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Taliban Kill 10 Afghan Security Personnel
VOA News October 23, 2012
Ten Afghan security personnel have been killed in fighting with Taliban militants in the western province of Herat.
A local police spokesman says five police officers and five soldiers died in the gun battle on Monday.
He says a district police chief was among those killed in the fighting, which began when the Taliban attacked a police convoy.
Meanwhile, NATO said it may have been responsible for the "unintended but nonetheless tragic" deaths of three Afghan civilians during an operation Sunday in Logar province.
The coalition said insurgents were killed in the raid.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the NATO operation, saying it resulted in the deaths of four children who were grazing animals at the time.
Civilian casualties have been a source of tension between the Afghan government and U.S.-led NATO forces in the country.
In other news, NATO says a U.S. service member was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP, and Reuters.
Afghan Taliban Commander Reportedly Captured
October 23, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Afghan officials say a high-level Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul Rahman, has been captured in a joint Afghan-NATO operation.
A government official in Konduz Province said Rahman was arrested after a joint operation by elite Afghan police units and the German military on October 19.
A spokesman for Konduz provincial police said Rahman was involved in attacks in Konduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan provinces.
The spokesman said Rahman was the Taliban's shadow governor in Konduz.
A spokesman for NATO's Afghan force said it could not immediately comment.
German media said Germany's elite KSK force was involved in the operation to capture Rahman, who is suspected of having orchestrated deadly attacks on German soldiers.
Germany is the third-largest troop contributor to Afghanistan's NATO-led force.
Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa
Kabul Rejects U.S. Envoy Statement On Durand Line
October 23, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Afghan government has strongly rejected a recent statement by the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the boundary dividing the two countries.
On October 21, Marc Grossman told a private television channel in Kabul that Washington recognizes the Durand Line as the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In a response issued the same day, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said the Kabul government "rejects and considers irrelevant any statement by anyone about the legal status of this line."
The Durand Line was drawn up by the British in 1893 to divide the region's Pashtun population between what was then British India and the Kingdom of Afghanistan.
It has marked the de facto border ever since.
But Afghan governments have never recognized the Durand Line as an official international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Taliban Attacks Convoy
Meanwhile, in related news, Taliban militants have ambushed a convoy in western Afghanistan, killing at least six security force members.
The attack happened on October 21 in Herat Province.
The Herat governor's spokesman said Taliban forces opened fire on the convoy in the Obe district.
Among those killed were the Obe district security commander and the acting security commander of the neighboring Chesht district.
The governor's spokesman said the Taliban commander in Chesht district was also killed.
Reports on the battle gave different casualty figures.
Obe district officials said five policemen, five soldiers and three Taliban were killed.
Herat 's police chief also said several militants, including a local commander, were killed. But he said only six policemen were killed.
With reporting by thenews.com.pk, AFP, dpa, and the Afghan Islamic Press
New Afghan Force Expands Its Role
Clients Express Concern as Security Firm Established to Replace Banned Contractors Takes On New Tasks
Wall Street Journal By NATHAN HODGE October 22, 2012
MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan - A new Afghan security force hastily assembled from the guards of soon-to-be-banned private contractors began a dangerous new task on Monday: protecting supply convoys driving through the Taliban heartland.
The Afghan Public Protection Force was created in recent months, after President Hamid Karzai essentially nationalized the giant private security business that guarded convoys, aid programs and foreign installations.
The government-run APPF has inspired little confidence among Western clients—many of whom opposed the ban on private contractors, see the new force as poorly trained and underresourced, and worry about the potential for insider attacks by their new protectors, not all of whom have been screened for Taliban links.
Screening of the new Afghan security force is likely to become even more urgent in coming months: Afghans are in the late stages of negotiating an agreement with the U.S. to take over responsibility for guarding the outer perimeter of coalition bases by the spring, U.S. and Afghan officials said.
The APPF program coordinator, Afghan Police Lt. Gen. Abdul Jamil Junbesh, said all the guards would be properly screened. "The first thing we do is vet them properly, we check their backgrounds," he said.
Vetting of Afghan security forces is a major issue amid a wave of attacks by uniformed Afghans on coalition civilian and military personnel. More than 50 coalition personnel have died in such attacks this year.
While APPF guards in green uniforms have been protecting compounds in Kabul and elsewhere for months since it signed its first contracts this spring, on Monday the organization for the first time tackled the far more complicated task of escorting large convoys of trucks through insurgent territory.
Monday's convoy departed a day after the Afghan government signed a contract with Netherlands-based Supreme Group, currently the biggest supplier of food and fuel to the U.S. military in Afghanistan, as part of a broader convoy security deal. At a dusty assembly point in Maidan Shahr, capital of Wardak province west of Kabul, convoy guards stood to attention in a mix-and-match array of camouflage and castoff police uniforms.
Then, about 90 pickup trucks with APPF gunmen with rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers escorted a convoy of 40 fuel trucks along Highway 1 to the provincial capital of Ghazni. The road, one of Afghanistan's most dangerous, is regularly seeded with roadside bombs and hit by Taliban ambushes. The convoy arrived without incident later on Monday, the coalition said.
Mr. Karzai issued a decree in 2010 to phase out private security firms, calling them gangsters and accusing them of collaborating with the Taliban.
But the creation of the alternative force, which absorbed some of the private companies' guards, has been beset with problems. Management turnover at APPF has been high, with the organization going through four chiefs in about as many months.
Most of the 250 guards preparing for Monday's convoy had been employed by an Afghan security contractor named Afghan Maiwand. Under the APPF arrangement, they are now government employees, though their salaries are paid by Supreme Group.
Supreme oversees a major logistics operation that delivers food, water and other supplies to bases around Afghanistan, and has major security requirements. On Friday, the company's warehouse at Bagram, which supplies food to a massive U.S. base north of Kabul, was destroyed after it was set ablaze by an insurgent rocket-propelled grenade attack. The company said it would shift resources to make sure there would be no interruption in its supplies to troops.
For some clients of APPF, the biggest concern is the government's insistence on adding new, often unvetted, recruits to existing guard forces. One client of the APPF described lopsided contract negotiations in which the new organization demanded the hiring of extra security personnel and sent new individuals who were untrained in weapons.
"People for the most part grew used to the guards that worked for private security companies, because they worked with expats and were trained by expats," the client said. "APPF is a government agency. What they don't trust is the APPF vetting procedures."
Another person familiar with the situation worried that as more APPF personnel joined the force, there would be greater potential for insurgent sympathizers to join their ranks, potentially leading to more insider killings.
"It's only a matter of time, and I think that's going to devastate the industry," the person said.
Only 90 of the 250 APPF guards escorting Monday's convoy had their fingerprints or irises scanned before the operation to check against databases of suspected insurgents according to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Dean, a coalition spokesman.
The vetting process, Cmdr. Dean added, won't be complete until the data collected can be compared with the database of the Afghan Interior Ministry.
APPF officials, however, touted Monday's convoy as a major accomplishment. "They will have the capacity to carry out the job," said Gen. Junbesh, head of the new security force.
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
Interview: NATO Chief 'Impressed' By Afghan Security Forces
October 22, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
A few days after his visit to Kabul last week, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke with RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Sultan Sarwar about the challenges facing Afghanistan after 2014 and how the NATO alliance is helping prepare Hamid Karzai for the departure of foreign troops.
RFE/RL: During your recent trip to Kabul, you delivered a strong message of long-term military support to the Afghan government. Will such support include air-defense systems and aircraft?
Anders Fogh Rasmussen: The whole NATO Council and some of our partner countries visited Afghanistan to show our strong commitment to Afghanistan, also after 2014. We aim at making the Afghan security forces fully capable of taking full responsibility for security all over Afghanistan by the end of 2014. And in that respect, individual allies are also providing the Afghan security forces with some military equipment.
RFE/RL: Many Afghans are concerned that the Taliban will recapture Afghanistan from their sanctuaries in Pakistan after NATO troops leave in 2014. What are you doing to address the long-standing issue of extremist safe havens in Pakistan?
Rasmussen: First of all, I would like to stress that when our ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] combat mission ends by the end of 2014, we will have built up a very strong Afghan security force of 352,000 Afghan soldiers and police. And this very strong Afghan security force will be able to take full responsibility for security all over Afghanistan. That is the first thing.
Secondly, I agree that it is a matter of concern that terrorists have safe havens in Pakistan, in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and we urge the Pakistani government and the Pakistani military to step up their fight against terrorists and extremists in the border region.
RFE/RL: There are reports that Afghan security forces are plagued by desertions and low morale. What are you doing to ensure that Afghan forces sustain themselves after NATO leaves?
Rasmussen: I don't agree that there is low morale within the Afghan security forces. On the contrary, I have visited Afghan military units and spoken with Afghan military commanders and they are strongly determined to take full responsibility for security in Afghanistan.
We continue the training and education of Afghan security forces and gradually we hand over lead responsibility for security, province by province. And we will continue these training activities after 2014.
Last time I visited Afghanistan, I had an opportunity to observe Afghan security forces in action and I was very impressed by what I saw.
We have seen Afghan security forces taking the lead of a majority of security operations. Actually, 80 percent of security operations in Afghanistan are led by Afghan security forces. That is quite remarkable. So I am confident that the Afghan security forces will be fully capable to take full responsibility by the end of 2014.
RFE/RL: In your estimation, how big a threat does the Al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan pose to global security?
Rasmussen: We know that the Al-Qaeda leadership has been significantly weakened during recent years. There is still a threat of international terrorism; there are still terrorist cells. But the Al-Qaeda network, as such, has been significantly weakened during recent years.
RFE/RL: As NATO secretary-general, during the past three years, have you ever been approached by the Taliban for peace talks?
Rasmussen: No, and it is not for NATO to engage in such political talks. We have made clear right from the outset that a political process, a reconciliation process, must be led by the Afghans themselves.
In other words, it has to be the Afghan government that is in the driver's seat. I think a political process makes sense if certain conditions are fulfilled: firstly, that the process is led by the Afghans; secondly, that groups and individuals involved in that reconciliation process abide by and fully respect the Afghan Constitution, including human rights -- and, of course, that also includes women's rights -- and finally, such groups must denounce violence and cut links with terrorist groups.
If these conditions are fulfilled, I think it's a good idea to see if a political process could lead to a constructive result."
RFE/RL: Let me ask you about current events in the broader region. NATO played a crucial role in bringing down the Qaddafi regime in Libya last year. Why is the alliance now reluctant to play a similar role in Syria, where civilians are apparently suffering on a much larger scale?
Rasmussen: There is a clear difference between Libya and Syria. In Libya, we took action based on a clear United Nations mandate to protect the civilian population and we got clear and active support from countries in the region.
None of these conditions is fulfilled as regards Syria, and there is no international call or no regional call on NATO to take action in Syria, and we have no intention to intervene militarily in Syria.
Having said that, we strongly condemn the security forces' crackdown on the civilian population in Syria and we urge the Syrian leadership to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.
RFE/RL: What are the main objectives you wish to achieve in a post-2014 Afghanistan?
Rasmussen: First and foremost, it's important that Afghan security forces maintain a capacity to take full responsibility for the security all over Afghanistan, with the aim of preventing the country from once again becoming a safe haven for terrorists. That is, of course, the first and most important goal.
Secondly -- but that's not part of our mission -- I have a very strong desire to see improved governance in Afghanistan. I think it's of utmost importance to fight corruption; it's of utmost importance that the national and regional authorities provide the Afghan people with basic services. So, these are my main goals.
Farewell to Afghanistan, with sadness and affection
A Times correspondent ending a three-year assignment reflects on the fears and horrors, but also on the beauty and people that will make her miss Afghanistan.
Los Angeles Times By Laura King October 22, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - After years of comings and goings, almost everything about leaving Kabul is familiar: the ride through dusty dawn streets, skirting past old men on bicycles and boys in horse-drawn carts, the long airport trudge through four luggage screenings and pat-downs, the way the plane's wingtips seem to almost scrape the jagged peaks surrounding the city.
Everything is the same — but the knowledge that this is the last time.
Kabul has been home for more than three years, but on this trip my assignment as a foreign correspondent here is ending, and I will join the American exodus from its long war in Afghanistan.
Most everyone here and at home shares the same perception: that Americans want to put this war in their rear-view mirror. But for many Afghans, too, there's a bone-weariness with the foreign presence, outweighing even the fear of what will happen after most international forces leave.
At times, the sense of growing hostility is both palpable and personal: the neck-prickling sensation as you walk past an Afghan police post and feel the hostile gaze, or the female guard who turns a routine body search into a wholesale mauling, simply because she can.
But nearly every ugly experience is balanced by moments that make the heart lift: an elderly neighbor who beams as he presents a bunch of sweet-to-the-point-of-bursting grapes from the family farm outside Kabul, the schoolgirls in their white head scarves who shyly call out "How-are-YOU?" before dissolving into giggles.
PHOTOS: A decade of conflict
And even in a city deformed by blast walls and barricades, with streets lined by open sewage ditches, beauty steals its way in. There's the peacock strutting at dusk among the rosebushes, the warm smell of Afghan bread wafting from the corner bakery, an overnight dusting of snow in the ring of mountains.
Still, it's clear just how messy the winding-down process is likely to be. Insider attacks — Afghan police and soldiers turning their guns on NATO troops — occur with clocklike regularity. Eruptions of anti-Western sentiment, triggered by events such as the burning of Korans by U.S. troops or the crude anti-Islam film that drew a violent response across the Muslim world, are beginning to have a depressingly familiar feel: Oh. Again.
From one day to the next, it's easy to lose track of the war's cumulative toll. Last week, scrolling through my cellphone directory, I realized how many of those listed in it had died violently: a mayor, two governors, a general, a women's activist, a professor, a police chief, the president's half-brother.
As a foreigner, I felt shielded from many of the dangers that ordinary Afghans face in their daily lives. The war's violence killed or maimed more than 3,000 of them last year. The occasional close call was a reminder of that: Once, as I was riding in a car in downtown Kabul, a bomb went off about three blocks away. We felt the percussive thwump; the car shuddered hard once, like a dog shaking itself. I could see the driver's hands trembling on the wheel as we, like everyone else, did a hard U-turn and drove off. Fast.
The American troop buildup came and went, and this was the year in which the U.S. dead in this war surpassed the 2,000 mark. Thousands more are maimed in ways that will mark them and our society for decades to come. When I was with troops in the field, I was always struck by how many of them cited the Sept. 11 attacks as their reason for enlisting. I'd ask them: How old were you then? And they'd say: Eleven, ma'am. Or maybe: Nine.
With the conflict's end-days at hand, prognostication is a common Kabul pastime. Some predictions are dire: civil war, political collapse, the return of the Taliban to power. Others are more hopeful: that the country will find a way forward, if haltingly and painfully.
I'm not even trying to guess; if my time here has taught me anything, it's what I don't know about Afghanistan. This is a place where any presumption of understanding is routinely upended, sometimes humorously, sometimes brutally. It can be as gentle as a birdlike "chk-chk" sound when you are pressing some respected tribal elder too hard on a delicate question, or a warning, issued in a rapid harsh whisper, to leave some provincial town — right now, quickly and before dark — because your host cannot guarantee your safety.
Among so many unknowables, I do know this: It is mainly the faces of the Afghan women and girls that will stay with me.
There was the little girl, a ragged sprite I'd sometimes see when I went to the headquarters of the NATO force for an interview or a news conference. She was part of a gaggle of street kids who sold matches or trinkets to passing foreigners; I remembered her because she stood out from the boy gang, and because she was so small, with such a bright and curious smile.
It wasn't until after the bombing that killed her and five of her friends last month that I learned her name: Parwana. Butterfly, in Dari. She was 8 years old.
There was Rahmaniya, an improbably stylish and articulate 18-year-old student from Kandahar who wanted nothing more than to keep learning. But her brother was threatening to kill her if she continued her studies. A sympathetic school principal was trying to help her find refuge in another city, but she could not bear the idea of leaving her mother and sisters. "I would kill myself if it weren't a sin," she said.
There was a woman named Humaira, whose face was so disarranged by repeated beatings from her husband that it resembled a Cubist painting. I met her in a women's shelter in Kabul, where she was trying to learn a skill — needlework — so she could support herself. She smiled as she showed me her pinpricked fingertips, a badge of her dreams of independence. But a woman living on her own is almost unheard of, and eventually she went back to her abuser.
That's not to say there aren't success stories; in spite of the odds, many women here build remarkable lives for themselves and their families. Parliament member Fawzia Koofi, seen by many as a possible presidential contender, clawed her way out of a desperately impoverished childhood, the 19th of a family of 23 children. Repeated assassination attempts and death threats have failed to drive her from public life.
But most of the educated Afghans I know, men and women alike, are intently focused these days on contingency planning. The luckiest among them have foreign passports and foreign bank accounts, and in the last year, more acquaintances than ever before have approached me to plead for help in getting a U.S. visa.
Leaving, or trying to, is not a decision anyone takes lightly; love of homeland is a signature Afghan trait. This flight, though, spells a rapidly depleting pool of precisely the kind of people whose skills and talents are the most sorely needed at this perilous juncture.
I think every outsider who spends time in Afghanistan comes away changed. You witness things that frighten you, sadden you, infuriate you, surprise you — and you bear them all away like a skein of tangled thread, to be unknotted slowly, later. Back in the "normal" world, its ordinary comforts — home, family, physical safety — have the feel of something extraordinary. But mundane problems can also be oddly confounding, a puzzle you've forgotten how to solve.
It's not my country, and it never was. But there was much about it I came to love. Over the last few weeks, as I told people — Westerners and Afghans — that I was leaving, I'd often get the same response: "Oh, you'll miss Afghanistan!" It was usually meant sarcastically, as in, "Look at this place! Who'd miss it?"
But I will.
laura.king@latimes.com
CNN Fact Check: Romney against 2014 deadline in Afghanistan before he was for it
CNN By Pam Benson October 23, 2012
Afghanistan factored in Monday's third and final presidential debate, which covered foreign policy. At one point, President Barack Obama accused Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of initially being against a withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan in 2014.
The claim:
"In the same way that you initially opposed a timetable in Afghanistan, now you're for it, although it depends," Obama said.
The Facts:
As early as last year, Mitt Romney said he agreed with a 2014 withdrawal date.
"The timetable by the end of 2014 is the right timetable for us to be completely withdrawn from Afghanistan, other than a small footprint of support forces," he said during a November 2011 Republican candidate debate.
And during a recent address at a veterans convention, Romney reiterated his support for a 2014 withdrawal.
"As president, my goal in Afghanistan will be to complete a successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014," he said.
But during that same speech Romney added a caveat, saying he would talk to commanders on the ground to evaluate the conditions in Afghanistan before the withdrawal.
"I will evaluate conditions on the ground and solicit the best advice of our military commanders," he said.
This stipulation of seeking advice from commanders ahead of the withdrawal is where Obama and Romney differ.
The Obama administration has repeatedly stated that a 2014 withdrawal is absolute. Most recently, Vice President Joe Biden said many times during his debate with Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, "we are leaving in 2014."
The Obama administration does however plan to leave 10,000 to 15,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, should the Afghan government agree to it.
During and interview with ABC in July, Romney again left the door open to moving back the 2014 deadline if commanders on the ground in Afghanistan told him that they needed U.S. troops to stay longer.
"I don't want to go into hypotheticals, but we recognize the circumstances may change on the ground either for the better or for the worse. I don't think you set hard and fast deadlines without recognizing that there is the potential for conditions to change," he said.
Romney's criticism has centered on Obama announcing the withdrawal date.
"Announcing a withdrawal date, that was wrong," Romney said during his announcement of entering the presidential race in June of 2011. "The Taliban may not have watches, but they do have calendars."
Conclusion:
Mostly false. Romney agrees with a 2014 withdrawal deadline but has added the caveat that he would seek advice from commanders on the ground at that point, leaving the door open to possibly staying longer. What Romney has disagreed with was the announcement of the withdrawal deadline, not the deadline itself.
Afghan Man Reportedly Kills Wife For Wanting Job
October 23, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Amnesty International says reports that an Afghan man killed his wife because she wanted a job are an example of "yet another egregious killing" in Afghanistan.
Amnesty released its statement after reports that Herat resident Muhammad Anwar killed his wife, Ghulam, during an argument about her working for a private company.
Ghulam's relatives dispute the account, saying Anwar killed his wife because she refused to give him money for illegal drugs.
The killing came just two weeks after another woman in Herat was beheaded by her husband's relatives for allegedly refusing to work as a prostitute.
In its statement, Amnesty International asked, "How many more women and girls have to die for the government to wake up and guarantee basic human rights for all?"
With reporting by AP
Feature: Poor Afghans farm hashish as alternative to poppy
Xinhua Oct. 22, 2012
KABUL - "I am hopeful to harvest some 100 kg hashish from this field and that will help me to survive the harsh winter," a farmer in northern Baghlan province who introduced himself as Awaz Mohammad murmured while walking on his small hash farm.
Carrying an assault rifle AK-47, the bearded man defended farming the contraband, saying since the government does not allow them to plant poppy, some of the villagers adopted hashish as an alternative to earn money.
Interestingly the hashish farms are located along a busy road linking Andarab district to the provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri city and all those including police personnel could easily see the hashish farms when driving.
Afghan government with the support of the international community has been fighting hard to eliminate poppy. However, Afghanistan, according to United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has topped poppy producing nations.
According to the report released in October 2011, the potential opium production in 2011 was estimated at 5,800 metric tons, a 61 percent increase compared with 2010 when nearly 50 percent of the illegal product affected by diseases.
With government's hectic campaign against illicit, the poppy growing farmers have abandoned poppy cultivation in peaceful areas. Nonetheless, some farmers availing fragile security, corruption and allegedly with police connivance resorted to hashish, an easily profitable but illegal crop in Afghanistan.
"People with luxury vehicles come to our doorstep, pay cash and take our hashish out of the district," Mohammad said.
Justifying his act, Mohammad went on to say that 7 kg wheat costs 150 Afghanis while the price of 1 kg hashish is between 3, 000 Afghanis to 4,000 Afghanis (around 70 to 80 U.S. dollars) at door step.
"I am a poor man and have no permanent job and no regular income. In the past I used to grow poppy but now hashish," Mohammad added, saying the poor and jobless people have no choice but to take maximum advantage from the situation to earn as much as possible.
Afghan government in 2010 had announced 20 out of the country's 34 provinces as poppy-free. According to officials, the opium poppy is largely grown in the southern region where security is poor and Taliban militants are active.
Helmand and the neighboring Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban fighters where the security problems are prevalent, according to UNODC report, are the major drug producing provinces in Afghanistan.
However, according to the report, the number of poppy-free provinces decreased from 20 in 2010 to 17 in 2011 out of the country's 34 provinces as Baghlan and Faryab provinces in the northern region and Kapisa province in the eastern region have lost the poppy-free status and resumed poppy cultivation.
Parallel to unchecked poppy products in Afghanistan the drug addicted number has also gone up and more than 1 million Afghans, according to officials, are addicts in the country.
Like Awaz Mohammad, another farmer Abdul Raziq is also looking forward to reaping good profit from his small hashish farm this year.
"I am hopeful to harvest at least 50 kg hashish and earn some 150,000 Afghanis (some 3000 U.S. dollars) this year."
However, officials describe hashish plantation as an isolated case, saying the government would continue to fight against all kinds of narcotics tooth and nail.
Family of Woman Stabbed to Death by Husband Demands Justice
TOLOnews.com By Herat reporter Monday, 22 October 2012
The family of a woman stabbed to death by her husband in western Herat province on Friday has called for him to be punished with the same death that he dealt his wife.
The man, Anwar, who has been detained at Herat police headquarters, killed his wife, Kolsoom, allegedly because he was angry that she worked at an office for an NGO, according to police officials.
"Preliminary investigations show that Kolsoom was working in a private company. There was a verbal fight between the woman and her husband, and following that the woman was killed by her husband using a knife," said Herat police spokesman Col. Noorkhan Nikzad.
However, Kolsoom's family claim that Anwar killed her after she hid their seven-year-old daughter at Kolsoom father's house because he was a drug addict who wanted to sell the daughter for money.
Kolsoom, 30, was stabbed at least eight times in front of her mother at her parent's house. She was rushed to Herat local hospital but died a short time later because of the seriousness of the wounds.
Kolsoom's family including her only daughter called for Anwar to receive the highest punishment under the law.
"We want that just as he killed my mother by cutting her into pieces with a knife, so he should be cut into pieces with a knife," the daughter told TOLOnews.
"We want the government to sentence this man to punishment according to Islamic law," said Ghulam Sarwar, Kolsoom's brother.
Under Sharia law, murder is punishable by death unless the family of the victim forgives the killer.
Kolsoom's mother said she was not able to prevent the incident from happening, even though it happened in front of her.
"My daughter was killed. My daughter is gone. This girl's body was in pieces. She was killed by her husband. We want a fair outcome," she told TOLOnews.
Herat police officials said the case was handed over to the judicial authorities after the husband was arrested.
Kolsoom lived with her husband in the Herat district of Karokh in the small community of Rowzie. They have the one daughter and a son, who is five-years-old.
The news comes a week after a man confessed to beheading his cousin's daughter-in-law at his cousin's request in the west of Herat province.
Najibullah confessed before the media that he helped his cousin Pari Gul kill her 20-year-old daughter-in-law Mah Gul as she "forced" him to do so.
Mah Gul's husband of four months, reportedly not at home the morning of the crime, was arrested along with both his parents and Najibullah, but formal charges are yet to be laid.
Mah Gul is said to have been killed because she refused to prostitute herself as her mother-in-law demanded.
Afghan officials and international organisations claim that violence against women in Afghanistan is increasing.
Afghan MPs Criticise Zardari 'Delay' of Insurgent Raid
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Monday, 22 October 2012
Afghan lawmakers on Monday criticised Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari for saying that a big military operation against insurgents required a "national consensus" including parliament approval, describing his comments as a delay tactic.
The Afghan MPs who spoke to TOLOnews believe that Zardari could be using such statements as an excuse for Pakistan to delay the launch of a military attack as such a move should not require approval from the parliament.
"Parliaments do not have anything to do with the approval of military operations," Kabul MP Nazifa Zaki said. "This is another way to attract more international donations," he added.
Fellow MP Shir Wali Wardak said Zardari's comments are consistent with the country's past lack of action to combat insurgents on its soil.
"Pakistan has never been honest towards eradication of insurgents. It should act more seriously," he said.
Zardari was reported by Dawn News as saying on Sunday that before Pakistan launches any military operation against the militants, the country's governing bodies must agree on it after assessing the country's capacity to deal with an insurgent retaliation.
"We agree that we need to act against militants, but are we ready for a possible blow back?" he said 5th National Conference of South Asian Free Media Association on Sunday.
"There is a need to have consensus following the policy of reconciliation to achieve the desired results in the war against terror and ensure peace and security."
This comes as US special envoy to the region Marc Grossman finalised in high-level meetings with officials in Pakistan the formation of a bilateral body to negotiate with the Taliban militants.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
VOA News October 23, 2012
Ten Afghan security personnel have been killed in fighting with Taliban militants in the western province of Herat.
A local police spokesman says five police officers and five soldiers died in the gun battle on Monday.
He says a district police chief was among those killed in the fighting, which began when the Taliban attacked a police convoy.
Meanwhile, NATO said it may have been responsible for the "unintended but nonetheless tragic" deaths of three Afghan civilians during an operation Sunday in Logar province.
The coalition said insurgents were killed in the raid.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the NATO operation, saying it resulted in the deaths of four children who were grazing animals at the time.
Civilian casualties have been a source of tension between the Afghan government and U.S.-led NATO forces in the country.
In other news, NATO says a U.S. service member was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP, and Reuters.
Afghan Taliban Commander Reportedly Captured
October 23, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Afghan officials say a high-level Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul Rahman, has been captured in a joint Afghan-NATO operation.
A government official in Konduz Province said Rahman was arrested after a joint operation by elite Afghan police units and the German military on October 19.
A spokesman for Konduz provincial police said Rahman was involved in attacks in Konduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan provinces.
The spokesman said Rahman was the Taliban's shadow governor in Konduz.
A spokesman for NATO's Afghan force said it could not immediately comment.
German media said Germany's elite KSK force was involved in the operation to capture Rahman, who is suspected of having orchestrated deadly attacks on German soldiers.
Germany is the third-largest troop contributor to Afghanistan's NATO-led force.
Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa
Kabul Rejects U.S. Envoy Statement On Durand Line
October 23, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Afghan government has strongly rejected a recent statement by the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the boundary dividing the two countries.
On October 21, Marc Grossman told a private television channel in Kabul that Washington recognizes the Durand Line as the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In a response issued the same day, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said the Kabul government "rejects and considers irrelevant any statement by anyone about the legal status of this line."
The Durand Line was drawn up by the British in 1893 to divide the region's Pashtun population between what was then British India and the Kingdom of Afghanistan.
It has marked the de facto border ever since.
But Afghan governments have never recognized the Durand Line as an official international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Taliban Attacks Convoy
Meanwhile, in related news, Taliban militants have ambushed a convoy in western Afghanistan, killing at least six security force members.
The attack happened on October 21 in Herat Province.
The Herat governor's spokesman said Taliban forces opened fire on the convoy in the Obe district.
Among those killed were the Obe district security commander and the acting security commander of the neighboring Chesht district.
The governor's spokesman said the Taliban commander in Chesht district was also killed.
Reports on the battle gave different casualty figures.
Obe district officials said five policemen, five soldiers and three Taliban were killed.
Herat 's police chief also said several militants, including a local commander, were killed. But he said only six policemen were killed.
With reporting by thenews.com.pk, AFP, dpa, and the Afghan Islamic Press
New Afghan Force Expands Its Role
Clients Express Concern as Security Firm Established to Replace Banned Contractors Takes On New Tasks
Wall Street Journal By NATHAN HODGE October 22, 2012
MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan - A new Afghan security force hastily assembled from the guards of soon-to-be-banned private contractors began a dangerous new task on Monday: protecting supply convoys driving through the Taliban heartland.
The Afghan Public Protection Force was created in recent months, after President Hamid Karzai essentially nationalized the giant private security business that guarded convoys, aid programs and foreign installations.
The government-run APPF has inspired little confidence among Western clients—many of whom opposed the ban on private contractors, see the new force as poorly trained and underresourced, and worry about the potential for insider attacks by their new protectors, not all of whom have been screened for Taliban links.
Screening of the new Afghan security force is likely to become even more urgent in coming months: Afghans are in the late stages of negotiating an agreement with the U.S. to take over responsibility for guarding the outer perimeter of coalition bases by the spring, U.S. and Afghan officials said.
The APPF program coordinator, Afghan Police Lt. Gen. Abdul Jamil Junbesh, said all the guards would be properly screened. "The first thing we do is vet them properly, we check their backgrounds," he said.
Vetting of Afghan security forces is a major issue amid a wave of attacks by uniformed Afghans on coalition civilian and military personnel. More than 50 coalition personnel have died in such attacks this year.
While APPF guards in green uniforms have been protecting compounds in Kabul and elsewhere for months since it signed its first contracts this spring, on Monday the organization for the first time tackled the far more complicated task of escorting large convoys of trucks through insurgent territory.
Monday's convoy departed a day after the Afghan government signed a contract with Netherlands-based Supreme Group, currently the biggest supplier of food and fuel to the U.S. military in Afghanistan, as part of a broader convoy security deal. At a dusty assembly point in Maidan Shahr, capital of Wardak province west of Kabul, convoy guards stood to attention in a mix-and-match array of camouflage and castoff police uniforms.
Then, about 90 pickup trucks with APPF gunmen with rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers escorted a convoy of 40 fuel trucks along Highway 1 to the provincial capital of Ghazni. The road, one of Afghanistan's most dangerous, is regularly seeded with roadside bombs and hit by Taliban ambushes. The convoy arrived without incident later on Monday, the coalition said.
Mr. Karzai issued a decree in 2010 to phase out private security firms, calling them gangsters and accusing them of collaborating with the Taliban.
But the creation of the alternative force, which absorbed some of the private companies' guards, has been beset with problems. Management turnover at APPF has been high, with the organization going through four chiefs in about as many months.
Most of the 250 guards preparing for Monday's convoy had been employed by an Afghan security contractor named Afghan Maiwand. Under the APPF arrangement, they are now government employees, though their salaries are paid by Supreme Group.
Supreme oversees a major logistics operation that delivers food, water and other supplies to bases around Afghanistan, and has major security requirements. On Friday, the company's warehouse at Bagram, which supplies food to a massive U.S. base north of Kabul, was destroyed after it was set ablaze by an insurgent rocket-propelled grenade attack. The company said it would shift resources to make sure there would be no interruption in its supplies to troops.
For some clients of APPF, the biggest concern is the government's insistence on adding new, often unvetted, recruits to existing guard forces. One client of the APPF described lopsided contract negotiations in which the new organization demanded the hiring of extra security personnel and sent new individuals who were untrained in weapons.
"People for the most part grew used to the guards that worked for private security companies, because they worked with expats and were trained by expats," the client said. "APPF is a government agency. What they don't trust is the APPF vetting procedures."
Another person familiar with the situation worried that as more APPF personnel joined the force, there would be greater potential for insurgent sympathizers to join their ranks, potentially leading to more insider killings.
"It's only a matter of time, and I think that's going to devastate the industry," the person said.
Only 90 of the 250 APPF guards escorting Monday's convoy had their fingerprints or irises scanned before the operation to check against databases of suspected insurgents according to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Dean, a coalition spokesman.
The vetting process, Cmdr. Dean added, won't be complete until the data collected can be compared with the database of the Afghan Interior Ministry.
APPF officials, however, touted Monday's convoy as a major accomplishment. "They will have the capacity to carry out the job," said Gen. Junbesh, head of the new security force.
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
Interview: NATO Chief 'Impressed' By Afghan Security Forces
October 22, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
A few days after his visit to Kabul last week, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke with RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Sultan Sarwar about the challenges facing Afghanistan after 2014 and how the NATO alliance is helping prepare Hamid Karzai for the departure of foreign troops.
RFE/RL: During your recent trip to Kabul, you delivered a strong message of long-term military support to the Afghan government. Will such support include air-defense systems and aircraft?
Anders Fogh Rasmussen: The whole NATO Council and some of our partner countries visited Afghanistan to show our strong commitment to Afghanistan, also after 2014. We aim at making the Afghan security forces fully capable of taking full responsibility for security all over Afghanistan by the end of 2014. And in that respect, individual allies are also providing the Afghan security forces with some military equipment.
RFE/RL: Many Afghans are concerned that the Taliban will recapture Afghanistan from their sanctuaries in Pakistan after NATO troops leave in 2014. What are you doing to address the long-standing issue of extremist safe havens in Pakistan?
Rasmussen: First of all, I would like to stress that when our ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] combat mission ends by the end of 2014, we will have built up a very strong Afghan security force of 352,000 Afghan soldiers and police. And this very strong Afghan security force will be able to take full responsibility for security all over Afghanistan. That is the first thing.
Secondly, I agree that it is a matter of concern that terrorists have safe havens in Pakistan, in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and we urge the Pakistani government and the Pakistani military to step up their fight against terrorists and extremists in the border region.
RFE/RL: There are reports that Afghan security forces are plagued by desertions and low morale. What are you doing to ensure that Afghan forces sustain themselves after NATO leaves?
Rasmussen: I don't agree that there is low morale within the Afghan security forces. On the contrary, I have visited Afghan military units and spoken with Afghan military commanders and they are strongly determined to take full responsibility for security in Afghanistan.
We continue the training and education of Afghan security forces and gradually we hand over lead responsibility for security, province by province. And we will continue these training activities after 2014.
Last time I visited Afghanistan, I had an opportunity to observe Afghan security forces in action and I was very impressed by what I saw.
We have seen Afghan security forces taking the lead of a majority of security operations. Actually, 80 percent of security operations in Afghanistan are led by Afghan security forces. That is quite remarkable. So I am confident that the Afghan security forces will be fully capable to take full responsibility by the end of 2014.
RFE/RL: In your estimation, how big a threat does the Al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan pose to global security?
Rasmussen: We know that the Al-Qaeda leadership has been significantly weakened during recent years. There is still a threat of international terrorism; there are still terrorist cells. But the Al-Qaeda network, as such, has been significantly weakened during recent years.
RFE/RL: As NATO secretary-general, during the past three years, have you ever been approached by the Taliban for peace talks?
Rasmussen: No, and it is not for NATO to engage in such political talks. We have made clear right from the outset that a political process, a reconciliation process, must be led by the Afghans themselves.
In other words, it has to be the Afghan government that is in the driver's seat. I think a political process makes sense if certain conditions are fulfilled: firstly, that the process is led by the Afghans; secondly, that groups and individuals involved in that reconciliation process abide by and fully respect the Afghan Constitution, including human rights -- and, of course, that also includes women's rights -- and finally, such groups must denounce violence and cut links with terrorist groups.
If these conditions are fulfilled, I think it's a good idea to see if a political process could lead to a constructive result."
RFE/RL: Let me ask you about current events in the broader region. NATO played a crucial role in bringing down the Qaddafi regime in Libya last year. Why is the alliance now reluctant to play a similar role in Syria, where civilians are apparently suffering on a much larger scale?
Rasmussen: There is a clear difference between Libya and Syria. In Libya, we took action based on a clear United Nations mandate to protect the civilian population and we got clear and active support from countries in the region.
None of these conditions is fulfilled as regards Syria, and there is no international call or no regional call on NATO to take action in Syria, and we have no intention to intervene militarily in Syria.
Having said that, we strongly condemn the security forces' crackdown on the civilian population in Syria and we urge the Syrian leadership to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.
RFE/RL: What are the main objectives you wish to achieve in a post-2014 Afghanistan?
Rasmussen: First and foremost, it's important that Afghan security forces maintain a capacity to take full responsibility for the security all over Afghanistan, with the aim of preventing the country from once again becoming a safe haven for terrorists. That is, of course, the first and most important goal.
Secondly -- but that's not part of our mission -- I have a very strong desire to see improved governance in Afghanistan. I think it's of utmost importance to fight corruption; it's of utmost importance that the national and regional authorities provide the Afghan people with basic services. So, these are my main goals.
Farewell to Afghanistan, with sadness and affection
A Times correspondent ending a three-year assignment reflects on the fears and horrors, but also on the beauty and people that will make her miss Afghanistan.
Los Angeles Times By Laura King October 22, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - After years of comings and goings, almost everything about leaving Kabul is familiar: the ride through dusty dawn streets, skirting past old men on bicycles and boys in horse-drawn carts, the long airport trudge through four luggage screenings and pat-downs, the way the plane's wingtips seem to almost scrape the jagged peaks surrounding the city.
Everything is the same — but the knowledge that this is the last time.
Kabul has been home for more than three years, but on this trip my assignment as a foreign correspondent here is ending, and I will join the American exodus from its long war in Afghanistan.
Most everyone here and at home shares the same perception: that Americans want to put this war in their rear-view mirror. But for many Afghans, too, there's a bone-weariness with the foreign presence, outweighing even the fear of what will happen after most international forces leave.
At times, the sense of growing hostility is both palpable and personal: the neck-prickling sensation as you walk past an Afghan police post and feel the hostile gaze, or the female guard who turns a routine body search into a wholesale mauling, simply because she can.
But nearly every ugly experience is balanced by moments that make the heart lift: an elderly neighbor who beams as he presents a bunch of sweet-to-the-point-of-bursting grapes from the family farm outside Kabul, the schoolgirls in their white head scarves who shyly call out "How-are-YOU?" before dissolving into giggles.
PHOTOS: A decade of conflict
And even in a city deformed by blast walls and barricades, with streets lined by open sewage ditches, beauty steals its way in. There's the peacock strutting at dusk among the rosebushes, the warm smell of Afghan bread wafting from the corner bakery, an overnight dusting of snow in the ring of mountains.
Still, it's clear just how messy the winding-down process is likely to be. Insider attacks — Afghan police and soldiers turning their guns on NATO troops — occur with clocklike regularity. Eruptions of anti-Western sentiment, triggered by events such as the burning of Korans by U.S. troops or the crude anti-Islam film that drew a violent response across the Muslim world, are beginning to have a depressingly familiar feel: Oh. Again.
From one day to the next, it's easy to lose track of the war's cumulative toll. Last week, scrolling through my cellphone directory, I realized how many of those listed in it had died violently: a mayor, two governors, a general, a women's activist, a professor, a police chief, the president's half-brother.
As a foreigner, I felt shielded from many of the dangers that ordinary Afghans face in their daily lives. The war's violence killed or maimed more than 3,000 of them last year. The occasional close call was a reminder of that: Once, as I was riding in a car in downtown Kabul, a bomb went off about three blocks away. We felt the percussive thwump; the car shuddered hard once, like a dog shaking itself. I could see the driver's hands trembling on the wheel as we, like everyone else, did a hard U-turn and drove off. Fast.
The American troop buildup came and went, and this was the year in which the U.S. dead in this war surpassed the 2,000 mark. Thousands more are maimed in ways that will mark them and our society for decades to come. When I was with troops in the field, I was always struck by how many of them cited the Sept. 11 attacks as their reason for enlisting. I'd ask them: How old were you then? And they'd say: Eleven, ma'am. Or maybe: Nine.
With the conflict's end-days at hand, prognostication is a common Kabul pastime. Some predictions are dire: civil war, political collapse, the return of the Taliban to power. Others are more hopeful: that the country will find a way forward, if haltingly and painfully.
I'm not even trying to guess; if my time here has taught me anything, it's what I don't know about Afghanistan. This is a place where any presumption of understanding is routinely upended, sometimes humorously, sometimes brutally. It can be as gentle as a birdlike "chk-chk" sound when you are pressing some respected tribal elder too hard on a delicate question, or a warning, issued in a rapid harsh whisper, to leave some provincial town — right now, quickly and before dark — because your host cannot guarantee your safety.
Among so many unknowables, I do know this: It is mainly the faces of the Afghan women and girls that will stay with me.
There was the little girl, a ragged sprite I'd sometimes see when I went to the headquarters of the NATO force for an interview or a news conference. She was part of a gaggle of street kids who sold matches or trinkets to passing foreigners; I remembered her because she stood out from the boy gang, and because she was so small, with such a bright and curious smile.
It wasn't until after the bombing that killed her and five of her friends last month that I learned her name: Parwana. Butterfly, in Dari. She was 8 years old.
There was Rahmaniya, an improbably stylish and articulate 18-year-old student from Kandahar who wanted nothing more than to keep learning. But her brother was threatening to kill her if she continued her studies. A sympathetic school principal was trying to help her find refuge in another city, but she could not bear the idea of leaving her mother and sisters. "I would kill myself if it weren't a sin," she said.
There was a woman named Humaira, whose face was so disarranged by repeated beatings from her husband that it resembled a Cubist painting. I met her in a women's shelter in Kabul, where she was trying to learn a skill — needlework — so she could support herself. She smiled as she showed me her pinpricked fingertips, a badge of her dreams of independence. But a woman living on her own is almost unheard of, and eventually she went back to her abuser.
That's not to say there aren't success stories; in spite of the odds, many women here build remarkable lives for themselves and their families. Parliament member Fawzia Koofi, seen by many as a possible presidential contender, clawed her way out of a desperately impoverished childhood, the 19th of a family of 23 children. Repeated assassination attempts and death threats have failed to drive her from public life.
But most of the educated Afghans I know, men and women alike, are intently focused these days on contingency planning. The luckiest among them have foreign passports and foreign bank accounts, and in the last year, more acquaintances than ever before have approached me to plead for help in getting a U.S. visa.
Leaving, or trying to, is not a decision anyone takes lightly; love of homeland is a signature Afghan trait. This flight, though, spells a rapidly depleting pool of precisely the kind of people whose skills and talents are the most sorely needed at this perilous juncture.
I think every outsider who spends time in Afghanistan comes away changed. You witness things that frighten you, sadden you, infuriate you, surprise you — and you bear them all away like a skein of tangled thread, to be unknotted slowly, later. Back in the "normal" world, its ordinary comforts — home, family, physical safety — have the feel of something extraordinary. But mundane problems can also be oddly confounding, a puzzle you've forgotten how to solve.
It's not my country, and it never was. But there was much about it I came to love. Over the last few weeks, as I told people — Westerners and Afghans — that I was leaving, I'd often get the same response: "Oh, you'll miss Afghanistan!" It was usually meant sarcastically, as in, "Look at this place! Who'd miss it?"
But I will.
laura.king@latimes.com
CNN Fact Check: Romney against 2014 deadline in Afghanistan before he was for it
CNN By Pam Benson October 23, 2012
Afghanistan factored in Monday's third and final presidential debate, which covered foreign policy. At one point, President Barack Obama accused Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of initially being against a withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan in 2014.
The claim:
"In the same way that you initially opposed a timetable in Afghanistan, now you're for it, although it depends," Obama said.
The Facts:
As early as last year, Mitt Romney said he agreed with a 2014 withdrawal date.
"The timetable by the end of 2014 is the right timetable for us to be completely withdrawn from Afghanistan, other than a small footprint of support forces," he said during a November 2011 Republican candidate debate.
And during a recent address at a veterans convention, Romney reiterated his support for a 2014 withdrawal.
"As president, my goal in Afghanistan will be to complete a successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014," he said.
But during that same speech Romney added a caveat, saying he would talk to commanders on the ground to evaluate the conditions in Afghanistan before the withdrawal.
"I will evaluate conditions on the ground and solicit the best advice of our military commanders," he said.
This stipulation of seeking advice from commanders ahead of the withdrawal is where Obama and Romney differ.
The Obama administration has repeatedly stated that a 2014 withdrawal is absolute. Most recently, Vice President Joe Biden said many times during his debate with Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, "we are leaving in 2014."
The Obama administration does however plan to leave 10,000 to 15,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, should the Afghan government agree to it.
During and interview with ABC in July, Romney again left the door open to moving back the 2014 deadline if commanders on the ground in Afghanistan told him that they needed U.S. troops to stay longer.
"I don't want to go into hypotheticals, but we recognize the circumstances may change on the ground either for the better or for the worse. I don't think you set hard and fast deadlines without recognizing that there is the potential for conditions to change," he said.
Romney's criticism has centered on Obama announcing the withdrawal date.
"Announcing a withdrawal date, that was wrong," Romney said during his announcement of entering the presidential race in June of 2011. "The Taliban may not have watches, but they do have calendars."
Conclusion:
Mostly false. Romney agrees with a 2014 withdrawal deadline but has added the caveat that he would seek advice from commanders on the ground at that point, leaving the door open to possibly staying longer. What Romney has disagreed with was the announcement of the withdrawal deadline, not the deadline itself.
Afghan Man Reportedly Kills Wife For Wanting Job
October 23, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Amnesty International says reports that an Afghan man killed his wife because she wanted a job are an example of "yet another egregious killing" in Afghanistan.
Amnesty released its statement after reports that Herat resident Muhammad Anwar killed his wife, Ghulam, during an argument about her working for a private company.
Ghulam's relatives dispute the account, saying Anwar killed his wife because she refused to give him money for illegal drugs.
The killing came just two weeks after another woman in Herat was beheaded by her husband's relatives for allegedly refusing to work as a prostitute.
In its statement, Amnesty International asked, "How many more women and girls have to die for the government to wake up and guarantee basic human rights for all?"
With reporting by AP
Feature: Poor Afghans farm hashish as alternative to poppy
Xinhua Oct. 22, 2012
KABUL - "I am hopeful to harvest some 100 kg hashish from this field and that will help me to survive the harsh winter," a farmer in northern Baghlan province who introduced himself as Awaz Mohammad murmured while walking on his small hash farm.
Carrying an assault rifle AK-47, the bearded man defended farming the contraband, saying since the government does not allow them to plant poppy, some of the villagers adopted hashish as an alternative to earn money.
Interestingly the hashish farms are located along a busy road linking Andarab district to the provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri city and all those including police personnel could easily see the hashish farms when driving.
Afghan government with the support of the international community has been fighting hard to eliminate poppy. However, Afghanistan, according to United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has topped poppy producing nations.
According to the report released in October 2011, the potential opium production in 2011 was estimated at 5,800 metric tons, a 61 percent increase compared with 2010 when nearly 50 percent of the illegal product affected by diseases.
With government's hectic campaign against illicit, the poppy growing farmers have abandoned poppy cultivation in peaceful areas. Nonetheless, some farmers availing fragile security, corruption and allegedly with police connivance resorted to hashish, an easily profitable but illegal crop in Afghanistan.
"People with luxury vehicles come to our doorstep, pay cash and take our hashish out of the district," Mohammad said.
Justifying his act, Mohammad went on to say that 7 kg wheat costs 150 Afghanis while the price of 1 kg hashish is between 3, 000 Afghanis to 4,000 Afghanis (around 70 to 80 U.S. dollars) at door step.
"I am a poor man and have no permanent job and no regular income. In the past I used to grow poppy but now hashish," Mohammad added, saying the poor and jobless people have no choice but to take maximum advantage from the situation to earn as much as possible.
Afghan government in 2010 had announced 20 out of the country's 34 provinces as poppy-free. According to officials, the opium poppy is largely grown in the southern region where security is poor and Taliban militants are active.
Helmand and the neighboring Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban fighters where the security problems are prevalent, according to UNODC report, are the major drug producing provinces in Afghanistan.
However, according to the report, the number of poppy-free provinces decreased from 20 in 2010 to 17 in 2011 out of the country's 34 provinces as Baghlan and Faryab provinces in the northern region and Kapisa province in the eastern region have lost the poppy-free status and resumed poppy cultivation.
Parallel to unchecked poppy products in Afghanistan the drug addicted number has also gone up and more than 1 million Afghans, according to officials, are addicts in the country.
Like Awaz Mohammad, another farmer Abdul Raziq is also looking forward to reaping good profit from his small hashish farm this year.
"I am hopeful to harvest at least 50 kg hashish and earn some 150,000 Afghanis (some 3000 U.S. dollars) this year."
However, officials describe hashish plantation as an isolated case, saying the government would continue to fight against all kinds of narcotics tooth and nail.
Family of Woman Stabbed to Death by Husband Demands Justice
TOLOnews.com By Herat reporter Monday, 22 October 2012
The family of a woman stabbed to death by her husband in western Herat province on Friday has called for him to be punished with the same death that he dealt his wife.
The man, Anwar, who has been detained at Herat police headquarters, killed his wife, Kolsoom, allegedly because he was angry that she worked at an office for an NGO, according to police officials.
"Preliminary investigations show that Kolsoom was working in a private company. There was a verbal fight between the woman and her husband, and following that the woman was killed by her husband using a knife," said Herat police spokesman Col. Noorkhan Nikzad.
However, Kolsoom's family claim that Anwar killed her after she hid their seven-year-old daughter at Kolsoom father's house because he was a drug addict who wanted to sell the daughter for money.
Kolsoom, 30, was stabbed at least eight times in front of her mother at her parent's house. She was rushed to Herat local hospital but died a short time later because of the seriousness of the wounds.
Kolsoom's family including her only daughter called for Anwar to receive the highest punishment under the law.
"We want that just as he killed my mother by cutting her into pieces with a knife, so he should be cut into pieces with a knife," the daughter told TOLOnews.
"We want the government to sentence this man to punishment according to Islamic law," said Ghulam Sarwar, Kolsoom's brother.
Under Sharia law, murder is punishable by death unless the family of the victim forgives the killer.
Kolsoom's mother said she was not able to prevent the incident from happening, even though it happened in front of her.
"My daughter was killed. My daughter is gone. This girl's body was in pieces. She was killed by her husband. We want a fair outcome," she told TOLOnews.
Herat police officials said the case was handed over to the judicial authorities after the husband was arrested.
Kolsoom lived with her husband in the Herat district of Karokh in the small community of Rowzie. They have the one daughter and a son, who is five-years-old.
The news comes a week after a man confessed to beheading his cousin's daughter-in-law at his cousin's request in the west of Herat province.
Najibullah confessed before the media that he helped his cousin Pari Gul kill her 20-year-old daughter-in-law Mah Gul as she "forced" him to do so.
Mah Gul's husband of four months, reportedly not at home the morning of the crime, was arrested along with both his parents and Najibullah, but formal charges are yet to be laid.
Mah Gul is said to have been killed because she refused to prostitute herself as her mother-in-law demanded.
Afghan officials and international organisations claim that violence against women in Afghanistan is increasing.
Afghan MPs Criticise Zardari 'Delay' of Insurgent Raid
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Monday, 22 October 2012
Afghan lawmakers on Monday criticised Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari for saying that a big military operation against insurgents required a "national consensus" including parliament approval, describing his comments as a delay tactic.
The Afghan MPs who spoke to TOLOnews believe that Zardari could be using such statements as an excuse for Pakistan to delay the launch of a military attack as such a move should not require approval from the parliament.
"Parliaments do not have anything to do with the approval of military operations," Kabul MP Nazifa Zaki said. "This is another way to attract more international donations," he added.
Fellow MP Shir Wali Wardak said Zardari's comments are consistent with the country's past lack of action to combat insurgents on its soil.
"Pakistan has never been honest towards eradication of insurgents. It should act more seriously," he said.
Zardari was reported by Dawn News as saying on Sunday that before Pakistan launches any military operation against the militants, the country's governing bodies must agree on it after assessing the country's capacity to deal with an insurgent retaliation.
"We agree that we need to act against militants, but are we ready for a possible blow back?" he said 5th National Conference of South Asian Free Media Association on Sunday.
"There is a need to have consensus following the policy of reconciliation to achieve the desired results in the war against terror and ensure peace and security."
This comes as US special envoy to the region Marc Grossman finalised in high-level meetings with officials in Pakistan the formation of a bilateral body to negotiate with the Taliban militants.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com