Karzai warns Afghanistan could become al-Qaida haven again without international support - 04/28/2005 08:43:51 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai warned Thursday that without sustained assistance from the United States and other countries, Afghanistan would likely slide back into the kind of anarchy that allowed it to become a haven for al-Qaida.

Afghan and U.S. officials have said they are discussing a long-term "strategic partnership" covering military, political and economic ties. But it remained unclear whether a deal for permanent U.S. military bases in Afghanistan is under consideration.

"To avoid facing the same thing again, we need long-term assistance ... We want an undertaking and a guarantee of help from the international community and America," Karzai said in a speech to foreign diplomats and former mujahideen rebel leaders.

Karzai made his appeal at a military parade marking the 13th anniversary of the triumph of U.S.-backed rebels over Afghanistan's former Soviet-backed government -- a victory quickly spoiled as rival factions plunged the country into civil war.

Karzai inspected hundreds of marching troops from the Afghan National Army, a U.S.-trained force that is replacing the feuding militias and warlord armies who helped American forces drive out the Taliban in 2001.

Since then, about 50,000 former militiamen have been demobilized under a U.N. disarmament program supposed to ensure that deep ethnic and factional divides will not boil over into larger-scale fighting.

The parade marked 13 years since the government of former President Najibullah, a one-time secret police chief who held on to power for more than three years after the withdrawal of Soviet troops, formally surrendered to rebel leaders on April 28, 1992.

Four years of civil war left the feuding mujahideen factions too weak to resist the rise of the Taliban, who triggered the American invasion by refusing to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

Key Taliban commander killed, other arrested in Afghanistan

KABUL, April 29 (AFP) - Afghan military forces have killed a key commander of the ousted Taliban militia and captured another important militant in southcentral Afghanistan, the military said Friday.

Mullah Besmillah, a key Taliban leader in troubled south-central Uruzgan province, was killed in fighting with Afghan soldiers late Thursday when another militant, Mullah Abdul Manan, was captured, the official said.

"They were both the Taliban's key commanders in the region -- their capture will have a major impact on security," General Muslim Hamed, the military commander in southern Afghanistan, told AFP.

The clash was part of an operation by the Afghan military, backed by coalition troops, to hunt down militants in southern and southeastern Afghanistan, plagued by a Taliban insurgency.

"Our hunt for Taliban began last week and will continue until we root them out," the general said. Remnants of the hardline Islamic Taliban regime ousted in a US-led operation in late 2001 have stepped up attacks on Afghan and coalition forces in the recent weeks.

Southern and eastern Afghanistan, rugged terrain along the Afghan-Pakistan border, have seen heavy clashes which have claimed dozens of lives, including of two coalition soldiers.

A US soldier was killed and another was injured Tuesday when Taliban militants attacked their unit in Uruzgan's troubled Deh Rawood district. A Romanian soldier was killed last week in a suspected mine blast in neighbouring Kandahar province, also hit by a wave of renewed attacks by Taliban militants.

More than 18,000 coalition troops, dominated by some 16,000 Americans, are in Afghanistan to help root out the Taliban. The United States launched the operation to topple the Taliban after the fundamentalist regime refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.

Seventeen Hezb-e-Islami militants surrender in Afghanistan

KHOST, Afghanistan, April 28 (AFP) - Seventeen members of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group have laid down their arms and surrendered to Afghan authorities in the southeast of the country, an official said Thursday.

However, it was unclear if any members of the militant organisation would be eligible for a government amnesty offered to the Taliban. The Hezb-e-Islami is led by former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who is on the United States' most wanted list of terror suspects.

"Seventeen commanders of Hezb-e-Islami from different districts of Paktia and Khost provinces returned from Pakistan and joined the political process," Merajudeen Patan, Khost Governor, told reporters at a press conference.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered an amnesty to rank and file Taliban fighters last year and said all but a hardcore of 150 militants wanted for human rights violations would be able to rejoin the political process.

Mahmood Khan, a 51-year-old commander from Samkay district of Paktia province who headed the group of 17 militants, said he was hoping to play an active role in rebuilding Afghanistan.

"We returned to Afghanistan to participate in the reconstruction process of the country," Khan said. He said that he had remained in exile in Pakistan since the collapse of the Taliban in 2001 because he was afraid of being arrested by US-led forces.

"We have never participated in attacks against coalition forces or the Afghan government but we were afraid someone would give false information about us to the US and we would be arrested," Khan told AFP. Khan said the group had not had any contact with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the last three years.

Merajudeen Patan also confirmed that Malim Jan, a Taliban commander alleged to have organised attacks against Afghan and US-led forces, had surrendered to US troops. "Malim Jan is now with coalition forces in Chapman Base," he told AFP.

In addition, three middle ranking Taliban joined the reconciliation process in the Zarmat district of Paktia earlier this week. Hayo Gull Sleman Khel, chief of Paktia Police, named the three as; Mullah Ahmad Shah, district officer of Zarmat in the Taliban regime; Mullah Nawab, head of the Zarmat Madrasa; and a third, Mullah Hamidullah.

He said the trio were well-known in Zarmat, a hotbed for Taliban attacks, and were involved in recent strikes on coalition forces. Defections resulting from the amnesty have gathered momentum in recent weeks with the surrender of significant figures.

Habib-ur Rehman, who headed the criminal investigation department at the ministry of interior under the Taliban, handed himself over on April 21 and this followed the surrender of two Taliban commanders a day earlier.

Three years after the ousting of the Taliban by a US-led international coalition force, the remnants of the regime are still waging a guerrilla insurgency in the south and southeast of the country.

Taliban coming in from cold - Citing fatigue, five Taliban commanders have taken an amnesty offer this month. Will more follow?

By Scott Baldauf | The Christian Science Monitor from the April 28, 2005
KHOST, AFGHANISTAN - When Taliban commander "Dr. Rasheid" handed himself over to the Afghan government three months ago, he half expected to end up in a US plane bound for Guantánamo Bay. Instead, he was greeted with open arms and invited to help the government persuade his Taliban friends to turn themselves in as well.

His decision to accept Afghan President Hamid Karzai's amnesty offer has been followed in the past three weeks by at least five mid-level Taliban officials. It's too soon to tell if the trickle of hard-line Taliban commanders like Rasheid will become a torrent - and it's premature to declare the demise of the Taliban as a fighting force. With the warmer spring weather, in fact, the frequency and intensity of the Taliban attacks on some 16,000 US and 2,200 NATO forces is rising.

But the tide appears to be shifting. Fatigue is setting in among Taliban fighters. "We are tired of war; we don't want to continue with the destruction of our country," says Rasheid, who used a pseudonym for this interveiw because he continues to cross the border into Pakistan to persuade Taliban members to stop their fighting and support the Afghan government.

President Karzai offered an olive branch to rank-and-file Taliban fighters last year and said all but a core group of 150 militants wanted for human-rights violations would be able to rejoin the political process. "Not only the Taliban but all Afghans who are afraid of their past political affiliation can return home and resume their normal lives," says Jawed Luddin, a Karzai spokesman. "It is the time to rebuild our country."

Dr. Rasheid agrees but says "the Taliban are still worried that the government will take revenge on them, or they will send us to Guantanamo. We are trying our best to convince them [to accept the amnesty], but it is very hard work. Even so, we will not stop."

Meanwhile, recent attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan suggest that anti-government militancy is not dead yet.

• On April 18, US and Afghan forces killed 17 suspected Taliban guerrillas and captured 17 others in the Dai Chopan district of southern province Zabul. Among the captured were Pakistani and Chechen nationals, the Afghan government says.

• In a separate incident in early April, US gunships killed 12 insurgents in the southeastern province of Paktia. • In Khost, US troops detained 24 suspected Taliban during a Sunday night raid in remote Ali Sher district.

While the number of Taliban attacks are up compared with the winter months, they're still down compared with last spring. Last year at this time, the Taliban targeted election workers ahead of the presidential vote.

"It's hard to see a trend here," says Andrew Wilder, director of the Afghan Rehabilitation and Evaluation Unit, a Western-funded think tank in Kabul. "Last year at this time, the security situation was worse, with most of the violence related to election activities."

Such attacks come at a time when the US military, along with Afghan and Pakistani forces, are stepping up operations against the Taliban.

Lt Gen. David Barno said militants would look to score a "propaganda victory" by staging attacks prior to the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections. "Terrorists here in Afghanistan want to reassert themselves and I expect that they will be looking here in the next six to nine months or so to stage some type of high-profile attack to score media publicity," General Barno told reporters in Kabul last week.

Some Afghan officials argue that it is not US and Afghan military pressure, but promises of reconciliation that are drawing more Taliban back into a peaceful life in Afghanistan. The key change, Afghan officials say, was Karzai's December announcement of amnesty to lower- and mid-level Taliban.

"Twenty Taliban have come to my office," says Merajuddin Pathan, governor of Khost province, which abuts the Pakistan border. "They say we have more people who want to turn themselves in. They want a peaceful life. They don't want to be harassed anymore."

But Governor Pathan offers his own variation on the Karzai amnesty plan, making a distinction between welcoming Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban. "The Pakistani Taliban have been brainwashed by Jaish-e Mohammad and Lashkar-e Tayyaba [two Pakistani Islamic militant groups]. But the Afghan are not well educated, plus they are coming from a tribal society, so they are not very deep rooted in ideology."

Different mentalities will require different methods, Pathan says. "We will deal with the Afghan Taliban through dialogue. And we will handle the Pakistani Taliban with bullets."

For now, the most prominent of the Taliban leaders to hand themselves in include mid-level commanders such as Mufti Habib-ur Rahman, a top crime control official in the Taliban Ministry of Interior.

"Afghanistan is in a critical situation," Mufti Rahman said to a gathering of journalists in Khost on Saturday. "I accepted this, that I am a citizen of this country, and I should not be against the law of my country. I have students under me, and I have friends, and they will come back too."

Hard-line leaders of the Taliban, including the group's elusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, have dismissed the amnesty as an attempt to create a rift in the movement. Taliban officials say they will never negotiate with the Karzai government as long as US forces are on Afghan soil. The Taliban have also called on the government to reveal the names of the 150 wanted members.

US-led troops overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 after they refused to hand over the al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Some Taliban say that despite the recent "defections" it is still difficult to persuade their Taliban colleagues to give up the gun.

"We are very happy to be back," says Gul Muhammad, another mid-level Taliban commander who used a pseudonymn for this interview. He has agreed to travel back to Pakistan and act as a mediator between the Afghan government and the Taliban. "We can change some people's perceptions, telling them first that Afghanistan is not occupied by a foreign power, and that Islam is not in danger."

But convincing Taliban members that they will be safe when they return is much tougher, says Rasheid. "We have Taliban friends, and the first thing they tell us is, 'How can you ask me to reconcile with that government when our friends and brothers are in Guantánamo? If you release them, that will be our guarantee that we will turn ourselves in.' "

The release of 17 Afghan detainees from Guantánamo on April 18 was a good step, Rasheid says. "If possible, bring all the Afghans in Guantánamo back so they can live in dignity," he says.

Kabul Bids Farewell to Powerful Friend – IWPR 04/28/2005 By Wahidullah Amani and Hafizullah Gardesh

The announcement earlier this month that United States ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is leaving his post in Kabul to become the US envoy to Iraq has stunned many in the Afghan capital.

The Afghan-born diplomat, commonly known as the "viceroy", has wielded extraordinary power since he was first appointed as a US special presidential envoy following the fall of the Taleban in late 2001.
He was instrumental in helping set up the interim government and was intimately involved in last year's presidential election. But some argue that he has been too deeply embroiled in the country's political process.

"Khalilzad was an Afghan and was familiar with the Afghan character," said Mohammad Sediq Patman, a political analyst and member of the commission that drafted the new constitution. "He was the only ambassador whom people could contact directly."

Khalilzad was born in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif in 1951. An ethnic Pashtun, he is fluent in both Dari and Pashtu. He was educated in Lebanon and the US, and earned a doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago in 1979.

Considered a Washington insider, Khalilzad served in the Reagan administration as well as under both former president George Bush senior and the current president.

"Khalilzad was extremely successful in carrying out his mission in Afghanistan, and because of that the US government has decided to send him to Iraq to get the situation there under control," said Patman.

But some analysts say that Khalilzad, who became ambassador in November 2003 after serving nearly two years as special envoy, had too much authority and sometimes overshadowed President Hamed Karzai.

"Khalilzad was interfering in the political and national affairs of our country, disregarding the will of the people," said Bashir Bezhen, a spokesman for the Kangara-e-Milli, or National Congress party. Bezhen accused Khalilzad of fanning political and ethnic tension by expressing clear preference for Karzai during the presidential elections.

"If we'd had a non-Afghan [US envoy], he would have been more impartial," said Bezhen, who claims Khalilzad was removed in response to a request from his party, an assertion few other observers would take seriously.

Shukria Barakzai, a political analyst who served as a member of the constitutional drafting commission, agreed that Khalilzad's legacy was somewhat ambiguous.

"Khalilzad's interference in the internal affairs of our country was unacceptable to Afghans," she told IWPR. She said the US ambassador exerted direct influence on members of the constitutional commission during the drafting process and played the role of kingmaker during the presidential elections in October 2004.

But on balance, Barakzai rates Khalilzad's contribution as positive. For one thing, she said, Khalilzad played an extremely important role in maintaining security, preventing neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Iran from trying too hard to gain a foothold.

This influence, said Barakzai, was due as much to Khalilzad's background as to the prominence of his adopted country. "Khalilzad's presence in Afghanistan was unacceptable to our neighbours, because they saw Khalilzad as an Afghan, not just as the White House envoy," she said.

Khalilzad has been closely involved in Afghan affairs for many years. At the State Department from 1985 to 1989, he pushed hard for more aid for the mujahedin who were fighting Soviet forces, Washington's Cold War enemy. It was this extra influx of cash and military aid, including Stinger missiles, that many observers credit with turning the tide of the war, leading to the Soviets withdrawal in 1989.

Khalilzad's long involvement with his homeland has been controversial at times. His past role as a consultant to the US oil giant Unocal in the Nineties raised eyebrows when he was appointed ambassador, as did his defence of the Taleban in the years before Osama Bin Laden emerged as the Islamic regime's most notorious guest and ally.

Fazul Rahman Orya, a political analyst, does not dispute the charges that there was some diplomatic meddling, but says Khalilzad just did what was necessary. "Our country needed someone to help formulate its foreign and domestic policies, and Khalilzad was very useful in this regard," he said.
Orya believes that Khalilzad's departure could actually be a positive development for Afghanistan, since whoever follows him will be able to set new priorities. "The new ambassador will most likely focus on civil society rather than the warlords," he said.

Others wish the ambassador could have stayed a bit longer. The head of the supreme court, Fazal Hadi Shinwari, sent an open letter to the US Congress, asking that Khalilzad's mission be extended through the parliamentary elections currently scheduled for September 18. His request elicited strong reactions from Afghan political parties and observers, who grumbled that the supreme court had no business interfering with US political decisions.

Shinwari defended his move, saying that he had issued the plea not as a member of the supreme court, but as head of the nation's ulema, or council of religious scholars. Sentiment on the street seems to show that Khalilzad will be missed.
Reflecting the general mood, Sardar Mohammad, 40, a resident of Kabul's downtown Shahr-e-Naw district, told IWPR, "As an Afghan, Khalilzad worked hard for the reconstruction of the country. I don't know how the new ambassador will be, but Khalilzad was certainly good for Afghanistan." No new ambassador has been named as yet. Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul. Hafizullah Gardesh is the IWPR local editor.

Domestic Flights by Private Afghan Airline Banned - RFE/RL 04/28/2005

The Afghan Transport Ministry has banned Kam Air's internal operations, Tolu Television reported on 27 April. Feda Mohammad Fedawi, the airline's deputy director, told Tolu that there is no legal basis for banning Kam Air's flights.

"We have done nothing illegal and the matter has not been evaluated by a legal source," Fedawi added. The Transport Ministry has not commented on the ban. Kam Air, Afghanistan's first privately owned airline, began operating in late 2003.

In February, a Kam Air flight originating in western Herat city crashed near Kabul, killing all aboard. It is not clear if the ban on Kam Air is related to the crash.

Police launch probe into reported stoning of Afghan women - AFP
April 26, 2005

KABUL -- Afghan police launched an investigation on Sunday into reports that a woman in northeastern Afghanistan was stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery, officials said. The incident took place on Friday in the Urgu district of Badakhshan province some 370 kilometers (230 miles) north of capital Kabul.

"We got reports that on Friday a woman was stoned to death for adultery based on the decision of local Mullah Mohammed Yusof in Urgu district," said Lieutenant General Shah Jahan Noori, the provincial police chief.

"We have sent a delegation to the area to verify the truth of the issue," Shah said, adding that authorities would "strongly condemn this irresponsible act" if they could confirm it was true.

"It is under the authority of a court to make such decisions not locals. The culprits will be arrested and brought to justice," he added.

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), which has also sent a team of investigators to the area, said that the woman was not stoned but had been killed by the family of her husband.

"The reports we have is the woman was killed by her husband's family for having improper affairs with another person. The man who had relations with her was lashed in public," said Nader Nadery, the commission's spokesman.

Local police and Nadery said that the woman's husband had recently returned from Iran after five years and she had asked for a separation on the grounds that her husband could not support her. However, her husband and his family found out that she was having an affair with another man and took the law in their own hands.

Provincial deputy governor, Haji Shamsul-Rehman said that even if it was established that the woman had been having an affair, she should have been tried in a court and not condemned to death by a local mullah.

Under the Taliban from 1996-2001, women were regularly stoned to death for adultery but Afghanistan is now trying to deal with such cases through its embryonic legal system.

Ullema council objects Afghan, Tollo, Aina and Kabul TVs programming -Pajhwok Afghan News 04/28/2005 By Habib Rahman Ibrahimi

KABUL - Members of the Afghan Ulema Council meeting at the Afghan Supreme Court on Wednesday say television programs broadcast on Kabul, Tollo, Afghan and Aina TV are against Islam.

Speaking on behalf of the Ulema Council, the acting head Molvi Qyamuddin Kashaf said that according to an order issued by President Hamid Karzaimm, the ministries of information and interior should control the out-put on TV, and instill a ban on alcoholic beverages and illegal restaurants.

The head of programming in the information and culture ministry, Shah Zaman Werz Stanakzai said the Ulema Council were putting forward their own views, and not representing the view of the Afghan people, the programs are made to suit the demands of the people.

Stanakzai accepts that some movies are shown which are not within the constraints of Afghan tradition, but a monitoring commission will check the content of these programs.

But Stanakzai said the TV Stations have no authority to show films with nudity or semi-nudity. "There are no pornographic movies on TV." Stanakzai added that, if anyone has any objections to the TV broadcasts they should point out specifics and give examples, and the programs will be stopped. He said the Ullema council can share their ideas with the commission to better develop programs.

Molvi Kashaf criticized President Karzai's government for not putting a halt on the sale of alcoholic beverages and illegal guesthouses. And he said the Holy Jihad and blood of Martyrs was shed to have a pure Islamic society in Afghanistan.

He added "We want TV programs according to our constitution but not like Tollo and Afghan TV, which broadcast show immoral naked women dancing." Lutfullah Mashal the spokesman of the interior ministry didn't comment on the Ulema councils objections.

Sibghatullah Mujadidi the head of peace commission said: "If we go on the path of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) correctly, we won't face these troubles." Mujadidi blamed bribery in some governmental offices and the sale of alcohol but he also accepted the fact that governmental officials were not acting seriously to stop such immoral acts.

The Afghan Ullema Council is led by Molvi Fazlullhadi Shinwari the chief justice of the Supreme Court and has hundreds of members from all over the country. The members of the council have monthly meetings in the capital Kabul to discuss issues to promote a better Afghan society.

Ex-Afghan rights chief attacks US - By Pam O'Toole / BBC News
Wednesday, 27 April, 2005

The former United Nations human rights envoy to Afghanistan, Cherif Bassiouni, has said he lost his job because of pressure from the United States. The UN Human Rights Commission ended Professor Bassiouni's mandate at a meeting in Geneva last week. American officials said Afghanistan's human rights situation had improved.

But Prof Bassiouni said it was because US defence officials did not want investigations into the way people were detained without trial by US forces. Prof Bassiouni has spent the past year investigating allegations of human rights violations in Afghanistan for the commission.

The professor, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, was extremely critical of Washington's policy on detainees. Last week the commission - made up of 53 elected member states - decided not to renew his mandate.

Professor Bassiouni, an Egyptian-born law professor at DePaul University in Chicago, had pressed for access to US detention facilities. He had also criticised the conditions in which many detainees were held, both by American-led coalition troops and Afghan forces.

Unnamed American officials have been quoted in the US media as saying the decision over Prof Bassiouni was partially because of improvements in Afghanistan's human rights situation.

But in an interview with the BBC, Prof Bassiouni alleged there was an intensive lobbying campaign by US officials in Geneva. "It has nothing to do with the work in Afghanistan or the situation in Afghanistan," he said.

"This is a very narrow, limited issue that is of concern to the US Defence Department and the hawks in the administration who simply do not want anybody to look into the way people are being detained in Afghanistan by US forces."

Prof Bassiouni said the commission possibly bowed to US pressure in return for US support or concessions on other resolutions.

Jose Diaz, spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the office would continue to monitor the human rights situation in Afghanistan and report publicly about it. There would still be public, international scrutiny of the human rights situation in Afghanistan, he said

Afghans make up most of workforce - April 28, 2005 - Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs) By Maria Or

Afghanistan Engineer District Public Affairs
Pushing at each other, Afghan men crowd together early in the morning, hoping to be the one accepted into a trade school to earn $3 that day and, more importantly, a skill that will provide a future.

In a nation where unemployment remains a pressing problem, the Contrack Construction Training Center is a place where Afghans are paid to learn necessary trade skills that upon graduation will help them obtain jobs with Contrack International, one of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ main construction contractors.

The Corps’ Afghanistan Engineer District is committed to encouraging the employment of Afghans. “Our hope is that at some point we can reach the entire Afghan workforce,” said U.S. Army Col. John. B. O’Dowd, district commander, at a recent news conference. “A majority of workers on our projects are (Afghans) and 75 percent of the workers involved in our new construction projects are Afghans,” he said.

This May, Contract International will celebrate the one-year anniversary of its school opening. The school provides pre-apprenticeship training in masonry, steel fixing, painting, plumbing, electrical work and carpentry.

The hours that each student accumulates in the 30-day program can go toward a full apprenticeship, which is 4,500 hours, a standard put in place by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Job placement for graduates is one of the company’s top priorities; employees try to place all students with the Contrack organization. The graduates are free to work with anyone.

“Ten months ago when I got here, many of the Afghans employed were laborers doing digging and manual work,” said O’Dowd, who regularly travels to project sites to check on progress. “You didn’t see many Afghans working in skilled trades because after 25 years of war it was hard to find skilled Afghan craftsmen. That’s changing. We routinely have Afghan concrete workers (and) Afghan carpenters, and we have Afghan masons working on all of our jobs,” he said.

According to the United Nations 2004 National Human Development Report, “although precise statistics are unavailable, it is estimated that unemployment is as high as 2 million out of an estimated labor force of some 8 million” in Afghanistan.

It adds that “creating adequate employment opportunities is critical to reducing the high levels of poverty among the majority of Afghans. It could help in restoring normalcy and building a stake in maintaining peace, and provide people, particularly young men, real alternatives to fighting.”

On any given day, more than 6,000 Afghans are employed by Corps of Engineers projects nationwide. They work among the many programs the Afghanistan Engineer District manages.

This includes the construction from the ground up of all Afghan National Army facilities, which include brigade garrisons, regional commands, a military academy, military training and military entrance processing center, logistics command, central movement agency facilities and more.

The Corps is also building facilities for the Afghan police and facilities to support ongoing Coalition operations. The Corps provides technical assistance to the United States Agency for International Development.

Other projects include the construction of the upcoming Afghanistan-Tajikistan bridge, renovations at the Rabia Balkhi Women’s Hospital in Kabul, and the construction of the Chele Daktharan housing project that will provide shelter for thousands of displaced people in Kabul.

The district also provides a mentor to the Ministry of Defense Installation Management to help in the development and sustainment of Afghan National Army installations, policies, master planning, facility programming and resource integration. It is the mantra of the mentors to help Afghans to become self-sufficient and successful in the development of their own nation.

Afghans are also employed by Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan, the Office of Military Cooperation – Afghanistan, other agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development and many other reconstruction and humanitarian organizations in the country.

Pakistan deports two Tanzanian Al-Qaeda suspects

Pakistan deported two Tanzanian nationals arrested more than two years ago on suspicion of having links with Al-Qaeda, an official said. Moso Muhammad, 27, and Taha Yalfan, 28, were sent to Dubai from Peshawar airport for their onward journey to the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam, a security official who requested anonymity told AFP on Thursday.

The pair were apparently arrested in November 2002 in Pakistan's lawless tribal area while sneaking in from Afghanistan. "My clients have been sent home after they were found innocent by the court," lawyer Qazi Anwer told AFP.

A former MP, Javed Ibrahim Paracha, who sympathises with Muslim causes, had submitted an appeal for their release in Peshawar's High Court. "The court ordered the authorities to release both men on December 4, 2003, but they had to remain in jail awaiting their travel documents," Paracha told AFP. "What an injustice it was, that innocent Muslims were made to spend so many years in prison with no crime."

The International Committee of the Red Cross arranged for the families of the Tanzanians to send travel documents and plane tickets to the Pakistani authorities, after which they were deported, he said.

Since President Pervez Musharraf allied himself with the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Pakistan has arrested around 700 Al-Qaeda suspects. Most have been handed over to the US and taken to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Pakistan's major catches have included chief 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, who was on the FBI's most wanted list for the 1998 bombing of US embassies in East Africa.

Pakistani reporter acquitted of treason charges over 'Taliban' video

A court in Pakistan has acquitted a Pakistani reporter and two others arrested for helping French journalists make a "fake film" about the Taliban, a court official said.

"Khawar Mehdi Rizvi and two others accused in a sedition case were acquitted on Saturday (April 23)," a court official told AFP requesting anonymity. "The accused have been freed for the lack of evidence against them," he said on Friday.

Rizvi was however given a one-year prison term by Judge Mohammad Shaukat Rakshani for failing to appear before the court and violating the conditions of his March 2004 bail after he reportedly went to the United States to study, the official said. Rizvi was charged in January 2004 with anti-state activity.
French journalist Marc Epstein and photographer Jean-Paul Guilloteau, of L'Express magazine, were arrested with Rizvi, Abdullah Shakir and Allah Noor in December 2003 for violating their visas by travelling to Quetta, near Afghanistan, without permission.

The Frenchmen were freed and flew home in January last year after paying a fine. Police accused Rizvi, in collaboration with the two other Pakistanis, of arranging a fake video on Taliban training in Pakistan and trying to "defame" the country. (AFP)

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap - [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ANKARA, 29 April (IRIN) - This week in Central Asia started with a warning from Tajikistan about conditions in and around Lake Sarez in the east of the mountainous country. The Tajik emergency minister Mirzo Ziyo, expressed concern on Saturday over heavy precipitation in the area following an already heavy snowfall this year.

"I do not wish to make a fuss about this issue. However, the level of water at Sarez is rising by 20 cm annually," the minister said.

Lake Sarez was created in 1911 when an enormous landslide caused by an earthquake in the Pamir Mountains of eastern Tajikistan blocked the Murgab river. The natural dam which retains the lake, named Usoi, is located at an altitude of 3,200 meters. With a height of over 550 meters and
a length of some 2 km, it is the tallest natural dam in the world.

Some reports warn that, should a strong earthquake occur in the vicinity of the lake, the dangerous "right bank", a partially collapsed body of earth and rock with a mass of roughly 3 cu km, might fall into the lake.

Such an event could trigger an enormous wave which could well bring the rest of the dam down with it. Impact projections suggested that the flood could affect roughly five million people living along the Bartang, Pyanj and Amu-Darya rivers, a path traversing Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Also in Tajikistan, government officials in the impoverished state have acknowledged the benefit of labour migrants for the impoverished Central Asian state. "Tajikistan's labour migrants working abroad are bringing great benefit, first of all to their families, sending them remittances," the chairman of the State Statistics Committee, Mirgand Shabozov, said on Monday.

Some suggest if each of the estimated 650,000 Tajik labour migrants sends a US $100 remittance through banks every month, it will amount up to from $800 million per year, surpassing the country's annual budget of some $415 million.

Going to Kazakhstan, a new law banning street rallies during and after elections was published on Monday, with opposition groups slamming the
move as an attempt to stave off a possible Ukraine-style "people's revolution".

"I have not the slightest doubt that the new law aims to nip in the bud
street protests over possible electoral fraud in Kazakhstan that could repeat the events seen in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan," said opposition spokesman Vladimir Kozlov.

Kazakhstan's amended electoral code, which comes into force after being published in the official press, bans rallies and demonstrations during
elections and until the publication of final official results.

"People's revolutions" in the three ex-Soviet states were all sparked by flawed
elections. Kazakhstan, which seeks the 2009 chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has itself never held an
election judged free or fair by many international bodies.

Meanwhile, the US ambassador to the OSCE said on Wednesday that Washington had yet to decide whether to back Astana's bid. During four days of talks with officials and civil society groups in Central Asia's largest state, Stephan Minikes noted that a country chairing the OSCE "must exemplify the principles of the organisation," a US Embassy statement reported him as saying so.

In Uzbekistan, a dissident journalist and activist was severely beaten by an unknown assailant amid simmering tensions in a southern region of Uzbekistan, AFP reported on Monday. The attacker beat up Ulugbek Haidarov, 42, a journalist and district head of the Ezgulik (Kindness) human rights group late on Saturday, breaking one of his collar bones, Haidarov said.

"I think the attack is directly related to my publications on the Internet about the situation in this region," he claimed. The mainly cotton-growing Jizzakh region has seen a number of disturbances in recent months, including one in which protestors burnt down a police station and set alight two police cars, according to witnesses.

Staying in Uzbekistan, authorities in the region's most populous nation begun a major restructuring programme in the capital, Tashkent, removing several main roads and blocking off the city centre, BBC reported on Tuesday. Officials gave no public explanation for the changes, which has proven extremely unpopular.

It is widely believed that the changes are designed to prevent any kind
of assault on government buildings. In March and April, the capital and the central Bukhara region were shaken by a string of explosions and assaults against police that killed 47 people. In July , suicide bombers attacked the US and Israeli embassies and the chief prosecutor's office in Tashkent, killing seven and injuring another seven.

In Kyrgyzstan, investigators called on the US and UK to help in an investigation of alleged money laundering by ousted President Askar Akayev
and his relatives, AP reported on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov said that officials had nearly doubled the list of companies under investigation.

The move came one week after a state commission was set up to investigate a number of properties had been obtained legally by Akayev and his family members and businesses had been managed fairly. Akayev's family had used companies based abroad to establish Kyrgyz companies and run their businesses, Usenov alleged, charges the Akayev family flatly denied.

Authorities in Turkmenistan, which has the fourth largest natural gas supplies in the world, have scrapped a law requiring foreigners marrying Turkmen citizens to pay the state US $50,000, AFP reported on Monday.

The autocratic President Saparmurat Niyazov issued a new marriage law
on Saturday omitting the payment rule originally portrayed as a way to protect Turkmen women from unscrupulous foreigners. Under the new law, foreigners must now have lived in Turkmenistan for at least one year, making no mention of the fee that was reportedly to be used to support any offspring in the event that a foreign partner left their spouse.

The marriage fee was among a number of eccentricities that have been associated with Niyazov's 14 year-presidency. The Turkmen leader has built a personality cult around himself and his deceased parents, mixing in elements of Islam and nomadic folklore and suppressing all dissent.

[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.]