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Attacks Kill Afghan Police Chief, Women's Affairs Official
VOA News December 10, 2012
Afghan authorities say separate attacks have killed a provincial police chief and a women's affairs official.
Officials say a roadside bomb Monday killed General Mohammad Musa Rasouli, head of police in Afghanistan's western Nimroz province, as he was traveling back to Nimroz from nearby Herat province.
Rasouli was rushed to the hospital but died from his wounds.
Also Monday, insurgents killed Najia Sideqi, the acting provincial director of women's affairs in Laghman province, east of Kabul. The provincial governor's spokesman said Sideqi was killed while on her way to work in Mehtarlam.
Sideqi's predecessor, Hanifa Safi, was killed in a July bombing.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for Monday's attacks.
Taliban insurgents often target officials. Last week, a Taliban suicide bomber wounded Afghanistan's intelligence chief.
Taliban launches new wave of attacks in Afghanistan
By Farid Behbud
KABUL, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Despite a decline in the Taliban-led attacks due to the cold weather in an imminent winter in the war- hit Afghanistan over the past couple of weeks, the insurgents is mounting a new wave of violent attacks in the country recently.
A senior official with the women's affairs department was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in the country's eastern province of Laghman Monday morning.
"The Acting Director of Provincial Women's Affairs Najia Siddiqi was killed in a drive- by shooting in Sharmaki area in provincial capital Mehtarlam city at about 8:30 a.m. local time today," a spokesman for the Laghman provincial governor, Sarhadi Zhawak, told Xinhua.
Siddiqi died of her wounds on the way to the hospital. The attackers made their good escape shortly after the shooting, he said, adding the police have launched an investigation into the incident in the province some 90 km east of capital Kabul.
He added that Siddiqi was appointed to the post after the former director of the women department Hanifah Safai was killed in a bombing earlier this year.
Earlier Monday morning, the provincial police chief of the country's Nimroz province, some 790 km southwest of capital Kabul, was killed in a roadside bombing.
"The police chief of Nimroz province General Mohammad Musa Rasouli died following a bomb attack on his vehicle in Adraskan district of western Herat province Monday morning," regional police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told Xinhua.
Rasouli was traveling in his official vehicle, after attending a security meeting in Herat, to Nimroz provincial capital Zaranj, the spokesman said.
"The police chief was shifted to a nearby hospital but died of his wounds an hour after the roadside bombing attack," Ahmadi said, adding that one policeman was also wounded in the attack that took place at around 7 a.m. local time.
The Afghan Interior Minister Ghulam Mujtaba Patang issued a statement and strongly condemned the bombing for which he blamed the Taliban.
Afghan officials and pro-government figures have been repeatedly targeted by the militants over the past years. More than 50 senior Afghan officials, local elders and pro-government figures have been killed in targeted killings in the insurgency- hit country over the past year. Taliban suspects routinely claim responsibility for such incidents.
The Taliban insurgent group, which launched an annual rebel offensive on May 3 this year, has said that anyone working for the government and the NATO-led troops are legitimate targets of the militants.
Taliban has also warned the civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants. They also warned people against supporting government and foreign troops.
In addition, a U.S. soldier with the U.S. Forces-Afghanistan ( USFOR-A) was killed on Sunday in eastern Afghanistan.
"A U.S. Forces-Afghanistan service member died in eastern Afghanistan today," the USFOR-A forces confirmed in a statement issued late Sunday, without providing more details.
However, the local media reported that a U.S. special force member was killed in a mission that rescued an abducted American citizen in a raid that also left seven Taliban militants dead.
Meantime, the U.S. forces confirmed that they rescued an American citizen, who was a doctor named Dilip Joseph, during an operation in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday.
Joseph was abducted by the Taliban on Wednesday Dec. 5 in the vicinity of Sarobi district, lying some 50 km east of Kabul, the statement issued here Sunday said.
General John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a statement that he ordered the mission when intelligence showed that Joseph was in imminent danger of injury or death, adding that "Joseph is now undergoing evaluations."
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a failed suicide bombing against the country's intelligence service chief Assadullah Khalid on Thursday.
Khalid is recovering from injuries that he sustained when a bomber detonated hidden explosives inside his body in an agency's compound in Kabul.
The recent attacks are being seen as a setback to fragile reconciliation efforts with insurgents and the seeking for a political solution to the war in Afghanistan.
Separately, five armed militants were killed and five were wounded in a clash in Nangarhar province, 120 km east of Kabul, on Sunday afternoon.
"The clash took place when a group of special-counter narcotics police forces launched a poppy opium eradication campaign in Khogyani district Sunday afternoon," spokesman for the governor, Ahmad Zia Abdul Zai, told Xinhua on Monday.
He said additional forces arrived in the area shortly after the fighting.
"Seven more armed militants were captured by the police. The security forces also found and seized weapons and explosives placed in two small shops around the area,"
Up to 102 Afghan security personnel had lost their lives in eradicating poppy fields so far this year, Afghan officials said.
Afghanistan remains the main producer of opium as about 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw material used in manufacturing heroin, is produced in this country, according to reports.
More than 3700 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan last year, officials said.
US: Service Member Died in Afghan Rescue Mission
VOA News December 10, 2012
Sunday's rescue of an American doctor officials say was kidnapped in Afghanistan by the Taliban cost a U.S. service member his life.
A NATO spokesman on Monday discussed the rescue of Dr. Dilip Joseph from what he described as kidnappers "heavily armed" with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
"The operation took part in eastern Afghanistan and very sadly one of the soldiers who was taking part in the rescue operations died, and our thoughts and condolences go to the families and to the friends of this individual," said Brigadier General Gunter Katz.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke about the death Sunday, saying the U.S. special operations team member and his teammates "remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free." Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also praised the service member, calling him a "fallen hero."
Dr. Joseph was rescued early Sunday in a joint operation by U.S. and Afghan forces after intelligence showed he was in imminent danger of injury or death. The special operations service member killed in the operation is reported to be a Navy SEAL.
Officials say Dr. Joseph and two Afghan co-workers were abducted last Wednesday outside the Afghan capital, in the Sarobi district of Kabul province. The two Afghans were released Saturday after extensive negotiations.
The three worked for Morning Star Development, a Colorado, U.S.-based relief group that helps rebuild communities in Afghanistan.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
Pakistan Rejects Karzai's Blame For Spy Chief Attack
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 09 December 2012
Pakistan's Foreign Office has rejected President Hamid Karzai's claim that the assassination attempt on Afghan spy chief Asadullah Khalid was planned in Quetta.
The Foreign Office said that instead of blaming Pakistan, Afghanistan should investigate the security failure which gave the bomber a chance to infiltrate the high security zone area.
"Afghanistan should share information with Pakistan over the attack," the office said in a statement on Saturday, adding that Pakistan was ready to cooperate in the investigations.
Karzai on Saturday told reporters in Kabul that the bomber came from Pakistan and the plan was made in Quetta, like the suicide attack on the former head of the High Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani.
"Of course we will be seeking clarification from Pakistan because we know this man who came in the name of a guest to meet Asadullah Khalid came from Pakistan. We know that for a fact," said Karzai.
Karzai stopped short of blaming Pakistan itself. But he said the attack was too "professional" an attack for the Taliban.
"Apparently the Taliban claimed responsibility like many other attacks, but such a complicated attack and a bomb hidden inside his body, this is not Taliban work. It's completely professional," he said. "Taliban cannot do that and there are bigger and professional hands involved in it."
He said that it will not affect the fledgling peace talks recently revived with Pakistan, and the matter will be discussed next week with Pakistani officials during a meeting between the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey in Ankara.
Khalid survived the Thursday afternoon suicide attack at a National Directorate of Security guesthouse in Kabul, but received substantial injuries to the lower part of his body. He is being treated in Bagram airfield hospital.
Karzai Plot Allegations Raise Tensions with Pakistan
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 9, 2012
ISLAMABAD — Allegations by Afghanistan's president that the recent suicide attack on the country’s spy chief was planned in neighboring Pakistan have raised bilateral tensions before key talks between the presidents of the two countries Tuesday in Turkey.
The assassination attempt is seen as a setback to efforts to reconcile with the Taliban insurgency and negotiate an end to the decade-old Afghan war. Afghanistan Chief of National Directorate of Security Asadullah Khalid is under treatment at a U.S.-run military hospital near Kabul, after surviving Thursday’s assassination attempt in Kabul.
A suicide bomber posing as a peace messenger reportedly caused severe injuries to the Afghan spymaster.
Without directly pointing fingers at Pakistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday his country “knows for a fact” the assassination was planned on Pakistani soil. Islamabad quickly rejected the claim and urged Kabul to share evidence with Pakistan before leveling any charges.
On Sunday, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Musazai repeated Mr. Karzai's allegations. But he too stopped short of blaming Pakistan
He said Afghans are “100 percent sure the assassin came to Afghanistan from the Pakistani city of Quetta.” But he said it would not be appropriate to make further comments on the issue until the investigation is complete.
President Karzai travels Tuesday to meet with his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, for talks hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gul. The meeting is aimed at encouraging Pakistan and Afghanistan to strengthen cooperation against extremism.
The Afghan president has indicated the attack on his intelligence chief will be part of the talks."We will be having discussions in Turkey. But of course will be seeking a lot of clarifications from Pakistan and asking for information [about the attack] that they may have,” he said.
Officials said before he was wounded intelligence chief Khalid was to travel to Turkey to assist his president in talks with Pakistani leaders.
Afghan and American officials have long alleged the Taliban leadership war council, which runs much of the insurgency in Afghanistan, is based in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Pakistani officials deny the presence of what is widely referred to as the “Quetta Shura” of Taliban leaders.
Speaking to VOA, Provincial Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said if the United States or any other country has solid evidence it should be shared with Pakistan.
"They can give us even one indication and we are going to raid that place. We are going to arrest those people," said Durrani."So I do not think there is any truth in that. Nobody gave us any evidence that (the Quetta) Shura is there.”
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack on intelligence chief Khalid, the fifth attempt on his life within five years.
The latest attack came days after Pakistani and Afghan officials reported progress in their joint efforts aimed at promoting political reconciliation with Taliban and other insurgent groups to seek an end to the war in Afghanistan.
The negations between Kabul and Islamabad led to the release of at least 10 Afghan Taliban leaders who were being held in jails in Pakistan.
The Pakistani government has promised to release dozens of such prisoners for their repatriation to Afghanistan, where officials believe these men can help persuade other insurgents to join the political reconciliation process.
Despite the attack, President Karzai has vowed to pursue dialogue with Pakistan to promote the Afghan reconciliation process.
The price of dying for Afghanistan
Families forced to search for fallen kin as Afghan army fails to fulfil its promise to return dead soldiers' bodies.
Aljazeera By Mujib Mashal 09 Dec 2012
Kandahar, Afghanistan - After searching for 44 days, 78-year-old Najmuddin finally found the body of his son, an Afghan army lieutenant, in a freezer in this southern Afghan city.
"I searched and searched. I asked everyone that I came across," said the old man, looking up to the sky and repeating he now had "no one but God".
His son, 24-year-old Mohamad Esa, had joined the army after he returned from five years of labouring in Iran. He died after a bullet pierced his left torso while serving in the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 215 Maiwand Corps. Despite an injury to the back of his head, his face was calm and unscathed.
For Najmuddin, finding his son's body was not the end of his odyssey. The trials he faced when transporting the corpse to his home village in northern Takhar province point to the Afghan army's failure to take care of its fighters after they die on the battlefield.
As the security forces increasingly take the lead in the war against the Taliban, their casualties rise in numbers. In the past seven months alone, more than 870 army soldiers and 1,700 police officers have been killed - a combined rate of 12 fatalities a day.
Mishandling the deceased impacts the morale of a force already fighting a difficult battle against an enemy whose identity is becoming more and more nebulous. As much as 85 per cent of the casualties inflicted on the Afghan security forces are caused by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), officials say.
Far from home
The Afghan police, because of its deeper reach in the communities, more regular patrols, and less advanced equipment, suffer double the casualties of the army. But the police deployment is mostly local, often within the officer's province of origin, making the delivery of the deceased's body easier.
The army's deployment, however, is national, with soldiers often finding themselves on duty far from home. In Esa's case, that distance was about 950km.
"In our policy, the martyred soldier's body and the wounded take priority over the living soldiers," insists General Zaher Azimi, the spokesman for the Afghan ministry of defence. "Wherever our soldiers are martyred - sometimes there is a delay of a day or two in their transfer because of transportation problems - but the family should not be searching for their martyr. We are responsible to bring the martyr to their home."
In reality, as the plight of Lieutenant Esa shows, families often have to search for the dead and arrange for their own transportation.
Sources at the mortuary in Kandahar military corps say the bodies of soldiers are kept there for up to two months; if the family does not come to collect them, they are buried in a cemetery near the corps. At least four other bodies still remained in the freezer after the corpses of Esa and Said Imam, a captain fatally burned by an IED incident in Garmsir, were collected by family members.
After explaining his government's policy on deceased soldiers and the sensitivity of the matter, General Azimi admitted his army "does not have a single aircraft", except for helicopters.
Fifteen transport planes worth $275m acquired for the army "have been sleeping at the airfield," he told Al Jazeera.
He added that the planes have been "grounded for months because of lack of adequate maintenance and potential safety problems", and the army relies on the international coalition planes for transport.
"The Afghan government is responsible for the movement of the remains of ANSF [Afghan National Security Force] members killed in action," says Lieutenant Colonel Les Carroll, a spokesman for the international coalition. "If the Afghan authorities exhaust all options for transportation, they can then send an Air Movement Request to ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force], which ISAF can consider if air transport is available."
Family initiative
Amid this confusion, families often take the initiative, frequently relying on private airlines. The government-run Ariana Airlines charges about $130 for transporting a soldier's body from Kandahar to Kabul - a substantial sum, given that soldiers make roughly $200 a month. The private airline Kam Air, which Najmuddin chose for his son, takes up to five bodies per flight free of charge.
After Esa's casket - along with that containign captain Imam - was loaded in the cargo section of the Kam Air flight, and passengers had all boarded the plane, the flight was cancelled due to technical issues.
Arguing vehemently, the passengers returned to the terminal. The caskets, wrapped in Afghan flags, were unloaded to be returned to the freezer. Down the runway, a second flight was going ahead to Kabul. As dozens of soldiers jostled to board the military plane, Najmuddin decided to try once again to convince the military to help him bring his son home.
"I will take the road, just bring the body please," the old man quietly begged the pilot of the military plane as his eyes filled with tears. He couldn't risk transporting his son on the dangerous Kandahar-Kabul highway because Taliban have previously torched corpses of Afghan soldiers, he said. The pilot respectfully listened and then told Najmuddin it wasn't in his protocol to carry dead bodies.
"When we serve, they need us. When we die, they kick us and move on," said a uniformed captain witnessing the scene.
General Azimi says families of the soldiers are paid "about $2,000" for funeral and burial services, in addition to the salary they were making when they were alive. He said the salary would continue to be paid as a pension to the deceased's family: "If the martyred soldier has a son, until his son is eighteen years old. If he leaves behind a wife, until his wife remarries. And if he has elderly parents as dependents - until the parents pass away."
At least families of three soldiers in the north complained of delays in postmortem salaries.
Laid to rest
When Namjuddin eventually managed to fly the body to Kabul, he received "four dollars less than $1,500" for the funeral and burial services. The old man had already spent about $700 on his 44-day search for the body.
The government provided him with a car for the ten-hour drive from Kabul to his village in Takhar.
As village men lifted the casket from the family's mud house and made their way through narrow streets, dozens of crying women and stunned children followed behind them. They made their way to Esa's final resting place on top of a small hill. On the journey, the Afghan flag that the casket had been wrapped in disappeared amid the crowd.
Esa is survived by his wife and two young children, five brothers and his elderly parents.
Mujib Mashal and Bernard Smith reported from Kandahar and Kabul, and Nasir Ahmad Waqif contributed reporting from Kalawgar district, Takhar province.
Kabul's $100m mosque: a sign of a heavyweight battle for post-2014 Afghanistan
As Nato prepares to withdraw, Afghans will find it hard not to get caught up in the competing interests of regional powers
Guardian.co.uk By Catriona Luke Sunday 9 December 2012
Last month it emerged that Saudi Arabia is funding a $100m mosque and Islamic education centre in Kabul, very similar to the Faisal mosque constructed in Islamabad in the 1980s. Dr Dayi al-Haq Abed, the Saudi minister of hajj and Islamic affairs, has sought to make assurances that the building is not designed to bolster the Gulf state's role in Afghan affairs after Nato's withdrawal in 2014, but the claim sounds hollow.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is caught up in increasingly difficult waves of terrorism and persecution aimed at its minorities and particularly those who are Shia, Ahmedi and Christian. Early this week in Lahore over 100 Ahmedi graves in Lahore were desecrated. A Christian man has died in custody after being charged with blasphemy in Punjab.
The media in Pakistan cannot openly discuss the funding of Sunni terrorist groups from Saudi Arabia and their sponsorship by the Pakistan military. To question Wahhabism and support the minorities is potentially to find oneself in the murky waters of blasphemy and "anti-state activities". Until the Pakistan military accepts and confronts the fact that the major threat to the stability of the country comes from their client relationship with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan cannot begin to stand on its own feet and reclaim its proper subcontinental identity.
The AfPak region has been defined by a Saudi proxy war since the 1970s. The huge oil wealth of Saudi Arabia, and the US dependency on it, is complicated by Saudi Arabia's battle for supremacy with Shia Iran. In the western Middle East this is being fought out through client states. In mid-November King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia apparently hosted a dinner at Qasr al-Sarab in Abu Dhabi to discuss the Assad-Ahmadinejad axis (the UN has struggled to neutralise Russian and Chinese support). Ranged against it is the powerful Sunni Morsi-Abdullah alliance.
How quickly in any case we forget. Reuters recently produced an excellent report on how banned terrorist outfits in Pakistan are, and have long been, funded from Saudi Arabia. WikiLeaks cables described the Gulf states as a "cashpoint for [Wahhabi] terrorism". Saudi Arabia matched Washington dollar for dollar to fund (Sunni) mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s.
On account of oil dependency the US has often found itself unable to openly criticise Saudi Arabia. But a report commissioned by the UN security council in 2003 described how in the decade leading to 9/11 Saudi Arabia transferred over $500m to al-Qaida via Islamic charities. The Bush administration is said to have redacted 28 pages of a Congress report that documented Saudi government ties with the 9/11 hijackers.
Wahhabism is seen as hardline religiosity but it is closely allied to the autocratic political regime of the Saudi monarchy. That the impulse is not religious is shown in an absolute disregard for shrines and historic sites. Over 20 years the archaeological sites of Mecca and Medina have been destroyed. In Afghanistan, the Taliban, funded from Saudi Arabia, destroyed the Bamiyan buddhas. In Pakistan they have long targeted Sufi shrines.
In the worst-case scenario, Afghanistan remains doomed to become caught up in the competing interests of regional powers. Saudi Arabia overtly joins three heavyweights for company after 2014: Putin's resurgent Russia, China's central Asian interests and (Shia) Iran.
Energy still remains the key to the shifting geopolitics. In November Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote in the Telegraph that the US energy department announced that domestic shale gas production would produce 11.4m barrels a day of oil and liquid hydrocarbons next year, overtaking Saudi Arabia in 2014. Cut the oil dependency on Saudi Arabia and in theory the US has less a compulsive reason to maintain interests in the region.
As Nato withdraws it will take extraordinary clear-headedness by the Afghan government and the Pakistan military to avoid the traps and set their countries on a path to modernity, peace and self-determination.
Letting go in Afghanistan as mission winds down
U.S. soldiers have orders to let the Afghans start to fend for themselves, sometimes with painful results.
Los Angeles Times By David S. Cloud December 10, 2012
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Fifteen U.S. soldiers huddle in a circle. A blue Toyota packed with explosives has been reported somewhere in the city. The troops bow their heads and clasp hands.
"Dear Lord, protect us and protect those entrusted to us as we help the Afghans protect themselves," says Lt. Col. Patrick Michaelis, their gangly 41-year-old commander.
"Amen," say his men.
Every trip outside the wire begins the same way: a quick check of the latest intelligence, then the prayer, which never varies. When Michaelis forgets, someone stops him: Sir, the prayer.
In America's longest war after a dozen years, a yearning for peace comes wrapped in a prayer for survival. Both are unfulfilled, incomplete.
This bustling southern crossroads, conquered and reconquered for centuries, must withstand a resilient Taliban if Afghanistan is to avoid falling back into outright civil war. But with U.S. troops already pulling out and most due to depart by the end of 2014, no one is sure it can.
Michaelis and his men climb into armored vehicles, fasten their helmets and drive into the crowded streets, alert for a blue Toyota. Swerving around loud motorbikes and bleating herds of sheep, they head for the home of Haji Hakim, a former guerrilla commander who helped drive the Soviet army from Afghanistan two decades ago.
"Don't leave Afghanistan," the graying fighter implores Michaelis through an interpreter as they sit cross-legged on carpets and pick at plates piled with rice, lamb and chicken. "The enemies are still around. You have the main role to play."
"Haji Hakim, we're not going anywhere," Michaelis replies. But they are.
When President Obama ordered 31,000 more troops to the war in late 2009, nearly half were sent to retake Kandahar and nearby villages from the Taliban. The city had become a combat zone, with bloody firefights against the Islamist insurgents on its west side, where rutted streets and mud-walled compounds give way to fields of poppies and ditches of fetid water.
The U.S. reinforcements left last summer, and Afghan police in baggy green uniforms took over lead responsibility for security. Now the only Americans left are Michaelis' 500-strong battalion, a small team of special operations troops, and a few companies of military police to train the Afghan security forces.
Already the number of U.S. outposts in the city has shrunk from 13 to five. Michaelis' battalion will leave in January, which will shrink the American presence to a token level.
So their orders are explicit: Pull back. Let the Afghan army and police do the fighting. Don't take unnecessary risks. Keep U.S. casualties down and end Afghan dependence on American power and largesse. Let the Afghans rise or fall on their own.
But some U.S. troops say hunkering down just doesn't feel right. Although insurgent attacks have fallen since last year, the idea of letting the Afghans take the lead often feels more like abandonment than training.
On Sept. 14, Lt. Faruq Mirwaz, a police commander on the west side, was driving along Highway 1, the main paved road through the city, when two remote-controlled bombs exploded under his pickup. The blast peppered Mirwaz with shrapnel and left him bleeding from the neck by the side of the road.
At a small U.S. outpost nearby, Capt. Terron Wharton heard the boom before receiving an urgent call from Mirwaz. He and several men jumped in their armored vehicles to help. But when they radioed Michaelis to say they were leaving the base, he told them to halt.
The Afghans need to learn how to handle these attacks on their own, Michaelis said.
After an hour of pleading, Wharton was finally permitted to go. By then, Afghan police had taken Mirwaz to a hospital. His injuries were too severe for him to return to duty.
"It felt like we left our partners out there," Wharton said. "I gave a man my word I would come to his aid, and I couldn't keep it. That was one of hardest things I've had to do."
A day later, another roadside bomb attack killed Mirwaz's deputy. Four days later, a buried bomb killed the deputy in a neighboring district. Two more of Mirwaz's officers were lost in October.
Sometimes, the winding down of the war can seem surreal.
Lt. Col. Terry Nihart, head of the U.S. training effort in Kandahar, was in a second-floor office in the Kandahar police headquarters last July when a huge explosion shattered the windows, slicing his face with glass shards and knocking him unconscious.
Insurgents had blown a hole in the concrete wall outside and were pouring into the compound, firing rifles and tossing grenades. When he awoke, Nihart chambered a round in his pistol, the only weapon at hand, and waited anxiously with others in the office as the firefight raged outside.
They heard an insurgent come up the stairs, and feared he would throw a grenade into their office. "Unfortunately, we were waiting to die," Nihart recalled.
They survived because another American shot the insurgent in the stairwell.
In all, six Afghans were killed and five Americans were wounded in the five-hour battle. Afterward, the police celebrated by smoking hashish, the sweet-smelling aroma wafting across the compound.
"It was like a Cheech and Chong concert," Nihart said.
Afghan police still ask the Americans for help finding and dismantling bombs, and to help transport their wounded. Hard as it is, Michaelis has issued orders not to help without his permission.
Michaelis also gave orders to stop giving gasoline to Afghan police, despite their constant complaints that they cannot patrol without fuel. The gas often ended up for sale on Highway 1, a source of illicit cash for Afghan officers.
Not long ago, he learned a junior lieutenant had violated his orders and given a tankful to an Afghan policeman, who had been refusing to leave the base unless he was given fuel. Michaelis transferred the combat officer to a headquarters staff job as punishment.
"It's a big gamble," says Michaelis, who has a Harvard University graduate degree in public administration. "I've got officers out there who want to [do more] and I have to say, 'Stop, slow down.'"
david.cloud@latimes.com
U.S. Navy SEAL killed in operation to rescue American doctor in Afghanistan
CNN By Qadir Sediqi December 10, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan - An elite U.S. special forces team rescued an American doctor who had been abducted in Afghanistan, but lost one of their own members in the mission, officials said.
Dr. Dilip Joseph was freed 11 hours after his captors released two other kidnapped staffers of his nonprofit agency, Morning Star Development, the organization said Sunday.
Hours later, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that "a U.S. service member was killed in the operation."
A U.S. official said the man who was shot dead belonged to the Navy's Special Warfare Development Group, more commonly known as SEAL Team Six. The elite unit is the same one that took part in the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but the official didn't know if the fallen service member was involved in that operation.
While he did not delve into detail, Panetta said, "the special operators who conducted this raid knew they were putting their lives on the line to free a fellow American from the enemy's grip."
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Joseph was believed to be in imminent danger of injury or death when the rescue mission was launched.
"He gave his life for his fellow Americans, and he and his teammates remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free," President Barack Obama said of the slain U.S. service member, who was not immediately identified.
There were conflicting reports about who was behind the kidnappings. ISAF said it was Taliban insurgents, while two local Afghan officials told CNN it was smugglers.
The kidnapping of Joseph and the two other Morning Star staff members occurred around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (6 a.m. ET), as the three men were returning from a rural medical clinic in eastern Kabul province.
"They were stopped and captured while driving, by a group of armed men," according to the agency, which sponsors community and economic initiatives in Afghanistan.
"They were eventually taken to a mountainous area about 50 miles from the Pakistan border."
Tribal leader Malik Samad and district chief Muhammad Haqbeen told CNN that Joseph and an Afghan doctor were abducted near the village of Jegdalek in the Sarobi district, just outside Kabul.
Morning Star said negotiations began "almost immediately" between the captors, the hostages and the agency's crisis management team in Kabul and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to U.S. and Afghan authorities, the agency thanked "Afghan residents (including) elders and local leaders who made visits and appeals to the captors advocating for the release of the hostages."
The "on-again, off-again" negotiations lasted three days into Saturday night, when two of the three were released.
Morning Star did not release the identities of the two men, citing safety concerns "because they live and work in the general region." The group said one of them belonged to its medical staff and the other was part of the organization's support staff.
The two men got out of the area and eventually were taken to a police station, at which time Morning Star and their families learned they'd been released.
The Afghan doctor's family paid $12,000 to the smugglers, who later released him, Haqbeen and Samad said. For its part, Morning Star stated "categorically that we paid no ransom, money or other consideration" to anyone in securing any of its staffers' release.
Sometime Saturday night, military forces rescued Joseph in a mission ordered by Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Samad and Haqbeen, the two Afghan officials, said the operation took place in Laghman province.
"Today's mission exemplifies our unwavering commitment to defeating the Taliban," Allen said in a statement. "I'm proud of the American and Afghan forces that planned, rehearsed and successfully conducted this operation. Thanks to them, Dr. Joseph will soon be rejoining his family and loved ones."
Joseph has worked with Morning Star for three years. He serves as its medical adviser, and travels frequently to Afghanistan, the agency said.
The doctor appeared to be in "good condition and uninjured" at Bagram Airfield after his abduction. Morning Star said "he will receive precautionary examinations and debriefing before returning to his Colorado Springs home, probably within a few days."
His family issued a statement Sunday acknowledging "harrowing" uncertainty in recent days and extending its "deepest condolences to the family of the American sailor who died during Dilip's rescue."
"We are incredibly grateful for the multiple agencies of the U.S. government that have supported us in this difficult time, and especially the quick response by our military and partner allies to rescue Dilip," the family said. "They showed great heroism and professionalism."
Despite the kidnappings of Joseph and its two other staffers, Morning Star reiterated its "commitment to continue its work" in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Seeks Divorce From Long-Standing Marital Traditions
RFE/RL By Farangis Najibullah December 09, 2012
In Afghanistan, few bat an eye when a young suitor spends a small fortune to secure his bride.
The payment of a "walwar" -- essentially a premarital fee paid to the bride-to-be's parents -- can run into the thousands of dollars, adding to the already exorbitant costs plunked down for the wedding itself.
Now there is a movement within the country's government to divorce the Afghan people from such long-standing but financially crippling customs.
The Afghan Women's Affairs Ministry is waging war on the walwar, arguing that it is not only technically illegal but unnecessarily buries families under tremendous debt.
"The campaign mainly focuses on unaffordable walwars, a shameful custom, which is putting enormous financial strain on families," says Deputy Women's Affairs Minister Mezhgan Mustafavi. "But it also includes a fight against some of our other marital traditions, such as marrying off girls to settle family feuds -- a so-called 'bad' marriage."
The goal of the campaign is to improve women's lives and protect their rights, because ultimately it's the woman in the arrangement who suffers the consequences, Mustafavi says.
In the case of walwar payments, the bride often "starts her new life in a family struggling under the burden of debt," Mustafavi says. "Or, in the case of 'bad' marriages, she is usually treated as an enemy's daughter."
Clerics' Participation Vital
The ministry has called on the country's influential clerics, as well as media and law-enforcement agencies, to help promote the campaign.
Some 400 religious figures from all over the country recently assembled in Kabul for a meeting organized with the help of the Hajj and Religious Affairs Ministry, during which they condemned the walwar tradition and other long-standing customs that violate women's rights.
The clerics agreed to include lectures on marital traditions in their mosque sermons, potentially reaching millions of Afghans throughout the country.
The popular television station Tolo agreed to record such sermons and broadcast them weekly during peak hours.
In Afghanistan's deeply conservative society, the word of clerics carries significant weight and the Women's Affairs Ministry considers their participation vital to the success of the campaign.
"Many people don't know that expensive walwars, which effectively mean selling your daughter, have nothing to do with Islam," Mustafavi says. "In fact, it violates both civil and Shari'a laws."
"According to Afghanistan's law banning violence against women, selling or buying a person in the context of marriage is a crime punishable with up to 10 years' imprisonment," Mustafavi says. "Our civil laws ban any un-Islamic preconditions in matrimonies. Our Family Code clearly states that customs like the walwar, bride price, marrying off girls to settle family scores, or marrying off girls as a blood price for a victim's family are against Islam. Therefore, such customs are forbidden."
Thousands Of Dollars
Shari'a law does allow for a potential bride to request money from the groom's family. While the amount is not fixed, Shari'a rules advise that the amount should be small and easily affordable to her new family.
Some clerics even estimate that the amount should not exceed a few hundred Afghanis, the equivalent of $5 or $10.
In reality, however, the families of many Afghan brides demand that the groom spend thousands of dollars in walwar payments and other gifts, including jewelry. In addition, the groom is required to pay for a lavish wedding banquet and a string of wedding-related parties.
The ministry estimates that the average Afghan family spends up to $15,000 in wedding costs.
In the social sphere, the cost of the dowry and the lavishness of the wedding parties can affect each family's social standing. To affirm high status, families save for years and young men commonly leave home to endure years of hard labor abroad to raise cash.
Desperate to avoid such costs, some families that have both sons and daughters marry off the groom's sister to the bride's brother in so-called "badal" marriages, which literally translates as "exchange."
"The laws to punish such actions have almost never been exercised," says Mustafavi. "We have asked law-enforcement agencies to bring to justice a few people who violate these laws in order to remind others that it is a crime to sell your daughter."
With contributions from RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan
National Information Network Planned for Afghan Mobiles
TOLOnews.com By Zabihullah Jhanmal Sunday, 09 December 2012
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT) is planning to install a national information center through which people will be able to access social, political, and economic information on Afghanistan via their mobile phone.
Ministry officials said on Sunday that the installation of such a system may take up to two years.
"With the installation of this software, within two years customers will receive useful and necessary information through their cell phones," MoCIT Deputy Minister, Technical, Baryalai Hasam said.
The customers of different telecom companies will be able to receive information about practical matters related to weather and roads, as well as education and security.
Ministry officials said that the service would be a government-funded scheme that would be available at no extra cost to the telecom companies.
The scheme is one part of a six-tier "Development of Electronic Governance Programme" being funded with the support of the World Bank and worth more than $5 million in total, officials said.
Meanwhile, the ministry is supporting professional and short-term training in the field of information technology for more than 1500 students and government employees for the next three years.
Private company Rana Technology is helping train the students.
"We are trying to train about 500 students in the field of information technology. These people after receiving enough learning to be capable of adequate and efficient work," Rana chief Farhad Ghafoor said.
Pregnant, Married Teen Found Dead in Baghlan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 09 December 2012
A married teenage girl who was six months pregnant has been found dead in northern Baghlan province with police suspecting it may have been a suicide, Baghlan police told TOLOnews.
The 15-year-old girl, Gul Bibi, was found dead Saturday on a hill in the area of central Baghlan called Chahar Shanba Tapa.
Provincial police commander Shirzad said that the cause of her death is still being investigated although they suspect it was a suicide.
However, police have detained Gul Bibi's husband who has denied any wrongdoing. He claims Gul Bibi ate mouse poison.
Meanwhile, her father claims that she was killed by her husband, perhaps after he took a second wife, and that other family members were involved in her murder.
He said she was hanged on Friday and was later found with the help of the Baghlan Women's Affairs Department. They took her to hospital but it was too late.
"Police arrested her husband, but her father-in-law is still free. He told me, "We will kill your remaining children and I don't care where and to whom you go," Gul Bibi's father told TOLOnews.
"I am asking the government and President Karzai that, for God's sake, if we are your citizens then give us justice."
Gul Bibi was married two years ago to a resident of Old Baghlan called Anwar, son of Rangin Khan, who physically abused her throughout those two years, according to her father.
Doctors who conducted the post-mortem on Gul Bibi said the cause of her death is still not clear.
It comes a week after two teenage girls were killed in neighbouring Kunduz province.
A 16-year-old girl, Nasrin, was found shot dead at her home in the capital of northeastern Kunduz province two days after another 14-year-old girl, Giseena, had her throat slit apparently for her father's refusal to give her in marriage.
Nasrin's death is also being treated as a suicide, police said last week.
World Anti-Graft Day Observed in Kabul
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Sunday, 09 December 2012
Afghanistan officials observed International Anti-Corruption Day with a gathering in Kabul just days after the nation was flagged in an international survey as one of the three most corrupt countries in the world.
Chief of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption Azizullah Lodin warned in his speech that without a sound and solid administration, corruption will never be eradicated from Afghanistan.
Integrity Watch chairman Dr Yama Torabi agreed, adding that society also had a responsibility.
"There is massive corruption in most countries that ignore the role of people in society," he said.
Lodin pointed to insecurity as a reason for the rampant graft.
"The reason is that we cannot assure security. [We need to] bring healthy security and enforce the laws," he said.
The Corruption Perception Index compiled by Transparency International compared Afghanistan's public sector with that of 175 other nations. Afghanistan made it to the top three most corrupt alongside North Korea and Somalia.
The report said that corruption is on the rise in Afghanistan and the government has not done enough to fight it.
The international community has pledged to help Afghanistan financially on the condition of a more serious attempt against corruption.
International Anti-Corruption Day is observed each year on December 9 since the passage of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on October 31, 2003.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
VOA News December 10, 2012
Afghan authorities say separate attacks have killed a provincial police chief and a women's affairs official.
Officials say a roadside bomb Monday killed General Mohammad Musa Rasouli, head of police in Afghanistan's western Nimroz province, as he was traveling back to Nimroz from nearby Herat province.
Rasouli was rushed to the hospital but died from his wounds.
Also Monday, insurgents killed Najia Sideqi, the acting provincial director of women's affairs in Laghman province, east of Kabul. The provincial governor's spokesman said Sideqi was killed while on her way to work in Mehtarlam.
Sideqi's predecessor, Hanifa Safi, was killed in a July bombing.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for Monday's attacks.
Taliban insurgents often target officials. Last week, a Taliban suicide bomber wounded Afghanistan's intelligence chief.
Taliban launches new wave of attacks in Afghanistan
By Farid Behbud
KABUL, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Despite a decline in the Taliban-led attacks due to the cold weather in an imminent winter in the war- hit Afghanistan over the past couple of weeks, the insurgents is mounting a new wave of violent attacks in the country recently.
A senior official with the women's affairs department was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in the country's eastern province of Laghman Monday morning.
"The Acting Director of Provincial Women's Affairs Najia Siddiqi was killed in a drive- by shooting in Sharmaki area in provincial capital Mehtarlam city at about 8:30 a.m. local time today," a spokesman for the Laghman provincial governor, Sarhadi Zhawak, told Xinhua.
Siddiqi died of her wounds on the way to the hospital. The attackers made their good escape shortly after the shooting, he said, adding the police have launched an investigation into the incident in the province some 90 km east of capital Kabul.
He added that Siddiqi was appointed to the post after the former director of the women department Hanifah Safai was killed in a bombing earlier this year.
Earlier Monday morning, the provincial police chief of the country's Nimroz province, some 790 km southwest of capital Kabul, was killed in a roadside bombing.
"The police chief of Nimroz province General Mohammad Musa Rasouli died following a bomb attack on his vehicle in Adraskan district of western Herat province Monday morning," regional police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told Xinhua.
Rasouli was traveling in his official vehicle, after attending a security meeting in Herat, to Nimroz provincial capital Zaranj, the spokesman said.
"The police chief was shifted to a nearby hospital but died of his wounds an hour after the roadside bombing attack," Ahmadi said, adding that one policeman was also wounded in the attack that took place at around 7 a.m. local time.
The Afghan Interior Minister Ghulam Mujtaba Patang issued a statement and strongly condemned the bombing for which he blamed the Taliban.
Afghan officials and pro-government figures have been repeatedly targeted by the militants over the past years. More than 50 senior Afghan officials, local elders and pro-government figures have been killed in targeted killings in the insurgency- hit country over the past year. Taliban suspects routinely claim responsibility for such incidents.
The Taliban insurgent group, which launched an annual rebel offensive on May 3 this year, has said that anyone working for the government and the NATO-led troops are legitimate targets of the militants.
Taliban has also warned the civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants. They also warned people against supporting government and foreign troops.
In addition, a U.S. soldier with the U.S. Forces-Afghanistan ( USFOR-A) was killed on Sunday in eastern Afghanistan.
"A U.S. Forces-Afghanistan service member died in eastern Afghanistan today," the USFOR-A forces confirmed in a statement issued late Sunday, without providing more details.
However, the local media reported that a U.S. special force member was killed in a mission that rescued an abducted American citizen in a raid that also left seven Taliban militants dead.
Meantime, the U.S. forces confirmed that they rescued an American citizen, who was a doctor named Dilip Joseph, during an operation in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday.
Joseph was abducted by the Taliban on Wednesday Dec. 5 in the vicinity of Sarobi district, lying some 50 km east of Kabul, the statement issued here Sunday said.
General John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a statement that he ordered the mission when intelligence showed that Joseph was in imminent danger of injury or death, adding that "Joseph is now undergoing evaluations."
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a failed suicide bombing against the country's intelligence service chief Assadullah Khalid on Thursday.
Khalid is recovering from injuries that he sustained when a bomber detonated hidden explosives inside his body in an agency's compound in Kabul.
The recent attacks are being seen as a setback to fragile reconciliation efforts with insurgents and the seeking for a political solution to the war in Afghanistan.
Separately, five armed militants were killed and five were wounded in a clash in Nangarhar province, 120 km east of Kabul, on Sunday afternoon.
"The clash took place when a group of special-counter narcotics police forces launched a poppy opium eradication campaign in Khogyani district Sunday afternoon," spokesman for the governor, Ahmad Zia Abdul Zai, told Xinhua on Monday.
He said additional forces arrived in the area shortly after the fighting.
"Seven more armed militants were captured by the police. The security forces also found and seized weapons and explosives placed in two small shops around the area,"
Up to 102 Afghan security personnel had lost their lives in eradicating poppy fields so far this year, Afghan officials said.
Afghanistan remains the main producer of opium as about 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw material used in manufacturing heroin, is produced in this country, according to reports.
More than 3700 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan last year, officials said.
US: Service Member Died in Afghan Rescue Mission
VOA News December 10, 2012
Sunday's rescue of an American doctor officials say was kidnapped in Afghanistan by the Taliban cost a U.S. service member his life.
A NATO spokesman on Monday discussed the rescue of Dr. Dilip Joseph from what he described as kidnappers "heavily armed" with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
"The operation took part in eastern Afghanistan and very sadly one of the soldiers who was taking part in the rescue operations died, and our thoughts and condolences go to the families and to the friends of this individual," said Brigadier General Gunter Katz.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke about the death Sunday, saying the U.S. special operations team member and his teammates "remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free." Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also praised the service member, calling him a "fallen hero."
Dr. Joseph was rescued early Sunday in a joint operation by U.S. and Afghan forces after intelligence showed he was in imminent danger of injury or death. The special operations service member killed in the operation is reported to be a Navy SEAL.
Officials say Dr. Joseph and two Afghan co-workers were abducted last Wednesday outside the Afghan capital, in the Sarobi district of Kabul province. The two Afghans were released Saturday after extensive negotiations.
The three worked for Morning Star Development, a Colorado, U.S.-based relief group that helps rebuild communities in Afghanistan.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
Pakistan Rejects Karzai's Blame For Spy Chief Attack
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 09 December 2012
Pakistan's Foreign Office has rejected President Hamid Karzai's claim that the assassination attempt on Afghan spy chief Asadullah Khalid was planned in Quetta.
The Foreign Office said that instead of blaming Pakistan, Afghanistan should investigate the security failure which gave the bomber a chance to infiltrate the high security zone area.
"Afghanistan should share information with Pakistan over the attack," the office said in a statement on Saturday, adding that Pakistan was ready to cooperate in the investigations.
Karzai on Saturday told reporters in Kabul that the bomber came from Pakistan and the plan was made in Quetta, like the suicide attack on the former head of the High Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani.
"Of course we will be seeking clarification from Pakistan because we know this man who came in the name of a guest to meet Asadullah Khalid came from Pakistan. We know that for a fact," said Karzai.
Karzai stopped short of blaming Pakistan itself. But he said the attack was too "professional" an attack for the Taliban.
"Apparently the Taliban claimed responsibility like many other attacks, but such a complicated attack and a bomb hidden inside his body, this is not Taliban work. It's completely professional," he said. "Taliban cannot do that and there are bigger and professional hands involved in it."
He said that it will not affect the fledgling peace talks recently revived with Pakistan, and the matter will be discussed next week with Pakistani officials during a meeting between the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey in Ankara.
Khalid survived the Thursday afternoon suicide attack at a National Directorate of Security guesthouse in Kabul, but received substantial injuries to the lower part of his body. He is being treated in Bagram airfield hospital.
Karzai Plot Allegations Raise Tensions with Pakistan
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 9, 2012
ISLAMABAD — Allegations by Afghanistan's president that the recent suicide attack on the country’s spy chief was planned in neighboring Pakistan have raised bilateral tensions before key talks between the presidents of the two countries Tuesday in Turkey.
The assassination attempt is seen as a setback to efforts to reconcile with the Taliban insurgency and negotiate an end to the decade-old Afghan war. Afghanistan Chief of National Directorate of Security Asadullah Khalid is under treatment at a U.S.-run military hospital near Kabul, after surviving Thursday’s assassination attempt in Kabul.
A suicide bomber posing as a peace messenger reportedly caused severe injuries to the Afghan spymaster.
Without directly pointing fingers at Pakistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday his country “knows for a fact” the assassination was planned on Pakistani soil. Islamabad quickly rejected the claim and urged Kabul to share evidence with Pakistan before leveling any charges.
On Sunday, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Musazai repeated Mr. Karzai's allegations. But he too stopped short of blaming Pakistan
He said Afghans are “100 percent sure the assassin came to Afghanistan from the Pakistani city of Quetta.” But he said it would not be appropriate to make further comments on the issue until the investigation is complete.
President Karzai travels Tuesday to meet with his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, for talks hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gul. The meeting is aimed at encouraging Pakistan and Afghanistan to strengthen cooperation against extremism.
The Afghan president has indicated the attack on his intelligence chief will be part of the talks."We will be having discussions in Turkey. But of course will be seeking a lot of clarifications from Pakistan and asking for information [about the attack] that they may have,” he said.
Officials said before he was wounded intelligence chief Khalid was to travel to Turkey to assist his president in talks with Pakistani leaders.
Afghan and American officials have long alleged the Taliban leadership war council, which runs much of the insurgency in Afghanistan, is based in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Pakistani officials deny the presence of what is widely referred to as the “Quetta Shura” of Taliban leaders.
Speaking to VOA, Provincial Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said if the United States or any other country has solid evidence it should be shared with Pakistan.
"They can give us even one indication and we are going to raid that place. We are going to arrest those people," said Durrani."So I do not think there is any truth in that. Nobody gave us any evidence that (the Quetta) Shura is there.”
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack on intelligence chief Khalid, the fifth attempt on his life within five years.
The latest attack came days after Pakistani and Afghan officials reported progress in their joint efforts aimed at promoting political reconciliation with Taliban and other insurgent groups to seek an end to the war in Afghanistan.
The negations between Kabul and Islamabad led to the release of at least 10 Afghan Taliban leaders who were being held in jails in Pakistan.
The Pakistani government has promised to release dozens of such prisoners for their repatriation to Afghanistan, where officials believe these men can help persuade other insurgents to join the political reconciliation process.
Despite the attack, President Karzai has vowed to pursue dialogue with Pakistan to promote the Afghan reconciliation process.
The price of dying for Afghanistan
Families forced to search for fallen kin as Afghan army fails to fulfil its promise to return dead soldiers' bodies.
Aljazeera By Mujib Mashal 09 Dec 2012
Kandahar, Afghanistan - After searching for 44 days, 78-year-old Najmuddin finally found the body of his son, an Afghan army lieutenant, in a freezer in this southern Afghan city.
"I searched and searched. I asked everyone that I came across," said the old man, looking up to the sky and repeating he now had "no one but God".
His son, 24-year-old Mohamad Esa, had joined the army after he returned from five years of labouring in Iran. He died after a bullet pierced his left torso while serving in the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 215 Maiwand Corps. Despite an injury to the back of his head, his face was calm and unscathed.
For Najmuddin, finding his son's body was not the end of his odyssey. The trials he faced when transporting the corpse to his home village in northern Takhar province point to the Afghan army's failure to take care of its fighters after they die on the battlefield.
As the security forces increasingly take the lead in the war against the Taliban, their casualties rise in numbers. In the past seven months alone, more than 870 army soldiers and 1,700 police officers have been killed - a combined rate of 12 fatalities a day.
Mishandling the deceased impacts the morale of a force already fighting a difficult battle against an enemy whose identity is becoming more and more nebulous. As much as 85 per cent of the casualties inflicted on the Afghan security forces are caused by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), officials say.
Far from home
The Afghan police, because of its deeper reach in the communities, more regular patrols, and less advanced equipment, suffer double the casualties of the army. But the police deployment is mostly local, often within the officer's province of origin, making the delivery of the deceased's body easier.
The army's deployment, however, is national, with soldiers often finding themselves on duty far from home. In Esa's case, that distance was about 950km.
"In our policy, the martyred soldier's body and the wounded take priority over the living soldiers," insists General Zaher Azimi, the spokesman for the Afghan ministry of defence. "Wherever our soldiers are martyred - sometimes there is a delay of a day or two in their transfer because of transportation problems - but the family should not be searching for their martyr. We are responsible to bring the martyr to their home."
In reality, as the plight of Lieutenant Esa shows, families often have to search for the dead and arrange for their own transportation.
Sources at the mortuary in Kandahar military corps say the bodies of soldiers are kept there for up to two months; if the family does not come to collect them, they are buried in a cemetery near the corps. At least four other bodies still remained in the freezer after the corpses of Esa and Said Imam, a captain fatally burned by an IED incident in Garmsir, were collected by family members.
After explaining his government's policy on deceased soldiers and the sensitivity of the matter, General Azimi admitted his army "does not have a single aircraft", except for helicopters.
Fifteen transport planes worth $275m acquired for the army "have been sleeping at the airfield," he told Al Jazeera.
He added that the planes have been "grounded for months because of lack of adequate maintenance and potential safety problems", and the army relies on the international coalition planes for transport.
"The Afghan government is responsible for the movement of the remains of ANSF [Afghan National Security Force] members killed in action," says Lieutenant Colonel Les Carroll, a spokesman for the international coalition. "If the Afghan authorities exhaust all options for transportation, they can then send an Air Movement Request to ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force], which ISAF can consider if air transport is available."
Family initiative
Amid this confusion, families often take the initiative, frequently relying on private airlines. The government-run Ariana Airlines charges about $130 for transporting a soldier's body from Kandahar to Kabul - a substantial sum, given that soldiers make roughly $200 a month. The private airline Kam Air, which Najmuddin chose for his son, takes up to five bodies per flight free of charge.
After Esa's casket - along with that containign captain Imam - was loaded in the cargo section of the Kam Air flight, and passengers had all boarded the plane, the flight was cancelled due to technical issues.
Arguing vehemently, the passengers returned to the terminal. The caskets, wrapped in Afghan flags, were unloaded to be returned to the freezer. Down the runway, a second flight was going ahead to Kabul. As dozens of soldiers jostled to board the military plane, Najmuddin decided to try once again to convince the military to help him bring his son home.
"I will take the road, just bring the body please," the old man quietly begged the pilot of the military plane as his eyes filled with tears. He couldn't risk transporting his son on the dangerous Kandahar-Kabul highway because Taliban have previously torched corpses of Afghan soldiers, he said. The pilot respectfully listened and then told Najmuddin it wasn't in his protocol to carry dead bodies.
"When we serve, they need us. When we die, they kick us and move on," said a uniformed captain witnessing the scene.
General Azimi says families of the soldiers are paid "about $2,000" for funeral and burial services, in addition to the salary they were making when they were alive. He said the salary would continue to be paid as a pension to the deceased's family: "If the martyred soldier has a son, until his son is eighteen years old. If he leaves behind a wife, until his wife remarries. And if he has elderly parents as dependents - until the parents pass away."
At least families of three soldiers in the north complained of delays in postmortem salaries.
Laid to rest
When Namjuddin eventually managed to fly the body to Kabul, he received "four dollars less than $1,500" for the funeral and burial services. The old man had already spent about $700 on his 44-day search for the body.
The government provided him with a car for the ten-hour drive from Kabul to his village in Takhar.
As village men lifted the casket from the family's mud house and made their way through narrow streets, dozens of crying women and stunned children followed behind them. They made their way to Esa's final resting place on top of a small hill. On the journey, the Afghan flag that the casket had been wrapped in disappeared amid the crowd.
Esa is survived by his wife and two young children, five brothers and his elderly parents.
Mujib Mashal and Bernard Smith reported from Kandahar and Kabul, and Nasir Ahmad Waqif contributed reporting from Kalawgar district, Takhar province.
Kabul's $100m mosque: a sign of a heavyweight battle for post-2014 Afghanistan
As Nato prepares to withdraw, Afghans will find it hard not to get caught up in the competing interests of regional powers
Guardian.co.uk By Catriona Luke Sunday 9 December 2012
Last month it emerged that Saudi Arabia is funding a $100m mosque and Islamic education centre in Kabul, very similar to the Faisal mosque constructed in Islamabad in the 1980s. Dr Dayi al-Haq Abed, the Saudi minister of hajj and Islamic affairs, has sought to make assurances that the building is not designed to bolster the Gulf state's role in Afghan affairs after Nato's withdrawal in 2014, but the claim sounds hollow.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is caught up in increasingly difficult waves of terrorism and persecution aimed at its minorities and particularly those who are Shia, Ahmedi and Christian. Early this week in Lahore over 100 Ahmedi graves in Lahore were desecrated. A Christian man has died in custody after being charged with blasphemy in Punjab.
The media in Pakistan cannot openly discuss the funding of Sunni terrorist groups from Saudi Arabia and their sponsorship by the Pakistan military. To question Wahhabism and support the minorities is potentially to find oneself in the murky waters of blasphemy and "anti-state activities". Until the Pakistan military accepts and confronts the fact that the major threat to the stability of the country comes from their client relationship with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan cannot begin to stand on its own feet and reclaim its proper subcontinental identity.
The AfPak region has been defined by a Saudi proxy war since the 1970s. The huge oil wealth of Saudi Arabia, and the US dependency on it, is complicated by Saudi Arabia's battle for supremacy with Shia Iran. In the western Middle East this is being fought out through client states. In mid-November King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia apparently hosted a dinner at Qasr al-Sarab in Abu Dhabi to discuss the Assad-Ahmadinejad axis (the UN has struggled to neutralise Russian and Chinese support). Ranged against it is the powerful Sunni Morsi-Abdullah alliance.
How quickly in any case we forget. Reuters recently produced an excellent report on how banned terrorist outfits in Pakistan are, and have long been, funded from Saudi Arabia. WikiLeaks cables described the Gulf states as a "cashpoint for [Wahhabi] terrorism". Saudi Arabia matched Washington dollar for dollar to fund (Sunni) mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s.
On account of oil dependency the US has often found itself unable to openly criticise Saudi Arabia. But a report commissioned by the UN security council in 2003 described how in the decade leading to 9/11 Saudi Arabia transferred over $500m to al-Qaida via Islamic charities. The Bush administration is said to have redacted 28 pages of a Congress report that documented Saudi government ties with the 9/11 hijackers.
Wahhabism is seen as hardline religiosity but it is closely allied to the autocratic political regime of the Saudi monarchy. That the impulse is not religious is shown in an absolute disregard for shrines and historic sites. Over 20 years the archaeological sites of Mecca and Medina have been destroyed. In Afghanistan, the Taliban, funded from Saudi Arabia, destroyed the Bamiyan buddhas. In Pakistan they have long targeted Sufi shrines.
In the worst-case scenario, Afghanistan remains doomed to become caught up in the competing interests of regional powers. Saudi Arabia overtly joins three heavyweights for company after 2014: Putin's resurgent Russia, China's central Asian interests and (Shia) Iran.
Energy still remains the key to the shifting geopolitics. In November Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote in the Telegraph that the US energy department announced that domestic shale gas production would produce 11.4m barrels a day of oil and liquid hydrocarbons next year, overtaking Saudi Arabia in 2014. Cut the oil dependency on Saudi Arabia and in theory the US has less a compulsive reason to maintain interests in the region.
As Nato withdraws it will take extraordinary clear-headedness by the Afghan government and the Pakistan military to avoid the traps and set their countries on a path to modernity, peace and self-determination.
Letting go in Afghanistan as mission winds down
U.S. soldiers have orders to let the Afghans start to fend for themselves, sometimes with painful results.
Los Angeles Times By David S. Cloud December 10, 2012
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Fifteen U.S. soldiers huddle in a circle. A blue Toyota packed with explosives has been reported somewhere in the city. The troops bow their heads and clasp hands.
"Dear Lord, protect us and protect those entrusted to us as we help the Afghans protect themselves," says Lt. Col. Patrick Michaelis, their gangly 41-year-old commander.
"Amen," say his men.
Every trip outside the wire begins the same way: a quick check of the latest intelligence, then the prayer, which never varies. When Michaelis forgets, someone stops him: Sir, the prayer.
In America's longest war after a dozen years, a yearning for peace comes wrapped in a prayer for survival. Both are unfulfilled, incomplete.
This bustling southern crossroads, conquered and reconquered for centuries, must withstand a resilient Taliban if Afghanistan is to avoid falling back into outright civil war. But with U.S. troops already pulling out and most due to depart by the end of 2014, no one is sure it can.
Michaelis and his men climb into armored vehicles, fasten their helmets and drive into the crowded streets, alert for a blue Toyota. Swerving around loud motorbikes and bleating herds of sheep, they head for the home of Haji Hakim, a former guerrilla commander who helped drive the Soviet army from Afghanistan two decades ago.
"Don't leave Afghanistan," the graying fighter implores Michaelis through an interpreter as they sit cross-legged on carpets and pick at plates piled with rice, lamb and chicken. "The enemies are still around. You have the main role to play."
"Haji Hakim, we're not going anywhere," Michaelis replies. But they are.
When President Obama ordered 31,000 more troops to the war in late 2009, nearly half were sent to retake Kandahar and nearby villages from the Taliban. The city had become a combat zone, with bloody firefights against the Islamist insurgents on its west side, where rutted streets and mud-walled compounds give way to fields of poppies and ditches of fetid water.
The U.S. reinforcements left last summer, and Afghan police in baggy green uniforms took over lead responsibility for security. Now the only Americans left are Michaelis' 500-strong battalion, a small team of special operations troops, and a few companies of military police to train the Afghan security forces.
Already the number of U.S. outposts in the city has shrunk from 13 to five. Michaelis' battalion will leave in January, which will shrink the American presence to a token level.
So their orders are explicit: Pull back. Let the Afghan army and police do the fighting. Don't take unnecessary risks. Keep U.S. casualties down and end Afghan dependence on American power and largesse. Let the Afghans rise or fall on their own.
But some U.S. troops say hunkering down just doesn't feel right. Although insurgent attacks have fallen since last year, the idea of letting the Afghans take the lead often feels more like abandonment than training.
On Sept. 14, Lt. Faruq Mirwaz, a police commander on the west side, was driving along Highway 1, the main paved road through the city, when two remote-controlled bombs exploded under his pickup. The blast peppered Mirwaz with shrapnel and left him bleeding from the neck by the side of the road.
At a small U.S. outpost nearby, Capt. Terron Wharton heard the boom before receiving an urgent call from Mirwaz. He and several men jumped in their armored vehicles to help. But when they radioed Michaelis to say they were leaving the base, he told them to halt.
The Afghans need to learn how to handle these attacks on their own, Michaelis said.
After an hour of pleading, Wharton was finally permitted to go. By then, Afghan police had taken Mirwaz to a hospital. His injuries were too severe for him to return to duty.
"It felt like we left our partners out there," Wharton said. "I gave a man my word I would come to his aid, and I couldn't keep it. That was one of hardest things I've had to do."
A day later, another roadside bomb attack killed Mirwaz's deputy. Four days later, a buried bomb killed the deputy in a neighboring district. Two more of Mirwaz's officers were lost in October.
Sometimes, the winding down of the war can seem surreal.
Lt. Col. Terry Nihart, head of the U.S. training effort in Kandahar, was in a second-floor office in the Kandahar police headquarters last July when a huge explosion shattered the windows, slicing his face with glass shards and knocking him unconscious.
Insurgents had blown a hole in the concrete wall outside and were pouring into the compound, firing rifles and tossing grenades. When he awoke, Nihart chambered a round in his pistol, the only weapon at hand, and waited anxiously with others in the office as the firefight raged outside.
They heard an insurgent come up the stairs, and feared he would throw a grenade into their office. "Unfortunately, we were waiting to die," Nihart recalled.
They survived because another American shot the insurgent in the stairwell.
In all, six Afghans were killed and five Americans were wounded in the five-hour battle. Afterward, the police celebrated by smoking hashish, the sweet-smelling aroma wafting across the compound.
"It was like a Cheech and Chong concert," Nihart said.
Afghan police still ask the Americans for help finding and dismantling bombs, and to help transport their wounded. Hard as it is, Michaelis has issued orders not to help without his permission.
Michaelis also gave orders to stop giving gasoline to Afghan police, despite their constant complaints that they cannot patrol without fuel. The gas often ended up for sale on Highway 1, a source of illicit cash for Afghan officers.
Not long ago, he learned a junior lieutenant had violated his orders and given a tankful to an Afghan policeman, who had been refusing to leave the base unless he was given fuel. Michaelis transferred the combat officer to a headquarters staff job as punishment.
"It's a big gamble," says Michaelis, who has a Harvard University graduate degree in public administration. "I've got officers out there who want to [do more] and I have to say, 'Stop, slow down.'"
david.cloud@latimes.com
U.S. Navy SEAL killed in operation to rescue American doctor in Afghanistan
CNN By Qadir Sediqi December 10, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan - An elite U.S. special forces team rescued an American doctor who had been abducted in Afghanistan, but lost one of their own members in the mission, officials said.
Dr. Dilip Joseph was freed 11 hours after his captors released two other kidnapped staffers of his nonprofit agency, Morning Star Development, the organization said Sunday.
Hours later, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that "a U.S. service member was killed in the operation."
A U.S. official said the man who was shot dead belonged to the Navy's Special Warfare Development Group, more commonly known as SEAL Team Six. The elite unit is the same one that took part in the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but the official didn't know if the fallen service member was involved in that operation.
While he did not delve into detail, Panetta said, "the special operators who conducted this raid knew they were putting their lives on the line to free a fellow American from the enemy's grip."
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Joseph was believed to be in imminent danger of injury or death when the rescue mission was launched.
"He gave his life for his fellow Americans, and he and his teammates remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free," President Barack Obama said of the slain U.S. service member, who was not immediately identified.
There were conflicting reports about who was behind the kidnappings. ISAF said it was Taliban insurgents, while two local Afghan officials told CNN it was smugglers.
The kidnapping of Joseph and the two other Morning Star staff members occurred around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (6 a.m. ET), as the three men were returning from a rural medical clinic in eastern Kabul province.
"They were stopped and captured while driving, by a group of armed men," according to the agency, which sponsors community and economic initiatives in Afghanistan.
"They were eventually taken to a mountainous area about 50 miles from the Pakistan border."
Tribal leader Malik Samad and district chief Muhammad Haqbeen told CNN that Joseph and an Afghan doctor were abducted near the village of Jegdalek in the Sarobi district, just outside Kabul.
Morning Star said negotiations began "almost immediately" between the captors, the hostages and the agency's crisis management team in Kabul and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to U.S. and Afghan authorities, the agency thanked "Afghan residents (including) elders and local leaders who made visits and appeals to the captors advocating for the release of the hostages."
The "on-again, off-again" negotiations lasted three days into Saturday night, when two of the three were released.
Morning Star did not release the identities of the two men, citing safety concerns "because they live and work in the general region." The group said one of them belonged to its medical staff and the other was part of the organization's support staff.
The two men got out of the area and eventually were taken to a police station, at which time Morning Star and their families learned they'd been released.
The Afghan doctor's family paid $12,000 to the smugglers, who later released him, Haqbeen and Samad said. For its part, Morning Star stated "categorically that we paid no ransom, money or other consideration" to anyone in securing any of its staffers' release.
Sometime Saturday night, military forces rescued Joseph in a mission ordered by Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Samad and Haqbeen, the two Afghan officials, said the operation took place in Laghman province.
"Today's mission exemplifies our unwavering commitment to defeating the Taliban," Allen said in a statement. "I'm proud of the American and Afghan forces that planned, rehearsed and successfully conducted this operation. Thanks to them, Dr. Joseph will soon be rejoining his family and loved ones."
Joseph has worked with Morning Star for three years. He serves as its medical adviser, and travels frequently to Afghanistan, the agency said.
The doctor appeared to be in "good condition and uninjured" at Bagram Airfield after his abduction. Morning Star said "he will receive precautionary examinations and debriefing before returning to his Colorado Springs home, probably within a few days."
His family issued a statement Sunday acknowledging "harrowing" uncertainty in recent days and extending its "deepest condolences to the family of the American sailor who died during Dilip's rescue."
"We are incredibly grateful for the multiple agencies of the U.S. government that have supported us in this difficult time, and especially the quick response by our military and partner allies to rescue Dilip," the family said. "They showed great heroism and professionalism."
Despite the kidnappings of Joseph and its two other staffers, Morning Star reiterated its "commitment to continue its work" in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Seeks Divorce From Long-Standing Marital Traditions
RFE/RL By Farangis Najibullah December 09, 2012
In Afghanistan, few bat an eye when a young suitor spends a small fortune to secure his bride.
The payment of a "walwar" -- essentially a premarital fee paid to the bride-to-be's parents -- can run into the thousands of dollars, adding to the already exorbitant costs plunked down for the wedding itself.
Now there is a movement within the country's government to divorce the Afghan people from such long-standing but financially crippling customs.
The Afghan Women's Affairs Ministry is waging war on the walwar, arguing that it is not only technically illegal but unnecessarily buries families under tremendous debt.
"The campaign mainly focuses on unaffordable walwars, a shameful custom, which is putting enormous financial strain on families," says Deputy Women's Affairs Minister Mezhgan Mustafavi. "But it also includes a fight against some of our other marital traditions, such as marrying off girls to settle family feuds -- a so-called 'bad' marriage."
The goal of the campaign is to improve women's lives and protect their rights, because ultimately it's the woman in the arrangement who suffers the consequences, Mustafavi says.
In the case of walwar payments, the bride often "starts her new life in a family struggling under the burden of debt," Mustafavi says. "Or, in the case of 'bad' marriages, she is usually treated as an enemy's daughter."
Clerics' Participation Vital
The ministry has called on the country's influential clerics, as well as media and law-enforcement agencies, to help promote the campaign.
Some 400 religious figures from all over the country recently assembled in Kabul for a meeting organized with the help of the Hajj and Religious Affairs Ministry, during which they condemned the walwar tradition and other long-standing customs that violate women's rights.
The clerics agreed to include lectures on marital traditions in their mosque sermons, potentially reaching millions of Afghans throughout the country.
The popular television station Tolo agreed to record such sermons and broadcast them weekly during peak hours.
In Afghanistan's deeply conservative society, the word of clerics carries significant weight and the Women's Affairs Ministry considers their participation vital to the success of the campaign.
"Many people don't know that expensive walwars, which effectively mean selling your daughter, have nothing to do with Islam," Mustafavi says. "In fact, it violates both civil and Shari'a laws."
"According to Afghanistan's law banning violence against women, selling or buying a person in the context of marriage is a crime punishable with up to 10 years' imprisonment," Mustafavi says. "Our civil laws ban any un-Islamic preconditions in matrimonies. Our Family Code clearly states that customs like the walwar, bride price, marrying off girls to settle family scores, or marrying off girls as a blood price for a victim's family are against Islam. Therefore, such customs are forbidden."
Thousands Of Dollars
Shari'a law does allow for a potential bride to request money from the groom's family. While the amount is not fixed, Shari'a rules advise that the amount should be small and easily affordable to her new family.
Some clerics even estimate that the amount should not exceed a few hundred Afghanis, the equivalent of $5 or $10.
In reality, however, the families of many Afghan brides demand that the groom spend thousands of dollars in walwar payments and other gifts, including jewelry. In addition, the groom is required to pay for a lavish wedding banquet and a string of wedding-related parties.
The ministry estimates that the average Afghan family spends up to $15,000 in wedding costs.
In the social sphere, the cost of the dowry and the lavishness of the wedding parties can affect each family's social standing. To affirm high status, families save for years and young men commonly leave home to endure years of hard labor abroad to raise cash.
Desperate to avoid such costs, some families that have both sons and daughters marry off the groom's sister to the bride's brother in so-called "badal" marriages, which literally translates as "exchange."
"The laws to punish such actions have almost never been exercised," says Mustafavi. "We have asked law-enforcement agencies to bring to justice a few people who violate these laws in order to remind others that it is a crime to sell your daughter."
With contributions from RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan
National Information Network Planned for Afghan Mobiles
TOLOnews.com By Zabihullah Jhanmal Sunday, 09 December 2012
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT) is planning to install a national information center through which people will be able to access social, political, and economic information on Afghanistan via their mobile phone.
Ministry officials said on Sunday that the installation of such a system may take up to two years.
"With the installation of this software, within two years customers will receive useful and necessary information through their cell phones," MoCIT Deputy Minister, Technical, Baryalai Hasam said.
The customers of different telecom companies will be able to receive information about practical matters related to weather and roads, as well as education and security.
Ministry officials said that the service would be a government-funded scheme that would be available at no extra cost to the telecom companies.
The scheme is one part of a six-tier "Development of Electronic Governance Programme" being funded with the support of the World Bank and worth more than $5 million in total, officials said.
Meanwhile, the ministry is supporting professional and short-term training in the field of information technology for more than 1500 students and government employees for the next three years.
Private company Rana Technology is helping train the students.
"We are trying to train about 500 students in the field of information technology. These people after receiving enough learning to be capable of adequate and efficient work," Rana chief Farhad Ghafoor said.
Pregnant, Married Teen Found Dead in Baghlan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 09 December 2012
A married teenage girl who was six months pregnant has been found dead in northern Baghlan province with police suspecting it may have been a suicide, Baghlan police told TOLOnews.
The 15-year-old girl, Gul Bibi, was found dead Saturday on a hill in the area of central Baghlan called Chahar Shanba Tapa.
Provincial police commander Shirzad said that the cause of her death is still being investigated although they suspect it was a suicide.
However, police have detained Gul Bibi's husband who has denied any wrongdoing. He claims Gul Bibi ate mouse poison.
Meanwhile, her father claims that she was killed by her husband, perhaps after he took a second wife, and that other family members were involved in her murder.
He said she was hanged on Friday and was later found with the help of the Baghlan Women's Affairs Department. They took her to hospital but it was too late.
"Police arrested her husband, but her father-in-law is still free. He told me, "We will kill your remaining children and I don't care where and to whom you go," Gul Bibi's father told TOLOnews.
"I am asking the government and President Karzai that, for God's sake, if we are your citizens then give us justice."
Gul Bibi was married two years ago to a resident of Old Baghlan called Anwar, son of Rangin Khan, who physically abused her throughout those two years, according to her father.
Doctors who conducted the post-mortem on Gul Bibi said the cause of her death is still not clear.
It comes a week after two teenage girls were killed in neighbouring Kunduz province.
A 16-year-old girl, Nasrin, was found shot dead at her home in the capital of northeastern Kunduz province two days after another 14-year-old girl, Giseena, had her throat slit apparently for her father's refusal to give her in marriage.
Nasrin's death is also being treated as a suicide, police said last week.
World Anti-Graft Day Observed in Kabul
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Sunday, 09 December 2012
Afghanistan officials observed International Anti-Corruption Day with a gathering in Kabul just days after the nation was flagged in an international survey as one of the three most corrupt countries in the world.
Chief of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption Azizullah Lodin warned in his speech that without a sound and solid administration, corruption will never be eradicated from Afghanistan.
Integrity Watch chairman Dr Yama Torabi agreed, adding that society also had a responsibility.
"There is massive corruption in most countries that ignore the role of people in society," he said.
Lodin pointed to insecurity as a reason for the rampant graft.
"The reason is that we cannot assure security. [We need to] bring healthy security and enforce the laws," he said.
The Corruption Perception Index compiled by Transparency International compared Afghanistan's public sector with that of 175 other nations. Afghanistan made it to the top three most corrupt alongside North Korea and Somalia.
The report said that corruption is on the rise in Afghanistan and the government has not done enough to fight it.
The international community has pledged to help Afghanistan financially on the condition of a more serious attempt against corruption.
International Anti-Corruption Day is observed each year on December 9 since the passage of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on October 31, 2003.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com