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U.S. Marine convicted of urinating on corpses of Taliban insurgents
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine staff sergeant who urinated on dead Taliban insurgents and posed for photographs with the bodies has pleaded guilty to two charges in a military court, the Marine Corps said on Thursday.
His sentence was a reduction in rank and forfeiture of $500 in pay.
Staff Sergeant Joseph Chamblin pleaded guilty at a special court martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to dereliction of duty for failing to properly supervise junior Marines. He also pleaded guilty to wrongfully urinating on a deceased enemy combatant.
The incident occurred during a counter-insurgency operation in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in July 2011. It came to light in January this year when a videotape of the incident was posted on YouTube and other websites.
The video showed four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them joked, "Have a nice day, buddy," while another made a lewd joke.
The video was one of a series of offensive incidents involving U.S. service members that roused Afghan ire and led to heightened tensions between Washington and Kabul earlier this year.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the actions in the video as "inhuman" and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta telephoned him to denounce the incident as "deplorable" and promise an investigation.
Chamblin was charged with failing to properly supervise junior Marines, failing to require junior Marines to wear protective equipment, failing to report the misconduct of junior Marines, failing to report the negligent discharge of a grenade launcher, and failing to stop the indiscriminate firing of weapons, the Marine Corps said in a statement.
Chamblin waived his right to a jury and pleaded guilty to two counts before a military judge, the statement said. The judge levied a penalty that including 30 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, but because of a pretrial agreement Chamblin received a lesser sentence.
The maximum penalty under the agreement was a reduction in rank to sergeant and a forfeiture of $500 in pay for one month, the statement said.
The Marine Corps declined to release details about the evidence or the findings of the investigation because, it said, cases were still pending related to the urination video incident.
(Reporting By David Alexander; editing by Philip Barbara)
Concluding 2012, Afghanistan's Neighbors Gird for 2014
Sharon Behn VOA News December 20, 2012
ISLAMABAD — The Afghan army has been preparing to take over the country’s security as NATO’s 2014 deadline to withdraw all combat troops moves to within a year.
But even with 300,000 national security forces now hired, Afghanistan still faces a challenge from the Taliban, al-Qaida and Haqqani networks.
According to political analyst Imtiaz Gul, Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, have launched efforts to create a level of political stability there in the face of shared threats.
“I think Pakistan, as well as several other countries, have changed the goal posts, have changed the outlook on Afghanistan," he said. "They realize they really need to get on board [and] join hands to fix the situation in Afghanistan as much as possible to avoid instability in their own territory.”
Over the past year, Afghanistan’s allies met in Chicago and elsewhere to pledge at least $4 billion in aid and lay out a vision for what the country might aim to achieve in the coming decade.
But the outgoing U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, says pledges are just one step.
“It only matters if people are meeting their commitments now and we can really support an Afghanistan that is secure, stable and prosperous, inside a secure, stable prosperous region," he said.
Investor countries like China could exert more diplomatic weight and economic influence in the region as the U.S. pulls out.
Analyst Andrew Smalls of the German Marshall Fund says that China's friendly relations with Pakistan are key.
“One reason why the Afghans were particularly keen to have the Chinese come in and be investors is that they are one of the only countries that Pakistan trusts," said Smalls. "So what it means, in practice, is that a lot of the different parties, including the Taliban, may be more willing to give Chinese projects a break than most other investors.
"And also, of course, that China may be willing to use its influence over Pakistan, and then Pakistan’s influence over the Taliban, to give those projects a break that other investments in the country may not have," he added.
Iran, to the west of Afghanistan, has already cultivated strong cultural and commercial ties with its neighbor.
What Iran does with that influence is critical, according to former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth.
“The question is whether or not Iran can become a part of a group of countries, [part of] a regional approach that will work to prevent Afghanistan [from] sliding back to the Taliban era and moving forward to a more democratic progressive approach toward [domestic governance and] relations with its neighbors," he said.
How Afghanistan, its neighbors and allies cooperate on all these issues will help determine the future of that country.
VOA correspondents Shannon van Sant and Aru Pande contributed to this report from China and Washington respectively.
Coalition soldier missing in Afghanistan
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A search is under way in southern Afghanistan for a soldier from the NATO-led coalition, believed to be the first to have gone missing since a U.S. Army sergeant was captured by the Taliban more than three years ago, a military spokesman said Friday.
U.S. Army Maj. Martyn Crighton said the soldier was among the 1,560 troops from the former Soviet republic of Georgia serving in the country.
A statement from Georgia's Defense Ministry on Thursday said an intense "search and rescue" operation was being mounted in Helmand and Nimroz provinces, describing the soldier as a military officer who went missing on Wednesday.
The last known coalition soldier to go missing was U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 26, who was taken prisoner on June 30, 2009 in Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan.
Bergdahl, who turned 26 in captivity on March 28, was the subject of a proposed prisoner swap in which the Obama administration was considering the transfer of five Taliban prisoners long held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar.
That plan collapsed, but a new proposal would transfer some Taliban fighters or their affiliates out of full U.S. control. The prisoners would go to a detention facility adjacent to Bagram air field, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, officials of both governments have said.
Eighteen Georgian soldiers have been killed since the country joined the international military operations in Afghanistan in August 2009. Georgia is not a member of NATO but has significant presence in Afghanistan relative to its population of 4.5 million.
There are currently more than 102,000 coalition troops in the country, including 66,000 from the United States. Only a residual force is slated to remain past 2013.
Pakistan's Malala Asks College Not be Named in Her Honor
VOA News December 21, 2012
The Pakistani girl who was seriously wounded by the Taliban says a decision to rename a girls' college in her hometown in her honor should be reversed.
Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai was returning from school in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley in October when Taliban gunmen shot her, saying she had spoken out against the militant group and in favor of girls' education. She is currently recovering at a British hospital.
On Friday, Swat government official Kamran Rehman told news agencies that he spoke to the teenager by phone earlier this week and she has requested that the college keep the old name out of concern for the safety of students.
Last week, several students at the college broke into the Government Degree College in the town of Mingora and tore down pictures of Yousafzai to protest the name change, saying the move would make them a target of militant attacks.
Elsewhere in Pakistan's northwest, security officials say a bomb ripped through the office of local militant commander Maulvi Abbas in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal agency, killing him and at least two others.
It is unclear who planted the bomb. The blast took place weeks after another militant commander, Hafiz Nazir, was wounded in a suicide attack in Wana.
Nazir is the main militant commander in South Waziristan, with fighters who reportedly are more interested in attacking U.S.-led troops in neighboring Afghanistan than Pakistan's security forces.
The militant commander signed a peace accord with the Pakistani government in 2007 and is said to have a contentious relationship with the Pakistani Taliban, which has carried out attacks on Pakistani forces.
Nazir's faction is said to be allied with other al-Qaida-linked militant groups, including that of commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
Also Friday, Britain's High Court blocked a legal challenge by a British man to the possible role of Britain's intelligence agency in aiding U.S. drone strikes in northwest Pakistan.
The father of 27-year old Noor Khan was reportedly killed last year in a drone attack. The British man had asked the High Court to look into whether British intelligence officials had assisted in the attack and whether they are liable for prosecution.
But British judges on Friday said Khan's real goal was to get the court to publicly condemn U.S. activities in Pakistan's northwest.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
Britain's Cameron pays surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan
CNN By CNN Staff December 21, 2012
British Prime Minister David Cameron made a surprise visit to the troops in Afghanistan Thursday, a day after he announced a significant drawdown of UK forces there.
"Thank you for what you've done. You make our country proud," Cameron told the troops, according to the official Twitter account for his office at No. 10 Downing Street.
Cameron said Wednesday that UK troop numbers will decrease to about 5,200 by the end of 2013. The country currently has around 9,500 military personnel in Afghanistan, 500 of which will be leaving by the end of this year.
The accelerated withdrawal is due to progress in the southern province of Helmand, where Afghan forces are now taking a lead security role, British officials say.
"We came to Afghanistan to help this country stop being a haven of terror, but we've always wanted this country to be able to police itself, with its own army and its own police force," Cameron said during his visit. "We're successfully training them up so we're able to bring our troops back home."
Cameron said the withdrawal is "based on success, not based on failure."
France pulled its last combat units from Afghanistan over the weekend. About 1,500 French troops will remain the country through next year to remove equipment and help train Afghan forces, a French Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Britain is the second-largest contributor of troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, with the majority of its personnel operating in Helmand.
Since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001, Britain has lost 438 troops, the highest of any coalition member behind the United States.
The United States, whose troops make up the bulk of the force, has lost 2,162 troops in the NATO mission. Some 68,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan.
Coalition forces are working to get Afghan security forces ready to take charge of security after the NATO mission in Afghanistan concludes at the end of 2014.
French leader honors troops home from Afghanistan
By By SYLVIE CORBET | Associated Press
PARIS (AP) — President Francois Hollande on Friday declared "mission accomplished" for French combat troops in Afghanistan, hailing their 11-year military commitment even as the fight goes on for France's NATO allies.
After his election in May, Hollande announced a fast-track pullout of French combat troops from NATO's mission in Afghanistan by year-end — a goal now achieved. Increasingly, France has turned its focus to helping rebuild civilian sector institutions and foster diplomatic initiatives, including hosting a secretive meeting of rival Afghan factions north of Paris as the president spoke.
The Socialist leader has argued that France has done its part in Afghanistan and achieved its goals, and reiterated that theme as he hosted at the presidential palace dozens of soldiers who recently returned home.
"I say to you all: 'mission accomplished.' I also say to you: 'exemplary action'. I say to you: 'congratulations,'" he told them.
U.S. President George W. Bush infamously used the term "mission accomplished" in 2003 after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq, though some of the worst bloodshed in that war was yet to come and U.S. troops remained in Iraq for 8 1/2 more years.
While Hollande was speaking to French troops, NATO forces overall are still very much engaged in combat against the Taliban and other insurgents fighting Afghanistan's government.
France, which has lost 88 soldiers in Afghanistan, still has 1,500 troops there who are repatriating equipment or working in roles like providing medical care or helping operate Kabul's airport. Hollande said the numbers will decline to 500 by mid-2013. France had a peak deployment of some 4,000 troops in Afghanistan under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"There are no more French combat troops in Afghanistan — this is an important moment for you, for our country, and for Afghanistan," Hollande said. "We have now a part to play, but a different one." He said France's financial contribution will reach €300 million ($396 million), to help Afghanistan transition from war to peace in the coming years.
Meanwhile, in the town of Chantilly about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Paris, representatives of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami Islamic militant groups, as well as the political opposition, were meeting for a second straight day. They are discussing their country's long-term future — well beyond 2014, when the majority of NATO forces, including those of the United States, are set to leave.
Hosted by a French think tank in the presence of some French officials, the 20-odd delegates have been discussing since Thursday three topics to better understand each other's positions: The political balance in Afghanistan into 2020, the nature of Afghan sovereignty and the necessary parameters for long-lasting peace, according to Mahmoud Saikal, a high-level member of opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah's party.
"I doubt there will be a definite resolution of any kind emerging from this gathering," Saikal said. "It will definitely help building up confidence between the armed opposition forces of this country and the political opposition groups."
"The sheer fact that we do have a couple representatives of the Taliban is an achievement," he said.
Among the most significant delegates was Shahabudin Delwar, who served as Afghanistan's ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan under the Taliban regime that was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. French hosts declined to specify the guest list, or provide access to the participants to journalists during the closed-door meeting. Police blocked off access to the luxury hotel where the Afghans were meeting.
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Heidi Vogt in Kabul, Afghanistan and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.
Female Afghan cops say they are raped, molested by fellow officers
By Amie Ferris-Rotman, Reuters
KABUL - Shortly after Friba joined the Afghan National Police, she gave herself the nickname "dragon" and vowed to bring law and order to her tormented homeland.
Five years later, she is tired of rebuffing the sexual advances of male colleagues, worries the budget for the female force will shrink and fears the government will abandon them.
Women in the police force were held up as a showcase for Afghan-Western efforts to promote rights in the new Afghanistan, born from the optimism that swept the country after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.
Images of gun-wielding Afghan policewomen have been broadcast across the globe, even inspiring a television program popular with young Afghan women.
But going from the burqa to the olive green uniform has not been easy.
In Reuters interviews with 12 policewomen in districts across the Afghan capital, complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and bitter frustration were prevalent.
President Hamid Karzai's goal is for 5,000 women to join the Afghan National Police (ANP) by the end of 2014, when most foreign troops will leave the country.
But government neglect, poor recruitment and a lack of interest on the part of authorities and the male-dominated society mean there are only 1,850 female police officers on the beat, or about 1.25 percent of the entire force.
And it looks to get worse.
Friba, who asked that her second name not be used, says it all when she runs a manicured finger across her throat: "Once foreigners leave we won't even be able to go to the market. We'll be back in burqas. The Taliban are coming back and we all know it."
Conditions for women in Afghanistan have improved significantly since the Taliban were ousted. Women have won back basic rights in voting, education and work since Taliban rule, when they were not allowed out of their homes without a male escort and could be publicly stoned to death for adultery.
But problems persist in the deeply conservative Muslim society scarred by decades of conflict. The United Nations said this month that despite progress, there was a dramatic under-reporting of cases of violence against women.
Some female lawmakers and rights groups blame Karzai's government for a waning interest in women's rights as it seeks peace talks with the Taliban, accusations his administration deny.
Almost a third of the members of the female force work in Kabul, performing duties such as conducting security checks on women at the airport and checking biometric data.
Friba sat in a city police station room decorated with posters of policemen clutching weapons to talk to Reuters.
"I am the dragon and I can defend myself, but most of the girls are constantly harassed," she said. "Just yesterday my colleague put his hands on one of the girl's breasts. She was embarrassed and giggled while he squeezed them. Then she turned to us and burst into tears."
On the other side of Kabul, detective Lailoma, who also asked that her family name not be used, said several policewomen under her command had been raped by their male colleagues.
She complained about male colleagues: "They want it to be like the time of the Taliban. They tell us every day we are bad women and should not be allowed to work here."
Male colleagues also taunt the women, she added, often preventing them from entering the kitchen, meaning they miss out on lunch.
On several occasions, male colleagues interrupted Reuters interviews in what the policewomen said were attempts to intimidate them into silence.
One male officer entered the room without knocking three times to retrieve pencils; another spent 20 minutes dusting off his hat, only to put it back on a shelf. The women switched subjects when the men came in.
Rana, a 31-year-old, heavy-set policewoman with curly hair, said policewomen were expected to perform sexual favors: "We're expected to do them to just stay in the force."
The raping of policewomen by their male counterparts "definitely takes place," said Colonel Sayed Omar Saboor, deputy director for gender and human rights at the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police. "These men are largely illiterate and see the women as immoral."
'Adjustment' of Constitution Prominent on Paris Agenda: National Coalition Spokesman
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Thursday, 20 December 2012
A spokesman for the National Coalition said that "adjustment" of the Afghan Constitution is expected to be the main focus of the Paris peace talks, whose organizers have been tight-lipped about details of its agenda.
"The main point of discussions is the adjustment of the Constitution and the election law, in addition to the prepared agenda that includes Afghanistan's ties with Pakistan and the country's security situation after 2014," National Coalition Spokesman Fazlurahman Orya said.
Orya's comments come as one of the major demands of the Afghan government and international community before a peace agreement has been that the Taliban accept the Constitution as it is and respect its provisions about women's rights.
Orya's party will be represented at the talks by former parliament speaker Mohammad Younos Qanooni, Homayoun Shah Asifi and Nurulhaq Olomi.
Former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdulsalam Zaeef, Taliban envoy in Qatar Tayeb Agha, former Taliban negotiator with the Northern Alliance Shahabuddin Delawar and Naeem Wardak will represent the Taliban.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's son-in-law Ghairat Bahir will represent Hizb-e-Islami's belligerent faction.
Jilani Popal, Sayed Hamid Gilani and Hekmat Karzai will represent the government.
Hakimullah Mujahid, Massom Stanekzai and Azizullah Din Mohammad will represent the High Peace Council.
Other participants include Ahmad Zia Massoud, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq and Faizullah Zaki from the National Front Party; Mohammad Hanif Atmar from the Rights and Justice Party; Farkhonda Zahra Nadiri and Nelofar Ibrahimi from the parliament; and Nader Nadery, former commissioner of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
The talks come as a senior member of the High Peace Council recently expressed strong pessimism about Paris.
"The High Peace Council welcomes any peace negotiation, but I think this meeting will have no positive results in bringing peace because the Taliban have clearly stated they don't want to negotiate peace," Deputy Chair of the Afghan High Peace Council Ataullah Lodin said.
The Taliban have also strongly denied they will participate in any talks with the Afghan government in Paris, insisting that they will only be articulating their demands.
The government's so-called representatives are not attending the talks in an official capacity.
Although significant for having broad representation from most of Afghanistan's major stakeholders, the meeting is seemingly being held amid a general air of pessimism.
"Such kind of meetings cannot solve Afghanistan's problems. I believe the meeting is symbolic unless the UN and international community support the country's peace process with Taliban. I ask the United Nations to lead the negotiations," National Front Party Member Mohammad Natiqi said.
Former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Motawakil sounded a note of caution against unrealistic expectations at peace talks.
"To bring peace in Afghanistan is a necessity but some unreliable reports have made people doubtful about peace because the media broadcast incorrect reports," Motawakil said.
Although Pakistan is expected to play a key role in Afghanistan's peace process, it does not have any representative in Paris.
New Scenery for Breaking the Ice With the Taliban
New York Times By SCOTT SAYARE and MATTHEW ROSENBERG December 20, 2012
PARIS - A year that began with hopes that the Taliban were ready to start talking peace is ending with a final initiative — informal talks outside Paris among Afghanistan’s competing factions, including militants — that, if anything, exemplifies how little progress has been made in 2012 toward opening negotiations to end the war.
The talks, which began Thursday and are to last two days, have been trumpeted as the first time the Taliban have sat down with their former enemies in Afghanistan’s old Northern Alliance, a collection of militias that fought Taliban rule in the 1990s and eventually helped the United States oust the Islamist movement. Afghan government peace negotiators are also attending, as are representatives of Hezb-e-Islami, an insurgent faction independent of the Taliban.
But going into the meetings, both the Taliban and many old Northern Alliance leaders were clear about their lack of expectations. Abdullah Abdullah, an opposition politician and former presidential candidate who draws much of his support from Afghanistan’s north, said the meetings were “not by any chance a breakthrough.”
The talks, which are closed to the news media, are meant to offer participants an informal occasion to “project themselves toward the horizon of 2020,” said Camille Grand, the director of the Foundation for Strategic Research, the Paris-based research group that organized the meetings. The Afghans in attendance have come on a personal basis, Mr. Grand said.
A handful of French defense and foreign affairs officials are participating as well, he said, though the French, who recently pulled their combat forces from Afghanistan, say the meetings do not represent an effort to open formal talks. Philippe Lalliot, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, described them as an “academic seminar.”
Mr. Abdullah, the opposition politician, opted to remain in Kabul and send lesser-known members of his party, the National Coalition of Afghanistan, to attend instead. A rival opposition group, the National Front of Afghanistan, which is also made up largely of old Northern Alliance leaders, was sending two of its top leaders to Paris.
Mr. Abdullah and others among the old Northern Alliance nonetheless held out the possibility that the talks could lead to more. The Taliban “will come there, and they will make their own decisions clear,” Mr. Abdullah said in an interview in Kabul. “I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I don’t want to raise expectations out of the meeting.”
The small Taliban delegation in Paris was being led by Shahabuddin Delawar, who is expected to be one of the insurgents’ negotiators should peace talks ever begin in earnest. But neither Mr. Delawar nor any other Taliban representatives who had gone to Paris were there to discuss the stalled peace process, said Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgents.
Rather, Mr. Delawar’s sole task was “to shed light on our stances and explain our official position and policies to the international community,” Mr. Mujahid said. “We want to explain it directly through our own official representatives to the international community, while in the past our position has been presented by the enemies, who were trying to display a wrong image.”
He did not elaborate on what those positions might be. The Taliban have repeatedly said they would not negotiate directly with the government of President Hamid Karzai, whom they deride as a puppet of the United States.
The Taliban suspended its preliminary talks with the United States in March after the Obama administration failed to push through a proposed prisoner swap, which was to be the first in a series of confidence-building measures. In the exchange, five insurgent leaders imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, would have been traded for the sole American soldier known to be held by the Taliban, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
The Taliban prisoners were to be sent to Qatar, where the insurgents were to then open a negotiating office.
American officials have said in recent months that they planned to revive the prisoner swap, and the Taliban have repeatedly emphasized that would be the first step necessary to restart the talks. But there have been no apparent moves to release the Taliban prisoners.
The Afghan government has tried to open a variety of other channels to the Taliban. Each has ended in failure, but recent overtures to Pakistan by Mr. Karzai’s High Peace Council have shown some progress.
The council, along with American officials, has been trying to gain support for peace talks from Pakistan, which has aided and sheltered the Taliban over the past dozen years, though it keeps a close watch on the group’s leading figures. Last month, Pakistan agreed to release some Taliban leaders imprisoned there, and nine have been freed, the Taliban and council members said.
What effect, if any, the releases will have on the Paris meetings is unclear. Two similar meetings have been held here since November 2011, but Taliban representatives did not attend.
Mr. Karzai, when asked about the meetings in Paris at a news conference this week, offered only a subdued endorsement, saying the government supports all meetings that could further the goal of reaching a peaceful settlement.
But Mr. Karzai, who late last year nearly scuttled American efforts to open talks with the Taliban in Qatar after complaining he had not been kept abreast of developments, also suggested there could be other motives for the Paris meetings, though he did not elaborate.
Mr. Karzai has bristled in the past when former Northern Alliance members, including some who are at the Paris talks, have held high-profile meetings outside Afghanistan. After a meeting in January in Berlin between former Northern Alliance leaders and United States Congress members, for instance, he accused Washington of plotting to dismember Afghanistan.
“Unless it is proven to us that a meeting has other purposes rather than peace, we are supporting all the peace meetings,” he said at the news conference this week. “But when it has been proven to us or we suspect that these meetings are following other goals, and the goal is not to bring peace in our country — that the meeting has other purposes — then we could talk about that.”
Scott Sayare reported from Paris, and Matthew Rosenberg from Kabul, Afghanistan. Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting from Kabul.
Concluding 2012, Afghanistan's Neighbors Gird for 2014
Voice of America By Sharon Behn December 20, 2012
ISLAMABAD - The Afghan army has been preparing to take over the country’s security as NATO’s 2014 deadline to withdraw all combat troops moves to within a year.
But even with 300,000 national security forces now hired, Afghanistan still faces a challenge from the Taliban, al-Qaida and Haqqani networks.
According to political analyst Imtiaz Gul, Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, have launched efforts to create a level of political stability there in the face of shared threats.
“I think Pakistan, as well as several other countries, have changed the goal posts, have changed the outlook on Afghanistan," he said. "They realize they really need to get on board [and] join hands to fix the situation in Afghanistan as much as possible to avoid instability in their own territory.”
Over the past year, Afghanistan’s allies met in Chicago and elsewhere to pledge at least $4 billion in aid and lay out a vision for what the country might aim to achieve in the coming decade.
But the outgoing U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, says pledges are just one step.
“It only matters if people are meeting their commitments now and we can really support an Afghanistan that is secure, stable and prosperous, inside a secure, stable prosperous region," he said.
Investor countries like China could exert more diplomatic weight and economic influence in the region as the U.S. pulls out.
Analyst Andrew Smalls of the German Marshall Fund says that China's friendly relations with Pakistan are key.
“One reason why the Afghans were particularly keen to have the Chinese come in and be investors is that they are one of the only countries that Pakistan trusts," said Smalls. "So what it means, in practice, is that a lot of the different parties, including the Taliban, may be more willing to give Chinese projects a break than most other investors.
"And also, of course, that China may be willing to use its influence over Pakistan, and then Pakistan’s influence over the Taliban, to give those projects a break that other investments in the country may not have," he added.
Iran, to the west of Afghanistan, has already cultivated strong cultural and commercial ties with its neighbor.
What Iran does with that influence is critical, according to former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth.
“The question is whether or not Iran can become a part of a group of countries, [part of] a regional approach that will work to prevent Afghanistan [from] sliding back to the Taliban era and moving forward to a more democratic progressive approach toward [domestic governance and] relations with its neighbors," he said.
How Afghanistan, its neighbors and allies cooperate on all these issues will help determine the future of that country.
VOA correspondents Shannon van Sant and Aru Pande contributed to this report from China and Washington respectively.
Driving in Kabul is not fun
Xinhua By Abdul Haleem Dec. 20, 2012
KABUL - Driving might be a way of enjoying life, showing off one's status or just making it in other cities of the world.
But in the Afghan capital of Kabul, driving is not fun; it can bore you to death.
"I have spent an hour waiting for the traffic to move and my passenger could miss his appointment at the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital," taxi driver Ghulam Sakhi complained.
He told Xinhua that the distance from Gul Bahar Center, a shopping mall where he picked up his passenger, to the hospital is only a three-minute drive but because of the traffic congestion, it took him more than a hour to make it.
The battered main roads are overwhelmed by some 500,000 cars, majority of them second-hand. This has largely contributed to the daily traffic jam in Kabul.
Kabul's population has swollen from one million a decade ago to more than four million now.
The city does not have flyovers, subway or elevated railway that are found in most cities in order to ease the traffic problem.
The traffic jam is worsened when the police erect concrete barriers on some streets to allow the VIP cars to pass, including those of international agencies with heavy security escorts.
Kabul is home to the headquarters of 100,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), foreign diplomatic missions and government departments.
"We are fed up with so many road blockades and so many traffic jam," Sakhi said.
To escape the traffic jam, ordinary Kabul residents and office workers are forced to walk instead of riding vehicles.
"Some three years ago I was taking an elderly patient to Wazir Akbar Khan hospital in downtown Kabul but after wasting around an hour on the road the patient's son paid me and just carried his father to the hospital,"Sakhi said.
"It is a very tiring and boring job to drive on Kabul's shabby roads but I have no choice but to drive and earn a living,"Ahmad Fawad, another taxi driver, said.
Afghan Forces Not Ready for Post-2014 Threats: Rasool
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian Thursday, 20 December 2012
On an official trip to Sri Lanka, Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasool stated Thursday that Afghan forces will not be fully prepared to confront possible treats after the international forces withdraw from the country.
He said that fighting the insurgency will not end by 2014 and Afghanistan will need continued support from international troops.
Rasool's comments directly contradict statements from President Karzai, who maintains that the Afghan forces are ready and willing to take control of security in Afghanistan. Karzai has been firmly demanding the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, saying the war on terrorism is not in Afghanistan and attention should be paid to Pakistan, where terrorists are based.
Meanwhile, reacting to withdrawal of 4,000 British soldiers in 2013, the Ministry of National Defense has urged that Afghan forces will replace the departing British troops.
"The National Army and security forces of Afghanistan are able to take responsibility for all of Afghanistan by 2013," said General Zahir Azimi, Ministry spokesman.
"There will be no security vacuum in Helmand after withdrawal of British forces," he added.
"Unfair" to Impeach Interior Ministry Over Budget: Spokesman
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amini Thursday, 20 December 2012
Parliament's decision to impeach the interior ministry for its failure to execute its budget is "unfair," ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said Wednesday.
The Wolesi Jirga, lower house of the Afghan parliament, decided last week to impeach the 11 "incompetent" ministers who had spent less than 50 percent of their budget. The Ministry of Interior was on that list.
Sediqi, however, said that $53 million was added to the ministry's budget in the 10th month of the fiscal year, which brought the unspent portion of the overall budget from 54 to 44 percent, landing the ministry in trouble with parliament.
"From a professional point of view, it was impossible to spend the additional 10 percent," Sediqi said.
Afghan ministries have consistently failed to spend all of their allotted budget. Lack of capacity and management experience, insecurity in vast areas of the country and incompetence are cited as reasons for the failure.
Afghan Reporter on Risks of Covering Sensitive Stories
Local politicians pledge support after journalist investigates alleged misappropriation of land.
IWPR By Abdul Maqsud Azizi 20 Dec 12
For several months, I had been hearing about how part of the Abchakan desert had been leased out to international forces, and I had stored it away in my mind as a story idea. I was certain that no local or national media outlet in Afghanistan would want to investigate it.
An area of land just south of Pol-e Alam, the main town in Logar province, has been leased out to international military forces who have a compound there and are planning to build an airstrip and other facilities.
But people told me that the purported owners – local Afghans – in fact had no right to rent the land to anyone, as it was government property. I also heard that a sum of 2.6 million US dollars was paid to six local men in 2009, and that some of the cash was given to the Taleban.
I pitched the idea to Munir Mehraban, the editor who heads up IWPR’s investigative reporting project in Afghanistan. He approved it and gave me a lot of encouragement to take it on. He shaped a work plan for pursuing the investigation, which listed all the things I would need to do – which sources to interview, and what hard documentary evidence to get hold of.
The editor likened me to a sea captain embarking on a long voyage, with a work plan to chart my course.
Undaunted by the seemingly impossible task of tracking down the documents I would need, I got started.
I began by talking to local residents. The first interview went off easily, but subsequent ones were more of a challenge as word had spread to tribal elders that a “spy calling himself a reporter” was in the village asking about the money paid to lease the land.
When the local chief, Awal Khan, got wind of my inquiries, he made himself unavailable, moving to five different locations as I looked for him over the course of a month. I eventually caught up with him and secured the interview.
The report, Disputed Ownership of Afghan Site Used by NATO, was finally published two months and 16 days after I began.
It was republished almost immediately by the international Asia Times newspaper, and Dari- and Pashto- language versions went out on RFE/RL’s popular Azadi station. The Khedmatgar newspaper carried it on November 2 under a big first-page headline, and the Tand news website also published it.
The article, and the issues it raised, became a hot topic for discussion both in Logar and at national level.
I can honestly say that in the four years I have been working as a journalist, I have never received so many serious threats – but nor have I ever had such encouraging and supportive responses.
On December 9, I received a text message saying, "British spy! You published your report for money. Since you sell other's honour and dignity, there is no salvation for you. You will be punished and killed like provincial council chairman Abdullah Ahmadzai, who also interfered in this matter."
Within half an hour, I received two phone calls from an unknown number, threatening me with death.
Abdullah Ahmadzai and four others had been shot dead, apparently – as the phone text suggested – because he had shown too much interest in the Abchakan affair.
Friends and media colleagues advised me to come to Kabul for a few days for security reasons, but I refused to do so.
I live in a village 15 kilometres away from Pol-e Alam, and to get there I have to walk through a stretch of forest. It is here that I become most afraid that I could suffer the same fate as Ahmadzai.
I have, however, been buoyed up by the broad support I have received in Logar. The provincial council was so pleased that the Abchakan issue had been aired that it convened a meeting attended by 60 assembly members and village leaders to pledge support for me.
“Now it’s for the provincial council to address the matter via the legal and judicial institutions," the council’s deputy chairman Gholam Yahya Ahmadzai said. "We will pursue this case seriously."
Reactions from local residents have been similarly uplifting.
After hearing my report on Radio Azadi, Zohur Ahmad, who works for the provincial labour and social affairs department, said he never believed the media would be able to cover something like this.
Nek Mohammad, a tribal elder from the village of Ali Khan village also heard the story on the radio.
"We are now waiting for the government to hold these men accountable," he said.
Abdul Maqsud Azizi is an IWPR-trained reporter in Afghanistan.
Note: At the request of IWPR staff, Abdul Maqsud Azizi visited Kabul to discuss concerns about his personal security. He turned down a request to spend an extended period in the city, saying that based on information he now possessed, he no longer felt at risk. IWPR staff talk to him by phone on a daily basis, and will take additional precautions if the situation changes.
The report Disputed Ownership of Afghan Site Used by NATO was produced as part of IWPR’s Afghan Critical Mass Media Reporting in Uruzgan and Nangarhar project.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine staff sergeant who urinated on dead Taliban insurgents and posed for photographs with the bodies has pleaded guilty to two charges in a military court, the Marine Corps said on Thursday.
His sentence was a reduction in rank and forfeiture of $500 in pay.
Staff Sergeant Joseph Chamblin pleaded guilty at a special court martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to dereliction of duty for failing to properly supervise junior Marines. He also pleaded guilty to wrongfully urinating on a deceased enemy combatant.
The incident occurred during a counter-insurgency operation in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in July 2011. It came to light in January this year when a videotape of the incident was posted on YouTube and other websites.
The video showed four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them joked, "Have a nice day, buddy," while another made a lewd joke.
The video was one of a series of offensive incidents involving U.S. service members that roused Afghan ire and led to heightened tensions between Washington and Kabul earlier this year.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the actions in the video as "inhuman" and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta telephoned him to denounce the incident as "deplorable" and promise an investigation.
Chamblin was charged with failing to properly supervise junior Marines, failing to require junior Marines to wear protective equipment, failing to report the misconduct of junior Marines, failing to report the negligent discharge of a grenade launcher, and failing to stop the indiscriminate firing of weapons, the Marine Corps said in a statement.
Chamblin waived his right to a jury and pleaded guilty to two counts before a military judge, the statement said. The judge levied a penalty that including 30 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, but because of a pretrial agreement Chamblin received a lesser sentence.
The maximum penalty under the agreement was a reduction in rank to sergeant and a forfeiture of $500 in pay for one month, the statement said.
The Marine Corps declined to release details about the evidence or the findings of the investigation because, it said, cases were still pending related to the urination video incident.
(Reporting By David Alexander; editing by Philip Barbara)
Concluding 2012, Afghanistan's Neighbors Gird for 2014
Sharon Behn VOA News December 20, 2012
ISLAMABAD — The Afghan army has been preparing to take over the country’s security as NATO’s 2014 deadline to withdraw all combat troops moves to within a year.
But even with 300,000 national security forces now hired, Afghanistan still faces a challenge from the Taliban, al-Qaida and Haqqani networks.
According to political analyst Imtiaz Gul, Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, have launched efforts to create a level of political stability there in the face of shared threats.
“I think Pakistan, as well as several other countries, have changed the goal posts, have changed the outlook on Afghanistan," he said. "They realize they really need to get on board [and] join hands to fix the situation in Afghanistan as much as possible to avoid instability in their own territory.”
Over the past year, Afghanistan’s allies met in Chicago and elsewhere to pledge at least $4 billion in aid and lay out a vision for what the country might aim to achieve in the coming decade.
But the outgoing U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, says pledges are just one step.
“It only matters if people are meeting their commitments now and we can really support an Afghanistan that is secure, stable and prosperous, inside a secure, stable prosperous region," he said.
Investor countries like China could exert more diplomatic weight and economic influence in the region as the U.S. pulls out.
Analyst Andrew Smalls of the German Marshall Fund says that China's friendly relations with Pakistan are key.
“One reason why the Afghans were particularly keen to have the Chinese come in and be investors is that they are one of the only countries that Pakistan trusts," said Smalls. "So what it means, in practice, is that a lot of the different parties, including the Taliban, may be more willing to give Chinese projects a break than most other investors.
"And also, of course, that China may be willing to use its influence over Pakistan, and then Pakistan’s influence over the Taliban, to give those projects a break that other investments in the country may not have," he added.
Iran, to the west of Afghanistan, has already cultivated strong cultural and commercial ties with its neighbor.
What Iran does with that influence is critical, according to former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth.
“The question is whether or not Iran can become a part of a group of countries, [part of] a regional approach that will work to prevent Afghanistan [from] sliding back to the Taliban era and moving forward to a more democratic progressive approach toward [domestic governance and] relations with its neighbors," he said.
How Afghanistan, its neighbors and allies cooperate on all these issues will help determine the future of that country.
VOA correspondents Shannon van Sant and Aru Pande contributed to this report from China and Washington respectively.
Coalition soldier missing in Afghanistan
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A search is under way in southern Afghanistan for a soldier from the NATO-led coalition, believed to be the first to have gone missing since a U.S. Army sergeant was captured by the Taliban more than three years ago, a military spokesman said Friday.
U.S. Army Maj. Martyn Crighton said the soldier was among the 1,560 troops from the former Soviet republic of Georgia serving in the country.
A statement from Georgia's Defense Ministry on Thursday said an intense "search and rescue" operation was being mounted in Helmand and Nimroz provinces, describing the soldier as a military officer who went missing on Wednesday.
The last known coalition soldier to go missing was U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 26, who was taken prisoner on June 30, 2009 in Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan.
Bergdahl, who turned 26 in captivity on March 28, was the subject of a proposed prisoner swap in which the Obama administration was considering the transfer of five Taliban prisoners long held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar.
That plan collapsed, but a new proposal would transfer some Taliban fighters or their affiliates out of full U.S. control. The prisoners would go to a detention facility adjacent to Bagram air field, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, officials of both governments have said.
Eighteen Georgian soldiers have been killed since the country joined the international military operations in Afghanistan in August 2009. Georgia is not a member of NATO but has significant presence in Afghanistan relative to its population of 4.5 million.
There are currently more than 102,000 coalition troops in the country, including 66,000 from the United States. Only a residual force is slated to remain past 2013.
Pakistan's Malala Asks College Not be Named in Her Honor
VOA News December 21, 2012
The Pakistani girl who was seriously wounded by the Taliban says a decision to rename a girls' college in her hometown in her honor should be reversed.
Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai was returning from school in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley in October when Taliban gunmen shot her, saying she had spoken out against the militant group and in favor of girls' education. She is currently recovering at a British hospital.
On Friday, Swat government official Kamran Rehman told news agencies that he spoke to the teenager by phone earlier this week and she has requested that the college keep the old name out of concern for the safety of students.
Last week, several students at the college broke into the Government Degree College in the town of Mingora and tore down pictures of Yousafzai to protest the name change, saying the move would make them a target of militant attacks.
Elsewhere in Pakistan's northwest, security officials say a bomb ripped through the office of local militant commander Maulvi Abbas in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal agency, killing him and at least two others.
It is unclear who planted the bomb. The blast took place weeks after another militant commander, Hafiz Nazir, was wounded in a suicide attack in Wana.
Nazir is the main militant commander in South Waziristan, with fighters who reportedly are more interested in attacking U.S.-led troops in neighboring Afghanistan than Pakistan's security forces.
The militant commander signed a peace accord with the Pakistani government in 2007 and is said to have a contentious relationship with the Pakistani Taliban, which has carried out attacks on Pakistani forces.
Nazir's faction is said to be allied with other al-Qaida-linked militant groups, including that of commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
Also Friday, Britain's High Court blocked a legal challenge by a British man to the possible role of Britain's intelligence agency in aiding U.S. drone strikes in northwest Pakistan.
The father of 27-year old Noor Khan was reportedly killed last year in a drone attack. The British man had asked the High Court to look into whether British intelligence officials had assisted in the attack and whether they are liable for prosecution.
But British judges on Friday said Khan's real goal was to get the court to publicly condemn U.S. activities in Pakistan's northwest.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
Britain's Cameron pays surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan
CNN By CNN Staff December 21, 2012
British Prime Minister David Cameron made a surprise visit to the troops in Afghanistan Thursday, a day after he announced a significant drawdown of UK forces there.
"Thank you for what you've done. You make our country proud," Cameron told the troops, according to the official Twitter account for his office at No. 10 Downing Street.
Cameron said Wednesday that UK troop numbers will decrease to about 5,200 by the end of 2013. The country currently has around 9,500 military personnel in Afghanistan, 500 of which will be leaving by the end of this year.
The accelerated withdrawal is due to progress in the southern province of Helmand, where Afghan forces are now taking a lead security role, British officials say.
"We came to Afghanistan to help this country stop being a haven of terror, but we've always wanted this country to be able to police itself, with its own army and its own police force," Cameron said during his visit. "We're successfully training them up so we're able to bring our troops back home."
Cameron said the withdrawal is "based on success, not based on failure."
France pulled its last combat units from Afghanistan over the weekend. About 1,500 French troops will remain the country through next year to remove equipment and help train Afghan forces, a French Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Britain is the second-largest contributor of troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, with the majority of its personnel operating in Helmand.
Since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001, Britain has lost 438 troops, the highest of any coalition member behind the United States.
The United States, whose troops make up the bulk of the force, has lost 2,162 troops in the NATO mission. Some 68,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan.
Coalition forces are working to get Afghan security forces ready to take charge of security after the NATO mission in Afghanistan concludes at the end of 2014.
French leader honors troops home from Afghanistan
By By SYLVIE CORBET | Associated Press
PARIS (AP) — President Francois Hollande on Friday declared "mission accomplished" for French combat troops in Afghanistan, hailing their 11-year military commitment even as the fight goes on for France's NATO allies.
After his election in May, Hollande announced a fast-track pullout of French combat troops from NATO's mission in Afghanistan by year-end — a goal now achieved. Increasingly, France has turned its focus to helping rebuild civilian sector institutions and foster diplomatic initiatives, including hosting a secretive meeting of rival Afghan factions north of Paris as the president spoke.
The Socialist leader has argued that France has done its part in Afghanistan and achieved its goals, and reiterated that theme as he hosted at the presidential palace dozens of soldiers who recently returned home.
"I say to you all: 'mission accomplished.' I also say to you: 'exemplary action'. I say to you: 'congratulations,'" he told them.
U.S. President George W. Bush infamously used the term "mission accomplished" in 2003 after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq, though some of the worst bloodshed in that war was yet to come and U.S. troops remained in Iraq for 8 1/2 more years.
While Hollande was speaking to French troops, NATO forces overall are still very much engaged in combat against the Taliban and other insurgents fighting Afghanistan's government.
France, which has lost 88 soldiers in Afghanistan, still has 1,500 troops there who are repatriating equipment or working in roles like providing medical care or helping operate Kabul's airport. Hollande said the numbers will decline to 500 by mid-2013. France had a peak deployment of some 4,000 troops in Afghanistan under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"There are no more French combat troops in Afghanistan — this is an important moment for you, for our country, and for Afghanistan," Hollande said. "We have now a part to play, but a different one." He said France's financial contribution will reach €300 million ($396 million), to help Afghanistan transition from war to peace in the coming years.
Meanwhile, in the town of Chantilly about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Paris, representatives of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami Islamic militant groups, as well as the political opposition, were meeting for a second straight day. They are discussing their country's long-term future — well beyond 2014, when the majority of NATO forces, including those of the United States, are set to leave.
Hosted by a French think tank in the presence of some French officials, the 20-odd delegates have been discussing since Thursday three topics to better understand each other's positions: The political balance in Afghanistan into 2020, the nature of Afghan sovereignty and the necessary parameters for long-lasting peace, according to Mahmoud Saikal, a high-level member of opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah's party.
"I doubt there will be a definite resolution of any kind emerging from this gathering," Saikal said. "It will definitely help building up confidence between the armed opposition forces of this country and the political opposition groups."
"The sheer fact that we do have a couple representatives of the Taliban is an achievement," he said.
Among the most significant delegates was Shahabudin Delwar, who served as Afghanistan's ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan under the Taliban regime that was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. French hosts declined to specify the guest list, or provide access to the participants to journalists during the closed-door meeting. Police blocked off access to the luxury hotel where the Afghans were meeting.
______
Heidi Vogt in Kabul, Afghanistan and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.
Female Afghan cops say they are raped, molested by fellow officers
By Amie Ferris-Rotman, Reuters
KABUL - Shortly after Friba joined the Afghan National Police, she gave herself the nickname "dragon" and vowed to bring law and order to her tormented homeland.
Five years later, she is tired of rebuffing the sexual advances of male colleagues, worries the budget for the female force will shrink and fears the government will abandon them.
Women in the police force were held up as a showcase for Afghan-Western efforts to promote rights in the new Afghanistan, born from the optimism that swept the country after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.
Images of gun-wielding Afghan policewomen have been broadcast across the globe, even inspiring a television program popular with young Afghan women.
But going from the burqa to the olive green uniform has not been easy.
In Reuters interviews with 12 policewomen in districts across the Afghan capital, complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and bitter frustration were prevalent.
President Hamid Karzai's goal is for 5,000 women to join the Afghan National Police (ANP) by the end of 2014, when most foreign troops will leave the country.
But government neglect, poor recruitment and a lack of interest on the part of authorities and the male-dominated society mean there are only 1,850 female police officers on the beat, or about 1.25 percent of the entire force.
And it looks to get worse.
Friba, who asked that her second name not be used, says it all when she runs a manicured finger across her throat: "Once foreigners leave we won't even be able to go to the market. We'll be back in burqas. The Taliban are coming back and we all know it."
Conditions for women in Afghanistan have improved significantly since the Taliban were ousted. Women have won back basic rights in voting, education and work since Taliban rule, when they were not allowed out of their homes without a male escort and could be publicly stoned to death for adultery.
But problems persist in the deeply conservative Muslim society scarred by decades of conflict. The United Nations said this month that despite progress, there was a dramatic under-reporting of cases of violence against women.
Some female lawmakers and rights groups blame Karzai's government for a waning interest in women's rights as it seeks peace talks with the Taliban, accusations his administration deny.
Almost a third of the members of the female force work in Kabul, performing duties such as conducting security checks on women at the airport and checking biometric data.
Friba sat in a city police station room decorated with posters of policemen clutching weapons to talk to Reuters.
"I am the dragon and I can defend myself, but most of the girls are constantly harassed," she said. "Just yesterday my colleague put his hands on one of the girl's breasts. She was embarrassed and giggled while he squeezed them. Then she turned to us and burst into tears."
On the other side of Kabul, detective Lailoma, who also asked that her family name not be used, said several policewomen under her command had been raped by their male colleagues.
She complained about male colleagues: "They want it to be like the time of the Taliban. They tell us every day we are bad women and should not be allowed to work here."
Male colleagues also taunt the women, she added, often preventing them from entering the kitchen, meaning they miss out on lunch.
On several occasions, male colleagues interrupted Reuters interviews in what the policewomen said were attempts to intimidate them into silence.
One male officer entered the room without knocking three times to retrieve pencils; another spent 20 minutes dusting off his hat, only to put it back on a shelf. The women switched subjects when the men came in.
Rana, a 31-year-old, heavy-set policewoman with curly hair, said policewomen were expected to perform sexual favors: "We're expected to do them to just stay in the force."
The raping of policewomen by their male counterparts "definitely takes place," said Colonel Sayed Omar Saboor, deputy director for gender and human rights at the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police. "These men are largely illiterate and see the women as immoral."
'Adjustment' of Constitution Prominent on Paris Agenda: National Coalition Spokesman
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Thursday, 20 December 2012
A spokesman for the National Coalition said that "adjustment" of the Afghan Constitution is expected to be the main focus of the Paris peace talks, whose organizers have been tight-lipped about details of its agenda.
"The main point of discussions is the adjustment of the Constitution and the election law, in addition to the prepared agenda that includes Afghanistan's ties with Pakistan and the country's security situation after 2014," National Coalition Spokesman Fazlurahman Orya said.
Orya's comments come as one of the major demands of the Afghan government and international community before a peace agreement has been that the Taliban accept the Constitution as it is and respect its provisions about women's rights.
Orya's party will be represented at the talks by former parliament speaker Mohammad Younos Qanooni, Homayoun Shah Asifi and Nurulhaq Olomi.
Former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdulsalam Zaeef, Taliban envoy in Qatar Tayeb Agha, former Taliban negotiator with the Northern Alliance Shahabuddin Delawar and Naeem Wardak will represent the Taliban.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's son-in-law Ghairat Bahir will represent Hizb-e-Islami's belligerent faction.
Jilani Popal, Sayed Hamid Gilani and Hekmat Karzai will represent the government.
Hakimullah Mujahid, Massom Stanekzai and Azizullah Din Mohammad will represent the High Peace Council.
Other participants include Ahmad Zia Massoud, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq and Faizullah Zaki from the National Front Party; Mohammad Hanif Atmar from the Rights and Justice Party; Farkhonda Zahra Nadiri and Nelofar Ibrahimi from the parliament; and Nader Nadery, former commissioner of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
The talks come as a senior member of the High Peace Council recently expressed strong pessimism about Paris.
"The High Peace Council welcomes any peace negotiation, but I think this meeting will have no positive results in bringing peace because the Taliban have clearly stated they don't want to negotiate peace," Deputy Chair of the Afghan High Peace Council Ataullah Lodin said.
The Taliban have also strongly denied they will participate in any talks with the Afghan government in Paris, insisting that they will only be articulating their demands.
The government's so-called representatives are not attending the talks in an official capacity.
Although significant for having broad representation from most of Afghanistan's major stakeholders, the meeting is seemingly being held amid a general air of pessimism.
"Such kind of meetings cannot solve Afghanistan's problems. I believe the meeting is symbolic unless the UN and international community support the country's peace process with Taliban. I ask the United Nations to lead the negotiations," National Front Party Member Mohammad Natiqi said.
Former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Motawakil sounded a note of caution against unrealistic expectations at peace talks.
"To bring peace in Afghanistan is a necessity but some unreliable reports have made people doubtful about peace because the media broadcast incorrect reports," Motawakil said.
Although Pakistan is expected to play a key role in Afghanistan's peace process, it does not have any representative in Paris.
New Scenery for Breaking the Ice With the Taliban
New York Times By SCOTT SAYARE and MATTHEW ROSENBERG December 20, 2012
PARIS - A year that began with hopes that the Taliban were ready to start talking peace is ending with a final initiative — informal talks outside Paris among Afghanistan’s competing factions, including militants — that, if anything, exemplifies how little progress has been made in 2012 toward opening negotiations to end the war.
The talks, which began Thursday and are to last two days, have been trumpeted as the first time the Taliban have sat down with their former enemies in Afghanistan’s old Northern Alliance, a collection of militias that fought Taliban rule in the 1990s and eventually helped the United States oust the Islamist movement. Afghan government peace negotiators are also attending, as are representatives of Hezb-e-Islami, an insurgent faction independent of the Taliban.
But going into the meetings, both the Taliban and many old Northern Alliance leaders were clear about their lack of expectations. Abdullah Abdullah, an opposition politician and former presidential candidate who draws much of his support from Afghanistan’s north, said the meetings were “not by any chance a breakthrough.”
The talks, which are closed to the news media, are meant to offer participants an informal occasion to “project themselves toward the horizon of 2020,” said Camille Grand, the director of the Foundation for Strategic Research, the Paris-based research group that organized the meetings. The Afghans in attendance have come on a personal basis, Mr. Grand said.
A handful of French defense and foreign affairs officials are participating as well, he said, though the French, who recently pulled their combat forces from Afghanistan, say the meetings do not represent an effort to open formal talks. Philippe Lalliot, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, described them as an “academic seminar.”
Mr. Abdullah, the opposition politician, opted to remain in Kabul and send lesser-known members of his party, the National Coalition of Afghanistan, to attend instead. A rival opposition group, the National Front of Afghanistan, which is also made up largely of old Northern Alliance leaders, was sending two of its top leaders to Paris.
Mr. Abdullah and others among the old Northern Alliance nonetheless held out the possibility that the talks could lead to more. The Taliban “will come there, and they will make their own decisions clear,” Mr. Abdullah said in an interview in Kabul. “I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I don’t want to raise expectations out of the meeting.”
The small Taliban delegation in Paris was being led by Shahabuddin Delawar, who is expected to be one of the insurgents’ negotiators should peace talks ever begin in earnest. But neither Mr. Delawar nor any other Taliban representatives who had gone to Paris were there to discuss the stalled peace process, said Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgents.
Rather, Mr. Delawar’s sole task was “to shed light on our stances and explain our official position and policies to the international community,” Mr. Mujahid said. “We want to explain it directly through our own official representatives to the international community, while in the past our position has been presented by the enemies, who were trying to display a wrong image.”
He did not elaborate on what those positions might be. The Taliban have repeatedly said they would not negotiate directly with the government of President Hamid Karzai, whom they deride as a puppet of the United States.
The Taliban suspended its preliminary talks with the United States in March after the Obama administration failed to push through a proposed prisoner swap, which was to be the first in a series of confidence-building measures. In the exchange, five insurgent leaders imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, would have been traded for the sole American soldier known to be held by the Taliban, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
The Taliban prisoners were to be sent to Qatar, where the insurgents were to then open a negotiating office.
American officials have said in recent months that they planned to revive the prisoner swap, and the Taliban have repeatedly emphasized that would be the first step necessary to restart the talks. But there have been no apparent moves to release the Taliban prisoners.
The Afghan government has tried to open a variety of other channels to the Taliban. Each has ended in failure, but recent overtures to Pakistan by Mr. Karzai’s High Peace Council have shown some progress.
The council, along with American officials, has been trying to gain support for peace talks from Pakistan, which has aided and sheltered the Taliban over the past dozen years, though it keeps a close watch on the group’s leading figures. Last month, Pakistan agreed to release some Taliban leaders imprisoned there, and nine have been freed, the Taliban and council members said.
What effect, if any, the releases will have on the Paris meetings is unclear. Two similar meetings have been held here since November 2011, but Taliban representatives did not attend.
Mr. Karzai, when asked about the meetings in Paris at a news conference this week, offered only a subdued endorsement, saying the government supports all meetings that could further the goal of reaching a peaceful settlement.
But Mr. Karzai, who late last year nearly scuttled American efforts to open talks with the Taliban in Qatar after complaining he had not been kept abreast of developments, also suggested there could be other motives for the Paris meetings, though he did not elaborate.
Mr. Karzai has bristled in the past when former Northern Alliance members, including some who are at the Paris talks, have held high-profile meetings outside Afghanistan. After a meeting in January in Berlin between former Northern Alliance leaders and United States Congress members, for instance, he accused Washington of plotting to dismember Afghanistan.
“Unless it is proven to us that a meeting has other purposes rather than peace, we are supporting all the peace meetings,” he said at the news conference this week. “But when it has been proven to us or we suspect that these meetings are following other goals, and the goal is not to bring peace in our country — that the meeting has other purposes — then we could talk about that.”
Scott Sayare reported from Paris, and Matthew Rosenberg from Kabul, Afghanistan. Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting from Kabul.
Concluding 2012, Afghanistan's Neighbors Gird for 2014
Voice of America By Sharon Behn December 20, 2012
ISLAMABAD - The Afghan army has been preparing to take over the country’s security as NATO’s 2014 deadline to withdraw all combat troops moves to within a year.
But even with 300,000 national security forces now hired, Afghanistan still faces a challenge from the Taliban, al-Qaida and Haqqani networks.
According to political analyst Imtiaz Gul, Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, have launched efforts to create a level of political stability there in the face of shared threats.
“I think Pakistan, as well as several other countries, have changed the goal posts, have changed the outlook on Afghanistan," he said. "They realize they really need to get on board [and] join hands to fix the situation in Afghanistan as much as possible to avoid instability in their own territory.”
Over the past year, Afghanistan’s allies met in Chicago and elsewhere to pledge at least $4 billion in aid and lay out a vision for what the country might aim to achieve in the coming decade.
But the outgoing U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, says pledges are just one step.
“It only matters if people are meeting their commitments now and we can really support an Afghanistan that is secure, stable and prosperous, inside a secure, stable prosperous region," he said.
Investor countries like China could exert more diplomatic weight and economic influence in the region as the U.S. pulls out.
Analyst Andrew Smalls of the German Marshall Fund says that China's friendly relations with Pakistan are key.
“One reason why the Afghans were particularly keen to have the Chinese come in and be investors is that they are one of the only countries that Pakistan trusts," said Smalls. "So what it means, in practice, is that a lot of the different parties, including the Taliban, may be more willing to give Chinese projects a break than most other investors.
"And also, of course, that China may be willing to use its influence over Pakistan, and then Pakistan’s influence over the Taliban, to give those projects a break that other investments in the country may not have," he added.
Iran, to the west of Afghanistan, has already cultivated strong cultural and commercial ties with its neighbor.
What Iran does with that influence is critical, according to former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth.
“The question is whether or not Iran can become a part of a group of countries, [part of] a regional approach that will work to prevent Afghanistan [from] sliding back to the Taliban era and moving forward to a more democratic progressive approach toward [domestic governance and] relations with its neighbors," he said.
How Afghanistan, its neighbors and allies cooperate on all these issues will help determine the future of that country.
VOA correspondents Shannon van Sant and Aru Pande contributed to this report from China and Washington respectively.
Driving in Kabul is not fun
Xinhua By Abdul Haleem Dec. 20, 2012
KABUL - Driving might be a way of enjoying life, showing off one's status or just making it in other cities of the world.
But in the Afghan capital of Kabul, driving is not fun; it can bore you to death.
"I have spent an hour waiting for the traffic to move and my passenger could miss his appointment at the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital," taxi driver Ghulam Sakhi complained.
He told Xinhua that the distance from Gul Bahar Center, a shopping mall where he picked up his passenger, to the hospital is only a three-minute drive but because of the traffic congestion, it took him more than a hour to make it.
The battered main roads are overwhelmed by some 500,000 cars, majority of them second-hand. This has largely contributed to the daily traffic jam in Kabul.
Kabul's population has swollen from one million a decade ago to more than four million now.
The city does not have flyovers, subway or elevated railway that are found in most cities in order to ease the traffic problem.
The traffic jam is worsened when the police erect concrete barriers on some streets to allow the VIP cars to pass, including those of international agencies with heavy security escorts.
Kabul is home to the headquarters of 100,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), foreign diplomatic missions and government departments.
"We are fed up with so many road blockades and so many traffic jam," Sakhi said.
To escape the traffic jam, ordinary Kabul residents and office workers are forced to walk instead of riding vehicles.
"Some three years ago I was taking an elderly patient to Wazir Akbar Khan hospital in downtown Kabul but after wasting around an hour on the road the patient's son paid me and just carried his father to the hospital,"Sakhi said.
"It is a very tiring and boring job to drive on Kabul's shabby roads but I have no choice but to drive and earn a living,"Ahmad Fawad, another taxi driver, said.
Afghan Forces Not Ready for Post-2014 Threats: Rasool
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian Thursday, 20 December 2012
On an official trip to Sri Lanka, Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasool stated Thursday that Afghan forces will not be fully prepared to confront possible treats after the international forces withdraw from the country.
He said that fighting the insurgency will not end by 2014 and Afghanistan will need continued support from international troops.
Rasool's comments directly contradict statements from President Karzai, who maintains that the Afghan forces are ready and willing to take control of security in Afghanistan. Karzai has been firmly demanding the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, saying the war on terrorism is not in Afghanistan and attention should be paid to Pakistan, where terrorists are based.
Meanwhile, reacting to withdrawal of 4,000 British soldiers in 2013, the Ministry of National Defense has urged that Afghan forces will replace the departing British troops.
"The National Army and security forces of Afghanistan are able to take responsibility for all of Afghanistan by 2013," said General Zahir Azimi, Ministry spokesman.
"There will be no security vacuum in Helmand after withdrawal of British forces," he added.
"Unfair" to Impeach Interior Ministry Over Budget: Spokesman
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amini Thursday, 20 December 2012
Parliament's decision to impeach the interior ministry for its failure to execute its budget is "unfair," ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said Wednesday.
The Wolesi Jirga, lower house of the Afghan parliament, decided last week to impeach the 11 "incompetent" ministers who had spent less than 50 percent of their budget. The Ministry of Interior was on that list.
Sediqi, however, said that $53 million was added to the ministry's budget in the 10th month of the fiscal year, which brought the unspent portion of the overall budget from 54 to 44 percent, landing the ministry in trouble with parliament.
"From a professional point of view, it was impossible to spend the additional 10 percent," Sediqi said.
Afghan ministries have consistently failed to spend all of their allotted budget. Lack of capacity and management experience, insecurity in vast areas of the country and incompetence are cited as reasons for the failure.
Afghan Reporter on Risks of Covering Sensitive Stories
Local politicians pledge support after journalist investigates alleged misappropriation of land.
IWPR By Abdul Maqsud Azizi 20 Dec 12
For several months, I had been hearing about how part of the Abchakan desert had been leased out to international forces, and I had stored it away in my mind as a story idea. I was certain that no local or national media outlet in Afghanistan would want to investigate it.
An area of land just south of Pol-e Alam, the main town in Logar province, has been leased out to international military forces who have a compound there and are planning to build an airstrip and other facilities.
But people told me that the purported owners – local Afghans – in fact had no right to rent the land to anyone, as it was government property. I also heard that a sum of 2.6 million US dollars was paid to six local men in 2009, and that some of the cash was given to the Taleban.
I pitched the idea to Munir Mehraban, the editor who heads up IWPR’s investigative reporting project in Afghanistan. He approved it and gave me a lot of encouragement to take it on. He shaped a work plan for pursuing the investigation, which listed all the things I would need to do – which sources to interview, and what hard documentary evidence to get hold of.
The editor likened me to a sea captain embarking on a long voyage, with a work plan to chart my course.
Undaunted by the seemingly impossible task of tracking down the documents I would need, I got started.
I began by talking to local residents. The first interview went off easily, but subsequent ones were more of a challenge as word had spread to tribal elders that a “spy calling himself a reporter” was in the village asking about the money paid to lease the land.
When the local chief, Awal Khan, got wind of my inquiries, he made himself unavailable, moving to five different locations as I looked for him over the course of a month. I eventually caught up with him and secured the interview.
The report, Disputed Ownership of Afghan Site Used by NATO, was finally published two months and 16 days after I began.
It was republished almost immediately by the international Asia Times newspaper, and Dari- and Pashto- language versions went out on RFE/RL’s popular Azadi station. The Khedmatgar newspaper carried it on November 2 under a big first-page headline, and the Tand news website also published it.
The article, and the issues it raised, became a hot topic for discussion both in Logar and at national level.
I can honestly say that in the four years I have been working as a journalist, I have never received so many serious threats – but nor have I ever had such encouraging and supportive responses.
On December 9, I received a text message saying, "British spy! You published your report for money. Since you sell other's honour and dignity, there is no salvation for you. You will be punished and killed like provincial council chairman Abdullah Ahmadzai, who also interfered in this matter."
Within half an hour, I received two phone calls from an unknown number, threatening me with death.
Abdullah Ahmadzai and four others had been shot dead, apparently – as the phone text suggested – because he had shown too much interest in the Abchakan affair.
Friends and media colleagues advised me to come to Kabul for a few days for security reasons, but I refused to do so.
I live in a village 15 kilometres away from Pol-e Alam, and to get there I have to walk through a stretch of forest. It is here that I become most afraid that I could suffer the same fate as Ahmadzai.
I have, however, been buoyed up by the broad support I have received in Logar. The provincial council was so pleased that the Abchakan issue had been aired that it convened a meeting attended by 60 assembly members and village leaders to pledge support for me.
“Now it’s for the provincial council to address the matter via the legal and judicial institutions," the council’s deputy chairman Gholam Yahya Ahmadzai said. "We will pursue this case seriously."
Reactions from local residents have been similarly uplifting.
After hearing my report on Radio Azadi, Zohur Ahmad, who works for the provincial labour and social affairs department, said he never believed the media would be able to cover something like this.
Nek Mohammad, a tribal elder from the village of Ali Khan village also heard the story on the radio.
"We are now waiting for the government to hold these men accountable," he said.
Abdul Maqsud Azizi is an IWPR-trained reporter in Afghanistan.
Note: At the request of IWPR staff, Abdul Maqsud Azizi visited Kabul to discuss concerns about his personal security. He turned down a request to spend an extended period in the city, saying that based on information he now possessed, he no longer felt at risk. IWPR staff talk to him by phone on a daily basis, and will take additional precautions if the situation changes.
The report Disputed Ownership of Afghan Site Used by NATO was produced as part of IWPR’s Afghan Critical Mass Media Reporting in Uruzgan and Nangarhar project.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com