Two missing special forces members dead in Afghanistan: US military

KABUL, July 5 (AFP) - Two members of an American special forces team missing in eastern Afghanistan for several days are dead, the US military confirmed Tuesday.

"Coalition forces located the bodies of two US service members during a combat search and rescue operation July 4 in Kunar province," a military statement said. Another member of the four person special forces team had been rescued but the whereabouts of a fourth member remained unclear, the statement said.

Ex-Taliban FM Mutawakel's brother shot dead in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan, July 4 (AFP) - The brother of a former foreign minister under Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime died in crossfire between two rival groups in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, police said Monday.

Jalil Ahmed was sitting in a roadside restaurant at the city's main bus stand when firing erupted between between workers of two rival transport companies late Sunday, police officer Mohammad Jamil told AFP.

Jalil died when a stray bullet hit him in the abdomen, he said. the officer, quoting witnesses, said "it was not a targeted killing." Jalil, who was in his early 40s, had been serving as a prayer leader at a mosque on the outskirts of Quetta. Residents said he had been living a quiet life in a suburb dominated by Afghan refugees.

He was the brother of Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel, a key figure in the Taliban's leadership council who was considered by many as a moderate in the hardline regime.

Mutawakel surrendered to US troops after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. The US military released Mutawakel in October 2003 after 18 months in custody.

Mutawakel has filed his papers to contest Afghanistan's parliamentary elections set for September 18. He plans to run in the Taliban's former stronghold of Kandahar province, in southern Afghanistan bordering the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

Afghan government condemns killing of civilians in U.S. air strike, two Navy SEALS found dead, officials say

KABUL, Afghanistan - (AP) Afghanistan's government on Tuesday condemned the killing of up to 17 civilians in a U.S. airstrike on a house in remote mountains, as a senior U.S. defense official confirmed the deaths of two Navy SEALS who were missing in action in the country's northeast.

The airstrike came Friday in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, the same area where a U.S. transport helicopter was downed on June 28 in the deadliest single blow to American forces since they ousted the Taliban in 2001.

"The president is extremely saddened and disturbed," said Jawed Ludin, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff. "There is no way ... the killing of civilians can be justified. ... It's the terrorists we are fighting. It's not our people who should suffer."

A government team is on its way to the site to investigate the bombing, a Defense Ministry statement said. Kunar provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press that an initial airstrike destroyed a house, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, killing 17 of them, including three women and children.

He said it was unclear who was killed in the initial attack in the tiny village of Chechal. "Maybe some militants were killed, but I don't know," he said. "The 17 people were killed in the second bombing."
The U.S. military said the attack was carried out "with precision-guided munitions that resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of enemy terrorists and noncombatants."

"The targeted compound was a known operating base for terrorist attacks in Kunar province as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader," it said. "Battle damage assessment is currently ongoing."
The statement added that U.S. forces "regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded. However, when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk."

The civilians are the latest victims in an unprecedented spate of violence that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.

Meanwhile, two members of the U.S. Navy's elite special forces branch _ known as SEALS _ who were missing in Kunar province have been found dead, a senior U.S. defense official in Washington said Monday night. Another SEAL was rescued on Saturday and the fate of a fourth was unknown.

The official who confirmed the recovery of the two bodies spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing effort to account for the missing U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan.

The team was reported missing on June 28. A rescue effort the same day ended in tragedy when the transport helicopter seeking to extract the team was shot down, killing 16 troops aboard.

The serviceman rescued on Saturday had taken shelter in an Afghan village elder's home in the province before American forces were notified of his location and picked him up, said Wafa, the Kunar governor.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed last week that militants had captured one team member. He said the "high-ranking American" was caught in the area where the helicopter went down.

Hakimi, who also claimed insurgents shot down the helicopter, often calls news organizations to take responsibility for attacks, and the information frequently proves exaggerated or untrue. His exact tie to the Taliban leadership is unclear.

U.S. officials said they had no evidence indicating any service members had been taken into captivity. The Navy SEAL rescued from Kunar province was being evaluated Monday, officials said. He was in stable condition and receiving medical treatment at the main U.S. base at Bagram. No other information was released.

Bin Laden Reportedly in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - (AP) Pakistan's interior minister said Tuesday that Osama bin Laden could be hiding in southeastern Afghanistan, but he denied the al-Qaida chief was in Pakistan.

"It is my assessment that the writ of the government is not so strong in the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan," Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told reporters. "Those are Taliban-dominated areas and there could a possibility of his presence."

The whereabouts of bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, are unknown. But they are suspected of hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border.

The rugged and remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan is where an elite four-member U.S. commando team was operating when it went missing on June 28. A transport helicopter sent to rescue the team was shot down, killing all 16 Americans aboard. One of the U.S. troops was rescued, the bodies of two others were recovered and the fourth remains missing.

The former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, told a news conference in Kabul last month he did not believe bin Laden or Omar were in Afghanistan, though he did not say where he thought they were.

On Monday, Sherpao told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency that Omar and al-Zawahri may also be in southeastern Afghanistan. He said Tuesday: "We don't have any evidence that Osama is in Pakistan."

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in the war against terrorism and its security forces have captured more than 700 al-Qaida suspects including several top figures in the terror network.

Six Afghans arrested after weapons discovery in east Afghanistan

KABUL, July 5 (Xinhua) -- US forces discovered a weapon cache on Monday and detained six people in Afghan eastern province of Kunar, US military said Tuesday.

"The cache consisted of five grenades, one rocket-propelled grenade, wires and timing devices, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and Taliban propaganda materials," it said.

"The cache and the individuals detained were transported to a nearby Coalition base. The cache will be destroyed, and the US forces are questioning the detainees," it added.

The detaining happened after a four-member US Special Forces troops missed in Kunar on June 28, and one US Chinook helicopter was shot down on the same day by a rocket propelled grenade when it was carrying on the searching operation for the missing US ground team. 16 US troops, including eight Navy Seals were killed.

Taliban claimed the responsibility for the crash.

US forces carried out the searching operation in the province afterwards, and conducted an air strike Friday against a military compound that resulted in the deaths of some terrorists and civilians, US military said Monday.

Kunar governor Asadullah Wafa said that 17 civilians were killed during the bombing, including women and children. He did not say whether any militants were also believed to be in the compound. Till now, one member of the ground team was rescued Saturday and taken to the US military hospital in Bagram airbase.

Two members of the team were found dead Monday during a combat search and rescue operation in Kunar. The whereabouts of the fourth member of the team still remains unknown. \

After the collapse of Taliban at the end of 2001, a US-led coalition of over 18,000 soldiers remains in the country hunting down remnants of the Taliban and other Islamic militants.

The death of these 18 US soldiers in this accident brings the death toll of US troops to almost 170 in and around Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001. Enditem

Regional alliance calls for date for withdrawal of U.S.-led anti-terror forces from Central Asia

ASTANA, Kazakhstan - (AP) An alliance grouping Russia, China and Central Asian countries on Tuesday called for the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition in Afghanistan to set a time frame for withdrawing its forces from member states.

Both Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan host U.S. bases whose troops are involved in the Afghanistan operation. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, at a summit in the Kazakh capital, said a withdrawal date should be announced in light of the end of active fighting in Afghanistan.

Kabul criticised over US 'plot' - 07/04/2005

Pakistan has criticised Afghanistan for failing to provide information about three Pakistanis held in Kabul for allegedly plotting to kill a US envoy. The three heavily armed Pakistanis were arrested in Laghman province last month and accused of conspiring to kill former US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

They were held 50 metres from where Mr Khalilzad was to inaugurate a road. Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, Jalil Abbas Jilani, said Kabul had not followed diplomatic norms.

Let me explain that according to the Vienna Convention... if any national of a particular country is arrested, the arrest is notified to the country whose national has been arrested," Mr Jilani told rporters in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "That has not been done by the Afghan government."

Another five Pakistanis were later arrested in Afghanistan, although it is not known if they are linked to the alleged plot. Mr Jilani said he had received no information on those men either.

The initial three men were named on Afghan television as Murat Khan, Noor Alam and Zahid. Afghan intelligence officials said they had grenades and assault rifles. Mr Khalilzad's engagement in Laghman, which he cancelled, was one of his last before finishing his post.

The envoy has now left Afghanistan to take over as the new US ambassador in Iraq. The Afghan government has also been critical of Pakistan in the past, saying it has failed to do enough to prevent militants from entering Afghanistan.

Afghan foreign minister calls for Australian troops to curb Taliban-led violence

CANBERRA, Australia - (AP) Afghanistan's foreign minister on Tuesday called on Australia to increase its military presence in the troubled Central Asian nation to help stem a rising tide of Taliban-led violence.

Australia sent 150 special forces troops to Afghanistan as part of the U.S.-led war that ousted the Taliban and al-Qaida forces in late 2001, but now has only one soldier there helping land mine clearing operations.

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio from India about increased fighting in Afghanistan that culminated in the shooting down of a U.S. helicopter by Taliban forces last week, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said his country needed more military support from countries such as Australia.

"The scale of the problem, the dimensions of the problem _ it requires more support, it requires continued support, long-term support, until Afghanistan is able to stand on its own feet," Abdullah told ABC radio Tuesday. "I think, that it will be to the interest of peace and stability if Australia sends troops."

Abdullah said he would also welcome an Australian diplomatic presence in Kabul, and that a recent upsurge of Taliban-led violence in parts of Afghanistan would not delay plans to hold the country's first parliamentary elections on Sept. 18.

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a 10-day visit to both countries later this month that is expected to focus on Australia's role in the U.S.-led war on terror.

Howard is also expected to meet with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who last month called on the international community to help build long-term stability in Afghanistan.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Canberra in April and requested that Australia play a greater military role in Afghanistan, but the government refused at that time, having recently increased its troop deployment in Iraq to more than 1,400.

However, Australia has since rolled back substantial military commitments in East Timor and the Solomon Islands, raising speculation that it could now afford to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan threatens to ban entry of trucks from Pakistan - Pakistan Times 07/05/2005

ISLAMABAD - Afghan Transport Minister Inayatullah Qasimi on Monday termed his talks with Pakistani officials fruitful and result-oriented.

However, he said that Pakistani traders had easy access to Afghanistan, demanding that Pakistan should also provide easy access to the Afghan traders to its (Pakistani) ports otherwise Afghanistan would review its trade policy and ban Pakistan trucks' entry into Afghanistan.

He said that he discussed with Pakistani officials the issue of provision of more facilities to Afghan traders. He said that the issue of Afghan Transit Trade also came under discussion. He hoped that further discussions in this connection would be held soon.

Qasimi hoped that the issue of Afghan Transit Trade and provision of more facilities to the Afghan traders would be resolved in near future.

He said that Pakistan should implement the ATT accord between the two countries. He said that he held positive talks with Pakistani officials for laying railway track between Quetta and Kandahar and Peshawar and Jalalabad.

He also discussed with Pakistani officials the issue of permission to 100 Indian buses, gifted to Afghanistan, to pass through Torkhum border, he said by adding; that Pakistani officials had agreed to allow these buses through Pakistan border.

Afghanistan election watchdog removes names of over 200 nominees from register

KABUL, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The Electoral Complaints Commission ( ECC) of the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) in Afghanistan has temporarily removed the names of 233 parliamentary and provincial council nominees from the nominee register.

A member of the ECC Jenny Sansan said that these people could submit their appeal by July 16 and get registered again, Afghanistan's independent Arman FM radio reported Monday.

The ECC has received 1,138 complaints against 556 nominees in the challenging time from June 4 to June 9 that allows anyone to present the challenge against any candidates that are believed not qualified for the election.

And 13 of them have not resigned from their government posts, 12 have not submitted the specific number of votes required to be eligible for nomination and 208 others have links to rogue armed groups and have not surrendered their arms, it reported.

With regards to the remaining 323 nominees, Jenny said they had received complaints about their involvement in crimes and that the commission has sent a list of their names to the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court for further investigation.

However, the commission has not received any results of the investigation from those branches. Under the election law, the commission cannot take any actions against these people if these departments fail to find evidence against them.

The ECC has announced that this is a temporary list and those, who give a satisfied response to the commission by July 7 in accordance with the election law, can get registered again and the list of their names will be published on July 12.

Over 6,000 people including 582 women have offered their candidacy for the coming Afghan parliamentary polls slated for September 18. Some 2,915 Afghans offered their nominations for the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga or lower house, and 3,170 persons for the 420-seat provincial councils.

Provincial councils through a separate procedure would elect the 102 members of Mushrano Jirga or upper house later after the inauguration of Wolesi Jirga. Enditem

Rival aims hinder war on terror By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore BC News / Tuesday, 5 July, 2005

A complex three way game between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan is undermining the war on terror and hindering nation and democracy building, writes journalist Ahmed Rashid in his latest guest column for the BBC News website.

The shooting down by the Taleban of a Chinook transport helicopter packed with US Special Forces close to the border with Pakistan has once again raised the spectre of increased three way tensions between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States. At least 16 Americans were killed in what was the largest loss of American lives in Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taleban in 2001.

Many Afghan and some senior American officials insist that the resurgent Taleban are finding sanctuary and support from elements in Pakistan. The diplomatic tensions are not surprising. It's been the bloodiest summer in Afghanistan for four years.

And other pressures have been piling up on Islamabad after comments by US Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Chief Porter Goss that they know where Osama Bin Laden is and that he is not in Afghanistan.

Both seem to be saying that Bin Laden is in Pakistan. While Afghan leaders feel vindicated by such comments and have stepped up their criticism of Islamabad, Pakistan has taken acute umbrage.

On 21 June President George W Bush telephoned President Pervez Musharraf and urged him to talk to President Karzai to stave off a worsening diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The bout of telephone diplomacy temporarily cooled down the war of words but tensions have continued to simmer.

The reality is that a complex three way game between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan has gone on since 11 September. It has been dominated by their ruling elites' self-interest veiled as national interest, rather than any alliance against terrorism.

The tug of war between their conflicting interests continues to hamper joint efforts to combat terrorism and provide a serious commitment to furthering nation and democracy building.

For President Bush the priority has been capturing Bin Laden and other senior al- Qaeda leaders, overriding concerns about nation building in Afghanistan or carrying out a strategic plan to prevent a Taleban resurgence.

For the first two years after the defeat of the Taleban the US committed hopelessly meagre resources to rebuilding Afghanistan and had few intentions to re-establish state institutions such as the army and police, preferring to rely on warlords to keep the peace.

Even the US priority of capturing Bin Laden became secondary as military manpower and surveillance facilities were shifted from Afghanistan to the war in Iraq.

Although US priorities have now changed for the better in Afghanistan, the legacy of its past policy failures are visible in rampant drugs production, a strengthened Taleban and growing anti-Americanism amongst ordinary Afghans due to the lack of benefits provided to them.

Mr Karzai has resented past US strategy as he has viewed the major threats to Afghanistan and his own political survival as emanating from a resurgent Taleban backed by Pakistan and Afghanistan's warlords.

For him the actual threat was posed by al-Qaeda was minimal. Mr Karzai also considered the war in Iraq as extremely dangerous for Afghanistan's future because it provided a major and unnecessary diversion of the West's resources and commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan.

For Mr Karzai the real war on Islamic militancy is still based on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, not in Iraq as President Bush believes. However due to his indecisiveness Mr Karzai never pushed the envelope with the Americans to see the realities on the ground. Moreover his overweening dependence on the Americans has angered conservatives at home and his neighbours.

Rather than use US clout to build a regional alliance with his neighbours and persuade them to stop interfering in Afghanistan, he signed a strategic partnership pact with Bush in May just as tens of thousands of Afghans were demonstrating against the US for its treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo.

The timing was awful and the pact could have waited until the US role in Guantanamo, Iraq and even Afghanistan was less controversial. American frustration with Mr Karzai rests on his failure to build an organized political base for himself, despite the success of last year's presidential elections.

Now he goes into the parliamentary elections in September without a political party, a national platform or a clear ideology. By blaming Pakistan for his problems he takes the heat off his own political shortcomings. Pakistan's military regime has certainly - despite diplomatic denials - provided sanctuary and support to the Taleban since they retreated into Pakistan after their defeat in 2001.

Gen Musharraf has played a determined double game with the Americans convinced that this is in the army's interest. Islamabad knows its alliance with the US is short term, predicated on the war on terror - as long as it lasts. Washington's real interest is in building up rival India as a bulwark in the region - something the Pakistani military is desperate to delay if not scuttle.

Thus the military feels it has every reason to keep the Americans bogged down in Afghanistan by sustaining the Taleban, while keeping Washington on side by helping hunt down al-Qaeda.

Pakistan has only moved against al-Qaeda after enormous American pressure has been applied. Although the military has lost over 500 troops in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) hunting down the Arab and Central Asian components of al- Qaeda, it has not moved at all in Balochistan province where the Taleban have re-established themselves.

Nor has the military suppressed those Pakistani extremist groups fighting for the Taleban or in Kashmir. It is also in the military's self-interest to keep Bin Laden alive and on the run, even if it does not do so deliberately.

The army's political alliance at home is with the Islamic parties who rule the NWFP and Balochistan and have been avid supporters of the Taleban since the 1990s. By interfering as little as possible with their support to the Taleban, Musharraf ensures his own political survival and he assuages Islamist officers in the army that he is no stooge to the Americans.

This political game has gone on for far too long and had led to Islamic militancy thriving in the region. In order to defeat militancy all three players have to create better mechanisms of levelling with each other - discussing their priorities, their concerns and perceived national interest. As long as the players pull in different directions - the Taleban and al-Qaeda will thrive.

Press Briefing by Adrian Edwards Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and by United Nations Agencies in Afghanistan - Kabul – 4 July 2005

ط MoD holds ceremony for 45 former AMF commanders

Yesterday, July 3rd, a ceremony was held at the Ministry of Defence to reward a further 45 former Afghan Military Force commanders for supporting the Demobilisation, Disarmament, and Reintegration (DDR) programme. Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme provides financial packages to senior officers who have shown full support for the DDR process. As of today 378 commanders have benefited from this package.

As I mentioned at our last briefing, although the Disarmament and Demobilisation elements of DDR have now ended, the numerical indicators remain subject to change as verification and the inclusion of final units proceeds. The most recent numbers are 62,252 combatants disarmed, and 52,509 having entered the reintegration process. In terms of weapons, 34,726 light and medium calibre weapons have been collected, of which 14,754 have been handed to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the Afghan National Army (ANA). The rest remain in safe storage.

The Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) on Saturday distributed food packages to 195 soldiers’ widows employed at an AMF sewing factory in Kabul. These women were contractors who, as a result of decommissioning of the unit in which their husbands served have been made redundant. The remaining soldiers and officers of this unit have entered the DDR process and will be entitled to full reintegration benefits. For your information we understand that a formal ceremony for the end of the “DD” parts of DDR, will take place on Thursday.

ط Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG)

With the new stage in Afghanistan’s broad disarmament – the Disbanding of Illegal Armed Groups Programme – 12,257 weapons have been handed in since June 11th when DIAG began. Of these 5,942 have now been verified by ANBP teams, as well as 342 boxed and 6,841 unboxed ammunition sets.

New UNDP report warns of devastating consequences regarding Afghanistan and other Asia-Pacific countries

A new UNDP report covering 14 of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the Asia-Pacific, warns that the fast growth and rising prosperity of China and India are masking widespread poverty in countries such as Afghanistan and Timor-Lest.

As a result, development aid and debt relief to this country and other Least Developed Countries have been disproportionately low and should be increased for the Millennium Development Goals – the global framework for fighting poverty – to be reached.

The report, launched on July 1st and entitled "Voices of the Least Developed Countries of Asia and the Pacific: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals Through a Global Partnership", states that “due to the tyranny of averages, the relatively poor performance of the Asia-Pacific LDCs gets overshadowed”.

You’ll recall back in February when the UNDP released its first National Human Development Report, Afghanistan ranked 173rd out of 178 nations. One of the findings from the new report is that 56% of Afghans live below the national poverty line – this is the highest rate among Asia-Pacific Least Developed Countries.

ط New pharmaceutical machinery will make Afghanistan healthier

In another UNDP initiative, tomorrow, Tuesday July 5th, two cargo planes carrying pharmaceutical machinery will be arriving in Kabul. The equipment will be installed in a new Afghan-owned and operated pharmaceutical factory.

This initiative, the Afghan Generic Medicines Project, brings together private and public partners. The plant’s equipment and materials, as well as pharmaceutical expertise and training are being donated by the European Generic Medicines Association (EGA), the official body representing roughly 500 pharmaceutical companies from the generic medicines industry in Europe.

The plant will produce urgently needed antibiotics and analgesics with capacity for 300 to 400 million tablets annually. Presently, Afghanistan does not produce any pharmaceutically standardized medicines. While pharmacies are abundant in most parts of the country, very little standardization exists to monitor the quality of medicines being distributed.

Click here to read the UNDP media advisory indicating the time of arrival of the plane and names of those available for interviews. If you are interested in being at the airport please note that you will need authorization to access the airport tarmac.

Ministry of Women’s Affairs continuing workshops for National Plan for Women

The Ministry of Women's Affairs is currently holding a planning workshop at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on issues related to policies and programmes aimed at benefiting women.

This workshop is the seventh in a series organized by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). These workshops will provide the foundation for a National Plan of Action for the Women of Afghanistan.

ط Election-related TV and radio programmes supported by UNIFEM

Since June 23rd, UNIFEM has been providing technical and financial support for a TV and radio series on fundamental constitutional and parliamentary concepts. The issues being aired are drawn from the UNIFEM Parliamentary Manual and are featured in a 30-minute weekly show.

The series, which consists of 11 episodes, is being aired on Afghan state TV on Tuesdays from 9:30 to 10:00 in the evening and rebroadcast on Fridays from 2:00 to 2:30 in the afternoon. The state radio is also airing the show each Sunday from 9:00 to 9:30pm.

The last session, on July 12th, is devoted to audience questions and answers and should make for interesting viewing.

UNIFEM’s parliamentary manual was offered to you during one of our previous briefings. It has also been distributed to government offices, staff from the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) and more than 6050 candidates through JEMB provincial offices.

ط World Bank grants US$28m to National Solidarity Program

On June 30th the World Bank approved a US$28 million grant for continued support to the Afghanistan National Solidarity Programme (NSP). The programme provides resources for reconstruction and development at the community level, and for strengthened local governance.

The National Solidarity Programme is currently being implemented in 33 provinces, and is providing thousands of villages with benefits from drinking water, irrigation schemes, roads, micro hydro-electrical plants and generators, to training and livelihood projects, as well as schools and sanitation.

Decisions over how funds are used are made by Community Development Councils, which are elected through secret ballot. As of May 2005 the project was ongoing in over 8,000 villages, with 7,348 Community Development Councils having been elected.

The National Solidarity Programme was launched in 2002. It has already received a US$117 million grant from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) - in addition to a US$42 million grant from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) and an US$11 million grant from the Japanese Social Development Trust Fund (JSDF). For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Afghanistan, visit: www.worldbank.org/af.

Briefing from Bronwyn Curran, Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) Spokesperson

ط JEMB condemns with great sadness the killing of Mullah Mohammad Nabi Mesbah in Kandahar yesterday (July 3rd)

Among other posts held by Mullah Mesbah, he was a member of the recently established Provincial Electoral Commission in Kandahar.

While the motive for his killing is not clear, JEMB Chairman Bissmillah Bissmil condemned the attack as an act of violence against the Afghan people’s hopes for peace and stability.

ط JEMB launches toll-free Voter Information Centre hotline to Afghans across the country

By dialing 1 8 0 from any landline or mobile phone anywhere in Afghanistan, callers will be connected to one of 10 operators any time between 7am and 7pm Saturday to Thursday. Operators are fluent in Dari, Pashto, English and a sprinkling of other languages and will be able to answer personally any question on any aspect of the electoral process.

The Voter Information Centre began taking public calls on Saturday afternoon and since then has fielded more than 200 phone enquiries. This number - 1 8 0 - will be advertised in newspapers, and on radio and television.

Click here to read the JEMB press release in English, Dari or Pashto.

ط JEMB passes regulation on campaigning by candidates for Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council elections

In the interests of free expression, the regulation states all candidates’ right to publish and propagate their campaigns during the electoral process, up until 48 hours before polling day when a campaign blackout will be imposed.

Campaign activities are subject to the laws of Afghanistan and the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates. The only other restrictions are on election advertising in the media – candidates may only advertise on radio, television and newspapers during the official campaign period from August 17 to September 15.

Candidates wishing to hold rallies or other campaign events must submit written requests for approval from local police authorities, at least 48 hours prior to the event. Likewise permission must be sought before posting leaflets on either public or private buildings.

ط Voter Registry Update now in its second week

By the close of the first week approximately 273,000 Afghans had either corrected the province of residence listed on their cards, or added their names to the Voter List. That includes around 243,000 newly-registered voters. We now have all but 10 of the 1,053 Voter Registration sites open and operating.

Questions & Answers

Question: I have two questions for Bronwyn. Do you know the reasons behind the killing of Mullah Mohammad Nabi Mesbah, who is behind it, and do you think this will have a setback on the elections process happening now?

Bronwyn Curran, JEMB International Spokesperson: As I stated earlier, the motive for the killing is still not clear, we don’t know. It is difficult to say whether he was targeted because of his work with elections or for one of the other posts he held. So it is difficult to link it directly to elections, but the JEMB condemns the killing because he was working in support of the electoral process.

Question: Since Friday, two journalists from Radio Free Europe have been arrested in Kunar province by local authorities and local security forces. Two other Associated Press journalists also have been arrested. The Afghanistan Independent Journalist Association issued a press release and in it said that the health of one of the journalists is in a bit tough condition…he is unconscious. In this case, I want to know what information you have about the journalists and what can UNAMA do for their release?

Spokesperson: I’m afraid I don’t have any information on these journalists. I think you probably know that UNAMA has stated quite clearly that we believe the media plays a vital role in helping the kind of democratic process on which Afghanistan is currently engaged. It is a crucial role that you are all in, also a fundamental tenement of the Freedom of Expression. So we very are very much fully behind the press. I’m afraid I don’t have details on this case for you.

Question: Regarding the UNDP report, what does the United Nations think if Afghanistan meets the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in the reduction of poverty by the year 2015? Is it in optimism or is it getting worse, because some people believe that in the last three years poverty has worsened outside the capital of Kabul?

Spokesperson: The Millennium Development Goals for Afghanistan is something that is being worked on right at the moment. It is crucial that these are achievable goals. But that is something that is in progress and I believe that President Karzai is going to the General Assembly in September to talk about these on that occasion. But right at the moment these are still being sorted out and formulated. You are asking for specific progress on whether there has been a change…(cutoff).

Question: …if Afghanistan meets the poverty reduction?

Spokesperson: Afghanistan…did not sign in 2000 the Millennium Declaration. But it [signed the Declaration in March 2004]. So once you have those goals stated and the government is committed to them, that is a mechanism for the government to tell you what it is aiming at and for you to hold it accountable to those goals.

Salangi appointed as Herat police chief Pajhwok Afghan News 07/05/2005

KABUL - Lieutenant General Ayub Salangi has been named as new Herat police chief while Colonel Mohammad Hakim has been appointed as deputy police chief of Kandahar.

The appointments were announced on Monday following their approval by President Hamid Karzai. The presidential sanction came in line with recommendations of the Interior Ministry. Ayub Salangi was previously police chief of the restive Kandahar province, which is in the throes of an unrelenting insurgency.

Soybean cultivated on trial basis in Afghanistan - Pajhwok Afghan News 07/05/2005

KABUL - Soybean, which helps cure nyctalopia, iodine deficiency and malnutrition in children, has been cultivated over large areas of land in Afghanistan on a trial basis.

Having a huge nutritional value and crucial role in removing undernourishment, soybean's trial cultivation was done two years back in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of the northern Balkh province, by a US company called Nutrition Education International (NEI).

Agriculture Ministry Press Officer Abdul Latif Rasooli told Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday the crop would be cultivated over 36 acres of land in 12 different provinces this year.

He was hopeful of a total soybean yield of 40 tonnes, promising farmers would be provided with seeds from next year. More than 200 food items like cheese, biscuits and chocolates contained the soybean ingredient, he added.

The NEI is eyeing a 300-tonne yield in Mazar-i-Sharif in the coming year and plans to use it in making food items. Soybean seeds have six varieties, each one cultivated based on the nature of the soil, season and climatic conditions.

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with rural development minister [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 4 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - Most of rural Afghanistan continues to suffer from food insecurity and a lack of government input. In an exclusive interview with IRIN, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Afghan Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, said that despite billions of dollars worth of reconstruction over three years, rural areas continue to face huge challenges.

QUESTION: What are the challenges people are being faced with in the rural areas?

ANSWER: The first challenge is the issue of survival in an environment that has been affected by years of conflict and years of drought and displacement of the population.

The survival first is about food: whether they have food security. Second whether they have access to safe drinking water, [third] access to social services such as health and education and fourth is the basic infrastructure that will enable them to benefit from a legitimate livelihood, which includes funding irrigation systems and the roads to have access to markets.

Finally is the issue of livelihood; the vulnerability of our nation is in terms of livelihood - people are insecure. On top of that, now that country is moving towards a stable democracy. The people in rural Afghanistan would like to play their role in building and benefiting that democracy.

They are entitled and at the same time aspire to have institutions that represent their voice and enable them to have a voice in the way the country is managed and governed. So, critical to the development of the country is that voice of the people.

On top of that, an additional factor that affects rural people is the drug economy, which provides short-term relief to some that are extremely poor. But just as the drugs have an effect on addicts' health, so the drug economy destroys security and the rule of law. The state is building projects in rural areas, so the rural people understand that the enemy of the nation and of peace and stability is the drug economy but poverty does not allow them to choose something else.

Second is the return of the refugees. They are an asset, all those who have come back but at the same time, they put additional strain on the economy and the ability of the rural areas to manage life with them. Over three million people are a significant number of people.

Third is the ex-combatants in rural areas. Most of the ex-soldiers are people from rural areas.

Now out of the DDR [disarmament demobilisation and reintegration of former Afghan militias] they do respond - sometimes reluctantly, sometimes more willingly - to be part of the DDR. The question is, whether or not they now have the ability to benefit from a legitimate legal livelihood, rather than the previous livelihood they had, which was to serve a commander.

The question for our ministry, primarily, is how to work with state institutions and none state actors to help our rural people face these challenges in a manner that not only the immediate priorities are addressed but the longer term priorities are addresses in a developmental manner.

Q: So, with the all donor money and intensive reconstruction programme, what are the significant achievements in rural areas so far?

A: On developments and achievements, the success story at this point with that vision in mind, the government has adopted a policy to get the rural people on their feet through institutional investment and investment in infrastructure and livelihood and social services.

To implement that policy we have designed six programmes. Some of them are [already] successful others are in their infancy and making their way forward.

The most noticeable is the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) which is operational in a quarter of the villages in Afghanistan. That enables people the power to make their own decisions, the power to decide their priorities and the power to allocate the money that government provides them and the power to implement their own projects.

The second success story is our emergency employment programme, which is reconstructing productive infrastructure in rural areas and at the same time provides employment for people in the short-term.

The third success story, which is about to expand, is the national micro finance programme. It has already reached 140,000 rural families and by the end of this year the figure will rise up to 350,000 families. That provides poor men and women in Afghanistan with credit to develop sustainable livelihoods.

Then our national water supply and sanitation programme, which has been in operation for the past year, is now becoming a critical programme in rural areas. The biggest killer in Afghanistan at the moment is water-born disease because people do not have access to safe drinking water.

We are hoping that in five years time, all rural people in Afghanistan will have access to safe drinking water and the estimate now is that around 15 million people do not have access to safe drinking water.

Q: One of the concerns is that despite last three years development, poverty still remains a big challenge? How would you measure poverty in Afghanistan?

A: Poverty is a multi-faceted problem here and any measurement of it has to look at all aspects. Food security, access to safe drinking water, access to social services, health and education, access to rule of law, security and political representation.

In terms of food security, the latest assessment that we have undertaken for the fist time in the history of Afghanistan is the national vulnerability programme. And our understanding is that around 25 percent of our rural people are extremely food insecure i.e. they cannot be sure of the intake of 2100 kilo calories a day a human being needs. If you also look at the number of people who are periodically food insecure, that is 40 percent of the rural people living below the level of food security.
Is this changing in Afghanistan? Is it staying the same or worsening? From what we know of rural areas, it is changing positively and systematically.

For example, in most rural areas of Afghanistan wage rates are going up. What does that mean? It means there is more demand for employment and that the economy is doing well. This means that more and more people in rural areas are in employment, even though it may be temporary. This is critical for food security as food security is more [an issue of] the purchasing power, not lack of food.
The second indicator is, that last year was the longest and deepest and worst year of drought in Afghanistan but three years ago under the Taliban we had also drought in Afghanistan and then we had over 1.2 million people displaced as a result of drought.

And now we have this year, which was even more, severe than the year under the Taliban but we did not have any displacement which means the local economies the household incomes and the ability of rural people have significantly increased to cope with the drought. That indicates that Afghanistan is improving in rural areas.

And finally another indicator I will look at is that over the past three years over three million people came to Afghanistan and over 60 percent went to rural areas. That’s a significant percentage of the up to 25 million population of Afghanistan. So the return of a big number of people has positive affects on the economy of rural people.

Q: The MRRD is considered the key consumer of international funds. Can you update us on how much you have received and spent?

A: These figures are quite public and I have to account for what we have received and spent.

Over the past three years contributions to our programmes have come to something around 450 million US dollars. Of this, roughly around 50 percent has been committed to programmes and has been spent. The rest has yet to be spent.

In this year’s budget, the donor commitment to our programme comes to around 300 million dollars and we had some from the past year and all together it is around 305 million dollars. The money MRRD has this year is more than the money it had over the past 47 years. But given what is required in the rural areas this is still a drop in the ocean.

Q: There are controversial issues of NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and the claims that they are squandering Afghan money? When will this dilemma be solved?

A: I think it is a legitimate debate to have in this country but it is a terribly poorly informed debate. Most of it is based on rumours, not facts.

I can tell you from the government side that last year out of 4.8 billion dollars committed to reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan, excluding security, around 700 million dollars came through the government. But that does not mean the rest of the money was entirely outside the government control. A significant percentage of that is based on government priorities. For example, the road rebuilding in the country takes more than fifty percent of the resources coming to Afghanistan. These roads are built directly through contractors and the donors and some of them are international but the contractors and donors do not choose the roads. The government of Afghanistan chooses the projects.

What I can say for sure is that the figures such as 70 or 80 percent of the resources are going through NGOs is wrong. But NGOs are significant implementing partners to the government, to the donors and the United Nations.

But when we talk about NGOs our definition may be wrong. There are over 2400 NGOs according to the ministry of economy, up to 400 of them are International NGOs and the rest are Afghan NGOs. Of the Afghan NGOs 99 percent or even more are not NGOs. Rather they are private contractors for profit-making organisations and owned by their founders or their directors and the income [from the work] will be theirs as well.

The challenge now is to move over 99 [percent] of these Afghan NGOs to the private sector. They should be registered in the private sector, pay taxes and make their profits legitimately.

When people say more than 70 percent of the NGO money is spent on administrative costs it is also a lie. There is no single donor on earth that would accept an expenditure of 70 percent on their administration and there is no donor on earth that would not send a monitoring mission [to see] what the NGO is doing as all the donors account to their taxpayers.

A number of measures will have to be taken. First, the new legislation if implemented properly, will solve most of these problems [and make sure] that the private sector will leave the NGO sector.

And second, the not-for-profit NGOs will remain and by law, they will have to report on their project to all relevant ministries and ministry of economy. The ministries are required by law to monitor their projects.

The second measure is required by donors, including the government of Afghanistan, which will have to report through a mechanism on what happens with the money spent on contracts with NGOs and this will promote another [form of] accountability.

Also the NGOs themselves need to take steps to promote a better understanding of their activities through their reports and public communication. And also through some public initiatives we should involve people and the give them an opportunity to visit projects and counter all these rumours.

Of course our people may have a legitimate concern when they see that a so-called NGO director that had nothing yesterday but a year later he buys property in a posh area of Kabul and two years later he buys property in Europe. The public should ask a question.

Q: Which sector is the largest consumer of international donor funds in Afghanistan?

A: The security sector consumes most of the resources through the police, the national army and through national security development.

The second biggest cost is running the civil service and the government budget; every year just to pay the salaries and operational costs of public administration is about 600 million dollars of which 50 percent comes from the domestic revenues.

Third is roads [reconstruction], fourth is education, fifth so far, has been rural development and sixth has been public health but they will change once the major public infrastructure projects are designed and financed.

Q: What about poppy cultivation and eradication and the challenges these pose to rural development?
A: There are a number of issues, the main one being that there is not any alternative that can compete economically with the poppy because it is the most financially advantageous crop.

The government does not aim to provide an alternative livelihood but the policy is more about mainstream rural development. The objective is to first say to people that growing the poppy is a crime on the basis of our constitution whether you’re poor or rich.

Second, we understand that some people are doing this because of poverty and that the government will never be able to provide you with something that is as economically profitable as the poppy. But all the government can do is to accelerate rural development and you will be able to benefit from a legitimate livelihood or crop.

Only 2.2 million people are living on poppy cultivation out of 18 or 19 million people so that means the issue is not only poverty. The government plan is to accelerate investment in rural economic growth whether in agriculture or in other livelihoods.

But still on top of our mainstream economic growth programmes we came up with a plan to provide additional resources to poppy growing areas to help farmers exercise self restraint for the poppy to be eradicated. This year the budget that we requested was US $600 million and we have only received 30 to 40 percent of that amount so that is a concern.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]