2 Americans Killed in Afghan Mortar Attack

KABUL, Afghanistan - (AP) Two U.S. forces were killed and another eight wounded in a mortar attack Wednesday at a base in eastern Afghanistan, the military said.

The attack occurred in eastern Paktika province near the border with Pakistan. The wounded were rushed to nearby U.S.-led coalition bases for treatment.

Initially, a military statement said only one service member had been killed, but spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara later raised the number to two, with eight wounded. The mortar landed in the base near Shkin while the victims were preparing to unload supplies from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, the military said.

Coalition aircraft were deployed to the area but could not locate the insurgents, the statement said. "This is a tragic loss for all of us," said Army Brig. Gen. James G. Champion, Combined Joint Task Force-76 deputy commanding general for operations.

the names of those killed were withheld until their families are notified. After a winter lull, loyalists to the ousted Taliban regime and other militants opposed to the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai have ramped up their insurgency with bombings and other attacks.

Taliban kill two Pakistani truckers in southern Afghanistan - AFP

Taliban rebels said they had attacked a civilian convoy of trucks in southeastern Afghanistan, killing two Pakistani drivers supplying the US-led military.

The drivers, who were transporting fuel for coalition forces in the southern province of Kandahar, died late Tuesday after rebels attacked their convoy as it left a US base, General Abdul Razaq, a border regiment commander, told AFP on Wednesday. "It was the work of the Taliban -- they're the enemies of Afghanistan," Razaq said.

Abdul Latif Hakimi, a purported Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the killings on behalf of the rebels, saying that anyone working for the United States would be targetted.

"We killed the drivers," he told AFP by satellite phone from an unknown location. "We will continue to attack those who supply Americans -- we've got to cut off the Americans' supply routes," Hakimi said.

Suspected Taliban guerrillas have stepped up attacks in recent months and often target Pakistani trucks which supply fuel and goods for the 18,000-strong US-led coalition in the war-ravaged country.

An American-led force toppled the Taliban three and half years ago after the militia refused to hand over Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

More than 350 people, many of them militants, have died in Taliban-related and political violence this year, most of them in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The Afghan government said Tuesday that a mosque bombing which killed 21 people in Kandahar city and a rocket attack on a US aircraft, both on June 1, marked the start of a Taliban and Al-Qaeda plot to derail upcoming elections.

Troops arrest five Afghan suspects in attack on U.S.-contracted fuel tanker

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - (AP) Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces on Wednesday arrested five men suspected of being Taliban rebels responsible for a deadly attack on a Pakistani-owned fuel tanker after it delivered gasoline to a U.S. base in southern Afghanistan, police said.

The truck's Pakistani driver and assistant were killed in the assault late Tuesday in Spin Boldak district, which is next to the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Afghan and coalition troops fanned out across the area Wednesday morning, searching for the attackers. The five were arrested in a village in the area, district police chief Mohammed Raz said.

In recent months, Taliban-led rebels have stepped up attacks on Afghan and coalition forces as well as softer targets associated with President Hamid Karzai's U.S.-backed government. The security forces have hit back hard, killing more than 200 suspected rebels since March.

Kidnapped Italian's mother appeals for her release in a video on Afghan TV 6/8/2005

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The mother of an Italian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan appealed for her daughter's release in a recording broadcast on Afghan television on Wednesday.

The aid worker was abducted by armed men on May 16 as she was being driven to her home in the capital, Kabul. Clementina Cantoni, 32, was working for CARE International on a project helping Afghan widows and their families.

The two-minute video features an appeal from her mother, Germana, heard speaking in English before a translated voiceover starts in Dari, the main local language. The video shows Germana with pictures of Clementina as an adult working in Afghanistan.

"Clementina has always been concerned with people's suffering, and it is easy to notice how brave and generous Clementina has been choosing to go to far-away countries and help people in need rather than staying in her country with a nice a comfortable job," Germana says. "Please do everything to bring Clementina back."

Michael Kleinman, an official with CARE International, said the aid group had given the video to Afghan TV stations. One station, Tolo TV, was already playing it by midday Wednesday on its news programs.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior said in a statement Tuesday that placards have been posted in Kabul and throughout the region showing a photograph of Clementina and asking people to inform authorities if they have information about her.

Meanwhile in Rome, Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Cantoni is alive and in good health. "We are doing all we can" to win Cantoni's release, Fini said. "We know that she is well, and this is a great relief."

Foreign minister confirms Italian abductee in good health

ROME, June 8 (AFP) - Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini confirmed Wednesday that Clementina Cantoni, the Italian aid worker abducted last month in Afghanistan, was in good health and holding up well.

Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah also said on Tuesday that Cantoni, who worked for CARE International, was well and that all efforts were being made for her release.

Fini said the motif for Cantoni's abduction on May 16 "had nothing to do with terrorism or politics," supporting the Afghan government's theory that she was seized by a criminal gang.

Cantoni, 32, had been in Afghanistan for three years, running a program to provide food and employment for Afghan widows. Fini pledged in a television interview that "the Italian government will do everything possible to bring her home."

After Cantoni was dragged from her car in Kabul, the suspected head of the kidnap gang, who called himself Timur Shah, made several threats to kill her. "We are doing everything we can, but there are not too many intermediaries, which makes the affair more complicated," Fini said.

He declined to give more details "out of respect for the investigators, and so as not to jeopardize the possibility of bringing Clementina home as quickly as possible." Fini said Afghan authorities were fully cooperating in the search and that public opinion in Kabul had been mobilized in favor of Cantoni.

"Clementina was working to defend the role of women in Afghanistan and she is certainly not a representative of an enemy country," Fini said. "On the contrary, she and Italy are regarded by everyone was a guarantee of the rebirth of the Afghan people."

Italian president asks Afghan ex-king to intervene in case of kidnapped Italian aid worker

ROME - (AP) Italy's president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, appealed to Afghanistan's former king on Monday to personally intervene to secure the release of an Italian aid worker kidnapped in the Afghan capital.
Ciampi wrote to former King Mohammad Zaher Shah, saying he was full of "profound apprehension" about the fate of Clementina Cantoni, a worker with CARE International who was abducted by armed men May 16 as she was being driven to her home in Kabul.

Zaher Shah lived for 30 years in exile in Rome, and Ciampi recalled that during his time in Italy, the former king always showed "sincere affection" for the country.

"I have great esteem for your wisdom and know the profound respect that the Afghan people have for you," Ciampi wrote. “These sentiments motivate my appeal that you use your authority so Clementina is returned as soon as possible to her loved ones," he wrote.

Ciampi's appeal came a day after Pope Benedict XVI called for Cantoni's release and Afghanistan's foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah said he was "optimistic that this situation will come to a peaceful, happy ending."

Zaher Shah ruled Afghanistan from 1933 to 1973, Afghanistan's last period of peace, before his ouster in a palace coup sent it sliding into anarchy and war. Exiled for nearly three decades in Italy, he came home to Afghanistan in April 2002 after the fall of the Taliban. While he has no real power, Afghanistan's constitution maintains him in the role of "Father of the Nation."

US military keeps Afghan detainees thirsty for days: Afghan daily

KABUL, June 6 (Xinhua) -- While complaints against the US army over the detainees abuse is on rise, an Afghan daily revealed new mistreatment of detainees at US army detention centers in Afghanistan Monday.

"The detainees are kept thirsty for several days at US army holding facilities in Afghanistan," Arman-e-Millie reported in its latest issue. The report published on front page quoted a former US army interpreter as saying that a detainee was dying but he was denied water for four days.

"Another detainee was denied water for two days but the prosecutor emptied water bottle on the ground instead of giving to him," the daily added quoting the interpreter

However, the newspaper did not disclose the name of the interpreter. Over 400 Afghans, according to Afghan sources have been held in some 23 US military holding facilities in Afghanistan on charge of having links with Taliban and al-Qaida networks.

Afghan sources in the past also accused the US military of abusing detainees at their detention centers. At least two Afghans, according to media reports, have died at US military custody in Bagram 50km north of Kabul since 2002.

The report, which caused outrage among Afghans, has angered President Hamid Karzai and prompted him to ask US government for investigation into the case last month.

US army begun a top to bottom review of detainees conditions and investigation into the alleged detainees abuse at its detention center in Afghanistan last year but the result has yet to be made public.

NATO readies extra peacekeepers for Afghan poll

BRUSSELS, June 6 (Reuters) - NATO expects to send extra troops from Spain, Romania and the Netherlands to reinforce its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan for parliamentary elections in September, alliance diplomats said on Monday.

The Dutch government confirmed on Friday it would deploy a 750-strong marine battalion to northern Afghanistan. Diplomats said Spain and Romania had also come forward with a battalion each.

"We are confident we will have those reinforcements," said one envoy, noting that Spain and the Netherlands still had to win parliamentary approval for their offers.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has around 8,300 troops based in the capital Kabul, north and west. They add to the 18,000-strong U.S.-led force fighting al Qaeda remnants and Taliban insurgents in the south and the east.

NATO added two extra battalions for last October's presidential election which passed off largely trouble-free. But alliance planners say the Sept. 18 parliamentary polls present a greater security challenge with some 3,000 candidates registered to stand for election across the country.

NATO took over the ISAF operation in 2003 in what was its first operation outside its traditional Euro-Atlantic area. NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday will discuss plans to expand the operation into the south and east of the country starting later this year, and for the alliance to eventually assume command of all U.S.-led operations there.

Romania to send 400 extra troops to Afghanistan - Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) / June 8, 2005
Bucharest (dpa)- Romania plans to send an extra 400 troops to join the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Teodor Atanasiu said Wednesday.

The minister said the troops would be deployed for three months from August to assist in preparations for parliamentary elections. Romania already has an 80-man contingent serving with the ISAF and another 470 troops in the U.S.-led coalition Enduring Freedom. dpa mk ms

Rockets fired at Qalat city - Pajhwok Afghan News 06/07/2005 By Saeed Zabuli

KANDAHAR - Two rockets were fired at Qalat city, capital of the southern Zabul province on Monday night, officials said.

Gulab Shah Alikhail, spokesman for the governor office in Zabul province confirmed two rockets landed in Balahisar area of the capital city. However, he said the attack did not incur any loss to life or property. Asked about the identity of the perpetrators, the spokesman said investigations were on and no one could be named at this stage.

Afghanistan ministeries announce drug haul, arrest of soldier with heroin

KABUL, June 6 (AFP) - Authorities in Afghanistan announced Monday the destruction of a massive haul of drugs and drug-making chemicals and said an army officer had been arrested for smuggling heroin.

Some 21 tonnes (2,100 kilograms) of opium, 180 kilograms of heroin and a "significant" amount of chemicals to make drugs were recovered and destroyed, the interior ministry said in statement.

The seizures were made during the last five days in southern Helmand and eastern Nangarhar, the two main drug producing provinces of Afghanistan, it said.

"Following on from operations over the past few weeks, the Afghanistan Special Narcotics Force (ASNF) has now significantly disrupted the drug trafficking trade in both provinces," the statement said.

"It is important that drug traffickers realize we will continue to target their activities and that the ASNF... can strike against any location," the statement quoted interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali as saying.

Authorities in Afghanistan have acknowledged that some government officials were involved in the lucrative trade but lack of evidence has prevented their arrests.

On Sunday an army officer was arrested after some 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of heroin was found in his military vehicle, defense ministry spokesman general Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters on Monday.

"The officer was arrested yesterday and will be punished," Azimi said but did not identify the suspect who was caught with the drug on his way from the capital to the southern province of Zabul.

Afghanistan established its Special Narcotics Force in January 2004, with the support of the United States and Britain to fight the flourishing drug industry in the country, the world's top illegal drug producer. On May 31 the force destroyed a drug bazaar in Helmand's Bahram Shah Bazaar known as the largest drugs market in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan produced 87 percent of the world's illegal opium used to make heroin in 2004, according to the UN. Karzai said after his inauguration in December last year that he would wage a "jihad", or holy war, on the drugs trade.

Pakistan tells Afghan refugees to leave North Waziristan by 30 June
The News, Pakistan 06/07/2005

The political administration Monday [6 June] instructed Afghan refugees to leave North Waziristan tribal agency and cross over to Afghanistan by 30 June or face eviction.

The instruction was to be conveyed to the several thousand Afghan refugees through traditional drum beating and via Radio Pakistan Miramshah. The drumbeaters would make announcements in the bazaars and public places in major towns such as Miramshah and Mir Ali.

The refugees would be warned that they risked being evicted from North Waziristan and deported to a camp set up for them in Bannu district if they failed to leave on their own by 30 June. Action would be taken against them after the 30 June deadline. The authorities would convey to the Afghan refugees to repatriate to their native provinces in Afghanistan as a first choice. Failing to do so, they would be asked to shift or be deported to the camp in Bannu.

North Waziristan is the second tribal agency after South Waziristan from where the Afghan refugees are being expelled. The action is being justified on the ground that both the tribal agencies were being used as sanctuaries by militants linked to Al-Qa'idah and Taleban, thereby creating security problems for Pakistan. The authorities believe some Afghan refugees are also associated with the militants.

The 30 June deadline is going to create lot of problems for the Afghan refugees, who have become entrenched in the social and economic life of North Waziristan since the early 1980s. Many refugees have built up good business in the agency and run shops and do flourishing trade. Others have forged partnerships with local businessmen and it would require time and effort to do the accounts, pay and receive debts and finalize sale of properties owned by them.

The UNHCR and Afghan government would also be keenly watching the developments in North Waziristan in the wake of the decision to forcibly send the Afghan refugees home.
Iranian company to resurface roads in west Afghan city - Sada-ye Jawan Radio, Herat 06/07/2005

The Road Building Company No 115 of the Islamic Republic of Iran has started to resurface the roads in the city of Herat. Announcing this, Herat Mayor Mohammad Rafiq Mojaddedi said: This company will reconstruct and resurface all the roads in Herat in five months. Two million dollars have been allocated for the reconstruction of all the roads. The roads will be constructed according to international standards. He added: After resurfacing, the company will paint traffic signs on the roads.

The company has recently resurfaced the Herat-Eslam Qala highway, which is 120 km long, at a cost of 60m dollars. The highway is currently regarded as one of the best in the country.

Afghan retried in landmark torture case

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain began a new trial on Wednesday of a suspected Afghan warlord in what it says is the first known case of a country prosecuting someone for alleged torture committed outside its territory. An earlier landmark case against Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, 41, collapsed last year after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

Britain says Zardad controlled key checkpoints on the main road from Pakistan to the Afghan capital Kabul between 1992 and 1996, where his men tortured people passing through. Zardad denies kidnap and torture conspiracy charges.

"It is believed to be the first time in any country in international law where offences of torture and hostage-taking have been tried in circumstances like this," prosecutor James Lewis told London's Old Bailey central criminal court.

"Some international crimes can be tried in any country." Lewis said new evidence would be presented that was unavailable to the first jury. Many witnesses will testify by satellite link from Britain's embassy in Kabul.

Zardad came to Britain in 1998 and was arrested in London in 2002. Britain says he ran a militia unit loyal to a faction that opposed the group in control in Kabul in the mid-1990s.

"He wanted a fearsome reputation of being cruel and merciless at the military checkpoints he set up. He and his soldiers used indiscriminate and unwarranted violence to beat, wound, torture and kill innocent civilians," the prosecutor said in his opening statement.

Joint Pak-Afghan efforts stressed to curb human trafficking Pakistan Link
06/07/2005

PESHAWAR - The two kidnapped Afghan children were handed over to their parents at the Afghan consulate here after they were recovered from the possession of an Afghan human-trafficker at the Azakhel Afghan refugee camp near Pabbi in northern Pakistan.

The two Afghan children, Sharifuddin, 14, son of Najmuddin, and Nizamuddim, 13, son of Ziauddin, had been kidnapped by an Afghan, Rehman, son of Murad, some 15 days ago from the Balkh area of Mazar Sharif in Afghanistan. This was disclosed by Haji Abdul Khaliq Farahi, Afghan consul-general, while talking to mediamen in his office.

The Afghan consulate took immediate action on receiving complaint from the children's parents that their children had been kidnapped by some human traffickers to Pakistan, he said.

He added that for the safe recovery of the Afghan children, he ordered the heads of all the refugee camps in the province for keeping a vigilant eye on the suspected persons.

Farahi told newsmen that four days back he received information from the Azakhel refugee camp's head, Haji Ghani Jalali, about the accused and on this they arrested one of them, Rehman, and recovered the kidnapped children while the remaining three human traffickers managed to make good their escape.

Talking to reporters before departure to Afghanistan, the kidnapped Sharifuddin said that he along with his friend, Nizamuddin, had been kidnapped by the accused from their hometown, Balkh in Afghanistan, and then they had been intoxicated while passing through the Torkham border.

The Afghan consul-general said that an FIR had been registered against the accused and he had been handed over to the Azakhel police in accordance with the law of the land.

"We are in constant contact with the police station and receiving fresh investigation news about the accused," he informed the newsmen. He demanded of the government of Pakistan to arrest the escaped human traffickers as soon as possible.

He claimed that from initial investigation it had been learnt that the accused had been working for a well-established gang of human traffickers camped in Mansehra.

"The gang is involved in selling of body parts of these children, including kidneys, hearts and other parts," he went on to say. Besides, he said, through brain washing these children were also being used for terrorist activities in the country.

The Afghan consul-general said that the enlarged ratio of human trafficking, particularly children, from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the other countries was an alarming issue for which both the countries should adopt a joint strategy to nab the accused involved in this menace.

Music soothes extremism along troubled Afghan border - The Christian Science Monitor 06/07/2005 By Owais Tohid

A musician plays his rabab, a guitar-like instrument, while singing a folk song at a Pashtun gathering in Islamabad. Soon many in the audience - including clerics - tie up their turbans and start dancing to the beat of dholak drums. The lure of the music, for that moment, offers a rare outlet for self-expression in a society where frivolity is frowned upon.

Pashtuns are the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan - making them a key focus on the US-led war on terror. Pashto music, many believe, has the potential to challenge elements of religious extremism in a way that military action alone cannot.

"From mullah to nationalist and warrior, Pashto music attracts everyone in our society," says popular Pashtun musician Sardar Mohammad Takkar.

The art form is undergoing a renaissance with the help of the first-ever Pashtun TV station, which helps artists make music videos and gain instant stardom.

Featuring mostly men wearing trousers and T-shirts, playing guitar and keyboards along with Pashtun instruments, Khyber TV is fusing tradition with outside influences and creating space for change. "Khyber Beats," the channel's music video show, has gained millions of viewers in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Not only is music elemental and the response to it primordial, in the current context it is the most effective tool for subverting the social order," says Amir Mateen, director of the channel. But "we have tried to make inroads gradually ... as we are dealing with a conservative society."

Artists, who once struggled to scrape by, now get paid between $85 and $170 per song, and performances can fetch up to $1,700. The musicians' newfound popularity has emboldened some to push for social change. Several private production houses have been set up in Pakistan's Frontier province producing audio and video cassettes in defiance of a provincial ban on public music performances. The artists also perform in different dialects, a change that could diffuse tribal rivalries.
Many Pashtuns ascribe to a hard-line religious worldview that leaves little space for artistic expression. But this was not always the case. In the 1980s, anti-Soviet mujahideen commanders encouraged an Islamization movement that glorified jihad at the expense of "softer" indigenous practices such as music and poetry. Subsequent mujahideen governments persecuted musicians, as did the Taliban, who declared music to be un-Islamic and whipped those who dared perform.

These days, Pashtun musicians enjoy more freedom in Afghanistan, while parts of Pakistan have grown intolerant. An alliance of religious extremist parties called the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) now rules Pakistan's Frontier Province. The MMA has imposed a ban on music in public places, and their activists have manhandled Pashtun musicians living in Peshawar, forcing most of them to flee.
"The religious extremists also understand the power of music and that it is symbolic of an alter ideology. To impose their ideology of extremism, they need to eliminate all forces that would challenge it, such as music," says analyst Zalman Mommand.

However, many argue that Pashto music can only bring real social changes when the strong tribal system breaks-up. The music has always been an entertainment for males and traditionally it is played mostly in the sitting rooms of powerful men.

"Merely showing singers with trousers and T-shirts is not going to make the difference," says analyst Mohammad Riaz. "Pashtun society never accepts imposition.... The only lasting change comes from within."

However, fusion within Pashto music is making it easier to integrate new ideas into the culture. One popular video on Khyber TV tells a love story between a Muslim man and a Christian woman set near a church.

The videos are watched across divisions of ethnicity, age, and gender, helping to promote understanding. Often the lyrics break down barriers as well. Fizza Fyyaz, a popular Pashtun singer, has just recorded a new track called "Peace Song."

"The first stanza is for the praises of God and then there is message that [Pashtuns] are not terrorists. They are filled with love. Let's create peace in the world," says Mr. Fyyaz.

Ex-militia members come up with creative ideas after oversees trips [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 8 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - Sitting with six fellow commanders, Mohammad Daud, a 45-year-old ex-militiaman shared his impressions of a recent trip to Japan, as the former combatants gathered to receive certificates of demobilisation in the capital, Kabul.

Daud was a leading commander in the southeastern Paktia province, fighting against both the invading Soviet army and later against the Taliban over the past two decades. He is now planning to fight against poverty and illiteracy in his hometown of Jaji, a border district in south of Paktia.

“We are already too late. The people of Japan collectively started rehabilitation of their country right after the World War II but we are not making any progress in the last three years that war has been over,” Daud said while his friends nodded in agreement, sharing Daud’s concerns.

“I think, we should work on education and agriculture for a sustainable development,” he said. The ex-commander added that he was impressed with the agricultural and education systems in Japan when he visited Tokyo as part of a 10-day orientation trip organised by the UN-backed Afghanistan New Beginning Programme (ANBP), the official name of Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration of former combatants [DDR].

ANBP has launched an initiative under the Commanders Incentive Programme (CIP) which grants ex-militia commanders financial assistance, or may send them abroad for short visits to learn from other experiences of post-conflict reconstruction.

Daud is one of 11 former militia commanders from different military units around the country, that have been sent to Japan in two groups so far. He said he was impressed with Japan’s forestation and industry, expressing deep concern that forests had disappeared in many parts of Afghanistan after decades of lawlessness and war.

“Now let’s fight against those who cut the trees and make their business, let’s urge the local authorities and the tribal councils to encourage people to plant threes,” he told other commanders who were on the same visit to Japan.

As part of the accelerated DDR plan, the UN and the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MoD) designed the CIP scheme in late 2004 offering commanders like Daud a trip overseas or a financial redundancy package in return for the disarmament and demobilisation of their units.

Many commanders had stalled the DDR process because before the incentive scheme, only their soldiers had benefited from the programme. Immediately after the CIP, the DDR process developed rapidly and so far more than 55,000 of the estimated 60,000 former militias have been disarmed.

Under the scheme, commanders may receive up to US $500 per month for two years. They also have an option to go on an overseas trip but will not be entitled to the financial redundancy package.

Japan, which is already supporting a large part of the DDR, is funding the $ 2.5 million CIP initiative. Under the programme, the military leaders may also opt for a one-off lump sum payment to be used to start a business.

According to officials from ANBP, so far 103 commanders have benefited from the CIP and only 11 commanders like Daud have chosen foreign country visit than the financial assistance package.

“I think many commanders have a lot of money. What we don’t have is a clear understanding of how to be active and productive in civilian life,” Daud said. In just two months following his return from Japan, Daud said he had already started a honeybee-keeping farm and an agricultural nursery project.
“Many in Jaji have now followed me. We have said to make the area fresh and prosperous by planting new trees and by modernising the education system,” he said.

ANBP said many other commanders are on the list for an oversees trip and they are discussing with Germany, United Arab Emirates [UAE], Malaysia, Indonesia and Poland the practicalities of their hosting the next group visit.

Bush Nominee for Top Envoy Unveils Plan

In Senate testimony, Zalmay Khalilzad offers a seven-point program for progress in Iraq. Experts say chaos there puts its success in doubt. By Tyler Marshall / The Los Angeles Times / June 8, 2005
WASHINGTON — President Bush's nominee to be ambassador to Iraq offered a seven-point plan Tuesday to tackle the challenge of stabilizing the troubled country, but experts questioned whether chaotic conditions there would allow him to set it in motion.

Testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his confirmation, Zalmay Khalilzad pledged to undertake steps that would include working with Iraqis to help them defeat the insurgency, rebuilding key institutions and forging a unified political vision for the future.

"I intend to make significant progress in realizing Iraqi aspirations for a secure and prosperous life," Khalilzad told the committee, which is expected to vote quickly to recommend his confirmation by the full Senate.

Unlike Bush's controversial nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, Khalilzad is widely respected across party lines in the committee and generally viewed as a success in his last job: U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

Development experts credit Khalilzad, whose tenure in Afghanistan lasted 18 months, with meeting many of the same kind of post-invasion nation-building challenges he would face in Iraq. His stay in Kabul, the Afghan capital, coincided with the establishment of an increasingly effective domestic security force, the country's first open elections and an ambitious reconstruction program.

However, Iraq specialists think that a number of factors, including a deteriorating security environment, would make his job far tougher in Baghdad than it was in Kabul.

"He'll have much less space to operate in Iraq — literally," predicted Frederick D. Barton, who, as director of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, tracks events in Afghanistan and Iraq. "There are constraints in getting around in Afghanistan, but he'll find it much more volatile, much edgier, in Iraq."

Barton noted that part of Khalilzad's ability to influence events in Afghanistan was due to the welcoming environment in which he worked, both personally as an Afghan-born American and institutionally as America's representative in a country that had broadly accepted the U.S. presence. Local political attitudes were in an earlier stage of development and thus easier to influence than in Iraq.

"None of this is there in Iraq," Barton said. "It's just a different world." Others wondered how Khalilzad would implement a pledge to explain U.S. goals directly to the Iraqi people at a time when safety concerns make any diplomatic contact outside the heavily protected Green Zone difficult.

The pledge to address Iraqis directly was the fourth part of Khalilzad's seven-point plan. The remaining three consisted of bringing greater stability to the region, accelerating reconstruction and conducting successful elections.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, praised the Bush administration's choice of Khalilzad, at one point calling him "first-rate." But Biden expressed skepticism that Khalilzad could fulfill the U.S. policy agenda in the Middle East country.

Noting the chaotic security conditions in Iraq, Biden said it would be "close to a miracle" if the new government met its current deadline of Aug. 15 for completing a draft constitution. "If you're able to go in and accommodate this timetable in success, I'm going to nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize," Biden told Khalilzad. The senator recently returned from his fifth official trip to Iraq.

Biden criticized the administration for failing to take up a European offer to help train mid-level Iraqi military officers, a group whose absence is considered a crucial weakness in the Baghdad government's fighting force. Biden said that Atlantic alliance nations could assist in such training and that French President Jacques Chirac had told him he had received no response to an offer to train 1,500 such officers. "I am perplexed as to the resistance of the civilians within the Defense Department — and I guess, other places — to engage in this kind of concerted effort to train an officer corps," Biden said. Khalilzad did not immediately respond to his criticism.

[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.]