Afghan president condemns London blasts and urges world to unite to combat terrorism

By AMIR SHAH - Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - (AP) Afghanistan's president on Friday urged the world to unite to combat terrorism and said the blasts in London were "an attack against the whole of mankind."

Meanwhile, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, Mullah Latif Hakimi, said the rebels were not linked to the bombing, but that London was attacked because Britain and the United States are trying to "colonize" other countries.

President Hamid Karzai told reporters in Kabul that the blasts "caused deaths to ... people who belong to all countries of the world, people who belong to all religions of the world."

A series of blasts ripped through three subway trains and blasted the roof off a crowded double-decker bus in London on Thursday. Dozens were killed and about 700 hurt.

"This is an attack not against a city, not against a nation, this was an attack against the whole of mankind," Karzai said. "It's time for the whole of mankind to get together and stop them wherever they are. It is time for us to go to the roots of terrorism where they are produced and stop them there without exception."

He said Afghans can empathize with victims in London because militants here have attacked mosques, schools, Islamic leaders, tribal chiefs and others.

"We see terrorism hurting us on a daily basis here in Afghanistan," the president said.

Taliban-led rebels and al-Qaida militants are blamed for an unprecedented wave of violence in Afghanistan that has left about 700 people dead in the past three months.

An 8,000-strong NATO-led international security force as well as a separate 20,000-strong U.S.-led coalition are providing security here and are leading a hunt for militants intent on destabilizing crucial legislative elections in September.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is still believed to be in or around Afghanistan, possibly hiding in rugged mountains on the border with neighboring Pakistan.

Hakimi, the purported Taliban spokesman, said the leaders of Britain and the United States "have lit a fire over the world. ... They want to colonize all the people. That's why the British people are coming under attack."

"The Taliban are free of any connection to this," he said in a telephone call with The Associated Press.
Hakimi's information has in the past frequently proven untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.

Bin Laden is not in Afghanistan, Karzai says, as Taliban reiterates claim it is holding U.S. commando
Osama bin Laden is not in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said Friday, while a purported Taliban spokesman reiterated a claim that a missing American commando is being held by the rebels and will soon be killed.

Karzai made the comment at a news conference in the capital, Kabul, but gave no suggestion of where he thinks the al-Qaida leader may be hiding.

"God knows where he is. ... We don't know. ... He is not in Afghanistan," he said, without elaborating.
His comment came three days after Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said bin Laden is not in Pakistan and could be hiding in southeastern Afghanistan.

U.S. officials have said they believe bin Laden is somewhere in rugged mountains between the two nations.

U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore declined to comment on the latest claim that a U.S. Navy SEAL commando has been captured, except to say that "we are continuing to search for him."

The commando is the last of a four-member U.S. Navy SEAL team missing for 11 days in Kunar province, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two were found dead.
Purported Taliban spokesman Mullah Latif Hakimi said the commando is being interrogated and would later be killed.

"Right now the interrogation is taking place of the American who is with us about the American strategy in Afghanistan," he said. "After that ... he will be executed, definitely."

Hakimi has said previously that the Taliban are holding the commando. But information from him in the past has frequently proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.

The claims by the Taliban follow an unprecedented spate of insurgent 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.

Afghanistan, IOC condemn London attacks; Taliban supports attacks as retaliation

KABUL (AFX) - Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai Friday has strongly condemned the bombings in London, even as spokesmen for the ousted Taliban said Britons are suffering for their government's hostility toward the Muslim world.

"This is an attack not against a city, this is an attack not against a nation,
this was an attack against all of mankind," the US-backed Karzai told reporters
in Kabul.

Karzai said: "The people of Afghanistan recognize very well this pain of the
British people because the people of Afghanistan were the first to suffer at the hands of the terrorism,".

Meanwhile however, a group calling itself the Organisation of al-Qaeda Jihad in
Europe, which claimed yesterday's attacks in London, said they were "in response to the massacres carried out by Britain in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi told Agence France-Presse, speaking by
satellite telephone from an undisclosed location: "The British nation should
understand that their suffering from this bombing is because of their
government's wrong policies against Muslim nations, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and many others,".

Nevertheless, in a report from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the secretary general of
the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (IOC) expressed his condolences for
the bombings in London that killed, at the latest official toll, 37 people.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has sent a message to Prime Minister Tony Blair expressing
his "utmost indignation and outrage" and condemning, "in the strongest terms,
these horrendous acts," an OIC statement said.

He expressed his solidarity with Blair and the British people "in their resolve
to fight terrorism, and uttered his confidence that the solidarity of the
civilized world will overcome the scourge of terrorism," the statement said.

Late yesterday, the Riyadh-based Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said in a
statement that the club of six oil-rich Gulf monarchies "condemns the terrorist
attacks which hit the British capital in several locations this morning."

The GCC "absolutely rejects the terrorism phenomenon whatever its source,
location or motives" and is bent on fighting it, said secretary general
Abdulrahman al-Attiyah.

The bloc -- grouping Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE --
"supports all measures taken by the British government to preserve its security
and stability," Attiyah said.

In a report from Dubai, Saudi Arabia, itself hit by a wave of terror by
suspected al-Qaeda militants in the past two years, specifically said it
"strongly condemns" the blasts, the state SPA news agency reported citing an
official source,.

Riyadh "reiterates that... the international community must step up efforts to
combat the terrorism scourge, which now threatens our security and the security
of all our peoples," the source said.

In the United Arab Emirates, deputy prime minister and State Minister for
Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahayan said his country "condemns in the strongest possible terms these horrific crimes and declares full solidarity
with the British government."

He said Abu Dhabi also "supports any measures (the British government) may take
to deal with" the attacks, the state news agency WAM reported.

Kuwait denounced the "terrorist" attacks in a letter to Blair from Prime
Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who is currently in the US.

Sheikh Sabah expressed Kuwait's "strong condemnation" of the blasts, the state
news agency KUNA said.

In addition, a source at the Qatari foreign ministry similarly condemned the
"criminal explosions... which are terrorist acts that flout human and moral
values," said the state Qatari News Agency (QNA).

Troops Killed in Afghanistan Crash Honored

By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press WriterThu Jul 7

In an emotional service that brought some soldiers to tears, a memorial was held Thursday for an elite helicopter crew killed when their MH-47 Chinook was shot down in the deadliest single attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

"A loss of one is felt by everybody, but a loss of eight is a shockwave," said Maj. Chad Chasteen, a company commander in the slain soldiers' unit, 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

More than 800 people — soldiers and family members — attended the service at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah. Lined up on a riser were eight sets of rifles, combat boots and helmets strapped with night-vision goggles reflecting a faint green glow.

The June 28 crash killed 16 servicemen in all — eight Navy SEALS and eight members of the Hunter-based unit of the 160th. The elite Army helicopter crews fly special forces commandos behind enemy lines under cover of night.

The helicopter crashed after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all on board.

A slide projector flashed photos on a screen of the chopper crew — Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare, Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby, Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles, Maj. Stephen C. Reich, Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell, Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach and Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III.

In eulogies by some of their closest friends, some of whom choked up as they spoke, the soldiers were described as heroes who routinely took on missions others deemed too dangerous, often to retrieve troops pinned down in treacherous terrain.

"I can still see Mike hanging off the ramp, one wheel on the side of a mountain, amazingly able to get his teams in to their landing zones," former unit member Jason Sims said of Russell, 31, of Stafford, Va.

A fellow soldier also remembered Reich, 34, of Washington Depot, Conn., for putting his career on the line for altering a mission plan to rescue a group of soldiers.

Known as the Night Stalkers, the 160th is based at Fort Campbell, with a battalion stationed at Hunter. Fort Campbell held its own memorial service Wednesday.

Formed in 1981 following the botched rescue attempt of U.S. hostages in Iran, the 160th has deployed in nearly every U.S. conflict since Grenada in 1983. The unit has had 21 soldiers killed in action since 2002.

"I know you punched your ticket the way you wanted it, flying in the clouds," Sgt. Jason Bailey said, sobbing during his eulogy to Goare, 29, of Danville, Ohio, in which he also mentioned the 33-year-old Muralles, of Shelbyville, Ind.

"Grab Muralles by the shoulders and tell him it's OK to sit on the gun cans. Because guns aren't needed where you're going."

Stung in an Afghan 'hornets' nest'

Andrew North / BBC News at US Camp Tillman, Afghan-Pakistan border Wednesday, 6 July, 2005
A routine mission for a small unit of US troops based here turned into a fight for their lives when they came up against a group of suspected Taleban militants along the border with Pakistan.

It did not make any headlines. It was just another incident among many in this volatile region.

But it gives an insight into why the US-led coalition is having such difficulty defeating the insurgency that has affected much of eastern and southern Afghanistan for the past two years.

It was 25 June. Second Lt Louis Fernandez had led seven members of his platoon to the top of Peak 2911.

A distinctive, bulging mountain straddling the frontier, it gets its name from its height in metres.

The night before, a US artillery battery had shelled the peak after lights had been seen there.

The suspicion was that insurgents might be using it as a launch site to fire rockets on American and Afghan troops - an almost daily occurrence for units based along the border.

'Taking fire'

Lt Fernandez and his men from the 2/504 Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, had been ordered to do a "battle damage assessment", to see if anything had been hit.

An Afghan officer, Capt Mohammed Islamuddin, and two interpreters were with them.

They found nothing except a well-travelled trail. They decided to follow it. As they moved down the path, Capt Islamuddin says he spotted a man in local clothes about 200-300 metres away, carrying a Kalashnikov.

Staff Sgt McKenna Miller says he saw another man near some trees raising his Kalashnikov.

Sgt Miller raised his weapon. "I asked for permission to fire."

"I told Sgt Miller to shoot," says 22-year-old Lt Fernandez. "He pulled the trigger and hit the guy right in the head and put him down.

"Immediately after, we started taking fire from another direction," he says.

"That's when pretty much everything unravelled," says Sgt Miller, a veteran of Iraq and the Balkans.

They realised they were up against "not two, but approximately 15 to 20 individuals", with a barrage of fire coming down on the US and Afghan troops.

Where they were though, there was almost no cover. The only escape was to move back towards the summit, the soldiers taking it in turns to provide covering fire while others scrambled up the slope, fighting for breath in the thin air at this altitude.

"I was starting to pray as I was running back," says Sgt Juan Carlos Coca, the unit's radio operator. "There were rounds flying everywhere."

"We were definitely fighting for our lives," says Sgt Miller.

Pursuers' advantage

For Sgt Coca, this is his second time in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne.

In between, he was also in Iraq, in southern Baghdad.

"I expected this to be the easiest deployment of the three," he admits. "But so far it's been the hardest. We've basically come to a hornets' nest, here on the border with Pakistan."

The paratroopers say they were firing constantly to try to keep their assailants back.

But "we were getting surrounded", says Sgt Coca. "And we had no comms at all. The mountain was blocking radio signals, so they couldn't call for back-up.

In this terrain, their pursuers had the advantage.

"They move a lot faster on these mountains than we do," says Lt Fernandez.

"They know all the routes. And they're just in better shape when it comes to this. They're carrying no weight. We're carrying about 60 or 70 pounds (27kg-31kg) of equipment, so we're a lot slower."

Their lightly loaded attackers came closer and closer.

"They got within 20 or 30 metres," says Lt Fernandez. "You could see those little tan hats they wear.

"We were hugging the dirt, most of the time just praying to God that He was there for us. And He was definitely there for us, to just have one guy take a ricochet round, with the amount of fire they were putting down on us."

That one guy was Pte Ted Smith. A round hit him in the face, but went straight through his cheek. "Blood was just pouring out of him," says Sgt Miller, "but he just kept on firing."

Fortress

Pte Smith is expected to return to duty here soon at Camp Tillman - named after Pat Tillman, the American footballer who famously turned down millions of dollars to join the US military after 11 September but who died in a "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan in April last year.

When you visit this small, heavily defended redoubt, it conjures up images of old French Foreign Legion fortresses deep in hostile North African rebel territory.

Just across the border from the base - which sits near a tiny hamlet of mud-brick houses - is the Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan.

That has long regarded as one of the main areas where Taleban and also al Qaeda militants have been sheltering. There have been reports of Osama Bin Laden hiding there.

Although Pakistani forces were involved in bloody clashes with some of these groups last year, there are concerns that many still remain and have even bolstered their numbers.

Based on intelligence received afterwards, the US soldiers believe they killed eight of their attackers. But talking about the fire fight to the BBC a few days later, all of them say they were lucky not to have lost anyone.

When they finally reached higher ground and safety "we were totally out of breath, we could barely speak. We had almost no ammunition left," says Lt Fernandez, who was also inspired by 9/11 to join the forces. He signed up on 14 September 2001.

Up here, Sgt Coca could get through on the radio, to call for air support.

A-10 aircraft arrived. But the soldiers say the pilots were not permitted to open fire with their machine gun, or drop any ordnance because the militants were in Pakistani territory.

"That just totally frustrates all of us," says Sgt Coca. "It's easy for the enemy to shoot at us here in Afghanistan and then they just run a couple of hundred metres into Pakistan and we can't do anything. They're untouchable.

"We have that problem all the time," he says.

Sgt Miller agrees: "That's their safe haven, because they know that we can't go over the border and they try to use that to their advantage."

The exact rules of engagement for US forces based along the border are secret.

But it is clear from reports of different American operations that they do have some leeway.

And at times during the battle at Peak 2911, this US unit did end up in Pakistani territory.

But American troops are not allowed to chase attackers across the border.

Lt Fernandez says if they are "in pursuit of an enemy" they sometimes call Pakistani government forces on the other side.

But asked if US forces here feel they get help from the Pakistanis, he says: "I can't say that we do. No, not really."

Madrassas

Capt Islamuddin is more blunt. "Pakistan is interfering in Afghanistan. They are sending the bad guys here. They say there are cooperating, but they are not."

Capt Islamuddin has been based on the border with his 3rd Battalion for the past five months and says he has seen many clashes. "Many of them are foreigners," he says, "not Afghans."

It is a claim Afghan government officials often make about those behind the attacks across the south and east.

But the evidence is often hard to find. Asked to give more detail, Capt Islamuddin says he has seen the bodies of many militants close up after battles he has been involved in.

"There are some stupid Afghans among them," he says. "But most of them are Waziris [from Pakistan's Waziristan tribal agency], Chechens and Arabs. They are all coming from the madrassas [religious schools] in Pakistan."

Officially, the US military says Pakistan is cooperating closely with its efforts to defeat the insurgency and US generals frequently praise their counterparts across the border.

That is not how it appears to those on the frontline, to the young US and Afghan troops actually doing the fighting

R E G I O N: ‘Evidence points towards Al Qaeda return to Afghanistan’

Daily Times, Pakistan
* Experts not surprised by re-emergence of terror group

PARIS: Members of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network may have returned to Afghanistan en masse to bolster Taliban militants fighting US and Afghan forces in the east and south of the country, officials and analysts say.

Although no one has come forward with any hard proof, evidence seems to indicate that hardline Al Qaeda fighters have gone back to the country that was their home base for years until US-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

The governor of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, Gul Agha Shirzai, said after a deadly suicide attack at a mosque last month that police “found documents on the (bomber’s) body that showed he was an Arab”.

He told reporters that this proved that “Arab Al Qaeda teams had entered Afghanistan and had planned terrorist attacks”.

Afghan Defence Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak on Monday told the New York Times: “There is a regrouping of Al Qaeda, and it seems they are going to pay more attention to Afghanistan. We are running into foreign fighters here and there.”

And Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on a visit to India this week that the Taliban had become “numerically stronger” and that the likely explanation was that they were getting “outside support”. The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, France’s Jean Arnault, warned the UN Security Council in late June that the security situation in the country was worsening.

Arnault told the council that the Taliban rebels seem to have “more funding, more deadly weaponry, more powerful media for propaganda and more aggressive, cruel and indiscriminate tactics”.

Since the start of the year, attacks committed by Taliban militants have resulted in nearly 600 deaths, as opposed to 850 deaths in similar attacks for all of 2004, according to an AFP tally.

Michael Scheuer, who headed up the CIA’s special “bin Laden unit” from 1996 to 1999, sees nothing shocking in the recent reports of an increased Al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. “The recent attacks fit bin Laden’s strategic goal of ensuring ‘the pious Caliphate will start from Afghanistan’,” accords to Scheuer.

“Consistent with Al Qaeda’s tactical doctrine for aiding Islamist insurgencies, Taliban leaders are taking the lead in discussing and claiming credit for the increased violence. “Al Qaeda’s doctrine is clear: Support the insurgents fully and offer advice, but stay in the background, do not dictate, and allow local leaders to run operations as they see fit,” Scheuer said.

In certain remote regions of Afghanistan, US and Afghan forces routinely encounter concentrations of hardened militants, sparking long hours of combat.

Increased pressure by Pakistan’s military in the lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border could prompt Al Qaeda militants to travel back and forth across the border to avoid detection, officials said in Islamabad.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have recently traded accusations about whose side of the border the militants are on, and who is to blame for failing to find them. Olivier Roy, an analyst at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research and one of the world’s leading specialists on central Asia, warned against drawing quick conclusions about Al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan.

“We still don’t have any concrete evidence which proves that there are foreign fighters among the Taliban,” Roy told AFP.

“The Afghan authorities obviously have a vested interest in saying publicly that militants responsible for deadly attacks are foreigners, including Pakistani Taliban.”

He concluded: “But if it were confirmed that there were Arab militants in Afghanistan, that would mark an important turning point.” Afp

Afghan government invites UN expert on violence against women to visit

Source: United Nations News Service 07 Jul 2005
The United Nations expert on violence against women is to begin a 10-day fact-finding mission to Afghanistan this weekend at the invitation of the Government of a country where women’s rights were seriously restricted under the Taliban regime ousted four years ago.

The Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Yakin Ertürk, will meet with Government and other national and local authorities, as well as with representatives of non-governmental organizations dealing with issues related to gender-based violence.

Ms. Ertürk will visit various regions of the country as well as spnding time in the capital, Kabul. The Special Rapporteur’s mandate is to collect information on violence against women and recommend ways to eliminate gender-based violence and to remedy its consequences at the national, regional and international levels.

Forms of violence against women identified in the mandate include violence against women in the family, in the community and violence by State agents.

In a report to the UN Economic and Social Council's (ECOSOC) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) earlier this year, Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that Afghan women had made “historic gains” since the fall of the Taliban Government, but their participation in public life was circumscribed by the continuing lack of security and reformers had to take care not to stir up the traditional hostility to women's advancement.

In other developments, Japan this week signed a $17-million agreement with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to address Afghanistan’s simultaneous needs generated by peace and reconstruction, including long-term regional planning, training government staff, urban employment, increased agricultural productivity, and reducing the threat of landmines left over from decades of war.

Meanwhile, construction of a teacher training college library in the southern city of Kandahar, funded by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has been completed. The project, begun last August, has cost $35,000 and includes the construction of the library, a study room for 50 teachers, a reception hall, an administration room and washrooms. UNICEF also provided equipment and learning material.

2 Taliban killed in Afghanistan

Daily Times - Jul 07 3:27 PM
KANDAHAR: Two Taliban suspects were killed and three others captured after they ambushed a police checkpost in southern Afghanistan, police said Thursday.

Two policemen were also wounded in the attack late Wednesday in a remote village near the town of Spin Boldak on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Abdul Wasy, Spin Boldak police chief, said.

The firing between the suspected Taliban militants and police lasted one and a half hours. Two attackers were killed and three were captured, he said. Afp

30 jihadi commanders pledge support to government

By Mohammad Hakim Basharat
MAIDAN SHAHR, July 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Around 30 former jihadi commanders pledged support to the Afghan government at a meeting in Maidan Shahr on Thursday.

Maidan Wardak Governor Abdul Jabar Naeemi, who took the initiative of convening the meeting, urged the commanders to turn in their weapons and take an active part in the reconstruction of the war-weary country.

"I cannot tolerate even a single illegal weapon in this province, just as I can't put up with poppy cultivation," the governor said while addressing the gathering.

Naeemi asked the commanders to hold out cast-iron guarantees that they would not retain weapons in the future if they wanted to get a clean bill of health from his government.

Haji Moosa Hootak, one of the commanders and a former Loya Jirga delegate, said he had already surrendered all his weapons and that the government should not bother too much about arms being hidden.

The commanders, in a written statement, promised to surrender remaining weapons they had and to cooperate with the government in rebuilding the country.

Press Briefing by Ariane Quentier Senior Public Information Officer And United Nations Agencies in Afghanistan

ط DDR “Double D’s” (disarmament and demobilization) come to an end

Today Afghanistan marks the end of the disarmament and demobilization components of DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration). DDR is one of the key elements of the peace process that started in Bonn in December 2001.

Since its inception in October 2003, the DDR programme has seen the decommissioning of 250 units, which includes ten corps, with their divisions, brigades and supporting elements. It has also allowed almost 63,000 Afghan Military Forces (AMF) personnel to disarm. This makes DDR in Afghanistan amongst the largest DDR efforts completed in the world.

The Ministry of Defence has collected 34,726 light weapons, but also – and this is a major achievement - over 9,085 heavy weapons. Weapons recovered through DDR are sorted and provided to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) whenever possible.

The reintegration component will continue for another year until all disarmed ex-combatants have received their full benefits.

The successes that DDR is able to claim under the leadership of the Government of Afghanistan must be credited also to the strong support of donor governments – especially the Government of Japan; to ISAF and Coalition Forces; and to the effective work carried out by the Afghanistan New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) in cooperation with the Afghan authorities and the United Nations. But above all, the progress so far in disarmament has been possible thanks to the support of the people of Afghanistan, whose clear wish is to see peace fully restored and their country free of illegal weapons.

DDR is an important phase in the disarmament of Afghanistan, which has paved the way for wider disarmament efforts, namely the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups.

So far, in the framework of the programme offered to candidates to sever their links with Illegal Armed Groups, 163 weapons are reported as having been turned in Nangarhar, Nooristan and Badakhshan provinces in the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of collected weapons to 14,392 - 6,507 of which have been verified by ANBP verification teams.

Click here to read the official joint statement of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, the Government of Japan and UNAMA in English, Dari and Pashto.
ط Voter Registration Update

As of the end of the day on Monday (July 4th), 435,445 Afghan voters had been issued new or corrected Voter Registration Cards.

All but eight of the 1,052 Voter Registration Stations were open and operating yesterday. The closed stations include three in Zabul province, (two due to staffing problems and one due to some problems with local elders and the location of the station), four in Kandahar due to staffing issues and one in eastern Khost.

In Eastern Khost – Terzayi district, near the Pakistani border - a Kuchi Voter Registration Site was attacked in the early hours of Wednesday morning - July 6th. About 16 insurgents surrounded the site, temporarily abducted some national staff – later releasing them near the border – and stole registration materials. The materials have since been replaced by JEMB Logistics unit and the site is open again today.

ط Deadline for withdrawals by candidates and responses from provisionally excluded candidates

At 4 o’clock this afternoon is the deadline for withdrawals by any candidate wishing to do so as well as for repsonses from any of the 233 candidates who were provisionally excluded on July 2nd.

If candidates wish to withdraw from contesting the September 18 Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council elections, they must notify the JEMB Provincial Office where they submitted their candidacy. Otherwise their names will be placed on the Final List of Candidates and on the ballot and they will be considered as contestants for election.

Also any candidate who was provisionally excluded from the Candidate List and wishes to respond must submit a response form to the Electoral Complaints Commission by 4.00 pm this afternoon. Responses may be delivered to Provincial Election Commissions which are located at JEMB Provincial Offices. The ECC will consider all responses before recommending final exclusions. The Final List of candidates will be certified and published on July 12th.

ط Japan to grant US $17 million to improve human security in Afghanistan

Yesterday, July 6th, the Ambassador of Japan, Noriho Okuda, signed a US $17 million agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The agreement provides for the short, medium and long-term needs of Afghans in addressing human security.

Human security is not just the absence of war, but also includes the ability to survive, a chance to live with dignity and the possibility of an adequate livelihood.

The funds provided by the Government of Japan will go towards the National Area Based Development Programme, under the leadership of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), which will facilitate long-term planning in the regions and the training of government staff.

In addition, the immediate needs for urban employment, increased agricultural productivity, and reduction of the landmine threat will be addressed in partnership with the Ministries of Urban Development and Housing, and of Agriculture, together with the UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMACA).

Click here to read the official UNDP press release.

ط Task force for the elimination of violence against women meets Sunday

An Inter-Ministerial Task Force to Eliminate Violence Against Women, established by a presidential decree of President Karzai yesterday, will have its first meeting on Sunday, July 10th.

The task force's mandate is to supervise and coordinate action and policy on violence against women at the national level.

Led by the Ministry of Women's Affairs with technical support from UNIFEM, the Sunday meeting is from 10am to 3pm at the Insaf Hotel Popo Lano.

The meeting will include speeches by officials from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Supreme Court, Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs, and Ministry of Justice. There will be a press conference afterwards.

For more information, you can contact Baryalai Barya: 070 236 514.

ط UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women to conduct fact-finding mission in Afghanistan

At the invitation of the Government of Afghanistan, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Ms. Yakin Ertürk (Turkey), will conduct a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan from July 9th until July 19th.

The Commission established the position of Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women in 1994. Ms. Yakin Ertürk was appointed in August 2003. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur is to collect information on violence against women, to recommend ways to eliminate gender-based violence and to remedy its consequences at the national, regional and international levels. Forms of violence against women identified in the mandate of the Special Rapporteur include violence against women in the family, in the community and violence by State agents.

During her mission to Afghanistan, the Special Rapporteur’s programme will include meetings with Government and other national and local authorities, and representatives of non-governmental organizations dealing with issues related to gender-based violence.

Ms. Ertürk’s mission will include time in Kabul as well as visits to other regions of Afghanistan. She will hold a press conference at UNAMA at the end of her mission on July 18th.

ط Five public baths for women open in Kandahar

This past Tuesday (July 5th) an official ceremony was held in Kandahar to open five public baths for women. The “hammams” are located in five different districts and were officially handed over to the Government.

The baths, which cost US $500,000, were funded by the European Community through UNDP Project Implementation Unit, and were built by five different contractors. The baths will be open for service next week.

ط Construction of UNICEF-funded teacher training college in Kandahar now complete

The construction of a UNICEF-funded teacher training college library in Kandahar was completed last week.

The project, which began in August 2004 and was completed on June 30th, has cost US $35,000 and includes the construction of a library, a study room for 50 teachers, a reception hall, an administration room and washrooms. UNICEF also provided equipment and learning material.

Although the official handover to the Ministry of Education has not yet happened, 30 students have begun receiving training.

ط IOM signs agreement to reconstruct Herat feeder canal

This past Monday (July 4th), the Municipality of Herat and IOM (International Organization for Migration) signed an agreement to reconstruct the Pul-e-Rangina feeder canal. This was done in order to upgrade and further improve the sanitary situation of the city of Herat under a cost-sharing arrangement between the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Herat Municipality.

The total cost of the project, which will take six months to complete, is US $170,000, with the municipality covering US $50,000.

Questions & Answers

Question: Regarding the case of the four journalists who were arrested and detained in Kunar, has any progress been made for their release?
Senior Public Information Officer: The latest information I have heard on this is that, as you probably know, two of the journalists have been freed and two remain in custody. This is something, as I have said before, that we are concerned about and we are looking at ways of helping to resolve this very soon.

Question: Has the United Nations taken any action with the government authorities?

Senior Public Information Officer: UNAMA has been looking into it, and has also been in close contact with, and supporting the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission which is monitoring the case.

Question: What is your reaction to the Human Rights Watch Report and how do you view its recommendations with the setting up of a tribunal to try war crimes suspects?

Senior Public Information Officer: The report, as you know, has just come out today and we have not yet had time to adequately look into it. I think on that one, the best answer I have is that we will have to get back to you on that one at some point.

[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.]