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Afghanistan Announces Salvation Plan for Scandal-Plagued Bank
By ALISSA J. RUBIN The New York Times April 20, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan—The Afghan government announced Wednesday that the scandal-plagued Kabul Bank, the nation’s largest private financial institution, whose shareholders had ties to high-ranking politicians, would be split in two as part of a drastic overhaul to save it from failure, stabilize the country’s financial system and reassure foreign lenders and donors.
Afghan banker: 5 percent of Kabul Bank loans paid
By DEB RIECHMANN and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan's top banker said Wednesday that work is being stepped up to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in loans made by the embattled Kabul Bank, but that so far just 5 percent of the $909 million loan portfolio had been recovered.
Pakistan's ISI has links with Haqqani militants: U.S.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The top U.S. military officer said Pakistan's intelligence agency still has ties to militants fighting in Afghanistan, during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on fence-mending in the wake of diplomatic tensions.
Afghan army says ministry attacker was outsider
By RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press – Wed Apr 20, 5:25 am ET
KABUL, Afghanistan – The man who launched a deadly attack from inside Afghanistan's Defense Ministry this week was not a soldier but an insurgent who managed to sneak past the ministry's security, officials said.
Afghan army reviewing recruitment after attack
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan army is reviewing recruitment after several high profile attacks by assailants in Afghan security force uniforms, including one inside the Defense Ministry this week, a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
Afghan Defence Minister Must Resign: Senators
Tolo news April 19, 2011
Afghan senators on Tuesday described the recent attack on Afghan defence ministry as "embarrassing" and urged the minister's resignation.
Afghan police say Taliban released Iranian construction workers held since Monday
By Associated Press, Wednesday, April 20, 10:10 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan — A group of Iranian and Afghan road construction workers kidnapped earlier this week in western Afghanistan has been released, police said Wednesday.
Pakistan Suggests Demands to Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Pakistani Premier has presented his country's demands to Afghan government, a source close to the issue has said.
Former Afghan Minister Denies Corruption Charges
Shakeela Abrahimkhil Tolo news April 20, 2011
Former Afghan Hajj and Pilgrimage Minister has denied charges of corruption after being accused by High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption.
Army chiefs issue sex guide for troops home from Afghanistan
By ANI | ANI – Wed, Apr 20, 2011 3:52 PM IST
London, Apr 20 (ANI): Army chiefs have issued a sex guide for troops home from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan must shed the myth of independence
A strong sense of independence does indeed make Afghanistan a graveyard – but not of empires. It divides and destroys us
Nushin Arbabzadah guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 April 2011 11.00 BST
In an interview with the Guardian, Afghan human rights activist Orzala Asharf-Nemat said it was the responsibility of the Afghan people to create their own national identity. Her point is absolutely valid. But since transnational concepts such as socialism (1980s), Islam (1990s) and democracy (2000s) have all failed
British bomb disposal expert killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Wed, 20 Apr, 2011 5:10 AM EDT
LONDON - Britain's military says a bomb disposal expert injured by a bomb in Afghanistan has died in a hospital in England.
U.S. is losing a savvy leader in Afghan war efforts
Washington Post By Greg Jaffe Tuesday, April 19,2011
No U.S. general has spent more time in Afghanistan than Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez.He is the primary author of the U.S.-Afghan war plan, a 600-plus-page classified document that is a catalogue of the lessons he has taken from three years of fighting the war. He can rattle off from memory the number of Afghan bureaucrats manning a lonely outpost in Zhari district. “Four months ago, we had one district governor and a bad police chief,” he said. “Now there are 13 people and a good police chief.”
Afghan forces train to spot rogue soldiers, police
Associated Press By Deb Riechmann April 19, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of Afghan soldiers are training in counterintelligence to stop Afghan and coalition forces from being attacked by rogue policemen and soldiers, or militants impersonating them.
Afghanistan Loses $75bn from its Waters Each Year
Tolo news April 19, 2011
Afghanistan has been unable to control its waters and presently more than 70% of its waters flow into neighbours without any benefit, senators say.
Prime Minister to visit Afghanistan early next month
New Kerala - Wed Apr 20, 6:45 am ET
New Delhi, Apr 20 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Afghanistan in the first week of May for discussions with Afghan leaders on regional security issues and bilateral matters.
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Afghanistan Announces Salvation Plan for Scandal-Plagued Bank
By ALISSA J. RUBIN The New York Times April 20, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan—The Afghan government announced Wednesday that the scandal-plagued Kabul Bank, the nation’s largest private financial institution, whose shareholders had ties to high-ranking politicians, would be split in two as part of a drastic overhaul to save it from failure, stabilize the country’s financial system and reassure foreign lenders and donors.
Under the overhaul plan, the government will divide Kabul Bank into a “good bank” with its deposits, good loans and other assets, and second bank that will handle the hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans, Afghan banking officials said.
The second bank’s purpose would be to recoup the bad loans. In total the bank loaned $909 million including interest, primarily to its own shareholders in violation of the country’s banking laws, and much of the money has yet to be repaid, said Abdul Qadir Fitrat, the Central Bank chairman, at a packed news conference at the Central bank’s headquarters to announce the new arrangement.
The announcement represented a major step by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance in dealing with a fraud of enormous proportions that had threatened to destabilize the Afghan financial system and was particularly sensitive for the government because the bank’s shareholders included a brother of President Hamid Karzai and a brother of First Vice President Marshall Fahim. Both had borrowed millions of dollars from the bank which they had not paid back.
The new bank will have no connection to the previous Kabul bank’s shareholders or management. "The relationship with the former shareholders has been terminated; they can not claim ownership," Mr. Fitrat said.
The bank’s problems and the lack of scrutiny of the financial system were so serious that the International Monetary Fund had refused to extend its program with Afghanistan, a step that hampered the ability of international donors, including the World Bank, which manages the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund and the British donor program from funneling money to the country because their rules require that the I.M.F. have a credit agreement program.
Among the steps the I.M.F. had prodded the Central Bank to take were to put Kabul bank into receivership, obtain a credible audit to find out where the money went, and to prosecuting those who bilked the bank. Part of putting a bank into receivership involves a rigorous effort at recouping as much money as possible from the bad loans and forcing those who borrowed money to repay it.
Those steps were underway, said Mr. Fitrat. Those borrowers who did not agree to pay back their loans, he said, would be "legally prosecuted and severely punished."
The steps announced Wednesday came after a week of meetings with the I.M.F. in Washington. The I.M.F. had indicated it was likely to renew Afghanistan’s program once the government took the steps agreed on, said Raphael Anspach, an I.M.F. spokesman.
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Afghan banker: 5 percent of Kabul Bank loans paid
By DEB RIECHMANN and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan's top banker said Wednesday that work is being stepped up to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in loans made by the embattled Kabul Bank, but that so far just 5 percent of the $909 million loan portfolio had been recovered.
Central Bank Governor Abdul Qadir Fitrat said investigators have determined that Kabul Bank made $579 million in loans — including questionable ones to the banks shareholders and others.
Adding tax and interest from the six years the bank has been opened, the amount of the loans is estimated at $909 million, he said. Of that, $47 million in loans have been repaid since September when the central bank took control of Kabul Bank, he told reporters.
Kabul Bank, the nation's largest private financial institution, nearly collapsed last year because of mismanagement and questionable lending practices.
Fitrat said Nesar Yousufzai had been named director of a newly created receivership commission to oversee how part of the bank will be dissolved and then later sold off as part of a broader effort to stabilize the country's unstable financial system.
"With the recent decision of the leadership of the government, a high-level commission has been established and empowered to collect the loans," Fitrat said. "If somebody doesn't cooperate, we will take action. We will seize their property by the order of the court. Even we are ready to confiscate their properties if they do not cooperate."
Asked if banking authorities were confident that the remaining outstanding loans would be collected, Fitrat said that until now only the central bank was working to recover the money. Now, he said, the effort to recoup the bank's losses has been empowered by the government.
"We are very serious," he said. "The government is very serious."
He said 19 cases of fraud and questionable lending have been referred to Afghan prosecutors for investigation and two large corruption cases have been sent to the High Office of Oversight, an independent anti-corruption commission set up by the government.
Two or three months ago, the Afghan attorney general's office started separate investigations — some focused on other Kabul Bank employees who may have been complicit in questionable lending practices that led to the bank's near collapse.
(This version CORRECTS total loans outstanding to $909 million.)
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Pakistan's ISI has links with Haqqani militants: U.S.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The top U.S. military officer said Pakistan's intelligence agency still has ties to militants fighting in Afghanistan, during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on fence-mending in the wake of diplomatic tensions.
"The ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network. That doesn't mean everyone in the ISI, but it's there," Admiral Mike Mullen, chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, in an interview with Pakistan's Geo TV.
Pakistan's powerful Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has long been suspected of maintaining ties to the Haqqani network, cultivated during the 1980s when Jalaluddin Haqqani was a feared battlefield commander against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Chris Allbritton)
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Afghan army says ministry attacker was outsider
By RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press – Wed Apr 20, 5:25 am ET
KABUL, Afghanistan – The man who launched a deadly attack from inside Afghanistan's Defense Ministry this week was not a soldier but an insurgent who managed to sneak past the ministry's security, officials said.
The Taliban have claimed that the assailant who opened fire in the ministry compound on Monday was an army officer working as a sleeper agent for the insurgency.
The attack was the third deadly assault from inside a government or military installation within four days, suggesting a systemic weakness in either the Afghan system of vetting security forces or laxness to security that could be equally undermining to the Afghan forces just as they're working to take over more responsibility from international troops.
Military officials had previously confirmed only that the attacker on Monday was wearing an army uniform.
"He was not one of our officers. How he entered the Defense Ministry is a question that an investigation will have to answer," said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
Azimi did not say how the authorities made their conclusion. The Afghan government collects biometrics data on new recruits, but is just beginning to collect it for longer-serving soldiers.
The attacker stormed into the main office building, shooting at those in his way Monday morning and killed two soldiers before he was shot dead. He also fatally wounded an officer who later died at the hospital, Azimi said.
The ministry is heavily guarded and those entering the walled compound have to go through three checkpoints before passing through the main gate. However, cars of high-ranking officials often are not inspected at these checkpoints. Also, there are about 400-500 manual laborers currently going in and out of the ministry on a daily basis because of construction projects under way, Azimi said.
The Taliban have said their agent had accomplices inside the ministry who helped execute the attack. Azimi said that it is possible that someone from inside the ministry or another ministry with access to the compound helped the attacker. However, he said no suspects had been arrested.
He declined to give more details, citing the ongoing investigation.
International forces aim to have handed over responsibility for countrywide security to the Afghans by 2014, a goal that NATO and Afghan officials say they're still on track to meet.
"We believe that Afghan security forces will be able to take over security missions in Afghanistan before the end of 2014," NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz reiterated to reporters Wednesday.
To meet this target, there has been a sharp increase in new recruits into the forces. About 6,000 people are entering the Afghan army and police each month, as compared to 800 a month in 2009 he said. Blotz said that pace puts Afghanistan on schedule to reach the targeted 305,000 force by October.
New recruits are supposed to be vetted by previous employers or at least by village elders, but there is often little information available about those joining up. And those who have served for longer often aren't subject to such scrutiny.
Since March 2009, the coalition has recorded 20 incidents where a member of the Afghan security forces or someone wearing a uniform used by them killed coalition forces, according to coalition intelligence officers. Thirty-six coalition troops have died. It is not known how many Afghan forces were killed.
Half of the 20 incidents involved the impersonation of an Afghan policeman or soldier, the officers said. Afghan security force uniforms are easily obtained at stores in Kabul, and the Interior Ministry is planning a crackdown on the illegal uniform market, they said. In other cases, NATO forces have often said the shootings resulted from internal disputes, though the Taliban has often claimed these shooters were sleeper agents.
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Afghan army reviewing recruitment after attack
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan army is reviewing recruitment after several high profile attacks by assailants in Afghan security force uniforms, including one inside the Defense Ministry this week, a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy said the man who penetrated the army's nerve center was actually an insurgent disguised in an army uniform, but suggested collaborators within the army could have helped him get access to the building.
The attack came months before the start of a transfer of security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces, and after NATO-led troops claimed solid progress in efforts to bolster the numbers and quality of the Afghan police and army.
Under the transition program, Afghan forces will begin by taking over from foreign troops in a few areas, but should have control of the whole country by the end of 2014.
"A new scrutiny into the mechanism of enrollment in the Afghan army has recently started, in order to prevent enemies taking advantage," Azimy told reporters at a news conference.
The attacker at the ministry opened fire but was killed before he had time to detonate a suicide-bomb vest he was wearing, Azimy said. He killed an officer and two soldiers.
Investigators were looking into the possibility that someone within the army helped him with a building pass or he had access to a car with permission to drive into the compound, Azimy said.
Suspicion has also fallen on workers at a construction site inside the ministry compound.
POLICE CHIEF KILLED
Two days earlier, a suicide bomber, also in army uniform, blew himself up inside an army base in eastern Afghanistan, killing five NATO and four Afghan soldiers.
Last Friday, provincial police chief of southern Kandahar, Khan Mohammad Mujahid, was killed at his office, along with two police officers by a suicide bomber in a police uniform.
The Taliban claimed all three attackers were their sympathizers within the security force ranks.
Although the insurgents often exaggerate or distort claims about attacks, concerns had already been raised by a string of killings of foreign soldiers by "rogue" soldiers and police, recruitment would be reviewed.
A rogue Afghan border policeman shot dead two foreign soldiers this month, while in February, two German soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform. Last November, a border policeman shot and killed six U.S. troops while they were on a training mission.
Earlier that month, an Afghan soldier shot three foreign troops, and in August two Spanish police and an interpreter were killed by an Afghan policeman they were training.
The attacks highlight the pressure the U.S. and NATO troops face as they rapidly train Afghan security forces to pave the way for critical security handover which begins later this year, in the face of a spiraling insurgency.
Western forces in Afghanistan have begun to train counter-intelligence agents to help root out Taliban infiltrators in the Afghan army and police, General William Caldwell, head of the U.S. and NATO training mission in Afghanistan, said recently.
(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Robert Birsel)
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Afghan Defence Minister Must Resign: Senators
Tolo news April 19, 2011
Afghan senators on Tuesday described the recent attack on Afghan defence ministry as "embarrassing" and urged the minister's resignation.
Senators say security transition process is to begin in July this year, but security officials are seen unable to shoulder the burden and to ensure security.
"The defence minister should have called reporters and announced his resignation right after the attack on the defence ministry," Abdul Wahab Irfan, Afghan Senator, said.
"This would have been honourable for defence minister if he offered his resignation today and if he refuses to resign the Senate House must press him to step down, because he is unable to provide security to people," another member of Senate Hafiz Abdul Qayum said.
Yesterday Afghan Defence Ministry came under attack from inside that led to the death of two soldiers and 7 others were hurt.
It is believed that the man dressed in Afghan army uniform had entered into the ministry by a car with security card and then opened fire.
Right after the attack the Taliban claimed responsibility.
The Taliban said French Defence Minister who was due to visit the ministry was their main target.
Senators called on President Hamid Karzai to seriously ask security officials about the incident.
Experts viewed the attack as an alarm to Presidential Palace which is not so far from the defence ministry.
Experts voiced concern about an increasingly growing influence of foreign intelligence organisations in particular that of Pakistan into Afghan bodies and they said the attacker wouldn't have been able to attack from inside if there was no cooperation from inside the ministry.
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Afghan police say Taliban released Iranian construction workers held since Monday
By Associated Press, Wednesday, April 20, 10:10 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan — A group of Iranian and Afghan road construction workers kidnapped earlier this week in western Afghanistan has been released, police said Wednesday.
The crew of at least 12 Iranians and two Afghans was driving toward its job site in a remote part of Farah province Monday when the men were ambushed and taken hostage. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and threatened to kill the men off one by one unless their company stopped work on the road.
Insurgents regularly target government projects such as roads as symbols of the central government they reject and have said those who work on such projects are collaborators, not civilians.
But the police were able to secure the release of all the captives with the help of local tribal elders, who acted as mediators with the insurgents, said provincial police chief Gen. Sayed Mohammad.
Three of the men were released late Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday, Mohammad said. He said that 13 Iranians had been held, while the Iranian government reported only 12 of its citizens taken hostage. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers was not clear.
No conditions were put on the release of the captives and no ransom was paid, Mohammad said.
The Iranian company, called Jahidi Nasri Tehran, has been contracted to produce 75 miles (121 kilometers) of road in Farah and has completed about half, according to provincial Public Works Ministry officials.
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Pakistan Suggests Demands to Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Pakistani Premier has presented his country's demands to Afghan government, a source close to the issue has said.
Experts say the demands, which are yet to be announced officially by the government, threaten Afghanistan's sovereignty and independence.
Experts highlighted that any hasty move of the government about the demands would be a big mistake and treachery to Afghans that history will record.
Pakistan should be consulted on training and number of Afghan forces, Pakistan share in Afghan mines and development projects should be cleared, implementation of Pakistan strategies in future governments in Afghanistan, recruitment of Pakistani cadres in government institutions and Pakistan should be kept aware of any sort of agreement between Afghanistan and its western allies including the US and Nato are the demands suggested in written form by the Pakistani Premier Yusuf Raza Gilani during his recent visit to Kabul.
Afghan government has yet to officially comment on the demands suggested by the Pakistani premier.
Experts see some of the demands as obvious intervention of Pakistan into Afghan's domestic affairs.
"Pakistan has never been honest with us. Now Pakistan has made a close friendship with Afghan government and it was hidden before," Noor-ul Haq Ulomi, an Afghan political analyst, said.
Experts say in the past ten years Pakistan has increased its influence in almost all government organisations and even into foreign institutions and an increase in violence is part of Pakistan's pressures to make Afghan government accept the demands.
"Unfortunately Mr President has begun to negotiate covertly with Pakistan and the government's preparation to provide more concessions to Pakistan for reconciliation with the Taliban is one of the biggest mistakes it is making," Haroon Mir, an Afghan expert, said.
Experts urged the government to present the demands before Afghans and the House of Representatives.
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Former Afghan Minister Denies Corruption Charges
Shakeela Abrahimkhil Tolo news April 20, 2011
Former Afghan Hajj and Pilgrimage Minister has denied charges of corruption after being accused by High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption.
In a phone call to TOLOnews the former minister Mohammad Sidiq Chakari said the allegations are part of a political plot.
Chakari, who is living in Britain, said he has discussed the case with President Karzai and it will be disclosed soon.
But the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption (HOOAC) said there is no political plot behind the case.
HOOAC said if he is clean he should prove it.
The corruption watch dog has urged British government to freeze all bank accounts related to Chakari and to submit them to Afghan government.
"Mr Ludin has accused me of embezzlement. I have no case in Afghanistan. All the cases are based on a political conspiracy and I will unveil it at the right time. I have also talked to Mr President about the plot," Mohammad Sidiq Chakari told TOLOnews.
Officials said if Mr Chakari claims he is not corrupt then he should come to Afghanistan and prove it.
Head of HOOAC Azizullah Ludin said: "HOOAC pledges a tough and serious fight against corrupt officials without considering their positions.
"I want to ask Mr Chakari where all this money came from. We went to Jihad only with our clothes, but where did 700 to 800 thousand dollars come from. It must have been brought from somewhere else," Mr Ludin said.
Mr Chakari was accused of flying money out of Afghanistan when he was running Hajj and Pilgrimage Ministry.
Experts said the government has not been able to try even one corrupt official in the past nine years.
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Army chiefs issue sex guide for troops home from Afghanistan
By ANI | ANI – Wed, Apr 20, 2011 3:52 PM IST
London, Apr 20 (ANI): Army chiefs have issued a sex guide for troops home from Afghanistan.
The 40-page manual tells squaddies how to get their love lives back on track after six months away fighting the Taliban.
But warns Our Boys to resist bedding their better halves straight away, and advices them instead of romance, holding hands and talking.
Surgeon Commander Professor Neil Greenberg said soldiers hoping for a bonk, a beer and a balti on coming home had to take account of their other halves' feelings.
"Intimacy takes time to establish," the Daily Star quoted him as saying. (ANI)
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Afghanistan must shed the myth of independence
A strong sense of independence does indeed make Afghanistan a graveyard – but not of empires. It divides and destroys us
Nushin Arbabzadah guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 April 2011 11.00 BST
In an interview with the Guardian, Afghan human rights activist Orzala Asharf-Nemat said it was the responsibility of the Afghan people to create their own national identity. Her point is absolutely valid. But since transnational concepts such as socialism (1980s), Islam (1990s) and democracy (2000s) have all failed to create a stable nation, we need to ask ourselves what is the single idea that resonates with all Afghans?
Unfortunately for Afghans, the idea that makes them feel that they are part of a distinct nation is the myth of their independence. This myth was the narrative upon which the Afghan state was founded in the late 19th century. Since then, it has continued to serve as the key story for political legitimacy and nation-building.
But the myth of independence is a double-edged sword that can be turned against foreign invaders and legitimate local governments alike. When turned against local governments, the myth of the Afghans' natural right to independence turns into licence to riot and rebel but without any sense of wrongdoing.
The myth of independence is the sole idea that resonates with all Afghans, regardless of their age, gender and ethnicity. The jihadi leaders, their Taliban enemies and vocal dissidents such as Malalai Joya all draw on this myth for legitimacy and popular appeal. In the mood for rebellion, Afghan MPs at times have threatened to "hit the mountain", a euphemism for justified rebellion against an oppressive state.
The strong sense of independence has historically served to legitimise many acts of anarchy and subversion which is why even the president sometimes threatens to join the Taliban rebels.
A myth that is as old as the country itself is obviously hard to shake off. Most Afghans are emotionally helpless against the call for independence which is why they desert the army, rally around subversive clerics and plant bombs that blow up their own people. The myth's power is such that it makes the legitimate question of what will happen once independence is achieved sound ridiculous.
Afghans should be forgiven for allowing the myth of independence to deprive them of their only chance to rebuild their country with the help of international allies. After all, generation after generation were raised with the idea that what made them unique was their martial qualities, their ability to be independent even to the point of defeating empires.
In reality, Afghans did not defeat any empire, as both the British and the Soviet empires were already in decline and in the process of disintegration. But Afghans could not let go of the myth and were instead encouraged to take pride in their country as the graveyard of empires. But Afghanistan remained a graveyard while the capitals of the former empires, Moscow and London, thrived and flourished after their so-called defeat by Afghans. The myth persisted even after the entire country had turned into a giant cemetery.
Afghan jihadi leaders still talk proudly about a nation that gives birth to independence-seeking martyrs. The myth is politically useful as it turns subversive rebels into heroes, thieving highwaymen into politicians. Ironically, international writers and journalists have also adopted the myth, perpetuating it by publishing books and articles about "the graveyard of empires".
At times, it feels as if the whole world wants Afghanistan to be just that: a massive graveyard and symbolic two fingers to superpowers. That a country incapable of sustaining itself is further destroyed in the process seems to matter little. Neither does it seem to matter that those who destroy cannot rebuild and hence expect the population to live in ruins and feed themselves with the pride of a myth rather than actual food.
The uncomfortable truth is that Afghanistan has never been a truly independent country and has always relied on outside resources and expertise for survival. Historically, much of the country's limited wealth came through control of trade routes by local tribesmen who also acted as highwaymen, making travelling in Afghanistan a famously dangerous endeavour.
Other sources of income included military raids into richer neighbouring territories and foreign subsidies in return for implementing superpower policies. The government in Kabul has always received foreign aid and subsidies to implement modernisation projects. The border tribes have always been hard to control and repeatedly undermined the central state, refusing to pay tax or supply soldiers to the army, again drawing on the unspoken right to independence.
The myth of independence also legitimised internal rebellions. Hence, in 1919, King Amanullah was declared a ghazi in recognition of his jihad against the British which won Afghans' independence. But in 1929, new rival strongmen had emerged, contesting Amanullah's power. They called the amir an infidel, which amounted to a declaration of war.
That a heroic Muslim leader could willy-nilly be declared an infidel is alarming, but not in Afghanistan where the clergy has always been subversive, often siding with the enemies of the state. After all, the absence of a strong state empowers both clerics and rebels, which is why both groups traditionally join hands, appealing to the myth of independence to mobilise the masses against the state. The recent riots in Mazar, Kandahar and Kabul were a continuation of this historical trend.
Independence, the national narrative that binds Afghans together, is simultaneously the force that helps mobilise rebellions, undermine the state and destabilise the country. If there is one lesson Afghans should learn from the past, it is that the inclusion of the myth of independence in their national narrative has to be done with great care, or the endless cycle of internal independence-seeking rebellions will never end.
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British bomb disposal expert killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Wed, 20 Apr, 2011 5:10 AM EDT
LONDON - Britain's military says a bomb disposal expert injured by a bomb in Afghanistan has died in a hospital in England.
The Ministry of Defence says the soldier from 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps, died Tuesday at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England.
The soldier was hurt Monday clearing roadside bombs in Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province.
The soldier's name was not released but the ministry said Wednesday next of kin had been informed.
The death brings to 364 the number of British forces and civilian defence workers killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
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U.S. is losing a savvy leader in Afghan war efforts
Washington Post By Greg Jaffe Tuesday, April 19,2011
No U.S. general has spent more time in Afghanistan than Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez.He is the primary author of the U.S.-Afghan war plan, a 600-plus-page classified document that is a catalogue of the lessons he has taken from three years of fighting the war. He can rattle off from memory the number of Afghan bureaucrats manning a lonely outpost in Zhari district. “Four months ago, we had one district governor and a bad police chief,” he said. “Now there are 13 people and a good police chief.”
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, calls him the “best combat leader I have ever known.”
But Rodriguez will not be leading the war in Afghanistan anytime soon. This summer he will be returning home to the United States to take over U.S. Army Forces Command, a four-star job in the Army’s vast stateside bureaucracy. The decision to bypass Rodriguez for the top job reflects a determination among senior Pentagon officials that the war needs a commander who can make the case for the increasingly unpopular conflict to Congress, the news media and skeptics in the White House.
In Washington, Rodriguez is seen as a savvy fighter but a so-so salesman.
A Pentagon spokesman said no final decisions have been made about a replacement for Gen. David H. Petraeus, who has told the Pentagon that he will serve through the fall. The front-runner is Lt. Gen. John Allen, who played a key role in turning the Sunni tribes against the Iraqi insurgency but has never served in Afghanistan.
Rodriguez, friends said, is disappointed by the decision to bring him home. He will leave Afghanistan with the war still very much in doubt. He will also take with him a depth of experience in Afghanistan that few generals can match.
“Rod is the person who understands the Afghan power dynamic better than just about any other senior official,” said Sarah Chayes, a civilian adviser to the U.S. military who has been a critic of U.S. policy. “He truly grasps the role of abuse of power, corruption and humiliation in driving the conflict. The flair he has for Afghanistan is incredibly rare.”
Rodriguez stands 6 foot 4 inches and typically wears a rumpled, slightly baggy uniform. In meetings with his staff, he listens more than he lectures, often playing with a pair of smudged, bent reading glasses.
When Rodriguez first arrived in Afghanistan in 2007, he was shocked at how little the U.S. military knew about the country. “I always felt uncomfortable that we didn’t know enough because the focus of the nation had been on Iraq,” he said. “It took us almost six months to figure out what we were doing, which is way too long.”
After years of relative dormancy, the Taliban had reemerged as an enemy that was every bit as lethal to U.S. troops as the Iraqi insurgency. For the relatively small force of about 25,000 service members in Afghanistan, it was an intense period.
On April 12, 2007, Rodriguez was visiting a company based at a remote outpost in Ghazni province when a U.S. patrol, racing to help another unit, struck a massive roadside bomb.
Rodriguez, who had already led troops in two tours of Iraq, ordered his Blackhawk helicopter to land and pick up a badly wounded soldier. It is rare for a general’s helicopter to touch down in the middle of firefight. It is even more unusual for a general to attempt lifesaving aid.
Rodriguez hunched over Sgt. David A. Stephens, a 28-year-old father of two, and tried to stem the bleeding from his legs, according to a soldier on the helicopter. “Stay with us,” the general yelled over the rotors’ thump. Stephens’s battalion commander performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the soldier. He died on the helicopter.
When Rodriguez’s first tour ended in spring 2008, he was convinced that his troops’ work with the Afghan army and government officials had hurt the Taliban. An internal unit history from 2008 captures his optimism.
“The people began seeing a government responsive to their needs,” the history said. “Through polling we saw increased confidence in the government. In fact, we’ve seen numerous incidents of villages expelling insurgents and outright defying armed insurgent demands.”
Rodriguez took a job in the Pentagon as the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. As the months passed, the violence in Afghanistan grew. The Taliban had been able to intimidate the locals and exploit frustration with the Afghan government in ways Rodriguez had not seen or understood.
“It was really below the surface and insidious,” he said. “We fought hard every day to understand how Afghanistan worked. But we had a very shallow knowledge.”
In June 2009, Gates tapped McChrystal, who had spent most of his career in the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, to fix the foundering war effort. Gates selected Rodriguez to build a new command that would manage and plan U.S. and NATO military operations in Afghanistan.
McChrystal and Rodriguez were West Point classmates and had been close friends since the mid-1980s. McChrystal initially focused on building a relationship with the mercurial Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. Rodriguez set to work on the war plan.
With the help of representatives from a half-dozen Afghan ministries, he identified about 90 key districts out of more than 400 that the Afghan government had to bring under control. Most were on major commerce routes or connected key agricultural areas to major markets.
He assigned U.S. officers to work full time at ministries, like education, finance and rural development, that he believed were critical to building effective district-level government. “The State Department absolutely hated it, because they saw it as militarizing civilian agencies,” said Alissa Stack, who worked as a civilian employee for the Defense Department in Kabul and who led the effort for Rodriguez. “But no one had ever explained the international military strategy to these ministries. They couldn’t help us if they didn’t understand what we were trying to do.”
Last June, McChrystal resignedafter officers on his staff made disparaging comments about Obama administration officials. He was replaced by Petraeus, who has pressed U.S. forces to step up attacks on mid-level Taliban leadership but left the rest of the Rodriguez war plan in place.
The two officers are strikingly different. Petraeus has carefully honed a reputation over the past 20 years as one of the Army’s warrior-scholars. He finished in the top 5 percent of his West Point class, earned a doctorate from Princeton University and led a high-profile group of historians and military officers in drafting a new counterinsurgency doctrine for the Army.
Rodriguez finished 13th from the bottom of his West Point class, an early failing that he still carries with him, according to friends. He has a disarmingly goofy sense of humor that he uses to get over the language barrier with Afghans.
At a base south of Kabul recently, an Afghan army camerman tried to jog past Rodriguez so that he could get a shot of the general walking toward him. Rodriguez began running to keep pace. In a matter of seconds he had baited the camerman into an all-out, arms-pumping footrace to the cheering delight of the Afghan soldiers on the base.
“Rod is very charismatic,” a fellow officer said. “He just can’t bring himself to translate that into a public persona.”
In the past year, Rodriguez has worked on the way he communicates. He stopped swearing after an aide calculated that he dropped 92 expletives in the course of a two-hour meeting with his staff.
Last month Rodriguez met with a group of about a dozen prominent U.S. businessmen who were visiting Kabul as part of a battlefield tour. As he answered their questions, Rodriguez glanced down at an index card with key points he wanted to make. The card also included a couple of personal messages.
One was the abbreviation “SDD,” which stands for “slow down, dummy.” It was a reminder to take his time explaining himself. “Show some emotion!” a second prompt urged.
In the past few months, there have been indications of the success of Rodriguez’s approach. Violence in key districts where the U.S. and Afghan governments have concentrated forces is significantly down. Local government is taking root.
The unanswered question is whether the gains will prove durable. Many of the power brokers and warlords, whose corrupt practices fueled the Taliban’s reemergence, still retain their influence.
Last fall Rodriguez was touring a major U.S. base in southern Afghanistan when he learned that the U.S. commander in the area had paid $20 million to a construction firm linked to a corrupt regional power broker. He quickly issued an order asking his five regional commanders to look into buying rock crushers and hire Afghans for $6 or $7 a day to make their own gravel.
Six months later, the order appears to have been lost in the bureaucracy. Some officials blame the flurry of orders put out by Rodriguez’s command for the inaction.
The other big worry is the Taliban’s sanctuary in Pakistan. In his recent meeting with the business leaders, Rodriguez sketched out the magnitude of the problem: There are at least three plants in Pakistan that manufacture ammonium nitrate used in bombs in Afghanistan.
“Why don’t you buy the ammonium nitrate plants?” one member of the group asked.
“Why wouldn’t you just bomb them?” another pressed.
Rodriguez replied that the only defense was to work harder to build the Afghan government and military. “If Pakistan gets worse, we have to make it stronger over here, and then you are in a battle for time,” he said.
These days Rodriguez and his staff spend hours debating the best ways to measure progress in the areas where they have concentrated forces. For months they did it by making the regional commands answer 130 questions on each of the 90-plus key districts. Recently Rodriguez has pressed his staff to pare back the queries. “We’ve been too overbearing,” he said.
The problem is that U.S. commanders are trying to measure how Afghans feel about the Taliban and their government. “It is all about their head and heart,” Rodriguez said. “And you just can’t measure head and heart.”
In December, Gates told Rodriguez that he was considering promoting him to four-star rank and moving him to South Korea. For the first time in his career, Rodriguez resisted a new assignment. Some of it was personal. His wife, who he had barely seen over the past four years, didn’t want move to Korea.
Rodriguez also knew that the Korea job, which typically lasts three years, would make it impossible for him to return to Afghanistan. This summer Rodriguez will take over U.S. Army Forces Command.
In pressing not to go to Korea, he argued that the Afghan war might prove tougher than expected, several senior defense officials said. The Pentagon might need his experience.
jaffeg@washpost.com
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Afghan forces train to spot rogue soldiers, police
Associated Press By Deb Riechmann April 19, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of Afghan soldiers are training in counterintelligence to stop Afghan and coalition forces from being attacked by rogue policemen and soldiers, or militants impersonating them.
The program is expected to double by the end of the year -- and not a moment too soon, with nearly daily attacks since Friday killing five NATO troops, nine members of the Afghan security forces and an interpreter. In what was a symbolic victory for militants, a man in an Afghan army uniform penetrated to the heart of the Afghan Defense Ministry compound on Monday and gunned down two Afghan soldiers.
Militants hope to undermine trust between coalition and Afghan forces, who are increasingly partnered as the Afghans prepare to take the lead in securing the nation by the end of 2014. Last year, there were 10,400 partnered operations -- up from 530 in 2009, the coalition said.
Convinced that insurgents were ramping up reconnaissance on security force movements, Afghan defense officials approached the U.S.-led coalition late last year and requested counterintelligence instruction for some of their top soldiers.
So far, U.S. and French forces have trained 220 Afghan soldiers to spot possible Taliban infiltrators, disgruntled soldiers within the ranks and other conditions that could make the force vulnerable to attack, according to U.S. Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the commander of NATO's training mission in Afghanistan. The plan is to have 445 soldiers trained in counterintelligence by the end of the year.
Since March 2009, the coalition has recorded 20 incidents where a member of the Afghan security forces or someone wearing a uniform used by them killed coalition forces. Thirty-six coalition troops have died. It is not known how many of the 282,000 members of the Afghan security forces were killed.
The data were provided by three intelligence officers with the coalition who briefed The Associated Press on Tuesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose results of investigations into some of the attacks and discuss ways Afghan recruits are vetted.
Half of the 20 incidents involved the impersonation of an Afghan policeman or soldier, the officers said. Afghan security force uniforms are easily obtained at stores in Kabul, and the Interior Ministry is planning a crackdown on the illegal uniform market, they said.
The cause of the other 10 incidents were attributed to combat stress or unknown reasons. The officers insisted that so far, there is no solid information that an insurgent was directed to join the army for the purpose of conducting attacks.
They said an Afghan man wearing a border police uniform who shot and killed two American military personnel April 4 in northwest Faryab province was upset over the burning of the Quran at a Florida church.
An Afghan soldier who shot and killed three German soldiers and wounded six others Feb. 18 in northern Baghlan province felt he had been personally offended by his German partners, they said.
An Afghan border policeman who gunned down six American soldiers Nov. 29, 2010 in eastern Nangarhar province was suffering from personal stress because his father was forcing him into an arranged marriage.
Insurgents tell a different story. They claim the Afghan shooters in nearly every incident are sleeper agents in the army or police.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shootings at the defense ministry, saying one of their agents planned the attack to coincide with a visit of the
French defense minister, who was in Kabul but not at the ministry at the time.
Investigators are also trying to understand why an Afghan soldier walked into a meeting of NATO trainers and Afghan troops at a base in eastern Laghman province on Saturday and detonated a vest of explosives. The bombing killed five American troops, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter. Afghan officials are going to the bomber's village to interview the elders who vouched for him.
The day before, a suicide bomber dressed as a policeman blew himself up inside the Kandahar police headquarters, killing the top law enforcement officer and two other policemen.
Abdul Hadi Khalid, a former deputy Afghan interior minister and defense analyst, said the recent attacks are indicative of weak intelligence.
"They cannot find out what's really going on or provide tips to the leaders," Khalid said. "The minister is not even able to defend his own office building. How was it that this terrorist was able to get into the ministry? Some people had to have helped facilitate him so he could reach almost to the minister's office."
Recruits are issued identity cards and must present letters from two elders from their village who can attest to their identity and motivation for serving in the Afghan security forces. The recruits must also supply personal information and are subjected to criminal record checks.
They also must submit to drug and medical screening along with biometrics information. About 6 percent of recruits are turned away for drug use or medical problems.
Still, Caldwell acknowledges that certain individuals who already joined the force before the more stringent vetting system were instituted in late 2009 could pose threats.
The Afghan defense ministry is trying to address this problem by performing an army-wide "inventory" to vet every current member of the force, he said.
"Everybody is vetted coming in," he said. "Not everybody was vetted who is in there now."
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Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.
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Afghanistan Loses $75bn from its Waters Each Year
Tolo news April 19, 2011
Afghanistan has been unable to control its waters and presently more than 70% of its waters flow into neighbours without any benefit, senators say.
A number of senators accuse some circles within the government framework over disrupting water controlling programmes.
"The government should bring water sources under its control so that our waters no longer flow into neighbouring countries freely and with no charge," Hedayatullah Rahayee, an Afghan senator, said.
Another Afghan senator Frahgul Ahmad Azimi said: "I want to repeat it again that there are circles within government who are trying to please our neighbours including Iran and Pakistan. And they don't care for their own people.
Each year nearly 57 billion cubic meters of water flow into rivers in Afghanistan and thirty percent of the whole waters are used inside Afghanistan, officials in water and energy ministry said.
It has been predicted that water shortages in the world would be the next factor of war among countries sharing borders.
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Prime Minister to visit Afghanistan early next month
New Kerala - Wed Apr 20, 6:45 am ET
New Delhi, Apr 20 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Afghanistan in the first week of May for discussions with Afghan leaders on regional security issues and bilateral matters.
Although, officials are tight-lipped about the long-pending visit, sources said it could take place in the first week of May. The sources said the visit was being undertaken in response to the invitation extended by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai during his visit to India in February.
Regional security issues in the context of increasing terrorism, India's 1.3 billion Dollar assistance for Afghanistan's reconstruction and the security of Indian nationals in that country would also be discussed.
The two sides are also likely to discuss the Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.
The visit comes ahead of the Prime Minister's tour to Addis Ababa for attending the second India-Africa Forum Summit in May-end.
The visit is significant as it comes a week after the tour of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army Chief Gen Kayani to Afghanistan.
Dr Singh had last visited Afghanistan in August 2005.
India has been actively involved in Afghanistan's reconstruction programmes.
It has constructed Afghanistan's Parliament building.
India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed the 218-km Zaranj-Delaram highway connecting with Iran.
The Afghan police are also being trained by India.
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