Special report on second anniversary of the ousting of the Taliban - Continued

GROWING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND DEMOCRACY "I think one of the most prideful and unique achievements and developments in post-conflict Afghanistan is the freedom of expression and the creation of more than 200 independent media and publication outlets in the country," Abdul Hamid Mobarez, the deputy information and culture minister, told IRIN. "Today, we see people talking very openly and criticising anyone through the media. This did not exist in the past," he said, adding, however, that there were still open threats against journalists. "We have just had journalists beaten up in Baghlan and in Kabul," he said. According to the government official, what still existed and had become worse than last year was the rivalry of the conservatives and Islamic extremists versus the Afghan technocrats (qualified returnees). "These [extremist] elements are trying to impede development in the country, trying to kick out the Afghan technocrats and Afghans who have come from the West, to discourage them and create opportunities for themselves. They try to use Islam to achieve power, while we say we should not use religion for power; we prefer dialogue," he said. The deputy minister cited hope for a prosperous and bright future as the most significant change in Afghanistan. "At least everyone now has a hope for life," he stressed. FIGHTING AL-QAEDA AND TALIBAN REMNANTS Meanwhile, there are around 11,500 US-led troops in Afghanistan, who have been searching for and fighting the remnants of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the last two years, mostly in the south and west, according to US officials in Kabul. Despite the vigorous operations of these forces, according to a recent report by senior UN peacekeeping official, Jean-Marie Guehenno, the ousted Taliban are reappearing and have taken control of some border areas, and fundamental security issues remain unresolved. "The Taliban is no longer ruling the country, and anti-coalition forces have no sanctuary. We're hunting down their leadership, and ultimately we will win the war on terrorism," Col Rodney Davis, a spokesman for the US-led coalition forces, told IRIN in Kabul. He stressed that after more than 20 years of constant conflict, Afghanistan was more stable today than it had been two years ago [under the Taliban]. "Of course, there are some areas of instability within certain regions and there are some regions with more instability than others. However, when you look at all of the indicators, it's clear that the coalition has had a significant impact on the enemy," Davis maintained.

US-led forces in search of Al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants outside Gardez

He said he saw many indications that the country had been developing and making a lot of progress over the past year. "Afghanistan has a functioning central government, and the country is currently engaged in a process to approve a constitution. The Afghan National Army is growing. The national police academy recently completed its first formal training of police officers in more than a decade. Finally, according to the UN, more than 3 million displaced Afghans have returned, demonstrating that many have faith that the country can rebuild," he added. The spokesman said the coalition's combat operations had been very effective and its forces would stay in Afghanistan until it achieved its objectives in the war against terrorism. "We can't turn our back on all of the gains. The coalition intends to stay in Afghanistan until the job is done." THE TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT According to the UN, the Afghan government, like any other transitional administration, has three main tasks, which are to provide the kind of reconstruction that people expect, to engage in the building of institutions, and to transform the country from a military dominated infrastructure into a normal democratic one. "Now if we look at Afghanistan from that viewpoint and we wonder how much has been done on the path towards the completion of that mandate, I think we will find a somewhat ambiguous picture," Jean Arnault, the deputy special representative of the UN secretary-general, told IRIN. Arnault believes that in the last two years, some reconstruction has taken place, but popular expectations have not been fulfilled. "Factional leaders continue to hold sway in many parts of the country. At the same time, there has also been a movement towards more participation and more democracy," he said. He went on to say that in working on the three main components of its transition, these being reconstruction, institution building and demilitarisation, the country was trying to move away from war, "but has yet quite a lot to do before the basic objectives of the transition have been completed".

Despite the challenges, millions of Afghans have returned to their homeland

And while the UN accepts that security has been worse this year compared to a year ago, it has also noticed a decrease in factional fighting and confrontations. "I think if we compare with last year, the element of factional fighting is perhaps less. There are fewer confrontations between factions. On the other hand, the insecurity resulting from extremists has not diminished and has probably increased," Arnault said, noting that the UN’s movements had been considerably more limited than in 2002. "If we remember the first Loya Jirga, our people moved without any incident throughout [the country's] 390 districts, but today, clearly, we are much more limited in our movements," he said. UPSURGE OF RIGHTS VIOLATIONS According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), many gunmen and commanders regained confidence and committed more serious rights violations in 2003. "Unfortunately, the number of violations doubled. We had around 800 complaints [in 2002], but this year the commission registered and received around 2,000 cases of violations," Nader Naderi, the AIHRC spokesman, told IRIN. The AIHRC said the warlords and other perpetrators involved in violations of human rights in the past had earlier lost confidence, "but this year, a number of opportunities have been missed by the transitional authority to use the loss of confidence among the warlords, so they regained their confidence and started violations again", Naderi said.

High hopes for Afghanistan's new national army in bringing peace and stability to the country

He said 2003 had witnessed one of the most serious incidents in Balamurghab. "Thirty-six civilians were killed in fighting, and around 10 women were raped and children were killed," he said, maintaining that the increasing number of Taliban attacks on aid workers and the systematic violations by official authorities around the country were among the AIHRC's major concerns yet to be tackled. However, Naderi observed there were a few positive changes too. The increasing level of women's participation in some provinces, the successful public consultations on the draft of the constitution, the reform at the ministry of defence and police reforms were some of these, he said, noting that the government seemed to have become more committed in reacting against violations this year than in 2002. PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS And as for the future? "Afghanistan has made major strides. There is the Loya Jirga and now we have the draft of the constitution. The reality on the ground is that Afghanistan is moving towards democracy, and democratic institutions are emerging in Afghanistan, but it will take a long time to take root. At least we have made a good beginning," Dr Nader Atash, a member of the US-based Afghan-American Chambers of Commerce, told IRIN in Kabul. He said he had seen considerable improvement compared to last year. "This is evident when you go into the shops in the community." "Fortunately, Afghanistan has made progress towards establishing a mixed economy and towards becoming a member of the international commercial community. We see a lot of developments in terms of investment law, banking law and trade," Atash noted, adding, however, that there remained quite a few obstacles and difficulties as barriers that impeded progress towards a free market economy. Meanwhile, the German ambassador to the United Nations Security Council, Guenter Pluegner, who led a 15-member Security Council delegation to Kabul in early October, told IRIN, that Afghanistan had achieved a lot, but warned that there was still a long way to go. "I think considerable and astonishing progress has been made in the past two years, and one of my strongest impressions is the decisiveness of the government to bring through the necessary reform, to implement the Bonn agreement, to have the Loya Jirga to discuss the constitution, to have the elections on time, and our feeling is that the government and the people in the provinces want progress and they want to succeed, and with that kind of spirit I am optimistic that they will," Pluegner said. He added that many successes had been achieved and that a lot of progress had been made in all aspects - in the political, economic and social fields, but that many tasks remained. "A difficult way still lies ahead for the country, for its leaders and for its institutions," he said. [Ends]