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Economic Press Review Headlines Around three million skilled Afghans unemployed US Congress approves 82 billion dollars for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan Afghan leader calls for better access to EU markets Truck drivers in western Herat claim transport department take bribes Road project to generate thousands of jobs Financial Aid Does Not Reach The Needy In Afghanistan - Dr Massouda Navistar Wins Department of Defense Contract with Potential Value of $467 Border Roads to build Kabul-Kandahar garland road Afghanistan: A Digital Silk Road Afghan president aims to extend rule of law by rebuilding local facilities Insecurity Continues to Impede Aid Delivery in Afghanistan A "Greater Central Asia Partnership" for Afghanistan and Its Neighbors Domestic drinks industry stalls House Approves $82B for Iraq, Afghanistan Iran to capture Afghanistan's cement market Aid donors still shy away from Afghanistan, minister tells ADB Governments preventing Afghan soft drinks industry, traders complain Air Arabia to fly to Kabul from June 1
Around three million skilled Afghans unemployed
Pajhwok Afghan News KABUL - Out of 8 million skilled laborers living in Afghanistan, almost 3 million are unemployed according to the Afghan labor and social affairs minister.In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Sayed Akram Masumi said he believes that decades of war had weakened the Afghan economy, and unemployment in the country has affected people from all walks of life. Masumi acknowledged the mammoth task ahead for his ministry and said the "labor and social affairs ministry has the responsibility for finding jobs for the unemployed people in the country." Masumi said the government wanted to provide job opportunities by setting up technical and vocational training, and job centers which are presently set-up in Kabul, Mazar, Faryab and Kandahar, providing training in field of rug making, electronics, plumbing, carpentry and tailoring. Many people visit job centers and check the employment lists posted on shop-fronts regularly with the hope of finding some work. Laborers, carpenters and masons congregate in busy street corners daily waiting for some building merchant or construction company to come and hire them, but only a handful are successful at getting any work. Ghulam Mohammad paint brush in one hand hums his favorite tune while he waits patiently at Mirwais Maidan Square. He told Pajhwok Afghan News: "I come here every morning, bright and early and wait for someone to hire me." But Ghulam said he has returned home empty handed without any work on many occasions. \At Mirwais Maidan Square, many cars slow down, touting for skilled laborers. When the car comes to a halt, many dusty faces of the jostling men appear at the car window eagerly. The driver rolls his window down and interviews the men hastily and takes the best. Another laborer, Nasir Ahmad dressed in old battered gum boots joins the men to earn a mere 100 or 200 Afghanis that barely puts food on the table. "Nearly 300 men come to Maidan square daily, but a mere 40 are successful in finding jobs." Sakhi Murad a mason said: "I have to feed a seven person family, if don't find a job, all of them will go hungry. "Some Afghans blame the shortage of work on migrant workers who come to the country from Pakistan and Bangladesh in search of work. Thirty-five year-old Mohammad Nabi, an Afghan laborer said: "There is no work for the Afghans because Pakistanis and other foreign laborers are employed, and we are not." According to Masumi, the labor and social affairs ministry are waiting for new legislation on foreign labor to be approved by central government. "According to this law, foreign laborers can only be employed if there are no Afghans skilled enough to the job."
US Congress approves 82 billion dollars for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan
Tue May 10, 7:18 PM ET The US Senate unanimously gave final approval to an 82 billion dollar emergency spending bill to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. President George W. Bush requested the extra funding to cover the cost of US military operations, which have spiraled upward as US troops combat burgeoning insurgencies in both countries. The bill now goes to the White House for his signature. Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, who has just returned from Iraq, strongly urged approval for the measure, which was backed by all 100 senators in the chamber. "I come back feeling that we are at a tipping point and it's moving in the right direction in Iraq that requires the sustained, strong, invisible American support that is expressed in this supplemental appropriations," he said. "There's no doubt that the recent spate of suicide bombings has riveted the media's attention and as a result the attention of the American people. But I assure you that those suicide bombings and those suicide bombers are just a small, though devastating, part of life in Iraq today," Lieberman said on the Senate floor. He pointed to what he said was incontrovertible proof of progress in Iraq. "There are more than 25 million people in Iraq. Eight million of them came out in the face of terrorist threats to vote for self-governance on January 30 of this year. They have stood up a government which is impressive and inclusive. Their military is gaining strength and self-sufficiency every day," Lieberman said. The additional monies are intended to fund US military operations through the end of the 2005 fiscal year, which ends September 30. The legislation also includes 92 million dollars to aid displaced refugees in Sudan and 222 million in humanitarian relief for Asian countries struck by December's tsunami. The House of Representatives last week approved the measure by a vote of 368 to 58. The measure passed despite a controversial anti-immigration provision that would impose strict requirements on how states issue driver's licenses and state identification cards, in a move some see as the first step toward a national identification card. Critics say under the provision, millions of undocumented aliens will be prohibited from getting driver's licenses, and motor vehicles registration bureaus across the United States will, in effect, be turned into immigration enforcement offices. Lieberman, for one, criticized the provision in the bill as "rigid and unworkable," a view shared by many of his Democratic colleagues. "The restrictions on immigration in the Real ID Act are not necessary to protect national security. Rather they will only serve to create serious and unjustified hardships on people fleeing persecution, and also for other non-citizens," said another Democrat, Russ Feingold.
Afghan leader calls for better access to EU markets
EU observer STRASBOURG - Europe could help Afghanistan not only through financial and military support, but also by opening up its markets to Afghan products, President Hamid Karzai suggested in Strasbourg today (10 May). Speaking to MEPs at their plenary session, Mr. Karzai said he was grateful for "the generous support that the European Union, as one of the largest donors to Afghanistan, has provided over the last three years". According to commission figures, the EU doled out over 850 million euro in 2002 and 835 million euro in assistance to Afghanistan in 2003 to help in its reconstruction efforts. As a whole, the EU executive promised 1 billion euro over five years within its aid program. However, Mr. Karzai suggested his country is only "at the beginning of a long road" towards the vision enshrined in documents, such as the Bonn Agreement, which sets the basis for international assistance to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Mr. Karzai added that he hoped the EU would continue to support "our efforts at rebuilding our country". Terrorism defeated, drugs not so despite recent positive developments in Afghanistan, its citizens are still facing severe poverty, leading to one of the highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy rates in the world. The country also struggles with the process of state-building, "starting from scratch", Mr. Karzai pointed out. He added that while terrorism had been defeated - as demonstrated by the success of presidential elections last October - the drugs-related economy remains an "obstacle to Afghanistan's stability". "There has been some considerable and voluntary reduction in poppy cultivation, while people shifted to growing other products", the Afghan leader told journalists. "And there is a lot that Europe could help us with also in these terms", he added, suggesting that the EU could open up its markets for Afghan products, such as grapes, watermelons, carpets or crafts. "We are not going to sell you cars, but we offer our grapes, for example. I know some European countries are also exporting them but we can see which ones are better. We can buy yours, you can buy ours and we will see how it goes", proposed Mr. Karzai. At the moment, there is no formal cooperation or trade agreement between the EU and Afghanistan.
Truck drivers in western Herat claim transport department take bribes
By: Ahmad Ehsan Sarwar Yar Nearly three hundred truck and lorry drivers demonstrated in front of the customs and excise offices on the Sunday evening, in the western province of Herat because of the lack of parking spaces for heavy-goods vehicles, officials said Monday. The drivers claim that the transport department officials were demanding bribes to permit parking in the area. And they say their complaints have been ignored by the officials concerned. But the officers working in the transport department reject taking bribes and say they have allocated a specific location on the outskirts, for heavy-goods vehicles. The truckers, of whom there are around 700-800, have to drive through Herat to carry materials from the customs offices at Torghondai on the border of Turkmen-Afghan border to Weesh and Turkham. The vehicles have been parking without charge for the past year and a half near the customs office, but the drivers claim that the customs officers are now demanding they leave the premises vacant. Thirty-three year old Nadir Shah from Herat city said: ?The customs officers take bribes and drivers with connections in the department are allowed to park their trucks in the compound.? Another driver, twenty-eight year old Mahmood Shah said: ?We are not allowed to park in the city, but when we leave the city we are charged by the highway patrol police.? But the provincial director of transport in Heart City, Abdul Salam Haqbeen said the parking spaces at the customs and excise offices are allocated for the customs officers, and the truck drivers are now allocated with a space west of Herat city, 10 Km?s out of town. The director of transport said: ?The custom?s office has informed the drivers of the alternative allocated parking outside the city for the next two months and we attempt to construct the chosen area in two months time so that the drivers can park their vehicles there.?Yesterday four hundred Rickshaw drivers demonstrated in Herat claiming transport officials won't address their traffic problems.
By Mustafa Basharat In an expected move, the central Afghan government on Sunday ordered the private Kam Air to ground two of its AN-24 passenger planes with suspect airworthiness. "We have ordered the two old airplanes grounded because they run the risk of meeting accidents," said Deputy Transport Minister Raz Mohammad Elmi. "Our decision is primarily driven by passenger safety concerns," he argued. On February 3, a Kabul-bound Boeing 737 passenger jet of the airline went down into the southeastern Tsarai mountains, killing all 104 people aboard. Some of the victims' bodies are yet to be identified and handed over to relatives. Officials of the airline, confirming the government orders, said the decision had disrupted the Kam Air's domestic flight schedule. But the company promised to take swift steps to have its fleet refurbished to ensure passenger convenience. The Transport Ministry found the planes too old to be airworthy any longer, said Kam Air Deputy Director Fida Mohammad Fidawi. "We intend to either repair the aircraft or replace them with new ones," he told Pajhwok Afghan News. "With these two planes banned, our domestic flights have come to a halt," he admitted, explaining the airline had a fleet of four passenger planes - two each for international and domestic flights. As a result of the decision, Kam Air's domestic flights have virtually been put on hold. But Fidawi hastened to assure the first private airline in Afghanistan, which swung into action after the collapse of the Taliban regime, would do all it could to resume domestic flights in a month's time - either by renovating the old planes or purchasing new ones.
Road project to generate thousands of jobs
Pajhwok Afghan News KANDAHAR CITY - The reconstruction of the 78 kilometers long Kandahar-Arghistan road - costing more than $1 million - started on Sunday. Funds for the project, to be completed in three months, would be provided from the development budget, Kandahar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai said, adding the road would link his province with Oruzgan and Bamiyan. The Kandahar's Public Works Department reckons the scheme, having a propitious effect on the economy, will offer 9,000 people employment opportunities. Kandahar's Planning Director Mohammad Rahim Rahimi told Pajwhok Afghan News the seven-meter-wide road from the city to the Arghistan district be repaired by the end of July. Technical road workers are paid in cash and non-technical in kind. Gul Agha Sherzai informed this scribe the route being paved and tarred would connect Kandahar with Zabul's Atghar and Shamalzai districts as well as to Spin Boldak in the south. Residents, keenly awaiting implementation of the plan, hoped it would facilitate their travel. Thirty-year-old Sher Ahmad, hailing from Manda Kali of Arghistan district, observed: "We are very happy over the repair of this road. Once the project is completed, our crops will find better markets." As part of the ongoing reconstruction effort, a five-year master plan was hammered out last year to develop various sectors of the economy including health, education, security and agriculture in the southern provinces.
Financial Aid Does Not Reach The Needy In Afghanistan - Dr Massouda
By Jamaluddin Muhammad Where did the millions of dollars in donation pledged by the international community for the reconstruction of Afghanistan got Afghan Minister for Women's Affairs Dr Massouda Jalal knows. "About 70 per cent will go to the international organizations which manage the aid and the rest to the needy in my country. "By the time Afghan women get the aid, it will be left with a few dollars for them to carry out their programs," she told reporters after meeting Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. The minister is here to attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women which starts here tomorrow. She said international organizations used the money to finance their operations, including paying their staff salaries. As a result, she said, Afghan women were deprived of their basic needs such as health and education. Dr Massouda said her country had the world's highest mortality rate, with 1,900 women out of 100,000 and 6,500 of every 100,000 children dying every year. "There is a saying in Afghanistan that their women will never get old as they will die at the age of 44," she said. She said lack of medical facilities, including clinics; hospitals and trained medical personnel have contributed to the worsening situation in her country. Abject poverty was also associated with her country, with 70 per cent of the population living below poverty line, earning less than US$1 (RM3.80) a day. Dr Massouda said 60 per cent of Afghan children did not attend school due to poverty. "We need help. We need investments so that we can stand on our own feet," she said. She said investments in health, education and basic amenities were welcomed in Afghanistan, a country which was devastated by two decades of war and occupation. The greatest challenge faced by Afghan women was security as the nation was still unstable. As today is Mother's Day, Dr Massouda's wish is: "Malaysian mothers help Afghan mothers who have been suffering for far too long."
Navistar Wins Department of Defense Contract with Potential Value of $467
Saturday, May 07, 2005 WARRENVILLE, Ill., USA - Navistar International Corporation (NYSE:NAV) announced today that its operating company has won a contract from the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) with a potential value of $467 million to provide vehicles needed by the Afghanistan National Army to conduct operations in support of rebuilding and providing stability in Afghanistan. The first order from the new three-year contract totals $61.8 million for 374 vehicles as part of a $311.5 million firm fixed price contract. Overall, the contract calls for International Truck and Engine Corporation to supply up to a total of 2,781 vehicles, including 2,400 general transport trucks and 381 specialty vehicles, such as dump, water, recovery and hazardous material trucks. In addition, International will supply all required spare parts necessary to support two years of scheduled maintenance. Daniel C. Ustian, Navistar chairman, president and chief executive officer, said the new military contract affords the company the opportunity to achieve planned incremental growth without incurring new investment expenses because the trucks will be built utilizing existing 7000 series platforms. Truck cabs will be produced at the company?s Springfield, Ohio plant with final assembly taking place at the company?s plant in Garland, Texas. In-line mid-range duty diesel engines will be produced at the company?s engine assembly plant in Melrose Park, Ill. ?This new contract represents another major step forward in the program we announced to leverage existing truck, parts and engine platforms to sell products and services to the U.S. military,? Ustian said. ? Our comprehensive product offerings, including quality, high volume manufacturing efficiencies, training, after-sale services and global distribution offers to the military options that the competition does not. Our discipline in commercial vehicle design, development and scale gives us a competitive edge.? According to Ustian, revenues and income from the first phase of the new contract will have a minimal impact on 2005 and the company reaffirmed its guidance for 2005 of revenues between $11 billion to $11.3 billion with earnings in the range of $4.60 to $5.00 per diluted common share. Archie Massicotte, president, International Military and Government, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company established to focus on military and government opportunities, said that International already has nine additional contracts with the U.S. government for more than 1,000 units that are expected to generate approximately $100 million in revenues. These contracts encompass severe service trucks and buses that will be used in the Iraq reconstruction effort. The company has also been selected to compete for a contract to repower the military HMMWV (?Humvee?) and currently has bids out for other U.S. and foreign government military contracts. International has also been awarded a contract for the modeling simulation phase of the army?s future tactical truck system (FTTS) advance concept technology demonstration (ALTD). This program will assess key technologies and emerging future army sustainment concepts. Additionally, the company has been awarded a contract to deliver armored personnel carriers to the Israel Ministry of Defense. Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is the parent company of International Truck and Engine Corporation. The company produces International ?brand commercial trucks, mid-range diesel engines and IC brand school buses and is a private label designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for the pickup truck, van and SUV markets. With the broadest distribution network in North America, the company also provides financing for customers and dealers.
Border Roads to build Kabul-Kandahar garland road
Saturday, May 07, 2005 The Army's premier road building agency, the Border Roads Organization has been entrusted with the onerous task of building the 219 kilometer long Delaram-Zaranj road in Afghanistan. The Director General of the BRO, Lt General KS Rao, on Friday at a press conference to mark the 45th Raising Day of the BRO, said that the organization has been entrusted with the 380 crore rupees project. The road, he said, would garland the Kabul- Kandahar road. "The BRO has been entrusted with the construction of the 219- kilometer-long Delaram-Zaranj road in Afghanistan. There is a garland road from Kabul to Kandahar. It goes from Herat to the Iran border. It will give access to the two ports Chabahar and Bandarabbas," he said. He said that till now, there have been no incidents of attack on the workforce by the remnants of the Taliban militia, adding that the Afghan government has assured the BRO of security. "The Afghan government is providing security. So far no untoward incident has occurred," he said, adding that even in India BRO personnel are not armed while carrying on road construction work. He further said that the work on the nine-kilometer-long Rohtang tunnel and the 292 kilometer alternate route to Leh has also started. The cost of the alternate route to Leh is expected to cost 1900 crore rupees. The BRO, he said, was also working on widening the Srinagar-Uri highway from a two-lane to a four-lane-highway. He said that this was one of the priorities Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had cited while flagging off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. He further said that the project would only be able be utilized in the event of increased trade between the two countries. Widening work would take a minimum of three to four years, he added.
Afghanistan : A Digital Silk Road Saturday, May 07, 2005 Before the fall of the Taliban in November 2001, 27 million Afghan citizens had to make due with approximately 20,000 working telephone lines. Domestic connections were spotty, while only a handful of expensive satellite phones could dial internationally. Today, through the extraordinary efforts of the Afghan Wireless Communication Company and its parent company, Telephone Systems International (TSI), more than 300,000 citizens subscribe to the Afghan wireless network, with coverage in twenty cities and an additional twenty cities slated for service by the end of the summer. The development of the Afghan wireless network has been the mission of Ehsan Bayat, an Afghan-American who fled Afghanistan in 1980. Observing the need for a comprehensive communications network in Afghanistan, Bayat partnered his United States-based company, TSI, with the Afghan Ministry of Communications to launch a wireless network that Bayat hopes will be ?the digital artery of our nation, allowing communication, commerce, and electronic exchanges to flow easily among all Afghans.? This digital network ?leaves no part of Afghanistan untouched,? according to Bayat, who adds ?by the end of the summer, we will have three-quarters of the nation covered.? The speed with which TSI and Afghan Wireless have been able to build the mobile network has made it the provider of choice for government agencies and businesses, especially in and around Kabul. Afghan Wireless provided the communications support for the Loya Jirga meetings that formed the interim Afghan administration, and opened Kabul?s first-ever public Internet cafe in 2002. The police and fire departments in Kabul have received free telephones for emergency service support. Demand for private service has been much greater than anticipated, but TSI has consistently devoted more resources to accommodate demand, while simultaneously expanding service throughout the country. By December 2002, the service provided by the network was sophisticated enough that during a three-day holiday period, 300,000 calls, many of them international, were successfully connected. ?When a mother thanks me for connecting her with her daughter or son,? says Bayat, ?that makes it all worthwhile.? Bayat emphasizes that this desire to communicate, both with other Afghans and with the outside world, will propel Afghanistan through its rebuilding and development. It was crucial that the ability to communicate be one of the first infrastructure problems addressed by the new government. This is ?a moment signifying renewal as well as change,? says Bayat. ?Underpinning all of [our] new-found freedoms is the freedom to communicate. The power of people talking with one another and sharing information ? [will be] one of the fastest ways to help Afghanistan develop.? Building on his success with the wireless network, Bayat will launch television and radio stations simultaneously in mid-June this year. Ariana Television Network (ATN) will be broadcast by the most powerful television transmitter in the country, and, in a field of competitors that show primarily programs from abroad, ATN will provide more local content than any other Afghan television station. ?The main difference is that we?ll try to get maximum local content and try to be as educational as possible,? says Bayat. ?It will be like a PBS.? The television station already employs more than 50 Afghans, who have created at least three months of programming ready to air. Live news will be broadcast several times a day in Dari and Pashtu, the two official languages, and documentary features on warlordism, poppy production, crime, and the upcoming parliamentary elections are being produced. Bayat is also keen to develop cultural and educational programs for children traumatized by years of war and displacement. ?One of the things we?ve lost during the last 25 years of war has been the cultural heritage of Afghanistan,? says Bayat. ?We have been refugees, here and abroad. We need to reignite the interest in Afghanistan before the war, and bring back Afghan culture and traditions.? Afghanistan is uniquely placed to become the hub of a ?digital Silk Road,? according to Bayat. The network of trade routes known as the Silk Road, which crossed Afghanistan and linked the people and traditions of Asia and Europe, created the first global exchange of knowledge, goods, and culture. Data traffic is creating a digital trade path that passes once again through Afghanistan. The acute penetration of wireless technology in Afghanistan, and the reach of its media, will be an advantage in the region as communication systems are integrated. ?Once you start with 21st-century technology [like wireless], there is a greater potential for becoming the hub of technology and communications for countries around you,? says Bayat. ?That?s why we?re building a backbone system in Afghanistan, not just for us, but for the whole region.? The larger goal behind these communications and media ventures is building democracy, Bayat insists. ?I?m afraid of politics,? he chuckles, but ?promoting democracy is the goal that I have. It means having free and independent radio and television. We are in the crossroads of Asia, but right now we need better communications, transportation and electricity. And I will do whatever possible to help.?
Afghan president aims to extend rule of law by rebuilding local facilities AFP MOHAMMAD AGHA, Afghanistan: - President Hamid Karzai Saturday opened a new building for a local authority in southern Afghanistan, the first erected under a reconstruction program he said would extend the rule of law in the provinces. The Afghanistan Stabilization Program launched in 2003 aims to rebuild some 365 local government facilities and police headquarters throughout the war-ravaged country. The district building for the Logar capital Mohammad Agha, 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Kabul, was the first to be completed under the project. "The building is here to extend the rule of law," Karzai told a gathering of tribal chiefs and government officials during the opening ceremony. "This building is to help people through," he said, encouraging government officials to help the war-weary population with their problems. Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, who accompanied Karzai amid tight security provided by US bodyguards and warplanes, said the project would be completed in 2007. However, Jalali said his ministry which leads the 190-million dollar program faced a shortage of funds supposed to be provided by international donors. "Only four percent of the pledged money has so far been provided for ... the stabilization program which is quite a lot less compared to other national projects," Jalali said. The program also aims to connect Afghanistan's districts with the capital Kabul and the rest of the world by telephone, he said. Karzai, who won Afghanistan's first presidential election last October, has been trying to extend the authority of his government beyond Kabul. Nearly three-and-half years after the Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led invasion, much of the country remains under the sway of local commanders and regional warlords. A United Nations-backed disarmament program aimed at disarming tens of thousands of former militias is another attempt to extend the reach of the central government beyond Kabul.
Insecurity Continues to Impede Aid Delivery in Afghanistan
CARE USA ATLANTA - Escalating violence is impeding the ability of humanitarian workers to deliver aid and implement urgently needed reconstruction and development projects in Afghanistan, according to a new report. The report, by CARE and the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO), was released just days after the bodies of three women were found in a northern province. One of the women was said to have been killed because she worked for an aid agency. "When humanitarian agencies are forced to curtail projects or operate in fewer districts due to violence, it is more difficult to ensure we are reaching those most in need" said Michael Kleinman, one of the report's authors and CARE's advocacy coordinator in Afghanistan. "This is a dangerous trend and could lead to certain geographic areas receiving less humanitarian and development assistance. ?Last year 24 aid workers were killed in Afghanistan, double the number in 2003. Another five have died so far in 2005. The report includes details of where humanitarian aid workers have been killed and results of a survey of aid workers from more than 50 organizations about the violence they may face. Researchers found that 53 percent of respondents believed the security situation for employees of their agencies either remained the same or has deteriorated. There is concern that insecurity and violence will escalate as efforts to eradicate opium poppies gain momentum across the country with the arrival of spring and as parliamentary elections draw closer. The elections have been postponed twice already due to concerns about violence. This insecurity places both Afghans and aid workers in jeopardy and threatens Afghanistan's democracy
A "Greater Central Asia Partnership" for Afghanistan and Its Neighbors
The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute Afghanistan is approaching a turning point. Security is increasing, institutional renewal is progressing, the economy is growing, and an open political system is taking root at both local and national levels. It is no exaggeration to declare that Afghanistan is emerging as the first major victory in the international war on terrorism. But victory should mark not just an end-in this case to civil chaos - but also a beginning. To now, America has scarcely considered what further vistas victory may open, let alone how it should respond to them. This is the urgent need of the moment. This paper proposes that progress in Afghanistan has opened a stunning new prospect that was barely perceived, if at all, when Operation Enduring Freedom was launched. This prospect is to assist in the transformation of Afghanistan and the entire region of which it is the heart into a zone of secure sovereignties sharing viab le market economies, secular and relatively open systems of governance, respecting citizens' rights, and maintaining positive relations with the U.S.....for the rest of this piece please go to: http://www.silkroadstudies.org/CACI/Strategy.pdf
Domestic drinks industry stalls 06 May 2005 Efforts to start a drinks industry in Afghanistan are failing, as red tape and bureaucracy continue to get in the way. According to a report by Dow Jones today (6 May), over US$50m of soft drinks were imported into the country last year, but domestic production has failed to get off the ground. Dow Jones reported that the president of the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce (AICC) said that businessmen intent on producing non-alcoholic drinks in Afghanistan have not yet completed the formal criteria required to start the business so far. ?The problem here is that the government hasn?t prepared the ground for investors in the country,? one source was quoted saying.
House Approves $82B for Iraq, Afghanistan By LIZ SIDOTI Associated
Press Writer The House easily approved another $82 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan on Thursday, a measure that includes sweeping immigration reforms and boosts the total spent on fighting terrorism since 2001 to beyond $300 billion. The vote was 368-58, with one lawmaker voting present. The Senate is to vote on the measure next week when it returns from a weeklong recess, and approval is expected. The bulk of the money $75.9 billion is slated for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while $4.2 billion goes to foreign aid and other international relations programs worldwide. Reid Calls Bush 'A Loser,' Then Apologizes Bush Opens European Trip Amid Tensions The Note: Learning to Use Irrationality As a Bargaining Tool The bill also includes uniform requirements for driver's licenses across states, toughens asylum laws, authorizes the completion of a fence across the California-Mexican border and provides money to hire more border security agents. Both the Republican-controlled House and Senate had promised to "scrub" President Bush's request to cut spending for items that did not represent emergency spending needs. But the bill carries the same overall price tag that Bush proposed in February, and he gets most of what he sought. However, the bill also provides roughly $1 billion more than the president had requested for defense and about $1.5 billion less than he wanted for international relations programs, reflecting a desire by lawmakers to give the Pentagon what it needs while holding the line on State Department spending. "We did our very best to keep the package clean, and by and large we were successful at that," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the bill provides important money for troops overseas. "We owe them our full support in the battles they wage in the cause of liberty," he said. Democrats roundly criticized the Republican leadership for including the immigration reforms in a bill meant to cover the cost of war. They also assailed the administration's Iraq policies and railed against what they called a lack of oversight by Congress of money already given to the Republican administration for the two wars and reconstruction.
Iran to capture Afghanistan's cement market
Pak daily Islamabad, Iran, one of the cheapest producers of cement in the world, is likely to capture the market in Afghanistan in the next two years. According to The News here on Thursday, Iran with one of the most economical rates of the commodity was the likely top exporter to the war-shattered country. Iran, it added, was planning to double its cement production capacity to 40 million tons and the country is the cheapest cement producer across the globe. This might hit Pakistan's cement exports not only to Afghanistan, but also to all Middle Eastern countries that are undergoing massive changes, the report quoted analysts as saying.
Aid donors still shy away from Afghanistan, minister tells ADB AFP Many aid donors are still reluctant to help fund much-needed infrastructure projects in war-torn Afghanistan despite promises of assistance, the Afghan minister of finance said here Thursday. "While donors and governments agree in principle that more than half of our aid should go towards infrastructure, we have had huge difficulties garnering that support," Anwar Ul Haq Ahady said at the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Istanbul. "Understandably donors are hesitant to support infrastructural investments that are costly and take many years to complete," he said. But this would only force Afghanistan to borrow money at a time when it would have difficulty sustaining such debts, having already lost 240 billion dollars in infrastructure and business opportunities due to 23 years of war, he said. The minister warned that failing to provide infrastructure would make Afghanistan "a dependent ward of the international community at best and an impoverished, insecure and potentially destabilizing state at worst." Ahady praised the Manila-based ADB for playing a leading role in providing infrastructure assistance, starting with a 150-million-dollar soft loan in December 2002, just after the fall of the Taliban regime. The loan was the first by an international institution to the country in 23 years, he recalled, adding that it was followed by other soft loans for power, road and airport projects. The minister said Afghanistan also needed institutional reforms and thanked the ADB for providing technical assistance grants for financial management and public administration. Ahady appealed to donors to source more of their aid to Afghanistan through the government, pointing out that "at present, about two-thirds of our national budget falls outside government coordination." He said Kabul wanted a chance to prove "it can be cost effective, transparent and accountable," crediting the ADB for providing its aid through loans to the government in tranches tied to conditions.
Washington Times Integration is good policy and smart business. Noble intentions sometimes hinder rather than help achieve noble goals. Two decades of war and a Taliban policy that reflected total ignorance of women and their importance to society have stimulated the West to make up for the deprivations suffered by Afghan women. Over the last three years, the international community funded hundreds of women's nongovernmental organizations and efforts associated with the development of women's groups. Although many of these projects have assisted thousands of women in achieving levels of self-reliance and independence, the bigger picture is that Afghanistan's women remain isolated and to a large extent still irrelevant in one essential place, the country's private sector. Afghanistan's women generally exist in parallel to their male counterparts. Segregated at an early age, Afghanistan's men and women have little or no opportunity to develop interpersonal skills crucial to social cohesion. Creating new divisions and lines of privilege within the pool of limited private-sector resources slows people down; it builds new obstacles where natural activity and gender integration might otherwise flow. An organization affiliated with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) recently proposed building a women's industrial park in Kabul referred to as the "The Kabul Textile Works." Given that industrial parks are situated on the outskirts of Kabul, it would force women to venture out of town to work and shop. The long trip out of town cancels out the potential benefits of being an all-women's environment. Many of the women could be exposed to checkpoints and possible intimidation or harassment on their lengthy trips just attempting to get to the "women's industrial park." Employers in Afghanistan already recognize that their female employees' biggest challenge is transport and traveling long distances with the permission of their families. This would amount to gender division, funded by the international community, inadvertently encouraging the replication of social mores akin to a country like Saudi Arabia. Another proposal - a "women's bank" - proffers similar contradictions. A large majority of Afghan women are illiterate and such an organization could just as easily as a regular bank exploit the women it intends to assist. Why not work with existing banks to provide specialized services for women customers, thereby trying to integrate them? America's response to segregation of blacks, and women for that matter, was to integrate and to offer affirmative action, not create new segregated institutions. What's good for one of the world's most integrated societies should serve as a telling example for one of the world's most divided. Men and women need to work together first so they can find ways to work together successfully. There are tasks in many organizations that only men can perform, and best perform in conjunction with women and vice versa. But to eliminate qualified males whose higher level of training could benefit large numbers of women is, in fact, counterproductive to the intent of "women-only initiatives." An example is the Afghan Women's Vocational Skills Learning Center, a local nonprofit which has done far more to benefit Afghan women than many of the "women-only" NGOs in Kabul. The head of the organization is a man and a master tailor and educator of highly reputable character. To date, he has certified over 6,000 women with vocational skills related to tailoring and handicrafts. Plus, because he is also an effective businessman, he often is able to employ his best graduates and provide them with concrete income generation. His organization has much to do with his character and years of experience. But he has been turned down for training visits abroad and other programs that would benefit the large numbers of women that he assists. Rather than accept the reality that in modern-day Afghanistan, organizations are led by men, but still can benefit women, he was told by UNIFEM that they were only interested in "women-led" organizations. It is time for the international community to step back a little and examine this phenomenon and ensure that the assistance provided integrates women into society and does not isolate them. The private sector in Afghanistan is the best hope to integrate women into society. In the wider business community, experienced businessmen and women can assist in building capacity amongst women. Integration and the performance of women in the private sector should be the goals of the donors. Integration - particularly in developing women's business potential - could bode well for a more cohesive existence that benefits Afghanistan's capacity to perform, not only as a market economy, but as a nation. Saad Mohseni is a director of Moby Capital Partners, a commercial media entity in Afghanistan. Former Rep. Don Ritter is an investor in Afghanistan and senior adviser to an Afghan business-community effort to promote investment and market-based economic policies.
Governments preventing Afghan soft drinks industry, traders complain
Pajhwok Afghan News KABUL - Soft drinks merchants say their efforts to start a drinks industry in Afghanistan has been prevented by government bureaucracy and red-tape that continues to spend millions of dollars annually on importing drinks from abroad. The president of the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce (AICC) said the traders and businessmen intent on producing non-alcoholic drinks in Afghanistan haven't as yet completed the formal criteria required to start the business so far and, therefore failed to activate the business here. "The problem here is that the government hasn't prepared the ground for investors in the country," Qaderi said, adding that soft-drinks worth more than US$50 million were imported in the year 2004. Hafizullah Shirzai, the head of the Habib Hafiz Group of Companies Limited said he bought a license to produce non-alcoholic drinks three years ago, but he couldn't start building his factory due to lack of land. Hedayat Amin Arsala, the minister of commerce, said he had specified opening industrial parks in the provincial capitals of Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif with a view for investors to establish their companies, but the park hasn't been allocated to traders as yet, because the area was still under construction. However, officials claim the internationally well-known company of soft drinks; Coca-Cola has got both the license and land from the Afghan government. And it is reported that it will start production soon. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official of the company told Pajhwok Afghan News that they will start producing Coca-Cola fizzy drinks in Afghanistan in the coming months. He added that Afghanistan currently imports Coca-Cola mainly from Pakistan and Iran. The traders also argue that if the soft drinks are produced in Afghanistan it would be cheaper, because there will be no import tax imposed. The consumption of fizzy drinks, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Miranda has increased in recent years in Afghanistan, especially in the capital Kabul, where a high proportion of the ex-patriot community live. A Coca-Cola company operating in Afghanistan in 1980s became defunct during the Soviet war. Currently, there are some small enterprises manufacturing soft drinks, who manage to produce soft drinks at a fraction of the cost, but many complain that they are of bad quality and unhealthy. "Every day, I ask my children not to buy soft drinks produced in this country, because they are not good for your health," said Khwaja Idris Seddiqi. However, Khadem Ali, owner of the Afghan version of Coca-Cola, Shabnam in a suburb of Kabul, Taimany, said his brand of Coca-Cola was not unhealthy, but admitted that due to lack of resources they couldn't compete with foreign drinks companies.
Air Arabia to fly to Kabul from June 1
Bahrain Tribune
Air Arabia will become the first Middle East airline to fly to Kabul
from June 1, an official told Bahrain Tribune yesterday. "The twice a week
operations, every Monday and Friday, will benefit a large number of people
in Bahrain, the UAE and other parts of the Gulf," said Mohammed Jaffer
Mahmood, the Air Arabia General Manager in Bahrain. "Additionally, the airline will also commence operations to Sharm El Sheikh and Luxor, in Egypt every Thursday and Sunday, from the beginning of June, bringing the total number of destinations the airline flies to in Egypt to four. "The new routes highlight the carrier's aggressive expansion plans and further demonstrate market demand for affordable travel. "He said the connections from Bahrain to these destinations are very convenient. "For connections available on the second day, we will provide visas to the UAE so that people can spend a day out." He said, however, once more flights are in place in the next few weeks, the connections will become much quicker. "This is a momentous occasion for our team," he said. "While our routes have proven extremely popular for both business and leisure, the popularity of the resorts in and around Sharm El Sheikh and Luxor will allow holiday makers the opportunity to take advantage of the value offered by Air Arabia. Our brand is becoming synonymous with value for money and soon we will further extend the savings we offer to people across the region when we launch Air Arabia Hotels." Air Arabia currently flies from Sharjah on 19 different routes: 10 flights weekly to Alexandria; daily to Bahrain, Beirut, Colombo, Damascus, Doha, Mumbai and Muscat; five days a week to Kuwait; four days a week to Dammam; three days a week to Khartoum and Aleppo; and two days a week to Assiut, Jeddah, Riyadh and Sana'a.
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