Afghan candidate list published – BBC 6/5/05

Election organisers in Afghanistan have published a preliminary list of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary and local elections. An official said 6070 people, including 582 women, had registered for elections due to take place on 18 September.

Candidates must be over 25 and present the signatures of 300 supporters. Correspondents say organising the polls will be challenging due to the number of candidates and local rivalries.

Would-be legislators must resign top government positions and officially declare they are not involved with illegal armed groups. Seventy seats in the parliament will be allocated to women. The final candidate list will be published in July.

The website of the joint electoral management body conducting the polls said that 2480 people, 336 of them women, have registered to run for the 240-member lower house of parliament, known as Wolesi Jirga.

Many of the 70 or so political parties which have registered so far are run by former mujahideen who fought the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taleban in the 1990s. Correspondents say the election is a milestone in Afghanistan's path to democracy.

Despite threats by Taleban insurgents to disrupt the presidential election and the violent deaths of 12 electoral workers, last year's vote was a success.

The vote for the Wolesi Jirga and for provincial assemblies should have taken place at the same time as the presidential elections, but security fears and logistical problems led to a delay. But this time, observers have expressed concern that local rivalries between tribal leaders will hamper policing operations.

Afghanistan sets July deadline for parliamentary candidates to lay down guns

Kabul (AFP ) – 06/5/05 - Afghanistan's electoral commission set a July 1 deadline for candidates in the country's first post-Taliban parliamentary election to sever their links with armed militias.

Authorities would "provide those candidates, who are willing to completely disarm and sever links with non-official military forces of armed groups, the necessary weapons collection facilities to do so before a final deadline of July 1," Sultan Baheen, spokesman for the UN-backed Joint Electoral Management Body told reporters in Kabul on Sunday.

Afghanistan's electoral law prohibits any candidate with links to armed militias from standing for parliament or provincial councils. However, establishing exactly which candidates command armed men will be difficult.

After 23 years of war Afghanistan remains awash with arms and United Nations disarmament officials estimate that there are 131,000 armed men linked with illegal militias across the country. Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission has only three weeks to look over objections from the public on the eligibility of candidates.

Afghan citizens aged 18 can stand for parliament while the age limit for provincial councils polls is 25 years. The newly-established independent Electoral Complaints Commission has just 37 investigators nationwide to look into complaints. Candidates for the September 18 vote are also barred from standing if they hold government office.

Hazrat Ali, a well-known warlord in Nangahar province stepped down from his position as provincial police commander last month in order to stand for the parliamentary election.

Afghanistan has established a body made up of officials from the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, the United Nations as well as US and NATO troops to look into who commands illegal militias.
Lists of candidates went up in provincial election offices all over Afghanistan on Saturday with the names of the 6,070 people standing for the lower house Wolesi Jirga and provincial council elections, so that the general public can raise complaints and objections.

Complaints can be filed anonymously through drop boxes or by email. "We are confident we can protect the anonymity of candidates," Richard Atwood, chief logistics officer of the JEMB told reporters.
During Afghanistan's October presidential vote warlords Abdul Rashid Dostam and Mohammed Mohaqeq stood for election, drawing flak from human rights groups and the Afghan public. The two men were not barred from standing because they had not been convicted of any crime in a court of law despite having long records of rights abuses.

Afghan election battle lines take shape - By Robert Birsel

Kabul (Reuters) - Afghanistan's election battle lines are taking shape with several prominent politicians, including President Hamid Karzai's main challenger in a presidential poll last October, registering to run for parliament.

A U.N.-Afghan election commission published preliminary candidate lists this weekend, posting names in all provincial capitals and on its Web site for scrutiny. In all, 2,884 people, 342 of them women, have signed up to run for the 249-seat lower house, known as the Wolesi Jirga, a commission official said on Sunday.

"We have reports from around the country that a large number of people came to see the lists," the commission's chief of operations, Richard Atwood, told a news conference.

The Sept. 18 election is the next big step on Afghanistan's difficult path to stability but worry about security has mounted after a wave of clashes between Taliban insurgents and U.S. forces. The government says the enemies of Afghanistan want to disrupt the vote.

But the election will require a big security operation not only to prevent rebel violence but also to stop intimidation by regional strongmen vying for power in Afghanistan's fledgling democracy as it emerges from 25 years of conflict.

Candidates must be Afghan and over 25. People who have been convicted of crimes against humanity or who belong to non-official armed forces are barred. People in top government jobs must resign if they want to run. Anyone can challenge a candidate until Thursday, Atwood said.

The main election issues are expected to be security and government efforts to end the Taliban insurgency, frustration over slow reconstruction, U.S. relations and the role of Islam.

But in a country riven by ethnic and geographic divisions, personality, patronage and power are going to be key. Among the hopefuls are several ethnic minority "mujahideen," or holy warriors, who defeated the Soviets in the 1980s and helped the United States rout the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

Mujahideen leaders took main ministries after the Taliban's fall, but Karzai has slowly sought to replace them with Western-leaning technocrats, mostly from his dominant Pashtun community, whose hands are seen as not bloodied by war.

Among hopeful candidates is Yunus Qanuni, runner-up in the presidential race. An ethnic Tajik from the Panjsher Valley, the heart of opposition to Soviet occupation and Taliban rule, Qanuni is a former education minister in Karzai's interim government.

He has formed a 12-party alliance that he said will seek to make parliament an opposition stronghold holding Karzai's government to account. Also on the list is former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, a conservative ethnic Tajik cleric.

Others include Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a former commander from the Shi'ite Muslim Hazara community, and Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf, a conservative Pashtun and Karzai supporter.
Former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, who was detained by U.S. forces in 2001 and released two years later, has also registered. The most prominent leader not eyeing parliament is Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a Tajik commander who Karzai ditched as vice president and defense minister after the presidential election.

Provincial council elections will also be held on Sept. 18 and 3,186 people have registered for them, 240 of them women. Five provincial seats reserved for women will be left vacant because insufficient numbers registered.

US soldiers die in Afghan blast - BBC News / Saturday, 4 June, 2005

Two US soldiers have been killed in a roadside explosion in south-eastern Afghanistan, the US military has said. The explosives were detonated as a convoy passed by in Paktika province on Friday. A third soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded.

Nearly 150 US troops have now been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the US intervention in late 2001. No one has yet said it carried out the attack but the Taleban has stepped up its campaign after a winter lull.

The convoy was returning from the village of Gayan in Urgun district when it was attacked. Gen James G Champion of the US forces in Afghanistan said: "Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of these two brave individuals who gave their lives so that Afghanistan might have a safe and secure future."

There are about 18,000 US-led foreign troops in Afghanistan tracking al-Qaeda and Taleban militants. The military and the insurgents have been involved in a number of heavy clashes, particularly in the south and east, over the past few months.

Afghans hold top Taleban fighter – BBC 6/5/05

A high-ranking Taleban commander has been captured by Afghan troops in western Afghanistan, an Afghan military official has said. Haji Sultan, who is thought to have led attacks against Afghan and US troops, was captured in the province of Farah.

Another senior Taleban official, Mullah Mohammed Rahim, was also arrested. Taleban insurgents have stepped up attacks on Afghan and US troops in the past two months, following a winter lull in their activities.

Afghan defence ministry spokesman Zahir Azimy said that Haji Sultan, who was wanted by the US military, had been handed over to them for investigation.

Mr Azimy told Reuters news agency that investigators would try to find out whether he could shed some light on the whereabouts of Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

American commanders recently characterised the Taleban as a declining force. The US says the Taleban are down to around 2,000 men, with declining appeal to former leaders and to the population.

However, some analysts say Afghanistan is witnessing an increase, not a decrease, in what they describe as the Taleban's sophisticated attacks, and they believe that will continue during the coming months.

There are about 18,000 US-led foreign troops in Afghanistan tracking al-Qaeda and Taleban militants. The military and the insurgents have been involved in a number of heavy clashes, particularly in the south and east, over the past few months.

Afghan FM says efforts underway to secure release of Italian - (AFP) 5 June 2005

KABUL - Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on Sunday his government was doing everything possible to secure release of an Italian aid worker who was kidnapped almost three weeks ago.

“We’re doing everything in our hands, whatever possible to bring to an end the case peacefully,” the minister told reporters in Kabul. “I’m optimistic that this situation will come to a peaceful end.” Abdullah’s statement came as Pope Benedict XVI Sunday appealed for the release of Clementina Cantoni.

“I add my appeal to that of the presidents of Italy and Afghanistan, and of the Italian and Afghan people, to release the Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni,” said the pope after giving the traditional Angelus blessing to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Cantoni, 32, who works for aid group CARE International, was snatched at gunpoint on May 16 while driving in capital’s Qala-i-Musa district. The aid worker had managed a project which provides food and income-generating activities for 11,000 widows and their children since September 2003.

Widows who found work and had been given food for their families were due to hold a demonstration in Kabul Sunday to call for her release. Cantoni’s kidnappers, who are thought to be from criminal gangs, released a video last week showing her alive and flanked by two armed men.

Afghan helpline flooded with calls for release of Italian hostage - AFP
06/05/2005

KABUL - Afghans have deluged a telephone helpline set up to collect information that could lead to the release of an Italian aid worker abducted almost three weeks ago, the interior ministry said.

"The Afghan public has been very helpful and supportive thus far in the efforts to free Clementina (Cantoni)," Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said in a statement on Saturday.

"We have received hundreds of calls at the helpline that was set up shortly after Clementinas abduction, and the police are following up on all leads."

The statement gave no details on how the search for the hostage or negotiations for Cantoni's release were progressing, but Afghan officials said Friday they remained optimistic.

Cantoni, 32, who works for aid group CARE International, had managed a project which provides food and income-generating activities for 11,000 widows and their children since September 2003.

Widows who have been found work and given food for their families were due to hold a demonstration Sunday to call for her release. Cantoni's kidnappers released a video last week showing her alive and flanked by two armed men.

Afghanistan regrets Koran abuse, welcomes US investigation – AFP 06/05/2005

KABUL - Afghanistan regrets the desecration of the Koran at the US' Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba and welcomes a US investigation into abuse of the Muslim holy book, the Afghan foreign minister said.

The US military on Saturday admitted that guards at Guantanamo mishandled the Koran, including cases in which a copy of the holy book was kicked. "The fact that there has been investigation, the fact that this issue has been taken seriously, we welcome it," Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on Sunday.

"Also, we regret the fact that those abuses have taken place," he told reporters in Kabul. Abdullah said he hoped "concrete measures are taken to prevent this action from taking place" in future but did not call for any punishment of those involved.

The news of the Koran abuse, first reported in the US magazine Newsweek last month, sparked violent riots across Afghanistan which left at least 15 people dead and more than 120 hurt.

Amid demonstrations across the Muslim world, the US-based magazine retracted its report after its source on the abuse expressed doubts. Abdullah criticized the magazine, saying: "I think that the fact that such news unfortunately led to violence in Afghanistan and to too many killings, it's a very unfortunate situation".

Hundreds of suspected militants are being held as "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay and in detention centers inside Afghanistan, where an 18,000-strong US-led coalition is hunting militants three and half years after the ouster of the hardline Taliban regime.

Afghan suspected of killing journalists captured

Kabul (reuters) – 6/5/05 - Afghan authorities have arrested the leader of a gang accused of killing four journalists in 2001, including two from Reuters, officials said on Sunday.

The suspect, identified as Zar Jan, was arrested after a shootout with police in Sarobi district, 50 km (30 miles) east of the capital, Kabul, on Saturday night, the official said. "Zar Jan was wounded by several bullets. He will be brought to Kabul today," said the police official, Feraidoon.

The four journalists, including Australian television cameraman Harry Burton and Afghan photographer Azizullah Haidari of Reuters, were killed on Nov. 19, 2001, at Tangi Abrishum, about 90 km (55 miles) east of Kabul. They were both 33.

Spaniard Julio Fuentes of El Mundo and Italian Maria Grazia Cutuli of Corriere della Sera were the other two victims. The journalists were stopped on the road from Pakistan by a gang of about 12 gunmen while trying to reach Kabul days after the defeated Taliban had withdrawn from the city.

They were shot and killed shortly afterwards. Authorities have in the past said they had arrested several suspected accomplices of Zar Jan. One of them, Reza Khan, 29, was sentenced to death last November. He said his gang had been acting on the orders of a Taliban commander.

In a confession broadcast on state television in August last year, Khan admitted killing one of the journalists and identified the leader of his gang as Mahmood Zar Jan.

Zar Jan, who was also wanted on suspicion of armed robbery, kidnapping and other killings, was arrested with four of his gang members, said Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal.

"I believe that with the arrest of this group, especially the leader of this gang, we have achieved a lot and we'll have a lot of decrease in criminal activity," he said.

ANP wants cordial relations with Afghanistan

PESHAWAR, June 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan Awami National Party (ANP) Saturday demanded an end to visa restrictions between Pakistan and Afghanistan and urged the respective governments to open more trade routes between the two countries.

The ANP central president Asfandyar Wali Khan made the demand during a press conference in Peshawar. He also forwarded several suggestions for improving relations between the two neighbouring countries. He alleged poor policies of the successive Pakistani governments led to misunderstandings between the two countries.

He extended his party's full support to the government of Afghanistan and urged the Pakistani government to exempt the Pakhtoons on both sides of the border from visa restrictions.

Besides Torkham and Chaman, he suggested, both the governments should open trade routes through Nawapass, Ghulam Khan, Angoor Adda and Qamardin Karez.

The ANP leader demanded regular air and rail routes between Kabul and Peshawar and asked the two governments to allow free transportation across the border.

He demanded of the Pakistani government to remove the negative items from the transit trade list and allow Afghanistan to use the Karachi port for all its imports. Talking to Pajhwok Afghan News, he said they did not oppose policies of the Afghan government.

Central leader of the ANP Afrasayab Khattak told this news agency cordial relations between the two countries would benefit the people as well as the two governments. He said the prevailing circumstances were demanding of the Pakhtoons to gather on a single platform and devise a strategy for their collective welfare.

Daily Afghan Report - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - June 3, 2005 - UN Suspends De-Mining In Southern And Western Afghanistan After Bombing

The UN Mine Action Center for Afghanistan announced in a 2 June press release that the agency is temporarily suspending all de-mining operations on the Kandahar-to-Herat section of the Afghan national ring road in, on, or around connector roads in Helmand and Farah provinces. The decision follows an attack on 1 June against Afghan de-miners from the Mine Detection Dog Center in Helmand in which two people were killed and five were injured. The statement also noted that in Farah in May, de-miners were attacked in two separated incidents -- one of which killed three people. Referring to the de-miners, Dan Kelly, program manager for the UN de-mining center, urged that de-miners not be targeted, saying that these "brave men risk their lives in minefields every day to improve the situation for their fellow Afghans." AT

Afghan Interior Ministry Says Suicide Bomber Was Arab Helped By Afghans

Interior Minister spokesman Lotfullah Mashal said a preliminary investigation into the bombing of a mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on 1 June has shown that the bomber was an Arab who had entered Afghanistan from a neighboring country with the help of Afghans, Tolu Television reported on 2 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 and 2 June 2005). The bomber was among "people who are secretly trained in some of our neighboring countries" to carry out "destructive activities" against Afghanistan's national interests, Mashal said, without naming the country or countries. In a 2 June report, the official Bakhtar News Agency commented that the bombing, which has killed at least 21, was the work of neo-Taliban fighters and their foreign backers, also without specifying which foreign sides he was referring to. Thus far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack and a spokesman for the neo-Taliban has condemned the act. AT

'Kabul Weekly' Criticizes Karzai's Reconciliation Policy

In a commentary on 1 June, "Kabul Weekly" questions whether the Afghan government's policy of pardoning most former Taliban members has been a success. Citing the 29 May murder of Mawlawi Abdullah Fayyaz, head of the clerical Council of Ulema of Kandahar, for which the neo-Taliban have claimed responsibility, the weekly writes that the pro-government cleric was killed as Kabul is "seeking to put an end to Taliban opposition" by offering them amnesty. The commentary says it is "naturally" a welcome step when members of the neo-Taliban abandon armed opposition to the central government. However, "Kabul Weekly" warns that the neo-Taliban are "not a simple group or association that can just abandon their opposition because they are safe or they can run for parliament." The militants have their roots in countries outside Afghanistan and are "part of Al-Qaeda's international network that cannot be persuaded by amnesties or other concessions," the weekly argues. Stating that Afghans are anxious, the daily says that if the current policy does not bring an end to the neo-Taliban activities in "some months," the policy will have "proven to have been a big mistake" and the Afghan government "should then be held accountable for that mistake." AT
Research Group Calls For Strengthening Of Political Parties In Afghanistan

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a briefing on its website (http://www.crisisgroup.org) on 2 June that the policies of Afghan President Karzai, "accompanied by an inappropriate voting system, are sidelining" political parties in the country. While some Afghans view with suspicion with the emergence of many small democratic parties, the ICG argues, many Afghans, "especially young people, now recognize parties as an essential component of the legal democratic process." In the briefing, the ICG recommends that Karzai's government bring "any political party, regardless of its political leanings, into the legal fold," provided that it works peacefully and democratically. Also, the government "should urgently reconsider" changing the single non-transferable vote system, which the ICG believes "is likely to produce unrepresentative results" in the parliamentary elections scheduled for September. "If the current laws constraining party functioning are not changed, political stability will be illusory," the briefing warns. AT

Afghan TV takes critical look at country's aviation industry - Tolu TV
06/04/2005

Kabul - At 1400 gmt on 2 June, Afghan Tolu TV aired its regular twice-weekly discussion feature, the "Gozarosh-e Shashonim" ("The 6:30 Report") programme. The main subject for debate in this edition was the problems facing the national airline, Ariana.

Ariana's problems - The presenter said Ariana was in a poor condition and unable to compete with other regional or international airlines. She noted that the airline had been unable successfully to carrying Afghan pilgrims to Saudi Arabia: "The operations could not be carried out successfully and finally led to the trial of a number of officials of the Endowment and Islamic Affairs Ministry and Ariana Afghan Airlines."

Nader Atash, the head of Ariana, spoke about the airline's problems and the fact that its aircraft had been destroyed during the past years of war in the country.

Nurollah Delawari, chairman of the Da Afghanistan Bank and a member of the commission set up by the government to survey Ariana's operations, spoke about the formation of the commission and the poor condition of Ariana's planes. The presenter said that there were conflicting opinions on whether the presence at Ariana of advisers from Lufthansa would be effective in improving matters.

Bashir Bejan, editor-in-chief of the publication Ariana, criticized the presence of the Lufthansa advisers, who were said to charge high fees. However, Ariana's head, Nader Atash, said the advisers had played a positive role in improving conditions. He said advisers could be of great help in offering technical support and financial advice.

Government regulation of the aviation industry - The presenter spoke about controls imposed on airlines by the Aviation and Transport Ministry.

Hajji Gholam Jelani, deputy head of Pamir Airlines in charge of commercial affairs, said they had certificates and an operating licence from the Afghan Aviation Ministry and the UAE aviation authorities, but the ministry had still not allowed them to start operations.

Aviation Minister Enayatollah Qasemi said they had not so far permitted some airlines to start their operations because of safety concerns. "The reason why we did not issue licences for activities to other airlines is that we do not yet have clear aviation rules and regulations. As we do not have specific aviation laws, we cannot say what rules and regulations airlines operating inside Afghanistan should obey.

We are strenuously working to draw up the law on aviation. We have chosen some advisers from the USA. They will come and will work to build our rules and regulations. They will tell us what an airline registered in Afghanistan should do. These airlines can then carry out their operations according to the law. Secondly, the Transport Ministry's department in charge of implementing laws and aviation rules and regulations is very weak. In general, we do not have even five or 10 professional staff who can work well."

Qasemi said they could not allow planes to fly unless relevant departments assured them of their safety. "What would happen if, God forbid, a plane crashed? What happens if the plane crashes in a foreign country? What impact would it have on the government of Afghanistan and the Transport Ministry? Therefore, we cannot take risks."

Passport irregularities - The second part of the programme looked at a report published by the newspaper Cheragh which appeared to highlight irregularities in the issuance of Afghan passports. The newspaper had drawn attention to the fact that two passports had been issued in the name of a single individual, Enayatollah Qasemi, but with different dates and places of birth given in the two documents.

Catherine Weda, the editor of Cheragh, said they had published the report in a bid to improve transparency in the work of government officials. BBC Monitoring

Afghan police burn five tons of drugs seized in raids

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 4 (AFP) - Afghan authorities have burned almost five tons of drugs, including heroin, hashish and opium, in the country's southeast, an official said Saturday.

"We destroyed some 4,700 kilograms of drugs," said Amanullah Jan, police commander in Helmand province, the region that leads the country's illegal drug production. The drugs burned on Friday had been seized one month earlier, he said.

Afghanistan lauched a crackdown on its burgeoning opium industry this year backed by US and British trained counter-narcotics forces which have been spearheading a campaign to eradicate poppy fields across the country.

There are fears that orders by tribal elders to stop farmers from growing opium will penalise the poorest people. Government officials expect a 30 percent drop in the amount of opium planted in Afghanistan this year.

"Farmers are the weakest links in the chain," Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said on a visit to Kabul earlier this week.

"Poverty renders them vulnerable, and therefore their plea for a better life has to be addressed."
He added that "eradication can be counterproductive to a fledgling democracy if there are no economic alternatives available to farmers." Afghanistan last year produced 87 percent of the world's illegal opium, the base for heroin, according to a UN report.

Afghan desperation - Boston Globe, Editorial 06/05/2005

THE RECENT spike of violence in Afghanistan demonstrates that Taliban remnants and their Al Qaeda allies, though unable to seize power again, are still capable of assassinating enemies and blowing up worshipers at a mosque. In the period leading to this September's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, US policymakers should try to keep in perspective the actual threat from the Islamist forces behind the violence. It would be just as foolish to exaggerate that threat as it would be to ignore it.

Taliban elements still active in Afghanistan are not leading a popular movement. They illustrated this point with their gangster-style murder last Sunday of an eminent cleric, Maulavi Abdullah Fayaz. He was gunned down in his office a week after assembling a grand council of 500 Muslim clerics who declared that the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, could no longer claim the title of leader of the faithful. The council also said that it is against Islamic law for Muslims to follow Mullah Omar's commands to fight and kill.

There could hardly be a more telling demonstration of Taliban desperation than the drive-by shooting of Fayaz a few days after the council meeting. The Taliban, who claimed credit for the killing, were acting as they did while in power from 1996 to 2001, when they rounded up political opponents, along with women and girls whom they judged immodest, and had them executed in front of assembled throngs in a Kabul soccer stadium.

If the Fayaz assassination left any question about the marginalized status of the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies in Afghanistan today, Wednesday's suicide bombing in the eastern Afghan city of Kandahar should have erased all such doubt. The explosion tore bodies apart, killing 20, mutilating 52, and desecrating the mosque with rivers of blood.

Afghan authorities claim that the bomber was an Arab acting for Al Qaeda. Whether he was Arab or Afghan, Al Qaeda or Taliban, the inhuman brutality of the act defines the perpetrators as nihilists who cannot pretend to either political or religious legitimacy.

US authorities should not overreact to the Taliban-Al Qaeda threat. They must respect the sovereignty of President Hamid Karzai's government, even if that means standing back as he offers amnesty to Taliban fighters willing to switch sides. But they should also not repeat the blunder of the early '90s, when, after the Soviet Army left, the United States abandoned the Afghans to feuding warlords and the Taliban's puppeteers, Pakistan's military intelligence. The United States and its NATO allies ought to beef up security assistance between now and Afghanistan's September elections, and the Bush administration should press Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf to keep his military intelligence chiefs from meddling in Afghanistan.

Laghman governor discusses democracy, disarmament - June 4, 2005

Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs) By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jerad Myers Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix Public Affairs

MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan – Encouraging the democratic process in Afghanistan has become an important part of the mission of U.S. forces deployed to train Afghan National Army units in the eastern provinces of the country.

Embedded trainers from Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix accompanied their Afghan Army counterparts to a provincial shura in Laghman Province on May 27. More than 200 religious leaders, elders, and Afghan government officials attended the meeting hosted by Shah Mahmood Sapi, governor of Laghman Province.

“Everyone must participate in the fall elections,” Sapi said. “To ensure our security, our citizens should hand over their weapons or turn in those who have them to provincial authorities.”

Provincial and district leaders offered presentations that outline the upcoming parliamentary elections. The security situation has some citizens around the provincial capital, Mehtar Lam, concerned for their safety.

“Your army (the ANA) stands ready to confront those desiring to harm the democratic elections,” said Brig. Gen Aminullah, the commander of Central Corps’ 2nd Brigade. “I ask your assistance to turn in your weapons and join our democratic future.”

Aminullah also detailed the Afghan government’s new disarmament program to the community leaders. The Tahkim-e Sohl, or “Strengthening Peace,” program provides an opportunity for Taliban to lay down their weapons and reintegrate into society, accept the country’s new Constitution and live in peace.

The upcoming parliamentary elections, slated for September, will provide the Afghan people with the opportunity to select their representative leaders for the first time in the country’s history. This round of voting will follow last October’s successful presidential election.

“A coalition of more than 30 countries here in Mehtar Lam wants to help Afghanistan,” Provincial Reconstruction Team Commander Maj. Sam Agag said. “We hope to assist you, not govern you, on your way to democracy.”

The call to disarm in the name of democracy hit home. Shortly after the meeting, two of Laghman Province’s most prominent Tahkim-e Sohl candidates met with Sapi and Aminullah to discuss the opportunity to rejoin their Afghan community. No specific timeline was set to hand over weapons, but points of contact were established to coordinate the surrender of arms.

“This is excellent news,” said CJTF Phoenix embedded trainer Maj. Dean Perez. “This is a win-win situation for everyone. The disarmament of these individuals could really aid security in this area.”

Afghan Army Chief of Operations to visit United States June 4, 2005 Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs) By U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Victoria Meyer Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan Public Affairs

KABUL, Afghanistan – The chief of operations of the Afghan National Army’s General Staff, Lt. Gen. Sher Karimi, will represent his nation as he travels to the United States this week to attend a conference on U.S. special operations forces in Tampa, Fla.

Karimi will attend the U.S. Special Operations Command’s Special Operations Forces Week which begins June 6, followed by a Special Operations Command Symposium. He will also take a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the Pentagon and the headquarters of MPRI, the organization that provides mentors to the ANA and the Afghan Ministry of Defense.

Special Operations Command’s SOF Week is an annual event in which senior special operations leaders meet with industry representatives to discuss how industry products can better fit the needs of the SOF mission.

Almost 80 countries, including many from Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe, were invited to send military representatives to attend the conference this year. Karimi said he hopes to take what he learns at the conference and apply it in his own work within the ANA.

According to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Peter With, a plans officer with the Office of Military Cooperation – Afghanistan and Karimi’s escort during the U.S. visit, the general’s attendance at the conference will play a vital role in developing future special operations capabilities for the Afghan military. Karimi said one of the topics he is looking forward to at the conference will be how to combat terrorism.

“Terrorism is a subject today, a problem today, a challenge today and one nation, one army, one unit cannot do it by himself,” he said. “To be successful against terrorism, you have to be well-trained, specially trained, particularly to fight against terrorism in the cities, and must have good intelligence training.”

This is not Karimi’s first visit the United States. In his 38 years of military service, he has completed many military training courses in the U.S., including the Infantry Officer Advanced course, Ranger course, Airborne training and the Special Forces Qualification course. Karimi is scheduled to return to Afghanistan June 16.

AP: Intelligence Sees Terrorists in Iran 6/4/05

U.S. intelligence and foreign allies have growing evidence that wanted terrorists have been residing in Iran despite repeated American warnings to Tehran not to harbor them.

The evidence, which stretches over several years, includes communications by a fugitive mastermind of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing and the capture of a Saudi militant who appeared in a video in which Osama bin Laden confirmed he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks, according to U.S. and foreign officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because much of the evidence remains classified.

Saudi intelligence officers tracked and apprehended Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harbi last year in eastern Iran, officials said. The arrest came nearly three years after the cleric appeared with bin Laden and discussed details of the Sept. 11 planning during a dinner that was videotaped and aired across the world.

The capture was a coup for Saudi Arabia, which spent months tracking him and setting up the intelligence operation that led to his being taken into custody in exchange for eventual amnesty.

The officials said interrogations of al-Harbi, who is now in Saudi Arabia, have yielded confirmation of many al-Qaida tactics, including how members crossed into Iran after the U.S. began military operations to rout al-Qaida and the Taliban from Afghanistan.

Al-Harbi is believed to have been paralyzed from the waist down while fighting in the 1990s alongside Muslim extremists in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and he surprised intelligence officials when he appeared in the December 2001 video with bin Laden. "Everybody praises what you did," al-Harbi said on the tape.

U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies also have evidence stretching back to the late 1990s that indicates Ahmad Ibrahim al-Mughassil remains hiding in Iran. He is wanted as one of the masterminds of the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans.

Al-Mughassil, who also goes by the alias Abu Omran, has been charged as a fugitive by the United States with conspiracy to commit murder in the attacks and has a $5 million bounty on his head.

U.S. authorities have long alleged the 1996 bombing was carried out by a Saudi wing of the militant group Hezbollah, which receives support from Iran and Syria.

Intelligence agencies gathered evidence, including a specific phone number, as early as 1997 indicating al-Mughassil was living in Iran, and have other information indicating his whereabouts.

U.S. officials have not publicly discussed the Saudi capture of al-Harbi or their evidence on al-Mughassil's whereabouts, but have increasingly raised questions about Iran's efforts to turn over other suspected terrorists believed to be under some form of loose house arrest.

Nicholas Burns, State Department undersecretary for political affairs, told Congress last month that Iran has refused to identify al-Qaida members it has in custody.

"Iran continues to hold senior al-Qaida leaders who are wanted for murdering Americans and others in the 1998 East Africa Embassy bombings and for plotting to kill countless others," Burns said. Top administration officials have repeatedly warned Iran against harboring or assisting suspected terrorists.

U.S. intelligence this week has been checking some reports, still uncorroborated as of Friday, that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's leader of the Iraqi insurgency, may have dipped into Iran, officials said. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned countries in the Middle East not to help al-Zarqawi.

"Were a neighboring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him, they, obviously, would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al-Qaida network and a person who has a great deal of blood on his hands," Rumsfeld said.

The U.S. and foreign officials said evidence gathered by intelligence agencies indicates the following figures are somewhere in Iran:

• Saad bin Laden, the son of the al-Qaida leader whom U.S. authorities have aggressively hunted since the Sept. 11 attacks.

• Saif al-Adel, an al-Qaida security chief wanted in connection with the deadly 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.

• Suleiman Abu Ghaith, the chief of information for al-Qaida and a frequently quoted spokesman for bin Laden.

U.S. and foreign intelligence officials say they believe those three are under some form of house arrest or surveillance by Iranian authorities.

Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East analyst at the Congressional Research Service, said the conditions that some of suspected terrorists are living under are unclear. Katzman said it's possible they are being held in guarded villas and he doubts any detention is uncomfortable. "I think that Iran sees these guys as something of an insurance policy," he said. "It's leverage."

Rasool Nafisi, a Middle East analyst who studies conservative groups in Iran and travels there frequently for research, said Iran has returned some lower-rank operatives to their home countries but probably is keeping higher-ranking operatives as a bartering chip.

"Remember, Islamic tradition is very much based on haggling," Nafisi said. "Everything is negotiable, and you haggle for everything. If I were the Iranian government, I'd be very happy to have them and to use them in future negotiations with the United States."

The Nuclear Detonations of May 28th: When Pakistan Changed Regional Balance Of Power By Editor, Pakistani Affairs

ISLAMABAD-Pakistanis are harsh critics and they don't spare what is wrong in
their own country. And there's a lot to be criticized. Pakistanis are a
vibrant and ambitious people who want things to be better. And it is
probably this remarkable spirit that helped transform Pakistan from an
infant, struggling nation-state in 1947 to an emerging regional and
international player in 2005.

The seven nuclear detonations that Pakistan conducted on May 28, 1998, are
part of that spirit that refuses to surrender in the face of unusual odds.

No one expected Pakistan to survive the first few years after its
Independence. In fact, Indian leaders at the time, who were getting their
first taste in a millennium of ruling themselves after getting rid of both
the Brits and the Muslims, were confident that a resource-less Pakistan,
with no infrastructure worth mentioning, would come crawling back to India
and beg for resources to survive. What followed is a story seldom told about persistence and survival against heavy odds.

Similarly, when the Indians unveiled their nuclear capability in mid May
1999, increasingly belligerent statements began coming out of India, telling
Pakistan that a decisive moment has come for the Pakistanis to finally
submit to Indian regional hegemony. Bilateral disputes, the statements
implied, would be solved according to a nuclear India's wishes. And as
Pakistan exercised restraint for two weeks after the Indian detonations,
some Indian officials began circulating jubilant stories about how the
much-touted Pakistani nuclear program was probably a hoax.

Nuclear detonations anywhere, with their negative environmental and
strategic impact, are not a good thing. But for Pakistan, and in the face of
Indian belligerence at the time, it became a question of strategic balance
and national pride. For us to celebrate that moment is an exercise in
renewed self confidence in the face of belligerence, not an act of
belligerence itself.

In a mere six decades, Pakistan succeeded in changing the balance of power
in the region against an adversary seven times larger and more resourceful
that also had the advantage of an early start in the project of
nation-building.

That is no mean achievement for the Pakistanis. Their only problem is that
they could not show similar results in building their country and realizing
its human, economic and political potential. While the blame for this rests
foremost with the Pakistanis themselves and their successive leaderships,
geo-politics cannot be completely absolved of some of the blame.

Immediately after Independence, and thanks to its proximity to the Soviet
Union and the oil-rich Gulf, Islamabad found itself in the heart of the Cold
War, subject to the tribulations of great-power rivalry. Surviving that
environment was such a difficult task that no other nation in Pakistan's
position could have escaped its effects.

Now, under an enlightened military-guided administration, and regardless of
whether we agree with it or not, Islamabad gets another chance at
nation-building, and it's a chance that does not come often.

Pakistanis need to seize this chance, and their leadership appears to
realize the decisiveness nature of this moment in the nation's history. As
the Pakistanis forge ahead to build a stronger, thriving nation, they also
need to remember that they have come a long way. As they go about their
lively debate about reforming their country, they should also remember to
count their blessings..

[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.]