Drug menace more dangerous than terrorism for Afghanistan: Karzai - July 9, 2005

KABUL (AFP) - Drugs are more dangerous than terrorism to Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, President Hamid Karzai said.

"The cultivation of poppy is an insult to Afghanistan, if we do not stop ... it will destroy us. The money made from poppy is like a sweet poison, (it) is delicious but kills us." Karzai said on Saturday.

"Poppy cultivation is what will derail the country's reconstruction and development," he told a national security conference attended by military commanders and police chiefs in the Afghan capital.

Some 4,850 tonnes of opium was produced globally in 2004, with Afghanistan producing about 87 percent of the world's supply, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its world drug report released on June 29. Opium, derived from unripe poppy seeds, is used to manufacture heroin.

However, a recent survey by the UNODC and the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics said poppy cultivation had decreased compared to 2004 in all but five of the country's provinces.

"This year there has been a decrease in puppy cultivation in almost 28 provinces," Karzai said, adding that "The best was Nangarhar province where 80 percent decrease was seen and other provinces as well."

Eastern Nangarhar province was one of biggest poppy producers in the past. Afghanistan torched some 60 tonnes of opium, heroin and hashish across the country to mark the UN's international day against drug abuse on June 29.

Taliban kill pro-Afghan govt cleric, says governor

KHOST, Afghanistan, July 9 (Reuters) - Taliban militants have killed a senior pro-government cleric, the third such killing in just over a month, a provincial governor said on Saturday.

Agha Jan, the senior Islamic cleric in the southeastern province of Paktika, was stabbed to death along with his wife at his home on Friday evening, Paktika Governor Gulabuddin Mangal said. "It was the Taliban who did it," Mangal told Reuters, adding that four suspected Taliban members had been captured in connection with the killings.

Jan, the head of the influential Ulema Council in Paktika, had preached in favour of President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government and U.S.-led forces who overthrew the fundamentalist Taliban government in late 2001, Mangal said.

Taliban officials could not be immediately contacted for comment, but the guerrillas have taken responsibility for the assassination of several pro-government clerics in the past.

The killing came less than a week after suspected Taliban guerrillas shot dead an Ulema Council member near the southern city of Kandahar. In late May, gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead another member of the national council, prominent anti-Taliban cleric Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz, also in Kandahar.

A suicide bombing of a mosque in the city during a memorial service for Fayaz on June 1 killed 20 people. The attacks have appeared to be part of a stepped up campaign by the Taliban and their militant allies to spread instability ahead of Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

US has no proof on Taleban claim - BBC News / 9 July, 2005

The US military in Afghanistan says they have no information about a claim by the Taleban that they have executed an American special forces soldier. A Taleban spokesman said that the group, which claimed to have held the serviceman, had killed him and dumped his body in eastern Kunar province.

The US military says there is no evidence to support the claim and they were trying to locate the soldier. The soldier was part of an elite unit that went missing on 28 June. Two members of the team were later found dead while a third was rescued.

Abdul Latif Hakimi, a man who says he speaks for the Taleban, told some news organisations that the missing soldier had been beheaded in the Shegal district of Kunar province, where the four-man special forces team went missing.

"We don't have anything on that claim. We are continuing to search for the service member who has been missing since 28 June," US spokeswoman, Lieutenant Cindy Moore said. The governor of Kunar province, Asadullah Wafa, told the BBC his official are checking the Taleban claim.

The Taleban say they have been holding the soldier for more than a week, but they have not provided any video footage they said they had filmed of the man, nor of the moment they say they shot down a US helicopter in the same area. Reports say hundreds of US soldiers and Afghan forces have been scouring the mountains in the province to locate the missing soldier.

A US Chinook helicopter which was sent to back up a ground unit was shot down, with all 16 soldiers on board killed. The Taleban say they brought it down. It was the heaviest number of deaths US forces have suffered in a single incident in Afghanistan since toppling the Taleban in 2001.

The downing of the US helicopter was followed by an American bombing raid in Kunar province which left 17 civilians, including women and children, dead. Recent months have seen an sharp rise in activity by the Taleban and their allies in south-eastern and eastern Afghanistan. They have vowed to disrupt parliamentary elections due to be held in September.

Resurgent Al-Qaeda behind deadly Afghan attacks: defence minister - July 9, 2005

KABUL (AFP) - A resurgent Al-Qaeda terror network has teamed up with Taliban militants in Afghanistan to unleash a wave of attacks which have killed about 600 people this year.

Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said Al-Qaeda was regrouping and using unspecified "new tactics" in the attacks apparently aimed at destabilising Afghanistan ahead of September's parliamentary polls.

"There are reports that Al-Qeada are regrouping, they have changed their tactics and have once again focused on Afghanistan," Wardak told reporters here. He said there was evidence that Al-Qaeda was coordinating Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami militants attacks, which have spiked in recent months.

"We did expect that with the beginning of spring and summer, when the snow melts, there would be increased security incidents and operations, but it has increased more than what we expected," he said. "There is evidence that confirms coordination among" the militant groups, the defence minister said ahead of a national security conference.

Wardak has warned earlier of Al-Qaeda regrouping in Afghanistan and his views are echoed by security analysts such as Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's "bin Laden unit", referring to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

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

The US military has also suffered heavier casualties, highlighted by the downing of the Chinook helicopter in northeast Afghanistan last month that killed 16 US forces. The Taliban claimed to have shot the helicopter down.

A self-styled Taliban spokesman also claimed on Saturday that a US special forces soldier, one of a group of four which the helicopter had been sent to rescue, had been executed. One of his three fellow commandos has been rescued and the other two are dead.

The US military said there was no proof that the soldier had been executed and search operations were continuing in rugged Kunar province. A US-led offensive drove the fundamentalist Taliban from power in late 2001 for harbouring bin Laden after the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. Some 18,000 coalition troops are still in Afghanistan, and the US military and UN officials are frequently targeted by landmine attacks and roadside bombs.

Afghanistan has increasingly blamed neighbouring Pakistan for failing to stem the attacks and Wardak disputed Islamabad's comments that bin Laden, his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar are hiding in the country's troubled south. "They are continuously moving and do not stay in one place for a long time, but it is more likely they are on the other side of the border," he said.

U.S. frees more Taliban suspects in Afghanistan

July 9, 2005 KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military freed 76 Taliban suspects on Saturday as part of an effort to encourage rank and file guerrillas to lay down their arms, the latest batch freed this year despite a surge in militant violence.

The men, detained at various stages in the U.S.-led battle against Taliban guerrillas since toppling the fundamentalists from power in 2001, were freed from a U.S. military detention center at the main U.S. base at Bagram to the north of Kabul.

"I am very happy that today some of our brothers have been freed and are joining their families," Sibghatullah Mojadidi, a former president who heads the government's reconciliation initiative, told the former prisoners at a ceremony in Kabul. Most were from southern and eastern Afghanistan, where Taliban guerrillas remain most active.

They were the latest freed since President Hamid Karzai called for release from custody of all Afghan prisoners in U.S. detention following an outcry over reports of abuse, including the deaths of two inmates at Bagram. Another group of 57 were freed early this month, 53 in June, 86 in May and 81 in January.

The government reconciliation program announced last year has seen only limited success and Afghanistan has seen a surge in Taliban-linked violence in the run up to Sept. 18 elections. U.S. forces have captured hundreds of suspected militants since toppling the Taliban for harbouring al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore said about 450 remained in custody. The United States also holds more than 500 suspected militants at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, most of whom were picked up in Afghanistan.

Taliban attacks police convoy, abducts 15 in Afghanistan

KABUL, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Suspected Taliban in a violent attack set ablaze a police van and took away 15 policemen along with two vehicles in southern Helmand province Friday, an official said Saturday.

"Taliban ambushed a three-vehicle convoy of border police on Desho-Lashkargah highway yesterday, destroyed a vehicle and took away 15 policemen including a commander along with two vehicles," district chief of Disho Hajji Abdul Rahim told Xinhua. He added that he was unaware of the fate of the abducted policemen.

In the meantime, Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed that Taliban fighters had killed seven of their captives while holding the remaining eight in an unknown location.

Remnants of the former fundamentalist regime, who have intensified their activities since early spring in a similar attack on police force, executed eight policemen including the police chief of Mian Nashin district of Kandahar in mid last month.Enditem

Germany wants to send more troops to Afghanistan - Sat 9 Jul 2005

BERLIN, July 9 (Reuters) - Germany wants to increase the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan by around a third, a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

The Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, would be asked to approve a government request to extend the soldiers' mandate beyond Oct. 13 and make as many as 3,000 soldiers available, up from the current 2,200, the spokesman said.

"An upper limit of 3,000 is planned to enable the force to react more effectively to security developments and to increase flexibility when rotating troops," he added. Hundreds of people have died in stepped-up militant activity in Afghanistan in the run-up to parliamentary elections on Sept. 18.

The German contingent is attached to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is focused on peacekeeping in the Afghan capital Kabul and the north and plans to extend its presence to other areas of the country.

The spokesman said the troops would continue to provide logistical support to the Afghan government in disrupting the drugs industry but would not be taking an active role in destroying stocks of narcotics. The United Nations has estimated that drug exports account for more than 60 percent of Afghanistan's economy and it risked turning into a "narco-state".

Afghanistan: 'Loyal Opposition' Plans Election Strategy - By Amin Tarzi – RFE/RL

In two recent private and candid discussions with RFE/RL, Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, leader of the 12-party coalition National Understanding Front ( Jabha-ye Tafahom-e Melli, JTM), spoke about the Afghan opposition's election strategy and his own personal reflections about the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai as well as relations between Kabul and Washington. Part 1 of a two-part analysis of Qanuni's views focuses on JTM's election priorities and polices.


By virtue of securing 16 percent of the votes in Afghanistan's October presidential elections, second only to Karzai's 55 percent, Qanuni has become the strongest opposition leader in Afghanistan and has been chosen as the leader of JTM, which was formed in late March as the main opposition front against the Karzai government.

In his talks with RFE/RL, Qanuni made it clear that he still believes, though he currently leads a "loyal political opposition," that during the October elections many irregularities occurred, robbing him of certain victory. "On the whole we accepted the current government, despite the fact that I won 53 percent of the votes to Mr. Karzai's 24 percent," Qanuni asserted. A U.S. government official whom Qanuni chose not to identify told him that he had "secured the votes while Karzai got the victory."

According to Qanuni, since the October elections Afghanistan's overall situation has regressed because the current "leadership has failed" to take advantage of a "golden opportunity" presented to Afghanistan in the form of strong international support. Karzai's former interior and later education minister added that his "friend" Karzai is a weak leader who presides over a "weak cabinet" and that his government lacks a "strategic, national agenda." Karzai's policies are "driven by ethnicity and private gains," Qanuni said. As such, Afghanistan's main opposition leader asserted that his country was moving toward "a crisis."

Unlike Karzai, Qanuni predicted that the elections for the lower house of the Afghan parliament and the provincial councils scheduled for September will not end the government's malaise or the increasing levels of violence in the southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan.

Qanuni said that the only way to address the current crisis is through implementation of reforms, which he emphasized should be "real, not symbolic." If the Karzai government initiates reforms, especially in the electoral procedures, prior to the September polls, "we shall have a united parliament." Otherwise, Qanuni warned that the parliament might be factionalized. Yunos Qanuni listed "national unity, stability, and security," as the three main essential steps to get Afghanistan out of its current quagmire and as broad goals of the JTM.

R epeating that JTM was a "legal opposition," Qanuni said the front he is leading is "against mistaken policies of the [Karzai] government," but that it did not want "the government to fall," which he stressed would be "tantamount to giving Afghanistan to Pakistan."

To achieve its goals, prior to the September polls the JTM plans to strengthen the positions of individual candidates representing any of the 12 political parties; enhance cooperation between the parties; and observe the election process for irregularities, which according to Qanuni were widespread during the October presidential elections.

In order to ensure that the September elections are fair and free, Qanuni suggested that the UN-Afghan Joint Election Management Body and the Election Commission are independent; that the votes be counted in the polling stations rather than being transported to counting centers; that the office for lodging complaints about election irregularities be independent of government control; that larger cities be divided in electoral districts; and that the population estimates be made more fair.

JTM's goals during the elections will be obtaining a larger majority of the seats, Qanuni explained, adding that his front wants the "politicization of the struggle rather than the use of gun," and the "rationalization and legalization of the struggle."

Once the JTM has secured enough seats to become the main opposition to Karzai's government, Qanuni said that his party and his coalition partners will demand the reforming of the cabinet, which he said was "not based on equality." He also emphasized working to accelerate the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration programs under way; deal with the narcotics problem in Afghanistan -- Qanuni added that currently the "police are a mafia"; and reform the Afghan National Army and National Police.

The most controversial plan of the JTM, as explained by Qanuni, is changing the current Afghan government system as enshrined in the constitution from a strong presidential system to a prime-ministerial system. "How can we help Karzai's weakness?" Qanuni asked, and then answered his own question, "by creating the post of a prime minister through a Loya Jirga."

Whether the "loyal opposition" headed by Mohammad Yunos Qanuni will be capable of achieving all of its stated goals is impossible to predict at the moment. Surely his call for national unity, stability, and security will go over well with not only Karzai's government, but with Afghanistan's foreign backers. However, Karzai and his supporters fought hard and made some difficult compromises to write a constitution with a very strong presidency -- power the current president does not seem likely to relinquish.

The fact that, after decades of Afghanistan's politics being determined by violence and intimidation, the main opposition figure sits in his villa on the outskirts of Kabul and, while clearly expressing his disappointment with the political process, confirms his loyalty to the system in place, is a major leap forward for Afghanistan. It would be a disservice to Afghanistan's long and difficult march toward becoming a democratic nation-state to have elections in September that are not transparent and are not deemed by a majority of Afghans as being fair. In this, the burden first falls on the shoulders of the Afghan government and only then on its foreign supporters and the "loyal opposition."

Pakistan's risky strategy against terror – BBC 07/08/05

Pakistan seems to have embarked on a new strategy to flush out militants sympathetic to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network from its territory. The game plan involves letting loose dozens of suspects known to have been affiliated with or at least sympathetic to al-Qaeda, in the hope that they would eventually lead the authorities to some top wanted figures in the terrorist organisation.

Top security experts admit that it is a dangerous game but argue that a similar approach in the past has reaped rich dividends. In particular, they point to Pakistan's northern tribal area of Waziristan - the inhospitable and semi-governed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where a year-long confrontation with militants has cost the Pakistan army over 500 lives.

Security experts say former Guantanamo detainees - released by the Pakistan authorities on being returned - unwittingly led security agencies to many previously unknown hideouts used by local and foreign militants in the area.

The strategy of tailing suspects instead of arresting them was also instrumental in curbing the budding network of nationalist insurgents in the province of Balochistan.

Similarly, say security officials, top al-Qaeda arrests in many parts of the country including Karachi were possible because of the released suspects who had led the authorities to their mentors. Pakistani authorities have now clearly decided to extend this strategy on a scale that some feel could lead to unexpected results.

In immediate terms, the strategy means easing some of the restrictions imposed earlier on top Pakistani militants. The visible part of the plan unfolding in recent weeks came in the shape of the release of about 150 Pakistanis who had returned from Guantanamo Bay. After extensive debriefing lasting between nine to 10 months, most of these men were allowed to go free.

Pakistani officials say those released will remain subject to strict security protocols first drawn up when Pakistan opted to throw in its lot with the US after the 11 September attacks in the United States.

According to these regulations, local police authorities are required to keep track of the movements of these individuals and maintain the information in a central database set up by the federal government.

But what Pakistani officials are unlikely to admit as openly is the fact that most of these individuals will also be under constant watch using the hi-tech surveillance equipment deployed in Pakistan by the US.

The extent to which the Pakistani authorities are banking on their strategy is obvious from the new found freedom of some of the militant outfits. Many of them - despite their well-known exposure to and sympathies for al-Qaeda - have reportedly reopened their offices in many parts of the country.

There are also reports that at least two such organisations - Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed - have restarted training camps in the district of Mansehra in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Harkatul Mujahideen was a part of the meeting called by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in early 1998. At this meeting, Bin Laden announced the formation of International Islamic Front against "Jews and Crusaders".

The Harkat's commitment to Bin Laden's new platform came to light when several Harkat militants from Pakistan were killed in US missile strikes at an al-Qaeda training camp near the Afghan city of Khost in August 1998.

In early 2000, the Harkat split into two - giving birth to the hardline and fanatical Jaish-e-Mohammed group. Activists of Jaish were later implicated in several terror attacks including the assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz, who was soon to become prime minister.

Some security analysts in Pakistan have been critical of the government's seemingly soft stance in relation to Harkat and Jaish - wondering why they have not been dealt with as severely as some of the other groups.

While other militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have been neutered with their entire leadership arrested or killed, these two groups have not suffered to a similar extent.

The latest example of the government's soft approach was the release two weeks ago of Harkat chief Fazlur Rehman Khalili. He was first detained in September last year, released for a short while, but eventually placed under house arrest.

Mr Khalili has now been released again - perhaps as part of a "network of human probes" that the authorities are hoping may lead them to top al-Qaeda leadership.

Pakistani security officials privately admit that the plan is fraught with the danger of a resurgence of terror attacks inside Pakistan. But they forcefully argue that Pakistan has little chance but to take the risk.

In their assessment, the new lease of life afforded to militants may lead to an intensification of violence in Kashmir as well as inside Pakistan. But as one official put it, it may well be a small price to pay if it leads to the eventual capture of the world's most wanted man.

Afghan government invites UN expert on violence against women to visit - UN News Centre

7 July 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 (NGOs) 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 regime, 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.

New Afghan commission has possible conflict of interest - International Journalist's Network (www.ijnet.org) / Jul 07, 2005

A new commission in Afghanistan is administering the country’s national broadcaster. But it also has the authority to investigate complaints against other media organizations – and possibly revoke their licenses.

The latest Media Watch Afghanistan, a regular report distributed by Internews, offers some details learned from interviews with members of the Media Commission.

According to Media Watch, the members will allocate licenses and frequencies to radio and TV stations, oversee compliance with the country’s media law, and develop a policy for the state-run Radio and Television Afghanistan (RTA). The members see reforming RTA as their “primary work,” Media Watch reported.

However, the commission also apparently has the authority to revoke licenses of media that do not follow content guidelines. The Internews publication said there are concerns that the commission’s mandate presents a conflict of interest between making RTA more competitive while judging the content of other outlets.

Terrorism in Afghanistan, a threat to Pakistan: Musharraf:- Islamabad | July 09, 2005

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said that the terrorism in neighbouring Afghanistan was seriously affecting Pakistan. He said that terrorism and fundamentalism posed a great threat to the country, and it was necessary for all the countries, including Pakistan, to unite with the world in the War on Terror.

This, he said was necessary for being on the right side in the fight against terrorism, reports The News, adding that terrorism could neither create friends nor any foes.

"We should move together with the world in the war on terror and this way we would be on the safe side. Otherwise, we would be facing terrifying results," the Dawn quoted Musharraf as saying.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have recently been exchanging heated words, with Islamabad and Kabul accusing each other over the botched manner in which they have been patrolling the border.

Afghanistan, which is at a nascent stage of democracy, and is trying to thwart the regrouping of the Taliban, has said that inadequate patrolling by Pakistan was the reason why jihadis had been able to sneak into Wana and then come back and regroup in southern Afghanistan.

Pakistan had, while countering the allegations, then said that it had deployed as many as 75, 000 troops along the border, in three layers for foiling cross border infiltration by the jihadis. (ANI)

Osama could be anywhere: FO

ISLAMABAD, July 9: Refuting the claim by the Afghan defence minister that Al Qaeda leaders were likely to be present in Pakistan, the Foreign Office on Saturday said no one knows about the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden or his deputy and they could be anywhere including Afghanistan.

“They (Al Qaeda leaders) could be anywhere in the world, including Afghanistan,” Foreign Office Spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said, while commenting on the statement of Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak.

The spokesman said what is more important is the efforts being made by Pakistan in fighting international terrorism.

Wardai in a statement on Saturday said Osama, his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omer were “continuously moving and do not stay in one place for a long time, but it is more likely they are on the other side of the border”.—APP

[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.]