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iew of the Safi Landmark Hotel and Kabul .............................View of a hall in Kabul Serena Hotel City Center Mall in Kabul, Afghanistan, ....................................(Reuters/Ahmad Shah) Nov. 8 2005 Mondayg the face of the dusty city nearly ................................................................................ four years after the ouster of the Taliban, though ................................................................... many of Kabul's crumbling buildings are being torn ................................................................... down, the city is far from being a modern metropolis. .................................................. .... ........ (AP Photo/Tomas Munita)

Complaints delay final Afghan vote results

Kabul (AFP) - Afghanistan's election authorities were unable to announce final results of September's landmark parliamentary vote as expected, with claims of fraud delaying the tally for a key province.

The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) had been expected to announce final results. The September 18 poll was for the war-torn country's first parliament for more than three decades and for 34 provincial councils.

JEMB operational director Peter Erben said however that the Electoral Complaints Commission was still dealing with allegations of fraud in the southern province of Kandahar. "We expect it to be fully adjudicated within following days," he said on Wednesday.

Kandahar, President Hamid Karzai's home province, is the birthplace of the fundamentalist Taliban regime that controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when the hardliners were toppled in a US-led campaign.

Two of the president's brothers lead the provisional vote count in the province. Abdul Qayyum Karzai had the most ballots in the parliamentary vote and Ahmad Wali Karzai had the most for the provincial council.

Delays sour Afghan poll mood - By Andrew North - BBC News, Kabul

It has been a confusing situation since Afghans went to the polls to elect their first parliament and provincial councils in more than 30 years. More than a month later, the counting of votes has been completed and provisional results released for all provinces.

But the final results have been held back until the Election Complaints Commission has checked every fraud allegation. A delay on Monday - followed by yet another on Wednesday - means the final verdict of the Afghan people is still not known.

Monday's delay came as the commission needed to finish checking five of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and the Kuchi nomad constituency. The five provinces were Kabul, the biggest constituency with 33 of the 249 seats, Paktia, Nangahar, Kandahar and Paktika.

Paktika is the province that has been affected by the greatest number of fraud allegations. More than 30% of the ballots there have been quarantined or excluded from the count - which has provoked many demonstrations by candidates who were standing there and who have almost certainly lost. On Wednesday, Kandahar could still not be certified and the results were pushed back again.

The delays have soured the positive mood of polling day. Election officials say most of the fraud allegations are unfounded, although the commission's operations chief, Richard Atwood, admits there were far more complaints than expected.

"There have been an enormous amount of allegations of fraud, in particular of course from losing candidates. "While we have identified some instances of fraud, it's clear that the fraud in the count centres was not as widespread as has been indicated.

"And I certainly don't think the level of fraud here detracts from the overall legitimacy of the bodies that have been elected." One election protester in Khost, in eastern Afghanistan, was not convinced.

"The votes were not counted in the right way. Some officials changed the results. So some people, for example, who got just 80 votes were given 800 votes in the final result," he said.

There is worry too over what kind of parliament will result, because many of those who have confirmed seats are former mujahideen commanders - sometimes referred to as warlords.

New MP Shukria Barazkai says parliament will be a "collection of former warlords... with just a few democrats and bright minded people". Many Afghans say some of these warlord figures should be in the dock, not in parliament, because of their alleged involvement in past atrocities.

And there are concerns they will band together to squash attempts to set up a judicial process to try them or that they could try to impose their more conservative Islamic beliefs.

Hossain Ramoz, executive director of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, says: "If the majority of the MPs are either warlords or conservative people, it can influence the future of Afghanistan unfortunately in a very negative way."

But the success of the assembly is as important for the international community as it is for Afghanistan. Although the country has made progress since US-led forces overthrew the Taleban four years ago, its stability and future are still far from assured and security fears, and especially poverty, still blight the lives of most Afghans.

Even before the elections, many doubted the assembly would do much to improve their daily lives. Those doubts have grown since the results started to become clear.

Ms Barazkai fears the "old mentality" of the mujahideen is still there. She just hopes the new assembly will spur them to "clean their mind" of the past.

Rabbani rules out coalition with Qanuni

(Cheragh) The leader of the Jamiat-e-Islami party, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani has rejected the possibility of forming an alliance with Younus Qanuni, the head of the National Understanding Front. Specifically, Rabbani said he had not discussed the post of speaker in the new national assembly with Qanuni.

(Cheragh is an independent daily run by the Development and Democracy Association.) via Afghan Press Monitor (No 189, 08 Nov 05) - published by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Economic group hopes to aid Afghan private sector - Business Report 11/09/2005

Kabul - The Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) opened a major trade and investment conference on Wednesday in the Afghan capital Kabul to focus on private sector promotion in Afghanistan, according to a press statement.

ECO is a regional economic group comprising Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The two-day conference will focus mainly on private sector promotion in Afghanistan and regional development. It will also offer a platform for an open dialogue between governments and the business communities of the ECO region on issues concerning trade and investment, the statement said.

"Afghanistan is proud of its membership of ECO," the statement quoted Afghan president Hamid Karzai as saying. "The ECO region has vast economic potential and we should all take advantage of this opportunity," the president added.

"Participants of the conference will include senior ECO delegates, Afghan cabinet ministers, ambassadors and diplomats based in Kabul, representatives of the private sector and NGOs, chief representatives of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, foreign investors, major importers and exporters, and staff of international corporations based in Afghanistan," said Omar Zakhilwal, president and CEO of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA).

The conference is organised by the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and AISA, with the support of GTZ, the German Technical Cooperation and United Nations Development Programme, UNDP.

Afghanistan to Accede to the Convention Establishing the WIPO - ag-IP-news Agency, Jordan / November 8, 2005

GENEVA - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced on Tuesday the deposit by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on September 13, 2005, of its instrument of accession to the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO Convention), signed in Stockholm on July 14, 1967, and as amended on September 28, 1979.

The said Convention will enter into force, with respect to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on December 13, 2005.

India to back Afghan membership for SAARC

NEW DELHI, NOV 8 (PTI) - India will back Afghanistan's inclusion as a new member of SAARC at the summit of the seven-nation regional group in Dhaka later this week.

"We will welcome Afghanistan as a member of SAARC," Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, who will represent India and the SAARC Ministerial meeting on November 11, told PTI here. The issue of Afghanistan's entry into SAARC is expected to be taken up during the Dhaka meet.

Ahamed will go in place of K Natwar Singh who has been divested of the External Affairs Ministry portfolio in the wake of Government announcing a judicial probe into allegations made in the Volcker Committee report on pay offs to him and the Congress party in Iraqi oil deals during the Saddam Hussein regime in 2001.

Ahamed, who was on a visit to Sudan leading an 18-member business delegation, cut short his visit and returned to the capital this morning following instructions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he should represent India at the Dhaka minsiterial meet. He will fly to Dhaka on November 10.

The Prime Minister will be attending the two-day Summit beginning on November 12. The Summit will be preceded by meetings of the SAARC Council of Ministers and Foreign Secretaries. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will be leaving for Dhaka tomorrow.

Ahamed said "SAARC should be strengthened and also developed as an economically integrated community in South Asia". Observing that the Prime Minister himself was a great proponent of the economic integration of the countries in the region so that all could reap the benefits, he said "all our neighbours can become partners in India's prosperity".

"We also wish that all our neighbours should look upon India as an opportunity in terms of economic benefit and also as a country having scientific and technological advancement with a robust economy and a very large investment possibility," he stressed.

This would definitely provide opportunities to the neighbouring countries to develop their own economies with India's partnership. "Therefore, a South Asia Economic Union envisaging integration of these countries will always be helpful to SAARC member countries," he said.

He said when South Asian countries become dynamic in their development and economic advancement, only then these States could be part of the larger Asian development community Officials from SAARC comprising India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan will discuss the agenda which would be considered by the Standing Committee of Foreign Secretaries who will report to the SAARC Council of Ministers. The Council will make its recommendations for consideration by the Summit.

Tackling terrorism and consolidating regional economic cooperation are among the issues expected to figure prominently during the deliberations.

Former Taliban officials said killed in Pakistan - November 9, 2005

CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed two former officials of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime in northwestern Pakistan, their relatives said on Wednesday.

Mullah Abdul Mannan Khawajazai and Mullah Mohammad Akbar, who served as Taliban provincial governors and military commanders, were shot in the same attack late on Monday in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border, said the relatives, who declined to be identified.

Several hundred people attended their burial at Gul Hassan village south of the Pakistani border town of Chaman on Wednesday, witnesses said. Relatives said they had no information about the identity or motive of the gunmen.

Police in Peshawar, where a large number of Afghans have lived since the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s, could not be immediately reached for comment. Khawajazai was governor of the northern Afghan provinces of Sar-i-Pul and Badghis, while Akbar was governor of the central province of Ghor.

Hekmatyar vows to expel US force - Reuters 11/09/2005

KABUL - A fugitive Afghan guerrilla leader said war in his country would not end until U.S.-led forces left and urged Islamic groups to unite to expel them as they drove out Soviet forces in the 1980s, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

Former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is wanted by the United States and his fighters back the Taliban-led insurgency in which more than 50 U.S. soldiers and scores of government troops have been killed this year.

"The only way to solve Afghanistan's war is for foreign forces to withdraw," the Cheragh daily quoted Hekmatyar as saying in a message the paper said was issued to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last week.

A senior journalist at the newspaper, Mohammad Dawood, said a copy of the message was sent to his office and it was genuine, but he did not elaborate. Hekmatyar, a prominent commander of guerrillas who battled Soviet occupying forces in the 1980s, said his campaign would go on until U.S.-led troops left Afghanistan.

He called on mujahideen, or holy warriors, to unite and drive out their "real enemies" as they had driven out the Soviets, the newspaper said. He described Afghanistan's presidential election last year and September's legislative elections as "futile."

Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a similar message to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month. U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001 after they refused to hand over     Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities that year.

The United States leads some 20,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, most of them American, battling insurgents and hunting their leaders. Hekmatyar, Omar and bin Laden are all believed to be hiding along the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghan officials say there is co-ordination among their fighters in the insurgency, which has mostly affected southern and eastern parts of the country near the border with Pakistan.

Afghan territory remains source of threat - foreign ministry

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti, Russia) - The territory of Afghanistan remains the main source of threat, the Russian deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. Grigory Karasin, who is also state secretary, said the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a regional body that includes five former Soviet republics, was preparing to set up a working party for Afghanistan.

"Our countries' interest in these efforts is multi-faceted," Karasin said. "First of all, it relates to the development and implementation of coordinated approaches to a wide range of post-conflict settlement issues in Afghanistan."

He said the working party would provide technological, economic and military aid, as well as personnel training, including that for Afghanistan's power structures as part of the fight against terrorism and drug smuggling.

Another reason for the move, Karasin said, is the shared threats still emanating from Afghanistan to the organization's member states, which include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia. For this purpose, he said, the countries would jointly establish security belts around Afghanistan.

The deputy minister also said the task force would make it possible for the member states to cooperate with other nations and international organizations in dealings with Afghanistan.

Islamic Militant Insurgency in Afghanistan Experiencing "Iraqization" – Eurasianet 11/08/2005 By Claudio Franco

Afghanistan's Islamic militants are demonstrating renewed vigor in attacking Afghan government and US military targets. Political analysts are alarmed by evidence suggesting radicals in Afghanistan are emulating the tactics of insurgents in Iraq – including the use of suicide bombers.

The most recent suicide bombing in Afghanistan occurred November 7, when an explosives-laden car detonated near the governor of strife-torn Helmand Province, Sher Mohammad, as he was heading to work. The governor escaped without serious injury, while the driver of the detonated car later died in an area hospital. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The last few months have witnessed a spike in Taliban attacks in southern and eastern Afghan provinces, including Helmand, Khost and Kunar. That suicide bombings have become an increasingly common occurrence is a source of major concern to some political and military analysts. To date, the worst such attack came on September 28, when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed eight Afghan army soldiers and a civilian bus driver near a military training center in Kabul.

Afghanistan has been embroiled in a near-constant state of conflict since Soviet troops occupied the country in late 1979. But it was not until the summer of 2004 that the first known suicide bombing occurred. In recent months, Islamic militants have also started attacking Afghan civilians who are perceived to be cooperating with either the US military or the Afghan government.

The recent surge in violence has coincided with Afghanistan's prolonged-parliamentary elections process. Voters went to the polls on September 18, but final results are not expected to be released until November 9. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The Taliban tactics seem designed to dispel the impression that the legislative election can foster stability in the country. Accordingly, President Hamid Karzai's administration has seemed eager to minimize the strategic implications of the attacks.

Political analysts identify 2004 as a pivotal year for the Islamic militant insurgency in Afghanistan. Between the time of the Taliban's ouster in late 2001 and 2004, militant bands tended to stage small-scale hit-and-run raids. Since then, however, militant operations have become increasingly complex and their ability to project influence has expanded.

A Khost-based analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that militants were offering substantial bounties to people or groups that killed or kidnapped foreigners or government officials. The increasing effectiveness of militant operations has played a significant role in intimidating Afghans in southern provinces. "This [intimidation] has resulted in a drop-out rate of approximately 50 percent among ANA [Afghanistan National Army] recruits in the region," the analyst said. "Soldiers are afraid of the bounties being offered, and [they believe] their salary does not compensate the risks."

Farmers in rural Khost Province report that a bounty of roughly 15,000 Pakistani rupees (about $250) is offered for the assassination of Afghan government officials, or civilians working with the US Army. A bounty of up to 100,000 Pakistani rupees (approximately $1,700) is offered for the killing of a foreigner, whether soldier or civilian.

The "Iraqization" of the Afghan insurgency does not appear to be accidental. For the last two months or so, a steady stream of reports indicate that militants trained in Iraq have made their way to Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the help of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network. Sources close to Afghan security forces in the eastern Khost Province say they have information that Arab trainers are working in training centers along the desolate Pakistani-Afghan border. Islamic militants reportedly continue to enjoy a safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

According to the sources, these Arab trainers have helped indoctrinate new recruits on the "successes" experienced in Iraq, and on the effectiveness of new tactics, including suicide bombings and the targeting of Afghans. Arab operatives in Pakistan are also believed to be responsible for offering bounties on the lives of Afghan government officials and foreigners.

Helping to highlight the suspected Pakistani connection to intensifying military operations in Afghanistan was a November 6 incident, in which six people were killed in an explosion in a home in North Waziristan, a remote Pakistani region bordering Afghanistan. A Pakistani military spokesman said the explosion was caused by the mishandling of explosives. The victims were believed to be foreigners who were attempting to manufacture a bomb, the spokesman added.

Khost and other southern provinces have been a traditional stronghold of the Taliban, which ruled much of Afghanistan from 1996 until their ouster in the US-led anti-terrorism offensive of 2001. During the Taliban era, militants affiliated with the al Qaeda terrorist network established military camps in Afghanistan, from which they launched their global jihad.

According to a Taliban source, the improved operational capabilities are partly a byproduct of greater cooperation among various militant groups. In particular, forces loyal to two notorious warlords, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, supposedly entered into a tactical alliance in May with the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Well-placed sources close to Afghan security forces say that militants now operate in detachments of 15-20 guerrillas and tend to be led by an Arab. To secure sufficient manpower for militant operations, Arab operatives are offering large cash payments to local warlords, who are in turn responsible for quickly providing reinforcements for those militants killed, wounded or otherwise incapacitated during raids.

How did Al Qaeda operatives escape Afghan jail?

KABUL, November 8 (SANA) – The escape of four Al Qaeda operatives earlier this month from a U.S.-run Afghan jail created confusion and suspicion among the world leaders- How were the escapees, dressed in orange jumpsuit, able to break out of the top-security detention center in Afghan's Bagram air base near Kabul? How did they manage to cut across the giant military base with some 12,000 U.S. soldiers?

To enter or leave Bagram airbase, located in the Parvan Province, about 11 kilometers southeast of the city of Charikar and 47 Kilometers north of the Afghan capital, one has to slip through checkpoints and security screenings and pass through a web of concrete and dirt-filled-wire barriers.

Detainees held at Bagram are kept in wire cages in the middle of an old warehouse, similar to a great extent to Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs," according to The Newsweek editorial. The warehouse is surrounded by razor wire and finally the fences and guard posts of the airbase itself, it added.

However, and despite the tight security at Bagram base, four of Al Qaeda members held at the U.S,-run jail managed on July 11, 2005 to cross security cordons and slip through a Soviet-era minefield just outside the base.

The fugitives, including, Omar Al Farouq, one of the most important Al Qaeda members ever captured in S. Asia, even managed to elude Tajik villagers, generally hostile to foreign fighters.

And although the U.S. military reported the escape of the four shortly after the incident took place, it kept their names secret and refused to provide any identifying details.

Their names were first uncovered at court-martial proceedings at Fort Bliss against Sergeant Alan driver, accused abusing Bagram prisoners, including Al Farouq.

Asked why Al Farouq was not testifying, prosecutor captain John Parker said it was because he escaped from the Bagram detention facility, a spokeswoman at the base said. "If this really happened as reported, it makes the Great Escape of World War II look like an Outward Bound exercise," said one U.S. defense analyst.

No one knows for sure what happened at Bagram last July, and those who know aren't saying. But the fact that the jail breakout was uncovered during an abuse trial brings the spotlight on the U.S.’s troubled detention programs.

Baffled as to how Al Farouq escaped from Bagram facility, Zaenal Ma'arif, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives who hails from the Islamic-based Star Reform Party (PBR), said that "It is possible that there is a bigger scenario since Osama bin Laden is not that influential anymore," The Jakarta post reported.

Zaenal said that Washington owes Indonesia’s government explanations on the escape of Al Farouq, a Kuwait national who was detained in Indonesia three years ago and believed to be lieutenant of Al Qaeda leader.

On its Oct. 21 edition, DEBKA-Net-Weekly suggested that the escapees received outside help, either the form inside intelligence or Afghans employed on the base.

Afghan jailbreak comes at a time where the U.S. is facing mounting international criticism over its detention policies, in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail, Guantanamo, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Compared to other U.S. secret detention centers run by the CIA, Bagram facility is an open book. According to official U.S. accounts and Human Rights Watch, between two dozens and 100 prisoners are held at these sites with no prospect of release.

Even at the agency, "senior people are saying we've got to have an endgame to this," a CIA official said on condition of anonymity. "This isn't sustainable."

And while Bryan Whitman Pentagon spokesman tried to play down the implication of the jailbreak, saying that "clearly it wasn't the U.S. military's finest hour," but "this is a field facility. It isn't Rikers [Island]. This is not the first time that prisoners have escaped from military facilities in Afghanistan as well as Iraq," very few Afghans believe that prisoners escape from Bagram.

In an interview with the Newsweek, a Taliban commander suggested that the four prisoners were actually exchanged in secret for captured U.S. special-operations troops. But Whitman denied the accounts, describing them as "absolutely absurd and completely untrue."

Real hopes for Afghanistan - Open Democracy, UK 11/08/2005 - Emma Bonino

After monitoring September's elections in Afghanistan, Emma Bonino remains hopeful about the country's future, if women can share in it as equal partners.

I first went to Afghanistan in 1997, when the Taliban were still holding sway with their oppressive, grotesquely misogynistic regime. I returned in 2002 during the Constitutional Loya Jirga, and again this year to follow the first Parliamentary and Provincial elections since 1969, as chief observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM).

From my first trip I remember Kabul as a devastated city in the hands of armed fanatics, without any trace of a female presence. From time to time a woman would pass by like a ghost, hidden beneath a burqa. This time, I found a bustling city, with streets streaming with people, girls in white head scarves and black gowns heading for school, and one could again hear the sound of music in the air and see kites flying in the sky.

Yet the signs of change hide a more complex and contradictory situation. It suffices to travel a few kilometres outside the capital to see how hope fades. Lack of security remains the main concern: the insurgency seems to be strengthening, leaving the country hanging between stability and chaos. Both the Afghan people and the international community will have to work together to avoid the nightmare recently threatened by the Neo-Taliban movement, that Afghanistan will become 'a hub of instability, killings, looting and drugs'.

While I was there in September I travelled extensively, meeting Provincial Governors, elders, tribal and religious leaders, local candidates, and election administration staff. I collected firsthand insight on local issues. In Kabul, I was able to get the wider political picture. I met with President Hamid Karzai, both vice-presidents, Ahmad Zia Massoud and Karim Khalili, cabinet ministers, party leaders – but also with women candidates, members of the Kuchi nomad community, non-governmental actors, in particular civil rights movements, academics such as Ashraf Ghani, international stakeholders, NGO workers and members of the media.

I would venture to say that today the people of Afghanistan have more hope for the future than at any time during the last 25 years. Afghanistan has a Constitution, an elected president, and will soon have a Parliament and Provincial Councils. Though the process is still undoubtedly fragile, the people have an unprecedented chance to take the destiny of their nation into their own hands.

On election day I visited several polling stations in Kabul. I was moved to see men and women going through the procedures: dipping their index fingers into the ink, and disappearing behind screens to peruse a seven-page long ballot sheet. 6.6 million Afghans, 43 percent of them women, voted throughout the country, courageously defying a Taliban call for boycott, intimidation from militant groups, and acts of violence.

Of the 12 million Afghans who registered to vote this September, 44 percent are women, up by 35 percent from last October's Presidential elections. This increase occurred even in the most backward and conservative regions of Uruzgan, Helmand, Paktia, Khost and Kandahar.

Of 5,800 candidates, more than 600 were women. I have met many of them in Kabul, including a woman from the nomadic Kuchi tribe. I also met my friend Sima Simar, President of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, who in 1998 donned a burqa to participate in an international convention in Brussels. Then there was the Minister for Women's Affairs, Masooda Jalal, who commented: ''Men say a woman's place is in the house, and they are right: the Houses of Parliament.''

But centuries-old discrimination makes campaigning very difficult for women in this country. For some it is un-Islamic for a woman to participate in public life at all, and in many rural areas women cannot leave their homes unless accompanied by a man. Threats and intimidation – slashed posters send the message that women should not reveal their faces – join with the difficulty and danger in accessing certain places from which women are banned. Only consider the paradox of self-promotion behind a burqa.

While the high number of registered voters, particularly women, is a positive indication of the eventual legitimacy of the election, it is impossible to overlook the risk of fraud at various levels, the range of possible forms of intimidation (many very difficult to verify), as well with a number of grave incidents that have already occurred, such as the killing of three candidates and one supporter and various beatings.

What is most alarming with regard to security is not the strictly military preoccupation of the 'War on Terror' as to whether the Taliban can win the war or not, but rather the risk of high or low intensity attacks intended to undermine the process, the primary target being the electoral apparatus. Unfortunately, given the many hiding places found full of weapons, and the complete porosity of the border with Pakistan, a large scale strike can never be ruled out.

Beyond the eventual outcome, September's elections will have been successful only if the Afghans recognise their value and their fundamental importance to the future of the country; or at least, if they can see the overall process as a positive one with regard to the country's political inertia, the state of permanent war, and the sense of bitterness about the present and pessimism about the future.

Parliamentary candidate Ustad Muqim Khan, a high-school teacher of mathematics and physics, has a positive view of democracy and what it could offer Afghanistan, which he feels needs a multi-party system. He is, however, pessimistic about the future of the country because he fears that today's dysfunctions will simply be perpetuated in tomorrow's institutions. Much of the hope raised after the country was rid of the Taliban four years ago is now in danger of being shattered. The process of rebuilding Afghanistan since then has been slow. In the eyes of many ordinary Afghans, far too slow.

It is clear that the newly elected bodies will have among their members former mujahidin commanders and former Taliban who have joined the amnesty scheme under a national reconciliation process. Shukria Barakzai, a women's rights activist and candidate herself, referring to the composition of the future Parliament, commented, 'Fundamentalists plus former warlords plus drug dealers plus former leaders is not good news for Afghanistan'.

This is a realistic enough view, but I wish to be, if not optimistic, at least more hopeful. Whatever the final outcome, the legislature will have a significant female presence, even by "western" standards. The electoral law establishes a minimum quota of 68 seats out of 249 for the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House) and 25 percent of all Provincial Council seats reserved for women. Also the Kuchi nomads will have ten seats allocated to them in Parliament, of which three are for women.

This significant achievement will be reached thanks to a quota system of which I am not usually an enthusiastic supporter – far from it – but which at times is necessary as an interim measure, to ease the transition to more plural and open societies. Women were about 10 percent of the total 5800 candidates which is a very satisfactory result per se – and I wouldn't be surprised if they procured many votes from men as some of them candidly admitted to us that 'women don't have blood on their hands'. Clearly such was the case for Malalai Joya, who openly criticized the presence of warlords in the Constitutional Loya Jirga: she has come second overall in the Wolesi Jirga race in Farah Province.

The election of a new Parliament and of Provincial Councils is an important step but will not, alone, solve the problems facing a country still emerging from decades of war and destruction. Several provinces have been outside the central governments' control for over two decades. Life expectancy is 43 years, illiteracy affects 70 percent of the population, corruption and impunity are part of daily life. Afghanistan's infrastructure is practically non-existent (roads, sewage, energy power), the health system is among the worst in the world and the lack of universal schooling and education – most children are still doing their lessons in the dust beneath canvas tents – is at the root of many challenges facing Afghan people today. Given the overall picture, expectations must be managed carefully. But I am hopeful that positive momentum created by the elections will carry forward into sustainable social and economic reforms.

I also believe that the presence of women in the Parliament will in itself constitute a major breakthrough for gender equality and that the creation of a women caucus can be helpful to fight the repressive culture still so predominant in Afghanistan. Often societies in these parts of the world, but also in western ones, have leaped ahead thanks to the empowerment of women. Here, women are gradually gaining new space in which to exercise their rights – a space that will bring about change. Women need to become full partners in Afghanistan.

This article contains excerpts of previous articles written by Emma Bonino in The Cape Times of 27 August 2005 and for "EurAsia Bulletin" November 2005 issue of the European Institute for Asian Studies.

German parliament cuts Afghan troop numbers - DPA - 8 November 2005

BERLIN - Germany's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved cutting the number of combat troops Berlin can deploy in and around Afghanistan while extending their mandate for a further year.

A total of 519 deputies in the Bundestag voted in favour of extending the mission, 67 were voted against the mission and three abstained. Germany's maximum troop strength as part of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom will be reduced to 2,800 from the present ceiling of 3,100 soldiers, under the bill approved by the chamber.

The decision is partly academic because Berlin currently only has 500 troops serving under the mandate. The forces serve in the Afghan combat theatre including the Horn of Africa region. Members of Germany's elite KSK forces are involved in combat operations in Afghanistan with U.S. troops - but their numbers and activities are kept strictly secret.

Defence ministry officials insist the troop cuts are not a sign of lower engagement but rather because Berlin is recalling ageing naval surveillance planes prior to delivery of more modern replacements.

The current troop mandate expires November 15. Germany has a further 2,250 peacekeeping troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan which it plans to raise to 3,000.

About 12,000 ISAF soldiers are operating mainly around Kabul, as well as in the relatively peaceful north and west of Afghanistan. The United States has some 18,000 troops in Afghanistan under Enduring Freedom and has called on ISAF to expand its operations so that the U.S. forces can be partially withdrawn.

A total of 17 German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001 and 22 have been wounded in attacks, according to Berlin defence ministry figures.

Japanese researchers find Buddhist stone caves in Afghanistan - November 9, 2005

(Kyodo) _ A team of Japanese researchers has found Buddhist stone caves believed to date back to the eighth century about 120 kilometers west of the Bamiyan ruins in central Afghanistan, the team said Wednesday.

The team, headed by Ryukoku University professor Takashi Irisawa, confirmed in late October the discovery of a group of caves built on cliffs located 1 km west of the Keligan ruins in the upper Band-e-Amir River area.

The discovery indicates the possibility that the influence of Buddhism may have extended to the area of the upper waters of the river centering around the Keligan ruins around the eighth century, and that the religion's sphere of influence in the region may have been greater than previously thought, team members said. Islam was beginning to gather momentum around that time.

"It will provide an invaluable clue in researching the sphere of Buddhism stretching westward," said Irisawa, an expert on Buddhist culture at the Kyoto-based university.

The group of caves is made up of four layers with seven rooms. The bottom layer, which is the largest, is 4 meters high, 5 meters wide and 15 meters long.

Three rooms in the bottom layer have spaces where Buddhist statues are believed to have been placed, indicating that the rooms may have been used for praying, team members said.

Irisawa said, there is "little doubt that the caves are Buddhist caves as they closely resemble the structure and architectural style of the Bamiyan stone caves."

Xuanzang, a Chinese monk known as Genjo Sanzo in Japan who visited Bamiyan in the seventh century, wrote in his book on his travels called "The Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty" that he had passed more than a dozen temples and some 300 monks on his way to Bamiyan.

The area of the Keligan ruins may have been where Xuanzang passed through, team members said. A group of stone caves were also found in a village 2 km east of the Keligan ruins.

The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley, which was destroyed by the country's former Taliban rulers in 2001, were registered on the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage list in 2003.

Letter from Delhi: The Natwar affair - Nick Bryant BBC News, Delhi

The BBC's South Asia correspondent looks back at the removal of India's foreign minister and the wider significance of the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. Natwar Singh possesses arguably the grumpiest face in Indian politics. During his time in office, I have seen him smile just once.

It came when he appeared in a press conference alongside Condoleezza Rice, where, in a faint stab at humour, he suggested that he would take great delight in teaching the US secretary of state the rules of cricket. Rice guffawed. The outer edges of Singh's mouth showed a slight and momentary upturn.

Over this past weekend, Mr Grumpy became Mr Angry, as he launched an excoriating attack on Paul Volcker, the main author of his misery. And as the political pressure increased on him to resign, Singh broadened his range of targets. They included the transitional government of Iraq, which he claimed "has no credibility anywhere in the world" - and, by inference, its American sponsors.

When the 74 year old diplomat suggested that India should soften its line against Iran over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, it was widely interpreted as another attempt to win support on the left by sticking it to Washington.

Mr Singh had clearly decided that attack was the best form of defence - and that he should turn his guns not only on UN headquarters in New York but the Bush White House in Washington.

So what of the scandal's wider significance? Unquestionably, it has revealed much about how the old India continues to vie with the new India. On the 'Old India' side of the ledger, we can list the country's longstanding prickliness to outside criticism and foreign scrutiny.

After all, the government's first response was to mount an investigation, where the primary focus seemed to be the veracity and methodology of the UN report rather than assessing Mr Singh's claim of innocence. In mounting his defence, Natwar Singh had also relied on old-fashioned Indian deference.

A veteran diplomat with a stellar regal bloodline - he comes from a one-time royal family in the western state of Rajasthan, and dresses in a famously dandy manner - Mr Singh appeared to believe that people would trust his version of events rather than those of a retired American banker. He was confident that Indians would believe a consummate insider rather than a muck-raking outsider.

In the 'New India' column, we can insert the ever-growing importance of Delhi's new strategic relationship with Washington. One of the main reasons why Mr Singh's position became so perilous was because of this trenchant criticism of many aspects of the Bush administration's post 9/11 foreign policy.

Natwar Singh himself tried to characterise the Volcker Report as part of an American plot to exact revenge for his long-standing opposition to the Iraq war. Again, the move was calculated to boost support on the left.

But his protestations were deeply unhelpful to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has worked harder at nurturing closer ties between Delhi and Washington than any of his predecessors. As the right-wing Pioneer newspaper headlined its coverage: "With Minister Out, Man gets free hand to back US."

It is worth noting that Mr Singh was stripped of his responsibilities on the day that US Treasury Secretary John Snow commenced a five-day visit aimed at boosting trade and investment between the two countries; and on the afternoon that the roar of US F-16 fighters drowned out the anti-Bush slogans of demonstrators gathered in Bengal protesting joint air exercises between India and America.

More important, this controversy comes as the US Congress mulls the Bush administration's landmark deal to assist India's civilian nuclear programme. Republicans in Congress have mounted their own probe into the oil for food scandal. Congressional approval for the nuclear deal would have been made much more difficult if Mr Singh had remained in his job.

Natwar Singh always claimed to have the confidence and support of Sonia Gandhi, India's most powerful woman. One of his biggest problems was that he has long been treated with suspicion by Condoleezza Rice and the administration she represents.

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