Afghan President Hamid Karzai (L) and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inspect a guard of honour at the presidential palace in Kabul August 28, 2005. Singh began a rare visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, the first by an Indian premier in nearly 30 years, as New Delhi steps up efforts to deepen historic links hit by years of conflict. The two-day visit is aimed at reaffirming New Delhi's strong commitment to help rebuild the war-torn nation and wrest back influence over the central Asian country which India lost to rival Pakistan during the 1990s. REUTERS/Shah Marai/Pool

Joint Statement, India-Afghanistan - 28 th August, 2005 – Kabul

1.      At the invitation of His Excellency  Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, His Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, is currently paying a state visit to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (28-29 August, 2005)

2.      During the visit, the two leaders held talks on a broad range of bilateral issues as well as regional and international issues of common concern. They expressed satisfaction at the progress in bilateral relations since President Hamid Karzai’s visit to India (23-25 February, 2005) and agreed to take this relationship into a new stage of partnership. They affirmed that India and Afghanistan enjoy a warm and friendly relationship underpinned by historical ties and cultural links. The time tested friendship between the people of the two countries has survived many challenges and is today based on a shared commitment to the ideals of democracy, peace and security.

3.      India remains fully supportive to the goal of a sovereign, stable, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan. Both leaders agreed that such an Afghanistan is also necessary for peace, security and stability in the region. The two leaders condemned global terrorism as a threat to democracy and declared that there can be no compromise with those who resort to terrorism. They reiterated their commitment to work together to ensure that Afghanistan would never again become a safe haven for terrorism and extremism.

4.      India has admired the courageous steps taken by the Afghan government and the people, under the leadership of President Hamid Karzai towards the restoration of peace and the adoption of a democratic polity while addressing the challenge of economic development and reconstruction. President Hamid Karzai thanked India for its demonstrated commitment to Afghanistan by providing more than $ 500 million for projects in the area of infrastructure, humanitarian assistance and institutional and human resource development. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh reaffirmed India’s continued commitment and pledged an additional $ 50 million assistance to Afghanistan.

5.      In the presence of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and President Hamid Karzai, bilateral cooperation agreements in the areas of Agriculture and Health were signed. A new initiative on ‘Small Developmental Projects’ has been launched to work with local communities in development programmes. Following on a pilot project undertaken by the Confederation of Indian Industry in pursuance to President Karzai’s visit to India earlier this year, the two governments agreed to launch a ‘Skill Building Initiative’ in Afghanistan in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the United Nations. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced that India will adopt 100 villages in Afghanistan to promote integrated rural development by introducing solar electrification and rain water harvesting, using technologies that have been developed and successfully demonstrated in India. While announcing a gift of 1000 sewing machines to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, it was agreed that India would assist in establishing a Women’s Vocational Training Centre in Kabul.

6.      Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh welcomed President Hamid Karzai’s suggestion to make greater use of Indian institutions for training of Afghans. In order to accelerate the human resource development process, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced 500 scholarships for Afghan students for university education and in addition, 500 short-term training fellowships under the ITEC programme for Afghan men and women.  A symbol of long-standing cooperation between the two countries in the field of education is the 102-year old Habibia School which was destroyed in the war and after it’s rebuilding by India, will be jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and President Hamid Karzai later today.

7.      To support Afghanistan’s steps towards democracy, both countries will expand their cooperation in building of democratic institutions, infrastructure and human capacity. India welcomes the forthcoming Parliamentary elections which mark a significant milestone in this process, and has already set up dedicated training programmes for Afghan officials. Tomorrow, Baba-e-Millat His Majesty Mohammad Zahir Shah will lay the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building, in the presence of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and President Hamid Karzai at Darul Aman. India has already committed US $ 25 million for the construction of the Parliament.

8.      President Hamid Karzai shared his vision of restoring Afghanistan’s historic role as a land bridge between Central Asia and Indian sub-continent and the initiatives taken in rebuilding its road network. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh endorsed this vision as an important step for promoting regional cooperation by encouraging, both trade and people-to-people contact among the countries of the region.

9.      In this context, President Hamid Karzai conveyed Afghanistan’s interest in seeking closer links with SAARC.  Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh welcomed this initiative and affirmed India’s support for Afghanistan’s engagement with SAARC.  The two leaders endorsed the need for greater consultation and cooperation in a future project of a Turkmenistan gas pipeline to India that would pass through Afghanistan and Pakistan.

10. The two leaders reaffirmed that Afghanistan and India have a common interest in reinvigorating the past ties and developing a new partnership for the 21 st century. The two leaders emphasized the importance of regular high level exchanges between the two countries. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh extended an invitation to President Hamid Karzai to visit India at a mutually convenient time. President Hamid Karzai conveyed his acceptance to the invitation.

India and Afghanistan ready to combat the terrorism together

Kabul (India Daily 08/28/05) - India and Afghanistan old friends are ready to show the world that they can share prosperity. Afghanistan and India vowed to work together against terrorism.

According to media reports, India today offered all possible assistance to Afghanistan in effectively dealing with terrorism and rebuilding the war-ravaged country.

"We have discussed terrorist threat worldwide as also in Afghanistan and in India. There is convergence of views that terrorism poses a threat anywhere and everywhere and we have to deal together," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said at a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai after their one-to-one and delegation-level talks here.

Singh, who is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Kabul in 29 years, the last being Indira Gandhi in 1976, said "it is for the Government and people of Afghanistan to indicate what type of assistance they want. We are ready to give it."

On the regrouping of Taliban in Afghanistan, Karzai asserted that terrorist activities would not deter people from participating in the upcoming Parliamentary elections.

"Terrorism had come to Afghanistan three-and-a-half years ago. With the help of the international community and the people of Afghanistan, it was defeated and thrown out...but we see continuation of such activities and we feel very sad about it."

The Prime Minister stressed the need for joint efforts to tackle the menace of terrorism, which he said, "poses a serious threat to civilised existence. So we have an obligation to work together."

Observing that Afghanistan was moving forward to more peace and stability, Karzai said it still faced "occasions of terrorist activity." He said Afghanistan was negotiating with "brothers in Pakistan. There has been cooperation with Pakistan in the anti-terrorist drive, which is thriving very well."

"All of us-- India, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- need to join hands to fight this global menace," Karzai said.

Asked what kind of cooperation India was offering to Afghanistan in combating terrorism, the Prime Minister said "this is an ongoing process. There are several dimensions. We have to strengthen the economy and see that the democratic process moves forward smoothly."Asked which of the two proposed gas pipelines to India -- Iran-Pakistan or Turkmenistan-Afghanistan route-- would be chosen, the Prime Minister said it was not a question of preference.

"India's needs for commercial energy are increasing at an explosive rate. Our economy is now growing at a rate of seven to eight per cent per annum. There is an enormous unmet demand for commercial energy which is going to increase.

"So, we need both the pipelines from Iran and Pakistan and Turmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan. So, it is not a question and or," Singh said. Karzai said Afghanistan was "very keen" on participating in SAARC "so as to contribute to it and benefit from it".

The Afghan leader said he had raised this issue with Singh during the talks and "was very glad to receive an affirmative and positive response" and added that he had got a similar "positive response" from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf earlier.

"So Afghanistan is keen on SAARC, and to be a contributor as also a receiver in that organisation," he said. Asked if India, Pakistan and Afghanistan could work together for development of the region, Singh said "I pledge myself to work whole-heartedly with President Karzai and for that matter with President Musharraf and other like-minded persons to realise a grand vision."

The Prime Minister said he was "very much hopeful" that all countries of the region will have the "will, vision and wisdom to realise a common shared destiny of the people" of this region.

"I mentioned to President Karzai the enormous possibility of cooperation to ensure that poverty, illness and disease do not have to be the inevitable lot of a majority of people of this region," Singh said.

Karzai said Afghanistan was very happy to see a dialogue for better relation between India and Pakistan and noted that Afghanistan was directly affected by this friendship between the two countries as it is a member of the committee of nations in this part of the world. He said the three countries jointly can have a "massive impact" on the economy of this region and also worldwide.

India, Afghanistan sign three MoUs

Kabul (UNI) - India and Afghanistan today signed three major agreements for cooperation in economic and social sectors as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured New Delhi's full cooperation to the embattled nation in its economic development.

Three Memorandum's of Understanding (MoU) -- Cooperation in Small Development Projects, Cooperation in Health Education and Community Development and Cooperation in Agriculture Research were signed. The accords were signed at a ceremony in the presence of the Prime Minister And Afghan President Hamid Karzai after extensive talks between the two leaders.

Official sources said the two leaders had delegation level talks and a one-on-one meeting during which they discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as international issues.

Dr Singh, who arrived here this morning on a two-day visit thus becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to travel to the war-torn nation in 29 years, was assisted at the delegation level talks by External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, Health Secretary Prasanna Hota and Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Rakesh Sood.

Transit trade won't be allowed without progress on Kashmir: Pak

Islamabad (PTI) - Pakistan has rejected India's request for opening the Wagah border for transportation of its goods to Afghanistan, saying that the transit trade would not be allowed without progress in resolving the Kashmir issue.

Reacting to recent remarks by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran that Pakistan should open the transit route to improve trade relations in the region, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Islamabad would only open the door for transit trade if progress is made on the "core issue" of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Wagah border has been opened for passage of Afghan goods to India but "reverse traffic" -- transport of Indian goods through Pakistan -- could not be allowed, Aziz told a press conference in Lahore yesterday.

"We'll have to move in tandem with the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir," he said, replying to a question. Aziz's remarks came ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Afghanistan as well as the meeting between Singh and Pesident Pervez Musharraf in New York next month.

Also, Pakistan has informed India that it would allow a pipeline to pass through its territory if New Delhi was interested in buying gas from a third country, Aziz said. Pakistan would go it alone if India was not interested in building the gas pipeline because Pakistan needed to cater to its growing energy needs, he said.

Aziz said the lasting peace in the region would not be possible without the resolution of the Kashmir issue and noted that leaders of the two countries would be meeting during the weeks and months ahead to discuss various matters. "Pakistan is a peace-loving country, having no aggressive designs against anyone. We want the outstanding issues settled for the progress and prosperity of the region," he said, adding he was "very pleased" with the production of the cruise missile through indigenous means.

The missile and the nuclear programme "guaranteed peace" in the region, Aziz claimed. He said Pakistan was capable of defending its frontiers and would not compromise its sovereignty. Aziz made these remarks when asked to comment on the proposed joint Indo-Russia military exercises along the Rajasthan border.

Expressing his opposition to the bid of India and G-4 countries for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, he said Pakistan supported UN reforms but was against increasing the number of permanent members of the UNSC.

He said representation of non-permanent members in UNSC should be enhanced and noted that many other members of the world body, including China, supported this point of view.

On the Iran-US row over Tehran's nuclear programme, he said Pakistan would not support any military action against Iran. "We want the EU initiative to succeed. We don't support a military action (against Iran). We want a solution of the problem, maintaining peace in the region," he said, adding Pakistan wanted the settlement of the issue through peaceful means.

Afghan Candidate Killed, 3 GIs Wounded

Kabul (AP - 08/28/05) - Suspected Taliban rebels on Sunday killed a candidate running in next month's legislative elections, while an attack on a U.S. military convoy wounded three American troops, authorities said.

Militants attacked the U.S. service members as they were patrolling Friday about 25 miles east of Kabul, a U.S. military statement said. An attack helicopter rushed to the site, but the rebels had fled.

The wounded were in stable condition after being evacuated to Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, about an hour drive north of Kabul, the statement said.

Attacks on the U.S. military so close to Kabul are rare and Friday's assault occurred less than a week after a roadside bomb in the capital blew up near a convoy of U.S. Embassy vehicles, wounding two American staff members.

The assaults come amid a major upsurge in attacks by Taliban-led rebels that have left more than 1,100 people dead in the past six months. They also come less than a month before landmark legislative elections, which the insurgents have vowed to subvert.

In the latest attack directly linked to the polls, gunmen on Sunday ambushed a parliamentary candidate, Adiq Ullah, as he was driving in Uruzgan province, killing him and wounding two others in his vehicle, said provincial Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan.

He blamed the Taliban for the murder. Security forces pursued the insurgents, but they escaped, the governor said.

Ullah's killing brings to four the number of candidates killed in the lead-up to the polls. Four election workers have also been murdered and several election offices have been rocketed.

Afghan boy who sought help in Canada not in critical condition: ambassador

TORONTO (CP) - An Afghan boy who underwent life-saving heart surgery in Canada last year is reportedly in poor but stable condition back in Afghanistan as funds that could help his slowly deteriorating health remain tied up in Canada.

Ten-year-old Djamshid Popal, who was brought to Toronto to have two of his four heart valves replaced and a third repaired last July, has worsened in health but is still not in critical condition, said Omar Samad, the ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada.

"We have heard through other Canadian and hospital sources that (Djamshid) is not in critical condition and we hope that is the case," Samad said Wednesday. "Our hope is that he is doing better than what was reported and that if he needs medicine or urgent medical care that we could look at the options that exist to help him."

Since his return to his home in Durani, a village just north of the capital, Kabul, Djamshid's health has steadily been deteriorating. The boy reportedly suffers from fits of coughing and painful periods when his feet swell up, making it difficult for him to walk.

At the same time, nearly $16,000 in funds raised for the boy and his family over the last year remains sitting idle in Canada when the money could be used to help the child, said Salma Ataullahjan, president of the Canadian Pashtun Cultural Association.

"The money's not going anywhere because there's too many problems trying to send the money to Afghanistan," said Ataullahjan, who helped raise funds with the East Plains United Church in Hamilton. "There's red tape and when people get money from overseas, people in that country want to know where the money came from because everyone is afraid you're funding something else, such as terrorism."

It's also unclear whether the funds that have been raised are considered tax-deductible by the Canada Revenue Agency. Ataullahjan says this poses a problem as every donor must now be called to see if they still want to donate the money even if they might not receive income tax receipts.

"It's one big mess," she said. "There's just so much red tape and we're asking people to help us. We have troops there, we have people there, we could send it through the Canadian embassy, but nobody seems to be willing to do anything."

Christopher Alexander, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan, said he has been following the case closely but hasn't had any contact with Djamshid's family directly or offered any specific help recently.

"I haven't had any direct contact with the family or anyone who knows his condition," Alexander said from Kabul. "My sense is that the issues in regards to the allocation of the funding are in Canada. So we don't have a lot of information about that."

He said the government would continue to keep an eye on the boy and take any necessary action if his health deteriorates further. But Alexander added there are many more pressing matters in Afghanistan that need to be addressed.

"We of course want the best for the kid as we do for all the kids in Afghanistan who face challenges, and that's why we're here," he said. "We will continue to take an interest. But our programs are geared toward the whole population. And while we follow a high-profile Canadian case like Djamshid, we're trying to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids and not just an individual."

Samad said that while his embassy in Toronto has received several appeals from organizers to help resolve the funds situation, he has made it clear he would not be getting involved because it was a "community matter."

"We cannot stop people from trying to help in any way possible," he said in reference to fundraising. "But I think we do offer the advice that there should be co-ordination and there should be some type of mechanism for organizing the effort."

While the embassy will not be involved in the fundraising quagmire, Samad said he would take action to consult professionals and doctors in Afghanistan and Canada if Djamshid's condition becomes perilous or if the boy runs out of medicine.

"We will have to consult professionals and especially his own doctors in Afghanistan as well as in Canada and they will have to give expert opinion on what to do," he said.

"We are open to practical means of helping if necessary. Having accurate information about his health and access to health care and medicine is the number one issue for us."

Japanese 'missing in Afghanistan' - BBC News / Saturday, 27 August 2005

A search is underway in southern Afghanistan for two missing Japanese tourists who are reported to have entered the country from Pakistan.

The two teachers, a man and a woman, crossed the border at Chaman on 8 August, a Japanese diplomat in Kabul told the Associated Press news agency.

They are now reported to be in an area that is a stronghold of the Taleban and is unsafe for foreigners. A Lebanese man was kidnapped and then released in the area this month.

An official at Japan's Kabul embassy, Kenji Saito, said he believed the tourists were still alive. "If they had been killed, someone would have found the bodies and we would know. I don't believe they are dead," Mr Saito told the Associated Press.

"We also don't believe that they have been kidnapped, because no one has contacted us to make demands. "But we have no information as to where they are, though we are doing our best to find out."

The two teachers are reported to have arrived in Pakistan on 6 August and then headed to the city of Quetta. An Afghan government spokesman said he could not confirm the two had entered Afghan territory because there were no official records of their entry.

He said the two could have entered illegally or be lost in Pakistan's border tribal areas.

Two Pakistani soldiers killed in roadside blast near Afghan border - (AFP)

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - Two Pakistani soldiers were killed and another wounded when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in a remote tribal region near the Afghan border, the military said on Sunday.

The blast occured on Friday in the North Waziristan district of Zoisedki, around three kilometers (two miles) from the border. “Two soldiers were martyred and another wounded when an improvised explosive device hit their vehicle during a routine patrol,” military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.

Security forces have been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda and Afghanistan’s former Taleban regime in the lawless tribal region where tens of thousands of troops remain deployed.

Islamabad recently sent in reinforcements to the region ahead of Afghanistan’s historic parliamentary elections scheduled for September 18 to prevent the cross-border movement of militants.

Last year the army dismantled a string of Al Qaeda hideouts, killing hundreds of militants in neighbouring South Waziristan. About 250 soldiers have died in anti-militant operations.

German military mulls sending Tornado fighter jets to Afghanistan -
Berlin, Aug 27, IRNA

The German military is considering dispatching up to six Tornado fighter jets to Afghanistan in a bid to support the NATO-lead International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the homepage of Der Spiegel news magazine reported Saturday.

While there are no concrete imminent plans for such a transfer of fighter jets, German military leaders are pondering a blueprint to use Tornado planes based at an air base in north Germany for the Afghan military mission.

Meanwhile German Defense Minister Peter Struck is due to begin a two-day visit of German peacekeeping soldiers in Afghanistan on Sunday. Struck wants to assess the overall security situation in Afghanistan ahead of the September 18 parliamentary elections in that country.

The minister is also to be updated about the work of the German-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) in Faizabad and Faizabad. At present time, there are some 2,250 German peacekeeping soldiers stationed in Afghanistan of which 450 are deployed in Kunduz and 100 are based in Faizabad.

Concern over formation of Afghanistan's Parliament
ABC Online, Australia 08/27/2005 By Graeme Dobell

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Concern about Iraq has rather overshadowed developments in another country also invaded by a US-led coalition – Afghanistan – where the campaign is now getting under way for next month's election for the National Assembly and Provincial Councils.

The vote on September the 18th follows last year's successful presidential poll. But almost four years after the overthrow of the Taliban, the election is facing a military threat from terrorists, as well as the danger of political failure. Graeme Dobell reports.

GRAEME DOBELL: The stakes are high for Afghanistan, and those watching from outside are worried.

The International Crisis Group says the vote is a critical chance to achieve a sustainable peace after 25 years of war. The British Government's Aid Department worries that Afghanistan could lose faith in its infant democracy, warning that political consensus is unstable, and insurgents an ever-present threat.

Professor Amin Saikal says the danger is that a new turbulent Parliament will shatter Afghanistan's democracy.

AMIN SAIKAL: Many local power holders would be able to have their own people elected into the Parliament, and then use the Parliament as a platform for promoting their factional and sectarian interest, as against the national interest.

So the Parliament could contribute to the national fragmentation rather than the national unity, which Afghanistan so badly needs at the moment.

GRAEME DOBELL: The International Crisis Group has criticised Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, for his approach to the election, saying he's been hostile towards the creation of political parties, rather than empowering them.

But Afghanistan's Foreign Minister, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, says the President stepped back from the process by not forming his own political party.

ABDULLAH ABDULLAH: The President himself, he is he had not accepted to lead a political party, that's in his, perfectly in his right.

But I wouldn't say that he opposed the formation of political parties or development of the political parties. Far from it. There are a lot of political parties which were established and they are working in making progress under the law of the country.

But the fact that it happened in the background of 25 years of war and destruction, it's not like in normal circumstances that you will see development of political parties.

GRAEME DOBELL: Afghanistan's Foreign Minister says the election will clearly suffer incidents and attempts at violent intimidation. But Dr Abdullah says that with nearly 6,000 candidates, the vote will surely go ahead, and achieve a successful turnout to match last year's presidential election.

ABDULLAH ABDULLAH: So I wouldn't say that it will be without any challenge for us, but it is the first exercise. Last year there were a lot of scepticism about the presidential elections in Afghanistan, but once it happened we all were witness that it was a successful exercise.

And I'm very optimistic that Afghans once again, with the support from the international community, will prove that the parliamentary elections will also be a success.

GRAEME DOBELL: Professor Amin Saikal agrees that the election will be held and concluded, whatever its flaws. The danger for Afghanistan, he says, is the sort of Parliament that will be created.

AMIN SAIKAL: I mean, I don't think it's going to be a perfect election, but I think it is going to be an election which will probably fulfil the basic criteria.

I think one could expect that there would be quite a bit of irregularities and there will be a lot quite a bit of violence, and there will be also a lot of complaints afterwards, but I have the feeling that they will deliver the election.

But what will really transpire after the election, that is the main question. Because the election is more or less run on partyless basis, and the Parliament that's going to come into existence is going to be basically a collection of individuals. And I doubt very seriously that the Karzai leadership will have a majority in this parliament.

GRAEME DOBELL: So you'll get a Parliament without a government majority?

AMIN SAIKAL: Without a government majority, and that will certainly complicate the relationship between the legislature and the executive.

It would mean that the executive would have to constantly stitch up some sort of a majority in the Parliament in order to get its bills through. And to do that it will become very time consuming and also the government will have to invest quite a bit of money and energy into stitching up this sort of majorities which it would require from time to time.

But the other side of it is that it could also result in the development of a very corrupt Parliament, because the members of the Parliament will have to be really bribed in many ways, or at least some of them, to support the government or to support one side or another.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Professor Amin Saikal, head of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University. He was speaking to Graeme Dobell.

Highway robbery – Erada 08/27/2005

Bribery, corruption and chaos are rife in societies where there is no respect for the law. Our society never experienced lawlessness in the past, but now the rate of bribery has increased because the government is not bringing outlaws to justice. Bribery rules on all the country's highways, especially on the Torkham-Jalalabad road which more than 400 vehicles use daily.

Drivers have been complaining about extortion at security checkpoints, but no one is listening. So they just pay the money and recover it from their passengers, which means that travel fares have risen dramatically. The government is doing nothing. If it does not attend to these problems, the people will no longer trust it. That in turn has security and other implications for the government and society. Via Afghan Press Monitor

NWFP hub for trade with Afghanistan, CARs: PM Daily Times (Pak) -August 27, 2005

ISLAMABAD: Prime minister Shaukat Aziz said the NWFP could serve as a manufacturing hub for goods to Afghanistan and the Central Asian States (CARs). Talking to a 25-member delegation of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), which called on him here on Friday he said the government was providing necessary infrastructure facilities to the business community.

Mr Aziz informed the delegation a feasibility study of setting up a dry port in Peshawar was underway to exploit business potential of the province. The port would be constructed on the basis of private-public partnership.

He said the Pharmaceutical industry could be effectively used to capture markets in the Central Asian states and the Middle East. To meet country's growing energy needs, he said Pakistan was exploring four options to import gas from Iran, Turkmanistan and Qatar.

He told the delegation the government was considering a new policy of self-generation of electricity through natural gas. It should be ensured that efficient plants are used to conserve maximum energy. The matter would be taken up at the next meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for a final decision, he added.

The prime minister said he has directed construction of quality motorway linking Karachi to Peshawar, which would reduce the distance between the two cities by about 200 kilometers. He apprised the businessmen of efforts under the Khushal Pakistan programme to improve infrastructure facilities across the country. app

Demurrages removed on ATTA imports at Peshawar and Chaman

KARACHI – The Daily Times: The Pakistan Railways has removed demurrages charges on consignments imported under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement, but the relief has been restricted to goods piled up only at Peshawar and Chaman railway stations.

Source close to the ATTA said the Pakistan Railways had recently issued orders to remove demurrages being charged on consignments, which took more than due time to move from the stations, but it had not addressed the issue for the Afghan goods at Karachi.

“The decision has been taken to facilitate customs agents and traders involved in ATT,” said a source privy to the development. “The rates are applied on ATT goods, which are not moved from the stations within the defined time in the ATTA. The Pakistan Railways is justified to charge demurrages but it removed that on traders plea.”

He said the demurrages rates were charged at Rs 1,000 per railway wagon if the goods were moved after 24 hours of the due time and it was further extended to Rs 2,000 per wagon if the consignments took more than 24 hours to clear.

On an average the Pakistan Railways earn Rs 30 million revenue per year through ATT supply from Karachi to Peshawar as the agreement regulations say Afghanistan-bound cargoes can only be transported through the Pakistan Railways.

The local traders and customs agents involved in clearing ATT goods from the port to stations and then to Peshawar last year moved a proposal before the railways authorities pleading for removal of demurrages charges, which cost them around Rs 40 million during 2004.

However the fresh relief announced by the railways has kept the ATT goods movement from Karachi under demurrages chargeable list.

“Movement of ATT goods from Karachi is more complicated than any other stations,” said the source. “So goods movement from Karachi takes more time than any other parts of the country posing more risk of demurrages.”

He said from Karachi the ATT goods were first cleared from the port and then it was moved to the City Station from where it was further loaded in Pakistan Railways cargo wagons to be transported to Peshawar and Chaman stations.

The Pakistan Railways decision has attracted criticism from the local traders and customs agents who say the authorities decision to remove demurrages on ATT goods piled up at particular stations is just an eyewash against their demand to eliminate it uniformly.

“Now we have approached the railways ministry to address the issue,” said Amir Altaf, a senior custom agent and secretary Pak Afghan Transit Trade Clearance Group. "We do not accept the decision as it is biased and unjustified. The demurrages charges should also be waived on goods being moved from Karachi.”

He said the ATT goods movement from Karachi shared the highest chunk of revenue in total Pakistan Railways earnings generated from cargoes supply across the country.

The imports under ATTA surged to Rs 21 billion during 2003-04, which were 48.7 percent higher than 2002-03, backed by removal of 14 items from the negative list.

The current negative list under ATTA, which consists of only six items, includes cigarettes and cigarettes of tobacco or of tobacco substitute, cooking oil, automobile parts, television, telephone and tyres and tubes.

"The new orders have put the agents in a fix," said Mr Altaf of Pak Afghan Transit Trade Clearance Group. "It would disappoint most of the agents and push them to stop clearance and wait for more concessions."

He said the fresh order from the Pakistan Railways would not help in cutting operational cost spent by the agents on ATT cargoes’ movement from the Karachi port to Peshawar.

Government Urged to Ditch Public-Sector Industry

Champions of free enterprise argue that the Afghan government should leave the economy to the market, but face resistance over fears of job losses. By Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul (ARR No. 183, 25-Aug-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting

The two buildings may be in the same city, but the activities going on inside them are worlds apart.

In one, an old outdated structure in the Afghan capital Kabul, workers who used to be employed by a now defunct state-owned enterprise turn up once a month to sign timesheets and get paid for jobs that no longer exist.

In the other, entrepreneurs gather at the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce, AICC, with some of the most modern office space in Kabul, to push for the elimination of government-owned companies and their replacement by the private sector.

The government says it needs to remain involved in the economy - even if that means paying workers for jobs which no longer exist - in order to provide employment and keep prices low.

The AICC wants the government out of commerce altogether, so that the trade and production are entirely in the hands of private businessmen.

Haji Mahmood Shah Wafa, is among about 600 workers at a plant caught up in the government's tentative commitment to scale down its own role and develop a free-market economy. He was a senior staff member in a state-controlled factory producing medical products which was closed last year.

"I used to earn 100 US dollars a month and I’m still getting paid that," said Wafa, who was with the company for 25 years, although he concedes it produced little, especially during the latter part of the Taleban regime.

His salary is double the average wage of 50 dollars a month paid to each of the 19,000 employees at the 71 enterprises still run by the state. Many of these are "ghost workers" who only show up at work periodically and have very little to do, according to a senior finance ministry official.

Nazar Mohammad Tabeh, deputy head of the finance ministry's department of enterprise, says that apart from those public-sector firms that have closed down completely, many others have been run down, leaving staff largely idle.

“All 18,680 workers are paid from the budgets of the enterprises which are still active and have their own incomes,” he told IWPR.

He said the plants that have closed included manufacturers of medical supplies, wool and fabrics for export, and a construction company that built houses in Kabul. They employed a total of 600 people.

Hamid Qaderi, the president of the AICC, which has 210 member companies, says the continuing state involvement not only flies against the free market system laid out in the 2001 Bonn accord that served as the basis for the post-Taleban administration, but is also a deterrent to trade and investment.

“If the government doesn’t end its involvement in trade, all those Afghan traders who currently live in foreign countries will never invest in Afghanistan,” he said.

Deputy Commerce Minister Ziauddin Zia argues that the private sector cannot provid for all the needs of Afghanistan's estimated 27 million people, and that public-sector industries are essential for other reasons, too.

"The government is keeping these enterprises in existence in order to prevent a lot of workers becoming unemployed," he said. "It is also keeping prices low through the use of subsidies and retaining control over some essential imports."

But Khan Jan Alokozai, a major importer of spare parts for vehicles from Japan and Britain, says government enterprises have caused major losses for independent traders by undercutting them in the marketplace.

“Government enterprises subsidise the goods they deal in, but if traders did that, they’d lose millions of dollars,” he said.

Private business still seems to be flourishing . The AICC says its members and their 15,000 workers handle more imports and exports than the government. It estimates they deal with exports worth 400 million dollars and imports totalling four billion dollars annually.

Official figures show that state enterprises in 2004 were responsible for 305 million dollars in exports and imports totalling 2.15 billion dollars.

The AICC is now waving the Bonn accord at the government and pushing it to move out of the economic sphere so as to live up to its pledge to support free enterprise.

The chamber is also using the constitution ratified last year to increase the pressure. Article 10 of that document says that “the state encourages and protects private capital investments and enterprises based on the market economy”.

Qaderi says he has asked the government several times to close its enterprises and stop doing commercial business. He claims it has agreed to do so, but that it has done nothing to fulfil that promise.

Deputy Minister Zia points to the problem of throwing thousands of workers out of a job, although he acknowledges that paying them not to work is no solution.

“It’s a problem for the government that workers at these enterprises are getting paid without actually doing anything, and we have so far been unable to overcome this,” he said.

Government figures show the wide range of imports still handled by state enterprises in 2004. They include 407 million dollars spent on goods deemed essential, ranging from clothing to soap.

Vehicles and spare parts, which public-sector firms imported mainly from Japan, Germany and China, cost 599 million dollars, while foodstuffs were also a major import, totalling 266 million dollars.

One apparent anomaly in a country where electricity is in short supply is that government-controlled enterprises imported 580,000 televisions, worth 28 million dollars, from Japan and China.

Exports by public-sector companies included dried and fresh fruit, worth 85 million dollars, second only to sales of Afghan carpets abroad at 169 million.

The AICC sees no reason for the government to be involved in any of these businesses. “There isn’t anything that the traders here wouldn’t be able to handle and import into the country," said Qaderi. Amanullah Nasrat is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Cholera Kills Four Children In Central Afghanistan

Daily Afghan Report - August 26, 2005 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
A cholera outbreak that has gripped parts of Afghanistan has claimed the lives of four children in Bamiyan Province, Afghan Voice Agency reported on 25 August. Residents of Yakawlang District told the news agency that despite the deaths of these children, government authorities have not taken any steps to help stop the spread of cholera in the area. Yakawlang medical officials have yet to announce the outbreak of the disease in the district. AT

The Cave-Dwellers of Bamian

Parliament and politics mean little to the people forced to live in caves beside the remains of Bamian's giant Buddhas. By Wahidullah Amani in Bamian (ARR No. 183, 25-Aug-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting  

For the cave people of Afghanistan's Central Highlands, the country's impending elections offer more a puzzle than a promise of a better life. News of the September 18 parliamentary and provincial council poll has reached them, but few seem to know what it all means.

Small wonder, for these are some of Afghanistan’s poorest people, whose home is the honeycomb of caves that pits the soaring sandstone cliffs that once housed Bamian's 2,000-year-old giant Buddhas.

Mohammad Daad, a largely toothless, grey bearded 58-year-old, is typical. He has heard of the elections but has no idea what parliament is, even though he, like others, has a voting card thanks to the efforts of local officials. No candidate has yet come to enlighten him.

Daad is caretaker at one of the two boys’ schools in the town of Bamian, which lies some 240 kilometres west of Kabul. He earns just 1,900 afghanis, 38 US dollars, a month. He has lived in the caves for some 30 years except for the three months he and his family fled deeper into the mountains to escape the pitiless fighting between local Hazara militia and the Taleban.

"I don't know what parliament is," he said, adding when pressed that he would vote for "someone good – someone who looks good". Unless candidates do brave the perilous paths to canvass the caves, Daad will have to check their looks on posters in the township. He and his family - wife, three daughters and two sons - like everyone else have no radio, television or electricity. And no running water or sanitation facilities either.

Lying some 2,600 metres up in the central highlands, the town is dominated by the towering cliff face, with the huge holes once occupied by the twin Buddhas, and the labyrinth of smaller caves.

Daad says that 350 to 400 families, each with an average of five members, live in the sparse caves which centuries ago were inhabited and decorated by Buddhist monks at Bamian’s monasteries, which lay at a junction on the trade and cultural route between China and India.

Other residents give similar figures for the population scattered in holes in the cliff, which is itself dwarfed by the surrounding mountains that vary from red to yellow shot, with grey and green depending on the light.

It was the monks who carved the immense Buddhas, the bigger one standing 55 metres tall, the smaller one 39 metres. The Taleban’s first attempt to destroy them using tank fire and rockets failed in March 2001. So they drafted in local people to help finish the job.

"The Taleban troops forced me and the others living in the caves to climb high onto the statues and put white stuff [explosives] into holes in them. Then they shot at them again and blew them up," Daad told IWPR, adding that they were paid the equivalent of one dollar a day to do this.

One of his neighbours, Shakila, although only 20 years old, already has four children and is expecting her fifth shortly. She too knows more about the harshness of cave life than national or local politics. Her husband is unemployed with little chance of finding work.

"I was born in this cave, married here and I will grow old here," she said despairingly, as her children and their young friends pulled at her long, black dress, impatient to go to play in the stream that also provides their drinking water.

"Clinics are very far from us and we can't find cars here," she said. "I gave birth to three of my four children in these caves. I had the fourth at the hospital because it just wasn't possible at home."

The children are brightly dressed and, apart from their runny noses appear at least superficially healthy. They get plenty of exercise: for the young ones, the trek to and from school takes nearly two hours each way, while the older ones manage it in just under an hour. Some try to take life in the caves philosophically.

Nineteen-year-old Nikbakht and her four-month-old baby live high on the cliff in a cave reached by a steep winding path on which loose sandstone provides only a treacherous grip. "I have to be happy here. I have no other choice," she said, holding baby Sakina close to her.

She was standing in her parents' cave, a four by two metre cavern whose whitewashed walls rise to the slightly arched, rock roof standing two metres high at the centre.

Her father, Mohammad Ayoub, himself only 35, lives here with his wife and five children. "We repatriated from Iran last year and live here because we don't have any other place to live," said Ayoub.

He at least has benefited slightly from the destruction of the Buddhas, whose debris provides him with some work.

Ayoud clears and stores the debris from the shattered large Buddha, blasted into history by the Taleban despite a world outcry. Huge boulders and chunks of rock are all that remain, some manoeuvred onto pallets and now lying at the foot of the niche which once sheltered the statue. "I am paid 200 afghanis, four dollars, a day, for doing this and that's how I earn my living," said Ayoub.

He has fitted out the entrance to his cave with a wooden frame boasting a glass door and window so that the sun dispels the gloom, at least during daylight. Inside, a brightly coloured, machine-made carpet, a wall-hanging and tin storage boxes topped with blankets and cushions make up most of the family's belongings. A bare narrow strip just inside the door gives space for cooking on a ring powered by a small gas cylinder.

Despite her acceptance of her life, Nikbakht worries about the future. She and her husband, who is jobless, sold all her jewellery when they returned from Iran and have since lived on the proceeds.

Both her room and that of her parents open at right angles onto the same rock platform. Nikbakht's room is slightly larger but equally sparse, with just a flimsy curtain over the entrance. A red carpet, two thick blankets and cushions lie against each side wall. A storage container and a mirror on one wall complete her home.

One metre down from a communal area shared by a neighbour, a dark, narrow tunnel leads into a further small hole in the rocks. This is the stable for the family donkey which each day stumbles up the cliff path, heavily laden with tin containers of water from the stream. Below, at the side of the path, is a frightening drop of several metres.

Seventeen-year-old Rahmatullah, who lives nearby in his family cave, told IWPR of his determination to battle the poverty and ills that afflict people here.

"I go to school and want to become a doctor in the future. And I want to serve all the people who have health problems," said the sixth-grade school student.

As the August evenings bring an early autumn chill, the cave people are preparing for the harshness of winter high in the Hindu Kush.

Outside on parapets or on rough walls by each dark entrance, cakes of dung from donkeys and other animals are drying. Some are shaped like shallow inverted bowls. Others, dung mixed with charcoal, are formed into oblong bricks.

As the snow line creeps down the mountains, portable tin stoves will burn this fuel to provide warmth and cooking. They will also add to the signs of human habitation – the black soot stains that mark the homes of people whom progress forgot. Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR reporter based in Kabul.

Afghan's assault on Alamut Castle corroborated

LONDON, August 28 (IranMania) - The team of archaeologists currently working at Alamut Castle have confirmed that the theory of an 18th century Afghan military assault on the fortress is true, according to MNA.

Hamideh Chubak, the director of the Alamut Castle Research Foundation, said that study of the debris indicates that the castle was once destroyed by Hulagu Khan and was damaged in the Safavid era as well.

Two bullets made of cast iron were also found near one of the towers, indicating a battle in the Safavid era. It has been said that the Afghans had attacked the castle for some unknown reasons, and the recent discoveries prove this. A huge pile of rubble from the Safavid era also indicates that there had been a battle in the region,? she said.

Alamut was once a mountain fortress in the arid hills south of the Caspian Sea, near Qazvin, about 100 kilometers from Tehran. The historical fortress, which is known as the Castle of the Assassins, was the complex of heavily fortified lairs of the adherents of a bizarre religious cult, based loosely on the precepts of the Ismaili sect. The cult was founded in the 11th century by Hasan Sabah.

[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.]