G8 to step up drugs fight in Afghanistan

LONDON, June 16 (AFP) - The world's eight major industrialized countries agreed Thursday to step up funding to fight the drugs trade in Afghanistan, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said, acknowledging that present efforts were heavily inadequate.

"Everyone agreed that more resources were necessary," Clarke said at a meeting of interior and justice ministers in the northern city of Sheffield. Without offering any specific figures, he said countries were committed "to the principle of putting more resources in." He said the amount would be "significant."

Although millions of dollars have been poured into the drug eradication campaign since the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan still accounts for nearly 90 percent of the world's trade in illegal heroin, according to the UN, with a production last year of 4,200 tonnes of opium.

"There are major problems where we haven't succeeded in doing what we decided to do," Clarke said. "Afghanistan and narcotics remain absolutely at the top of our agenda." With the support of the international coalition that chased out the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has declared a "holy war" on illegal narcotics.

Wet weather set to boost Afghan opium output - Financial Times 06/17/2005 By Victoria Burnett

Kabul - US and Afghan officials do not expect Afghan opium production to fall this year, despite an intensifying battle against the drug industry that is set to cost the US hundreds of millions of dollars.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the outgoing US ambassador to Kabul, said there had been a "significant reduction" in the amount of land being used to cultivate poppies, but that he was "less optimistic" about a drop in overall production. The amount of opium gum yielded by each hectare had risen because of the unusually wet winter, he said.

Mr Khalilzad's projections echoed those of Habibullah Qaderi, Afghan counter-narcotics minister, who said in an interview this week that good rains and a disappointing poppy-eradication campaign made a fall in opium output unlikely. Both officials said concrete figures were not yet available.

The US has pushed drugs to the top of its agenda in Afghanistan and is scheduled to spend about $800m (£440m, €660m) this year fighting the booming narcotics industry, which produced 4,200 tonnes of opium last year and supplies the raw material for about 90 per cent of the world's heroin. The UK has earmarked £100m for Afghan counter-narcotics from 2003-2006.

Despite the injection of capital, many of the same problems that hindered previous eradication efforts recurred this year. Mr Qaderi said poor planning meant eradication began too late to catch the harvest and the campaign had been hindered in some provinces by unco-operative governors.

The government is planning to remove some governors over the coming days, partly because they are not seen as good allies in the drug war. Gul Agha Sherzai, governor of Kandahar, is to be moved to a different province or replaced altogether.

In an apparent reference to the government's plans for provincial reform, Mr Khalilzad speaking to reporters in his last briefing before leaving this week to become US ambassador to Iraq called on Kabul to replace poor officials rather than reshuffle them.

"If someone is not performing well . . . rather than rotating them to them somewhere else it is better to begin to appoint people who can solve or deal with some of our problems," he said.

Mr Khalilzad also yesterday warned of an increase in militant attacks ahead of parliamentary elections. He said the government process aimed at winning over moderate Taliban and reducing the ranks of insurgents would take time. "This process will isolate them, make them more dependent on the external sources of support, make them more desperate," he said.

Mr Khalilzad said he did not believe Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, or Mullah Mohammad Omar, head of the Taliban, were hiding in Afghanistan, but gave no hint as to their suspected whereabouts. A senior Taliban commander on Wednesday claimed in an interview broadcast on Pakistani television that both were alive and well.

Taliban kills parliamentary candidate in southern Afghanistan - Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) / June 16, 2005

Kabul (dpa) - Remnants of the ousted Taliban regime on Thursday claimed to have killed a parliamentary candidate in Afghanistans southern province of Kandahar. Rebel spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said that the Taliban fighters arrested candidate Wahid Khan as he left his house on Wednesday morning in the Maiwand district of Kandahar.

"Our mujaheddin (holy fighters) killed him because the Taliban had already declared a fatwa (religious order) and asked all Afghans not to take part in the elections,'' Hakimi said.

Hakimi said that Khan was the uncle of Arif Noorzai, the former Afghan minister for tribal affairs. Kandahar is the main stronghold of the former Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

For the first time ever last October, Afghanistan held a presidential election, nearly three years after a U.S.-led coalition toppled the extremist Taliban regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Currently, there are some 20,000 U.S-led troops hunting the remnants of the Taliban and their allies from the al-Qaeda network, mainly in the south and south-eastern regions of the country. Recently Taliban rebels have accelerated their military attacks against U.S. and Afghan troops, resulting in the killing of more than 250 people. dpa km wjh

Taliban say hold 13 Afghans in troubled south

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 17 (Reuters) - The Taliban said they had captured 11 Afghan soldiers, a senior police officer and a district chief in Kandahar, just days after U.S.-led and Afghan forces staged a joint operation there against the guerrillas.

Taliban commander Mullah Rahim said the 13 were captured in a raid on Mian Nishin district in the southern region of Kandahar on Thursday. "We have hidden them somewhere and will decide on their fate following instructions from our leadership,"

Rahim told Reuters, using a satellite phone belonging to the district police chief.

A senior police officer in Kandahar city confirmed that the phone belonged to the police chief and that authorities had lost touch with the 13. Mian Nishin was the scene of joint operations by Afghan and U.S.-led forces this week in which government officials said nine guerrillas were killed.

Recent weeks have seen a surge in Taliban-linked violence in the south and east of Afghanistan, raising feares for the security of parliamentary elections due to be held on Sept. 18.

In another incident on Thursday, three guerrillas were killed while trying to ambush a government convoy in neighbouring Zabul province, provincial spokesman Gulab Shah said.

A Taliban spokesman denied the report and said the Taliban had inflicted losses on the government forces in the ambush. Kandahar has been the scene of much of the recent violence.

On Monday, four U.S. soldiers were wounded in a suicide attack outside Kandahar city, where at least 20 people lost their lives in a suicide bomb attack on a mosque on June 1.

The Taliban have threatened more violence, and both President Hamid Karzai and U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad have warned the guerrillas are likely to step up attacks ahead of the elections.

More than 150 insurgents have been killed this year, according to U.S. and government figures. Dozens of government troops and 13 U.S. soldiers from the 20,000-strong U.S-led foreign force hunting the militants have also died since March.

U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 after they refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the architect of Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

On Thursday, Khalilzad said he did not believe bin Laden or Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar were in Afghanistan. He was responding to comments by a senior Taliban commander the previous day who said bin Laden was in good health and that Omar was in direct command of Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

US Afghan "Viceroy" vows hands-on role in Iraq – Reuters 06/16/2005
By David Brunnstrom

KABUL - Outgoing U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, dubbed by some as the American "Viceroy" to Afghanistan, was unapologetic about his style on Thursday and vowed a similar hands-on role if confirmed as envoy to Iraq.

"My premise is that failure is not an option -- there is too much at stake," Khalilzad told a farewell news conference in Kabul. "I am not a potted plant!"

The Afghan-American, accused by critics of interfering in Afghanistan's affairs to the extent that he often appeared to be directing President Hamid Karzai's policy rather than simply supporting it, said he would not change his style in Iraq.

"I have a philosophy in terms of how I do my job," he said, when asked about such criticism. "I will be the same person in the two different environments." He said he would be happy, in Afghanistan or in Iraq, if problems could be solved locally.

"But if my help is needed, I will be available. I have told President Karzai and many Afghan leaders that they can call me at any time and I know the Iraqi leaders and they know me. And I will be saying the same thing to them."

There were significant differences between Afghanistan and Iraq, he said, but added: "One thing that will be similar is that I am the same person; I will be proactive, I will be very engaged." Khalilzad said he would leave Afghanistan in a "very positive situation", although many challenges remained.

These included holding parliamentary elections on Sept. 18, the need to deal with the threat of worlords, continuing Taliban insurgency and the establishment of rule of law by strengthening the security apparatus and judicial system.

“A lot has been accomplished, but there is also a lot more that needs to be done," he said. President George W. Bush has nominated a career diplomat, Ronald Neumann, as the next ambassador to Kabul, who, like Khalilzad, still needs to be confirmed by the full U.S. Senate.

Khalilzad did not make clear how long he would retain his dual role as Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan, in which he serves at the president's discretion. "If I can do anything to help, of course I will be available. But of course ... Iraq is going to be a very difficult and complicated environment and I will be focused on that," he said.

U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and with international backing installed Karzai after the former Taliban regime refused to give up al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Khalilzad said he was optimistic about Afghanistan's future for two reasons -- the Afghan people were fed up with war and the international community was committed to remain engaged in the country and resolving the problems of the rest of the region.

"We have learned that in neglecting Afghanistan we made a mistake," he said referring to U.S. disengagement after the late-1980s Soviet troop pullout that allowed militancy to thrive and Afghanistan to become the base for the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It's going to be a difficult transition, it's going to take time, it's going to take persistence," Khalilzad said of efforts to combat militancy in Afghanistan and the rest of the region. He said the challenge in Iraq would be to isolate those trying to bring about a war of civilisations and to break the back of the insurgency.

He said some progress had been achieved to this end in Afghanistan, with "quite a number of people" talking advantage of a government offer of reconciliation to moderate Taliban figures. "But it will take time," he said.

Pak-Afghan tribes battle over land – IRNA 06/16/2005

Two tribes, one from Pakistan and the other from Afghanistan, fought a fierce battle over a piece of land on the Pak-Afghan border.

Daily Times reported in its Thursday issue that the two sides traded heavy weapons from mountain peaks across the border. The daily added a ceasefire could not hold between Pakistan's Madakhel tribe and Afghan Tarni tribe.

The newspaper was silent on the loss of life or property. Pakistani tribe accused the Afghans of trying to seize their land, it added.

JEMB receives 200 complaints from 13 provinces - Pajhwok Afghan News
06/17/2005 - Makia Monir

The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) has so far received 200 complaints against poll candidates from 13 provinces. Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, JEMB's spokesman Sultan Ahmad Bahin said grumbles against the contenders from other provinces were yet to arrive.

He added the complaint committee would thoroughly review the gripes in due course of time before a final list of candidates was released. The JEMB had set June 9 as last date for filing complaints against candidates.

The complaints will be reviewed in a three weeks' time followed by a display of electoral lists from July 2 to July 7. Disqualified candidates will have the right to defend their candidature before the complaint committee, which will make public its final decision on July 12.

A similar committee was formed ahead of the November 2004 presidential election, but no name was excluded from the final list despite several complaints from the people. More than 6,000 candidates have registered for the parliamentary and provincial councils' elections scheduled for September 18.

The Embassy of Afghanistan Signs Grant Agreements with the World Bank

Afghan Embassy, Wash. DC - Press Release 06/16/2005

Washington, D.C. – Said Tayeb Jawad, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States, signed two major grant agreements totaling US$85 million with the International Development Association (IDA) at World Bank today, June 16, 2005. The funded projects aim at strengthening the higher education system and developing transportation infrastructure in Afghanistan. Ambassador Jawad welcomed the IDA grants and appreciated the overall efforts of the World Bank in helping rebuild Afghanistan through major reconstruction and development projects. He noted: "These significant grants will help address Afghanistan's critical need for quality higher education to enhance our limited human capital, while facilitating movement of people, trade, and investment which would be impossible without a functional network of roads." Ms. Mariam Sherman, the World Bank Deputy Country Director for Afghanistan, signed the agreements with Ambassador Jawad. The World Bank has so far provided US$856 million in reconstruction aid to Afghanistan of which US$516 million is in grant assistance. The level of continued rebuilding assistance to Afghanistan signifies the confidence of the international community in the Afghan government and Afghanistan's future as a democratic, peaceful and prosperous country.

The IDA grants are funding the following two projects:

The Emergency Transport Rehabilitation Project: Supported by a US$45 million IDA grant, the project aims to support road rehabilitation in northeast of Afghanistan connecting Kunduz-Taloqan-Kishem. The project's main development objective is to facilitate Afghanistan's economic and social recovery through improved physical access to goods, markets, and administrative and social services. The project encompasses the following main activities: (1) removing key transport bottlenecks that seriously hamper economic recovery; (2) building capacity in management, implementation, and maintenance of transport services and works through the provisions of equipment and technical assistance related to planning, maintenance and supervision of works; and (3) assisting in the establishment of an institutional and policy framework for the sector for sustainable service delivery.

Strengthening Higher Education Program: Supported by a US$40 million IDA grant, the development objective of the Program is to progressively restore basic operational performance at a group of core universities in Afghanistan. This will provide an institutional base for an agenda focusing on tertiary education development, capacity building and reform. The Program is envisaged to be the first phase in a longer-term strategy for higher education development in Afghanistan. Moreover, it aims to act as a catalyst in attracting various resources to Afghan tertiary education with a long-term development framework.

Afghanistan to invite bids for building optical fiber ring - Xinhua
06/16/2005

In a new step to modernize telecommunication system in the post-war Afghanistan, the government has invited bids to construct a nationwide optical fiber ring in the country, communication minister Amirzai Sangin said Wednesday.

"The ministry of communication invites sealed bids for building a nationwide fiber optic ring telecommunications backbone network in Afghanistan," he told journalists at a press conference. Interested companies, he noted, should submit their applications before 10 am of 10th August 2005.
The three-phase 60-million US dollar project covering 3,200 km, the minister added, would link all major Afghan cities to capital Kabul as well as neighboring countries.

"This project is designed to construct a fiber optic backbone linking the main road system in the country and will consist of a main Kabul-Kandahar-Heart-Mazar-e-Sharif-kabul loop," said the minister.
Work on the new project, the optical fiber cable ring, will begin by December and is likely to be completed within three years. Only 40,000 of some 27 million Afghans, according to the Minster had access to telephone three years ago while currently 900,000 people in this post-war nation enjoy telephone facilities.

Presently, two companies ROSHAN and AFGHAN WIRELESS are running cellular phones in Afghanistan while 80 more firms including ArasKom of Egypt and KBI of Germany have applied to obtain licenses to establish two more GSM system for which the government agreed.

New law to promote international standards in prisons – IRIN 06/16/2005

KABUL - A newly-ratified law is expected to bring significant changes to Afghanistan's crumbling prisons and ensure the basic rights of thousands of inmates in the country's jails, law experts said in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday.

The 54-article law has been designed to bring the nation's prisons and detention centres up to minimum international standards. "The new law says the prison system has to achieve the goal of rehabilitation of prisoners and to deliver a person back in to society as a law abiding individual," Giuseppe di Gennaro, a senior legal reform advisor of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) said.

The law was ratified on 31 May after two years of work by national and international experts. It was drafted by the government of Afghanistan, with support from the UNODC and the government of Italy, which is the lead nation working on the reform of the Afghan justice system.

Despite the good intentions which have led to the drafting and ratification of the new legislation, lack of resources will be likely to pose a real barrier to any meaningful upgrade of penal facilities in the country.

Afghan justice minister Sarwar Danish said that in twenty provinces of Afghanistan, inmates are housed in rented buildings often too small to accommodate them.

One provincial jail recently visited by IRIN had mud floors and sickly-looking prisoners shivering in thin blankets complaining of poor food, no medical facilities and long waits before being brought to trial. "In such situations when we don't have the tools and the proper buildings, we are not able to ensure prisoners rights." Danish said.

There are currently 6,000 prisoners housed in at least 34 state jails. Hundreds more languish in an unknown number of private prisons in the provinces, mostly controlled by powerful warlords or local commanders. There are also a number of detention centres under the control of US-led Coalition forces holding suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda members and supporters.

According to UNODC, work on the rehabilitation of prisons and detention centres in Kabul is almost complete. Tackling the upgrading of provincial prison facilities looks set to be a far more challenging task that has yet to be addressed.

UNODC officials said progress has been made in the reform of the justice sector in the last three years. A new law on criminal procedures has been introduced, a new juvenile justice code has been brought in and now the new legislation on prisons has been ratified.

Press Briefing by Ariane Quentier Senior Public Information Officer And United Nations Agencies in Afghanistan - Kabul – 16 June 2005

ط Election training in Kabul region

As of today and until June 27th, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) in the Central Region will be hosting 5 meetings at the provincial level for political candidates. The meetings aim at advising candidates of the electoral complaints procedure. The first session, which is taking place as we speak, is organized in Kapisa, in Mahmud-e Raqi, in the Alberuni University Hall. The next training will be in Wardak on Saturday.

UNAMA and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) have recently begun a Joint Political Rights Verification Campaign and, in coordination with the JEMB meetings, will now begin a series of briefings for candidates and officials on the rights and responsibilities associated with holding a free and fair election in the central region.

The purpose of the briefings is to ensure that candidates understand the rights and principles underpinning the electoral process and the options available to them to register any complaints, should those rights be violated. The meeting will also provide an opportunity to cooperate with provincial officials in order to enhance their role in ensuring a free and fair election.

ط The Asia Foundation to support theatre performances to inform voters about elections

Since May 12th, Afghan theatre troupes supported by The Asia Foundation (TAF) are performing a play intended to educate about democracy, elections and voting for September 18th elections.

The play, New Hope, focuses on issues that many Afghan communities face – a high crime rate, the need for better health care, roads in need of repair, and others. Its message is that having a representative can help the community have a better life. The play also teaches voters how to choose a candidate who will represent them well.

The troupes are performing throughout Afghanistan and will reach some 29 provinces by the end of their run. Seven troupes of actors and actresses who performed together before the Taliban and regrouped afterward are performing the plays.

Since the beginning of the project and until June 5th, there have been more than 130 performances of New Hope throughout the country, drawing a total audience of 130,000. Last year, ahead of Afghanistan’s presidential elections, The Asia Foundation funded 232 theatre performances. A total of more than 334,000 people attended.

The Foundation for Culture and Civil Society (FCCS), an Afghan independent social organization, and Sayara Media and Communication are implementing this project. USAID - the US Agency for International Development - is funding the performances through a cooperative agreement with The Asia Foundation.

ط Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)

To date, 60,408 officers and soldiers have disarmed under the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme. Of this figure, 49,991 have entered the reintegration process.

In terms of weapons collection, a total of 34,357 medium and light weapons have been collected from military units that have gone through the DDR programme.

Meanwhile, on Monday a ceremony was held at the Ministry of Defence to reward commanders who have supported the DDR programme, and attendees included 33 commanders and the Deputy Minister of Defence.

Finally, teams from the Afghan New Beginnings Programme’ (ANBP) continue to identify suitable locations for weapons collection throughout the country. This follows the government’s decision to give electoral candidates that have links to illegal armed groups the opportunity to voluntarily surrender their weapons, so they can meet the eligibility criteria.

ط Desertification on the rise in Afghanistan

Tomorrow will be the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. In his yearly message, the Secretary General Kofi Annan said: “Desertification is one of the world’s most alarming processes of environmental degradation. It threatens the health and livelihoods of more than one billion people. And each year, desertification and drought cause an estimated $42 billion in lost agricultural production.”

He added that 2006 will be the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.

Desertification is very much threatening Afghanistan and advancing in the northern, western and southern regions, where widespread grazing has reduced vegetation cover and exposed soils to erosion.

Another aggravating factor is the uncontrolled extraction of water resources and deforestation. Officials estimate the amount of forest lost in the last two decades to be 30 per cent. However, local forest officers suggest the true figure lies between 50 and 70 per cent in provinces like Paktya, Khost and Paktika.

In addition to desertification, the incidence of drought has also risen sharply in Afghanistan over the last 20 years, and more specifically in the last 6 years - a trend that might never be reversed. Conditions in large parts of Kandahar, Helmand and Nimroz provinces have deteriorated dramatically and some of these areas will never be able to support their former human populations again.

Unfortunately, data is still lacking which makes it extremely difficult to accurately assess and respond. However, if in 1950 an estimated 94 per cent of the population lived in rural areas, by 2000 this figure had fallen to 78 per cent, with urban populations rising largely in response to drought, although also in response to conflict.

Afghanistan signed the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on January 11th 1995. An Afghan delegation attended the third Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention last May. To mark the day, the Ministry of Agriculture, Husbandry and Food (MAAHF), The National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will be organizing a seminar on this issue. For further information check www.un.org.

ط Flood Update

In Nangarhar province, heavy rainfall on Tuesday led to the flooding of several villages some 12 km northeast of Jalalabad. The Nangahar Provincial Disaster Response Committee immediately dispatched an assessment team, which has reported that some 500 jeribs of agricultural land had been flooded and 40 houses have been damaged. In response, the Department for Rural Rehabilitation and Development has provided 40 tents and the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided assistance for 153 affected families.

The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has also agreed to provide engineering assistance to redirect the water from the Kunar River to prevent further flooding and the Provincial Disaster Committee assessment team is formulating a plan to protect houses and agricultural lands in this area. Funding will be made available by the provincial government and the PRT.

Meanwhile, the city of Bamyan was hit by a flash flood last Sunday. Flooding also reportedly affected the nearby villages of Qafelabashi, Syahkhak, Bursuna, and Manara.

The Provincial Disaster Response Committee dispatched an assessment team to the affected villages while the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has provided a heavy loader to help consolidate the riverbank near to Bamyan bazaar.

Lastly, a ‘lessons learned’ workshop on the flood emergency was held in Kabul on Sunday and Monday, and participants included representatives of government departments and leading UN agencies which have been involved in the coordination of the flood response.

The objective was to assess the performance of institutional bodies initiated to deal with flooding, and set up the basis for future emergency responses. The workshop focused on the five pillars originally set up to deal with the flood emergency, namely – analysis and forecasting, coordination, public Information and awareness, pre-positioning, and emergency response.

ط Afghanistan to sign agreement on Human Rights Treaty Reporting

Afghanistan will take an important step towards meeting its human rights obligations on Sunday, when it signs an agreement with the Government of Canada and UNDP to initiate a human rights treaty-reporting project.

The project, which will see the Government of Canada put forward CDN$375,000, aims to build Afghanistan’s capacity to report to the international community by setting-up an international treaty unit within the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Furthermore, government staff will be trained in international reporting, and an information database will be developed to assist the Ministry in monitoring human rights activities and to compile statistics for use in reports.

Afghanistan is a party to several international human rights treaties and a key responsibility of the Afghan Government is to periodically report on the country’s progress to treaty committees.

ط Business and Economic Journalism Workshop to be held until end of June

The Centre for International Private Enterprise Afghanistan (CIPE) and the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society Afghanistan (IMPACS) will hold a training seminar for journalists during the 2nd Business and Economic Journalism Workshop to be held from next Saturday, June 18th till June 30th, 2005.

Through this seminar, CIPE and IMPACS will support Afghan media organizations by training journalists in the area of business as well as economic issues and concepts. CIPE’s first Business and Economic Journalism Workshop was held in February 2005. Thirteen journalists from various Afghan news organizations attended the 12-day course.

The CIPE/ IMPACS Business and Economic Journalism Workshops, which will be hosted by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and funded by the World Bank, will be conducted in Dari/ Pashto by internationally trained journalism and economic instructors.

Briefing by Sultan Baheen, JEMB National Spokesman

The Joint Electoral Management Body approved the regulation of observers and political party and candidate agents this week. The JEMB will accredit organizations and JEMBS will register individual observers as persons representing the accredited organization. Accredited observers will have access to key components of the electoral process, including voter registration, polling and counting.

As we are talking about observers and political party agents, I would like to mention that yesterday the JEMB had a meeting with political parties to inform them of the accreditation process, as well as about the counting centres.

With the start of voter registration approaching, journalists who would like to visit the registration sites will need to be accredited. This accreditation will be valid for all electoral phases. Journalists will be required to sign the Code of Conduct and to have a letter from the organization for whom they are working.

One announcement: JEMB chairman MR Bismallah Bismal will hold a press conference this Saturday at 1.30 PM at JEMB HQ on Jalalabad Road. He will explain the voter registration process and will answer your questions.

Briefing by Edward Carwardine, UNICEF Spokesman

A new partnership between the Afghan Ministry of Justice, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will help to strengthen the juvenile justice sector in Afghanistan.

The partnership, which will be officially launched on Saturday June 18th, will see UNICEF and UNODC providing a range of training and technical support to up to 250 legal professionals, juvenile judges, juvenile prosecutors, social workers and juvenile police on issues including the new Afghan Juvenile Code, children’s rights and international legal standards. UNICEF and UNODC are currently working in close cooperation also to support the Ministry of Justice, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for the Priority Reform and Restructure (PRR) initiative with the Juvenile Justice Department.

In a separate development, nearly 1,000 street working children in the Afghan capital of Kabul will benefit from a new agreement signed between the local non-governmental organization Aschiana and UNICEF. The agreement secures Aschiana’s use of two sites in the city to provide training and education for the children, as part of an on-going partnership between the two organizations.

UNICEF has provided US$ 12,000 of funding towards the costs of the two centres, in the Karte Char and Salang Wat areas of the city. Between them, the two sites can accommodate 900 children, who will benefit from Aschiana’s renowned programme of vocational training, literacy tuition and life skills. The UNICEF funding will secure use of the sites until September 2005, and the children’s agency has also been pleased to assist with the negotiation of further support from the European Union-funded Child Rights Consortium.

Click here for the full press release on the juvenile justice sector in English.

Click here for the full press release in English and in Dari, on the training and education of street children.

Questions and Answers

Question: Regarding the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), what sort of complaints have they received and what is the next stage. Also, the security situation in the South [of Afghanistan] has deteriorated recently, has it affected your work?

JEMB Spokesperson: Regarding the first question, as of yesterday the ECC received boxes from 13 provinces and about 200 challenges. The Commission will issue the names of those on the provisional list and the candidates can defend themselves, prior to publication of the final list. Regarding the question about security, our operation continues around the country in 34 provinces. Security is a concern for us, but this is the responsibility of the security forces and the government to secure the country and the electoral process.

Question: Is it true that some candidates have already started their campaign in some provinces?
JEMB Spokesperson: We will issue the final list of candidates on the 12th of July. The official campaigning time for candidates is from the 26th of August until two days before the election [16th of September]. I think at least the candidates should wait until the 12th of July, when the final list is issued.

Question: Dr. Simar Samar [Chairman of the AIHRC] has said that some warlords have been nominated as candidates for the upcoming elections. Are you concerned about this and will they undergo any form of judicial process?

JEMB Spokesperson: Firstly, one member of the ECC was assigned by the Afghan Human Rights Commission. Secondly, the ECC is not a criminal court. The responsibility of the ECC is to see that the candidates are legitimate and eligible according to the constitution and according to the electoral law. Let us wait until the final list is published on July 12th and we hope there will be no room for this type of concern.

Question: What are the complaints about and what do they deal with?

JEMB Spokesperson: They were challenges concerning the eligibility of the candidates according to the electoral law. I cannot say anything more about the content of the challenges.

Question: When in practice is DIAG [Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups] going to start and what is the target?

Senior Public Information Officer: First of all it has started and was launched last Saturday. The first part of DIAG is to provide facilities for the candidates who may have links with illegal armed groups, so that they can surrender their weapons and there can be a process of weapon collection. The idea is that a number of facilities are set up throughout the country in different provinces so that candidates with links to illegal armed groups who want to surrender their weapons can do so.

Question: Do you expect 1800 groups to be disbanded before the elections? What is the plan? Is it only candidates who will disarm before the election?

Senior Public Information Officer: DIAG is a long process and it all depends on who participates and voluntarily surrenders their weapons. However the plan is that all illegal armed groups should disarm. The priority is that we have elections, and there is a provision in the electoral law that says that candidates with links to illegal armed groups cannot run. But the plan is that everyone should disarm and that nobody should bear a weapon in this country without proper authorization to do so.

Question: How many candidates have been challenged over DIAG.

Senior Public Information Officer: We are not going into figures, but you will find out when the first preliminary list comes out.

Karzai hopes released Italian hostage will return to Kabul - AKI (Adnkronos International), Italy

Kabul, 16 June (AKI) - (by Carola Mamberto) - Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said Thursday he hopes an Italian aid worker released by her abductors last week after being held for 24 days will return to Afghanistan. "We are happy, the whole Afghan nation is happy for Clementina [Cantoni's] release, and we will be even more happy if she decides to return to our country," Karzai said at a news conference after meeting with Italian foreign ministry undersecrtary, Margherita Boniver, in Kabul.

Cantoni, a worker for the aid agency Care International, was seized by armed men and dragged from her car in Kabul on the evening of 16 May. She was released on 9 June and immediately flown home to Italy. The Italian and Afghan governments have said no ransom was paid to her abductors, described by officials in Kabul as "common criminals".

Boniver, arrived in Kabul on Thursday to offically deliver the Italian government's gratitude to the Afghan authorities for their handling of the affair. At one stage during Cantoni's captivity, Afghanistan officials accused the Italians of interfering with the investigation into her kidnapping. But Kabul later backtracked thanking the Italians for their assistance.

''We were anguished over her fate, and now we hope that this daughter of Afghanistan can return soon to our country and continue her work," Karzai said, referring to Cantoni's work with Afghan widows, with whom she has been involved since arriving in Afghanistan in 2002.

"Karzai, the crisis of confidence and insecurity" - Kabul Weekly 06/17/2005

Following the collapse of the Taleban, sustainable overall security was viewed as a fundamental ingredient in the process of building a government in Afghanistan. In admitting that it is well nigh impossible for foreign troops to restore security in this way unless the grounds for this are prepared within the country, we should look here at these grounds and check the records of the country's leadership since the establishment of the interim government.

After the Taleban, the reality was that the mojahedin were present in the political sphere in Afghanistan. But there were inherent disagreements between the jihadi factions that were felt bitterly. Karzai and his team should have first created an understanding between these factions by building trust and confidence. Then these factions should have been encouraged to actively participate in the country's reconstruction. The latter could have been achieved if the former had been successfully accomplished. And the third step should have been taken to get the Taleban to participate in the political process, with certain conditions. But why were these three steps not taken?

1. Instead of helping to create harmony among the mojahedin, Karzai and his Western team emerged, less than fully formed, as another political front against them. This not only led to political retrogression but also fuelled the crisis of confidence. Though they were given a share in power, the mojahedin did not trust Karzai due to his behind-the-scenes activities.

2. Another political reality was that the intellectuals who were not on good terms with the mojahedin were keen to work with Karzai at first. Then they felt they were also ignored by Karzai and his team. So the crisis of confidence spread among these groups as well.

3. So, alienated from the mojahedin and intellectuals, Mr Karzai cannot effectively attract the Taleban into the power system without any transparent conditions acceptable to the people. Because the mojahedin and the intellectuals feel they are more deserving than the Taleban of being granted real shares in a government that is based on a credible political legitimacy, they naturally disagree with any compromise between Karzai and the Taleban as they feel they have not been granted the shares to which they are entitled. So Karzai cannot achieve his goal.

So, due to this crisis of confidence, Karzai and his team are not really supported by a) the mojahedin, who are still influential in different strata of society and b) intellectual circles and c) the people, who are not satisfied with the performance of the government.

Conclusion - The present situation naturally leads to an intensification of the security crisis. Government rivals can easily take advantage of the situation to launch military attacks and upset security. Though the government has made efforts to form a national army and police force, all those efforts have failed due to the great gulf between the people and their inefficient and incompetent government, so these forces cannot effectively rectify the security situation. BBC Monitoring

Arab boost for Afghan resistance - Asia Times 06/16/2005 - Amin Tarzi and Kathleen Ridolfo

Recent published accounts of the relationship between fugitive Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network illuminate the relationship between the two men and their movements' vision of establishing an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East.

The sudden rise in attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan supports the theory that Arab militants in that country have regrouped in an effort to provide a reinvigorated Arab front against the United States, while the continuing insurgency in Iraq shows no signs of abatement, despite recent reports that Zarqawi may be near death as a result of a recent injury.

The Afghan front - Almost immediately after the June 1 suicide bombing of a Kandahar mosque that killed mourners of an anti-Taliban cleric, Afghan officials said it was carried out by Arab members of al-Qaeda. "We have found documents on [the bomber's] body that show he was an Arab," Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai told reporters, adding that intelligence indicated that "Arab al-Qaeda teams had entered Afghanistan and had been planning terrorist attacks". Mohammad Hasham Alikozay, director of the Public Health Department in Kandahar, said the "features found" at the explosion site indicated that the suicide bomber seemed "to be an Arab".

In line with the expectations of Afghan authorities and US-led coalition forces, disruptive activities and terrorist acts either committed by or in the name of the Taliban and their allies have increased since the weather improved in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In April, US Major General Eric Olson said there "has been an increase in Taliban and enemy activity in the spring [compared to the winter months]. And we anticipate that the enemy has the intention of trying to raise the level of activity this spring." However, Olson predicted that these activities would lack cohesion and fade in traditional Taliban strongholds.

Yet, what has been different in recent months is the sophisticated coordination of the disruptive activities and the new methods employed by their perpetrators.

The student-led demonstrations that began peacefully on May 10 in eastern Nangarhar province and spread to at least 13 other provinces around Afghanistan were the first indication that a new, well-organized plan against the government of President Hamid Karzai, but especially against the US presence in Afghanistan, was underway. While the demonstrations were triggered by a report alleging that some interrogators at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, desecrated the Koran, the rallies quickly, and with a coordination not seen in Afghanistan, became violent and spread to several Afghan cities.

Coinciding with the student demonstrations, a night letter reminiscent of the days when Afghans were fighting Soviet troops was circulated in parts of Kabul. Without making any reference to the events in Nangarhar, the letter announced that the "principle duty of the mujahideen has just started". The unsigned letter condemned the possibility of the establishment of US military bases in Afghanistan and alleged that Karzai and former Taliban members were in an alliance with the purpose of turning Afghanistan into a US satellite.

Karzai's government initially blamed "enemies of peace and stability" for fueling and politicizing student anger, in particular, directing it toward US-Afghan ties and Kabul's offer of amnesty to many former Taliban members. The Afghan president said that "students of medical and engineering faculties of Pakistani and Iranian universities attend classes and continue their lessons as usual, but Afghan university and school students are taken out of their classes and provoked to stage demonstrations" to destroy lives and property in Afghanistan.

While Karzai did not accuse a specific country by name, Kabul's main pro-government daily Anis wrote on May 17 that Iran was spending "large sums of money and [had] hired scores of mercenaries" to undermine stability in Afghanistan. Anis alleged that the demonstrations were planned by "reckless" Afghans in consultation with the Iranian Embassy in Kabul.

The possible role of the Taliban is unclear. No one has pointed a finger at the Taliban for fueling the demonstrations and the militia's spokesman, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, has denied any involvement.

The Taliban did claim responsibility for the May 29 murder of Mawlawi Abdullah Fayyaz, head of the Council of Ulema of Kandahar and an ardent opponent of the Taliban. However, Hakimi, commenting on the suicide attack in the Kandahar mosque during services held for Fayyaz, said: "This shouldn't have occurred. We strongly condemn this act."

It is difficult to differentiate between wanton acts of violence in Afghanistan. Some attacks, carried out in the name of the Taliban, are actually committed by drug dealers or other criminals. And the Taliban often claims responsibility for acts of violence that it has not committed. However, what is noteworthy in the student demonstrations and the mosque bombing is the coordination and means of committing these violent acts.

Suicide bombings are very rare in Afghanistan and the Taliban seldom resort to this tactic to achieve their goals. Moreover, there is not a single record of a suicide attack inside a mosque in that country, as has been the case in Iraq. The Kandahar attack may be the beginning of a new front by al-Qaeda-inspired terrorists, possibly backed by regional countries, to recalibrate their anti-US activities in Afghanistan.

The Iraqi front - Al-Zarqawi: The Second al-Qaeda Generation, a recently published book on Zarqawi - who pledged his group's loyalty to bin Laden last year - chronicles Zarqawi's presence in Afghanistan and his relationship with al-Qaeda, which funded Zarqawi training camps in Herat before the US-led invasion in 2001. Following the invasion, Zarqawi and other al-Qaeda leaders scattered and regrouped in Iran, pledging to reassemble in Afghanistan in seven years' time, Sayf al-Adl, the official in charge of security for the Global al-Qaeda of Islam Army, recounted in the book.

Zarqawi and his associates' return to the Afghan front before the seven-year hiatus mentioned by al-Adl may be directly linked to two issues. Firstly, it concerns the ineffectiveness of the Taliban and the low-level al-Qaeda support provided to them in order to inflict heavy damage on the Kabul government or US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Also related to this point is the relative success of the political process in Afghanistan after the Taliban had vowed to disrupt the electoral process there. However, the second and more urgent factor for Zarqawi and his backers to reopen the Afghan front is most likely linked to the official signing of the "strategic partnership" between Kabul and Washington in May. The partnership binds the two countries in a formal agreement and allows for an indefinite US military presence in Afghanistan.

Al-Adl further documented Zarqawi's decision to establish his network of fighters in Iraq in 2001, an undertaking assisted through his relationship with the Ansar al-Islam terrorist network based in Iraqi Kurdistan close to the Iranian border. That relationship was reportedly forged in Afghanistan.

"We began to converge on Iran one after the other. The fraternal brothers in the peninsula of the Arabs, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates who were outside Afghanistan, had already arrived. They possessed abundant funds. We set up a central leadership and working groups," al-Adl recounted.

"We began to form some groups of fighters to return to Afghanistan to carry out well-prepared missions there. Meanwhile, we began to examine the situation of the group and the fraternal brothers to pick new places for them. Abu Musab and his Jordanian and Palestinian comrades opted to go to Iraq ... [an] examination of the situation indicated that the Americans would inevitably make a mistake and invade Iraq sooner or later. Such an invasion would aim at overthrowing the regime. Therefore, we should play an important role in the confrontation and resistance. It would be our historic chance to establish the state of Islam that would play a major role in alleviating injustice and establishing justice in this world," al-Adl said.

Zarqawi has established a vast network of fighters in Iraq, and Iraqi authorities have indicated that the network includes Arab nationals as well as Afghan and Pakistani fighters. His Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn allegedly has close ties to the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, an outgrowth of Ansar al-Islam. US and Iraqi authorities claim that successes have been made through a string of recent military operations targeting the groups.

A Mosul operation on May 28 led to the capture of Zarqawi aide Mutlaq Muhammad Mutlaq Abdullah (aka Abu Ra'd). Iraqi Major General Khalil al-Ubaydi announced on June 4 the arrest of an Ansar al-Sunnah member identified as Mullah Mahdi - al-Ubaydi contended that Mahdi carried out attacks at the direction of Zarqawi. And Iraqi authorities this week announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Ansar al-Sunnah leader Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i.

[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.]