Thirteen Taliban killed, 40 arrested in US-Afghan raid: officials

Kandahar (AFP) - Afghan and US forces searching for a kidnapped election candidate have killed 13 suspected rebels and arrested another 40 in a raid on a Taliban hideout, local officials said.

The joint forces surrounded the rebel den between the districts of Ghorak and Khakrez in the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday, said defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed Zahir Azimi.

"We arrested 40 Taliban in the area after a gunbattle," he said. He said there were no US or Afghan casualties and he had no details of the toll on the Taliban side.Kandahar governor Assadullah Khaled told reporters later on Monday that "13 Taliban were killed as a result of aerial bombing of the surrounding mountains of Ghorak."

The US-led military in Afghanistan -- which has around 20,000 troops in the war-shattered country hunting down Islamic extremists and providing security -- had no details on the incident.

Fighters from the ousted regime abducted the candidate in upcoming parliamentary elections as well as a district governor and his three guards in Ghorak on Friday. They later claimed to have killed the five. "As of yet we have not been able to find the bodies of the five kidnapped people," defence ministry spokesman Azimi said on Monday.

Candidate Mohammed Yaqoob, the governor of Ghorak district, Haji Mohammed Nawab and the three police guards were abducted from a road 90 kilometers (56 miles) northwest of Kandahar city on Friday.

The Taliban, who were toppled by US-led forces in late 2001, have pledged to disrupt the September 18 elections and more than 1,000 people have died in violence so far this year.

On Saturday a British security worker who was kidnapped by the Taliban on Wednesday was found dead in the western province of Farah. On the same day officials said two missing Japanese tourists had been shot dead in the south.

Attacks kill eight Afghan police - BBC News / Sunday, 4 September 2005

At least eight Afghan policemen have been killed by suspected Taleban rebels in attacks across southern Afghanistan. Three policemen were killed when rebels ambushed a convoy of trucks transporting supplies for the US military in Zabul province.

Another five were killed in an attack in neighbouring Helmand province, where a candidate in forthcoming elections was seriously injured in a bomb blast.

The Taleban has stepped up attacks ahead of the 18 September polls. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the upsurge of violence in the past six months.

Two killed, five hurt as police fire at protestors - Pajhwok Afghan News
09/04/2005 By Abdul Majid Arif

KHOST CITY - At lease two people were killed and five injured when police opened fire at a protest rally near here, eyewitness said on Sunday.

Mandozai and Ismailkhel tribesmen were protesting a government plan for the construction of an airport on their lands, residents said, adding the demo was staged 12 kilometers off this southeastern city.

But police officials said they fired in the air to disperse the protesters after they went violent. Khost security chief Sadiq Tarakhel also repudiated the protesters' claim, saying the cops had fired in self-defence.

He insisted the protesters had initiated firing that resulted in the killing of a traffic constable. Three civilians were wounded as a result of the gunfire, said the security chief, who added police were duty-bound to maintain peace and security.

Earlier, the protesters chanted slogans against Khost Governor Mirajuddin Patan for supporting the proposed airport. Jalandar Khan, one of the protesters and a tribal elder, told Pajhwok Afghan News they would not permit the construction of the facility for foreign forces.

"We have fought long battles for this land and would not let it coalition forces use it," he vowed, threatening the machines used in building the airport would be destroyed if the government did not stop work.

Another protester, Walimat Khan Khadim accused police of opening unprovoked and indiscriminate fire at the peaceful protestors. He said two people were killed and five injured on the spot.
 

Afghanistan Issues Warning to Aid Workers - By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press
September 4, 2005

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A spate of assaults by suspected Taliban rebels killed four policemen and wounded an election candidate, and Afghanistan warned Sunday that aid workers and other "soft" targets were in danger of attack ahead of elections this month.

The warning came after a string of kidnappings that left a British engineer and two Japanese teachers dead. Five Afghans, including a district governor and an election candidate, were also kidnapped last week. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed to have killed them, though the claim couldn't be independently confirmed.

Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal said he was confident the Sept. 18 legislative elections would be successful even though "al-Qaida and the Taliban will try their best to disrupt peace and stability."

"We believe that this will not affect the overall security situation," he told The Associated Press. "They (militants) focus on soft targets attacking candidates, burning schools, aid workers. But the security workers have also taken necessary measures to provide needed security."

Fighting in the past six months has left more than 1,100 people dead and raised fears that the Taliban may manage to disrupt the polls, the next key step toward democracy after decades of fighting.

The increase in violence has prompted some United Nations agencies to encourage their staff to leave Afghanistan, U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards said. But he said there had been no change in the official U.N. security alert level.

An assault on a convoy of trucks carrying supplies to a U.S. base in southern Zabul province killed three policemen guarding it, said local government chief Rozi Khan. The trucks were forced to flee to the safety of the nearby city of Qalat after being ambushed, he said.

Rebels also attacked a police checkpoint on the main road from the southern city of Kandahar to the capital, Kabul, on Saturday, triggering a two hour gunbattle that left one officer dead and two wounded, said local police chief Ghulan Nabi.

Some insurgents were also believed killed in the fighting, but it was unclear how many because the rebels took the bodies with them when they fled, he said.

Also in the south, in Helmand province, a bomb blew up Sunday outside the home of election candidate Hadidullah Khan, said local police chief Din Jan Khan.

He said the candidate was rushed to hospital where doctors amputated his right leg. The police chief blamed the Taliban for the attack. At least four candidates and four election workers have been killed in recent weeks.

Police said Sunday they could not confirm that an election candidate, as well as the district governor and three others kidnapped Friday, had been killed by the Taliban, as the rebels' purported spokesman claimed.

Meanwhile, some details started to emerge of the abduction of Briton engineer David Addison, whose body was found Saturday by American commandos during a rescue operation.

Mashal, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said the kidnappers killed him immediately after abducting him Wednesday and taking him to a mountain hide-out in western Farah province. Addison was working for a foreign company building a road from Kandahar to the western city of Herat.

U.N. Urges Some Staff to Leave Afghanistan – AP 09/04/2005

KABUL - The United Nations has encouraged some nonessential staff to leave Afghanistan amid security concerns ahead of Sept. 18 elections, and the government warned aid workers Sunday that they are likely targets after a string of assaults on foreigners.

The insurgents, meanwhile, launched a fresh spate of guerrilla-style strikes this weekend, sparking fierce battles that killed a district police chief, seven officers, an election candidate and three others, officials said.

More than 1,100 people have been killed in the past six months, and U.S. military commanders believe the violence may worsen as rebels step up attacks with legislative elections just two weeks away, the next key step toward democracy after a quarter century of fighting.

U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards told The Associated Press that some of the world body's agencies had urged some employees to take vacation during the elections because of fears of violence, though he noted that the official U.N. alert level had not changed.

"The United Nations continues to monitor the security situation," he said.

Emma Sutcliffe, a U.N. Development Program communications associate, said "We have been encouraged to take R and R (rest and recreation), but it's not mandatory."

"For those who remain behind, there'll be minimal movement," she said.

Other U.N. agencies though, including the World Food Program and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said they had not increased their security precautions.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said the security status at the heavily guarded mission had not changed but stressed the threat situation was constantly being monitored.

News that some U.N. staff were being encouraged to leave came after Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal warned of more attacks.

"They (militants) focus on soft targets, attacking candidates, burning schools, aid workers," he told AP. "But the security workers have also taken necessary measures to provide needed security."

He said he was optimistic that the elections would be successful even though "al-Qaida and the Taliban will try their best to disrupt peace and stability."

Some of the latest violence has been against foreigners, including the killing of a kidnapped British engineer and the separate slaying of two Japanese teachers, spiking fears among the roughly 3,000-strong expatriate community in Kabul.

The body of Briton David Addison was found Saturday when American commandos stormed a suspected Taliban hide out in western mountains.

Addison was working for a foreign company building a road from Kandahar to the western city of Herat when he was abducted Wednesday.

Mashal said the kidnappers killed him immediately after taking him hostage.

In the latest violence, suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a district police chief in Helmand province Sunday while he was driving, killing him, three of his officers and his son, said local Gov. Amanullah Khan.

Two militants were killed when the police shot back at the attackers, he said.

Another three policemen were killed Saturday when rebels attacked a convoy of trucks they were guarding that was carrying supplies to a U.S. base in southern Zabul province, said local government chief Rozi Khan on Sunday.

Rebels also attacked a police checkpoint on the main road from the southern city of Kandahar to the capital, Kabul, on Saturday, triggering a two-hour gunbattle that left one officer dead and two wounded, local police chief Ghulan Nabi said.

Some insurgents were believed killed in the fighting as well, but it was unclear how many because the rebels took the bodies with them when they fled, he said.

Also in the south, in Helmand province, a bomb blew up Sunday outside the home of election candidate Hadidullah Khan, killing him, local police chief Din Jan Khan said, blaming the Taliban for the attack.

At least five candidates and four election workers have been killed in recent weeks.

A sixth candidate was feared dead after he was kidnapped Friday along with a district governor and three of their friends in Kandahar province. The Taliban claimed that they had killed all five, but Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said this could not be confirmed.

In a separate development, security forces discovered two big bombs Sunday hidden under a bridge in Kandahar city, Khalid said. It was not clear when the bombs were meant to explode.

NATO takes on bigger role in Afghanistan - By Paul Ames, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan --As the NATO armored car inches through a crowded Kabul market, its machine gun sweeping over the heads of shoppers, the Portuguese officer on board banters with street kids and traders, exchanging waves and smiles.

It's that rapport on the ground that is encouraging NATO commanders as they increase their peacekeeping forces to protect the Sept. 18 legislative election from worsening violence that has claimed 1,100 lives in the past six months.

"The people here are tired," says the officer, Lt. Lee Chin, as his patrol moves on to a school that will serve as a polling station. "They had 20 years of war with the Russian guys then with the Taliban. Now I think they want peace."

But the foreign troops face an even tougher challenge next year when their operations expand into the volatile east and south of Afghanistan.

Four years after 9/11 and the U.S. invasion a month later to overthrow the Taliban regime, U.S. forces are gradually handing primary responsibility for security in the country to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The entire international security operation in Afghanistan is to come under the command of NATO, which is sending more troops from Canada and European allies.

That could see NATO for the first time taking on high-intensity combat missions against remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida, a prospect that has raised concerns among some allies -- notably Germany and France which are worried that merging the missions could undermine the alliance's peacekeeping role.

But NATO's top operational commander, U.S. Gen. James L. Jones, is convinced the alliance will complete its expansion "in the very near future."

"It will bring a new agility and a new vitality to the effort and I'm sure Afghanistan will be all the better for it," Jones told reporters on a visit to Kabul this week.

Under the plan, German troops will take the lead role in the north, Italians in the west, British in the south and Americans under NATO command in the east. French and Turkish troops will lead in Kabul -- working alongside Afghanistan's fledgling army and police.

Using a concept first developed by the Americans, the NATO troops have set up small teams of troops in provincial centers to support reconstruction efforts and help Afghan authorities keep order.

Thirty-five countries have troops here, including non-NATO nations such as Finland, Croatia and Ireland. Chin's commando unit has been in Kabul for a month, and he says NATO's role in helping reconstruction and security has paid dividends.

"The people are friendly to ISAF, they know we're here to help," he said. ISAF stands for International Security Assistance Force.The elections are a crucial test. A successful vote could set Afghanistan on a path toward democratic stability after decades of bloody chaos. However Taliban holdouts have vowed to disrupt the balloting.

NATO has boosted its presence to 11,000, flying in 2,000 extra troops, mostly from Romania, Spain and the Netherlands, as well as more airpower spearheaded by six French Mirage jet fighters. The U.S. also has reinforced its coalition force of 19,000.

Jones said that's ample to meet the Taliban threat. "This is not a coordinated threat that we think could lead to any greater degree of insurrection," he told reporters.

But some wonder whether the NATO allies have the stomach for the more dangerous combat zones.

"It's a huge decision for them to take; there will obviously be some that are averse to shifting the role," said Samina Ahmed, south Asia project director with the International Crisis Group think tank.

"There are real issues of security here; there isn't really as yet on the part of any NATO state an intention to expand the numbers drastically," she said by telephone from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Jones said the violence was having no impact on NATO's expansion plans, noting that allies were now offering troops to the mission, unlike a year ago, when governments were more reluctant to contribute -- a shift NATO officials attribute partly to Afghanistan's presidential election last October that passed off peacefully.

Jones said the decision by Lithuania to take on a difficult posting in the remote western province of Ghor just a year after joining NATO was a "defining moment" that inspired stronger, more established NATO members to increase their role.

Afghan politician: legislative election process unfair

KABUL, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The leader of the Understanding and Democracy Party (UDP) of Afghanistan on Thursday termed the process of the legislative elections as unfair and warned to boycott the elections.

"The electoral process is unfair," said UDP chief Ahmad Shaheen, accusing the establishment of preparing the ground for winning certain candidates so that to have a rubber parliament.

"The government wants to see a rubber parliament and use it as an instrument for achieving its designs," asserted the politician,also a candidate. "We may boycott the elections as a last option, and even can reject the results of the elections if the government continues to overlook our objections," Shaheen warned.

Meantime, the UN-sponsored Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) as well as the Afghan government refuted such allegations as baseless and said all arrangements have been put in place to ensure the transparency of the polls.

The UDP is one of tens of young political groups established over the past three years in the post-conflict nation. UDP leader Shaheen said that his party has already entered an alliance of like-minded groups called the National Democratic Front of Afghanistan, which is different from the main opposition alliance National Understanding Front (NUF) headed by former Education Minister Mohammad Yunus Qanooni.

The head of UDP said that the newly formed coalition is in contact with NUF to form a broader opposition force in order to check government activities through parliament.

The newly established 14-member alliance, according to Shaheen,has 191 candidates across the country and is hopeful to dominate the coming parliamentary elections. Over 12.4 million Afghans eligible to vote are going to elect their representatives for the 249-seat parliament on Sept. 18 amid tight security.

Two northern Afghan governors replaced- Pajhwok Afghan News-09/04/2005
By Waheed Rahmani

KABUL - Two provincial governors have been replaced in northern Afghanistan after a spate of demonstrations against one of them. Acting on a suggestion of the interior ministry, President Hamid Karzai Sunday decreed the transfer Juma Khan Hamdard from Baghlan province, where a string of protests had been held against him.

Replaced by Mohammad Alam Rasikh, Hamdard has been appointed as the new governor of the neighboring Jawzjan province. The presidential decree said the changes were intended to improve security and bring reforms to the provinces.

Afghanistan signs 1951 Refugee Convention -Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

GENEVA, Sept 2 (UNHCR) – Afghanistan has signed the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, a significant sign of recovery for a country that used to be one of the world's largest producers of refugees and asylum seekers.

In a press statement today, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres welcomed Afghanistan's accession to the Convention and Protocol, which takes effect this week after several months of close collaboration between UNHCR and Afghan authorities.

"It is possible at times to forget the true meaning of the refugee Convention, but if anyone can understand its significance, it is the people of Afghanistan," said Guterres. "During the long, dark years of fighting and extremism, millions of Afghans had to flee their homeland to seek refuge elsewhere. It is testimony to the remarkable progress Afghanistan has made on the road to recovery that it is now able to join the Convention."

With the accession, Afghanistan enshrines in international law its long-standing tradition of asylum. Despite being embroiled in decades of war and civil conflict, Afghanistan kept its doors open to refugees – notably those from Central Asia, like the tens of thousands who fled Tajikistan's civil war in the early 1990s.

Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, more than 3.5 million Afghans have repatriated from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan in one of the largest refugee repatriation operations in UNHCR's 54-year history. The UN refugee agency has also been working in Afghanistan to support the authorities' efforts to reintegrate the millions of newly-returned people.

"The accession to the international refugee Convention and Protocol is a very significant step for Afghanistan," the Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation, Dr. Azam Dadfar, said in Kabul. "So many Afghans have experienced exile and know how important it is to be treated with respect and dignity as refugees. We are, therefore, particularly pleased to be joining the community of signatory states, to strengthen our cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and to add our voice to those committed to provide protection to refugees. Afghanistan will be proud to respect its obligations under these important international instruments."

Afghanistan is the 146th country to ratify either the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol. Iran – which has hosted millions of Afghan refugees over the years – has also signed the Convention. UNHCR hopes that Pakistan, which has also generously hosted millions of Afghans, will soon join as well.

There are now just under 1 million Afghan refugees in Iran. A recent census showed that more than 3 million Afghans live in Pakistan, though not all of them are "of concern" to UNHCR. A significant number are expected to choose to repatriate, but it is also likely that some Afghans will want to remain in their countries of asylum, where some have been living for decades as well-integrated, productive members of society.

Recognising a return to more normal conditions in the region, consultations have been underway between Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and the international community on the development of a broader management framework that would provide not only for refugees, but also for other forms of population movement. In this context, Afghanistan's accession to the Convention marks yet another step towards greater regional stability and cooperation.

Refugees’ departure tilts balance of power - By Iqbal Khattak Daily Times (PAK) September 5, 2005

PARACHINAR: Armless tribesmen in the streets of Parachinar give the impression the city is not the headquarters of a tribal agency, as the outside world believes the tribal area is wild and lawless zone. The city is clean and the people are hospitable. The landscape of Kurram Agency is picturesque; green fields and mountains add to the beauty of the area and its rich culture.

However, this peaceful area has a history of sectarian violence as Shia-Sunni clashes have left hundreds dead and wounded. The balance of power in the area was affected with arrival of Afghan refugees, mostly Sunnis, in early 1980 when local Sunni Muslims seized the opportunity to take on the strong Shia community, leading to bloody clashes in 1982 and 1996 after the Toori tribe was accused of ‘being pro-Iran and pro-communists in Afghanistan’.

The federal government’s order to expel more than 100,000 Afghans from Kurram Agency was seen by Shia Muslims as to a “return of balance of power” which had tilted in favour of Sunnis with presence of the refugees. “I am happy that the refugees are going back,” Nijaat Hussain told Daily Times. “With this, the balance of power will restore,” the 40-year-old Shia shopkeeper said.

Zulfiqar Ali, a member of the Toori tribe, said the two communities used to live in peace before the arrival of the refugees and sectarian clashes were only “sparked” at the behest of the local administration. “Why had there been no Shia-Sunni clashes before dramatic events in Afghanistan in 1979? Why is Kurram peaceful at the moment?” Zulfiqar asked.

“It all shows the administration is behind sectarian clashes,” he said. The Toori tribe refused to allow Sunni Afghans to their areas as refugees and the administration labelled the Tooris a ‘hurdle’ in the Jihad against the Red Army’s occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Sectarian violence erupted in 1982 when a number of Shia men, women and children were “massacred” in Sadda bazaar. “They were all lined up and sprayed with bullets,” Zulfiqar recalled. “It was like a firing squad carried out the execution.”

Sectarian clashes again erupted in 1996 in the agency headquarters when 200, mostly innocent Shia and Sunni Muslims, died in clashes over an objection to ‘religious inscription’ on a school notice board. Veteran Sunni leader Master Halim Khan said Afghan refugees had helped the local Sunni Muslims against the rival Shia community and feared the Afghans’ return might prompt the Shias to demand the “repatriation” of their fellow community members who were displaced from Sadda bazaar after the 1982 clashes.

“I think with the refugees’ return to Afghanistan, situation may decline as Shias will demand the repatriation of displaced fellow community members that may spark clashes,” 83-year-old Halim told Daily Times. He recalled the pre-independence period when the colonial power “triggered” Shia-Sunni clashes in undivided Indian Lucknow. He blamed the Shias for bringing the sectarian violence to the Kurram region by sending supporters to join their fellows against Sunni rivals in Lucknow. “When Shias said they will go to Lucknow it prompted the Sunnis to say they will also go to join their fellow Sunni Muslims and since then there has been an atmosphere of tense calm between the two sects,” Halim said.

U.S. Envoy to Kabul Sees Minor Security Threats to Afghan Elections- Following is the transcript of Neumann’s interview: September 1, 2005-Kabul, Afghanistan (Via Telephone)

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Let me just make a couple comments.  Yeah, we're on the record.  Let me just make a couple comments about the election and then I'm just going to stop right there so we can just basically do questions.  Because I would say one needs to look at the upcoming September election, 18 election, in two ways.  On the one hand, it is the final stage of a three-year process laid out in Bonn in 2001 and every stage of that process has been met or is about to be met with this election.  That's a success.

At the same time, I would say that this is not a destination, this is a milestone.  This is part of a much longer process of stabilizing Afghanistan both as a nation and as a democracy.  And that is a big job which involves both the development of a political culture, the establishment of a democratic government that has never been seen in this country, the building of an economy that people can live off of and the re-absorption into society of people that have been fighting each other for 25 years.  And that's a very large job and, in that sense, this is, as I said, a milestone.

I feel pretty good about where we are.  I don't want to exaggerate it, but I think let me just put -- stop there as a context in which I'm viewing the elections and let's just go to your questions.

QUESTION:  Ambassador Neumann, this is Libby Leist at NBC News.  Can you hear me okay?... Can you just address the security situation on the ground and what your feeling is about how it's going and how it will be in September when the elections occur?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Okay.  I think you can look at the security situation from several different perspectives.  If you mean -- let me break them up.  One is the security situation in terms of, "Does security pose a threat to the elections?"  My answer is no, it does not.  I'm not saying you won't have an incident or you could even have a big incident.  There's no 100 percent guarantees.  But the overall situation is not only in reasonably good shape but, I mean, you've got to understand I'm coming from almost a year and a half in Baghdad.  I did the January elections in Iraq where that didn't -- that level of violence didn't stop those people voting.  And there's nowhere near the same challenge here.

Secondly, this is now the second election; it's not the first.   The security forces, both U.S. coalitions -- what we call everybody else that's working with us that isn't in NATO -- and the NATO ISAF forces are all practiced and they're larger than they were before.  The Afghan military and police have also gone through this once before at the time of the presidential election and they are larger and better trained than they were before.  And the combination of all this is such that I totally believe this election is going to happen and I believe the excitement level of the Afghans is very high and that there will be a very large participation.

I am not -- I say again, I am not -- saying there won't be violence.  It will not stop anything.  And, you know, compared to people shooting candidates in the street in Baghdad, we have had four people -- four candidates I believe have been assassinated so far, if I -- don't absolutely hold me to that figure.  I could be off by one.  And there have been a few election workers killed.  Some of it probably tribal (inaudible).  Some of it may be between candidates or tribes, some of it is probably Taliban, but it's fairly small with something like -- I'm trying to remember the exact figure, but something like 6,000 candidates out there, so put it in perspective.

If you take security -- sorry, I'm giving you kind of a longer answer than you probably wanted.  But if you take security at the level of, "Does this mean the country is secure?"  No.  There is a threat from sort of Taliban remnants of al-Qaida.  There are a lot of armed groups.  But it's a different picture in different parts of the country and that picture is reflected to some extent in the military deployments.

So I think the overall security mission in Afghanistan, which in many ways is providing a security shield until you build -- we in the international community -- both build Afghan security forces but really build a stable government is still a long-term one.  Sorry to make such a long answer.

QUESTION:  Ambassador, Parameswaran from Agence France Presse.  Can you give us, please, a perspective on the number of troops -- foreign coalition groups on the ground and anticipation of an increase ahead of the election?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  You were breaking up just a little.  I think you were asking me the number of coalition troops on the ground and… the anticipated increase.  I'm not sitting on the exact figure and I would rather defer to the Pentagon, but it is somewhere in the 18- to 20,000 neighborhood.  But I can have Lou [Fintor] get the exact figure and e-mail it back to you all within the next couple of hours.

QUESTION:  Ambassador, it's Charlie Wolfson from CBS News.  Could you address the current situation with drugs and where we are in that?  I don't know if there's any impact on the election vis-à-vis this issue, but obviously, if there is, I'd like to know that, too.

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Sure.  Where we are on drugs.  Major problems.  Major producer of opium.  No question about that.  Last year we did not have the results we wanted in either our own programs or the Afghans'.  We have just looked at the figures that came out from the UN a couple of days ago.  Basically, what -- first of all, let me do figures, then let me do -- sort of step back and say what do they represent.

The figures themselves show a 21 percent drop in land area being cultivated (inaudible) opium poppy, about a 2 percent drop in the production.  The reason for that is simply that God smiled on Afghanistan last year.  Crop conditions were good.  It rained.  There were no major blights and so there's a lot more wheat, there's a lot more melons and, unfortunately, there's a lot more poppy growing in the same field that it grew in before.  But the land area, which is where we focus on how many hectares are growing this stuff, that went down.

Now it went down by a combination of tactics:  President Karzai working the issue, some governors being very active.  That is a tactic that appears to show promise but we are not relying on that as a sole means of addressing the problem.  That would be wholly unrealistic.  The current strategy relies on a combination of elements, both public awareness -- that is public awareness both that it's illegal and wrong, that the government wants them to stop, that people make get eradicated if they -- crops may get eradicated if they do it, what its effects are, all that public awareness campaign; an effort by the government to move people back; an effort to build Afghan judicial systems, which is making some progress but is slow; an effort to build the eradication forces and to build interdiction arrest forces that will go out and target traffickers; and an ability to build an eradication force.  And obviously, eradication has a role and an important role both as threat in getting people not to cultivate and in the reality.

I don't think any -- all of that it to say I think we have a significantly retooled approach which we think will give some good results.  We will have to prove that in the field.  And this is such a big problem that it's going to go on for quite a while.

I do not see a big connection between the drug problem and the election in terms of having an effect on the election.  There will be major issues that I think will come to the parliament after the election which will involve, you know, how the government works with this issue and how we'd work with it, but I don't see it having a direct cross-reference with people going to the polls and voting.

QUESTION:  Sue Fleming from Reuters.  In your opinion, do you think the elections are going to be free and fair, and are there enough election monitors to ensure that?  And thirdly, in terms of the distribution of ballots, last time horses were used, private security contractors took out ballot boxes and things to people in remote areas.  What are the plans this time to get ballot boxes out to really remote areas so that the majority of people are able to vote?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  First of all, on monitors.  Where we are right now, the joint electoral management body has accredited 2,200 independent observers.  There are also more than 30,000 political party and candidate agents to watch (inaudible) the polls.  I was over at the National Democratic Institute's Training Center today with people, mostly political agents.  It's actually -- I mean, I know, you know, between diplomats and journalists we're all pretty jaundiced, but it's actually kind of inspiring because they're not getting paid and some of them have come a long way to go through these one-day training courses and they're (inaudible) and they're training a lot of people.  We think that that will help both lower the temperature and increase the quality of the election.

I know ballot boxes are going out to some pretty remote places, although I don't have specifics for you on that. By the way, I dropped on international observers.  So far, there are 197 international observers that have been accredited from various organizations -- European Union, Asia Network for Free Elections, Human Rights Watch and so on.  There's a whole list if you -- there's a press release from the Joint Electoral Management Body, which is a mixed Afghan and international body, and Lou [Fintor] can get that to you if you want it.

So there are going to be a lot of people looking -- it's a very rugged country.  You know, I talked to one of the people on our PRTs the other day who had done a ten-day swing to get to all parts of one -- all district headquarters of one province.  And I do not know if ballot boxes are going everywhere but I know some of them are coming back out by mule back, so I think that sounds like they're pretty remote.

Will it be -- I think it will be a better election than the presidential election.  I think it will be pretty good.  I think at the end of the day, what really is going to count is whether Afghans believe that the result is substantially credible.  And I think we're doing everything we can to make that happen.  The various NGOs and the election bodies that are involved in this are doing everything they can to make it happen.  I know that both the coalition and ISAF forces as well as the Afghans have put a lot of work into how they secure the ballot boxes, to move them from the polling stations to the counting stations.  I'd like to talk more about that in a second.  I'm sure something will go wrong someplace.  But at the end of the day, I'm going to defer to the, you know, broadly based international observers and the domestic observers and the Afghans themselves and their opinions, the ones that are really going to count.

One thing that is, I think, an interesting developing just to note and that is the decision was made by the -- this JEMB, the Joint Electoral Management Body, to have the vote counting done at a -- it's not fully provincial level, but it's one at the district level, I think -- rather than the polling places.  And there are some risks in that standard way you would count in a polling place when everybody's right there.  The problem is that with many armed groups still in the country, pressure on people, on how they vote, is often applied on a community basis, rather than individual.  So if you're counting in a polling place in a village or a small community, it's obvious how people have voted and it puts them under a lot more pressure.

By moving the ballot boxes to the district level, you remove that tool from a lot of groups in the countryside.  Doing it that way gives you a higher level of problem with securing the ballot boxes, moving them and a counting process that's going to look like the colonial United States waiting days and even some weeks for all the ballot results to come in, but that's the price you pay for trying to do that that way.

QUESTION:  Sorry.  I just wondered whether you could answer the question, as well, on private security contractors and how many have been employed to -- foreign security contractors to (inaudible).

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Oh, I'm sorry.  Yeah, I don't know -- let me just tell Lou what the question is because he may have to help get the answer. (Speaking to Lou)  Private security contractors' numbers employed to secure the election.

I know that there is a large company, Kroll, which is working with the JEMB validating the security procedures, but I don't know if there are others.  And I'm going to pass that to Lou.  I don't know if we even have that information at our fingertips.  JEMB may have it and we'll get you what we have.

QUESTION:  Ambassador Neumann, it's Teri Schultz with Fox News Channel.  Can you talk about whether there is any sense of support for Taliban political views or -- you know, they've been bragging about making a comeback.  Is that going to happen at all in any area?  When you talk about pressure at a community level, where is that coming from?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Yeah, it's a very good question.  Now, do I have a really good answer on how strong the Taliban is?  What makes this question so hard is that you have overlaps between Taliban as an ideological force, tribes, groups, tribes that are split along the border in a society where you get blood debts when you kill somebody in another tribe.

I think the Taliban is still pretty weak, first of all, and they have -- you know, when you look at what they are able to do in the country and you compare that to what a full-blown insurgency looks like in some other places that we all know, this doesn't look like one.  And I think there's a lot of exaggeration.  But there is still a military capability.  There is still some capability in Hikmatyar's organization, which has overlapped with and cooperated with the Taliban but is not the same.  There are still a lot of armed groups in this country, some of whom get fractious.  And all of that leaves you with a level of violence.  But I don't personally see that we have a sort of resurgent Taliban surging back into the country, posing a major military challenge.

Having said that, I also don't think that we are in some kind of mopping-up operation or whatever words people would want to use.  I do not see that we are at an early end to a level of violence that threatens governance in Afghanistan.  I think that is a long-term problem because of the nature of the country and its disorganization and fragmentation after 25 years of warfare.  But I wouldn't exaggerate either the ideological cohesion or the military threat of the Taliban anytime soon.

QUESTION:  Are people of Taliban-like views the ones who are pressuring people in the provinces, though, at the voting stations or do you expect they will be?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Oh, you've got -- you know, there are estimations that you have 1,800 illegal armed militias still in this country.  So the number of candidates for pressure on people -- and there are 6,000 candidates running in this election, many of whom still have weapons in one form or another.  So the number of potential folk who can be pressuring other folks is almost legion and I wouldn't by any means, you know, equate that problem with Taliban alone.  I think there is -- there are some areas of the country in which it is probably a Taliban problem, but it's not wholly.

I do not -- there are two kinds of pressure.  There's pressure not to participate, which seems to me to be pretty trivial.  There may be pressure on people to vote for particular candidates, which in any given locality can be a problem.  I do not think either kind of pressure will keep people away from the ballot boxes and I think you will see a turnout on election day that will be very significant.

One evidence of that, by the way, is that registrations in almost every province in Afghanistan have exceeded the international projections for what they would be, based on the presidential election.

QUESTION:  Interesting.  Thank you.

QUESTION:  Ambassador, Charlie Wolfson again, with CBS.  As long as we have you, so to speak, can you bring us -- can you give us an update on the ongoing search for Mr. bin Laden?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  I wouldn't touch that with a barge pole.  (Laughter.)

QUESTION:  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

QUESTION:  It's Libby Leist at NBC again.  I'm wondering if you can characterize your own involvement and how much, you know, the U.S. has been involved in this election process and sort of what you do on a day-to-day basis and, you know, getting involved in helping organize this.

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  We are enormously involved in the election effort, without ever forgetting that at the end of the day this is an Afghan process.  We are the strongest supporter, but we don't dominate it.  And we play this role in a variety of different ways.  Maybe if I just list them it will help.

One is that there is an international group that involves us, several other embassies, countries and the United Nations in the support of this.  And I meet regularly with other ambassadors, with the Secretary General's Special Representative, by ourselves and with senior Afghan officials, with the Secretariat -- head of the Secretariat to the (inaudible) Afghan official, and with the election commission to deal with a variety of issues.

Second level is our involvement in funding.  So far the United States has put $40 million into this election, and we are wanting the international community to close a funding gap that still remains.  I don't think it's going to threaten the process and it's not an exclusively U.S. role, but both from here -- this Embassy meeting with the other embassies, and in a Washington-led effort of political approaches in capitals -- we have been pushing to find additional money as some of the costs have gone up.  I mean, they went up from projections.  They're not like through the roof but they're -- if you really want to know, I can submerge you in the details of why the costs went up.  But the fact is they did and we're out hunting for extra money.

We are involved in the preparations for the and that involves a great deal of work by the U.S. military, led by Lieutenant General Eikenberry, who is the commander of the coalition forces, and it involves a lot of work by NATO ISAF.  On a personal level, I confer regularly with General Eikenberry about this.  But this is, you know, it's not a thing that commanders do by themselves.  There are a lot of people involved in that.  My defense attaché's office is also a source of reporting.  I have a political-military officer, and General Eikenberry and I have a very close working relationship to keep these things under review.

So all of these different pieces are sort of churning out there.  And on any given day, you know, it might be a question of meeting with an ambassador, it might be a question of meeting with the international community.  I have a very active staff that is -- you know, I think it's a mistake to personalize this too much.  I've got people who are involved both in AID, people who work for the Embassy that are meeting every day and in telephone and e-mail contact across the board with the international staff, finding out what's going on, finding out what help they need, making sure we understand the status of funding, the status of international engagement, all of these things.  So it's a real team effort.

QUESTION:  Ambassador, Parameswaran again from Agence France Presse.  We gather from news reports that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of refugees (inaudible) released from Pakistan and Iran will be returning to Afghanistan right before the elections.  Will there be any implications in terms of security or any other problems?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Okay.  First of all, the reports are enormously exaggerated.  We anticipate there will be some refugees returning over the period of the next several weeks and couple of months.  I do not anticipate that those numbers will be anything like the kind of numbers that are being thrown around -- 30-, 40-, 50,000 maybe -- maybe more.

We are working closely with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which is involved in consultations both with the Pakistan Government and with the Afghan Ministry of Refugees. There is a planning process.  Right now, I believe we have had -- my understanding is we've had -- I think this is just Pakistan and I don't know about Iran and I'm not sure my figures are absolutely correct, but my understanding is we've had about 220,000 refugees return so far this year.  UNHCR and the Afghan Ministry were planning for a total of about 400,000 in their current planning.  And I believe that any number we get in the next month or two is going to be within the planning projections of both sides and that it will present no particular challenge to the election.

QUESTION:  Sue Fleming again from Reuters.  Do you have any comments or reaction to the latest kidnapping today, I believe, of a British -- I think it was a British engineer?  There's been sort of a rash of kidnappings.

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  There was an attack yesterday on a convoy.  I know -- or it appears that one British citizen was kidnapped.  We are following that very closely, but given that it's an ongoing military situation, I really have to defer any comment on that to both the military and the British Embassy.  It's really in their court.

QUESTION:  Do you think the risk of kidnapping, especially of Westerners, has increased over recent months?  Do you think it's getting worse or do you think that you're getting a grip on it?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  I think the (inaudible) has been here for some time.  We had the (inaudible).  The numbers of kidnappings don't seem to me to be all that threatening, given the nature of the country.  I mean, first of all, look, I've been here a month.  You've got to remember that I'm coming out of Baghdad, so the way I'm looking at this might be different.

Secondly, this is still an unstable place.  You have crime as well as terrorism.  It is also a fact that in a place like Afghanistan you live, in security terms, in something of a gray environment.  If you take reasonable security precautions, you can probably live and work pretty safely.  If you insist on being an idiot, you can suffer the consequences.

Now, as I look at the way people are working in this country, it's a heck of a lot easier to work than Iraq.  I mentioned that I went over to the National Democratic Institute.  I don't want to finger them as, you know, a target for tomorrow, but I've seen their operation in downtown Baghdad and I've seen the amount of security it takes to keep them safe here and functioning, and this is a difference that is almost indescribable its order of magnitude of how much better it is here.

QUESTION:  But I just want to follow up.  Just to be absolutely sure on this, you said if you insist on being an idiot.  Are you implying that some of those people in the convoys were idiots?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  No.  But I'm saying that there -- don't put words in my mouth.  But I know foreigners who like to say things are safe; "I can just walk around."  If people do that, then they can get in trouble.  Now, there is still a level of risk; convoys get attacked.  Convoys run over bombs and conveys get attacked by small arms fire.  I'm not saying the place is safe, but I'm saying that most operations can be conducted with a reasonable level of safety.

But you asked me did I see kidnapping vastly -- I'm putting words in your mouth now -- but on a considerable increase and threatening the process.  No.  The rest of the answer is explaining why I don't.

QUESTION:  Can I ask you a quick question about -- and this was an issue in the presidential elections -- meddling by neighbors, particularly Iran?  I don't know how much support you're still seeing for people like Hikmatyar, the you know, rabble-rousers.

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  Within the limits of what I can talk about, there is some influence by outside parties.  But I would say it does not appear to me to be overwhelming and it is also much harder.  In the presidential campaign you had a fairly small field.  Here you've got 6,000 people with a somewhat confusing ballot, so it's -- not only is it, I would say, a different order of magnitude, but it's also a much harder field in which anybody can organize pressure, including the candidates.

QUESTION:  And what about relations with Pakistan, just overall, not just in the elections?  You think they're going well?  And Musharraf has been taking some measures inside his country to cut down on potential production of terrorist mentality.  Do you see that as helpful and do you notice any impact?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  President Musharraf has definitely been making an active effort.  There's unquestionably an active Pakistani effort to work on a number of security areas and I believe that there is some improvement in what we're seeing.  Beyond that, I think I have to defer to my military colleagues to try to assess that, since they're the ones who bear the brunt of that.

QUESTION:  And one last on that.  Is the U.S. still interested in trying to get permission from the Pakistanis to go into border areas?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  I would pass on that one and leave it to my intelligence and military colleagues to answer on how they would (inaudible).

QUESTION:  That doesn't go through diplomatic channels at all?

AMBASSADOR NEUMANN:  It might, but I wouldn't speculate on it.

First Afghan and Muslim crowned Miss England - Daily Mail September 4, 2005

An Uzbekistan-born teenager has become the first ever Muslim girl to be crowned Miss England. Hammasa Kohistani, 18, said she was delighted to have been selected to represent England in the Miss World championships.

She was born in Tashkent, central Uzbekistan, after her parents were forced to flee Afghanistan. The brunette, who speaks six languages including Russian, Persian and French, looked ecstatic as the crown was placed on her head before a cheering crowd in Liverpool's Olympia Theatre.

She was selected from a group of 40 entrants following the two-day competition.
Dressed in an ivory white chiffon and silk ball gown designed and made by her mother, the teenager spoke of her joy at winning the title.

She said: "When they announced that I had won I thought I had misheard. I hoped they hadn't, but it took a second to sink in." Asked about her feelings at being the first Muslim Miss England, she said: "I'm making history and I'm very happy. Hopefully I won't be the last."

The student, who was known as Miss Maya after the Asian fashion house which sponsored her, has also been offered a part in a forthcoming Bollywood movie.

An economist dreams of a new capital outside kabul - By Siddharth Varadarajan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got to don his economist's hat on Monday when Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's senior economic adviser, Prof. Ishaq Nadiri, came by to discuss what India could do to help Afghanistan's economy.

A professor of economics at New York University with a specialisation in the economics of productivity and technical change, Prof. Nadiri returned to his native Afghanistan in 2003. In his meeting with Dr. Singh, he spoke of his friendship with Jagdish Bhagwati and Amartya Sen and of his ambitious plans to transform the Afghan economy.

Among the ideas he discussed - and sought Indian expert advice on - were and reforms, and the proposal to build a new capital outside Kabul as a means of generating employment on a large scale. Dr. Singh listened intently and then suggested that Prof. Nadiri visit India sometime soon for more extensive discussions with Indian economists.

Pak, Israeli leaders met secretly to discuss arms deals: book

Islamabad, Sept 4 (PTI) Prior to the recent meeting of their foreign ministers, leaders from Pakistan and Israel had met secretly in the past to discuss arms deals under which Islamabad received weapons for 'mujahideen' fighting Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan, claims a new book.

Even though the meeting between Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom on September one in Istanbul was "publicly acknowleged", they have dealt secretly earlier and Pakistan received stacks of weapons to arm the movement against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the book written by US journalist George Crile claims.

Titled 'Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History', the book mentions secret deals made by Pakistan's Army during the era of the Gen. Zia-ul Haq with Israel through the CIA for weapons to be supplied to Afghan 'mujahideen' fighting the Soviet Union.

The deals between Israel and Pakistan were brokered by US Congressman Charlie Wilson from Texas, according to the excerpts of the book published by 'Daily Times' newspaper.

The revelations have been partly acknowledged by Pakistan Foreign Office saying there have been contacts in the past between the two countries, the newspaper said.

The book claims that Wilson made the proposal to Zia to deal with the Israelis during the general's first visit to the US after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The proposal was made at a dinner hosted by a Houston woman Joanne Herring who Zia later named honorary consul of Pakistan, it says. PTI

[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.]