National Military Academy of Afghanistan Opens Gates to Future Leaders
By Lt. Col. Frederick Rice and Maj. Rick Peat

The color guard of the National Military Academy of Afghanistan parades the newly unfurled and dedicated colors before the NMAA corps of cadets as part of the academy grand opening.
Maj. Rick Peat


KABUL, Afghanistan (Army News Service, March 28, 2005) – Although the Afghan National Army is only about three years young, its it has created a national military academy early in its development.

Established to educate and develop the future leaders of the army and nation, the new National Military Academy of Afghanistan celebrated its grand opening in a special ceremony March 22.

Attending the ceremony were Afghan government ministers, senior U.S. and Afghan military officers, special guests from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, including Dean of Academics Brig. Gen. Daniel Kaufman, and numerous ambassadors and other dignitaries.

Speaking at the ceremony were Maj. Gen. Mohammad Sharif, NMAA Commander; Abdul Rahim Wardak, Afghanistan minister of defense; and Professor Abdul Karim Khalili, second vice president of Afghanistan.

“The roll of this academy is vital for the future of Afghanistan, because this academy will produce loyal, professional and true leaders for Afghanistan’s future without any ethnic, language and tribal distinction,” said Wardak. “These young cadets will be trained in the spirit of national unity and strong military character upon which we can be proud among the respective nations of the world.”

Khalili emphasized the excellent reputation the ANA has built among the people of Afghanistan.

“The people of Afghanistan appreciate and strongly support the good work of their integrated national army, which represents the true face of the Afghan nation,” he said. “Today, we are going to open an institute which will train the future commanders and leaders of our proud army and of this hopeful nation.”

During the ceremony, West Point and NMAA officials exchanged gifts. Kaufman presented a West Point saber mounted in a display case, while Sharif offered a hand-carved wooden plaque of the NMAA shoulder sleeve insignia encased in a presentation box.

The Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan and the Afghan Ministry of defense worked together to create the NMAA.

Major renovations to academy facilities have created a learning and living environment for the cadets. The school has created implemented procedures and policies.

Sharif vowed success for the academy, “Through this podium I promise to Defense Minister Wardak that we will do our best at teaching the cadets to international standards and in the spirit of national unity.”

The first class of cadets completed seven weeks of basic training March 17, and began their first day of academic classes the day following the academy’s grand opening.

The cadets represent all of the major ethnic groups throughout Afghanistan and traveled from literally every corner of the country, across rugged and undeveloped terrain and through blizzard-like conditions, to report to the academy. One cadet was more than 20 days late because of his travel troubles, but was welcomed and immediately integrated into the program.

Modeled after West Point, the academy is a four-year, degree-granting institution that will commission its cadets as second lieutenants in the Afghan National Army. Graduates will earn an engineering degree with an emphasis on civil, mechanical, systems or electrical engineering.

The curriculum focuses on engineering because, “Our country is war-struck and devastated,” said Sharif. “We are in the process of rehabilitating it. We need more engineers because we need reconstruction.”

Planning for the academy began more than 18 months ago, when Maj. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, Chief of OMC-A at the time, and senior Afghan Ministry of Defense leaders agreed upon the need to establish a military academy that would provide the ANA with a highly educated and capable future officer corps.

OMC-A was ready to assist and quickly enlisted the help of the U.S. Military Academy.

Military Academy Study Team Chief Col. Barney Forsythe and Maj. Gen. Mohammad Juma Nassar, MOD general staff working group director, submitted the initial plan for the academy to the MOD and the OMC-A chief in November 2003.

West Point staff and faculty members then began the planning process, deploying to Afghanistan for several months at a time to write policy, develop admissions standards and determine the curriculum. They completed all steps hand-in-hand with their Afghan counterparts, ensuring all programs were adapted to meet Afghan standards and culture.

“Our environments (U.S. and Afghan) are different,” said Sharif. “Planners considered all cultural aspects and did not impose anything on us. While the academy will be similar to West Point, it will not be the same.”

The most significant challenges involved the logistical requirements of setting up the academy from scratch.

“They didn’t have so much as a paper clip on hand to get the academy started,” said Col. Chris King, a geography professor at USMA. “You have to find every little thing you need, things you take for granted.”

To fill their faculty positions, the MOD identified 1,023 potential academic professors who possessed the necessary advanced degrees. Military Academy Implementation Team Chief Col. James Wilhite, West Point faculty and OMC-A members Col. Ray Winkle, Col. Gary Krahn and Dr. Larry Butler then narrowed the list to 200 candidates with the desired qualifications to teach everything from world history to physics to chemistry to psychology.

The team eventually hired 30 professors to form the academic faculty.

By the end of November 2004, 353 cadet candidates had completed the competitive entrance exam. The MOD, in conjunction with OMC-A staff, then conducted personal interviews of the prospective cadets. The top 120 young men were offered a place in the first class.

Forsythe, who laid the groundwork for the academy 18 months ago, returned for the grand opening and remarked upon his impressions of seeing the concept turned into reality.

“The academy facility is excellent and represents the excellence that the Afghan government and ANA expect of the officer corps and their service,” he said.

“This institution could play a significant role for the emerging democracy in Afghanistan, much like West Point played a large role in the emerging United States of America; providing leaders of character who would serve the Army and their people. And at some point in time, when they left their service in uniform, would continue to serve the country in another capacity that further advances the nation,” added Forsythe, visibly moved by what the new academy represents.

The bond formed between West Point and NMAA will be further strengthened over time. The USMA corps of cadets recently adopted the NMAA corps of cadets as its first and only partnership cadet corps. They will correspond with each other, exchange ideas, and share resources.

To fully care for the administrative and logistical needs of new academy, a 300-soldier NMAA support battalion will be assembled over the next year. West Point will continue to send faculty, administrators and support personnel as needed to assist in forming and training the support battalion and to further develop the NMAA faculty for the specific course work and curriculum being taught there.

Additional NMAA faculty will be hired as the corps of cadets grows over the next few years. Future classes will have between 250 to 300 students each, and upperclassmen will take on leadership roles in guiding the underclassmen.

Cadets, who are between the ages of 18 and 23, will earn $80 a month as well as receive free books, supplies, housing and food while enrolled. For the privilege of attending the academy, they incur a 10-year service commitment to the ANA, twice the commitment length of U.S. Military Academy cadets. There was no problem finding volunteers for the academy.

Wilhite has grown very close to the NMAA corps of cadets during his work with the academy and will redeploy soon. Before the grand opening ceremony he made a point to shake the hand of each cadet and offer his personal congratulations. Later, when reflecting on the significance of this act, he remarked that he was likely shaking the hand of a future general, a future minister, a future president of Afghanistan.

Cadet Jamshaid, the top cadet of the NMAA, said, “As military officers, we will never step back from learning and will always be disciplined and remain faithful and loyal to our beloved country.”

Hope and love of country are also shown by the cadets’ parents. Cadet Aminullah, from Herat Province, said his father provided special advice to him before leaving home to attend the academy.

“Be faithful to your country,” he said. “Afghanistan is like a mother. If you serve your mother, you have to serve your motherland too.”

http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=7078

Airmen adopt-a-village  or two
JA FARKEL, Afghanistan - Afghan children sit quietly as they wait for Airmen from the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at nearby Bagram Air Base to hand out school supplies and toys. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Catie Hague)


JA FARKEL, Afghanistan - Staff Sgt. Larenzo Smartt hands a bag of school supplies to an Afghan girl during an Adopt-A-Village visit here. He is an administrator with the 455th Expeditionary Mission Support Group at nearby Bagram Air Base. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Catie Hague)

U.S. MPs Provide Skills, Gear to Afghan National Police
By Sgt. Jennifer S. Emmons, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service


GHAZNI, Afghanistan, April 6, 2005 – As part of the provisional reconstruction teams spread throughout Afghanistan, police tactical advisory teams are helping with the country’s reconstruction and stabilization.

In eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, military police soldiers work closely with the Afghan National Police in their area. They train and help equip the local police to provide security for the local population.

“We teach many of the basics of police work,” said Adkins. “This includes basic law-enforcement skills, handcuffing, searching people, riot control, how to enter and clear a building, levels of force, vehicle searches, how to operate checkpoints, and weapons safety, as well as other important police training.”

These classes teach the police how to provide security for the local people, in addition to their search for anti-coalition militants. “When the police are out on patrol, they know what to look for,” said Adkins. “They’re not just looking for bad guys. They interact with the community and see how everything is going. This makes them a more professional force.”

As the ANP receive more training and become more proficient in their mission, the population will see their own people providing the security. “We take the police with us on all our missions,” said Adkins. “This shows the people that their own government is taking care of them. It gives more credibility to the coalition when the people see us working with their own police force.”

“The refitting and training (have) really helped the police in the area,” said team member Sgt. Brian Jones. “We’ve seen them (develop into) a dynamic police force.”

The soldiers on the advisory teams have gained as much from the experience of training the ANP as the police have. “Working with the police is great, because these people really want to learn and really want to be helped,” said Jones.

Giving the classes to the Afghan police also has helped the soldiers build confidence in their own ability. “I’ve learned to do things I wouldn’t normally be able to do as a private,” said Pfc. Kevin Nummerdor, a PTAT team leader. “When I’m giving these classes to the police, I’m honing my own skills and preparing to be (a noncommissioned officer).”

The opportunity to train the Afghan police force is very rewarding, said Adkins. “We’ve seen the changes that have happened in the police since we’ve been here,” he said. “It’s really great to know we are making a difference.”

(Army Sgt. Jennifer S. Emmons is assigned to the 17th Public Affairs Detachment.)

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050406_504.html



Army Sgt. James Adkins observes as Afghan police officers demonstrate how to search an individual. The soldiers are training Afghan National Police officers to provide a secure environment for the local population. Photo by Pfc. Kevin Nummerdor, USA

Afghan National Military Academy Welcomes First Cadets
by Lt. Col. Susan H. Meisner, USA

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 8, 2005 -- On a snowy day in February, Afghanistan's first class of cadets reported for duty at the new National Military Academy Afghanistan.

The academy is on the grounds of a former flight technology school in Kabul. Modeled after West Point, the academy is a four-year, degree-granting institution that will commission second lieutenants for the Afghan National Army.

Cadets will earn an engineering degree with an emphasis on civil, mechanical, systems or electrical engineering, and will incur a 25-year service commitment upon graduation.

Afghan Assistant Minister for Personnel and Education Homayun Fawzi welcomed the members of the first class, telling them to "be proud of their enlistment in this academy."

Planning for the academy began more than a year ago, when Army Maj. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, then chief of the Office of Military Cooperation Afghanistan, and senior Afghan Defense Ministry leaders decided to establish an academy that would be the "crown jewel" of Afghan education.

U.S. Army Col. Barney Forsythe, chief of a U.S. Military Academy study team, and Afghan Maj. Gen. Mohammad Juma Nassar, director of a Ministry of Defense General Staff working group, submitted their initial plan for the academy to the defense ministry and the chief of OMC-A in November 2003.

West Point deans and department heads then began the planning process, deploying to Afghanistan for several months at a time to write policy, develop admission standards and determine the curriculum. They completed all steps hand in hand with their Afghan counterparts, to ensure programs were adapted to meet Afghan standards and culture.

"Our environments are different. Planners considered all cultural aspects and did not impose anything on us," Academy Superintendent Maj. Gen. Mohammed Sharif said. "While the academy will be similar to West Point, it will not be the same."

The defense ministry identified 1,023 potential professors with the necessary advanced degrees. OMC-A academy team chief Col. James Wilhite and West Point faculty and OMC-A members Larry Butler and Cols. Ray Winkle and Gary Krahn winnowed the list, selecting 200 candidates with special criteria for teaching everything from world history to physics to chemistry to psychology. The team eventually hired 30 professors to form the academic faculty.

By the end of November, 353 cadet candidates had completed the competitive entrance exam. The defense ministry, in conjunction with OMC-A staff, then conducted personal interviews and selected the top 120 young men to join the first class.

Future classes will have 250 to 300 students each, and upperclassmen will take on leadership roles in guiding the underclassmen. Sharif said the academy "represents all the ethnicities of this country."

The curriculum focuses on engineering, because "our country is war struck and devastated," said Sharif. "We are in the process of rehabilitating it. We need more engineers because we need reconstruction."

Cadets, who are between the ages of 18 and 23, will earn $80 a month and will receive free books, supplies, housing and food in addition to their education.

After seven weeks of basic combat training, graduates will begin their academic studies. In addition to their engineering curriculum, they will study military leadership, ethics and psychology, among other topics. Sixteen officers and noncommissioned officers are staffing cadet basic training. Eight of them will remain on site during the academic year.

"Our objective is to make a very strong and reliable army for Afghanistan," said 1st Lt. Abdul Haq, 2nd Platoon leader and a military instructor at the academy. "It should be accepted by all people. I was waiting to see the wars ended and see people take part in educational programs.

"I am thankful for (the United States') part in helping," he added.

Afghan Sgt. 1st. Class Asadullah Nawabi, a platoon sergeant, echoed Haq's sentiments. "I would like to thank the U.S. military in helping us get things done," he said, adding that helooks forward to teaching the cadets.

Some cadets had spent a lifetime planning for this day. "Ever since I was a child, I wanted to join the army," said Abdul Saboor from Baghlan province. "I left Kabul University and changed my major to come here."

Top scorer on the entrance exam was Jamshiud Dehzad of Laghman province. Top graduate of Shaheed Mohammed Arif High School in Jalalabad, Dehzad said he was happy and proud to be there.

"We came to do our best to make our country successful," said cadet Abudul Ghafar, from Mazar-eñSharif.

"It is my country," said Afghan Sgt. 1st. Class Ghazi Ahmad, a platoon sergeant from Paktia province, as if puzzled by the question about why he would serve at the academy. If he did not serve his country, then who would, he asked.

(Army Lt. Col. Susan H. Meisner is public affairs officer for the Office of Military Cooperation Afghanistan.)

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/good-news-iraq020905.htm

Collecting Bombs and Bullets

A new programme seeks to remove munitions left over from years of war.

By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif (ARR No. 159, 28-Jan-05)

Mohammad Afzal remembers the day the ammunition dump exploded in his village of Qala-ye-Zal in Kunduz province.

“Three years ago, I was living in a house when the arms dump exploded next door,” said Afzal, who now lives in Balkh.

"We were uninjured but the house shook. One person was killed and several others were injured by the flying bullets,” he recalled. “No one was able to get close enough to do anything about the blaze and it was two hours before all the bullets were spent. Everyone just took cover indoors."

Afzal’s experience is all too common in a country that, after more than two decades of conflict, remains littered with vast stores of unexploded munitions.

According to recent figures released by the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan, 626 people were killed or injured in 2004 by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Huge amounts of ordnance are thought to be hidden at old military bases, in the hands of former commanders and in private stockpiles.

Now the government has set an ambitious goal of collecting more than 100,000 tonnes of unexploded munitions through the UN-backed Afghanistan New Beginning Programme, ANBP.

Defence ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi said the first phase would entail locating stockpiles. Munitions that are still usable would be transferred to the new Afghan National Army, while ammunition that has been damaged or deteriorated would be destroyed.

"The plan is an effective one, because the army will benefit and it will also save lives and limbs," he said.

The project has been launched in Balkh and Herat provinces before extending to other regions.

"The Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation [DDR] process is now 60 per cent complete but the disposal of ammunition was not included in it," said Azimi. "That is why this initiative was launched."

Under DDR, local commanders and militia members have turned in weapons.

Azimi said the project won’t be easy and may take some time to complete.

"These stockpiles could be anywhere,” he said. “There were many military posts used in time of war, and we do not know where many of them are, but we will carry on until the task is completed."

Many in the north consider the arms collection a major step towards getting the country back to normal.

"We will all be relieved when these shells and bullets are removed. Then we will know the war is over," said Sayed Hussain of Mazar-e-Sharif.

"There is no need for ammunition in Afghanistan any more,” said Raz Mohammad, also from Mazar-e-Sharif. “Now we must start thinking about rebuilding our country which has been razed to rubble by tanks and bullets."

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.

http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/arr/a...1_159_1_eng.txt

Afghanistan explosives recovery effort yields enormous weapons cache


By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 20, 2005



Kevin Dougherty / S&S
Piles of ammunition turned in last fall by warring factions in western Afghanistan are guarded around-the-clock.


Kevin Dougherty / S&S
Workers survey the arms cache, which at an estimated 8,000 tons is believed to be the largest open-air storage site in the world.


HERAT, Afghanistan — Between the majestic snow-capped mountains of the Band-e Baba Range and the historic city of Herat in western Afghanistan looms a powerful menace of man’s making.

“If this went off,” Mark Holroyd said, “all the windows in Herat would probably shatter.”

Not every household in Herat has windows, but the observation is enough to make even the coolest of the cool sweat at the thought.

Holroyd, an explosive ordnance technician for Ronco Consulting Corp., calls it “the biggest open-air arms cache in the world.” There are about 8,000 tons of explosives — an estimate he characterizes as conservative — on the ground and under 24-hour guard. Much more was here, and much more is expected to arrive in the coming months.

The cache is the result of a United Nations program, with U.S. military assistance, to disarm the warring militias in western Afghanistan. Dubbed Task Force Saber, the effort began in August and by October tons of ammunition started being consolidated in a field east of Herat.

“When I first came here,” Holroyd said as he stood near the cache, “it was the scariest place I had ever seen.”

Much of the ammo came from the town’s 700-year-old citadel, controlled by Ismail Khan, the regional warlord who is now a minister in the Afghan government. The storage site, estimated to be three to four acres in size, includes a wide array of arms, from bullets to 1,000-pound bombs. Crates and other containers indicate the stuff was manufactured in the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, the United States and a handful of other nations.

The team assembled to handle the ammo sorts it out and then determines what the Afghan National Army can use and what should be destroyed. Every day, Holroyd said, the team blows up roughly 70 tons of ammo. Since more is still being turned in, Holroyd figures the job will take about a year.

One of the U.S. soldiers involved in the program is Capt. Chris Kennedy of the 25th Infantry Division, based in Hawaii.

“I did something close to this in Bosnia,” Kennedy said, “but never to this magnitude. This is five times the size that I saw in Bosnia.”

Those who see it for the first time are amazed at such a sea of destructive power.

“I wish I had my camera,” Spc. Dean Brazzell, 151st Infantry Battalion, Indiana National Guard, said as he climbed a small hill to get a better look.

Largely absent from the cache are AK-47 rounds and rocket-propelled grenades.

“That’s disturbing,” said Army Col. Randy Smith, head of the Regional Command Area Group-West, “because that’s the weapon of choice for terrorist activities.”

Still, Smith is pleased with the results so far, though he admits: “We don’t think we’ve scratched the surface yet.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?sectio...30&archive=true

Afghan police force reaches 53,000

www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-16 17:52:31


KABUL, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The target of the Afghanistan government to have a 62,000-strong police force by 2006 is nearly reached as the Afghanistan National Police (ANP) has been strengthened to 53,000, acting spokesperson of UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) Arean Quentier said Sunday.

"Today there are 53,000 police officers in the Afghan National Police. Of these 32,000 have been newly trained and the others are former policemen," she told journalists at a news briefing here.

The post-war central Asian state would have 62,000 strong police force by the end of 2006.

Germany and the United States as the lead nations in rebuilding ANP have been assisting the post-war nation to meet the target on stipulated time.

With the support of the United States and allies, the post-war Afghanistan has already established 21,000 troops of a 70,000-strong Afghan National Army (ANA) agreed upon in the historic Bonn agreement signed in late 2001.


http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/...ent_2467507.htm

US to help Afghan army recruit soldiers

www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-10 21:42:43


KABUL, Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- In an effort to accelerate the recruiting process in the fledgling Afghan National Army (ANA), the US military is going to help Afghan government open more recruitment centers across the country, US official said here Monday.

"Eleven more recruitment centers are set to open in the next few months, bringing the total to 35, including two centers in Kabul," Graig Weston, head of the Office of Military Cooperation in Afghanistan told reporters at a news conference.

These recruitment centers, he added would be established in therestive southern provinces of Helmand, Nimruz, Zabul and other regions.

Under the historic Bonn agreement, the post-war Afghanistan would have 70,000 strong brand new national army, of those over 21,000 have already been trained.

"Today the Afghan National Army has more than 21,000 soldiers, about 17,800 trained soldiers and more than 3,400 in training," henoted.

The rebuilding of 70,000-strong Afghan army, according to the US-led coalition, will be completed by September 2007.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/...ent_2441706.htm

Key Taleban commander killed, another arrested in Afghanistan
(DPA)

27 January 2005



ISLAMABAD - Afghan authorities claimed to have killed an “important” Taleban commander while arresting another in an armed raid in the country’s eastern Helmand province, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said on Thursday.


Spokesman for Helmand’s governor, Mohammed Wali, told AIP that the government forces launched the swoop on Taleban’s commanders in Musakala district on Wednesday, which resulted in the killing of Mohammadullah and the arrest of an injured, Abdul Ghafaar.

One soldier was also killed and four injured in the gunfight that lasted 40 minutes with the radical fighters, Wali said.

He said Mohammadullah had been wanted by the Afghan government in connection with various deadly attacks in the province.

Afghanistan’s eastern and southern regions have been the site of frequent violent attacks on the government, US forces and military installations by the Taleban and their Arab “guest fighters” of the Al Qaeda network since the ouster of the radicals from the power in late 2001.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle...on=subcontinent

Taliban commander among five killed in Afghanistan
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk Report

KANDAHAR (Afghanistan): Taliban militants attacked a government office in Zabul, sparking a gun battle that left five people dead, including a rebel commander, an Afghan official said on Wednesday.

Zabul Gov. Khial Mohammed identified the commander as Abdul Razzak and said he had helped organize many rebel operations in the province, which has been a focus of resistance against government and US forces.

The latest battle began when militants attacked the mayor's office in the Atghar district of Zabul on Monday morning. Militia soldiers guarding the office shot dead four suspected Taliban, including Razzak, while one soldier also died, Mohammed said.●

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/01/06/top8.htm

Afghan women at work

Some shedding the burqa and opening businesses

By Michelle Roberts

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


GLENDALE, Ariz. - Just a few years ago, Kamela Sediqi had to hide her blossoming tile business from the Taliban. She used a false name, worked from home and had to smuggle material under her burqa.

Now she and 14 other Afghan women are participating in a special program to help them expand or build businesses in their struggling nation - a kind of refresher course on capitalism.

"Afghan women are fearless. These women are totally fearless and they are ready to move on," said Mina Sherzoy, director of Afghanistan's Women's Entrepreneurship Development program.

A businesswoman herself who returned to Afghanistan from San Francisco in 2002, Sherzoy accompanied the women from Kabul to this Phoenix suburb for the program at Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management.

The two-week training is a business school overview, covering everything from marketing to accounting and will culminate with the development of business plans. The women have been paired with mentors, who will continue to help them over the next several years.

The Artemis Project - named for the Greek goddess of the hunt and protector of women and children - was the brainchild of Barbara Barrett, a board member at Thunderbird, a graduate school focused on global business.

Barrett is on the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council and visited Afghanistan about a year and a half ago. There, Barrett said she "saw the extraordinary courage, resilience and strength of the Afghan women and the extraordinary challenges they face on a daily basis."

The program - targeted at educated, English-speaking women entrepreneurs - was funded with private and public contributions, including one from the U.S. Agency on International Development.

The women were selected with help from officials and nonprofits in Afghanistan, said Steven Stralser, the Thunderbird professor directing the Artemis Project. He hopes it will be a prototype.

Under the hard-line rule of the Taliban, women were barred from working and girls weren't allowed to attend school. Since the regime's fall, millions of girls have enrolled in school and women have restarted their careers, but it will likely be a generation before they are able to make up for lost time.

Sediqi, 28, began a tile business in 1996 as the Taliban was coming to power. It was dangerous and illegal, but she had help from her brother and support from other family members, she said.

Under the disguise of a false name, she worked for years shrouded in the burqa until the Taliban was toppled by U.S. military forces in late 2001. Some business partners didn't recognize her after she shed the burqa, she said.

Today, she employs 270 women who make gabions, large metal cages filled with rocks for flood-control projects. Her biggest challenge is being able to expand rapidly enough to meet demand and beat foreign competitors, Sediqi said.

Sherzoy said it's imperative for women to be mobilized in Afghanistan, where decades of war have left the population skewed. More than 55 percent of the population is now women, and there are more than 70,000 widows in Kabul alone, she said.

"How do you take care of them? It's through these programs," she said. "The only way you can build this country is through women."

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee...ss/10684505.htm

http://europhobia.blogspot.com/2005/04/let...fghanistan.html

Monday, April 11, 2005
Letter from Afghanistan


"There was a lot of traffic, like in all Afghan cities, and everyone was driving like a maniac, again like everywhere in Afghanistan. The convoy has to stay together, but this one little Corolla insisted on passing and cutting them off. This makes them nervous, and they would pass it and try to get together again. It got between the car behind us and my car (the first one) and then started tail-gaiting us to speed up (it was a part of the road where it couldn’t pass). The guy sitting next to me solved the problem by opening his window and sticking his AK-47 out."

"We then went to the airport to meet the ISAF commander, a nice Turkish guy who showed us his guest book. Hillary Clinton signs like a 7th grader and Condoleezza Rice signed in the wrong place, crossed it out, and then signed again in the right place. We then went to the airport to meet the ISAF commander, a nice Turkish guy who showed us his guest book. Hillary Clinton signs like a 7th grader and Condoleezza Rice signed in the wrong place, crossed it out, and then signed again in the right place. Hamid Karzai has a nice signature. Condoleezza Rice had been there the day before, but I was mad at her for coming to Afghanistan. She made some PR stops just for the day, closed all of the downtown roads and in the city of Kandahar (almost always the worst place), a bomb went off where she was supposed to drive an hour alter. She wasn’t even there, but 5 passers-by were killed and 32 were injured. I hope she thinks her visit was worth it."

US air strikes kill 12 suspected Taliban in Afghanistan
Mon Apr 11, 2:58 PM ET South Asia - AFP

GARDEZ, Afghanistan (AFP) - Twelve suspected Taliban militants died in air strikes by US helicopter gunships and tankbuster jets in southeastern Afghanistan, officials said.

Two members of the US-led coalition were also injured after fighting broke out early Monday in Paktia province, a hotbed of activity by Afghanistan's ousted Islamic regime.

The battle began when insurgents fired a dozen rockets in a bid to kill a former Afghan military chief on a road between Kabul and Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, security commander Ghulam Nabi Salem told AFP.

Kheyal Baaz Khan Sherzai, the ex-military commander of neighbouring Khost province, survived the attack.

"But Afghan forces chased the attackers in the mountains and the fighting began. It lasted until late afternoon," Salem said.

US-led military air support was then called in, he added. Twelve insurgents were killed and their bodies were recovered by local troops and US-led forces.

"We recovered the bodies of 12 Taliban in Shiwak's mountains," Salem said, referring to a mountainous district some 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of Gardez.

The US military confirmed that its air and ground forces were engaged in the incident but did not confirm the Taliban fatalities.

"In Gardez there was a request from coalition forces for assistance. The coalition did assist with A-10s and helicopters," US military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore told AFP.

A-10s, nicknamed Warthogs for their ungainly looks, are heavily armed jets famed for their ability to take out tanks and armoured vehicles.


"My understanding is two coalition members were wounded but are in stable condition," Moore said. She did not say how they were injured.

An AFP correspondent in the area saw at least four US helicopters and a jet flying overhead near Shiwak and also heard loud bangs, similar to air bombardment.

The battle comes in the midst of an apparent spring offensive by the Taliban, who have emerged from Afghanistan's harshest winter for a decade to launch a string of attacks on US and Afghan forces.

More than 18,000 US-led forces, including some 2,000 American airmen are based in Afghanistan to help root out the remnants of the Taliban. The US-led coalition ousted the Islamic regime in late 2001.

Sherzai, accompanied by a group of his soldiers who had been disarmed under a government and United Nations-backed programme, were travelling to Kabul when the attack took place.

Meanwhile Afghan forces on Sunday arrested six suspected Taliban fighters in Uruzgan province, also in the restive southeastern Afghanistan, according to a military commander.

"We arrested six Taliban," General Muslim Hamed, military commander of southern Afghanistan told AFP. "We had intelligence about their presence in the area," he added.

Dozens of people, including soldiers, police and civilians have been killed in Taliban-linked violence this year. In 2004 bloodshed blamed on the Taliban left over 850 dead.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...an_050411185826

Afghan Police Say 12 Taliban Killed After Ambush
Mon Apr 11,12:15 PM ET World - Reuters
By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Twelve Taliban insurgents were killed on Monday in a battle with U.S. and Afghan government forces in the volatile southeast of the country, police said.

Two soldiers from the U.S.-led foreign force in Afghanistan were wounded in the fighting which also involved U.S. aircraft, a U.S. military spokeswoman said. The two wounded troops were in stable condition.

"We collected 12 enemy bodies killed during the operation," Hai Gul Sulaimankhel, police chief of Paktia province told Reuters.

The insurgents were killed after they attempted to assassinate Kheyal Baaz Khan Sherzai, the former military commander of neighboring Khost province, as he traveled on a main road near Gardez town.

U.S. and Afghan forces responded with a joint ground and air attack in two areas to the east of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, Sulaimankhel said.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed the fighting but said only one Taliban fighter died while five Afghan government troops were killed, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported.

The battle followed an increase in rebel attacks in parts of the south and east where the militants have been most active since their overthrow by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

The attacks have followed a lull over the winter after the guerrillas failed in a vow to derail an October presidential election.

Earlier, Khost's governor Mirajuddin Patan said five guerrillas had been killed after their failed attack on Sherzai, a prominent ally of U.S.-led troops hunting the Taliban when he was provincial commander.

"Sherzai survived the ambush and as a result of the American air attacks, five Taliban were killed," Patan told Reuters.

Lieutenant Cindy Moore, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military, declined to comment on Taliban deaths in the fighting.

If confirmed, the toll of Taliban dead would be the highest in months.

Last week, the guerrillas said they killed a senior provincial official after kidnapping him in the southern province of Zabul, the third such murder of a local official in the south in less than a week.

The guerrillas killed five policemen in a clash in Zabul on Thursday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...an_taliban_dc_2

Hard times for Afghanistan's drug smugglers
Mon Apr 11, 1:35 PM ET


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Rivers flooding, US soldiers at the border and corrupt militias losing their jobs and weapons -- life as a drug smuggler in southern Afghanistan isn't what it used to be for Ahmed Jan.

Getting convoys of 60 or 70 off-road vehicles, each filled with a ton of dry opium resin, through a day's drive from southern Kandahar city to the border with Iran has become complicated in recent months, he tells AFP.

"It is much more difficult to get stuff out of the country so it's only a few secret routes that are running, like rivers of drugs," says Jan, a rotund man in his 40s using a pseudonym.

His problems are an indication that Afghanistan's fight against narcotics is paying off. President Hamid Karzai came to office last year pledging to wage a 'jihad' or holy war on drugs, backed by the US and other western governments.

With between 40 to 60 percent of Afghanistan's economy generated by opium in 2004, both the US and the UN have warned that the country is tottering on the brink of becoming a "narco-state".

After three years of focusing on battling the Taliban as the Afghan opium industry spiralled, the US has pledged 780 million to battle narcotics in the country over the next year, and tightened security along the border.

Border checkpoints in Afghanistan, previously staffed by militia commanders in the pockets of the smuggling mafia, are now manned by US forces and American-trained soldiers from the fledgling Afghan army.

Opium prices have dropped sharply because traffickers can't move their vast stocks out of Afghanistan.

Last year, dry opium resin was selling for 142 dollars per kilo at the farm gate at harvest, according to UN figures.

Now it sells for around 100 dollars, according to Attatullah, an opium grower in Zhare district, about 30 minutes' drive outside Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

"The American soldiers are blocking the routes," 36-year-old Attatullah tells AFP, standing knee-deep in a field of poppies which are beginning to burst into flower.

Afghanistan's extreme weather has also helped stem the drug trade. After seven years of drought, the landlocked nation has finally seen rain and many smuggling routes which crossed dry riverbeds en route to Pakistan and Iran are now blocked by flowing water.

A third factor has been the disarmament of militias, which after fighting the Soviets and then joining the US against the Taliban have now been removed from their posts as part of a UN-backed drive.

"People who were disarmed had a very good business running checkpoints so now they will be compelled to find other forms of income like drug-running," Jan says.

"Because of disarmament it's much harder to get enough guns for our convoys."

The convoys are always heavily armed. Each of the 60 or so 4x4s travels with five to 10 people who are paid between 1,600 and 2,200 dollars each for the risk involved.

As a lower-ranking smuggler, Jan equips four or five vehicles to travel with the larger convoy while the bigger operators provide up to 10 vehicles each.

"There is over a ton of opium in each Land Cruiser, and we expect them to defend the cargo with their lives," said Jan.

But for all the inconveniences now facing smugglers and the corrupt officials who help them, it is farmers used to planting nothing but opium who stand to lose out most from the crackdown.

An internationally backed eradication team arrives in Kandahar province in mid-April to tackle the poppy fields.

According to a joint UN-Afghan government survey Kandahar is one of five provinces where opium cultivation has risen since the new year, despite plummeting production in the rest of the country.

New police chief Lieutenant General Mohammed Ayoub Salangi, installed by Karzai last month to stem the province's drugs trade and growing lawlessness, said an eradication strategy was being worked out.

"We will have a meeting with government officials, the army and the eradication force to decide whether and how much to eradicate," he told AFP.

However the farmers will lose a year's income if their crops are wiped out, while a government strategy to provide them with alternative livelihoods is only in its infancy.

Smuggler Jan warned that widespread eradication could fuel support for the Taliban insurgency in the south.

"People can't rise up themselves if their fields are destroyed but they can lend support to the Taliban who are all still living in the suburbs of Kandahar," he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...gs_050411173521

Source: Xinhua News Agency
Date: 11 Apr 2005
US to bridge Afghanistan with Tajikistan

KABUL, Apr 11, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The US military in Afghanistan is going to connect the post-war Afghanistan with Tajikistan by building a bridge over Oxus River, chief of US Army Corps of Engineers in Afghanistan said here on Monday.

"We recently made to award a contract for the construction of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge spanning the Pyandzh River at Shir Khan in Kunduz province. This bridge will serve as a vital link connecting the central Asian region with outside markets," John B. O'Dowd told at a press conference.

Kunduz in northeast Afghanistan has been serving as the base of more than 300 troops of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) over the past three years.

The contract of the 28 million US dollars project was signed with the Italian firm Rizzani de Eccher S.P.A of Udine on March 21, he added.

"This bridge will contribute to the economic development and integration of both nations. It will also inevitably contribute to the long term peace and security of this region," said John.

"We have requested nearly 800 million dollars for fiscal year 2005 and are pleased to show progress in effectively and efficiently awarding new projects to continue to improve the stability and living conditions in Afghanistan," the US officer said.

http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=48541


Afghan official reported kidnapped in former Taliban stronghold

Associated Press / April 9, 2005

Suspected militants have kidnapped a government official in a former Taliban stronghold of southeastern Afghanistan, police said Saturday.

Serajuddin, head of the local water and power department, disappeared on Thursday near Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, 335 kilometers (210 miles) southwest of Kabul, deputy police chief Jailani Khan told The Associated Press.

Armed men halted the official, who like many Afghans goes by one name, as he rode a motorbike from Qalat to a nearby village, Khan said, citing witnesses questioned in the investigation.

He said one man had been detained for questioning but that a search of the area had turned up no clues on the victim's whereabouts.

"We don't know if he's dead of alive," Khan said.

Taliban-led militants have revived their attacks across the south and east of Afghanistan after a winter lull, countering claims from U.S. military commanders and government officials that they are a fading force.

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Date: 13 Apr 2005
UNHCR worker reflects changing profile of Afghan returnees
By Jack Redden, UNHCR

ISLAMABAD, April 13 (UNHCR) – Attia Ali had a brother in Denmark, a sister in the Netherlands and a well-paid job in Pakistan. It is a tribute to the enduring draw and improving prospects of Afghanistan that she has quit her job and is now headed back to her homeland.

"Since the situation in my country is improving, plus almost all Afghans are moving back to Afghanistan, I feel homesick," she said at the UNHCR office in Islamabad, where she has worked for five years as a translator in interviews with asylum seekers. "I want to go to my country, settle down and stay with my father."

Ali, a 40-year-old former university instructor, reflects a change in the profile of those Afghans who are returning from Pakistan. The 1.6 million who flooded back home in 2002 after the overthrow of the Taliban government were largely new arrivals, mostly poor and uneducated.

Now many are like Ali – Afghans who are well-established in Pakistan and could easily be expected to consider it home. They are giving up their present occupations but are confident that the future lies in re-establishing themselves in an Afghanistan that is finally emerging from decades of war.

Homayun Saqib, the only other Afghan member of the UNHCR staff in Islamabad – regulations prohibit hiring of refugees other than in specialised roles like translation – has also announced plans to leave Pakistan at the end of the month. After five years with the United Nations, he is resigning to take up a new job in Afghanistan.

Ali's life in Pakistan began at the start of 1993 when Kabul, which had been largely untouched by the fighting of the 1980s during the Soviet occupation, became a battlefield between warring mujahideen militias. Kabul University, where she had been teaching English, was a devastated frontline where illiterate gunmen had replaced students.

"The civil war was going on. At that time the Hekmatyar group was fighting with different factions and since we had been displaced from several areas, we had no choice but to flee," she said. "They were firing a thousand rockets a day."

With no prospect of any improvement, she fled with her father, her brother and his family. In Pakistan she taught English at a private institution in Islamabad. In 2000, she joined UNHCR, where her fluency in Dari, one of Afghanistan's two main languages, and English was needed by the protection section.

During her exile, her brother was accepted as a refugee by Denmark and a sister was given a new life in the Netherlands. But with the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, Ali saw the first hope of a return to her beloved Kabul. When lines of trucks carried refugees back to Afghanistan in the following months, she herself went to Kabul to check whether she could join the return.

"Conditions were very bad, especially in security – kidnappings and robberies were taking place. There was also no shelter," she said. Ali returned to Islamabad to see if peace would hold, if order could be restored and rebuilding begun.

While aid funds were available, the problems of a country that had been at war since the end of the 1970s were overwhelming. Understandably, Afghans with the option of staying in Pakistan or Iran – the two main countries of asylum through the wars – did not join the initial rush back to Afghanistan.

"This year my family, who had already returned, said it was better. When I went, I found people much happier – that's why I am looking forward to restarting my life in Afghanistan," Ali said.

She secured a job with the UN organization involved in preparing for the country's legislative elections expected later this year and asked if she could return under the same UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme that has assisted 2.3 million Afghans to go home from Pakistan since 2002.

Ali does not need the modest financial assistance – a travel grant of $13 to reach Kabul and an extra $12 to help get re-established – but the documents provided by UNHCR will ease the task of moving her belongings back. Like other returnees, she arranged her own transport – a van to carry the belongings of herself, her aunt and uncle – and after final checks of documents by UNHCR, set off on the road back to Afghanistan.

"In 1992, it was clear to all the civilian population that the country would deteriorate further. This year I feel the start of improvement – conditions will get better and development will happen," Ali said. "This year a different kind of people are going back, people who have jobs here but, like me, they want to return. I have resigned to return to my country."

Source: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
Date: 08 Apr 2005
WFP Emergency Report No. 15 of 2005

(A) Highlights

( Middle East,Central Asia and Eastern Europe: (1) Afghanistan (2) Iraq

© East & Central Africa: (1) Burundi (2) Congo (3) Congo, DR (4) Djibouti (5) Ethiopia (6) Rwanda (7) Sudan (8) Tanzania (9) Uganda

(D) West Africa: (1) Regional (2) Burkina Faso (3) Chad (4) Cote d'Ivoire (5) Ghana (6) Guinea (7) Liberia (8) Mali

(E) Southern Africa: (1) Regional (2) Angola (3) Lesotho (4) Madagascar (5) Malawi (6) Namibia (7) Swaziland (8) Zambia (9) Zimbabwe

(F) Asia: (1) Indonesia (2) Korea (DPR) (3) Laos (4) Myanmar (5) Sri Lanka

(G) Latin America and Caribbean: (1) Bolivia (2) Colombia (3) Cuba (4) Guatemala (5) Haiti (6) Nicaragua (7) Peru

(A) Highlights

(a) The planned beneficiary caseload for WFP’s tsunami response in Indonesia, for the month of April, increased to 720,000 people, including people affected by the earthquake that struck North Sumatra on 28 March.

( WFP in March dispatched 52,000 tons of food to distribution points within Sudan’s Darfur region: the highest amount since the start of the operation in April 2004.

© Shortage of funding forces WFP to cut half of the non-cereal part of daily food rations for one million people in Darfur.

(d) WFP has distributed a one-month food ration to several thousand of the victims of the explosions which occurred in Juba town, southern Sudan, a few weeks ago.

(e) Some 25,000 persons have been identified as in urgent need of food assistance by a joint WFP/FEWS-Net/Government of Djibouti assessment mission.

(f) WFP is providing high energy biscuits and a one-month general ration to people affected by recent violence near Cote d’Ivoire’s buffer zone.

(g) From 1 April WFP expanded its relief and recovery activities in Uganda; now targeting 2.6 million IDPs, refugees and other vulnerable groups.

(h) WFP is concerned about a potential humanitarian disaster in some Colombia's Bojaya area, and provided emergency food assistance to people that became displaced due to violence in that and other areas.

( Middle East,Central Asia and Eastern Europe

(1) Afghanistan
(a) The security situation remained relatively calm in most of the country. The exception was in the south and southeast, where some security incidents threatened humanitarian work.
( From 31 March to 6 April, WFP assisted 341,500 beneficiaries.

© Through recently completed Food-For-Work projects, some 20 km of canals in Dand district of Kandahar and eight km of roads in Delaram district of Nimroz were rehabilitated. The rebuilding of these communal infrastructures contributes to increased agricultural production and enhances access to local markets.

(d) On 4 April, a commercial truck carrying WFP food plunged into a river in a valley near Kishim district of Badakhshan province, causing injury to the driver. The truck was delivering oil to Fayz Abad. Recent snow and rainfall have damaged roads, particularly in remote areas of the country, hampering food aid deliveries to vulnerable populations.

(e) UN and partners’ joint efforts continued to assist the flood and winter affected people. WFP provided 50 tons of mixed food for distribution to 5,400 flood affected people in Ghazni and 66 tons for 3,540 winter affected people in Kharwar district of Logar and Chak district of Wardak. In Khost, 50 tons of food is pre-positioned for potential floods, while another 50 tons will soon arrive in Paktya.

(f) Furthermore, over 6,000 people in Hilmand, Kandahar, Nimroz and Zabul provinces who were affected by floods and winter conditions have received WFP food assistance.

(g) In Farah, 25 tons of food were distributed to 780 flood affected families. The Provincial Disaster Emergency Task Force carried out an assessment of flood damage in the area and requested immediate assistance for 4,500 families. WFP, in collaboration with other UN agencies, has accelerated efforts to meet food needs of the affected households. Initial reports indicate that floods have caused damage to several villages in the central Ghor province. WFP has pre-positioned food in the area and will start distribution once a comprehensive assessment of the situation has been fully completed.

(2) Iraq

(a) The Public Distribution System’s (PDS) March distribution has been completed in most governorates, though some governorates are still distributing the February ration.

( Available information indicates that there are significant country-wide shortfalls in rice, sugar and milk and infant formula. Some governorates continue to report serious shortfalls of nearly every PDS commodity.

© The frequent periods of border closure continue to create bottle-necks at border crossings which, in turn, slow down the rate at which food can be imported overland into Iraq. Nevertheless, Some 865 tons of pea/wheat blend, which will be used for vulnerable group feeding, has been dispatched into Iraq after delays at the Syrian border. In addition, approximately 1000 tons of high energy biscuits have been dispatched from Syria to destinations in Iraq, including Baghdad, Ninewa and Tameen. Thus far, distribution has taken place in Baghdad and Mosul, and the biscuits have been well received by students and teachers. Students of the schools where the distribution is taking place will be eligible to submit drawings for a worldwide WFP drawing contest among schools who receive WFP’s Food for Education support.

(d) An agreement was finalized between WFP and the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology (COSIT) on the follow-up report to last year’s Baseline Food Security Analysis. WFP will also work with COSIT to build institutional capacities for monitoring food security and to improve the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of interventions related to food security in Iraq. Activities are expected to commence in May.

Source: United Nations News Service
Date: 07 Apr 2005
Nearly 7,000 Afghans return home as UN refugee agency resumes repatriation

One month after resuming its voluntary repatriation programme of Afghans from Pakistan, the United Nations refugee agency reported today that nearly 7,000 people had returned home with its assistance, a number that should balloon to 400,000 by the end of the year.

From Iran, where the voluntary repatriation programme continued through the winter, the number of Afghans returning since the start of 2005 was just over 4,000, a number expected to reach 350,000 this year, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

Overall, more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees have gone home from the two countries since the agency began a voluntary repatriation programme in 2002, following the fall of the Taliban regime there.

Last year alone, UNHCR helped in the return of more than three-quarters of a million people. There are between 2 million and 3 million Afghans still in Iran and Pakistan.

Under the repatriation programme, each returning Afghan receives a cash grant for transport assistance ranging from $3 to $34 per person, depending on the destination. They are also provided with a cash grant of $12 in place of food and non-food items distributed previously.

i suppose the only thing thats going to bring real change to afghanistan and other trouble spots is change itself....

somehow i see the growing presence of technology and other western nicities bridging the gap between our two worlds.... it's not going to happen over night

and we'd be fools to think so

- perry

http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...325/1001/news01

Ocalans' son killed in Afghanistan
Helicopter wreck took life of Staff Sgt. Sanders

OCALA - One of the 15 soldiers killed in last week's fiery helicopter crash in Afghanistan is the son of a couple who live in Ocala.

Staff Sgt. Charles "Chuck" Sanders Jr., 29, wanted to be just like his dad.

He wanted to have a family and he wanted to be a soldier. And Sanders got what he wanted. Ten years ago, he enlisted in the Army while his father and his family were stationed in Germany.

"I cried. I was very upset," said Mary Sanders, 47, recalling the day her son enlisted. "The recruiter was afraid of me. . . . I was so angry. Chuck was my baby.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...=49&ItemID=7644


US Mercenaries Spill Blood Over Afghan Opium ......... by Nick Meo
April 14, 2005

It was the first day of Afghanistan's new opium eradication programme and the quiet town of Maiwand in Kandahar province had been chosen for action.

Hundreds of Afghan eradicators under the command of American private security contractors were going to head into the fields around the town and destroy the beautiful red and white blooms days before they could be harvested for their narcotic sap.

But instead of the peaceful, model operation that was promised as an example to demonstrate the Kabul government's serious intentions, Maiwand and its surrounding villages exploded into violence in what could be a foretaste of resistance to Western-backed efforts to bring Afghanistan's opium industry under control.

By the end of yesterday four government soldiers had been wounded by gunfire from farmers, American security contractors were said to be sheltering behind razor wire in a protected camp, and Afghan police and counter-narcotics forces had fought fierce battles which local people said left five dead. Plans to eradicate poppies were temporarily shelved in the area as political bigwigs shuttled to and fro trying to ease tensions and broker some kind of deal with the angry opium farmers.

Source: United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, daily briefing
Date: 14 April, 2005


Civic education campaign starting; first posters released
With the elections now scheduled for 18 September, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) is starting to publish material to inform Afghans of their rights and duties as voters - or as candidates. This is done in the framework of a countrywide civic education campaign, much like it was done during the Presidential Election.

Displayed behind me are the first two posters produced by the JEMB. As you see, the posters are in Dari and Pashto. One of them urges Afghans to vote for the Wolesi Jirga and the Provincial Councils. The other reminds voters they need to be registered to cast their ballots and for those who have not yet registered, they will be able to do so in the near future.

As more visual material will be released for the civic education campaign, they will all bear the same inscription, which you can read at the bottom of the posters in the section in green: “Vote and participate in the rebuilding of Afghanistan!” This will be the civic education campaign’s trademark.

We have CDs on the side-table. Each includes a digital copy of both posters, in Dari and Pashto. Print media, please feel free to download the posters and publish them in your newspapers.

Three-week candidate nomination period to begin on April 30th
On April 3rd, the JEMB made a decision regarding candidate nomination for the elections. From April 30th until May 19th, candidates will be able to register their applications to run for the Wolesi Jirga or the Provincial Councils in Candidate Nomination Offices, which are currently established in each 34 province.

To do so however, potential candidates will have to meet specific requirements as stipulated in the Constitution, the Electoral Law and the JEMB regulations. Potential candidates will have to be registered as voters, be over the age of 18 - in the case of the Provincial Councils - and over 25 for the Wolesi Jirga; candidates will not be able to apply if convicted or deprived from their civil rights by a court decision. In addition, potential candidates will have to present a list of signatures of registered voters, provide a monetary deposit and sign and abide by the Code of Conduct for Candidates. One of the key points of the Code of Conduct is the compulsory declaration by candidates that they do not command – or belong to – illegal military forces or armed groups. Finally, in certain cases specified by the law, candidates may also have to resign from public office.

By 25th May, a preliminary list of candidates will be finalized. From June 4th until June 9th, candidates and registered voters will be permitted to challenge the nomination of candidates on the preliminary list.


Flood Update
With the weather warming up, snow melting and heavy rains, the rising level of water in many Afghan rivers is now being closely monitored, as it is far higher than seasonal levels. Among the rivers being most watched are the Helmand river, which already provoked floods three weeks ago, the Amu Darya up North, the Logar river, the Heriroad river in Herat and the Panjshir river, which flows from the Panjshir valley all the way down to Pakistan through Parwan, Kapisa and Nangarhar. A joint assessment mission from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), the Ministry of Water and Power, and the Department of Disaster Preparedness is currently evaluating the potential risk of floods along the Panjshir River for nearby inhabitants.

The rising levels of waters directly affect seven regions of Afghanistan, which are high-risk zones. These areas are in and around Kabul as well as in Herat, Kandahar, Khost, Nangarhar, Balkh and Kunduz provinces. According to the Ministry of Water and Power, floods in these provinces could affect up to 100,000 persons; therefore the pre-positioning and response mechanisms which have been put in place both at the central and provincial levels, bring together all those who may offer a valuable contribution in case of floods.

The issues I have just mentioned were discussed the day before yesterday (April 12th) by the Disaster Response Committee. The Committee reviewed the situation throughout the country, and although no large-scale floods are currently happening the rising levels of water could signal a deterioration of the situation. This meeting, which is held once a week, was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Water and Power, Refugees and Repatriation, Public Works, Public Health, Interior, the Department of Disaster Preparedness the Municipality of Kabul as well as representatives of UNAMA, Coalition Forces or ISAF.

DDR reaches another milestone; 48,000 now disarmed
As of yesterday (Wednesday), 47,956 former soldiers and officers have disarmed according to the Afghanistan's New Beginnings Programme (ANBP). With scheduled disarmaments of military units for today (Thursday), the total will be over 48,000.

Since the start of the Afghan year, on March 21, more than 4,000 Afghan Military Forces (AMF) personnel have disarmed and the disarmament program is on schedule to be completed by end of June 2005.

Meanwhile 42,543 former AMF personnel have either entered the reintegration phase or completed it. Reintegration provides support and training so former combatants can start new careers.

In terms of heavy weapons collection, so far 8,926 heavy weapons have been collected and are now in guarded compounds throughout the country. The only remaining significant amounts of heavy weaponry are in Kunduz (about 165), and the Shindand-Farah region where there are about 60.

Maimana Illegal Armed Group to voluntarily hand over weapons
For the first time, this Sunday (April 17), Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme will receive a significant number of weapons from a so-called Illegal Armed Group.

The former commander of 200 Division in Maimana Faryab Province will voluntarily hand over hundreds of light weapons, such as AK-47s. Fatulah Khan has already given ANBP a large stockpile of ammunition.

Both the weapons and the ammunition were never considered part of the AMF DDR process.

Fatulah Khan will be available for media interviews on Sunday morning following the ceremony in Maimana. The event is set for 11:30 am at the 35th Regiment Compound in Maimana. Commander Khan says he hopes that his actions will encourage others to voluntarily hand over weaponry.

Unlike in the DDR process, those handing over weapons and ammunition do not receive any reintegration benefits.

Members of ANBP’s public information team will be on hand in Maimana to assist the media.

Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme has been helping the government with the initial planning for a nation-wide disarmament program aimed at Illegal, or criminal groups.

For further information about the proposed program please contact the government.

Rehabilitation of Kabul Male Detention Centre and Pol-e Charki prison underway
As part of the Criminal Justice Reform Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is running a project to rehabilitate both the Kabul Male Detention Centre and Block 1 of Pol-e Charki prison.

In Pol-e Charki, the new renovations, which began yesterday and will take two months to complete, will provide family meeting areas as required under the international Standard Minimum Rules for Prisoners. In addition, sports facilities and an exercise area will be built. Security fences will also be fixed.

This is the second phase of renovations. The restoration of the water supply, electrical and canal systems, the opening of a health clinic, and the construction of a kitchen were completed last June.

The Italian government contributed US $1,900,000 to reform the penitentiary system at the central level, of which US $170,000 has been allocated for the renovation of Pol-e Charki, Block 1.

As for the Kabul Male Detention Centre, the project activities include the rehabilitation of the water supply and electricity systems, the refurbishing of rooms and corridors, and the construction of security towers. Work began at the end of March and will take five months to complete. Again, financial support was made available courtesy of the Government of Italy in the amount of US $184,000.

UNODC is also ready to begin reform activities of the penitentiary system at the provincial level. With a funding frame of about US $10 million - of which US $6 million has been contributed by the Government of Italy - these changes will contribute to improve the quality of Afghanistan’s prisons.

UNODC has been working to improve Afghanistan’s prison system since 2003. Upgrading the working conditions of the prison staff through renovation of facilities, and training the prison staff in management, ethic rules, and international conventions and regulations are also goals of the prison system reform.

A ceremony, to mark the initiation of activities under this project, was held yesterday (April 13) at Pol-e Charki. It was attended by Sarwar Danish, the Minister of Justice, Jolanda Brunetti, the Italian Ambassador, and Doris Buddenberg, the UNODC Representative for Afghanistan.


UNHCR, other agencies off to Pakistan to explain and listen to refugees’ questions about returning to Afghanistan
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) together with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation is organizing a two-week mission to hold talks with Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Under the slogan “Go-and-Talk” a ten-member delegation will be holding talks with Afghan refugees and Pakistani officials in five cities. The aim of the visit is to explain to refugees the reality of daily life in Afghanistan as well as to listen to concerns they may have about returning to their homeland.

The ten-member group, comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), the Return Commission, UNHCR and UNAMA, left for Pakistan yesterday (Wednesday April 13th).

Similar “Go-and-Talk” visits have taken place in Iran and within Afghanistan for internally displaced persons.

More than three million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran with UNHCR assistance since March 2002 when voluntary repatriation began.


MoWA holds workshop on National Action Plan for Afghan Women
During our last briefing we told you about the one-day National Action Plan workshop held by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs with staff from the Ministry of Transportation and the support of the United Nations Women’s Fund (UNIFEM) on April 10.

The workshop has resulted in a high-level commitment towards addressing women’s issues in the transportation sector. The workshop, which brought together 45 participants including high officials and the deputy minister of the Ministry of Transportation discussed ways to improve transportation policy for women.

The results of the workshop will form part of the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan being developed by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The Ministry of Transportation is the first Afghan ministry to undertake this process.

More ministry-based planning workshops will be conducted in the next three weeks in order to develop the first draft of the Action Plan.

Source: Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Date: 14 Apr 2005
ADB project to bring electricity to poor in rural towns of Afghanistan

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (14 April 2005) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$50 million loan and grant assistance package for a power supply improvement project that will help improve the living conditions of about 1.2 million poor people in rural Afghanistan.

A highly concessional $26.5 million loan will finance the construction of 206 kilometers of a 110kV transmission network, while a $23.5 million grant will finance the construction and rehabilitation of associated substations and low-voltage distribution systems.

The project will cover 11 rural towns - Breshna Kot, Imam Sahib, Jalalabad, Khan Abad, Mehtarlam, Muhammad Agha, Puli Alam, Qarghayi, Sarepul, Surobi, and Taluqan - as well as adjacent rural areas in the northern, eastern, and southern provinces of Afghanistan.

More than 90,000 households, most of whom are poor, will be connected to the grid once the project is completed. The project will also offer about 18,000 electricity connection kits with affordable and flexible payment options.

"Access to electricity is essential for economic growth," says Sohail Hasnie, an ADB Senior Energy Specialist. "It will also help improve learning opportunities for children, allow home-based businesses to expand into small-scale commercial or industrial operations, and result in net savings to customers as electricity is cheaper than kerosene and fuelwood."

Years of conflict have severely damaged Afghanistan's power generation, transmission, and distribution systems, leaving most of the country's 28 million people with no access to reliable, modern forms of energy such as electricity, gas, and liquid fuels.

Only about 9% of the country has access to electricity. The country has no national transmission grid, and the overall condition of lines is very poor. Distribution systems are stretched beyond their technical and economic lives, and substations and low-voltage distribution networks have been either destroyed or are overloaded.

The project's components are the most critical ones in the Government's power master plan. The project also complements an earlier ADB project that is rehabilitating and reconstructing damaged transmission lines and substations in the north for importing power from neighboring countries.

A $750,000 technical assistance grant accompanies the project to strengthen project management, planning, design, implementation, and operation and maintenance of the Ministry of Energy and Water, the executing agency for the project.

As Afghanistan one of the poorest post-conflict countries in the Asia and Pacific region, Afghanistan is eligible for grants from ADB's concessional Asian Development Fund. ADB's loan and grant, both from ADF, will therefore finance the entire project cost of $50 million. Special terms will also be applied to the loan. It carries a 40-year term, including a 10-year grace period with 1% interest charge throughout the term, to be capitalized during the grace period and charged to the loan account.

The project is due for completion in June 2008.

The Asian Development Bank is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia and Pacific region through pro-poor sustainable economic growth, social development, and good governance. Established in 1966, it is owned by 63 members, with 45 from the region.

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Date: 14 Apr 2005
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Afghanistan: Warlord attacks provincial disarmament team


KABUL, 14 April (IRIN) - Several police officers and militia troops were injured in a serious armed encounter in Lashkargah, the capital of the southern Helmand province, on Wednesday after a local a commander refused to surrender arms under a provincial government programme disarming illegal militias in the troubled province.

According to local authorities in Helmand the clashes happened when commander Khano, an infamous warlord in Lashkargah, attacked troops who had been assigned to disarm the commander's troops.

"We deployed more police to the scene and after serious skirmishes all Khano's troops were disarmed and arrested," Haji Mohammad Wali, a provincial spokesman in Helmand, told IRIN from Lashkargah.

He added that Khano himself was in hospital suffering from serious injuries. A local civil servant who declined to be named, told IRIN three gunmen loyal to Khano were killed during the fighting.

The disarming was ordered by provincial officials following a series of armed robberies and highway muggings in the province. Local authorities aim to disarm hundreds of militiamen to improve security in the province.

"This is separate from the UN [United Nations] DDR [Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of ex-combatants], we use the local police and there is no compensation for weapons confiscated," Wali said, adding that resistance from illegal armed groups was not uncommon as the disarmament was often carried out by force.

Like many southern provinces, Helmand suffers from insurgent attacks on government and aid bodies, which have slowed down the reconstruction process in the drought-affected region.

"This is very challenging but with current insecurity and armed robberies this kind of action [disarming illegal militias] is vital for stability in the province," Wali added.

With parliamentary elections slated for September, disarming the many local warlords who hold sway outside the capital is a pre-requisite for free and fair elections, President Hamid Karzai's government has said.

The UN has disarmed nearly 50,000 of an estimated 60,000 ex-combatants throughout the country since the DDR programme started in late 2003.

But the Afghan Ministry of Defence estimates that there are still more than 100,000 illegally armed gunmen, most loyal to warlords or local tribal chiefs, who also need to be disarmed.

The other day, Karzi asked Rumsfeld for long term help from the U.S. Rumsfeld declined to say how long the U.S. military would stay in Afghanistan. Why are we spending money there?

Source: Government of Canada
Date: 30 Mar 2005
One more step towards a safer Afghanistan
By Capt Jean-Marc Mercier

Camp Julien, KABUL - Canadian soldiers responded to two separate incidents on March 18 and retrieved a significant quantity of munitions from local Afghans in the Kabul area.

Early that morning, Task Force Kabul (TFK) engineers safely recovered approximately 300 lbs of munitions from a site south of Kabul while the Kabul Multinational Brigade (KMNB) Reconnaissance Squadron provided security at the site. The munitions were moved to another location where they will be safely destroyed in the near future.

This weapons cache consisted of several Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), 20mm and 30mm shells, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, a large variety of rifle and machine gun ammunition rounds and a small amount of explosives.

Later in the day, the TFK Force Protection Company (FP Coy) was conducting a foot patrol in a neighbourhood near Camp Julien when they were approached by a group of Afghans who identified a small weapons cache in a local home. The infantry section secured the scene while Canadian engineers again recovered several RPGs and 60mm mortar rounds.

Kabul is far from being a completely safe environment. However, the fact that these weapons caches were turned over by concerned citizens is significant in that it demonstrates the will of local Afghans to work alongside the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to make their homeland a safer place.

At the end of February, Colonel Walter Semianiw, Commander of TFK, hosted a meeting with Mr. Nazar Mohammad Taj, Mayor of Kabul's Police District Seven. During their conversation, the Mayor stated how pleased and reassured he was to see Canadian soldiers in his community. He spoke on behalf of his constituents when he mentioned that he was just as concerned as ISAF about the threats to security while his countrymen and international organizations are working hard to rebuild the country.

"Afghanistan is heading in the right direction," said Col Semianiw. "Afghans are very courageous people who have suffered tremendously from decades of conflict. It is important that we work closely with them to help achieve peace and stability and ultimately a better quality of life."

The signs of cooperation between ISAF and Afghans are becoming increasingly tangible and frequent. While there is still a great deal of work to be done to improve security in Afghanistan, instances like the turning over of the aforementioned weapons caches illustrates the faith that Afghans have in the Canadian and ISAF soldiers who are helping them restore their country.

Capt Mercier is a Public Affairs Officer with TFK

Source: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Date: 25 Mar 2005
Rebuilding Afghanistan: Weekly activity update 19 - 25 Mar 2005
Strengthening the Government

Enhancing Afghan civil society

A strong civil society in Afghanistan will create stability, build local government accountability, and provide a public framework for upcoming national elections. The I-PACS (Initiative to Promote Afghan Civil Society) program, launched in January 2005, focuses on building a strong, sustainable civil society in Afghanistan by supporting the enactment of a NGO law, capacity building through training and mentoring, and small grant funding for CSOs (Civil Society Organizations). CSOs include, but are not limited to: NGOs, social and cultural organizations, associations, shuras (community elders), CDCs (Community Development Councils), women and youth groups, unions, and cooperatives.

An initial civil society assessment will inform program direction. Twentytwo Afghans were trained in survey, interview, and focus group techniques and are currently working in 22 selected provinces. The assessment will be completed by the end of the April and will be shared broadly. Also this month, after several weeks of intense meetings, the draft NGO law was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration. This law will set guidelines and establish a structure for the NGO community. Last month, the I-PACS program began an assessment of capacity building needs. The findings, currently under review, will steer the goals and plan for organizational development support to local CSOs. Also, I-PACS awarded its first grant for $2,200 to Afghan Peace-Seeker Women Council (APWC) for an event celebrating International Women’s Day. Contracts for 3 additional grants are in process.

Empowering Communities

Building capacity in rural Afghan communities

The Literacy and Community Empowerment Program (LCEP) will provide Afghan communities with the tools and knowledge to support themselves in the areas of literacy, governance and economic growth. Over the next two years, this innovative, sustainable and communitydriven model for rural village development will work in 200 communities in five targeted provinces. LCEP will offer a literacy program for community members and provide training to the newlyorganized Afghan Community Development Councils (CDCs.) To promote economic growth, LCEP will teach community members how to organize local savings banks and micro-enterprise activities. A new national Literacy Learning Center in Kabul will serve as the hub of the program’s tools and training development. Lastly, LCEP will help advance the practice of monitoring and evaluation in development projects by providing training for Afghan professionals in the field.

Creating Conditions for Stability

Bridge to connect communities and end conflict

Kakrag village is in a remote and mountainous area in central Afghanistan that is home to Hazaras and Tajiks. In consultation with both Tajik and Hazara communities, USAID identified a bridge and retaining wall as high-priority needs for both communities. Because there was no bridge to cross the river, people from the Hazara village, located above Kakrag, were forced to cross the Tajik villagers’ farmland with their carts. Since the continual traffic across the farmland damaged the fields and crops, relations between the Hazaras and the Tajiks in the area were strained.

The bridge was successfully completed and awaits hand-over to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in Bamiyan. Both communities are pleased with the construction of the bridge and retaining wall, which alleviated tensions between two ethnic groups.

Security Incidents

Note: Hostile attacks are reported through USAID's security contractors and the Associated Press

Number of Hostile Attacks: During this reporting period, there were six hostile attacks resulting in 32 injuries, five deaths, and one kidnapping.

USAID Related: During this reporting period, there was no hostile attack directly affecting USAID related projects and/or staff. There were six other attacks against other aid agencies and NGOs.

Latest Attack: On March 17 in Kandahar City experienced two explosions. Around 11am, an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) was detonated, killing 5 civilians and wounding 32 others, including 3 women. WFP (World Food Programme) and UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) vehicles had just passed by the area, the WFP vehicle was damaged, but there were no casualties or injuries reported for either agency. One person was arrested and taken to custody for investigation. Earlier that morning, an IED was detonated near a UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) vehicle. The vehicle was slightly damaged, but no one was injured.

This graphic shows the number of hostile attacks by month. In September 2004, there were 7 hostile incidents directly affecting USAID related activities and 17 indirect hostile incidents affecting USAID activities. In October 2004, there were 3 hostile incidents directly affecting USAID related activities and 18 indirect hostile incidents affecting USAID activities. In November 2004, there were 2 hostile incidents directly affecting USAID related activities and 10 indirect hostile incidents affecting USAID activities. In December 2004, there were 3 hostile incidents directly affecting USAID related activities and 4 indirect hostile incidents affecting USAID activities. In January 2005, there was 1 hostile incident directly affecting USAID related activities and 8 indirect hostile incidents affecting USAID activities. In February 2005, there were 2 hostile incidents directly affecting USAID related activities and 8 indirect hostile incidents affecting USAID activities. In March 2005, there has been 1 hostile incident directly affecting USAID related activities and 16 indirect hostile incidents affecting USAID activities. ANSO Security Reporting began in September 2004.

This is part of the BushCo World Order as these first permanent bases in Afghanistan/Eurasia will mark the begining of such a (PNAC) takever. This will become many US govt controlled ppl's new address in the years to come. The money is for the buildup.

http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=48606

Children of Kabul Streets May Lose Their ''Nest''

Topic: The Taleban

Archives: April 2005

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BBC News
Kabul - April 13/2005
Tom Coghlan
Kabul street children may lose 'nest'

Afghanistan's internationally renowned charity for street children, Aschiana, survived the Afghan wars of the 1990s and the Taleban era.

However, the free market economics of Kabul's post-war boom now seem a more potent enemy than rockets and bombs.

Aschiana, which means "the nest" and provides support, food, education and a refuge to 10,000 street children, faces the closure of its main centre in Kabul.

It is the victim of rocketing rents and land prices rather than artillery.

The charity's compound on Char Rahi Malik Asghar, which it has occupied since 1997, has been sold by its owner to an international company.

A five-star hotel will be built on the site.

Kabul is a city in the grip of a housing boom that has seen the price of real estate soar to levels comparable with Western cities.

The three-acre Aschiana plot, close to the main government ministries, is believed to be worth nd $5m.working children

A small class of wealthy Afghan entrepreneurs and international companies have been the prime beneficiaries of the boom.

"Our rent for this site was $1,500 a month," says Aschiana's director and founder, Engineer Mohammed Yousef.

"We have been looking for alternative sites but rents in the centre of the city are too expensive now."

Much smaller sites further from the city centre, where most of the street children gravitate, now cost around $10,000 a month in rent.

Kabul has about 50,000 children working on its streets.

Many lost their parents during Afghanistan's 24-year conflict and they are often to be seen banded together and scavenging through rubbish.

Many make a meagre living polishing shoes or selling water, chewing gum or newspapers to drivers at busy junctions.

They often show the tell-tale, disfiguring scars of the parasite Leishmaniasis, which lays its eggs under the skin of those who live on the streets.

As well as sexual abuse and domestic violence, children at the centre have often suffered high levels of psychological trauma during the wars.

Trees felled

The early lives of many of the street children were dominated by the protracted siege of Kabul in the 1990s when random rocketing and gunfire by various militias killed an estimated 20,000 civilians.

Today children at the centre are still engaged in classes in art, music, dance, computing, sport and basic literacy.

"I don't want to tell the children that we are closing," says Engineer Yousef, above the sound of chainsaws.

Source: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Date: 08 Apr 2005
Rebuilding Afghanistan: Weekly activity update 01 - 08 Apr 2005 - Issue #82

Strengthening Economic Development
Afghanistan Development Forum held last week

The third annual Afghanistan Development Forum (ADF) was held in Kabul April 4-6 on the theme of “Accelerating Economic Development.” Over 300 delegates from the Government of Afghanistan (GOA) and the international donor community attended the conference, including USAID Deputy Administrator Frederick Schieck and USAID/Afghanistan Mission Director Patrick Fine.

President Karzai emphasized two key priorities of the GOA: accelerating the building of physical infrastructure (roads, water and electricity generation in urban areas), and institutional and human resource development. Most notably, he underscored the need to modernize the agriculture sector and increase productivity in order to fight poppy cultivation. U.S. Ambassador Khalilzad informed the ADF that the focus areas for the US Government will be security, private sector economic development, counter-narcotics, capacity and institution building, and contributing to Afghanistan’s role as a land bridge between Central and South Asia.

During the three day event, ADF discussions centered on eight themes:

Accelerating infrastructure development;

A pro-poor approach to economic growth and social protection;

Creating an enabling environment for private sector development;

Fiscal sustainability & public administration reform;

Review of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) and other trust funds;

Strengthening regional cooperation;

Fighting drugs and alternative livelihood; and

Security, justice, and equitable political participation.

Supporting Judicial Reform

Provincial Court of Appeals opens in Ghazni

On April 6, Deputy Administrator Frederick Schieck spoke at the opening of the newly rehabilitated Provincial Court of Appeals building in Ghazni province. The ceremony was attended by the Chief of Administration for the Supreme Court, the Chief of Facilities for the Supreme Court, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor from Kabul, the Chief Judge of Ghazni Province, representatives of the Judicial Reform Commission and about 40 other judges, prosecutors and village elders.

USAID rehabilitated and modernized the courthouse, originally built in the 1970s, and added a second story. The design was by an Afghan-American architect, Rafi Samizay, who managed a staff of 16 Afghan architects and engineers. Construction was bid out to a local Afghan construction company.

Strengthening the Government

Three industrial parks under construction

Industrial parks support economic growth in Afghanistan by serving as a mechanism for organizing and concentrating scarce public infrastructure resources. This encourages private investor interest, and generates employment opportunities. There are three industrial parks under various stages of construction in Afghanistan:

Kabul: Design and contracting stage complete. Though delayed by the severe weather, construction is underway. Thirty-four lots have been sold. Overall, about 65% complete.

Kandahar: Land preparation, sidewalks, sewage, and drainage designs are complete. Electricity and water supply designs are nearing completion. Overall, about 25% complete.

Mazar-e Sharif: Land preparation, roads, and sidewalk designs complete. Designs for water supply, sewage, electricity, and communication are underway. Overall, about 10% complete.

Security Incidents

Note: Hostile attacks are reported through USAID's security contractors and the Associated Press

Number of Hostile Attacks: During this reporting period, there were four hostile attacks resulting in one death.

USAID Related: During this reporting period, there were no hostile attacks directly affecting USAID related projects and/or staff. There were four other attacks against other aid agencies and NGOs.

Last Attack: On March 30, in the Guzarah district of Herat province, three rockets were fired into the Herat Airport. Two rockets struck the western side of the runway and the third rocket landed on the wall of the Airport Security compound, which shares a wall with the UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) compound. The attack did not result in any casualties, and only minor damage to the Airport Security compound fence.

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Date: 15 Apr 2005
Afghan delegation tours Pakistan to promote repatriation

ISLAMABAD, April 15 (UNHCR) – A delegation from northern Afghanistan has begun a UNHCR-sponsored tour of all provinces of Pakistan to tell refugees about improving conditions in the areas they fled up to 25 years ago and to hear their continuing concerns about returning.

"The benefit will be that the refugees living here in Pakistan will learn what recent developments have taken place in Afghanistan," said Samiullah Wardak of the Afghan government's Ministry of Rural Development. "On the other hand, our concerned authorities will also get informed about what problems and hardships Afghan refugees go through in Pakistan."

The nine members – including two people from the United Nations in Afghanistan – started their mission in Islamabad on Thursday and will visit areas throughout the country by the time they board a return flight to Kabul on April 28.

The team, the Returns Commission Working Group, was formed nearly three years ago to help remove obstacles in five provinces of Afghanistan where factional rivalries were hindering repatriation.

Since then, they have been trying to resolve problems in the provinces – Balkh, Sar-i-Pul, Jawzjan, Samangan and Faryab – and conveying the results to former residents living in camps for internally displaced people inside Afghanistan or refugees in Iran and Pakistan.

Although some 2.3 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan since 2002 and another 400,000 are forecast to repatriate this year, millions of Afghans remain in exile despite the end of the open warfare that raged in their homeland for more than two decades.

Many of them have established new lives in Pakistan and are reluctant to start over back in Afghanistan. Others, such as the thousands of residents of the slum area on the edge of Islamabad where the delegation went on Thursday, are poor Afghans who want promises of land or shelter before returning.

"If we are assured by the government that there will be land and other shelter facilities available to us once we go back, we are ready to leave even tomorrow," said Mohammad Zalmey, who was attending the session in an open-air mosque beside the mud-track that is the main road.

But the delegation is carrying a firm message: it is time for most Afghans to come back and join in the reconstruction; they will have problems but conditions in the country have improved markedly since the civil war ended with the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001.

"Whenever you return, your problems may increase manifold – all of those who have returned in the last three years had problems. But they had to start somewhere," said Shujauddin, a representative of the Afghan Department of Refugees and Repatriation.

"Today the international community and other donor agencies are ready to help the Afghan people. This opportunity may not be there forever," he told Afghan men who jammed around the mosque. "You have to make your own decision."

This repatriation season will be the last full year of the current Tripartite Agreement between UNHCR and the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which governs the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme that assists Afghans wishing to return from Pakistan. It expires next March, but repatriation is mainly during the current April-October period of warm weather in Afghanistan.

The Afghan delegation is pointing that out in an intensive tour that is taking them through the Punjab capital of Lahore, the refugee camp of Mianwalli, the Punjab city of Attock, the North West Frontier Province of Peshawar, the Sindh capital of Karachi and the Balochistan capital of Quetta.

While any Afghan's decision to return to Afghanistan is voluntary and UNHCR is discussing with the government how to manage those Afghans who remain after the Tripartite Agreement expires, the UN refugee agency and the Pakistani government still believe repatriation is the best option for most people.

That is especially true for the Afghans who have been living for about two decades in the Katcha Abadi slum area of Islamabad, where the delegation started its work. The government wants to reclaim the land for development and its extended deadline for the residents to leave runs out this year.

The residents have the choice of repatriating to Afghanistan or moving elsewhere in Pakistan, but the team from northern Afghanistan was clear in the belief that they would be better off leaving Islamabad, where they specialize in rubbish collection, and return to their homeland.

"If they do not themselves return and build their homes and cultivate the land, it will remain in ruins forever," said Shujauddin. "Our request is that Afghans in Pakistan should come back now, as the United Nations is assisting them to voluntarily repatriate as well as helping them with their initial needs back in Afghanistan. It is a golden chance they should take advantage of."

By Jack Redden
UNHCR Pakistan

Source: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
Date: 14 Apr 2005
Afghanistan: Press briefing by Ariane Quentier, Senior Public Information Officer, and by UN agencies in Afghanistan 14 Apr 2005

TALKING POINTS

Civic education campaign starting; first posters released

With the elections now scheduled for 18 September, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) is starting to publish material to inform Afghans of their rights and duties as voters - or as candidates. This is done in the framework of a countrywide civic education campaign, much like it was done during the Presidential Election.

Displayed behind me are the first two posters produced by the JEMB. As you see, the posters are in Dari and Pashto. One of them urges Afghans to vote for the Wolesi Jirga and the Provincial Councils. The other reminds voters they need to be registered to cast their ballots and for those who have not yet registered, they will be able to do so in the near future.

As more visual material will be released for the civic education campaign, they will all bear the same inscription, which you can read at the bottom of the posters in the section in green: “Vote and participate in the rebuilding of Afghanistan!” This will be the civic education campaign's trademark.

We have CDs on the side-table. Each includes a digital copy of both posters, in Dari and Pashto. Print media, please feel free to download the posters and publish them in your newspapers.

Three-week candidate nomination period to begin on April 30th

On April 3rd , the JEMB made a decision regarding candidate nomination for the elections. From April 30th until May 19th , candidates will be able to register their applications to run for the Wolesi Jirga or the Provincial Councils in Candidate Nomination Offices, which are currently established in each 34 province.

To do so however, potential candidates will have to meet specific requirements as stipulated in the Constitution, the Electoral Law and the JEMB regulations. Potential candidates will have to be registered as voters, be over the age of 18 - in the case of the Provincial Councils - and over 25 for the Wolesi Jirga; candidates will not be able to apply if convicted or deprived from their civil rights by a court decision. In addition, potential candidates will have to present a list of signatures of registered voters, provide a monetary deposit and sign and abide by the Code of Conduct for Candidates. One of the key points of the Code of Conduct is the compulsory declaration by candidates that they do not command – or belong to – illegal military forces or armed groups. Finally, in certain cases specified by the law, candidates may also have to resign from public office.

By 25 th May, a preliminary list of candidates will be finalized. From June 4th until June 9th , candidates and registered voters will be permitted to challenge the nomination of candidates on the preliminary list.

Flood Update

With the weather warming up, snow melting and heavy rains, the rising level of water in many Afghan rivers is now being closely monitored, as it is far higher than seasonal levels. Among the rivers being most watched are the Helmand river, which already provoked floods three weeks ago, the Amu Darya up North, the Logar river, the Heriroad river in Heart and the Panjshir river, which flows from the Panjshir valley all the way down to Pakistan through Parwan, Kapisa and Nangarhar. A joint assessment mission from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), the Ministry of Water and Power, and the Department of Disaster Preparedness is currently evaluating the potential risk of floods along the Panjshir River for nearby inhabitants.

The rising levels of waters directly affect seven regions of Afghanistan , which are high-risk zones. These areas are in and around Kabul as well as in Heart, Kandahar, Khost, Nangarhar, Balkh and Kunduz provinces. According to the Ministry of Water and Power, floods in these provinces could affect up to 100,000 persons; therefore the pre-positioning and response mechanisms which have been put in place both at the central and provincial levels, bring together all those who may offer a valuable contribution in case of floods.

The issues I have just mentioned were discussed the day before yesterday (April 12th ) by the Disaster Response Committee. The Committee reviewed the situation throughout the country, and although no large-scale floods are currently happening the rising levels of water could signal a deterioration of the situation. This meeting, which is held once a week, was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Water and Power, Refugees and Repatriation, Public Works, Public Health, Interior, the Department of Disaster Preparedness the Municipality of Kabul as well as representatives of UNAMA, Coalition Forces or ISAF.

DDR reaches another milestone; 48,000 now disarmed

As of yesterday (Wednesday), 47,956 former soldiers and officers have disarmed according to the Afghanistan 's New Beginnings Programme (ANBP). With scheduled disarmaments of military units for today (Thursday), the total will be over 48,000.

Since the start of the Afghan year, on March 21, more than 4,000 Afghan Military Forces (AMF) personnel have disarmed and the disarmament program is on schedule to be completed by end of June 2005.

Meanwhile 42,543 former AMF personnel have either entered the reintegration phase or completed it. Reintegration provides support and training so former combatants can start new careers.

In terms of heavy weapons collection, so far 8,926 heavy weapons have been collected and are now in guarded compounds throughout the country. The only remaining significant amounts of heavy weaponry are in Kunduz (about 165), and the Shindand-Farah region where there are about 60.

Maimana Illegal Armed Group to voluntarily hand over weapons

For the first time, this Sunday (April 17), Afghanistan 's New Beginnings Programme will receive a significant number of weapons from a so-called Illegal Armed Group.

The former commander of 200 Division in Maimana Faryab Province will voluntarily hand over hundreds of light weapons, such as AK-47s. Fatulah Khan has already given ANBP a large stockpile of ammunition.

Both the weapons and the ammunition were never considered part of the AMF DDR process.

Fatulah Khan will be available for media interviews on Sunday morning following the ceremony in Maimana. The event is set for 11:30 am at the 35th Regiment Compound in Maimana. Commander Khan says he hopes that his actions will encourage others to voluntarily hand over weaponry.

Unlike in the DDR process, those handing over weapons and ammunition do not receive any reintegration benefits.

Members of ANBP's public information team will be on hand in Maimana to assist the media.

Afghanistan 's New Beginnings Programme has been helping the government with the initial planning for a nation-wide disarmament program aimed at Illegal, or criminal groups.

For further information about the proposed program please contact the government.

Rehabilitation of Kabul Male Detention Centre and Pol-e Charki prison underway

As part of the Criminal Justice Reform Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is running a project to rehabilitate both the Kabul Male Detention Centre and Block 1 of Pol-e Charki prison.

In Pol-e Charki, the new renovations, which began yesterday and will take two months to complete, will provide family meeting areas as required under the international Standard Minimum Rules for Prisoners. In addition, sports facilities and an exercise area will be built. Security fences will also be fixed.

This is the second phase of renovations. The restoration of the water supply, electrical and canal systems, the opening of a health clinic, and the construction of a kitchen were completed last June.

The Italian government contributed US $1,900,000 to reform the penitentiary system at the central level, of which US $170,000 has been allocated for the renovation of Pol-e Charki, Block 1.

As for the Kabul Male Detention Centre, the project activities include the rehabilitation of the water supply and electricity systems, the refurbishing of rooms and corridors, and the construction of security towers. Work began at the end of March and will take five months to complete. Again, financial support was made available courtesy of the Government of Italy in the amount of US $184,000.

UNODC is also ready to begin reform activities of the penitentiary system at the provincial level. With a funding frame of about US $10 million - of which US $6 million has been contributed by the Government of Italy - these changes will contribute to improve the quality of Afghanistan 's prisons.

UNODC has been working to improve Afghanistan 's prison system since 2003. Upgrading the working conditions of the prison staff through renovation of facilities, and training the prison staff in management, ethic rules, and international conventions and regulations are also goals of the prison system reform.

A ceremony, to mark the initiation of activities under this project, was held yesterday (April 13) at Pol-e Charki. It was attended by Sarwar Danish, the Minister of Justice, Jolanda Brunetti, the Italian Ambassador, and Doris Buddenberg, the UNODC Representative for Afghanistan .

UNHCR, other agencies off to Pakistan to explain and listen to refugees' questions about returning to Afghanistan

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) together with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation is organizing a two-week mission to hold talks with Afghan refugees in Pakistan .

Under the slogan “Go-and-Talk” a ten-member delegation will be holding talks with Afghan refugees and Pakistani officials in five cities. The aim of the visit is to explain to refugees the reality of daily life in Afghanistan as well as to listen to concerns they may have about returning to their homeland.

The ten-member group, comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), the Return Commission, UNHCR and UNAMA, left for Pakistan yesterday (Wednesday April 13th ).

Similar “Go-and-Talk” visits have taken place in Iran and within Afghanistan for internally displaced persons.

More than three million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran with UNHCR assistance since March 2002 when voluntary repatriation began.

MoWA holds workshop on National Action Plan for Afghan Women

During our last briefing we told you about the one-day National Action Plan workshop held by the Ministry of Women's Affairs with staff from the Ministry of Transportation and the support of the United Nations Women's Fund (UNIFEM) on April 10.

The workshop has resulted in a high-level commitment towards addressing women's issues in the transportation sector. The workshop, which brought together 45 participants including high officials and the deputy minister of the Ministry of Transportation discussed ways to improve transportation policy for women.

The results of the workshop will form part of the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan being developed by the Ministry of Women's Affairs. The Ministry of Transportation is the first Afghan ministry to undertake this process.

More ministry-based planning workshops will be conducted in the next three weeks in order to develop the first draft of the Action Plan.

Questions & Answers

Question: Regarding DDR, was this commander from illegal militias or illegal armed groups - as you said?

Senior Public Information Officer: Illegal Armed Group, which is the official terminology used.

Question: Will this be just a collection of weapons or the disarmament of the commanders?

Senior Public Information Officer: It is disarming those groups. Under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defence, there were a number of military groups and units which became part of the Afghan Military Forces. But there were also a number of groups, with heavy and light weapons, which did not fall under the Ministry of Defence's umbrella, and therefore not under the DDR programme initiated by ANBP in October 2003 and to be completed in June. These other groups are the so-called Illegal Armed Groups – illegal because they are not under any legal framework and not under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defence. Because they are illegal, they have no reasons to be present in this country and therefore they should be disarmed. However, because they do not fall under the DDR programme, they will need another approach to be disarmed. But we are talking about disarmament.

Question: Do you have any developments in Kabul with the disarming of the 1 st Division?

Senior Public Information Officer: As I told you we had very slow progress with the 8th and 10th Divisions, and we are still waiting for full commitment from the 1 st Division.

Question: On the Illegal Armed Groups, will disarmament be voluntary or forced?

Senior Public Information Officer: As much as possible, disarmament will be on a voluntary basis. But as we indicated earlier, there will not be individual reintegration benefits for soldiers disarming. We will rather try to have a community-based approach where groups interfering with a community, by voluntarily disarming, will allow the community to receive benefits of different sorts.

Question: Is there a plan for the disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups?

Senior Public Information Officer: No yet, but a plan is looked into. We made an announcement about Maimana because it is an important issue. But the disarmament of the Illegal Armed Groups is something that is being discussed right now. The Government is looking at ways to do it and there is no final plan for the time being.

Question: Regarding the elections, the requirements for the candidates, is this final? The Electoral Law should still be amended…

Senior Public Information Officer: The requirements I have mentioned, like not to have been convicted by a court or not to have been deprived from civil rights are not being questioned in the amendments to the Electoral Law. Same for the number of signatures one needs to collect, the monetary deposit that is required, these are not questioned either in the amendments to the Electoral Law. That said, there are issues in the Electoral Law, which have nothing to do with the process of nomination of candidates that are still being reviewed and for which we are still waiting for a decision to be taken. But the reason why the JEMB [Joint Electoral Management Body] was able to make a decision on the 3 rd of April on the nomination of candidates is because this specific issue has nothing to do with the currently discussed amendments.

Question: Do you have any estimates on the number of Illegal Armed Groups and what will be the method used to disarm them?

Senior Public Information Officer: As you know there has been a mapping survey that has been done in the last months to look at where and how there are Illegal Armed Groups throughout the country. But the way you have to look at illegal groups is not so much in terms of numbers because there are such a variety of illegal groups, from small groups to bigger groups. The issue with Illegal Armed Groups is more what type of groups they are. In this respect, there is a sense that the presence of certain groups needs to be addressed before that of other. Those groups are those who could have a potential bad effect on the electoral process. So rather than looking at the bigger picture, with how many groups we have, I think what were looking at now – and I am not going to get into numbers – is a relatively small number of groups, which could however have an impact on the conduct of the elections and in the run up to the elections. This is the priority, groups that could have an impact on the elections. The way the disarmament is going to take place, there again as I just explained, we are looking at something voluntary, which would be through a community-based approach.

Question: Do you think you will start this phase before the Parliamentary Elections?

Senior Public Information Officer: When I am talking about groups more worrying than others because they could have an impact on the elections, I mean groups that need to be engaged before the elections. And the fact that we have this news of this voluntary disarmament taking place on Sunday in Maimana is clearly before the elections.

Question: When the JEMB signed the criteria for the candidates for the Wolesi Jirga, does it mean that the JEMB is not going to change the Electoral Law as demanded by political parties?

Senior Public Information Officer: The JEMB was in a position to take a decision on the nomination of candidates because no matter where we stood with the Electoral Law there were certain areas which were not going to be changed. This allowed the JEMB to take a decision on the nomination of candidates. The process of nomination of candidates is not put in question at all. So whatever the issues with the Electoral Law, this does not have an impact on the process of nomination of candidates.

In addition, some of the requirements for nomination also derive from the Constitution and the JEMB regulations.

Question: There are demands throughout Afghanistan , and in the neighbouring countries that the second round of registration of voters should be conducted. Is there any possibility before the election for this second round?

Senior Public Information Officer: Looking at the posters behind me, they clearly indicate that in the near future there will be the possibility to re-register. Unfortunately no date has been set yet.

Question: Is there any on-going discussion with the JEMB to change some parts of the Electoral Law and the voting system as some of the political parties have suggested?

Senior Public Information Officer: The voting system has been chosen. It is the Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV). There are on-going discussions on other issues, those are discussions and exchanges of ideas on other topics. We will wait to know what the final decision is to comment or make any announcement.

http://ap.alaskajournal.com/stories/state/...5/2960135.shtml


Soldier loses left foot after mine explosion in Afghanistan
The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE — A Fort Richardson police officer serving in Operation Enduring Freedom stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan that blew off part of his foot, U.S. Army officials said.

Staff Sgt. Justin L. Shellhammer, 26, was injured April 5. He had been in Afghanistan less than two weeks.

Shellhammer, originally from Tiffin, Ohio, has been in the Army for five years and stationed at Fort Richardson since July. He is the 12th soldier from the post to be injured in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, Canterbury said. The other 11 soldiers were part of the 900-soldier unit Task Force 1-501 Airborne, which was deployed to Afghanistan between October 2003 and August 2004.

Source: Armada Espanola
Date: 15 April, 2005
LA COMISIÓN APOSENTADORA DE LAS FUERZAS ARMADAS ESPAÑOLAS YA SE ENCUENTRA EN HERAT (AFGANISTÁN)

Las operaciones de apoyo a la fuerza internacional de seguridad comenzarán a mediados de junio

El coronel del Ejército del Aire D. Guillermo Vaya Cañellas y su equipo avanzado se encuentran ya en el aeropuerto de Herat a donde llegaron en un avión “Hércules” español del destacamento de la base de Manas (Kirguistán). La misión de estos oficiales consiste en organizar la estructura de mando de la nueva base.

La base de Herat deberá ser capaz a partir de mediados de junio de dar apoyo al personal de ISAF repartido en las distintas provincias del oeste del país para facilitar el desarrollo de la región. En total serán cuatro equipos de reconstrucción provincial, uno español, en la provincia de Badghis, y otros tres con personal italiano, lituano y norteamericano.

La construcción de la base se inició hace un mes en una zona adyacente al aeropuerto de Herat. Una unidad de ingenieros italiana supervisa los trabajos de la empresa que se encarga de convertir un terreno abandonado en un campamento capaz de albergar a más de seiscientos militares. Cerca de doscientos italianos trabajarán codo con codo con los más de cuatrocientos militares españoles.

La base contará con un hospital de campaña y una unidad de helicópteros de evacuación médica del Ejército del Aire español. Otra unidad de helicópteros dará apoyo a la compañía de reacción rápida (QRF) del Ejército de tierra que operará desde allí. El escuadrón de apoyo al despliegue aéreo del Ejército del Aire (EADA) dará protección a la base y apoyo a los vuelos que transporten carga o personal desde territorio nacional. Otros militares de diversas unidades se encargarán del mando, comunicaciones, y otros servicios necesarios.

El coronel Vayá tomará el mando oficialmente el próximo día 1 de mayo pasando a formar parte de las fuerzas de ISAF, que la OTAN tiene desplegadas en el país para contribuir a la seguridad y asistencia al nuevo gobierno democrático del presidente Karzai.

Looks as though Bush's form of the democracy is spreading. The rich get richer at the expense of the poor and downtrodden. It's even sadder when those poor and downtrodden are kids.

Source: UNICEF
Date: 18 March, 2005
UNICEF helps Afghanistan get ready for new school year

18 March 2005 – As more than 4 million Afghan children prepare to return to school from next week after a particularly harsh winter, the United Nations Children’s (UNICEF) has been helping the Ministry of Education to provide basic classroom stationery and materials to schools nationwide.

Although the difficult weather delayed distribution of some materials en route from Pakistan and classroom kits destined for northern provinces, tens of thousands of student kits have been prepared for more than 2 million children, containing materials such as exercise books, pens, pencils and other stationery.

Full distribution to an estimated 4.3 million children is expected to be completed by mid-April.

Underscoring Afghanistan’s major progress in managing its education sector, UNICEF noted that the ministry’s logistics centre – managed by the agency in 2002 – now has full responsibility for packing and distributing the kits. At present it is producing 5,000 student and teacher stationery kits per day.

This year, students in Grades 1 and 4 will also benefit from new textbooks, developed in a partnership between the Government, UNICEF and Columbia University’s Teachers College. The new textbooks are more student-focused and relevant to the new Afghanistan, according to UNICEF, and mark a notable improvement in the quality of education delivery.

While some 1.2 million girls have enrolled in Afghanistan’s primary schools since 2002, more than 1 million primary school age girls are still not attending classes. In addition to the support being provided for classroom materials and curriculum development, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are focusing efforts on developing learning opportunities for girls in communities with no formal school, with the aim of providing education for an additional 500,000 girls in 2005.

Good perception wliberty.... as BushCo pockets their healthy portions of taxpayers monies for their own personal agendas, while many suffer throughout many parts of the world. What is taking place in Afghanistan will also show up more right here in the US. Ever notice how our US media barely covers the poverty in our own country right here? That poverty will grow ever faster, thanks to the corrupt operations of the entire GOP camp.

More quick facts about the kids in Afghanistan below.



http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportI...try=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: New centre for malnourished children in the north

Children under five constitute some 20 percent of the population of 2.5 million people in the five northern Afghan provinces of Balkh, Samangan, Jauzjan, Sar-e Pol and Faryab. These children mostly live in situations defined by poverty, chronic hunger, displacement and violence. A shortage of safe drinking water, as well as poor sanitation and hygiene, add to the already poor health status of many children in Afghanistan. Only 13 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water, and only 12 per cent has access to adequate sanitation facilities.

“Approximately half of the children in Afghanistan are malnourished,” Tony Naleo, a project officer with UNICEF in Mazar-e Sharif told IRIN. This motivated the agency to establish five TFCs in the provincial headquarters of the northern provinces, which opened at the end of April.

Source: Internationa Herald Tribune
Date: 31 December 2004
Afghan art's post-Taliban return
By Carlotta Gall The New York Times
Friday, December 31, 2004


KABUL The newly repaired National Museum of Afghanistan has opened its first exhibition in 13 years, a display of life-size, pre-Islamic idols smashed by the Taliban three years ago and now painstakingly restored by museum and international experts.

The wooden statues from Nuristan, one of Afghanisan's mountainous northeastern provinces, are an apt subject for an inaugural exhibition. Museum staff had worked hard to hide the collection from looters and Islamic fundamentalists intent on destroying all idols and artistic depictions of the human form. The figures, from what was formerly known as Kafiristan, or Land of the Heathens, are ancestor effigies and animistic and polytheistic gods, representing beliefs and traditions that were practiced there little more than 100 years ago.

"This is part of our culture and we should preserve it," said Fauzia Hamraz, director of the ethnographic collection, who helped piece the statues back together. "Our country is an Islamic country, but displaying these things will not destroy our religion."

The statues, as well as carved doors, pillars and furniture, date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The figures were brought to Kabul by the army of Emir Abdur Rahman, a ruler of Afghanistan who forcibly Islamized Kafiristan in 1896 and renamed it Nuristan, or Land of Light.

The 14 statues that remain stand like silent sentries, with primitive flat faces, large turbans and headdresses, skirts and gaiters, similar to the clothes still worn in Nuristan. Many are warriors, one astride a horse, one armed with an ax and a dagger. Another sits on a throne.



They come from different tribes in Nuristan's high valleys. In addition to the ancestor effigies, others represent the pantheon of gods once worshiped by the local people, said Max Klimburg, director of the Afghan-Austrian Society and an expert on the Kafirs of the Hindu Kush mountain range. One with a moon face, thought to be Disanri, the goddess of goat fertility, sits astride a mountain goat and rests her face between its horns.

There are also elaborate carved wooden bedposts that depict embracing, seated couples with legs entwined. Remarkably, they escaped the attention of the ax-wielding Taliban.

The statues were packed away in the early 1990s as the country threatened to dissolve into civil war after the withdrawal of the occupying Soviet Army. Some were stored in the Ministry of Culture, some in the Kabul Hotel and some in the museum itself, on the western side of Kabul, which came under heavy rocket fire in 1993.

Some pieces looted then are still missing, said Klimburg, who donated a number of his own discoveries from Nuristan to the museum in the 1970s. A large male bust he found in 1971 and temple posts with deity figures acquired by a Kabul museum expedition in 1976 are missing, he said. One figure, an effigy from the Kafirs of the Kalash valley in Chitral, in neighboring Pakistan, was found cut in half at the waist by smugglers who were trying to export it. It was seized by customs at the Kabul airport.

In April 2001, as extremists gained the upper hand in the Taliban government and blew up the giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan, armed men turned on the museum collection. The staff managed to hide the most valuable pieces in old crates, but the larger ones, including the figures from Nuristan and many Buddhist and Kushan statues, were smashed. The wooden figures were splintered with an ax into as many as 20 pieces.

It took more than a month of intense work by staff and a visiting Austrian-Italian wood restorer financed by the Austrian government to reconstruct the figures.

Even the tiniest slivers of wood were salvaged and, where appropriate, a mixture of paint, chalk and glue was used to fill in gaps. The cracks are barely visible now, and the figures look as they did when last on display 13 years ago.

Schoolchildren and youth groups have been among the early visitors to the exhibition. "They ask many questions," Hamraz said. "They ask why the Taliban didn't destroy all the broken pieces."

But that question still haunts her and the staff just three years after the Taliban was removed and peacekeepers of the International Security Assistance Force, known as ISAF, arrived in Kabul.

"As long as ISAF are here, I don't think anything will happen," Hamraz said. "But if they leave, we could have insecurity again and maybe those who did these things would come back again."

Source: Institute for War & Peace
Date: 18 March, 2005
A Day for Women to Shine
Advocates of women’s rights mark International Women’s Day by noting progress while looking ahead to how much still needs to be done.
By Suhaila Muhseni in Kabul (ARR No. 165, 18-Mar-05)

The Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul buzzed with excitement earlier this month as more than 500 men and women, some of the latter stylishly dressed and even a few without the once-obligatory headscarf, marked International Women’s Day.

The highlight of the March 8 event, sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM, and the ministry of women’s affairs, and funded by the Afghan government along with France, South Korea and Japan, was a rare appearance by Dr Zeenat Karzai, accompanying her husband President Hamed Karzai, who was the keynote speaker.

The president congratulated women all over the world and offered special praise for those in his own country.

“During the past three years women have played key social and political roles,” he said. “They took part in the constitutional Loya Jirga, they voted in record numbers in the presidential elections, they serve as ministers. Girls are returning to school. This is the reality.”

After the March 8 event, women were invited to the Ariana Cinema in the city centre to watch a film – an event that Najiba Sharif, deputy minister of women’s affairs, had been chosen deliberately.

“For the past 25 years, women have not had access to the cinema,” she said. “This may persuade them that it is time to go back to the movies.”

Sharif added that Afghan women have gained a lot of ground since the fall of the Taleban.

“Our women have been through a terrible time; they were covered by the burqa, and the sun was never allowed to touch their faces,” she said. “Now, with the help of God and the international community, we have come out of this phase and we are grateful.”

Afghanistan’s women have never had an easy time. Constrained by cultural traditions that treat them as little more than household chattels, they have been under the control of men for centuries.

But under the Taleban their situation became a lot worse, especially in urban areas, as they were barred from education and jobs, driven back into the home, and forced to wear the all-enveloping burqa on the rare occasions that they were allowed to venture outside.

Since the fall of the Taleban in late 2001, much has changed for the better. As foreign aid and international agencies poured into the country, urban women have thrown off their burqas in large numbers and rejoined the work force.

According to Sharif, there are 35,000 women now employed in the country’s 30 ministries. Three hold key positions. And Habiba Sorabi recently became the first woman to hold the post of governor after she was appointed head of Bamian province by the president.

Torpaikai Nawabi, deputy director of the Afghan Women's Union, said much more progress needs to be made.

“The presence of three women in the cabinet is not enough to guarantee women their rights,” she said. “Over the past three years, all we have gained is the right to leave the house. There has been no serious attention given to women’s role in society.”

Shukria Barakzai, editor of Aina–ye-Zan, a monthly women’s magazine, is also critical of what she sees as the government’s lack of commitment to improving the status of women. “We do not see as many women in the government as we should,” she said. “There is gender discrimination, and women are always given the lowest positions.”

But Barakzai conceded there was much to be thankful for, “Nobody could have predicted three years ago that women would now be working in key positions in the government and in foreign organisations.”

Barakzai told IWPR how the media had played a key role in reshaping women’s lives, adding, “I am very happy that we have women anchors in radio and television all over Afghanistan, even in the most conservative areas.”

Women still face an uphill battle to have their rights accepted.

Fazal Hadi Shinwari, head of the supreme court, and well-known for his conservative views, was recently quoted in the Kabul daily Cheragh as saying, “The freedoms that women in the West have been given under the name of women’s rights should not be imposed on us.” Women in Afghanistan must behave in accordance with the strictures of Islam, he added.

But many Muslim women do not see a conflict between their rights and their religion. Youth Minister Amena Afzali said, “We are impatient to win our rights, the rights that are guaranteed to us by Islam. But in this country, even giving birth to a girl is considered a kind of shame. That is not Islam.”

While the status of women has undeniably improved in the capital and in regional centres, change in the countryside has been slower to come.

“In Paktia, we do not even think that there is a new regime in power,” said Zarmina, 29, who had come from the southern province for medical treatment in the capital. “Everything is the same as during the Taleban.”

Nor is she about to take up the standard for women’s rights in her Pashtun-dominated region. "We are satisfied with the current situation, because we are used to it,” she said. “There is no tradition of women working [outside the home].”

Sayed Bibi Nuristani, head of women’s affairs in eastern Nuristan province, told IWPR that life for women there was a miserable round of farm chores and housework, and no relief was in sight.

"There has been no change in the position of women in Nuristan,” she said. “In large part this is due to the religious prejudice that rules the people.”

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportI...lectRegion=Asia

AFGHANISTAN: Country facing health disaster worse than the tsunami - minister

KABUL, 8 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - As Afghanistan marked World Health Day on Thursday, the country’s health minister, Dr Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatimi, said it was facing a disaster worse than the tsunami that hit Indian Ocean nations late in 2004 and killed more than 300,000 people.

“We are currently being faced with a silent emergency which is heartbreaking and a big tragedy, it is worse than the tsunami disaster,” Fatimi told IRIN in the capital Kabul.

The minister estimates that around 700 children under the age of five die every day in Afghanistan due to preventable diseases and one women dies every 20 minutes due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth.

Lack of resources and trained medical personnel, along with low levels of awareness and cultural factors, were the main reasons for the alarming figures in a country still recovering from nearly three decades of conflict and international isolation.

“Traditionally in rural areas people won’t let women to be checked by male doctors,” he said, adding that of just 3,000 doctors in the entire country, only one in six was female. “We need nearly 10,000 midwives and at the same time up to 10,000 female health workers,” the minister said.

Source: Pajwok Afghan News
Date: 28 March, 2005
American University to run Kabul hospital
28. March 2005, 12:10
By Zarghona Salehi

KABUL (Pajhwok Afghan News) - The American University of Loma Linda, in Southern California is to take over the management of one of Kabul's major hospitals currently operated by the ministry of health, in two months time.

The 350-bed hospital which was built nearly 40 years ago, in the central suburbs of Wazir Akbar Khan will provide a fee-paying service to patients for surgical and orthopedic procedures.

A spokesman for the ministry of health, Abdullah Fahim told Pajhwok Afghan News that the University wants to help Afghanistan improve its health facilities and bring the health care services to good international standards.

"The Loma Linda University wants to carry out healthcare services with good international standards for a fee."

He said the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital will be turned into a modern, well equipped health care center, where complex surgical procedures like removing kidney stones, treatment of cancer, heart problems and other standard surgery will be carried out.

He said the university will only charge for the actual cost of the operation and will not make any profit.

A man living in Kabul, Ahmas Maoud Amini has kidney stones, and is delighted that he will be able to treat his illness soon.

"This is great news for me because, now I don't have to go to Pakistan for my treatment."

Nureen's mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer and she says she doesn't have anybody else to care for her mother and was planning on going to Pakistan for her treatment.

"I am glad to pay for my mother's treatment, and if it was possible to treat her here in Afghanistan it would be better, "Nureen said.

"I wish the hospital was functional sooner."

However, Mohammad Nader, a worker of the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital, said it was not helpful to offer a paid service for poor people who can't pay for treatments.

The Wazir Akbar Khan hospital has been a good place for the poor and destitute people to have health care within the capital, and many patients travel miles from the provinces to have treatment here.

"Now Wazir Akbar Khan hospital will be turned into a treatment center for the rich," Nader exclaimed.

Abdullah Fahim said that no official agreement had been signed between the Loma Linda University and the ministry of public health yet, but it is expected that an agreement will be drawn up in two months in order to improve the health service in the country.

Source: USAID
Date: 16 April, 2005
Radio plays promote improved health practices
Broadcasting for Better Health in Afghanistan

The boulani - a potato-filled pastry - is neither warm nor fresh, but the child can’t resist the treat. Flicking flies away, the vendor hands one to the little girl. Later, the child’s mother cautions her against eating food left uncovered for too long. A pregnant mother waits at home while her husband takes their son to be immunized. At the clinic, he learns immunization can protect his wife--and through her, the new baby.

In Afghanistan, where 67% of the total population can neither read nor write and the female illiteracy rate rises to 99% in some provinces, radio is the only effective communications method to raise awareness of health isues. Dr. Amanullah Husseini, Director of Information, Education, and Communication at the Afghan Ministry of Health, uses radio spots with scenarios like these to teach people how to safeguard themselves and their families’ health.


“We want to convey priority health messages in ways that both inform and entertain.”
- Qudsia Hasimi, workshop participant

With forty radio stations broadcasting throughout the country - fifteen of them newly established and an estimated 37% of the population tuning in - radio is a valuable tool to disseminate important health messages. Messages targeting women are especially important in efforts to lower Afghanistan’s high maternal and child mortality rate.

To ensure the continued production of scripts, Husseini joined with USAID to hold a series of “Writing for Radio” workshops in which twenty-eight men and women learned to write and produce stories and plays aimed at changing behaviors and improving health practices. USAID programs support midwifery education and the training of community health workers in Afghanistan.

As part of the program, women Afghan physicians at the workshop advised on effective communication with rural women. As a pre-test, the class made rough recordings of stories selected for broadcast, took them to villages and clinics, played them for a representative target audiences, and then surveyed reactions. Did the story hold the listener’s attention? Prompt any questions? And most importantly, what did the audience learn? Will behaviors change?

At one clinic, women were surprised to learn about the value of breast feeding and that milk, rich in antibodies produced shortly after childbirth, is neither dirty nor harmful but instead helps protect infants from disease. Revised using audience feedback and professionally recorded in both Dari and Pashto complete with music and sound effects, the spots are now distributed for broadcast.

Altogether, three workshops have produced seven 12-15 minute plays, nine stories, and numerous short spots, all using dialogue and Afghan scenarios to convey vital health information. Since the first of the radio plays successfully aired on Radio Afghanistan in August 2003, stations throughout the country have repeatedly broadcast the latest spots and stories, eager for more. Private radio stations will foster continued and expanded production of radio health messages delivered as plays and stories

Ghostgovt's story more than a year old

This is because of religous beliefs. It is one of the dangers when people ignore the separation of church and state. The main reason the Islamic countries are so oppressed is because they are governed by Islamic law.

Is this what we want in this country? I think it is a real threat with this administration. Do we want to be governed by religous law? Do we want churches dictating our laws? Whose church? I am religous and believe in God. I strongly support separation of church and state. We only need to look around the world to see the dangers when religion rules.

It is true that other foreign countries believe in different religions, but it will be virtually impossible to convert their religions and beliefs over to western beliefs and ideas. In ways I wished we could, just so that some of their customs could be changed, but the very presences of our forces and beliefs will only fuel hatred and violence for 100s of years as they would resist such changes. The only way that a country can be converted over to the ideaology of an occupying force would be for most of that country's ppl killed. In some ways I can see BushCo pulling this off... based on a couple other theories. In all likelyhood though, before any of that will happen, I'd say we all will be facing the end.

These lands and religions have been around for many centuries and there's not going to be any outsider stepping in to completely change that around unless many do die from such an effort. Then we have to ask ourselves, what gives us the right to decide who should change their ways and customs. It would be the same if any foreign religion stepped inside this country and tried to change us. We would resist. That's how I feel about BushCo changing our Constitution and Democracy. I will resist!!

The Afghanis needed economic assistance.... guidance... understanding without violence. Yes, that even means the Taliban. They too should had diplomacy offered to them. We should not foget how it was our own CIA and govt intervention who formulated their existance to what it is today. At what point do we deem oursleves as the 'decider' who changes their rules on their land? We can try to diplomatically help their ppl in humane ways, but that has to happen under peaceful and trusting offerings. I know you are on board with that wliberty.

Then... there's the real reason for why we are in Afghanistan also. It's not about making cupcakes either. Eurasia will be the central command post of the new world order.... well... per the neocon's plans. So, remove the real intentions from the equation and what we have left is out of control slaughtering. Hatred is all that grows from this. Thus... Afghanistan in chaos.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/04/17/top9.htm

Attack on Pakistani oil tankers kills one in Afghanistan
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report

KANDAHAR (Afghanistan): A Pakistani drivAfghan army soldiers examine burnt oil tankers in Kandahar, April 17, 2005. er was killed and three others wounded in a rocket attacks on Pakistani oil tankers near Kandahar Air Port on Sunday morning. Five oil tankers have been destroyed during the attack.

Afghan police official Khalid Khan told media that large number of oil tankers was queued near airport to provide fuel to US planes when one tanker blew away followed by the rocket attacks from unknown position. Fire has been erupted after the attacks.

The injured were immediately shifted to hospital. US and Afghan forces cordoned off the area after the attacks but attackers managed to flee.

Source: UNHCR News Stories
Date: 20 April 2005


A delegation from northern Afghanistan tells Afghans in a slum area of Islamabad that they should return and help to rebuild their country.

Afghan delegation tours Pakistan to promote repatriation
ISLAMABAD, April 15 (UNHCR) – A delegation from northern Afghanistan has begun a UNHCR-sponsored tour of all provinces of Pakistan to tell refugees about improving conditions in the areas they fled up to 25 years ago and to hear their continuing concerns about returning.

"The benefit will be that the refugees living here in Pakistan will learn what recent developments have taken place in Afghanistan," said Samiullah Wardak of the Afghan government's Ministry of Rural Development. "On the other hand, our concerned authorities will also get informed about what problems and hardships Afghan refugees go through in Pakistan."

The nine members – including two people from the United Nations in Afghanistan – started their mission in Islamabad on Thursday and will visit areas throughout the country by the time they board a return flight to Kabul on April 28.

The team, the Returns Commission Working Group, was formed nearly three years ago to help remove obstacles in five provinces of Afghanistan where factional rivalries were hindering repatriation.

Since then, they have been trying to resolve problems in the provinces – Balkh, Sar-i-Pul, Jawzjan, Samangan and Faryab – and conveying the results to former residents living in camps for internally displaced people inside Afghanistan or refugees in Iran and Pakistan.

Although some 2.3 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan since 2002 and another 400,000 are forecast to repatriate this year, millions of Afghans remain in exile despite the end of the open warfare that raged in their homeland for more than two decades.

Many of them have established new lives in Pakistan and are reluctant to start over back in Afghanistan. Others, such as the thousands of residents of the slum area on the edge of Islamabad where the delegation went on Thursday, are poor Afghans who want promises of land or shelter before returning.

"If we are assured by the government that there will be land and other shelter facilities available to us once we go back, we are ready to leave even tomorrow," said Mohammad Zalmey, who was attending the session in an open-air mosque beside the mud-track that is the main road.

But the delegation is carrying a firm message: it is time for most Afghans to come back and join in the reconstruction; they will have problems but conditions in the country have improved markedly since the civil war ended with the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001.

"Whenever you return, your problems may increase manifold – all of those who have returned in the last three years had problems. But they had to start somewhere," said Shujauddin, a representative of the Afghan Department of Refugees and Repatriation.

"Today the international community and other donor agencies are ready to help the Afghan people. This opportunity may not be there forever," he told Afghan men who jammed around the mosque. "You have to make your own decision."

This repatriation season will be the last full year of the current Tripartite Agreement between UNHCR and the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which governs the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme that assists Afghans wishing to return from Pakistan. It expires next March, but repatriation is mainly during the current April-October period of warm weather in Afghanistan.

The Afghan delegation is pointing that out in an intensive tour that is taking them through the Punjab capital of Lahore, the refugee camp of Mianwalli, the Punjab city of Attock, the North West Frontier Province of Peshawar, the Sindh capital of Karachi and the Balochistan capital of Quetta.

While any Afghan's decision to return to Afghanistan is voluntary and UNHCR is discussing with the government how to manage those Afghans who remain after the Tripartite Agreement expires, the UN refugee agency and the Pakistani government still believe repatriation is the best option for most people.

That is especially true for the Afghans who have been living for about two decades in the Katcha Abadi slum area of Islamabad, where the delegation started its work. The government wants to reclaim the land for development and its extended deadline for the residents to leave runs out this year.

The residents have the choice of repatriating to Afghanistan or moving elsewhere in Pakistan, but the team from northern Afghanistan was clear in the belief that they would be better off leaving Islamabad, where they specialize in rubbish collection, and return to their homeland.

"If they do not themselves return and build their homes and cultivate the land, it will remain in ruins forever," said Shujauddin. "Our request is that Afghans in Pakistan should come back now, as the United Nations is assisting them to voluntarily repatriate as well as helping them with their initial needs back in Afghanistan. It is a golden chance they should take advantage of."

The cycle of life has started again in Afghanistan as returnees put their shoulders to the wheel to rebuild their war-torn country.

Return is only the first step on Afghanistan's long road to recovery. UNHCR is helping returnees settle back home with repatriation packages, shelter kits, mine-awareness training and vaccination against diseases.

Slowly but surely, Afghans across the land are reuniting with loved ones, reconstructing homes, going back to school and resuming work. A new phase in their lives has just begun.

Since March 2002, more than 1.5 million Afghan refugees have returned home from Pakistan. Many have come through Takhtabaig registration centre near Peshawar.