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AP Exclusive: US talks to Afghan insurgent group
By KATHY GANNON | Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Anxious to accelerate peace moves, top-level U.S. officials have held talks with a representative of an insurgent movement led by a former Afghan prime minister who has been branded a terrorist by Washington, a relative of the rebel leader says.
Dr. Ghairat Baheer, a representative and son-in-law of longtime Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Gul-bu-DEEN HEK-mah-tyar), told The Associated Press this week that he had met separately with David Petraeus, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan who is now CIA director, and had face-to-face discussions earlier this month with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, currently the top commander in the country.
Baheer, who was released in 2008 after six years in U.S. detention at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, described his talks with U.S. officials as nascent and exploratory. Yet, Baheer says the discussions show that the U.S. knows that in addition to getting the blessing of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar — a bitter rival of Hekmatyar even though both are fighting international troops — any peace deal would have to be supported by Hekmatyar, who has thousands of fighters and followers primarily in the north and east.
Hizb-i-Islami, which means Islamic party, has had ties to al-Qaida but in 2010 floated a 15-point peace plan during informal meetings with the Afghan government in Kabul. At the time, however, U.S. officials refused to see the party's delegation.
"Hizb-i-Islami is a reality that no one can ignore," Baheer said during an interview last week at his spacious home in a posh suburb of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. "For a while, the United States and the Kabul government tried not to give so much importance to Hizb-i-Islami, but now they have come to the conclusion that they cannot make it without Hizb-i-Islami."
In Washington, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden would not confirm that such meetings took place but said the U.S. was maintaining "a range of contacts in support of an Afghan-led reconciliation process."
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the high-level meetings, said Petraeus last met with Baheer in July 2011 when he was still commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan. Petraeus took over as CIA director in September.
On Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he also had met recently with Hizb-i-Islami representatives. Baheer said he attended those meetings but added that the party considers the Afghan government corrupt and lacking legitimacy.
Karzai's announcement appeared intended to bolster his position as the key player in the search for peace. The U.S. repeatedly has said that formal negotiations must be Afghan-led, but Karzai has complained that his government has not been directly involved in recent preliminary talks with Taliban representatives and plans for setting up a Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.
Baheer said his meeting with Petraeus, whom he described as a "very humble, polite person," was marked by a few rounds of verbal sparring with each boasting a battlefield strength that the other dismissed as exaggerated.
"There was a psychological war in these first meetings," he said.
Baheer said Crocker and Allen tried to persuade Hizb-i-Islami to become part of Afghanistan's political network, accept the Afghan security forces and embrace the nation's current constitution. He said Hizb-i-Islami was ready to accept the security forces and the constitution, but wants a multiparty commission established to review and revise the charter.
"We are willing to make compromises," said Baheer. "We already have said we will accept the Afghan army and the police."
He said Hizb-i-Islami envisioned a multiparty government in postwar Afghanistan. At the same time, the group wants all U.S. and NATO forces, including military trainers, to leave Afghanistan, he said.
"The presence of any foreign forces will be not acceptable to us under any cover," he said. "Daily, there is another American killing of civilians. The longer they stay, the more they are hated by the Afghan people."
Overtures to Hekmatyar's group show not only the degree of U.S. interest in pursuing a settlement but also the complexity of putting together an agreement acceptable to all sides in factious Afghanistan. The U.S. formally declared Hekmatyar a "global terrorist" in 2003 because of alleged links to al-Qaida and froze all assets which he may have in the United States.
Hekmatyar, who is in his mid-60s, was among the major recipients of U.S. aid during the Afghan war against the Soviets in the 1980s. He and other anti-Soviet commanders swept into Kabul in 1992 and ousted the pro-Soviet government, only to turn against one another in a bitter and bloody power struggle that destroyed vast sections of the Afghan capital and killed an estimated 50,000 civilians before the Taliban seized the city.
A bitter rival of Mullah Omar, Hekmatyar fled to Iran and remained there until the Taliban were ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. He declared war on foreign troops in his country and rebuilt his military forces, which by 2008 had become a major threat to the U.S.-led coalition.
Contacts with Hekmatyar's group as well as parallel efforts to negotiate with the Taliban have taken on new urgency following the NATO decision to withdraw foreign combat forces, transfer security responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014 and bring an end to the unpopular war, which is increasingly seen as a drain on the financially strapped Western countries that provide most of the troops.
On Sunday, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, completed two days of meetings about the peace process with Karzai and other Afghan officials. Grossman, who was to travel to Qatar on Monday, urged the Taliban to issue a "clear statement" against international terrorism and affirm their commitment to the peace process "to end the armed conflict in Afghanistan."
U.S. officials also have reached out to the Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network to test its interest in peace talks. Haqqani fighters, the second largest insurgent group after the Taliban, have been blamed for most of the high-profile attacks in the heart of the Afghan capital.
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Kathy Gannon is AP special regional correspondent covering Pakistan and Afghanistan. She can be reached at www.twitter.com/kathygannon
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Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Kabul and Kimberly Dozier and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.
Will Haqqani be included in Afghan talks?
CNN By Nick Paton Walsh January 22, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan - U.S. diplomats are pursuing negotiations with the Afghan Taliban with renewed vigor -- but among many questions and obstacles ahead is this: will the powerful Haqqani network be included in any future dialogue?
The Haqqanis are undoubtedly the best resourced and trained part of the insurgency, and their recent high-profile attacks in the heart of the capital have targeted top US and Afghan officials.
But it's not clear if the Haqqanis -- widely thought by U.S. officials to receive sanctuary and support from Pakistani intelligence officials -- will be part of any peace process that might evolve from talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives in the Gulf state of Qatar.
Some Western and Afghan officials with knowledge of the talks say the Haqqanis are an integral part of the Afghan Taliban insurgency and so an implicit part of negotiations; their possible involvement in negotiations will likely face opposition from Kabul and Washington.
One senior Afghan official, who did not want to be named while discussing confidential contacts, said, "The Haqqani network is not the subject of discussion in any way."
He added that the current talks involved only the Qatar process -- as part of which the Taliban would open an office in the gas-rich Gulf state to facilitate discussions. And he reiterated that "one strand" of the insurgency was involved - the Taliban leadership widely thought to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta under the leadership of Mullah Omar.
The Afghan official said: "It is too early to talk about who else can join. But reconciliation is open to anyone that meets the terms."
But a second senior Afghan official who requested anonymity for the same reasons, said the Haqqanis could be included. "The Afghan government has always referred to the 'armed opposition,'" he said. "The reason is to include all armed groups."
The Haqqani network has operated for more than 20 years and played a significant role among the Mujahedeen groups that fought the Soviet occupation. It is currently led by Sirajuddin Haqqani -- and is regarded by U.S. military commanders in the region as one of the most effective and dangerous arms of the insurgency.
But the Haqqanis are just one possible component in a peace process that has many hurdles.
The first major public challenge is being tackled this weekend in Kabul. The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, is meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss whether Kabul wants to be part of a process that has been very much American-led so far, angering Afghan officials.
Talks on Saturday night were described as "going well" by one senior Afghan official. But last week another Afghan government official laid out Kabul's position after months of being sidelined. He said: "The last cards are with us. So far it has been a U.S.-Taliban business. We have not been involved in this so I cannot say what was discussed. We are hearing different things from Taliban representatives, different things from U.S. officials."
Those with knowledge of the U.S. position say there can be no progress without President Karzai signing on. A Western analyst with knowledge of the U.S. side of the talks said: "The U.S. will not negotiate anything about anything without the government of Afghanistan."
A Western official with knowledge of the discussions added that the talks simply could not and would not fail -- an indication of how much political capital the United States is ready to invest in dialogue.
Ismail Qasimyar, a member of the High Peace Council established by Karzai to ignite the peace process, said, "When Americans and Taliban talk they cannot make any decision that can be executed on Afghan soil, as whatever people decide has to be decided by Afghans themselves. When Afghans are not involved, it becomes irrelevant."
Qasimyar added he believed there was "no option" but to talk to the Haqqani network, despite the "crimes they have committed, especially in Kabul."
If Karzai commits to the U.S.-initiated process, a series of confidence-building measures are then expected from both sides. The Taliban want the release of several high-profile Taliban leaders from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
But Qasimyar says this won't be easy -- given the opposition of the U.S. Congress to prisoners being released from Guantanamo. Some U.S. military officials are also opposed to seeing some of these individiuals released.
Another possible obstacle comes from the United National Front, which represents Afghanistan's non-Pashtun minorities, who can muster considerable popular support and military might. They include Uzbek general Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ahmadzai Massoud, leader of National Movement, and former spy chief Amrullah Saleh. These power brokers, who assisted the United States in its initial invasion area, recently told a U.S. congressional delegation in Berlin that they feel threatened by the nascent peace process, as it may give the Taliban a dangerous foothold in government.
One of the delegation in Berlin, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, said, "They were talking about the safety of every person who sided with the Americans against the Taliban. They made it very clear this was life-threatening."
He said they wanted Afghanistan's government to become a parliamentary democracy that could, in their opinion, more fairly represent the diverse ethnic society. "It is a very legitimate request that they have a restructuring of government," Rohrabacher said.
"They want a more accountable form of government and wanted to head off the State Department's strategy to get out of Afghanistan by creating a coalition of Karzai and the Taliban."
The road to these peace talks has been fraught with leaks of tentative discussions; at one point, an impostor claimed to represent the Taliban. But after nearly five years of tentative contacts -- in which German, British and Norwegian officials have all played a part -- the Taliban announced earlier this month that they would open an office in Qatar to assist future talks.
An observer with detailed knowledge of the discussions said: "The announcement (of Qatar) came from nowhere."
He said Afghan officials had explored the possibility of a Taliban office in Turkey or Saudi Arabia but "the Saudis did not want Taliban running around Riyadh with a formal office." Qatar was chosen as neutral ground, with the office providing less a place out of which Taliban negotiators would operate, and more a reliable and accessible address for messages from U.S. or Afghan officials.
While the United States has been represented by Grossman, the face of the Taliban has been Tayab al-Agha, an aide of Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban's ruling council, the Quetta Shura. Agha has previously been reported in negotiations with U.S. or NATO officials to little avail. But the observer said there "have been some modest steps taken (by Tayab al-Agha) that has got us to the point where we believe he is representing the Quetta Shura. But this is the first rung of the ladder. We have to get to the second one."
He said such steps might involve U.S. negotiators asking that the Taliban's next message to the media should contain certain pre-arranged phrases to prove their interlocutor had connections to the insurgency's main figures. Such moves would be part of the complex road ahead in which both sides need to test each others' ability to deliver on what they negotiate.
"There are three elements to any deal: Is there room for honest negotiation? Can the person deliver a deal? and, Can the person sell the idea?" said the observer.
"All these three things are open to question, but the thing that is not is their willingness to talk," he added. The telling moment would come when either side chose to test the other's ability to deliver. And he acknowledged that skeptics felt the Taliban were trying to buy time ahead of the U.S. and allied drawdown of troops.
Karzai Honors Slain Officials in Speech
New York Times By GRAHAM BOWLEY and SHARIFULLAH SAHAK January 21, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - In a somber but dramatic flourish, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan on Saturday used a speech during the annual opening of Parliament to recite an honor roll of 49 senior government officials and elders slain over the past year.
The long list of police chiefs, provincial governors and other officials underscored the carnage inflicted upon Afghanistan’s government as the Taliban have stepped up a campaign of assassinations, creating a sense of siege that has made Mr. Karzai a virtual prisoner of his own palace.
While the surge of 30,000 additional American troops has had some success in pushing back the Taliban, particularly in their strongholds in the south, the insurgents have hit back with targeted attacks intended to undermine public confidence by demonstrating the government’s inability to protect even its most senior officials.
“Our people suffered casualties this year and lots of hardships,” Mr. Karzai said. “Too many of our civilians, soldiers and security forces lost their lives in order to defend this country.”
Speaking before more than 250 members of Parliament, Mr. Karzai remembered Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council and a former president, who was killed in his home in September by a suicide bomber with explosives tucked in his turban.
He also mentioned Gen. Dawood Dawood, deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, who was killed in May; Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayedkhili, the police chief of Kunduz Province who died in March; Muhammad Omar, governor of Kunduz Province, who died in October 2010; Jan Mohammad Khan, an aide to Mr. Karzai and a former governor of southern Oruzgan Province until 2006, who was killed in Kabul in July by gunmen inside his house; and Hajji Malik Mohammad Zarin, a prominent elder who was killed by a suicide bomber in April.
He also read out the name of his own half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council and a power broker in the country’s south, who was shot to death by a police official in July.
Somewhat conspicuously, and not for the first time, President Karzai avoided mentioning the deaths of foreign troops in Afghanistan, even though his speech came only a day after four French soldiers were shot and killed by an Afghan soldier. Increasing violence by Afghan soldiers toward American and other coalition forces has raised tensions among the allies.
Mr. Karzai spoke as a top American envoy, Marc Grossman, arrived in Kabul on Saturday for discussions about starting peace talks with the Taliban.
The Karzai government has expressed concern that it is not being fully included in the American-led efforts to reopen direct negotiations with the insurgents, complaining that the Afghan government should lead any talks.
Mr. Karzai used the speech to underscore Afghanistan’s right to decide its own future.
In reference to the long history of intervention by foreign powers in the country, from Britain to the Soviet Union and the United States-led coalition, he said, “Afghanistan is not a place for foreigners to do their political experiments or a laboratory where every few years they test a new political system.”
Apparently reflecting the government’s longstanding concern about meddling by Pakistan, Mr. Karzai also called on the insurgents to lay down their “foreign weapons.” Afghan officials have voiced concern that Pakistan, where much of the Taliban leadership resides, could use the insurgents as a stalking-horse to strike a deal with Washington, and in the process secure its own position in Afghanistan.
In what seemed like an effort to demonstrate that the government was prepared to push forward on its own with peace negotiations, Mr. Karzai said that he had personally held peace talks recently with the insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami, or Islamic Party, which operates under a separate command from the Taliban.
His speech was, at least in part, warmly received by members of Parliament, despite tense relations between deputies and the president over the past year.
After the speech, some said they understood his message.
“Afghanistan has suffered for 40 years, and we don’t want any change which brings more violence and destruction to Afghanistan,” said Haji-Abdul Khaliq Khan, a member of Parliament from Kandahar.
Taimoor Shah contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Karzai: Afghanistan Is Not a Political Lab to Test New Systems
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Sadat Saturday, 21 January 2012
Afghanistan is not a country where new systems and structures should be tested every so often, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said told the Afghan parliament on Saturday.
President Karzai made the comments at the inauguration of the second year , session 16th of the Afghan National Assembly.
The President said that the government has been established based on the Afghan people's will.
He said government strategies have been drafted and will be sent for parliament approval in two weeks.
In the inauguration ceremony members of the Afghan government cabinet as well as diplomatic representatives of some countries had attended.
"Afghanistan is not the political laboratory of strangers to test new systems and structures. Discontinuity in promotion and maturity of political system and its related institutions are one of the main reasons for problems in our social and political evolution," Mr Karzai said.
A representative of Kabul province in Afghan House of Representatives, Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq said that political thoughts of President Karzai and the Taliban are similar.
"Both President Karzai and the Taliban are against parliamentary system and this shows a similarity in the thoughts of two political sides. The Taliban want Islamic Emirate and Mr Karzai wants anarchism," Mr Mohaqeq said.
President Karzai urged Afghan lawmakers to judge the Afghan government strategies based on national interests and that their cooperation with the government is a serious need.
Meanwhile, Afghan House Speaker, Abdul Rauf Ebrahimi, said the 16th session is opened at a time when Afghan people are still faced with a lot of challenges.
"Terrorism, violation of the law, corruption and poppy cultivation and smuggling are still the main challenges," Mr Ebrahimi said.
President Karzai said Afghan forces will take over all security responsibilities after 2014 and also promised that necessary reforms will be made in all government institutions.
Mr Karzai also said that reforms should be brought in the open market system so that the government can prevent hoarding by traders.
Seven Taliban insurgents surrender to gov't in W. Afghanistan
KABUL, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Over a dozen Taliban insurgents surrendered to the government in Afghanistan's western province of Herat on Sunday, a provincial official said.
A seven-member group of Taliban fighters, including their commander Mullah Ghulam Sakhi, has renounced violence and joined the government in Guzara district of Herat province Sunday morning, acting provincial governor Aseeluddin Jami told Xinhua.
He said the former insurgents also handed over a handful of weapons and explosive materials to security officials in the province, some 640 km west of capital city of Kabul.
In a similar development, some 20 more Taliban fighters surrendered to the government in eastern Nangarhar province also on Sunday, according to a press release issued by the provincial administration.
"The ex-insurgents have in the past been involved in anti- government activities in Rodat, Achin and Spinzar districts of Nangarhar province but laid down arms and joined the peace process today," the release added.
More than 3,000 anti-government insurgents, according to officials, have laid down arms in Afghanistan over the past year, a claim rejected by the Taliban outfit as propaganda.
Heavy snowfall adds to suffering of displaced Afghans
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- "The chilly weather and heavy snow have added to our pains as our children have gotten flu and respiratory diseases over the past few days," said Bibi Jan, a 40- year-old lady in Afghan capital Kabul.
Living in a makeshift tent along with 10 offspring, the dejected lady murmured that "dying is better than living in such atmosphere" while pointing out at a group of poor children playing on a snow-covered ground.
Speaking on behalf of 120 internally displaced families living in the makeshift camp close to the national Sport Stadium in Kabul, the depressed Bibi Jan went on to say that snowy day adds to their suffering as the families have no heating system.
"The only assistance we have received in winter is 20 seer or 210 kg firewood by a relief agency to keep warm our tents," Bibi Jan told Xinhua.
According to media reports, around 90,000 internally displaced families have been living in the militancy-plagued country with 7, 000 of them dwelling in the capital city.
Aid agencies, businessmen and the government usually provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced people, however according to officials, the problem is too challenging to overcome overnight.
"Four of my children are sick and mostly suffering from flu and other respiratory problems," Bibi said.
Revealing her ordeal, the upset but hopeful lady said she and her husband are the only bread earners of the family to feed their children properly and send them to school.
"I want to become a teacher but unfortunately cannot go to school," said a barefoot 9-year-old boy Karim while skiing on a narrow icy track outside the makeshift camp with a dozen kids.
Kabul has been experiencing harsh winter over the past two weeks as the temperature has dropped down to minus 13 degrees centigrade and it is minus 7 on Sunday.
Another resident of the slum camp who introduced himself as Shahzada also complained of the cold spell, saying that poor living condition and continued freezing weather have sandwiched his family.
"Little humanitarian assistance such as 20 seer firewood or few blankets is not the remedy for displaced people. The remedy is providing permanent shelter and stabilizing security," said Shahzada, a disabled father to nine children.The 50-year-old has beared the brunt of war in one leg and one hand.
Pakistani president, army chief agree to keep NATO supplies blocked
Xinhua Jan. 21
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani agreed to keep NATO supplies to Afghanistan blocked till the parliament takes a decision, local media reported on Saturday.
According to the report by local paper The Nation, the president and the army chief met at the President House in Islamabad on Friday afternoon and discussed the state of security relations with the United States and the NATO forces in the post cross-border attack scenario.
Pakistan closed the supply line for NATO forces in Afghanistan in November last year following a NATO attack on two Pakistani border posts, which killed 24 soldiers.
Both the president and the army chief expressed their satisfaction over the way Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) was engaged in preparing policy recommendations.
On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also told media the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would decide about the restoration of NATO supply lane.
According to media reports, nearly 70 percent of the NATO supplies were shipped into Afghanistan via land route of Pakistan.
The NATO supplies to Afghanistan were first sent to Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi and then transported into Afghanistan for over 140,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan through the two border checkpoints via land route of Pakistan.
Nato Not Dependent On Pakistan Supply Route
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 21 January 2012
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) on Saturday said that the closure of Pakistan's supply route has not created serious logistical problems for the coalition in Afghanistan.
Isaf Spokesman Brig Gen. Carsten Jacobson said that the 130,000-strong coalition has re-adjusted it's logistical operation and the closure of Pakistani route only caused trouble for the first few weeks.
"We had to re-adjust logistical flow, but as it's today, nearing the end of January the logistical situation of Isaf is stable," Gen. Jacobson told TOLOnews.
The Pakistani government closed a key Nato supply route after Isaf forces killed two dozens of Pakistani soldiers in a border attack on November.
Nato says they have adjusted their logistical operation through alternative routes such as through Central Asia and via air.
"Well, we have seen two months. The critical face in re-adjusting logistics is always in the first weeks. That is obviously past. So Isaf has changed that logistical system and our supplies are secure and actually we have started re-building our stocks," he said.
The closure of Pakistani route, Jacobson says, leaves a negative impact on Pakistan's economy as hundreds of Pakistani who were involved have remained unemployed.
"It has economical impact on the Pakistan economy, and on Afghanistan's economy and from the point of view of the coalition, it is an important step towards normalisation in the relations.
"Of course Isaf has an interest that the ground lines are opened again but as I said logistically we are not dependent on it," the German general said.
The US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta has said that his country pays $104m in a month to Afghanistan's northern neighbours for supplying its troops in Afghanistan. It's almost ten times more than what was paid to Pakistan.
Senior Pakistani officials have said that Pakistan considers re-opening the route for Nato convoys, however, certain taxes would be imposed on Nato commodities.
Afghan asylum bids hit 10-year high
Associated Press January 21, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - More Afghans fled the country and sought asylum abroad in 2011 than in any other year since the start of the decade-long war, suggesting that many are looking for their own exit strategy as international troops prepare to withdraw.
From January to November, more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum worldwide, a 25 percent increase over the same period the previous year and more than triple the level of just four years ago, according to UN statistics obtained by The Associated Press ahead of their scheduled publication later this year.
Many Afghans are turning to a thriving and increasingly sophisticated human smuggling industry to get themselves -- or in most cases, their sons -- out of the country. They pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to cross into Iran or Pakistan to more $25,000 for fake papers and flights to places like London or Stockholm.
Thousands of refugees also return each year, but their numbers have been dwindling as the asylum applications rise. Both trends highlight worries among Afghans about what may happen after 2014, when American and other NATO troops turn security over to the Afghan army and police.
The true numbers of people leaving is likely even higher -- since those who are successfully smuggled abroad often melt into an underground economy. Still, the jump in a rough indicator like asylum seekers suggests the total numbers are also on the rise.
Smuggling people out of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is a $1 billion-per-year criminal enterprise, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates. Those who pay to leave often face a risky journey and detention abroad because many developed countries now see many Afghans who flee as illegal economic migrants, not political refugees.
Still, the business finds an eager clientele in Afghans such as Ahmad, an unemployed 20-year-old in Kabul. He has agreed to pay a smuggler $400 to take him over the Iranian border, where he hopes to find work and save up to move on to Europe in a few years. He has no money, but his smuggler is giving him credit -- he'll have a month to pay up once he's in Iran.
"I don't think anything will improve in three or five years, so it's better to leave now," said Ahmad, who expects to leave for Iran within a few weeks. He asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being arrested.
Ahmad's family fled to Iran during the Taliban's late 1990s rule and returned full of hope after the regime fell. But now, he sees no future in his homeland.
"If foreign troops leave, the situation will only get worse, not better," he said.
That's a view shared by many. Tajma Kurt, who manages an International Organization for Migration program helping Afghans who have returned home, says she's noticed a marked change in ordinary Afghans' outlook since roughly 2007, when the Taliban insurgency began to gain strength and violent attacks increased.
"Before, they were looking for a job, discussing buying a house or whatever," Kurt said. "Now, they are all thinking of leaving because the situation has deteriorated dramatically and they don't see that it's going to get much better."
Devastated by decades of war, Afghanistan is already the world's biggest source of refugees, with more than 3 million of its total population of 30 million still outside the country, most in Iran and Pakistan, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner of Refugees and the Afghan government.
After the 2001 US-led military intervention that toppled the Taliban, some 5.7 million Afghan refugees returned. The vast majority of those came back in the first five years. The numbers have since dwindled, with about 60,000 refugees returning last year, about half the number as the previous year.
As the pace of returns slowed, the number of Afghans seeking asylum abroad rebounded. In 2011, 30,407 sought asylum through November, the latest available figures.
Driving both trends is not only economic ambition but deep uncertainties about the country's future, says Abdul Samad Hami, deputy minister of Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
"Who knows what happens when foreign troops leave Afghanistan? Is it going to get better or worse? Who knows what happens with the foreign aid to Afghanistan -- going down or increasing?" he said.
Some Afghans fear that once most foreign troops leave, the Taliban will take over more territory and civil war could erupt along ethnic lines, as it did in the 1990s. Others worry the Afghan economy will collapse if foreign aid dries up.
The real number of Afghans leaving is unknown, but undoubtedly higher than the asylum figures. The country's foreign ministry recently said 50,000 Afghans illegally entered Greece in the past two years alone, many of them now stranded without passports or money to move farther into Europe. Most of those arranged their journey with smugglers.
For their money, many endure a perilous journey.
Esmat Adine nearly drowned after the overcrowded boat he was on sank off Indonesia late last year, killing at least 200 fellow asylum-seekers headed for Australia. He says he left his wife and infant son at home in Afghanistan and paid $5,000 to travel to Australia after the Taliban threatened to kill him for working with American aid workers. He flew from Kabul to Dubai, then boarded a plane to Jakarta, Indonesia. From there, he was taken to eastern Java and was packed onto the doomed boat.
When the vessel capsized, Adine managed to survive by swimming to a nearby island.
"I swam and swam until I reached the shore," Adine, 24, told The Associated Press in an Indonesian detention center, where he is awaiting a ruling on his legal status. "I thought of how my wife and children are counting on me, of how I must earn a good life in Australia, free from intimidation."
He says he still hopes to be able to enter Australia and send for his family.
Australia has vowed to crack down on asylum-seekers but has been forced to relax a policy of mandatory detention because its detention camps are dangerously overcrowded.
Hami, the Afghan refugee official, says the country has come a long way and if the transition goes smoothly, fewer people will want to leave. But he conceded that depends on whether the government can provide security and jobs.
"If the situation gets worse, people will go out. If the situation gets better, people will return."
Army to build 'Afghan compound' on Salisbury Plain
21 January 2012 BBC News
Compounds designed to replicate Afghan villages are to be built on Salisbury Plain to better prepare troops for deployment.
Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has been given planning permission to build 50 "simplified structures" at 27 sites on the plain.
The British Army runs major exercises on Salisbury Plain twice a year.
Lt Col Mark Hiskett said he was "delighted" as it would "enhance the realism of exercises for our soldiers".
The DIO has been given permission to install a total of 100 shipping containers with removable hoardings, to replicate Afghan houses.
Wiltshire Council approved the plans on condition the structures are removed by the end of 2015.
The 6m (19 ft) long shipping containers will be used to replicate civilian compounds to allow troops "to rehearse the type of day-to-day operations which they would carry out in Afghanistan".
"We're delighted that planning permission has been secured for the compounds - it means we are able to add to the existing compounds across the plain," said Lt Col Hiskett.
"We cannot replicate Afghanistan on Salisbury Plain, but we can put in place adequate infrastructure to enable essential tactics, tools and techniques to be rehearsed, practiced and perfected."
Work is due to begin on the facilities at the end of January.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By KATHY GANNON | Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Anxious to accelerate peace moves, top-level U.S. officials have held talks with a representative of an insurgent movement led by a former Afghan prime minister who has been branded a terrorist by Washington, a relative of the rebel leader says.
Dr. Ghairat Baheer, a representative and son-in-law of longtime Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Gul-bu-DEEN HEK-mah-tyar), told The Associated Press this week that he had met separately with David Petraeus, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan who is now CIA director, and had face-to-face discussions earlier this month with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, currently the top commander in the country.
Baheer, who was released in 2008 after six years in U.S. detention at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, described his talks with U.S. officials as nascent and exploratory. Yet, Baheer says the discussions show that the U.S. knows that in addition to getting the blessing of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar — a bitter rival of Hekmatyar even though both are fighting international troops — any peace deal would have to be supported by Hekmatyar, who has thousands of fighters and followers primarily in the north and east.
Hizb-i-Islami, which means Islamic party, has had ties to al-Qaida but in 2010 floated a 15-point peace plan during informal meetings with the Afghan government in Kabul. At the time, however, U.S. officials refused to see the party's delegation.
"Hizb-i-Islami is a reality that no one can ignore," Baheer said during an interview last week at his spacious home in a posh suburb of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. "For a while, the United States and the Kabul government tried not to give so much importance to Hizb-i-Islami, but now they have come to the conclusion that they cannot make it without Hizb-i-Islami."
In Washington, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden would not confirm that such meetings took place but said the U.S. was maintaining "a range of contacts in support of an Afghan-led reconciliation process."
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the high-level meetings, said Petraeus last met with Baheer in July 2011 when he was still commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan. Petraeus took over as CIA director in September.
On Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he also had met recently with Hizb-i-Islami representatives. Baheer said he attended those meetings but added that the party considers the Afghan government corrupt and lacking legitimacy.
Karzai's announcement appeared intended to bolster his position as the key player in the search for peace. The U.S. repeatedly has said that formal negotiations must be Afghan-led, but Karzai has complained that his government has not been directly involved in recent preliminary talks with Taliban representatives and plans for setting up a Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.
Baheer said his meeting with Petraeus, whom he described as a "very humble, polite person," was marked by a few rounds of verbal sparring with each boasting a battlefield strength that the other dismissed as exaggerated.
"There was a psychological war in these first meetings," he said.
Baheer said Crocker and Allen tried to persuade Hizb-i-Islami to become part of Afghanistan's political network, accept the Afghan security forces and embrace the nation's current constitution. He said Hizb-i-Islami was ready to accept the security forces and the constitution, but wants a multiparty commission established to review and revise the charter.
"We are willing to make compromises," said Baheer. "We already have said we will accept the Afghan army and the police."
He said Hizb-i-Islami envisioned a multiparty government in postwar Afghanistan. At the same time, the group wants all U.S. and NATO forces, including military trainers, to leave Afghanistan, he said.
"The presence of any foreign forces will be not acceptable to us under any cover," he said. "Daily, there is another American killing of civilians. The longer they stay, the more they are hated by the Afghan people."
Overtures to Hekmatyar's group show not only the degree of U.S. interest in pursuing a settlement but also the complexity of putting together an agreement acceptable to all sides in factious Afghanistan. The U.S. formally declared Hekmatyar a "global terrorist" in 2003 because of alleged links to al-Qaida and froze all assets which he may have in the United States.
Hekmatyar, who is in his mid-60s, was among the major recipients of U.S. aid during the Afghan war against the Soviets in the 1980s. He and other anti-Soviet commanders swept into Kabul in 1992 and ousted the pro-Soviet government, only to turn against one another in a bitter and bloody power struggle that destroyed vast sections of the Afghan capital and killed an estimated 50,000 civilians before the Taliban seized the city.
A bitter rival of Mullah Omar, Hekmatyar fled to Iran and remained there until the Taliban were ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. He declared war on foreign troops in his country and rebuilt his military forces, which by 2008 had become a major threat to the U.S.-led coalition.
Contacts with Hekmatyar's group as well as parallel efforts to negotiate with the Taliban have taken on new urgency following the NATO decision to withdraw foreign combat forces, transfer security responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014 and bring an end to the unpopular war, which is increasingly seen as a drain on the financially strapped Western countries that provide most of the troops.
On Sunday, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, completed two days of meetings about the peace process with Karzai and other Afghan officials. Grossman, who was to travel to Qatar on Monday, urged the Taliban to issue a "clear statement" against international terrorism and affirm their commitment to the peace process "to end the armed conflict in Afghanistan."
U.S. officials also have reached out to the Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network to test its interest in peace talks. Haqqani fighters, the second largest insurgent group after the Taliban, have been blamed for most of the high-profile attacks in the heart of the Afghan capital.
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Kathy Gannon is AP special regional correspondent covering Pakistan and Afghanistan. She can be reached at www.twitter.com/kathygannon
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Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Kabul and Kimberly Dozier and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.
Will Haqqani be included in Afghan talks?
CNN By Nick Paton Walsh January 22, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan - U.S. diplomats are pursuing negotiations with the Afghan Taliban with renewed vigor -- but among many questions and obstacles ahead is this: will the powerful Haqqani network be included in any future dialogue?
The Haqqanis are undoubtedly the best resourced and trained part of the insurgency, and their recent high-profile attacks in the heart of the capital have targeted top US and Afghan officials.
But it's not clear if the Haqqanis -- widely thought by U.S. officials to receive sanctuary and support from Pakistani intelligence officials -- will be part of any peace process that might evolve from talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives in the Gulf state of Qatar.
Some Western and Afghan officials with knowledge of the talks say the Haqqanis are an integral part of the Afghan Taliban insurgency and so an implicit part of negotiations; their possible involvement in negotiations will likely face opposition from Kabul and Washington.
One senior Afghan official, who did not want to be named while discussing confidential contacts, said, "The Haqqani network is not the subject of discussion in any way."
He added that the current talks involved only the Qatar process -- as part of which the Taliban would open an office in the gas-rich Gulf state to facilitate discussions. And he reiterated that "one strand" of the insurgency was involved - the Taliban leadership widely thought to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta under the leadership of Mullah Omar.
The Afghan official said: "It is too early to talk about who else can join. But reconciliation is open to anyone that meets the terms."
But a second senior Afghan official who requested anonymity for the same reasons, said the Haqqanis could be included. "The Afghan government has always referred to the 'armed opposition,'" he said. "The reason is to include all armed groups."
The Haqqani network has operated for more than 20 years and played a significant role among the Mujahedeen groups that fought the Soviet occupation. It is currently led by Sirajuddin Haqqani -- and is regarded by U.S. military commanders in the region as one of the most effective and dangerous arms of the insurgency.
But the Haqqanis are just one possible component in a peace process that has many hurdles.
The first major public challenge is being tackled this weekend in Kabul. The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, is meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss whether Kabul wants to be part of a process that has been very much American-led so far, angering Afghan officials.
Talks on Saturday night were described as "going well" by one senior Afghan official. But last week another Afghan government official laid out Kabul's position after months of being sidelined. He said: "The last cards are with us. So far it has been a U.S.-Taliban business. We have not been involved in this so I cannot say what was discussed. We are hearing different things from Taliban representatives, different things from U.S. officials."
Those with knowledge of the U.S. position say there can be no progress without President Karzai signing on. A Western analyst with knowledge of the U.S. side of the talks said: "The U.S. will not negotiate anything about anything without the government of Afghanistan."
A Western official with knowledge of the discussions added that the talks simply could not and would not fail -- an indication of how much political capital the United States is ready to invest in dialogue.
Ismail Qasimyar, a member of the High Peace Council established by Karzai to ignite the peace process, said, "When Americans and Taliban talk they cannot make any decision that can be executed on Afghan soil, as whatever people decide has to be decided by Afghans themselves. When Afghans are not involved, it becomes irrelevant."
Qasimyar added he believed there was "no option" but to talk to the Haqqani network, despite the "crimes they have committed, especially in Kabul."
If Karzai commits to the U.S.-initiated process, a series of confidence-building measures are then expected from both sides. The Taliban want the release of several high-profile Taliban leaders from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
But Qasimyar says this won't be easy -- given the opposition of the U.S. Congress to prisoners being released from Guantanamo. Some U.S. military officials are also opposed to seeing some of these individiuals released.
Another possible obstacle comes from the United National Front, which represents Afghanistan's non-Pashtun minorities, who can muster considerable popular support and military might. They include Uzbek general Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ahmadzai Massoud, leader of National Movement, and former spy chief Amrullah Saleh. These power brokers, who assisted the United States in its initial invasion area, recently told a U.S. congressional delegation in Berlin that they feel threatened by the nascent peace process, as it may give the Taliban a dangerous foothold in government.
One of the delegation in Berlin, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, said, "They were talking about the safety of every person who sided with the Americans against the Taliban. They made it very clear this was life-threatening."
He said they wanted Afghanistan's government to become a parliamentary democracy that could, in their opinion, more fairly represent the diverse ethnic society. "It is a very legitimate request that they have a restructuring of government," Rohrabacher said.
"They want a more accountable form of government and wanted to head off the State Department's strategy to get out of Afghanistan by creating a coalition of Karzai and the Taliban."
The road to these peace talks has been fraught with leaks of tentative discussions; at one point, an impostor claimed to represent the Taliban. But after nearly five years of tentative contacts -- in which German, British and Norwegian officials have all played a part -- the Taliban announced earlier this month that they would open an office in Qatar to assist future talks.
An observer with detailed knowledge of the discussions said: "The announcement (of Qatar) came from nowhere."
He said Afghan officials had explored the possibility of a Taliban office in Turkey or Saudi Arabia but "the Saudis did not want Taliban running around Riyadh with a formal office." Qatar was chosen as neutral ground, with the office providing less a place out of which Taliban negotiators would operate, and more a reliable and accessible address for messages from U.S. or Afghan officials.
While the United States has been represented by Grossman, the face of the Taliban has been Tayab al-Agha, an aide of Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban's ruling council, the Quetta Shura. Agha has previously been reported in negotiations with U.S. or NATO officials to little avail. But the observer said there "have been some modest steps taken (by Tayab al-Agha) that has got us to the point where we believe he is representing the Quetta Shura. But this is the first rung of the ladder. We have to get to the second one."
He said such steps might involve U.S. negotiators asking that the Taliban's next message to the media should contain certain pre-arranged phrases to prove their interlocutor had connections to the insurgency's main figures. Such moves would be part of the complex road ahead in which both sides need to test each others' ability to deliver on what they negotiate.
"There are three elements to any deal: Is there room for honest negotiation? Can the person deliver a deal? and, Can the person sell the idea?" said the observer.
"All these three things are open to question, but the thing that is not is their willingness to talk," he added. The telling moment would come when either side chose to test the other's ability to deliver. And he acknowledged that skeptics felt the Taliban were trying to buy time ahead of the U.S. and allied drawdown of troops.
Karzai Honors Slain Officials in Speech
New York Times By GRAHAM BOWLEY and SHARIFULLAH SAHAK January 21, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - In a somber but dramatic flourish, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan on Saturday used a speech during the annual opening of Parliament to recite an honor roll of 49 senior government officials and elders slain over the past year.
The long list of police chiefs, provincial governors and other officials underscored the carnage inflicted upon Afghanistan’s government as the Taliban have stepped up a campaign of assassinations, creating a sense of siege that has made Mr. Karzai a virtual prisoner of his own palace.
While the surge of 30,000 additional American troops has had some success in pushing back the Taliban, particularly in their strongholds in the south, the insurgents have hit back with targeted attacks intended to undermine public confidence by demonstrating the government’s inability to protect even its most senior officials.
“Our people suffered casualties this year and lots of hardships,” Mr. Karzai said. “Too many of our civilians, soldiers and security forces lost their lives in order to defend this country.”
Speaking before more than 250 members of Parliament, Mr. Karzai remembered Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council and a former president, who was killed in his home in September by a suicide bomber with explosives tucked in his turban.
He also mentioned Gen. Dawood Dawood, deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, who was killed in May; Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayedkhili, the police chief of Kunduz Province who died in March; Muhammad Omar, governor of Kunduz Province, who died in October 2010; Jan Mohammad Khan, an aide to Mr. Karzai and a former governor of southern Oruzgan Province until 2006, who was killed in Kabul in July by gunmen inside his house; and Hajji Malik Mohammad Zarin, a prominent elder who was killed by a suicide bomber in April.
He also read out the name of his own half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council and a power broker in the country’s south, who was shot to death by a police official in July.
Somewhat conspicuously, and not for the first time, President Karzai avoided mentioning the deaths of foreign troops in Afghanistan, even though his speech came only a day after four French soldiers were shot and killed by an Afghan soldier. Increasing violence by Afghan soldiers toward American and other coalition forces has raised tensions among the allies.
Mr. Karzai spoke as a top American envoy, Marc Grossman, arrived in Kabul on Saturday for discussions about starting peace talks with the Taliban.
The Karzai government has expressed concern that it is not being fully included in the American-led efforts to reopen direct negotiations with the insurgents, complaining that the Afghan government should lead any talks.
Mr. Karzai used the speech to underscore Afghanistan’s right to decide its own future.
In reference to the long history of intervention by foreign powers in the country, from Britain to the Soviet Union and the United States-led coalition, he said, “Afghanistan is not a place for foreigners to do their political experiments or a laboratory where every few years they test a new political system.”
Apparently reflecting the government’s longstanding concern about meddling by Pakistan, Mr. Karzai also called on the insurgents to lay down their “foreign weapons.” Afghan officials have voiced concern that Pakistan, where much of the Taliban leadership resides, could use the insurgents as a stalking-horse to strike a deal with Washington, and in the process secure its own position in Afghanistan.
In what seemed like an effort to demonstrate that the government was prepared to push forward on its own with peace negotiations, Mr. Karzai said that he had personally held peace talks recently with the insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami, or Islamic Party, which operates under a separate command from the Taliban.
His speech was, at least in part, warmly received by members of Parliament, despite tense relations between deputies and the president over the past year.
After the speech, some said they understood his message.
“Afghanistan has suffered for 40 years, and we don’t want any change which brings more violence and destruction to Afghanistan,” said Haji-Abdul Khaliq Khan, a member of Parliament from Kandahar.
Taimoor Shah contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Karzai: Afghanistan Is Not a Political Lab to Test New Systems
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Sadat Saturday, 21 January 2012
Afghanistan is not a country where new systems and structures should be tested every so often, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said told the Afghan parliament on Saturday.
President Karzai made the comments at the inauguration of the second year , session 16th of the Afghan National Assembly.
The President said that the government has been established based on the Afghan people's will.
He said government strategies have been drafted and will be sent for parliament approval in two weeks.
In the inauguration ceremony members of the Afghan government cabinet as well as diplomatic representatives of some countries had attended.
"Afghanistan is not the political laboratory of strangers to test new systems and structures. Discontinuity in promotion and maturity of political system and its related institutions are one of the main reasons for problems in our social and political evolution," Mr Karzai said.
A representative of Kabul province in Afghan House of Representatives, Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq said that political thoughts of President Karzai and the Taliban are similar.
"Both President Karzai and the Taliban are against parliamentary system and this shows a similarity in the thoughts of two political sides. The Taliban want Islamic Emirate and Mr Karzai wants anarchism," Mr Mohaqeq said.
President Karzai urged Afghan lawmakers to judge the Afghan government strategies based on national interests and that their cooperation with the government is a serious need.
Meanwhile, Afghan House Speaker, Abdul Rauf Ebrahimi, said the 16th session is opened at a time when Afghan people are still faced with a lot of challenges.
"Terrorism, violation of the law, corruption and poppy cultivation and smuggling are still the main challenges," Mr Ebrahimi said.
President Karzai said Afghan forces will take over all security responsibilities after 2014 and also promised that necessary reforms will be made in all government institutions.
Mr Karzai also said that reforms should be brought in the open market system so that the government can prevent hoarding by traders.
Seven Taliban insurgents surrender to gov't in W. Afghanistan
KABUL, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Over a dozen Taliban insurgents surrendered to the government in Afghanistan's western province of Herat on Sunday, a provincial official said.
A seven-member group of Taliban fighters, including their commander Mullah Ghulam Sakhi, has renounced violence and joined the government in Guzara district of Herat province Sunday morning, acting provincial governor Aseeluddin Jami told Xinhua.
He said the former insurgents also handed over a handful of weapons and explosive materials to security officials in the province, some 640 km west of capital city of Kabul.
In a similar development, some 20 more Taliban fighters surrendered to the government in eastern Nangarhar province also on Sunday, according to a press release issued by the provincial administration.
"The ex-insurgents have in the past been involved in anti- government activities in Rodat, Achin and Spinzar districts of Nangarhar province but laid down arms and joined the peace process today," the release added.
More than 3,000 anti-government insurgents, according to officials, have laid down arms in Afghanistan over the past year, a claim rejected by the Taliban outfit as propaganda.
Heavy snowfall adds to suffering of displaced Afghans
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- "The chilly weather and heavy snow have added to our pains as our children have gotten flu and respiratory diseases over the past few days," said Bibi Jan, a 40- year-old lady in Afghan capital Kabul.
Living in a makeshift tent along with 10 offspring, the dejected lady murmured that "dying is better than living in such atmosphere" while pointing out at a group of poor children playing on a snow-covered ground.
Speaking on behalf of 120 internally displaced families living in the makeshift camp close to the national Sport Stadium in Kabul, the depressed Bibi Jan went on to say that snowy day adds to their suffering as the families have no heating system.
"The only assistance we have received in winter is 20 seer or 210 kg firewood by a relief agency to keep warm our tents," Bibi Jan told Xinhua.
According to media reports, around 90,000 internally displaced families have been living in the militancy-plagued country with 7, 000 of them dwelling in the capital city.
Aid agencies, businessmen and the government usually provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced people, however according to officials, the problem is too challenging to overcome overnight.
"Four of my children are sick and mostly suffering from flu and other respiratory problems," Bibi said.
Revealing her ordeal, the upset but hopeful lady said she and her husband are the only bread earners of the family to feed their children properly and send them to school.
"I want to become a teacher but unfortunately cannot go to school," said a barefoot 9-year-old boy Karim while skiing on a narrow icy track outside the makeshift camp with a dozen kids.
Kabul has been experiencing harsh winter over the past two weeks as the temperature has dropped down to minus 13 degrees centigrade and it is minus 7 on Sunday.
Another resident of the slum camp who introduced himself as Shahzada also complained of the cold spell, saying that poor living condition and continued freezing weather have sandwiched his family.
"Little humanitarian assistance such as 20 seer firewood or few blankets is not the remedy for displaced people. The remedy is providing permanent shelter and stabilizing security," said Shahzada, a disabled father to nine children.The 50-year-old has beared the brunt of war in one leg and one hand.
Pakistani president, army chief agree to keep NATO supplies blocked
Xinhua Jan. 21
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani agreed to keep NATO supplies to Afghanistan blocked till the parliament takes a decision, local media reported on Saturday.
According to the report by local paper The Nation, the president and the army chief met at the President House in Islamabad on Friday afternoon and discussed the state of security relations with the United States and the NATO forces in the post cross-border attack scenario.
Pakistan closed the supply line for NATO forces in Afghanistan in November last year following a NATO attack on two Pakistani border posts, which killed 24 soldiers.
Both the president and the army chief expressed their satisfaction over the way Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) was engaged in preparing policy recommendations.
On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also told media the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would decide about the restoration of NATO supply lane.
According to media reports, nearly 70 percent of the NATO supplies were shipped into Afghanistan via land route of Pakistan.
The NATO supplies to Afghanistan were first sent to Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi and then transported into Afghanistan for over 140,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan through the two border checkpoints via land route of Pakistan.
Nato Not Dependent On Pakistan Supply Route
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 21 January 2012
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) on Saturday said that the closure of Pakistan's supply route has not created serious logistical problems for the coalition in Afghanistan.
Isaf Spokesman Brig Gen. Carsten Jacobson said that the 130,000-strong coalition has re-adjusted it's logistical operation and the closure of Pakistani route only caused trouble for the first few weeks.
"We had to re-adjust logistical flow, but as it's today, nearing the end of January the logistical situation of Isaf is stable," Gen. Jacobson told TOLOnews.
The Pakistani government closed a key Nato supply route after Isaf forces killed two dozens of Pakistani soldiers in a border attack on November.
Nato says they have adjusted their logistical operation through alternative routes such as through Central Asia and via air.
"Well, we have seen two months. The critical face in re-adjusting logistics is always in the first weeks. That is obviously past. So Isaf has changed that logistical system and our supplies are secure and actually we have started re-building our stocks," he said.
The closure of Pakistani route, Jacobson says, leaves a negative impact on Pakistan's economy as hundreds of Pakistani who were involved have remained unemployed.
"It has economical impact on the Pakistan economy, and on Afghanistan's economy and from the point of view of the coalition, it is an important step towards normalisation in the relations.
"Of course Isaf has an interest that the ground lines are opened again but as I said logistically we are not dependent on it," the German general said.
The US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta has said that his country pays $104m in a month to Afghanistan's northern neighbours for supplying its troops in Afghanistan. It's almost ten times more than what was paid to Pakistan.
Senior Pakistani officials have said that Pakistan considers re-opening the route for Nato convoys, however, certain taxes would be imposed on Nato commodities.
Afghan asylum bids hit 10-year high
Associated Press January 21, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - More Afghans fled the country and sought asylum abroad in 2011 than in any other year since the start of the decade-long war, suggesting that many are looking for their own exit strategy as international troops prepare to withdraw.
From January to November, more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum worldwide, a 25 percent increase over the same period the previous year and more than triple the level of just four years ago, according to UN statistics obtained by The Associated Press ahead of their scheduled publication later this year.
Many Afghans are turning to a thriving and increasingly sophisticated human smuggling industry to get themselves -- or in most cases, their sons -- out of the country. They pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to cross into Iran or Pakistan to more $25,000 for fake papers and flights to places like London or Stockholm.
Thousands of refugees also return each year, but their numbers have been dwindling as the asylum applications rise. Both trends highlight worries among Afghans about what may happen after 2014, when American and other NATO troops turn security over to the Afghan army and police.
The true numbers of people leaving is likely even higher -- since those who are successfully smuggled abroad often melt into an underground economy. Still, the jump in a rough indicator like asylum seekers suggests the total numbers are also on the rise.
Smuggling people out of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is a $1 billion-per-year criminal enterprise, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates. Those who pay to leave often face a risky journey and detention abroad because many developed countries now see many Afghans who flee as illegal economic migrants, not political refugees.
Still, the business finds an eager clientele in Afghans such as Ahmad, an unemployed 20-year-old in Kabul. He has agreed to pay a smuggler $400 to take him over the Iranian border, where he hopes to find work and save up to move on to Europe in a few years. He has no money, but his smuggler is giving him credit -- he'll have a month to pay up once he's in Iran.
"I don't think anything will improve in three or five years, so it's better to leave now," said Ahmad, who expects to leave for Iran within a few weeks. He asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being arrested.
Ahmad's family fled to Iran during the Taliban's late 1990s rule and returned full of hope after the regime fell. But now, he sees no future in his homeland.
"If foreign troops leave, the situation will only get worse, not better," he said.
That's a view shared by many. Tajma Kurt, who manages an International Organization for Migration program helping Afghans who have returned home, says she's noticed a marked change in ordinary Afghans' outlook since roughly 2007, when the Taliban insurgency began to gain strength and violent attacks increased.
"Before, they were looking for a job, discussing buying a house or whatever," Kurt said. "Now, they are all thinking of leaving because the situation has deteriorated dramatically and they don't see that it's going to get much better."
Devastated by decades of war, Afghanistan is already the world's biggest source of refugees, with more than 3 million of its total population of 30 million still outside the country, most in Iran and Pakistan, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner of Refugees and the Afghan government.
After the 2001 US-led military intervention that toppled the Taliban, some 5.7 million Afghan refugees returned. The vast majority of those came back in the first five years. The numbers have since dwindled, with about 60,000 refugees returning last year, about half the number as the previous year.
As the pace of returns slowed, the number of Afghans seeking asylum abroad rebounded. In 2011, 30,407 sought asylum through November, the latest available figures.
Driving both trends is not only economic ambition but deep uncertainties about the country's future, says Abdul Samad Hami, deputy minister of Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
"Who knows what happens when foreign troops leave Afghanistan? Is it going to get better or worse? Who knows what happens with the foreign aid to Afghanistan -- going down or increasing?" he said.
Some Afghans fear that once most foreign troops leave, the Taliban will take over more territory and civil war could erupt along ethnic lines, as it did in the 1990s. Others worry the Afghan economy will collapse if foreign aid dries up.
The real number of Afghans leaving is unknown, but undoubtedly higher than the asylum figures. The country's foreign ministry recently said 50,000 Afghans illegally entered Greece in the past two years alone, many of them now stranded without passports or money to move farther into Europe. Most of those arranged their journey with smugglers.
For their money, many endure a perilous journey.
Esmat Adine nearly drowned after the overcrowded boat he was on sank off Indonesia late last year, killing at least 200 fellow asylum-seekers headed for Australia. He says he left his wife and infant son at home in Afghanistan and paid $5,000 to travel to Australia after the Taliban threatened to kill him for working with American aid workers. He flew from Kabul to Dubai, then boarded a plane to Jakarta, Indonesia. From there, he was taken to eastern Java and was packed onto the doomed boat.
When the vessel capsized, Adine managed to survive by swimming to a nearby island.
"I swam and swam until I reached the shore," Adine, 24, told The Associated Press in an Indonesian detention center, where he is awaiting a ruling on his legal status. "I thought of how my wife and children are counting on me, of how I must earn a good life in Australia, free from intimidation."
He says he still hopes to be able to enter Australia and send for his family.
Australia has vowed to crack down on asylum-seekers but has been forced to relax a policy of mandatory detention because its detention camps are dangerously overcrowded.
Hami, the Afghan refugee official, says the country has come a long way and if the transition goes smoothly, fewer people will want to leave. But he conceded that depends on whether the government can provide security and jobs.
"If the situation gets worse, people will go out. If the situation gets better, people will return."
Army to build 'Afghan compound' on Salisbury Plain
21 January 2012 BBC News
Compounds designed to replicate Afghan villages are to be built on Salisbury Plain to better prepare troops for deployment.
Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has been given planning permission to build 50 "simplified structures" at 27 sites on the plain.
The British Army runs major exercises on Salisbury Plain twice a year.
Lt Col Mark Hiskett said he was "delighted" as it would "enhance the realism of exercises for our soldiers".
The DIO has been given permission to install a total of 100 shipping containers with removable hoardings, to replicate Afghan houses.
Wiltshire Council approved the plans on condition the structures are removed by the end of 2015.
The 6m (19 ft) long shipping containers will be used to replicate civilian compounds to allow troops "to rehearse the type of day-to-day operations which they would carry out in Afghanistan".
"We're delighted that planning permission has been secured for the compounds - it means we are able to add to the existing compounds across the plain," said Lt Col Hiskett.
"We cannot replicate Afghanistan on Salisbury Plain, but we can put in place adequate infrastructure to enable essential tactics, tools and techniques to be rehearsed, practiced and perfected."
Work is due to begin on the facilities at the end of January.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com