MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

11.1.2006

to wind up the debate on statements by the Council and Commission
pursuant to Rule 103(2) of the Rules of Procedure
by Angelika Beer, Joost Lagendijk, Raül Romeva i Rueda and Cem Özdemir
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
on Afghanistan

B6‑0047/2006

European Parliament resolution on Afghanistan

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Afghanistan, and notably those of 5 September 2002[1], 15 January 2003[2] and 12 February 2004[3],

–  having regard to the EU-Afghanistan Joint Declaration: Committing to a new EU-Afghan Partnership, of 16 November 2005,

–  having regard to the European Council conclusions on Increased EU Assistance to Combating Drugs in Afghanistan, of 1 December 2005,

–  having regard to the Final report on the Parliamentary and provincial council elections by the European Union election observation mission, as well as its report on 'Democracy‑building in Afghanistan: an integrated dimension for the way forward',

–  having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas the parliamentary and provincial elections held on 18 September 2005 conclude the so-called Bonn process (2001-2006) and were the first general elections to be held in Afghanistan in 36 years,

B.  whereas the EU, as the second largest donor in Afghanistan, has contributed over 1 billion euros in reconstruction aid as part of an international effort to bring peace, democracy, human rights and economic progress to the people of a country ravaged by external interference and internal conflict,   

C.  whereas the overall situation in the country remains extremely fragile and essential progress towards the creation of a stable democratic society cannot be made without basic education and gender equality, and only with increased stability and alternative sources of income generation will Afghanistan be able to emerge from its role as the largest poppy producer in the world,

1.  Welcomes the successful organisation of the elections as an important step in the transition process that aims to put in place a representative government, despite the extremely difficult conditions under which they were held;

2.  Takes note that the EU election observation mission described the pre-election preparations as generally good and voting on election day as largely peaceful; deplores, however, the fact that eight candidates were killed during the electoral process along with a number of election workers, clerics and others, and that 'irregularities and fraud cast a shadow over the integrity of the elections in a number of provinces', such as ballot staffing, proxy voting and voter intimidation;

3.  Congratulates the people of Afghanistan who voted - in spite of the dangers and difficulties - but regrets that the turnout of 54% is considerably lower than at the Presidential elections held in October 2004 (67%), that 3% of polling stations were entirely excluded from the counting process and that protest demonstrations by candidates and their supporters in approximately one-third of the 34 provinces point to serious problems in the electoral process which need to be addressed in the future;

4.  Welcomes the increase in the proportion of female voters (44.4%) compared to 2004, but expresses its concern that the highest increase in the rates of female registrants took place in provinces that are among the most socially conservative areas of Afghanistan, which indicates that there was probably considerable proxy registration; believes that in the future pictures on voter cards should be mandatory for men and women;

5.  Welcomes the fact that female candidates accounted for some 10% of the total number of candidates and that thanks to the female reserve seat system women obtained 27.3% of the seats in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House) and almost 30% in the Provincial Council; believes that the electoral law should be clarified to ensure that reserve seats represent a minimum and not a maximum of the seats available for women;

6.  Expresses its concern that a large number of (former) Jihadis, war lords and some Taliban were elected to the parliament; believes that the continued existence of illegal armed groups needs to be seriously addressed as part of a wider disarmament strategy so that exclusion of candidates under the electoral rules does not have to be used as a substitute 'disarmament measure';

7.  Deplores the fact that there is still no functional voters' list which could serve also as a basis for future district, village or municipal elections, and calls on the future authorities to conduct a census or a civil registration to be combined with a totally new voter registration procedure; calls on the Commission and the Member States to offer technical and financial support for this if requested;

8.  Takes note that the single non-transferable vote system has placed huge burdens on the electoral administration and contributes to the fragmentation of the parliament; calls on the Afghan authorities to give serious consideration to adopting a more suitable electoral system;

9.  Recommends that the 'Post-Bonn' Conference, scheduled for 31 January 2006, should conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Bonn Agreement, and that a future development strategy for Afghanistan should offer concrete benchmarks for state-building, development, economic growth and security, accompanied by measurable indicators;

10.  Takes note of Hamid Khazai's recent statement that terrorism was not, by a long way, the greatest threat to Afghanistan, and deplores in this context an international approach which focuses too strongly on 'Operation Enduring Freedom' and the 'fight against terror' while lending too little international assistance to the peace keeping forces (the ratio of ISAF troops per head of Afghan population is 1 : 1 115, compared with 1 : 50 in Kosovo and 1 : 111 in East Timor);

11.  Expresses serious concerned at the continuing situation of instability, insecurity and impunity in Afghanistan, and strongly condemns the recent beheading of the headmaster of a co-education school in Kandahar, which was only the latest and most inhumane in a series of attacks against teachers and institutions educating girls;

12.  Supports the expansion of the ISAF troops under NATO command from the relatively stable north and west into the volatile south, by up to a total of 15 000 soldiers, and calls for the rapid reduction of troops operating under the 'Enduring Freedom' mandate in favour of a further expansion of the ISAF;

13.  Insists that the command structure of the ISAF and that of Operation Enduring Freedom must remain separate, and emphasises that troops from EU member states are bound fully to respect international humanitarian law, which excludes the possibility of surrendering any prisoner to US custody;

14.  Strongly criticises the lack of accountability in respect of the activities undertaken by troops under Operation Enduring Freedom;

15.  Condemns, in particular, the transfer of hundreds of men captured by US troops after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2002 to the illegal detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, where torture and other ill-treatment by US personnel has been a commonplace occurrence, according to numerous testimonies, and calls for its immediate closure;

16.  Deplores the fact that new evidence leaked from Swiss intelligence confirms the use by the US of European bases for the clandestine transfer of prisoners from and to Afghanistan;

17.  Condemns the secret 'dark prison' where US personnel allegedly tortured detainees for weeks at a time, and equally condemns the well-documented deaths under torture of several Afghan prisoners in the US-run Bagram facility in 2002; expresses outrage that despite overwhelming evidence the US army dropped all charges against the police officer responsible;

18.  Condemns the alleged missile attacks by US troops on Pakistani territory, such as that in Waziristan on the Afghan border, and the disappearance on 5 December 2005 of the journalist Hayatullah Khan, who had presented the press with evidence on the US missiles that had been used;

19.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government and Parliament of Afghanistan and the US Government.

• [1]  Texts adopted, P5_TA(2002)0407
• [2]  Texts adopted, P5_TA(2003)0016
• [3]  Texts adopted, P5_TA(2004)0098