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U.S. secures Afghan supply route
By Roman Kozhevnikov
DUSHANBE (Reuters) – Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will allow the transit by land of non-military NATO cargo to Afghanistan, a U.S. commander said on Friday, as Washington seeks alternative supply routes for its troops there.
Kyrgyz parliament OKs closing air base that's crucial to U.S.
By Tom Lasseter | McClatchy Newspapers
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The Kyrgyz parliament voted Thursday to force the U.S. military to abandon its air base here — part of what many say is a Kremlin-backed initiative — posing a severe setback to American efforts in Afghanistan.
Up to 20 nations offer to boost Afghan commitments: US
KRAKOW, Poland, Feb 20, 2009 (AFP) – Up to 20 nations have offered to boost their civilian or military commitments to Afghanistan and more are likely to do so soon, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.
Holbrooke Says Pakistan, Afghan Ministers to Hold Talks in U.S.
Viola Gienger – Thu Feb 19, 12:17 am ET
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said the Afghan and Pakistani foreign ministers will visit Washington next week to discuss a regional policy review and a peace accord with Taliban militants allowing Islamic law in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.
Afghanistan: Rights group criticises US for 'unlawful detentions'
Bagram Air Base
Kabul, 20 Feb. (AKI) - As the United States revealed plans for a 60 million dollar expansion of its prison at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan's northeast, it faced renewed criticism from rights group Amnesty International about what it called "unlawful detentions". The US is reported to have imprisoned at least 600 suspected enemy combatants at Bagram.
Kabul eyes control on aid, security in U.S. review
Thu Feb 19, 12:30 pm ET
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan will seek to take the lead in the war against Taliban insurgents and control foreign aid when its team goes to Washington to present its input for a U.S. regional security review, an official said on Thursday.
US: Pakistan-style truce in Afghanistan acceptable
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer
KRAKOW, Poland – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that Washington could accept a political agreement between the Afghan government and Taliban rebels along the lines of a truce in neighboring Pakistan.
US voices 'concern' over Pakistan deal with Taliban
by Dan De Luce – Fri Feb 20, 2:32 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States expressed concern to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari that a deal allowing Sharia law in the volatile Swat valley amounted to a possible capitulation to Taliban militants.
Four killed in new Afghan attacks: officials
Thu Feb 19, 7:21 am ET
KHOST, Afghanistan (AFP) – Three guards hired by NATO security forces were shot dead Thursday and the vehicle of an Indian road construction company was bombed, killing an Afghan worker, officials said.
AFGHANISTAN: SOME IN KABUL SAY WHAT’S NEEDED IS A POLITICAL & ECONOMIC SURGE, NOT NECESSARILY MORE FOREIGN TROOPS
Aunohita Mojumdar EurasiaNet - Thu Feb 19, 3:10 pm ET
The US plan to carry out a troop surge in Afghanistan is proving a deeply divisive issue inside the country. While most Afghans are supportive of any move that could end the Taliban insurgency, many already view the presence
Iran, Afghanistan to boost trade
By Heidi Vogt And Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writers – Thu Feb 19, 12:03 pm ET
KABUL – Iran's vice president offered increased trade and investment to Afghanistan on Thursday, saying Iranian businessmen are ready to pour funds into railroads, agriculture and infrastructure projects.
U.S. patrol finds anger and distrust in Afghanistan
By Jonathan S. Landay, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Thu Feb 19, 3:55 pm ET
BARAKI BARAK, Afghanistan — Five miles from the muddy bazaar where smiling merchants offered tea to U.S. Army Col. David Haight and insisted that outsiders were making all the trouble, a deadly reception had been prepared for his five-vehicle patrol.
The Afghan opium crop: buy it or legalise it?
Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent The Times Online February 20, 2009
For Western governments exasperated by their failure to curb the Afghan drugs trade there are two tempting solutions gaining credence in some circles: buy it or legalise it.
Canada to focus on protecting Kandahar city
GRAEME SMITH From Friday's Globe and Mail February 20, 2009 at 12:16 AM EST
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The coming influx of American troops will allow Canada to focus on protecting the gateways to Kandahar city, a new senior commander says, leaving U.S. forces to disrupt the insurgency in the dangerous outlying districts.
President Karzai to Make Final Decision in Two Weeks
Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 19 February 2009
Karzai: in 15 days I will make final decision whether I will continue the job as president or leave the office after May 20, 2009
Afghan and British Soldiers Seize Drugs and Chemicals in the South
Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 19 February 2009
Security forces confiscated and destroyed 1295 kg opium worth $8.5 million
The Taliban get their first wish
Asia Times Online By Syed Saleem Shahzad February 19, 2009
KARACHI - Many Muslims believe that ancient Khorasan - which covers parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan - is the promised land from where they will secure the first victory in the end-of-time battle in which the final round, according to their beliefs, will be fought in Bilad-i-Sham (Palestine-Lebanon-Syria).
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U.S. secures Afghan supply route
By Roman Kozhevnikov
DUSHANBE (Reuters) – Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will allow the transit by land of non-military NATO cargo to Afghanistan, a U.S. commander said on Friday, as Washington seeks alternative supply routes for its troops there.
Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek of the U.S. Transportation Command said the United States planned to send 50 to 200 containers a week to Afghanistan through the two countries.
The announcement follows a decision by pro-Moscow Kyrgyzstan to close the only U.S. air base in Central Asia, accusing Washington of refusing to pay more rent for the base.
It sent a formal notice to the U.S. ambassador in the capital Bishkek on Friday, giving U.S. troops 180 days to leave.
Despite the eviction notice, the Pentagon said the United States still believed it could reach a deal with Kyrgyzstan to maintain the Manas base, a key hub for moving personnel and equipment into Afghanistan for U.S. and NATO forces.
"I continue to believe this is not a closed issue but that there remains potential to reopen this with the Kyrgyz and to reach a new agreement," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Krakow, Poland, where NATO defense ministers were meeting.
Kyrgyzstan's decision removes one of the U.S. military's supply routes into Afghanistan as Washington prepares to send more troops to the country to fight a Taliban insurgency that is growing in strength there and in neighboring Pakistan.
The United States and its allies fly troops and supplies from bases in Europe and the Gulf and could increase this traffic to make up for the loss of Manas air base.
NEW COMMITMENTS
With international forces bogged down more than seven years after overthrowing the Taliban, Washington has struggled to persuade allies to provide more soldiers to complement the 17,000 extra troops it is sending to Afghanistan.
Gates said on Friday the Obama administration expected "significant new commitments" from allies on troops or civilian assistance for Afghanistan before an April 3-4 summit.
He said if countries were unable to increase military commitments, contributions to efforts to boost development and governance would be welcome.
"I expect there will be significant new commitments on either the civilian or the military side in connection with the NATO summit," he told a news conference.
Gates said in the two-day meeting in Krakow, 19-20 NATO states had announced new commitments. "I consider that a good start as we begin to look toward the summit."
"I believe we are facing a very tough test in Afghanistan. I have no doubt that we will rise to the occasion," he added.
On Thursday, Gates received only a limited response to a call for allies to do their fair share by sending more forces to provide security for Afghanistan's August 20 presidential poll.
In a separate development, Britain said on Friday it hoped to get formal agreement on a proposal to create a small NATO rapid deployment force to defend mainland Europe and free up troops for Afghan duty at the NATO summit in April.
British Defense Secretary John Hutton presented the proposal at the NATO meeting in Krakow, saying it was aimed at reassuring NATO's East European members and encouraging NATO states to commit more forces to Afghanistan.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Washington, David Brunnstrom and Gareth Jones in Krakow, Poland, Patrick Lannin in Riga and Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek; Writing by Katie Nguyen; Editing by Jon Boyle)
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Kyrgyz parliament OKs closing air base that's crucial to U.S.
By Tom Lasseter | McClatchy Newspapers
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The Kyrgyz parliament voted Thursday to force the U.S. military to abandon its air base here — part of what many say is a Kremlin-backed initiative — posing a severe setback to American efforts in Afghanistan.
The vote, a resounding 78-1, signaled that Kyrgyzstan's government is ready to follow through on its president's threat to close the Manas Air Base.
Now that the parliament has passed the measure, all that remains is for President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to sign it and his government to issue an eviction notice giving the Americans 180 days to pack up.
Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek and the air base had no comment Thursday. The embassy recently released a statement that said negotiations were ongoing.
Earlier this month, Bakiyev unveiled his plan to shutter the base during a Moscow news conference just after the Russian government pledged more than $2 billion in loans and aid to his Central Asian country. Russian officials have denied any link between the events, but most observers say that it's part of the Kremlin's campaign to reduce U.S. influence in the former Soviet sphere.
One Kyrgyz parliament member seemed to suggest that the small country — with a population of some 5.3 million — would take what it could get.
"Our government has the full right, without explaining anything, to terminate this agreement," said Alisher Sabirov, a deputy with the president's party. "Our friends are not those who are stronger, but those who help us."
More than $1.5 billion of the Russian deal is earmarked for a planned hydroelectric project that Kyrgyz officials hope will not only give them more power at home, but also make them a regional broker.
Communist party leader Iskhak Masaliev remarked to his fellow parliament members that, "I think it's better to build a hydroelectric plant than an air base."
While Moscow appears to have blocked the United States in Kyrgyzstan, it's given a green light for American supplies to transit Russia en route to Afghanistan. Several analysts in Moscow and Washington say that the Kremlin is seeking to balance its concerns about a destabilized Afghanistan — which could mean trouble with its Central Asian neighbors to the south — with a desire to control U.S. moves in the region.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday made the harshest remarks yet by an American official about the Russians' strategy.
"I think that the Russians are trying to have it both ways with respect to Afghanistan in terms of Manas," Gates said in comments carried by wire services. "On one hand, you're making positive noises about working with us in Afghanistan, and on the other hand, you're working against us in terms of that airfield, which is clearly important to us."
The air base, just outside the capital of Bishkek, is an integral part of the supply chain of soldiers and equipment to Afghanistan, something made more urgent by President Barack Obama's plans to increase U.S. forces there by up to 30,000 this year.
Only one parliament deputy spoke up Thursday in favor of keeping the base. Bakyt Beshimov, a senior leader of the Social Democratic Party, said the decision was premature and could make the country more prone to terrorist attacks. No one paid attention.
The vote was largely political theater. Most of the deputies in Kyrgyzstan's parliament are members of the president's party, Ak Jol, or "bright path." They spent the afternoon making speeches haranguing the U.S. military presence and asking Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev, a Bakiyev loyalist, to further explain the damage that the air base had done to the country.
Bakiyev, who came to power during the 2005 U.S.-backed Tulip Revolution, appeared briefly, sitting to the side by himself in front of a large TV screen and flag. He congratulated the parliament for "working very effectively."
Before the session began in earnest, the parliament's vice speaker went through a didactic exchange with the foreign minister to assure the audience that the government wasn't abandoning ties with the United States.
"Will we be turning our backs on democracy?" Cholpon Baekova asked.
Sarbayev answered that "Having democracy in Kyrgyzstan is the result of having a close relationship with the United States." With Thursday's vote, he said, "we are talking about our national interests."
Sarbayev also repeated the litany of complaints, chief among them the 2006 shooting death of a Kyrgyz driver at the base. American military officials said at the time that a soldier had shot the driver because he had a knife in his hand.
Recent comments by U.S. officials indicated that they were hoping Bakiyev's stance was just brinksmanship designed to hike up the rent.
Earlier this month, the U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan told the Associated Press that "I think it's political positioning. . . . We have a standing contract and they're making millions off our presence there."
The spokesman, Col. Greg Julian, pointed to the fact that Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, had just been in Bishkek.
When Petraeus was asked in a January news conference in Bishkek about reports that the government wanted to shut down the air base, he brushed the question aside, saying he'd received high-level assurances that that wasn't the case.
"It could be that there's a little bit of Central Asia negotiating going on here through the press," he said.
If so, most agree, it looks like the negotiations got a lot rougher Thursday.
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Up to 20 nations offer to boost Afghan commitments: US
KRAKOW, Poland, Feb 20, 2009 (AFP) – Up to 20 nations have offered to boost their civilian or military commitments to Afghanistan and more are likely to do so soon, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.
The pledges came as NATO called for a "civilian surge" to match its military efforts to combat a virulent Taliban-led insurgency that threatens to undermine elections in August.
"Over the last couple of days, 19 or 20 countries announced at one point or another in the meetings that they would be increasing their contribution, either on the civilian or the military or the training side," Gates said.
"So I consider that a good start as we begin to look toward the summit" of NATO leaders in early April, he told reporters in Krakow, southern Poland after informal talks between alliance defence ministers.
"I expect that there will be significant new commitments on either the civilian or the military side in connection with the NATO summit," he said, after Washington announced it would deploy 17,000 more troops in Afghanistan.
During the talks, Gates urged the 26-nation military bloc to provide more forces to fight the Taliban, but also to help train police and fight corruption within the Afghan government.
"We are facing a very tough test in Afghanistan," he said.
But he underlined: "If other countries are unable to strengthen their military commitment but they are willing and able to make a contribution on the stability side, on the development, governance side, those contributions would be very welcome."
Gates insisted that President Barack Obama had not yet begun seeking contributions from allies but that he would do so after Washington has completed a major review of its policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Our new president has not yet asked anybody for anything. We are trying to develop through this review what those needs are most likely to be. At that point, before the NATO summit we will be making those requests."
On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer also called for a "civilian surge" to boost reconstruction and help spread democracy.
"It is not only a matter of more forces in Afghanistan, we need an equal civilian surge as well," he said.
Elections in Afghanistan on August 20 will be a test of NATO's efforts to help spread security and democracy, and could even raise troubling questions about the alliance's future direction.
NATO officials have warned that security could be a bigger problem in the coming months. President Hamid Karzai faces a "constitutional crisis" as his mandate runs out in May and his government is accused of rampant corruption.
In an effort to secure more troops, Britain has proposed that NATO set up a permanent military force in eastern Europe to encourage regional allies to send combat troops.
The idea, proposed by Britain to ease concerns in eastern Europe about Russian belligerence since its war with Georgia, would see 3,000 troops drawn from the NATO Response Force, a contingent for use in the world's hotspots.
"I got a positive reception from many around the table on this idea," Scheffer said, adding that US General John Craddock "will now elaborate ideas on the NATO Response Force in conjunction with this solidarity force."
Scheffer said he hoped that the ministers would be able to take decisions on the force when they next meet formally in Brussels in June.
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Holbrooke Says Pakistan, Afghan Ministers to Hold Talks in U.S.
Viola Gienger – Thu Feb 19, 12:17 am ET
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said the Afghan and Pakistani foreign ministers will visit Washington next week to discuss a regional policy review and a peace accord with Taliban militants allowing Islamic law in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.
Holbrooke returned two days ago from his first visit to the region since being appointed by President Barack Obama to coordinate the U.S. response to the terrorist threat emanating from the border region between the two South Asian nations.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and officials formulating U.S. policy in the region and discuss the Swat accord, Holbrooke said.
“We’re troubled and confused in a sense about what happened in Swat because it is not an encouraging trend,” he said last night in an interview on the PBS television show “NewsHour” with Jim Lehrer. “Previous cease-fires have broken down.”
Pakistan’s government reached the accord in Swat, which lies 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Islamabad, in an effort to restore a semblance of order as it faces pressure to crack down on areas the U.S. considers havens for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The deal allows the declaration of Islamic law in exchange for the militants laying down their arms. The agreement renews questions of how committed the Pakistani military and its intelligence service, known as the ISI, are to shutting down such sanctuaries, Holbrooke said in the PBS interview.
‘Hotly Disputed’
“I’ve rarely seen in my years in Washington an issue which is so hotly disputed internally by experts and intelligence officials,’’ Holbrooke said. “We are engaged in very intense discussions with the military leadership of Pakistan and the ISI about this particular issue.’’
The militants who took over the Swat Valley are “very bad people,’’ said Holbrooke, who is the U.S. special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Qureshi’s delegation to Washington next week will include military leaders, he added.
A pro-Taliban party that agreed to the truce held a march in the valley yesterday as it tried to persuade militants to accept the agreement. A Pakistani television journalist was shot dead after covering the march, and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari pledged to bring the assailants to justice, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
Al-Qaeda Extremists
The militants in Swat have the same background as the al- Qaeda extremists responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon and those who attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in November, Holbrooke said.
That common cause can help Pakistan, India and the U.S. find agreement on how to deal with the threat, he said. Pakistan also must turn more of its attention away from its long-standing tensions with India to its border with Afghanistan, he said.
Holbrooke dismissed reports the Obama administration doesn’t support Afghan President Hamid Karzai, saying the two had a “terrific conversation’’ when they spoke by telephone earlier this week for the first time since Obama’s inauguration almost a month ago.
Clinton and Obama both made clear their commitment to Afghanistan when they campaigned against each other for the Democratic presidential nomination, he said.
Obama yesterday authorized 17,000 more U.S. soldiers for the war in Afghanistan to supplement the 38,000 American personnel and 32,000 from North American Treaty Organization members. That announcement is a sign of Obama’s support, Holbrooke said.
“It’s the second-longest military engagement in American history, and no one should expect a quick success,’’ Holbrooke said. “The president made clear our commitment, and I see no reason to question it.’’
To contact the reporter on this story: To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net .
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Afghanistan: Rights group criticises US for 'unlawful detentions'
Bagram Air Base
Kabul, 20 Feb. (AKI) - As the United States revealed plans for a 60 million dollar expansion of its prison at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan's northeast, it faced renewed criticism from rights group Amnesty International about what it called "unlawful detentions". The US is reported to have imprisoned at least 600 suspected enemy combatants at Bagram.
Plans to increase the size of the prison were revealed as Robert Gates, US defence secretary, was preparing to announce changes with respect to its use of Bagram and other facilities, including Guantanamo Bay, on Friday.
Gates and US attorney-general Eric Holder have been carrying out a review to determine the fate of detainees held at the US facilities.
US president Barack Obama has been widely praised for moving to shut down the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, within days of taking office last month.
But with his move to send 17,000 more US troops to Afghanistan to strengthen US operations and counter a resurgent Taliban, the Bagram prison may become even more important in 2009.
Amnesty International is urging President Obama and his administration to discontinue what it calls the "unlawful detention policies" of the Bush administration and ensure that detainees held at Bagram have access to US courts so they may challenge their detentions.
Amnesty released a briefing paper on Thursday entitled, USA: Out of sight, out of mind, out of court? The right of Bagram detainees to judicial review, which the organisation sent to the new US administration.
"Judicial review is a basic safeguard against executive abuse and a protection against arbitrary and secret detention, torture and other ill-treatment and unlawful transfers from one country or government to another," Amnesty's briefing paper said.
"In the absence of judicial oversight, detainees in Bagram, as at Guantanamo, have been subjected to just such abuses. Even children have not been spared."
While the new US administration has committed itself to resolving within a year the cases of the approximately 240 detainees still held in Guantanamo, Amnesty said it had not yet clarified its intentions for US detentions in Afghanistan.
Amnesty said among Bagram's some 600 detainees were Afghan nationals, but also individuals of other nationalities.
"Some have been held for years," it said. "The US authorities must now ensure that all US detentions in Afghanistan comply with international law."
In January, Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia gave the new administration until 20 February, to "refine" the government's legal position with respect to four men who are seeking to challenge their detention at Bagram under habeas corpus, a right that the Supreme Court has confirmed for Guantanamo detainees.
The habeas corpus petitions were filed on behalf of the four detainees who have been held for more than five years in Bagram.
Before leaving office, the Bush administration argued that the detainees could not challenge the lawfulness or conditions of their detention.
Bush visited the Bagram air base in December 2008 to personally thank US troops for their role in fighting terrorism.
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Kabul eyes control on aid, security in U.S. review
Thu Feb 19, 12:30 pm ET
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan will seek to take the lead in the war against Taliban insurgents and control foreign aid when its team goes to Washington to present its input for a U.S. regional security review, an official said on Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who has been in office for nearly a month, has made Afghanistan his top foreign policy priority and on Tuesday ordered the dispatch of 17,000 extra troops which would increase the U.S. force size to 55,000 by the summer.
Pakistan and Afghanistan, both grappling with spiraling insurgency by the Taliban, are expected to discuss the review before their foreign ministers present their input next week in Washington.
"Two key issues will be raised by the Afghan delegation," Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen said.
"In addition to the war against terrorism, a focus on development and reconstruction projects, helping us with good governance and democracy," he said.
"For Afghans to have the leading role in the war by accelerating the strengthening of Afghan National Army and its equipment process."
He said the two issues had long been part of President Hamid Karzai's requests to the previous Bush administration, but lamented that not much attention had been paid to them.
"Since a new page has been opened with America and we have had the opportunity as an ally to raise our points, we are repeating them for we believe they are essential in bringing security," said Baheen.
The Afghan delegation will also push for more U.S. focus on targeting militant bases and sanctuaries across the rugged border region in Pakistan, he added.
Since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban in 2001, Karzai's government has largely relied on foreign aid and Western troops to bankroll its economy and security.
Some charities say hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid have not been spent effectively.
Civilian casualties caused by foreign forces while hunting the militants have reduced support for Karzai's government and the presence of foreign forces.
More control over billions of dollars of foreign aid by the Afghan government will help it win the hearts and minds of people across the country, Baheen said.
(Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
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US: Pakistan-style truce in Afghanistan acceptable
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer
KRAKOW, Poland – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that Washington could accept a political agreement between the Afghan government and Taliban rebels along the lines of a truce in neighboring Pakistan.
Gates' comments contrasted with those of Richard Holbrooke, the new U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who said this week that he was worried that the peace deal was tantamount to surrender by Pakistan.
On Monday, Pakistan announced it would agree to the imposition of Islamic law in the restive Swat valley in the northwest part of the country as part of an agreement aimed at restoring peace after an 18-month military campaign. The pact was spearheaded by a hard-line cleric who is negotiating with the Taliban in the valley to give up their arms.
A reporter from Pakistan's Geo Television brought up the Swat deal and Holbrooke's criticism of it.
The reporter asked whether, if Pakistan succeeds in pacifying militant activity in Swat, the United States would allow Afghans to make a similar type of agreement.
Gates replied: "If there is a reconciliation, if insurgents are willing to put down their arms, if the reconciliation is essentially on the terms being offered by the government then I think we would be very open to that.
"We have said all along that ultimately some sort of political reconciliation has to be part of the long-term solution in Afghanistan," Gates said.
Afghanistan's government has said it wants to persuade Taliban guerrillas who are not "hard-liners" to lay down their arms in return for a political role in the country. But representatives of the Taliban, who have made significant military gains in the last two years and now control vast swathes of countryside, say they will not negotiate while foreign troops remain in Afghanistan.
A similar deal in Swat last year collapsed in a few months and was blamed for giving insurgents time to regroup.
Gates also welcomed the fact that NATO nations have signaled a willingness to provide more troops or other assistance to the war effort in Afghanistan, even though the meeting ended with no firm commitments on either.
"Countries are making new commitments on a fairly steady basis on both the civilian and military sides," he said. "I expect there will be new commitments by the time of the NATO summit (in April)."
The meeting in Krakow came amid intense diplomatic efforts to secure alternate supply routes to Afghanistan, to augment the main logistical lines through Pakistan which have been under increasing rebel attack.
Complicating matters further for the U.S. and for NATO, Kyrgyzstan, the site of a major U.S. air base used to fly troops and supplies to Afghanistan, on Friday ordered U.S. forces to depart within six months.
But Russia and several other Central Asian states have said they would allow NATO to ferry supplies by rail to the borders of Afghanistan, thus easing the supply squeeze faced by the alliance.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said at the defense ministers' meeting that a broader regional approach was needed to help put down the insurgency in Afghanistan. The focus would be on more involvement from Pakistan, but could include Iran one day, he said.
He said the suggestion does not mean that NATO plans to enter into dialogue with Iran immediately but that Tehran could be involved "at a certain stage ... in a regional approach toward Afghanistan."
De Hoop Scheffer said the allies would also continue a policy of gradual reengagement with Russia, after ties between NATO and that country were suspended in the wake of the Russo-Georgian war in August.
After meeting with the defense ministers of Ukraine and Georgia, de Hoop Scheffer also said NATO would stick by its commitment to help Ukraine undertake "comprehensive reforms" in its defense and security structures.
At a summit in Romania last year, NATO leaders decided to offer Ukraine and Georgia a so-called "membership action plan" to prepare them to become members. But faced with opposition from Moscow, NATO has since backed away from establishing a plan for the two nations.
The ministers also agreed to deploy a new anti-piracy flotilla to the Horn of Africa, as a follow-on to a six week mission by a NATO squadron in November and December.
The task force of six frigates and destroyers is to depart next month and will help to patrol the seas off the lawless coast of Somalia, where pirate attacks have skyrocketed in 2008.
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US voices 'concern' over Pakistan deal with Taliban
by Dan De Luce – Fri Feb 20, 2:32 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States expressed concern to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari that a deal allowing Sharia law in the volatile Swat valley amounted to a possible capitulation to Taliban militants.
US envoy Richard Holbrooke told CNN in an interview Thursday afternoon that he had spoken with Zardari by phone just hours earlier and expressed his "concern."
"It is hard to understand this deal in Swat," in the country's northwest, said Holbrooke, who returned this week from a regional tour that included visits to Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
The agreement this week in Pakistan's Malakand area, which includes the Swat valley, has been widely seen as a government concession to Taliban Islamic militants to secure a ceasefire.
"I am concerned, and I know Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton is, and the president is, that this deal, which is portrayed in the press as a truce, does not turn into a surrender," Holbrooke said.
"President Zardari has assured us it is not the case."
The Pakistan president has described the deal as "an interim arrangement," said the US diplomat.
"He does not disagree that people who are running Swat now are murderers, thugs and militants and they pose a danger not only to Pakistan but to the US as well."
Last year, Pakistani forces launched an offensive to recapture the Swat valley from Taliban forces but the area remains restive.
Pakistan has hailed the agreement as the best way to defuse a bloody insurgency in the violence-wracked northwest, but Islamist hardliners have yet to disarm and it has provoked alarm in NATO as well as in neighbouring Afghanistan and India.
Islamists have vowed to put down their guns once Islamic justice is established.
Monday's deal followed talks between ministers in the troubled North West Frontier Province and a local leader, Soofi Mohammad.
The pro-Taliban cleric was jailed in Pakistan for six years after returning from Afghanistan where he led thousands of supporters to fight against US-led forces that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
Along with the Kabul government, Pakistan was sending a high-level delegation to Washington next week -- including its foreign minister and the head of the country's intelligence service -- to join US officials in a strategic review of the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke said.
"And I can assure you, and President Zardari knows this, that this will be the top initial subject of conversation," he said.
Holbrooke, who masterminded a peace deal in the Balkans in 1995, was appointed to shape a new US strategy in South Asia under President Barack Obama.
Washington views extremists in northwest Pakistan as a direct threat to Islamabad, its neighbour Afghanistan, the United States and other powers.
Holbrooke said that prevailing in the war in Afghanistan would require countering insurgents in neighboring Pakistan who operate outside the reach of the Islamabad government.
"We've got to deal with Pakistan. We have to stem the deterioration in the tribal areas," he said.
Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been wracked by violence since becoming a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
On Friday a bomb ripped through a funeral procession for an assassinated local Shiite Muslim leader in a northwest Pakistan town, killing four people and wounding 15, police said.
The explosion took place near a Shiite mosque in Dera Ismail Khan, a town in the North West Frontier Province with a history of sectarian violence, which has been on the rise in Sunni-majority Pakistan.
Asked about the risk of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of extremists, Holbrooke said it was "a legitimate concern."
He said the new US administration had been briefed about the issue by intelligence agencies.
"We have been assured by the American intelligence community that this arsenal is under the control of the Pakistan military. But it's an issue of high concern and it can't be ignored."
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Four killed in new Afghan attacks: officials
Thu Feb 19, 7:21 am ET
KHOST, Afghanistan (AFP) – Three guards hired by NATO security forces were shot dead Thursday and the vehicle of an Indian road construction company was bombed, killing an Afghan worker, officials said.
The attacks in eastern Afghanistan highlighted the weak security in a country struggling to cope with mounting insurgent and criminal violence seven years after the Taliban regime was removed in a US-led invasion.
It was not clear who shot the three men working for NATO security forces in the eastern province of Khost, provincial government spokesman Kuchai Nasiri said.
Similar attacks have been blamed on Taliban insurgents, who mostly target foreign and Afghan security forces and other people they perceive as allied with the government.
In the same province, a bomb blew up under a car of men going to the site of an Indian-funded road construction project Thursday, police official Faiz Mohammad Sahu said.
An Afghan worker was killed and another Afghan and an Indian were wounded, he said.
Also in Khost, a boys' school was torched overnight, provincial education director Sayed Musa Majroh said, blaming the attack on Taliban, who are said to have destroyed scores of schools in this manner.
In the capital Kabul the health ministry announced 10 of its health workers and a child were rescued hours after they were abducted by gunmen as they were leaving clinics after work on Wednesday.
The group -- which included six female nurses and midwives -- was freed hours later and three men arrested, it said in a statement.
There have been dozens of kidnappings in the city, most often by criminal gangs seeking ransom.
The interior ministry announced separately that security forces had also been able to capture on Wednesday a would-be suicide bomber in a vehicle in Kabul packed with 170 kilogrammes (374 pounds) of explosives, gas and fuel.
The man had apparently intended to carry out a suicide attack on foreign forces in the city, it said.
Unrest has mounted in Afghanistan, overshadowing its attempt to rebuild after 30 years of war, despite the efforts of about 70,000 international troops and the Afghan security forces.
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AFGHANISTAN: SOME IN KABUL SAY WHAT’S NEEDED IS A POLITICAL & ECONOMIC SURGE, NOT NECESSARILY MORE FOREIGN TROOPS
Aunohita Mojumdar EurasiaNet - Thu Feb 19, 3:10 pm ET
The US plan to carry out a troop surge in Afghanistan is proving a deeply divisive issue inside the country. While most Afghans are supportive of any move that could end the Taliban insurgency, many already view the presence of foreign troops as a mixed blessing. Some experts suggest that a winning strategy must include drastic revisions in the way foreign forces operate in Afghanistan, along with an intensification of efforts to improve political and economic conditions.
Underscoring existing misgivings is the fact that at about the same time US President Barack Obama confirmed that an additional 17,000 American soldiers would be heading to Afghanistan, the United Nations announced that civilian deaths in 2008 had risen 40 percent over the previous year’s toll. Of 2,118 civilians known to have been killed amid combat operations in 2008, the UN says, 39 percent died due to the actions of Afghan government and coalition forces.
Civilian casualties have long stoked public anger. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has regularly ratcheted up public angst, repeatedly calling for an end to the civilian deaths. On February 4, for example, he said his government and the United States had a difference of opinion over the use of air strikes and described the dispute as a cause of "tensions in our ties," adding the "tension has become severe."
Surprisingly, on February 17, Karzai welcomed Obama’s proposed "surge" and described a new agreement with the American forces to improve coordination and minimize civilian causalities. "The tension the Afghan government had with the US government is now over," Karzai said February 18. "From now on, no foreign troop operations will be uncoordinated with Afghan forces."
Stemming growing public disenchantment -- now at its highest level since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001 -- will depend more on the Afghan government’s ability to contain corruption and deliver basic services than on more fighting, most observers believe.
Aziz Hakimi, a political analyst and the Country Director for Future Generations, a non-governmental organization, is unenthused by the coming surge. "More troops will mean more fighting, more bloodshed. The conflict will be prolonged," he said. Hakimi feels more troops cannot win this war. "It is . . . too late to get the upper hand militarily. What we need is a political surge, not a military surge," he said, referring to his desire for more development aid and accountability in government.
Journalist Najiba Ayubi, managing director of Radio Killid in Kabul, agrees. Noting pros and cons to the US presence, she says Afghanistan has gained a lot in terms of assistance, but adds international troops are operating in an alien culture that they have failed to grasp. At this point, she says, rather than increasing their presence, the international military must accept "a date for withdrawal."
However, another close observer of Afghan politics, Haroun Mir, founder of the Kabul-based Centre for Research and Policy Studies, is eager for more foreign troops. He laments the deteriorating security situation and says the country needs help, quickly, to prevent the Taliban’s return to Kabul.
Of late, the UN has adopted a firmer stance on civilian casualties. At a December press conference, Kai Eide, the UN Secretary General’s new Special Representative to Afghanistan, raised the bar. He called for greater troop restraint and a revision of the bilateral agreement for their deployment, asking for changes in the procedures of house searches, arbitrary detentions and use of air power. "Any expanded military presence has to be accompanied by that change in behavior," he demanded.
Rights watchdogs also see a change in rules of engagement as critical. Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling for a review of the weapons used in combat. Rachel Reid, the Country Representative of HRW in Afghanistan, told EurasiaNet that, "an increase in troops will lead to a surge in violence if the troops are not used differently." There will still be "too much emphasis on protecting the lives of international troops and not enough emphasis on protecting the lives of Afghans," she said.
"Are the costs of civilian casualties too high to justify the military gains? Can they defeat the insurgency while losing so much public support through civilian casualty incidents and unjust detention policies?" she asked.
International observers have repeatedly warned that coalition troops keep too far from their Afghan hosts. Operating in an atmosphere of growing public disenchantment, arriving foreign troops are likely to minimize rather than expand contact with the local population. Foot patrols, even in the capital, which were earlier meant to reassure the public, take place now with the local population kept at a distance as soldiers march through in heavy armor.
The lack of contact will further exacerbate the continuing failures in intelligence gathering. Heavily reliant on local strongmen or ’leaders’ to provide intelligence, the troops have at times found themselves used as a weapon in an ongoing feud between tribes or large families. The frequency of their rotation gives little chance to develop local intelligence, with the UN’s Eide bemoaning the detention of people "who happen to be amongst the UN mission’s closest contacts in the community."
So far, it is unclear what the new agreement between Kabul and Washington will mean for rules of engagement. But armed with inadequate intelligence, hemmed in by growing disenchantment and faced with the growing fighting capacity of anti-government elements, international troops may well find their numbers increased to the detriment of their mission.
Editor's Note: Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian freelance journalist based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for the past 18 years.
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Iran, Afghanistan to boost trade
By Heidi Vogt And Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writers – Thu Feb 19, 12:03 pm ET
KABUL – Iran's vice president offered increased trade and investment to Afghanistan on Thursday, saying Iranian businessmen are ready to pour funds into railroads, agriculture and infrastructure projects.
Parviz Davoudi was visiting Afghanistan with a delegation of government officials and private investors. Davoudi and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed to work to expand trade and business ties between the two countries, the president's office said in a statement.
Afghanistan and its neighbor to the west share close cultural and linguistic ties, and many Afghans took refuge in Iran when fleeing the Taliban regime. Iran, a mostly Shiite Muslim nation, welcomed the overthrow of the largely Sunni Taliban in 2001, but Afghanistan's strong reliance on U.S. forces and money since then has pressured relations between the countries.
"The priority of our foreign policy is strong social, economic, cultural and political relations with our neighbors," Davoudi told reporters after the meeting.
"Insecurity and instability of Afghanistan is our insecurity and instability, progress and development in Afghanistan is our progress and development," he added.
Davoudi said Iranian investors were particularly interested in helping build a railway running from the western Afghan city of Herat into Iran. Karzai welcomed Davoudi's message and pledge to work with Iran to increase economic cooperation, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Afghan government issued a statement welcoming President Barack Obama's decision to send 17,000 more troops to the country as part of a plan to increase U.S. focus on a conflict that has worsened in recent years.
"This decision is important for the country's upcoming elections, and it shows the strong support of the United States for the fight against terrorism and U.S. support of the Afghan government," said a Foreign Ministry statement.
Afghanistan is slated to hold presidential elections in August, and the hope is that additional troops will help provide much-needed security. The statement said the troops should be used to secure the volatile Pakistan border areas, where the Taliban are strong.
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U.S. patrol finds anger and distrust in Afghanistan
By Jonathan S. Landay, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Thu Feb 19, 3:55 pm ET
BARAKI BARAK, Afghanistan — Five miles from the muddy bazaar where smiling merchants offered tea to U.S. Army Col. David Haight and insisted that outsiders were making all the trouble, a deadly reception had been prepared for his five-vehicle patrol.
A U.S. pilot had spotted men burying what turned out to be a bomb by the road where Haight was stopping to ask how he could help poor farmers and jobless youths who were desperate for any kind of work, including setting explosives for the Taliban .
The stocky combat veteran from Fairfax, Va. , wasn't buying what he was hearing about all the troublemakers being outsiders.
"The IED" — improvised explosive device — "that was put on the road down there? The guys are from Baraki Barak," Haight said as he and his men made their way past dingy shops and fruit carts, their fingers rarely straying from the triggers, grimy children gamboling noisily in their wake.
Down the road, U.S. military engineers found and blew up the remote-controlled bomb.
The encounter illustrates the distrust and anger that U.S.-led forces face as the Obama administration tries to stem the Taliban -led insurgency by sending more American troops to Afghanistan and ramping up a strategy to start making good on years of empty U.S. vows to better the lives of ordinary Afghans.
The region where Haight's 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division , from Fort Drum, N.Y. , deployed six weeks ago is shaping up as one of the most crucial proving grounds for the revamped U.S. counterinsurgency strategy.
The 2,700-strong force is headquartered about 40 miles from Kabul , the first major foreign contingent to deploy in Wardak and Logar provinces, a measure of how the Taliban are expanding their presence around the national capital.
Home to more than 860,000 people, the two provinces control the approaches to Kabul from the Taliban's southern bastions. Afghanistan's main national highway — and the key U.S. supply route from Pakistan's port of Karachi — runs up Wardak's border with Logar to Kabul and connects to Bagram, the largest U.S. base in the country.
The guerrillas are no military match for the Americans, but their encroachments are fueling a perception that Kabul is being encircled, which could make joining the guerrillas increasingly appealing to dispirited Afghans who otherwise hate the Taliban's harsh brand of Islamic rule.
"Perception is a reality whether you like it or not," said Haight, who like many of the Afghans he encountered on his patrol earlier this week expects the winter thaw to bring a significant increase in violence as insurgents test the new U.S. troops in the area. Since he and his unit deployed, they've been ambushed several times, but they've suffered no serious casualties.
There was little bloodshed in the two provinces before mid-2007, when the Taliban and allied militants began infiltrating from the south.
They ambushed private trucks, beheaded drivers, attacked Afghan security forces and set up shadow governments. Their crude Islamic courts settle feuds and punish criminals, filling a vacuum created by the corrupt police and dysfunctional local authorities with whom the U.S. soldiers are associated.
"The police are just worthless," fumed Fulat Khan, 20, when Haight said his troops were backing up the local cops. "Anytime there is a fight in the community, the police just laugh and watch it. We need an organization or a number we can call so somebody can come here and help us."
Until the 3rd Brigade Combat Team deployed, there were only 300 U.S. troops to help Afghan forces in Logar, Wardak and three neighboring provinces. Several hundred Turkish and Czech soldiers are restricted to overseeing small-scale aid projects.
Because no major American contingent was present for so long, U.S. officers have tagged much of the region "the Black Hole," an acknowledgement that they don't know the full extent of the Taliban threat in the area.
The 3rd Brigade Combat Team's most recent five-hour patrol from Baraki Barak to Logar's provincial capital, Pul-e-Alam, drove home just how tough its mission will be.
In addition to working with provincial leaders to jump-start local governance and aid projects, Haight has spent weeks trying to learn the complex tribal and ethnic dynamics of the rugged countryside in roadside chats.
He listened patiently to complaints about foreign troops, and he tried to explain how the stepped-up U.S. presence should allow aid groups to bring in projects that will create jobs.
"What's your motive here?" Bahuddin, 16, who like many Afghans uses only one name, asked Haight as his men on the street and in the turrets of their armored vehicles watched for any signs that cars passing through Baraki Barak carried suicide bombers.
"We want to help with security and make sure the Taliban don't intimidate people at night," replied the colonel, who did three tours in Iraq and is on his second in Afghanistan . "We want to help the local government provide jobs and stability."
Most residents refused to discuss the Taliban , an indication of the insurgents' intimidating presence, and several ridiculed the notion of a working local government.
Instead, they emphasized their economic plight, complained that U.S. convoys force traffic off the roads and voiced fears that the increased American presence will mean more civilian casualties.
"Please do not do any bombing in this area," pleaded Noor Agha, an unemployed engineer. "You need people to support you from the bottom of their hearts. If you put your heart out, they will put their hearts out."
One man in Pul-e-Alam cited incidents that were more rumor than fact, a common problem that's especially frustrating for Haight.
"Look at how we are standing here and talking. You are asking questions. Why don't you do more of that instead of snatch-and-grab operations?" said Samur Gul, a bearded taxi driver, to the approval of onlookers. "Innocent people are being killed."
Gul couldn't say when the last such operation took place.
Syed Hashim , a construction company owner, said he thought that there was still time for the United States to remedy its mistakes of the last seven years.
"When you open a dialogue, things can become smoother. We need face-to-face communications," Hashim said. "This can be a new era."
Reflecting on the patrol back at his base, Haight said he remained confident that the right combination of helping Afghan authorities restore security, improve governance and develop the local economy could drive the Taliban out of the area.
"I can't fix everything. I'm trying to fix the future," he said. "We have to succeed. There is no choice."
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The Afghan opium crop: buy it or legalise it?
Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent The Times Online February 20, 2009
For Western governments exasperated by their failure to curb the Afghan drugs trade there are two tempting solutions gaining credence in some circles: buy it or legalise it.
When the US-led invasion toppled the Taleban Government eight years ago, Afghanistan's opium production was virtually zero because the clerics had largely eradicated poppy cultivation. Last year Afghanistan produced 7,700 tonnes of opium - worth about $2.9 billion (£2 billion) - accounting for 90 per cent of the world's illegal supply.
The US alone spends $1 billion a year in Afghanistan on a counter-narcotics strategy that Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to the region, calls “the single most ineffective policy in the history of American foreign policy”. Britain, for its part, spent £2.5 billion last year on military operations against a Taleban insurgency inextricably linked to the drugs trade.
So wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to purchase the entire crop? James Nathan, a former State Department official and now a professor at Auburn University in Alabama, believes so. “Purchasing the whole crop would take it away from the traffickers without cutting more than half the economy out of Afghanistan,” he wrote recently.
He estimated it would cost between $2 billion and $2.5billion a year; a fraction of the $200 billion Afghanistan has cost the US taxpayer so far.
The opium would be stored in the US, and perhaps released for future medical emergencies.
A less radical proposal comes from the International Council on Security and Development (ICSD), a London-based NGO, which wants Afghanistan to produce legal opiate medicine such as codeine and morphine. The ICSD proposes granting international licences to poppy farmers, placing Afghanistan alongside Turkey, India and Australia as a legal opium producer.
However, the plan to purchase the entire crop takes into account only the price of the opium, ignoring the enormous potential cost of running the operation year after year. It also assumes the corrupt Afghan Government is capable of carrying out such an enormous logistical task.
Another risk is that taking most of the crop off the international market would drive up the price of illegal opium.
The legalisation proposal is criticised for overestimating demand for opiate medicines, and being too complex to have any short-term effect.
Counter-narcotics veterans point out that if wheat prices continue to rise, and raw opium prices continue to fall, many farmers will simply decide it no longer makes financial sense to grow poppies. Buying or legalising opium could undermine the country's best hope: the market.
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Canada to focus on protecting Kandahar city
GRAEME SMITH From Friday's Globe and Mail February 20, 2009 at 12:16 AM EST
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The coming influx of American troops will allow Canada to focus on protecting the gateways to Kandahar city, a new senior commander says, leaving U.S. forces to disrupt the insurgency in the dangerous outlying districts.
“Our turf will be the populated approaches to the city,” said Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, after assuming command of Canadian forces in a ceremony at Kandahar Air Field yesterday.
Previous commanders have proudly declared that Canadian soldiers patrol 50,000 square kilometres, securing Kandahar and beyond to the edges of neighbouring provinces.
But after years of suffering higher casualty rates than other NATO forces in the country, the Canadians appear to be anxiously waiting for U.S. reinforcements, hoping the new arrivals will shoulder the task of aggressive operations in far-flung Taliban strongholds.
“The inflow of American forces will help as we get stronger on the peripheries of the province,” Brig.-Gen. Vance said.
Still, the new commander took pains to emphasize that Canadian troops will not be marginalized. Protecting the swaths of farmland that lead toward Kandahar city has proven difficult in districts such as Zhari and Panjwai, and Brig.-Gen. Vance said his soldiers face a tough year ahead.
“It will be a challenge, it will be contested fiercely,” he said. “I want Canadian soldiers, with our Afghan partners in villages, providing sufficient security at the village level, so we can aim practical activities at rehabilitating those towns.”
The fresh U.S. troops are expected to consist of a full brigade, part of 17,000 extra soldiers announced for the country this week. Unlike other new arrivals in Kandahar, the U.S. brigade probably will not take orders from the Canadian commander; instead, the unit is expected to report directly to the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Regional Command South.
That might involve a change in job description for the Canadian commander or his successors, because the position at the helm of Task Force Kandahar has previously meant leadership of all NATO forces in the province.
“Whether or not commander Task Force Kandahar [becomes] commander of part of Kandahar, that remains to be seen, we'll work through that,” Brig.-Gen. Vance said. “For my rotation, for my nine months, just based on the inflow rates and so on, I think I will be recognized as commander of Task Force Kandahar and that's the entire province.”
He described the U.S. influx as a “leap forward” for the mission. “It is a very positive step for us. I see no threat at all to Canada's pride of accomplishments in the past, and pride of place in the future, as long as we're here.”
Kandahar Governor Tooryalai Wesa said he also looks forward to working with the U.S. forces, and advised them to listen carefully to their Afghan counterparts.
“There has to be strong communication, clear communication about what part of the province they can be used [in].”
Mr. Wesa also cautioned that simply adding foreign troops cannot bring victory.
“If you look back at the history, in the Russian times, nobody could bring more than the Russian troops, like more than 100,000 Russian troops were here,” he said, adding that the Communist regime also produced strong Afghan army and police forces.
“But it didn't work,” Mr. Wesa said. “We have to involve people, we have to go to the people, we have to sit with the people, we have to listen to people.”
With the next fighting season only three months away, the new Canadian commander seemed braced for a struggle.
“We're at a bit of a crossroads here as we prepare the theatre for an inflow of American forces, which will have an immediate and dramatic effect on the insurgency,” Brig.-Gen. Vance said. “I believe this year will be one where we are all trying harder, including the insurgency.”
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President Karzai to Make Final Decision in Two Weeks
Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 19 February 2009
Karzai: in 15 days I will make final decision whether I will continue the job as president or leave the office after May 20, 2009
President Karzai will determine in 15 days, whether he will stay in office after May 20, 2009.
In a meeting with people in Laghman province, President Karzai said that in 15 days he will make his final decision about whether he will continue his job as president or leave the office considering the security issues and Afghan national interest.
Despite the Article 61 of Afghan constitution, which implicates the president leaving the office in May, president Karzai wants to decide whether or not to keep his position.
Due to a telephone conversation with US president Barack Obama about the upcoming election he gave this statement.
President Karzai met the bereaved families of the recent international troops in Laghman.
According to President Karzai, international troops will cooperate with Afghan troops to decrease the number of civilian casualties.
Two days ago 13 civilians including insurgents were killed in a recent air strike of coalition troops in Gozora district of Herat.
Among the dead, there were six women and two children.
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Afghan and British Soldiers Seize Drugs and Chemicals in the South
Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 19 February 2009
Security forces confiscated and destroyed 1295 kg opium worth $8.5 million
The Afghan and British soldiers seized drugs along with some chemicals which are used for bomb building in a joint operation in Helmand province.
About 700 British and Afghan soldiers had participated in the operation.
Helmand is one of the largest drug producing provinces in Afghanistan.
The security forces confiscated and destroyed 1295 kg opium worth $8.5 million during the operation.
An Afghan officer said: "We got 450 kg opium, which was a good success.Although we were not in search of goods, but we also got some weapons during our operation."
A British high official said: "Drugs is a big problem in Afghanistan and for Britain. The entire heroin comes to Britain from Afghanistan, and causes miseries all over the world. It also financially supports terrorism, especially the Taliban and Al-Qaeda."
He added: "This was a big success. I mean that our commando forces started their war against the Taliban and seized a large amount of weapons and chemicals."
According to the British authority, more than 60 percent of the Afghan police in Helmand are drug-addicted; it has raised concerns for the British authorities.
But the ministry of Interior Affairs said only two to three percent of Helmand police are consuming drugs.
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The Taliban get their first wish
Asia Times Online By Syed Saleem Shahzad February 19, 2009
KARACHI - Many Muslims believe that ancient Khorasan - which covers parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan - is the promised land from where they will secure the first victory in the end-of-time battle in which the final round, according to their beliefs, will be fought in Bilad-i-Sham (Palestine-Lebanon-Syria).
The geographical borders of Bilad-i-Sham-Khorasan extend from Samarkand in Uzbekistan to the small Malakand division in the northern fringe of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) that includes the militant-dominated Swat Valley.
On Monday, at a time when United States Central Command chief General David Petraeus was trying to set up a supply route for troops in Afghanistan through Uzbekistan, in this extreme corner of the promised land of Khorasan - Malakand division - militants had every reason to celebrate.
Asif Ali Zardari, the strongly American-backed Pakistani president, and the provincial government of NWFP gave in to the demands of militants and announced a ceasefire, lifted a two-year-old curfew and announced the implementation of Islamic sharia law.
"All un-Islamic laws in the Malakand division of Swat, which is geographically one third of the whole [NWFP] province, have been abolished," the chief minister of NWFP, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, told the media after reaching an agreement with the Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi, which is headed by Sufi Mohammad, the symbol of the sharia movement in Malakand division. The Islamic judicial system will be enforced by Islamic judges - qazi.
The accord is a significant victory for the Pakistan Taliban and could end two years of strife in the region which has seen militants pitted against Pakistani security forces.
The peace agreement will be complemented by a compensation package for the families of those killed and injured in the military operations. "[Families] of those who were killed will get 300,000 rupees [US$3,760] and those who were wounded will get 100,000 rupees," Hoti said. "The entire deal, Islamic laws and other packages related to the deal were completely approved by the president of Pakistan," he said.
"We have established a task force which will monitor the implementation of Islamic law, but enforcement will be bound by peace and the writ of the state," said Hoti. "The security forces now [after the signing of the agreement] will be in reactive rather than proactive mode. They will only retaliate if somebody tries to challenge the writ of the state," Hoti said.
The army's Inter-Services Public Relations confirmed that the curfew has been lifted, after two years, in Swat Valley. Militants have also announced a ceasefire for 10 days which is likely to extend for an indefinite period.
The developments in Malakand division coincide with the arrival in Afghanistan of close to 3,000 American soldiers as part of an extra 30,000 to boost the already 30,000 US troops in the country. The new contingent will be deployed in Logar province to secure violent provinces near the capital Kabul. Petraeus must now be thinking of how many more troops he will need to confront the additional Taliban fighters that will come from Malakand.
Taliban's victory: A curtain raiser to the spring battle
A key factor in the Taliban's revival after being driven from power by US-led forces in 2001 was that from 2004 they established a strong network in Pakistan that was coordinated by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.
A focal point of this was the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, which was stormed in July 2007 by Pakistani security forces to clear it of militants. The network extended into the Swat Valley, streamed into Bajaur Agency and Mohmand Agency from where militants fed the Afghan insurgency in Kunar and Nooristan provinces.
Other flows of militants into South Waziristan and North Waziristan, Kurram Agency and Khyber Agency respectively fed the Afghan insurgency in the provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Khost and Nangarhar provinces.
By this time, Western intelligence had realized that these developments in Pakistan were a major factor behind the "fireworks" in Afghanistan, and Islamabad was told as much. The Pakistanis were also warned that the militants could also launch a revolution in Pakistan. This was a major turning point in the "war on terror" in the South Asian theater.
For the first time, Islamabad felt a chill up its spine and viewed the situation from a different perspective - not as an American war in which its participation was drawn out of compulsion, but as a war necessary to maintain the status quo of its own system. This system was a blend of the country's deep relationship with the US and the perpetuation of the military oligarchy, combined with a particular brand of Islam that could co-exist with this setup.
The attack on the Lal Masjid was the first shot fired in this battle, and its reverberations soon spread to the Swat Valley, South Waziristan and then Bajaur Agency, in effect turning the whole of NWFP into a war theater. A series of military operations in the tribal areas drove the militants from stand-alone sanctuaries into population centers.
In Malakand, which includes the Swat area, the militants are a part of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Taliban and the vanguard of the Taliban's cause in the region against Western occupation forces in Afghanistan and their ally - Pakistan. They have established their own writ with a parallel system that includes courts, police and even a electric power-distribution network and road construction, and all this is now official in the eyes of Islamabad.
All intelligence indicated that further concentration on military operations in Swat could lead to an expansion of the war theater into Pakistan's non-Pashtun cities, such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The security forces were already stretched and even faced rebellions.
These combined factors culminated in Monday's peace agreement, which is a major defeat for Washington as well as Pakistan, and it could also lead to a major setback for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Afghanistan come spring when hordes of better-trained fighters from Swat pour into Afghanistan.
The Taliban defeat American interests
To tame the militancy, Washington and London devised a plan in 2007, one aspect of which was for the military to take on the militants. At the same time, Pakistan was to move from a military dictatorship under president general Pervez Musharraf to a political government.
This happened in the beginning of last year with the formation of a democratically elected coalition government of secular and liberal parties involving among others the Pakistan People's Party, the Muttehida Quami Movement, the Pashtun sub-nationalist Awami National Party (ANP), the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam and the Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid-i-Azam. It was envisaged that these parties would fully back the US's "war on terror".
Earlier, Washington had brokered a deal between former premier Benazir Bhutto and Musharraf, who was also chief of army staff, under which a National Reconciliation Ordinance was enacted to have all corruption cases against Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari dropped. Under this arrangement, later, NWFP was handed over to the ANP, recognized as the most genuine secular political party.
The militants were onto the game. The first shot was the assassination of Bhutto by al-Qaeda in December 2007, which practically turned the whole American plan on its head and created a situation in which Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, an anti-Musharraf party, secured an unprecedented number of seats in parliament, leaving no option but for Musharraf, the most important American ally, to resign. But in time, the secular and liberal political parties in the capital became hostage to the militants.
Another setback for the pro-American forces was the brazen militant attack late last year on Asfandyar Wali, the leader of the ANP, at his home about 20 kilometers from the NWFP capital, Peshawar. He then fled first to Islamabad and later to Europe. Asfandyar had been groomed by the US through many visits to the US.
Asfandyar's departure resulted in half the leadership of the ANP, including the head of their foreign relations committee, Dr Himayun Khan, resigning. Their departure was hastened by dire threats from the Taliban. It was only a matter of time before the ANP's influence in NWFP was severely eroded.
Ironically, the ANP, which sided with the Soviets against the Islamic Afghan resistance in the 1980s and put up fierce resistance to the enactment of Islamic laws in the country, has now become the main engine for the enforcement of sharia in NWFP where it technically rules.
On Tuesday, while Asfandyar has chosen to remain silent, his nephew and the chief minister of the province, Hoti, warned the federal government that any obstruction of the deal with the militants would be unacceptable.
Meanwhile, all schools in Swat, including girls' schools, were opened on Tuesday and thousands of people flocked to a cricket stadium to greet Sufi Mohammad, who will soon travel to Matta, a sub-district of Swat, to visit his son-in-law Mullah Fazlullah to try to persuade him to end the insurgency. For the first time in many months, all members of the provincial and federal parliament will visit the Swat Valley.
Pakistan's failure: How it tackled the militancy
During Musharraf's eight years in power, Pakistan was on board with both the US and Saudi Arabia over the "war on terror". This ensured that Pakistan received a steady supply of all sorts of resources, including deferment on oil payments from Saudi Arabia and special aid packages when Pakistan was badly hit by an earthquake in 2005. Washington mostly looked after Pakistan's military aid packages and reimbursement of expenses incurred in the "war on terror".
A few steps taken by Zardari, however, crumbled the setup like a house of cards. Immediately after taking over as president last September, in a very high-handed manner, Pakistan withdrew the hunting privileges of two Saudi princes located in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Punjab. To add salt to the wound, the facility was given to a rival sheikh from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The action was taken at a time when Pakistan badly needed Saudi oil on deferred terms due to soaring prices, and the UAE was in no position to fill the gap. Islamabad now enjoys very good relations with the UAE - which is unable to help Pakistan - due to the family friendship between the Bhutto family and the UAE's rulers. But Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia and its two major allies - Qatar and Bahrain - are at an all-time low because of the insult to the Saudi royal family. (The issue of Zardari's Shi'ite background is a secondary factor.)
Asia Times Online has learned that the newly installed US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, was impressed in recent talks with the government to learn that chief of army staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani works fully in coordination with the political government and does not intervene in its affairs. The Swat operation is an example: the military immediately stopped action when the government announced the peace deal with the militants. All the same, the Pentagon will be waiting to receive Kiani in Washington soon to discuss why the Pakistan army failed in Swat.
However, Holbrooke was apparently concerned when he interacted with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani and members of the cabinet. Gillani expressed his fears that the poor economic situation in Pakistan could hamper its efforts in the "war on terror".
Holbrooke is said to have asked the premier how much money he would need to revive the economy. "As much as we can get," the premier replied, without giving specifics.
The dynamics of the region have changed once again. Nizam-i-Adal Regulation 2009, which proclaims the enforcement of sharia law in Malakand division, is indeed a written document of Pakistan's defeat in the American-inspired war in NWFP.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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