Herat TV: Afghan foreign minister says relations with Iran expanding

At 1710 gmt on 16 October, Herat’s state-owned television channel broadcast a recorded speech delivered by Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar-Spanta at a meeting of provincial administration officials, MPs, religious scholars, intellectuals and local reporters. The meeting was held in Herat Province on Monday evening, 15 October.

To start with, the minister greeted the participants and expresses happiness over the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) meeting which is scheduled to be held in Herat city between 17 to 20 October.

He then moved to talking about the meeting’s importance, stressing that officials have focused on Herat to show the world that there are many important issues worth paying attention to including the geographical position of Herat Province and its historical monuments as well as its people’s vigour and resilience in dealing with hardship and rebuilding their city and standing on their own feet.

He said: “During any international meeting or conference, one of the programmes is to see the historical monuments. So if we take a tour of the city, we can show our guests many parts which were destroyed but the people rebuilt them… We should all be proud of our history and civilization “

Touching on the members of the Economic Cooperation Organization, Dr Dadfar-Spanta stressed that the Afghan government has good, friendly relations with all ECO members, specifically Iran and Pakistan and Turkey.

He said: “We have extraordinary relations with the Republic of Turkey, which is above the normal relations between the two governments, for there are personally good relations between the two presidents and between me and the Turkish president and many Turkish top officials We would like to expand these relations and Turkey has already invested in Afghanistan ”

Among other things, the minister concentrated on the allegedly controversial ties with Iran. He said: “The Islamic Republic of Iran shares a common religion, language and civilization with us. It has been fully active in the reconstruction of Afghanistan We are expanding our relations contrary to the rumours. There can be some misunderstandings, but this should not affect our friendship and we should remove them for the sake of our young and future generations…”

Talking about the current relations with Pakistan, the minister said: “Fortunately, there have been some slight changes in favour of us in our relations with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan We emphasize that terrorism must not be used as a tool in a country’s foreign strategy since it may eventually affect that country. We have always advised our Pakistani friends about this and our hope is that the Pakistani officials will understand the good will of our government and people “

The foreign minister then thanked the government for providing 500,000 US dollars for the ECO meeting, the German and Italian governments for their cooperation and donation and the central and provincial government officials for their concerted, strenuous efforts for the meeting.

He closed his speech by thanking the officials and the Herati people yet again and expressing hope the meeting will be held effectively.

[Description of Source: Herat Herat Television in Dari -- state-run television. OSC IAP20071016950131 1710 GMT 16 Oct 07]

Radio Sahar: Afghan officials highlight importance of ECO meeting in Herat

October 16, 2007

[Presenter] On the sidelines of the forthcoming ECO session, a meeting was held in Herat city yesterday evening. At this meeting, a number of officials delivered speeches to underline the importance of the session. It is said that the members of the Economic Cooperation Organization or ECO are arriving in the province.

[Correspondent] Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar-Spanta was one of the officials that delivered a speech at this meeting. He described Afghanistan’s membership of ECO as important and strategic. According to the minister, the ECO session in Herat city is a point connecting the city to its glorious ancient history.

[Dr Dadfar-Spanta] Our membership of ECO has a strategic importance for us. As one of the major centres of the eastern, Islamic civilization, Herat has been on the route connecting China and India to Old Persia and Central Asia. We have been trying to show that Herat, as a historical symbol, is still able to connect these regions.

[Correspondent] Meanwhile, tough security measures have been taken since yesterday. Herat Governor Sayed Hosayn Anwari states that strict security measures will be taken during these days as there are concerns over security disruption by the opponents.

[Sayed Hosayn Anwari] It goes without saying that the opponents are attempting to spread terror and fear in order to show the government and the provincial administration are incompetent. They will benefit from any opportunity to meet their own ends. However, we hope the new measures we have taken will foil plots hatched by any opponent groups.

[Correspondent] The officials hope the ECO session will be held appropriately in spite of all these concerns. The economic observers in Herat Province believe that the session will enhance economic activities in this province.

[Description of Source: Herat Radio Sahar in Dari -- local independent radio station in Herat run mainly by women. OSC IAP20071016950103 Herat Radio Sahar in Dari 1230 GMT 16 Oct 07]

Pajhwok: Education official kidnapped in Farah

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Herat, 16 October: Unidentified armed men have abducted an official of the education department in Delaram district of the western Farah province.

Abdol Ghafur Sherzai, the head of the education department in the district, was kidnapped by armed men from the main market. A teacher named Mohammad Zaher was also abducted along with Sherzai, officials told Pajhwok on Tuesday.

Provincial chief of the education department Atiqollah said Mohammad Zaher was freed later; however, Sherzai was still in the custody of the abductors.

He said the police had surrounded Shadi village in the district, where they believed the kidnappee had been kept by the armed men.

A police officer, Joma Khan, said they had no contact with the kidnappers. However, a search operation had been launched to recover the education officer, he added.

[Description of Source: Kabul Pajhwok Afghan News (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- Pajhwok Afghan News, established in April 2004, provides daily news and features in Pashto, Dari, English and Urdu. Self-described as "independent," it often reports on security matters and the Taliban activities. It claims to be staffed, managed, and led entirely by Afghans. According to the site, it receives financial support from USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). IAP20071016950076 1455 GMT 16 Oct 07]

IRNA: Afghanistan hosts 17th meeting of ECO council of ministers

Tehran, Oct 16, IRNA
Iran-Afghanistan-ECO
The council of ministers (COM) of the economic cooperation organization (ECO), comprising foreign ministers of the ten member states, will hold its 17th annual meeting in Herat, Afghanistan on 20th October, 2007, ECO information center said in a press release on Tuesday.
Heads of ECO’s regional institutions and specialized agencies as well as representatives of international organizations will also participate in the meetings.
The COM is the highest decision-making body of ECO. It will review progress made in different sectors since the previous COM meeting held in Baku in May 2006.These would include trade and transport, energy and environment, industry and agriculture as well as counter-narcotics and trans-national crimes.
Important priorities in these fields are implementation of the Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA) and the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA), operationalization of the ECO Container and Passenger Trains on Istanbul-Almaty route and the ECO Trade and Development Bank, the inter-connection of power systems of member states as well as progress on the ECO Reinsurance Company and the ECO Science Foundation.
Five sectoral ministerial meeting of the ECO states have been held since the last COM. These were on environment, agriculture, interior, industry and finance. Reports of these meetings and the follow-up action taken would come up for discussion in Herat.
The COM would also review the performance of the council of permanent representatives (CPR) and study its reports. The CPR, comprising the ambassadors of member states, meets once every month at the ECO secretariat in Tehran. It takes decisions on important matters of urgent nature on behalf of COM.
ECO’s initiatives to establish new regional institutions would be high on the agenda of COM. These would include the ECO Regional Institute for Standardization, Conformity Assessment, Accreditation and Metrology (RISCAM), the ECO Veterinary Commission and the ECO Regional Center for Risk Management of Natural Disasters. The organization is keen to accelerate progress on the Agreement on Simplification of Visa Procedures for ECO Businessmen, and the Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment (APPI). The COM would consider these and related issues.
Important administrative matters, including appointments to senior positions in the Secretariat, the Secretariat’s budget and issues relating to participation in various ECO events are also on the COMls agenda.
ECO has a modest role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. A project worth dlrs 1.3 million for the rehabilitation of the Deh Mazang Park and maintenance of Kabul Zoo has been initiated in March this year. Some more, small to medium size, projects in the health, education and transport sectors are under consideration. Herat offers a welcome opportunity to enhance ECO’s role in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. Pakistan and Turkey have contributed dlrs five million each and Iran around dlrs 400,000 to ECO’s Special Fund for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. More pledges of financial support are expected in Herat.
Afghanistan is a key member of the ECO, and an important land bridge between the founding member countries and the Central Asian ECO states. It plays an active role in the ECO. In order to commemorate the 17th COM meeting being held in Herat, the Afghan government will name a central park in Herat as the ECO park. It also proposes to shift the secretariat of the ECO chamber of commerce and industry for Kabul to Herat.
The 17th COM takes place amid important developments on the regional and international plans, it provides a useful opportunity for the foreign ministers of neighbouring regional states to hold bilateral meetings. While in Herat, the ministers are also expected to call on the senior leadership of Afghanistan.
The next meeting of the council of ministers as well as the ECO summit would be held in Pakistan in 2008.
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RFE/RL: Herat to host ECO conference

By Ron Synovitz

October 16, 2007 (RFE/RL) — Afghanistan this week is hosting an international governmental conference for the first time in decades.

Officials from the 10 member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) are gathering in the western Afghan city of Herat today for the five-day conference continuing through October 20. The organization brings together Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia.

The Council of Ministers meeting of the ECO takes place each year. But for Afghanistan, hosting the conference represents a step toward normalcy after decades of war: a gathering of senior governmental officials from across the region who will discuss how they can work together for the prosperity of their people.

RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan spoke to Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Beheen today in Herat as he and other Afghan officials were finalizing preparations for the event. Beheen explained that deputy foreign ministers and other high ranking officials will meet during the first days of the conference, to be followed by the foreign ministers’ meeting on October 20. “That is when the deputy foreign ministers will present their conclusions to the foreign ministers for approval. At this meeting, economic issues, trade, transportation, and other issues of regional cooperation will be discussed,” Beheen said.

Beheen says he hopes the ministers also will discuss an international donors’ fund that has been opened to promote the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

For Kabul’s part, Beheen says officials will be promoting Afghanistan’s potential as a future regional hub for trade and transportation between the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia.

“The policy that we have been following is to promote regional cooperation. We want Afghanistan to be a bridge between the Asian countries. If you look at the map, in principle, we have already achieved this goal,” Beheen said. “Just in the area of transit and transportation — and if we also consider energy transit — all of this can go through Afghanistan. And all of this is important — not only from an economic point of view, but also from the point of view of security and social development. This is a golden opportunity for Afghanistan.”

U.S. government officials specializing in agriculture are expected to attend the event as observers. Also attending are representatives of international organizations like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and several UN organizations.

Beheen said security has been bolstered in Herat ahead of the event to prevent possible attacks by Taliban militants. He added that more than 2,500 additional police from the Afghan National Police force have been deployed in Herat.

The ECO Council of Ministers last met in Baku in 2006. Heads of State from member countries are scheduled to gather in Pakistan in 2008 for the ECO summit.

(RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Sharafuddin Stanakzai in Herat and Radio Free Afghanistan’s Hasheem Mohmand in Prague contributed to this report.)

Globe and Mail: Some Canadians wish they had chosen Herat instead of Kandahar for PRT

Ex-minister denies Martin to blame for Kandahar mission
ALAN FREEMAN AND MICHAEL VALPY
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail
October 16, 2007 at 4:10 AM EDT

OTTAWA and TORONTO — Bill Graham denied yesterday that indecisiveness by former prime minister Paul Martin led to Canada deploying troops in Afghanistan’s bloody Kandahar province, but he conceded that lengthy discussions within the government meant other NATO partners succeeded in being posted to less dangerous parts of the country.

Mr. Graham, foreign affairs minister and later defence minister, refused to take sides in the dispute touched off by former prime minister Jean Chrétien, who accused his successor Mr. Martin of putting the lives of Canadian soldiers in danger by taking too long to decide where the troops should be positioned in 2004-2005.

Mr. Graham pointed out that it was Mr. Chrétien himself who committed Canadian troops to Kabul and committed soldiers through NATO to the support and rebuilding of Afghanistan.

But he also said he believed Mr. Chrétien would not have agreed to send troops to Kandahar if he had remained prime minister. “Mr. Chrétien was very careful that way.”
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In the second volume of his memoirs appearing over the weekend, Mr. Chrétien said that because Mr. Martin took so long to make a decision, Canadian troops wound up being sent south to fight the Taliban “in the killing fields around Kandahar.”

Mr. Graham said in an interview: “I wouldn’t describe it as dithering. There was certainly a lot of discussions that went on at the lower levels about where Canada should be committed for a PRT [provincial reconstruction team to assist in rebuilding Afghanistan].

“And you can make the case for saying that because it took so long other people took other places that were more attractive from a security perspective and therefore there were fewer choices available when it came time for Canada to say yes.”

Kenneth Calder, at the time the assistant deputy minister of defence for policy, who is now retired, put the case more strongly, saying in an interview yesterday that there was no delay in decision-making either by Mr. Martin or defence and foreign affairs officials.

The issue, he said, moved forward rapidly.

Mr. Graham said the PRT choice at the end was between Herat in the western part of Afghanistan, where Canada would have served with Italy, and Kandahar province in the south.

Kandahar has showed itself to be much bloodier than Herat, but Mr. Graham said that was not the way it looked when the decision was taken in the spring of 2005.

“Kandahar didn’t have anywhere near the violence it does today,” he said, noting that “somebody had to be in the south.”

Nonetheless, the various accounts of what lay behind the Kandahar deployment pose major questions.

Mr. Chrétien in his memoirs writes that what led to troops being sent to Kandahar was Mr. Martin taking too long to make up his mind about whether Canada should extend its term with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) positioned in Kabul and its environs.

Yet the book The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar, co-authored by University of Toronto scholar Janice Gross Stein and former top Liberal aide Eugene Lang, makes clear that Canada was only committed to ISAF for one year ending in the summer of 2004, a decision made when Mr. Chrétien was prime minister.

Prof. Stein, director of the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies, said in an interview yesterday that at no time was a significant extension of Canada’s commitment to ISAF under consideration.

Moreover, after Mr. Martin became prime minister in December of 2003, ISAF was being absorbed into NATO with Canada’s support.

The second question is how Mr. Martin could not have known for a whole year that his government’s delay in deciding where to locate its PRT was inevitably leading to Canadian troops being sent to Kandahar.

Prof. Stein says the issue of committing combat troops was not on the agenda during the year that officials in the departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence debated where to put the PRT (although one senior defence official says it was always on the agenda). And the location of a PRT was not high on anyone’s priority list – either for officials dealing with the Afghanistan file (there were far more important issues, such as bringing NATO into the country) or for the prime minister’s team preoccupied, among other things, with the Quebec sponsorship scandal.

The issue of combat troops in Kandahar went to the prime minister for decision only after General Rick Hillier became Chief of the Defence Staff in February, 2005, and recommended a Canadian commitment to Afghanistan much broader than a PRT.

He placed his proposal before Mr. Martin in March and the prime minister gave his approval in May.

Mr. Graham said Gen. Hillier was a keen backer of the Kandahar deployment, contingent on the Canadians being accompanied into the south by the British and the Dutch, who now serve in neighbouring provinces.

He also said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had been pressing for a broader NATO presence in the south that was not simply American.