 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serving you since 1998 | ||||||||||||
|
|
Afghan voter registration marred
Insecurity and charges of fraud could hamper election officials' ability to ensure popular acceptance of next year's presidential poll results.
By Anand Gopal | The Christian Science Monitor from the December 24, 2008 edition
Kabul, Afghanistan - Evidence of fraud and poor security conditions are raising concerns that next fall's presidential elections could be compromised.
Mulla Omar denies talks with Karzai govt, Saudi mediation
The News International (Pakistan) Wednesday, December 24, 2008
PESHAWAR: Rejecting persistent media reports that the Taliban were holding secret talks with the Afghan government through the mediation of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah
NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan attack
Wed Dec 24, 8:06 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – A soldier with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed Wednesday in an insurgent attack in the east of the country, the force said.
Kabul to ask NATO to protect controversial mass grave
Wed Dec 24, 7:32 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan said Wednesday it wanted NATO troops to help guard a mass grave site thought to contain the remains of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners killed by pro-US militia in 2001 after attempts to loot it.
AFGHANISTAN: Rights watchdog releases gloomy report
KABUL, 23 December 2008 (IRIN) - Millions of people in Afghanistan are living in poverty, are short of food, lack access to basic services, and are vulnerable to violence despite seven years of international help
Afghanistan mission must not be allowed to fail
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia Peter Khalil December 24, 2008
While the Prime Minister and all Australians hope all the diggers return from Afghanistan safely, it is more likely than not more bodybags will return to Australia in the new year. Consequently
Analysts: Afghanistan to be Key Challenge for Obama Administration
By Andre de Nesnera Voice of America 23 December 2008
One of the first foreign policy challenges facing the Obama administration will be how to proceed with the war in Afghanistan. Three former senior U.S. government officials talk about the situation in Afghanistan:
Why Pakistan's military is gun shy
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / December 24, 2008
KARACHI - The attack on Mumbai on November 26 by Pakistan-linked militants opens a similar opportunity for India to what happened to Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Bush's Blind Eye to Afghan Corruption
Middle East Online By Michael Winship 12/23/2008
The ‘appalling behavior’ of officials in the current Afghan government, including rampant bribery, extortion and violence, is a serious factor in the Taliban resurgence – it’s estimated that they now have a ‘permanent presence’ in 72 percent of the country
Will back Pak army in case of hostilities with India: Taliban
Islamabad, Dec 23 (PTI) Hunted by the US and NATO forces for committing acts of terror in Afghanistan, the Taliban today said they would back the Pakistan Army by deploying hundreds of suicide bombers in case of any military action with India.
ANALYSIS- U.S. Afghan strategy stretches all the way to India
Reuters By Golnar Motevalli Dec 23 , 2008
KABUL - America's top military officer announced a near-doubling of U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the weekend, and then flew east to cool tensions between Pakistan and India. The reason? It's all part of the same security equation.
US and Afghans Plan to Recruit Local Militias
New York Times, United States By DEXTER FILKINS December 23, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taking a page from the successful experiment in Iraq, American commanders and Afghan leaders are preparing to arm local militias to help in the fight against a resurgent Taliban.
Afghan Government to preserve the jungles
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 December 2008
50 percent of the jungles have been destroyed in the past three decades
Ancient artefacts smuggling prevented
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 December 2008
The smuggling of historical artifacts consisted of swords, statues and broken dishes prevented by the police
Back to Top
Afghan voter registration marred
Insecurity and charges of fraud could hamper election officials' ability to ensure popular acceptance of next year's presidential poll results.
By Anand Gopal | The Christian Science Monitor from the December 24, 2008 edition
Kabul, Afghanistan - Evidence of fraud and poor security conditions are raising concerns that next fall's presidential elections could be compromised.
With Afghans scheduled to go to the polls in less than a year, the country's Independent Elections Commission (IEC) is in the midst of a massive voter registration drive that will continue until early February. Election officials are watching registration numbers closely because low registration could delay or derail the presidential polls.
The IEC is reporting high turnouts across the country since the drive began in October, despite insurgent threats to kill anyone who registers. Many parts of the south and east are under insurgent control.
But evidence is emerging that the registration numbers are inflated by illegal practices, such as registration of lists of "phantom voters" and those under legal voting age. Lawmakers and an elections watchdog allege that such violations are widespread and could undermine the vote's fairness.
The allegations come at a time when the incoming Obama administration has pledged to increase America's focus on Afghanistan. In addition to sending in thousands of additional troops in 2009, officials cite strengthening the fledgling democracy and building strong governance as key policy goals in the coming years.
A questionable or fraudulent election could weaken the Afghan government and its allies as well as strengthen the Taliban's hand. "This would undermine the legitimacy of whoever is elected president next year," says Habibullah Rafeh, policy analyst with the Afghan Academy of Sciences.
Allegations of fraud are backed by evidence of irregularities in various provinces. In northern Baghlan Province, for instance, some students below the legal voting age claim that election officials issued them registration cards. "A lot of us took cards, even though we were underage," says area resident Habibullah Sherzai. Another resident, Kabiri, says, "I know many youths who got registration cards. Some of my friends even have two cards."
In southeastern Paktia Province, election officials claim that almost twice as many women have registered than men – despite extreme conservativism that largely prevents women from venturing outside. Some residents in the provincial capital, Gardez, claim that, in certain cases, one person registered on behalf of others, a violation.
"In Naswan High School, some people took bribes from the provincial council to register lists of women voters," says Mahera Ahmadzai, who heads Paktia's Women's Shura. She alleges that some of the women on these lists do not exist. Other Gardez residents claim that men are registering on behalf of multiple women and that underage girls are registering. Such registrations could be used by one individual to cast multiple votes.
IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Zekra Barakzai says his organization has received similar reports from Paktia and elsewhere. "We are taking these incidents very seriously, and we are sending people to investigate," he says.
According to the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, an Afghan-based NGO that observed the process, multiple registrations of a single person were seen in at least 40 percent of all centers during the most recently completed phase of the drive. In one case, investigators found that some 500 registration cards were issued to one person in Badghis Province.
Investigators also found men staffing female registration centers and election officials who were members of political parties.
Poor security also obstructs the process. According to interviews with local tribal elders and provincial officials, insurgents effectively control six of Wardak's eight districts. "There are districts that I am 100 percent sure no government worker can go to," says Roshanak Wardak, a member of parliament from Wardak Province. "But you are telling me that still so many people registered? I don't believe it."
The IEC claims that of the province's 90 registration centers, 82 remained open during registration. But residents say that in the Pashtun districts, many centers never opened. "I went to staff the registration office just once," says one election worker from the Syed Abad district of Wardak, who declined to be named for security reasons. "The rest of the time I stayed in my village, which is controlled by the Taliban."
"The people ... didn't even come out of their houses, let alone register," says Alam Gul, chief of the Shura Council. Mr. Gul says the district of 100,000 people is largely under Taliban control.
Provincial officials say that election teams rarely, if ever, ventured outside district capitals. "Nobody came to our village. Almost no one has new registration cards," says a member of the Shura Council of Chakh district.
As a result, the two Hezara-dominated districts of Wardak comprise the bulk of new voters. The IEC does not release registration numbers on a district-by-district or ethnicity basis, but IEC spokesman Mr. Barakzai says that "the registration numbers in Pashtun districts are very low."
Although some people who didn't register this year may still hold valid registration cards from the previous presidential election, the factors that kept Pashtuns from registering could keep those who have cards from voting. If the results of Wardak and elsewhere are reproduced in Pashtun regions, there could be an ethnic imbalance, says Mr. Rafeh, the policy analyst.
Security concerns also threaten the elections. "If this [security] situation continues, elections will be postponed or canceled," Rafeh says. Insurgents have kidnapped or killed a number of election workers in recent months. In some areas, they have posted threats to anyone who registers to vote.
According to the Constitution, elections must take place in the spring of 2009. But IEC officials have tentatively scheduled polls for the fall. "If ... security ... doesn't allow elections, a state of emergency can be declared and the elections can be postponed even further," adds Mr. Barakzai.
"This is not the type of election we want," Roshanak Wardak, a member of parliament, says. "If you can't guarantee our security, don't expect us to come out and vote."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Mulla Omar denies talks with Karzai govt, Saudi mediation
The News International (Pakistan) Wednesday, December 24, 2008
PESHAWAR: Rejecting persistent media reports that the Taliban were holding secret talks with the Afghan government through the mediation of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar stressed in a statement on Tuesday that he had neither written a letter to the Saudi monarch nor received one from him with regard to any peace initiative for ending the Afghan conflict.
The statement was emailed by Taliban officials to newspapers and wire services. Taliban officials insisted that it had been personally released by Mulla Omar, who is in hiding. They said he decided to personally send his statement after knowing that sections of the world and regional media was publishing baseless reports about Taliban participation in Saudi-brokered peace talks with Afghan government officials.
In the statement, Mulla Omar said no Taliban had visited Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country. “Rumors regarding talks between our Islamic Emirate and the opponents are being spread through the media linked to enemies or directly by the enemy. But the fact is that no peace talks have taken place between us and them in Saudi Arabia or the UAE,” he contended.
“I haven’t written any letter to King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, or to anyone else including our opponents in Afghanistan. I have also not received any letter from them,” he added. Mulla Omar said the media reports were baseless and were part of a conspiracy hatched by certain people opposed to Taliban.
It may be added that sections of the Western, Arab and Afghan media have been reporting that Mulla Omar has devised a peace plan and sent it to King Abdullah for resolving the Afghan conflict. In the plan, he is reported to have agreed to power sharing with President Karzai.
The plan also calls for deploying peacekeepers from Islamic countries in Afghanistan in place of the US-led Nato forces. In the past also Taliban had denied existence of any such plan and termed the media reports unfounded and speculative.
Back to Top
Back to Top
NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan attack
Wed Dec 24, 8:06 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – A soldier with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed Wednesday in an insurgent attack in the east of the country, the force said.
The multinational International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not provide the nationality of the soldier killed or any details about the attack.
"Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with the family and friends of the brave soldier who was killed during this tragic event on Christmas Eve," ISAF spokesman Captain Mark Windsor said in a statement.
About 70,000 international soldiers are currently deployed in Afghanistan, most of them operating under NATO command, to help Kabul try to defeat an insurgency led by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001.
Nearly 290 foreign soldiers fighting in Afghanistan have died this year, the most violent year yet of an insurgency that began in 2001 after a US-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime.
Most of the soldiers have been killed in insurgent attacks but the tally, compiled by the icasualties.org website that tracks casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, includes those who die in accidents and from natural causes.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Kabul to ask NATO to protect controversial mass grave
Wed Dec 24, 7:32 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan said Wednesday it wanted NATO troops to help guard a mass grave site thought to contain the remains of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners killed by pro-US militia in 2001 after attempts to loot it.
Presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told AFP Kabul had decided to ask for assistance after armed criminals apparently attempted to remove bodies from the remote desert site in northern Jawzjan province.
"There have been attempts to remove remains from the Dasht-i-Laili site," Hamidzada said.
"We are in the process of asking NATO to assist us in protecting the site."
NATO spokesman Captain Mark Windsor told AFP the force had not yet received any such request.
The site is believed to contain the remains of Taliban prisoners allegedly massacred in late 2001 by fighters loyal to notorious Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam, who helped US-led forces oust the Taliban regime.
Dostam -- an ethnic Uzbek and former general who is now loyal to Kabul but maintains control of substantial oil and gas reserves in the north -- has been the chief suspect since reports of the alleged massacre surfaced in 2002.
Nader Nadery, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) confirmed the attempted robberies, saying they were a "clear attempt" to destroy the "physical evidence of war crimes".
"Our research -- interviews with locals and eye-witnesses -- revealed that some locals, armed people, were involved," he said.
Neither Hamidzada nor Nadery expressly pointed the finger of blame at Dostam.
Taliban prisoners captured after a major battle in northeastern Kunduz province were allegedly packed into shipping containers and left to suffocate, or were shot through the container walls, before being buried in mass graves.
Since late 2001, the remnants of the Taliban have waged an increasingly bloody insurgency against Kabul and about 70,000 foreign forces have been deployed here to support the government.
Back to Top
Back to Top
AFGHANISTAN: Rights watchdog releases gloomy report
KABUL, 23 December 2008 (IRIN) - Millions of people in Afghanistan are living in poverty, are short of food, lack access to basic services, and are vulnerable to violence despite seven years of international help, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) says in a new report.
The AIHRC's Third National Socio-Economic Report [http://www.aihrc.org.af/index_eng.htm] highlights the challenges facing most ordinary Afghans.
"Most of the vulnerable and isolated areas are without food, and this winter this will cause them major problems," said the report, adding that aid agencies and the government must work to together to prevent a humanitarian crisis this winter.
"Thirty-seven percent of vulnerable populations [vulnerable people living on less than US$2 per day make up 40 percent of the total population according to some estimates] make less than 50 Afghanis [less than US$1] per day," said the report released in English, Dari and Pashto on 23 December in Kabul.
Most rural Afghans do not have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, while many returnees from neighbouring countries and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in dire conditions.
The government, its partners and aid organisations have failed to meet the needs of millions of returnees from Iran and Pakistan, some of whom have become IDPs and live in makeshift settlements, the report said.
It said 30 percent of those living in rural areas do not have access to public or private health services.
Plight of children
More than half of the country's estimated 26.6 million population are under 17, according to aid agencies, but most have a difficult life.
"Child labour is prevalent in Afghanistan," with most children doing onerous jobs which expose them to serious physical and mental harm, it said.
Children, especially girls, also suffer widespread domestic violence and are often forced into early marriage. "Fifty-five percent of underage marriages were [designed] to solve economic problems," the report said.
Many children, particularly females, are denied the right to education. As a result of attacks on schools, 108 people were killed and 154 injured in 2007. "Only 11 percent of boys and five percent of girls in primary schools carry on to grade 12," according to the report.
The AIHRC called on the government and US-led international forces to boost security, protect health facilities, and also ensure greater effectiveness in the way in which international aid is coordinated and delivered.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghanistan mission must not be allowed to fail
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia Peter Khalil December 24, 2008
While the Prime Minister and all Australians hope all the diggers return from Afghanistan safely, it is more likely than not more bodybags will return to Australia in the new year. Consequently, it is likely that public support for the commitment of troops will wane, and public pressure on the Government to withdraw our troops will build.
That is why it is imperative for the Government to continue to articulate why they are committed to the deployment. Fly-in visits by the Prime Minister do their part to lift troop morale, but it is imperative the broader Australian community, especially service families, are given a clear picture of the long-term strategy and the critical importance of an Australian presence in that conflict to our own national security.
A stable Afghanistan is critical to regional and international security. Australia cannot bury its head in the sand and hope the problems plaguing a far off region will never hurt it. They already have. Some of the Bali bombers, who killed 202 innocent civilians, including 88 Australians, trained in Afghanistan. Australia has a direct interest in ensuring the country does not again become a base of terrorist activity.
If the international community fails Afghanistan, the consequences will hit our shores. The return of the Taliban, the greater suffering of the Afghan people, the further destabilisation of an already precarious nuclear Pakistan, the opium trade as a continued source of funding for global terrorism operations and the potential that Afghanistan will once again serve as a base for al-Qaeda to train and plan attacks unhindered all have consequences for our national security.
Australia cannot hide from these facts, nor will it be immune because of its distance. It will take a lot of time for the world to assist Afghanistan in its road to recovery. It will require sustained and co-ordinated engagement, and it will require a synthesis of military and non-military efforts to address not only security, but also ongoing reconstruction, governance reform and economic development.
This is a momentous task. Even if the world develops a coherent strategy - one which improves markedly upon the disjointed and piecemeal efforts of NATO to date - the job could take five or 10 years years to reach a point where the country is stable enough for international forces to leave without the government and its security forces collapsing.
In the coming year, as Australian casualties mount, the Government will be hard pressed to explain why the troops need to be there.
If it cannot explain the consequences of Afghanistan failing, the political pressure on the Rudd Government will mean it will have to withdraw Australia's contribution, or maintain an increasingly unpopular policy.
The Prime Minister needs to emphasise the reasons for the deployment to Australians and set out clear benchmarks for stabilisation: an Afghan army and police that can take over security responsibility in select provinces, security forces able to maintain basic law and order and prevent the collapse of the government, bringing the opium trade under control and progress in reconstruction and economic rehabilitation.
In several meetings earlier this year, I emphasised to some of Barack Obama's advisers that Australia's 1000 plus troops fighting in the south-east of the country, where the Taliban are strongest, were engaged in the heaviest fighting alongside US, British, Canadian and Dutch troops. And I said there is a need to pressure the Europeans to stump up more troops where they are most needed, in the south-east.
The extension of Robert Gates's term as Secretary of Defence will see the continuation of a strong working relationship with Australia's Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, who has made him aware of how stretched Australian Defence Forces are. Consequently, if and when Mr Obama asks for more Aussie troops he should do so after putting the required pressure on the Europeans and understanding the limits of our force projection capabilities.
Let us hope the Australian people's support remains undiminished in the long slog ahead.
Peter Khalil is Associate Professor at Sydney University's Centre for International Security Studies, and is a former foreign policy adviser to Kevin Rudd.
If it cannot explain the consequences of Afghanistan failing, the political pressure on the Rudd Government will mean it will have to withdraw Australia's contribution, or maintain an increasingly unpopular policy.
The Prime Minister needs to emphasise the reasons for the deployment to Australians and set out clear benchmarks for stabilisation: an Afghan army and police that can take over security responsibility in select provinces, security forces able to maintain basic law and order and prevent the collapse of the government, bringing the opium trade under control and progress in reconstruction and economic rehabilitation.
In several meetings earlier this year, I emphasised to some of Barack Obama's advisers that Australia's 1000 plus troops fighting in the south-east of the country, where the Taliban are strongest, were engaged in the heaviest fighting alongside US, British, Canadian and Dutch troops. And I said there is a need to pressure the Europeans to stump up more troops where they are most needed, in the south-east.
The extension of Robert Gates's term as Secretary of Defence will see the continuation of a strong working relationship with Australia's Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, who has made him aware of how stretched Australian Defence Forces are. Consequently, if and when Mr Obama asks for more Aussie troops he should do so after putting the required pressure on the Europeans and understanding the limits of our force projection capabilities.
Let us hope the Australian people's support remains undiminished in the long slog ahead.
Peter Khalil is Associate Professor at Sydney University's Centre for International Security Studies, and is a former foreign policy adviser to Kevin Rudd.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Analysts: Afghanistan to be Key Challenge for Obama Administration
By Andre de Nesnera Voice of America 23 December 2008
One of the first foreign policy challenges facing the Obama administration will be how to proceed with the war in Afghanistan. Three former senior U.S. government officials talk about the situation in Afghanistan: Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger; former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.
The United States has 32,000 troops in Afghanistan. 18,000 are part of "Operation Enduring Freedom" - the multinational coalition that ousted the Taliban from power in 2001. Those forces are now engaged in counter terrorism operations.
The rest of the U.S. contingent - 14,000 men and women - is part of the 50,000 strong force led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO has been operating in Afghanistan since 2003. Its objectives are to assist the Afghan government to rebuild and stabilize the country, train the Afghan army and police and fight insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the traditional home of the Taliban.
Now U.S. military officials say the United States may double the number of troops it has in Afghanistan next year. Those troops will join the NATO force in fighting a rising Taliban insurgency.
The ultimate decision on deployments to Afghanistan will be taken by President-elect Barack Obama after his inauguration January 20. During the presidential campaign, he said he would redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.
Lawrence Eagleburger
Former Secretary of State [1992] Lawrence Eagleburger said that is a bad idea.
"I find it difficult to conceive of a policy that withdraws from Iraq and increases our troops in Afghanistan. I agree with the second half of this proposal. But it doesn't seem to me to make a great deal of sense to be pulling them out of an area in which we are now on the path to success, at the same time that we are putting troops in Afghanistan. Frankly, I think the answer is continue what we are doing in Iraq and yes, increase our troop levels in Afghanistan and try to get other countries to contribute," said Eagleburger.
Mr. Obama has consistently said he would press other NATO countries - especially Germany - to contribute more troops to the war in Afghanistan.
James Schlesinger
But Eagleburger and others - including former Secretary of Defense [1973-75] James Schlesinger - believe that will not happen.
"The expectation that NATO will actually do its part, which to the Americans means send more forces, is likely to be disappointed and is likely, over time, to add to ill feelings," said Schlesinger.
Many experts, including Schlesinger, said ultimately, there is no military solution in Afghanistan.
"The situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. It is not clear that simply sending in more forces is going to reverse that," he said.
Brent Scowcroft
Former White House National Security Adviser [1974-77; 1989-93] Brent Scowcroft agreed.
"We need to realize that Afghanistan is not Iraq and my own sense is that there is no military solution for Afghanistan. The Russians had well over 150,000 troops there as I remember - and they were unsuccessful," he said.
The three former senior U.S. government officials believe the international community must increase its efforts in helping the Afghan government set up stable government institutions.
Brent Scowcroft said that's where the Europeans can help.
"What the Europeans can contribute, and what's badly needed in Afghanistan, is help on the civil side. The European Union is very skilled in - like the new members of the European Union - helping governments modernize, helping them put in judicial systems, administrative systems. That's what Afghanistan badly needs. And the Europeans can make a disproportionate contribution there to make up for their less than wholehearted military contribution," he said.
Scowcroft, Eagleburger and Schlesinger agreed that the path to a stable and secure Afghanistan lies through economic development, good governance and the rule of law. But all of that can only be achieved with considerable help from the international community.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Why Pakistan's military is gun shy
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / December 24, 2008
KARACHI - The attack on Mumbai on November 26 by Pakistan-linked militants opens a similar opportunity for India to what happened to Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The US was able to further its regional designs with global support and was able to coerce Islamabad into cracking down on its own strategic partner, the Taliban in Afghanistan.
New Delhi also now has the international community on its side, but Pakistan is in a very different position from where it was seven years ago, and the new political and military leaders are not in a position to take similar steps to those of their predecessors.
In a new round of international pressure following the Mumbai attack, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, arrived in Pakistan this week to meet with senior Pakistani officials. The chief of Interpol was also scheduled to visit Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss the mechanism for the arrest and interrogation of wanted people such as Zakiur Rahman, the chief of the Lashka-e-Toiba (LET), which was connected to the militants who attacked Mumbai; Maulana Masood Azhar of the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed and former Mumbai underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim.
India is reported to have mobilized forces near the Rajasthan-Sindh Pakistani border areas and Pakistani intelligence sources have talked of possible surgical strikes on militant bases in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in Lahore, at the central offices of the Jamaatut Dawa, which this month was declared by the United Nations Security Council a front for the LET, which is banned as a terror group. The Pakistan Air Force has been placed on red alert.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, both in public statements and private meetings, urged Pakistan to understand the gravity of the current situation and to take immediate steps to stop terrorists from using its soil for attacking others. The US warned Pakistan that in the absence of appropriate steps, it would be hard for the US to prevent Delhi from carrying out strikes inside Pakistan in retaliation for the Mumbai attack in which 10 militants held the city hostage for three days and killed 175 people, including top police officials.
In a speech at Washington's Council on Foreign Relations, Rice said what Pakistan had done so far to catch those responsible for the attacks in Mumbai was not enough. "You need to deal with the terrorism problem," she said when asked what her message was to Pakistan. "And it's not enough to say these are non-state actors. If they’re operating from Pakistani territory, then they have to be dealt with."
According to reports, Islamabad has assured Indian leaders and international leaders such as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that it is ready to take all steps demanded by the world community to avoid a war.
All the same, actions speak louder than words and the prevailing opinion in Western capitals and in New Delhi is that Pakistan will not undertake any real crackdown on militants.
This view is reinforced by the contradictory statements of Pakistani officials. On December 7, Pakistani authorities issued a statement that Azhar, the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, had been placed under house arrested at his Bahawalpur residence in Punjab. But on December 17, first the Pakistan envoy to New Delhi and then Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stunned everybody by saying that Azhar was at large and not in Pakistan.
Azhar, a firebrand orator in favor of jihad although he has never been a combatant, was arrested in India in 1994 over his connections with the Kashmiri separatist group Harkatul Mujahideen. In December 1999, Azhar was freed along with separatist guerrillas Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Shiekh (the abductor of US reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002) by the Indian government in exchange for passengers on the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 that was held hostage in Kandahar, Afghanistan, under Taliban control.
In 2000, Azhar, claimed by Pakistan to have never entered Pakistan, announced the formation of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, at a press briefing at the Karachi Press Club, along with the now slain Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai. Jaish was banned in 2002 under US pressure, but Azhar remained close to the Pakistani establishment, mainly because he refused to support al-Qaeda against the Pakistan military.
Following the Mumbai attack, Delhi has demanded that Azhar, along with others such as Dawood, be handed over. This was refused by Pakistan, which said Azhar was a Pakistani national and had never been tried by Indian authorities. Then came the surprise announcement that he was not even in Pakistan.
What complicates the situation is the lack of unity between the civilian government in Islamabad and the military. The government managed to get the international community to support it by having the Jamaatut Dawa declared a front for the LET to justify a crackdown on the organization against the will of the army. (See Pakistan's military takes a big hit Asia Times Online, December 13.)
But the military establishment, which has been humiliated over the past seven years, has good reasons not to back the government.
The problems started after September 11, when the US forced the then-military government of president General Pervez Musharraf to abandon the Taliban. Up to 2001, Afghanistan had virtually been a fifth Pakistani province for which Pakistan arranged day-to-day expenditures. Even the communications network was run by the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited.
By 2003, Pakistan had been forced to send the army into the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to crack down on al-Qaeda and militants, in breach of its agreements with the tribes.
In 2004, Pakistan was forced to shut militant camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and to accept India's fencing of the Line of Control that separates the two Kashmirs. As a result, militant operations into India-administered Kashmir were badly interrupted.
When Pakistan changed its Afghan policy, Musharraf, who was also chief of army staff, informed all jihadi organizations that the policy was necessary to preserve Pakistan's interests in Kashmir. However, when the Kashmir policy changed and operations started in the tribal areas, the jihadi organizations reacted.
By 2005, all the big names in the LET had left the Kashmiri camps and taken up in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas. The same happened with Jaish and other organizations. The most respected name of the Kashmiri struggle, Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri, the commander of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami, also moved to Waziristan.
This was the beginning of serious problems for Pakistan and also resulted in a change in the dynamics of the Afghan war. Trained by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence's India cell, these disgruntled militants caused havoc in Afghanistan and played a significant role in bringing the latest guerrilla tactics to Afghanistan. They also introduced major changes in the fighting techniques of the tribal militants against the Pakistani forces.
By 2006, the Taliban had regrouped and launched the spring offensive that paved the way for significant advances over the next two years. At the same time, militants escalated their activities in Pakistan and forced Pakistan into virtual neutrality in the US-led "war on terror".
An unprecedented number of attacks were carried out on Pakistani security forces in 2007 and by February 2008 suicide attacks in Pakistan outnumbered those in Iraq. Militants carried out dozens of attacks on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) supply lines from Karachi, virtually bringing them to a halt. According to Strategic Forecasting, a Texas-based private intelligence entity: "Pakistan remains the single-most important logistics route for the Afghan campaign. This is not by accident. It is by far the quickest and most efficient overland route to the open ocean."
In this situation, the only peaceful place in Pakistan is Punjab, the largest province and the seat of government. But this peace can only be ensured through central Punjabi jihadi leaders like Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of the LET and southern Punjabi jihadi leader Azhar. Azhar has influence in the jihadi networks in Punjab and he convinced jihadis, after a wave of suicide attacks in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, to go to Afghanistan and spare Punjab.
The highly demoralized Pakistan army has failed in the tribal areas and in the Swat Valley it has had to solicit peace accords. Opening up a new front in Punjab, which could spread to the port city of Karachi - the financial lifeline of the country - would be a disaster.
This explains the military's resistance to the government push to go full out against militancy, a move that would also compromise NATO's lifeline to Afghanistan.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Bush's Blind Eye to Afghan Corruption
Middle East Online By Michael Winship 12/23/2008
The ‘appalling behavior’ of officials in the current Afghan government, including rampant bribery, extortion and violence, is a serious factor in the Taliban resurgence – it’s estimated that they now have a ‘permanent presence’ in 72 percent of the country
Just when you’ve finally gotten your mind around the enormous $700 billion financial bailout – even if none of us are really sure where all that money’s going – there comes an even greater, breathtaking price tag.
The amount is $904 billion -- that’s how much we’ve spent on American military operations, including Iraq and Afghanistan, since the 9/11 attacks; 50 percent more than what was spent in Vietnam, reports the non-partisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. Their study does not include the inestimable toll in human life.
Of that money, nearly $200 billion has gone to Afghanistan, where 31,000 American troops are nearly 60 percent of the NATO peacekeeping force. When he becomes President, as promised during his campaign, Barack Obama will oversee the deployment of at least another 20,000 troops there.
This has been the deadliest year for American forces in Afghanistan since the war began. Our military faces a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda, better trained, better armed, supported from sanctuaries in Pakistan.
But in an op-ed piece in last Sunday’s Washington Post, Sarah Chayes – the former National Public Radio reporter who has lived in Kandahar province since shortly after 9/11 -- argued that America’s and Afghanistan’s biggest problem comes from within – our continuing support of a corrupt and abusive Afghan government that’s driving its people back into the arms of the fundamentalists.
Chayes, who organized a co-op of Afghan men and women making skin care products from herbs and botanicals as an alternative to the opium poppy trade, wrote, “I hear from Westerners that corruption is intrinsic to Afghan culture, that we should not hold Afghans up to our standards. I hear that Afghanistan is a tribal place, that it has never been, and can't be, governed. But that's not what I hear from Afghans.”
Chayes followed up that article with an interview conducted by my colleague Bill Moyers on the latest edition of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. She told him that the United States and its NATO allies have had to convince themselves and public opinion in each of their countries that “this is a democratically elected representative government [in] Afghanistan in order to justify the sacrifices in money and troops. But the Afghans see it differently.”
What they see instead, she said, is a restoration to power under President Hamid Karzai of the gun-slinging, crooked warlords who were repudiated when the Taliban first started taking over vast parts of the country a few years after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
The “appalling behavior” of officials in the current government, including rampant bribery, extortion and violence, is a serious factor in the Taliban resurgence – it’s estimated that they now have a “permanent presence” in 72 percent of the country, according to one think tank, the International Council on Security and Development.
Chayes said, “There are people who don't like the Taliban but may kind of knuckle under to them because, on the one hand, the government isn't doing anything better for them. And the Taliban are going to kill them if they don't visibly divide themselves away from the government.”
An Afghan woman in her cooperative compared it to "a man trying to stand on two watermelons. The Taliban shake us down at night, and the government shakes us down in the daytime."
The Taliban are aided and abetted by Pakistan, Chayes continued: “It has been obvious to me that the Pakistani military intelligence agency [ISI] has been basically creating, orchestrating this so-called Taliban resurgence since the end of 2001. So why are we paying Pakistan $1 billion a year?
“We need to realign our policy What you have in Pakistan is a fledgling civilian government that's kind of fighting for its life. And it's not in a position to be able to challenge this military intelligence agency very powerfully. We need to get with that government and figure out and scheme with it how do we rein in this state within the state that is the military intelligence agency, which has been manipulating and instrumentalizing religious extremism for the past 20, 30 years in a very myopic way, to forward its regional agenda both in Kashmir and in Afghanistan?”
Additional American troops are important now, Chayes said, and suggested that NATO allies who face opposition at home to sending additional combat forces could instead send a corps of experienced officials – from retired mayors to agriculture experts – who could rigorously mentor Afghan public officials and potentially reform their ways.
Reconstructing infrastructure is important, she said, “But you don’t get infrastructure if you’re passing it through corrupt channels.”
So if nothing changes, Bill Moyers asked, should American men and women continue to give their lives in support of a government overrun by Afghanistan’s criminal class?
Chayes rephrased the question: “If we are not willing to even begin to challenge President Karzai then why are we sending people to die?”
In his tour of Iraq and Afghanistan this past week, President Bush told Karzai that he could count on us no matter who’s in the White House: “It’s in our interest that Afghanistan’s democracy flourish.”
To which Sarah Chayes’ friends in Kandahar would reply, “What democracy?”
Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program, Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday night on PBS.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Will back Pak army in case of hostilities with India: Taliban
Islamabad, Dec 23 (PTI) Hunted by the US and NATO forces for committing acts of terror in Afghanistan, the Taliban today said they would back the Pakistan Army by deploying hundreds of suicide bombers in case of any military action with India.
Claiming that "thousands of our well-armed militants are ready to fight alongside the army if any war is imposed on Pakistan," chief of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, told The News daily by phone from an undisclosed location.
Hundreds of would-be bombers had been "given suicide jackets and explosive-laden vehicles for protection of the border in case of any aggression by the Indian forces", he said.
"The time had come, to wage a real jihad that the Taliban had been waiting for," Mehsud, for whom the Pakistani and US forces are on the look out claimed.
"We know very well that the visible and invisible enemies of the country have been planning to weaken this lone Islamic nuclear power. But the mujahideen will foil all such nefarious designs of our enemies," he said.
This is for the first time Mehsud has admitted that Taliban has marshalled thousands of fighters close to the Afghan-Pak border and where Pakistani army has launched a major operation to flush them out.
Mehsud said people might question how the Taliban would fight alongside the Pakistan Army when the militants had been fighting the force for a long time.
Back to Top
Back to Top
ANALYSIS- U.S. Afghan strategy stretches all the way to India
Reuters By Golnar Motevalli Dec 23 , 2008
KABUL - America's top military officer announced a near-doubling of U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the weekend, and then flew east to cool tensions between Pakistan and India. The reason? It's all part of the same security equation.
If a "surge" of up to 30,000 extra soldiers to Afghanistan by next summer is the tactic chosen to beat the Taliban insurgency there, holding India and Pakistan back from each others' throats is the strategy to ensure peace across the region as a whole.
"The surge is not an answer by itself," said Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. "It's not the number of troops, it's the strategy."
Last month's attacks by suspected Pakistan-based militants in the Indian city of Mumbai, in which 179 people died, has halted the faltering peace process between New Delhi and Islamabad. While neither side has moved to a war footing, the prospect of a conflict must be concentrating minds in the Pentagon and NATO.
For one thing, there is a risk Pakistan would move some of the nearly 100,000 troops it has on its western border, with Afghanistan, to reinforce security along its frontier with India, with which it has already fought three wars since 1947.
That would take pressure off Taliban fighters who hide in the borderlands planning attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan.
"High tension between Pakistan and India doesn't serve American interests. It undermines America's agenda to control terrorism and that will only succeed if India-Pakistan relations are normalised," said Professor Hasaan Askari Rizvi, a Pakistani academic and political analyst.
"Pakistan's attention has now been diverted from the tribal areas to the eastern border which means the Taliban and other militant groups now have greater freedom and that means they can engage in more activities."
Vanda Felbab-Brown, a Brookings Institution security expert, said Pakistan had stepped up the fight against militants, but not enough, and may lose the will to press on because of Mumbai.
"Our hand is going to be weaker now due to Pakistan's tensions with India," she said. "It's quite possible that even the willingness they have generated up to now they will lose for the next two months."
FEAR OF ENCIRCLEMENT
Afghan officials often accuse elements within Pakistan's ISI spy agency of secretly supporting Taliban insurgents.
Pakistan denies the charge, but analysts say many of its military brass are suspicious of the ties between Afghanistan and India and fear encirclement with a hostile India on its eastern flank and hostile Afghan forces, backed by New Delhi, on the west.
Increased tension with India would only reinforce those who argue that the Taliban are a useful foreign policy tool.
"Some (but not all) in the establishment see armed militants within Pakistan as a threat -- but they largely consider it one that is ultimately controllable, and in any case secondary to the threat posed by their nuclear-armed enemies," wrote Barnett Rubin and Ahmed Rashid in the Foreign Affairs journal.
The commander of international forces in Afghanistan had actually sought extra troops before the Mumbai attacks, and long before U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen announced on Saturday that 20,000-30,000 more would be deployed.
So perhaps the "surge" would have happened anyway.
However, it was not by chance that Mullen flew to Islamabad two days later to lecture military chiefs there on the importance of joining hands with India "to combat ... extremism together".
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has made it clear he will adopt a dual strategy of maintaining peace between India and Pakistan and beating the Taliban, who remain a formidable force seven years after U.S.-led forces ousted them from power.
"Obama has also been clear that he sees the Pakistan situation very much through the prism of India," said a NATO diplomat, who asked not to be named.
"So I think you see the whole U.S. administration taking a much wider regional focus, which is very very valuable."
(Additional reporting by Robert Birsel and Kamran Haider in Islamabad, Paul Tait in Delhi, Paul Eckert in Washington and David Brunnstrom in Brussels; Editing by John Chalmers) ((Kabul newsroom, +93 708 871 211))
Back to Top
Back to Top
US and Afghans Plan to Recruit Local Militias
New York Times, United States By DEXTER FILKINS December 23, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taking a page from the successful experiment in Iraq, American commanders and Afghan leaders are preparing to arm local militias to help in the fight against a resurgent Taliban. But along with hope, the move is raising fears here that the new armed groups could push the country into a deeper bloodletting.
The militias will be deployed to help American and Afghan security forces, which are stretched far and wide across this mountainous country. The first of the local defense forces are scheduled to begin operating early next year in Wardak Province, an area just outside the capital where the Taliban have overrun most government authority.
If the experiment proves successful, similar militias will be set up rapidly across the country, senior American and Afghan officials said.
The formation of Afghan militias comes on the heels of a similar undertaking in Iraq, where 100,000 Sunni gunmen, many of them former insurgents, have been placed on the government payroll. The Awakening Councils, as they are known, are credited by American officials as one of the main catalysts behind the steep reduction in violence there.
But the plan is causing deep unease among many Afghans, who fear that Pashtun-dominated militias could get out of control, terrorize local populations and turn against the government. The Afghan government, aided by the Americans, has carried out several ambitious campaigns since 2001 to disarm militants and gather up their guns. A proposal to field local militias was defeated in the Afghan Senate in the fall.
“There will be fighting between Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns,” said Salih Mohammad Registani, a member of the Afghan Parliament and an ethnic Tajik. Mr. Registani raised the specter of the Arbaki, a Pashtun-dominated militia turned loose on other Afghans early in the 20th century.
“A civil war will start very soon,” he said.
The plan for the militias, approved this month by President Hamid Karzai, is being pushed forward anyway, to help stem the deteriorating security situation here. The proposal to field what amounts to lightly trained gunmen reflects the sense of urgency surrounding the fight against the Taliban, who were removed from power after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but who have staged a remarkable resurgence in recent years.
American commanders say that while they would prefer to field Afghan Army and police forces, they are simply not available.
“We don’t have enough police,” said Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, the deputy commander of American forces in the country. “We don’t have time to get the police ready.”
One survey, by the International Council on Security and Development, found that the Taliban had established a permanent presence in 72 percent of Afghanistan, up from 54 percent a year ago.
In recent months, the Taliban have moved into the provinces around Kabul, including Wardak to its west. In addition to setting up the first local Afghan militias there, American commanders are sending several hundred American soldiers to the province, the first of which have already arrived. Wardak Province is bisected by the country’s national highway, which has been the scene of numerous ambushes of supply convoys by Taliban insurgents.
The plan for the militias coincides with the arrival of Gen. David H. Petraeus, who presided over the reduction in violence in Iraq and who has since become overall commander for American forces in Afghanistan and the rest of the region. The Americans are sending 20,000 to 30,000 troops over the next year, in addition to the nearly 70,000 American and NATO troops who are already here. President-elect Barack Obama has declared that he will redouble America’s efforts to win.
The formation of the militias is at least a partial answer to the question of how American commanders intend to wrest back the initiative from the Taliban over the next 12 months. While some elected officials in the United States have suggested that the Americans and Afghans might try to exploit fissures in the Taliban, possibly breaking off some groups that can be reconciled, the plan for the militias — coupled with the influx of fresh American forces — suggests that American commanders intend to squeeze the Taliban first.
American and Afghan officials say they intend to set up local militias of 100 to 200 fighters in each provincial district, with the fighters being drawn from the villages where they live. (Wardak has eight districts.)
To help ensure the dependability of each fighter, the Americans and Afghans are planning to rely on local leaders, like tribal chiefs and clerics, to choose the militiamen for them. Those militiamen will be given a brief period of training, along with weapons like assault rifles and grenade launchers, and communication gear, said Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Afghan defense minister.
In Iraq, American commanders relied almost exclusively on tribal leaders to put Sunni gunmen at their disposal. But in Afghanistan, 30 years of war has left the tribes scattered and attenuated. American and Afghan leaders say they are instead trying to cobble together councils made up of a wider range of leaders.
American and Afghan officials say that they are confident they can keep the militias under control and that they hope the militias can carry out a range of duties, like providing intelligence on Taliban movements that American and Afghan forces can act on.
“We don’t know when bad people move into town,” General Tucker said. “But the local people know. They know everything.”
One tribal leader from Wardak Province said that while the Taliban were deeply unpopular in his province, people were worried that local militias could make the situation worse.
In an interview, Mohammed Naim Haqmal, a leader of the Nuri tribe, said the Taliban controlled about 80 percent of Wardak Province — essentially everything except the centers of each district. At night, Mr. Haqmal said, the Taliban range freely, setting up checkpoints and laying bombs for American convoys traveling on the highway from Kabul to Kandahar.
But for all that, Mr. Haqmal said, the Taliban are unpopular in Wardak, mainly because their constant attacks prevent people from leading normal lives. Two months ago, Mr. Haqmal said, a group of local residents in a village called Jajatoo rioted when the Taliban blocked a local road in order to stage an attack on some American forces. Taliban fighters opened fire on the villagers, killing five.
“The Taliban want to fight, and that causes problems for the people,” Mr. Haqmal said. “People just want to live their lives.”
Still, Mr. Haqmal said he was skeptical that the government-backed militias could succeed because the Afghan and American officials were bypassing the traditional leaders of the province. So far, he said, they had selected leaders in the community who lacked credibility with the local people. Moreover, Mr. Haqmal said he was worried that the militias would fail to receive proper support and guidance from the government, and end up starting tribal feuds with members of the Taliban.
“We already have the Afghan Army and police — they should stick with them,” Mr. Haqmal said.
A Taliban commander based in Wardak Province, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear that he would become a target, predicted that the government militias would find it hard to put down roots in the area, if only because the Taliban had already done so.
“We are living in the districts, in the villages — we are not living in the mountains,” the Taliban chief said. “The people are with us.”
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan Government to preserve the jungles
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 December 2008
50 percent of the jungles have been destroyed in the past three decades
Afghanistan has about two million hectare jungles, of which more that 50% is destroyed now.
The ministry of agriculture, animal husbandry and water says irresponsible men have been cutting and smuggling these jungles which contain pastiche and fuel wood trees for the past three decades.
Most of the country’s jungles are located in Kunar, Laghman, Nuristan, Paktia and Khost provinces.
The ministry of agriculture, animal husbandry and water says more than one million hectares of these jungles are pine trees which are world famous and are best for construction purposes.
Director of jungles department of the agriculture ministry, Hazrat Hussain said: “Although we are doing our best to stop cutting the country’s jungles, but there are still many problems.
Wood smuggling is one of our main challenges.” Meanwhile some carpenters and furniture makers in Kabul complain about the low-quality of wood used for the construction purposes.
A carpenter said: “We can not make more money due to the high prices and low quality of foreign wood, but hundreds of trucks loaded with wood are being exported abroad everyday.”
The ministry's officials said they have some new plans to preserve the jungles of Afghanistan, but the rehabilitation of the country's vanished jungles will take more than 80 years.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Ancient artefacts smuggling prevented
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 December 2008
The smuggling of historical artifacts consisted of swords, statues and broken dishes prevented by the police
Police in the western province of Herat prevented the smuggling of some historical monuments in the province.
The spokesman of the head of Ansar police in the west said: "These ancient monuments were discovered in Ghorian district in Herat province which borders with Iran. Two suspected people were arrested in relation to the incident."
He said these men had planned to smuggle these monuments abroad.
He said these historical artifacts consisted of swords, statues and broken dishes.
In another report, in a shoot out between two neighbors in Gozara district of Herat province, one man was killed and four were injured.
The governor of Gozara district, Ghulam Mahboob Afzalzada, said the fighting occurred between the master of the Dashan village and his neighbor in the district.
He said the master of the village attacked his neighbor's house and killed one man and injured two. Two of his men were also injured in the incident.
The spokesman for the police department of Herat said tribal hostilities caused this fighting. He said police have started investigations into the case.
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).