President Karzai Calls President Musharraf - Date of Release - 30 Sept. 2005
Presidential Palace, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, made a phone call to H.E. Pervez Musharraf, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan last night.
During this conversation that took 57 minutes the two Presidents discussed all matters of bilateral concerns. Particularly, the issue of security and the fight against terrorism were discussed in a frank and friendly manner.
Both Presidents agreed that the discussion on mutual interest shall continue in the future and that bilateral visits of high level officials should also increase.
Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Karzai, Musharraf agree on joint anti-terror drive - S. Mudassir Ali Shah & Borhan Younus
KABUL, September 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghanistan and Pakistan Thursday renewed their resolve to push ahead with their joint campaign against the menace of terrorism, which posed a grave threat to both the countries.
The reiteration of the vow came during an hour-long telephonic conversation between President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a senior official at the Presidential Palace told this news agency late Thursday night.
Karim Rahimi, spokesman for President Karzai, said the two leaders discussed the whole gamut of bilateral relations in a frank and candid manner. "They agreed on continuing high-level discussions on expanding mutually beneficial relations between the neighbours.
He added Musharraf and Karzai conferred in detail on security issues, the ongoing joint campaign against terror and ways of further strengthening relations between the two nations. "It was the Afghan president who made the telephone call after 7.00pm," the spokesman revealed.
During the call lasting 57 minutes, Rahimi said, the two leaders agreed on continuing with dialogue on questions of bilateral interest including trade and political cooperation. The two leaders would exchange visits, for which dates would be firmed up later on, to carry forward the process of mutual consultations, he continued.
Rahimi skirted the question if the border-fencing proposal, floated by President Pervez Musharraf during his recent US trip, was also discussed during the lengthy conversation. He, however, suggested the sheer duration of the call indicated wide-ranging talks on all subjects of interest to the two countries.
Answering a query, the spokesman disclosed Deputy Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel had been named as acting interior minister after Ali Ahmad Jalali formally tendered his resignation a day earlier. He said Karzai had approved Jalali's resignation while decreeing Zarar's appointment as acting interior minister.
It will be pertinent to recall that Zarar Ahmad, who has also been the governor of the northern Parwan province, was appointed as deputy interior minister in February 2005.
British defence secretary in Afghanistan for talks - September 30, 2005
KABUL (AFP) - British Defence Secretary John Reid arrived in Afghanistan to hold talks with Afghan leaders over his country's help for the war-torn nation and to visit British troops, officials said.
Reid would meet with the US-backed president Hamid Karzai in his heavily-guarded palace in the capital Kabul on Saturday, presidential spokesman Khaliq Ahmad told AFP on Friday. "They'll discuss bilateral issues including Britain's military assistance to Afghanistan," the spokesman said.
Reid would also meet his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak on the same day and the two ministers would appear later at a press conference, according to Afghan defense ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
Lieutenant Kate Morahet, spokeswoman for British troops with the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, confirmed that Reid had arrived in Kabul on a four-day visit. She said Reid would visit British troops based in Afghanistan and also open a British-founded school in Kabul.
Karzai's four-day visit to France from Sunday
KABUL, September 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan President Hamid Karzai is scheduled to head to France on Sunday on a four-day visit as part of his campaign to muster foreign support for his strife-torn country after the Sept 18 legislative elections marking culmination of the Bonn process.
He will also attend the general assembly of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris and urge the agency to play a robust role in rebuilding Afghanistan's education and cultural sectors.
Khaleeq Ahmad Khaleeq, assistant spokesman on international affairs for Hamid Karzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Friday the president would meet his French counterpart Jacques Chirac, Defence Minister Michle Alliot-Marie and Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Monday.
"He will ask the French government not to abandon Afghanistan after the implementation of the Bonn Accord because the reconstruction effort has not yet come to an end; rather it needs further help," said the spokesman, who added Karzai would also go to other countries to seek their assistance.
According to the spokesman, the president will hold talks with his hosts on continuation of French support for Afghanistan's reconstruction, security, economy and cultural revival. France is already putting in efforts to help the South Asian nation map its route to stability.
On Tuesday, Karzai will deliver a speech to French Parliament before attending the UNESCO general assembly on Wednesday. He would meet the president of the French National Assembly, Khaleeq added.
France has been one of the major supporters of Afghanistan's reconstruction and the post-Taliban political process. Also a key partner in the US-led war on terror, Paris was part of the coalition that ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001.
US security boss 'shot dead' Afghan interpreter: police
HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept 29 (AFP) - An American supervisor at a security firm shot dead his Afghan interpreter apparently after a disagreement, police here said on Thursday.
The Afghan, identified as Noor Ahmad, was working for United States Protection and Investigation (USPI) which is providing security for companies building a road in the western province of Farah, they said.
"An American man ... killed his interpreter inside their camp on Wednesday," provincial police chief Allahuddin Noorzai told AFP. The victim's brother, Sher Ahmad, also said Noor was killed by his boss. An official in the firm said he was not aware of the incident.
USPI is one of the biggest security firms in Afghanistan, employing hundreds of foreign security guards as well as Afghans, including former members of private militias, to secure construction sites on a ringroad linking the Afghan capital with Kandahar in the south and western Herat.
A British security expert working in Farah province with USPI was killed after an ambush last month. Taliban rebels claimed responsibility for the killing.
STATEMENT ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE SPOKESMAN OF THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR AFGHANISTAN
UNAMA, Kabul – The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemns in the strongest terms yesterday’s suicide attack against members of the Afghan National Army in Kabul. We offer our sympathy to the families of the victims and our best wishes for the recovery of the wounded.
The Afghan National Army has played a key role in creating a safe environment for the 18 September elections and, since its creation, has been increasingly effective in promoting the country’s stability and defending the population against extremist violence.
We therefore take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the soldiers and officers of the ANA that have laid down their lives in the accomplishment of their mission. We trust that the people of Afghanistan will find in yesterday’s attack yet another reason to reject violence and rally in support of the national army.
China vows to back political peace in Afghanistan
BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will back political peace and economic reconstruction process in Afghanistan, said Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan here Friday.
China seeks to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with Afghanistan in a win-win manner, Tang told Afghan Vice Foreign Minister Zalmay Aziz, who is here for consultations with his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo.
China will also urge the international community to help Afghanistan achieve stability and prosperity, said Tang. "China highly respects the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and respects its people's independent choice of social system and development mode," said Tang.
Meanwhile, Tang voiced his opposition to foreign countries' interference with Afghanistan's internal affairs. The growth of Sino-Afghanistan relations has maintained a good momentum in the past three years, acknowledged Tang. China will work with Afghanistan to lift bilateral relations to a new height.
Aziz thanked China for its role in Afghanistan's peace process,hoping the neighbor could continue to involve itself in the reconstruction of his country so as to contribute more to peace inAfghanistan and regional stability. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Aziz Friday morning. Enditem
EU Raises Concerns Over Afghan Vote Fraud - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
30 September 2005 -- The European Union today raised concerns over vote fraud in Afghanistan, where counting continues after recent legislative elections. In a statement today, the EU election observation mission in Kabul said some provinces had seen ballot stuffing, proxy voting and possible intimidation of voters.
While not nationwide, it said the problem is a "cause for concern" and called on the UN-backed Afghan electoral body to address the problem "in a transparent and effective way in order to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process."
The EU body of 120 observers who monitored the Afghan polls on September 18 continues to oversee counting in 32 centers across the country. More than half the votes have been counted. Initial results are expected next week, with the final results to be announced after a two-week complaints period.
Initial trends spell trouble for Karzai in Afghan polls - IANS-
09/29/2005
Initial vote count trends in Afghanistan's parliamentary polls indicate trouble for incumbent President Hamid Karzai once the house is constituted in December. At the end of the first week of the painfully slow progress of counting - hardly 20 percent of votes have been counted so far - most of Karzai's opponents are leading the tally, spelling trouble for the US-backed president.
To run the administration smoothly, Karzai has to have a majority of parliament members backing him because, according to Afghanistan's new constitution, all his decisions and decrees have to be ratified by parliament. Even the appointment of cabinet ministers and judges is to be approved by parliament.
The trends show that in Kabul province, which has the maximum of 33 seats including nine reserved for women, three of Karzai's former colleagues in his interim cabinet are leading the field.
They are former vice president and Hazara Shia leader, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, ethnic Tajik giant Mohammad Yunus Qanooni, who was a close associate of legendary fighter Ahmad Shah Masoud, and another former Karzai minister, French-educated Ramazan Bashardost, who resigned from the cabinet after alleging that many foreign NGOs were indulging in extravagance and eating into aid funds.
Only a couple of candidates owing some allegiance to Karzai may get elected from Kabul province. Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a very powerful warlord and Islamist jehadi leader often accused of human rights abuses during the civil war among jehadi groups around Kabul in the 1990s, is at the fourth place.
Reports from the provinces also reveal that several former mujahideen commanders, many of whom still maintain armed groups, and political figures from jehadi factions are leading the tally.
Putting it all together, in case they reach parliament, they are likely to make things difficult for Karzai and put a spanner in his reforms programme, drawing Afghanistan again into the conservative mode.
Karzai has not formed any political party of his own. He enforced party-less parliamentary elections and introduced the multiple constituency system, hoping it would create confusion among his adversaries and give him an opportunity to manipulate the post-election scenario.
This had made it rather cumbersome for his adversaries to manage getting a maximum of their followers elected to parliament. Though most candidates owe allegiance to about 80 registered political parties, they had to contest as independents. This is likely to result in polarisation immediately after the results are known and large-scale horse trading is expected to follow.
Most jehadi leaders are unhappy with Karzai and his US backers, saying that they have been largely left out of the spoil system after the rout of the Taliban.
Powerful warlord and Shia Hazara leader Sardar Sayeedi told IANS in Mazar-e-Sharif: "We fought against the Russians and suffered greatly. But when we see that the very people (Pushtuns) who ruined the country are again gaining power, sidelining those who made sacrifices, we feel cheated and we will not allow this to continue after we get our people into the parliament."
Alam Khan Azad, another warlord and prominent leader of the Northern Alliance of Arab origin, said: "Leaders like Mohaqiq (Hazara), Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum (Uzbek) and Marshal Fahim (Tajik), who drove away the Russians and the Taliban, are out of the government and sulking while those who ran away from the country (Karzai and his ministers) are enjoying and ruling with the support of foreigners.
"This is not going to be the case once we are in the parliament," Azad declared. All those nursing grudges at being left out are likely to gang up together to give a tough time to Karzai in the new parliament.
The UN-constituted Joint Election Management Body said the counting is likely to be concluded by Oct 4 and two weeks will be given to handle complaints. The final results will be declared Oct 22.
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with chief electoral officer, Peter Erben
KABUL, 30 September (IRIN) - After almost three decades of conflict and violence, Afghanistan marked its entry back to a civil and lawful rule last October when Hamid Karzai was elected president with a 55 percent majority in a direct poll held across the country. Eleven months on, on Sunday another historical milestone was reached when the country held its parliamentary and provincial council elections, under an Afghan-UN Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), which also administered last year's presidential polls.
Since the run-up to 18 September election began by the end of March, Peter Erben, as chief electoral Officer at the JEMB, has been administering polling arrangements nationwide. In an interview with IRIN in the Afghan capital Kabul, Erben discussed the many challenges and remarkable features of Sunday's Afghan election.
Q: Since it was the first general election in Afghanistan after almost three decades of conflict, do you consider this any different from other post-conflict elections held in recent years in various countries across the globe?
A: With all its shared similarities of other post-conflict situations, Afghanistan's elections also had some distinct features making it somewhat more challenging than the elections held in recent years in Bosnia or Iraq.
Since it was a relatively long period of conflict where an entire Afghan generation was affected, very little of the infrastructure was left behind whereas in other countries at least a road network was in place. So logistically it was a huge challenge to conduct an election exercise in such a vast country without any established road network. In addition, continued conflict in some parts of the country was also an obstacle to a peaceful general election. Then women's participation in the electoral process was another challenge on the cultural front.
Q: What sort of logistical challenges were there in holding these elections across this wide rugged terrain?
A: Holding two elections on the same day was itself not a difficult task, as in many countries of the world this is what happens. Here, it was a relatively complex electoral system, with 69 different kinds of separate ballot papers (34 different provincial council ballot papers, 34 Wolesi Jirga [lower house] ballot papers, and one Kuchi ballot paper) ranging in size from one to seven pages, depending on the number of candidates per province. Kabul for example had 400 candidates. With bigger ballots, we had to bring new ballot boxes in, and then transport them all across the country to urban, rural, remote and mountainous areas. In short, in terms of weight and volume, this year's election material was 10 times greater than last year's presidential polls.
Q: This time female participation has increased a lot both in terms of voter registration and participation in the elections. But, are there still pockets without any registered women voters, or very low registration figures? Also, are there women candidates for every seat reserved for females in the national and provincial legislatures? If not [as in some cases in southern provinces] what will happen to the seats?
A: Women participated in these elections all over Afghanistan both as candidates and voters. It is a distinct cultural change visible across the country. This year's voters' list of over 12 million carries 44 percent female registrants. Women representation in legislatures is guaranteed, with 68 seats reserved in the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga and 25 percent of seats in provincial councils set aside for females. Last year, there were few districts with no females registered, however this time all the 398 districts have women registered voters. In fact, it has increased in the southern region. For example, in Uruzgan province it increased by 35 percent and in Helmand by 23 percent. [Also], in Ajristan district of Ghazni province, no women registered last year, but this year 13,000 women registered.
As far as women representation in the Wolesi Jirga is concerned, it will be up to its capacity. However, of a total 34, two of the provincial councils in Zabul and Nangarhar provinces are likely to have some of the women's seats remain vacant due to a lack of candidates. Uruzgan province had no female contestant at all, so its provincial council will be without any female representative.
Q: How many of the more than 6,200 polling centres were operational on polling day last Sunday? And did they have separate polling stations for women?
A: Of over 6,200 polling centres only a few were not operational for security reasons, in the provinces of Daikundi, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand. Each polling centre had women's polling stations as well.
Q: There was no polling arrangement for a large majority of internally displaced persons (IDPs) settled in the south from the north [almost over 150,000], and an equal number of returnees? Why not?
A: Yes, Afghanistan has a significant [level of] internal displacement. But logistically it was not possible to arrange [for voting] with 69 different ballots where these people are living now. The same was true for Afghans living in Pakistan and Iran.
Another way of accommodating this population was to reserve seats for them in the parliament, and likewise for the Kuchis [Afghanistan's nomadic people]. However, there was no such provision made for out of country or displaced electorates.
As far as returnees from Pakistan or Iran are concerned, all those who returned under the [office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] UNHCR's voluntary programme, were given the opportunity to get their voter registration cards at the encashment centres for their province of residence. However, for the unofficial returnees, there was no such provision because it could have given more opportunities for irregular voter entries in the absence of any proof of identity.
Q: The JEMB had an extended public outreach programme with several traditional and innovative techniques used to target some 1 million people, but apparently it didn't focus much on the Kuchi community, where, according to some observer reports, there was extremely low awareness about how to cast votes.
A: As a matter of fact, there was much more money for the Kuchi community in our public outreach programme than any other community. Of over 1,800 civic educators about 110 were from the Kuchis. But, we have to see this from the perspective of a post-conflict situation; let me make this point as well, our programme was for public awareness about this election, and on the election day everyone knew that there was an election in Afghanistan. In a six-month period, it was a great achievement. Had there been more time, it could have been extended. But, often, even in developed countries, not everyone knows each and every thing about the electoral process.
Q: How are you dealing with complaints regarding election irregularities?
A: For complaints, we have a procedure of internal investigations, of quarantining suspicious ballot boxes, and then there is a separate Electoral Complaints Commission to hear the complaints. After a generally peaceful election without any significant security incidents anywhere in the country, now ballot counting is under way. The results are expected sometime in the middle of October, followed by a five-day complaint and audit period after which the JEMB will announce certified results to put the lower house of parliament and provincial councils finally in place.
Two sacked for alleged fraud in Afghan vote count
KHOST, Afghanistan, Sept 29 (AFP) - Two election workers counting votes in Afghanistan's landmark parliamentary polls have been sacked for marking ballot papers in favour of certain candidates, officials said Thursday.
An Afghan man was handed over to police in eastern Khost province after he allegedly marked several blank ballots, regional electoral chief Abdul Rahman Muhabat said.
A woman in northern Balkh province was caught using an eyeliner pencil to commit similar fraud at a counting centre in the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif, election official Dan McNorton said.
The Joint Election Management Body headquarters in Kabul confirmed that two people had been dismissed from counting centres. They had "not followed procedures correctly," spokesman Aleem Siddique told AFP.
Some 7,000 people are counting votes after the September 18 elections, Afghanistan's first parliamentary polls in more than 30 years. Thousands of observers, including from international groups, are monitoring the process.
More than half the votes have been counted. Initial results are expected next week, with the final results to be announced after a two-week complaints period.
Critics have warned the millions of blank ballot papers left over from the election, which had a turn-out of little over 50 percent, could be misused during the count.
Election officials have said there have been complaints of ballot boxes being stuffed with illegitimate votes. Several boxes have been set aside for investigation. More than 5,700 people stood in the election for 249 seats in the national assembly and places on 34 provincial councils.
1979 fault lines in Afghanistan - The Christian Science Monitor 09/29/2005
By Scott Baldauf
KHOST - The Berlin Wall still separates East and West. A faltering Russia and rising China still form a united communist threat against the West and its allies. And communists - card-carrying "godless reds" - still control the key ministries in Afghanistan.
It's 1979 all over again in Khost. Though this worldview may seem as outdated as leisure suits, it's one shared by many of Khost's 91 parliamentary candidates and their supporters.
"In the last three years, the communists have tried to blackmail the mujahideen; they call us Al Qaeda," says Maulana Hanif Shah, one of a number of former mujahideen in this southeastern Afghan province who decided to run in the Sept. 18 elections in order to keep former communists from taking power. "We are a Muslim nation, and we will destroy them step by step," adds Mr. Shah, a mujahideen commander in the Soviet-Afghan war.
As UN election workers begin to count the estimated 6 million votes, old grudges such as these could turn violent. UN internal reports warn of everything from assassination to attacks on the vote-counting centers themselves, as it becomes clear which of the 5,800 candidates are chosen for the 249 seats in parliament and 420 seats on provincial assemblies. Many of these grudges will be personal, but in war-torn provinces like Khost, they will probably split along 25-year-old lines of mujahideen vs. communists.
"It's true that our people don't care for communism; we fought against communism," admits Khost Governor Mirajudding Pathan. "It does have an ideological flavor that we don't like."
Yet Gov. Pathan notes that one former communist minister, Gulab Zoi, has traveled around Khost freely during the campaign. He shrugs. "We are a generous people."
Shah says the Islamist parties that toppled the communist government of President Najibullah in 1992 declared an amnesty for Afghan communists.
"At that time we could have killed all the communists, but we didn't do that. We wanted peace," he says. Parliament will be a tumultuous place, he admits, saying "lots of chairs and tables will be broken." But he says the mujahideen will "work patiently."
One of Shah's supporters, former mujahideen fighter Dalil Khan, disagrees with this softer approach. "This is our slogan: The communists should be killed and the philosophy of communists should be killed." He adds, "I will not let Gulab Zoi walk into parliament. He killed 1.5 million Afghans."
Such threats took on greater weight Wednesday when attackers killed a candidate in the northern town of Mazar e-Sharif. Afghanistan's elections chief said he expects "an endless stream" of complaints over the vote count, due to be complete Oct. 4.
In Khost's vote-counting center, the greatest struggle has been to ease suspicions among candidates that the vote has somehow been fixed, says Rupert White, chief election officer for the United Nations in Khost.
There was an uproar when he told candidate representatives only five people would be allowed to sleep in the center to guard against vote tampering. "They said, 'We Afghans don't trust each other,' " Mr. White says. " 'If there are five Afghans inside the compound, all of us outside the compound will think they are doing something wrong inside.' "
"I told them, it's in the governor's compound, it's in a central location, safe and secure, with permanent guards out front. And people were saying, 'We don't trust the Army and the police.' " White chuckles. "There's very little comeback you can have with that."
In the garden of his home, Mir Sardar Zadran, a parliamentary candidate and former commander for the radical Hizb-e Islami faction, seems torn between a desire for national unity and revenge against communists.
Three of Mr. Zadran's cousins were arrested by communists seven days after the 1979 Soviet invasion, never to be heard from again. It angers him that many of the same communists who served under the Soviets are running for office now, or serving in government.
"This is not only a threat for Afghanistan but the whole world," says Zadran, though he notes Afghans are tired of fighting, and the role of the parliament is to pass laws, not fight with guns. "Now, our guns will be our pens and our tongues." Haji Mirdil Spin Zadran, another mujahideen candidate, says it will be a "big loss" for the US forces in Afghanistan if communist candidates are elected.
"Just as in the past Afghanistan was broken into pieces, again Afghanistan will be broken, and so will the Americans," he warns. "There will be fighting again between the Americans and the Russians." And in Afghanistan, "the people will again start jihad."
Haqqani's nephew arrested in Miranshah - Pakhtun Sahar
ISLAMABAD, September 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A former Taliban minister's nephew was arrested in a pre-dawn operation in North Waziristan Agency, lying cheek by jowl with the Pak-Afghan border, a senior military official claimed on Thursday.
An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) official, who requested anonymity, confided to Pajhwok Afghan news Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani's relative was seized after a clash that sparked a military operation in the semi-autonomous region.
Ahmad was held in the wake of the crackdown conducted in Khati village located in Hamzune area of Miranshah, the official said, adding: "Ahmad's name is on a list of people wanted by the Pakistan government."
He continued the Pakistan Army and local paramilitary forces had been trying to capture Ahmad, who commanded Taliban fighters hiding in the tribal region. The detainee was reportedly involved in a string of attacks on security forces deployed to border areas to flush out combatants.
A noted mujahideen commander in southeastern Afghanistan, Jalaluddin Haqqani was affiliated with the Hezbi-i-Islami party led by Maulvi Yunus Khalis. Later, he joined the Taliban government and became minister for tribal affairs.
Ahmad's capture came weeks after the arrest of five suspected Taliban during a raid on Haqqani's seminary in Dhandhi Darpakhel area of Miranshah, a hotbed of militants near the Pak-Afghan border.
Press Briefing by Adrian Edwards Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Kabul – 29 September 2005
Of the 63,000 former Afghan Military Forces officers and soldiers who participated in the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme, 60,645 are either undergoing, or have completed the final reintegration stage. The first two stages of DDR, disarmament and demobilization, formally ended on July 7 th.
Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP), which has been overseeing this process, has asked all reintegrated officers and soldiers to keep their ANBP identification cards. These may assist them in future employment opportunities.
Ammunition Survey
The on-going ammunition survey has thus far identified 609,628 boxes of ammunition and 1,836,571 individual items of ammunition in 491 caches throughout the country.
Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) - It has been a couple of weeks since we last briefed you on progress with collection of weapons under the DIAG programme. As you know, DIAG deals with armed groups that are illegal. It is therefore quite different from DDR, which deals with members of the former armed forces. As of today 11,014 weapons are verified as having been handed in under DIAG. In addition to this are 18,195 boxes of ammunition and 27,080 individual items of ammunition.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food recently signed and approved a National Seeds Policy for Afghanistan.
The policy is the first major step towards developing a regulated national seed industry for the benefit of Afghan farmers. The Seeds Policy covers both agricultural seeds and planting materials and puts in place guidelines, which will ensure that Afghan farmers have access to good quality seed for enhanced food security and farm income.
The National Seeds Policy is the outcome of several years of hard work and close collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the European Commission-funded seed project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Afghanistan. This policy prepares the stage for the passing of a Seed Law, which is now in the final stages of preparation.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has produced a documentary which will be broadcast on Radio Television Afghanistan next Monday and Tuesday, October 3 rd and 4 th. The programme looks at UNHCR’s activities across Afghanistan, highlighting the funding role played by the Government of Japan.
Through the stories of individual Afghans, the film illustrates the range of UNHCR programmes in place to assist returning refugees resettling into their former communities.
The Dari version will be broadcast on Monday evening at 9pm while the Pashto version airs at 9pm on Tuesday. Still with matters concerning UNHCR, the NGO ACTED has completed the construction of 1,160 mostly UNHCR-funded shelters in Kunduz and Baghlan.
Also with videos, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has produced a public service announcement (PSA) video against child marriage. Supported by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) the PSA will air on TOLO TV.
The 80-second video will be broadcast twice a day, during evenings, for three months. The radio campaign will be heard on Arman radio beginning next week. Compact Discs and posters of the PSA are available free of charge from UNFPA. For more information please contact Paul Greening at 070 273 879.
Afghanistan's communist-era intelligence chief set to go on trial– Pajhwak News
KABUL: As prosecutors announced trial of Afghanistan's communist era intelligence chief Asadullah Sarwary would be held soon, people from different walks of life demanded the hearing must be open, free and fair.
A senior prosecutor of the intelligence directorate General Abbas said on Wednesday, case of Asadullah Sarwary, who served as intelligence chief during Noor Mohammad Trakai government, had been completed and would be presented before the crimes court soon.
Blamed for killing and torturing government's opponents on the basis of suspicion during the communist era, Sarwary is under detention over the past 13 years. Abbas said his case would be presented before a special court. Several Afghan leaders and social figures demanded of the government to place him on an open trail and show him no concession.
Ahmad Amin Ismail Mojaddedi, leader of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order in Kabul, said he was ready to give testimony against Sarwary, who had killed 35 members of his family. His statement was supported by attorney general Mahmood Daqiq, saying Sarwary was accused of killing 36 members of the Mojaddedi family.
In a chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, the spiritual leader said he had seen 35 members of his family arrested by intelligence officials led by the accused. They heard no more of those people. Besides, added Ismail Mojaddedi, he had witnessed the then intelligence chief killing several other innocent people.
"On the eve of January 18, 1979, three armored vehicles broke into our house and the first man who stepped down was Sarwary. He took away 35 members of our family, including my father, grandfather, uncles and cousins, who never returned," said Mojaddedi while recalling the dark era.
"I am witness to the killing of 300 people in the Pul-i-Charkhi jail when Sarwary read out a brief order of their elimination," he said. He urged the national and international human rights groups to raise voice against such criminals and try them in the court of law. Aziz Ahmad Akbari, Sarwary's then deputy, who is living in Germany, was one among them, Mojaddedi pointed out.
Dr Kabir Ranjbar, leader of the National Democratic Party and a candidate for the Wolesi Jirga from Kabul, said Sarwary should have been tried and punished long before. "Besides my two close relatives, the man had killed scores of other innocent people during his tenure as intelligence chief."
But the accused denied the allegations, pleading an intelligence chief could not issue death orders of individuals. "This is not right. Intelligence chief does not have the authority to execute people," Sarwary said when approached by this news agency for comments.
The accused lamented he was the only pro-communist era official who was languishing in jail over the past 13 years while many of his colleagues were part of the present government.
Meanwhile, an official privy to the case said the former intelligence chief was involved in killing of some people without any trial. Without identifying himself, the official revealed some of Sarwary's main victims included Obaidullah Safi, a supreme court judge, another judge in Sar-i-Pul, Sayed Qasim and a tribal leader Sher Ahmad Khosti.
Pakistani troops arrest five tribesmen in raids on militant hide-outs near Afghan border
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - (AP) Pakistani troops have arrested five tribesmen and seized a cache of weapons in raids on suspected militant hide-outs near the Afghan border in northwestern Pakistan, an army spokesman said Thursday.
Gen. Shaukat Sultan said the arrests were made Wednesday in Machi Khel and that troops were searching another village nearby in an effort to capture more militants. He gave no further details.
Meanwhile, residents in the nearby town of Miran Shah said troops were using heavy and light weapons to attack militant hide-outs and were facing strong resistance.
The residents said it was difficult to assess whether there were any casualties in the fighting, which began Wednesday in Tata Khel, a village near Miran Shah. Miran Shah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal region near Afghanistan, has been the scene of several army operations in recent weeks.
The latest offensive began a day after U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley met with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and praised him for deploying troops in tribal areas near Afghanistan to combat terrorism.
Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has deployed about 80,000 troops near Afghanistan to capture remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
20,000 families in Herat set to get power facility
HERAT CITY, September 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): More than 20,000 families in the Kuhsan district of the western Herat province will be electrified in the next three months. The project, under which power will be supplied to the district from the Tabiat city of the neighbouring Iran, will cost 337 thousand US dollars.
Director of the power department Nisar Ahmad Faizi told Pajhwok Afghan News they would erect 280 electricity poles. He added the project also included installation of ten transformers in the district.
Abdul Karim Niamati, a resident of the district said they were paying rates as
high as 20 afghanis per kilowatt at present. If the project was materialised, they would pay only two afghanis per kilowatt, he hoped.
It merits a mention here that people living in the rural areas have no access to electricity in Afghanistan as the whole infrastructure has been shattered by years of war.
Kabul Mayor Calls for World Support - Korea Times 09/30/2005 By Mike Weisbart
For Ghulam Sakhi Noorzad, returning to Afghanistan last year after nearly two decades overseas was a bittersweet experience.
The joy he felt in returning to the city he led as mayor for five years in the 1970s was tempered by Kabul's horrendous conditions.
``When I arrived by airplane, I could see everything was completely demolished,'' he said in an interview shortly after addressing a roundtable of his counterparts at the Seoul World Mayors Forum 2005 at the Lotte Hotel Friday.
``I was so sad and unhappy, my heart almost stopped.''
Most troubling for Noorzad, who was asked back last year by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to rebuild the city's infrastructure, was the meager existence being eked out by the city's residents.
``There was garbage everywhere and the sewage system we put in place in the 1970s was destroyed. The people's faces were dusty and sad. No one was healthy. All the trees were gone. It was terrible,'' he said.
Recent Afghanistan history is filled with war, civil unrest and suffering. The country was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979, leading to a protracted battle with anti-communist mujahidin.
Brief hopes for peace after the fall of the communist regime in 1992 were dashed by clashes between competing warlords, which resulted in the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist group, taking over Kabul in 1996.
The country was finally freed from the Taliban in October 2001 by the United States, which sought retribution after the September 11, 2001, bombings in New York City. The Taliban harbored El Qaeda, the group responsible for the 9/11 attack.
The country faces a huge reconstruction task but, while he relishes the challenge, Noorzad spoke bitterly of being hamstrung by a lack of funds and accused international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of not working hard enough.
About the NGOs, he complained, ``Up to now, their cooperation is nothing. In one and a half years since I returned as mayor, I have received nothing from them.''
He said his key challenge is to rebuild the city's municipal infrastructure, starting with basics like roads and sewerage, to serve the city's 4 million residents. The city's population has surged dramatically in his absence, but NGOs, he said, are focused elsewhere.
``Kabul, which is the center and capital of the country, needs it most but they don't pay attention. NGOs work 75 percent for themselves and 25 percent for the country. This is not efficient for our citizens,'' he said. He argued that the best way for the international aid money to be spent is for it to flow directly to his planners, who can best put it to use.
Noorzad seems uniquely qualified when it comes to allocating resources in his city. In addition to being mayor previously, he is also a civil engineer who managed several portfolios within the Ministry of Public Works in the 1960s.
Prior to returning to Kabul, Mayor Noorzad resided in Canada for 18 years, where he fled with his family after a brief period of incarceration at the hands of the occupying Soviet Army.
While addressing the roundtable, Noorzad talked about his impressions of Seoul and expressed his country's gratitude for the help it has received from South Koreans and expressed his desire for closer relations. ``Seoul is a beautiful city and I want to express my best wishes and respect to all its citizens.''
[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.] |
