Swimming pool makes splash in Kabul（BBC）：アフガン本国のほうですが、娯楽が少ない（映画などの娯楽が禁じられている）カブールで、 水泳のプールが新設されました。「娯楽」でなくて「スポーツ」というたてまえかもしれませんし、 だれもが好きな時間に自由に使えるわけでもないようですが、 カブール市民は大喜びとのこと。 禁欲的なタリバン政府ですが、最近、「娯楽禁止」の方針を緩和しているようです。 例えばテレビ禁止にせよ、長期的には、やはり大衆の支持を得られないでしょう。
US's Afghan dilemma; hidden 'Negro blood'
These sanctions have been attacked by several international aid organizations, including Oxfam, as aggravating the plight of the Afghan people, who are on the verge of facing a famine caused by a prolonged drought. The US does not want to be blamed for adding to the humanitarian crisis and doing nothing to prevent it. At the same time, it is not prepared to accord any political respectability to the Taliban unless they cooperate in surrendering Osama bin Laden and stop encouraging militant movements in the neighborhood.
Ideally, it is argued, there should be a search for an alternative to the Taliban, but the Northern Alliance, with its limited decree, does not provide such an alternative. So how to proceed? That is the dilemma (and it is also, incidentally, Pakistan's as well where Talibanization has become a pressing and possibly destructive social and political phenomenon).
Cited from The Famine the World Forgot
ワシントンポストのFlashギャラリーもごらんください。
via DAWN (Pakistan) April 24, 2001
NEW YORK, April 23: With no lack of weapons and war equipment coming from foreign suppliers, Afghan parties are preparing for "heavy fighting" in the coming months, the United Nations said on Monday.
A report from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan predicted the situation would be "bleak" on the battleground as well as in the humanitarian arena.
Jalozaiの住民、「いっそのこと爆弾を落として人間らしく死なせてほしい」
"Why don’t you just drop a bomb on us and kill us all quickly? That would be better than letting us suffer like this, making us watch our own children die in front of us. At least then we would die with dignity, "a young man is shouting. Two of his children have gone missing along with fifty two others, as a result of torrential rain during the night. He does not know if they are alive or dead. In the darkness, rain and chaos, some children have been taken to the local mosques for protection, others they presume, are lost somewhere amongst the 80,000 refugees in the camp. Last night, three children and one old man have died and a mother has given birth prematurely to still-born twins. Another man joins in: "Why did Kofi Annan not come to see how we are living here? We have nothing, no food, no water, no tents..." Waqeel, our guide, an ex Mujahideen and hero in the fight against the Russians 20 years ago, breaks down and cries, covering his face, as he translates their words for us. I had heard about Jalozai, also known as "plastic city" because of the cheap plastic sheets used as tents, is the place aid workers regard as the worst refugee camp in the world. It lies just south of the city of Peshawar, and is currently home to the 80,000 "new refugees" who have most recently fled from drought and renewed fighting in Afghanistan. "Jalozai," according to Yusuf Hassan, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency "is fast turning into a death camp."
It is the makeshift camp, with no proper shelter, no sanitation and no clean water facilities, that Kofi Annan was last week prevented from seeing by the Pakistani authorities. Although "security problems" was the official reason cited for the last-minute cancellation, UN officials suspect that, it was feared that his visit would bring unwanted attention to the appalling conditions in the camp. I have come with two Afghan friends, to bring provisions, one plastic floor mat, one quilt and one tin of oil to each of the 1,000 newest arrivals - a drop in the ocean. We wanted to bring proper weather-proof tents but unlike in other camps, tents are not allowed here, as these would imply acceptance by Pakistan. In fact, what the Pakistan government really wants is for them all to go home and according to some, the terrible conditions in the camp are a deliberate strategy to force them to do just that and to discourage any others in Afghanistan from attempting to cross the border. Some refugees have already been forcibly and arbitrarily deported. At first sight, the camp resembles a vast dumping ground.
2001.04.15 Jalozai の写真が手に入りました。BBC:Afghan refugees 'to receive aid'から引用します。
Japan may help fund effort to save Afghan artifacts (JapanTimes) 考古学的遺産もいいけど、その基金とやらで、 まずウンコが水たまりになってる「アウシュビッツ」にトイレを作って、 余ってる古米でもいいから、送ってやったら？
Russia returns to Central Asia as fears of Jihad rise(The Telegraph UK) - April 14, 2001 - 前から何度も書いてますが、タジキスタン国境、ホントに不穏です。で、ついに12年前に引き上げたソ連（今はロシア）の軍隊が再結集して、もういつでもアフガンに再侵攻できるぞ、みたいな。といっても、この地域の情報いつも錯綜してますんで、現時点では未確認情報ということで。
AOPだけの未確認情報ですが、今月後半または５月に、と日本が提案しています。 東京で北部同盟とタリブ政府との和平会談を、ということです。 タリブ側を招くという話は前からちらほらありました。 これは、れいのバミヤンの件――政治的には、本来ほとんど意味がない文化面の問題ですが、 宣伝家たちは、徹底して反タリバンのプロパガンダ材料として政治利用した――で、少し動いた感じでした。 しかし国連がどうたらというからみでは、成功しないでしょうというのが一般の見方で、 日本が独自に中立の立場から、ということになれば、おもしろい話ですが。 国連主催の和平が難しくなってしまったのは、 安保理５大国の無茶のせいで国連自体がいけないとは思いませんが、 ベンドレルさんがあれだけ懸命に努力してダメなのを、日本がとつぜんお金（人道的援助）をやるから仲直りせい、 なんて言っても無理っぽいです。でもユーゴのデートン合意、コンゴのルサカ合意みたいな感じで、 「トウキョウ合意」なんて話になったら、おもしろいことですが―― それも米ロの思惑と無関係に日本が和平合意を主導しちゃう、とか。 それは無理としても、 なんらかの意味で肯定的な結果が出るのではと期待もしてます。
Japan Invites Taliban for Peace Talks
Story Filed: Thursday, April 12, 2001 12:01 PM EST
ISLAMABAD, Apr 12, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef said here Thursday that Japan has invited Afghanistan's Taliban militia for peace talks in Tokyo later this month or in May.
Japanese ambassador to Pakistan Sadaka Numata met Zaeef in Islamabad and handed over a letter from the government of Japan addressed to Afghan Foreign Minister Maulvi Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil.
The Japanese government has proposed to host talks between Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance in Tokyo to find out a peaceful settlement of the long-standing Afghan conflict.
The Japanese proposal has mentioned the role for the United Nations in the proposed peace talks, which many believe may not get positive response from Taliban as they have already boycotted any peace talks if the U.N. is involved.
Taliban have withdrawn from the U.N.-sponsored peace talks since the Security Council slapped sanctions on Taliban in December last year after they refused to turn over Osama bin Laden for trial.
Ahmed Shah Masoud offers conditional peace talks to Taliban
Islamabad, April 11, IRNA -- Afghan commander Ahmed Shah Masood has offered conditional peace talks to Taliban, saying both sides should form an interim coalition government but added that free general elections should follow it. "The interim coalition government should pave the way for free general elections in which the Afghan people may form a popular government," Islamabad-based NNI news agency quoted Masoud as saying. Ahmad Shah Masoud returned from his week-long visit to France and Belgium via to Dushanbe on Tuesday en route to northern Afganistan.
あとから普通選挙を行うことを前提として暫定政府が最も現実的な解決策だろう、というのは、以前FAQにも書いた通りですが、 これがタリバン＆北部同盟諸派の「連立政権」となった場合には、現状、微妙な問題もあります。 言うまでもなく、国際社会が、中立じゃないということです。 北部同盟がいう「普通選挙」は、事実上、「北部同盟一党独裁＝タリバン勢力非合法化」を（国際社会の）暗黙の了解としているふしがなきにしもあらずで、必ずしも民主的な選挙とは言えないからです。 欧米各国は、アフガニスタンの素朴な人々に「北部同盟に投票しなければダメですよ」と暗黙の圧力をかけるでしょう。 タリバン政権という現実を直視すれば「反政府ゲリラ」である北部同盟が、 the armed resistance to Afghanistan's Taliban のように「レジスタンス」と表現され、 「悪者に対して抗議する人々」のように歪曲されていることひとつとっても、そう思います。 落ち着いて考えれば、略奪、殺人、強姦、暴行といった蛮行の限りをつくしてきた北部同盟（ムジャヒディン・ゲリラ）が、 「正義のレジスタンス」にまつりあげられていることや、それをやめさせ曲がりなりにも秩序を回復させ、 麻薬問題まで大幅に改善したタリブたちが一方的に悪者のように示唆されていることなど、 どうみても、フェアでまともな評価になってないわけで、 タリブたちが独裁するのも好ましくないが北部同盟にすべてまかせればいいというのも同じくらい間違った考えだと思われます。
The Taleban demands EU neutrality Wednesday, 11 April, 2001, 13:55 GMT 14:55 UK という訴えが繰り返されるのも当然でしょう。
Ahmad Shah Masood believes Russia may help resolve crisis By Galina Gridneva, Valery Zhukov DUSHANBE, Apr 10, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Ahmad Shah Masood, commander of the armed resistance to Afghanistan's ruling Taleban movement, said on Tuesday that he believed Russia could help resolve the Afghan crisis. に至っては……ソ連の軍事介入へ抵抗するゲリラであったムジャヒディンが「ロシアが助けてくれるだろう」 と信じるようになるとは。 アフガンが共産主義政権だったときにムジャヒディンたちがなめた辛酸を、 みずからまた招こうとしているとすら思えます。
UN: Afghan food crisis escalating Monday, 9 April, 2001, 18:12 GMT 19:12 UK The United Nations says the food crisis in northern Afghanistan is worsening. It says starving people are eating animal fodder, including dangerous wild seeds and plants. 意訳すれば、「豚のエサ」や「食用にならない雑草や毒キノコ」を食べてるというような話です。 どこまで「worsening」なんでしょう。「さらに状況は悪化している」というニュースが何度、繰り返されたことか。