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Daily Afghan Report


		[ 1 Auqust 2005 ] Russian Defense Minister Says Taliban Control Most Of Afghanistan... Sergei Ivanov told journalists in the Russian far eastern city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on 28 July that "most [of] Afghan territory is not controlled by anybody but the Taliban," Interfax reported. Ivanov was speaking about Afghanistan as the only "excuse" for the presence of U.S. military forces in Central Asia. Ivanov said the situation in Afghanistan is very "contradictory" because while the Taliban roam free in most of Afghanistan there are "no active military" operations taking place. Discussing the duration of the U.S. presence in Central Asia, Ivanov said that "it would be good to define for how many years the war in Afghanistan is going to last: 23, 30, or 250 years." Ivanov also claimed that "other countries are actively interfering" in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan, though he did not say which countries. Ivanov also said there is a lack of action against the drug trade in Afghanistan. "Nobody is lifting a finger to address drug production in Afghanistan," he added. At their July meeting, members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization called on the United States and its allies to withdraw their troops from Central Asia (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 25 July 2005). Uzbekistan recently asked the United States to leave a military base it is using in that country (see today's "Newsline," Part 1). AT ...As Kabul Says Remarks 'Irresponsible' Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi told a news conference in Kabul on 31 July that Ivanov's remarks about the Taliban controlling most of Afghanistan and on the narcotics problem in the country were "irresponsible" and were "political adventurism," Afghan Voice Agency reported. Afghanistan hopes that the "remarks of Ivanov only represent his personal view and not Moscow's official stance," Azimi added, Pajhwak Afghan News reported on 31 July. The war of words between Kabul and Moscow has gone on for some time and usually has involved Ivanov, but has reached new heights since May when Russian officials began pointing to Afghanistan as the origin of the demonstrations in Andijon that were violently suppressed by government forces (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 27 May 2005). AT Afghan Official Commentary Remembers Soviet Invasion A commentary posted on the website of the official Bakhtar News Agency on 31 July in response to Ivanov's remarks writes that the "Russians should have gained good experience from their defeat in Afghanistan," and stop interfering in the affairs of Afghanistan by making "irresponsible" speeches (http://www.bakhtarnews.com). According to Bakhtar, Ivanov's comments that the neo-Taliban have established their control on the majority of the provinces in Afghanistan "recalls" the "realities" which existed during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89) when Moscow's "puppet regime" governed only in Kabul only. In the same manner that the "dreams" of the former Soviet Union to conquer all of Afghanistan did not come true, Moscow's recent propaganda on instability in Afghanistan and the existence of the Taliban in several provinces will also prove untrue, Bakhtar concludes. AT Dozens Of Antigovernment Afghan Militia Members Killed According to Afghan Defense Minister spokesman Azimi, Afghan National Army (ANA) and U.S.-led coalition forces killed 26 neo-Taliban militiamen and arrested 49 during a joint operation in the southern provinces of Oruzgan, Helmand, and Zabul in the past few days, Bakhtar reported on 31 July. Azimi added that during these operations the ANA suffered three injuries. AT Southern Afghan District Chief Killed And Three Others Killed Abdul Jabbar, the district chief of Chahar Chino in Oruzgan, and three of his bodyguards were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a remote-control explosive device on 30 July, Pajhwak reported the next day. Neo-Taliban spokesman Latifullah Hakimi told Pajhwak that the militia carried out the attack. AT archive homepage

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