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Afghan corruption, and how the U.S. facilitates it
Washington Post By Walter Pincus Tuesday, November 6, 2012
When it comes to corruption in Afghanistan, the time may be now for the United States to look in the mirror and see what lessons can be learned from contracting out parts of that war.
On Sept. 30, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the corruption wracking his government and its people has been at a level “not ever before seen in Afghanistan.”
In the 1980s, when the Soviets ran the country, the government was “not even 5 percent as corrupt,” Karzai said.
“ The Soviets didn’t give contracts to the relatives, brothers and the kin of the influential and high ups,” he said. “The Americans did, and they continue to do, but we get blamed for it.”
It’s easy to disregard what Karzai told CBS. He has often blamed the United States and its allies for corrupting his country and certainly will again. And his complaint about U.S. contracts going to relatives of influential Afghans rings hollow when you go down the list that includes many members of his own family as well as cabinet ministers.
But the record shows Karzai has a point with which others agree.
“It is time that we as Americans — in government, in the media, and as analysts and academics — took a hard look at the causes of corruption in Afghanistan. The fact is that we are at least as much to blame for what has happened as the Afghans, and we have been grindingly slow to either admit our efforts or correct them.”
That was written in September 2010 by Anthony H. Cordesman, national security expert and a former Reagan Pentagon official, in a Center for Strategic and International Studies report, “How America Corrupted Afghanistan.”
Cordesman, who spent a good deal of time in Afghanistan, wrote: “We can probably do more to fight the worst causes of Afghan corruption by changing our own actions than by any amount of effort to encourage Afghan anti-corruption drives.”
He particularly criticized the military contracting process, saying, “The bulk of the money actually spent inside Afghanistan went through poorly supervised military contracts and through aid projects where the emphasis was speed, projected starts, and measuring progress in terms of spending rather than results.”
That process led to what Karzai is complaining about now — as Cordesman did two years ago. “U.S. and foreign contractors poured money into a limited number of Afghan powerbrokers who set up companies that were corrupt and did not perform. . . . In many cases, they also paid off insurgents to let them operate,” Cordesman wrote.
He suggested that the government “tightly control the influx of outside money, limit its flow to honest and capable Afghans at every level of government, and provide the transparency to allow Afghans to see how honestly and effectively the money is used.”
I thought of the 2010 Cordesman report last week after reading an interim report sent to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and top Pentagon officers associated with Afghanistan. The report criticized how the U.S. military is preparing to turn over to the Afghan National Army the buying of petroleum, oil and lubricants that is estimated next year to involve $343 million in U.S taxpayer funds and another $123 million from international donors.
The funding is based on an estimate of the Afghan National Army’s needs. However, the report, by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), found that the program after transition will be “vulnerable to theft and waste” because the United States and its allies do not have a “valid method for estimating [Afghan army] fuel needs,” nor records on its past “fuel purchases, deliveries and consumption.”
Corruption was evident in the past when the United States supervised the buying and delivery of fuel in Afghanistan. John F. Sopko, the special inspector general, told a House Oversight subcommittee on Sept. 13 that fuel “is a valuable commodity that is vulnerable to theft.”
Just last month, an Army sergeant pleaded guilty to approving fake documents that allowed truckers to steal $1.5 million of fuel from a forward operating base in 2010. In August, a former Army sergeant pleaded guilty to soliciting $400,000 in a similar plot that involved stealing $1.4 million of fuel in 2010 from another forward operating base.
In June, two Army servicemen pleaded guilty in a plot to steal jet fuel from a base and getting $6,000 for clandestinely filling 3,000-gallon trucks owned by an Afghan contractor.
Sopko told the House panel that his office has 20 active criminal investigations looking into the theft and diversion of fuel or bribery or bid-rigging on fuel contracts involving more than $100 million.
Perhaps worse, the SIGAR inquiry found that U.S. coalition financial records covering $475 million in fuel purchases and payments from October 2006 to February 2011 had been shredded. This was done “in violation of DOD [Department of Defense] and Department of the Army policies,” according to the SIGAR report.
In addition, SIGAR auditors were not given half the records sought for the March 2011 to March 2012 period. And although June 2012 Afghan army fuel purchases and payments were reconciled, the command “still could not account for the amount of fuel delivered and consumed,” SIGAR said.
A July SIGAR report found that because the military command did not “file claims for damaged or missing equipment, it was providing fuel for vehicles that had been destroyed.”
Sopko said his audit found that in one case “as much as 1 million gallons of fuel had been stolen over a four-month period without causing any red flags to be raised in the system.”
In short, corruption involves Americans and Afghans.
Now, according to SIGAR, the U.S.-NATO command “does not have accurate or supportable information on how much U.S. funds are needed for ANA [Afghan National Army] fuel, where and how the fuel is actually used, or how much fuel has been lost or stolen.”
The command has taken actions “to improve controls over fuel purchases, vendor deliveries, and the payment of invoice amounts,” but SIGAR maintains there is still a need to ensure “all fuel activity is tracked and accounted for.”
There may be a history of corruption in Afghanistan, but the United States is continuing to create tempting, rich, new targets such as fuel, and apparently enough Americans are willing to join in the illegal action.
Iran to build oil pipeline to Afghanistan: Iranian official
Press TV November 6, 2012
The Iranian deputy oil minister says the Islamic Republic and Afghanistan have agreed to build a pipeline in order to facilitate the exports of Iran’s oil products to its eastern neighbor.
“With the construction of this pipeline, part of the energy needed by Afghanistan will be met with full guarantee and security,” Ali Reza Zeighami said on Tuesday.
Zeighami, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said an Iranian delegation will soon travel to Afghanistan to discuss the details of the agreement.
Earlier in December, Iran's Oil Ministry signed an agreement with Afghanistan's Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the annual export of one million tons of Iranian oil products.
According to the contract, Iran is expected to export products including gasoil, jet fuel and gasoline to Afghanistan.
Iran exported about USD nine billion of oil products including base gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, kerosene, and jet fuel to various countries during the first 10 months of the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2012).
Iran holds the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.
NATO stands by ICG think tank in Afghanistan
AFP 05/11/2012
BRUSSELS - NATO, whose troops are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, said Monday that Kabul should not interfere with the work of the ICG think tank after a critical report by the analysts sparked government anger.
NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the Brussels-based International Crisis Group has "the right to express its views," adding democracy benefits from open debate.
An analysis by the ICG last month said the Afghan government could collapse after the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014, particularly if presidential elections that year proved fraudulent.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's senior spokesman Aimal Faizi charged Monday that the ICG's "reports and activities have been politically motivated. The government is now in the process of assessing the ICG's operations in the country.
"It is detrimental to Afghanistan's national interests and no country will allow such activities by a foreign organisation," he said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai added that Kabul "will take an appropriate decision about its future work based on this assessment."
Asked about the comments, Rasmussen said he had discussed the issue with Karzai during a recent visit, being assured that Kabul would do everything possible to promote good governance and fight corruption.
Rasmussen said he did not share the views in the ICG report as the respected think-tank had not considered the help a post-2014 Afghan government would get but he was also "a strong supporter of freedom of expression."
It was important that the "ICG has the right to express its views ... any democracy profits from an open, transparent and critical debate on how we could possibly make governance better," he said.
The ICG said that it had seen reports about the remarks but had not been contacted by the Afghan government and accordingly could make no comment.
President Karzai's re-election in 2009 was marred by allegations of widespread voting irregularities, while parliamentary polls a year later were also mired in controversy over fraud and vote rigging.
The ICG analysis characterised Karzai as apparently motivated by his desire to cling to power rather than to work for his country's interests.
Afghanistan holds its next presidential vote in April 2014 but Karzai cannot stand as he will have served two terms by then.
The author of the report, the ICG's senior Afghanistan analyst, Candace Rondeaux, could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Haqqani leader arrested in eastern Afghan operation: coalition
KABUL, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- A local Haqqani leader was detained in Afghanistan's eastern province of Logar on Tuesday, the NATO- led coalition forces confirmed in a press release.
"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Haqqani leader in Logar province today," the coalition or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in the press release providing daily operational updates.
As Taliban-linked group of militants, the Haqqani network mostly operates in eastern Afghan provinces and capital Kabul, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks including suicide bombings and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) against security forces.
"The arrested leader is suspected of being directly involved in the final stages of planning a vehicle-borne IED attack targeting Afghan and coalition forces in western Logar province," the release added, without mentioning the name of the detained man.
The Logar province is lying some 60 km south of Afghan capital Kabul.
In addition, the coalition release said that another Afghan and coalition security forces detained a number of insurgents, killed two enemy fighters and seized 60 kg of homemade explosives in Uruzgan province on Monday.
The discovered materials were destroyed at the location in the province 370 km south of Kabul.
In eastern Paktia province, some 100 km south of Kabul, the joint forces detained two insurgents during a security operation in search of a Haqqani leader earlier Tuesday.
Separately, they arrested a senior facilitator and weapons trafficker of a Taliban-linked group of militants -- Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in Kunduz province 250 km north of Kabul also Tuesday morning.
"Afghan and coalition forces confirmed today the death of Haqqani leader Abdul Rahman during a security operation in Logar province Sunday. Abdul Rahman was responsible for creating and disbursing IED and materials for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and coordinating the movement of weapons and ammunition for the attacks," the release added.
The Haqqani militant group, which was designated as terrorist group by the United States on Sept. 7 this year, has yet to make comments.
Haqqani network hit with U.N. sanctions: U.S. envoy
Reuters By Louis Charbonneau Mon Nov 5, 2012
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council's Taliban sanctions committee on Monday added the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, accused of high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, to a U.N. blacklist, the United States said.
The Security Council committee's move also singled out Qari Zakir, an operational commander involved in many of the network's highest-profile suicide attacks, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said in a statement.
"These sanctions oblige all U.N. member states to implement an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo against Zakir and the Haqqani Network," Rice said.
New additions to the Taliban sanctions list are relatively rare, since such moves are usually agreed upon unanimously. Council diplomats said it was especially significant that Pakistan, a member of the 15-nation council until the end of 2013, did not stand in the way of the moved.
The U.N. blacklist now contains 131 individuals, including Zakir, and three entities, one of which is the Haqqani network.
The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in September, a move the group's commanders said proved Washington was not sincere about peace efforts in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have long accused Pakistan of supporting the network, an allegation Islamabad denies.
The Haqqanis, who are allied with the Afghan Taliban, are some of the most experienced fighters in Afghanistan and have carried out several high-profile attacks on Western targets.
"Today's action by the Security Council expands upon these (U.N.) sanctions and confirms the international community's resolve to end the Haqqani Network's ability to execute violent attacks in Afghanistan," Rice said.
"It also reflects the Security Council's commitment to use and enforce sanctions against those who threaten peace in Afghanistan, in conjunction with a strong commitment to support Afghan-led peace and reconciliation," her statement added.
Rice said that as well as organizing suicide attacks, Zakir had trained militants to use small and heavy weapons and improvised explosive devices.
The U.S. State Department said separately on Monday that it added Zakir to the U.S. list of specially designated terrorists, a move aimed at freezing any property he might have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting any U.S. transactions with him.
"He has been involved in many of the Haqqani Network's high-profile suicide attacks and is partially responsible for making some of the final determinations on whether or not to proceed with large-scale attacks planned by local district-level commanders," the State Department said in a statement.
It said attacks using personnel selected and trained by Zakir included the 2010 attacks on coalition force bases in Afghanistan, the June 2011 attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, and the September 2011 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which killed 16 Afghans, including at least six children.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by David Brunnstrom)
ANSF Will Provide Security for Presidential Election: Isaf
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amiri Monday, 05 November 2012
The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will be in the lead role for providing security during the presidential election in 2014, Isaf said Monday.
While Nato-led combat troops will not have left the country yet, Isaf spokesman Brigadier General Gunter Katz said that the transition for Afghans to take the lead on security will be complete by 2014.
"By the year of election in 2014, the transition process will be throughout the entire country. That means that 100 percent of the country has been transferred in terms of security to the Afghan National Security Forces," Katz said at a press briefing in Kabul on Monday.
"Therefore, during the election it will primarily be the responsibility of the Afghan National Security Forces to provide security for the election."
Nato's senior civilian representative Dominic Medley said Isaf welcomed the announcement of the date for the election.
He emphasised that the Isaf coalition want an election in accordance with Afghan constitution which brings stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.
"The [Nato] allies and Isaf partners look forward to a democratic process in accordance with the constitution which will contribute to stability, security and prosperity," Medley said at the briefing.
The Afghan Independent Election Commission has set the date for the presidential and provincial council elections for April 5 2014.
With election day set, many Afghans doubt vote will be fair
Stars and Stripes By Heath Druzin November 5, 2012
KABUL - Now that Afghanistan’s election commission has set a date for the next presidential poll, the difficult work of preparing for a vote in a rural, mountainous country still at war begins. Many Afghans are skeptical the election can be free and fair amid the possibility of violence, fraud and even snow-bound villagers being denied the vote by Mother Nature.
The Afghanistan Independent Election Commission announced last week that the vote will take place April 5, 2014, almost nine months ahead of the deadline for all international combat troops to leave the country, and will include provincial council elections. The date falls well before the snow melts in much of the country’s rugged mountains, which drew the immediate ire of members of parliament representing Afghanistan’s high country.
Farooki Beheshti, a member of parliament from the northern province of Bamiyan, said the election will be illegitimate if it is held so early in the year that mountain villagers cannot participate.
“Each year on this date about 65 percent of the country is still under snow, so how can people in the rural areas, where the roads are blocked, come out and exercise their vote?” he said.
The election commission, which will oversee the poll, plans to bring in nearly all “nonsensitive” polling station materials to mountainous areas before winter sets in and then will rely on NATO air power to fly in ballots for the election, commission spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said.
The International Security Assistance Force is still doing mission analysis for the elections to determine what kind of support it will provide the Afghan government, said Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the international military force in Afghanistan.
Even if the commission can figure out how to get the vote out in the mountains, there are still many challenges. The 2009 election was criticized for having low turnout because many residents were scared to vote because of insurgent threats -- fighting still rages in many provinces, especially in the south and the east -- and there were reports of widespread fraud and ballot stuffing. While the constitution bars President Hamid Karzai from running for a third term, some Afghans are concerned that he might try to retain power, especially after he extended his last term by postponing elections, a move many said was illegal.
One of the biggest hurdles will be quelling violence in the next 17 months. With the withdrawal of international troops under way, voter turnout at the country’s 6,000 polling places could depend on how much progress the remaining NATO contingent can make in Afghanistan’s hot spots.
Shafiq Ahmad, who lives in volatile Logar province but runs a part-time money exchange operation in Kabul, said if the election were held today he could face death just for trying to vote.
“We can’t get the voting card because if we get caught by insurgents with it, we face problems,” he said.
Wadeer Safi, professor of law and politics at Kabul University, said time is running out to quell the violence ahead of the vote.
“I’m not sure [it can happen], because in the past 11 years they were not able to improve the security, so how can they do it in another year and a half?” he said.
Noor, the election commission spokesman, said the commission has convened a council of the country’s top security officials to discuss election preparations.
“We have invited the security deputy minister of the Interior Ministry, chief of staff for the Ministry of Defense and officials from the National Security Directorate, and they have promised they will secure the environment for the election,” he said.
Jan Dad Spinghar, with the election watchdog Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, welcomed the announcement of the election date, but said reforms at the government’s election commission are necessary to ensure a fair vote. The president chooses all members of the commission and Karzai has resisted calls to add two foreign members to help guarantee the independence of the commission.
“[Currently] all commissioners are selected by the president and there is no structure to guarantee impartiality or the qualifications of commissioners,” he said.
A budding controversy also surrounds the scheduling of the provincial council elections on the same date, which would mean council members would be allowed to stay one year past their terms, which expire in 2013. Several members of parliament have said the move is illegal and are calling for changes.
“No one has the authority to give one more year to [them],” said Mohammad Akbar Stanakzai, a member of parliament from Logar province.
The corrupt, ineffective governance of the post-Taliban era has left many ordinary Afgh skeptical that another election can change things in a country beset by poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. This feeling was solidified by the 2009 elections, which were marred by reports of voter fraud and ballot stuffing.
Abdul Jalil, who owns an iron-working shop in Kabul, would rather see the election postponed until the government reaches a peace deal with the Taliban and foreign troops leave.
“The election can only be held when there is security in the country and our people don’t hear the sounds of mortars and bombs,” he said.
Sami Khairkhwa, who runs an electronics shop in Kabul, cited an Afghan proverb, saying he doesn’t believe that an election will reverse the culture of graft that has crept into Afghan institutions.
“A person who’s been bitten by a snake is afraid of even a rope,” he said. “The Afghan people have been bitten by a snake and we have learned a lot from this government.”
Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report.
druzinh@estripes.osd.mil
Kandahar Ulema Council Chief Rejects Arrest Allegation
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 05 November 2012
The head of the Ulema Council in Kandahar Mullah Tor Jan has rejected reports that he was arrested on Sunday by the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
The mullah said that although he had come to Kabul on Monday, it was not under the order of the NDS and he was not under arrest.
"I have personal work to do here in Kabul because of some works of our council. The report is not correct. As you see, I am not a prisoner and not in prison," he told a TOLOnews reporter in Kabul.
However, TOLOnews can confirm Tor Jan was being held or questioned in an NDS office on Monday.
An NDS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the mullah was detained after being linked with Taliban in the province and he was taken to Kabul.
Head of the High Peace Council in Kandahar said he understood that Tor Jan had been arrested but was not aware of the reason.
"Yes, we heard that he was arrested by security forces," Ata Mohammad Ahmadi told TOLOnews.
Kandarhar's police chief Abdul Raziq said recently that a number of mullahs were being identified as acting against the government and that they will be arrested.
"There are some mullahs across the province with unidentified nationalities who are coming from abroad and negatively proselytising against the government," Raziq said last month.
The National Ulema Council has declined to comment on the matter.
Kabul MP Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi told TOLOnews that no one should be exempt from the rule of law.
"In my belief, no one, not residents, religious scholars or unreligious ones should not have their hand in those activities that make the security worse, harm the national benefits and destroy the country," he said.
Mullah Tor Jan was a former Taliban commander who joined with ten of his followers in the government reconciliation and peace programme two years ago. He was later selected to head the Ulema Council in Kandahar.
Explosion in Parwan Burns 30 Vehicles
TOLOnews.com Monday, 05 November 2012
As many as 30 vehicles have been destroyed or burned in a massive explosion in the capital of northern Parwan province on Monday, local officials said.
Explosives were planted in a large fuel tanker and were detonated near a car show room at around 12:00 noon local time in Charikar city, provincial spokesman Roshan Kahlid told TOLOnews.
She said that the driver of the tanker had fled the area, however the security forces have launched a search operation to investigate the explosion and capture the driver.
No casualties were reported but a substantial amount of property was destroyed, Khalid added.
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
Washington Post By Walter Pincus Tuesday, November 6, 2012
When it comes to corruption in Afghanistan, the time may be now for the United States to look in the mirror and see what lessons can be learned from contracting out parts of that war.
On Sept. 30, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the corruption wracking his government and its people has been at a level “not ever before seen in Afghanistan.”
In the 1980s, when the Soviets ran the country, the government was “not even 5 percent as corrupt,” Karzai said.
“ The Soviets didn’t give contracts to the relatives, brothers and the kin of the influential and high ups,” he said. “The Americans did, and they continue to do, but we get blamed for it.”
It’s easy to disregard what Karzai told CBS. He has often blamed the United States and its allies for corrupting his country and certainly will again. And his complaint about U.S. contracts going to relatives of influential Afghans rings hollow when you go down the list that includes many members of his own family as well as cabinet ministers.
But the record shows Karzai has a point with which others agree.
“It is time that we as Americans — in government, in the media, and as analysts and academics — took a hard look at the causes of corruption in Afghanistan. The fact is that we are at least as much to blame for what has happened as the Afghans, and we have been grindingly slow to either admit our efforts or correct them.”
That was written in September 2010 by Anthony H. Cordesman, national security expert and a former Reagan Pentagon official, in a Center for Strategic and International Studies report, “How America Corrupted Afghanistan.”
Cordesman, who spent a good deal of time in Afghanistan, wrote: “We can probably do more to fight the worst causes of Afghan corruption by changing our own actions than by any amount of effort to encourage Afghan anti-corruption drives.”
He particularly criticized the military contracting process, saying, “The bulk of the money actually spent inside Afghanistan went through poorly supervised military contracts and through aid projects where the emphasis was speed, projected starts, and measuring progress in terms of spending rather than results.”
That process led to what Karzai is complaining about now — as Cordesman did two years ago. “U.S. and foreign contractors poured money into a limited number of Afghan powerbrokers who set up companies that were corrupt and did not perform. . . . In many cases, they also paid off insurgents to let them operate,” Cordesman wrote.
He suggested that the government “tightly control the influx of outside money, limit its flow to honest and capable Afghans at every level of government, and provide the transparency to allow Afghans to see how honestly and effectively the money is used.”
I thought of the 2010 Cordesman report last week after reading an interim report sent to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and top Pentagon officers associated with Afghanistan. The report criticized how the U.S. military is preparing to turn over to the Afghan National Army the buying of petroleum, oil and lubricants that is estimated next year to involve $343 million in U.S taxpayer funds and another $123 million from international donors.
The funding is based on an estimate of the Afghan National Army’s needs. However, the report, by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), found that the program after transition will be “vulnerable to theft and waste” because the United States and its allies do not have a “valid method for estimating [Afghan army] fuel needs,” nor records on its past “fuel purchases, deliveries and consumption.”
Corruption was evident in the past when the United States supervised the buying and delivery of fuel in Afghanistan. John F. Sopko, the special inspector general, told a House Oversight subcommittee on Sept. 13 that fuel “is a valuable commodity that is vulnerable to theft.”
Just last month, an Army sergeant pleaded guilty to approving fake documents that allowed truckers to steal $1.5 million of fuel from a forward operating base in 2010. In August, a former Army sergeant pleaded guilty to soliciting $400,000 in a similar plot that involved stealing $1.4 million of fuel in 2010 from another forward operating base.
In June, two Army servicemen pleaded guilty in a plot to steal jet fuel from a base and getting $6,000 for clandestinely filling 3,000-gallon trucks owned by an Afghan contractor.
Sopko told the House panel that his office has 20 active criminal investigations looking into the theft and diversion of fuel or bribery or bid-rigging on fuel contracts involving more than $100 million.
Perhaps worse, the SIGAR inquiry found that U.S. coalition financial records covering $475 million in fuel purchases and payments from October 2006 to February 2011 had been shredded. This was done “in violation of DOD [Department of Defense] and Department of the Army policies,” according to the SIGAR report.
In addition, SIGAR auditors were not given half the records sought for the March 2011 to March 2012 period. And although June 2012 Afghan army fuel purchases and payments were reconciled, the command “still could not account for the amount of fuel delivered and consumed,” SIGAR said.
A July SIGAR report found that because the military command did not “file claims for damaged or missing equipment, it was providing fuel for vehicles that had been destroyed.”
Sopko said his audit found that in one case “as much as 1 million gallons of fuel had been stolen over a four-month period without causing any red flags to be raised in the system.”
In short, corruption involves Americans and Afghans.
Now, according to SIGAR, the U.S.-NATO command “does not have accurate or supportable information on how much U.S. funds are needed for ANA [Afghan National Army] fuel, where and how the fuel is actually used, or how much fuel has been lost or stolen.”
The command has taken actions “to improve controls over fuel purchases, vendor deliveries, and the payment of invoice amounts,” but SIGAR maintains there is still a need to ensure “all fuel activity is tracked and accounted for.”
There may be a history of corruption in Afghanistan, but the United States is continuing to create tempting, rich, new targets such as fuel, and apparently enough Americans are willing to join in the illegal action.
Iran to build oil pipeline to Afghanistan: Iranian official
Press TV November 6, 2012
The Iranian deputy oil minister says the Islamic Republic and Afghanistan have agreed to build a pipeline in order to facilitate the exports of Iran’s oil products to its eastern neighbor.
“With the construction of this pipeline, part of the energy needed by Afghanistan will be met with full guarantee and security,” Ali Reza Zeighami said on Tuesday.
Zeighami, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said an Iranian delegation will soon travel to Afghanistan to discuss the details of the agreement.
Earlier in December, Iran's Oil Ministry signed an agreement with Afghanistan's Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the annual export of one million tons of Iranian oil products.
According to the contract, Iran is expected to export products including gasoil, jet fuel and gasoline to Afghanistan.
Iran exported about USD nine billion of oil products including base gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, kerosene, and jet fuel to various countries during the first 10 months of the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2012).
Iran holds the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.
NATO stands by ICG think tank in Afghanistan
AFP 05/11/2012
BRUSSELS - NATO, whose troops are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, said Monday that Kabul should not interfere with the work of the ICG think tank after a critical report by the analysts sparked government anger.
NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the Brussels-based International Crisis Group has "the right to express its views," adding democracy benefits from open debate.
An analysis by the ICG last month said the Afghan government could collapse after the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014, particularly if presidential elections that year proved fraudulent.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's senior spokesman Aimal Faizi charged Monday that the ICG's "reports and activities have been politically motivated. The government is now in the process of assessing the ICG's operations in the country.
"It is detrimental to Afghanistan's national interests and no country will allow such activities by a foreign organisation," he said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai added that Kabul "will take an appropriate decision about its future work based on this assessment."
Asked about the comments, Rasmussen said he had discussed the issue with Karzai during a recent visit, being assured that Kabul would do everything possible to promote good governance and fight corruption.
Rasmussen said he did not share the views in the ICG report as the respected think-tank had not considered the help a post-2014 Afghan government would get but he was also "a strong supporter of freedom of expression."
It was important that the "ICG has the right to express its views ... any democracy profits from an open, transparent and critical debate on how we could possibly make governance better," he said.
The ICG said that it had seen reports about the remarks but had not been contacted by the Afghan government and accordingly could make no comment.
President Karzai's re-election in 2009 was marred by allegations of widespread voting irregularities, while parliamentary polls a year later were also mired in controversy over fraud and vote rigging.
The ICG analysis characterised Karzai as apparently motivated by his desire to cling to power rather than to work for his country's interests.
Afghanistan holds its next presidential vote in April 2014 but Karzai cannot stand as he will have served two terms by then.
The author of the report, the ICG's senior Afghanistan analyst, Candace Rondeaux, could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Haqqani leader arrested in eastern Afghan operation: coalition
KABUL, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- A local Haqqani leader was detained in Afghanistan's eastern province of Logar on Tuesday, the NATO- led coalition forces confirmed in a press release.
"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Haqqani leader in Logar province today," the coalition or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in the press release providing daily operational updates.
As Taliban-linked group of militants, the Haqqani network mostly operates in eastern Afghan provinces and capital Kabul, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks including suicide bombings and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) against security forces.
"The arrested leader is suspected of being directly involved in the final stages of planning a vehicle-borne IED attack targeting Afghan and coalition forces in western Logar province," the release added, without mentioning the name of the detained man.
The Logar province is lying some 60 km south of Afghan capital Kabul.
In addition, the coalition release said that another Afghan and coalition security forces detained a number of insurgents, killed two enemy fighters and seized 60 kg of homemade explosives in Uruzgan province on Monday.
The discovered materials were destroyed at the location in the province 370 km south of Kabul.
In eastern Paktia province, some 100 km south of Kabul, the joint forces detained two insurgents during a security operation in search of a Haqqani leader earlier Tuesday.
Separately, they arrested a senior facilitator and weapons trafficker of a Taliban-linked group of militants -- Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in Kunduz province 250 km north of Kabul also Tuesday morning.
"Afghan and coalition forces confirmed today the death of Haqqani leader Abdul Rahman during a security operation in Logar province Sunday. Abdul Rahman was responsible for creating and disbursing IED and materials for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and coordinating the movement of weapons and ammunition for the attacks," the release added.
The Haqqani militant group, which was designated as terrorist group by the United States on Sept. 7 this year, has yet to make comments.
Haqqani network hit with U.N. sanctions: U.S. envoy
Reuters By Louis Charbonneau Mon Nov 5, 2012
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council's Taliban sanctions committee on Monday added the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, accused of high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, to a U.N. blacklist, the United States said.
The Security Council committee's move also singled out Qari Zakir, an operational commander involved in many of the network's highest-profile suicide attacks, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said in a statement.
"These sanctions oblige all U.N. member states to implement an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo against Zakir and the Haqqani Network," Rice said.
New additions to the Taliban sanctions list are relatively rare, since such moves are usually agreed upon unanimously. Council diplomats said it was especially significant that Pakistan, a member of the 15-nation council until the end of 2013, did not stand in the way of the moved.
The U.N. blacklist now contains 131 individuals, including Zakir, and three entities, one of which is the Haqqani network.
The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in September, a move the group's commanders said proved Washington was not sincere about peace efforts in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have long accused Pakistan of supporting the network, an allegation Islamabad denies.
The Haqqanis, who are allied with the Afghan Taliban, are some of the most experienced fighters in Afghanistan and have carried out several high-profile attacks on Western targets.
"Today's action by the Security Council expands upon these (U.N.) sanctions and confirms the international community's resolve to end the Haqqani Network's ability to execute violent attacks in Afghanistan," Rice said.
"It also reflects the Security Council's commitment to use and enforce sanctions against those who threaten peace in Afghanistan, in conjunction with a strong commitment to support Afghan-led peace and reconciliation," her statement added.
Rice said that as well as organizing suicide attacks, Zakir had trained militants to use small and heavy weapons and improvised explosive devices.
The U.S. State Department said separately on Monday that it added Zakir to the U.S. list of specially designated terrorists, a move aimed at freezing any property he might have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting any U.S. transactions with him.
"He has been involved in many of the Haqqani Network's high-profile suicide attacks and is partially responsible for making some of the final determinations on whether or not to proceed with large-scale attacks planned by local district-level commanders," the State Department said in a statement.
It said attacks using personnel selected and trained by Zakir included the 2010 attacks on coalition force bases in Afghanistan, the June 2011 attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, and the September 2011 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which killed 16 Afghans, including at least six children.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by David Brunnstrom)
ANSF Will Provide Security for Presidential Election: Isaf
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amiri Monday, 05 November 2012
The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will be in the lead role for providing security during the presidential election in 2014, Isaf said Monday.
While Nato-led combat troops will not have left the country yet, Isaf spokesman Brigadier General Gunter Katz said that the transition for Afghans to take the lead on security will be complete by 2014.
"By the year of election in 2014, the transition process will be throughout the entire country. That means that 100 percent of the country has been transferred in terms of security to the Afghan National Security Forces," Katz said at a press briefing in Kabul on Monday.
"Therefore, during the election it will primarily be the responsibility of the Afghan National Security Forces to provide security for the election."
Nato's senior civilian representative Dominic Medley said Isaf welcomed the announcement of the date for the election.
He emphasised that the Isaf coalition want an election in accordance with Afghan constitution which brings stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.
"The [Nato] allies and Isaf partners look forward to a democratic process in accordance with the constitution which will contribute to stability, security and prosperity," Medley said at the briefing.
The Afghan Independent Election Commission has set the date for the presidential and provincial council elections for April 5 2014.
With election day set, many Afghans doubt vote will be fair
Stars and Stripes By Heath Druzin November 5, 2012
KABUL - Now that Afghanistan’s election commission has set a date for the next presidential poll, the difficult work of preparing for a vote in a rural, mountainous country still at war begins. Many Afghans are skeptical the election can be free and fair amid the possibility of violence, fraud and even snow-bound villagers being denied the vote by Mother Nature.
The Afghanistan Independent Election Commission announced last week that the vote will take place April 5, 2014, almost nine months ahead of the deadline for all international combat troops to leave the country, and will include provincial council elections. The date falls well before the snow melts in much of the country’s rugged mountains, which drew the immediate ire of members of parliament representing Afghanistan’s high country.
Farooki Beheshti, a member of parliament from the northern province of Bamiyan, said the election will be illegitimate if it is held so early in the year that mountain villagers cannot participate.
“Each year on this date about 65 percent of the country is still under snow, so how can people in the rural areas, where the roads are blocked, come out and exercise their vote?” he said.
The election commission, which will oversee the poll, plans to bring in nearly all “nonsensitive” polling station materials to mountainous areas before winter sets in and then will rely on NATO air power to fly in ballots for the election, commission spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said.
The International Security Assistance Force is still doing mission analysis for the elections to determine what kind of support it will provide the Afghan government, said Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the international military force in Afghanistan.
Even if the commission can figure out how to get the vote out in the mountains, there are still many challenges. The 2009 election was criticized for having low turnout because many residents were scared to vote because of insurgent threats -- fighting still rages in many provinces, especially in the south and the east -- and there were reports of widespread fraud and ballot stuffing. While the constitution bars President Hamid Karzai from running for a third term, some Afghans are concerned that he might try to retain power, especially after he extended his last term by postponing elections, a move many said was illegal.
One of the biggest hurdles will be quelling violence in the next 17 months. With the withdrawal of international troops under way, voter turnout at the country’s 6,000 polling places could depend on how much progress the remaining NATO contingent can make in Afghanistan’s hot spots.
Shafiq Ahmad, who lives in volatile Logar province but runs a part-time money exchange operation in Kabul, said if the election were held today he could face death just for trying to vote.
“We can’t get the voting card because if we get caught by insurgents with it, we face problems,” he said.
Wadeer Safi, professor of law and politics at Kabul University, said time is running out to quell the violence ahead of the vote.
“I’m not sure [it can happen], because in the past 11 years they were not able to improve the security, so how can they do it in another year and a half?” he said.
Noor, the election commission spokesman, said the commission has convened a council of the country’s top security officials to discuss election preparations.
“We have invited the security deputy minister of the Interior Ministry, chief of staff for the Ministry of Defense and officials from the National Security Directorate, and they have promised they will secure the environment for the election,” he said.
Jan Dad Spinghar, with the election watchdog Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, welcomed the announcement of the election date, but said reforms at the government’s election commission are necessary to ensure a fair vote. The president chooses all members of the commission and Karzai has resisted calls to add two foreign members to help guarantee the independence of the commission.
“[Currently] all commissioners are selected by the president and there is no structure to guarantee impartiality or the qualifications of commissioners,” he said.
A budding controversy also surrounds the scheduling of the provincial council elections on the same date, which would mean council members would be allowed to stay one year past their terms, which expire in 2013. Several members of parliament have said the move is illegal and are calling for changes.
“No one has the authority to give one more year to [them],” said Mohammad Akbar Stanakzai, a member of parliament from Logar province.
The corrupt, ineffective governance of the post-Taliban era has left many ordinary Afgh skeptical that another election can change things in a country beset by poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. This feeling was solidified by the 2009 elections, which were marred by reports of voter fraud and ballot stuffing.
Abdul Jalil, who owns an iron-working shop in Kabul, would rather see the election postponed until the government reaches a peace deal with the Taliban and foreign troops leave.
“The election can only be held when there is security in the country and our people don’t hear the sounds of mortars and bombs,” he said.
Sami Khairkhwa, who runs an electronics shop in Kabul, cited an Afghan proverb, saying he doesn’t believe that an election will reverse the culture of graft that has crept into Afghan institutions.
“A person who’s been bitten by a snake is afraid of even a rope,” he said. “The Afghan people have been bitten by a snake and we have learned a lot from this government.”
Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report.
druzinh@estripes.osd.mil
Kandahar Ulema Council Chief Rejects Arrest Allegation
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 05 November 2012
The head of the Ulema Council in Kandahar Mullah Tor Jan has rejected reports that he was arrested on Sunday by the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
The mullah said that although he had come to Kabul on Monday, it was not under the order of the NDS and he was not under arrest.
"I have personal work to do here in Kabul because of some works of our council. The report is not correct. As you see, I am not a prisoner and not in prison," he told a TOLOnews reporter in Kabul.
However, TOLOnews can confirm Tor Jan was being held or questioned in an NDS office on Monday.
An NDS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the mullah was detained after being linked with Taliban in the province and he was taken to Kabul.
Head of the High Peace Council in Kandahar said he understood that Tor Jan had been arrested but was not aware of the reason.
"Yes, we heard that he was arrested by security forces," Ata Mohammad Ahmadi told TOLOnews.
Kandarhar's police chief Abdul Raziq said recently that a number of mullahs were being identified as acting against the government and that they will be arrested.
"There are some mullahs across the province with unidentified nationalities who are coming from abroad and negatively proselytising against the government," Raziq said last month.
The National Ulema Council has declined to comment on the matter.
Kabul MP Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi told TOLOnews that no one should be exempt from the rule of law.
"In my belief, no one, not residents, religious scholars or unreligious ones should not have their hand in those activities that make the security worse, harm the national benefits and destroy the country," he said.
Mullah Tor Jan was a former Taliban commander who joined with ten of his followers in the government reconciliation and peace programme two years ago. He was later selected to head the Ulema Council in Kandahar.
Explosion in Parwan Burns 30 Vehicles
TOLOnews.com Monday, 05 November 2012
As many as 30 vehicles have been destroyed or burned in a massive explosion in the capital of northern Parwan province on Monday, local officials said.
Explosives were planted in a large fuel tanker and were detonated near a car show room at around 12:00 noon local time in Charikar city, provincial spokesman Roshan Kahlid told TOLOnews.
She said that the driver of the tanker had fled the area, however the security forces have launched a search operation to investigate the explosion and capture the driver.
No casualties were reported but a substantial amount of property was destroyed, Khalid added.
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com