Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, left, greets Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah outside Lancaster House in London Thursday June 23, 2005. The Middle East peace process, Iran's nuclear program and tackling opium production in Afghanistan will top the agenda at a meeting of G-8 foreign ministers

G-8 ministers reconfirm commitment to help rebuild Afghanistan

London - (Kyodo – 6/23/05) Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight nations reconfirmed Thursday their commitment to help rebuild Afghanistan at their one-day meeting in London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States renewed their commitment as they met with Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah at the first session of their gathering.

The ministers are also expected to explore ways to ensure that Israel will follow up on its promise to pull out of the Gaza Strip and to help the Israelis and Palestinians proceed with a 2003 road map for peace, G-8 officials said. The foreign ministerial meeting is part of high-level consultations held prior to the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, on July 6-8.

Uncertainties linger about whether Israel will withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remained apart over the issue during their talks Tuesday. The G-8 foreign ministers are also believed to have discussed how the international community can help Afghanistan hold a general election in September, the officials said.

The planned parliamentary election will be a milestone in the country's reconstruction process endorsed at an international conference in 2001 in Bonn, following the first presidential election in October last year. But the G-8 countries still see the need to resolve lingering problems, such as insecurity, poverty and production of opium, and are expected to discuss those issues, the officials said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura may call on his G-8 peers to share the financial burden of a project aimed at helping paramilitary troops in Afghanistan to disarm and reintegrate into society, Japanese government sources said. James Wolfensohn, a special envoy for Gaza disengagement, is also likely to join the talks, the G-8 officials indicated.

The talks may also cover the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, as well as disputes over reform of the U.N. Security Council, they said. Machimura is likely to call on his G-8 partners to help resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, they said.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is chairing the meeting. Five ministers are making their debuts at G-8 foreign ministerial talks, namely Machimura, Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Other participants include German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn of Luxembourg, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. The participants plan to give a joint press conference after the discussions, with Straw issuing a statement summarizing the outcome, the G-8 officials said.

Machimura is also expected to say there is a need to expand the U.N. Security Council and ask for cooperation from the other G-8 foreign ministers, Japanese government officials said. Japan and Germany are among four countries seeking to expand the Security Council, with six new permanent members and four new nonpermanent members. The other members of the so-called Group of Four are India and Brazil.

However, there is little chance of the G-8 ministers finding common ground on the issue, a Japanese official suggested. The United States only supports "two or so" additional permanent Security Council seats and expanding the number of nonpermanent members by two or three, according to its latest policy statement on U.N. reform. Machimura and Rice will discuss the issue of U.N. Security Council reform in a bilateral meeting Thursday, the Japanese officials said.

G8 focus on Afghan drugs trade – BBC 6/23/05

Foreign ministers from the G8 group of the world's leading industrialised nations are due to pledge more support for Afghanistan's battle against drugs. Officials from the UK, which chairs the G8 from next month, say they expect practical engagement to be needed there for the next 10 years.

The drugs trade is seen as one of the main problems facing the country. Opium production rose last year and the expected focus is on ways of providing alternative incomes to farmers.

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah is attending the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in London. BBC News website world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says that the production of opium poppies in Afghanistan is a cause of real concern. Britain is also set to increase its military commitment to Afghanistan in the coming year.

Next year, the British led NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) HQ will be sent to Afghanistan as part of an attempt to combat both narcotics traffic and the Taleban. Other British units will be in support, though the numbers are not known yet.

A senior British official said that the G8 meeting would show its commitment to the Karzai government and that "counter narcotics would be a main theme for the next ten years."

At the same time, the Afghan government would be encouraged to engage in "good governance." "We expect the government to deliver," said the official. "We want more warlords dependant on the drugs trade to be removed and we support President Karzai in his attempt to eliminate narcotics as a factor in the country." The UN has recently voiced fears that Afghanistan could turn into a "narco-state" if it failed to bring the drug trade under control.

Insurgent Death Toll in Afghanistan Rises By DANIEL COONEY, AP 6/23/05

Kabul - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces surrounded a rebel hide-out in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, and the number of insurgents killed from three days of fighting rose to 102, the defense ministry said.

The battle was one of the deadliest since the Taliban's ouster more than three years ago and was sure to add to growing anxiety that an Iraq-style conflict is developing here.

Two Taliban commanders, Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Brader, are believed to be fighting alongside hundreds of rebel holdouts, said Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Marad. Both are well known names in the Taliban rebellion, accused of orchestrating attacks across much of Afghanistan's violence-ridden south.

"A total of 102 Taliban have been killed since the fighting started on Tuesday," Marad said, 26 more than were reported on Wednesday evening. "These deaths will have a huge impact on the rebels. Many are trying to flee. But we have them surrounded."

The U.S. military Wednesday put the rebel death toll at 49. Lt. Cindy Moore, a spokeswoman for the force, said there had been no update since then and referred questions to the Afghan government.

Gen. Salim Khan, commander of 400 Afghan policemen who took part in the fighting, said the insurgents had been hit hard. "Their camps were decimated. Bodies lay everywhere. Heavy machine guns and AK-47s were scattered alongside blankets, kettles and food," he told The Associated Press. "Some of the Taliban were also killed in caves where they were hiding and U.S. helicopters came and pounded them."

American AC-130 gunships, AH-64 Apache helicopters, A-10 attack planes and Harrier jump jets bombarded the rebels and had a "devastating effect on their forces," said another U.S. spokesman, Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara.

Gen. Ayub Salangi, the police chief for Kandahar province where much of the fighting has occurred, said the massive assault on the rebels was in response to a Taliban ambush of a government convoy last week that left a local police commander and six of his men dead.

The local government chief was believed kidnapped in that assault, but Salangi said investigators have determined that he was actually a member of the Taliban and may have orchestrated the ambush.

About 390 suspected insurgents have been reported killed since rebel attacks began increasing in March, after snows melted on mountain tracks used by the rebels. In the same time, 29 U.S. troops, 38 Afghan police and soldiers and 125 civilians have been killed.

The bloodshed has raised concerns that the war is widening, rather than winding down. U.S. and Afghan officials have warned that violence could get even worse before parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

Afghan officials blame the rise in violence on insurgents sneaking in from Pakistan and are urging the government in Islamabad to crack down on militants there. On Sunday, Afghan intelligence agents foiled a plot by three Pakistanis to assassinate Zalmay Khalilzad, the outgoing U.S. ambassador.

Meanwhile, Spain announced it will send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan to help provide security for parliamentary elections in September, increasing its troop presence there to nearly 800. The new troops will start deploying in July for a 90-day mission.

Taleban commanders 'surrounded' – BBC 6/23/05

US and Afghan forces have surrounded at least two senior Taleban commanders in southern Afghanistan after three days of intense fighting, officials say. They say more than 100 Taleban fighters have been killed in one of the biggest offensives in two years.

Hundreds of Afghan troops backed by US-led coalition forces have taken part in the clashes in Zabul province that started on Tuesday. The Taleban deny having lost any of their men.

On Tuesday, the pilot of a US spy plane was killed when his aircraft crashed while returning to its base in the United Arab Emirates from Afghanistan. It is not clear whether the plane had been involved in the offensive.

Reports say Afghan and US forces have laid siege to an area in which senior Taleban commanders are believed to be hiding. They are believed to include Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Brader - both of whom are said to be close to Taleban leader Mullah Omar.

Most of the fighting has taken place in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, near the border with Kandahar. "We have 103 bodies," Afghan interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. "All of them were armed. Most were killed by coalition helicopter gunships," he said.

A British military spokeswoman, Lt Gemma Fullman, said British planes provided close air support but did not drop any munitions, the AFP news agency reports. Afghan police commander Gen Salim Khan said eight Afghan security force members had died. The US military said five US soldiers had been wounded. Taleban spokesman Latifullah Hakimi denied any of the group's fighters had been killed or captured.

The fighting began after Afghan and coalition forces were attacked by rebels with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades on Tuesday, according to a US military statement. The forces were patrolling an area south-west of Daychopan, near the border with Kandahar province, when the attack took place.

Tuesday's incident follows a wave of violence earlier this week in which at least 38 rebels were killed in clashes with US-led coalition and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan. The BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says doubt has been cast on some of the US military's previous claims about insurgent casualty numbers.

But our correspondent says barely a day goes by now without serious violence across south and east Afghanistan, raising fears for security in September's planned parliamentary elections.

The US has about 18,000 troops in Afghanistan tackling remnants of the Taleban regime that was ousted in late 2001. Nearly 400 people have been killed in Taleban-linked violence this year, following a lull during the winter - most of them suspected militants, but also about 30 US troops.

Afghanistan's patience wears thin - By Andrew North - BBC News, Kabul

Mounting alarm in Afghanistan over the continuing violence in the south and east of the country with less than three months to go before parliamentary elections is also leading to rising tensions with its neighbour Pakistan.

By some estimates, at least 400 people have been killed in the past three months in bombings and clashes largely blamed on Taleban insurgents. But in Afghanistan, many people say the real blame lies with Pakistan, which they accuse of sheltering many of the militants.

Newspapers have been reflecting this in recent days, running angry editorials accusing Pakistan of trying to undermine Afghanistan's stability and progress. Such accusations are nothing new of course. A Pakistani hand is often seen in any violence or trouble here.

Unlike in the past though, the Afghan government has also been pointing the finger publicly at its neighbour. The growing rift is a concern to the US government too, but a difficult one for it to handle with

Afghan officials admit the past three months of violence, which has seen some of the bloodiest incidents since the overthrow of the Taliban in December 2001, have taken them by surprise.

Along with US military commanders, they had been hoping the insurgency was fading. But President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said earlier this week that many of the recent attacks - including a suicide bombing earlier this month in Kandahar which claimed 20 lives - had been carried out by militants who crossed from Pakistan.

"Some senior members of the Taleban, including some who are involved in killings and are considered terrorists, are in Pakistan," he told a news conference.

In later remarks to the Reuters news agency, he went further saying: "What we want to see is action now and the arrest of Taleban leaders in Pakistan," including the man regarded as the movement's main spokesman - Latifullah Hakimi. Afghan security officials say he is living in the city of Quetta, just across the border from south-eastern Afghanistan.

There was also fury over a Pakistani television channel broadcasting an interview with a senior Taleban commander last week - apparently conducted inside the country. "If a television channel can find him, why can't the ISI?" asked one Afghan official, referring to Pakistan's intelligence service.

What prompted this public barrage was the revelation earlier this week of an alleged plot by three Pakistanis to kill outgoing US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad - who has himself been a vocal critic of Islamabad.

Afghan security agents arrested the three Pakistani men last weekend. Officials say all three confessed to their plan and that they were trained on Pakistani soil. The Pakistani foreign ministry angrily denied any involvement and suggestions that the government was not doing enough to tackle terrorism.

But late on Tuesday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf rang Mr Karzai in what was seen as an effort to calm the row. It was a call that may have been instigated by US President George W Bush, who had spoken to Gen Musharraf just before.

A short statement released by the Afghan leader's office afterwards said Gen Musharraf had "assured President Karzai of Pakistan's continued support and co-operation in the fight against terrorism".

But a senior Afghan official with knowledge of the conversation was far less positive, saying there was no sign of a change in Pakistan's policy. Islamabad had still not abandoned its belief that an unstable Afghanistan was in its interests, the official said.

Spain to send 500 more troops for Afghan elections

MADRID, June 23 (Reuters) - Spain will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan to reinforce a NATO peacekeeping mission there ahead of September elections, the Defence Ministry said, after winning support for the deployment in parliament.

The troops will leave in July and be based in the western city of Herat, the ministry said on its Web site on Thursday. Spain already has 500 troops in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has predicted more violence in the runup to the September 18 polls. Taliban guerrillas and their al Qaeda allies have intensified attacks in recent months. Extra Dutch and Romanian troops have also been sent to reinforce the 8,300-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force for the elections.

The Afghanistan mission is NATO's first outside its traditional European and Atlantic area. A separate U.S.-led force with 18,000 troops is fighting al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents in the south and east of the country.

Russian foreign minister outlines Afghan threat to regional organization - Interfax, Russia 06/22/2005

Moscow - There is still a drugs and terrorist threat from the territory of Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. "There is both a drugs threat and, unfortunately, also one of terrorism. Our countries are affected by these threats," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow today following a meeting of Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO] foreign ministers. He stressed that the threats from Afghan territory had been the main topic at the CSTO foreign ministers' meeting.

"We discussed how to cooperate more effectively to halt these threats. We will be proposing a plan of measures at Thursday's [23 June] CSTO summit, including setting up a working group to coordinate with Afghan structures," the foreign minister said.

Asked by reporters about problems expected at the meeting, he added: "We mainly focused on the threats of international terrorism and drugs crime. There is a fair amount of evidence of the involvement of a number of Islamic organizations in these threats." Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0717 gmt 22 Jun 05

Situation in Afghanistan under control, Bush officials say - By Drew Brown, Knight Ridder Newspapers 6/22/05

WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials said Wednesday that they expect fighting in Afghanistan to intensify in coming months as Taliban and al-Qaida fighters attempt to disrupt national assembly elections scheduled for September.

However, the officials said the United States and its allies have the country's security situation under control and that no increase in U.S. troops, which now number around 17,000, would be necessary. They said efforts to rebuild the country's political institutions, train and expand its army, disarm its warlords and stamp out opium production have made significant progress, but conceded that it could take years to correct some problems, especially drug trafficking.

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Peter Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said Afghanistan's presidential elections last October had left the Taliban and other extremists "split" and "demoralized," but that violence will likely spike again as the September elections near.

"We see some signs of it already," Rodman said. "But our analysis - our strategic analysis - is that the moderates of the country are winning their battle, they're building their institutions and that the extremists are isolated. And we hope that if we defeat them again politically in this election process, that we will again see a further strengthening of the moderate forces and a further weakening of the extremist."

Meanwhile, fighting in southern Afghanistan continued into its second day Wednesday, with U.S. warplanes pounding a suspected Taliban and al-Qaida haven. Twelve members of the Afghan security forces were reported killed, and five American soldiers were reported wounded. A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command said 40 insurgents had been killed in the fighting, which began on Tuesday.

Though he didn't address the latest fighting directly, Army Gen. Walter Sharp, the director of strategic plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S.-Afghan offensives would continue through the summer, especially in southern and eastern Afghanistan, in an attempt to "weaken and destroy" Taliban and al-Qaida diehards.

"They believe this is their last chance, I think," Sharp told the committee. "They saw from the presidential election that they were not able to stop the people from Afghanistan from demanding democracy, willing to risk their lives to do that. This election coming up is even more critical."

Three allied countries were planning to send more troops to Afghanistan in late summer to help safeguard the elections, Sharp said, but he didn't name the three. He said the United States has troops available to send if necessary.

Sharp said there are about 29,000 U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan, between the United States and the International Security Assistance Force, which is under NATO control. The U.S. focus is on expanding the Afghan army, which he said now has more than 24,000 soldiers and is expected to have 70,000 by September 2007. U.S. trainers are embedded with those forces, which he said are taking part in 35 percent to 40 percent of U.S. operations and are "yielding terrific results."

Sharp said efforts to disarm Afghanistan's warlords and thousands of combatants have produced results. Nearly all of the known tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons in the country are now under the central government's control, he said.

The Defense Department plans to commit $242 million in anti-narcotics funds to combat the drug trade in Afghanistan this year, Sharp said. He suggested that NATO-led provincial reconstruction teams could begin taking a more active role in anti-drug efforts.

Last year, Afghanistan produced a "historically high" opium crop, with about 800 square miles under cultivation and 5,456 tons of potential production, said Nancy J. Powell, the acting secretary of state for anti-narcotics efforts. She outlined a five-point strategy for combating the problem, including law enforcement, interdiction and alternative crop programs, but she admitted that "there is no reason to expect the drug threat in Afghanistan will abate anytime soon."

Senior Afghan officials suspected of trafficking drugs, minister says Associated Press / June 22, 2005

Some provincial governors and police chiefs in Afghanistan are suspected of involvement in the country's illegal opium and heroin trade, which has ballooned to account for nearly 90 percent of the world's supply, the counternarcotics minister said Wednesday.

Despite the suspicions, none of the officials are being investigated because of a "lack of evidence against them," Minister Habibullah Qaderi said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Only two "low-level" drug smugglers have been convicted this year, and they were sentenced to 18 months each in prison, he said.

"We know ... big people are involved, but we need proof," the minister said. "What we hear from the people ... they say as far as governors, chiefs of police, they facilitate ... and maybe some are directly involved."

"It has been said many times by the Ministry of Interior, it has been said by the people, but so far nobody has proved anything against anybody. If you want to take someone to a court of law, you have to have proof," he added.

Qaderi declined to name the officials who are suspected. He said many of the heads of the drug trafficking networks are also warlords, some of whom were commanders in the U.S.-backed Afghan force that drove the Taliban from power in 2001.

Qaderi said progress had been made in cracking down on the trade, including a 30 percent reduction this year in the amount of land used to cultivate poppies. But he said that despite predictions by President Hamid Karzai that the amount of opium being grown would drop by 20 percent to 30 percent this year, strong rains after years of drought may lead to a bumper crop.

Afghanistan's government is under fire for not being tough enough on the burgeoning drugs trade, which has sparked warnings it is fast becoming a dangerous "narco-state" less than four years after the U.S.-led invasion ended its role as a haven for al-Qaida.

The United States, Britain and other countries are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into an anti-drug campaign. The cash is being used to train police units to destroy laboratories, arrest smugglers and destroy opium crops, as well as to fund projects to help farmers grow legal crops.

However, the drug traffickers have hit back at the threat to their business. Late last month in two attacks on subsequent days, gunmen killed 11 people associated with a U.S.-sponsored project encouraging farmers not to grow poppies.

Qaderi said that so far this year 130 drug laboratories have been smashed, three opium markets raided, 130 tons of opium seized and 30 tons of chemicals used to process opium into heroin destroyed. These figures compare with 135 tons last year, and 3 tons in 2002.

Warlord among several killed in Farah fighting - By Khalida Khursand

Pajhwok Afghan News - 06/22/2005 - HERAT CITY - Several people including a warlord were killed in fierce fighting between two unreconstructed local commanders in the western province of Farah.

Saaduddin Yaqubzada, a former mujahideen commander who clashed with the then Parchaman district chief, said Wednesday 11 civilians and four of his loyalists perished in the battle.

Mohammad Salim Mobarez, the rival commander asserting himself as Parchaman district chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News Yaqubzada himself was eliminated and 10 of his men were captured.

He added one of his fighters was also killed and another wounded in the fighting that lasted till Wednesday noon in Ghuci area. Interior Ministry officials in Kabul, however, branded both men as warlords. The officials did not have a clear idea of casualties.

Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal blamed the rival sides for causing trouble to the residents, who complained against both - none of them a government representative.

Mobarez branded Yaqubzada as an unruly Taliban commander, responsible for worsening the security situation in the region. "Yaqubzada was part of the ousted militia and refused to turn in arms to the government."

Before he was reported killed by his rival, Yaqubzada said in a chat with this news agency in the morning: "The district chief is oppressing locals and we have risen against him to defend people."

Regarding the clashes, press officer at the Interior Ministry Dad Mohammad Rasa said locals - complaining of oppression - had stood up against the governor. Last week, more than 100 people protested against Mobarez, accusing him of not allowing a new district chief to replace him. Rasa also confirmed Mobarez was lately replaced.

U.S. Ambassador, 'Viceroy of Afghanistan,' Turns to Iraq - Los Angeles Times 06/21/2005 By Halima Kazem

LAGHMAN — His boots pounded the rocky terrain as he skillfully maneuvered through the mountainous ravine, challenging his security detail and entourage of aides to keep up.

Hiking to a U.S.-funded project site in the southern province of Laghman, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad chattered away in a stream of guttural Pashto, discussing the necessity of creating jobs for Afghans. "If you don't provide work for these men, they will turn to the gun and fight again," Khalilzad told the provincial governor.

The governor nodded and motioned to a group of six men digging a large ditch for a river dam project. The dike was one of several U.S.-backed projects the affable Afghan-American ambassador visited before heading to Baghdad on Monday as the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

"I have waited to come to Laghman because I know you all have high expectations of me," Khalilzad told a large crowd gathered Sunday to inaugurate a government headquarters in the province. The crowd burst into applause. "Laghman is where my parents were born and where my grandparents are buried."

As the top U.S. official in Afghanistan for the last two years, Khalilzad has been somewhat of an enigma to many Afghans. "He is a representative of the U.S. government, I understand that, but he is also one of our own," said Abdul Hadi Wahidy, a former militia commander in Laghman.

But it is exactly this mixed identity that helped Khalilzad wield such strong influence over Afghanistan's politics and reconstruction. Fluent in the nation's two main languages, Dari and Pashto, Khalilzad was nicknamed the "viceroy of Afghanistan," and was touted by supporters and detractors as the power behind Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

A former university professor who has served in the State Department, the Pentagon and on the National Security Council, Khalilzad had long been considered a political and security expert on Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan when President Bush tapped him as special envoy to Afghanistan in early 2002, then ambassador in 2003. Flying to the capital, Kabul, was a homecoming of sorts for Khalilzad, who came to the United States in the 1970s as a student. He arrived in his homeland, he said, with a simple agenda: "to accelerate success in Afghanistan."

"Because of my background, that I was born here, I speak the languages of Afghanistan and I knew the key players here, this has made my job here easier," he said. But at the same time, Khalilzad said, being an Afghan added to the pressures he faced. People expected more of him than they might have of another U.S. ambassador.

Critics accused Khalilzad of trying to paper over Afghanistan's deep-rooted problems with short-term solutions, in an effort to show U.S. success. They faulted the U.S. for using warlords to fight Al Qaeda and remnants of the Taliban regime. Many of those local commanders later proved disloyal to Karzai.
"The United States' policies in Afghanistan ended up contradicting each other. On one end they were helping the warlords, and on the other trying to set up the Karzai government," said Abdul Fayez, a political scientist at Kabul University. "It didn't make sense."

Daad Noorani, a political analyst and editor in chief of the Rozgaran newspaper, accused Khalilzad of pushing Karzai to accept warlords in his government after his election in 2004.

"The people of Afghanistan were very clear when they voted for Mr. Karzai. They wanted him to eliminate warlords from his government," Noorani said. "But Mr. Khalilzad ignored the promises President Karzai made to the people and talked him into including Ismail Khan and Dostum in his administration."

Khan ruled Herat province as his personal fiefdom until late 2004, and Abdul Rashid Dostum is an ethnic Uzbek leader from northern Afghanistan. Khan is now minister of energy; Dostum is the army chief of staff.

With Khalilzad leaving, Noorani and others fear Karzai will have trouble handling these powerful commanders. "Khalilzad has appeased these warlords by bringing them into the government, but this is not a long-term solution," said Noorani. "President Karzai is going to be left to deal with them in his already struggling government."

Khalilzad dismissed such criticism, saying that "there is a lot written about my role with regard to specific things that historians will have to look at much more closely…. All the information with regard to what happened is not out there out yet."

In a recent farewell address, the ambassador called on the Afghan government to stop rotating bad leaders and appoint new and qualified officials. With parliamentary elections scheduled for September, Khalilzad says Afghanistan still has many challenges ahead. "As we get closer [to the elections], insurgent attacks by terrorists could intensify," he said.

On Monday, Afghan officials said they had foiled a plot this weekend to kill Khalilzad. Three Pakistanis were arrested in Laghman shortly before his visit.

Khalilzad says the solution lies in strengthening the nation's police force and army, and in a long-term security alliance with the United States.

"A strategic partnership can deter big efforts, like someone invading. But in regards to covert operations … that's much harder," he said. "For that, what is needed is to be provided by the Afghan government, intelligence and police."

He warned the country's neighbors and other forces not to meddle in Afghanistan's affairs. "There are those who think the U.S. will get tired of Afghanistan," Khalilzad said. But Washington won't walk away, he insisted. Insurgents, he said, are "wasting their money."

Pakistan's lethal exports - By Kaushik Kapisthalam - ASIA TIMES

From Australia to Europe to North America, a spate of arrests, trials and convictions has brought to the world's attention the growing threat posed by jihadis from Pakistan.

On June 5, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested a pair of Pakistani-Americans from the sleepy little farming town of Lodi, California. Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer Hayat, 47, were later charged with lying to the authorities regarding their connection with jihadi training camps. But the formal FBI affidavit contained the bombshell piece of information that the training camps in question were in Pakistan, not in the notorious tribal areas, but right outside the city of Rawalpindi, which also hosts the Pakistan army headquarters.

While the FBI later put out an amended affidavit, the original statement released to the media named the person running the Rawalpindi terror camp as "Maulana Fazlur Rehman". This was confusing because two prominent people share that name in Pakistan. The first one is the secretary general of Pakistan's opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Islamic alliance and the head of a pro-Taliban group called Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam. Experts say, however, that the affidavit likely describes another person, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, a notorious terrorist leader.

Khalil is the chief patron of a group called Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), which was the first Pakistani jihadi group to be banned by the US in 1997, when it was known as Harkat-ul-Ansar. While HuM is supposedly focused on fighting Pakistan's covert war against India in the Kashmir region, it gained prominence in 1998 when Khalil became the first Pakistani leader to sign the fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden calling for attacks on US and Western interests.

In 2003, the US government declassified 32 documents relating to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. These included secret memos from the State Department and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). One of the DIA documents noted, "[Osama] bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was able to expand under the safe sanctuary extended by Taliban following Pakistan directives. If there is any doubt on that issue, consider the location of bin Laden's camp targeted by US cruise missiles, Zahawa. Positioned on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, it was built by Pakistani contractors, funded by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] directorate ... If this was later to become bin Laden's base, then serious questions are raised by the early relationship between bin Laden and Pakistan's ISI."

In 1998, US warships in the Arabian Sea launched cruise missiles on "al-Qaeda" training camps in Afghanistan. However, at least one of the targeted camps was a HuM facility, run in conjunction with Pakistani military and intelligence officials. According to the US 9-11 Commission, many HuM volunteers and a few Pakistani intelligence personnel were killed during the missile attack. Soon after the strike, Khalil called a press conference in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and threatened the US that his men would attack Americans in their homes, just like the Americans attacked them (HuM) in their own backyard. HuM continued to operate training camps in eastern Afghanistan until US air strikes destroyed them during the fall of 2001. In 2003, HuM began using the name Jamiat ul-Ansar.

Not the first time - The Lodi case is not the first time people suspected of links to al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani jihadi groups have been arrested. Just a couple of weeks before the Lodi arrests, American authorities deported a Pakistani man named Khamal Muhammad. Muhammad, who was arrested in San Francisco for immigration violations, later revealed that he had trained in a HuM camp and learned to use pistols, rifles and grenades.

In 2003, American authorities broke up a terrorist cell in the state of Virginia. During the subsequent trial, six men pleaded guilty, while three more were convicted of terrorism-related charges. The men, belonging to various ethnic backgrounds, admitted to being members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the notorious Pakistani Salafist group that is also active in Indian Kashmir. The US government released their indictment, which laid out the dates and periods when they went to Pakistan to train in LeT's camps.

The "Virginia Jihad" indictment also pointed out that LeT's own website, which keeps changing its address, said that the group had four facilities for training mujahideen from around the world, including camps named "Taiba", "Aqsa", "Um-al-Qur'a" and "Abdullah bin Masud". The trained LeT fighters, the website claimed, participated in jihad in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo and the Philippines. The website also prominently displayed a banner portraying Lashkar-e-Taiba's dagger penetrating the national flags of the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, India and Israel. In April 2005, American authorities secured the conviction of a Salafist cleric named Ali al-Timimi, who was said to be the mastermind behind the Virginia Jihad terror cell.

European links - Meanwhile, another Pakistani jihadi connection turned up in Europe. On June 16, Pakistan-born British citizen Ghulam Rama, 67, was convicted of the crime of "terrorist conspiracy" in Paris. Rama was tied to Richard Reid, the British Islamic jihadi close to al-Qaeda who tried to blow up a Paris-Miami flight in December 2001 before being arrested. Interestingly, Reid is also tied to another shadowy Pakistani jihadi group called Jamaat-ul-Fuqra. Rama himself admitted to being an activist of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

LeT has many other links to Europe, France in particular. A French convert to Islam named Willie Brigitte has been in the custody of anti-terrorism authorities in France since 2003. Brigitte, who also went by the nom-de-guerre "Salahuddin", was caught in Sydney, Australia, when he was allegedly in the midst of planning a terrorist attack. Australian journalist Ben English obtained the transcripts of Brigitte's secret trial in France.

During the trial, Brigitte told the French judge in charge that in 2002 he trained along with many Pakistanis, European Muslim converts and American and European nationals of Pakistani origin. Brigitte claimed that the training, which included the use of explosives, small arms and terrorism tactics was conducted in a sophisticated three-tiered mountain complex near Pakistan's border with India. Brigitte also noted that the training was done with the protection of the Pakistani army. The LeT itself was filled with Pakistani army personnel and much of the weaponry and logistical supplies for the training camp were provided by Pakistani soldiers, he noted.

Interestingly, Brigitte's statements were independently corroborated by Yong-ki Kwon, a Korean-American convert to Islam who was one of the people convicted in the Virginia Jihad case in the US. Kwon also noted that the foreign LeT volunteers were accommodated at the sprawling 190 acre headquarters in the Pakistani town of Muridke, near Lahore. Interestingly, despite its known terrorist training facilities, Pakistani authorities have not shut down the LeT's Muridke facility.

Pakistani jihadis have also been tied to successful terror attacks in Europe. Abu Dahdah, chief of the Spanish-based al-Qaeda cell that helped finance and organize the September 11 attacks, had links with Ali al-Timimi. One of Dahdah's proteges, Jamal Zougam, is now under arrest in Spain in connection with the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid. In September 2004, Spanish authorities cracked what they claimed to have been a cell of Pakistanis who were funding al-Qaeda activities in Spain. The Pakistani cell was tied to al-Qaeda's September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as well as the jihadi group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which also is a Pakistani group active in Kashmir.

Terror down under - of all places, anti-terror experts have been surprised and alarmed by the Pakistani jihad connection in Australia. As explained above, French terror suspect Willie Brigitte was arrested in Australia. But before Brigitte, Australians were shocked to find that one of their compatriots named David Hicks was arrested by US authorities when he was fighting alongside the Taliban forces, and was later found to have been trained at an LeT training camp in Pakistan. Hicks also claimed that he was fighting alongside Pakistani soldiers in Kashmir.

In April 2004, Australian authorities arrested a Pakistani man named Faheem Khalid Lodhi in conjunction with the Brigitte case. Lodhi, who is now being described by authorities as a LeT kingpin, was allegedly planning an attack along with Brigitte aimed at high-value targets in Australia, including a nuclear power plant outside Sydney. Lodhi had also allegedly recruited another Pakistani man named Izhar ul-Haque as part of his operation. Lodhi is currently undergoing trial and faces a life sentence if convicted.

Australia, of course, faced their own version of September 11 when dozens of its citizens were killed in the 2002 bomb blast on the island of Bali, Indonesia - a popular tourist destination for Australians. The Bali attack was reportedly masterminded by a man called Hambali, who belongs to the Indonesian jihadi group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). JI had made it clear that it regards Australia as one of its terror targets.

It is interesting to note that the better-trained JI members were instructed not in Indonesia, but in Pakistan, in camps run by the Lashkar-e-Taiba. While Hambali was caught soon after the Bali attacks, his brother, who goes by the name Gunawan, was arrested in Pakistan at the Abu Bakar University in Karachi, which is affiliated with the LeT. Interestingly, Gunawan was on a scholarship provided by the Pakistani government under a fake name "Abdul Hadi". During interrogation, Gunawan revealed that he, along with Brigitte, worked to transport some 200 Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai men to and from LeT terror camps in Pakistan. Despite this, the LeT facilities in Karachi remain open to date.

The pawns who pay as powers play - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Asia Times Online - June 22, 2005

KARACHI - In the complex undercurrents that dictate the ebb and flow of Pakistani politics and policy, yesterday's hero can very quickly become today's scoundrel. Just ask Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

Sheikh Rashid is leader of the Pakistan Muslim League and minister for information in the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf, with whom he enjoys a very cozy relationship.

Sheikh Rashid's world was rocked recently when Kashmiri militant leader Yasin Malik, on a visit to Pakistan, praised Sheikh Rashid's services for the mujahideen fighting in Kashmir and recalled that he used to provide military training to militants.

Sheikh Rashid strongly denied running any such training camp and maintained that he was only running a humanitarian camp for refugees from Jammu & Kashmir.

In an effort to throw some light on these startling revelations, and equally strong denials, Asia Times Online spoke to Khalid Khawaja, a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official who was dismissed from the service by the late dictator General Zia ul-Haq because of his outspoken nature.

Khalid subsequently became a close associate of Osama bin Laden, and played an important behind-the-scenes role in both regional and national politics. Before the US attack on Afghanistan in late 2001, he was a part of the back-room diplomacy between the US and the Taliban, which failed miserably.

Asia Times Online: The heroes of the past are the terrorists of the present. Everything changes dramatically, so that someone like Sheikh Rashid, who was once proud to take part in Kashmir's struggle, is now afraid he will be labeled a terrorist if he admits that he ever supported armed struggle in Kashmir. Why? [Sheikh Rashid and Khalid were interviewed together on television and Rashid not only denied that he had ever run a training camp, but also refused to identify Khalid as an old friend.]
Khalid Khawaja: In fact, the issue is terrorism. It is states and governments which sponsor terrorism to begin with, and subjects become the ultimate victims, and then a vicious cycle of terror rotates. In this state-sponsored crime there is no exception, and Pakistan, India, the US and Israel all have the same role.

Many of us call it a battle between East and West, between the Islamic and Judeo-Christian world, but it is neither of these. It is in fact the ruling regimes that want to dictate their will, and then they exploit [people] in various ways. Sometimes in the garb of monarchy, sometimes for democracy, and sometimes for dictatorship.

Ninety percent of people accept to be ruled, but there always remain some elements who refuse to succumb. They fight for freedom and resist till their last. However, in this conflict of two minorities - those who impose their will and those who resist it - the majority remains the sole victim. Yet people talk about Islam versus Christianity or Judaism. The basic theme remains the same. There is a group of people who want to impose their will, whether they happen to be Christian or Muslim, and there is a group of people who want to resist, and there is a silent majority which is trampled in between.

This is exactly the interpretation when we talk about Pakistan and India in the perspective of Kashmir. In fact, Pakistan was never sincere with Kashmiris. It was a selfish military strategic maneuver to bleed India. Whatever was done, it was for "Pakistanism". Meaning to impose Pakistan's strategic agenda in the region. We just used religion and jihad. It was just a ploy to engage Indian forces in Kashmir and keep their financial resources squeezed.

ATol: Did not Pakistan morally support the Kashmiri struggle so that the Muslim population would get its rights?

KK: What are you talking about? Indian Muslims enjoy more rights than Muslims enjoy in Pakistan. There are hundreds of Pakistani people, including army-men, clerics, scholars and common people, who have been missing from their homes for over two years. It is a known fact that they were picked up by intelligence agencies. They were never tried in any court of law. Several of them were killed without any trail. Even the British system of justice during British India days was better, when nobody was kept in detention without trial. We ask, okay, don't give us the rights that free nations have, but at least give us those rights people had during the time of the British Raj.

A few years ago, a Muslim was picked by an Indian intelligence agency. Prominent Muslim leader and scholar Maulana Asad Madani met the governor of the province and protested. The governor said that this kind of interrogation was common in Pakistan, "So why do you protest in India?" Asad Madani reminded the governor in very strong words that this was not Pakistan, but India, and one had to produce a person in court, so eventually the Muslim was produced.

The biggest curse in Pakistan is things done in the name of patriotism. I do not buy this theory. Patriotism is a vague term until it is allied with a proper ideology. I remember Colonel [Syed] Farooq's words [Farooq was a Bangladeshi officer who took part in the killing of Sheikh Mujib Rehman - Bangladesh's founding father - and his family in 1975] when he visited Pakistan in the late 1980s. He said that before the partition of British India [1947] he was a loyal citizen of the East India Company, then Pakistan, and even joined the Pakistan army. Then he became a loyal citizen of Bangladesh, and he said he may become loyal to something else in the future. Therefore, patriotism for a piece of land is nonsense.

ATol: What happened in Afghanistan?

KK: In Afghanistan's case, a similar game was carried out on a massive scale when Muslim youths from all over the world were brought in by Pakistan and the US [to fight against the Soviets in the 1980s]. They were tools for the empires' proxy war. The name of jihad was used. The state religion in those days supported jihad against India [in Kashmir] and the USSR [in Afghanistan]. However, once jihad was established, the states did not have any way to convince Muslims that jihad was only against the USSR and India, and not against the US.

Now, again, it is a question of a state imposing its will. The message is clear: if you are against us, we will kill you and your sympathizers. In this state terrorism, there is no exception, be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Pakistan, India, the US or Israel. All are the same.

You talk about terrorism by individuals, but you do not discuss what they were in the past and why they became terrorists. In fact, it is state terrorism which starts it all. A state recruited Muslim fighters all across the world and gathered them in Afghanistan. The US tried to kill them with a cruise missile attack in 1998 [in retaliation for terror attacks on US embassies in Africa]. That terrorism was unaccounted for, yet several innocent women and children were killed by a proven US attack. It had yet to be proven that the 9-11 incident was carried out by Osama, but the US attacked Afghanistan and targeted all. When the reaction came, and helpless people became suicide bombers, they were called terrorists.

I have the example of Ahmed Saeed Khadr's family. The whole family was Canadian, and they came to Afghanistan to take part in the country's rehabilitation. First his 14-year-old son Omar Khadr was arrested in Afghanistan. He was taken to Guantanamo Bay. It is narrated in the US media and all information is available on the world-wide web how he was sexually abused in prison by US soldiers. His second son Abdul Karim was shot in the back by US soldiers, and was paralyzed. Another son, Abdul Rahman, agreed to become a US informer. The stories were published by the US media that despite his services, he was also shabbily treated. Ahmed Saeed Khadr and his family, including his wife, granddaughter and two daughters, took refuge in South Waziristan [in Pakistan]. They were not spared by Pakistani authorities. Ahmed Saeed was brutally killed. His wife and daughters were brought to Islamabad and then set free. They were homeless. Nobody was ready to give them a house for rent.

The families of the worst kind of criminals are not deprived of this basic right. Our government did so. Ahmed Saeed's family demanded his body be handed over. The government of Pakistan even refused that demand. Now just get into the shoes of the victim and think how many options you would have if you faced such consequences.

Now Minister of Information Sheikh Rashid comes on TV every day and proudly announces that we have killed so many foreign militants. This is the same minister who privately ran a similar military training camp in the past and prepared militants. Had he been out of government, he would have been labeled a terrorist, but since he is part of the government agenda, he is okay. In this fight of interests, only pawns are crushed. India and Pakistan fought proxy wars, the victims were innocent Kashmiris who were raped, detained and killed, or those who sacrificed their lives in armed struggle. Now the two countries are friends and the victims are those who sacrificed their lives for armed struggle. Now they are terrorists.

When two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets crushed. When two elephants make love, it is again the grass that gets crushed. Whether states fight with each other or make friendships, it is only the tools who became victims.

ATol: Explain how Sheikh Rashid started the training camp.

KK: The story starts in 1986-87, when out of emotion I wrote a letter to General Zia ul-Haq saying that he was a hypocrite and he was only interested in ruling Pakistan, rather than imposing Islamic law in the country. General Zia immediately ordered my dismissal from my basic services in the Pakistan air force, where I was a squadron leader, and from the ISI, where I was deputed at the Afghan desk. I went to Afghanistan and fought side-by-side with the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet troops. There I developed a friendship with Dr Abdullah Azzam [a mentor of bin Laden], Osama bin Laden and Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani [another mentor of bin Laden's]. At the same time, I was still in touch with my former organization, the ISI, and its then DG [director general], retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul.

After General Zia's death in a plane crash [1988], elections were announced and there was a possibility that the Pakistan People's Party [PPP] led by Benazir Bhutto would win, which would be a great setback for the cause of jihad. We discussed this situation, and all the mujahideen thought that they should play a role in blocking the PPP from winning the elections. I joined my former DG Hamid Gul and played a role in forming the then Islamic Democratic Alliance comprising the Pakistan Muslim League and the Jamaat-i-Islami. The PPP won the elections by a thin margin and faced a strong opposition. Osama bin Laden provided me with funds, which I handed over to Nawaz Sharif, then the chief minister of Punjab [and later premier], to dislodge Benazir Bhutto. Nawaz Sharif insisted that I arrange a direct meeting with the "Sheikh", which I did in Saudi Arabia. Nawaz met thrice with Osama in Saudi Arabia.

The most historic was the meeting in the Green Palace Hotel in Medina between Nawaz Sharif, Osama and myself. Osama asked Nawaz to devote himself to "jihad in Kashmir". Nawaz immediately said, "I love jihad." Osama smiled, and then stood up from his chair and went to a nearby pillar and said. "Yes, you may love jihad, but your love for jihad is this much." He then pointed to a small portion of the pillar. "Your love for children is this much," he said, pointing to a larger portion of the pillar. "And your love for your parents is this much," he continued, pointing towards the largest portion. "I agree that you love jihad, but this love is the smallest in proportion to your other affections in life."

These sorts of arguments were beyond Nawaz Sharif's comprehension and he kept asking me. "Manya key nai manya?" [Agreed or not?] He was looking for a Rs500 million [US$8.4 million at today's rate] grant from Osama. Though Osama gave a comparatively smaller amount, the landmark thing he secured for Nawaz Sharif was a meeting with the [Saudi] royal family, which gave Nawaz Sharif a lot of political support, and it remained till he was dislodged [as premier] by General Pervez Musharraf [in a coup in 1999]. Saudi Arabia arranged for his release and his safe exit to Saudi Arabia.

That was a typical situation, when Osama was famed for his generosity, and even politicians like Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, who was president of the National People's Party and president of the Islamic Democratic Alliance, and then interim prime minister, were also after me to arrange meetings with the "Sheikh".

Then Nawaz Sharif introduced me to Sheikh Rashid, and he took me to his Freedom House camp near Fateh Jang Road near Rawalpindi. He asked me to get support from Arabs. I took several of my Arab friends to his training camp, and they provided him with some money, though they were not satisfied with the environment.

The youths were mostly trained to fire AK-47 rifles, but there was no arrangement for the ideological training of youths. That was the point on which the Arabs objected, that it is ideological training that makes a difference between a mercenary and a mujahid. Rashid was the least bothered about ideological training, he was interested in money - Rs50,000 per person. Some money was provided to Rashid, and he claimed that he procured AK-47 guns with that money. How many, I do not remember.
ATol: What you are saying means that it was all a fraud in the name of jihad?

KK: Jihad needs strong justification, and when it is launched it requires piety in character. We as Muslims believe that if a person is wrongly killed it amounts to the killing of entire humanity.

ATol: What do you say about suicide bombers who carry out random attacks?

KK: They are reactionaries whose reactions are illustrations of anger and frustration, but we cannot call it Islam at all. In their behavior, although they are Muslims, they are the same as [Pentagon chief Donald] Rumsfeld, [President George W] Bush and [Vice President Dick] Cheney, who, in reaction to 3,500 killed people in New York, made a full season of killing people in Afghanistan and Iraq. The way the US imposed war on Afghanistan, the real mujahids, like [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar and Osama went into the background, and the leadership is in the hands of those who do not know what jihad is all about. They are just venting their frustration against the US. Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online

UZBEKISTAN: Interview with leader of new opposition group - Sunshine Uzbekistan - [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

TASHKENT, 22 June (IRIN) - As Uzbek authorities face increased Western pressure for an international probe into the deadly crackdown in the eastern city of Andijan last month, a new local opposition group, Serkuyosh Uzbekistonim (Sunshine Uzbekistan) has called for action from Washington increase the pressure for reform of the current regime.

Looking beyond the rule of President Islam Karimov and taking note of events in Kyrgyzstan in March that swept away the old order, the group has also called for peaceful change and economic liberalisation, in a rare assertion of dissent. IRIN spoke to the leader of Sunshine Uzbekistan, Sanjar Umarov, in the capital, Tashkent.

QUESTION: How exactly did your group come together and who are its members?

ANSWER: The idea came to me after the events of March 24 in Bishkek [when the government of Askar Akayev was ousted in a popular uprising]. I then realised that sooner or later, the same fate awaited the Uzbek regime and that when it falls, there must be a plan in place for saving our country from economic and political chaos.

I discussed this idea with the leader of Ozod Dehkonlar (Free Peasants) Party, Nigora Khidoyatova and she agreed that we should form an organisation that would work towards the preparation of an economic and social reform programme for the country. That is how the Coalition for Socio-Economic Reform, known as "Sunshine Uzbekistan" was born in early April.

Then the tragic events in Andijan occurred and it became clear that the political order in our country was deteriorating much faster than anticipated. In response to the events in Andijan, our coalition began to attract many entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and mid-level government officials.

These people believe that we should work not only on an economic reform programme but also work on creating a peaceful political transition that will avoid the disintegration of the Uzbek nation. We want to engage in a dialogue with the current regime to bring about peaceful change.

Q: Uzbekistan is not noted for tolerating opposing viewpoints. Will Tashkent listen to you?

A: Sunshine Uzbekistan is not a revolutionary or extremist group. We ask all our members to respect and support our constitution. But at the same time, respecting our constitution does not mean that we have abandoned our right to express our opinions on matters of grave urgency to our country. We will continue to do so within the framework of our constitution.

Q: In your recent open letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, you maintained that the government's bloody suppression of a protest in Andijan last month shocked Uzbek citizens. Can you elaborate further?

A: The events in Andijan have revealed the real nature of the current regime to every citizen of Uzbekistan. How can one not be shocked when our security services and armed forces open fire on women and children? The realisation that this did happen and that it could happen again, has shocked the people out of their prolonged state of political apathy. Sunshine Uzbekistan exists so that these average people, who in the past may not have wanted to risk being labelled as an extremist or revolutionary, can have a place to express their hopes and desires for a peaceful end to the current regime's cruelty towards its own people.

Q: Do you see such incidents as a source of destabilisation in the country?

A: The possibility of such incidents, if desperation takes people once again to the streets and they are met with the same action by our security services, haunts all thoughtful Uzbeks. The tragedy of the current regime is that they don't understand that their unwillingness to engage in a dialogue with the democratic opposition is the most immediate source of instability in Uzbekistan today.

Q: How would you describe the current state of human rights in Uzbekistan today? Will your group address human rights issues?

A: We understand that the terrible human rights abuses of the current regime deeply concern the international community and that only those governments that respect human rights can expect the respect and support of the people. That's why, in our letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, we publicly stated our commitment to a political amnesty.

Q: As a businessman heading up this group, you have stated you would like to see greater economic reform. Exactly what kind of reforms would you like to see implemented and how would they help the average Uzbek, many of whom remain impoverished?

A: We are looking to establish a society that would be characterised by the idea of democratic capitalism. Prior to the installation of Soviet power, the Uzbek people were known for centuries as one of the world's greatest entrepreneurial nations. Commerce and trade are in our blood. Unfortunately, the Soviet regime - and the current regime - have done everything possible to frustrate our natural ability to build a vibrant economy.

the creation of a vibrant economy, where everybody has the chance to earn their bread, first of all depends on the existence of a system that protects the people from the arbitrary confiscation of the fruits of their labour. Today in Uzbekistan, we have the opposite.

The system has been designed to provide any high governmental official or petty local official with the ability to simply take away anyone's property, whether it is a farm or a business, through the abuse of our terrible tax and legal codes. This of course makes attracting foreign investment necessary for the creation of jobs very difficult. So, the first thing that needs to be done is to radically simplify our tax and regulatory system so that government officials cannot abuse their positions.

Yes, poverty in Uzbekistan is our greatest social problem. But this poverty is also a function of the government's own policies. As you know, most Uzbeks are peasant farmers. The best and fastest way to improve the life of the average Uzbek is to provide farmers with the opportunity to get a fair, cash price for their crops. This, in the first instance, means the immediate abolishment of the cotton monopoly and increasing the domestic price for raw cotton.

Secondly, it means establishing a concentrated and long-term programme to diversify our agriculture away from cotton and towards the production of high value fruit and vegetable products. These objectives can be met through market-based incentives. I am absolutely convinced that once the farmer is free to pursue his own interests as he sees them, our country will become the envy of Central Asia.

Q: Last week president Karimov signed a number of degrees to speed up liberalisation of the economy, reduce official control over small and medium scale business in order to "improve the lives of every citizen" in the Central Asian country. Is this not a sign of government's willingness to reform?

A: Deja vu! If government decrees alone could build a market economy and stimulate small businesses, Uzbekistan would already be paradise. The problem with the current regime's economic policies is that their decrees are not worth the paper they are written on. We have seen this hundreds times over the last 15 years. The only way to liberalise the economy and stimulate small business is to free our country from the selfish clique that controls our government.

Q: What makes you believe that the president will respond your calls? If not, what will be your next plans?
A: I hope he understands that we are his last chance to save Uzbekistan from collapse.

[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.]