 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serving you since 1998 | ||||||||||||
|
|
Karzai presses top US military leader
Associated Press December 22, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai is pressing America's top military officer about where 20,000 to 30,000 new U.S. troops will be operating in Afghanistan.
NATO to engage Afghan tribes in Taliban fight
By Golnar Motevalli – Mon Dec 22, 7:18 am ET
KABUL (Reuters) – While U.S. forces prepare to send up to 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, behind the scenes Afghan government officials are working to engage tribal elders as a way of undermining the growing influence of Taliban insurgents.
In Afghanistan, Education Under Attack
Washington Post, United States By Helene Gayle Monday, December 22, 2008
Few things symbolize progress in the fight against poverty better than the face of an educated girl. And I was fortunate enough to see hundreds of them during a trip to Afghanistan in 2006. Those faces
Ashraf Ghani nominated for the elections
Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 21 December 2008
32 political parties and 342 peoples' councils announced his nomination for the next presidential elections
FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Dec 22
Dec 22 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1330 GMT on Monday:
US 'can talk to some elements of Taliban'
The Telegraph (UK) December 21, 2008
The United States and the Afghan government can talk to moderate Taliban members, but only from a position of strength, Washington's envoy to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said on Sunday.
AFGHANISTAN: Indications children being hit hard by pneumonia
JALALABAD, 22 December 2008 (IRIN) - An outbreak of pneumonia in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least six children in the past two weeks and pneumonia cases in some central provinces have risen sharply, according to health officials.
Iran, Afghanistan discuss cooperation for regional stability
Tehran, Dec 22, IRNA
Vice-President Ali Saeedlou said on Monday that promotion of security and peace in the region is a priority of Iran's foreign policy.
Call for setting up Iran-Afghanistan joint economic commission
Tehran, Dec 22, IRNA
Iran and Afghanistan should set up joint economic commission, said head of Majlis Economic Commission Gholam Reza Mesbahi-Moqaddam here on Monday.
Ghazanfari: Iran-Afghanistan transactions stand at dlrs 500m
Tehran, Dec 22, IRNA
The deputy commerce minister on Monday put the volume of Iran-Afghanistan trade transactions at dlrs 500 million annually.
To Afghanistan, with wind
By Eloise Gibson New Zealand Herald December 22, 2008
An isolated Afghanistan valley is home to that country's first wind farm, courtesy of a team of Timaru engineers.
Graveyard of invaders
Gulf News By Abdel Bari Atwan December 21, 2008
US President-elect Barack Obama intends to make Afghanistan and Pakistan his focus in the "war on terror". In terms of identifying the location of his enemy, he is absolutely correct.
Britain has lost the stomach for a fight
The Sunday Times By Michael Portillo 12/21/2008
Last week Gordon Brown announced a date for Britain’s withdrawal from Iraq. Most troops will be back in time for a spring general election. The prime minister posed with soldiers and expressed
'Australian Taleban' fully free
Monday, 22 December 2008 BBC News
An Australian former inmate of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay is now a free man after strict control orders limiting his activities were lifted.
FM: Pakistani president to visit Afghanistan early January
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-21 20
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Sunday that President Asif Ali Zardari would visit Afghanistan in the first week of January, 2009.
MFA wants Pakistan more cooperation to release kidnapped consulate
Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 21 December 2008
Pakistanis` negligence’s made up upset, AMFA spokesman says
Back to Top
Karzai presses top US military leader
Associated Press December 22, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai is pressing America's top military officer about where 20,000 to 30,000 new U.S. troops will be operating in Afghanistan.
Karzai met with Adm. Mike Mullen in Kabul on Monday. Mullen is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He announced over the weekend that Afghanistan could see up to 30,000 new U.S. troops by summer.
Karzai's office said in a statement that Mullen told the president the new troops would be sent to insecure regions, particularly along the Pakistan border.
The Afghan president also told Mullen that the troops need to be careful in Afghan villages. Karzai has long decried the civilian casualties caused by some military operations.
Back to Top
Back to Top
NATO to engage Afghan tribes in Taliban fight
By Golnar Motevalli – Mon Dec 22, 7:18 am ET
KABUL (Reuters) – While U.S. forces prepare to send up to 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, behind the scenes Afghan government officials are working to engage tribal elders as a way of undermining the growing influence of Taliban insurgents.
Engaging with leaders in rural areas of Afghanistan is part of a new NATO and U.S. strategy in Afghanistan; to promote traditional methods of local rule and undercut the lawlessness that feeds in the strengthening Taliban insurgency.
"The only way you can bring peace and stability to this country is to revive the traditional rule of people within the community in governance and security," Barna Karimi, deputy minister for policy at the Interdependent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) said.
The IDLG is an Afghan government department which leads community outreach to elders in rural areas of Afghanistan where their word is respected and often determines local law.
Using shuras -- meetings of tribal leaders -- the IDLG wants power-brokers in remote areas to cherry-pick civilians for jobs in the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.
"This shura will sign a memorandum of understanding on how the government should work and how the community should help the government not to shelter insurgents in their houses, not to feed them, not to house them, not to help them," Karimi said.
The commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, U.S. General David McKiernan recommended the plan in Washington last month as a way of improving government effectiveness at a local level in a country which has little history of central rule.
"What they are talking about is empowering local militias and what they are focused on is money, development, training and governance," said a Brussels-based NATO diplomat.
TRIBAL RULE
The plan is one plank of the "clear, hold and build" strategy that General David Petraeus employed with success in Iraq and now as overall commander of Afghanistan is likely to recommend to President-elect Barack Obama in a forthcoming strategic review.
McKiernan spoke of providing the local shuras with "the wherewithal, the authority and some resources" to help provide security, but said the plan was different to the so-called the Awakening Councils, that turned their guns on al Qaeda in Iraq.
By helping to provide security at a local level, the shuras could take some of the pressure off Afghan forces while the U.S. military works on nearly doubling the Afghan army to some 134,000 and reforming the notoriously corrupt police.
The plan is to be implemented first of all on a trial basis, focusing on areas along the key highway from the capital Kabul to Kandahar, the main city in the south, NATO officials said.
But McKiernan, like other officials, has avoided talk of arming militias, an idea fraught with problems in Afghanistan where long-standing, complex ethnic, tribal and local rivalries often pit one village, valley, tribe or region against another.
"There's a lot of inter-fighting and internal disagreements between local tribes," Afghan parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai told Reuters. "They will start to abuse the same weapons they are responsible for ... It's a big threat to the community."
The extent to which the local shuras would be allowed to arm their communities is currently being debated by the Afghan government and the NATO-led force.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said this week that arming militias would be a "disaster."
"Getting weapons in Afghanistan is not a problem, everybody is armed," the Brussels-based NATO diplomat said.
"I've not heard about anyone talking about giving them weapons and a lot of people talking about not giving them weapons," the diplomat said.
(Editing by Valerie Lee)
Back to Top
Back to Top
In Afghanistan, Education Under Attack
Washington Post, United States By Helene Gayle Monday, December 22, 2008
Few things symbolize progress in the fight against poverty better than the face of an educated girl. And I was fortunate enough to see hundreds of them during a trip to Afghanistan in 2006. Those faces, eager and alert, lit up the courtyard of a new school built to educate 1,000 girls in central Afghanistan's Bamian province.
Gone were the days of Taliban rule, when girls were forbidden to study and women weren't allowed to teach. Afghanistan's future leaders could learn -- out in the open.
Perhaps that is why last month's brutal attack on a group of Afghan schoolgirls in the southern city of Kandahar was so heartbreaking. The students were walking to school in uniforms. Two men wielding water pistols drove by on motorcycles and sprayed battery acid.
They took aim at that same symbol of progress, the one that has inspired me and so many others.
At least three of the girls were hospitalized for severe burns on their faces, according to media reports. Afghan authorities later reported that they had arrested 10 Taliban militants in connection with the attack.
One of the girls spoke courageously from her hospital bed, with yellow ointment covering an eye damaged by the acid. "I will go to my school even if they kill me," she told reporters. "My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies."
The world must stand behind her. The people of Afghanistan, if given the proper support, can produce a generation of educated students -- boys and girls -- capable of lifting their country up again. They overcame so much during the dark period of Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. Determined Afghans worked alongside humanitarian groups such as CARE to school young girls in homes, community centers and mosques.
Now the forces that would deny girls equal access to education are once again testing the country's resolve. At stake is the momentum built by people working hard to break the cycle of poverty.
Girls account for two-thirds of the children denied primary education around the globe. Yet each year of schooling can boost a girl's future earnings, and that of her family, by 10 to 20 percent. Schooling girls is also a matter of life and death. Children of educated women are 40 percent more likely to live past age 5.
Among Afghan girls, there is no lack of desire. Some walk for hours and sit outside makeshift schools, their heads filled with dreams of becoming doctors and engineers. When CARE opened 10 learning centers in Parwan and Kapisa, nearly 2,000 girls enrolled. Teachers, too, were excited at a chance for new training. Parents listened intently to information on the importance of educating their daughters as well as their sons.
Some, of course, will choose to fight this kind of change. In fact, while I was in Afghanistan, a nearby school was burned to the ground.
But we, too, must fight for the right of girls to reach their full potential and contribute to society. That means working with men and women to make sure their daughters have a safe environment for learning.
That means teaching more girls to read. And write. And to handle acid, not for violent means but scientific ones.
When meeting with those seventh-graders two years ago, I was struck by how many listed their favorite subjects as biology, physics and chemistry. They will face significant hurdles to realize their dreams. Yet, on that day, I felt that I was meeting tomorrow's scientists. There was so much hope. I saw it in their faces.
The writer is president and chief executive of CARE, an international poverty-fighting organization.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Ashraf Ghani nominated for the elections
Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 21 December 2008
32 political parties and 342 peoples' councils announced his nomination for the next presidential elections
Some of Afghanistan's political parties and the peoples' councils announced the nomination of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai for the next year's presidential elections, during a gathering on Sunday.
Some members at the meeting said 32 political parties and 342 people's councils announced the nomination of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai for these elections.
The gathering was held under the name of the "national gathering of Afghanistan".
Although the delegates announced Mr. Ghani's nomination for next year's presidential elections, they warned they will only participate in the elections if the vote is free, fair and transparent.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was appointed as the minister of finance during Afghanistan's interim government after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
He was also dean of Kabul University previously. He is currently living abroad.
Back to Top
Back to Top
FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Dec 22
Dec 22 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1330 GMT on Monday:
HELMAND - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed an insurgent in Nahr Surkh district, about 530 km (305 miles) from Kabul, on Sunday, U.S. military said.
GHAZNI - A car laden with explosives exploded outside government buildings in the city of Ghazni on Monday, 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Kabul, killing one civilian as well as the two would-be suicide bombers in the car, police said. The blast went off prematurely and also wounded seven civilians. (Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Valerie Lee)
Back to Top
Back to Top
US 'can talk to some elements of Taliban'
The Telegraph (UK) December 21, 2008
The United States and the Afghan government can talk to moderate Taliban members, but only from a position of strength, Washington's envoy to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said on Sunday.
"I think we need to reach out to elements of the Taliban who are reconcilable," Mr Khalilzad said on CNN.
"But to achieve success with regard to that, work in other cases would show that the government and the coalition need to be in a much stronger position than they are," he added.
"I think the conditions will be, first of all, make some reconcilable and some not. So, it's very much contingent," he said.
"But I do believe there are forces within the Taliban personalities that are reconcilable," he said, adding that some of them "already have come across".
Between 20,000 and 30,000 new US troops could be deployed to Afghanistan by midyear to help Kabul combat a Taliban-led insurgency that has gained pace in recent years, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Saturday.
If the Pentagon opts for the high end of the range, the number of US troops here would nearly double the current number of US troops.
Remnants of the Taliban who were ousted from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001 have stepped up attacks in recent years, with 2008 the bloodiest year yet of the seven-year-long insurgency.
Back to Top
Back to Top
AFGHANISTAN: Indications children being hit hard by pneumonia
JALALABAD, 22 December 2008 (IRIN) - An outbreak of pneumonia in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least six children in the past two weeks and pneumonia cases in some central provinces have risen sharply, according to health officials.
Up to 3,000 children with pneumonia, acute bronchitis and other respiratory diseases have sought treatment at hospitals in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar Province, over the past two months, Baz Mohammad Sherzad, deputy director of the provincial health department, told IRIN on 22 December.
Most are children under five. "Pneumonia cases have increased significantly compared to the same period last year," Sherzad said.
Cold weather poses a threat to vulnerable households: Access to health services is limited and people lack knowledge about how to protect children.
Health officials in the central province of Daykundi said pneumonia cases had risen sharply in December - with the situation aggravated by high food prices and food insecurity: Families cannot afford nutritious food which makes children more vulnerable to diseases, according to experts. "Every day about 60 patients with pneumonia and respiratory diseases visit our hospital," Asif Wahidy, an official at Daykundi's central hospital, told IRIN on the phone.
Afghanistan's infant mortality rate is 165 deaths per 1,000 live births, and one child in four does not reach his/her fifth birthday largely due to diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Vulnerable groups
Health workers at hospitals in Jalalabad said most patients were children of internally displaced persons and returnees who have little access to sanitation and clean drinking water.
"These children are very prone to infectious diseases," said Wahidullah Habibi, a paediatrician at Jalalabad hospital, adding that IDPs and returnees from neighbouring Pakistan could not afford to buy fuel to keep their children warm in winter.
"Most families sleep and live in one room in large numbers in order to keep warm, thereby creating a favourable environment for contagious diseases to spread," Habibi said.
Acute food insecurity, poor hygiene and lack of awareness about infectious diseases has further exacerbated such vulnerabilities, health specialists said.
Not enough beds
Public health officials in Jalalabad assured IRIN they had adequate medication and staff to treat pneumonia patients. Their main concern was the shortage of hospital beds.
"We… cannot accommodate all patients," said Habibi of Jalalabad's main hospital where some patients were lying on the floor.
Access to quality health services has been a major problem for many people. Donors are providing funds to build capacity and improve service delivery.
The single largest donor, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will give US$236 million to support health services in the next five years, the Health Ministry said on 21 December.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Iran, Afghanistan discuss cooperation for regional stability
Tehran, Dec 22, IRNA
Vice-President Ali Saeedlou said on Monday that promotion of security and peace in the region is a priority of Iran's foreign policy.
In a meeting with Afghan Vice-President Abdul Karim Khalili, he said the Iranian nation considers development of Afghanistan as its own and is ready to provide other nations with its valuable experiences in different fields.
Saeedlou, who is Vice-President for executive affairs, added that there is no restriction for expansion of Iran's cooperation with the regional states.
The Islamic Republic of Iran's foreign policy is based on cooperation with all world countries, the neighboring states in particular, he added.
He underlined the need for urgent withdrawal of foreign forces from the Middle East region.
Saeedlou called for implementation of agreements already inked by the two countries, saying that they would benefit both nations.
Briefing the Iranian official on the latest developments in his country, Khalili appreciated Iran's great assistance to his nation during its difficult time.
He also called for further expansion of Tehran-Kabul relations in all areas.
Khalili said that Kabul welcomes further investment of Iranian companies in the country's different development projects.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Call for setting up Iran-Afghanistan joint economic commission
Tehran, Dec 22, IRNA
Iran and Afghanistan should set up joint economic commission, said head of Majlis Economic Commission Gholam Reza Mesbahi-Moqaddam here on Monday.
Addressing the first seminar on Afghanistan economic
reconstruction, he added if necessary, Majlis will spare no effort to passing laws to that effect.
He added that establishment of the commission will help identify economic potentials as well as problems facing the countries.
The commissioner also said that Iran earmarks funds for Afghanistan reconstruction every year and so far the issue has been one of its priorities.
Stating that poverty and deprivation should be obliterated from the country, Mesbahi-Moqaddam hoped that poppy cultivation will be replaced by other agricultural crops.
In this case, Iran will not incur casualties in fighting drug traffickers, he noted.
The best assistance to the war-ravaged country is to train Afghans in a professional manner, he said, adding that this is an fundamental help because if the Afghans undergo technical education, they can rebuild their country and handle the situation.
The First International Seminar on Afghanistan Economic Reconstruction opened at Olympic Hotel in the capital Monday and will continue for three days.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Ghazanfari: Iran-Afghanistan transactions stand at dlrs 500m
Tehran, Dec 22, IRNA
The deputy commerce minister on Monday put the volume of Iran-Afghanistan trade transactions at dlrs 500 million annually.
Mehdi Ghazanfari made the remark while addressing the First International Seminar on Afghanistan's Economic Reconstruction.
Referring to the two countries' age-old relations and cultural commonalties, he added the figure could reach four billion dollar in near future.
Ghazanfari also voiced Iran's readiness to exchange its valuable experiences with Afghanistan in all arenas.
Pointing to the implementation of 223 technical and engineering projects by Iranian companies in 33 countries, he urged the Iranian companies to help Afghanistan in this respect.
The First International Seminar on Afghanistan's Economic Reconstruction opened at Olympic Hotel in Tehran on Monday.
The event will end on December 25.
In addition to Iranian experts, some 150 Afghan experts and businessmen are participating in the seminar.
Afghanistan's political and economic conditions and Kabul-Tehran interaction are among the issues to be discussed during the event.
The seminar is sponsored by Iran's Trade Development Organization and the private sector.
Back to Top
Back to Top
To Afghanistan, with wind
By Eloise Gibson New Zealand Herald December 22, 2008
An isolated Afghanistan valley is home to that country's first wind farm, courtesy of a team of Timaru engineers.
Tony Woods, of the sustainable development firm Empower, and his team spent a year in the Panjshir valley, pulling apart American-made turbines, hauling them up steep, dizzying, gravel roads, then putting them back together above the snow line.
Now government offices in the valley - a tourist destination in the 1970s that is now dotted with tanks and landmines - are powered by a 17kW, 10-turbine wind farm designed and installed by New Zealanders.
Mr Woods believes small, renewable energy generation is the only chance for many of Afghanistan's isolated communities to get electricity. The country has no central electricity grid, and if it did, there is no means to power it.
He would like to build more small, renewable energy projects in New Zealand, but said the market structure made it difficult for many people to afford the installation costs because it did not give a fair price to people who sold surplus electricity to the national grid.
The Panjshir valley wind farm was paid for by the regional government there, after the Asian Development Bank paid Empower to scope the area for possible wind farm sites. Land mines were cleared from the site before building.
Because of their height, many of the best spots for wind power were also look-outs during times of fighting, making them risky areas for mines.
"You don't really want to go wandering over the hillsides like you would in New Zealand," said Mr Woods.
The engineer said the only time he was frightened in Afghanistan was when he had to climb to the top of turbines in the wind, before ropes were secured to balance him.
The Empower team - who were helped with their work by Timaru-based Smart Energy - felt safe from being attacked because the local community strongly supported the wind farm.
"[Communities] really control the security in their areas. We had very open and frank discussions with the local community," he said. "That really takes care of security by itself."
Locals claim Panjshir is the only place in Afghanistan never conquered by Russia or the Taleban, despite at least nine attempts.
Roads to the wind farm site were sometimes impassable in winter, and work stopped for months because of snow and ice.
Mr Woods said the hardest part was the dismantling and hauling of the wind farm parts.
"We enjoy a challenge, but that was an effort, it really was."
Most people in Afghanistan do not have electricity, and those who do mostly rely on diesel generators, many installed by aid agencies as a quick and easy way to power buildings. But as the cost of diesel has risen, Mr Woods said many communities could not afford the diesel.
The wind farm would cost less to maintain than running a diesel generator and would keep working in winter, when trucks carrying diesel could not get to the community.
An Afghani company formed by Empower and staffed by 15, mostly Afghani, engineers will maintain the turbines.
Empower's next task is taking solar electricity to the region.
Mr Woods plans to install solar electricity panels at 18 district health clinics, an orphanage and a women's refuge, as well as four neighbouring villages near the Pakistan border.
The wind farm was officially opened last month.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Graveyard of invaders
Gulf News By Abdel Bari Atwan December 21, 2008
US President-elect Barack Obama intends to make Afghanistan and Pakistan his focus in the "war on terror". In terms of identifying the location of his enemy, he is absolutely correct.
The region, especially the vast 'Tribal Area' - the size of Portugal that straddles the 1,500 mile border between Afghanistan and Pakistan region - has become a magnet for international jihadis.
Al Qaida, having regrouped and expanded in Iraq, was wrong-footed by General David Petraeus' 'surge' and 'awakening' campaigns. Now battle-hardened and well trained fighters are migrating back to the organisation's former safe haven in Afghanistan where they are protected by a resurgent Taliban, who control two-thirds of the country.
The renewed significance of Afghanistan in Al Qaida's global jihad prospectus is signalled by the arrival there of 'top brass' leaders such as the former emir, Abu Ayoob Al Masri, whom many believed captured or killed in May 2008 but who resurfaced in the tribal area in the summer.
Up to 50 highly trained ex-officers from Saddam Hussain's Republican Guards (who joined forces with Al Qaida in the Iraqi insurgency), including General Al Bashir Al Jabouri, who was the "defence minister" in the "Islamic State of Iraq", have also been brought over to disseminate their military expertise. Their presence is evidenced by the use of increasingly sophisticated Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in attacks in both sides of the border.
In September 2008, Osama Bin Laden's son and heir apparent, 24 year-old Sa'ad Bin Laden, also relocated (from Iran), to the "Islamic Emirate of Waziristan" on the Pakistani side of the border, accompanied by Saif Al Adl, one of Osama Bin Laden's closest aides. Al Qaida have already installed a regional commander, Mustafa Abul Yazid, in Waziristan.
The Taliban have spread to the other side of the border too with the formation of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) under Baitullah Mehsud. The number of Taliban sympathisers in Pakistan is an estimated four million with 80,000 of them armed fighters.
The Taliban-Al Qaida nexus has many friends in Pakistan, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, widely believed to have carried out the recent attacks in Mumbai.
The two groups share training camps and aspects of the attacks - simultaneous assaults in different locations for example - bear the hallmark of Al Qaida. India's 9/11 was almost certainly planned and manned in the tribal regions.
Obama is to send an additional 25,000 troops. Gordon Brown's Britain, having sensibly decided to extricate itself from Iraq, is to redeploy 3,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, adding to its already onerous financial burden of £2 million spent annually on its military efforts there.
Historians may well be asking if these two gentlemen are aware of Afghanistan's record over the past two centuries, for the country has always been the graveyard of imperial ambition.
Doomed to failure
Invasions of Afghanistan are doomed to failure by several insurmountable factors. The terrain is extremely mountainous and hostile, familiar to the insurgents but impenetrable by outside forces - exactly the scenario that allowed Algeria's National Liberation Front to defeat the French in 1962. The indigenous population is equally hostile and the majority Pashtun are notoriously fierce, bloodthirsty warriors who have a history of setting aside their tribal differences to create a united force to repel invaders.
Finally, one cannot underestimate the importance of the tribesmen's deeply ingrained code of honour, Pashtunwali, which explicitly forbids the betrayal of 'guests' or those under the tribes' protection. This is why Osama Bin Laden's location has never to date been betrayed whereas Saddam Hussain was betrayed by his own cousin. This makes an Iraq-style 'awakening' campaign unlikely to succeed in Afghanistan.
Let us look at the Soviet experience a little closer: The Red Army invaded in 1979 and established a puppet regime (first, in 1980, under Karmal then, in 1986, under Najibullah); they faced the unexpected and rapid formation of a hugely successful insurgency composed of international Mujaheddin which dragged them into a prolonged war of attrition; the Soviet economy, and empire, crumbled under the pressure of unmanageable military and security costs.
Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar have been there before. The world has been there before, except the present situation sees the additional challenge to the current invaders, US-led Nato, of the insurgency's rapid spread into Pakistan.
As long ago as 1996, when I interviewed him in Tora Bora, Bin Laden told me that his strategy was to "bleed the US to the point of bankruptcy" with prolonged wars of attrition on several fronts.
The Taliban-Al Qaida nexus is stronger and more powerful than ever. Al Qaida appears to have learnt from its mistakes in Iraq. It is operating under the authority of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than assuming leadership and alienating other jihadi groups engaged in the same fight. This is likely to safeguard its stronghold as long as the Taliban remain powerful in the region.
For two centuries, Afghanistan has been the graveyard of imperialist ambition. As the US and British economy face meltdown, are Obama and Brown really in any position to change history?
Abdel Bari Atwan is Editor-in-chief, Al Quds Al Arabi pan-Arab daily newspaper.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Britain has lost the stomach for a fight
The Sunday Times By Michael Portillo 12/21/2008
Last week Gordon Brown announced a date for Britain’s withdrawal from Iraq. Most troops will be back in time for a spring general election. The prime minister posed with soldiers and expressed his sorrow over yet more fatal casualties in Afghanistan. He did not dwell on Britain’s humiliation in Basra, nor mention that this is the most inglorious withdrawal since Sir Anthony Eden ordered the boys back from Suez.
The fundamental cause of the British failure was political. Tony Blair wanted to join the United States in its toppling of Saddam Hussein because if Britain does not back America it is hard to know what our role in the world is: certainly not a seat at the top table. But, for all his persuasiveness, Blair could not hold public opinion over the medium term and so he cut troop numbers fast and sought to avoid casualties. As a result, British forces lost control of Basra and left the population at the mercy of fundamentalist thugs and warring militias, in particular Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.
The secondary cause of failure was a misplaced British disdain for America, shared by our politicians and senior military. In the early days in Iraq we bragged that our forces could deploy in berets and soft-sided vehicles while US forces roared through Baghdad in heavily armoured convoys. British leaders sneered at the Americans’ failure to win hearts and minds because of their lack of experience in counterinsurgency.
Pride has certainly come before a fall. British commanders underestimated both the enemy’s effectiveness and the Americans’ ability to adapt. Some apparently failed even to observe how much had changed. At a meeting in August 2007 an American described Major-General Jonathan Shaw, then British commander, as “insufferable”, lecturing everyone in the room about lessons learnt in Northern Ireland, which apparently set eyeballs rolling: “It would be okay if he was best in class, but now he’s worst in class.”
Around the same time Jack Keane, an American general, moaned that it was frustrating to see the “situation in Basra that was once working pretty well, now coming apart”. By then General David Petraeus had been appointed US commander, introducing intelligence and determination in equal measure.
If a fair-minded account of the Iraq war is written, credit should go to President Bush for rejecting two years ago the report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group that called for force reductions. He defied conventional wisdom and ordered a troop surge instead. It has been an extraordinary success and, unlike Britain, the Americans will not withdraw in defeat. During debates in Washington, British forces’ ignominious withdrawal to barracks was cited to argue that the United States could not contemplate being humbled in a similar way. In the end Bush was not a quitter. Blair “cut and ran”.
Britain’s shaming was completed in March 2008 when Iraqi forces, backed by the US, moved decisively against the Mahdi Army, inflicting huge casualties and removing them from Basra. Operation Charge of the Knights was supervised by Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, exasperated that Iraq’s second city was controlled not by Britain but by an Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia.
Trust in the British had fallen so low that neither the Iraqi nor the US government was willing to give us much notice of the operation. General Mohammed Jawad Humeidi remarked that his forces battled for a week before receiving British support. He rubbed salt in the wound by noting that for five years the Mahdi Army had “ruled Basra without being punished or held to account”, and had during that time controlled ports, oil, electricity and government agencies, whose funds bought them weapons.
It cannot be a defence of British policy that the war was unpopular at home. Our mission was to provide security for the Iraqi people, and in that the US and Maliki’s government have recently had marked success and we have failed. The fault does not lie with our fighters. They have been extremely brave and as effective as their orders and their equipment would allow.
It raises questions about the stamina of our nation and the resolve of our political class. It is an uncomfortable conclusion that Britain, with nuclear weapons, cruise missiles, aircraft carriers and the latest generation of fighter-bombers, is incapable of securing a medium-size conurbation. Making Basra safe was an essential part of the overall strategy; having committed ourselves to our allies we let them down.
The extent of Britain’s fiasco has been masked by the media’s relief that we are at last leaving Iraq. Those who have been urging Britain to quit are not in a strong position to criticise the government’s lack of staying power. Reporting of Basra has mainly focused on British casualties and the prospect for withdrawal. The British media and public have shown scant regard for our failure to protect Iraqis, so the British nation, not just its government, has attracted distrust. We should reflect on what sort of country we have become. We may enjoy patronising Americans but they demonstrate a fibre that we now lack.
The United States will have drawn its conclusions about our reliability in future and British policy-makers, too, will need to recognise that we lack the troops, wealth and stomach for anything more than the briefest conflict. How long will we remain in Afghanistan? There, in contrast to our past two years in Basra, our forces engage the enemy robustly. But as a result the attrition rate is high. We look, rightly, for more help from Nato allies such as Germany, although humility should temper that criticism, given our own performance in Iraq.
The mood in the Ministry of Defence is said to be despondent. The government, having used our forces in Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, has been unwilling to increase the budget. Having announced that he would fight the recession by bringing forward public spending, Brown has pushed back the date of two new aircraft carriers. The Conservatives are too cautious about public spending to make promises. The recession is likely to bring further cuts because neither party sees votes in defence. Nor is either willing to talk of reducing commitments or of specialising in particular defence roles.
Prestige apart, it is hard to explain why we have nuclear weapons, and what price prestige, if it is clear to the world that we could not protect the civilians of a single city in Iraq?
Blair’s military adventures exposed the gap between Britain’s pretensions and capabilities and perhaps between our aspirations and national character. Leaving Basra closes a chapter and Britain now pursues a new delusion. Whereas Blair posed as a global leader by jetting from capital to capital to build military coalitions, Brown circumnavigates the planet to save the world from bankruptcy (albeit by increasing borrowing).
Perhaps we will not be alone in having to downsize our ambitions after the chastening experience of Iraq. The rhetoric about Afghanistan is changing. All-out victory is rarely mentioned. There is talk of securing Kabul and doing deals with the Taliban. It is tough luck if you are a woman in the Afghan countryside, but international attention is turning to Pakistan and Somalia. The allies cannot hope to control the vast terrain within failed states where Al-Qaeda may set up its camps, and the attempt to do so may help the terrorist cause more than incapacitate it.
The election of Barack Obama opens new policy options for America. His administration will use his charisma and other elements of “soft power” to forge alliances and reduce tensions. He may still look to Britain for a larger contribution to forces in Afghanistan. If Albion proves unreliable he may not be surprised. It seems that British forces tortured his Kenyan grandfather.
Back to Top
Back to Top
'Australian Taleban' fully free
Monday, 22 December 2008 BBC News
An Australian former inmate of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay is now a free man after strict control orders limiting his activities were lifted.
David Hicks spent more than five years at Guantanamo Bay without a trial before admitting to charges of providing material support to al-Qaeda.
In return, he was allowed in May 2007 to serve out the last nine months of his sentence in an Australian prison.
Hicks, a convert to Islam, was captured by US troops in Afghanistan in 2001.
The former kangaroo wrangler was the first "enemy combatant" held at Guantanamo to be convicted by a US military commission.
'Still recovering'
The control orders limiting his movements expired at midnight on Saturday.
Australian police said they would not ask the courts to extend the measures after Hicks made a public appeal to be allowed to "get on with my life".
He was subject to a strict curfew and restrictions on his travel and had to report regularly to police.
His telephone and internet communications were also limited.
Hicks has admitted to training with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and meeting its leader, Osama Bin Laden.
The 33-year-old has said he is recovering still from his ordeal at Guantanamo Bay and is not ready yet to tell his story.
But he has said he will do so.
Back to Top
Back to Top
FM: Pakistani president to visit Afghanistan early January
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-21 20
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Sunday that President Asif Ali Zardari would visit Afghanistan in the first week of January, 2009.
The official APP news agency quoted Qureshi as saying that he hoped that the visit would bring about a pleasant change in bilateral relationship between the two countries.
"We hope it will give us a breakthrough in improving ties with the neighboring country and it would be a pleasant change after relationships suffered some tensions in past," he said.
Zardari was scheduled to visit Afghanistan last Friday and all arrangements were finalized. However, it had to be postponed due to bad weather conditions, Qureshi said.
As part of the preliminary proceedings for Zardari's visit to Afghanistan, the Pakistani foreign minister met with his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta, and bilateral negotiations proceeded ahead positively and in a cordial manner, according to Qureshi.
Back to Top
Back to Top
MFA wants Pakistan more cooperation to release kidnapped consulate
Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 21 December 2008
Pakistanis` negligence’s made up upset, AMFA spokesman says
Pakistani authorities haven’t done enough to release the kidnapped Afghan diplomat in Pakistan.
Spokesman for Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AMFA) says Pakistani authorities’ negligence made Afghan ministry upset because they have not done enough efforts to find and release Khaliq Farahi, Afghan consul general in Peshawar.
Abdul Khaliq Farahi the Afghan General consulate in Pakistan was kidnapped by unknown men three months ago from Peshawar city, Pakistan.
AMFA pointing at Pakistanis negligence says that despite the hard search and efforts by Afghan ministry, the trace for Mr. Farahi has given us no results.
90 days after Farahi abduction, Afghan Foreign Ministry calls on Pakistan for more intelligences and security cooperation.
Back to Top
Disclaimer:
This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles
on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles
and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright
laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).