In this Bulletin:

• President Condemns the Blasphemous Cartoons of Prophet Mohammad
• Five die in Afghan cartoon furore
• Afghan leader, Saudi envoy criticize Prophet cartoons
• Land Mine Kills Six Police in Afghanistan
• US soldier killed in Afghanistan
• Afghans say thwart al Qaeda suicide bomber
• More than 170 Taliban, Islamic militants surrender in Afghanistan
• Moscow might write off Afghan debt
• Secret high-level contacts between Israel, Afghanistan in London
• Afghan employees of Indian company attacked
• Afghanistan Blames Taleban, Drug Traffickers for Deadly Violence
• Drug trade 'reaches to Afghan cabinet'
• Afghanistan: World Bank Pledges $1.2 Billion to Support Development
• Afghanistan: Empty Promises At London Conference?
• Afghan Realities - Afghanistan, a critical nation, remains essentially on life support
• “Un-Islamic” TV Channel in Trouble
• Pakistan bus explosion kills 13

President Condemns the Blasphemous Cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (Peace

Be Upon Him) and Asks Western Nations to Take Strong Action Against Those Publishing the Cartoons - Date of Release: 5 February 2006

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of

Afghanistan, strongly condemned the cartoon depicting the holy prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) in his interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN.

Regarding the cartoon, the President said, “We as Muslims, all over the world are angry for those cartoons appearing in the European press.”

”But for the newspaper to publish a cartoon insulting Prophet Mohammed, insulting the feeling of Muslims, is really, really bad. We feel angry about this. We strongly believe that it should cease to appear again.”

“The cartoons must stop coming again and again, must stop appearing, but I

hope the western governments, the United States, the rest of the western

world, the European governments, will also take a strong measure, because

this is a matter of sentiments for one billion Muslims and condemn it together with Muslims. That would be a good thing.”

“I hope any other newspaper that does this will dismiss the people responsible for it. That is what we should seek: a strong apology, an action against those people, and then we should be satisfied with that. But we would also want very much that cartoons like this must never, never appear again. It's not good for anybody.”

Released by Office of the Spokesperson to the President - Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan

Five die in Afghan cartoon furore – BBC

At least five people have been killed in Afghanistan as demonstrations against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad swept across the country. Two people died when protesters turned on the American airbase at Bagram, even though the US has had no involvement in the cartoons' publication.

In Somalia, a 14-year-old boy was killed and several others were injured after protesters attacked the police. Rallies have also taken place in India, Thailand, Indonesia, Iran and Gaza. They followed attacks on Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon over the weekend. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper.

Monday's deaths were thought to be the first, but officials in Lebanon have now confirmed that a demonstrator died on Sunday after jumping from the third floor of the Danish embassy in Beirut to escape a fire.

Hundreds of people took part in the morning demonstration in Afghanistan's Laghman province, in a second day of protests in the city. The province's director of information, Hamraz Ningarhari, told the BBC that three people were killed, and a policeman and a number of other people were injured.

Demonstrators shouted "death to Denmark" and "death to France", and called for diplomats and soldiers from both countries to be kicked out of Afghanistan. Both France and Denmark sent troops to Afghanistan as part of international efforts in the US-led "war on terror".

"They want to test our feelings," protester Mawli Abdul Qahar Abu Israra told the BBC. "They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers," he said.

In Bagram district, a peaceful protest in the morning turned violent when around 300 "bandits and gangsters" tried to enter the US base, local police chief Mawlana Sayed Khel told the BBC.

A shoot-out with police left two protesters dead, and six police officers injured, he said. Elsewhere, hundreds protested in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif, while 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Danish embassy in the capital, Kabul.

In the north-eastern province of Takhar, demonstrators threw stones at government buildings and police fired in the air. Afghan President Hamid Karzai reiterated his condemnation of the cartoons and called on western nations to take "a strong measure" to ensure such cartoons do not appear again. "It's not good for anybody," he told CNN.

In the port city of Bosaso, in the autonomous Somali region of Puntland, police shot dead one protester and three more were injured after demonstrators threw stones and barricaded streets outside international aid agency buildings.

Peaceful protests were held in several other Somali towns. In escalating demonstrations around the world: A crowd of about 200 people used stones to smash windows at the Austrian embassy in Tehran, and firecrackers and smoke bombs were set off

· In Indonesia, police fired warning shots at protesters outside the US consulate in Surabaya, the country's second largest city. Earlier, demonstrators hurled stones and broke windows at the Danish consulate in the city, and there were protests in the capital, Jakarta

· Riot police in the Indian capital, Delhi, fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of students protesting against the cartoons

· Shops and businesses across Indian-administered Kashmir were closed after a general strike was called in protest at the drawings

· In Thailand, protesters shouted "God is great" and stamped on Denmark's flag outside the country's embassy in Bangkok, the Associated Press news agency reported

· There were protests outside the European Union offices in Gaza, following demonstrations there last week.

The cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and caused outrage among Muslims, who consider any images of Muhammad offensive. One of the cartoons shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Newspapers across Europe republished the pictures last week, saying they were defending freedom of expression.

Afghan leader, Saudi envoy criticize Prophet cartoons

Washington (AFP) - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Saudi diplomat Prince Turki al-Faisal have separately criticized cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed published in the European media, amid protests throughout the Muslim world.

Karzai told CNN television Sunday that the cartoons, which initially appeared in a Danish newspaper followed by European newspapers, were "insulting" and had stoked anger in his country.

In a separate CNN interview, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince al-Faisal, said the cartoons were "offensive" and represented "absolutely horrible depictions of the Prophet Mohammed".

Twelve cartoons, first published last September by the conservative Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and then reprinted by a Norwegian magazine, have caused an uproar in the Muslim world.

The caricatures, which included depictions of the Muslim prophet as a knife-wielding bedouin and another as wearing a time bomb-shaped turban, have sparked widespread protests in the Muslim world.

Angry crowds set ablaze the building housing the Danish consulate in Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday in violent protests against the cartoons that left almost 30 people wounded.

Meanwhile, a smaller protest, involving some 1,000 people, occurred in eastern Afghanistan against the cartoons a day after riots in Syria saw the diplomatic missions of Denmark and Norway burned, despite the presence of security forces.

"We, as Muslims, all over the world are angry for those cartoons appearing in the European press," the Afghan leader told CNN. "We feel angry about this," he said, adding "I as a Muslim feel very offended".

Karzai called on western governments to take strong measures against the publication of such cartoons and urged western newspapers to dismiss editors involved their publication. Al-Faisal supported Kharzi's sentiments.

"The cartoons are offensive," he said. "They are absolutely horrible depictions of the Prophet Mohammed, a man esteemed not just by Muslims but even by non-Muslims," he said, appealing for calm and dialogue rather than violence.

He said people had protested peacefully to the Danish embassy in Riyadh. The US' largest Muslim association appealed for calm in a statement Sunday.

"Everyone has the right to peacefully protest defamatory attacks on their religious figures, but protestors should not reinforce existing stereotypes by resorting to violence or inflammatory rhetoric," said Ibrahim Hooper, a communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

US Senator Barbara Boxer told CNN the issue was related to freedom of speech. "If I had an opportunity to talk to the people in the streets ... what I'd tell them is that freedom of speech can be very painful sometimes," the California senator said.

"A lot of these folks are not used to dealing with freedoms like this," she added. "It's right to demand an apology. It's right to boycott the newspaper that ran it. But it's not right to use violent means to combat freedom of speech which you may not agree with," said Boxer.

Land Mine Kills Six Police in Afghanistan - Feb 5 Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A land mine ripped through a police vehicle, killing six officers and wounding four in the latest of a wave of attacks that have rocked southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

The blast late Saturday in Kandahar province came after 48 hours of bloodshed that left 38 people dead as hundreds of Afghan and U.S. forces battled some 200 militants in the biggest fighting in months.

The mine was buried in a dirt road and detonated as the police drove over it in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, said Mohammed Nabi, a local police chief.

"The Taliban would have known the officers were coming and placed the mine there to attack them," he said. The wounded were rushed to a hospital in Kandahar city, a former Taliban stronghold, and security forces have launched a manhunt for the rebels.

The violence underscores the massive challenge that will face thousands of British and Canadian troops in the next few months as they gradually relieve American forces in southern Afghanistan, a hotbed of anti-government insurgency and the drug trade.

Fighting last year left some 1,600 people dead, the highest toll since American-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001. Afghan authorities blame much of the violence on foreign militants. An Iraqi was caught this week trying to sneak into the country, and after interrogating him, officials said they believe a large group of Arab al-Qaida militants were on their way in.

US soldier killed in Afghanistan – BBC

An American soldier has been killed in an attack in central Afghanistan, the US military says. The soldier was killed when "enemy forces" opened fire on a US patrol in Laghman province, it said in a statement released in Kabul.

In a separate incident in the east, one suspected rebel fighter was killed and another injured in an exchange with US soldiers, the statement said. More than 1,400 people died last year in attacks in Afghanistan.

The latest attack took place near the Afghan capital, when the US patrol came under fire. "The patrol quickly pursued the enemy, returning fire and requesting close-air support," the US military statement said. It said the attackers fled the area.

About 130 US soldiers have died in combat in Afghanistan since the invasion that toppled the Taliban in late 2001. In the second incident, the US military says it engaged two "enemy fighters" near a border control point in the eastern province of Khost, near the Pakistan border.

In an unrelated incident, the authorities in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif told the BBC they had arrested a suspected suicide bomber who had managed to enter the office of the provincial governor.

The man is said to have been wearing a waistcoat with packed with explosives. Last Friday, heavy fighting broke out between Afghan troops and Taleban fighters in Helmand province, killing at least 25.

It was the most serious fighting between the Taleban and Afghan troops for two years. The upsurge in violence comes as the US plans to hand more responsibility for security in southern Afghanistan to Nato allies.

Afghans say thwart al Qaeda suicide bomber – Reuters, February 6, 2006

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan security forces thwarted a suicide bomb attack on a provincial governor on Monday and arrested a suspected al Qaeda member from Mali, the governor said.

Ustad Atta Mohammad, governor of Balkh province, said the suspect, who he identified as Kroma Yahya from Mali, had been intercepted with a vest packed with explosives, on his way to a meeting with the governor.

"He has been watched by security forces for days and today he was due to meet me," Mohammad told reporters. "He had attached explosives in his waistcoat to kill me in a suicide raid, but security forces aborted it after checking him before the meeting," he said.

Mohammad said Yahya had recently come to Mazar-i-Sharif to set up a school, and he belonged to al Qaeda. Authorities were questioning him and would hand him over to the U.S. military, Mohammad said.

A government official in Kabul confirmed the arrest of a suspected suicide bomber from Mali but declined to give details. Mohammad was a prominent commander in the Northern Alliance opposition to the Taliban that helped U.S. forces oust the Taliban in 2001.

Dozens of people have been killed in a wave of bombings across Afghanistan, including 14 suicide attacks, in recent months. Authorities in southern Afghanistan last week said they had arrested several suspected militants including five Pakistanis, an Iranian and an Iraqi.

The government says Taliban and al Qaeda militants are cooperating in their campaign to drive out U.S. and other foreign troops and defeat the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

More than 170 Taliban, Islamic militants surrender in Afghanistan - 2/5/06

KABUL (AFP) - More than 170 Taliban and other Islamist fighters have surrendered as part of a government amnesty scheme, vowing to lay down arms and work to rebuild war-ravaged Afghanistan, officials said.

The men travelled from various provinces from across Afghanistan to Kabul for a ceremony at which their surrender was announced by the head of the government's reconciliation commission, Sebghattullah Mujaddadi.

They included members of the extremist Hezb-e-Islami faction of wanted warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an anti-Soviet resistance commander who is part of a bloody anti-government insurgency. "In the ceremony today 172 brothers who were former Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami surrendered," commission spokesman Sayed Sharif Yousufi told AFP Sunday.

More than 1,000 Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami members have signed up to the amnesty scheme since it was launched less than a year ago, Yousufi said. One of the former fighters, Qazi Joma Khan from the Hezb-e-Islami faction, said the men wanted to help rebuild Afghanistan.

"We vow to help ensure security and peace and take part in reconstruction of our country," he said. "We promise not to stand against the government any more," said ex-Taliban, Mawlawi Abdul Rehman.

President Hamid Karzai has offered amnesty to members of the Taliban movement, which was in power from 1996 to 2001, and other Islamic militias "whose hands are not stained with innocent people's blood" from the past 25 years of war.

Among those who have taken up the offer are former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil and the Taliban regime's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef.

The insurgency by Taliban and other Islamic insurgents, including some with links to Al-Qaeda, has claimed more than 1,700 lives in the past year with most of the dead militants killed by Afghan and foreign security forces.

Moscow might write off Afghan debt - Foreign Ministry

Secret high-level contacts between Israel, Afghanistan in London – Mainichi Daily News

JERUSALEM -- Senior diplomats from Israel and Afghanistan met secretly in London last week, stepping up lower-level contacts that took place earlier in Europe, an Israeli daily reported Monday.

The Maariv daily said the two sides have been discussing cooperation in areas where Afghanistan needs Israeli equipment and expertise. It did not elaborate.

The Israeli delegation included the director of the foreign ministry, Ron Prosor, and Yaakov Dayan, a senior aide to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the report said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev would not confirm the report, but said Israel has continuously tried to improve its relationships with the Muslim world.

"There is no reason Israel could not have more normal and cooperative relationships with countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia, and we're working toward that end," he said.

In an AP interview last month, Afghanistan's pro-Western president, Hamid Karzai, said his government would forge official diplomatic ties with Israel if the Palestinians can form a state of their own.

"If a Palestinian state is recognized, we will recognize Israel, we will have relations with Israel. We will have trade with Israel," he said at the time.

Karzai also gave an interview to an Israeli paper last October, congratulating Israel for its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and saying he had met Israeli politician Shimon Peres. After Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke early last month, Karzai wished the Israeli leader a speedy recovery.

Israel and Afghanistan have never had formal relations. Forging ties with Israel would infuriate Afghanistan's neighbor Iran, which has called for Israel's destruction.

Afghanistan is the latest Muslim state to make gestures toward Israel. Since the Gaza pullout was completed in September, Israeli diplomats have met with counterparts from Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia. (AP) February 6, 2006

Afghan employees of Indian company attacked

Kabul: Three Afghan employees working for an Indian road construction company were slightly wounded after armed men attacked their vehicle in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, a senior official said Monday.

Yousif Stanikzai, spokesman for the Afghan interior minister told DPA that the incident occurred Sunday in Lashkarga, the provincial capital of the province.

"The attackers were driving two Land Cruiser vehicles," he said, adding that they fled the area after the security guard of the company opened retaliatory fire.

Late last year, the remnants of the ousted Taliban regime kidnapped an Indian driver in western province of Nimroz and killed him few days later. Nearly two weeks ago, two men riding a motorbike threw a grenade at the Indian consulate in the southern province of Kandahar, but no one was injured.

Afghanistan Blames Taleban, Drug Traffickers for Deadly Violence - Voice of America By Benjamin Sand Islamabad 05 February 2006

Senior officials say a series of major clashes in southern Afghanistan may be linked to the region's powerful drug cartels. Two days of violence and pitched battles have left at more than 30 people dead, most of them militants. Afghan officials say the fighting has largely subsided Sunday, but government forces are combing the area looking for suspected insurgents.

A roadside bomb in Kandahar killed six policemen late Saturday. The attack is the latest in a string of bloody assaults that seem to be spreading across much of southern Afghanistan. It was blamed on supporters of the Taleban, a hard-line Islamic group that controlled Afghanistan until it was ousted in 2001.

Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanezai says the violence is fueled, at least in part, by a growing coalition of Taleban insurgents and local drug lords.

"The Taleban fighters and the drug traffickers jointly want to disrupt the security situation because police have put pressure on drug smuggling," he said. "The circle for drug smuggling and terrorist activities has become smaller."

He says both groups rely on the same underground networks to transport drugs, weapons and personnel. Afghanistan is a leading producer of illegal opium, which is used to make the addictive drug heroin. The fighting erupted Friday when militants ambushed a police convoy in Helmand province, long considered a hotbed for insurgent activity.

As government forces regrouped, U.S.-led coalition airplanes bombed suspected Taleban targets in the area. Speaking Saturday, U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Mike Cody described the coalition involvement.

"Coalition forces provided close air support and were involved on the ground," said Lieutenant Cody. "As of yesterday we have no coalition casualties or damages."

Just a few hours after the initial attack, more than 200 insurgents attacked government offices in the region, killing a district chief and several policemen. The violence forced hundreds of terrified residents from their homes Saturday as government troops and suspected Taleban rebels traded fire.

Reinforcements have arrived from the capital and security across the volatile southern provinces has been sharply increased. Officials say both Helmand and Kandahar provinces are centers for drug trafficking and the Taleban insurgency.

NATO peacekeepers will deploy to the region later this year with nearly double their existing troop strength. Around 18,000 British, Canadian and Dutch forces will complement U.S. troops already in the area.

Drug trade 'reaches to Afghan cabinet' - The Telegraph –UK Toby Harnden in Kabul 2/5/06

Some cabinet ministers in Afghanistan are deeply implicated in the drugs trade and could be diverting foreign aid into trafficking, the country's anti-narcotics minister said yesterday.

The admission will dismay Western governments, which last week pledged $10.5 billion (£6 billion) in aid, including £505 million from Britain, to help to fight poverty, improve security and crack down on the drugs trade.

It raises the prospect that money being donated by the West could be used indirectly to kill British soldiers, 3,300 of whom will be stationed in anarchic Helmand province, where corrupt officials, insurgents and drug lords overlap.

"I don't deny that," said Habibullah Qaderi in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, when asked whether corruption linked to the £2.7 billion-a-year drugs trade went right up to the cabinet.

Such high-level criminality, he said, would help account for why "a lot of trafficking through different parts of the country" was being conducted with apparent impunity.

But he declined to name names and said Afghanistan's weak justice system, itself bedevilled by corruption, meant that it was difficult to convert allegations and rumours into fact. "The question is how to find evidence against these people [politicians]."

In Kabul, the houses of several senior politicians resemble small palaces with marble corridors, painstakingly manicured lawns and dozens of armed guards. Even in provincial town such as Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, ostentatious homes stand in stark contrast to the poverty around them and are known locally as the houses of "smugglers" - a euphemism for drug traffickers.

Western aid officials and several European diplomats named the same high-ranking politicians and officials, including one with close links to Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's President, as drug lords.

"The Afghans complain that 75 per cent of aid is spent directly rather than being filtered through their government but the reason for that is because otherwise a significant proportion is skimmed off into the pockets of drug lords," said one American aid worker. "Post-Taliban Afghanistan is going to emerge as a low-level narco-state at best."

But a veteran European diplomat in Kabul said: "The problem, as ever, is the smoking gun. We all know it is happening. We all know the names. But I have never seen any direct evidence and I don't know anyone who has."

Ali Ahmad Jalali, who resigned as Afghanistan's interior minister last year, said: "Sometimes government officials allow their own cars to be used for a fee. Sometimes they give protection to traffickers.

"In Afghanistan, corruption is a low-risk enterprise in a high-risk environment. Because of the lack of investigative capacity it is very difficult to get evidence. You always end up arresting foot soldiers."

But he accused Western governments of exaggerating the problem to justify limiting their long-term commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan. The "drug problem in Afghanistan is demand-driven" from the West, he said, with 90 per cent of profits being made outside the country. Nato policies, moreover, had helped to consolidate the drugs lords because they had focused solely on fighting Taliban and insurgent forces rather than attacking the trade.

Mr Jalali urged British troops in Helmand not to ignore narcotics, 90 per cent of which end up in Europe. "I understand Nato's argument that if they eradicate poppy fields then that antagonizes the population. But there are legitimate targets - mobile labs and stockpiles - which only drugs lords, rather than ordinary poppy growers, are involved with."

A British official said that a number of Afghan MPs were linked to the drugs trade and that some officials had to be circumvented because they were corrupted by drugs. "There are plenty of people in the national assembly who are very dodgy. Corruption is endemic so I have to be careful with some figures in the Afghan set-up who might not be 100 per cent committed to eradicating drugs."

Last week, the World Bank castigated Western governments for failing to channel money through the Afghan government, leading to vast amounts of cash being spent on exorbitant salaries, security guards and fortified accommodation for aid workers.

But the Kabul Weekly, an Afghan newspaper, summed up the dilemma: "If aid is given to NGOs, huge amounts go into their own expenditures. If it's given to the Afghan government, the poor bureaucracy and corruption waste it."

Afghanistan: World Bank Pledges $1.2 Billion to Support Development

The World Bank announced a pledge of US$1.2 billion to Afghanistan at a major donor conference in London this week. This pledge helped bring to US$10.5 billion the total pledge Afghanistan received at this week’s high-level meeting in London.
The Afghanistan Compact agreed between the international donor community and the Government of Afghanistan in London this week, sets out, among a list of goals for the next five years, a commitment to avoid undermining national institution building. Conference participants showed strong support for increased use of government systems, like the budget, to channel their assistance to Afghanistan’s priorities. This ensures that Afghanistan has ownership of its development program and ensures value for money.

“To be effective, our finances must be provided to support programs and priorities of the government and must support the leadership of the Government of Afghanistan,” said Praful Patel, World Bank Vice President for South Asia. “Accountability for implementing development programs and providing services to Afghan citizens ultimately lies with the government and we, in the international community, must come together to help.”

Following the conference the 24 donors to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund met to discuss details how to improve use of this mechanism that provides funds directly to the government’s budget to meet its own priorities. “The ARTF is the best example of how we can coordinate and pool resources to support the government. How do we do even better now and make sure the spirit of coordination infuses all our efforts?” posed Patel at the meeting.

The ARTF is administered by the World Bank with contributions so far from 24 donors totaling over US$1.3 billion. All funds from the ARTF are channeled through the government’s budget and are carefully monitored to ensure fiduciary standards are adhered to. It has proved a highly flexible instrument giving government some budget predictability and reducing multiple reporting requirements by pooling donors into one mechanism. The resources have been used both to fund recurrent government spending like the payment of teachers and health workers and to support 12 projects so far that are providing services and infrastructure in every province of the country.

“The 24 donors who have channeled some or all of their support to Afghanistan through the ARTF can be truly proud that some of the best development work is being accomplished through this instrument,” said Patel. “Not only is it critically keeping the wheels of government turning but its reaching the very ordinary and very poor citizens of Afghanistan in an uncomplicated way that delivers results directly.” Source:The World Bank

Afghanistan: Empty Promises At London Conference? - The international community has pledged to stay the course in Afghanistan, but expectations are low in Kabul. By Wahidullah Amani and Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Kabul - Institute For War and Peace Reporting - (ARR No. 201, 04-Feb-06)

The London Conference on Afghanistan brought fulsome speeches and promises of aid, as more than 60 nations and international organisations vowed not to abandon the country during the challenging times ahead. With over 10 billion US dollars now pledged for what is called the Afghanistan Compact, the nation can look forward to five more years of international assistance.

The conference came four years after a similar event in Germany produced the Bonn Agreement, which served as the blueprint for Afghanistan’s transition to democracy. With the parliamentary elections in September and the Bonn process completed, many in Afghanistan feared that international donors would lose interest in their nation’s development. The purpose of the London Conference was, in part, to set those fears to rest.

Afghanistan is no stranger to conferences and promises. Donor meetings in Tokyo in 2002 and Berlin in 2004 promised close to 13 billion dollars in aid and raised hopes and expectations at home.

But many question why the promised aid has failed produce tangible results. More than four years after the ouster of the Taleban, Afghanistan remains largely without paved roads, clean water or stable electricity. Construction projects lag behind schedule.

Afghans grumble that the money has been misused or stolen, and many are afraid that this time will be no different. Corruption and mismanagement will drain any benefit from donor assistance, they say.

“If the international community wants to give its money to the Afghan government, first of all they should appoint honest and patriotic people to the government,” said Habibullah Ghamkhoor, a political analyst based in Sweden. “The present administration is totally corrupt. If the money is handed over to them, they are the only ones who will ever see it.”

Non-governmental organisations, NGOs, are also at fault for misusing funds or failing to achieve their goals, said Ghamkhoor. But this is because the Afghan government is incapable of monitoring their activities, he said.

“During the past four years the NGOs have spent grant money without consulting anyone,” said Ghamkhoor. “There was no legal government in existence.” Even now, with an elected president and parliament, the government cannot handle the money, he said.

“If the money is given to the Afghan government, the conference will have no more positive effect than any of the previous ones,” said Ghankhoor. “It will only serve to show that the international community did not forget Afghanistan.”

The Afghanistan Compact, drafted by the government of Afghanistan, outlines the country’s development strategy through 2010. It lists three critical areas: security, governance and economic and social development. Each objective is also intended to counter the growing drug trade.

The government in Kabul has promised that, with the cooperation of the international community, it will establish a 70,000-strong national army and a 62,000-strong national police force by the end of 2010. The government has also pledged to ensure that all illegal armed groups are disbanded by the end of 2007.

The Afghan government has been hoping to attract additional financial support and a renewed commitment to Afghanistan’s development. It has also been active in trying to persuade potential donors to funnel the money directly to the government rather than working through NGOs as has been the practice until now.

"Over the past four years, the awarding of grant money to NGOs has not been successful,” said political analyst Fazel Rahman Oria. “The people of Afghanistan have not profited from these grants, because the government was not able to control the NGOs.”

But giving the money to the government directly is the answer either, according to Oria. “At present, if the money comes through the government, the people of Afghanistan will not benefit, because the government is more corrupt than the NGOs,” he said.

Corruption is one of the issues addressed in the Afghanistan Compact. The government has promised to tackle the problem, by ratifying the UN Convention against Corruption by the end of 2006, and creating monitoring mechanisms to stop graft and embezzlement in government.

Ramazan Bashar Dost, a member of parliament and long-time critic of NGO activities, managed to find fault with the government of President Hamed Karzai, the NGOs and donor organisations for the lack of progress in developing Afghanistan.

“The only way to prevent embezzlement is to get rid of the present government, starting with Karzai’s office and including all the ministers,” he told reporters on the eve of the conference. “But there should also be changes in the leadership of international organisations, such as GTZ, USAID, the Asian Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.”

Bashar Dost added that he was sceptical that the London Conference would bring any more benefits than the previous ones. “There may be talk about billions of dollars in grants, but that is just talk. As long as the mafia system in Afghanistan remains in place, these grants will not benefit the people.”

The only people who seem hopeful about international assistance are ordinary Afghans. “In comparison to the Taleban regime, my life has improved a lot,” said Kabul resident Nasratullah.

Noor Mohammad, a shopkeeper in Kabul, said that he has followed the London Conference from the beginning on radio. “It is very useful and vital for Afghan people,” he said.

“If the United Nations had not helped Afghanistan, we would never have been freed from the Taleban’s oppression,” said another Kabul resident, Naqibullah. “Our lives have improved, but we need more assistance.” But Mohammad Nabi, who earns his living by hawking top-up cards for mobile phones by the side of the road, was less positive.

“I know nothing about this conference,” he said. “I am too busy earning my daily bread. I have not seen any benefits of assistance over the past four years. The poor are still poor. The money donated to Afghanistan reaches only those who own cars and houses.” Wahidullah Amani and Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi are IWPR staff reporters in Kabul.

Afghan Realities - Afghanistan, a critical nation, remains essentially on life support - The Century Foundation 02/06/2006 By Carl Robichaud

Last week, Condoleezza Rice joined leaders from Afghanistan and 60 donor nations in London for what may have be America's last best chance to get its strategy on track for Afghanistan, a critical nation that remains on life support.

Afghanistan's problems are a symptom of a single key issue: the nation's government is exceedingly weak, over-centralized, and incapable of providing security, collecting taxes, or delivering services, especially in the provinces where people need them most.

This is a big reason the Taliban are stronger today than at any point since they were ousted. Strongmen, smugglers, and narcotics traffickers have consolidated their fiefdoms and used September elections to further entrench themselves. Reconstruction and economic growth have been confined to a few urban areas and Afghans continue to experience some of the worst poverty and health standards in the world.

Before the conference, Rice had promised "a significant new contribution to Afghan development" but in London it became clear that no increase was planned: the $1.1 billion in development assistance proposed for next year is the same amount the United States gave last year.

There may still be time to correct the course, but donors will need to boost their aid dramatically and make the development of Afghan capacities their top priority.

Reconstructing a fractured society is a monumental task which requires substantial resources and an approach that balances security and development. A RAND study, which cites per capita aid flows in the early years of nation-building, is illustrative: relative successes were achieved in Bosnia ($679 per capita), Kosovo ($526), and East Timor ($233). On the other side of the coin is Afghanistan, which received a scant $57 per capita.

The two previous donor conferences (2002 in Tokyo and 2004 in Berlin) delivered less than half of the $28 billion promised, and of that only $4 billion went to rebuilding projects. (During this period, drug revenues overshadowed reconstruction funds by a two-to-one margin, tilting power further toward criminals and strongmen.)

Could donors have afforded to bring Afghan funding out of the cellar? The irony here is that there was significant money being spent in Afghanistan—it was just going toward a narrow but expensive military campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda. Experts warned that Afghanistan could not be stabilized without sufficient reconstruction aid or provincial security, but the administration preferred to restrict its engagement and to focus its efforts through the Pentagon. Since 2001, according to the Congressional Research Service, the United States allocated $66.5 billion dollars to the Department of Defense—more than ten times U.S. combined spending ($5.7 billion) on reconstruction, humanitarian aid, economic assistance, and training for Afghan security forces.

Every initiative, from counterterrorism to counternarcotics, from human rights to girls' education, is contingent upon strengthening the Afghan state. The plan to rebuild the Afghan national army to 70,000 troops and the police force to 62,000, for example, is only realistic if the Afghan government dramatically increases revenues—after all, armed men are only "security forces" when they receive salaries. Yet billions are funneled to security forces even as programs to expand the economy and strengthen the government's anemic tax-collection are shortchanged.

Major counternarcotics spending will go to waste without realistic investments in legal reform and alternative livelihoods. Elections, on which hundreds of millions were spent, will prove meaningless unless elected officials, including those in the provinces, can deliver services to their constituents.

The London Conference was a critical opportunity for donors to right their course, and they did, in principle, put the Afghan government in the driver's seat by focusing on a national development strategy that reflects Afghan priorities. But the moment of truth will come when it's time to honor these pledges and fully support the priorities of the Afghan people. It will take a paradigm shift, for example, to phase out a distribution system that undermines the government by channeling three-quarters of aid through outside contractors and NGOs.

Despite its many problems, Afghanistan has come a long way in four years, and a timely investment could help it to harness a skilled diaspora, favorable trade location, and competitive investment climate to achieve strong economic growth. The planned NATO expansion could provide a transformative boost in security.

But unless current trends are reversed, Afghanistan's future may well be governed by narcotics traffickers and militia leaders, many of whom subscribe to the same ideology of radical Islam as the Taliban and al Qaeda. If so, the United States will have won every military battle and still lost the war.

Carl Robichaud is a program officer at The Century Foundation. Visit www.AfghanistanWatch.org, a program of The Century Foundation, for more on the London Conference and other developments in Afghanistan

“Un-Islamic” TV Channel in Trouble - Government cracks down on a private television station it claims is violating traditional values - By Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul Institute For War and Peace Reporting (ARR No. 201, 04-Feb-06)

In its first move against a private television station, the government has imposed a 1,000 US dollars fine on Afghan TV for broadcasting “un-Islamic” materials.

The fine was levied by a special media commission, composed of six members from various government organs, and headed by the minister of information, culture and tourism.

The commission, which has been in place for about a year, is responsible for enforcing the country’s media law and reviewing the public’s complaints against newspapers and broadcasters. Afghanistan’s media law prohibits the publication or broadcast of any material that is considered counter to Islamic law.

Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Aqa Hussain Sancharaki, who was present when the decision to fine Afghan TV was taken, said that the media commission had previously met with the heads of all five of Kabul’s television stations, both public and private, and urged them to cut materials that violated the Koran and Afghan culture.

But despite the warning, said Sancharaki, Afghan TV, a private station, continued to air movies and music videos that broke the media law. “We are protectors of press freedom, but we have a responsibility to society as well, not to let our young people be misled by violence and sensuality,” he told IWPR.

Ahmad Shah Afghanzai, the owner of Afghan TV, said he is angry and bewildered by the fine. “I still do not know why [we have] been fined, nor do I know to whom I am supposed to give the money,” he told IWPR.

A statement issued by the broadcaster said, “Afghan TV is upset by this decision, which was made in its absence. We consider it unfair. Afghan TV has always designed its broadcasts based on the constitution and the media law.”

Sancharaki disputed the station’s version of events. “The commission called Afghanzai in twice and outlined to him the complaints against him. We showed him clips which had been broadcast by his station, and he admitted that they were against our society’s values and promised it would not happen again.”

Afghan TV is one of four private stations in Kabul, and has been broadcasting since late 2004. It has a limited reach – it cannot be seen outside the capital, and does not reach every neighbourhood even in Kabul.

Afghan TV devotes the bulk of it 24-hour programming to music and films, with no news and a few analytical programmes. At first glance, Afghan TV would not seem to be the most daring of the private stations. Tolo TV, one that is widely considered the most popular television channel in the country, has been at the centre of many controversies since it went on air in October 2004.

Ariana, another private outlet that began broadcasting at the end of 2005, has also shown movies and music videos that some have called obscene. The difference, said Sancharaki, is that Tolo and Ariana have agreed to what amounts to self-censorship.

“They [Tolo and Ariana] established offices in their stations to censor and control their broadcasts," said Sancharaki. But the head of the news section at the Ariana Television Network, Ali Yawar Salimi, said that Araina’s censorship section was established independently of the government to ensure that Ariana’s broadcasts did not put it in conflict with Islamic culture.

"We have always had a section for controlling our broadcasts,” he said. “This was not due to pressure from the government.” Tolo TV declined to comment on the issue. However, it has recently begun obscuring the screen during particularly risqué music videos and movies.

Rahimullah Samander, head of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, AIJA, and a member of the media commission, defended the decision to fine Afghan TV. According to Samander, Article 33 of the media law provides for penalties against private media outlets if they go against the law.

“I am not happy that Afghan TV was fined, but I have to say it was fair,” he told IWPR. “Media in Afghanistan are only now becoming familiar with their new freedoms. If a media organisation is closed down, it would be a major blow, so levying a fine is the best option. This happens all over the world.”

Under the Taleban, music and film were forbidden; even photography was banned. When the restrictions were lifted, some media outlets sought to test the limits of what is considered acceptable.

Even today, material that would seem fairly tame by international standards – such as women dancing “suggestively” or with bare midriffs, and movies depicting couples kissing – is considered taboo.

Some Kabul residents applaud the commission’s decision, hoping this will be a lesson to other media to respect Afghan tradition. “These private television stations are trying to replace Afghan culture with foreign culture,” said Sayed Atta Mohammad, 36. “I want the ministry of information and culture to shut these stations down.”

Others, however, fear that the ruling signals a crackdown on press freedom. According to 29-year-old Habibullah, “By taking this decision, the ministry of information and culture once again showed the world that there is no freedom of the press in Afghanistan, and that the culture of the Taleban is still dominant.” Amanullah Nasrat is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Pakistan bus explosion kills 13 - BBC News, 5 February 2006

At least 13 people have been killed in a bomb explosion on a passenger bus in Pakistan's troubled south-western province of Balochistan, officials say. About 20 others were injured in the blast which happened as the bus was travelling through Kolpur town.

Balochistan, the source of Pakistan's main gas reserves, has been the scene of rising violence between rebels and security forces. The rebels are demanding greater control over natural resources.

Government officials said they were investigating whether a bomb had been deliberately left on the bus, or if an explosive device being carried by militants had gone off prematurely.

The bus had been travelling from the provincial capital, Quetta, to the eastern city of Lahore. Interior minister Aftab Sherpao said the bus was carrying 50 passengers.

Last week, tribesmen blew up a gas pipeline and fired more than 200 rockets at a major base belonging to the Pakistani security forces in the district of Dera Bugti, about 350km (250 miles) from Quetta.

The army launched a major crackdown in Balochistan last month after rockets were fired during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf.

[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.]