Tweet
Afghan minister repeats plea for militias to regroup and rearm
By Mirwais Harooni | Reuters – Mon, Dec 3, 2012
KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan cabinet minister and one-time warlord called on Monday on former anti-Soviet guerrillas to regroup and rearm to prevent a slide into civil war once most foreign forces leave the country by the end of 2014.
Ismail Khan, the energy and water minister and an influential former mujahideen commander, reiterated during a parliamentary session a call to arms that incensed Afghan officials and led some lawmakers to try to impeach him on Monday.
But Khan emerged unscathed with the support of 140 of 172 members present, dealing a blow to efforts by President Hamid Karzai to assuage public fears about the effectiveness of Afghanistan's security forces after their foreign backers leave.
Brought into Karzai's government as a symbol of national unity, Khan was chided last month for urging people in his power base of the western Herat province to "step forward, take arms and defend the country" in areas where police and troops were unable to operate.
Khan insisted he was committed to Afghanistan's stable future, having played a role in the creation of the current political structure.
"I'm not making my speech here as a minister but as a person who has fought for more than 21 years for the independence of Afghanistan," he said during a 90-minute rebuttal, televised live on state television.
"I call from this tribune to all mujahideen not only in Herat, but all mujahideen in Afghanistan, the savior soldiers of this country - don't let it go back to insecurity."
"IRRESPONSIBLE" GROUPS
The government is concerned "irresponsible armed groups" could heed Khan's request and undermine efforts to win public confidence in the 350,000 foreign-trained Afghan security forces.
The regrouping of militias could also further destabilize the country by renewing tribal and ethnic conflicts and turf wars over wealth, resources and power.
Mohammad Naeem Lalai Hamidzai, a lawmaker for Kandahar province, accused Khan during the debate of distributing weapons and trying to consolidate his political power in Herat.
"Do you think that this is the time to have a parallel security structure, against our strong national security forces?" he asked him. "You are the cabinet minister... Why don't you call on our mujahideen to support Afghan security forces?"
Violence is intensifying across Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of the bulk of foreign troops and an election in April of 2014, which will bring an end to Karzai's final term in office and has led to concerns about poll fraud and power struggles.
Peace talks facilitated by U.S. diplomats involving the Afghan government and Taliban representatives broke down in March and efforts to revive them appear to be stumbling.
In the past two weeks, suicide attacks claimed by the Taliban have targeted symbols of the Western presence in Afghanistan, including a NATO base in Kabul's diplomatic enclave and two U.S. military installations, killing more than a dozen Afghan police and soldiers and wounding scores of civilians.
Five people were killed in a suicide attack at a U.S. airfield in Jalalabad on Sunday. Two bombers and seven insurgents armed with rifles and rockets were also killed.
(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Nick Macfie)
New Kabul Bank draws five possible bids
The National By Frank Kane Dec 3, 2012
Five possible bids have come in for New Kabul Bank, the remnant of the Afghan financial institution at the centre of a storm over fraud allegations in the country.
At a recent presentation in Dubai, potential buyers of the bank were given information about its current financial state of health, after the collapse of the old Kabul Bank in 2010.
A source close to the new bank said one North American lender and four Afghan banks had expressed interest in New Kabul.
There is a deadline of next month for possible bidders to come forward. If it remains unsold by the end of 2013, it will be liquidated.
Despite the alleged fraud at the old bank and the disappearance of about US$900 million (Dh3.3 billion) of depositors' cash, the new bank has clean assets, amounting to between $400m and $500m of deposits, as well as property and equipment assets.
The bank has not been allowed to make loans since its collapse that led to the arrest of its former chairman, Sherkhan Farnood, and other executives. But it is regarded as a viable business, though currently a loss-making concern.
Possible interest in a purchase of the new bank came as the Kabul authorities released an independent report on the affair, which has prompted allegations of corruption and fraud at the highest levels in Afghanistan, and deepened the country's economic problems.
"The importance of the collapse of Kabul Bank cannot be overstated. At the time of its failure, Kabul Bank was a central institution in the lives of millions of Afghans, and for many represented their first experience with formal banking structures," the report of the joint anti-corruption monitoring and evaluation committee said.
The report called the bank a billion-dollar "Ponzi scheme" arranged for the benefit of a small number of individuals associated with the governing elite in Kabul.
The report was based in part on an investigation by consultants from the Dubai office of Kroll, the investigations firm.
"Kabul Bank's controlling shareholders, key supervisors and managers led a sophisticated operation of fraudulent lending and embezzlement predominantly through a loan-book scheme. This resulted in Kabul Bank being deprived of approximately $935m funded mostly from customer deposits," the report stated. "Over 92 per cent of Kabul Bank's loan book - or approximately $861m - was for the benefit of 19 related parties [companies and individuals]."
It is alleged that funds from the bank were transferred - via legal money exchanges and by air in cash - to a number of jurisdictions around the world, including the UAE.
Some of the cash was used to build a portfolio of property assets in Dubai estimated to be worth $151m that is currently being auctioned by New Kabul to replace lost deposits.
The report identifies 11 separate properties, believed to be villas and houses on the emirate's Palm Jumeirah development, valued together at between $42m and $47m. Of these, one has been sold, two are under offer, and memoranda of understanding are being prepared on another two. The remaining six will be sold at a later date, the report said, "to avoid flooding the Dubai real estate market".
The Afghan authorities have approached the UAE Central Bank, which acts against alleged money-laundering in the Emirates via its Suspicious Cases Unit, with a letter of request for assistance to track down other assets possibly in the Emirates.
It is not known if the UAE has responded.
fkane@thenational.ae
Pentagon to send hundreds of additional spies overseas: report
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon will send hundreds of additional spies overseas as part of an ambitious plan to assemble an espionage network that rivals the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in size, a newspaper report said on Sunday.
The five-year project is aimed at transforming the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which has been dominated in the past decade by the demands of the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, into a spy service focused on emerging threats and more closely aligned with the CIA and elite military commando units, The Washington Post said in its report.
Once the DIA expansion is complete, it will have 1,600 " collectors" deployed around the world -- something unprecedented for the agency, said the report.
In addition to military attaches and others who do not work undercover, more clandestine operatives will be deployed overseas. They will be trained by the CIA and often work with the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, but they will get their spying assignments from the Department of Defense.
"This is a major adjustment for national security," DIA Director Michael Flynn said at a recent conference while outlining the changes.
The sharp increase in DIA undercover operatives is part of a far-reaching trend: a convergence of the military and intelligence agencies that has blurred their once-distinct missions, capabilities and even their leadership ranks, according to the report.
The DIA overhaul, combined with the CIA expansion since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, will create a U.S. spy network of unprecedented size. It reflects the Obama administration's affinity for espionage and covert action over conventional force, said the report.
Pentagon officials added that sending more DIA operatives overseas will shore up intelligence on subjects that the CIA is not able or willing to pursue.
What Iran and Pakistan Want from the Afghans: Water
TIME By Mujib Mashal Dec. 02, 2012
Kabul - With a vast, empty desert as a backdrop, the militants recorded the execution of Khan Wali on video. As someone held a camera, the others encircled the condemned man to read out his sentence. “This is not brutality – this is justice,” declared one of the executioners who sported a black turban and a shaggy beard. “I swear to God that killing him with a 82 mm mortar is not enough. But the rest of our Mujahedin would not agree on my recommendation – to kill him in a way that all can take part in the act.”
And so it was decided to shoot Khan Wali with the 82 mm mortar. They forced him to kneel 40 yards away from the portable cannon, a type often used in small battles in the war-torn country. A militant positioned behind the weapon then set it off; a massive thumping sound was followed by celebratory cries of Allah u Akbar – God is Great. “Be careful, don’t get any blood on your clothes” said one voice as the other men, after jubilantly hugging each other, rushed to poke at Khan Wali’s flesh splattered on the ground. “I enjoyed this very much,” said one.
What was Khan Wali’s crime? He was protecting one of Afghanistan’s most important resources: water. Khan Wali led a 60-man semi official-militia tasked with defending the Machalgho dam in eastern Paktia province. Already two years behind schedule due to security concerns, the dam would irrigate about 40,000 acres of land and produce 800 KW of electricity once completed. The government had pledged that if Khan Wali held his ground for two months, he and his men would receive weapons and cash. But Khan Wali lasted only 20 days into the mission.
His remains were recovered eight days after his savage execution, his nephew Agha Jan told TIME. His upper body was completely in pieces. “We recognized him from the tattoo he had and the shoes he had been wearing – his name was tattooed on his hand since childhood.” The video of the brutal execution, which took place in mid-2011, was shared with journalists months later and uploaded to YouTube.
“With such bravery, he had tried to protect the dam – and they killed him so brutally,” says Rohullah Samoon, a senior aide and spokesman to the governor of Paktia.
Water is a critical issue in Afghanistan—and for countries like Iran and Pakistan that are dependent on four of the five river basins that flow out of Afghanistan to irrigate their territories. Meanwhile, though the Afghans currently have enough water for their own needs, any perception of abundance is illusory, experts say. Indeed, the availability of water per capita is expected to decline by 50% in the next three decades, according to a United Nations-funded report. Afghanistan’s extremely weak infrastructure and one of the lowest water storage capacities in the world means that large parts of the country cannot make use of their own water resources. Frequent droughts, localized and national, further affect the population, causing food shortages and migration. In 2008, for example, wheat production declined by 40% to 55% due to lack of precipitation.
Water is key to strengthening the foundations of Afghanistan’s mainly agricultural economy. But only about 5% of the massive international investment and aid in the past decade went to the water sector, according to the UN report. And, critics say, too much of that went to ad-hoc small dams and schemes that had no long-term vision.
The geopolitical factors are such that Afghans are paranoid that both Iran and Pakistan are sabotaging their efforts to build dams and control their hydro-resources—though the evidence is circumstantial and speculative at best. For example, there were broad hints that elements in Pakistan may have contributed to the death of Khan Wali. Says one local official in Paktia: “The price that our neighbors pay for a human life around here? It’s 50,000 Pakistani rupees [about $500].”
It is true, however, that Pakistan’s energy crisis has furthered its dependence on Afghan water. Iran, the only country that Afghanistan has a water treaty with, is now taking up to 70% more water than agreed to, according to officials, and has built infrastructure on the incoming water without Afghanistan’s consent. If Afghanistan tries to build major dams to hold more of its own water, both Pakistan and Iran are likely to object and to hold up the projects. Indeed, because diplomatic objections can create bureaucratic bottlenecks, major aid donors have increasingly shied away from funding water projects in Afghanistan.
An official at the Afghan ministry of energy and water claims that the World Bank called off funding for a major project after it learned that it required clearance from Iran. The World Bank would not comment, saying only that it did not have projects in Afghanistan’s water sector. “I think our neighbors have better relations with the major donors – such as the World Bank,” the official said accusingly. They lobby to get bigger loans for themselves, but create hurdles on the way of such projects in Afghanistan, he says.
“Out of fifty seven billion cubic meters of average annual rivers flow, only less than 30% is consumed in Afghanistan, the remaining part of water flows out into neighboring countries,” says Sayed Sharif Shobair, a water expert with several years of experience with national and internationalagencies in Afghanistan. “Attracting investment in the water sector from donor agencies may require us to resolve transboundary water issues first.”
“The Afghan government, every now and then, announces the building of 20 dams or so. But it remains only plans on paper because they can rarely gather the funding for it,” says Khwaga Kakar, an independent researcher who spent two years on the U.N.-funded report on Afghanistan’s water resources. “There is a disconnect between ‘we plan to do’ and ‘what the donors are giving us.’”
The anxieties about Iranian and Pakistan meddling are exemplified by the speculation around the long stalled Salma dam, being built by India in the province of Herat in western Afghanistan, which borders Iran. The dam has the potential to irrigate nearly 185,000 acres and produce 42 MW electricity. However, the project is already four years behind schedule. Its cost has doubled and is expected to rise by another 50%. Some Afghan officials are astonished that Indian engineers, who have built highways in Afghanistan in record time, are taking so long to complete the dam. They hypothesize that Iranian diplomatic meddling has caused the delays.
The Indians, however, deny it. “Afghans tell us that Iran has created issues, but we haven’t had to talk to Iran about it because we haven’t had evidence linking them to insecurity there,” says Gautam Mukhopadhaya, the Indian ambassador to Kabul, blaming the delay on cost escalation. “The Salma dam will be completed, no question about that.”
Lack of data is the biggest hurdle, says senior Afghan diplomat Enayatullah Nabiel who worked on the trans-boundary water issues for several years. And many Afghans look suspiciously upon the Iranian experts who moved in to fill the expertise gap by setting up the research center inside Afghanistan’s water ministry tasked with gathering information and data on the country’s water resources. The Iranian experts provide what other countries and companies no longer do because of the fragile security within Afghanistan. But the result is increased suspicion. Says Nabiel, “The fact that Iranians are involved in running the research center inside the ministry of water is very dangerous – they have loyalty to their own country.”
Some analysts say Afghanistan—given its already grave security issues—should seek non-confrontational methods of solving its cross-border water problems. “It might be good if Afghanistan could move in some specific cases from ‘water sharing’ to ‘river benefit sharing,’ says Shobair. “In Kunar river, for example, joint hydropower production could be one idea to look into. Afghanistan could convince Pakistan that is for their good as well.”
But that process requires protracted negotiations with the neighbors. Margaret Vick, who advised the ministry of water and energy on cross-border water laws, says the government has capable diplomats and negotiators but has to use them to deal with other crises. She adds that the ministry continues to have other deficiencies that have not been dealt with in decades. “Pre-Soviet invasion,” she explains, “the government had an engineering branch to work on water and other infrastructure issues of national importance.” Today however, she says, “it’s the depth of engineering capability that has not yet recovered.”
Reporting for this story was partially funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Troops contributing nations to review Afghan situation in Brussels
KABUL, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of countries contributed troops to Afghanistan will review the Afghan security situation and transition process there at their meeting in Brussels, spokesman of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said here on Monday.
"On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss matters related to the work of the alliance and this will include a meeting on Afghanistan of the 50 ISAF troop contributing nations on Wednesday," Brigadier General Gnter Katz, said in a press briefing here.
He added that the meeting will include Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul and countries and international organizations like Japan, the European Union and the United Nations.
More than 100,000-storng NATO-led ISAF with some 60,000 of them Americans are presently serving in Afghanistan to help stabilize security in the conflict-ridden country.
The process of security transition from NATO-led ISAF troops to Afghan government which began in mid 2011 will be completed by the end of 2014.
The spokesman of the alliance also asserted that the international community would continue to support Afghanistan after 2014 when the NATO-led troops leave the country.
Kabul Opposes Foreign Prisons In The Country
December 3, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Afghan National Security Council says foreign countries cannot arrest Afghans or run prisons inside the country.
In a statement on December 3, the council said such facilities violate Afghan sovereignty.
The statement appears to be in response to Britain's decision last week to suspend handovers of suspected insurgents held by British troops to Afghan security forces.
London expressed concerns about possible abuse and torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities.
On December 2, President Hamid Karzai ordered Afghan security agencies to investigate the presence of British-run prisons in Afghanistan and to move to take them over without delay.
In March, the Afghan government signed a deal with the United States on the control of prisons in the country, but the British government was not a part of the agreement.
Based on reporting by pajhwok.com
Iran pushes out Afghans as regional power-play heats up
Reuters By Amie Ferris-Rotman Mon Dec 3, 2012
HERAT, Afghanistan -Ghaus worked in Iran for five years but has nothing to show for it. All he has are memories of being jailed, beaten and sent home to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's oil-rich western neighbour has for years been a destination for Afghans seeking work or fleeing war. Afghanistan and Iran share a language, and cultural and historical links.
But hostility to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, regional ambitions and an economy choked by Western sanctions have persuaded Iran to cast out Afghan migrants, to the dismay of those forced home and their government.
In May, Iran threatened to expel Afghan refugees and migrant workers, in all about 2.4 million people, if Afghanistan signed a strategic security pact with the United States. The deal was struck.
"Afghan refugees and migrants are becoming the victims of big political games played between the Iranian and U.S. powers," said Abdul Samad Hami, Afghanistan's deputy minister for refugees.
Few of the migrants, who pay smugglers about $700 to get across the 1,000 km (620 miles) border into Iran, know they have been caught up in a geopolitical power play.
Barefoot and wearing a sun-bleached silver turban, Ghaus was huddled with about 20 other expelled migrants at a U.N. centre in the western Afghan city of Herat after being dumped out of a bus on the border.
"Suddenly, my life came to an end," the soft-spoken bricklayer told Reuters.
Ghaus is one of 191,121 unregistered Afghan migrants forced out of Iran from January to September 30 this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency, up 29 percent from last year.
About 1.4 million migrant workers remain in Iran but hundreds of them are being expelled every day. There are also nearly a million Afghan refugees who are allowed to live there.
Shuffling home through Herat's Islam Qala border checkpoint, most of the returning migrants are young men dressed like Iranians in jeans and brightly coloured bomber jackets, but with bulging suitcases and bed-rolls on their heads.
Many migrants have called Iran home for decades, part of an exodus of nine million Afghans - a third of the population - who fled to neighbours Iran and Pakistan, beginning with the Soviet invasion in 1979, through to the austere Taliban rule of the 1990s.
The expulsions represent not just a burden for Afghanistan but also a loss of income, and could even spell more instability ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of 2014.
Afghan migrants in Iran send home about $500 million a year, a considerable sum for one of the world's poorest countries. The funds will become more important as foreign aid shrinks with the departure of Western forces.
INFLUENCE, OPIUM
Iran says migrant workers pose a security threat. But Afghan politicians and analysts say Iran is pushing them out to show it can ratchet up the pressure when it doesn't get its way.
As the United States reduces its role in Afghanistan, neighbours are competing for influence. Iran already backs a third of Afghan media and builds schools and clinics to boost its sway, according to Afghan officials.
Iran's economic influence in Afghanistan is palpable in Herat, which enjoys robust trade over the nearby border and boasts smoothly paved roads and bustling markets.
Iran offers Afghan migrants menial work, often on construction sites. Many of the men return home addicted to opium after being paid in the drug instead of cash.
This is not only because it is cheaper for employers to pay in opium, but also because the depreciation of Iran's rial, in the face of international sanctions over its nuclear programme, has made opium more attractive than cash for the workers.
"We were allowed to choose - money or drugs. Over time, drugs seemed the better option," said Rasool, a grey-bearded man who guarded a construction site in Iran's second-largest city of Mashhad for 15 years.
Like Ghaus, Rasool was briefly imprisoned in Iran before being expelled.
Some migrants end up in prison after getting home.
"We've noticed an increase in the number of migrants coming back here with drug addictions," said General Shah Mir, who oversees Herat's provincial prison, where almost 300 former migrant workers are doing time for opium trafficking.
Health officials estimate there are 1 million Afghans addicted to opium or heroin, or about 8 percent of the adult population, making it the world's top user per capita. It is also the top producer of opium and its refined form, heroin.
"TOUGH TALK"
But it is not just the migrant workers that Iran wants out.
It is also making moves to force out the majority of the 930,000 legal Afghan refugees and is stepping up a campaign to make them feel unwelcome, Afghan officials and rights group say.
Last month, Iran's Interior Ministry said a decision had been made to "end the status of asylum for 700,000 Afghans" by March 21, 2015.
An Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the decision.
Faraz Sanei, Iran researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Iran gets tough on repatriating Afghans when it feels pressured in the regional manoeuvring for influence.
"When political tension between Tehran and Kabul is high, for example, with regard to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, Tehran has stepped up its tough talk," Sanei said.
Iran and Afghanistan, along with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, agreed on a voluntary repatriation programme in 2002 in the belief that with better security at home, the refugees should choose to go back.
"Though this has been the official government line, we have seen an increase in the restrictive measures against Afghan refugees in recent years that has made life in Iran increasingly difficult," said Sanei.
Iran has been increasing the number of "no-go areas" for Afghans, which authorities say is part of a strategy to secure its borders. Afghans are now allowed in 12 of Iran's 31 provinces, down from 14 last year.
"Even within the allowed areas, movement of Afghans is restricted and there are only certain jobs they can do," said Hami, the deputy minister for refugees.
Afghans have even been banned from certain public parks, Iranian media has reported.
Hami said Afghanistan had been preparing for the expulsion of refugees for some time and was mapping out a "contingency plan" with the U.N. refugee agency that should be ready by January.
For Herat member of parliament Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanfai, the reason Iran is putting pressure on Afghans living there is clear: Iran is punishing Afghanistan for defying its call to reject the U.S. security pact.
"The Iranians warned the Afghans ... and now we're seeing the result of that threat," Hanfai said. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in KABUL and Yeganeh Torbati in DUBAI; Editing by Michael Georgy and Robert Birsel)
Afghan politicians struggle to script 2014 transition
The Hindu By Praveen Swami December 3, 2012
KABUL - Late last month, Afghan President Hamid Karzai received the blueprints for a new home he hopes to occupy in 2014, vacating his official residence at the Arg — the royal citadel built in 1880 after British troops levelled the historic Bala Hisar Fort. There appears to a blueprint for little else concerning the country’s looming political transition, though — least of all the critical question of who might move into the Arg once Mr. Karzai leaves.
Even as the first snow of the winter falls on the Hindu Kush mountains, Mr. Karzai’s opponents are huddled together in Kabul to shape the course of the 2014 presidential election, the last that will be held before western troops leave the country.
They are facing up to a bizarre reality: the next President may be picked to represent Afghans who don’t vote — not those who do.
“For all of us,” says key Opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, “the challenge is to ensure the integrity of the political system and the legitimacy of government after 2014. That will be the key to Afghanistan’s future.”
The princes-apparent
Leading the race to represent Afghanistan’s southern Pashtun tribes in the Arg are two men who cut their political teeth trying to kill each other: Muhammad Umar Daudzai, now Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan, and Hanif Atmar, Mr. Karzai’s former Interior Minister.
Mr. Daudzai was a member of the Hizb-e Islami militia of Islamist warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, elements of which still battle the government. Mr. Atmar lost his leg fighting the Hizb-e Islami during the savage 1987 battle of Jalalabad when he was serving in Afghanistan’s communist-era intelligence service, the Khidmat-e Etelaat-e Dawlati.
For both men, their élite ethnic-Pashtun credentials are key. Even though an estimated 48 per cent of Afghanistan’s population now lives in its relatively secure cities, few are likely to vote in the insurgency-hit southern and eastern countryside. In 2009, voter turnout was independently estimated at just 30 per cent; this time around, it will almost certainly be lower.
Ensuring the new President enjoys nationwide legitimacy means picking a candidate who speaks for ethnic-Pashtun dominated southern and eastern Afghanistan.
The former Afghan Foreign Minister, Abdullah, who picked up 31.8 per cent of the vote to Mr. Karzai’s 47.48 in the 2009 elections, leads arguably the most powerful of these northern formations. Backed by key Opposition ideologue Yunus Qanuni, Mr. Abdullah represents the most visible political face of the pre-9/11 anti-Taliban resistance.
There are other influential contenders. Ahmad Zia Masood, brother of anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Masood, in alliance with the Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, has a powerful rival block. The cerebral former Afghan intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, constitutes a third pole.
Ethnic Hazaras, a traditionally underprivileged community who have leveraged post-9/11 aid to emerge as one of Afghanistan’s most dynamic and educated communities, will also play a key role. Hazara leaders like Muhammad Mohaqiq —whose predecessor Abdul Ali Mazari was stripped, mutilated and dropped to his death from a helicopter by the Taliban in 1995 — have been bitterly critical of Mr. Karzai’s efforts to seek peace with the Pakistan-based jihadist group.
Mr. Daudzai, Mr. Karzai’s former chief of staff, hopes his Hizb-e Islami connections will help him position himself as a buffer between the Taliban and the north. He has also, sources in the President’s staff say, received informal assurances from both Pakistan and Iran of their support for his candidacy. In 2010, The New York Times alleged that he was the manager of an Iran-funded slush fund for Mr. Karzai, which was used to bribe “Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty.”
Mr. Atmar, who was Interior Minister until he was sacked by Mr. Karzai in 2010, also hopes his anti-Taliban credentials will make him acceptable to the powerful political groupings of the north.
Other hopefuls
A welter of second-string candidates hopes to cash in if these two heavyweights fail. The former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and scholars Ashraf Ghani and Ali Jalali are exploring the possibility of securing opposition backing for a presidential bid. So is Mr. Karzai’s brother, Abdul Qayyum Karzai.
Last week, Mr. Karzai initiated meetings intended to hammer out the terms of the political transition. Mr. Abdullah Abdullah led a delegation of 21 parties — five of them in government — to seek guarantees of a fair election. Mr. Ahmad Zia Masood, held a similar dialogue.
“No one knows just where the pieces are going to fall,” a senior Afghan politician told The Hindu, “but for the first time since 9/11, a serious dialogue between political actors inside the country has begun. We can only hope all of us show the wisdom that is needed to go forward.”
Afghans Begin New Exodus, Often At Great Cost
NPR By Sean Carberry December 2, 2012
Convulsed by war and civil strife for decades, Afghanistan has experienced some of the largest ebbs and flows of migration anywhere in the world.
It began with the Soviet invasion in 1979, which sent millions of Afghans fleeing to Iran and Pakistan. When the Taliban were driven from power in 2001, many Afghans began returning home.
Now, the country has hit another milestone: For the first time since 2002 and the beginning of the current war in Afghanistan, the country has a negative migration rate — more Afghans are leaving than returning.
The uncertainty of what Afghanistan will look like after 2014, when the NATO forces leave, has many Afghans heading for the exits, or at least trying to, and some are paying huge sums of money to get out any way they can.
Aziz Momand is a 30-year-old taxi driver in Kabul. Sitting in his road-worn Toyota Corolla wagon in the center of the city, he explains his desire to leave.
"I have concerns that 2014 is arriving and people talking that maybe the situation get worse," he says. "Already business is down."
Momand says he's been thinking of leaving for the past year, ideally to a Scandinavian country where, he says, asylum policies are liberal. He says it's too difficult to get a visa, so he's been speaking with people about smuggling his family to Sweden.
"The first step is to go to Iran, then somebody smuggles us to Turkey, and then to Greece, and then to other parts of Europe," he says.
The only problem with this approach, Momand says, is that to get his whole family out, it will cost nearly $50,000 — a fortune for most Afghans.
"If I have that much money, I would have already been there," he says.
Even if he does get the money together, there's no guarantee his family will make it safely to Sweden or avoid deportation.
"The smugglers, they do their own propaganda. It's a business, and so they are saying, 'It's easy to get here; we'll make sure you have a great future,' " he says.
The Latest Outward Flow
It's just the latest wave of emigration in Afghanistan's turbulent history. At the height of the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, the UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, estimates that there were more than 6 million Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan alone — and almost 1 million more in other parts of the world.
According to the UNHCR, Afghan refugees accounted for slightly less than half the world's total refugee population.
By the early 1990s — after the Soviet withdrawal — an estimated 2 million to 3 million Afghans had been repatriated, though the rise of the Taliban meant that at the same time, others were fleeing. The last major shift in the flow of migration occurred after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. In 2002 alone, about 2 million Afghans returned, according to the UNHCR.
Now, that flow has reversed once again.
Marco Boasso heads the International Organization for Migration office in Afghanistan. He says concrete data about the numbers of Afghans leaving today are hard to come by, especially given the criminal nature of trafficking.
"What we do know is that the arrivals in Europe are unprecedented," he says, noting that arrivals in Europe during the Soviet occupation and civil war were just 20 percent to 30 percent of today's numbers.
Boasso doesn't think the country will fall apart after NATO troops withdraw in 2014, and the IOM is pushing the government to create economic opportunities for people to stay in Afghanistan. Still, he says exodus will continue.
"We will see more movement of people ... in 2014 because anxiety is there; there is a lot of uncertainty," he says.
Burgeoning, And Pricey, Black Market
Embassies in Kabul are reluctant to discuss on the record whether more Afghans are applying for visas. Many European countries don't issue visas in Kabul, and Afghans have to travel to Iran or Pakistan to apply. Turkish officials did say they have made the application process more cumbersome to discourage all but serious travelers.
But there's another option for Afghans flush with cash: buying visas.
NPR's Afghan reporters visited several travel agents in Kabul, and were told that Turkish visas can be bought under the table for $4,100. Russian visas are $17,000. West European visas are most prized and cost at least $25,000.
These are real visas, the reporters were told, but none of the agents would explain how the visas are issued and who gets paid off along the way.
NPR's Aimal Yaqubi contributed to this report.
In Male-Dominated World, Afghan Businesswoman Breaks Boundaries, Taboos
December 3, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By Frud Bezhan
Roya Mahboob is a rarity -- an Afghan woman in a position of power and influence.
The 25-year-old tech entrepreneur is the CEO of Afghan Citadel Services, an IT firm she founded in the western city of Herat. Her staff of 20 software programmers -- more than half of them women -- develops computer software for government ministries, universities, and international organizations in Afghanistan.
But in this deeply traditional country, success for women also comes fraught with danger. Mahboob says she has received abusive phone calls and e-mails warning her to stop working and threatening to target her family.
"Women face many challenges. Even when they have great ideas they cannot start up their own businesses. Women also face insecurity," Mahboob says. "They can't go and work in the districts or villages. Women have traditional and cultural [challenges]. When you're working, people want to stop you so you can't continue your work."
Opening Up The Tech Market
Mahboob, who has served as project coordinator for the Afghan Higher Education Ministry's IT department, founded her firm with several classmates from Herat University back in 2010 with start-up capital of just $20,000 -- most of it coming from their own savings.
The aim, she says, was to create jobs for recent university graduates -- especially women -- in Afghanistan's growing tech market.
"We wanted to use our knowledge in IT to bring some changes to the market and to bring change to the lives of Afghan women," Mahboob says. "IT can even help women work inside their homes, help them to make money, and give them an opportunity to use their knowledge."
In the decade following the end of Taliban rule in 2001, Afghan women have made considerable strides. Millions of girls are back in school, the country has a female provincial governor, and dozens of women are members of parliament.
But despite the progress, Afghanistan remains deeply conservative and male-dominated. Domestic abuse is routine, forced marriages are the norm, and women are discouraged from pursuing careers. Suicide rates among women are among the highest in the world.
So not surprisingly, Mahboob's success as a businesswoman has sparked a fierce backlash from her community.
She is constantly changing her phone number and e-mail address due to the threatening calls and messages she says she receives almost daily.
Her father has been supportive. But even he is often confronted by locals who tell him it is dishonorable for his daughter to be working in public, meeting male clients, and even driving a car.
Two of Mahboob's female employees have already resigned under pressure from locals.
Overcoming Market Discrimination
Mahboob has also had to overcome considerable market discrimination. She says potential Afghan clients, many of them men, often laugh and express skepticism that she is actually a CEO. Some refuse outright to do business with her company.
"When we go to [potential] customers, they don't believe that women can do [business]. They give you a smile or they look at you as though you cannot [deliver]. Even if they want your product, they want you to give it to them for a price that is cheaper than [the price charged by] a male competitor," Mahboob says.
But despite the obstacles, Mahboob and her business have thrived.
Afghan Citadel Services currently has ongoing or finished projects worth approximately $500,000. Among the projects the company has completed are a patient-management system created for Afghan hospitals and a student-registration system for universities and private schools.
Recently, the company has opened new offices, including one in the capital, Kabul. Mahboob has also hired more staff to meet needs as the company's business expands.
The company is also expanding into other sectors. Earlier this year, it partnered with Film Annex, an online film distribution platform, to launch the Afghan Development Project. The project seeks to show "a new face" of Afghanistan by broadcasting current events-related videos, interviews, and news clips. Her company is also working with Film Annex to equip Afghan schools with Internet access in order to connect students with the outside world -- and discourage them from joining the insurgency.
But for Mahboob, it isn't just about business and the bottom line. She says her main goal is to become a role model for Afghan women.
"My message to Afghan women is that they should be ready to change their lives. They [can't] stay at home and say, 'We are just women and we have to stay at home and we accept it,'" Mahboob says.
"We have to understand that we have rights. We can bring a lot of changes to society and can bring peace and prosperity to the economy of Afghanistan."
A look at how sports has changed in Afghanistan, post Taliban!
The Hindustan Times By Hindol Basu Dec 2, 2012
PATIALA - Meet Ahmed Fardinziayee, secretary general of the Afghanistan Kabaddi Federation (AKF) and currently the coach of the national team. He has seen it all. The days of oblivion when he had to leave his country and take shelter in Iran. A time when the tyrannical Taliban regime allowed zilch sporting activity to take place.
It was a time when there was no sporting infrastructure in Afghanistan and coming out on streets to play any kind of game was considered rebellious. And, rebels were quickly suppressed. During those times Ahmed, used to stay in Iran and lead an immigrant team based from there.
But times have changed. Afghanistan, now no more lives in the shadows of its dark past. Not only it has made a name for itself in the cricketing arena but any kind of sport is followed quite avidly. Kabaddi is one such sport which is making rapid strides in the country. All under the tutelage of President Hamid Karzai, feels Ahmed.
"Those dark days are gone. We have awakened to a new beginning. The present regime under President Hamid Karzai is very supportive of us. He takes special interest in Kabaddi and many other sports, which includes cricket too (smiles). The Kabaddi Federation was formed, and then many stadiums were opened up in places like Kandahar, Kabul. This game was already there in Afghanistan, just that we never got a chance to play. But, now things are different," quips Fardinziayee.
Ahmed, displays a steely resolve. He still reminisces those days when he had to leave his family in Afghanistan and flee to Iran. It has left a lasting impression on his memory.
"I had to leave Afghanistan, my country and take refuge in some different country. It was a very bad phase for Afghans. The backbone of our society was broken. But, I didn't lose hope and wanted to play for my national team one day. So I continued playing there (in Iran) as an immigrant. Even led the immigrants' team (laughs). But, deep down I wanted to come back to my country and play for it.
Representing my country at the Kabaddi World Cup gives me so much of satisfaction that I can't tell you," says an emotional Ahmed. Even the manager of the Afghanistan Kabaddi team, Haroon Shams is all praise for President Hamid Karzai, whom he terms as the 'White Dove' a symbol of peace. Shams, feels that though internal conflict still continues in the country, but its President Karzai who has risen above petty politics and sports is a tool for him, as he searches for national integration.
"Oh! He has provided us with the entire infrastructure. He encourages us and not only us but sportspersons in general. When we came back from the Asian Kabaddi Championship he personally met us and told us to continue playing. I think in the previous regime we couldn't even go out on the streets and play, leave aside meeting anyone important," opines Haroon, on the sidelines of the 3rd Kabaddi World Cup.
When asked whether women are given the same kind of importance and allowed to play, Haroon gets quite amused with the question.
"Why not? You remember Tehmima Kohestani. She participated in the 2012 London Olympics. She is an athlete. The earlier regime was very strict. They didn't allow women to participate in sporting activities. Now even they are playing," says a somewhat defiant Haroon.
Though, the Afghans have set aside the past but remnants of it still lingers in their memory and even the players do not criticize the Taliban openly, just referring it as the 'previous regime'.
HIV Cases Rising in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 02 December 2012
The incidence of HIV is increasing in Afghanistan and Eastern Mediterranean countries, the Afghan Public Health Minister said Sunday.
Suraya Dalil said that more than 1 million people worldwide died last year as a result of HIV AIDS and that amount is on the rise.
"In 2011, more than 1 million have died because of HIV AIDS all over the world. Illiteracy, poverty, lack of public awareness and travel to foreign countries are the main causes of the disease increasing," Dalil said at a ceremony marking World AIDS Day for December 1.
Afghan lawmaker Naqibullah Fayeq said unclean needle injections and the increase of drug addicts are the main causes behind its spread in Afghanistan.
"Drug cultivation and addiction and the drug injections are causing the disease to increase," Fayeq said.
More than 3100 HIV cases were indentified in Afghanistan in 2011, including women and children, according the Ministry of Public Health.
The health officials urged all Afghans to test their blood for any possible infection of HIV AIDS in the HIV test centers launched in nine provinces of the country.
63 Graduate with Masters from Rabbani Education Univ
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Sunday, 02 December 2012
Sixty-three university teachers have graduated with a Masters degree from Burhanuddin Rabbani Education University, a great boost to the improvement of education in Afghanistan, the chancellor Amanullah Hamidzai said Sunday.
The two-year Masters programme was launched by the USAID in Kabul in 2008 to boost the abilities of the Afghan university instructors.
"The Masters programme has been very useful and successful. The programme is only for the Rabbani Education University instructors," Hamidzai told reporters in a tour of the US Embassy with representatives of the university.
"The programme has tackled the problem of going abroad to earn a master degree for the instructors of the Rabbani's Education University. This is a good and effective program," deputy manager of the Higher Education project in Afghanistan Wahid Omer said, adding that improved capacity of teachers is evident and that some have already received promotions.
Some of the graduates said they had brought changes to their teaching methods and content.
"The Masters programme is of international standards and set with high quality. We can use more modern information and improve lessons in the future," a teacher from the Baghlan Branch of Education University and Masters graduate Aminullah Fetrat said.
"I graduated from this programme in 2009 and it was very effective in my academic life. It had remarkable changes in my teaching efforts," Education University teacher Zakia Sharifyan said.
According to the university officials, only those instructors stationed in Kabul and a few other provincial branches who have grade averages higher than 75 percent are eligible for the Masters.
Urban Planning Minister Reveals Dubious Water Supply Deal
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Sunday, 02 December 2012
The Ministry of Urban Development is being forced to implement two water supply projects that go against regulatory standards, Minister Hassan Abdullahi told parliamentarians on Sunday – despite a warning from the Minister of Finance that he not tell the lawmakers, he claimed.
Abdullahi said his ministry has received a signed decree from President Hamid Karzai for the projects to go ahead, but there are inherent problems that others are seeking to cover up.
"You should know this problem of ours, even though the finance minister asked us not to share this with you. But it seems these projects are against the will of the people, and the decree is against the water supply regulations," he told the members of the parliamentary commission of finance.
He suggested that Minister of Finance Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal asked him to hide the matter because deals have been made behind the scenes for the project to go ahead.
He did not provide further information on the location or costs of the two projects.
Abdullhai also slammed the executive board of a Kabul City project overseen by Karzai's Advisor Hedayat Amin Arsalan since 2007 for fraudulent activities.
He said the project was allocated $27 million by the Finance Ministry but only $8m was spent on the project.
"As you see, the only achievement the board had was fraud and faulty activities – you need to take control of this," Abdullahee told the commission.
The Minister also raised his concerns over the lack of construction codes in the ministry because it means the ministry is unable to control illegal construction of buildings in Kabul.
The lawmakers, for their part, urged the minister not to allow MPs to receive government housing assistance but rather to provide the free residences to those in severe need. Abdullhai responded that the MPs have been referred as the needy ones.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Mirwais Harooni | Reuters – Mon, Dec 3, 2012
KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan cabinet minister and one-time warlord called on Monday on former anti-Soviet guerrillas to regroup and rearm to prevent a slide into civil war once most foreign forces leave the country by the end of 2014.
Ismail Khan, the energy and water minister and an influential former mujahideen commander, reiterated during a parliamentary session a call to arms that incensed Afghan officials and led some lawmakers to try to impeach him on Monday.
But Khan emerged unscathed with the support of 140 of 172 members present, dealing a blow to efforts by President Hamid Karzai to assuage public fears about the effectiveness of Afghanistan's security forces after their foreign backers leave.
Brought into Karzai's government as a symbol of national unity, Khan was chided last month for urging people in his power base of the western Herat province to "step forward, take arms and defend the country" in areas where police and troops were unable to operate.
Khan insisted he was committed to Afghanistan's stable future, having played a role in the creation of the current political structure.
"I'm not making my speech here as a minister but as a person who has fought for more than 21 years for the independence of Afghanistan," he said during a 90-minute rebuttal, televised live on state television.
"I call from this tribune to all mujahideen not only in Herat, but all mujahideen in Afghanistan, the savior soldiers of this country - don't let it go back to insecurity."
"IRRESPONSIBLE" GROUPS
The government is concerned "irresponsible armed groups" could heed Khan's request and undermine efforts to win public confidence in the 350,000 foreign-trained Afghan security forces.
The regrouping of militias could also further destabilize the country by renewing tribal and ethnic conflicts and turf wars over wealth, resources and power.
Mohammad Naeem Lalai Hamidzai, a lawmaker for Kandahar province, accused Khan during the debate of distributing weapons and trying to consolidate his political power in Herat.
"Do you think that this is the time to have a parallel security structure, against our strong national security forces?" he asked him. "You are the cabinet minister... Why don't you call on our mujahideen to support Afghan security forces?"
Violence is intensifying across Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of the bulk of foreign troops and an election in April of 2014, which will bring an end to Karzai's final term in office and has led to concerns about poll fraud and power struggles.
Peace talks facilitated by U.S. diplomats involving the Afghan government and Taliban representatives broke down in March and efforts to revive them appear to be stumbling.
In the past two weeks, suicide attacks claimed by the Taliban have targeted symbols of the Western presence in Afghanistan, including a NATO base in Kabul's diplomatic enclave and two U.S. military installations, killing more than a dozen Afghan police and soldiers and wounding scores of civilians.
Five people were killed in a suicide attack at a U.S. airfield in Jalalabad on Sunday. Two bombers and seven insurgents armed with rifles and rockets were also killed.
(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Nick Macfie)
New Kabul Bank draws five possible bids
The National By Frank Kane Dec 3, 2012
Five possible bids have come in for New Kabul Bank, the remnant of the Afghan financial institution at the centre of a storm over fraud allegations in the country.
At a recent presentation in Dubai, potential buyers of the bank were given information about its current financial state of health, after the collapse of the old Kabul Bank in 2010.
A source close to the new bank said one North American lender and four Afghan banks had expressed interest in New Kabul.
There is a deadline of next month for possible bidders to come forward. If it remains unsold by the end of 2013, it will be liquidated.
Despite the alleged fraud at the old bank and the disappearance of about US$900 million (Dh3.3 billion) of depositors' cash, the new bank has clean assets, amounting to between $400m and $500m of deposits, as well as property and equipment assets.
The bank has not been allowed to make loans since its collapse that led to the arrest of its former chairman, Sherkhan Farnood, and other executives. But it is regarded as a viable business, though currently a loss-making concern.
Possible interest in a purchase of the new bank came as the Kabul authorities released an independent report on the affair, which has prompted allegations of corruption and fraud at the highest levels in Afghanistan, and deepened the country's economic problems.
"The importance of the collapse of Kabul Bank cannot be overstated. At the time of its failure, Kabul Bank was a central institution in the lives of millions of Afghans, and for many represented their first experience with formal banking structures," the report of the joint anti-corruption monitoring and evaluation committee said.
The report called the bank a billion-dollar "Ponzi scheme" arranged for the benefit of a small number of individuals associated with the governing elite in Kabul.
The report was based in part on an investigation by consultants from the Dubai office of Kroll, the investigations firm.
"Kabul Bank's controlling shareholders, key supervisors and managers led a sophisticated operation of fraudulent lending and embezzlement predominantly through a loan-book scheme. This resulted in Kabul Bank being deprived of approximately $935m funded mostly from customer deposits," the report stated. "Over 92 per cent of Kabul Bank's loan book - or approximately $861m - was for the benefit of 19 related parties [companies and individuals]."
It is alleged that funds from the bank were transferred - via legal money exchanges and by air in cash - to a number of jurisdictions around the world, including the UAE.
Some of the cash was used to build a portfolio of property assets in Dubai estimated to be worth $151m that is currently being auctioned by New Kabul to replace lost deposits.
The report identifies 11 separate properties, believed to be villas and houses on the emirate's Palm Jumeirah development, valued together at between $42m and $47m. Of these, one has been sold, two are under offer, and memoranda of understanding are being prepared on another two. The remaining six will be sold at a later date, the report said, "to avoid flooding the Dubai real estate market".
The Afghan authorities have approached the UAE Central Bank, which acts against alleged money-laundering in the Emirates via its Suspicious Cases Unit, with a letter of request for assistance to track down other assets possibly in the Emirates.
It is not known if the UAE has responded.
fkane@thenational.ae
Pentagon to send hundreds of additional spies overseas: report
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon will send hundreds of additional spies overseas as part of an ambitious plan to assemble an espionage network that rivals the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in size, a newspaper report said on Sunday.
The five-year project is aimed at transforming the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which has been dominated in the past decade by the demands of the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, into a spy service focused on emerging threats and more closely aligned with the CIA and elite military commando units, The Washington Post said in its report.
Once the DIA expansion is complete, it will have 1,600 " collectors" deployed around the world -- something unprecedented for the agency, said the report.
In addition to military attaches and others who do not work undercover, more clandestine operatives will be deployed overseas. They will be trained by the CIA and often work with the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, but they will get their spying assignments from the Department of Defense.
"This is a major adjustment for national security," DIA Director Michael Flynn said at a recent conference while outlining the changes.
The sharp increase in DIA undercover operatives is part of a far-reaching trend: a convergence of the military and intelligence agencies that has blurred their once-distinct missions, capabilities and even their leadership ranks, according to the report.
The DIA overhaul, combined with the CIA expansion since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, will create a U.S. spy network of unprecedented size. It reflects the Obama administration's affinity for espionage and covert action over conventional force, said the report.
Pentagon officials added that sending more DIA operatives overseas will shore up intelligence on subjects that the CIA is not able or willing to pursue.
What Iran and Pakistan Want from the Afghans: Water
TIME By Mujib Mashal Dec. 02, 2012
Kabul - With a vast, empty desert as a backdrop, the militants recorded the execution of Khan Wali on video. As someone held a camera, the others encircled the condemned man to read out his sentence. “This is not brutality – this is justice,” declared one of the executioners who sported a black turban and a shaggy beard. “I swear to God that killing him with a 82 mm mortar is not enough. But the rest of our Mujahedin would not agree on my recommendation – to kill him in a way that all can take part in the act.”
And so it was decided to shoot Khan Wali with the 82 mm mortar. They forced him to kneel 40 yards away from the portable cannon, a type often used in small battles in the war-torn country. A militant positioned behind the weapon then set it off; a massive thumping sound was followed by celebratory cries of Allah u Akbar – God is Great. “Be careful, don’t get any blood on your clothes” said one voice as the other men, after jubilantly hugging each other, rushed to poke at Khan Wali’s flesh splattered on the ground. “I enjoyed this very much,” said one.
What was Khan Wali’s crime? He was protecting one of Afghanistan’s most important resources: water. Khan Wali led a 60-man semi official-militia tasked with defending the Machalgho dam in eastern Paktia province. Already two years behind schedule due to security concerns, the dam would irrigate about 40,000 acres of land and produce 800 KW of electricity once completed. The government had pledged that if Khan Wali held his ground for two months, he and his men would receive weapons and cash. But Khan Wali lasted only 20 days into the mission.
His remains were recovered eight days after his savage execution, his nephew Agha Jan told TIME. His upper body was completely in pieces. “We recognized him from the tattoo he had and the shoes he had been wearing – his name was tattooed on his hand since childhood.” The video of the brutal execution, which took place in mid-2011, was shared with journalists months later and uploaded to YouTube.
“With such bravery, he had tried to protect the dam – and they killed him so brutally,” says Rohullah Samoon, a senior aide and spokesman to the governor of Paktia.
Water is a critical issue in Afghanistan—and for countries like Iran and Pakistan that are dependent on four of the five river basins that flow out of Afghanistan to irrigate their territories. Meanwhile, though the Afghans currently have enough water for their own needs, any perception of abundance is illusory, experts say. Indeed, the availability of water per capita is expected to decline by 50% in the next three decades, according to a United Nations-funded report. Afghanistan’s extremely weak infrastructure and one of the lowest water storage capacities in the world means that large parts of the country cannot make use of their own water resources. Frequent droughts, localized and national, further affect the population, causing food shortages and migration. In 2008, for example, wheat production declined by 40% to 55% due to lack of precipitation.
Water is key to strengthening the foundations of Afghanistan’s mainly agricultural economy. But only about 5% of the massive international investment and aid in the past decade went to the water sector, according to the UN report. And, critics say, too much of that went to ad-hoc small dams and schemes that had no long-term vision.
The geopolitical factors are such that Afghans are paranoid that both Iran and Pakistan are sabotaging their efforts to build dams and control their hydro-resources—though the evidence is circumstantial and speculative at best. For example, there were broad hints that elements in Pakistan may have contributed to the death of Khan Wali. Says one local official in Paktia: “The price that our neighbors pay for a human life around here? It’s 50,000 Pakistani rupees [about $500].”
It is true, however, that Pakistan’s energy crisis has furthered its dependence on Afghan water. Iran, the only country that Afghanistan has a water treaty with, is now taking up to 70% more water than agreed to, according to officials, and has built infrastructure on the incoming water without Afghanistan’s consent. If Afghanistan tries to build major dams to hold more of its own water, both Pakistan and Iran are likely to object and to hold up the projects. Indeed, because diplomatic objections can create bureaucratic bottlenecks, major aid donors have increasingly shied away from funding water projects in Afghanistan.
An official at the Afghan ministry of energy and water claims that the World Bank called off funding for a major project after it learned that it required clearance from Iran. The World Bank would not comment, saying only that it did not have projects in Afghanistan’s water sector. “I think our neighbors have better relations with the major donors – such as the World Bank,” the official said accusingly. They lobby to get bigger loans for themselves, but create hurdles on the way of such projects in Afghanistan, he says.
“Out of fifty seven billion cubic meters of average annual rivers flow, only less than 30% is consumed in Afghanistan, the remaining part of water flows out into neighboring countries,” says Sayed Sharif Shobair, a water expert with several years of experience with national and internationalagencies in Afghanistan. “Attracting investment in the water sector from donor agencies may require us to resolve transboundary water issues first.”
“The Afghan government, every now and then, announces the building of 20 dams or so. But it remains only plans on paper because they can rarely gather the funding for it,” says Khwaga Kakar, an independent researcher who spent two years on the U.N.-funded report on Afghanistan’s water resources. “There is a disconnect between ‘we plan to do’ and ‘what the donors are giving us.’”
The anxieties about Iranian and Pakistan meddling are exemplified by the speculation around the long stalled Salma dam, being built by India in the province of Herat in western Afghanistan, which borders Iran. The dam has the potential to irrigate nearly 185,000 acres and produce 42 MW electricity. However, the project is already four years behind schedule. Its cost has doubled and is expected to rise by another 50%. Some Afghan officials are astonished that Indian engineers, who have built highways in Afghanistan in record time, are taking so long to complete the dam. They hypothesize that Iranian diplomatic meddling has caused the delays.
The Indians, however, deny it. “Afghans tell us that Iran has created issues, but we haven’t had to talk to Iran about it because we haven’t had evidence linking them to insecurity there,” says Gautam Mukhopadhaya, the Indian ambassador to Kabul, blaming the delay on cost escalation. “The Salma dam will be completed, no question about that.”
Lack of data is the biggest hurdle, says senior Afghan diplomat Enayatullah Nabiel who worked on the trans-boundary water issues for several years. And many Afghans look suspiciously upon the Iranian experts who moved in to fill the expertise gap by setting up the research center inside Afghanistan’s water ministry tasked with gathering information and data on the country’s water resources. The Iranian experts provide what other countries and companies no longer do because of the fragile security within Afghanistan. But the result is increased suspicion. Says Nabiel, “The fact that Iranians are involved in running the research center inside the ministry of water is very dangerous – they have loyalty to their own country.”
Some analysts say Afghanistan—given its already grave security issues—should seek non-confrontational methods of solving its cross-border water problems. “It might be good if Afghanistan could move in some specific cases from ‘water sharing’ to ‘river benefit sharing,’ says Shobair. “In Kunar river, for example, joint hydropower production could be one idea to look into. Afghanistan could convince Pakistan that is for their good as well.”
But that process requires protracted negotiations with the neighbors. Margaret Vick, who advised the ministry of water and energy on cross-border water laws, says the government has capable diplomats and negotiators but has to use them to deal with other crises. She adds that the ministry continues to have other deficiencies that have not been dealt with in decades. “Pre-Soviet invasion,” she explains, “the government had an engineering branch to work on water and other infrastructure issues of national importance.” Today however, she says, “it’s the depth of engineering capability that has not yet recovered.”
Reporting for this story was partially funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Troops contributing nations to review Afghan situation in Brussels
KABUL, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of countries contributed troops to Afghanistan will review the Afghan security situation and transition process there at their meeting in Brussels, spokesman of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said here on Monday.
"On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss matters related to the work of the alliance and this will include a meeting on Afghanistan of the 50 ISAF troop contributing nations on Wednesday," Brigadier General Gnter Katz, said in a press briefing here.
He added that the meeting will include Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul and countries and international organizations like Japan, the European Union and the United Nations.
More than 100,000-storng NATO-led ISAF with some 60,000 of them Americans are presently serving in Afghanistan to help stabilize security in the conflict-ridden country.
The process of security transition from NATO-led ISAF troops to Afghan government which began in mid 2011 will be completed by the end of 2014.
The spokesman of the alliance also asserted that the international community would continue to support Afghanistan after 2014 when the NATO-led troops leave the country.
Kabul Opposes Foreign Prisons In The Country
December 3, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Afghan National Security Council says foreign countries cannot arrest Afghans or run prisons inside the country.
In a statement on December 3, the council said such facilities violate Afghan sovereignty.
The statement appears to be in response to Britain's decision last week to suspend handovers of suspected insurgents held by British troops to Afghan security forces.
London expressed concerns about possible abuse and torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities.
On December 2, President Hamid Karzai ordered Afghan security agencies to investigate the presence of British-run prisons in Afghanistan and to move to take them over without delay.
In March, the Afghan government signed a deal with the United States on the control of prisons in the country, but the British government was not a part of the agreement.
Based on reporting by pajhwok.com
Iran pushes out Afghans as regional power-play heats up
Reuters By Amie Ferris-Rotman Mon Dec 3, 2012
HERAT, Afghanistan -Ghaus worked in Iran for five years but has nothing to show for it. All he has are memories of being jailed, beaten and sent home to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's oil-rich western neighbour has for years been a destination for Afghans seeking work or fleeing war. Afghanistan and Iran share a language, and cultural and historical links.
But hostility to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, regional ambitions and an economy choked by Western sanctions have persuaded Iran to cast out Afghan migrants, to the dismay of those forced home and their government.
In May, Iran threatened to expel Afghan refugees and migrant workers, in all about 2.4 million people, if Afghanistan signed a strategic security pact with the United States. The deal was struck.
"Afghan refugees and migrants are becoming the victims of big political games played between the Iranian and U.S. powers," said Abdul Samad Hami, Afghanistan's deputy minister for refugees.
Few of the migrants, who pay smugglers about $700 to get across the 1,000 km (620 miles) border into Iran, know they have been caught up in a geopolitical power play.
Barefoot and wearing a sun-bleached silver turban, Ghaus was huddled with about 20 other expelled migrants at a U.N. centre in the western Afghan city of Herat after being dumped out of a bus on the border.
"Suddenly, my life came to an end," the soft-spoken bricklayer told Reuters.
Ghaus is one of 191,121 unregistered Afghan migrants forced out of Iran from January to September 30 this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency, up 29 percent from last year.
About 1.4 million migrant workers remain in Iran but hundreds of them are being expelled every day. There are also nearly a million Afghan refugees who are allowed to live there.
Shuffling home through Herat's Islam Qala border checkpoint, most of the returning migrants are young men dressed like Iranians in jeans and brightly coloured bomber jackets, but with bulging suitcases and bed-rolls on their heads.
Many migrants have called Iran home for decades, part of an exodus of nine million Afghans - a third of the population - who fled to neighbours Iran and Pakistan, beginning with the Soviet invasion in 1979, through to the austere Taliban rule of the 1990s.
The expulsions represent not just a burden for Afghanistan but also a loss of income, and could even spell more instability ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of 2014.
Afghan migrants in Iran send home about $500 million a year, a considerable sum for one of the world's poorest countries. The funds will become more important as foreign aid shrinks with the departure of Western forces.
INFLUENCE, OPIUM
Iran says migrant workers pose a security threat. But Afghan politicians and analysts say Iran is pushing them out to show it can ratchet up the pressure when it doesn't get its way.
As the United States reduces its role in Afghanistan, neighbours are competing for influence. Iran already backs a third of Afghan media and builds schools and clinics to boost its sway, according to Afghan officials.
Iran's economic influence in Afghanistan is palpable in Herat, which enjoys robust trade over the nearby border and boasts smoothly paved roads and bustling markets.
Iran offers Afghan migrants menial work, often on construction sites. Many of the men return home addicted to opium after being paid in the drug instead of cash.
This is not only because it is cheaper for employers to pay in opium, but also because the depreciation of Iran's rial, in the face of international sanctions over its nuclear programme, has made opium more attractive than cash for the workers.
"We were allowed to choose - money or drugs. Over time, drugs seemed the better option," said Rasool, a grey-bearded man who guarded a construction site in Iran's second-largest city of Mashhad for 15 years.
Like Ghaus, Rasool was briefly imprisoned in Iran before being expelled.
Some migrants end up in prison after getting home.
"We've noticed an increase in the number of migrants coming back here with drug addictions," said General Shah Mir, who oversees Herat's provincial prison, where almost 300 former migrant workers are doing time for opium trafficking.
Health officials estimate there are 1 million Afghans addicted to opium or heroin, or about 8 percent of the adult population, making it the world's top user per capita. It is also the top producer of opium and its refined form, heroin.
"TOUGH TALK"
But it is not just the migrant workers that Iran wants out.
It is also making moves to force out the majority of the 930,000 legal Afghan refugees and is stepping up a campaign to make them feel unwelcome, Afghan officials and rights group say.
Last month, Iran's Interior Ministry said a decision had been made to "end the status of asylum for 700,000 Afghans" by March 21, 2015.
An Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the decision.
Faraz Sanei, Iran researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Iran gets tough on repatriating Afghans when it feels pressured in the regional manoeuvring for influence.
"When political tension between Tehran and Kabul is high, for example, with regard to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, Tehran has stepped up its tough talk," Sanei said.
Iran and Afghanistan, along with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, agreed on a voluntary repatriation programme in 2002 in the belief that with better security at home, the refugees should choose to go back.
"Though this has been the official government line, we have seen an increase in the restrictive measures against Afghan refugees in recent years that has made life in Iran increasingly difficult," said Sanei.
Iran has been increasing the number of "no-go areas" for Afghans, which authorities say is part of a strategy to secure its borders. Afghans are now allowed in 12 of Iran's 31 provinces, down from 14 last year.
"Even within the allowed areas, movement of Afghans is restricted and there are only certain jobs they can do," said Hami, the deputy minister for refugees.
Afghans have even been banned from certain public parks, Iranian media has reported.
Hami said Afghanistan had been preparing for the expulsion of refugees for some time and was mapping out a "contingency plan" with the U.N. refugee agency that should be ready by January.
For Herat member of parliament Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanfai, the reason Iran is putting pressure on Afghans living there is clear: Iran is punishing Afghanistan for defying its call to reject the U.S. security pact.
"The Iranians warned the Afghans ... and now we're seeing the result of that threat," Hanfai said. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in KABUL and Yeganeh Torbati in DUBAI; Editing by Michael Georgy and Robert Birsel)
Afghan politicians struggle to script 2014 transition
The Hindu By Praveen Swami December 3, 2012
KABUL - Late last month, Afghan President Hamid Karzai received the blueprints for a new home he hopes to occupy in 2014, vacating his official residence at the Arg — the royal citadel built in 1880 after British troops levelled the historic Bala Hisar Fort. There appears to a blueprint for little else concerning the country’s looming political transition, though — least of all the critical question of who might move into the Arg once Mr. Karzai leaves.
Even as the first snow of the winter falls on the Hindu Kush mountains, Mr. Karzai’s opponents are huddled together in Kabul to shape the course of the 2014 presidential election, the last that will be held before western troops leave the country.
They are facing up to a bizarre reality: the next President may be picked to represent Afghans who don’t vote — not those who do.
“For all of us,” says key Opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, “the challenge is to ensure the integrity of the political system and the legitimacy of government after 2014. That will be the key to Afghanistan’s future.”
The princes-apparent
Leading the race to represent Afghanistan’s southern Pashtun tribes in the Arg are two men who cut their political teeth trying to kill each other: Muhammad Umar Daudzai, now Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan, and Hanif Atmar, Mr. Karzai’s former Interior Minister.
Mr. Daudzai was a member of the Hizb-e Islami militia of Islamist warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, elements of which still battle the government. Mr. Atmar lost his leg fighting the Hizb-e Islami during the savage 1987 battle of Jalalabad when he was serving in Afghanistan’s communist-era intelligence service, the Khidmat-e Etelaat-e Dawlati.
For both men, their élite ethnic-Pashtun credentials are key. Even though an estimated 48 per cent of Afghanistan’s population now lives in its relatively secure cities, few are likely to vote in the insurgency-hit southern and eastern countryside. In 2009, voter turnout was independently estimated at just 30 per cent; this time around, it will almost certainly be lower.
Ensuring the new President enjoys nationwide legitimacy means picking a candidate who speaks for ethnic-Pashtun dominated southern and eastern Afghanistan.
The former Afghan Foreign Minister, Abdullah, who picked up 31.8 per cent of the vote to Mr. Karzai’s 47.48 in the 2009 elections, leads arguably the most powerful of these northern formations. Backed by key Opposition ideologue Yunus Qanuni, Mr. Abdullah represents the most visible political face of the pre-9/11 anti-Taliban resistance.
There are other influential contenders. Ahmad Zia Masood, brother of anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Masood, in alliance with the Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, has a powerful rival block. The cerebral former Afghan intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, constitutes a third pole.
Ethnic Hazaras, a traditionally underprivileged community who have leveraged post-9/11 aid to emerge as one of Afghanistan’s most dynamic and educated communities, will also play a key role. Hazara leaders like Muhammad Mohaqiq —whose predecessor Abdul Ali Mazari was stripped, mutilated and dropped to his death from a helicopter by the Taliban in 1995 — have been bitterly critical of Mr. Karzai’s efforts to seek peace with the Pakistan-based jihadist group.
Mr. Daudzai, Mr. Karzai’s former chief of staff, hopes his Hizb-e Islami connections will help him position himself as a buffer between the Taliban and the north. He has also, sources in the President’s staff say, received informal assurances from both Pakistan and Iran of their support for his candidacy. In 2010, The New York Times alleged that he was the manager of an Iran-funded slush fund for Mr. Karzai, which was used to bribe “Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty.”
Mr. Atmar, who was Interior Minister until he was sacked by Mr. Karzai in 2010, also hopes his anti-Taliban credentials will make him acceptable to the powerful political groupings of the north.
Other hopefuls
A welter of second-string candidates hopes to cash in if these two heavyweights fail. The former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and scholars Ashraf Ghani and Ali Jalali are exploring the possibility of securing opposition backing for a presidential bid. So is Mr. Karzai’s brother, Abdul Qayyum Karzai.
Last week, Mr. Karzai initiated meetings intended to hammer out the terms of the political transition. Mr. Abdullah Abdullah led a delegation of 21 parties — five of them in government — to seek guarantees of a fair election. Mr. Ahmad Zia Masood, held a similar dialogue.
“No one knows just where the pieces are going to fall,” a senior Afghan politician told The Hindu, “but for the first time since 9/11, a serious dialogue between political actors inside the country has begun. We can only hope all of us show the wisdom that is needed to go forward.”
Afghans Begin New Exodus, Often At Great Cost
NPR By Sean Carberry December 2, 2012
Convulsed by war and civil strife for decades, Afghanistan has experienced some of the largest ebbs and flows of migration anywhere in the world.
It began with the Soviet invasion in 1979, which sent millions of Afghans fleeing to Iran and Pakistan. When the Taliban were driven from power in 2001, many Afghans began returning home.
Now, the country has hit another milestone: For the first time since 2002 and the beginning of the current war in Afghanistan, the country has a negative migration rate — more Afghans are leaving than returning.
The uncertainty of what Afghanistan will look like after 2014, when the NATO forces leave, has many Afghans heading for the exits, or at least trying to, and some are paying huge sums of money to get out any way they can.
Aziz Momand is a 30-year-old taxi driver in Kabul. Sitting in his road-worn Toyota Corolla wagon in the center of the city, he explains his desire to leave.
"I have concerns that 2014 is arriving and people talking that maybe the situation get worse," he says. "Already business is down."
Momand says he's been thinking of leaving for the past year, ideally to a Scandinavian country where, he says, asylum policies are liberal. He says it's too difficult to get a visa, so he's been speaking with people about smuggling his family to Sweden.
"The first step is to go to Iran, then somebody smuggles us to Turkey, and then to Greece, and then to other parts of Europe," he says.
The only problem with this approach, Momand says, is that to get his whole family out, it will cost nearly $50,000 — a fortune for most Afghans.
"If I have that much money, I would have already been there," he says.
Even if he does get the money together, there's no guarantee his family will make it safely to Sweden or avoid deportation.
"The smugglers, they do their own propaganda. It's a business, and so they are saying, 'It's easy to get here; we'll make sure you have a great future,' " he says.
The Latest Outward Flow
It's just the latest wave of emigration in Afghanistan's turbulent history. At the height of the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, the UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, estimates that there were more than 6 million Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan alone — and almost 1 million more in other parts of the world.
According to the UNHCR, Afghan refugees accounted for slightly less than half the world's total refugee population.
By the early 1990s — after the Soviet withdrawal — an estimated 2 million to 3 million Afghans had been repatriated, though the rise of the Taliban meant that at the same time, others were fleeing. The last major shift in the flow of migration occurred after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. In 2002 alone, about 2 million Afghans returned, according to the UNHCR.
Now, that flow has reversed once again.
Marco Boasso heads the International Organization for Migration office in Afghanistan. He says concrete data about the numbers of Afghans leaving today are hard to come by, especially given the criminal nature of trafficking.
"What we do know is that the arrivals in Europe are unprecedented," he says, noting that arrivals in Europe during the Soviet occupation and civil war were just 20 percent to 30 percent of today's numbers.
Boasso doesn't think the country will fall apart after NATO troops withdraw in 2014, and the IOM is pushing the government to create economic opportunities for people to stay in Afghanistan. Still, he says exodus will continue.
"We will see more movement of people ... in 2014 because anxiety is there; there is a lot of uncertainty," he says.
Burgeoning, And Pricey, Black Market
Embassies in Kabul are reluctant to discuss on the record whether more Afghans are applying for visas. Many European countries don't issue visas in Kabul, and Afghans have to travel to Iran or Pakistan to apply. Turkish officials did say they have made the application process more cumbersome to discourage all but serious travelers.
But there's another option for Afghans flush with cash: buying visas.
NPR's Afghan reporters visited several travel agents in Kabul, and were told that Turkish visas can be bought under the table for $4,100. Russian visas are $17,000. West European visas are most prized and cost at least $25,000.
These are real visas, the reporters were told, but none of the agents would explain how the visas are issued and who gets paid off along the way.
NPR's Aimal Yaqubi contributed to this report.
In Male-Dominated World, Afghan Businesswoman Breaks Boundaries, Taboos
December 3, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By Frud Bezhan
Roya Mahboob is a rarity -- an Afghan woman in a position of power and influence.
The 25-year-old tech entrepreneur is the CEO of Afghan Citadel Services, an IT firm she founded in the western city of Herat. Her staff of 20 software programmers -- more than half of them women -- develops computer software for government ministries, universities, and international organizations in Afghanistan.
But in this deeply traditional country, success for women also comes fraught with danger. Mahboob says she has received abusive phone calls and e-mails warning her to stop working and threatening to target her family.
"Women face many challenges. Even when they have great ideas they cannot start up their own businesses. Women also face insecurity," Mahboob says. "They can't go and work in the districts or villages. Women have traditional and cultural [challenges]. When you're working, people want to stop you so you can't continue your work."
Opening Up The Tech Market
Mahboob, who has served as project coordinator for the Afghan Higher Education Ministry's IT department, founded her firm with several classmates from Herat University back in 2010 with start-up capital of just $20,000 -- most of it coming from their own savings.
The aim, she says, was to create jobs for recent university graduates -- especially women -- in Afghanistan's growing tech market.
"We wanted to use our knowledge in IT to bring some changes to the market and to bring change to the lives of Afghan women," Mahboob says. "IT can even help women work inside their homes, help them to make money, and give them an opportunity to use their knowledge."
In the decade following the end of Taliban rule in 2001, Afghan women have made considerable strides. Millions of girls are back in school, the country has a female provincial governor, and dozens of women are members of parliament.
But despite the progress, Afghanistan remains deeply conservative and male-dominated. Domestic abuse is routine, forced marriages are the norm, and women are discouraged from pursuing careers. Suicide rates among women are among the highest in the world.
So not surprisingly, Mahboob's success as a businesswoman has sparked a fierce backlash from her community.
She is constantly changing her phone number and e-mail address due to the threatening calls and messages she says she receives almost daily.
Her father has been supportive. But even he is often confronted by locals who tell him it is dishonorable for his daughter to be working in public, meeting male clients, and even driving a car.
Two of Mahboob's female employees have already resigned under pressure from locals.
Overcoming Market Discrimination
Mahboob has also had to overcome considerable market discrimination. She says potential Afghan clients, many of them men, often laugh and express skepticism that she is actually a CEO. Some refuse outright to do business with her company.
"When we go to [potential] customers, they don't believe that women can do [business]. They give you a smile or they look at you as though you cannot [deliver]. Even if they want your product, they want you to give it to them for a price that is cheaper than [the price charged by] a male competitor," Mahboob says.
But despite the obstacles, Mahboob and her business have thrived.
Afghan Citadel Services currently has ongoing or finished projects worth approximately $500,000. Among the projects the company has completed are a patient-management system created for Afghan hospitals and a student-registration system for universities and private schools.
Recently, the company has opened new offices, including one in the capital, Kabul. Mahboob has also hired more staff to meet needs as the company's business expands.
The company is also expanding into other sectors. Earlier this year, it partnered with Film Annex, an online film distribution platform, to launch the Afghan Development Project. The project seeks to show "a new face" of Afghanistan by broadcasting current events-related videos, interviews, and news clips. Her company is also working with Film Annex to equip Afghan schools with Internet access in order to connect students with the outside world -- and discourage them from joining the insurgency.
But for Mahboob, it isn't just about business and the bottom line. She says her main goal is to become a role model for Afghan women.
"My message to Afghan women is that they should be ready to change their lives. They [can't] stay at home and say, 'We are just women and we have to stay at home and we accept it,'" Mahboob says.
"We have to understand that we have rights. We can bring a lot of changes to society and can bring peace and prosperity to the economy of Afghanistan."
A look at how sports has changed in Afghanistan, post Taliban!
The Hindustan Times By Hindol Basu Dec 2, 2012
PATIALA - Meet Ahmed Fardinziayee, secretary general of the Afghanistan Kabaddi Federation (AKF) and currently the coach of the national team. He has seen it all. The days of oblivion when he had to leave his country and take shelter in Iran. A time when the tyrannical Taliban regime allowed zilch sporting activity to take place.
It was a time when there was no sporting infrastructure in Afghanistan and coming out on streets to play any kind of game was considered rebellious. And, rebels were quickly suppressed. During those times Ahmed, used to stay in Iran and lead an immigrant team based from there.
But times have changed. Afghanistan, now no more lives in the shadows of its dark past. Not only it has made a name for itself in the cricketing arena but any kind of sport is followed quite avidly. Kabaddi is one such sport which is making rapid strides in the country. All under the tutelage of President Hamid Karzai, feels Ahmed.
"Those dark days are gone. We have awakened to a new beginning. The present regime under President Hamid Karzai is very supportive of us. He takes special interest in Kabaddi and many other sports, which includes cricket too (smiles). The Kabaddi Federation was formed, and then many stadiums were opened up in places like Kandahar, Kabul. This game was already there in Afghanistan, just that we never got a chance to play. But, now things are different," quips Fardinziayee.
Ahmed, displays a steely resolve. He still reminisces those days when he had to leave his family in Afghanistan and flee to Iran. It has left a lasting impression on his memory.
"I had to leave Afghanistan, my country and take refuge in some different country. It was a very bad phase for Afghans. The backbone of our society was broken. But, I didn't lose hope and wanted to play for my national team one day. So I continued playing there (in Iran) as an immigrant. Even led the immigrants' team (laughs). But, deep down I wanted to come back to my country and play for it.
Representing my country at the Kabaddi World Cup gives me so much of satisfaction that I can't tell you," says an emotional Ahmed. Even the manager of the Afghanistan Kabaddi team, Haroon Shams is all praise for President Hamid Karzai, whom he terms as the 'White Dove' a symbol of peace. Shams, feels that though internal conflict still continues in the country, but its President Karzai who has risen above petty politics and sports is a tool for him, as he searches for national integration.
"Oh! He has provided us with the entire infrastructure. He encourages us and not only us but sportspersons in general. When we came back from the Asian Kabaddi Championship he personally met us and told us to continue playing. I think in the previous regime we couldn't even go out on the streets and play, leave aside meeting anyone important," opines Haroon, on the sidelines of the 3rd Kabaddi World Cup.
When asked whether women are given the same kind of importance and allowed to play, Haroon gets quite amused with the question.
"Why not? You remember Tehmima Kohestani. She participated in the 2012 London Olympics. She is an athlete. The earlier regime was very strict. They didn't allow women to participate in sporting activities. Now even they are playing," says a somewhat defiant Haroon.
Though, the Afghans have set aside the past but remnants of it still lingers in their memory and even the players do not criticize the Taliban openly, just referring it as the 'previous regime'.
HIV Cases Rising in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 02 December 2012
The incidence of HIV is increasing in Afghanistan and Eastern Mediterranean countries, the Afghan Public Health Minister said Sunday.
Suraya Dalil said that more than 1 million people worldwide died last year as a result of HIV AIDS and that amount is on the rise.
"In 2011, more than 1 million have died because of HIV AIDS all over the world. Illiteracy, poverty, lack of public awareness and travel to foreign countries are the main causes of the disease increasing," Dalil said at a ceremony marking World AIDS Day for December 1.
Afghan lawmaker Naqibullah Fayeq said unclean needle injections and the increase of drug addicts are the main causes behind its spread in Afghanistan.
"Drug cultivation and addiction and the drug injections are causing the disease to increase," Fayeq said.
More than 3100 HIV cases were indentified in Afghanistan in 2011, including women and children, according the Ministry of Public Health.
The health officials urged all Afghans to test their blood for any possible infection of HIV AIDS in the HIV test centers launched in nine provinces of the country.
63 Graduate with Masters from Rabbani Education Univ
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Sunday, 02 December 2012
Sixty-three university teachers have graduated with a Masters degree from Burhanuddin Rabbani Education University, a great boost to the improvement of education in Afghanistan, the chancellor Amanullah Hamidzai said Sunday.
The two-year Masters programme was launched by the USAID in Kabul in 2008 to boost the abilities of the Afghan university instructors.
"The Masters programme has been very useful and successful. The programme is only for the Rabbani Education University instructors," Hamidzai told reporters in a tour of the US Embassy with representatives of the university.
"The programme has tackled the problem of going abroad to earn a master degree for the instructors of the Rabbani's Education University. This is a good and effective program," deputy manager of the Higher Education project in Afghanistan Wahid Omer said, adding that improved capacity of teachers is evident and that some have already received promotions.
Some of the graduates said they had brought changes to their teaching methods and content.
"The Masters programme is of international standards and set with high quality. We can use more modern information and improve lessons in the future," a teacher from the Baghlan Branch of Education University and Masters graduate Aminullah Fetrat said.
"I graduated from this programme in 2009 and it was very effective in my academic life. It had remarkable changes in my teaching efforts," Education University teacher Zakia Sharifyan said.
According to the university officials, only those instructors stationed in Kabul and a few other provincial branches who have grade averages higher than 75 percent are eligible for the Masters.
Urban Planning Minister Reveals Dubious Water Supply Deal
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Sunday, 02 December 2012
The Ministry of Urban Development is being forced to implement two water supply projects that go against regulatory standards, Minister Hassan Abdullahi told parliamentarians on Sunday – despite a warning from the Minister of Finance that he not tell the lawmakers, he claimed.
Abdullahi said his ministry has received a signed decree from President Hamid Karzai for the projects to go ahead, but there are inherent problems that others are seeking to cover up.
"You should know this problem of ours, even though the finance minister asked us not to share this with you. But it seems these projects are against the will of the people, and the decree is against the water supply regulations," he told the members of the parliamentary commission of finance.
He suggested that Minister of Finance Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal asked him to hide the matter because deals have been made behind the scenes for the project to go ahead.
He did not provide further information on the location or costs of the two projects.
Abdullhai also slammed the executive board of a Kabul City project overseen by Karzai's Advisor Hedayat Amin Arsalan since 2007 for fraudulent activities.
He said the project was allocated $27 million by the Finance Ministry but only $8m was spent on the project.
"As you see, the only achievement the board had was fraud and faulty activities – you need to take control of this," Abdullahee told the commission.
The Minister also raised his concerns over the lack of construction codes in the ministry because it means the ministry is unable to control illegal construction of buildings in Kabul.
The lawmakers, for their part, urged the minister not to allow MPs to receive government housing assistance but rather to provide the free residences to those in severe need. Abdullhai responded that the MPs have been referred as the needy ones.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com