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US troops in Afghanistan celebrate Thanksgiving
By DEB RIECHMANN | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — It was Army Sgt. Keith Wells' first Thanksgiving Day away from his family and despite a cornucopia of food provided for the troops, his taste buds were craving his wife's macaroni and cheese back home.
"My wife's a foodie — you know the Food Network, cooking shows. Everything she makes is golden," Wells of Charlotte, N.C., said Thursday at a large international military base in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The dining hall served up mac-and-cheese along with traditional Thanksgiving Day fixings. Wells was thankful for the good food, but he still missed his wife's home-cooking.
Huge hunks of beef greeted the estimated 2,500 diners as soldiers lined up in the dining hall. Red-white-and-blue decorations filled the room. Brochures titled "Learn about combat stress" served as table centerpieces.
There was roast turkey, sliced turkey, ham and rib-eye steaks. The troops were served steaming side dishes of dressing, corn, collard greens, yams and mashed potatoes and gravy that some lapped up with spoons. For dessert, there was a massive cake with a turkey etched in icing, pumpkin spice cookies and scores of pies.
A short walk from the dining hall, service members were playing a modified version of American football.
Parts of the scene could have come from a snapshot of any U.S. city: American guys in sweats tossing the pigskin, a scoreboard, a coin toss to start the game.
But on this military base, concrete barriers surrounded the field. The referees wore camouflaged shirts and the spectators carried rifles. The artificial turf was frayed and so dusty that when one player spiked the football, a puff of dirt rose from the field.
The players used a regulation football, but the game was a mix of football, soccer and rugby to fit the short field.
Some soldiers commented about the 11-year-old war that has claimed the lives of 2,029 American service members.
Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chuck Minton of Monroe, Ga., who has traveled extensively across Afghanistan, was optimistic. "It's been progressing here, getting better. The Afghans have taken over more missions," Minton said.
President Barack Obama pulled 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan in 2011 and 23,000 more this year, leaving about 66,000 American service members still deployed in the country. Nearly all international combat troops are to withdraw by the end of 2014 when Afghan forces will be fully in charge of securing the nation.
Army Maj. Rodney Gehrett of Colorado Springs, Colo., said he was surprised that the war was barely mentioned during the last U.S. presidential election — evidence that some Americans had tuned out the news from the front line a half a world away.
"The war in Afghanistan wasn't even brought up as a topic of conversation" during the election, Gehrett said. "It was a little surprising to me. Hopefully, that will change and people will realize that we still have troops here and they are fighting every day."
Army Sgt. Adam Draughn of Denver, Colo., said some people back home have the impression that the Afghan people don't want American troops in their country.
"Honestly, I think the biggest misconception in my opinion is that, you know, we actually are loved here," Draughn said. "The nationals do care about us. They do want us here to help them. We're not here uninvited."
Most of the holiday chatter, however, was focused on family.
Taking a break from the game, Army Capt. Robert Mikyska of North Aurora, Ill., pulled out a photocopied photo that was taken of he and his wife just before he deployed to Afghanistan nine months ago.
"Hi, honey!" Mikyska said, looking at the picture. "In a couple weeks, I'll be home. I can't wait to be back."
"My family's here," Army Spc. Ricky Clay, also of Monroe, Ga., said as he smiled and embraced his teammates on the sidelines of the football field.
Afghanistan: Bad weather foils poppy crops
Opium production in Afghanistan fell by a third this year, but due more to bad weather than government efforts to curb poppy crops.
Nov. 21, 2012 at 12:09 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Opium production in Afghanistan fell by one-third this year but due more to bad weather than government efforts to curb poppy crops.
The U.N. Afghanistan Opium Survey 2012 said the government destroyed nearly 9,700 hectares of poppy crops this year, up from around 3,800 hectares last year.
But the amount of land dedicated to cultivating opium poppies, from which heroin is made, rose 18 percent to 154,000 hectares, the 28-page report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said.
The high level of opium prices reported in 2011 was one of the principal factors that led to the increase in opium poppy cultivation this year.
Despite the rise in the number of hectares under cultivation, the report estimated potential opium production was down 36 percent to 3,700 tons this year.
"This was due to a decrease in opium yield caused by a combination of a disease of the opium poppy and adverse weather conditions, particularly in the eastern, western and southern regions of the country," the report said.
Around 95 percent of all cultivation was in nine provinces in Afghanistan's southern and western regions, which include the most insecure provinces in the country.
The number of poppy-free provinces -- those with less than 100 hectares found under cultivation -- remained unchanged at 17.
Around 22 percent of farmers, when asked why they stopped cultivating opium, cited the government ban as the main reason. Religious belief -- opium cultivation being against Islam -- was the second most cited reason by around 16 percent.
Fear of government reprisals, listed by 15 percent of farmers asked, was the third most cited reason.
The withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan by 2014 may result in a surge in production of opium poppies, a report by The New York Times said in May.
"Some money is available through the licit economy but less than in the past as Western contracts dry up, and so the importance of the illicit, informal economy will increase," Jean-Luc Lemahieu, director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime in Afghanistan, told the Times. "The prognosis post-2014 is not a positive one."
Some Afghan farmers said they indeed had little choice but to turn to the profitable poppy.
"I don't have any cash now to start another business, and if I grow any other crops, I cannot make a profit," Mohammed Amin, a poppy grower in Oruzgan province, said.
The Times report predicted this year's poppy crop in southern Afghanistan is expected to be lower due to bad weather and blight. But the consequence will likely be that poppies from other parts of the country will fetch a much higher price for the struggling farmers.
The government's best intentions and efforts to eradicate poppy crops often fail because of corruption.
"When we plan an operation, we have to have approval of the local police chief or his deputy or the zone police chief, and if one of those people is corrupt or linked to a big trafficker, it leaks," said the deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics, Lt. Gen. Baaz Mohammed Ahmadi.
Taliban demand India return Mumbai gunman's body
By RASOOL DAWAR | Associated Press
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Taliban threatened revenge Thursday unless India returns the body of a Pakistani man executed for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan demanded that Mohammed Ajmal Kasab's body be given back to his family or handed over to the Taliban.
"If his body is not given to us or his family, we will, God willing, carry on his mission," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We will take revenge for his murder."
India secretly hanged Mohammed Ajmal Kasab on Wednesday and buried his body at the jail in the city of Pune where he was executed.
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Wednesday that the government would consider any request from the Pakistani government or Kasab's family to hand over his body, but no such request had been received.
Kasab was the lone surviving gunman from the three-day attack in Mumbai, India's financial capital, which targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a tourist restaurant and a crowded train station. The nine other gunmen were killed during the siege.
The attackers entered Mumbai by boat on Nov. 26, 2008, carrying cellphones, grenades and automatic weapons. Their rampage through the city was broadcast live on television, transfixing the nation and the world. It severely damaged relations between Pakistan and India, nuclear-armed neighbors who have fought three major wars against each other.
After Kasab was captured, an Indian judge sentenced him to death in May 2010 for waging war against India, murder and terrorism, among other charges. Kasab confessed that the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the Mumbai attack. The gunmen were in regular phone contact with handlers in Pakistan during the siege.
Indian officials accuse Pakistan's intelligence agency of working with Lashkar-e-Taiba to plan the attack — an allegation Islamabad denies.
Lashkar-e-Taiba was formed with the help of Pakistani intelligence over two decades ago to put pressure on India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Pakistan has since banned the group but has seemingly done little to crack down on the militants. Many analysts believe they still enjoy state support.
Unlike Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani Taliban have focused their fight against the Pakistani government, not India. The group has rarely spoken out about issues related to India, making its comments about Kasab unusual.
Ahsan, the Taliban spokesman, said the group was unsure whether Kasab was working on behalf of Pakistani intelligence, as the Indians claim, which would make him suspect in the eyes of the Taliban.
"If he was used by someone, then it was between him and God," said Ahsan. "If he did all this to please God and was not used by someone, we will complete his mission."
India offered no official comment on the Taliban's threat. However, an Indian government official said it will be a test for the Pakistani government to see whether it will allow its soil to be used again for an attack on India. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
India has complained that Pakistan is not doing enough to crack down on the militants responsible for the Mumbai attack. Seven people including Lashkar-e-Taiba's chief military commander, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, are facing trial in Pakistan for suspected links to the attack. But the proceedings have moved very slowly.
____
Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma contributed to this report from New Delhi.
Afghan president demands release of U.S.-held prisoners
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's president on Wednesday demanded the release of dozens of prisoners from U.S. custody and said all inmates held in breach of an agreement must be transferred immediately to Afghan authorities.
Hamid Karzai's call for "urgent actions" by Thursday came days after the start of complex bilateral talks on a security pact on the role the United States would play in Afghanistan after most of its troops are withdrawn by the end of 2014.
Karzai's demands follow a meeting with top defense, police and legal officials who inspected Bagram prison and concluded the United States had violated an agreement governing the transfer of the jail to Afghan control.
He issued a statement giving the United States until Thursday to act swiftly to "set free all the inmates that need to be released as per Afghanistan applicable laws" and hand over any prisoners who were captured by U.S. forces after the bilateral agreement had been signed.
Washington turned over the high-security prison and around 3,000 suspected Taliban fighters to Afghan control in a six-month period that ended on September 10, with a grace period of two months. The sprawling prison has been likened to Guantanamo in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Iraq because of allegations of serious abuses of detainees.
Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said on Monday that more than 70 detainees who had been cleared by Afghan courts were being wrongfully held by U.S. authorities.
The row could complicate already thorny negotiations over the future U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, which includes technical issues such as visas and whether foreign troops would be immune from prosecution in Afghanistan.
The prison deal took almost a year to finalize and had paved the way for discussions on the U.S. status-of-forces role. Some critics say Karzai is pushing the prison issue hard as a means of strengthening his own hand in the negotiations.
His spokesman Faizi said "administrative detention", a term used by the United States to describe suspects deemed security threats who are held without charge, did not exist under Afghan law and was therefore illegal.
"There are some prisoners found innocent by the court are still in custody. This act is a serious breach of a memorandum of understanding," Faizi told reporters on Monday.
(Reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Karzai Revives Death Penalty, Sparking Criticism
Wall Street Journal By MARIA ABI-HABIB and ZIAULHAQ SULTANI November 21, 2012
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed off on 16 executions this week, ending a lull in his government's use of the death penalty and provoking criticism from human-rights groups and the European Union.
Almost all the executions were carried out through hanging Tuesday and Wednesday, government officials said The government publicized the convicts' photos online and published their charges, which included rape, murder, kidnapping and robbery.
The Taliban also protested the hangings, saying some of those sentenced were insurgent prisoners of war.
Mr. Karzai came under international pressure four years ago to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. Except for two other executions in February, he had abided by that moratorium until now. This week's hangings reasserted his independence as U.S.-led forces prepare to withdraw in 2014. Mr. Karzai must personally sign all death warrants.
"Afghanistan has its own judicial system, and there is no place for foreign interference," said Basir Azizi, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office. "The Afghan constitution allows capital punishment."
Concerns over the weakness of Afghanistan's judicial system are a key reason for many international groups' opposition to the death penalty here. Observers say Afghan courts heavily rely on confessions under torture, fail to properly assess forensic evidence and could be executing innocent men.
"The death penalty is an act of cruelty that should never be used," said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, in a statement. "Its use in Afghanistan, where a fair trial is typically out of the question, is even more horrific."
Mr. Azizi rebuffed the Human Rights Watch statement, saying that the convicts had exhausted appeals and that "it's not possible" that the courts that considered their cases had "convicted innocents to death."
Some Western diplomats in Kabul were distressed by the executions, saying they worry that efforts to build strong Afghan institutions upholding human rights were failing as the government slips back into governance methods employed during the Taliban regime.
"The [European Union] delegation believes the perpetrators of such crimes should face a fair trial and prison sentences. However, the European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment," an EU statement said Wednesday. "We call on the Afghan authorities to commute all further death sentences and to reintroduce the moratorium on executions as a first step toward definitive abolition of capital punishment."
The Taliban frequently employed capital punishment for adultery, rape and murder. During their regime, the Taliban would lure large crowds into sports stadiums across Afghanistan promising an exciting soccer game, and carry out public executions during intermissions.
"The Afghan government's near total moratorium on the death penalty in recent years was a major departure from Taliban rule," said Mr. Adams of Human Rights Watch. The recent hangings, he added, "are a terrible step backwards for Afghanistan."
Still, Mr. Karzai's decision appeared to be wildly popular among many Afghans, who defended the president's decision and said it was sanctioned under Islamic law.
"Every day, I and my entire family would pray for that murderer's death. He killed my only son," said Muallem Rahmuddin, whose son was killed over four years ago in Farah province, allegedly by two of the convicted men hanged Tuesday. "We call on all of those sentenced to death to be quickly executed." —Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.
Prisoner Release Shifts Pakistan's Afghan Policy
by Jackie Northam November 21, 2012 NPR
There has been a small but potentially important breakthrough in the faltering Afghan peace process. In what is considered a good-faith gesture, Pakistan last week released at least nine Afghan Taliban prisoners. The move is seen as part of an emerging new strategy by Pakistan as it eyes the looming drawdown of U.S. and Western troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's decision to release the prisoners has been met with equal doses of skepticism, surprise and relief. Pakistan is seen as key to bringing the Taliban and other Islamist militants to any peace negotiation. But for years, it has balked or outright refused to release Afghan militant leaders who may be willing to take part in a reconciliation process.
The prisoner release came at the end of a three-day meeting in Islamabad between Pakistani officials and members of the Afghan High Peace Council. The Afghans were hoping a senior Taliban leader would be among those released, but Salahuddin Rabbani, the head of the council, seemed pleased with the progress.
"It seems that Pakistani officials have realized that a close cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan can be effective for the peace initiative," Rabbani says. "Of course, this is a vision we have been insisting on for a long time."
Pakistan's cooperation in the prisoner release is widely viewed as part of a shift in its Afghan policy. Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of Pakistan's Senate Committee on Defense, says the government picked up a cue from the U.S.
"There has been a positive change, a turnaround if you will, and the change has been in American foreign policy in the last month or so. And that change is now being translated into a more clear policy rather than a confused policy," he says.
For example, Sayed says, the U.S. has consistently pushed Pakistan to fight the Taliban while encouraging the militants to enter peace talks. That approach created a deep well of mistrust here. Sayed says the U.S. has recently shown a new seriousness about the reconciliation process, which helped rebuild trust.
But Saleem Safi, an Afghan specialist with Pakistan's Geo TV, says Islamabad changed course because its Afghan policy wasn't working. Now Pakistan favors an inclusive government in Afghanistan rather than a return to power by the Taliban.
"Pakistan is requesting, and Pakistan is influencing Taliban, that they should make some changes in their approach so they can become acceptable to the international community and also to the other opponent of Afghan factions," he says.
Safi adds that the peace process faces many hurdles, primarily because every party to a potential agreement wants reconciliation on its own terms. He says another major complication is that the U.S. has not been forthcoming about how many of its troops will remain in Afghanistan after the bulk of Western forces withdraw at the end of 2014.
"How can Pakistan cooperate wholeheartedly with American, if the American are trying to keep something in their hands for the future to pressurize Pakistan? So then Pakistan also has the right to keep in their hand some kind of proxies," Safi says.
He adds that Pakistan is trying to ensure that it won't be vulnerable once Western troops start drawing down.
Sen. Sayed says Pakistan's focus is clear: "A stable, a united peaceful Afghanistan is what we would like to essentially want at the end of the road — that this should not lead to a situation where there is a new civil conflict among warring factors."
Still, Sayed says Pakistan has deep concerns about a power vacuum in the region and about what role Pakistan's archenemy, India, will play in Afghanistan post-2014.
Australia pulls back in Afghanistan, Timor
Sydney Morning Herald Ben Doherty, David Wroe November 22, 2012
AUSTRALIAN troops have withdrawn from all forward operating bases and patrol bases in Oruzgan, and handed over control of security in the province to Afghan forces.
And after 13 years keeping the peace in East Timor, the last remaining Australian troops will begin pulling out on Thursday as the tiny, young country begins a new chapter in its independence.
Forward operating and patrol bases in Afghanistan have been progressively handed over to Afghan control since October, and Australian troops will now operate only out of the multinational base in Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan's capital.
Australian troops - the 7th battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Task Group, this week took over from the 3rd battalion - will now be in an ''advising'' rather than a ''mentoring'' role.
Australian troops will advise and guide the leadership of the Afghan National Army's 4th Brigade, rather than mentoring at the Kandak - the Afghan name for a battalion - level.
''This marks the culmination of a whole lot of hard work as well as some blood that's been spilt in bringing the Afghans up to a standard where they can do the job themselves,'' Commander Combined Team Oruzgan, Colonel Simon Stuart said.
Australia has lost 39 soldiers in Afghanistan.
''The 4th Brigade is able to stand on their own two feet. Now we have the Afghan security forces, securing the Afghan people.''
Australian troops have been progressively handing over control of the forward operating and patrol bases over the past two months.
Wali base in Mirabad, Hadrian in Deh Rawud, Sorkh Bid in Nesh, and Wahab in the Baluchi Valley, where a rogue Afghan soldier killed three Australian troops in a green-on-blue attack in August, are all under Afghan authority.
The final forward operating base, Mirwais, in Chora, was handed over to Afghan control this week.
The announcement of the withdrawal of 390 Australian military personnel from East Timor came from Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday night.
Ms Gillard said East Timor - also known as Timor Leste - had seen its economy grow and its institutions evolve, with three successful rounds of national elections.
''Timorese security services have risen to the challenge and served their nation well throughout these events,'' she said.
Ms Gillard thanked the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force personnel for their ''great courage and dedication'' in helping maintain peace and stability in East Timor.
Australian troops went into the country in 1999 to quell pro-Indonesian militias who went on a violent rampage after the East Timorese voted for independence in a UN-backed referendum.
They have remained under various international mandates, with the International Stabilisation Force - which is Australian-led but includes New Zealand forces - taking over in 2006.
The pullout comes as a similar withdrawal is planned for troops stationed in the Solomon Islands, where Australia has about 150 military personnel and 200 police.
The East Timor withdrawal will continue through to April, as the troops repatriate equipment, close bases and return property and buildings to the government of East Timor.
37 killed, 92 injured in Pakistan terror strikes
By Indo Asian News Service | IANS
Islamabad, Nov 22 (IANS) At least 37 people have been killed and over 90 others injured in Pakistan since Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
A total of 28 people were killed and 77 others injured in Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Karachi since Wednesday night. Claiming responsibility for both the attacks, Pakistan Taliban Thursday warned of more such attacks in the near future.
In Rawalpindi, in a sectarian attack Wednesday night, 23 people were killed and 62 others including eight children were injured when a suicide bomber hit a procession of Shiite Muslims in the city, said Deeba Shehnaz, spokeswoman of state rescue department.
The suicide bomber blew up his explosive−laden jacket in a gathering of over 1,500 Shiite Muslims when police tried to stop him for checking in Misrial area of the city.
In Karachi, four hours prior to the Rawalpindi attack, at least three people were killed and 13 others injured as twin blasts hit a Shiite shrine in the port city.
Police in its investigation report Thursday said, three people were killed and five others injured in the first blast around 6 p.m. Wednesday after a bomb went off at the main gate of a Shiite Shrine in the city's Orangi town.
The bomb was detonated by a remote control device and explosives were fixed at a motorbike, the report said, adding when police and rescue teams gathered at the site, another blast took place, injuring eight people including policemen and journalists.
On Thursday, unidentified gunmen attacked a police checkpost in Peshawar.
Police said that at least one policeman was killed, two others were injured and several went missing when a group of motorbike riders opened fire at a police checkpost in Badaber area of the city. Soon after the attack, the body of one of the missing policemen was found in a nearby area, pushing the toll to two.
Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for both Rawalpindi and Karachi blasts. Ahsan Ullah Ahsan, the spokesperson of Pakistan Taliban, said more attacks would come on Shiite Muslims in the future.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and leaders of all political parties condemned the blast.
In an earlier incident, four policemen were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after an unidentified number of gunmen ambushed a police vehicle in Jani Khel area. Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
In another attack in Balochistan province's Quetta city, five people were killed and 15 others injured when a remote−controlled bomb hit a security convoy, police said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Fighting, and kicking, for women's rights in Afghanistan
November 22, 2012 7:21 AM
(CBS News) KABUL - Zahra Mahmoodi is 21-years-old, wears heavy eyeliner and a headscarf, and is the captain of the newly-formed Afghan National Women's Soccer team: the country's first national soccer team for women.
Afghanistan is a country full of "firsts" and "only's". This month, I have been to the first and only bowling alley in Afghanistan, the first and only golf course, and to meet the first and only female governor.
Zahra has been playing soccer for six years. She wanted to join a team earlier, but as a young refugee in Iran and then as a teen in Afghanistan, her only option was to play behind closed doors with her brothers.
"It means a lot of things to me, beside playing and enjoying the game," she told me. "When I play soccer I become free of everything."
She and her teammates have not had it easy. In this conservative country, the girls risk ridicule and much, much worse if they play on public fields. Each player has struggled to get permission from her father.
"People in this country think soccer is not for girls, it is a sport for men. If a family is open-minded enough to allow their daughter to play," she explains, "The security situation makes them worry. We don't have any facilities. We face many, many problems."
Still, she says, soccer is a great unifying force. The girls on her team are different ethnic groups, different religious sects, yet love and trust each other like family no small feat here. Like many of her generation, she worries about what will happen when the Americans leave in 2014, but she's hopeful.
"The young generation had a good experience [these last few years]," she says. "They are tired of war. The youth are hopeful that development can go forward and the good experience will continue."
Zahra and her teammates were recently invited to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for a soccer clinic hosted by US World Cup Champion and Olympian Lorrie Fair. In two months, Zahra will graduate from college and plans to be a soccer coach, like Lorrie. She's not going to give up on this sport - not now, not when NATO is gone - there is too much at stake.
"Just existing as a team is not enough," she insists. "It's important that women fight for their rights. We can't just sit and wait. We have to fight. As a team, we think about being the champions, not just playing. As women, we have to do the same."
Central Bank Chief Accuses Banks of Smuggling Money Abroad
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Local Afghan banks are sending vast amounts of money abroad which is causing foreign currency inflation, head of Afghanistan's Central Bank Noorullah Delawari said on Wednesday.
Delawari claimed before Parliament that $4.6 billion was smuggled outside of Afghanistan last year.
"In the past year, $4.6bn was sent to foreign countries illegally. We proposed a law to the Council of Ministers which they approved, but despite the existence of this law, several banks are sending the money to outside," Delawari said, adding that he's investigating the issue.
Several government officials including Finance Minister Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal and Commerce Minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal were summoned to the parliament to respond to the recent increase of foreign currency rates against the Afghani.
The Finance Minister said that part of the problem are concerns for post 2014, spread by political experts in local media.
"The economy-related organs are not spreading concerns about post 2014 bankruptcy, but the politicians and the experts are propagating this in media," Zakhilwal told the lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Minister said that export balance of the country is as low as five percent.
"We don't have anything to export, our trade balance is negative. Ninety-five percent of our trade deals were imports - we have only five percent export goods," Arghandiwal said.
The lawmakers accused the government officials of providing the means for transferring money abroad.
"Yes, the money is running out of Afghanistan. But who paves the way for them to take suitcases full of dollars outside? Its not the ordinary workers on the street, but the government officials," Kabul MP Shukria Barekzai said.
The MPs also called for a change in the Afghanistan's currency policy to prevent further bankruptcy and chaos.
Long Term US Presence Benefits Afghan: Humayon
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Long term presence of the US forces in Afghanistan is for the benefit of Afghan people, the head of the Parliamentary Defense Committee told TOLOnews on Wednesday, after the two countries began talks on a long-term security agreement.
MP Humayon Humayon said that US forces should also operate in Pakistan and strengthen the capacities of the Afghan security forces to protect the country against the insurgents.
"To combat Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks, US forces should operate on the other side of the border. The presence of US forces in Afghanistan is for the benefit of Afghan people. The US government should work hard in strengthening the Afghan security forces," Humayoun said.
His comments comes after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the US plans on an enduring presence in the region to deter Al Qaeda and other extremist groups with an eye on Afghanistan.
"All this sends a very simple and very powerful message to Al Qaeda, to the Taliban, and to the violent extremist groups who want to regain a safe haven in Afghanistan: We are not going anywhere; our commitment to Afghanistan is long term, and you cannot wait us out," Panetta said in a speech to the Center for a New American Security on Tuesday.
Panetta said that the US will not only focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan but also Yemen and Somalia.
Meanwhile, Afghan military analyst Atiqullah Amarkhil supported Humayon's comment saying that Al Qaeda will not be able to expand if the US is committed to its pledges with the Afghan government.
"If the US stays committed to its promises, Al Qaeda will not be able to expand its activities in the country. If we want a stable and better Afghanistan, intervention of neighboring countries should be prevented," Amarkhil told TOLOnews on Wednesday.
Negotiations for a long term security agreement between Afghanistan and the US began last Thursday.
Japan, Germany Donate $33M for Airport Expansion
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Wednesday, 21 November 2012
The Japanese government will donate US$20 million for the expansion of Kabul International Airport while Germany has pledged $13 million for Mazar-e-Sharif airport, Afghan Aviation Minister Dawood Ali Najafi said Wednesday.
The expansion project includes construction of a new monitoring tower, expansion of runways, waiting halls, gates and aircraft parking lots, he said.
"We have reached an agreement on the budget for the expansion of the airport's terminal. Currently the terminal has the capacity of 1 million passengers per year as we have two gates for boarding. If we increase the gates to six, the capacity will increase to 7 million per year," Najafi said.
The project will be start next year and will continue for one year.
He also added that German government has pledged to donate $13 million for the construction of a monitoring tower in Mazar-e-Sharif airport, the capital of northern Balkh province.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By DEB RIECHMANN | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — It was Army Sgt. Keith Wells' first Thanksgiving Day away from his family and despite a cornucopia of food provided for the troops, his taste buds were craving his wife's macaroni and cheese back home.
"My wife's a foodie — you know the Food Network, cooking shows. Everything she makes is golden," Wells of Charlotte, N.C., said Thursday at a large international military base in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The dining hall served up mac-and-cheese along with traditional Thanksgiving Day fixings. Wells was thankful for the good food, but he still missed his wife's home-cooking.
Huge hunks of beef greeted the estimated 2,500 diners as soldiers lined up in the dining hall. Red-white-and-blue decorations filled the room. Brochures titled "Learn about combat stress" served as table centerpieces.
There was roast turkey, sliced turkey, ham and rib-eye steaks. The troops were served steaming side dishes of dressing, corn, collard greens, yams and mashed potatoes and gravy that some lapped up with spoons. For dessert, there was a massive cake with a turkey etched in icing, pumpkin spice cookies and scores of pies.
A short walk from the dining hall, service members were playing a modified version of American football.
Parts of the scene could have come from a snapshot of any U.S. city: American guys in sweats tossing the pigskin, a scoreboard, a coin toss to start the game.
But on this military base, concrete barriers surrounded the field. The referees wore camouflaged shirts and the spectators carried rifles. The artificial turf was frayed and so dusty that when one player spiked the football, a puff of dirt rose from the field.
The players used a regulation football, but the game was a mix of football, soccer and rugby to fit the short field.
Some soldiers commented about the 11-year-old war that has claimed the lives of 2,029 American service members.
Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chuck Minton of Monroe, Ga., who has traveled extensively across Afghanistan, was optimistic. "It's been progressing here, getting better. The Afghans have taken over more missions," Minton said.
President Barack Obama pulled 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan in 2011 and 23,000 more this year, leaving about 66,000 American service members still deployed in the country. Nearly all international combat troops are to withdraw by the end of 2014 when Afghan forces will be fully in charge of securing the nation.
Army Maj. Rodney Gehrett of Colorado Springs, Colo., said he was surprised that the war was barely mentioned during the last U.S. presidential election — evidence that some Americans had tuned out the news from the front line a half a world away.
"The war in Afghanistan wasn't even brought up as a topic of conversation" during the election, Gehrett said. "It was a little surprising to me. Hopefully, that will change and people will realize that we still have troops here and they are fighting every day."
Army Sgt. Adam Draughn of Denver, Colo., said some people back home have the impression that the Afghan people don't want American troops in their country.
"Honestly, I think the biggest misconception in my opinion is that, you know, we actually are loved here," Draughn said. "The nationals do care about us. They do want us here to help them. We're not here uninvited."
Most of the holiday chatter, however, was focused on family.
Taking a break from the game, Army Capt. Robert Mikyska of North Aurora, Ill., pulled out a photocopied photo that was taken of he and his wife just before he deployed to Afghanistan nine months ago.
"Hi, honey!" Mikyska said, looking at the picture. "In a couple weeks, I'll be home. I can't wait to be back."
"My family's here," Army Spc. Ricky Clay, also of Monroe, Ga., said as he smiled and embraced his teammates on the sidelines of the football field.
Afghanistan: Bad weather foils poppy crops
Opium production in Afghanistan fell by a third this year, but due more to bad weather than government efforts to curb poppy crops.
Nov. 21, 2012 at 12:09 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Opium production in Afghanistan fell by one-third this year but due more to bad weather than government efforts to curb poppy crops.
The U.N. Afghanistan Opium Survey 2012 said the government destroyed nearly 9,700 hectares of poppy crops this year, up from around 3,800 hectares last year.
But the amount of land dedicated to cultivating opium poppies, from which heroin is made, rose 18 percent to 154,000 hectares, the 28-page report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said.
The high level of opium prices reported in 2011 was one of the principal factors that led to the increase in opium poppy cultivation this year.
Despite the rise in the number of hectares under cultivation, the report estimated potential opium production was down 36 percent to 3,700 tons this year.
"This was due to a decrease in opium yield caused by a combination of a disease of the opium poppy and adverse weather conditions, particularly in the eastern, western and southern regions of the country," the report said.
Around 95 percent of all cultivation was in nine provinces in Afghanistan's southern and western regions, which include the most insecure provinces in the country.
The number of poppy-free provinces -- those with less than 100 hectares found under cultivation -- remained unchanged at 17.
Around 22 percent of farmers, when asked why they stopped cultivating opium, cited the government ban as the main reason. Religious belief -- opium cultivation being against Islam -- was the second most cited reason by around 16 percent.
Fear of government reprisals, listed by 15 percent of farmers asked, was the third most cited reason.
The withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan by 2014 may result in a surge in production of opium poppies, a report by The New York Times said in May.
"Some money is available through the licit economy but less than in the past as Western contracts dry up, and so the importance of the illicit, informal economy will increase," Jean-Luc Lemahieu, director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime in Afghanistan, told the Times. "The prognosis post-2014 is not a positive one."
Some Afghan farmers said they indeed had little choice but to turn to the profitable poppy.
"I don't have any cash now to start another business, and if I grow any other crops, I cannot make a profit," Mohammed Amin, a poppy grower in Oruzgan province, said.
The Times report predicted this year's poppy crop in southern Afghanistan is expected to be lower due to bad weather and blight. But the consequence will likely be that poppies from other parts of the country will fetch a much higher price for the struggling farmers.
The government's best intentions and efforts to eradicate poppy crops often fail because of corruption.
"When we plan an operation, we have to have approval of the local police chief or his deputy or the zone police chief, and if one of those people is corrupt or linked to a big trafficker, it leaks," said the deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics, Lt. Gen. Baaz Mohammed Ahmadi.
Taliban demand India return Mumbai gunman's body
By RASOOL DAWAR | Associated Press
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Taliban threatened revenge Thursday unless India returns the body of a Pakistani man executed for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan demanded that Mohammed Ajmal Kasab's body be given back to his family or handed over to the Taliban.
"If his body is not given to us or his family, we will, God willing, carry on his mission," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We will take revenge for his murder."
India secretly hanged Mohammed Ajmal Kasab on Wednesday and buried his body at the jail in the city of Pune where he was executed.
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Wednesday that the government would consider any request from the Pakistani government or Kasab's family to hand over his body, but no such request had been received.
Kasab was the lone surviving gunman from the three-day attack in Mumbai, India's financial capital, which targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a tourist restaurant and a crowded train station. The nine other gunmen were killed during the siege.
The attackers entered Mumbai by boat on Nov. 26, 2008, carrying cellphones, grenades and automatic weapons. Their rampage through the city was broadcast live on television, transfixing the nation and the world. It severely damaged relations between Pakistan and India, nuclear-armed neighbors who have fought three major wars against each other.
After Kasab was captured, an Indian judge sentenced him to death in May 2010 for waging war against India, murder and terrorism, among other charges. Kasab confessed that the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the Mumbai attack. The gunmen were in regular phone contact with handlers in Pakistan during the siege.
Indian officials accuse Pakistan's intelligence agency of working with Lashkar-e-Taiba to plan the attack — an allegation Islamabad denies.
Lashkar-e-Taiba was formed with the help of Pakistani intelligence over two decades ago to put pressure on India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Pakistan has since banned the group but has seemingly done little to crack down on the militants. Many analysts believe they still enjoy state support.
Unlike Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani Taliban have focused their fight against the Pakistani government, not India. The group has rarely spoken out about issues related to India, making its comments about Kasab unusual.
Ahsan, the Taliban spokesman, said the group was unsure whether Kasab was working on behalf of Pakistani intelligence, as the Indians claim, which would make him suspect in the eyes of the Taliban.
"If he was used by someone, then it was between him and God," said Ahsan. "If he did all this to please God and was not used by someone, we will complete his mission."
India offered no official comment on the Taliban's threat. However, an Indian government official said it will be a test for the Pakistani government to see whether it will allow its soil to be used again for an attack on India. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
India has complained that Pakistan is not doing enough to crack down on the militants responsible for the Mumbai attack. Seven people including Lashkar-e-Taiba's chief military commander, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, are facing trial in Pakistan for suspected links to the attack. But the proceedings have moved very slowly.
____
Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma contributed to this report from New Delhi.
Afghan president demands release of U.S.-held prisoners
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's president on Wednesday demanded the release of dozens of prisoners from U.S. custody and said all inmates held in breach of an agreement must be transferred immediately to Afghan authorities.
Hamid Karzai's call for "urgent actions" by Thursday came days after the start of complex bilateral talks on a security pact on the role the United States would play in Afghanistan after most of its troops are withdrawn by the end of 2014.
Karzai's demands follow a meeting with top defense, police and legal officials who inspected Bagram prison and concluded the United States had violated an agreement governing the transfer of the jail to Afghan control.
He issued a statement giving the United States until Thursday to act swiftly to "set free all the inmates that need to be released as per Afghanistan applicable laws" and hand over any prisoners who were captured by U.S. forces after the bilateral agreement had been signed.
Washington turned over the high-security prison and around 3,000 suspected Taliban fighters to Afghan control in a six-month period that ended on September 10, with a grace period of two months. The sprawling prison has been likened to Guantanamo in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Iraq because of allegations of serious abuses of detainees.
Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said on Monday that more than 70 detainees who had been cleared by Afghan courts were being wrongfully held by U.S. authorities.
The row could complicate already thorny negotiations over the future U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, which includes technical issues such as visas and whether foreign troops would be immune from prosecution in Afghanistan.
The prison deal took almost a year to finalize and had paved the way for discussions on the U.S. status-of-forces role. Some critics say Karzai is pushing the prison issue hard as a means of strengthening his own hand in the negotiations.
His spokesman Faizi said "administrative detention", a term used by the United States to describe suspects deemed security threats who are held without charge, did not exist under Afghan law and was therefore illegal.
"There are some prisoners found innocent by the court are still in custody. This act is a serious breach of a memorandum of understanding," Faizi told reporters on Monday.
(Reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Karzai Revives Death Penalty, Sparking Criticism
Wall Street Journal By MARIA ABI-HABIB and ZIAULHAQ SULTANI November 21, 2012
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed off on 16 executions this week, ending a lull in his government's use of the death penalty and provoking criticism from human-rights groups and the European Union.
Almost all the executions were carried out through hanging Tuesday and Wednesday, government officials said The government publicized the convicts' photos online and published their charges, which included rape, murder, kidnapping and robbery.
The Taliban also protested the hangings, saying some of those sentenced were insurgent prisoners of war.
Mr. Karzai came under international pressure four years ago to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. Except for two other executions in February, he had abided by that moratorium until now. This week's hangings reasserted his independence as U.S.-led forces prepare to withdraw in 2014. Mr. Karzai must personally sign all death warrants.
"Afghanistan has its own judicial system, and there is no place for foreign interference," said Basir Azizi, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office. "The Afghan constitution allows capital punishment."
Concerns over the weakness of Afghanistan's judicial system are a key reason for many international groups' opposition to the death penalty here. Observers say Afghan courts heavily rely on confessions under torture, fail to properly assess forensic evidence and could be executing innocent men.
"The death penalty is an act of cruelty that should never be used," said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, in a statement. "Its use in Afghanistan, where a fair trial is typically out of the question, is even more horrific."
Mr. Azizi rebuffed the Human Rights Watch statement, saying that the convicts had exhausted appeals and that "it's not possible" that the courts that considered their cases had "convicted innocents to death."
Some Western diplomats in Kabul were distressed by the executions, saying they worry that efforts to build strong Afghan institutions upholding human rights were failing as the government slips back into governance methods employed during the Taliban regime.
"The [European Union] delegation believes the perpetrators of such crimes should face a fair trial and prison sentences. However, the European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment," an EU statement said Wednesday. "We call on the Afghan authorities to commute all further death sentences and to reintroduce the moratorium on executions as a first step toward definitive abolition of capital punishment."
The Taliban frequently employed capital punishment for adultery, rape and murder. During their regime, the Taliban would lure large crowds into sports stadiums across Afghanistan promising an exciting soccer game, and carry out public executions during intermissions.
"The Afghan government's near total moratorium on the death penalty in recent years was a major departure from Taliban rule," said Mr. Adams of Human Rights Watch. The recent hangings, he added, "are a terrible step backwards for Afghanistan."
Still, Mr. Karzai's decision appeared to be wildly popular among many Afghans, who defended the president's decision and said it was sanctioned under Islamic law.
"Every day, I and my entire family would pray for that murderer's death. He killed my only son," said Muallem Rahmuddin, whose son was killed over four years ago in Farah province, allegedly by two of the convicted men hanged Tuesday. "We call on all of those sentenced to death to be quickly executed." —Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.
Prisoner Release Shifts Pakistan's Afghan Policy
by Jackie Northam November 21, 2012 NPR
There has been a small but potentially important breakthrough in the faltering Afghan peace process. In what is considered a good-faith gesture, Pakistan last week released at least nine Afghan Taliban prisoners. The move is seen as part of an emerging new strategy by Pakistan as it eyes the looming drawdown of U.S. and Western troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's decision to release the prisoners has been met with equal doses of skepticism, surprise and relief. Pakistan is seen as key to bringing the Taliban and other Islamist militants to any peace negotiation. But for years, it has balked or outright refused to release Afghan militant leaders who may be willing to take part in a reconciliation process.
The prisoner release came at the end of a three-day meeting in Islamabad between Pakistani officials and members of the Afghan High Peace Council. The Afghans were hoping a senior Taliban leader would be among those released, but Salahuddin Rabbani, the head of the council, seemed pleased with the progress.
"It seems that Pakistani officials have realized that a close cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan can be effective for the peace initiative," Rabbani says. "Of course, this is a vision we have been insisting on for a long time."
Pakistan's cooperation in the prisoner release is widely viewed as part of a shift in its Afghan policy. Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of Pakistan's Senate Committee on Defense, says the government picked up a cue from the U.S.
"There has been a positive change, a turnaround if you will, and the change has been in American foreign policy in the last month or so. And that change is now being translated into a more clear policy rather than a confused policy," he says.
For example, Sayed says, the U.S. has consistently pushed Pakistan to fight the Taliban while encouraging the militants to enter peace talks. That approach created a deep well of mistrust here. Sayed says the U.S. has recently shown a new seriousness about the reconciliation process, which helped rebuild trust.
But Saleem Safi, an Afghan specialist with Pakistan's Geo TV, says Islamabad changed course because its Afghan policy wasn't working. Now Pakistan favors an inclusive government in Afghanistan rather than a return to power by the Taliban.
"Pakistan is requesting, and Pakistan is influencing Taliban, that they should make some changes in their approach so they can become acceptable to the international community and also to the other opponent of Afghan factions," he says.
Safi adds that the peace process faces many hurdles, primarily because every party to a potential agreement wants reconciliation on its own terms. He says another major complication is that the U.S. has not been forthcoming about how many of its troops will remain in Afghanistan after the bulk of Western forces withdraw at the end of 2014.
"How can Pakistan cooperate wholeheartedly with American, if the American are trying to keep something in their hands for the future to pressurize Pakistan? So then Pakistan also has the right to keep in their hand some kind of proxies," Safi says.
He adds that Pakistan is trying to ensure that it won't be vulnerable once Western troops start drawing down.
Sen. Sayed says Pakistan's focus is clear: "A stable, a united peaceful Afghanistan is what we would like to essentially want at the end of the road — that this should not lead to a situation where there is a new civil conflict among warring factors."
Still, Sayed says Pakistan has deep concerns about a power vacuum in the region and about what role Pakistan's archenemy, India, will play in Afghanistan post-2014.
Australia pulls back in Afghanistan, Timor
Sydney Morning Herald Ben Doherty, David Wroe November 22, 2012
AUSTRALIAN troops have withdrawn from all forward operating bases and patrol bases in Oruzgan, and handed over control of security in the province to Afghan forces.
And after 13 years keeping the peace in East Timor, the last remaining Australian troops will begin pulling out on Thursday as the tiny, young country begins a new chapter in its independence.
Forward operating and patrol bases in Afghanistan have been progressively handed over to Afghan control since October, and Australian troops will now operate only out of the multinational base in Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan's capital.
Australian troops - the 7th battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Task Group, this week took over from the 3rd battalion - will now be in an ''advising'' rather than a ''mentoring'' role.
Australian troops will advise and guide the leadership of the Afghan National Army's 4th Brigade, rather than mentoring at the Kandak - the Afghan name for a battalion - level.
''This marks the culmination of a whole lot of hard work as well as some blood that's been spilt in bringing the Afghans up to a standard where they can do the job themselves,'' Commander Combined Team Oruzgan, Colonel Simon Stuart said.
Australia has lost 39 soldiers in Afghanistan.
''The 4th Brigade is able to stand on their own two feet. Now we have the Afghan security forces, securing the Afghan people.''
Australian troops have been progressively handing over control of the forward operating and patrol bases over the past two months.
Wali base in Mirabad, Hadrian in Deh Rawud, Sorkh Bid in Nesh, and Wahab in the Baluchi Valley, where a rogue Afghan soldier killed three Australian troops in a green-on-blue attack in August, are all under Afghan authority.
The final forward operating base, Mirwais, in Chora, was handed over to Afghan control this week.
The announcement of the withdrawal of 390 Australian military personnel from East Timor came from Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday night.
Ms Gillard said East Timor - also known as Timor Leste - had seen its economy grow and its institutions evolve, with three successful rounds of national elections.
''Timorese security services have risen to the challenge and served their nation well throughout these events,'' she said.
Ms Gillard thanked the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force personnel for their ''great courage and dedication'' in helping maintain peace and stability in East Timor.
Australian troops went into the country in 1999 to quell pro-Indonesian militias who went on a violent rampage after the East Timorese voted for independence in a UN-backed referendum.
They have remained under various international mandates, with the International Stabilisation Force - which is Australian-led but includes New Zealand forces - taking over in 2006.
The pullout comes as a similar withdrawal is planned for troops stationed in the Solomon Islands, where Australia has about 150 military personnel and 200 police.
The East Timor withdrawal will continue through to April, as the troops repatriate equipment, close bases and return property and buildings to the government of East Timor.
37 killed, 92 injured in Pakistan terror strikes
By Indo Asian News Service | IANS
Islamabad, Nov 22 (IANS) At least 37 people have been killed and over 90 others injured in Pakistan since Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
A total of 28 people were killed and 77 others injured in Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Karachi since Wednesday night. Claiming responsibility for both the attacks, Pakistan Taliban Thursday warned of more such attacks in the near future.
In Rawalpindi, in a sectarian attack Wednesday night, 23 people were killed and 62 others including eight children were injured when a suicide bomber hit a procession of Shiite Muslims in the city, said Deeba Shehnaz, spokeswoman of state rescue department.
The suicide bomber blew up his explosive−laden jacket in a gathering of over 1,500 Shiite Muslims when police tried to stop him for checking in Misrial area of the city.
In Karachi, four hours prior to the Rawalpindi attack, at least three people were killed and 13 others injured as twin blasts hit a Shiite shrine in the port city.
Police in its investigation report Thursday said, three people were killed and five others injured in the first blast around 6 p.m. Wednesday after a bomb went off at the main gate of a Shiite Shrine in the city's Orangi town.
The bomb was detonated by a remote control device and explosives were fixed at a motorbike, the report said, adding when police and rescue teams gathered at the site, another blast took place, injuring eight people including policemen and journalists.
On Thursday, unidentified gunmen attacked a police checkpost in Peshawar.
Police said that at least one policeman was killed, two others were injured and several went missing when a group of motorbike riders opened fire at a police checkpost in Badaber area of the city. Soon after the attack, the body of one of the missing policemen was found in a nearby area, pushing the toll to two.
Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for both Rawalpindi and Karachi blasts. Ahsan Ullah Ahsan, the spokesperson of Pakistan Taliban, said more attacks would come on Shiite Muslims in the future.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and leaders of all political parties condemned the blast.
In an earlier incident, four policemen were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after an unidentified number of gunmen ambushed a police vehicle in Jani Khel area. Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
In another attack in Balochistan province's Quetta city, five people were killed and 15 others injured when a remote−controlled bomb hit a security convoy, police said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Fighting, and kicking, for women's rights in Afghanistan
November 22, 2012 7:21 AM
(CBS News) KABUL - Zahra Mahmoodi is 21-years-old, wears heavy eyeliner and a headscarf, and is the captain of the newly-formed Afghan National Women's Soccer team: the country's first national soccer team for women.
Afghanistan is a country full of "firsts" and "only's". This month, I have been to the first and only bowling alley in Afghanistan, the first and only golf course, and to meet the first and only female governor.
Zahra has been playing soccer for six years. She wanted to join a team earlier, but as a young refugee in Iran and then as a teen in Afghanistan, her only option was to play behind closed doors with her brothers.
"It means a lot of things to me, beside playing and enjoying the game," she told me. "When I play soccer I become free of everything."
She and her teammates have not had it easy. In this conservative country, the girls risk ridicule and much, much worse if they play on public fields. Each player has struggled to get permission from her father.
"People in this country think soccer is not for girls, it is a sport for men. If a family is open-minded enough to allow their daughter to play," she explains, "The security situation makes them worry. We don't have any facilities. We face many, many problems."
Still, she says, soccer is a great unifying force. The girls on her team are different ethnic groups, different religious sects, yet love and trust each other like family no small feat here. Like many of her generation, she worries about what will happen when the Americans leave in 2014, but she's hopeful.
"The young generation had a good experience [these last few years]," she says. "They are tired of war. The youth are hopeful that development can go forward and the good experience will continue."
Zahra and her teammates were recently invited to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for a soccer clinic hosted by US World Cup Champion and Olympian Lorrie Fair. In two months, Zahra will graduate from college and plans to be a soccer coach, like Lorrie. She's not going to give up on this sport - not now, not when NATO is gone - there is too much at stake.
"Just existing as a team is not enough," she insists. "It's important that women fight for their rights. We can't just sit and wait. We have to fight. As a team, we think about being the champions, not just playing. As women, we have to do the same."
Central Bank Chief Accuses Banks of Smuggling Money Abroad
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Local Afghan banks are sending vast amounts of money abroad which is causing foreign currency inflation, head of Afghanistan's Central Bank Noorullah Delawari said on Wednesday.
Delawari claimed before Parliament that $4.6 billion was smuggled outside of Afghanistan last year.
"In the past year, $4.6bn was sent to foreign countries illegally. We proposed a law to the Council of Ministers which they approved, but despite the existence of this law, several banks are sending the money to outside," Delawari said, adding that he's investigating the issue.
Several government officials including Finance Minister Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal and Commerce Minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal were summoned to the parliament to respond to the recent increase of foreign currency rates against the Afghani.
The Finance Minister said that part of the problem are concerns for post 2014, spread by political experts in local media.
"The economy-related organs are not spreading concerns about post 2014 bankruptcy, but the politicians and the experts are propagating this in media," Zakhilwal told the lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Minister said that export balance of the country is as low as five percent.
"We don't have anything to export, our trade balance is negative. Ninety-five percent of our trade deals were imports - we have only five percent export goods," Arghandiwal said.
The lawmakers accused the government officials of providing the means for transferring money abroad.
"Yes, the money is running out of Afghanistan. But who paves the way for them to take suitcases full of dollars outside? Its not the ordinary workers on the street, but the government officials," Kabul MP Shukria Barekzai said.
The MPs also called for a change in the Afghanistan's currency policy to prevent further bankruptcy and chaos.
Long Term US Presence Benefits Afghan: Humayon
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Long term presence of the US forces in Afghanistan is for the benefit of Afghan people, the head of the Parliamentary Defense Committee told TOLOnews on Wednesday, after the two countries began talks on a long-term security agreement.
MP Humayon Humayon said that US forces should also operate in Pakistan and strengthen the capacities of the Afghan security forces to protect the country against the insurgents.
"To combat Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks, US forces should operate on the other side of the border. The presence of US forces in Afghanistan is for the benefit of Afghan people. The US government should work hard in strengthening the Afghan security forces," Humayoun said.
His comments comes after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the US plans on an enduring presence in the region to deter Al Qaeda and other extremist groups with an eye on Afghanistan.
"All this sends a very simple and very powerful message to Al Qaeda, to the Taliban, and to the violent extremist groups who want to regain a safe haven in Afghanistan: We are not going anywhere; our commitment to Afghanistan is long term, and you cannot wait us out," Panetta said in a speech to the Center for a New American Security on Tuesday.
Panetta said that the US will not only focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan but also Yemen and Somalia.
Meanwhile, Afghan military analyst Atiqullah Amarkhil supported Humayon's comment saying that Al Qaeda will not be able to expand if the US is committed to its pledges with the Afghan government.
"If the US stays committed to its promises, Al Qaeda will not be able to expand its activities in the country. If we want a stable and better Afghanistan, intervention of neighboring countries should be prevented," Amarkhil told TOLOnews on Wednesday.
Negotiations for a long term security agreement between Afghanistan and the US began last Thursday.
Japan, Germany Donate $33M for Airport Expansion
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Wednesday, 21 November 2012
The Japanese government will donate US$20 million for the expansion of Kabul International Airport while Germany has pledged $13 million for Mazar-e-Sharif airport, Afghan Aviation Minister Dawood Ali Najafi said Wednesday.
The expansion project includes construction of a new monitoring tower, expansion of runways, waiting halls, gates and aircraft parking lots, he said.
"We have reached an agreement on the budget for the expansion of the airport's terminal. Currently the terminal has the capacity of 1 million passengers per year as we have two gates for boarding. If we increase the gates to six, the capacity will increase to 7 million per year," Najafi said.
The project will be start next year and will continue for one year.
He also added that German government has pledged to donate $13 million for the construction of a monitoring tower in Mazar-e-Sharif airport, the capital of northern Balkh province.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com