A military helicopter carrying the Ministers of economics, Martyrs and Disabled and the Chief of Army Staff burns after it crashes upon takeoff In Panjshir on Sept. 12. All passengers survived (photo from BBC site)
Gov't.: Shots Not Aimed at Afghan Minister
KABUL, Afghanistan - (AP) Soldiers who fired at the defense minister's convoy were not trying to assassinate him as initially believed, but were shooting at other troops they were angry with, a government spokesman said Sunday.
Shots were fired at the convoy Saturday after it had dropped Defense Minister Rahim Wardak and some other Cabinet members at Kabul's airport. One bullet hit a seat in Wardak's car where he had been sitting just moments earlier.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi initially said the shooting had been an attempt on the minister's life, but at a press conference Sunday he said an investigation had found that assessment was wrong. "It was not an assassination attempt on the defense minister," Azimi said. "It was just a clash between soldiers."
He said the shooting started when some soldiers tried to get to their barracks inside the airport compound but were stopped by other troops who suspected they were impostors. An argument ensued and the two sides started shooting.
Nine soldiers have been arrested, Azimi said. Nerves are already tense in the capital amid fears of militant violence ahead of landmark legislative elections on Sept. 18.
Twenty-one Afghan election candidates disqualified for alleged ties to militias
KABUL, Afghanistan - (AP) Afghan election officials said Monday they have disqualified 21 candidates in next weekend's legislative elections for having alleged links with armed groups.
The announcement comes a week before the polls, the next key step toward democracy after a quarter-century of fighting. Grant Kippen, chairman of the Electoral Complaints Commission, said the 21 had been found to have ties to militia groups, which is forbidden under the country's electoral law.
He said another seven candidates have been disqualified for holding official government posts, which is also barred. The announcement comes two months after an initial group of 17 candidates was struck from the ballot.
Nearly 2,800 people are running for parliament, while some 3,000 others are competing for 34 provincial assemblies.
28 Afghan election candidates disqualified
KABUL: In an expected development, the joint Afghan-UN poll panel Monday announced the disqualification of 28 candidates for next week's landmark parliamentary elections on grounds of retaining connections with private militias.
At a well-attended news conference here, Chairman of Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) Grant Kippen said: "Twenty-one of the disqualified candidates are linked to armed groups while seven have not yet resigned government jobs."
Under the relevant electoral law, convicts, government servants and people having connections with private militias are not eligible for contesting the first post-Taliban elections.
Kippen told journalists the ECC had received as many as 2,000 complaints against the 28 contestants, who could not challenged the decision in court. The official, who said objections were still pouring in from the countryside, hinted at more disqualification in the next couple of days.
Barred from the electoral fray are five hopefuls from Baghlan, three from Herat, two each from Uruzgan, Ghazni, Faryab, Parwan and Farah provinces. One candidate each from Kabul, Kapisa, Paktia, Balkh, Sur Pul, Kandahar, Ghore, Nangarhar, Badakhshan and Bamyan have also been thrown out of the electoral race.
Excluded from the electoral battle are Samia Aziz Sadaat, Akhtar Mohammad, Mohammad Akbar, Commander Didar, Habibur Rehman, Qzai Shah Wali Shahid, Faiz Mohammad Tofan, Haji Habibullah Jan, Haji Khan Mir, Abdul Momin Kherkhwah, Khan Agha Khan, Khairullah, Sayyad Fazal Ahmad Qatali, Haji Mir Hamza, Sarwar Jan Agha, Ghulam Yahya, Lal Mohammad Noorzai, Mullah Mustafa Haqqani, Gen. Mustafa Khan, Amir Gul Hussain, Mohammad Yousuf, Anar Gul, Mahbubullah Hamid, Raees Abdul Bari, Masooma Yaqeen, Sima Sher Mohammadi Raeesa Fatima Kazimyan.
Asked if the belated disqualifications - coming after the printing and distribution of ballot papers - would not cause confusion among voters, Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen responded in the negative.
He explained fresh lists of contenders would be displayed at polling stations across the country to inform voters as to who were finally left in the race. "The new lists will help remove any confusion," Baheen hoped.
Meanwhile, the affected candidates rejected the ECC announcement as unjust and too late to leave them with ample time to clear their names. "The charge leveled against me is groundless and no one can substantiate it," Commander Bashir Baghlani asserted.
Another disqualified man, Commander Didar from Kabul saw no justification for EEC's move. Didar said he would approach human rights watchdogs against the poll panel's "arbitrary step."
Afghan vote a milestone but democracy fragile - By David Brunnstrom
KABUL, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Millions of Afghans will vote next Sunday for a national assembly and provincial councils, a milestone in Afghanistan's difficult path to stability after the fall of the Taliban. The vote will be a step forward to broadening representative government but analysts say the fledgling democracy remains fragile and many years of international support will be needed before it can stand on its own.
"People are really over-estimating what these elections will accomplish," said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University."Basic institutions are at a very poor state of development. Until Afghanistan has a functioning, legal economy and basic institutions, there's nothing really for a parliament to do except act as a kind of puppet platform for people's views."
About 12 million of Afghanistan's 25-28 million people are registered to vote in the U.N.-backed polls, the first of their kind since 1969. They follow presidential elections in October won by U.S.-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai.
Critics say the voting system is likely to produce a fragmented parliament that is both conservative and parochial, and possibly more of a hindrance than a help to government.
The polls are being fought on a non-party basis but parties have candidates running and envisage parliamentary blocs. Opposition leader Yunus Qanuni, head of the National Understanding Front coalition, hopes to win 50 percent of seats. The election comes nearly four years after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban for refusing to give up Osama bin Laden, responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities in 2001.
Since then the United States and its allies have spent tens of billions of dollars pursuing Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents and provided several more billion in reconstruction aid. The engagement has brought Afghanistan its longest period of relative stability for more than a quarter of a century.
But bin Laden remains at large and thousands of foreign troops have been unable to subdue a Taliban insurgency that has worsened ahead of the polls. Meanwhile, frustration has been growing among Afghans about a lack of progress to improve their lives.
Analysts say a successful vote, with a high turnout despite Taliban intimidation, would be a significant boost for a U.S. administration reeling from the fallout from Hurricane Katrina and its bloody involvement in Iraq.
The United Nations says the polls will not be perfect, given Taliban threats and questions about the past of some of the 5,800 candidates. But it says Afghanistan badly needs more representative government after years of rule by presidential decree.
"In spite of existing insecurity, holding these elections is the right thing to do," U.N. Special Representative Jean Arnault said in an interview. "Most Afghans are keen to have them."
Karzai's administration has drawn criticism over a perceived misuse of aid money and many have been disappointed by a failure to prosecute those responsible for war crimes and the fact that some of them are candidates.
Western governments have been disappointed that more has not been done to control the drugs trade. Those standing in the election include several Taliban defectors, among them a former vice minister responsible for the notorious religious police, something that has bemused many Afghans.
"If they win, Afghanistan will return to the tragedy it suffered in the past, but people won't vote for people with blood on their hands" said 58-year-old Abdul Majid Ghafory.
One of the assembly's first jobs will be to approve Karzai's ministers and already the opposition says some might not win their backing. Analysts say the massive drug economy presents perhaps the biggest threat to stability, greater even than the Taliban.
"Taliban violence is manageable as long as Western countries are devoted to staying," said Olivier Roy, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. "But drugs mean corruption, and as long as the local governor or police officer can make more money with drugs than from his salary, government will not work."
Fallout from Hurricane Katrina and Iraq has raised concern that Washington might want to cut its commitment in Afghanistan, where it provides two thirds of foreign troops.
At the same time, doubts remain about the willingness of other NATO states to commit the men and resources for the alliance to take a greater counter-insurgency role. James Dobbins, a former envoy to Afghanistan for George W. Bush and now with the Rand Corporation, said long-term international commitment was vital.
"Without the international presence, the country would begin to disintegrate again," he said. "And if the commitment of the United States to help rebuild societies after conflicts is shown to be unreliable, it obviously has big implications for its capacity to make such commitments in future."
'Suicide bombers' held in Kabul - By Andrew North, BBC News, Kabul 12 Sept 2005
Afghan officials say they have arrested two people they believe were intending to carry out suicide bomb attacks in the capital, Kabul. The officials told the BBC the two men were found with explosives on them when they were arrested.
The past year has seen the worst violence in Afghanistan since 2001. There are fears of more attacks by the Taleban and other militant groups in the run up to parliamentary elections on Sunday.
The suspected suicide bombers were arrested on Sunday, officials said, in a central area of Kabul. Two vehicles were also seized in the operation, they said.
The officials said they believed the two men had been trained in neighbouring Pakistan, although they did not provide any evidence. Afghan officials in the past have accused the Pakistani authorities of failing to prevent extremists operating on their soil who then infiltrate Afghanistan.
There have been several suicide bomb attacks this year. The last one in Kabul in May killed three people. An official said Kabul was on high alert because it was a particular target before polling day.
720 Taliban militants killed, captured in 6 months: spokesman
KABUL, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Over 700 suspected Taliban remnants have been killed and captured over the past six months in Afghanistan, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Sunday.
"Since the beginning of spring (March 21), 304 enemies of Afghanistan have been killed and 416 others made captive," Zahir Azimi told journalists here at the Defense Ministry compound.
Commenting on the casualties of the government troops, Azimi said only 40 soldiers had lost their lives in operations during the course. There is no exact figure of casualties of either side as Taliban and the government have been presenting conflicting reports on the rival's loses.
Days ago, US military sources put the number of Taliban casualties at over 400 during the year. As the Sept. 18 parliamentary election is getting closer, the Taliban-led militants have stepped up its activities to derail it, while on the other hand government troops backed by US military are on aggressive position to ensure security for the landmark day.
In a clean-up operation carried out on Friday, Afghan and US- led Coalition forces killed 30 militants and captured 48 in the southern province of Helmand. A large number of arms and ammunition were also seized during the operation.
Afghan policeman, suspected Taliban rebel die in gunbattle
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 12 (AFP) - One Afghan policeman and a Taliban insurgent were killed and another policeman wounded when suspected rebels ambushed a police patrol in Afghanistan, a provincial official said Monday.
The attack late Sunday in the southern province of Kandahar -- the former stronghold of the ousted Islamic regime -- came a week before Afghans go to the polls in historic parliamentary elections.
"One policeman was killed, one was wounded and one Taliban insurgent was also killed in the half-hour exchange of fire last night" in Dand district, Kandahar police chief Abdul Malik told AFP.
The body of the Taliban fighter was still lying at the site, Malik said. On Friday, Afghan and US forces killed some 30 militants in an operation in neighbouring Helmand province, the Afghan defence ministry said.
Attacks by remnants of the Taliban and by other Islamic militants have increased in the run up to the war-torn country's elections on Sunday. US-led forces ousted the Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks, for harbouring Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Frustration as Pakistan closes Afghan refugee camps - by Zahid Noor
PARACHINAR, Pakistan, Sept 11 (AFP) - An uncertain future ahead of her in Afghanistan, seven-year-old Fatima watches her parents complete their repatriation documents at a crowded refugee camp in northwest Pakistan.
Her family is among hundreds of Afghans who have queued for days in blistering heat and suffocating humidity at the makeshift registration centre in Parachinar, the main town in the lawless rugged tribal agency of Kurram.
Across the border are Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains, where Osama bin Laden is said to have withstood a blitz by US "bunker-buster" bombs in late 2001 before seemingly vanishing off the face of the earth.
"We have been here for the last two days to get the repatriation documents, but the process is too slow," says Fatima's father Abdul Karim, 32, the sweat soaking through his traditional shalwar kameez outfit.
Hundreds of gaily-colored trucks teetering with refugees' belongings are parked near the camps waiting for the last remaining Afghans to fill in their forms.
"Today is my third day waiting for my turn to come," said another refugee, Siffat Khan. The 65-year-old is head of an eight-member family preparing to return to restive Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan. "There's no food for animals here, let alone humans," he adds.
A few days later, the frustration got too much for another group of Afghans in the nearby city of Peshawar. After waiting days for their papers to be processed, hundreds of them ransacked a United Nations refugee agency centre.
They are all part of a mass exodus prompted by Pakistan's sudden announcement in June that all Afghan refugees must quit the tribal regions for "security reasons" before landmark polls in their own country on September 18.
Islamabad's decision is aimed at curbing militancy in the tribal zones, where Pakistani forces have fought bloody battles against Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters who fled Afghanistan after the US invasion nearly four years ago. Pakistan has also deployed an extra 9,500 troops along the long, porous border.
Afghanistan suspects the refugee camps are used to recruit fighters for the ousted Taliban movement, who have stepped up a bloody insurgency ahead of the elections.
But the closure presents a massive logistical problem for the UN and for Pakistan -- which with more than three million Afghans hosts the largest refugee population of any country in the world.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says 118,000 refugees have registered so far in Kurram alone and 53,000 in the neighbouring tribal agency of Bajaur. More than 80 percent have already left, while the rest are expected to vacate by the end of next week.
Given the choice of going back to Afghanistan or moving to other camps in Pakistan, most have chosen repatriation. But many of the refugees fled after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and have set up new lives and homes in Pakistan during their years in the country.
It's not only the delays they complain about, but also the timing of the forced repatriation. "We should not have been pushed out at a time when winter is around the corner," adds Fatima's father Karim, who is a nomad. "I have no home in Afghanistan. I will live with relatives for the time being, but I can't stay with them for long as they have a small home."
Abdur Rehman, 35, was happy that he was going back to his home country but was sad because there was no place for him to live. "My family owned a piece of land before in Afghanistan but I am sure it must have been grabbed now by local warlords," he added.
A UNHCR official said the process was taking time because all refugees above the age of 12 must undergo iris validation tests, which were introduced in March to stop departing Afghans returning to Pakistan and getting more aid.
Iris checking machines were among the equipment wrecked by the mob in Peshawar on Wednesday. In a bid to help ease the refugees' plight, the agency said it was giving 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of food, plastic sheeting, soap and transportation assistance to each family of five Afghans voluntarily returning home.
The authorities have also provided more iris machines and reinforced staff to process 500 individuals each day, UN official Fakhruzzam Khan told AFP in Parachinar.
"The abnormal rush you see at the registration centres is because thousands of refugees stormed the centres all of a sudden," the region's chief refugee commissioner, Sahibzada Anees told AFP. She said it was in the interests of both Pakistan and Afghanistan to expel the refugees.
But 23-year-old Zahid Khan, sipping a cup of sugarless green tea in the shadow of one the refugees' trucks, says no one is happy to be going back -- especially when the country is full of US and western soldiers. "There are few people who can live under foreign occupation, and I am not one of them," he said.
Taliban ambassador Zaeef freed from Guantanamo Bay
KABUL: Former Taliban ambassador to Islamabad Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef has been freed after four years of captivity from an infamous US naval detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, family sources revealed on Monday.
A close relative of the ex-diplomat confided to Pajhwok Afghan News Mullah Zaeef had joined his family in his native town of Panjwai in the southern Kandahar province, a former stronghold of the vanquished Taliban regime, following his release.
"Apparently in good health, the 37-year-old Abdul Salam Zaeef is back with his family," said the source, who did not want to be named. He added the erstwhile ambassador's public appearance would not be advisable at this point in time.
Musa Ghazi, personal secretary to National Reconciliation Commission chairman Sibghatullah Mujadeddi, confirmed the ex-envoy had reached Afghanistan after he was set free from the notorious prison in Cuba.
As Ghazi, who is also the commission's protocol director, refused to tell Zaeef's exact whereabouts in Afghanistan, a well-placed source claimed the diplomat was staying in the posh neighbourhood of Wazir Akbar Khan in this capital city.
"Zaeef is expected to be shown pretty soon on the Afghan state-controlled television along with Mujaddedi," said another official, hinting the Taliban leader might announce support to the US-backed Afghan president.
Lt Cindy Moore, spokeswoman for coalition forces in Kabul, was unaware of the diplomat's arrival in his homeland. "I have no information about him," she said, when approached for comments.
According to the family member, the Mullah Omar loyalist reportedly avoids meeting journalists and guests for security reasons, "as his residence is located in a district that is regarded as a hotbed of militants in the troubled southern zone."
Before taking up his ambassadorial assignment in Islamabad, Mullah Zaeef had held senior positions in the ministries of defence and mines and industries and also stayed as minister of transportation in Kabul during the Taliban regime, ousted from power in 2001 in the wake of sustained air strikes by the US military and a fierce ground offensive by the Northern Alliance.
In the late 2002, the diplomat was handed over to the US following his arrest in North Waziristan Agency by Pakistani security forces. Prior to his detention, Zaeef would frequently lambaste Washington for sounding warnings to Taliban at news conferences in Islamabad.
Former foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil welcomed Zaeef's release as a positive step, which came days ahead of Afghanistan's legislative elections scheduled for Sunday, September 18.
"Political issues could be best resolved by substantive dialogue and showing magnanimity to political foes," Mutawakil observed while urging the Karzai administration to extend an offer of talks Mullah Zaeef in line with an ongoing national reconciliation campaign.
Maulvi Abdul Hakim Mujahid, Taliban's representative to the United Nations, described the former ambassador's release as a 'propitious omen' for Afghan national unity. "He was a diplomat, not a military commander, and his walking out of prison is a major stride towards normality in Afghanistan."
Taliban's deputy higher education minister Maulavi Arsala Rahmani too hailed the release of Zaeef and said the peace process should be carried forward through negotiations, not weapons.
"We want the release of all detainees. All problems should be solved through talks," said Rahmani who, along with Mujahid, had returned to Kabul while accepting the national reconciliation programme.
Taleban Hit and Run, and Come Back for More - By Borhan Younus in Band-e-Sardah, Ghazni province (ARR No. 185, 10-Sep-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Twenty-two hardened Taleban fighters slip down a dirt track in the darkness of this late August night, closely watching the beams from the headlights of two approaching vehicles.
The men move from the track and crouch down in a dry water-channel. Safety catches are released on Kalashnikovs and rocket-launchers made ready to fire. But as the four-wheel-drive vehicles draw near, they are seen to be carrying civilians. The Taleban stop the cars, and the travellers - from a nearby town in Ghazni province - are briefly searched and then allowed to go on their way.
The Taleban squad appears fleetingly disappointed at not having confronted a patrol of United States or Afghan troops. But the young fighters shrug it off and prepare to look for other prey.
"We are absolutely sure we will win the war since we have the greatest support of all -- that is, God. Our enemies put all their trust in material equipment and have no firm morale to win a fight, as they are not motivated by religion," said the group's commander, Mullah Habib Rahman Aziz.
The mullah’s men are aged between 18 and 25 and say they have suffered virtually no losses in their battle to inflict casualties and oust what they term the American-orchestrated regime that has ruled Afghanistan for almost four years.
Only two of the young men are veterans of the fighting that took place between the Taleban and the Northern Alliance before the US bombing campaign finally drove the fundamentalists from power in 2001. The rest are new recruits in what many now call the neo-Taleban, joined in a jihad or holy war against the foreigners.
A lull follows the disappearance of the two vehicles down the now track. Mullah Aziz uses it to explain that, contrary to what the US and Afghan military and the politicians suggest, the Taleban’s aim is not specifically to disrupt the September 18 parliamentary and provincial council elections.
Rather, it is part of a long-term strategy – a commitment to topple the government of President Hamed Karzai and expel its foreign supporters, he says. And he warns that the fighting will become "more and more bloody as the American troops get further into our areas and villages".
"Our warfare is a continuing jihad. It will not stop with the elections or other dramas. It will go on as long as necessary, until we bring a pure Islamic government to Afghanistan,” said the mullah.
Since March, when heavy winter snow in the insurgents' hideouts began to melt, the Taleban and its allies have been intensifying their attacks.
At the United Nations in August, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Afghanistan faced a worrying resurgence of violence despite the presence of 10,000 peacekeepers under NATO command and about 20,000 US-led coalition troops.
"Afghanistan today is suffering from a level of insecurity, especially in the south and parts of the east, not seen since the departure of the Taleban," he said. "There have been troubling indications that remnants of the Taleban and other extremist groups are reorganising."
Bombings and landmine explosions in May were up 40 per cent from the same month the previous year in the south and southeast, Annan said. And 2005 has undoubtedly been the most deadly year for the US military since it ousted the Taleban.
"There is certainly more violence, and there are violent elements trying to come back," said Ronald Neumann, the new US ambassador to Kabul speaking at his maiden press conference on August 18.
"I think this is a situation that will probably be difficult for some time. But there is a strong international presence and there is a strong American presence, which is quite adequate to deal with the violence."
According to an unofficial fatality list posted for Washington's Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF, (http://icasualties.org/oef/Afghanistan.aspx), 76 American troops were killed in operations linked to Afghanistan during the first eight months of this year. This compared with 52 for all of last year, 47 for 2003 and 43 for 2002. The dead are all named, with age and rank.
The official US Defence Department website (http://www.dod.mil/news/casualty.pdf) gives a slightly higher total of 232 deaths since military operations began in 2001. But it provides no annual breakdown, and also includes deaths in other locations including Tajikistan and even the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.
US spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore in Kabul also could not give a breakdown of casualty figures for individual years, referring IWPR’s inquiries to the Secretary of Defence’s public affairs department in Washington.
Sixteen of this year's US deaths were occurred in one incident when a Chinook helicopter was shot down in late June over the eastern Kunar province. It was ferrying troops in to rescue a squad of SEAL commandos under fire from insurgents.
Taleban commander Mullah Dadullah said his fighters brought down the aircraft. US military commanders maintain that it is their troops who are inflicting significant casualties as they take the battle to the enemy.
Mullah Aziz would disagree. His group, like others in the region, believes that its knowledge of the terrain and the support of local residents gives it a vital edge over the Americans.
The Taleban operate in small units like this one, which moves around on red motorbikes, two men on each machine, under cover of dark.
The US troops based near Ghazni city carry out most of their road patrols during the day and conduct surprise home searches at night, according to Mullah Aziz.
This enables the Taleban fighters to avoid daytime confrontations with better equipped forces, while at night they can ambush their enemy and plant roadside bombs, one of the main causes of casualties among US troops this year.
Many of the tactics used by the insurgents appear to be copies of those used against US-led Coalition troops in Iraq: hit-and-run attacks, beheading of "US spies", and occasional kidnappings and suicide bombings, although the latter are still rare.
One of these tactics has, however, backfired on the Taleban. Many Afghans see beheading captives as gratuitous violence, and this has somewhat diminished the sympathy of those who are normally on the side of the anti-American forces.
"We approve of the Taleban attacks against Americans, but their beheading and killing of Afghans and ulema [religious scholars] is not in keeping with the characteristics of Afghans," said Abdul Qayom, a 45-year-old shopkeeper in Ghazni city.
Qayom returns to his home area of Wazi Khwah in the southeast Paktika province every couple of weeks, and reports that Taleban fighters move freely around that district at night time. Last month, a US commander forecast that the Taleban might escalate their attacks, and noted that they were becoming more ruthless in their tactics.
"They are targeting government officials and religious scholars. We are seeing an increased threat of the rebels using suicide bombers and child soldiers," Major-General Jason Kamiya, operational commander of US-led Coalition forces in Afghanistan, told a news conference in Kabul.
In the Uruzgan province, Khan Pacha, a village elder in the provincial centre Tarin Kowt said that despite what he termed the Taleban’s brutality in killing civilians mere because they were accused of “spying for the US military”, he still saw them as true Muslims fighting a war for freedom.
"The Taleban brought peace and security to the country, and they were our own sons,” he said. “The Americans, with all the facilities and money they have poured into Afghanistan, cannot bring calm.”
Afghans view dilapidated roads as 3rd biggest problem
KABUL, September 11 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Most Afghan people have termed view dilapidated roads as their third biggest national problem after security and economy, reveals a survey conducted by the Center for International Journalism (CIJ).
CIJ surveyed a total of 2, 554 people on problems facing them under a government that has received billion of dollars in aid for the reconstruction of the country. Most of them opined rebuilding the lousy road network should figure prominently on the government's priority list.
A lady (32) from Takhar province linked increasingly fatal accidents to bumpy and unpaved roads. Because of the tortuous routes, patients - especially pregnant women - suffered a great deal before reaching hospitals, she reasoned.
Muhammad Gul (38), hailing from Wama district in Takhar, pointed out the northern province had extremely poor road links with the rest of the country.
Irrespective of who were elected to parliament in the September 18 polls, he stresses the would-be public representatives must raise the issue in the lower house as well as provincial councils. Ubaidullah, belonging to Dargai in Khost, also demanded of the government to reconstruct roads at the earliest possible. He too referred to the agony of patients dying on the way to hospitals.
The problem was not confined to the countryside, he said, explaining the situation in urban areas was no better. The 25-year-old urged the government to pay special head to the rebuilding of highways and arteries.
A resident of Badghis province, Syed Noor Muhammad listed uneven routes as a huge concern for dwellers of the region. "If asphalted or paved, the roads will also help boost security," he believed.
More than two decades of war had destroyed - root and branch - highways, much to the inconvenience of people, said Amirudin Salik, advisor to the Public Works Ministry. "Regrettably, there is no one to address this major public concern on humanitarian grounds," he remarked.
Ghulam Nabi (32), resident of Farkhar district in Takhar province, said voters had asked election candidates, if returned to parliament, to make concerted efforts for resolving the pestering problem.
Daikundi inhabitant Hussain Wali complained patients in remote villages had to ride donkeys for three days before they reach the city centre for treatment.
Taxi driver Majidullah recalled during the Taliban era he would reach Kabul from Kandahar in 15 hours. "But now after the reconstruction of the highway, I take my breakfast in Kandahar and lunch in Kabul.
In a similar survey conducted by ICJ last year, 3,000 people had described a good road network as their fourth biggest problem. This year, it has gone a notch higher.
Press Briefing by Adrian Edwards Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
Kabul – 8 September 2005
- Reintegration, ammunition survey on going
Since we last briefed you there has been a slight increase in the number of former officers and soldiers who have joined the reintegration programme. So far 60,357 have either entered or completed the process, representing close 98 percent of those who have demobilized.
With the Disbandment of illegal armed groups programme there is also very little change in the numbers to report to you. As of this time 9,607 weapons are verified as having been handed over.
A further element of the work being done by the Afghan New Beginnings Programme is the ammunitions survey. Currently, 581,064 boxes of ammunition and 1.7 million (1,777,684) individual pieces in 446 caches, have been identified.
[On Tuesday, Afghanistan New Beginnings Programme representatives and members of the media, were in Panjshir to witness t he transfer of ammunition and weapons from this province to Kabul.]
For those seeking further information about ANBP and its work, our former colleague Ariane Quentier is now working with ANBP as communications advisor. Her number is 070 166 911.
As you may know, Afghan journalist Ezatullah Zawab, was reported earlier this week as being detained in Nangarhar province. Subsequent reports indicated he had gone missing. Early this morning we received a report from the Governor informing us that Erzatullah had been found by police, apparently on the road to Torkham. We are awaiting further word at this time, and looking forward for an opportunity to see him.
Elections budgetary shortfall
The last time I spoke to you about the funding gap for the elections we were looking at a shortfall in the region of $20 million. Thanks, since then, to an approximately $11 million contribution from the European Commission and $5 million from Japan, the gap has now closed to $4.6 million.
To unpack this for you, $115.7 million is now received and committed, $23.7 million pledged, and $14.9 million is being carried over from last year. Clearly, with the election just 10 days away, we’re hoping to see the remaining funding gap closed very quickly.
- UNHCR increases travel assistance to returning Afghans
The travel assistance provided to returning Afghans under UNHCR’s repatriation programme has been increased by 10 per cent.
Returnees will now receive between three and US$37 per person, depending on the distance to their destination. Under the programme, each person also receives US$12 to help them resettle in their homeland. The increase takes effect from today.
Please also note that the UNHCR facilitated voluntary repatriation programme from Pakistan will be temporarily suspended from September 15 to September 20, 2005 due to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.
During the break UNHCR teams will continue to register Afghans willing to voluntarily repatriate to Afghanistan from Pakistan. All Afghans who are registered during this period can voluntary repatriate to Afghanistan after the resumption of the programme on September 21, 2005.
International Literacy Day
Today, September 8 th is International Literacy Day and this year’s theme is the role of literacy in sustainable development.
Experience and research show that literacy can be an important tool for eradicating poverty, enlarging employment opportunities, advancing gender equality, improving family health, protecting the environment and promoting democratic participation.
In Afghanistan the situation is especially alarming. According to statistics from the recently published National Human Development Report, only 28% of adults aged 15 and above can read and write.
Questions & Answers
Question: Are there any specific security restrictions for the UN personnel during the elections?
Spokesperson: I will refer you first all to the rather detailed statement I gave on Monday, that is also available on our website. Our general policy is that we don’t comment on security issues affecting UN staff. But I will say that contrary to a press report early this week, there is no UN-wide policy of downscaling our staff numbers over this period. Decisions on whether staff members take leave or should be encouraged to take leave, are being taken by their supervisors in much the same way as normal.
Question: Does the funding fulfill your budgetary requirement for the parliamentary elections?
Spokesperson: As I mentioned earlier, there remains a funding gap of US$4.6 million at this point.
Questions: Has any country come up with pledges so far?
Spokesperson: Since the figure I last gave you, which was couple of weeks ago, money has been received from the European Commission and from the Japanese government.
Question: If the US$4.6 million shortfall remains, will it jeopardize the elections?
Spokesperson: No, it will not jeopardize the elections. At this time what we are mainly talking about is the need to [promptly] pay bills and settle accounts. I think I have made it clear all along that we do expect the full amount to appear. Obviously when you are running such a vast project as a nationwide election – and where you also have separate elections in every province as well as the parliamentary one – then clearly you want to able to pay your bills early on.
Question: Is the security situation getting worse? I am asking with reference to the safety of women candidates, who seem more vulnerable than men. Is UNAMA or the UN taking any particular steps or measures to ensure the safety of women candidates in the election?
Spokesperson: I think it is worth reminding that the main people dealing with security are the Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army. Now clearly the situation of women candidates is one we are all particularly interested in watching. I can refer you back to the 2nd Joint Political Rights Verification report which was issued a couple of weeks ago by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UNAMA. I think that if you go back to that report what you will see is that main constraints for women candidates were economic difficulties, such as in running campaigns and so on, but I recommend taking a closer look [at that report]. The JEMB may [also] be able to provide you with more detail.
Question: We have recently witnessed violence by Taliban forces, who have killed a number of candidates and civilians. Can this increase in insecurity jeopardise the elections?
Spokesperson: It is quite clear that the security environment surrounding the elections is one for concern. Will that jeopardise the elections and prevent them from going ahead? No it will not. This may not be a perfect election, [but] it will be acceptable and credible and also a very necessary election. We don’t have the luxury of being able to postpone this election until some time in the future when the circumstance may be perfect. Afghanistan needs its new parliament and provincial councils for many purposes – passing legislation, dealing with issues such as transitional justice, and providing an extra level of checks and balances to the system. It is our sense that there is popular will behind this. This is reflected in a number of ways: the high number of candidates taking part in the election; the success of the voter registration and re-registration drives; the success of last year’s presidential election. So we do think that people are behind this. I understand in the press that there is a lot of reporting on the problems, and the security issues and so on. It is also worth reflecting on what can be achieved if this process is a success.
Question: Will the Asian and European monitors go to all areas of Afghanistan and monitor the process. It has been reported that the Asian monitors will only go to 11 areas of Afghanistan.
Spokesperson: I am not privy to information on precisely where people are being located around the country. However, I think behind your question is the question of will there be international observers everywhere. Realistically, it is most likely that international monitors will be deployed in areas that they can easily get access to – this happens in every country. Does that mean there will be no monitoring in remote places – no it doesn’t. Monitoring is just one of many safeguards in this process. Each candidate, for example, can have his or her own representatives monitoring the process. I would strongly recommend that you talk to the JEMB on this, which is in a much better position to detail what is being done.
Question: You said that the elections process is not 100% perfect. Can you tell us what are the inadequacies?
Spokesperson: The difficulties that we face speak for themselves – one of them is the security situation that we have talked about. You may ask, for example, why would you hold an election when you don’t fully have the rule of law in a country? As I pointed out earlier, you have a choice between waiting for a time when you have all the components you need for a perfect election, or holding one now. Our argument is that it is necessary now. And we do not have the luxury of waiting. You need properly functioning institutions in any country. The parliament is just one of them.
Question: Are you concerned that the security situation will have an impact on the way people exercise their right to vote? And can you compare this to the presidential election?
Spokesperson: The security environment is an issue of paramount concern. We have said this all along, the Special Representative has said this all along, and we don’t wish to downplay the security issues we face. However, there are security measures in place for the election and we are looking forward to this [election] with the hope it will be a successful process. Comparisons with the presidential election are difficult - there is a very different set of elections being held.
Question: The JEMB has said that 5 candidates have been killed, 1 is missing and 280 have withdrawn. Are you concerned that more candidates will withdraw, as the security situation gets worse?
Spokesperson: I do not wish to speculate about whether candidates may or may not withdraw. Clearly in any election one’s hope is that you have the maximum amount of participation of both voters and candidates.
Dismissed army soldiers stage another demo in Kabul
KABUL, September 11 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Around 1,000 dismissed officers of the Afghan army staged a demonstration in this capital city to press for the payment of their outstanding salaries and reinstatement.
The rally was taken out at around 8:30am from the Eidgah Mosque and terminated at Pashtunistan Square, opposite the presidential palace, in the city center.
It was the latest in a series of demonstrations by the army officials, sacked in early 2002 under a defence ministry reforms programme aimed at bringing in newly-trained and professional soldiers.
The sacked army soldiers have since been demanding their unpaid salaries and the announcement of the result of a test given earlier to determine who among the dismissed officials deserved reinstatement.
One of the demonstrators, Naseer Ahmad kept shouting: "We want our right; we have served the government for years. Our children want food from us, but we have no money. Ultimately, we will have to resort to robberies if things don't change."
Shah Wali, another protestor who hails from Sarobi district, said: "We have no other way of seeking our right from the defence ministry; holding demonstrations is the only option open to us."
Campaign in Herat, Badakhshan turns a beauty contest
FAIZABAD, HERAT CITY, September 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Three young female candidates in western Herat and northern Badakhshan provinces are likely to grab seats in the next set up owing to their sheer facial beauty and attractive photographs.
Hundreds of supporters, who have never come in direct contact with the three females, are buying their pictures for as much as 150 afghani. Many more have pasted the photographs on their shops and cars without having any information about them.
However, the three aspirants, Qaeda Afif from Herat and Fauzia Gilani and Fauzia Kofabi from Badakhshan said they had never intended to get voter's support through their looks. "We want to serve our country and our people and the electorates should support us for our future plans rather than opting to vote for our photographs," said the three aspirants.
Their rivals, on the other hand, charged them of exploiting their beauty to create support for themselves. Jamshida Ahmadi, a candidate for the lower house, without specifically naming any one, told Pajhwok Afghan News some female candidates were trying to attract people by using their photographs.
Mohammad Karim, a shopkeeper at Herat City, who has pasted several posters of Qaida Afif at the wall of his shop, said: "I shall vote for that lady because I like her. "We know none of them but we are determined to vote for the most beautiful," said the smiling Karim.
A taxi driver Faridoon Mohammadi said posters of Qaida Afif and Fauzia Gilani were being sold both in Faizabad and Herat City for as much as 150 Afghani three dollars.
But the 28-year-old Qaida Afif spurned all such allegations, saying people favoured her for being young, educated and energetic. The smiley-faced and dark-eyed Qaida Afif is considered one of the hot favourites among election candidates in Herat. As many as 49 females are in the run for the five seats reserved for women in Herat.
Safiullah (40), resident of Faizabad, capital of the northern Badakhshan, said Fauzia Kofabi's photographs had been sold at 50 afghani in the city. Mohammad Azim, a baker in Faizabad, whose shop was pasted with Fauzia's posters, said a number of young men wished to purchase the pictures but he did not sell it.
Shabana, one of Fauzia Kofabi's election campaign deputies, when contacted by this scribe, expressed ignorance about the selling of posters like hot cakes. "We don't care about what people say," said the campaigner, adding let people express their will.
Kofabi, 30, is a UNICIF staffer who also served with the organisation during the rule of the hardliner regime in Kabul. She also served as an English teacher in the province. A regional official of the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) Syed Murtaza said no one had lodged a complaint with them about the sale of posters.
[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.] |
