New This Week From Afghanistan Watch

• News Update for February 4

February 4, 2005

Quitting Kabul

American Journalism Review, January 31, 2005, by Kim Hart - The U.S. media presence in Afghanistan continues to dwindle—once a journalism hot spot, Afghanistan was all but left behind when the media's spotlight turned to the conflict in Iraq. In June/July 2003, AJR reported that only a handful of reporters remained in the struggling country on a full-time basis, while other news organizations floated correspondents in and out when time and resources permitted.

A year and a half later, Afghanistan has become even more of an afterthought. Only two news organizations—Newsweek and the Washington Post—have full-time reporters stationed in Kabul, the capital. Other major newspapers, such as the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, rely on stringers in Afghanistan and correspondents based in New Delhi, India, to cover the region, a stark contrast to the hundreds of reporters pouring into Iraq since the war began.

Afghanistan launches poppy eradication force

KABUL, Feb 2 (AFP) - Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, on Wednesday launched a new force to eradicate poppy crops across the war-torn country. Deputy interior minister General Mohammad Daud, who inaugurated the 700-strong "Central Poppy Eradication Force", said it would have another 2,300 men by the end of the year.

NATO: Improvements in security open way for NATO to replace U.S. forces

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Security in Afghanistan's troubled south will improve drastically in the next six months, paving the way for NATO to relieve U.S. forces in the whole of the country, a senior alliance commander forecast Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Jean-Louis Py said war-fatigue, the country's democratic rebirth and the American military campaign against insurgents were bringing long-sought stability to the country, three years after the fall of the Taliban.

Legal requirements and security issues may force an election delay say experts

KABUL, January 25 - According to the Pajwhok Afghan News source, "Experts and political analysts say holding Afghanistan's parliamentary elections on schedule will be impossible due to the complexities of the system and the incomplete census process. The first parliament…requires that a precise or approximated census be presented to the electoral body three months before the elections according to the law…Another important element that may delay the elections is the requirement that constituencies be demarcated about four months before the election date. The Interior Ministry confirmed on Sunday that this had not yet been done…Andrew Wilder, an election expert with the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) also states that it is far from likely that the elections would be held on schedule. 'There are still many main decisions that have to be taken,' Andrew said referring to the need to demarcate constituencies and other measures of the voting system."

Despite difficulties, there are no plans to delay the vote. On Sunday, the head of the newly established electoral commission said that his team plans to hold parliamentary elections this spring as scheduled. Then on Tuesday, a spokesman for President Karzai said "I am sure that, despite difficulties and small details, the parliamentary elections will be successful in every dimension - as were the presidential elections in October 2004. The Government is willing to have the parliamentary elections soon, but it is the job of the Elections Commission to fix a date."

Afghan authorities push to find Stinger missiles

KABUL Jan 31 (AP) - "Authorities are launching a new drive to collect U.S.-made Stinger missiles distributed to Afghans fighting Soviet troops in the 1980s in an effort to keep the weapons from terrorists and governments, an Afghan official said Sunday. The Afghan intelligence service is offering to buy the anti-aircraft missiles for an undisclosed sum, taking up a CIA program to recover weapons given to Islamic fundamentalists who battled the Soviets alongside Osama bin Laden in the 1980s."

Last fall, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell stated that "no threat is more serious to aviation" than the Stinger missile. Since the 1970s, more than 40 aircraft have been struck by shoulder-fired surface to air missiles, resulting in 600 deaths. Now recent estimates of the number of stingers outside of government hands has tripled to 6,000, according to a November 6 New York Times report. While most of these loose missiles are in Iraq, those in Afghanistan pose a critical threat as well.

NGOs warn US anti-drugs policy could destabilize Afghanistan

KABUL Jan 31 (AFP) - Non-government groups in Afghanistan urged the United States to reconsider its emphasis on eradicating poppy crops in the drive to stem opium and heroin production, saying this could destabilize the country. Thirty-one NGOs, including leading groups CARE, the International Crisis Group and Oxfam International, made the plea in an open letter sent to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday. "We are writing to express concern that the current counternarcotics policy places premature and excessive emphasis on crop eradication," the letter said. "Massive eradication efforts in 2005 could risk destabilizing large areas of the country thereby undermining critical alternative livelihood and law enforcement initiatives," it said.

Pakistan may face lengthy conflict on Afghan border

QUETTA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Pakistani forces, already stretched battling Islamic militants and guarding the Indian frontier, could be sliding into a protracted separatist conflict in a key province bordering Afghanistan, military officials and politicians say.

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Afghanistan Watch is prepared by Carl Robichaud, a program officer at The Century Foundation.

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