Clerics strip fugitive Taliban leader of power - Telegraph, UK 05/20/2005
By Tom Coghlan

Kandahar - A crowd of 600 Afghan clerics gathered in front of an historic mosque yesterday to strip the fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar of his claim to religious authority, in a ceremony that provided a significant boost to the presidency of Hamid Karzai.

The declaration, signed by 1,000 clerics from across the country, is an endorsement of the US-backed programme of reconciliation with more moderate elements of the Taliban movement that Karzai has been pursuing ahead of the country's first parliamentary elections, due in September.

Symbolically, the ulema shura, or council of clerics, was held at the Blue Mosque in the southern city of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban movement.

At the same venue in 1996 the Taliban leader held up a cloak said to belong to the Prophet Mohammed, which is kept in a shrine in the mosque. He was proclaimed Amir ul-Mumineen or Leader of Muslims by the same clerical body, one of the few occasions the title has been granted anywhere in the Islamic world in the modern era.

As afternoon prayers approached yesterday, some 600 clerics, heavily bearded and wearing substantial turbans and flowing robes, from 20 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, entered the blue-domed mosque's main courtyard, flanked by heavily armed guards.

With the assembled clerics seated on the marble floor before him, the head of shura, Maulvi Abdullah Fayaz, said: "Karzai is elected through free and fair election and religiously we have to obey his orders. None of the orders of the previous Emirs, including Mullah Omar, is accepted."

He said that following the Taliban, "accepting their orders and through their orders killing people and destabilising the country", was "against sharia law". A list of 13 proclamations was read out during the three-hour ceremony.

The support of the religious establishment came with strings attached, reflecting concerns over the liberal influences in Afghanistan since the Taliban fell in 2001.

The clerics demanded the construction of hundreds of religious schools, a prohibition of drugs, alcohol and "sexual films" and a call for women's rights to remain within the limits of sharia law.

The shura also called for the arrest of Newsweek staff responsible for an article claiming that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed a copy of the Koran down a lavatory, if it proved to be untrue. The story caused riots across Afghanistan that led to the deaths of 16 people.
Groups of young men in black turbans and robes - supporters of the Taliban still commonly seen on the streets of Kandahar - watched proceedings from a distance.

The meeting of the council followed several days of escalating violence across the south, believed to have been committed by loyalists to the cause of Mullah Omar.

Five Afghan employees of the US company Chemonics were killed in Helmand province on Wednesday. Yesterday six Afghans transporting a body from the earlier attack to Kabul were ambushed and killed in Zabul on the main road to the capital. Two policemen died on the same stretch of road on Monday. An Italian aid worker from the charity Care was kidnapped in Kabul on Monday.

In a separate development, the former Taliban foreign minister, Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, who accepted amnesty from the government last month, announced that he would stand as an independent candidate in elections planned for September.

Anti-US anger in Afghanistan overshadows Karzai trip to Washington

Kabul AFP – 5/20/05 - Afghan President Hamid Karzai heads to the United States Saturday in a visit that threatens to be overshadowed by the most violent anti-US protests to rock Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban and new allegations of prisoner abuse by US soldiers.

Since helping to bring down the extremist Islamic regime in 2001, Washington has remained Karzai's biggest supporter, both in terms of reconstruction aid and its military presence, with 18,000 troops on the ground here.

But the relationship is showing signs of strain after 15 people were killed in anti-US protests last week sparked by an erroneous report of copies of the Koran being desecrated by the US military.

The trip will see Karzai meeting President George W. Bush on Monday, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the new head of the World Bank and former Bush administration hawk Paul Wolfowitz.

During his four-day trip, the president will also meet members of Congress, whose job it is to approve the multi-billion dollar packages of military and economic aid that are stopping Afghanistan from becoming a failed state. The bill currently runs to some 15 billion dollars a year, 80 percent of it to cover military expenses.

Meeting for the first time since Karzai was reelected Afghan president in October, the two are expected to focus on the ongoing war on terror and Afghanistan's faltering progress, Bush's spokesman Scott McClellan said.

"This will be an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss the progress in the global war on terrorism, the achievements of the Afghan people in building democracy and our ongoing cooperation on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues," McClellan said ahead of the trip.

And although last week's anti-US protests, which saw hundreds on the streets in cities across Afghanistan, were sparked by a Newsweek report that was later retracted, further allegations Friday threatened to ignite popular anger.

The latest report quoted a leaked US Army criminal investigation as saying two detainees in US military custody in Afghanistan in 2002 were tortured to death in a pattern of abuse that went well beyond their deaths.

The nearly 2,000 page Bagram file on prisoner abuse read like a "narrative counterpart to the digital images from Abu Ghraib," the prison at the centre of an abuse scandal in Iraq, the New York Times reported.

During the trip, Karzai is also expected to ask Washington to seal a strategic long term partnership with Afghanistan. He raised the issue last month, but details of what such a relationship would mean remain sketchy.

While unclear, the concept still touches raw nerves in Afghanistan, where an opposition wary of the continued American presence in the country has accused Karzai of wanting to install permanent US military bases.

Observers deem an ongoing US military presence essential to Afghanistan's fragile stability, which after more than two decades of war and civil unrest is threatened by the considerable power and influence of regional warlords, the slow pace of disarmament, a massive illicit narcotics industry and widespread anti-government fervour.

The south and east of the country, near the mountainous and lawless border with Pakistan, remains the heartland of the anti-Karzai camp, where Taliban remnants and their Al-Qaeda allies hold out.
The areas remain tense and attacks have been reported on a regular basis since the end of a harsh winter, claiming the lives of more than 250 people. Various factors have served to drive a wedge between Afghans and the US in recent months.

Allegations of repeated and frequent human rights abuses by US forces in Afghanistan, as denounced by the United Nations, along with the since-retracted claims of desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo bay have stoked anti-Americanism.

Analysts see the protests as showing the frustration of a large portion of the Afghan population who consider the US-led reconstruction effort to be moving too slowly and unevenly.
"The Americans continue to put the emphasis on the war on terror, but for many Afghans, everyday problems, financial problems, are not taken into account," said a member of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.

And despite Karzai himself saying that US forces have made mistakes in Afghanistan, the president knows he has few other options. "Without them, and without the international community, Afghanistan will immediately go back to chaos," he said earlier this month.

Clementina Cantoni: A force for good By Nadene Ghouri – 05/19/2005 - BBC

I found out in an email from a mutual friend late on Monday night - had I heard there had been a kidnapping? All she knew was that the victim was Italian and from Care International. It hid me with a sick thud: it could only be Clementina.

For weeks now, those of us living and working in Afghanistan have feared that Iraq-style kidnappings would begin. Kabul runs on rumour and security warnings are a part of our daily life. Some cause more concern than others.

A recent description of a potential suicide bomber, for example, as one-legged, sweating profusely and reading the Koran, caused us more amusement than fear. If you choose to live in a post-conflict zone, the risk of explosions and the odd rocket is something you can accept.

The risk of being abducted at gunpoint, however, is genuinely terrifying. The mood in Afghanistan is changing. When I first arrived in Kabul in 2002, the same year that Clementina began working there, the optimism in the air was tangible.

Afghans welcomed foreigners with open arms and Kabul was booming with new restaurants, hotels and businesses. Now the mood is markedly different. Frustrated by the lack of development and the grinding poverty, more and more Afghans are replacing initial gratitude with cynicism and a slow-burning anger. The country-wide anti-US protests which left 16 people dead last week would have been simply unbelievable two years ago.

But, through our increasing fear, ex-pats in Kabul have taken comfort in the fact that the majority of war-weary Afghans are good and decent people, clinging onto their fledging and somewhat flaky democracy.

That was proven during an earlier kidnap attempt, when an American man managed to escape from his armed abductors' moving vehicle. Throwing himself onto the road, he was helped by several Afghans who raised the alarm.

It was displayed again in the moving image of 100 Afghan war widows protesting for Clementina's release. I found it frustrating that, except for the Italian press and the BBC News website, those images were hardly used by the world's media.

Afghan women live their lives behind closed doors, and for those widows to find the courage to publicly protest on the streets in honour of a foreign woman speaks volumes about the true courage of Afghan women, but also about the respect they have for my friend Clementina.

She runs an emergency food programme for widows, but one of her aims was to get them off food vouchers and into employment. As such, I hired two of them as cleaners. Whenever I saw her, she never failed to ask how they and their children were.

Thousands of women had contact with her over the years, but she knew them all as individuals, never forgetting key details - children's names, an illness, a family wedding.

Since her abduction, Clementina's friends around the world have taken comfort from emails to each other. The wife of the Afghan ambassador to Canada calls her "the sweetest, most gentle, intelligent, and loving young woman. One who has been deeply moved and transformed by her experiences living and working in that country".

Another mutual friend, a fashion designer working with Afghan women, wrote: "I am going to make her the top she wanted but never ordered as it was too expensive... blue and red. The blue matches her beautiful eyes. The red is for passion - a contrast. Just as Clementina could be... Playing tough football with men, but still looking absolutely straight and gorgeous...".

I last saw Clementina at my birthday party three weeks ago. I keep picturing her as she wished me many happy returns, smiling and gorgeous as ever, her intense blue eyes sparkling.

I still can't comprehend that it was she, one of the most experienced and careful aid workers in Afghanistan, who has been abducted. No-one in Kabul would ever dare to say it, but we are all thinking that if it was her, it could have been any of us.

I flew back to London last week, and at the airport I bumped into a colleague who was leaving the country for good. "I'm not sure any of us are actually making a difference," she told me.

"They no longer want us there and it is only going to get more dangerous." I pray she is wrong about the future dangers. But whatever happens in the future, there were people in Afghanistan who did make a difference - who made sure that a child was able to eat fresh meat occasionally, that a mother could afford medicine for a sick baby or a warm coat for herself in winter.

These were small, but tangible differences that can change the course of a person's life. That is what Clementina did. And to whoever is holding her, I want to send this message: she is a force for good in this world. We love her and we want her back.

Nadene Ghouri is on sabbatical from the BBC. She promotes media development in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: World Bank Provides Grant Support – World Bank PR 05/19/2005

The World Bank approved today a US$85 million package of grant assistance to Afghanistan, of which US$40 million will fund higher education, and US$45 million will support the country's economic and social recovery through improved road and airport access to goods, markets and social services. The large proportion of grant funding to Afghanistan recognizes the scale of the challenge, particularly the infrastructure needs, facing this nation as it recovers from more than two decades of conflict.

Over the past three years, the government of Afghanistan has made notable efforts to revive the higher education sector in parallel with ongoing progress in primary and secondary education. Eighteen higher education institutions have reopened their doors and enrollment has jumped from 4,000 students in 2001 to 37,000 in the fall of 2004. As in primary education, the enrollment profile is skewed with approximately two-thirds of students in their first and second years. With students returning from Pakistan and other countries and the students graduating from high schools, demand for higher education is on the rise, not only in terms of enrollment but also in terms of relevance of curricula and quality of teaching.

The Strengthening Higher Education Program aims to progressively restore basic operational performance at a group of core universities in Afghanistan, and to provide an institutional base for the development of an agenda focusing on tertiary education development, capacity building and reform. The program is envisaged as the first-phase of a long-term higher education development program in Afghanistan. In addition, it will act as a catalyst to attract various resources to the Afghan tertiary education sector with a long-term development framework. The program also facilitates and finances partnership program agreements for Kabul Polytechnic University, Kabul University, and four regional universities (Balkh, Herat, Kandahar and Nangarhar) with established foreign universities.

“Rebuilding higher education is a pressing and critical need for Afghanistan, particularly at this time, when there is an urgent need for skilled professionals and capable leadership in all sectors of the economy,”says Keiko Miwa, World Bank’s Education Specialist. “We expect the program to improve the quality and relevance of higher education so that the students graduating from Afghan universities can become competent professionals and leaders, contributing to the needs of reconstruction, growth and poverty reduction in the country.”

More than two decades of conflict combined with a lack of maintenance has resulted in the deterioration of large part of Afghanistan’s road network. This has meant that the road network has been rendered only partially usable with high transportation costs. Today, more than 50 percent of the main road network is in poor condition.

The Emergency Transport Rehabilitation Project (ETRP), funded by a World Bank credit of US$108 million, approved in March 2003 aimed at restoring road and airport infrastructure in Afghanistan. Under this project, the government funded the rehabilitation of the Kabul – Doshi, Pol-e-Khomri-Kunduz – Shirkhan Bandar highway, including already completed work on the Salang tunnel; rehabilitation of Kabul International Airport including reconstruction of damaged runway pavement, provision of airfield ground lighting, and other related equipment to support safe airport operations; and rehabilitation of secondary roads.

The supplemental grant of US$45 million for the Emergency Transport Rehabilitation Project approved today, will increment the project budget for Kunduz – Taloqan – Kishem road rehabilitation, and other components for satisfactory completion of the project. The project is expected to be completed by the Ministry of Public Works and Ministry of Transport by June 2007.

“For Afghanistan, not as a land locked country - but rather as a country that provides a land bridge, it is crucial to remove key transport bottlenecks to facilitate regional trade, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and deliver reconstruction and development efforts in all sectors,” says Alastair J. Mckechnie, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan. “The Government's ambitious plans set out during the recent Afghanistan Development Forum clearly indicate that growth in will very much depend on regional economic integration.”

The total cost of the ETRP is estimated to be around US$147 million, with today’s approved IDA supplemental grant of US$45 million added to IDA’s original credit of US$108.
Misspent: A people's good will - International Herald Tribune 05/19/2005
By Edward Girardet
KABUL - The recent protests in Afghanistan against alleged American desecration of the Koran at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are only one indication of growing resentment toward the United States. Attacks against United Nations and other aid establishments also underline the extent to which the international community is being increasingly associated with Washington's actions.

Six months ago, Afghans appeared largely willing to tolerate the U.S. military presence as necessary for re-establishing stability and halting widespread abuses by warlords, corrupt officials and insurgents. This attitude, however, is changing. Many perceive the United States - but also the aid agencies - as in it for themselves. They are viewed as hogging the bulk of the billions of recovery dollars to pay for their own exorbitant overheads, expatriate salaries and sport utility vehicles.

Despite Kabul's burgeoning Dubai-style reconstruction, many Afghans see little real evidence of improvement since the collapse of the Taliban in the autumn of 2001. For them, aid is simply not reaching where it is needed most, notably the rural areas where 80 percent of the population live. They also feel that Afghanistan is no longer theirs and that they have little say in the recovery process.

Part of the responsibility lies with Afghans themselves. With the capital awash in money from international aid, security support and drugs, never before has corruption been so blatant, so pervasive.

Western donors are heavily at fault. Certain practices in the allocation of funds and contracts are highly dubious. Outside agencies and private consultancies, too, hire away qualified Afghans with substantial but unsustainable salaries. The result is that the ministries and nongovernmental organizations that have often invested heavily in local training are unable to function properly. Meanwhile, highly paid foreigners sometimes have little grasp of the issues and are, as one European diplomat put it, "a complete waste of time and resources."

The fact that Afghans clearly do not understand the role of the international community points to a disconcerting failure to explain the recovery process. This includes the "blurring of the lines" between the aid agencies and the military, whose "humanitarian" activities double up as intelligence gathering. Such confusion severely undermines the position of dozens of serious groups like the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, whose offices were attacked last week in Jalalabad.

U.S. troops are increasingly compared to the Soviet occupiers of the 1980s. This is hardly helped by the heavy-handed tactics of coalition soldiers, who often burst into homes or force vehicles off the road when their convoys pass.

The same goes for the Bush administration's alarming use of American and other foreign mercenaries without appropriate accountability. Heavily armed and wearing dark wrap-around sunglasses, these "private military contractors" help protect U.S. officials and the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, but are also involved in Washington's Colombia-style drug eradication campaign in the eastern parts of the country. Acting as if above the law, many engender bitter anger by closing off streets or arrogantly pointing their weapons at civilians.

Since last year, Afghanistan has suffered a spate of kidnappings, killings and other assaults against aid workers and journalists. Some of these incidents, like the killings of five workers with Médecins sans Frontières in June 2004, have involved the police. Similarly, the murder of a British aid consultant last March has been linked to rogue elements within the government. Both the United Nations and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force have advised expatriates to trust no one.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry is seen as graft-ridden and answerable to no one. The same goes for the justice sector. Many Afghans complain of police harassment, while judges are viewed as utterly corrupt.

(Edward Girardet is a writer on global humanitarian, media and conflict issues. He is also editor of the ''2005 Essential Field Guide to Afghanistan.'')

Afghan refugees in Pakistan unwilling to return home: census

ISLAMABAD, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A recent census shows that more than 82 percent of Afghans living in Pakistan are reluctant to go back to their country, the local newspaper Dawn reported on Friday.
The census conducted nationwide reveals that 2,517,558 Afghans, out of a total 3,047,225, are unwilling to leave Pakistan by the end of this year. it says that personal enmity, lack of shelter and non- availability of livelihood are major factors discouraging Afghans from going back to their country.
The federal Population Census Organization with the financial and technical assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees conducted the census in last February.

It was meant to record gender, ethnicity, address and source of livelihood of Afghans living in Pakistan since 1979, and also whether or not they wanted to return to Afghanistan in the next 12 months.

An official has said that Islamabad was likely to declare all Afghans "economic immigrants" after completion of the registration process following which work permits would be issued for a period of five to ten years.

U.S. Army report details abuse of Afghans-NY Times

WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - A confidential U.S. Army report contains graphic details of widespread abuse of detainees in Afghanistan in 2002 carried out by "young and poorly trained soldiers," The New York Times reported on Friday.

The abuse, described along with the details of the deaths of two inmates at the Bagram detention center, emerged from a nearly 2,000-page file of the Army's criminal investigation into the case, the newspaper said.

The Times said it had obtained a copy of the file from a person involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at Bagram and the military's response to the deaths.

The report centers on the death of a 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar and that of another detainee, Habibullah, who died at Bagram six days earlier in December 2002.

According to the report, Dilawar was chained by his wrists to the top of his cell for several days before he died and his legs had been pummeled by guards.

"The file depicts young, poorly trained soldiers in repeated incidents of abuse. The harsh treatment, which has resulted in criminal charges against seven soldiers, went well beyond the two deaths," the newspaper said.

In sworn statements to Army investigators, soldiers described mistreatment ranging from a female interrogator stepping on a detainee's neck and kicking another in the genitals to a shackled prisoner being made to kiss the boots of interrogators as he rolled back and forth on the floor of a cell, according to the newspaper.

Another prisoner was made to pick plastic bottle caps out of a drum filled with a mixture of excrement and water to soften him up for interrogation, the report said.

U.S. officials have characterized incidents of prisoner abuse at Bagram in 2002 as isolated problems that were thoroughly investigated, the newspaper said.

"What we have learned through the course of all these investigations is that there were people who clearly violated anyone's standard for humane treatment," Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita told the paper. "We're finding some cases that were not close calls."

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command concluded last October that there was probable cause to charge 27 officers and enlisted personnel with criminal offenses in the Dilawar case and 15 of them were cited in the Habibullah case, the Times said.

Two Army interrogators have been reprimanded and seven soldiers have been charged, the newspaper said. It also said most of those who could still face legal action have denied wrongdoing, either in statements to investigators or in comments to a reporter.

Two US soldiers wounded in Afghan bomb blast

KABUL, May 19 (AFP) - Two US soldiers were wounded Thursday when their vehicle struck an improvised bomb in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, the US military said.

Their Humvee struck an improvised explosive device 22 kilometres (14 miles) southwest of Kandahar city, US military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore told AFP.

"There were two US soldiers wounded and they were medically evacuated to Kandahar airfield but their injuries are not serious and they are expected to return to duty shortly," she added.

The blast was the latest in an upsurge of violence in Afghanistan's restive south where the majority of an 18,000-strong US-led coalition force are based hunting down militants.

Eleven Afghans working with a US-funded firm Chemonics were killed in two consecutive ambushes in neighbouring Zabul and Helmand provinces over the past two days.

Three years after Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led military campaign, remnants of the ousted militia continue to wage an insurgency in the south. The unrest has also been intensified by a government drive to eradicate opium poppy crops there.

Helmand was the country's top opium producing province in 2004 and Chemonics was running an irrigation project aimed at providing local farmers with alternative livelihoods.

Press Briefing by Richard Provencher, Public Information Officer And United Nations Agencies in Afghanistan - Kabul – 19 May 2005

ط Today’s guest

Today’s guest is Dr. Abdi Ahmed, Medical Officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan. He will be making a presentation on women’s health in this country.

ط UNAMA’s statement concerning abduction of international CARE worker

UNAMA is deeply troubled by the abduction of CARE employee Clementina Cantoni, an exemplary humanitarian aid worker who has devoted many years of her life to helping the poor and has spent three years in Afghanistan working with widows and children. UNAMA wishes for her speedy and safe release.

ط “Core” UN staff returning to Jalalabad

Following the violent demonstrations in Jalalabad last week, the United Nations relocated to Kabul all its international staff based in Nangarhar province.

An assessment mission to Jalalabad was led last Sunday (May 15) by the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Filippo Grandi. The situation has calmed down and the local authorities have assured the UN that they will provide security measures for its staff, premises and operations. Investigations are ongoing on the consequences of last week’s attacks which damaged and destroyed several buildings of the UN, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and other organizations.

Following consultations with the Ministry of Interior as well as with the Nangarhar authorities, UNAMA therefore decided to send back a core group of essential international staff from different UN agencies yesterday.

Among other things, this has allowed the candidate nomination process in Jalalabad to resume, as the office had been closed since May 12th. Further returns of international staff will be organized if the situation remains calm and stable.

ط DDR programme well past 55,000 mark

Since October 2003, when the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration) programme began many former Afghan Military Forces (AMF) officers and soldiers have joined the programme.

As of today, 55,523 former AMF personnel have disarmed. From that figure, 46,041 have entered the reintegration phase. In terms of heavy weapons, 9,054 working or repairable heavy weapons have been collected and secured in guarded compounds throughout the country.

In other DDR developments, Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) Mobile Disarmament Unit has been working since yesterday (May 18) in Takhar province to collect roughly 750 different types of light and heavy weapons from interested commanders.

The continued success of the formal DDR programme has encouraged other groups to come forward on their own and hand over their weapons. Seventeen unofficial commanders from Takhar province, who want to improve the security situation in the country, are voluntarily handing over their weapons.

The 750 weapons represent weapons collected outside of the normal disarmament process of the Afghan Military Forces. The commanders urged others to do the same.

ANBP has been contacted several times by groups and individuals wishing to hand over weapons and ammunition. In all cases, ANBP agrees to the requests but it does not provide reintegration benefits in return. Reintegration is reserved only for those AMF personnel identified by the Ministry of Defence as officially entitled to reintegration benefits.

Yesterday (May 18), a ceremony was held at the Ministry of Defence to reward commanders who have supported the DDR programme.

ANBP, in partnership with the MoD and the international community, is offering a financial package to AMF commanders and senior officers whose military units must have been decommissioned and who have shown their full support for the DDR process.

ط Elections update

Those of you who attended the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) press conference yesterday (May 18) are aware of the extension that was given to the candidate nomination period.

If you weren’t there or have yet to hear, with us today to talk about that and the very latest candidate nomination figures is JEMB International Spokesperson Bronwyn Curran.

Bronwyn Curran, JEMB International Spokesperson

As Richard just mentioned the candidate nomination period has been extended beyond the original deadline of 4pm today. This is due to interruptions to the candidate nomination process in several provinces due to security problems, protests and riots which forced the closures of several offices, and prevented a number of potential candidates from submitting their nomination papers. Across the country, the Joint Electoral Management Body is extending candidate nominations by three days - this coming Saturday, Sunday and Monday with the new deadline being 4pm Monday May 23rd.

The one exception is Nangarhar province where our offices were forced to close for six days due to the violence in Jalalabad. As a result, we are extending candidate nominations in Nangarhar by six days for each of the days we were closed. So the deadline in Nangarhar will be Thursday May 26th.

During the closures the JEMB received several reports of potential candidates arriving at our office in Jalalabad, and some of the other provinces where we were closed, wanting to file their nomination forms and finding the office shut. So we judged that it is only fair that we give Afghans who are interested in running for office another opportunity to come forward and submit their nomination papers.

We are also pleased to announce that yesterday we reopened the Nangarhar office, so as of Wednesday (yesterday), the Nangarhar provincial office in Jalalabad is once again processing nominations. Commissioner Kushnan Singh traveled to Jalalabad by helicopter yesterday with a core staff who will be manning the office for the next week and declared it open again.

So today, all 34 offices in each provincial capital are up and running and accepting candidate nominations for the Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Councils.

Here are the latest figures on candidate nominations. The number of candidates has surpassed 4,000. As of the close of office yesterday at least 4,151 Afghan men and women had nominated themselves for the Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Councils. I say at least because we are still waiting for figures to come in from the south and from the northeast region.

Specifically for the Wolesi Jirga, we have 2,250 candidates including 261 women and 45 Kuchis or Nomads. For the first time on Tuesday, two Kuchi women (one from Kabul and the other from Nimroz) came forward to nominate themselves. Three of the seats on the Wolesi Jirga are reserved for Kuchi women.

For the Provincial Councils, 1,901 Afghans have nominated themselves as candidates including 97 women.

As expected we have seen a late surge in candidate nominations most noticeably in recent days in Herat, where on Tuesday (May 17) the provincial office recorded the strongest number of candidates so far. This coincided with the visit to Herat by two of our commissioners, Mrs. Mastura Stanakzai and Mr. Abdul Hakim Murad, who traveled to Herat to meet with the community. They spoke directly with women’s groups, with clerics, and with youth groups to encourage candidate nominations.

So once the last candidate nomination office closes next Thursday in Nangarhar, the next phase we will be looking ahead to is the display and challenge period. This phase will run from June 4th to June 9th. Over those five days, the preliminary list of candidates will be displayed, and during those five days challenges may be made against candidates who are considered not to meet the criteria.

These challenges will be adjudicated by the Electoral Complaints Commission over a three-week period. Any candidate who is disqualified as a result of those challenges may appeal. They will have one week to appeal and have their defence heard and the final list will be published on July 12th.

ط MoWA activities to encourage female candidates to nominate themselves

In terms of public information - the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) is initiating the following activities to encourage candidate nomination amongst women in Afghanistan.

Public messages from the Minister encouraging women to put themselves forward as candidates will be broadcast regularly on state radio and television, as well as private radio stations, until the end of the nomination process.

Furthermore, three-member MoWA teams will be dispatched to a number of provinces to implement intense advocacy campaigns, in conjunction with the Departments of Women’s Affairs (DoWA), until the end of the nomination process.

This supplements the public outreach to Afghan women by the JEMB’s gender focus unit, which has been coordinating meetings with women’s groups in each province.

On that note we would also like to remind you that the guest speaker for our Sunday briefing will be JEMB Chairman Bissmillah Bissmil.

ط Flood Update

The World Food Programme (WFP) has continued its distribution of assistance to flood affected families throughout the country.

Since the last briefing they have distributed 58.74 Metric Tons (MT) of mixed food to 534 families in the Nawa and Nadali districts of Helmand province, as well as 77 MT to 700 families in Kang district of Nimroz province, and 110 MT to 2000 families in Gizab district of Uruzgan province.

Following flooding last week, there was a landslide in Jang Aghly village in the Dahnaie Ghuri district of Baghlan province on Saturday. An assessment team made up of representatives of the Provincial Municipality, the provincial department of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, and the Afghan Red Crescent Society, was already in the affected area. They have reported that 40 houses and a mosque had been damaged, and that 89 jeribs of agricultural land had been flooded. There were no casualties however. The Afghan Red Crescent Society is currently coordinating assistance to this district, in addition to the assistance already provided by them last week.

Meanwhile in Badakhshan province there have been reports of flooding over the last week in the districts of Yaftal Payan, and Yaftal Bala. Poor weather, difficulty of access and security concerns have meant the disaster response committee has been unable to dispatch the joint assessment team. It is anticipated that the team, which will be made up of representatives of provincial government departments and international agencies, will be sent shortly.

ط Upgrade for Uruzgan canal

In Uruzgan, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Uruzgan Construction Agency, a local NGO, are providing funding for the construction of the Kondolan main canal in the Khas Uruzgan district.

Following the rehabilitation of the main canal, the present irrigated area will be increased by 50 percent (from 150 hectares to 300 hectares). The project, which cost US$ 41,373.00, will be completed by the end of September 2005.

ط UNAMA holds NGO training workshop in Mazar

On Monday (May 16) UNAMA held an NGO training workshop in Mazar-e Sharif entitled “Government Reform and the Development Process”.

More than 30 NGO’s participated including Save the Children UK (SCUK), Habitat for Humanity, and German NGO Agro-Action.

The workshop focused on the work of development programmes such as the National Priority Programme (NPP), and the National Development Framework (NDF) and highlighted how these programmes impacted on the work of NGOs.

A similar workshop for government representatives is currently being planned.

ط MoWA, Afghan ministries form partnership to identify critical gender issues affecting Afghan women

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) will be partnered by three Afghan ministries in a series of workshops designed to identify critical gender issues affecting women in Afghanistan.

The workshops, which will be led by MoWA and supported by the United Nations Women’s Fund (UNIFEM), will be held with the Ministry of Information and Culture on May 22nd, the Ministry of Energy and Water on May 31st, and the Ministry of Health in early June.

A similar workshop on women’s issues has already been held with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), and MoWA plan to form more partnerships with government ministries and civil society actors over the coming months.

Bringing together high-level decision makers to discuss gender related issues and share expertise, is a boost to the development of MoWA’s National Action Plan for women – which aims to promote gender development and advancement for Afghan women.

As we mentioned in previous briefings, women in Afghanistan have some of the worst social indicators in the world.

These include a low level of access to primary, secondary or tertiary education – only 27 percent of Afghan women have educational access; an adult female literacy level of only 14 percent; and extremely high maternal mortality rates, with an estimated one Afghan woman dying every 30 minutes from pregnancy-related causes.

While we are on the subject of women’s issues, this segways nicely onto today’s guest. I would like to introduce you to Dr. Abdi Ahmed, Medical Officer with the World Health Organization in Afghanistan. He is here to give you a presentation on women’s health in this country.

Dr. Adbi Momin Ahmed, Medical Officer, World Health Organization (WHO)

I am here to discuss some of the key issues related to maternal health. But let me start with a story that took place some time ago to illustrate some of the problems.

Rabia was 21 years old and from a village outside of Jalalabad, where there is some of the roughest terrain on earth. When she delivered her baby, her attendants were unskilled. As a result, the baby was born with its body detached from its head, which remained inside the uterine cavity. She was transferred to Jalalabad hospital, the nearest health care facility, which involved crossing the Hindu Crush for three days and three nights. Given her condition the doctors had to conduct a hysterectomy, which means the removal of uterine cavity. The girl was saved, but ended her life in a miserable condition.

Before the war in Afghanistan the public sector was strong. Even though there was strong tertiary health care, the availability of health care around Afghanistan was quite low and maternal mortality at that time was high. So you can imagine what happened when there was a crisis over two and a half decades. What we see today is the cumulative effects of war over a prolonged period.

We know that both maternal and child health are good indicators for socio-economic factors in any country. Maternal and child mortality in Afghanistan, is the second highest in the world, which means that the socio-economic factors here are very poor. Coupled with protracted warfare, it has meant that child and maternal health care in Afghanistan is in an appalling state. A total of 1,600 women die from pregnancy related problems, per 100,000 births or pregnancies. This is the national average. In certain provinces, such as Badakhshan or Nuristan, the number is different. A UNICEF study estimated that this number could be as high as 6,500 maternal deaths. This is absolutely unacceptable.

In terms of health services, maternal health services are not equally distributed. The majority of women do not have access to essential health care. Some estimates indicate that only 12 percent have access to anti-natal care in health facilities where only male personnel offer care. The utilization of these facilities is very low, as women are reluctant to go and undertake anti-natal care where only males are providing services. In addition to this their children do not benefit from this health care, as their mothers are reluctant to utilize them. One of the major concerns relating to female health care is the lack of female health workers in Afghanistan. The figures we have suggest that in some areas, such as Kandahar and Helmand, the rate is as low as 0.2 per 10,000 population.

In terms of maternal care and emergency care there are three delays that kill women; the delay at family level, namely that the families do not recognize the symptoms and keep the pregnant woman to deliver at home; the delay in transport to medical facilities; and the delay in the availability of doctors, who are often attending to another emergency.

Other factors contributing to maternal mortality in Afghanistan include early marriage or teen marriage. This is something very new. It is a big factor that contributes to maternal mortality. Early marriage, marriage as early as 14 years, is not uncommon in Afghanistan. Globally early marriage is defined as marriage between 15 and 19, but it varies from place to place. Marriage as young as 10 years old is seen in this world. Afghanistan ranks number 4 with respect to this phenomenon. You can imagine in a place of civil unrest, that someone capable of doing whatever he wants can easily grab a young teenage girl for his own interest.

In health terms, when girls are 14 years old and carry a pregnancy we usually see a lot of changes in the body. Their bodies are not well prepared to accommodate these changes. This leads to a higher risk to the mother in delivery. Furthermore the immune system is not fully developed and a young person has problems overcoming the changes. Nutrition is also a big issue. We usually say a pregnant woman has to double her calorie intake – but in Afghanistan this is not easy.

There is also the issue of Tuberculosis (TB). All over the world, TB normally affects more men than women. But in Afghanistan, the situation is the opposite. Scientifically we do not know why, but there are a number of theories. Firstly, Afghan women spend more time in a poorly ventilated environment, where the infection can be easily transmitted between individuals. Secondly, malnutrition is a key factor. It is common that women eat less than men and therefore have an increased susceptibility to this disease. Iran had a similar problem around 25 years ago, but they have reversed the trend. There has been a lot of effort through institutions such as the Ministry of Health to help Afghanistan get over this scourge of infection.

Looking at the overall picture, a low literacy rate, coupled by low social status, poor human rights record, poor access to basic health services, lack of emergency obstetric care, and poverty, results in a high level of maternal mortality in Afghanistan. It is this web of inter-related factors that are contributing towards this problem. We know that the whole world is working towards the Millennium Development Goals by 2010.

Is Afghanistan doing enough? The answer is that we do not know. I believe personally that they are and that with a sustained effort in relation to child and maternal health, and TB, they will be in a position to hit the target.

Questions & Answers

Question: My question is regarding the security situation in Kabul and around Afghanistan. How do you assess the security situation of the UN and NGO staff around the country, and are there any security restrictions for these staff in Kabul.
Public Information Officer: I can only speak on behalf of what is happening with the United Nations. The security situation was raised on May 9th and remains at the same level now. Basically our staff have been told to be vigilant, not to walk around unnecessarily. There has been a heightened sense of security. That’s what I can tell you.

Question: Does that mean the security situation has worsened in the last two weeks?
Public Information Officer: It hasn’t worsened. It just has been heightened because as you know, these threats have been out there for quite some time. The message is out to simply be extra careful.

Question: Media reports indicate that a former Taliban minister has thrown his candidacy. Would you like to brief us as to when he opened his candidacy and also let us know whether his past will affect his eligibility to contest that election?
Bronwyn Curran, JEMB International Spokesperson: Unfortunately we can’t say anything about candidates until the preliminary list of candidates is published on June 4th to June 9th. There are reports, but we cannot add anything to what has already been reported. I can say that all the candidates on a uniform basis will be subject to a display and challenge period from June 4th to June 9th. Any challenges against candidates will be considered. If it is found that some candidates do not meet the criteria, then they will be disqualified and given a chance to appeal. That applies to all candidates without exception. All candidates are subject to the eligibility criteria. The main things are if candidates; are or were a member of an unofficial armed force they cannot run; if they have been convicted of any crime, or convicted of a crime against humanity; or if they have been deprived of their right by a civil court they cannot run. If their job falls within a certain category, which is available on the website, for example electoral officials, judges, members of any official armed force, ministers, governors, department heads, they cannot run unless they resign their jobs first. So all those criteria apply to all candidates without exception.

Question: What about financial support if a candidate is getting money from outside the country? Does this person remain eligible?
Bronwyn Curran, JEMB International Spokesperson: The eligibility criteria areas I just listed. So if anybody violates those criteria, they can be disqualified by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). If there are challenges against candidates on other grounds such as their funding, that will be considered on a case by case basis by the ECC.

Question: Do you have the figures on how many people have TB in Afghanistan and how many people die from this disease?

Dr. Ahmed, WHO: [Afghanistan is one of the 22 highest TB-burdened countries in the world. With an estimated annual risk of 2.55%, the incidence of sputum positive cases is calculated at 150 patients per 100,000 persons per year. WHO estimates that 76,000 new cases and 23,000 deaths occur annually. Over 14,000 of these would be women in their reproductive age, a highly vulnerable group, which accounts for 65% of all TB cases].

Rejuvenated army poised for overseas missions, Hillier says – CP 05/20/05

OTTAWA -- After a year of recuperation and rebuilding, the army will soon be able to tackle new missions abroad, the country's top soldier says. General Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff, said yesterday the army has recovered from the stress built up during more than a decade of unending overseas deployments and is ready to handle and sustain new assignments. But it won't return to the days when deployments multiplied to unsustainable levels.

He told the Commons defence committee the navy has also caught its breath after a long series of missions. The air force, though, is still reorganizing. A year ago, the military said the army was played out and couldn't take on another task without rest.

"We needed a reduction in operational tempo for at least a year to enable us to regenerate the force," Gen. Hillier said. From the early 1990s, the army had been committed to one mission after another, from Cambodia to Kosovo. At times, 4,000 soldiers were deployed overseas.

The entire army was either on a mission, training for a mission or recovering from a mission. Some soldiers racked up five or six tours overseas, with little breathing space between them.

In the past year, the army pulled most of its troops from the former Yugoslavia after more than 15 rotations involving more than 40,000 people. It maintained about 950 soldiers in Afghanistan, but backed away from any new commitments.

Canada is also scaling back its commitment to the UN peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria. The government has committed the army to an expanded role in Afghanistan, although details are not available. Canada is also offering a small force for Darfur.

Gen. Hillier said the army will be able to handle two "relatively large" commitments totalling 1,500 troops by early next year. "Starting in August, they will be able to come back to an increased level of operations and starting in late fall, with deployment ideally in January and February, come back to the ability to be able to maintain two relatively large missions outside of the country and sustain those missions."

Gen. Hillier said the military and the government learned their lessons about overcommitment. During the 1990s, governments sent troops to mission after mission -- Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo and others -- and the military responded, even as fatigue built up, equipment broke down and costs soared.

Was Taliban Involved In Uzbek Violence? RFE/RL 05/19/2005 By Amin Tarzi

On 13 May, Uzbek security forces fired on demonstrators in the eastern city of Andijon, following attacks on a police station, military barracks, and prison. The government has said that 169 people were killed, including more than 50 foreign fighters, though opposition groups say as many as 750 people were killed.

On 14 May, Interfax reported that according to information provided by "high-ranking sources" in the Russian Foreign Ministry, which was also confirmed by sources in "the Russian power-wielding agencies," prior to the uprising in Andijon a "large number of militants, comprising bandits, Islamist radicals, and Taliban fighters" infiltrated from Afghanistan and regrouped "at a junction between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan."

The same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the events in Andijon were planned in advance with the participation of "different groups" from the Ferghana Valley region and from Afghanistan "from the Taliban camp."

On 15 May, Lavrov elaborated on his earlier statement, saying that "evidently" groups from the Taliban camp took part in the events in Uzbekistan. Turning to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's policy of offering amnesty to most members of the former Taliban regime except some 100 who have committed atrocities against the Afghan people, Lavrov said that if "we continue to condone terrorists and apply 'double standards' to them, including the notion of [the existence of] a moderate wing to the Taliban," then the "entire region" would be placed on the "brink of a crisis."

Lavrov's statement brings to the fore two separate issues. First, the ability of the neo-Taliban -- the resurgent militants in Afghanistan identifying themselves as the Taliban -- to infiltrate into Uzbekistan; and secondly, Moscow's disagreement with Kabul's policy of reconciling with the militants.
The Long Road To Andijon - There are several factors that cast doubt on the allegations made by Lavrov about the presence of the neo-Taliban in Uzbekistan. Geographically, for neo-Taliban fighters to cross over directly from Afghanistan into Uzbekistan, they would have to, first, reach the northern regions of Balkh Province -- where the neo-Taliban have not been active since late 2001; second, they would have to cross the carefully guarded, 135-kilometer border formed by the Amu River that separates Afghanistan from Uzbekistan. From there they would have to go though much of Uzbekistan and/or Tajikistan to reach the area mentioned by Lavrov.

While not impossible, to complete such a mission, the neo-Taliban fighters would need the skills of some of the world's best special-operations units, which, judging by their activities in Afghanistan, they don't seem likely to possess.

Related to this issue is the neo-Taliban's priorities and manpower. Their priority is to disrupt the situation in Afghanistan toward achieving their stated goal: the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops from Afghanistan and the establishment of what they believe to be a genuine Islamic state there. Despite the recent upsurge in violence associated with and claimed by the neo-Taliban in southern and southeastern Afghanistan -- far from the Afghan-Uzbek border -- the militants are not gaining new ground.

Manpower is another issue for the neo-Taliban. They don't have enough hard-core fighters to allow them to open several fronts against the Afghan government forces and their foreign backers. The last conventional battle in which the neo-Taliban and their allies participated with a significant number of fighters was Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan in March 2002. Their current force structure is based on small units, who are easily deployable into localities where they not only know the terrain very well, but also have acquaintances or actually live. They don't seem to have reservists available to be dispatched to Uzbekistan.

Fighting Reconciliation - As for Lavrov's criticism of Karzai's policy of reconciliation with most militants fighting against his government, this is nothing new. During a visit to New Delhi in December 2004, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov also criticized Karzai's reconciliation policy. According to ITAR-TASS, Ivanov said that dividing the neo-Taliban into "good" and "bad" factions is unacceptable to Moscow. Russia and India are "concerned about the attempts to Pashtunize Afghanistan," Ivanov said, referring to the Pashtun ethnic group to which most members of the neo-Taliban belong. The policy of reconciliation with the neo-Taliban is tantamount to "starting a new war," Ivanov warned, echoing Lavrov's more recent warning. "The so-called immoderate members of the Taliban are alive and kicking as well as the moderate ones...[who] walk the streets and make claims to be incorporated in the new Afghan government," Ivanov said.

While many Afghan media outlets and the Council of the Ulema of Afghanistan condemned Ivanov's statement at the time, Karzai's spokesman Jawed Ludin said that Kabul was hoping that Moscow would clarify its official position regarding Ivanov's comments, warning that such statements could hurt relations between Afghanistan and the Russian Federation (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 8 December 2004).

For Afghanistan, any interference from Russia resurrects very bad memories. The Council of the Ulema said in December 2004 in response to Ivanov's statement that his "irresponsible" remarks "indicate his desire for the return of the past chaotic situation in Afghanistan," which was mainly due to "intervention and aggression" by the former Soviet Union in the country in 1979.

In response to the recent student-led demonstration in Afghanistan, President Karzai also accused foreign elements of instigating violence and trying to derail his government's attempts to establish a "strategic alliance" with the United States, with the possibility of the U.S. military basing units on Afghan soil, and to hamper his policy of bringing a peaceful conclusion to the neo-Taliban insurgency. Lavrov's statements surely add substance to Karzai's claims, though he did not single out any particular country for involvement in the Afghan violence.

Pakistan arrests Briton suspected of Al-Qaeda links - Authorities in northwest Pakistan have arrested a British national suspected of holding links with the Al-Qaeda terror network, officials said.

The man, who identified himself as Shehzad, was arrested four days ago from the small town of Shabqadar, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Peshawar, a security official told AFP requesting anonymity.

The secret service agents arrested him with the help of the anti-terrorism police force during a raid on a house in Shabqadar and recovered computer and compact discs from the room, he said on Wednesday. "We think he is an Al-Qaeda man," the official said but declined to give further information about the investigation.

"We are gathering other information about him and his Pakistani national identity card gave us an address in the southern city of Hyderabad," the official said.

Shehzad, 25, told interrogators that he was from London and arrived in Pakistan last year in March. Pakistan this month arrested a number of Al-Qaeda suspects including Abu Faraj al-Libbi, allegedly a key aide of Osama bin Laden.

Former Female TV Presenter Shot Dead In Kabul

19 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- An Afghan female television presenter was shot dead on Wednesday in Kabul. She moderated a popular music program that had angered conservatives before she left her job under unclear circumstances in March.

Police say it is not clear yet whether her killing is related to her work. An investigation has been launched into her killing. Reporters Without Borders says Shaima Rezayee is the first journalist to be killed in Afghanistan since the end of the war in 2001. Shaima Rezayee was shot dead yesterday in her home in Kabul's Char Gala district.

The 24-year-old Rezayee had until March presented a popular music program on the privately owned television station Tolo TV. The show was criticized by conservatives as anti-Islamic and immoral.

Rezayee told Reuters in February that she had many fans, but she added that some Afghans were unhappy with her work and that she wore Western-style clothing.

"Whenever I go out, some people say some [bad] things. But there are more who praise me. Especially my family -- and a lot of young people in this country encourage me," Rezayee said.

The police chief of the Afghan capital has told Western news agencies that Rezayee was shot, but that it is unclear who perpetrated the killing and whether it was related to her work. According to unconfirmed reports from Kabul, two of her brothers who were home at the time of the killing have been arrested.

Saeed Soleiman Ashna, a news presenter at Tolo TV, says Rezayee's death has saddened her fans and former colleagues. "We are all sad and feel sorry for the death of our colleague. Shaima Rezayee was one of our best colleagues,” Ashna said. “She used to present an entertainment program. Yesterday we [heard] the news that she is dead, but we still don't know if she was killed or committed suicide. She became famous in a very short time. We have very good memories of her."

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has expressed "shock" at the killing and called for a thorough and independent investigation into Rezayee's death. The French media watchdog says Rezayee was fired from Tolo TV after she was personally criticized by conservatives for her on-screen behavior.

TV Tolo Director Saad Mohseni denies the report. He told RFE/RL that Rezayee decided to leave the station because the work schedule did not suit her. "The conditions were such that she could not work full time; therefore, she wanted to work several hours, several days and both sides agreed that she should leave Tolo. it happened three or four months ago," Mohseni says.

Mohseni says it is very unlikely that Rezayee was killed because of her former job. "As far as we know she had never been threatened. There are other people in Tolo who are being threatened every day because of their work, because of the way they present the news,” Mohsenii says. “There are people who are not happy about it (the way news is presented) -- especially about our news and documentary programs. But we are not aware that Shaima Rezayee had received threats. We have to wait for the police investigation to be finalized then we can comment."

Mohseni says several other young girls present Western, Indian, and Persian music videos on the program called "Hop" that Shaima used to moderate. The program is similar to that of the international music channel MTV.

Several conservative clerics had voiced concern that "Hop" and similar programs corrupt young Afghans by promoting anti-Islamic values. But Tolo managers reject the arguments and say there is nothing anti- Islamic about the programs.

It is not clear when the results of the police investigation into Shaima Rezayee's killing will be made public. (By RFE/RL’s Golnaz Esfandiari; RFE/RL's Afghan Service correspondent Sultan Sarwar contributed to this report.)

Ex-PM averse to permanent US bases in Afghanistan

KABUL, May 19 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Engineer Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, president of the Hezb-i-Iqtedar-i-Islami (Islamic Supremacy Party) and a leader of the grand opposition alliance, fears long-term foreign military presence may undermine Afghanistan's vital interests.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, he called upon the Karzai-led administration to work for evolving a consensus among Afghanistan's political parties on how to tackle the thorny issue of coalition forces' future.

He was confident Afghan political groups, if consulted in a democratic manner at an all-party conference (APC), would find viable solutions to problems haunting the post-conflict country, including the insurgency conundrum and the overall security challenge.

Given a measure of political tolerance and a semblance of national unity, the former foreign minister stressed, the US-backed government could tide over the myriad difficulties staring the war-weary nation in the face. The one-time loyalist of Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf urged Karzai to take his political foes into confidence on questions of vital national import.

The ambit of the general amnesty, he maintained, should be widened so as to bring back Taliban supremo Mullah Muhammad Omer and HIA chief Gulbadin Hekmatyar to the mainstream Afghan politics. He suggested the nation be sounded out whether it supported or opposed forgiveness for the fugitives on the US most-wanted list. Here are the excerpts:

Q: What prompted you to part your ways with the Ittehad-i-Islami and why did the coalition of the resistance period disintegrate?

A: Essentially, I lent full weight to Sayyaf because of our shared objective of paving the ground for an Islamic order in Afghanistan. Our political aims initially dove-tailed so nicely, but Sayyaf later swung behind President Hamid Karzai and left me in the lurch. That's why I quit the Ittehad-i-Islami. Even today, I'm ready to patch up my difference with Sayyaf if Karzai truly implements the Shariah in this country. Coming to the second part of your query, coalition partners of the resistance period were all determined to grab power at all costs. I have no hesitation in citing one-upmanship efforts as a principal reason for the collapse of the grouping, whose leader had earlier reached a clear power-sharing understanding. It was Karzai himself who went back on his commitment to allies and thus precipitated the break-up of that coalition.

Q: Given the troubled history of alliance being made and unmade in this country all too frequently, why should voters favour your grouping at the polls?

A: Grossly dissatisfied with the incumbent government's performance, I decided to join the National Reconciliation Front in the hope that component parties would launch a peaceful struggle for safeguarding core national interests and preventing rulers from a sell-out on Afghan causes. Seen against this backdrop, our alliance merits solid public support.

Q: Do you think foreign forces should stay put in this country?

A: Unfortunately, we continue to be a sharply divided house showing no sense of urgency even for addressing festering concerns such as foreign military presence. Should we stop bickering and demonstrate a modicum of badly-needed political unity, we can easily overcome our hardships. At the moment, we need ISAF's deployment largely because of the obtaining polarization in our society. In order to hasten the departure of foreign troops, the government will have to strike a rapprochement with its rivals and allow politicians living abroad to return home.

Q: As President Karzai is all poised for a visit to the United States, where he may formally request his American counterpart for long-term strategic links between the two countries. How will you judge security implications over the longer haul of permanent American military bases in this country?
A: Members of the constitutional Loya Jirga - who met Karzai recently - spurned the proposal as something running counter to our national security interests and cautioned the government against going headlong into such an arrangement. The United States, which doesn't get tired of touting its democratic credentials and exporting them to all allied countries, will be well-advised in making peace with Afghanistan's yearning for democracy. It's about time the US left us to fend for ourselves in our own humble way.

Q: In a nutshell, how will you describe US military spokesman Col. James Yonts' reaction to National Reconciliation Commission chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi's statement on a general amnesty for militants?

A: It doesn't take extraordinary wisdom or acumen to grasp the nuances of that reaction, which amounts to plain interference in our internal affairs and reflects the international coalition's desire to perpetuate its stay in Afghanistan. If the Afghan government and the coalition forces don't endorse Mujaddedi's recommendations, why was he appointed to head the commission in the first place? Personally, I would like to ask Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar to renounce violence in all manifestations and return to the mainstream of Afghan society. For their part, the rulers should also ponder convening a jirga of elders to decide the fat of the two men being hunted by the US.

Q: Your stance on reconciliation talks between the government and Taliban?

A: Being a proponent of dialogue, I conditionally back the process: The peace parleys have to be transparent and open. People who have spent decades living in the West, I feel, know little about popular aspirations and should not broker such sensitive negotiations.

Q: Which way is Afghanistan headed?

A: I'm sorry to say our homeland is not moving in the right direction. No concrete steps have been taken hitherto towards a better future for the teeming masses, who continue to struggle for survival. In view of blatant corruption in most government organisations and rising vulgarity in our society, we can't say Afghanistan is back on track.

King Zahir Meets Italian Contingent - PakTribune

KABUL, May 19: A military delegation from the Italian Contingent in Kabul, has met His Royal Highness, Mohammad Zahir Shah, the last King of Afghanistan, at the royal palace.

It is the first time that a representation from the Italian contingent engaged in Operation Isaf has met the former King, who is strongly connected to Italy, having spent nearly 30 years in exile in Italy.
This meeting is art of the contingent's work in consolidating good relations with the local authorities. In the course of the talks the Zahir, together with his younger son, Prince Principe Mirweis Zahir, expressed appreciation at the Italians for their dialogue with the Afghan population.

The former King was told about activities that range from those in cooperation with Afghan authorities under the aegis of Nato, to those that contribute to the alleviation of the suffering of a people that is being reborn, health activities, the distribution of humanitarian aid, and the support of the local population via the renovation of rebuilding of public utilities, among which are two schools in Kabul.

Prince Mirweis Zahir also discussed further forms of collaboration, showing especial interest in reconstruction. The King recalled his exile in Italy and his emotional and unexpected return to Kabul.

The King was only 19 in 1933, educated in France and an enthusiast for Roman literature and history, when he founded the first University of Kabul. In July 1973, while in Italy for eye treatment, a coup took place and he was forced to remain in exile. After 11 September, the old king preferred a role of conciliation and returned to Afghanistan in the Spring of 2002, after 29 years of exile.

At the end of the meeting, the King said that Afghanistan's complexity makes the Italian contingent's job more arduous and he thanked them for the dedication and professionalism in bringing peace and freedom to a devastated country.

[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.]