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Floods, heavy snow kill 25 in two weeks
KABUL, 14 February 2011 (IRIN) - Flash floods and heavy snowfall killed 25 people and damaged up to 3,000 houses in different parts of Afghanistan over the past two weeks, according to government officials.
Kabul suicide attack: does uptick in violence signal a fresh Taliban campaign?
By Tom A. Peter – The Christian Science Monitor Mon Feb 14, 12:16 pm ET
Kabul, Afghanistan – A bombing in the heart of Kabul shook the city Monday as militants carried out their second major attack inside the capital in less than a month, highlighting an uptick in violence that could indicate a new Taliban campaign.
Taliban Claims Responsibility for Kabul Blast
VOA News February 14, 2011
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kabul on Monday that killed two people.
Afghan officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Kabul City Center, which includes the Safi Landmark Hotel, popular with foreigners staying in the capital.
Clinton picks new U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, Pakistan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has chosen retired diplomat Marc Grossman to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a senior administration official said on Monday.
Karzai Government Next to Fall After Mubarak: Taliban
Tolo news February 14, 2011
The Taliban warned Sunday that Karzai's US-backed government is next to be overthrown by its people following the fall of President Mubarak's rule in Egypt.
Foreign aid cuts would be 'devastating:' Clinton
Agence France-Presse (AFP) 14 Feb 2011
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Monday that deep Republican cuts to foreign aid would be "detrimental" to national security, saying Washington cannot afford to "recede" from its presence anywhere in the world.
Ballot disputes cast shadows over Afghan parliament
By Hamid Shalizi – Mon Feb 14, 10:02 am ET
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan's attorney general and the country's top electoral body clashed on Monday over last year's fraud-marred parliamentary election in another sign of growing political paralysis.
Two British troops killed in Afghan blaze
February 14, 2011
LONDON — (AFP) Two British soldiers were killed Monday in a blaze at the main British base in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence in London announced.
Afghan instructors to lead in training police: NATO General
KABUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua)-- The commander of NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A) on Monday said his team and its Afghan Interior Ministry partners have focused on training of national police trainers to take lead in providing training within the next two years. "Producing quality Afghan police trainers and instructors is our priority effort in 2011," U.S. Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell told a joint press conference with Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari here.
7 charged in NY with conspiring to aid Taliban
By The Associated Press – Mon Feb 14, 3:06 pm ET
NEW YORK – Seven men, including two American citizens, were charged Monday with selling drugs and weapons in an effort to help the Taliban fight U.S. troops overseas.
Rare-earth shortage? Afghans think they can help
Associated Press By ELENA BECATOROS 14/02/2011
KABUL, Afghanistan - Amid surging demand for rare-earth minerals used in everything from cell phones to gas-saving cars, Afghans are dreaming of cashing in on vast deposits they believe lie beneath their feet.
Govt Move to Take Over Shelters Threatens Women Safety
Tolo news February 14, 2011
Afghan government's move to take charge of women's safe houses threatens the safety of Afghan women and girls, Human Rights Watch said Sunday.
Justice Remains Elusive for Many at U.S. Prison in Afghanistan
The Huffington Post Daphne Eviatar February 13, 2011
In the summer of 2008, the United States military captured a 16-year-old Pakistani boy and imprisoned him at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. According to his lawyers, for over a year his family had no idea where he was. When he was finally allowed to speak to relatives nearly two years later due to intervention by the Red Cross
Former senior Taliban member visits Britain
A former high-ranking member of the Taliban has made the first visit to Britain by a member of the regime to take part in secret negotiations.
Telegraph.co.uk By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent 13 Feb 2011
Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, a member of the Taliban government before September 11, visited London last week amid closely controlled security.
Agriculture in Afghanistan: NMSU professor provides support
By Jay Rodman For the Las Cruces Sun-News 02/14/2011 03:41:54 AM MST
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Against the backdrop of continuing violence in the nearly 10-year-old Afghanistan war, major efforts by the international community and the Afghan government are supporting local farmers struggling to survive and lead relatively normal lives.
A Chicken War in New York, Where Afghans Rule the Roost
New York Times By DAN BILEFSKY February 13, 2011
Abdul Haye, the self-styled Colonel Sanders of New York’s Afghan community, has declared a fried chicken war.
He has armed himself with an unwritten secret recipe that he claims allows him to fry the best bird in town. His main weapon, he says, is ownership of the trademark for the Kennedy Fried Chicken brand, which has spawned hundreds of imitators as far south as Georgia, and has become to oily drumsticks what the ubiquitous Ray’s name once was to New York pizza.
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Floods, heavy snow kill 25 in two weeks
KABUL, 14 February 2011 (IRIN) - Flash floods and heavy snowfall killed 25 people and damaged up to 3,000 houses in different parts of Afghanistan over the past two weeks, according to government officials.
At least 20 people died and 53 have been injured in Parwan, Herat, Wardak and Daykundi provinces, the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) said. Five people lost their lives in mudslides and snowstorms in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, the provincial department of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) said.
Shindand District in the western province of Herat is among the worst affected areas where, in addition to four deaths and over a dozen injured, almost 2,600 families have been affected, officials said.
“In the beginning we had difficulties in delivering aid to Shindand because of insecurity and road inaccessibility,” said Shafiq Behrozyan, a spokesman for the governor of Herat, adding that some humanitarian agencies had also opposed the transportation of aid items by military planes. “But we managed to send aid consignments by road.”
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it had dispatched 250 tons of food aid to Shindand and that distribution was ongoing.
“The government requested food assistance for 16,000 people in Herat and we approved the requested immediately,” said Challiss McDonough, a WFP spokeswoman in Kabul.
ANDMA said food and non-food aid supplies had reached most of the affected people.
“Various national and international organizations have participated in the provision and delivery of aid supplies and we are working hard to respond to all the needs,” said Mohammad Daim Kakar, ANDMA’s director.
Recurrent disasters
The latest wave of natural disasters comes amid growing concerns about drought in 2011 which is anticipated to result in agricultural losses, and exacerbate poverty and food insecurity. UN agencies say about eight million Afghans (28 percent of the population) will need food assistance this year.
“The poor early performance of Afghanistan’s main wet season and anticipated poor forecast are likely to produce large precipitation deficits and threaten the 2011 irrigated wheat harvest,” said an Afghanistan Food Security Outlook of the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS-NET) in January.
Such a stark drought warning prompted the Afghan government to start stockpiling wheat.
However, a weather update issued by FEWS-NET on 9 February said: “During mid-January and the beginning of February, moderate to heavy precipitation eliminated precipitation deficits across Afghanistan.”
Owing to the heavy snow over the past few weeks “snow water values are at or above average for most of the country,” according to the update which did not specify whether the country still faced drought risks in the summer of 2011, with potential agricultural losses.
The landlocked country with its rugged terrain is highly vulnerable to different kinds of natural disasters which adversely impact the lives of at least 400,000 people every year, according to aid agencies.
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Kabul suicide attack: does uptick in violence signal a fresh Taliban campaign?
By Tom A. Peter – The Christian Science Monitor Mon Feb 14, 12:16 pm ET
Kabul, Afghanistan – A bombing in the heart of Kabul shook the city Monday as militants carried out their second major attack inside the capital in less than a month, highlighting an uptick in violence that could indicate a new Taliban campaign.
A group of four gunmen opened fire on the guards at Kabul’s prominent Safi Landmark hotel and shopping center, and one of the attackers detonated a suicide bomb in the main entrance, killing two guards and injuring at least two more.
Monday’s attack comes just after nine people were killed in the Jan. 28 bombing at Finest, a Kabul supermarket popular with Westerners. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both today's attack and the Finest attack, saying that they were targeting the head of the Blackwater security company, now known as Xe Services.
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Although Afghanistan just finished a year of record violence, the capital city remained relatively quiet, with most of the fighting located in the volatile southern and eastern areas of the country. Some international security officials had begun citing the quiet and lack of violence in Kabul as a sign of progress there. With the two bombings coming in quick succession, however, it appears that militants may now be stepping up attacks in Kabul.
“The Taliban and Al Qaeda want to show that they’re still active and can do what they want,” says Hilal Oddin Hilal, a member of parliament for Baghlan Province. “The Taliban can still have their terrorist attacks anywhere they want, even in Kabul … [and] our intelligence organizations have not been able to find the terrorists until now.”
In the ramp-up to the parliamentary elections in mid-September, police increased security and Kabul managed to go from August through November without any serious attacks. Since November, at least and 20 people have been killed in Kabul bombings, 11 of whom died in the Finest and Safi Landmark attacks.
Fawad Hashimi works at a Samsung cellphone shop inside the Safi Landmark and was leaving the building as the attack started. If the government strengthens security and reconciles with the Taliban, he says, security will improve. As of now, he says, the government is not doing enough.
“We are amazed at the increase in violence. They installed armored doors and the attackers still got inside,â€
While security officials have noted the recent uptick in violence in Kabul, Zemeri Bashary, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior, says that the “situation is under control.”
“We’re definitely concerned about it, and we will take whatever possible measures to prevent it in the future,” says Mr. Bashary. “This could be a new tactic of the enemy” to target high-profile locations to draw more attention to the attacks, he adds.
While the security landscape of Kabul will not change as a result of recent attacks, Bashary says that the city may begin fortifying locations like the Safi Landmark that could prove attractive targets for militant groups.
In an official statement issued shortly after the Safi Landmark bombing, President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack against “innocent civilians that were out shopping.” He says that the attack revealed the “evil and anti-Islamic intention of the terrorists, who don’t want to see people live in peace.”
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Taliban Claims Responsibility for Kabul Blast
VOA News February 14, 2011
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kabul on Monday that killed two people.
Afghan officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Kabul City Center, which includes the Safi Landmark Hotel, popular with foreigners staying in the capital.
The explosion killed two security guards and wounded several other people. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack In a text message sent to reporters.
A year ago, the same complex was damaged in an attack that killed at least 16 people.
Monday's explosion came a little more than two weeks after a suicide bomber attacked a supermarket frequented by foreigners in the Afghan capital, killing nine people. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack.
In a separate development Britain says two of its soldiers died Monday in a fire at Camp Bastian, the main British base in Afghanistan, in Helmand province. Britain's Ministry of Defense says an investigation into the cause of the fire has begun.
And NATO reports that one of its servicemembers was killed by an improvised explosive device Monday in southern Afghanistan. NATO has not released the name or the nationality of the servicemember.
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Clinton picks new U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, Pakistan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has chosen retired diplomat Marc Grossman to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a senior administration official said on Monday.
The appointment will be announced later this week, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Clinton is due to make a speech on Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Asia Society in New York on Friday.
The position has been vacant since Holbrooke, a veteran diplomatic trouble shooter, died suddenly in December.
The Washington Post, which first reported Clinton's choice, said Clinton met with Grossman at the State Department on Monday and expects to announce his appointment during her speech on Friday, if not sooner.
Grossman would take over as President Barack Obama's administration faces a crucial year in its strategy for the troubled region, including an initial U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan due to begin in July.
Grossman, a former ambassador to Turkey, retired from the State Department in 2005 after three decades in diplomatic service.
He is vice president of the Cohen Group, a consulting firm headed for former Defense Secretary William Cohen, which advises international business clients on overseas enterprises.
(Editing by Christopher Wilson)
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Karzai Government Next to Fall After Mubarak: Taliban
Tolo news February 14, 2011
The Taliban warned Sunday that Karzai's US-backed government is next to be overthrown by its people following the fall of President Mubarak's rule in Egypt.
After three week long demonstrations President Hosni Mubarak gave up power on Friday afternoon and left Cairo for his residence in Sharm-el-Sheikh.
A statement published by the Taliban said the Afghan people would rise up and overthrow the Kabul government due to its corruption and the 'atrocities' committed by the United States in the country during a nearly decade-old military campaign.
"Arsenal of weapons, huge army and foreign support is no guarantee for continuation of power; nor they can prevent the caravan of the aspirations of the people from forging ahead," the Taliban statement said.
We want to remind the officials in Kabul that today the US makes use of you against your people, but tomorrow they turn their back and call you "murderers of humanity and traitors" as they did with Hosni Mubarak, it said.
The Taliban persuades people to pull together against western countries.
"Give hands of brotherhood to each other against the Western colonialism, injustice, atrocities, brutality, corruption and the western culture of nakedness," it added.
The statement also calls on Egyptian people to form an Islamic government and prevent foreign enemies to make influence over the country.
The Office of the Afghan President declined to comment on the statement.
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Foreign aid cuts would be 'devastating:' Clinton
Agence France-Presse (AFP) 14 Feb 2011
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Monday that deep Republican cuts to foreign aid would be "detrimental" to national security, saying Washington cannot afford to "recede" from its presence anywhere in the world.
Clinton said she had warned Republican House Speaker John Boehner the cuts would cause the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID) to scale back their critical roles in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The chief US diplomat also cited the current political upheaval in Egypt, the linchpin of US peacemaking in the Middle East, as a key reason for keeping a strong diplomatic presence that can help to defuse crises.
"The scope of the proposed House cuts is massive. The truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to America's national security," Clinton told reporters after talks with Boehner, the most powerful Republican.
"The State Department and USAID are on the front lines of just about every national security challenge we face. And we are promoting American jobs and advancing economic opportunity for Americans as well," she said.
"To be successful at these vital tasks, we need the resources to do the job, otherwise we will pay a higher price later in crises that are allowed to simmer and boil over into conflicts."
"We would be forced to scale back significantly our mission in the front line states of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan where we work side by side with the American military," she warned.
"We would also be required to roll back critical health, food security, climate change, border security and trade promotion efforts aboard as well," she added.
She proposed reaching "reasonable bipartisan consensus" to resolve the standoff.
"We cannot recede from our presence anywhere in the world," Clinton said.
"What we're living through is a historic period where all kinds of changes -- some of them in support of American values, and some of them directly opposed to American values -- are occurring," she said.
The State Department meanwhile released a copy of a letter Clinton sent to Harold Rodgers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
She said the committee's proposed 2011 spending levels for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development will result in a 16 percent reduction from 2010 funding.
"The bill further proposes to cut our humanitarian assistance accounts by 41 percent from 2010 levels," Clinton said.
"Cuts of this magnitude will be devastating to our national security, will render us unable to respond to unanticipated disasters, and will damage our leadership around the world," according to the letter.
While Clinton's greatest concern was for the 2011 continuing budget resolution, the State Department rolled out a proposed 2012 budget of 47 billion dollars, which it said was just one percent more than comparable 2012 levels.
Among the proposals is eliminating Foreign Military Financing to Chile, Haiti, Malta, East Timor and Tonga, for a savings of about five million dollars, State Department officials told reporters.
They added that nine countries will no longer receive assistance for joining the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, where foreign military officers train at US institutions.
Those countries are Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Iceland, Madagascar, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates, with savings of under one million dollars.
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Ballot disputes cast shadows over Afghan parliament
By Hamid Shalizi – Mon Feb 14, 10:02 am ET
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan's attorney general and the country's top electoral body clashed on Monday over last year's fraud-marred parliamentary election in another sign of growing political paralysis.
Afghanistan's lawmakers have spent three weeks squabbling over the selection of a parliamentary speaker, an unsavory image for Western backers who paid for the $140 million election held on September 18 and whose troops are fighting a growing Taliban-led insurgency.
Widespread accusations of vote fraud from all sides marred the poll, just as it did in a presidential vote in 2009 won by incumbent Hamid Karzai, with arguments and accusations delaying the inauguration of the new lower house until January 26.
On Monday, Afghanistan's attorney general ordered the detention of top election officials in a showdown over access to suspect ballot boxes, but the Independent Election Commission (IEC) appeared to stare down the threat.
The face-off ended without arrests, despite the presence of police, with both the Attorney General's Office and the Independent Election Commission later saying election officials had agreed to cooperate with a request that ballot boxes be handed over to a special election court convened by Karzai.
The order was a clear sign of the judiciary's determination to push ahead with efforts to probe and possibly overturn at least some results from the 2010 election.
Karzai's critics say the special tribunal, which comes under the Supreme Court and was set up to probe election fraud, is designed more to further his political aims than serve justice.
The tribunal claims the power to unseat any lawmaker found guilty of vote-rigging.
Karzai is thought to be unhappy with the new parliament's make-up, which although not necessarily united, may yet yield a more vocal and coherent opposition bloc to challenge him unlike previous assemblies seen more as a rubber stamp.
Afghanistan's political system leaves little room for political parties to operate, so changing only a few results could have a significant impact in the 249-seat lower house.
The body's inauguration last month was welcomed by Western diplomats as a "big day" for Afghanistan, even though the United Nations has acknowledged there had been "considerable fraud" committed during the vote.
But the parliament since has been marked by its inability to achieve anything of note while arguments over fraud continue.
On Monday, the IEC condemned the Attorney General's Office for heavy-handed tactics in a raid to get ballot boxes from 12 provinces that have been sought by Karzai's special tribunal.
"The Commission had officially assured the Supreme Court and the Attorney General's Office of its cooperation, but their delegation of several cars and armed policemen entered the IEC compound without previous notification," the IEC said.
"The Election Commission strongly condemns this show of force against it," it said in a statement.
(Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Paul Tait)
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Two British troops killed in Afghan blaze
February 14, 2011
LONDON — (AFP) Two British soldiers were killed Monday in a blaze at the main British base in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence in London announced.
The two servicemen from the Royal Logistics Corps were caught up in a fire that broke out at Camp Bastion in the restive Helmand Province, the MoD said, according to their initial indications.
The ministry said it believed no enemy action was involved.
The deaths bring to 356 the number of British troops killed since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. Of these, at least 312 were killed through hostile action.
"This incident is now under investigation," said Camp Bastion spokesman Wing Commander Martin Tinworth.
"Both soldiers were involved in vital support work for the UK forces who continue to bring hope and stability across Afghanistan.
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to both soldiers? family and friends at this deeply sad time."
The soldiers' next of kin have been informed. They are the seventh and eighth British army soldiers to die in Afghanistan this year.
Britain has about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, making it the second-largest contributor after the United States to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
They are based in central Helmand, battling Taliban insurgents and increasingly training local security forces.
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Afghan instructors to lead in training police: NATO General
KABUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua)-- The commander of NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A) on Monday said his team and its Afghan Interior Ministry partners have focused on training of national police trainers to take lead in providing training within the next two years. "Producing quality Afghan police trainers and instructors is our priority effort in 2011," U.S. Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell told a joint press conference with Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari here.
"Based on coordinated efforts and detailed program, I believe the Ministry of Interior will be in the lead for the majority of the training of your police forces by the end of 2012." the U.S. General said.
He also noted that United States has invested some 20 billion U. S. dollars for developing, equipping and sustaining the entire Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in 2010 and 2011. "Nearly half of that would be spent specially on police facilities, police equipping and police training centers," he said.
In the same press conference, Bashari said that the government is scheduled to train over 40,000 policemen and officers in 2011.
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7 charged in NY with conspiring to aid Taliban
By The Associated Press – Mon Feb 14, 3:06 pm ET
NEW YORK – Seven men, including two American citizens, were charged Monday with selling drugs and weapons in an effort to help the Taliban fight U.S. troops overseas.
Posing as representatives of the Taliban, cooperating witnesses for the Drug Enforcement Administration approached the men in Ghana last June, asking to set up a drug relationship, prosecutors said. First, the cooperators asked if they could buy large amounts of cocaine, according to court documents. Then, they asked if the men could set up safe places in West Africa to store heroin on its way from Afghanistan to the United States, Canada and Europe.
Terrorism charges were filed against Maroun Saade, Walid Nasir, Francis Sourou Ahissou, Corneille Dato, Martin Raouf Bouraima, Oded Orbach and Alwar Pouryan.
Prosecutors said the two U.S. citizens, Orbach and Pouryan, were arrested in Romania last week and are being held there while they await extradition to the United States. The others were arrested last week in Liberia, where they are in U.S. custody. All are expected to be prosecuted in New York.
The supposed Taliban representatives told the men that the drugs would be sold to help finance Taliban operations against the United States, court documents said.
"Saade responded that it would please him to support the Taliban's cause," prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
As the drug relationship blossomed, the DEA also began negotiating to buy anti-aircraft missiles and automatic weapons, prosecutors said. Those inquiries led the DEA to Orbach and Pouryan, who discussed selling anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers and other weapons to the Taliban.
An e-mail seized by prosecutors revealed a price list ranging from $120 or so for an M16 rifle to $87,000 and up for a Javelin anti-take missile. Prosecutors said they believe the men were working with a co-conspirator in Lebanon. The co-conspirator was not named.
"Today, we eliminated an entrenched global criminal network, preventing it from moving ton quantities of cocaine, laundering millions in drug money, and trading arms to the Taliban to undermine the rule of law and kill Americans," DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart said.
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Rare-earth shortage? Afghans think they can help
Associated Press By ELENA BECATOROS 14/02/2011
KABUL, Afghanistan - Amid surging demand for rare-earth minerals used in everything from cell phones to gas-saving cars, Afghans are dreaming of cashing in on vast deposits they believe lie beneath their feet.
The problem is that they are in one of the country's most dangerous spots, on the south bank of the Helmand River in southern Afghanistan, where fighting rages in a traditional Taliban stronghold.
That Afghanistan sits on vast mineral wealth has been detailed in several surveys, the most extensive of which were conducted by the Soviets in the 1970s. Mining companies, both Afghan and foreign, already have shown interest, notably in its copper, iron and oil.
Last month, Afghan officials proudly presented what they say is $3 trillion worth of deposits scattered throughout the country, more than triple the initial dollar amount estimated by the U.S. Defense Department last June.
But with poor infrastructure and security that ranges from precarious to downright prohibitive, there is a limit to how much the country can hope for, at least in the medium term.
Among the most exciting right now are the rare earths, with a spat between China and Japan last fall highlighting China's near-monopoly on the minerals.
In 2007 the U.S. Geological Survey estimated 1.4 million metric tons of rare-earth elements lie in southwest Helmand. The Afghan Ministry of Mines says there is more elsewhere in the country, "huge deposits" overall, according to Jalil Jumriani, who deals with policy and promotion at the ministry in Kabul.
The U.S. Defense Department's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations estimates the Khanneshin area in Helmand holds some $89 billion in rare earths and niobium, minerals strategic for high tech and industrial industries.
"This deposit could represent a long-term development opportunity for Helmand province that would create jobs across the spectrum from low-skilled laborers to chemists, physicists and engineers," the task force said in a statement last month.
USGS scientists are analyzing samples taken over the past 18 months from Helmand to determine what exactly is there in the way of the 17 rare-earth minerals.
Jack Medlin, a USGS specialist, said it was too soon to call it "a world-class rare-earths deposit. We're not there yet. We will be there probably by midsummer."
Jumriani said officials were treading cautiously. Once the picture clears and the mining law is overhauled to define investors' rights, Afghanistan will hold a road show to present its rare-earth deposits, possibly this summer in Hong Kong or Singapore.
"We want to take these steps slowly, and we want to make sure that the people in Afghanistan can get the real benefits of this," Jumriani said.
Rare-earth minerals are used in areas as diverse as cell phones, hybrid car batteries, defense industries and wind turbines, and China accounts for 97 percent of production.
China has 30 percent of the world's rare-earth deposits, but the United States, Australia and others stopped mining their own a decade ago because it was cheaper to buy Chinese ores. Several companies now plan to resume production in North America and Australia.
Beijing announced in 2009 that it would reduce rare-earth exports to curb environmental damage and conserve supplies. Manufacturers were alarmed when China temporarily blocked shipments to Japan last year during a dispute over islands claimed by both governments. The Japanese government is discussing creating a rare-earths recycling industry to reduce reliance on imports.
China already has made a hefty investment in Afghan minerals, signing a $3 billion contract to mine copper. But it is not known whether it will seek a stake in Afghanistan's rare earths.
Also, experts caution that it is still unclear whether the Helmand deposits are mineable and can yield a profit. One question needing study is which of the rare-earth minerals are more abundant, the more abundant ones called light rare earths, or the heavy rare earths critical to specific industries. Medlin said old data lean toward the lights, but there are indications heavy rare earths are present too.
A Ministry of Mines report last month indicated the deposit included the rarer type.
"The heavy rare earths in Khanneshin are found only in few locations around the world. This deposit could represent a long-term opportunity for Helmand province, creating jobs and stabilizing the area," a statement said.
"There's been quite a lot of hype about mineral resources in Afghanistan," said Andrew Bloodworth, a mining expert at the British Geological Survey. Afghanistan is unquestionably rich in minerals, he said. "It's a big country with complicated geology, and ... the chances are they're going to have mineral resources which are going to be of interest."
But just having the minerals is not enough. Mines need roads and railroads, no easy proposition in a war-wracked country.
"The question is ... if this is an economic deposit, can you produce rare-earths out of it in two years or five years? And the answer to that is, maybe," Medlin said. He does not expect it to have an impact within five years, but in the longer term it "could have a big impact."
___
AP researchers Zhao Liang and Yu Bing and AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed to this report from Beijing.
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Govt Move to Take Over Shelters Threatens Women Safety
Tolo news February 14, 2011
Afghan government's move to take charge of women's safe houses threatens the safety of Afghan women and girls, Human Rights Watch said Sunday.
A statement published on Human Rights Watch website said the government should support, rather than taking the control over work of shelter providers.
The statement said the government is planning to apply a regulation on Women's Protection Centres to take control over safe houses that are run by non-governmental organisations.
Adoption of the regulation would result in the closure of some shelters, restrictions on women's freedom of movement and a likely reduction in protection of shelter residents from abusers, it said.
"The Afghan government claims that taking over the shelters would lead to sustainable funding and better management, but the real agenda is clear," said Rachel Reid, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The government is increasingly dominated by hard-line conservatives who are hostile to the very idea of shelters, since they allow women some autonomy from abusive husbands and family members."
In January 2011 the Council of Ministers in a letter set a 45-day deadline to shelter providers to hand over the control to Women's Affairs Ministry.
"Today President Hamid Karzai calls the Taliban his brothers and seeks their support," Reid said.
"He should think of the sisters, daughters, and mothers who are at risk, and take steps to protect them, including rejecting this regressive measure," he further said.
The need for shelters for women and girls in Afghanistan is acute, Human Rights Watch said.
Violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape, is endemic. Forced and child marriage remain widespread and socially accepted.
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Justice Remains Elusive for Many at U.S. Prison in Afghanistan
The Huffington Post Daphne Eviatar February 13, 2011
In the summer of 2008, the United States military captured a 16-year-old Pakistani boy and imprisoned him at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. According to his lawyers, for over a year his family had no idea where he was. When he was finally allowed to speak to relatives nearly two years later due to intervention by the Red Cross, Hamidullah Khan told his brother that he had had a hearing in the U.S. prison. The U.S. military judges had admitted lacking any evidence against him and recommended he be returned home to his family in Pakistan. Months later, he remains imprisoned at the U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan.
Hamidullah Khan is not alone. Of the 41 men who come from outside Afghanistan and remain locked in the U.S.-run prison at Bagram, more than a dozen have been recommended for release by U.S. military tribunals. Yet only one is currently scheduled to be sent home.
I arrived in Afghanistan last week to research U.S. detention here. According to the recently-released detainees I interviewed, prison conditions and treatment have significantly improved in recent years and prisoners now at least have a chance to plead their case in a hearing -- a big step up from the policies of the Bush administration. But I was shocked to learn that for some reason no one seems to know, prisoners from outside Afghanistan who are imprisoned here aren't being sent home even after they've won their case and been recommended for release.
Known as Detainee Review Boards, the hearings take place at the United States' recently-built Parwan Justice Center on the Bagram air base. Detainees are supposed to get a hearing about every six months, but they're not represented by lawyers and don't get to see much of the evidence against them. (I'll be writing more about this later). But it's still the only opportunity prisoners at Bagram have to make their case, ask relatives or village elders to speak on their behalf, and plead for release. Last year about 350 U.S. prisoners were released this way. But in some cases, even though a panel of military judges has ruled that the prisoner does not pose a security threat and the military has no evidence that he's done anything wrong, these men -- who come from Pakistan, Tunisia, Kuwait, Yemen and even Germany -- are still locked up in prison. At least one has been at Bagram since 2002.
Since arriving in Kabul a week ago, I've asked about a half dozen U.S. military and State Department officials in Afghanistan why that is. Nobody seems to know.
The reluctance to release these men may have something to do with the parallel holdup at Guantanamo Bay, where almost 90 prisoners have been approved for transfer or release but remain stuck in the U.S. prison there. Most of those detainees come from unstable countries such as Yemen, where the U.S. government categorically refuses to return Gitmo prisoners ever since one Yemeni over a year ago tried to blow up a plane bound for Detroit. Others, such as the Chinese Muslim Uighurs, don't want to return to home because they legitimately fear being tortured upon their return. Finding a place for these detainees to go is a challenge -- particularly since the United States has refused to accept a single one of them.
Congress just made returning Guantanamo prisoners even more difficult by blocking their transfer unless the Defense secretary and secretary of State will certify that the receiving country will prevent the detainee from getting involved in any future anti-U.S. activities.
But there's no legal bar on returning home innocent men, like Hamidullah Kahn, who've been recommended for release from Bagram. Yet for some reason, the U.S. government isn't doing it.
Officials in both the Defense and State Departments I spoke to say they're aware of the problem but it's out of their hands. When I was at the Parwan Justice Center at Bagram earlier this week watching Detainee Review Board hearings, one soldier complained about how frustrating it is to be unable to tell innocent prisoners when they'll be going home, or what's causing the holdup. The problem, according to the U.S. officials I spoke to in Afghanistan, is somewhere in Washington.
Why should Washington start paying more attention to the problems of a dozen or so men? One military commander at Bagram I spoke to insisted this group makes up just a tiny percentage of the more than 1500 prisoners at Bagram -- not something to be too worried about, given the number of detainees. But it's still a big concern to the family of Hamidullah Khan. And outraging extended families in the region isn't going to help the United States.
What's more, the belief that the United States is imprisoning people without cause is widespread in Afghanistan. For a long time, that was because the U.S. didn't give detainees at Bagram any opportunity to defend themselves at all. They could be locked up for years without even knowing the charges against them. There are now almost three times as many prisoners at Bagram as there were during the Bush Administration. Although now they get hearings, they're not allowed to have lawyers and much of the evidence against them remains secret. The detainees never get to see or challenge it. Still, some detainees manage to win recommendations for release. But the United States' refusal to release the non-Afghans among them tells the entire prison population that this new so-called "justice" system -- and with it, U.S. respect for the rule of law -- is meaningless.
That's not going to help the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.
What happened earlier this week in Jalalabad is illustrative. On Monday, hundreds of Taliban sympathizers rallied in an anti-U.S. protest at the funeral of a Guantanamo detainee who was returned home in a coffin after he died last week in the U.S. prison. Although the United States insists he was a known Taliban commander, 48-year-old Awal Gul was never charged or put on trial, so the government never proved its case. The Taliban and their sympathizers eagerly capitalized on that at home in Afghanistan. "Death to America!" was the rallying cry at the funeral.
As the war in Afghanistan drags into its tenth year, the United States doesn't need more martyrs. It does need to do a much better job of winning regional support for its mission. Sending innocent prisoners home would be a good start.
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Former senior Taliban member visits Britain
A former high-ranking member of the Taliban has made the first visit to Britain by a member of the regime to take part in secret negotiations.
Telegraph.co.uk By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent 13 Feb 2011
Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, a member of the Taliban government before September 11, visited London last week amid closely controlled security.
Zaeef, who is still said to be close to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, attended a closed conference part funded by the Foreign Office to discuss peace proposals aimed at ending the fighting.
The Taliban leader arrived in Britain on Wednesday and stayed in a central London hotel. He was banned from speaking publicly by the terms of his visa but is thought to have held private meetings with British officials.
Britain is attempting to facilitate talks between Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, and senior members of the Taliban.
A senior Foreign Office official said last month that senior members of the Taliban have been putting out "feelers" about making peace with the Western-backed government in Kabul.
Zaeef is the first individual linked to the Taliban regime to have been granted a visa to travel to Britain.
His name was only removed from a UN Security Council blacklist last summer, at the request of Mr Karzai.
The conference at King's College, London, brought together opinions from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, the United States and Britain.
Discussions have also taken place in the United Arab Emirates as Kabul and the coalition powers attempt to find a political solution to Afghanistan's problems.
The Afghan conference in London 12 months ago, attended by President Karzai, laid down three conditions for the Taliban's participation in government ¬ giving up the armed struggle, renouncing al-Qaeda and working within the Afghan constitution.
However the current talks are thought to be conducted without preconditions, although Foreign Office sources say they do not want to "shine too much light" on the process, for fear of bringing delicate negotiations to a halt.
"I would stress that this isn't something where you are going to suddenly see a big breakthrough," one official said.
President Karzai is believed to have requested at least 20 figures linked to the Taliban regime should be delisted by the UN sanctions committee as part of confidence building measures.
The Afghan High Peace Council, founded in September and headed by the former fighter Borhanuddin Rabbani, has conducted five trips around Afghanistan and one to Pakistan.
There is also a separate reconciliation and reintegration effort going on at a local level, led by regional governors who have been "empowered" to find local solutions to the insurgency.
Zaeef is thought to have opened direct contact with Mullah Omar, who is rumoured to be hiding out in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, although the outcome of such conversations is unclear.
Zaeef is also believed to be a key intermediary in a secret dialogue involving top Taliban commanders such as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy leader of the Taliban.
After September 11 he was handed over to US forces by Pakistan and taken to the prison at Bagram Air Base near Kabul before being transferred to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
He was held in Guantánamo Bay until 2005, and was released after signing a bond committing him not to engage in anti-US activities. He was moved into a safe-house in Kabul where he lives under armed guard.
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Agriculture in Afghanistan: NMSU professor provides support
By Jay Rodman For the Las Cruces Sun-News 02/14/2011 03:41:54 AM MST
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Against the backdrop of continuing violence in the nearly 10-year-old Afghanistan war, major efforts by the international community and the Afghan government are supporting local farmers struggling to survive and lead relatively normal lives.
One of the more successful of these efforts is AWATT - the Afghanistan Water, Agriculture and Technology Transfer program - a multi-year $16 million project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. New Mexico State University is the lead implementing agent in a consortium that also includes three other U.S. universities.
Hamdy Oushy is an associate professor in NMSU's Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business who has been working in Afghanistan since AWATT began nearly three years ago. Originally from Egypt, Oushy holds a doctorate from NMSU in range sciences. His primary role with the AWATT program has been in the area of forage and rangeland "technology transfer" as he has supported Afghans in developing systematic approaches to improving the production of feed crops for livestock.
Oushy was the architect of a recent AWATT pilot in Nangarhar province, the Farm Resource Management project. Initiated last summer, FRM applies lessons learned through tested AWATT interventions in forage, irrigation and upper watershed restoration to increase agricultural productivity and sustainability in the lower watersheds.
Like all aspects of AWATT, the FRM program is highly collaborative, involving Afghan agricultural officials and research and extension personnel from national, provincial and district levels; the U.S. National Guard Agriculture Development Team (ADT-Missouri in Nangarhar), local political leaders, staff and students from the provincial university, and, not least, a group of 13 farmers who have agreed to allow the demonstration farms to operate on their land.
FRM is an adaptation of the "whole farm management" concept under local environmental conditions. Oushy characterized the Nangarhar context as an over-reliance on "the cereal wheat/rice cycle in Afghanistan that has resulted in soil degradation, lower productivity, lower organic matter, weeds, insects and disease." The FRM program addresses the various factors that inhibit plentiful harvests and keep farm incomes low, in ways that can be handed off to provincial Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock extension agents and - Oushy hopes - be replicated in other areas of the country.
As a pilot project, FRM is essentially a research enterprise. The goal is to determine the best mix of traditional and modified farming and animal husbandry practices, incorporating the appropriate combination of crops to produce optimal results for the population.
In setting up the pilot, a small set of willing farmers was selected for participation, which involved agreeing to employ certain practices and to plant particular crops on test plots they own. Additional test plots were established at a local agricultural research station and a dairy farm operation.
The participating farmers are learning new ways to farm sustainably, such as rotating their crops to improve the quality of their soil. They can compare the results alongside their traditional fields.
Provincial extension agents are getting a taste of how science-based agricultural trials are designed and implemented. Data from the study is expected help steer farmers and agricultural policy makers toward efficient approaches that include tailored crop rotation, measurement and analysis of water use and soil composition, more calibrated planting and harvest and more productive and healthier livestock practices.
The farming practices employed in FRM include laser-leveling and furrowing of the demonstration plots, to distribute irrigation water evenly and avoid wasteful runoff; planting with seed drills to boost plant viability; analyzing the soil to monitor fertility; regulating irrigation to avoid both over- and under-watering; and feeding the harvested forage crops to livestock, which can then be kept more contained, preventing overgrazing on the hillsides. Containment of the livestock, a difficult practice for Afghans to understand, is expected to lead to the replenishment of overgrazed and deforested areas of the watershed, reducing erosion and preventing flooding.
A major crop-related element of the FRM pilot is the introduction of suitable nitrogen-fixing forage crops to the farmers' inventory. Oushy personally brought in seed of six high-yield varieties of Egyptian clover, now being tested as a winter forage crop under Nangarhar environmental conditions. He predicts that rotating the nitrogen-rich clover with the traditional winter wheat will result in higher yields of both the wheat and the summer crops, as well as improved soil conditions. He also expects there to be variation in the performance of the different clover varieties.
In terms of summer crops, Oushy advocates the introduction of pearl millet, Sudan grass and cowpea as forage crops, in rotation with the traditionally grown corn and rice.
The FRM program is expected to result in higher crop yields and higher incomes for farmers, as well as self-sufficiency in seed production.
According to Oushy, the first cut of the introduced Egyptian clover from the 13 FRM demonstration plots was harvested 25-30 days earlier than indigenous clover planted at the same time and yielded fifty percent more forage than the local variety.
"This means the number of cuts and the total yield of the Egyptian clover will be significantly higher than the local clover," Oushy said. In addition, the FRM farmers have reported that their milk production from cows increased by 20 to 30 percent since they have been feeding on the newly introduced high protein legume. "This has already had an impact on the household incomes."
AWATT and the FRM pilot have attracted positive attention from a few high-profile individuals of late. On Dec. 2, the demonstration plot at the agricultural research station in Jalalabad was visited by a VIP party that included Ambassador Mark Sedwill, NATO's Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan; and U.K. Ambassador Sir William Patey. Sedwill had high praise for AWATT's effectiveness in a message to General David Petreous and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, where he referred to AWATT as "an impressive outfit" and to FRM as a prime example of "good projects to improve agricultural productivity through simple low-cost innovations."
Roger Beck, a professor in NMSU's Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business, is currently AWATT's Kabul-based program director and primary NMSU representative in Afghanistan. "The FRM program pulls together all of AWATT's successfully tested on-farm interventions in Afghanistan," Beck said.
The likely benefits of the FRM approach for Afghans include farming practices and crop selections that result in more productive land, making better use of scarce resources and allowing the restoration of stressed environments. In addition, the program supports the U.S. Government's counter-insurgency strategy, which seeks to "win the hearts and minds" of Afghans, instill confidence in the government and offer alternatives to violence.
Are there likely benefits for New Mexicans from NMSU's leadership of the AWATT program? Although most of the modern farming practices AWATT has introduced to Afghanistan are standard in the U.S., Oushy suspects some benefits will filter home. For example, he suspects that one or more varieties of Egyptian clover will be adopted as a viable forage crop for farmers in the Southwest (and elsewhere) who face similar circumstances of climate, soil health, etc.
"Egyptian clover will grow as well in New Mexico as it does in Afghanistan," the forage expert said.
Roger Beck is confident that the relationships established between NMSU personnel and those working in the Afghan agriculture sector will continue, likely resulting in collaborative research, exchange of scholars and study opportunities for students in both Afghanistan and the U.S.
"The agro-climatic conditions in Afghanistan, and even some cultural approaches to water rights, are similar to New Mexico," Beck said. "The FRM program is an important part of what we hope will be a long professional relationship between the Afghan farming community and NMSU."
"EYE ON RESEARCH" is provided by New Mexico State University. This week's feature was written by Jay A. Rodman of University Communications.
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A Chicken War in New York, Where Afghans Rule the Roost
New York Times By DAN BILEFSKY February 13, 2011
Abdul Haye, the self-styled Colonel Sanders of New York’s Afghan community, has declared a fried chicken war.
He has armed himself with an unwritten secret recipe that he claims allows him to fry the best bird in town. His main weapon, he says, is ownership of the trademark for the Kennedy Fried Chicken brand, which has spawned hundreds of imitators as far south as Georgia, and has become to oily drumsticks what the ubiquitous Ray’s name once was to New York pizza.
That Kennedy, named after the former president, was itself a deliberate imitation of Kentucky Fried Chicken, down to those familiar initials — and that it had its own trademark battle a generation ago — seems to make little difference to Mr. Haye, 38. A wired and wiry resident of Whitestone, Queens, he began working as a chicken fryer when he was 17, soon after he immigrated in 1989, and describes his rivals with ire similar to that he reserves for the Taliban.
“I’m declaring war against all the Afghans in New York who have stolen my name and my idea,” Mr. Haye said the other day at one of his five chicken outlets, showing off the trademark certificate that the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Washington had awarded him in 2005. He waved a thick stack of some of the 300 registered letters he began to mail last week to Kennedy outlets across the country, insisting that they pay him a monthly franchise fee, or face legal action. “Their poor-quality chicken is going to kill my reputation,” Mr. Haye complained. “I am the only real Kennedy!”
While lamb is a protein of choice in Mr. Haye’s homeland, two generations of Afghans in America have found a lifeline in the humble chicken. Those in the industry say there are some 350 Afghan-owned chicken stores across the five boroughs employing thousands of Afghan-Americans. Plates of battered breasts — all halal, to be sure — are served at local mosques after Friday prayers, and short-order cooks stash prayer mats next to the freezers. Fried chicken has put children through college, financed elaborate weddings, provided work for newly arrived refugees and put food on the table for relatives back in Kabul.
But the fast-food world can seem as tribal as Afghanistan itself, and Mr. Haye’s crusade threatens to unravel the fragile harmony in the fried chicken fraternity.
“We won’t pay a penny,” huffed Nour Abdullah, the manager of Kennedy Fried Chicken on Junction Boulevard in Corona, Queens, which seems indistinguishable from Mr. Haye’s except for the fried shrimp balls and gyros on the menu. “I can rename the shop Munir Fried Chicken after my son or even New Kennedy Fried Chicken. Then let’s see what he’s going to do.”
A few doors down, Najib Ullah, a chicken fryer from Kabul, was equally defiant. “Anyone can own a Kennedy, and I’ve never heard of this Abdul Haye,” he said. “Every place has a different owner: same chicken, different menu. So what’s the problem?”
One recent Friday at Hazrat-I-Abubakr Sadiq, a predominantly Afghan mosque in Flushing, Queens, the consensus among the congregants was that Mr. Haye may have the law on his side, but Afghan intransigence, conditioned during decades of war and occupation, was firmly stacked against him.
Mohammad Sherzad, the avuncular imam, said that Allah provided enough chicken to go around. The Koran, he noted, gives its blessing to Muslims eating chicken, as long as it is slaughtered in accordance with Islamic dietary laws.
According to local lore, Zia Taeb, who came to New York from Kabul in 1972, opened the first Kennedy Fried Chicken three years later on Nostrand Avenue in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The outlet and its red-and-white logo, which many confused with Kentucky Fried Chicken, quickly prospered, helping him earn the nickname Zia Morgh, or “Zia Chicken” in Dari, a language spoken in Afghanistan. It also attracted the notice of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which sued Kennedy for trademark infringement in 1990 in a New York federal court — and won — before changing its name to KFC the next year, which muted the dispute. “I didn’t speak much English then, but it was easy to see that you could make money,” Mr. Taeb said, recalling his first days in New York. “The price of chicken was inexpensive and stable, and anyone could work behind the counter.”
The same way Korean bodegas, Greek diners and Indian-owned gas stations exploded, Mr. Taeb’s foray into the chicken business had a ripple effect: Afghan immigrants who worked at his six Kennedy outlets soon opened up their own outposts with names like Crown Fried Chicken, Royal Fried Chicken and Mamma’s Fried Chicken. Or, Kennedy copycats: a quarter-century later, more than 200 such places, in nine states and Canada and England, are listed on kennedyfriedchicken.com.
Reached by phone in San Diego, where he has long since retired from the chicken business, Mr. Taeb, who now exports precious stones to China, said he had chosen the Kennedy name “because Afghans are fond of the former president.” And he insisted that he — not Mr. Haye — was the rightful owner of the Kennedy brand. “He won’t win because I know my people, and Afghans will never pay him,” he said. “I will go after him.”
Mr. Haye, who bought his first fried chicken place after a seven-month apprenticeship at a Kennedy outlet in Queens, conceded that Zia Morgh was a poultry pioneer. But he sees himself as the reigning chicken king.
Mr. Haye said he first started using the Kennedy Fried Chicken name in 1994, though he waited nearly 10 years to apply for a trademark. Mr. Haye said he also changed the logo on his Kennedy stores from red to blue in the 1990s to avoid antagonizing KFC and its army of lawyers.
Jennifer Rankin Byrne, a spokeswoman for the trademark office, declined to comment on the Kennedy case specifically, but said a federal trademark registration for restaurant services “established a legal presumption that the registration owner has the exclusive right to use the mark nationwide.”
According to the patent office’s database, there have been five other trademark applications for the Kennedy name since 1991, each of which was either denied or abandoned. Rick Maynard, a spokesman for KFC, acknowledged that the company had inspired imitators across the world and said it was continuing to “vigorously protect” its trademark. Mr. Haye insists he will do the same. But even armed with his trademark certificate, which he keeps in a safe deposit box, he conceded it would take a skilled warrior to regain control of the Kennedy Fried Chicken brand.
Though he dreams of identically outfitted Kennedy outlets, with marble counters from Mecca, servers in crisp red uniforms, and chicken spiced with the secret sauce made by a cook in the Bronx (hint: copious amounts of gray pepper and garlic), he said he knew he would have to contend with willful rivals, too-close-for-comfort name adjustments, and Kennedy Fried Chicken joints that sell pizza egg rolls.
Hunched over a plate of lamb chops at his favorite Afghan restaurant in Queens, he shook his head and sighed: “You know, Afghans don’t even like eating fried chicken.”
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