Detainee Transfers to Afghanistan - Date of Release: 4 August 2005

The following is a Joint Statement by the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United States:

During their May 2005 meetings, President Bush and President Karzai expressed a strong desire to return Afghan detainees to Afghanistan as part of the U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership.

Today, in beginning to implement the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership, Afghanistan and the United States reached an understanding that will allow for the gradual transfer of Afghan detainees to the exclusive custody and control of the Afghan Government.

The Government of Afghanistan will accept responsibility for the returning Afghan citizens and will work to ensure that they do not pose a continuing threat to Afghanistan, the Coalition, or the international community as a whole. The United States is prepared to assist Afghanistan in capacity building, including infrastructure, and to provide training, as appropriate.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Gunmen kill five civilians in southeast Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 6 (AFP) - Gunmen in a car killed five Afghan civilians including a woman when they sprayed their vehicle with bullets in an attack in the country's southeast, an official said Saturday.

The attack took place Friday in the violence-plagued province of Helmand but was not believed to be related to the insurgency against Afghan and coalition troops, provincial spokesman Mohammad Wali told AFP.

"We believe it was not the work of the Taliban," he said. "Rather, we believe personal enmities were behind the killings."

Nearly 800 people, including 63 US soldiers, have been killed in political violence so far this year, and attacks have picked up as Afghanistan heads for parliamentary elections set for September.

Two U.S. soldiers drowned in Afghan accident

KABUL, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Two U.S. servicemen were drowned and two escaped when their Humvee slid into a flood-swollen river while on patrol in eastern Afghanistan, the military said on Saturday.

A statement said the accident happened on Thursday -- the same day a U.S. soldier was killed when his convoy was ambushed in the south of the country.

The latest deaths raise the toll of U.S. servicemen killed in Afghanistan to at least 40 this year -- the bloodiest period for Washington since they helped overthrow the Taliban in 2001.

Hundreds of other people, mostly militants, have also died in the Taliban-inspired insurgency that has gripped parts of southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Pakistan to close Afghan refugee camps near border

ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Pakistan has told 105,000 refugees sheltering in its lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan that it will close down their camps, the U.N. said on Saturday, adding that the region had become too insecure.

Hundreds of people have been killed in fierce clashes between security forces and al Qaeda-linked militants in the Waziristan tribal region in the last two years.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said Pakistani authorities had told refugees living in two of the seven border regions, Bajaur and Kurram, that the camps would be closed by Aug. 31.

"UNHCR supports the decision as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas have been the scene of continuing clashes between the Pakistani army and rebel tribesmen linked to fighting in Afghanistan," the U.N. refugee agency said in a statement.

“The insecurity has made it impossible to assist the refugees properly." Pakistan still harbours more than three million Afghans, who have sought refuge from the Soviet Union's occupation of their country in the 1980s, civil war in the 1990s and a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

The tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, where a large number of al Qaeda-linked militants fled after the U.S. invasion, have seen much fighting last year.

Pakistani, U.S. and Afghan forces reported killing more than 60 suspected foreign militants and Taliban insurgents in the region last month alone. Pakistan has already closed down camps in North and South Waziristan, where most of the fighting has taken place.

Earlier this week, the government said Afghans living in Islamabad and adjoining city of Rawalpindi would be relocated. The UNHCR said that would affect more than 60,000 refugees. "The refugees will be offered a choice of voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan or relocation within Pakistan," the UNHCR statement said.

Afghanistan silent over Pakistan decision on repatriation – IRNA 08/04/2005

Afghanistan's Embassy in Islamabad on Thursday offered no comment on reports that its request to put on hold repatriation of Afghan refugees living in Islamabad and Rawalpindi had been rejected by Pakistan.

IRNA tried to seek comment from the embassy, but despite repeated calls, it was told that the ambassador and the spokesman were busy in a meeting.

In this connection, Afghan Ambassador Nayangalai Tarzi met Minister Aftab Sherpao here on Wednesday and made the request in this context, local reports said on Thursday.

However, the interior minister reportedly rejected the request that Afghan refugees, living in the twin-cities and some studying in seminaries might not be repatriated.

Thousands of Afghan refugees from Pakistan's various parts have gone back to their motherland under the UNHCR-organised voluntary repatriation after the fall of Taliban militia regime in 2002.

However, there are over 3 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, mostly in North West Frontier Province and Balochistan and in Punjab.

Afghanistan's Forgotten War - The New York Times editorial 8/5/05

Afghanistan is out of the headlines, but its war against the Taliban goes on. These days, it is not going well. One of the most important reasons for that is the ambivalence of Pakistan, the nation that originally helped create, nurture and train the Taliban. Even now, Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, seems to invest far more energy in explaining his government's tolerance of Taliban activities than he does in trying to shut them down.

General Musharraf has provided logistical help to Pentagon operations and cooperation to American law enforcement agencies trying to track down Al Qaeda leaders. But his aid has been frustratingly selective. He has been an intermittent collaborator in the fight against international terrorism rather than a fully committed ally. Washington has been understandably reluctant to push him for more consistency, not wanting to risk losing the help he does offer.

Pakistan's passive enabling of the Taliban, however, is too important and dangerous for Washington to overlook. The current Taliban offensive is killing American soldiers - at least 38 have died in action so far this year, as well as hundreds of Afghans. It also endangers next month's parliamentary elections.

Successful elections are crucial to extending the geographical reach of Afghanistan's new national institutions. And they can provide needed political accountability for President Hamid Karzai, who now rules without an elected Parliament. Afghanistan will be a functioning democracy only when citizens can take their grievances against the central government to elected local representatives instead of to armed local warlords. Those grievances are real. Some governors and police chiefs Mr. Karzai has appointed are thuggish and corrupt. Antidrug efforts go after poor farmers while traffickers thrive. Alternative development lags. A lack of judges stymies the rule of law.

Earlier this year, there were reasons to be hopeful about Afghanistan's future. The presidential election had gone off remarkably smoothly, and the absence of major attacks on polling places suggested that Pakistan was at last responding to Washington's pleas to rein in the Taliban. Mr. Karzai had begun easing notorious warlords out of cabinet ministries and provincial governorships. More money was being directed at antinarcotics efforts.

But once the snows began to melt this March, Taliban fighters started showing up in greater numbers and with suspiciously sophisticated gear in regions of Afghanistan that border Pakistan. Afghan military and intelligence officers are convinced that they are coming from Pakistani training camps.

General Musharraf says that he has sent tens of thousands of troops to police border areas. Yet well-supplied Taliban fighters keep showing up to battle American troops in Afghanistan. He insists that the training camps are still shut down and that he is committed to thwarting the Taliban, but says he must proceed cautiously so he doesn't inflame militant groups in Pakistan. That would be more persuasive had the general not spent close to six years marginalizing mainstream parties and cutting deals with Islamic extremists to reinforce his rule.

When questioned about why he has repeatedly violated his promises to restore civilian democracy, General Musharraf argues that he must retain power because Pakistan needs his strong and effective hand. Washington needs to ask him why that strong hand seems so helpless against the Taliban.

Amnesty International opposes shifting Guantanomo Bay detainees to Afghanistan

KABUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Amnesty International, the world recognized watchdog, has strongly opposed the US decision to transfer Afghan detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison to Afghanistan, a press release of the right agency received here Saturday said.

"Guantanamo Bay detainees who are returned to Afghanistan may be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and other human right abuses, " the London-based watchdog warned in the statement.

The statement issued after the announcement of Washington to hand over some 110 Afghan detainees languishing at the notorious US Naval base detention center of Guantanamo Bay over the past three and half years on charge of alleged links with Taliban and al-Qaida networks.

US administration would also adopt similar approach with detainees from Saudi Arabia and Yemen and send them to their homeland for further trial.

The US has so far released over 200 Afghan detainees from Guantanamo Bay after prosecution and punishment, but this time would hand the prisoners over to their government for interrogation.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai in his meeting with President Bush in Washington last May suggested the hand over of all Afghan detainees to Afghan administration but the US leader rejected the request at that time.

Amnesty International in its press release also said that the US State Department Report for Afghanistan in 2004 reported that prisoners were beaten, tortured or denied adequate food in the post-war nation.

"The US should close Guantanamo and either charge the detainees under US law or release them," the statement quoted Sharon Critoph, North America researcher at Amnesty International, as saying. Enditem

BBC News: An Arabic TV station has aired video footage shot by al-Qaed

fighters which they say shows the gunning down of a US Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan. The fighting led to the heaviest losses in the history of America's Special operations Navy Seals.

The tape shows the identity card of a Navy Seal who died in the fighting as well as documents the fighters say they captured from an American computer.

The fighting took place in Kunar province in late June and July.

The tape, entitled "the war of the oppressed", was broadcast on the Al-Arabiya station. It shows three unidentified masked men speaking in the tape in English, French and Urdu.

The identity card of a US special forces operative, Danny Dietz, who was found dead in early July as part of a rescue operation in Kunar, is shown on the tape.

In the video, the militants claim to have captured a computer containing details of US military plans. The US military said it had not yet seen a copy of the tape and would not comment at this point on whether it was authentic.

But in late June the US military had accepted that "hostile fire" might have been involved in bringing down the Chinook helicopter.

The Pentagon confirmed 16 personnel died in the Chinook crash. The servicemen were on their way to join operations against militants. US forces have been engaged in a number of combat missions in south-east Afghanistan against Taleban and al-Qaeda militants and their allies opposed to the Kabul government.

The Chinook was the first US helicopter to be downed in such a way in Afghanistan since March 2002. At the time two separate Taleban spokesmen said there was a video of the crash.

Afghan police seize over 0.5 tons of heroin

KABUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Police confiscated more than half a ton of heroin in eastern Nangarhar province in two major operations over the past week, a press release of the Interior Ministry said Saturday.

"In the first operation the National Interdiction Unit (NIU) of the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA) successfully interdicted 390 kg of fully processed heroin while the second raid led to the seizure of 183 kg heroin in eastern Nangarhar Province over the past week," said the statement.

Four persons have been taken into custody on the charge of smuggling the contraband outside the country. the car used in trafficking the menace, according to the statement, was wearing a government number plate.

The Afghan government, which has intensified the war on drug abuse, launched an anti-drug operation in northern Balkh province Saturday. The government in a similar operation two months ago destroyed a narcotics bazaar in Bahram Shah, a border town of southern Helmand province.

Under a counter narcotics strategy initiated by the government in May 2003, the Afghan administration wants to reduce illicit drug production by 75 percent by 2008. Enditem

Badakhshan border police officer among 26 kidnapped - Pajhwok Afghan News 08/04/2005 By Abdul Mateen Sarfraz

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the Reserved Border Police Unit commander along with 25 constables in Ragh district of the remote northeastern Badakhshan province, officials said on Thursday.

Badakhshan police chief Colonel Shah Jahan Noori claimed drugs-traffickers were behind the abduction of Enayatullah and his subordinates. Although he did not elaborate on the assertion, he said a smuggler had claimed responsibility for the kidnap.

Noori quoted one Safiullah, living across the frontier in Tajikistan, as saying Enayatullah connived with him at drug-trafficking. Saifullah's men kidnapped the border police unit head after he stole from them 50 pieces of weapons and $2.5 million cash, Shah Jahan Noori added.

However, commander of the provincial army corps Colonel Ghulam Mohammad Farhad rejected as baseless the allegation regarding Enayatullah's complicity in drug-trafficking. "As the commander was dead-set against the menace in the region, drugs barons managed to have him kidnapped along with 25 policemen," Farhad noted.

Ruling out any compromise with the kidnappers for the release of abductees, he said police were closing in on the smugglers hiding in Ragh district. "We are trying to secure their release without any of bloodshed," he continued.

The kidnappers had not yet communicated to them any conditions for the release of the abductees, Farhad maintained, reiterating the incident would not deter law-enforcers from their campaign to eradicate the scourge of drugs business from the region.

Confirming the incident, border police chief in Kabul, Samiullah Qatra, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had sent a delegation to the border area to investigate the case after receiving the report. He too saw smugglers, not anti-government groups, behind the incident.

Press Briefing by Ariane Quentier Senior Public Information Officer Kabul – 4 August 2005

ط Today’s guest speaker

Our guest speaker today is Cecilia Lotse, UNICEF’s Regional Director for South Asia. Miss Lotse has just returned from the south, southeast and central provinces of Afghanistan, where she has met with local and government officials, and visited a maternal health centre, a school for girls, a rural health clinic, and a women’s literacy programme. She is here today to talk about the situation of girls and women in Afghanistan.

ط Close to 58,000 have completed reintegration phase

Reintegration is progressing at a steady pace with 58,401 ex-combatants either having entered or completed the reintegration process.

Some of those participated in a mountain guide course and will be graduating later today. I will tell you more on that in a moment.

Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) is exploring the possibility of work opportunities for 1500 to 2500 ex-combatants in Khost and Helmand. ANBP is working with USAID to facilitate this.

Ammunition

The Anti-Personnel Mine & Ammunition Stockpile Destruction project document was signed this past Sunday (July 31). The document is now in wide circulation among prospective donor countries.

Meanwhile the ammunition survey continues. To date a total of 382 distinct caches of ammunitions have been surveyed including 488,573 boxed and 1.68 million unboxed ammunitions surveyed.

Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG)

ANBP has verified 7,953 weapons, [including 4,132 from candidates].

The Joint Secretariat conducted field missions to Jalalabad, Kandahar and Kapisa this week to meet provincial committee members, in particular the governors. In collaboration with the provincial committees, these missions will try to identify the hurdles that DIAG is currently facing but also assist governors and provincial authorities to plan for the implementation of DIAG as a comprehensive programme, including its development and governance components. Similar missions are planned to take place in provinces that have been identified as problematic.

With the campaign period approaching it is time to once again remind candidates that anyone found to be in violation of the election law can be disqualified and this until results are certified. In particular, all candidates must comply with the disarmament process, namely to not engage in any activity implying links to illegal armed groups and to not re-arm. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) eventually has the authority to disqualify any candidate who re-establishes links to illegal armed groups or who is found to possess weapons. It will not hesitate to exercise this power, should it be required.

ط 22 graduate from Afghanistan’s first mountaineering course

A graduation ceremony is being held later today for 22 participants of the first environmental mountaineering course which recently took place in Kabul and Panjshir (July 16 to August 1) and which was supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The 22 students, which included two females, come from various parts of Afghanistan. Each was trained to assist tourist groups in their mountain climbs or treks as well as to help maintain the country’s natural environment and cultural values.

The graduation ceremony is taking place this afternoon from 2pm to 4pm at the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce. The event is open to the media.

ط Religious leaders sign up to anti-HIV/AIDS work plan

Community and religious leaders from around Afghanistan have pledged their allegiance to the fight against HIV and AIDS, following a two-day national workshop held last week in Kabul and supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

More than 80 religious leaders from all 34 provinces participated in the workshop, which culminated in agreement on a 12-point work plan to tackle the spread of the disease. The leaders will now preach in mosques during Friday prayers, organize regional and provincial workshops, and support public information activities to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country.

Speaking at the workshop, UNFPA Deputy Representative Athanase Nzokirishaka said that HIV and AIDS is a tragedy waiting to happen in Afghanistan, and said that although no one knows the actual number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan the conditions are present for a dramatic increase in infections.
However, he went on to say that community and religious leaders can play a large part in the fight against HIV and AIDS and therefore make a great contribution to their county.

Click here to read the UNFPA press release.

ط UNDP newsletter

The latest edition of the “UNDP Afghanistan Newsletter” was released last Monday.

In this month’s edition you will find stories on Kabul’s new public telephone booths, the new Penitentiary Law, which signals a commitment to implement international human rights treaties, and the latest graduates from the Judicial Training Course.

Briefing by Sultan Baheen, JEMB National Spokesperson, “Elections Update”

Good morning, following are the latest gender accreditation figures:

· Of the overall 2,874 registered observers, agents and media representatives, 30% are female and 70% are male.

· Of the 1,013 registered domestic observers, 45% are female and 55% are male.

· Of the 89 registered international observers, 28% are female and 72% are male.

· Of the 483 registered Independent Candidate agents, 12% are female and 82% are male.

· Of the 1,132 registered Political Party agents, 27% are female and 73% are male.

· Of the 157 registered media representatives, 21% are female and 79% are male.

Questions & Answers:

Question: There are some reports that the UN office in Nuristan was attacked? What is the latest update?
Spokesperson: It was not a UN office in Nuristan. We do not have a UN office in Nuristan. There are strange things going on. There are a lot of reports of things happening, security problems throughout the country and it turns out that many of them are very often not confirmed or need some time to be confirmed. I haven’t got full confirmation. I am also saying that because there are other reports of security incidents that would have happened in the last 48 hours and we are trying to get our teams on the ground to see whether they happened or not. And things are either not true or very hard to confirm. So I promise to look into that and will get back to you.

Question: Do you have a mission in Nuristan?
Spokesperson: No, we do not have a mission in Nuristan. I don’t know if it is misinformation or what, but there is a lot of information flying around which are not reflecting the reality. The way the UN works, at present is either through an international presence and offices or through NGOs and local authorities depending on the situation in different areas. So very often there is confusion between the fact the UN is working somewhere however it is not a UN mission as such. And you might remember the UN Country Team mission, which went to Zabul a few months ago. And we are working in Zabul but we do not have an international presence there. This is an example of a place where we work without having a permanent presence and while reviewing the security situation on a regular basis to try to establish a presence as much as possible.

Question: Can you give us an update on the USD $31 million deficit in the electoral budget?
Spokesperson: Receiving pledged funds is always a long process. But I can only reiterate what was said at the last briefing. The problem is not if the money is going to come, but when the money is going to come. And the reason why we have been mentioning this $31 million deficit is because we need donor countries to send the money as soon as possible. We made this announcement to the public a few days ago as a reminder of the urgency seven weeks before the elections.

Question: What are the rules regarding candidates using different media to campaign?
JEMB Spokesperson: During the month long campaign period candidates have the option to have two 10 minute sponsored segments on radio or five minutes on television. Radio or television, but not both. This is for the Wolesi Jirga. For the provincial council it is five minutes on radio or two minutes on television. The donors will pay directly to the media outlets, but the JEMB is monitoring, arranging and certifying the time which is being used by the candidates and during this time the candidates can use four pages worth of advertising of the print media outlet during the month.

Question: Regarding the funding for the elections, it was estimated to be USD $149 million dollars. What happened? What did you get? Where do you stand?

Spokesperson: Last March, there was an assessment of what the cost of the election would be. I remember when Peter Erben (JEMBS Chief Electoral Officer) came here to explain the concept of operations for the elections and he came up with what had been assessed as the money needed to run this election which was $149 million dollars. As of then we have been launching appeals to get the money coming in. Now you don’t immediately need – and get - $149 million dollars. But you need money to start and then carry on. But you also need to give time to countries to decide whether they are going to pledge - or not - and how much they are going to pledge. Now we are in this process, which is always a longer process as it initially looks. We are getting countries putting money in the basket for the elections. Now why did we reach the current stage? As you know very well these elections preparations have been very intense and very well organized but in a fairly short period of time in a very complex country where challenges are very complex. So on one hand you have elections organized in a very short period of time. And on the other hand a funding process which is always long - and longer than expected. So I think it was a sort of wake up call to say, “Look, elections are in seven weeks”. They are on track. We know you will give the money, because this is an ongoing process, but we need it now because it is in seven weeks and not in three months. To remind the donors that this is a fairly compact process where things need to be done in a very fast way. This is where we are. We need the money now to finish establishing all the mechanisms that we need for the elections. We are into a fairly normal process where you make an appeal, countries indicate their interest, they pledge, which always takes time.

Question: How much have you received of the $149 million?

Spokesperson: Well as far as you remember there was about $20 million that was handed over from the elections last year, there’s $31 million missing, so $149 million minus $50 million roughly makes $100 million that have been received.

Question: Is this deficit a serious issue for the election?

Spokesperson: Again, I think you have to realize that the problem is not whether we are going to receive the money. The problem is that we need it now. So we have to speed up the process. The elections will take place, there are preparations under way, but we need money now – or as soon as possible to be able to proceed with the ongoing preparations.

JEMB Spokesperson: If I may add, we have already sent ballot papers to be printed and we have received the first portion. We also need to recruit election workers for polling day and the counting process and we need to train these people now. So we need this money very urgently. We are very hopeful to receive this money very quickly otherwise that is very serious for us. So we hope to receive this money as soon as possible.

Briefing by Cecilia Lotse, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.

This has been an opportune moment to make my first trip to Afghanistan; the country stands upon the threshold of historic parliamentary elections.

The purpose for my visit was to witness some of the progress being made by the Government and its partners in tackling the challenges facing women and girls in the face of the high rates of mortality, exacerbated by low rates of girls’ enrolment in primary school, which combine to represent a waste of potential and opportunity for Afghanistan. The Minister of Health told me how in Badahkshan, maternal mortality is as high as 6,000 per 100,000 live births; in my country [Sweden] that number is probably as low as 2 or 3. The scale of the problems here are really quite staggering.

What I would like to do is to take you on a journey of a typical Afghan girl to look at some of the specific challenges facing children like her today in this country.

An Afghan child today, has a one in seven chance of dying before the end of her first year. Infant mortality in Afghanistan is high, thanks to the risk of disease and illness, made worse by the low levels of exclusive breastfeeding, whereby mothers do not exclusively breastfeed their children for the first six months of their life, and then do not use the best feeding practices after this point, which means young infants do not benefit from the increased immunity levels and nutritious value that will help protect them in early stages of life.

If she survives to the age of one, the chance of her surviving until the age of five remain limited – one child in every five in Afghanistan will die before her or his fifth birthday, again because of common
childhood diseases such as diarrhoeal disease, pneumonia, malaria, typhoid – many of which can be prevented through simple immunization, or improved hygiene practices.

If our young Afghan girl celebrates her fifth birthday, she may be lucky enough to go school – or she could join the two out of every three girls who remain at home, denied the chance of intellectual stimulation and development that is so critical to her future progress – and that of her family and community. With female illiteracy rates as high as 85% in Afghanistan, millions of young women are unable to play a part in the social and economic development of their community, and of herself.

Even if she enjoys a primary level education, there is a high chance that our young girl will drop out of school within a few years. Girls’ enrolment in secondary school in Afghanistan is under 10%. Instead, many girls will return to the family home – to undertake domestic chores and support the family; this is especially true when the girls’ mother herself is the main head of the household – nearly 4% of women in Afghanistan are widows.

Without a solid education, the chances of the girl becoming married early increase. UNICEF estimates that some 40% of all women today in Afghanistan were married before the age of 18, and a third of these women became mothers before the age of 18. The younger the bride, the younger the mother, the higher the risks are of complications in pregnancy, the less opportunity for her social development.

And finally, if our young girl makes it to this stage of her life in reasonable health, maybe with some education – the statistics tell us that her life expectancy will still be less than that of men. Afghanistan, I believe, is the only country in the world where men live longer than women.

But my visit was not all doom and gloom. Indeed I end my trip here with some degree of hope. I have seen signs of progress, for example in Kandahar where I visited a provincial obstetric care centre that is caring for mothers with complications in their pregnancies. This is a major step forward in improving maternal health care, although of course it is still essential to tackle the issues of how to get mothers from the villages, to the districts and to the provincial centres, and ensuring that families recognize and understand the onset of possible complications in time to seek assistance. I also saw a community-based school, which is attempting to overcome the problems faced by girls who live too far from the nearest formal classroom; the Ministry of Education is supporting an interim solution, with a local woman chosen as the teacher, a private home being used for the classroom, and boys and girls being able to study for several hours a day.

I also got the sense that the Government has a strategic vision for the future, that it knows in which direction we need to move, in order to tackle the problems facing the people. The types of initiatives that I saw form part of the basis of tackling the challenges for women and girls in Afghanistan. It is essential that all of us – the Government, the UN, and others, - prioritise investments in education, that we increase the quality and accessibility of health care for women. We have to build a new generation of female health workers, we have to encourage women to become teachers. We need to ensure that resources are targeted at those provinces where the statistics tell the worst stories about women and girls.

There are no quick fixes. But we have to start on our own journey now, to ensure that we meet the goals ahead. I believe, from what I have seen in the last week, that we have taken the first critical steps on that journey. In ten years time, we will have a chance to measure our progress, as we review the Millennium Development Goal targets. How well Afghanistan does then, depends on how serious we are today about making the right investments, investments that must start with women and girls.

Questions & Answers:

Question: In terms of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), if the situation is that acute and there is an emergency, is Afghanistan going to meet the MDG’s? Also, what do you think should happen to tackle this silent emergency that you describe? Are there any short-term measures that can take place to tackle this problem in Afghanistan?
Cecilia Lotse: I think that it is difficult to foresee whether Afghanistan will meet the numerical targets or not. We have a ten-year period ahead of us to find the right strategies and the right approaches to bring us as close to the target as possible. There is sufficient knowledge about what are the most effective strategies and approaches that need to be taken. In a situation of scarcity you always have to make difficult choices. In a situation of a war torn country, where the infrastructure has been so seriously damaged, the Government of Afghanistan has particularly difficult choices to make. For the MDG’s to be fulfilled the incredible need for investment in human development must be recognized in the budgets continuously. But there must also be continued high level support from the international community to make this possible. It is very often a challenge for a country that moves from an emergency state to a developmental state to maintain the same level of attention globally. It is part of our responsibility within the UN system to present the case for the needs. And also to explain and show that the investments that are being made in Afghanistan are the right investments for its people. If we can’t tell that story then it becomes difficult to keep your partners with you over the

Opposition Leader Assesses Country's Foreign Relations

Amin Tarzi - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - August 4, 2005

Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, leader of the 12-party coalition -- National Understanding Front (Jabha-ye Tafahom-e Melli, JTM) -- spoke recently with RFE/RL about Afghan foreign relations, in particular with the United States. By virtue of securing 16 percent of the votes in Afghanistan's October presidential elections second only to Karzai's 55 percent margin, Qanuni is has become 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.

Qanuni told RFE/RL that Afghanistan has never before witnessed the level of international support it has since the demise of the Taliban regime in late 2001. He said that the U.S.-led coalition forces and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) serve the interests of Afghanistan.

Specifically on the relationship between Afghanistan and the United States, Qanuni said that his country needs a "strategic partner which could be the United States" to protect Afghanistan from its neighbors. However, he added, it is in Afghanistan's long-term interests to maintain a balance between the United States and in such a partnership.

Discussing the possibility of the United States establishing a longer-term military presence in Afghanistan based on the declaration of strategic partnership between the two countries signed in May by Karzai and his host, U.S. President George W. Bush, Qanuni said that while he was not opposed to the idea of U.S. military bases in his country, he was concerned about the "wrong Afghan policies of the United States."

Referring to the United States as "our best friend," Qanuni lamented that Washington's Afghan policies are guided by "Pakistani influence" and by those members of the Afghan cabinet who are "holding green cards" -- a reference to members of the Afghan cabinet how have established permanent residency in the United States.

Pakistan Singled Out - Of all of Afghanistan's neighbors, Qanuni singled out Pakistan as the greatest threat to his country's stability. "There are special groups in Pakistan who want to destroy Afghan stability," Qanuni said.

Reviewing the recent history of Afghanistan, specially the emergence of the Taliban in the mid-1990s, Qanuni blamed Islamabad for following a systematic policy of undermining Afghanistan's sovereignty. The successes of the Taliban, emerging as a "bad joke" in 1994 but then emerging to control of Afghanistan by 1996, were not accidental, Qanuni claimed. Returning to the recent increase of insurgent and terrorist acts carried out by the neo-Taliban in cooperation with their allies in Al-Qaeda and Hizb-e Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Qanuni said that what began as "pocket of insurgencies" has been transformed into "fronts." This transformation, Qanuni contended "is not accidental," but a "strategic" plan formulated in Pakistan.

Returning to the issue of U.S. military bases,Qanuni said that Pakistan will not accept a more permanent U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, something that he argued would diminish Islamabad's regional importance.

Faced with the current close ties between Kabul and Washington and challenged with the prospects of warmer U.S.-Indian relations, Pakistan is set on destabilizing Afghanistan, Qanuni concluded.

Gradual Democratization Preferred

Another aspect of U.S. policy in Afghanistan that Qanuni criticized was the rush to democratize and secularize his country.

"The United States wishes to have a 45-year-old newborn," Qanuni said, referring to the expectation that he thought Washington has that Afghanistan quickly match the social and political experience of the United States.

The Afghan opposition leader agreed that there Afghanistan and the United States share some common goals in building democracy in Afghanistan. However he challenged the pace at which this policy is being pushed forward. Democracy has to "grow up from a small tree," rather than by bringing in a fully grown tree and placing it somewhere, Qanuni added.

Qanuni affirmed that Afghan democracy should be secular. However he argued against "the green-card holders" who insist on the immediate secularization of the entire Afghan society. Rhetorically, Qanuni dared those members of the Afghan cabinet who have come from the United States or Europe to walk into any mosque in the most secular city in the country -- Kabul -- and openly call for secularism.

During his conversations, Qanuni reiterated that Afghanistan needs a strategic partnership with the United States and that the coalition he leads does not oppose the possibility of the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases in Afghanistan.

However, he repeatedly questioned the wisdom of the "Afghan policy of the United States" for its purported over-reliance on Pakistan and Afghans who once lived in the West. He said the relationship between Kabul and Washington should not be used for advancing political agendas favored by these Afghans. He concluded that Washington's policies in Afghanistan would be better served if it abandoned supporting a single individual, Karzai -- whom he accused of promoting an ethnic agenda -- and focused on a broader relationship with a greater number of Afghans.

Kasuri briefs US envoy on anti-terror steps

ISLAMABAD - The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan C. Crocker Friday called on Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and discussed with him bilateral ties, global war on terror and other issues of mutual interest.

The US ambassador, who met the foreign minister here at Foreign Office, talked to him on various aspects of bilateral relations including cooperation in economic and defence sectors, said the officials here.

Crocker said that the Bush Administration was fully cognizant of Pakistan’s needs in the sectors of defence, economy and energy and every possible cooperation would be extended to Islamabad in this regard. Foreign Minister Kasuri apprised the US envoy of steps being taken by Pakistan to curb the menace of terror as well as extremism. He also talked about measures aimed at the registration of religious seminaries, an official said.

He said in order to bring these seminaries into mainstream education system, broad reforms were being carried out, the official added.

He said the US ambassador appreciated these efforts on the part of Pakistani government, saying that both the states would continue to cooperate against global terrorism. Kasuri said Pakistan was committed to fight against the terrorism but the international community must also address the root causes of terror.

Without resolving the global issues like Kashmir and Palestine, terrorism could not be addressed, Kasuri said, according to the officials.

Foreign students will have to go back: Aziz

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that foreign students attending Pakistani madrassas will have to go back to their countries of origin to complete their education. He was talking to a 26-member delegation of members of the Sindhi media at Prime Minister’s House on Friday. PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Syed, Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis Tariq Azeem and Minister of State for Culture Muhammad Ali Durrani were also present. “The government praises the services being rendered by madrassas in dispensing religious education,” he said, adding that the government only wanted to bring seminaries into the mainstream so that modern academics and religious education can be imparted simultaneously. He rejected the theory of clash of civilisations, saying that being a religion of peace and tolerance, Islam abhorred violence. The PM said that a policy had been finalised to deal with those madrassa students who were involved in activities that were tarnishing Pakistan’s image.

Talking about the media, Aziz said that freedom of the press was an essential prerequisite in any democratic system, which was why the government had ensured that Pakistan had a free press. However, he said that the press should value national interest above everything and be responsible in exercising its freedom. He also lauded efforts by Pakistan Television and other media agencies in promotion of regional languages. He praised the Sindhi media representatives for their role in promoting the language, and said that the importance of regional languages in Pakistan should never be underestimated.

The PM also denounced extremist elements in the country, saying that they were trying to “hold society hostage to achieve their own ends,” and assured the delegates of the government’s commitment to rooting out these elements. He asked people not to choose such people in the upcoming local bodies elections, and said that the government was committed to holding free and fair elections in accordance with the Election Commission’s code of conduct. He told the delegates that the polls would be monitored to ensure transparency.

He said that several development projects had been initiated in both rural and urban Sindh to ensure an adequate water supply in the province. He deplored the damage caused by recent floods in Sindh and said that had there been more major dams in the country, such a disaster could have been averted. However, he said that the timely renovation of the Sukkur barrage had saved the province from further damage. Responding to a question on provincial autonomy, he said that the Constitution is clear about the rights of all provinces, adding that the federal government had been providing its full cooperation to all the provinces. He said that Sindh’s royalties from gas had increased and that the additional funds were being utilised for development.

The PM said that work on the National Finance Commission (NFC) was also under way, adding that the government wanted to take a consensus decision on NFC award so that the interests of all provinces could be protected.

Aziz said that the increase in the number of motorcycles being produced, and the boom in the construction industry were due to the trickle-down effect of the economic prosperity the government had achieved. He said that six years ago Pakistan was on the verge of default, but because of the timely and efficient polices of the government, the country was well on its way to progress. agencies

long journey. Family's sorrow for Afghan Tube victim - BBC 08/04/2005 By Andrew North

Atique Sharif from Afghanistan moved to London to escape the violence of the Taleban regime. Instead he became one of the victims of the Russell Square Tube bomb on 7 July. BBC News spoke to his brother in Afghanistan about the family's tragic loss.

"I always kept in touch with my brother. On 7th July, when the bombings happened in London, straight away I tried to call him, but the mobile said 'the mobile is switched off'."

Fahim Sharif will always remember that day. Not for another 10 days did he get confirmation his brother Atique had been killed in the attacks - because of the time it took investigators to identify his body, and then to track down his family here in northern Afghanistan.

In a multi-national city like London, it was hardly surprising the victims came from all over the world. But the story of Atique is possibly the cruellest to emerge from the 7 July bombings.

He'd fled to London to escape Taleban and al-Qaeda-controlled Afghanistan, hoping for a new life. Instead, Atique died in one of the suicide attacks on the London Underground.

Escape abroad - The Taleban had killed his father in the late 1990s. His mother died soon afterwards, of a heart attack. "Atique was so shocked," remembers Fahim, when the BBC visited him at his home in Mazar-i-Sharif.

"He couldn't tolerate staying in Afghanistan. But not only Atique, but most of the people preferred to leave Afghanistan at that time because of the bad conditions."

Mazar suffered heavily under the Taleban - paying a heavy price for resisting the movement's advance in 1996 with the Taleban killing thousands of its citizens in revenge the following year.

The economy collapsed. There was little work for the Sharifi family. And Atique saw escape to the UK as his only chance for a better life for himself and his relatives. In the UK, he got a job and started to study. He was learning English at a London college and doing well, according to his teachers.

Atique sent small amounts of money back to pay for his sister Ferishta to study. In accordance with Afghan tradition, the family asked us not to film her. But Fahim said she had been hit hardest by her brother's death.

"Since that day, she is crying all the time," he said. "She can't eat. She is losing weight." Asked his reaction to the attacks in London, Fahim said, "We condemn this kind of action. It is not lawful in Islam, to kill innocent people."

But he said his brother's death was fate. "This is written the day we are born to our mother. God has decided." It was several weeks after the bombing that Atique's body was finally brought back to Afghanistan.

He was buried in a small, sheltered graveyard not far from the family home. But the mourning continued for several days afterwards, with friends and relatives coming from across the country to pay their respects.

What also hurts the family is that, in Mazar-i-Sharif at least, life is tarting to get better. It's the main city in northern Afghanistan, and security here has been far better than in the southern and eastern areas where Taleban attacks continue.

After all the years of war and turmoil, it still has a long way to go. But to the Sharifi family, it seems safer now than London. Andrew North's report on this story can be seen on the BBC News at Ten O'Clock on Thursday 4 August

More French troops sent to Tajikistan

ALMATY, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The French embassy in Tajikistan confirmed on Friday that France has dispatched 400 extra troops aswell as six refueling planes and fighter jets to reinforce its forces based at the Dushanbe airport.

The assistant of the embassy's military attache, surnamed Pironi, said the move was taken within the framework of related bilateral agreements with the aim to safeguard the security and stability in Afghanistan when the country holds parliamentary elections in September.

He said the newly posted troops are expected to stay in Tajikistan for three months. France has earlier posted 50 troops at the US Ganci airbase in Kyrgyzstan for the same reason.

After the anti-terrorist war began in Afghanistan in 2001, Tajikistan opened its airspace to nations within the anti-terror coalition.

In Dec. 2001, France deployed more than 100 troops and two cargo planes at the Dushanbe airport in the Tajik capital. The troops were mainly composed of military technical personnel tasked with plane maintenance and providing logistic support for French troops stationed in Afghanistan. Enditem

Khatami says Iran and US officials against rapprochement

Outgoing Iranian president says US should change policies for better ties with Iran

CAIRO: Iran’s outgoing president said officials in Iran and the United States have worked to sabotage relations between the two countries and called for the United States to take the first step towards better ties by changing its policies towards Tehran.

“There has been an inclination from the beginning – whether from the Iranian or the American side – not to improve the relations. Some in Iran and in America adopted a police of sabotage whenever relations improved,” Mohammad Khatami told the Arabic-language Al-Hayat newspaper in an interview published on Friday.

“In Iran there are people who were very pessimistic about America and believe better relations would damage national interests. This is based on the bad history of the Americans and their mistaken policies towards Iran,” he said. “The mistakes of the Americans themselves and the hostility towards Iran by some of the US policy-makers have generated pessimism inside Iran and that stood in the way of improved relations,” he argued.

Khatami said both sides should adopt a different vision and view each other more positively, adding the United States should “take the first step by effectively changing its polices.”

But he said the gap between the two countries had widened during the administration of President George W Bush.

“With the baseless claims by the Bush administration about Iran, we have moved even farther away (from each other) than several years ago,” he said, adding there had been “positive steps” under former US President Bill Clinton.

Khatami also said he didn’t think that changes in the Iranian government could lead to changes in the country’s relations with the United States. “We have not reached a political conviction to establish relations with the United States. As long as this is our policy, then any government – conservative or reformist – cannot contradict it,” he said.

Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to be sworn in on Saturday.

In June, Khatami’s former vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, told The Associated Press that Khatami had hoped to make icebreaking diplomatic overtures to the United States during the Clinton administration but was blocked by Iran’s ruling clerics, suggesting any such attempts by Khatami’s successor would meet the same fate. The United States cut ties with Iran after militants stormed the US Embassy in 1979 and held 52 hostages for 444 days. Ap

[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.]