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Afghanistan launches poppy eradication programme
March 3, 2010
KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan, source of 90 percent of the world's heroin, Wednesday announced plans to wipe out opium poppies across most of the country, starting in the south where the Taliban have long held sway.
U.S. Official Claims Progress Against Drug Trade in Afghanistan
Poppy production down by 30% over the past two years, but U.S. official admits a large drug problem remains
Susan Yackee VOA News March 2, 2010
A change in tactics has led to some success in fighting Afghnistan's drug trade. But the problem continues to pose "a very big challenge" for the Obama administration.
US worry over Afghan media curbs
March 3, 2010 BBC News
The United States' envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan has expressed concern over new restrictions on media reporting imposed by the Afghan government.
Taliban condemn Afghan ban on live coverage of attacks
By Nasrat Shoib March 3, 2010
(AFP) – KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — They banned music, television and education for girls during their rule of Afghanistan, but the Taliban on Wednesday condemned a government ban on live broadcasts of their own attacks.
Afghanistan May Ease Ban On News Coverage Of Attacks
March 2, 2010 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan today said it would clarify newly announced restrictions on media coverage of insurgent attacks.
'Lashkar-e Taiba Behind Kabul Assault'
March 3, 2010 Quqnoos
The Afghan intelligence agency Tuesday blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for last week's attacks in Kabul
Afghan police, army prove mixed class for US officers
By Ben Sheppard March 3, 2010
(AFP) –GANDAMAK, Afghanistan — For Lieutenant Ed Maloney, the most difficult part of leading a four-day mission in eastern Afghanistan was persuading Afghan soldiers to leave their base in the first place.
Taliban, not drugs, focus of US-Afghan offensive
Associated Press - Asia By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU Mar 3, 2010
MARJAH, Afghanistan - Even by Afghan standards, it was a startling find: An opium packaging workshop, buried under donkey dung and old hay in a stable that U.S. Marines turned into a patrol base in southern Afghanistan.
Pakistan Seizes Insurgent Stronghold on Afghan Border
Wall Street Journal By ZAHID HUSSAIN MARCH 3, 2010
DAMADOLA, Pakistan - Pakistani forces have seized a key al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold along the border with Afghanistan that once served as a hideout for Ayman al Zawahiri, second-in-command to Osama bin Laden.
In Afghanistan, Karzai's invitation to Taliban creates discord and confusion
By Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's public invitation to the Taliban to attend a peace conference this spring has sparked disagreement and confusion among the many players in Afghanistan over the shape and speed of negotiations and what they should ultimately accomplish.
AFGHANISTAN: CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS BREWS IN KABUL OVER NEW GOVERNMENT MEDIA RESTRICTIONS
Aunohita Mojumdar 3/03/10 Eurasianet
Afghan journalists have a mixed reaction to a government ban on live broadcast coverage of Islamic militant terror attacks. Many in Kabul say the ban places Afghan media outlets on the slippery slope of state censorship. Some journalists, however,
More Afghan Taliban Members Arrested by Pakistan
March 2, 2010 VOA News
Pakistani officials say they have captured at least seven senior members of the Afghan Taliban hiding in Pakistan. The militants are known to have been hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta near the Afghan border and are known as members of the "Quetta Shura".
Holbrooke Sees 'Shifts in Sentiment' in Pakistan, Afghanistan
VOA News | March 2, 2010 Suzanne Presto | Washington
The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, recently traveled to Asia as well as to Georgia and Germany. Holbrooke said Tuesday that he sees positive shifts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Charikar Angered by Security Force Presence
US and Afghan troops agree to leave town at the request of Kabul officials.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Mohammad Saber Saffor in Charikar (ARR No. 354, 2-Mar-10)
A military coordination centre staffed by United States and Afghan forces is moving away from a provincial capital where local people have complained about the army presence.
Parwan Prisoners Protest Dismal Conditions
Jail officials admit overcrowding but say their efforts to deal with it have come to naught.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Ramesh Nabizadah in Parwan (ARR No. 354, 2-Mar-10)
Inmates have complained of inhumane conditions in a provincial Afghan prison, amid uncertainty over the progress of their cases and a lack of proper legal representation.
Stickers showing Iranian flag being sold in Kabul
Pajhwok By Zubair Babakarkhel 03/02/2010
KABUL (PAN) - A number of vehicles plying the roads in this central capital are bearing stickers with marks of the Iran national flag.
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Afghanistan launches poppy eradication programme
March 3, 2010
KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan, source of 90 percent of the world's heroin, Wednesday announced plans to wipe out opium poppies across most of the country, starting in the south where the Taliban have long held sway.
But areas where military operations are underway -- such as Marjah in Helmand province -- would not be targeted until the rebels had been pushed out and development programmes launched, said deputy interior minister Mohammad Daud Daud.
Eradication had begun in other parts of Helmand, scene of a major assault against militants who for years controlled Marjah along with drug traffickers, Daud told reporters.
Programmes had also begun in Nangarhar and Farah provinces, and would soon be launched in Kandahar, another militant hotspot and centre of poppy production, he said.
Daud said 25 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces were free of poppy cultivation by last year.
But he said the eradication programme would take place in 18 provinces as "minor planting" had been reported in some.
Afghanistan's illicit drugs industry is worth up to three billion dollars a year, controlled by militants and gangs who use cross-border routes to smuggle drugs to Pakistan and Iran, and bring arms and fighters back in.
The UN office on drugs and crime said last month that opium production in Afghanistan was likely to fall this year, due to bad weather.
Afghan opium production had already fallen from 8,200 tonnes in 2007 to 6,900 tonnes in 2009, the UNODC said in a report.
The area dedicated to opium cultivation, however, was expected to remain stable after decreasing by 36 percent, from a record 193,000 hectares (480,000 acres) in 2007 to 123,000 last year.
Daud said the campaign was in three stages -- public awareness, prevention of cultivation and, finally, eradication, with farmers offered help in planting alternative crops, including cereals.
The announcement comes after the United States said it was shifting its anti-opium strategy in Afghanistan from eradication of crops to a broader focus involving interdiction and alternative agriculture.
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U.S. Official Claims Progress Against Drug Trade in Afghanistan
Poppy production down by 30% over the past two years, but U.S. official admits a large drug problem remains
Susan Yackee VOA News March 2, 2010
A change in tactics has led to some success in fighting Afghnistan's drug trade. But the problem continues to pose "a very big challenge" for the Obama administration.
“It’s a battleship that’s clearly turned over the course of last year,” says U.S. Assistant Secretary David Johnson of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
“We would hope and expect that to have more and more impact as we look forward,” says Johnson.
Johnson says poppy production in Afghanistan has declined by about 30% over the past two years. Poppy extract is used to produce opium and heroin.
The drug trade in Afghanistan, however, "remains a very large problem,” according to Johnson. Drug trafficking in Afghanistan has been linked to funding for the Taliban insurgency and terrorist activities around the world.
The Obama administration has reshaped its focus in fighting illegal trade in narcotics in Afghanistan. It has moved away from poppy eradication towards interdiction, institution building and creating alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers.
Johnson also credits the Afghan government for its efforts in the war on drugs. He notes the success of one particular program in Helmand Province, the leading poppy producing region in the country. Johnson said a combination of alternative livelihoods, economic support, government services and the threat of law enforcement have had a strong impact.
The U.S. and British governments have also spent millions of dollars in Afghanistan to get farmers to switch from growing poppies to cultivating other crops.
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US worry over Afghan media curbs
March 3, 2010 BBC News
The United States' envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan has expressed concern over new restrictions on media reporting imposed by the Afghan government.
Richard Holbrooke said the US supported a free press and would raise the new measures with the Afghan government.
Kabul banned live media coverage of militant assaults saying they could help militants during attacks.
The ban came days after Taliban militants killed 17 people in a suicide attack in the centre of Kabul.
The government announced a similar ban for election day in August 2009.
This indefinite ban applies to both domestic and international news.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other US officials "are concerned and will make our support of free access by the press clear to the government", news agency AFP quoted Mr Holbrooke as saying.
"We don't like restrictions on the press. My whole career has been devoted to supporting that," he said.
Journalists have criticised the move saying it amounts to "censorship".
"We see this as direct censorship. This is prevention of reporting and contravenes the constitution," said Rahimullah Samandar, the head of Afghanistan's Independent Journalists' Association.
But a spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, said the ban would be applied under Article 7 of Afghanistan's national security law.
Journalists would only be allowed to film the aftermath of attacks.
Details of how it would work and how the authorities plan to enforce the ban are not yet clear.
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Taliban condemn Afghan ban on live coverage of attacks
By Nasrat Shoib March 3, 2010
(AFP) – KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — They banned music, television and education for girls during their rule of Afghanistan, but the Taliban on Wednesday condemned a government ban on live broadcasts of their own attacks.
The Western-backed government has banned live coverage of militant assaults in a bid to prevent the Taliban exploiting television news to send messages to their operatives.
As the measure -- which applies to domestic and international media -- was criticised by journalists and rights groups, the Taliban joined the fray, calling it an attack on free speech.
"This totally undermines freedom of the press and expression and cannot be justified by any means," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.
The Taliban "respects all those media which are free and independent and support their rights," he said, reading from a prepared statement.
"We invite them to cover all our activities against the invaders.
"Imposing a ban on free media means the government is trying to cover its failures. They have failed... and are trying to hide that," he said.
The Taliban controlled Afghanistan from 1996 until their extreme Islamist regime was overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2001.
While in power, they banned television, films, the Internet, video games, snooker halls, kites, music and any images of living things.
Since being overthrown, however, they have proved so adept at public relations that US military intelligence officers have said countering Taliban propaganda is one of the main challenges of the counter-insurgency.
The militants have their own website, produce their own films, use mobile radio stations, and maintain close relations with Afghan and overseas media, regularly calling with comment and news.
An Afghan official said live television coverage of attacks -- such as that in Kabul last Friday that killed 16 people -- could alert militant organisations to police actions against their operatives on the ground.
Afghanistan's constitution guarantees freedom of speech and media and the effort to curb coverage of attacks drew criticism from the United States, Kabul's top foreign backer.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other US officials "are concerned and will make our support of free access by the press clear to the government", said Richard Holbrooke, US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We don't like restrictions on the press. My whole career has been devoted to supporting that," he added.
Afghan journalists and rights organisations slammed the ban as censorship and a contravention of the constitution, despite officials saying it would protect reporters covering attacks.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was up to news organisations to decide what they report.
"The Afghan authorities should allow reporters to work freely," said CPJ deputy director Robert Mahoney.
The Afghan National Directorate for Security (NDS) refused to comment when contacted by AFP. A spokesman said only that media organisations would be "invited in small groups to meetings and the new rule will explained to them".
Afghanistan's Pajhwok news agency said some organisations -- including the BBC and Al-Jazeera -- had already been briefed.
The measure echoes an attempt to ban coverage of Taliban attacks during elections last August, when international media were threatened with expulsion and Afghans with confiscation of equipment.
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Afghanistan May Ease Ban On News Coverage Of Attacks
March 2, 2010 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan today said it would clarify newly announced restrictions on media coverage of insurgent attacks.
The Afghan National Directorate of Security intelligence agency on March 1 summoned journalists to its headquarters and threatened to arrest anyone filming while attacks are under way.
A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, Wahid Omar, then said today that the new guidelines had not yet been drawn up, and promised they would not amount to "censorship."
Omar said the goal would be to prevent insurgents from using live media reports to get tactical information, and to keep journalists themselves out of danger at the scene of violence.
Taliban fighters have recently staged several major attacks, including one on February 26 in which suicide bombers struck hotels and battled police in downtown Kabul. Sixteen people were killed.
Afghan Journalists Association director Rahimullha Samandar, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan in Kabul today that Afghan journalists oppose the new measure.
"Our reaction to this [decision] is that according to Afghan laws, the government can never directly censor news coverage," Samandar said. "All of us are against this direct censorship by the government. This decision shows nothing but the inability of the government."
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Washington was monitoring the issue and would raise it with Kabul. "The United States supports freedom of the press and we will discuss this issue with the government of Afghanistan," Hayden said.
RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan contributed to this report. With agency reports
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'Lashkar-e Taiba Behind Kabul Assault'
March 3, 2010 Quqnoos
The Afghan intelligence agency Tuesday blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for last week's attacks in Kabul
At least 16 people, including 9 Indians, were killed Friday in a string of explosions and gunfire in a commercial district in central Kabul.
Sayed Ansari, a spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, or NDS, said that they have evidence that Lashkar-e-Taiba was involved in the attacks.
The accusation comes after the Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault on an Indian guest house that also left at least 56 others wounded.
"We are very close to the exact proof and evidence that the attack on the Indian guest house ... is not the work of the Afghan Taliban but this attack was carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba network," Ansari told journalists.
The Afghan intelligence agency’s spokesman said Lashkar-e Taiba are dependent on the Pakistan military.
There were four men armed with rifles and suicide vests, one of them was heard speaking Urdu, and that they wore burqas to hide their gear, Ansari added.
Friday's assault was the second major attack this year in the fortified Afghan capital.
The last incident took place Jan 18, when three teams of gunmen attacked a popular shopping centre and several surrounding buildings near the presidential palace.
The Indian Embassy in Kabul has twice come under attack over the past two years, leaving dozens of casualties.
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Afghan police, army prove mixed class for US officers
By Ben Sheppard March 3, 2010
(AFP) –GANDAMAK, Afghanistan — For Lieutenant Ed Maloney, the most difficult part of leading a four-day mission in eastern Afghanistan was persuading Afghan soldiers to leave their base in the first place.
It took three hours of negotiations on the night before departure to convince the Afghans the expedition to Sherzad district in Nangarhar province was worthwhile.
"Their predecessors had a tough time in this district, and these soldiers thought it was unnecessary and too risky," Maloney said.
"Of course we can't order them to do things, but we told them it was exactly the sort of security mission they needed to do and which should impress their bosses."
Improving the effectiveness of the Afghan National Army (ANA) has been a priority for the international coalition since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, with a strong Afghan military seen as essential to national stability.
Foreign and Afghan leaders agree that leaving a centrally controlled army in place is the only way NATO-led troops can exit the country without a civil war likely to break out soon afterwards.
The ANA currently numbers 100,000 troops, with plans for it to grow to 240,000 by 2011, funded by NATO and the US, in the hope that rapid improvement in their performance can see foreign forces start to draw down.
Those plans are being tested in Helmand province, where Afghan troops account for a third of 15,000 troops in a counter-insurgency assault called Operation Mushtarak ("Together").
"How to work with the Afghan security forces is the first thing we always think about," said Maloney, as AFP joined his platoon from the 4th Infantry Division on the US-Afghan mission from Camp Connolly, near the Pakistan border.
"We encourage them to take command, and to make decisions about where we go, how long we stay anywhere, and how we engage with locals."
The convoy from Connolly consisted of 22 US soldiers in MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) trucks and 20 Afghan soldiers in reinforced Humvees.
After driving for three hours behind an IED (improvised explosive device) detection escort, the group camped out in Sherzad district centre and made a series of visits to villages known for Taliban activity.
The ANA unit was led by Lieutenant Fawad Ahmad, a keen and energetic 23-year-old whose last posting involved months of heavy fighting in neighbouring Kunar province.
"We are of course happy to be on missions like this," he said.
"I love my job being a soldier. Although it can be dangerous, I don't worry about that because this is what I have always wanted to do.
"My men have no problems because they are paid regularly and are being trained."
The Afghan and US troops were joined in Sherzad by the Afghan National Police (ANP), who also play a crucial role in improving the country's security, with plans to expand the force to 160,000, from around 100,000 now.
Experts have warned of the difficulties of recruiting quality trainees, as most Afghans are illiterate and drug addiction is widespread.
Police officers led the unit when out on patrol -- including through the famous village of Gandamak where British soldiers were massacred in 1842 -- with US troops in the middle of the formation and Afghan soldiers behind.
"The army are sometimes reluctant to go out, but have better discipline and fight better when needed," said Maloney. "The police will go anywhere but, as everybody knows, they have a bigger corruption problem and are poor in combat."
The difference between the two forces is clear in their weaponry. Police carry a wide variety of old Soviet or Chinese-made arms, while soldiers are issued with the modern, NATO-supplied M-16 machine gun.
Sahib Khan, Sherzad police chief and a former mujahideen fighter against the Soviets in the 1980s, however refuses to complain about equipment.
"What we need is more men. We have 110 now, and are told 80 more are coming soon," he said.
He admitted corruption was a widespread problem but denied his own officers were involved.
Getting the police and army, who often have fractious relations, to work together is tricky for US officers like Maloney, a lanky 25-year-old Texan.
When the unit pursued a suspected IED bomber during the Sherzad mission, the police told US troops that one mud-walled compound was not worth investigating.
Afghan soldiers insisted on a search -- and discovered 23 kilogrammes (50 pounds) of "black tar" heroin and an illegal arms cache.
"They need to work together, but there's also an element of the army holding the police to account," said Maloney.
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Taliban, not drugs, focus of US-Afghan offensive
Associated Press - Asia By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU Mar 3, 2010
MARJAH, Afghanistan - Even by Afghan standards, it was a startling find: An opium packaging workshop, buried under donkey dung and old hay in a stable that U.S. Marines turned into a patrol base in southern Afghanistan.
Two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration employees nosing around the base found more than two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of opium, five large bags of poppy seeds, some 50 sickles, jugs and a large scale for measuring opium.
When the Marines leave the compound this week, though, they won't detain the old, bearded Afghan man suspected of owning the hidden cache. Instead, they'll hand him $600 in rent for using his place as a base.
It's a story that illustrates the shift in strategy to stall the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan. The more than 2-week-old military offensive on the town of Marjah - NATO's largest ever combined Afghan offensive - is a war on the Taliban, not drugs.
The opium workshop, on a compound near the entrance to the former Taliban-controlled town of Marjah, was found mostly out of luck and idleness.
"I just decided to start poking around," said Joe, who like his colleague, Jack, only went by his first name because they work for a DEA special intervention unit stationed in Afghanistan. "I've had plenty of time on my hands."
The two DEA agents, both bearded and wearing military fatigues, had been stuck on the compound in Helmand province for the past several days because every Marine convoy heading in and out of the area had struck a roadside bomb, knocking out armored vehicles and considerably delaying travel plans.
Their find went far beyond the staple signs of Marjah's booming opium business. In nearly every farmer's compound, Marines and the DEA have seen piles of dried poppy hay stacks, small doses of opium for local consumption and spent syringes.
"This cache shows that processing was taking place here on a pretty large scale," said Jack, pointing at the number of plastic spoons and ladles, indicating that up to 50 people could have been working here. Though quantities are uncertain, the makeshift assembly plant was geared to process several hundred pounds (kilograms) of opium at any given time.
For years, the Afghan government and its U.S. backer tried to eradicate crops, only to swell insurgent ranks across Afghanistan with impoverished and infuriated poppy farmers. Now, farmers are left alone, even though Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the heroin worldwide, with Helmand province alone responsible for nearly half of this.
"There sure is a lot of it," said Jack last week, somewhat dismayed as he and the Marines plodded four days in a row through field after field of poppy. The local tribal overlord owns nearly 3,000 acres of the crop, but U.S. forces aren't going after him. In fact, they're wooing him at meetings, trying to win him over to the government's side.
The official U.S. policy is now to go after the traffickers and the heroin labs, not producers.
Word of this shift apparently hadn't reached the Haji Murad, owner of the cache on the Marines' compound. He'd kept 250 kilograms of poppy seeds - enough to replant numerous acres of drugs in case U.S. forces did destroy his fields.
Murad could face arrest and prosecution. "But then the whole 'hearts and minds' thing kicks in," Joe said, referring to the U.S. military's policy of doing its best not to antagonize local Afghan civilians.
Anyhow, the cache wasn't substantial enough to go through the wobbly legal system in Kabul. "It doesn't meet the threshold," said Jack, stating the best bet for prosecution would be at the local level in Marjah, with the council of elders.
But Murad, as it turns out, heads the local council, making him an unlikely target for prosecution.
"I'd like his case to be investigated," said Lt. Scott Holub, of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, who negotiated renting the compound with Murad. "But the squeeze isn't worth the juice."
Soon afterward, they piled up all the evidence and set in on fire.
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Pakistan Seizes Insurgent Stronghold on Afghan Border
Wall Street Journal By ZAHID HUSSAIN MARCH 3, 2010
DAMADOLA, Pakistan - Pakistani forces have seized a key al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold along the border with Afghanistan that once served as a hideout for Ayman al Zawahiri, second-in-command to Osama bin Laden.
The capture of Damadola, a district in the Bajaur tribal region, is a major success in Pakistan's counterinsurgency campaign. The area had long been dominated by insurgents operating on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Pakistani forces seized the scenic district late last month, after several days of fierce fighting that Pakistan said left more than 75 foreign and local militants dead. Pakistan's military took reporters to the site, which is surrounded by snow-capped mountains less than five kilometers from the Afghan border, for the first time Tuesday.
"It was the main hub of militancy where al Qaeda operatives had moved freely," said Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, the regional commander.
A complex of caves and fortified compounds made it more difficult for the Pakistani forces to dislodge the insurgents.
"They had occupied the ridges. There were 156 caves designed as a defensive complex," said Gen. Khan, who is head of the Frontier Corps responsible for Pakistan's counterinsurgency campaign in the region.
Gen. Khan said his forces have cleared the area to the Afghan border and that the campaign against the insurgents there was in its final stage. He said the development would help the U.S.-led troops fighting the insurgents across the border.
Tribesmen in the area have formed militias to defend their villages and have vowed to to back the military in fighting the militants. "We will not let the Taliban to return to our villages," said Sultan Khan, a local farmer.
The Pakistani army first mounted an operation in Bajaur in August 2008 and claimed victory in February 2009, but violence resumed when the army's focus switched to Pakistani Taliban fighters in the northwestern valley of Swat and the border region of South Waziristan.
It took almost 18 months for the military to fully dislodge the insurgents. But the army's hold remains tentative, with top insurgent commanders escaping to surrounding areas. Damadola is a strategically important region that offers access to Afghanistan, Pakistan's northern district of Chitral, the main highway to China and to Swat.
Pakistani military officials said the area was also used by Mr. Zawahiri and other senior al Qaeda commanders. A large mud compound on a hilltop is believed to once have been the hideout of Mr. Zawahiri, one of the world's most-wanted terrorists, with a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head.
"He has been spotted here by the local residents in the past," said Col. Nauman Saeed, a local army commander.
The Egyptian doctor narrowly escaped when missiles fired by a drone operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency struck a house in Damadola in January 2006. According to officials, he and other al Qaeda operatives had attended a dinner there but had left just before the attack.
The latest military success comes as Islamabad mounts a crackdown against Afghan Taliban hiding in the country, indicating a more-aggressive approach in dealing with the insurgents.
On Tuesday, the Pakistan Taliban confirmed that a senior commander of the group, Mohammed Qari Zafar, was killed in a suspected American missile strike last week in the North Waziristan tribal area. Mr. Zafar's death was reported earlier by Pakistani intelligence officials.
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In Afghanistan, Karzai's invitation to Taliban creates discord and confusion
By Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's public invitation to the Taliban to attend a peace conference this spring has sparked disagreement and confusion among the many players in Afghanistan over the shape and speed of negotiations and what they should ultimately accomplish.
As U.S., NATO and Afghan forces continue a major operation in Helmand province in the south and prepare for another in neighboring Kandahar, the Obama administration has argued that substantive talks should wait until the military balance has shifted more sharply in favor of the coalition.
But the administration's British allies, facing strong domestic disapproval over the long-running war, appear eager to see negotiations begin sooner rather than later. That position is shared by a number of senior U.S. military officials, who predicted that negotiations with insurgents could gain traction as early as this year.
"I would not be surprised if we see Taliban from the south ending up in the parliament, and that's not necessarily a bad thing," said one military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Such remarks could be aimed at sowing suspicion and discord within enemy ranks, a priority on both sides of the war. There are few visible signs that senior Taliban members are open to negotiation, or that they might break from the head of the group, Mohammad Omar. The insurgents have publicly disclaimed any interest in discussions until the departure of "infidel" foreign troops.
But Karzai's effusive invitation, made in late January at an international conference on Afghanistan held in London, has unleashed widespread speculation that discussion of reconciliation -- previously seen as psychological warfare and political gamesmanship -- could lead to substantive talks, or perhaps already has. Kabul has been awash with rumors, with Afghan human rights organizations warning that Karzai plans to forgive countless Taliban atrocities and place insurgent leaders in high-level government positions.
"I think it's just legalizing impunity," said Sima Samar, who chairs the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. "Nobody is accountable, not for the past crimes and not for future ones. Anybody can come and join the government and they will be protected."
Some senior Pakistani officials have suggested that U.S. or Afghan officials were in touch with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's No. 2 commander, before he was captured last month during a Pakistani-U.S. intelligence operation in the port city of Karachi. U.S. officials have denied any contact with the Taliban. If anyone had been talking to the group, the Americans say, it was the Pakistanis, who have been known to play both sides of the war.
These officials and others spoke on the condition of anonymity, to avoid the appearance that they were interfering in what the coalition has described as an internal Afghan issue.
London conference
Some coalition members, fearing that a rush to dialogue could critically destabilize Afghanistan's fragile government, said Britain pushed Karzai to move further than he had intended at the London conference, a charge a British official "categorically" denied.
"What we wanted was to use that [conference] to create political space for the conversation on reconciliation. That's true," the official said. The midwife role is easier for Britain to play than the United States, he said, because the British public is more eager to leave Afghanistan and is less concerned about "things like women's rights."
But the British, he said, were trying to hold the Afghan president from going too far with reconciliation.
"It's nonsense if Karzai says, 'Right, give me Omar's cell number and I'll call him up and invite him next week,' " the official said.
Just a week after the London conference, Karzai appeared to be heading in that direction. Asked in an interview with Germany's Spiegel magazine whether he could envision receiving the Taliban chief at the presidential palace, Karzai replied: "Mullah Omar is first and foremost an Afghan, and we want all Afghans to return. We welcome all Afghans back to their country, with this little bracket of not being part of al-Qaeda or the terrorist networks."
Only a "small fraction" of the Taliban is in contact with al-Qaeda, Karzai said. "Even at the higher levels of their command structure, there are people who have never seen Osama bin Laden and who don't even understand what al-Qaeda is up to."
A tangled web of ties
Like most guerrilla wars, the Afghanistan conflict is being fought among compatriots with ethnic and familial ties. Those ties inevitably mean that the sides have contact with one another.
"Every Pashtun family in the south has friends or relatives in the Taliban . . . including the leadership of this country," Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said during a visit to Kabul last month. "It's not a secret. And they're always in contact."
Holbrooke emphasized, however, that the communication doesn't mean substantive dialogue is taking place.
It's "like, you know, 'How's your cousin's brother-in-law doing? I wish I could kill him,' " he said.
A senior NATO official in Kabul agreed that Afghans "are on the horn every day talking across that border," but he suggested that recent conversations have taken a new tenor "because the notion of reintegration and reconciliation is on the table in a big way." Even the coalition military has channels of communication, he said.
"I can call up an individual who can call someone in Pakistan. And ask him a question. And get a truthful answer," the official said.
The Afghan government has begun laying the groundwork for more significant accommodation with at least some Taliban members. At Kabul's urging in January, Russia lifted its opposition to removing five former Taliban members from the U.N. Security Council sanctions list, ending restrictions on their assets and travel. "In terms of reconciliation, these five people will be useful," said Zahir Faqiri, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.
The government has also put into force a law granting amnesty to all those involved in fighting before and after the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, provided they respect the Afghan constitution. The legislation, passed by parliament in 2007, had receded into the background after Karzai refused to sign it, only to suddenly emerge as law this year when it was printed in the official gazette without explanation.
Saudi involvement
Saudi Arabia has provided a venue for several rounds of talks between Karzai representatives and Taliban figures since late 2008, and Karzai has urged the Saudi king to become more directly involved. The meetings have been shepherded by Qayum Karzai, the president's brother and a Baltimore restaurateur, and have included former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Abdul Salam Zaeef, whose standing with Omar and other members of the Taliban leadership council, based in Quetta, Pakistan, is uncertain.
Although the Saudis have said they will not take an official role in the dialogue until the Taliban publicly severs all ties with al-Qaeda, they sit in on the informal discussions, held in Mecca, and brief interested parties, including the United States.
Although eager for the discussions to continue, the participants are concerned that interference from Afghanistan's foreign patrons may undercut the potential of the talks. "We need to be quiet about these things for a while," said a senior Afghan figure who has participated in the discussions. "That's probably the best way out of the situation."
"There are so many paranoid people," and all of them want a "major piece of the [Afghanistan] pie," he said, mentioning Pakistan, India, Iran and the United States. "The only way peace can come is for them to have hands off until the Afghans figure out what kind of peace is feasible and then work on it."
Partlow reported from Kabul.
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AFGHANISTAN: CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS BREWS IN KABUL OVER NEW GOVERNMENT MEDIA RESTRICTIONS
Aunohita Mojumdar 3/03/10 Eurasianet
Afghan journalists have a mixed reaction to a government ban on live broadcast coverage of Islamic militant terror attacks. Many in Kabul say the ban places Afghan media outlets on the slippery slope of state censorship. Some journalists, however, see the restrictions as a reasonable response to a set of threatening and extraordinary circumstances, while others are remaining silent out of concern that criticism of the government could invite official retaliation.
The Afghan Government’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), the nation’s intelligence agency, issued an order March 1 banning media from broadcasting live images of terror attacks. Officials justified the ban by arguing that live images of property damage and loss of life abetted the Taliban insurgency. Journalists violating the ban will be subject to arrest, along with the confiscation of their equipment.
The prohibition applies to both national and international media outlets. Its imposition followed a February 26 attack on two guest houses in the center of Kabul city that left at least 22 people dead and over 40 wounded. The insurgents stormed the guest houses and held off government security forces for several hours during the sophisticated and well-coordinated operation. Local media provided live coverage of the attack as it was playing out. The coverage was a PR disaster for the government, creating an impression that security forces were not as combat-capable as their Taliban opponents. The incident led to the resignation of senior police personnel in Kabul, although the resignations were not immediately accepted amid an ongoing official investigation.
Representatives of President Hamid Karzai’s administration have come out forcefully in support of the ban. Waheed Omar, a presidential aide, said the government wanted to ensure two things: "the protection of the lives of the journalists; and a mechanism that will ensure that the enemy does not use live broadcasts to plan, or to get instructions to their people at the scene, which makes not only the security forces vulnerable, but also civilians and journalists."
The ban is not the first attempt by the government to curb media coverage of the insurgency. Most recently, the NDS banned reporting on any incidents of violence during the polling hours of the 2009 presidential election.
The March 1 ban met with immediate criticism from journalist groups, including the Committee for Protection of Afghan Journalists and the Afghan National Journalists Union. Media-related non-governmental organizations, as well as a large number of media outlet owners and reporters, also came out against the restrictions.
"NDS, like most of security/intelligence agencies, puts its mission ahead of any other consideration. They [NDS officials] forget that they are bound to the same Constitution that is ensuring the freedom of information/expression" said Shahir Zahine the chairman of the Killid Media Group and a media activist.
Like Zahine, many journalists are basing their opposition on constitutional grounds. Article 34 of the 2004 Afghan Constitution specifically states: "Freedom of Expression shall be inviolable. Every Afghan has the right to express his thought through speech, writing, illustration or other means by observing the provisions stated in this constitution. Every Afghan has the right to print or publish materials without prior submission to the state authorities in accordance with the law."
"I don’t know why they [NDS officials] have instituted a ban that violates all laws," said Mujeeb Khalvatgar, a media activist.
In a possible prelude to a constitutional challenge, Zahine said he would instruct journalists working for the Killid Media Group to ignore the ban. Khalvatgar likewise stated that he was advocating non-compliance.
Acceptance of the ban, other journalists contended, could encourage the government to impose additional restrictions in the future. Ultimately, some worried, the Karzai administration may harbor desires to snuff out independent media voices.
"I think the media should not accept the ban" said Waheed Hashemi, the executive director of Nai, an Afghan media group supporting free media. "This time they want to ban live coverage. Next time they will say don’t report at all on the attacks."
Not all journalists are so adamantly opposed to the NDS restrictions. Some say that government worries about the impact of such images are legitimate, but add that officials are not addressing those concerns in the proper way. Barry Salaam, who heads a radio station, Good Morning Afghanistan, said that "NDS has a valid point to make, but they don’t know how to make it." Salaam added that it was important for Afghan media outlets to ensure that they do not inadvertently become propaganda mouthpieces for anyone, including the Taliban. "We must protect the very basis of freedom of expression and should not endanger it by irresponsible reporting."
Salaam said media outlets had to be careful in covering security-related issues, and report only "as much as our audience needs." Khalvatgar, however, argued that Salaam’s position could open the door for self-censorship. "It is not what the audience needs to know, but what they have to know. It is not a need, but an obligation."
Some media outlets are wary of taking a public position for fear of attracting the ire of the security agencies, or being denied future access to government information. "The Afghan media already have problems in accessing information and it will become more difficult to get access. The NDS can create problems for us, especially in provinces where they can stop us because they are armed" said Danish Karokhel, the director of Pajhwok an independent Afghan news agency.
Karokhel also expressed concern that the NDS restrictions would create an uneven playing field between local and international media outlets, since foreign journalists may well ignore the ban. US officials have questioned the wisdom of such reporting restrictions, and have indicated that they will raise the issue with Karzai administration officials.
Moby Capital, a media group that owns the hugely popular outlets Tolo TV and Arman FM, has yet to take a position on the restrictions, said Mohammad Abdullah, a lawyer and host on Tolo TV. The head of Tolo news, Mujahid Kakar, was reported as saying that any order concerning news coverage in Afghanistan should come through the Ministry of Information and Culture. Without commenting on the pros and cons of the restrictions, he was quoted as saying that any government order that appeared to contravene the Constitution was problematic.
The Ministry of Information and Culture itself has remained silent on the controversy. The new information minister, Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, is largely seen as more supportive of media independence.
Media activists said they intend to convene meetings of journalists over the next few days in an attempt to formulate a unified response to the NDS restrictions. "We, as media actors, need to get together and made our point to the parliament/government and to the public. We need to reclaim the space that is our due and is given to us by law" said Zahine.
Editor's Note: Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian freelance journalist based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for the past 19 years.
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More Afghan Taliban Members Arrested by Pakistan
March 2, 2010 VOA News
Pakistani officials say they have captured at least seven senior members of the Afghan Taliban hiding in Pakistan. The militants are known to have been hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta near the Afghan border and are known as members of the "Quetta Shura". The biggest catch was Mullah (Abdul Ghani) Baradar, the Afghan Taliban's top military commander. He was captured in the Pakistani city of Karachi in a joint operation of U.S. and Pakistani agents. Experts discuss what the arrests mean for Pakistan-US relations and President Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan.
Pakistan continues its fight against Pakistani Taliban in the northwestern tribal areas.
And U.S. drone attacks continue to target hideouts of Afghan Taliban who have crossed into Pakistan.
But in recent weeks, for the first time, Pakistan, with help from US intelligence, has also arrested several leaders of the Afghan Taliban, members of the so-called "Quetta Shura," including the number two, Mullah (Abdul Ghani) Baradar.
The arrests have been called a major development in the eight-year Afghan war and a possible shift in Pakistan's strategy.
"It's a big success for our mutual efforts in the region," says White House spokesman Robert Gibbs who spoke after Mullah Baradar's arrest.
The Obama administration says getting Pakistan to crack down on Afghan militants on its soil is key to winning the war in Afghanistan.
Afghan insurgents have long enjoyed safe haven in Pakistan so analysts have been discussing the reasons behind the arrests.
"President Obama sent a letter through General [James] Jones to President [Asif Ali] Zardari appealing to the Pakistanis to crack down on the Afghan Taliban and other groups threatening the international community," says Lisa Curtis at the Heritage Foundation. She adds, "If Pakistan does that there will be an enhanced US-Pakistani relationship. The US would do what it could to enhance Pakistan's sense of security in the region."
It's unclear whether Pakistan's crackdown on the Afghan Taliban will continue.
"If that happens, that means the safe haven the Taliban has enjoyed for the last nine years in Pakistan is coming to an end," Bruce Riedel at the Brookings Institution stated. "That is a huge change in the situation."
He notes that most of the Afghan Taliban arrests were made in Karachi, far from the usual hideouts in Quetta, near the Afghan border. "Why did they move to Karachi? The single simplest reason is the Drones. The Drones made operating in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Northwest Frontier Province more hazardous," Riedel said.
"We have also seen in the past Pakistan arresting major al-Qaida leaders like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and yet not fully cracking down on the groups that are fighting the coalition forces in Afghanistan. So it is too early to say it denotes a complete shift in Pakistan's strategy, but it certainly is a step in the right direction," Curtis said.
Pakistan's arrests of Afghan Taliban is selective, not a fundamental change in policy, says Ashley Tellis at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There are still major groups out there, both insurgent groups and terrorist groups, that have not yet been at the receiving end of the Pakistani state's attention. Lashkar-e-Taiba is one, Jaish-e-Mohammad is another, the (Afghan) Haqqani network is the third," Tellis said.
Analysts say Pakistan's arrest of Afghan Taliban shows that President Obama's new approach to Pakistan could work.
But they say any change in Pakistan's attitude will be gradual, not a switch that can be turned on in a day.
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Holbrooke Sees 'Shifts in Sentiment' in Pakistan, Afghanistan
VOA News | March 2, 2010 Suzanne Presto | Washington
The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, recently traveled to Asia as well as to Georgia and Germany. Holbrooke said Tuesday that he sees positive shifts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Last month, Holbrooke wrapped up his second trip to South Asia this year, and his first visit to Central Asia since President Barack Obama appointed him to his post.
Holbrooke told reporters at the State Department that he sees positive developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the point that his chief concern in Pakistan is not extremism. "I think that in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, but particularly in Pakistan, there has been a movement, a shift in sentiment here. In Pakistan right now, my greatest concern is to help the Pakistanis with their economic and energy problems," he said.
Holbrooke said the increased pressure on the Taliban on both sides of the border appears to be having a positive effect in the region. He added that reports from NATO's force in Afghanistan back up this notion. "ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force] is reporting more and more people contacting them and saying, 'We want to talk about separate peace arrangements," he said.
Holbrooke highlighted the capture of senior Taliban leaders, the Pakistani army's success in battling the Taliban in South Waziristan and the offensive to push the Taliban from southern Afghanistan's town of Marjah.
On the subject of Marjah, Holbrooke said the focus is shifting from military operations to efforts to rebuild the region without corruption. He said it is a large order that the United States is committed to carrying out.
"Remember it is clear, hold, build and transfer. The 'clear' phase was always going to be relatively easy, and the casualty rate was very low. The 'hold' phase is a transitional phase, in my view. It is the 'build' and 'transfer' that is the test of our policies - build and transfer. And that is what we are testing," he said.
Holbrooke praised Georgia's commitment to the war in Afghanistan, saying that Georgia appears to have the highest per capita troop contribution of any country in the world. "They have a tremendous fighting tradition and they are going into Afghanistan with no national caveats [i.e., constraints on the degree of their engagement]. And after they unpack and get acclimatized, they will be integrated into the Marine operations in Helmand," he said.
Next month, Holbrooke said, there will be about 950 Georgian troops in Afghanistan.
With this trip, the U.S. envoy said he has traveled to and met with the leadership of most of Afghanistan's neighbors.
"In the case of Kyrgyzstan, which does not have a common border with Afghanistan, [there is] the very important Manas transit center, which we will renew the arrangements on in the next few weeks. And I wanted to launch that process," he said.
A year ago, the Kyrgyz government announced plans to terminate the agreement that allows the United States access to the Manas air base. Months later, the two countries reached a deal that allows the U.S. to stay at Manas in exchange for $60 million a year in rent -- more than three times what it paid in the past.
Holbrooke said he discussed northern supply routes to Afghanistan while he was in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and rail transit while in Kazakhstan.
The U.S. envoy also pointed out that Tajikistan's vast water resources could ease water shortages in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Holbrooke noted that it was a logistical communications failure that prevented him from landing in Turkmenistan, the only country in the region that he did not visit on his trip.
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Charikar Angered by Security Force Presence
US and Afghan troops agree to leave town at the request of Kabul officials.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Mohammad Saber Saffor in Charikar (ARR No. 354, 2-Mar-10)
A military coordination centre staffed by United States and Afghan forces is moving away from a provincial capital where local people have complained about the army presence.
The Operational Coordination Center, Provincial, OCCP, is based in the police station at Charikar, the capital of Parwan province, which has been one of the safer places in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.
The Taleban encountered stiff resistance in the province when they ran the country and, though still active in much of Afghanistan, they have never been able to gain much headway in Parwan.
A member of the US forces who declined to give his name told IWPR the troops were in Parwan to cooperate with the Afghan security forces and that local people should be happy about their presence.
"The people should not be worried about possible insecurity in the province, because we are ensuring security for them,” he said.
He said coalition forces patrol various districts of the province including Charikar town - which is close to the American military’s giant Bagram air base - but no one has been bothered by them so far.
As part of the deployment, a company of US army personnel together with Afghan troops set up the coordination centre several months ago, angering the local population.
Sayed Mahmud, a Charikar shopkeeper, shakes his head in despair as a convoy of foreign military vehicles passes by.
"I do not know whether these forces make us more or less secure. I am sure that life for the people in Charikar is more dangerous because suicide attacks and roadside bombs come together with these forces and it is the civilians who will suffer,” he said.
Mir Abdolshokur, speaker of the provincial council in Parwan, believes that the presence of the foreign forces puts restrictions on local people.
"The people are deprived of their freedoms by the deployment of these forces. People are not comfortable about visiting their friends at night, because the foreign forces may be nervous about them moving around at this time,” he said.
Provincial politicians have been passing local concerns about the coordination centre to central government and people in Charikar believe this has led to the decision to move it. No date has been given for its relocation.
Major General Mawlana Abdorrahman Sayed Kheli, security commander in Parwan province, said, "An understanding has been reached on the basis of which the coordination centre and the foreign forces will be positioned far from the city."
He said he hoped this would deal with people’s concerns but did not give any details.
A US military spokesman confirmed the move, “The OCCP … is moving, but not because of local opposition but rather because the Afghan leadership wanted it in a new location.” He said land for the new centre was being secured but did not give further details.
The foreign forces, who include some from the United Arab Emirates as well as Americans, have been using the police headquarters for about four months.
Abdolzaher Salangi, a member of parliament for Parwan, said security in the area was already adequate without the need for foreign forces. "Parwan police have the capability and capacity to fight our enemies, because the security forces in Parwan are supported by the people. There is no need for the foreign forces to be present in this town."
He said all the people oppose the Taleban and have always cooperated with the security forces.
Some residents had warned that if the international troops continued to deploy in their town, they would lose faith in the government and may stop cooperating with it.
One resident, Shahpur, said, "The presence of the foreign forces means that the government does not trust us. We defended the government ... We did not cooperate with the Taleban. Security was ensured.”
Mohammad Saber Saffor is an IWPR trainee in Parwan province.
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Parwan Prisoners Protest Dismal Conditions
Jail officials admit overcrowding but say their efforts to deal with it have come to naught.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Ramesh Nabizadah in Parwan (ARR No. 354, 2-Mar-10)
Inmates have complained of inhumane conditions in a provincial Afghan prison, amid uncertainty over the progress of their cases and a lack of proper legal representation.
Sayed Mansur, 19, has been in the prison in Parwan province, 64 kilometres north of Kabul, for two years. Charged with the murder of a young girl, he has yet to hear of a trial date.
"For God’s sake convey our voice to the government officials and human rights institutions,” he said. “What the hell is going on? I have been imprisoned for two years because I was accused of murder, but no one deals with my case and I live in the prison with an uncertain future.”
His voice trembling with anger, he continued, "The criminals who have power and money are released, but the poor ones remain here for long periods waiting for their fate to be clarified."
The prison, which holds more than 230 men and 17 women, is in the centre of the town of Charikar. Mansur said that more than 55 prisoners lived in a cell with space for just 20 people. There were no exercise facilities, no appropriate place for visitors and the prison’s four toilets were shared between more than 200 inmates, he went on.
Shamsollah Ahmadzai, director of the regional office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, AIHRC, which monitors Parwan prison on a monthly basis, agreed that conditions were poor.
“Suspects and criminals live together in this prison,” he said, “while in accordance with the law, suspects [should be] kept separate from criminals and big criminals from small criminals. But they all live together in Parwan prison.”
Colonel Mohammad Mobin Rasuli, director of prisons and detention centres in Parwan province, admitted that overcrowding was a problem.
“If the prisoners complain about room, bathroom, toilets, drinking water, they are right,” he said. “We keep criminals and suspects in the same cells because we have to. This is because there is not enough room in Parwan prison.
"We discussed this problem with high-ranking officials many times, but we did not achieve any positive results, unfortunately.”
Mansur also complained about alleged corruption in the justice system, where both the conditions in which an inmate was held and the result of his trial could be influenced by bribes.
Defence lawyers had also been intimidated by government officials and local warlords, he alleged.
“Some people are even arrested for crimes about which they are not even aware, but they are accused and imprisoned here,” Mansur said.
Abdolbashir Yaqubi, head of the Parwan provincial attorney’s office, strongly denied there was any corruption in his department.
“All claims and allegations of the Parwan province prisoners are baseless and no warlord or governmental influential bodies can interfere in advocates' work,” he said, adding that every inmate knew the reason for his imprisonment.
“All of the prisoners were arrested due to a crime,” he said. “They are not seized in mosques or on roads just like that.”
However, Mohammad Omar Omarzadah, director of the justice department in Parwan province, did not contest the existence of corruption in government offices, explaining that it was a nationwide issue.
"We cannot overlook administrative corruption,” he said. “Therefore, corruption may exist in legal and judicial organisations in Parwan province, but it may not be as massive as the prisoners claim. They accuse some offices of bribery, due to the hostility they have because of their imprisonment.”
He also acknowledged that "some warlords and government bodies will interfere in advocates' affairs when its in their own interest".
Ahmadzai of AIHRC supported the prisoners’ claims that the progress of some cases had been subject to unwarranted delays.
“We [have] requested the directorate of courts and attorney office in Parwan make their decisions more speedily,” he said.
He also claimed that prisoners still had trouble gaining access to legal representation.
“Having a defence attorney is the right of any prisoner,” he said. “However, this problem unfortunately exists in other provinces and... the rights of the prisoners in Parwan in this regard have also been neglected.”
Ramesh Nabizadah is an IWPR trainee reporter.
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Stickers showing Iranian flag being sold in Kabul
Pajhwok By Zubair Babakarkhel 03/02/2010
KABUL (PAN) - A number of vehicles plying the roads in this central capital are bearing stickers with marks of the Iran national flag.
Analysts and observers here believe that the stickers were pasted on the windscreens of private cars carrying the name of Allah. However, they said it was an attempt by the Iranian authorities or their supporters to use the symbol as a propaganda item in its favour.
Related Story: Iran Again Accused of Trying to Halt Afghan Dam>>
I would have not pasted this sticker on the windscreen of my car had I known to it being Iran's national flag, said Muhammad Asghar, a resident of Kabul, while pointing to the sticker.
Asghar, 37, said he had pasted the sticker on his car because it was bearing the name of Allah and as a believer, he always thought that only God could save him from all bad things and happenings. I pasted the sticker keeping my belief in mind but did not know that it was a propaganda tool, he added.
Azeemullah, another taxi driver standing beside Asghar, said he did not know the politics, but pasted the sticker on the windscreen of his car to ensure his safety by using the name of God. I am an illiterate person and know only about my national flag, but dont know that it is the Iranian flag.
Feroza Safa, a resident of Kabul City, termed the spread of the stickers as a propaganda campaign by the Iranian authorities. However, she said the drivers and other common citizen were pasting the stickers on their cars without knowing the real motive.
The vehicle decoration items and equipment are sold in different parts of Kabul. Raees Khan, a kiosk owner in the city, said he was selling 10 to 12 such stickers on a daily basis. He said they did not care that who were bringing this and what it meant. People only pasted the stickers to ensure their safety. Muhammad Ajmal, another Kabul resident, accused the government of not informing people about those things. He also criticised the government for presenting things altogether different than the Afghan culture and traditions.
Political analyst Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, however, termed it a direct cultural invasion by the Iranian authorities. He said the cultural invasion included a direct attack to subdue the culture of another country and secondly sending a countrys production to another to capture its market through this way.
He said although the stickers bore the name of Allah but as its shape was like that of Iranian flag. "It must be banned in the country," he urged.
Ahmad Shah Zgham, teacher at the Kabul University, accused the Ministry of Information and Culture for its alleged neglect to take notice of the same. He said the government should inform the sticker makers and sellers about the propaganda.
Head of the cultural, education and religious affairs of education department Maulvi Abdul Aziz said a country forgets its culture and civilisation only when it comes under the influence of another culture.
He said the government should tell the private sector as to publish what symbols and to set aside what.
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