Archive for April, 2009

Afghanistan has established its first national park in a spectacular region of deep blue lakes separated by natural dams of travertine, a mineral deposit.

Band-e-Amir is visited by thousands of Afghans and pilgrims, though foreign tourism stalled with the increase in violence since 1979.

Declaring Band-e-Amir a park should help protect its fragile environment.

The new park is near the Bamyan Valley, where 1,500-year-old giant Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taleban.

Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency (Nepa) said the creation of the park would help the region attract international tourism and obtain World Heritage Status.

“The park will draw people from Herat to Kabul to Jalalabad… to be inspired by the great beauty of Afghanistan’s first national park, Band-e-Amir, ” said Mostapha Zaher, Nepa’s director-general.

Hand grenades

In the stillness of the high, thin air, the blue and turquoise waters are often like glass, perfectly reflecting the slopes around them, says the BBC’s Alan Johnston, who has visited Band-e-Amir.

However, this quietness may be occasionally punctured by the damaging local practice of fishing by blasting the lake waters with hand grenades, he adds.

Much of the park’s wildlife has been lost, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

But recent WCS surveys show it still contains ibex, a species of wild goat, and urial, a type of wild sheep.

Other wildlife include wolves, foxes, smaller mammals and fish, and various bird species including the Afghan snow finch, which is believed to be the only bird found exclusively in Afghanistan.

The Taleban say they are withdrawing from a Pakistani district where their consolidation of power this week has caused deep concern in the US.

A Taleban spokesman said commander Maulana Fazlullah had issued the order for fighters to pull back from Buner, just 100km (62 miles) from Islamabad.

The US has accused officials in Pakistan of abdicating to the Taleban.

The Taleban have agreed a peace deal bringing Sharia law to some districts in return for ending their insurgency.

The peace agreement covers six districts of Malakand division, including the troubled Swat region, in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Afghanistan plans to recruit and train 15,000 new police officers in time for the country’s presidential election in August, the interior minister says.

Hanif Atmar said the Afghan authorities had asked international donors to approve a “strategic increase” in the size of the force.

The full scope of the increase would be announced in June, he said.

While the increase was temporary, he said, officials were studying how much bigger the force should be permanently.

The country’s police force currently has around 82,000 staff.

“Our request was a strategic increase of the numbers of the police in Afghanistan, and two: an interim increase until we are able to basically implement the strategic increase,” Reuters quoted the minister as saying.

“Initially we thought that the Afghanistan police size needs to be doubled in order to meet the requirements,” he said.

“We will have to do a deeper study to establish and determine the needs, and the response to the needs.”

Last month US President Barack Obama announced a US review of strategy in the region.

He proposed a big spending programme on infrastructure projects, and said 4,000 extra troops would be sent to Afghanistan to train security forces.