Afghan Recovery Report No. 150

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ARE AFGHANS BEING POISONED BY ANTI-DRUG EFFORT?

Residents of Kunar and Nangarhar blame aerial eradication of opium
poppies
for an outbreak of illness, and the government promises to investigate.

By Hayatullah Gaheez in Jalalabad and Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul

Omardin, a farmer in the Pacheeragam district in Nangarhar province,
pointed
to the contents of a black plastic bag. Inside, he said, was a
substance he
claimed was sprayed from an airplane as part of a drug-eradication
effort in
the country.

He said his son has been made ill by the chemicals.

"I never even bothered to grow poppy, but because of the Americans, my
God-given only son is sick," he said, shaking with anger. "His skin is
sore
and his body aches."

As his eyes welled up with tears, Omardin vowed, "If my son dies, I
will
join the Taleban, and I will kill as many Americans as I can find."

Omardin is not the only person who believes that foreigners - perhaps
the
Americans - are spraying opium crops with herbicides here as part of a
counter-narcotics programme.

Eyewitnesses in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar have
reported
seeing aircraft spraying poppy fields. Doctors in the region,
meanwhile,
said the sudden outbreak of skin diseases and respiratory ailments are
due
to a mysterious chemical they have so far been unable to identify.

Afghan government officials have promised to investigate these claims.
Jawed
Ludin, spokesman for Afghan president Hamed Karzai, denies that the
government authorised such aerial spraying in the Khogiani and Shinwari
districts of Nangarhar. An official delegation is now studying soil
samples
taken from poppy fields in the area.

Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of opium, accounting for
three-quarters of global output. According to newly-released United
Nations
statistics, opium cultivation in 2004 increased by 64 per cent over the
previous year.

Worried that Afghanistan may be evolving into a "narco-mafia" state,
the
United States, Europe and the United Nations have pledged to get tough
on
the opium trade. But the US military has insisted that its forces are
not
involved in crop eradication.

"US troops are not involved are not involved in eradication, which
would
include the spraying of poppy fields which we do not do," US military
spokesman Major Mark McCann told Agence France-Presse last week.

A US embassy spokesperson in Kabul declined to comment, saying
questions on
the subject could be asked in an upcoming press conference.

Last month, however, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA,
announced
that it had joined with the State Department and the Department of
Defence
in developing a new Counternarcotics Implementation Plan for
Afghanistan.
Under the programme, the DEA announced that it will assist in
destroying
clandestine labs and seizing precursor chemicals, raw opium, and opiate
stockpiles.

To achieve that, the DEA said it is expanding its presence in
Afghanistan by
permanently stationing additional special agents and intelligence
analysts
in the country to enhance Afghanistan's counternarcotics capacity.

In addition, the DEA announced it would deploy foreign advisory and
support
teams to Afghanistan early next year to provide guidance and conduct
bilateral investigations that will identify, target, and disrupt
illicit
drug trafficking organisations.

These teams, the agency said, will help with the destruction of
existing
opium storage sites, clandestine heroin processing labs, and precursor
chemical supplies.

US law enforcement agencies such as the DEA and the FBI already
maintain a
sizable presence in Afghanistan

Haji Din Mohammad, the governor of Nangarhar province, is convinced
that
aerial eradication is already under way and that the United States is
behind
it. At a recent press conference, he said, "The crops were eradicated,
and
farmers have seen big planes flying over the fields and spraying."

And in a separate press conference, General Mohammad Daoud, deputy
interior
minister in charge of counter-narcotics characterised aerial
eradication as
"illegal."

Asked about official US denials of their involvement in such a
programme,
Din Mohammad said, "They control the airspace, and no plane can fly
over
Afghanistan without their permission."

Local residents blame the Americans for an outbreak of illness.

Sayed Asadullah, 47, a resident of Kaga district, Nangarhar province,
showed
a reporter a dozen children between the ages of 10 and 14 who
complained of
severe body aches.

Abed, 11, said, "A few days after the chemicals were sprayed, I found I
had
a sore throat and this terrible ache."

Mohammad Sediq, 14, said his throat was hoarse from the substance
sprayed on
the fields.

"Ever since I ate some spinach from our field next to the opium field,
I've
had a sore throat," he said.

"It is all the result of the Americans' chemicals," said Asadullah.

Others blamed the crop spraying for the death of livestock.

A resident of Asmar district, Konar province, said 14 of his animals
had
died. "We took all our sick animals to the veterinarian, but he
couldn't do
anything," he said.

Dr Abdul Ghafoor, the veterinarian who examined the animals, said they
were
suffering from serious respiratory problems. Ghafoor told IWPR he
suspected
the animals were suffering from a form of chronic asthma caused by
inhalation of poisonous chemicals.

"This kind of disease is rare in Afghanistan," he said.

Several doctors in the region also blamed exposure to chemicals for the
outbreak of various illnesses among their human patients.

Dr Samiullah Akbari, an ear, nose and throat specialist, said, "Those
chemicals are insecticides for destroying crops. If human beings ingest
them, they cause very bad stomach ailments."

Dr Abdullah Momand, who specialises in treating skin diseases, said the
cases of skin irritation were "undoubtedly" caused by contact with a
chemical agent.

Momand was pessimistic about the ability of Afghan medicine to deal
with the
outbreak.

"To tackle these illnesses would require a huge amount of money," he
said.
"Treatment is difficult in Afghanistan, and the preventive care
patients
need cannot be found in these clinics."

Hayatullah Gaheez is a freelance writer in Jalalabad. Amanullah Nasrat
is an
IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.


CRIME INCREASING IN THE NORTH

Three failed presidential candidates with power-bases in the region
deny
speculation that they are behind a sudden increase in violence.

By Wahidullah Noori in Mazar-e-Sharif

An apparent surge in the number of violent crimes being committed in
the
Mazar-e-Sharif area since the October presidential vote has led some to
speculate that three failed candidates with strong ties to the region
are
behind the attacks as a way to demonstrate that their authority is
needed to
maintain peace in the region.

It's an allegation that spokesmen for the individual commanders and the
parties they're associated with strongly deny.

A police official confirmed that crime appears to have increased in
recent
weeks, although he was unable to provide statistics documenting the
size of
the increase.

Some of the crimes reported include: the killing on November 2 of two
farmers in the Sholgara District, 50 kilometres from Mazar, which two
unidentified commanders are suspected of having committed; the
discovery of
a grave on November 5 containing the remains of a man, a woman and two
unidentified children who appear to have been killed the previous week;
the
looting of a vehicle on November 7 that was loaded with goods belonging
to a
merchant in Gur Mar, 20 km west of Mazar; a burglary on November 10 at
a
house belonging to Atiqullah Samangani, the brother of the director of
a
power station and fertiliser factory 20 kilometres west of Mazar which
police say may have been carried out by men wearing army uniforms; and
the
theft on November 15 of more than 6,200 US dollars from the Pakistani
consultate in Mazar.

Some analysts argue that many of the crimes are politically motivated.

"These individuals are behind any crime [that is committed]," said
Qayum
Babak, a political analyst based in Mazar, referring to Mohammad Younis
Qanuni, Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq and General Abdul Rashid Dostum. "Based
on the
experience we have with these warlords, there isn't any doubt that they
will
try any possible way to maintain their power."

Qanuni, Mohaqiq and Dostum, who came second, third and fourth
respectively
in October's presidential elections, are the most powerful figures in
the
northern provinces and in Balkh. The militarised factions they are
linked
to, which have local commanders as members, have control over almost
all the
weapons in the northern region.

Mohaqiq runs the northern faction of Hezb-e-Wahdat, while Dostum heads
Junbish-e-Milli. The northern branch of Jamiat-e-Islami is run by
General
Mohammad Atta, until recently a militia commander and now governor of
Balkh
province. Atta is a strong supporter of Qanuni, who is also a member of
Jamiat-e-Islami.

Habibullah Rafi, a political analyst in Kabul, agreed with Babak.

"The warlords are involved in all cases of violence that took place
after
the announcement of results of election," he said.

He alleged that the failed candidates want President Hamed Karzai to
believe
he can't keep control in the north without giving them positions in the
next
cabinet.

Representatives of Mohaqiq and Dostum have categorically denied their
involvement in any increase in crime, and have pledged cooperation with
the
government. A spokesman for Jamiat-e-Islami, who did not want to be
named,
told IWPR that "gunmen in groups involved in the crimes in the northern
region are not linked to our party".

Sardar Saeedi, a deputy of Mohaqiq, dismissed suggestions that
Hizb-e-Wahdat
has been involved in criminal activities in the region, calling them
"totally baseless".

"Anyone armed does not belong to our party and we are wholly a
political
party," he told IWPR. "Since we were defeated in the election, we have
no
desire to trouble people. We are just continuing our political
struggle, and
we are not trying to put pressure on the government via arms or power
either
directly or indirectly. On the contrary, we will be cooperative with
the
government."

Azizullah Kargar, Dostum's deputy, told IWPR, "We are by no means
involved
in such matters, and these are baseless allegations that are fabricated
against us. Analysts who link all [criminal] cases to us are making
mistakes."

It is unclear whether Karzai will award Dostum, Qanuni, or Mohaqiq
seats in
his next administration.

Mohaqiq, a former planning minister, and Qanuni, the previous minister
of
education, told IWPR last month they were willing, if asked, to
participate
in the new government. Dostum, deputy minister of defence before he ran
for
president, said publicly said that any cabinet formed without him would
be
"illegal."

General Khalil Ziayee, chief of security for Balkh province, offered
two
possible reasons for the apparent increase in violent crimes.

"One is indirect pressure by those [failed] candidates backed by
weapons,
and the second is the dispersal of armed men following the DDR
process," he
said, referring to the UN-sponsored Disarmament, Demobilisation and
Reintegration programme that seeks to decommission the militia forces
and
retrain gunmen for civilian jobs or national army jobs.

Ziayee said be believes decommissioned militia commanders continue to
hold a
significant number of weapons and that some disarmed men have taken up
arms
again. He believes they may be responsible for the recent crimes.

Meanwhile, popular frustration with the power of warlords and criminal
activities continues to grow.

On November 19, in the Sang Charak district of Sar-e-Pul province,
1,000
people protested against the "cruelty and injustice" of the local
commander,
Abdul Rahim, who was recently decommissioned as head of Division 26.
Rahim,
who is a member of Jamiat-e-Islami, reportedly opened fire on the
crowd,
wounding one person.

Residents of Mazar expressed concern about the growing level of
lawlessness.

Mohammed Zaman, 28, said, "If it goes like this, one day I'll be killed
too."

Shah Mohammed, a street vendor in the city, said, "This situation is
frightening and we are scared."

Habibullah, a shopkeeper in Mazar said, "If thieves are able to loot
the
[Pakistani] consulate, then they could easily loot our shops."

He said that the government must ensure security in the city or else
normal
life will not be possible.

Wahidullah Noori is a freelance reporter based in Mazar-e-Sharif.


CARPET INDUSTRY LOOKS TO REVIVAL

Rug weavers and merchants display their wares at northern fair, but
admit
they have some way to go to recover market position at home and abroad.

?By Wahidullah Noori in Mazar-e-Sharif

After a three-decade absence, the annual Carpet Festival, celebrating
what's
believed to be a 2,500-year tradition,has shown its colours again in
the
northern province of Jowzjan.

The festival, which was last held in 1974, returned to Jowzjan on
November
22. It used to be held each autumn in either Jowzjan's Aqchah district
or
Andkhoi in neighbouring Faryab province, but was suspended during the
years
of fighting.

Despite a driving rainstorm, more than 10,000 people came, including
United
States Ambassador Zalmai Khalilzad and Afghan commerce minister Mustafa
Kazemi.

The region's influential political leaders General Abdul Rashid Dostum
and
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, as well as Balkh province governor General
Mohammad
Atta, and the governors of Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, and Jowzjan provinces.
Visitors from the Central Asian republics and Iran and Turkey also
turned
out for the opening day of the month-long exhibition.

The rug weavers wore traditional long robes and tribal headgear, with
the
women in colourful headscarves.

More than 100 types of rug were on display in over 400 wooden stalls
specially built for the festival. Carpet weavers were on hand to
demonstrate
the process of using wool and silk in a variety of colours to make the
rugs.

But many of the weavers and dealers told IWPR they worried that after
two
decades of war, Afghanistan had lost its rightful place in the world
carpet
market.

During long years of conflict, carpet-makers scaled back operations in
the
area, while many of the weavers and traders re-located to Pakistan,
mostly
to Peshawar. According to the World Bank, "a large proportion of carpet
exports in Pakistan's trade statistics are attributable to the Afghan
carpet
industry - in Afghanistan, or displaced in Pakistan."

Rozi Mohammad, a businessman from Andkhoi, said, "Our rugs were ranked
first
in the European markets prior to the 20 years of war, but at the moment
we
cannot compete with Turkish and Iranian carpets."

Nasir Ahmad, a carpet dealer from the Aqchah district, agreed. He
explained
that while Afghans were busy at war, Turkish and Iranian rug dealers
were
establishing trade relations with major business centres and developing
and
expanding their markets.

"The reason we cannot compete nowadays is because our trading system is
very
poor, and so far we have not gained access to those markets where
Turkish
and Iranian rugs are sold."

Nasir believes government help is key to accessing markets for Afghan
carpets, particularly in Europe and the United States, and regaining
Afghanistan's position in the world market.

Commerce minister Kazemi, who attended the opening of the festival, had
encouraging words for the crowd, "The Carpet Festival and the
exhibition of
hundreds of rugs made in this area is an indicator that people in
Afghanistan have special interest in trade and business."

Carpets are the country's third largest export after dried fruit and
karakul, the lambskin used to make hats such as the one commonly worn
by
President Hamed Karzai.

Over one million people are employed in the carpet industry in
Afghanistan,
including weavers, dealers, and businesspeople. Many of those involved
in
the carpet industry are of Turkmen ethnicity, and the majority of
weavers
are women.

Many carpets are made in Jowzjan but large numbers are woven in other
northern provinces such as Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Balkh, Kunduz and Takhar.
[Rewording. Jowzan unlikely to be "most"

In an interview with IWPR, Kazemi acknowledged that the industry
currently
faces several problems. He said his ministry has spent the last three
years
working on accessing the international market, and has made progress on
two
fronts this year.

"First, the US government agreed to import Afghan carpets without
imposing
import duties. And second, Ariana Afghan Airlines agreed to transport
Afghan
carpets abroad at cost," he said.

US Ambassador Khalilzad, who also appeared at the festival's opening,
indicated that his country was prepared to help the industry in other
ways
as well. "I know that areas where carpets are produced have water and
power
problems, but during the coming year, we have projects in this regard
that
will solve the problems," he told participants.

The domestic market for Afghan carpets is also suffering. The industry,
which produces mostly hand-woven rugs, faces stiff competition at home
from
machine-made carpets from Iran which sell for a fraction of the cost.

"One Afghan carpet costs at least 300 US dollars, and we poor people
cannot
buy it, but I can cover my entire home with a 50 dollar Iranian
carpet,"
said Shah Mohammad, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Mohammed Nazar, a carpet weaver from Mazar, argued that the
higher-quality
Afghan carpet is worth the price difference, "Although Afghan carpets
are
more expensive than [machine-made] Iranian carpets, they are of better
quality," he said. "Iranian carpets don't last more than one year, but
the
rug I bought 20 years ago I can still use."

He said that some of the more intricately woven carpets could
potentially be
sold on the foreign market for up to 5,000 dollars each.

Even if the Afghan carpet business is reinvigorated, the weavers are
likely
to see very little of the profits.

According to a report on the Afghan economy produced by the World Bank
in
September, "recent studies of carpet and raisin markets indicate that
producers get only a small share of the price paid by the final
consumers -
for example, 8 to 15 per cent of the final price in the case of carpet
weavers.

"If traditional activities such as carpets or dried fruits are to
contribute
significantly to broad-based growth, it will be important not only to
revive
production but also to ensure that the smaller players, especially
producers, benefit more from these activities," the report recommended.

Gul Ahmad, 21, a university student who also works half-days weaving
carpets, agreed that he couldn't make ends meet on what he earned.

"The income I earn from carpet weaving is not sufficient for the
expenditures of a family of six," he said.

Wahidullah Noori is a freelance reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.


COMMENT: AFGHANS DESERVE PEACE AND SECURITY

Human rights organisations urge President Hamed Karzai to meet public
demand
for faster disarmament of militias.

By Horia Mosadiq in Kabul

With preparations under way for President Hamed Karzai's inauguration
as his
country's first democratically-elected leader and his naming of a
cabinet,
the Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium, a group of 13 Afghan
and
international organisations, is reminding him of the high expectations
the
Afghan people have of him.

In a report published in September , "Take the Guns Away: Afghan Voices
on
Security and Elections", the Consortium found that Afghans expect to
see
positive changes in security under the new government. They are calling
for
accelerated and effective disarmament of militias, and reform within
the
Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army.

They want the central government to take a strong stance in dealing
with
these security issues.

They are highly concerned about the slow pace of Disarmament,
Demobilisation
and Reintegration DDR, the UN-sponsored programme whose primary aim is
to
decommission the militia forces and retrain their members for civilian
jobs
or national army jobs.

Eighty-eight per cent of Afghans interviewed for the report said they
want
the central government to do more to reduce the power of local
commanders
"We are shouting for disarmament," said one man from the northern town
of
Faizabad. "Why is it not happening?"

Approximately 65 per cent of those interviewed believe that disarmament
is
the best solution for ensuring long-term peace and security. "The
central
government has to realise that this is a crisis," said a man in the
eastern
city of Jalalabad. "They alone can act. They can interfere with the
commanders' power base. They should move on the gunmen."

Our report also found that women still do not feel secure enough to
walk out
of their homes because they live in the shadow of fear of gunmen. "The
gunmen have taken people's land, their houses, their sons, and forced
their
daughters to marry them," said one woman in the northern city of
Mazar-e-Sharif. "This is the nation's blood."

Afghans also fear that without real and meaningful disarmament
commanders
are likely to influence the outcome of parliamentary, provincial and
district elections by pressuring local voters. "The parliamentary poll
will
be dangerous," said one man in Mazar-e-Sharif. "Professional and normal
people will not be able to take part. The candidates will be commanders
and
they will use force to get elected."

People want the central government to expand its power. Although
President
Karzai knows this means that many Afghans want to see fewer warlords in
the
national and regional governments, he has yet to show his commitment to
this
expectation.

The Consortium believes that now is the time for the incoming
government to
take action and begin responding to the wishes of the people.

Peace without security has no meaning for Afghans. They want a peace
that
will endure in the country and that will, in turn, provide and protect
individual and collective freedoms.

Afghans are calling on President Karzai to ensure that the DDR process,
scheduled to be completed in June 2005, is verifiably concluded by this
date
through a process of accelerated disarmament.

Afghans also want effective security measures, including a strong
national
police and a unified national army free of militias runby warlords,in
place
well before the parliamentary elections. Our report found many people
complained that police, often former mujahedin, are untrained as police
officers and more interested in helping the gunmen than the people. "If
you
go to the police station, the police will tell you to go and talk to
the
commanders," said a woman in Herat.

Afghans know the time to act is now. It is time for the president to
live up
to their expectations.

Horia Mosadiq is Deputy Director of HRRAC, the Kabul-based Human Rights
Research and Advocacy Consortium (http://www.afghanadvocacy.org). HRRAC
members are: the Afghan Development Association, Afghan Independent
Human
Rights Commission, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Agency
Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, Agency for Rehabilitation and
Energy-conservation in Afghanistan, Coordination of Humanitarian
Assistance,
Cooperation for Peace and Unity, CARE International, Mercy Corps, Oxfam
International, Ockenden International, Save the Children Federation,
and
Rights and Democracy.

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