Joint Declaration of the United States-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership - White House Press Office – May 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - The following is a joint declaration of the United States-Afghanistan strategic partnership:

Since the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2001, the United States and Afghanistan have made great progress in the pursuit of common strategic objectives. Together we have disrupted international terrorist networks and worked to ensure that Afghanistan will never again be a safe haven for terrorists. The United States has supported the Afghan people as they have established a moderate, representative government. During this time, the U.S. Government and the American people have demonstrated a commitment to an Afghanistan that is democratic, free, and able to provide for its own security.

Afghanistan expresses the profound gratitude of the Afghan people to the people of the United States of America. Thanks to the generosity of the American people and U.S. leadership, this extraordinary effort has enabled the Afghan people to regain hope and confidence and to renew their vision for achieving prosperity and peace.

Afghanistan confronts important challenges to its security and its efforts to build a government based on democratic principles, respect for human rights, and a market economy. To address these challenges, Afghanistan proposed that the United States join in a strategic partnership and establish close cooperation, including regular, high-level exchanges on the political, security, and economic issues contained herein and other issues of mutual interest. The United States and Afghanistan plan to work together to develop appropriate arrangements and agreements to implement their strategic partnership.

This shared effort will be based on a number of key principles, including a dedication to the rule of law, protection of the human rights and civil liberties of all individuals regardless of ethnic affiliations or gender, support for democratic governance, and reliance on the free market as the best means to further Afghanistan's economic progress. The strategic partnership's primary goal will be to strengthen U.S.-Afghan ties to help ensure Afghanistan's long-term security, democracy, and prosperity. It should contribute to peaceful and productive relations between Afghanistan and its neighbors. It is not directed against any third country.

This partnership will serve as the basis for our common efforts to cooperate in the war against international terror and the struggle against violent extremism, to promote stability and prosperity in the region, and to remain steadfast in supporting Afghanistan's campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation, provide alternate livelihoods assistance, and fight the production and trafficking of drugs. The partnership will be anchored in the constitutions of our two countries, and will be guided by the United States and Afghanistan's respective obligations under the United Nations Charter and other international agreements and conventions.

Decades of civil war, political violence, and interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs make Afghanistan's security, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity particularly crucial areas for U.S.- Afghan cooperation. To enhance Afghanistan's long-term democracy, prosperity, and security, we intend to work closely together:

FOR DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE

* Support democratic good governance and the development of civil
society based on the rule of law and human rights and encourage broad-
based political participation in Afghanistan.
* Help build strong, lasting Afghan Government and civic institutions
and support political traditions that are efficient and responsive to
the needs of the Afghan people.
* Encourage the advancement of freedom and democracy in the wider
region.
* Support Afghanistan's initiative to restore the country's historic
role as a land bridge connecting Central and South Asia and to shift the
pattern of regional relations from rivalry to economic and political
cooperation.
* Foster cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbors and deter
meddling in its internal affairs.
* Support people-to-people exchanges and partnerships to strengthen
ties between American and Afghan society, thereby fostering common
outlooks and collaboration on the challenges and opportunities before
us.
FOR PROSPERITY
* Facilitate and support Afghanistan's integration into regional and
world economies and appropriate international organizations.
* Help develop a legal and institutional framework for a thriving
private sector and an environment favorable to international investment
in Afghanistan.
* Encourage and facilitate involvement of U.S. businesses in ventures
that accelerate the development of Afghan firms and the private sector.
* Continue the reconstruction of Afghanistan and investments in the
people of Afghanistan and encourage other nations to do so.
FOR SECURITY
* Help organize, train, equip, and sustain Afghan security forces as
Afghanistan develops the capacity to undertake this responsibility.
* Consult with respect to taking appropriate measures in the event
that Afghanistan perceives that its territorial integrity, independence,
or security is threatened or at risk.
* Assist the Afghan Government in security sector reform.
* Continue to conduct counter-terrorism operations in cooperation with
Afghan forces.
* Support Coalition assistance to the Afghan Government's counter-
narcotics programs.
* Continue intelligence sharing.
* Strengthen Afghanistan's ties with NATO.
* Support border security initiatives.

It is understood that in order to achieve the objectives contained herein, U.S. military forces operating in Afghanistan will continue to have access to Bagram Air Base and its facilities, and facilities at other locations as may be mutually determined and that the U.S. and Coalition forces are to continue to have the freedom of action required to conduct appropriate military operations based on consultations and pre-agreed procedures.

As Afghan Government capabilities increase, Afghanistan will continue to cooperate against terrorism, to promote regional security, and to combat the drug trade; the Afghan Government, over time, will move to assume Afghan security force sustainment costs; and the Afghan Government intends to maintain capabilities for the detention, as appropriate, of persons apprehended in the War on Terror.
As Afghanistan develops its political system, the United States looks to Afghanistan to respect human rights and develop a just and inclusive society. Regular, free, and fair democratic elections, a free press, and the active implementation of Afghanistan's constitution are hallmarks of the necessary commitment to these principles. The United States relies on the Government of Afghanistan to maintain its firm commitment against the production, processing, and trafficking of narcotics and to assume responsibility for countering narcotics as police, prosecutorial, and prison capacity is developed and enhanced. Finally, the United States relies on Afghanistan's commitment to create a legal framework and an environment favorable to private sector and domestic and international investment that offers economic opportunities to all Afghan people.

The Afghan people have made tremendous sacrifices and shown great courage in the pursuit of freedom. The United States shares their vision of a country that is democratic, at peace, and working to improve the lives of all Afghans and that plays an important and positive role in the affairs of the region and the world. We are confident that the U.S.-Afghan strategic partnership will play a central role in helping Afghanistan achieve these goals.

GEORGE W. BUSH HAMID KARZAI

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN

Bush Deflects Afghan's Request for Return of Prisoners - The New York Times 05/23/2005 By David E. Sanger
WASHINGTON - President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan spoke Monday with President Bush about the treatment of Afghan prisoners held by the United States. But Mr. Bush made no commitment on when he might be willing to give the Kabul government control over prisoners taken by the military.
Before his arrival in the Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Karzai had denounced the abuse of prisoners and demanded that the United States return to his government all Afghan terrorism suspects currently being held. But during the leaders' joint news conference, Mr. Bush made clear that he was not ready to take that step.

"Part of the issue is to make sure there is a place where the prisoners can be held," Mr. Bush said, adding a promise that Afghan prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, would be sent back "over time."

The two also signed an agreement that American officials say underscores Afghanistan's willingness to give American forces access to Bagram Air Base and freedom to conduct operations after rapid "consultations" with the government.

The issue of prisoners is linked to the military agreement. At least two Afghan men have died in American custody at Bagram, and other abuses have been described there as well. The issue has taken on symbolic importance in Afghanistan, just as the Abu Ghraib prison has in Iraq.

Though they went to some lengths to appear in accord at a news conference, the meeting occurred at a time of unusual tension between Mr. Bush and Mr. Karzai, whom the United States helped install after ousting the Taliban three and a half years ago.

Mr. Karzai had also complained that the United States and its allies were not doing enough to help come up with alternatives to poppy cultivation for heroin, which is currently estimated to account for 40 to 60 percent of Afghanistan's economy.

Mr. Bush spoke of his dream that the Afghan economy would return to its traditional agricultural roots, cultivating honeydew melons and pomegranates. But those crops bring farmers far less money than the drug trade can.

Mr. Karzai, who was criticized in a recent State Department memorandum that questioned his effectiveness in fighting drug trafficking, said Monday that poppy production was being reduced because of an eradication program by his government. "Now if this trend continues" he told Mr. Bush, "we'll have no poppies, hopefully, in Afghanistan in another five or six years."

Mr. Bush praised Mr. Karzai effusively, opening the news conference by saying, "I am honored to stand by the first democratically elected leader in the 5,000-year history of Afghanistan." Mr. Karzai, noting that Vice President Dick Cheney had attended his inauguration and that Mrs. Bush had visited, said to Mr. Bush, "Guess whose turn it is now to come to Afghanistan." Mr. Bush laughed and said, "Thank you for the invitation."

The most sensitive issue in the meeting was the treatment of prisoners at Bagram and other American facilities. "Yes, he did bring up the prisoner abuse," Mr. Bush said, with Mr. Karzai standing next to him. But the president went into no details.

Mr. Karzai said, "We are, of course, sad about that." But he quickly noted that an Italian has been "kidnapped by an Afghan man" and used that to drive home the fact that "individual acts do not reflect either on governments or on societies."

The document the two men signed was called a "strategic partnership," words that echo similar documents that have been signed over the years with European nations, Japan, South Korea and other allies. It commits the two countries to "encourage the advancement of freedom and democracy in the wider region" and encourages American investment in Afghanistan. But the most sensitive section concerns the status of American forces and the limits on their actions, which were left unspecified.

"The U.S. and coalition forces are to continue to have the freedom of action required to conduct appropriate military operations based on consultations and pre-agreed procedures," the document reads.

Two administration officials said those procedures include rapid ways for American forces to identify military or security targets and obtain agreements to conduct raids and other antiterrorism operations. But they would not be more specific, nor would they allow their names to be used, because the procedural issues are sensitive and they did not want to be cited as authorities on the agreement.

Lawrence Di Rita, the Pentagon spokesman, said the statement released Monday restated existing procedures governing operations by American and other coalition forces and did not represent any changes.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said that in any event, American troops would retain the right to fire in self-defense. And Mr. Bush said, "Of course our troops will respond to U.S. commanders, but our commanders and our diplomatic mission there is in a consultative relationship with the government." Eric Schmitt contributed reporting for this article.

Karzai says Osama not in Afghanistan - DAWN

WASHINGTON, May 23: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday Osama bin Laden “is certainly not around Afghanistan or he would have been caught”. He said this in response to a question by Wolf Blitzer in Late Edition. He was asked: “There are certain parts of Afghanistan that are remote — along the border with Pakistan, for example. Do you fully control all those areas?”

His reply was: “There are remote parts of the country everywhere in that part of the world, but we can tell with certainty he’s not around Afghanistan. We’ll catch him if he ever comes in there.”

Asked if he had any idea where Osama was, he said: “Well, that we don’t know. We know this much that he cannot possibly be in Afghanistan.” About the possibility of “terrorists” mounting high-profile attacks in the country, Mr Karzai said the terrorists and their backers would try to make elections for parliament difficult.

“This is the last part of the Bonn process. With the successful parliamentary elections, Afghanistan will have completed the Bonn process, and that will be the last blow as well to terrorism in Afghanistan.” He added: “So they’re trying very desperately to show that they’re still there.” —APP (DAWN – Pakistan)

Afghan President Optimistic on Drug War - By GEORGE GEDDA, AP

Debunking State Department predictions that Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming a "narco-state," Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his country could be free of opium poppies in five or six years.

With President Bush at his side Monday after a meeting, Karzai said he is hopeful that poppy production will be down 20 percent to 30 percent this year. He added that the elimination of the poppy can be achieved only if Afghan farmers can cultivate other crops as alternatives.

Just two months ago, a State Department report said the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation last year set a record of more than 510,000 acres, more than triple the figure for 2003. Opium poppy is the raw material for heroin.

The Afghan narcotics situation "represents an enormous threat to world stability," the report said. Karzai was continuing his official visit here on Tuesday with meetings on Capitol Hill and an appearance at a local think tank.

After talks on security issues with Bush, Karzai toured the Freer Art Gallery and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery here. He viewed Afghan paintings dating from the 15th Century as well as Silk Road art and artifacts.

At a ceremony, he was presented with two coins more than 2,000 years old that were stolen from the Afghan National Museum in 1990 and were recovered by U.S. customs agents.

At the news conference earlier in the day, Bush said the thousands of U.S. forces in Afghanistan will remain under American control. Afghanistan won't be able to take over self-defense responsibilities, he said, until its forces are better trained.

"Of course our troops will respond to U.S. commanders," Bush said, even as he praised the progress Afghanistan has been making in developing its own fighting force.

"Our mission in Afghanistan and Iraq is the same," Bush said. "We want these new democracies to be able to defend themselves. And so we will continue to work with the Afghans to train them and to cooperate and consult with the government."

Karzai said he was saddened by the abuse Afghan prisoners have suffered at the hands of U.S. troops. But, he said, "Let me make sure that you all know that that does not reflect on the American people." "These things happen everywhere," he said.

Karzai got no promise of a quick repatriation of Afghan prisoners now in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere. The issue has caused Karzai headaches at home, where anti-American sentiment recently exploded over a news report, since retracted, that U.S. interrogators flushed a Quran down a toilet. Sixteen Afghans died in anti-American demonstrations this month.

Fight against opium in Afghanistan moving at glacial pace

(Kabul – AFP 05/23/05) - Despite President Hamid Karzai's pledge to declare a holy war on drugs, the war against opium has inched along in Afghanistan because of the power of drug traffickers and the paucity of alternatives for poor farmers.

Karzai met with President George W. Bush Monday against a background of mounting criticism about the snail's pace of eradicating the country's poppy crop, after the New York Times published a leaked memo from US diplomats in Kabul accusing Karzai of being too soft on drugs.

The Afghan president hit back saying that areas under Afghan government control had reduced opium poppy cultivation, while areas where production had risen were under the control of foreign countries, especially Britain. "The failure is theirs not ours," he told CNN's Late Edition Sunday.

Afghanistan produced almost 90 percent of the world's opium in 2004, but precise data on how much of this year's poppy crop has been destroyed is still hazy, with the United Nations expected to publish a survey later in the year.

Karzai said in Washington that he expected a 30 percent reduction in the cultivation of opium, the raw material of used to make heroin, over the coming year in Afghanistan. He also delivered the upbeat assessment that it would be possible wipe out opium cultivation within six years, despite the fact that most counter-narcotics experts estimate that it would take over a decade to turn the tide on opium cultivation.

So far, eradication has been patchy, with an increase in cultivation expected in five of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, according to initial UN assessments. In some provinces, governors and tribal elders have told local farmers not to cultivate opium, which has resulted in a drop in cultivation in many areas although it is still unclear how much, according to the United Nations.

However, Karzai's home province of Kandahar is one of the five provinces where eradication and attempts to curb cultivation have failed, highlighting the limits of US and British-backed counter-narcotics forces.

Last month after violent demonstrations by peasants in the former spiritual heartland of the Taliban, eradication was halted to avoiding inflaming an already unstable area in which voters turned out in their thousands to vote for Karzai in the last election.

Political obstacles are huge. Warlords, military commanders, police chiefs and other Afghan officials have their hands deep in the trough of the Afghan drugs trade, and hold sway over most of the provinces.

In March this year, Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali indicated that the government had drawn up a list of officials linked to the drugs trade but lacked the evidence and resources to charge and try them. But the economic hurdles are just as high.

Opium represents between 40 and 60 percent of economic growth in Afghanistan, which is the sixth poorest country in the world, ranking above only a handful of sub-Saharan countries. For the 2.3 million farmers involved in the trade, opium is nine times more lucrative than rice or wheat and often means the difference between affording schooling and medical care for their families and going without.

The United States and the international community began to take a tougher line on Afghanistan's opium trade at the beginning of this year, after turning a blind eye since the fall of the Taliban, which allowed the opium crop to surge by 64 percent in 2004, according to UN figures.
But Afghanistan's battle on drugs has just begun and to be successful much more needs to be done than cutting down poppy fields, a source at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told AFP.

"The question remains how far the reduction will be sustainable," she said. Creating alternative livelihoods is a matter of years rather than months. "It's not only about cultivating potatoes instead of poppies" she said, adding that building infrastructure and addressing long term issues such as healthcare and education were a priority.

Building that infrastructure will take billions of dollars and so far international donations to rebuild the country's war-shattered infrastructure are only trickling in.

Afghan Forces Arrest Opium Smugglers - By DANIEL COONEY, AP Mon May 23

Afghan anti-drug forces arrested suspected drug traffickers and seized a huge cache of opium in a show of resolve after President Hamid Karzai came under fire for his record in fighting the world's largest narcotics industry.

Meanwhile, authorities found the bodies of two Uzbeks believed to have been kidnapped and killed by Taliban militants for working with U.S. forces. The pair were the latest foreign kidnap and ambush victims in Afghanistan amid a recent upsurge in attacks reminiscent of Iraq. An Italian aid worker abducted in the capital a week ago remained in captivity.

The drug operation took place Sunday and Monday in southern Helmand province. Provincial officials said up to 15 suspects were arrested, including a former intelligence chief. Gen. Said Kamal Sadat, chief of the federal Counter-Narcotics Police, said more than 10,000 pounds of opium were seized.
He said the U.S.-led coalition supported the operation with helicopters, but the U.S. military said it was not involved. The British Embassy, also active in anti-drugs assistance to Afghanistan, declined to comment. Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said the busts highlighted the government's commitment to "ending this shame on our country."

Afghanistan is the world's main source of opium, the raw material for heroin. Drug production has soared since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, leading to warnings the former al-Qaida haven is fast turning into a "narco-state."

A diplomatic cable sent May 13 from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul addressed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a U.S.-sponsored crackdown on the narcotics industry had not been very effective partly because Karzai "has been unwilling to assert strong leadership," according to a New York Times report Sunday.

Karzai defended his government's efforts at fighting drugs during a visit to Washington on Monday, saying his country would be free of poppy crops within five to six years and that with foreign assistance, farmers could find alternative crops like honey dew melons and pomegranates. President Bush said at a joint news conference that "we have to work together to eradicate poppy crops."

The United States and other countries are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Afghanistan to fight the drug trade. But efforts to eradicate poppy crops and raid heroin laboratories this year have sometimes triggered a violent response. Last week, 11 Afghans working on a U.S.-sponsored project to encourage farmers not to grow poppies were killed in two attacks.

The two Uzbeks were abducted Wednesday in Zabul province as they drove on the main highway linking Kabul to the country's south. Their bodies were found Sunday, shot with AK-47s, said local government spokesman Ali Khail. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility.
A diplomat at the Uzbek Embassy said the two were truck drivers delivering mineral water to a U.S. base in the area. The U.S. military said it had no information on the attack.

Italians demand release of hostage in Afghanistan

(Rome – Reuters 05/23/05) - Hundreds of Italians gathered in the center of Rome on Monday to demand the release of Clementina Cantoni, an aid worker kidnapped a week ago in Afghanistan.

"I don't want Clementina Cantoni to feel alone. I want her to know that the entire country is by her side," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni told the crowd.

Cantoni, 32, a worker for the CARE International aid agency, was abducted by four gunmen who stopped her vehicle on a Kabul street and bundled her into a car.

A man the Afghan government says abducted Cantoni has spoken to media several times, giving a baffling series of accounts, demands and threats, and even claiming he had killed her.

Afghan authorities, however, say they are in constant contact with the kidnappers and that Cantoni is fine. The demonstration in Italy failed to mobilize Italians in the way a series of kidnappings in Iraq did.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in February to demand the release of Giuliana Sgrena, a popular reporter who writes for Communist daily Il Manifesto.

When aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta were kidnapped last year, pictures of the young women dubbed "the two Simonas" filled newspapers. All three women were eventually freed. Sgrena and Torretta participated in Monday's demonstration. Afghan govt says negotiations make headway for release of Italian hostage – AFP 05/24/05

Afghan authorities said that talks with the kidnappers of an Italian aid worker taken hostage eight days ago had raised hopes for her release, while Afghan widows took to the streets to demonstrate for her freedom.

"We are in contact with the kidnappers, the negotiation is ongoing," Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP on Tuesday. "Developments have been made, and we are quite optimistic (about) safely releasing her."

Clementina Cantoni, 32, was dragged from her car in downtown Kabul by gunmen on Monday night last week in an abduction that Afghan officials have blamed on criminals rather than Islamic militants.
The identity of the suspected kidnapper remained hazy after various media organisations received conflicting demands for Cantoni's release from a caller who identified himself only as Temur Shah.

The man has delivered a series of shifting ultimatums and at one point claimed he had killed the Italian aid worker, only to later deny it. Cantoni had been in Afghanistan for three years and ran a programme for aid group CARE International to provide food and employment for Afghan widows, who often struggle to find work and feed their children.

A city-wide appeal has been launched to free the aid worker, with 3,200 posters pasted on walls and buildings across the city outlining how Cantoni's programmes had aided 10,000 widows and 50,000 orphans.

A group of widows who have been helped by CARE, dressed in all-enveloping blue burqas, gathered early Tuesday in Kabul to hold a demonstration appealing for the Italian woman's release. The city's mobile telephone companies have sent out a series of text messages also calling for her to be freed.
Key Taliban commander among 13 captured by Afghan troops: official – AFP 05/24/05

Afghan troops have captured 13 suspected Taliban insurgents, including a key militant commander, in a raid in the country's rugged southeast, an Afghan official said.

Troops had captured the fighters, among them a man identified as Mullah Abdul Bary, on Monday in Zabul province, a defence ministry spokesman, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, told AFP on Tuesday.
"We've arrested 13 Taliban, including Mullah Abdul Bary," Azimi said, adding that the captured man had been handed over to US-led coalition forces. The arrests were made during raids in Deh Rawood in Zabul province and in neighbouring Uruzgan's Charchino district, hotspots of the Taliban insurgency.
Azimi said the raids were part of the US-Afghan Nam Dong II operation, launched last week against Taliban hideouts in south-central Afghanistan. As part of the same operation, two insurgents were killed in Deh Chopan after they attacked US troops patrolling the area, he said.

Coalition forces and Afghan troops have also launched two separate operations nicknamed Celtic and Markham, aimed at eliminating militants who have increased their attacks on US and Afghan troops in recent weeks.

"Operations Celtic and Markham are also intended to root insurgents out of known safehavens," a US statement said earlier, referring to the country's south and southeast, where the militants are most active. Neither US military nor Afghan officials would give further details, citing security reasons.
More than 18,000 coalition troops, including some 16,000 US forces, are in Afghanistan hunting Taliban remnants who, three years after the toppling of the extremist Islamic regime, are still waging a guerrilla-style insurgency.

Taliban militants and other insurgents have made a bloody comeback following harsh winter weather, with a surge of attack in recent weeks. More than 200 people, many of them Islamic militants, have been killed in fighting in Afghanistan this year. More than 850 people, mainly Taliban militants, were killed in 2004.

Army honors Canadian soldiers killed by American jets in Afghanistan

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. With sobbing relatives nearby, the names of four Canadians killed in an accidental American bombing in Afghanistan were added Monday to a memorial at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The Canadians were the first non-U.S. soldiers to have a place on the memorial honoring fallen members of the 101st Airborne Division. An inscription reads, "Let Valor Never Fail."

Colonel Michael Steele told the weeping group that as soon as soldiers of any nationality fight beside Americans they become family. Corporal Ainsworthy Dyer, Private Richard Green, Sergeant Marc Leger and Private Natahan Smith were killed in 2002 when an Illinois National Guard pilot mistook their live-fire exercise as a hostile attack and dropped a bomb. Major Harry Schmidt of Springfield was found guilty of dereliction of duty in the incident.

Pakistan arrests Egyptian Al-Qaeda suspect – AFP 05/24/05

(Islamabad) - Pakistani authorities have arrested an Egyptian suspected of having links with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network, a security official said.

The suspect was arrested late Monday night in a raid on a house in Charsadda district, 50 kilometers (18 miles) northeast of Peshawar, close to the Afghan border, the official told AFP on Tuesday.

"Two female undercover agents posing as village women visited the home and then intelligence agents conducted the raid," the security official said, requesting anonymity.

"He is an old Arab claiming to be Egyptian and married to a local ethnic Pashtun girl." During the raid, security officials also picked up a local resident, he added.

Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war on terror, has so far rounded up around 700 Al-Qaeda suspects, including alleged top operatives, while its army troops remain in the country's lawless tribal border belt to hunting down militants.

Most of the suspects have been handed over to US custody. Last month Pakistan captured several Al-Qaeda suspects, including Abu Faraj al-Libbi, allegedly a key aide of bin Laden's.

Al-Libbi, a Libyan national, is the alleged mastermind of two attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life in December 2003, and is also believed to have been involved in a bid to assassinate Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before he assumed office last year.

Airspace violation – The News Int. (Pakistan) editorial 5/24/05

The killing of five people in the reported bombing by American helicopter-gunships in the Lwara Mandai area of North Waziristan Agency is unfortunate. Although the bombing has yet to be officially confirmed by the Pakistani and US authorities, circumstantial evidence mentioned in the press establishes that the American choppers pursued fleeing insurgents from the neighbouring Paktita province of Afghanistan, a hotbed of insurgent activities by the anti-American Taliban forces, into Pakistani territory. Whatever followed led to the killing of five Pakistani civilians.

It is likely that the American and Pakistani officials would avoid giving a categorical statement on the incident, fearing a backlash at a time when tempers in this country are high over the desecration of the Holy Quran in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Nevertheless, this new intrusion into the airspace of Pakistan is condemnable and should not be ignored as simply an unfortunatemistake. The incident also shows lack of coordination between the troops operating on either side of the border for the attainment of the same objectives. The allied forces must havemaintain closer liaison and keep each other updated on their planned actions and moves. The fleeing insurgents could very well be caught by Pakistani troops on their side of the border if they are alerted well in advance.

The US forces entrenched in Afghanistan to curb the Taliban insurgency must not take Pakistani support for granted and must make every effort not to make mistakes that cause problems for the Pakistani government. Questions are already being raised regarding the level of assistance that Islamabad has been providing to the US in its war on terror. The anti-American sentiments are being converted into political capital by shrewd right-wingers, further marginalising liberal forces. Washington must realise Pakistan's political sensitivities. An official apology for the violation of Pakistani airspace may just come in handy for the Pakistani leadership to avoid embarrassment at home.

Such incidents only provide impetus to the movements and slogans of the religious right, which has been gaining political ground by projecting Gen. Pervez Musharraf's close ties with the United States as an erosion of the country's sovereignty. In any case, the territorial integrity of states is a sacred trust and it should be respected at all costs.

Iran to reconsider reformist ban – BBC 05/23/05

Iran's supreme leader has ordered the Guardian Council to reconsider a ruling barring two reformists from standing for the presidency. State TV said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had written to the council instructing it to reconsider the applications of Mostafa Moin and Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh.

The council rejected the applications of all but six of more than 1,000 candidates for the 17 June poll. Reformists said the move was illegal and called for a boycott of the vote.

The Council of Guardians vets all candidates for their moral values and support for the country's system of Islamic government. Parliamentary polls last year were also mired in controversy after the Council barred about 2,500 reformist candidates.

However, Ayatollah Khamenei - as supreme leader - has overall authority in all political and spiritual matters and appoints the members of the Guardian Council.

"It's appropriate that all individuals in the country be given the choice from various political tendencies," Iranian TV quoted him as saying in his decree to Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Council.

"Therefore, it seems that the competence of Mr Moin and Mr Mehr Alizadeh to stand should be reconsidered." Earlier on Monday, Mr Moin, a former education minister and the favoured candidate of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), described his disqualification as "unfair, unreasonable and illegal". Mostafa Tajzadeh, a senior IIPF member, told AFP: "I think the elections should be boycotted. This is definitely a coup d'etat."

Mr Mehr Alizadeh is currently a vice president in the cabinet of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami. Mr Khatami is barred by law from seeking a third consecutive term.

Former president and election favourite Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, four conservatives and a reformist make up the approved field of candidates.

The four hardliners are a former police chief, a former commander of revolutionary guards, the mayor of Tehran and a former head of state radio and television. Iran's former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karrubi remains on the list, but correspondents say he had not been the reformists' main contender.

Iranian cleric calls for reforms – BBC 5/20/05

Iran's leading dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, has called for democratic reforms ahead of the country's presidential election. He said the president should have more power and the authority of the clerics should be limited to religious matters.

The constitution of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was being misused "as a tool to put pressure on people", he said in an interview with Reuters news agency. He said a lack of democracy was putting off voters from the 17 June poll.

In a rare interview, the cleric, once designated as Ayatollah Khomeini's successor, said he did not expect Iranians to vote in large numbers.

"Some figures have power, while responsibilities have been given to the president," said Ayatollah Montazeri, 83, at his office in his home city of Qom. "That is why young Iranians do not want to cast their votes."

He described the constitution not only as flawed but he said it was being abused by those who wanted to put pressure on the people. He said it should be amended to give the president control over matters of national interest including the military, the police and state media.

"There is a contradiction in our constitution," he said. "It gives a lot of responsibilities to the president without giving him enough authority. "Responsibility and authority should come together. You cannot give responsibility to someone without giving him authority."

He said the authority of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, should be limited to religious issues. Ayatollah Montazeri was sidelined after criticising the regime in 1988 and was held under house arrest in Qom until 2003.

The US's gift to al-Qaeda - THE ROVING EYE By Pepe Escobar - Asia Times Online - May 21, 2005

Al-Qaeda and all the other components of the Salafi-jihadi (or Islamist) front are on the verge of scoring a major double blow. Unlike September 11, now their fight not only is being recognized by top Islamic scholars as legitimate, but they have also managed to capitalize on major blunders in the "war on terror" to strengthen the anti-imperialist, anti-US impulse among global, moderate Muslims. How did that happen?

At the time of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri made two crucial mistakes. First, because of their isolation, they didn't notice that most Afghans had had enough of the Taliban. The Pashtun did not support the Taliban because they would be the vanguard of a worldwide jihad against the US (it was never the Taliban's intention), rather, the Pashtuns gave their support over more mundane topics, such as maintaining law and order and keeping Pashtun supremacy.

Second, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri overestimated the reaction of the Arab street. They didn't understand that the average Arab living in the Middle East - or in Western Europe - may indeed express a lot of grievances toward US foreign policy, but this did not translate into solid, political mobilization. If it ever happened, political activity would be set off by events in Palestine and Iraq - Arab, and not Islamic, problems. Thus, sensationally plunging Boeings-turned-into-missiles into the heart of the American power elite did not show the Promised Land to the alienated masses.

The "war on terror" - the American response to al-Qaeda - was a meaningless metaphor in the first place because al-Qaeda essentially poses a security problem. It is not a strategic threat. At least it was not until its recent mutation - after Guantanamo, the invasion of Iraq and the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Jihad or not jihad - The new geopolitical configuration represents a tremendous victory for al-Qaeda and the Islamist camp. Especially because they are not Salafis. Salafism was conceived by Jalaluddin al-Afghani in the late 19th century as a reform movement capable of equipping Islam to fight Western colonialism. But to put it bluntly, al-Afghani had very little in common with Mullah Omar, the Taliban emir, he was a political activist, not a theologian.

The Salafis were the embryo of the Muslim Brotherhood and the contemporary Islamists, al-Qaeda among them. Al-Afghani is considered a "founding father". But if Salafism was originally an instrument to fight Western domination, it soon ceased to be a global political project to modernize the Muslim world. Salafism today is an ultra-conservative program to purify Islam from cultural influences - Muslim as well as Western.

That's where Salafis intersect with the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. Wahhabis, the Taliban and the Hizbut Tehrir are Salafis. Al-Qaeda, the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, the Jaish-e-Muhammad and Sipha-e-Sahaba in Pakistan - the constellation usually described as "Islamist" - go one step further: they are Salafi-jihadis, considering jihad to be a personal, religious duty of every Muslim.

For Salafis there's essentially nothing to be learned from the West. "Moderate" Salafis at least concede that non-belligerent infidels - ie most of the world's population - should be well treated. The main difference between Salafis and Salafi-jihadist is that Salafis totally reject the concept of Islamic ideology, as well as any Western conceptual category (political parties, constitution, revolution, social justice). This means that Salafis don't even recognize political struggle as a means to establishing an Islamic state. For them, the soul of each individual Muslim takes precedence over politics: this is a consequence of the fact that Western ("infidel") domination happened because of the loss of true Islamic faith. Salafi-jihadis for their part are much more politicized - even though their political agenda is fuzzy at best.

Sayyid Qutb - the Egyptian intellectual mentor of al-Zawahiri, killed by the Nasser government in 1966 - almost managed to bridge the gap between Salafis and Salafi-jihadis. As Adam Curtis masterfully demonstrated in his three-part BBC documentary, The Power of Nightmares - which had its world premiere as a feature film this past weekend at the Cannes Film Festival - Qutb is to al-Qaeda what Leo Strauss is to the American neo-conservatives. Qutb encouraged political action, but at the same time had a profoundly pessimistic view of the modern world, combined with venomous contempt of all things Western - the reason for his appeal among Salafis.

The crucial "jihad or not jihad" dilemma is a political decision. It's impossible to accuse Salafis - like the neo-conservatives do - of defending a theology of violence per se. When an Islamic religious leader favors jihad, it's always a political decision, even though it's always framed as religious dictum. In 2001, both the highly-respected Sheik Yousef al-Qardawi - host of an extremely popular show on al-Jazeera - and the new grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz ibn Muhammad al-Sheikh, issued fatwas (decrees) condemning September 11 as un-Islamic, clearly at odds with al-Qaeda's interpretation of jihad. On the other hand it's possible to find many mainstream Salafis who are opposed to Qutb - for religious reasons - but favor jihad and al-Qaeda (as a legitimate means of defending Islam against the West).

The revolutionary vanguard - The main challenge for the Salafi-jihadist (or Islamists) has always been how to "convert" modernized, well-educated Muslims - from the wealthy Kuwaiti, Saudi, Jordanian middle classes to the dilapidated suburbs of London and Marseilles - to what is essentially a political struggle.

So it's important to re-examine the role of Abdullah Azzam, the Muslim Brotherhood Palestinian carrying a Jordanian passport who founded the Maktab al-Khidamat (the Office of Services) in Peshawar in the early 1980s - the embryo of what would become known as al-Qaeda.

Crucially, Azzam was neither a Salafi nor a Wahhabi. He thought at the time that the only winning jihad strategy was to fight for the liberation of the entire Islamic ummah (community). The anti-Soviet Afghan jihad was at hand (the 1980s) and it would be the perfect model. Afghanistan for Azzam was essentially a training ground for the revolutionary vanguard which would lead the ummah in a war of resistance against the West. Azzam was never interested in creating an Islamic state in Afghanistan. Also crucially, he never targeted civilians, and never even thought of conducting a terrorist bombing. Al-Qaeda's harsher and more lethal tactics had nothing to do with Azzam: the transformation was operated by Osama and al-Zawahiri - blessed by their powerful Saudi and Pakistani sponsors/protectors.

After al-Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary, it adapted extremely fast. It's fair to say that now in many ways it is reverting to some of Azzam's conceptualization. It stopped behaving as a sect (it never had a political branch, a student branch or a press office, apart from the sporadic bin Laden or al-Zawahiri videos). It abandoned any pretence of finding a new training ground: the actual "Talibanistan" in the Pakistani Northwest Frontier Province might be a candidate - but it's infested with Pakistani troops and US intelligence.

Mounting American and European Islamophobia, and in many cases successful police action, made it extremely hard for the Salafi-jihadist to touch Muslims living in the West: they subsist in almost total isolation and alienation. The answer was franchising - but importantly the spreading of the Salafi-jihadist ideological message. Experts at a clandestine European Union terrorist monitoring cell in Brussels tell Asia Times Online that they fear extreme left movements in many European Union countries may be getting closer and closer to the Islamists. The war in Iraq has already led Salafi-jihadists to forge a close relationship with former Ba'athists.

The enemy within - When bin Laden and al-Zawahiri called for a worldwide jihad they failed. Movements of national liberation in Islam - like in Palestine and Chechnya - were the biggest losers. All over Islam there was heated discussion over al-Qaeda's strategy - if there was any. Should everyone revert to purveying dawah (propaganda, political proselytism) instead of jihad?

But now Islamic scholars from Morocco to Malaysia are finally legitimizing al-Qaeda as a Muqadamul Jaish - a revolutionary vanguard. This Western concept was unheard of in Islam - well, at least until the symbolically-charged spring of 2003, when Baghdad was "liberated" by President George W Bush's Christian armies.

As much as al-Qaeda is a Western concoction - once again, the concept of revolutionary vanguard simply does not exist in Islam - its internationalism is now merging with the only other global protest movement: the anti-globalization, anti-American imperialism brigade. Al-Qaeda and the Islamist front nevertheless still face a daunting task: if they want more Western allies, they have to abdicate from their Islamic platform. And if they want more allies in the Muslim world, they have to be much less radical. Even though al-Qaeda is configured as an heir to the extreme left and pro-Third World radical movements of the 1970s, al-Qaeda's latest success is undoubtedly in the Muslim world.

Al-Qaeda's only strategic goal is trapping the US, but Washington helped al-Qaeda by trapping itself in Iraq, and in still another, dangerous form of hubris, Bush's Greater Middle East. Al-Qaeda's dream of mobilizing the ummah by way of jihad may have taken a backseat role, but who needs it when you have reports of Korans flushed down the toilet? The Newsweek controversy reveals to the fullest extent how al-Qaeda may be reaching its goal of politicizing the masses through other means. No wonder the White House, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice all reacted furiously - blaming the (media) messenger to obscure the evident message (Islamophobia).

Al-Qaeda now also benefits from counter-propaganda. For example, this past weekend, al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers - supposed to be the denomination of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group (if he is not just a cipher) - accused the Pentagon of fabricating the sectarian violence in Iraq. The document lists "dirty methods [the Americans] use for targeting jihad", like "attacking homes with mortar rounds to later put the blame on the mujahideen for such mindless attacks", or "setting up IEDs [improvised explosive devices] on the side of the road near a school or a hospital and then the American savior comes in shining armor to dismantle the device, witnessed by the people in the area as a hero risking himself for Muslims".

As for the non-stop car bombings, the document says that "some [Americans] conceal a bomb in the trunk of a car while they search it in a check point and then detonate it at a distance in the right place and time, or they target certain cars by helicopter gunships so it would look like there was a person [bomber] who detonated a car bomb".

Whether any of these claims are verifiable or true is beside the point. The point is that they are written and widely broadcast in Arabic, and they stick. Muslims, especially in the Sunni Arab world, but also all over Islam, tend to believe them in increasing numbers, considering the moral swamp the US put itself in after Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the virtual leveling of Fallujah.

So if al-Qaeda is winning Muslim hearts and minds, the Bush administration has only itself to blame. Considering all the "clash of civilizations" rhetoric and a "war on terror" bound to last indefinitely, as Vice President Dick Cheney himself said on the record, it may have been the original intent anyway.

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