Karzai vows clean sweep of corrupt Afghan

KABUL, April 19 (Reuters) - The Afghan government will sweep provincial officials out of office if complaints against them over security or corruption prove true, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday.

Karzai, who has made fighting corruption a priority since winning the presidential election in October, said senior officials would fan out across the country to scrutinise administration in the provinces.

"We have decided to study each of Afghanistan's provinces separately ... if there is a need for wholesale reform, then we will do it and we will send new individuals," Karzai told an audience made up mostly of Islamic scholars in Kabul.

Karzai said it would take up to 15 years to attain efficient government. As an example of public anger and frustration, Karzai referred to a demonstration last month by residents of the southern city of Kandahar angry about insecurity and child kidnapping.

Some protesters even called for the return of the Taliban, under whose strict rule much crime was stamped out. Many who voted for Karzai in October said they hoped he would root out corruption and consolidate the central government's hold on the country after nearly a quarter of a century of war and Taliban rule.

In the first case of its kind in years, two deputy ministers in Karzai's government and six senior officials were sentenced last week to various terms in prison on graft charges.

Minister Says Kabul Should Control Aid Flows - Robert McMahon - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Afghan leaders have begun to call for a leading role in handling the disbursement of billions of dollars in reconstruction aid. Finance Minister Anwar al-Haq Ahadi says the government can channel such aid more efficiently in projects ranging from education to infrastructure development. He also says international donors and the government need to do much more to eliminate the country’s booming opium economy.

Washington, 18 April 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Three years of international domination of the reconstruction process in Afghanistan is enough.

That’s the view of Afghan Finance Minister Anwar al-Haq Ahadi. Echoing the recent comments of President Hamid Karzai, Ahadi said his government should take control of the development process.

He told RFE/RL at the IMF/World Bank spring meetings that the government controls less than one-third of the reconstruction aid. It needs to be given a chance, he said, to show it can handle larger aid flows.

“If most of the money were to be channeled through the government, we think there would be more coherence to the programs, greater rationality to it, and we think greater effectiveness," Ahadi said. "Usually the argument is used that the Afghan government does not have the capacity to handle this amount of money for reconstruction. We think we are ready for the challenge.”

After decades of war and civil strife, Afghans have made clear progress in establishing institutions of self governance. But three years after the ouster of the Taliban, there has been intensifying debate over the lag in improving living standards, which are far behind most of the rest of the world.

Ahadi said the Finance Ministry has been more disciplined in its handling of aid money than international agencies. He did not name specific projects, but said international efforts to build schools and improve infrastructure could be better run.

“It’s clinics, it’s bridges, it’s roads. In all those areas we should be able to do better in terms of cost effectiveness," Ahadi said. "But right now we cannot do that because in a lot of instances we are not responsible for that.”

Donors last year in Berlin pledged more than $8 billion to Afghanistan over a period of up to three years. In addition, the U.S. government has proposed spending more than $5 billion on assistance to Afghanistan in its next budget.

Ahadi proposes a huge increase in moneys directed toward eliminating the country’s huge opium trade. The United Nations estimates 60 percent of Afghanistan's economy is tied to the illegal drug trade. With such a large gap to compensate for, current programs promoting alternative livelihoods fall far short of what is needed, according to Ahadi.

“In my opinion, the amount of resources that have been made available for this program -- $2-$3 billion -- that is not adequate," Ahadi said. "The size of our drug economy is between $2.5 and $3 billion and to fill that gap the amount of international resources that need to be committed will have to be closer to that size.”

Afghanistan’s economy is mainly agriculture based and Ahadi suggests that an alternative crop program to replace opium is the right approach. But he said that the country and donors must find a mechanism that provides farmers a substantive income.

“Right now, [the international community has] some unemployment programs or what they call emergency employment programs. Well, that’s good for that limited amount of time that those people are engaged but they need longer-term solutions," Ahadi said. "Building roads so that villagers will have adequate access to markets? Yes, that’s good but I don’t think it’s adequate. Providing fertilizers? Of course that’s good but it’s not going to increase their income to even one-fourth of what they can get [growing opium].”

Some established aid agencies have reacted with concern to government comments about the effectiveness of nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. They say NGOs are being made a scapegoat by Kabul for slow progress on reconstruction.

The government and donor countries have set up a task force to examine policy toward NGOs.

Only a fourth of the parliamentary election budget financed so far
Pajhwok Afghan News - 04/18/2005 By Lailoma Sadid

KABUL - Less than a quarter of the money required for the conduct of the parliamentary elections has been collected so far, the Joint Electoral Management Board said. The JEMB said $36 million of the required budget of $148 million had been collected. The $36 million includes the $16million which remains from the money collected for the conduct of the presidential elections.

Confirming the figures, Sayed Mohammad Azam, the spokesman of JEMB said they did not see any problems in securing finance for the parliamentary election budget. "We believe donors will give us the money on time" he said.

The registration for parliamentary elections scheduled in September will begin on April 30 and continue up May 16. Bismillah Bismil the head of the independent election commission felt donors would provide the money on time and the election would not have to be postponed.

He said there would be almost 30,000 voting centers and almost 20,000 workers carrying out the process. He said refugees in Pakistan and Iran could not participate because of technical and financial problems.

Earlier some of the representatives of refugees of Pakistan had said in Kabul that they wanted to take part in the elections because it was their right.

US at the 'Pivot' of the World - The Christian Science Monitor
from the April 18, 2005 edition - Commentary - The Monitor's View

Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a plea last week to visiting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the US military make itself at home with a long-term presence in his country. The often poker-faced Mr. Rumsfeld was noncommittal, as well he should be.

It is one thing for the United States to liberate Afghanistan of Taliban rule and Al Qaeda terrorist camps, as it did in 2001 after Sept. 11. And the 17,000 US forces still in that Central Asian nation are helping it fight jihadist remnants, rebuild the country, and curb the opium trade.

But the US should resist the temptation to leave a big American footprint in Afghanistan or, for that matter, any of the five other "stans" - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan - in the center of Eurasia.

Large US military bases in this vast land mass of rich hydrocarbons and Muslims that lies near Russia, China, India, and the Middle East would only create more targets for further attacks on Americans by the very extremist Islamists the US seeks to suppress.

'Pivot of history' - A century ago, a British geographer and founder of modern geopolitics, Sir Halford Mackinder, stated in a historic speech that "the Eurasian heartland" that's now called Central Asia and the Caucasus is the "geographical pivot of history." Whoever controls this region, he said, "commands the World." Many in Washington and other capitals often cite his words in their global strategic think.

For much of the 20th century, the Soviet Union controlled most of these nations. Since the Soviet collapse in 1991, each "stan" has tried to chart an independent course, wary of being a pawn in a renewed great game of big-power rivalry along this silk road of petroleum riches. But Russia, China, Turkey, Japan, and the US have all vied for influence, mainly through economic competition.

US footprint so far - Last month, the US had a role in the largely peaceful uprising in Kyrgyzstan fomented in part by US aid to pro-democracy civic groups. It keeps a small military presence in Kyrgyzstan with nearly 1,000 troops supporting military aircraft operations in Afghanistan. In addition, the US has access to a military airfield in Uzbekistan and, last week, made an agreement with the nearby Caucasus state of Azerbaijan to have mobile American forces "temporarily deployed" in that country.

For the US, these nations with their large Muslim populations are a front line in the strategy to prevent terrorists from finding a new home base, as Al Qaeda did in Afghanistan. The US commander overseeing the area, Gen. John Abizaid, told Congress in March that each country runs the risk of becoming both a failed state and a safe haven for terrorists. He said Al Qaeda and other extremist groups are active in the region.

But General Abizaid said the Pentagon's current "strategic basing" plan is to have only a few, small permanent bases and to rely mainly on local forces and US units that rotate in and out. The US, he said, must "effectively synchronize all elements of US national power to assist moderate Muslims in their fight against extremists."

This mix of light "hard" power and stronger "soft" power such as commerce, aid, and civic support is the best way to uplift the region while not turning the US into an imperial meddler. It's not an easy task. Central Asia is rife with poverty and corruption, and easily prone to tyranny.

As for US bases in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld did respond, "We think more in terms of what we're doing rather than the question of military bases and that type of thing."

Countering Iran - The temptation for the US, however, may be to create a robust military presence in Central Asia to counter Iran, which is developing the capacity for making nuclear weapons. Abizaid says Iran is building a military force "capable of regional power projection." It already has the largest military force in the area, and a record of aggressive military acts.

A small US military role in the region is possible with today's high-tech American forces that are faster and more flexible than in the past. Protecting both the region's oil resources and its Muslims from extremists doesn't need many boots on the ground. Rather, the US must be present but not very visible.

Guantanamo Prisoners Arrive in Afghanistan - By PAUL HAVEN, AP Apr 19

KABUL, Afghanistan - Seventeen Afghan men released from the U.S. detention center for terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay have arrived in Afghanistan and are being turned over to local authorities, in what appeared be the largest single release of prisoners since September, officials said Tuesday.

Abdul Wakil Omari, a spokesman for the Afghan Supreme Court, said the men would be formally handed over during a ceremony at the court later Tuesday. He did not say how many prisoners had been released, but other officials put the number at 17.

"There are seventeen of them and they are being handed over to the Afghan National Security Council," a senior Afghan official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The security council oversees the country's various intelligence agencies.

Abdul Malik Kamawee, another Supreme Court official, said the men were being taken by road from Bagram Air Base, the main U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, to the capital. "We sent a bus for them," he said.

It was not clear if the men will face charges in their home country. The U.S. military had no immediate comment, referring all questions to Afghan authorities.

In late March, the Pentagon declared that 38 Guantanamo Bay prisoners were no longer considered "enemy combatants" — the bulk of them from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Five of those men had already been sent home, but the other 33 remained at the U.S. Navy base awaiting transportation.

It was not immediately clear if the 17 Afghans being turned over Tuesday were from that group. The U.S. military has released more than 200 detainees from Guantanamo, but many — including dozens of prisoners sent to the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan — are freed on the condition they will be held by their home countries.

Some 38 Pakistanis — including at least 29 released from Guantanamo Bay in September — are still being held in their home country, most without charge. The government has said it is "debriefing" the men. Tuesday's release was the first of Afghans from Guantanamo this year.

In January, the U.S. military freed 81 prisoners held at American detention centers in Afghanistan. At the time, Afghan Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari said his government was pressing for the release of hundreds more Afghans from American custody.

American and allied Afghan forces captured thousands of suspected Taliban and al-Qaida members in Afghanistan after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the repressive Taliban government in late 2001.

Hundreds of detainees have been classified as "enemy combatants" and transferred to Guantanamo. Shinwari said in January that some 400 Afghans continue to be held at U.S. jails here and in Guantanamo, though exact numbers were not clear.

Taliban leaders to join peace process: Official

KABUL, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A large number of Taliban high- ranking leaders accepted the government-initiated national  reconciliation policy and would soon announce their support  publicly, presidential spokesman said Tuesday.

"A considerable number of Taliban's prominent leaders have  returned to Afghanistan, even to Kabul," Jawed Ludin told  journalists at a news conference here.

His remarks came amid reported presence of Taliban's senior  leader Mawlawi Abdul Kabir to Kabul and talks with government  officials. Kabir, who served as acting head of state during Taliban's  reign, is according to media in Kabul to seek reconciliation and  join government, while a Taliban spokesman Mullah Rahmatullah last week rejected the report as unfounded and said no Taliban would  contact US-backed administration.

However, Ludin expressed his ignorance about Kabir's presence  to the capital city. "Not only the Taliban but all Afghans who afraid of their past political affiliation can return home and resume their normal  lives," he noted. "It is the time to rebuild our country".

More and more Taliban members have surrendered to the  government since the collapse of the former extremist regime more  than three years ago. In the beginning of April, one of the most  high-profile Taliban commanders Wahid handed himself over to the  authorities, which has helped to bring other Taliban in.

Taliban's elusive chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, whose supporters have intensified their activities since the beginning of spring,  vowed early of March in a statement to continue Jihad or holy war  till the withdrawal of US-dominated foreign troops from  Afghanistan.  

Firefight in Afghan mountains leaves at least eight suspected Taliban dead - By PAUL HAVEN

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Afghan soldiers conducting a sweep in a mountain area south of the capital exchanged fierce fire with suspected Taliban rebels, killing eight and capturing 16 in some of the heaviest fighting in months, officials said Tuesday.

Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry, said U.S. warplanes joined in the battle Monday in the mountains of southern Zabul province. A spokesman in the Zabul governor's office, Ali Khail, said Chechens and Arabs were among those killed and captured.

Khail also said the U.S. military provided air support for the Afghan forces, and that some of the captured militants were turned over to U.S. custody.

A spokeswoman for the American military, Lt. Cindy Moore, said that as of Monday evening she had received no reports of fighting in the area involving U.S. forces. The region is extremely remote, and there was no way to immediately reconcile the two stories.

Khail also said a local Taliban commander named Mullah Abdullah may have been among those killed, but that there was no confirmation of his death.

In another incident, suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers in southwestern Oruzgan province, sparking a one-hour firefight, Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan told The Associated Press.

two Taliban were killed in the fighting Sunday, and Afghan soldiers arrested a regional Taliban commander named Mullah Allah Noor. The other militants escaped into the mountains.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Monday that one of its CH-47 helicopters operating in the south made a ``precautionary landing'' near Kandahar after developing a mechanical problem. Moore said there were no injuries in the incident, which occurred early Sunday, and that the helicopter was repaired on site.

A rapid reaction force was sent out to bring the soldiers on board safely back to base. Moore had no details on how many soldiers were on the helicopter when it was forced to land.

Twenty-five nomadic Kuchis arrested in southern Afghanistan - Pajhwok Afghan News 04/18/2005 By Abdul Majid Arif

KHOST - Twenty five Kuchi nomadic tribal people have been arrested by the coalition forces from a village in southern Khost, according to a Kuchi elder speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday.

The tribal leader, Ramazan Kuchi told Pajhwok that around 19:00 local time an American chopper landed near their homes and then the forces carried out house-to-house searches until the early hours of the morning.

"They took 25 of our people with them after checking", Ramazan Kuchi added. But he claimed they were innocent and they weren't in possession of any arms, and don't understand why the Kuchis have been arrested.

When Pajhwok contacted the Coalition forces press office in Kabul, they were unable to give any further information about the incident for the time being.

Merajuddin Patan the governor of Khost told Pajhwok that the coalition forces entered the houses of the Kuchis with prior consent, and the elders were present during the search. During "last nights operation there were 14 arrests," Governor Patan added.

The commander for the frontier forces in Khost, Almargul Mangal confirmed the operations carried out by the coalition forces and the arrests, but failed to give further information that may have led to the arrests.

Analysis - Will the Taliban Disrupt Afghanistan's Elections? - Tuesday April 19, 10:14 AM Asia Pulse

KABUL, April 19 Asia Pulse - Despite recent attacks by suspected Taliban insurgents and their successive threats to carry out attacks in the future, some ordinary Afghans and security officials don't perceive the Taliban as a threat in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for September 18.

Analysts believe the elections would have thousands of contending candidates vying to register for the 249 parliamentary posts. According to the independent electoral commission, the registration of candidates will take place the week commencing the 30th of April. But the Taliban threats persist with warnings of attacks to disrupt the polls, and the US-led coalition forces have also predicted this. Lieutenant Cindy Moore, a spokeswoman for the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, told Pajhwok Afghan News, Sunday that she foresees a wave of Taliban attacks in the next six to nine months.

However, Zahir Murad, a spokesman for the ministry of defence in Kabul, said the Taliban threats were empty words, and they failed to fulfill their threats during the last presidential elections. "Lately, the nerve-center of the Taliban has dispersed completely," he said.

Murad said President Karzai's security organization and foreign forces will take special security measures to ensure security throughout the country, and make sure the elections go ahead according to schedule.

Security officials say there are more than 25,000 Afghan National Army soldiers and around 40,000 police ready to provide security for the parliamentary elections.

In addition, there are four army divisions in the western province of Herat, southern Kandahar, eastern Paktia and northern Balkh assigned to ensure security.

Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the interior ministry, agrees with Muradi. "The Taliban cannot do anything to disrupt the elections as the government has taken sufficient measures to ensure security, so all our compatriots should be confident," Mashal said.

The Afghan National Army will be positioned on all the routes and highways leading to the constituencies, and they will have the full backing of the international peacekeeping forces and the coalition forces.

A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also said that four F-16 planes from the Dutch contingent will be providing aerial support, for added security. Qudos Khan, a shopkeeper in the city of Kabul, is not afraid of the Taliban threats.

"The Taliban are weak now and their words are empty, and they just promise but never keep their word just like the government," he said. Faramarz, a United Nations worker in Kabul, said: "I don't think the Taliban will be able to carry out attacks anymore because they are weak and they no longer have the support they used to enjoy." But Taliban spokesman Lutfullah Hakimi in an interview with Pajhwok reiterated his vow to disrupt the September polls. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

Anti-US Magazine Hits News-Stands in Peshawar - April 19, 1:05 PM 

PESHAWAR, April 19 Asia Pulse - The fifth edition of Tora Bora magazine hit the news-stands in Peshawar on Monday, with a renewed call for jihad against foreign military presence in Afghanistan.
The magazine, reportedly published by anti-American Afghans, is named after the former al-Qaeda stronghold of Tora Bora mountain range southwest of Nangarhar province near the Pak-Afghan border.

In Tora Bora, where the CIA built caves and tunnels during the Afghan jihad against the Russian intervention, US forces launched a major - but abortive - military operation against al-Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden and his supporters in 2001.

As the periodical emphatically rules out negotiations with the government led by US-backed President Hamid Karzai, most authors and the publisher have chosen to stay anonymous.

But a source confided to Pajhwok Afghan News the journal was brought out by Maulvi Anwarul Haq Mujahid, who is believed to have quietly taken charge of the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (Khalis faction) from his father Maulvi Mohammad Younis Khalis.

Maulvi Younis Khalis, after declaring jihad against the US-led coalition forces, went into hiding and some months back his family told this news agency he had died. However, Shamsul Islam - a nephew of the jihadi group's leader - insisted his uncle was alive. The 52-page publication carries a letter from Maulvi Khalis, urging Afghans, Taliban and mujideen to press on with their fight against foreign military presence in their country. The letter roundly condemns "American cruelties against Afghans."

In his message, Khalis is quoted as having said: "We will push ahead with jihad in Allah's way even if a few hundred people surrender and go into reconciliation talks with the enemy. This surrender, meaning in no way a victory for the enemy, won't weaken the resolve of the jihad caravan."

On the title page, the magazine has colour photographs of whom it calls "Americans killed in Afghanistan." It contains a number of poems and articles denouncing President Bush, his former ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, past Afghan governments and the Karzai administration. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

Afghans to learn China's development experience: says Afghan Vice President

KABUL, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's Vice President Abdul  Karim Khalili has sought China's support in the recovery and  stabilization of its economy. 

"As Afghanistan's great neighbor, China has made significant  achievement in the field of economy, so we Afghans are looking  forward to learn your experience and stabilize our economy," he  told Xinhua before leaving for Beijing.   

Khalili, who is paying his first visit to China on Tuesday,  would also attend the Boao Forum for Asia in south China's Hainan  Province.   "Today, China is one of the successful nations in developing  economy and it would be a huge contribution in rebuilding  Afghanistan if it extends its experience to us and pave the way  for our fast recovery," Khalili noted.

To a query, the Afghan leader backed China's possible support  in exploration and utilizing Afghanistan's untapped natural  resources.    "Afghanistan is a naturally rich resources country. We want  the cooperation of all our friends, particularly China, to extend  support in exploration and utilizing our underground resources and enable us to recover our economy," Khalili stressed.

He also termed the Sino-Afghan relations as "deep rooted,"  saying the historic relations between the two countries would  further grow in the years to come.

"China has never intervened in the internal affairs of  Afghanistan, rather it on Afghans side in the time of need," the  Afghan dignitary emphasized.  

The Hazara minority leader, who fought against former Soviet  Union and later on help the US military to oust Taliban regime in  late 2001, was sworn in as Second Vice-President of the Islamic  Republic of Afghanistan in December 2004. 

Afghan police arrest four drug traffickers, seize some 200 kilos of drugs

KABUL, April 16 (AFP) - Afghan police and counter-narcotic forces arrested four drug traffickers who were transporting some 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of narcotics through Kabul Saturday, an official said.

Interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said the men were arrested during a pre-dawn raid. More than 70 kilograms of heroin and 120 kilograms of opium, the raw ingredient of heroin, were seized during the raid, Mashal said.

Mashal said the men were driving a truck from the eastern province of Nangarhar, one of the main drug-producing regions in the war-torn country before being arrested near a checkpoint east of Kabul.

Afghanistan produces almost 90 percent of the world's opium. The United States and the United Nations have both warned it is on the brink of becoming a narco-state.

US to back Afghan government eradicate narcotics

KABUL, April 16 (Xinhua) -- US army in Afghanistan has decided  to help the Afghan government in its war against the booming poppy cultivation, Commander of the US-led coalition forces announced  here Saturday.

"Narcotics is clearly one of the most significant challenges  we are facing here and the coalition military here is doing more  and more to help enable Afghan government to be successful in its  war against narcotics." David W. Barno told journalists here.

He made this comment amid unabated increase in poppy  cultivation in the vast rural areas and government's inability to stop it. With an output of 3,600 tons of opium in 2003, Afghanistan  became the world largest producer of the raw material used in  manufacturing heroin, and the country secured the first position  in 2004 with an output of over 4,000 tons despite hectic efforts  of the government.

"Combined Forces Command in Afghanistan now has a full-time  counter narcotics intelligence, which can provide information on  the structure of various narcotics networks across the country,"  noted the general.

"We provide planning support and airlift to assist additional  forces if Afghan government forces move around to strike targets  in different parts of the country. We also provide reinforcing  capabilities to the forces as they conduct their missions against  labs and bazaars where stockpiles of narcotics have been put  together," he added.

The US government has contributed 750 million US dollars for  Afghanistan to fight against drug dealing in recent years, but the US military earlier refused to get involved in counter narcotics  activities directly. 

German troops to back fight against drugs in Afghanistan

BERLIN, April 17 (AFP) - German soldiers will help train Afghan troops from this autumn to combat the country's booming drug trade, German Defense Minister Peter Struck said in an interview to be published Monday.

Struck told the daily Berliner Zeitung that the German troops would begin helping to form Afghan anti-drug units from October and offer them logistical support.

He said that "drug barons" in the country saw foreign troops serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as the initiators of the war on drugs. "That means more danger for our soldiers," he said. "We are prepared."

The 8,300-strong ISAF force from 37 countries -- including some 2,000 soldiers from Germany -- was deployed to Afghanistan to provide security in and around the capital Kabul after the overthrow of the Taliban by US army forces in 2001.

Afghanistan produces almost 90 percent of the world's opium. The United States and the United Nations have both warned it is on the brink of becoming a narco-state.

Tajikistan forming mobile groups to fight Afghan drug trade

DUSHANBE. April 18 (Interfax) - The Tajik Presidential Drug Control Agency will set up mobile groups for combating drug contraband from Afghanistan, the agency's deputy chief Faizullo Abdulloyev told a Monday press conference.

The groups will operate in the Khatlon and Sogd regions and the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous district, where Afghan drugs are smuggled. The mobile groups will replace Russian border guards withdrawn from the Tajik-Afghan border.

Burqa no barrier for Afghan women poll candidates in Taliban heartland

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 17 (AFP) - She can't leave the house without an all-covering blue burqa, many of her relatives are scandalised, but Shahida Hussain is preparing to stand for parliament anyway.

The 50-year-old women's rights activist who lives in the Taliban spiritual heartland of Afghanistan is one of at least two women in the southern city of Kandahar who are preparing to stand for elections in Afghanistan's parliamentary polls on September 18.

Despite the fact that she is a woman in this deeply conservative city where many families do not let their female relatives leave the house, Hussain is optimistic about her chances in the parliamentary race.

"One thing that gives me hope is that I don't belong to any party or tribe and I am standing to represent ordinary people and my nation," she tells AFP in her living room, as her grandchildren run in and out.

However, the obstacles in front of her remain substantial. Fundamentalists from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban remain a threat. A group of men came to her home ahead of the October presidential vote and threatened her 10-year-old grandson last year, asking him to tell her to stay out of politics.

Hussain had been active in helping women register to vote and encouraging them to go to polling stations on election day in Kandahar province where only around 20 percent of women registered to vote compared to 41 percent nationwide.

"Tribal commanders and warlords are also a threat and lastly there are my relatives. If many of them don't want their women to leave the house it is difficult for them to accept me standing for parliament," she says. Her husband, who is a policeman, and her five sons support her political ambitions, she added.

Hussain is standing as an independent candidate, as President Hamid Karzai did, because after 23 years of war many Afghans remain deeply suspicious of political parties which were linked with different factions in the mujahedin who battled the Soviets in the 1980s and then fought bitterly with each other.

"I am afraid of political parties here. Their hands are red with the blood of innocent people," she says. Although western diplomats have cautioned that Karzai will face difficulties in pushing his policies through an elected parliament if there are no substantial party blocks to negotiate with both the president and many in his government are wary of the clout of political parties.

Afghanistan's parliament will be elected using the Single Non-transferable Vote system, which favours individual candidates over political parties. 

Nasrullah Khan, a program officer at the US-funded National Democratic Institute in Kandahar which promotes awareness of democratic principles and runs workshops to train individual and party candidates about their rights and responsibilities, says people's scepticism of parties is understandable.

"People have many doubts about political parties so we have opened this organisation to build understanding and awareness of what a party is supposed to do," he says.

Khan adds that it remains "difficult, although not impossible" for women to stand for election and conduct political campaigning in Kandahar and other conservative tribal parts of ethnically Pashtun southern Afghanistan. 

However, the institute has run political training for 30 women who will be canvassing for Jamila, an Afghan woman who goes by one name, who will be running along with Hussain as an independent candidate for parliament.

"We had 30 women here for Jamila (recently) and we were telling them about what a candidate is supposed to do," Khan says.

In a neighbouring room at the institute, a dozen women are getting a lesson in the role of political candidates in Afghanistan. 

The 12 are linked with the Milli Gund party -- formerly the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan -- but say they will have to do a lot of their political work covertly.

"Many of us are teachers in schools, but if the principals found out we were linked with a party we could be fired," Samina Ghul, a 26-year-old teacher says.

Khan says all of the women at the workshop have fathers and brothers or other relatives involved in the Milli Gund party or they wouldn't be allowed to get involved in politics, but he says it's a step in the right direction.

"At least the women are out of the home and finding out about politics," he says. Getting party representatives to sit around the table and discuss politics is also a major step forward, Khan adds.

"We had a meeting here last week with eight political parties and people who had been thirsty to kill each other were sitting and talking. That's big progress," he says.

Kabul Wants To Restore 'Historic Symbol of Democracy' For New Parliament - RFE/RL 04/19/2005 By Ron Synovitz

The Afghan government wants to restore a war-damaged former royal palace so it can be used as the east of the new parliament. The Darulaman Palace was built in the 1920s by former King Amanullah Khan as part of his plan for social and political modernization of his country. It originally was intended to house Afghanistan' s first elected parliament. But before that legislature could be created, King Amanullah was forced into exile by conservative elements who opposed his reforms.

The bombed-out ruins of the Darulaman Palace tower over the landscape to the south of Kabul. Sitting on a hilltop with its pockmarked portico balconies and Corinthian columns, it is a postcard image that has come to symbolize the destruction of Kabul during the civil wars of the 1990s. Long before it was gutted in the early 1990s, the Darulaman Palace had been a symbol of a different kind.

When it was designed in the 1920s by German architects, the structure was meant to symbolize King Amanullah Khan's plans for democratic modernization -- plans that ultimately failed when Islamic conservatives led a series of uprisings against him in late 1928 and he fled to Europe.

Economy Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang said the Afghan government wants to restore the three-story building to its classical European grandeur so that after more than 75 years, it finally can be used for its original intended purpose.

"The Afghan government has decided that Darulaman Palace should be prepared for the Afghan parliament because, during the time of Amanullah Khan, the building was built for democracy," Farhang said. "And now, this palace should be used for democracy."

Many Afghans today are unaware of Darulaman Palace's significance as a symbol of modern democratic aspirations. The country's first written constitution was promulgated by Amanullah Khan in 1923. It guaranteed personal freedom and equal rights of all Afghans. It also called for provincial councils to be created across Afghanistan with half of all members winning their seats through elections.

In his drive for modernization, Amanullah Khan established diplomatic and economic relations with major European and Asian states. He founded schools where classes were taught in French, German and English. And he built a new town to the south of Kabul -- named Darulaman, or "Abode of Peace" -- as Afghanistan's new administrative center.

Construction of his monumental Darulaman Palace for a future parliament was just part of the project. A structure for Kabul's municipal administration also was built nearby. A narrow-gauged railroad led to the center of Kabul about 10 kilometers away. Smaller government buildings and residential villas also were built for members of a newly established judiciary and for high-level government officials.

But the high cost of modernization -- and the king's efforts to reduce the power of Islamic clerics -- caused resentment among conservative Islamists and Pashtun tribal leaders.

The reformer king faced a series of tribal uprisings after he introduced reforms in the summer of 1928 that allowed women to be seen in public without head scarves or the all-encompassing burqa. At the beginning of 1929, just six months after announcing those reforms, Amanullah Khan was forced to renounce the throne and flee across the border into British Colonial India and eventually to Italy.

With Amanullah Khan's downfall, Darulaman ceased being the Afghan capital. The municipal building eventually was converted into the Kabul Museum, whose ancient collections were looted in the early 1990s by militia factions and vandalized in the late 1990s by the Taliban regime.

Darulaman Palace was first gutted by fire in 1969. It was restored to house the Defense Ministry during the 1970s and 1980s. But it was destroyed again as rival mujahedin factions fought for control of Kabul during the early 1990s. today, parts of Darulaman Palace are used by NATO troops as an observation post.

Afghan officials say laws on the protection of Afghanistan's national heritage make it their duty to protect the historical identity of Darulaman Palace. They also say that moving the parliament to Darulaman -- which is now a district of the capital -- will help alleviate chronic traffic jams in the city center. But they say funds for the reconstruction must come from private donors rather than the cash-strapped state budget.

Abdul Hamid Faruqi, an Afghan architect who lives in Germany and is a member of the Darulaman Reconstruction Foundation, has drawn up plans for the reconstruction project that have been endorsed by President Hamid Karzai's government.

"The first phase focuses only on reconstruction improvements that stabilize the existing structure and its historical facade [so that it doesn't deteriorate further]," Faruqi said. "The cost for this phase is about $7 million. The second phase is reconstruction of the entire building with all of its technical equipment to prepare it for use by legislators. That costs about $18 million."

Faruqi said that once enough private donations are collected for work to begin, it will take about 10 years before lawmakers can start using the restored building.

He noted that a third phase of the project still needs to be approved by the government. With a $60 million to $70 million price tag, it includes landscaping on the hill around the Darulaman Palace as well as the installation of a modern plumbing network in the area and an underground tunnel system for use by lawmakers and their staff.

The first post-Taliban parliament is due to be elected in September. A construction team from India is working on a building to house the legislature until reconstruction of the Darulaman Palace can be completed. (Hamida Osman, a Kabul correspondent with RFE/RL's Afghan Service, contributed to this report)

Appreciation: Marla Ruzicka, 1977-2005 - TIME's Simon Robinson remembers the activist who was killed Sunday in Baghdad  

By SIMON ROBINSON - Monday, Apr. 18, 2005 – Time Magazine

We didn't know what to make of Marla Ruzicka. Young, blonde, relentlessly buoyant and sometimes giggly, she stood out among the tired, cynical hacks and aid workers that usually populate war zones, so much so that battle-weary journalists nicknamed her "Bubbles" in the early days, uncertain what to make of this gregarious life force that had dropped in our midst. In Kabul and Baghdad during the past few years, Marla was the life of the party. She would rent a house for a day, arrange food and drink and then fire off e-mails to friends and colleagues inviting us to a celebration that sometimes ended with a display of her enviable salsa-dancing skills. But behind her party girl attitude and surfer-girl looks was a fearsome determination and astonishing compassion, qualities that were instrumental in her securing millions of dollars in aid money from the U.S. government last year to help the victims of American bombing in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ruzicka, 28, became a victim of the Iraqi conflict on Saturday, when a car bomb detonated beside her car on the perilous road from central Baghdad to the city's airport. Her longtime Iraqi aide and driver Faiz Ali Salim, 43, was also killed.

Ruzicka first visited Afghanistan as a representative of the San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange. She began lobbying for the victims of U.S. bombing who she said deserved compensation. Fiercely anti-war, she was savvy enough to understand that she probably couldn't stop conflicts but that she could help their victims. On one memorable occasion in Kabul, in early 2002, she organized a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy, arriving with a father and his daughter, the only survivors of a recent U.S. bombing raid that had left 18 family members dead.

The demonstration could have been a flop. The Marines inside the embassy gates were nervous and sent out Afghan lackeys to hassle any translators working for the gathered journalists. Ruzicka climbed up on an old concrete flower box and, shouting above the commotion, told the family's story and demanded compensation from Congress. She had no microphone and the crowd was being broken up even as she spoke. But through sheer force of personality she pulled it off and the story ran in the following day's papers. "I'd rarely met someone who could combine such strident activism with canny politics—all at the age of 24, when I first met her," says TIME's Vivienne Walt, who got to know Ruzicka in Kabul in 2002.

Within minutes of that meeting, Ruzicka was leading Walt into mountain villages to introduce her to families who had lost their homes in U.S. bombing attacks. She was famous among journalists in Baghdad for being able to talk herself through any checkpoint. To seal her valuable contacts, she jogged with U.S. military JAGs, and knew countless ministry, police and hospital officials by first name. "With her incredible knack for making friends and her indefatigable investigative pursuits, she taught many of us who were a lot older some things about how to do our jobs," says Walt.

Two years ago, Ruzicka founded her own human rights group, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict She set herself the momentous task of tracking the civilian victims of collateral damage in Iraq and began lobbying Congress for compensation, convincing U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy to put a special fund in last year's foreign aid bill. The $17.5 million promised so far is just part of her legacy. Ruzicka's short life, so packed with adventure and achievement, is proof that belief and resolve can achieve incredible things.

Alleged Daniel Pearl killer says met Bin Laden twice: report

ISLAMABAD, April 19 (AFP) - An Islamic militant sentenced to death for the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan said in a rare interview published Tuesday that he met Osama bin Laden twice in Afghanistan.

British-born Sheikh Omar also admitted he was "involved" in kidnapping Pearl in 2002 but said he did not take part in his brutal murder, according to the latest edition of the English-language magazine Newsline.

The magazine said it had obtained written answers from Sheikh to questions smuggled into his cell while he was at Adiala Jail in the northern town of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. He has since been moved to another prison.

"Yes, I met him twice in Afghanistan," Sheikh said when asked if he had met the Al-Qaeda chief, the first time the 31-year-old has admitted encountering bin Laden. He did not say when the meetings took place.

But he added that he did not agree with all bin Laden's methods and was now committed to Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed, fugitive head of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, as the "overall leader of all mujahideen (holy warriors)".

Sheikh expressed no regret for his actions, saying only that he had "some causes of anxiety, such as the fact that my son is growing up without me -- he's three years old now".

His lawyer, Mohsin Imam, said he was not aware of the interview and could not verify its contents. Sheikh's appeal against his conviction for plotting the abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal correspondent Pearl in the southern city of Karachi is pending in a Pakistani court.

The High Court of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, is due to take up the appeal on May 13. He was convicted by an anti-terrorism court in July 2002 and sentenced to death.

Sheikh was held briefly at Adiala in connection with the probe into an abortive attempt on the life of President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, and is now at Hyderabad jail in southern Pakistan.

Pearl, the Journal's Bombay-based South Asia correspondent, disappeared in Karachi on January 23, 2002, while working on a story into the murky underworld of Pakistani militant groups.

[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.]