In this bulletin:

• Nearly 60 killed, scores missing in Afghanistan floods
• Terrorism, extremism holding Afghanistan back: Karzai
• Afghan 'threat to wider region'
• Manmohan, Karzai seek more regional support for Afghanistan
• Osama bin Laden hiding on Pak-Afghan border: Karzai
• Afghan leader, on trip to India, asks Pakistan to do more to stop militants
• Blair and Musharraf vow to boost terror cooperation
• NATO chief urges clearer view of Afghan mission
• Step up in Afghanistan, allies told
• Iran Slams US Strategy in Iraq, Afghanistan
• Afghan warlords find limits to power
• Restrictions impeding development in Afghanistan: MacKay

Nearly 60 killed, scores missing in Afghanistan floods

Herat (AFP) - Nearly 60 people are dead and dozens still missing days after flash floods in western Afghanistan, the health minister said as NATO choppers delivered medicines and other aid.

The health ministry had already sent a team of doctors to the remote western province of Badghis and more were on their way, Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatemi told AFP on Saturday.

Fifty-six bodies had been recovered after floods hit the province, which borders Turkmenistan, on Thursday, he told AFP. Most of the bodies were found in the Murghab district and eight in neighbouring Ghormach.

The head of a government-appointed disaster committee, Habibullah Murghabi, told AFP from the province by phone that around 100 people were still missing two days after the floods.

Fatemi said the flood waters had damaged nearly 3,500 houses, many of them built from mud bricks, and killed around 2,300 heads of livestock.

"We have launched a large scale relief operation which includes sending out medic teams, medical supplies, blankets. We are sending out doctors. Some of the teams are already at the site, some are arriving," he said.

Murghabi said earlier that the floods, caused by heavy rains, had washed away up to six villages along the Murghab River.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) sent choppers to the area to deliver eight tonnes of relief aid, including medical supplies and blankets, with winter beginning to set in.

"It is still not clear how many people are affected," spokesman Major Luke Knittig said. "It seems more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed and a good number of people have been affected."

The remoteness of the area, near the town of Balamurghab about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border with Turkmenistan, meant details of the casualties and damage were hard to pin down.

The Italian-led ISAF team in the western city Herat was also working with local authorities to assess the damage and line up assistance, spokesman Captain Giancarlo Ciaburro told AFP.

"There are reports of 100 people dead but we don't know the numbers because the area is not very reachable," he said.

ISAF teams had said Balamurghab was under 10 centimetres (four inches) of water, he said, warning of health problems later because of the rotting animal carcasses in the water.

Afghanistan, especially the west and south, has been in the grip of drought but heavy rains started falling in several areas in the past week.

Badghis, a province of grassy hills, has been especially hard hit by a lack of rain, with reports that hundreds of families have been forced to leave their land.

The British-based charity Christian Aid said in September that it had found that most water sources in Badghis and adjoining Herat and Ghor provinces had dried up.

United Nations bodies have put out urgent calls for donations to buy food aid for millions of Afghans who face shortages this winter, although agencies say there is no danger of starvation.

Afghanistan is wrecked after nearly 30 years of war, which has also left traditional irrigation methods and the agriculture sector in general in tatters.

Its infrastructure is ruined and the country is reliant on the international community for disaster relief, development and battling a resurgent Taliban, being assisted by other Islamist militant groups.

Terrorism, extremism holding Afghanistan back: Karzai

New Delhi (AFP) - An international conference on boosting economic cooperation with insurgency-hit Afghanistan opened here with Kabul and hosts India calling for a workable blueprint for development.

But Afghan President Hamid Karzai said extremism and terrorism were impeding regional economic cooperation, besides fragile security and inadequate infrastructure.

Thanking international peacekeepers stationed in Afghanistan, Karzai however said their "job was not over" despite the strides made since November 2001 when a US-led international force ousted the Taliban.

"The security of the region and the world at large are not fully safeguarded," he warned adding "the enduring partnership of solid and unwavering allies" was a requisite for defeating extremism and terrorism.

He urged regional economic integration of the region, which he described as "a lofty but achievable ambition".

"We... recognise that Afghanistan's stability is an asset for the region, whereas an unstable Afghanistan will undoubtedly put the vision of a peaceful and prosperous region in jeopardy," Karzai told the second Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan on Saturday.

"Today's conference must serve ... as an impetus to define a vision that reflects the shared interests of all of us and agree on working together towards achieving it."

The conclave comes a week after the release of a gloomy report that says the escalating insurgency in Afghanistan and other obstacles had meant progress has been "slow or non-existent".

Violence linked to a Taliban-led insurgency that killed 3,700 people this year, four times more than in 2005, had diverted resources from reconstruction and development, the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board said.

Private sector investment was low and held back by insecurity, crime, corruption, limited access to financing and a lack of reliable energy, among a range of factors, it said.

The meet also comes amid tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the roots of the Taliban insurgency, each accusing the other of not doing enough to tackle the sources of violence.

Afghanistan and India meanwhile enjoy good relations, with New Delhi one of the main donors to the post-Taliban country, granting 652 million dollars to various projects since 2001.

"The present conference must be an occasion for careful and honest stocktaking assessing how far we have come ... and what further we can do," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

"The conference must attempt to develop an integrated blueprint for reconstruction that builds on regional capacities," he said.

"I do hope that... we will be able to reaffirm the international community's stake, responsibility and renewed commitment to the reconstruction of Afghanistan."

The first Afghan conference, held in Kabul a year ago, agreed the supply of power is essential to boosting the economy and undercutting the booming narcotics trade which helps fuel the Taliban insurgency.

The Delhi conference is being attended by representatives of Afghanistan's neighbours, including India's rival Pakistan, Britain, Canada, Russia and the United States.

Delegates from international bodies such as the United Nations, World Bank and other global groups have also been invited.

Afghan 'threat to wider region' –BBC

Hamid Karzai has said instability in Afghanistan is a huge threat to peace and prosperity in the wider region.

At an Indian conference, the Afghan president said poor infrastructure and inconsistent policies were hampering regional economic co-operation.

Mr Karzai's comments follow a warning by the UN World Food Programme that it cannot feed millions of Afghans who will depend on it during the winter.

Meanwhile more than 50 people have been found dead in recent western floods. Dozens more were declared missing as a result of Thursday's flash floods around the remote town of Balamurghab in the western Badghis province.

Several villages have been washed away and thousands of homes destroyed along the Murghab river, local officials said. Nato-led troops are preparing to airlift aid to the region, much of which is inaccessible by road.

The meeting in Delhi, attended by representatives from Pakistan, Iran and several other countries, is aimed at improving Afghanistan's economy by involving its neighbours in reconstruction.

But opening the conference, Mr Karzai said extremism and violence by militant groups remained a fearsome challenge five years after his government began rebuilding Afghanistan.

"We ... recognise that Afghanistan's stability is an asset for this region whereas unstable Afghanistan will undoubtedly put the vision of a peaceful and prosperous region in serious jeopardy," he said.

"Today there are a host of other factors - from fragility of security to inadequate physical infrastructure to inconsistent policies which play to the detriment to the regional economic cooperation."

He added that if the economy were more developed, there would be less support for the Taleban insurgency and fewer farmers would turn to the booming opium trade.

The BBC's Simon Watts says that while this conference may provide some assistance to Kabul, delegates know that the lack of security compounds all the country's problems.

In an interview for the Guardian newspaper, UN Afghan mission head Tom Koenigs said Nato forces could not defeat Taleban militants on their own but would have to win people over with good governance and the help of the new Afghan army.

Mr Koenigs said Nato was being "very optimistic" but urged the alliance to stop doing things on its own.

"You have to win people over. And that is done with good governance, decent police, diplomacy with Pakistan and development," the Guardian quoted him as saying.

Nato-led forces have faced fierce resistance from Taleban militants in the south of the country in recent months.

Civilians make up a quarter of the 4,000 people killed this year in the insurgency, which has been concentrated in the areas worst affected by the drought.

On Friday, WFP spokesman Ebadullah Ebadi said the programme had received only a third of the funds it requested to feed more than three million Afghans this winter, and any extra money would be too late for those in need.

"We are really concerned," he added. "If we don't have food on time those people will be at risk, their lives will be at risk. That's the main problem of WFP. If we do not have food on time, we cannot help those people."

He said a further three million Afghans not covered by the WFP were also threatened by food shortages, while almost two million people have been affected by drought which has wiped out much of the wheat crop in the south and west.

Manmohan, Karzai seek more regional support for Afghanistan

New Delhi 11.18.06 (India e-news.com) - A regional conference on Afghanistan opened here Saturday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Afghan President Hamid Karzai calling for greater regional connectivity and cooperation for the reconstruction of the violence-torn country

The two leaders also underlined the threat that the rising level of violence in Afghanistan, engineered by the hardline militia Taliban, poses to the stability of not only Kabul but to the entire region.

'We believe that peace and prosperity in Afghanistan are of vital interest not only to the people of Afghanistan but for the wider region and the world as a whole,' Manmohan Singh said on the opening day of the two-day Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan.

Manmohan Singh also stressed that India's economic growth will have a positive impact on its neighbourhood and called for trade access with Afghanistan as a gateway not only to Central Asia but the West as well.

'We look upon Afghanistan not only as a valued member of the South Asian fraternity but also as our gateway to the West,' Manmohan Singh said as he stressed the need to enhance trade with Afghanistan.

This will not only increase legitimate trade, which today is overshadowed by cross-border smuggling, but also enhance the sense of security in Afghanistan, he said.

'The conference is based on a vision that countries of our region must also contribute to the assistance programs in Afghanistan,' Manmohan Singh said, speaking at the Vigyan Bhavan conference hall.

Manmohan Singh underlined India's 'multi-dimensional' relationship with Afghanistan and said India was committed to playing a 'leading role' in this co-operative effort for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan.

The prime minister also expressed New Delhi's growing 'concern' about the increasing violence in parts of southern and southeastern Afghanistan that has 'not only undermined the security of Afghanistan but hindered the ongoing development effort as well.'

'Dealing with this challenge is a collective responsibility,' Manmohan Singh stressed.

Manmohan Singh, in his meeting with Karzai Friday, had expressed concerns about rising violence in Afghanistan.

Manmohan Singh and Karzai jointly inaugurated the conference, being attended by ministers from 18 countries including Central Asian countries, Pakistan, Iran, China and members of the G-8 group of industrialized nations, and top officials of 10 multilateral international institutions.

The first conference of this nature was held in Kabul last year.

It will identify key projects for revitalising Afghanistan's war-hit economy and involving its neighbours in the country's socio-economic reconstruction.

'Fostering greater regional connectivity will, indeed, help countries improve productivity in conformity with natural comparative advantage, benefit from complementarities, and thereby increase output, trade and consumer welfare,' External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the conference.

Underlining the 'tremendous fund of goodwill' between the people of India and Afghanistan, Manmohan Singh said India has 'particular interest in the success of this conference', which will outline 'the template of regional cooperation' to rebuild Afghanistan.

Describing the conference as 'a landmark event', Karzai said 'a stable, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan could make an important contribution to the prosperity of the entire region'.

Karzai also underlined the need for a 'collective' fight against terrorism and extremism that afflicts not only his country but other regions as well.

The key themes of the conference are trade facilitation and transport, investment trade and business potential, electricity trade and energy development, as well as agriculture and agro-development.

India has pledged $650 million for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden hiding on Pak-Afghan border: Karzai

HindustanTimes.com New Delhi, November 18, 2006

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday hinted that Osama bin Laden could still be hiding in the region bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"He is in the region...That is if he hasn't run away," Karzai said, somewhat cautiously, during an interactive session with the audience after his address at the fourth HT Leadership Summit in the Capital.

A circumspect Karzai refused to go into the details of the whereabouts of the Al-Qaeda leader, who, it is often claimed, has taken shelter in the villages on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan.

At the outset of his address, Karzai made it clear that he was always cautious when talking about Islamabad in New Delhi and vice versa, as both were close friends of Kabul.

In response to a question if the extremist Taliban movement that grew from the Afghan people's struggle against the Soviet occupation could have been avoided, Karzai answered in the affirmative saying terrorism cannot serve "any interests" anywhere in the world.

Afghan leader, on trip to India, asks Pakistan to do more to stop militants

The Associated Press - New Delhi 11.17.06 - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday said he did not blame Pakistan's government for cross-border infiltration by pro-Taliban militants, but called on Islamabad to play a greater role in quelling a revived insurgency.

Karzai, speaking at a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Indian capital, said Afghans were suffering because of militant-linked violence.

"We are not blaming the government of Pakistan, we are seeking help from the government of Pakistan," he said.

Karzai said India and Afghanistan share a long history that has been "of particular importance" the last five years "in which India stood among a few other nations at the forefront of assisting Afghanistan."

The president is visiting India to take part in a regional development conference on Afghanistan, which has suffered more violence this year than since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. About 3,700 people have been killed this year, including scores of foreign troops.

Many Taliban fighters and their al-Qaida allies fled to Pakistan after the Taliban's fall, and Afghan officials say militants continue to operate in the tribal border regions there and cross into Afghanistan to carry out attacks.

Singh voiced India's concern about "terrorists activities" in Afghanistan and said his government will continue to help Afghanistan's reconstruction and development in spite of the violence.

India blames Pakistan-based Islamic militants for carrying out raids on its soil. India, a longtime rival of Pakistan, has historical ties with Afghanistan, and Pakistan casts a wary eye on cooperation between the two countries.

The first Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan was held last year in Kabul. This year's two-day meeting will assess progress in Afghanistan and work to attract investment and development.

Blair and Musharraf vow to boost terror cooperation

Lahore (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf pledged to bolster cooperation in the West's "difficult global struggle" against Islamic extremism.

Blair, after holding talks with Musharraf in Lahore, said Britain would more than double funding for the fight against radicalism in Pakistan, with the bulk of the money targeting madrassas or Islamic schools.

General Musharraf and the British premier, who is making his third visit to Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 attacks, also agreed that defeating Taliban insurgents in neighbouring Afghanistan was crucial.

"This terrorism that we're facing... has been a long time growing and it's going to take a long time to defeat it," Blair told a joint press conference with Musharraf in the eastern cultural hub on Sunday.

Musharraf was an "example for the future of Muslim countries the world over" because of his anti-terror stance and the talks "opened another chapter" in Britain's relations with Pakistan, which were at their best ever, he said.

"We are going to be doubling our support over the next three years for the programme of enlightened moderation that President Musharraf has led," to 480 million pounds (909 million dollars), he said.

Blair said the West and its allies were "in the midst of a difficult global struggle" against Islamic extremism and warned that the only way to win was to back moderate forces in countries including Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Pakistani leader meanwhile warned that the fight against the Taliban "cannot be won through military action alone" and that the international community needed to focus on politics and development.

Musharraf brushed off western concerns about Pakistan's role in fuelling extremism and its commitment to tackling Taliban insurgents who are fighting NATO-led troops, including 5,200 British soldiers, in Afghanistan.

"I did inform the prime minister on all that we are doing here as a strategy to combat terrorism and check extremism," Musharraf told reporters.

The two leaders agreed that their countries "would need to work increasingly closely together for many years to come" on counter terrorism, a joint communique said after the talks.

The bulk of the British cash announced by Blair will go towards supporting Musharraf's efforts to push moderation, particularly in education, where some madrassas have been targeted for allegedly radicalising Muslim youth.

Britain has been on a drive to curb an apparent rise in Islamic radicalism among young men in its 1.6-million-strong Muslim population, particularly after last year's attacks on London's public transport system that killed 56.

Three of the four suicide bombers were Britons of Pakistani origin while two of them visited Pakistan in the year before the atrocities, allegedly for training and instruction from Al-Qaeda.

A number of people, including one British Pakistani, were detained in the South Asian Islamic republic in August as part of an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic passenger jets from Britain with liquid explosives.

Blair -- who has frequently called for greater engagement by the West with mainstream moderate Islam -- later headed back to Islamabad to meet Islamic scholars and visit a mosque and hold talks with his counterpart Shaukat Aziz.

Musharraf and Blair's last meeting in London in September was overshadowed by a document written for a British military think-tank that claimed elements of Pakistani intelligence were indirectly supporting groups such as Al-Qaeda.

Blair's visit comes as his office sought to play down comments in a television interview Friday in which he apparently agreed that the war in Iraq had been disastrous.

His spokesman said the comment was "a straightforward slip of the tongue" but it -- and a report that one of his ministers called Iraq Blair's "biggest mistake in foreign affairs" -- gave fresh impetus to critics of the war.

But Blair received a boost before his visit when Pakistan freed a Briton who had spent 18 years on death row for a murder he said was in self-defence.

NATO chief urges clearer view of Afghan mission

Nov. 17, 2006. 04:51 PM MURRAY BREWSTER CANADIAN PRESS

QUEBEC — NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged the alliance's parliamentarians Friday to lean on their governments to remove restrictions on troops operating in Afghanistan.

Speaking by video conference to a meeting in Quebec City, he said so-called national caveats — limitations put on the missions soldiers can undertake — are understandable, but ultimately divisive.

"NATO is about solidarity and sharing burdens and risks," he said.

"National caveats reflect genuine and understandable concerns of governments and parliaments for their soldiers. Apart from restricting the ability of our military commanders to fulfil their mission, they — that is those caveats — can also be perceived as divisive."

The split among alliance countries was brought more sharply into focus at the week-long meeting of politicians from NATO countries.

But the newly elected head of the parliamentary association said no one should make too much of the bickering.

"When I go to discussions in my country, of course people have hesitation about a mission in Afghanistan," said Bert Koenders of the Netherlands.

"I have them and I'm still looking (with) a very critical idea at what we're doing there."

With 37 countries participating in the mission, Koenders conceded some do more than others, but said "we shouldn't exaggerate this point as if other countries don't do anything."

Late Friday, delegates at the parliamentary conference voted overwhelmingly to pressure their home countries to remove restrictions and better support the mission, but the decision is non-binding on member countries.

Canadian, American, British and Dutch forces in southern Afghanistan have borne the brunt of the heavy fighting and casualties against Taliban insurgents.

The French, German and Italian forces patrol relatively quiet sectors in the north, but are also under self-imposed limitations that keep them out of combat operations.

Some forces are not allowed to patrol 80 kilometres beyond their bases — meaning soldiers can't stay outside of the wire overnight. Others, who patrol the Kabul airport, are not allowed off the property.

"NATO commanders describe the classified book containing all national caveats as the size of a large city phone directory," said a report prepared for the parliamentary assembly.

Even the United Nations has grumbled about the restrictions and called for the removal of at least 71 national caveats.

Members of the German, French and Italian delegations all said they see their role in Afghanistan as one of rebuilding the country.

Phillipe Vitel, vice-president of the French National Assembly's defence commission, said his country contributes heavily to a number of other missions, including Lebanon and Africa.

Citing a laundry list of development accomplishments in Kandahar, where Canada has 2,500 troops, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor repeated the plea for fewer restrictions and more help in fighting the Taliban.

But his remarks were met with skepticism from European members, who questioned how long the Conservatives will remain committed, given anemic public support.

"Public opinion is very important, we know," Portugal's Julio Miranda Calha said in a question-and-answer session.

"What is your government doing to get (the) message out to the Canadian public about Canada's important role in Afghanistan?"

O'Connor admitted the Conservatives have not been as "aggressive as they should have" in explaining the country's role in the war to citizens.

When pressed on the point by reporters following his speech, he said war is never a unanimous undertaking.

"I'm sure in World War II we didn't have 100 per cent of the people — or in World War I. We have a majority of people in Canada who support our military and support our commitment to Afghanistan."

Step up in Afghanistan, allies told

NATO head urges members to share `burdens, risks' Mission needs better sales job, O'Connor says - Nov. 18, 2006. BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH OTTAWA BUREAU

QUEBEC CITY—Nations holding back from the fighting in Afghanistan have been given a pointed message from the head of NATO that it's time to step forward and share the "burdens and risks" of the dangerous mission.

Via video link, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged politicians from the NATO nations yesterday to remove the "divisive" restrictions known as caveats that have kept some of them from deploying reinforcements to assist Canadians on the front lines.

"NATO is about solidarity and sharing burdens and risks," he told the annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a body comprising some 248 delegates from the 26 NATO nations and its partners.

"An operational commander can have lots of trouble if too many caveats exist in the written or unwritten form. Too many caveats limit the possibilities a commander has to use his forces," de Hoop Scheffer told the Quebec City gathering from Brussels.

While NATO nations have deployed some 31,000 troops to Afghanistan, some operate under tight restrictions that all but bar them from active combat operations. A report presented to the week-long assembly pointedly noted that while the Canadians, Dutch and British were fighting in southern Afghanistan, other NATO nations ignored their pleas for help.

Canadian Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said NATO allies "must prove themselves" by sharing the burden.

"We need to ensure that troops can be deployed in areas where they are needed most," he said in a speech to the assembly.

While the assembly has no formal relationship with NATO, it does provide advice and can influence the military policy of individual nations.

Faced with tough questions from European delegates about the tenuous public support for the mission here at home, O'Connor conceded his government has its own challenges.

"We haven't been as aggressive in this as we should have, but we will continue to explain on a daily basis to Canadians," said O'Connor. He said that sales job will soon include soldiers just back from Afghanistan who will be speaking in "villages and towns" to explain the mission.

Afghanistan dominated the discussions this week, providing a window on the tensions at play among NATO nations. Even in these polite diplomatic circles, there was finger-pointing and thinly veiled swipes that some nations aren't pulling their weight. Those problems have even given rise to questions about the very future of NATO, a Cold War-era alliance now trying to chart a new course.

"Here we have a NATO operation and most of the countries will not send any more troops. That to my mind is a bloody disgrace," British Labour MP Bruce George said. "If you're not prepared to send troops perhaps to fight then maybe you really shouldn't be in NATO."

The British have a sizeable contingent of troops fighting in Helmand province — adjacent to the 2,500 Canadians in Kandahar — where they, too, have faced bold insurgents.

The Germans, with more than 2,000 combat-ready troops in the safer Kabul region, are often fingered as the possible source of reinforcements for the south. But a German politician said his nation already has troops serving in places like Lebanon, Kosovo and Georgia, and is at the limit of what it can provide.

Iran Slams US Strategy in Iraq, Afghanistan

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran slammed Washington's policies in Iraq and Afghanistan and called for a revision of strategies in the region to avert further bloodshed.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said he had discussed Washington's handling of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan with Indian leaders during a two-day visit that ended Friday.

"The two parties (India and Iran) are not pleased that Afghanistan and Iraq continue to suffer uncertainty and instability," Mottaki told reporters.

"A fundamental formula must be found to deal with these problems... as we see it a number of wrong policies have been implemented (that) need to be addressed," Mottaki said.

US President George W. Bush has come under fire for Washington's Iraq strategy since the invasion in 2003, with sectarian violence between the minority Sunnis and majority Shiites.

In October, the prestigious British medical journal, the Lancet, published a study estimating that 650,000 people had died in Iraq between March 2003 and July 2006, 600,000 of them violently.

Bush has acknowledged that the problems in Iraq played a major role in the opposition Democrats winning control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994 in polls last week and sacked his defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Washington has accused Tehran of meddling in Shiite-majority Iraq, charges Iran vehemently denies.

But there has been speculation that a US Congressionally mandated panel charged with coming up with a new approach to Iraq would endorse contacts with Iran and Syria on ending violence in Iraq.

Washington's policies in Afghanistan are also being questioned as a resurgent Taliban launches attacks on the International Security Assistance Force based there.

Taliban militants are using several tactics, including suicide bombings, in their insurgency, with most of the violence targeted at Afghan and foreign troops and civilians who work with them or the government.

Afghan warlords find limits to power

They still have clout, but as public servants they are able to make little difference. By David Zucchino Times Staff Writer November 18, 2006

For an hour, the minister of energy and water listened in silence as his employees complained about their department's dismal image: People called them lazy, corrupt and inefficient. Customers accused them of demanding bribes for the smallest services.

Ismail Khan sat on a stage in a dank meeting hall and glowered beneath his wild white beard. His eyes were narrow slits beneath his fierce black eyebrows. At last he spoke. "Baseless lies!" he spat out. That was the end of it.

Khan runs his ministry the way he once ruled over western Afghanistan as supreme warlord from his headquarters in Herat. His word is law.

But Khan the warlord is now also Khan the public servant. In his gleaming white robes and black-and-white headdress, he still looks like a strutting pasha. However, he works in an office adorned with ancient maps of Kabul's power grid. And he is accountable to the public for failures in what even his critics acknowledge is an impossible mission.

Afghans expected a great leap of progress after U.S. forces, aided by Northern Alliance warlords such as Khan, toppled the Taliban regime five years ago. But electrical service is as unreliable as ever, despite millions of dollars in aid and U.S. promises of a modern, developed Afghanistan. Khan's ministry is barely able to provide two hours of electricity per day to Kabul, the capital, and 90% of the rest of this ruined nation gets none. His own ministry's offices are without power several times a day.

Khan represents one of the grand experiments of the post-Taliban era: the transformation of warlords into public servants. Five years ago, President Hamid Karzai declared that Afghanistan's "era of warlordism is over."

With U.S. help, he strong-armed Khan and other major warlords into relinquishing their roles and maneuvered them into jobs as ministers and governors, asking them to deliver services for Afghanistan's first democratically elected government.

But despite Karzai's declaration, the warlords are among the most powerful forces in the country. Scores of them are as entrenched as ever in the provinces, fielding private armies, profiting from the opium trade and co-opting police officials. Those who have come to Kabul know they could easily reconstitute their militias. In the meantime, they are untouchable.

The United Nations Development Program, which runs a project designed to rid the country of warlords and illegal militias, says at least 500 members of Karzai's government are directly linked to illegal armed groups. That number does not include Cabinet ministers, governors or members of parliament. Warlords are so entrenched at those levels that the U.N. program dares not target them.

"We are not now addressing the level of governors and ministers and above — in other words, none of the big guys," said Ariane Quentier, a strategic advisor for the U.N. program. "That would be political suicide at the moment."

U.N. officials and international donors say one of the biggest obstacles to disarming militias is Karim Khalili, a former warlord who is the leader of the frequently persecuted Hazara minority. Khalili also is Karzai's vice president — and is the government's director for the U.N. project, the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups.

There are more than 2,000 such groups across Afghanistan, U.N. officials say, with 180,000 to 200,000 men under arms. Most are paid with profits from the opium trade, which also helps warlords finance the gaudy new mansions springing up in Kabul.

In addition to drug money, warlords typically enrich themselves and pay their private armies through illegal taxes, bribes, extortion, kickbacks and "fees" imposed at checkpoints. They dispense favors to petitioners, and in many cases, maintain a patina of legitimacy in their dual roles as governors, police chiefs or district commissioners.

Given the lack of central government authority, warlords and tribal commanders also provide a semblance of security in the countryside.

Some provincial officials are suspected of helping the Taliban. A U.S. military computer flashdrive purchased by The Times in April at an Afghan bazaar in Bagram contained a file that named 13 corrupt officials in six provinces who were still in their jobs, including governors, deputy governors, police chiefs and security advisors. The document accuses the officials of recruiting fighters for the Taliban; hiring Taliban for government jobs; kidnappings; illegal checkpoints; attempted assassinations; and opium smuggling.

Khalili and Khan formally disbanded their militias and turned over heavy weapons under U.N. supervision when they entered the government. But Khalili recently helped block an expansion of the disarmament program into Bamian province, his political stronghold, according to U.N. officials and diplomats. Bamian, in central Afghanistan, is home to at least 15 illegal armed groups, the diplomats said.

Karzai cannot move more forcefully against the militias because his police and military have little authority outside Kabul.

"The army is still weak and the police are worse," said Shuhei Ogawa, who serves as liaison to the U.N. disarmament program from Japan, its leading donor. "Until the government can provide security, no one will feel secure enough to turn over their weapons. It's very frustrating."

The U.N. program has collected 57,000 light and medium weapons and 12,000 heavy weapons since 2003. It has disarmed 63,000 former militiamen. About 1,200 warlords and commanders have handed over weapons.

"But that doesn't mean they handed over all of them. Most kept a lot of their weapons," said Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, an official with the U.N. program.

There are still 5 million to 10 million weapons in Afghanistan, according to estimates by international study groups. U.S. and NATO forces regularly uncover large caches of weapons, not all of them belonging to the Taliban.

A recent U.N. attempt to disarm militias in five provinces, including Herat, failed dismally. Only a few old weapons were collected. Local government officials and police refused to help. When U.N. directors asked for assistance, a U.N. official said, Karzai's office answered: "We can't help you. Do it yourself."

Khalili, like Khan, says he is committed to public service but is hamstrung by the legacy of more than two decades of war, and by the Taliban's resurgence in the country's south and east. Unlike Khan, Khalili concedes that corruption and bribery permeate the warlord-dominated government.

"I agree that people are mistrustful of the government," Khalili, 56, said in an interview in the stately Gulkhana Palace in downtown Kabul, dressed in a silver turban, a tailored blue blazer and white shalwar kameez — a loose-fitting tunic and pants. "The expectations of the people are high, but the fight against terrorism means the government has not been able to do much for them so far."

Afghanistan's history of tribal wars requires vigilance, Khalili said. Afghans are unwilling to give up their weapons and militias unless they are convinced that rival groups are disarmed.

"Insecurity means people feel they need their weapons, and they refuse to turn them over to a government that cannot protect them," he said. "Afghans have had bitter experiences in the past."

Khalili was referring, in part, to his own Hazara group, who are Shiite Muslims and considered apostate by many of Afghanistan's dominant Sunnis. Under Taliban rule, Hazaras were massacred and their villages razed.

He said illegal weapons in Bamian had been gathered up and locked away in depots controlled by "ex-commanders." However, diplomats say those commanders still report to Khalili.

Khalili acknowledged the limits of his new role as public servant. In Bamian, he said, "I was able to take fast action." But as a top national government official, he says, his authority has limits. Like Ismail Khan, he has found that the transformation from warlord to government official can be frustrating.

"Unfortunately," he said with a small sigh, "I cannot implement decisions as easily as before."

For two years, Ajab Khan has trudged down the darkened hallways at the Ministry of Energy and Water, papers in hand, seeking permission to hook up electricity to his home. Short and sturdy, with a stringy black beard, Khan is a remarkably patient man.

But now, after spending the equivalent of $320 from his meager government salary, Khan, who is no relation to the minister, is livid. The money went for rishwat — bribes. Each time he needed a signature, he said, a ministry functionary demanded shereniy — sweets, or slang for a bribe.

And yet, he still has no electricity. He hasn't had any for 13 years, since electric lines in his west Kabul neighborhood were destroyed by civil war.

Standing outside a ministry office with dozens of angry men who had lined up for official signatures, Khan tenderly withdrew a folded piece of paper, its worn folds secured with tape. Each official signature on it came at a cost: $4 for low-level employees, $10 for midlevel officials and $20 for deputy ministers.

"The first thing they ask is not: 'How can I help you?' It's: 'How much will you pay?' " Khan said. He says his problem is also America's.

"The Americans promised us a modern country, but now everyone is disappointed in them," Khan said. "All the American money has gone to the top people in the government, and to the warlords. There's nothing for the people."

Ismail Khan, the warlord-turned-minister, professed to be shocked at reports of bribes.

That very morning, he said, he had toured a ministry complex where bribes were said to be demanded. He talked to people waiting in lines there, but not one complained of bribery.

"So these are baseless claims spread by people frustrated by years of war," Khan said. "They have unrealistic expectations that we cannot fulfill."

As important as corruption is, the problems Khan faces trying to supply electricity to Afghanistan are even more daunting.

The steady roar of private generators reverberates throughout Kabul as homes and businesses provide their own power. But poor districts, 30% to 40% of the city, have no power at all.

Power shortages could worsen this winter, when the U.S. Agency for International Development cuts off payments for diesel fuel to run the ministry's power plants. The agency has paid $130 million over two years, but the final payment covers fuel purchases only through this month.

U.S. officials said the payments were meant to give the ministry time to provide its own fuel, but now it is on its own. The problem will be compounded in winter when the rivers dry up. Hydroelectric generators provide nearly half the electricity Kabul gets.

Khan said the Finance Ministry had promised him $34 million. He hopes international donors will provide the rest.

"Yes, we are faced with huge problems," Khan, 59, said in an interview, looking flushed and weary after a day of addressing employees and inspecting a power plant, all on an empty stomach because of Ramadan fasting. "The main problems are money and time, and a country that has been ruined by war."

When the Taliban regime fell in December 2001, Kabul had a population of about 500,000. Today, with the return of exiles from Pakistan and Iran, the city's population is estimated at 4 million. Thousands of new homes and businesses have shot up, and demand for electricity has skyrocketed.

"In fairness to Ismail Khan, no country in the world, including the U.S., could have managed this kind of explosive growth, especially with an infrastructure that hasn't been improved in 20 years," a Western diplomat said.

USAID, which is providing $750 million over five years for energy development, is leading a $468-million project to build transmission lines to electricity-rich Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. If completed on schedule in two years, the new lines could help meet much of the burgeoning demand across Afghanistan.

Until then, local entrepreneurs and warlords are building some small-scale projects. And Khan is responsible for delivering the government's trickle of power. It is a miserable job, but Khan seems to confront it the same way he confronted the Soviets and the Taliban, with bluster and supreme self-confidence.

Western engineers say Khan's ministry has only four or five competent technical experts among 9,000 employees. Ministry workers say Khan, who graduated from a military academy, constantly asks questions, trying to educate himself on technical issues.

After listening to his employees complain about their woeful image, Khan took the stage at a district electricity complex and spoke without notes for an hour and a half. Twice the power failed and the lights and microphone went off, but Khan thundered on as if nothing had happened, pounding the lectern for emphasis.

He spoke in parables and aphorisms. Things are bad, he said, but employees should do what he did when he was imprisoned by the Taliban from 1997 to 2000 — have faith in God. (Khan escaped with the help of a sympathetic guard.)

"Our problems are great, but we will not lose courage, even with our limited resources," Khan said, concluding his speech. The workers clapped perfunctorily.

Then Khan was off, escorted to a convoy of white Toyota Land Cruisers that sped off for a tour of a power plant, going the wrong way down one-way streets. At the plant, Khan poked at gauges and valves and peppered the plant engineers with questions. He seemed energized and engaged, projecting the same florid-faced authority as when he dominated the political and military affairs of Heratand five western provinces.

But, when he was asked whether he could reassemble his once-feared Herat militia if Afghanistan again descended into civil war, Khan brightened.

"Ah, the mujahedin," he said wistfully. A thin smile played on his lips. "They remain on call," the minister said. "As long as they are alive, these mujahedin remain loyal to me."

Khan folded his hands in his lap. His plant managers leaned in, straining to hear his low voice. "If I called them to once again help me liberate the country, for any reason," the minister said finally, "you would hear a very loud shout all the way from Herat."

Restrictions impeding development in Afghanistan: MacKay

Canadian Press - OTTAWA — Canadian diplomats and aid organizers in southern Afghanistan have been under tight, government-imposed travel restrictions ever since diplomat Glyn Berry was killed in a roadside bomb attack in January — and the constraints appear to be hampering reconstruction efforts.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay has acknowledged the limits and is trying to get them eased. “We are working as effectively and efficiently as possible to free up any restrictions that stand in the way of development, that stand in the way of the progress being made,” Mr. MacKay said following a recent speech to diplomats.

“We're looking for every means of efficiency to do that, both in our department and CIDA and at National Defence.” Some frustrated overseas staff have likened the constraints to being “nannied” by Ottawa, a source at Foreign Affairs told The Canadian Press.

The question of how much reconstruction is taking place in southern Afghanistan, and how effective those efforts have been, are among the main political lines of attack by opponents of the war. Critics complain the mission has been all fighting and no aid.

Last week, the Senate committee on security and defence heard how the army has been trolling Ottawa, attempting to get already-approved Canadian reconstruction money spent on projects that are sitting in limbo.

“We're making progress,” Mr. MacKay insisted. “We're making a big difference in the lives of Afghan people that directly impacts as well on our own safety and security.”

But officials charged with delivering millions of dollars in Canadian aid are rarely allowed to venture beyond the heavily fortified compounds of the Kandahar airfield and the nearby provincial reconstruction team (PRT) base, which is located within Kandahar city itself.

Instead, local Afghan officials are often required to present themselves at the PRT to discuss projects.

When officials do get outside the base, it's usually as part of heavily-armed military convoys that Canadian contractors who are working on reconstruction say offer little opportunity for interaction with locals.

At one point last spring, the constraints included a prohibition on travel by road for the most senior diplomatic staff, forcing the Canadian army to scrounge helicopter flights from allies, said sources at the Defence Department.

Officials at both Foreign Affairs and Defence refused to discuss specific security arrangements for civilian staff in Kandahar.

During an appearance before the Senate committee last week, Brig.-Gen. Al Howard was asked how often public servants venture beyond “the wire” to do their jobs.

“I really do not want to get into who is allowed move where for security reasons,” replied Howard, a senior military planner and adviser to chief of defence staff, Gen. Rick Hillier.

“It is really not my purview to discuss the movements of the CIDA officers.”

The director of development at the PRT base was equally reluctant to discuss the restrictions.

“We still believe we can do the job,” said Helene Kadi, a CIDA employee. “We're still able to move contracts and do the job effectively.”

Getting redevelopment right is seen as the key to success in Afghanistan. The belief is that the more ordinary citizens notice improvements in their lives, the less likely they are to support the Taliban or other extremist and criminal elements.

In an effort to slow down redevelopment, insurgents have made targets out of civilian aid workers. Last March, four Macedonians were kidnapped, murdered and their booby-trapped bodies dumped in the desert outside Kandahar.

Mr. Berry's well-publicized death in January had a big chill on the Canadian aid effort.

The 59-year-old, who had almost 30 years of foreign affairs service under his belt, volunteered for the job of senior diplomat with Canada's provincial reconstruction team.

He died and three soldiers were wounded when a suicide bomber smashed his explosives-laden car into their lightly armoured G-Wagon.

[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.]