In this bulletin:

• Strong earthquake has hit north-eastern Afghanistan
• Mine blast wounds four foreign troops in Afghanistan
• Afghans adopt justice action plan
• Statement By Jean Arnault (UN SRSG)
• AFGHANISTAN: TALIBAN DECREE AGAINST KARZAI DOWNPLAYED
• Al-Qaeda leader 'has lost control of militants'
• Taliban Growing in Afghanistan
• Nato in a spin over Afghan expansion
• U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan attempt new measures against suicide attacks
• WB to fund electricity import by Pakistan
• Afghanistan considering electricity import from Iran
• Three New Private Universities to Open in Afghanistan
• Power Project Lights up 400 Houses in Afghanistan's Bamyan
• Afghan Daily Report

Strong earthquake has hit north-eastern Afghanistan - BBC News - Tuesday, 13 December 2005

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said it was of a 6.7 magnitude, striking in the mountainous Hindu Kush region bordering Pakistan early on Tuesday. Residents in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where tens of thousands died in October's earthquake, fled their homes, reports say. The tremor was also felt as far away as the Indian capital, Delhi. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The earthquake occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning about 230km (145 miles) deep in the earth's crust, the USGS said. "The deeper an earthquake is the less likely it is to cause damage. This quake... is not likely to cause too much damage although it is possible," USGS's Don Blakeman told the BBC.

The quake was cantered about 105km (65 miles) south-east of Faizabad in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province. "Some 100 houses have been damaged and between 300 and 400 cattle have been killed," Shamsur Rahman, deputy governor of the province, told Reuters news agency.

There are also reports of four injuries in the eastern city of Jalalabad where people went out to the streets in panic. "One house has been destroyed. So far we've received four wounded people - three of them slightly and only one woman was badly injured," Ayoob Shinwari, a doctor in the Afghan city's hospital told the AFP news agency.

"I am hopeful and we pray that there will be few casualties," presidential spokesman, Karim Rahimi, said.

The tremor was felt in several Pakistan's cities, including Muzaffarabad and Balakot, that were devastated by the 8 October earthquake, local television reported. "It was very strong. It was very scaring. Many people living in old houses fled from their homes," Mohammad Alim from Pakistan's border town of Peshawar told Reuters news agency.

In Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, survivors of the October quake fled from their tents and homes. "People came out of their tents and started screaming and reciting verses from the Koran," Sarfraz Ahmad, a resident, told the AFP news agency. "The people living in buildings spared by the big quake were the most terrified."

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says there have been more than 1,000 aftershocks here in the past two months but this was the strongest tremor so far. More than 73,000 people were killed in the October earthquake which left at least three million people homeless, according to officials in Pakistan. This area stretching across Pakistan into India and Afghanistan sees a lot of seismic activity - it is at the point where the tectonic plates of Asia and Indian subcontinent collide.

Mine blast wounds four foreign troops in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - Four soldiers from the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan were wounded on Monday when their vehicle detonated a mine in the southern province of Kandahar, a U.S. military official said.

The soldiers were in stable condition, said U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Mike Cody. He declined to reveal their nationalities or give the exact location of the incident. It came a day after a suicide attacker failed in a bid to target a convoy of U.S.-led troops in the heart of Kandahar city but seriously wounded an Afghan passerby.

The United States leads an international force of about 20,000 in Afghanistan battling the Taliban and their militant allies, including Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda fighters. Kandahar and neighboring provinces have been the scene of a spate of violence by the militants in the past 10 days.

The violence has included a series of incidents since NATO, which leads a separate peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, approved rules last week for an expanded force next year, which Washington hopes will allow a cut in U.S. troop levels.

NATO wants to boost its 9,000-strong International Security Assistance Force to about 15,000 from early next year. It will spread its bases in the north and west, and the capital, Kabul, to the more volatile south.
More than 1,100 people have been killed in violence in Afghanistan this year, including nearly 60 U.S. troops, making it the bloodiest period for them in Afghanistan since 2001.

Afghans adopt justice action plan - By Andrew North - BBC News, Kabul

The Afghan government has approved a plan to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes committed in the past decades of war. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans died during a series of conflicts from 1978 through to the end of Taleban rule.

But until now, the government had resisted calls from both Afghan and international rights groups to look into abuse allegations from this time. Among those facing such allegations are members of the new parliament.

Officially, the plan is known as the Action Plan for Peace, Reconciliation and Justice in Afghanistan. It was drawn up by the country's human rights commission, in consultation with international groups earlier this year.

The plan sets out a five point strategy which could lead eventually to a truth and reconciliation body, similar to the one established in South Africa at the end of apartheid, or a full criminal tribunal.

That decision will be up to a five-member task force - three of whom will be appointed by President Hamid Karzai, one by the United Nations and the other by the Afghan human rights commission.

But before that, the plan calls for some kind of remembrance for victims of Afghanistan's wars, detailed information collection, and a process of reconciliation between the various ethnic groups involved in past fighting.

The plan has been watered down - the original called for a tribunal as a matter of course. But the Afghan human rights commission has welcomed the government's decision, pointing out that the document also rules out giving anyone immunity for past crimes.

It is being seen as a major step. Despite pressure from many quarters, President Hamid Karzai's government has been resistant. There were fears it could re-open old wounds, and cause renewed turmoil - especially with many of those facing potential war crimes charges now in positions of power, including in the new parliament.

But that was also an incentive to get the plan through - before the assembly holds its first session next week. But a presidential spokesman denied the plan had been rushed through. He said everyone had been consulted beforehand. The question now is how long it will take to put this justice and reconciliation plan into action.

Statement By Jean Arnault - Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan On the Occasion of the Opening of the Transitional Justice Conference: Truth-Seeking and Reconciliation in Afghanistan - Kabul – 13 December, 2005

Excellencies, ministers, deputy ministers, governor, dear friends from the international community, members of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, guests, ladies and gentlemen,

In closing this round of opening statements, allow me to make some brief remarks. By adopting the Action Plan For Peace, Justice and Reconciliation yesterday, the Afghan government has added a new and very important dimension to the peace process in Afghanistan - that of addressing head-on the sequels of abuses and violence of the past 25 years; rebuilding confidence among those whose lives were crushed by the war; healing the very deep confrontations of the past and restoring the values of tolerance and trust.

That undertaking does not require international forces. It does not require massive investments. It does not require legions of foreign experts. It is, nevertheless, one of the most difficult tasks that any country can face. Indeed it is a challenge that, I am afraid, many countries have failed to meet – and have paid the consequences for it. The battle lines of the civil war have been allowed to shape the political landscape. A culture of violence, impunity and intolerance survives unchecked, and the sufferings of the victims continue to haunt the survivors. In short, the burden of a violent past is allowed to frustrate the efforts at giving society a fresh start.

In its attempt to overcome the consequences of conflict, Afghanistan does not start from scratch today. The pride of delegates to last year’s Constitutional Loya Jirga (who set aside bitter differences two years ago to give their country its new Constitution); the strong sense of recovered dignity that was so widely felt by voters in the Presidential Elections two years ago; the peaceful and orderly unfolding of political competition in 34 provinces a couple of months ago; are all steps in building the confidence of Afghans in themselves and in their country.

That Afghans were able to bridge such differences so successfully in a few short years, paved the way for them to turn their attention more confidently today to the darker pages of their recent past.

One should not, of course, underestimate the daunting task that reconciliation will be in Afghanistan, where the trauma of war has been so protracted, has created such deep divides – ethnic and otherwise – and has left such extensive scars in the lives of so many. As Afghans set off on this journey, they should get as much assistance as their international friends can provide them. This is why the High Commissioner for Human Rights and ourselves were keen to bring to you, on the occasion of this conference, the experience of other people in faraway countries who have confronted in recent years the dilemmas involved in the search for truth, for justice and reconciliation.

Each peace process, however, is unique. And particularly so in the diverse ways in which individuals and communities deal with the painful past. We are, therefore, not suggesting that you should seek to fashion your approach to the experience of others. Quite the contrary. We hope that you will find some inspiration in the way in which other people have harnessed their best traditions, the wisdom of their religions and the strength of their moral values to bring, as much as humanly possible, closure to a violent past and allow tolerance, respect for the sanctity of life and the dignity of all human beings to flourish again.

AFGHANISTAN: TALIBAN DECREE AGAINST KARZAI DOWNPLAYED - AKI, Italy

Kabul, 13 Dec. (AKI) - The Afghan government has downplayed a recent decree issued by the Taliban calling on Afghans to kill president Hamid Karzai. "By fabricating such propaganda and labelling marks against the president, the enemies of Afghanistan attempt to sabotage peace in the country and create problems for the people," presidential spokesman Mohammad Karim Rahimi was reported to have said at the weekly news briefing in Kabul on Tuesday.

The 12-page decree, written by three Taliban Muslim scholars and approved by a 100-member council of the militant group, was circulated in the south of the country, in which they referred to Karzai as a puppet of infidels (United States and Britain) and called on Afghans to kill him. The US and Britain are also referred to as enemies of Islam and in the decree Afghans are urged to join the Jihad (holy war) until the US-dominated foreign troops pull out of the country.

"The President is a good Muslim and a servant of the Afghan people and any conspiracy against him will be foiled," Rahimi said. The spokesman stressed that the role played by the international community in Afghanistan, that of building schools, roads and other facilities, would continue as long as the country needed it.

The Taliban decree was issued just a week before the newly elected Afghan parliament is set to convene for the first time in the capital Kabul.

Southern Afghanistan is traditionally the stronghold of the hardline Taliban, whose regime was brought down during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan following the 11 September bombings in 2001. The Taliban fighters have since been waging an insurgency against the US-backed Karzai government and US forces in the country. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the violence this year alone.

Al-Qaeda leader 'has lost control of militants' - By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad Published: December 13 2005

Osama bin Laden has been forced to "hide so deep" that he is no longer in direct operational control of al-Qaeda militants, the US ambassador to Pakistan said yesterday.

The comments by Ryan C. Crocker coincided with continuing speculation among intelligence analysts over how close the US and Pakistan is to finding the Saudi-born militant, the target of an aggressive hunt for more than seven years.

These speculations were fuelled last week when General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, said he was "200 per cent" certain that Abu Hamza Rabia, the third senior most al-Qaeda figure after Mr bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri, had been killed in an attack in a region near Afghanistan.

The news of Mr Rabia's killing led to claims by Pakistani officials that they might be nearer to finding Mr bin Laden dead or alive. US officials have long said they believe Mr bin Laden, mastermind of the September 11 2001 attacks, has been hiding along the rugged Pakistan-Afghanistan border since US forces failed to capture him after invading Afghanistan in late 2001.

Mr Crocker refused to discuss the operational details of any specific operation, including the one surrounding claims of Mr Rabia's killing, but said: "I really don't think that Osama bin Laden is any longer in operational control of al-Qaeda. He has had to hide so deep that he has been operationally cut off from his organisation."

Pakistani security officials said Mr Crocker's remarks confirmed their own assessment that al-Qaeda was in disarray and only capable of carrying out operations with its members banded together in small groups.

But European diplomats who routinely track terrorist movements warned that it was wrong to assume that an al-Qaeda in disarray was any less lethal than the group centrally controlled.

"For long, intelligence services have assumed that al-Qaeda has the capacity to operate in small cells which are independently motivated and capable of carrying out attacks. You could argue, bin Laden's value has been more symbolic

than real for some time," said one.

Taliban Growing in Afghanistan - NewsMax 12/12/2005

Amidst the opium-producing poppy fields and among the old stomping grounds of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban is growing again in Afghanistan.

Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large for United Press International, told Fox News Channel Monday that the fiercely anti-Western Muslim fundamentalists are regaining control of portions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is "good news for Osama bin Laden."

De Borchgrave visited Afghanistan before the Asian earthquake where the Taliban "seems to be spreading its wings" again where once they had been driven away by U.S. and Pakistani troops.

"It was quite clear that the Taliban has control of some areas," de Borchgrave said. "The Pakistanis seem to be focusing on al-Qaida, but not the Taliban. There's no question that the Taliban is gaining strength."

DeBorchgrave said the situation in Afghanistan is "tenuous" despite recent polls that indicate Afghanis are optimistic about their future.

"It depends how you take these polls," he said. "There is no way of getting a very accurate picture of what is going on in Afghanistan. Nothing has happened with the drug culture. Half of the Afghanistan GDP – nearly $3-4 Billion – comes from drug smuggling. It's not good."

Nato in a spin over Afghan expansion - Andrew North - BBC News, Kabul

The size and mission of the British military force due to be sent to southern Afghanistan next year as part of Nato plans to expand its peacekeeping operations are being scaled back, the BBC has learned.

The move comes amid continuing uncertainty over the commitment of other European alliance members to the plan for Nato to take over responsibility from the US for the more dangerous south and east, the heartland of the four-year-old Taleban-led insurgency.

Last week, the Dutch government again postponed a decision on sending 1,100 troops to the volatile southern province of Uruzgan, amid domestic concerns about casualties.

For similar reasons, the UK government is now considering sending only about 1,000 combat troops to the equally challenging province of Helmand, well-placed sources have told the BBC.

That is about half the number originally discussed. The government may also shelve plans to deploy Apache attack helicopters to support them.

Part of the problem, the BBC was told, is that the government "has still not decided what it wants the military to do in Helmand". However, according to these sources, proposals for British units to hunt drug traffickers in Helmand - Afghanistan's number one opium producing region - have now been abandoned.

On paper though, Nato nations remain committed to the expansion of the peacekeeping force. Foreign ministers agreed to provide 6,000 troops for the move south at a meeting last week in Brussels, with most coming from Britain - which will lead the alliance's forces - and Canada.

But as so often in the past since Nato took over leadership of the Afghan peacekeeping mission - which it calls its number one priority - the details of this commitment had not been resolved.

Only the Canadian part of the plan is on track, with about half their 2,000 promised troops already in place in Kandahar. In Afghan government circles, there is some frustration at the confusion, directed especially at the Dutch.

"They agreed to go to Uruzgan a long time ago," said one official. "Didn't they realise it was dangerous?" However, jocular remarks reportedly made by a senior Afghan official to a visiting Dutch delegation about the number of "body bags" they might need for the Uruzgan deployment didn't help, several western diplomats have told the BBC.

Politicians in The Hague have also been worried about the treatment of any detainees their troops capture and the possibility of the death penalty being used.

But assurances have been given by both US and Afghan officials on both counts, and it is hoped that the Netherlands will eventually come on board.

But the Dutch wobble has served as useful cover for British indecision. It is now two months since the UK government was expected to announce a robust and ambitious deployment of up to 4,000 troops to Helmand.

It would have involved sending the UK's 16 Air Assault brigade, which has three parachute battalions at its core, with back-up from US-made Apache attack helicopters, as well as artillery and many other support elements.

But the latest plan is for no more than two battalions of paratroops to be deployed - up to 1,200 soldiers - and with much less support.

The eventual number of combat troops could be far lower. One source said proposals had been floated for just 200 paratroops to be deployed.

The Ministry of Defence may also resist making what would be the first deployment of Britain's recently acquired Apaches - because of the cost of providing support to these high-tech aircraft.

Instead, they could be replaced by less effective Lynx helicopters. But such changes will force British commanders to be far less ambitious. The problem is "John Reid has lost his bottle", said one source referring to the UK defence secretary.

"There was a plan to go after traffickers. But now they're worried about casualties and public reaction. So it's off the agenda now." But although there are growing numbers of British troops - and civilian advisers already on the ground in Helmand preparing - their mission is still not clear.

"PJHQ is tearing its hair out," said another well-placed source, referring to the British military's UK headquarters. But the expansion south - due to be completed by June next year - is not the end of the story.

Nato is then supposed to take over responsibility for eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan, an area many regard as even more dangerous.

U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan attempt new measures against suicide attacks

Pravda (Russia – Dec 12) - U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan are learning from tactics used in Iraq to improve their ability to avert suicide bombings as Taliban-led insurgents turn increasingly to those types of attacks, a U.S. military official said Monday. After the second suicide attack in eight days targeting U.S.-led forces in the southern city of Kandahar, spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox said, "we will continue to look at other measures we can use to stop these bombings that they use to kill innocent civilians."

Fox cast a series of suicide attacks by militants in Afghanistan in recent months as a sign of weakness rather than strength, but he said the coalition forces are developing new measures to counter them, and turning to their colleagues in Iraq for tips.

"There are new measures that we will use and we continue to adapt. I will stress that we are sharing information with our forces in Iraq, where there are many attacks, and will continue to use that information to fight the problem here," he told a news conference. Fox would not describe any of the measures, citing the need for secrecy.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a coalition convoy in Kandahar on Sunday, killing himself and wounding a passer-by, police in the former Taliban stronghold said. Fox said the attack occurred after the convoy had passed and that no coalition troops were injured.

A week earlier in Kandahar, a Canadian soldier in the U.S.-led coalition was slightly injured in a blast that killed the attacker and a civilian. A suicide car bombing in Kandahar in November, apparently targeting Westerners, killed three Afghan civilians.

Two days before that, militants used twin suicide car bombs to attack NATO peacekeepers in the capital, Kabul. Authorities blamed al-Qaida for those blasts, which killed a German peacekeeper and eight Afghans.

Last month, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press that intelligence indicated a number of Arab members of al-Qaida and other foreigners had entered Afghanistan to launch suicide attacks, and cited similarities between attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After Sunday's bombing, Kandahar province deputy police chief Haji Abdul Hakim said the attacker appeared to be a foreigner, but Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanezai said his origin had not been established.

Fox said that the exact nature of ties between the Taliban and al-Qaida is unclear but that they appear to be sharing information. He said the coalition has no "specific intelligence" indicating Taliban militants have been returning from Iraq.

The suicide bombings are part of the a persistent insurgency that has produced the deadliest militant violence since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in 2001, when they refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 attacks, reports the AP.

WB to fund electricity import by Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – The News International: The World Bank has agreed to fund the laying of power transmission lines and setting up of grid stations for import of electricity from Tajikistan to Pakistan.

However, the Bank linked its funding for the project with the transfer of electricity through Kabul arguing it will benefit the war ravaged Afghanistan a lot. In this regard a meeting of representatives from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan is most likely to be held in Islamabad next month. The donors such as WB, ADB will also participate the meeting.

According to an official in Prime Minister Secretariat, Ministry of Water and Power has been asked to forward a summary to this effect to prime minister seeking approval for the donors meeting on the issue.

The official said that the World Bank had agreed to fund the project proposing Pakistan to import electricity from Tajikistan through Afghanistan. Mr Alatair J Mckechine, World Bank's Country Director for Afghanistan had floated this proposal to government of Pakistan in a meeting with top officials of Ministry of Water and Power early last month.

Under the proposed plan , Tajikistan wants to export 1000 MW of electricity to Pakistan through two proposed points, Wah Khan and Kabul, but World Bank wants Pakistan to import electricity through Kabul to Peshawar.

NESPAK (National Engineering Services of Pakistan) is already engaged in conducting the comprehensive study on the proposed project. The official said that Tajikistan earlier wanted to construct a Hydropower project on Tajikistan's Ragun Dam.

"Tajikistan wanted Pakistan to invest at least $ 500 million on the project and use its electricity, but Pakistan refused to invest in the project saying it is not feasible for her to invest and import electricity from there." However, in new development, Tajikistan has offered the electricity from a Badaar hydropower project, which Russia is constructing. To a question he said that earlier, Tajikistan had offered electricity at the rate of 1.50 cents per unit (Rs 1.50 per unit).

Afghanistan considering electricity import from Iran - Tehran Times Economic Desk

TEHRAN – Afghanistan has been holding talks with Iran on purchase of electricity. The request was set forth during the Regional Economic Conference recently held in Kabul by the country’s Ministry of Commerce, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah announced on Monday.

President Hamed Karzai, in a speech given in the opening ceremony of the event, had emphasized on his nation’s pressing need for electricity and other officials reiterated the government’s priority plans on urgent supply of this energy to sustain the country’s ever-increasing growth.

Negotiations held with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the conference to this end, nominated Iran to supply basic electricity need of this neighboring country for the ease of energy transfer due to long border shared by both countries. Iran used to export electricity to Afghanistan via Taibad border point.

Three New Private Universities to Open in Afghanistan Next Year - Asia Pulse
12/12/2005

JALALABAD - Three private universities will be set up in the country next year, Minister for the Higher Education Amir Shah Hasanyar has said.

He was in this provincial capital of the eastern Nangarhar province to inaugurate a USAID- assisted project on judicial training in the Law Faculty of the Nangarhar University the other day.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, the minister expressed satisfaction over the role played by his ministry in modernising the law and judicial system in the country. He said opening of the new project would prove a milestone for reforms in the system.

He said the government had selected four provinces, including Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar and Herat for starting the programme and the first such institution had been established from Nangarhar.

In the initial stage of the programme, the minister said, two teachers of the Nangarhar University would be sent to the United States and four to India to get training on new teaching techniques.

Regarding the US$6 million grant announced for the Nangarhar University, the minister said an amount of $500,000 had been transferred and further amount would be given to improve its standard.

He said the Higher Education Ministry had prepared a 10-year plan which would improve standard of the universities across the country. At least three private universities would be opened in the country next year.

He said the government wanted to promote academic activities in the universities instead of political activities. In order to improve literacy rate in the country, the government has planned a credit system, which would be introduced soon. With the implementation of the proposed credit system, the education standard of Afghanistan would come on a par with the international level, added the minister.

He said universities across the world concentrate on education and research but there was little or no research in Afghanistan and the ministry was trying to reactivate that branch of education in our universities. He said the Nangarhar University of Science and Technology was not formal with the ministry and its teachers would be adjusted in other departments.

Regarding complaints that some teachers of the university were working with NGOs, the minister said any teacher who was found working with an NGO would be sacked from his job. Nangarhar University is the third biggest educational institution in Afghanistan. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

Power Project Lights up 400 Houses in Afghanistan's Bamyan – Dec. 12

BAMYAN CITY (Asia Pulse) - Four hundred families in Shiber district of the central Bamyan province have been extended electricity for the first time, officials said on Sunday.

Residents of Kaloi village in the Shiber district were receiving 60 kilowatts of power from two water-run turbines funded by the Agha Khan Development Network (AKDN), they added.

Engineer Nek Aalam, Regional in charge of the AKDN in Bamyan, told Pajhwok Afghan News the project costing US$150,000 had been launched in early 2003.

Mohammad Anwar Wahidi, a resident of Qala-i-Sofaid area, said: "Our far-flung village, as in deed our province, was paid little attention in the past. The power supply to our houses is thus something incredible."

The first AKDN-funded power supply scheme in Bamyan was jointly inaugurated by Deputy Governor Mohammad Ibrahim and provincial police chief Gen. Ghulam Ali Wahdat.

Afghan Daily Report [ 12 December 2005 ] RFE/RL

List of Presidential Appointees To Afghan Parliament Revealed

The list of the 34 members of the Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga) in the Afghan National Assembly appointed by President Hamid Karzai was announced on the official Bakhtar News Agency's website on 9 December (http://www.bakhtarnews.com). According to the Afghan Constitution, the president chooses one-third of the 102-member upper house, half of whom should be women. The list includes former Afghan President and current head of the Commission for Strengthening Peace and Stability Sebghatullah Mojaddedi; former Defense Minister Marshall Mohammad Qasim Fahim; mujahedin-era Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Sabur Farid; Arsala Rahmani, the former deputy minister of higher education under the Taliban and one of the main supporters of Kabul's reconciliation efforts with members of that regime (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 February 2005); former Helmand Province Governor Mullah Sher Mohammad Akhundzada; and Qurban Ali Ramazan, a brother of Ashraf Ramazan, an elected member of the People's Council (Wolesi Jirga) from Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan who was gunned down in September. One of the 17 female appointees is current Minister for Martyrs and the Disabled Sediqa Balkhi, whose work at the ministry has come under criticism. The National Assembly is set to open on 19 December. AT

EU Report Hails Afghan Polls, Despite Shortcomings

The head of the EU Election Observer Mission, Emma Bonino, presented the final report on Afghanistan's 18 September elections for the People's Council and provincial councils in Kabul on 10 December, according to an EU press release. "Overall, given their complexity and operational challenges, the elections are an accomplishment, although there were notable shortcomings to be addressed in the future," she said. Bonino praised the preparations of the elections and the election-day procedures; however, she said that "post-election-day developments revealed significant deficiencies." Bonino added that democracy is not confined to elections alone and that the Afghans should think about society and civic culture. The EU mission had 159 observers monitor the polling process in 29 out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. AT

Neo-taliban Kill 10 Policemen In Southern Afghanistan...

Nine policemen were killed and two were injured in an attack on 9 December in Garmser district of Helmand Province, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported on 10 December. In a separate attack in nearby Zabul Province, the neo-Taliban attacked a security post, killing one policeman and wounding another. AT

Suicide Bomber Misses U.S. Convoy, Kills Civilian

A suicide bomber targeting a U.S. military convoy in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan missed his target, but killed an Afghan civilian and himself, Peshawar-based AIP reported on 11 December. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. AT

Afghan Air Force Considers Female Pilots

As the Afghan Air Force begins its recovery, the Defense Ministry is looking at the possibility of female pilots joining the force, state-run National Television of Afghanistan reported on 10 December. Currently, 58 pilots are scheduled to receive training, including two female pilots, Captain Latifa and Captain Lailoma. According to Captain Lailoma, women have proven that they are able to help their country by serving in the air force. AT

[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.]