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Taliban weapons facilitator detained: coalition
KABUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban weapons facilitator was detained Tuesday in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, the NATO-led coalition forces confirmed.
4 policemen killed in checkpoint attack in northern Afghanistan
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Four members of Afghan Local Police (ALP) were killed Tuesday morning when militants launched attack on a checkpoint in northern Kunduz province, an official said.
4 killed, 5 injured in roadside bomb blasts in Afghanistan
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Up to four people were killed and five others injured in separate roadside bombings in Afghanistan on Tuesday, authorities said.
Taliban Gun Down Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights
By DECLAN WALSH October 9, 2012 The New York Times
KARACHI, Pakistan — At the age of 11, Malala Yousafzai took on the Taliban by giving voice to her dreams. As turbaned fighters swept through her town in northwestern Pakistan in 2009, the tiny schoolgirl spoke out about her passion for education — she wanted to become a doctor, she said — and became a symbol of defiance against Taliban subjugation.
Panetta, Gen. Allen head to NATO, will reassure ministers on Afghanistan insider attacks
Associated Press Tuesday, October 9, 2012
BRUSSELS - NATO defense leaders gathering here this week remain committed to the war in Afghanistan, according to U.S. and alliance officials, but there are growing signs that the Afghan political and military hostilities against the coalition are starting to wear on the coalition.
Afghanistan rejects report on gov't collapse after NATO withdrawal
KABUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan rejected a report that the government could collapse after NATO and U.S. forces pull out by the end of 2014, local media reported on Tuesday.
Int'l community to continue support for Afghanistan after 2014: UN envoy
KABUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy for Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, on Tuesday said that the international community will continue to support Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the NATO- led forces by the end of 2014.
Young singer makes debut as first female rapper in Afghanistan
By Rahim Faiez, The Associated Press
KABUL - "Listen to my story! Listen to my pain and suffering!" Afghanistan's first female rapper Sosan Firooz pleads into her microphone.
Romney Says U.S. Should Be More Assertive On World Stage
October 9, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said the risk of conflict in the Middle East has grown under President Barack Obama's leadership.
Foreign policies of Obama, Romney different in words, not substance: Lowy Institute
SYDNEY, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Similarities outweigh differences when comparing the foreign policies of U.S. President Barack Obama with Republican candidate Mitt Romney, according to the latest research paper from Australian thinktank the Lowy Institute.
Pakistan rejects Karzai's assertion as misplaced, baseless
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Monday rejected comments reportedly made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai about conditions for a proposed Strategic Partnership agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan as "entirely misplaced and without any basis."
Afghan addicts help run daring new restaurant in Kabul
By Jessica Donati |
KABUL (Reuters) - Inhaling deeply on a cigarette, Laila Haidari sits on the floor of a new Kabul restaurant wondering if it will one day allow her to repay an eye-watering $26,000 borrowed from friends to launch a daring project to aid Afghan drug addicts.
Nangarhar Students Protest as NDS Detains Colleagues
TOLOnews.com Monday, 08 October 2012
Hundreds of Afghan university students on Monday morning protested against the detention of 10 students by the country’s intelligence agency in eastern Nangahar province.
Afghan Future is Secure if Commitments are Met
TOLOnews.com By Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam Opinion Monday, 08 October 2012
Afghanistan has made much progress in 11 years, and with the promise of ongoing international support, the future is not as bleak as some would have us think, writes Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, Chairman of the Afghan Anti-Corruption Network.
Discontent Over Renaming of Kabul College Turns Into Violence
New York Times By ROD NORDLAND October 8, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - The student, a social sciences major named Abdul Basir, was in the middle of giving an interview on Monday about why he did not want his university renamed.
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Taliban weapons facilitator detained: coalition
KABUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban weapons facilitator was detained Tuesday in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, the NATO-led coalition forces confirmed.
"An Afghan-led security force, supported by coalition troops, arrested a Taliban facilitator and improvised explosive device ( IED) producer in Kandahar province today," it said in a statement.
The arrested militant is suspected of managing the construction of large quantities of IEDs, and organizing the transfer of the IEDs and other weapons to support the insurgency, it said without disclosing the name of the man.
The security force detained multiple suspected insurgents and seized two pounds of illegal narcotics in the operation in the province, 450 km south of Kabul.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, have yet to make comments.
Kandahar, the birthplace of Taliban, has seen increasing militancy despite continued military operations there.
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4 policemen killed in checkpoint attack in northern Afghanistan
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Four members of Afghan Local Police (ALP) were killed Tuesday morning when militants launched attack on a checkpoint in northern Kunduz province, an official said.
"The attack took place in Pul-i-Noor Khan area in Dashti Archi district at around 8:30 a.m., sparking a gunfight which left four ALP members dead, including the commander of the post named Qaum Khan," chief of the district Shaikh Sardroddin told Xinhua.
He said the militants fled the area shortly after security forces arrived in the area.
Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
The NATO and U.S.-funded ALP or community police was established in August 2010 to protect villages and districts around the insurgency-hit country where Afghan army and police have limited presence.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched annual spring offensive on May 3 against Afghan and NATO-led troops.
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4 killed, 5 injured in roadside bomb blasts in Afghanistan
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Up to four people were killed and five others injured in separate roadside bombings in Afghanistan on Tuesday, authorities said.
"Three civilians were killed when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Luchak area of Nad Ali district, Helmand province early Tuesday morning," a provincial government spokesman, Ahmad Zarak, told Xinhua.
He said as the police forces arrived in the area to respond they found another roadside bomb or Improvised Explosive Device ( IED) in the area.
"Unluckily, as the police forces were defusing the IED the explosive detonated leaving a policeman dead and two policemen wounded," Zarak said, blaming Taliban insurgents for the attacks.
In addition, three civilians were wounded in an IED explosion along a main road in Nangarhar province, 120 km south of Kabul earlier Tuesday.
The Taliban militant group, who have been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, have often attacked Afghan and NATO-led forces with IEDs and roadside bombs but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched an annual spring offensive dubbed "Al-Farooq" from May 3 against Afghan and NATO-led troops stationed in the country.
Two Afghan security forces were killed and 15 people including 14 civilians were wounded in Taliban suicide car bombing in Helmand's provincial capital Lashkar Gah on Monday afternoon.
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Taliban Gun Down Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights
By DECLAN WALSH October 9, 2012 The New York Times
KARACHI, Pakistan — At the age of 11, Malala Yousafzai took on the Taliban by giving voice to her dreams. As turbaned fighters swept through her town in northwestern Pakistan in 2009, the tiny schoolgirl spoke out about her passion for education — she wanted to become a doctor, she said — and became a symbol of defiance against Taliban subjugation.
On Tuesday, masked Taliban gunmen answered Ms. Yousafzai’s courage with bullets, singling out the 14-year-old on a bus filled with terrified schoolchildren, then shooting her in the head and neck. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack. All three survived, but late on Tuesday doctors said that Ms. Yousafzai was in critical condition at a hospital in Peshawar, with a bullet possibly lodged close to her brain.
A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confirmed by phone that Ms. Yousafzai had been the target, calling her crusade for education rights an “obscenity.”
“She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area; she was openly propagating it,” Mr. Ehsan said, adding that if she survived, the militants would certainly try to kill her again. “Let this be a lesson.”
The Taliban’s ability to attack Pakistan’s major cities has waned in the past year. But in rural areas along the Afghan border, the militants have intensified their campaign to silence critics and impose their will.
That Ms. Yousafzai’s voice could be deemed a threat to the Taliban — that they could see a schoolgirl’s death as desirable and justifiable — was seen as evidence of both the militants’ brutality and her courage.
“She symbolizes the brave girls of Swat,” said Samar Minallah, a documentary filmmaker who has worked among Pashtun women. “She knew her voice was important, so she spoke up for the rights of children. Even adults didn’t have a vision like hers.”
Ms. Yousafzai came to public attention in 2009 as the Pakistani Taliban swept through Swat, a picturesque valley once famed for its music and tolerance and as a honeymoon destination.
Her father ran one of the last schools to defy Taliban orders to end female education. As an 11-year-old, Malala — named after a mythic female figure in Pashtun culture — wrote an anonymous blog documenting her experiences for the BBC. Later, she was the focus of documentaries by The New York Times and other media outlets.
“I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban,” she wrote in one post titled “I Am Afraid.”
The school was eventually forced to close, and Ms. Yousafzai was forced to flee to Abbottabad, the town where Osama bin Laden was killed last year. Months later, in summer 2009, the Pakistani Army launched a sweeping operation against the Taliban that uprooted an estimated 1.2 million Swat residents.
The Taliban were sent packing, or so it seemed, as fighters and their commanders fled into neighboring districts or Afghanistan. An uneasy peace, enforced by a large military presence, settled over the valley.
Ms. Yousafzai grew in prominence, becoming a powerful voice for the rights of children. In 2011, she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize. Later, Yousaf Raza Gilani, the prime minister at the time, awarded her Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize.
Mature beyond her years, she recently changed her career aspiration to politics, friends said. In recent months, she led a delegation of children’s rights activists, sponsored by Unicef, that made presentations to provincial politicians in Peshawar.
“We found her to be very bold, and it inspired every one of us,” said another student in the group, Fatima Aziz, 15.
Ms. Minallah, the documentary maker, said, “She had this vision, big dreams, that she was going to come into politics and bring about change.”
That such a figure of wide-eyed optimism and courage could be silenced by Taliban violence was a fresh blow for Pakistan’s beleaguered progressives, who seethed with frustration and anger on Tuesday. “Come on, brothers, be REAL MEN. Kill a school girl,” one media commentator, Nadeem F. Paracha, said in an acerbic Twitter post.
In Parliament, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf urged his countrymen to battle the mind-set behind such attacks. “She is our daughter,” he said.
The attack was also a blow for the powerful military, which has long held out its Swat offensive as an example of its ability to conduct successful counterinsurgency operations. The army retains a tight grip over much of Swat. But that Tuesday’s shooting could take place in the center of Mingora, the valley’s largest town, offered evidence that the Taliban were creeping back.
“This is not a good sign,” Kamran Khan, the most senior government official in Swat, said by phone. “It’s very worrisome.”
The Swat Taliban are a subgroup of the wider Pakistani Taliban movement based in South Waziristan. Their leader, Maulvi Fazlullah, rose to prominence in 2007 through an FM radio station that espoused Islamist ideology.
After 2009, Maulvi Fazlullah and his senior commanders were pushed across the border into the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, where Pakistani officials say they are still being sheltered — a source of growing tension between the Pakistani and Afghan governments.
But over the last year or so, small groups of Taliban guerrillas have slowly filtered back into Swat, where they have mounted hit-and-run attacks on community leaders deemed to have collaborated with the government.
On Aug. 3, a Taliban gunman shot and wounded Zahid Khan, the president of the local hoteliers association and a senior community leader, in Mingora. It was the third such attack in recent months, a senior official said.
The military has asserted control in Swat through a large military presence in the valleys and support for private tribal militias tasked with keeping the Taliban at bay. But soldiers have also been accused of human rights abuses, particularly after a leaked videotape in 2010 showed uniformed men apparently massacring Taliban prisoners.
In response to criticism, the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, announced an inquiry into the shootings. An army spokesman said it was not yet complete.
Shah Rasool, the police chief in Swat, said that all roads leading out of Mingora had been barricaded and that more than 30 militant suspects had been detained.
Reporting was contributed by Sana ul Haq from Mingora, Pakistan; Ismail Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan; Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud from Islamabad, Pakistan; and Zia ur-Rehman from Karachi.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 9, 2012
An earlier version of the caption with the picture atop this article misidentified the city where Malala Yousafzai was attacked. It is Mingora, not Peshawar.
A version of this article appeared in print on October 10, 2012, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Taliban Gun Down a Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights.
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Panetta, Gen. Allen head to NATO, will reassure ministers on Afghanistan insider attacks
Associated Press Tuesday, October 9, 2012
BRUSSELS - NATO defense leaders gathering here this week remain committed to the war in Afghanistan, according to U.S. and alliance officials, but there are growing signs that the Afghan political and military hostilities against the coalition are starting to wear on the coalition.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other U.S. officials heading to the meetings say they expect to reassure allies that military commanders are doing all they can to stem the tide of insider attacks, in which Afghan troops or insurgents dressed in their uniforms turn their guns on the coalition forces that they are training and fighting alongside.
Compounding those military threats, however, is a recent spike in political tensions between Afghanistan’s government leaders and the U.S.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai complained that the war effort is wrongheaded, and that coalition forces are not fighting the right enemy.
Just days ahead of the NATO meeting, Panetta was uncharacteristically sharp, criticizing Karzai for complaining rather than thanking the troops who have sacrificed their lives for his country. Karzai’s argument that NATO is wrongly going after the Taliban in Afghanistan when it should be fighting insurgents in Pakistan’s safe havens could further erode support for the war, particularly among members of Congress.
Panetta’s pique reflects the frustration of his military commanders, who have seen more than 2,000 U.S. troops die in the 11-year war. And it can only fuel the increasingly strident grumbling by American lawmakers who are facing hotly contested elections next month, and are hearing from constituents wondering why the U.S. is pouring billions of dollars into a fight that Afghanistan’s shaky and corruption-plagued government may no longer support.
Still, Panetta and allied leaders, including NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, insist that the war strategy and the timeline remain firm. They say the coalition will stick to the withdrawal schedule, which has combat forces leaving and Afghan forces taking over security of the country by the end of 2014.
Panetta told reporters traveling with him that the ministers will discuss the progress that has been made since they met for a summit in Chicago earlier this year.
“I’ll also reassure allies of our strong commitment to finishing the job in Afghanistan alongside our allies,” he said.
Defense ministers on Wednesday will also hear from Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who will discuss measures the military has taken to reduce the insider attacks.
The attacks, which have killed more than 53 coalition troops this year, have imperiled the strategy by eating away at the trust between the allied forces and the Afghans they were sent there to mentor and train.
“My goal is to make clear to NATO and to our allies that we are taking all steps necessary to confront this issue and that it should not be allowed to deter us from the plan that Gen. Allen put in place,” said Panetta.
With support for the war ebbing across America and much of the world, there have been growing calls for a speedier withdrawal.
That prospect raises alarm among commanders who worry that they won’t have the forces they need to do the training and counterterrorism operations they believe necessary to continue the transition of security to the Afghan troops while also keeping the Taliban from resurging.
The ministers will also begin the planning process for the post-2014, NATO-led mission, which is likely to include continuing training and ongoing U.S. commando operations.
On Tuesday, the allies are scheduled to discuss the widening gap in defense spending between the U.S. and the European allies, who have been cutting military budgets as part of their financial austerity measures. In the middle of the past decade, the U.S. accounted for about 63 percent of total alliance spending, in contrast to 77 percent today.
Responding to a question about Panetta’s criticism of Karzai’s complaints that troops should focus on Pakistan insurgents coming across the border rather than the Taliban in the country, a NATO official would say only that the alliance’s operations were limited to Afghanistan.
“Therefore NATO is not in a position to take action on militants on the other side of the border,” said the official, who could not be named in line with alliance rules.
“Obviously we’ve looked at (this issue), but it is not something that NATO can take the lead in,” he said. “It is always important to remember that for NATO, the limit of our operations is the borders of Afghanistan.”
The U.S. has ramped up its unmanned drone campaign targeting insurgents that wage attacks then return to Pakistan safe havens, including the Haqqani network. But there are ongoing frustrations that Pakistan is not doing enough to tamp down the militants within its borders.
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Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic contributed to this report.
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Afghanistan rejects report on gov't collapse after NATO withdrawal
KABUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan rejected a report that the government could collapse after NATO and U.S. forces pull out by the end of 2014, local media reported on Tuesday.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) in a report released on Monday said that the Afghan government is "far from ready" to assume the responsibilities for security when U.S. and NATO forces withdraw in 2014, particularly if presidential elections are fraudulent.
"We believe, the report has particular political goals and agenda and that the report contained no evidence to enable its authors to justify their concerns," the Daily Outlook Afghanistan quoted chief Afghan presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi as saying.
In 2009 and 2010, the country suffered chaotic presidential and parliamentary polls.
The report by the Brussels-based group came days after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that the presidential elections will be held on time in 2014, saying the foreign troops' withdrawal and insecurity will not suspend the elections.
There are about 100,000 U.S. and NATO-strong forces stationed in the country to curb the Taliban-led insurgency entering its 12th year. But the last of 33,000 U.S. surge troops pulled out of the country in September.
Faizi also said that the country's security forces were capable enough to take full control of the country in 2014 in accordance with the timetable agreed by Afghanistan and the NATO.
"Afghanistan doesn't want to return to civil strife again and it stands united to defend its territorial integrity," he noted.
The war-weary Afghans had expressed concerns over the capability of their national security forces in maintaining security while Karzai and his high-ranking military officials on several occasions displayed their confidence in the country's army and police in protecting civilians.
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Int'l community to continue support for Afghanistan after 2014: UN envoy
KABUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy for Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, on Tuesday said that the international community will continue to support Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the NATO- led forces by the end of 2014.
"Afghanistan will work, will develop ... with challenges, with difficulties maybe more than now but still will develop and the international community is ready to do everything what is possible to support Afghanistan," Kubis told reporters in a press briefing here.
Kubis made the remarks one day after the International Crisis Group (ICG) in a report suggested that Afghan government would collapse after some 100,000 foreign forces leave the country by the end of 2014, particularly if presidential elections are fraudulent.
The report by the Brussels-based group came days after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that the presidential elections will be held on time in 2014, saying the foreign troops' withdrawal and insecurity will not suspend the elections.
The UN diplomat, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), welcomed Karzai's remark on elections to be held in early 2014.
During an international conference on Afghanistan held in Japan in July, the donors pledged more than 16 billion U.S. dollars in development aid for Afghanistan through 2015, while the United States and its NATO allies also promised almost the same amount to support Afghan army and police after pullout of their troops.
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Young singer makes debut as first female rapper in Afghanistan
By Rahim Faiez, The Associated Press
KABUL - "Listen to my story! Listen to my pain and suffering!" Afghanistan's first female rapper Sosan Firooz pleads into her microphone.
With her first rap song, the outspoken 23-year-old singer is making history in her homeland where society frowns on women who take the stage. She is already shunned by some of her relatives.
But for Firooz, the best way to express herself is through rap, a musical genre that is just starting to generate a following in Afghanistan.
She sings about repression of women, her hopes for a peaceful Afghanistan and the misery she says she experienced as a small child living in neighbouring Iran. Her family fled there during the Afghan civil war of the 1990s and the hardline Taliban regime's rise to power in 1996. During her five-year stay there, she said the Iranians looked with disdain on Afghan refugees.
"I remember while we were in Iran, we were called 'dirty Afghans' and told to go to the back of the line at the bakery," Firooz, who also spent time as a refugee in Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan with her family seven years ago, told The Associated Press in an interview.
Her song's message to Afghans: Stay in your homeland. Those who leave, she sings, will only get jobs washing dishes or working at a car wash. "They will miss their homeland," she raps in a staccato style, part rap and part hip-hop. "They will want to kiss the dust of their homeland."
"What is the result of Afghans being refugees in Iran and Pakistan?" she raps in Dari, one of Afghanistan's two main languages. "Half of them are addicts and the other half are terrorists!"
So far, the song, titled "Our Neighbors," has only been released on YouTube, with a video that shows a series of pictures of Firooz posing in a hip-hop style gear, with jeans, dangling chains and bracelets. In some pictures, she wears a bandana with skulls, but her long hair flows freely, with no headscarf — a rarity among Afghan women, including the few female singers.
Firooz is also an actress, appearing in secondary roles in a number of local TV soap operas. Earlier this month, she sang at a three-day music festival in Kabul. Because social interaction between men and women are restricted, the musicians played for a female audience the first day and males the last two days.
She is still not yet widely known among Afghans, but she's breaking traditional rules for women in a very conservative society, where some women don't go outside without wearing blue burqas that cover them from head to toe. Violence against women is still common in Afghanistan, especially in remote areas. There are reports of women being stoned or executed in public for having affairs with men. Women are arrested and others set themselves on fire to escape domestic violence. Women accused of adultery have been killed or imprisoned.
"We want an end to all cruelty against women and children," Firooz chants.
Firooz's uncle has cut off relations with his family because she appears on TV and sings, says her father, Abdul Ghafar Firooz. He says he has quit his job at the government-run electric department to accompany her whenever she leaves the house and protect her as she pursues her acting and musical career.
"I am her secretary, answering her phones. I am her bodyguard, protecting her. When she's out, I must be with her," her father said. "Every parent must support their daughters and sons to help them progress," he said.
Her mother, who does humanitarian work in some conservative, remote areas of southern Afghanistan, says she's careful not to mention her daughter's budding career.
"Family support gives me the strength to fight against the problems in our society," the young singer says.
Rap and hip-hop are just starting to gain popularity in Afghanistan, particularly among the youth. There are a few male rappers, including 28-year-old Bejan Zafarmal — nicknamed D.J. Besho — who have made a few CDs that can be bought in the Kabul bazaar.
Firooz's first —and so far only — song was arranged by well-known Afghan singer and composer Fared Rastagar, who recently returned from living in Germany and has a recording studio in Kabul.
"I admire Sosan for her courage and appreciate the support of her family," Rastagar said. "Rap is needed here," he said. "We need to bring changes in all parts of life including music."
It might be a long road to stardom for Firooz.
She lives with her family in a mud brick house in a poor neighbourhood in north Kabul. She uses an old desktop computer to write her music, but sometimes it doesn't work. She received an electronic keyboard as a gift from one of her supporters. She doesn't have the money to make CDs or a more elaborate music video.
All she knows is that rap music allows her to express the pain and sorrow of her only two decades of life.
"When war started in our country, there were bullets, artillery, rockets. All our trees were burned down. The war forced us to leave our country," she raps. "We are hopeful for the future in our country. And we request that our neighbouring countries leave us alone."
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Associated Press Writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.
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Romney Says U.S. Should Be More Assertive On World Stage
October 9, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said the risk of conflict in the Middle East has grown under President Barack Obama's leadership.
Romney, in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington on October 8, called for a "change of course" in the region.
He pledged to "roll back" Obama's defense cuts, which he called "arbitrary."
"I will deepen our critical cooperation with our partners in the Gulf and I will roll back President Obama's deep and arbitrary cuts to our national defense that would devastate our military," Romney said. "I will make the critical defense investments that we need to remain secure."
Romney also said that, if elected, he would impose tighter sanctions on Iran.
"I will put the leaders of Iran on notice that the United States and our friends and allies will prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons capability," Romney said. "I will not hesitate to impose new sanctions on Iran and will tighten the sanctions we currently have."
Romney also called for Washington to adopt a more assertive stance on Syria and pledged to make sure Syrian rebels get weapons.
“In Syria, I will work with our partners to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values and then ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat Assad's tanks, and helicopters, and fighter jets," Romney said.
Romney said that in Afghanistan he would pursue "a real and successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014" and pledged not to abandon Afghans to the extremists' influence.
"President Obama would have you believe that anyone who disagrees with his decisions in Afghanistan is arguing for endless war," Romney said. "But the route to more war -- and to potential attacks here at home -- is a politically timed retreat that abandons the Afghan people to the same extremists who ravaged their country and used it to launch the attacks of 9/11."
Referring to the extensive use by the Obama administration of drones against militants and terrorists, Romnney said they are "no substitute for a national security strategy for the Middle East."
The Republican contender also said he would show no "flexibility" over the U.S. missile-defense shield when talking to Russia.
"I will implement effective missiles defenses to protect against threats and on this there will no be flexibility with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin," Romney said.
Romney was alluding to Obama's remark to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, caught on an open microphone earlier this year, that he would have greater flexibility to negotiate on missile defense if he was reelected in November.
Romney has made several major foreign policy blunders during his campaign in summer. In London, he suggested that Britain was not adequately prepared for the Olympics.
In Israel, he implied that Palestinians were culturally inferior to Israelis because of their poverty without mentioning Israel's decades-long economic blockade against the Palestinian territories.
Romney and Obama are scheduled to debate face-to-face two more times, with the third and final debate focusing on foreign policy.
Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and Reuters
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Foreign policies of Obama, Romney different in words, not substance: Lowy Institute
SYDNEY, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Similarities outweigh differences when comparing the foreign policies of U.S. President Barack Obama with Republican candidate Mitt Romney, according to the latest research paper from Australian thinktank the Lowy Institute.
"Each candidate is doing his best to emphasise his difference from the other. But the similarities in their foreign policies are more striking than the differences. This is a very different situation from the 2008 presidential race," said report author and Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, Dr. Michael Fullilove.
"President Obama is not as left-wing and dovish as many believe, and Governor Romney is not as right-wing and hawkish as he would have us believe," he said in Sydney.
Launched on Tuesday at the Lowy Institute, "The Audacity of Reasonableness: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, U.S. foreign policy and Australia" found that on key issues of foreign policy -- the war in Afghanistan, the threat of a nuclear Iran, and the U.S. relationship with China -- Obama and Romney converge.
"Governor Romney's rhetoric has been several notches tougher than President Obama's, but his heart is not in it," said Fullilove.
The report concludes that there are strong continuities between the two candidates. The Australia-U.S. alliance is secure regardless of any changes in leadership in Washington or Canberra.
Although President Obama and Governor Romney have points of difference, on issues such as Russia, Israel and the United Nations, Fullilove argues that these policy differences are less than generally believed.
"Americans have a foreign policy choice to make in November -- their choice will be felt here in Australia --- but the world is not at a crossroads."
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Pakistan rejects Karzai's assertion as misplaced, baseless
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Monday rejected comments reportedly made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai about conditions for a proposed Strategic Partnership agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan as "entirely misplaced and without any basis."
It was reported that Karzai said in Kabul last week that conditions would be attached to negotiations on a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Pakistan.
Listing conditions, Karzai said at a press conference that neighbors must stop the export of terrorism, suicide bombers, interference and all the other things which result in killing and disturbing the Afghan people's tranquility and destabilizing Afghanistan.
"Once we are assured that Pakistan with which we want to have a friendly relationship meets these conditions - eliminates terrorism and extremism and stops the training and export of insurgency to Afghanistan - Afghanistan will be ready to work on this," the Afghan president said.
Commenting on Karzai's assertions, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman clarified that Pakistan desires to promote good relations with Afghanistan on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest.
"In this regard comments reportedly made by President Karzai and certain other quarters in Afghanistan are entirely misplaced and without any basis."
The spokesman further clarified that the proposed Strategic Partnership Agreement was suggested by President Karzai during a trilateral summit between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Britain in New York last week.
Referring to allegations against Pakistan, the spokesman said that Pakistan has invested heavily to promote stability in Afghanistan.
The spokesman underscored that Pakistan would like to have a mature and responsible dialogue with Afghanistan. However, diplomacy through the media needed to be avoided.
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Afghan addicts help run daring new restaurant in Kabul
By Jessica Donati |
KABUL (Reuters) - Inhaling deeply on a cigarette, Laila Haidari sits on the floor of a new Kabul restaurant wondering if it will one day allow her to repay an eye-watering $26,000 borrowed from friends to launch a daring project to aid Afghan drug addicts.
Haidari plans to find staff for her Taj Begum ("Woman's Crown") restaurant through the shelters she runs, giving addicts a chance to rebuild their lives and learn new skills while helping her run a business.
Haidari's idea is revolutionary in a poverty and war-stricken country where treatment options for opiate addicts in Afghanistan vary from the non-existent to limited.
There is just one methadone substitution project, despite there being over one million users, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
There is also such a heavy stigma attached to drug addiction in ultra-conservative Afghanistan that drug use by females is almost never even mentioned.
But Haidari is already helping two women recover in her restaurant, which serves an array of Afghan, Iranian and Turkish dishes while operating simultaneously as a shelter.
"I am tired of using drugs because I cannot face people's harassment any more," said waitress Masoma January
"Now I hope to live without drugs. I am thinking of my sons. They are innocent. I don't want my background have a destructive and dark effect on my sons' lives," Jan said, her head covered in an orange and yellow scarf.
Haidari's scheme is also daring because she is a woman running a business, and many Afghans object to females working if it brings them into contact with men outside their family.
The restaurant, which opened this month, ended her marriage. Her husband filed for divorce when she announced her plans, refusing to negotiate even when she suggested he take a second wife as compensation.
But Haidari felt compelled to go ahead. She spent years caring for her own brother who was an opium addict, resolving to take action after witnessing the suffering of users congregating under a notorious bridge in Kabul.
"I was always thinking about what I could to do help them and protect them," Haidari said.
She opened a shelter for men and another for women and children about a year ago, and says hundreds of addicts have passed through their doors.
There are currently about 35 men, four women and four children at her shelters, while her restaurant employs 17 former addicts, including a folk musician Abdul Ali, who was addicted to opiates for a decade.
He entertains guests with his dambura, a traditional Afghan instrument similar to a banjo.
"I just want to keep my friends busy with music in order make them stop drugs and enjoy life," he said.
(Reporting by Jessica Donati; Editing by Rob Taylor and Nick Macfie)
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Nangarhar Students Protest as NDS Detains Colleagues
TOLOnews.com Monday, 08 October 2012
Hundreds of Afghan university students on Monday morning protested against the detention of 10 students by the country’s intelligence agency in eastern Nangahar province.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) is said to have detained 10 students of Nangarhar University accused of having links with insurgent groups.
The protest began around 09:30 AM with the demonstrators blocking the Kabul-Jalalabad highway for more than two hours.
The protestors called on the government to release the detained students while chanting slogans “death to the puppet government” and “death to foreign troops”.
Afghan police contained the area and the protest ended after two hours, according to TOLOnews’ reporter at the scene.
Nangarhar provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told TOLOnews that most of the students were arrested by NDS officials in Logar, Kunar and Kabul provinces.
“The students were captured by the central government. We don’t have more information about it. We have been sent a letter to the central government asking for more details,” he said.
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Afghan Future is Secure if Commitments are Met
TOLOnews.com By Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam Opinion Monday, 08 October 2012
Afghanistan has made much progress in 11 years, and with the promise of ongoing international support, the future is not as bleak as some would have us think, writes Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, Chairman of the Afghan Anti-Corruption Network.
Afghanistan entered a new chapter in its history in 2001 and has come a long way since. The Afghan people – together with their international partners – have made tremendous progress in education, freedom of speech and media, health care, economic growth, technology, regional cooperation and democracy in general. Of course there are still problems that need to be addressed, but a country that has experienced more than three decades of war cannot resolve its problems in a decade.
We started from scratch in 2001. Ten years ago, there were talks about building Afghan government institutions, the army, and police. But today we are talking about the rule of law, human and women's rights, and the sustainability and ability of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. We are talking about development, economic growth, higher education and regional cooperation. That we are now talking about these long-term and strategic objectives is a sign of progress.
Afghanistan is not the same country it was 10 years ago when it was an international threat. It was a destroyed country torn by civil war and lacking a real government. Today it is a country with a recognised elected government and parliament, a constitution and institutions. There is now a democratic system, where people talk about and debate social and political issues, which was not the case before.
Afghanistan also possesses mineral and energy resources, which can help secure the nation's economic future. The mineral and energy wealth of the country is estimated at $1 trillion, which could make Afghanistan one of the richest countries in the region. But, extracting this wealth from the earth and using it to benefit Afghanistan and the world will require good management. Afghanistan will continue to need the expertise and assistance of the international community.
Of course, there is still a long way to go; Afghanistan is not a perfect country, and nation building is a long-term process. Many things are new for this country. Democracy is not very mature in Afghanistan and concepts like human and women's rights are still not well-developed after more than three decades of dictatorship and extremist and communist regimes. So it will take time for the people of this country to adopt the new culture of democracy, peace and stability.
Powerful Allies Back Afghanistan
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the international community and Nato came to Afghanistan to fight terror and help the Afghan people rebuild their war-torn country. I am not sure if 10 years ago anyone could have imagined that Afghanistan would reach a stage where it would have powerful western countries as partners. Afghanistan has signed partnership agreements with France, Italy, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, India and Nato, and there are many other countries with which Afghanistan will sign bilateral agreements.
These agreements clearly show the progress of the last 10 years, because before 2001, Afghanistan was not recognised by many countries in the world, but today is a partner in the fight against terrorism with countries that had been considered enemies. Afghanistan is no longer a failed state, but is recognised around the world. This was all achieved during the last decade, together with its international partners.
After the November 2010 Nato Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Afghanistan entered yet another chapter in its history. At the summit, the government of Afghanistan reached agreement with Nato to transition the leading security role to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) by the end of 2014, marking another sign of progress.
There was a lot of debate and criticism when the Afghan government asked to take leadership in the country's security. Naturally, the decision to take on these responsibilities was not an easy one for a country that had relied for a decade on the international community. But today, many Afghans believe that they are ready to take responsibility for their own security by the end of 2014 or even earlier.
Afghans are confident in the strength and morale of their army and police, which have successfully demonstrated that they are capable of assuming security responsibilities from Nato troops. The transition is under way, and ANSF are providing security for the majority of the population. More than two years remain to complete the transition, and Afghans are confident that, if the process continues as is, the transition will be a success and Afghans will defend their land from terrorist and insurgent attacks.
Future Fears Ignore Pledges of Support
For three decades, terrorists, extremists, warlords and communists have undermined the hopes and dreams of the Afghan people. Now, some again want to spread pessimism by trying to sabotage the transition process and spread fear about the process and the post-transition security environment. Their propaganda raises concerns among some people about the future of democracy in Afghanistan and the threat of civil war. But strategic ties with organisations such as Nato and countries like the US will assure the security and political stability of the country.
The transition process also sends a good message to neighboring countries, which were concerned about the presence of large numbers of Nato troops in Afghanistan – numbers which will be significantly reduced during the next two years. Meanwhile, the transition process will take away the insurgents' false legitimacy, and the peace and reintegration process and regional cooperation and trade agreements will ensure that anarchy does not return after the transition.
To safeguard the success of the transition process, the Afghan government requested the support of the international community for a "decade of transformation" at the Second International Bonn Conference on Afghanistan in December 2011. This shows that Afghans are confident in the success of the transition and are looking forward to a decade of transformation.
On the Right Track, More Work Needed
The current strategy is the right one, and things are going comparatively well in Afghanistan, now that people are thinking of building their nation and their future. The commitment of the international community and Nato during the transition period and beyond shows that a better future awaits Afghanistan. Though it won't be perfect, Afghanistan will be a substantially better place than it had been for the last three decades.
Nato held another successful summit in late May 2012 in Chicago – another decisive summit for the future of Afghanistan. Around 60 heads of states, UN and international organisations have attended the summit and announced a clear commitment towards Afghanistan. Despite much effort, Afghanistan still lacks a strategic plan for its future – a plan which would bring the support of the international community under an organised framework, such as the Marshall Fund program for Europe after World War II. The program need not be similar, but the aid and support of the international community should come together in an organised mechanism based on priority, accountability, transparency and efficiency. The Conference on Afghanistan, held in Tokyo in July 2012, collected further pledges to aid the country.
The stakes are high. Terrorists and insurgents are not the only challenges facing Afghanistan. Corruption, poppy cultivation and drug trafficking are also serious problems affecting the stability and security of Afghanistan. Afghanistan will need assistance from the international community to tackle corruption, drug production and trafficking.
To strengthen democracy and good governance, and to stabilise the achievements of the last ten years, the Afghan government and international community should work together on a joint strategy and framework. Defining the engagement of the international community in Afghanistan is an important issue that needs to be addressed. The US carries a large share of responsibility in Afghanistan, but other international partners of the US and United Nations should define and commit to their roles and participation as well.
The Afghan government has frequently asked for help building a strong army and police, and for aircraft and training for the Afghan air force, but this request has often been interpreted wrongly. Western allies of Afghanistan and neighboring countries worry that Afghanistan might use a strong military against Pakistan, but this is not a realistic scenario. After the transition process, Afghanistan will require a mid-sized air force and a strong army to fight terrorists and insurgents. A strong and capable ANSF means a safe Afghanistan and a safer world.
Nor should the international community and the Afghan government forget about civil society, political parties and the civilian side of government. Everyone agrees that Afghanistan needs more than military solutions. It needs political and civil solutions, as well. Therefore, the international community should balance support of military and civilian institutions.
In conclusion, if the international community makes a unified, long-term strategic plan for the support of Afghanistan and fulfills its commitments, and if the Afghan government also fulfills its responsibilities and commitments appropriately, the achievement of the last 10 years will be secured and Afghanistan will not only have a prosperous future, but will be able to contribute to international peace and security.
A version of this article was first published in English and Russian in per Concordiam, Journal of European Security and Defense Issues, Vol.3 No.3. www.marshallcenter.org
Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam shafiq.hamdam@gmail.com
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Discontent Over Renaming of Kabul College Turns Into Violence
New York Times By ROD NORDLAND October 8, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - The student, a social sciences major named Abdul Basir, was in the middle of giving an interview on Monday about why he did not want his university renamed.
“We don’t want politics at the university,” he said, speaking softly, in conciliatory tones. “It should not be named after a political figure.”
Suddenly Mr. Basir was punched in the face by someone who disagreed, and yet another melee was under way on Monday between rival groups over the decision by President Hamid Karzai to change the name of Kabul Education University to the Martyr of Peace Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani University.
Many students would go much further than Mr. Basir, saying that while Mr. Rabbani was indeed a martyr, he was only dubiously a man of peace, and his only connection to the university was rocketing it during the civil war.
More than two weeks of peaceful protests over the renaming have all but shut down the university, a teacher-training institution with 7,000 students, the second-largest college in Kabul. “Seventeen days of peaceful protests, that’s a record in Afghanistan,” said one of the student leaders, Aziz Rahman.
On Monday, though, things turned violent, as supporters of the name change — mostly not from the school itself — converged on the protesters, who numbered a few hundred, pummeling them with stones and running them off from outside the campus gates.
Ten policemen were injured trying to restore order, and numerous students were arrested — mostly among the anti-Rabbani crowd. Plainclothes officers confiscated brass knuckles and knives from one side or another. Police trucks could be seen bringing some of the counterprotesters to the rally from places like the Shomali plain, an area north of Kabul that is a stronghold of supporters of Mr. Rabbani, who was killed last year.
In the midst of all the tumult, a phone rang in the pocket of the school’s chancellor, Amanullah Hamidzai, who was on the campus grounds, surrounded by more police than there had ever been protesters. It was, he said, Mr. Karzai on the line.
“He told me be careful with the students, be gentle with them,” Mr. Hamidzai said. “Imagine, the president calling me. He is very concerned about this.”
The Afghan president’s options are limited, however, having publicly vowed in a recent speech not to rescind the name change out of respect for Mr. Rabbani’s memory. His own government includes Rabbani allies in powerful positions.
Burhanuddin Rabbani was the leader of the Jamiat-i-Islami party, an ethnic Tajik-centered group that fought against the Taliban, against the Soviets and later against other factions during the civil war in the 1990s. Human Rights Watch said in a 2005 report that he should be investigated for atrocities committed, “including intentional killing of civilians, beating of civilians, abductions based on ethnicity, looting and forced labor.”
Mr. Rabbani had also briefly served as president of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, and peacefully handed over power to Mr. Karzai in 2001. Pashtuns, mostly from the south and east, are the most numerous ethnic group in Afghanistan, and as a Pashtun, Mr. Karzai was seen as a less divisive figure than a northerner like Mr. Rabbani would be. Many of the Taliban are Pashtuns, as well.
Mr. Karzai later appointed Mr. Rabbani as head of the High Peace Council, a body charged with seeking reconciliation with the Taliban — apparently to allay fears by northerners of a peace deal between Pashtuns that would leave them out. Last year, a man posing as a Taliban peace emissary turned out to be a suicide bomber with explosives in his turban, and he killed Mr. Rabbani.
To commemorate the Sept. 21 anniversary of Mr. Rabbani’s death, by presidential decree a major street in Kabul and the airport in Kandahar were named after the slain Tajik leader, and the Kabul Education University was re-christened Rabbani University.
The protests began immediately. Like so much here, they had a clear ethnic coloration, with Pashtun and Hazara students in the forefront, and their opponents — many of them not students — mostly Tajiks.
“Rabbani deserves this,” said Sayid Bahramudin, a Tajik from Baghlan, who said he was a student at “Kabul Education University,” momentarily forgetting the new name he had come to the street to defend. “He sacrificed for peace to bring peace.” The protesters, he said, “are all outsiders and terrorists.”
Mr. Rahman, the student leader, who is a Pashtun literature major, had a starkly different take. “Mr. Rabbani was the one who was firing rockets at this university during the civil war. How can they name it after him?” The university was then called the Institute of Pedagogy, and was a base for ethnic Hazara fighters.
Another student protester, Zmarai Kochi, said there were strong practical objections to the name change. “Can you imagine if you had an identity card with this name on it and you were caught in Wardak Province?” he said, referring to a heavily Pashtun area. “You would be killed for it.”
Other students complained that in perhaps two-thirds of the country a diploma from Rabbani University would make it impossible to get a job, in a country where trained teachers are in desperately short supply everywhere.
Mr. Hamidzai, the school chancellor, said he “abstains” from giving a view on the new name, although he did note that Mr. Rabbani had never set foot on the university campus.
He said that the president had proposed a compromise that would allow all four class years now at the school to get their diplomas and other documents in the old name. “It’s a good compromise,” he said.
Student leaders rejected the compromise and vowed to return to the streets on Tuesday.
“We are not fighting for ourselves,” Mr. Rahman said. “We are fighting for the future of our university and of Afghanistan.”
Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting.
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