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Attack in Kandahar Breaks Rare Respite
By TAIMOOR SHAH and RAY RIVERA The New York Times October 27, 2011
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Insurgents armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked a small NATO base here Thursday, breaking an unusual period of calm in this volatile city and setting off a standoff between the attackers and coalition and Afghan forces that was continuing late into the evening.
Clinton: Relationships with Afghanistan, Pakistan key to security
By Jamie Crawford, CNN National Security Producer October 27, 2011
Washington (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States' work in both Afghanistan and Pakistan has "yielded significant results," but "serious challenges" remain in the relationship between the three countries.
Clinton urges Congress: Don’t ‘undercut’ U.S. progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan
By Jason Ukman The Washington Post
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday told lawmakers that “we should build on our momentum, not undercut our progress” in Pakistan and Afghanistan, part of a bid to stave off Congress’s growing frustration over developments in the region.
Clinton faces questions from US lawmakers angered by Afghan president’s comments
Associated Press Thursday, October 27, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration should rethink its commitment of dollars and American lives to the fight in Afghanistan, according to lawmakers furious with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent statement that his country would back Pakistan if it went to war with the United States.
Suspected US Drone Strike Targets Key Pakistani Taliban Commander
VOA News October 27, 2011
Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed five militants linked to a top Taliban commander in Pakistan's northwest tribal region.
Pakistan's Zardari to attend Afghan summit
AFP
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will hold talks with Afghan and Turkish leaders on the eve of a long-awaited conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul, the foreign office said Thursday.
Afghan Leader’s Invitation Could Reopen Doors for Former U.S. Commander
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and ERIC SCHMITT The New York Times October 26, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai has invited retired Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who led NATO troops here in 2009 and 2010, to Afghanistan, and General McChrystal plans to make the visit in the next few weeks, Afghan and American officials said.
Musharraf Says Spy Agency Must Protect Pakistan's Interests in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 27 October 2011
Pakistan's former leader, Pervez Musharraf, warned that his country's spies will have to take "counter-measures" in Afghanistan if US troops leave it unstable or it becomes too close to India.
Reforming the Taliban: US aims to teach Afghan fighters new livelihoods
A US military-run reintegration effort in Afghanistan aims to teach captured Taliban fighters how to earn a legal living upon release. Critics say the US program is premature and undermines the Afghan government.
By Anna Mulrine, Staff writer The Christian Science Monitor October 27, 2011 at 10:09 am EDT
Bagram, Afghanistan - Down a back road, past old, still-active minefields and blown-out Soviet tanks, US military officials are trying to bring former insurgents back into the fold of the Afghan government.
Dozens killed and wounded in an Afghan tanker blaze
By Ahmad Qiam and Hamid Shalizi | Reuters – Wed, Oct 26, 2011.
RABAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 35 wounded on a road near a major U.S. base after a small bomb punctured a hole in the side of a fuel tanker that was later engulfed by a large blaze, eyewitnesses and officials said on Wednesday.
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Attack in Kandahar Breaks Rare Respite
By TAIMOOR SHAH and RAY RIVERA The New York Times October 27, 2011
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Insurgents armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked a small NATO base here Thursday, breaking an unusual period of calm in this volatile city and setting off a standoff between the attackers and coalition and Afghan forces that was continuing late into the evening.
At least one Afghan soldier and one civilian were wounded in the attack, said Dr. Dawod Farhad, the director of the provincial hospital, though there were conflicting reports of more injuries and one possible fatality. No Western civilians or troops stationed at the base were killed, United States and Afghan officials said.
The attack began around 2:45 p.m. when an unknown number of gunmen took positions in an empty three-story building about a quarter mile from the military outpost and began firing toward the base, said Gen. Abdul Raziq, police chief of Kandahar Province. The attack on the base ended about three hours later, a NATO spokesman said, but the attackers remained holed up in the building. The Taliban took credit for the attack.
The base, located inside the city, houses the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, one of dozens of such outposts across the country where civilian and military personnel lead efforts to build roads, schools and assist local governments to become more effective. Militants attacked a similar outpost in Panjshir Province earlier this month, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding two Afghan security guards.
As Afghan and coalition forces surrounded the building, police found a mini-van and a motorcycle nearby laden with explosives, Mr. Raziq said.
“The plan was when security forces searched the building where the attackers took shelter, they would detonate the bombs,” Mr. Raziq said.
A second attack took place about the same time when a suicide bomber in a car filled with explosives detonated his vehicle outside a NATO combat outpost in the district of Panjwayi southwest of the city. No coalition or Afghan forces were killed in the attack, said Air Force Master Sgt. Christopher DeWitt, a NATO spokesman in Kabul.
Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, has been one of the most dangerous urban areas in the country. A string of assassinations through the summer jolted the city, targeting high level officials, including Ahmed Wali Karzai, President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother and the influential leader of the Kandahar provincial council, as well as ordinary civil servants and tribal elders.
But the city had been relatively peaceful in recent weeks. Afghan and coalition forces were still surrounding the building late into the evening uncertain of whether more gunmen were inside. NATO officials said Afghan forces were leading the operation, but a Kandahar police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said American forces, who have specialized equipment for night operations, took control of clearing the building around 8 p.m.
Taimoor Shah reported from Kandahar and Ray Rivera from Kabul.
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Clinton: Relationships with Afghanistan, Pakistan key to security
By Jamie Crawford, CNN National Security Producer October 27, 2011
Washington (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States' work in both Afghanistan and Pakistan has "yielded significant results," but "serious challenges" remain in the relationship between the three countries.
Fresh off a week-long trip that included stops in both countries, Clinton testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday, explaining that the success of the U.S. presence in the region sometimes gets lost in the public debate.
"Osama bin Laden and many of his top lieutenants are dead. The threat remains real and urgent, especially from al Qaeda's affiliates," she said, according to the prepared remarks of her testimony.
But al Qaeda's ability to conduct operations has been greatly diminished through cooperation on and off the battlefield, Clinton said.
"Many of our successes against al Qaeda would not have been possible without close cooperation between the United States and Pakistan," she said, according to her prepared remarks.
In Afghanistan, where security forces still have a long way to go before they can take on added responsibility, and where extreme poverty and corruption remain key challenges going forward, Clinton noted that there are 7 million more children in school a decade after the United States went to war in the country. Nearly 40% of Afghan girls are in school today, she said, a sharp reversal from when the Taliban ruled the country and prohibited girls from attending school.
"Working with our Afghan and Pakistani partners is not always easy, but these relationships are advancing America's national security interests," Clinton said. "And walking away would undermine those interests."
The secretary of state also discussed the three-track strategy between the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan that she unveiled on her trip, a strategy that has been dubbed "fight, talk, build."
As coalition and Afghan forces have increased pressure on the Taliban and Haqqani network operations inside Afghanistan, Clinton said commanders remain concerned about the ability of these groups to launch attacks on coalition forces from safe havens in Pakistan. In meeting with their counterparts in Pakistan last week, Clinton, CIA Director David Petraeus, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey urged Pakistan to help squeeze the Haqqani terrorist network on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.
"We're not suggesting that Pakistan sacrifice its own security. Quite the opposite," Clinton told the House committee, noting the sacrifices the Pakistan military has made in the fight.
Clinton said it is important for an inclusive Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process in which the parties talk to former insurgents who are ready to renounce violence. "We have been clear about the necessary outcomes of any negotiation: Insurgents must renounce violence, abandon al Qaeda, and abide by the constitution of Afghanistan, including its protections for women and minorities. If insurgents cannot meet those red-lines, they will face continued and unrelenting assault," Clinton said, according to her prepared testimony.
Pakistan has a huge stake in getting Taliban and other insurgents to the negotiating table as well, Clinton said, and called on the Pakistanis to do so through public statements and closing off the safe havens inside Pakistan.
"For our part, the United States is working with the Afghan government to conclude a new Strategic Partnership that will provide a framework for cooperation long after the transition is concluded in 2014," Clinton said. "It will send a strong signal about our enduring commitment to the people of Afghanistan and the future of the region."
Clinton told the committee it is important to build capacity for sustained economic growth and development in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of the region as a means to building lasting stability and security.
"People need a realistic hope for a better life, a job and a chance to provide for their family," she said. "So it is critical to our broader effort that civilian assistance continues in both Afghanistan and Pakistan."
As the administration works to strengthen oversight and effectiveness of its programs in the region, Clinton told the committee she would be sending a comprehensive status update on civilian assistance to Afghanistan and Pakistan next week that would detail plans for both short-term stabilization and long-term development programs.
As coalition forces draw down their numbers ahead of a planned pull-out in 2014, Clinton said it is important for the United States and its partners to support an Afghan-led economic strategy that will improve agricultural productivity, develop natural resources, increase exports, and strengthen the country's financial sector.
She also noted the importance of promoting trade between Afghanistan, Pakistan and its neighbors through the building of new infrastructure and other ways to move goods that will create new jobs across the region.
As the United States gradually reduces its military footprint in Afghanistan over the next few years, Clinton told the members of Congress, Washington must still remain engaged in the region. "America paid a heavy price for disengaging after the Soviets left in 1989," she said. "We cannot afford to make that mistake again. We have to be smart and strategic. And we have to work together to protect our interests."
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Clinton urges Congress: Don’t ‘undercut’ U.S. progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan
By Jason Ukman The Washington Post
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday told lawmakers that “we should build on our momentum, not undercut our progress” in Pakistan and Afghanistan, part of a bid to stave off Congress’s growing frustration over developments in the region.
“Working with our Afghan and Pakistani partners is not always easy, but these relationships are advancing America’s national security interests. And walking away would undermine those interests,” Clinton said.
The administration, she added, needs Congress as a full partner in the strategy. “This strategy requires resources,” Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “I can’t sugarcoat that fact.”
Obama administration officials have been attempting a delicate balancing act in the region, on the one hand trying to keep Pakistan close and on the other insisting ever more vigorously that it crack down on militant leaders launching attacks in Afghanistan. Last week, while traveling to the region with a high-powered delegation of U.S. officials, Clinton warned the Pakistanis that they would have to pay a “very big price” if they did not take action against militants.
In Washington, lawmakers have grown increasingly skeptical about Pakistan’s commitment. Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s remark over the weekend that he would side with Pakistan in a conflict with the United States has renewed concerns about his reliability as a U.S. ally.
“Now more than ever, President Karzai’s insult to America tells me that it’s time for our country to stop pouring our limited taxpayer dollars and losing precious American lives in a country where we aren’t even welcome — and even worse, where they have the gall to threaten to side against us,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said.
In her remarks Thursday, Clinton emphasized the military progress the United States and its allies have made in Afghanistan, as well as the killing of Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders. She also acknowledged lawmakers’ concerns but said, as she has before, that there is no better alternative to sustaining U.S. efforts.
“America paid a heavy price for disengaging after the Soviets left in 1989. We cannot afford to make that mistake again,” she said. “We have to be smart and strategic. And we have to work together to protect our interests.”
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Clinton faces questions from US lawmakers angered by Afghan president’s comments
Associated Press Thursday, October 27, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration should rethink its commitment of dollars and American lives to the fight in Afghanistan, according to lawmakers furious with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent statement that his country would back Pakistan if it went to war with the United States.
That anger over Karzai’s remarks is likely to surface when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, her first congressional appearance since her trip last week to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Lawmakers also are expected to press Clinton on the administration’s recent decision to temporarily pull its ambassador out of Syria, the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by year’s end and the Palestinians’ push for statehood at the United Nations over objections from the U.S. and Israel.
In an interview that aired this past weekend, Karzai told a private Pakistani television station: “If fighting starts between Pakistan and the U.S., we are beside Pakistan. If Pakistan is attacked and the people of Pakistan need Afghanistan’s help, Afghanistan will be there with you.”
He said his government would not allow any nation, including the United States, to dictate its policies.
Those comments drew a sharp rebuke from members of Congress, including some who have been strong supporters of the decade-plus war in Afghanistan.
“Without the assistance of the United States, $468 billion from the United States Treasury and the supreme sacrifice of 1,820 American soldiers who have died during Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan would still be ruled by a gang of Taliban thugs with few individual liberties and no popularly elected leaders,” Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, said in a statement.
Dicks said Karzai’s comments underscore the need for the United States to reconsider its mission and schedule for withdrawing forces from Afghanistan.
The United States has about 98,000 troops in Afghanistan and plans to bring most forces home by 2015. It intends to withdraw the 33,000 additional troops that President Barack Obama sent to Afghanistan in 2009 by the end of the fighting season in 2012, 10,000 of them by the end of this year. About 3,000 of those have already left.
“Now more than ever, President Karzai’s insult to America tells me that it’s time for our country to stop pouring our limited taxpayer dollars and losing precious American lives in a country where we aren’t even welcome — and even worse, where they have the gall to threaten to side against us,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said this week.
Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said Wednesday that the U.S. “needs to have a foreign policy — as President (George W.) Bush said — you’re either with us or against us.”
Lawmakers have been critical of Pakistan, demanding it crack down on the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, considered a major threat to American forces. Adm. Mike Mullen, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, told Congress last month that the violent Haqqani network “acts as a veritable arm” of Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
While in Pakistan, Clinton bluntly said if the government in Islamabad is unwilling or unable to take the fight to al-Qaida and the Haqqani network operating from its border with Afghanistan, the U.S. “would show” it how to eliminate its safe havens.
Clinton’s appearance comes as her department’s budget is under siege in Congress.
Legislation in the House would provide $39.6 billion for the State Department and foreign aid, $11.2 billion less than what Obama and Clinton requested for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Separately, it would provide $7.6 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations budget for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Clinton has criticized the cuts, especially since foreign aid amounts to just 1 percent of federal spending.
Clinton will be facing a committee that has been the most antagonistic toward Obama administration foreign policy in the current Congress. The panel, led by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., has voted to slash U.S. contributions to the United Nations, conditionally block assistance to nations overseas and cut funds for global climate change initiatives and programs to help poor women and children in developing countries.
The efforts have largely been a symbolic slap at the State Department as the committee’s bills stand no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate and would face a certain veto by Obama. Even the GOP-led House hasn’t taken up many of the measures.
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Suspected US Drone Strike Targets Key Pakistani Taliban Commander
VOA News October 27, 2011
Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed five militants linked to a top Taliban commander in Pakistan's northwest tribal region.
The officials said the unmanned aircraft fired missiles Thursday at a vehicle in the town of Azam Warsak in South Waziristan, killing the younger brother of Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir.
Four other militants were also killed, including another relative of Nazir. Pakistani security officials say at least two other militants were wounded in the drone strike.
Nazir is believed to be one of the most powerful militant commanders in Pakistan's tribal region. His Taliban fighters are said to cross the border to attack U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
In June, missile strikes killed 15 militants believed to be allied with Nazir, and in May his followers threatened to carry out revenge attacks against Pakistan and the United States for the U.S. killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Nazir's group is reportedly not opposed to the Pakistani state and has struck deals with the government during past military offensives against other Taliban factions.
The United States does not publicly acknowledge the use of drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants in Pakistan's northwest. Pakistani officials have protested the attacks as a violation of the country's sovereignty.
Thursday's missile strike follows comments made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to Pakistan last week, when she urged Pakistani leaders to take immediate action against militant safe havens.
Elsewhere in South Waziristan, intelligence officials say a roadside bomb killed two Pakistani soldiers in the Shakai area on Thursday.
And in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police say a bomb exploded in a popular market Thursday, wounding at least seven people.
Authorities said the explosives were packed in an oil canister.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which damaged several nearby shops.
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Pakistan's Zardari to attend Afghan summit
AFP
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will hold talks with Afghan and Turkish leaders on the eve of a long-awaited conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul, the foreign office said Thursday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Turkish President Abullah Gul will also attend the meeting on Saturday, spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told reporters.
The agenda will include peace, stability and reconciliation in Afghanistan and economic cooperation for Afghanistan, she said.
"Pakistan strongly supports these areas" and will continue to "contribute constructively to all endeavours and initiatives in this regard," she said.
Turkey hosts a regional conference on Afghanistan on November 2 in Istanbul, which Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will attend.
The Istanbul conference is intended to chart Afghanistan's future with the US-led NATO mission already locked into troop drawdowns that are scheduled to bring all foreign combat troops home by 2014.
"Pakistan supports efforts for a secure, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan contributing to stability, security and prosperity in the region," Janjua told a weekly press briefing.
"It is important that unity of purpose and the region?s support for Afghanistan must be ensured through consensus decision making."
Visiting Islamabad last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Pakistan to take action within "days and weeks" on dismantling Afghan militant havens and encouraging the Taliban into peace talks.
Pakistan has called for comprehensive reconciliation in Afghanistan and security officials say that contacts with Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani faction could help facilitate future peace talks with Kabul and Washington.
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Afghan Leader’s Invitation Could Reopen Doors for Former U.S. Commander
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and ERIC SCHMITT The New York Times October 26, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai has invited retired Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who led NATO troops here in 2009 and 2010, to Afghanistan, and General McChrystal plans to make the visit in the next few weeks, Afghan and American officials said.
The general has not been in Afghanistan since he resigned his command in June 2010 after an embarrassing article in Rolling Stone magazine quoted members of his staff saying disparaging things about the Obama administration.
Though his visit is being described as a private one — his wife, Annie, will accompany him — it may be the beginning of a return to the Afghan policy arena, where he was a significant player for much of the last 10 years, first as chief of clandestine special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and then as NATO commanding general here.
General McChrystal has remained in touch with senior Afghan officials, in particular Mr. Karzai, with whom he had built a strong relationship.
The official relationship between Washington and Mr. Karzai has often been strained. As a result, American officials are interested in having people in the wings who could open back channels to the erratic Afghan leader. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts has sometimes played that role.
So the general’s visit, coming while the United States is negotiating a strategic agreement that will chart the Afghan-American relationship after United States combat troops withdraw in 2014, will almost certainly be freighted with meaning by Afghan observers, whether policy is discussed or not.
“General McChrystal is coming with his wife, and they will be special guests of the president,” said Aimal Faizi, the spokesman for Mr. Karzai. The invitation was formally extended more than a month ago, he said.
Several Afghan and American officials said that Mr. Karzai appeared to have a good relationship with the two senior American officials in Afghanistan now — Gen. John R. Allen, the NATO commander, and Ryan C. Crocker, the ambassador — and that the invitation to General McChrystal was more of a tribute to him personally.
Mr. Karzai and General McChrystal had a “very good” relationship, and “they traveled to many provinces together,” Mr. Faizi said.
That connection was built in part on General McChrystal’s effort to reach out to Mr. Karzai when the president’s relationship with Mr. Crocker’s predecessor, Karl W. Eikenberry, had reached its nadir. In a leaked diplomatic cable from late 2009, Mr. Eikenberry described the Afghan president as “not an adequate strategic partner.”
At the same time, the relationship with other senior American diplomat, the special envoy Richard C. Holbrooke, had become so tense that Mr. Karzai no longer wanted to meet with him. A major area of contention was Mr. Karzai’s refusal to take on endemic corruption in his government.
American officials said General McChrystal’s visit could benefit him, Mr. Karzai and the Obama administration.
“Karzai has always liked to feel he had a special relationship with the Americans beyond with the ambassador,” said Bruce O. Riedel, who conducted the first review of Pakistan and Afghanistan policy for President Obama in early 2009.
“This could be a way to develop a useful back channel for Karzai, as well as a back channel for the administration. It could let McChrystal say things that might not be all that politic for Ryan Crocker to say.”
For General McChrystal, Mr. Riedel said, the visit “is a little bit of redemption.” He continued: “The very fact Karzai asked him to come shows he’s not your normal private citizen. McChrystal enjoys the confidence of the president of Afghanistan and of the administration, who are letting him go out there.”
But even during General McChrystal’s yearlong command in Afghanistan, Mr. Karzai continued to make statements suggesting that he resented the United States’ presence and blamed the international community in Afghanistan for the electoral fraud during the 2009 presidential election.
Several Afghans who are close to the government questioned whether General McChrystal’s contact with Mr. Karzai in retirement had done much more than to keep lines of communication open.
“With a good relationship, you should be able to get things done. Like if you think that governance is a priority, then you should be able to leverage some changes, and that didn’t seem to happen,” said one Afghan businessman.
Mr. McChrystal consulted senior American officials before accepting the invitation. Both the senior regional military official, Gen. James N. Mattis, head of Central Command, and the senior diplomat here, Mr. Crocker, assented. The White House is also aware of the trip, said a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, who added that the former general “will not be carrying any particular message from the administration.”
Alissa J. Rubin reported from Kabul, and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
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Musharraf Says Spy Agency Must Protect Pakistan's Interests in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 27 October 2011
Pakistan's former leader, Pervez Musharraf, warned that his country's spies will have to take "counter-measures" in Afghanistan if US troops leave it unstable or it becomes too close to India.
His made the comment during a visit to Washington on Wednesday.
He also described relations between the US and Pakistan as "terrible" after US officials accused Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, of supporting insurgents.
"Since our independence, Afghanistan always has been anti-Pakistan because the Soviet Union and India have very good relations in Afghanistan," Mr Musharraf said.
"We must not allow this to continue. We must not begrudge if Pakistan orders ISI to take counter-measures to protect its own interests," he added.
The former president said Afghanistan could descend back into ethnic conflict after 2014, when all foreign combat troops are due to leave the country.
US officials recently accused the ISI of supporting the Haqqani network which has been blamed for carrying out attacks on US troops and the Afghan government.
Afghan officials said yesterday that national forces will take responsibility for security in all or parts of 17 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces next month, in the second phase of transition.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai will officially announce the list of second-phase transition sites at a conference next week in Istanbul.
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Reforming the Taliban: US aims to teach Afghan fighters new livelihoods
A US military-run reintegration effort in Afghanistan aims to teach captured Taliban fighters how to earn a legal living upon release. Critics say the US program is premature and undermines the Afghan government.
By Anna Mulrine, Staff writer The Christian Science Monitor October 27, 2011 at 10:09 am EDT
Bagram, Afghanistan - Down a back road, past old, still-active minefields and blown-out Soviet tanks, US military officials are trying to bring former insurgents back into the fold of the Afghan government.
The US official who runs the program calls it "tactical detoxifying" – offering captured former foot soldiers a skill that could help them make a legal living once they are released. Since March, the Parwan Detention Center at Bagram Air Base near Kabul has offered beekeeping workshops, language labs, and tailoring classes.
Yet the process of reintegration has been fraught with suspicion and roadblocks.
Afghan efforts at reconciling with elements of the Taliban have virtually come off the rails since the September assassination of lead negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani. Moreover, Afghan critics say the US effort at Bagram is undermining the government's outreach.
Dividing the United States and Afghan governments are fundamentally different views about the Taliban. Is it a cohesive ideological movement that must be dealt with through its leaders, as the Afghans believe, or are the Taliban rank and file merely underemployed Afghans who will abandon the cause and thus contribute to the collapse of the insurgent group if taught proper job skills, as the US believes?
Either way, this program is an effort that US commanders would like to see gather steam. Doubts linger about what reintegration can accomplish until coalition forces gain the upper hand on the Afghan insurgency. But the reintegration of former Taliban fighters, commanders say, is crucial to a secure Afghanistan.
"Frankly, one of the key areas where we have to gain momentum in the coming weeks is reintegration," says Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and of US forces in eastern Afghanistan.
Pentagon officials say they expect US military pressure on the ground to aid them in the process by the end of this winter. But they acknowledge that, for now, the number of Taliban fighters willing to lay down their weapons remains modest.
Some 2,350 former fighters have pubicly joined the Afghan reintegration program, according to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The process is designed to be deliberate, says Maj. Gen. Phil Jones, director of ISAF's reintegration cell. "There's a vetting that has to be taken seriously. Some are genuine insurgents. Some are criminals. Some are freeloaders."
At times, interest in reintegration has outpaced the ability of the Afghan government to carry out these steps, holding up the process. Others complain that they laid down their arms but have received none of the benefits they were promised.
"I do know that we have a number who have expressed interest and as yet have not followed through for a number of reasons. Part of it is they have a single minister that is controlling the process," Allyn says. "So it is a process that is in need of more decentralization."
The officials who run the Parwan Detention Center see it as part of the solution. In part, the program is intended to counteract the notorious reputation that Bagram's first prison – now being demolished – has for the abuses that took place there early in the war. Rehabilitation is the primary focus, though.
The program's size is modest – there are currently 276 prisoners in the program, out of the thousands being held by US forces. But US military officials hope to expand it in the months to come, as they work through the files of individual fighters.
Prison officials are primarily on the lookout for "simple farmers" and others who have taken up arms for cash, "the low-hanging fruit," says Col. David Draeger, chief of rehabilitation and reintegration at Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 at Parwan.
The key, he says, is to take what US military officials refer to as the "$10-a-day Taliban" – the one doing it just for the money – and "give him a skill, which cuts down on the possibility of him lashing out again."
Of those detainees in the program, more than 70 percent are illiterate. Most opt for reading and writing courses in their native Dari or Pashto, though some do take English courses as well, Draeger says.
The emphasis is on vocational skills that can lead to licit livelihoods. Detainees taking tailoring courses, for example, are permitted to send clothes they make back to their families. There are job-placement counselors at the facility to help prisoners find work.
Parwan officials are debating adding advanced vocational training – carpentry, electrical wiring – to the class offerings but say they worry about the threat of jailbreaks or violence that might accompany such additional training.
"What you're really talking about is small tools, and what you're worried about is the possibility of these getting back into the [prison] facility," Draeger says.
But the track record so far appears to be good. Of the 1,000 detainees who have been through the program and released, there has been only one known recidivist, according to Draeger.
The hope is that the program grows to become "a catalyst for a wider social movement for peace," says Jones. The progression from insurgent to productive citizen is perhaps the most difficult transformation to achieve, though. "The country has fracture lines all over the place," Jones says, "and huge deficits of trust."
The Parwan program itself is a point of some distrust between the US and Afghanistan. Members of the Afghan central government and the country's High Peace Council often warn that reaching out to fighters is angering insurgent leaders and undercutting chances of national reconciliation.
"I don't see any significant progress in the process of reconciliation," says Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban official and first deputy of the High Peace Council.
Efforts to bring lower-level fighters into the fold will be more effective after some agreement is reached with Taliban leaders, he says. In the meantime, he says, such programs are counterproductive. That's because these Afghan officials "see the Taliban as a much more unified body than perhaps we see them – who need to be dealt with as a recognized armed opposition," says Jones.
There are also "a lot of people who believe that reintegration can't happen on any greater scale at the moment – which is low-level, small groups – until you get some political traction," Jones adds. "And to a degree I would agree with that. The two are inextricably linked."
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Dozens killed and wounded in an Afghan tanker blaze
By Ahmad Qiam and Hamid Shalizi | Reuters – Wed, Oct 26, 2011.
RABAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 35 wounded on a road near a major U.S. base after a small bomb punctured a hole in the side of a fuel tanker that was later engulfed by a large blaze, eyewitnesses and officials said on Wednesday.
The tanker started leaking after the initial small blast on Tuesday night and people from nearby Rabat village, including children, rushed to collect some of the oil. Shortly after, the whole tanker went up in flames, an eyewitness said.
"I heard a small explosion and when I went outside, I saw a tanker was leaking fuel," said Ajmal, a 35 year-old farmer whose house is close to the explosion.
"A few minutes later people came with buckets and jugs to collect fuel when suddenly everywhere was on fire," he said.
Roshna Khalid, a spokeswoman for the provincial governor, said the bomb had been stuck to the side of the tanker with a magnet. There were 10 dead and 35 wounded in hospitals in Parwan province, north of Kabul, and in the capital, she said.
Five civilian cars and five motorcycles were burned and the flames also singed trees in orchards near the road.
The Parwan governor blamed insurgents. "This was a terrorist attack and a magnet bomb was placed on a fuel tanker that exploded," said governor Abdul Basir Salangi.
The Taliban could not be reached immediately for comment.
The tanker was about 3 km (2 miles) from Bagram Airfield, one of the largest military bases for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, when it exploded.
Bagram, about 50 km (30 miles) north of Kabul, has a long history as a military base dating back to the Soviet era.
Afghan security forces have prevented at least two similar explosions near Bagram in the past three months, Khalid said.
Small explosive devices blasted holes in two tankers in Qarabagh district of Kabul province but security forces prevented people from approaching the vehicles to collect fuel, she said.
A fuel tanker fireball in 2009 was one of the deadliest single incidents of the war for Afghan civilians.
A U.S. warplane summoned by German troops fired on hijacked trucks before dawn, killing as many as 90 people, many of them villagers siphoning off fuel.
NATO initially said it believed the casualties were all Taliban fighters, but later acknowledged that large numbers of wounded civilians were being treated in hospitals in the area.
(Reporting by Ahmad Qiam and Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Paul Tait)
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