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Afghan president urges peace, despite attacks
By AMIR SHAH and HEIDI VOGT | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan president on Wednesday urged his nation to rally behind the push for peace negotiations with insurgents despite persistent violence, evoking the memory of a former leader who was assassinated while trying to broker talks with the Taliban.
"We should all strive for peace," said Hamid Karzai, adding that doing so continues the mission of slain former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, killed by a suicide bomber posing as an emissary from the insurgents.
Karzai spoke at a memorial marking the one-year anniversary of Rabbani's death, which badly shook confidence in the chance that a peaceful resolution could be achieved.
The ceremony came a day after a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a minibus carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport in Kabul, killing at least 12 people, including nine foreigners.
A militant group said the attack aimed to avenge an anti-Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. The film has sparked angry protests across the Muslim world, including in Afghanistan, after a video clip of it was posted on the Internet last week.
On Wednesday, attacks in three different provinces killed four police, two security guards and two civilians.
The attacks come at a time when the Afghan-U.S. alliance appears increasingly shaky and many Afghans predict civil war after the majority of international forces depart at the end of 2014.
And the Afghans may have to stand on their own more quickly than previously envisioned. A rash of attacks by Afghan police and soldiers against their international counterparts has prompted the NATO military coalition to restrict joint operations with Afghan forces.
So far this year, 51 international service members have died at the hands of Afghan forces or militants who have infiltrated them. That is more than 18 percent of the 279 international troops who have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.
Under the new NATO rules issued on Sunday, operations that mix small-sized Afghan and coalition units are no longer considered routine and require the approval of the regional commander. Previously, coalition troops routinely conducted operations such as patrolling or manning outposts with small units of their Afghan counterparts.
It's unclear whether the coalition's exit strategy can succeed with less partnering between foreign troops and Afghan policemen and soldiers, who are slated to take over for foreign combat troops by the end of 2014. NATO considers joint missions key to training Afghan forces.
Simon Gass, NATO's outgoing senior civilian envoy for Afghanistan, told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that the new directive will not undermine the long-term international military mission.
"I don't think it's a strategic setback. It's not ideal and it's not what we wanted to happen (but) it is a sensible arrangement and it is temporary," Gass said, having just completed his 18-month tour.
"It was a setback but it is one that we will recover from," he added.
A year ago, before Rabbani's slaying, Afghans and their international partners seemed more optimistic about the future. Rabbani was the head of a group tasked with bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table and NATO was in the process of handing over cities and provinces to Afghan control, while saying they would still be close at hand as advisers and mentors.
Then on Sept. 20, 2011, a man posing as a high-level insurgent emissary seeking peace went into a meeting with Rabbani with a bomb hidden in his turban. He detonated the explosive as he shook Rabbani's hand, killing the former president on the spot. Rabbani's son later took on the leadership of the peace council, but talks are widely considered stalled, if they ever truly started.
And Taliban attacks and assassinations of government allies only increased this summer.
Karzai recalled how Rabbani consoled him when the president lost a brother who was gunned down by insurgents in July 2011. Many Afghans criticized Karzai for continuing to pursue reconciliation with the Taliban but Rabbani stood by his side, telling him that, "You did not lose the voice of peace. The Afghan nation needs peace," the president recounted.
However, the tone at the memorial was not all conciliatory. Speaking after Karzai, Rabbani's son lashed out at the Afghan government, accusing it of not doing enough to bring his father's murderers and those of other politicians to justice.
"People have the right to know who the people are behind these series of killings and why," Salahuddin Rabbani said. "Unfortunately, the government has failed in its investigations."
In the first of three attacks Wednesday, a bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded outside a police training center in western Afghanistan, killing two security guards, said Herat provincial police spokesman, Noor Khan Nikzad. He said six guards were also wounded in the explosion.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it matched the pattern of Taliban strikes that typically target Afghan forces or government workers.
Then in the early evening, bombs went off in the two main southern cities of Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. The bomb in Kandahar went off near a police checkpoint, killing two police officers and one civilian, said provincial government spokesman Jawed Faisel. Then a gunman in Lashkar Gah to the west fired on police on motorcycles, killing another two officers and one civilian, said Helmand provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi.
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Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
Afghanistan's Karzai targets governors in anti-graft fight
By Rob Taylor and Mirwais Harooni
KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai is considering sacking or moving the governors of a fifth of Afghanistan's 34 provinces as part of a shakeout of corrupt or underperforming officials aimed in part at soothing foreign donors.
Karzai is likely to replace seven governors on Thursday whose performance he considers unsatisfactory, including those in the volatile Baghlan, Wardak and Nimroz provinces in the north and southwest, as well as Takhar in the north, several government sources told Reuters.
Ehsanullah Tahiri, a spokesman for the Office of Administrative Affairs, confirmed that among those to be moved was Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal, a former army colonel who is liked by foreign diplomats but has been unable to make headway against Taliban insurgents.
"They have not been able to improve good governance in their areas," Tahiri said, declining to give further specifics.
Karzai in late July issued a decree ordering all ministries to cut down on nepotism and corruption, and told the Supreme Court to speed up existing probes into graft and suspect property dealings.
The 23-page decree, while less radical than Western donors had hoped, suggested a growing realization within government that corruption must be addressed and senior figures prosecuted, with $16 billion of aid being made conditional on a crackdown.
While the document was vague on time frames, Karzai's office said improvements could be expected by the end of September.
Several cabinet ministers are also under a corruption cloud.
They include the finance minister, Hazarat Omar Zakhilwal, who has been accused of stashing more than $1 million in overseas banks and properties. Zakhilwal has promised to fight the accusations, which were aired on Afghan television.
TROUBLE WITH PARLIAMENT
Afghan media and government sources said Karzai was considering the extent of changes on Wednesday night, wary of too much political upheaval after parliament last month forced the removal of the defense and interior ministers.
The head of the Afghan High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption, Azizullah Lodin, said he did not expect changes in top positions as a result of Karzai's decree.
"To stop corruption in Afghanistan, that is not possible as it is in the United States and England and other countries," Lodin told Reuters in an interview ahead of the provincial shake-up expected on Thursday.
"I am a salmon trying to go against the river, but in some places there are bears and they have an open mouth."
Lodin said his office had handed 131 files to the Attorney-General's office in the last two years, but only a handful had been followed up and no senior figure had yet been jailed for corruption.
"We did our job. These files were about very particular (instances of) corruption, high corruption, grand corruption, even some ministers," he said.
Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand's Mangal, said no official word had been received from Karzai's office.
"But there are rumors and these rumors are meaningful. There will be something behind them," Ahmadi said.
Mangal was tipped as a possible candidate for the vacant Border and Tribal Affairs ministry in Karzai's cabinet, he said, or a shift to become governor of Herat, which accounts for 20 percent of national government revenue from trade with Iran.
Giving Mangal a ministry could trigger another row for Karzai with lawmakers, some of whom might withhold their approval because of concerns about Mangal's overseas property dealings, said Kandahar MP Shekiba Hashimi, a member of parliament's internal security commission.
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi and Abdulaziz Ibrahimi; Editing by)
Clash leaves an Afghan police, 9 Taliban dead
PARUN, Afghanistan, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- One police and nine Taliban militants were killed as clash erupted in Kamdish district of Nuristan province 180 km east of capital Kabul on Wednesday, police said. "A group of armed Taliban fighters raided Kamdish district headquarters at 04:30 a.m. local time today and police with the support of the national army and air power returned fire, killing nine insurgents on the spot," Ghulam Allah, police inspector general of Nuristan province told Xinhua.
In the gun battle one police was killed and three others sustained injuries, he added.
Meantime, a Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in talks with media via telephone from an unknown location confirmed the clash, claiming several police were killed and injured in the conflict.
Since warring sides in Afghan conflicts exaggerate the casualties of rival side, it is difficult to get verification from independent sources.
More Protests In Afghanistan Over Anti-Islam Film
September 19, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Hundreds of students in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad have vented their anger at a film made in the United States that Muslims worldwide say insults the Prophet Muhammad.
Some 400 students blocked the main road leading to Kabul, shouting anti-U.S. slogans.
Local official Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said the road was only blocked for about an hour and added that some protesters burned pictures of "a Western country's leader."
Protests also took place in Kabul and the northern city of Konduz earlier this week expressing outrage at the low-budget film "Innocence of Muslims."
Based on reporting by AFP and dpa
10 Taliban militants give up fighting in N. Afghanistan
PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ten Taliban fighters under Mawlawi Abdul Fatah handed over their weapons and joined the government-backed peace process in Afghanistan's Baghlan province, 160 km north of capital Kabul on Wednesday.
"With joining these dissident brothers, the peace and security will be further stabilized in Baghlan,"provincial governor Munshi Abdul Majid said during a ceremony welcoming the former fighters.
Fatah and his men who were active against government in Julga district over the past couple of years asked government to provide job opportunities for them and accelerate reconstruction process in Julga district.
The governor in his speech vowed to spare no efforts in providing jobs to the former militants.
According to officials, more than 3,000 Taliban fighters have joined the government-backed peace process over the past year, a claim rejected by Taliban as groundless.
Afghanistan's softer insurgents claim suicide attack. What next?
Militant group Hizb-e-Islami claimed Tuesday's suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 12 civilians. The group had been more discriminating in targets, and more engaged in peace talks.
By Tom A. Peter | Christian Science Monitor
Following a suicide bombing in Kabul on Tuesday that left 12 people dead, including eight South Africans and a Kyrgyz, the insurgent group Hizb-e-Islami stepped forward to claim responsibility.
As one of the most moderate Islamic militant organizations in Afghanistan, the group’s involvement came as a shock to many of its supporters. Over the course of the past decade, the group has violently opposed international forces, but called on fighters not to hurt civilians or damage the country’s infrastructure.
The militant group has also been among the most receptive to peace talks with the US, NATO, and the Afghan government. And a separate, nonviolent faction of the group had already integrated into mainstream politics, with Hamid Karzai picking members for cabinet posts and adviser roles. As one of the few political parties with decades of experience and members across ethnic groups, the nonviolent faction has been seen as a growing player in the country's political scrum as Mr. Karzai faces a term limit and the bulk of international troops leave in 2014.
How well do you know Afghanistan? Take our quiz.
After Tuesday’s bombing, however, many people tied to Hezb-e-Islami, especially those in the nonviolent faction, worry that the militant faction may have lost the bargaining power they once held at the negotiating table and done damage to the nonviolent faction's ascendant political brand.
“After this attack there won’t be a big chance for Hizb-e-Islami to negotiate with the Afghan government,” says Abdul Jabar Shulgari, a former member of Hizb-e-Islami nonviolent wing. “This bombing now has shown the Afghan nation that Hizb-e-Islami is not as moderate as they thought it was. This attack brings many questions to the mind of the people and raises many questions about the credibility of Hizb-e-Islami.”
Suicide attacks like Tuesday’s that target civilians, even foreign civilians, are so out of character for the group that many Hizb-e-Islami supporters have denied the possibility of its involvement even after the organization's leadership, including the top spokesman, released an official statement taking responsibility.
“It looks almost impossible for me. I am still suspicious about whether this act was actually conducted by Hizb-e-Islami. Anyone can change their voice and call the media to claim responsibility for an attack,” says Mangal Sherzad, who represented Hizb-e-Islami to Germany during the Soviet war and who remains a member. “If they did it, I’m not sure why they did it at this particular time when they are near a deal with the Afghan government.”
For many like Mr. Sherzad, Hizb-e-Islami’s sudden departure from its traditional strategy to avoid suicide attacks and civilian casualties has caused much confusion and frustration.
After Tuesday’s bombing, many supporters and Afghans now wonder if the group can maintain what legitimacy it once had on the political stage and if the event will prove fatal to what popular support the organization once had.
“Hizb-e-Islami is viewed as a liberal opponent of the government, so in the long-term it will negatively affect their standing among the Afghans if they intensify their fighting and carry out more attacks, but they still want to show themselves as a strong player in the current conflict,” says Muhammad Hassan Haqyar, an independent political analyst in Kabul.
Hizb-e-Islami is broken into two factions, one led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar that violently opposes the presence of foreign forces, and the other side largely loyal to the Afghan government. Still many in the nonviolent faction of the group remain sympathetic to Mr. Hekmatyar and his supporters.
The question remains whether Hekmatyar and his supporters still want to negotiate. Following the signing of the strategic partnership agreement between the US and Afghanistan in May, many insiders say that the group has shied away from talks after the deal paved the way for a long-term American presence here until at least 2024. Even before the deal, some close observers of the talks suggested that those in the group most amenable to peace had already opted for the mainstream faction, leaving the militant faction with an inflexible core of loyalists around Hekmatyar who were unlikely to cut a deal.
“If the Americans are honest in negotiations, we are ready for negotiations, but they always tell lies. As long as there is just one American here we will continue to fight,” says Haroon Zarghoon, a spokesman for Hizb-e-Islami's militant faction.
Karzai Halts Meeting of US Envoy with Provincial Governors
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Aamiry Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Afghan President Hamid Karzai prevented the American's highest envoy to the region from meeting the country's provincial governors out of concern for the dignitaries' safety, a spokesman for the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) Mohammad Bashir Bahram said Tuesday.
US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman was expected to meet Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor, Helmand governor Gulab Mangal, Herat governor Daud Shah Saba and Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Sherzoy in Kabul Tuesday to discuss matters related to the upcoming presidential election, Bahram told TOLOnews.
However, the meeting was cancelled because of the expansion of tensions and protests over the anti-Islamic amateur film "Innocence of Muslims", he said.
"The meeting was about to happen but the President prevented them from coming to Kabul because of the release of the movie that abuses Islam," Bahram said, adding that he was also supposed to meet the governors to discuss the economic and security situation with them.
The halt also comes amid tensions over the transfer of prisoners in Bagram, north of Kabul.
The US handed over control of the large-scale detention facility and 3000 detainees to the Afghan government last week, but retained control of 600 detainees who have been captured since the agreement was signed.
Karzai released a statement Sunday saying that in a meeting with Grossman, the President demanded the US hand over the remaining 600 prisoners without delay. Any failure to do so will be regarded as a breach of the transfer agreement signed in March and an affront to Afghanistan's sovereignty.
The US Embassy responded Monday with a statement that it is committed to the transfer and fully respects Afghanistan's sovereignty, but it did not state when the transfer would happen.
US penalties in effect for Taliban-allied Haqqanis
By MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sanctions against the Pakistan-based Haqqani (hah-KAH'-nee) network of militants have come into force following the Obama administration's decision to designate the group a "foreign terrorist organization."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said earlier this month that the step would be taken. The decision was formalized Wednesday with the publication of the announcement in the Federal Register.
The move freezes any assets that the group or its members have in U.S. jurisdictions. It also bans Americans from doing business with them.
The Taliban-allied Haqqani network is responsible for numerous attacks in Kabul, the Afghan capital. Among the attacks is last September's rocket-propelled grenade assault on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters.
Afghanistan: Green-on-blue attacks show there's no easy way out
By Sajjan Gohel, special to CNN September 18, 2012
London - Editor's note: Dr Sajjan Gohel is International Security Director for the Asia-Pacific Foundation, an independent policy assessment group based in London. He provides analysis on terrorism, security, defense and geopolitical issues to the media, military and government bodies, including the UK's House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
In recent days, rogue Afghan security forces have killed six servicemen from the NATO-led military coalition, pushing the number of such fatalities past 50 in a single year for the first time. The death toll highlights one of the biggest challenges facing the coalition as it nears the end of its role in Afghanistan's war.
These killings, known as "green-on-blue" or "insider attacks," have increased substantially within the past two years, accounting for 14% of coalition casualties in 2012. Though statistically small compared to the numbers of IED-related (roadside bomb) deaths, these attacks have a significant impact on the coalition's mission in Afghanistan.
The two provinces burdened with the bulk of green-on-blue attacks are Helmand and Kandahar. It is no coincidence that these areas are where the Taliban are strongest, and where the country's highest levels of opium poppy cultivation help fund the insurgency.
Green-on-blue attacks began to accelerate in 2011, just after U.S. President Barack Obama announced his plan to pull U.S. forces out of Afghanistan and end combat operations in 2014, transferring security responsibilities to the Afghan forces.
The success of the transition from NATO-led to Afghan-led forces depends on the competence and commitment of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.
But the Taliban, operating from safe havens in Pakistan, say they have stepped up efforts to infiltrate both groups, and regularly claim responsibility for each incident. The spread of green-on-blue attacks has left coalition forces increasingly suspicious of the Afghan forces they are training and fighting alongside. Some Afghans in government believe that insider attacks are based on resentment towards coalition forces based on the increasing number of civilian deaths after more than a decade of the Taliban insurgency.
In a step towards the transition, Afghanistan and the U.S. have reached a deal to curb night raids on Afghan homes, giving Kabul a veto over the operations, which are unpopular with local people.
But although cultural and social differences may play a role in the increase in attacks, defections by Afghan security, sometimes motivated by economic reasons, play a far more significant part in the green-on-blue attacks.
The U.S. military has tried to take action to prevent attacks by Afghan forces, appointing monitors to provide security for troops working with Afghans, boosting its counterintelligence infrastructure in Afghanistan, adopting an eight-step vetting process for Afghan recruits and revising the training they receive.
In addition all U.S. and NATO troops were recently ordered to carry loaded weapons at all times. So far, though, none of these strategies appear to be stemming flow of violence, only serving to increase the trust deficit between coalition and Afghan forces
The Taliban have utilized green-on-blue attacks in their propaganda: Last month, Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban faction known as the Quetta Shura, claimed the Taliban had "cleverly infiltrated in the ranks of the enemy" and encouraged Afghan government officials and security personnel to defect to the Taliban as a matter of religious obligation.
One could argue the Taliban communicate better with the Afghan people than coalition troops, distributing internet videos through websites and mobile phones, which are becoming omnipresent -- more than half of the Afghan population is reported to own a cellphone.
The anti-Islam video which went viral this month created a spark that quickly spread, engulfing the Islamic world in anger, with radical militant groups fanning the flames.
Recent events provide reminders of what happened when the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, triggering mass protests across the Islamic world and inspiring several terrorist plots.
But the video may have even greater long-term consequences than the cartoons, especially in the age of new media. Once a video goes viral, it cannot be contained. The item may be taken down from some websites but it will be uploaded on others. It can be edited, altered, re-imagined, and sent instantaneously to fuel tensions and exacerbate problems.
The Taliban may use this video to provoke resentment within the Afghan security forces on the one hand, and increase anti-Western sentiment on the other hand, potentially contributing to further green-on-blue attacks.
The Taliban's aim seems to be to wear out coalition forces before the handover, and to diminish the West's credibility among the local population. They know the coalition's limitations and have been emboldened by the scheduled withdrawal of foreign forces. Coalition forces may be content to contain the Taliban threat to a "manageable level" before they leave, but this adversely affects their efficacy in the eyes of the Afghan populace.
The Taliban have numerous advantages over coalition forces in Afghanistan: They have a wide recruiting base, and thanks to the drug trade they can pay recruits better than the Afghan army or police, giving them greater staying power. The number of volunteers seems to be increasing on a daily basis.
It's worth remembering that the Taliban is not a homogenous group: It has many factions and is a mixture of characters from ideologues, warlords and land owners to criminals, drug dealers and people out of work.
The displaced and disillusioned followers of the Taliban were molded by their country's history of violence, and the coalition's desire for a peaceful but quick resolution has resulted in a cheap, flawed peace initiative.
The Taliban realize the West is under pressure and do not feel any desire or need to seriously negotiate when they can simply bide their time and wait for the withdrawal of troops to stake their claim to control Afghanistan in the future.
The scheduled withdrawal of foreign forces means they do not need to make any commitment to prevent al Qaeda and its affiliates from returning, to halt the opium trade or to improve the rights of women.
What the coalition does not seem to realize is that by firstly advertising their departure date in advance and secondly holding firm to their withdrawal timeline, they have complicated the situation and worsened the damage.
Clearly, the hope of talking to the Taliban has failed. They are far from being contained and instead feel they are in the ascendency.
Despite the enormous security problems that exist -- suicide bombings, IED attacks, and green-on-blue incidents -- abandoning Afghanistan will create lasting consequences.
Not only will the Taliban reassert its authority throughout the south of the country through, fear, repression and discrimination, Afghanistan will again revert to becoming a cesspool for terrorist groups like al Qaeda.
In addition, the cultivation of opium poppies will turn parts of Afghanistan into a narco-state controlled and sanctioned by the Taliban, providing resources to a terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan and safe havens in neighboring Pakistan to plot and plan attacks across the globe, making the situation potentially more vulnerable than it was before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of Sajjan Gohel.
Officer: Insider attacks aimed at Western resolve
By ROBERT BURNS | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior officer at the U.S.-led military command in Kabul says Afghan "insider attacks" on U.S. and allied troops are designed to shake Western resolve.
Australian Brig. Gen. Roger Noble told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that such attacks probably are having more impact in the U.S. and other NATO capitals than on allied forces still fighting the Taliban.
Noble said it's understandable that these killings are particularly galling to the families of those killed by their supposed Afghan partners.
He said that "it strikes right at the heart of our resolve. It's one thing to be killed in action by the insurgents. It's quite another to be shot in the back of the head at night by your friends."
Noble spoke by video link from the Afghan capital.
What lies behind Afghanistan's insider attacks?
18 September 2012 BBC News
A string of deadly insider attacks has been one of the defining features of the latest phase of the conflict in Afghanistan.
This year has witnessed a sharp rise in attacks on Nato forces by rogue Afghan soldiers, believed to account for about 15% of coalition casualties so far in 2012.
The killings have undermined Nato's ambition to fight "shoulder to shoulder", against the Taliban. August proved to be the deadliest month for such attacks, and in September Nato announced it was restricting operations with Afghan troops.
But what lies behind these incidents? BBC News examines the complex web of factors that lead Afghan soldiers to turn their guns on their allies.
TALIBAN INFILTRATION AND DEFECTIONS
It is difficult to develop a clear picture of why this happens as few "rogue" soldiers are taken alive - most were shot dead and several have escaped.
Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed responsibility for almost every instance of an Afghan man in uniform gunning down his Nato ally. Few believe such claims are credible.
In August, Nato officials estimated that about 25% of these attacks were the result of Taliban infiltration into the security forces. Officials had previously said that about 10% of the attacks had insurgent links. They have been quick to point out that Afghan forces also turn their weapons on other Afghan soldiers.
Nevertheless, Afghan officials believe this figure underestimates the true level of Taliban infiltration or influence.
The BBC's correspondent in Kabul, Bilal Sarwary, has examined a number of insider attack cases, and discovered that a disproportionate number of the soldiers come from two remote districts in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, close to the porous border with Pakistan. These are areas where Taliban militants wield influence over local populations and the writ of central government is weak.
Furthermore, our correspondent found that many of the cases involved fake recruitment files and Afghan intelligence officials have spoken of the "nightmare" of being confronted with yet another case of a rogue soldier whose recruitment files have serious flaws.
In these remote districts, mobile phone ring tones sing out Taliban chants. Even if the Taliban have not actively recruited the rogue soldiers, the influence they might have on vulnerable soldiers is not to be taken lightly, intelligence officials argue.
One commander for the Afghan local police in Kunar - who used to be a Taliban fighter - told our correspondent: "Two years ago [in 2010] there was a decision taken by Taliban leadership to focus more on infiltration and rogue soldiers instead of suicide attacks, and other attacks."
But - perhaps worryingly for Nato - the motivation for many of the assaults cannot be pinned down so precisely. Many analysts believe they are rooted in underlying, even subconscious, resentments that are prone to flare up and with deadly consequences.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES - DAWOOD AZAMI, BBC WORLD SERVICE
In the early part of the last century, the British on India's north-west frontier worked with Pashtun militias and it was not uncommon for units with a good combat record to turn and shoot their British advisers. Many of these incidents were simply down to cultural misunderstandings.
Pashtun culture is governed by strict codes. The main pillar of the Pashtun code is called Pashtunwali and Afghans will do anything to protect this. It means they are very sensitive to anything perceived to insult their traditions, religion and values.
It has been called "motivation by rage rather than ideology" and perceived personal, cultural and religious transgressions can prompt such rage.
Sometimes such transgressions are seemingly innocent, but many security personnel come from conservative and rural areas where such codes are important.
Profanity is seen as deeply insulting, even though it may be used casually and even humorously by Western soldiers. When American soldiers raises their hand, it is generally a signal to stop. In Afghanistan, it is simply a greeting.
US soldiers are often accused of appearing arrogant and superior - such perceived attitudes can be deeply hurtful. Quite often foreign forces have no idea they have just insulted their colleagues.
And then there are the more serious transgressions.
In Afghanistan the desecration - albeit accidental - of the Koran, or American soldiers urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters or posing for photographs with body parts have all caused anger.
One rogue soldier I interviewed after he killed three British soldiers in 2010 said he witnessed the killing of a young girl by coalition forces: "Was she a Taliban? They didn't even know her name," he told me. The UK Ministry of Defence rejects his claim.
Night raids and raids on homes of suspected fighters are to Nato ordinary and necessary military operations, but many Afghans believe the home is a sanctuary.
The list keeps growing and each incident reminds the soldier of all the previous indignities.
Under the Pashtun code called Melmastya, which means hospitality, Afghans will protect a guest at any cost. But their guests' conduct must also remain within certain parameters. If they fail to respect the values of their host, they cross the line.
Many of the soldiers killed by their Afghan colleagues - sometimes without even knowing - will have crossed the line.
COMBAT STRESS AND STRAIN - BILAL SARWARY, BBC NEWS, KABUL
The average Afghan soldier comes from poor and remote areas. One soldier told me that he joined up because he got rice and meat twice a day. These are the kind of luxuries they cannot afford in their communities.
On one recent trip, a number of border policemen told me they had been brought up by stepmothers and joined the police because they were not well looked after.
Another soldier said his only love in life was having a gun and firing it - that is why he joined the army.
But once they join up, the stresses and strains of a violent posting can place unbearable pressure on them. The food is terrible, they are exhausted and many complain that they do not get enough leave, their pay arrives late and when they fall ill, there is poor medical care.
Local commanding officers have little experience too and some soldiers complain of violence and sometimes even abuse.
When a young Afghan man in uniform posted to an area with a particularly brutal insurgency is faced with such pressures, the results can be unpredictable.
DIVIDED LOYALTIES - BILAL SARWARY
Family, village and tribal ties are the glue of Afghan society.
One of the angry protests against the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran by Nato soldiers took place at a Nato base in Khogyani, in the eastern province of Nangarhar in February.
Local villagers came to the base and the protest turned ugly. One of the Afghan soldiers at that base was from the village and when he saw locals from his home village up against troops at the base he picked up his gun and killed two US soldiers.
The Afghan army does not allow soldiers to serve in their home village but, in this case, the village came to the base and the soldier could not contain his anger.
And a number of policemen and soldiers will have family members affiliated to the Taliban - such is the intricate web of Afghan family and clan networks.
Authorities say the vast majority of Afghan soldiers are professional and understand their duties. But circumstances can conspire to test loyalties.
At a recent ceremony at Bagram, one Afghan commander told TV crews where to start filming - he pointed out politically sensitive locations. A US soldier harshly reprimanded him for this.
The commander turned towards the US soldier via his translator and said: "If I had a gun, I would empty an entire magazine in your stomach."
THE VIEW FROM A US SOLDIER - MAJOR BENJAMIN TUPPER
I compare it to a marriage. Marriages start great, the first years are a honeymoon, the middle years get a little grinding. Sometime in the later years things fall apart.
My guess is a lot of people in Afghanistan, 10 years ago, loved the fact the West was there. A decade later they are just tired of it. They are tired of our fumbles and bumbles and mistakes. They are tired of the enemy that seems to have no shortage of bold attacks.
I also know the Americans and British and Romanians and Polish I served with in Afghanistan, we had good intentions. We went in there with the highest degree of respect and camaraderie that we could towards our Afghan soldier and police peers as well as civilians.
Even with those good intentions, we have to be honest that we have left a track record of mistakes. Some of them have been literal mistakes such as bombing the wrong compound.
I always point to the example of the sergeant who went out in the middle of the night and killed Afghan women and children. While we discount them and say that sergeant had mental problems, Afghans see a guy in US army uniform.
Even though 99.9% of us go in with good intentions and professional standards... some Afghans have gone from loving the West to wondering what our true intentions are.
Major Benjamin Tupper was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's PM programme. He is the author of Greetings From Afghanistan, Send More Ammo: Dispatches from Taliban Country.
Cameron pledges cabinet-level review of British policy in Afghanistan
Timetable for withdrawal to be scrutinised as Hammond forced to go back to MPs to explain UK policy to MPs for second day
Guardian.co.uk By Patrick Wintour, Political editor Tuesday 18 September 2012
David Cameron responded to Nato disarray over its approach to mentoring Afghan security forces by telling the cabinet that he plans a full-scale cabinet-level review of British policy in Afghanistan soon after the US elections in November.
His commitment to a review, including the timetable for the withdrawal of British combat troops by the end of 2014, comes as Conservative MPs become increasingly critical of the way in which British troops are being exposed to danger only to face attacks from Afghan security forces.
Senior Tory MPs openly predicted that British withdrawal will be followed by a civil war, an admission that the Taliban will not be suppressed.
The defence secretary, Philip Hammond, was forced to go before the Commons for the second day in succession to clarify the UK's approach to supporting Afghan troops, following reports that joint patrols and training had been suspended in response to a wave of attacks on Isaf forces.
Following a scramble of phone calls between the chief of the defence staff, General Sir David Richards, and General John Allen, commander of International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, the minister insisted that no major strategic change had been made in policy towards training Afghan security forces.
Hammond said that future UK joint patrols and mentoring would continue but operations below battalion level would, on a temporary basis, have to be approved by Major General Gurganus, the US Isaf commander in charge of the Helmand region, where most UK troops are based.
The Ministry of Defence extracted a statement from Isaf forces that Gurganus approved the current level of patrols, implying there is no change in the British approach.
But the episode, and impression of disarray, was deeply embarrassing to Hammond as he had formally briefed MPs the day before that there had been no change in patrolling strategy, and had vowed that the joint patrols were essential to the UK's plan for British troops to leave Afghanistan secure once the 9,500 UK troops leave by the end of 2014.
In Afghanistan last week Hammond had discussed speeding up the pullout with the British military.
But MoD sources conceded that the formal change in the authorising structure for patrols had been made on Sunday, but Hammond was only informed of the revision in a weekly video conference with UK military in Afghanistan on Monday afternoon, after he had made his first statement to MPs. The military in the briefing did not flag up the change as significant. The new procedure was also not relayed to the prime minister.
Hammond in public expressed no criticism of the way in which he had been briefed, saying the change was a tactical shift and did not mark a change in strategy, on which he would have been consulted. "I do not seek to involve myself in the tactical decisions that military commanders make. It is wrong for us to do so," he said. "There had been no strategic change here whatsoever. This is a tactical decision that will be reviewed and reversed as soon as the situation has been stabilised."
Hammond sought to blame the BBC for misinterpreting an Isaf statement issued on Monday, but the MoD conceded the statement might have been unclear.
But the former Conservative defence secretary Liam Fox claimed the timing of the Isaf statement was unfortunate, saying: "We need to redouble our efforts to make it very clear to the forces of terror that they cannot push our strategy off course."
He added: "Mentoring was one of the most important ways we have increased the capability of Afghan forces."
Hammond was persistently questioned over why British troops mentored at lower company and platoon level, unlike the Americans. Hammond replied he was proud the British did things differently to their American cousins adding: "We try to get closer to the people and lower down the command structures, and we try to be more embedded than the Americans sometimes appear to be."
Other Conservatives, including many opposed to the war, claimed the change in arrangements was further proof that UK forces should leave Afghanistan before the formal exit date of 2014.
MPs on both right and left were fiercely critical of any suggestion of continued attempts at nation-building in Afghanistan. The Labour MP Dennis Skinner made probably the most brutal intervention, saying: "Now that it has been revealed that the allies are unreliable, Karzai is useless and the Afghan forces are treacherous, it is time to get out."
Another Labour MP, Paul Flynn, was expelled from the Commons after he refused to withdraw claims that ministers had lied about Afghanistan.
Taliban claims credit for NATO scrapping joint operations with Afghan forces
By ANI
London, Sep 19 (ANI): The Taliban has claimed credit for NATO's decision of withdrawing joint operations with Afghan security forces, hailing it as the beginning of their overall defeat in Afghanistan.
The Islamist insurgent group said it had "forced" NATO commanders into the decision by sowing distrust among Afghan and foreign troops.
According to NATO, the Taliban are only involved in a quarter of Afghan security personnel attacks on Western soldiers. It attributes the rest to grudges, misunderstandings and cultural differences.
"This is the result of the mujahideen's operations and tactics that forced the enemy to abandon their plans," The Telegraph quoted Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed, as saying.
"This is an achievement for the mujahideen who have managed to create mistrust among the enemy forces and, God willing, this is the start of their overall defeat in Afghanistan," he added.
The U.S.-led International Assistance Force announced the change in strategy after an unprecedented number of Western soldiers were shot dead by their local colleagues and amid an angry backlash over a US-made film deemed offensive to Islam, the paper said.
Experts say the move is a setback for NATO's long-held strategy of containing an 11-year Taliban insurgency by training and advising Afghan forces to take over as most of its troops withdraw by the end of 2014, it added. (ANI)
Pakistani military says kills 29 Taliban near Afghan border
By Jibran Ahmad
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Pakistani military said it killed 29 Taliban fighters on Wednesday in the final stage of an operation aimed at forcing hundreds of insurgents back across the border into Afghanistan.
Soldiers used artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter jets against the insurgents, accused of beheading 17 Pakistani soldiers in June.
The battle was the culmination of weeks of operations in the remote valleys of the Batwar area of Bajaur tribal agency near the border.
It highlighted once again the difficulty of preventing insurgents from crossing the border to launch attacks or flee from Pakistani or NATO forces bolstering the Afghan government.
Around 400 militants had crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan on August 23 and attacked villages, said a senior security official based in Khar, the main town of Bajaur.
The army launched operations that killed around 120 militants, another security official said from the border town of Peshawar. Twenty-five soldiers also died in the fighting.
"The militants escaped to their sanctuaries in Afghanistan and even left the bodies of their slain fighters," said the Peshawar-based official.
He said the armed forces were now establishing posts along that section of the Afghan border to thwart future incursions.
A spokesman for the militants confirmed the attacks were staged by fighters from several regions.
Pakistan and the United States, which has by far the largest foreign contingent in Afghanistan, have accused each other of failing to secure the border.
Some U.S. officials say Pakistan deliberately lets some insurgents through, a suggestion Pakistan strongly rejects.
Joint efforts to secure the long and mountainous border were hampered by a NATO strike against a Pakistani base last November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and severely damaged relations between Pakistan and the United States for several months.
A bomb in Peshawar killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 30 on Wednesday, police said. The bomb seemed to be targeting a van carrying officials from the Pakistan Air Force, said local police official, Imtiaz Ahmad.
(Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Ron Popeski and Nick Macfie)
Afghanistan: Of Blasphemy and Suicide Bombers
Many Afghans were sick of the war. Now the anti-Islam film has people all revved up against the Americans. Sami Yousafzai reports.
The Daily Beast By Sami Yousafzai Sep 18, 2012
The Taliban can always count on the Americans. The insurgents are well aware that the people of Afghanistan sometimes get fed up with the war and tired of the guerrillas’ justifications for it. Nevertheless, says an Afghan who served as a cabinet minister in the Taliban government before the 2001 U.S. invasion, whenever doubts rise about whether the fight against the United States is really worth it, the Americans are sure to do something to reenergize the Taliban cause.
Witness the scurrilous caricature of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in the U.S.-made movie trailer that has incited riots across the Muslim world in recent days. “We had been having a bit of trouble lately in some areas trying to persuade people that the Americans are here to hurt, not help,” says the former minister, who is not authorized to speak to the press. “In some places Afghans had risen up against the Taliban.” But now, he says, “they have no justification” for siding with the U.S.-backed Kabul government. He credits the insulting film clip titled “Innocence of Muslims” with helping the insurgents turn the tide: “This blasphemy by the Americans didn’t leave much more for the Taliban to explain.”
That view is a result of direct experience, the former minister says. “Speaking very personally, sometimes I haven’t been so sure that this really was a war of non-Muslims against Muslims,” he says. “But now I am convinced: the ‘war on terror’ is part of the crusader war by the U.S. and other non-Muslim states.” Many other Afghans have been similarly converted, he adds. “Public sentiment among the Afghan people is at a dangerous level, and those in the Army and the police will react first.” He mentions an Afghan police officer who killed four Americans this past Sunday at a checkpoint in Zabul province. “He was clearly not our man,” the former minister says. “He became a Taliban overnight by listening to the radio news, and he reacted within five hours.”
Taliban members say the case was not unique. Muhammad Sarfida, a commander in Helmand province, tells of a meeting that was called by another provincial military leader, Mullah Naeem Akhund, immediately after Afghans first heard about the blasphemous film. He says by the time Mullah Naeem finished delivering a 10-minute speech, 20 civilians had volunteered to join his team of 10 Taliban fighters in attacking Camp Bastion, the joint U.S.-British airbase where Prince Harry is stationed. “Two of them were just young boys,” says Sarfida. “They finished their farm chores and went straight to avenge the Prophet Muhammad.” The attack killed two U.S. Marines and destroyed millions of dollars worth of military equipment. “If we could manage so many recruits, thousands of Afghans would join us under the slogan ‘revenge for Muhammad,’” says Sarfida.
The hate film’s death toll continues to rise. On Tuesday a young woman rammed an explosives-packed Toyota Corolla into a minivan near the Kabul airport, killing all 12 passengers in the minivan and two pedestrians.
“We could accept that the Americans kill us, just as we kill U.S. and NATO troops,” says a guerrilla commander, “but I wish we could get them to agree that it’s a violation of the rules of war to insult the Prophet and Islam.”
The depth of Muslims’ rage against the movie can be hard for many Westerners to comprehend. “We could accept that the Americans kill us, just as we kill U.S. and NATO troops, but I wish we could get them to agree that it’s a violation of the rules of war to insult the Prophet and Islam,” says Mullah Yunus Akhund, a Taliban commander in Kandahar province. Muslims would never think of retaliating in kind against Christians’ attacks on the prophet, says Mullah Muhammad Qureshi, a cleric in Peshawar. “We respect Jesus and Moses, just as we do Muhammad,” he says. “In our religion, it is the same level of hurt and insult whether someone blasphemes against Muhammad or Jesus.”
But couldn’t the anti-Islam movie be the work of a few ill-intentioned individuals, rather than an attack by the entire United States? “No, no!” says the former minister. “It’s the Americans’ collective mindset as expressed by those individuals.” As far as the Taliban is concerned, there’s only one way the United States could prove its good intentions: by arresting and prosecuting the filmmakers. “Why can’t we ask for the trial of someone who has hurt all Muslims?” the former minister asks. “America captures mujahedin from around the world, but its laws protect those who hurt millions of Muslims.”
The whole thing bothers him, he says. “Although it helps the Taliban to win recruits, I still wish no one would insult my Muhammad.”
Sami Yousafzai is Newsweek's correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he has covered militancy, al Qaeda, and the Taliban for the magazine since 9/11. He was born in Afghanistan but moved to Pakistan with his family after the Russian invasion in 1979. He began his career as a sports journalist but switched to war reporting in 1997.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
Spanish design chosen for museum to house Afghanistan's treasures
Reuters Wed Sep 19, 2012
KABUL - The winning design for a new museum in Kabul to showcase a growing collection of centuries-old Afghan treasures was selected this week, throwing forward plans sponsors hope will restore Afghanistan's sense of identity after decades of war.
The United States has committed $5 million to the project that will be run by a Spanish architect and includes state-of-the-art security and climate control features that will keep artefacts safe while on display to the Afghan people.
"They (young Afghans) are thirsting for knowledge about their past and this museum is beginning to address those desires," said Nancy Dupree, Director of the Afghanistan Center in Kabul University.
Afghanistan's national museum was plundered and destroyed during a vicious civil war that raged in the early 1990s in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal. Thousands of works of art were deliberately destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
Discoveries made at archeological sites like Mes Aynak, where archaeologists are unearthing a Buddhist temple, statues and other relics, some more than 2,000 years old, will sit alongside treasures restored or recovered over the past decade.
The winning design by Spanish architect AV 62 Arquitectos SLP envisioned pools, gardens and trees to surround the new museum, beating entries by 30 different countries in a competition sponsored by the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
U.S. ambassador Hugo Llorens said the embassy was now seeking a fundraiser to raise money for the project.
(Reporting by Miriam Arghanidiwal; Editing by Jessica Donati and Paul Tait)
Afghans gripped by domestic football fever
AFP 18/09/2012
KABUL - It's a long way from the glamour of the Champions League and the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Chelsea but the first professional football league in Afghanistan kicked-off on Tuesday to fan fever, goals and vibrant enthusiasm in Kabul.
The modest stadium of the Afghan football federation was packed to a near capacity crowd of some 3,500, with the crowd largely made up of men only sections apart from a small one where families and women were welcomed by officials in a country where human rights are a constant debate.
Les Maiwand Atalan (Heroes of Maiwand), - a mythical mountain in the unstable region of the Helmand province - took to the pitch and defeated the Shaneen Asmayee (The Asmayee Eagles) 3-1 to great applause in the first match of the newly founded Afghan premier league (APL), a tournament that began Tuesday and culminates on October 19.
"I'm very proud of what we've achieved today. I'm proud that we managed to organise such an event and I would like to send more positive messages, not only about today." enthused APL commissioner Said Shafir Gawari, in the wake of a suicide attack that killed 12 people, including nine foreigners in Kabul on Tuesday.
"Most of the Afghan population are young people. They're under 25. We would like to bring our message to the majority of Afghans, and to the world, that Afghans can play together, and that we have teams composed of different tribes, of different ethnicities.
"If you look at the Kandahar team, they are not only composed of Pashtuns. They are Hazaras and other ethnicities too," continued Shafir Gawari.
Ethnic rivalries were at the root of the almost three decades of violence that has torn apart Afghanistan and fermented after the Soviet invasion of the country in 1979 coming to the boil once the Soviets left in 1989.
The Pashtuns, many of whom joined the Taliban, used military force to oppose the Tadjiks, Uzbeks and Hazares, the other dominant ethnic groups in Afghanistan.
Eight teams will meet during a group phase which determine semi-finalists and eventual finalists for a total of 16 matches, all televised across the country on two of the leading networks, one in dari, the other in pashtun, the two most popular languages.
A novel twist has also been thrown into the competition with a section of APL players being chosen from TV reality shows and an event that attracted the applications of thousands of young Afghans.
Afghanistan seek to boost war-torn homeland
By Shihar Aneez | Reuters – Tue, Sep 18, 2012
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Rising from the ruins of war to challenge the world's cricketing establishment, Afghanistan's rag-tag team hope to inspire the conflict-ravaged nation with a strong showing at the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan take on the might of India in their first group match in Colombo on Wednesday, having qualified for their second successive T20 World Cup.
The team's success against the odds, with many of its players born during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation and knowing little of peace in their home nation, has drawn legions of Afghan youth to take up the game in recent years, according to captain Nawroz Mangal.
Mangal said some 70,000 youngsters had started playing cricket after his team's breakthrough qualification for the 2010 T20 World Cup in West Indies.
"Right now it is more than 500,000," Mangal said, referring to the country's cricket-playing population.
"After participating in this World Cup, if we do better I expect 30 to 40 percent of the population to start playing cricket."
Mangal led the team to a 51-run victory against a Sri Lanka ‘A' team on Saturday, with vice captain Mohammad Nabi scoring a 22-ball half-century with five sixes and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad compiling a similarly quickfire 48.
TENNIS BALL CRICKET
Born in a refugee camp in the Pakistani frontier city of Peshawar, all rounder Nabi started playing cricket aged 10.
"I played a lot of school cricket there as well as street cricket and everywhere with a tennis ball in Peshawar," 27-year-old Nabi told Reuters.
He made his first-class debut with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 2007, having caught former England captain Mike Gatting's eye by scoring a century against the team during a tour of India.
"There is a lot of improvement in Afghanistan cricket," said Nabi, who played a leading role in securing the national team's berth at the 2010 T20 World Cup.
"Everyone likes cricket. There are a lot of fans now. In sha'Allah (God willing), we will try hard in this tournament to do something for our nation and we want to win one match and go to the super eight (round)."
'WIN EVERYTHING'
Despite lacking basic infrastructure and having to play international matches in neighboring Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, the team are feeling the burden of expectation from hopeful home fans, according to wicketkeeper Shahzad.
"The people want us to win everything in the World Cup, because people can't understand cricket," said Shahzad, who plays for Nangarhar Cricket Club in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where one of the country's two main cricket grounds is located.
Afghanistan were eliminated from the 2010 tournament in the first round after losing both of their group matches to India and South Africa.
They face another uphill battle to break into the 'Super Eight' second round in Sri Lanka, with defending champions England the third member of their Group A. Afghanistan face England on Friday.
Shahzad said their team had worked out the weaknesses in both their of the both opponents.
"England struggle a little bit against spinners. India have a very good batting line up, but they don't have a good bowling (attack)," he said. "India every time go for part-time bowlers."
With violence at its worst levels since U.S.-backed forces ousted the Islamist Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan skipper Mangal said he hoped his team could help bring stability to the war-torn country.
"This would be a positive sign to bring the youth into sports instead of them having wrong influences," he said.
"I would say this could be a positive step towards bring peace to the country as well."
(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal in Colombo; Editing by Ian Ransom)
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By AMIR SHAH and HEIDI VOGT | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan president on Wednesday urged his nation to rally behind the push for peace negotiations with insurgents despite persistent violence, evoking the memory of a former leader who was assassinated while trying to broker talks with the Taliban.
"We should all strive for peace," said Hamid Karzai, adding that doing so continues the mission of slain former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, killed by a suicide bomber posing as an emissary from the insurgents.
Karzai spoke at a memorial marking the one-year anniversary of Rabbani's death, which badly shook confidence in the chance that a peaceful resolution could be achieved.
The ceremony came a day after a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a minibus carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport in Kabul, killing at least 12 people, including nine foreigners.
A militant group said the attack aimed to avenge an anti-Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. The film has sparked angry protests across the Muslim world, including in Afghanistan, after a video clip of it was posted on the Internet last week.
On Wednesday, attacks in three different provinces killed four police, two security guards and two civilians.
The attacks come at a time when the Afghan-U.S. alliance appears increasingly shaky and many Afghans predict civil war after the majority of international forces depart at the end of 2014.
And the Afghans may have to stand on their own more quickly than previously envisioned. A rash of attacks by Afghan police and soldiers against their international counterparts has prompted the NATO military coalition to restrict joint operations with Afghan forces.
So far this year, 51 international service members have died at the hands of Afghan forces or militants who have infiltrated them. That is more than 18 percent of the 279 international troops who have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.
Under the new NATO rules issued on Sunday, operations that mix small-sized Afghan and coalition units are no longer considered routine and require the approval of the regional commander. Previously, coalition troops routinely conducted operations such as patrolling or manning outposts with small units of their Afghan counterparts.
It's unclear whether the coalition's exit strategy can succeed with less partnering between foreign troops and Afghan policemen and soldiers, who are slated to take over for foreign combat troops by the end of 2014. NATO considers joint missions key to training Afghan forces.
Simon Gass, NATO's outgoing senior civilian envoy for Afghanistan, told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that the new directive will not undermine the long-term international military mission.
"I don't think it's a strategic setback. It's not ideal and it's not what we wanted to happen (but) it is a sensible arrangement and it is temporary," Gass said, having just completed his 18-month tour.
"It was a setback but it is one that we will recover from," he added.
A year ago, before Rabbani's slaying, Afghans and their international partners seemed more optimistic about the future. Rabbani was the head of a group tasked with bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table and NATO was in the process of handing over cities and provinces to Afghan control, while saying they would still be close at hand as advisers and mentors.
Then on Sept. 20, 2011, a man posing as a high-level insurgent emissary seeking peace went into a meeting with Rabbani with a bomb hidden in his turban. He detonated the explosive as he shook Rabbani's hand, killing the former president on the spot. Rabbani's son later took on the leadership of the peace council, but talks are widely considered stalled, if they ever truly started.
And Taliban attacks and assassinations of government allies only increased this summer.
Karzai recalled how Rabbani consoled him when the president lost a brother who was gunned down by insurgents in July 2011. Many Afghans criticized Karzai for continuing to pursue reconciliation with the Taliban but Rabbani stood by his side, telling him that, "You did not lose the voice of peace. The Afghan nation needs peace," the president recounted.
However, the tone at the memorial was not all conciliatory. Speaking after Karzai, Rabbani's son lashed out at the Afghan government, accusing it of not doing enough to bring his father's murderers and those of other politicians to justice.
"People have the right to know who the people are behind these series of killings and why," Salahuddin Rabbani said. "Unfortunately, the government has failed in its investigations."
In the first of three attacks Wednesday, a bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded outside a police training center in western Afghanistan, killing two security guards, said Herat provincial police spokesman, Noor Khan Nikzad. He said six guards were also wounded in the explosion.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it matched the pattern of Taliban strikes that typically target Afghan forces or government workers.
Then in the early evening, bombs went off in the two main southern cities of Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. The bomb in Kandahar went off near a police checkpoint, killing two police officers and one civilian, said provincial government spokesman Jawed Faisel. Then a gunman in Lashkar Gah to the west fired on police on motorcycles, killing another two officers and one civilian, said Helmand provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi.
____
Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
Afghanistan's Karzai targets governors in anti-graft fight
By Rob Taylor and Mirwais Harooni
KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai is considering sacking or moving the governors of a fifth of Afghanistan's 34 provinces as part of a shakeout of corrupt or underperforming officials aimed in part at soothing foreign donors.
Karzai is likely to replace seven governors on Thursday whose performance he considers unsatisfactory, including those in the volatile Baghlan, Wardak and Nimroz provinces in the north and southwest, as well as Takhar in the north, several government sources told Reuters.
Ehsanullah Tahiri, a spokesman for the Office of Administrative Affairs, confirmed that among those to be moved was Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal, a former army colonel who is liked by foreign diplomats but has been unable to make headway against Taliban insurgents.
"They have not been able to improve good governance in their areas," Tahiri said, declining to give further specifics.
Karzai in late July issued a decree ordering all ministries to cut down on nepotism and corruption, and told the Supreme Court to speed up existing probes into graft and suspect property dealings.
The 23-page decree, while less radical than Western donors had hoped, suggested a growing realization within government that corruption must be addressed and senior figures prosecuted, with $16 billion of aid being made conditional on a crackdown.
While the document was vague on time frames, Karzai's office said improvements could be expected by the end of September.
Several cabinet ministers are also under a corruption cloud.
They include the finance minister, Hazarat Omar Zakhilwal, who has been accused of stashing more than $1 million in overseas banks and properties. Zakhilwal has promised to fight the accusations, which were aired on Afghan television.
TROUBLE WITH PARLIAMENT
Afghan media and government sources said Karzai was considering the extent of changes on Wednesday night, wary of too much political upheaval after parliament last month forced the removal of the defense and interior ministers.
The head of the Afghan High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption, Azizullah Lodin, said he did not expect changes in top positions as a result of Karzai's decree.
"To stop corruption in Afghanistan, that is not possible as it is in the United States and England and other countries," Lodin told Reuters in an interview ahead of the provincial shake-up expected on Thursday.
"I am a salmon trying to go against the river, but in some places there are bears and they have an open mouth."
Lodin said his office had handed 131 files to the Attorney-General's office in the last two years, but only a handful had been followed up and no senior figure had yet been jailed for corruption.
"We did our job. These files were about very particular (instances of) corruption, high corruption, grand corruption, even some ministers," he said.
Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand's Mangal, said no official word had been received from Karzai's office.
"But there are rumors and these rumors are meaningful. There will be something behind them," Ahmadi said.
Mangal was tipped as a possible candidate for the vacant Border and Tribal Affairs ministry in Karzai's cabinet, he said, or a shift to become governor of Herat, which accounts for 20 percent of national government revenue from trade with Iran.
Giving Mangal a ministry could trigger another row for Karzai with lawmakers, some of whom might withhold their approval because of concerns about Mangal's overseas property dealings, said Kandahar MP Shekiba Hashimi, a member of parliament's internal security commission.
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi and Abdulaziz Ibrahimi; Editing by)
Clash leaves an Afghan police, 9 Taliban dead
PARUN, Afghanistan, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- One police and nine Taliban militants were killed as clash erupted in Kamdish district of Nuristan province 180 km east of capital Kabul on Wednesday, police said. "A group of armed Taliban fighters raided Kamdish district headquarters at 04:30 a.m. local time today and police with the support of the national army and air power returned fire, killing nine insurgents on the spot," Ghulam Allah, police inspector general of Nuristan province told Xinhua.
In the gun battle one police was killed and three others sustained injuries, he added.
Meantime, a Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in talks with media via telephone from an unknown location confirmed the clash, claiming several police were killed and injured in the conflict.
Since warring sides in Afghan conflicts exaggerate the casualties of rival side, it is difficult to get verification from independent sources.
More Protests In Afghanistan Over Anti-Islam Film
September 19, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Hundreds of students in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad have vented their anger at a film made in the United States that Muslims worldwide say insults the Prophet Muhammad.
Some 400 students blocked the main road leading to Kabul, shouting anti-U.S. slogans.
Local official Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said the road was only blocked for about an hour and added that some protesters burned pictures of "a Western country's leader."
Protests also took place in Kabul and the northern city of Konduz earlier this week expressing outrage at the low-budget film "Innocence of Muslims."
Based on reporting by AFP and dpa
10 Taliban militants give up fighting in N. Afghanistan
PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ten Taliban fighters under Mawlawi Abdul Fatah handed over their weapons and joined the government-backed peace process in Afghanistan's Baghlan province, 160 km north of capital Kabul on Wednesday.
"With joining these dissident brothers, the peace and security will be further stabilized in Baghlan,"provincial governor Munshi Abdul Majid said during a ceremony welcoming the former fighters.
Fatah and his men who were active against government in Julga district over the past couple of years asked government to provide job opportunities for them and accelerate reconstruction process in Julga district.
The governor in his speech vowed to spare no efforts in providing jobs to the former militants.
According to officials, more than 3,000 Taliban fighters have joined the government-backed peace process over the past year, a claim rejected by Taliban as groundless.
Afghanistan's softer insurgents claim suicide attack. What next?
Militant group Hizb-e-Islami claimed Tuesday's suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 12 civilians. The group had been more discriminating in targets, and more engaged in peace talks.
By Tom A. Peter | Christian Science Monitor
Following a suicide bombing in Kabul on Tuesday that left 12 people dead, including eight South Africans and a Kyrgyz, the insurgent group Hizb-e-Islami stepped forward to claim responsibility.
As one of the most moderate Islamic militant organizations in Afghanistan, the group’s involvement came as a shock to many of its supporters. Over the course of the past decade, the group has violently opposed international forces, but called on fighters not to hurt civilians or damage the country’s infrastructure.
The militant group has also been among the most receptive to peace talks with the US, NATO, and the Afghan government. And a separate, nonviolent faction of the group had already integrated into mainstream politics, with Hamid Karzai picking members for cabinet posts and adviser roles. As one of the few political parties with decades of experience and members across ethnic groups, the nonviolent faction has been seen as a growing player in the country's political scrum as Mr. Karzai faces a term limit and the bulk of international troops leave in 2014.
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After Tuesday’s bombing, however, many people tied to Hezb-e-Islami, especially those in the nonviolent faction, worry that the militant faction may have lost the bargaining power they once held at the negotiating table and done damage to the nonviolent faction's ascendant political brand.
“After this attack there won’t be a big chance for Hizb-e-Islami to negotiate with the Afghan government,” says Abdul Jabar Shulgari, a former member of Hizb-e-Islami nonviolent wing. “This bombing now has shown the Afghan nation that Hizb-e-Islami is not as moderate as they thought it was. This attack brings many questions to the mind of the people and raises many questions about the credibility of Hizb-e-Islami.”
Suicide attacks like Tuesday’s that target civilians, even foreign civilians, are so out of character for the group that many Hizb-e-Islami supporters have denied the possibility of its involvement even after the organization's leadership, including the top spokesman, released an official statement taking responsibility.
“It looks almost impossible for me. I am still suspicious about whether this act was actually conducted by Hizb-e-Islami. Anyone can change their voice and call the media to claim responsibility for an attack,” says Mangal Sherzad, who represented Hizb-e-Islami to Germany during the Soviet war and who remains a member. “If they did it, I’m not sure why they did it at this particular time when they are near a deal with the Afghan government.”
For many like Mr. Sherzad, Hizb-e-Islami’s sudden departure from its traditional strategy to avoid suicide attacks and civilian casualties has caused much confusion and frustration.
After Tuesday’s bombing, many supporters and Afghans now wonder if the group can maintain what legitimacy it once had on the political stage and if the event will prove fatal to what popular support the organization once had.
“Hizb-e-Islami is viewed as a liberal opponent of the government, so in the long-term it will negatively affect their standing among the Afghans if they intensify their fighting and carry out more attacks, but they still want to show themselves as a strong player in the current conflict,” says Muhammad Hassan Haqyar, an independent political analyst in Kabul.
Hizb-e-Islami is broken into two factions, one led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar that violently opposes the presence of foreign forces, and the other side largely loyal to the Afghan government. Still many in the nonviolent faction of the group remain sympathetic to Mr. Hekmatyar and his supporters.
The question remains whether Hekmatyar and his supporters still want to negotiate. Following the signing of the strategic partnership agreement between the US and Afghanistan in May, many insiders say that the group has shied away from talks after the deal paved the way for a long-term American presence here until at least 2024. Even before the deal, some close observers of the talks suggested that those in the group most amenable to peace had already opted for the mainstream faction, leaving the militant faction with an inflexible core of loyalists around Hekmatyar who were unlikely to cut a deal.
“If the Americans are honest in negotiations, we are ready for negotiations, but they always tell lies. As long as there is just one American here we will continue to fight,” says Haroon Zarghoon, a spokesman for Hizb-e-Islami's militant faction.
Karzai Halts Meeting of US Envoy with Provincial Governors
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Aamiry Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Afghan President Hamid Karzai prevented the American's highest envoy to the region from meeting the country's provincial governors out of concern for the dignitaries' safety, a spokesman for the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) Mohammad Bashir Bahram said Tuesday.
US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman was expected to meet Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor, Helmand governor Gulab Mangal, Herat governor Daud Shah Saba and Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Sherzoy in Kabul Tuesday to discuss matters related to the upcoming presidential election, Bahram told TOLOnews.
However, the meeting was cancelled because of the expansion of tensions and protests over the anti-Islamic amateur film "Innocence of Muslims", he said.
"The meeting was about to happen but the President prevented them from coming to Kabul because of the release of the movie that abuses Islam," Bahram said, adding that he was also supposed to meet the governors to discuss the economic and security situation with them.
The halt also comes amid tensions over the transfer of prisoners in Bagram, north of Kabul.
The US handed over control of the large-scale detention facility and 3000 detainees to the Afghan government last week, but retained control of 600 detainees who have been captured since the agreement was signed.
Karzai released a statement Sunday saying that in a meeting with Grossman, the President demanded the US hand over the remaining 600 prisoners without delay. Any failure to do so will be regarded as a breach of the transfer agreement signed in March and an affront to Afghanistan's sovereignty.
The US Embassy responded Monday with a statement that it is committed to the transfer and fully respects Afghanistan's sovereignty, but it did not state when the transfer would happen.
US penalties in effect for Taliban-allied Haqqanis
By MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sanctions against the Pakistan-based Haqqani (hah-KAH'-nee) network of militants have come into force following the Obama administration's decision to designate the group a "foreign terrorist organization."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said earlier this month that the step would be taken. The decision was formalized Wednesday with the publication of the announcement in the Federal Register.
The move freezes any assets that the group or its members have in U.S. jurisdictions. It also bans Americans from doing business with them.
The Taliban-allied Haqqani network is responsible for numerous attacks in Kabul, the Afghan capital. Among the attacks is last September's rocket-propelled grenade assault on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters.
Afghanistan: Green-on-blue attacks show there's no easy way out
By Sajjan Gohel, special to CNN September 18, 2012
London - Editor's note: Dr Sajjan Gohel is International Security Director for the Asia-Pacific Foundation, an independent policy assessment group based in London. He provides analysis on terrorism, security, defense and geopolitical issues to the media, military and government bodies, including the UK's House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
In recent days, rogue Afghan security forces have killed six servicemen from the NATO-led military coalition, pushing the number of such fatalities past 50 in a single year for the first time. The death toll highlights one of the biggest challenges facing the coalition as it nears the end of its role in Afghanistan's war.
These killings, known as "green-on-blue" or "insider attacks," have increased substantially within the past two years, accounting for 14% of coalition casualties in 2012. Though statistically small compared to the numbers of IED-related (roadside bomb) deaths, these attacks have a significant impact on the coalition's mission in Afghanistan.
The two provinces burdened with the bulk of green-on-blue attacks are Helmand and Kandahar. It is no coincidence that these areas are where the Taliban are strongest, and where the country's highest levels of opium poppy cultivation help fund the insurgency.
Green-on-blue attacks began to accelerate in 2011, just after U.S. President Barack Obama announced his plan to pull U.S. forces out of Afghanistan and end combat operations in 2014, transferring security responsibilities to the Afghan forces.
The success of the transition from NATO-led to Afghan-led forces depends on the competence and commitment of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.
But the Taliban, operating from safe havens in Pakistan, say they have stepped up efforts to infiltrate both groups, and regularly claim responsibility for each incident. The spread of green-on-blue attacks has left coalition forces increasingly suspicious of the Afghan forces they are training and fighting alongside. Some Afghans in government believe that insider attacks are based on resentment towards coalition forces based on the increasing number of civilian deaths after more than a decade of the Taliban insurgency.
In a step towards the transition, Afghanistan and the U.S. have reached a deal to curb night raids on Afghan homes, giving Kabul a veto over the operations, which are unpopular with local people.
But although cultural and social differences may play a role in the increase in attacks, defections by Afghan security, sometimes motivated by economic reasons, play a far more significant part in the green-on-blue attacks.
The U.S. military has tried to take action to prevent attacks by Afghan forces, appointing monitors to provide security for troops working with Afghans, boosting its counterintelligence infrastructure in Afghanistan, adopting an eight-step vetting process for Afghan recruits and revising the training they receive.
In addition all U.S. and NATO troops were recently ordered to carry loaded weapons at all times. So far, though, none of these strategies appear to be stemming flow of violence, only serving to increase the trust deficit between coalition and Afghan forces
The Taliban have utilized green-on-blue attacks in their propaganda: Last month, Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban faction known as the Quetta Shura, claimed the Taliban had "cleverly infiltrated in the ranks of the enemy" and encouraged Afghan government officials and security personnel to defect to the Taliban as a matter of religious obligation.
One could argue the Taliban communicate better with the Afghan people than coalition troops, distributing internet videos through websites and mobile phones, which are becoming omnipresent -- more than half of the Afghan population is reported to own a cellphone.
The anti-Islam video which went viral this month created a spark that quickly spread, engulfing the Islamic world in anger, with radical militant groups fanning the flames.
Recent events provide reminders of what happened when the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, triggering mass protests across the Islamic world and inspiring several terrorist plots.
But the video may have even greater long-term consequences than the cartoons, especially in the age of new media. Once a video goes viral, it cannot be contained. The item may be taken down from some websites but it will be uploaded on others. It can be edited, altered, re-imagined, and sent instantaneously to fuel tensions and exacerbate problems.
The Taliban may use this video to provoke resentment within the Afghan security forces on the one hand, and increase anti-Western sentiment on the other hand, potentially contributing to further green-on-blue attacks.
The Taliban's aim seems to be to wear out coalition forces before the handover, and to diminish the West's credibility among the local population. They know the coalition's limitations and have been emboldened by the scheduled withdrawal of foreign forces. Coalition forces may be content to contain the Taliban threat to a "manageable level" before they leave, but this adversely affects their efficacy in the eyes of the Afghan populace.
The Taliban have numerous advantages over coalition forces in Afghanistan: They have a wide recruiting base, and thanks to the drug trade they can pay recruits better than the Afghan army or police, giving them greater staying power. The number of volunteers seems to be increasing on a daily basis.
It's worth remembering that the Taliban is not a homogenous group: It has many factions and is a mixture of characters from ideologues, warlords and land owners to criminals, drug dealers and people out of work.
The displaced and disillusioned followers of the Taliban were molded by their country's history of violence, and the coalition's desire for a peaceful but quick resolution has resulted in a cheap, flawed peace initiative.
The Taliban realize the West is under pressure and do not feel any desire or need to seriously negotiate when they can simply bide their time and wait for the withdrawal of troops to stake their claim to control Afghanistan in the future.
The scheduled withdrawal of foreign forces means they do not need to make any commitment to prevent al Qaeda and its affiliates from returning, to halt the opium trade or to improve the rights of women.
What the coalition does not seem to realize is that by firstly advertising their departure date in advance and secondly holding firm to their withdrawal timeline, they have complicated the situation and worsened the damage.
Clearly, the hope of talking to the Taliban has failed. They are far from being contained and instead feel they are in the ascendency.
Despite the enormous security problems that exist -- suicide bombings, IED attacks, and green-on-blue incidents -- abandoning Afghanistan will create lasting consequences.
Not only will the Taliban reassert its authority throughout the south of the country through, fear, repression and discrimination, Afghanistan will again revert to becoming a cesspool for terrorist groups like al Qaeda.
In addition, the cultivation of opium poppies will turn parts of Afghanistan into a narco-state controlled and sanctioned by the Taliban, providing resources to a terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan and safe havens in neighboring Pakistan to plot and plan attacks across the globe, making the situation potentially more vulnerable than it was before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of Sajjan Gohel.
Officer: Insider attacks aimed at Western resolve
By ROBERT BURNS | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior officer at the U.S.-led military command in Kabul says Afghan "insider attacks" on U.S. and allied troops are designed to shake Western resolve.
Australian Brig. Gen. Roger Noble told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that such attacks probably are having more impact in the U.S. and other NATO capitals than on allied forces still fighting the Taliban.
Noble said it's understandable that these killings are particularly galling to the families of those killed by their supposed Afghan partners.
He said that "it strikes right at the heart of our resolve. It's one thing to be killed in action by the insurgents. It's quite another to be shot in the back of the head at night by your friends."
Noble spoke by video link from the Afghan capital.
What lies behind Afghanistan's insider attacks?
18 September 2012 BBC News
A string of deadly insider attacks has been one of the defining features of the latest phase of the conflict in Afghanistan.
This year has witnessed a sharp rise in attacks on Nato forces by rogue Afghan soldiers, believed to account for about 15% of coalition casualties so far in 2012.
The killings have undermined Nato's ambition to fight "shoulder to shoulder", against the Taliban. August proved to be the deadliest month for such attacks, and in September Nato announced it was restricting operations with Afghan troops.
But what lies behind these incidents? BBC News examines the complex web of factors that lead Afghan soldiers to turn their guns on their allies.
TALIBAN INFILTRATION AND DEFECTIONS
It is difficult to develop a clear picture of why this happens as few "rogue" soldiers are taken alive - most were shot dead and several have escaped.
Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed responsibility for almost every instance of an Afghan man in uniform gunning down his Nato ally. Few believe such claims are credible.
In August, Nato officials estimated that about 25% of these attacks were the result of Taliban infiltration into the security forces. Officials had previously said that about 10% of the attacks had insurgent links. They have been quick to point out that Afghan forces also turn their weapons on other Afghan soldiers.
Nevertheless, Afghan officials believe this figure underestimates the true level of Taliban infiltration or influence.
The BBC's correspondent in Kabul, Bilal Sarwary, has examined a number of insider attack cases, and discovered that a disproportionate number of the soldiers come from two remote districts in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, close to the porous border with Pakistan. These are areas where Taliban militants wield influence over local populations and the writ of central government is weak.
Furthermore, our correspondent found that many of the cases involved fake recruitment files and Afghan intelligence officials have spoken of the "nightmare" of being confronted with yet another case of a rogue soldier whose recruitment files have serious flaws.
In these remote districts, mobile phone ring tones sing out Taliban chants. Even if the Taliban have not actively recruited the rogue soldiers, the influence they might have on vulnerable soldiers is not to be taken lightly, intelligence officials argue.
One commander for the Afghan local police in Kunar - who used to be a Taliban fighter - told our correspondent: "Two years ago [in 2010] there was a decision taken by Taliban leadership to focus more on infiltration and rogue soldiers instead of suicide attacks, and other attacks."
But - perhaps worryingly for Nato - the motivation for many of the assaults cannot be pinned down so precisely. Many analysts believe they are rooted in underlying, even subconscious, resentments that are prone to flare up and with deadly consequences.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES - DAWOOD AZAMI, BBC WORLD SERVICE
In the early part of the last century, the British on India's north-west frontier worked with Pashtun militias and it was not uncommon for units with a good combat record to turn and shoot their British advisers. Many of these incidents were simply down to cultural misunderstandings.
Pashtun culture is governed by strict codes. The main pillar of the Pashtun code is called Pashtunwali and Afghans will do anything to protect this. It means they are very sensitive to anything perceived to insult their traditions, religion and values.
It has been called "motivation by rage rather than ideology" and perceived personal, cultural and religious transgressions can prompt such rage.
Sometimes such transgressions are seemingly innocent, but many security personnel come from conservative and rural areas where such codes are important.
Profanity is seen as deeply insulting, even though it may be used casually and even humorously by Western soldiers. When American soldiers raises their hand, it is generally a signal to stop. In Afghanistan, it is simply a greeting.
US soldiers are often accused of appearing arrogant and superior - such perceived attitudes can be deeply hurtful. Quite often foreign forces have no idea they have just insulted their colleagues.
And then there are the more serious transgressions.
In Afghanistan the desecration - albeit accidental - of the Koran, or American soldiers urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters or posing for photographs with body parts have all caused anger.
One rogue soldier I interviewed after he killed three British soldiers in 2010 said he witnessed the killing of a young girl by coalition forces: "Was she a Taliban? They didn't even know her name," he told me. The UK Ministry of Defence rejects his claim.
Night raids and raids on homes of suspected fighters are to Nato ordinary and necessary military operations, but many Afghans believe the home is a sanctuary.
The list keeps growing and each incident reminds the soldier of all the previous indignities.
Under the Pashtun code called Melmastya, which means hospitality, Afghans will protect a guest at any cost. But their guests' conduct must also remain within certain parameters. If they fail to respect the values of their host, they cross the line.
Many of the soldiers killed by their Afghan colleagues - sometimes without even knowing - will have crossed the line.
COMBAT STRESS AND STRAIN - BILAL SARWARY, BBC NEWS, KABUL
The average Afghan soldier comes from poor and remote areas. One soldier told me that he joined up because he got rice and meat twice a day. These are the kind of luxuries they cannot afford in their communities.
On one recent trip, a number of border policemen told me they had been brought up by stepmothers and joined the police because they were not well looked after.
Another soldier said his only love in life was having a gun and firing it - that is why he joined the army.
But once they join up, the stresses and strains of a violent posting can place unbearable pressure on them. The food is terrible, they are exhausted and many complain that they do not get enough leave, their pay arrives late and when they fall ill, there is poor medical care.
Local commanding officers have little experience too and some soldiers complain of violence and sometimes even abuse.
When a young Afghan man in uniform posted to an area with a particularly brutal insurgency is faced with such pressures, the results can be unpredictable.
DIVIDED LOYALTIES - BILAL SARWARY
Family, village and tribal ties are the glue of Afghan society.
One of the angry protests against the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran by Nato soldiers took place at a Nato base in Khogyani, in the eastern province of Nangarhar in February.
Local villagers came to the base and the protest turned ugly. One of the Afghan soldiers at that base was from the village and when he saw locals from his home village up against troops at the base he picked up his gun and killed two US soldiers.
The Afghan army does not allow soldiers to serve in their home village but, in this case, the village came to the base and the soldier could not contain his anger.
And a number of policemen and soldiers will have family members affiliated to the Taliban - such is the intricate web of Afghan family and clan networks.
Authorities say the vast majority of Afghan soldiers are professional and understand their duties. But circumstances can conspire to test loyalties.
At a recent ceremony at Bagram, one Afghan commander told TV crews where to start filming - he pointed out politically sensitive locations. A US soldier harshly reprimanded him for this.
The commander turned towards the US soldier via his translator and said: "If I had a gun, I would empty an entire magazine in your stomach."
THE VIEW FROM A US SOLDIER - MAJOR BENJAMIN TUPPER
I compare it to a marriage. Marriages start great, the first years are a honeymoon, the middle years get a little grinding. Sometime in the later years things fall apart.
My guess is a lot of people in Afghanistan, 10 years ago, loved the fact the West was there. A decade later they are just tired of it. They are tired of our fumbles and bumbles and mistakes. They are tired of the enemy that seems to have no shortage of bold attacks.
I also know the Americans and British and Romanians and Polish I served with in Afghanistan, we had good intentions. We went in there with the highest degree of respect and camaraderie that we could towards our Afghan soldier and police peers as well as civilians.
Even with those good intentions, we have to be honest that we have left a track record of mistakes. Some of them have been literal mistakes such as bombing the wrong compound.
I always point to the example of the sergeant who went out in the middle of the night and killed Afghan women and children. While we discount them and say that sergeant had mental problems, Afghans see a guy in US army uniform.
Even though 99.9% of us go in with good intentions and professional standards... some Afghans have gone from loving the West to wondering what our true intentions are.
Major Benjamin Tupper was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's PM programme. He is the author of Greetings From Afghanistan, Send More Ammo: Dispatches from Taliban Country.
Cameron pledges cabinet-level review of British policy in Afghanistan
Timetable for withdrawal to be scrutinised as Hammond forced to go back to MPs to explain UK policy to MPs for second day
Guardian.co.uk By Patrick Wintour, Political editor Tuesday 18 September 2012
David Cameron responded to Nato disarray over its approach to mentoring Afghan security forces by telling the cabinet that he plans a full-scale cabinet-level review of British policy in Afghanistan soon after the US elections in November.
His commitment to a review, including the timetable for the withdrawal of British combat troops by the end of 2014, comes as Conservative MPs become increasingly critical of the way in which British troops are being exposed to danger only to face attacks from Afghan security forces.
Senior Tory MPs openly predicted that British withdrawal will be followed by a civil war, an admission that the Taliban will not be suppressed.
The defence secretary, Philip Hammond, was forced to go before the Commons for the second day in succession to clarify the UK's approach to supporting Afghan troops, following reports that joint patrols and training had been suspended in response to a wave of attacks on Isaf forces.
Following a scramble of phone calls between the chief of the defence staff, General Sir David Richards, and General John Allen, commander of International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, the minister insisted that no major strategic change had been made in policy towards training Afghan security forces.
Hammond said that future UK joint patrols and mentoring would continue but operations below battalion level would, on a temporary basis, have to be approved by Major General Gurganus, the US Isaf commander in charge of the Helmand region, where most UK troops are based.
The Ministry of Defence extracted a statement from Isaf forces that Gurganus approved the current level of patrols, implying there is no change in the British approach.
But the episode, and impression of disarray, was deeply embarrassing to Hammond as he had formally briefed MPs the day before that there had been no change in patrolling strategy, and had vowed that the joint patrols were essential to the UK's plan for British troops to leave Afghanistan secure once the 9,500 UK troops leave by the end of 2014.
In Afghanistan last week Hammond had discussed speeding up the pullout with the British military.
But MoD sources conceded that the formal change in the authorising structure for patrols had been made on Sunday, but Hammond was only informed of the revision in a weekly video conference with UK military in Afghanistan on Monday afternoon, after he had made his first statement to MPs. The military in the briefing did not flag up the change as significant. The new procedure was also not relayed to the prime minister.
Hammond in public expressed no criticism of the way in which he had been briefed, saying the change was a tactical shift and did not mark a change in strategy, on which he would have been consulted. "I do not seek to involve myself in the tactical decisions that military commanders make. It is wrong for us to do so," he said. "There had been no strategic change here whatsoever. This is a tactical decision that will be reviewed and reversed as soon as the situation has been stabilised."
Hammond sought to blame the BBC for misinterpreting an Isaf statement issued on Monday, but the MoD conceded the statement might have been unclear.
But the former Conservative defence secretary Liam Fox claimed the timing of the Isaf statement was unfortunate, saying: "We need to redouble our efforts to make it very clear to the forces of terror that they cannot push our strategy off course."
He added: "Mentoring was one of the most important ways we have increased the capability of Afghan forces."
Hammond was persistently questioned over why British troops mentored at lower company and platoon level, unlike the Americans. Hammond replied he was proud the British did things differently to their American cousins adding: "We try to get closer to the people and lower down the command structures, and we try to be more embedded than the Americans sometimes appear to be."
Other Conservatives, including many opposed to the war, claimed the change in arrangements was further proof that UK forces should leave Afghanistan before the formal exit date of 2014.
MPs on both right and left were fiercely critical of any suggestion of continued attempts at nation-building in Afghanistan. The Labour MP Dennis Skinner made probably the most brutal intervention, saying: "Now that it has been revealed that the allies are unreliable, Karzai is useless and the Afghan forces are treacherous, it is time to get out."
Another Labour MP, Paul Flynn, was expelled from the Commons after he refused to withdraw claims that ministers had lied about Afghanistan.
Taliban claims credit for NATO scrapping joint operations with Afghan forces
By ANI
London, Sep 19 (ANI): The Taliban has claimed credit for NATO's decision of withdrawing joint operations with Afghan security forces, hailing it as the beginning of their overall defeat in Afghanistan.
The Islamist insurgent group said it had "forced" NATO commanders into the decision by sowing distrust among Afghan and foreign troops.
According to NATO, the Taliban are only involved in a quarter of Afghan security personnel attacks on Western soldiers. It attributes the rest to grudges, misunderstandings and cultural differences.
"This is the result of the mujahideen's operations and tactics that forced the enemy to abandon their plans," The Telegraph quoted Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed, as saying.
"This is an achievement for the mujahideen who have managed to create mistrust among the enemy forces and, God willing, this is the start of their overall defeat in Afghanistan," he added.
The U.S.-led International Assistance Force announced the change in strategy after an unprecedented number of Western soldiers were shot dead by their local colleagues and amid an angry backlash over a US-made film deemed offensive to Islam, the paper said.
Experts say the move is a setback for NATO's long-held strategy of containing an 11-year Taliban insurgency by training and advising Afghan forces to take over as most of its troops withdraw by the end of 2014, it added. (ANI)
Pakistani military says kills 29 Taliban near Afghan border
By Jibran Ahmad
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Pakistani military said it killed 29 Taliban fighters on Wednesday in the final stage of an operation aimed at forcing hundreds of insurgents back across the border into Afghanistan.
Soldiers used artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter jets against the insurgents, accused of beheading 17 Pakistani soldiers in June.
The battle was the culmination of weeks of operations in the remote valleys of the Batwar area of Bajaur tribal agency near the border.
It highlighted once again the difficulty of preventing insurgents from crossing the border to launch attacks or flee from Pakistani or NATO forces bolstering the Afghan government.
Around 400 militants had crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan on August 23 and attacked villages, said a senior security official based in Khar, the main town of Bajaur.
The army launched operations that killed around 120 militants, another security official said from the border town of Peshawar. Twenty-five soldiers also died in the fighting.
"The militants escaped to their sanctuaries in Afghanistan and even left the bodies of their slain fighters," said the Peshawar-based official.
He said the armed forces were now establishing posts along that section of the Afghan border to thwart future incursions.
A spokesman for the militants confirmed the attacks were staged by fighters from several regions.
Pakistan and the United States, which has by far the largest foreign contingent in Afghanistan, have accused each other of failing to secure the border.
Some U.S. officials say Pakistan deliberately lets some insurgents through, a suggestion Pakistan strongly rejects.
Joint efforts to secure the long and mountainous border were hampered by a NATO strike against a Pakistani base last November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and severely damaged relations between Pakistan and the United States for several months.
A bomb in Peshawar killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 30 on Wednesday, police said. The bomb seemed to be targeting a van carrying officials from the Pakistan Air Force, said local police official, Imtiaz Ahmad.
(Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Ron Popeski and Nick Macfie)
Afghanistan: Of Blasphemy and Suicide Bombers
Many Afghans were sick of the war. Now the anti-Islam film has people all revved up against the Americans. Sami Yousafzai reports.
The Daily Beast By Sami Yousafzai Sep 18, 2012
The Taliban can always count on the Americans. The insurgents are well aware that the people of Afghanistan sometimes get fed up with the war and tired of the guerrillas’ justifications for it. Nevertheless, says an Afghan who served as a cabinet minister in the Taliban government before the 2001 U.S. invasion, whenever doubts rise about whether the fight against the United States is really worth it, the Americans are sure to do something to reenergize the Taliban cause.
Witness the scurrilous caricature of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in the U.S.-made movie trailer that has incited riots across the Muslim world in recent days. “We had been having a bit of trouble lately in some areas trying to persuade people that the Americans are here to hurt, not help,” says the former minister, who is not authorized to speak to the press. “In some places Afghans had risen up against the Taliban.” But now, he says, “they have no justification” for siding with the U.S.-backed Kabul government. He credits the insulting film clip titled “Innocence of Muslims” with helping the insurgents turn the tide: “This blasphemy by the Americans didn’t leave much more for the Taliban to explain.”
That view is a result of direct experience, the former minister says. “Speaking very personally, sometimes I haven’t been so sure that this really was a war of non-Muslims against Muslims,” he says. “But now I am convinced: the ‘war on terror’ is part of the crusader war by the U.S. and other non-Muslim states.” Many other Afghans have been similarly converted, he adds. “Public sentiment among the Afghan people is at a dangerous level, and those in the Army and the police will react first.” He mentions an Afghan police officer who killed four Americans this past Sunday at a checkpoint in Zabul province. “He was clearly not our man,” the former minister says. “He became a Taliban overnight by listening to the radio news, and he reacted within five hours.”
Taliban members say the case was not unique. Muhammad Sarfida, a commander in Helmand province, tells of a meeting that was called by another provincial military leader, Mullah Naeem Akhund, immediately after Afghans first heard about the blasphemous film. He says by the time Mullah Naeem finished delivering a 10-minute speech, 20 civilians had volunteered to join his team of 10 Taliban fighters in attacking Camp Bastion, the joint U.S.-British airbase where Prince Harry is stationed. “Two of them were just young boys,” says Sarfida. “They finished their farm chores and went straight to avenge the Prophet Muhammad.” The attack killed two U.S. Marines and destroyed millions of dollars worth of military equipment. “If we could manage so many recruits, thousands of Afghans would join us under the slogan ‘revenge for Muhammad,’” says Sarfida.
The hate film’s death toll continues to rise. On Tuesday a young woman rammed an explosives-packed Toyota Corolla into a minivan near the Kabul airport, killing all 12 passengers in the minivan and two pedestrians.
“We could accept that the Americans kill us, just as we kill U.S. and NATO troops,” says a guerrilla commander, “but I wish we could get them to agree that it’s a violation of the rules of war to insult the Prophet and Islam.”
The depth of Muslims’ rage against the movie can be hard for many Westerners to comprehend. “We could accept that the Americans kill us, just as we kill U.S. and NATO troops, but I wish we could get them to agree that it’s a violation of the rules of war to insult the Prophet and Islam,” says Mullah Yunus Akhund, a Taliban commander in Kandahar province. Muslims would never think of retaliating in kind against Christians’ attacks on the prophet, says Mullah Muhammad Qureshi, a cleric in Peshawar. “We respect Jesus and Moses, just as we do Muhammad,” he says. “In our religion, it is the same level of hurt and insult whether someone blasphemes against Muhammad or Jesus.”
But couldn’t the anti-Islam movie be the work of a few ill-intentioned individuals, rather than an attack by the entire United States? “No, no!” says the former minister. “It’s the Americans’ collective mindset as expressed by those individuals.” As far as the Taliban is concerned, there’s only one way the United States could prove its good intentions: by arresting and prosecuting the filmmakers. “Why can’t we ask for the trial of someone who has hurt all Muslims?” the former minister asks. “America captures mujahedin from around the world, but its laws protect those who hurt millions of Muslims.”
The whole thing bothers him, he says. “Although it helps the Taliban to win recruits, I still wish no one would insult my Muhammad.”
Sami Yousafzai is Newsweek's correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he has covered militancy, al Qaeda, and the Taliban for the magazine since 9/11. He was born in Afghanistan but moved to Pakistan with his family after the Russian invasion in 1979. He began his career as a sports journalist but switched to war reporting in 1997.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
Spanish design chosen for museum to house Afghanistan's treasures
Reuters Wed Sep 19, 2012
KABUL - The winning design for a new museum in Kabul to showcase a growing collection of centuries-old Afghan treasures was selected this week, throwing forward plans sponsors hope will restore Afghanistan's sense of identity after decades of war.
The United States has committed $5 million to the project that will be run by a Spanish architect and includes state-of-the-art security and climate control features that will keep artefacts safe while on display to the Afghan people.
"They (young Afghans) are thirsting for knowledge about their past and this museum is beginning to address those desires," said Nancy Dupree, Director of the Afghanistan Center in Kabul University.
Afghanistan's national museum was plundered and destroyed during a vicious civil war that raged in the early 1990s in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal. Thousands of works of art were deliberately destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
Discoveries made at archeological sites like Mes Aynak, where archaeologists are unearthing a Buddhist temple, statues and other relics, some more than 2,000 years old, will sit alongside treasures restored or recovered over the past decade.
The winning design by Spanish architect AV 62 Arquitectos SLP envisioned pools, gardens and trees to surround the new museum, beating entries by 30 different countries in a competition sponsored by the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
U.S. ambassador Hugo Llorens said the embassy was now seeking a fundraiser to raise money for the project.
(Reporting by Miriam Arghanidiwal; Editing by Jessica Donati and Paul Tait)
Afghans gripped by domestic football fever
AFP 18/09/2012
KABUL - It's a long way from the glamour of the Champions League and the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Chelsea but the first professional football league in Afghanistan kicked-off on Tuesday to fan fever, goals and vibrant enthusiasm in Kabul.
The modest stadium of the Afghan football federation was packed to a near capacity crowd of some 3,500, with the crowd largely made up of men only sections apart from a small one where families and women were welcomed by officials in a country where human rights are a constant debate.
Les Maiwand Atalan (Heroes of Maiwand), - a mythical mountain in the unstable region of the Helmand province - took to the pitch and defeated the Shaneen Asmayee (The Asmayee Eagles) 3-1 to great applause in the first match of the newly founded Afghan premier league (APL), a tournament that began Tuesday and culminates on October 19.
"I'm very proud of what we've achieved today. I'm proud that we managed to organise such an event and I would like to send more positive messages, not only about today." enthused APL commissioner Said Shafir Gawari, in the wake of a suicide attack that killed 12 people, including nine foreigners in Kabul on Tuesday.
"Most of the Afghan population are young people. They're under 25. We would like to bring our message to the majority of Afghans, and to the world, that Afghans can play together, and that we have teams composed of different tribes, of different ethnicities.
"If you look at the Kandahar team, they are not only composed of Pashtuns. They are Hazaras and other ethnicities too," continued Shafir Gawari.
Ethnic rivalries were at the root of the almost three decades of violence that has torn apart Afghanistan and fermented after the Soviet invasion of the country in 1979 coming to the boil once the Soviets left in 1989.
The Pashtuns, many of whom joined the Taliban, used military force to oppose the Tadjiks, Uzbeks and Hazares, the other dominant ethnic groups in Afghanistan.
Eight teams will meet during a group phase which determine semi-finalists and eventual finalists for a total of 16 matches, all televised across the country on two of the leading networks, one in dari, the other in pashtun, the two most popular languages.
A novel twist has also been thrown into the competition with a section of APL players being chosen from TV reality shows and an event that attracted the applications of thousands of young Afghans.
Afghanistan seek to boost war-torn homeland
By Shihar Aneez | Reuters – Tue, Sep 18, 2012
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Rising from the ruins of war to challenge the world's cricketing establishment, Afghanistan's rag-tag team hope to inspire the conflict-ravaged nation with a strong showing at the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan take on the might of India in their first group match in Colombo on Wednesday, having qualified for their second successive T20 World Cup.
The team's success against the odds, with many of its players born during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation and knowing little of peace in their home nation, has drawn legions of Afghan youth to take up the game in recent years, according to captain Nawroz Mangal.
Mangal said some 70,000 youngsters had started playing cricket after his team's breakthrough qualification for the 2010 T20 World Cup in West Indies.
"Right now it is more than 500,000," Mangal said, referring to the country's cricket-playing population.
"After participating in this World Cup, if we do better I expect 30 to 40 percent of the population to start playing cricket."
Mangal led the team to a 51-run victory against a Sri Lanka ‘A' team on Saturday, with vice captain Mohammad Nabi scoring a 22-ball half-century with five sixes and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad compiling a similarly quickfire 48.
TENNIS BALL CRICKET
Born in a refugee camp in the Pakistani frontier city of Peshawar, all rounder Nabi started playing cricket aged 10.
"I played a lot of school cricket there as well as street cricket and everywhere with a tennis ball in Peshawar," 27-year-old Nabi told Reuters.
He made his first-class debut with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 2007, having caught former England captain Mike Gatting's eye by scoring a century against the team during a tour of India.
"There is a lot of improvement in Afghanistan cricket," said Nabi, who played a leading role in securing the national team's berth at the 2010 T20 World Cup.
"Everyone likes cricket. There are a lot of fans now. In sha'Allah (God willing), we will try hard in this tournament to do something for our nation and we want to win one match and go to the super eight (round)."
'WIN EVERYTHING'
Despite lacking basic infrastructure and having to play international matches in neighboring Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, the team are feeling the burden of expectation from hopeful home fans, according to wicketkeeper Shahzad.
"The people want us to win everything in the World Cup, because people can't understand cricket," said Shahzad, who plays for Nangarhar Cricket Club in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where one of the country's two main cricket grounds is located.
Afghanistan were eliminated from the 2010 tournament in the first round after losing both of their group matches to India and South Africa.
They face another uphill battle to break into the 'Super Eight' second round in Sri Lanka, with defending champions England the third member of their Group A. Afghanistan face England on Friday.
Shahzad said their team had worked out the weaknesses in both their of the both opponents.
"England struggle a little bit against spinners. India have a very good batting line up, but they don't have a good bowling (attack)," he said. "India every time go for part-time bowlers."
With violence at its worst levels since U.S.-backed forces ousted the Islamist Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan skipper Mangal said he hoped his team could help bring stability to the war-torn country.
"This would be a positive sign to bring the youth into sports instead of them having wrong influences," he said.
"I would say this could be a positive step towards bring peace to the country as well."
(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal in Colombo; Editing by Ian Ransom)
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