The new Afghan Parliament – BBC Afghan site

Thirteen killed in Afghan ambush – BBC

Nine policemen were killed during an attack by suspected Taleban rebels on Friday afternoon in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. Four Taleban rebels were also killed, officials said on Saturday.

Two weeks ago, 18 Afghan policemen were killed in a separate incident in Helmand province. Violence related to the intensified Taleban-led insurgency in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people this year.

Provincial administrator Ghulam Muhiddin told the Associated Press news agency that insurgents had attacked police from behind rocks as they were driving slowly along rough roads looking for a rebel hide-out in the area.

Suspected Taleban militants have killed eight pro-government clerics this year - including three over the last week. Several thousand people held a demonstration against the Taleban campaign in the eastern province of Khost on Thursday.

Bomb kills Afghan journalist - From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Khost, Afghanistan

October 22, 2005 - A BOMB ripped through a military vehicle in eastern Afghanistan today, killing an Afghan journalist and injuring three military personnel, an intelligence official said.

The journalist had been standing on a road in eastern Khost province when a remotely detonated bomb exploded near a military vehicle, he said. The blast wounded three other people, including the son of a commander of a militia unit helping security forces track down Taliban militants, Khost's intelligence director Sadeq Tarakhil said.

"One journalist who was standing nearby was killed, three others were injured - (commander Khyal Baz) Sherzai's son was among them," he said. The journalist, identified only as Maiwand, worked for a local radio station called Da Solah Pigham (The Message of Peace).

Excerpts From A Press Briefing By H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – Press Release 10/21/2005

I was informed the day before yesterday by General Eikenberry who was very shaken and sad of the news that two Taliban bodies were burnt, the dead bodies. He called me to inform me of this news developing and also that he didn’t know about this, that he would launch a very intense investigation into this which they have already launched.

On hearing this news and also separately seeing it on the TVs, I was also taken very much aback, and I’m very, very sorry to see that. We in Afghanistan in accordance with our religion and traditions and abidance by the international law, I’m very unhappy and condemn the burning of the two Taliban dead bodies.

We do not like such incidents and I hope that such incidents would not occur again, while we are very, very grateful for the international community’s assistance in Afghanistan, while their soldiers have shed their blood in our country, defended our country, they have built our roads, they have done numerous, numerous good things for Afghanistan. We still demand that an investigation into this violation be carried out very effectively and very quickly.

I have launched through the Ministry of Defense an independent inquiry of Afghanistan, which will look into this matter, regardless of what the enemies of Afghanistan do, regardless of what terrorism does in Afghanistan, of the killing of our clergy, of the killing of our teachers, of the killing of our government people, of the destruction of our mosques, of all the horrible things that they do.

We shall have a much higher, much better standard and that standard should be kept by all of us. And in that spirit I have asked for an investigation of our government through the Ministry of Defense and we would also demand for an investigation by the international community, which is already taking place. But I must tell you that the coalition forces were very saddened by this development and they take it very, very seriously.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

US troops burned bodies in Afghanistan because 'they stank'

Washington (AFP) - US soldiers burned the bodies of two Taliban fighters in Afghanistan because villagers had not claimed them a day after they were killed and the bodies "were bloated and they stank," a US magazine reported, citing soldiers who were present at the incident.

Australian television reported on Wednesday that soldiers had burned the bodies of two suspected Taliban militants and afterwards used the incident to insult villagers and try to provoke them into attacking US-led coalition troops.

The incident has prompted a US military investigation into the alleged desecration of the corpses, which is in violation of the Geneva Convention on human rights.

It also further clouds the United States's reputation, already tarnished by the sexual humiliation of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and allegations of mistreatment of "war on terror" inmates at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

According to the article published on Time magazine's website, a US army platoon was sharing a rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan with the bodies of the two fighters.

"The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier and in the 90 degree (Fahrenheit, 32 degrees Celsius) heat, their bodies had become an unbearable presence," Time reported, citing soldiers who were present.

Earlier, Lieutenant Eric Nelson, the leader of B Company, I-508 platoon had sent word down to Gonbaz asking the villagers to pick up the bodies and bury them according to Muslim ritual.

But the villagers refused -- probably because the dead fighters were not locals but Pakistanis, said one US Army officer, the magazine said. The magazine said it was then that Nelson took a decision that could jeopardize his career.

"We decided to burn the bodies ... because they were bloated and they stank," Time reported, citing a soldier. The incident, captured on film by Australian photojournalist Stephen Dupont and aired on Australian public broadcasting channel SBS, unleashed world outrage.

Islamic tradition requires the bodies of Muslims to be washed, prayed over, wrapped in white cloth and buried, if possible, within a day. Under the Geneva Convention, the disposal of war dead "should be honorable, and, if possible, according to the rites of the religion to which the deceased belonged."

Time noted that one US officer in Kandahar had "pointed out that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda never show any qualms about defiling the bodies of dead Afghan or American soldiers."

Afghan Clerics Warn of Anti-U.S. Backlash - By DANIEL COONEY, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 21

KABUL, Afghanistan - The United States has gone to great lengths to win over Afghans, sending billions in aid and using its troops for humanitarian work. But TV footage purportedly showing U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of Taliban rebels threatens to fray that goodwill.

With Islamic clerics warning of a violent anti-American backlash, the alleged desecration of dead Muslims has American commanders scrambling to contain a public relations calamity that comes as they struggle to bolster support for their war against a stubborn insurgency.

President Hamid Karzai, who recently challenged the need for U.S. airstrikes and house-to-house searches in fighting Taliban rebels, also seemed worried about reaction to the desecration allegation.

While he condemned the apparent act, Karzai sought to calm passions Friday, saying that "soldiers make mistakes" in war. Cremating bodies, even those of animals, is banned in Islam. One Muslim cleric in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said, "Bodies should only be burned in hell."

"The burnings of these bodies is an offense to Muslims everywhere. ... It makes no difference that they were Taliban," the cleric, Said Mohammed Omar, told The Associated Press outside his mosque.

Some students called for street demonstrations. "We must protest this. If we don't, U.S. soldiers will do the same thing again," said Zabiola, a student leader at Kabul University, who like many Afghans uses only one name.

Another student, Jamshid Agha, speaking after Friday prayers, said that when he heard the news, he was "so angry with America, I felt like taking a weapon and fighting."

Though Afghan media have reported on the alleged desecration, the video hasn't been broadcast here and by late Friday there had been no protest rallies.

The last anti-American protests in Afghanistan that turned violent were in May over a report by Newsweek — later retracted — that U.S. soldiers at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility abused Islam's holy book, the Quran.

Australia's SBS television network this week broadcast a video purportedly showing American soldiers burning the bodies of two suspected Taliban fighters in hills outside southern Gonbaz village, which is in a region plagued by Taliban activity.

The footage shows about five soldiers in light-colored military fatigues, which did not have any distinguishing marks, standing near a bonfire in which two bodies were laid side by side.

The network said the video was taken by a freelance journalist, Stephen Dupont. He told AP it was taken Oct. 1 while he was embedded with the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Hours after the existence of the video became known, Karzai ordered an inquiry as did the U.S. military. On Friday, the president appeared before the media in an apparent attempt to reduce Afghans' anger over the incident.

"Sometimes things happen in these sort of operations, during war," he told reporters. "We are very grateful for the international community's assistance. ... Their soldiers have shed their blood in our country."

Two hundred U.S. military personnel have died in and around Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001. Eighty-four of the deaths have been this year amid a resurgence in fighting.

Washington has spent $5 billion in four years on nonmilitary assistance to prop up Karzai's government, build roads and medical clinics and fund other projects.

Keen for that aid not to be overshadowed by the alleged desecration, U.S. military commanders went on a PR offensive when news broke of the video.

Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya held a late-night news conference for local reporters in the southern city of Kandahar on Thursday, describing the alleged act as "repugnant."

"We will leave no stone unturned to determine the veracity of these allegations," he said. For some Afghans, the damage was already done.

"During the past quarter-century of war, I have never heard of anyone burning dead bodies," said a senior cleric in Kandahar, Abdul Qayum. "The Americans claim to be here to bring peace, but what are we supposed to think about this?"

U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan denounces alleged abuse by U.S. soldiers as "disgusting" - Pravda Ru - Oct 21

U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said that the alleged burning of two dead Taliban fighters by American soldiers did not reflect American values and promised a prompt investigation.

Neumann emphasized the Pentagon would promptly investigate the report that surfaced Wednesday when an Australian television network aired video purportedly showing U.S. soldiers scorching the corpses of two Taliban fighters in the hills near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

The SBS Australian network said the footage was taken on Oct. 1. by a freelance journalist, Stephen Dupont, who told The Associated Press he was embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the U.S. Army earlier this month. In the footage, which was seen by the AP, two soldiers who spoke with American accents later read taunting messages that the SBS said were broadcast to the village, which was believed to be harboring Taliban soldiers.

Dupont said the soldiers responsible for the taunting messages were part of a U.S. Army psychological operations unit. Cremating bodies is banned by Islamic custom and Islamic clerics in Afghanistan have warned of a possible violent anti-American backlash. In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai condemned the alleged actions of the American soldiers, but was also quick to try to calm passions over the incident, saying Friday that "soldiers make mistakes" in war.

Though local media in Afghanistan has reported on the alleged desecration, the video has not yet been broadcast there and by late Friday there were no demonstrations. The last anti-American protests that turned violent were in May over a report _ later retracted _ that U.S. soldiers at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility had abused the Quran, Islam's holy book, AP reports.

Karzai urges Afghans to accept poll results – Reuters 10/22/2005

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai urged Afghans on Friday to accept the outcome of last month's legislative elections and put aside concerns over reported cases of vote fraud. "We should accept the fact that Afghanistan lacks the proper administrative system which the world has," Karzai told reporters when asked to comment about the electoral fraud.

"There may have been frauds and irregularities ... I expect all the people of Afghanistan ... to accept election results, it is important for our national unity and interest." Accusations of irregularities in vote counting led to demonstrations in several cities, including the capital Kabul.

When asked about the prospect of opponents sitting in parliament, Karzai said: "It does not matter. Whoever the Afghan nation has voted for should be respected. We want to have a parliament representing all of Afghanistan."

ITALIAN, LITHUANIAN AND SLOVENIAN MILITARY CHIEFS VISIT AFGHANISTAN

Release Date - 20 Oct 05 Headquarters International Security Assistance Force, Kabul, Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Chief of the Italian Defence Staff, Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, Commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, Major General Valdas Tutkus and the Chief of Slovenia's General Staff, Lt General Lasdislav Lipic, arrived in Afghanistan today. They were initially greeted by the Italian ambassador, Ettore Francesco Sequi and the ISAF Commander, General Mauro del Vecchio and returned the salute of the Italian guard of honour.

During their visit to Afghanistan the Chiefs will discuss their nations' contribution to ISAF and continued support to Afghanistan. They will also visit their national contingents in Herat, and personnel based with ISAF's Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Chaghcharan, in Ghowr Province.

Italy currently has more than 2100 troops in theatre, of which over 600 are serving in Herat either with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, or at the Forward Support Base. A further 50 personnel are serving with PRT Chaghcharan.

Lithuania currently has the lead for the Ghowr Province PRT and has over 100 troops in theatre, the majority serving with the PRT. Slovenia currently has around 50 troops in theatre, the majority serving at the Forward Support Base in Herat.

All three nations' troops are providing an essential contribution to ISAF's mission, working with provincial authorities to extend the influence of the Afghan Government, create a stable and secure environment and assist in the reconstruction of the country.

With patience, democracy will work in Afghanistan - Op – Ed in the Lehigh Valley PA Morning Call - By Don Ritter

Afghanistan has just finished a spirited campaign, elected a parliament and proved once again that there is no organic disconnect between democracy and Islam. Turkey has had many such elections, so has Indonesia, and people in Iraq now vote. Democracy is not easy. For building a better world, patience and perseverance have no substitutes. Especially if the enemy is willing to wait you out.

We need to remember, it's the good folks who are trying to exercise their right to vote and the bad guys who are trying to kill them on their way to the polls. Afghans ignored the bad guys' threats and voted with their hearts and their feet. The glass-is-half-empty crowd is now criticizing the turnout of some 50 percent as not being high enough, as if 6,000 candidates running all over the country wasn't confusing — that clarity as to ''who stood for what?'' was noticeably absent as messages were not well defined and parties with platforms fielded only a small fraction of the total number of candidates — that some decried the fact that a number of warlords and their minions ran for office which meant they personally would not vote — and last but not least, in a few places in the southeast, you really might get killed if you tried to vote.

So, given all these factors, enunciated by President Karzai himself, a 50 percent turnout is not bad by any objective standards, and the election was a positive experience for a people who lived in a giant concentration camp just four years ago under the Taliban.

But the 50 percent turnout figure was the media's news hook. To them, the glass is half-empty. Reality: The glass is half-full and the American people need to celebrate this success story of their government and the Afghan people in what literally is, the toughest neighborhood in the world.

Americans should rejoice for a change and take these victories to heart. Democracy is working its way up the ladder of history in the Islamic world. The not-so-secret ingredients are patience and perseverance. Our policy of promoting freedom is slowly but surely taking hold in Afghanistan. And, if we want things to move faster, we also need to remember the words of Sir Winston Churchill, who said, ''Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.''

If terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere are blowing up innocents daily, why should we be mad at our own government? We should be fighting mad at the terrorist murderers and our will, patience and perseverance should be all steeled. Some of the intense hatred for the president of the United States should be shifted to those killers of women and children who would bathe people's natural desire for freedom in a sea of (mostly) Iraqi blood.

Working for a better world in the wake of 9/11 takes time, vigilance, will, patience and perseverance. If America doesn't lead the way by persevering, who will? Who can? We are in what JFK called a ''long twilight struggle.'' He was referring to a Cold War that was, like today's war, long and hot as hell all over the world. We persevered then and won, with Afghans on the front lines helping to defeat the Soviet Empire. They sacrificed 1.5 million of their people in a struggle that changed the course of human history.

There are so many signs of progress amid the struggle with terrorism. For example, on Oct. 2-4 in the Washington area, in a unique investment promotion experiment taking place here and in Afghanistan, about 200 people in business and government will gather around 50 or more leading Afghan businessmen and women from Kabul and Dubai, plus key ministers who will be coming to make and facilitate ''matches'' with U.S. company and investor counterparts. Opportunities abound in agribusiness, construction, mining of oil, gas, coal and copper, manufacturing, tourism and so much more. Afghanistan produces gorgeous carpets and high-end fashions and home products. There is a multi-billion dollar construction boom underway and America, our government, is at the heart of it.

Yes, it's a little like this country's Wild West, but bear in mind, fortunes were made in those times. All these things are happening in today's Afghanistan because the United States rescued the Afghan people from a daily diet of pain and suffering. We and our allies and, yes, the U.N. helped defeat radical Islamic theocracy there and launch this new and hopeful democracy.

Let's be proud of our achievements for a healthy change. We are winning in Afghanistan. Don Ritter represented the Lehigh Valley's 15th Congressional District in Congress and has more than 25 years of Afghanistan experience. He is senior adviser to the Afghan American and Afghan International Chambers of Commerce, and an investor in Afghanistan.

Labour of Love - Looted and smuggled antiques spanning the country's history are slowly returning to Kabul, thanks to the efforts of one man. By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul (ARR No. 192, 21-Oct-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Ahmad Shah Sultani is an unlikely patron of the arts. Uncertain of his exact age, although he believes he is in his fifties, he is still unable to read and write. But the former goldsmith’s apprentice has amassed a fortune that has allowed him to pursue his true vocation: finding and restoring to Afghanistan the treasures lost over decades of war and turmoil.

Sultani’s father died when he was an infant and his mother remarried. Rejected by her new family, he was shuffled from relative to relative until finally ending up apprenticed to a goldsmith at the age of seven.

Far from bitter about his difficult early life, he believes the accident of fate which got him into the gold trade gave him the eye for beauty that shaped his future path.

Sultani, who made his money as an antiques dealer, has assembled a collection of ancient Afghan artefacts which he is now displaying in Kabul’s National Gallery.

The collection, known as the Sultani Museum, is still being catalogued and includes approximately 3,000 items that he has rescued from as far away as France, England and Germany, as well as Iran, Pakistan, and Dubai.

Sultani rents the space by giving the gallery 10 per cent of the admission price he charges: 20 afghani, or 40 US cents, for Afghans, with public servants paying half and children a quarter that sum, while foreigners pay 200 afghani, about four dollars. His museum attracts close to 40 visitors every day, and has been operating for about a year.

In addition to the pieces on display at the gallery, Sultani says he has also returned items that once belonged to the separate National Museum, which was extensively looted and damaged during the mujahedin wars and by the Taleban.

"Among all the antiques… there were just two Bactrian silver coins and one silver pot which belonged to the National Museum,” he said. “I delivered all three of them back there."

The bulk of Sultani’s collection is still in London, where he lived for many years, He continues to search the world for Afghan treasures, and wants to establish museums elsewhere in Afghanistan, particularly in his home province of Ghazni, where he lived until he was 17.

"I will 100 per cent open a museum in Ghazni. And if the government and the people will help me, I will be able to build, stock and open 20 museum all over the country," he said.

The antiques now in his museum in Kabul date from 100 to 8,000 years ago, he said, and include gold coins, ceramics, sculptures, carved wooden pillars, manuscripts, clay pots and books. Sultani speaks with obvious pride about his collection and his achievements.

"Even if I am illiterate, I think I am the most expert in the world in knowing the difference between fake and genuine antiques. I don't need anyone's help in doing this," he said.

Raouf Zakir, deputy head of the archaeology department of the Ministry of Information and Culture, said that he had examined Sultani’s collection, and confirmed its authenticity.

“Sultani’s museum is a part of our national heritage,” he told IWPR. “There are pieces in this museum which belong to the pre-Islamic period as well as more recent items. Sultani has done a wonderful job, and now Afghans can get a sense of the culture of their forefathers.”

Sultani made his fortune in gold and antiques. After coming to Kabul from Ghazni, he set up an antique store in Kabul’s Chicken Street, expanding in time to other locations in the capital.

When the Soviets invaded in the Eighties, Sultani decided to get out. He moved to London, where he opened an antique shop. He has become a citizen of the United Kingdom but still has only a rudimentary knowledge of English.

For the past 18 years, he has been living in London, using the money he made selling antiques to buy up Afghan treasures. “I would keep most of them and just sell a few – enough to make money to live on and to buy more antiques," he said.

Sultani, whose passport gives his age as 54, would not say how much he had spent on the antiques he had collected, just that they had cost "millions of dollars”.

He says it is not the possession of precious things that inspires him. Rather, he wants to return the antiques to his home country so that "Afghans will know the culture of their forefathers". Ultimately, he plans to donate his museum to the nation.

"I've loved antiques since I was a child and I was always hoping to be able to do something which all the people would like," Sultani told IWPR. Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

English Education Sparks Controversy - Leading educationalists object to a private school conducting all its classes in English. By Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul (ARR No. 192, 21-Oct-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Kabul’s first fully-private primary school has opened and has already attracted 400 pupils whose parents are willing to pay up to 50 US dollars a month for the teaching. But the English-only curriculum at the International Model School has set off a fierce debate within the education community.

"I came here from Pakistan where I studied in English,” said nine-year old Nilou Jan, wearing the school’s distinctive uniform of a light blue blouse and black trousers. “When this school started up, I was so happy because there is no [other] school which will teach lessons in the English language.”

Her satisfaction, however, stands in sharp contrast to complaints from some educational specialists about the use of English rather than Dari or Pashto as the teaching medium.

"I do not agree with schools giving lessons via foreign languages from the primary level,” said Ghotai Khowri, a member of Afghanistan Academy of Sciences.

Khowri insists that classes should be conducted in Afghanistan’s two main languages from kindergarten through high school, so as to safeguard the national culture. “Teaching should be carried out in our languages first of all, and in foreign languages only in higher education studies," she added.

Hamidullah Farooqi, a former Kabul university economics lecturer who set up the new school, disagrees. Now the school’s principal, he argues that teaching in English gives his students access to the latest books and technology from around the world, particularly important as Afghanistan struggles to rejoin the international community after more than two decades of war and isolation.

But education officials are not swayed by this argument. "We are not against the English language," the deputy education minister Mohammad Sediq Patman told IWPR, noting that English is commonly taught as part of the state school curriculum. It is not, however, used as the medium of instruction.

"It is a condition [for the new school] that its curriculum should be based on the Afghan one," he said. The school opened on September 25, accepting children from three to 12 years old. The kindergarten, which has 60 under-fives is open from 7:30 to 10:30 in the morning, with a break to play in a grassy recreation area equipped with swings and slides. The older children attend classes from 7:30 to 1:30.

The International Model School is one of very few educational institutions in Afghanistan where boys and girls sit in the same classroom. During the Taleban era, girls were barred from attending school altogether.

The school is housed in a building almost directly across the street from Kabul stadium, where the Taleban carried out public executions while they were in power.

So far, the school has not been authorised to operate by the education ministry although Patman told IWPR that private schools are allowed under the constitution and a new law to regulate them is being drafted by the ministry.

School information officer Mohammad Tariq Salimi said, "We have tried our best to get authorisation for the school from the education ministry, but have been told by officials there that we have to wait until a new decree is issued by the president."

Headmaster Farooqi, who continues to lecture in economics at the university, likes to view his school as part of the free-market transformation taking place in Afghanistan. “Competition is necessary to lift standards. This is true for both public and private education sectors,” he said.

The school charges 30, 40 and 50 dollars a month for kindergarten, pupils in the first and second years and the higher grades respectively. There are 18 teachers for the 400 pupils, with two more due to be hired shortly, said Salimi. They are paid 200 dollars a month, significantly higher than the average salary of 60 dollars paid to teachers in the state system.

This allows the school to maintain a class size of 20, in contrast to the 50 or more common in the state schools.

According to Salimi, the school’s curriculum is equivalent to that used in the state sector, the major difference being that all subjects, except the national languages Dari and Pashtu, are taught in English.

Teacher Ahmad Daud came to the school from the Abdul Hadi Dawi High School. "I have a masters’ degree in English literature and for that reason I want to be involved in teaching the children of my countrymen," he said.

Zulaikha, a female teacher at the school who has just returned after 18 months living in Pakistan, said English had become a part of office life in Afghanistan, so competency in the language was essential.

Salimi says dozens of people have visited the school in the short time since it opened, and there is now a waiting list. As if to prove Salimi's point, a woman named Nazia came into the building, holding the hand of her ten-year-old daughter.

"I want to enroll my daughter here because I have heard that the quality of teaching is better than other schools, and that they teach in English. There is no such teaching elsewhere," she told IWPR. Amanullah Nasrat is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Snowfall Damages Crops, Blocks Roads in Afghan Province - Friday October 21, 2005

FAIZABAD: The first snowfall of the year damaged farmlands and blocked transit roads in the far-flung northeastern Badakhshan province, officials said. Shamsur Rahman, secretary to the governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News two days of snowfall had resulted in snapped road links between the provincial capital city of Faizabad and a number of districts including Shkashim, Shaghnan, Raghistan, Kohistan, Zibak, Yawan and Darwez. Unripe crops were harmed by the heavy snowfall. Provincial agriculture department chief Engineer Mohammad Hassan confirmed the hardships, fearing the snow might kill animals as well.

Asked about the scale of damage resulting from the blizzard, the director replied he did not know at the moment. He added the department would take time receiving reports from remote regions of the provinces.

Roads to most regions in the far-flung province remain open in the summer alone, with residents facing a lot of hardship in the winter. About 50 people including women and children had died last year because of flooding and cold.

Group Says Pakistan Hoards Quake Aid

Muzzafarabad (AP) - A U.S.-based human rights group on Saturday accused Pakistani officials of storing tents and other relief supplies instead of immediately distributing them to earthquake survivors. The government denied the accusation.

India, meanwhile, said it would allow Pakistanis across the cease-fire line in the disputed territory of Kashmir to receive aid at three relief camps it was setting up. The step is a further goodwill gesture between the longtime South Asian rivals in the wake of shared grief following the temblor that killed an estimated 79,000 people.

The U.N. also appealed for more aid two weeks after the Oct. 8 earthquake, warning of another wave of deaths if survivors do not get shelter and food before the Himalayan winter sets in. NATO has agreed to send up to 1,000 troops to Pakistan to boost relief efforts.

"We urgently need tents, shelter and helicopters for inaccessible areas," said Jan van de Moortele, the UN's humanitarian aid coordinator for Pakistan. "Time is against us. We can buy everything with money, but not time."

Relief operations have taken on increasing urgency as temperatures drop. In Kashmir, snow has already fallen in the high mountains, and in upland villages, temperatures are below freezing at night.
An estimated 3.3 million people were left homeless by the quake. Van de Moortele said at the current rate, some 200,000 tents will be in the country by winter — only enough to house about half the homeless families.

New York-based Human Rights Watch accused civilian authorities, working under military supervision, of storing tents and other needed relief goods at a supply depot in Muzaffarabad, the city at the heart of the quake-shattered region in Pakistani Kashmir.

Pakistani officials at the scene told the organization this was being done "so that they would be able to avoid problems when senior military and civilian officials demand supplies that otherwise would not be available," the group said in a statement.

One official said he would be fired if he gave out tents, the group added. "Tents are the difference between life and death," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "It is essential for the public to know that aid is being handled in a non-arbitrary, nondiscriminatory manner."

Pakistan's chief army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, called the accusation "a totally baseless and wrong report." "At present, there is no need to store, and there is no place to store these things, which we desperately need at this point in time to save tens thousands of people rendered homeless due to the massive destruction," he said.

Sultan said relief goods were being received and then distributed to forward bases in affected regions, where quake survivors could obtain them. "Now we are trying to regulate more effectively the relief, which was disbursed in the first phase in chaotic conditions," he said.

Liaquat Hussain, deputy commissioner of Muzaffarabad, also denied the report. He said the civil government had set up a registration system for relief goods coming through official channels and indicated that Human Rights Watch may have misunderstood what it saw.

"It is part of the system. We have a registration location ... where we do check and register the supplies coming through the official channel, and then forward them to the most deserving locations in the affected areas," he said.

India said it would begin operating its relief camps along the cease-fire line on Tuesday, pending Pakistani approval, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna. Pakistanis would be allowed across the border after undergoing a security check and only during daylight hours, he said.

Under the plan, Sarna said Indians would also be allowed to cross into Pakistan to visit with relatives in relief camps there. The move follows a call from Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that Kashmiris on both sides of the border be allowed to travel across to help each other rebuild.

The heavily militarized Line of Control divides Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan in its entirety. The rivals have fought two wars over the region. India has sent three aid packages to Islamabad, but its offer to send assistance to areas of Kashmir inaccessible from the Pakistani side was declined by Pakistan.

U.N. officials said the international response to calls for aid had fallen far short of the need. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent letters Friday to all member nations, appealing for urgent contributions and repeating his fears that a dramatic increase in deaths could occur if more relief fails to arrive.

The next few weeks were critical, Annan said, urging the world to demonstrate "the same sense of global solidarity and commitment that we saw in the wake of the tsunami" that hit the Indian Ocean region on Dec. 26.

NATO allies agreed Friday to dispatch up to 1,000 troops — including military engineers, medics and others — to reinforce the earthquake relief effort, and to send 12 giant C-17 cargo planes loaded with supplies. However, the alliance said it would only be able to muster five additional helicopters.

Currently, 65 helicopters — from nations including Pakistan, the United States, Afghanistan, Japan, and Germany — are being used to haul relief goods and evacuate the injured from remote areas. They have been flying virtually nonstop, but have yet to reach many of the estimated half million people still in desperate need of aid.

Huge alcohol seizure in Pakistan - By Haroon Rashid BBC News, Peshawar

Police in Pakistan have seized a huge quantity of alcohol stolen from shipments destined for US-led forces stationed in Afghanistan. Senior Superintendent of Police Saeed Wazir said more than 20,000 bottles of liquor were seized during a raid on a store near the Afghan border.

Mr Wazir said four people were arrested in connection with the raid, "one of the biggest" seizures of alcohol. Muslims in Pakistan are not allowed to buy alcohol.

Mr Wazir said: "20,352 bottles of Dutch-made liquor were recovered from a store outside Peshawar." The liquor was seized hours before being moved for sale in the lawless Khyber tribal region.

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ANKARA, 21 October (IRIN) - The Supreme Court trial of 15 men allegedly involved in an anti-government uprising in eastern Uzbekistan in May continued this week in the capital, Tashkent. On Wednesday, prosecutors screened a video in which the defendants' alleged spiritual leader testified he had ordered them to mount an insurgency, AFP reported.

"I ordered the launching of a jihad [holy war]," said Akram Yuldashev, alleged leader of the Akramiya Islamist movement, on a video filmed in his prison cell in July.

Authorities have said 187 people died in the violence. However, rights groups say upwards of 1,000 people, mainly unarmed civilians, were killed by Uzbek security forces after they violently suppressed an anti-government protest.

The defendants have all pleaded "fully guilty" to multiple charges, including terrorism and killing state officials. But human rights activists have dismissed the show trial, saying the defendants have been tortured in order to confirm the official account.

A UN human rights investigator on Tuesday cast doubt on the fairness of the trial. Leandro Despouy, UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, called for access to the defendants and courtroom, saying torture and mistreatment of detainees was common in the former Soviet republic.

"We want to interview the accused, know the exact charges and observe the fairness of the trial ... Otherwise it could be a fiction of a trial," Despouy said in Geneva following a mission to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Uzbek security forces have removed land mines from about 20 percent of its border with Tajikistan. Rashid Haitov, deputy chief of border guards, told AP on Thursday complete de-mining would depend on various border issues, including drug trafficking. Tashkent mined its 1,370 km border with Tajikistan, as well as its border with Kyrgyzstan, after Islamic militants tried to enter in 1999.

Also on Thursday, international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) launched its press freedom report for 2005, in which Turkmenistan, along with North Korea and Eritrea, featured as the world's worst abusers of press freedom. RSF described them countries as "black holes", where privately owned media and freedom of expression do not exist.

"Journalists there simply relay government propaganda. Anyone out of step is harshly dealt with. A word too many, a commentary that deviates from the official line or a wrongly spelled name and the author may be thrown in prison or draw the wrath of those in power. Harassment, psychological pressure, intimidation and round-the-clock surveillance are routine," the report said.

Thousands of people in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are being denied basic rights by their governments after being forcibly displaced, according to the Global IDP Project. "The governments of both Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have used forced displacement as a means of controlling their citizens and maintaining their grip on society," Raymond Johansen, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council that runs the Swiss-based Global IDP Project, told AFP on Tuesday.

In Kazakhstan, an opposition leader was arrested on Monday and immediately taken to court to be tried for taking part in an unauthorised demonstration. Opposition bloc For a Just Kazakhstan told AFP that Bolat Abilov was arrested after a news conference in which he repeated charges the ruling party was putting pressure on the opposition ahead of a presidential election on 4 December.

In Kyrgyzstan, a law-maker visiting a prison near the capital, Bishkek, was reportedly killed on Thursday. Tynychbek Akmatbayev, who chaired the parliament's law enforcement committee, was visiting the Moldovanovka prison when he was shot dead as he was about to leave after talks with inmates, the country's prison administration body said. Akmatbayev was the brother of Rysbek Akmatbayev, who allegedly had criminal links.

Tajikistan has received US $61 million in aid over the first nine months of 2005, Tajik Avesta news reported on Tuesday. More than 40 countries provided humanitarian aid to Tajikistan in January-September, according to the Tajik State Statistics Committee, the bulk of it coming from the US (41.3 percent) and Germany (18.9 percent).

Rumsfeld praises Mongolia for Iraq, Afghan help - By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent October 22, 2005

ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Saturday praised the "political courage and personal courage" of Mongolia and its troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On a brief stop in Ulan Bator, the third leg of a trip that also covered China and South Korea, Rumsfeld was feted by guards in ancient costume, treated to a throat-singing performance and presented with a wild horse as a gift from Defense Minister Tserenkhuu Sharavdorj.

"Your country has stepped up and joined a global coalition of countries in the war on terror," he told a gathering of 180 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan in the Mongolian capital. "You have contributed to significant improvement in the lives of the citizens of those two countries," Rumsfeld said.

A country of 2.7 million people sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia has 131 soldiers in Iraq conducting security and medical work and about 15 troops in Afghanistan training local forces.

In February 2004, two Mongolian security troops guarding a Polish base in Hilla in south-central Iraq spotted a suspicious vehicle driving toward the camp and shot the driver dead, stopping what turned out to be a would-be suicide bomber. Rumsfeld told the pair, Azziya and Sambuu-Yondon, that "to put your lives at risk on behalf of your fellow soldiers is admirable."

With U.S. funding and training, the Mongolian government built a peacekeeping force of 5,000 troops from its current force of 11,000 troops. When Mongolia was a satellite of the Soviet Union it had 70,000 troops.

"Located between Russia and China, they decided that their democracy, stability and future was mostly tied to the relationships they could create," said a senior U.S. defense official of Mongolia's 10 year-old U.S. security ties.

The official said that six U.S. Marines and one U.S. Army officer were posted in the country to train Mongolian forces to reach their long-term goal of becoming a world-class peacekeeping force. "We would like Mongolia to be on the speed dial of the United Nations," said the U.S. official.

The United States has budgeted $18 million for 2005 to help train Mongolians for peacekeeping missions, the official said. Rumsfeld, who canceled plans to visit Mongolia's neighbor Kazakhstan on Saturday, will fly to Lithuania for a NATO meeting on Ukraine.

[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.]