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At Least 18 Killed In Afghan Attacks
November 8, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Officials say at least 18 people have been killed in three separate attacks in Afghanistan.
Police said 10 civilians, including women and a child, were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb on its way to a wedding in southern Helmand Province.
In eastern Laghman Province, an army convoy struck a landmine. Five soldiers were killed in the incident near the provincial capital, Mehtarlam.
Three police officers were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden motorbike at a police checkpoint in Kandahar city.
The attacks came as Afghan forces take increasing responsibility for the country's security as international forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014.
Based on reporting by AP and dpa
India approves 100 mln USD project for Afghanistan
NEW DELHI, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- India Thursday announced that it has approved 100 million U.S. dollars worth of small scale projects aimed at development in Afghanistan.
"The outlay for the third phase of the small developmental projects is 100 million U.S. dollars," Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told the media in the national capital, after the Indian Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cleared the projects ahead of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to India next week.
The finance minister added "the projects directly impact local communities and support social-economic development and facilitate community life through creation of infrastructure in various sectors including education, health and agriculture."
He said that the local communities of Afghanistan would directly benefit from the projects which will encompass all the 34 provinces of war-ravaged Afghanistan.
The way ahead for Afghans without America
Aljazeera By Steve Chao, Steve Chao is an award-winning correspondent based in Asia November 7, 2012
I still remember the mood on the streets of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar shortly after the Taliban surrendered their stronghold in December of 2001.
The people, for the most part, were jubilant. And vendors in their stalls in the dusty market in the centre of town would crank up the volume on their transistor radios every time we turned our camera on them – music was banned under the Taliban.
Taliban fighters, with their black turbans, were still there, sometimes glowering at us foreigners, but they had accepted their defeat.
There was hope then, and a belief that Americans could make a difference in a land devastated by decades of war. Eleven years later, as we ducked bullets from a resurging Taliban force, one is left with a clear impression that the US "War on Terror" has not gone so well.
"This sometimes happens. They take shots at us, testing us," says Colonel Abdul Hai Neshat, as bullets whiz by just inches from his head.
The Colonel's Afghan army unit, in fact, has taken fire several times a day, ever since it took command of Combat Outpost Nolay from the US Marines in late October.
As part of the 2014 pullout plan, US forces are starting to hand over bases in the volatile regions of southern Afghanistan.
Nolay is located in Helmand province, and like Kandahar, which lies to the east, the Taliban have strong roots here.
'Most dangerous place'
While peering cautiously out of an observation post, scanning for snipers, Neshat says with a strained smile, "This area is the most dangerous place in the whole of the country."
Since insurgents regrouped in 2006, more than 900 NATO and US soldiers have died in and around the lush stretch of trees and fields along the Helmand river valley.
While the surge of an additional 30,000 American troops over the last three years has created space for the Afghan national government to come in, it remains a hotbed of violence.
The 2nd Brigade of the 215th Corps, which Colonel Neshat helps lead, has a soldier wounded every day, and a soldier killed every two to three days.
When asked whether he believes his men are able to hold the gains made by American and NATO forces, he pauses, and answers slowly, "Yes, we can do this. We hope we can win this war, but it will take a long time."
It's a far less confident appraisal than the US President's.
Barack Obama, in defending the 2014 pullout date before his re-election, stated that "Afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country".
A recent report by a US government watchdog further challenges Obama's assessment. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction raises serious doubts as to whether the Afghan army can maintain the many bases it is taking over.
The report found that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of repair parts for many of the Afghan National Army's (ANA) vehicles have gone missing. It also notes a serious lack of trained personnel to deal with more technical trades.
Neshat himself admits that many of the armoured Humvees and Ford Rangers his troops send back to headquarters for repairs never come back.
He's also requested a budget of some $200,000 to build proper barracks for his men at Outpost Nolay.
Will to defend country
In the meantime, the 2nd brigade has accepted hand-me-down wood, donated from the tear-down of another US Marine base, to build shelters.
Neshat and officers have also taken to holding meetings outside, as they don't have engineers to properly fix the electric generators to power the camp.
Still, the unit is seen, by many American military officials, including Colonel Tom Pryzbelski, the US Marine leading the advisor team working with the 2nd brigade, as one of the most able in the Afghan army, as it still manages to clothe, feed and arm its troops, independent of NATO.
Compared to the Iraqi army unit in Fallujah that he advised in 2006, the thoughtful and soft-spoken Pryzbelski describes the Afghan contingent as "quite impressive", as they are "self-sufficient on many fronts".
While lacking in many areas, key advisors to NATO say rather than focus on the technical shortcomings of the ANA, the true test of its abilities will be whether there is a "will among troops to defend the country".
"It is about leadership," says Abdul Wasea Milad, the Afghan General who oversees the 2nd brigade. And as we sit with him and his men, upon his return from holiday during Eid, one is left with an impression that this former Mujahideen fighter, who fought the Soviets, is a charismatic man that prefers to lead by listening to his officers. "You must trust your men, then they trust you, and morale will be up," says Milad as he turns to address us.
"In my units, I tell them not to focus on tribes - the north and the south - or to think about politics. We are one nation – Afghanistan - and we need and we will defend it."
Milad then furrows his brow, and adds, "But to succeed, we need better leadership in Kabul. I do not know what has gone wrong there."
Rampant corruption
In 2011, Transparency International listed Afghanistan as the fourth most corrupt nation in the world (next only to Myanmar, North Korea and Somalia). Government ministers, and even Afghan President Hamid Karzai's close relatives, are often accused of helping themselves to the billions in aid and development money that has poured into the country.
A Kandahari, Milad faithfully served under Mullah Naqib, another mujahideen fighter. He is respected by many, including elements of the Taliban, for his military genius, but also for how he despised corruption.
(Mullah Naqib brokered the deal in 2001 that saw Taliban leader Mullah Omar surrender Kandahar and 3,000 militants to Hamid Karzai.)
"Without respect for the national government," says Milad, "it will be very hard to win people here over."
Indeed, Helmand and many parts of Kandahar have seen very little of international donor money.
Two major dam projects - the Kajaki in Helmand and the Dahla in Kandahar - that were supposed to provide steady electricity to the two provinces and improve irrigation for farmers have both stalled, despite millions spent by NATO forces.
That has given the Taliban more fodder in these parts to argue that foreign forces have done little good.
"The people support us," says a Taliban spokesperson in Helmand. "After 2014, we will take over southern Afghanistan. Just give us a month."
While the US prefers to describe the drawdown as a natural "transition to Afghan responsibility", many in these remote parts of the country see it at best as an orderly retreat.
Asked about his view of the American pullout, General Milad borrows a phrase often used by NATO forces over the years: "We have long fought shona ba shona (shoulder by shoulder) with US forces, we are now being asked to shoulder the weight of security alone. We wish they will not go."
Drawdown approach
In December, Obama will be briefed by his military commanders on how best to drawdown the forces. And how many troops to leave behind.
At the moment, it's believed that some 15 to 20,000 American troops may stay on as advisors.
Analysts - along with government consultants from Britain to India - are predicting that will not be enough to stop Afghanistan from sliding into civil war, with the Taliban taking over large parts of the South.
Milad says he's intent on not letting that happen.
But as we walk with him around this remote base, I'm reminded of the fate of his mentor Naqib.
In 2007, Taliban assassins bombed the vehicle he was in, seriously injuring the elderly leader. Four days after we last interviewed him, he succumbed to those injuries; his death was described as a heart attack.
That there have been incredible gains in many parts of Afghanistan, especially in major cities like Kabul, is undeniable.
The fear expressed by many Afghans, especially in the regions where the Taliban remain strong, is that by pulling out so soon, those gains may ultimately be squandered.
In the years following 2001, some of the Afghan intelligentsia that fled the country during the years of civil war returned. We met them in places like Kandahar city as they set up aid agencies, attempted to build businesses and lives there.
But in the recent months many have started to leave again, believing that with the Americans on their way out, hopes of a better Afghanistan are all but gone.
Afghan anger kept U.S. agents from killing scene
CNN By Chuck Conder November 8, 2012
Afghan anger kept U.S. agents from killing scene From Chuck Conder, CNN November 8, 2012
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington (CNN) -- For three weeks, security fears kept U.S. authorities from searching the Afghan village where an American soldier is accused of killing 16 Afghans, an Army investigator testified Wednesday.
Local tempers were so high over the killings that it was too dangerous for the Americans to go, said Matthew Hoffman, a special agent with the Army Criminal Investigation Command. Negotiations with local leaders over the issue took 20 days -- and even then, the investigators were guarded by U.S. and Afghan troops and watched over by two U.S. helicopters, he said.
"We were fully expecting to be attacked at any time," Hoffman said. "We didn't know how much time we had for our investigation."
Hoffman's testimony came during an Article 32 hearing for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier charged in the killings. The hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, will determine whether Bales will face trial for the deaths.
Hoffman was the lead investigator in the case. His team collected blood samples, took photographs and found a number of 9mm shells at the site, but much of the evidence had been collected by Afghan troops the day after the March 11 killings, he said.
The shooting spree near a small U.S. outpost in Afghanistan's Kandahar province last March strained already tense U.S.-Afghan relations and intensified a debate about whether to pull out American troops ahead of their planned 2014 withdrawal.
Bales is charged with 16 counts of premeditated murder, six counts of attempted murder, seven counts of assault and the illicit use of alcohol and steroids. He could be sentenced to death if convicted.
Another investigator, Trayce Lang, testified Wednesday that she found steroids hidden outside Bales' quarters. The sergeant's lawyer, John Henry Browne, has said that steroid use will be a key factor in Bales' defense.
Bales served three tours of duty in Iraq before being sent to Afghanistan and may have been suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, Browne said. Bales suffered a traumatic brain injury during a roadside bomb explosion and lost part of his foot in separate tours in Iraq, he said.
The Army has said Bales is the sole suspect in the killings, but Afghan villagers in the area have consistently rejected the contention that Bales acted alone.
Earlier this week, a fellow soldier testified that he and another soldier had been drinking with Bales hours before the attack. An officer, Capt. Daniel Fields, said that when he asked Bales after he surrendered what had happened, Bales replied, "I'm sorry I let you down."
A weary Afghanistan sighs at Obama’s second term
Washington Post By Pamela Constable November 7, 2012
KABUL - Najibullah, 32, a shopkeeper and law-school dropout who sells knock-off Chinese military garb in a crowded urban bazaar, followed the American presidential election closely on his small counter-top TV set.
Like many in the Afghan capital, he was happy when President Obama was elected in 2008, largely because he hoped it would bring about a change in U.S. military policy toward his country. But when he saw the news flash Wednesday afternoon about Obama’s re-election, his reaction was much more mixed.
“In one way I was happy he won, because he has a softer approach to the world than Romney, but I am also disappointed because he said so little about Afghanistan in his campaign,” said Najibullah, who uses only one name. “We don’t know what his plans are. All we know is that the American troops are going to leave, and everyone is very scared what will happen to us then.”
Across the capital Wednesday, people interviewed about the 2012 election immediately flashed forward to 2014, a year in which the remaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan will begin their final departure after a decade of war against Taliban insurgents, and in which Afghan presidential elections are scheduled to be held under tense and turbulent conditions.
Like Najibullah, many expressed deep ambivalence about the Obama administration’s past role in ratcheting up the war against Taliban insurgents and its current plan – now about to become official U.S. policy in a second Obama term – to get out of the conflict altogether except for a smaller role in training Afghan forces.
“As a Democrat, I’m happy for him. As an Afghan, I’m not,” said Shukria Barakzai, a liberal member of parliament who often visits the United States. “Everyone is worried about 2014. This is not a closed chapter. Obama promised us a responsible exit, and we hope he means it,” she said. “My message to him would be, please don’t step back and give up. Let’s begin a new relationship and work for a common vision. Please don’t ignore us.”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose relationship with Obama has often been acrimonious, issued a lukewarm message of congratulations from Indonesia, where he is attending a conference. In a statement tweeted by his office, Karzai said he hoped Obama’s second term would lead to “an expanded relationship based on mutual interests.”
Karzai cannot legally run for another presidential term, and last week he formally announced the schedule leading to elections on April 5, 2014. But critics fear the election might be tainted by the same kinds of fraud that marred Karzai’s re-election in 2009, leaving Afghanistan with a weak, poorly credible government that must face a persistent insurgency without international military support.
The Taliban, in a statement e-mailed to Western media outlets Wednesday evening, urged Obama to rethink American foreign policy, saying the United States should “stop policing the world” and “further burning the flames of world hatred.
“Obama knows the American nation is fed up with war and faces a dire economic tragedy,” it said. “Therefore he needs to withdraw soon his invading troops from our country and prevent further losses of American soldiers.”
The dominant feelings expressed by dozens of people in Kabul Wednesday were worry, confusion and enormous ambivalence about the past and future U.S. role in their country. Many offered complaints about the behavior of foreign troops, especially their insensitivity to Afghan culture. Yet in the next breath, they pleaded for Obama to keep U.S. forces in the country until it can achieve a modicum of political stability and self-defense.
“Your American troops violated our traditions and customs. They burned our holy Koran, and Americans made the video that insulted our Islam,” said Mohammed Daoud, 25, a student who was snacking between classes at the national teachers’ college. “Now they will go and leave behind only fighting and insecurity.”
Jawad Qazimi, 35, a pharmacist in a neighborhood of West Kabul, said his family survived heavy rocketing but lost their home and possessions during the civil war of the 1990s that nearly destroyed the capital and led to the Taliban takeover.
“I am praying to God that the dark days do not return again,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t watch TV and I don’t know about the American election,” Qazimi said. But I know one thing: we need the Americans to stay until our forces can defend us.”
4 Members of Afghan Police Are Found Guilty in Rape
New York Times By JAWAD SUKHANYAR and ALISSA J. RUBIN November 7, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - Before a packed courtroom in the capital, a judicial panel on Wednesday found four members of the Afghan Local Police guilty of involvement in the rape of a sheep herder’s daughter in a case that tested the judicial system’s ability to hold the controversial force accountable.
The four police officers, who are from Kunduz Province in northern Afghanistan, were sentenced to 16 years in prison for the sexual assault in May of Lal Bibi, a woman of about 18.
The men and their defense lawyer said they would appeal the verdict.
Among those held to account was the unit’s commander, Muhammad Ishaq Nezaami. He had ties to many local power brokers and initially appeared untouchable, although local people charged that he had been a chief backer of the assault, allowing his truck to be used and supporting his men who carried out the rape. He was detained only after President Hamid Karzai issued clear instructions that all the assailants were to be brought to justice.
During the trial, Mr. Nezaami denied that Lal Bibi had been raped, saying there had been a marriage contract with one of the men. He then suggested that rape was even more unlikely because she was unattractive. “Unveil her and see her face and tell me if she deserves to get married with anyone,” he said during the proceedings.
After the sentencing on Wednesday, he expressed frustration and anger over the verdict. “I would prefer Mullah Muhammad Omar’s regime to this unjust government,” he said, referring to the Taliban leader.
Several of those watching the trial said the case demonstrated some of the problems with the Afghan Local Police, militia forces trained by American Special Operations troops that are meant to extend security in areas that are remote or hostile and where there are too few Afghan uniformed police officers.
“It is important that they were brought to Kabul and to justice, not only to get punishment, but so that they get negative publicity for the bad things they do,” said Fawzia Koofi, a member of Parliament. She made a point of attending the trial to show that it was important for rape cases to be given the same weight as other crimes.
“The whole establishment of A.L.P. is something we have to reconsider in terms of its effectiveness,” she said, adding: “Their misuse of power that makes more Afghans victims is greater than their positive impact. The use of guns will not bring stability to the citizens, especially when it’s used without accountability and oversight.”
Lal Bibi, who appeared in court covered by a burqa, testified briefly but was so distraught and weeping so profusely that it was difficult to understand her words.
Afterward, her grandfather, Hajji Rustam, said family members were satisfied both with the verdict — although they would have preferred hanging — and with the government for bringing the culprits to justice.
“We are happy that the government listened to us, and our trust in the government and the enforcement of law is growing; now we know that there is someone who hears our voices and who can be relied on in times of hardship and problems,” he said.
The family, who are Kuchis, seminomadic herders who subsist on buying and selling sheep and goats, were terrified by the local police shortly after Lal Bibi’s case came to light. They fled to the provincial capital, Kunduz, for safety.
However, instead of seeking a deal with their daughter’s persecutors or following the brutal, traditional practice of killing her to redeem the family’s honor because she had been tainted by rape, they decided to seek justice through the government, which was an extraordinary step.
Now, the 12 local tribal elders who came with them to Kabul for support will head back to Kunduz with a message of hope for other families there, Mr. Rustam said.
“Every single one of over one dozen tribal leaders who are traveling with me is going to take a message to their villages that they can trust the government and that they shouldn’t be afraid of any armed men, and that there is a government that will hear their voice,” he said.
Jawad Sukhanyar reported from Kabul, and Alissa J. Rubin from Paris. Habib Zahori contributed reporting from Kabul.
As 'insider attacks' grow, so does U.S.-Afghanistan divide
Suspicion and resentment are rife amid the deadly attacks on U.S. troops from within the ranks of the Afghan security personnel they're training.
Los Angeles Times By David S. Cloud November 7, 2012
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Army Spc. Steve Beaty was on alert for signs of danger, well aware of a surge in attacks on U.S. troops by Afghans wearing police or army uniforms. The guard approaching him in a bulky coat, hands crossed at his waist, looked suspicious.
With the Afghan only 15 feet away, Beaty raised his M-4 rifle. It was then that the guard detonated his suicide vest, shooting ball bearings and shrapnel across a landing zone where two dozen American soldiers, CIA operatives, interpreters and Afghan intelligence officials had just arrived on two helicopters.
"It was a crack, a sharp-sounding explosion, and then I saw people down, and others going down," said Spc. Mike Juhola, a 40-year-old Army medic.
Beaty yelled that he was hit. An interpreter was bleeding heavily from a leg and screaming. A CIA officer nicknamed Cowboy cradled the head of another agency operative in his lap. Spc. Brittany Gordon, a 24-year-old Army intelligence analyst, lay crumpled on the ground, a massive wound in the back of her head. Afghan intelligence officers and other U.S. soldiers were sprawled nearby.
The Oct. 13 attack near the border with Pakistan, like dozens of others this year, was carried out by a member of Afghanistan's security forces. Abdul Wali had joined the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's intelligence service, after six years as a border guard. He had no known ties to the Taliban or personal grievances. His motive may never be known.
Interviews with commanders and soldiers in Kandahar provided graphic details of several so-called insider attacks and illustrated how deeply they are dividing U.S. forces from the Afghan army and police units the Americans have promised to mentor, train and fight with for at least two more years.
"As we decide whether to do an operation now, is the main risk from the enemy? Or from our own partners?" said Lt. Col. Patrick Michaelis, a U.S. battalion commander in Kandahar.
U.S. and Afghan units still fight and train closely together every day, but often there is wariness and suspicion.
There have been 41 insider attacks by Afghan soldiers and police this year, killing 35 Americans and 22 people from other countries with forces in Afghanistan. Cmdr. William Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman, said "significantly more" Afghans than foreigners have died in the attacks.
The U.S. military now is employing "guardian angels," armed troops who keep watch whenever American personnel are in the vicinity of Afghan allies. It is erecting higher blast walls and razor wire. U.S. forces are limiting joint operations and constructing separate, armed compounds at bases where they once lived side by side with the Afghan army and police.
Until recently, guards would wave Col. Rhamatullah Atrafi through when the top police official in Kandahar arrived for his regular security meeting at Camp Nathan Smith, the U.S. base in the city.
But recently they ordered him out of his vehicle and used a bomb-sniffing dog to check him for hidden explosives.
When he finally was allowed in, Rhamatullah was seething.
"I have always been able to park inside. Now I have to leave my vehicle at the gate," he complained in a steely voice after sitting down with Michaelis. "So I will not come here again."
Rhamatullah's anger gradually eased as the discussion turned to security threats in Kandahar. But their exchange illustrated the difficult task American officers face as they try to maintain working relationships with Afghan security officials.
Kandahar is the Taliban's spiritual home and securing it has been a key goal for years. But the U.S. was already shrinking its combat role and turning security responsibility over to the Afghan army and police when the insider attacks intensified over the summer. In place of combat troops, 18-to-22-person teams of American advisors were formed to live and train with Afghan units, with the aim of bolstering their capabilities before the U.S. pullout in 2014.
The risk of placing the small teams in joint bases became clear June 19 when an Afghan policeman named Haji Bismullah arrived at the gate of a small base on Kandahar's west side with four men in fresh uniforms in the back of a green pickup. They were new recruits, he told the guards, as he drove through the gate at 5:55 a.m.
Bismullah dropped the four men off and sped away.
Splitting into two teams, the men attacked, firing AK-47s into tents where many of the more than three dozen Afghan police and U.S. soldiers were still sleeping. Two made straight for the bunk of Capt. Abdul Kaduz, the Afghan commander.
Sgt. P.J. Dunlevy, an American soldier who had gotten up early, came face to face with the two other attackers. One raised his rifle and pulled the trigger. It jammed.
Dunlevy sprinted away, hearing a burst of bullets behind him.
Armed only with a pistol, he ran to the small operations tent, joining three other soldiers inside. They radioed a nearby U.S. outpost for reinforcements and counted their ammunition.
On security monitors inside the tent, they saw the Afghan gunmen walking methodically around the camp, firing and throwing grenades.
"We were prepared to die in place," Dunlevy recalled later in an interview. "I thought everybody else was dead."
Lt. Col. Matthew McKinley said that when the shooting started he was near the latrine with Thomas Boyle, a 62-year-old retired Chicago policeman who was helping to advise Afghan police.
"I said, 'Tom we need to get under cover,'" McKinley recalled. "I ran and thought he was behind me, but he was hit right after that."
The attack was halted 15 minutes later when Sgt. Scott Stanley shot three of the gunmen from a guard tower and Sgt. Brandon Scott, an Army cook who had been wounded by a grenade, grabbed his rifle and shot the fourth.
When the shooting stopped, Boyle, Kaduz and four other Afghan police officers were dead. A dozen U.S. soldiers, all of them reservists from Michigan, and seven Afghans were wounded.
After the insider attacks intensified in August and September, U.S. commanders in Kandahar ordered American units living on isolated bases to divide the facilities into Afghan and American halves, with armed guards, razor wire and blast walls between them.
At a small joint base along Highway 1, the main road through the city, a soldier with a machine gun keeps 24-hour watch on a gate that now divides the U.S. and Afghan side of the cramped walled compound.
The new security measures have "caused a lot of tension and a lot of strain," said Capt. Terron Wharton. "When the Afghans see guys putting gates up that say, 'You don't trust me,' that's where the tension has been."
Maj. Brian Schoellhorn, leader of a police advisory team at the same outpost, said the new security measures had not prevented him from working closely with the Afghan commander, Col. Farooq Parwani. But he surrounded himself with more U.S. soldiers.
"Instead of taking two guys and walking over to the headquarters, we took five," he said, adding that Parwani "understood completely" and "in some ways it solidified our relationship."
Not even an alert security detail could prevent the deadly suicide attack last month at the helicopter landing zone near Pakistan.
Juhola, the medic, was not injured and in the minutes after the attack he did a quick accounting of the casualties. Of the two dozen U.S. soldiers, Afghan intelligence agents, CIA officers and interpreters at the site, a dozen were in critical condition and four appeared to be dead or nearly so.
Gordon, the intelligence analyst from St. Petersburg, Fla., on her first deployment, was "in a worse state than anyone else," Juhola recalled. Beaty suffered shrapnel wounds to his throat, face and arms, as well as a broken foot.
The CIA officer nicknamed Cowboy was helping transport the wounded to a makeshift aid station away from the landing zone, apparently only slightly injured. But after 10 minutes he slumped to the ground. No blood was visible on his shirt or his protective vest, but a piece of shrapnel had pierced his back.
Juhola and another medic worked on him with the limited supplies they had left.
"I would squeeze his hand, and he would squeeze my hand," Juhola said. "We got him to the point where we thought he was stable."
But as they prepared to load him aboard a Black Hawk helicopter, they saw that he was gone. So were Gordon and four Afghan intelligence agents. Their bodies were zipped into bags and flown away.
david.cloud@latimes.com
Two Views of Officer Emerge in Afghan Case
New York Times By KIRK JOHNSON November 7, 2012
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. - Prosecutors in the Army’s case against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of murdering 16 civilians in Afghanistan this year, have portrayed him as a rogue agent in the Army’s midst, a methodical slaughterer who was rational and conscious of his guilt.
But a defense witness who worked closely with Sergeant Bales told the court on Wednesday, in sometimes frankly admiring terms, that he had seen great promise in the sergeant’s work ethic and leadership ability — traits, he said, that merited promotion.
“He was a soldier’s leader — that’s the way I saw him,” said the witness, First Sergeant Vernon Bigham, who testified remotely through a video feed from a post in Afghanistan. “I thought he was doing an outstanding job.”
Sergeant Bales, 39, could face the death penalty if the preliminary hearing that began here on Monday, called an Article 32 investigation, proceeds to a full court-martial as a capital case. At least 35 witnesses are expected to testify either in person or through remote video from Afghanistan. But the portrait that is emerging in the courtroom before Col. Lee Deneke, the investigating officer, who will make recommendations about the next steps in the case, is nothing if not complex.
Prosecutors, for example, have elicited testimony from fellow soldiers who described Sergeant Bales’s calm, coherent demeanor on the night of the shootings. But other testimony has hinted at a thread of rage and perhaps misogyny as well, with witnesses telling the court about disparaging comments Sergeant Bales made about his wife and his frustration at failing to gain promotion faster.
Of the 16 victims who were killed in the early morning hours of March 11 in two villages in Kandahar Province, nine were female — four women and five girls. Sergeant Bales’s wife, Karilyn, has sat behind her husband in the courtroom this week.
On cross-examination by one of the prosecutors, Lt. Col. Joseph Morse, Sergeant Bigham said that he had heard Sergeant Bales make the disparaging comments and that he knew he had made them to others as well. Were those comments, the prosecutor asked, inappropriate?
“Could be,” said Sergeant Bigham, a senior noncommissioned officer who oversaw Sergeant Bales.
Sergeant Bigham also said under cross-examination that Sergeant Bales had not mentioned anything to him about post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury, both of which affected him, according to Sergeant Bales’s lead defense lawyer, John Henry Browne.
Another defense lawyer, Maj. Gregory Malson, asked Sergeant Bigham what would have happened if Sergeant Bales had mentioned post-traumatic stress to him. Would he have recommended Sergeant Bales for such a difficult assignment, working with Special Forces teams in Kandahar Province?
“I wouldn’t have,” Sergeant Bigham said.
Major Malson asked whether talking to superior officers about traumatic injury or stress was “sometimes seen as weaknesses” in the Army. Sergeant Bigham said he “never saw it that way.”
Another witness gave an indication on Wednesday of just how different a crime scene investigation in a war zone could be. The witness, Special Agent Matthew Hoffman, said he did not arrive at the villages where the killings occurred until about three weeks later, and even then investigators feared being attacked.
He said metal objects in the ground that might have been evidence were popped out by the security team to make sure the area was safe, so the objects’ provenance was uncertain.
Mr. Hoffman also testified that Sergeant Bales testified positive for steroids three days after the killings.
Football Fever in the Hindu Kush
Heading out to the stadium for a soccer game, our correspondent wonders whether the battle for Afghanistan might be won on the playing fields of Kabul.
Vanity Fair By Tom Freston November 8, 2012
While it’s not yet “Morning in Afghanistan” by any stretch of the imagination, sometimes you can see things there that give you faith in the country’s future—and offer a counter-argument to the view that the Taliban will soon be back in Kabul closing schools, whipping women, and beheading men. I visited Kabul in October to watch some soccer games played by Afghanistan’s first professional sports organization, the Afghan Premier League (A.P.L.). This new, eight-team group was created by Moby Group, the leading independent broadcaster in the country (I work with them). The televised games took the country by storm, demonstrating the great value of entertainment in a country that has suffered through 35 years of war.
The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan for military purposes during the last 11 years. You have to wonder why someone in Washington did not think to invest a lot more in things like a sports league that actually give people pleasure, make them feel that things are improving, and provide something to talk about other than who is killing whom. Popular culture and entrepreneurship are skills Americans know a lot about, but we always seem to lead with our rifles. (The effort was partly funded by the U.S. embassy, in addition to the British embassy and the private sector.)
Americans see a nonstop barrage of bad news coming out of Afghanistan. There actually is some significant good news, if you dig a little deeper. In less than 10 years, thanks to better medical care and improved infrastructure, life expectancy has dramatically improved (from 42 to 62 years, according to a U.S.A.I.D. study). School attendance is way up, especially for girls (3.2 million girls are now in school, compared with 50,000 under the Taliban). There is strong economic activity not related to the war. The biggest successes have been in Afghan-led businesses in industries such as telecommunications and media. Under the Taliban, there were a few thousand telephone landlines; now there are 17 million cell phone subscribers. There was no television at all—it was banned. Today there are more than 75 TV stations. Obviously all of this has had a significant social impact, especially in the cities, where you see a new, young urban class (Afghanistan’s median age is 18) that is weary of war and wants to participa
te in the modern world.
The soccer league is a great example of Afghan entrepreneurship. Afghans are good soccer players and have fielded a national team off and on since 1948. Games were primarily played outside the country, so few Afghans saw them. The genius of the A.P.L. was to recognize that, with 60 percent of Afghans now having access to television, soccer games could be broadcast nationally on the new networks and a proper league could be supported. Football fever has ensued. Here are some new heroes at last; buff, handsome, polite sportsmen with colorful uniforms and gelled hair. (The A.P.L. does not sponsor a women’s team, but Afghanistan does have a women’s national team.) The TV production is state of the art: 10 cameras, slo-mo, instant replay, sharp graphics with stats, lively announcers. The command post is a shipping container outside the stadium.
I found a couch, watched a couple of games on TV, and then headed out on a Friday to attend a semi-finals match. It was a perfect fall day, the sky a deep cobalt blue. The stadium, below a stunning backdrop of mountains, was on the outskirts of Kabul, just beyond a crumbling Soviet-built neighborhood with the science-fiction name Microrayon 1. The stadium was new and held 5,000 fans, and was a happier venue than the nearby Ghazi Stadium, which the Taliban had used for public executions. A police officer waved my car into the parking lot with his AK-47. The police had shields and long batons in case of a riot or an attack.
As it turned out, the event was as peaceful as Woodstock, though with more clothing and less rain. The crowd was spirited and a great mix: male and female, old and young, rich and poor. The look on their faces was one of pure joy—something that has been missing from their lives. The stadium pumped with Dari and Pashtu pop music. Fans even did the wave. The soccer teams were purposely created with “unity” in mind: each had players from different ethnic groups. The point is, you root for a region, not a tribe or a political faction. The game was something of a rout: the De Spinghar Bazan, meaning Hawks, were trounced 10-0 by the excellent Harirod team, the Toofan, meaning Storm, from Herat. Three of Spinghar’s players left the field on stretchers.
Today the Afghans are caught between their government (generally thought to be predatory and corrupt), the brutal Taliban (which few believe will come back to power—“too much toothpaste out of the tube”), the many thousands of foreign troops (who have worn out their welcome), and meddling Pakistan. It’s quite a maze to negotiate, but with the withdrawal of most American forces by 2014 there might be a better outcome than many expect. Most analyses of the future of Afghanistan seem to leave out the calculations and desires of the Afghan people. They have a different worldview now, and it’s a far cry from what existed in 2001 under the Taliban’s medieval regime.
Jihadi Council Distributing Weapons to 'Units': Herat Spox
TOLOnews.com By Jawid Zeyaratjaei Wednesday, 07 November 2012
The Jihadi Council led by Afghanistan's Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan has started distributing weapons to its members in western Herat province, the provincial spokesman Mahiuddin Noori said Wednesday.
Noori warned that armed groups apart from the Afghan security forces are against the law and the distribution of weapons is a criminal offence.
"In the past several months, the non-government Council of the Mujahedeen [Jihadi Council] has distributed weapons to the residents which is against Afghanistan's laws," Noori said on Wednesday, adding that there is proof of this claim.
He showed a signed piece of paper with the Jihadi Council's appointment of a commander or "security official".
"Anyone who distributes weapons apart from the government commits a crime. It is against the national interests of the government and the country and it will be prosecuted. The justice and security organs are investigating this issue," he said.
However, Jihadi Council leaders denied the claim, although they confirmed that the men have grouped into "units" and appointed commanders.
"According to the order from Ismail Khan, we have already inaugurated 30 to 40 Mujahedeen units and assigned their commanders. Weapons were not distributed by unit commanders," Jihadi Council deputy chief Khuwaja Shamsuddin said Wednesday.
Herat's provincial governor Dawood Shah Saba emphasised yesterday that the residents of the western province will not accept militias.
"I want to clearly say that the people of Afghanistan rely on their sons as the police and army and national security department, which have the ability to protect the national sovereignty and honor of the country. They do not need any more for the agents of outsiders," the governor said in a gathering in Herat on Tuesday.
The Jihadi Council was formed in Herat last year under the leadership of former Jihadi commander and current Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan.
Last week he revealed that plans were underway to re-form the army which had fought the Soviet Russians in the 80s, claiming that because Nato had failed to secure Afghanistan against the insurgents, the Mujahedeen would do it themselves.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
November 8, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Officials say at least 18 people have been killed in three separate attacks in Afghanistan.
Police said 10 civilians, including women and a child, were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb on its way to a wedding in southern Helmand Province.
In eastern Laghman Province, an army convoy struck a landmine. Five soldiers were killed in the incident near the provincial capital, Mehtarlam.
Three police officers were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden motorbike at a police checkpoint in Kandahar city.
The attacks came as Afghan forces take increasing responsibility for the country's security as international forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014.
Based on reporting by AP and dpa
India approves 100 mln USD project for Afghanistan
NEW DELHI, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- India Thursday announced that it has approved 100 million U.S. dollars worth of small scale projects aimed at development in Afghanistan.
"The outlay for the third phase of the small developmental projects is 100 million U.S. dollars," Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told the media in the national capital, after the Indian Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cleared the projects ahead of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to India next week.
The finance minister added "the projects directly impact local communities and support social-economic development and facilitate community life through creation of infrastructure in various sectors including education, health and agriculture."
He said that the local communities of Afghanistan would directly benefit from the projects which will encompass all the 34 provinces of war-ravaged Afghanistan.
The way ahead for Afghans without America
Aljazeera By Steve Chao, Steve Chao is an award-winning correspondent based in Asia November 7, 2012
I still remember the mood on the streets of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar shortly after the Taliban surrendered their stronghold in December of 2001.
The people, for the most part, were jubilant. And vendors in their stalls in the dusty market in the centre of town would crank up the volume on their transistor radios every time we turned our camera on them – music was banned under the Taliban.
Taliban fighters, with their black turbans, were still there, sometimes glowering at us foreigners, but they had accepted their defeat.
There was hope then, and a belief that Americans could make a difference in a land devastated by decades of war. Eleven years later, as we ducked bullets from a resurging Taliban force, one is left with a clear impression that the US "War on Terror" has not gone so well.
"This sometimes happens. They take shots at us, testing us," says Colonel Abdul Hai Neshat, as bullets whiz by just inches from his head.
The Colonel's Afghan army unit, in fact, has taken fire several times a day, ever since it took command of Combat Outpost Nolay from the US Marines in late October.
As part of the 2014 pullout plan, US forces are starting to hand over bases in the volatile regions of southern Afghanistan.
Nolay is located in Helmand province, and like Kandahar, which lies to the east, the Taliban have strong roots here.
'Most dangerous place'
While peering cautiously out of an observation post, scanning for snipers, Neshat says with a strained smile, "This area is the most dangerous place in the whole of the country."
Since insurgents regrouped in 2006, more than 900 NATO and US soldiers have died in and around the lush stretch of trees and fields along the Helmand river valley.
While the surge of an additional 30,000 American troops over the last three years has created space for the Afghan national government to come in, it remains a hotbed of violence.
The 2nd Brigade of the 215th Corps, which Colonel Neshat helps lead, has a soldier wounded every day, and a soldier killed every two to three days.
When asked whether he believes his men are able to hold the gains made by American and NATO forces, he pauses, and answers slowly, "Yes, we can do this. We hope we can win this war, but it will take a long time."
It's a far less confident appraisal than the US President's.
Barack Obama, in defending the 2014 pullout date before his re-election, stated that "Afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country".
A recent report by a US government watchdog further challenges Obama's assessment. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction raises serious doubts as to whether the Afghan army can maintain the many bases it is taking over.
The report found that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of repair parts for many of the Afghan National Army's (ANA) vehicles have gone missing. It also notes a serious lack of trained personnel to deal with more technical trades.
Neshat himself admits that many of the armoured Humvees and Ford Rangers his troops send back to headquarters for repairs never come back.
He's also requested a budget of some $200,000 to build proper barracks for his men at Outpost Nolay.
Will to defend country
In the meantime, the 2nd brigade has accepted hand-me-down wood, donated from the tear-down of another US Marine base, to build shelters.
Neshat and officers have also taken to holding meetings outside, as they don't have engineers to properly fix the electric generators to power the camp.
Still, the unit is seen, by many American military officials, including Colonel Tom Pryzbelski, the US Marine leading the advisor team working with the 2nd brigade, as one of the most able in the Afghan army, as it still manages to clothe, feed and arm its troops, independent of NATO.
Compared to the Iraqi army unit in Fallujah that he advised in 2006, the thoughtful and soft-spoken Pryzbelski describes the Afghan contingent as "quite impressive", as they are "self-sufficient on many fronts".
While lacking in many areas, key advisors to NATO say rather than focus on the technical shortcomings of the ANA, the true test of its abilities will be whether there is a "will among troops to defend the country".
"It is about leadership," says Abdul Wasea Milad, the Afghan General who oversees the 2nd brigade. And as we sit with him and his men, upon his return from holiday during Eid, one is left with an impression that this former Mujahideen fighter, who fought the Soviets, is a charismatic man that prefers to lead by listening to his officers. "You must trust your men, then they trust you, and morale will be up," says Milad as he turns to address us.
"In my units, I tell them not to focus on tribes - the north and the south - or to think about politics. We are one nation – Afghanistan - and we need and we will defend it."
Milad then furrows his brow, and adds, "But to succeed, we need better leadership in Kabul. I do not know what has gone wrong there."
Rampant corruption
In 2011, Transparency International listed Afghanistan as the fourth most corrupt nation in the world (next only to Myanmar, North Korea and Somalia). Government ministers, and even Afghan President Hamid Karzai's close relatives, are often accused of helping themselves to the billions in aid and development money that has poured into the country.
A Kandahari, Milad faithfully served under Mullah Naqib, another mujahideen fighter. He is respected by many, including elements of the Taliban, for his military genius, but also for how he despised corruption.
(Mullah Naqib brokered the deal in 2001 that saw Taliban leader Mullah Omar surrender Kandahar and 3,000 militants to Hamid Karzai.)
"Without respect for the national government," says Milad, "it will be very hard to win people here over."
Indeed, Helmand and many parts of Kandahar have seen very little of international donor money.
Two major dam projects - the Kajaki in Helmand and the Dahla in Kandahar - that were supposed to provide steady electricity to the two provinces and improve irrigation for farmers have both stalled, despite millions spent by NATO forces.
That has given the Taliban more fodder in these parts to argue that foreign forces have done little good.
"The people support us," says a Taliban spokesperson in Helmand. "After 2014, we will take over southern Afghanistan. Just give us a month."
While the US prefers to describe the drawdown as a natural "transition to Afghan responsibility", many in these remote parts of the country see it at best as an orderly retreat.
Asked about his view of the American pullout, General Milad borrows a phrase often used by NATO forces over the years: "We have long fought shona ba shona (shoulder by shoulder) with US forces, we are now being asked to shoulder the weight of security alone. We wish they will not go."
Drawdown approach
In December, Obama will be briefed by his military commanders on how best to drawdown the forces. And how many troops to leave behind.
At the moment, it's believed that some 15 to 20,000 American troops may stay on as advisors.
Analysts - along with government consultants from Britain to India - are predicting that will not be enough to stop Afghanistan from sliding into civil war, with the Taliban taking over large parts of the South.
Milad says he's intent on not letting that happen.
But as we walk with him around this remote base, I'm reminded of the fate of his mentor Naqib.
In 2007, Taliban assassins bombed the vehicle he was in, seriously injuring the elderly leader. Four days after we last interviewed him, he succumbed to those injuries; his death was described as a heart attack.
That there have been incredible gains in many parts of Afghanistan, especially in major cities like Kabul, is undeniable.
The fear expressed by many Afghans, especially in the regions where the Taliban remain strong, is that by pulling out so soon, those gains may ultimately be squandered.
In the years following 2001, some of the Afghan intelligentsia that fled the country during the years of civil war returned. We met them in places like Kandahar city as they set up aid agencies, attempted to build businesses and lives there.
But in the recent months many have started to leave again, believing that with the Americans on their way out, hopes of a better Afghanistan are all but gone.
Afghan anger kept U.S. agents from killing scene
CNN By Chuck Conder November 8, 2012
Afghan anger kept U.S. agents from killing scene From Chuck Conder, CNN November 8, 2012
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington (CNN) -- For three weeks, security fears kept U.S. authorities from searching the Afghan village where an American soldier is accused of killing 16 Afghans, an Army investigator testified Wednesday.
Local tempers were so high over the killings that it was too dangerous for the Americans to go, said Matthew Hoffman, a special agent with the Army Criminal Investigation Command. Negotiations with local leaders over the issue took 20 days -- and even then, the investigators were guarded by U.S. and Afghan troops and watched over by two U.S. helicopters, he said.
"We were fully expecting to be attacked at any time," Hoffman said. "We didn't know how much time we had for our investigation."
Hoffman's testimony came during an Article 32 hearing for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier charged in the killings. The hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, will determine whether Bales will face trial for the deaths.
Hoffman was the lead investigator in the case. His team collected blood samples, took photographs and found a number of 9mm shells at the site, but much of the evidence had been collected by Afghan troops the day after the March 11 killings, he said.
The shooting spree near a small U.S. outpost in Afghanistan's Kandahar province last March strained already tense U.S.-Afghan relations and intensified a debate about whether to pull out American troops ahead of their planned 2014 withdrawal.
Bales is charged with 16 counts of premeditated murder, six counts of attempted murder, seven counts of assault and the illicit use of alcohol and steroids. He could be sentenced to death if convicted.
Another investigator, Trayce Lang, testified Wednesday that she found steroids hidden outside Bales' quarters. The sergeant's lawyer, John Henry Browne, has said that steroid use will be a key factor in Bales' defense.
Bales served three tours of duty in Iraq before being sent to Afghanistan and may have been suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, Browne said. Bales suffered a traumatic brain injury during a roadside bomb explosion and lost part of his foot in separate tours in Iraq, he said.
The Army has said Bales is the sole suspect in the killings, but Afghan villagers in the area have consistently rejected the contention that Bales acted alone.
Earlier this week, a fellow soldier testified that he and another soldier had been drinking with Bales hours before the attack. An officer, Capt. Daniel Fields, said that when he asked Bales after he surrendered what had happened, Bales replied, "I'm sorry I let you down."
A weary Afghanistan sighs at Obama’s second term
Washington Post By Pamela Constable November 7, 2012
KABUL - Najibullah, 32, a shopkeeper and law-school dropout who sells knock-off Chinese military garb in a crowded urban bazaar, followed the American presidential election closely on his small counter-top TV set.
Like many in the Afghan capital, he was happy when President Obama was elected in 2008, largely because he hoped it would bring about a change in U.S. military policy toward his country. But when he saw the news flash Wednesday afternoon about Obama’s re-election, his reaction was much more mixed.
“In one way I was happy he won, because he has a softer approach to the world than Romney, but I am also disappointed because he said so little about Afghanistan in his campaign,” said Najibullah, who uses only one name. “We don’t know what his plans are. All we know is that the American troops are going to leave, and everyone is very scared what will happen to us then.”
Across the capital Wednesday, people interviewed about the 2012 election immediately flashed forward to 2014, a year in which the remaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan will begin their final departure after a decade of war against Taliban insurgents, and in which Afghan presidential elections are scheduled to be held under tense and turbulent conditions.
Like Najibullah, many expressed deep ambivalence about the Obama administration’s past role in ratcheting up the war against Taliban insurgents and its current plan – now about to become official U.S. policy in a second Obama term – to get out of the conflict altogether except for a smaller role in training Afghan forces.
“As a Democrat, I’m happy for him. As an Afghan, I’m not,” said Shukria Barakzai, a liberal member of parliament who often visits the United States. “Everyone is worried about 2014. This is not a closed chapter. Obama promised us a responsible exit, and we hope he means it,” she said. “My message to him would be, please don’t step back and give up. Let’s begin a new relationship and work for a common vision. Please don’t ignore us.”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose relationship with Obama has often been acrimonious, issued a lukewarm message of congratulations from Indonesia, where he is attending a conference. In a statement tweeted by his office, Karzai said he hoped Obama’s second term would lead to “an expanded relationship based on mutual interests.”
Karzai cannot legally run for another presidential term, and last week he formally announced the schedule leading to elections on April 5, 2014. But critics fear the election might be tainted by the same kinds of fraud that marred Karzai’s re-election in 2009, leaving Afghanistan with a weak, poorly credible government that must face a persistent insurgency without international military support.
The Taliban, in a statement e-mailed to Western media outlets Wednesday evening, urged Obama to rethink American foreign policy, saying the United States should “stop policing the world” and “further burning the flames of world hatred.
“Obama knows the American nation is fed up with war and faces a dire economic tragedy,” it said. “Therefore he needs to withdraw soon his invading troops from our country and prevent further losses of American soldiers.”
The dominant feelings expressed by dozens of people in Kabul Wednesday were worry, confusion and enormous ambivalence about the past and future U.S. role in their country. Many offered complaints about the behavior of foreign troops, especially their insensitivity to Afghan culture. Yet in the next breath, they pleaded for Obama to keep U.S. forces in the country until it can achieve a modicum of political stability and self-defense.
“Your American troops violated our traditions and customs. They burned our holy Koran, and Americans made the video that insulted our Islam,” said Mohammed Daoud, 25, a student who was snacking between classes at the national teachers’ college. “Now they will go and leave behind only fighting and insecurity.”
Jawad Qazimi, 35, a pharmacist in a neighborhood of West Kabul, said his family survived heavy rocketing but lost their home and possessions during the civil war of the 1990s that nearly destroyed the capital and led to the Taliban takeover.
“I am praying to God that the dark days do not return again,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t watch TV and I don’t know about the American election,” Qazimi said. But I know one thing: we need the Americans to stay until our forces can defend us.”
4 Members of Afghan Police Are Found Guilty in Rape
New York Times By JAWAD SUKHANYAR and ALISSA J. RUBIN November 7, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - Before a packed courtroom in the capital, a judicial panel on Wednesday found four members of the Afghan Local Police guilty of involvement in the rape of a sheep herder’s daughter in a case that tested the judicial system’s ability to hold the controversial force accountable.
The four police officers, who are from Kunduz Province in northern Afghanistan, were sentenced to 16 years in prison for the sexual assault in May of Lal Bibi, a woman of about 18.
The men and their defense lawyer said they would appeal the verdict.
Among those held to account was the unit’s commander, Muhammad Ishaq Nezaami. He had ties to many local power brokers and initially appeared untouchable, although local people charged that he had been a chief backer of the assault, allowing his truck to be used and supporting his men who carried out the rape. He was detained only after President Hamid Karzai issued clear instructions that all the assailants were to be brought to justice.
During the trial, Mr. Nezaami denied that Lal Bibi had been raped, saying there had been a marriage contract with one of the men. He then suggested that rape was even more unlikely because she was unattractive. “Unveil her and see her face and tell me if she deserves to get married with anyone,” he said during the proceedings.
After the sentencing on Wednesday, he expressed frustration and anger over the verdict. “I would prefer Mullah Muhammad Omar’s regime to this unjust government,” he said, referring to the Taliban leader.
Several of those watching the trial said the case demonstrated some of the problems with the Afghan Local Police, militia forces trained by American Special Operations troops that are meant to extend security in areas that are remote or hostile and where there are too few Afghan uniformed police officers.
“It is important that they were brought to Kabul and to justice, not only to get punishment, but so that they get negative publicity for the bad things they do,” said Fawzia Koofi, a member of Parliament. She made a point of attending the trial to show that it was important for rape cases to be given the same weight as other crimes.
“The whole establishment of A.L.P. is something we have to reconsider in terms of its effectiveness,” she said, adding: “Their misuse of power that makes more Afghans victims is greater than their positive impact. The use of guns will not bring stability to the citizens, especially when it’s used without accountability and oversight.”
Lal Bibi, who appeared in court covered by a burqa, testified briefly but was so distraught and weeping so profusely that it was difficult to understand her words.
Afterward, her grandfather, Hajji Rustam, said family members were satisfied both with the verdict — although they would have preferred hanging — and with the government for bringing the culprits to justice.
“We are happy that the government listened to us, and our trust in the government and the enforcement of law is growing; now we know that there is someone who hears our voices and who can be relied on in times of hardship and problems,” he said.
The family, who are Kuchis, seminomadic herders who subsist on buying and selling sheep and goats, were terrified by the local police shortly after Lal Bibi’s case came to light. They fled to the provincial capital, Kunduz, for safety.
However, instead of seeking a deal with their daughter’s persecutors or following the brutal, traditional practice of killing her to redeem the family’s honor because she had been tainted by rape, they decided to seek justice through the government, which was an extraordinary step.
Now, the 12 local tribal elders who came with them to Kabul for support will head back to Kunduz with a message of hope for other families there, Mr. Rustam said.
“Every single one of over one dozen tribal leaders who are traveling with me is going to take a message to their villages that they can trust the government and that they shouldn’t be afraid of any armed men, and that there is a government that will hear their voice,” he said.
Jawad Sukhanyar reported from Kabul, and Alissa J. Rubin from Paris. Habib Zahori contributed reporting from Kabul.
As 'insider attacks' grow, so does U.S.-Afghanistan divide
Suspicion and resentment are rife amid the deadly attacks on U.S. troops from within the ranks of the Afghan security personnel they're training.
Los Angeles Times By David S. Cloud November 7, 2012
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Army Spc. Steve Beaty was on alert for signs of danger, well aware of a surge in attacks on U.S. troops by Afghans wearing police or army uniforms. The guard approaching him in a bulky coat, hands crossed at his waist, looked suspicious.
With the Afghan only 15 feet away, Beaty raised his M-4 rifle. It was then that the guard detonated his suicide vest, shooting ball bearings and shrapnel across a landing zone where two dozen American soldiers, CIA operatives, interpreters and Afghan intelligence officials had just arrived on two helicopters.
"It was a crack, a sharp-sounding explosion, and then I saw people down, and others going down," said Spc. Mike Juhola, a 40-year-old Army medic.
Beaty yelled that he was hit. An interpreter was bleeding heavily from a leg and screaming. A CIA officer nicknamed Cowboy cradled the head of another agency operative in his lap. Spc. Brittany Gordon, a 24-year-old Army intelligence analyst, lay crumpled on the ground, a massive wound in the back of her head. Afghan intelligence officers and other U.S. soldiers were sprawled nearby.
The Oct. 13 attack near the border with Pakistan, like dozens of others this year, was carried out by a member of Afghanistan's security forces. Abdul Wali had joined the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's intelligence service, after six years as a border guard. He had no known ties to the Taliban or personal grievances. His motive may never be known.
Interviews with commanders and soldiers in Kandahar provided graphic details of several so-called insider attacks and illustrated how deeply they are dividing U.S. forces from the Afghan army and police units the Americans have promised to mentor, train and fight with for at least two more years.
"As we decide whether to do an operation now, is the main risk from the enemy? Or from our own partners?" said Lt. Col. Patrick Michaelis, a U.S. battalion commander in Kandahar.
U.S. and Afghan units still fight and train closely together every day, but often there is wariness and suspicion.
There have been 41 insider attacks by Afghan soldiers and police this year, killing 35 Americans and 22 people from other countries with forces in Afghanistan. Cmdr. William Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman, said "significantly more" Afghans than foreigners have died in the attacks.
The U.S. military now is employing "guardian angels," armed troops who keep watch whenever American personnel are in the vicinity of Afghan allies. It is erecting higher blast walls and razor wire. U.S. forces are limiting joint operations and constructing separate, armed compounds at bases where they once lived side by side with the Afghan army and police.
Until recently, guards would wave Col. Rhamatullah Atrafi through when the top police official in Kandahar arrived for his regular security meeting at Camp Nathan Smith, the U.S. base in the city.
But recently they ordered him out of his vehicle and used a bomb-sniffing dog to check him for hidden explosives.
When he finally was allowed in, Rhamatullah was seething.
"I have always been able to park inside. Now I have to leave my vehicle at the gate," he complained in a steely voice after sitting down with Michaelis. "So I will not come here again."
Rhamatullah's anger gradually eased as the discussion turned to security threats in Kandahar. But their exchange illustrated the difficult task American officers face as they try to maintain working relationships with Afghan security officials.
Kandahar is the Taliban's spiritual home and securing it has been a key goal for years. But the U.S. was already shrinking its combat role and turning security responsibility over to the Afghan army and police when the insider attacks intensified over the summer. In place of combat troops, 18-to-22-person teams of American advisors were formed to live and train with Afghan units, with the aim of bolstering their capabilities before the U.S. pullout in 2014.
The risk of placing the small teams in joint bases became clear June 19 when an Afghan policeman named Haji Bismullah arrived at the gate of a small base on Kandahar's west side with four men in fresh uniforms in the back of a green pickup. They were new recruits, he told the guards, as he drove through the gate at 5:55 a.m.
Bismullah dropped the four men off and sped away.
Splitting into two teams, the men attacked, firing AK-47s into tents where many of the more than three dozen Afghan police and U.S. soldiers were still sleeping. Two made straight for the bunk of Capt. Abdul Kaduz, the Afghan commander.
Sgt. P.J. Dunlevy, an American soldier who had gotten up early, came face to face with the two other attackers. One raised his rifle and pulled the trigger. It jammed.
Dunlevy sprinted away, hearing a burst of bullets behind him.
Armed only with a pistol, he ran to the small operations tent, joining three other soldiers inside. They radioed a nearby U.S. outpost for reinforcements and counted their ammunition.
On security monitors inside the tent, they saw the Afghan gunmen walking methodically around the camp, firing and throwing grenades.
"We were prepared to die in place," Dunlevy recalled later in an interview. "I thought everybody else was dead."
Lt. Col. Matthew McKinley said that when the shooting started he was near the latrine with Thomas Boyle, a 62-year-old retired Chicago policeman who was helping to advise Afghan police.
"I said, 'Tom we need to get under cover,'" McKinley recalled. "I ran and thought he was behind me, but he was hit right after that."
The attack was halted 15 minutes later when Sgt. Scott Stanley shot three of the gunmen from a guard tower and Sgt. Brandon Scott, an Army cook who had been wounded by a grenade, grabbed his rifle and shot the fourth.
When the shooting stopped, Boyle, Kaduz and four other Afghan police officers were dead. A dozen U.S. soldiers, all of them reservists from Michigan, and seven Afghans were wounded.
After the insider attacks intensified in August and September, U.S. commanders in Kandahar ordered American units living on isolated bases to divide the facilities into Afghan and American halves, with armed guards, razor wire and blast walls between them.
At a small joint base along Highway 1, the main road through the city, a soldier with a machine gun keeps 24-hour watch on a gate that now divides the U.S. and Afghan side of the cramped walled compound.
The new security measures have "caused a lot of tension and a lot of strain," said Capt. Terron Wharton. "When the Afghans see guys putting gates up that say, 'You don't trust me,' that's where the tension has been."
Maj. Brian Schoellhorn, leader of a police advisory team at the same outpost, said the new security measures had not prevented him from working closely with the Afghan commander, Col. Farooq Parwani. But he surrounded himself with more U.S. soldiers.
"Instead of taking two guys and walking over to the headquarters, we took five," he said, adding that Parwani "understood completely" and "in some ways it solidified our relationship."
Not even an alert security detail could prevent the deadly suicide attack last month at the helicopter landing zone near Pakistan.
Juhola, the medic, was not injured and in the minutes after the attack he did a quick accounting of the casualties. Of the two dozen U.S. soldiers, Afghan intelligence agents, CIA officers and interpreters at the site, a dozen were in critical condition and four appeared to be dead or nearly so.
Gordon, the intelligence analyst from St. Petersburg, Fla., on her first deployment, was "in a worse state than anyone else," Juhola recalled. Beaty suffered shrapnel wounds to his throat, face and arms, as well as a broken foot.
The CIA officer nicknamed Cowboy was helping transport the wounded to a makeshift aid station away from the landing zone, apparently only slightly injured. But after 10 minutes he slumped to the ground. No blood was visible on his shirt or his protective vest, but a piece of shrapnel had pierced his back.
Juhola and another medic worked on him with the limited supplies they had left.
"I would squeeze his hand, and he would squeeze my hand," Juhola said. "We got him to the point where we thought he was stable."
But as they prepared to load him aboard a Black Hawk helicopter, they saw that he was gone. So were Gordon and four Afghan intelligence agents. Their bodies were zipped into bags and flown away.
david.cloud@latimes.com
Two Views of Officer Emerge in Afghan Case
New York Times By KIRK JOHNSON November 7, 2012
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. - Prosecutors in the Army’s case against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of murdering 16 civilians in Afghanistan this year, have portrayed him as a rogue agent in the Army’s midst, a methodical slaughterer who was rational and conscious of his guilt.
But a defense witness who worked closely with Sergeant Bales told the court on Wednesday, in sometimes frankly admiring terms, that he had seen great promise in the sergeant’s work ethic and leadership ability — traits, he said, that merited promotion.
“He was a soldier’s leader — that’s the way I saw him,” said the witness, First Sergeant Vernon Bigham, who testified remotely through a video feed from a post in Afghanistan. “I thought he was doing an outstanding job.”
Sergeant Bales, 39, could face the death penalty if the preliminary hearing that began here on Monday, called an Article 32 investigation, proceeds to a full court-martial as a capital case. At least 35 witnesses are expected to testify either in person or through remote video from Afghanistan. But the portrait that is emerging in the courtroom before Col. Lee Deneke, the investigating officer, who will make recommendations about the next steps in the case, is nothing if not complex.
Prosecutors, for example, have elicited testimony from fellow soldiers who described Sergeant Bales’s calm, coherent demeanor on the night of the shootings. But other testimony has hinted at a thread of rage and perhaps misogyny as well, with witnesses telling the court about disparaging comments Sergeant Bales made about his wife and his frustration at failing to gain promotion faster.
Of the 16 victims who were killed in the early morning hours of March 11 in two villages in Kandahar Province, nine were female — four women and five girls. Sergeant Bales’s wife, Karilyn, has sat behind her husband in the courtroom this week.
On cross-examination by one of the prosecutors, Lt. Col. Joseph Morse, Sergeant Bigham said that he had heard Sergeant Bales make the disparaging comments and that he knew he had made them to others as well. Were those comments, the prosecutor asked, inappropriate?
“Could be,” said Sergeant Bigham, a senior noncommissioned officer who oversaw Sergeant Bales.
Sergeant Bigham also said under cross-examination that Sergeant Bales had not mentioned anything to him about post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury, both of which affected him, according to Sergeant Bales’s lead defense lawyer, John Henry Browne.
Another defense lawyer, Maj. Gregory Malson, asked Sergeant Bigham what would have happened if Sergeant Bales had mentioned post-traumatic stress to him. Would he have recommended Sergeant Bales for such a difficult assignment, working with Special Forces teams in Kandahar Province?
“I wouldn’t have,” Sergeant Bigham said.
Major Malson asked whether talking to superior officers about traumatic injury or stress was “sometimes seen as weaknesses” in the Army. Sergeant Bigham said he “never saw it that way.”
Another witness gave an indication on Wednesday of just how different a crime scene investigation in a war zone could be. The witness, Special Agent Matthew Hoffman, said he did not arrive at the villages where the killings occurred until about three weeks later, and even then investigators feared being attacked.
He said metal objects in the ground that might have been evidence were popped out by the security team to make sure the area was safe, so the objects’ provenance was uncertain.
Mr. Hoffman also testified that Sergeant Bales testified positive for steroids three days after the killings.
Football Fever in the Hindu Kush
Heading out to the stadium for a soccer game, our correspondent wonders whether the battle for Afghanistan might be won on the playing fields of Kabul.
Vanity Fair By Tom Freston November 8, 2012
While it’s not yet “Morning in Afghanistan” by any stretch of the imagination, sometimes you can see things there that give you faith in the country’s future—and offer a counter-argument to the view that the Taliban will soon be back in Kabul closing schools, whipping women, and beheading men. I visited Kabul in October to watch some soccer games played by Afghanistan’s first professional sports organization, the Afghan Premier League (A.P.L.). This new, eight-team group was created by Moby Group, the leading independent broadcaster in the country (I work with them). The televised games took the country by storm, demonstrating the great value of entertainment in a country that has suffered through 35 years of war.
The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan for military purposes during the last 11 years. You have to wonder why someone in Washington did not think to invest a lot more in things like a sports league that actually give people pleasure, make them feel that things are improving, and provide something to talk about other than who is killing whom. Popular culture and entrepreneurship are skills Americans know a lot about, but we always seem to lead with our rifles. (The effort was partly funded by the U.S. embassy, in addition to the British embassy and the private sector.)
Americans see a nonstop barrage of bad news coming out of Afghanistan. There actually is some significant good news, if you dig a little deeper. In less than 10 years, thanks to better medical care and improved infrastructure, life expectancy has dramatically improved (from 42 to 62 years, according to a U.S.A.I.D. study). School attendance is way up, especially for girls (3.2 million girls are now in school, compared with 50,000 under the Taliban). There is strong economic activity not related to the war. The biggest successes have been in Afghan-led businesses in industries such as telecommunications and media. Under the Taliban, there were a few thousand telephone landlines; now there are 17 million cell phone subscribers. There was no television at all—it was banned. Today there are more than 75 TV stations. Obviously all of this has had a significant social impact, especially in the cities, where you see a new, young urban class (Afghanistan’s median age is 18) that is weary of war and wants to participa
te in the modern world.
The soccer league is a great example of Afghan entrepreneurship. Afghans are good soccer players and have fielded a national team off and on since 1948. Games were primarily played outside the country, so few Afghans saw them. The genius of the A.P.L. was to recognize that, with 60 percent of Afghans now having access to television, soccer games could be broadcast nationally on the new networks and a proper league could be supported. Football fever has ensued. Here are some new heroes at last; buff, handsome, polite sportsmen with colorful uniforms and gelled hair. (The A.P.L. does not sponsor a women’s team, but Afghanistan does have a women’s national team.) The TV production is state of the art: 10 cameras, slo-mo, instant replay, sharp graphics with stats, lively announcers. The command post is a shipping container outside the stadium.
I found a couch, watched a couple of games on TV, and then headed out on a Friday to attend a semi-finals match. It was a perfect fall day, the sky a deep cobalt blue. The stadium, below a stunning backdrop of mountains, was on the outskirts of Kabul, just beyond a crumbling Soviet-built neighborhood with the science-fiction name Microrayon 1. The stadium was new and held 5,000 fans, and was a happier venue than the nearby Ghazi Stadium, which the Taliban had used for public executions. A police officer waved my car into the parking lot with his AK-47. The police had shields and long batons in case of a riot or an attack.
As it turned out, the event was as peaceful as Woodstock, though with more clothing and less rain. The crowd was spirited and a great mix: male and female, old and young, rich and poor. The look on their faces was one of pure joy—something that has been missing from their lives. The stadium pumped with Dari and Pashtu pop music. Fans even did the wave. The soccer teams were purposely created with “unity” in mind: each had players from different ethnic groups. The point is, you root for a region, not a tribe or a political faction. The game was something of a rout: the De Spinghar Bazan, meaning Hawks, were trounced 10-0 by the excellent Harirod team, the Toofan, meaning Storm, from Herat. Three of Spinghar’s players left the field on stretchers.
Today the Afghans are caught between their government (generally thought to be predatory and corrupt), the brutal Taliban (which few believe will come back to power—“too much toothpaste out of the tube”), the many thousands of foreign troops (who have worn out their welcome), and meddling Pakistan. It’s quite a maze to negotiate, but with the withdrawal of most American forces by 2014 there might be a better outcome than many expect. Most analyses of the future of Afghanistan seem to leave out the calculations and desires of the Afghan people. They have a different worldview now, and it’s a far cry from what existed in 2001 under the Taliban’s medieval regime.
Jihadi Council Distributing Weapons to 'Units': Herat Spox
TOLOnews.com By Jawid Zeyaratjaei Wednesday, 07 November 2012
The Jihadi Council led by Afghanistan's Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan has started distributing weapons to its members in western Herat province, the provincial spokesman Mahiuddin Noori said Wednesday.
Noori warned that armed groups apart from the Afghan security forces are against the law and the distribution of weapons is a criminal offence.
"In the past several months, the non-government Council of the Mujahedeen [Jihadi Council] has distributed weapons to the residents which is against Afghanistan's laws," Noori said on Wednesday, adding that there is proof of this claim.
He showed a signed piece of paper with the Jihadi Council's appointment of a commander or "security official".
"Anyone who distributes weapons apart from the government commits a crime. It is against the national interests of the government and the country and it will be prosecuted. The justice and security organs are investigating this issue," he said.
However, Jihadi Council leaders denied the claim, although they confirmed that the men have grouped into "units" and appointed commanders.
"According to the order from Ismail Khan, we have already inaugurated 30 to 40 Mujahedeen units and assigned their commanders. Weapons were not distributed by unit commanders," Jihadi Council deputy chief Khuwaja Shamsuddin said Wednesday.
Herat's provincial governor Dawood Shah Saba emphasised yesterday that the residents of the western province will not accept militias.
"I want to clearly say that the people of Afghanistan rely on their sons as the police and army and national security department, which have the ability to protect the national sovereignty and honor of the country. They do not need any more for the agents of outsiders," the governor said in a gathering in Herat on Tuesday.
The Jihadi Council was formed in Herat last year under the leadership of former Jihadi commander and current Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan.
Last week he revealed that plans were underway to re-form the army which had fought the Soviet Russians in the 80s, claiming that because Nato had failed to secure Afghanistan against the insurgents, the Mujahedeen would do it themselves.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com