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Finishing the Work of Afghan Peace
By ABDUL MATIN BEK The New York Times January 26, 2012
On the afternoon of Dec. 25, 2011, in the northern Takhar Province of Afghanistan, a funeral procession was gathering in a field on the outskirts of my hometown, the city of Taloqan, when a suicide bomber approached Mutalib Bek, a member of Parliament, and detonated his explosive vest. Mutalib Bek, who was my father, was killed instantly, along with 24 others, including a 12-year-old boy.
France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year
By Edward Cody and Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post
PARIS — France announced Friday that it will pull its combat forces out of Afghanistan one year ahead of the scheduled NATO withdrawal and said it would urge the rest of the alliance to do the same.
Karzai Meets Sarkozy After France Threatens Afghan Withdrawal
VOA News January 27, 2012
Afghan President Hamid Karzai meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday, a week after the French leader threatened to pull his troops out of Afghanistan early.
France agrees to two decades of support in Afghanistan, despite attack on its troops
Washington Post By Kevin Sieff January 26, 2012
KABUL - One week after four French troops were killed by a rogue Afghan soldier, prompting President Nicolas Sarkozy to suspend military operations in Afghanistan, France will sign a bilateral agreement outlining its commitment here over the next two decades.
Karzai Meets Italian President, Signs Strategic Pact
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 26 January 2012
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Italy on Wednesday and met his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano in advance of signing a strategic partnership agreement, the Office of the President said.
NATO chief calls on France to stick to Afghan plan
Reuters Jan 26, 2012
* France waiting for Karzai visit before decision
* NATO troops due to leave by 2014
The head of NATO called on France on Thursday to continue its training operations in Afghanistan until a planned withdrawal, despite the killing of four French soldiers by a rogue Afghan soldier.
Buried Treasure
Archaeologists are racing to save Afghanistan's cultural heritage before the Chinese start digging on one of the world's most valuable new copper mines
Wall Street Journal By MARISA MAZRIA KATZ JANUARY 27, 2012
For 1,500 years, the sandstone cliffs of afghanistan's Bamiyan valley encased two towering Buddhas peering sleepily from their caves onto patches of magnolia trees. Nearly 11 years ago, however, the statues were destroyed by tanks, explosives and antiaircraft weapons on the orders of the Taliban government, which condemned the Buddhas
20 militants surrender in N Afghanistan
PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Twenty more militants surrendered to the government in the north Afghan province of Baghlan, a provincial police source said Friday.
Afghan Forces Take Over Security of Eastern Jalalabad
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 26 January 2012
Afghan security forces took over security responsibilities of Jalalabad city and four other districts of eastern Nangarhar at an official ceremony in the province.
Clinton: State drawing down in Afghanistan, building more lactation rooms in Washington
Foreign Policy By Josh Rogin Thursday, January 26, 2012
The State Department will soon begin reducing its presence in Afghanistan and consolidating its people into only a few locations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told State Department employees today.
New Zealand Defence Minister to discuss Afghanistan in Europe
WELLINGTON, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman is to attend defense talks regarding Afghanistan and other issues in Europe next week, the New Zealand government announced Friday.
Finishing the Work of Afghan Peace
New York Times By ABDUL MATIN BEK January 26, 2012 Op-Ed Contributor
On the afternoon of Dec. 25, 2011, in the northern Takhar Province of Afghanistan, a funeral procession was gathering in a field on the outskirts of my hometown, the city of Taloqan, when a suicide bomber approached Mutalib Bek, a member of Parliament, and detonated his explosive vest. Mutalib Bek, who was my father, was killed instantly, along with 24 others, including a 12-year-old boy.
Afghanistan can rely on Italy: Monti
ROME, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Italy will continue to provide support for Afghanistan, Prime Minister Mario Monti said here on Thursday after signing a cooperation agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Afghanistan women: 'Give us a seat at the peace table'
Given the Taliban's history, women say it's critical that they're at the table to make sure concessions aren't made at their expense.
Christian Science Monitor By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent January 26, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan - During the past year, the US and its NATO allies have placed increasing emphasis on bringing an end to the war in Afghanistan through negotiations. With the Taliban on the verge of getting a political office in Qatar, substantive talks now appear closer than ever before.
If You Want A Stable Afghanistan -- Don't Attack Iran!
The Huffington Post 26/01/2012
By Wolfgang Danspeckgruber Founding Director of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University
Tension between Iran and the West has not been higher in recent memory. The debate about military strikes and crippling economic sanctions on Iran has been confined to the issues of efficacy, limitations, and potential reaction by the Iranians. However, there is a critical matter that sheds light on the potentially disastrous and costly ramifications
Time running out for displaced farmers
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - Much of Dawood Boy’s village in northern Afghanistan is empty.
More than 1,000 families from Alburz in Balkh Province abandoned it 4-6 months ago after a drought affecting nearly half the country left 2.8 million people in need of food assistance, according to the World Food Programme.
Al-Qaeda ‘Still a Real Threat to US, Panetta Says
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 26 January 2012
The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said that despite the killings of Osama Bin Laden and radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki the al-Qaeda terror network remains a "real threat to the United States."
NATO Purchases Leave Afghans Short of Fuel
Pakistani blockade squeezing availability of vehicle fuel.
IWPR By Khan Mohammad Danishju 26 Jan 12
Afghanistan - As fuel becomes scarcer and pricier in the Afghan capital Kabul, many are pointing the finger at NATO for buying up oil products domestically to make up for blocked supplies from Pakistan.
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Finishing the Work of Afghan Peace
By ABDUL MATIN BEK The New York Times January 26, 2012
On the afternoon of Dec. 25, 2011, in the northern Takhar Province of Afghanistan, a funeral procession was gathering in a field on the outskirts of my hometown, the city of Taloqan, when a suicide bomber approached Mutalib Bek, a member of Parliament, and detonated his explosive vest. Mutalib Bek, who was my father, was killed instantly, along with 24 others, including a 12-year-old boy.
My father was a former commander of the Mujahedeen, the anti-Soviet resistance. He later joined the United Front — a coalition of anti-Taliban fighters — and played a key role in the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in northern Afghanistan. As the Taliban regime collapsed, and a new Afghan government was formed after the U.S.-led intervention, my father gladly gave up arms and committed himself to work toward establishing a democratic political system.
My father was a devout Muslim who built many mosques and schools with his own money. Throughout his time as a member of Parliament, he worked within the system to bring about improvements in our country, focusing primarily on promoting education for girls and women.
His death added to a long list of his friends, fellow commanders and government officials who have been assassinated: Ahmed Shah Massoud, former commander of the United Front; Burhanuddin Rabbani, former president of Afghanistan; General Daoud Daoud, police commander of the northern region; Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council; Muhammad Omar, governor of Kunduz; Jan Mohammad Khan, a close adviser to President Hamid Karzai; Khan Mohammed Mujahid, the Kandahar police chief; Maulana Sayed Khel, chief of police of Kunduz Province; Maulana Shah Jahan Noori, chief of police of Takhar Province and many others.
The targeted killings of former Mujahedeen commanders in the north and tribal elders in the south mark a strategic shift in the Taliban’s modus operandi. The Taliban has decided to wait out the U.S. military withdrawal in 2014, and eliminate all major figures who would potentially play a critical role in mobilizing support against them and Al Qaeda. They have now managed to assassinate the main leaders of the Uzbeks (my father), the anti-Taliban Pashtuns (Omar), the Khans, (Ahmed Wali Karzai) and the Tajiks (Daoud and the Maulanas).
While mourning my father’s death, I wish to speak up. I share the belief with my father that America’s Afghan strategy is shortsighted and probably based on domestic rather than strategic considerations. As Afghans, we rarely understand U.S. policy. One day the U.S. military declares the Taliban the enemy, the next day they’re willing to make peace. Does this policy reflect the realities on the ground? Is it a winning strategy?
The line between a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan and absolute chaos is thin. The nature of its political climate will have ramifications for the whole world, as has been shown in the past, yet the multiplicity of Afghan voices has been lost in the fog of this war.
My father believed that four actions were required to end this war and bring peace and stability.
First, as Muslims, we must realize that this is not a religious war. It is not a war between believers and nonbelievers. Instead, we must acknowledge the bitter reality that our religion, like many others, has been hijacked by extremist, terrorist and intelligence organizations. If we Muslims want to live in peace, we have to reclaim our religion.
Since my father’s assassination all religious scholars in my hometown and the northern region have launched a grass-roots campaign to expel extremist organizations from mosques and other religious organizations. We must strengthen and expand this movement.
Second, as Afghans, we need a comprehensive, consistent and long-term bipartisan strategy from America. The United States needs to re-imagine its policy. If America does in fact want to end the reign of the Taliban, U.S. policy makers will need to think beyond the next two years. The 2014 deadline must be reconsidered in light of the dangers it poses to the region and the world. There is need for a consistent strategy with input from Afghans.
Third, America also needs to acknowledge that the root of this problem lies in Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan has become so complex that we often do not know who is behind these shocking killings and suicide bombings. Sometimes the Taliban claim responsibility and sometimes they do not. In my father’s case, they have not, but we do have intelligence pointing to involvement of the Pakistani military.
The American people might have been surprised to find out that Osama bin Laden lived in Pakistan, but we were not. We have known for years that the Pakistani government has been supporting the Taliban, harboring terrorists on its soil, and using violent extremism as a foreign policy instrument to intimidate Afghanistan, the region and the world. To end this deadly trend, the United States needs to exert meaningful diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military pressure on Pakistan, especially on the Pakistani military-intelligence wing.
Fourth, over the last 10 years, Afghanistan has achieved a lot with the support of the international community, particularly the United States. I would like to thank the American people for that. We hope that this support continues and, as per my father’s recommendation, that a greater portion of it be allocated for provision of good quality education for the youth of Afghanistan. The costs versus gains of education are much less than military expenditures. Please continue to invest in the education, not just in the militarization of my country.
Ordinary Afghan people are the real victims of terrorism. We have lost countless lives over the decades. But we are clinging to hope and looking forward to a better future.
Abdul Matin Bek is a tribal leader in Takhar Province who is active in national politics in Kabul.
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France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year
By Edward Cody and Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post
PARIS — France announced Friday that it will pull its combat forces out of Afghanistan one year ahead of the scheduled NATO withdrawal and said it would urge the rest of the alliance to do the same.
President Nicolas Sarkozy made the unexpected proposal in concert with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference here. “We have decided . . . to ask NATO to consider a total handing of NATO combat missions to the Afghan army over the course of 2013,” Sarkozy said.
The move dramatized growing uncertainty, in Afghanistan as well as in NATO countries, over the future of the U.S.-led military campaign against the Taliban. It could also complicate the Obama administration’s deliberations over the pace of withdrawing U.S. troops.
The 33,000 “surge” troops President Obama sent to Afghanistan in 2010 are due to be home by the end of summer. The military believes that the remaining 68,000 should stay until the end of the 2014 summer fighting season to maintain and expand what they say are gains against the Taliban. Reopening NATO discussions on an end date would probably strengthen the hand of administration officials who envision a faster, phased drawdown that would save money as well as U.S. lives.
NATO first set the 2014 target 14 months ago and has scheduled a summit in Chicago in May to begin to flesh out withdrawal plans. That discussion is likely to be accelerated, with Sarkozy saying his government would propose the early drawdown at a meeting of alliance defense ministers next week in Brussels.
Sarkozy said he intended to explain his reasoning to Obama by telephone Saturday.
Obama administration officials reacted with skepticism to the broader proposal for advancing the overall NATO withdrawal date. Decisions within the Afghanistan coalition, a senior administration official said, “are taken by 50 countries, not one.” The coalition includes the 28 NATO members and an additional 22 countries.
“Anyone can propose anything for consideration,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid inflaming the issue.
The official said that while the administration “doesn’t necessarily disagree” that the transition process could be speeded up, turnover of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces is now planned to take place in five “tranches,” with each taking up to 18 months from start to finish. So far, only two tranches have been turned over to Afghan security control, with the most difficult still to come. Ending the process by the end of next year would require beginning all of the remaining tranches this year.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that France had consulted ahead of time on its unilateral withdrawal decision and that “it could be managed” on the ground in Afghanistan. France is the fifth-largest contributor to the Afghan coalition, with 3,600 troops. Most are based in Kapisa province northeast of Kabul and engaged in training operations.
Sarkozy was said by his aides to have been deeply affected when an Afghan soldier opened fire with his automatic rifle on a group of French soldiers on Jan. 20 as they were finishing a jog around their base. Four were killed and about 15 wounded.
That incident came less than a month after two French Foreign Legionnaires were shot and killed by another Afghan soldier, one of a growing number of such shootings over the past two years in what has been described as a sign of tension between Afghan recruits and their foreign trainers.
Sarkozy threatened then to accelerate France’s withdrawal and suspended all French training and other operations.
In Friday’s news conference, he said that training would resume within 24 hours, but that French troops would begin handing over security control in Kapisa to the Afghans in March, several months earlier than expected. He said France would increase its plans for withdrawal this year from 600 to 1,000 troops, and would finish the process by the end of next year.
The broader NATO proposal, presented as a Sarkozy-Karzai agreement, was seen in Washington as a reflection of the unpopularity of the war in France, where Sarkozy is facing a reelection race this spring, and yet another example of Karzai’s penchant for throwing a wrench in the works of smooth policy formation.
A statement issued by National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor described existing plans for transition to Afghan national security control by the end of 2014 as “Karzai’s goal,” to which NATO had agreed. NATO, working with Karzai, already has a rough idea of the timing of the gradual turnover. Half of Afghanistan is already under domestic security control.
Without mentioning the proposal to move the end date ahead by a year, Vietor cited Obama’s announcement in June that “the next phase of the transition” would be shaped in Chicago.
“The bottom line is that if Karzai doesn’t want us there, there’s nothing to say,” said a second administration official who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We’re not going to try to stay over his objections. What happens, though, is that a statement like this is made and then immediately walked back.”
In late November, Karzai balked at a tentative confidence-building agreement reached in U.S.-Taliban talks, causing the deal to be at least temporarily scrapped. In early December, he publicly rejected one of its terms — the establishment of a Taliban office in Qatar — only to later change his mind and approve of the Qatar venue.
Karzai aides complained at the time that he felt cut out of the U.S.-Taliban discussions, which began in late 2010. Since then, plans for the office have moved ahead, and administration officials have said it is intended as a venue for direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the insurgents.
This week, Marc Grossman, the administration’s top diplomat handling the talks, visited Qatar, where Taliban representatives have already established a presence. He then traveled to Italy, where he met with Karzai. The Afghan leader was in Europe to sign a series of bilateral agreements with Italy, France and Britain outlining their long-term support for Afghanistan after combat troops have departed.
The United States has yet to reach such an agreement, despite more than a year of negotiations. Among other things, the United States has refused to bow to Karzai’s demands that nighttime military raids be halted and that terrorist detention facilities be handed over to Afghan control.
Sarkozy, like Obama, is at the start of a difficult reelection campaign. His main opponent in a two-round vote to be held April 22 and May 6 is Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party, who reacted to the four recent troop deaths by saying that, if elected, he would bring home all French soldiers from Afghanistan by the end of this year.
Although the French role in Afghanistan has drawn little opposition in Parliament, even among Socialists and other opposition forces, public opinion has become increasingly hostile as French casualties rise. A survey published Thursday by the CSA polling firm said 84 percent of those queried want a total pullout this year.
Eighty-two French soldiers have been killed since France intervened alongside the United States in 2001, most since Sarkozy increased the number of troops and opened them to more combat operations after his election in 2007.
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Karzai Meets Sarkozy After France Threatens Afghan Withdrawal
VOA News January 27, 2012
Afghan President Hamid Karzai meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday, a week after the French leader threatened to pull his troops out of Afghanistan early.
During talks in Paris, President Karzai is expected to sign a long-term strategic agreement outlining France's role in Afghanistan after all international troops leave the war-torn country in 2014.
Earlier this week, France's foreign minister ruled out a total withdrawal of French troops this year, despite threats by Mr. Sarkozy that he would consider an early pullout if security measures in Afghanistan for the French troops are not improved.
President Sarkozy suspended his country's training and support operations in Afghanistan, after an Afghan soldier killed four unarmed French troops in eastern Afghanistan last week.
A recent survey says 84 percent of the French population is in favor of the troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of the 2012.
Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande, who analysts say has a good chance of beating Mr. Sarkozy in the upcoming election, has pledged to bring the troops back home by the end of the year, if he wins.
A total of 82 French troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
President Karzai's stop in Paris is part of a three-nation European tour. He flies to London later Friday for talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
On Thursday, the Afghan leader met with Italian Prime Minster Mario Monti who assured Mr. Karzai that Italy “will not abandon Afghanistan.” The two leaders signed a long-term agreement in Rome calling for Italy to assist Afghanistan in political, security , economic and counter-narcotics issues past 2014.
President Karzai met with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday.
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France agrees to two decades of support in Afghanistan, despite attack on its troops
Washington Post By Kevin Sieff January 26, 2012
KABUL - One week after four French troops were killed by a rogue Afghan soldier, prompting President Nicolas Sarkozy to suspend military operations in Afghanistan, France will sign a bilateral agreement outlining its commitment here over the next two decades.
French troops will continue to train their Afghan counterparts well beyond 2014, when combat operations are due to conclude, according to the agreement described by Afghan and French officials.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai will sign similar agreements with Britain and Italy during a trip to Europe this week, securing commitments from key NATO members as the alliance’s formal military campaign winds down. Karzai has long expressed concern that a lack of international support after 2014 could threaten the tenuous progress of the past decade.
Despite about a year of negotiations, the United States has been unable to secure its own strategic partnership agreement, which would govern the country’s military and diplomatic presence after the majority of its troops have withdrawn.
Karzai has said that he won’t sign such an agreement until “NATO-led night raids,” as he refers to targeted night operations, are halted.
Even though Karzai often refers to the operations publicly as “NATO-led,” he holds the United States alone responsible for the civilian casualties caused by the operations, according to Afghan officials. So, while the operations continue, Karzai felt comfortable signing partnership agreements with the three European countries, but not the United States, the officials said.
Efforts to bridge the gap between the two countries’ long-term demands have been steeped in mutual suspicion, with the United States balking at Karzai’s demands for an end to night operations and a prompt hand¬over of U.S. detention facilities. The ease with which European partnership agreements were crafted highlights the relative scope and complexity of Afghan-American relations, and the commensurate tension.
“The U.S. is our largest and most important ally. What’s important for Afghanistan is the quality of the document, not how fast we can rush the signature,” said Janan Musazai, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry.
France’s bilateral agreement with Afghanistan was crafted before last week’s attack on the French soldiers in Kapissa pro¬vince, northeast of Kabul. Despite Sarkozy’s initial suspension of military operations — and his threat to withdraw from Afghanistan earlier than planned — the strategic partnership was not affected by the incident, according to French officials.
Afghan authorities have launched an investigation into the motives of the attacker, a 21-year-old man who joined the army less than three months ago, according to Afghan officials.
Britain’s partnership agreement, which will last through 2022, describes the role the British troops will play in training Afghan military officers and offers a commitment to economic development and cultural exchange, according to Afghan officials. Italy’s agreement, which also focuses on the country’s economy and security forces, was described as “long-term past 2014” in a statement from Karzai’s office.
In a Wednesday meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Karzai described Italy’s contribution in Afghanistan as “unforgettable.”
All three pacts must be approved by Afghanistan’s parliament before they become official.
“These agreements reference the continued need for the training of Afghan security forces and acknowledge the long-term commitment of each of the three countries,” according to Musazai.
Although the partnership agreements provide few specific details about the character of bilateral cooperation beyond 2014, they carry symbolic weight in Kabul, affirming to Karzai that despite public opposition in much of Europe, major powers will contribute financially and militarily in Afghanistan for years to come.
None of the agreements details the number of foreign troops that will remain in Afghanistan after 2014 or NATO’s financial obligation to the country after its combat operations conclude. The maintenance of Afghanistan’s military and police forces probably will cost between $4 billion and $6 billion annually, according to Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak. Some Western officials have expressed concerns about those costs.
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Karzai Meets Italian President, Signs Strategic Pact
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 26 January 2012
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Italy on Wednesday and met his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano in advance of signing a strategic partnership agreement, the Office of the President said.
Mr Karzai left Kabul for Europe on Tuesday for a four-day tour to sign strategic partnership agreements with Britain, France, Italy, and Turkmenistan.
Mr Karzai met Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to discuss issues of mutual interest, including the current situation in Afghanistan.
At the meeting, Mr Karzai said: "Afghanistan is a strong country with a government. I am firmly confident that the country will never slip back to the past."
The Afghan president will this evening meet with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and officially sign a strategic partnership agreement between the two countries.
The document is said to ensure Italy's long-term commitment to Afghanistan after 2014 and covers a wide range of areas including the political, security, economic and cultural spheres as well as co-operation on counter narcotics, rule of law, media and capacity-building.
Afghan President Karzai will meet with French and UK officials on Friday.
The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently said the strategic partnership with France will span 20 years and cover economic, security and political co-operation with Afghanistan.
Italy has about 4,000 troops in Afghanistan and most of them based in western Herat province. The country has lost 42 soldiers during the Afghan war.
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NATO chief calls on France to stick to Afghan plan
Reuters Jan 26, 2012
* France waiting for Karzai visit before decision
* NATO troops due to leave by 2014
The head of NATO called on France on Thursday to continue its training operations in Afghanistan until a planned withdrawal, despite the killing of four French soldiers by a rogue Afghan soldier.
President Nicolas Sarkozy last week suspended all French ground operations in Afghanistan after the incident, which came amid NATO's efforts to expand the Afghan security forces so they can take over when Western combat forces leave in 2014.
"As regards the French contribution to our operation in Afghanistan, let me stress that we all agreed at the Lisbon summit to a process of transition of security responsibility to Afghan forces and an associated timeline," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference at NATO headquarters.
"We outlined a roadmap and it's important to the success of our operations that we maintain a commitment to this agreed plan," he said referring to a decision taken at NATO's last summit, which took place in Lisbon in 2010.
The French government said on Tuesday it would wait until Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Paris on Friday to sign a cooperation treaty before deciding whether to speed up the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan.
France has 3,600 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 130,000-strong NATO-led force there. French troops mainly patrol Kapisa, a mountainous province near Kabul. One thousand French troops are due to leave by end-2012 and the rest by 2014.
The killings in the Taghab valley of Afghanistan's eastern Kapisa province were the latest in a series of incidents in which Afghan troops have turned on Western allies in the NATO led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Paris has said it wants security guarantees for its troops from the Afghan authorities and clarity on how Kabul was recruiting its new soldiers.
"ISAF is determined to do all in its power to reduce the risk of such attacks happening again," Rasmussen said.
"The commander of ISAF, General Allen, is cooperating closely with the leaders of Afghanistan to improve the security of our soldiers and our instructors when they work side-by-side with their Afghan partners."
The Afghan army and police now count more than 300,000 troops and are leading around 40 percent of combat operations, Rasmussen said. (Reporting By Sebastian Moffett; Editing by Rex Merrifield)
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Buried Treasure
Archaeologists are racing to save Afghanistan's cultural heritage before the Chinese start digging on one of the world's most valuable new copper mines
Wall Street Journal By MARISA MAZRIA KATZ JANUARY 27, 2012
For 1,500 years, the sandstone cliffs of afghanistan's Bamiyan valley encased two towering Buddhas peering sleepily from their caves onto patches of magnolia trees. Nearly 11 years ago, however, the statues were destroyed by tanks, explosives and antiaircraft weapons on the orders of the Taliban government, which condemned the Buddhas as "idols." So if you flew into the smog-filled skies of Kabul today, interested in looking for one of the country's most important Buddhist sites, you'd have to head 25 miles southeast, where you'd find yourself at Mes Aynak, on the edge of the tiny but strategically located Logar province.
Mes Aynak is a sprawling, mountainous, 9,800-acre site studded with artifacts that archaeologists believe are as significant as the Bamiyan Buddhas, as well as the remains of civilizations that stretch back to the time of Alexander the Great. It is also, coincidentally, a copper mine—in fact, it's the site of the second-largest copper deposit in the world. Mes Aynak is one of dozens of known sites across Afghanistan brimming with rich deposits of other minerals—iron ore, lithium and cobalt.
“Art is the one thing that gives the message to people outside that we are not just fighters and terrorists.”
Not surprisingly, the Afghanistan government is determined to cash in, especially since the United States plans to pull out most of its combat troops by the end of 2014 and reduce accompanying aid in the coming years. Afghanistan has struck an estimated $3 billion deal with the China Metallurgical Group Corporation, a Chinese government–owned company, to mine the copper deposit within the next 30 years. While this certainly could be a jackpot for the poverty-stricken country, it could also come at the price of Afghanistan's cultural heritage.
The Chinese beat out bidders from Australia and India to win the project, but with a stipulation that mining would not begin until 2014, so archaeologists could dig. The Chinese provided infrastructure and equipment for the excavation, for which the World Bank and the American Embassy, among others, kicked in around $10 million of the estimated $28 million budget. The Chinese have installed an impressive concrete-and-barbed-wire fence along the perimeter, and the Afghan police have provided a brigade of 1,600 guards to protect the copper. For years the site has been plagued by vandals who have chopped body parts off of countless statues to sell on the black market. "The black side of this country is drugs and war, but another Afghanistan, where suffering isn't the story, could exist," says Philippe Marquis, the director of the Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan (DAFA), who has been leading the excavation to extract as many treasures as possible before the drilling begins.
On the day that I visit, Marquis and his team—which at any given time can include up to 30 trained archaeologists, 50 university students and 150 workers—face a new obstacle: The excavation has been temporarily halted because of some administrative snafu in the Afghan government. Although Marquis is careful not to show his angst, every day that passes means less time to excavate. We walk up a flight of stairs chiseled into the cheek of a dusty hillside where white tarps enshroud a city of relics, including grand terra-cotta structures used for worshipping, a corridor leading to a small chapel with a seated Buddha, and fragments of faded red frescoes (although most have been removed by the archaeologists, others have been ravaged by looters). Beyond that, more corridors and Buddhas, some with legs crossed, wrapped in what looks like billowy linens. Narrow lookouts carved into cappuccino-colored, baked-brick walls skirt the edges of the monastery. "Preferably, a dig of this nature would remain in situ," Marquis
says. "But because of the proximity to the future mine, everything that can be removed must go. Eventually this entire area will become a huge copper pit."
It's a daunting task—the treasures are spread out over nearly 100 acres, and the clock is ticking—but Marquis is optimistic his team can complete the excavation in time. "Considering the damage done by the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, Mes Aynak could be a chance for redemption," explains Marquis. "It's an opportunity for the Afghans to take control of their cultural heritage."
Back in Kabul, Omar Sultan, an archaeologist who is now deputy minister of culture and heritage in the Ministry of Information and Culture, is banking on Marquis's success. "Just like the minerals, only 10 percent of Afghans' cultural heritage is out of the earth," says Sultan, sitting in his cavernous office, in a building tucked behind a towering concrete wall wrapped in barbed wire in the center of the capital. "And with the help of these minerals, we are going to save our cultural heritage."
Until 1978 a major source of Afghanistan's income was tourism, explains Sultan. Back then visitors included mountain climbers lured by treks across Noshaq, the country's highest peak, and sightseers seeking out the ancient shrines and archaeological sites of the Balkh province. Security and a potentially viable cultural infrastructure have Sultan thinking there's a chance tourists may one day come back. "If, God willing, this country is going to stand up on its own two feet, it is going to be because of tourism," he says.
Critics at home and abroad continue to fire accusations of corruption and incompetence at the Karzai government. The former minister of mines, Mohammad Ibrahim Adel, for instance, was accused of receiving roughly $30 million in bribes from the Chinese to win the Mes Aynak bid. (Adel stepped down but has denied the allegations.) But the preservation of cultural heritage isn't just rhetoric. The progress here in the Logar province is evidence of its importance to those who are trying to rebuild Afghanistan.
"The best thing about the Mes Aynak mining operation is the link between commercial activity and protecting cultural resources," says Michael Stanley, a mining specialist for the World Bank. Stanley believes that Mes Aynak could establish a model in which each new mine containing antiquities would be accompanied by archaeological surveys and cultural investments in the surrounding areas.
Indeed, the Ministry of Information and Culture is spearheading the creation of a new museum in the heart of Logar to house artifacts from Mes Aynak—a much needed project, since the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul cannot handle the scale of the excavation. At one time the museum, located on the outskirts of town, facing a charred former king's palace, contained some of the most important finds in Central Asia, including ivory from India, bronze from the Roman Empire, and lacquer from China—all recovered from the time when the region was a vital transport stop along the Silk Road.
During the country's civil war in the 1990s, however, the museum lost more than 70 percent of its collection to looting and bombings. The gray stucco building was abandoned for years until the fighting subsided. Fresh coats of paint have erased the blemished and puffy traces of years of water damage. Stunning relics, like the clay head of a goddess from the fifth century A.D., sit under loosely hung track lights in rooms without guards. One main gallery displays a new exhibition—some early findings from Mes Aynak.
Here, modest glass cases enclose one of the world's oldest seated wooden Buddhas and four torsos from as early as the third century, each missing their heads due to looters. Although the U.S. has pledged $5 million to resuscitate the museum, and an extra $1 million for partnering with an American institution to train employees, the conditions here are still precarious, with no heating and cooling system in place and only eight conservators on staff.
The office of the museum's president, Omara Khan Massoudi, overlooks armed guards standing below budding cherry blossom trees. "Art is our responsibility," says Massoudi. "It is the one thing that gives the message to people outside who only hear about killings and bombings that we are not just fighters and terrorists." As he speaks, he snakes tasbih, Islamic prayer beads, around his fingers. "And all of these monuments, including Mes Aynak, are the bridges. Every antiquity has a voice of its own that can help send these messages." Massoudi's sentiment is felt most sharply on the campus of Kabul University, where pine and fir trees shade boxy, Bauhaus-inspired structures. Students in traditional dress mix with those in acid-washed jeans and collared shirts. All of the young women have their heads covered, but some of them bare strands of bangs. In one mustard-yellow and rust-colored building, a group of archaeology students have gathered to discuss past trips to Mes Aynak and their hopes of one day returning. The possibility that more archaeological sites will appear in the near future has resulted in exponentially growing class sizes in the past couple of years. But as Ahmad Zia Haidari, a junior, explains, the decision to study in the department was not just about the sector's potential economic benefits. "I had many chances to choose other professions, but it was the deep emotional connection I got when visiting archaeological sites that made me know it was right," he says. At 21, Haidari has only ever known Afghanistan in a state of war. "I looked down, saw the relics and knew," he says, pausing to glance at the other students. "The only way we are going to show the world how strong and powerful we were and could be is through our culture."
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20 militants surrender in N Afghanistan
PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Twenty more militants surrendered to the government in the north Afghan province of Baghlan, a provincial police source said Friday.
"A total of 20 anti-government militants, including their commander namely Abdul Momin, renounced violence and joined the government in Baghlan-e-Markazi district late on Thursday," provincial police chief of Baghlan, Asadullah Shirzad, told Xinhua on Friday morning.
He said the former group of militants belonged to Hezb-e- Islami, the second largest militant group fighting the government.
With these people joining the peace process, the security situation will be further improved in Baghlan province, police chief Shirzad said, adding with the mediation of local elders more militants would give up militancy and join the peace process in near future.
He said more than 80 militants, with a majority of them Taliban, have joined the peace process in the province, some 160 km north of Kabul over the past couple of days.
According to the Afghan government, more than 3,000 anti-government militants have laid down their arms and joined the government-initiated peace and national reconciliation process over the past year, a claim rejected by the Taliban outfit as groundless.
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Afghan Forces Take Over Security of Eastern Jalalabad
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 26 January 2012
Afghan security forces took over security responsibilities of Jalalabad city and four other districts of eastern Nangarhar at an official ceremony in the province.
The four districts transitioned to Afghan security forces include Surkhrod, Behsud, Kama, and Khewa.
Chief of the Security Transition Process, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, said that Afghan security forces will take over responsibilities of all other districts of Nangarhar by 2014.
"The security of Nangarhar is connected to Kabul and from Jalalabad to Nuristan, so all the likely threats to different districts have been considered," Mr Ahmadzai said.
Meanwhile, Afghan Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Shir Ahmad Karimi, said Afghan forces are able to maintain security on their own, but they also need people's support.
It is said that Qarghayi district of the neighbouring Laghman province will also be transitioned to Afghan security forces on Friday.
Afghan security forces are to take over security responsibilities of
18 provinces from foreign forces in the second phase of transition to Afghan lead.
Currently Afghan army has 180,000 soldiers, while the number of police forces reaches 150,000.
Afghan security forces are to take over security responsibilities of all provinces by the end of 2014.
It comes as some Afghan military experts warn that the challenges will continue if the recruitment procedure of Afghan security forces is based on parties and ethnic matters.
"All the recruitments are done based on considerations of different parties and circles, and not based on the qualification and education," military expert, Abdul Bari Arez, said.
Chief of the transition process, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, also believes that as far as political figures interfere in the recruitment process, security challenges will continue.
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Clinton: State drawing down in Afghanistan, building more lactation rooms in Washington
Foreign Policy By Josh Rogin Thursday, January 26, 2012
The State Department will soon begin reducing its presence in Afghanistan and consolidating its people into only a few locations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told State Department employees today.
Meanwhile, back at home, she promised State would continue to improve conditions for Washington employees, including building more lactation rooms for new mothers and allowing Internet users to choose Google Chrome as their web browser. She also said she is relieved to be on her way out of politics and is not even watching the GOP presidential debates.
"As the transition continues in Afghanistan and the military footprint draws down and transitioning areas are transferred to Afghan lead, our civilian mission will have to shift its focus from stabilization and support to the military to long-term development and building Afghan capacity," Clinton said at a Thursday morning town hall meeting at the State Department's Foggy Bottom headquarters.
"We have over 450 civilians right now embedded in nearly 80 locations with the military, primarily U.S. but also NATO ISAF forces. We will be gradually consolidating at -- our present thinking is, into four enduring State-led locations. And our staffing will be drawn down as the military draws down," she said. "That process is just beginning.... But we're starting that work right now."
Clinton also reiterated that she intends to step down if President Barack Obama is reelected, but pledged she would stay through the election and work as hard as she can until her last minute in office.
"I think, after 20 years -- and it will be 20 years -- of being on the high wire of American politics, and all of the challenges that come with that, it would be probably a good idea to just find out how tired I am," she said.
Clinton warned her employees that the election season would "suck up a lot of the attention" from foreign policy issues. "But the good news is, you know, maybe we can even get more done if they're not paying attention," she said. "So just factor that in."
She also called on Congress to pass legislation to support the implementation of the State Department's first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), which Clinton unveiled last year. The legislation, which could be included in State's authorization or appropriations bills, would make sure the bureaucratic changes Clinton has made at State continue after her departure.
"We are expecting [the QDDR] to be legislated.... And if it's legislated, it will be continued. So that's how we see it," Clinton said.
Addressing the daily concerns of her staff, Clinton also promised that the State Department would open more lactation rooms inside the building, so new mothers have an easier time balancing their work and family responsibilities.
"I also have been made aware of the desire for more lactation rooms," Clinton said. "I think we've added numbers to that, and we are in the process of trying to develop a policy to increase the numbers."
One questioner asked Clinton why the State Department won't allow them to upgrade their Internet browsers, which run an old version of Internet Explorer. Clinton received loud applause when she announced that help was on the way.
"So today I'm happy to announce ... that Google Chrome will be deployed worldwide on February 14th," she said to cheers and applause. "That's my Valentine's present to all of you. Internet Explorer 8 will be deployed on March 20th."
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New Zealand Defence Minister to discuss Afghanistan in Europe
WELLINGTON, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman is to attend defense talks regarding Afghanistan and other issues in Europe next week, the New Zealand government announced Friday.
Coleman would travel to Europe after a bilateral meeting with Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith and attending the joint Australian-New Zealand Cabinet meeting in Melbourne this weekend, said a government statement.
He would travel to London Sunday to meet defense leaders, before attending NATO's Afghan International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels for talks on support and transition in Afghanistan.
Coleman would also hold a series of bilateral meetings with senior ISAF and NATO political and military figures.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced last month that the country's special forces would leave Afghanistan in March.
The New Zealand Special Air Service Group (SAS), which has been mentoring the Kabul Crisis Response Unit (CRU), an elite unit of the Afghan national police, saw two of its personnel killed in Afghanistan.
However, Key said, New Zealand would remain committed to Afghanistan's Bamyan province, where it has had a peacekeeping unit, the Provincial Reconstruction Team, since 2003.
The Provincial Reconstruction Unit, which is scheduled to pull out in 2014, has been building security, governance and development capacity in the province.
Coleman would also attend a special ceremony at Messines Ridge near Ieper, in Belgium, on Feb. 3 for the reburial service of a World War I New Zealand soldier, whose remains were discovered with his New Zealand Rifle Brigade hat badge, shoulder badge and rifle brigade buttons.
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Finishing the Work of Afghan Peace
New York Times By ABDUL MATIN BEK January 26, 2012 Op-Ed Contributor
On the afternoon of Dec. 25, 2011, in the northern Takhar Province of Afghanistan, a funeral procession was gathering in a field on the outskirts of my hometown, the city of Taloqan, when a suicide bomber approached Mutalib Bek, a member of Parliament, and detonated his explosive vest. Mutalib Bek, who was my father, was killed instantly, along with 24 others, including a 12-year-old boy.
My father was a former commander of the Mujahedeen, the anti-Soviet resistance. He later joined the United Front — a coalition of anti-Taliban fighters — and played a key role in the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in northern Afghanistan. As the Taliban regime collapsed, and a new Afghan government was formed after the U.S.-led intervention, my father gladly gave up arms and committed himself to work toward establishing a democratic political system.
My father was a devout Muslim who built many mosques and schools with his own money. Throughout his time as a member of Parliament, he worked within the system to bring about improvements in our country, focusing primarily on promoting education for girls and women.
His death added to a long list of his friends, fellow commanders and government officials who have been assassinated: Ahmed Shah Massoud, former commander of the United Front; Burhanuddin Rabbani, former president of Afghanistan; General Daoud Daoud, police commander of the northern region; Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council; Muhammad Omar, governor of Kunduz; Jan Mohammad Khan, a close adviser to President Hamid Karzai; Khan Mohammed Mujahid, the Kandahar police chief; Maulana Sayed Khel, chief of police of Kunduz Province; Maulana Shah Jahan Noori, chief of police of Takhar Province and many others.
The targeted killings of former Mujahedeen commanders in the north and tribal elders in the south mark a strategic shift in the Taliban’s modus operandi. The Taliban has decided to wait out the U.S. military withdrawal in 2014, and eliminate all major figures who would potentially play a critical role in mobilizing support against them and Al Qaeda. They have now managed to assassinate the main leaders of the Uzbeks (my father), the anti-Taliban Pashtuns (Omar), the Khans, (Ahmed Wali Karzai) and the Tajiks (Daoud and the Maulanas).
While mourning my father’s death, I wish to speak up. I share the belief with my father that America’s Afghan strategy is shortsighted and probably based on domestic rather than strategic considerations. As Afghans, we rarely understand U.S. policy. One day the U.S. military declares the Taliban the enemy, the next day they’re willing to make peace. Does this policy reflect the realities on the ground? Is it a winning strategy?
The line between a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan and absolute chaos is thin. The nature of its political climate will have ramifications for the whole world, as has been shown in the past, yet the multiplicity of Afghan voices has been lost in the fog of this war.
My father believed that four actions were required to end this war and bring peace and stability.
First, as Muslims, we must realize that this is not a religious war. It is not a war between believers and nonbelievers. Instead, we must acknowledge the bitter reality that our religion, like many others, has been hijacked by extremist, terrorist and intelligence organizations. If we Muslims want to live in peace, we have to reclaim our religion.
Since my father’s assassination all religious scholars in my hometown and the northern region have launched a grass-roots campaign to expel extremist organizations from mosques and other religious organizations. We must strengthen and expand this movement.
Second, as Afghans, we need a comprehensive, consistent and long-term bipartisan strategy from America. The United States needs to re-imagine its policy. If America does in fact want to end the reign of the Taliban, U.S. policy makers will need to think beyond the next two years. The 2014 deadline must be reconsidered in light of the dangers it poses to the region and the world. There is need for a consistent strategy with input from Afghans.
Third, America also needs to acknowledge that the root of this problem lies in Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan has become so complex that we often do not know who is behind these shocking killings and suicide bombings. Sometimes the Taliban claim responsibility and sometimes they do not. In my father’s case, they have not, but we do have intelligence pointing to involvement of the Pakistani military.
The American people might have been surprised to find out that Osama bin Laden lived in Pakistan, but we were not. We have known for years that the Pakistani government has been supporting the Taliban, harboring terrorists on its soil, and using violent extremism as a foreign policy instrument to intimidate Afghanistan, the region and the world. To end this deadly trend, the United States needs to exert meaningful diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military pressure on Pakistan, especially on the Pakistani military-intelligence wing.
Fourth, over the last 10 years, Afghanistan has achieved a lot with the support of the international community, particularly the United States. I would like to thank the American people for that. We hope that this support continues and, as per my father’s recommendation, that a greater portion of it be allocated for provision of good quality education for the youth of Afghanistan. The costs versus gains of education are much less than military expenditures. Please continue to invest in the education, not just in the militarization of my country.
Ordinary Afghan people are the real victims of terrorism. We have lost countless lives over the decades. But we are clinging to hope and looking forward to a better future.
Abdul Matin Bek is a tribal leader in Takhar Province who is active in national politics in Kabul.
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Afghanistan can rely on Italy: Monti
ROME, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Italy will continue to provide support for Afghanistan, Prime Minister Mario Monti said here on Thursday after signing a cooperation agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"Italy has been present in Afghanistan for more than 10 years and has now more than 4,000 troops there working in the peacemaking and construction process,"Monti said.
He noted that Italy was the first country in the world to sign with Afghanistan an international agreement of long-term cooperation and partnership, adding that the agreement would constitute the basis for future cooperation between the two countries.
Monti said Rome "will not abandon Afghanistan," as its support would continue even after the withdrawal of its troops at the end of their mission in 2014.
"President Karzai can rely on Italy ...for the full success of the stabilization process in his country. In this respect, we will provide our support to the Afghan government also on the occasion of the NATO summit which will be held in Chicago next May," Monti said.
"Our commitment will be less in terms of security and military, being more focused on civil and economic efforts," he added.
Karzai, for his part, said Thursday's agreement would deepens bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Italy.
"The signing of the agreement formalized the already deep relation that the two countries have, which I am sure will bring further cooperation," the president added.
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Afghanistan women: 'Give us a seat at the peace table'
Given the Taliban's history, women say it's critical that they're at the table to make sure concessions aren't made at their expense.
Christian Science Monitor By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent January 26, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan - During the past year, the US and its NATO allies have placed increasing emphasis on bringing an end to the war in Afghanistan through negotiations. With the Taliban on the verge of getting a political office in Qatar, substantive talks now appear closer than ever before.
Women have taken on an increasingly active role in Afghan society in recent years – holding elected offices, working outside the house, and sometimes running their own organizations. But many Afghan women see a potential peace deal with the Taliban as representing anything but a ray of hope. Current negotiation efforts have mostly excluded women, and without a voice at the table many women worry how well the Afghan government can protect women’s rights if the Taliban is reincorporated into the political system.
As the US and NATO continue to work toward talks, a number of activists argue that if the West was serious about promoting women’s rights here, they’d help ensure women a seat at the peace negotiation table.
“The sad part is that the international community’s actions do not reflect what they say. It talks about women’s rights, but then they don’t include them [in peace talks]. Women’s involvement should be one of the conditions,” says Sima Samar, chairperson for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. “The problem here is that it’s not only the Afghans, it’s the international community that also sees that women are not capable or useful in the negotiations.”
What is a loya jirga? Afghanistan's most pivotal meetings since 2002.
Of the nearly 70-member Afghan High Peace Council created to liaise with the Taliban and other insurgent groups, only nine are women. Given the Taliban's history with women's rights, women here say their inclusion is the peace process is critical to ensure history does not repeat itself or concessions are not made at their expense.
Aside from women's involvement, just who negotiates with the Taliban has consistently been an issue. When the High Peace Council was formed, many people criticized it for consisting almost exclusively of Taliban adversaries who hold little clout with the group. So far it has been largely sidelined, especially after its chairman, Burhanuddin Rabbani was assassinated in September.
The most serious negotiations have taken place behind closed doors between NATO and Taliban representatives. Afghan President Hamid Karzai complained that he and other Afghan government officials had been left out of the process. While NATO has taken steps to address Mr. Karzai’s concerns, Afghan women’s activists say that the council has done little to ensure the inclusion of women in the peace process.
Without meaningful representation in talks, many women say they worry negotiations with the Taliban could compromise their rights. A number of women's activists here have also pointed to a UN security council resolution that requires women's participation in peace negotiations, saying their exclusion violates international law.
Women argue it wouldn't be impossible to make an agreement with the Taliban. During a Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, meeting to discuss strategic relations with the US and negotiations with the Taliban last year, women delegates were among those who endorsed on-going efforts to broker a deal with the Taliban.
And Taliban officials and supporters, meanwhile, now say that they’re more open to women’s rights than they were in the past. For example, with regard to women’s education, Taliban supporters say that during their reign in the late 1990s, they would have supported girls’ schools, but there were not enough female teachers at the time. Now that this has changed, Taliban officials say they’re open to the idea.
Still, many Afghans say they doubt the Taliban’s political and social mindset is capable of evolving to match many of the changes that have taken place in big cities like Kabul since their ouster in 2001.
Massouda Jalal, a former Afghan presidential candidate, doubts that any negotiations with the Taliban would be successful. She says she's sure that the group will not support women’s rights and will likely work to remove many of the freedoms they’ve gained over the past decade such as opportunities to work outside the home, better access to education, and the option to participate in the political process all of which opened up after the fall of the Taliban.
Ms. Jalal points to the past: Why, she asks, if they were good, were the Taliban removed 10 years ago? "If they are bad, why are you bringing them back?" No one seems to have an answer to this question, she says. "Once the Taliban gets power and they are assured that they will stay in power then they will introduce their own values and there won’t be any space for women."
Sami Yusufzai, an independent analyst in Islamabad says, “the problem is we cannot change the Taliban. The Taliban is a really religious force. They don’t believe they can adjust with society.”
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If You Want A Stable Afghanistan -- Don't Attack Iran!
The Huffington Post 26/01/2012
By Wolfgang Danspeckgruber Founding Director of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University
Tension between Iran and the West has not been higher in recent memory. The debate about military strikes and crippling economic sanctions on Iran has been confined to the issues of efficacy, limitations, and potential reaction by the Iranians. However, there is a critical matter that sheds light on the potentially disastrous and costly ramifications of a military operation against Iran: the damages to peace and stability in Afghanistan and its region. Any strike against Iran would severely hamper a successful transition process in Afghanistan by 2014.
Iran holds the keys to stability in that region. The Persian Gulf, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Southwest Asia -- which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan -- all border on Iran. Tensions in and with Iran thus affect the entire neighborhood.
The deteriorating relations with Pakistan have made abundantly clear how a neighbor can be detrimental to the situation in and around Afghanistan. Afghanistan's western neighbor Iran is just as important as Af-Pak. Afghanistan's second longest border is with the large Islamic Republic of Iran -- positioning Kabul close to any development there: from Iran's nuclear ambitions to the impact of Afghan refugees and drugs.
Iranian influence in Afghanistan is strong: the western part of Afghanistan, especially the Herat province, has intense human, cultural, and commercial relations with Iran, not to mention its intelligence presence there. The Tajiks in Afghanistan's north have benefited from Iranian support. In fact, Iran's connections with the Northern Alliance helped the Western intervention in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban 2001. Today, India assists Iranian-Afghan commercial and infrastructure development.
As Afghanistan seeks to counterbalance Sunni Pakistan's influence, it has also turned to Shia Iran. On numerous occasions President Karzai has made diplomatic and personal overtures to the Islamic Republic for its shared language, culture, political and economic interests with Afghanistan.
In case of a hot crisis, Iran could easily upset stability and peace in Afghanistan and beyond. This would be disastrous for American and international intentions to provide for an orderly and stable transition for a secure and prosperous Afghanistan. During this time when there is a need for strategic tranquility, escalating tensions with Iran are most counterproductive.
Perception forms reality and influences intent and action. At this point, it is hardly just a matter of military operation or the beginning of acts of war against Iran. The perception of a vital threat is enough to cause intense fog of suspicion and duplicity which could, with the right catalyst, easily escalate to hot conflict.
Indeed by virtue of the power of perception, war with Iran might already have begun. The combination of targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, surprising blasts at nuclear sites, cyber sabotage at nuclear facilities, critical economic sanctions, provisions for opposition members to access the internet without government censorship, previous investments in democratic civil society groups in Iran, and the alleged foreign intelligence operations with the Baluchi rebels -- all of these combined could be interpreted as war-like acts against Iran.
For their part, radical elements within the Iranian regime may even consider whether war with the United States wouldn't be good for shoring up national support and quelling opposition activities. Moreover, actions of a deliberate third party, such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, or a non-state-actor like Hezbollah could further accelerate the downward spiral to hot conflict and devastating regional consequences.
It is imperative to develop a strategy that denies Iran nuclear weapons within a working and balanced regional context. Otherwise, the United States and its allies in the region may find itself in a troubling disadvantageous situation which critically challenges all intentions and achievements in Baghdad and Kabul.
Some, especially Russia, might benefit from yet another American crisis involvement; harvesting an increasing oil price and a freer hand in their interest in Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Levante to the Hindukush, the U.S. and its allies have sacrificed soldiers and treasure to establish security and stability for men, women, and children living there. War with Iran would not only nullify all that but plunge the region further into instability, conflict, and radicalization -- in dangerous proximity to Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
Daniel Nikbakht assisted in writing this article.
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Time running out for displaced farmers
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - Much of Dawood Boy’s village in northern Afghanistan is empty.
More than 1,000 families from Alburz in Balkh Province abandoned it 4-6 months ago after a drought affecting nearly half the country left 2.8 million people in need of food assistance, according to the World Food Programme.
The drought destroyed the crops Boy had planted, killed his livestock which no longer had animal feed, and left his family without seeds for next season.
“We lost everything,” he told IRIN.
Now he, his two wives and 11 children live on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif, some 85km away, in rented homes without water or electricity.
In this community, families displaced by the drought live four or five to a home, with only a tarpaulin covering the mud floor, and sheets covering the holes meant for windows. Young children walk around barefoot in sub-zero temperatures and do not go to school.
In each family one man tries to find casual work in the city. If he is lucky, he earns 200 Afghanis a day (US$4) with which to feed his entire family. Newly arrived families received tarps and blankets from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as well as a three-month food ration, but some say they are still very much in need.
Their situation is unlikely to change for the better in the near future. Boy says he and his people are happy to return to Alburz in Chimtal District to cultivate, but do not have seeds to plant. Unless they get their hands on some in the next few weeks, they will lose next year’s harvest too.
“We will remain vulnerable,” Boy said, from inside one of the low-ceiling mud homes in the neighbourhood. “It is a cycle we cannot change… We are really confused and don’t know what to do.”
IOM says more than 6,000 families - 42,000 people - have been displaced across Afghanistan due to the 2011 drought. Those who stayed behind are in many cases more vulnerable, because they do not have the means to relocate and pay rent. But the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says it is concerned some displaced farmers could end up in what the deputy head of the Afghanistan office, Joseph Inganji, calls a “vicious circle”.
Given that the planting season is almost over, if they do not receive seeds “right now”, they will have no crops to harvest come summer, leaving them without a livelihood to return home to, and in need of assistance. They could then form part of the increasingly protracted displacements across the country.
There are already more than 450,000 people displaced by conflict in Afghanistan, of whom 289,000 have been displaced for more than one year, according to the UN, putting a stress on government and aid agencies in a country already heavily dependent on international aid.
Seed distributions
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other aid agencies have distributed some 1,450 tons of seeds to people affected by the drought in Balkh Province, one of the most affected, according to government and FAO officials. FAO plans to distribute at least another 100 tons as soon as it can assure the quality of the fertilizer.
But none of those distributions have specifically targeted displaced people.
The government distributed improved wheat seeds (which produce higher yields than traditional seeds from the market), as well as rice and wheat with which to make flour, to 15,000 drought-affected farmers still living on their farms, Kateb Shams, head of the provincial agriculture department, told IRIN.
FAO distributed packages of seeds and fertilizer at a subsidized price, reaching 10,000 families, including those displaced people who met the criteria of owning land, according to Ahmad Zia Aria, head of the FAO office in Mazar-i-Sharif, covering the northern region. But even 2,000 Afghanis ($41) may be too much for some of the displaced who can barely afford their rent. FAO plans to reinvest the proceeds of the seeds into drought-affected communities.
Other agencies, like ActionAid, have focused on vulnerable families, including women-headed households in drought-hit areas.
Seeds are available for purchase from private companies, but FAO lacks the budget to buy more seeds and would not be able to procure and distribute them in time, Aria said.
Aid agencies warn that seed distribution at a time of desperation is tricky. To cope with their lack of income and food, farmers may sell their agricultural equipment or eat seeds instead of planting them. Seed distribution should thus be accompanied by food to carry them over until the harvest, and livestock to help rebuild livelihoods, OCHA said, as well as assistance to physically relocate.
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Al-Qaeda ‘Still a Real Threat to US, Panetta Says
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 26 January 2012
The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said that despite the killings of Osama Bin Laden and radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki the al-Qaeda terror network remains a "real threat to the United States."
"We're going after al-Qaeda, wherever they're at," Panetta told CBS in a recent interview.
Asked if the US forces had defeated al-Qaeda, Mt Panetta said not yet.
"Not yet, they're still a real threat. There's still al-Qaeda out there. And we've got to continue to put pressure on them wherever they're at."
Eight of al-Qaeda's top 20 leaders were eliminated in the past year, mostly in US drone attacks.
US special force operation on May 2 killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbotabad near Pakistani capital Islamabad.
The relations between the US and Pakistan started getting more strained after the attack.
Pakistani officials condemned the attack and called on the US not to repeat similar attacks.
The comment comes as the US President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address that for first time in two decades, ‘Osama Bin Laden is not a threat to this country'. Most of al-Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated.
He added that the Taliban's momentum has been broken and remaining al-Qaeda operatives are scrambling to escape the US's reach.
The US has around 90,000 troops in Afghanistan, fighting insurgents. A total of 1,886 soldiers have lost their lives fighting in the decade-long war.
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NATO Purchases Leave Afghans Short of Fuel
Pakistani blockade squeezing availability of vehicle fuel.
IWPR By Khan Mohammad Danishju 26 Jan 12
Afghanistan - As fuel becomes scarcer and pricier in the Afghan capital Kabul, many are pointing the finger at NATO for buying up oil products domestically to make up for blocked supplies from Pakistan.
NATO has been unable to bring in fuel across the Pakistan border since late November, when Islamabad imposed a blockade and choked off a major supply artery for the 130,000-strong American-led force.
Relations between Islamabad and Washington have been deteriorating fast, and Pakistan closed the route in protest at a NATO airstrike on its border that killed 24 of its soldiers on November 26.
Since then, the United States has had to pay six times as much to import supplies via alternative routes, according to an Associated Press report on January 20.
While most of NATO’s supplies are now coming in via Uzbekistan along a route known as the Northern Distribution Network, NDN. Even before Pakistan closed down the supply route, NATO was switching over to the NDN because of frequent attacks on convoys on the roads south. US officials say 85 per cent of the fuel for the military now come from the north.
Afghan businessmen say the international force is topping this up with purchases inside the country. This is affecting the market, forcing up prices and making petrol and public transport more expensive for the locals.
Farid Alokozay, head of the government agency responsible for petroleum products, said NATO was increasingly buying in fuel from domestic firms.
Mohammad Qorban Haqjo, chief executive of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, confirmed that 20 local firms had signed a lucrative fuel supply deal with NATO.
“The contract was signed recently and is worth one billion dollars,” he said, adding that some of the firms belonged to relatives of senior Afghan officials.
NATO insists it has sufficient supplies of fuel and that the Pakistani blockade will not affect Afghans.
“The people of Afghanistan will not be challenged by NATO buying their fuel and their food. NATO’s stockpiles are more than sufficient,” NATO spokesman Brigadier-General Carsten Jacobsen said on January 2, according to the AFP news agency.
However, Kabul residents insisted they were being affected.
“Since NATO forces started buying on the domestic market, not only have prices increased, but fuel is no longer available consistently,” Hajji Sayed Ahmad, who owns a petrol station in the city’s Deh Mazang district.
The shortage has prompted him to raise his prices, much to the annoyance of his customers.
“We have fights with dozens of people every day,” Ahmad said. “They think it’s our choice to increase fuel prices.... The general public don’t realise that fuel isn’t widely available and that the foreigners are buying it up.”
Kabul taxi drivers have increased their fares, leaving people queuing in the freezing cold for hours as they wait for cheaper but more erratic bus services. Once on the buses, they find that ticket prices have also increased.
“First you can’t find a bus, and then when you do find one, you get charged double the price,” said Mohammad Afzal, a resident of the city’s District 15.
While his bus trip to work previously cost the equivalent of 60 cents, Afzal now pays one dollar.
Taxi driver Mohammad Amin said inflation was driving him out of business. He has regular rows with customers because he has raised his fares, but even then he is taking home virtually nothing, he said. He said that when he asked petrol station owners why fuel prices had gone up, they blamed NATO.
Kabul University economist Hamidullah Faruqi said the capital’s transport system was in danger of collapsing unless the government intervened in the fuel crisis.
Separately from the clampdown on NATO supplies, Afghans say hundreds of their trucks are held up in Pakistan, further affecting the price of goods. (See Afghans Accuse Pakistan of Obstructing Trade.)
Khan Mohammad Danishju is an IWPR-trained reporter in Kabul.
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