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Immunity from suits of American servicemen could derail U.S.-Afghan talks on security pact
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Afghanistan have begun negotiations on a security pact that would govern the continued presence of American military forces in the country after the departure in 2014 of the U.S. forces along with the other foreign contingents in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The U.S. is saying that the continued military presence in the country although in a much reduced number is necessary to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan which is still under constant threat from militant groups, notably from the Taliban.
However, Afghan observers believe that the demand by the U.S. of immunity guarantee from legal suits of American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan could be the major stumbling block in the negotiations.
The proposed security pact, according to Afghan observers, would face opposition at home and abroad as some countries in the region interpret the U.S. long-term presence in Afghanistan as a potential threat to the area.
"Allaying the security concerns of Afghanistan's neighboring states is essential ahead of signing any security agreement with U. S.," a retired army general and political analyst Amrullah Aman told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Aman said that establishing U.S. military bases in Afghanistan is a sensitive issue for the neighboring countries and they will continue to oppose unless their concerns are resolved.
Kabul university professor and political analyst Ahmad Zia Rafat also echoed Aman's observation. He said the proposed judicial immunity provision remains a thorn in the security talks with U.S. since the Afghan public opinion is definitely against it.
Around 100,000 NATO-led ISAF, with over 60,000 of them Americans, are presently stationed in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban-led insurgency and to ensure durable peace in the conflict- ridden country.
Talks on security pact are part of the Afghan-U.S. strategic partnership, which was agreed upon by President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama during the latter's quick visit to Kabul on May 2 this year.
If signed, the pact would guarantee the presence of thousands of U.S. military troops at least for several years in Afghanistan.
Iran, the immediate neighbor of Afghanistan, has already assailed the talks. Tehran, an arch enemy of the U.S., has said that the proposed security agreement could only contribute to the further destabilization of the region.
In fact, Iran has called for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops in Afghanistan even before 2014.
Reports said that several other countries, including Russia, are against the long-term presence of U.S. military in Afghanistan. For many years, Russia has been the dominant foreign power in Afghanistan. When it finally withdrew, the Taliban came in to fill the vacuum and established a hard-line Islamic state.
Washington has announced that it would maintain contingents of troops in Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban and other al-Qaida operatives to resume power in the country.
The U.S. and Afghanistan formally began negotiations on the crafting of a security pact here in Kabul on Nov. 15 this year.
Ambassadcor James Warlick, head of U.S. negotiating team, told newsmen after first round of talks that the negotiations would craft documents "to provide legal authority for the United States armed forces and our civilian components to continue presence in Afghanistan with the full approval of the government of Afghanistan."
Although many Afghans are in favor of having security pact with U.S. and the presence of U.S. military in Afghanistan at least for few more years they insist that U.S. soldiers committing crimes should be tried in Afghan courts in accordance with Afghan laws.
"Afghans would have no problems with having U.S. military bases in Afghanistan. However, guaranteeing judicial protection to American soldiers is a core issue that could hinder the talks," Aman said.
But the U.S., in all its military bases agreements with other countries, has insisted on this provision.
In the Philippines, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that allows the temporary stay of American military servicemen in the country also carries a provision on immunity from suits and this has created irritants between the two countries.
This is prompted some Filipino legislators and militant groups to call for the scrapping of the VFA.
Kabul Closes Universities After Sectarian Clashes
By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan November 25, 2012
Afghanistan has closed down three major public universities in the capital Kabul for more than a week after sectarian clashes left one student dead and nearly 30 others wounded.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on November 25 that Afghanistan's Higher Education Ministry closed down the universities for 10 days as a "precautionary measure."
The clashes erupted on November 24 after a ritual marking the Shi'ite Muslim festival of Ashura was interrupted by hard-line Sunni students. Students attacked each other with sticks and rocks.
Ali Akbar, an Afghan Shi'ite Muslim and a student at the Kabul University, claimed two of his fellow Shi'ite students died when they were pushed out of the window of their dormitory.
"The clashes started between Shi'ite and Sunnis. Some of our Shi'ite brothers were in the dormitory when they [Sunnis] started a sectarian fight with them and pushed two of our Shi'ite brothers from the fourth floor and they were both martyred," Akbar said.
His claims have not been confirmed.
Calls For Restraint
The violence primarily hit a university hostel which houses students from the provinces.
Political leaders, including representatives from Shi'ite communities, have called for restraint following the clashes.
Afghanistan's Shi'ite minorities have gained significant freedom since the
hard-line Taliban were removed from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
But the Ashura ceremony, in which men beat their chests and flagellate themselves as a sign of mourning, has long been a magnet for sectarian attacks.
A bomb attack on a crowd celebrating Ashura at a Shi'ite shrine in Kabul killed at least 55 and wounded 150 others last year.
Ashura is a religious ceremony marking the murder of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by the armies of the Caliph Yazid in 680.
With reporting by AFP
The quiet pain of insider shootings in Afghanistan
Few family members have spoken out. But two widows and a retired Air Force legal officer are digging into a case in Kabul that left nine dead last year.
Los Angeles Times By David Zucchino November 24, 2012
On the morning of April 27 last year, Afghan Air Force Col. Ahmed Gul walked into a control room on the Afghan military side of the Kabul international airport. He was armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol provided by the United States military.
Within minutes, eight U.S. Air Force advisors and an American contractor were shot dead. The advisors were executed with bullets to the head. The nine killings remain the single deadliest incident among insider attacks that have targeted U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
An Air Force investigation concluded that Gul, who had been radicalized by Islamist extremists, acted alone. A preliminary report by U.S. Central Command recommended enhanced vetting procedures for Afghan forces and stronger base security measures for American military personnel training Afghan soldiers and police.
Widows of two of the dead officers, along with a former Air Force legal officer, are convinced that Gul had help from fellow Afghan officers.
"You'd have to suspend disbelief to assume one Afghan airman could shoot and kill nine Americans, eight of them armed and well-trained," said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Sally Stenton, a former civilian police investigator who was a legal officer assigned to the airport the day of the attack.
The three women contend that the Air Force failed to uncover Gul's radicalization in Pakistan and Kabul — and the vows he made to kill Americans.
Although insider attacks in Afghanistan are persistent — at least 80 attacks and 122 coalition deaths since 2007 — no single incident seems to have registered on the public consciousness in the United States. Few family members of those killed have spoken out.
The number of attacks and deaths has risen each year: There were two attacks and two deaths in 2007; 21 attacks and 35 deaths last year; 42 attacks and 58 deaths so far this year, including 35 Americans.
Stenton and the two widows have accused the Air Force of not providing proper security at the facility. They say procedures put in place since the attack have failed to stem the rash of killings by America's purported allies.
"The American government is putting a Band-Aid on the issue," said retired Air Force Capt. Suzanna Ausborn, whose husband, Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Ausborn, was killed at the airport.
Miriam Nylander Hamilton, a former Air Force enlistee whose husband, Capt. Nathan Nylander, also died that April morning, said the U.S. military was continuing to expose its forces to turncoat Afghan security force members — or insurgents posing as army or police. She said her husband told her that commanders emphasized maintaining good relations with Afghans, rather than focusing on advisors' security.
Ausborn, Hamilton and other widows have petitioned Congress for a new investigation while raising questions about the official Air Force version of the killings.
The two widows and Stenton have pored over a redacted Air Force report, the Central Command report and a separate Air Force chronology. They point out that 14 Afghans were in the control room when Gul opened fire. None were killed or seriously wounded.
The U.S. Air Force investigation quoted Afghans as saying they fled or took cover when Gul opened fire. The reports, the three women said, indicated the Afghans did not attempt to rescue or treat the wounded advisors.
An Afghan Air Force colonel told investigators he thought Gul "had a connection to a terrorist cell because the attack was too coordinated to be a random act."
One of Gul's relatives told U.S. investigators that Gul, while in Pakistan between 2006 and 2008, was radicalized at a mosque. Gul was angry that foreigners had invaded Afghanistan and told family members he "wanted to kill Americans," the relative said.
After returning to Afghanistan in 2008, Gul fell under the influence of a radical, anti-American mosque in Kabul, according to his supervisor, an Afghan colonel. Gul's "views were boiling over and extreme," the colonel told investigators.
According to the Air Force report, Gul opened fire while standing inside the control room. Maj. Ausborn was one of the first two Americans shot. Gul then shot five more Air Force advisors, including a female sergeant and an American civilian contractor.
Gul paused to reload and retrieve the pistol of a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel he had shot. Americans in an adjoining conference room ran into a hallway, where two U.S. Air Force captains — including Nathan Nylander — drew their weapons. Nylander was wounded in both thighs and subsequently shot in the head by Gul. Investigators concluded that Nylander's handgun had jammed during the shootout. The other captain was not injured.
Gul was wounded and retreated down a hallway. Investigators believe he paused to write "God is the only one" in blood on a wall. He went upstairs and apparently shot himself in the chest and left side — possibly after being wounded by an Afghan military response team.
Public affairs officers for the Air Force and Central Command referred questions to the International Security Assistance Force.
James Graybeal, a spokesman for the force in Kabul, says the Afghan military has tightened the vetting process by, among other things, adding investigative agents and revetting soldiers returning from leave. More than 100 Afghan soldiers have been arrested for possessing false identification, and several have been arrested on suspicion of aiding the Taliban.
The international force has beefed up self-defense training and added security so that troops stationed next to Afghan forces can better defend themselves, Graybeal said. Armed soldiers also have been designated to watch over advisors.
Troops are also undergoing renewed cultural training on Afghan customs, Graybeal said. A May 2011 report on insider attacks attributed many to personal animosities and perceived insults stemming from cultural clashes. Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, said in August that Taliban infiltration was responsible for only about a quarter of insider attacks.
Hamilton said it was agonizing to relive her husband's death while studying the Air Force reports — and deeply troubling to hear about new insider killings every month.
"The worst thing is knowing there are more widows and more kids going through the same horrible things we went through," Hamilton said. "It has to stop."
david.zucchino@latimes.com
Local Taliban leader detained in south Afghan operation: coalition
KABUL, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A local Taliban leader was arrested Saturday in an operation in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, the NATO-led coalition forces said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban direct action cell leader and detained a number of suspected insurgents in Helmand province today," the coalition or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in the statement.
The arrested leader is believed to have facilitated movement of weapons and ammunition and coordinated insurgent attacks targeting Afghan and coalition forces in the province, some 555 km south of Kabul, the statement added.
In addition, the statement said that "Afghan and coalition forces confirmed today (Saturday) the death of a senior member of the Tala Wah Barfek Taliban insurgent network in an operation in Baghlan province Wednesday,"
"He was responsible for several attacks on Afghan and coalition forces in the province and was also a mentor for other insurgents, " it said.
The Taliban has been waging an insurgency since its regime was toppled by a U.S-led invasion in late 2001.
The Afghan forces and some 100,000 coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militants recently but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings.
Three civilians were killed and more than 90 wounded Friday morning when Taliban carried out a suicide car bombing near a police center in eastern Wardak province, in which 30 government agency buildings and civilian houses were destroyed.
Canadian leader in Afghanistan wears two hats
Toronto Sun By Simon Kent Saturday, November 24, 2012
TORONTO - Like a riddle wrapped inside an enigma, you never get to fully understand Afghanistan.
You just learn to work within it and alongside the people.
So says a Canadian career soldier who knows more than most about operating in what is still, for all intents and purposes, one of the most dangerous places on earth.
Maj.-Gen Jim Ferron is five months into his year-long posting as commander of the Canadian Training Mission in Afghanistan and Deputy Commanding General for the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A).
In military parlance it is a double-hatted role: Ferron leads Canada’s contribution of almost 1,000 troops and serves at senior staff level with his NATO colleagues tasked to train an efficient Afghanistan Army able to fight for itself sooner rather than later.
“Yes, it is a rare double role but I am here to work,” Ferron said via a phone interview from his base in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. “It’s also not my first time here so I am very aware of the challenges that lie ahead for our people and the Afghans themselves.
“I certainly don’t see it ending tomorrow or the day after. It is dangerous, challenging work.”
One of those dangerous challenges is improvised roadside bombs.
Homemade bombs have been the major killer of NATO troops in Afghanistan for the past two years. They rank as the single major threat to Afghan soldiers and local police as they slowly take leadership of their country’s fledgling security.
The exacting process of locating, disarming and disassembling these hidden weapons is a specialized capability that has mostly fallen to highly trained engineer specialists within the NATO force component.
That hasn’t stopped NATO working to impart specialized knowledge to Afghan security forces although there is never enough expertise or enough people to go around, Ferron said.
“It’s a human tragedy for all concerned when a soldier is injured or killed with one of these, but it’s absolutely heartbreaking when children here in Afghanistan are deliberately subjected to the effects of war, so that’s what I mean by saying not enough people.
“NATO is moving to a model of ‘train the trainers’ and I think we are having success. Ultimately if we put ourselves out of a job then we will have succeeded by any measure.”
Ferron is on his second posting to Afghanistan, having spent a year there in 2007 as a NATO intelligence officer. He said that experience prepared him for the challenge of command – but also made him acutely aware of the limitations.
“You never fully understand Afghanistan, but I’ve been there before so I’m familiar with the challenges,” he said.
Ferron’s busy career before this posting to Afghanistan has helped prepare the way.
He previously served as Commander of the 1st Canadian Division, Kingston, a major role in preparing the men and women of the Canadian Forces for operations around the globe.
“When you’re tasked to lead and command great men and women in full spectrum operations — in my case, 1st Canadian Division— it focuses your mind on the acute requirements of operational service.
“So that responsibility gives confidence and hopefully I can impart that to my NATO and my Canadian colleagues.”
Divisional command also meant working with Canadian government departments and our international allies, something that has been a singular distinction of Ferron’s career.
His operational experience is vast and includes four years on NATO duty in Germany (1980-83; 1986-87); a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cyprus (1989); a tour with NATO’s Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1996); a year in Afghanistan with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) (2007); and two years of duty with the United States Central Command (2009-2011).
All that is in the past. Now he has six more months to help bring stability to a troubled land and continue work to negate the devastating affects of roadside bombs.
From January to May this year alone, some 469 Afghan troops were killed by these terrorist weapons of choice, according to the latest Congressional Research Service report. During the same period, 181 NATO troops were killed, according to statistics listed on iCasualties.org.
“Even one death is one too many,” Ferron concluded.
Afghan’s Shiite minority fears a return to old ostracism
Washington Post By Pamela Constable November 24 , 2012
KABUL - For the past week, the Afghan capital has been draped with black cloth arches and festooned with huge colored banners. Mournful, pounding chants pour from loudspeakers across the city, filling the air with slow martial intensity.
The dramatic display is all part of Muharram and the 10-day Shiite festival that commemorates the slaying of Imam Hussein, a 7th-century holy figure and early champion of Islam. But it is also a symbol of the growing religious and political freedom that Afghanistan’s long-ostracized Shiites have had in the past decade.
Now, as Western military forces prepare to leave the country by 2014, Afghan Shiites, most of whom are from the Hazara ethnic minority, fear that their window of opportunity may slam shut again, leaving larger rival ethnic groups as well as Taliban insurgents, who are radical Sunni Muslims, dominating power.
“Everything we have achieved, our ability to come out and participate in society, has been in the shade of the international community and forces,” said Mohammed Alizada, a Hazara Shiite who was elected to parliament in 2009. “We are very concerned that once they leave, the fundamentalists will reemerge, ethnic issues will return, and we will lose what we have gained.”
There are more immediate fears, as well. Sectarian violence, historically absent from Afghan society, has been intensifying in next-door Pakistan and spilling across the border. During last year’s Muharram festival, two Shiite shrines in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif were bombed, killing more than 80 people. Shiite leaders say the Kabul attack was carried out by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, an outlawed Sunni militant group based in Pakistan.
Tensions increased palpably in Kabul on Saturday, the climactic 10th day of Muharram known as Ashura, when groups of young men beat their chests and whip themselves with chains and knives in penance for the death of Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad.
No terrorist attacks were reported, and Afghan officials attended Muharram ceremonies under heavy security. But at Kabul University, clashes erupted between groups of students after an Ashura ceremony in a dormitory. Police said people were pelted with stones and thrown out of windows. They reported that dozens were wounded and at least 30 arrested.
‘Now we have full freedom’
Afghan Sunnis, who make up about 80 percent of the populace, generally tolerate Shiites and observe Muharram in a quieter way, praying and giving charity to the poor. At other times of year, Afghans of all backgrounds flock to majestic Shiite shrines to meditate, feed pigeons or celebrate the Persian new year in the spring.
“We are all Muslims, and Hussein died in the struggle to bring our religion to the world,” said Hajji Nawroz, 75, a contented soul who ladles out free soup at his stand outside a blue-tiled shrine. “During Taliban time, we could not celebrate or talk about these things, but now we have full freedom,” he said. “Our boys are coming out more now to beat themselves.”
In West Kabul, the heart of the Hazara community, a heady, almost frenzied atmosphere has been growing all week. Every bus, taxi and motorbike sports banners flapping from bamboo poles, and every corner has a charity stand, known as an imambargah, where volunteers give away glasses of hot milk and loudspeakers blast recorded dirges, with a slow and ominous cadence, late into the night.
But this year, the arches and banners and chants have reached farther than ever across the city, arousing new resentment from the Sunni populace. There has been sharp public criticism of the flagellation rite, Sunni clerics have denounced the elaborate festivities as offensive to Islam, and President Hamid Karzai has asked the Shiite community to celebrate calmly and avoid antagonizing others.
The hostility also stems from another concern: the widespread belief that Iran, Afghanistan’s Shiite neighbor to the west, is promoting Shiism and bolstering Hazara leadership as a way to gain cultural and political influence. Several years ago, Iran funded the construction of a large religious university here, and Karzai was heavily criticized for reportedly accepting large cash donations from Tehran.
Hazaras, an Asiatic minority from the mountainous north, have long been Afghanistan’s poorest ethnic group, relegated to menial labor and often ridiculed. During the civil war of the early 1990s, many fled to Iran, while their militia leaders in Kabul fought Pashtun and Tajik rivals with cruel ferocity. More fled during the repressive reign of the Taliban that followed.
Yet many Hazaras who returned from Iran after the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001 say they were exploited and ostracized there and want nothing to do with any Iranian designs on Afghanistan. They said Iranian Persians tended to look down on them, much as Afghan ethnic Pash¬tuns and Tajiks have traditionally done here.
‘They hate us’
“They hate us,” said Roya Sultani, a teacher who helped organize a Muharram prayer service for Shiite girls on Thursday. She said she spent years in Iran, and that people there often insulted Afghan exiles because of their Hazara origins. “They call themselves Muslims, but they are cruel and only thinking of their own interests.”
During the past 10 years, Afghan Hazaras have gained a small but significant toehold on power, winning seats in parliament and beginning to outgrow their longtime dependence on a few ethnic strongmen. Younger Hazaras, especially girls, who are freer to mingle in public than those from other ethnic groups, have taken advantage of new educational and job opportunities in post-Taliban democracy.
But Sultani, like others, said she was also worried about what would become of her community after Western forces withdraw. The specter of renewed ethnic violence haunts the community, and Hazaras, still vulnerable despite the show of religious bravado that has consumed the capital this week, fear they would bear the brunt of it.
“Today we can celebrate freely, and we feel secure,” Sultani said during the prayer service. A dozen girls in black robes crowded in to listen, while others chanted mournful poems or cleaned wheat to make bread for the poor. “If NATO leaves Afghanistan, we don’t know what will happen. Once we were afraid of the Taliban. Now we are afraid for the future.”
Leaders Urge Ashura Lessons to Fight Corruption, Injustice
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi, Karim Amini Saturday, 24 November 2012
The holy day of Ashura was not only a day of religious observance for Muslims; Afghan politicians used it as a platform to deliver a political message inspired by the actions of Imam Hussain.
The political leaders noted the philosophy of Imam Hussian – the historical figure whose death is commemorated by Ashura – as one which fought against corruption in the government, and called on those present to do the same.
"Fighting against corruption, injustice and violence: this in fact is the commitment that we honor this day of Ashura," Mayor of Kabul Mohammad Younus Now Andish said in his address in Kabul.
In the seventh century, Hussain – a grandson of the prophet Mohammad – and his followers rose up against their ruler, the caliph Yazid, for the inequality and corruption of his government. Ashura commemorates the Hussein's death at the hands of Yazid's army in 680 AD near Karbala (present-day Iraq).
"It's our duty to learn new lessons in each year of the ceremony of Ashura for the service of the people," Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdoom Rahin said.
Leader of the National Coalition party Abdullah Abdullah urged the crowd at the Ashura ceremony to continue to engage in the political process, saying that only their efforts will ensure a fair and transparent election in 2014.
The government will respond to the pressure applied by the people and the civil society, Abdullah said, and warned that violations of the law by top government officials will lead to a backlash and aggression from the citizens.
"Rulers should know and should accept that ignoring people and not listening to them, playing with people's fate – the heroic and mujahid people of Afghanistan will not allow this," he said.
Lawmaker Qurban Ali Erfani addressed the controversial matter of President Hamid Karzai's recent approval to execute 14 prisoners in two days last week, saying the security of society allowed for it.
"If the divine laws are enforced in Afghanistan, there will be no kidnapping, no stealing, no crimes, and no murders. Since the Quran says life is found in implementing religion and justice, that is what society's security depends on," he said.
National Ulema Council Seeks More Executive Power
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Saturday, 24 November 2012
The Ulema Council of Afghanistan is seeking more authority via the establishment of a new Dar al-Ifta – a scholarly institute with the authority to issue binding decrees concerning Islamic law or "fatwas".
The council discussed their demand with President Hamid Karzai on Friday during a meeting requested by the president at his palace in Kabul.
The head of the Ulema Council Mawlawi Qiamuddin Kashaf said there were a few caveats, including the abolishment of the national Ulema Council and the current Dar al-Ifta within Afghanistan's Supreme Court.
"[The new] Dar al-Ifta should bear executive competency, otherwise founding it will be an act of mocking Islam," he said at the meeting.
"When a Dar al-Ifta issues a fatwa, the fatwa should be enforced by juristic institutions and the national police. I am 100 percent against it if it does not have these conditions," he added.
Kashaf said the council was being criticised for its weakness, which he viewed as wrong, but called for more executive authority to deliver rulings in Islamic law. The president himself should also be a member, he added.
The council and Karzai discussed the matter of suicide attacks with the religious leaders stressing the need for such attacks to be again declared Haram (forbidden under Islamic law).
To this effect, both parties welcomed a plan agreed upon by High Peace Council and Pakistani officials to have an bilateral meeting with the Pakistan Ulema council on the matter of suicide attacks.
"I met [Pakistan Chief of Army] Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and told him that Afghanistan has no problem with holding this meeting. If you make the effort and it makes no difference if you want it to be in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. The location of this meeting is not important," Karzai said.
Karzai also commented on the release of Taliban prisoners from Pakistani prisons as an effective step towards peace talks with the militants.
"A number of the Taliban prisoners that were imprisoned in Pakistan were released following a request from the High Peace Council. This is a very important step in progress of the talks. A very good move has been made," Karzai said.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Afghanistan have begun negotiations on a security pact that would govern the continued presence of American military forces in the country after the departure in 2014 of the U.S. forces along with the other foreign contingents in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The U.S. is saying that the continued military presence in the country although in a much reduced number is necessary to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan which is still under constant threat from militant groups, notably from the Taliban.
However, Afghan observers believe that the demand by the U.S. of immunity guarantee from legal suits of American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan could be the major stumbling block in the negotiations.
The proposed security pact, according to Afghan observers, would face opposition at home and abroad as some countries in the region interpret the U.S. long-term presence in Afghanistan as a potential threat to the area.
"Allaying the security concerns of Afghanistan's neighboring states is essential ahead of signing any security agreement with U. S.," a retired army general and political analyst Amrullah Aman told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Aman said that establishing U.S. military bases in Afghanistan is a sensitive issue for the neighboring countries and they will continue to oppose unless their concerns are resolved.
Kabul university professor and political analyst Ahmad Zia Rafat also echoed Aman's observation. He said the proposed judicial immunity provision remains a thorn in the security talks with U.S. since the Afghan public opinion is definitely against it.
Around 100,000 NATO-led ISAF, with over 60,000 of them Americans, are presently stationed in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban-led insurgency and to ensure durable peace in the conflict- ridden country.
Talks on security pact are part of the Afghan-U.S. strategic partnership, which was agreed upon by President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama during the latter's quick visit to Kabul on May 2 this year.
If signed, the pact would guarantee the presence of thousands of U.S. military troops at least for several years in Afghanistan.
Iran, the immediate neighbor of Afghanistan, has already assailed the talks. Tehran, an arch enemy of the U.S., has said that the proposed security agreement could only contribute to the further destabilization of the region.
In fact, Iran has called for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops in Afghanistan even before 2014.
Reports said that several other countries, including Russia, are against the long-term presence of U.S. military in Afghanistan. For many years, Russia has been the dominant foreign power in Afghanistan. When it finally withdrew, the Taliban came in to fill the vacuum and established a hard-line Islamic state.
Washington has announced that it would maintain contingents of troops in Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban and other al-Qaida operatives to resume power in the country.
The U.S. and Afghanistan formally began negotiations on the crafting of a security pact here in Kabul on Nov. 15 this year.
Ambassadcor James Warlick, head of U.S. negotiating team, told newsmen after first round of talks that the negotiations would craft documents "to provide legal authority for the United States armed forces and our civilian components to continue presence in Afghanistan with the full approval of the government of Afghanistan."
Although many Afghans are in favor of having security pact with U.S. and the presence of U.S. military in Afghanistan at least for few more years they insist that U.S. soldiers committing crimes should be tried in Afghan courts in accordance with Afghan laws.
"Afghans would have no problems with having U.S. military bases in Afghanistan. However, guaranteeing judicial protection to American soldiers is a core issue that could hinder the talks," Aman said.
But the U.S., in all its military bases agreements with other countries, has insisted on this provision.
In the Philippines, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that allows the temporary stay of American military servicemen in the country also carries a provision on immunity from suits and this has created irritants between the two countries.
This is prompted some Filipino legislators and militant groups to call for the scrapping of the VFA.
Kabul Closes Universities After Sectarian Clashes
By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan November 25, 2012
Afghanistan has closed down three major public universities in the capital Kabul for more than a week after sectarian clashes left one student dead and nearly 30 others wounded.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on November 25 that Afghanistan's Higher Education Ministry closed down the universities for 10 days as a "precautionary measure."
The clashes erupted on November 24 after a ritual marking the Shi'ite Muslim festival of Ashura was interrupted by hard-line Sunni students. Students attacked each other with sticks and rocks.
Ali Akbar, an Afghan Shi'ite Muslim and a student at the Kabul University, claimed two of his fellow Shi'ite students died when they were pushed out of the window of their dormitory.
"The clashes started between Shi'ite and Sunnis. Some of our Shi'ite brothers were in the dormitory when they [Sunnis] started a sectarian fight with them and pushed two of our Shi'ite brothers from the fourth floor and they were both martyred," Akbar said.
His claims have not been confirmed.
Calls For Restraint
The violence primarily hit a university hostel which houses students from the provinces.
Political leaders, including representatives from Shi'ite communities, have called for restraint following the clashes.
Afghanistan's Shi'ite minorities have gained significant freedom since the
hard-line Taliban were removed from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
But the Ashura ceremony, in which men beat their chests and flagellate themselves as a sign of mourning, has long been a magnet for sectarian attacks.
A bomb attack on a crowd celebrating Ashura at a Shi'ite shrine in Kabul killed at least 55 and wounded 150 others last year.
Ashura is a religious ceremony marking the murder of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by the armies of the Caliph Yazid in 680.
With reporting by AFP
The quiet pain of insider shootings in Afghanistan
Few family members have spoken out. But two widows and a retired Air Force legal officer are digging into a case in Kabul that left nine dead last year.
Los Angeles Times By David Zucchino November 24, 2012
On the morning of April 27 last year, Afghan Air Force Col. Ahmed Gul walked into a control room on the Afghan military side of the Kabul international airport. He was armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol provided by the United States military.
Within minutes, eight U.S. Air Force advisors and an American contractor were shot dead. The advisors were executed with bullets to the head. The nine killings remain the single deadliest incident among insider attacks that have targeted U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
An Air Force investigation concluded that Gul, who had been radicalized by Islamist extremists, acted alone. A preliminary report by U.S. Central Command recommended enhanced vetting procedures for Afghan forces and stronger base security measures for American military personnel training Afghan soldiers and police.
Widows of two of the dead officers, along with a former Air Force legal officer, are convinced that Gul had help from fellow Afghan officers.
"You'd have to suspend disbelief to assume one Afghan airman could shoot and kill nine Americans, eight of them armed and well-trained," said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Sally Stenton, a former civilian police investigator who was a legal officer assigned to the airport the day of the attack.
The three women contend that the Air Force failed to uncover Gul's radicalization in Pakistan and Kabul — and the vows he made to kill Americans.
Although insider attacks in Afghanistan are persistent — at least 80 attacks and 122 coalition deaths since 2007 — no single incident seems to have registered on the public consciousness in the United States. Few family members of those killed have spoken out.
The number of attacks and deaths has risen each year: There were two attacks and two deaths in 2007; 21 attacks and 35 deaths last year; 42 attacks and 58 deaths so far this year, including 35 Americans.
Stenton and the two widows have accused the Air Force of not providing proper security at the facility. They say procedures put in place since the attack have failed to stem the rash of killings by America's purported allies.
"The American government is putting a Band-Aid on the issue," said retired Air Force Capt. Suzanna Ausborn, whose husband, Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Ausborn, was killed at the airport.
Miriam Nylander Hamilton, a former Air Force enlistee whose husband, Capt. Nathan Nylander, also died that April morning, said the U.S. military was continuing to expose its forces to turncoat Afghan security force members — or insurgents posing as army or police. She said her husband told her that commanders emphasized maintaining good relations with Afghans, rather than focusing on advisors' security.
Ausborn, Hamilton and other widows have petitioned Congress for a new investigation while raising questions about the official Air Force version of the killings.
The two widows and Stenton have pored over a redacted Air Force report, the Central Command report and a separate Air Force chronology. They point out that 14 Afghans were in the control room when Gul opened fire. None were killed or seriously wounded.
The U.S. Air Force investigation quoted Afghans as saying they fled or took cover when Gul opened fire. The reports, the three women said, indicated the Afghans did not attempt to rescue or treat the wounded advisors.
An Afghan Air Force colonel told investigators he thought Gul "had a connection to a terrorist cell because the attack was too coordinated to be a random act."
One of Gul's relatives told U.S. investigators that Gul, while in Pakistan between 2006 and 2008, was radicalized at a mosque. Gul was angry that foreigners had invaded Afghanistan and told family members he "wanted to kill Americans," the relative said.
After returning to Afghanistan in 2008, Gul fell under the influence of a radical, anti-American mosque in Kabul, according to his supervisor, an Afghan colonel. Gul's "views were boiling over and extreme," the colonel told investigators.
According to the Air Force report, Gul opened fire while standing inside the control room. Maj. Ausborn was one of the first two Americans shot. Gul then shot five more Air Force advisors, including a female sergeant and an American civilian contractor.
Gul paused to reload and retrieve the pistol of a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel he had shot. Americans in an adjoining conference room ran into a hallway, where two U.S. Air Force captains — including Nathan Nylander — drew their weapons. Nylander was wounded in both thighs and subsequently shot in the head by Gul. Investigators concluded that Nylander's handgun had jammed during the shootout. The other captain was not injured.
Gul was wounded and retreated down a hallway. Investigators believe he paused to write "God is the only one" in blood on a wall. He went upstairs and apparently shot himself in the chest and left side — possibly after being wounded by an Afghan military response team.
Public affairs officers for the Air Force and Central Command referred questions to the International Security Assistance Force.
James Graybeal, a spokesman for the force in Kabul, says the Afghan military has tightened the vetting process by, among other things, adding investigative agents and revetting soldiers returning from leave. More than 100 Afghan soldiers have been arrested for possessing false identification, and several have been arrested on suspicion of aiding the Taliban.
The international force has beefed up self-defense training and added security so that troops stationed next to Afghan forces can better defend themselves, Graybeal said. Armed soldiers also have been designated to watch over advisors.
Troops are also undergoing renewed cultural training on Afghan customs, Graybeal said. A May 2011 report on insider attacks attributed many to personal animosities and perceived insults stemming from cultural clashes. Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, said in August that Taliban infiltration was responsible for only about a quarter of insider attacks.
Hamilton said it was agonizing to relive her husband's death while studying the Air Force reports — and deeply troubling to hear about new insider killings every month.
"The worst thing is knowing there are more widows and more kids going through the same horrible things we went through," Hamilton said. "It has to stop."
david.zucchino@latimes.com
Local Taliban leader detained in south Afghan operation: coalition
KABUL, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A local Taliban leader was arrested Saturday in an operation in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, the NATO-led coalition forces said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban direct action cell leader and detained a number of suspected insurgents in Helmand province today," the coalition or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in the statement.
The arrested leader is believed to have facilitated movement of weapons and ammunition and coordinated insurgent attacks targeting Afghan and coalition forces in the province, some 555 km south of Kabul, the statement added.
In addition, the statement said that "Afghan and coalition forces confirmed today (Saturday) the death of a senior member of the Tala Wah Barfek Taliban insurgent network in an operation in Baghlan province Wednesday,"
"He was responsible for several attacks on Afghan and coalition forces in the province and was also a mentor for other insurgents, " it said.
The Taliban has been waging an insurgency since its regime was toppled by a U.S-led invasion in late 2001.
The Afghan forces and some 100,000 coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militants recently but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings.
Three civilians were killed and more than 90 wounded Friday morning when Taliban carried out a suicide car bombing near a police center in eastern Wardak province, in which 30 government agency buildings and civilian houses were destroyed.
Canadian leader in Afghanistan wears two hats
Toronto Sun By Simon Kent Saturday, November 24, 2012
TORONTO - Like a riddle wrapped inside an enigma, you never get to fully understand Afghanistan.
You just learn to work within it and alongside the people.
So says a Canadian career soldier who knows more than most about operating in what is still, for all intents and purposes, one of the most dangerous places on earth.
Maj.-Gen Jim Ferron is five months into his year-long posting as commander of the Canadian Training Mission in Afghanistan and Deputy Commanding General for the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A).
In military parlance it is a double-hatted role: Ferron leads Canada’s contribution of almost 1,000 troops and serves at senior staff level with his NATO colleagues tasked to train an efficient Afghanistan Army able to fight for itself sooner rather than later.
“Yes, it is a rare double role but I am here to work,” Ferron said via a phone interview from his base in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. “It’s also not my first time here so I am very aware of the challenges that lie ahead for our people and the Afghans themselves.
“I certainly don’t see it ending tomorrow or the day after. It is dangerous, challenging work.”
One of those dangerous challenges is improvised roadside bombs.
Homemade bombs have been the major killer of NATO troops in Afghanistan for the past two years. They rank as the single major threat to Afghan soldiers and local police as they slowly take leadership of their country’s fledgling security.
The exacting process of locating, disarming and disassembling these hidden weapons is a specialized capability that has mostly fallen to highly trained engineer specialists within the NATO force component.
That hasn’t stopped NATO working to impart specialized knowledge to Afghan security forces although there is never enough expertise or enough people to go around, Ferron said.
“It’s a human tragedy for all concerned when a soldier is injured or killed with one of these, but it’s absolutely heartbreaking when children here in Afghanistan are deliberately subjected to the effects of war, so that’s what I mean by saying not enough people.
“NATO is moving to a model of ‘train the trainers’ and I think we are having success. Ultimately if we put ourselves out of a job then we will have succeeded by any measure.”
Ferron is on his second posting to Afghanistan, having spent a year there in 2007 as a NATO intelligence officer. He said that experience prepared him for the challenge of command – but also made him acutely aware of the limitations.
“You never fully understand Afghanistan, but I’ve been there before so I’m familiar with the challenges,” he said.
Ferron’s busy career before this posting to Afghanistan has helped prepare the way.
He previously served as Commander of the 1st Canadian Division, Kingston, a major role in preparing the men and women of the Canadian Forces for operations around the globe.
“When you’re tasked to lead and command great men and women in full spectrum operations — in my case, 1st Canadian Division— it focuses your mind on the acute requirements of operational service.
“So that responsibility gives confidence and hopefully I can impart that to my NATO and my Canadian colleagues.”
Divisional command also meant working with Canadian government departments and our international allies, something that has been a singular distinction of Ferron’s career.
His operational experience is vast and includes four years on NATO duty in Germany (1980-83; 1986-87); a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cyprus (1989); a tour with NATO’s Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1996); a year in Afghanistan with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) (2007); and two years of duty with the United States Central Command (2009-2011).
All that is in the past. Now he has six more months to help bring stability to a troubled land and continue work to negate the devastating affects of roadside bombs.
From January to May this year alone, some 469 Afghan troops were killed by these terrorist weapons of choice, according to the latest Congressional Research Service report. During the same period, 181 NATO troops were killed, according to statistics listed on iCasualties.org.
“Even one death is one too many,” Ferron concluded.
Afghan’s Shiite minority fears a return to old ostracism
Washington Post By Pamela Constable November 24 , 2012
KABUL - For the past week, the Afghan capital has been draped with black cloth arches and festooned with huge colored banners. Mournful, pounding chants pour from loudspeakers across the city, filling the air with slow martial intensity.
The dramatic display is all part of Muharram and the 10-day Shiite festival that commemorates the slaying of Imam Hussein, a 7th-century holy figure and early champion of Islam. But it is also a symbol of the growing religious and political freedom that Afghanistan’s long-ostracized Shiites have had in the past decade.
Now, as Western military forces prepare to leave the country by 2014, Afghan Shiites, most of whom are from the Hazara ethnic minority, fear that their window of opportunity may slam shut again, leaving larger rival ethnic groups as well as Taliban insurgents, who are radical Sunni Muslims, dominating power.
“Everything we have achieved, our ability to come out and participate in society, has been in the shade of the international community and forces,” said Mohammed Alizada, a Hazara Shiite who was elected to parliament in 2009. “We are very concerned that once they leave, the fundamentalists will reemerge, ethnic issues will return, and we will lose what we have gained.”
There are more immediate fears, as well. Sectarian violence, historically absent from Afghan society, has been intensifying in next-door Pakistan and spilling across the border. During last year’s Muharram festival, two Shiite shrines in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif were bombed, killing more than 80 people. Shiite leaders say the Kabul attack was carried out by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, an outlawed Sunni militant group based in Pakistan.
Tensions increased palpably in Kabul on Saturday, the climactic 10th day of Muharram known as Ashura, when groups of young men beat their chests and whip themselves with chains and knives in penance for the death of Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad.
No terrorist attacks were reported, and Afghan officials attended Muharram ceremonies under heavy security. But at Kabul University, clashes erupted between groups of students after an Ashura ceremony in a dormitory. Police said people were pelted with stones and thrown out of windows. They reported that dozens were wounded and at least 30 arrested.
‘Now we have full freedom’
Afghan Sunnis, who make up about 80 percent of the populace, generally tolerate Shiites and observe Muharram in a quieter way, praying and giving charity to the poor. At other times of year, Afghans of all backgrounds flock to majestic Shiite shrines to meditate, feed pigeons or celebrate the Persian new year in the spring.
“We are all Muslims, and Hussein died in the struggle to bring our religion to the world,” said Hajji Nawroz, 75, a contented soul who ladles out free soup at his stand outside a blue-tiled shrine. “During Taliban time, we could not celebrate or talk about these things, but now we have full freedom,” he said. “Our boys are coming out more now to beat themselves.”
In West Kabul, the heart of the Hazara community, a heady, almost frenzied atmosphere has been growing all week. Every bus, taxi and motorbike sports banners flapping from bamboo poles, and every corner has a charity stand, known as an imambargah, where volunteers give away glasses of hot milk and loudspeakers blast recorded dirges, with a slow and ominous cadence, late into the night.
But this year, the arches and banners and chants have reached farther than ever across the city, arousing new resentment from the Sunni populace. There has been sharp public criticism of the flagellation rite, Sunni clerics have denounced the elaborate festivities as offensive to Islam, and President Hamid Karzai has asked the Shiite community to celebrate calmly and avoid antagonizing others.
The hostility also stems from another concern: the widespread belief that Iran, Afghanistan’s Shiite neighbor to the west, is promoting Shiism and bolstering Hazara leadership as a way to gain cultural and political influence. Several years ago, Iran funded the construction of a large religious university here, and Karzai was heavily criticized for reportedly accepting large cash donations from Tehran.
Hazaras, an Asiatic minority from the mountainous north, have long been Afghanistan’s poorest ethnic group, relegated to menial labor and often ridiculed. During the civil war of the early 1990s, many fled to Iran, while their militia leaders in Kabul fought Pashtun and Tajik rivals with cruel ferocity. More fled during the repressive reign of the Taliban that followed.
Yet many Hazaras who returned from Iran after the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001 say they were exploited and ostracized there and want nothing to do with any Iranian designs on Afghanistan. They said Iranian Persians tended to look down on them, much as Afghan ethnic Pash¬tuns and Tajiks have traditionally done here.
‘They hate us’
“They hate us,” said Roya Sultani, a teacher who helped organize a Muharram prayer service for Shiite girls on Thursday. She said she spent years in Iran, and that people there often insulted Afghan exiles because of their Hazara origins. “They call themselves Muslims, but they are cruel and only thinking of their own interests.”
During the past 10 years, Afghan Hazaras have gained a small but significant toehold on power, winning seats in parliament and beginning to outgrow their longtime dependence on a few ethnic strongmen. Younger Hazaras, especially girls, who are freer to mingle in public than those from other ethnic groups, have taken advantage of new educational and job opportunities in post-Taliban democracy.
But Sultani, like others, said she was also worried about what would become of her community after Western forces withdraw. The specter of renewed ethnic violence haunts the community, and Hazaras, still vulnerable despite the show of religious bravado that has consumed the capital this week, fear they would bear the brunt of it.
“Today we can celebrate freely, and we feel secure,” Sultani said during the prayer service. A dozen girls in black robes crowded in to listen, while others chanted mournful poems or cleaned wheat to make bread for the poor. “If NATO leaves Afghanistan, we don’t know what will happen. Once we were afraid of the Taliban. Now we are afraid for the future.”
Leaders Urge Ashura Lessons to Fight Corruption, Injustice
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi, Karim Amini Saturday, 24 November 2012
The holy day of Ashura was not only a day of religious observance for Muslims; Afghan politicians used it as a platform to deliver a political message inspired by the actions of Imam Hussain.
The political leaders noted the philosophy of Imam Hussian – the historical figure whose death is commemorated by Ashura – as one which fought against corruption in the government, and called on those present to do the same.
"Fighting against corruption, injustice and violence: this in fact is the commitment that we honor this day of Ashura," Mayor of Kabul Mohammad Younus Now Andish said in his address in Kabul.
In the seventh century, Hussain – a grandson of the prophet Mohammad – and his followers rose up against their ruler, the caliph Yazid, for the inequality and corruption of his government. Ashura commemorates the Hussein's death at the hands of Yazid's army in 680 AD near Karbala (present-day Iraq).
"It's our duty to learn new lessons in each year of the ceremony of Ashura for the service of the people," Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdoom Rahin said.
Leader of the National Coalition party Abdullah Abdullah urged the crowd at the Ashura ceremony to continue to engage in the political process, saying that only their efforts will ensure a fair and transparent election in 2014.
The government will respond to the pressure applied by the people and the civil society, Abdullah said, and warned that violations of the law by top government officials will lead to a backlash and aggression from the citizens.
"Rulers should know and should accept that ignoring people and not listening to them, playing with people's fate – the heroic and mujahid people of Afghanistan will not allow this," he said.
Lawmaker Qurban Ali Erfani addressed the controversial matter of President Hamid Karzai's recent approval to execute 14 prisoners in two days last week, saying the security of society allowed for it.
"If the divine laws are enforced in Afghanistan, there will be no kidnapping, no stealing, no crimes, and no murders. Since the Quran says life is found in implementing religion and justice, that is what society's security depends on," he said.
National Ulema Council Seeks More Executive Power
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Saturday, 24 November 2012
The Ulema Council of Afghanistan is seeking more authority via the establishment of a new Dar al-Ifta – a scholarly institute with the authority to issue binding decrees concerning Islamic law or "fatwas".
The council discussed their demand with President Hamid Karzai on Friday during a meeting requested by the president at his palace in Kabul.
The head of the Ulema Council Mawlawi Qiamuddin Kashaf said there were a few caveats, including the abolishment of the national Ulema Council and the current Dar al-Ifta within Afghanistan's Supreme Court.
"[The new] Dar al-Ifta should bear executive competency, otherwise founding it will be an act of mocking Islam," he said at the meeting.
"When a Dar al-Ifta issues a fatwa, the fatwa should be enforced by juristic institutions and the national police. I am 100 percent against it if it does not have these conditions," he added.
Kashaf said the council was being criticised for its weakness, which he viewed as wrong, but called for more executive authority to deliver rulings in Islamic law. The president himself should also be a member, he added.
The council and Karzai discussed the matter of suicide attacks with the religious leaders stressing the need for such attacks to be again declared Haram (forbidden under Islamic law).
To this effect, both parties welcomed a plan agreed upon by High Peace Council and Pakistani officials to have an bilateral meeting with the Pakistan Ulema council on the matter of suicide attacks.
"I met [Pakistan Chief of Army] Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and told him that Afghanistan has no problem with holding this meeting. If you make the effort and it makes no difference if you want it to be in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. The location of this meeting is not important," Karzai said.
Karzai also commented on the release of Taliban prisoners from Pakistani prisons as an effective step towards peace talks with the militants.
"A number of the Taliban prisoners that were imprisoned in Pakistan were released following a request from the High Peace Council. This is a very important step in progress of the talks. A very good move has been made," Karzai said.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com