UN, UK to Co-Chair International Conference for Afghanistan Support - The Associated Press 11/18/2005

UNITED NATIONS -The United Nations and the U.K. will co-chair an international conference in late January to give global support to Afghanistan as its first representative government starts tackling a wide range of political, economic and security issues.

The aim of the London conference is to give maximum international encouragement to the new Afghan government which is at "a critical stage" following September's legislative elections and the completion of the country's political transition, Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said Thursday. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will co-chair the Jan. 29-30 conference, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he said.

The legislative elections were the final formal step toward having a representative government in Afghanistan after a quarter century of war that left more than 1 million people dead. When the new National Assembly is inaugurated next month, the political transition process agreed by Afghan factions under U.N. auspices in Bonn, Germany, in December 2001, following the Taliban's ouster by a U.S.-led force, will end.

But the United Nations, the United States and Britain say it is critical to continue international support for Afghanistan. Jones Parry said the new relationship must be "on the basis of Afghan ownership ... but with coordinated, sustained and stronger support from the international community," led by the United Nations.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the United States has been pushing for the London conference in January to promote "a continued and larger U.N. role" in Afghanistan.

U.N. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said there is "a clear consensus" among members that the U.N. should play an important coordinating role in the next phase of Afghanistan's transition "because the engagement of the international community for the future of Afghanistan ... is very important."

There is also agreement that the engagement must be based on a contract between the Afghan people and the international community, he said. "And certainly the London conference ... will be an opportunity to really define in clear terms what that contract between the Afghan people and the international community should be," he said.

Guehenno said "the strength of the Bonn process was that it had clear milestones - the loya jirgas, the elections. So it created the right momentum, and at each of those milestones one could see the progress achieved - and what needed to be achieved."

"I think we need now to define substantive milestones and benchmarks, so in the next few years there's a clear sense of where, together, the Afghan people and the international community want to lead the country," he said.

Britain's Jones Parry said Afghanistan will need international support "across all the aspects" including political assistance, a sustained military and police presence.

Portuguese killed in Afghan blast - BBC News, 18 November 2005

A Portuguese soldier was killed and three more wounded when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device east of the capital, Kabul, on Friday. The fatality was the first suffered by Portugal, which has about 200 troops in the international peacekeeping force.

The incident occurred when two vehicles were patrolling in Bagram district. A spokesman for the Isaf peacekeepers said the blast was probably a landmine. There are about 10,000 Isaf troops and 20,000 US-led forces in the country.

The incident comes days after the Portuguese defence minister, Luis Amado, said Lisbon would reduce its peacekeeping contingent next year. Portuguese Armed Forces Chief Jose Mendes Cabecadas identified the dead soldier as Sgt Joao Pereira.

Lt-Col Riccardo Cristoni, of Isaf, said one of the wounded soldiers was in a serious condition. The Portuguese troops are responsible for security around Kabul airport. Although a landmine was suspected, Isaf said it was too early to be certain and an investigation was under way.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in violence linked to militants in Afghanistan this year - the worst violence the country has seen since US-led forces ousted the Taleban in late 2001. Most of the violence has been in the south and east of the country.

Afghanistan concerned over Pak-support to terrorism – UNI 11/18/2005

Afghanistan's National Security Advisor Dr Zalmai Rassoul today expressed concern at the support to terrorism from Pakistan and said the two countries' top leaders were discussing the matter.

"The main issue is support to terrorism from across the border and we are discussing it at a very high level, at the President to President level, he told UNI after addressing the HT Leadership Summit here this afternoon.

Hoping for better cooperation from Pakistan in curbing terrorism in the region, the Afghan NSA said, however, there was no need for more forces to control the situation in Afghanistan and the recent elections had proved Afghan people's faith in democracy.

"Taliban as a military force has been defeated..." he said but acknowledged that trouble is only in areas along the border with Pakistan. Dr Rassoul also admitted that the 30,000 Afghan National Army was not yet fully ready to take the responsibility of Afghan security.

He sought India's support in rebuilding and reconstruction of Afghanistan and added that India was already extending a lot of assistance. Afghanistan had also chosen India's model of democracy as the basis of its democracy. "Indian experience is vital for Afghanistan."

"The most important thing is that Afghan people have accepted the concept of democracy and we are optimistic about a qualitative change in Afghan life," he added.

Dr Rassoul rejected the assertion of Taliban resurgence saying Afghan people were basically tolerant and moderate. They had rejected religious fundamentalism. Even some leaders, owing allegiance to the Taliban, had contested the recent elections and had been defeated.

Britain seeks to build fighting force for lawless Afghanistan - Guardian Weekly 11/17/2005 By Simon Tisdall and Richard Norton-Taylor

Britain is attempting to build a coalition to pursue counter-insurgency combat operations against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan after the withdrawal by the Bush administration of 4,000 US troops early next year.
Talks with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and several other countries are being held before a Nato meeting in Brussels on December 7. They follow the refusal of European allies, such as France and Germany, to allow their troops to become involved in counter-insurgency.

The discussions are among preparations for the deployment of 2,000 crack British troops backed by Apache attack helicopters to lawless Helmand province at the head of an expanded, British-led Nato force next spring. An additional 2,000 British troops are expected to be sent to Afghanistan next year, bringing the total to about 4,800 - compared with 8,500 in Iraq. The British mission in the south represents a significant escalation of its overall involvement in Afghanistan. Military sources said it was potentially more hazardous - and could last longer - than Britain's postwar involvement in Iraq.

"The debate is not whether, but to what extent these troops will get into counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics," a military source said. "We are not talking war fighting. But there is potential for armed conflict in some areas. The reality is that there are warlords, drug traffickers, al-Qaida, al-Qaida wannabes and Taliban." An officer said: "It could take longer to crack than Iraq. It could take 10 years."

Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest since the 2001 US-led invasion, despite US claims that democracy is taking root. Up to 1,500 people have been killed this year, including a German peacekeeper who was killed on Monday in Kabul by a suicide bomber. A British soldier also died recently in a gun battle in Mazar-i-Sharif.

The source said that talks were under way with other countries about contributions to Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) operations in Helmand. "Are they prepared to completely go war-fighting or do they want to do other things?

"The bits of the equation that have to be resolved are the overall size of the force package, where they will be and, depending on the Nato mood music and the realities on the ground, what their mandate will be."

Australia confirmed this week that it was in talks about sending troops to southern Afghanistan. Fifty New Zealand SAS soldiers are understood to be serving in the south, at present under US command, after their tour of duty was extended. Canada has 1,500 troops in Afghanistan and offers to join the British-led force in the south have been received from the Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia.

Despite US pressure, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have refused to expand the mandate for their peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan to include "war on terror" combat operations. But their reluctance and the increased pressure on British forces is causing concern among MPs.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "Nato runs the risk of embarrassment if it cannot find sufficient troops of good quality for the mission. The government has claimed that everything will be all right on the night . . . this seems optimistic."

The Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the aim of the mission "would be to help restore Afghanistan as a secure state and prevent it again becoming a haven for terrorists". In a Commons statement Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, said "no final decisions . . . had yet been made. But it was "sensible to begin British preparations for potential deployment".

The US will remove most of its troops in the south early next year and reduce troop levels in line with reductions in Iraq.

Paracha claims US asked him to help it "reconcile" with Qaeda, Taliban - Daily Times, Pakistan 11/17/2005 By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR - The United States has asked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Ibrahim Paracha to facilitate a 'reconciliation' with Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.

Paracha, a former MNA from Kohat district, claimed on Thursday that was invited to a meeting with visiting US Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs Karen Hughes and other senior US State Department officials at Serena Hotel in Islamabad on November 14.

"I met Ms Hughes," he told Daily Times by phone from Kohat. He claimed that the US officials had requested him 'to help them negotiate a reconciliation with Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders' in Afghanistan. "We would like you to support the US government on the issue," he said. However, the US Embassy spokesman in Islamabad denied Ms Hughes had met Paracha.

"I know she stayed at Serena Hotel, but when I checked her schedule, there was no encounter with any local politician," Peter Kovach told Daily Times by phone from Islamabad. "Nobody recalls such a meeting with a local politician," he added.

Paracha said the US diplomats told him that they had met former ISI chiefs Gen Ehsanul Haq and Gen Hamid Gul, who had referred them (US diplomats) to him (Paracha) to start negotiations with the Taliban.

Paracha said he met Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Muhammad Hamid Khan in a follow-up meeting later on Thursday. "I also met the Peshawar corps commander on Thursday, but will not share any details of both meetings at the moment," he added. Paracha made headlines when he secured the release of hundreds of detained Arabs through the Peshawar High Court after their arrest in late 2001 on terrorism charges.

The federal government accused him of harbouring terrorists, but did not charge him with any offence for his "close association" with Al Qaeda and Taliban elements in Pakistan.

Paracha said US and Pakistani intelligence personnel had met him in the Peshawar High Court on the morning of November 14 and invited him to meet US diplomats in Islamabad. "I drove to Islamabad for the meeting," he added.

"Besides US officials, former Taliban leaders and Afghan politicians were also present at Serena Hotel and they sought my help to play a role to convince the Taliban to give up terrorist activities and accept the Afghan government's reconciliation offer," Paracha said.

The PML-N leader refused to identify the Taliban leaders or Afghan politicians at the meeting. "The US officials and Afghan leaders asked me to convince the remaining Taliban leaders to cooperate with the US for a stable Afghanistan," Paracha added.

Amin Tarzi - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - Friday, 18 November 2005

With the certification of the vote count for the 18 September Afghan National Assembly's People's Council (Wolesi Jirga) and Provincial Councils on 12 November, Afghanistan came closer to having its first parliament in place since 1965. With most of Afghanistan's 34 Provincial Councils having completed their local elections and sent members to the National Assembly's Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga), the National Assembly is ready to convene on 18 December.

In the coming days the main issue of contention will likely revolve around who will be the chairperson of the Wolesi Jirga and thus become the speaker of the National Assembly. The jockeying for this position may shed a little more light on the future political trends of the parliament.

Prior to the September elections, Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, head of the New Afghanistan Party and the unofficial leader of the National Understanding Front -- a loose bloc but the largest opposition political coalition -- was considered the most likely candidate for the highest post in the National Assembly. While Qanuni still remains one of the frontrunners for the speaker post, his position as favorite is being challenged by former Afghan President and Jami'at-e Islami (Islamic Society) head Burhanuddin Rabbani and the leader of the Islamic Unity Party of the People of Afghanistan, Mohammad Mohaqeq.

Rabbani -- like Qanuni -- is a Tajik, while his son-in-law Ahmad Zia Mas'ud is currently the first vice president of Afghanistan. These two factors may have a negative impact on Qanuni's bid to occupy the top job at the National Assembly. In addition, while Qanuni has been championing the rights of the former mujahedin, Rabbani's credentials as the head of one of the major resistance groups to which Qanuni once belonged may cost the him considerable support among the mujahedin.

It is not entirely clear whether Mohaqeq has officially announced his candidacy to be speaker, but he has not ruled it out. Mohaqeq's party is part of Qanuni's coalition and has been regarded as the number two in the opposition bloc to President Hamid Karzai's government. But Mohaqeq handily beat Qanuni in percentage of votes won in Kabul Province with 13.8 percent compared to 8.2 percent for Qanuni. In fact, with 52,686 votes Mohaqeq received more than any other candidate in Afghanistan. However the election of Mohaqeq, an ethnic Hazara, to the National Assembly's highest position may upset the Tajiks, who constitute Afghanistan's second-largest ethnic group after the Pashtuns and may regard the post as theirs.

If either Rabbani or Mohaqeq manages to become speaker, then Qanuni's political coalition and his personal political fortunes may be weakened. The three aforementioned Wolesi Jirga members are not the only candidates for the speaker post, however the chances of the other contenders, including a third Kabul representative, Shokria Barakzai, do not seem very promising.

Of the three leading candidates for the speaker position, Rabbani is the most likely to work with Karzai's government, but Rabbani's elevation to the post may give further power to the conservative religious camp at the expense of the more liberal forces in the National Assembly.

Afghanistan Eyes Accession to Wto in Two Years - KABUL, Nov 18 [Asia Pulse]

Afghanistan has launched efforts for the accession process to the World Trade Organization (WTO), hoping it will enter the international body in two years.

Hidayat Amin Arsala, Afghan minister of commerce and advisor to President Hamid Karzai, Wednesday told a conference attended by representatives of several ministries, United Nations' relevant agencies and other organizations concerned the membership would significantly boost Afghanistan's trade with the rest of the world.

Currently, Afghanistan has observer status in the WTO, whose secretary general said in a message sent to the conference read out by Afghan ambassador in Geneva Dr Assad Omar he supported the war-torn country's bid for the membership of the body.

The membership will facilitate Afghanistan's quest for finding a market for its products, with the landlocked country entering WTO agreements providing for lower custom tariffs on trade among member nations.

A statement from the Commerce Ministry said: "Today marks a milestone in Afghanistans integration into the world economy and the multilateral trading system. This process of accession to the WTO is consistent with, and reinforces, the national agenda with regard to the ongoing economic and trade policy reform in the country." It added: "Afghanistan will benefit from WTO membership through enhanced exports of goods and services to the world market. Accession will also benefit Afghan consumers through greater domestic markets and more competitively priced imports."

A more predictable and transparent trading and investment regime, the statement continued, would encourage greater investment in Afghanistan, bringing a higher level of income and standards of living to the Afghan people.

Hamidullah Farooqi, economic researcher and analyst based in Kabul, said Afghanistan still had rules and conditions in conflict with WTO requirements. "We have to bring many changes to our trade laws in order to be able to join WTO," Farooqi stressed.

Although it takes years for a country to join the organization, Arsala hoped Afghanistan would meet the requirements sooner rather than later. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

Kandahar Ready To Export Over 1,260 Tons Of Fruits

KANDAHAR CITY, Nov 18 [Asia Pulse] - Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province is all poised to export more than 1,260 tons of fresh and dry fruits to a number of countries in the next few days, officials said on Thursday.

Haji Farid Ahmad, an official of the Kandahar chapter of Afghanistan's International Chamber of Commerce (AICC), told Pajhwok Afghan News 603 tons of pomegranates and 663 tons of dry fruits were ready for export to Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Bangladesh.

Afghanistan's fruits were in great demand in those countries, he observed, hoping the exports would considerably surge in the near future. "The huge yield reaped by farmers has encouraged us a great deal, and their export will lend a big boost to the national economy." Residents and growers of the province, meanwhile, voiced full satisfaction with the AICC efforts at finding the fruits international markets. "The financial position of our farmers will improve pretty soon if the fruit exports continue," remarked Haji Mohammad Esa, a grower from Arghandab district.

On September 16, AICC's chief for the Kandahar chapter Dr. Abdul Razaq Rafiqi said Afghanistan had inked accords with Malaysia and Japan on the export of 7,500 tons of pomegranates. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

U.S. says Iraq several years behind Afghanistan - By James Grubel / Fri Nov 18, 1:05 AM ET

ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed on Friday growing calls for the United States to start withdrawing forces from Iraq, saying Iraq was several years behind Afghanistan as a secure country. Rumsfeld said as Iraqi forces took more control of their own security, it would enable U.S. forces to be diverted to other assignments within Iraq.

"What you'll see over the period ahead is that the Iraqi security forces will be handed over responsibility for pieces of real estate, for certain types of missions and assignments," Rumsfeld told reporters after talks with Australian ministers.

"As that happens, the people who were engaged in those activities, they will in many cases assume other assignments and responsibilities, in many cases assisting help to train some additional Irai security forces," said Rumsfeld.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday resolved that Iraqis should start to take the lead in their own security from next year, to allow a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops. But the Senate rejected a Democrats demand for Republican President George W. Bush to submit a time-table for the troop withdrawal.

The Senate motion came as the Bush administration faces waning domestic public support, and a drop in support for its military presence in Iraq where the United States has almost 160,000 troops.

Rumsfeld launched a spirited defense of the U.S. role in Iraq on Friday, saying Iraq had made enormous progress since Saddam Hussein was driven from power, with elections for a new government due in December after Iraqis drafted and endorsed a new constitution.

"The situation in Iraqi has been improving," Rumsfeld said, adding that there were likely to be further "ugly" incidents.

"They have gone from a country with a repressive dictator who has put hundreds of thousands of human beings in mass graves over decades, a repressive dictatorship that was giving $25,000 rewards to families of suicide bombers."

Rumsfeld compared the situation in Iraq to Afghanistan, where the Taliban was driven from power by a U.S-led military campaign following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

He said Afghanistan went from a country where people were executed in a soccer stadium, where women were unable to see a doctor and were not allowed out without a male family member, to a new democracy with its own security forces. "Iraq's several years behind them," said Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld and Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Robert Zoellick were in the South Australian state capital Adelaide for annual defense and security talks with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Defense Minister Robert Hill.

Australia is one of the strongest allies of the Unted States, and has about 1,300 military personnel in and around Iraq, including forces training the Iraqi military, and 450 troops in Iraq's southern Al Muthanna province providing security for Japanese engineers.

About 300 anti-war demonstrators protested outside the talks in Adelaide's City Hall and attempted to disrupt Rumsfeld's motorcade as he left the meeting. Three people were arrested.

In the communique from the talks, the two nations announced their continued commitment to training Iraqi forces and to transferring power to Iraqi forces "as conditions allow."

Afghan paper says bribery and corruption affecting economy - BBC Monitoring 11/17/2005

Text of editorial entitled: "Is there bribery going on or not?" by Afghan newspaper Bedar on 15 November We are aware that bribery is only a part of what we call "administrative corruption". However, the administrative reforms should consider this as a top priority because of its huge catastrophic impact on administrative order and discipline. Like the mafia, bribery is potentially able to gradually corrupt an administrative system and affect law enforcement, justice and performance.

Not only the people, but senior government officials acknowledge that bribery is seriously affecting government departments throughout the country. This includes accepting any amount from gifts to huge sums of money as bribe. Each head of department or manager is paid 2,000 afghanis [about 46 dollars], but is struggling desperately to keep his post as if this low pay means millions of dollars to him. Why do they struggle to keep their posts? It is suspected that they abuse their power. Taking and accepting bribe has turned into a routine activity amongst the public, and nowadays people know how much money they should spend to solve their problems. Who should bring this situation under control? In many cases, those who are appointed to investigate these cases get involved with the mafia network, which extends from Herat to Kabul.

The president has appointed an independent commission to combat bribery and administrative corruption. Once Mr Ludin, who was the acting head of this commission, said: "Public assets are being plundered in this country." Large amounts of money have been amassed from taking bribes and the misuse and waste of national income is considerably more than the salaries paid by the non-governmental organizations to their staff. This issue should be thoroughly investigated during the Accountability Week [President Hamed Karzai has declared this week the "Accountability Week" during which all main departments will be called upon to make exclusive reports on their achievements].

Most of these cases stem from our poor administrative system. The government, particularly the Administrative Reforms Commission and the department that is formed to combat bribery and administrative corruption should take proper measures to combat this negative, disastrous phenomenon. Various organizations should be set up to directly or indirectly monitor government department activities and take into account the people's views. Everybody talks about bribery, administrative corruption but how many files have been inspected by the courts and prosecution departments? Why these cases are not officially pursued? Senior government officials, especially the president and Herat provincial administration, stress that administrative corruption must be tackled. Nevertheless, the government departments are in some cases incapable of dealing with this problem and, therefore, such cases should be recognized and resolved in an effective manner. Source: Bedar, Mazar-e Sharif, in Dari 15 Nov 05 BBC Monitoring

Ambassador: Women's role lifts Afghanistan - Palm Beach Daily News
11/18/2005

The people of Afghanistan enjoy more rights today than at any other time in history, but there's still a lot of work to be done, said Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States.

Said Tayeb Jawad spoke about his country's past, present and future at a meeting of the World Affairs Council of the Florida Palm Beaches. More than 100 people attended the inaugural event Wednesday at Northern Trust Bank.

Among the improvements: equal rights for women, a new constitution, a presidential election and democratic government, new roads, double-digit economic growth, the return of 3.6 million refugees, and 5.6 million children in schools, he said. Women occupy 28 percent of the country's parliamentary seats, Jawad said.

"That is close to double the percentage in Washington," Jawad said. "This is an important investment for peace in Afghanistan. Women are a strong force for stability and peace because they lose everything in war."

But many challenges still exist, Jawad said. Schools operate in three shifts because there are not enough buildings and there is widespread poverty, with only 6 percent of the population having electricity. The Taliban and terrorists are defeated, but not eliminated, and there has been a recent wave of suicide bombings, which was previously foreign to the country's culture.

Terrorism in Afghanistan dates to the last phase of the Cold War, when Russians invaded Afghanistan, Jawad said.

"With the help of the United States and the international community, we were able to push back the Russian invaders," he said. "At the same time, we fell victim of a parallel invasion of extremism in Afghanistan. When the Russians were gone, we were left alone. . . . The United States pursued a policy of disengagement. All these extremists and fanatics started fighting each other and continued to destroy the country and from that chaos came the Taliban."

After extremists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, American troops entered Afghanistan to fight the Taliban.

"Since the Russians were gone, we were asking the United States to help us out because we knew we couldn't deal with so many fanatics and extremists in the country," Jawad said. "Every Afghan is very grateful for the sacrifices that these soldiers are making to make Afghanistan and the world a safer place."

Jawad, who lives in Washington, D.C., said he visits many of the injured troops who return to the United States. He met with one soldier who had been on patrol on a crowded street in Kandahar when a terrorist threw a bomb in his car.

"That young soldier grabbed the grenade and instead of throwing it back on the street, which was full of people, he put it under his seat," Jawad said. "He lost both of his feet. This is the kind of heroics that these people are doing and there are a lot of stories like that."

Jawad, who served as chief of staff to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, relayed an anecdote about the last time Karzai visited the United States. Jawad said he took Karzai, who is interested in agriculture, to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. They drove for hours accompanied by 200 to 300 Secret Service agents, he said.

"We ended up at a ranch surrounded by ten to fifteen thousand cows and all the cows had tags on their ears," Jawad said. "President Karzai asked me, 'What are these tags on the cows ears?' I told him that the Secret Service flew in a lot of agents last night, frisked all the cows and that's why these cows are OK."

Afghanistan Not Only About Bombs And Blasts, Says Envoy - By R. Ravichandran

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Bernama, Malaysia) -- Afghanistan is struggling to come out of its troubled past and the new government is slowly making progress but the world is continuing to be fed with stories about war in the country, its ambassador to Malaysia, M.Y. Farman, said.

He said the rebuilding process in the country, once ruined by prolonged war, had been going on very rapidly but did not get the attention of the international media.

"All the news about bombs and blasts...Taliban attacks but not much on achievements," he said in an interview with Bernama prior to the Sixth Conference of the Ministers of Information of Non-Aligned Countries (Cominac VI) here.

The four-day conference at the Palace of the Golden Horses Hotel begins tomorrow with the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM).

Afghanistan will be represented by its Deputy Minister of Information, S. Agha Sancharanki.

Farman accused the international press of amplifying the magnitude of the war which is already history and neglecting to inform the world of the positive developments in country once ruled by the hardline Talibans.

Such positive reporting, he said, was vital to boost the country's confidence and improve its image in the eyes of the world.

Farman said that since the ouster of the Taliban, various positive developments had taken place, especially on the political scene, with the holding of elections and other steps towards democratisation.

He said Afghanistan, under the leadership of President Hamid Karzai, was implementing various programmes especially in the field of education to give all sections of the society the opportunity to go to school. Women were once banned from attending school and there was limited access to information during the Talibans' rule.

SoCal cabbie finds $350,000 in diamonds, returns them to owner - The Associated Press 11/18/2005 "

LOS ANGELES - Haider Sediqi didn't give much thought to the small, zippered pouch that a passenger forgot in his taxicab when he got out at Los Angeles International Airport.

Sediqi stashed the brown bag in the front, and there it remained as he took his Checker cab to the car wash, drove a passenger to Long Beach and met a fellow cabbie for lunch Wednesday.

As he walked off to the restroom, Sediqi asked his friend to check the bag for identification. "Oh, God," Sediqi, 40, recalled his friend saying as he stared into the bag. "Look at those things."

Inside, packed in clear plastic cases were diamonds - about 100 of them, cut and polished and worth, it turned out, $350,000. Also inside was a cell phone bill.

Sediqi, a father of two with a pregnant wife, called the number, trying to sound nonchalant. "Um, did you leave anything?" the Afghan immigrant asked the man who answered. "Oh, my God," said jewelry businessman Eric Austein.

Sediqi arranged to meet Austein, who had not yet departed LAX for New York, at the airport police station. Police inventoried the diamonds and confirmed Austein's identity. Austein calmly took possession of the gems, hugged Sediqi and promised him a reward.

Sediqi said keeping the loot never entered his mind, even though his wife loves diamonds and he dreams of opening a restaurant. "God is up there," he said Thursday as he waited outside an auto shop, where his cab was having its brakes fixed. "He always watches."

Miss Afghanistan dreams big for women in her land - Source: NewKerala.com / November 18, 2005, IANS By Prashant K. Nanda, New Delhi

She has been banned from entering her native land, but that doesn't stop Miss Afghanistan Vida Samadzai from dreaming big for the women of her country or for herself.

Vida, the first Afghan woman in three decades to participate in a beauty contest, says her entry into the fashion world amid social stigma was a Herculean task.

"Life for me is not that easy after my entry into the world of fashion and I am still going through that mental torture," a smiling Vida, 25, told IANS on the sidelines of a fashion show aimed at creating awareness about AIDS.

"I love my country, people, culture and Islam, but would like to pursue my dream without any hindrance," said the Afghan beauty, who was condemned in her homeland for walking the ramp in a red bikini.

Vida, who was educated in California, US, has been banned from entering Afghanistan. She could face prosecution if she returns to her native land because of her attire at the Miss Earth contest 2003 in Manila.

But she said: "Come what may, one must pursue his or her dreams. Obstacles will obstruct but one must not stop till achieving something deserving."

Vida, who would love to return to Afghanistan, wants her country to be economically stable and all women there to get educated.

"My country is slowly recovering from the ruins and the financial condition is also improving. But I would be happy to see all women get a good education." She is currently in India along with reigning Miss Universe Natalie Glebova to participate in a number of fashion shows to create awareness about AIDS.

Though she did not qualify for the semi-final of the 2003 beauty pageant, she was given the "beauty for a cause" award for symbolising newfound confidence and courage. She was also hailed for "representing the victory of women's rights and various social, personal and religious struggles".

Describing her visit to India, Vida, who can speak Hindi with an American accent, was full of praise for the country. "I love India and you really look gracious in a sari. The monuments, jewellery and food here are too good to resist.

"From now onwards, I would like to tell others about the hospitality and the wonderful experience in India," said the woman who wants to visit the Taj Mahal before she leaves India. She is in India for eight more days.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]