December 25, 2005

Six militants killed planting landmine in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Six suspected Taliban militants were killed when a landmine they were planting on a road exploded in     Afghanistan's insurgency-hit southern province of Kandahar, officials said.

The incident occurred on Saturday night in Maywand district, Kandahar police chief Abdul Malik Wahidi told AFP.

Maywand administration chief Mohammad Nabi Idari said the men were planting the landmine on a road used by Afghan and US forces on patrol.

The dead were believed to be Taliban, whose regime was ousted by a US-led military campaign in late 2001 for sheltering terror mastermind     Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network.

Separately police said they had arrested three militants in neighbouring Dand district and charged them with planning suicide attacks.

"Police arrested a man who was carrying a large amount of explosives on a motorcycle. He tipped the police about two others who were detained later," Wahidi said on Sunday.

He said police recovered four motorcycles, all fitted with explosives, from the suspects. The detainees are all Afghans.

"The suspects have confessed they were planning suicide attacks in the city," the police chief said.

Afghanistan has witnessed regular attacks linked to an insurgency by remnants of the Taliban and their Islamic allies, including those from the Al-Qaeda network.

A series of other attacks was reported from southwestern Farah and southeastern Paktia and Khost provinces in the past two days.

On Saturday suspected Taliban insurgents kidnapped a police officer and two tribal chiefs after ambushing their convoy in Farah.

A policeman was injured in the fighting with the attackers, local district official Mohammad Qasim Majboor said.

The same day dozens of Taliban rebels attacked a government building in Khost, injuring a policeman, Khost police chief Mohammad Ayoob said. A similar attack on Friday night on another government building was thwarted by the security forces.

Earlier on Friday, the Taliban shot and wounded a police officer when they raided a government building in Zurmat district in Paktia, local official Ghulam Nabi Salem said.

The Taliban-related violence has killed more than 1,500 people this year, many of them militants.

A US-led coalition of about 20,000 troops, mainly American, is based mostly in the insurgency-hit south and southeast to help Afghan forces hunt down militants.

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Arif Noorzai, Fozia Kofi elected deputy speakers of parliament
KABUL (AIP) - The new Afghan parliament elected deputy speakers here on Thursday. Muhammad Arif Noorzai and Fozia Kofi were elected as deputy speakers of Wolesi Jirga by the parliament. A total of five candidates were in the run for the first seat of deputy speaker in which Engineer Muhammad Arif Noorzai secured 76 votes and won the seat while other candidates including Mustafa Kazmi bagged 59, Haji Muhammad Huhaqiq 40, Mirwais Yasini 49 and Muhammad Naeem Farahi 10.

For the second seat of deputy speaker of Wolesi Jirg ten aspirants were in the field but Fozia Kofi defeated all her nine rivals by securing 49 votes. Other candidates including Ahmad Farid 37, Asfi Shadab 26, Baidar Zai 22, Maulvi Attaullah Lodhin 31, Taj Muhammad Mujahid 19, Sibghatullah Zaki 16, Abdul Salam Qazizada 10, and another candidate gained 7 votes.

Elections for the speaker of Wolesi Jirga were held yesterday in which Muhammad Younus Qanooni was elected as speaker of Woelsi Jirga by securing 122 votes.

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Parliamentary Secretary and Deputy-Secretary Chosen
The Lower House of the Afghan Parliament voted for Mohamad Rahman Oghali, deputy from Faryab province, in the post of Secretary, and for Saleh Mohamad Saljouki, an MP from Herat province as Deputy-Secretary of the House on Saturday. (BBC online)

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Afghan ex-intelligence chief to go on trial
Xinhua 12/24/2005
KABUL - The Afghan government would try former intelligence chief Assadullah Sarwari on charge of systematic killing of opponents and violating human rights, a local newspaper reported on Saturday.

"The trial of Assadullah Sarwari would begin soon," the newspaper Arman-e-Millie reported.

Sarwari, who served as head of intelligence service during the then pro-Soviet Union regime in 1979, has been accused of arbitrary arresting, torturing and killing hundreds of the politician opponents during that period.

Sarwari was arrested last decade and being kept in custody since then. Two more former intelligence officials on similar charges have been tried and sentenced to prison in Holland last month.

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Al-Qaida deputy leader says Taliban controls large land in Afghanistan
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida's deputy leader said in an audiotape aired Saturday that Taliban's fighters control large areas in Afghanistan and are fighting American forces and the U.S-backed Afghan government.

It was not clear when the tape purportedly by al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri was recorded. Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, which aired about 30 seconds of the tape, said al-Zawahri did not refer to any new events in the speech.

The tape's authenticity could not be independently confirmed, but the voice resembled that of al-Zawahri's confirmed in past recordings.

Al-Zawahri said the Taliban movement is controlling large sectors of east and south Afghanistan and are"waging a guerrilla war against the crusaders and their cronies."

The last tape by al-Zawahri emerged on Dec. 11, though it was believed to have been recorded in mid-September. In it, the Egyptian-born militant urged all Muslims to take up arms to fight against "the Cross and Zionism" and warned that the Islamic world had "no hope for victory" until all Muslims signed on to the al-Qaida-led jihad.

That tape dealt with similar issues as the recording aired Saturday. In the Dec. 11 tape, al-Zawahri credits toppled Taliban leader Mullah Omar with leading a three-year campaign "against the Crusaders and apostates in Afghanistan" and purportedly taking control of "extensive parts of eastern and western Afghanistan."

Mullah Omar is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, where Taliban forces continue to launch regular attacks but do not control large swaths of territory.

U.S.-led forces toppled the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001 when it refused to turn over bin Laden and stop providing a haven to the group blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.

Al Zawhari appeared about eight times this year to address al-Qaida followers and other Muslim militants while bin Laden has not appeared in a video for more than a year. In a video recorded in September, al-Zawahri said bin Laden is still alive.

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A Year of Peaks and Valleys
The Century Foundation 12/23/2005, Carl Robichaud
This year has been a turbulent one for Afghanistan, with both historic progress and daunting setbacks. On the positive side, the country's convened an elected parliament for the first time since 1973, its first female governor took office, and economic growth remained strong. Afghans remain optimistic about their future: according to a recent ABC News poll, 77 percent of Afghans believe their country is headed in the right direction (versus only 30 percent of Americans who feel the same way about their country). The majority of Afghans report better living conditions (85 percent) and improved freedom (80 percent) compared to the Taliban era. Yet Afghanistan took steps backward in several sectors, and fulfilling these expectations will be difficult.

State building - Efforts to fight corruption have stagnated and efforts to strengthen the state, especially in the provinces, have had mixed success. The country ranks among the world's poorest, and the government is incapable of providing even basic security or services—even with a billion dollars in international aid. As donor fatigue sets in, Afghanistan's window of opportunity closed another inch this year.

Security - The re-emergence of the Taliban made this the bloodiest year since 2001, and the insurgency's increased efficiency and brutality showed the influence of Iraqi tactics. Even if the Taliban never again become players on the national stage, their attacks, and those of foreign jihadists, raise the costs and complexity of development efforts.

Human rights - The United States came under fire this year for several troubling scandals. In March, M. Cherif Bassiouni, the United Nations independent expert on human rights in Afghanistan, concluded a year of research with a report that identified "arbitrary arrest, illegal detentions and abuses committed by the United States-led Coalition forces." Long before Condoleezza Rice faced accusations over U.S. secret prisons in Europe, Dana Priest revealed alleged human rights violations in 2002 and 2003 at the "Salt Pit," a U.S.-sponsored detention facility in Afghanistan. In mid-October, U.S. forces burned the corpses of two Taliban fighters and used them to taunt insurgents. While America's image is still positive among Afghans, with 83 percent favorable toward the United States, almost a third (30 percent) now report that attacks on U.S. military forces could be justified. A closer look at the best and worst moments of 2005:

Security
Highlight: NATO agrees to a larger role: NATO finally agreed to take a more assertive role in Afghanistan, expanding its operations next year to the southern provinces and adding an extra 6,000 soldiers. NATO currently deploys 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, the vast majority of them in low-conflict regions. While the exact mandate of the new forces remains unclear—these will be peacekeepers operating in areas where peace is not established—it's an encouraging sign of burden-sharing and should provide much-needed security to Afghan civilians.

Low point: Suicide bombing in Kandahar: A June 1 bomb in a Kandahar mosque that killed 19 and injured 52, mostly civilians, was the most lethal in a wave of almost twenty suicide attacks this year. There is evidence, direct and anecdotal, that indigenous Taliban and foreign insurgents have imported the tactics of Iraq into Afghanistan, a country where suicide attacks were once rare.

Afghan security: Because the U.S. military remains focused on counterterrorism, security has not dramatically improved for Afghan civilians, who continue to face coercion from militia leaders, strongmen, and drug lords.

Governance and Rule of Law
Highlight: Parliamentary Elections: The Afghan people made their voices heard at the polls, with 6.8 of 12 million registered voters showing up to vote for the national assembly and provincial councils. The electoral process was flawed and there were indications that voters felt disempowered. almost half (46 percent) of Afghans believed there was voter fraud and participation was down by 30 percent in Kabul compared to last year's presidential polls. Nevertheless, vote buying and intimidation were insufficient to deter optimism. three-quarters of Afghans report having faith in the new parliament.

Low point: Human rights abusers elected: The elections signaled the entry into official power of some of the country's worst war criminals. A prime example is Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf, an eloquent former jihadi, who came just five votes short of becoming Chairman of the Wolesi Jirga. Sayyaf's abuses have been extensively documented by Human Rights Watch. He is not alone, either. HRW estimates that 60 percent of the new representatives are linked to militias and many stand accused of abuses. Will elected office transform these leaders and make them more accountable? It's possible. But the first session of the assembly does not bode well. Malalai Joya, a female minister, was shouted down when she criticized human rights abusers in the parliament.

Economy
Highlight: IMF reports "strong" performance: A May IMF review described Afghanistan 's progress: "Output continued to grow steadily. Core inflation remained limited. Money growth and fiscal revenue were in line with program projections. All structural benchmarks but one were met. This performance bodes well for the long-term course of the economy." The IMF expects GDP to rise to 13 percent next year. Inaugural Development Data Released: For the first time, the UNDP released an Afghan Human Development Report. This data is indispensable: in its absence, it is virtually impossible to plan effective interventions and measure progress.

Low point: Failure to provide alternative livelihoods: In Nangahar, as in other regions, the international community failed to provide meaningful aid to farmers who gave up their only cash crop. As Barnett Rubin describes it, Afghans were enticed by roads, dams, electric power, and fertilizers; instead "USAID allocated $71 million to alternative livelihoods in Nangahar which means they gave $71 million dollars to two Washington-based consulting firms . . . they paid people to dig ditches they didn't need and paid them $3 a day to do it. I have photographs of these activities, actually. This was not what people thought was coming."  The U.N. narcotics office has already stated that it expects poppy cultivation to increase next year. It's no surprise, given the broken promises to last year's growers.

Counterterrorism
Highlight: Killing of Hamza Rabia: In December, an unmanned predator drone launched a missile which killed Hamza Rabia, a key Al Qaeda operative who may have ranked as high as number three in the global network. Military success against the Taliban: The U.S.-led Coalition continues to defeat the Taliban in every engagement it fights. Yet long-term success or failure will hinge not on military success but on efforts to isolate insurgents, especially by cutting off support from Pakistan . The scope of recent fighting suggests that the Taliban and their allies have been able to replace their ranks and operate effectively even with the loss of over 200 fighters this year. So far, amnesty programs have had limited success.

Low point: Escape of four high-level al Qaeda operatives: In an embarrassing setback, four top terrorist suspects escaped from a U.S. detention facility in Bagram in July. The group included Omar al-Faruq, a Kuwaiti who headed operations in Southeast Asia and had been considered "one of the most important Qaeda figures ever captured by the United States." Increase in foreign jihadists in Afghanistan: More and more foreign fighters are appearing among the ranks of the insurgency, suggesting a failure to prevent the flow of arms, funds and militants across borders. The U.S. has not gained Pakistan's full cooperation in addressing the threat.
Carl Robichaud is a program officer at The Century Foundation.