Twenty-four-year-old Sabrina Sagheb is the youngest woman to stand in Afghanistan's parliamentary elections on 18 September 2005. Photographer Patrick Andrade spent 13 September on the campaign trail with her. Sabrina is campaigning on a platform of liberal reform and gender equality. She hopes to make the wearing of the burkha a matter of choice for all women and advocates an end to forced marriages.

Security Council extends mandate of security force in Afghanistan U.N. News Service; 13 September 2005 13 September 2005 -

The Security Council today voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for a year from the middle of next month and called upon United Nations Member States to commit more personnel, equipment and funds so that the force can work more effectively.

Extending the life of the force, ISAF, from 13 October until October of next year, the resolution noted that the responsibility for maintaining law and order ultimately rested with the Afghans themselves. Expressing its appreciation to Italy from taking over the command of ISAF from Turkey, however, it urged ISAF to work closely with the Afghan Government and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, as well as with the Operation Enduring Freedom Coalition on implementing its mandate. The resolution also requested quarterly reports from ISAF leaders through the Secretary-General on the implementation of its mandate.

After the United States-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, ISAF was established in December 2001, initially for six months, to assist the Afghan Interim Authority in maintaining security in Kabul and surrounding areas, so that the members of the Authority and UN mission personnel could work in a safe environment.

Afghan woman election candidate attacked, wounded

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Sept 15 (Reuters) - An Afghan woman candidate in Sunday's elections was wounded in a gun attack, officials said on Thursday, the latest in a string of violence against people taking part in the polls.

Afghans will vote for a new national assembly for the first time since 1969, as well as councils in all 34 of the country's provinces. Gunmen open fire on the woman candidate for a national assembly seat, Hawa Nuristani, while she was campaigning in the eastern province of Nuristan on Wednesday.

 "She's OK now, she's in stable condition," said Abdul Wakil Attak spokesman for the provincial governor. She had suffered two wounds to her arms and one on the side of her head, he said.

Attak said terrorists were responsible but no suspects had been arrested. The election commission in the capital Kabul confirmed the attack and said two reporters had been kidnapped at the time of the attack. The governor's spokesman said he had no information about any missing reporters.

Violence has surged in the run-up to the election but Afghan government and U.S. officials say they are confident the vote will not be seriously disrupted. Six candidates have been killed and Taliban insurgents, who have condemned the vote, have claimed responsibility for at least three of the deaths. Several candidates have been wounded in violence.

Three civilians, three suspected Taliban killed in Afghan province: governor

KABUL, Afghanistan - (AP) Police killed three suspected Taliban rebels who attacked their post, and a roadside bomb blast killed three civilians and wounded four others as violence continued in southern Afghanistan days before legislative elections, a top official said Thursday.

About 40 gunmen attacked a police post on a road in the mountainous Char-Chilo district of Uruzgan province late Wednesday, provincial Governor Jan Mohammed Khan said. Police killed three of the attackers and arrested one after a two-hour gunbattle, he said. The others escaped.

There were no casualties among 20 police manning the checkpoint, Khan said. Earlier Wednesday, a bomb exploded along a road frequently traveled by U.S.-led and Afghan army forces near Tirin Kot, the provincial capital, blowing up a civilian vehicle and killing three passengers, he said.

Three other men and a child riding in the vehicle were seriously wounded, Khan said. He blamed both attacks on Taliban rebels, saying the roadside bomb was probably aimed at U.S.-led or Afghan forces.

Taliban insurgents have stepped up attacks in volatile southern Afghanistan and vowed to subvert landmark legislative elections on Sunday seen as a major step toward democracy and stability in Afghanistan after a quarter-century of war.

Fighting has left more than 1,200 people dead in the past six months, including five candidates and four election workers, and Khan blamed the Taliban for the killings of seven men whose bodies were found in the province Tuesday along with their voter ID cards. About 20,000 U.S.-led troops and 11,000 NATO troops are to help provide security for the vote, and U.S. and Afghan officials have said they are confident it will be successful despite the violence and threats.

Kabul says Taliban cannot derail Afghan vote - By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Taliban guerrillas will try to sabotage Sunday's elections in Afghanistan but they will fail to derail them, the interior minister said on Thursday.

As he spoke came news that gunmen had shot and wounded a woman candidate as she campaigned in eastern Afghanistan. Local officials blamed "terrorists" for Wednesday's attack, the latest in a series against people taking part in the polls.

The Taliban, who have battled U.S.-led and government forces since their 2001 overthrow, are opposed to the parliamentary and provincial polls and have killed several candidates, but they have pledged not to attack polling sites.

Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said police had foiled more than 100 insurgent plots in the past month, including plans for bombings and suicide attacks, and had arrested a number of culprits including some foreign nationals, such as Pakistanis.

"The enemy will try before and during the elections to bring about a situation to frighten people," he said. "They may create some trouble and have done so far. (But) the ability of the enemy does not reach the limit to block the elections process." Thursday was the last day of the campaign. Candidates' vehicles covered in posters and with loudspeakers blaring crawled their way through Kabul's clogged and dusty streets.

Jalali said about 100,000 troops, including NATO peacekeepers and U.S.-led troops, would provide security for the polls, the next big step in the country's difficult path to stability. Jalali said police had been deployed at all of the 6,000 polling centres across the country and provincial officials had been ordered not to interfere in the voting process.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in violence this year in the run-up to the vote in which more than 1,000 people have been killed, most of them militants but including 49 U.S. troops in the bloodiest period since the Taliban's fall.

Violence has continued in insurgent troubled central and southern provinces, but there has been no dramatic spike in incidents in recent days. A spokesman for the governor of Nuristan province in eastern Afghanistan confirmed Wednesday's attack on Hawa Nuristani, a woman contesting a national assembly seat.

 "She's OK now, she's in stable condition," said spokesman Abdul Wakil Attak, adding that she had suffered two wounds to her arms and one on the side of her head.

On Wednesday night security forces killed three Taliban fighters in a clash in the insurgent-troubled central province of Uruzgan, bringing the number of deaths there to at least 13 in the previous 24 hours.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi confirmed the losses, but said the guerrillas had killed seven policemen in the clash. The Taliban and their militant Islamist allies such as al Qaeda are mostly active in areas close to the border with Pakistan. Afghan officials have repeatedly complained that the militants orchestrate most of their attacks in Pakistan.

Pakistan says it has deployed 80,000 troops along the border and has dismissed allegations that it lets militants cross back and forth, although it has acknowledged that small numbers might be able to sneak past patrols.

Pakistan recently offered to build a fence along the 2,400-km (1,500-mile) disputed border to prevent infiltration. Jalali said he thought the plan impractical, given the size of the border. Without mentioning Pakistan, he reiterated a government call for the source of the insurgency to be dealt with.

Pakistani general blames U.S., Afghan forces for surge in rebel attacks in Afghanistan - By MATTHEW PENNINGTON 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - (AP) A senior Pakistan army commander on Thursday blamed a lack of control by U.S. and Afghan forces over parts of Afghanistan for a rise in Taliban rebel attacks ahead of crucial parliamentary elections.

Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, who is leading thousands of troops in a hunt for militants in northwestern Pakistan along the Afghan border, claimed that no fighters are entering Afghanistan from Pakistan. He said the surge in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, ahead of Sunday's vote, is due to a lack of authority by the Afghan National Army and the U.S.-led coalition in parts of the country.

"They have not given the effort to (secure) the east and south that they have to the center and west of Afghanistan," he said. Attacks by Taliban rebels have been particularly numerous in the east and south, much of which border Pakistan.

U.S. and Afghan officials have said Taliban militants enter Afghanistan through Pakistan's tribal regions.Hussain said an additional 5,000 Pakistani troops were deployed in July to secure the border before the Afghan vote. That is in addition to more than 70,000 troops already in frontier areas to track down terror suspects.

"There is no infiltration going on from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Afghanistan should take equal measures to see that infiltration does not happen on either side of the border," he said.

Patrolling along the Afghan border has been increased, and troops are in posts that have been set up every 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) on the 600-kilometer (370-mile) part of the frontier under his command, Hussain said.

Hussain's comments came after a major offensive against militant suspects in North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan. He said 21 suspects, 11 of them believed to be foreigners, were arrested.

He added that no senior terror figure, such as al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, could be in the area. Any such target would be "a fool" to stay in the tribal areas because they have been "so well sanitized," or cleared of militants and their supporters, he said.

Pakistan was a close ally of the Taliban before it switched sides following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and became Washington's ally in the war against terrorism. A U.S.-led military campaign ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Afghanistan terms Pakistan's border fence proposal unacceptable

KABUL, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan government has termed  the border fence proposal of Pakistan as unacceptable and useless  for solving terrorism and border problems.

"Fencing border cannot resolve the problems of terrorism and  militant infiltration, as it is difficult to fence the 2,400 or 2, 500 km porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan," Afghan  Foreign Ministry spokesperson Naveed Ahmad Mois told Xinhua  Wednesday.

"It is just an idea, but not a formal proposal. We have not  received it officially," he added. Determination of border with Pakistan is unresolved and is a  very complicated issue. Keeping in mind the border violation by  Pakistan over the past years, it is difficult to settle the  problems easily," Mois said.

Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf on Monday unveiled plans  to build a "fence" along the border with Afghanistan to curb the  movement of militants bent on destabilizing the government in  Kabul, during a meeting in New York with US Secretary of State  Condoleezza Rice.

The border problem is a long-lasting problem between  Afghanistan and Pakistan since late 19th century, when British  colonial administrator drew a so-called Durand Line between the  two countries on a map to separate British India from Afghanistan.

The line, which was drawn intentionally to cut through the  Pashtun tribes, has caused turbulence in the two countries'  relations and worsened problems with regard to Pashtun nationalism. The Afghan side has declared the Duran Line invalid in 1949, but  until now the exact border is still undecided.

Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told Xinhua, "We  welcomes the adopted security measures by the Pakistani government, and increased forces in border area so that to ensure the security of two countries. Pakistan has promised to help ensure the  security, and control terrorism in the coming Afghan parliamentary election, and they did. They have established peace environment  before the election, and they must can do well during the election. "

Mashal said "during the two decades of war, the exact border  line has moved into the territory of Afghanistan for about 5 to 10 km from Pakistan side. In this case, the international commission  is needed to study the area and then determine the place of the  border fence," he said.

"The issue about Durand Line still remains the problem, and it 's the duty of the Interior Ministry of the two countries to solve the problem," Mashal added. With the coming of the Afghan first-ever parliamentary election, Taliban and militants have intensified the attack against  candidates and foreign troops, especially in some southern and  eastern provinces along the border with Pakistan. About 1,200  people have been killed during the past six months.  Enditem

US backs Pakistani-Afghan border fence - Randeep Ramesh, south Asia correspondent, September 14, 2005 The Guardian

Washington is backing a plan to build a 1,500-mile fence along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan to prevent Islamic insurgents and drug smugglers slipping between the two countries.

Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, yesterday made the proposal during a 75-minute meeting with the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, ahead of Sunday's parliamentary election in Afghanistan. The run-up to the vote has been marred by outbreaks of violence.

The cordon, officials said, would deter infiltration in both directions and there would be arrangements for controlled crossings. A spokesman for the US state department, Sean McCormack, told reporters that Washington thought it was "important that Pakistan and Afghanistan take up this idea".

Details of the fencing are sketchy although the Pakistani president said his country could not afford to construct the fence through mountainous terrain and a deeply conservative region "by itself". "We could do selective fencing," he said, as an alternative to an unbroken barrier.

Aware that the security situation could deteriorate in the run-up to the Afghan elections, Pakistan announced last week that it was sending 9,500 more troops to its border regions. Underlining the fragile peace in Afghanistan's southern cities adjoining Pakistan, Britain's defence secretary, John Reid, said in London that several thousand extra Nato troops would be needed in the volatile region.

Britain currently has about 900 troops in Afghanistan, mainly deployed around Kabul. Mr Reid said some British troops would move to a base in southern Helmand province, which has suffered several insurgent attacks in recent weeks and borders Pakistan.

Gen Musharraf, who is in the US to attend the UN general assembly, has been keen to stress that Pakistan is committed to stopping al-Qaida and the remnants of the Taliban using the rugged territory as a base. Pakistan's foreign minister rejected suggestions that the country was reluctant to confront Islamists in its semi-autonomous northern regions or the tribal leaders possibly sheltering them.

"We don't ever want anybody to say Pakistan is not doing enough," the foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, said. "Pakistan has nothing to hide. And we are fed up with people who say Pakistan has to do more to counter terrorism."

Pakistan claims to have broken the back of al-Qaida in Pakistan's towns and cities and its soldiers have rounded up 700 Islamic insurgents. The army has also been involved in bloody skirmishes in the valleys and mountains on the Afghan border.

Topping the list of US concerns is the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, still on the run four years after the 9/11 attacks. US intelligence officials have indirectly accused Pakistan of not vigorously pursuing Bin Laden. However, speaking to the New York Times, Gen Musharraf said Bin Laden's influence had waned considerably while he was "on the run, hiding". If Bin Laden is on the Pakistan-Afghan border, the president said, he is switching sides "wherever he sees danger".

Although the Taliban are a much-reduced force in the country they once ruled, Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has called on the international community not to forget the country once elections are held. "The international community should not immediately think Afghanistan's work has been done and it's over and let the Afghan people forge ahead with their work with their own resources," he told officials in Herat, western Afghanistan. President Karzai's comments echo sentiments voiced by the UN, which said last week that Afghanistan's political transition was far from secure and long-term international commitment was needed.

Voting for a national assembly and provincial councils in Afghanistan mark the formal end to a four-year process of international support launched in Bonn after US-led forces overthrew the Taliban. Donors are to meet in London in January to chart a new programme of help.

Pakistan busts tribal region's biggest Al-Qaeda base

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 15 (AFP) - Pakistan has busted the biggest Al-Qaeda base in the tribal zone of North Waziristan and recovered 15 truckloads of arms and ammunition in a swoop that will cut violence in neighbouring Afghanistan before key elections, a general said Thursday.

The militant den was in a madrassa, or Islamic school, and a nearby compound owned by the son of a former minister of the hardline Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan until late 2001, Lieutenant General Safdar Hussain told reporters.

He said the owner, Sirajuddin Haqqani, whom he described as a senior Al-Qaeda insurgent, managed to escape from a nearby hideout which was also raided. "The raid on the Haqqani madrassa and compound is still going on but we can say we have busted the biggest Al-Qaeda terrorist den in North Waziristan," Hussain, who commands troops in northwestern Pakistan, told reporters in the city of Peshawar.

The general first gave details about the raid, during which 21 militants were arrested, on Tuesday but this was first time he revealed the scale of the suspected hideout. "We have recovered 15 truckloads of ammunition and weapons from there and arms and ammunition are still being recovered," he said. He said 11 of those arrested were foreigners.

The operation would help to reduce bloodshed blamed on Taliban militants in the run up to Afghanistan's parliamentary elections on Sunday, the general said. Militants are suspected of crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan to launch attacks.

"Naturally it will reduce violence in Afghanistan," he said. "We also busted a communications centre which was used to coordinate operations in Afghanistan." Hussain said the border between the countries had been completely sealed and 763 guard posts had been established to prevent militants moving from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

On the day of the elections, Pakistan would conduct "extensive air surveillance with helicopters", he said. However Afghanistan had only set up 120 posts on the border, he said. "They need to do more to stop infiltration," he said.

Pakistan pushed tens of thousands of troops into the tribal regions early last year to crack down on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled there after the hardline Islamic Taliban regime was ousted by US-led forces in 2001. Last week Pakistan said it was sending 9,500 more troops to the border before Afghanistan's elections, bringing the total to 80,000.

Hussain said Pakistani forces had killed 353 militants in the tribal areas since March 2004, including 175 foreigners such as Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens, Chechens and a few Arabs. Nearly 270 Pakistani troops have also died and more than 670 have been wounded, some losing limbs.

Haqqani's father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was a former anti-Soviet fighter who later served as the Taliban's minister for frontier regions. He has not been found since the Taliban fled. Hussain said an official who tipped off Sirajuddin Haqqani and allowed him to escape had been arrested.

U.S. colonel says bin Laden ill - al-Hayat

CAIRO, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is in poor health and is seeking medical attention, the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat said on Wednesday, quoting a U.S. officer in Afghanistan.

"Osama bin Laden is trying to obtain medical attention," Colonel Don McGraw, director of operations at the Combined Forces Command in Kabul, told a group of British reporters, including one from al-Hayat, it said.

"He (McGraw) refused to say what the Qaeda leader is suffering from or whether it is the same kidney disease which Pakistani officials said in the past he was suffering from," the newspaper added. Al-Hayat said it was not clear how the U.S. military had obtained its information or where it thought bin Laden might be.

The Saudi-born militant is believed to have taken refuge somewhere on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan after escaping from U.S. troops and their Afghan allies who toppled the Taliban government that had hosted him in 2001.

The United States holds al Qaeda responsible for many attacks, including the suicide hijack assaults on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.

3-NATO allies resist US call for tougher Afghan role - By Mark John

BERLIN, Sept 14 (Reuters) - NATO allies France, Germany and Spain rejected a U.S. call on Wednesday for the alliance to help it fight the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, insisting NATO should stick to peacekeeping tasks there.

U.S. forces, already stretched by the war in Iraq, bear the brunt of the insurgency and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appealed at a meeting in Berlin for more help once Sunday's crucial Afghan parliamentary elections are out of the way.

But France and Spain insisted NATO's peacekeeping duties, mainly in the north and west but due to broaden, should remain separate from the 20,000-strong U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), focused in the more turbulent south and east.

"These missions must remain separate with separate chains of command. The only thing they have in common are that they are in the same country," said Spanish Defence Minister Jose Bono Martinez, echoing the view of France's Michele Alliot-Marie.

German Defence Minister Peter Struck, hosting the NATO meeting four days ahead of Germany's own elections his Social Democrats allies are seen losing, also expressed reservations. "I would not like to expose our soldiers to more danger by linking these two mandates together," he told German radio.

Britain, which is due to lead the expansion of NATO's 10,000-strong ISAF peacekeeping force into the south early next year, backed Rumsfeld's call, saying NATO had to be ready to fight insurgents where they found them.

"It has to have forces which are not paper forces," British Defence Secretary John Reid told reporters after talks with Rumsfeld. Britain, Canada and the Netherlands have pledged troops for NATO's expansion to the south.

Earlier Rumsfeld told reporters "it would be nice if NATO developed counter-terrorist capabilities" and suggested NATO also had a role in combating the huge Afghan drugs trade.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer acknowledged differences about how NATO should function alongside the OEF but insisted the alliance would continue expanding its presence. "The foundation for synergies (with OEF) is there and in that respect I am optimistic," he told a news conference.

OEF has been fighting in Aghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion to oust its Taliban former rulers. NATO took charge of the UN-mandated ISAF stabilisation mission two years later.

NATO has raised its presence in the capital Kabul, the north and the western part of Afghanistan. Next year it wants to expand into the more dangerous south and east -- a move that would allow the United States to consider major troop cuts.

Asked to comment on a New York Times report that Washington was studying plans to cut 4,000 troops, or 20 percent, in early next year, a Pentagon spokesman said no such proposal had been made to Rumsfeld but acknowledged a desire to cut troop levels.

"As NATO expands its responsibilities, as the Afghan national army gets more capable, there is obvious desire to see a reduction over time (in U.S. troop levels)," he said. Rumsfeld himself said the United States would maintain a "strong role" in Afghanistan as long as needed. "Ultimately our goal is for Afghans to provide for Afghan security," he told a news conference.

Canada pledges funds to assist with elections in Afghanistan

OTTAWA, Sept 14 (AFP) - Canada plans to award five million Canadian dollars (4.2 million US dollars) to help Afghanistan hold parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday, the minister of international cooperation said on Wednesday.

"We are stepping up to facilitate the government of Afghanistan's transition to a fully independent and democratically elected government that expresses the will of the people," Minister Aileen Carroll said in a statement.

The funds, which will be administered through the United Nations Development Program, were part of a 13 million Canadian dollar contribution to assist with Afghanistan's first parliamentary vote since 1969.

"It is important to realize that the process of democratic development will not end on election day," said Pierre Pettigrew, minister of foreign affairs.  "By building governance institutions and lasting capacity we will ensure that our investment will endure long beyond our engagement."

In July, Canada announced the deployment of some 2,000 soldiers and special forces to hunt down Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.

AFP INTERVIEW: UN warns Afghan democracy imperiled by poor government

KABUL, Sept 15 (AFP) - Afghanistan's transition to democracy is threatened by the frustration of ordinary Afghans who have seen little benefit from the four-year process, the UN's top official in the country said in an interview.

"They are frustrated with the civil administration. They are frustrated with the police and they are immensely frustrated with the justice system," UN special envoy Jean Arnault told AFP. "At the end of the day, many Afghans feel that the Bonn process has been disappointing," Arnault said.

The war-ravaged country on Sunday holds its first parliamentary elections in 30 years, the latest step in a tough path to democracy embarked on soon after the hardline Islamic Taliban regime was toppled in a US-led campaign in 2001.

At a UN-sponsored conference in the German city of Bonn that year, rival Afghan factions agreed on a power-sharing administration to replace the Taliban.

The administration was headed by Hamid Karzai, who was elected president in October last year. Sunday's polls, being organised with the help of the United Nations, will establish provincial and national parliaments.

The international community in March 2002 pledged 8.2 billion dollars for post-Taliban reconstruction, far short of the estimated 27 billion dollars necessary to rebuild the war-shattered country's infrastructure.

But, Arnault insisted, money is not the central problem in the minds of many Afghans. "I think that the collapse of the democratic experiment will come sooner from the popular disappointment with the lack of dividends from democracy before it comes from the fact that there is not enough money to go around," he said.

A key source of anger in the vastly underdeveloped nation is that the road and power network remains in poor shape despite the billions of dollars of aid. There are also concerns about corruption and government inefficiency, with many officials said to have links with local warlords, drug barons, or both.

"A top priority is the creation, at local level, of state services that deliver in a manner that is not corrupt or biased," Arnault said. Despite the setbacks there has been some progress, he said, particularly in strengthening the authority of the central government over regional warlords who continued their decades-old power struggles after the Taliban fell.

"If you look at the country today, you will see that while the elements of militarisation continue to exist and to exert an influence at a local level, at the national level that element is clearly no longer there in the same magnitude as it was in 2003," Arnault said.

A key challenge for the future will be coping with the withdrawal of dozens of international organisations that moved into the country to help with post-Taliban reconstruction.

More attention must be paid to "issues of sustainability so that in three, five or 10 years, when the international community begins to disengage, it doesn't leave behind it something which is bound to collapse under the weight of the wage bill," Arnault said.

Karzai faces battle to tame Afghan parliament

KABUL, Sept 14 (AFP) - Less than a year after winning Afghanistan's first presidential vote, Hamid Karzai will have to curb the power of warlords and opium kingpins who are likely to be elected to the nation's new parliament.

The charismatic Karzai has stamped his authority outside the capital in the past 11 months by taming some of the most powerful former mujahedin commanders, giving them central government positions to weaken their regional power bases.

"The authority of the central government and of Karzai, which was reduced to Kabul at the beginning, has extended virtually everywhere, even if his commands are not always followed," said Francesc Vendrell, special representative of the European Union in Afghanistan.

But the dapper US-backed leader will soon have to deal with 249 squabbling members of the lower house of parliament, who will be chosen in historic polls on Sunday. They are likely to present Karzai, 47, with some daunting hurdles. Most Afghan provinces and districts still remain under the thumb of commanders with private armies, left over from the war to oust the Soviet army and then the Taliban regime.

And many warlords are deeply involved in the drug trade, which accounts for almost half the country's economy and for around 90 percent of the world's opium supply. "While there has been a measure of progress in limiting the influence of the military factor at national level, the deeper you go in terms of the provincial and the district level, the more militarised political life tends to be," said Jean Arnault, the UN's special envoy to Afghanistan.

While 45 people have been struck off the electoral roll, mostly for links with illegal militias, many feared local commanders are still standing for election.

In a speech to tribal leaders and Islamic clerics in the western city of Herat on Tuesday, Karzai urged Afghans "not to vote for those who have done no good for the country." At the same time, he rebuffed criticism from rights groups for including warlords in the democratic process.

"Sometimes I hear criticism that all sorts of people have become candidates -- former communists, former Taliban, former mujahedin and others -- but I am happy that today we have an Afghanistan in which people feel safe and secure and they stand as candidates," he said.

Nevertheless, many candidates linked with the Northern Alliance, the US allies who helped oust the hardline Taliban regime in 2001, are standing for election and they will have a veto on Karzai's 27-member cabinet.

Those in the most powerful positions also hail, like Karzai, from the country's ethnic Pashtun majority. If other disgruntled groups such as the Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks form a united front they could make life very difficult for the president, analysts say.

"It remains to be seen whether you will get any defined voting blocs other than splits along ethnic lines, but it could make it harder for Karzai to push through legislation on drugs if you have many drug barons elected," said a western expert working with candidates.

In the provinces, where more than 80 percent of the population are illiterate and many people still earn a living growing opium, making an informed choice will be difficult. "I honestly can't see it changing," said a diplomat on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his views. "Corruption and drugs reach to the highest levels of government.

"It took Thailand decades to wipe out opium. For Afghanistan it will be longer." Karzai may also find it harder to reshuffle provincial governors around the country to stem corruption. "You can dismiss people at will when you've appointed them, but it is a lot harder to do that when they have been elected by a popular mandate," said a western security expert.

EU elections observer blasts Afghan poll: report

HONG KONG, Sept 15 (AFP) - Afghanistan's parliamentary election this weekend will fail to instill a lasting culture of democracy and the voting process is flawed, the head of EU election observers said in Thursday's Financial Times.

"I simply don't think this election is going to produce a sustainable form of political debate and a healthy political life," Emma Bonino told the newspaper. "I'm not totally negative about the process, but things could have been done a lot better."

Bonino said her team of 60 independent election observers for Sunday's first parliamentary election in Afghanistan in decades had been prevented from working in five of the country's 34 provinces because of a violent insurgency.

"It is a major political issue that part of the country is not under control. It is more than intimidation. Violence and clashes are scaring people. There's a war going on one way or another," she told the paper. "This should be a major worry for the international community."

The Taliban -- the hardline Islamic militants who ruled the country before their ouster in a US-led war after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States -- have vowed to sabotage preparations for the polls.

Six candidates have died in political violence since early July, when some 5,800 men and women signed up as candidates. On Tuesday, Taliban militants shot dead seven Afghan civilians after finding a registration document for the elections in their car.

Bonino also criticised the fact that some candidates are backed by warlords, and said President Hamid Karzai had marginalised political parties in what the paper cited analysts as saying was a bid to split parliamentary opposition.

Afghan warlord backs abuse probe, says not guilty - By David Brunnstrom

PAGHMAN, Afghanistan, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A former mujahideen leader accused of war crimes said on Wednesday he supports an investigation into abuses during Afghanistan's long civil war.

But Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf, whose Ittihad-i-Islami faction battled Soviet occupiers in the 1980s and helped U.S.-led forces to oust the Taliban in 2001, denied wrongdoing and defended his right to stand in Sunday's parliamentary elections.

"If there was some proof that I had committed some crimes, then I will be responsible for that, but I am sure that we have worked for the freedom of the country," he told reporters during a campaign rally in Paghman, a district west of Kabul. "We have struggled against crimes and didn't commit crimes," he said. "These are only the claims of those who are against us and against the freedom of this country."

Sayyaf said he supported the punishment of criminals, but investigations needed to be done impartially. "We want a pure and clear and sincere investigation," he said. "We want the facts to be uncovered. We want the facts to be well known to the nation."

Sayyaf rejected charges from critics who say he and other mujahideen (holy warrior) commanders accused of rights abuses should not have been allowed to stand in the elections, the next big step in Afghanistan's difficult path to stability.

"When we were rescuing the world from the dangers of the Red Army -- in that time, where were the objections? In that time we were heroes, and now we are criminals?

Sayyaf is an ethnic Pashtun and a key supporter of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai. Sporting a long grey beard, a turban and traditional robes, he is among the most conservative Islamist figures standing in the elections.

A Human Rights Watch report in July accused Ittihad of widespread killing and abduction of rival ethnic Hazara civilians during battles for control of western Kabul in the 1990s and said Sayyaf was directly implicated in the abuses.

Sam Zarifi, deputy director for Asia for the rights group, welcomed Sayyaf's support for an investigation, but said he himself had a lot to answer for. "There is very strong proof, including reporting by Human Rights Watch, that Mr Sayyaf's forces were involved in crimes against humanity and war crimes in Kabul between 1992 and 1995, especially," he told Reuters.

"It's not just him -- there are lot of others, but we hope from what we heard today that there is a commitment on the part of the government to start looking for justice."

Zarifi said there were also allegations that, since the overthrow of the Taliban, Sayyaf and other warlords had been involved in intimidation of political rivals, contributing to a prevailing atmosphere of fear.

He said it was telling that armed militiamen, including a machine-gunner posted on the roof of the mosque where Sayyaf was speaking, had attended the campaign rally in Paghman.

"It really raises questions. There is no threat directed at Mr Sayyaf, certainly not in this area. The presence of armed troops at what is ostensibly a campaign rally says a lot about the intimidating presence of such people on the electoral rolls."

A total of 45 candidates have been barred from the elections, most for links to illegal armed groups, but no prominent figure is among them, raising concerns that the polls will help institutionalise a culture of impunity.

This week, Karzai defended the fact that Sayyaf and others accused of rights abuses had been allowed to run in the polls, saying it was in the interests of national reconciliation.

He said voters had the choice of who to vote for and, if there was a tribunal to prosecute abuses, parliament could decide whether to lift the immunity of anyone elected. Many ordinary Afghans have been bemused by the presence of warlords' names on poll lists, but from Paghman at least it appears Sayyaf can expect a solid show of support.

Nineteen-year-old student Rahifullhah, walking past Paghman's jewel-blue Qarghar Lake, said Sayyaf was respected as a jihadi (holy war) commander who worked for the good of the people. He dismissed the idea that he had been responsible for war crimes.

"I don't agree with that," he said. "People can decide for themselves who they want to vote for, but I don't want to hear that people are saying that."

Former Taliban leader supports democracy in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- A former Taliban leader and election candidate Mullah Abdul Samad Khaksar termed the election as a significant step towards democracy.

"It is my right to contest the election, it is the right of all Afghans to run for the parliamentary polls and strengthen democracy in the country," he told Xinhua at his home province Kandahar Wednesday.

Khaksar, who served as Deputy Interior minister during the Taliban reign, claimed that he has received threat from his former friends warning him to withdraw the contest or face the music. "Neither the government nor foreign troops have threatened me but the Taliban who vowed to eliminate me if I contest the polls,"he added.

However, the bearded Khaksar who runs independently the elections downplayed the warning and said, "Let them kill me but I will not withdraw from the race as I like to serve our people through parliament."

"Our people have suffered a lot. Enough is enough. Any one, either it is Taliban or others, wants to sabotage the peace process is the enemy of the country," the ex-Taliban official noted. Commenting on the US military presence in Afghanistan, the turbaned Mullah said the coming parliament should decide over it.

About his possible link with the Taliban movement, Khaksar said that he had already severed all kind of relations with the militia. Khaksar, who is one of the nine former Taliban leaders contesting the legislative polls, said any Afghans irrespective of their political affiliation can stand for the elections

Criticizing his former colleagues, the 48-years old Khaksar said, "It is the time to rebuild our war-ravaged country jointly." Asked if he was satisfied with government's performance, the former Taliban dignitary responded cautiously.

"Though I have some complaints and reservations but in general I am satisfied that a government is ruling the country and the reconstruction process even it is slow is going on," he stressed.

Taliban regime during its six-year reign which collapsed by US military invasion in late 2001 had banned girl schools, confined women to houses, shutdown music and outlawed all political groups.

"I am sure that with the strengthening of the central government security will be improved and democracy will be boosted," the ex-fundamentalist Mullah hoped. Enditem

Sore losers may pose biggest Afghan threat

NAKA DISTRICT, Afghanistan, Sept 15 (AFP) - It's been the bloodiest year since the Taliban fled Kabul in their signature pickup trucks in 2001 and merged into Afghanistan's rugged mountainscape.

But few expect the newly resurgent Islamic rebels to launch attacks during Sunday's parliamentary and provincial council elections. Instead, experts say, the bloodshed is likely to come after polling day.

"In the run-up to the vote, we will see violent incidents but too many factions have too much to gain to disrupt the polls," said Christian Willach of the Afghanistan NGO Security Organisation.

That includes the Taliban, who have vowed not to attack polling booths on election day despite an increasingly organised insurgency that has left 1,000 people dead this year, including 50 US soldiers. The reason is that some are running for parliament themselves.

In the militant stronghold of Naka district, nestled in the southeastern province of Paktika, US Captain Joseph Geraci told AFP that some former militants who had been implicated in attacks on the US were standing for polls.

"Some of them may have come over to the government side," Geraci said while on patrol in the restive district, where US troops are frequently targeted by roadside bombs. Meanwhile, veterans of the Taliban's former opponents from the Northern Alliance, the group of one-time anti-Soviet warriors who helped topple the regime in 2001, are also standing.

"The Taliban, and everyone else who has arms, are simply waiting to see whether they win at the ballot box," said a diplomat in Kabul. "If they don't, then we'll see violence." More than 5,700 candidates are standing for the councils and for the 249-seat lower house of parliament -- meaning a lot of losers in a country where many militia commanders still hoard large arms caches.

Afghanistan's voting system favours individual candidates above political parties, so there are far more people standing for election than there would be in a two-party democracy like the United States. "The voting system is an Achilles heel. It means that you'll have 5,000 very angry people who may not want to accept the result," said a western analyst in Kabul.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group has termed it a "lottery" because some candidates will be elected with thousands of votes while others, especially women for whom places are reserved, could win with only dozens. The electoral law also states that if a candidate cannot take their position for any reason, the person with the next number of votes will automatically take their place, the only proviso being that only a woman can take the seat of a woman who drops out.

Rights groups have called it the "assassination clause." "It is a pretty dangerous piece of legislation," said Sam Zarifi, Afghan researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The only other place it has been used is Cambodia, where it resulted in the assassination of a number of candidates, which could also happen in the Afghan environment," he said.

Security experts in Afghanistan said violence could surge at the point in the two- or three-week vote-counting period where it becomes clear who the losers are. "I call the couple of weeks that come after the elections the free-fire period," said a western security source. "In the aftermath of the vote we'll see a lot of violence, not directed at the international community but basically a shake-down to see who sits where."

If Taliban-linked candidates win a large number of seats in southern and eastern Afghanistan, it will be much easier for them to create bases within the country, rather than across the border in Pakistan's tribal areas. "After the election, central government control in some areas could be much weaker, and the insurgents will be able to create safe-havens," the security expert said.
 

Some pin hopes on Afghan business revival - by Rachel Morarjee

KABUL, Sept 15 (AFP) - Karim Siddiqi looks through the mirrored blue glass on the eighth floor of Kabul's tallest building and onto the bustling city below, where some of the poorest people in the world scrape a living.

"When you come here you don't feel as if you are in Afghanistan. It was all built by foreign engineers," says Siddiqi, 55, a month after he and a partner threw open the doors of the Kabul Business Center for the first time. "I built this office block because we must rebuild our own country and do as much as we can to persuade people to come back and invest," he said.

The air-conditioned, three-million-dollar development shows the confidence that some Afghans have in the future of the war-scarred country as it prepares for landmark parliamentary polls on Sunday.

Four years ago the Taliban were still beating women for not wearing burqas, but now hip young Afghans in the big cities avidly watch heavily made-up female presenters on newly-launched music video channels. Women work and go to school while the young are learning English to improve their chances of doing business. But that's only one side of Afghanistan.

Most of its estimated 28 million people scrape by on under two dollars a day, over 40 percent of economic growth comes from the opium industry, and life has changed little for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Concerns are mounting that, despite the veneer of progress, the billions of dollars of foreign aid that has flooded into the country since 2001 are not trickling down to the masses. "At present, 15 percent of the population receives 80 percent of the benefits of growth," World Bank director for Afghanistan Jean Mazurelle said earlier this year.

Even within Kabul and other major cities like Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat, there is a yawning wealth gap between those who have benefited from the international presence in the country and those who have fallen by the wayside.

For one thing, there are not enough jobs. "I came back from Pakistan because I heard on the radio from President Karzai that there would be jobs, housing, a new life here, and I left behind a business in Quetta," said day labourer Mohammed Nasir, whose family lives in the squalid remnants of a bombed out Kabul building.

Afghanistan's main economic activity remains opium growing and the country still produces 87 percent of the world's supply, despite a 21 percent drop in the area under cultivation this year.

Farmers can't be persuaded to drop lucrative, durable opium poppies for other crops, while the drug mafia is interwoven with the highest levels of national and provincial government.

Most of the country's infrastructure is also in ruins after back-to-back Soviet and civil wars followed by the US-led toppling of the Taliban. Bringing the country out of the past is a process that will take years, said the World Bank's Mazurelle.

On paper, Afghanistan has the strongest growth in south Asia with non-drug GDP surging by 29 percent in 2002, 16 percent in 2003, and a projected 15 percent this year, according to the World Bank.

But foreign direct investment, which underpins growth in emerging economies, has lagged far behind at around two percent per year due to security fears stoked by an insurgency in the south and east of the country. "The rate of investment is ridiculous compared to the growth of the population," said Emmanuel de Dinechin, manager of Kabul-based Altai Consulting.

But Dinechin is optimistic that successful parliamentary elections could usher in change. "Afghanistan is virgin territory for business," he said. "If the elections go well there could be a frenzy of investment, but safety remains the number one concern."

Afghan candidates' meeting displays fragile peace, fledgling democracy -
By STEVE GUTTERMAN

GULBAHAR, Afghanistan - (AP)    As a teen, Abdul Qodos fought Soviet forces in this town on the sun-baked plains northeast of Kabul. He was back Wednesday for an experiment in democracy, one of hundreds of elders and community leaders who came to hear candidates running in Afghanistan's landmark legislative elections.

From across Kapisa province, they streamed into a former movie house ringed by rocky mountain slopes. Their mission: listen, ask questions, then go home to advise people how to vote Sunday in what is seen as a key step toward stability after 25 years of conflict.

"I want to see who is good, I want to hear what the candidates say," Qodos said. As candidates gathered on the stage, boys in white vests moved along the aisles, pouring water for rows of men in flat-topped brown felt hats, white skullcaps and turbans. A row of women sat in the back, the hoods of their blue burqas thrown back to expose their faces.

The meeting was organized by Kapisa Governor Satar Murad as part of government efforts to assure people the elections will be free and fair and that they can vote for whomever they choose without fear of pressure from warlords who still wield strong influence.

"People are tired," said Qodos, 37, who claimed he commanded a small group that battled the Taliban after fighting against the Soviets. "We do not want any more war." But the tensions that seethe nearly four years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban boiled to the surface when critics of one candidate, Abdul Hadi, alleged he had led Taliban fighters and accused him of killings and other crimes.

Hadi stormed out with several followers in tow. Tense shouting matches erupted outside before he agreed to return, underlining the challenge in breaking with Afghanistan's turbulent past and building democracy.

Human rights activists say some warlords involved in the bloodshed of the past quarter-century have slipped through a U.N.-backed review to become candidates and fear their participation in the vote could undermine its goals.

There are also concerns that the elections of a national parliament and 34 provincial assemblies may simply cement existing rifts in society, with voters casting ballots along traditional ethnic, tribal and religious lines rather than for specific policies.

"It is quite likely that communities will vote for people they know and for traditional leaders," said Trevor Martin, head of office for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan for the country's central region.

"It's important that a political process take place, so that candidates or parties can begin to develop political agendas that can be expressed and debated," he told The Associated Press. "Clearly it will take some time to achieve this."

Martin also said recent history has made many Afghans mistrustful of politicians. That was reflected in the largely respectful but sometimes raucous exchanges between candidates and the audience on an array of key issues _ women's rights, foreign policy, a persistent Taliban insurgency and the presence of U.S. and NATO forces.

One questioner wanted to know what a parliament is _ sparking a lengthy response from a professor who is seeking a seat. A white-bearded elder drew some of the loudest applause when he told another candidate that if elected, he must work for the people, provide health care and build schools, and not just "eat and make your stomach big."

Strange! Mulla Zaeef Talks About International Norms and Standards

Editorial/Daily Outlook Afghanistan - Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former ambassador of the Taliban to Islamabad is released from the notorious US naval detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mulla Zaeef is one of the high ranking Taliban leadership. He was also a key media person during the US offensive to crush the terrorist installations from Afghanistan by overthrowing Taliban/Al Qaeda regime. He had the tough job of bluffing on behalf of the Taliban chief Mulla Omar. He was calling the campaign of the US led anti terrorist coalition as the part of the US expansionism. He kept busy hundred of media agencies for couple of weeks.

Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef, like the majority of the Taliban leaders, belongs to Kandahar. He was born in Panjwai district of Kandahar which is still one of the trouble areas of the southern Afghanistan. He served on senior posts in various important ministries like defense, transport and industries during the terror rule of the Taliban, but he got his fame as the last Taliban's ambassador to Islamabad, with his almost daily anti American press conferences during the US air strikes on Kandahar, the iron gripped headquarters of the Taliban.

After the collapse of the Taliban/Al Qaeda regime, Mulla Zaeef tried to use his diplomatic immunity and decided to stay in Pakistan, but soon he was handed over to the US forces. He was shifted to Guantanamo Bay detention center and since last four years was detained there.

Since couple of months, Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Commission, headed by ex-president professor Sibghatullah Mujaddadi is busy mediating between the Taliban and the Karzai administration. Tens of notorious Taliban leaders were brought to Kabul under the same reconciliation program by labeling them as moderate Taliban.

The government sponsored commission claims that Mulla Zaeef was released from detention by their efforts. It is to be mentioned here that hundreds of the Taliban until now have been released from various US detention centers inside Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

Mulla Zaeef was received in Kabul as a high profile guest and showed on state TV meeting with the various officials (AP). After reaching here in Kabul, he accused Pakistan of handing him over to the US by violating all the international norms and standards. He said, "The Pakistan government, which gave me a diplomatic visa, had formally allowed me to live there after the Taliban government's fall in 2001 and Islamabad had firmly assured me for a safe stay in Pakistan."

It is to be remembered here that Kabul could not yet gain any specific achievement through its reconciliation policy toward the Taliban. Even those Taliban leaders who were released from various US prisons by the direct influence of Kabul are reluctant to show their support to President Karzai's government. On the other hand, there are daily news of bloody confrontations between the US led coalition and Taliban/Al Qaeda insurgents. The soft corners shown for so called moderate Taliban and the royal treatment accorded to them did not help in bringing down the scale of violence.

It was really strange when Mulla Zaeef talked about the international norms and standards. How could he forget the rule of terror over Afghanistan under the black period of Taliban/Al Qaeda rule? How could he forget the systematic massacres of thousands of innocent Afghans with the charges of being related to one or the other community and religion? How could he forget that they were the prime exporters of the terror throughout the world? How could he forget that their hands are stained with the blood of thousands of innocents from Afghanistan to New York and from Russia to Uzbekistan?

How could he forget that they converted Afghanistan into a big prison for women? How could he forget that they were not bound to any declarations and conventions to respect human rights and humanity? Abiding by which norms and standard they tortured and summarily murdered Abdul Ali Mazari, the head of Wahdat party, on March 12, 1995? How could he forget that they killed Dr. Najibullah the last Soviet backed president of Afghanistan, in the most brutal way by pulling him out of the UN compound in Kabul by force and hanged his body on a post for several days?

God know where this so called reconciliation process will end. What does the Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Commission want by collecting all the war criminals and giving them the protocol of national heroes? This is reconciliation with killers and murderers.

The most important point in all this deal is that the US led anti terrorism coalition by releasing these war criminals not only does not help stability and peace but bring under question the whole process of war on terror.

[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.]