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Karzai ignored U.N. pleas on Afghan VP choice
Mon May 4, 2009 4:28pm BST By Peter Graff
KABUL (Reuters) - The U.N. mission head in Afghanistan begged President Hamid Karzai not to name as his running mate an ex-guerrilla chief linked to accusations of human rights abuses but was ignored, a diplomatic source close to him said on Monday.
Karzai registers for Afghan vote with warlord
by Sardar Ahmad – Mon May 4, 7:34 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai formally registered Monday to stand for re-election in August but sparked international dismay by picking a controversial warlord as one of his two running mates.
Afghan leader heads to US for anti-terror summit
Mon May 4, 4:40 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai headed to Washington Monday to meet US leader Barack Obama and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari amid concerns about efforts to fight the Islamist threat in the region.
Wave of Afghanistan attacks kill 29: officials
by Bronwen Roberts – Mon May 4, 8:26 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – A wave of attacks killed 29 people in Afghanistan Monday, as President Hamid Karzai jetted to Washington for a summit on beating the threat of extremism.
Mayor among 7 killed in Afghanistan suicide blast
04 May 2009 09:08:14 GMT
KABUL, May 4 (Reuters) - A provincial mayor was among seven people killed by a teenage suicide bomber who blew himself up at the gate of a municipal administration building in eastern
Joint Chiefs chairman: Afghanistan now top priority
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military's primary focus needs to shift immediately from Iraq to Afghanistan, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday.
AFGHANISTAN: Flood emergency declared
04 May 2009 12:17:07 GMT
KABUL, 4 May 2009 (IRIN) - Flash floods in the past two weeks have killed at least 20 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, according to the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA),
U.S. Denies Letting Troops Convert Afghans
May 4, 2009
KABUL (Reuters) -- The U.S. military has denied it has allowed soldiers to try to convert Afghans to Christianity, after a television network showed pictures of soldiers with Bibles translated into local languages.
Afghan MPs on peace study visit to Ireland
Mon May 4, 8:02 am ET
DUBLIN (AFP) – A cross-party group of Afghan lawmakers will visit both parts of Ireland this week to study the island's peace process, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
Italy defends troops over death of Afghan girl
AFP via Yahoo! News - May 04 5:02 AM
Italy's government Monday pledged to investigate the death of a 12-year-old Afghan girl after Italian troops in western Afghanistan fired on the car she was travelling in, but defended the action of its soldiers. Skip related content
Afghan refugees stuck at Europe's door
Anne-Laure Buffard THE WASHINGTON TIMES Monday, May 4, 2009
PATRAS, Greece -- Every day since he arrived in Greece two years ago, Mohamadi al-Raza has woken up in this port city wishing he could make it across the Mediterranean to Italy.
Captured Afghanistan outpost torn down
Hard-won ground given up in change of priorities
JESSICA LEEDER From Monday's Globe and Mail May 3, 2009 at 7:23 PM EDT
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — A remote outpost on the edge of Taliban country that troops have fought for years to secure has been deliberately torn down.
U.S. Aims to Unify Efforts on Afghan Border
Wall Street Journal By JAY SOLOMON and PETER SPIEGEL MAY 4, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will seek a unified strategy to subdue Islamist militants in the tribal regions straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan when he meets with the presidents of the two nations in Washington this week.
U.S. Offers Mixed Assessment of Pakistan’s Security
By ELISABETH BUMILLER The New York Times May 4, 2009
WASHINGTON — Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that he was comfortable that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were secure, but that he was “gravely concerned”
China Exempted 278 Items of Afghan Export Goods from Custom Duties
May 4, 2009 By Akhtar Abir Bakhtar News Agency
“China declared that it had exempted 278 items of Afghan export goods from custom duties to expand commercial relations between the two countries,” Trade Deputy Minister of MoCI, Adib Farhadi said to Bakhtar News Agency.
Afghanistan Seeks Iran's Involvement with Taliban
www.quqnoos.com Written by Tamim Hamid Sunday, 03 May 2009
Afghan Foreign Ministry analyses the US annual terrorism report in which Iran is identified an adherent of the Taliban
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Karzai ignored U.N. pleas on Afghan VP choice
Mon May 4, 2009 4:28pm BST By Peter Graff
KABUL (Reuters) - The U.N. mission head in Afghanistan begged President Hamid Karzai not to name as his running mate an ex-guerrilla chief linked to accusations of human rights abuses but was ignored, a diplomatic source close to him said on Monday.
Karzai registered to run for re-election on Monday and named former vice president and defence minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim to stand with him as the senior of two vice presidents.
The international diplomatic source said U.N. mission chief Kai Eide had repeatedly met Karzai in recent days to try to persuade him not to pick Fahim for the August 20 poll.
Eide was "saddened" and "disturbed" by Karzai's choice and believed the concern was widely shared by the international community of diplomats in Kabul, the source said.
"He's been one of the known warlords in this country and has a history of human rights violations that's serious," the source said.
Rights groups also expressed alarm. Brad Adams, Asia director of New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch, said Karzai "is insulting the country with this choice." In a 2005 report, Human Rights Watch accused Fahim of abuses.
"To see Fahim back in the heart of government would be a terrible step backwards for Afghanistan," Adams said. "He is one of the most notorious warlords in the country, with the blood of many Afghans on his hands from the civil war."
"He is widely believed by many Afghans to be still involved in many illegal activities, including running armed militias, as well as giving cover to criminal gangs and drug traffickers."
Two secretaries to Fahim did not answer phone calls on Monday seeking comment.
The source close to Eide said the choice of Fahim -- announced hours before Karzai left for Washington for his first meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama since Obama took office -- could also hurt Karzai's relationship with Washington.
Obama administration officials have publicly criticised Karzai in the past for being too tolerant of corruption, although that criticism has become more muted recently.
ETHNIC BALANCE
Fahim was the military commander of the guerrilla forces that toppled the Taliban with U.S. help in 2001, paving the way for Karzai to become president.
He is a member of the Tajik community, Afghanistan's second-largest ethnic group. Karzai is a Pashtun from the largest group, so Fahim's presence helps balance out his ticket.
"Maybe he can bring votes. What else does he bring?" said the source, describing Eide's arguments to Karzai. "You're bringing back more of an old guard that we believed could gradually be phased out of the political landscape and be replaced by more modern people who can move the country forward."
Fahim served as defence minister and vice president after Karzai took power in 2001, but Karzai dropped him when he stood in the country's first democratic presidential election in 2004.
More recently, Fahim was a founding member of an opposition group. But last month he abruptly withdrew from the opposition, apparently to accept Karzai's offer of a place on his ticket.
Another international diplomatic source said the United Nations suspected Fahim had run networks of armed men in Kabul since 2001 responsible for weapons smuggling, narcotics trafficking, bank robberies and the kidnapping of foreigners.
Opponents of Karzai have had difficulty settling on a candidate with broad enough support to challenge the president in the August 20 poll. One of the main challengers, provincial governor Gul Agha Sherzai, pulled out of the race abruptly on Saturday, and other main rivals have yet to formally register.
(Editing by Paul Tait)
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Karzai registers for Afghan vote with warlord
by Sardar Ahmad – Mon May 4, 7:34 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai formally registered Monday to stand for re-election in August but sparked international dismay by picking a controversial warlord as one of his two running mates.
Karzai signed up for the August 20 poll at the offices of the Independent Election Commission along with Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a key figure from the 1990s civil war, and current Vice-President Karim Khalili.
Karzai, who first took office in late 2001 after the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime and won the country's first presidential vote in 2004, said his leadership experience made him a good candidate for another term.
"We will be making mistakes again, like in the past, but our aim is to serve the Afghan nation," he said in a brief address to journalists.
He was running on a ticket with Fahim and Khalili for the "welfare and prosperity of the Afghan people," he added.
But his choice of Fahim as one of his two would-be vice presidents was a surprise considering allegations of rights abuses against the beefy commander.
UN officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, expressed "dismay" at Fahim's inclusion.
Prominent parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai said it gave out an impression of Afghanistan as being unable to break from its past of warlordism.
Fahim is a Tajik, the second-largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, and Khalili a Hazara. Karzai hails from an influential tribe in the Pashtun community, the largest ethnic group.
Khalili, who has been Karzai's deputy for nearly seven years, is also a former warlord from the Wahdat Islami (Islamic Unity) faction of Hazaras that was accused of murder, torture and other abuses during the civil war.
He cooperated with a post-Taliban disarmament process and dissolved his militias.
Fahim is also said to have disarmed, but has been accused of stockpiling weapons in the Panjshir Valley, the former base of the Northern Alliance's anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance, north of Kabul.
He earned a ruthless reputation during the brutal 1990s civil war when he was a commander under the assassinated anti-Soviet hero Ahmed Shah Massoud.
Fahim was briefly Karzai's defence minister but was dismissed under international pressure, which also led Karzai to drop him as his running mate in the October 2004 election.
"The picture we present once again to the people of Afghanistan and to the world is of a culture of warlordism in Afghanistan," Barakzai told AFP.
"This makes it very difficult to walk the walk of a progressive, democratic society and protecting the rights of the Afghan people."
Potential rival candidates who could pose a serious threat to Karzai's bid for re-election have yet officially to throw their names into the ring ahead of the May 8 deadline for registration.
All applicants will be vetted. Convictions for crime and rights abuses are among the grounds for exclusion.
Former Karzai cabinet ministers Anwar-ul Haq Ahadi, Abdullah Abdullah, Ali Ahmad Jalali and Ashraf Ghani are among those expected to register.
Flamboyant provincial governor Gul Agha Sherzai, who had been seen as a contender, announced Saturday he decided not to run.
A source close to the governor said he changed his mind about standing in the polls after meeting Karzai late Friday.
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Afghan leader heads to US for anti-terror summit
Mon May 4, 4:40 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai headed to Washington Monday to meet US leader Barack Obama and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari amid concerns about efforts to fight the Islamist threat in the region.
Karzai flew to Washington with his foreign and defence ministers immediately after registering to run for a second term in August presidential elections, including on his ticket controversial warlord Mohammad Qasim Fahim.
Karzai was due to meet the US and Pakistani presidents on Wednesday, a statement from his office said, announcing his departure.
He would also meet other US officials, including House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, and deliver an address to the prominent Brookings Institution on "effective ways of fighting terrorism", the statement said.
Obama has put the spotlight firmly on Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists straddling the Afghan and Pakistan border, pledging more troops and resources to eliminate what he has called an international threat.
He has also pushed for more cooperation between the Islamic neighbours to deal with the militants, expressing concern about the fragility of Pakistan's eight-month-old civilian government which has made concessions to the Taliban.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said recently the US administration would have "some very intense sessions" with the Afghan and Pakistani delegations on Washington's new strategy in the region.
The three-way format is "quite helpful at beginning to change mindsets and, frankly, set forth some requirements about what we expect from these governments," Clinton said.
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Wave of Afghanistan attacks kill 29: officials
by Bronwen Roberts – Mon May 4, 8:26 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – A wave of attacks killed 29 people in Afghanistan Monday, as President Hamid Karzai jetted to Washington for a summit on beating the threat of extremism.
In the bloodiest incident a bomb tore through a tractor and trailer transporting a group of Kuchi nomads in a remote district of southern Zabul province, a district governor said.
"A roadside bomb struck their vehicle and killed 12 people," said Wazir Mohammad, head of the Shamalzai district on the border with Pakistan.
The dead were six women, two children and four men, he said.
There was no claim of responsibility for the blast but there are regular bombings in Afghanistan, most of them blamed on Taliban fighters targeting Afghan and international security forces.
Mohammad also said that two Taliban fighters were killed in the same district early Monday when mines they were planting in a road exploded.
Taliban fighters, meanwhile, attacked a construction site near the Zabul capital, Qalat, where labourers were rebuilding bridges destroyed in earlier militant action, deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Jialani said.
Six security guards protecting the workers were killed in the shoot-out along with two civilian passers-by, he said.
In the eastern province of Laghman, a suicide attacker walked up to a vehicle carrying a provincial mayor and blew himself up, killing the official and six other people, the interior ministry said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the Laghman attack.
The mayor of Laghman, Mohammad Rahim Rahim, was one of the most senior officials in province after the governor.
"The mayor, three of his bodyguards and three civilians were martyred," the ministry said.
Authorities in the western province of Herat reported, meanwhile, that 13 Taliban and a policeman were killed in clashes in the area Sunday.
About 150 Taliban attacked a power plant, sparking fighting that left nine of the gunmen and a policeman dead, police spokesman Noor Khan Nikzad said.
Four more insurgents died in an Afghan and international military operation in the Guzara district near the capital, he said.
The Taliban, in government between 1996 and 2001, warned last week that they would step up attacks on government officials as well as Afghan soldiers and the nearly 70,000 international troops who support them.
The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and in neighbouring Pakistan has alarmed Western nations which fear it could foment another major Islamist attack like the September 11, 2001 strikes on the United States.
Karzai headed to Washington Monday to meet US leader Barack Obama and Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari amid concerns about the efforts to fight the Islamist threat in the region.
Karzai flew to Washington with his foreign and defence ministers immediately after registering to run for a second term in August presidential elections, including on his ticket controversial warlord Mohammad Qasim Fahim.
Obama has put the spotlight firmly on Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists straddling the Afghan and Pakistan border, pledging more troops and resources to eliminate what he has called an international threat.
He has also pushed for more cooperation between the Islamic neighbours to deal with the militants, expressing concern about the fragility of Pakistan's eight-month-old civilian government which has made concessions to the Taliban.
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Mayor among 7 killed in Afghanistan suicide blast
04 May 2009 09:08:14 GMT
KABUL, May 4 (Reuters) - A provincial mayor was among seven people killed by a teenage suicide bomber who blew himself up at the gate of a municipal administration building in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the Interior Ministry said.
Violence has been escalating in Afghanistan more than seven years after Taliban militants were ousted in a U.S.-led invasion and despite a sharp increase in U.S. and NATO forces.
The latest attack occured in eastern Laghman province. Three body guards and three civilians were killed along with the province's mayor, Mohammad Rahim, the Interior Ministry said.
A spokesman for the provincial governor's office, Sayed Ahmad Sopai, said 10 people were also wounded, including three women. He said the suicide bomber was identified as a 14-year-old boy from Paktika province further south.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but the Taliban have frequently used suicide bombers to strike government buildings as part of their campaign to drive foreign forces from Afghanistan.
The militant group has extended the size and scope of its activity and has carried out a number of high-profile attacks in major cities since last year.
To fight the Taliban insurgency, the United States plans to more than double its forces in Afghanistan this year, from 32,000 at the start of the year to a projected 68,000 by year's end. Other Western countries have about 30,000 troops in Afghanistan. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul and Rafik Sherzad in Jalalabad; Editing by Peter Graff and Paul Tait)
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Joint Chiefs chairman: Afghanistan now top priority
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military's primary focus needs to shift immediately from Iraq to Afghanistan, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday.
"We remain committed to the mission we've been given in Iraq -- make no mistake. ... But Afghanistan has been an economy of force operation for far too long," he said at a Pentagon news conference.
Mullen said he is "gravely concerned" about recent Taliban and al-Qaeda gains across much of southern Afghanistan and in Pakistan.
"This isn't about 'can do' anymore. This is about 'must do,' " Mullen said. The Taliban and al-Qaeda are "recruiting through intimidation, controlling through fear, and advancing an unwelcome ideology through thuggery. ... The consequences of their success directly threaten our national interests in the region and our safety here at home."
Mullen noted that while President Obama's decision to increase troop levels in Afghanistan "provides commanders more manpower and more resources ... we need a commensurate commitment from a civilian side.
He said that "more concerted pressure" was needed from the Pakistani government as well.
Mullen said that while the United States is concerned about recent Taliban and al-Qaeda gains inside Pakistan, he remains confident that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure.
"The worst downside with respect to Pakistan is that those nuclear weapons come under the control of terrorists," he said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently called Taliban gains in Pakistan an "existential threat" to the country.
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AFGHANISTAN: Flood emergency declared
04 May 2009 12:17:07 GMT
KABUL, 4 May 2009 (IRIN) - Flash floods in the past two weeks have killed at least 20 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, according to the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA), which has declared a nationwide state of emergency.
"Without the state of emergency we will not be able to save lives and keep the situation under control," Abdul Matin Edrak, director of ANDMA, told IRIN in Kabul, adding that the aim was to "mitigate the impacts of severe floods".
ANDMA said it had held an emergency meeting with representatives of key aid agencies on 3 May to assess the humanitarian response.
At least 10 people were killed and 300 houses and 100 shops washed away by floods in Baghlan Province, northern Afghanistan, on 1-2 May, ANDMA reported. Six people were killed in Balkh Province (northern Afghanistan) and at least four deaths were reported in Badakhshan Province (northeastern Afghanistan), according to ANDMA. Deaths have also been reported in Badghis and Herat provinces, but not confirmed by ANDMA.
In Herat Province in the west and Balkh Province thousands of families were affected by floods in April, according to ANDMA.
At least 10 of the country's 34 provinces have been affected by floods, landslides and avalanches in the past six weeks, ANDMA said. The floods had reportedly killed hundreds of livestock and damaged agricultural land; thousands of families were in urgent need of life-saving assistance, aid agencies said.
Response
Food and non-food aid items including tents, jerry cans, wheat, oil and salt have been distributed to hundreds of families in northern and western areas, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
Aid has been delivered by a number of UN agencies, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, various other NGOs, as well as by the NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams.
"Aid activities have been better coordinated among various players," ANDMA's Edrak said.
However, some affected people in Balkh, Herat and Faryab provinces alleged little or no relief had reached them.
"Except for a tent from the Red Crescent, we have received no aid from anybody," Abdul Majid, a local resident in the northern province of Faryab said.
"Two weeks have passed since we lost everything in the floods and so far no one has helped us," said Fazl-u-Rehman from Herat Province.
Aid agencies say life-saving activities have been their priority but that longer-term assistance will be needed to help people re-establish their lives and livelihoods.
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U.S. Denies Letting Troops Convert Afghans
May 4, 2009
KABUL (Reuters) -- The U.S. military has denied it has allowed soldiers to try to convert Afghans to Christianity, after a television network showed pictures of soldiers with Bibles translated into local languages.
General Order No. 1 from the U.S. military's Central Command forbids active-duty troops -- including all those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan -- from trying to convert people to their religion, considered a crime in many Muslim countries.
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television showed footage of a church service at Bagram, the main U.S. base north of the Afghan capital Kabul, in which soldiers had a stack of Bibles in the local languages, Pashto and Dari.
A military chaplain was shown delivering a sermon to other soldiers, saying: "The Special Forces guys -- they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down."
But a U.S. military spokeswoman, Major Jennifer Willis, said the comments from the sermon were taken out of context and chaplains were told to make clear to soldiers that they could not proselytize while serving.
She said the Bibles had been mailed to a soldier by a church back home in the United States and were never distributed.
"That specific case involved a soldier who brought in a donation of translated Bibles that were sent to his personal address by his home church. He showed them to the group and the chaplain explained that he cannot distribute them," she said.
"The translated Bibles were never distributed as far as we know, because the soldier understood that if he distributed them he would be in violation of General Order 1, and he would be subject to punishment."
She said she was aware of at least one case of a soldier who had been punished for giving out coins that had biblical inscriptions on them.
Trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is a crime in Afghanistan. An Afghan man who converted to Christianity was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2006 but was allowed to leave the country after an international uproar.
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Afghan MPs on peace study visit to Ireland
Mon May 4, 8:02 am ET
DUBLIN (AFP) – A cross-party group of Afghan lawmakers will visit both parts of Ireland this week to study the island's peace process, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
During their "lesson-sharing visit" the Afghan parliamentarians will attend sessions in Dublin and Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, dealing with issues like power-sharing, policing and community relations.
"Ireland has many lessons to share from its long history of conflict and the Northern Ireland peace process," said Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.
"We are conscious that each country must find its own path to peace, and that there is no correct 'one-size-fits-all' path to take.
"However, it has also been our experience that international support can be invaluable in securing peace, and we hope to play our part through sharing our experiences of conflict and peace-making with others."
Martin described the scheduled Afghan presidential elections on August 20 as a "critical opportunity" for the country and said everything should be done to support them and ensure they are credible.
The visit is part of the Afghanistan Parliamentary Assistance Project (APAP), a capacity-building project of the Center for International Development at State University, New York.
The US centre has worked on strengthening parliamentary programmes in Kenya, Morocco, Uganda, Haiti, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Serbia, Jordan and the West Bank.
The Irish programme for the Afghans has been organised by the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, an Irish NGO dedicated to building peace and fostering reconciliation by facilitating dialogues and creating peace education resources.
Ireland's foreign ministry set up a special conflict resolution unit two years ago to share lessons from the Northern Ireland peace process with other countries experiencing and emerging from conflict.
Three decades of shooting and bombings in British-ruled Northern Ireland were ended with the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement which paved the way to a power-sharing administration.
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Italy defends troops over death of Afghan girl
AFP via Yahoo! News - May 04 5:02 AM
Italy's government Monday pledged to investigate the death of a 12-year-old Afghan girl after Italian troops in western Afghanistan fired on the car she was travelling in, but defended the action of its soldiers. Skip related content
Italy's defence minister said the troops had respected all the rules of engagement, even if that still left room for a "terrible error." Italy has said the incident Sunday occurred when the car drove at high speed and ignored warning signs.
"There's deep sadness, deep regret for what has happened but unfortunately terrible episodes like this cannot be excluded when one works in an area this complex, this dangerous and this difficult like Afghanistan today," Ignazio La Russa told radio.
Civilian deaths caused by foreign troops in Afghanistan have become a major cause of friction between the government and its Western backers, and sapped support for the presence of international forces in the country.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told the Il Messaggero newspaper that Italy would investigate the shooting and make all necessary checks, but called it a tragic incident stemming from procedures Italian soldiers must follow in case of danger.
"Our soldiers are obliged in the face of certain conditions -- an unknown car going at a great speed, a potential danger -- ... to put in to place some precise rules that all the contingents apply," he said.
The girl's father has said the military convoy was driving behind him and he could not see or hear any signals to pull over. He has accused the convoy of driving past his car and not stopping to help his family reach a hospital.
Three other family members were wounded, the family said.
Italy is the sixth largest troop contributor to the NATO-led military operation in Afghanistan.
(Writing by Deepa Babington; editing by Michael Roddy)
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Afghan refugees stuck at Europe's door
Anne-Laure Buffard THE WASHINGTON TIMES Monday, May 4, 2009
PATRAS, Greece -- Every day since he arrived in Greece two years ago, Mohamadi al-Raza has woken up in this port city wishing he could make it across the Mediterranean to Italy.
The 24-year-old Afghan refugee, who said he fled his country "because of the wars, the mafias and the Taliban," has lived for months inside a makeshift refugee encampment - a five-minute walk from the barbed-wire gates of the port.
Like thousands of other Afghan refugees, Mr. al-Raza is stuck on the threshold of Western Europe, because he landed first in Greece. Rules in the European Union won't let him go any farther.
As part of his daily routine, Mr. al-Raza tries to creep into one of the trucks that leave the port on ferriesfive times a day for the Italian coast and comes back at night after another failed attempt. "It's like a regular job," he said.
However, it's hard to imagine anything further from normalcy. Littered with trash bags, broken chairs and decaying food, the "Afghan camp" provides the most rudimentary living conditions.
A few pipes supply water for drinking, bathing, laundry and dishwashing. Young men squeeze into tiny cabins of the foul-smelling shantytown, where no women or elders can be found.
"It's very difficult to live here," the refugee said.
Mr. al-Raza is one of about 1,300 Afghans in the encampment. Local nongovernmental organizations say most paid about $13,300 to smugglers to reach Patras, passing through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea.
According to the Patras coast guard, the Afghans are among 4,000 illegal immigrants waiting for a chance to sneak out of Greece. The others come from elsewhere in South Asia, Iraq and Somalia.
"What we see in Patras is the failure of the asylum system in Greece and in Europe in general," said Nikos Koblas, a lawyer working with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, who describes the European system as "unfair."
Under EU rules, the first country an immigrant reaches is supposed to deal with asylum requests. However, Greece, which claims it has become the most targeted entry point into the European Union, is hardly ever the refugees' preferred destination. Most would rather live in Germany, France, Britain or Sweden.
Prevented from going beyond Greece and unwilling to return home to poverty or war, these migrants are stuck in Patras, a cul-de-sac on the threshold of Europe.
Officials at Patras said they feel insufficiently supported by their neighbors in guarding Europes borders and containing massive waves of migrants.
"Greece has an enormous burden to carry on behalf of the European Union," said Capt. Athanasios Athanasopoulos, the head of the coast guard in Patras. Greek authorities say 146,500 illegal immigrants crossed its borders in 2008.
"There are unbelievable ways how they can sneak out," Capt. Athanasopoulos added. Coast guard officers regularly discover migrants squeezed like sardines in luggage bags. Two weeks ago, two refugees who had found a hide-out in a sealed double-decker truck started suffocating and banged on the walls for help.
"They would have been dead if the patrol hadn't heard them," Capt. Athanasopoulos said.
He estimated that port police can catch as many as 1,000 illegal immigrants a day but could not say how many make it to Italy.
Mr. al-Raza managed to get to Italy once, only to be sent back to Greece.
"I've made it to Rome," the young man said proudly. "I went to the police because I wanted to get documents and stay in Italy," he said.
Italian authorities uncovered his tracks from Greece and sent him back, along with hundreds of other migrants.
The wave of illegal immigrants has put enormous strain on Patras, a city of 223,000, better known as a commercial hub and the place for a tourist-attracting carnival.
"At first, people were helpful with the migrants," said Kristos Karapiperis, an official with the Greek Red Cross. But in 2006, the settlement reached an unprecedented size and people started to get afraid, he said.
"People actually began to see the camp," which prompted protests amid the local population, he said, especially among truck drivers and employees of the ferry companies who resent the delays and the financial losses from illegal immigration.
"It's creating a huge societal and economic problem," said Konstantinos Bitsios, the general secretary of the Greek Interior Ministry. "I'm not ashamed to say we cannot cope with it," he said, referring to the rise in asylum seekers and other illegal immigrants.
Mr. Bitsios said Greece wants to improve the coordination between the countries of origin, transit and destination.
"We're trying to improve the structures, but that's not the solution to the problem," he said.
The Greek government last year introduced a plan to create a detention center for 1,000 people at Drepano, near Patras, but analysts say there is little hope that the residents of the Afghan camp will move away from the port.
"They are poor, exploited and seeking a better life," Mr. Bitsios said. "Greeks left Greece after the Second World War. We immigrated because we were poor; it's the same story."
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Captured Afghanistan outpost torn down
Hard-won ground given up in change of priorities
JESSICA LEEDER From Monday's Globe and Mail May 3, 2009 at 7:23 PM EDT
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — A remote outpost on the edge of Taliban country that troops have fought for years to secure has been deliberately torn down.
Canadian and Afghan troops struggled for more than two years to gain control of a swatch of land called Mushan, near a cluster of villages about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar City. During that time, dozens of Afghan troops who were charged with guarding the post died, either by Taliban fire or in convoluted battles that saw them ambushed by their own government forces.
Although the Afghans and Canadian troops ultimately won the post, the Afghan National Army made the decision to cede it in a move last week because troops stationed there were rendered ineffective. Bordering on what can be equated as the wild west of the province – an austere, Taliban-laden area that bleeds into desert – the post had to be resupplied by helicopter drops and was not safely accessible by land.
Although it was close to a key route used by insurgents to advance towards the city, Mushan became more isolated over the course of the past six months as Canadian troops shuttered two nearby outposts, Zangabad and Talukan, which formed a sort of route between Mushan and the more established Canadian forward operating base, Masum Ghar.
Canadian military officials said it was the Afghan National Army that made the decision to shutter Mushan, which has often been held up as a symbol of the tenuous security in the remote region. Staffed by 60 Afghan soldiers and a small, rotating team of Canadian mentors, Mushan was deemed no longer strategically important for either army. Officials say the soldiers who were languishing there will be better-used in more densely populated areas closer to the city. While the Afghans led the mission to tear down Mushan – there were worries that if any infrastructure was left behind, militants would view the withdrawal as a concession or victory – they were backed by the full Canadian battle group when they launched the 96 hour tear-down operation. Two Canadian combat teams plus two U.S. combat companies under Canadian command participated in what was the first major operation for the Valcartier, Que.-based Van Doos, who have just begun a new summer rotation here.
Major Stéphane Briand, a spokesman for the battle group, said that while there was some fighting with insurgents over the course of the operation, which included more than 100 vehicles, no one was seriously injured.
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U.S. Aims to Unify Efforts on Afghan Border
Wall Street Journal By JAY SOLOMON and PETER SPIEGEL MAY 4, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will seek a unified strategy to subdue Islamist militants in the tribal regions straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan when he meets with the presidents of the two nations in Washington this week.
The meetings with Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan come as the Obama administration grapples with how closely to embrace two, who are key allies but flawed leaders.
Many U.S. officials question Mr. Zardari's grip on power and whether his government is willing and able to fight Taliban militants who have gained control of more Pakistani territory in recent months. Some in Washington say opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, would make a better partner, despite concerns about his Islamist alliances.
In Afghanistan, some U.S. officials criticized Mr. Karzai recently, saying he has undermined U.S. goals in the region through ineffective leadership and tolerance of corruption.
But many expect Mr. Karzai to win re-election in August, and some officials in the State Department and the Pentagon now say these public rebukes could undermine future U.S.-Afghan cooperation.
"We've not completely burnt that bridge, but it's black, and timbers are out," said a former senior U.S. military official who consults with the administration on Afghan strategy.
U.S. officials said Mr. Karzai has publicly moved closer to Iran and Russia in recent months, in what appeared to be a warning to the U.S. that he has other strategic partners.
The heads of the three countries' militaries, intelligence services and foreign ministries are slated to attend the meetings in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday, officials involved in the summit said. Mr. Obama is scheduled to hold bilateral and trilateral meetings with Messrs. Karzai and Zardari on Wednesday.
The U.S. wants to help Pakistan and Afghanistan unify their fight against the Taliban through better intelligence sharing, military cooperation and economic integration to aid the tribal areas.
Mr. Karzai and former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf regularly accused each other of not doing enough to fight the Taliban, but Pakistan and Afghanistan officials say relations have improved since Mr. Zardari took office.
Afghan and Pakistani diplomats said they would like to use the summit to put in place a larger number of joint border-control centers to guard against Taliban militants orchestrating cross-border raids.
Kabul and Islamabad are looking to firm up trade and transportation pacts aimed at stimulating economic growth in the impoverished tribal regions straddling both countries. The World Bank and its finance arm, the International Finance Corp., are expected to announce development projects for these areas during the meetings this week, while the State Department is preparing to fund agriculture programs aimed at providing Afghan farmers with alternatives to poppy cultivation.
Obama administration officials, increasingly concerned about Pakistan's stability, would also like to discuss acceleration of financial assistance to Islamabad's security forces. Last week, U.S. officials asked Congress to speed up approval of an $83.4 billion war-spending request that includes $400 million to help Pakistani forces fight the Taliban and other armed groups.
Washington has pledged $1 billion in aid to Islamabad as part of a five-year, $7.5 billion package that required Congressional approval. But Congress remains skittish about distributing aid to Pakistan due to past allegations by U.S. lawmakers of government corruption there.
Many U.S. and European officials question whether the international community can effectively distribute assistance into tribal areas where development agencies have difficulty operating.
"No one really knows what to do with this money," said a senior European official. "How do you really use it to improve the situation in the tribal areas?"
Summit attendants are also expected to reassess Pakistan's security situation. In recent days, some senior U.S. officials have publicly questioned whether Mr. Zardari's government could fall, after Taliban fighters seized areas just 70 miles from Islamabad. But a number of senior Pentagon officials are seeking to strike a less-alarmist tone in the discussions. "The threat can get lucky from time to time, and it looks like it has more prowess than it does," said a Pentagon official involved in formulating Pakistan policy.
Senior Obama administration officials said the crisis in Pakistan is among the most acute national security challenges Washington faces.
A peace deal between Islamabad and the Taliban in the Swat Valley has been strained by a militant effort to gain control of neighboring districts. Setting the stage for resumed fighting in Swat, the army Sunday accused militants in the valley of looting, attacking infrastructure and killing a soldier; the Taliban said it had started patrolling the valley's main town in response to moves by security forces there, the Associated Press reported.
Write to Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com and Peter Spiegel at peter.spiegel@wsj.com
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U.S. Offers Mixed Assessment of Pakistan’s Security
By ELISABETH BUMILLER The New York Times May 4, 2009
WASHINGTON — Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that he was comfortable that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were secure, but that he was “gravely concerned” about the progress the Taliban had made inside both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In a news briefing at the Pentagon, Admiral Mullen offered a mixed assessment about security in the region in advance of three-way meetings this week between President Obama and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.
Admiral Mullen, who was in the region last week, said that he did not think for now that the United States had to worry that militants would get hold of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. “We all recognize, obviously, the worst downside with respect to Pakistan is that those nuclear weapons come under the control of terrorists,” Admiral Mullen said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t see that in any way imminent whatsoever at this particular point in time.”
But at the same time, Admiral Mullen said that the main military focus of the United States must now shift from Iraq to Afghanistan and that the gains of the Taliban in the region threatened American interests in the region as well as the safety of Americans at home.
“I say that with the full knowledge that we still have about 136,000 American troops in Iraq, and that the fighting there isn’t over,” Admiral Mullen said. “We remain committed to the mission we’ve been given in Iraq, make no mistake, and we will stay there long enough, in keeping with their agreement, to ensure the Iraqis can provide for their own security.”
Nonetheless, he said, “Afghanistan has been an economy-of-force operation for far too long.” Admiral Mullen said it was no longer about “can-do anymore, this is about must-do, and we must do more over at least the next two years, starting now.”
Admiral Mullen declined to offer a public assessment of the leadership of Mr. Zardari, who Pentagon officials consider increasingly weak, but he did say that Mr. Zardari needed to face a number of economic and political challenges at home.
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China Exempted 278 Items of Afghan Export Goods from Custom Duties
May 4, 2009 By Akhtar Abir Bakhtar News Agency
“China declared that it had exempted 278 items of Afghan export goods from custom duties to expand commercial relations between the two countries,” Trade Deputy Minister of MoCI, Adib Farhadi said to Bakhtar News Agency. According to him, this step of China will have a good effect in development of Afghan exports and strengthens commercial relations between the two countries. Dry and fresh fruit, handicrafts and skins are the main exports of the country. India, Japan, United States and some European countries have already exempted a number of Afghan export goods from custom duties. According to Central Statistics Office, Afghan exports were $454 million and its imports were more than $3 billion in 1386 (2007). Salaiman Fatemi, Director of Afghanistan Exports Development Agency expressed that if problems such as illegal charges along the highways, lack of small and medium loans, lack of standardized processing and packaging system, lack of standard services in the borders and lack of modern transportation network are addressed, Afghan exports will increase by far. Whereas, Jawad Omar, spokesperson for MoCI says that this ministry has begun efforts to solve these problems and hopes that the said problems will decrease to minimum in the next year.
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Afghanistan Seeks Iran's Involvement with Taliban
www.quqnoos.com Written by Tamim Hamid Sunday, 03 May 2009
Afghan Foreign Ministry analyses the US annual terrorism report in which Iran is identified an adherent of the Taliban
Officials in Afghan foreign office confirmed a better relation status between Kabul and Tehran, denying the charges, saying no evidence is on hand to prove that Iran backs the Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
Two days ago, the US State Department released the annual international terrorism report.
Taliban insurgents are on the top of the statement, terming it a serious threat to the global security.
Iran is also accused for supplying and training the Taliban militants to fight the international troops in Afghanistan.
"We do not have any evidence, better not to blame the Islamic Republic of Iran for being involved in destructive activities inside Afghanistan,” Sultan Ahmad Behin, the spokesman for Foreign Ministry said.
Taliban riskier than Al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is mentioned a major peril in the US report, but confirmed that Al-Qaeda leaders have been less involved in masterminding the recent insurgencies.
Some experts said Al-Qaeda leaders were not in the leading position even in the Taliban era in Afghanistan.
“Even before September the 11th, Afghanistan was a country with less foreign relations," Wahid Mujhda, an Afghan political analyst said.
Some areas of Pakistan is marked a red zone in the annual report termed as the safe havens for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
The insurgency has been also mounting in Pakistan over the past six months.
Destroying the bases of terrorists is a top priority in the US counter-insurgency strategy mission.
Meanwhile, Afghan and Pak leaders are to head to Washington to discuss the growing Taliban-led insurgency with their US counterpart, President Barack Obama.
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