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Newest US troops in dangerous region near Kabul
By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writer
LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Close to 3,000 American soldiers who recently arrived in Afghanistan to secure two violent provinces near Kabul have begun operations in the field and already are seeing combat, the unit's spokesman said Monday.
Obama decision on Afghan troops levels coming soon
February 16, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's decision on troop levels for Afghanistan is coming within days, and will not take weeks, his spokesman said on Monday.
NATO soldier among 27 killed in Afghanistan
by Sardar Ahmad – Mon Feb 16, 9:50 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – A NATO soldier and nine Afghan civilians died in attacks across insurgency-torn Afghanistan while military offensives killed at least 17 suspected militants, officials said Monday.
Security developments in Afghanistan, Feb 16
(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported until 1:40 p.m. British time on Monday.
Afghan contractor dies in roadside blast
KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- An Afghan contractor was killed by a roadside bomb that exploded as a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol passed beside it, officials said Monday.
US-Afghan visit awkward, but hints at cooperation
By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press February 15, 2009
KABUL – President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama's special envoy said Sunday that Afghan officials will take part in a strategic U.S. review of the Afghanistan war, a hint of U.S.-Afghan
Moscow again eyes Afghanistan 20 years after retreat
Fearful that US failure there could unleash the Taliban and other Islamist insurgencies, Russia may help NATO open a supply line through former Soviet territory.
By Fred Weir | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor February 17, 2009 edition
MOSCOW - When the USSR ended its disastrous near decade-long occupation of Afghanistan – the last Soviet troops were extracted 20 years ago Sunday – war hero Gen. Makhmut Gareyev was left behind
Pakistan agrees Sharia law deal
Monday, 16 February 2009 BBC News
Pakistan has signed a peace deal with a Taleban group that will lead to the enforcement of the Islamic Sharia law in the restive Swat valley.
Pakistan denies role in US drone attacks
Press TV February 16, 2009
Islamabad denies reports that Pakistan has granted the US permission to launch missile strikes on its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
U.S. Envoy Reaches Out to Iran in Afghan Visit
New York Times, United States By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. February 15, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Obama's top envoy to Afghanistan declared Sunday that Iran should play a vital role helping stabilize the war-torn country. It was the latest statement by Obama officials
Afghan gov't launches anti-poppy campaign in Taliban hotbed
KABUL, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- In a bold step against illicit drug, the government of Afghanistan begun destroying poppy fields in Taliban hotbed Helmand province in south Afghanistan, a statement of Interior Ministry said Monday.
US train formed in Latvia to head for Afghanistan
February 16, 2009
RIGA (AFP) – A US supply train for NATO troops in Afghanistan, due to transit via Russia, is being formed in Latvia, an official from the Baltic state's defence ministry told AFP Monday.
Mobilizing Afghan Militias: Civil Defense Forces Vs. 'Tribal Militias'
By MATTHEW P. DEARING and MATTHEW C. DUPEE Middle East Times / February 16, 2009
Empowering supposed "tribal militias" in Afghanistan as a means to defend areas outside of the immediate control of Afghanistan's National Security Forces (ANSF) from Taliban and other insurgent groups has
Pakistan Was ‘In Denial' About Taliban Threat, Zardari Says
Bloomberg By Ed Johnson Feb. 16 , 2009
Pakistan underestimated the threat posed by Taliban militants in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan and was “in denial” about their strength, President Asif Ali Zardari said.
Germany names Afghan-Pakistan envoy
BERLIN, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Germany has appointed a special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, naming Bernd Mutzelburg to the new position, officials said Monday.
USA lured USSR into the trap of Afghanistan war
Pravda.ru February 16, 2009
Russia marked the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of the last Soviet troops from Afghanistan on February 15. The Soviet Union lost over 14,000 people during ten years of the war – from 1979 to 1989.
Afghans commemorate Soviet forces withdrawal but Afghanistan still in turmoil
Xinhua February 16, 2009
Today we mark the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Union's defeat and the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan but unfortunately still we do not have peace in our country," said 59-year-old Mohammad Karim, an Afghan citizen.
Official: Former Afghan fighters hand over weapons
KABUL, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Several former Mujahidin or holy warriors have handed over their weapons totaling over 200 pieces to the government in Afghanistan's northeast Badakhshan province, provincial governor Abdul Majid said Sunday.
In Brief: Heavy snow kills children, destroys houses in Afghanistan
KABUL, 15 February 2009 (IRIN) - At least 12 people, including six children, were killed and tens of houses were damaged by heavy snow in Herat and Ghor provinces over the past four days,
Two Taliban Commander Killed in Badghis
Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 16 February 2009
Mullah Dastgir, who killed more than twenty police in ambush got killed last night
Two possible candidates weigh in on Afghan elections
Stars and Stripes By Jeff Schogol 02/15/2009
There's a lot riding on the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan.
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Newest US troops in dangerous region near Kabul
By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writer
LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Close to 3,000 American soldiers who recently arrived in Afghanistan to secure two violent provinces near Kabul have begun operations in the field and already are seeing combat, the unit's spokesman said Monday.
The new troops are the first wave of an expected surge of reinforcements this year. The process began to take shape under President George Bush but has been given impetus by President Barack Obama's call for an increased focus on Afghanistan.
U.S. commanders have been contemplating sending up to 30,000 more soldiers to bolster the 33,000 already here, but the new administration is expected to initially approve only a portion of that amount. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday the president would decide soon.
The new unit — the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division — moved into Logar and Wardak provinces last month, and the soldiers from Fort Drum, N.Y., are now stationed in combat outposts throughout the provinces.
Militants have attacked several patrols with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, including one ambush by 30 insurgents, Lt. Col. Steve Osterholzer, the brigade spokesman, said.
Several roadside bombs also have exploded next to the unit's MRAPs — mine-resistance patrol vehicles — but caused no casualties, he said.
"In every case our vehicles returned with overwhelming fire," Osterholzer said. "We have not suffered anything more than a few bruises, while several insurgents have been killed."
Commanders are in the planning stages of larger scale operations expected to be launched in the coming weeks.
Militant activity has spiked in Logar and Wardak over the last year as the resurgent Taliban has spread north toward Kabul from its traditional southern power base. Residents say insurgents roam wide swaths of Wardak, a mountainous province whose capital is about 35 miles from Kabul.
The region has been covered in snow recently, but Col. David B. Haight, commander of the 3rd Brigade, said last week that he expects contact with insurgents to increase soon.
"The weather has made it so the enemy activity is somewhat decreased right now, and I expect it to increase in the next two to three months," Haight said at a news conference.
Haight said he believes the increase of militant activity in the two provinces is not ideologically based but stems from poor Afghans being enticed into fighting by their need for money. Quoting the governor of Logar, the colonel called it an "economic war."
Afghan officials "don't believe it's hardcore al-Qaida operatives that you're never going to convert anyway," Haight said. "They believe that it's the guys who say, 'Hey you want $100 to shoot an RPG at a Humvee when it goes by,' and the guy says, 'Yeah I'll do that, because I've got to feed my family.'"
Still, Haight said there are hardcore fighters in the region, some of them allied with Jalaludin Haqqani and his son Siraj, a fighting family with a long history in Afghanistan. The two militant leaders are believed to be in Pakistan.
A new report from the RAND Corp. think tank argues against that approach. It contends a "game-changing" strategy is urgently needed in Afghanistan that would have the additional troops train Afghan security forces rather than directly confront militants.
"It is unlikely the United States and NATO (on their own) will defeat the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan," said the paper, which was being released Tuesday.
Logar Gov. Atiqullah Ludin said at a news conference alongside Haight that U.S. troops will need to improve both security and the economic situation.
"There is a gap between the people and the government," Ludin said. "Assistance in Logar is very weak, and the life of the common man has not improved."
Ludin also urged that U.S. forces be careful and not act on bad intelligence to launch night raids on Afghans who turn out to be innocent.
It is a common complaint from Afghan leaders. President Hamid Karzai has long pleaded with U.S. forces not to kill innocent Afghans during military operations and says he hopes to see night raids curtailed.
Pointing to the value of such operations, the U.S. military said Monday that a raid in northwest Badghis province killed a feared militant leader named Ghulam Dastagir and eight other fighters.
Other raids, though, have killed innocent Afghans who were only defending their village against a nighttime incursion by forces they didn't know, officials say.
"We need to step back and look at those carefully, because the danger they carry is exponential," Ludin said.
Haight cautioned last week that civilian casualties could increase with the presence of his 2,700 soldiers.
"We understand the probability of increased civilian casualties is there because of increased U.S. forces," said the colonel, who has also commanded Special Operations task forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Our plan is to do no operations without ANA (Afghan army) and ANP (Afghan police), to help us be more precise."
The U.S. military and Afghan Defense Ministry announced last week that Afghan officers and soldiers would take on a greater role in military operations, including in specialized night raids, with the aim of decreasing civilian deaths.
The presence of U.S. troops in Wardak and Logar is the first time such a large contingent of American power has been so close to Kabul, fueling concerns that militants could be massing for a push at the capital. Haight dismissed those fears.
"Our provinces butt up against the southern boundary of Kabul and therefore there is the perception that Kabul could be surrounded," Haight said. "But the enemy cannot threaten Kabul. He's not big enough, he's not strong enough, he doesn't have the technology. He can conduct attacks but he can't completely disrupt the governance in Kabul."
(This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling to Osterholzer, sted Osterhozer thruout. This item moved previously on a hold-for-release basis and is now available for use.)
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Obama decision on Afghan troops levels coming soon
February 16, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's decision on troop levels for Afghanistan is coming within days, and will not take weeks, his spokesman said on Monday.
"The administration continues its review of policy related to Afghanistan and I would expect that the president's decision could come shortly," spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Asked whether a decision would be announced within days or weeks, Gibbs said, "I don't think this is anything that involves weeks."
He said the president was working in consultations with military leaders and his foreign policy advisers to develop the Afghanistan policy.
U.S. policy on Afghanistan is under review as Obama contemplates almost doubling the number of U.S. troops there to around 60,000.
Obama arrived back in Washington after spending the long President's Day holiday weekend at his home in Chicago.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, editing by Patricia Zengerle)
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NATO soldier among 27 killed in Afghanistan
by Sardar Ahmad – Mon Feb 16, 9:50 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – A NATO soldier and nine Afghan civilians died in attacks across insurgency-torn Afghanistan while military offensives killed at least 17 suspected militants, officials said Monday.
The NATO soldier, whose nationality was not disclosed, died from wounds "caused by indirect fire in eastern Afghanistan," the alliance said.
The statement gave no details but Taliban insurgents, who are battling foreign forces and the Afghan government, are active in the east.
Elsewhere, five civilians were killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their vehicle on the road between the southern provinces of Uruzgan and Kandahar, police and a health official said.
Both regions are known Taliban hotspots.
"A civilian car hit a roadside bomb on the Uruzgan-Kandahar highway. It killed five civilians and injured a sixth person," Uruzgan deputy police chief Mohammad Gulab told AFP.
Khan Agha Miakhail, head of public health in the province, confirmed the incident and said the victims had been employees of the private Afghan Wireless Communication Company.
"Five bodies and an injured person have been admitted to our hospital. They are technical employees of Afghan Wireless," he said.
Three other civilians were killed and three wounded in a similar bomb blast in Kunar province, in eastern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said.
The ministry blamed the attack on "enemies of Afghanistan" -- a common term that refers to the Taliban, who were ousted from power in late 2001 by a US-led invasion but have regrouped.
Another civilian was killed when a bomb hidden on an abandoned motorbike exploded in Kandahar on Sunday, the defence ministry said.
Overnight, warplanes raided a militant hideout, killing 10 rebels, including two key militant commanders, in the northwestern province of Badghis on the border with Turkmenistan, the US-led military and Afghan authorities said.
Mullah Dastagir, a key militant leader, and several of his associates were killed in the air strike, a statement said.
The US-led force said Dastagir was behind several attacks on Afghan and international forces, including a deadly ambush last November.
"Dastagir was responsible for an increase in violence in Badghis over recent months. In November, Dastagir was responsible for an attack on an Afghan National Army convoy that killed 13 soldiers," it said.
Several other rebels in the same compound were also killed in the raid, said the military.
Sayed Ahmad Sameh, Badghis provincial police chief, said 10 Taliban, including two provincial commanders, were killed.
"Mullah Dastagir and Mullah Baz Mohammad, two big Taliban commanders and eight of their men were killed in the air strike by the coalition forces," he told AFP.
The Afghan defence ministry said 12 militants were killed in the attack.
Seven other Taliban-linked insurgents were killed in an operation by Afghan troops in southern Helmand province on Sunday, the ministry said.
There are about 70,000 international troops based in the country, supporting the government of President Hamid Karzai in a battle against the insurgency, which is most intense in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan.
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Security developments in Afghanistan, Feb 16
(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported until 1:40 p.m. British time on Monday.
BADGHIS - U.S.-led troops killed a wanted Taliban commander Mullah Dastagir and eight of his loyalists in an air strike in south-western Badghis province, U.S. and Afghan officials said on Monday.
Dastagir was behind a series of attacks in Badghis, including an ambush in which 13 Afghan soldiers were killed last November, they added.
HELMAND - Afghan army killed seven Taliban insurgents in an operation in southern Helmand province, the defence ministry said same day.
KANDAHAR - In neighbouring Kandahar, five civilians died on Monday when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle, the interior ministry said.
KUNAR - A similar device killed three employees of a construction firm on Monday in eastern Kunar, the ministry separately earlier said, adding three more workers of the company were wounded.
PAKTIKA - A rocket hit a base of NATO-led force in south-eastern Paktika province, killing one soldier of the alliance on Monday, an official for the force said.
Reuters could not immediately reach the Taliban for comment about any of the reported incidents.
(Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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Afghan contractor dies in roadside blast
KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- An Afghan contractor was killed by a roadside bomb that exploded as a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol passed beside it, officials said Monday.
After the explosion in the southern province of Uruzgan, officials said, insurgents attacked the patrol with small-arms fire and machine guns. Troops responded with small-arms and mortar fire and air support, killing several insurgents, military officials said.
In western Afghanistan, multinational coalition troops said they arrested a weapons facilitator during a raid in the Farah province near the Iran border, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.
"The suspect is believed to have been supplying insurgent forces with weapons, munitions and improvised explosive device-making material, and financing insurgent activities throughout western Afghanistan," the U.S. military said in a statement.
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US-Afghan visit awkward, but hints at cooperation
By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press February 15, 2009
KABUL – President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama's special envoy said Sunday that Afghan officials will take part in a strategic U.S. review of the Afghanistan war, a hint of U.S.-Afghan cooperation in an otherwise awkward joint appearance.
Obama has said turning around the war in Afghanistan is one of his top priorities, but after almost four weeks in office he has yet to speak with the Afghan leader.
Instead, Karzai met with envoy Richard Holbrooke, and the two appeared together to announce the Afghan government's participation in a U.S. review that will in large part determine how the war is fought. The decision, Holbrooke said, came at Karzai's request in a letter to Obama.
Karzai acknowledged in an interview Friday that he has yet to speak with Obama, a clear signal from America's leader of Karzai's standing, given the fact the U.S. has 33,000 troops in the country and is contemplating sending up to 30,000 more.
That undercurrent hung over the first high-level U.S.-Afghan meeting since the inauguration and was perhaps one reason Karzai's shoulders appeared heavy and his mood lifeless.
In an interview later Sunday with Afghanistan's Tolo TV, Holbrooke was asked about the Karzai-Obama relationship. He said friends often disagree: "I don't see the issue."
"President Karzai is the democratically elected president of this country, and we respect that," Holbrooke said. "And I deal with them, as I just did, without any friction, with honest discussions. There was no problem, no animosity, and President Karzai himself went out of his way to be gracious and supportive to our delegation."
Earlier Sunday, only minutes before the joint appearance, there was a literal shuffling of chairs, podiums and personalities at Karzai's presidential palace. Though the event was advertised as a news conference, Afghan officials decided at the last minute there would be no questions, lest Karzai face a hostile query.
With Karzai seeking re-election later this year, the Obama administration must decide how much overt support to give him — or whether to seek another partner.
Obama said last Monday that Afghanistan's government seems "very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community," a clear jab at Karzai. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently called Afghanistan a "narco-state."
Karzai aides hoped the Holbrooke event would offer a change of direction. "We really want this to go well," one aide said privately beforehand.
Under former President George W. Bush, Karzai had frequent and close contact with Washington. But that has changed since Obama took office. Meanwhile, Karzai has shown increasing anger over civilian casualties, making public demands that have rubbed some U.S. officials the wrong way.
Karzai mentioned civilian casualties Sunday only briefly, saying he hopes a new U.S. policy to include more Afghans on U.S. missions will cut down on mistaken killings. He also said he hoped it would "prevent nighttime raids." Overnight raids by elite Special Operations Forces cause many of the civilian deaths, but the agreement made no mention that such missions would end.
On Friday, ahead of Holbrooke's visit, Karzai was asked in an al-Jazeera interview if there was a crisis between Afghanistan and the U.S. His response: "Yes, yes there is."
The U.S. envoy's arrival marked the first public contact between Karzai — and it was not a smooth rollout.
Karzai and Holbrooke first met Saturday evening for discussions and dinner. Photographers were permitted but neither official made comments. The palace said it would release a statement later that night.
But sometime around 10 p.m., the palace announced a previously unscheduled joint appearance the next morning.
At the palace early Sunday, officials set up two podiums where Holbrooke and Karzai were to stand. But only 15 minutes before the two appeared, officials took down the podiums, swept aside journalists' chairs and set up a long table.
At the end of that table sat Karzai, Holbrooke and Afghan Foreign Minister Dadfar Rangin Spanta, who remained silent during the 13-minute event. The possible message to Holbrooke: The U.S. envoy would not appear at Karzai's side as an equal.
Journalists had been told Karzai and Holbrooke would answer two questions. But after Karzai aides canvassed the room to see what journalists wanted to ask, reporters were told that no questions would be allowed.
"These reporters are doing very bad things. We are not answering their questions," Karzai told the assembled journalists.
Mohammad Qassim Akhgar, a political columnist and the editor-in-chief of the independent Afghan newspaper Charagh, or "Light," noted the change.
"Clearly we can see there are some problems with relations between Afghanistan and America," said Akhgar. "There was fear that if there are tough questions, Holbrooke might say something which would not be in the interest of Karzai."
Holbrooke, who traveled to India late Sunday, told Tolo TV that Pakistan would also send a strategic review team to Washington. The U.S. envoy said the two countries together make up one of the most critical areas in the world and he stressed the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan.
"An area where the border is disputed ... and on both sides of which lie terrorists and political movements that threaten democracy in Afghanistan, stability in Pakistan and the security of the United States, because that is where 9/11 was planned," Holbrooke said. "What could be more clear cut than that."
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Moscow again eyes Afghanistan 20 years after retreat
Fearful that US failure there could unleash the Taliban and other Islamist insurgencies, Russia may help NATO open a supply line through former Soviet territory.
By Fred Weir | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor February 17, 2009 edition
MOSCOW - When the USSR ended its disastrous near decade-long occupation of Afghanistan – the last Soviet troops were extracted 20 years ago Sunday – war hero Gen. Makhmut Gareyev was left behind to advise the Kremlin's client regime on means of survival. He too fled three years later as waves of Islamist rebels, formerly armed by the US, hammered at the gates of Kabul.
General Gareyev, now president of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, believes the perceived threats that originally induced the USSR to invade Afghanistan are still very much alive. The Kremlin leadership feared the spread of Iranian-style Islamist revolution to Soviet central Asia, a challenge that has only grown worse in the interim, and Gareyev says he doubts that the current NATO mission in that region has much chance to deliver long-term stability.
"Nothing can be done in Afghanistan using military means," he says. "If the Americans go on with the policy they have now, it will be useless."
Talks in recent days between US and Russian officials have brought a ray of hope that the two countries may finally begin cooperating on a much-needed transport corridor through former Soviet territory to resupply struggling NATO forces in Afghanistan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov even hinted that an accord on the supply line could signal a wider thaw in relations between Moscow and the Western alliance, which have been frozen since Russia's war with Georgia last summer. But most leading Russian experts, especially those burned by past experiences, like Gareyev, remain dubious about the prospects for eventual US success in Afghanistan and deeply fearful that the consequences of their ultimate failure may fall heavily upon Russia and former Soviet central Asia.
"The consensus of Russian experts is that there is no winning strategy for the US and NATO in Afghanistan," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a top Moscow-based foreign policy journal. "Most believe that, sooner or later, Afghanistan's neighboring countries will face serious challenges from a possible revived Taliban. It means we need to work with the Americans, and find common approaches, but we need to make our own preparations, too."
Crime and militants threaten region
What Russia fears is a revival of the multiple Islamist insurgencies, which it saw as emanating from Taliban-dominated Afghanistan, that nearly overwhelmed former Soviet Tajikistan and Uzbekistan during the 1990s. Militants trained in Afghanistan are also blamed by the Kremlin for turning the rebellious Russian province of Chechnya into an extremist outpost whose terrorists struck repeatedly in the center of Moscow.
"Looking back, I don't think the decision (in 1979) to introduce Soviet troops into Afghanistan was just a whim of the Soviet leadership," says Rudolf Pikhoya, a historian with the Academy of State Service, which trains Kremlin officials. "Events in Afghanistan, along with the Iranian revolution, signaled the beginning of the global Islamist revolution. Now, we clearly see the danger."
Even with NATO troops in Afghanistan, Russian experts allege that drug trafficking has exploded. All along the criminal pipeline, which extends through ex-Soviet central Asia and Russia to European markets, organized crime and corruption are flourishing. Worse, they warn, is the potential for an alliance between cash-rich traffickers and power-hungry Islamist radicals. "These drugs are flowing into Russia," Gareyev says, "And the Americans do not seem to be doing anything to stop it. This is a very serious threat to us."
Russia has been moving to reassert its own influence in central Asia with increasing vigor as NATO appears to grow ever more bogged down in Afghanistan.
Last week, after receiving a $2.3 billion package of loans and aid from Moscow, Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev ordered the US to vacate Manas, the last of the military bases on former Soviet territory that Russia had acquiesced to following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Also last week, Russia pushed its regional alliance, the six-member Collective Security Treaty Organization, to beef up its joint rapid reaction force to 10,000 men aimed at combating terrorism and drug trafficking. And next month, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional alliance led by Russia and China, will convene a special conference on Afghanistan to explore ways to strengthen the group's relations with Kabul, which could include Russian arms sales and military advice for the first time since the Soviet withdrawal, experts say.
US bases as 'potential troublemakers'
The closure of Manas could strike a heavy blow against the US, just as President Obama seeks to double US forces in Afghanistan and the existing NATO supply routes through Pakistan are threatened by growing pro-Taliban sabotage. But Moscow does not view its pressure to reduce US activity on former Soviet territory as contradicting its willingness to be helpful to the NATO mission in Afghanistan, says Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the State Duma's committee on international relations.
"All these US bases, like Manas, are potential troublemakers for my country," Mr. Klimov says. "We believe that when we have direct, open cooperation with the US, it can be very useful. But when the Americans want to do things without our participation, of course we have suspicions."
Cooperating with the US may, in the future, take a back seat to Moscow's own regional offensive, some say. "Russia urgently needs to create friendly regimes in central Asia and a strong, unified border defense," says Alexei Mukhin, director of the independent Center for Political Information in Moscow. "We're very willing to work together with NATO against our common enemy, the Taliban, but we've seen from past experience that this does not produce positive or lasting results for us. The Kremlin is certain that Russia needs to act decisively on its own" to ensure Russia's security if Afghanistan collapses again, he says.
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Pakistan agrees Sharia law deal
Monday, 16 February 2009 BBC News
Pakistan has signed a peace deal with a Taleban group that will lead to the enforcement of the Islamic Sharia law in the restive Swat valley.
Regional officials urged the Taleban, who agreed a 10-day truce on Sunday, to lay down their arms permanently.
Once one of Pakistan's most popular holiday destinations, the Swat valley is now mostly under Taleban control.
Thousands of people have fled and hundreds of schools have been destroyed since the Taleban insurgency in 2007.
Chief Minister of North West Frontier Province Ameer Hussain Hoti announced a bill had been signed that would implement a new "order of justice" in the Malakand division, which includes Swat.
The bill will create a separate system of justice for the whole region.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan, who was recently in Swat, says the Taleban had already set up their own system of Islamic justice, as they understand it.
Their campaign against female education has led to tens of thousands of children being denied an education, our correspondent says.
US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, who is in India, said he needed more information on the deal but that the situation in Swat had "deeply affected the people of Pakistan, not just in Peshawar but in Lahore and in Islamabad".
Mr Holbrooke said Swat "demonstrates a key point and that is that India, the United States and Pakistan have all a common threat now... [we] all face an enemy which possesses a direct threat to our leadership".
'Very positive'
The government of North West Frontier Province had been holding talks with local militant leader, Sufi Mohammad, on making amendments to the enforcement of Sharia in Swat.
Sufi Mohammad, a pro-Taleban cleric, is the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, who has been waging a violent campaign to impose Sharia in the region.
Mr Hoti said: "An agreement has been reached with Sufi Mohammad's delegation and this is a great breakthrough.
"The recommendations and proposals have been finalised, but they can only be implemented after peace is achieved."
Mr Hoti said President Asif Ali Zardari had "in principle... approved this package".
Mr Hoti said the agreement had not been made "under pressure from anyone" and was not unconstitutional.
"It was reached after realisation that it was the demand of the people."
The chief minister said the government had done all it could and asked for the Taleban to now lay down their arms.
He said a grand jirga (council) led by Sufi Mohammad would now be going to Swat to get all the factions to comply.
The Taleban have said they will examine the document before ending hostilities permanently.
The Agence France-Presse news agency quoted Sufi Mohammad as saying: "We had been holding negotiations with the government on a 22-point charter of demands for quite some time. There were differences on five points, which were removed in a meeting on Sunday."
Sharia law has been in force in Malakand since 1994. But appeal cases are heard in the Peshawar high court, which operates under the civil code.
Our correspondent says there will be alterations to the appeals process - a point of contention often cited by the militants for their continued insurgency.
The agreement will bind the provincial government to implement Sharia law in the Malakand division, which comprises Swat and its adjoining areas.
The people of Swat have been caught in the crossfire between the army and the Taleban, our correspondent says.
More than 1,000 civilians have died in shelling by the army or from beheadings sanctioned by the Taleban. Thousands more have been displaced.
The Taleban now control the entire countryside of Swat, limiting army control to parts of the valley's capital, Mingora.
Many people in Swat now would favour an early exit by the army as they have failed to roll back the Taleban or protect the Taleban's opponents, says our correspondent.
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Pakistan denies role in US drone attacks
Press TV February 16, 2009
Islamabad denies reports that Pakistan has granted the US permission to launch missile strikes on its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi ruled out claims by a US senator that the US drones use an airbase inside Pakistan as a launch pad to attack tribal areas, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Pakistani tribal areas have been the scene of Washington-led missile strikes. While the US claims that the strikes have been directed at militants, it has killed scores of civilians and has sparked outrage in Pakistan.
"We have said time and again that the US drone attacks are counter productive for the cooperation between Islamabad and Washington on the war against terrorism", the foreign minister said Sunday.
Qureshi made the remarks in response to Chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee Sen. Dianne Feinstein's comments claiming that the unmanned US air force drones are operating by mutual consent with Pakistan.
Feinstein said on Thursday that the drones were operating from bases near the capital Islamabad.
Qureshi said there was no agreement or understanding between the US and Pakistan over the issue adding that Islamabad strongly condemns Washington for violating its borders.
The official also said that Islamabad has expressed its deep concern over US drone attacks to Richard Holbrooke, Washington's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Qureshi further hinted that the government wais planning to develop a strategy to put an end to the attacks.
Last November, the Washington Post reported that Washington and Islamabad had struck a deal, according to which Pakistan allows the US to carry out drone strikes.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, however, denied that any secret agreement had been signed.
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U.S. Envoy Reaches Out to Iran in Afghan Visit
New York Times, United States By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. February 15, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Obama's top envoy to Afghanistan declared Sunday that Iran should play a vital role helping stabilize the war-torn country. It was the latest statement by Obama officials signaling a clear shift away from the Bush administration's policy of avoiding direct engagement with Tehran.
The Obama administration has been very critical of Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and support for terrorist groups. But the comments here on Sunday by the envoy, Richard C. Holbrooke, appeared to suggest that the new administration might also seek to use discussions with Iran about Afghanistan as one way to establish a broader dialogue.
“It is absolutely clear that Iran plays an important role in Afghanistan,” Mr. Holbrooke said during an interview on Sunday with Tolo TV, a private Afghan television network.
“They have a legitimate role to play in this region, as do all of Afghanistan's neighbors.”
He also passed up an opportunity to criticize Tehran about allegations — some made by NATO officials — that it has provided help to Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan.
“I heard those reports,” Mr. Holbrooke said. “I talked to the military command about them. I did not have enough time really to get into the details yet, but I will get into it on future trips.”
Mr. Obama has said that he will reach out to Iran for direct talks, and last week the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said that Iran was ready. The two nations have not spoken directly since the Islamic Revolution in Iran 30 years ago.
Afghanistan shares its entire western border with Iran, and a major portion of the massive Afghan opium crop is smuggled through Iran.
Mr. Holbrooke flew to India on Sunday night after making his first visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan as Mr. Obama's special envoy to the two countries, part of the administration's review of American policy in the region from the ground up. As security in Iraq has improved, Pakistan and Afghanistan have emerged as perhaps the most difficult foreign policy challenges facing Mr. Obama, who is already weighing whether to double the American troop deployment in Afghanistan to about 60,000.
While the situation in Pakistan remains grim, Mr. Holbrooke also said he was shocked by the problems he saw in the country, which he last visited a year ago.
He said he was especially concerned that the Swat Valley, a onetime ski resort about 100 miles from Islamabad, had been seized by Taliban guerrillas, who blow up schools, assassinate police officers and beat — or behead — those who do not adhere to their strict version of Islam.
On Sunday, the Taliban announced a 10-day cease-fire with Pakistani forces in Swat for talks with the government.
“We are very concerned about Pakistan and stability,” Mr. Holbrooke said during the interview with Tolo TV. “I was stunned by the change in Pakistan since I was last there, and about the psychological effect that the fall of much of Swat had caused for the people of Islamabad, Peshawar and even Lahore.”
Earlier on Sunday, Mr. Holbrooke and the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, appeared at a hastily arranged photo opportunity in Kabul to announce that Afghan officials would participate in a strategic review of American policy in Afghanistan. They also emphasized their commitment to hold Afghan elections in August and applauded an agreement between the American and Afghan militaries aimed at decreasing the civilian toll from American and NATO airstrikes and ground missions.
Mr. Karzai, once a favorite of the American government, has said in recent days that Mr. Obama has not spoken to him since the inauguration, a disclosure widely seen to reflect the Afghan leader's diminished stature in Washington. Last week Mr. Obama said the Afghan government “seems very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community.”
In Kabul, Mr. Holbrooke sought to play down the tension between Mr. Karzai and the Obama administration. “Friends often disagree,” he said during the interview on Sunday. “I don't see the issue.”
Yet before he was named the Obama administration's envoy, even Mr. Holbrooke criticized the Karzai government as weak.
“That was some other person using my name,” he said jokingly. “Of course I don't repudiate anything I wrote as a private citizen. Those were my personal views at that time. I am now representing the United States.”
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Afghan gov't launches anti-poppy campaign in Taliban hotbed
KABUL, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- In a bold step against illicit drug, the government of Afghanistan begun destroying poppy fields in Taliban hotbed Helmand province in south Afghanistan, a statement of Interior Ministry said Monday.
"The counter-narcotics special force with the support of army and police launched anti-poppy campaign in Helmand province Saturday and so far more than 80 hectares of poppy fields have been destroyed," the statement added.
A hotbed of Taliban militants and poppy growing province, Helmand produces 90 percent of Afghanistan illicit drug while the post-Taliban country supplies 93 percent of the raw material used in manufacturing heroin in the world.
Afghanistan produced 8,200 tons opium poppy last year and the government says the menace has dropped 20 percent this year.
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US train formed in Latvia to head for Afghanistan
February 16, 2009
RIGA (AFP) – A US supply train for NATO troops in Afghanistan, due to transit via Russia, is being formed in Latvia, an official from the Baltic state's defence ministry told AFP Monday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to give further details of the shipment, which Moscow has said could leave within days.
A US embassy official said supplies were being shipped into Riga for loading onto the train, which would carry 100 containers across Russia and other countries to Afghanistan.
If successful, 20-30 trainloads per week could eventually be sent, the embassy said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday the United States had asked about shipments to Afghanistan, and that he had ruled out weapons or ammunition being carried.
"We have clearly stated we were ready to do it, because it corresponds completely to the agreements we have concluded with NATO and this transit will literally take place in the coming days," Lavrov said.
The decision to send supplies via Latvia -- which broke from the Soviet Union in 1991 and joined NATO in 2004 -- came as Kyrgyzstan announced the closure of a US base serving as a vital route for supplies to Afghanistan.
Washington has been seeking agreement with other ex-Soviet states in Central Asia on supply routes. Recent attacks on a supply line from Pakistan have heightened the need for new routes.
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Mobilizing Afghan Militias: Civil Defense Forces Vs. 'Tribal Militias'
By MATTHEW P. DEARING and MATTHEW C. DUPEE Middle East Times / February 16, 2009
Empowering supposed "tribal militias" in Afghanistan as a means to defend areas outside of the immediate control of Afghanistan's National Security Forces (ANSF) from Taliban and other insurgent groups has become a popular option for U.S. military strategists to consider.
Over the last two years, Afghan-based insurgents have increasingly attacked and overran villages, established parallel "shadow" governments and expanded their influence over large swaths of territory. Stepped up expansion efforts by insurgent factions have succeeded in overrunning once neutral areas in close proximity to Kabul, especially in Wardak and Logar Provinces; a mere 30 miles southwest of Kabul.
The government of Afghanistan also shares blame for the collapse in stability, failing to maintain a strong federal presence outside of Kabul and the inability to field a comprehensive police apparatus able to protect ordinary Afghans has provided the fertile soil for anti-government activities to flourish in. The disintegration of security at the district and village level has eroded public support for the central government and has left many Afghans feeling disillusioned and fearful of the future.
The dismal effort to reform Afghanistan's National Police force has already bypassed its critical window of opportunity for desirable short-term outcomes. Immediate "shock therapy" measures are now needed to resuscitate Afghanistan's deteriorating security situation. Part of the shock therapy, according to U.S. military strategists, includes creating and mobilizing civil defense forces (CDF), referred to inanely by the media as "tribal militias," to fill the void where the central government is no longer a legitimate source of power. Although various forms of militias have existed or have been implemented since 2002, an instrumental criterion for CDF should be the heavy emphasis on static security goals directed at protecting their host community, a key element missing from nearly every other militia program attempted.
"Do they [Afghans] believe they can protect their own community in the way that Afghanistan has done for all of these centuries?" U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan William Wood queried with reporters last month. "What we're trying to do is not arm them or disarm them in this regard, but strengthen the community in such a way that it is more self-reliant, and it can resist the infiltration, and the intimidation, and the night letters, and the beheadings, and the beatings, and the threats against school children that the Taliban seems to be relying on these days."
The support of any militia program in Afghanistan must focus on empowering the community versus directly approaching particular tribes or ethnic groups. The program should be locally developed, ideally incorporate a mostly volunteer force, and be administered and focused on static security concerns on a grassroots-community level.
Fundamental to any militia program is understanding that it is not universally applicable. A system instituted in the east of the country will likely not resemble one instituted in the south. For this reason, many observers have criticized the idea of implementing the Iraq model in Afghanistan.
There are deep-seated differences in how tribal dynamics affect unique communities in particular areas. Too tight of a focus on specific ethnic or tribal groups will not be sufficient; this would inevitably lead to destabilizing consequences, as has been evidenced in the past. Prior to the Soviets' departure of Afghanistan in 1989, they implemented a large-scale tribal militia program that resulted in years of internecine strife and warlordism. The Auxiliary Police program of 2006 only repowered certain nefarious warlords and drug barons, such as Sher Muhammad Akuhndzada, the former governor of Helmand province who was fired after U.S. officials discovered nine tons of opium at his residence.
Traditionally, fledgling governments facing difficulties in reaching out to the hinterland areas of Afghanistan relied upon the support and influence of tribal elders. Increasing the power of tribal leaders and leveraging their influence within the immediate community should be a fundamental element of any community empowerment program in Afghanistan.
Local district and village councils comprised of all tribal leaders should constitute the decision-making and recruiting body of local militias. The United States has already donated $6 million to a new community revitalization initiative, the Afghanistan Social Outreach Program, which will facilitate community shuras (councils) that will work in conjunction with a separate public defense program. Wardak province has been chosen as the first location to implement the combined pilot program.
Afghans with long felt perceptions of disenfranchisement, perpetuated by years of corruption emanating from Kabul, can discover they have a critical position in securing their own future. Afghans traditionally grant more loyalty to their neighboring villages and the district in which they reside in than they do with Kabul.
The implementation of community shuras alongside CDF volunteers will provide the militiamen with focused areas of responsibility that will facilitate smaller, more efficient, and cohesive units that can achieve practical and recognizable results. They will base their decisions on what affects them directly, not objectives derived from the far and often unseen reach of Kabul. Any long-term security objectives will have to be achieved through a collective grass roots effort that will eventually integrate with the ANSF.
Civil Defense Forces will provide a significant measure of needed security and authority in areas of Afghanistan previously unprotected by ANSF. They will allow community leaders from a variety of tribes and clans to work together in delivering sufficient levels of security. Such a program will help lay the foundation for future integration into ANSF and the promotion of a more effective local form of governance. CDF puts the responsibility back into the hands of local Afghans and allows them to hold a stake in the future of their village and their nation.
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Matthew P. Dearing and Matthew C. DuPee are Research Associates with the Program for Culture & Conflict Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School. The views expressed are the personal views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the officially held views of the Department of Defense.
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Pakistan Was ‘In Denial' About Taliban Threat, Zardari Says
Bloomberg By Ed Johnson Feb. 16 , 2009
Pakistan underestimated the threat posed by Taliban militants in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan and was “in denial” about their strength, President Asif Ali Zardari said.
The Islamist group has a presence in “huge amounts of land” in Pakistan, Zardari said in an interview on CBS television's “60 Minutes” show.
President Barack Obama's new administration is pressing Pakistan to root out al-Qaeda and Taliban militants sheltering in the northwestern tribal zone. U.S. intelligence agencies say the region is a haven for extremists who carry out attacks on international forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke visited Pakistan last week, as the White House began a policy review for combating the Taliban insurgency.
“It's been happening over time and it's happened out of denial,” Zardari told CBS, when asked how militants had secured a foothold in the Swat Valley, only 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Islamabad.
“Everyone was in denial that they're weak and they won't be able to take over, they won't be able to give us a challenge,” Zardari said, in excerpts from the interview aired on the broadcaster's Web site yesterday. “Our forces weren't increased and therefore we have weaknesses, and they are taking advantage of that weakness.”
Khyber Pass
Zardari's coalition government, led by the Pakistan Peoples Party, says it's doing all it can against the guerrillas. The government has deployed paramilitary troops in North West Frontier Province to combat militants threatening the provincial capital, Peshawar. The city of 3 million people lies on the Pakistan side of the Khyber Pass, a supply route for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Thousands of soldiers are also deployed in the Swat Valley, where militants loyal to cleric Maulana Fazlullah have waged a violent campaign for the past year to impose Islamic law.
The rebels yesterday declared a 10-day cease-fire in the valley after Pakistani authorities agreed to enact Shariah, or Islamic law, in the area, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Peace Accords
Previous peace accords with the Taliban have collapsed, including one last year in Swat that failed after a few weeks when gunmen refused to disarm and continued to attack government forces, the newspaper reported.
The Pakistani Taliban is led by Baitullah Mehsud, who was allegedly behind the December 2007 assassination of Zardari's wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, according to Pakistan's previous government.
Mehsud commands as many as 5,000 fighters, according to the U.S. military academy's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
A suspected U.S. missile strike at the weekend in the South Waziristan tribal region where Mehsud is based killed at least 27 people, the Journal reported, citing Pakistani intelligence officials.
The missiles hit three compounds, including one where Mehsud meets with his lieutenants, according to the report. He wasn't believed to be among the dead.
Pakistan says such missile strikes are counterproductive and boost support for the Taliban among the local population when civilians are killed.
Pakistani officials last week told Holbrooke the new administration should reconsider the policy of firing missiles.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: February 15, 2009
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Germany names Afghan-Pakistan envoy
BERLIN, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Germany has appointed a special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, naming Bernd Mutzelburg to the new position, officials said Monday.
Following the lead of the United States and Britain, Germany has moved to name a diplomatic troubleshooter for the key region, which is posing serious challenges to Western nations' efforts to combat global terrorism, the German publication Deutsche Welle reported.
Mutzelburg, 65, the current German ambassador to India, will be leaving his embassy duties there to focus on his new role in Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials said. U.S. President Barack Obama last month named Richard Holbrooke as his special envoy to the region, while British Foreign Secretary David Miliband last week named Sherard Cowper-Coles to a similar role.
The German magazine Der Spiegel has reported that Holbrooke is moving to set up an international working group for Afghanistan that would be similar to one established in the 1990s to facilitate peace talks on the former Yugoslavia.
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USA lured USSR into the trap of Afghanistan war
Pravda.ru February 16, 2009
Russia marked the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of the last Soviet troops from Afghanistan on February 15. The Soviet Union lost over 14,000 people during ten years of the war – from 1979 to 1989. Over a thousand military men became disabled individuals as a result of the war. The soldiers of the Soviet Army were absolutely unaware of the big political game around Afghanistan.
Experts still differ in their estimations of those events. Some of them say that the USSR was forced to deploy its troops in Afghanistan because the country, which borders on three post-Soviet republics, would have been used against the Soviet Union otherwise. The leaders of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which came to power in the country in April 1978, were USSR-loyal politicians, although their positions in the country could not be described as absolutely reliable.
Islamic fundamentalists began to show armed resistance to the party since the summer of 1978 with the help from the United States, Great Britain, several Muslim states and China. “It was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention,” Zbigniew Brzezinski said an in interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (France).
Mujahideens were gradually conquering new areas of the country threatening to topple the USSR-loyal government. It was one of the factors, which made the USSR deploy the troops in Afghanistan.
The adversaries of the Soviet-led intervention say that the attempt to win the guerilla warfare in Afghanistan was doomed from the very beginning. For example, Soviet troops conducted several large-scale operations in the Panjsheri Gorge during ten years of the Afghan war to eliminate field commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. Many lives were taken during those battles, but the gorge was never taken under control.
“That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire,” Brzezinski said in the above-mentioned interview.
Modern-day experts say that the Soviet administration was lured into the trap of the guerrilla warfare.
The soldiers of the Soviet Army, who served in Afghanistan, did their duty honestly and nobly. The army can not be responsible for political mistakes. It is worthy of note that the production of drugs in Afghanistan was minimized during the Soviet military presence in the country. As soon as the NATO contingent was deployed there, Afghanistan turned into the world’s largest maker of heroine and opium.
The Taliban movement came into power in Afghanistan in 1996. The country became the second home for Islamists from all over the world. On the other hand, Talibs began to struggle with the drug mafia. They instituted death penalty for drug dealers.
NATO troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001, overturned the Talibs and brought their mentor, Hamid Karzai, to power. NATO’s incursion marked the end of the struggle against the drug mafia. The harvests of opium poppy increased 44 times during seven years and made up 8,200 tons of opium (1.171,5 tons of heroine), UN experts said. Afghanistan is currently the world’s largest maker of all opium drugs.
The leading countries of the world continue to play their Afghan card nowadays. War and struggle will continue to eat Afghanistan from inside for years against such a background.
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Afghans commemorate Soviet forces withdrawal but Afghanistan still in turmoil
Xinhua February 16, 2009
Today we mark the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Union's defeat and the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan but unfortunately still we do not have peace in our country," said 59-year-old Mohammad Karim, an Afghan citizen.
The erstwhile Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Dec. 27, 1979but left this country in humiliation on Feb. 15, 1989 after losing over 15,000 soldiers in the war and leaving a ruined nation behind.
Afghanistan had served as a battle ground between the big powers in the Cold War era and the Afghans had paid heavy price to win the war against the invaders and help end the Cold War. Ten years of occupation by the Soviet Troops, besides ravaging the country's basic infrastructures, left over 5 million Afghans homeless, forcing them to live in exile and over 2 million others dead and injured.
Afghans, who defeated the Soviet Troops with the financial and military support of the U.S.-led Western nations, had celebrated the pullout of the Red Army as the victory day but proved awful as the resistance groups turned guns against each other.
Factional fighting had raged among different ethnic and political outfits and eventually the country plunged into crisis.
Extremist groups from across the world had assembled in Afghanistan, and based on pan-Islamism ideology, began recruiting fighters to launch Jihad, or holy war, against those they described enemies of Islam.
Under the umbrella of Taliban regime, these outfits including al-Qaeda network began targeting the West's interests and in a Doomsday-like attack targeted the United States in 2001 and thus shocked the whole world.
Following the shocking attacks, over 40 nations under the U.S. have brought troops into Afghanistan, ousted the Taliban regime from power and united the country by facilitating Afghans to hold elections and have parliament and elected president.
Today, while Afghans marking the withdrawal of Soviet troops from their country by holding meetings and conferences, the poor country is still in turmoil as clashes between Taliban-linked insurgents and the government are going on in many parts of the country.
Only over the past one month more than 100 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in militants' attacks and conflicts in several parts of the country, including the capital city Kabul.
"This is not a victory. In fact, it is the beginning of all miseries, because we have failed to establish a stable government and make progress," commented a roadside vendor Ahmad Khan in Kabul.
"Victory means having peace and stability. How we can interpret it victory while still fighting is going on in several parts of the country. Though the Soviet Union had been dismembered peacefully, we, the Afghans, are still living in chaotic environment," he further said.
Nevertheless, Afghans are proud of their achievement in war against the ex-Soviet Union and defeating the Red Army.
"These were Afghans who paved the way for the liberation of central Asian states and the collapse of Berlin Wall," said Mohammad Aslam, a former Mujahidin, or holy warrior who currently serves as teacher.
"We jubilantly entered the base of Soviet troops after their withdrawal and celebrated it for days by offering special prayers and firing on the air," a former Mujahidin Abdul Mohammad from northern Baghlan province recalled and added, "eruption of infighting among Mujahidin groups and continued instability has disappointed us."
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Official: Former Afghan fighters hand over weapons
KABUL, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Several former Mujahidin or holy warriors have handed over their weapons totaling over 200 pieces to the government in Afghanistan's northeast Badakhshan province, provincial governor Abdul Majid said Sunday.
"These Mujahidin voluntarily have laid down their arms over the past couple of weeks in order to help stabilize security and accelerate reconstruction process," Majid told Xinhua.
The weapons, handed in to the government, he added, include heavy and light weapons, mostly assault rifle Kalashnikov.
He said that more than 4,000 pieces of various kinds of arms had been collected from the people in Badakhshan province over the past three years under a nationwide disarmament program.
Badakhshan, a mountainous province bordering Tajikistan, China and Pakistan is one of the peaceful provinces of Afghanistan.
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In Brief: Heavy snow kills children, destroys houses in Afghanistan
KABUL, 15 February 2009 (IRIN) - At least 12 people, including six children, were killed and tens of houses were damaged by heavy snow in Herat and Ghor provinces over the past four days, according to Afghanistan's National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA). Dozens of livestock perished in the cold weather.
Snow has also blocked access to many remote areas in northern, western and central provinces, leaving affected communities urgently needing food aid, medical care and heating items, ANDMA reported said. Over the past week, 37 avalanches have occurred around the Salang Pass – a vital route connecting northern Afghanistan with the capital, Kabul - officials said.
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Two Taliban Commander Killed in Badghis
Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 16 February 2009
Mullah Dastgir, who killed more than twenty police in ambush got killed last night
Mullah Dastgir and Mullah Baz Muhammad, two Taliban commanders along with their ten companions got killed in Badghis last night.
Ministry of Defense spokesman, Zahir Azimi, said that these Taliban were killed in Goka district around 10: 30 pm, last night.
Azimi avoided providing much detail about this incident.
However, confirming the death of these Taliban, Badghis police commissionaire, Saed Ahmad Sameh said that last night, a jet of international troops attacked a house, where these two commanders along with their men were hiding in.
Mullah Dastgir was arrested by the security forces about two years back, but was released from jail by the mediation of tribal elders and by the direct order of Afghan president.
Dastgir rejoined the Taliban right after his release.
He killed more than twenty soldiers of Afghan National Army and Afghan police in ambush three months ago.
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Two possible candidates weigh in on Afghan elections
Stars and Stripes By Jeff Schogol 02/15/2009
There's a lot riding on the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan.
"What's at stake is really success or failure in Afghanistan," said defense analyst Daniel Goure.
Without a credible and effective government, Afghanistan runs the risk of becoming a "continually failed state," said Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a nonpartisan think-tank based in Washington.
While the list of candidates is not yet known, two people mentioned in media reports as possible contenders are Ali Ahmad Jalali and Ashraf Ghani, both former members of the Afghan government.
Both men say the government of current Afghan President Hamid Karzai has failed.
"The people are very frustrated in Afghanistan today," Jalali said. "The government has lost its legitimacy because of this corruption and lack of capacity to deliver."
Security, corruption, agriculture and infrastructure will be top issues, said Jalali, a former Afghan interior minister and now on the faculty at the National Defense University.
He said the rampant corruption in Afghanistan is a reflection of the absence of rule of law in that country as well as "the weakness of the leadership" there.
"The lack of sufficient troops and the slow development of Afghanistan state institutions, which were totally destroyed, created a vacuum," he said. "That vacuum was filled, particularly after 2005, by regrouped Taliban, who were just across the border and also criminal networks."
Afghans felt that their government and the international community had failed them, and with the deterioration of security, Afghans turned to illegal activities to survive, Jalali said.
Afghanistan desperately needs investment in agriculture as well as infrastructure to combat the poppy problem and reduce poverty, he said.
Some farmers he talked to can earn $5,000 per month to grow one hectare of poppies but only between $500 and $600 for one hectare of wheat — and that won't even cover the cost of fueling their irrigation pump.
Other farmers he has spoken with cannot get their produce to market due to the high cost of transportation, bad security and bad roads.
"Roads, electricity and water — that could become an engine of development in fighting poverty," Jalali said.
The Karzai' government's inability to deliver security and basic services to its people has cost it its legitimacy, he said.
"Karzai, as I know him for a long time, he is a decent person; he is a good man," Jalali said.
"He is honest in his efforts, but he is not a good team builder. I think he had a good team in 2002, 2003, 2004, but he failed to maintain them and to bring good people to the government."
While Jalali has not decided whether to run in Afghanistan's upcoming presidential election, he says he has been under pressure to throw his hat into the ring.
"It is surprising to see that in all provinces of Afghanistan, the young people and others spontaneously created networks to campaign for me — I don't know it, and I later found out about it.
"So, in media, in tribal areas, in cities, and universities, they are calling on me, and it has reached a point where I cannot say outrightly no, but I have to weigh my options very soon and make a decision," Jalali said.
He said he will make a decision on whether or not to run in March or April.
Ashraf Ghani, who served as Afghanistan's finance minister from 2002 to 2004, said he does not plan to run for office right now, but that could change if things get worse in Afghanistan.
"The more difficult it is, the closer it's going to get me to a positive decision," Ghani said. "Politics is a vocation; it's moral responsibility. When things become very difficult, I need to be there. That's why I went back after 24 years, after 9/11."
While Ghani plans on staying outside the government for now, he is pushing for reforms by publishing a book and touring Afghanistan.
"If the people do not side with the government and the international community, that means there is something wrong, and today we have not convinced the Afghan public of the effectiveness of the enterprise," he said.
Ghani calls for overhauling international aid to Afghanistan, adding that the Afghans themselves hear of billions of dollars in aid coming to help them, but they don't see much as a result.
For example, the international community has given the Afghan government more than $2 billion in technical assistance that has gone to waste due to political corruption, he said.
He advocated using that money instead for establishing five universities in Afghanistan, which he said would help thousands of Afghans.
To boost Afghan agriculture, Ghani believes NATO should adopt a policy of buying Afghan produce.
He is also calling for a series small and medium of hydroelectric power projects to provide electricity for both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Forty percent of the villages on my count could be provided with power through micro-hydro in two years, and that would transform their lives," Ghani said.
On the security front, Ghani called the expected deployment of extra U.S. troops to train Afghan security forces, especially the Afghan police.
While the threat from Taliban safe-havens in Pakistan will persist for some years, Afghanistan and the international community can marginalize the insurgents by strengthening Afghan government institutions, Ghani said.
"When we've won 80 percent of the population to the cause of good governance, justice, fairness, economic opportunity and rule of law, we will be able to isolate [insurgents]," he said.
The changes Ghani have proposed require new leadership, he said.
"It's not a question of an inherently unreceptive environment; it's individuals and their choices," Ghani said.
Those individuals include President Karzai, he said.
"As the elected leader of the county it was his to lose because he was legitimately elected, he had enormous public support, and the public looked to him for inspiration, vision, management and vision, and today, by in large, the public is disappointed," Ghani said.
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