UPI Hears ... Nov. 19
From the International Desk
Published 11/19/2002 7:52 PM
Insider notes from United Press International for Nov. 19.
Afghanistan's cash-strapped government is planning to hold a second international meeting on financial aid as a follow-up to the Tokyo Conference earlier this year. A senior Afghan official says the meeting will have two main aims: to drum up more cash from a broader base of donor countries, and to nudge earlier contributors into living up to the pledges they made in Tokyo.
The Afghan government has seen less than half of the $4.5 billion promised in Tokyo for reconstruction. Several European governments are among the slow payers. Senior Afghan officials complain that most of the money already donated was channeled to humanitarian aid rather than reconstruction, making it impossible to start important infrastructure projects.
But even with all the pledges in, the money is far short of the $20 billion that most experts believe Afghanistan will need to recover. On Friday, the U.S. Congress passed the Afghan Freedom Support Act giving the battered country $3.2 billion in financial aid over the next four year.
Of that, $1 billion is earmarked to pay for the International Security and Assistance Force. This is the strongest indication yet that the Afghan government will get its wish to extend ISAF's area of operations to other Afghan cities besides Kabul.
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In another sign of the new coziness between India and the United States, U.S. and Indian troops will hold a joint jungle warfare exercise in the northeastern state of Mizoram in March 2003. Indian Army officers said the exercise would be coordinated by the Army's Counter-insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Vairangte, Mizoram.
Nothing too extensive at first, say the Indians: between 50 and 150 men training to be jungle warfare specialists. But the Indians consider it a good beginning. The U.S. Army has not been exposed to jungle warfare since the Vietnam War nearly 30 years ago and needs some training in this kind of fighting, Indian defense officials said. Recently, Indian troops have undergone high-altitude warfare exercises with U.S. forces in Alaska, but in small numbers. Still, both sides expect more of the same.
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Communism may have seen better days elsewhere, but in Bengal the party is still inventing new survival strategies. The Matar Benoy Party Educational School in Burdwan is an updated version of the old indoctrination camps called "Lenin schools."
Not that you hear much about Lenin these days. Instead, the school teaches courses in how workers can survive in a globalized world dominated by big capital. The location of the school is no coincidence.
Burdwan, an affluent agrarian district, has long been a "red" bastion where innovation can go just so far. Some of the diehard older members flinched when the school commissioned a study from McKinsey, the management consultancy firm, for a critical re-evaluation of Bengal's agri-economy.
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Osama bin Laden's audiotape threats -- pronounced authentic by the Bush administration -- have stepped up U.S. efforts to track down the al Qaida network in Pakistan, which they believe distributes the tapes.
After the latest bin Laden tape was delivered to the al Jazeera television office in Karachi, FBI teams in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and the northern tribal areas of Pakistan increased their scanning efforts of cellular telephones. The Feds made themselves thoroughly unpopular when their advanced and powerful equipment disrupted normal cellular service in a number of areas.
Worse, the FBI -- aided by experts from the National Security Agency -- then played havoc with the land-based telephone system, fax messages and the Internet.
Oh, and there's still no trace of bin Laden.
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While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continues to talk tough, more and more Israel Defense Forces personnel are voting with their feet, prompting concerns among the top brass about a rising desertion rate. In an interesting spin, the IDF says that most of the deserters are reservists, and that the most common explanation for their actions is Israel's deteriorating economy.
Last week, the Military Police put the number of deserters at 2,616 -- 67.2 percent higher than the same week a year earlier. Both conscripts and reservists have expressed concerns about supporting their families in tough economic times.
About 20 percent to 30 percent of IDF combat soldiers receive financial assistance from the IDF. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon is expected soon to approve a program, known as Gahelet ("ember") that is designed to stop the desertions.
The stick-and-carrot recommendations include tougher disciplinary measures, more education, and better handling of complaints relating to the soldiers' service conditions.
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