Positive news from Afghanistan

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UN agencies weekly update​

17 May 2010 - Latest news and information from UN agencies operating in Afghanistan.


SHINWARI DISTRICT OF PARWAN PROVINCE OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED AS PEACE DISTRICT

Five Commanders will submit 30 different types of weapons to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme in Shinwari district of Parwan province on Monday, after which Shinwari will be officially announced as a peace district. Meanwhile, 42 additional weapons which were confiscated as result of police and National Directorate of Security operations in Parwan province will also be submitted to the programme by provincial officials.

The ceremony will be attended by Parwan's provincial governor, the provincial chief of police, the provincial chief of NDS, officials from the Ministry of Defence and officials from the DIAG Joint Secretariat

These commanders not only supported the DIAG programme by surrendering their weapons, but facilitated the announcement of Shinwari district as DIAG compliant/ peace district.

Once the districts achieve DIAG compliance, development projects can begin. DIAG has implemented 16 infrastructure development projects and 79 projects are ongoing in different parts of the country.

As of 13 May 2010, 48,320 weapons have been handed over to DIAG.

For further information, contact: Wahidullah Amani on 0700 266 970.

UNESCO CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY AND WORLD DAY FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY FOR DIALOGUE AND DEVELOPMENT ON 18 MAY

UNESCO and the Ministry of Information and Culture will celebrate International Museum Day and the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development on Wednesday 19 May 2010 at the Kabul Museum. The Minister of Information and Culture and UNESCO representatives along with culture and civil society stakeholders will participate in the ceremony.

The World Day provides a golden opportunity to shift the focus of attention to promote cultural diversity as the foundation of sustainable development and peace in the country. This is in line with the world-wide theme of 2010 which is the 'International Year for the Rapprochement of Culture.'

UNESCO has assisted the Government of Afghanistan since 2002 to rehabilitate the Kabul Museum and to conserve the cultural heritage of the country.

For further information, contact: Mohammad Amin Sadiq on 0799 125 292.

"SAFEGUARDING CULTURAL HERITAGE: POST-CONFLICT, POST-DISASTER STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE MUSEUM MANAGEMENT"

The UNESCO Kabul office continues its support for the rehabilitation of museums in Afghanistan to promote cultural diversity, peace and cross-cultural understanding.

The organization recently conducted a six-day training workshop from 8-13 May 2010 at the National Museum of Afghanistan on "Safeguarding Cultural Heritage: Post-Conflict, Post-Disaster Strategies for Sustainable Museum Management" in order to assist the sector in defining and re-defining its role in contemporary Afghan society.

The workshop brought together representatives from across the country who shared their experiences and ideas and discussed solutions for the challenges faced by museums across the country.

AFGHAN PHOTOGRAPHERS ENCOURAGED TO APPLY FOR "WE CAN END POVERTY" PHOTO CONTEST

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with Olympus Corporation and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Foundation, has launched the second annual Picture This photo contest in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The contest seeks to show the inspirational work that is being done in many countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals agreed on by world leaders to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

This contest is open to Afghan professional and amateur photographers. Contestants may submit up to three different photographs, focusing on progress towards one of the eight MDGs.

The deadline to submit photos is Friday, 16 July 2010.

For more information, visit: http://picturethis.undp.org

 

[ajtr]

UN agencies weekly update​

17 May 2010 - Latest news and information from UN agencies operating in Afghanistan.


SHINWARI DISTRICT OF PARWAN PROVINCE OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED AS PEACE DISTRICT

Five Commanders will submit 30 different types of weapons to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme in Shinwari district of Parwan province on Monday, after which Shinwari will be officially announced as a peace district. Meanwhile, 42 additional weapons which were confiscated as result of police and National Directorate of Security operations in Parwan province will also be submitted to the programme by provincial officials.

The ceremony will be attended by Parwan's provincial governor, the provincial chief of police, the provincial chief of NDS, officials from the Ministry of Defence and officials from the DIAG Joint Secretariat

These commanders not only supported the DIAG programme by surrendering their weapons, but facilitated the announcement of Shinwari district as DIAG compliant/ peace district.

Once the districts achieve DIAG compliance, development projects can begin. DIAG has implemented 16 infrastructure development projects and 79 projects are ongoing in different parts of the country.

As of 13 May 2010, 48,320 weapons have been handed over to DIAG.

For further information, contact: Wahidullah Amani on 0700 266 970.

UNESCO CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY AND WORLD DAY FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY FOR DIALOGUE AND DEVELOPMENT ON 18 MAY

UNESCO and the Ministry of Information and Culture will celebrate International Museum Day and the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development on Wednesday 19 May 2010 at the Kabul Museum. The Minister of Information and Culture and UNESCO representatives along with culture and civil society stakeholders will participate in the ceremony.

The World Day provides a golden opportunity to shift the focus of attention to promote cultural diversity as the foundation of sustainable development and peace in the country. This is in line with the world-wide theme of 2010 which is the 'International Year for the Rapprochement of Culture.'

UNESCO has assisted the Government of Afghanistan since 2002 to rehabilitate the Kabul Museum and to conserve the cultural heritage of the country.

For further information, contact: Mohammad Amin Sadiq on 0799 125 292.

"SAFEGUARDING CULTURAL HERITAGE: POST-CONFLICT, POST-DISASTER STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE MUSEUM MANAGEMENT"

The UNESCO Kabul office continues its support for the rehabilitation of museums in Afghanistan to promote cultural diversity, peace and cross-cultural understanding.

The organization recently conducted a six-day training workshop from 8-13 May 2010 at the National Museum of Afghanistan on "Safeguarding Cultural Heritage: Post-Conflict, Post-Disaster Strategies for Sustainable Museum Management" in order to assist the sector in defining and re-defining its role in contemporary Afghan society.

The workshop brought together representatives from across the country who shared their experiences and ideas and discussed solutions for the challenges faced by museums across the country.

AFGHAN PHOTOGRAPHERS ENCOURAGED TO APPLY FOR "WE CAN END POVERTY" PHOTO CONTEST

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with Olympus Corporation and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Foundation, has launched the second annual Picture This photo contest in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The contest seeks to show the inspirational work that is being done in many countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals agreed on by world leaders to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

This contest is open to Afghan professional and amateur photographers. Contestants may submit up to three different photographs, focusing on progress towards one of the eight MDGs.

The deadline to submit photos is Friday, 16 July 2010.

For more information, visit: http://picturethis.undp.org

 

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A secret weapon in Afghanistan: Agriculture by Mohammad Asif Rahimi and Tom Vilsack​

15 May 2010 - So it was not surprising that during this week's meetings in Washington between US and Afghan officials that agriculture was a principal topic of discussion.

In Afghanistan, 85 per cent of the population relies on agriculture to earn a living, and strengthening Afghanistan's agricultural sector is a critical element in stabilizing the nation. But until the agriculture sector can support legitimate crops such as wheat and fruits, the Taliban will continue to prey upon disaffected, out-of-work youth and push the production of poppy.

Unfortunately, poppy production provides little return to the farmers; pomegranates will earn a farmer five times that of poppy on the open market, almonds will earn seven, and grapes will earn eight times as much.

That is why the United States and Afghanistan are working together with a shared strategy to rebuild Afghanistan's once-vibrant agricultural economy. Our efforts are already yielding results in troubled provinces such as Helmand, the heart of Afghan poppy production.

The strategy is fourfold: First, we must increase the productivity of staple crops such as wheat, introduce complementary crops such as soybeans, and improve the yields of cash crops such as horticulture and nuts.

Second, we must protect Afghanistan's natural resources by investing in watershed management, sustainable forestry efforts and soil conservation.

Third, we must redouble our efforts to rebuild the country's agricultural marketing system and return Afghanistan to its once-prominent position as the fruit and nut epicenter of Central Asia.

Fourth, our countries must continue to work together to restructure Afghanistan's Ministry of Agriculture by recruiting competent professionals, especially in the rural areas where extension agents with technical know-how and expertise can make a real difference to farmers and herders.

The possibility of the turnaround we envision is real. International demand for Afghan agriculture is returning.

In Dubai recently, at the region's biggest food and trade expo, Afghanistan's tiny stall was overrun with customers from Europe, Africa and the Middle East with orders for dried fruit and nuts. For the first time, Afghan apples and other fresh fruit are being air freighted to India.

Just recently, a Kabul businessman obtained his certification to begin exporting raisins to Europe. And, in what might be the biggest boon to Afghanistan's agricultural economy thus far, the nation's first concentrated juice factory opened near Kabul in October 2009, selling out its entire production for 2010 in just six weeks. The plant employs hundreds of Afghans and is planning an expansion so it can continue to ship its products across the globe. Other similar facilities are being planned across the country.

Furthermore, the US and Afghan governments are working with Afghan farmers to introduce new production and post-production technologies, while improving existing crops with enhanced cultivation and seed varieties. American support is helping to develop Afghan grading, packaging and sanitary methods per international standards. And together, we are building the infrastructure and opening the transportation routes necessary to get Afghan grains, fruits and nuts to consumers.

The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture also needs help to build research and agricultural extension services — from satellite mapping to experts standing in a field teaching farmers. This is an area where USDA's assistance is crucial. USDA has contributed more than 100 highly skilled individuals to this effort — foresters, soil and plant scientists, marketing specialists, and water and rangeland specialists — all with a special ability to share their knowledge through demonstration.

USDA is partnering with the US Army National Guard, the State Department, the US Agency for International Development, other US federal agencies and, most important, Afghans, to solve complex agricultural issues.

Moreover, the Afghan government has reorganized its Cabinet so that ministries focused on solving the problems facing its rural communities are teamed together: agriculture, electricity, water, construction and counternarcotics.

For 85 per cent of the Afghan people, the path to a better job and life for their family is likely to pass through a farm. That is why, despite the challenges that certainly lie ahead, we are committed to building a better life for the Afghan people by working together to rebuild its once-vibrant agricultural economy.

Tom Vilsack is the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and Mohammad Asif Rahimi is the Afghan Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock.

Website: Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock

 

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UN helps rush in aid to thousands of flood victims​

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14 May 2010 - The United Nations is helping Afghanistan rush in emergency food and non-food aid for thousands of people hit by floods earlier this month, particularly in the three worst-affected western provinces.

Within hours of the floods striking the provinces of Herat, Ghor and Badghis, where at least 70 people have died, hundreds of houses have been destroyed and thousands of livestock have perished, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) teamed up with the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) to bring in children's kits, jerry cans, blankets, biscuits, tarpaulin packs and tents.

The remote Bala-Morqhab district of Badghis province, one of the worst-affected areas, is inaccessible to both Government and humanitarian agencies, and community elders led by UNAMA and ANDMA are now assessing how to deliver aid there.

Some 20 provinces in all have been hit by flooding and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food to 5,800 families as assessment reports continue to be received. At least 120 people have died overall and 10,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed, nearly a quarter of them in Ghor province alone, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

Assessments have yet to be completed in Herat and Badghis. With significant damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, road clearance, rehabilitation of agricultural land and air access are among priorities that need to be addressed, OCHA said in its latest update, citing an ANDMA briefing.

In Faryab province in the north, 2,082 houses have been destroyed and 678 houses partially damaged, while in the north-eastern province of Baghlan nearly 2,000 houses have been destroyed or partially damaged.

 

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Art as a tool for peace building in Afghanistan​

12 May 2010 - Art in Afghanistan received a harsh blow during the Taliban time with music banned, sculptures broken, any paintings with human and animal facial expressions covered up or destroyed and archaeology looted.

"We called a famous painter during the Taliban time to redraw with water ink on top of the old oil paintings to hide human faces of art effects at the Art Gallery of Afghanistan in order to save them from destruction by the Taliban," said Mir Ahmad Joyenda, a Member of Afghanistan's Parliament from Kabul and the head of the board of directors for the Afghan Foundation for Culture and Civil Society (FCC).

The fall of the Taliban in 2001 brought a new breath of life to Afghan art.

Artists who were still inside the country restarted their activities and those refugees in other countries slowly started to come back.

Older institutions reopened like the Kharabat Music School, Kabul's Fine Arts Faculty and many new organizations were created.

The media scene has also been transformed in the last eight years and now there are more than 700 television and radio stations, newspapers, magazines and news agencies across Afghanistan; there's even the Afghan version of "Pop Idol".

Music has captured the imagination and interest of Afghans and older traditions have reappeared.

Only last week an extraordinary concert took place with several tenors of the Afghan music scene coming together to perform in a small private concert hall situated in the heart of the old Kabul.

The atmosphere was unusual in the small hundred-year old domed hall where dozens of Afghan musicians and singers from the Kharabat Music School came together for a special event organized by the Forum for Culture and Civil Society (FCCS) and supported by the Swiss Development Corporation.

Special participants included: Ustad Mahwash, the first and only female maestro of music in Afghanistan with hundreds of songs in her repertory; Ustad Hamahng perhaps the most experienced singer of his style; the brothers Qassem Bakhsh and Salim Bakhsh; Ustad Gul Zaman the trainer and composer for dozens of Pashto singers; and Safdar Tawakolee the Hazara maestro with his amazing voice who sings for national unity.

"Culture is the only tool to stop war and to strengthen national unity," said parliamentarian Mr Joyenda.

The Afghan Foundation for Culture and Civil Society was established in March 2003 and is concerned with the fate of Afghan culture and the strengthening of Afghan civil society.

Last year alone the Foundation organized around eighty cultural events mainly with the support of the Swiss Development Corporation.

"The Swiss Development Corporation believes in the power of culture as a connector within every society. When it comes to Afghanistan, its long history of culture and arts represent a unique wealth in a most difficult context," said Marie-Thérèse Karlen, the Deputy Country Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kabul.

Music in Afghanistan, rich for several thousand years, is based on Indian classical music.

For more than one hundred years the Kharabat Music School in Kabul has passed on knowledge to its students through a Master's of Art or Ustad.

The School is a traditional institution, not registered anywhere, but existing in the hearts of the people.

Weakened during the civil war of the 1990s and almost silent during the Taliban regime the institution is reviving itself again and finding a new life.

Kharabat was also a neighbourhood where hundreds of musicians were living and playing; it can be described as an atmosphere of art within the old city of Kabul under the shadow of the city's famous Bala Hissar fortress.

By Nilab Mobarez, UNAMA

Website: Afghan Foundation for Culture and Civil Society

 

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Afghan and Indian cricket teams join hands to bowl out polio​

5 May 2010 - For the first time ever last week, the cricket teams of India and Afghanistan came together on - and off - the playing field, within the International Cricket Council World Twenty20.

On the eve of the game in St. Lucia, West Indies, captains Nowroz Mangal and Mahendra Singh Dhoni of the Afghan and Indian teams exchanged 'Bowl Out Polio' cricket bats, signed by the 11 members of each team in a gesture of solidarity to eliminate polio from India, Afghanistan, Asia and the rest of the world.

"Together we can bowl out polio, fielding education," stressed Afghan team captain Nowroz Mangal.

While India won the game by seven wickets, the success of the encounter goes far beyond the playground.

The teams have joined hands to 'Bowl out Polio,' a virus that cripples and kills young children. Today polio is endemic only in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Nigeria

Progress is underway. Compared to 383 during the first four months of 2009, there have been 84 cases of polio this year, including 19 in India and eight in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, insecurity is the key hurdle in eradicating polio, since vaccination teams can't reach all children in conflict-affected areas. While lack of community participation was a major hurdle in the past, the frequentation of health centers was boosted with the increasing number of children enrolled in education. Today, over 6.8 million Afghan children are enrolled in primary education, including 1.8 million girls. At the same time, the polio virus has been limited to 13 insecure districts.

As India nears the goal of eradication, the frequency of polio vaccination rounds has been intensified, increasing children's immunity.

Since 2007, more than 40 per cent of polio cases outside the endemic Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar occurred in migrant communities. "If we do not end polio in India, the rest of the world will suffer," said Indian captain MS Dhoni.

Cricketers in India have been intensively involved with polio eradication efforts since 2003, when the 'Bowl Out Polio' campaign was launched by Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan. Today, the team promotes oral polio vaccination countrywide.

In Afghanistan, cricket is gaining momentum as a national sport. In the 1990s, the game became popular among Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, who continued to play cricket upon return to their home country. Unlike music and other sports, the Taliban eventually authorized cricket.

"My future as a cricket player was secured a long time ago, when I was a child," says Raees Ahmadzai, member of the Afghan cricket team and founder of the Afghan Youth Cricket Support Organization (AYCSO).

In 2009, UNICEF and AYCSO organized a cricket training camp for 50 children in Kabul; similar activities are planned for this year.

As long as India and Afghanistan continue to see polio transmission, all of their neighbours are at high risk of re-infection. In fact, in recent weeks, both Nepal and Tajikistan have been re-infected with the virus.

Dr Bruce Aylward, the Director of the Polio Eradication Initiative at the World Health Organization (WHO), paid tribute to the Afghanistan and India cricket teams for raising awareness on polio at such a critical time. "Right now we have the best chance we've ever had to end polio forever," he said. "The greatest threat to finishing the job by end of 2010 remains the US$ 1.2 billion funding gap. The world must not squander this unique opportunity to bowl out polio, once and for all."

Meanwhile, Afghanistan play South Africa in their second match this evening in Barbados.

 

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Kabul's street photographers fade into history​

Photographer Mia Muhammed, right, who still uses a homemade box camera to take portraits of people is seen taking a photograph in Kabul, Afghanistan. —Photo by AP

KABUL: As his workday begins, Mia Mohammed walks down a dusty street, a bulky contraption on his shoulder. He stops in front of a hospital and puts down the box, setting its battered wooden legs on the edge of the street.

His back to the morning sun, the slim, taciturn 37-year-old man fishes a small lens from his pocket and screws it carefully into one end of the wooden box. He places two trays of chemicals and some paper inside. Then he closes the lid and sets up a chair facing the box.

One of Kabul's last street photographers is open for business.

Not long ago, camera stands were a common sight in Afghanistan's capital. With a government enamored of bureaucracy, Afghans need passport-size photos for nearly everything: school, work, even hospital admissions.

And the only way to get those photos was to sit very still on a chair in the street and stare at a lens poking out of a homemade box.

But today dozens of photo shops provide color prints with the click of a mouse.

Photographers such as Mohammed are all but gone, victims of the digital age.

''I know of no others,'' he said, his hand resting almost protectively on top of the red, vinyl-covered box that has been his source of income for more than a decade. He sold it recently and replaced it with a blue one.

''You don't need electricity, you don't need anything to use this camera,'' he said.

''Nothing.''

His business, though, is coming to an end. His supplier of photographic paper no longer stocks it, because of dwindling demand. When his last two boxes are finished, he expects he will be too.

He despairs for his future. Not only are digital cameras too expensive for him, but he is illiterate and fears he could not adapt.

''I know how this one works completely,'' Mohammed said, tapping his hand against the box.

A former tenant farmer, he became a street photographer about 15 years ago, after he stepped on a land mine and lost his left leg below the knee.

The International Committee of the Red Cross orthopedic hospital, which treated him, lent him some money to buy a camera so he could earn a living. Since then, he has worked right across the street.

By 9 a.m. on a recent morning he already has a line of customers.

His subject sitting before him, Mohammed retreats behind the box to look through a wooden hatch that functions as a viewfinder. To focus, he uses a metal bar to slide a glass pane until the picture is sharp.

Next he slips his arm into a sleeve that hangs from the box and pushes the photographic paper in front of the pane. With an elegant flourish of the hand he removes the lens cap, capturing the image.

It takes about 10 minutes for him to develop the negative. He then shoots a picture of the negative to make a positive, producing a pair of scratchy, blurry photographs that he hands to his waiting customers.

They leave with sepia images that make them appear like their 19th-century ancestors.

But none seems to care. What is important is the convenience and the price: 10 Afghanis (about 20 cents) for two pictures. Digital shops charge at least four times that much.

''If you want color you have to go into the city center and we want to be done quickly, so this is better,'' said Aziz Ullah, gripping the handles of his 12-year-old daughter's wheelchair.

She is paralyzed from the waist down, the result of a spinal injury, and had an appointment at the west Kabul hospital.

On an average day, Mohammed earns $6 to $7 from patients who need photos for registration forms. It's just enough to support his wife and four children. He doesn't know what he'll do once his job is done.

''When I had the accident that disabled me it really shook me up and I don't learn easily any more. It's hard to get used to something new,'' he said.

But on this day, Mohammed stows his much-loved box in a hospital shed and covers it tenderly with a cloth. Soon it will be obsolete — a forgotten item taking up space in a corner.

And something unique will have faded away, like an old photograph left out in the light too long. -AP

 

[NewMember]

that is a nice threead. thanks guys. although news are not good about afghanistan these days, but not everytihng is gloomy. major parts of the country is blessed with relative or complete peace such as west, north, big parts or east and north east(with exception of kunar), central parts and the capital. south is a bit bad, hope things get better there too.