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Former Afghan minister eyes run for president
PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's former foreign minister and a key member of the opposition to President Hamid Karzai indicated Friday that he will run in the country's August presidential election.
Obama brings Afghan plan to NATO allies
By Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 3, 10:11 am ET
STRASBOURG, France – President Barack Obama won enthusiastic support for his new Afghan war strategy on Friday from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged more police trainers and civilian aid.
Afghanistan and NATO: Why Europe May Not Be Up to the Fight
By Vivienne Walt/Strasbourg Time Magazine Friday, Apr. 03, 2009
Barack Obama arrived in Strasbourg on Friday for this weekend's NATO summit enthusing about the military organization, which he described at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy as
Obama defends US role in Afghanistan
April 3, 2009 Associated Press
STRASBOURG, France – President Barack Obama is defending the U.S. war in Afghanistan and says it could prevent a future terrorist attack somewhere in Europe.
Sarkozy backs new U.S. approach on Afghanistan
STRASBOURG, France, April 3 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave his backing to the new policy in Afghanistan outlined last month by U.S. President Barack Obama and said France would offer more help with aid and training.
Obama in France to discuss Afghan plans with NATO
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama was mobbed by cheering crowds after arriving in France Friday for a NATO summit, where he hopes to secure backing for his new strategy over Afghanistan.
New Afghan law worries Nato chief
Friday, 3 April 2009 BBC News
Nato's head says it could be difficult to persuade European countries to contribute more troops to Afghanistan because of controversial new laws.
Canada demands Afghan leader explain women's rights crackdown
Fri Apr 3, 1:18 pm ET
STRASBOURG (AFP) – Canada demanded Friday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai come forward with an explanation for a new law restricting women's rights in the Islamic country.
Law for Afghan Shi'ites stirs anger and concern
Reuters, By Golnar Motevalli - April 2, 2009 - KABUL
A new law for Shi'ite Muslims in Afghanistan has provoked anger among some lawmakers while the United Nations has said it is seriously concerned about the law's potential impact on women's rights in the former Taliban state.
Afghan MPs defend family law against 'concerns'
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan lawmakers Friday defended a new family law signed by President Hamid Karzai, saying it included key changes to draft legislation despite UN and Western concerns about restrictions on women.
World awaits Karzai’s move on law curtailing women’s rights
Afghanistan president may soften stance after international outcry
BY NORMA GREENAWAY, MIKE BLANCHFIELD AND DOUG FISCHER, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, APRIL 3, 2009
Swamped by a rolling wave of world condemnation, the government of Afghanistan appears to be backing away from a contentious new law that would make Afghan women financially and sexually subservient to their husbands.
Afghanistan's move to restrict women stuns Ottawa
But Afghan ambassador urges Canadians not to withdraw support from mission because of new family code
CAMPBELL CLARK – Globe and Mail, April 3, 2009
OTTAWA -- The Canadian government expressed dismay yesterday that Afghanistan's parliament passed a law undermining women's rights without the knowledge of key government officials or female lawmakers.
Security developments in Afghanistan
April 3 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0900 GMT on Friday:
Afghanistan seizes 1bn dollar drugs haul over year
KABUL (AFP) — Afghan authorities said Thursday they had seized more than one billion dollars' worth of drugs and chemicals in 12 months and prosecuted top officials for involvement in smuggling.
Nato summit: Europe resists US pressure on Afghanistan 'surge'
The Guardian, Ian Traynor - Friday 3 April 2009 - Strasbourg
European leaders are expected to resist American pressure today to join in the Pentagon's military "surge" in Afghanistan, disappointing Barack Obama. The US president has made the campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaida
US strikes at Taliban's nerve center
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online April 3, 2009
KARACHI - When the chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke arrive in Pakistan on Monday
This is what you get when you negotiate with taliban
BY SUSAN MARTINUK, CALGARY HERALD, APRIL 3, 2009
Interesting. Just as western leaders are publicly mulling a strategy of reconciling with moderate Taliban leaders to draw them over to the side of good, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reminded us of why that can never happen.
ANALYSIS-Who will win the peace in Afghanistan?
By Myra MacDonald
LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Behind the talk of how to win the war in Afghanistan is a question which will affect the global economy for years to come: who will win the peace?
Prisoners held in Afghanistan can challenge detention: US court
[IANS] Washington, April 3 : A US federal court ruled Thursday that a group of prisoners being held by the US forces in Afghanistan have the right to challenge their detentions in courts, in a blow to the powers of President Barack Obama's new administration.
Senate confirms Eikenberry as Afghan ambassador
April 3, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Karl Eikenberry as ambassador to Afghanistan.
Military’s influence on aid too great - NGOs
KABUL, 3 April 2009 (IRIN) - Much of the international aid to Afghanistan over the past seven years has been spent to achieve military and political objectives, and the current approach to aid lacks “clarity,
NGOs Say Foreign Troops Must Better Protect Afghans
April 03, 2009
KABUL (Reuters) -- Foreign aid agencies have said international military forces need to better protect civilians and be more open about accidental deaths and injuries, or they risk undermining their mission to stabilize Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Announces First Hydrocarbon Bidding Round
By Benoit Faucon and Bernd Radowitz April 3, 2009
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Afghanistan Friday said it was launching the country's first exploration and production bidding round, in an area where some oil has been extracted and natural gas discovered.
In Brief: Afghan floods kill five
KABUL, 2 April 2009 (IRIN) - Flash floods in different parts of the country over the past week have killed at least five and damaged hundreds of houses, Afghanistan’s National Disasters Management Authority has said.
Splintered Taliban Thwarts Afghan Peace
Many Insurgents Seek Settlement; Others Fight On
Washington Post, By Pamela Constable - Friday, April 3, 2009 - KABUL
When voter registration stations opened in southern Afghanistan several months ago, officials feared they would be attacked by Taliban fighters who control much of the region. Instead, the process went smoothly
OSCE to send election support team to Afghanistan for presidential election
Xinhua, www.chinaview.cn - 2009-04-03 - VIENNA
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) decided here on Thursday to send an election support team to Afghanistan for the country's presidential and provincial council elections.
Militants abduct 16 employees of road Construction Company in Afghanistan
Xinhua, www.chinaview.cn - 2009-04-02 - KABUL
Armed militants abducted over a dozen employees of a road construction firm in Faryab province northwest of Afghanistan, Interior Ministry said in a press release Thursday.
Germany eyes Iranian routes to Afghanistan
TEHRAN, April 2 (UPI) -- Logistics companies based in Germany approached Iran on shipping non-military equipment through its territory to Afghanistan, Iranian media reported Thursday.
Governor: Afghan province moving towards poppy-free
KABUL, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Governor of Afghanistan's northeast Badakhshan province Abdul Majid asserted Thursday that the mountainous province would soon completely get rid of poppy.
870 uplift projects completed in NE Afghanistan
KABUL, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Eight hundred and seventy of over 1,000 medium and small scale development projects launched in northeast Afghanistan have been completed, provincial governor Abdul Majid said Thursday.
Afghanistan triumph again as Bermuda fall short
by David Legge Thu Apr 2, 1:08 pm ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Giantkillers Afghanistan claimed another 2011 Cricket World Cup Qualifier victim Thursday with a 60-run triumph over Bermuda in Potchefstroom.
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Former Afghan minister eyes run for president
PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's former foreign minister and a key member of the opposition to President Hamid Karzai indicated Friday that he will run in the country's August presidential election. Dr. Abdullah said he will likely represent a wide coalition of Afghans unhappy with Karzai's rule.
Abdullah was a leading member of the Northern Alliance — a group of warlords and politicians from Afghanistan's north who helped oust the Taliban during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The Northern Alliance no longer exists as a formal structure.
Abdullah on Friday hosted reporters at his family compound in the Panjshir Valley, about two hours north of Kabul, the capital. He did not formally announce his candidacy, saying he would likely do so next week, but the lunch was filled with hints of his intentions.
"We are discussing it with many, many parties and potential candidates. It shows our intention to have a sort of grand coalition," Abdullah said.
Abdullah, who like many Afghans goes by one name, would be one of the most serious candidates to join the race, which is seen as a crucial test for Afghanistan's young democracy as the country battles a violent Taliban-led insurgency.
Karzai has also heavily hinted that he intends to run in the Aug. 20 election, as have a number of former and current government officials.
Abdullah's possible nomination by the National Front — the most serious opposition party in Afghanistan — would represent a strong challenge to Karzai.
Abdullah would likely draw many votes from Afghanistan's north, including members of the former Northern Alliance, which withstood the Soviet onslaught in the 1980s.
Abdullah is of mixed ethnic background. His father is Pashtun, the dominant group in Afghanistan, while his mother is Tajik. Tajiks make up about 25 percent of the country's 30 million people. Karzai is an ethnic Pashtun. Pashtuns make up roughly 45 percent of the country.
Abdullah was a close confidant of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the ethnic Tajik leader of the Northern Alliance who was killed by two al-Qaida members posing as journalists two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Speaking inside the garden of his family compound, Abdullah said he would like to see a level playing field for all presidential candidates. He accused Karzai of using the government apparatus to help his re-election bid, a common complaint from Karzai opponents.
Abdullah, who has sometimes been called Abdullah Abdullah, served as Afghan foreign minister from late 2001 until March 2006, when Karzai reshuffled his Cabinet.
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Obama brings Afghan plan to NATO allies
By Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 3, 10:11 am ET
STRASBOURG, France – President Barack Obama won enthusiastic support for his new Afghan war strategy on Friday from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged more police trainers and civilian aid.
NATO leaders have been reluctant to commit significant new military forces to the deadlocked conflict despite Obama's plan to add 21,000 U.S. troops to the force of 38,000 fighting the rising insurgency. Europeans have been more enthusiastic about increasing humanitarian and development aid than adding soldiers.
"We totally endorse and support America's new strategy in Afghanistan," Sarkozy told a joint news conference after talks with Obama. France will contribute to the new U.S. approach with development assistance and more training for police, Sarkozy said.
NATO's ability to succeed in Afghanistan will be seen as a crucial test of the alliance's power and relevance.
Sarkozy's backing is vitally important for Obama, who will formally present his new strategy to the heads of government of NATO's 28 member states at a dinner on Friday in the German resort town of Baden-Baden.
In a symbolic gesture toward the United States, Sarkozy said France would take in a terrorist suspect being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. France, like other European countries, has been reticent about welcoming Guantanamo inmates because of security concerns. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner later said the prisoner was from Algeria
Sarkozy rolled out all the pomp possible for Obama's visit, with a red carpet arrival with full military honors from a company of soldiers dressed in camouflage at the majestic 18th-century Rohan Palace, once home to the bishops of Alsace, as church bells pealed from the nearby cathedral.
At the news conference, Obama described NATO as "the most successful alliance in modern history," and said Washington wanted to see Europe develop its military capabilities.
Obama, who is also meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the formal start of the conference, offered strong praise for France's "outstanding leadership" in Afghanistan.
France's envoy to Afghanistan, Pierre Lellouche, said after the meeting with Sarkozy that Obama did not ask for more military forces for Afghanistan.
Spain said ahead of the summit that it will increase the number of soldiers it has in Afghanistan with a small contingent to help train Afghan army officers. Spain has 778 troops as part of the 55,000-strong NATO presence.
Belgium said it will add some 65 soldiers to the force of 500 it already has in Afghanistan, and will send two more F-16 jet fighters, bringing the total number it has sent to six. Belgium will also double its financial aid to an annual euro12 million ($14.5 million) over the next two years.
Another item that will loom large during the two-day summit is Russia. The Obama administration is eager to repair relations with Moscow after the freeze that followed the Russo-Georgian War in August.
Obama told journalists there was "a great potential" for better ties but he cautioned that Russia cannot go back to its "old ways."
"I think it is important for NATO allies to engage Russia and to recognize that we have some common interests (but) that in some instances we also have differences," he said.
The allies are expected to approve moves to normalize relations with Moscow. Russia has allowed NATO to use its territory to supply forces in Afghanistan after the main supply route through Pakistan came under repeated Taliban attacks. But Moscow also wants an end to Bush-era plans to bring Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance, and to install a missile shield in eastern Europe.
Other items on the packed agenda include starting work on a new doctrine that will define the alliance's role and values in the 21st century and choosing a new secretary-general.
While NATO leaders have emphasized that the meeting Friday and Saturday must be more than just a birthday celebration, no major breakthroughs are expected.
The leaders may also announce a decision on NATO's new secretary-general, who will succeed Dutch diplomat Jaap de Hoop Scheffer whose term runs out Aug. 1.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has emerged at the leading candidate, despite opposition from Turkey. Fogh Rasmussen infuriated many Muslims by speaking out in favor of freedom of speech during an uproar over Danish publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006. A spokeswoman for Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party said the Danish leader had confirmed he was a candidate.
"We want to determine the succession this evening and I think we would have a good secretary-general if it is Mr. Rasmussen — we know him from long contacts," Merkel told German television stations.
"There are a few other candidates."
The two-day conference — co-hosted by the Rhine river cities of Strasbourg and Kehl, Germany — is the second of three major international meetings taking place in Europe this week.
Obama and the leaders of the Group of 20 nations made headway Thursday on tackling the world's worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The U.S. president's meeting with European Union leaders in Prague on Sunday also will focus on economic issues.
The sites of the summit straddling the French-German border were swathed in police and security cordons as demonstrators from several countries poured in with a panoply of demands from pulling out of Afghanistan to building a new and more just world economic order. Up to 65,000 protesters may rally on both sides of the border, authorities said.
During clashes on Thursday and early Friday, French police detained 107 anti-NATO demonstrators.
Riot police using tear gas and rubber bullets forced hundreds of demonstrators off the streets of Strasbourg Thursday night back into a tent camp on the edge of the city. Demonstrators destroyed telephone booths and attempted to build barricades before they were stopped.
___
Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington, Deborah Seward in Strasbourg, Steve Guttermann and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen contributed to this report.
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Afghanistan and NATO: Why Europe May Not Be Up to the Fight
By Vivienne Walt/Strasbourg Time Magazine Friday, Apr. 03, 2009
Barack Obama arrived in Strasbourg on Friday for this weekend's NATO summit enthusing about the military organization, which he described at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy as "the most successful alliance in modern history." That it may have been. But Obama's praise contrasts starkly with the scathing assessment of the state of NATO, now 60 years old, by European military analysts, who say that the gap in military capability between the United States and Europe has grown so big that in some places battlefield communication between NATO forces and their US allies has become difficult. "It is such a deep divide that there is a risk that NATO will become an irritant for the Americans, rather than a partner of choice," says James Arbuthnot, a British Conservative Party politician who chairs the Parliament's select defense committee. The apparent problem-free warmth between Obama and other NATO leaders over the state of the alliance, he believes, "is an illusion."
This weekend's meeting of NATO's 28 leaders — 21 of whom are from Europe — is dominated by the issue of Afghanistan, where NATO commands the international military coalition, or ISAF. The war has injected a sense of immediacy and unity into the summit. Leaders are weighing whether to increase their commitments to the fight, in the wake of Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, which includes deploying 17,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year. While some E.U. countries have said they will send more troops to the theater, several of them have stipulated that the soldiers will be used in non-combat roles, such as training Afghan police officers. (See pictures of British troops fighting in Afghanistan)
Under so-called caveats, each government sets restrictions on how and where their soldiers operate. Britain, France and the Netherlands are willing to send troops into combat, but many other European nations — including Germany, which has Europe's biggest military force — restricts them to non-combat roles. The Italian government recently said it would like to allow its troops in Afghanistan to engage in more fighting. A Pentagon official told TIME on Friday that although the U.S. would not reject any offers of more combat troops from Europe, they are instead pushing harder for "money to grow the Afghan national army, trainers for the police, and civilian support — all of which we believe are more politically palatable to the Europeans."
Obama may be personally popular among Europeans, but that does not mean that he, and his Administration, will always get what they want. Military analysts say that the vast majority of Europe's soldiers who are not yet in Afghanistan are not capable of fighting alongside the U.S., in part because they lack the training and equipment vital to fighting in Afghanistan's tough terrain. Former NATO Secretary General George Robertson wrote in Friday's Financial Times that Europe's militaries were "pathetically ill-equipped for the world we foresee," and that the Continent's "usable deployable troops amount to just 2% of the 2.5 million who are in uniform" a figure which Abuthnot says is "generous." In an interview in Strasbourg, NATO's military committee chairman Giamcampo Di Paolo, an Italian Admiral, told TIME that he is pushing European leaders to allow their troops to engage in combat. Di Paolo says he nonetheless thinks that some of NATO's critics are exaggerating the problem of Europe's military abilities "to try to wake up the Europeans."
As Obama arrived in Strasbourg there was little discussion about divisions between the U.S. and Europe. After his packed schedule at London's G20 summit, his day in Strasbourg seemed almost relaxed, and included an hour at a youth town-hall meeting, where he answered questions about issues such as climate change and African poverty, before meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel; the NATO summit itself is scheduled as a three-hour meeting on Saturday morning. At the press conference with Sarkozy, Obama limited himself to saying that "the more capability we see here in Europe the happier the United States will be, the more effective we will be in coordinating our activities."
Such coordination is not easy. The abilities and equipment of the U.S. military are on a different level from armies in the rest of NATO. The Pentagon spends about 15% of its huge defense budget on researching new weapons systems, while the next-biggest research spender — Britain — spends just 9%, and many other NATO members spend "nil — that's zero [on military research], according to Jonathan Eyal, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Although the EU's economy is slightly bigger than that of the U.S., Europe "remains an absolute dwarf when it comes to any military activity," says Eyal.
This is not just because of the well-known aversion by European electorates to large defense budgets. Europe has for years concentrated its military spending on the continent's own defense. Instead of helicopters which are suited for Afghanistan's landscape, or more basic items like protective armor, European spending has favored big-ticket items like nuclear submarines and the Eurofighter. "Maybe these things are very important against some enemy — perhaps China," says Sascha Lange, military researcher for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. "But we have this very strong need for simply boots on the ground." Right now, there are not enough of them.
— With reporting by Mark Thompson/Washington
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Obama defends US role in Afghanistan
April 3, 2009 Associated Press
STRASBOURG, France – President Barack Obama is defending the U.S. war in Afghanistan and says it could prevent a future terrorist attack somewhere in Europe.
Obama commented in Strasbourg, France, where he addressed an audience of Europeans, many of them skeptical about the war.
The American president said he understands the doubts about the war at home and in Europe.
But he says the U.S. had to go to war because terrorists along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border are plotting their next attack. Obama says such an attack is just as likely to target a European city.
He says the purpose of the war is to defeat the "terrorists who threaten all of us."
Obama is in France to attend a NATO summit.
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Sarkozy backs new U.S. approach on Afghanistan
STRASBOURG, France, April 3 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave his backing to the new policy in Afghanistan outlined last month by U.S. President Barack Obama and said France would offer more help with aid and training.
"We completely support the new American strategy in Afghanistan," Sarkozy said on Friday during a joint news conference with Obama ahead of a NATO summit.
He repeated that there would be no French military reinforcements but said France was ready to do more in the field of police training and economic aid. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon and James Mackenzie)
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Obama in France to discuss Afghan plans with NATO
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama was mobbed by cheering crowds after arriving in France Friday for a NATO summit, where he hopes to secure backing for his new strategy over Afghanistan.
Obama helped broker a deal at a G20 summit in London on Thursday to tackle the global financial crisis and will be hoping for a similarly broad accord at the two-day NATO summit on how to turn the tide against the worsening Afghan crisis.
"He will talk about a strong partnership with Europe, but in that partnership there have to be mutual responsibilities," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with the U.S. president from Britain to France. "We have to understand there are real threats out there in the world."
Obama was cheered by well-wishers squashed behind security barriers when he arrived in the city of Strasbourg, receiving a kiss from a woman in the crowd as he headed for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The U.S. leader unveiled a new Afghan strategy last week that aims to get a grip on rising violence by Taliban militants driven from power in 2001 but never completely defeated.
It broadens the focus to include Pakistan and puts the highest priority on the defeat of al Qaeda militants who Obama says are plotting new attacks on the United States.
Having already announced plans to add 17,000 U.S. combat troops to the 38,000 already there, Obama said he would send 4,000 more to help train Afghan officials to combat problems such as the booming narcotics trade and government corruption.
The NATO mission has been criticized for disorganization but European leaders have been reluctant to commit more forces to a war that is increasingly unpopular with voters.
Obama will use a U.S.-style town hall meeting with French and German youths in Strasbourg later Friday to appeal directly to the European public for support for the Afghan mission, the White House said.
Obama will also put Afghanistan high on his agenda in talks with Sarkozy and later with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The NATO summit, co-hosted by Germany and France, starts with a dinner in the evening across the border in Baden Baden.
Anti-NATO demonstrators have vowed to disrupt the summit and riot police clashed with hundreds of protesters Thursday in Strasbourg, repeatedly firing tear gas and rubber bullets and arresting around 300 youths.
Obama has said countries that felt unable to commit more military forces to Afghanistan should at least boost help for the civilian effort.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has called on other allies to send up to 4,000 more troops to safeguard August elections. He also wants them to make up a shortfall in training teams for the Afghan army and police force.
Obama's national security adviser, Jim Jones, said U.S. allies were signaling better cooperation on military matters, especially concerning security for the election and he expected additional troop contributions.
He told reporters on a conference call with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that there was a new mood in NATO that "we're all in this together, and we'll wait and see exactly how far that takes us."
The summit marks NATO's 60th anniversary and its venue straddling the frontier of former foes France and Germany will be packed with symbolism aimed at celebrating an alliance originally created to defend Europe's borders.
Leaders will usher in new members Albania and Croatia and also look at ways to rebuild ties with Russia, whose help it sees as vital in a host of global security issues.
De Hoop Scheffer is due to stand down in July and NATO had wanted to name his successor at the summit, but efforts to identify a candidate have run into Muslim sensibilities.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is the frontrunner, but Turkey is unhappy with his handling of a 2006 row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that caused riots in the Muslim world.
"I take a negative view (on Rasmussen's candidacy)," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in London.
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New Afghan law worries Nato chief
Friday, 3 April 2009 BBC News
Nato's head says it could be difficult to persuade European countries to contribute more troops to Afghanistan because of controversial new laws.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the planned laws violated human rights and were unjustifiable when Nato troops were dying to protect universal values.
Critics say the law limits the rights of women from the Shia minority and authorises rape within marriage.
Aides to President Karzai insist the law provides more protection for women.
Permission
Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the BBC's Mark Mardell: "We are there to defend universal values and when I see, at the moment, a law threatening to come into effect which fundamentally violates women's rights and human rights, that worries me."
He added: "I have a problem to explain and President Karzai knows this, because I discussed it with him. I have a problem to explain to a critical public audience in Europe, be it the UK or elsewhere, why I'm sending the guys to the Hindu Kush."
The UN earlier said it was seriously concerned about the potential impact of the law.
Human rights activists say it reverses many of the freedoms won by Afghan women in the seven years since the Taleban were driven from power.
They say it removes the right of women to refuse their husbands sex, unless they are ill.
Women will also need to get permission from their husbands if they want to leave their homes, unless there is an emergency.
The law covers members of Afghanistan's Shia minority, who make up 10% of the population.
It was rushed through parliament in February and was backed by influential Shia clerics and Shia political parties.
Defenders of the law say it is an improvement on the customary laws which normally decide family matters.
A separate family law for the Sunni majority is now also being drawn up.
Nato is holding its annual summit in Strasbourg.
President Obama is to present his new Afghan strategy to his allies.
Ahead of the meeting, a number of leading charities warned that an increase in military deployments in Afghanistan could lead to a rise in civilian casualties.
They called on Nato leaders gathering in Strasbourg to do more to protect the population.
Last year more than 2,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan.
In a report titled Caught in the Conflict, 11 aid groups including Oxfam, ActionAid and Care called on Nato to change the way it operates.
"The troop surge will fail to achieve greater overall security and stability unless the military prioritise the protection of Afghan civilians," Matt Waldman, head of policy for Oxfam International on Afghanistan, said.
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Canada demands Afghan leader explain women's rights crackdown
Fri Apr 3, 1:18 pm ET
STRASBOURG (AFP) – Canada demanded Friday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai come forward with an explanation for a new law restricting women's rights in the Islamic country.
Speaking ahead of a NATO summit in this French city, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said the legislation was "extremely alarming and would be troublesome for a lot of the allies".
"We are calling on President Karzai to be able to come forward with an explanation," Cannon told reporters.
At issue is the Shia Personal Status Law, which reportedly makes it illegal for a woman from Afghanistan's Shia Muslim minority to refuse sex with her husband or to leave home without his permission.
It also denies her custody of their children after a divorce.
Cannon said such rules would be "injurious and offensive" for women.
"It's Canada's policy to support human rights. That's the reason I'm asking President Karzai for a clarification," he said.
Canada has some 2,800 troops in southern Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force routing insurgents, and has pledged massive financial aid to the war-torn country.
Since the start of its mission in 2002, 116 Canadian soldiers, a senior diplomat and two aid workers have been killed in Afghanistan.
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Law for Afghan Shi'ites stirs anger and concern
Reuters, By Golnar Motevalli - April 2, 2009 - KABUL
A new law for Shi'ite Muslims in Afghanistan has provoked anger among some lawmakers while the United Nations has said it is seriously concerned about the law's potential impact on women's rights in the former Taliban state.
The new law passed by parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, but not yet promulgated in the official gazette, is meant to legalise minority Shi'ite family law, which is different than that for the majority Sunni population.
The U.N.'s agency for women, UNIFEM, said in a statement it had yet to study the final draft of the Shi'ite Personal Status Law -- copies of which are not widely available -- but said it "remains seriously concerned about the potential impact of this law on the women of Afghanistan."
British media have reported that the law, which affects only Shi'ite Muslims who make up some 15 percent of Afghanistan's population, could legalise marital rape and prohibit women from leaving the home without the permission of their husbands.
But lawmaker Sayed Hussain Alem Balkhi, who was involved in debating the bill in parliament, told Reuters it contained "no such thing" and that the reports were "propaganda".
"This bill stipulates lots of leniencies compared to the civic laws that have been around for 40 years. For example, (under the new law) a Shi'ite woman can seek divorce if her husband is not able to feed her or he disappears for a long time," Balkhi said.
"A Shi'ite woman can go out for medical treatment, to see her parents without the permission of her husband, while this freedom is not enshrined in the civic law," he said.
Women's rights in Afghanistan have significantly improved in Afghanistan since the 2001 overthrow of the strict Sunni Islamist Taliban government. It prohibited women from working, attending school or leaving their homes without a male relative. But Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative Muslim society, particularly in remote rural areas.
Some parliamentarians said the law is a major step backwards for Afghan women and that Karzai approved it to appease Shi'ite voters ahead of crucial Aug. 20 elections. "Karzai just signed it so as not to cause any problems," parliament member Shinkai Karokhail said.
"It will be a shame, on Karzai, on the parliament and on the speaker," she said, adding she had appealed to the U.S. embassy and the United Nations for help, but was ignored.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the law represented a step backwards for Afghanistan's women and a "clear indication that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is getting worse not better".
"For a new law in 2009 to target women in this way is extraordinary, reprehensible and reminiscent of the decrees made by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the 1990s," the South African former war crimes judge said in a statement by her office issued in Geneva.
One Afghan government official involved in processing the law, who declined to be named, said the only part of the law which was contentious in parliament was an article allowing Shi'ite men to take a temporary wife.
But Karokhail, who is among a group of women parliamentarians against the law, said it contained several articles that would seriously damage women's rights.
One would legalise the marriage of girls from the age of nine and another said a woman had to wear make-up if her husband demanded it. "I cannot support this law, personally I really feel hurt ... it will really increase brutality in our lives," she said.
"We have a civil law, we want to improve that and make that better but I think even that is at least much better than this Shi'ite law." (Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Laura MacInnis in Geneva; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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Afghan MPs defend family law against 'concerns'
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan lawmakers Friday defended a new family law signed by President Hamid Karzai, saying it included key changes to draft legislation despite UN and Western concerns about restrictions on women.
Karzai signed the law last month, incorporating several changes to a controversial bill drafted by representatives of the Shiite minority but the complete, final version of the legislation has yet to be made public.
A copy of the draft bill, seen by AFP, said: "It is the responsibility of the wife to prepare for sexual satisfaction of her husband and not leave the house without permission, unless there is the need or difficulty."
Critics interpreted this as making it illegal for a woman to refuse her husband sex and only in an emergency leave the house without permission. They also said that had it been passed, it would have made it legal for a man to rape his wife.
But the version signed by Karzai says a wife can refuse sex on the basis of "lawful or logical excuses or with permission of her husband," influential Shiite parliamentarian Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi told AFP.
The changes, which have been seen by AFP, also allow her to leave home without permission "for any lawful purpose within the boundaries accepted by custom," said Balkhi, who has been involved in drawing up the law.
The Shiite minority, which called for their own family law distinct from that of the Sunni majority, had campaigned to scrap the legal age of 16 for a girl to marry, but their demands were rejected, Balkhi said.
Demands for a separate family court and short-term marriages were also rejected, he said. Short-term contracts allow a man to "marry" a woman for as little as overnight. Shiites make up about 15 percent of Afghanistan's population.
Prominent woman MP Shukria Barikzai, who said she had worked on the bill for more than a year, said: "The new law, after amendments, has become much better, has been very much civilized."
"I don't know why this has created such a fuss," she told AFP. But the UN women's agency, UNIFEM, expressed concern saying that the final legislation -- which it had yet to see -- needed close examination.
"The final version of the Shiite Personal Status Law reflects both changes in language requested by the upper and lower houses of parliament and amendments that seem to await further incorporation into the text," it said.
"A studied approach of this final version is therefore now required to determine the exact contents of the law and UNIFEM-Afghanistan remains seriously concerned about the potential impact of this law on the women of Afghanistan," it added in a statement.
On Thursday, Canada officially voiced "deep concerns" about the law, but Afghan lawmakers rushed to defend the final version signed by the president. The British embassy in Kabul said it had been "gravely concerned" about some provisions of the draft bill but had yet to see the final version.
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World awaits Karzai’s move on law curtailing women’s rights
Afghanistan president may soften stance after international outcry
BY NORMA GREENAWAY, MIKE BLANCHFIELD AND DOUG FISCHER, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, APRIL 3, 2009
Swamped by a rolling wave of world condemnation, the government of Afghanistan appears to be backing away from a contentious new law that would make Afghan women financially and sexually subservient to their husbands.
News reports from Kabul late Thursday said President Hamid Karzai would make his first public statement on the law Saturday. There were indications he will either scrap it altogether, or at least remove its most controversial aspects.
A draft copy of the bill obtained by the Reuters news agency in Kabul shows some of the clauses that had initially provoked anger across the world have already been softened.
In Ottawa, Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad told reporters Thursday his country had further plans to review the law. He made the comment after the Canadian government hauled him in to express its “deep concerns” the law would violate Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations.
The legislation has not yet been made public — nor has it officially become law — but it is said to include clauses that would allow a man to rape his wife, to keep her from leaving the home or from having a job. Apparently, it would also legalize the marriage of girls from the age of nine and force a woman to wear makeup if her husband demanded it.
When news of the Personal Status Law, as it is known, turned up in the western media this week, it triggered an immediate chorus of outrage from across the world.
In London, where he is attending the meeting of G20 leaders, Prime Minister Stephen Harper “shared his indignation” and urged the Afghan government “in the strongest terms” to honour its international obligations, including respect for women’s equality. In Ottawa, officials bluntly and undiplomatically tied the new law directly to Karzai.
“We have informed the Afghan government of the damaging effect that the law could have and we pointed out that across the country, Canadians are following this issue closely,” said an official in Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon’s office.
Canadian embassy officials also met with members of Karzai’s staff in Kabul to make their concerns clear, the official said.
In Afghanistan, Shinkai Karokhail, a female member of parliament, said the law would take women’s rights backwards in Afghanistan: “I cannot support this law, personally I really feel hurt … it will really increase brutality in our lives.”
In Ottawa, a leading Canadian Muslim women’s activist urged the government to cut off financial aid to Karzai’s government unless it backs off the law that she said would trample the “universal human rights” of Afghan women.
Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council for Muslim Women, said the vocal opposition to the law expressed so far by Harper and his senior ministers is not good enough. She wants the government to use its financial stick to force the Afghan government to retreat on the law. If that doesn’t work, Hogben said, then “we say, ‘sorry, we don’t have the money for you’.”
The Calgary imam who heads the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, went a step farther, suggesting Canada should use the leverage of its military presence to force the Karzai government to change the law.
“One hundred and sixteen Canadian soldiers have died there,” said Syed Soharwardy. “They didn’t die so this kind of cruelty can go on in Afghanistan.” He said withdrawing troops would be a last resort, but just the threat of pulling out Canada’s 2,000 soldiers could have an sobering affect on Karzai’s thinking.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney reiterated the government’s concern about the law, but he did not raise the spectre of holding back aid money. Instead, he said the government plans to use its “significant influence” with the Karzai government.
“Obviously our men and women (of the Canadian Forces) have been in Afghanistan to defend human rights and that includes women’s rights,” Kenney said. “And we intend to use it in every way possible to ask that the right of women be protected.”
Afghanistan is Canada’s largest recipient of international development aid, receiving $280 million in 2008-09. The government says it plans to invest a total of $1.9 billion from 2001 through 2011 on Afghan reconstruction.
Because some of that money has gone to support grassroots civil society groups in Afghanistan that have been promoting the rights of women, the proposed law comes as a blow. Bev Oda, minister of international co-operation, has called the law “a great disappointment.”
Women’s rights have significantly improved in Afghanistan since the 2001 overthrow of the strict Islamist Taliban government. It prohibited women from working, attending school or leaving their homes without a male relative.
MIllions of girls now attend school, and many women own businesses. Of the country’s 351 parliamentarians, 89 are women. But despite these advances, Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative Muslim society, particularly in remote areas.
Millions of Afghan women still face violence and traditional practices such as the trading of young girls as brides to settle feuds. Rape reports have increased in recent years. In recent years in the Obe district of northwestern Afghanistan, scores of women have set themselves on fire to escape abuse, forced marriages and other oppressive customs.
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Afghanistan's move to restrict women stuns Ottawa
But Afghan ambassador urges Canadians not to withdraw support from mission because of new family code
CAMPBELL CLARK – Globe and Mail, April 3, 2009
OTTAWA -- The Canadian government expressed dismay yesterday that Afghanistan's parliament passed a law undermining women's rights without the knowledge of key government officials or female lawmakers.
Afghanistan's ambassador, meanwhile, cautioned Canadians not to withdraw support from his country, saying that while building democracy is a goal of the mission, it is also intended to establish security and ensure terrorists don't find refuge there.
International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, whose department has pumped money and resources into women's programs in Afghanistan, said she was stunned by the law.
"We actually have a Canadian in the Ministry for Women, working with the minister for women, and they were totally unaware that this was coming down in the form that it was coming down in. They hadn't seen the details of the law," Ms. Oda said.
"People started inquiring: Did they know about this? What had they done about this? And they indicated, all the female parliamentarians indicated, that they didn't know this law was coming down in the form that it was coming down in."
"It's a glaring example of where the international community has to sit down and work with the government on open, transparent processes."
As the text of the measures began to circulate more widely in Kabul yesterday, Afghanistan's ambassador said he still has not received clear information from his government about the substance of the bill or confirmation that it has been fully passed by the parliament and signed into law.
On Wednesday, ambassador Omar Samad was summoned to a meeting with Foreign Affairs officials who expressed Canada's "deep concern" with the law.
He said he understands the reaction in Canada, but added that there has been progress in human rights and the condition of women in his country.
"Democracy-building is one component of the mission they have signed on to ... it is very important, not only for them but for the Afghan people," he said. "But so are the other components of this mission - part of which has to do with collective security, and the threats that exist in Afghanistan and in our region, that could affect other countries' well-being and security."
The law, a new family code for Afghanistan's Shia minority, is widely seen as an effort by President Hamid Karzai to woo support of conservatives and extremists for August elections.
The Associated Press reported that one provision states that the wife "is bound to preen or her husband as and when he desires" and the husband "has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night."
Both Mr. Samad and Ms. Oda said that Afghan Justice Minister Sarwar Danish had agreed to a meeting with Western diplomats, UN officials, and foreign aid and rights agencies. Ms. Oda noted that the justice minister said the law is not yet in its final form.
"So I see there the hope for discussion, so that there can be changes made to this bill," Ms. Oda said.
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Security developments in Afghanistan
April 3 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0900 GMT on Friday:
EASTERN AFGHANISTAN - A NATO-led soldier was killed and another was wounded in an insurgent attack in east Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. No further information about the location of the incident or nationality of the soldier was available.
HELMAND - Afghan and U.S.-led forces killed four militants in a raid on a compound in Naad Ali district about 570 km (350 miles) southwest of Kabul overnight, the U.S. military said in a statement.
HELMAND - U.S.-led forces killed one militant in the north of Helmand province, about 590 km (365 miles) southwest of Kabul, after they were attacked by a group of armed insurgents on Thursday, the U.S. military said in a separate statement. (Compiled by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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Afghanistan seizes 1bn dollar drugs haul over year
KABUL (AFP) — Afghan authorities said Thursday they had seized more than one billion dollars' worth of drugs and chemicals in 12 months and prosecuted top officials for involvement in smuggling.
While there was a fall in the number of arrests over the Afghan year ending March 21, which follows the solar calendar, the amount of drugs seized rose, counternarcotics officials told reporters.
Ahmad Big Qaderi, an official in a special counternarcotics task force, said this showed more significant traffickers were being caught. He was unable to provide figures for the previous year.
Authorities seized 67,516 kilogrammes of opium, with a street price of about 13.5 million dollars in the West, and 3,792 kilogrammes of heroin (379 million dollars), Qaderi told reporters.
They also found 5,223 kilogrammes of morphine (522 million dollars), 352,742 kilogrammes of hashish (seven million dollars) and 243,660 kilogrammes of drug-making chemicals (146 million dollars), he said.
"This huge amount of money is out of traffickers' possession and that itself is positive," Qaderi said.
"It was a back-breaking blow to the narcotics mafia," he charged.
Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium, which is a raw ingredient of heroin. The illegal trade is estimated to be worth about four billion dollars annually, according to UN officials.
The impoverished country is also one of the world's top producers of hashish.
Most of the opium is grown in parts of Afghanistan where Taliban insurgents hold sway, keeping out authorities who say the drugs trade brings the rebels about 100 million dollars a year.
Over the year, 442 people were arrested for drugs-related offences and 167 drug convictions were finalised, the counternarcotics Criminal Justice Task Force said in a statement released at the news conference.
"The number of cases involving middle and high value targets have increased," it said.
They included a deputy provincial counternarcotics police chief, senior civil servants, and officers in the Afghan army, police and intelligence service, it said, without giving details.
The year was also marked by the assassination in September of Afghanistan's top counternarcotics judge, Alim Hanif, the statement noted.
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Nato summit: Europe resists US pressure on Afghanistan 'surge'
The Guardian, Ian Traynor - Friday 3 April 2009 - Strasbourg
European leaders are expected to resist American pressure today to join in the Pentagon's military "surge" in Afghanistan, disappointing Barack Obama. The US president has made the campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaida the centrepiece of his new foreign policy.
A Nato summit opening in France and Germany will also struggle to commit civilian resources to match the increased US military deployments, may fail to agree on a new alliance secretary general despite months of negotiation, and is also split over policy towards a resurgent Russia.
The keenly awaited summit marks Nato's 60th birthday and also Obama's debut in continental Europe. The summit, held in the French city of Strasbourg and across the river Rhine in Baden-Baden in Germany, will see France reintegrated into Nato's command structures for the first time since Charles De Gaulle expelled the alliance from Paris in 1966.
The meeting will also see Nato grow from 26 to 28 members with the admission of Croatia and Albania, but will sidestep the more contentious issue of further enlargement into the former Soviet Union, with membership ambitions of Ukraine and Georgia put on the back burner.
With the campaign in Afghanistan repeatedly said to be Nato's biggest challenge and a test of whether the alliance will survive in the long term, the new White House appears frustrated with European reluctance. "What we expect and want is for people to look at themselves and make commitments on what they will do," said a senior US official.
But a senior German politician said public opinion in his country no longer shared the view that Germany's security was being protected "in the Hindu Kush".
"For internal political reasons, we're not in a position to produce massive new troops," said a senior European Union official. "And the scale of a civilian surge needed to match the US military surge is not there yet either."
British officials denied UK press reports that London could agree to send 2,000 more troops, raising the British contingent in Afghanistan to 10,000. "What the UK brings to the table is the civil side, the development side, not the military side," said a senior official. "There are no plans, there have been no requests," said another diplomat.
Resigned to a half-hearted response from the Europeans on Afghanistan, the Americans have already scaled back demands in order to avoid being snubbed publicly and will instead focus on manpower to train the Afghan police and to enhance security in the run-up to elections in Afghanistan in August.
"We feared this would be the first acrimonious disappointment with the Obama administration," said the EU official, "but they became realistic and asked instead what can we deliver."
As well as Afghanistan, other issues where consensus is elusive include the appointment of a new Nato secretary general to replace Jaap de Hoop Scheffer of the Netherlands, who ends his term in July.
The frontrunner, Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is being blocked by Turkey because of his refusal to apologise when Danish newspapers published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in 2006 and because Denmark refuses to close down a rebel Kurdish TV station broadcasting to Turkey.
The national leaders are to discuss the appointment at a dinner this evening in Baden-Baden, with senior diplomats pessimistic about a decision. "It's like a papal conclave: we'll be waiting for a puff of white smoke," said a European Nato diplomat.
The newer Nato members from central Europe back the candidacy of Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski, but the Germans, French, and Italians are opposed as the Pole is seen as too anti-Russian.
The US official said the summit would focus on Afghanistan, future challenges such as cyber warfare and energy security, and relations with Russia. "Nato is ready for the least likely attacks and ill-prepared for the most likely attacks," he said.
He admitted a Nato-Russia Council established eight years ago had failed and said a new channel had to be established.
De Hoop Scheffer confirmed yesterday the alliance was split about how to deal with the Kremlin. "It is no secret that when it comes to Russia there are a wide range of views within Nato, from the very cautious to the forward-leaning," he said. "Until we narrow that range it will be difficult to engage with Russia effectively."
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US strikes at Taliban's nerve center
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online April 3, 2009
KARACHI - When the chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke arrive in Pakistan on Monday, their meetings with top military officials will be framed by the contentious Predator drone attack on Wednesday in a Pakistan tribal area.
The high-powered US officials are due to meet with Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Staff Committee General Tariq Majeed. The talks had been scheduled to decide on a modus operandi for new joint military operations against militants and the hot pursuit by
American forces - which has been restricted to al-Qaeda - of anti-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Pakistani militants.
Pakistan officials are now upset that the US has taken matters into its own hands by sending a pilotless Central Intelligence Agency drone to fire missiles into a suspected Taliban compound in Orakzai Agency close to the Afghan border, killing 12 people in the first such attack in the area.
Over the past year, drones have targeted al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, mostly in North and South Waziristan and Bajaur tribal agencies. Since last August, an estimated 34 attacks have killed about 340 people, many of them civilians.
Orakzai is a non-al-Qaeda area, and in the past few months it has become a regional hub for "AfPak" militant activities. Wednesday's attack has raised alarm bells in Pakistan that the US might be preparing for a major ground offensive in the area.
There are many areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan where militants of Arab, Pakistani and Afghan origin are gathered to carry out operations against NATO forces, but Orakzai Agency can truly be termed as the hub of AfPak militant activities.
It is the backyard of a militant group under the command of Anwarul Haq Mujahid. Mujahid is the son of a legendary Afghan guerrilla leader against the Soviets in the 1980s, Moulvi Younus Khalis, and the chief of his own faction of the Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan. Mujahid also has two strongholds in the Afghan province of Nangarhar - Khogiani district, from where he hails, and the Tora Bora mountains, which border Orakzai Agency.
The Taliban carry out raids in Nangarhar and then disappear into the harsh terrain of Khogiani or the Tora Bora - from where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escaped US forces in 2001. If American special forces carry out followup operations, the fighters slip into Orakzai Agency through Nawa Pass. In the past six months, the Taliban have increased their activities in Nangarhar, making Orakzai even more important as a refuge, and something the US clearly wants to end.
Orakzai is important for another reason. The Taliban chose it as a base from where to send fighters into Khyber Agency to attack NATO supply convoys. The Taliban don't have roots in Khyber Agency, where the people are mostly traders and being Sufi are not religiously like-minded with the Taliban, so the militants have been unable to set up bases.
The high-profile people who have been kidnapped by militants in Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province, or from Khyber Agency, were immediately shifted to Orakzai, and then passed on to South Waziristan.
Wednesday's attack is a warning shot for the Taliban. If Khyber Agency is termed NATO's lifeline, through which 80% of its supplies pass, Orakzai is a lifeline for the Taliban's regional operations.
The Taliban understandably reacted angrily, "If any more drone attacks are carried out on Orakzai Agency, we will not spare any place in Pakistan. We will attack public gatherings, political meetings of any sort and government buildings," Abdul Hakeem Mehsud said in statement to the Pakistani media.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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This is what you get when you negotiate with taliban
BY SUSAN MARTINUK, CALGARY HERALD, APRIL 3, 2009
Interesting. Just as western leaders are publicly mulling a strategy of reconciling with moderate Taliban leaders to draw them over to the side of good, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reminded us of why that can never happen.
In an effort to secure political support for upcoming elections, Karzai approved a law that will strip away hard-won gains for the rights of Afghan women and return them to a sub-human existence as chattel, just as they were under the Taliban. A Shia minority woman won't be able to leave home without her husband's permission, decline his sexual advances or gain custody of any children.
Canadians and other members of the 42-country NATO group that is fighting to bring security and freedom to all Afghans are rightly outraged. We have collectively paid the financial and human cost for their freedom (Canadians more than most) and, in response, Karzai has thumbed his nose at western values in favour of his own political expediency. The law will win Karzai the support of the religious Shia group that may hold the balance of power in this summer's election. No doubt, it will also secure the support of pro-Taliban extremists and anyone else who seeks power by oppressing others.
In theory, the West has installed a democratic government. But most similarities to our governments end there. In Afghanistan, female members of government routinely face death threats and cries of "kill her "when they address parliament. No male parliamentarian-- including Karzai--has dared to defend or protect them. Other high-ranking women have been intimidated or even assassinated.
In practice, it's obvious that religious traditions still have considerable power over the decisions the government makes and how it acts. For centuries, Afghanistan had no central government. Its regions were governed by leaders of tribal factions (warlords), religious extremists, drug lords and basically anyone with enough money and/or fire power to gain local influence. Their factional fighting is associated with atrocities such as mass rape, torture and murder, and it's estimated that they still exploit and oppress about 75 per cent of the population-- mostly through the opium drug trade.
According to one Afghan, there is nothing to differentiate any of these leaders from the Taliban or al-Qaeda-- they are one and the same. They use corruption and intimidation to manipulate government action and they want it to govern with Islamic--not democratic-- traditions. In short, Karzai's government (which is composed of many former warlords and religious leaders) will never be free to govern democratically as long as these corrupt influences are at hand.
Perhaps that's why there's a growing consensus that the only way a central Afghan government can assert its control is to eliminate the opium trade--the very thing that gives warlords/ Taliban/terrorists their power over the Afghan people and government. Afghanistan supplies more than 90 per cent of the world's opium, producing enough cash to account for over onethird of Afghanistan's gross domestic product. These profits are then used to support terrorism and anti-government activities.
In October 2008, NATO's top commander in Afghanistan asked for a mandate to go after the opium trade, saying it was the only way to defeat the Taliban. Several months later, in February 2009, President Barack Obama announced that he would send additional troops to Afghanistan and a majority of them will be charged with eradicating the poppy trade that supports the insurgents.
Destroying the fuel that feeds the monster is the only way to victory. But it will be a difficult task, since many of the drug kingpins are members of government or have close friends in government. It's a commonly reported fact that government officials accept bribes to allow opium to be moved around--and out of--the country. Farmers also rely on opium crops to sustain them, even if it keeps them under the heavy foot of drug lords. Targeting them (at the lowest level of the opium chain) will destroy their livelihood and generate more discontent for the Taliban to feed upon.
There are no easy answers, but this week's events have shown us who pulls the political strings in Afghanistan. Beyond that, it's been made abundantly clear that abandoning this fight will result in terrible repercussions for Afghan women.
Martinuk's column appears every Friday
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ANALYSIS-Who will win the peace in Afghanistan?
By Myra MacDonald
LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Behind the talk of how to win the war in Afghanistan is a question which will affect the global economy for years to come: who will win the peace?
Though it may seem premature given a growing insurgency in Afghanistan which is also spreading deep into Pakistan, each country's calculations about who will come out on top will affect their response to the U.S. strategy in Central Asia.
Analysts say China could benefit most from any settlement in Afghanistan which opened up trade routes and improved its access to oil, gas and mineral resources in Central Asia and beyond.
Other countries all have a much harder hand to play.
Russia and Iran would dearly like to see an end to the U.S. military presence in their backyard. But they would also lose leverage over energy supplies if peace brought a diversification of pipelines and land routes through Afghanistan.
And India and Pakistan will struggle to address the tough compromises needed to soften a 60-year-old rivalry that has spilled over into a competition for influence in Afghanistan.
"China is keeping its head under the parapet," said retired Indian diplomat M.K. Bhadrakumar. But he added, "China is probably in my estimation the number one gainer."
While other countries have fretted about geopolitical rivalries, China has focused on its economic interests.
Its largest copper producer, Jiangxi Copper, is developing the vast Aynak copper mine south of Kabul, while it is also building Gwadar port on Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast to give it access to the Gulf.
China's deputy foreign minister Wu Dawei said this week that Beijing would continue to encourage Chinese enterprises to take part in Afghan reconstruction, according to Xinhua news agency.
Politically, China is keeping a low profile, although Wu said it favoured a strong role for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a grouping of Central Asian states dominated by Beijing and Moscow used to counterbalance western influence.
But unlike the other regional players, and indeed the United States -- which have to find their way through a minefield of competing interests -- China's course is simpler.
Barring a huge upsurge in Islamist militancy that spilled into its Muslim Xinjiang region, an escalation big enough to destroy the U.S. economy and China's dollar holdings, or an invasion of its ally Pakistan, it can keep its head down.
"China is a passive player," said C. Raja Mohan, Professor of South Asia Studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technology University. "They don't have to do anything."
PLAYING CHESS
Washington, by contrast, faces much tougher choices.
It has never been able to shake off suspicion in the region that its interest in Central Asia is as much in the pursuit of oil and gas resources as in targeting al Qaeda.
If it is to win support from Russia, Iran and China for a new strategy outlined by President Barack Obama, it has to show it has an exit plan that will eventually remove U.S. troops.
In doing so, it may not lose the war, but nor will it win the peace.
Russia could emerge a winner if it can exploit the U.S. need for alternative supply routes to Pakistan into Afghanistan in exchange for an end to NATO expansion in Central Asia.
It already scored a minor victory by prodding Kyrgyzstan to close Manas air base -- the only U.S. air base in Central Asia -- while offering to open up its own territory for ground supplies into Afghanistan, thereby increasing its leverage.
"The Russians were playing a little chess by getting Manas shut down and getting the U.S. through their territory," said Shuja Nawaz at The Atlantic Council of the United States. "They always retain the right to squeeze the pipeline."
But Russia faces bigger risks than China from either war or peace. A U.S. defeat that revitalised the Islamists would spread instability into Central Asia and its own Muslim regions.
And peace would give the former Soviet Central Asian states new land routes and potential pipelines through Afghanistan.
"Central Asian republics may find it easier to extract themselves from Russian influence," said Bhadrakumar. "All the access routes are through the old Soviet arteries."
Like Russia, Iran has an opportunity to improve its relationship with Washington by helping on Afghanistan.
Shi'ite Iran co-operated with Washington when it toppled the Sunni Taliban in 2001, but backed off after being branded as part of the "axis of evil" and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 left it facing U.S. troops in two of its neighbours.
"The Iranians feel encircled right now," said one diplomat.
But its room for manoeuvre is limited by U.S. suspicions over its nuclear programme and its hostility to Israel, along with its rivalry with Saudi Arabia which has traditionally promoted the cause of Sunni Islam in South and Central Asia.
"Iran is important for Afghanistan but not critical if you can get Pakistan right," said Raja Mohan. Pakistan and India are, along with China, the countries whose economies would gain the most from peace.
"There are of course selfish interests. They need to be able to trade with each other," said Nawaz.
But that would mean putting aside a history of distrust.
New Delhi is convinced Pakistan will always support Islamist militants to use them against India and after last November's attack on Mumbai is in no mood to compromise.
Pakistan remains so wary of India that it will struggle to do what Washington wants -- turn its back on its eastern border to challenge Islamists on its western border with Afghanistan. (Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul; Editing by Dominic Evans)
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Prisoners held in Afghanistan can challenge detention: US court
[IANS] Washington, April 3 : A US federal court ruled Thursday that a group of prisoners being held by the US forces in Afghanistan have the right to challenge their detentions in courts, in a blow to the powers of President Barack Obama's new administration.
Judge John Bates, of the district court in the US capital Washington, ruled the cases of three prisoners being held at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan are "virtually identical" to those being held at the controversial prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Obama has pushed through a series of dramatic shifts to former president George W. Bush's policies in the war against terrorism, pledging to close Guantanamo within a year and bring charges against many of its prisoners in US courts.
But the administration argued different rules applied to detainees in Afghanistan, because the prisoners were being held in a "theatre of war". Bates rejected that argument because many of the prisoners had been brought to Bagram from other countries.
The three prisoners, two Yemenis and one Tunisian national, all claim they were captured outside of Afghanistan and transferred to Bargram, where they have been held for more than six years.
Bates said all three should be granted so-called "habeus corpus" rights to challenge their detentions, following a similar Supreme Court ruling last year that applied to Guantanamo inmates. An appeal by a fourth prisoner, an Afghan national, was rejected.
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Senate confirms Eikenberry as Afghan ambassador
April 3, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Karl Eikenberry as ambassador to Afghanistan.
Approval came on a voice vote early Friday.
But confirmation of another top-level official was held up by Republican opposition. As a result, the Senate will take a test vote later this month on Christopher Hill's appointment as the Obama administration's ambassador to Iraq.
Eikenberry is an Army lieutenant general. He has said he would resign his commission after being confirmed to the ambassador's post.
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Military’s influence on aid too great - NGOs
KABUL, 3 April 2009 (IRIN) - Much of the international aid to Afghanistan over the past seven years has been spent to achieve military and political objectives, and the current approach to aid lacks “clarity, coherence and resolve”, a group of international NGOs has said.
In a report to the heads of NATO-member states, 11 international NGOs operating in Afghanistan have warned about over-reliance on short-term military gains at the expense of longer-term peace and development.
“There is a need for a truly comprehensive strategy for the long-term reconstruction and stabilisation of Afghanistan,” said the report entitled Caught in the Conflict (subtitled Civilians and the International Security Strategy in Afghanistan), released on 3 April.
To prevent a blurring of the lines between military and humanitarian actors, aid agencies and NATO-led forces agreed on a modus operandi in 2008 [NATO-led forces, aid agencies agree new modus operandi] but this is being largely ignored less than a year after it was signed, the report said.
“We have seen no difference on the ground,” said Matt Waldman, Oxfam’s policy and advocacy manager in Kabul.
The NGOs - including Oxfam, CARE Afghanistan, ActionAid and Save the Children (UK) - are concerned about the growing impact of armed conflict on civilians and the increasing use of aid for military and political gain.
“We feel a pull on our sleeves pulling us to the military tent,” said Dave Hampson, a representative of Save the Children UK, adding that funds for aid agencies were being tied to military and political conditionality more than ever before.
Oxfam commentary
In a commentary on the report Oxfam said:
“The report warns the military are blurring the distinction between aid workers and soldiers by doing extensive humanitarian and assistance work for counter-insurgency purposes, and by using unmarked white vehicles, which are conventionally only used by the UN and aid agencies. This undermines local perceptions of the independence and impartiality of aid agencies and therefore increases the risk to aid workers, and threatens to reduce the areas in which they can safely work.
“The agencies recommend a phase-out of militarised aid and a substantial increase in development and humanitarian funding for civilian institutions and organisations,” it said.
IRIN was unable to get a comment from NATO.
UNAMA report
Over 2,100 civilian Afghans were killed in the conflict in 2008; about 55 percent by various insurgent groups and the rest by pro-government forces, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report entitled Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in 2008.
The UN and rights watchdogs have repeatedly accused the insurgents of deliberate, systematic and widespread attacks on noncombatants and civilian locations.
The NGOs also voiced concern about a significant increase in civilian deaths resulting from aerial strikes by international military forces which were reported to be 552 in 2008; 72 percent higher than 2007, according to the UNAMA report.
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NGOs Say Foreign Troops Must Better Protect Afghans
April 03, 2009
KABUL (Reuters) -- Foreign aid agencies have said international military forces need to better protect civilians and be more open about accidental deaths and injuries, or they risk undermining their mission to stabilize Afghanistan.
Military "hearts and minds" efforts to win over ordinary Afghans are also putting humanitarian work at risk because soldiers are blurring the lines between combat and aid, the 11 agencies said in a joint report, "Caught in the Conflict."
Plans to deploy some 21,000 extra U.S. troops this year against a growing Taliban insurgency may punish ordinary Afghans further as violence is expected to rise and spread to new areas, its author said.
"There is a risk that increased operations could not only lead to more civilian deaths, but also increase displacement and reduce access to essential services," Matt Waldman, head of policy for Oxfam in Afghanistan, told a news conference.
The one-third rise in civilian deaths caused by pro-government forces last year had generated "widespread resentment" and undermined support for the international presence, the report said, but problems go beyond casualties.
There is not enough openness or accountability when military missions go wrong, the report warned, and there are worries about detainees who are held for long periods without charge or trial.
There are even some children among the 600 held prisoner at the United States' Bagram airbase, said Palwasha Aabed, Child Protection Manager at Save the Children UK, which also contributed to the report.
On top of this, compensation systems are confusing and vary between the nations in the coalition, so civilians caught up in fighting often feel they have no access to justice.
"In their eyes, the perpetrators of abuses can operate with impunity," the report said.
It also criticized "tribal empowerment" programs, saying they are misguided, will create dangerous militia, and possibly hand arms to Taliban sympathizers or local bandits even as the central government seeks to disarm warlords and their gunmen.
"We cannot say that Taliban militants will not be in there, because there are hidden elements," said M.H. Mayar from the ACBAR grouping of Afghan non-governmental organisations.
"Weapons will be in the wrong hands, that is our concern."
One of the biggest worries raised by the report. however, is how the military is blurring the boundary between troops and aid workers, making NGOs more vulnerable and undermining their efforts to bring assistance to the neediest.
Some soldiers drive white unmarked vehicles conventionally used by humanitarian organizations, the report said.
More subtly, aid is being spent on projects that further military aims, rather than purely on the basis of which people and areas are most deserving, eroding trust in humanitarian groups and belief that foreign forces are acting in good faith.
"We are seeing the expansion of 'hearts and minds' activities, particularly those which are designed not to address need, but for force protection purposes. We believe that is not consistent with humanitarian principles," Waldman added.
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Afghanistan Announces First Hydrocarbon Bidding Round
By Benoit Faucon and Bernd Radowitz April 3, 2009
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Afghanistan Friday said it was launching the country's first exploration and production bidding round, in an area where some oil has been extracted and natural gas discovered.
The announcement comes despite a drop in global oil prices stifling hydrocarbon investment and continuous security concerns over an insurgency in the Asian Islamic naion.
In a statement sent by geology company Gaffney Cline and also published on Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines Web site, the ministry said it "has initiated the process that will lead to the bidding round for the award of exploration and production sharing contracts for hydrocarbon operations."
It said the blocks, in Northern Afghanistan, had been in sustained production in one case while natural gas had been discovered in the 1970s in two others. Two gas blocks are estimated to contain a total of 52 billion cubic meters altogether, according to data in the press statement. The oil block is estimated to contain 64.4 million barrels of recoverable reserves.
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In Brief: Afghan floods kill five
KABUL, 2 April 2009 (IRIN) - Flash floods in different parts of the country over the past week have killed at least five and damaged hundreds of houses, Afghanistan’s National Disasters Management Authority has said.
Avalanches in Daykundi Province, central Afghanistan, killed one woman and three children, while floods in Kandahar and Herat provinces killed one child and damaged over 500 houses and agriculture land, officials said.
In its weekly climate forecast, the US-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) warned that rainfall “along with expected snow melt” could lead to localised floods during the week of 1-7 April. A powerful storm, slowly progressing across Iran on 31 March, should affect Afghanistan at the beginning of April, it said.
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Splintered Taliban Thwarts Afghan Peace
Many Insurgents Seek Settlement; Others Fight On
Washington Post, By Pamela Constable - Friday, April 3, 2009 - KABUL
When voter registration stations opened in southern Afghanistan several months ago, officials feared they would be attacked by Taliban fighters who control much of the region. Instead, the process went smoothly and not a shot was fired. There were even reports of local Taliban members encouraging people to register and support them at the polls in August.
But when a Taliban commander in Wardak province accepted an offer of reconciliation last month from the government, which is trying to persuade "moderate Taliban" fighters to lay down their weapons and participate in the elections, he was shot dead three days later. Officials said the order to kill him came from Taliban authorities.
These accounts demonstrate the confusing, contradictory forces at work as the government in Kabul, with encouragement from the United Nations and the Obama administration, attempts to find a peaceful way out of a conflict that has taken thousands of lives since 2001, involved tens of thousands of foreign troops and become entangled in a wider, increasingly deadly regional campaign for Islamist control.
According to experts and officials here, including several Afghans who served in the Taliban government of 1996 to 2001, there is a widespread desire among Afghan Taliban fighters to seek a settlement that would end intervention by NATO forces on one side and foreign Islamists, including al-Qaeda, on the other.
But on Wednesday, a coordinated attack by suicide bombers on a government complex in the southern city of Kandahar underscored the sustained level of insurgent violence that continues to plague Afghanistan. In the midday attack, which killed 14 people, three bombers disguised as police officers stormed the compound after a fourth detonated a truck outside the gates. Some 80 fighters have been killed in clashes with Afghan and NATO forces in the past four days alone.
"We are very concerned about the foreign fighters and al-Qaeda, and we are trying to isolate the Afghan Taliban from them," said Anwar Rahmani, a Muslim cleric and national legislator who has been asked by President Hamid Karzai to reach out to the Taliban. "They are Afghans, too, and they should be part of our government."
Rahmani, who wears a dark turban and long beard, held several government posts during Taliban rule but never joined the movement. He said the best plan might be to open talks on lesser issues, such as releasing prisoners, in order to build trust and move toward larger insurgent demands, such as the withdrawal of NATO troops. Karzai has dispatched other emissaries, including one of his brothers and a former Taliban ambassador, to hold preliminary talks with insurgents.
The Afghan government has also received strong support for peace talks from the Obama administration, which fears being dragged into an open-ended war. This week, Karzai and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed the issue at a conference in The Hague, where Clinton said moderate Taliban insurgents should be offered "an honorable form of reconciliation" if they abandon their armed fight and break ties with al-Qaeda.
But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid rejected the offer Wednesday, calling it a "lunatic idea," according to the Reuters news agency. There is strong resistance to negotiations among some Taliban leaders and their powerful allies abroad, including groups in Pakistan and in Persian Gulf nations. The experts and officials said this poses enormous obstacles to a peaceful settlement and will make it difficult to extricate the Afghan conflict from the growing ideological and strategic war surrounding it.
Afghans as well as foreign diplomats pointed to neighboring Pakistan -- specifically to individuals and groups within its military, intelligence and religious communities -- as the central arbiters of Afghanistan's fate. While the Pakistani government is officially aligned with the United States against the Taliban, the Pakistani military and intelligence service played a critical role in creating the Afghan Islamist militia during the 1990s. Analysts say that elements within Pakistan retain an interest in keeping Afghanistan unstable and the Taliban active, but they have shown they can rein in the Afghan fighters when it suits their needs.
"The key is to get the big players in Pakistan to sign on to the elections," said one diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. In 2004, he said, Pakistani officials agreed to support elections in Afghanistan at Washington's request and sent out the word through several key intermediaries; as a result the polling was entirely peaceful.
The diplomat and several Afghan experts said that the same thing happened during the recent voter registration here, and that it could happen again in August if Taliban "handlers" in Pakistan approve bringing the Afghan insurgents -- who depend on outside support for weapons, money and physical sanctuary -- into the election. "It worked before, and we are all working hard to ensure it works in August," the diplomat said.
But there are other factors, especially the stunning growth of extremist Islamist ideology in Pakistan and other Muslim countries, that may be spilling beyond the control of such institutional handlers. In the past several years, religious militants have gained dominance over much of Pakistan's tribal northwest, and they are now asserting responsibility for a series of deadly terrorist attacks across the country.
Recent efforts by Pakistani authorities to negotiate peace accords with several of these groups now appear to be in serious jeopardy. One peace deal with Taliban fighters that included imposing strict Islamic law in the scenic Swat Valley, seen by some as a possible role model for Afghanistan, seemed to be collapsing Wednesday in a rash of Taliban kidnappings and assassination attempts against area officials.
In Afghanistan, some experts said the original limited goals of the Taliban leaders, who took power in 1996 seeking to build an orderly Islamic state, have metastasized through exposure to al-Qaeda and radicalized Pakistani militants into a more ambitious target of world Islamist dominance.
Unlike the original Taliban, mostly Afghan villagers who fought with rifles and grenades, the new insurgents employ suicide bombings and other terrorist tactics associated with extreme indoctrination. "The Taliban will negotiate smaller issues for their own interests, but they will never be ready to negotiate peace," said Waheed Mojda, a former government aide during Taliban rule who now lectures and writes about the insurgency. "Their ideology is much broader now. It has become a world struggle for an Islamic caliphate with Afghanistan at the center. They don't want to participate in political power. What they want to do is keep fighting, to kill and be killed."
The evidence for such thinking is becoming more grimly apparent with incidents such as the murder of the Taliban commander in Wardak. In Kandahar province, Mojda said, some local insurgents wanted to participate in voter registration but were forbidden from doing so. In Helmand province, where several districts are now under Taliban rule, one insurgent leader told al-Jazeera television this week that he would like to reconcile but feared for his life.
Even members of the national council of Muslim clergy here, who strongly urged Karzai to begin negotiations with the Taliban, are alarmed and confused about the increasingly violent militancy in Pakistan.
"We need to negotiate with our own people. It is the only way to bring peace," said Enayatullah Balegh, leader of a Kabul mosque and a member of the clerical council. "But we cannot trust Pakistan or the Taliban there. They keep calling for justice, but they keep beheading people. With those Taliban, there can be no justice and no peace."
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OSCE to send election support team to Afghanistan for presidential election
Xinhua, www.chinaview.cn - 2009-04-03 - VIENNA
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) decided here on Thursday to send an election support team to Afghanistan for the country's presidential and provincial council elections.
The OSCE Permanent Council said the decision was made in response to the specific request of the Government of Afghanistan and was "as an extraordinary measure" in a press release.
Ambassador Mara Marinaki of Greece, the Chairperson of the Permanent Council pointed out that the OSCE has proven expertise in the field of elections.
She also believed that the Organization would be able to support Afghanistan in a meaningful way ahead of the country's important elections on August 20.
According to the plan, the team will prepare a report on the electoral process, including recommendations to the Afghan government on how the country's future elections, legal framework and procedures can be improved.
In 2004 and 2005, the OSCE also sent election support teams to Afghanistan for the presidential, parliamentary and provincial council elections.
Afghanistan is one of the OSCE's 11 Partners for Co-operation, which directly borders the OSCE region in Central Asia.
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Militants abduct 16 employees of road Construction Company in Afghanistan
Xinhua, www.chinaview.cn - 2009-04-02 - KABUL
Armed militants abducted over a dozen employees of a road construction firm in Faryab province northwest of Afghanistan, Interior Ministry said in a press release Thursday.
"The enemies of Afghanistan raided a road construction company in Ghormach district in the wee hours of today and kidnapped 16 employees of road construction firm including cook and servant," the press release said.
However, it did not say if the company was international or a national one. It said the company was busy in constructing roads in the area. The "enemies of Afghanistan" is a term often used by government officials against Taliban militants.
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Germany eyes Iranian routes to Afghanistan
TEHRAN, April 2 (UPI) -- Logistics companies based in Germany approached Iran on shipping non-military equipment through its territory to Afghanistan, Iranian media reported Thursday.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that two unnamed private companies in Germany are looking to Iran as an alternative route for shipments of non-military goods to NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Taliban insurgents have launched repeated attacks on supply routes into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Taliban militants in March stormed a trucking depot in Peshawar, leaving more than 20 NATO vehicles in flames. Attacks in February briefly closed traffic through the sensitive Khyber Pass for weeks.
The bulk of U.S. supplies to Afghanistan move through the Khyber Pass from Pakistan.
The IRNA report cites "a German army spokesman" who said NATO officials and the German government were monitoring the talks with Iran.
Iran has emerged as a potential contributor to the international effort in Afghanistan. At a major strategic conference in the Netherlands on Tuesday, the Islamic republic stressed the importance of curbing poppy cultivation and other matters in Afghanistan but opposed a buildup of foreign troops.
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Governor: Afghan province moving towards poppy-free
KABUL, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Governor of Afghanistan's northeast Badakhshan province Abdul Majid asserted Thursday that the mountainous province would soon completely get rid of poppy.
"Poppy cultivation in Badakhshan had almost reached to zero last year and the authorities are hopeful to fully eliminate the menace this year," Majid told Xinhua.
Nevertheless, he added that farmers in the far-flanged areas are still cultivating poppy.
"The only solution to end the menace completely is to improve the living standard of the people and achieving this goal requires international support," the governor emphasized.
Afghanistan with an output of 7,200 tons opium poppy in 2007 had topped poppy growing nations in the world. However, poppy plantation had dropped in the country as 20 out of the country's 34 provinces had been announced poppy-free in 2008.
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870 uplift projects completed in NE Afghanistan
KABUL, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Eight hundred and seventy of over 1,000 medium and small scale development projects launched in northeast Afghanistan have been completed, provincial governor Abdul Majid said Thursday.
"Last year 1,020 development projects had been launched and so far 870 of them have been completed in Badakhshan province," Majid told Xinhua.
These projects, he added, include constructing roads, bridges, schools, health clinics and small power dams to light villages.
He also added that the remaining 150 more projects would be completed at the end of 2009 to improve the living condition of the locals there.
The Afghan government as well as the international institutions have spent hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars for the implementation of the above projects to change the life of people in the mountainous province, Majid stressed.
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Afghanistan triumph again as Bermuda fall short
by David Legge Thu Apr 2, 1:08 pm ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Giantkillers Afghanistan claimed another 2011 Cricket World Cup Qualifier victim Thursday with a 60-run triumph over Bermuda in Potchefstroom.
The team that won tournaments in Jersey, Tanzania and Argentina to reach the final qualifying stage for the World Cup made 239-9 in 50 overs before dismissing their opponents for 179.
It was the second victory for the war-torn nation in as many days and they look set to reach the Super Eights phase, where the top four finishers secure places at the 2011 World Cup in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Wicketkeeper Karim Sadiq, whose bowling helped fashion a five-wicket victory over Denmark Wednesday, displayed his batting prowess with 83 runs off 103 balls spiced by 10 fours.
Nowroz Mangal was the other batting star, making 71 from 77 balls before being run out by David Hemp and Asghar Stanikzai contributed a useful 38 at South African ODI venue Senwes Park.
Bermuda began the run chase disastrously, losing openers Lionel Cann and Jekon Edness with just seven runs on the board, before Glenn Blakeney and Steven Outerbridge staged a 118-run third-wicket stand.
But Mohammad Nabi clean bowled Blakeney (68) to trigger a steady fall of wickets and Bermuda never seriously threatened to overtake the Afghanis in the north-west university town.
Victorious coach Kabir Khan praised the teamwork of his young team, many of whom honed their skills in Pakistan refugee camps after fleeing the conflict in their homeland.
"Our players are sharing responsibilities now. I worry as a coach when you have to rely on one or two players because if they do not perform, you lose the game," said Kabir.
"Everybody is chipping in and that is very important. There are no main players in the team anymore. Everybody is given a role and everybody is performing.
"Beating Bermuda makes me happy and I think we are good enough to defeat higher-ranked teams. I am looking forward to the chance of proving it," said the former Pakistan Test and ODI player.
On Saturday, Afghanistan face Kenya, who recovered from a first-day loss to Netherlands with a nine-wicket victory over a United Arab Emirates side that made just 79 runs as Lameck Onyango claimed a career-best 6-14 in 10 overs.
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