Chrenkoff

"Mahdy Ali Lafta is an Iraqi teacher. But in 1979, 10 years into his career in Baghdad schools, Saddam Hussein came to power and Mr Lafta, because he wouldn't support the dictator, was forced out of his job. He spent the Saddam years teaching friends, family and neighbours, and doing a little private tuition. Mostly, he found other ways to make money, like driving a taxi in the city...

"Mr Lafta, 57, is married, has a 15-year-old son, and lives in Baghdad, where, following the fall of Saddam, he now does something once unthinkable. He is head of the Iraqi Teachers' Union (ITC), set up for all of Baghdad's teachers east of the river Tigris."

"Which brings us to a difficult question. Is Iraq better now than under Saddam?"

"Certainly."

" 'We recognize, of course, that most journalists who die each year are killed by cruel extremists -- and we unequivocally condemn those attacks and the people behind them,' [President of TNG-CWA, Linda] Foley wrote.

"But the United States also must defend its 'traditions of liberty and justice by addressing the concerns of journalists around the world,' she added. The Pentagon's report about the Palestine Hotel tragedy, to date, has been inadequate and unconvincing, raising more questions than it resolved, her letter continued.

" 'Respect for a free and independent press is a critical component of the liberty that members of a democratic society enjoy,' [AFTRA National Director of News and Broadcast, Thomas R.] Carpenter wrote. 'More than ever, it is critical to protect the values of freedom, liberty and justice' by responding to the request of journalists and the worldwide organizations representing them for a thorough and independent investigation, he added."

"Pope John Paul the second has been buried in a crypt beneath St Peter's Basilica after a momentous Vatican funeral, watched by tens of millions around the world."

"It's a shame that I'm here in Iraq with the Marines right now and not back at Ohio University completing my senior year and joining in blissful ignorance with the enlightened, war-seasoned protesters who participated in the recent 'die-in' at College Gate. It would appear that all the action is back home, but why don't we make sure? That's right, this is an open invitation for you to cut your hair, take a shower, get in shape and come on over! If Michael Moore can shave and lose enough weight to fit into a pair of camouflage utilities, then he can come too!

"Make sure you all say your goodbyes to your loved ones though, because you won't be seeing them for at least the next nine months. You need to get here quick because I don't want you to miss a thing. You missed last month's discovery of a basement full of suicide vests from the former regime (I'm sure Saddam's henchmen just wore them because they were trendy though). You weren't here for the opening of a brand new school we built either. You might also notice women exercising their new freedom of walking to the market unaccompanied by their husbands."

"The Prince of Wales has sparked controversy ahead of his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles today after shaking the Zimbabwean President's hand at the Pope's funeral.

"Groom-to-be Charles was said to have been caught by surprise when Robert Mugabe, who sidestepped a European Union travel ban to attend the service, reached over to him.

"The Prince's spokesman said afterwards that the heir to the throne, seated one place away from Mr Mugabe, found the President's regime 'abhorrent'."

"Great Britain will hold its elections on May 5. We'll be following the run-up, but with much less anxiety than we followed recent elections in Australia and Iraq. I take the simple-minded position that the British elections are a rare 'win-win' situation for American conservatives. The Brits will select either the party headed by our greatest friend, Tony Blair, or the conservative party."

"The Prime Minister [Tony Blair] accused Tories of 'contemptible' hypocrisy over Iraq today as he was challenged again over the legal advice given to the Cabinet before the war.

"Tony Blair said he was happy to have a debate on Iraq with people who 'disagreed fundamentally' with the decision to go to war.

"However he added: 'What I find contemptible are those parts of the Conservative Party that agreed with the war in Iraq, were urging the war in Iraq upon us and now attempt to resile from that position.

" 'I don’t think that will command respect anywhere'."

"The 'Great Satan,' part of the 'axis of evil' and an 'outpost of tyranny' will gather for the funeral of Pope John Paul, who toiled for peace but whose mourners find it hard to forgive each other.

"At what is expected to be one of the biggest funerals ever, there will be heads of governments whose hostile exchanges have long dominated the headlines -- the United States and Iran, Israel and Syria, Zimbabwe and Britain among others."

"Most of the time, these descriptions of the pope's role in the collapse of communism are vague, and perhaps as a result much confusion has crept into the conversation. An acquaintance this week had a telephone call from a reporter who wanted to talk about how the pope secretly negotiated the end of communism with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. In real life, the pope's role in the end of the communist regime was far less conspiratorial, but no less significant -- which is why it might be worth remembering what it was, actually, that he did."

"It's interesting. I haven't broken this down but I would say that about half of the loudest talking heads are people who are on the record as failed actors, people who are envious."

"Norway will shut companies that refuse to recruit at least 40 per cent women to their boards by 2007 under an unprecedented equality drive, a cabinet minister said.

" 'Companies have been dragging their feet. They really have to recruit more women,' Children and Family Affairs Minister Laila Daavoey said. 'In the very worst case, they will face closure'."

"Norway's parliament told firms in 2002 to ensure at least 40 per cent of each sex in boardrooms by mid-2005."

"US President George W. Bush knelt before the body of Pope John Paul II early today, paying homage in Saint Peter's Basilica to one of the leading critics of the US-led war on Iraq."

"The United States, which says it aims to promote democracy in the region, contributed to an international context that hampered progress through its policy toward Israel, its actions in Iraq and security measures affecting Arabs, the report said...

"The most controversial sections described the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and the occupation of Iraq by the United States and its allies as violations of freedom and obstacles to development.

"[One of the Report's authors, Rima] Khalaf said in the launch address that over a 10th of Arabs now lived under foreign occupation."

"The report said occupation of Arab land had given governments an excuse to postpone democratization, forced Arab reformers to divert energy away from reform and strengthened groups that advocate violence."

"The Polish Pope's internal policies were devastating... [There are] many average, even incompetent bishops, some countries where over half of all parishes are without priests, and less and less qualified new blood... This Pope continued to forbid priests from marrying, he forbade women to use the Pill, men to use condoms, women to take Church ministries, lay theologists to preach and Christians (of other denominations) to share the eucharist."

"As many as 14 suspected terrorists, including most wanted Al-Qaeda leaders, have been killed and five others have been wounded in three days of fierce clashes, which ended here yesterday, the Interior Ministry said...

"Only 14 security men were wounded and hospitalized, the official said. Most of them, except two, sustained minor injuries, he said, adding that the injuries sustained by the two were not life threatening... It was the longest and toughest battle with the terrorists who used rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and machine guns against security forces...

"It was unclear whether Saleh Al-Oufi, commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was among the killed in the Al-Rass battle. However, some sources said Saud Al-Otaibi, a Saudi, and Abdul Kareem Al-Majati, a Moroccan, both on the most wanted list, were among the dead. One militant belonging to the Onaiza cell surrendered to authorities, the sources said. The faces of three dead terrorists were disfigured beyond recognition and their true identity can be established only after DNA tests, a source said."

"Particularly striking... is the absence of Egyptians among foreign Arab volunteers for the insurgency in Iraq, even though Egypt is the largest Arab country, with millions of sympathizers of Islamist groups. It is also known that many Egyptians, including professionals among them, arrived in Iraq looking for work, and some of them were taken hostage by insurgent groups. Hundreds of Egyptians also took part in previous Islamist battles in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya. The absence of Egyptians from the list may be explained by a significant decline in the influence of Jihadi groups in Egypt; the harsh oppression of Islamists by the Egyptian authorities; the mass trials of Egyptians who returned from other regions where Islamists staged insurgencies; and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. While the Brotherhood does support the Jihad in Iraq, it advocates a strategy of propaganda only, demanding of its adherents to strictly refrain from physical participation in the Iraqi Jihad."

"John Paul II became Pope in 1978, just as the emancipatory 60s were declining into the long political night of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher."

"As a prelate from Poland, Wojtyla hailed from what was probably the most reactionary national outpost of the Catholic church, full of maudlin Mary-worship, nationalist fervour and ferocious anti-communism. Years of dealing with the Polish communists had turned him and his fellow Polish bishops into consummate political operators. In fact, it turned the Polish church into a set-up that was, at times, not easy to distinguish from the Stalinist bureaucracy. Both institutions were closed, dogmatic, censorious and hierarchical, awash with myth and personality cults. It was just that, like many alter egos, they also happened to be deadly enemies, locked in lethal combat over the soul of the Polish people."

"The conservative wing of the Vatican, which had detested the [Second] Vatican Council from the outset and done its utmost to derail it, thus looked to the Poles for salvation. When the throne of Peter fell empty, the conservatives managed to swallow their aversion to a non-Italian pontiff and elected one for the first time since 1522."

"The greatest crime of his papacy, however, was neither his part in this [child sex abuse] cover up nor his neanderthal attitude to women. It was the grotesque irony by which the Vatican condemned - as a 'culture of death' - condoms, which might have saved countless Catholics in the developing world from an agonising Aids death. The Pope goes to his eternal reward with those deaths on his hands. He was one of the greatest disasters for the Christian church since Charles Darwin."

"Leaders of the Taleban insurgency in Afghanistan sent a message from their hiding place on Sunday, calling on Pope John Paul's successor to use his influence to stop what the Taleban called the persecution of Muslims.

"A Taleban spokesman told Reuters news agency the insurgency felt neither grief nor joy over the pope's death, but believed some the pontiff's message of peace and harmony was worth considering. The spokesman also said many of the pope's followers want peace, but many others are still committing excesses against Muslims."

"In the post-Berlin Wall world this man did so much to shape, it's difficult to recall the much different circumstances that obtained when he assumed the chair of St. Peter. Former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro had been kidnapped and executed by terrorists. In Iran bloody protests were brewing that would within months pull down the Shah and usher in the ayatollahs. In the Soviet Union the dissident Anatoly Shcharansky (now the Israeli Natan Sharansky) was dispatched to the gulag, while Afghanistan had already endured the leftist coup that would, in short order, lead to a full-fledged Soviet invasion.

"Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were still in the future, and so was a workers' strike called by an unknown Pole named Lech Walesa. Everywhere one looked, the truth of the Brezhnev Doctrine seemed brutally self-evident: Once Communist, always Communist. Oh, yes: The Catholic Church which this first Slavic pope found himself bequeathed was thought by many to be hopelessly irrelevant to the crises of modern times."

"The Pope's tenure straddled AIDS' rise from a disease first seen in a handful of American gays to a global pandemic that by last year had claimed more than 20 million lives and left nearly 40 million others infected with HIV."

" 'Millions of people in developing countries are orphans, having lost their parents to AIDS because of the pope's anti-condom dogma,' said British gay campaigner Peter Tatchell of the group OutRage.

" 'We mourn for the eight million Catholics who have died of AIDS, and worry for the more than 10 million Catholics who are infected,' said Khalil Elouardighi of the French branch of the lobby group Act Up.

" 'It should not be forgotten that millions have died in Africa as a result of this theological rigidity,' said the British centrist daily The Independent.

" 'Blindess in the face of AIDS' was the headline in France's left-of-centre daily Liberation."

"The Free Muslims Against Terrorism offer our condolences to members of the Roman Catholic Church on the death of Pope John Paul II.

"Pope John Paul II was unique among the world’s religious leaders. Not only was he an advocate for justice and human rights but his message of interfaith reconciliation went beyond the lip service that many of the world religious leaders offer.

"Several years ago Pope John Paul II made history by apologizing to Jews and Muslims for the wrongs that has been committed against them by the Catholic Church. This gesture earned our admiration and respect because rarely do leaders of any religion admit that their co-religionists have committed wrongs against others.

"We pray for Pope John Paul II and we pray that all religious leaders adopt the love and compassion that Pope John Paul II had for his fellow man.

"May God bless him and may his soul rest in peace."

"One such [message board] user lashed out at Al-Jazeera, saying viewers were 'annoyed' with extensive reports eulogizing the pope, who the user described as an 'old tyrant.'

" 'What is mortifying is that this hooligan channel pretends [to defend] Islam,' added the user, who wrote under the name Muhib al-Salihine on the Islamic News Network, a site often used by Islamist militants operating in Iraq.

" 'What is more humiliating - I think that it was Al-Arabiya channel - is that the imam of a mosque ... praised the memory [of the pope],' said Seri Eddine le Libyen on the same site.

" 'I have started to hate Al-Jazeera for the multiplicity of information on the grieving' for the pope, said another user."

"Two of Afghanistan's most powerful northern warlords have laid down their arms to enter politics as the country prepares for its first parliamentary elections. The militias of ethnic Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostam and his Tajik rival Mohammed Atta have clashed repeatedly in and around Mazar-i-Sharif since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

"But calm has descended on this northern city as both men look to build political power bases. 'There are always underlying tensions, but no major problems lately. Dostum and Atta wanted to be legitimate,' said Captain Tim Rawlinson of the city's British-run Provincial Reconstruction Team, part of NATO's peacekeeping mission in the north.

"To stand in the September 18 parliamentary elections, candidates must prove they are not linked to an armed group and although commanders such as Atta and Dostam still have ties to their militias, they have disarmed most of their men as part of a UN-backed disarmament drive."

"The voting will include ballots for Afghanistan's 34 provincial assemblies as well as the 'Wolesi Jirga,' or People's Assembly -- the lower house of Afghanistan's bicameral parliament...

"It will not be possible this year to conduct more complicated local elections for district councils within each province. 'Due to some technical and logistical problems, we cannot hold the district-council elections this year,' [chairman of the Afghan-UN Joint Electoral Management Body, Bismillah] Bismil said. 'It is up to the Wolesi Jirga [to resolve outstanding issues related to] the borders of the districts. And then we shall be able to finalize the dates for the district council elections.'

"Under the Afghan Constitution, the Afghan president appoints one-third of the members of parliament's upper house -- known as the Mushrano Jirga, or Assembly of Elders. The provincial assemblies and local district councils within each province also elect delegates from among their members.

"But the lack of district councils has forced the Joint Electoral Management Board to improvise. It says a temporary upper house will be created so the parliament can function until district elections are held. Under that system, there will be 51 representatives in the temporary upper house. Each of the 34 provincial assemblies elected in September will send one representative. The remaining 17 seats -- one-third of the total -- will be appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai."

"[Peter Erben, a member of the Joint Electoral Management Body] said 5000 - 10,000 candidates may nominate themselves for 249 seats...

"Voters in the presidential elections of last year could cast their votes wherever they wanted but in the parliamentary elections they will have to vote in the constituencies where they registered... A one-month voter registration campaign would be launched for those who did not register during the presidential elections or were not eligible then.

"Erben said there would be 30,000 polling stations and 5,000 constituencies all over Afghanistan with 187,000 staff working on the voting day. Around 4,300 Afghan employees and 425 internationals will be working to enhance public awareness in parts of the country about how to vote."

"The Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul buzzed with excitement earlier this month as more than 500 men and women, some of the latter stylishly dressed and even a few without the once-obligatory headscarf, marked International Women's Day. The highlight of the March 8 event, sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM, and the ministry of women's affairs, and funded by the Afghan government along with France, South Korea and Japan, was a rare appearance by Dr Zeenat Karzai, accompanying her husband President Hamed Karzai, who was the keynote speaker."

"To increase the impact and foster capacity building of women's role in civil society, USAID recently launched its three-year Initiative to Promote Afghan Civil Society (I-PACS). The program provides training and mentoring for capacity building of small civil society organizations (CSOs). I-PACS has set aside $5 million for small grants to enable qualifying non-governmental organizations, groups, associations and community institutions to foster political participation, income-generation, health education, and advocacy. At least 50% of these grants will go to women-focused and women-led organizations. The first grants, to women-led NGOs, were awarded in February 2005."

"Sitting behind the steering wheel of her red 4x4 Toyota, Sina Shireen gets a kick out of being one of the first women in this western Afghan city to throw off her burqa and learn how to drive.

"The diminutive 22-year-old may be hard to see behind the tinted windows of the massive car but three years ago she had to be completely shrouded in an all-encompassing blue burqa even to leave the house.

" 'The most joyful moments of my life are when I'm driving -- I love it,' Shireen says, the excitement visible on her face as she finally gets to do what the country's male motorists take for granted.

"High school student Shireen is taking part at the first ever-driving course in Herat, Afghanistan's most prosperous city, which was launched in early February by the traffic department, under the auspices of the new governor."

"UC Santa Cruz graduate Masuda Rahmati Diaz may not have won a crown during the Mrs. World contest in India, but she won a newfound respect and love for others and a chance to make a bit of history for Afghan women, she said.

"Masuda, who is a real estate agent in Carmel, [California] was chosen as Mrs. Afghanistan 2005, the first woman from her country to enter the Mrs. World pageant.

"Married to Rene Diaz, who founded S.A. Commerce LLC, a multi-million-dollar fresh cut-flower importing business, Masuda decided to enter the pageant as Mrs. Afghanistan to show the women of her native country change is possible, she said.

"Masuda left Kabul as a child when her wealthy family was forced to leave the country and eventually settled in the United States where she had to learn English and the ways of a whole new culture."

"UNHCR officials are hopeful that the repatriation operation will gather momentum towards the end of the month, as harsh winter conditions that have affected fghanistan and Pakistan's northwestern areas ease. Each returning Afghan on the scheme gets up to US $30 in travel grant. An additional $12 per person is paid to help with integration. All payments are made to returnees at UNHCR encashment centres inside Afghanistan. Last year more than 384,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan under the voluntary repatriation programme. UNHCR expects about 400,000 Afghans to voluntarily repatriate during 2005."

"As part of its overall objective to create conditions for stability, USAID is increasing access to education by training teachers, distributing supplies, and reconstructing schools. The Afghanistan Primary Education Program (APEP) provides accelerated education to over-age learners who were denied primary education during the Taliban era, as well as training for teachers through specialized courses at each grade level and nationwide radio-based teacher training broadcasts. APEP also prints textbooks for primary and secondary schools throughout Afghanistan. As part of APEP's program, Master Trainers teach provincial counterparts who in turn train village teachers. This 'cascade method' provides quality training at each grade level to 6,969 teachers of APEP's accelerated learning classes. On February 21st, approximately 150 of the Ministry of Education's Master Trainers completed training. Additional Master Trainer programs are being planned to meet the needs of the 30 teachers who were unable to reach Kabul due to the severe winter weather. Also, this reporting period, 422 additional students in Sari Pul Province enrolled in APEP's Accelerated Learning programs. These additional enrollments bring the overall figure to 170,268 - above the original target of 170,000 students. To support the expansion of the education system, USAID is building schools - 137 schools have been constructed, and an additional 279 are underway. Record snowfall, however, has significantly slowed the rate of school construction."

"[The National Solidarity Program] integrates literacy, numeracy and life skills with income generation, and is managed through locally elected women's and men's Community Development Councils of the NSP. In 2005 LCEP will reach into 200 villages where there is over 90% female illiteracy, training almost 400 village teachers and 8,000 learners, 65% of whom will be girls and women. Literacy linked with enterprise development helps ensure female participation and increased income."

"As more than 4 million Afghan children prepare to return to school from next week after a particularly harsh winter, the United Nations Children's (UNICEF) has been helping the Ministry of Education to provide basic classroom stationery and materials to schools nationwide.

"Although the difficult weather delayed distribution of some materials en route from Pakistan and classroom kits destined for northern provinces, tens of thousands of student kits have been prepared for more than 2 million children, containing materials such as exercise books, pens, pencils and other stationery. Full distribution to an estimated 4.3 million children is expected to be completed by mid-April."

"Afghanistan's justice system faces enormous challenges, and USAID is working in close cooperation with the Supreme Court and Ministry of Justice to strengthen the five major elements necessary for a recognized rule of law: legal framework, formal court system, qualified legal personnel, judicial buildings, and citizens who know and exercise their legal rights. In particular, significant progress has been made in working with and training the nine Supreme Court Judges. USAID has trained Supreme Court administrative staff and is upgrading records management which, among other things, will allow the Supreme Court to track the training needs of local-level judges. In January 2005, USAID worked with the Supreme Court to coordinate among donors to better plan and execute legal personnel training and to establish a training library."

"The satellite-based networks that will be established later this year with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will offer connectivity to major hospitals in India to improve healthcare in the war-ravaged country. An ISRO team will visit Afghanistan soon to install the network at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Chid Health (IGICH) - a 250-bed hospital in Kabul set up during the mid-60s with funds from the Indian government - which will be linked with New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)."

"The 350-bed hospital which was built nearly 40 years ago, in the central suburbs of Wazir Akbar Khan will provide a fee-paying service to patients for surgical and orthopedic procedures. A spokesman for the ministry of health, Abdullah Fahim told Pajhwok Afghan News that the University wants to help Afghanistan improve its health facilities and bring the health care services to good international standards. 'The Loma Linda University wants to carry out healthcare services with good international standards for a fee'."

"The first photo-journalism agency to be established in post-Taliban Afghanistan has since played a vital role in creating a flow of news and pictures from the war-torn nation. Now, Channels Exhibitions, the organisers of PhotoWorld-Dubai 2005, have invited AINA Photo of Afghanistan to present its pioneering activities at the imaging exhibition taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on March 15-17.

"AINA Photo was established in 2002 by AINA, a non-profit association founded in France in August 2001 by Iranian-born photographer Reza. Based in Kabul, the agency now offers Afghans the opportunity to tell their own stories, and covers their daily life after 23 years of conflict and political instability.

"The core of the new agency's professionals came from Afghanistan's first school of photo-journalism, founded in 2002 by Iranian-born international press photographer Manoocher Deghati. About 15 Afghan men and women were given a chance to train as photo journalists, and some later joined AINA Photo.

"Today, the agency has a network of many Afghan photographers, both men and women, working out of the country's main cities. The association AINA brings together a team of 25 volunteers and media professionals, and employs 250 Afghans - including 130 journalists - in eight media and cultural centres and gives training courses each year to more than 300 journalists and students.

"Publications supported by AINA reach more than 250,000 readers, its mobile educative cinema screenings reach almost a million viewers annually and its partner radio programmes - including the first women's station - enjoy an audience of three to five million listeners throughout Afghanistan."

"Mohammed Halim Fedayi, the chief editor of the magazine told Pajhwok Afghan News that the magazine covers social, cultural and political issues and presents a true picture of the province to other Afghans in the country and the world.

"He criticized the national and international media for carrying false reports about the province: 'They give bad coverage of the province and claim to know much about the region from afar.' According to him the security condition in the province is not that bad as reported by many media outlets."

"Afghanistan's Bactrian treasures, a famous collection of gold artifacts thought to have been destroyed by the Taliban, will go on a world tour. Considered an important part of Afghanistan's historic patrimony, the 2,000-year-old collection consisting of 20,000 gold artifacts, jewelry, weapons and everyday objects, was found in six tombs in the northern region formerly known as Bactria, an ancient nation considered a major stop on the Silk Road."

"Never mind that the fairway was just a muddy hillside. Or that the green was a patch of sand smoothed with black motor oil.

"Mohammed Hashem prepared to tee off with all the concentration of his new hero, Tiger Woods. 'Check the condition of the ground first,' warned instructor Mohammed Afzal Abdul.

"It's an essential precaution on the rock-strewn links of the Kabul Golf Club, which reopened on the outskirts of Afghanistan's capital last spring after more than two decades of war and neglect.

"Like the rest of the country, the government-owned course is something of a work in progress. Landscapers have dragged away most of the weapons and shrapnel that littered the grounds, though a rusted Russian tank still stands sentry atop one of several hills ringing the course. A large metal shipping container has been brought in to replace the old clubhouse, now a bombed-out shell.

"Abdul, the club's director in addition to its pro, has also built a water hazard. Someday soon, he hopes to fill it with water. The rough, at least, is world-class.

"Despite the challenges posed by the nine-hole course, about 100 diplomats, aid workers and other foreigners paid a small fee to golf here last year. With the club's second season about to begin, Abdul, a slim, athletic-looking man in his 40s, is keen to attract a larger crowd.

" 'If I could get funds from the Americans or maybe the British, I could put a fence all around the course to keep the foreigners safe,' he said. 'Then we will need a well, so we can grow grass, and plumbing so we can build a new clubhouse.'

"Still, he said, his priority was the roughly 50 Afghan students he has been teaching free all winter. 'I know they have a bright future in golf and that makes me feel very happy,' Abdul said."

"After a generation of conflict, Afghans are slowly emerging from darkness. In the afterglow of last fall's presidential election, there is hope in Kabul.

"Violence in the capital is now rare. Record numbers of children, including girls, are returning to rebuilt schools. U.S. trainers are forging a multiethnic Afghan army. Aid money is flowing in, and relief groups are helping put the health service and other institutions back on their feet.

"Still, three years after America invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and the quick fall of the Taliban regime, Kabul remains a city of struggle. It is a place where life is hard, and where many promises have yet to be met."

"Each morning before dawn, thousands of men offer themselves up at day laborer markets, carrying their paintbrushes, wheelbarrows and trowels and hoping to be among the lucky ones chosen to earn $6 and a breakfast of bread and green tea for a day's work.

"Some of that work is rebuilding the city's devastated infrastructure. Electricity supplies are improving, but much of the city is still without sewage systems or telephone service. Entrepreneurs with mobile or satellite phones power them from car batteries, selling call time by the minute.

"Across the city, workers dig neck-deep trenches looking for damaged power lines, while others give a fresh coat of paint to bomb-damaged mosques. The city's streets are congested with men pushing heavy bricks and building materials on carts among the sport utility vehicles of relief workers, government officials, diplomats and drug profiteers."

"Farmers, shopkeepers and private individuals in northern Afghanistan are being encouraged to apply for small loans as the country's first credit union project gets under way.

"With the banking system in disarray outside the capital Kabul, many people have no credit facilities other than moneylenders who may charge up to 50 per cent a month in interest...

"Afghanistan has seen a number of donor-funded microfinance schemes designed to help poor people start businesses, but the new scheme is the first to create something approximating to a cooperative bank, offering services such as savings, loans, and even plastic cards.

"The United States-based World Council of Credit Unions, WOCCU, recently opened the first in a planned series of credit union branches in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, with another to follow in Shiberghan province.

"The project is funded by the Microfinance Investment and Support Facility for Afghanistan, MISFA, an Afghan government agency which is overseeing microfinance projects. WOCCU, with headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, has been operating for more than 30 years running similar programmes in 85 countries, with 123 million members worldwide.

"So far, the Afghan branch has attracted more than 1,000 members. Credit unions work as a cooperative, offering financial services to anyone who joins and obeys the rules such as saving regularly and repaying loans on time."

"Revitalizing Agricultural Livelihoods for Women: 75% of all Afghans live in rural areas, and most families are very poor and undernourished. Multiple USAID programs are increasing skills training for women and access to resources. In one initiative, 11,000 women have been trained in poultry technology and management, with 55,800 chicks distributed to increase family incomes and nutrition. 5,000 more women will join the program in 2005. In another effort, USAID and Development Works Canada have joined to develop a vegetable dehydration factory that employs 400 women. Some 1,400 farm families, using female home labor, will supply the factory with various produce. Microcredit programs across the country specifically target women. 6,000 women received micro loans in 2004 with USAID funds, with an average loan size of $550.

"Private sector enterprise development: USAID has supported the Women Entrepreneurship Development (WED) program through the Ministry of Commerce since August 2003. WED has helped create significant breakthroughs for Afghan businesswomen. It established the 400 female member Afghan Women Business Association (AWBA), which has introduced women's products locally and internationally, assisted ten women to sign export contracts, supported creation of the first 'Afghan Women and Business' magazine, and trained 380 women in basic and advanced business courses."

"President Hamid Karzai went to the entrance of the Panjsher Valley on Monday to mark the start of a road project he hopes will show political foes the economic benefits of laying down their weapons. Panjsher became a symbol of resistance to both the Soviets and the Taliban during the past quarter century of conflict. Ethnically Tajik, the valley is now a centre of opposition to Karzai, who comes from the traditionally dominant Pashtuns...

"USAID is funding the $12 million road, and Louis Berger Corp is working with the Afghan government on the first phase of the project -- covering the first 20 km of the 70-km road into the heart of the valley.

"The road will bring trade, and better access to health care and the outside world, to the villages strung along the banks of the Panjsher River as it courses through steep gorges and ravines from the Hindu Kush mountains.

"More than that, it will help assuage Panjsheri fears of being left behind in Afghanistan's reconstruction, after fewer than one percent voted for Karzai in last October's historic presidential election."

"When Barry Rosen travels through Afghanistan, he sees how modern technology and ancient cultures mix. 'It seems like everybody has a mobile phone,' said Rosen. 'It's an amazing situation. It's farmers in villages, merchants. They look like they're out of the 11th century. And all of a sudden, you see them flip open their phones. It's the cutest thing in the world to see.'

"Rosen heads an education project in Afghanistan run by Columbia University Teachers College. He lived in the country for 10 months in 2004. He spent only $40 a month on wireless services, even though he made many calls to the U.S.

"Rosen signed up for mobile services from Roshan. It's Afghanistan's biggest wireless operator, with some 450,000 subscribers. No. 2 Afghan Wireless Communications has about 260,000.

"Afghanistan is a poor country. Yet wireless use is growing fast. Roshan and Afghan Wireless are locked in a fierce battle over customers -- government officials, foreign workers, traders, professionals and well-to-do farmers -- that have enough money to spend on wireless...

"After the U.S. ousted the Taliban and al-Qaida from Afghanistan in late 2001, the country had a mere 33,000 landline connections. Decades of war had damaged its telecom networks. Kabul, the capital city with millions of residents, had just 12,000 phone lines.

"Roshan estimates Afghanistan will have 1 million wireless users by year's end. That's up from 100,000 in 2003 and 15,000 in 2002."

"Today, in the aftermath of two decades of civil war, technology is beginning to return some of that wealth to the shattered country. Although deeply divided by geography and ethnicity, a nascent technological boom in Afghanistan is spreading beyond the cities and has the potential to reshape the country.

" 'Two years ago, when we went into Afghanistan, there wasn't' even a working road grader in the whole country,' said Harry Reid of USAID, the government aid agency. He said that most advanced technology were mine detectors.

"Today, this country of 29 million has more than 662,500 people using mobile phones, reports the GSM Association, a cellular trade group. Afghanistan's Internet domain, .af, was awarded in March 2003 and Web cafes are springing up around Kabul. Microsoft is even inserting phrases of Afghanistan's two dominant languages, Dari and Pashto, into its software.

"That is a sea change from 2002 when only one telephone line existed for every 1,000 people, according to the Afghan government. The United States government counted only 1,000 Internet users and 15,000 people with mobile phones in the whole country, among the lowest in the world."

"USAID continues to enhance the Afghan power sector through provision of fuel and rehabilitation of hydro plants. Diesel fuel supplies provide for operations of the Northwest Kabul power facility, Kandahar emergency diesel station and Lashkar Gah emergency diesel supply. As diesel fuel is a primary source of power supply for Kabul and Kandahar during winter low hydro periods, an additional 8 million liters has been supplied (contract awarded January 2005.) Refurbishment of the Kajaki Hydroelectric Power Plant's two turbine units and construction of a new third unit began in December 2004. A work camp has been constructed and work on Unit 1 is underway."

"Over the course of his career, R. Mick Fulton has been involved in the design and build of two animal diagnostic laboratories, experiences he will take to Afghanistan later this month to help that country re-build its agriculture and food industry.

"Fulton, an associate professor of avian diseases in Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, heads to Afghanistan on March 21 to help in the construction of a laboratory similar to MSU's Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health (DCPAH). This, he said, is one of the first steps in helping the war-torn nation begin to feed itself."

"An Afghan boy brought to the U.S. last month for a heart operation after a soldier took up his cause came to New York yesterday to sightsee and show off the boundless energy of a typical 12-year-old.

" 'Before, I cannot walk so much,' Assadullah Khan said during the whirlwind trip with his father and interpreter to meet the 'nice people' who helped save his life. 'Now, I walk everywhere. I can walk and run.'

"Until last month's operation to patch a hole in his heart, Assadullah could barely walk across a room, much less go to school or play with other children in his tiny village of Jdellak. But something about the small boy with big brown eyes caught the attention of U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Layne Pace."

"Vasila, an 11-year-old Afghani girl, has a beaming smile, a bold singing voice, five brothers and sisters, a house they and their parents share with six other families and, between the 20 children who live there, one toy: a little plastic doll without arms or legs. Vasila also has a congenital heart defect that could take her life if it is not treated within six months.

"Now, thanks to an anonymous donation to 'Vasila's Heart' -- a new fund at Project Kids Worldwide -- she has something else as well: hope.

" 'Vasila's Heart' will soon bring Vasila -- whose story was first reported by documentary filmmaker Stacia Teele and featured on ABC's Nightline on March 2 -- to NYU Medical Center to treat her Patent Ductus Arteriosus, a congenital heart defect that allows unoxygenated blood to circulate through her body. But Vasila -- whom Teele discovered while making her film, Back to Afghanistan, directed by Ed Robbins -- will leave behind countless other Afghani children whose diseased yet treatable hearts await only the generosity needed to bring them here to join her."

"In 1997, Taliban leaders nearly drove a 600-year-old Afghan art form to extinction when they fired 22 of the 30 craftsmen at the Blue Mosque Tile Factory here. The eight remaining blue-tile artisans held in their hands the fate of this ancient craft.

"After U.S. and coalition forces expelled the Taliban from power in 2001, the factory, now called the Blue Mosque Preservation Center, began to flourish. In the months ahead, the center will help former combatants lay down their weapons to become productive members of Afghan society.

"The coalition's Herat Provincial Reconstruction Team has funded a project to train 40 former combatants in cooperation with the Afghan New Beginnings Program. Representatives from the Blue Mosque Preservation Center, the Department of Social Affairs and Labor and the ANBP will select the new workers based on their interests, aptitude and skills."

"The PRT has been working closely with Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah to improve health care for the citizens of Helmand. The PRT has refurbished the woman's wing of the hospital, reconstructed the infectious disease ward, renovated the hospital's exterior, and repaired water service. The PRT donated more than $100,000 worth of medical equipment.

"In cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the PRT has constructed 16 schools, provided 1,500 desks and donated more than 100 computers for students. They have also constructed 12 medical clinics in an effort to improve rural health care.

"More than 10,000 Afghans are working in Helmand under the PRT's Alternative Income Program. The program employs laborers to reconstruct and clean storage drains. The PRT has also contributed humanitarian supplies such as food, blankets and tents to the Helmand Rural Rehabilitation Department for distribution to needy families."

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai and American University of Afghanistan officials broke ground March 21 to begin the process of building the university. They dug in to officially break ground on the future university's perimeter wall.

"The $370,000 wall-building project is being funded by Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan and will take about five months to complete, said Lt. Col. Bill Leady, CFC-A engineer. 'This marks the first physical construction of what will be a strong tie between the American and Afghanistan cultures,' Leady said.

"CFC-A will oversee the wall project in accordance with the university board of trustees' desires. Once the wall has been erected, the university buildings will be constructed under a partnership with university officials and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"The university will be privately run by an elected board of trustees comprised of Afghans and Americans and will stress an American style of education. The school will not have any direct political or financial ties to America."

"On March 10, Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix will be traveling to Tangi Kalay Village, northeast of Kabul, to participate in the opening of a community center that the task force help fund.

"During an initial visit to the village, members of CJTF Phoenix spoke to Debra Babakarkhil of the Kabul Province Reconstruction Organization. She described how the people of Tangi Kalay desired to have a community center where services such as Voter / Returning Refugee Registration, Medical Day Clinics, Workforce Development Programs, and a village meeting hall. After the construction was complete the village hoped to build a school for the children of three villages.

"U.S. Army Maj. Marcus Thomas reported the request to CJTF Phoenix Civil Military Operations Officer, Lt. Col. Terry Snow. With Snow's assistance, the command of CJTF Phoenix awarded more than $17,000 to rebuild the center and school buildings. The money was designated to pay for the materials to construct the building, while Tangi Kalay and two other villages paid for local contractors to build the project."

"On the heels of International Women's Day March 8, Afghanistan's deputy minister of women's affairs visited two villages in the eastern part of the country to take part in women's 'shuras.'

"The Afghan shura serves as a forum for women in the community to discuss their concerns and needs, just as a 'jirga' serves as an assembly of elder men to solve problems within the community. Women's shuras have been conducted in many villages across Afghanistan in the past year.

" 'The country is very traditional, and they've always worked their problems through jirgas, and they have elders come and discuss their problems,' Deputy Minister Nageeba Shareef said. 'Basically this was the same thing.'

"Shareef and several women from the coalition's Combined Joint Task Force 76, met with the women of Torkham, in Nangarhar province, on March 10. This was the area's first women's shura. More than 50 women from the village gathered under the shade of trees in a courtyard to be part of the event. Shareef was the first government official to visit the area."

"It took about 150 years for women to get the right to vote in the United States, and decades longer to achieve equal rights under the law. So in some respects, women are off to a solid start in a democratic Afghanistan.

"About 150 women gathered Thursday at Albirooni University to hear a series of speakers tout women's rights in a country where - especially under the Taliban - females have long been considered second-class citizens. 'As women, we want to have equal rights when it comes to this society,' said Shirin Sahar, one of the event's organizers.

"Parween Kohistani, director of women's affairs for the province of Kapisa, said the U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power provided a big boost for women. 'It has improved a lot in the last three years,' she said through a translator.

"Another translator was needed for one of the event's keynote speakers: Sgt. Michelle Naylor. The New York native is serving her third tour in Afghanistan. She grew up a short distance from Seneca Falls, a key spot in the women's suffrage movement in the 1920s... Naylor said she's not used to speaking in front of so many people, but she said this issue is an important one. She brushed off any pressure about being a role model - dressed in desert camouflage - for hundreds of women."

"Knowing the skills of the Coalition doctors at Bagram, Zaleikha and her uncle hoped just showing up at the Bagram gate would be enough.

"The pair traveled from Farah, on the other side of Afghanistan from Bagram, to see if Coalition surgeons could operate on 10-year-old Zaleikha and repair her cleft palate.

"Once the doctors were made aware of the girl's needs, they were eager to do what they could for her. Colonel Dallas Homas, a Combined Joint Task Force 76 surgeon, deployed here with the 25th Infantry Division (Light), performed the surgery March 2 at the U.S. hospital here at Bagram. Afterwards he said he was pleased with the operation, and it went well and looked very good."

"Attacks on U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have fallen by at least half in the past year, a U.S. general who commands military operations across the country said in Kabul.

"A year ago, 'we would experience between 10 and 15 attacks against coalition forces a week,' U.S. Army Major General Eric T. Olson said... 'Now, at this point in time, we rarely receive more than five attacks per week.'

"The U.S.-led coalition lost 20 to 25 soldiers in the past year, Olson said. About 117 American troops have died in Afghanistan since late 2001, with slightly more than half killed in action."

"Almost 19,000 soldiers now serve in the Afghan National Army, with another 3,400 currently undergoing basic training. Permanent corps now stand in the four regions of Afghanistan - North (Mazar-e-Sharif), South (Kandahar), East (Gardez) and West (Herat) - and in Kabul. And plans for permanent brigade headquarters are also under way.

"Office of Military Cooperation - Afghanistan Deputy Director of the Defense Operations Sector British Lt. Col. Andy Fenton recently completed an operational assessment of the southern region, assessing the operations and conduct of these soldiers. By all accounts, the soldiers serve nobly, stand ready and ably carry out their duties. 'The soldiers,' said Fenton, 'displayed a good standard of tactical skill and a high standard of situational awareness' on the operations I participated in. They drew their experience from either prior, pre-ANA combat experience or from their ANA service. 'They knew the area well and seemed to anticipate potential trouble,' he added. 'And they acted proactively to situations, rather than reactively'."

"The National Military Academy of Afghanistan graduated its first class of basic training soldiers March 17. The 112 cadets then swore into the academy in front of three ANA generals as well as Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix commander Army Brig. Gen. Richard Moorhead and Army Col. James Wilhite of the Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan, as well as representatives from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the Turkish force commander...

"The basic training course included physical fitness training, basic infantry tactics, weapons familiarization and qualification, military customs and courtesies, first aid, road marches and proper drill and ceremony...

"The newly formed academy is the first military academy for the Afghan National Army and is being structured around the same format used at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. With the completion of the officer candidate basic training, the cadets move on to four years of higher education at the academy. Upon completion of a four-year college degree, each cadet will then be a commissioned officer in the ANA."

"For the first time in the history of the Afghanistan National Army, an embedded training team [EET] will work with its unit from the first day of training. ANA soldiers are trained in kandaks, battalion-sized elements of 800 soldiers, then sent on missions throughout Afghanistan. The ETT, made up of coalition soldiers, mentors and trains the kandak in actual military operations.

"Until now, the members of an ETT met their kandak for the first time on graduation day at the Kabul Military Training Center. They would then transport the kandak members to their assigned duty station.

"ETTs now have the opportunity to build trust and bond with the ANA soldiers much earlier. More importantly, an ETT has a hand in its kandak’s basic training, where in the past, training had to be conducted in the field after basic training."

"Through tremendous effort by OMC-A [Office of Military Cooperation - Afghanistan] and the Afghan MoD's Communications Directorate, computers and networks are being installed at the MoD, at all five corps headquarters and at all training facilities. OMC-A is carrying out a $31 million comprehensive plan for initial stand-up, intermediate automation and permanent sustainment of communications systems connecting all echelons of the ANA with their first-ever automated command and control systems...

"A large investment in human resources is also necessary. The base of knowledge and experience ANA soldiers have with computer technology is very limited. ANA Maj. Gen. Mohammad Amin Norestani, chief of legal affairs for the MoD, recognized the importance of computer technology early in the development of the new ANA...

"The next project in OMC-A's comprehensive plan is to set up eight computer labs at the Kabul Military Training Center so new recruits can learn about computers before they get to their first assignment."

"Gen. Zahir Azemi, a spokesman for the defense ministry, said that the DDR program had four phases and the third stage has been completed. The first phase, which was considered a pilot scheme, was confined to some provinces, the second and the third phases were fully implemented by the disarmament of militias throughout the country later. The defense ministry says that they plan to have the final phase completed by the 20th of June.

"Gen. Azemi added that the disarmament program that started in November 2003 started from Kandahar and has disarmed nearly 45,000 people so far. He added that more than 7,700 of those disarmed were military officers and the rest were soldiers. Nearly 98% of the proposed collection of heavy weaponry is complete, this includes 29,000 pieces of light and 8,000 heavy weapons. Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, a spokesman for the UN-backed disarmament program, said that rest of the 20% is also under the control of the defense ministry, but the process has been impeded due to cold weather and transportation problems."