Bin Laden 'is not in Afghanistan' - BBC 6/16/05

The US ambassador to Afghanistan says he does not believe that Osama Bin Laden or Taleban chief Mullah Omar are in the country. He did not say where the two men are but correspondents say his comments imply that they could be in Pakistan.

A senior Taleban commander said on Wednesday that the two men were alive and well. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says that his forces have "broken the back" of al-Qaeda in his country.

"Mullah Omar is not in Afghanistan. I do not believe that Osama is in Afghanistan," US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said at a news conference in Kabul. He was s

eaking at his final press conference before taking up his next post as US ambassador to Baghdad.

"It is not an easy job to find one person, maybe with some (people) helping him... in a vast region. "It requires timely intelligence," he said. The ambassador said that "a lot of progress" has been made in fighting al-Qaeda and that it was not clear how much control Osama Bin Laden still has over it.

"Significant numbers of the leaders of al-Qaeda have been captured. Their network has been disrupted... the financial network has also been disrupted," he said. "But this is a long-term struggle, and symbolically (it is) very important that he (Bin Laden) is brought to justice, and sooner or later I believe firmly that he will be caught." US officials have long argued that the Bin Laden is hiding somewhere on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr Khalilzad has been a controversial figure. Last year Pakistan denounced comments he made about Islamabad not doing enough to fight al-Qaeda as "worrisome, foolish and highly irresponsible". Correspondents say that Mr Khalilzad was careful to try to avoid offending Pakistan in his latest comments about Osama Bin Laden by using more diplomatic language.

Speaking at a meeting at the end of his three-day visit to Australia, President Musharraf said that his forces had chased al-Qaeda out of the cities into the mountains and then "occupied their sanctuaries".
"Terrorism is to be confronted with force. We are doing that, and we have succeeded," Gen Musharraf told a meeting of businessmen in Sydney. His comments came a day after a Taleban commander claimed that Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan's former Taleban leader Mullah Omar are alive and well.

"I am in contact with Mullah Omar and take directions from him," Mullah Akhtar Usmani told Pakistan's privately-run Geo television. "Taleban are all over Afghanistan," he said, "they may be more in some provinces and less in the other, but their support is growing." There is no way of independently verifying Mullah Usmani's claims.

Correspondents say that Mr Khalilzad has been the US ambassador in Kabul since November 2003, and has played a hugely influential role in Afghanistan's transition process. The Afghan-American will soon replace John Negroponte as US ambassador to Iraq.

Ambassador Warns of More Afghan Violence

Kabul (AP) - Four people, including two boys, were killed by mines in the latest violence in Afghanistan, officials said Thursday, and the U.S. ambassador warned that militants are likely to try to subvert legislative balloting in September.

"As we get closer to the elections, they are likely to intensify their efforts to ... derail the elections," Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said in the capital, Kabul. "We have a good plan in place to deal with" the threat, he said, without elaborating.

Earlier this month, President Hamid Karzai's administration warned that Taliban-led insurgents and al-Qaida militants had launched a campaign of violence to undermine the polls — the next key step toward democracy after a quarter-century of war.

There has been a major increase in attacks across the country since March, when snow melted on mountain passes used by the insurgents. More than 220 suspected militants and 29 U.S. troops have been killed, according to Afghan and U.S. officials.

In the latest bloodshed, a mine planted on a road in eastern Khost province exploded as a policeman was trying to defuse it. The blast killed the officer and wounded another nearby, said provincial police chief Mohammed Ayub.

Also in the east, near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, a mine blew up, killing two village boys and wounding their father as they drove over it in their car Wednesday, said Paktya province's deputy police chief, Wali Jan.

He said a teacher was also shot to death by unknown assailants in a remote village in the province a week ago, but that news of the killing had just reached him.

Meanwhile, Afghan security forces captured a midlevel regional Taliban chief, Mullah Samar Gull, in central Uruzgan province Wednesday, said army commander Gen. Muslim Amid.

Gull is allegedly responsible for several attacks in the province on Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces, Amid said. He said the man would be handed over to coalition forces for interrogation.

'Osama Bin Laden alive and well' – BBC 6/15/05

A top Taleban commander has said in a television interview that Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan's former Taleban leader Mullah Omar are alive and well. "I am in contact with Mullah Omar and take directions from him," Mullah Akhtar Usmani told Pakistan's privately-run Geo television.

There is no way of independently verifying Mullah Usmani's claims. The BBC's Rahimullah Yusufzai says that Mullah Usmani was a senior commander in the Taleban before its fall in 2001. Our correspondent says he is since considered to be the operational head of the Taleban resistance.

The United States has offered bounties of $25m and $10m for the capture of Saudi-born Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar in connection with the 11 September attacks.

All I can tell you is that Osama Bin Laden is alive and well Mullah Usmani

The comments come a day after Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, said in Australia that he believed Osama Bin Laden was alive based on the information Pakistan had received from al-Qaeda members arrested by its security forces.

"Taleban are all over Afghanistan," Mullah Usmani said in his interview.

"They may be more in some provinces and less in the other, but their support is growing," he said, partly covering his face with a black scarf.

But he was not willing to say anything about their location. "All I can tell you is that Osama Bin Laden is alive and well," he said. He also said Mullah Omar was still in command of the Taleban forces. "He is still our commander and issuing directions."

Osama Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in Pakistan's unruly tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Pakistani observers are surprised at Geo TV's ability to interview a top Taleban commander at a time when members of the militia are targets of a massive manhunt by the US-led coalition as well as Pakistani forces.

The Taleban has been on the run ever since they were ousted three and a half years ago. But there has been an increase in attacks in Afghanistan in recent months, attributed to militants owing allegiance to the Taleban and al-Qaeda, raising fears they may be regrouping.

Documents containing Mullah Omar's phone number seized

GHAZNI CITY, June 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Government forces claimed Thursday they had seized sensitive documents containing the satellite phone number of elusive Taliban supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The documents were recovered from five Taliban fighters including a Taliban held a day earlier in Gillan district of the southern Ghazni province. The arrests came during a hunt for combatants hiding in the area.

Major Dost Mohammad told Pajhwok Afghan News Mullah Naqib, formerly a police chief in a district of the province, was captured at the end of a weeklong search operation for insurgents in the region.
He added the search also yielded a truckload of weapons seized from Taliban remnants in Gillan, Maqur and Nawa districts. Earlier during the operation, the intelligence chief of Jawzjan said, Taliban Commander Hazrat Ali was also arrested from the Gillan district.

The operation was launched after persistent complaints from residents that the security situation in the insurgency-plagued south has been on the nosedive.

The militants have stepped up attacks on government and foreign forces in the build-up to the first post-Taliban parliamentary elections scheduled for mid-September.

Juma Khan, a 40-year-old resident of Nawa district, told Pajhwok: "Taliban have increased their activities. Although the latest operation has been effective, the government should pay greater attention to securing the elections."

Tribal elder gunned down in Kandahar

KABUL, June 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A tribal elder and kin of a central minister Haji Abdul Wahid was gunned down in the Maiwand district of the insurgency-hit Kandahar province on Wednesday.
The victim was uncle of Arif Noorzai, Minister for Tribal and Border Affairs. Taliban have claimed responsibility for the assault. Talking to Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone, spokesman for the ousted militia Lutfullah Hakimi alleged Haji Wahid was involved in providing secret information to the US forces stationed in the troubled province.

Kandahar police chief General Mohammad Ayub Salangi confirmed the incident, but stopped short of naming any group or individual. "Some suspects have been arrested in connection with the killing," claimed Salangi

The ousted Taliban have recently stepped up their insurgency in the south with the apparent motive to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary polls scheduled for mid-September.

Italian diplomat thanks Afghan president for securing the release of kidnapped aid worker

Kabul (AP 06/16/05) - A senior Italian diplomat met Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday to express Rome's appreciation for securing the release of an Italian aid worker held hostage for three weeks.

Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Margherita Boniver said ties between Rome and Kabul were stronger than ever following the release on June 9 of Clementina Cantoni, 32, who was abducted at gunpoint in the heart of the Afghan capital.

"We can say less than a week after the liberation of Clementina Cantoni ... (that) relations are even more close than ever and obviously I have the honor of conveying to President Karzai the official thanks of the Italian government," she told reporters.

Karzai said Afghans were relieved that Cantoni, who was working for CARE International on a project helping Afghan widows and their families, had been released.

"We are happy that she is now back with her people and her parents. The people of Afghanistan hope that this daughter of Afghanistan will come back to Afghanistan to continue to help her sisters in Afghanistan who were very concerned when she was in confinement by the abductors," he said. Eight suspects in the kidnapping have been detained, officials say.

Afghan gov't takes action against spread of cholera in capital

KABUL, Jun 15, 2005 (Xinhua) -- Afghan government has taken a range of measures including hanging posters, giving advice through TV and installing separate tents in hospitals to prevent the cholera epidemic from spreading in capital Kabul, a health official said Wednesday.

Abdullah Fahim, an official with the Afghan Public Health Ministry, however, denied media reports that the epidemic has infected over 2,000 people in Kabul in the past two weeks and that the disease could spread quickly throughout the city's 4 million population.

"More than 2,400 people have had the symptoms of diarrhea, vomitting and others since May 22. Thirty persons have been confirmed to be infected with cholera, and four of them have died of the disease," Fahim said.

Nobody can say that cholera has spreaded in large scale since the infection cases have come from different parts of Kabul, he said, adding the government has taken measures to curb the disease.

In Kabul, many posters have been hung up in streets printed with such words as "Clean your hands before eating," "Drink boiled water" and so on to remind people of self-sanitation.

TV programs about hygiene will be be broadcast to help people turn away from getting infected with the disease, and the medical department has advised people to drink boiled water, and thoroughly clean vegetable before eating for prevention, Fahim said.

As a kind of seasonal epidemic, cholera breaks out each year in Afghanistan. Fahim said that compared with last year, cases of cholera this year are only half in number.

Murad Mamozai, deputy head of the infectious hospital Antoni, said they have received about 650 patients with the symptoms of diarrhea since May 22, and have set up new and separate tents for them. "Until now none of them has been confirmed of being infected with cholera," he said.

There are seven tents outside the main building of the hospital arranged for the suspected cholera patients, and about five or six persons in each tent. "Most of them were sent into the hospital with the symptoms of diarrhea and vomit. We have arranged doctors and nurses to give them overall examination and good care," said one doctor.

Cholera is a major epidemic especially in some developing countries like Afghanistan, where sanitary equipment is not good enough. Every summer, cholera will occur in the country, leaving hundreds infected and dozens dead.

The bacteria attack the intestine and cause severe diarrhea and dehydration. An infected person can even die within several hours if not provided with timely and effective treatment.

One cop killed, another injured in blast

KABUL, June 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): One policeman was killed and another wounded in a bomb explosion in the eastern Khost province on Thursday. The blast took place in Yaqobi district, where two constables were trying to defuse an explosive device planted on the roadside.

Khost police chief Mohammad Ayub told Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone the bomb was recently planted by unidentified criminals. "Police officials defuse mines and bombs on a daily basis," Ayub said while referring to frequent detection and defusing of explosives.

Khost officials deny health workers' killing

KABUL, June 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Officials on Thursday denied the killing of six health workers by unidentified gunmen in the Gorbaz district of the southeastern Khost province. Some wire services on Wednesday reported six health workers dead in an attack on a private clinic in the Moghulgai area.

Talking to Pajhwok Afghan News, Khost police chief Mohammad Ayub, rejected the news as baseless, saying only one doctor was killed. "Unidentified assailants shot Dr Abdul Mohammad dead outside his house in the Moghulgai area," added the officer. The reason behind the killing is said to be old enmity.

Australia considers sending troops to Afghanistan

CANBERRA, June 16 (Reuters) - Australia is considering sending troops back to Afghanistan by early next year to help stabilise the country and continue the war on terrorism, the Australian newspaper reported on Thursday.

The paper said the government was considering the new troop deployment, which could be a force of between 250 and 700, along with more civil aid for Afghanistan's reconstruction. A decision would be made in July.

Prime Minister John Howard's office had no comment on the report, but the centre-left Labor opposition party said it would support a new troop deployment.

"The opposition is prepared to engage in a discussion with the government on this matter, if the government wants to have it," Labor leader Kim Beazley told reporters.

Australia sent special forces troops and air support to the the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, but withdrew them after the Afghan Taliban fell late that same year.

A new analysis of Australian views on international security, from the influential Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has found 58 percent of Australians supported military assistance to the war on terrorism, while only 14 percent disagreed.

The deployment would come at a busy time for Australia's defence forces, which have about 1,700 personnel deployed an overseas operations, including about 1,400 in and around Iraq.

The United States commands an 18,300-strong international force, most of whom are American, fighting Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan and hunting their leaders, including al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.

More than 70 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action and more than 400 wounded in Afghanistan since 2001, while U.S. and Afghan government figures show about 150 insurgents have been killed this year.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, on an official visit to Australia, has said he expects the al Qaeda network to be dismantled and sustainable democracy achieved in Afghanistan within 10 years, allowing foreign troops to withdraw.

U.S.-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai won a presidential election last October, and parliamentary elections are due to be held in the country on Sept. 18.

Toughing it in the Afghan army - By Tom Coghlan - In Kandahar BBC

Dwarfed by the air conditioned sprawl of the nearby US airbase, the barracks of the Afghan National Army's 205th "Atal" (Hero) corps outside Kandahar are, to put it politely, extremely basic.

There is none of the shopping mall consumption that characterises the neighbouring US base. No DVDs, "air con" or golf buggies to transport soldiers to the groaning trolleys of the mess hall.

The ANA soldiers take their water from the non-potable tap that feeds the toilet block; they have not received mineral water or canned drinks for months. They wash their dishes in the showers, outside which a green pool of sewage festers. Their food comes topped with buzzing clouds of flies.

The Afghan National Army are very much the junior partner in the ugly, forgotten war being fought here in southern Afghanistan; their 3,000 man contribution set against the 18,000-man US force. But it will not be so forever.

By 2007 it is planned that the army will top 70,000 men, allowing the foreign forces to begin to leave. But this assumes that all goes to plan. And at present all is not well with the Afghan National Army's southern command, which was first deployed last September.

What is clear is that morale is low. "Everyone wants to run away," said one sergeant. "We cannot tolerate this." The soldiers' complaints focused largely on the perception that they had not been given a fair deal.

The ANA receive their wages from the US government, and at a starting salary of $75 a month they are comparable or slightly better to those of most civil servants.

But this is before taking into account the risks that the troops in the southern command face. Many men talked bitterly of a $2 a day bonus they say they were promised for "dangerous operations".
It has never been paid. The Defence Ministry say it will be. The soldiers also said food and conditions were very poor and deteriorating.

The biggest problem though was how to get their cash wages home to their families when they have to serve up to half a year at a time without leave. Afghanistan has no banking system. The soldiers say that their loved ones face starvation. It is a logistical nightmare with which the Afghan government says it is wrestling.

Then there is the threat from the Taleban. Since March, government forces have lost dozens of men to a reinvigorated Taleban insurgency. The fighting has been hard and without body armour and heavy weaponry.

The ANA inevitably suffer much higher casualties than US troops. And to this has been added horror. An ANA patrol was almost wiped out last month and its wounded tortured and executed by the Taleban.

"The Taleban had used knives on them," said Mohammed, one of the patrol's survivors. "They had no eyes, no noses. Their mouths were destroyed. These were our best friends." A much repeated, though erroneous, rumour said the men were also castrated.

The incident has compounded already fragile morale, particularly after the discovery that the families of dead soldiers' only receive a single $400 payment for their loss.

"I am afraid of what the Taleban would do to me," said one soldier. "A boy was crying and asking his commander to go home because he is the only son of his family."

One soldier wondered whether it was right for the ANA to be "helping foreigners to kill Muslims," though others said that achieving "national unity" necessitated the defeat of the Taleban.

And yet, there is much to be admired about the ANA. It is respected by US officers as a generally disciplined and uncorrupted force, unlike the National Police.

Many of the ANA's officers are capable and boast vast combat experience. "They are some of the bravest soldiers I've seen and I'm proud to be associated with them," said Colonel Tom Wilkinson, a liaison and training officer.

Above all the ANA appears to have succeeded in integrating Afghanistan's multitude of different ethnic groups, all of which were responsible for reciprocal human rights abuses during Afghanistan's long civil war.

"We are just like brothers of the same family," said Sergeant Mohammed Wali from the Tajik north of the country. The recruitment of the ANA has meticulously followed a policy of maintaining an ethnic balance in units which broadly reflects that found country wide.

As such it remains a popular army with many Afghans, the green bereted soldiers affectionately nicknamed the "Chai Sap" (Green Tea); a gently teasing pun on Isaf, the name of the international stabilisation force.

Afghanistan-Iran: Campaign brings together Afghan officials and refugees

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
TEHRAN, 15 June (IRIN) - A delegation of government officials from the western Afghan province of Herat has recently visited the city of Mashad in eastern Iran as part of an information campaign to raise the awareness of Afghans living in Iran about the situation in their homeland.

High ranking Afghan officials, including the ministers of refugees and repatriation, education, labour and social affairs and the deputy health minister, travelled to the eastern Iranian province of Khorasan. The trip was part of a 'Come and Talk' programme sponsored by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Iran's Bureau of Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA).

"The aim was to inform Afghans here about living conditions in Herat city and Herat province, in order to enable them, to inform them if they want to decide to return to Afghanistan voluntarily," said Ghassem Mehraeen, senior mass information clerk at the UNHCR office in Mashad.

About 600 Afghans participated in the 'Come and Talk' programme, including women and children. There were also four meetings with different focus groups. These were with Mashad-based journalists, Afghan health officials, Afghans involved in education and one meeting with investors, mostly Iranians eager to start business ventures in Afghanistan.

Khorasan is home to the second largest population of Afghans in Iran with some 160,000 registered Afghans, around 16 percent of the total number of registered Afghans living in the country.

Mehraeen said the main concern for Afghans returning were health facilities, particularly medical facilities for mothers and children. Afghans also complained of the lack of education facilities in their home country, with teachers saying that Afghan bureaucracy was preventing them from returning.

"The Minister of Education said that about 6,000 teachers are needed in the Herat province alone," said Mehraeen. "A major complaint from Afghan teachers here is the red tape in Afghanistan. Each teacher must go to [the capital] Kabul in person to have the Ministry of Education (MoE) verify their documents. It's very difficult, especially for lone females to go to Kabul, where they have no accommodation," Mehraeen said, adding that the delegation said they would follow up these complaints. According to Mehraeen, many Afghans want to go home but say they are worried about a lack of employment and shelter in Afghanistan.

"Last year the lowest number of returnees were from this province. Most Afghans here are well rooted and have been here [in Iran] for a long time, sometimes two generations. Children have been raised and born here. Many Afghans have businesses here and there are even mixed marriages with Iranians, so it is difficult for them to leave," he said.

According to UNHCR, 60 percent of registered Afghans living in Iran have been there for more than 15 years. The repatriation process in Iran takes place within the framework of a tripartite agreement, known as the Joint Programme.

The main aims of the Joint Programme are to ensure that repatriation is voluntary, takes place with dignity and is bolstered by assistance towards reintegration once in Afghanistan. The most recent tripartite agreement between Iran, Afghanistan and UNHCR expired in March. A new agreement has been agreed in principle but has yet to be signed by Tehran.

Fruit exports may be exempted from taxes

KABUL, June 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The government Wednesday agreed in principle to exempt fruit merchants from a number of taxes to boost Afghanistan's fruit exports.

Commerce Minister Hidayat Amin Arsala made the announcement at a conference jointly organised by fruit exporters and relevant government agencies here. The minister argued the demand from merchants had been accepted to increase the country's fruit exports as well as to provide relief to exporters.

Tax exemption was a long-standing demand of fruit exporters, who often complained of a plethora of levies including custom duty (border tax), transit tax and several other legal and illegal charges they had to pay at various places. Fruit is one of the essential items on Afghanistan's export list.

Besides Afghan traders, the conference was also attended by traders from neighboring countries and government representatives, who deliberated on ways and means to jack up Afghan fruit exports. The traders also expressed grievances about the non-existence of a proper market, lack of technical facilities and an improper transportation system.

Officials of the Finance and Transport Ministries agreed to abolish the taxes besides improving shipment arrangements. They assured the decision would be implemented after its approval by the central cabinet.

Sohrab Ali Safari, Minister for Public Works, pledged to improve the transportation system by constructing and repairing the road networks.

Mohammad Hashim Waez Zada, senior planning official of the Transport and Aviation Ministry, said they were ready to give the traders tax relief from three to five per cent. He added the ministry had asked the Afghan flag-carrier Ariana Airline to facilitate fruit exporters.

Ghulam Nabi Farahi, Deputy Commerce Minister, said Afghanistan had earned about $90 million last year from fruit exports. He hoped the exports would shoot up after adopting the new measures.

The traders welcomed the steps and urged the government to ensure their implementation. "We are fully satisfied with government's assurances," said Haji Abdul Rasul Parsa, a Balkh-bases fruit trader, who hoped the new measures would also benefit farmers.

Narcotics destined for Kabul seized

KABUL, June 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Officials claimed on Thursday police had seized 89 kilograms of narcotics at two different points on the Kabul-Jalalabad Highway. Interior Ministry's press officer Dad Mohammad Rasa told Pajhwok Afghan News over 67 kilograms of drugs were recovered from a car on the Kabul-Jalalabad Highway Wednesday night.

The drugs destined for the central capital, he said, adding the smugglers managed to flee while police had launched an investigations against them.

In another crackdown, police nabbed two alleged smugglers along with 22 kilograms of heroin in Khairkhana area, north of Kabul city. He said both the smugglers belonged to the Chaparhar district of the eastern Nangarhar province.

General Abdul Jamil, head of the crime branch at Kabul Police Headquarters, said the smugglers had hired the car in the Kunduz province. A day earlier, police had recovered 67 kilograms of drugs from a car in the Sarobi district, east of Kabul city.

Transport capacity enhanced when Afghanistan and Iran join TRASECA Kazinform, Kazakhstan

TASHKENT. June 15. KAZINFORM /Rasul Bakhamov/ - One of the principal factors of economic development of states having no transport way to sea ports is laying transport lines to them and creation of transit conditions for neighboring countries. The issue is important not only for Kazakhstan, being in the heart of Eurasia, but also for its neighbors.

So, experts say about one of the perspective global projects to revive the Silk Road - Transcontinental transport project, TRASECA, funded by EU.

In view of Olimzhon Buranov, chairman of the intergovernmental commission of TRASECA in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and soon Iran’s joining the project will facilitate prospect of the Corridor.

He thinks it is the shortest route connecting Uzbekistan and countries of Caucasus and Eastern Europe. It is twice shorter than the Far Eastern and 1,8 time than the Baltic access to the sea, which link Europe and Asia.

Note: TRASECA, funded by the EU, was adopted in May, 1993 in Brussels aimed at founding transport corridor from Europe via the Black Sea, Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to the Central Asia. 13 countries joined it – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Turkmenistan. At the fourth annual conference in Baku the program has been joined by Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

For Kazakhstan the Iranian direction is interesting as for enhancement of export potential for supply of hydrocarbons to the global market. At the same time situation in Afghanistan keeps to be non-stable and political risks for foreign investors are rather high.

US shifts planes from Uzbek air base due to restrictions - June 15, 2005

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has shifted its air-and-rescue planes and heavy cargo flights away from an air base in Uzbekistan to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan because of restrictions imposed by the Uzbeks, The Washington Post said.

The restrictions, some of which were foreseen by US military commanders, were recently ordered by Uzbek President Islam Karimov after US criticism of the alleged massacre of protesters by Uzbek troops at Andijan on May 13, US officials told the daily.

A ban on nighttime operations out of the Karshi-Khanabad air base in southeastern Uzbekistan surprised US authorities and was particularly vexing because search-and-rescue flights and tanker operations must be availble to fly at all hours, the officials said.

A restriction on cargo planes at the Uzbek base had been anticipated because for some time the Uzbek government had been pressing US military to repair the damage done to the runway by the heavy airplanes, the sources said. The United States considered access to the Uzbek air base as crucial in the fight against international terrorism.

The search-and-rescue flights and tanker operations have been relocated to Afghanistan's Baghram air base, near Kabul, while cargo flights, usually HC-130 aircraft, are being diverted to Manas in Kyrgyzstan, adding hours of driving time for the goods to be trucked to Afghanistan, the US officials said.

Smaller cargo planes such as C-130s are still allowed to land at the Uzbek base, they added, but US commanders are also considering shifting them to other locations.

The decision to transfer US military flights away from Uzbekistan came as the White House on Tuesday pressed for an international probe into the alleged massacre at Andijan.

"The administration has made its view known that it wants the government of Uzbekistan to allow a credible, independent international investigation into the events at Andijan," said Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman.

The concerted call for an international probe represented something of a shift for the United States, which up to a week ago was urging a "credible, transparent and independent" inquiry with international help.

Human rights groups say hundreds of people, many of them unarmed protesters, were killed as troops opened fire in Andijan after rebels seized government buildings. Uzbek authorities say 173 people died, including security officers.

Australia, Pakistan sign counter-terrorism pact

CANBERRA, June 15 (Reuters) - Australia and Pakistan signed an agreement on Wednesday to share intelligence and hold joint training exercises as part of efforts to fight terrorism and crime.

Pakistan is the 11th country to sign such a pact with Australia since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as Canberra continues to build regional cooperation against what it describes as a "scourge of terrorist networks".

"Pakistan and Australia are key partners in the international campaign on terror," said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Australian Prime Minister John Howard in a statement after the signing ceremony in Canberra.

"Pakistan has played a vital role in efforts to dismantle global terrorist networks. (We) agreed that international terrorism and transnational organised crime are best combated within a framework of cooperation."

The counter-terrorism pact was the centrepiece of Musharraf's visit to Australia, the first by a Pakistani president. Australia suspended military links with Islamabad in 1998 after Pakistan carried out nuclear tests, but ties were re-established in late 2001 in recognition of Pakistan's decision to side with the United States in the war on terrorism.

Howard praised Pakistan's frontline role in dismantling the militant network al Qaeda -- blamed for the 2001 attacks in the United States -- and hunting its leader Osama bin Laden in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"(Musharraf) himself has survived two assassination attempts," Howard told a joint news conference with Musharraf. Both abortive attacks were made in December 2003.

"It is a measure of the danger he has exposed himself to in participating in that fight and it ought be a mark of the regard we have for him and the courage he's displayed."

Musharraf told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that al Qaeda's back had been broken in Pakistan with hundreds of suspects arrested since 2001 and handed over to the United States.

Under cover of moderation - HUSAIN HAQQANI – The NATION (Pakistan) COLUMN 06/15/05

The arrest in California of a Pakistani father and son allegedly linked to terrorism highlights, once again, the superficiality of the Pakistani regime's rhetoric about changing the country's direction. So far no evidence has been presented by US officials of the California detainees being linked to Al-Qaeda, except an affidavit by one of the accused admitting to attending a militant training camp near Rawalpindi. It is possible that the Pakistanis arrested in California turn out to be innocent of Al-Qaeda links, joining the ranks of hundreds of Muslims caught in America's currently over-zealous law enforcement. It is equally possible, however, that they were associated with a Pakistani Jihadi group, which in turn might be linked to the global network loosely described as Al-Qaeda.

The Pakistani foreign office was, as usual, quick in denying that any Al-Qaeda facility exists in Pakistan. Of course, it is the same foreign office that, through its permanent representative to the United Nations has been periodically debating the definition of terrorism at the UN even though Pakistan has ostensibly been a crucial ally in the US-led global war against terrorism. One could ask Pakistani officials how could they be America's partners in fighting terrorism if they do not agree with the US definition of terrorism but that argument is not the subject of our immediate concern.

The same week that the California arrests served as a reminder of the Jihadi presence in Pakistan, the famed victim of a gang rape whose rapists had earlier been set free was detained and forbidden from travelling abroad. The "enlightened moderate" state in Pakistan chose to extend its protection to the perpetrators of the gang rape rather than Mukhtaran Mai, the victim. With the passage of time, differences between the "Islamist" dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq and the "modernising" regime of General Musharraf are clearly a lot less pronounced than Musharraf's supporters make them out to be. The military regime's priority appears to be to suppress or deny bad news rather than to change the circumstances that give rise to it.

In case of the California arrests the Pakistani authorities should have obtained full information and checked the facts on ground before setting their spin machine in motion. One of the California accused reportedly told his interrogators that he attended a Jihadi facility run by Maulana Fazlur Rehman at "Tamal in Rawalpindi." Given that the FBI officer writing the Pakistani detainee's statement was unfamiliar with both Rawalpindi's geography and the who's who of Pakistani Jihadism, it is perfectly possible that he simply failed to figure out the information he was given.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, originally of Harkat-ul-Ansar has maintained a Jihadi facility at Dhamial in Rawalpindi for many years. Had the Pakistan government been serious in its claims of uprooting militancy and terrorism, it would have paid some attention to this possible link between last week's arrests in California and a shadowy group that participated in the officially sanctioned Afghan and Kashmir jihads.

Maulana Khalil was one of the signatories of Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa against the United States and was reportedly in the camp struck by US cruise missiles in Afghanistan in 1998. In January 2004, the Los Angeles Times reported that Maulana Khalil remained openly active despite government-imposed bans on him and his organisations. Khalil had survived the ban in 1995 on Harkat-ul-Ansar and renamed it Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. When Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was banned after September 11, 2001, he emerged as the leader of Jamiat-ul-Ansar.

Instead of doing anything about Maulana Khalil or his followers after the publication of the LA Times report, Pakistani security services threatened the newspaper's Pakistani reporter. The reporter's reporting, rather than Maulana Khalil's activities appeared to irk Pakistani officials more. Maulana Khalil was finally arrested with considerable publicity in March 2004 only to be released quietly seven months later. He has reportedly gone underground after the recent arrests of his followers in California. Unlike Mukhtaran Mai, the rape victim, Pakistani authorities are unable to find and detain him. Ironically, the same Pakistani officials who had no qualms about keeping Asif Ali Zardari (husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto) in prison without a conviction for almost eight years have never found sufficient reason to detain Maulana Khalil - or several other militant Jihadi leaders for that matter.

It should be obvious to all but the most naïve that General Pervez Musharraf's U-turn in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 has been selective and aimed more at pleasing the United States than at ridding Pakistan of domestic militant groups. General Musharraf made his views clear in an interview with the Washington Post in 2002, in which he made a distinction between various elements of Pakistan's militant problem and stressed that the militants fighting in Kashmir were freedom fighters.

"There are three elements of terrorism that the world is concerned about," Musharraf said in that interview and went on to list these three elements. "Number one, the Al-Qaeda factor. Number two is what [the Indians] are calling cross-border terrorism and we are calling the freedom struggle in Kashmir. Number three is the sectarian (Sunni vs. Shia) extremism and sectarian terrorism in Pakistan...The third one is more of our concern, and unfortunately, the world is not bothered about that. We are very much bothered about that because that is destabilising us internally."

Thus, in the general's worldview sectarian terrorists were the real source of trouble while Al-Qaeda's Arab members had to be apprehended to ensure the flow of US support. Homegrown militants trained for operating in the region were the least of Musharraf's concern at the time of that interview. But Pakistani authorities cannot eliminate the international terrorist network or the sectarian militias without decapitating the domestic Jihadi networks. All Islamist militant groups sympathise with one another and in some cases, such as Kashmiri Jihadi groups and sectarian militias, have overlapping memberships.

From the point of view of Pakistan's Islamist militants and their backers in the establishment, Jihad is only on hold but not yet over. The major Kashmiri Jihadi groups retain their infrastructure that could be pressed into service at a future date. Afghanistan's Taliban also continue to find safe haven in parts of Pakistan as recently as the spring of 2005. Afghan and American officials complain periodically of the Taliban still training and organising in Pakistan's border areas but their protests are rejected summarily with rhetoric similar to the one about domestic militant groups.

The Musharraf regime has been careful to take all steps necessary to retain the goodwill of the United States and its rhetoric of "enlightened moderation" has won it America's support. President Bush described Musharraf as "a courageous leader" who had risked his life to crack down on the Al-Qaeda terrorist network Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, declared during a March 2005 visit to Pakistan that Pakistan "has come an enormously long way...This is not the Pakistan of September 11. It is not even the Pakistan of 2002."

American officials regularly express the belief that Pakistan had turned the corner and could now be trusted as an American ally. The United States sees Pakistan's glass as half full rather than half empty. For Pakistanis faced with on-ground realities, such as militants living in their midst and the treatment of gang rape victims like Mukhtaran Mai, there is little in the glass that gives them satisfaction.

Minister 'trained Kashmir rebels'

A former Pakistani army chief has alleged that Information Minister Sheikh Rashid used to run a training camp for separatist Kashmiri militants. Gen Aslam Beg told the BBC's Urdu service that Sheikh Rashid ran the camp until it was closed in 1991 on orders from the prime minister at the time.

Mr Rashid and Pakistan's foreign office have strongly denied the allegations. However, Mr Rashid, who is a Kashmiri, has acknowledged that he provided accommodation for militants. India has expressed concern over the allegations.

In the past, India has accused Pakistan of aiding and abetting armed militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, but Islamabad has always denied the charge. Allegations that Mr Rashid had offered refuge and support to militants surfaced earlier this week. A top Kashmiri separatist leader, Yasin Malik, said he and other separatist militants had stayed in Mr Rashid's Rawalpindi farmhouse in 1988 and 1989.

"We got refuge in his farmhouse... Sheikh Rashid helped us a lot and loved us" like a brother, Mr Malik told the BBC. However he denied having alleged in Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper that the minister had set up a training camp. "I have never mentioned the word training," Mr Malik said.

But Gen Beg has taken the allegations further, saying that Mr Rashid did run such a camp. "It came to my knowledge in 1990 that there was a militant training camp on Fateh Jang Road some 20km from Islamabad. I passed the information to the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who ordered the closure of the camp in 1991," he told the BBC.

He said Pakistan's foreign ministry had had no knowledge of the camp, which he said had since been turned into a farm house.

Mr Rashid told the BBC that he let separatist leaders stay in his house because he felt it was his moral duty to provide them with a roof. But he insisted he had never been involved in training people for guerrilla warfare or setting up training camps.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman called on Pakistan to close any militant training camps operating inside the country. "Our stand remains that no effective action has been taken by Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure of support to terrorism on a permanent basis," said the spokesman, Navtej Sarna. The spokesman said India hoped Pakistan would abide by its commitment "not to allow any territory within its control to be used to support terrorism in any manner".

Campaigns end in tight Iran vote - Former Iranian president seen leading in Friday's election

TEHRAN, Iran -- Candidates in Iran's presidential election have ended their campaigning ahead of Friday's closely contested vote, with moderate cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appearing to lead the race. Under Iranian law, candidates are required to stop campaigning 24 hours before the polls open. Voting is set to begin at Friday at 09:00 a.m. (04:30 GMT).

Opinion polls give Rafsanjani, 70, a slight edge among the seven candidates, but he is unlikely to win the necessary 50 percent to avoid a run-off between the top two candidates.

The chief rivals of Rafsanjani, who was president from 1989-97, are top reformist candidate Mostafa Moin and hard-liner Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. President Mohammad Khatami is ineligible to run. Hard-line candidate Mohsen Rezaei withdrew from the race late Wednesday.

Rezaei, former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, said he withdrew because of concern by senior clerics that the conservative vote was dangerously split. He did not then endorse another hard-liner. However, other hard-line candidates have said they do not intend to withdraw.

Observers says the conservative vote will be split among three contenders: former radio and television chief Ali Larijani, former national police chief Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rezaei's withdrawal is not sufficient to boost their chances.

Candidates have been courting the young vote, a key constituency in the world's fourth-largest oil exporter where half the population is under 25. Candidates have promised to create more jobs and allow more social freedoms.

The climax of campaigning allowed many young men and women to stay late and enjoy election parties in a relaxed atmosphere not usually seen at other times.

"We don't get any fun. We came here because tonight the police will not touch us. Anyone who votes accepts the Islamic Republic," a 23-year-old student told Reuters.The election comes amid growing tension between Iran and the United States.

The United States, which has had no formal relations with Iran since the revolution -- during which militants held more than 50 Americans hostage for 444 days -- opposes allowing Iran access to enrich uranium for its program.

The Bush administration wants to increase international pressure on the country to halt what the administration believes to be a secret nuclear weapons program.Iran and the European Union are in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, which the republic says is for peaceful purposes only.

However, diplomats say Iran is failing to provide a full and accurate declaration of all sensitive nuclear materials in the country as required by the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Meanwhile, Rafsanjani told CNN on Tuesday that the U.S. must relinquish what he called "a hostile attitude." (Full story) "The United States before the [Islamic Revolution of 1979], and even after the revolution, has shown hostility toward Iran," he said.

"Before the revolution you supported the regime of the shah that treated people very badly, and even after the revolution the United States has not been very good to us."

[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.]