After seven years of drought, much of Afghanistan enjoying a bountiful harvest - Associated Press

PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan, Aug. 7 — The country's farms are alive again. Seven years of drought had left fields monochrome plains of brown dust. But good snows and rains have many Afghans seeing color again: seas of golden wheat undulate in the breeze, green apricot trees are plump with yellow fruit, melons of every color dot fields.

It is much-needed relief for impoverished farmers as well as the estimated 3.4 million Afghans who have been relying on food handouts from overburdened international aid groups. One wheat farmer sees the end of the drought as a sign that God is pleased with the country's fledgling democracy.

''Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan has started to recover from the drought and people's lives have been getting better,'' said Fazah Rahman, 36, standing in his fields.

''In previous years, no one even bothered to plant crops because our lands were dry like a desert, but that has all changed and everyone is sowing their land,'' he said.

Mohammed Sharif-Sharif, a senior official at the Agricultural Ministry, said the harvest is exceeding expectations. ''This year, we will be in need of less food aid from other countries,'' he said. ''In the past seven years, nearly all our wheat was imported. But fortunately, it will significantly drop this year.''
A short drive from Kabul in any direction reveals the change. Northward into the Shomali Plains, home to the American military's Bagram air base, fields of wheat stretch to the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains.

A little farther north into the Panjshir Valley — where Islamic guerrillas battled Soviet occupation troops in the 1980s — apricot and mulberry orchards line the banks of Panjshir River. The hulks of Soviet T-62 tanks slowly rust under trees pregnant with fruit.

A helicopter flight from Bagram toward the frontier abutting Pakistan, an area still wracked by Taliban-led violence, finds neat lines of beans and other crops growing inside high-walled family compounds that checker the landscape.

On the negative side, the rains will mean a good harvest for farmers growing illegal fields of opium poppies, the country's main export and cash crop.

While anti-drug campaigns by U.S. and Afghan officials have decreased the amount of land devoted to poppies, the overall harvest likely will rise because of the good growing conditions, Counternarcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi said.

Not all Afghan farmers have benefited from rain. Some areas, mainly in the south and east, are still suffering water shortages and need help, U.N. World Food Program spokeswoman Jackie Dent said.

''We can expect the number of people dependent on food aid to decrease to a limited extent over the next 12 months,'' she said. But ''even after such a good harvest, the country will not be able to meet the consumption requirements of its population.''

Artist to recreate Afghan Buddhas – BBC

Afghanistan's famous Bamiyan Buddhas are due to be recreated by multicoloured laser images projected onto the cliffs where they once stood. The 1,600-year-old statues, which stood on the Silk Road in the Bamiyan Valley, were destroyed by the Taleban in 2001.

Artist Hiro Yamagata will use solar and wind power to project a series of images onto four miles of clay cliffs. Afghan government officials, who approached the Japanese artist in 2003, are awaiting approval from Unesco.

Fourteen laser systems would project 140 faceless images, standing up to 175ft (52.5m) tall, onto the cliff-face for four hours every Sunday night.

United Nations cultural organisation Unesco must assess whether the laser beams could damage the cliffs. "If there is a way to do it so there is no environmental impact, we would support it as it would boost tourism," said Habiba Sarobi, governor of the Bamiyan province. "The images would remind us of what (the Buddhas) once looked like."

Yamagata estimated the project would cost $9m (£5m) and that it would be completed by June 2007. The California-based artist, who visited Bamiyan in 2003, hoped his artwork would give something back to the war-torn region by using the imported windmills to provide power for surrounding villages.
He also planned to employ local workers to build the foundations for the windmills. "Many people say, 'My art will heal the people,'" said Yamagata. "Of course I help people, but it's more about not harming people."

"I'm doing a fine art piece. That's my purpose - not for human rights, or for supporting religion or a political statement." Zahir Aziz, Afghan ambassador to Unesco, confirmed that an earlier Swiss plan to rebuild the Buddhas at the cost of $30m (£16.8m) per statue had been discarded.

Afghan doctor gunned down by suspected Taliban rebels

KABUL, Aug 9 (AFP) - An Afghan doctor has been shot and killed by suspected Taliban rebels in the country's restive southeast in the latest attack on medical workers by the ousted Islamic movement, the interior ministry said Tuesday.

Gunmen opened fire on a clinic on Monday in the Andar district of Ghazni province and killed Mohammed Hashim, said ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. Two suspected Taliban were wounded when police returned fire, he added.

Purported Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed responsibility for the attack. "We killed Doctor Mohammed Hashim, he was a former communist and he was also spying for Americans," Hakimi told AFP from an undisclosed location.

The Taliban spokesman said the doctor was a candidate in Afghanistan's landmark parliamentary elections next month, but this was denied by the UN-backed Joint Electoral Management Body and by the interior ministry.

In June suspected Taliban militants killed a doctor and six medical attendants in the southeastern province of Khost, while a Afghan and his wife working as doctors in remote Farah province were shot dead in March.

Afghanistan suffers from a severe lack of specialists after decades of invasions, wars and internal strife, having only one doctor per 50,000 inhabitants.

Separately, eight suspected Taliban fighters were arrested after a brief exchange of fire with security forces in the southeastern province of Helmand, near the Pakistani border, provincial governor Mullah Shir Mohammed told AFP.

Militants from the Taliban, whose fundamentalist Islamic regime was toppled by a US-led invasion in late 2001, have stepped up their attacks on American and government targets ahead of September's elections. Nearly 800 people, including 63 US soldiers and around 400 rebels, have been killed so far this year.

ANA to be deployed in all provinces

announced to deploy the Afghan National Army (ANA) in all parts of the country ahead of the landmark parliamentary polls scheduled for September 18.

Addressing a press conference here spokesman for the ministry General Zahir Azimi said presently the ANA was operational in 27 provinces which would be expanded to the remaining parts soon.

The spokesman said besides the ANA, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and coalition forces would also help guarding the elections. Taliban have stepped up insurgency in the country to disrupt the polls. A total of 6,000 aspirants are in the run for the parliamentary and provincial council elections being considered as the first of its type in the history of the war-hit country.

600 mln US dollars invested for rebuilding Afghan army

The US army has invested over 600 million dollars during the current year to rebuild the fledgling Afghan National Army (ANA) and its facilities, commander of US army Engineering Department in Afghanistan said Monday.

"The value of our active contract is 630 million US dollars. We are currently working to award the reminder of our fiscal year 2005 contracts to a total of about 500 million dollars," Christopher J. Toomey told media at a press conference.

Sixty million dollars of this amount will be spent on construction of headquarters, company facilities and border crossing points mostly in the eastern portion of the country, he added.

"These facilities provide a vital security and counter-narcotics upgrade to the current Afghan national assets," stressed the US army official.

Toomey, who transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan last month, said his prime goal includes oversight of construction, rehabilitation and refurbishment of Afghan army facilities here.

"We are building ANA bases in Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and Gardez. Each installation has its own independent power plant and waste water treatment station to ensure power and running water," he said.

The projects, completed so far, could support over 35,000 soldiers, he said. Another 500 to 600 million US dollars, he added will be awarded in contract in fiscal year 2006.

Canadian general predicts 20-year mission in Afghanistan

Canadian troops could stay in Afghanistan for at least 20 years, predicted one of the top generals amidst public criticism of the government decision to expand troops deployment from the Afghan capital to other regions.

"Afghanistan is a 20-year venture," Maj.-Gen. Andrew was quoted by Monday's Toronto Star as saying.
He argued that the lengthy stay is necessary to help the war-torn country break out of "a cycle of warlords and tribalism." Leslie made the remarks Sunday at the Couchiching Summer Conference in Orillia, Ontario, north of Toronto.

Canada began building up its forces in Afghanistan in July, and hundreds of soldiers have been sent to the region of Kandahar during the past one month. According to a defense ministry plan, as many as 1,250 Canadian soldiers will be serving in Afghanistan by February 2006.

The peace-keeping force that was deployed in Kabul in August 2003 will also move to Kandahar when its mission ends this autumn after the Afghan National Assembly and Provincial Council elections .

The decision to send troops to Afghanistan was under fire ever since it was first announced in 2003, sparking fears of fatalities among both the public and government officials.

The plan to expand mission to Kandahar this year also met with strong opposition as fears grew for a terrorist attack on Canadian soil in the wake of the July 7 bomb attack on London.

Leslie defended the move as worthwhile saying "there are things worth fighting for, there are things worth dying for, there are things worth killing for."

His remarks echoed that of Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier, who said in July that by sending troops to Afghanistan, Canada is actually protecting itself in the long run.

Man killed as supporters of candidates clash - 08/08/2005 By Ezatullah Zawab

JALALABAD - A man was killed and two others wounded in an armed clash between supporters of two electoral candidates in the Shirzad district of the eastern Nangarhar province.

The fight erupted after supporters of Mualim Said Agha and Tahir exchanged harsh words over distribution of posters and wall chalking in the Toto area.

Witnesses said exchange of fire resulted in the killing of a man while two others wounded who were shifted to hospital.

Colonel Abdul Ghaffar, deputy of the press office of the Nangarhar police headquarters, confirming the clash said police had been sent into the area and situation was under control.

He said no arrest had been made thus far as the killers had fled the scene. The police official said local elders had constituted a jirga in a bid to calm down the situation.

Aspirants in almost all parts of the country have jumped the gun flouting the ban imposed by the government on electoral campaign more than one month ahead of the polls. Pajhwok Afghan News

US pledges additional $8m for Afghan polls

KABUL, August 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The United States has pledged an additional $8 million to supplement $32 million in US funds already provided to authorities administering the landmark parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.

The contributions, scheduled to be channeled through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will be utilised for public education, ballot production and transportation, recruitment and training of polling staff and other election-related activities.

In a statement released from the US Embassy here on Monday, the United States urged the international donors to meet their financial obligations ahead of the run up.

The upcoming national assembly elections scheduled for September 18 is a step forward towards building a stable, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan, said the statement. Meanwhile, the United Nations Monday disclosed Afghanistan still faced a shortfall of $19 million to fund the September 18 parliamentary elections.

Ariane Quentier, a UN spokeswoman in Kabul, said the shortfall existed despite new pledges of $12 million in recent days by donors. Last week, the UN had urged the international donors to

AFGHAN GOV'T ALLOWS PRIVATE COS TO RUN SERVICES FOR HAJ PILGRIMS

KABUL, Aug 8 Asia Pulse - Keeping in view the mounting complaints regarding the non-availability of facilities during Haj (pilgrimage), the Afghan government has singed an agreement with private companies to arrange lodging, boarding and other facilities for the pilgrims.

Under the agreement, the private companies will charge US$1,300 per pilgrim and in return, they will provide traveling, food, lodging and other facilities. The decision was taken in the backdrop of the last year experience during which the pilgrims filed innumerable complaints about non-availability of proper facilities.

Haji Mohammad Rafi, chairman of the tourist companies, said they would be responsible for the provision of passports, return tickets, food and stay in Saudi Arabia.

He said they would do their utmost to provide better services including transport, food and accommodation to those performing Umra and Haj. "We have all the arrangements and the pilgrims will not face problems they had faced with last year."

He said about 1,000 people had so far filed applications for Umra, while 80 of them had already been sent to Saudi Arabia thus far. He said the private companies would pay $50 to the Haj Ministry and $10 to the Information, Culture and Tourism Ministry as tax per pilgrim.

Maulvi Mohammad Qasim, a senior official at the Haj Ministry said the private companies had been assigned responsibilities regarding provision of all facilities to the pilgrims as per the agreement. In order to ensure full implementation of the agreement, he said, the government had taken monitory guarantees from the companies.

Last year, Afghan pilgrims staged demonstrations in Kabul as well as Saudi Arabia accusing the authorities concerned of not providing them facilities for which they had already paid. Reacting to the complaints, the government had dismissed a dozen officials including two high ranking officers. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

US: Pakistan blamed for Afghan' govt's failure, war against Taliban - New York Times editorial blames Pakistan's military government for jeopardizing next month’s parliamentary elections in Afghanistan - DAWN

New York -- Noting that the Afghan against the Taliban war is not going well the New York Times has squarely blamed Pakistan’s military government for its failure. "Pakistan’s passive enabling of the Taliban, however, is too important and dangerous for Washington to overlook," The New York Times said in an editorial on Friday.

"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," the newspaper said.

The Times also criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf for the "frustratingly selective" help that he was giving to American forces in tracking down Al Qaeda leaders.

"He (Musharraf) has been an intermittent collaborator in the fight against international terrorism rather than a fully committed ally," the editorial said. "Washington has been understandably reluctant to push him for more consistency, not wanting to risk losing the help he does offer".

"Gen 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", the paper said.

EDITORIAL: Fazlur Rehman’s shocking allegations

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, has lashed out at the government. He has tried to achieve multiple objectives through his Sunday press conference in Lahore. Despite a late and indirect denial of the central element of his statement against the government, most papers covered his views, albeit with different headlines.

Mr Rehman has alleged that the Pakistani government is deceiving the US and the West by helping militants enter Afghanistan from Waziristan. He said that the government should reveal the identity of the infiltrators and explain its reasons for launching these people into Afghanistan. Mr Rehman says these men are being moved from Waziristan to military training camps in Mansehra before being sent into Afghanistan.

This is explosive stuff. Why would Mr Rehman choose to make such sweeping allegations? The answer to this can perhaps be found in his statement at the same press conference that “if pressured, I will reveal facts that will open a Pandora’s box” (emphasis added). This means that Mr Rehman is feeling the heat of some government measures and is signalling to the government to lay off.

Still, the question is: Why would Mr Rehman — a religio-political leader whose party is the biggest vote-getter in the MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal) alliance — make such an allegation? Mr Rehman was at one time identified with the Taliban and even gave anti-US and pro-Taliban statements. Why should he oppose an alleged official policy that presumably seeks to undermine the Pakistan and Karzai government? For an answer, let’s hark back to the time Pakistan got involved in Afghanistan.

The thin end of the jihad wedge at the time was the Jama’at-e Islami. It was the JI-ISI combine that ran the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e Islami was the leading group that Pakistan was supporting. The Deobandi JUI, Mr Rehman’s faction as well as Maulana Samiul Haq’s faction, were mostly out of the loop. By the early 1990s, however, with Afghanistan having plunged into a fratricidal civil war since the withdrawal of the Soviets in 1987, the JUI got the opportunity to play a role in Afghanistan when Islamabad conjured up the policy of using the Taliban. Mr Rehman was then an important ally of Benazir Bhutto’s government. However, on the ground, it was Mr Haq’s JUI faction that appropriated the Taliban, most of whom, followers of Maulvi Nabi Mohammadi, were educated in JUI-S seminaries.

This period saw the decline of Mr Rehman, both as a political and a religious leader. It was during this period that he employed the device of making anti-American statements to capture his religious vote-bank and cosy up to Mullah Umar. At the same time he got down to the task of reorganising his political party. By the time of the US attack on Afghanistan, Mr Rehman had pulled himself up. A combination of factors — government rigging in support of the MMA but primarily in support of the JUI, mobilisation of seminary students, the Pashtun factor, pro-Taliban sentiments and anti-American feelings — helped the JUIF to emerge as the largest vote-getter within the MMA. Mr Rehman has since played his cards well, securing for himself the position of leader of the opposition and keeping his governments in the NWFP and his coalition partnership in Balochistan safe. Indeed, he would have been even more successful but for the hard line taken by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, amir of the JI, who is looking for a direct confrontation with the government.

Mr Rehman’s objectives are now clear. He wants to retain his two provincial governments because that allows him to retain and work on expanding his political base; he also wants to safeguard his religious interests because those interests translate into political power for him; so he will criticise the government but not do anything that could radically upset the current power balance; he wants to distance himself from extremist elements and the jihad underground because that does not fit into his scheme of things and so on. However, pressure from outside has forced the government to go for a broad sweep against all religious hard liners. Islamabad also seems to be in the process of reviewing its policy of subterranean alliance with the MMA. Mr Rehman feels that measures against the seminaries and getting the courts to disqualify MMA candidates from contesting municipal polls suggest that Islamabad is changing the rules of the game. This has forced him to lash out at Islamabad.

Mr Rehman employs religion to appeal to his constituency for political purposes. He feels that the heat is wrongly on moderate religious elements like the JUI. This is why he was quite specific in making his allegations when he said: “We ask the rulers to reveal the identity of the people being transported to Afghanistan from Waziristan via Kaali Sarak in private vehicles.” It is instructive that he said the government was accusing clerics of promoting religious extremism and militancy although they (JUI clerics) were playing an active role in restoring peace in the tribal areas.

Mr Rehman is really cut up with the government for not having done anything in the wake of his humiliation at the Dubai airport. He feels that the UAE government treated him shabbily because Islamabad is signalling to the world that the extremist trouble can be directly traced to religious parties including the JUI.

Mr Rehman’s allegations are serious. He should have thought twice before making them. He may now be keen to deny them. But the damage has been done.

Over 30 tribal Afghan refugee camps to close by end of August - IRIN 08/08/2005

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities have announced the closure of over 30 Afghan refugee camps by the end of August, citing security concerns. All are located in Kurram and Bajaur agencies in the western tribal belt of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. The move is a further step in the continuing policy of camp closures.

"As of 31 August, all the Afghan refugee camps in Kurram and Bajaur agency will be closed. However, the camp residents can avail themselves of the UNHCR's [the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] assistance package for repatriation back to Afghanistan," Jehangir Khan, head of the state-run Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (CAR), said on Thursday, speaking from the western city of Peshawar.

According to CAR, about 105,000 Afghan refugees living in 32 camps of the two agencies have been given the option of repatriation to Afghanistan.

In 2004, the Pakistani government decided to close all the Afghan refugee camps located in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), which consists of seven agencies situated on the western border with neighbouring Afghanistan.

"The UN refugee agency will facilitate Afghans wishing to avail themselves of UNHCR's assistance for repatriation from the area," Babar Baloch, a UNHCR spokesman said from Peshawar.

Baloch added that in order to make the repatriation process easier, the refugee agency would inform Afghans living in the two agencies about a special registration procedure to be announced shortly.

Under the standard assistance package of the UNHCR, the Afghan returnees are issued with a travel grant ranging from US $3 to $30 per person depending on the distance they intend to travel within Afghanistan on their homeward journey. They are also given an additional $12 per person to help them re-establish themselves in their homeland.

After repatriation of over 50,000 Afghan refugees from North Waziristan tribal agency in June and July, about 270,000 Afghans now remain in the other six agencies.

A total of over 217,000 Afghans have returned Afghanistan from Pakistan this year under the UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme. UNHCR estimates some 400,000 Afghan refugees remain to be repatriated this year.

Army general helped kidnapper to escape: Afghan official
8/9/2005 Reuters

KABUL: An Afghan gang leader who kidnapped a foreign aid worker earlier this year escaped with the help of an army general just hours after being arrested, officials said yesterday.

An interior ministry spokesman said that Timoor Shah, leader of the gang that kidnapped Italian Clementia Cantoni in June, escaped on Saturday with the help of an unnamed general. Cantoni was released unharmed three weeks after being snatched by armed men from her car in Kabul.

In a twist, Shah’s mother was arrested and detained during the kidnapping — to use as a bargaining chip, according to many Afghans. She was freed after Cantoni was released.

“Timoor Shah was behind the kidnapping of Clementina among other criminal activities,” spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said, adding a hunt had been launched to rearrest him and the general, who was not named.

“I do not know the name of the general ... but he intervened... and took Timoor Shah with him.” The case highlights shortcomings in Afghanistan’s law enforcement process, which is still struggling to rebuild after nearly three decades of conflict.

Outpouring of sympathy for Afghan boy bogged down by red tape, supporters say

TORONTO (CP) - Good Samaritans began coming forward with offers of help Monday after learning of the deteriorating health of 10-year-old Djamshid Popal, the Afghan boy who underwent life-saving heart surgery in Canada a year ago.

But thousands of dollars in donations, raised during the last year for Djamshid and his family, continue to sit idle in Canada as the result of reams of red tape and lingering suspicion about the money's true purpose in both Afghanistan and Canada.

"It really worries me that he could be dying just because we are lacking the key to getting the money to him," said Jessie Kaye, who helped to bring the boy to Canada last year and also helped the East Plains United Church in Hamilton raise $16,000 for his cause.

Most of that money has yet to reach the family. Djamshid's father, Shafiullah, was a taxi driver until he sold his car to pay for the boy's initial medical tests last year in Kabul. The church was raising money to buy a car so Shafiullah could resume working.

But Shafiullah was followed and questioned after a recent wire transfer of money near his home in Durani, a remote village about a two-hour drive north of Kabul, Kaye said. Wire transfer officials in Canada have also questioned the church's fundraising motives, she added.

The church is also uncertain if the funds are considered tax-deductible by the Canada Revenue Agency, scaring off possible future donors. But that didn't stop others from coming forward Monday to inquire about how to help.

"I guess in our family, we have a soft spot for children," said Ruth Keith, a mother in Sharon, Penn., who contacted The Canadian Press about helping Djamshid.

"This is just one little boy, it's not millions of little boys in the world who are suffering, so I guess you feel like you can do something for one person when the suffering of millions of people feels overwhelming."

Djamshid's condition has been steadily worsening in recent months, Kaye said. His feet swell, making it painful to walk, and sometimes he coughs blood. Medical officials familiar with Djamshid's case said the first task should be to determine whether the boy can be treated either in or near his homeland.
"Instead of talking about bringing him to Canada, maybe we should be finding out, 'Is there something that is treatable?"' said Dr. Lorne Finkelstein, a cardiologist at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton.

"If I was involved, my first thing would be to say, 'Get this kid over to one of the major medical centres in Pakistan if Kabul doesn't have it . . . let them find out what's going on. Can they stabilize him medically once they find out? Does he need surgery? Or are things too far gone?"'

Kaye, 82, said she feels guilty about the fact the boy was ever brought to Canada in the first place. "He was so full of hope that he was going to get really well, and I feel as if I haven't carried my promise to him that life would be better for him," Kaye said. "I feel I interfered and maybe I should've just left things alone."

One of the organizations instrumental in Djamshid's trip to Canada last year says its relationship with the boy's father remains rocky after an ugly dispute last year over the disbursement of charitable funds.

The Muslim Association of Hamilton, which paid for various living expenses while the youngster was in Canada, has not received a formal request for help, and even if it did, there's still plenty of ill will between volunteers and Shafiullah, said president Javid Mirza.

"It would be very complicated, to be honest," Mirza said. "But of course, the bottom line is whatever we can do for the child, and that's always been the goal. We're not ready to support the whole family."
Excess cash raised on Djamshid's behalf last year ended up going to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, where he was treated. That sparked a row between Shafiullah and the Hamilton organization.
Popal was brought to Canada to have two of his four heart valves replaced and a third repaired after he was noticed by a Canadian military doctor last May. News of his health galvanized Canadians to donate money and bring him to Canada last July.

Trilateral meeting on gas pipeline set back - Pajhwok Afghan News
08/08/2005 Mustafa Basharat

KABUL - The ninth trilateral meeting on the Pak-Afghan-Turkmen gas pipeline project, scheduled to take place in late July has been set back following a high-level reshuffle in Ashgabat.

Mir Mohammad Seddiq, Afghan minister for mines and industries, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday Turkmenistan could not make the requisite preparations for the session owing to the recent reshuffle of the officials concerned.

He hoped fresh dates for the meeting would be firmed up soon and actual work on the multi-billion gas pipeline project would get under way before December. The pipeline agreement between Pakistan and Turkmenistan was signed in 1990 and Afghanistan later agreed to provide the transit facility. However, the plan has been delayed owing to ubiquitous security concerns in Afghanistan.

Hinting at the extension of the pipeline to India, Seddiq said the project would go a long way in meeting gas requirements of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kabul will earn up to $300 million annually in transit duties.

At the next meeting, the Asian Development Bank, which has already surveyed the project, will present a detailed report on security. The project's implementation has been delayed for a decade, according to Afghan officials.

Seddiq claimed: "With security fully restored in Afghanistan, there should be no hurdle to execution of the pipeline plan." At the last meeting held in Islamabad in April, the security question was atop the agenda.

The 1700-kilometer pipeline will pass through Herat, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistan before reaching Pakistani territory. Karim Uloomi, advisor to the minister for mines and industries, put the approximate cost of the project at around $3.2 billion dollars.

Ahmad Shah Karim Uloomi, advisor to the Ministry of Mine and Light Industries, told Pajhwok on Wednesday the security situation had improved to some extent. Ergo, he stressed, the project should go ahead as planned.

A new dawn for Kandahar

TOLO TV, the station that has captured the spirit of the new Afghanistan, has officially launched in the regional capital of Kahdahar. With the inclusion of greater Kandahar’s population of 2 million, TOLO TV is now broadcasting to up to 13 million Afghans nationally.

TOLO, the Dari / Pashto word for dawn, has captured the mood and voice of the new Afghanistan since its launch in October 2004. TOLO’s programs are contemporary, its male and female hosts represent the many faces of Afghanistan, and it brings national and international news, issues and entertainment to its eager audiences.

“TOLO has become the leading television station because our philosophy is to broadcast programs that are relevant and engaging for our audiences. This model has also driven the success of TOLO TV’s related radio station ARMAN FM.

“It is interesting to note that our entertainment programs as well as our news and current affairs programs, including the 6.30 report, all have strong followings. Afghans are keen to enjoy themselves after such a troubled past, but they are equally mindful of the importance of personally staying engaged with our nation and the world around us.

“Our audiences have embraced TOLO TV. Based on our experience in launching ARMAN FM in Kandahar, we expect the people to just as enthusiastically tune in to TOLO TV on Channel 9 as well” said Saad Mohseni, Director of TOLO TV.

TOLO TV’s also broadcasts via satellite across the region, covering Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Gulf states, Turkey, and Central Asia.

UK bombers home grown - Musharraf – BBC

Pakistan's president has insisted the 7 July London bombers were radicalised in Britain and not in his country. General Pervez Musharraf rejected suggestions that Pakistan played a "pivotal role" in the bombings.

He said the suicide bombers who killed 52 people may have picked up "some tips" in Pakistan, but stressed that their "mindset changed in the UK". He also suggested the 7 July bombers were "not experts" and that the attack must have been masterminded by someone.

"Certainly those four boys who killed themselves...were not experts in handling bombs and handling a complex operation like timing explosives and all that. "So I'm sure there must be a brain behind it," Gen Musharraf told BBC2 documentary The New al-Qaeda, broadcast on Monday evening.

The fact that at least two of the 7 July bombers had visited Pakistan led to the investigation abroad focussing on the country. And, after the attacks, Tony Blair called on Pakistan to crack down on extremists in religious schools.

"Even if they visited Pakistan, and they contacted some extremists here, the reality is that they have been in the UK for 20 years," Gen Musharraf said.

"The indoctrination, the mindset did not change here. The mindset changed in the UK. "They may have got some tips or some.. anything, that is the only possibility in Pakistan...this radicalisation did not take place in the last visits of theirs in a few months.

"Radicalisation took place back at home, wherever they live, in whatever condition and whoever they've been meeting and interacting with." Gen Musharraf also said he was surprised that moves had not been made earlier to clamp down on radical Islamic clerics.

Speaking before Mr Blair set out new anti-terror plans, he pointed out that both the Hizb ut-Tahrir and Al Muhajiroun organisations, both set to be banned, had passed edicts that he should be killed. He suggested ministers had feared a violent backlash if they acted to ban these groups.

"One tends to not take those bold decisions till something very bad happens." "That's the unfortunate reality...we don't want to disturb the environment, we don't want to... but I think prudence demands that we take tough decisions - foresee what it could lead to."

Asked if he believed the British government had been "too soft" in its approach to extremist preachers and organisations, he replied: "Yes, I think so, absolutely." He said that in the short term it was vital to stop mosques being used to "pollute the minds of people towards extremism, towards hate".

In Pakistan, the president has ordered all foreign students to leave and for the religious schools - or madrassas - to register with the government. More than 600 people have been detained by the police in a crackdown on extremists in the past two weeks. Gen Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999 and has declared himself the implacable foe of Islamic extremism.

Ex-PM says Dutch let Pakistani nuclear scientist go at CIA's request

At the request of the CIA, the Netherlands let go the father of Pakistan's nuclear program Abdul Qadeer Khan who worked in the country between 1975 and 1986, former Dutch prime minister Ruud Lubbers told Dutch public radio.

Khan, who admitted in 2004 that he had leaked nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya, worked as an engineer in the Netherlands at Urenco, an uranium enrichment plant.

In 1975, Lubbers the then minister of economy, received information that Khan was stealing nuclear secrets about the enrichment of uranium. He was never indicted for his activities because the CIA had asked the Netherlands to let him go, Lubbers told VPRO radio.

"The American intelligence services preferred not to arrest the man but to let him go. They thought: 'give us all the information but do not hold that man. Let him go, we will follow him and get more information'," Lubbers said on Tuesday.

That same year Khan probably felt his cover was blown because he never returned from a holiday to Pakistan. Finally the Dutch authorities did open an investigation in 1979 that led to Khan being sentenced in absentia in 1983 to four years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal because of procedural mistakes.

At that time there were still possibilities to continue with the proceedings against Khan but the authorities again backed off at the request of the CIA, according to Lubbers, who had by then become prime minister.

"We were in the middle of the Cold War, debating placement of medium range missiles here. At that time I thought the final word about (Khan's prosecution) was not in The Hague but in Washington," he said.

Plainclothed Russian Commandos to Retake Uzbekistan Airbase After Americans Leave — Report MosNews (Russia) / August 8, 2005

Russian soldiers have been staying in Uzbekistan for more than a month preparing to take charge of the Khanabad airbase after the U.S. troops withdrawal, Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reported.

As the editor-in-chief of an Uzbek news agency Fergana Daniil Kislov told the paper, “several hundreds of Russian servicemen — presumably spetsnaz troops of airborne commandos — remain at a former geological exploration airbase near the military installation, wear civilian clothes and try not to get in touch with local people without urgent need”.

However, Uzbek diplomats and Russian Defense Ministry officials neither confirmed nor dismissed the report, but a military source that wished to remain anonymous said in an interview with the daily that Russian troops will oversee the handover of Karshi-Khanabad airbase that has been used by the U.S. since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime, which was accused of harboring al Qaeda.

“Americans expected they would stay there forever, and were setting aside a lot of funds for the base infrastructure. Our task is to make them hand the aerodrome — the runway, communications and watch facilities — over to Uzbekistan upkeep,” the source said.

Sources in the Russian Defense Ministry have also confirmed the reports. One of them said that after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization demanded U.S. troops withdrawal from the former Soviet republic, China immediately expressed interest in the base. Thus, Russian troops had to rush to the country in order not to lose their chances of taking control of an area that used to belong to the USSR. “Uzbeks did not mind,” he pointed out.

Khanabad used to be the second-largest airbase in the Soviet Union, hosting strategic Tu-22MZ planes and Tu-95 heavy bombers during the invasion into Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan has imposed new limits on the U.S. use of its Karshi-Khanabad air base, after Washington criticized Uzbekistan’s bloody crackdown on anti-government rioting in May that killed around 200 people according to the official toll, though human rights activists say up to 750 died.

Shortly afterwards the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional alliance led by China and Russia, called on the U.S. to set a date for withdrawing forces from bases in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

No official requests concerning base withdrawal, however, have been voiced by the Uzbek government so far.

Kyrgyz group aims for Caliphate - By Artyom Liss and Damian Grammaticas
BBC News, Kyrgyzstan

The London bombings have prompted the UK government to outlaw Hizb ut Tahrir - a radical Islamic group that wants to replace secular governments with an Islamic Caliphate, or super-state run according to Sharia Law. The group is particularly strong in Central Asia, where it believes it may take the first steps towards establishing its Caliphate.

High in the mountains of poverty-stricken Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia a bearded man with a fierce gaze slices a watermelon. It is a very colourful sight - red drops of juice on the green carpet, with the glistening snow-covered peaks in the distance.

"In this village, people trust us, not the authorities," says Nur Mohammed, a local leader of Hizb ut Tahrir, which is also banned in Kyrgyzstan. "Everybody here knows that we will solve their problems quickly and in strict accordance with the Koran. And this suits people a lot better than the slow, bureaucratic and often expensive official route."

The village of Arslanbob is tiny and difficult to reach. From here, it is a two-hour drive to the nearest town. The road is virtually non-existent, and the local bus service is overstretched.

So people here have always thought it best to solve problems in-house. "We have already won the battles on prostitution, drink and robbery," says Nur Mohammed. "All we do is talk to people about the Koran. Sometimes, it requires more than just the skill of persuasion - but in the end, we do come out on top. In our village, nobody even locks their doors now. We've taught people to trust each other - and to respect Sharia law."

But for Hizb ut Tahrir, battles for hearts and minds in small villages like Arslanbob are just routine. The organisation aims much higher.

More than 100km (60 miles) away, in the market town of Kara-Suu, we met Dilior. A carpenter by trade, he lives in a huge house with a lush garden, behind a very high and very thick fence.

Dilior is the official spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in southern Kyrgyzstan. Even though his group is banned, scores of journalists visit his house every week.

"All Muslims in the world already want to live in a Caliphate, under Sharia law," he says. "It will be a huge state, a very powerful state. Even now you are all afraid of us - America, Israel, you in the UK too."

Dilior tried to set up a TV station which would spread this message to all Muslims in Kara-Suu and the neighbouring towns. But after just three days on air, it was shut down by the authorities.

So now he is going to take "the bureaucrats" to court. His proof that the TV station was necessary is hundreds of letters from ordinary people who want to know more about Hizb ut Tahrir's hardline view of Islam.

"Democracy has not given people anything worthwhile," explains Dilior. "Look at you: in the UK, you give rights to homosexual couples. Even animals don't do this. So is this what your democracy has to offer?

"Now, Allah gives an answer to every possible question: how to deal with friends and neighbours, how to bring up children, even how to use the toilet - it's all in the Koran. Of course, people want to know these answers."

But despite this radicalism, Hizb ut Tahrir condemns all violence. The group is sure that an Islamic super-state will be created through evolution, not revolution. To people like Dilior, it is a question of when, not if.

Meanwhile, Hizb ut Tahrir are gaining more and more supporters across Central Asia - people who think that democracy should be written off as ineffective and replaced by the Sharia law.

So governments in the region are trying to find a way of dealing with this emerging threat. "We are in the first years of our independence," says Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Minister Rosa Otunbayeva.

"We do not have strong institutions, established institutions. And those groups really work against the basis of our statehood. This is really a threat for us."

The most common option is to get the police involved. But even the harshest of measures seem counterproductive. The cells below the police station at Osh are dark, damp and grim. Hizb ut Tahrir members detained by Kyrgyzstan's police are held in filthy cells.

Nur Mohammed, the unofficial leader of Arslanbob's Muslims, has already spent time in jail. He remembers those days as some of the best in his life. "If you put a Muslim like me under pressure," he says, "he quickly understands that Allah is his one and only friend... I myself only became a true believer behind bars."

Some believe the danger posed by the group is being overstated. Filip Noubel, the Central Asia editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, says "there is a niche for this movement that is probably not bigger than 5% or 10%. I don't think they can go beyond that".

But Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring countries have been facing groups like Hizb ut Tahrir for years now. And so far, their governments have failed to come up with an adequate response.

Proscribing it in Britain is controversial. The group still preaches peaceful change. The lesson from Central Asia is that driving it underground could be counterproductive when it comes to tackling fanaticism and hatred. Both Dilior and Nur Mohammed told us that they are more than happy to share their skills in covert, underground work with their British brethren.

[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.]