Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz (centre R) meets Afghan President Hamid Karzai (centre L) at the prime minister's house in Islamabad October 24, 2005. Karzai arrived on Monday to offer condolences to the Pakistani leadership over the October 8 massive earthquake which killed 53,000 people and seriously injured 75,000. Efforts to reach stranded settlements in Pakistan's northern mountains gathered pace on Monday after the country's friends and foes both urged help for up to 3 million survivors. REUTERS/Mian Khursheed

Afghan president brings aid to quake-hit Pakistan

Islamabad (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has arrived here with more aid for survivors of the powerful earthquake which devastated northern Pakistan this month, officials said.

Karzai discussed relief measures with Pakistani leaders in the wake of the October 8 quake that killed more than 53,000 people, injured about 75,000 and left more than three million homeless.

Karzai met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assuring them of Afghanistan's "continued support and solidarity", a Pakistani official told AFP on Monday.

The Afghan leader said he had come to Pakistan to "express the Afghan people's deep sense of sorrow and grief over the heavy loss of life and damage to infrastructure", the official said.

Officials in Kabul earlier said Karzai had brought five tonnes (tons) of medicine and a 30-strong medical team to Islamabad, as well as his foreign, defence and health ministers. The government of poverty-stricken Afghanistan has already contributed four military helicopters, medical teams, food aid and cash to the relief operation.

At least eight US helicopters and five German aircraft based in Afghanistan to maintain security and help with reconstruction after the fall of the Taliban government in 2001 have also been diverted to Pakistan.

Afghanistan is grateful for Pakistan's hosting thousands of refugees who fled an earlier Soviet invasion but their relations have been strained over Taliban and other militants believed to be sheltering in Pakistani territory.

Pakistan has carried out several operations to root out the militants, who cross into Afghanistan to carry out attacks as part of an insurgency against Karzai's government, but some officials in Afghanistan say it is not doing enough to round up the fighters.

President Karzai Is Saddened By the News of the Earthquake in Paktika Province - Date of Release: 23 October 2005

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, was saddened by the news of the earthquake in Paktika province, which killed five people.

According to reports, two quakes were registered in Paktika province early Sunday. One was a magnitude 5.2 and hit just after midnight local time.  The other, a magnitude 4.9 quake, struck at dawn.

The President has ordered the relevant government authorities to send relief teams and supplies to the area and assist with the relief operations. The President expressed his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims.

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

Earthquake rattles eastern Afghanistan, five killed –

KABUL, AFP 10/23/2005- An earthquake has shaken eastern Afghanistan near the border of quake-hit Pakistan, with initial reports saying at least five people were killed and six hurt, the defence ministry said.

Initial reports also said some houses were destroyed in the quake that struck mountainous Paktika province, ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told a press briefing.

"Our national army units are in the region assessing the damage. They're on the ground helping villagers," he said. Another quake struck adjacent Zabul province earlier, killing at least three people, provincial officials said.

Afghanistan was spared the devastation caused by a massive October 8 earthquake that left more than 53,000 people dead and more than 75,000 injured in northwestern Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir.

Several Afghans were killed in that quake, which shook the east of the country and the capital, Kabul. Pakistan has been jolted by more than 700 aftershocks since the 7.6-magnitude earthquake, a seismological department official said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the latest tremors.

War-shattered Afghanistan does not have a meteorological agency that can provide information about the scale of earthquakes.

Afghan election results released - The New York Times 10/23/2005 Carlotta Gall

KABUL - More than a month after the elections, nearly all provisional results have finally been released for Afghanistan's Parliament and provincial assemblies, cementing a victory for Islamic conservatives and the jihad fighters involved in the wars of the past two decades.

At least half of the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of Parliament, will be made up of religious figures or former fighters, including four former Taliban commanders. About 50 of the men elected fall into a broad category of independents, or educated professionals, and 11 are former Communists. Women have taken 68 seats — slightly more than the 25 percent representation guaranteed under the new electoral system.

It is far from clear how voting blocs will form, because the election system sidelined political parties, and most candidates ran as independents. But political analysts predict a divided and confrontational body. Women may have a moderating influence but are also likely to be divided by region and ethnicity, the analysts said.

Even with such a Parliament, President Hamid Karzai is likely to be able to push through most bills and appointments. He can rely to some degree on support from his fellow Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in the country, who will control more than 100 seats.

With backing from educated professionals and some other independents, that may prove to be enough support for all but the most controversial issues.

Yet he will have to work with powerful political figures. Among the winners are some of the prominent men of the past two decades of war and turbulent politics. Leaders of two mujahedeen, or jihadi, parties that fought the Soviet occupation — former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of Jamiat-i-Islami, and Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf, leader of Ittehad-e-Islami — won seats, as did a number of their supporters.

The two have backed Karzai recently, but their loyalty is not assured because they have much in common with the opposition: support for the mujahedeen who fought the jihad, conservative values and a demand for the northern ethnic groups to receive a fair share of power.

In opposition are two of the most prominent figures in Kabul: the Shiite Hazara leader Muhammad Mohaqeq and the Tajik politician Yunus Qanooni. Both are former ministers who left Karzai's cabinet to run against him for president last year. Between them, and with the supporters of the Uzbek leader Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, they may form a majority that could block the approval of ministers and important bills.

The big cities, in particular Kabul and Herat, have more educated professionals winning seats, but even in Kabul province half of the 33 seats have been won by jihadi figures.

Malalai Joya, confronting Afghanistan's warlords – AFP 10/23/2005

KABUL - In two minutes, two years ago, Malalai Joya secured her name in     Afghanistan's modern history. Only 25 years old and little known outside her home district in the far west of the country, she caused an uproar when she stood up to powerful warlords responsible for years of brutal civil war and told them what no one else dared: that they deserved punishment. Commanders at the meeting, called to discuss a post-Taliban constitution, were furious.

Some delegates rushed at her, yelling "Allahu akbar" (God is the greatest) and demanding her expulsion. Soldiers leapt to protect her; women shouted in her defence that she was young and should be forgiven. Death threats followed and Joya had to stop travelling for fear of her life.

But she is still determined to continue her battle against the men she says are responsible for ruining her country and will take the fight to the first parliament in more than 30 years when it sits later this year.

"My goal is the total disarmament of warlords, to bring to justice war criminals," she told AFP last week from Farah province after it was confirmed she had won a seat.

She said she planned to rally other like-minded parliamentarians into a front against the fighters. She also wanted to push "reconstruction and fighting for the rights of women."

With the results from last month's elections being finalised in stages, indications are warlords implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the early 1990s will make up a significant share of the new parliament -- up to about half, according to some estimates.

They will likely include Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who led a faction implicated in abductions, summary executions and the shelling of civilian areas in Kabul, and Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, implicated in similar incidents.

Analysts say one of the first things the commanders, whom Joya called felons and criminals in her outburst, could do is use their clout to vote to award themselves amnesty.

"They should be taken to national and international court," Joya proclaimed at the 2003 meeting, her boldness rare in a country emerging from the harsh Taliban rule, under which women were barred from public life. Joya's young life reflects Afghanistan's tumultuous modern history.

She was only four when her family fled the country in 1982, joining hundreds of thousands of Afghans who had escaped the Soviet invasion three years before.

She lived in refugee camps in Iran and later in Pakistan, where she finished her schooling. At 19 she began giving literacy classes to women. In the meantime the Soviets left Afghanistan. The remaining communist regime collapsed into years of cruel civil war that ended when the Taliban took control of most of the country in 1996.

Unable to keep away from her homeland even at the height of the Taliban's tyranny, Joya returned in 1999 and set up a secret school for women in the western city of Herat.

For two years she gave lessons at great personal risk, with the Taliban outlawing education or work for women and forcing them under the all-enveloping burqa. "That was the best I could serve women at the time," Joya said.

Then the Taliban fell in late 2001 after a US-led campaign launched when they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden over the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Joya threw herself into rebuilding her battered country, taking a job with a group promoting women's empowerment before setting herself on course for a seat in Afghanistan's historic new parliament.

Afghan court sends magazine editor to two years jail – Reuters 10/23/2005

KABUL - An Afghan court has sentenced the editor of a women's magazine to two years imprisonment for writing a blasphemous article against Islam, a judge said on Sunday.

But Mohaqiq Nasab, editor-in-chief of "Hoqooq-e-Zan", or Women's Rights, can lodge an appeal against the verdict of the court, which was announced on Saturday. "The court proposed a period of two years imprisonment for Mohaqiq Nasab," Abdul Bari Bakhtyari, a senior judge, told Reuters.

Nasab was detained late last month on orders of a religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai after a group of Islamic Shi'ite figures complained that he had written a blasphemous article in his magazine.

In his article, the 50-year-old Nasab questioned the need for harsh Islamic punishment for apostates, thieves and others, according to officials. Under Islamic law, blasphemy is punishable by death.

The information ministry had earlier said Nasab's detention was technically illegal as the government-appointed media commission had to question him first.

Two years ago, a pair of journalists were sentenced to death by a court for writing blasphemous comments, but they managed to escape from jail and have sought asylum in the West.

Press Briefing by Adrian Edwards - Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General - Kabul – 24 October 2005

• United Nations Day

Today is United Nations Day. It marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations.

In a message for the occasion, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for better efforts to deal with hunger, disease and environmental degradation. His message refers to last month’s World Summit in New York, and speaks of the challenges the UN now faces in areas such as climate change, Security Council Reform, and nuclear proliferation.

Today’s occasion is being marked around the world. Here in Afghanistan the event has been celebrated this morning at the Law Faculty of Kabul University, where the Secretary-General’s message was delivered, speeches were made, and a short film showing UN activities was screened.

• UNAMA concerned with jail sentence given to Afghan journalist

UNAMA is closely following the case of journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab who has been sentenced by the primary court to two years in prison for publishing an article that the court considered offensive to Islam.

UNAMA notes the differences in approach to the case between the Media Monitoring Commission and the primary court. The Media Monitoring Commission concluded last week that Mr. Nasab has not blasphemed and recommended his release from detention.

UNAMA understands that Mr. Nasab has the right to appeal his conviction under Afghan law on grounds relating to the substance of the case, as well as on procedural grounds if he considers that due process has not been observed.

UNAMA believes the right to freedom of expression, enshrined in the Constitution of Afghanistan as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, applies to everyone, including journalists, and should be strongly defended.

UNAMA considers the widespread attention given to this case in local media is an encouraging sign.

• High Commissioner to present human rights report to General Assembly

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is due to present a report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan to the UN General Assembly next week. In the report she says that while many of the benchmarks in the Bonn Agreement have been achieved, the human rights situation in Afghanistan remains of great concern.

Many of the problems are attributed to the security situation, corruption and to weaknesses in governance. Rule of law, she says, is emerging only slowly, reform in the justice sector is patchy and impunity remains a major concern.

The report calls for further progress in building of state institutions and determined efforts to better address the rights of suspects, women, children, disabled people, returnees and other vulnerable groups. It also notes Ms. Arbour's strong support for the government led process of transitional justice that was presented to members of the international community in June at a conference in The Hague.

An accompanying statement by Ms. Arbour to the Third Committee of the General Assembly will be available after next week’s session, but the report itself (A/60/343) is already in the public domain and can be found on the UN documents website: http://documents.un.org/.

• UNIFEM newsletter focuses on child marriage in Afghanistan

Earlier this month we told you about the UNFPA campaign against child marriages in Afghanistan. The same topic is one of four featured in UNIFEM’s recently released newsletter. The others are men and public harassment, former male child soldiers and protection of women.

The newsletter itself aims to provide journalists, activists, humanitarian workers and policy-makers easy access to the information they would need for their gender campaigning efforts.

• UNICEF, UNAIDS join forces with global campaign on children and HIV

UNICEF and UNAIDS are this week launching a joint global campaign on children and AIDS. Members of the media are invited to a press briefing about this important campaign. The briefing will be on Thursday October 27, at 11:30am in the library of the Ministry of Public Health.

Children are often missing in global action on HIV and AIDS, resulting in less than 5 percent of infected children receiving treatment worldwide. At the same time it is estimated that globally one child is infected with the disease every minute.

Afghanistan has yet to see a serious incidence of the epidemic, but the risks of infection rates increasing remain high.

• DDR: Former AMF officers awaiting reintegration package to report to ANBP offices

Former Afghan Military Forces officers who have undergone the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programme but not received any reintegration package are being asked to report to ANBP’s regional offices.

They will be informed how their respective cases will be addressed. Some may be offered to join the Afghan National Army or choose any of the reintegration options offered by ANBP. They have until November 15 to report.

• Winter’s arrival has WFP pre-positioning food

Anticipating another harsh Afghan winter, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) continues to pre-position food to remote and inaccessible areas of Afghanistan. Tomorrow a convoy of 33 trucks carrying 441 tons of mixed food will depart Kabul and head to Bamyan and Daikundi Provinces.

While the delivery of approximately 5,900 tons of various food commodities has been allocated to hard-to-reach districts in Badakhshan, another 1,300 tons of food will be arriving from Tajikistan to more districts in Badakhshan by way of trucks and boats.

At this stage nearly 80 percent of the 23,000 tons of food has been distributed. By the time this project is completed 500,000 vulnerable Afghans will have sufficient food in the North, North East, Central and Western Highlands.

Questions & Answers

Question: The Ministry of Defence mentioned yesterday that an earthquake killed five people in Paktika province. Today they are saying the earthquake happened in Zabul province. Do you have any extra information?

Spokesperson: I am afraid I don’t have any specific information on that. I saw the same report you did. If we get more information about the number of casualties I would be happy to pass that on to you. I think it is fair to say that attention remains largely focused on what is happening in Pakistan and Kashmir with the earthquake there at the moment.

Question: Is there any UNAMA reaction regarding the burning of Taliban bodies by US soldiers in Southern Afghanistan?

Spokesperson: I’ll defer comment to a later stage on this. What I will point to is that on May 22, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Jean Arnault, made a statement about abuses by Coalition Forces. That statement said that such abuses are totally unacceptable, that they are an affront to the work of the international community in Afghanistan. The full statement is on our website.

Question: (from Dari) Recently you witnessed demonstrations from candidates demanding a recount of the ballots. Does UNAMA have any programme on hand to convince the candidates?

Spokesperson: That’s probably a question you need to ask the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB). However in principle everyone has the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. Such rights have limits, and these relate to [demonstrations] being within the law and to being peaceful. Beyond that you know that there is a complaints process going on through the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC)… But on that you will have to go to the ECC for details if you are looking at specific demonstrations and specific issues behind them

Question: (from Dari) If the complaints are convincing does UNAMA start recounting the ballots.

Spokesperson: I think the important thing here is to understand that UNAMA is not the same thing as the JEMB. It’s not the same as the ECC. We are very distinct and different institutions with very different roles. It would be wrong to think of UNAMA as being involved in the counting or adjudication of results – we are not. It’s an important distinction. I understand it is one that people sometimes don’t fully grasp, but it is a very important difference.

Afghanistan angered by alleged "Taleban burning"

KABUL - AFP 10/23/2005 - Video footage of new alleged abuse by US soldiers in Afghanistan -- this time burning the bodies of Taleban militants -- has angered a country increasingly wary about the four-year American presence.

Some religious leaders called for "jihad" or holy war in retaliation for an act deeply offensive to Islam and ordinary Afghans voiced disgust despite their loathing of the insurgents responsible for unrelenting attacks.

"I think the people and the Muslims should not stay quiet -- if they do, the Americans will become more impudent," said Ghulam Farooq, a mullah at one of the main mosques in the western city of Herat. "Jihad, we should do jihad against the Americans," he told AFP.

Aware of the inflammatory nature of the alleged incident revealed in an Australian television report on Wednesday, the US military was swift to condemn the incident as "unacceptable" and promise a thorough criminal investigation.

But coming after abuse of Afghan prisoners in US custody and outrage at reports of the desecration of the Koran at the US camp at Guantanamo Bay -- with 15 people killed in protests here, many were in no mood to be placated.

"If those responsible are not punished, I think the Muslim nation of Afghanistan will rise against the Americans -- no Muslim can tolerate such a crime," said Shamsuddin, another mullah in the southern city of Kandahar.

The report on SBS's Dateline programme quoted US soldiers saying they had to burn the bodies because they had been left out in the open for more than 24 hours.

The soldiers then used the incident to try to taunt other Taleban fighters and draw them out of hiding, it said. Besides breaching the Geneva Conventions, the burning of bodies violates Islamic tradition, which requires the bodies of Muslims to be buried.

"It is good to kill Taleban, but it is very bad to burn their bodies," said Ghulam Farooq, a taxi driver in Kabul. "We Muslims never burn our bodies. We bury them with respect," he said.

The allegations were particularly shocking because "we were hoping the coalition forces were now keen to repair their already damaged image," said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, a commissioner with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

"At the beginning it was thought they were here to liberate our country and everyone was thankful to them, but it very much depends on how they deal with Afghan authorities," he said.

The US-led coalition force entered Afghanistan in late 2001 after the fundamentalist Taleban regime was toppled in an operation organised by the United States when the hardliners did not hand over Osama bin Laden for the September 11 attacks.

It has been helping Afghanistan root out Taleban insurgents and their Al Qaeda allies while training the Afghan security forces, including a 70,000-strong Afghan National Army, some 25,000 of them already on ground.

While grateful for the support on which his government depends, President Hamid Karzai has spoken out against the heavy-handedness of some US tactics, in particular air raids that have claimed civilian lives and invasive search operations that violate traditions in this conservative nation.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has also received more than 100 complaints about the coalition force, many from Afghans unable to get information about relatives who have been arrested and about whom even the Afghan authorities have not even been informed, Hakim said.

The coalition said it would be unfair for its hard work in Afghanistan to be undermined by the alleged actions of a few soldiers.

"The deeds of our armed forces speak for themselves and this one event, while it is unacceptable, should not in any way hinder people's belief of what we have done over the past couple of years," coalition spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts said.

Pulling Afghanistan's Economy Out of the Fire - Valley News 10/23/2005
By Warren Johnston

Norwich -- Bob Webber believes there is hope for Afghanistan. A bright and prosperous future may be a long way off, but Webber has seen encouraging signs -- a line of young, uniformed schoolgirls passing in the street; a recent open, free election and Afghans dedicated to pulling the country up to prominence.

"It's going to take time, and there are no guarantees," said Webber, who just returned home to Norwich after spending two months in Kabul working with a team of consultants trying to rebuild the Afghan banking system.

Afghanistan is geopolitically important, and its stability is seen as critical to world peace, primarily because of the country's location in the heart of the emerging Muslim nations of South Central Asia.

The banking system is an essential part of rebuilding the largely dysfunctional Afghan economy, and Webber said he hopes the work of his team has moved the country's recovery forward, he said.

The task at hand is great. Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, where growing opium poppies represent approximately 50 percent of the gross national product, according to the World Bank.

The country has made some progress since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, but the effort has taken the help of thousands of international workers, volunteers and consultants and billions of dollars in humanitarian relief and reconstruction funds just to get the country to a starting point.

The Banking System - Webber was in Kabul during August and September working as a senior bank advisor with the international consulting team. Afghanistan has approximately eight commercial banks. There also are a number of micro-finance non-governmental organizations (NGO) and one fully chartered micro-bank, which have specific niche areas of business.

The team was assigned to assess specific banks that were scheduled for liquidation or transformation and to plan and design a non-bank financial institution from one of the former banks. The focus of the new institution would be rural lending and to help rebuild Afghanistan's agricultural economy.

Webber knows the banking business. He was chief executive officer of four banks. In the Upper Valley, he served as president of First New Hampshire Bank, now Citizens Bank, and Bradford Bank before heading to Washington to run another bank.

In recent years, he has served as a senior advisor with major international consulting firms, including Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Prior to Afghanistan, his consulting work has taken him to South Korea, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Webber's team, which was hired by Deloitte under a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), included three other senior bankers from the United States and two associates from India and one from Pakistan, he said.

After a two-day flight, the team arrived in Kabul to find a country ravaged by almost 30 years of war and seven years of drought and a banking system that seemed to have been locked in a time capsule, Webber said.

"It's like they've been put on hold for 30 years. They haven't kept up, and they're not aware. There's a lot of training that's going to have to take place in banking and other areas just to get them up to speed."

The job was well defined, and the team knew beforehand what they were getting into, he said. "With all these international engagements, there's a pretty well-structured scope of work that is put together with a government official in Afghanistan and also senior members of the USAID contingent," he said.

"USAID is paying for the project, and the Afghans are receiving the project, so there has to be agreement on what we're going to do."

The seven-day-a-week job was intense and confining. The team worked in one building, occasionally went outside to visit Afghan banks, and was securely escorted for three meals a day to Camp Eggers, a nearby Army base.

"We stayed in the Kabul Inn. It was very secure. It's the hotel that CNN used as a base when the Taliban were chased out." The project and the constraints of security prohibited walking around or much touring of the countryside, he said.

The two-month project was about the right amount of time, considering the confinement. Much longer would have difficult, he said. However, aside from a heavy meeting schedule, Webber said he was pleased with the project and believed it was successful.

"I always think there are just too many meetings. The World Bank is over there, and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is over there. Each one of the international agencies extends the courtesy of letting each other know what is going on. There are just a lot of meetings to get that done, but we felt good about what we accomplished."

Crossroads - Afghanistan is at the crossroads of Central Asia -- north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran and south of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The population is 85 percent Sunni Muslim and 15 percent Shiite.

The country, which is about the size of Texas, is land-locked, mountainous, geographically remote, and has harsh winters and summers. It is sparsely populated with about 27 million people, according to a report by the World Bank.

Prior to 1978, Afghanistan was showing signs of economic growth and social development, particularly in the larger cities, such as Kabul. However, the war years and drought have taken a toll. Millions face famine, Afghan infrastructure has been destroyed or degraded and its social capital eroded, the World Bank report says.

Kabul, which once boasted wide tree-lined avenues, beautiful parks and vibrant economic and social activity, shows the scars of war. The trees are gone -- cut for firewood or killed by drought -- and the once picturesque Kabul River, where invading British Lancers drowned in the rushing waters more than 100 years ago, is an almost dry, polluted trickle and is incapable of maintaining the city's 3 million residents, according to UNESCO.

"Kabul is a priority for the U.S. government at this point," Webber said. "In the 1970s, Kabul was a very beautiful city, and it was figured that it would become a very major city in Asia. Geographically, it's at a very important point. It's 5,000 feet in the mountains, and it had relatively good air.

"There's a lot of pollution there now, given that the infrastructure has run down. There's a lot of sewage and stuff in the river that runs right through the middle of town. It's brown. There's no greenery," Webber said.

"But I thought it was very interesting. The streets are crowded, traffic all over the place, lots people out, lots of carts, ladies walking wearing burkas.

"With the donkeys and the women with the burkas, it almost looks biblical, as if you went back in time. The cars are all beat up, smoking. The main section of Kabul has been in a war zone for almost 30 years, so there's a lot of damage."

Hope for a Future - There are encouraging signs in Afghanistan -- signs that raise hope that the country may know peace and survive, Webber said. "There's an entrepreneurial spirit. People are surviving and trying to conduct business. There's activity," he said.

Under the Taliban, girls were not allowed to go to school, and women were not allowed to vote or run for office. Now, that has changed. Young girls and boys are in the streets before school starts or after it finishes in the afternoon. The girls wear uniforms of black robes with white bandanas.

"When they're walking in the street, there's a whole lot of them, and from the back, it almost looks like a line of little penguins, but it's a great thing to see."

Webber arrived in Kabul as the campaign for the first parliamentary elections was getting under way. "Nobody really knew what was going to happen. They're still trying to figure what happened, but they held them," he said.

"As we cruised through the streets about the 15th of August, we started seeing the pictures of the politicians being pasted up on the walls. As you got closer to the election, pictures and political banners started to grow. Lot of women started to appear on posters," he said.

"This was big time stuff." A thriving Afghanistan will take time to build, but Webber is confident it will happen as long as the international community keeps helping. "Afghanistan will join the international community. … Obviously, a lot of the locals would like to see things happen faster and faster. I made a prediction before I left to the Afghans we were working with. My prediction was that in the year 2075, the Olympics will be held in Kabul."

It could happen. The signs are there -- "the election; the children walking through the streets; the people I had the benefit of meeting; the senior officials we were in touch with -- I got a good sense that everybody was trying to pull it out of the fire."

Bob Webber of Norwich just returned home after spending two months in Afghanistan assessing the country's banking system.

deminers killed, 6 injured in Afghan bomb blast – Xinhua 10/23/2005

KABUL - Two demining workers were killed, six others were injured Sunday morning in a bomb explosion in Afghan southern province of Kandahar, the manager of the demining organization said.

"The truck full of our demining workers was hit by a remote-controlled bomb explosion on the way to the east of Kandahar city this morning at about 9 a.m.. Two of the workers were killed, and six others were injured," Mohammad Ashras, manager of Hallo Trust,British demining organization told Xinhua.

"They are on the way to the working field for demining work, but suddenly hit the bomb," Ashras said. "We have sent the bodies of the two killed to Kabul, and the injured workers have been sent to the military hospital of Coalition in Kandahar," he added.

No one has claimed to be responsible for the incident, and the investigation is still going on. Taliban militants, who have failed to derail the landmark September 18 parliamentary elections, have intensified attacks notonly against Afghan and foreign troops, and even the civilians andaid workers.

Over 1,400 people including rebels, Afghan and US troops as well as aid workers and pro-government religious leaders have beenkilled in Taliban-led militancy this year.

Signs of the Times - The culture ministry mounts a battle to replace English with Dari and Pashto on Kabul street signs but few merchants seem willing to comply. By Abdul Baseer Saeed in Kabul (ARR No. 192, 21-Oct-05)
Institute for War & Peace Reporting

In a clash of commerce versus culture, Kabul traders have reacted angrily to an order to use one of the national languages - Dari or Pashto - more prominently than English on the signs on their shop fronts.

In late September, the ministry of information, culture and tourism, gave shopkeepers just two weeks either to eliminate the English words from their signs, or to display their Dari or Pashto equivalents above them or in larger type.

The deadline passed with very little effect. The ministry has extended the time frame until the end of October, but Kabul’s businessmen seem in no hurry to comply.

Standing under a shop sign reading Blue Sky Mobile Centre in the central Shahr-e-Naw district, mobile phone seller Habib, 23, told IWPR he had paid over 300 US dollars for the sign.

"I wrote this sign to attract customers,” he said. “If I have to change it, I’ll lose customers and I’ll have to tell everyone about my change of address ."

The trendy western-style names many adopt for their shops do not lend themselves easily to a word-for-word translation. "Unfortunately we don’t have substitutes for these English words in Dari and Pashto,” said Habib. “The signs must be attractive so that they draw people in, and not make people laugh."

In fact, both Dari and Pashto have words for "mobile phone" but the English word "mobile" is more widespread.

Culture ministry official Sayed Aqa Hussain Sancharaki said the decision was taken in agreement with the city authorities and the state-run advertising authority Afghan Elanat, in a bit to promote national identity.

"When a person comes here, he ought to realise he has come to Afghanistan," said Sancharaki. But over at the modern, blue-glass fronted Chief Burger restaurant, owner Shah Mahmood, 42, was equally unhappy with the order. “We don’t have equivalent words for this in our languages ,” he said.

"Changing the signs will not benefit us… we’ll lose customers and also have the expense of another electronic billboard, which is 2,028 dollars." Anisa Zamani, chairwoman of Afghan Elanat, defended the order.

"We are determined to keep our Afghan culture alive and we must change the signs," she said, adding that if people needed help with translation they should ask the Academy of Sciences, or else " come to us and we’ll help them".

Maybe she should start with the ministry that issued the order. While Dari and Pashto have words for “tourism” the ministry of information, culture and tourism prefers to use the English word in its title, a clear breach of its own directive. For this reason, traders like Habib say the ministry is being hypocritical. "They should improve their own use of language," he said.

Academy of Sciences member Ghotai Khawri supported the name-changes. "Signs in markets, shops and everywhere else must be cultural ambassadors and everyone travelling to this land must know they have come to Afghanistan," she said.

Many Kabulis agree, complaining that the use of foreign words in the city has increased markedly since the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001 and the arrival of international aid workers into the city.

Ahmad Tamim, 21, who sells electrical equipment along Nadir Pashtoon Road, says he is tired of hearing and seeing foreign words, "Our own languages must develop. We should use words that people know."

One person who is definitely pleased with the order is Sayed Najibullah Saifi, who runs a shop that makes signs which can only benefit from the demand for new inscriptions.

"If anyone wants me to change an English sign to Dari or Pashto for them, then I’ll give them a 50 per cent discount because of my concern for my country and its national languages," he promised.

But Saifi, the 28-year-old owner of Digital Signs, concedes that no one has yet ordered him to redo the English-language sign in front of his store. It is unclear what sanctions, if any, will be imposed on those who ignore the government’s order. But Zamani, from Afghan Elanat, is adamant that the signs will have to change.

"If anyone ignores the order, we will use spray paint to cover their signs," she warned. Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Afghan Military Academy opens language lab - October 23, 2005
COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER
Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan Public Affairs

KABUL , Afghanistan -- The National Military Academy of Afghanistan opened a new language lab recently to help cadets there learn English. “It’s very important for the cadets to learn English,” said Afghan National Army Brig. Gen. Mohammad Eqbaal, head of the Language Department at NMAA. “Military operations are global. If the ANA is to operate with other nations, it is very important that we can communicate with our Coalition brothers and sisters.”

The lab, which has 10 workstations, has digital audio headsets that can be used simultaneously while the cadets work with the instructor or as they work on individual projects.

“The opening of the lab is very important for us,” Eqbaal, said. “To learn a language, you have to be able to listen without distraction.” The new lab provides the cadets a distraction-free environment since the workstations are divided and each cadet can only see the instructor.

The cadets have English grammar books they study, but now that the lab is open, the students are grasping their English lessons much quicker. “Now the students can concentrate on pronunciation of the words,” Eqbaal said. “Before, their only study methods were peer work and discussions.” Eqbaal stressed the importance of speaking the language to be able to really master it.

“The cadets can only use English while in the lab,” he said. “They have to talk in English and repeat everything they say.” Eqbaal said he enjoys teaching a foreign language to his students and he feels after someone learns another language it is easy to remember how to speak it even if they haven’t used it in a while.

“I learned English when I was just a small child,” he said. “But when the communists came and then under Taliban rule, no one in the country was allowed to speak English. But after Afghanistan was liberated from the Taliban, I began speaking English again and it came back very quickly, like riding a bike.”

Future plans call for opening another lab with 10 additional workstations, but a completion date for the additional lab hasn’t been established. Eqbaal said he believes the new lab has motivated the cadets to learn English.

“I know the lab will improve the cadets’ level of English,” he said. “It inspires them and provokes interest so they want to study more.”

Russian film recalls "shame" of Afghan war - The Washington Post
10/23/2005 By Peter Finn

MOSCOW — The young soldiers, unsure what they're fighting for or even where, are abandoned on a lonely plateau that is eventually overrun by a faceless enemy. After a bloody but heroic denouement, the lone survivor is left to return to a home country that is itself in crisis, where his experience will be ignored if not scorned.

This plot of myriad American movies about Vietnam is in fact the story line of a new and hugely successful Russian film about the Soviet war in Afghanistan, a 10-year military folly that ended in 1989. Russians are flocking to see "Company 9," the first blockbuster about the Soviet experience in Afghanistan and one that pulls no punches about the bitterness of defeat.

"During the Soviet Union, there was no possibility to make such a film," said Fyodor Bondarchuk, the film's 38-year-old director, who served in the Soviet army from 1985 to 1987. "And for a long time Russia didn't want such a film because Russia didn't want to remember this 10 years of shame. It's an incredible success for a serious film and it shows the audience is ready to think."

Russia's film industry, crumbling just five years ago, is suddenly resurgent and a host of movies including "Company 9" are drawing Russian audiences away from Hollywood staples.

"Company 9," which opened Sept. 29, grossed $9 million in its first seven days on screens nationwide, smashing all records for both foreign and domestic films.

It tackles a difficult subject without any imposed patriotism or sentimentalization of the country's past. Similar in some respects to the 1987 American film "Full Metal Jacket," it follows a group of soldiers from a brutal boot camp to a bewildering battlefield. The $8 million production, a fat budget in Russia, was shot in Crimea and along the Afghan border in Uzbekistan.

"Bondarchuk has created something in the best tradition of American films about Vietnam," said Nikolai Peshkov, 51, a colonel in the Russian army who served in the infantry in Afghanistan as a young lieutenant and is now active in the Society of Afghan Veterans.

Peshkov was satisfied the experience of his comrades, long overshadowed by the memorialization of the Russian experience in World War II, had finally reached a mass Russian audience. People here have tended to regard Afghan veterans, particularly the many who emerged crippled and scarred, as the pitiful remnants of an ignoble cause.

"We had a lot in common with our American friends," Peshkov said. "Company 9" also resonates with the country's continuing conflict in Chechnya, the Russian republic where raw recruits often end up brutalized or dead.

"For the Russian audience, the experience of the Afghan war is completely mixed up with our experience in the Chechen war, and that's why this is so timely and urgent," said Valery Kichin, a leading Russian film critic. "This film is about any war where people don't understand what they are dying for. The audience remembers Afghanistan, but they also see Chechnya."

[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.]