September proposed for Afghan parliamentary poll - By Simon Cameron-Moore

KABUL, March 15 (Reuters) - A joint Afghan-U.N. election commission has proposed holding Afghanistan's long-delayed parliamentary polls in mid-September, its chairman said on Tuesday.

The polls were supposed to have been held in tandem with last year's presidential vote won by U.S.-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai, which was itself repeatedly delayed amid concerns about security and logistical problems before taking place on Oct. 9.

"We suggest that the parliamentary election should be delayed for another six months. It means that the parliamentary election should be held in the third  week of Sunbula," Bismillah Bismil, chairman of the Joint Electoral Management Body said on Tuesday, referring to mid-September on the Afghan calendar.

The JEMB, which met political parties on Tuesday, will have to get the parties' blessing and will also need to consult donor countries funding the elections. Karzai, installed as transitional leader after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001, does not have a political party, but his cabinet will need the approval of the new parliament to keep their jobs.

More than 10.5 million people will be able to vote in the election for a 249-seat lower house of parliament and provincial councils, and there will be a chance for new voters to add their name to the voter register.

Officials have said district council elections supposed to be held at the same time might not be possible this year, unless  disputes over electoral boundaries are resolved. Delay in the district polls would mean it would not  be possible immediately to create a full-sized upper house, or Senate, since district councils are supposed to send representatives to the chamber.

Fifty political parties, many of them run by former mujahideen who fought the Soviets and the Taliban have registered to contest the polls so far. Some, including a new party formed by the runner-up in the presidential election, Yunus Qanuni, have still to complete the process.

These elections will be more complex than the presidential election, as the commission will probably have to deal directly with several thousand candidates, said Julian Type, from the commission's operational planning unit.

Security will be a big issue, as ever, even though the Taliban failed to mount any serious attacks during last October's election and nearly all the heavy weapons in the country have been rounded up under a disarmament programme and around three-quarters of the private militias have been disbanded.

But turf rivalries are intense in a country riven by tribal and ethnic divides. Regional warlords still exert plenty of influence and the numbers of small arms in private hands is substantial. "There will have to be a robust (security) presence in all 34 provinces," Type said.

Two priorities for the commission will be to properly train the large numbers of electoral workers needed, and the establishment of a strong and transparent mechanism for dealing with complaints. It will also take steps to ensure there is no repeat of the mix-up over pens used in polling stations. In October, many election workers mistakenly used an ordinary pen to mark the hands of people who had voted rather than an indelible ink pen meant to prevent multiple voting.

Afghanistan rules out legalising opium cultivation for medical use

KABUL, March 14 (AFP) - Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali ruled out Monday the possibility of legalising Afghan opium production, the largest in the world, for making medicines. An international drug policy think-tank, The Senlis, suggested to President Hamid Karzai in December that Afghanistan could be offered a special licence for opium production for use in the manufacturing of medicines.

"Changing this and legalising it from my view is not that easy and is not possible," Jalali told a press conference. "We cannot just legalise it," he said. This included because, "The money which is being made from drugs, finances crime, terrorism, and also using this money some groups form private militia," he said.

Afghanistan produces 87 percent of the world's supply of the opium, according to United Nations. The UN and the US State Department have warned that the country is on the brink of becoming a narco-state. Paris-based The Senlis suggested that the forced eradication of poppies, used to make opium, could risk undermining the nascent Afghan democracy.

Some 2.3 million Afghan farmers grow poppies and can make 10 times more money than they would cultivating legal crops. The Senlis Council says in a statement on its website that it will launch a feasibility study for the creation of an opium licencing framework for Afghanistan, similar to frameworks already in place in Australia, France, Turkey and India.

Under the current international system, countries are free to apply for a licence from the UN's International Narcotics Control Board to legally produce and sell opium for medical purposes.  Many countries, including Australia, France, Turkey and India, already produce opium legally under such licences.

A crack team of British-trained Afghan anti-drugs police last week kicked off a series of anti-drug raids in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, one of the country's top drugs growing regions. Afghanistan saw a 64 percent leap in opium production in 2004 and has also branched into heroin refining over the past year, but the Afghan government backed by the international community is taking a harder line on the issue.

Karzai declared a holy war or "jihad" on drugs shortly after being elected president in October and the United States has pledged 780 million dollars to battle Afghanistan's burgeoning drug industry. 

Iran helps Afghanistan's war on drug traffickers - March 14, 2005

KABUL (Reuters) - Iran offered Afghanistan support in fighting drug traffickers on Monday by training Afghan border police, tightening borders and sharing intelligence. Iran has lost thousands of police and enforcement officers in armed encounters with Afghan drug runners over the past two decades and has made some of the heaviest seizures of smuggled opium and its more valuable derivative, heroin.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari met Afghan counterpart Ali Ahmad Jalali in Kabul on Monday to discuss joint efforts in the war against drugs and common security issues. Afghanistan has become the world's number one producer of opium in little more than three years since U.S.-backed forces ousted the Taliban militia from power in late 2001.

Nearly 90 percent of heroin sold worldwide comes from Afghanistan and, with the opium economy accounting for up to 60 percent of GDP, there are growing fears that the country could end up being run by narco-mafia.

"The thing we all should fight against is drug traffickers, who pose a domestic risk for both Afghans and our people," Mousavi-Lari told journalists. "Making border checkpoints has helped us in this issue, and the help of Afghan security and border police is very important," the Iranian minister said, adding that he had also discussed intelligence sharing.

Jalali said Iran had begun building border checkpoints for the Afghan authorities and training guards to man them last year, and the two sides has signed a new accord on Monday covering some of the same ground.
The United States has earmarked $700 million to fight drugs in Afghanistan, and Britain is to spend $100 million while trying to raise a further $300 million from smaller countries.

Iranian minister renews security agreement with Kabul

KABUL, Mar. 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Iran and Afghanistan have renewed their agreement on combating drugs and enhancing border security, border security and for cooperation in the training of Afghan border police and setting up of security posts on the Iran-Afghanistan border.

A decision to this effect was taken during the ongoing visit of Iranian Home Minister Abdul Wahid Mosawi to Afghanistan on Monday. The two countries had signed the agreement exactly a year ago during the visit of the Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali to Tehran.

Addressing a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart on Monday, Jalali said Iran had met its commitments during the last year by providing training to border police and setting up border posts on the Iran-Afghanistan border. Afghanistan has a common border of 963 kms with its western neighbor Iran, facilitating bilateral trade but also drug trafficking.

Mosawi emphasized the existence of friendly relations between the two countries. "My feeling is that we share common cultural and historical values," Mosawi told the press conference. "Other issues we discussed in the meeting were improvement of urban management training of fire fighters and assisting Afghanistan in meeting its fire fighting requirements," Mosawi said.

Jalali said the agreement was helpful in improving security in Afghanistan. "The discussions we had today were about permanent relations between the two countries and other issues of mutual interest," Jalali said.

He appreciated the promise by Iran to build the capacity of Afghan police and to improve security. Iran had pledged $500 million to Afghanistan's reconstruction in the Tokyo conference in 2002, and half of that is in the form of a grant. Ends

US military presence not a threat to Iran: Iranian official

KABUL, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian government is not  worried about US military facilities in Afghanistan employed as  the front-line in any possible confrontations due to the common  interests of the two neighbors, a visiting Iranian official said  here on Monday.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari, during his  one-day trip to Afghanistan, stressed that security of both  countries are linked to each other's after meeting with his Afghan counterpart Ali Ahmad Jalali.

"We trust Afghanistan. Afghanistan's security is Iran's  security and Iran's  security is Afghanistan's security. And we  have not received any report divergent to Iran's interest,"the  minister responded vaguely to a question whether he regarded the  expansion of US military presence in the west of Afghanistan  bordering Iran a threat to Iranian government.

Meanwhile, the Iranian top security official also pledged to  help the Afghan government in the crackdown of illicit opium  cultivation and trafficking in the post-war country. "Iran is ready to help fight drug trafficking and provide  alternative livelihood crops to farmers to substitute opium," the  minister told reporters.

"Regional as well as global interest requires international  support to assist Afghanistan in the fight against drugs as  Afghanistan will not be able to handle the issue alone," he added. Iran, as part of its efforts to crack down on drug trafficking  along its 900 km border with Afghanistan, has promised to build 25 checkpoints, of which 15 had been set up and handed over to Afghan border police last year.

Afghanistan with an output of 3,600 tons of opium in 2003  became the single largest producer of the raw material used in  manufacturing heroin in the world while the harvest of over 4,000  tons in 2004 hit an all-time high.

The vigorous growth of poppy cultivation in the war-shattered  country has raised concerns from the international community as  the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention in its latest  report warned that Afghanistan would become a narco-economic state if the ongoing drug production goes unchecked. 

New U.S. commander vows to protect Afghan elections, plays down hunt for bin Laden

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP)  Bolstering the re-emerging government of President Hamid Karzai is the immediate priority for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, their new operational commander said Tuesday, playing down the unsuccessful hunt for top al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.

Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya took command of the 18,000-strong U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan Tuesday as American troops based in Europe rotate into the country ahead of parliamentary elections expected in September.

``We will continue to focus our energy, number one, on supporting the government of Afghanistan's vision,'' Kamiya told reporters after a ceremony at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul. ``We have the election coming up ... and that will be one of our major focuses.''

Kamiya takes over after a year which saw Afghanistan pass a new constitution and hold a landmark presidential election won by Karzai with a landslide despite threats from Taliban militants to disrupt the ballot.

However, fugitives including al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Omar remain at large. ``The success of this mission should not be predicated upon the amount of fugitives or threat groups we remove,'' Kamiya said. ``Instead it should be focused on increasing the capacity, increasing the reach of the Afghan central government.''

Taliban intelligence officer captured say Afghan defense ministry

KABUL, Mar. 15, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- The defense ministry in Kabul announced Tuesday that a leading Taliban intelligence officer had been captured in southern Kandahar province.

A spokesman for the defense ministry, Sayed Is'haq Paiman said Mullah Ramazan was arrested with another Talib on Sunday by Afghan army forces and was now being questioned. He said they found a sniper gun, some hand grenades and documents showing links to the Taliban. However, a spokesman for the Taliban, Lutfullah Hakimi, told Pajhwok Afghan News he was unaware of the capture of these Taliban members.

NATO to take over four civil- military bases in Afghanistan

KABUL, Mar. 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- NATO forces are to take over four provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) in four provinces from the US-led Coalition Forces. The PRTs are the civil-military teams carrying out construction projects in different parts of Afghanistan.

Announcing the handover here on Monday a senior US commander in Afghanistan said command of PRTs in Herat, Ghor, Badghis and Farah provinces will be handed over to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force Force on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference in Kabul, Col. Phillip Bookert, commander of Task Force Longhorn, based in western Afghanistan, said the job of his unit had been to support the disarmament program and establish two PRTs in Western Afghanistan. The PRT in Farah commanded by NATO will have US soldiers who also form part of the ISAF forces. Reported by Pajhwok Staffer Najib Khilwatgar

Pakistan says forces nearly hunted down bin Laden

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday his forces believed they nearly hunted down Osama bin Laden about 10 months ago but the trail had since gone cold.

"Through interrogation of those who have been captured, the al Qaeda members who were apprehended here, and through technical means there was a time when the dragnet had closed," Musharraf told the BBC in an interview.

"We thought we knew roughly the area where he possibly could be. That was I think ... not very long (ago), maybe about 10 months back," said Musharraf, a close ally in U.S. President George W. Bush's declared war on terrorism.

The BBC quoted Musharraf as saying his forces had since lost track of bin Laden's possible whereabouts.
Some security experts say bin Laden is hiding somewhere in the rugged mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanisatan. On Sunday, Pakistani officials said the country's security forces had mounted a search for suspected al Qaeda foreign fighters in a tribal area near the Afghan border. Ten men were detained for questioning.

Last week, Pakistani soldiers killed two foreign al Qaeda suspects. Pakistani officials say security forces killed or arrested hundreds of al Qaeda foreign fighters and their local supporters in operations in the South Waziristan region last year.

But they say about 100 are still hiding in the mountainous area and that others have moved into the North Waziristan region. U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have been involved in the hunt for bin Laden on Kabul's side of the border. 

Karzai, Annan ignore Pak anti-terror role - Rauf Klasra The News International, Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has informally complained to Afghan President Hamid Karzai about ignoring Pakistan and President General Pervez MusharrafÕs contribution to war on terrorism in his speech at an International Summit on ‘Democracy, Terrorism and Security’ in Madrid last week.

A ‘soft and quite informal complaint’ to the Afghan president was made by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi at the end of the four-day summit. Dr Niazi went to Madrid to represent President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the international summit that was attended by many heads of state and their representatives.

Dr Niazi also read out a paper in the conference on democracy, terrorism and security and highlighted the role of Pakistan in global fight against terrorism and its efforts to root out terrorists from its soil. The speakers presented their vision of how the international community could cooperate to confront the threat of terrorism.
The key note address was made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

When contacted by The News, Dr Niazi said to his much surprise and disappointment, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai did not even mention the name of Pakistan and General Pervez Musharraf when he deliberated upon the issue of terrorism. Likewise, Dr Niazi said, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his paper on ‘A Global Strategy for Fighting Terrorism’ ignored Pakistan and its efforts.

The minister said he formally introduced himself to the Afghan president and pointed out quite informally about his omission that was not fair. He said Karzai admitted that he should have mentioned the role of Pakistan and its leadership in curbing terrorism.

He said Karzai promised to give due credit to Pakistan in future summits. Dr Niazi in his paper informed the participants that since 9/11 Pakistan had been fighting terrorists and paying a heavy price. He said Pakistan was playing an active role in the international campaign against terrorism as a frontline state and combating terrorism before 9/11.

He said Pakistan had signed extradition treaty with 27 countries and so far deported over 650 terrorists. Pakistan, he said, was cooperating with 50 countries. He said his country was also uprooting extremism and militancy that caused sectarian violence and distorted the message of Islam.

Pakistan, he said, has also enacted the Madrassa Registration Law and has brought all religious schools under it. Dr Niazi said sectarian and Jihadi organisations have also been banned and Pakistan law enforcement agencies are undertaking operations to hunt al-Qaeda elements and other terrorists.

Sher Afgan Niazi said 70,000 Pakistani troops were conducting extensive operations on border with Afghanistan to eliminate the al-Qaeda remnants. The minister said even President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have been attacked by suicide bombers several times as a vengeance as terrorists are being eliminated by security forces.

Dr Niazi said Pakistan’s considered view is that the international community will have to ensure the right of people to self-determination that should not be associated with terrorism. An agreed legal definition of terrorism is need of the hour, he said.

Canada to help rebuild Afghan judiciary system

ROME, March 14 (AFP) - Canada will give five million dollars (3.7 million euros) to a program designed to rebuild a judiciary system in Afghanistan, the International Law Development Organization said Monday.

In the first phase of the program, which ended in December, 501 judges, prosecutors and other legal specialists received training, and the organization put more than 2,000 laws ante-dating the rule of the Communists and the Talibans onto CD-Rom.

USAID announces $2.5 million for Afghanistan Women's Ministry - Source: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) 11 Mar 2005

Washington, D.C. - USAID announced today a $2.5 million grant to the Afghanistan Ministry of Women's Affairs. USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios said the grant would further USAID's commitment to assist the Ministry to fulfill its purpose of advocacy and policy development to improve the status and lives of women in Afghanistan. Dr. Mosooda Jalal, Minister of Women's Affairs, welcomed the news of the funding at a meeting in Washington with Mr. Natsios and Under-Secretary of State Paula J. Dobriansky.

USAID's support to the Ministry will help raise the profile and impact of the Ministry as a national, principled leader on issues of women and social justice and increase the Ministry's influence on programs that can improve the lives of women. USAID will also assist in developing and coordinating programs for the seventeen Provincial Women's Resource Centers that facilitate outreach into the provinces to improve the lives of women and girls. USAID has provided more than $50 million to support women's issues in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.

Roses for Nangarhar - Source: German Agro Action / March 13, 2005

Nangarhar is a province in eastern Afghanistan on the border to Pakistan. The majority of the population there earns its living from agriculture – just like almost 80 percent of the Afghani population – and of course by cultivating opium poppy. No agricultural product generates profits like opium poppy at present. This makes it difficult to offer small farmers alternatives. German Agro Action has found a lucrative alternative in the guise of cultivating oil roses followed by the production of rose oil and rose water. The idea has been well received by small farmers, 360 of whom are participating in the project.

Slumping wheat prices, small plots of land and the fact that opium poppy is easy to grow while it produces the biggest profits are the factors which have caused raw opium to now account for 60 percent of Afghanistan's GNP. Government policy is currently aimed at destroying the poppy fields. Nevertheless production of opium poppy continues to rise in Afghanistan due to the lack of any alternatives. The latest statistics indicate a growth in the amount of land under cultivation from 80,000 hectares to 131,000 hectares, while opium poppy cultivation has now spread to all 32 provinces in the country.

In searching for lucrative alternative crops, the production of oil roses has come to the attention of German Agro Action. Roses are very popular in Afghanistan and have been for ages. Rose oil was produced here as far back as the 1960s, but this fledgling industry was later destroyed completely. There is not enough rose oil on the world market at present, while the natural-organic cosmetic industry is expanding and with it the demand for raw materials. Rose water is used in Islamic cultures for cosmetics, medicine and as food (an additive in many desserts); hence there are regional markets for it.

In one pilot project 32 hectares of rose cuttings originally imported from Bulgaria have initially been planted. 360 farmers have received cuttings and in return have agreed not to cultivate opium poppy any longer. In addition, the farmers are receiving extension advice on planting techniques, a plant nursery has been established where the cuttings can be multiplied domestically and rose water and rose oil distilleries have been built at the village level. Local staff are currently being trained in the distillation process at simple, but sturdy distilleries, which will of course later be run by the local farmers themselves.

Because the first harvest of rose petals will not take place until the third project year, the small farmers are receiving seed for alternative crops and compensatory payments amounting to the average yield from maize during the first three years. The farmers will only begin to turn a considerable profit in the fifth year, however, when they will be able to produce an income which almost equals that which can be attained by growing opium poppy, but with one advantage. It is legal.

Poppy cultivation in northern Afghanistan has decreased this year say officials close to the eradication program

MAZAR-e-SHARIF, March 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News) — "Our work is quite hard. When I get home at night, I can't fall asleep because I suffer from back-ache and my legs hurt. But I take opium to ease the pain," said 36-year old Fatema from Chimtal district in northern Balkh Province, while busying herself weeding a field of poppies with her family.

While Fatema, her husband and four daughters prepare their 2,000 square meters of land she said they had turned to growing poppies because they had to, and if the Afghan government destroys the poppies across the provinces, it means that the government is killing their livelihood. The poppies planted in late December or January will be harvested at the end of May, she said.

As farmers prepared to harvest their crop in two months, provincial government officials say they are not able too keep up with the poppy eradication program, because they don’t have enough money and the right facilities. Balk Security officials say that thirty to forty thousand jeribs of land was cultivated with poppies this year and they were only able to destroy three to four thousand jeribs of poppies.

The district administrative manager of Chimtal, Haji Salamuddin said that the district has some 12,000 jeribs of cultivated poppy land. Since the eradication program began in this district, the provincial officials say they have only been able to destroy 7% of the poppies. In his estimation there were nearly 80,000 jeribs of cultivated poppy land in the previous years.

But Fatema says that they earn a living through poppy cultivation and if they grew wheat or something else, it would not be sufficient for their winter needs. But Fatema’s family is not the only one dependent on poppy farming; nearly one-third of the fields surrounding her are dependent on the income earned from the crop.

Thirty-five year-old, Mohammad Aman has leased a small poppy field from his relatives, and works daily tending his crop. "I am weeding this field because I am poor and when the crops are harvested, the owner of this field will give me half of the takings."

Mohammad Akram Khakrezwal, the police chief of Balkh province speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, claimed that seventy to eighty percent of the land in the province was cultivated with poppies the year before, but there is a considerable decrease in poppy cultivation this year, due to the media campaign on poppy eradication.

Khakrezwal added that the government has not made serious efforts for the eradication of poppies this year. He added, "Balkh province police have neither an allocated budget for poppy eradication nor technical means, so they can't destroy poppies with their bare hands."

General Mohammad Daud, deputy interior minister of counter-narcotics department at the interior ministry, told Pajhwok in a telephone interview on March 13th: "We haven’t got any money allocated to the poppy eradication program or the money to buy equipment." According to him, they will soon put forward this issue to the president.

Meanwhile, Ikramuddin Sarwary public information officer for the counter-narcotics ministry told Pajhwok Afghan News, "We don't have the precise numbers of poppy cultivation yet, so we have sent out our teams to the Northern provinces of the country and these teams are expected to return in the near future. We will then be able to announce the precise statistics for poppy cultivation." ENDS Pajhwok reporter from Mazar Parwin Faiz wrote this story

Kabul residents call for the dismissal of the mayor of Kabul and the minister of information and culture

KABUL, March 14 (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Nearly 2,000 representatives of the Kabul residents’ council took to the streets of the Afghan capital Monday protesting against the city mayor and the minister of information and culture, claiming they were not addressing their problems and breaking the rules of democracy in Afghanistan by using their positions in power.

The demonstrators, who gathered at Shah Doshamshera, an area in southern Kabul and passed via Pashtunistan Intersection near the Presidential palace, claim that the minister of information and culture, Sayed Makhdoom Rahin controlled the output on TV and the Mayor of Kabul; Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Nurzad forcefully seized land from the people.

They were also chanting slogans against some of the actions taken by the government and demanded President Karzai reconsider his cabinet. The Kabul Residents Council was established in the summer of 2003 by Sayed Makhdoom Rahin, and after being the chairman of the council for over a year he left the post after contradictory accounts of dismissal and voluntary resignation.

Ahmadullah Siddiqi, the deputy of Kabul Residents Council said: "When Rahin was the head of the Kabul Residents Council, he was reflecting the views of the members, but now he is opposing the council." Ghulam Farooq, another member of the council, who called for Rahin’s dismissal said: "Rahin is using all media outlets, including TV for his purposes."

However, Dr. Rahin thinks all the government controlled media should be allowed to freely express themselves. "We want to make all Afghan media free, including TV and it shouldn’t be under control of any organization or person."

According to Ghulam Farooq, they have tried to meet with president Karzai three times, but the Minister Rahin did not allow them. But Rahin denies this and says: "When I was the head of the council I took them not only to Mr. Karzai but also to Baba-a-Millet, also known as the elder of the nation to listen to them."

Astana Gul a resident of Deh Sabz District at the demonstration said: "Our land is handed over to powerful commanders; therefore, we want an ideal mayor." Mohammad Omar Naeemyar a high-ranking official in the Kabul municipality said the mayor himself welcomed the suggestion of a people’s mayor, who was responsible for the peoples needs.

"During the protest the mayor of Kabul walked amongst the people and accepted the notion of an ideal mayor representing its people.” At the end of the march, one of the protestors said "We want the ministry of information and culture to give us all a chance to participate in TV programs, because this is our national treasure." ENDS The story is reported by Pajhwok staffer Mohammad Younus Mahrin

Ulema Council criticizes TV channels

KABUL, March 14, (Pajhwok Afghan News)--Afghanistan's national Ulema Council, comprising of mullahs from all over the country, has criticized all television channels being telecast in Afghanistan. Independent Afghan TV channels Tolo TV and Afghan TV have come in for stringent criticism, for what the Council has termed the "transmission of programs opposed to Islam and national values." The channels themselves have however dismissed the charges saying they are well within the provisions of the Constitution.

Convening in Kabul, some 100 members of the Council issued a statement on Sunday asking the government to stop "immoral and un-Islamic" broadcasts. Maulavi Qiam-ud-Din Kashaf, secretary of the council, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday about their decision: "We've decided this in accordance with the Constitution and also called for a ban on telecasts which have dances as this is absolutely contrary to the Sharia."

However, officials of the two television stations maintain that their broadcasts are in accordance with the Constitution and the mass media law of Afghanistan. The Third Article of the constitution says that no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam and the values of this Constitution in Afghanistan. Article 34 of the Constitution says that freedom of expression is protected from violation and every Afghan has the right to express his thought through speech, writing, illustration or other means, as long as they observe the provisions spelt out in the Constitution.

Kashaf said the Ulema had taken a stand and it was up to the Government now whether to implement their request or not. When Pajhwok asked the Presidential press office in Kabul about the mullah's statement, it refused to comment.

The Council's statement further says: "It has been seen that all TV channels being telecast in the country, particularly Tolo and Afghan TV, broadcast music, naked dances and foreign films contrary to Islamic and national values." The Ulema Council has asked for a ban on these telecasts and said that immoral telecasts should be prevented.

Ahmad Shah Afghanzai, director of Kabul-based Afghan TV, said programs of his channel do respect Afghans' traditions. "If our transmissions were against the law the government which is in charge of law enforcement would ban our television," Afghanzai told Pajhwok. He noted that religious scholars and intellectuals had a big role in making the Constitution which the government was bound to enforce.

Sediq Ahmed from Tolo TV reacted similarly, saying the view expressed by the Ulema Council was their personal view. Both Tolo and Afghan TV are private channels who have started their broadcasting last year and they telecast a variety of foreign and national song and dance clips as well other programs.

The mass media law of Afghanistan says that whatever leads to an insult to the principles of Islam and of other religions is banned from being published, broadcast or telecast. Earlier this month, Information and Culture Minister, Sayed Makhdoom Raheen called on all TV channels to observe Islamic and cultural values in their programs.

The Ulema statement also called for appointment of pious people on senior governmental posts, like ministerial and deputy minister posts, in order to work with sincerity and faith. In addition, the statement calls for prohibition of narcotics and alcohol as well as for a public trial of officials accused of mistreating Afghan Haj pilgrims who they say should be compensated for the losses they suffered.

The Nationwide Ulema Council of Afghanistan led by Chief Justice, Fazl Hadi Shinwari, has hundreds of members throughout the country and convenes once a month usually in Kabul. At the end of their meetings, they issue statements and put forward their suggestions to President Karzai. Ends (Reported by Pajhwok Staffer Habib Rahman Ibrahimi)

The wrong voting system - International Herald Tribune - 03/15/2005 by Barnett R. Rubin

In Iraq, after it was already too late to change, it eventually became clear that the particular electoral system chosen to form the country's new parliament threatened to precipitate a crisis. The system, recommended by UN electoral officials solely because it was the easiest to administer under a tight deadline, turned out to have the politically dangerous effect of underrepresenting Sunni Arabs, whose disaffection fuels today's insurgency.

In a comparable fashion, the electoral system recently chosen by the Afghan government, with little international scrutiny, for Afghanistan's coming parliamentary elections also risks potentially disastrous effects. Under the system, known as the "single nontransferable vote" within multimember provincial constituencies, candidates register solely as individuals, though they can list a party affiliation. Each voter casts one vote for one candidate. If a province elects five seats, the five candidates with the most votes gain the seats.

Afghan leaders like this system for several reasons: It is easy to understand, it marginalizes political parties and, deceptively, it appears to provide a direct link between the voters and their representatives.

It sounds fair, but the system favors well-organized minorities, despite voter intentions. One or two well-known candidates may garner the lion's share of votes. After that, among dozens or hundreds of individuals on the ballot, representatives can be elected with very few votes. Which lower-ranked candidates win is at best random, and at worst, the result of manipulation. Most voters may end up voting for losing candidates.

This system in fact virtually guarantees the formation of an unrepresentative parliament of local leaders with no incentive to cooperate with one another or the government. It places a premium on vote buying and intimidation, since swinging even a small number of votes can easily affect the outcome. Well-organized parties that can propose a limited number of candidates and discipline voters to spread their votes among them can win a disproportionate share of seats.

A voting simulation for Wardak Province, for instance, which Hamid Karzai won 2-to-1 over his closest opponent in the recent presidential election, shows that with minimal discipline of voters, Karzai's opponent could win five of six seats. Slight changes in voter behavior could shift the seats in any direction, leading to unpredictable outcomes. Yet, Karzai, who shares popular antipathy toward political parties, refuses to organize the multethnic constituency that supports the reforms he proposes.

By now you can see the root of the problem. Outside a small group of specialists, few people appreciate how electoral systems - as much as or more than voter intentions - determine the outcome of elections. And even fewer people can bridge the gap between leaders concerned with the specific characteristics of a nation and general experts on electoral systems.

The Afghan Constitution requires that the lower house be elected "in proportion to population." Lacking population data adequate to delimit constituencies of equal size, the Afghan government has made each of the country's 34 provinces into a multimember constituency, electing a number of seats in proportion to its estimated population.

In such a situation electoral experts often recommend proportional representation with closed lists. In this system voters cast ballots for party lists, which gain seats in proportion to their vote, and allocate them to candidates ranked by the party. But Afghans associate parties with both the Communists who brought the Soviet invaders and the ethnic militias that pillaged the country after the Communists' downfall.

A different system, proportional representation with open lists within the same provincial constituencies, avoids the problems of closed lists, while preserving some benefits of the single nontransferable vote. It would represent Afghan voters better and meet the concerns of their leaders not to empower parties controlled by militia leaders.

Under this system, candidates can stand as independents or as part of a list of candidates. As in the present system, each voter votes for an individual candidate. The electoral commission totals the votes for each list and allocates seats to lists in proportion to the vote.

But the candidates who win seats are those with the most votes on the list, not those chosen by the party. This system assures that the electorate's views are represented proportionately, while enabling the voters to reject corrupt or abusive individuals. Unlike the single nontransferable vote, where each candidate competes against all the others, it creates incentives for cooperation among candidates and ethnic groups across a province. The results are more difficult to change through bribery and intimidation than under the present system.

Experts are unanimous in rejecting the present system, which today is used only in Jordan, Vanuatu and the Pitcairn Islands. Before locking a major international effort and tens of millions of dollars into a system that is likely to produce an unworkable parliament, the international community should engage with the Afghans to persuade them to adopt something better. (Barnett R. Rubin is director of studies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.)

U.N.'s Face in Afghanistan Takes Stock, Says Goodbye – By Simon Cameron-Moore / March 13, 2005

KABUL (Reuters) - The right to vote, record numbers of children in school, near eradication of polio and a budding media vouch for Afghanistan's recovery from decades of conflict, the U.N.'s chief spokesman said in a farewell on Sunday.

Manoel de Almeida e Silva, whose weekly briefings have made him the face of the United Nations to those Afghans with televisions, said the role of the warlords in human rights abuses was an issue the Security Council was well aware of.

Insecurity and economic depredation still bedevil the country more than three years after U.S.-backed Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban militia for refusing to surrender Osama bin Laden following al Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

"I think there is frustration of people of Afghanistan who do not see what they expected to see in immediate benefits today as a result of the peace process. (That) is a low," Silva said, recalling highs and lows of his three-year assignment.

But the 52-year-old Brazilian, whose last job was as deputy spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said he saw enough to believe Afghans can overcome the past quarter century of conflict. Arriving in Kabul in February 2002, Silva's term covered a momentous period, culminating in last October's presidential election when President Hamid Karzai won 55 percent of the vote.

Silva cited the demobilization of more than 42,000 fighters from private militias and the virtual completion of a program to collect and decommission heavy weapons as major steps forward. He said the country badly needed an effective police and judicial system and that people in positions of power should be properly vetted to guard against human rights abuses.

Unemployment is chronic, housing bad, public health facilities are grossly inadequate and infrastructure requirements are massive for the Central Asian nation of 28 million. But Silva, who is returning to the U.N. headquarters in New York, reminded people how Afghanistan was after the Taliban was vanquished and the task of rebuilding began.

"One of the first things was to put furniture in the offices of ministers, to put glass in the windows, give a set of cars to government officials. Because there was nothing. "There were no phones. If you had to have a meeting you had to send a driver to the person you wanted to see, asking: Can you see me at such a date such a time? That's how it was.

"Looking back at these things, even though we are far away from what everyone expects, I think it is a high what Afghans are accomplishing." Silva said Afghans should take heart from what they have done together with foreign help in the last few years.

"We have more than 4 million kids in schools ... more than ever before. Thirty percent of them are girls," Silva said. And a program to eradicate polio is expected to be completed this year, he told Reuters after the briefing.

Silva also praised the blossoming media, and a growing sense of freedom of _expression after decades of rule under communists, warlords and Islamist hard-liners. There are some 300 publications registered with the Ministry of Information, 50 radio stations and over 20 television stations, he said, adding that these had helped carry the U.N.'s message to the Afghan people.

Business seminar in Pakistan calls for better commercial ties within Central Asia through Afghanistan

Peshawar, March 15, 2005, Pajhwok Afghan News – A three day business conference held in Pashawar Pakistan attended by delegates from Afghanistan, Japan, Iran and China called for businessmen to invest in Afghanistan and also extend commercial ties with Central Asia through Afghanistan.

The seminar which was also attended by other delegates from Europe and America was mainly aimed at encouraging international businesses to invest in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and give them assurance about dealings with the province being run by Islamic parties, but participants also talked about the importance of commercial ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The delegates concluded that after the establishment of the interim administration and the strengthening of security in Afghanistan, people should be able to invest in Afghanistan. Dr. Hafiz Shaikh, Pakistani minister for investment, told the conference that foreign investors had turned their back on Pakistan some years back because of the war in neighboring Afghanistan, but today Afghanistan's reconstruction is underway and investors are beginning to be interested in the country.

Another speaker of the conference, Senator Ilyas Belour, a Pakistani businessman said that commercial ties with Afghanistan are important and if Pakistan has good relations with Afghanistan, his country can continue its commercial ventures in Central Asia.

An Afghan delegate attending the seminar, Abbas Akbari, said the improvement of commercial ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan could be useful. He told Pajhwok Afghan News: "Afghanistan is a war-stricken country and it needs reconstruction, so any country interested in investing in Afghanistan is welcome."

He added: "Investment in Afghanistan is not only useful for our country but it is useful for neighboring countries too." The Pakistani Prime Minister Shawkat Aziz is also expected to address the conference on the last day. The conference that started on March 14th is to end on March 16th.

Audit training for Afghan staff  - Gulf Daily News

MANAMA: Nine top staff members from the Afghanistan Finance Ministry internal audit department took part in an auditing programme for the first time at the Bahrain Institute for Banking and Finance (BIBF) in Juffair.
The seven-day programme was conducted by the institute in co-operation with volunteers from KPMG and the Financial Service Volunteer Corps (FSVC), US. It covered many subjects, including types of audits, donor audits, internal audit, differences between internal and external audits and compliance and governance issues.

Programme co-ordinator and BIBF banking and finance head Nafeesa Al Baluchi said the institute was chosen to host this important programme because of Bahrain's excellent reputation as a leading financial centre in the world and its ability to provide excellent training and business advisory services. FSVC Afghanistan country director Ramin Jabbari accompanied the group and was appreciative of the assistance provided by the BIBF, emphasising the importance of capacity building in Afghanistan.

A number of customised programmes to train different sectors in Iraq namely the Central Bank of Iraq, Trade Bank of Iraq and the Iraq Stock Exchange Group were organised last year. The programmes proved to be very successful, with excellent feedback from the participants.

Animal epidemic spreads to Badakhshan

FAIZABAD, Mar. 15, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Nearly 65% of the animal livestock in north-eastern Badakshan province have died after contracting a form of mad-cow disease from cattle exported from Pakistan, said the head of the agriculture and livestock department, Eng. Mohammad Hassan.

The disease has affected mainly animals in the districts of Shahr-e-Bozurg, Khiwa, Arghanshas and Wardaj.
"This disease which was first discovered in Badakhshan two years ago, has been transmitted from commercial animals from Pakistan and other provinces."

"We have many problems with agriculture and farming, and there is only one veterinary surgeon in Faizabad city with nobody in the districts," he said. He warned if the disease was not controlled it could spread throughout Faizabad.

Jafar, a resident of Shahr-e-Bozurg talked to Pajhwok at the agriculture department. "I have 800 sheep out of which 750 are healthy so far, but 50 have died due to the epidemic," he said. He said there is no veterinary surgeon in his region to treat the animals.

Afghan Female Gen.: I Rule the Barracks, my Spouse Rules Home - Cihan News Agency 03/14/2005

Women have begun to take their place in the public domain. Since the President Hamid Kharzai assigned Habibe Sarobi to the post of Bamyan governorship, Hatun Muhammedzai was promoted to the general post.

An Air Force General Muhammedzai spoke with the Turkish Cihan News Agency and remarked that she had lived with the dream of being a pilot since she was a child. Muhammedzai who trains Afghan soldiers everyday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., sums up how she manages to balance life between home and the barracks: I take control of the command chain. But I listen to my husband at home. I look after my two children, and I manage the house without having a domestic housemaid."

Gen. Muhammedzai who wanted to be a pilot since she was a child, joined the Afghan Air Forces after graduating university in 1985. Following a series of training sessions, she realized that she could not make it as a pilot and graduated as parachutist at the end of the first semester. Gen. Muhammedzai, who has performed 500 jumps to date, represents Afghanistan in international competitions. Hatun has 30 medals including five gold emphasized that during the Taliban regime she experienced many difficulties, during which time women were not even allowed to go out alone. As she could not go outside, she turned into an avid reader. Gen. Muhammedzai says those days are sad memories, "I was secretly doing my work andI always had to stay at home. Now I am very happy; because I am back in my position," she says. The Afghani General expressed her wish to cooperate with Turkey particularly in military terms. "We used to have agreements on military issues and Turkey is very experienced on military issues. I love the Turkish people very much and I hope I will have the opportunity to visit Turkey in the future," Muhammedzai says.

US army medics deliver baby aboard flying Black Hawk

KABUL, March 15 (AFP) - An Afghan mother of 14 children added another to her large family, but this time in mid-air on a US military helicopter, the army said Tuesday, hailing the onflight birth as a first. “Hey, we've got another passenger on board," the pilot radioed to escort aircraft Saturday after US medics delivered 40-year-old Melawa's baby girl, the first onflight birth over a combat zone according to the military.

Melawa, the wife of a local village elder, was evacuated from Shkin, in southeast Afghanistan close to the Pakistani border, as she was struggling to give birth after 18 hours of labour. Her baby daughter, however, did not wait for the crew to land.

Specialist Kyle Storbakken, a medical technician, and Doctor David Barber, commander of the General Hospital's medical detachment at Salerno, in southeast Afghanistan, delivered her while in flight. "It was pretty intense. It's hard to believe we helped a woman give birth to a baby up there," Storbakken said. 

Storbakken helped the woman and her husband onto the helicopter. Shortly after it took off, the woman's situation appeared to worsen, Storbakken said.      The helicopter's pilot powered the rotors at full speed toward the US camp near Khost. A few minutes later Storbakken came over the aircraft's intercom with good news.  “We've got a baby girl," Storbakken announced, after he cut the umbilical cord, the press release said.  They were later transported to US Bagram Airfield, where doctors reported both were doing well.

Eight killed in Iraq, including foreign trucker as Afghans arrested - March 12, 11:39 PM  AFP 

Eight people were killed in Iraq, including three Iraqi policemen gunned down in Mosul and a foreign truck driver attacked near Baiji, as three Afghans allegedly on their way to fight in the northern city were arrested in Baghdad.

The policemen, including an officer, were gunned down by assailants aboard a vehicle in the Al-Sukar neighbourhood on Mosul's northern side, said Mohammed Fathi, a local police commander. He said the attack happened at about 1:00 pm (1000 GMT), and a medic at a city hospital said the men were hit in the head and abdomen.

The attacks come two days after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite funeral in the city killing 47 and wounding 81. Three Afghans were meanwhile arrested in southern Baghdad, said a source at the interior ministry.

"They had no documents on them and spoke no Arabic," said the source, adding that they were later interrogated and it was established that "they were on their way to join rebels in Mosul." Afghans sometimes slip through Iraq's border with Iran to visit the holy Shiite sites in Karbala and Najaf south of Baghdad.

Mosul has become a hotbed of the insurgency led by Islamic militants and former regime loyalists after the fall in November of the ex-rebel bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. Iraqi authorities blame most of the current violence on foreign fighters, with Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi leading the pack.

South of Mosul, a foreign truck driver, presumed Turkish, was killed by a roadside bomb attack on a convoy carrying supplies for the US military. The attack happened at about 8:00 am (0500 GMT) as the convoy passed through Makhool, close to the northern oil refinery town of Baiji, 220 kilometres (136 miles) north of Baghdad, killing one of the drivers, said police Lieutenant Colonel Hasan Salah. "The driver might be Turkish because the truck had Turkish plates," he said.

Except for the die-hard few, most Turkish drivers have stopped venturing out on the treacherous roads linking Baghdad to the northern city of Mosul after a string of kidnappings and gruesome murders in the area over the past year. Iraqi drivers are doing the job now.

Pakistan denies centrifuge report - Monday, 14 March, 2005 BBC News

Pakistan has denied reports that it will hand uranium-enriching components to UN inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear programme. It earlier admitted the former head of its own programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, gave Iran similar centrifuge parts.

Diplomats close to the inquiry told reporters that Pakistan would give the parts to a UN laboratory in Austria.
A Pakistani official said these reports were "baseless and speculative". "We are not providing any centrifuges," Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told the AFP news agency. The reports said that Pakistan would give used centrifuge parts to the UN inspectors so that they could be compared to centrifuges found in Iran with suspicious traces of uranium.

[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.]