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Pentagon wants $33 billion more for war in Afghanistan
The Pentagon's request for a $33 billion war supplemental for Afghanistan has Congress concerned about long-term costs. Training Afghan security forces, for instance, could take years.
Christian Science Monitor By Gordon Lubold, Staff writer March 25, 2010
Washington - The Pentagon wants $33 billion in additional funding to pay for the war in Afghanistan this year and train the Afghan military, but members of Congress want to make sure they’re not writing a blank check.
UN welcomes Pakistan's move on Afghan refugees
March 26, 2010 BBC News
The UN refugee agency has welcomed Pakistan's decision to allow nearly 1.7 million Afghan refugees to remain in the country for three more years.
Clinton, Gates Seek $37.5 Billion More
March 26, 2010 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have requested an extra $37.5 billion from Congress to fund military and civilian operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
War and peace: A Taliban view
Asia Times By Syed Saleem Shahzad 25/03/2010
"Mullah Omar has many times ordered these people who call themselves the Pakistani Taliban [Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan] or al-Qaeda to stop the attacks in Pakistan and make their focus fighting against NATO"
War Crimes Amnesty Adds to Afghan Women's Grief
By Aunohita Mojumdar WeNews correspondent Friday, March 26, 2010
Afghanistan's amnesty for war criminals is not playing well in a therapy theater group for Kabul women victimized by years of violence. They wait for a form of justice while perpetrators of violence get impunity and a chance to hold positions of power.
Canadian soldier interviewed Afghan forces detainee
By James Cudmore, CBC News March 26, 2010
Canadian soldiers were given permission to interrogate detainees captured by Afghan security forces, and at least one soldier followed through, according to documents released Thursday by the federal government.
Iran's Growing Regional Ambitions Worry U.S.
Wall Street Journal By Gerald F. Seib 25/03/2010
Afghanistan, site of many a surrealistic scene over the years, produced another one earlier this month.
Britain’s Prince Charles Visits Afghanistan
March 25, 2010 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Britain's Prince Charles made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan today, stopping in Helmand Province where his younger son, Harry, served for 10 weeks until his secret deployment was leaked to the media.
US girds for more violence in Kabul Shifting troops could imperil military progress
Boston Globe By Bryan Bender Globe Staff March 26, 2010
WASHINGTON - Insurgents are preparing a campaign of suicide bombings and other high-profile attacks in the bustling but poorly protected Afghan capital of Kabul this summer, posing a new threat to the fragile Afghan government and the recent military gains
U.S. Official Defends Contractors’ Mission
New York Times By GINGER THOMPSON and MARK MAZZETTI March 25, 2010
SAN ANTONIO - A Defense Department official who is suspected of using private contractors in Afghanistan to help track and kill militants has denied that he did anything wrong, and he asserted that all his work had been approved by top American military commanders.
Probe into mass grave discovery ordered
Pajhwok By Abdul Mueed Hashmi 25/03/2010
JALALABAD - Nangarhar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai has ordered a delegation led by provincial appellant court chief to probe a mass grave found in the Khalis Families locality on the outskirts of Jalalabad, an official said on Monday.
Nato axes Afghan junk food joints at key bases
March 26, 2010 BBC News
Burger bars and pizza joints in Nato bases across Afghanistan are being closed down in an effort "to increase efficiency across the battlefield".
Parwan Women Get Economic Muscle
New skills centre north of Kabul empowers female breadwinners.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Ramesh Nabizada in Parwan (ARR No. 356, 25-Mar-10)
Makai is so engrossed at the clattering sewing machine that she barely notices as visitors enter her new workplace.
Afghan mountain duty offers new view
USA TODAY By Alan Gomez 25/03/2010
BABA SAHEB, Afghanistan - Nearly 3,600 feet up near the peak of Baba Saheb Ghar, a mountain overlooking the Arghandab River Valley, temperatures range from more than 110 degrees during the day to a windy 50 degrees at night.
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Pentagon wants $33 billion more for war in Afghanistan
The Pentagon's request for a $33 billion war supplemental for Afghanistan has Congress concerned about long-term costs. Training Afghan security forces, for instance, could take years.
Christian Science Monitor By Gordon Lubold, Staff writer March 25, 2010
Washington - The Pentagon wants $33 billion in additional funding to pay for the war in Afghanistan this year and train the Afghan military, but members of Congress want to make sure they’re not writing a blank check.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared before Senate appropriators to defend the war supplemental, which is on top of the $708 billion baseline budget submitted to Congress in February.
Most of the war supplemental – a separate account used to pay for war costs – will pay for Afghanistan operations. Of that, $2.6 billion is to train the Afghan national security force, seen as a long-term endeavor that Congress worries could become a burden over time. When can US forces leave?
“The question is, how long is that going to have to continue to the point where we can kind of say we’ve done our thing,” asked Sen. George Voinovich (R) of Ohio. “Five years, ten years, 15 years?”
That question is atop many lawmakers minds as they consider what the Obama administration has said from the start will take years to accomplish.
The Iraq security forces, now nearly 665,000 strong, took at least six years to build. But Iraq had more resources, and American trainers were already working within a culture in which a formal military existed under Sadaam Hussein. Afghanistan’s modern history has never had a formal military structure, and there are even fewer resources in Afghanistan to support one.
Despite contributions from NATO countries, that still leaves the US holding much of the bag when it comes to training the Afghan indigenous force.
While President Obama has pledged to begin removing American troops from Afghanistan in 2011, the training mission will likely continue long after that.
“We are in this intense phase that will be several years,” Ms. Clinton said in answer to Mr. Voinovich’s question. “Obviously, I don’t know that either of us could put a timeline on it. What we’re trying to do simultaneously is clear territory from the Taliban, be able to work more closely with the Afghan army, and at the same time create more capacity.”
Although NATO allies contribute to the training effort – Germany, for example, the third largest contributor of forces to Afghanistan, is almost uniquely charged with training operations in the north – the US will shoulder much of the burden for the long-term. US commanders concerned about Afghan forces
“I know many of you have concerns about the Afghan security forces,” Mr. Gates said in his opening statement. “I share those concerns, as do our military commanders.”
Gates noted that the Afghan army has made “real progress” over the last year, and that many Afghan soldiers are making enormous sacrifices for their country. But Gates emphasized that the US can get out of Afghanistan faster if the training piece of the mission is done right, and that will likely take time. And while much praise goes to the Afghan army, the police force – seen as widely corrupt – will be a much harder fix.
“As you consider this request, I would emphasize that successfully accomplishing the training mission represents both our exit strategy and the key for long-term stability in Afghanistan,” Gates said.
But as a reminder of the cost of training indigenous militaries, the $33 billion funding request includes $1 billion still needed to strengthen Iraqi security forces, a force many consider to be all but fully trained as the US prepares to remove all its combat forces by August.
Gates said the money will help to “ensure that the Iraqis are fully prepared to assume internal security responsibilities.”
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UN welcomes Pakistan's move on Afghan refugees
March 26, 2010 BBC News
The UN refugee agency has welcomed Pakistan's decision to allow nearly 1.7 million Afghan refugees to remain in the country for three more years.
Agency chief Antonio Guterres said as a host to the largest refugee population in the world Pakistan's help was vital.
The decision to allow Afghan refugees to remain in Pakistan till 2012 is part of a new policy that was approved by the federal cabinet in Islamabad.
The refugees live mainly in designated villages or among host communities.
Last year the UNHCR temporarily suspended operations helping Afghans return home from Pakistan in order to safeguard the security of its staff.
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Clinton, Gates Seek $37.5 Billion More
March 26, 2010 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have requested an extra $37.5 billion from Congress to fund military and civilian operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
The Pentagon is seeking $33 billion of the request, and most of the total amount would go toward funding operations in Afghanistan.
Clinton said the supplement, which goes beyond the White House’s original funding request, would help the United States achieve its goals in all of what she called "frontline states."
"Our request addresses urgent demands that will advance our efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan and ensure a smooth transition to a civilian-led effort in Iraq," she said.
In Afghanistan, Clinton said, the funds would be used to facilitate civilian integration in security forces as well, along with support for agriculture and infrastructure projects, local governance, and women's initiatives.
She also said that the money would be used for increased oversight of multibillion-dollar reconstruction projects in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Gates said some of the funds would be used for increased training of Afghan forces, which would help the United States stay on target to begin withdrawing from the country in July 2011.
He urged lawmakers to approve the request by early spring.
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War and peace: A Taliban view
Asia Times By Syed Saleem Shahzad 25/03/2010
"Mullah Omar has many times ordered these people who call themselves the Pakistani Taliban [Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan] or al-Qaeda to stop the attacks in Pakistan and make their focus fighting against NATO"
KARACHI - After an often stormy relationship with the United States over the past 63 years since its independence, Pakistan is in the process of forging an all-embracing strategic relationship with Washington.
A delegation led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is in Washington for meetings at the State Department with a team led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss matters ranging from the situation in Afghanistan to a civil nuclear deal to commerce and agriculture.
The American military command also specially invited a military contingent, including army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani and the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha. High on their agenda are the recent arrests in Pakistan of senior Taliban officials, including that of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
Washington and Islamabad will have their own interpretation of their emerging deeper relationship as well as the significance of the arrests: that they will lead to a peace process in which Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda will be isolated and the US will reconcile with moderate Taliban cadre through Pakistan's mediation.
The Taliban, too, have their viewpoint on these unfolding developments. A senior Taliban official contacted Asia Times Online to put their side of the story. The man cannot be identified because the Taliban, since the arrests, are very cautious. For the purposes of this report, the Talib will be called Abdullah.
Rendezvous with the Taliban The traffic moves slowly on the main arteries of the southern port city of Karachi on weekend evenings as people search out roadside restaurants; their parked cars line the streets, clogging byways that are already overflowing with bustling pedestrians.
All the same, I make it to my appointed meeting place at 9pm. Within a minute a brand-new silver-grey imported Japanese car draws to a halt in front of me. I immediately recognize the man in the front passenger's seat; I interviewed him several years ago. He had a senior position in the Taliban government until it was forced out by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Abdullah is about 50 years old, but looks much older.
I slip into the back seat behind Abdullah and exchange greetings.
"Against all the odds, given the arrests, we have come to see you," the driver and interlocutor of our meeting tells me. "But we have to follow new arrangements. You will not quote his [Abdullah's] name as since the arrest of Mullah Baradar there have been strict instructions from the ameerul momineen [commander of the faithful - a title the Taliban use for Mullah Omar] to avoid media interviews," the driver says. I have no option but to accept the condition.
The car makes its way through busy roads towards a main northern exit of the city.
"What is your take on the recent arrests of Taliban leaders and commanders?" I say, breaking a heavy silence. We are now cruising past trucks laden with goods destined for northern Pakistan.
"What arrests are you talking about?" Abdullah responds.
"Several people, like Moulvi Abdul Kabir [a former Taliban governor of Nagarhar province in Afghanistan], Mullah Abdul Salam, Mullah Mir Muhammad, Syed Tayyab Agha [Mullah Omar's secretary] and Mullah Mustasim Jan Agha," I say.
"I assure you, 300%, neither Moulvi Abdul Kabir nor Syed Tayyab Agha has been arrested. It was false reporting. Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Muhammad were arrested at least a month before Mullah Baradar, but their arrest was shown after Mullah Baradar's. I have not been in direct contact with Mullah Mustasim Jan Agha so I cannot claim with surety about his status, but I was told by his friends that he was not arrested," Abdullah says.
"There are so many conspiracy theories surrounding Mullah Baradar's arrest, what is your understanding. Why was he arrested by Pakistan?"
"Pakistan's compulsions the compulsions that are now rising day-by-day," he replies mildly.
By now we were speeding along a main highway, with the city lights fast receding. All of a sudden the driver slows down and turns onto a muddy track. After a short while he draws up at an open-air restaurant frequented mostly by truck drivers. At this time it is not busy and we order a meal of chicken Karahi, a famous Pashtun dish, yogurt, fresh green salad and nan (bread).
"Mullah Baradar's arrest has opened up a Pandora's box of conspiracy theories," I venture. "Some people say he was abandoned by Mullah Omar. Some say he had been talking with the Afghan government and the United Nations and that's why he was disliked by the ISI and was arrested. There is also a theory that through his arrest Pakistan wanted to open communication with the Taliban. What do the Taliban think?"
"Mullah Baradar was part of the Taliban and there was no trust deficit between him and Mullah Omar. However, it is entirely false that he was part of any reconciliation process or that he held any talks with anybody. At the same time, keep in mind that it is a Taliban policy that the minute one of their men is arrested, they abandon all links with him so there is no chance of any communication through him or any other detained leader," Abdullah says.
I interject: "I heard from the Punjabi camp [non-Pashtun militants] as well as from al-Qaeda that Mullah Omar was communicating through Mullah Baradar with [Saudi intelligence chief] Prince Muqrin, who then passed on messages to Washington and the Afghan government. Arsala Rahmani [a former Taliban minister now part of the political process in Kabul] also told me that those talks collapsed only because the Barack Obama administration pushed for a troop surge in Afghanistan."
"There is not a shred of truth in this statement. Neither the Punjabis nor al-Qaeda could know about the Taliban's internal affairs. It is all gossip or their speculation - like the speculation that there were talks in Dubai between Mullah Baradar and Abdul Qayyum [Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother]. People speculate like this because Karzai and Baradar come from the same tribe [Popalzai Durrani], but it is all speculation. And people like Arsala Rahmani could not be aware of the situation. Whether it is Arsala Rahmani or Abdul Wakeel Mutawakil [a former Taliban minister recently taken off a United Nations list that had banned him from traveling and frozen his assets], the Taliban don't want to keep any contact with them. The Taliban do not even have anything to do with Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef [the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan]," says Abdullah.
His comment on Zaeef surprises me. Zaeef was arrested by Pakistan and handed over to the US soon after the Taliban's defeat in Afghanistan in 2001. He spent many years at the US's Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba before being released. He now lives in Kabul but under tight security; officially, he cannot leave the city without informing the local administration. He is widely believed to be an important go-between for the Taliban and the Afghan government. He publicly says he is still loyal to the Taliban.
Abdullah disagrees. "He moves to Saudi Arabia. He goes to Dubai frequently, and you call him a detainee? Mullah Omar sent him a message, telling him to run away and join the resistance. He turned down the order, which means he defied Mullah Omar. We are fully knowledgeable that he is in a position to dodge his security and he could have come to us, but he refused and now he is issuing statements as if he is still a Talib. He is not a Talib. We have nothing to do with him, and neither are we responsible for any of his statements," Abdullah says.
I move the conversation on, asking about supposed talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
"I will tell you exactly what happened. You know that the Taliban had close ties with Saudi Arabia, so we received a message from there. Ameerul Momineen [Mullah Omar] sent Syed Tayyab Agha to Saudi Arabia as he is in charge of political affairs. Tayyab Agha met with Prince Muqrin, but you could not call it dialogue for reconciliation," explains Abdullah.
"Prince Muqrin emphasized that there should be a dialogue process between the Afghan government and the Taliban so that foreign forces could leave Afghanistan. Tayyab, on behalf of Mullah Omar, asked Muqrin why Saudi Arabia was interested in such dialogue. Was it because of Osama bin Laden? Muqrin said this was not the case. Then Tayyab asked him whether Saudi Arabia had any particular agenda. He denied this too. Tayyab returned from Saudi Arabia and briefed Mullah Omar. Later, Mullah Omar sent a message to Muqrin, saying that it appeared Saudi Arabia only wanted dialogue with the Taliban on somebody else's behalf. The Taliban do not want to hold such dialogue, so that was the end of the communication," Abdullah says.
"When did Tayyab go to Saudi Arabia?"
"About four to five months ago."
"And nobody spotted Tayyab traveling to Saudi Arabia?"
"Has anybody traced me moving here and there? It is the same with Tayyab."
"But no pictures of you are available. Tayyab's pictures and video footage are available in abundance, especially in the Western media as after 9/11 he delivered dozens of media conferences in Kandahar as the Taliban's spokesperson," I argue.
Abdullah smiles, "While he was in Iran he made a significant change to his appearance. He is completely different from how he appeared in the video footage. He is completely unidentifiable."
"Now you are telling me that Mullah Omar's secretary was in Iran. Did he live there in hiding or was he given shelter by the Iranian government?"
"He was given refuge by the Iranian government in 2002, he lived there for about a year. Even in the past years he has visited Iran occasionally."
"Why did he not go to Pakistan?"
"He feared being arrested because he was close to al-Qaeda."
We fall silent for a while as we enjoy our dinner.
"Do you appreciate that al-Qaeda and the Punjabis carried out attacks on Pakistan's security forces after the arrest of Mullah Baradar?" I ask.
"Saleem! You need to understand that Pakistan arrested Mullah Baradar under compulsion and we have a compulsion as well, that no matter how Pakistan jacks up its actions against us we cannot sanction attacks on Pakistan, or for that matter against any Muslim country. Mullah Omar has many times ordered these people who call themselves the Pakistani Taliban [Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan] or al-Qaeda to stop the attacks in Pakistan and make their focus fighting against NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Afghanistan], but these people don't listen," Abdullah says.
"But don't you think that such attacks put pressure on the Pakistani military apparatus and force them to stay neutral?"
"I will put the situation in a different way. Suppose from tomorrow we made our entire focus to attack the Karzai administration and gave up our resistance against foreign troops. What would you think of us? Would the Muslim world consider us a legitimate resistance? These Punjabis and al-Qaeda are obsessed with targeting the Pakistani security forces and their contribution to fighting against NATO is limited."
"But there are several big Punjabi commanders, like Ilyas Kashmiri, in the al-Qaeda camp. Do you question their wisdom as well?"
"There is a weird situation in North Waziristan [tribal area in Pakistan]. If you spend just 20 days there you will talk the way they talk and you will start declaring certain Muslims as heretic and issue decrees of murder and assassination. This is not the Islamic way. The Taliban cannot accept that."
"They have pledged their allegiance to Mullah Omar, even Osama bin Laden and [his deputy] Ayman al-Zawahiri have, then why don't they listen to you?" I ask.
"Neither Osama bin Laden nor Ayman are on the surface. The only person who seems to be in command is Sheikh Saeed [alias Abu Mustafa al-Yazid], but people under him do not listen to him. Al-Qaeda is not a very disciplined body. Unlike the Taliban, where Mullah Omar's order is followed by all, in al-Qaeda and among Punjabis everybody has their own policies. Now in defiance of Mullah Omar they have started taking the baith [pledge of allegiance] to different people. We are not in a position to constantly stay in touch with them and talk to them on all those affairs," Abdullah says.
I switch topics. "Do you think the conflict in Afghanistan will just go on, and that there is no point in talks?"
The Taliban leader looks into my eyes for a while before answering.
"This all comes from real intentions. They want our defeat, not reconciliation. This talks issue is not a new one. The Taliban talked to the Americans, the Saudis and to the Pakistanis even before 9/11. The Taliban wanted to avoid the war [on Afghanistan in 2001] but we felt that the Americans were bent on a war and wanted to dislodge the Taliban government, and they were looking for some excuse.
"They made an issue of Osama bin Laden's presence in Afghanistan and tightened the noose around the Taliban government. We said that Osama bin Laden was just an individual. For argument's sake, say that tomorrow he died. Would the Taliban government then be acceptable to you? The Americans responded with other issues, women's rights and human rights in Afghanistan, as well as education.
"We replied, 'OK, we will work on mechanisms under which we will take steps for women's education and the improvement of human rights.' What then? The Americans raised another issue, about holding elections. At this point we realized the Americans were only concerned about waging war on Afghanistan for whatever reason. Had 9/11 not happened, they would have found any old excuse to wage war," says Abdullah.
He continues, "Even now, if you go through all their arguments concerning talks with the Taliban, their bottom line is 'surrender arms first and then sit at the table for talks'. This is a non-starter. It does not show any serious American intention of talks. Why should we surrender? Recently, they attacked Marjah [in Helmand province in Afghanistan], but within days the Taliban took back control of some areas of Marjah and Nad-e-Ali. There is no intention on their part to initiate talks, so there is no reason for us to start [talks]."
"Not even through Pakistan?"
"If you mean [President] Asif [Ali] Zardari's government. It is impossible that we would talk to it."
"What if the army offers dialogue?"
"So far we have not received any signal that the army wants any dialogue with the Taliban."
I add my observation, "What I gather is that Washington aims through Pakistan to arrest top Taliban leaders and commanders, isolate Mullah Omar and then either force the commanders to change their path or create a situation for Mullah Omar to sit down for talks."
"Those who hatched this plan do not understand the Taliban or Mullah Omar. Whoever among the Taliban is arrested becomes zero. No Talib would listen to his [a captured person's] advice. You know Mullah Omar only interacts with a very few select people. In the last eight years he has not seen his wife or his children or any relative, except if they happen to be a Taliban commander and he meets them in that capacity.
"Once he asked Mullah Baradar to meet him, but Baradar replied that he operated in the field and might one day be arrested, and that would compromise Mullah Omar's position. Remember, nobody can isolate Mullah Omar. Everything in the Taliban starts and ends with Mullah Omar's orders," Abdullah says.
This ends the interview of several hours. I am dropped off on the outskirts of Karachi, left alone at the roadside as the car speeds off into the night to an unknown destination.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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War Crimes Amnesty Adds to Afghan Women's Grief
By Aunohita Mojumdar WeNews correspondent Friday, March 26, 2010
Afghanistan's amnesty for war criminals is not playing well in a therapy theater group for Kabul women victimized by years of violence. They wait for a form of justice while perpetrators of violence get impunity and a chance to hold positions of power.
KABUL, Afghanistan (WOMENSENEWS)--On a makeshift stage on a small verandah of a ramshackle house in Kabul, four women stand together in front of an audience of more than 50 women who are gathered in the courtyard of the house. Three of the actresses play the parts of women: a matriarch and her two daughters-in-law. The fourth plays a disabled son.
The production is part of the women's attempts to come to peace with what they have experienced in their strife-torn nation. Yet, a new realization that those who raped and otherwise maimed and murdered them and members of their families now will receive total amnesty in perpetuity may add even more of a sense of unresolved grief.
Its plot: With no able men to hold down a job, the family is reduced to penury and discord. The story ends with the disabled son joining the Taliban in return for money.
The situation is familiar to both the actors and the audience, all women from some of the poorest neighborhoods of Kabul who have lost a family member or suffered brutal violence in the successive waves of fighting and the regime change from the Soviet- installed government to the anti-Soviet mujahideen and the Taliban.
Some of these women have survived rape, according to some rights workers here, but little public mention is made of that due to the heavy social taboo that can turn rape victims into social outcasts.
The participatory theater is organized by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization. The group, based in Kabul, works with victims of the Afghan conflict and is a member of a coalition of civil society groups advocating a transitional justice program. Theater of Transformation
The theatricals call on the women to take on one of the roles in a familiar societal drama and transform it. Based on theories of social psychotherapy, the goal is to internalize a sense of civil rights and to heal wounds. Before the staging, the women go through a workshop about the social influence of theater and taking the performances into their communities.
"Most of the women suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder," said Dr. Neak Mohammed Sharif, a member of the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization. Sharif says the project draws on the Theatre of the Oppressed, pioneered by Augusto Boal of Brazil.
None of the women in the production last week wanted to play the part of the Taliban insurgent. Several said a Taliban character would be too rigid and unchangeable.
The women associated with the drama group come from the neighborhoods of Chilsitoon and Dasht-e-Barchi, which were caught in the crosshairs of the violence unleashed on the city between 1992 and 1996 as commanders of political factions fought for control of Kabul.
Since 2006 they have been waiting for the Afghan government's promise to implement a transitional justice program intended to help women such as themselves. The phrase transitional justice refers to a process that seeks recognition for victims while promoting possibilities for peace, reconciliation and democracy. Afghanistan's plan included removing human rights abusers from positions of power. The deadline for implementation passed in March 2009.
Quiet Forgiveness of War Crimes
Instead, in a development that caught the world off guard, the government earlier this year announced it had adopted an amnesty law as far back as November 2008, a fact it had kept under wraps until now. The amnesty is in perpetuity for all combatants, including war criminals and those who committed rape. The women here expect it to include some of the military commanders of the 1992-1996 violence.
"Who is [Afghanistan's president] Karzai to forgive the deaths in my family?" said Sakina, a middle-aged widow from Dasht-e-Barchi, a poor neighborhood of west Kabul. She lost her husband and niece in the conflict. "He wants to give the Taliban money, land and privileges. To me, a victim, he gives me a widow's pension of 300 Afs ($6) a month. Karzai says he will forgive the Taliban? Who gave him this right?"
In 2007, Parliament introduced a law to prevent the prosecution of individuals responsible for large-scale human rights abuses. The bill produced widespread outcry and rights groups and international donors thought it was dropped.
Earlier this year, however, it came to light that the law been adopted quietly at some point in 2008. It says all those engaged in hostilities before the formation of an interim government in December 2001 shall "enjoy all their legal rights and shall not be prosecuted;" it also promises the same immunity to all those currently involved in hostilities if they lay down their arms and adhere to the constitution.
The coalition of groups calling for implementation of the transitional justice program passed a resolution earlier this month calling for a repeal of the amnesty law.
Meanwhile, the government is preparing to hold a peace meeting during the first two days in May, which will include clerics, community leaders and elders and is designed to bring current armed insurgents back into civic life.
Many women here see the meeting as a chance for perpetrators of violence to join the government and hold positions of power, with no accountability and no punishment.
Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian journalist who has reported on the South Asian region for 20 years. She has been living in Afghanistan since 2003. For more information:
Human Rights Watch's appeal to repeal amnesty law: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/03/10/afghanistan-repeal-amnesty-law
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Canadian soldier interviewed Afghan forces detainee
By James Cudmore, CBC News March 26, 2010
Canadian soldiers were given permission to interrogate detainees captured by Afghan security forces, and at least one soldier followed through, according to documents released Thursday by the federal government.
In at least one case, a soldier assigned to question an Afghan prisoner later expressed concern Afghan forces had abused the detainee before the questioning took place, the documents say.
The revelation is contained in more than 2,500 pages of military detainee documents tabled Thursday by the Conservative government. The documents also show it took almost two years for military police to get around to investigating the soldier's allegation.
A Canadian soldier who in 2007 helped Afghan security forces interrogate a prisoner later told his boss he worried the detainee had been abused. The soldier recounted his story to Canadian Capt. Simon Parker.
At the time, Parker was second in command of an infantry company in Afghanistan. He was also responsible for a small group of soldiers employed as "tactical questioners."
In a February 2007 email, Parker wrote that the Canadian Forces needed to better prepare Canadian questioners for the rigours of working with Afghans because they "don't follow our policies on detainee handling if you know what I mean."
In the email, Parker relayed parts of a discussion he had with his soldiers after one of them told Parker he had been asked by Afghan security forces to help interrogate a detainee.
The soldier said he received permission from his Canadian chain of command — even though Canadian troops had nothing to do with the capture. He noted the detainee appeared injured and had been engaged in labour, working to stack a pile of bricks.
The soldier told Parker questioning the detainee made him feel uncomfortable, and Parker relayed the soldier's story in an email to colleagues. The email wound its way through the military's intelligence and special forces branches before landing in the hands of military police in April 2007.
The email is contained in detainee documents released by the government yesterday. According to those documents, the military police were too busy to investigate the allegations in Parker's email until nearly two years later.
They ended the investigation after they learned the detainee had not been captured by Canadians but by Afghans.
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Iran's Growing Regional Ambitions Worry U.S.
Wall Street Journal By Gerald F. Seib 25/03/2010
Afghanistan, site of many a surrealistic scene over the years, produced another one earlier this month.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the Afghan capital of Kabul, asserting along the way that Iran next door was trying to undermine the American effort to bolster Afghanistan's leaders. Iran's mischief, Mr. Gates indicated, includes providing at least some arms and money to the Taliban fighters trying to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.
As soon as Mr. Gates left Kabul to visit some of those American troops in the field, another visitor arrived—none other than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran. Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave the Iranian leader a warm welcome, called Iranians his "brothers" and stood by quietly as Mr. Ahmadinejad publicly suggested that American soldiers—the very soldiers fighting and dying to keep Mr. Karzai in power—had no business being in Afghanistan at all.
American officials play down the significance of Mr. Karzai's symbolic embrace of Iran's leader, describing it as the sort of thing he has to do to cope with a powerful neighbor that isn't going away.
Still, the byplay illustrates why Iran's nuclear program isn't the only Iranian problem American leaders have to worry about. The broader concern is Iran's interest in becoming a more powerful regional player able to eclipse Western interests in the area.
Indeed, Iran's nuclear program may be most worrisome precisely because a nuclear-armed Iran would be even better able to intimidate its neighbors and expand its influence.
America's post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have only made it easier for Iran to spread its wings in the region. Whatever else one may think of those conflicts, one of their unfortunate side effects was to eliminate nettlesome opponents on two of Iran's borders.
To the west, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, for all his grievous sins, was the most powerful counter-weight to Iranian influence in the neighborhood. He's gone now, replaced by an embryonic Iraqi democracy whose most prominent leaders have a history of working with, rather than battling, Iran.
To the east, Afghanistan's Taliban regime, before it fell to American forces, was another needle in Iran's side. The Taliban's brand of Sunni extremism was distasteful to Iran's Shiite leaders, while Taliban mistreatment of Shiites and ethnic minority groups sent refugees fleeing into Iran and produced a tense border for Tehran to worry about.
Now, of course, Iran has to worry instead about tens of thousands of American troops next door in Afghanistan. But Iran's leaders, like those in Afghanistan itself, know those American soldiers won't be around forever, and the question is whether Iranian influence will fill the vacuum when GIs begin to depart Afghanistan next year.
Thus, one of the more intriguing subplots playing out amid the new American offensive in Afghanistan is what kind of relationship Mr. Karzai's government will develop with Tehran.
On the one hand, there is the concern Mr. Gates articulated, that Iran is trying to undermine the American effort to build a stable Afghanistan friendly to the West. Mr. Gates accused Iran of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan, trying to maintain good relations with Mr. Karzai's government while simultaneously seeking to undermine the American and other international forces trying to build up that same government.
Other U.S. officials said the aid coming from Iran includes provision of weapons, training and ammunition to the Taliban, as well as some financing.
Yet the Iranians also appear to be taking care not to be too provocative. Mr. Gates described the Iranian support to the Taliban to be at a "relatively low level." Other officials say that, significantly, U.S. forces haven't seen signs that Iran is providing the Taliban the so-called explosively formed penetrator devices, which insurgents in Iraq have used to damage American armored vehicles.
Moreover, some analysts argue that Iran and the U.S. actually share the same long-term goal in Afghanistan, which is to see a stable government emerge. For the U.S., achieving that goal is crucial to ensure that al Qaeda and other extremist groups don't regroup in an Afghan power vacuum. For Iran, it's important to ensure a stable border free of both refugee problems and drug trafficking.
In fact, George Gavrilis, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argued in a paper last year that Iran has, overall, behaved responsibly toward Afghanistan. "Iran works furiously to protect its vast boundary with Afghanistan, responds to unrest in its border provinces with an iron fist, and avoids major intrigues in Kabul," he wrote.
As a result, Mr. Gavrilis argued, "it's high time for the United States to engage Iran over Afghanistan in a way that is public, decisive, and comprehensive. Strategic cooperation is possible because the United States and Iran have converging interests and common aversions in Afghanistan."
Given the current state of tensions over Iran's nuclear program, that kind of engagement seems unlikely now. In the long run, on the Afghan question as on the nuclear question, America's best bet may be that the internal unrest now coursing through Iran will produce a different kind of regime there that could serve as a partner rather than an adversary.
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Britain’s Prince Charles Visits Afghanistan
March 25, 2010 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Britain's Prince Charles made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan today, stopping in Helmand Province where his younger son, Harry, served for 10 weeks until his secret deployment was leaked to the media.
The 61-year-old heir to the British throne said troops can keep themselves busy in the field, but the experience is “ghastly” for the relatives left behind.
Britain has lost 276 troops since the war began in 2001, second only to the United States for foreign military losses in Afghanistan.
British soldiers have mainly been tasked with battling the Taliban in Helmand, the center of Afghanistan's illegal narcotics trade that has financed the militant group.
compiled from agency reports
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US girds for more violence in Kabul Shifting troops could imperil military progress
Boston Globe By Bryan Bender Globe Staff March 26, 2010
WASHINGTON - Insurgents are preparing a campaign of suicide bombings and other high-profile attacks in the bustling but poorly protected Afghan capital of Kabul this summer, posing a new threat to the fragile Afghan government and the recent military gains of the American-led counterinsurgency, according to several US officials and advisers briefed on recent intelligence reports.
The prospect of an Iraq-style spate of bombings in Afghanistan’s most populous city, which so far has been spared much of the violence, could draw forces away from the main effort to beat back the Taliban in the south of the country, where most US reinforcements have been dispatched this year, the officials said.
The warnings are prompting commanders to step up intelligence-gathering efforts on possible sanctuaries in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to monitor the supply lines for moving bombers and explosives into the capital, though the officials said they fear the Afghan government and its coalition partners are ill-prepared.
One top US defense official, who spoke on the condition he not be named when discussing sensitive security matters, described new “intelligence streams’’ that are pointing to one particular insurgent group allied with both the Taliban and Al Qaeda: the Haqqani Network, which operates out of Pakistan and has already been tied to a series of high-profile attacks, including a citywide assault in Kabul earlier this year using foreign recruits wielding small arms and an ambulance rigged with explosives.
“There is a real, serious danger that they will try to escalate these spectacular attacks,’’ said Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who has advised the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley A. McChrystal. “I think it would undermine confidence in the [Afghan] government. The Afghan government has to do a lot more to harden Kabul like what was done in Baghdad.’’
Kabul, with an estimated 3 million people, is defended mostly by Afghan security forces and a small contingent of Italian, Spanish, and other NATO troops and is considered a “soft target’’ due to minimal fortifications around key government buildings and a limited network of checkpoints along approaches to the city. Still, to date it has enjoyed relative security as the Taliban insurgency has gained strength in the south and east of the country.
According to the Afghanistan Index, compiled by the nonpartisan Brookings Institution in Washington, there were 26 attempted attacks using improvised explosives in Kabul last year, compared with 636 in the eastern part of the country and 480 in the south.
Still, the number of attempted attacks in Kabul more than doubled. And although some officials doubt that insurgents could inflict anywhere near the level of violence in 2006 that seized Baghdad, which suffered thousands of casualties from suicide bombings attributed to the group Al Qaeda in Iraq, the destructive power of the bombings in Afghanistan is on the rise.
Lieutenant General Michael Oates, who oversees US efforts to combat so-called “improvised explosive devices,’’ testified to a House committee last week that the lethality of attacks in Afghanistan has increased 50 percent over the past three years, including the size of the explosives.
Specialists believe Kabul is already becoming a more appealing target for the Haqqani Network, so named for its leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, and considered one of the most sophisticated of Afghanistan’s insurgent groups.
The group dates to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and has strong links with the Al Qaeda terrorist leadership and its pool of young foreign recruits. From its radical religious schools and training camps in North Waziristan in Pakistan’s lawless tribal region it has recruited Afghans, Pakistanis, Arabs, and others to carry out a series of attacks in the past two years, including the simultaneous bombings of government buildings in the city of Khost, a suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, and an attempt to bomb the motorcade of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai.
The group has extended its reach to more Afghan provinces, including those adjacent to Kabul.
“The network is responsible for conducting spectacular attacks within the provinces of Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Logar, Kabul, and increasingly in areas like Nangarhar, and Kunar,’’ said Matthew Dupee, an Afghan security specialist at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. “This puts Kabul directly in the cross-hairs.’’
It also appears to have an “ample supply of willing suicide bombers and tactically dedicated fighters,’’ he added, and is believed to receive help in planning attacks from corrupt officials inside the Afghan Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for police forces, as well as the Ministry of Defense. In recent months Afghan Army personnel have been indicted for having connections to the militant group.
The United States has stepped up operations against the group; in late February, a suspected US drone strike reportedly killed Muhammad Haqqani, the son of the group’s founder, in Pakistan.
But with the bulk of US and Afghan forces targeting Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, it remains capable of operating relatively freely in large swaths of Afghanistan, according to a recent research paper published by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank.
Military and intelligence officials and outside specialists say a stepped-up campaign in Kabul could have a variety of consequences. It would draw scarce resources away from the primary focus on insurgents elsewhere in the country, including Khandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city and the traditional homeland of the Taliban. US forces say they will launch a major offensive there in the coming months.
The attempt could also backfire on the militants, however, by alienating the Afghan people and further increasing support for the government and US-led military forces.
“Suicide bombing kills huge numbers of civilians. The greatest risk to them is that they will destroy any public support they might have had,’’ said Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who also advises McChrystal on military strategy.
Biddle and others believe insurgents are willing to take such a risk if they can pull it off. “They may feel like they have nothing to lose anyway,’’ Biddle said.
Dupee, for his part, believes such a Kabul offensive could crumble the US-led coalition, including leading some NATO countries to pull out of the war.
“Any type of high casualty rate among Italian or Spanish forces could prompt massive scale downs or withdrawals,’’ he said.
Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.
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U.S. Official Defends Contractors’ Mission
New York Times By GINGER THOMPSON and MARK MAZZETTI March 25, 2010
SAN ANTONIO - A Defense Department official who is suspected of using private contractors in Afghanistan to help track and kill militants has denied that he did anything wrong, and he asserted that all his work had been approved by top American military commanders.
In an interview with The San Antonio Express-News, the official, Michael D. Furlong, said his work was limited to managing contractors who gathered information intended to inform troops about their environment and to protect them from roadside bombs.
He flatly denied claims that his team, which included former operatives of the C.I.A. and military Special Operations units, fed information to military intelligence agencies for possible lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Spying for the military by a private contractor is generally considered illegal.
Mr. Furlong told The Express-News in interviews last week, parts of which were quoted in an article posted on its Web site on Wednesday, that the allegations were meant to cover up a turf war between the Pentagon and the C.I.A., which saw his activities as an infringement on their work. He said he had been locked out of his office at Lackland Air Force Base here, which prevented him from having access to e-mail messages and other documents that could prove his innocence.
Mr. Furlong, a civilian employee of the military and a retired Army officer, complained that he was being treated as a “fall guy,” and he said no one on his team was ever involved with combat operations like kicking in doors or firing on militant targets. His work, he said, was aimed only at “providing the best force protection we can provide all those 20-somethings in the foxholes.” He added, “It’s about saving lives.”
His comments came as the Defense Department ordered a two-week investigation into his activities, which were first reported in The New York Times earlier this month. Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had ordered a small group of military and Defense Department officials to assess the department’s information operations, which cost about $528 million this year, and particularly whether information gathered and disseminated for defensive efforts was being used inappropriately to help stage offensive operations.
“The secretary wants to make sure the programs that execute that money are being done according to our guidelines and with proper oversight, and that we’re getting our money’s worth out of it,” Mr. Morrell said.
Separately, the Pentagon’s inspector general is also investigating Mr. Furlong’s work and whether he inappropriately diverted money from an information-gathering program to pay contractors who acted as spies.
Mr. Furlong has extensive experience in so-called psychological operations, those used to confuse or deceive an adversary. His résumé says he served in Bosnia from the mid-to-late 1990s, and in 2003, he served briefly as the director of an American-operated media consortium in Iraq that was set up to help improve Washington’s image after the invasion of Iraq.
In 2008, Mr. Furlong was part of a program called Capstone, which was run by the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center at Lackland Air Force Base.
Although the center falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Strategic Command, based in Nebraska, officials there have distanced themselves from Mr. Furlong’s work, saying he was on loan to the United States Central Command, which controls operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Officials at Central Command would not comment on the case. A Defense official said that the department’s investigation would determine who was overseeing Mr. Furlong and whether there was anything improper about his work.
Mr. Furlong told The Express-News that his team filed more than 260 “atmospheric protection reports” and that their work helped thwart the assassinations of Afghan allies.
“I can categorically say none of (the contractors) ever took part in an operational action,” he said in The Express-News interview. “We were purely information gatherers.”
Ginger Thompson reported from San Antonio, and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.
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Probe into mass grave discovery ordered
Pajhwok By Abdul Mueed Hashmi 25/03/2010
JALALABAD - Nangarhar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai has ordered a delegation led by provincial appellant court chief to probe a mass grave found in the Khalis Families locality on the outskirts of Jalalabad, an official said on Monday.
The grave containing 1,000 bodies was found in the mountains of the Osama-bin-Laden area of the Maulvi Khalis Families neighbourhood, nine kilometres south of Jalalabad, the provincial capital.
A tribal elder named Haji Abdul Wahid earlier told Pajhwok Afghan News 1,000 corpses had been found in the grave measuring some 500 square metres.
"Most of them were martyrs including mujahideen, religious scholars and spiritual leaders. They were killed by the communist regime in the wake of the 1979 coup d'tat," he added.
Some of the victims were shot dead, some slaughtered and others buried alive, according to Haji Wahid, who revealed that signs of blood were seen in a nearby pond.
Gubernatorial spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told Pajhwok the probe team comprised the court chief and officials from the attorney office, culture and haj ministries, police headquarters, intelligence department, human rights commission and other entities.
The spokesman said the delegation had been asked to conduct a thoroughgoing investigation and present their findings to the governor as soon as possible.
A former jihadi commander from neighbouring Laghman province, Abdullah Sadaqat, showed Pajhwok knee bones, skulls and other body parts recovered from the site.
Sadaqat recalled Maulvi Mohammad Yunus Khalis, during a visit to the area, had prevented people from digging up the ground. "With the government playing a silent spectator, we have collected 100,000 afghanis for building a wall around the site."
Police spokesman, Col. Abdul Ghafoor had earlier said they had no official details yet on the discovery of the mass grave. However, he assured, police would launch an investigation after approval from senior officials.
The acting director of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan in the east, Naqeebullah Bashari, said they had also assigned a team with probing the issue and finding out further facts.
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Nato axes Afghan junk food joints at key bases
March 26, 2010 BBC News
Burger bars and pizza joints in Nato bases across Afghanistan are being closed down in an effort "to increase efficiency across the battlefield".
A Nato spokesman said that "amenities" at bases across the country are being phased out for logistical reasons.
He said officials at each base will decide exactly when they are axed.
Nato's top Afghanistan commander, Gen Stanley McChrystal, made it clear last year that the days of Burger King and Pizza Hut on Isaf bases were numbered.
He expressed concern that burger bars, pizza restaurants and other stores in large International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) bases at Kandahar, Bagram and Mazar-e-Sharif served as a distraction to the military mission.
'Get refocused'
"For several months now we have been in the process of bringing 39,000 extra troops to Afghanistan - in addition to extra equipment, ammunition and supplies," the Nato spokesman told the BBC.
"Soldiers will still be able to eat pizzas and burgers - but served up in military canteens rather than in commercial outlets."
A blog written in February by a senior Isaf morale welfare and recreation officer states the argument bluntly for closing down outlets such as Burger King, Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen.
"This is a warzone, not an amusement park," the blog written by Command Sgt Maj Michael T Hall says.
"In order to accommodate the troop increase and get refocussed on the mission in hand, we need to cut back on some of the non-essentials.
"Supplying non-essential luxuries to big bases like Bagram and Kandahar makes it harder to get essential items to combat outposts and forward operating bases, where troops fighting every day need to be resupplied with ammunition, food and water."
Command Sgt Maj Hall said that closing such outlets will free up much needed storage space and reduce the amount of flight and ground convoy traffic across Afghanistan.
He said it would also free up "water and electricity needs required to run these businesses".
Correspondents say that while the closures are not likely to bother troops on the frontline who live in tough conditions, many in the larger bases on lengthy 12-month tours may complain it places an added burden on them.
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Parwan Women Get Economic Muscle
New skills centre north of Kabul empowers female breadwinners.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Ramesh Nabizada in Parwan (ARR No. 356, 25-Mar-10)
Makai is so engrossed at the clattering sewing machine that she barely notices as visitors enter her new workplace.
The 35-year-old is one of 2,500 female members of the Agriculture and Handicrafts Association of Parwan Province, a unique organisation that she and others say has helped pull their families out of poverty.
“I have been learning tailoring here for the past six months. I’ve mastered everything and I’m sure I can solve my family’s economic problems now,” Makai said, adding that the skills she now possesses fill a niche in her community to everyone’s benefit.
“People pay six dollars to get their clothes made in the city while I charge only three dollars, so clearly they now come to me.”
What makes the association special is that from its inception in 2007 it was a small entity that immediately thought big and bold, hardly what is expected from women in Afghanistan’s male-dominated culture.
Using start-up capital of just 1,800 US dollars received from the Parwan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the association under director Saleha Zarin immediately rented a large house as training premises.
She brought in 500 women with a broad range of existing skills, and set about improving these and teaching them new, marketable ones.
“The association started its activities in different fields like production of jams, pickles, tomato paste, cake and cookies, weaving carpets, sewing traditional clothes for men and women, and farming saffron and livestock,” Zarin said.
The range has since been broadened to include integrated farming techniques, with new retail projects also in the pipeline.
Initial registration and membership costs the equivalent of 1.2 dollars, for which the women become part of a ready-made cooperative. It also takes on trainees with no existing skills and makes them self-sufficient in a matter of months.
Arezo, 22, learned how to weave heavy garments like men’s winter sweaters, which cost on average four dollars to make and retail for six. She makes two a day that she sells in the provincial capital Charikar, plus additional sales at special exhibitions run by the association, thus earning enough to support herself and her family.
She has also trained a group of 20 women at the association over the past year and receives a ration of food products for her input.
“Every two months we are provided with two 50-kilogramme sacks of wheat, a can of cooking oil and pulses, while our students receive half that amount,” she said.
The association is still partly dependent on support from the chamber of commerce, the World Food Programme and the United States Provincial Reconstruction Team in Parwan. But that does not hold anyone back from planning the next stage of its expansion.
The director of the provincial department for women’s affairs, Shah Jahan Yazdan Parast, says there is approval for construction of modern retail booths in the women’s park in Parwan where the small producers will be able to display and sell their goods.
The 200,000 dollars needed to build this mini retail park will come from the ministry of women’s affairs, Parast said.
The association’s work has been well received overseas too. Zarin recently travelled by invitation to France to attend seminars on how to produce butter, cheese, churned sour milk and other dairy products using basic equipment, and how to sell them to local and foreign markets.
The search is under way for funding for that project and for two others planned for the coming years: a chain of poultry farms where women participants will get 200 eggs to sell at market per day, and agricultural cooperatives to improve livestock breeding.
The association has also implemented food-for-work projects in cooperation with local and international organisations.
The opportunities are a big change from before 2007, when many Parwan women who were often sole breadwinners would have to scratch out a living in any unskilled job available.
“The government and other institutions do nothing for women with problems like me,” said Golshah, 33, whose husband was killed in the civil war and who for years eked out a living as a domestic servant.
“We work in people’s homes washing clothes and darning blankets. I turned to the department of women affairs, the Red Cross and other organisations many times, but no one gave me the chance to work.”
A fresh start also presented itself to 37-year-old Tamana, who for the past four months has been learning how to grow saffron.
“Previously we farmed pulses and vegetables but I cultivated saffron this year, and it is several times more profitable. I no longer worry whether my produce will find a buyer,” she told IWPR.
Evaluating the new course and the horizons it opened for her family, she simply said, “It’s changed our life.”
Ramesh Nabizada is an IWPR trainee reporter.
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Afghan mountain duty offers new view
USA TODAY By Alan Gomez 25/03/2010
BABA SAHEB, Afghanistan - Nearly 3,600 feet up near the peak of Baba Saheb Ghar, a mountain overlooking the Arghandab River Valley, temperatures range from more than 110 degrees during the day to a windy 50 degrees at night.
Rainstorms send you for cover. Sandstorms sting. The bathroom is a hole in the rocks. Supplies are dropped in by a helicopter.
"It's easy to fall in love with it," Army Sgt. Cristobal Felix said.
The 25-year-old from Tempe, Ariz., is not joking.
Felix is part of a platoon of Army snipers and reconnaissance men who spend weeks at a time living atop the mountain. They watch the valley below where their 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment patrols the Arghandab District outside the southern city of Kandahar that Taliban insurgents have historically used as a passageway into the city.
Felix's men use binoculars and high-tech equipment — much of it classified — to monitor the movement of troops down below.
First Lt. Ethan Thomas, the platoon's leader, said the work is important to the hundreds of troops patrolling the ground below, which has greened with the arrival of spring and made walking through the pomegranate orchards and rows of grapevines dangerous. It also serves as a deterrent since the post's antennas are easy to see from the ground.
"The Taliban knows that they're being watched," Thomas said.
Staff Sgt. Brendan Quisenberry said they spend their days tracking the patterns of life of people in the valley, watching for anything out of the ordinary.
It has taken time to learn what to watch for, such as how insurgents plant improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. One day, Quisenberry said, a couple men will dig a hole. Another day, someone will pack the explosives. Another day, someone places the initiator.
Sometimes they track suspects for days, from the time they leave their house in the morning until well past nightfall. "You almost got to feel like you are him," Quisenberry said.
Not as many conveniences
Life can be difficult on the assignment. The main gripe about mountain duty from Spc. Brandon Phipps is that he can't call or e-mail his wife, Kacie. The two met at the University of Arkansas when he saw her tutoring in the library and worked it out to get her as his tutor.
"I miss my wife like crazy," he said.
While the rest of the battalion gets at least two hot meals a day and, in some places, a regular shower, the mountain teams eat nothing but Meals, Ready-to-Eat and use wet wipes to wash up.
Many combat outposts have a tent or a corner of the post where they fit a small gym complete with barbells, weight sets. The guys on the mountain lift sandbags or do curls with pieces of equipment lying around.
The most difficult aspect could be spending nearly every waking hour with the same six people.
"Obviously in the military, you have your respect, your chain of command," Quisenberry said. "But you'll get some outbursts."
All-out fights?
"Not with my team," he laughs. "I know some other people who may have."
Despite the difficulties, the team members say they generally enjoy the time away from the busy, chaotic life in combat outposts down below.
Try to change routines
A few ledges down from the observational post sits "the cave." No more than a small overhang that provides a little shade, the cave is where soldiers keep their small generator and some sodas to keep cool. It's also where Phipps goes when he needs to be alone for a while.
When he's off the clock and wants to relax, he dials in some Eric Clapton or Coldplay on his iPod. If he's getting ready to start a shift, it's usually hip hop.
Quisenberry has used the solitude to catch up on his reading. He's currently going through some American classics he missed over the years: The Catcher in the Rye, Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
While most troops stationed in war zones tend to pop in war movies or action thrillers when they get a break —Ninja Assassin was a recent DVD that passed around the mountaintop — Quisenberry admits that he has to turn on a "chick flick" occasionally to snap out of the routine.
He hasn't told his guys yet, but he recently watched P.S. I Love You on the small, personal DVD viewer they share.
"I'll admit it," he said. "I enjoyed it."
Back home, Felix would usually relax by playing guitar or piano. With no such luxuries on the mountain, he turns to writing.
"Obscure, weird short stories," he said. "Almost like dreams."
While he says he doesn't like to chronicle the fighting and death that he's seen in his time in Afghanistan, Felix said the themes in his stories usually turn to anger, hopelessness and "the feeling of missing home."
Rare treats sometimes come from the pilots of the OH-58 Kiowa attack helicopters that provide air support for the soldiers in the valley, such as sugary snacks and dipping tobacco.
"The pilots will have the (control stick) between their legs and they just throw it down," Thomas said.
For Quisenberry, a history buff, the sweeping view of the green Arghandab River Valley to the north and the beginnings of Kandahar city to the south makes him appreciate his battalion's mission and the significance of the post he stands.
The valley is where Afghan mujahedin fighters stopped the Soviet advance into Kandahar. He sometimes finds old shell casings from bullets fired at Soviet troops decades before.
"Kandahar was the city that never fell," Quisenberry said. "This is a historical battle space. This is the last stand."
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