Afghanistan set for parliamentary vote in September

KABUL, March 4 (AFP) - Afghanistan's long- delayed first post-Taliban parliamentary polls are likely to be held in mid-September, a source close to the electoral commission told AFP Friday.

The vote has been put off repeatedly during the past eight months and hopes that it would take place in April or May have been dashed due to problems with politics, logistics and security.

"We are really on a September timetable now," the source said, adding that the electoral commission had put forward its latest proposal to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's cabinet session on Monday.

"This past Monday a timetable was given by the chairman of the commission to the cabinet. We are generally talking about the middle of September, a couple of days plus or minus the middle of September." The cabinet had not yet agreed on the proposed date, he said.

The latest delay has centred on borders for district elections, which were due to be held in tandem with provincial polls and the parliamentary vote, presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said this week. Up to 50 districts across the country are disputed and must be resolved for the local elections to go ahead.

However there were signs the government may put the boundary row to one side, by going ahead with the parliamentary vote and then letting the newly-elected assembly decide the issue.

The parliamentary polls were originally scheduled for June 2004 alongside Afghanistan's first presidential election, but both ballots were delayed. The presidential election was put back until October 2004 and the parliamentary poll pencilled in for the Afghan month of Saur, which ends on May 21. 

But the United Nations last week said that was no longer possible as the government had missed a deadline to announce the date 90 days in advance. NATO has already warned that if the vote is not held by the first week of July it will have to be put off until September, because international peacekeepers cannot guarantee security during a change of command this summer. The electoral commission source said they were not considering holding the polls before the command handover.

Four international experts appointed by UN envoy to help run Afghan legislative elections - UN News Centre

3 March 2005 – The senior United Nations envoy for Afghanistan today appointed four international electoral experts to serve on the commission charged with preparing and conducting the country's national legislative and district polls scheduled for later this year.

Jean Arnault, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, announced that Canada's Alison Redford, Australia's Julian Type, India's Noor Mohammad and Ray Kennedy of the United States have been selected to sit on the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB).

The JEMB is comprised of the four officials – each one has extensive experience in helping to organize elections in foreign countries – and the nine-member Afghan Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). After the elections are held, the IEC will assume full responsibility for the running of future elections in Afghanistan.

Mr. Arnault has also appointed Peter Erben as the IEC's Chief Electoral Officer, his spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told reporters in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

US Congress boosts military, cuts foreign aid budgets

WASHINGTON, March 3 (AFP) - The US House of Representatives proposed Thursday to cut foreign aid and State Department funding while allocating 76.8 billion dollars for US defense needs, principally for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to House sources.

The House Appropriations Committee increased by 1.8 billion dollars the White House' request for 75 billion dollars for the military, which makes up the bulk of the government's 82 billion dollar supplemental budget, an addition to the already-approved fiscal 2005 government budget.

Committee officials said the money was needed to help US troops on the battlefield as well as those returning home to the US. At the same time, the committee slashed the amounts requested by the government of President George W. Bush for foriegn aid and civilian rebuilding jobs in war-torn areas.

About 570 million dollars for Afghanistan reconstruction and 45 million dollars for relief in tsunami-stuck countries in South and Southeast Asia was cut from the White House budget request.

"We have reduced roughly half of the net foreign assistance funds in the request either because they were not well-defined or should be considered through the regular budget process," said the committee in a statement.

Foreigner arrested at Kabul airport, suspected plotting terrorist attacks, Afghan official says - Friday March 4, 11:49 PM AP

Afghan military intelligence agents arrested a foreign national at Kabul airport this week, and they suspect he was plotting a terrorist attack, the defense ministry spokesman said Friday.

Spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azim said the foreigner had been walking in a prohibited area of the airport and investigators believe he was doing reconnoissance for an attack.

Azim declined to give any more details, including the suspect's name and nationality. Afghan state television reported that the arrest was made Monday.

A spokesperson for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Fore _ which patrols Kabul and has a presence at the city's airport _ said the force was not involved in the arrest and had no information about it.  

Five killed in gunbattle between coalition forces and militants in eastern Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  A gunbattle between U.S.-led coalition forces and militants in eastern Afghanistan left three militants and two civilians dead, the U.S. military said Saturday.

Two coalition soldiers and three civilians were also wounded in the clash on Wednesday, which began when militants fired on the coalition forces. A statement issued by the U.S. military in Afghanistan did not say where the incident occurred, other than that it was in the east of the country. Nor was it clear how the civilians had been caught in the exchange of fire.

U.S. military officials were not immediately available to clarify the report. More than three years after the fall of the hardline Taliban regime, about 17,000 U.S. forces are still hunting al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in eastern and southern Afghanistan.  

Pakistani troops capture 11, kill two foreigners in volatile area near Afghanistan By PAZIR GUL= Associated Press Writer

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan (AP)  Pakistani troops raided a militant hide-out Saturday in a remote tribal area near Afghanistan, triggering a shootout that left two foreigners dead and 11 people arrested, an army spokesman said.

The troops also seized a large number of weapons in the raid near Miran Shah, the main town in northwest Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.

Pakistani security officials have said hundreds of foreign militants  Arabs, Afghans and Central Asians  with suspected al-Qaida links are believed to be hiding in North and South Waziristan.

Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, has deployed about 70,000 troops in the country's tribal regions to flush out terror suspects. The army in recent months has killed and arrested hundreds of militants in North and South Waziristan.

On Saturday, it was not immediately clear who those slain and captured in the raid were. Authorities said they were still investigating. Sultan said troops were sent to the area following a tip that some suspected foreigners were hiding in a home.

``At this stage I can only confirm that we have killed two men, who are believed to be foreigners. Troops also captured eleven suspects who include some suspected foreigners,'' Sultan said.

He gave no further details. A government official in Miran Shah said on condition of anonymity that three soldiers received ``minor injuries'' in the shootout, but none was hospitalized.     

Afghanistan on verge of becoming a 'narcotics state,'' report says - By GEORGE GEDDA 

WASHINGTON (AP)  More than three years after a pro-U.S. government was installed, Afghanistan has been unable to contain opium poppy production and is ``on the verge of becoming a narcotics state,'' a presidential report said Friday.

The report said the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation last year set a new record of 206,700 hectares, more than triple the figure for 2003.

The Afghan narcotics situation, ``represents and enormous threat to world stability, the report said. It listed opium production at 4,950 metric tons, 17 times more than second place Myanmar.

Opium poppy is the raw material for heroin. The massive study, covering the illicit narcotics situation in 2004 in virtually all countries, was transmitted to the Congress by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on behalf of President Bush.

Colombia remains a major drug country, the report said, despite impressive progress against narcotics trafficking. It credited the Colombia's public security forces with preventing hundreds of tons of illicit drugs from reaching the world market through interdiction, spraying of coca and poppy crops and manual eradication.

The United States has been a major counterdrug partner of Colombia, having contributed billions of dollars to the effort since 2000. Colombia is the source of over 90 percent of the cocaine and 50 percent of the heroin entering the U.S, the report said. It is also a leading user of precursor chemicals and the focus of significant money laundering activity.

In Afghanistan, the United States military deposed the Taliban government in November 2001, and President Hamid Karzai has been in charge since then with strong American backing.

``Dangerous security conditions make implementing counternarcotics programs difficult and present a substantial obstacle to both poppy eradication efforts by the national government and to international efforts to provide related assistance,'' the report said.

Also contributing to the situation is the destruction resulting from 25 years of conflict, the lack of legitimate income streams, and the limited enforcement capacity of the national government, the report said.

U.S. drug czar denies any poppy-killing spraying going on in Afghanistan - By JAMEY KEATEN

PARIS (AP)  U.S. drug czar John Walters on Friday denied reports that the United States or its allies have sprayed pesticides on poppy crops in Afghanistan as part of the vattle against illegal narcotics.

The United States has discussed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai the option of spraying to fight Afghanistan's trade in poppy-based opium, but ``it's not happening this year,'' Walters said.

`We have been working with President Karzai, who has been steadfast and clear that the production of opium has to be reduced,'' Walters told reporters in Paris.

Walters spoke at the U.S. embassy in Paris as part of a visitt through Europe to meet with counterparts. He hus also been to London and Amsterdam, and is to leave for Vienna on the weekend.

Afghan villagers and farmers have from time to time voiced suspicions that planes had dusted towns and fields with a chemical that killed their crops and made them sick.

``There is no spraying going on now,'' Walters said, referring to media reports citing farmers who speculated it had taken place. ``We don't have spray aircraft, we don't have a spray program.''

The U.S.-led coalition is in Afghanistan working to provide the conditions for stability and hunting remnants of the former Taliban regime and th al-Qaida terror network in the country.

``The reports of spray are simply incorrect,'' he said, ``And I beliee we have th capacity to tell whether other things are flying around in Afghanistan today.''

``This is not a trick answer where somebody else is doing it and I am not telling you,'' Walters said. United Nations officials  as recently as this week  have repeatedly warned that drug trafficing threatens to harm stability in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's jihad against drugs - By Mohammad Daud Daud March 4 2005 - The Financial Times

Afghanistan is in danger of becoming a "narcotic state", or so the International Narcotics Control Board, a United Nations' drugs watchdog body, warned this week, noting that the country's opium production reached near-record levels in 2004. This, however, is a pivotal year in Afghanistan's fight against the drug trade and things are set to change.

Two days after his inauguration last December, Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's first democratically elected president, hosted a conference on fighting the narcotics trade as his first priority. Narcotics not only ruined the lives of Afghanistan's children, he told the conference, they also undermined the economy, distorted the country's image and invited foreign interference in Afghan affairs.

Shortly after that, the National Council of Ulemas, or Muslim scholars, issued a fatwa, or religious declaration, against the illicit drug trade. It now appears to be having an impact.

In Afghanistan, which is roughly the size of Spain, Denmark and Bulgaria combined, spring is coming. As the snow melts in the valleys, poppies will begin to bloom. The opium derived from these poppies is the key ingredient in heroin. Heroin and its $2.8bn-a-year illicit narco-economy funds warlords, fuels international terrorism and drives up drug addiction in many capitals of the west. This fact alone places significant responsibility on western nations, not only to contribute to Nato and international security forces in Afghanistan but also to provide assistance to "alternative livelihood" programmes for Afghanistan's poppy farmers.

As the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime holds an important donors' conference in Vienna this week, I invite the international community to work side by side with Afghanistan. Enforcement alone will not solve the problem, nor will randomly throwing out euro figures on the costs of drug eradication programmes. Simply put, this is a long-term commitment, requiring significant financial resources, equipment and manpower.

As part of a new approach, on top of aggressive enforcement, the Afghan government is trying to dissuade farmers from growing poppies this year with plans to establish new factories, fruit and spice farms and power stations. As Mr Karzai said: "We do not want our farmers to be poor." While destroying their poppy fields, we will provide them with alternative crops and legal and decent ways to make a living.

The most significant development so far has been the commitment by village elders and local religious leaders to reinforce the fatwa. They understand the social problems inherent in narcotics trafficking. Most Afghans are tired of violence, lawlessness and drugs. Early reports from the provinces suggest that much of the land typically used for poppies is likely to be planted with alternative crops this year.

Within weeks, 30 verification teams will go across Afghanistan checking these reports. They will be assisted by aerial photography and satellite imagery to identify poppy fields for eradication. For farmers who join our drug eradication efforts, help is on the way

- about £160m ($307m) has been pledged by international donors for alternative livelihood projects for 2005. This is a good start that will bring more than replacement crops - new canal systems, roads and market development projects, for example.

However, it is not nearly enough when compared with the billions of dollars generated from illicit narcotics trafficking. The discrepancy is the demarcation line between success and failure for our entire anti-narcotics effort and, indeed, our democracy. For those farmers who decide to grow poppies in Afghanistan, my message is blunt: we will destroy your crops and deny you the money you would have earned from this illicit trade.

To enforce this no-nonsense dictum, specially trained police forces are being deployed to conduct surveillance of drug smugglers and dismantle heroin processing laboratories. When poppy fields are found, we will use police and military forces to eradicate them, typically using hand scythes.

The time for action is now. The world must provide additional resources and support for this crucial year in our jihad against drugs. Success rides squarely on the provision of schemes to provide those who currently derive their livelihood from illicit drug production with a viable and legitimate income - as well as unwavering assurance that if they do not choose this course of action, our police teams will destroy their illicit crops.

If this combination of incentives and enforcement succeeds, it is not poppies but hope of a life free of these dangerous drugs that will blossom across Afghanistan. The question is now on the table: will the world help it to become reality?

The writer, Afghanistan's deputy interior minister, heads the country's counter narcotics, eradication and interdiction programme

West's anti-drug strategy fails to tackle Afghan opium problem – Mar 4  

KABUL (AFP) - Opium production in Afghanistan hit near-record levels last year because the US-backed eradication strategy ignores the plight of poor farmers who cannot afford to stop growing poppies, analysts say.

The eyes of the world were also focused on the country's first presidential polls last October and on the threat posed by militants from the ousted Taliban regime, rather than on narcotics, according to experts.

Meanwhile Afghanistan's opium crop quietly swelled to levels near those last seen under the Islamic regime, prompting a warning from the UN's drugs body this week that the country is now poised to become a state built on narcotics.

Despite President Hamid Karzai's pledge to wage a "holy war" on drugs, and an influx of millions of aid dollars, poppy output rose from 3,200 tonnes in 2003 to 4,200 tonnes in 2004, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said.

The United States, backed by Britain, partly justified its overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 on the grounds of the regime's involvement in drugs, and wants an aggressive programme of eradicating opium poppies.

However humanitarian organisations say eradication won't work unless Afghanistan's 2.3 million farmers are given time to make an alternative living from growing other crops.

Rural communities which are too poor to worry about the subtleties of the debate kept on growing poppies because they are hardy, drought-resistant and easy to transport, analysts say.

"Often opium is simply a survival-coping strategy for poor farmers. It is the money they use to survive the winter and gives them access to credit and land," Michael Kleinman of CARE Afghanistan told AFP.

CARE was one of 31 non-governmental organisations which wrote to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January urging America to reconsider its emphasis on eradication, saying it could destabilise Afghanistan.

Washington has finally taken an interest in Afghanistan's drugs problem after three years of focusing on the "war on terror", pledging 780 million dollars. Britain doubled its funding for the coming year to 100 million.

But only a fraction of the US funds will be spent on rural development. Both the US and Britain have denied accusations they secretly sprayed crops in major opium-growing areas.

Former Taliban Approach Governor In Southern Afghanistan - Daily Afghan Report / March 3, 2005 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Gol Agha Sherzai, Kandahar Province governor and minister adviser to President Karzai, has claimed that he is in contact with former Taliban members, "Cheragh" reported on 1 March. "As the governor of Kandahar Province, I have begun talks with the Taliban and some of them have shown preparedness" to accept the government's reconciliation offer, Sherzai said. A neo-Taliban spokesman, Latifullah Hakimi, rejected Sherzai's claims as propaganda aimed at creating a rift in the ranks of the militia, "Cheragh" reported, citing the Hindukosh News Agency. Hakimi warned that the neo-Taliban will step up their attacks soon. It is expected that subversive activities by the militants will escalate as the weather becomes warmer. AT

Afghanistan: RFE/RL Interviews Former Taliban Involved In Reconciliation Talks

Habibullah Fawzi, a former Taliban diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Riyadh, is one of four senior former Taliban members who have responded to an amnesty offer by the Afghan government. In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, he explains his motivations and plans for the future. RFE/RL correspondents Sultan Sarwar and Golnaz Esfandiari report.

Prague, 4 March 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Habibullah Fawzi, a former Taliban diplomat, says talks between former members of the Taliban militia and the Afghan government aimed at national reconciliation have been going on for two years. Fawzi says there has been a considerable amount of understanding between the two sides -- without going into details.

"For the higher interests of the country, we think there is a need for a political process in order to reach a mutual understanding between different ethnic groups, based on Islamic principles and Afghan values," Fawzi says. "We want to bring peace, unity, and stability to our country, and we believe that strengthening peace and stability in Afghanistan is not only in the benefit of Afghans, but it is also in the interest of the region and the world."

The Afghan government has called on former Taliban members to join the country's social and political life. The only individuals excluded are those involved with terrorist groups or committing atrocities. The call is supported by the United States. The former Taliban officials distance themselves from militants who are continuing attacks in the southern and eastern regions of the country. They say they are talking to the government in the name of their party -- not as Taliban members.

Fawzi, along with Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former envoy to the United Nations; Arsullah Rahmani, the former deputy minister of higher education; and Rahmatullah Wahidyar, a former deputy minister of refugees and returnees, are the highest-ranking former Taliban to participate in the talks. All four fled to Pakistan after U.S. and Afghan forces drove the Taliban from power in late 2001.

The former Taliban officials distance themselves from militants who are continuing attacks in the southern and eastern regions of the country. They say they are talking to the government in the name of their party -- not as Taliban members.

"We talked to the government representing the Khuddam ul Furqan [Servants of the Koran] -- not the Taliban," Fawzi says. "Of course there are some groups who are in favor of military actions, but we believe the majority of people think that for establishing peace and stability in the country conflict and clashes should end."

The ousted Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his supporters have condemned the talks as a plot and say they will continue their fight against foreign forces and the Afghan government. Fawzi tells RFE/RL that the four share the Hamid Karzai government's vision of peace and stability.

"We believe that Afghanistan is an Islamic country and the desire of the people should be reflected in the government, we want the representatives of public to join the government, so that a national Islamic government is formed, the representatives of peopleshould be chosen according to their will, their demands should be fulfilled," Fawzi says. "And there should be an end to the atmosphere of intimidation, lack of confidence, and fear.... Instead of people being harmed under different names, effective steps must be taken to solve their problems.

Reports of the talks have met with mixed reactions by the general population, though several Afghans interviewed by RFE/RL expressed hope the move would put an end to the fighting and boost reconstruction efforts.

AFP Interview: Taliban down but not out, coalition general says - by Rachel Morarjee

KABUL, March 5 (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are "down but not out" after failing to mount any significant attacks in recent months, the acting head of the US-led coalition said.

British Major General Peter Gilchrist, who is leading the 18,000-strong force in the absence of its American commander Lieutenant General David Barno, told AFP in an interview that the ousted regime's hierarchy had fragmented. "There have been attacks, we have had several, but they are not coordinated, they are not structured in the way they used to be," Gilchrist said.

Two US soldiers have died in combat since the New Year compared to nine in the same period a year earlier. Although the worst winter in over a decade accounted for part of the lull, Gilchrist said the Taliban's command structure was unravelling. 

"A year ago we were seeing large groups coming in and trying to attack us, and now you see smaller groups and you don't see any coordination between groups," he said. "You don't see that there is a command structure able to coordinate and achieve anything of any major significance."

Taliban militants have been waging a bloody rebellion in the south and southeast since the fundamentalist Islamic militia was ejected from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001.

But their failure to live up to their pledge to derail Afghanistan's first presidential election last October had "done them a lot of psychological damage," Gilchrist said.

"I think they are less trustworthy of each other, and there are signs that there are a large number of them that would like to find a way to come home and to reintegrate back into society," he added.

President Hamid Karzai's government has recently been in talks with senior officials from the former regime, which incurred Washington's wrath when it failed to surrender Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden after 9/11.

Karzai has said his government will offer an arms-for-amnesty deal to all but around 150 of the most hardened Taliban war criminals and those with links to Al-Qaeda.

"We hope that the government will be in a position to announce something in the relatively near future, where we can start a process where we can try to reintegrate these people into society," Gilchrist said.

He added that when large numbers of Taliban rank-and-file members -- said by US military officials to number around 1,000 -- start laying down their arms, it would "cause a major disruption to the command chain".

"We can expect quite a lot of foot soldiers who are trying to find their way back and currently have nothing better to do... than to fight, would like to come home and will do if they thought it was safe," he said.

There have also been "clear signs" that former Taliban leaders who fled to neighbouring Pakistan in late 2001 wanted to come back and resume a normal life in Afghanistan, Gilchrist said.

Former Taliban foreign minister Wakeel Ahmed Mutawakel, who is now based in the northwestern Pakistani border town of Peshawar, is playing a key role in efforts to persuade former colleagues to take up the government's olive branch.

However Gilchrist scotched speculation that former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is now on Washington's most-wanted list of terror suspects, would be among those to come in from the cold. "I can't actually see that he has any wriggle-room... because he has put himself so far the other side of the law," he said.

The general added that a small Taliban hard core would "continue to run an insurgency" despite the carrot and stick effect of the amnesty offer and the coalition's military operations. "They will continue to attack softer targets and will probably try to achieve some sort of demonstration, some sort of spectacular," he said. 

G ovt offers to buy tribesmen's arms: Market price to be paid - official - Dawn

PESHAWAR, March 3: Pakistan on Thursday offered to buy heavy weapons at market price from tribesmen in a turbulent region on the Afghan border where troops are hunting for Al Qaeda militants, an official said.

The government wanted to purchase anti-aircraft guns, missiles, mortars, rocket launchers, landmines, hand-grenades, light machineguns and AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles, local administrator Khan Bukhsh said.

"This is a golden opportunity for the tribal people," he said at a meeting with members of the dominant Mahsud tribe at Tank city in the rugged South Waziristan. "You can sell your weapons and the government will pay you at market price."

Khan gave the tribesmen one week to consider the government's offer. They said they would discuss it at an assembly on March 10. US officials believe Osama bin Laden and other key militants have been sheltering somewhere along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

Pakistani troops killed more than 300 Al Qaeda-linked foreign and local militants and lost about 200 soldiers in battles in South Waziristan last year. The tribal belt was flooded with thousands of heavy weapons worth millions of dollars during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Germany sends aid amid tough Afghan winter - March 3, 2005

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany has earmarked almost 400,000 euros (over 500,000 dollars) in humanitarian aid to help Afghanistan through one of its worst winters in recent times, the foreign ministry revealed.

It said the World Vision Deutschland group would distribute much of the aid, including food and medicine, to the badly hit Ghor region in the west, where up to 460 people are thought to have died in the past month and a half. Other aid will be sent to the capital Kabul to help people made homeless, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Some 600 people, many of them children, have died during Afghanistan's harshest winter in a decade and aid officials in the conflict-torn country are warning of a humanitarian crisis. The World Food Program has also warned of potentially catastrophic floods after the snow melts.

Afghanistan's first lady governor ready to take her post

KABUL, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Habiba Sorabi, an ethnic Hazari woman politician who was just appointed as the governor of Bamyan,said Thursday she was fully prepared to implement her giant plan for the central Afghan province.

At her apartment residence in eastern Kabul, the short and quiet former Women Affairs Minister could hardly conceal her joy over her appointment by President Hamid Karzai.

"It's the best chance for me as a lady who can try her talent,her power to serve the people. This is good chance to an Afghan lady to implement the law," she said.

Commenting on her new appointment, Sorabi said this is a sign that women's conditions in post-conflict Afghanistan have been improved since the downfall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime in late 2001.

"But this doesn't mean that we do not have any problems. We still have problems, difficulties, challenges. But I hope optimistically we can solve them," she said.

As a medical student graduated from Kabul University, Sorabi once worked as a laboratory technician and a school teacher. During the Taliban reign, she left Afghanistan as an emigrant helping take care of Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan. It was during that time when she started to strive for the rights of the Afghan women. She opened workshops publicizing women rights and other basic human rights values. She also visited several European countries to help promote awareness to the problems the Afghan women were facing.

After Taliban's ouster from power in late 2001, Sorabi returnedto Afghanistan and continued with her struggle for women rights inthe conservative country. After the Emergency Loya Girga, she was named by the then interim President Karzai as Women Affairs Minister due to her persistent effort for the promotion of women'srights.

As a new governor, Sorabi is facing daunting challenges. "Thereare several groups, different ethnic groups in Bamyan province," she said. "My immediate plan is to promote the rule of law in the province. I want to control the villages by rule of law, making a stronger government in provincial as well as village level, control the transit of drug, control the smuggling of historical heritage of Bamyan, implement the master plan of Bamyan City and road reconstruction, and find fund from the international community to bring electricity power to Bamyan City."

As a regional top official who is also charged with taking care of numerous cultural and historical relics in the province, Sorabialso plans to consult with the UNESCO about the rehabilitation of the two most famous Buddah statues that were destroyed by Taliban soldiers with dynamites and rockets.

"If there will be some possibility of rehabilitation of Buddahs,of course I will try my best to rehabilitate the statues. Some professional persons should be decided about this. I have to talk about this with UNESCO."

When it comes to the women situations in the central mountainous province, Sorabi chose the word "terrible" as a description. "Changing the life of Bamyan women will be one of my top priorities. There should be some training programs for education. We need good teachers in Bamyan schools."

"The other problem with local women is maternal mortality. We have the highest rate of maternal mortality in Bamyan. We have to make or bring some programs regarding midwifery and nursing," she said.

This Afghanistan's first woman governor also planned to boost tourism with construction of up-to-standard hotels and guest houses. "If we can make some good hotels for receiving tourists topromote and develop tourism, it will be fantastic for our province," she said.

Sorabi said that shortly before the interview, she had just received a delegation from Bamyan province, which was made up of eight elderly ethnic Tajic people, a minority in the Hazara-dominated province.

"This is the first group of people coming from the province where I am going to take up the new job, and they are here to congratulate on my appointment, to show their solidarity and support to me," she said.

The governor believed the visit was especially meaningful considering the fact that she was formally appointed as the governor only a day before, and the Tajic elders must have spent at least five hours on the bumpy, slippery and dangerous turf road. "I will try my best to bring unity among different ethnic groups, and this is what the Afghan people want me to do," she said.

NGO helps fill Afghan education void after barren Taliban years - By HIROMI YASUI The Japan Times: March 5, 2005

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Kyodo) Picture books featuring Afghan folklore and made by a Japanese nongovernmental organization for educational purposes are reportedly becoming popular with children in Afghanistan.
 
Afghan girls are read picture books made by a Japanese nongovernmental organization featuring local folklore at a community library in Jalalabad. 
About 100 children aged up to 12 visit a community library in Jalalabad, some 130 km east of Kabul, every day. It is run by the Shanti Volunteer Association of Tokyo.

Virtually all picture books disappeared in Afghanistan amid the nation's prolonged domestic strife and the former Taliban regime's stringent policy against photographs and pictures.

"Parents could not go to school because of the long war," said Nabizada, deputy director of Kabul's national library. "Their moral sense has been ruined. Picture books are important since they teach children morals on behalf of their parents."

Shanti initially brought picture books from Iran and pasted stories translated into the local Pashto language. But some Afghans balked at them due to the difference in religious sects and cultures. So the NGO decided to make picture books containing local folklore that Afghan children know well and could be accepted by the community.

There was no printing company capable of binding books in Afghanistan, so the group had the work done in Pakistan. It cost about $5,700 to print 1,000 copies of a single work. The NGO has so far put out 13 works. Many people in Jalalabad have not seen picture books. Some parents asked the association if the books ran counter to the Islamic ban on idolatry.

"We stop distributing books if (someone) says the women depicted in them look sexy," said group member Eri Yamamoto, 30, in Jalalabad. "In order for our picture books to be useful for education, we must convince the people that we are not being pushy," Yamamoto said. "It's important for us to establish trust with them."

Former Fighters to Help Restore Cultural Art

By Sgt. Jeremy A. Clawson - regional Command West – Afghanistan public affairs COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN - COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER March 5, 2005                                    

HERAT, Afghanistan – In 1997, Taliban leaders nearly drove a 600-year-old Afghan art form to extinction when they fired 22 of the 30 craftsmen at the Blue Mosque Tile Factory here.

The eight remaining blue-tile artisans held in their hands the fate of this ancient craft. After U.S. and coalition forces expelled the Taliban from power in 2001, the factory, now called the Blue Mosque Preservation Center, began to flourish. In the months ahead, the center will help former combatants lay down their weapons to become productive members of Afghan society.

The coalition’s Herat Provincial Reconstruction Team has funded a project to train 40 former combatants in cooperation with the Afghan New Beginnings Program. Representatives from the Blue Mosque Preservation Center, the Department of Social Affairs and Labor and the ANBP will select the new workers based on their interests, aptitude and skills.

According to Spc. Jennifer Raszynski, a member of the PRT’s Civil Affairs team, the tiles produced by the 40 new laborers will help restore cultural monuments in Herat Province, throughout the region and in other countries.

“Through projects such as this, we hope to demonstrate to the citizens of Afghanistan that their central government is following through on its promises to create a strong civil society, as well as creating a demilitarized nation and providing cultural restoration services to its people,” she said.

The 40 workers gave up their weapons as they entered the Afghan government’s Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program. “The transformation of 40 DDR personnel through the training program to artists and craftsmen of blue mosque tiles is a poetic statement of the transformation of the nation of Afghanistan,” Raszynski said.

One of the objectives of the initiative is to create a sustainable program, helping the Afghan economy by giving former fighters a vocation and pouring the revenue back into the center.

“Any revenue received from the production of the blue mosque tiles can be used to train additional personnel, purchase additional supplies and expand the Blue Mosque Preservation Center,” Raszynski said.

To help blue tile artistry regain a foothold in the Afghan landscape, the PRT has contracted with the Blue Mosque Preservation Center to have all PRT projects marked with blue tile plaques.

“The contract to produce 30 blue tile plaques was intended to do two things: one, to build the capacity of the center through funds, and two, to provide each school with a sense of Afghan cultural history,” Raszynski said. “The plaques, placed at all PRT-funded school projects, will also demonstrate to students that the school belongs to them.”

Ex-Afghan wrestler opens 'hospital' - STEPHEN GRAHAM / AP March 3, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan - Sitting cross-legged in the gloom of a tiny shop, a shoeshine boy gasped as the bones in his left arm crunched back into position in the powerful hands of Jan Agha, proprietor of Kabul's "Wrestler's Hospital."

A visit to Agha's grimy store in the capital's bird market is the choice for many Afghans with minor fractures, dislocations or sprains. It's faster and cheaper than a hospital, and those who come here seem unfazed by the hulking caregiver's admitted lack of orthopedic training.

"The hospital takes ages, and the wrestler is so experienced, so he's the man," said Rafiq, a 21-year-old who had his swollen elbow daubed in cold egg and bandaged Wednesday. He injured it in a run-in with an impatient traffic cop.

The young man handed Agha 20 Afghanis - about 47 cents - for his five-minute diagnosis and treatment and happily pronounced himself mended. "Now I can get back to work," he said.

Agha said his skills were handed down through several generations of butchers in his family - "the leg of a sheep is just the same" - and honed on about 15 patients a day.

Even a French military officer chose Agha's "quick fix" for a damaged ankle and was astounded at the results, he said, flashing the dog-eared calling card of a Capt. Mouillefarine. Sometimes, those injured in car wrecks are brought in, but Agha said he sent them to the hospital if they had open fractures.

The fact that Agha is a former Afghan wrestling champion is incidental, but a central part of his local fame. Three framed photos of a youthful Agha in a wrestling singlet clutching medals and flexing his muscles adorn the room.

He said he competed in three Olympic Games - Tokyo in 1964, Mexico City in 1968 and Munich in 1972 - and still keeps a pair of decorated weights in his shop to work out when business slows.

Agha said he gave up wrestling during the civil war that devastated the capital in the 1980s, but hoped to start coaching again as Afghanistan's post-Taliban recovery encourages young Afghans to take up sports.

But on Wednesday afternoon, he was treating two young soccer players for injuries to their toes and fingers. "I waited four days, but it just hasn't got better, so I decided to come to the wrestler's hospital," said 16-year-old Ramin.

And later, Agha saw a grimacing woman in sunglasses and high heels who had slipped and injured her calf in the muddy street while out shopping. A curtain was hastily put up to shield her, and Agha set to work, applying pressure and a thick homemade ointment of egg yolk, salt and spices to her leg.

"Don't show your leg or you're going to hell," murmured the woman's female companion. "Maybe we're all going to hell anyway," said the sobbing patient, who gave her name as Nafiza. After some gentle haggling, Agha accepted 14 Afghanis - 33 cents - for his work and advised his patient to put a hot brick on her leg overnight.

"I'm a humble man and I have seven people to support in my family," he said with a broad smile, as a mouse popped up from behind a cushion under his elbow. "But the poor can come here for free."

LAHORE: Allotment of Afghan royal family land challenged – Dawn

LAHORE, March 3: Five scions of Nadir Shah Durrani, the great grandson of founder of Afghanistan Ahmad Shah Abdali, have moved the Lahore High Court against the allotment of their hereditary property in favour of one member of the royal family.

A writ petition was moved by Nadir Shah's great grandsons - Shahzada Muhammad Zarbakht Durrani, Shahzada Ahmad Shuja Durrani, Shahzada Nadeem Durrani, Shahzada Muhammad Yousaf Durrani and Shahzada Muhammad Muzammil Durrani - against the allotment of 182 acres at Rakh Bangash in Cantonment by the Punjab Board of Revenue to Shahzada Ashraf Durrani (who is their cousin).

The land around Lahore was allotted in 1890 to Nadir Shah, who died in December 1895, after surrendering 2,000 acres which the British rulers allotted to him in 1878 and whose lease deed was executed in July 1878.

The members of the family, who submitted the writ petition through Advocate Mian Muhammad Hanif Tahir, contended that the board allotted the entire land to Ashraf in September 1992. When they came to know about the allotment, they said they challenged the decision in 1994.

They further submitted that while the petition was still pending with the BoR, Ashraf moved the high court for implementation of the BOR decision in his favour. They stated that the land belonged to all the descendants of Shahzada Ahmad and its allotment to one of the heirs was unlawful.

They requested the court to declare the BOR's decision illegal and direct it to cancel the allotment and distribute the land among all legal. Nadir Shah had five sons and the petitioners are the grandsons of his son, Omer Durrani. Respondent Ashraf Durrani is the son of Ahmad Shah's another son Shahzada Hamdam Durrani.

The petitioners are living in Gowalmandi, Krishan Nagar and Jauhar Town. Shahzada Ahmad Shuja and Nadeem Durrani are working with the PIA and Zarbakht Durrani is employed with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.

[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.]