President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, left, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, centre, and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan attend a press conference on Afghanistan at the Foreign and Commonwealth office in London on Tuesday Jan. 31, 2006. (AP Photo/Hugo Philpott, Pool)

In this Bulletin:

• Diplomats Focus on Afghan Rights, Economy
• Afghanistan Sets Goals for Redevelopment (AP)
• Afghanistan pledges progress in 5-year donor-aid deal
• China pledges 80 mln yuan in aid to Afghanistan
• India announces $50 million additional aid for Afghanistan
• Peace in Afghanistan fragile, says Annan: Islamabad pledges $50m
• Germany pledges continued support to Afghanistan
• Russia to help Afghanistan during G8 presidency
• Asian Development Bank grants Afghanistan US$1 bln in loans
• Blair hails Afghanistan Compact as essential to fight terrorism
• Afghan conference one small step
• The Government today pledged €5m in aid to help rebuild Afghanistan
• Australia could send 200 more troops to Afghanistan
• Iraqi, Iranian and Pakistani "terrorists" seized in Afghanistan
• Taliban recruits promised booty in this world, virgins in the next
• Avalanches Hit Afghanistan, Tajikistan
• Afghan reconstruction not just about fighting Taliban, opium
• Afghanistan Launch "Businesses Building Bridges" Initiative
• US ad agency enters Afghanistan
• Iran’s export to Afghanistan up 100%
• Afghanistan: Think Tank Promotes Strategy For Country's Opium Problem

Diplomats Focus on Afghan Rights, Economy

LONDON ( Associated Press 02/01/2006)- Diplomats focused Wednesday on boosting human rights and fueling economic development in poverty-stricken Afghanistan at an international conference aimed at helping the nation build a stable future.

Establishing the rule of law is critical in a country torn by two decades of war and the brutal rule of the hard-line Islamic Taliban regime, British Foreign Office minister Kim Howells said on the second day of the London meeting.

"Without this, reconstruction, economic growth, poverty reduction and counternarcotics will continue to be hampered," he said. "It's very important that the protection of human rights becomes part of the mainstream of Afghan politics."

Hedayat Amin Arsala, Afghanistan's commerce minister and a senior government adviser, said changing the country's political culture would be difficult.

"This is not a simple task," he said. "There is a whole generation of Afghans who have grown up seeing political causes advanced" through violence instead of democratic processes.

Representatives of more than 60 countries pledged Tuesday to keep aid to Afghanistan flowing as it tries to rebuild and fight problems including opium production, corruption and terrorism.

Dignitaries spoke proudly of the country's achievements since a U.S.-led coalition toppled the Taliban in 2001. But they agreed that with desperate poverty widespread and violence flaring, it still has a long way to go.

U.N. human rights chief Louise Arbour led discussions Wednesday on making Afghanistan's government more transparent, strengthening the rule of law and protecting human rights.

Afghanistan promised in a five-year plan unveiled at the conference to build a functioning justice system in all its provinces by 2010 and reduce the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 3 percent per year.

The blueprint, dubbed the "Afghanistan Compact," laid out targets for President Hamid Karzai's government in areas including security, economic development and counternarcotics efforts.

Afghanistan promised to build a professional army and police force, shut down all armed militias by the end of 2007 and teach its officials about human rights.

It vowed to provide electricity to 25 percent of rural homes and 65 percent of urban ones by 2010, repair roads and set up a system of land registration. It also said it would reduce infant and maternal mortality rates that are among the worst in the world by 20 percent and 15 percent respectively by 2010.

President Bush mentioned Afghanistan briefly in his State of the Union address Tuesday, saying: "We remain on the offensive in Afghanistan, where a fine president and national assembly are fighting terror while building the institutions of a new democracy."

International donors vowed in the compact to provide funds and other support to help Afghanistan meet its new goals.

Bush planned to ask Congress for $1.1 billion in aid for Afghanistan next year, a figure similar to the aid allocation for 2006, Secretary of State     Condoleezza Rice said. Britain announced $800 million in new aid for Afghanistan for the next three years.

The five-year blueprint that leaders signed at the conference is intended as a successor to the deal reached at a December 2001 conference in Bonn, Germany, which established a political process for Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.

Tackling drug production is a key priority, with Afghanistan's strategy combining tighter law enforcement and rural development to give farmers an alternative way to earn their living.

The nation is the source of nearly 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin, and Karzai predicted it would take at least a decade to eradicate the trade. Security also remains a major problem, with about 1,600 people killed last year in militant violence, making 2005 the deadliest year since 2001.

Afghanistan laid out a five-year plan for its redevelopment at an international conference on the country's future Tuesday. Among the goals Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government pledged to work toward:

Afghanistan Sets Goals for Redevelopment (AP)

Afghanistan laid out a five-year plan for its redevelopment at an international conference on the country's future Tuesday. Among the goals Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government pledged to work toward:

• Tripling the Afghan army to 70,000 troops.

• Disbanding all illegal militias by 2007.

• Reducing the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 3 percent per year and the proportion of those who are hungry by 5 percent per year.

• Reducing by 70 percent the amount of land made unusable by land mines by 2010.

• A "substantial annual increase" in illegal drug seizures as well as arrests and prosecutions of traffickers and corrupt officials.

• Ratifying the U.N. Convention against Corruption by the end of 2006 and creating system to implement it by end of 2008.

• Completing census count of population by 2008,

• Creating functioning justice institutions in every province by end of 2010, including prisons with separate facilities for women and juveniles.

• Upgrading of country's main ring road, central to government plans to revive Afghanistan's historic role as a "land bridge" between Central and South Asia.

• Bringing Kabul and Herat airports up to international standards by the end of 2010 and improving Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad and Kandahar airports.

• Bringing electricity to 65 percent of urban homes and 25 percent of rural homes by the end of 2010.

• Enrolling 60 percent of girls and 75 percent of boys in primary school by 2010.

Afghanistan pledges progress in 5-year donor-aid deal

By Carlotta Gall The New York Times - TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2006

ISLAMABAD Afghanistan was expected to sign an agreement for an ambitious five-year plan for social, economic and political change with more than 60 donor countries at a two-day donors' conference in London that began Tuesday.

Eager to secure an international commitment to Afghanistan's future, President Hamid Karzai and his government have sought long-term strategic and economic agreements with the United States and the European Union. The plan, called the Afghan Compact, pledges development and changes to turn the country into a functioning democracy and an economically viable state. It would replace the United Nations-sponsored Bonn accords, which laid out the first political goals for a post-Taliban Afghanistan.

[The U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, announced plans Tuesday for $1.1 billion in extra U.S. funding for Afghanistan in the coming year at the opening of the conference, which is being led by Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and Karzai, Agence France-Presse reported from London.]

Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, the Afghan finance minister, said in a telephone interview on Monday from London that he was seeking pledges of at least $10 billion at the conference. He said the government would need $4 billion a year for the next five years to help it carry out the plan.

Despite its achievements in the four years since the fall of the Taliban government - adopting a new constitution and electing a president and a parliament - Afghanistan does not have a viable economy. Its government is largely reliant on foreign aid, and as it struggles with an insurgency that on occasion has reached the capital, Kabul, it is almost wholly dependent on foreign troops for security.

"Afghanistan, because of the history of severe destruction of its institutions, its economy, its governance and laws, and everything else, requires more attention from the international community," said Ishaq Nadiri, a senior economic adviser to Karzai.

The country of 25 million people has some of the worst economic and health indicators in the world. Six million people rely on food aid, 80 percent of the people are illiterate and there is virtually no industry. Last year, the government raised only $300 million in revenues for a total budget of close to $5 billion. The rest - to finance its army, police force, health services and rural development - came from foreign aid.

Ahadi said Afghanistan needed at least five more years of international help before it could come close to financing its own budget. He said the compact would help make the use of foreign aid more efficient and would ensure that the Afghan government had a greater say in how the money was spent.

Afghanistan in turn has pledged to meet benchmarks that will satisfy international donors, in particular in areas of administrative improvements, equality for women, democratization and human rights, Ahadi said.

A draft copy of the compact, provided to The New York Times by an Afghan official, indicates that the government will make a commitment to address corruption and the power of warlords.

It calls for the government to create a mechanism for basing government and judicial appointments on merit, rather than tribal or regional power. The government would also, within two years, set up a national agency to register and adjudicate property issues, an effort to correct some of the worst excesses of land-grabbing and dispossession during decades of war and postwar chaos.

Some of the commitments the Afghan government is expected to make will be intensely difficult politically, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Ronald Neumann, said in a recent interview in Kabul.

"I am certainly seeing them voluntarily take commitments to benchmarks and timelines in these areas which have been very tough," he said. "Time will tell if they are willing to discharge them, but by taking on that commitment they are voluntarily putting themselves in a position where they will be under more pressure to perform."

China pledges 80 mln yuan in aid to Afghanistan

LONDON, Jan. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said on Tuesday that China will provide 80 million RMB (nearly 10 million US dollars ) in aid to Afghanistan in 2006.

China will offer long-term assistance and engage in long-term cooperation with Afghanistan in the win-win spirit of mutual benefit and common development, Li said at the international conference on Afghan reconstruction hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Besides the provision of 80 million RMB, China will also levy zero tariff on most Afghan export products in 2006, said the Chinese minister. China will continue to support the Afghan government's anti-terror efforts and help train more Afghan defense and police officers, Li said.

China will furthermore work with the international community and other Afghan neighbors to tackle the booming drug production in Afghanistan, which is said to be the source of nearly 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin, Li said.

The top Chinese diplomat said Chinese industries have been encouraged to participate in the reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, and also to make investments in such fields as infrastructure, electricity, mineral resources, and transportation.

Li also emphasized that regional cooperation is an effective way for international community and neighboring countries to help Afghanistan move toward a stable and prosperous country. He suggested that building a regional transportation network be a priority in cooperation with Afghanistan.

China will make full use of the existing regional cooperative mechanism to promote practical cooperation with Afghanistan in the fields of fighting drugs-trafficking, anti-terrorism and border management, Li added.

Envoys from nearly 70 nations and international bodies, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, attended the conference and signed a five-year blueprint for helping the war-shattered Central Asian country along the road to peace and self-sufficiency.

The plan, known as the "Afghanistan Compact", sets out specifictargets for boosting economic and social development, bolstering security, enhancing governance, strengthening the rule of law and improving human rights conditions. Enditem

India announces $50 million additional aid for Afghanistan - January 31, 2006

India Tuesday pledged an additional assistance worth $50 million to Afghanistan, raising the total amount of aid provided to the war-ravaged country to $600 million.

Announcing the additional assistance at the International Donors' Conference in London, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said the amount would be utilised for the construction of Afghan Parliament building in Kabul.

The foundation stone of the building was laid during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Kabul in August 2005. The building is to be completed by 2010.

The Donors' Conference was inaugurated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Britain and Afghanistan are co-hosting the conference being attended by several foreign ministers.

Peace in Afghanistan fragile, says Annan: Islamabad pledges $50m

LONDON, Jan 31: Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed the joint initiative of the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and the United Nations for the ‘Afghanistan Compact’ development plan at the London Conference as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pointed out that recent attacks had been a reminder that the country’s peace was fragile.

Addressing delegates from more than 50 countries and international bodies, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said Pakistan welcomed the Afghanistan Compact and pledged $50 million for the neighbouring country’s reconstruction.

He said the amount would be made available as soon as the $200 million already pledged by Pakistan were exhausted.

Urging the international community to support rebuilding of the state and development activities in Afghanistan, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was time for committed action.

He said recent attacks in Afghanistan were a reminder that the country’s peace was fragile and that Afghanistan remained in an insecure environment of terrorism, extremist violence and the illicit and corrupting narcotics industry.

Mr Annan said: “It is in the interest of the entire international community to provide assistance as the country consolidates its moves towards peace, democracy and, above all, security, which underpins advancement on every other front.”

He called on Afghanistan’s leaders at all levels to deliver on their end and said the long-term stability of the state and the credibility of its government depended on it.

Mr Kasuri said the Afghanistan Compact showed the way forward as the Afghan government committed itself to goals in security and governance, economic and social development as well as counter-narcotics. He said the compact set out benchmarks and timelines to achieve the goals and reforms proposed in judicial and administrative institutions were most appropriate.

Pakistan continued to host 2.6 million Afghan refugees, who could contribute to Afghanistan’s development, he said. “There is need for the international community to facilitate their return, particularly by increasing Afghanistan’s absorptive capacity,” he said.

Mr Kasuri welcomed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s expanded role in Afghanistan and said restoration of peace and stability were central to development in the country. He said Pakistan believed that broadening of international responsibility, without loss of military capability, would have the desired stabilizing effect.

He said Pakistan remained committed to the fight against terrorism and would continue to extend full cooperation to Afghanistan in this regard bilaterally as well as in the tripartite commission, which includes the United States.

Mr Kasuri said the Kabul conference on regional economic cooperation was a useful initiative and called for early follow up action for enhanced trade, investment and joint promotion of infrastructure activities, especially in transport and energy sectors.

The foreign minister said Islamabad was working on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project and pursuing import of electricity from Tajikistan via Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan wanted to intensify trade and economic contacts with Central Asia through Afghanistan. Pakistan looked forward to increased regional cooperation as Afghanistan assumed membership of the South Asian Association for regional Cooperation, he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the United Kingdom was committing £500 million worth of aid over three years in addition to its armed forces to help maintain security.

Germany pledges continued support to Afghanistan

LONDON, Feb 1 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Germany has assured its continuous support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Addressing the two-day London Conference here on Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter said his country's assistance would continue till Afghanistan achieved full democracy.

Describing the past four years as crucial, the German Foreign Minister said approval of the Constitution and holding of the presidential and parliamentary elections were some of the most important achievements.

"But we know that a number of challenges are still lying ahead in achieving lasting peace and security in that country," he added.

Germany is leading the NATO countries in contributing troops for peacekeeping under the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). It is also leading two Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) as well as imparting training to Afghan police.

On first day of the two-day conference, a number of countries, including the United States, Britain, Japan, Pakistan, China, India, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have pledged assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

These pledges included $1.1 billion from US, nearly $1 billion from UK, over $1 billion from the World Bank, $1 billion from Asian Development Bank (ADB), $450 million from Japan, $50 million from Pakistan, $50 million from India and $10 million from China.

Afghanistan has chalked out its five-year plan for reconstruction, war on drugs and terror, elimination of administrative anomalies and economic stability on first day of the conference.

Addressing a news conference the same day, President Hamid Karzai said his country wanted to become a useful member of the world community. "Afghanistan will do its utmost to get success on this front."

Reported by Lailuma Sadid/Zubair Babakarkhail & translated by Daud

Russia to help Afghanistan during G8 presidency - Lavrov

LONDON, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is ready to use its presidency in the Group of Eight industrialized nations in 2006 to help Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"We intend to use our G8 presidency to help the Afghan leadership achieve peace, democracy, stability and economic prosperity and to boost the relevant efforts of the donor community," Lavrov said at an international conference on Afghanistan. He said Russia would help the Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai attain the country's goals.

Asian Development Bank grants Afghanistan US$1 bln in loans

(Asia In Focus Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LONDON, Feb 1 Asia in Focus - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to provide Afghanistan with US$1 billion in low-interest loans and outright grants over the next five years, in an effort to alleviate poverty and promote economic growth. The bank will also provide grant-financed technical assistance to encourage capacity building and look for ways to mobilize additional private sector financing, according to ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda, speaking at the London Conference on Afghanistan, hosted by the UK and co-chaired by Afghanistan and the UN. * "Building on the success of the past four years, ADB is confident that together we can help secure a better future for Afghanistan and its people," Mr Kuroda said in a statement.

* Since the recommencement of its activities in Afghanistan in 2002, ADB has through end-2005 approved almost US$1 billion in loans, grants, technical assistance, and private-sector investments to support the country's development.

The ADB has earmarked US$1 bln in low interest loans for Afghanistan, grant-financed technical also offered

Blair hails Afghanistan Compact as essential to fight terrorism

London (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair has hailed the signing of an international agreement to help Afghanistan, describing it as essential in the fight against global terrorism.

Speaking in parliament as the second day of talks on the so-called Afghanistan Compact resumed in London, Blair said the pledge to help was vital for the move to democracy, making a link to similar developments in Iraq.

"I think its right to reflect on how important it is for the international community to help those countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) become different because when they were left in that failed state they were a threat to whole of the world," he said.

Providing security in Afghanistan and Iraq will help people there but would also be a "direct benefit" to British security, he said in his weekly question-and-answer session in the House of Commons. "(This) is why it's important we stay the course and see it through", he added.

Afghanistan and its international partners signed a new five-year deal in the British capital on Monday to help the destitute central Asian nation defeat a resurgent Taliban and drug traffickers.

Chief among the proposals was for a boost to security in the country, particularly in the volatile south, to create stability for economic and social development.

The United States pledged an extra 1.1 billion dollars in financial aid for the coming US fiscal year from October. Other key elements of the compact set out specific targets for improving governance, strengthening the rule of law and human rights.

Observers spoke of the need for joined-up action from the international community to help cement democracy in Afghanistan, which has been plagued by three decades of foreign occupation, civil war and Islamic extremism.

Farzana Shaikh, an associate fellow at the London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House, told AFP that Western and other world powers needed to be committed long-term to the issue.

"I don't think there's going to be any early resolution to the problem," said Shaikh, who also works at Cambridge University's Centre for South Asia Studies.

"It's going to take some time before Karzai can really strengthen his government to a point where it can stand on its own two feet," she added, pointing also to the need to root out actual or perceived corruption in Afghan politics.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Minister of Counter-Narcotics Habibullah Qaderi on Wednesday welcomed the revised anti-drug strategy for his country as a "major step on the journey ahead of us.

"It will help us coordinate and focus all our activities in the battle to defeat this destructive scourge, a battle this government is determined to win with the help of our international partners," he added.

Delegates from Afghanistan, hosts Britain and some 70 foreign partners were bringing proceedings to a close Wednesday following discussions on governance, the rule of law and human rights as well as economic and social development.

Afghan conference one small step - By Andrew North BBC correspondent at London's Afghan conference

War-ravaged Afghanistan seems a world away from the plush, high-ceilinged rooms of Lancaster House in central London, where the conference on rebuilding the country has been taking place.

Nearby, in one of the richest parts of one of the richest cities in the world, high-priced European cars drive past shops selling shoes at £140 ($250) a pair. That is more than most Afghans earn in a year.

And why, some people watching the various delegations arriving asked, are countries like Brazil sending officials here? yet what is happening in this magnificent building a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace is crucial to Afghanistan's future.

Not just because of new aid pledges, but because it is putting Afghanistan back into the limelight and reminding everyone that despite some progress, the job of getting the country back on its feet is still a long way from finished.

And with the signing of a five-year "Afghanistan Compact", it commits both sides - the Afghan government and its outside backers - to key benchmarks of progress in key areas such as security, economic development and better government.

There has been a tendency among some in the international community to believe that because Afghanistan now has an elected president and parliament, things are on track.

It is true that that political success does mark the conclusion of the first stage of international efforts to rebuild the country, under the terms of the Bonn agreement that was signed soon after the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is attending this meeting, perhaps summed up the mood best. "Afghanistan is now a nascent democracy," he said. "Yet our optimism is necessarily tempered by the serious challenges the country is facing."

He focused on security, the threat from terrorism, the still rampant drugs trade, which he said meant Afghanistan was still in a "fragile state". His words were notably more cautious than those of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said it was "remarkable" what had been achieved in the past few years.

The real problem is that so few Afghans have felt much benefit from the political changes of the past few years. Most live in abject poverty. They have a government, but it does not have much capacity to do anything for them.

What the various Afghan ministers attending the conference along with President Hamid Karzai are saying is that more needs to be done now to strengthen this new government.

And that means the international community trusting Afghan government bodies with more of the aid money, rather than as now giving it to international organisations like the UN and to aid agencies.

It is something Hanif Atmar, the Afghan rural development minister, has been emphasising in the lead up to the conference. And he said he believed the message was getting through to the country's donors. "They realise this issue is important."

But this new agreement also calls for much more effort by the Afghan side in dealing with corruption. Shukria Barakzai, one of 68 women in the new Afghan parliament, said there also needed to be much better coordination in the use of aid in the future.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair focused on the risks of failure in Afghanistan - reminding everyone that it was the 11 September 2001 attacks that brought the international community back to the country, after the world had abandoned it and allowed it to collapse into civil war following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

But many of the Afghan officials emerging from the meetings said they were encouraged simply by the turnout. "It's good to see how many nations are involved here," one ministerial adviser told me.

"This morning, we were listening to the Brazilian foreign minister offering more help," he said. "He told us he didn't have as much money as the big Western countries, but it is very heartening when you hear that."

And some of those big Western countries did make new pledges - Ms Rice said President George W Bush was seeking congressional approval for $1.1bn in aid for Afghanistan next year, while the UK promised £455m over the next three years.

One question, though, that no-one wants to answer here, is when Afghanistan will be able to survive without this kind of support.

The Government today pledged €5m in aid to help rebuild Afghanistan.

Conor Lenihan, minister for development co-operation and human rights said the funding would aid the country, one of the poorest in the world, along its path towards reconciliation.

“While many daunting challenges remain in the journey ahead, I believe that the people of Afghanistan have the courage and determination necessary to overcome them. “Ireland will remain a committed partner to Afghanistan in that journey,” he said.

Afghanistan currently ranks 173 out of 178 countries on the Human Development Index as 70% of the population live below the poverty line. The international community today launched ’Afghanistan Compact’ – a framework for engagement in the country for the next five years.

President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai and UN secretary general Kofi Annan attended the launch in London. The Government’s €5m will be spent over the next two years and will bring Ireland’s commitment to relief, reconstruction and recovery programmes in Afghanistan to €33m since 2000.

The latest pledge is allocated for basic humanitarian relief and the recovery activities being carried out by the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). The Trust Fund is managed by the World Bank and provides a co-ordinated way for donors to help the government of Afghanistan rebuild the country.

Australia could send 200 more troops to Afghanistan

Sydney (AFP) - Australia is likely to send 200 more soldiers to Afghanistan to assist a Dutch deployment in a former Taliban stronghold, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Speaking in London on Tuesday, Downer said that the troops would probably be sent to take part in a proposed provincial reconstruction team with Dutch soldiers in the southern province of Uruzgan as early as July.

Downer, in London to attend an international conference on Afghanistan, said the Netherlands was expected to decide later this week on whether it would boost its deployment to the Central Asian nation.

"We'll have to wait and see whether that happens, but I think it's much more likely than not that we will send those extra troops there," he told reporters.

Australia has already committed some 300 troops and support personnel to Afghanistan, mostly special forces soldiers. Downer said that if the Netherlands decided against the deployment, Australia would still discuss deploying with British or American troops.

"We won't necessarily abandon the idea of a provincial reconstruction team," he said. "We know how important it is for the new democratic government in Afghanistan and the new free and democratic processes there to survive, and every country that possibly can needs to give support to Afghanistan."

The Australian government also announced it would commit up to 150 million more dollars (113.5 million US) over the next five years to assist Afghanistan. Canberra has spent some 110 million dollars in the war-torn country since the US-led coalition invaded in late 2001.

The new money includes a commitment of 55 million dollars before June 2007, with additional funding dependant on Afghanistan's government meeting benchmarks in the Afghanistan Compact announced Tuesday.

Under the compact, Afghanistan has pledged to meet targets in security, governance, rule of law and human rights, and economic and social development in return for military and financial aid from its international partners.

Australia also has about 900 troops in Iraq, a fact that Downer said the government would have to take into consideration when deciding on troop levels for Afghanistan.

About 450 of the soldiers are guarding Japanese forces on a humanitarian mission in southern Samawa, which Japanese media reports said could end by May. Downer said Australia would "wait and see" what Japan would do before deciding whether to bring its Samawa troops home or redeploy them elsewhere in Iraq.

Iraqi, Iranian and Pakistani "terrorists" seized in Afghanistan – AFP 02/01/2006

KABUL - Counter-terrorism police have arrested an Iraqi, an Iranian and three Pakistanis allegedly planning attacks in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said.

The men had entered Afghanistan's Nimroz province from neighbouring Iran, ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said on Wednesday. "They are all terrorists. They had crossed illegally into Nimroz from Iran and wanted to go to other provinces to carry out terrorist attacks," he told AFP.

"They all had documents proving their identities. The investigation is ongoing." Stanizai said the Iraqi, whose name was not disclosed, was on his way to southern Kandahar province.

The province is a hotbed of an insurgency that erupted after the Taliban government was ousted in late 2001. It has suffered frequent suicide and car bomb attacks that officials often blame on foreigners allied with the Taliban.

Stanizai said the Iranian had initially claimed to be from Herat province in western Afghanistan but police later found Iranian identity cards with him identifying him as Qurban Ali. The Pakistanis were identified as Gul Nazar, Mohammad Nawab and Alif Khan.

The governor of Nimroz, Ghulam Dastageer, confirmed the arrests but said only two Pakistanis had been caught. They were picked up between Friday and Monday in the provincial capital Zaranj, he told AFP.

Afghan officials widely blame a spate of suicide attacks -- a phenomenon that only emerged in the country after the collapse of the Taliban -- on foreign elements, especially from Pakistan.

Analysts have said the suicide blasts and car bombs suggest the insurgents have adopted Iraq-style tactics or are increasingly being influenced by Al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the Taliban regime.

In the worst of at least 20 suicide attacks in the past four months, 22 people were killed on January 16 when an man on a motorcycle blew himself up in a crowd leaving a wrestling match in the town of Spin Boldak on the border with Pakistan.

Afghan army and police and foreign troops helping to stabilise Afghanistan have previously been the prime targets of the militants.

The US military, which helped topple the extremist Taliban in late 2001, is leading a coalition of about 20,000 troops hunting remnants of the regime mainly in southern and eastern Afghanistan. NATO forces are due to take over their duties in southern Afghanistan later this year.

Taliban recruits promised booty in this world, virgins in the next

Spin Boldak (AFP) - Saifullah was tired of his exhausting job as a blacksmith in a Pakistani village when a friend suggested he join the jihad, or holy war, against US troops in Afghanistan.

The 20-year-old, who shared a simple mud-brick house with his father, mother and a brother, told AFP he wasn't sure whether to accept the call to fight in the country of his forefathers or to continue with his hammer and anvil.

"If you kill one American soldier, then you can keep his money, his gun, boots and clothes," he recalled his friend saying. "And if I die?" Saifullah said he asked of the young man, himself a recruit of Taliban commander Mullah Samad who is said to be close to the fugitive leader of the ousted extremist Taliban regime, Mullah Omar.

"If you die, you will get seven virgin 'houris' in paradise," the man said, referring to the virgin angels the Muslim holy book, the Koran, says awaits good Muslims, especially martyrs, when they die.

"I accepted," Saifullah said Tuesday from his hospital bed in the dusty Afghan border town of Spin Boldak hours after being shot in the legs in a clash with Afghan tribesmen.

He and nine other Taliban recruits -- all descendants of Afghan refugees in Pakistan -- were attacked late Monday by the chief of Loy Kariz village, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Spin Boldak, and his men.

They had been in the village under the command of Mullah Samad to look for and kill US troops and their "spies". They had also set up roadblocks to interrogate clean-shaven men and confiscate cassettes, in line with the Taliban's doctrine that shaving and listening to music are "un-Islamic".

Two of Saifullah's comrades were killed in the clash. His own dreams were shattered when his injured hands were tied behind his back and he and another wounded fighter were handed over to Afghan security forces. The young blacksmith's experience of jihad had lasted 72 hours from the time of his recruitment.

Abdul Wasey Alakozai, the police chief of Spin Boldak, said one of the rebels had detonated a grenade at his feet, in a suicide attack, when he realised he would be arrested. The rebel and a villager were killed and 14 other locals were wounded, Alakozai said.

The incident is a rare example of villagers taking on the Taliban, who are leading a guerrilla-style insurgency plaguing southern and eastern Afghanistan almost since the hardliners were overthrown in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

The regime was toppled after it refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities. Most of the ousted government and its Al-Qaeda allies fled to Pakistan, according to Afghan officials.

Since then, they have been crossing the poorly controlled 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) border to carry out attacks on Afghan and foreign targets inside Afghanistan.

"Mullah Samad gave me a gun on the border," recalled Saifullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name. He and the others walked 48 hours to reach Loya Kariz village, he said.

Alakozai and Asadullah Khalid, governor of Kandahar province which includes Spin Boldak, admitted they did not have enough security forces to control the rugged border.

But Khalid also blamed Pakistan for propping up the militants. "They have training facilities in Pakistan and are being supported down there," he told AFP in Kandahar city. To support his claims, the governor said three of about 20 suspected rebels arrested in recent days for allegedly plotting attacks were Pakistani citizens.

He said they were planning suicide attacks - which have spiked in Afghanistan with at least 20 in the past four months in a trend analysts say shows rebels have adopted Iraq-style tactics.

On January 15, a senior Canadian diplomat was killed and three Canadian soldiers were injured in a suicide attack in Kandahar. The governor said the Taliban fighters had some support among Afghans in villages along the border, although this was low.

From his hospital bed, the body of one of his slain fellow recruits nearby, Saifullah agreed, saying his band of men had no problem moving through the area until they were stopped by the village chief and his men.

Mullah Samad had even been allowed to use a loudspeaker atop the Loya Kariz mosque to call people to jihad. He remembered the message as: "Join us in jihad. If you don't join us, God will punish you."

Avalanches Hit Afghanistan, Tajikistan

Kabul (AP) - Avalanches in northeast Afghanistan have killed at least 18 people and destroyed dozens of homes in the past week, a provincial governor said Wednesday.

In neighboring Tajikistan, rescuers Wednesday recovered the bodies of six more avalanche victims, raising the death toll there to 18, an official said.

Afghan rescue teams have been unable to reach the villages in Badakhshan province because regional roads have been blocked by snow, Gov. Abdul Majid said.

The deadliest avalanche hit before dawn Tuesday and covered five villages in Ragh district. Locals recovered 13 bodies and were still searching for an unknown number of missing people, Majid said.

Five people were killed in Darwaz district Sunday when an avalanche hit, he said. News of the disasters took days to reach the outside world because the area has no phones or other means of communication, the governor said.

In Tajikistan, district emergencies chief Ikhom Tursunov said 36 people were buried by snow when their village in the Dzhigartal district was hit by an avalanche. Tursunov said 18 people were rescued but that 18 others died.

Tursunov said that according to preliminary information another avalanche had buried about 30 houses in a nearby village, but rescuers hadn't yet been able to reach the area.

Heavy snow falls have blanketed much of northern and eastern Afghanistan, and avalanches are common in Tajikistan, a mountainous Central Asian nation.

Afghan reconstruction not just about fighting Taliban, opium

London (AFP) - Observers gave a guarded reception to the signing in London of an agreement on Afghan reconstruction, calling for a parallel focus on governmental reforms as well as combating opium producers and insurgents.

As the so-called "Afghanistan Compact" talks entered their second day Wednesday, specialists agreed the five-year plan, with its focus on improving internal security, was vital to provide a solid foundation for internal development.

But for one, the soon-to-be-expanded North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces for peace-keeping and counter-insurgency operations against a resurgent Taliban in the south face a difficult task.

For another, the issue was more about rooting out the whiff of or actual corruption in governmental agencies and establishing a broader consensus against terrorism with neighbouring Pakistan to stabilise the region.

Ayesha Khan, an associate fellow of the London international affairs think-tank Chatham House, told AFP the increased NATO presence was a "positive" move, but they could face problems getting local support.

"In this region, the US Operation Enduring Freedom has been very aggressive in its 'war on terror'," she explained. "In the absence of a peacekeeping force, there have been B-52 bombings and insensitive house-to-house searches. It's been very aggressive and potentially antagonistic."

As a result, NATO's dual role would be a "very diffcult balance to strike", she said, calling for troops to have a "clear mandate" and rules of engagement to prevent too much time being spent simply protecting themselves.

Farzana Shaikh, from the Centre for South Asia Studies at Cambridge University, agreed with Afghan President Hamid Kharzai's admission Tuesday that resolving the problem was a long-term strategy.

The international community should not concentrate solely on targeting poppy production, she said, instead calling on Karzai to weaken the grip of powerful former warlords now sitting in the democratically-elected parliament.

"I don't think there's going to be any early resolution to the problem. It's going to take some time before Karzai can really strengthen his government to a point where it can stand on its own two feet," she told AFP.

Asked for a timescale, she said probably looking at about the same time as the "at least 10 years" Karzai said he felt was necessary to tackle the rise in poppy cultivation.

What would also help for stability would be an agreement against terrorism with Pakistan -- which has been suspected of funding insurgents -- "but that kind of agreement is nowhere on the horizon", Shaikh said.

In signing the compact, the US -- which announced plans for 1.1 billion dollars in funding for Afghanistan in the fiscal year 2006-07 -- and other Western powers were "sending a signal" that they are committed to Afghanistan, she added.

But Shaikh, also an associate fellow at Chatham House, suggested the fact that Karzai has not been able to secure the levels of funding he required stems from "real concerns about corruption in the government".

"Some of this has to do with the fact that the recently-elected parliament has a fair sprinkling of those whose record on human rights abuses and corruption is... dubious," she added, referring to some of the former warlords.

"There's concern that the Karzai government has not been able to address the problem of corruption within government agencies in the way many Western donors feel it should." If Afghanistan "cleans up its act", it is likely to get more money, she added.

Dominic Nutt, from British aid agency Christian Aid, said promises had been made in the past for increases in funding for projects in Afghanistan. "But seeing is believing," he told AFP. "As long as they're offering the money and it gets through, then great. Experience dictates that that may not help, however."

The charity is currently working in west central Afghanistan to improve living standards among a people blighted by three decades of foreign occupation, civil war and repression under the extremist Taliban regime.

Nutt said it was impossible to build stability and a democracy -- plus fight the lucrative opium trade -- with troops alone, likening it to "trying to put out a forest fire with flip-flops".

Afghanistan Launch "Businesses Building Bridges" Initiative - Fact sheet on public-private partnership to enhance business ties

A U.S.-Afghanistan public-private partnership launched by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Afghan President Hamid Karzai January 30, aims to demonstrate the U.S. business community's commitment to enhancing commercial ties between the two countries, according to a State Department fact sheet.

The "Businesses Building Bridges" fact sheet was released on the occasion of the London Conference on Afghanistan, a January 31-February 1 gathering of high-level government delegations and representatives from international organizations to chart the future of international engagement with Afghanistan. Following is the text of the fact sheet: 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman January 31, 200

Secretary of State Rice Launches "Businesses Building Bridges"

Private Sector Initiative for Afghanistan

On January 30, as part of a new initiative to highlight the importance of the private sector in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Hamid Karzai launched the "Businesses Building Bridges" initiative.  Recognizing that one of the keys to success in Afghanistan is the establishment of a thriving Afghan private sector, the Businesses Building Bridges initiative, a public-private partnership with U.S. business leaders, will help cement business relationships and other productive linkages between the U.S. and Afghanistan private sectors.

The goal of this important initiative is to demonstrate the commitment of the U.S. business community to help train Afghan entrepreneurs, to identify practical means to improve the Afghan investment climate and to enhance commercial and economic linkages.  Over the next year, Businesses Building Bridges' leaders will use their expertise and knowledge of U.S. business practices to help launch programs to mentor the Afghan business community - including women entrepreneurs.  These linkages will broaden understanding of business environments in both countries, and help develop innovative ways to increase foreign investment and U.S. business involvement in Afghanistan.  The U.S. business leaders anticipate traveling to Afghanistan at least once over the coming year and also will host senior Afghan business executives in the United States.

To complement the Businesses Building Bridges initiative, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) announced a grant of $500,000 for training Afghan entrepreneurs.  In addition, the State Department will fund Afghan business delegations to select U.S. trade events in 2006.

Secretary Rice's announcement of this innovative initiative was preceded by a Trade and Investment Conference at Asia House in London hosted by U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs Josette Shiner and UK Ambassador to Afghanistan Rosalind Marsden.  This event also featured Afghan President Karzai and senior Afghan government officials, along with a panel of executives of key international investors in Afghanistan. (end fact sheet)

US ad agency enters Afghanistan – BBC

The world's fourth largest advertising agency, JWT, has become the first such Western firm to enter Afghanistan. New York-based JWT has signed a joint venture with Kabul-based advertiser Altai Communication.

Although the Afghanistan advertising marketplace remains weak, it and the wider economy are slowly recovering since 2001's overthrow of the Taliban. Altai currently carries out advertising for the country's leading mobile phone operator, Roshan.

"After recovering from decades of conflict, Afghanistan needs economic support," said JWT Worldwide chief executive Bob Jeffrey. "We can contribute to the country's revitalization efforts and benefit from tapping into this

JWT's Afghanistan operations will be able to target the number of Western businesses now returning to the country, such as Coca-Cola. "By investing in Afghanistan, we hope other companies will be inspired to join us," added Mr Jeffrey.

Altai's other existing clients in Afghanistan include Afghanistan International Bank, Afghan Telecom, Western Union, and the United Nations. "The private sector and foreign direct investments will fuel the Afghan economy, and the presence of an ad agency is often the first thing to attract these investments," said Altai partner Emmanuel de Dinechin.

Altai Communication is part of a wider business support company called Altai Consulting, which now employs 125 people, 25 of whom are internationals.

Iran’s export to Afghanistan up 100%

LONDON, January 31 (IranMania) - Iran?s export of non-oil commodities to Afghanistan reached $369 mln in the first nine months of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2005), according to MNA.

This shows 100% growth compared with the corresponding period last year. This amount of export weighed 524,000 tons. 

Medications, painting, detergent products, biscuits, candies, chocolates, soft drinks, mineral water, sheets and cartoons, carpets, stones and construction materials, cement, cloths, shoes, metal concentrate are some of the products exported to Afghanistan in the said period. 

Other goods exported in this period include industrial oils, chemical products, petrochemicals, different types of pipes, metal products, iron, and steel.  Household appliances, machineries, industrial equipment, tractors, auto parts, and tires have been also exported to that country. 

It is predicted that the volume of the industrial export to Afghanistan will hit $500 mln by the end of the current Iranian year, falling on March 20, 2006.

Afghanistan: Think Tank Promotes Strategy For Country's Opium Problem

The international community needs to reshape its strategy in Afghanistan and resolve the opium crisis in order to increase development and improve security in the country. That is the conclusion of an international conference in London in which deputies from Afghan's parliament took part. An international drug policy think tank, The Senlis Council, organized the conference to promote its idea of replacing Afghanistan's opium-eradication program with a licensing system for farmers to enable the production of opium-based medicines.

LONDON, 31 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- As international donors for Afghanistan gathered in London on 30 January to pledge funds for the political and economic development of the country over the next five years, they were told to change their strategy.

Some 200 participants in a separate conference organized by The Senlis Council say that a new drug policy is needed to resolve Afghanistan's opium problem. Others say licensing could be dangerous because the drug mafias could buy the licenses from the farmers or force them to turn them over.

The Senlis Council says that in order to help the many thousands of Afghan farmers reliant on opium-poppy cultivation for their livelihood, the international community should replace the poppy eradication policy with a licensing system. The license would allow for the legal production of opium to make morphine and codeine that could supply the country and be a major export to the rest of the world.

Emmanuel Reinert is the executive director of The Senlis Council. "[A] quick fix, [an] aggressive policy such as eradication, chemical spraying, would not only be inefficient, but extremely counterproductive and will encourage...unrest in the country," he said. "It will actually undermine the primary mission of the coalition forces and NATO in Afghanistan, which is the establishment of the rule of law and the development of the country."

Reinert stresses that the Afghan people and especially the farmers -- including women -- who actually work in the fields the most should be directly involved in the formulation of an opium policy. So far they have had no influence on such policies and this is why The Senlis Council wants to gather farming representatives to enable them to help formulate national policies, Reinert said.

"That's why we will be organizing a 'Farmers' Jirga' in Kabul with 100 farmers coming from all the provinces in Afghanistan to discuss their views on the opium crisis," he said.

Reinert says that a number of members of the Afghan parliament are also interested in a new proposal for legislation that would firmly put the licensing of farmers for the legal production of medicinal opium into the antinarcotics law. It should also help the government formulate a means to make that law work.

Separately, The Senlis Council has also prepared a draft proposal of a bill that would make any eradication policies -- including the damage to the soil done by aerial spraying -- illegal.

The members of the Afghan parliament who are in London for the donors meeting seem interested in the proposals. One of them is Safia Seddiqi, from Nangarhar Province.

"This is a very good idea," she said. "I am really supporting that, but [only] if the real beneficiaries are the farmers. In Afghanistan the [strongest] party is the poppy traffickers, not the farmers. The farmers are poor people. They are not receiving their benefit from [the poppies]. For example, out of $100,000, they are receiving just maybe $100 or $200. For that reason, in my opinion, we should be very, very careful."

Another member of the Afghan parliament is Shukria Barakzai, from Kabul, who agrees that the proposals are interesting. Barakzai was the organizer of underground schools for women during the reign of the Taliban. She stresses that a Loya Jirga should approve the proposed new legislation.

"They're thinking about 13 million Afghans, [either] directly or indirectly [affected], [for whom] that's the only way [in] which [they would] benefit," Barakzai said. "We should build a law for it, but by the constitution we are not allowed to do it, but we can invite our Loya Jirga [to convene], and [it] can change the constitution."

Some other Afghan conference participants say The Senlis Council proposals could be a basis for further discussion, but regard them as being too idealistic in current circumstances. One participant asked that with so many Afghan police being illiterate, how could they enforce complicated licensing regulations?

Others say licensing could be dangerous because the drug mafias could buy the licenses from the farmers or force them to turn them over. One Afghan student even recommends the best solution to the problem is burning the poppy fields and instructing imams to tell the people to grow something else.

Gulalai Momand, The Senlis Council's deputy country manager for Afghanistan, remains optimistic that the proposals are a viable alternative to what she calls the "dangerously pauperizing" eradication program. She stresses that the donor countries should listen to what the people of Afghanistan actually want.

"We expect [the international community] to listen to the voice of the Afghan nation when they are making their decisions," Momand said. "The purpose of our whole conference was to propose some of the questions that we had, especially in terms of drug policy and women's issues going on in Afghanistan right now, so that they can consider them while they are here."

Momand concludes that it will soon be known if the donor countries have listened to and understood the message of the conference.

[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.]