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Car bomb in Kabul kills 6 Italians, 10 Afghans
By Amir Shah And Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writers
KABUL – A suicide car bomber killed six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians Thursday in the heavily guarded capital of Kabul — a grim reminder of the Taliban's reach amid political uncertainty in Afghanistan.
Karzai condemns suicide attack in Afghan capital
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- President Hamid Karzai described the deadly suicide attack in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Thursday as a coward terrorist attack and strongly condemned it, a press release issued by his office said.
Karzai criticizes western media for "biased" reports on election
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Thursday criticized western media for what he described biased propaganda on the election.
Afghan minister: Western countries want to change election result on their own
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan Minister for Information and Culture Abdul Karim Khuram has accused western countries of attempting to change the result of presidential election at their own will, a local newspaper reported Thursday.
Karzai's top rival says Afghan election marred by massive fraud, rejects "coalition government"
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main challenger Abdullah Abdullah Thursday once again repeated his reservation over the alleged fraud in the presidential election held on Aug. 20.
President Karzai claims victory as EU demands inquiry into vote fraud
Times of London Jerome Starkey in Kabul 17 Sept 2009
The first full count of votes in Afghanistan's increasingly bitter election gave President Karzai the outright majority required to secure him another term as fresh allegations were made that the poll was widely rigged.
As many as a third of Karzai's votes are suspect, EU says
Fraud suspicions may force election to a runoff
Globe and Mail Gloria Galloway 17 Sept 2009
Kandahar, Afghanistan - The final ballot cast in last month's Afghan presidential election has been counted, but disputes arising from the fraud-ridden vote will continue on into the months ahead.
Italy vows to stay the course in Afghanistan
AP via Yahoo! News - Sep 17 7:09 AM
ROME – Italy said Thursday that its troops will remain in Afghanistan, despite suffering its deadliest attack to date in the country, a suicide car bombing that killed six soldiers and wounded four.
China airs respect for Afghan people's election choice
BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday voiced its respect for Afghan people's choice in the presidential election.
U.S. needs integrated approach to Afghanistan, Senate panel told
(CNN) -- An integrated U.S. approach to Afghanistan is needed before President Obama decides whether to send more troops there, lawmakers and witnesses said Thursday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
Biden: 'Premature' to say if more troops needed in Afghanistan
September 17, 2009
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- It's too early to say whether more troops are needed for Afghanistan, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday, days after the top U.S. military officer said more forces are probably
US Lawmaker Urges Creation of Bipartisan Panel to Support Afghanistan Policy
By Dan Robinson VOA News Capitol Hill 17 September 2009
Pointing to what he calls eroding public support for the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, a key Republican lawmaker is urging President Barack Obama to again lay out clearly for Americans what he believes
Why the US is afraid of 'Afghanization'
Asia Times By M K Bhadrakumar 09/16/2009
The war in Afghanistan has not been lost yet, although a great deal has gone wrong. Fortunately, a turning point has come, as a new political dispensation is struggling to be born in Kabul.
The Afghanistan Problem: Why Are We in Helmand?
By Joe Klein time.com Thursday, Sep. 17, 2009
The U.S. military does not move in mysterious ways. It plods, it plans, it plots out every logistical detail before launching an initiative. Things take time. For example: not all of the 21,000 additional forces that President Obama
Three options to tackle Afghan disarray, but no one seems able to decide
Times of London Tom Coghlan: Analysis 17 Sept 2009
Where do we go from here? In London and Washington there appears to be no consensus on the solution to the now discredited Afghan elections.
Taliban 'kill' Mehsud relatives
Thursday, 17 September 2009 BBC News
Militants in Pakistan have been accused of killing two relatives of top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who died last month in a US missile strike.
Overstretched health services in Kandahar Province
KANDAHAR, 17 September 2009 (IRIN) - As the van passed along the bumpy road, groans could be heard coming from the three wounded passengers, but once on asphalt near Kandahar city, southern Afghanistan,
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Car bomb in Kabul kills 6 Italians, 10 Afghans
By Amir Shah And Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writers
KABUL – A suicide car bomber killed six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians Thursday in the heavily guarded capital of Kabul — a grim reminder of the Taliban's reach amid political uncertainty in Afghanistan.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack for the Italian contingent in the country.
Violence has increased since the U.S. sent thousands more troops to push back the resurgent Taliban and bolster security for last month's still-unresolved presidential election. The Taliban made good on threats to disturb the vote, and militant attacks have risen not just in the group's southern heartland but also in the north and in Kabul and surrounding areas.
The bomber rammed his explosives-filled car into two Italian military vehicles in a convoy about midday. Four Italian soldiers were also wounded, said Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa. The Afghan Interior Ministry said an additional 55 civilians were injured.
The explosion shattered windows in buildings about half a mile (a kilometer) away and shook offices and homes throughout the central Afghan neighborhood that houses embassies and military bases.
Charred vehicles littered the road just off a main traffic circle that leads to the airport. An Associated Press reporter saw six vehicles burned, including an Italian Humvee, and two bodies covered with plastic sheets.
Shopkeeper Feraudin Ansari said he felt the blast in his store about 50 yards (meters) away. Windows were broken in all the shops on the street. He said he was angry at NATO forces for being in the downtown area.
"Why are you patrolling inside the city? There is no al-Qaida, no Taliban here," said Ansari, 25. "My shop is destroyed, and my head hurts from the blast."
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly condemned the bombing and said that the attack "reinforces the need for the U.S. and allies, in partnership with the people of Afghanistan, to continue our critical work."
Elsewhere, a NATO service member died from a bomb strike in the south Wednesday, NATO forces said.
In addition to violence, Afghanistan is mired in debates about the legitimacy of the fraud-tainted presidential balloting, whose uncertain result threatens to undermine the government's authority.
In his first public comments on the disputed election, President Hamid Karzai defended its integrity, saying Thursday he had seen only limited proof of fraud. Full preliminary results showed him with 54.6 percent of the vote, well ahead of leading challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. But recounts and fraud investigations could drive Karzai's total below 50 percent, forcing him into a runoff.
Acknowledging fraud, Karzai said "there were some government officials who were partial toward me," but he alleged that others had manipulated results to favor Abdullah.
"I believe firmly in the integrity of the election, in the integrity of the Afghan people and in the integrity of the government in that process," Karzai said.
On Wednesday, European election monitors said about a quarter of the 5.6 million votes cast Aug. 20 should have been set aside pending an investigation.
A U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, which is the final judge of the count, has ordered a recount of about 10 percent of polling stations countrywide because of suspect results. The complaints panel has thrown out results from 83 polling stations because of "clear and compelling" evidence of fraud.
Karzai, who spoke at his palace a few miles (kilometers) away from the blast site shortly before the explosion, said he had seen concrete evidence that 1,200 ballots were faked.
Abdullah alleged "state-engineered fraud," and he urged Afghan and foreign officials to oppose the "corruption and malpractice" that he says marked the election.
"This is the wrong way forward for the future of this country," he said. "The champions out of this will be the Taliban."
Abdullah ruled out joining a coalition government, but said an "interim solution" — possibly a caretaker administration — would be needed if the ballot investigations drag on. Final results are unlikely for weeks.
The increased fighting and complaints about the election have raised questions abroad about whether the Afghan war is worth the cost in lives and financial support. Officials have said the war just needs to be refocused.
International forces are trying to refocus their tactics on protecting civilians rather than routing the Taliban. But that approach already derailed this month when a German-ordered airstrike on two hijacked fuel tankers killed civilians who had swarmed the vehicles to siphon fuel.
An Afghan commission investigating the incident gave its report Thursday to Karzai, saying 30 civilians and 69 militants were killed in the strike in northern Kunduz province. NATO said civilians died but has not said how many.
The German commander has said he ordered the bombing because he feared the hijacked trucks would be used for suicide bombings.
Karzai said that while Germany remained a "great friend" of Afghanistan, the strike was a mistake.
"The operation was wrong. It should not have been conducted. It could have been done through other means," he said.
The Kabul attack was the fourth major strike in the capital in five weeks. A car bomb exploded near the military airport Sept. 8 in an attack on a NATO convoy that killed three civilians. The Taliban also claimed responsibility.
On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry took a public walk around a Kabul neighborhood, saying international officials need to spend less time behind blast walls and more time interacting with the people.
The commanding officer of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has called for the military to be more engaged with the Afghan people to better protect them from the Taliban, and hopefully win their trust.
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Associated Press writer Desmond Butler contributed to this report from Washington.
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Karzai condemns suicide attack in Afghan capital
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- President Hamid Karzai described the deadly suicide attack in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Thursday as a coward terrorist attack and strongly condemned it, a press release issued by his office said.
"The coward act of terrorist is against Islam and humanity. The terrorists by carrying out such heinous crime once again proved their enmity with the people of Afghanistan," the press release added.
The suicide attack left 16 people dead including six Italian soldiers and over 50 others wounded, according to officials.
In addition to expressing sympathy and condolences with the families of the victims, Afghan president noted that terrorists by committing such crimes will not stop Afghans from moving towards progress.
Taliban militants as part of their tactics have resorted to suicide and roadside bombing which often claim civilian lives.
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Karzai criticizes western media for "biased" reports on election
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Thursday criticized western media for what he described biased propaganda on the election.
"Unfortunately, immediately after election, our election came under attack of western media and section of western media questioned the credibility of the election," Karzai told a news conference after announcing preliminary result of the Aug. 20 polls.
Karzai thanked the people of Afghanistan for using their franchise and described it a successful experience calling on the international community to respect the will of people.
"We are hopeful that our foreign friends respect the will and votes of the people of Afghanistan. Let the Independent Election commission and the Electoral Complaint Commission do their job and announce the final result," Karzai stressed.
Meantime, the sitting President denied vast fraud had taken place in the elections as saying "Media has reported major fraud. It wasn't that big. If there was fraud, it was small -- it happens all over the world."
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the preliminary result of the second presidential election on Wednesday in which Karzai has secured 54.6 percent of over 5.6 million votes and poised for final victory to assume office for the second term.
The announcement took place just hours after European Observation team announced that validity of 1.5 million votes mostly in Karzai's favour are doubtful, but Karzai's campaign office termed it as irresponsible.
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Afghan minister: Western countries want to change election result on their own
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan Minister for Information and Culture Abdul Karim Khuram has accused western countries of attempting to change the result of presidential election at their own will, a local newspaper reported Thursday.
"Today U.S. and western countries are trying to find place for their citizens in Afghanistan under different excuse and in this regard the government and the Independent Election Commission are under pressure," daily Arman-e-Millie writes in its edition.
The remark, according to the newspaper, has been made while the U.S. and Britain have repeatedly expressed their impartiality in the Afghan presidential election held on Aug. 20.
Dimitra Ioannou, the deputy head of the European Union Observation Mission to Afghanistan (EU-EOM), Wednesday said that some 1.5 million of votes, nearly one quarter of all ballots, cast in the Aug. 20's presidential election are suspicious.
Ioannou told reporters in a press conference that "EU-EOM's own findings confirm that large scale ballots stuffing took place at polling station levels."
The EU official added that among the 1.5 million votes, 1.1 million votes were cast for incumbent Hamid Karzai, 300,000 for his main rival Abdullah as well as some 92,000 for Ramazan Bashardost.
However, President Karzai's campaign office has termed the European Union Observation as "partial, irresponsible and in contradiction with Afghanistan's constitution" and rejected it.
Karzai has secured 54.6 percent of votes in the preliminary full result announced by the election commission Wednesday while his top rival Abdullah Abdullah bagged 27.7 percent.
Final result of the poll is expected to be announced within weeks after examination of over 2,700 complaints by the electoral complaints commission (ECC).
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Karzai's top rival says Afghan election marred by massive fraud, rejects "coalition government"
KABUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main challenger Abdullah Abdullah Thursday once again repeated his reservation over the alleged fraud in the presidential election held on Aug. 20.
"During the campaign period and voting day, there was widespread fraud in favor of Karzai," Abdullah told a press conference in his residence.
Describing the alleged fraud as "state engineered", Abdullah stressed that the election body -Independent Election Commission (IEC) impartiality has been questioned by people.
The former Foreign Minister Abdullah also said that IEC is not an independent body, adding "it has been proved that IEC is involved in malpractice and that is why announcing outcome has been delayed."
Meantime, Abdullah ruled out joining any coalition administration under Karzai, saying he wants change in the system and not continuation of the status quo in the country.
He made this comment just day after preliminary full result of the election being announced, in which Karzai won 54.6 percent of the votes and poised for victory while Abdullah secured 27.8 percent votes.
Earlier the day, Karzai described the election a successful experience for the people of Afghanistan and called on foes and friends at home and abroad to respect the will of people.
The sitting President denied vast fraud had taken place in the elections by saying "media has reported major fraud. It wasn't that big. If there was fraud, it was small and it happens all over the world."
European Union Observation Mission to Afghanistan (EU-EOM) Wednesday said that over 1,5 million of votes cast in election are suspicions, with some 1,1 million for incumbent Karzai and 300,000for Abdullah.
However, Abdullah said that he backs the decision EU-EOM.
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President Karzai claims victory as EU demands inquiry into vote fraud
Times of London Jerome Starkey in Kabul 17 Sept 2009
The first full count of votes in Afghanistan's increasingly bitter election gave President Karzai the outright majority required to secure him another term as fresh allegations were made that the poll was widely rigged.
Only “a miracle” could now stop Mr Karzai from winning, Waheed Omar, a presidential spokesman, said after the Independent Election Commission revealed the preliminary results with 100 per cent of the ballots counted yesterday. This made it almost impossible that any investigation would change the outcome, he added.
The Government also accused European Union officials of unwarranted interference after they claimed that a third of Mr Karzai's vote may be fraudulent.
Rangin Spanta, the Foreign Minister, called the European mission moments after it said that 1.5 million votes, most of them for Mr Karzai, should be investigated. “He said the Government is unhappy with the mission and he said we are interfering,” an EU official told The Times.
The uncertified results confirmed Mr Karzai's lead with 54.6 per cent, well above the 50 per cent needed to avoid a run-off. Abdullah Abdullah, his main rival, was given 27.8 per cent.
Almost four weeks after the August 20 polls, there is growing confusion and wrangling within the top echelons of the IEC. The announcement was postponed for two days and yesterday's press conference was more than two hours late, as commissioners argued over what to say. The IEC claimed that turnout was 38.2 per cent. Anecdotal evidence from observers suggests that it was much lower.
The results will only be certified after the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission completes its inquiry into more than 2,700 allegations of ballot stuffing, police intimidation and phantom polling stations.
A tersely worded statement from the US Embassy in Kabul noted the announcement of the preliminary results, and stressed that the final results would “come after the Independent Electoral Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission carried out investigations of complaints and required audits and recounts, including of the 600 polling stations that have been quarantined”.
Crunching the numbers gave extra significance to the EU's intervention. Dimitra Ioannou, the deputy chief EU observer, said that 1,151,079 ballots cast for Mr Karzai had met the election commission's own criteria for identifying fraud — but she also accused it of abandoning its legal mandate to identify and eliminate fraud.
“When the ballots arrived at the tally centre, instead of being quarantined and investigated, they were included in the good results,” she said.
According to the figures, Mr Karzai claimed 3,093,256 votes, so the EU claims could slash his lead to 46.03 per cent, triggering a second round. The EU said that 296,479 votes for Dr Abdullah were also suspicious.
The Karzai campaign was quick to condemn the EU's findings and accused it of meddling. A government statement said the findings were “partial, irresponsible and in contradiction with Afghanistan's Constitution”.
“The role of national and international monitors is to monitor the election process and refer their findings to the Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission,” it said. “We believe the only way we can have a legitimate result is to allow the legal institutions to complete the process and refrain from interfering in their affairs.”
The EU findings also exposed stark discrepancies within the international community over how many votes are suspect. Ms Ioannou said that more than 5,000 polling stations were implicated by her analysis but Grant Kippen, the head of the complaints commission, said this week that only 2,516 polling stations were suspect.
The EU insisted that it was applying official guidelines, which stipulate that polling stations should be scrutinised where more than 90 per cent of the votes went in favour of one candidate, or where more than 600 people voted at a single station, indicating more than 100 per cent turnout.
The complaints commission — which in theory will have the final say on the result — is investigating only polling stations where more than 95 per cent of the votes were cast for one candidate, and where more than 600 people voted. Even then, if all those votes are rejected, a second round may be triggered as well.
Dr Abdullah's supporters have warned of protests if Mr Karzai wins in the first round, insisting that he could only do it by cheating. “We do not accept these results at all,” said his spokesman, Fazel Sancharaki.
“As long as all suspicious and fraudulent votes are not addressed and the final findings of the ECC are not announced, any results from the IEC are not important. What is important for us is that the results of the investigations are announced first.”
The IEC also announced a breakdown of how many women voted. In Paktika province, where there was only one woman election worker, it claimed that female turnout was 43.3 per cent, or 262,175 women. “A few women might have voted in the city but in the villages not at all. No women voted,” said Sufi Habib Ahmadzai, a tribal elder.
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As many as a third of Karzai's votes are suspect, EU says
Fraud suspicions may force election to a runoff
Globe and Mail Gloria Galloway 17 Sept 2009
Kandahar, Afghanistan - The final ballot cast in last month's Afghan presidential election has been counted, but disputes arising from the fraud-ridden vote will continue on into the months ahead.
Officials with the Independent Election Commission said in Kabul Wednesday evening that President Hamid Karzai had garnered 54.6 per cent of the preliminary total. He needs more than half of votes to be declared the winner.
But a spokesman for Mr. Karzai's top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, said his candidate is not concerned with the results because it will take many more weeks to sort through the mountain of complaints of fraud and ballot rigging.
“It is not very important to us,” said Sayyid Agha Hussain Fazel Sancharaki, adding that Mr. Abdullah is waiting for the commission to determine how many of the votes were legitimate.
Phillippe Morillon, the head of a team of observers from the European Union, says as many as a third of votes cast for Mr. Karzai are suspect and must be checked for fraud.
Mr. Morillon said his team believed 1.5 million votes were suspicious, including 1.1 million cast for Mr. Karzai and 300,000 cast for Mr. Abdullah, a former foreign minister.
If all the votes described by Mr. Morillon as “suspicious” are removed from the preliminary tally, Mr. Karzai would fall just short of the 50 per cent needed to win in a single round, and would instead face a runoff against Mr. Abdullah.
“That is good for us,” Mr. Sancharaki said.
It is unknown when the runoff would take place, but officials said Wednesday that the election commission has already begun to order new ballots.
“Once all of the legitimate ballots are counted and the fraudulent ballots are excluded, we will know if there is a need for a second round,” said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the United Nations.
The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission has already ordered a recount of 10 per cent of polling stations after finding “clear and convincing evidence of fraud.” The recounts will take place in cases where stations had 100-per-cent turnout or where a candidate received more than 95 per cent of the valid votes.
Grant Kippen, the Canadian head of the complaints commission, said his group will resolve the problems as quickly as possible.
“From our perspective,” Mr. Kippen said last night, “our contribution will be investigating and adjudicating on complaints that have been sent to us in as thorough and transparent and timely a manner as possible.”
Still, the process is expected to take several weeks.
The numbers released Wednesday were originally promised on Sept. 3, a delay that Western officials here said is indicative of just how protracted the process has become.
The most serious allegations of fraud have been lodged in southern Afghanistan, where Mr. Karzai enjoys a strong support from his fellow ethnic Pashtuns and where Canadian soldiers are currently based as part of a NATO-led mission to oust the Taliban.
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Italy vows to stay the course in Afghanistan
AP via Yahoo! News - Sep 17 7:09 AM
ROME – Italy said Thursday that its troops will remain in Afghanistan, despite suffering its deadliest attack to date in the country, a suicide car bombing that killed six soldiers and wounded four.
Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said that Thursday's "cowardly" attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, would not deter Italy's commitment.
In a brief address to parliament, La Russa said a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into two military vehicles. He said six of those aboard were killed and four wounded. The lives of the four injured did not appear to be in immediate danger, he said.
La Russa said Italy's conviction remained firm in the face of "villainous and cowardly aggressors who have once again hit in the most vicious way." He said Italy would keep assessing the mission with its international allies.
Italy has about 2,800 soldiers in Afghanistan. Thursday's victims, part of a contingent deployed in Kabul, bring to 20 the number of Italian troops who have died in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Ministry.
Pope Benedict XVI was praying for the victims and expressed his closeness to their relatives, said Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
The U.S. ambassador to Italy expressed his "deepest sympathy" on behalf of President Barack Obama. "Together, we are dedicated to helping the Afghan people as they struggle for freedom, and above all for safety from the barbaric terrorism that we witnessed once again today," Ambassador David H. Thorne said in a statement.
Violence in Afghanistan has soared to record levels — and skepticism over the war has grown with it. More U.S. troops — 51 — died in Afghanistan in August than in any other month since the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001.
Still, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Thursday's attack would not discourage his country.
"It is precisely in these moments of difficulty that we must remain close to the Afghans and not forget that our presence there serves both their and our security," said Frattini.
The attack was the deadliest for the Italian contingent in Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry said. It also was the highest toll suffered by Italian forces since a bombing in Iraq killed 19 personnel in November 2003.
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China airs respect for Afghan people's election choice
BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday voiced its respect for Afghan people's choice in the presidential election.
"We have noticed the preliminary results of the Afghan presidential election. The election was Afghanistan's internal affair. We respect the choice of the Afghan people," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a news briefing.
Jiang's comments came as Afghan incumbent President Hamid Karzai secured 54.6 percent of votes in the preliminary full result announced by the election commission Wednesday.
"As Afghanistan's friend, we sincerely wish the country an early realization of national stability, economic development, peaceful and content life for its people," Jiang said.
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U.S. needs integrated approach to Afghanistan, Senate panel told
(CNN) -- An integrated U.S. approach to Afghanistan is needed before President Obama decides whether to send more troops there, lawmakers and witnesses said Thursday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
"The president is the ... one who will make the final choices from the options he has presented. It is widely hoped that he will produce a coherent operational strategy for the United States' engagement in Afghanistan," said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana.
"Such an integrated strategy has yet to be unveiled, despite the many high- and low-level reviews. And none has been described by the president with the force and conviction necessary to persuade the American people to endorse what will likely be a much longer, albeit necessary, commitment to achieve stability in the region," Lugar added.
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators this week that he wants a "fully resourced counterinsurgency" in Afghanistan, which probably means more troops.
Obama is awaiting a report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to help guide his decision on troop levels.
Those who spoke Thursday discussed the problems of opium production, the need for basic services for civilians, problems with contractors and other topics they feel need to be addressed in addition to the military aspect.
Thursday's hearing was the second in a series of committee meetings titled "Countering the Threat of Failure in Afghanistan."
Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, said Wednesday's speakers had made compelling arguments on how the United States should proceed.
"The prescriptions ranged from dramatically reducing the footprint to expanding our commitment of troops and money to a level that would basically constitute pretty significant nation building," he said at the start of Thursday's hearing.
Clare Lockhart, co-founder of the Institute of State Effectiveness, testified that the establishment of Afghan sovereignty, or strong self-rule, is critical to military success in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, she said, derive their strength primarily from the weakness of Afghan institutions. If the United States and its allies help shore up the government, Afghans would tend not to see the U.S. forces as an occupation, she said.
"I believe we now need a similar articulation of a strategy for governance and development that matches the one the military's put forward in rigor and detail," she added.
"I think we have grounds for optimism. I question the myth of Afghanistan as an inherently corrupt culture full of warlords. There is an Afghan demand for rule of law rooted in their culture."
On the other side of the Capitol, meanwhile, the top Republican in the House of Representatives called on the Obama administration to send McChrystal to testify publicly on Capitol Hill.
"I think it's imperative that the American people and members of Congress hear directly from Gen. McChrystal about the situation on the ground, and we need to hear from him soon," said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the House minority leader. Boehner said the United States "clearly" lacks the troops needed to win in Afghanistan, "and as a result, we've put our soldiers who are there in even greater danger."
Boehner said he hasn't been briefed on McChrystal's report, adding, "No one here has any clue how many more troops are necessary." But he said McChrystal should come before Congress in a forum similar to the one held by Gen. David Petraeus in 2007 to defend the Bush administration's troop buildup in Iraq.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, also has requested that McChrystal appear before Congress, but it was not clear whether his request involved a public forum similar to the 2007 Petraeus hearings.
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Biden: 'Premature' to say if more troops needed in Afghanistan
September 17, 2009
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- It's too early to say whether more troops are needed for Afghanistan, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday, days after the top U.S. military officer said more forces are probably needed in order to effectively fight the insurgency.
"I think that's premature," Biden told CNN's Chris Lawrence in Baghdad while the vice president was on a brief trip there.
"The president made a decision back in March setting clearly what our goal was -- [it] is to defeat al Qaeda in that region -- and made a significant deployment of resources, civilian and military. They're now only getting in place; they're not all fully in place and deployed."
Biden said a reevaluation of resources in Afghanistan should only happen after the result of last month's presidential election in Afghanistan is cleared up. There are widespread allegations of massive fraud in the August 20 vote.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai secured more than 54 percent of the vote, according to the final uncertified results announced Wednesday. But the results won't be certified until investigations of election irregularities are completed. Watch Biden discuss the goal of the mission in Afghanistan »
The Afghan people must feel they have a legitimate government, because "the prospect of success is in direct proportion to the legitimacy of the government," Biden said. "And I still think that is very possible, but it is not done yet."
Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told U.S. senators this week he wants a "fully resourced counterinsurgency" in Afghanistan. The Afghan people are waiting on the sidelines to see how committed the United States is, he said.
"A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces," Mullen said, but how those forces will be composed in terms of combat troops and trainers will be a matter for discussion in the coming weeks.
"I have a sense of urgency about this. I worry a great deal the clock is moving very rapidly," he said.
Biden pointed out there has been no formal request for additional troops in Afghanistan, a decision that can only be made once the election outcome is determined and the present troops are in place.
"There's a lot of discussion going on, there's a lot of hypotheticals being raised by all of us," Biden said. "But as the president said, a decision on resources is not imminent -- additional resources."
Biden spoke to CNN the same day that the United States was announcing it would scrap the controversial missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. He explained the logic of the decision, saying Iran -- a key concern for the United States -- was not an immediate threat.
"I think we are fully capable and secure dealing with any present or future potential Iranian threat," Biden said. The Iranians "have no potential at this moment. They have no capacity to launch a missile at the United States of America."
The concern for the United States and its allies with Iran right now is whether the nation can develop and deploy a nuclear capability, because that could set off a destabilizing arms race in the Middle East, Biden said.
The vice president closed the interview by addressing the controversial remark by former President Jimmy Carter, who said he believes racism is an issue for President Obama in trying to lead the country.
Carter's initial comments came after Rep. Joe Wilson interrupted Obama's speech on health care to a joint session of Congress by shouting that the president was lying.
Biden acknowledged it is an "incredibly controversial issue" but said Obama doesn't see it the way Carter does.
"The president does not believe, nor do I believe, it's racially based," Biden said.
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US Lawmaker Urges Creation of Bipartisan Panel to Support Afghanistan Policy
By Dan Robinson VOA News Capitol Hill 17 September 2009
Pointing to what he calls eroding public support for the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, a key Republican lawmaker is urging President Barack Obama to again lay out clearly for Americans what he believes is at stake there. U.S. lawmakers received a classified briefing on Wednesday from the Obama administration about Afghanistan.
Congressman Frank Wolf was the author of legislation that created the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan panel that issued a report in 2006 assessing U.S. strategy in Iraq.
In a letter to President Obama, he outlines his concern that national confidence in the Afghanistan war effort is fading, although events in Afghanistan show the al-Qaida and Taliban threat has increased.
While he recognizes that President Obama has said repeatedly that failure in Afghanistan would risk U.S. national security, Wolf says the president needs to do more.
"Political and popular will is eroding, which places our commanders and troops on the ground in a perilous position," Wolf said. "Polling indicates, including today's Washington Post, a shift in support by the American people and in recent days key leaders in Congress have publicly raised doubts about the way forward in Afghanistan."
This week, Senator Carl Levin, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed concern about any decision to send additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Levin said the United States and NATO need to do more to increase the numbers and training of Afghan military and police forces.
President Obama said on Wednesday there is no "immediate decision pending" on whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, adding he is determined to get the strategy there right, before making "determinations about resources."
General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is expected to request adding to the 65,000 U.S. troops there now.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen told Congress this week he expects more troops will be required.
"It is very clear to me [that] we will need more resources," the admiral said.
Representative Wolf is calling for the creation of a bipartisan panel composed of nationally-respected figures who would support the strategy being developed by U.S. military commanders, and assess progress and resources needed.
Wolf says such a panel could "reinvigorate" national confidence in the war effort. But he goes further to urge President Obama to speak again to the American people about the stakes in Afghanistan.
"To address the nation and clearly outline several things: Why we are in Afghanistan, what is at stake and what is our plan. The American people have to know all three," he said.
Members of Congress received a classified briefing from Obama administration officials on Wednesday about the situation in Afghanistan.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a Demoract from Missouri described the sessions as an update on the situation in Afghanistan, adding it covered General McChrystal's assessment of what resources will be needed to implement President Obama's strategy.
Congressional Quarterly, a news organization covering the U.S. Congress, quoted an unclassified summary it obtained as listing U.S. objectives in Afghanistan and Pakistan, measures of progress toward achieving them, and stating a U.S. goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al-Qaida in both countries and preventing their return in the future.
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Why the US is afraid of 'Afghanization'
Asia Times By M K Bhadrakumar 09/16/2009
The war in Afghanistan has not been lost yet, although a great deal has gone wrong. Fortunately, a turning point has come, as a new political dispensation is struggling to be born in Kabul.
The weakest link in the United States' Afghan strategy has been its handling of the calculus of power in Kabul. Prima facie, this may appear a matter of cultural mishap. During Zalmay Khalilzad's tenure as the American ambassador in Kabul, he conducted himself as viceroy and Washington made it a point to let it be generally understood that President Hamid Karzai played second fiddle.
However, after Khalilzad's departure in 2005, and as Karzai won his first election as president, he began coming into his own. But then, as the Afghan situation deteriorated in 2006, Washington began casting Karzai as the fall guy responsible for the accumulated failures of the war ranging from the shoddy follow-up on Afghan reconstruction, failure to check poppy cultivation and drug trafficking, widespread corruption and flawed "capacity-building" by Afghan institutions. Allegations against Karzai were carried to an extreme.
So, where is the real Karzai? Who indeed is the real Karzai? How "strong" was he so that he could "fail"? What happens to Karzai now in the aftermath of the tumultuous presidential election? Is toppling Karzai necessarily a part of the US agenda?
From the exhaustive media briefing by the US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly on Tuesday, three things emerged as the broad US approach vis-a-vis the messy fallout of the Afghan election. One, Washington estimates that there is scope for avoiding any standoff ensuing from the Western-dominated Election Complaints Commission (ECC) setting aside the decisions by the Afghan-dominated Independent Election Commission (IEC) in Kabul. Kelly said, "everything we're seeing so far is that the process is working ... it needs to be given a chance to work itself out".
Two, "it's not going to be a matter of days or weeks; it could be a matter of months to sort out all of these allegations [about election fraud]."
Three, most important, it's "absolutely" the case that in the meanwhile, the US considers Karzai as "legitimate". "We work with President Karzai every day," Kelly said.
In sum, Washington may be ready to deal with Karzai as president for another 5-year term. But there will be caveats and until Karzai is duly harnessed, the government formation may have to wait. It could indeed be a matter of months. Meanwhile, a caretaker government continues, while General Stanley McChrystal and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry will be in actual command.
Objectively speaking, any US strategy to salvage the war can only work if its central axis consists in a strong, authoritative government in Kabul. That is, "Afghanization" means putting Karzai and his team in the cockpit. Do not try to dictate who should be his co-pilot or his flight steward, as that will be recipe for confusion. There is no scope for a diarchy as that is alien to Afghan culture. Afghans expect a single, identifiable fountainhead of power. But Washington wants to introduce its nominees into Karzai's cabinet.
At the same time, running the state involves dealing with multiple local power centers. Karzai has displayed an extraordinary capacity for coalition-building, as his tie-ups with Gul Agha Sherzai or Ismail Khan or Rashid Dostum testify.
To put matters in perspective, the former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski recently voiced the fear that unless the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) very quickly transferred responsibility for the war into Afghan hands, the growing risk was that the Taliban will be viewed as a resistance movement and that will indeed be a crushing defeat for the overall US strategy.
To be sure, the most critical aspect of "Afghanization" ought to be that Karzai is allowed a free hand in reaching out to the Taliban. As an Afghan leader, he is best placed to take advantage of the traditional Afghan political realities. He only would know when to micromanage the point of departure for various local accommodations that are called for in response to the compulsions or characteristics of the ethnic and tribal society. He knows it is far from the case that every Taliban formation has entered into a Faustian deal with al-Qaeda.
However, does the US genuinely want Karzai to press ahead with his plan to engage the Taliban within the first 100 days of his new government?
There is sophistry in the current US debates on Afghanistan. Whereas American commentators are fixated on the dialectics involving domestic political compulsions and any need of further American troop deployments in Afghanistan, the narrative needs to be framed in terms of what constitutes the "Afghanistan" of the war.
The bottom line of the Afghan election is that the very sight of Karzai showing signs of "independence" from the US has gone down well in the Afghan bazaar. But this unnerves Washington.
The entire US approach is to make Karzai learn a hard lesson that he is vulnerable, insecure and dependent on them. The central issue, therefore, boils down to whether the US really wants a credible central government in Kabul, which is bound to act independently, lest that undermine Washington's hidden agenda in the war.
Kelly has been distinctly lukewarm about the German-British-French proposal to the United Nations Secretary General for holding an international conference on Afghanistan. A letter from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said "benchmarks and timelines" should be agreed "to formulate a joint framework for our transition phase in Afghanistan to set out expectations of ownership and the clear view to hand over responsibility step-by-step to the Afghans".
Quintessentially, the European leaders called for "Afghanization" within a timeline. Their letter (which was released by Sarkozy's office on Wednesday) suggested that decisions over Afghanistan should not be left solely to the US.
Interestingly, when asked about the letter, Kelly parried that Washington was yet to be seized of its contents. But NATO's new secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen gave away the mood in Washington. He said, "The public discourse has started to go in the wrong direction We must stay in Afghanistan as long as necessary, and we will stay as long as necessary. Let no one think that a run for the exits is an option. It is not."
If Rasmussen is to be believed - and he spoke while actually on a visit to Washington on Wednesday - the NATO's continuance in Afghanistan is an objective in itself. Does that objective assume as much importance as "Afghanization" and a final victory over the Taliban? It seems so.
Washington's priority is that the Taliban are destabilizing Central Asia, the North Caucasus as well as China's Xinjiang province and subverting the eastern regions of Iran. A self-serving security paradigm has developed whereby regional instability is threatened by the war, which, in turn, serves to justify the prolonged, indefinite NATO presence in Afghanistan. Clearly, "Afghanization" doesn't fit into this paradigm.
The US's major NATO allies are beginning to catch up with the paradox, finally, that while the growing risk of the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban becoming a war by foreigners against Afghans must be reduced, "Afghanization" doesn't suit the US objectives.
Old Europeans see no reason why their youth should go and die in the Hindu Kush mountains to subserve the geopolitical agenda regarding NATO expansion. Rasmussen's outburst shows the hour of truth has come.
Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar was a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. His assignments included the Soviet Union, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Turkey.
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The Afghanistan Problem: Why Are We in Helmand?
By Joe Klein time.com Thursday, Sep. 17, 2009
The U.S. military does not move in mysterious ways. It plods, it plans, it plots out every logistical detail before launching an initiative. Things take time. For example: not all of the 21,000 additional forces that President Obama authorized for Afghanistan last winter have even arrived in the country yet. For another example: the battle plan those troops were asked to execute was devised primarily by General David McKiernan, who was replaced about the time the troops started arriving. McKiernan's plan reflected his experience in conventional warfare: he chose to deploy the troops where the bad guys were — largely in Helmand province on the Pakistani border, home of nearly 60% of the world's opium crop, a place that was firmly in Taliban control. But pursuing conventional warfare in Afghanistan is about as effective as using a football in a tennis match. The Army's new counterinsurgency doctrine says you go where the people are concentrated and protect them, then gradually move into the sectors the bad guys control. That is not what we're doing in Afghanistan. In addition to all the other problems we're facing — the corruption of the Karzai government, the election chaos, the porous Pakistani border — it has become apparent that we're pursuing the wrong military strategy in this frustrating war.
Upon his arrival in Afghanistan as McKiernan's replacement last June, General Stanley McChrystal was pretty much presented with a fait accompli: the troops were arriving in Helmand. "The ship was moving in that direction," a military expert told me, "and it would have been difficult to turn it around." Indeed, it would have taken months of planning to change course. The additional troops were needed immediately to blunt the momentum of the Taliban and also to provide security for the Afghan elections. The trouble was, the troops would have been better deployed in Helmand's neighbor to the east — Kandahar province, especially in Kandahar city and its suburbs. "Kandahar is the center of gravity in this insurgency," says John Nagl, a retired lieutenant colonel who helped write the Army's counterinsurgency doctrine. "It is as important now as Fallujah was in Iraq in 2004."
Kandahar is the capital city of Afghanistan's Pashtun majority, home of both the Karzai family and Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban. It is where the Taliban began. It has been run, in a staggeringly corrupt manner, by Hamid Karzai's brother Ahmed Wali Karzai — who, according to U.S. investigators, has extensive links to the opium trade. As the Karzai government has grown more unpopular, the situation in Kandahar has deteriorated. The Taliban own the night, slipping death threats under the doors of those who would cooperate with the government. In Iraq the military's counterinsurgency strategy turned around a similarly bleak urban situation — notably in Baghdad, where U.S. troops helped the Iraqis regain control of neighborhoods by setting up and staffing joint security stations. But the troops who should be securing Kandahar are fighting an elusive enemy in Helmand.
What can be done now? The military will want more troops to paper over its strategic mistake. It will resist any suggestion to leave Helmand and redeploy to Kandahar. "That would be a death sentence for all the people in Helmand who have supported us," a military expert told me. It is a compelling argument but, ultimately, a flawed one; death sentences are being delivered every night in Kandahar. And remember the military's poky timetable: "We are trying to decide now how to redeploy the troops we already have in Afghanistan, the units that provided the security for the elections, for next spring's fighting season," a military planner told me. But even if all the troops sent to secure the election are redirected to Kandahar, there won't be enough.
The Kandahar screwup adds considerable pressure to Obama's decision about whether to double-down on a war he has called crucial to America's national security. The military wants a decision soon, but both the President and the Secretary of Defense are undecided — as they should be. Any decision about Afghanistan has to depend on whether the elections produce a plausible government — that is, one that includes Karzai's rivals, like Abdullah Abdullah and the excellent technocrat Ashraf Ghani, and removes from power allegedly corrupt elements, like Karzai's brother. And even then, the chance of success in Afghanistan is minimal.
An American with long experience in the country told me this story: a member of the Barakzai tribe was recently installed as a district leader in a Pashtun area. He was told to hire his top staff by merit. Instead, he hired only Barakzais — which caused the tribe's leaders to switch sides from the Taliban to the government ... and caused most of the other tribes in the district to switch from the government to the Taliban. Afghanistan, it turns out, befuddles even Afghans. And for foreigners, "victory" there is a handful of smoke.
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Three options to tackle Afghan disarray, but no one seems able to decide
Times of London Tom Coghlan: Analysis 17 Sept 2009
Where do we go from here? In London and Washington there appears to be no consensus on the solution to the now discredited Afghan elections.
Three options are available. The first is to accept the fraudulent result and make the best of a bad situation, hoping that the West can press an enfeebled President Karzai to mend his ways.
Concessions could include the imposition of a more powerful Cabinet and a technocratic “chief executive” minister to address the massive corruption to which he has so far turned a blind eye.
However, Mr Karzai has already mortgaged his future administration to the warlords that he courted before the first round of voting; and there is an obvious moral price to pay for accepting a fraudulent election.
A prerequisite of any successful counter-insurgency campaign is a government that is seen as legitimate by the majority of the people. Many Afghans believe the elections were rigged by Western governments to favour Mr Karzai. Pursuing option No 1 would seem to reinforce their cynicism.
The second option is to force Mr Karzai to accept a second round of voting, with the huge logistical, security and financial strains that go with it. This would impress on Afghans the primacy of the rule of law but it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars — and potentially many lives — with no guarantee that the elections would pass off any more successfully. It would also leave Afghanistan in limbo, possibly into next year if winter snows prevent a second poll quickly.
The third option would be to annul the election and convene some form of grand council that could endorse a national unity government. There are precedents for such a move. In 2002 and 2003 there were loya jirgas — councils of elders and notables — convened in Kabul that decided first the transitional post-Taleban Government and then formulated the new Afghan Constitution.Loya jirgas have the right to change the Constitution and many diplomats argue that the West made a mistake in pushing for an over-mighty centralised State in a country with a history of more devolved local governance.
The problem with a loya jirga for Western governments is that it would open up the Constitution for wholesale revision — allowing, for instance, conservatives to reverse liberal legislation that the West backed.
Some Afghan experts argue that a radical reorganisation of the government offers the best chance of turning a crisis into an opportunity.
One appealing feature of such an idea is the possibility of inviting representatives from all Afghan interest groups, including more moderate elements within the Taleban and other insurgent groups, to the discussions. They were excluded from the original post-2001 settlement and some regard that as the root of many of today's problems.
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Taliban 'kill' Mehsud relatives
Thursday, 17 September 2009 BBC News
Militants in Pakistan have been accused of killing two relatives of top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who died last month in a US missile strike.
The men were seized by the Taliban on suspicion of spying and providing information about the Taliban commander's whereabouts.
The Taliban deny killing the men and said they are investigating.
Meanwhile, at least 10 corpses have been found in the troubled northern district of Swat, officials say.
About 300 bodies of suspected militants have turned up in the Swat valley over the last two months.
Locals say the army are responsible for the deaths. But the military has consistently denied involvement with any extra-judicial killings.
They say many militants were killed during operations in the valley and also point the finger at local tribal militias taking revenge on Taliban militants in the area.
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the bodies were found lying by the river. All of them were shot in the head and chest from close range.
'Signs of torture'
Meanwhile there is continuing disquiet in South Waziristan, where the Taliban are reported to have seized six of Baitullah Mehsud's relatives.
The captives included his father-in-law Ikramuddin and his nephew Iqbal Mehsud.
Two of the captives are reported to have died in the militants' custody. They have been identified as Iqbal Mehsud and a cousin of Baitullah Mehsud called Akram Gul.
Iqbal Mehsud was well-known and considered to be very close to his uncle.
He had acted as Baitullah Mehsud's envoy to the government during negotiations with the Taliban on many occasions.
Iqbal Mehsud had also been involved in negotiating with the government over the release of certain militants.
The Taliban say he has died in custody due to illness. The body has been handed over to his family.
However, other clansmen and officials have told the BBC's Abdul Hai Kakar in Peshawar that Iqbal Mehsud died after being tortured.
They say cuts made by knives are visible all over his body and his nails have been pulled out.
Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law is still being held.
The Taliban say they have set up an an investigative team to inquire into the incident.
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Overstretched health services in Kandahar Province
KANDAHAR, 17 September 2009 (IRIN) - As the van passed along the bumpy road, groans could be heard coming from the three wounded passengers, but once on asphalt near Kandahar city, southern Afghanistan, only one person was still murmuring; the two others (teenagers) had passed away.
The three were injured in an air strike on their village in Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar Province, earlier this month, according to Abdul Aleem, the surviving injured man.
"There is no clinic or doctor in our district so they brought me here," he told IRIN from his bed in a hospital in Kandahar. "I was in terrible pain on the road here."
Next to Aleem's bed is Juma Gol, 13, who said he was wounded in a roadside explosion in Kandahar's Panjwaye District. Gol endured three hours tied to the back of a motorcycle driven by his elder brother until they found a car to take him to the city for treatment.
"When I got wounded I did not feel much pain but I felt terrible pain when I was on the motorcycle," Gol said.
Bringing a patient from rural areas to Kandahar is not only difficult and risky but very expensive. Several patients and their relatives complained about improvised roadside explosions, demands for cash from insurgents and apparently indiscriminate shooting by international forces.
"In an emergency private drivers demand several times more money than usual," said Shir Mohammad, from Maiwand District.
Constant fighting and threats to health workers have forced the closure of at least 11 of the 38 health facilities across the province, the population of which is estimated at over one million, according to provincial health officials.
Women at greatest risk
The absence of health providers in rural areas makes things especially difficult for women who already have limited access to work and education.
Bibi Nanye, an elderly woman from Khakriz District in Kandahar, said: "Many women die during pregnancy and child delivery and from other diseases because men cannot, and do not, take them to hospital in the city."
Her concerns were acknowledged by Abdul Qayum Pokhla, the director of Kandahar's health department. "Women and children suffer more than anyone else from the lack of access to health care."
Afghanistan has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world: 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to UN agencies.
Influx of patients
Rapid population growth and lack of access to health services particularly in insecure rural areas have contributed to an influx of patients to the provincial capital, health officials said.
"We receive patients not only from all over Kandahar but also from [neighbouring] Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces," Daud Farhad, director of Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar city, told IRIN, adding that from March to August 2009 over 67,000 patients had been treated at the hospital.
Established in 1978 initially with 250 beds, the hospital's capacity has now been increased to 354 beds in order to meet increasing demand.
"Sometimes we give one bed to three patients with minor ailments because of space limits," Farhad said.
Lack of medical personnel
The shortage of qualified medical personnel and equipment is also affecting the hospital's response capacity.
"For the 180-bed surgery unit we should have 36 surgeons but currently we only have 18," said Farhad. "Although it's a main regional hospital we don't have equipment such as CT [computerized tomography] and MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] scans."
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) supports Mirwais Hospital with medical supplies, equipment, training and maintenance because it is a major health facility in the volatile south.
"Mirwais regional hospital is admitting more and more children with ailments that could easily be treated locally if only health posts and clinics were functioning. Patients with severe trauma are also on the rise. The number of civilians injured by improvised explosive devices is a cause for alarm," ICRC said in an operational update in July.
Security the key
Provincial health officials say there is an urgent need for the expansion of rural healthcare facilities and the establishment of a new hospital in Kandahar Province.
"We need a new 500-bed hospital in order to be able to respond to growing needs here," said Pokhla.
More qualified health workers are also critically needed in the province, he added.
However, officials concede that everything hinges on one important issue - security. "We can re-open the closed clinics and build new ones if only we had security," Pokhla said.
Taliban insurgents are believed to be present throughout the province, according to a report by the International Council on Security and Development.
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