Afghans to Follow Iraqis In Resistance: Hekmatyar/New World Media Watch

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR APRIL 12, 2004

1//The Independent, UK--AT LAST, BLAIR IDENTIFIES THE REAL THREAT: COMPLACENCY(The PM mounted his latest defence of the Allies' troubled mission in the pro-war Observer. Nigel Morris highlights the gaping holes, contradictions, and double standards… What he said: But our greatest threat, apart from the immediate one of terrorism, is our complacency. When some ascribe, as they do, the upsurge in Islamic extremism to Iraq, do they really forget who killed whom on 11 September 2001? When they call on us to bring the troops home, do they seriously think that this would slake the thirst of these extremists, to say nothing of what it would do to the Iraqis? What it means: Allied complacency - the lack of preparedness for post-Saddam Iraq - could be seen as a key factor in the turmoil in Iraq. A further attempt to elide the violence with the 11 September atrocities and an implicit portrayal of critics as unpatriotic.)



2//The News International, Pakistan--AFGHANS TO FOLLOW IRAQIS IN RESISTANCE: HEKMATYAR (Former Afghan prime minister and chief of Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan Gulbaddin Hikmatyar has welcomed the uprising from supporters of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr and termed it the base for forging unity between the Sunni and Shia sects. In a statement written in Pashto, Hikmatyar said, "we welcome the uprising from Moqtadar Al-Sadr and his supporters and consider it a disclosure. It will absolve the Shias from siding with the invading forces of crusaders in Afghanistan and Iraq". Hikmatyar also released an audio-cassette, a copy of which is available with The News. He said it was made known to all that the capture of Kabul and Baghdad was easy but keeping it under control would be a gigantic task. "We had made it clear that the first days of capture for the invaders would be a honeymoon, but after that they will only hear bad news and would see bad days," he said.)



3//The Daily Star, Lebanon--REVENUE REFORMS TO BRING INCOME TAX TO AFGHANISTAN(After suffering through years of war, drought and poverty, Afghans will soon face another trial - income tax. Personal income tax is one of a range of taxation reforms being introduced by the country, one of the poorest in the world, to help fill the coffers of the central government, a high-ranking official said…Afghanistan's current per capita GDP is less than $200 and the projected national revenue for this financial year ending March 2005 is $300 million…As in any post-conflict country, simply collecting the taxes will be a task in itself, Anwaryar says. "We have to educate people about this," he says, "so people who haven't paid tax for such a long time, and who've gotten used to this habit ... realize they should pay taxes and what the taxes are used for.")



4//The Taipei Times, Taiwan--RALLIES TURN VIOLENT: MA TAKES ACTION (Pan-blue rallies yesterday again turned violent as protesters attempted to destroy the barricade separating them from the Presidential Office. Supporters of the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard for another demonstration, demanding a special task force be assembled to probe the election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian…Yesterday's protest was the latest in the series of weekly demonstrations staged by the pan-blue camp since the alliance's presidential candidate, Lien and Soong lost to Chen during the March 20 election with a margin of less than 30,000 votes…The alliance claimed the demonstration had drawn over 200,000 people, but wire agencies reported the police as saying 80,000 people attended the rally.)



5//The Moscow Times, Russia--PUTIN SHAKES UP WEAPONS EXPORTER (President Vladimir Putin relieved Yury Belyaninov from his post as head of the state-owned arms selling agency Rosoboronexport on Friday, putting him in charge of domestic arms procurement. It was unclear Friday who will head the arms export company with annual revenues of more than $5 billion. Sources in the defense industry suggested that Belyaninov's deputy Sergei Chemezov will most probably be given the job…Though only deputy head at Rosoboronexport, Chemezov was widely understood to be the real chief and rumored to become Belyaninov's eventual replacement…In his new job, Belyaninov will oversee 138 billion rubles ($4.8 billion) allocated for procurement and weapons upgrade programs.)

[bahrbearian]

1. Who next ? Iran, Pakistan,Jordan,......

Come on I'm taking odds here, 2 to 1 Iran. Place your bets.

[acmavm]

2. If you mean the next Middle Eastern nation to side with the 'insurgents'

will be Iran, than I agree with you.

But I think the next Middle Eastern country with bush* bombs in their future is Syria.

[htuttle]

3. I was just asking myself "What has Gulbaddin Hekmatyar been up to lately?"

Seriously, I was. He has been unsettlingly quiet for the last 9 months or so.

[Aidoneus]

5. Not quiet at all..

he's one of the main pillars of the resistance in the south & east. He had to be, because the Taliban is the only side he hasn't been on at least once--had to get it out of the way before he can move on. Now there's word he's open to switching sides again if the crusaders give him a spot in the "elections" later this year, but it seems he's changed his mind about that after the events in Iraq.. difficult to keep up with. Any day now he & Dostum should be besieging Kabul again, if W's Time Machine is still working by then..

[Eye and Monkey]

4. Taliban kidnap Afghan official and two bodyguards

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL7649.htm

11 Apr 2004 15:54:34 GMT
Taliban kidnap Afghan official and two bodyguards

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 11 (Reuters) - Islamic Taliban fighters captured an Afghan provincial security chief and his two bodyguards in central Afghanistan, a spokesman for the ousted Taliban militia said on Sunday.
<snip>
The Taliban has declared a "jihad", or holy struggle, on foreign and Afghan government troops and aid organisations. Since August last year, more than 600 people have died in violence, much of it blamed on the Taliban.

Up to one third of the country, mainly in the south and east, is effectively off-limits to foreign aid workers due to the security threat, which is of increasing concern as the country heads towards presidential elections in September.
<snip>