would stay in Afghanistan for at least for 10 years to help the Afghans back to stability and development.

Referring to the long history of Afghan-Danish friendship, Ambassador Mellbin underlined he came to Afghanistan with the strongest mandate possible.  Denmark is determined to help ordinary Afghans to a better life and build a strong Afghanistan. This is why we are stepping up our efforts in all areas: political, development and military.

Denmark is already - compared to its size - Afghanistans leading supporter with over 40 million dollars in annual assistance in 2007 and 640 soldiers deployed in the war-torn country, according to a statement issued from the embassy of Denmark here.

As Denmark steps up its commitment to help Afghans shape their own future, it will also ask more, tougher questions on human rights, good governance and corruption. A true partnership goes two ways. As we do more, we expect the government to work harder to fulfil its promises to its people and the international community, the press release said.

The ambassador underlined the importance of strong Afghan leadership in fighting corruption. After the meeting, he commented: Corruption is spreading like cancer. The powerful and rich reap fortunes while the poor starve. It threatens to ruin what so many have worked so hard to build.

Just back from Helmand, the ambassador stressed creating stability and security required winning hearts and minds. Any lasting stability in Helmand and in Afghanistan requires a political solution. Both the government and the international community need to do more to ensure that ordinary Afghans see the changes and feel the benefits of development.

He outlined Denmarks plans to focus more on Helmand, including support to the Ministry of Educations drive for better schools in the troubled province. Education is the key to Afghanistans future. And I was happy to tell the president that Governor Wafa promised to do all he can to help the Ministry of Education move forward.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Tanin has reservations about Canadian proposal
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A top Afghan diplomat has voiced reservations about a Canadian proposal for the appointment of a high-level envoy of the UN secretary-general on Afghanistan.

While floating the proposal at the UN General Assembly, Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier hoped the appointment would help forge better co-ordination among various agencies involved in reconstruction and developmental activities in Afghanistan. He said the suggestion was under consideration of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

We would like to see any decision that we and the international community make together should be workable and helpful; we judge these decisions on the basis of our interest our security interest, our duties as a government towards people, Dr. Zahir Tanin, Afghanistan's permanent representative to the United Nations, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Stating the proposal was being studied by the Afghan government, Tanin added: We would like to make sure that it is useful, it is helping and would ease things, not complicate them.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Hanif Atmar, currently visiting North America, said the government of Afghanistan had sought details of the proposal. In principle, Afghanistan values the increased presence of the United Nations in Afghanistan. he said, echoing Tanin who said: Afghanistan values the central role of the UN. If the UN is determined to play a more role and assume the responsibility in all areas including security and economic development, we welcome it.

Tanin said: Consultations (on this issue) are going on. It was raised at the UN by some countries and as the secretary-general put it, he will discuss the issue with President Karzai. We as the government of Afghanistan would like to see that any decision is going to help us.

The presence of the international community in Afghanistan was to help the Afghan people stand on their feet, the ambassador argued, saying: We would like to have a very constructive debate; we would like to have more consultations to see whether or not it works.

I have to be very clear on this. First there is a suggestion. Secondly, the role has not been defined well. Thirdly, we would like to see how this is going to fit into the mechanisms that we have established together with the international community. Fourthly, how it would work, Tanin said.

We want better co-ordination; we do not want complicate the work of co-ordination. We would like to make it simple workable, effective that is what we would like to see, he concluded.
Lalit K. Jha
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).