US signals NATO to take lead role in Afghanistan in 2006

KABUL, Aug 8 (AFP) - The US military signalled Monday it plans to hand over responsibility for security across Afghanistan to NATO in 2006, half a decade after an American-led coalition ousted the the Taliban.

However it did not say exactly when the transfer of power to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or the withdrawal of American troops from the still violence-plagued country, would take place.

"The agreement is that efforts will be made towards 2006," US military spokesman Lieutenant Cindy Moore told a press conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul, when asked about the arrangements for the handover.

ISAF currently operates more than 8,000 peacekeepers from 37 nations to ensure security in Kabul and across parts of the northern and western provinces.

Under the proposals, the ISAF force would extend its remit into the troublesome eastern and southern parts of the country, where US-led coalition forces patrol with up to 18,000 troops.

But continuing bloodshed in southern Afghanistan has prompted speculation that American forces -- already strectched in Iraq and worldwide -- may not completely pull out next year.

"The NATO-ISAF and coalition effort to expand NATO presence in the south is something that is ongoing and they will continue to build the plan for that, as they look to the year 2006," Moore added. "There's an ongoing effort, not only for the south, but for the east."

The timing would also depend on the development of Afghanistan's fledgling national police force and army and their ability to provide security, Moore said, without elaborating. NATO is deploying an extra 2,000 international troops for Afghanistan's landmark parliamentary and local elections, due on September 18.

On Thursday General Gerhard W. Back, commander of the allied forces for Northern Europe, said he assumed that NATO was in the process of taking responsibility for the whole of Afghanistan in the course of the next year.

Britain said in June that it would push towards creating a "single mission" in Afghanistan combining NATO peacekeepers and US-led coalition forces when it takes a key role in the NATO force next year.
Such a move would seek to allay fears that US forces would be pulling out when attacks by remnants of the ousted Taliban regime were on the rise. Nearly 800 people, including 63 US soldiers, have been killed in political violence in Afghanistan so far this year. Only 700 died in the whole of 2004.

U.N.: Afghan Elections Face Funding Gap - AP / August 8, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan - Organizers of Afghanistan's Sept. 18 parliamentary elections are still short $19 million despite fresh pledges from international donors prompted by warnings that a lack of funds could endanger the ballot, a U.N. spokeswoman said Monday.

The new money — $8 million from the United States and $4 million from other nations — came after the United Nations said last week that the $149 million election budget was short $31 million because donors had failed to deliver on previous pledges.

Denmark, Norway and New Zealand also promised funds, said Ariane Quentier, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, adding that U.N. officials hoped the donations will "encourage other donors to make contributions and fill them without delay." It was unclear how much the three nations pledged individually.

Officials have warned that violence by insurgents, particularly in southern and eastern provinces, could intensify ahead of next month's election, which is considered an important step in establishing democracy in Afghanistan after decades of war.

More than 900 people have been killed since March in a wave of attacks led mainly by suspected Taliban rebels, whose hardline regime was toppled by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

The U.S. Embassy said its new donation would supplement $32 million already given for the election, which is being organized by Afghan authorities and the United Nations.

The U.S. funds will be channeled through the United Nations and "used for public education, ballot production and transportation, recruitment and training of polling center workers and other election-related activities," the embassy said in a statement.

Eight suspected Taliban killed by U.S.-led coalition, Afghan troops

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - (AP) U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces attacked a suspected Taliban hideout in southeastern Afghanistan, killing eight militants and arresting three others, an official said Sunday.

One Afghan soldier was wounded in the operation, which triggered a firefight early Saturday in Zabul province's Shahr-e-safa district, said the district's chief, Haji Ghulam Rasol.

The troops also seized an unspecified number of weapons from the militants, including AK-47 assault rifles, rockets and ammunition, he said.

With the support of coalition forces, Afghan soldiers were searching the area for more fighters, Rasol said. A U.S. military spokeswoman said she had no information about the incident.

Suicide bombing stopped - August 7, 2005 COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER

Kabul , Afghanistan – A suspected suicide bomber was detained Aug. 6 at a U.S. base south of Salerno near the Pakistani border as he attempted to detonate a series of explosives attached to his body.

The potential bomber attempted to enter a U.S. facility in the region under the guise of needing medical attention. At the gate he produced a grenade and attempted to detonate the device. The grenade failed to detonate and the man was apprehended by security forces.

He was discovered to have two anti-personnel mines and an additional grenade attached to his body. The individual was turned over to the custody of Afghan forces.

Taliban commander surrenders to Afghan govt: says US army

KABUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A local commander of Taliban militias laid down his arm and joint in the national reconciliation process in the troubled Paktika province in southeast Afghanistan, a US military spokesperson said Monday.

"Mullah Hajji Jilani, a former Taliban sub-commander of Paktika province has renounced violence against government of Afghanistan and joined the peace process on August 4," Cindy Moore said at a news briefing here.

She said that over a dozen fighters were accompanying the Mullah in his decision to lad down arms and support the peace process in the war-ravaged country.

"A ceremony honoring his decision will be held on August 9," Moore added. Under the national reconciliation policy launched by the President Hamid Karzai-led government and US military in November last year, according to officials, hundreds of Taliban fighters have laid down arms and resumed their normal lives in their communities.

To boost the process, the government has offered amnesty for all the Taliban members except 150 top ranking leaders that include the movement's elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his close aides and commanders.

But the Taliban leader has termed the offer as a trick to split the movement and called upon his loyalists to nullify the offer by intensifying attacks on the Afghan government and US military interests across the country.

Pakistan pushing jihadis into Afghanistan: MMA - ANI Lahore, August 7

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the Pakistan government hoodwinked the US and the West by helping jihadis freely enter Afghanistan from Waziristan. He said that the federal government was not only deceiving the US and the Western allies in the fight against terrorism, but also the entire nation.

"This is hypocrisy. The rulers are not only trying to deceive the US and the West, but also hoodwinking the entire nation," the Daily Times quoted him as saying. He also asked the government to reveal the identity of the infiltrators and the motive behind helping them get across to Afghanistan.

"They must give the nation the identities of the men being moved from Waziristan to militant camps in Mansehra. We ask the rulers to reveal the identity of the people being transported to Afghanistan from Waziristan via Kaali Sarak in private vehicles, reveal who is supervising their trouble-free entry into Afghanistan and reasons for their infiltration," he added.

Interestingly both Pakistan and the US led coalition in Afghanistan had earlier exchanged heated words with each accusing the other over the botched manner in which the Pak-Afghan border was being managed.

Lt General David Barno, the commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan had accused Pakistani forces for not patrolling the border effectively, adding that a joint operation was needed in NWFP’s north Waziristan region.

The statements had created an uproar to the extent that Lt General Safdar Hussain, the Peshawar corps commander had ruled out joint operations with the US forces in Wana in the near future against Al Qaeda-linked militants, saying that jihadis were getting arms and ammunitions from across the border. via The Hindustan Times

Boy who underwent heart surgery in Canada could die in Afghanistan: father - TERRY PEDWELL / The Canadian Press / August 7, 2005

DURANI, Afghanistan (CP) - Djamshid Popal, the young Afghan boy who underwent life-saving heart surgery in Canada one year ago, is growing weak and likely will not live much longer if he remains in Afghanistan, his father says.

"The decision belongs to Allah, but I think he won't survive because the situation and the circumstances that he's been living through are not good," the 10-year-old's father, Shafiullah said, looking down at the thin wool rugs that cover the dirt floors of his mud-brick one-room home.

Under an intense media spotlight, Djamshid was brought to Canada last summer after a Canadian Forces doctor spotted him in Durani, a remote village that is a bumpy and sometimes treacherous two-hour drive north of Kabul.

He returned to Afghanistan in November, and stayed in Kabul for several weeks under a doctor's care. But money quickly ran out for his father, who was forced to return to his dusty village, where he could look for work while living with relatives.

Since then, Djamshid's condition has deteriorated. His feet swell like balloons, often making it painfully difficult to walk. He coughs continually, giving him a sore throat and making sleep sporadic. He doesn't play with his friends because his breathing is barely strong enough to let him squeak out a few words when he's asked a question.

"I can see many changes in Djamshid's face, in his health," said Shafiullah, trying to contain his emotions. "Definitely, if we stay here, his health will get worse and worse." Djamshid is supposed to have his blood tested regularly, but his family situation makes that impossible.

Since returning home, the boy has had just one set of tests completed, at a cost of over $20 US - more than what his father earns during an entire month of toiling in the drought-stricken fields surrounding the village.

Even if the boy was tested more often, testing is done in Pakistan, and the results aren't returned for three weeks. By then, it's too late for Djamshid's father to know whether his son needs to take his medication.
On top of that, he has just a half bottle remaining of Coumodin, the pills he is supposed to take to thin his blood. The pills aren't easily available in Afghanistan, and Shafiullah couldn't afford to buy them even if there was a ready supply.

"These tablets, we cannot find them in Afghanistan," Shafiullah said, shaking the few pills remaining in one of the bottles he brought from Canada.

If Djamshid doesn't succumb to the lack of medicine or medical care - the closest doctor is 60 kilometres away in Kabul - he faces other, more menacing threats close by.

On the family home, a barely legible warning is painted in red on an outside wall. "Wherever you see the red line, it means danger of mines," reads the sign, scrawled in Pashto.

Landmines surround the house, with telltale red-painted rocks strewn everywhere the eye can see. Shafiullah's brother, Rahmeallah, accidentally stepped on one of the landmines and lost a leg while Djamshid and his father were in Canada.

While his father is not optimistic about what lies ahead for his son, Djamshid holds out hope of a brighter future half a world away. "First of all, I want to cure myself," he said, quietly coughing the words from his mouth.

"Secondly, I want to be something." Djamshid's father is asked why he didn't try to stay in Canada when he was already there with his son. He won't say, instead telling his son to answer.

"All I wanted to do was see my mother. I missed my mother," Djamshid replied. Now, knowing that his health is worsening, Djamshid is hoping for a second chance.

"I want to go to Canada because I want to get an education there," he said. "This time when I go, I won't go alone. I'll take my mom, my younger brothers and my father. My whole family, so I don't need to miss anybody else."

Deeply touched by the medical care he received in both Ottawa and Toronto, Djamshid has only one dream beyond getting well and going to school. "I want to be a doctor," he said, his face widening into a smile.
The doctors in Canada "did my diagnosis the best. And they are good people with the spirit of humanity." "I can never thank them enough."

Clash Over Foreign Aid

New law pits the government against local charities in the fight to claim foreign aid. Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Abdul Baseer Saeed in Kabul (ARR No. 181, 06-Aug-05)

Who should receive and disperse the foreign aid money flowing into Afghanistan: the government or the legion of domestic and international non-government organisations, NGOs, that have been handling much of the money up to now?

On one side of the debate are the growing number of officials who accuse the NGOs of corruption and inefficiency. On the other are the non-government groups, which contend that the government currently has neither the capacity nor the skills to handle the millions of dollars that are coming in.

A new law, signed by President Hamed Karzai in mid-June but not published until July, seeks to resolve the dispute by establishing stringent controls over which types of organisations can register for NGO status, and regulating the types of projects NGOs can undertake.

At present, there are close to 2,400 NGOs operating in the country, involved in projects ranging from dam construction to media development, like IWPR. Other than the requirement that they file quarterly reports with the economics ministry, the government has until now imposed few restrictions on their operations.

The new law requires all NGOs to reapply for permission to work in the country. Their applications must be approved by an evaluation commission composed of five representatives from various ministries, before the economics ministry can register them.

In addition, the new law bars NGOs from being involved in certain types of projects, such as construction and overtly political activities. Some NGO directors say they are concerned that the legislation could limit the scope and effectiveness of their activities.

“The law has some shortcomings such as the lack of detail regarding expenditures, and the restrictions on NGO engagement in construction,” said Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, chairman of the Afghan NGOs Coordination Bureau, ANCB, an umbrella organisation. “All of this indicates the imposition of limitations on NGO activities.” The dispute over control of foreign-aid money has been simmering for some time.

Ramazan Bashardost, a former planning minister and long-time critic of how international aid funds are dispensed, has charged that the money has been misused by NGOs, and faulted the international community for not giving the assistance directly to the Afghan government.

Bashardost, who was forced to resign his post earlier this year after he attempted to close up to 80 per cent of registered NGOs, is now demanding the establishment of a commission to investigate cases where aid money has been misused. The commission should conduct its inquiry secretly, he says, and report to the government.

“The money that has been donated has not yet produced any effective work,” he argued. Even Karzai railed against NGOs earlier this year, blaming them for the slow pace of reconstruction in the country.

“The corruption in NGOs has created obstacles in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan, and it is our job and the international organisations’ job to use the money in good ways,” the president said at an international donors conference in Kabul this spring.

Afghanistan has received large infusions of foreign aid since the American bombing campaign toppled the Taleban regime in late 2001. The country has received over four billion US dollars in assistance over the past three-and-a half- years - the vast majority of it funnelled through NGOs.

Some critics charge that the money has not always been well spent, saying too much has been siphoned off to finance what they see as the lavish lifestyles of overpaid foreign consultants, while some is simply wasted or stolen.

Bashardost has gone so far as to call NGOs “economic criminals”, and says, “The real NGOs are those that serve people 24 hours a day, not the ones that rent houses at high prices and waste a lot of money.”

But some analysts doubt that the still young government, which has yet to establish a democratically elected parliament, is up to the task of handling such vast amounts of money or undertaking complicated projects.

“NGOs have qualified experts on staff,” said Saifuddin Saihoon, a professor at the economics faculty of Kabul University. “Unfortunately, these people do not work in government.

“I don’t think donors will want to give aid directly to the Afghan government. I still have doubts as to whether it can implement its own programmes.”

Others say that since the government still lacks effective control over some parts of the country, it is unable to effectively operate relief and reconstruction programmes, especially in rural areas.

“The government is still not up to the task of coordinating assistance throughout the country,” said Mohammad Hashim Mayar, programme coordinator for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, ACBAR. “It still cannot help people in remote areas.”

According to Paul Barker, head of Care International in Afghanistan, “The Afghan government is too young, it doesn’t have much work experience. The banking system is not 100 per cent reliable and therefore the government will not be able to control the money.”

Economics Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang insists that the government is fully capable of assuming responsibility for the aid money. The new law, he said, is not intended to penalise NGOs but to make the whole structure more rational.

”We are not against those NGOs which achieve good work, but we are against those that misuse funds,” said Farhang. For now, many NGO leaders are taking a wait-and-see approach. “I hope that this law will distinguish between the good and bad NGOs,” said Barker.

Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Sweet Alternative to Opium

Farmers in Baghlan province see the revival of an old sugar factory as a way to produce an alternative to lucrative opium production. Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif (ARR No. 181, 06-Aug-05)

The factory is ready, the workers trained, but rest is something of a gamble.

Will the farmers of Baghlan province, northwest of Kabul, plough up their poppies and swap the rich harvest of opium for sugar beet?

Many say that they will, even though poppies have been a reliable source of income over the years of jihad and civil war. At a recently refurbished factory, the only sugar plant in Afghanistan, manager Abdul Karim Wazeri said he is trying to persuade all the farmers of the northern provinces to plant beet. If they do, he has pledged to buy their entire crop for the next two or three years.

He told IWPR that nearly 200 workers were already at the factory, being paid a wage of three US dollars a day, and that the plant could process 100,000 tonnes of beet a year from which 15,000 tons of sugar would be produced.

At least one farmer appears ready to make the switch. "Even though we'll earn less than with poppies, it will be much better because we can cultivate and sell sugar beet freely, without any threats or restrictions," said Taza Mir, a 63-year-old farmer in the province.

Taza Mir is old enough to remember the days when beet was the major crop in Baghlan and the province was noted for its sugar. "If the factory had not been damaged during the war years and we could still have sold our sugar beet, we would never have planted our lands with poppy,” he said.

At present, Afghanistan imports around 400,000 tonnes of sugar annually from neighbouring countries, mainly Russia and Pakistan, said Wazeri. Getting farmers to switch from growing poppies to other crops has been a long-stated government goal as it attempts to shed its reputation as a narco-state, producing some 80 per cent of the world’s opium.

But previous efforts have met with limited success. Taza Mir said he abandoned a previous effort to grow wheat because it only earned him 50 dollars an acre, a fraction of what he could make growing the raw material for heroin.

“The agriculture ministry is closely cooperating with the sugar beet factory and is doing its utmost to persuade farmers to cultivate their land with sugar beet,” Ghulam Mustafa Jawad, deputy agriculture minister, told IWPR,

He said that they will initially help Baghlan farmers and then move to other provinces to try to expand the beet crop, training farmers to get the most out of their land.

Before the wars, the main centres for growing beet were Baghlan, Kundoz and Samangan provinces. All depended on the Baghlan factory to buy their crops.

“One of the main issues is to establish a market for farmers’ crops. While the sugar factory was not working, no farmer was ready to use his land for sugar beet," said Jawad. “We are determined to prevent poppy cultivation completely next year.”

On the side of the ministry and sugar factory is the fact that beet is a legal crop. There are none of the problems that swirl around opium production -harassment by warlords, raids by police, the need for bribes to avoid poppy destruction, the chance of arrest. There is also the fact that growing the poppies and collecting the opium is much more labour intensive than beet.

Farmers have constantly to weed between the poppy plants, while collection of the raw opium requires each poppy head being slit with a razor to allow the sap – a milky substance – to ooze out of the plant. It then has to be left for a day to dry out, ending up as pure black opium.

Workers have only 15 days in which to collect the opium from the time the poppy head matures, with the best time for "milking" the plant being during the heat of the midday sun.

“We have to spend the whole year working the land with poppies because opium needs to be worked on, and at the same time collecting it is also very difficult. To do this, we had to hire people and pay each of them 10 dollars a day," Lal Mohammad, another Baghlan farmer, told IWPR.

“I used to cultivate my lands with sugar beet before the war years and I had good crops from it." In nearby Balkh province, farmer Noor Mohammad, 55, told IWPR, “If the Baghlan sugar factory contracts with us to buy beets, I will never cultivate my land with opium poppy. I and all the farmers had to plant poppies because we didn’t have a good alternative."

Plant manager Wazeri said the factory would pay 1,300 afghanis (about 26 dollars) per ton of beet. A farmer could produce more than 10 tons per acre, meaning they could make some 300 dollars for each acre of their land.

Opium cultivation, depending on the final quality, is known in some areas to bring a gross 1,000 to 3,000 dollars an acre. But that is before expenses and ignoring the risk of poppies being destroyed in a police sweep or the opium being seized as it is being smuggled out of the country.

Two German companies financed the refurbished factory, originally built in the 1940s. Wazeri said the plant had already provided some farmers with the seeds to produce beet and had told them it would contract to buy all their harvest.

And Wazeri is already planning for the future. “We will set up two [additional] sugar producing machines during the next three years and then we will be able to process more than 500,000 tonnes of beets into 80,000 tonnes of sugar,” he said.

“Farmers have already shown their interest in planting sugar beet and at present, dozens of them are coming to us each day and promising us that they will cultivate their lands with beet next year. And with that increase, the output of our factory will also go up.”

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Mines Reap Grim Harvest

The rate of casualties from landmines has eased, but shows little sign of falling further, leaving new generations maimed by past wars. Ibstitute for War & Peace Reporting y Abdul Baseer Saeed in Kabul (ARR No. 181, 06-Aug-05)

Concentration etched on his face, the young boy lurches hesitantly forward. Mohammad Agha, 14, is learning to walk again - an artificial leg replacing one blown off by a landmine not far from Kabul.

He and hundreds of others – boys, girls, men and women – are part of the latest crop of casualties in one of the world's most heavily mined countries.

Up to 10 million anti-personnel and anti-tank mines were planted in shifting battle lines by various forces during more than two decades of wars. Most minefields are unmarked.

“I lost my leg three months ago. While I was grazing my sheep, I heard the strange sound of a mine exploding, but I didn’t know what had happened because I lost awareness," Mohammad Agha told an IWPR reporter early one August morning as he tentatively leaned on the prosthetic replacing his right limb.

"When I opened my eyes I was in the emergency hospital and when I wanted to walk, I couldn’t. Then I saw I had lost my leg.”

There are mines everywhere, from the most desolate mountain areas, where they hindered recovery of bodies from a crashed airliner earlier this year, to war-ruined houses in gentle countryside, and even inside cities.

The mine that took off Mohammad Agha's leg had been planted in Paghman, some 15 kilometres outside of Kabul. The area, with cool streams, trees and grass in the foothills of the Koh-i-Baba mountain range, is a magnet for many of the overcrowded capital's estimated three million people seeking to escape the urban dust, noise and heat.

Mine victims come from all parts of the country to a single-storey, cream-coloured concrete building in Kabul, the main orthopaedic centre of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC.

In the first six months of this year, the centre admitted 589 new patients. Most were victims of mine explosions, although the project, originally founded to treat war-related wounds, was expanded in 1995 to help anyone who was “motor-disabled” such as with polio or spinal injuries.

"Eighty per cent of the amputees who came in this year up to June had been maimed by mines," said Najmuddin, the official in charge of the Kabul centre.

It's a percentage consistent with that recorded over recent years: mine victims account for nearly 23,000, or 76 per cent, of a total 30,098 amputees registered by the ICRC.

As Mohammad Agha practised walking unaided and without crutches, under a shelter in the centre’s grounds, 13-year-old Sayed Noor Hussain watched as he sat in a wheelchair and waited to be fitted with an artificial leg.

Noor Hussain is from Paktia province, south of Kabul, and had come with his father, Noor Mohammad.

The boy told IWPR, “There were a lot of ruined houses in our village. I was playing with my friends in one of them when a mine exploded. I didn’t know what happened, but when I opened my eyes, I was in hospital.

"When I see my friends playing with each other, I do wish I could play with them too."

Treatment by the ICRC is free, but transport and medicines are still a burden on families. "I have spent a lot of money on my son," said Noor Mohammad. "It came to 120,000 afghanis, about 2,400 US dollars."

The ICRC orthopaedic project started in 1988 – the year before Soviet troops pulled out after 10 years of occupation. Both the Russians and their mujahedin opponents laid thousands of mines during that period and thousands more were buried in years of civil war and strife that followed.

In 1995, the centre treated 2,698 people who had lost limbs, most of them to exploding mines. The number of patients it treated annually remained fairly constant for the next four years.

Since 2000, the numbers have steadily declined, with the centre caring for just over 1,000 patients in 2004. It looks likely that a similar number of patients will come in this year, meaning that about 20 people continue to be maimed by land mines each week.

There are now six ICRC-sponsored centres providing orthopaedic services in Afghanistan. Overall, they have fitted more than 54,000 artificial limbs and distributed more than 100,000 pairs of crutches since they started.

The true number of those maimed by landmines is difficult to assess.

According to figures provided by the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan, UNMACA, an average of 80 people a month have been killed or disabled by such devices so far this year, compared with an average of 70 a month for 2004.

Masood Ahmad Hamidzada, speaking for UNMACA, said that between 1996 and 2001, while the Taleban were in power, the average number of casualties from mines was around 120 a month. All across the capital, there are daily reminders of the lethal nature of mines.

Amid chaotic traffic at crossroads in Kabul, one-legged men balance on crutches to beg from passing motorists. Others who have lost both legs sit perilously in the middle of the road, their stumps exposed as they ask for alms. The problem is not going to go away, despite the fact that some 8,600 people are working on mine clearance. Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Afghans hope to use mountains for tourism instead of war - Associated Press / Kabul, August 5, 2005

Afghanistan has struggled to surmount decades of war and poverty. Now, newly trained trekking guides plan to help visitors climb the country's majestic peaks in an effort to revive tourism.

A total of 22 Afghans from across the country graduated Thursday from an internationally sponsored mountaineering training course in the capital, Kabul, the U.S. Agency for International Development said in a statement.

The guides, hailing from northern Nuristan to central Bamiyan province, are part of a program to establish environmentally friendly tourism in Afghanistan, the statement said. They include two young women and seven former soldiers.

As part of the pilot project, the climbers were given classroom training in Kabul starting July 16 before traveling to the nearby Panjshir Valley mountains for practical instruction. "Participants are trained to assist tourist groups during treks and climbs and ensure that ecologically sound practices and cultural traditions are respected," the statement said.

The training and graduation ceremony was intended to add momentum to "a dialogue among tourism development parties and environmentalists," according to a separate statement handed out at the event.

Asif Zaidi, program manager for the U.N. Environment Program in Afghanistan _ a sponsor _ said seven of the 22 Afghans were former soldiers, and that the program hoped to train another group of 20-25 guides next year.

"We've encouraged them to form an association so they appear as an entity so anyone coming from overseas can contact them" for guide services, he said.

"For those who work well, we'd like to take them through an advanced course next year" which would also focus on developing their English-language skills, Zaidi said.

Besides USAID and UNEP, other sponsors include Mountain Wilderness International, an Italy-based group dedicated to preserving mountainous regions around the world, and the Aga Khan Foundation, a Muslim development fund.

In July 2003, a team of Mountain Wilderness International climbers scaled Afghanistan's highest peak for the first time in a quarter of a century to encourage tourism and prove at least part of the war-shattered country was safe for mountaineers. The team of seven Europeans climbed Mount Noshaq _ a 7,492-meter-high (24,580-foot-high) peak in northeastern Afghanistan's mighty Hindu Kush mountain range.

Over the last two decades, few tourists have visited Afghanistan, which was racked by a 1980s war with the former Soviet Union, a brutal civil war in the 1990s and a U.S.-led war in 2001 that toppled the hardline Taliban regime.

Many parts of the country, particularly the southern and eastern provinces bordering Pakistan, remain off-limits to aid workers because of an insurgency waged by Taliban rebels and their allies. Afghan and U.S.-led forces also regularly conduct operations in the area.

From mujahideen to mountain guide - By Andrew North BBC correspondent, Kabul Sunday, 7 August 2005

That is one of the goals of an Italian-run course in the peaks north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. "I have lots of experience in these mountains fighting the Russians," said Commander Rahim Khan, one of the former mujahideen fighters, who handed in his weapons earlier this year.

"Now I can use this for peaceful reasons." For centuries, Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains have served mainly to keep out would-be invaders - from the British to the Russians.

The hope is the peaks could now work the other way - attracting climbers, trekkers and other visitors, amid tentative efforts to exploit the country's potential as a tourist destination.

It's early days. Because of security concerns, serious tourist dollars remain a distant prospect - not least because the US and many other governments still advise their citizens against visiting Afghanistan.

No one doubts the potential is there though - especially in its mountains, some of the highest in the world and many of them unclimbed.

That's why the Rome-based organisation, Mountain Wilderness, has started training people as guides, "ready for when they start arriving," explains the group's energetic leader Professor Carlo Pinelli.

Twenty-two would be mountain guides - including 2 women - were signed up for the first course. Nine of the trainees are former mujahideen fighters, selected by the nationwide UN-backed DDR (disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration) programme responsible for disbanding militia groups.

The plan is also getting support from the Aga Khan foundation and the US Agency for International Development.

Before heading to the mountains in the Panjshir valley, north of Kabul, the students were put through classroom sessions on safety and hygiene. There were classes on the geology, flora and fauna of the region, as well as environmental awareness.

The group says that's a key concern, as it seeks to encourage visitors in. Three decades ago, Afghanistan was becoming something of a new mountaineering Mecca, as climbers sought out new, un-scaled summits.

But war closed that all down. "We want to open again the door of the Afghan Hindu Kush to mountaineering," says Mr Pinelli, who first climbed here in the 1960s.

He began that effort two years ago, organising an expedition to climb Nowshak, the country's highest peak at almost 7,500 metres - the first time it had been scaled in more than two decades.

The trainees on this course reached heights of over 5,000 metres. They were taught essential techniques like crossing snow fields and glaciers, abseiling and the basics of rock climbing.

Rohina, one of the two female students, was enthusiastic. "Three years ago, I couldn't even leave my house," she said. "Now I have climbed a mountain."

All 22 students passed the course, but it has only given them basic guiding skills. By comparison, a guide in the French Alps has to train for several years before being certified.

Despite their knowledge of the mountains, making the transition may be particularly difficult for Rahim Khan and his fellow mujahideen fighters. None of them speak English, crucial for dealing with foreign visitors.

"This is a first step," Mr Pinelli acknowledges. He is hoping his trainees will build on their skills by guiding trekking and walking groups. But he admits "it will be some time before there are regular clients to guide".

Next year, he plans to run a more advanced course in the Wakhan corridor, where the country's highest peaks are found. A new era of Afghan mountaineering may be about to begin.

Carpet Industry Still Faces Challenges

Hand-woven rugs are an important export for Afghanistan, but neighbouring Pakistan is attempting to make inroads into the industry. Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Abdul Baseer Saeed in Kabul (ARR No. 181, 06-Aug-05)

Carpet weaving is one of Afghanistan’s foremost industries, and the hand-woven treasures constitute one of the best export hopes. But years of civil strife drove many to flee their country for neighbouring Pakistan, where their business continued to flourish.

Now, the government in Kabul would like to see the weavers bring their looms back home. However, continued instability in many areas of the country, coupled with enticements by the Pakistani government, which wants to keep its own rug industry going, are prompting some Afghan carpet-makers to relocate aboard and discouraging others from returning home.

Abdul Shukoor, a resident of Kunduz province, has a carpet-weaving business that keeps seven members of his family employed. In his village, he told IWPR, 50 families engaged in the trade have already gone to Pakistan.

“In Pakistan everything is available, they pave the way for us. If something isn't done for carpet weavers and traders here, they'll all go to Pakistan,” he said.

Afghan hand-woven carpets have been famous for centuries, and are one of the most profitable economic activities in the country. In the period preceding Afghanistan’s two decades of war, carpets accounted for around ten per cent of exports. The industry still helps lubricate the local economy.

Traditionally, most carpets were woven in northern areas of Afghanistan. But after the communist coup in 1978 and the years of Soviet occupation that followed, millions of refugees including carpet weavers fled the country, the majority to Pakistan.

Afghan government leaders say all that’s changed now and they are doing their best not only to support those weavers who stayed in the country but also to encourage others to return.

“Conditions have now improved for Afghan businessmen,” said Ghulam Nabi Farahi, the deputy minister of commerce. “We have signed a protocol with Ariana Afghan Airlines to transport carpets made by Afghan weavers to world markets and now we take their rugs to Japan, America, Canada and all European and Arabic countries tax-free.”

Projects are under way to provide land for industrial parks where carpet factories would recruit traditional weavers. And the push is on to attract international investment.

But primitive conditions, the lack of basic necessities such as electricity and water, and the continuing unrest in many parts of the country keep investors at bay.

“Gunmen rule in our area; if went there, they’d not only loot our properties, but our lives would be in danger as well,” said Sayed Mohammad, originally from Faryab province. He now runs a carpet shop in Peshawar, Pakistan, and says he has no intention of going back to Afghanistan.

Farahi dismisses claims that security concerns are driving weavers to Pakistan, “The security situation in Afghanistan is better than in most other countries, and the security problems faced by Afghans exist elsewhere in the world too.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to welcome the weavers with open arms and is anxious to discourage them from returning to Afghanistan.

According to Hamid Qaderi, president of the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce, the Pakistani government has enticed Afghan weavers to remain by offering them subsidised land, housing, electricity and security. ”This shows astuteness on the part of Pakistani officials,” he said.

Still, Afghanistan is anxious to reclaim its prominence on the world carpet market and government officials like Farahi insist that the industry will once again prosper.

“I can tell you with confidence that the carpet weaving businesses which are now in Pakistan will be transferred to Afghanistan within the next five or six months,” he said. Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Revolving Door for Afghan Governors

The government is accused of shifting regional chiefs from job to job because it is too scared to fire important players. Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada in Kabul (ARR No. 181, 06-Aug-05)

The latest reshuffle of Afghan provincial governors has left many wondering whether the government of President Hamed Karzai was sincere when it promised to remove officials with questionable records from their posts

Since the same powerful warlords and mujahedin leaders have resurfaced again and again in a variety of national- and provincial-level jobs since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, some are now asking whether the cycle will ever be broken.

In late June, with Karzai’s approval, the interior ministry transferred five governors from one province to another. Among the most controversial moves were the appointment of Gul Agha Sherzai as governor of Nangarhar, who was shifted from his native province of Kandahar. Shirzai is a former mujahedin commander who was in charge of Kandahar until the Taleban forced him out.

In Nangarhar, Sherzai replaced Haji Din Mohammad, formerly a deputy leader in the Hezb-i-Islami mujahedin faction led by Yunus Khalis. He is now governor of Kabul province.

Eyebrows have also been raised at the selection of Haji Shir Alam as governor of Ghazni. Alam is a former militia commander most recently associated with Tanzim-e-Dawat-e-Islami – a political group set up by Abd al-Rabb al-Rasul Sayyaf on the basis of his Ittehad-e-Islami mujahedin faction. Alam was recently barred from standing in the upcoming parliamentary elections because of he was deemed to have retained ties to armed groups.

“Isn’t there anyone else who can be a minister or governor in Afghanistan except for a few warlords?” demanded Hanifullah, a 60-year-old civil servant. Instead of getting rid of them, "the government is just transferring them from one post to another and in doing so it is cheating the people," he said, adding that he now regretted voting for Karzai last year.

The government defended the latest round of appointments.

“These governors have had jihadi backgrounds and their service during the [anti-Soviet] jihad and resistance is admired by the Afghan people - they have really endured a great deal [and] want to serve their people,” said Abdul Malik Seddiqi, a high ranking interior ministry official.

He denied accusations that the government is unable to get rid of governors if it wants to. Some analysts disagree, and say the government’s hands are tied when it comes to making such appointments.

They point to the 2001 Bonn conference that served as the basis for the new government. At that meeting, rival Afghan leaders reached a deal to set aside decades of war and form a post-Taleban coalition leadership, sketching a blueprint for a new democratic Afghanistan.

"The government was effectively formed in Bonn, based on consultations with these people, so they are part of the government and they cannot be left out of it,” said Qasim Akhgar, a political analyst.

Many of the warriors and warlords who spent years fighting against Soviet occupation and the Taleban regime now see their positions in government as just reward for their services.

Sherzai, who has also served as minister of rehabilitation and rural development as well as two post-Taleban terms in the top job in Kandahar, defended his latest appointment as governor of Nangarhar.

“To transfer and appoint someone is within the government’s authority – these decisions are made for the good of the people. It is not true what people say - that the government cannot fire any governors, because most of the ministers and governors have been fired," he said.

This view was shared by Din Mohammad, the recently-appointed governor of Kabul province, “I disagree with what people say - that the governors are linked to the government, which cannot get rid of them.

"But I can say that those who’ve made sacrifices and have a good reputation and respect among the people get high priority when it comes to these appointments.” That sort of answer does not satisfy many people.

Ahmad Shah, 50, a teacher in Kabul, said, “The government is moving these powerful men around. It sometimes appoints warlords to the ministries, sometimes to governors’ posts.

"People have come to know these warlords during the past four years. Most of them are uneducated, and some are war criminals and human rights violators, so why can’t the government protect the people from them?” Mohammad Hassan Wolesmal, a political analyst who is chief editor of Afghan Milli Jarida (Afghan National Magazine), agreed.

“When people tire of the governors’ incompetence, the government just transfers them from one province to another in order to calm the public,” he said.

Shir Alam declined to comment on his recent appointment. A spokesman for his office said, “The interior ministry has ordered that the governors and police chiefs cannot be interviewed.”

Ministry press officer Daad Mohammad Rasa acknowledged that the ministry had made such an order, saying, "We did this to avoid different views being expressed by different people – governors and police chiefs." Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Zoo-keepers worried about animals donated to Kabul Zoo

BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Zoo-keepers in a private wildlife park in Beijing are now worried about the animals that they donated to the Kabul Zoo two years ago.

Wang Wei, deputy general manager of the Badaling Wildlife Park,said the park was concerned about the animals' living condition, after a bear and a dear it donated to Afghanistan died.

Sources with the Chinese Embassy in Afghan said Saturday that the bear, named Shenshen, died of renal failure, which was owed tothe poor conditions in the zoo.

Wang heard that the male bear's death has driven his mate Cece crazy. He often appears irritable. Another donated dear died because of improper feeding by tourists.

Wang and his colleagues decided to donate two lions and some other animals to Kabul Zoo after learning from TV that Marjan, theone-eyed lion in Kabul Zoo, died in 2002, when peace finally came back to the war-torn country of Afghanistan.

The donation included a pair of lions, Zhuangzhuang and his mate Canny, both three years old, a pair of lions, a male wolf chosen as a companion for a lonely female wolf in Kabul, a pair of brown bears, a pair of deer and a pair of white pigs.

The Kabul Zoo remains one of the few sites for fun and joy in the war-torn country, drawing thousands of visitors everyday.

Wang said his park had planned to help Kabul Zoo cope with its food shortage problems and make continued donations of new animals. "But only after we could make sure of the safety of living for the donated animals, shall we continue to send animals to Afghanistan," he said.

U-17 Asia Cup: Nepal loses to Afghanistan by 49 runs Kantipur Online, Nepal

KATHMANDU, Aug 5 - Inexperienced Nepali cricket team lost to Afghanistan by 49-runs in the ACC Under-17 Asia Cup Tournament played at the Penang Sports Ground, Malaysia on Friday.

Afghanistan, reeling at 39 runs for seven at one stage, miraculously made 175, losing eight wickets in the allotted 45 overs, after winning the toss. Chasing the target of 176, Nepal managed to score 126 for nine in the second innings.

On Saturday Nepal will take on novice Brunei in a must win match to keep its hope alive for quarterfinal berth. Fourteen second-grade cricketing nations are participating in the tournament.

In the U-17 Asia Cup played in India last year, Nepal defeated Malaysia, Qatar and Bahrain but lost to India and Pakistan. This year, Test-playing nations are not participating in the tournament.

It will be dangerous to ignore the man in the turban - By Frank Gardner
Daily Telegraph - UK

So, the fervent strategist and spokesman of al-Qaeda was back on our screens last week. Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri promised Britain more death and destruction, and did his best to make life uncomfortable for the Prime Minister on the eve of his summer holidays. Let us leave aside for now the important question of whether or not he and his organisation really did have any operational role in last month's London bombings.

The issue that is becoming increasingly urgent is whether or not al-Qaeda - and those who follow its vengeful creed - have any sort of negotiable aims. On the surface of it there are plenty of grounds for thinking they don't. The last al-Qaeda militant I met gave me a big smile, said "Peace be upon you," then took out a pistol and shot me, leaving me for dead on the streets of Riyadh. But he was hardly a decision-maker. The question now is could or should the West come to an understanding with al-Qaeda ideologues in order to prevent further attacks, or would this simply be seen as surrender and an invitation to further violence?

Osama bin Laden offered Europe a truce last year, giving its governments three months to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The offer was ignored, but although the idea that you cannot and should not make deals with terrorists is a noble one, it is not always followed in practice. Witness the IRA. There are arguments both for and against trying to negotiate with al-Qaeda, but what Western leaders have largely failed to do until now is to take the trouble to really understand what on earth it is that al-Qaeda actually wants.

"They don't like us because they don't like our way of life," said President Bush about al-Qaeda on more than one occasion. That is missing the point; al-Qaeda's leadership has never given a stuff how Americans behave in their own country. What they object to most is the presence of Western forces in Muslim lands. It is true that one of the organisation's early ideological influences was an Egyptian engineer who returned from the US bitter and disgusted at what he saw there as decadent behaviour. But that is not the reason why bin Laden and those who follow him are at war with the West. The US Administration has also sought to depict al-Qaeda as nihilistic madmen with no discernible aims. Again, this is untrue. Al-Qaeda and those that follow it do have aims and grievances but they also have a maddening habit of shifting the goalposts.

In the 15 years that I have been watching the al-Qaeda phenomenon I have seen its agenda morph from being a localised, country-specific one into a global war with America and all its allies. Al-Qaeda as an organisation began as a way of administering the thousands of young Arab volunteers who had flocked to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and then their Afghan communist allies. By the early 1990s bin Laden had turned his attentions towards his own country, Saudi Arabia, whose rulers he fiercely criticised for allowing in US troops. In backstreet bookshops in old Jeddah I would come across scratchy cassette tapes circulating illegally that shared his view. They carried sermons railing against the continued presence of these troops and against the Saudi government for keeping them there. By 1996 bin Laden had decided that America was the root of all problems for Muslims worldwide and that year he publicly declared war on Americans. But even then it was still safe for a Western journalist to visit him in his Afghan exile and several did. In fact we narrowly missed getting the first television interview with him because of the Taliban advance on Kabul. "Tell the BBC to wait until things settle down," he told his PR officer in London, a Saudi dissident now awaiting extradition to the US.

Yet over the next two years bin Laden became increasingly radicalised by the man in the turban we saw last Thursday. Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri had headed his own terrorist organisation, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, but after joining forces with bin Laden they issued their joint "declaration of jihad against Jews and crusaders" (ie Christians). Their beef was essentially that America should stop supporting Israel and what they saw as corrupt and apostate regimes in the Arab world.

When I interviewed Osama bin Laden's half-brother Yeslam this summer, he told me how al-Zawahiri's violent, global views on jihad and revenge were largely responsible for shaping Osama's own views on the direction al-Qaeda should take. In short, he got him to think big. Instead of limiting himself to condemning the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden and his senior commanders now sanctioned attacks on US embassies in east Africa, a billion dollar US warship in Yemen, and of course on New York and Washington. With the destruction of al-Qaeda's Afghan bases in 2001 it has become much harder to ascertain if there is any central direction behind the violence attributed to them. Last year's Madrid bombings, for example, appear to have been carried out by north African extremists with no operational ties to the rump al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan.

If so, it could be argued, then what is the point in paying any attention to the latest rant from a man whose sole message seems to be one of violence? But to ignore al-Zawahiri all together would be dangerous. Even if it were true that he and his associates no longer control terrorist operations, his ideology inspires many, providing sanction to young jihadis who see in his words a reassurance that they have a secret duty to somehow hit back at the West for its actions in Muslim countries.

The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have rightly pointed out in recent days that al-Qaeda was attacking the West long before the invasions of either Iraq or Afghanistan. But it would be wrong to assume that al-Qaeda's attacks simply came out of nowhere. They stem from a desire both for revenge for perceived injustices and to warn off the West from "interfering" in Muslim countries.

The question of whether the West should talk to al-Qaeda is really an academic one. These people do not sit around long tables with bottles of Evian and interpreters. But they have, through smuggled video cassettes and internet broadcasts, and in their own pedantic and lecturing way, made their demands clear. These are: the withdrawal of all Western forces from Muslim lands, especially Iraq, the withdrawal of support for Israel, and of support for "apostate" governments, specifically in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. I am not for one minute suggesting that the West must do al-Qaeda's bidding, but it is easy to see how the first of these demands currently carries most weight amongst al-Qaeda's followers.

It is true that there are men at the heart of al-Qaeda who still dream of reviving by force the great mediaeval caliphate, an Islamic empire that once stretched from Andalusia to India. These individuals will probably never be satisfied until the whole world is one giant caliphate but their ideas have little popular appeal on the Muslim street. There are also the smouldering conflicts in Kashmir and Chechnya but these are hard to blame on the West. By contrast, the invasion of Iraq and - to a lesser extent - the denial of a viable Palestinian homeland are two burning, emotive issues for many, many Muslims. If these can be resolved then the extremist ideologues risk being left as rebels without a cause. If they are left to fester then al-Qaeda and its associations will never be short of recruits.

Frank Gardner is the BBC Security Correspondent. His reports on al-Qaeda and global security can be seen on BBC1 and News24. Matthew d'Ancona is away.

[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.]