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Afghan officials: Fire from Pakistan led to attack
By RAHIM FAIEZ and SEBASTIAN ABBOT
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan officials claimed Sunday that Afghan and NATO forces were retaliating for gunfire from two Pakistani army bases when they called in airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, adding a layer of complexity to an episode that has further strained Pakistan's ties with the United States.
The account challenged Pakistan's claim that the strikes were unprovoked.
The attack Saturday near the Afghan-Pakistani border aroused popular anger in Pakistan and added tension to the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, which has been under pressure since the secret U.S. raid inside Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden in May.
Pakistan has closed its western border to trucks delivering supplies to coalition troops in Afghanistan, demanded that the U.S. abandon an air base inside Pakistan and said it will review its cooperation with the U.S. and NATO.
A complete breakdown in the relationship between the United States and Pakistan is considered unlikely. Pakistan relies on billions of dollars in American aid, and the U.S. needs Pakistan to push Afghan insurgents to participate in peace talks.
Afghanistan's assertions about the attack muddy the efforts to determine what happened. The Afghan officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it was unclear who fired on Afghan and NATO forces, which were conducting a joint operation before dawn Saturday.
They said the fire came from the direction of the two Pakistani army posts along the border that were later hit in the airstrikes.
NATO has said it is investigating, but it has not questioned the Pakistani claim that 24 soldiers were killed. All airstrikes are approved at a higher command level than the troops on the ground.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen offered his deepest condolences and said the coalition was committed to working with Pakistan to "avoid such tragedies in the future."
"We have a joint interest in the fight against cross-border terrorism and in ensuring that Afghanistan does not once again become a safe-haven for terrorists," Rasmussen said in Brussels.
NATO officials have complained that insurgents fire from across the poorly defined frontier, often from positions close to Pakistani soldiers, who have been accused of tolerating or supporting them.
The U.S. plans its own investigation. Two U.S. senators called Sunday for harder line on Pakistan.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Pakistan must understand that American aid depends on Pakistani cooperation. Sen. **** Durbin, D-Ill., said Pakistan's moves to punish coalition forces for the airstrikes are more evidence that the U.S. should get its troops out of the region.
On Sunday, Pakistani soldiers received the coffins of the victims from army helicopters and prayed over them. The coffins were draped with the green and white Pakistani flag.
The dead included an army major and another senior officer. The chief of the Pakistani army and regional political leaders attended the funerals.
"The attack was unprovoked and indiscriminate," said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. "There was no reason for it. Map references of all our border posts have been passed to NATO a number of times."
There were several protests around Pakistan, including in Karachi, where about 500 Islamists rallied outside the U.S. Consulate.
The relationship between the United States and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation in a strategically vital part of the world, grew more difficult after the covert raid that killed bin Laden in May.
Pakistani leaders were outraged that they were not told beforehand. Also, the U.S. has been frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to target militants using its territory to stage attacks on American and other NATO troops in Afghanistan.
A year ago, a U.S. helicopter attack killed two Pakistani soldiers posted on the border, and a joint investigation by the two nations found that Pakistani troops had fired first at the U.S. helicopters.
The investigation found that the shots were probably meant as warnings after the choppers passed into Pakistani airspace.
After that incident, Pakistan closed one of the two border crossings for U.S. supplies for 10 days. There was no indication of how long it would keep the border closed this time.
On Sunday, about 300 trucks carrying supplies to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan were backed up at the Torkham border crossing in the northwest Khyber tribal area, the one closed last year, as well as at Chaman, in the southwestern Baluchistan province.
Militants inside Pakistan periodically attack the slow-moving convoys, and torched 150 trucks last year as they waited for days to enter Afghanistan.
"We are worried," said Saeed Khan, a driver waiting at the border terminal in Torkham and speaking by phone. "This area is always vulnerable to attacks. Sometimes rockets are lobbed at us. Sometimes we are targeted by bombs."
Some drivers said paramilitary troops had been deployed to protect their convoys since the closures, but others were left without any additional protection. Even those who did receive troops did not feel safe.
"If there is an attack, what can five or six troops do?" said Niamatullah Khan, a fuel truck driver who was parked with 35 other vehicles at a restaurant about 125 miles, or 200 kilometers, from Chaman.
NATO uses routes through Pakistan for almost half of its shipments of non-lethal supplies for its troops in Afghanistan, including fuel, food and clothes. Critical supplies like ammunition are airlifted directly to Afghan air bases.
NATO has built a stockpile of military and other supplies that could keep operations running at their current level for several months even with the two crossings closed, said a NATO official closely involved with the Afghan war, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
NATO once shipped about 80 percent of its non-lethal supplies through Pakistan. It has reduced that proportion by going through Central Asia. It could send more that way, but that would make NATO heavily dependent on Russia at a time when ties with Moscow are increasingly strained.
Pakistan also gave the U.S. 15 days to vacate Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan. The U.S. uses it to service drone aircraft targeting al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region when weather problems or mechanical trouble keeps the drones from returning to their bases in Afghanistan, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The drone strikes are very unpopular in Pakistan, and Pakistani military and civilian leaders say publicly that the U.S. carries them out without their permission. But privately, they allow them to go on, and even help with targeting for some of them.
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Faiez reported from Kabul. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman, Deb Riechmann in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
Afghan President Says Second Troop Transition to Begin Soon
VOA News November 27, 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his nation's forces will soon take charge of security in more than half of Afghanistan, marking the second step of a transition that will see NATO combat forces leave by 2014.
In a statement issued Sunday, President Karzai said that six provinces, seven cities and dozens of districts — mostly in the country's north and west — will soon pass from foreign to local control. A specific date for the transition was not mentioned.
Among the districts listed in the second round are Nawa, Nad Ali and Marjah in Helmand province, once seen as hotbeds of insurgency but which NATO-led forces say are no longer as volatile. The provinces of Nimroz, Balkh and Takhar also are on the list.
The first stage of the transition began in July, with seven areas handed over, including all of Kabul province.
NATO will hand security over to Afghanistan's army and police in a gradual process due to be completed by the end of 2014, clearing the way for most foreign troops to return home. President Karzai has long pushed for the handover.
The latest announcement comes as NATO confirmed two of its soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan, one by a roadside bomb Sunday, and another in combat operations on Saturday.
Earlier this year, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that 33,000 of 100,000 American troops will leave Afghanistan over the next 14 months. Germany has also said it will soon start to reduce its contingent of 5,000 armed forces by the end of this year. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy says his country's 4,000 troops will be withdrawn in roughly the same proportion and schedule as that of the United States.
Britain has said it will withdraw 500 troops from Afghanistan by the end 2012, reducing the size of its force to 9,000.
In a statement issued later Sunday, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, welcomed the release of the Afghan government's list of areas intended for the second stage of security transition. Allen said “”Transition is a reality, and it is a path for the future success of this country and the Afghan people.”
Germany backs Taliban talks in Afghanistan
(AFP) – November 27, 2011
BERLIN — Germany's foreign and defence ministers called Sunday for the Taliban to be included in Afghanistan peace talks, ahead of a major international conference for the war-ravaged country next month.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that negotiations with the Islamist militant group was the only realistic option for lasting peace.
"Reconciliation does not happen among friends but rather between erstwhile opponents," Westerwelle was quoted as saying.
"That is what we need to work on instead of speculation about who might not be ready to reconcile."
Germany has the third largest contingent of foreign troops in Afghanistan but had long rejected proposals to include the Taliban in peace negotiations.
Westerwelle, who will host ministers from more than 100 countries in the western city of Bonn on December 5 to discuss the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014, said there was no guarantee of success.
"But all agree that it must be tried," he said.
The West "cannot simply say, 'You are evil, we won't negotiate with you'," added de Maiziere.
"We cannot exclude everyone from the inner-Afghan reconciliation process who once had a sword in his hand," he said.
Only when "a sufficient number of important groups" take part will the peace process have a chance of working.
Westerwelle said the war in Afghanistan could not be won militarily.
"After 10 years it is obvious that in Afghanistan, there can only be a political solution, not a military one," he said.
Taliban fighters frequently attack convoys supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, as part of a 10-year insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since US troops toppled their regime in 2001.
This month, Afghan elders backed talks with Taliban who renounce violence, despite the assassination in September of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani which officials blame on insurgents.
De Maiziere said Berlin would keep troops in Afghanistan after the NATO pullout at the end of 2014, to focus on the training of local forces.
Little Hope For Talks With Taliban
November 27, 2011 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Afghan government sees little hope of talks with the Taliban ahead of a major international conference in Germany next month.
Afghan National Security Adviser Dadfar Spanta said the Taliban are "absolutely not" showing any interest in negotiations leading up to the December 5 meeting in Bonn.
Speaking to the dpa news agency, Spanta said, "without the green light from the Pakistani secret services and military establishment, there will be no peace talks with the Taliban."
Spanta said talks with the rebels had not so much broken down as "never got going in the first place."
Spanta urged increased international pressure on Pakistan. He said it is an "open secret" that Pakistan was the source of much of the violence in Afghanistan.
Spanta predicted that if the situation did not change, there could be violence in the region for years to come.
compiled from agency reports
Will inking strategic pact with U.S. lead to viable stability in Afghanistan?
Xinhua By Abdul Haleem Nov. 26, 2011
KABUL - In its latest efforts to achieve durable peace in the militancy-plagued country, the Afghan government convened the traditional Loya Jirga or grand assembly of chieftains, notables and functionaries last week to discuss the proposed Washington-Kabul strategic partnership, but received mixed reactions at home and abroad.
The four-day national gathering attended by more than 2,300 people from across the country and concluded on Nov. 19 had backed the proposal of having strategic relations with Washington and recommended the administration to ink the controversial pact which grants the U.S. to have military bases in Afghanistan.
In its bold decision inscribed in a lengthy 76-article resolution, the Jirga participants described having strategic relationship with the U.S. very necessary for maintaining security, economic development and peace talks with Taliban and for ensuring lasting peace in the conflict-ridden nation.
However, local analysts are doubtful about future U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and its ability in forcing Taliban towards peace talks or annihilation of insurgency in the country.
"Inking strategic pact and giving military bases to the U.S. would not change the situation in the country and the militancy would continue as it has been continuing over the past 10 years in the presence of over 140,000 U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan," Kabul-based security analyst and former Taliban official Wahid Mujda told Xinhua.
He also said "long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would provoke Afghanistan's neighboring countries including Iran, Pakistan and Russia."
Afghan opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, who was President Hamid Karzai's main challenger in last presidential election, in a sharp reaction termed the Loya Jirga as unconstitutional.
Abdullah, who heads the "Change and Hope Coalition", said "no country's permanent bases are in the interest of Afghanistan," according to Afghan media.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan government, U.S. and NATO-led troops have lashed at the Jirga and its recommendations of having strategic relations with Washington.
"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (name of ousted Taliban regime) calls on all its countrymen, parties and political figures that the sole reason for the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is because of foreign invaders," the Taliban outfit said in a statement.
"We believe the Afghan crisis will only find an end when our nation thwarts the Strategic Partnership of the invaders and their mercenaries under the disguise of Loya Jirga and their other plans, brings the ongoing occupation to an end and fulfills the duty of bringing about an independent, proud and peaceful Afghanistan," the statement sent to media said.
Russian ambassador to Afghanistan Andrey Avetisyan has expressed concerns over the long-term U.S. military presence in the country, according to local media reports.
"Bearing in mind two major threats -- terrorism and narcotics, we have to watch closely what is happening here. By now we are not convinced that a long-term foreign military presence in Afghanistan will help to maintain security in the region," the English Daily Outlook Afghanistan quoted the ambassador as saying.
To enact the Jirga's core decision as law requires the approval of the parliament where oppositions and supporters would remain at loggerhead over the controversial issue and its impacts on the future of Afghanistan.
Keeping in mind the support and opposition at home and abroad to the proposed strategic partnership and NATO-led forces' inability to curb militancy over the past 10 years, "it seems that instability would continue in the country," said Mujda, who is also the author of "Afghanistan and the Five-Year Reign of Taliban. "
12 anti-government insurgents lay down arms in western Afghan town
HERAT, Afghanistan, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A dozen of anti- government armed insurgents laid down their arms and joined the government-initiated peace process in Herat province, 640 km west of Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, a statement of the National Directorate for Security (NDS) said.
"Twelve armed insurgents under Mullah Abdul Salam Dilawar handed over their weapons to security authorities in Adraskan district today and joined the peace process," the statement added.
With the joining of the armed group to peace process, security would be further strengthened in Adraskan and adjoining areas, the statement further said.
Taliban militants fighting the Afghan government and active in Adraskan district have yet to make comment.
Haqqani network facilitator captured in E. Afghanistan
KABUL, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and NATO-led Coalition forces in an operation have captured a Haqqani network facilitator in the country's Khost province, 150 km southeast of the capital city of Kabul, NATO said on Sunday.
A Taliban-affiliated group of militants, the Haqqani network mostly operates in eastern Afghan provinces and capital Kabul.
"A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Haqqani network facilitator during an operation in Nadir Shah Kot district, Khost province, yesterday," the NATO-led ISAF said in a statement.
Without giving the name, the statement added that the captured facilitator distributed roadside bombs, weapons and provided a safe haven for Haqqani leaders in Nadir Shah Kot district.
The network has also been blamed for a string of attacks, including the around-20-hour raid against the U.S. embassy and the ISAF headquarters in capital Kabul on Sept. 13 that left some 16 people dead and injured over 35 others including six ISAF soldiers.
Pakistan Buries Troops Amid Fury Over NATO Strike
VOA News November 27, 2011
Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside the American consulate in Karachi on Sunday, as Pakistan held funerals for the 24 soldiers killed Saturday in a NATO cross-border airstrike in the country's northwest.
Reporters near the consulate say at least 700 people were outside the heavily fortified compound shouting “Down with America” and other anti-American chants.
Meanwhile, the nation's army chief was among those attending funerals of the victims. Their coffins, draped in green and white Pakistani flags, are being airlifted to their respective hometowns.
NATO and U.S. officials responded quickly to try to minimize the repercussions of the attack on the Pakistani military outposts. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday he has offered his condolences to Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for what he called the “tragic, unintended” deaths.
Rasmussen said he told the prime minister the deaths of the Pakistani troops was “as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel.” He said he supports the NATO investigation that is under way.
Earlier Sunday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the air raid was not acceptable and demonstrated a complete disregard for human life. Clinton responded by saying she was deeply saddened, and she promised to work with Pakistan on the issue.
Pakistan reacted swiftly to the airstrike by shutting down all NATO supply lines through its territory to Afghanistan and ordering the U.S. to vacate an air base in southwestern Baluchistan province within 15 days.
Prime Minister Gilani and top leaders said Saturday the Pakistani government “will revisit and undertake a complete review of all programs, activities and cooperative arrangements with US/NATO/ISAF.” They called for “strong and urgent action” against those responsible for the deadly incident.
Pakistan also is reexamining its decision to attend a major Afghanistan peace conference in Bonn next month.
Pakistan lodges protest with Afghanistan over NATO strikes
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan has protested to Afghanistan over the attacks launched by NATO/ISAF helicopters and aircraft from Afghan soil into Pakistani territory which has resulted in loss of lives and damage to property, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
Pakistan says that 24 soldiers were killed and 13 others injured when NATO fighter jets and helicopters bombed two border posts in Mohmand tribal region near the Afghan border early Saturday morning.
"The protest underscores that the use of Afghan territory against Pakistan by NATO/ISAF is also a violation of ISAF's mandate for operations in Afghanistan," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
The protest adds that the Government of Afghanistan should take necessary measures to ensure that such acts are not carried out from its territory against Pakistan, it added.
In an angry reaction, Pakistan blocked supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan from its land route. Pakistan also asked the U.S. to vacate in 15 days its strategic air base in southwestern Balochistan, where has been under the use of U.S. forces for years.
The Shamsi air base in Balochistan province is believed to have been used by the U.S. for attacks on Afghan Taliban and also for drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions.
War By Remote Control: Drones Make It Easy
NPR By NPR Staff November 26, 2011
From his spot beneath the famous Wright Military Flyer in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Peter Singer is reminded of a modern military drone.
"The story of manned airplanes is a great parallel to what's happening now with unmanned airplanes," he tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin.
Singer, a technological warfare expert and author of the book Wired for War, has had drones on his mind a lot lately. The Department of Defense is under pressure to cut close to a trillion dollars from its budget over the next 10 years, so there's a lot of talk around the Pentagon about what can go and what can't.
Most defense officials agree that what can't be cut is remote aerial technology. Drones have taken center stage in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the counterterrorism fight in Pakistan. The ability to fight wars without risking U.S. lives is raising questions about the nature of combat.
Skepticism From The Wright Brothers On
The Wright Military Flyer, Singer says, is a reminder of just how far drone technology has come.
In 1903, he says, The New York Times printed an article under the headline "Flying Machines Which Do Not Fly" that argued it would take millions of engineers and mechanics tens of thousands of years to build an actual flying machine. The idea, Singer says, was considered science fiction.
But on the very day that article was printed, Singer says, "two brothers in Dayton, Ohio, start to assemble the first real flying machine in their bicycle shop."
It wasn't long until the military opened bids for what were then called "heavier-than-air" flying machines. The Wrights signed a contract, and the Military Flyer was born.
"It's just like any other technology — whether it's what happened with the horseless carriage or what happened with the computer," Singer says. "Starts out as imagination, and then it gets crossed with innovation, profit seeking and, most importantly, that horrible human need to figure out how to destroy one another."
More than 100 years later, aerospace pioneers are still convincing the rest of us their work isn't the stuff of science fiction.
That's literally the tagline of a recent Air Force recruiting ad featuring drone technology: "It's Not Science Fiction. It's What We Do Every Day." The ad shows a robotic aircraft scanning a desert landscape with a camera that looks like a bright red eye, alerting troops on the ground of a nearby sniper.
Not far from the Wright exhibit at the Air and Space Museum, you can find an exhibit featuring five different drones — the Air Force prefers the term "remotely piloted aircraft. Among the aircraft is an MQ-1 Predator, similar to the drone from the Air Force ad. These drones have special meaning for Singer.
"They're actually just like that Wright brothers Flyer," Singer says. "They're the first generation of all this."
Remote Defense Takes Off
Singer says not a single Western aerospace company has a manned combat aircraft in research and development. The MQ-1 Predator is the military's main workhorse; on Sept. 11, 2001, the Air Force had one.
"We've now got 57 Predators up, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, looking at different target points around the world," says Air Force Maj. Gen. James Poss. Poss helps oversee the Air Force's surveillance programs, which mostly revolve around drones.
Poss says the Air Force now recruits more pilots for unmanned aircraft than fighter and bomber pilots combined. A lot of the skills pilots need are the same — spatial awareness, quick critical thinking skills — but unlike pilots for manned aircraft, remote pilots don't need perfect vision. They don't need to worry about getting airsick. And combat can bring different strains, too.
"Unlike a person that deploys to combat, our remotely piloted aircraft force never leave combat," Poss says. Also, "you do leave your ground control station and drive home and you have to mow the lawn."
One Predator pilot, he says, has been stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, flying surveillance over the same area of southwest Asia for nine years.
"The overwhelming advantage we get," Poss says, "is that if you want to go and talk to a world expert on Iraq or Afghanistan, maybe you don't need to go to Iraq or Afghanistan. Maybe you need to talk to that young captain down at Creech, because they've been staring at that ground for the past nine years."
A War Over There
The extreme distance between Nevada and Afghanistan keeps a remote pilot out of harm's way, but Singer argues it also introduces a host of complications about how we define war.
He points out that Obama skirted congressional authorization for military action in Libya, arguing that air support for the European effort did not risk U.S. forces. Yet, he says, the U.S. carried out 146 airstrikes in Libya — including a final strike that may have contributed to the capture of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
The U.S. has also carried out hundreds of airstrikes over Pakistan using drones, raising questions about the nature of aerial combat. The strikes have led to civilian casualties and inflamed tensions between the two countries.
That tension escalated on Saturday as Pakistani officials accused NATO of killing more than 20 soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border. In response, Islamabad shut down one of the key supply roots for U.S. troops into Afghanistan and demanded that the U.S. close an air base used by the CIA for drone strikes.
"Engaging in combat and people being at risk have always been together until now," Singer says. "The technology allows you to disentangle them, and now a new age of war has started."
The big question is how much more automated war will become. Singer says there are dozens of other countries at different stages of developing their own drone technology. Will there be a time when air-to-air combat is fully automated?
"I can definitely see some of the more mundane aspects of flight being autonomous," Poss says. That could mean landing and taking off, aerial refueling, flying to and from a certain target.
"But I always see a human making that final call on whether or not that is a legitimate target," he says. "And I certainly always see a human making that final call on whether or not to release a weapon on that target."
"Chicken Street" in Kabul, yet to get prosperous again
by Farid Behbud, Zhang Jianhua
KABUL, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- "Agreed, it is the Kabul Chicken Street but I do not sell any chick, I am manufacturing and selling Afghan traditional cloths here," a shop owner, Khwaja Khiruddin, said to Xinhua in a interview in his shop in one of Kabul's famed streets -- the Chicken Street.
Even some Kabulis don't know the name of the street or they do not use the original name of it -- name related to major items sold in the shops or some landmark in the area.
"It is only a title, because when Chicken Street was built, majority of the shops were selling chicken but those shops later gave the ground to shops which sell carpets, traditional cloths and antique items," said the bearded Khiruddin, 60, who wear a white cap, wore by Muslims while praying.
"In recent times, the municipality set up a sign at an open area and named it 'Peace Square' but nobody care about it and still it is called 'Dan-e Bagh Square' or 'Entry of the Garden Square', also instead of 'Shah Mahmood Khan Watt' or the King Mahmood Khan Avenue, it is called the 'Foreign Ministry Road'," Khiruddin said, referring to the title of some streets in Kabul on Wednesday.
"I don't know the exact time when this street was built, I can only read some short articles but I cannot write anything, I do not know about the history of this city," Khiruddin, whose kin own over 10 shops in the Chicken Street, whispered.
"But I only remember, I was living in a big family in 'Shar-e- Kohna' or Old City. I think, I do not know the exact time, maybe nearly 50 years ago, when the Shar-e-Naw or new city was built in King Mohammad Zahir Shah period.... Government persuaded people to buy houses and shops there (New City) and that Chicken Street was one of the roads built during that time in Shar-e-Naw with two- floor buildings with first floor all shops and the second small trade centers."
But people in the old city with muddy houses and narrow passages were not willing to come to the new city with bulky streets, park and cinemas. "They said who will provide security for this large new city during the long-lasting king 'Zahir Shah' era," he said.
"Some people and my father began to be the owner of shops in Chicken Street. I was young when my father and younger brothers sold Waskat or a kind of vest with many pockets. Later they sewed and sold embroidered Waskat to tourists," the old man remembered, "Subsequently, this legendary street has changed to a meeting point for tourists. All kinds of handicrafts are available here from jewelry to carpets, very old items like antique gun, muskets and lapis lazuli."
"Business has had ups and downs this street. In 1980s when former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, many Russians were visiting here, they liked eminent items including cloths made of leather."
"However in 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed and civil war broke out, business here was downfallen because no foreigner as well as tourists was visiting Afghanistan. So this street moved to Pakistan where you could find all Afghan souvenir sellers in Chawk-e-Yadigar of Peshawar in Pakistan."
Most of the Afghan people have a preference for buying local handmade traditional cloths, jewelry and carpets instead of buying the same items imported from other countries, said Khwaja Dilagha, the younger brother of Khiruddin, the coowner of the shop.
"I can still remember some words in English when I was young and called foreigners 'Hello sir', 'come inside', 'nice Afghan cloths, costume, jewelry for your wife, sir'," the younger brother reminisced about the time with a light smile.
Some people sold lapis lazuli, ruby, azure, turquoise, chapan, qaraqul hat, pakul hat, and Burqa or an envelope-like clad worn by Afghan women as well.
"At that time, we knew that those foreigners had foreign currencies, and a foreigner walking along Chicken Street is probably ready to spend some money to buy handiwork items," Dilagha said while stitching cloths in his shop.
"This street is still one of the famous locationsrecommended to foreign visitors and tourists by their interpreters," he said.
The decade-long insurgency, kidnappings for ransom and attacks on businessmen have negatively affected the investment in Afghanistan.
"Shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and creation of new government, business in Chicken Street has increased again for the first time in decades," Abdul Wahid, another shop owner in the street whispered.
"A dilemma appeared in Chicken Street and business has winded down after Taliban threaten the sellers in the street to stop business and not to sell items to foreigners," Wahid said, "And they acted. I remember it was late 2004 when a Taliban suicide bomber blew up a handful of hand grenades attached to his body, killing himself on the spot and injuring seven people including three NATO soldiers."
Before that attack, Wahid said, "Most of our customers were local people, tourists, foreigners who work for UN as well as Kabul-based aid agencies and military personnel of NATO and U.S. forces who were looking for gifts from Chicken Street, but all those shoppers disappeared with now only few of them walking around this street. After the suicide attack, business went down here because people did not have the courage under Taliban threat to come here for shopping."
"The foreigners do not come here, so we go out to meet them," said Hajji Tamim, who sell Afghan carpets in the chicken street.
"Since shoppers did not come to Chicken Street recently, several shopkeepers found a solution for improving the business. They set up sales exhibitions in foreign military bases including in NATO-led forces headquarters in Kabul city and others districts around the Kabul as well as other provinces," Tamim said.
"Some sale exhibitions are organized especially on Fridays and Sundays in those military camps for a limited number of sellers. Some sellers come to my shop and I give them some carpets, as they sell them for me they can also get some fees," Tamim added.
'Afghan Elvis' gets Kabul women all shook up
AFP Sunday, November 27, 2011
Dubbed the Afghan Elvis, Farhad Darya may be the only man in the most conservative country on earth who can reduce an audience of women in headscarves to a screaming, waving, whistling throng.
In a country where women enjoy few rights and music was banned under the Taliban until 10 years ago, Darya is an icon for millions and his popularity was clear at a rare, top-security, female-only show in Kabul.
Despite the excitement, Thursday's gig, shrouded in secrecy due to fears it could be targeted by the Taliban, was a thousand miles away from a typical concert in many other parts of the world.
Several hundred women, from students to middle-aged mothers, swayed as Darya performed but they did not dance due to the presence of television cameras. Women dancing in front of strange men is taboo in Afghanistan.
One even dared to shout out: "We love you!" halfway through -- a standard greeting for male rock stars around the world but exceptional in a nation where female sexuality is a highly sensitive topic, even in relatively sophisticated cities like Kabul.
"I've always told everyone he's my dream man -- he sings so good, his personality is so high, it's great," said one excited fan, 18-year-old student Meetra Alokozay.
Darya, a UN goodwill ambassador described by the organisation as "one of the best role models" in Afghanistan, held the concert to spotlight a campaign against domestic violence, which is still widespread here.
It was the latest in a series of ecstatically received free performances he has given across the country.
He told AFP that he hoped the event could be an outlet for fans and help people outside the country realise there was more to Afghan women than "burqa, chador (a similar head-to-toe veil), suffering, sitting next to the kitchen."
But he also argued that music in Afghanistan is about far more than sheer entertainment.
"There is a big problem in Afghanistan. The people responsible for politics, for government, they are not really capable of delivering," said Darya, a 49-year-old with jet black hair, piercing blue eyes and a neat goatee beard.
"Even good people, capable people, they lose themselves within the system. So what happens? What people expect to hear from them, for example from a politician or for a leader here, they don't hear. They come to artists."
He added: "In the West, everybody's into their own work -- the politician knows what to do, authorities know what to do, musician knows what to do and so on.
"Here, people expect a lot from artists. A musician, a singer can deliver the biggest message in this country and he can be heard big time."
This is often reflected in the songs from his 35 albums, many of which have a strongly political, pro-peace flavour.
His song "Kabul Jaan" (Beloved Kabul) was the first song played on Afghan radio after the Taliban were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.
It contains lyrics like: "I'm a voice for my poor people/I'm an old rubab (a lute-like musical instrument) singing songs of sorrow to my friends."
Although Darya moved abroad in 1990 and currently lives in the United States, he spends much of his time in Afghanistan and is alert to the threats that come from 10 years of war.
After one of his concerts last year in the western city of Herat, 13 fans were wounded by a bomb outside the venue. Darya said the blast happened next to the door through which he had been due to leave.
Nevertheless, he does not travel with security guards because he does not want to look like he is "afraid of people".
"I know the risks, I know, everybody knows those risks but I'm trying not to show off with security," he said. "I would rather work with the locals to feel secure rather than being surrounded with gunmen."
Afghanistan has made great progress in the last decade, he said, but added it was too soon to know what would happen when US-led NATO combat troops leave in 2014.
"The people of Afghanistan, they can see these achievements but they cannot believe it's real," he said. "The very important thing is that Afghans should take over because they need to believe in themselves."
And that is where Darya said singers like him can help bring peace and improve women's rights -- by changing hearts and minds.
"I see that my music can have this impact. This is a tool, I can help life here, so why shouldn't I do it?" he said.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By RAHIM FAIEZ and SEBASTIAN ABBOT
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan officials claimed Sunday that Afghan and NATO forces were retaliating for gunfire from two Pakistani army bases when they called in airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, adding a layer of complexity to an episode that has further strained Pakistan's ties with the United States.
The account challenged Pakistan's claim that the strikes were unprovoked.
The attack Saturday near the Afghan-Pakistani border aroused popular anger in Pakistan and added tension to the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, which has been under pressure since the secret U.S. raid inside Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden in May.
Pakistan has closed its western border to trucks delivering supplies to coalition troops in Afghanistan, demanded that the U.S. abandon an air base inside Pakistan and said it will review its cooperation with the U.S. and NATO.
A complete breakdown in the relationship between the United States and Pakistan is considered unlikely. Pakistan relies on billions of dollars in American aid, and the U.S. needs Pakistan to push Afghan insurgents to participate in peace talks.
Afghanistan's assertions about the attack muddy the efforts to determine what happened. The Afghan officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it was unclear who fired on Afghan and NATO forces, which were conducting a joint operation before dawn Saturday.
They said the fire came from the direction of the two Pakistani army posts along the border that were later hit in the airstrikes.
NATO has said it is investigating, but it has not questioned the Pakistani claim that 24 soldiers were killed. All airstrikes are approved at a higher command level than the troops on the ground.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen offered his deepest condolences and said the coalition was committed to working with Pakistan to "avoid such tragedies in the future."
"We have a joint interest in the fight against cross-border terrorism and in ensuring that Afghanistan does not once again become a safe-haven for terrorists," Rasmussen said in Brussels.
NATO officials have complained that insurgents fire from across the poorly defined frontier, often from positions close to Pakistani soldiers, who have been accused of tolerating or supporting them.
The U.S. plans its own investigation. Two U.S. senators called Sunday for harder line on Pakistan.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Pakistan must understand that American aid depends on Pakistani cooperation. Sen. **** Durbin, D-Ill., said Pakistan's moves to punish coalition forces for the airstrikes are more evidence that the U.S. should get its troops out of the region.
On Sunday, Pakistani soldiers received the coffins of the victims from army helicopters and prayed over them. The coffins were draped with the green and white Pakistani flag.
The dead included an army major and another senior officer. The chief of the Pakistani army and regional political leaders attended the funerals.
"The attack was unprovoked and indiscriminate," said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. "There was no reason for it. Map references of all our border posts have been passed to NATO a number of times."
There were several protests around Pakistan, including in Karachi, where about 500 Islamists rallied outside the U.S. Consulate.
The relationship between the United States and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation in a strategically vital part of the world, grew more difficult after the covert raid that killed bin Laden in May.
Pakistani leaders were outraged that they were not told beforehand. Also, the U.S. has been frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to target militants using its territory to stage attacks on American and other NATO troops in Afghanistan.
A year ago, a U.S. helicopter attack killed two Pakistani soldiers posted on the border, and a joint investigation by the two nations found that Pakistani troops had fired first at the U.S. helicopters.
The investigation found that the shots were probably meant as warnings after the choppers passed into Pakistani airspace.
After that incident, Pakistan closed one of the two border crossings for U.S. supplies for 10 days. There was no indication of how long it would keep the border closed this time.
On Sunday, about 300 trucks carrying supplies to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan were backed up at the Torkham border crossing in the northwest Khyber tribal area, the one closed last year, as well as at Chaman, in the southwestern Baluchistan province.
Militants inside Pakistan periodically attack the slow-moving convoys, and torched 150 trucks last year as they waited for days to enter Afghanistan.
"We are worried," said Saeed Khan, a driver waiting at the border terminal in Torkham and speaking by phone. "This area is always vulnerable to attacks. Sometimes rockets are lobbed at us. Sometimes we are targeted by bombs."
Some drivers said paramilitary troops had been deployed to protect their convoys since the closures, but others were left without any additional protection. Even those who did receive troops did not feel safe.
"If there is an attack, what can five or six troops do?" said Niamatullah Khan, a fuel truck driver who was parked with 35 other vehicles at a restaurant about 125 miles, or 200 kilometers, from Chaman.
NATO uses routes through Pakistan for almost half of its shipments of non-lethal supplies for its troops in Afghanistan, including fuel, food and clothes. Critical supplies like ammunition are airlifted directly to Afghan air bases.
NATO has built a stockpile of military and other supplies that could keep operations running at their current level for several months even with the two crossings closed, said a NATO official closely involved with the Afghan war, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
NATO once shipped about 80 percent of its non-lethal supplies through Pakistan. It has reduced that proportion by going through Central Asia. It could send more that way, but that would make NATO heavily dependent on Russia at a time when ties with Moscow are increasingly strained.
Pakistan also gave the U.S. 15 days to vacate Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan. The U.S. uses it to service drone aircraft targeting al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region when weather problems or mechanical trouble keeps the drones from returning to their bases in Afghanistan, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The drone strikes are very unpopular in Pakistan, and Pakistani military and civilian leaders say publicly that the U.S. carries them out without their permission. But privately, they allow them to go on, and even help with targeting for some of them.
___
Faiez reported from Kabul. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman, Deb Riechmann in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
Afghan President Says Second Troop Transition to Begin Soon
VOA News November 27, 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his nation's forces will soon take charge of security in more than half of Afghanistan, marking the second step of a transition that will see NATO combat forces leave by 2014.
In a statement issued Sunday, President Karzai said that six provinces, seven cities and dozens of districts — mostly in the country's north and west — will soon pass from foreign to local control. A specific date for the transition was not mentioned.
Among the districts listed in the second round are Nawa, Nad Ali and Marjah in Helmand province, once seen as hotbeds of insurgency but which NATO-led forces say are no longer as volatile. The provinces of Nimroz, Balkh and Takhar also are on the list.
The first stage of the transition began in July, with seven areas handed over, including all of Kabul province.
NATO will hand security over to Afghanistan's army and police in a gradual process due to be completed by the end of 2014, clearing the way for most foreign troops to return home. President Karzai has long pushed for the handover.
The latest announcement comes as NATO confirmed two of its soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan, one by a roadside bomb Sunday, and another in combat operations on Saturday.
Earlier this year, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that 33,000 of 100,000 American troops will leave Afghanistan over the next 14 months. Germany has also said it will soon start to reduce its contingent of 5,000 armed forces by the end of this year. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy says his country's 4,000 troops will be withdrawn in roughly the same proportion and schedule as that of the United States.
Britain has said it will withdraw 500 troops from Afghanistan by the end 2012, reducing the size of its force to 9,000.
In a statement issued later Sunday, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, welcomed the release of the Afghan government's list of areas intended for the second stage of security transition. Allen said “”Transition is a reality, and it is a path for the future success of this country and the Afghan people.”
Germany backs Taliban talks in Afghanistan
(AFP) – November 27, 2011
BERLIN — Germany's foreign and defence ministers called Sunday for the Taliban to be included in Afghanistan peace talks, ahead of a major international conference for the war-ravaged country next month.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that negotiations with the Islamist militant group was the only realistic option for lasting peace.
"Reconciliation does not happen among friends but rather between erstwhile opponents," Westerwelle was quoted as saying.
"That is what we need to work on instead of speculation about who might not be ready to reconcile."
Germany has the third largest contingent of foreign troops in Afghanistan but had long rejected proposals to include the Taliban in peace negotiations.
Westerwelle, who will host ministers from more than 100 countries in the western city of Bonn on December 5 to discuss the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014, said there was no guarantee of success.
"But all agree that it must be tried," he said.
The West "cannot simply say, 'You are evil, we won't negotiate with you'," added de Maiziere.
"We cannot exclude everyone from the inner-Afghan reconciliation process who once had a sword in his hand," he said.
Only when "a sufficient number of important groups" take part will the peace process have a chance of working.
Westerwelle said the war in Afghanistan could not be won militarily.
"After 10 years it is obvious that in Afghanistan, there can only be a political solution, not a military one," he said.
Taliban fighters frequently attack convoys supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, as part of a 10-year insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since US troops toppled their regime in 2001.
This month, Afghan elders backed talks with Taliban who renounce violence, despite the assassination in September of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani which officials blame on insurgents.
De Maiziere said Berlin would keep troops in Afghanistan after the NATO pullout at the end of 2014, to focus on the training of local forces.
Little Hope For Talks With Taliban
November 27, 2011 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Afghan government sees little hope of talks with the Taliban ahead of a major international conference in Germany next month.
Afghan National Security Adviser Dadfar Spanta said the Taliban are "absolutely not" showing any interest in negotiations leading up to the December 5 meeting in Bonn.
Speaking to the dpa news agency, Spanta said, "without the green light from the Pakistani secret services and military establishment, there will be no peace talks with the Taliban."
Spanta said talks with the rebels had not so much broken down as "never got going in the first place."
Spanta urged increased international pressure on Pakistan. He said it is an "open secret" that Pakistan was the source of much of the violence in Afghanistan.
Spanta predicted that if the situation did not change, there could be violence in the region for years to come.
compiled from agency reports
Will inking strategic pact with U.S. lead to viable stability in Afghanistan?
Xinhua By Abdul Haleem Nov. 26, 2011
KABUL - In its latest efforts to achieve durable peace in the militancy-plagued country, the Afghan government convened the traditional Loya Jirga or grand assembly of chieftains, notables and functionaries last week to discuss the proposed Washington-Kabul strategic partnership, but received mixed reactions at home and abroad.
The four-day national gathering attended by more than 2,300 people from across the country and concluded on Nov. 19 had backed the proposal of having strategic relations with Washington and recommended the administration to ink the controversial pact which grants the U.S. to have military bases in Afghanistan.
In its bold decision inscribed in a lengthy 76-article resolution, the Jirga participants described having strategic relationship with the U.S. very necessary for maintaining security, economic development and peace talks with Taliban and for ensuring lasting peace in the conflict-ridden nation.
However, local analysts are doubtful about future U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and its ability in forcing Taliban towards peace talks or annihilation of insurgency in the country.
"Inking strategic pact and giving military bases to the U.S. would not change the situation in the country and the militancy would continue as it has been continuing over the past 10 years in the presence of over 140,000 U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan," Kabul-based security analyst and former Taliban official Wahid Mujda told Xinhua.
He also said "long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would provoke Afghanistan's neighboring countries including Iran, Pakistan and Russia."
Afghan opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, who was President Hamid Karzai's main challenger in last presidential election, in a sharp reaction termed the Loya Jirga as unconstitutional.
Abdullah, who heads the "Change and Hope Coalition", said "no country's permanent bases are in the interest of Afghanistan," according to Afghan media.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan government, U.S. and NATO-led troops have lashed at the Jirga and its recommendations of having strategic relations with Washington.
"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (name of ousted Taliban regime) calls on all its countrymen, parties and political figures that the sole reason for the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is because of foreign invaders," the Taliban outfit said in a statement.
"We believe the Afghan crisis will only find an end when our nation thwarts the Strategic Partnership of the invaders and their mercenaries under the disguise of Loya Jirga and their other plans, brings the ongoing occupation to an end and fulfills the duty of bringing about an independent, proud and peaceful Afghanistan," the statement sent to media said.
Russian ambassador to Afghanistan Andrey Avetisyan has expressed concerns over the long-term U.S. military presence in the country, according to local media reports.
"Bearing in mind two major threats -- terrorism and narcotics, we have to watch closely what is happening here. By now we are not convinced that a long-term foreign military presence in Afghanistan will help to maintain security in the region," the English Daily Outlook Afghanistan quoted the ambassador as saying.
To enact the Jirga's core decision as law requires the approval of the parliament where oppositions and supporters would remain at loggerhead over the controversial issue and its impacts on the future of Afghanistan.
Keeping in mind the support and opposition at home and abroad to the proposed strategic partnership and NATO-led forces' inability to curb militancy over the past 10 years, "it seems that instability would continue in the country," said Mujda, who is also the author of "Afghanistan and the Five-Year Reign of Taliban. "
12 anti-government insurgents lay down arms in western Afghan town
HERAT, Afghanistan, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A dozen of anti- government armed insurgents laid down their arms and joined the government-initiated peace process in Herat province, 640 km west of Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, a statement of the National Directorate for Security (NDS) said.
"Twelve armed insurgents under Mullah Abdul Salam Dilawar handed over their weapons to security authorities in Adraskan district today and joined the peace process," the statement added.
With the joining of the armed group to peace process, security would be further strengthened in Adraskan and adjoining areas, the statement further said.
Taliban militants fighting the Afghan government and active in Adraskan district have yet to make comment.
Haqqani network facilitator captured in E. Afghanistan
KABUL, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and NATO-led Coalition forces in an operation have captured a Haqqani network facilitator in the country's Khost province, 150 km southeast of the capital city of Kabul, NATO said on Sunday.
A Taliban-affiliated group of militants, the Haqqani network mostly operates in eastern Afghan provinces and capital Kabul.
"A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Haqqani network facilitator during an operation in Nadir Shah Kot district, Khost province, yesterday," the NATO-led ISAF said in a statement.
Without giving the name, the statement added that the captured facilitator distributed roadside bombs, weapons and provided a safe haven for Haqqani leaders in Nadir Shah Kot district.
The network has also been blamed for a string of attacks, including the around-20-hour raid against the U.S. embassy and the ISAF headquarters in capital Kabul on Sept. 13 that left some 16 people dead and injured over 35 others including six ISAF soldiers.
Pakistan Buries Troops Amid Fury Over NATO Strike
VOA News November 27, 2011
Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside the American consulate in Karachi on Sunday, as Pakistan held funerals for the 24 soldiers killed Saturday in a NATO cross-border airstrike in the country's northwest.
Reporters near the consulate say at least 700 people were outside the heavily fortified compound shouting “Down with America” and other anti-American chants.
Meanwhile, the nation's army chief was among those attending funerals of the victims. Their coffins, draped in green and white Pakistani flags, are being airlifted to their respective hometowns.
NATO and U.S. officials responded quickly to try to minimize the repercussions of the attack on the Pakistani military outposts. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday he has offered his condolences to Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for what he called the “tragic, unintended” deaths.
Rasmussen said he told the prime minister the deaths of the Pakistani troops was “as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel.” He said he supports the NATO investigation that is under way.
Earlier Sunday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the air raid was not acceptable and demonstrated a complete disregard for human life. Clinton responded by saying she was deeply saddened, and she promised to work with Pakistan on the issue.
Pakistan reacted swiftly to the airstrike by shutting down all NATO supply lines through its territory to Afghanistan and ordering the U.S. to vacate an air base in southwestern Baluchistan province within 15 days.
Prime Minister Gilani and top leaders said Saturday the Pakistani government “will revisit and undertake a complete review of all programs, activities and cooperative arrangements with US/NATO/ISAF.” They called for “strong and urgent action” against those responsible for the deadly incident.
Pakistan also is reexamining its decision to attend a major Afghanistan peace conference in Bonn next month.
Pakistan lodges protest with Afghanistan over NATO strikes
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan has protested to Afghanistan over the attacks launched by NATO/ISAF helicopters and aircraft from Afghan soil into Pakistani territory which has resulted in loss of lives and damage to property, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
Pakistan says that 24 soldiers were killed and 13 others injured when NATO fighter jets and helicopters bombed two border posts in Mohmand tribal region near the Afghan border early Saturday morning.
"The protest underscores that the use of Afghan territory against Pakistan by NATO/ISAF is also a violation of ISAF's mandate for operations in Afghanistan," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
The protest adds that the Government of Afghanistan should take necessary measures to ensure that such acts are not carried out from its territory against Pakistan, it added.
In an angry reaction, Pakistan blocked supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan from its land route. Pakistan also asked the U.S. to vacate in 15 days its strategic air base in southwestern Balochistan, where has been under the use of U.S. forces for years.
The Shamsi air base in Balochistan province is believed to have been used by the U.S. for attacks on Afghan Taliban and also for drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions.
War By Remote Control: Drones Make It Easy
NPR By NPR Staff November 26, 2011
From his spot beneath the famous Wright Military Flyer in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Peter Singer is reminded of a modern military drone.
"The story of manned airplanes is a great parallel to what's happening now with unmanned airplanes," he tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin.
Singer, a technological warfare expert and author of the book Wired for War, has had drones on his mind a lot lately. The Department of Defense is under pressure to cut close to a trillion dollars from its budget over the next 10 years, so there's a lot of talk around the Pentagon about what can go and what can't.
Most defense officials agree that what can't be cut is remote aerial technology. Drones have taken center stage in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the counterterrorism fight in Pakistan. The ability to fight wars without risking U.S. lives is raising questions about the nature of combat.
Skepticism From The Wright Brothers On
The Wright Military Flyer, Singer says, is a reminder of just how far drone technology has come.
In 1903, he says, The New York Times printed an article under the headline "Flying Machines Which Do Not Fly" that argued it would take millions of engineers and mechanics tens of thousands of years to build an actual flying machine. The idea, Singer says, was considered science fiction.
But on the very day that article was printed, Singer says, "two brothers in Dayton, Ohio, start to assemble the first real flying machine in their bicycle shop."
It wasn't long until the military opened bids for what were then called "heavier-than-air" flying machines. The Wrights signed a contract, and the Military Flyer was born.
"It's just like any other technology — whether it's what happened with the horseless carriage or what happened with the computer," Singer says. "Starts out as imagination, and then it gets crossed with innovation, profit seeking and, most importantly, that horrible human need to figure out how to destroy one another."
More than 100 years later, aerospace pioneers are still convincing the rest of us their work isn't the stuff of science fiction.
That's literally the tagline of a recent Air Force recruiting ad featuring drone technology: "It's Not Science Fiction. It's What We Do Every Day." The ad shows a robotic aircraft scanning a desert landscape with a camera that looks like a bright red eye, alerting troops on the ground of a nearby sniper.
Not far from the Wright exhibit at the Air and Space Museum, you can find an exhibit featuring five different drones — the Air Force prefers the term "remotely piloted aircraft. Among the aircraft is an MQ-1 Predator, similar to the drone from the Air Force ad. These drones have special meaning for Singer.
"They're actually just like that Wright brothers Flyer," Singer says. "They're the first generation of all this."
Remote Defense Takes Off
Singer says not a single Western aerospace company has a manned combat aircraft in research and development. The MQ-1 Predator is the military's main workhorse; on Sept. 11, 2001, the Air Force had one.
"We've now got 57 Predators up, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, looking at different target points around the world," says Air Force Maj. Gen. James Poss. Poss helps oversee the Air Force's surveillance programs, which mostly revolve around drones.
Poss says the Air Force now recruits more pilots for unmanned aircraft than fighter and bomber pilots combined. A lot of the skills pilots need are the same — spatial awareness, quick critical thinking skills — but unlike pilots for manned aircraft, remote pilots don't need perfect vision. They don't need to worry about getting airsick. And combat can bring different strains, too.
"Unlike a person that deploys to combat, our remotely piloted aircraft force never leave combat," Poss says. Also, "you do leave your ground control station and drive home and you have to mow the lawn."
One Predator pilot, he says, has been stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, flying surveillance over the same area of southwest Asia for nine years.
"The overwhelming advantage we get," Poss says, "is that if you want to go and talk to a world expert on Iraq or Afghanistan, maybe you don't need to go to Iraq or Afghanistan. Maybe you need to talk to that young captain down at Creech, because they've been staring at that ground for the past nine years."
A War Over There
The extreme distance between Nevada and Afghanistan keeps a remote pilot out of harm's way, but Singer argues it also introduces a host of complications about how we define war.
He points out that Obama skirted congressional authorization for military action in Libya, arguing that air support for the European effort did not risk U.S. forces. Yet, he says, the U.S. carried out 146 airstrikes in Libya — including a final strike that may have contributed to the capture of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
The U.S. has also carried out hundreds of airstrikes over Pakistan using drones, raising questions about the nature of aerial combat. The strikes have led to civilian casualties and inflamed tensions between the two countries.
That tension escalated on Saturday as Pakistani officials accused NATO of killing more than 20 soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border. In response, Islamabad shut down one of the key supply roots for U.S. troops into Afghanistan and demanded that the U.S. close an air base used by the CIA for drone strikes.
"Engaging in combat and people being at risk have always been together until now," Singer says. "The technology allows you to disentangle them, and now a new age of war has started."
The big question is how much more automated war will become. Singer says there are dozens of other countries at different stages of developing their own drone technology. Will there be a time when air-to-air combat is fully automated?
"I can definitely see some of the more mundane aspects of flight being autonomous," Poss says. That could mean landing and taking off, aerial refueling, flying to and from a certain target.
"But I always see a human making that final call on whether or not that is a legitimate target," he says. "And I certainly always see a human making that final call on whether or not to release a weapon on that target."
"Chicken Street" in Kabul, yet to get prosperous again
by Farid Behbud, Zhang Jianhua
KABUL, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- "Agreed, it is the Kabul Chicken Street but I do not sell any chick, I am manufacturing and selling Afghan traditional cloths here," a shop owner, Khwaja Khiruddin, said to Xinhua in a interview in his shop in one of Kabul's famed streets -- the Chicken Street.
Even some Kabulis don't know the name of the street or they do not use the original name of it -- name related to major items sold in the shops or some landmark in the area.
"It is only a title, because when Chicken Street was built, majority of the shops were selling chicken but those shops later gave the ground to shops which sell carpets, traditional cloths and antique items," said the bearded Khiruddin, 60, who wear a white cap, wore by Muslims while praying.
"In recent times, the municipality set up a sign at an open area and named it 'Peace Square' but nobody care about it and still it is called 'Dan-e Bagh Square' or 'Entry of the Garden Square', also instead of 'Shah Mahmood Khan Watt' or the King Mahmood Khan Avenue, it is called the 'Foreign Ministry Road'," Khiruddin said, referring to the title of some streets in Kabul on Wednesday.
"I don't know the exact time when this street was built, I can only read some short articles but I cannot write anything, I do not know about the history of this city," Khiruddin, whose kin own over 10 shops in the Chicken Street, whispered.
"But I only remember, I was living in a big family in 'Shar-e- Kohna' or Old City. I think, I do not know the exact time, maybe nearly 50 years ago, when the Shar-e-Naw or new city was built in King Mohammad Zahir Shah period.... Government persuaded people to buy houses and shops there (New City) and that Chicken Street was one of the roads built during that time in Shar-e-Naw with two- floor buildings with first floor all shops and the second small trade centers."
But people in the old city with muddy houses and narrow passages were not willing to come to the new city with bulky streets, park and cinemas. "They said who will provide security for this large new city during the long-lasting king 'Zahir Shah' era," he said.
"Some people and my father began to be the owner of shops in Chicken Street. I was young when my father and younger brothers sold Waskat or a kind of vest with many pockets. Later they sewed and sold embroidered Waskat to tourists," the old man remembered, "Subsequently, this legendary street has changed to a meeting point for tourists. All kinds of handicrafts are available here from jewelry to carpets, very old items like antique gun, muskets and lapis lazuli."
"Business has had ups and downs this street. In 1980s when former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, many Russians were visiting here, they liked eminent items including cloths made of leather."
"However in 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed and civil war broke out, business here was downfallen because no foreigner as well as tourists was visiting Afghanistan. So this street moved to Pakistan where you could find all Afghan souvenir sellers in Chawk-e-Yadigar of Peshawar in Pakistan."
Most of the Afghan people have a preference for buying local handmade traditional cloths, jewelry and carpets instead of buying the same items imported from other countries, said Khwaja Dilagha, the younger brother of Khiruddin, the coowner of the shop.
"I can still remember some words in English when I was young and called foreigners 'Hello sir', 'come inside', 'nice Afghan cloths, costume, jewelry for your wife, sir'," the younger brother reminisced about the time with a light smile.
Some people sold lapis lazuli, ruby, azure, turquoise, chapan, qaraqul hat, pakul hat, and Burqa or an envelope-like clad worn by Afghan women as well.
"At that time, we knew that those foreigners had foreign currencies, and a foreigner walking along Chicken Street is probably ready to spend some money to buy handiwork items," Dilagha said while stitching cloths in his shop.
"This street is still one of the famous locationsrecommended to foreign visitors and tourists by their interpreters," he said.
The decade-long insurgency, kidnappings for ransom and attacks on businessmen have negatively affected the investment in Afghanistan.
"Shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and creation of new government, business in Chicken Street has increased again for the first time in decades," Abdul Wahid, another shop owner in the street whispered.
"A dilemma appeared in Chicken Street and business has winded down after Taliban threaten the sellers in the street to stop business and not to sell items to foreigners," Wahid said, "And they acted. I remember it was late 2004 when a Taliban suicide bomber blew up a handful of hand grenades attached to his body, killing himself on the spot and injuring seven people including three NATO soldiers."
Before that attack, Wahid said, "Most of our customers were local people, tourists, foreigners who work for UN as well as Kabul-based aid agencies and military personnel of NATO and U.S. forces who were looking for gifts from Chicken Street, but all those shoppers disappeared with now only few of them walking around this street. After the suicide attack, business went down here because people did not have the courage under Taliban threat to come here for shopping."
"The foreigners do not come here, so we go out to meet them," said Hajji Tamim, who sell Afghan carpets in the chicken street.
"Since shoppers did not come to Chicken Street recently, several shopkeepers found a solution for improving the business. They set up sales exhibitions in foreign military bases including in NATO-led forces headquarters in Kabul city and others districts around the Kabul as well as other provinces," Tamim said.
"Some sale exhibitions are organized especially on Fridays and Sundays in those military camps for a limited number of sellers. Some sellers come to my shop and I give them some carpets, as they sell them for me they can also get some fees," Tamim added.
'Afghan Elvis' gets Kabul women all shook up
AFP Sunday, November 27, 2011
Dubbed the Afghan Elvis, Farhad Darya may be the only man in the most conservative country on earth who can reduce an audience of women in headscarves to a screaming, waving, whistling throng.
In a country where women enjoy few rights and music was banned under the Taliban until 10 years ago, Darya is an icon for millions and his popularity was clear at a rare, top-security, female-only show in Kabul.
Despite the excitement, Thursday's gig, shrouded in secrecy due to fears it could be targeted by the Taliban, was a thousand miles away from a typical concert in many other parts of the world.
Several hundred women, from students to middle-aged mothers, swayed as Darya performed but they did not dance due to the presence of television cameras. Women dancing in front of strange men is taboo in Afghanistan.
One even dared to shout out: "We love you!" halfway through -- a standard greeting for male rock stars around the world but exceptional in a nation where female sexuality is a highly sensitive topic, even in relatively sophisticated cities like Kabul.
"I've always told everyone he's my dream man -- he sings so good, his personality is so high, it's great," said one excited fan, 18-year-old student Meetra Alokozay.
Darya, a UN goodwill ambassador described by the organisation as "one of the best role models" in Afghanistan, held the concert to spotlight a campaign against domestic violence, which is still widespread here.
It was the latest in a series of ecstatically received free performances he has given across the country.
He told AFP that he hoped the event could be an outlet for fans and help people outside the country realise there was more to Afghan women than "burqa, chador (a similar head-to-toe veil), suffering, sitting next to the kitchen."
But he also argued that music in Afghanistan is about far more than sheer entertainment.
"There is a big problem in Afghanistan. The people responsible for politics, for government, they are not really capable of delivering," said Darya, a 49-year-old with jet black hair, piercing blue eyes and a neat goatee beard.
"Even good people, capable people, they lose themselves within the system. So what happens? What people expect to hear from them, for example from a politician or for a leader here, they don't hear. They come to artists."
He added: "In the West, everybody's into their own work -- the politician knows what to do, authorities know what to do, musician knows what to do and so on.
"Here, people expect a lot from artists. A musician, a singer can deliver the biggest message in this country and he can be heard big time."
This is often reflected in the songs from his 35 albums, many of which have a strongly political, pro-peace flavour.
His song "Kabul Jaan" (Beloved Kabul) was the first song played on Afghan radio after the Taliban were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.
It contains lyrics like: "I'm a voice for my poor people/I'm an old rubab (a lute-like musical instrument) singing songs of sorrow to my friends."
Although Darya moved abroad in 1990 and currently lives in the United States, he spends much of his time in Afghanistan and is alert to the threats that come from 10 years of war.
After one of his concerts last year in the western city of Herat, 13 fans were wounded by a bomb outside the venue. Darya said the blast happened next to the door through which he had been due to leave.
Nevertheless, he does not travel with security guards because he does not want to look like he is "afraid of people".
"I know the risks, I know, everybody knows those risks but I'm trying not to show off with security," he said. "I would rather work with the locals to feel secure rather than being surrounded with gunmen."
Afghanistan has made great progress in the last decade, he said, but added it was too soon to know what would happen when US-led NATO combat troops leave in 2014.
"The people of Afghanistan, they can see these achievements but they cannot believe it's real," he said. "The very important thing is that Afghans should take over because they need to believe in themselves."
And that is where Darya said singers like him can help bring peace and improve women's rights -- by changing hearts and minds.
"I see that my music can have this impact. This is a tool, I can help life here, so why shouldn't I do it?" he said.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com