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Afghanistan denies peace talks with Taliban No. 2
By Peter Graff
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan's government denied a report on Tuesday that it had been holding secret peace talks with the Taliban's number two leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, when he was arrested in Pakistan.
Aide: Karzai 'very angry' at Taliban boss' arrest
By Deb Riechmann And Kathy Gannon, Associated Press Writers – Tue Mar 16, 6:38 am ET
KABUL – The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban's No. 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated President Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai's advisers.
Afghanistan confirms blanket pardon for war crimes
By Peter Graff
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan confirmed for the first time publicly on Tuesday that it had enacted into law a blanket pardon for war crimes and human rights abuse carried out before 2001.
Afghan gov't to send more police to Kandahar
By Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writer
KABUL – Afghanistan's government will provide more than 1,000 police reinforcements to the southern province of Kandahar after Taliban attacks killed dozens of people there ahead of a coming offensive on the insurgent stronghold, an official said Tuesday.
Petraeus warns of tough year ahead on Afghanistan
By Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – The man who oversees U.S. forces in both the Iraq and Afghan wars says the fighting in Afghanistan will "likely get harder before it gets easier" and predicts 2010 will be a difficult year.
Karzai, Obama discuss prospects of Taliban talks
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed prospects of peace with the Taliban in a video phone conversation with President Barack Obama, Karzai's office said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan Plans Bill Trading, Bond Sales, Central Bank Says
By Khalid Qayum and Eltaf Najafizada
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan plans to allow trading in central bank bills and start selling longer-term government bonds in the coming year to diversify funding sources after receiving more than $30 billion of international assistance.
Afghanistan war: How Taliban tactics are evolving
Often portrayed as mindless fanatics, the sophistication of Taliban military tactics in the Afghanistan war have impressed US military officials.
By Roy Gutman McClatchy Newspapers March 15, 2010 at 9:15 am EDT
Kabul, Afghanistan — Although they're often portrayed as mindless fanatics, the militant Islamists' "life experience" from their years in the wilderness, their study of American military tactics and their analysis of the Karzai government's shortcomings have helped reverse their fortunes, U.S. intelligence experts say.
To win the war in Afghanistan, the US military has to beat the Taliban at the propaganda game
By Allan Richarz – The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News - Mar 15 8:18 AM
Kanna-machi, Japan – The United States military, has struggled with how to manage media coverage of the war in Afghanistan – and even the most basic approaches to an effective public-relations campaign.
AFGHANISTAN: Marjah residents take stock after offensive
16 Mar 2010 11:20:50 GMT
KABUL, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - With the exception of small pockets of resistance, Taliban fighters have been driven out of Marjah town in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, but many local people are struggling to return to some kind of normality and are fearful of the future.
Afghan women fear loss of hard-won progress
By Karin Brulliard Tuesday, March 16, 2010; The Washington Post A01
LAGHMAN, AFGHANISTAN -- The head-to-toe burqas that made women a faceless symbol of the Taliban's violently repressive rule are no longer required here. But many Afghan women say they still feel voiceless eight years into a war-torn democracy
Afghan president to visit China next week
AP via Yahoo! Asia News
BEIJING – Afghan President Hamid Karzai will visit China for talks next week with President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other officials on what China calls common issues of regional and global concern.
Diplomats in Afghanistan want same insurance, benefits given to military
Foreign service officers face same risks: union
By Kathryn May, The Ottawa CitizenMarch 16, 2010
OTTAWA — Canada’s diplomats are appealing to the Harper government for the same employment insurance benefits it gave military families sent to Afghanistan and other overseas postings in the March 4 federal budget.
Blackwater loses $1.1bn Afghan police contract
JOBY WARRICK, The Age (Australia) March 17, 2010
US FEDERAL auditors have put a stop to US Army plans to award a $US1 billion ($A1.1 billion) training program for Afghan police officers to the company formerly known as Blackwater, concluding that other companies were unfairly excluded from bidding on the job.
Pentagon to investigate intelligence unit that allegedly used contractors
By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Pentagon said Monday that it was looking into allegations that a Defense Department official had set up an intelligence unit staffed by contractors to hunt insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan under the guise of social and cultural information-gathering.
School funded by Angelina Jolie benefits girls in eastern Afghanistan
TANGI, Afghanistan, March 15 (UNHCR) – There were celebrations in Tangi last week when a new primary school for girls was opened barely 18 months after Angelina Jolie visited the settlement for refugee returnees and expressed concern about the lack of basic education facilities for children.
An Afghan Politician Pushes for a Comeback
By CAROLINE BROTHERS The New York Times March 15, 2010
PARIS — The people who want to silence Malalai Joya, the youngest elected politician in Afghanistan, are doing a pretty good job of it in her own country.
India asks the world to stay the course in Afghanistan
2010-03-16 11:50:00 Sify
Asserting that India would not scale down in its operations in Afghanistan after the recent attacks on Indians there, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has asked the international community to stay the course in the war torn nation.
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Afghanistan denies peace talks with Taliban No. 2
By Peter Graff
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan's government denied a report on Tuesday that it had been holding secret peace talks with the Taliban's number two leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, when he was arrested in Pakistan.
The announcement last month of Baradar's arrest in Karachi by U.S. and Pakistani agents has led to numerous unconfirmed media reports the former top Taliban military commander might have been talking to Kabul, and that may have led to his arrest.
Despite being the mastermind of years of suicide strikes and other attacks on Karzai's government, Baradar is Karzai's tribal kinsmen and therefore seen as someone who might be more likely than other militants to accept an invitation to talks.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Baradar was involved in "peace talks" with Karzai's government at the time of his arrest, quoting an unidentified aide to the Afghan president and a provincial official.
Several Afghan officials have told Reuters they had heard similar reports of talks, but none have been able to provide details such as dates, locations of meetings or names of participants that would corroborate the claims.
"There was no direct contact between the government of Afghanistan and Mullah Baradar," Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omer told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the latest reports.
Karzai has occasionally used go-betweens without official status in preliminary efforts to reach out to militants. Omer said he was not aware of any such unofficial contact with Baradar, but fell short of denying it.
"I cannot confirm this," he said. "I can only keep record of my government in contact with someone. Outside the government, I don't know."
SPECULATION
Karzai has announced a high profile effort at reconciling with Taliban leaders this year, leading to speculation peace moves are afoot. The Taliban have publicly spurned his overtures.
Western officials in Afghanistan say Karzai's representatives have long been in contact with various Taliban leaders and commanders, often through kinship ties.
Last year, Karzai's representatives reached out to some insurgents through Saudi Arabia for "talks about talks", aimed at seeking a framework under which negotiations might be held.
Karzai has invited Taliban who lay down arms to attend a peace conference in Kabul set for late April or early May.
U.S. officials say serious progress in negotiations is unlikely just yet, but they hope it will become more likely this year if they succeed in applying more pressure on the battlefield with 30,000 extra troops sent by U.S. President Barack Obama.
After years in which Pakistan seemed reluctant to pursue Afghan militants on its territory, Baradar's sudden arrest has led to anxious speculation about Islamabad's motives.
Some have suggested the arrest was a bid by Pakistan to ensure its interests are represented at any future talks. Others have said it could be an effort to sabotage talks that had already begun. Still others say Baradar may have been arrested entirely by accident in a raid targeting someone else.
Omer said Karzai's main focus since Baradar was arrested is persuading Pakistan to turn him over to Afghanistan. Afghan officials say Pakistan agreed to hand Baradar over, but a Pakistani court has ruled that he cannot be extradited.
(Editing by Jerry Norton)
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Aide: Karzai 'very angry' at Taliban boss' arrest
By Deb Riechmann And Kathy Gannon, Associated Press Writers – Tue Mar 16, 6:38 am ET
KABUL – The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban's No. 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated President Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai's advisers.
The detention of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar — second in the Taliban only to one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar — has raised new questions about whether the U.S. is willing to back peace discussions with leaders who harbored the terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
Karzai "was very angry" when he heard that the Pakistanis had picked up Baradar with an assist from U.S. intelligence, the adviser said. Besides the ongoing talks, he said Baradar had "given a green light" to participating in a three-day peace jirga that Karzai is hosting next month.
The adviser, who had knowledge of the peace talks, spoke on condition of anonymity because of their sensitivity. Other Afghan officials, including Abdul Ali Shamsi, security adviser to the governor of Helmand province, also confirmed talks between Baradar and the Afghan government. Several media reports have suggested that Baradar had been in touch with Karzai representatives, but these are the first details to emerge from the discussions.
Talking with the Taliban is gaining traction in Afghanistan as thousands of U.S. and NATO reinforcements are streaming in to reverse the insurgents' momentum. Reconciliation was one topic Karzai and President Barack Obama discussed during a more than one-hour video conference Monday night, Karzai's office said.
Baradar's arrest has already prompted Pakistan and others to stake out their positions on possible reconciliation negotiations that could mean an endgame to the eight-year war.
Officials have disclosed little about how Baradar was nabbed last month in the port city of Karachi. The Pakistanis were said to be upset that the Americans were the source of news reports about his arrest.
The capture was part of a U.S.-backed crackdown in which the Pakistanis also arrested several other Afghan Taliban figures along the porous border between the two countries, after years of being accused by Washington of doing little to stop them.
Far from expressing gratitude, members of Karzai's administration were quick to accuse Pakistan of picking up Baradar either to sabotage or gain control of talks with the Taliban leaders.
Whatever the reason, the delicate dance among Karzai, his neighbors and international partners put the debate over reconciliation on fast forward.
Top United Nations and British officials emphasized last week that the time to talk to the Taliban is now. The Afghan government, for its part, has plans to offer economic incentives to coax low- and midlevel fighters off the battlefield. Another driving force is Obama's goal of starting to withdraw U.S. troops in July 2011.
The United States, with nearly 950 lives lost and billions of dollars spent in the war, is moving with caution on reconciliation.
At a breakfast meeting in Islamabad last week, Karzai said he and his Western allies were at odds over who should be at the negotiating table. Karzai said the United States was expressing reservations about talks with the top echelon of the Taliban while the British were "pushing for an acceleration" in the negotiation process.
"Our allies are not always talking the same language," he said.
Karzai said overtures to the Taliban stood little chance of success without the support of the United States and its international partners. He says his previous attempts to negotiate with insurgents were not fruitful because "sections of the international community undermined — not backed — our efforts."
The U.S. has said generally that it supports efforts to welcome back any militants who renounce violence, cut ties with al-Qaida and recognize and respect the Afghan constitution, but it is keeping details of its position closely held.
Daniel Markey with the Council on Foreign Relations said that while Karzai is having discussions with senior people on the Taliban side, "it's not clear that Washington or other members of the international community have weighed in as to what they believe are the red lines or proper boundaries with respect to negotiations with the Taliban."
During his trip to Afghanistan last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it was premature to expect senior members of the Taliban to reconcile with the government. He said until the insurgents believe they can't win the war, they won't come to the table. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she's highly skeptical that Taliban leaders will be willing to renounce violence.
A U.S. military official in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss reconciliation, said the top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has not yet solidified his opinion on this issue.
He said the U.S. is still debating the timing of the Afghan government's outreach to senior leaders of three main Afghan insurgent groups — Omar; Jalaluddin Haqqani, who runs an al-Qaida-linked organization; and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the boss of the powerful Hezb-e-Islami.
The official added that the international military coalition had no problem with the Afghan government's reaching out to anyone, at any time, but is concerned that a deal to end the violence not come at too high a price.
Deep differences remain within the Obama administration on reconciliation, said Lisa Curtis, a research fellow on South Asia for the Heritage Foundation, a right-leaning think tank in Washington. "This disagreement is contributing to a lack of clarity in U.S. official statements on the issue and leading to confusion among our allies," she said.
"The military surge should be given time to bear fruit," Curtis argued. "Insurgents are more likely to negotiate if they fear defeat on the battlefield."
Karzai won't discuss his administration's talks with Taliban members or their representatives, but several Afghan officials confirmed that his government was in discussions with Baradar, who hails from Karzai's Popalzai tribe of the Durrani Pashtuns in Kandahar.
"The government has been negotiating with Mullah Baradar, who took an offer to the Taliban shura," Shamsi said, using the word for the group's governing board.
Shamsi said he'd seen intelligence reports indicating that Omar resisted the offer and that Baradar's rivals within the Taliban leadership were fiercely opposed to any negotiations with the Afghan government.
An intelligence official in southern Afghanistan, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with journalists, said there were reports that Omar was angry about Baradar's negotiations with the government and asked Pakistani intelligence officials to arrest him.
Nevertheless, Hakim Mujahed, a former Taliban ambassador to the United Nations, said many Taliban leaders are willing to talk.
"The problem is not from the Taliban side," he said. "There is no interest of negotiations from the side of the foreign forces."
Hamid Gul, a former director of the Pakistani intelligence service who has criticized the U.S. role in Afghanistan, said the insurgents want three things from the U.S. before talks could begin — a clearer timetable on the withdrawal of troops, to stop labeling them terrorists, and the release of all Taliban militants imprisoned in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
What actually precipitated Baradar's arrest remains a mystery.
Some analysts claim Pakistan wanted to interrupt Karzai's reconciliation efforts or force Karzai to give Islamabad a seat at a future negotiating table.
"I see no evidence to support that theory," Richard Holbrooke, U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, told reporters this month. "I know somewhat more than I'm at liberty to disclose about the circumstances under which these events took place and every detail tends to work against that thesis."
Another theory is that Baradar, deemed more pragmatic than other top Taliban leaders, was detained to split him from fellow insurgents. McChrystal said recently that it was plausible that Baradar's arrest followed an internal feud and purge among Taliban leaders.
There's also speculation that Baradar's arrest was just lucky — even unintentional.
If Karzai was still angry about Baradar's arrest, he didn't show it publicly last week on a two-day visit to Islamabad. His message was twofold — that Pakistan had a significant role to play in reconciliation and that its cooperation would be welcomed. He called Pakistan a "twin" and said Afghans know that without cooperation, neither would find peace.
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Afghanistan confirms blanket pardon for war crimes
By Peter Graff
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan confirmed for the first time publicly on Tuesday that it had enacted into law a blanket pardon for war crimes and human rights abuse carried out before 2001.
Human rights groups have expressed dismay that the law appeared to have been enacted quietly, granting blanket immunity to members of all armed factions for acts committed during decades of war before the fall of the Taliban.
President Hamid Karzai had promised not to sign the National Stability and Reconciliation Law, when it was passed by parliament in 2007.
Human rights groups say they learned only this year that the bill had been published in the official gazette, making it law.
Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omer, said on Tuesday that the bill had become law because it was passed by two-thirds of the parliament and therefore did not require Karzai's signature.
Parliament is made up largely of lawmakers from former armed groups, some accused by rights groups and ordinary Afghans of war crimes.
"This law was passed with a two-thirds majority in our parliament, and according to our constitution, when a law is passed with a two-thirds majority, it does not require the president to sign it," Omer told a briefing.
It was the first time the palace had confirmed that the measure had become law.
Brad Adams, Asia director for watchdog Human Rights Watch, said there was still mystery surrounding the process, and why it apparently took more than two years for news of the law's enactment to be made public.
"This law is absolute disgrace. It's a slap in the face to all the Afghans who suffered for years and years of war crimes and warlordism," Adams told Reuters.
He called on the international community and the United States to apply pressure on Afghanistan to repeal the law.
"The U.S. needs to decide whether they're with the victims or the perpetrators, and make their views known publicly," he said.
During Karzai's eight years in power, he has consistently included former commanders of armed factions in his government and inner circle, including many accused by the West of war crimes and other abuses.
Both of Karzai's two vice presidents are former leaders of armed groups whose factions squabbled for control of Kabul in the 1990s, when thousands of civilians were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes.
Supporters of the amnesty say prosecuting old allegations would risk restarting years of civil war. But critics say providing a blanket pardon for former warlords allows them to retain their grip over the economy and public life.
(Editing by Sugita Katyal)
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Afghan gov't to send more police to Kandahar
By Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writer
KABUL – Afghanistan's government will provide more than 1,000 police reinforcements to the southern province of Kandahar after Taliban attacks killed dozens of people there ahead of a coming offensive on the insurgent stronghold, an official said Tuesday.
The Interior Ministry agreed with a provincial request for more security, Kandahar Gov. Tooryalai Wesa said.
Wesa asked for more police after multiple bombs over the weekend killed at least 35 people in Kandahar city. The Taliban called the attacks a "warning" that they are ready for the war's next phase.
Afghan and NATO troops are planning to move into Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual birthplace, later this year after securing another stronghold in neighboring Helmand province. The southern push is part of a new counterinsurgency strategy and follows President Barack Obama's decision to send 30,000 new American troops to Afghanistan to reverse insurgent gains.
Some of the 1,100 new Afghan police in Kandahar will come from the capital, Kabul, and some will be recruited and trained locally, Wesa said. It will take a few months to put the new forces in place.
Interior Minister Hanif Atmar pledged to send more security forces when he visited Kandahar on Monday to attend funerals of the bombing victims. Atmar put the number of new police at 1,200 in Kandahar city and the surrounding province.
Kandahar city's police now number more than 2,000, and U.S. and Canadian trainers have been working to build up a professional force. The police are traditionally one of Afghanistan's least-trusted institutions.
Building up Afghan security forces is a key goal of the international coalition in the war, now in its eighth year. Obama hopes to begin withdrawing troops by 2011 and start turning over security to local institutions strong enough to prevent the Taliban's return to power.
Afghan National Police forces were the first responders to Saturday's attacks in Kandahar, and the international coalition praised their performance in preventing escapes from the main prison in the city, which was apparently the goal. The Taliban attacks mirrored a 2008 assault that allowed hundreds of inmates, many of them insurgents, to escape.
Wesa also appealed to the central government Tuesday to send more agents to gather intelligence about the insurgents, who operate freely in Kandahar city and control many of the surrounding villages.
"One of the big problems we face is lack of intelligence information," Wesa said.
Also in southern Afghanistan, the international force seized nearly a ton of marijuana seeds discovered in a vehicle Tuesday at a checkpoint in the Garmser district of Helmand province, NATO said. Troops detained one person in the vehicle; the seeds will be destroyed.
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Petraeus warns of tough year ahead on Afghanistan
By Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – The man who oversees U.S. forces in both the Iraq and Afghan wars says the fighting in Afghanistan will "likely get harder before it gets easier" and predicts 2010 will be a difficult year.
On Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus (peh-TRAY'-us) said he expects the United States can reduce its forces as planned, from about 97,000 to 50,000 by the end of August.
Petraeus, who heads the U.S. Central Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. As the architect of the successful troop build up in Iraq in 2007, his assessment of America's wars is closely watched in Congress. He said he expects U.S. forces will be able to reverse the momentum gained by Taliban militants in Afghanistan, but Petraeus also said he envisions "tough fighting and periodic setbacks."
(This version CORRECTS APNewsNow. SUBS lede to correct descriptive of Petraeus)
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Karzai, Obama discuss prospects of Taliban talks
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed prospects of peace with the Taliban in a video phone conversation with President Barack Obama, Karzai's office said on Tuesday.
Obama speaks to Karzai less frequently than his predecessor, George W. Bush, and has not visited Afghanistan since being elected U.S. president in 2008.
"During the video call, Karzai put Obama in the picture about Afghanistan's efforts toward the acceleration of peace and national reconciliation, which America's president welcomed," the statement said.
Karzai has launched a high profile effort this year to reach out for reconciliation with the Taliban, who have made a comeback more than eight years since their ousting by U.S.-backed Afghan militias.
Washington has so far supported efforts to lure lower- and mid-level Taliban to lay down arms, but has been more guarded about efforts to reach out to their leaders, which it thinks is likely to be successful only after progress on the battlefield.
Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in December in a bid to turn the tide in the war. When they arrive by the end of this year, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will have tripled during Obama's time in office to 100,000, along with more than 40,000 from other NATO countries.
Obama has pledged to begin a gradual withdrawal in mid-2011, setting up the next year as a decisive phase in the war.
The statement from Karzai's office said both leaders had emphasized that Afghanistan and the international community should follow a "unified stance" on the question of talks.
Karzai also said that Afghans did not want their territory to be used for "proxy wars" between other countries, a statement that could refer either to tensions between Pakistan and India or between the United States and Iran.
Other topics which they discussed included regional cooperation, the strengthening of the Afghan security forces, anti-corruption measures in Afghanistan and the holding of a transparent parliamentary election, slated for September.
(Editing by Peter Graff)
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Afghanistan Plans Bill Trading, Bond Sales, Central Bank Says
By Khalid Qayum and Eltaf Najafizada
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan plans to allow trading in central bank bills and start selling longer-term government bonds in the coming year to diversify funding sources after receiving more than $30 billion of international assistance.
The central bank, which has more than 11 billion Afghani ($231 million) of bills outstanding, will develop its domestic debt market under a five-year plan to reduce reliance on foreign aid, Da Afghanistan Bank spokesman Aimal Hashoor said in a telephone interview from Kabul yesterday.
“These foreign funds won’t last forever,” Hashoor said. “We have to build our own borrowing resources and capital markets for the future.”
Developing capital markets will be a challenge for President Hamid Karzai in a country torn by 30 years of strife that destroyed financial institutions and businesses, according to Standard Chartered Plc. Afghanistan received $32 billion of foreign aid since the U.S. toppled the Taliban-led government in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, according to central bank Deputy Governor Mohibullah Safi.
Afghanistan “is at a very initial stage of developing its financial markets after realizing how critical it is for any economy,” said Sayem Ali, an economist at Standard Chartered in Karachi, the largest city in neighboring Pakistan. The country has been “flush with foreign funds since 2001 so it never felt the need to develop capital markets,” he said.
Debt Sales
The central bank raised 1.23 billion Afghanis at its last debt auction on March 9, selling 28-day notes at yields of 4 percent to 4.26 percent and 182-day bills at rates of 6.05 percent to 6.10 percent, according to its Web site. Seven parties submitted bids for the shorter-dated debt and four submitted offers for the six-month securities.
Central bank Governor Abdul Qadir Fitrat said March 12 the government plans to start selling bonds from the fiscal year starting March 31, 2011, without commenting on the likely sizes and maturities of issues.
“There will be very limited demand for these kind of investments,” said Nadi Bargouti, who manages $250 million as head of asset management at Shuaa Capital PSC in Dubai. “We all know the story in Afghanistan and this is not going to happen overnight. We still have the tribal problems, not just in Afghanistan but also in the neighboring countries.”
Iraq’s plans to raise funds from selling debt also met “weak demand” because of the political situation, he said. Iraq’s Finance Ministry won approval to sell $2.5 billion of bonds to fund electricity-generation projects on Jan. 21.
Afghanistan’s currency ended last week at 47.60 per dollar, 2.1 percent stronger than at the start of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It appreciated 7.2 percent in 2009, the first annual gain since a new currency was introduced in 2002, following the ouster of the Taliban.
Stock Exchange Planned
Developing financial markets still requires the establishment of a range of institutions and products, said Saifuddin Saihoon, an assistant professor of economics at Kabul University.
“The Afghans are more involved in the business of import and export and currency exchange, rather than trying to understand banking and financial market products,” Saihoon said.
The central bank plans to start a national stock exchange in Kabul by 2013 to provide investment opportunities for domestic and overseas investors, Hashoor said.
Da Afghanistan Bank’s economic strategy coincides with plans for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police to take control of the country’s security within five years. The U.S. plans to have 100,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year before commencing a withdrawal of its forces in mid- 2011.
To contact the reporter on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at kqayum@bloomberg.net Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net
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Afghanistan war: How Taliban tactics are evolving
Often portrayed as mindless fanatics, the sophistication of Taliban military tactics in the Afghanistan war have impressed US military officials.
By Roy Gutman McClatchy Newspapers March 15, 2010 at 9:15 am EDT
Kabul, Afghanistan — Although they're often portrayed as mindless fanatics, the militant Islamists' "life experience" from their years in the wilderness, their study of American military tactics and their analysis of the Karzai government's shortcomings have helped reverse their fortunes, U.S. intelligence experts say.
With President Barack Obama sending at least 30,000 additional American troops to knock the Taliban off-balance and a U.S.-led offensive in Helmand province, a better understanding of today's Taliban is central to the effort to defeat them and to begin withdrawing some American troops from Afghanistan in summer 2011.
While much is made of the recent arrests of Taliban leaders in Pakistan and the deaths of others in U.S. unmanned drone attacks, the group appears to be a movement in transition, with greater sophistication along with limited central control and considerable autonomy for its local commanders in Afghanistan.
Western intelligence officials cite varied signs of the "new" Taliban:
During and after every military operation, top Taliban leaders — who intelligence officials think move along the Afghan-Pakistani border but sometimes retreat to Karachi and other Pakistani cities — routinely run circles around the Karzai government with rapid-response public relations.
Some Taliban still fight as they did a decade ago, in flip-flops and traditional baggy pants, but the hard-core "Taliban cavalry" is equipped with North Face jackets, good boots, warm clothing and swift motorbikes purchased in Pakistan.
The Taliban made some 8,000 improvised explosive devices last year, an astonishing rate of almost 22 a day. "An enemy that can generate 8,000 IEDS and bring 8,000 IEDS to bear and have a major effect, we ought to hire the J-4, the logistician," said a top general with the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force.
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a 67-article code of conduct for his fighters last summer, ordering them to protect the civilian population.
Based on debriefings of some 4,000 Taliban detainees captured over the past four to five years, the ISAF general concludes that the insurgents are motivated to seize power either by conquest or by negotiation and to establish the rule of law in the areas they control. Taliban fighters say they want to bring Shariah, Islamic law, to rural areas where government officials are known to be corrupt.
The Taliban "have totally changed," said Vahid Mojdeh, a former Taliban foreign ministry official who monitors the movement. "They've totally put behind them their international agenda" of spreading Islamist revolution "and now are just focused on Afghanistan."
Although Western and Afghan experts acknowledge that Omar, the one-eyed cleric, is the group's supreme leader, many Taliban innovations for controlling territory are probably of local origin.
Take, for example, an order to shut down cell phone communications after about 4 p.m. every day in four southern Afghan provinces. Taliban commanders approached the four commercial cell-phone companies in the area and told them to halt service or their towers would be blown up.
According to Mojdeh, the move is part of a Taliban effort to prevent spies from communicating Taliban positions to Afghan government officials.
However, it's also "to make sure they can get a good night's rest," the senior ISAF general said.
The Taliban also must communicate with one another, however, and their devices — VHF radio-relay networks that use hundreds of small antennas linked to big solar panels — have impressed Western militaries. The basic equipment is bought off the shelf in Pakistan or stolen from NATO trucks and assembled in the field.
"It's extremely sophisticated," the general, who couldn't be identified under the terms of the briefing, told McClatchy. On the other hand, he said, Taliban codes are "pretty easy to break."
Taliban policies also have become somewhat more sophisticated. Mojdeh said that in the past year, the insurgents had stopped burning down schools, and they no longer oppose vaccination campaigns for children or health clinics.
"There's a new generation. They are familiar with computers. They communicate with text messages. They're in favor of education," he told McClatchy. Unlike the Taliban of the 1990s, he said, "They are no longer all illiterates."
Drawing on insurgent tactics from the war in Iraq, the Afghan civil war in the 1990s, Pakistani trainers and al Qaida operatives, the Taliban have developed a plan for civilian governance of regions they control, appointing a governor — usually from another region, to avoid local tribal rivalries — a military commander, a financial official in charge and a judge.
Haroun Mir, the director of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies, who fought against the Taliban in the 1990s, said the insurgents had taken a leaf from their former archenemy, the late Afghan guerrilla leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was an ethnic Tajik, unlike the mostly Pashtun Taliban.
The Taliban "previously never let anyone in (Massoud's) movement have influence," but now they're accepting ideas from below, Mir said. "I wonder if the traditional Taliban are still in control?" he asked.
He said the Taliban's new emphasis on justice paralleled Massoud's concern that people behind the front lines "should feel secure," he said. Mir also said that the principal slogan that Omar used today "is to expel the infidels, the same slogan we used against the Russians," but now meaning U.S. and European forces.
However, the Taliban also have adopted new and deadly tactics such as recruiting pupils from madrassas — Islamic schools — for suicide bombings.
Recruiters observe the students and "see who's the more emotional," Mojdeh said. They also seek volunteers from among those who've lost family members to U.S. or Afghan government attacks.
They "work on them and train them and give them a suicide belt — a fake one. If they don't show fear, they give them a real one," Mojdeh said. The suicide attackers say goodbye to their families, "and then they disappear."
The Afghan National Directorate for Security estimates that there are at least 1,000 mobile insurgent training centers in Pakistan's seven tribal agencies — lawless zones beyond the writ of the central government — most in the guise of religious education centers.
To a great extent, though, the Taliban remain motivated by revenge. The massacre in 2001 of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban detainees at the hands of an Uzbek warlord in northern Afghanistan still motivates Taliban to fight.
"That massacre was the base or foundation for all the fighting that is now going on," Mojdeh said.
The senior ISAF general agreed that the massacre was "absolutely" a recruiting tool for the Taliban. "Those kinds of things thicken the hatred and cause more people to join."
Last July, the U.S. military obtained a copy of the new code of conduct issued by Omar, with instructions to protect civilians and spare the lives of prisoners. It came on the heels of a tactical directive by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, that said the aim of American troops was to protect the Afghan population, not to kill Taliban.
Unlike the U.S. directive, however, which reduced the number of civilian deaths last year by 28 percent from 2008, there's little sign that the Taliban are implementing Omar's code, which says that Taliban suicide attacks should be carried out against "major" targets and "utmost steps" taken to avoid civilian casualties.
A U.N. report in January said the Taliban were responsible for 70 percent of the 2,142 civilian killings in 2009, up some 50 percent from the previous year. That included 1,054 victims of suicide bombings and IEDs and 225 victims of targeted assassinations and executions.
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To win the war in Afghanistan, the US military has to beat the Taliban at the propaganda game
By Allan Richarz – The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News - Mar 15 8:18 AM
Kanna-machi, Japan – The United States military, has struggled with how to manage media coverage of the war in Afghanistan – and even the most basic approaches to an effective public-relations campaign.
A haphazard approach causes significant harm to the war effort: Coverage of repeated televised apologies overshadows progress made by troops on the ground, and effective Taliban propaganda continues without adequate repudiation. With an effective media/public relations policy, the military could leverage news organizations to be an invaluable resource in fighting the Taliban.
As it stands now, however, the military’s PR incompetence makes the media akin to a lead weight on the shoulders of a marathon runner.
Since the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the military and media have shared a rocky relationship characterized by periods of mutual benefit, but also mutual hostility. Unprecedented access for reporters allows for never-before-seen coverage: Few of us can forget, for instance, the live reporting from a tank speeding toward Baghdad at the outset of the Iraq war.
The downside now to giving “embedded” reporters such access, however, is that every mistake and miscommunication in Afghanistan is captured and instantly beamed to televisions around the world or disseminated across the Internet, weakening public support for the war, while providing a free recruiting tool to the Taliban.
Despite what polemicists on both sides claim, the media has not been motivated by political bias in its coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan. Rather, ratings – and the advertising dollars they command – have been the driving force shaping media coverage.
As the public’s attitude toward the mission in Afghanistan has soured, so, too has the tone taken by the media in its coverage of the war. News coverage is dominated by stories of corrupt Afghan officials and the newest trend, civilian deaths, leaving coalition commanders to engage in an endless cycle of public apologies.
Even during the fierce fighting last month in Marjah, Afghanistan, the media was filled with stories of civilian casualties, forcing repeated apologies and pledges of restraint from Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
Therein lies the first problem with the US military’s media strategy: It is impossible to win a war if one spends half the time apologizing. Compounding this, pledges to avoid civilian deaths, short of a stop to all military operations, are unfeasible. What the military ends up with is a public relations disaster and essentially “wins the battle, but loses the war.”
Coalition troops may have scored a solid tactical victory in routing the Taliban from Marjah, but that triumph was overshadowed, even characterized, by coverage of civilian deaths and Gen. McChrystal shamefacedly appearing on TV to apologize. Worse, it will be another asset for the Taliban to use in its propaganda and recruiting campaigns.
The second problem is the Taliban’s savvier use of propaganda. Unlike NATO forces, they don’t allow reporters virtually unfettered access, so they can make wild propaganda claims that go unchallenged, both by the media who eagerly report them, or by the military.
The US military takes a reactive approach. It tries to jam Taliban-controlled broadcasts or shut down insurgent websites, and when it does attempt some feel-good propaganda, such as the story of heroism surrounding the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman caused by friendly fire, it is quickly exposed and condemned by the media. Not surprisingly, this then leads to another round of apologies from military brass.
Unfortunately, the military has few options in regard to the media. It cannot institute a widespread ban on reporters in the battlefield, and even if such a policy were enacted, the abundance of cellular phones and laptops can turn anyone into an instant reporter, making heavy restrictions on the media unrealistic.
Instead, military commanders need to first stop spending so much time apologizing and instead heavily play up the positive aspects of a particular battle or the overall rebuilding effort.
The coalition’s focus should be on accomplishing their mission, not mollifying a group of indignant reporters in Kabul. Perhaps there will be some self-righteous fallout from the media if McChrystal does not engage in self-flagellation every time an accidental civilian death occurs, but such feelings will fade as soon as the next big story comes along.
To deal with Taliban propaganda, the US must forcefully denounce claims of exaggerated civilian/coalition troop deaths, or inflammatory accusations by the Taliban. At the same time, the military must do a better job of framing body counts, positively rebuilding stories, and particularly highlighting heroic efforts by military personnel for a media that desperately wants high ratings and online traffic.
It is simply unacceptable for a rag-tag, poorly funded group such as the Taliban to so handily deliver one public relations defeat after another to arguably the most powerful force on earth. A revamped media/PR strategy is essential to bring the war in Afghanistan to a successful conclusion. And that would be the best story of all.
Allan Richarz is a writer and teacher currently working near Tokyo.
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AFGHANISTAN: Marjah residents take stock after offensive
16 Mar 2010 11:20:50 GMT
KABUL, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - With the exception of small pockets of resistance, Taliban fighters have been driven out of Marjah town in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, but many local people are struggling to return to some kind of normality and are fearful of the future.
A rapid assessment by the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) said the conflict in Marjah had left 35 civilians dead, 37 injured, and 55 houses destroyed.
The assessment does not specify which side killed how many civilians.
"It is impossible to measure every war-related misery and impact but we have tried to collect some basic figures about casualties and destruction," Ahmadullah Ahmadi, director of the ARCS office in Helmand, told IRIN.
Before and during the military operation, Marjah residents were promised rapid aid, but some three weeks after the end of the offensive local people say they have yet to receive any meaningful assistance.
"A government assessment team will investigate the damage in Marjah and compensation will be given to the affected people," said Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand. The process is expected to start in a few days but it is unclear when it might be completed.
People who lost their houses, shops and other property in the fighting urgently need shelter and want to resume normal life quickly.
"We provide compensation to those who suffer property damage and other losses due to military activity, including within the farming community. We do this as quickly and comprehensively as possible, in consultation with community members," Paul Scott, a UK military public affairs officer, told IRIN. The UK has thousands of troops in Helmand Province.
Quick cash-for-work projects have been launched in Marjah to employ local men and help "clean-up and refurbish" local bazaars, Scott said.
However, efforts to normalize the situation in Marjah have been impeded by fears of improvised explosives which have killed and wounded dozens of people over the past few weeks, according to NATO and government officials.
Opium deal?
During their two-year rule in Marjah, Taliban insurgents banned schools, TV and beard-shaving, and allowed farmers to grow opium.
Afghanistan is the world's top opium-producing country and Helmand Province accounted for over 50 percent of the 6,900 tons of opium produced there in 2009, according to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Taliban insurgents make hefty profits from the drugs trade, says UNODC.
The government has vowed to reopen schools, restore civil liberties and enforce the ban on poppy cultivation: "We will eradicate all poppy fields in Marjah because opium cultivation is illegal," Zalmai Afzali, a spokesman of the Counter-Narcotics Ministry (MCN), told IRIN.
But farmers are pleading for a stay of execution: "We ask the government not to eradicate our current poppy fields; in return we promise not to cultivate poppy next year," said local farmer Abdul Ghani.
The farmers say destroying their poppy fields could ruin them, and that the conflict has damaged their livelihoods.
A senior government official, who preferred anonymity, told IRIN the government had unofficially agreed to allow farmers to harvest poppy this year because eradication was deemed too risky. "The government does not say this publicly because it is illegal but no eradication will be conducted in Marjah this season," he said.
"Very skeptical population"
Over 4,000 families were displaced by the conflict in Nad Ali District (which includes Marjah) in February. Most have returned to their homes over the past three weeks, according to aid agencies, but there is uncertainty about the future; some are unsure how long NATO and Afghan forces will hold the area.
"We've got a very skeptical population here," said Lawrence Nicholson, a US army general, adding that people were unsure what NATO and the Afghan government would be able to do for them.
"We are in competition every day for the confidence and support of the population. We're in competition with the Taliban," Nicholson was quoted in a 5 March press release as saying.
Pockets of resistance
Meanwhile, the Taliban are not completely defeated in Marjah, according to the provincial authorities.
"The enemy is still present in some pockets," said Helmand spokesman Ahmadi, adding that pro-government forces were working to defeat them completely.
NATO said coalition forces are trying "to take the oxygen away from the insurgents" by separating them from the population - no easy task, according to a NATO statement.
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Afghan women fear loss of hard-won progress
By Karin Brulliard Tuesday, March 16, 2010; The Washington Post A01
LAGHMAN, AFGHANISTAN -- The head-to-toe burqas that made women a faceless symbol of the Taliban's violently repressive rule are no longer required here. But many Afghan women say they still feel voiceless eight years into a war-torn democracy, and they point to government plans to forge peace with the Taliban as a prime example.
Gender activists say they have been pressing the administration of President Hamid Karzai for a part in any deal-making with Taliban fighters and leaders, which is scheduled to be finalized at a summit in April. Instead, they said, they have been met with a silence that they see as a dispiriting reminder of the limits of progress Afghan women have made since 2001.
"We have not been approached by the government -- they never do," said Samira Hamidi, country director of the Afghan Women's Network, an umbrella group. "The belief is that women are not important,'' she said, describing a mind-set that she said "has not been changed in the past eight years."
The Taliban's repressive treatment of women helped galvanize international opposition in the 1990s, and by some measures democracy has revolutionized Afghan women's lives. Their worry now is not about a Taliban takeover, Hamidi said, but that male leaders, behind closed doors and desperate for peace, might not force Taliban leaders to accept, however grudgingly, that women's roles have changed.
Those concerns share roots with the misgivings voiced by many observers, including some U.S. officials, about Afghan efforts to forge a settlement with the Taliban, whose leaders promote an Islamist ideology that seems wholly at odds with rights the Afghan constitution guarantees.
The unease about such a settlement stretches from Kabul to the mountain-ringed valleys of Laghman, a scrappy town in a province still stalked at night by Taliban fighters. As a young girl here, Malalay Jan studied in a private home, hidden from the Taliban regime that forbade her education. Four years ago, her girls' school was torched in a rash of suspected Taliban attacks. Now, she said, she is sure of one thing: Afghan women should have a spot at the negotiating table.
"We don't want them to stop us from getting an education or working in an office," said Jan, 18, wearing a rhinestone-studded head scarf at her rebuilt school. Women, she said, should be "the first priority."
Karzai, the Afghan president, has endorsed the idea of talking with all levels of the Taliban, and his aides insist that women need not worry about the equal rights the Afghan constitution guarantees them. But they also say they are performing a difficult balancing act, and suggest that making bold statements about the sanctity of such topics as women's rights might kill talks before they start.
"We will act from a position of principle. And that principle is that half the public wants these rights to be protected," said Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, who is drafting Karzai's reconciliation plan. "It is not the authority of a group of people in government or a group of people in the insurgency to decide the fate of a whole nation."
In today's Afghanistan, females make up one-quarter of parliament, fill one-third of the nation's classrooms and even compete on "Afghan Idol."
But violence against women remains "endemic," according to the State Department. The percentage of female civil servants is steadily dropping. Just one of 25 cabinet members is a woman, and female lawmakers say their opinions are often ignored.
That point was underscored in January, many observers said, when the women's affairs minister was not invited to an international conference in London on reconciliation and reintegration.
Bringing the Taliban into the government could make things worse, Hamidi said.
"They think women should stay at home," she said. "And all of them have the same perception and same beliefs, from the lowest to the top level."
The Taliban itself, led by Mohammad Omar, has tried to dispute that. As part of what analysts call a public relations campaign to soften the movement's image, Omar, though still in hiding, released a statement last fall that said the Taliban did not oppose women's rights and favored education for all.
Arsala Rahmani, a lawmaker and former Taliban government official, said he thought women's activists were being close-minded, defying what he called "a mother's duty to always try to unite their sons." He said that the Taliban restricted women to protect them from conflict -- not out of ideological misogyny -- and that Omar and his fighters would accept any ideas the Afghan public favors.
To human rights activists, those Taliban messages are ploys to dim support for U.S.-led military efforts in Afghanistan. They point to Taliban-dominated Kandahar province, where militants have closed two-thirds of schools, and Helmand, where tribal leaders say female teachers are threatened with death.
It is a worrisome prospect to women such as Khujesta Elham, an aspiring politician who on a recent day was chatting with friends between classes at Kabul University. She said she thought Taliban fighters should be shunned, though she did not expect that to happen.
"Whatever decision Karzai makes will be his alone," said Elham, 22. "The government does not care about women's rights."
The depth of the Taliban's control varies across Afghanistan, as was the case during its rule, and so do views on the movement. In the 1990s, the Taliban viewed Kabul as a den of depravity, and it was there that its notorious Vice and Virtue police most brutally wielded batons against women who exposed their faces or wore high heels.
In Laghman, a rural Pashtun province in the shadow of snow-capped mountains, patriarchal traditions meant many of those rules were already in force. The area's Taliban officials mostly ignored unauthorized girls' schools, said Qamer Khujazada, who ran one until the Taliban was ousted in 2001. Khujazada became principal of Haider Khani high school, but militants burned down its administrative offices four years ago.
Hanifa Safia, the women's affairs representative for the province, said she thinks a settlement is the only way to peace. The Taliban fighters who throw acid on schoolgirls' faces or threaten professional women do so just to antagonize the government, she said. "I have talked to so many Taliban. They are not against women," Safia said. "Once they have been given positions in government, they will definitely change."
Khujazada, the principal, tentatively agrees. She walks confidently through the halls of her fraying school, overseeing a staff that she boasts is exactly half female.
But many of the girls slip into blue burqas before they leave the concrete-walled schoolyard, and Khujazada acknowledged that most will be married off before they ever set foot in a university. What is important, she said, is that they have the right to continue their schooling.
"Education has a lot of friends," Khujazada said cautiously. "But it has some enemies, too."
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Afghan president to visit China next week
AP via Yahoo! Asia News
BEIJING – Afghan President Hamid Karzai will visit China for talks next week with President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other officials on what China calls common issues of regional and global concern.
China made news last year when it made the largest-ever foreign investment in Afghanistan, a $3 billion mine project to tap one of the world's largest unexploited copper reserves.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman says Karzai will visit China from March 23-25. Spokesman Qin Gang said the two countries will discuss all kinds of cooperation and bilateral relations.
It will be Karzai's first visit since 2008, when he attended the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
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Diplomats in Afghanistan want same insurance, benefits given to military
Foreign service officers face same risks: union
By Kathryn May, The Ottawa CitizenMarch 16, 2010
OTTAWA — Canada’s diplomats are appealing to the Harper government for the same employment insurance benefits it gave military families sent to Afghanistan and other overseas postings in the March 4 federal budget.
The union representing Canada’s foreign service officers is asking Treasury Board President Stockwell Day to extend the EI parental leave and sick leave benefits to foreign service officers who face many of the same risks as military personnel, especially when posted in war zones such as Afghanistan.
Ron Cochrane, executive director of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, said he’s baffled as to why diplomats and other bureaucrats posted abroad for Canada are excluded.
The union represents 1,400 foreign service officers and more than 50 are in Afghanistan.
There are also bureaucrats posted from other departments, such as the Defence Department, Canadian International Development Agency and Canadian Security Intelligence Service. At last count, more than 40 civilian employees who work for the Defence Department were in Kandahar, said John MacLennan, president of Union of Defence Employees.
“It’s all focused on National Defence,” said Cochrane.
“Has DFAIT (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade) done something? … They are totally ignoring the rest of the public service when it comes to these changes. I don’t get it. Is it deliberate? An oversight or a cost issue?”
In the budget, the government announced military personnel who adopt or have a baby will receive the EI parental leave benefits that they couldn’t collect while posted overseas. This means the government will give those whose parental leave was interrupted or deferred because of a military posting an extra year of eligibility.
The government also announced that EI sick benefits will be extended to help military families coping with someone killed in action. Eligible workers who lose a family member can qualify for EI’s sickness benefits.
“Canadian soldiers put their lives on the line for our country and our Conservative government is proud to stand behind them and support them,” said Ryan Sparrow, director of communications for Human Resources and Social Development Minister Diane Finley in an e-mail.
In a letter to Day, PAFSO noted that diplomat Glyn Berry was killed by a roadside bomb in 2006 while on duty in Afghanistan. In December, 25-year-old foreign service officer Bushra Amjad Saeed was severely wounded in a roadside blast in Afghanistan — the same explosion that killed four Canadian soldiers and Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang.
“Without diminishing the role the military has played in these theatres, employees in the rotational foreign service assigned to areas of conflict who work with military personnel are exposed to similar risks,” said the letter.
This isn’t the first time, PAFSO has pressed for equal treatment between the military and public servants when facing the same risks.
In 2007, it lobbied for similar tax breaks the government gives soldiers and contractors working for the military.
“No amount of money in the world will compensate someone in the military risking their life in Afghanistan … but there are other public servants working alongside them who are also putting their lives at risk, so I don’t understand the differential. If there are tax incentives for military and contractors, why not for public servants?”
The issue has also resurrected a longstanding complaint among military and diplomatic personnel that their spouses, who can’t find work during postings, can’t collect EI when they return to Canada. In its letter to Day, PAFSO pressed to have this changed.
The foreign service has lobbied for years for spouses of those on postings to get access to EI. It was a recommendation of the McDougall Commission, whose report on conditions in the foreign service was tabled in 1981, and has been recommended by similar reports ever since.
Cochrane argues it’s difficult enough to relocate two-career families and this is another disincentive. He said it is almost impossible for professional spouses to find jobs in their chosen careers and, in some postings, they can’t find jobs at all because of language, culture or other host country restrictions.
The government has a policy that anyone who is relocated abroad should not benefit nor be disadvantaged by their postings. PAFSO has long argued the government treats its members unfairly when compared to those who move with their spouses to jobs within Canada.
Under the act, they lose their entitlements to EI when abroad because they aren’t available for work in Canada. This means they have to re-qualify when they return to Canada so they can’t collect EI while looking for work even though they typically qualified before leaving for the posting.
The letter to Day argues this is particularly unfair because the EI act does extend the qualifying period for others, such as those incarcerated in Canadian prisons, who can collect EI when released. In light of this, the letter argues the diplomats’ requests for similar treatment to the military is “a very reasonable proposal.”
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Blackwater loses $1.1bn Afghan police contract
JOBY WARRICK, The Age (Australia) March 17, 2010
US FEDERAL auditors have put a stop to US Army plans to award a $US1 billion ($A1.1 billion) training program for Afghan police officers to the company formerly known as Blackwater, concluding that other companies were unfairly excluded from bidding on the job.
The decision by the Government Accountability Office leaves it unclear who will oversee training of the Afghan National Police, a poorly equipped 90,000-strong paramilitary force that will inherit the task of preserving order in Afghanistan after NATO troops depart.
GAO officials upheld a protest by DynCorp International, which conducts training for Afghan police under a State Department contract. DynCorp lawyers argued that the company should have been allowed to submit bids when management of the training program passed from the state to the army.
Instead, Pentagon officials allowed the training program to be attached to an existing Defence Department contract that supports counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan.
Xe Services, the new name of Blackwater, was poised to win one portion of a much larger group of contracts, shared among five corporations, that could earn the companies more than $US15 billion over five years.
A new round of bidding will now take place.
''We recognise the army's position, that it needs to swiftly award a contract for these services,'' said Ralph White, an attorney with the GAO's procurement oversight division.
But he said the army must conduct a ''full and open competition'' or explain in writing why DynCorp was excluded.
The Pentagon's decision to allow Xe Services to run the training program drew a strong protest last week from Democrat Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Senator Levin said the contractor's employees had a history of allegedly abusive behaviour, including the misappropriation of government weapons and the hiring of workers with criminal records, including assault and drug offences.
He also accused managers of the private security company of lying to win lucrative jobs in Afghanistan.
Senator Levin said government contracting practices had too often been unfairly exclusive, though he acknowledged that Xe Services might ultimately end up as the winner in further competitive bidding.
''If this contract is rebid and Blackwater is among the bidders, I hope that the Defence Department will take a close look at the company to determine if it is a suitable contracting partner for the US government,'' he said.
A spokesman for Xe Services declined to comment.
DynCorp president Bill Ballhaus welcomed the decision.
''We are performing this crucial training mission now, and will continue to meet all objectives of the commanders on the ground while a full and transparent bidding process can ensure the best outcome for the taxpayer, our mission and the Afghan people,'' he said.
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Pentagon to investigate intelligence unit that allegedly used contractors
By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Pentagon said Monday that it was looking into allegations that a Defense Department official had set up an intelligence unit staffed by contractors to hunt insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan under the guise of social and cultural information-gathering.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to confirm or deny whether a criminal investigation had been opened into activities by Michael D. Furlong, a former Special Operations officer who now works as a senior civilian officer for the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Tex.
Furlong's operation, which included numerous former intelligence and Special Operations officials now in the private sector, raised hackles at the CIA, where it was considered "a semi-independent intelligence-collection operation in a war zone," according to a U.S. official familiar with the agency's concerns. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that it was "not apparent who authorized" the operation but that the "potential for disaster" was obvious.
A second source close to the intelligence community said that "both the [CIA] and the Special Operations community . . . have been expressing grave concern for a long time. Why he was able to keep his job, much less continue this program, is a mystery."
Unease about Furlong rose to the highest levels of the intelligence agency, with several briefings provided to CIA Director Leon Panetta.
Although the military apparently terminated the operation late last year, Geoff Morrell, spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, said Monday night that the Pentagon was "in the process of trying to get to the bottom" of the allegations "and determine if any policy or legal guidelines were ignored." If so, he said, "the department will take immediate corrective action and quickly pursue accountability through appropriate channels."
The U.S. Strategic Command, the parent organization of the information operations center, confirmed that Furlong is a full-time civilian employee but did not respond to requests to clarify the nature of his job.
The allegations of a contractor intelligence operation first appeared Sunday night on the New York Times Web site, which said that the operation was designed to help track and kill suspected militants. It noted that it is illegal for the military to hire contractors to act as covert spies. Agreements with the government of Pakistan also prohibit the U.S. military from conducting undercover operations there.
The number of government agencies working in Afghanistan -- many of them involved in intelligence work -- and the expansion of vaguely defined "information operations" and "strategic communications" by the military have led to overlap and confusion. The situation has been compounded by the Obama administration's expanded mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to several government and civilian sources, Furlong's operation was funded under a $24.6 million contract by the Defense Department's Joint IED Defeat Organization, which was set up early in the Iraq war to combat insurgents' roadside bombs. His operation was part of a larger military information program, called Capstone.
In an August review of Afghanistan operations, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in that country, wrote that "CAPSTONE contracts . . . should be supported as these will significantly enhance . . . monitoring and assessment efforts."
Morrell called information operations "an essential weapon in modern warfare."
Among the private firms working with Furlong was International Media Ventures, a relatively new "strategic information" company formed by retired Special Operations officers. Military officials stationed in Afghanistan said that Furlong referred on a number of occasions to work he was doing with former CIA officer Duane Clarridge. Among a number of activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Clarridge was privately retained last year to negotiate with insurgents who had kidnapped New York Times reporter David Rohde. Rohde eventually escaped.
Staff writers Joby Warrick and Craig Whitlock and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
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School funded by Angelina Jolie benefits girls in eastern Afghanistan
TANGI, Afghanistan, March 15 (UNHCR) – There were celebrations in Tangi last week when a new primary school for girls was opened barely 18 months after Angelina Jolie visited the settlement for refugee returnees and expressed concern about the lack of basic education facilities for children.
The popular UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador provided US$75,000 to build the school in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, which was inaugurated on Thursday in time for the start of the school year next Monday. Featuring eight classrooms, four administration buildings, a well and eight latrines, the school can accommodate up to 800 girls in two shifts.
It has been welcomed by parents who are reluctant, for cultural reasons, to send their daughters to schools used by boys. School classrooms built two years ago by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) provide a primary education for more than 1,300 students, with boys attending in the morning and girls in the afternoon.
But this arrangement was not satisfactory for most parents while the available facilities were inadequate to meet the needs of the growing settlement.
Laila, an outgoing 14-year-old whose family returned to Afghanistan from neighbouring Pakistan in 2008, is among those who will benefit from the new school. "I always had hopes and dreams of going to school," said Laila, adding that "the hope to become a qualified teacher has revived in me."
Hakima, also aged 14, has been studying at the existing school, but she explained that her education was being threatened by the lack of facilities. "The school we are presently studying in does not have enough classrooms . . . six of our classes are studying in tents." she said, adding: "Because of the cultural constraints and security concerns, I had decided not to continue."
Iqbal Azizi, head of the provincial education department, said Jolie gift was very important because it was ensuring a brighter future for many girls in Tangi who "otherwise would have been deprived of education in the absence of a primary school building."
There are three settlements at Tangi, gathering some 7,800 people (1,300 families) who have returned from Pakistan over the past five years. Most are originally from Kunar province, but after years in exile they had lost social networks and support systems as well as property in their villages.
They are starting afresh in Nangarhar with the help of UNHCR, other humanitarian agencies and the local authorities, who have provided basic needs like shelter, water and education facilities.
Meanwhile, Laila's father, Ustad, who worked as a teacher in Pakistan, said the new all-girls' school was an important step in the rebuilding of his country. "This is what we needed here and I believe there is a need for every community if we want to build the future of our country – to build schools and get education," he said at the opening ceremony, which was attended by senior UNHCR officials.
UNHCR has been liaising with UNICEF and local education authorities to recruit female teachers and ensure the provision of textbooks. And there are plans to provide secondary education for girls at the new school. Currently, only two girls in Tangi attend high school, which is located 10 kilometres away.
By Mohammed Nader Farhad in Tangi, Afghanistan
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An Afghan Politician Pushes for a Comeback
By CAROLINE BROTHERS The New York Times March 15, 2010
PARIS — The people who want to silence Malalai Joya, the youngest elected politician in Afghanistan, are doing a pretty good job of it in her own country.
She has been expelled from Parliament. She has been barred from appearing in the Afghan media after denouncing the role of the warlords in politics.
What is more, she has received so many death threats that she now lives what she calls a fugitive’s life, changing safe houses every night under the protection of her bodyguards and her burqa. Even the flowers at her wedding were checked for bombs.
But Ms. Joya, 31, is speaking out nonetheless, hoping to engineer a political comeback in legislative elections scheduled for September.
Long an activist for democracy and women’s rights, Ms. Joya has survived at least four assassination attempts.
“My agenda is clear,” she said last month while in Paris for the French publication of her memoir, “A Woman Among Warlords.” “I’m risking my life to one day bring these criminals to court.”
Her confrontational approach has made her the scourge of many of the powers that be in her country. But it has also divided those who might be considered her allies. Nader Nadery, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, called her “a populist” during a newspaper interview last year, and said that “this is not always helpful.”
By law, 25 percent of seats in the Afghan Parliament are reserved for women. But Samira Hamidi, country director for the advocacy group Afghan Women’s Network, said she feared that security problems, and a lack of education and experience, would block the fulfillment of that promise.
Moreover, planned amendments to Afghan electoral law, including one that stipulates that any vacant seat be filled, will erode female representation, Ms. Hamidi said during an interview by telephone last month. “If we don’t get women from remote provinces, that means those seats will be filled by men, and that will decrease the number of women in Parliament,” she said.
In Ms. Joya’s case, security will be an overriding concern. “Just moving from house to house is a very big risk for me,” Ms. Joya said. Still, she has no lack of potential platforms. Supporters in five jurisdictions have asked her to represent them. They include Jalalabad, Nimroz, Takhar, Kabul and Farah — the western province that sent her first to the loya jirga, or traditional assembly, that ratified the Constitution, then elected her to Parliament, at age 27, in 2005.
She originally rose to prominence in 2003 for denouncing the presence of the warlords at the assembly in a speech cut off after 90 seconds. In response, she was called a communist and a prostitute and was mobbed and finally escorted from the building by supporters and U.N. officials, who installed her in a safe house. Later that night, she recounts in her memoir, a crowd came looking for her, threatening to rape and murder her, and tore apart the room she had vacated.
Her banishment from Parliament in 2007 followed her renewed criticisms of its warlord members and their allies. Her microphone was routinely cut off whenever she tried to speak, and members of Parliament hurled water bottles and sandals at her when she denounced what she said were criminal mujahedeen in the house. She was finally expelled when her opponents seized on inflammatory comments she had made in a broadcast interview — even though the expulsion process did not follow constitutional rules.
Now, preparing her political comeback, Ms. Joya said she would prefer to run as a candidate in the capital. “Security is much better in Kabul,” she said. “In the northern areas, the warlords have the upper hand, and they can eliminate me easily.”
Even if she gets the votes, Ms. Joya, whose supporters have grown to include groups of doctors and university students, says she may not be allowed to win. “What matters is not who is voting, it’s who is counting,” she said.
Lacking access to broadcasters and the media within Afghanistan means that her message “for women’s rights, for human rights, against injustice and occupation,” can be spread only by telephone, by clandestine meetings in safe houses and through a poster campaign.
Apart from the obstacles thrown in her way, some say she has done little to build political alliances with others who share her vision of a secular democracy.
“No one can question Malalai Joya’s courage,” said Jonathan Steele, a columnist for The Guardian newspaper and a former correspondent in Afghanistan. “But she needs to be part of a movement, not just a voice,” he said.
Ms. Joya counters that she has been invited to join some of the few democratic parties in Afghanistan but does not want to restrict herself to any one of them.
The United States cited the status of women among reasons for its intervention in Afghanistan. Yet Ms. Joya, who taught girls in secret basement schools during the Taliban years, argues that the situation of women has not improved.
Pointing to the 1920s, when Afghan women traveled to Turkey to study without head scarves or male relatives to accompany them, and to the 1950s, when Afghan women had professional careers, she said that the decline of women’s rights in her country was above all an issue of power.
Levels of domestic violence, rape, forced marriage and suicide make the condition of women today “worse than hell,” she says. For that she blames what she calls President Hamid Karzai’s “corrupt, misogynistic government and his circle of warlords” and on his appointments to Afghan courts.
Hamed Elmi, deputy spokesman for Mr. Karzai in Kabul, discounted Ms. Joya’s accusations. “The government is not corrupt, but we have some corrupt people in government — we try to identify and tackle the issue,” Mr. Elmi said by telephone.
He added that Afghanistan had made progress in involving women at all levels of government and that it could not be ascertained that there were warlords in Parliament since the courts had not proven them guilty. “We have an independent judiciary system,” he said. As for whether the government was misogynistic, he said simply: “She is wrong.”
Back in her homeland, Ms. Joya said, the NATO forces were perpetuating the repression of women by propping up warlords she described as interchangeable with the Taliban.
She called for the immediate departure of foreign troops, even if it would lead to more violence in the civil war. “It is better to leave us alone,” she said. “We will know what to do with our destiny.”
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India asks the world to stay the course in Afghanistan
2010-03-16 11:50:00 Sify
Asserting that India would not scale down in its operations in Afghanistan after the recent attacks on Indians there, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has asked the international community to stay the course in the war torn nation.
'The deteriorating situation in Afghanistan is one of the foremost security related challenges faced by our region. We feel that it is vital for the international community to stay the course in Afghanistan,' she said in an address Monday at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, a Washington think tank.
The barbaric attack against Indians engaged in humanitarian and development work in Afghanistan on Feb 26 was an attack by those who do not wish any other future for that country except one that suits their sinister ambitions, Rao said.
'The international community should understand that such attempts, if unchecked, will only embolden the same forces that held sway in Afghanistan in the 1990s and caused the tragedy of 9/11,' she said.
'We are not scaling down our operations in Afghanistan, we are taking all necessary security measures to safeguard Indian lives there,' Rao responded when asked if India planned to cut back on its activities in Afghanistan after the Feb 26 attack.
Asking for caution in new initiatives on security, reintegration, and reconciliation in Afghanistan, Rao said: 'We believe that any reintegration process should include only those who abjure violence, give up armed struggle and terrorism and are willing to abide by the values of democracy, pluralism and human rights.'
'One cannot stress enough the need to avoid compromises or differentiation between the so-called shades and hues of the Taliban,' she said stressing 'That would be disastrous for Afghanistan and for the world. In short, there is no quick solution to the Af-Pak situation.'
Rao also opposed any sanctions on Iran that would have a direct impact on the common people of the country and hoped the issues between Tehran and the international community will be resolved through dialogue.
'It continues to be our view that sanctions that target Iranian people and cause difficulties to the ordinary man, woman and child would not be conducive to a resolution of this question,' she said in response to a question.
'We do not want more instability in that region. Iran is very much a part of our region. Iran for instance has a very important role to play in the developing situation in Afghanistan and we of course have strong bilateral ties with Iran,' Rao said
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