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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Volume 12 Number 86
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| next issue  NOTE TO READERS:
"RFE/RL Newsline" will next be published on May 9. Southwestern Asia And The Middle East
U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS IRAN SEEKS TO KEEP AFGHANISTAN UNSTABLERichard Boucher, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said in Paris on May 6 that Iran is seeking to keep Afghanistan weak and unstable by delivering arms to the Taliban while appearing to support the government in Kabul, AFP reported. "They interfere in a variety of different ways, perhaps not as violently as they do sometimes in Iraq," Boucher said. "But what we see is Iranian interference politically, Iranian interference in terms of the money that they channel into the political process, Iranian interference in terms of playing off local officials against central government, trying to undermine the state in that way." Boucher continued: "In many ways they [Iran] do support the work of the government, but they also work with the political opposition, they work with the local opposition." Boucher told reporters that "several shipments" of weapons from Iran to the Taliban have been intercepted. Preparations are under way for a major international donors' conference for Afghanistan to be held in the French capital on June 12. AT U.S. TROOPS KILL SEVERAL MILITANTS IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN U.S.-led coalition troops killed several insurgents during a raid in Nangahar Province on May 5, AP reported. The troops also detained a militant suspected of helping foreign fighters and conducting bomb attacks in the region, according to a military statement. The coalition did not state the exact numbers of militants killed. In Kandahar on May 6, three police officers and two civilian women were wounded when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded near the officers' car, provincial police official Mohammad Shoaib told AP. According to the news agency's count, more than 1,200 people -- mostly militants -- have died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year. AT AFGHAN GOVERNOR PROMISES TOTAL ERADICATION OF OPIUM CROP Government officials in Badakhshan Province, one of the major opium-poppy-producing regions in Afghanistan, have said that poppy cultivation in the province will be totally eradicated by the start of next year, the Bakhtar news agency reported on May 6. Badakhshan Governor Munshi Abdul Majid said that poppy cultivation decreased 70 percent last year, and that farmers in the district of Darayim, which was formerly a main hub of poppy cultivation and trafficking, have completely stopped growing the crop. "This year we don't have plans for wiping out poppy cultivation, but we have plans for not cultivating poppy. We have informed everyone not to cultivate poppy. We have decreased poppy cultivation to almost zero," Majid said. Some residents believe that poppy cultivation was the main reason for insecurity and the slow pace of development in Darayim district, but others have been hit hard by the loss of their livelihood. Bakhtar quotes one resident as saying: "Our poppy fields were destroyed by the authorities. Now we have no money and my 10 family members are starving." Other residents in the district said government and NGO support does not suffice, and that farmers may start growing poppies again unless serious reconstruction work begins. AT PAKISTAN TO SEND WHEAT TO AFGHANISTAN Pakistan agreed on May 6 to export 50,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan to avert a food crisis there, and said it will reach an agreement on further exports with the Afghan government, Reuters reported. Pakistan's highest economic decision-making body, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), approved the export to Afghanistan at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. "The ECC approved the export of 50,000 tones of wheat to Afghanistan to avert a food crisis in addition to their annual requirement," a previously agreed export of 600,000 tons, the prime minister's office said in a statement. Pakistan has sought to crack down on the smuggling of wheat flour to Afghanistan as food prices there have surged. AT ENVOY SAYS IRAN COMMITTED TO NUCLEAR TREATY Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said in Geneva on May 6 that Iran will continue to cooperate with the IAEA and abide by the provisions of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), but will not surrender its right under the treaty to produce nuclear fuel, Fars news agency reported. Soltanieh was addressing a preliminary committee for a conference to review the NPT. He said that "Iran will never forego its right" to use peaceful energy, which he said includes producing fuel. The West has demanded Iran stop enriching uranium, due to its potential military applications. Soltanieh's remarks appear to confirm statements made by Iranian officials recently indicating Iran will not to be persuaded to abandon such activities by economic and other incentives being proposed by the permanent members of the UN Security Council (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 5 and 6, 2008). Soltanieh denounced the "nuclear apartheid" imposed on the world, "especially" by Great Britain, France, and the United States, and said it is wrong to equate nuclear programs with efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. He said the NPT and the IAEA's charter do not prohibit fuel-making activities for members, but merely oblige states to make statements on their activities that have to be verified. He added Iran and other "peace-loving states" will continue efforts to force Israel -- which is thought to have nuclear weapons -- to join the NPT and give up its nuclear arsenal. VS IRANIAN LAWMAKERS PROTEST EX-PRESIDENT'S MODERATE REMARKS... A group of 77 members of parliament on May 6 called on Iran's intelligence minister to take unspecified action against former President Mohammad Khatami for his recent remarks criticizing terrorism and state-sponsored violence, Radio Farda reported, citing Iranian news agencies (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 5, 2008). Khatami told students in Gilan, northern Iran, on May 2, that the legacy of late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini does not include acts of violence abroad in an attempt to export Iran's revolutionary regime. The 77 lawmakers said in a parliamentary observation -- likely a written note -- that such remarks will be used by "the arrogant and Zionist media" as a pretext to attack "the sacred government of the Islamic republic and accuse our country of terrorism," Fars reported. The legislators asked how Khatami gave himself permission to cast "doubts in the minds of international opinion" about Iran's regime. Radio Farda observed that the note should,, in line with parliamentary rules, be read out at a public session of parliament on May 7. Other conservative voices chided Khatami for his comments in recent days, including the daily "Kayhan," which has called on Khatami to "explain his antinational statements," Radio Farda reported on May 6. VS ...AND PREPARE TO QUESTION TRADE MINISTER The Iranian parliament's presidium formally accepted on May 6 an interpellation motion presented by 16 lawmakers to summon Trade Minister Masud Mirkazemi to appear in parliament to answer questions, which could lead to his dismissal, Radio Farda reported on May 6, citing Iranian media. The signatories want Mirkazemi to provide the chamber with explanations on eight areas, including what were termed unsuitable trade policies; permission given for the importation of sugar in recent years, which has gravely harmed domestic producers and farmers; and the failure to support domestic manufacturing firms. Some members of parliament have accused the ministry of failing to take adequate measures in response to recent food price hikes. One of the signatories, Ali Asgari, has said that "nobody is responsible in this country for high prices, and people have to buy goods at whatever price they are sold, and nobody answers for this." Another signatory, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, said ministers would not be summoned to parliament for formal interrogation if they acted on legislators' intermittent proposals and criticisms, Radio Farda reported. VS LAWMAKER URGES THRIFT ON IRANIANS Parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel urged Iranians to save water and electricity, and he warned in parliament on May 6 that Iran will face a drought in coming months, ISNA reported. Haddad-Adel said Iran experienced a harsh winter and now faces drought, and thrift is both rational and a moral duty for Iranians. He said drought is afflicting not only Iran, but "the climate has been disrupted" and many countries are facing similar conditions. While he speculated that Iran's drought might not be the result of changing climatic conditions, he said that "the alarm bells are at any rate sounding over the threat of food shortages around the world." He said Iranian officials have recently asked the public to reduce their water consumption by 10 percent, and he said the same should apply to electricity. Haddad-Adel said the government has begun forming provincial committees or headquarters to counter the drought's effects. Separately, a member of parliament's Agriculture Committee, Jafargholi Raheb, told ISNA on May 5 that some 120 Iranian towns and 6,000 villages or rural districts may face drinking-water shortages in coming months due to insufficient rainfall. He said excessive heat in the months of March and April has dried up the precipitations of previous months. Raheb said provincial governors in northern provinces -- an area of rice and fruit cultivation -- have already formed emergency headquarters to manage water resources. VS LAWMAKER SAYS MUQTADA AL-SADR IS IN IRAQ Al-Sadr Trend parliamentarian Nasir al-Sa'idi told the Aswat Al-Iraq website on May 7 that Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is in Iraq. Al-Sadr reportedly left Iraq months ago and was rumored to be studying in Iran under the patronage of the government. "Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr is at his office in the holy city of Al-Najaf, and any other news in this regard is not true," al-Sa'idi said. Al-Sa'idi also told the website that the Al-Sadr Trend hopes that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will help mediate the crisis between the Sadrists and the government, saying, "We trust the president of the republic and we prefer him to mediate." KR IRAQI LAWMAKER TEMPORARILY LEAVES POST Al-Sadr Trend lawmaker Hasan al-Rubay'i announced on May 6 that he is suspending his position in parliament in protest against the U.S. and Iraqi crackdown on the Imam Al-Mahdi Army in Al-Sadr City, Al-Sharqiyah television reported. Al-Rubay'i claimed that Iran controls 75 percent of the security services in Iraq, and that the Al-Sadr Trend is its main target. Meanwhile on May 6, the Iraqi army arrested 42 policemen in Baghdad for their alleged role in aiding militiamen. Leaders in parliament are reportedly calling for the formation of a committee comprising members of security and human rights bodies to help resolve the crisis in Al-Sadr City, Al-Sharqiyah reported. Al-Sadr Trend lawmaker Liwa Sumaysim told the "Aswat al-Iraq" website in a May 6 interview that some political blocs are trying to block negotiations to end the crisis, apparently a reference to the Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance. "There are some parties that were supposed to be a part of the initiative and instead have succumbed to the pressures of intensifying the crisis," he said. KR SENIOR AL-MAHDI ARMY COMMANDER REPORTEDLY KILLED IN IRAQ Arkan al-Hasnawi, a battalion commander in the Al-Mahdi Army militia, reportedly died on May 6 from wounds sustained during fighting in Al-Sadr City the previous day, according to Iraqi media reports. Al-Sharqiyah television described al-Hasnawi as the most important wanted commander of the Iranian Qods Force's special groups. KR
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